Chapter 14

Alam Palace Dungeon

The Arishok sat in the same position that he had been sitting in for hours. It could very well have been days for all he knew. When you are locked in an underground cell, in almost total darkness, time is hard to keep track of.

Bas guards were at his cell door day and night. They showed surprising devotion to their duties, and they stood still as statutes, hands constantly on their weapons. The cell door was made of solid iron bars that ran in a net pattern across each other. He was unable to break out of that door despite his considerable strength.

But even if he had been able to get past the iron cage it would not have mattered. The Bas had their Saarbas conjure a magical barrier across the entrance to the cell. It could only be removed by another Saarbas or if the one who made it was killed.

The dungeon was lit by flaming torches that were fixed to the walls of the corridor that the cells were built into. They cast some light into the otherwise dark and cold underground chambers. Not a lot of either, but enough to make the occupants of the cells able to see and remain reasonably warm in their cells.

The torches cast rather foreboding shadows and light across the walls and floor of the dungeon. But it was a dungeon so it was almost expected.

Across from his cell, about two metres away from the bars of his cell was the cell that contained a Tamassran. Like him she was Kossith, but this hardly registered in his mind. In the Qun, race mattered for nothing in the greater scheme of things. Unlike him she had horns that framed her white hair.

They had talked extensively in their shared solitude. Apparently she had been captured when the bas attacked the frontier town of Maraas. While the other Qunari were placed in chains and sent into slavery, and others had submitted to weakness and abandoned the Qun. She had been placed in a cage that had housed prisoners within the bas army camp.

Apparently the Basalit-an had decided she might be useful at some point.

It was night time he assumed. This was because there were two guards outside their cells for a large number of hours. But they always retreated back up the stairs leading out of the dungeons to let them sleep.

It was in these moments of relative privacy that he and Tamassran were able to discuss things of importance to the Qun.

"I am concerned that the war on Seheron will face difficulties with you imprisoned Arishok" Said Tamassran. "The Karastan will be weakened in their souls when they learn that you have been captured by the bas. It will be like the time when the tome of Koslun was close to falling into the hands of the Tevinter."

The Arishok knew this was a valid point but he was quick to counter it. "All the Karastan and Sten in the army know their place and their duties. They will carry out their roles well enough in my absence. When the previous Arishok was in Kirkwall for years, away from his other responsibilities, the Qunari went on as always."

Tamassran nodded and lapsed into silence in thought. She was considering how best to serve the Qun in her current state. It was the role of the Tamassran to educate Imekari, Viddathari and Kebethari. It was her role to spread the wisdom of the Qun to the unenlightened.

Even if she was a prisoner of bas, her role had not changed in the slightest. She had decided that she would attempt to spread the Qun to her bas captors. Maybe then they would be willing to assist her and the Arishok in defeating the bas army somehow.

Every day when the guards came down to stand watch at the entrances to their cells she had been talking with them. She had been talking about the benefits and wisdom of the Qun and how they would all benefit from it. She mentioned how he would be an equal, not an inferior to the Saarabas. How in fact he might very well be an Avaardd, one who holds the leash on those who thought themselves his masters.

For the first three or so days she had achieved nothing. The bas were silent and did not even acknowledge her words as she spoke. She had to admit they were surprisingly devoted to their duties and orders, for bas.

Previously she expected on such focus and resolve from Qunari. But she had steadily worn down their patience. On the fourth day one of her guards had suddenly told her to shut up and smashed his sword against the magical barrier of her cell.

She had fallen back and remained silent for a while. But she knew she had gotten into his mind. If her words meant nothing to him, he would have continued to ignore her. But his sudden reaction had shown that her words had wormed their way into his mind. Now they were sowing doubts and reactionary thoughts in his mind.

She had then carried on to debate with the bas as she continued her work to enlighten them. While this was going on the Arishok had remained silent. He knew what she was doing and it was not his role to interfere or assist in anyway.

One of the guards had already refused to hear anything from her. He apparently had a family and the fact that the Qun would split up his family was the breaking point for him. This was the most common problem that all Ben-Hassrath faced when bring the Qun to new Kabethari. The people of Thedas still prized family units. They prized them to the point that they refused to see that children and adults, women and men needed to be educated and serve separately.

But the other bas had no family it seemed, so she focused her efforts on him. The debate carried on for long hours and started again with each rise of the sun. She pointed out how the discipline, order and certainty of the Qun had benefited the people of Par Vollen, Seheron and Kont-aar. How there was no struggle or civil strife as the people were given their natural role to forever serve and benefit the whole.

She pointed out how many times the ambitions and personal desires of the bas leaders of Thedas had caused countless deaths and destruction. How the bas stumbled their way through the world. How they eternally looked for a purpose and reason to be, but refused to hear the Qun.

She saw he was beginning to listen. But he was well educated it seemed. He countered by mentioning the Tal-Vashoth. How they had been born into the Qun, lived under it and yet found it flawed and unfulfilling.

He argued that if the Qun truly was the only certain wisdom, then people would come to it on their own. But the fact that they insisted on bringing it to people at the point of a sword, had caused one of the bloodiest wars in history.

And thirdly he mentioned the use of qamek and the forced labour of those who refused to give up their own cultures. He claimed that the Qun was not certainty, it was indoctrination and slavery.

Both she and the Arishok had bristled at his words, while the other bas guard had smirked. But she was patient, this was what she was meant to do, what she was raised to do.

But before she could carry on her work, the guard had vanished and been replaced by a new one. She suspected that either he or his partner had mentioned what she was doing to their superiors. And they had removed him from her before she could fully show him the truth of the Qun.

The new guard was a woman, and for a moment she could not process the sight. Women do not fight; supposedly even most of the bas nations understood that. But here was a woman Karastan with short black hair and piercing brown eyes. She suspected that this new guard had purposefully been stationed her as an insult to them and the Qun.

The Arishok was surprised at first but recovered surprisingly quickly. She was curious about his reaction until she learned that in his time in Ferelden as a Sten of the Berassad, he had witness bas women Karastan. He too was still confounded by the notion, but he had come to adjust to it.

Besides it was not a totally alien concept to the Qunari. After all the Ben-Hassrath used both men and women to carry out its duties and some served with distinction. She recalled a female elven Tallis once that she had seen with the Bes Vathari known as Salit. She had shown competence in the combat role she held.

But the new guard had shown that anyone she tried to enlighten would simply be removed before it could be completed. With that in mind she did not attempt to teach the new one the Qun.

It seemed like a week passed since then before the sounds of the dungeon door slamming open roused them from the near sleep they had been entering. The sound of footsteps striding quickly to their cells intrigued them to stand up and see what was going on.

Suddenly the Basalit-an himself strode into view, in his black robes and with his face showing what looked like desperation.

He moved to her cell and with a wave of his hand the magical barrier that covered the bars of her cell shattered into sparks that soon faded from sight. Motioning behind him, five bas soldiers came and unlocked her cell. Once it was open she was seized and dragged out.

Held firmly in the grip of two bas with a third holding a knife to her throat, she looked into the Magisters amber eyes, as the other two bas stood at his flanks.

"Have you realised that I will not be convinced to leave the Qun and serve you Saarabas? It took you a while to realise that, but maybe you are smart enough to be Basalit-an after all."

Hawke said nothing as he motioned with his hand and the shackles that bound her hands snapped off and fell to the ground. The Tamassran rubbed her bruised wrists as she looked at the mage warily. The Arishok was also watching from his cell.

"You are being released and returned to the Qunari, a horse and escort is waiting at the city gates to escort you to Qunari held territory." Hawke stated. Arishok and Tamassran looked up in amazement that was quickly turned to suspicion. "Why would you release me Basalit-an?" she asked in a slow and cautious voice.

Hawke took a scroll from the folds of his robes and handed it to her. It was sealed in wax bearing the dragon seal of Tevinter and beside that the seal of the Hawke/Amell family. Two bird like symbols on a shield.

"When you return to Qunari lands you will contact every Viddathlok temples in Seheron and you will find out which one has recently received a black haired elven mage in silver armour with dalish tattoos on her face. You will tell them that if the Qunari return her to me, I am willing to give you back your Arishok." He said in a forceful voice that suggested no other choice.

The Arishok was listening intently know, and suddenly it made sense to both of them. The black haired elven Saarabas was known to be partnered with the Basalit-an Hawke. She must have been captured by one of their many skirmishing parties. As with Qunari law any Saarabas that was captured in adult age was automatically sentenced to receive the qamek.

It was clear that Hawke would do anything to have his partner returned unharmed or converted. And he was even willing to relinquish the Arishok in his need to have her back. She smiled as this proved that the personal wants and desires of the bas constantly weakened them and their nations.

"I will bring this request to the viddathlok temples and to the authorities there. But I think you will havr to give us much more to reclaim your elven qalaba." She noticed Hawke's hands clenched into fists at the insult to his elf.

"If you return the Arishok and the city of Alam to our forces, and evacuate Seheron entirely, we might be inclined to return her to you. If not well then I will feed her the qamek myself when I get there." She said with a smug tone in her voice. She had him at her mercy and she intended to make sure it benefited the Qunari to the fullest extent.

Suddenly she was lifted off her feet and thrown against the stone wall with a force that caused her to cry out in pain as her body slammed against the wall. Blinking the pain out of her eyes she saw that she was suspended by magic off the floor with Hawke holding her there with his hand aimed at her throat. His eyes were flashing with a look of almost rabid anger in them.

The Arishok roared in outrage at her treatment. It was his role to see to the protection and safety of all those in Qunari society. He slammed against the iron bars of his cage in a futile attempt to break them down.

Hawke turned his gaze on him and suddenly the Arishok felt his body hurled to the floor and felt the burning searing pain of the place the lightning bolt had hit his chest. Hawke had used what restraint he had to make sure the bolt was not strong enough to be fatal. He needed the Arishok alive…..for now.

Turning back to the Tamassran, Hawke smashed her into the wall a second, third and fourth time. Each blow was harder than the last, until the Tamassran was on the verge of unconsciousness and her body was bruised and bleeding. She just hung in the air, all defiance gone as she tried to get her sobs of pain under control.

Hawke stepped up to face her and she felt herself lower down to his eye level. Her feet touched the ground but the magic holding her in place remained. She was privately grateful for that, because without it she would have collapsed on the floor.

"I have been lenient and understanding towards you Qunari for a long time. Ever since Kirkwall, I have worked and risked my life, and the lives of people I care about to find some peaceful compromises between your people and mine. I fought your last Arishok one on one to spare human and Qunari lives." He whispered in a hushed by very dangerous voice

"Ever since I came to Seheron I have controlled my army and done my best to treat you well. I have let you off a number of times; I even looked the other way once or twice when I could have come down hard on all of you."

"But my patience is officially at an end!" He snarled with his face only inch or two from hers.

"If Merrill is not returned to me unharmed and exactly as she was when she left my side, I will have your Arishok publicly executed in Minrathous. And then I will go further. I will tell my army that my policy toward non-combatants is over. Any Qunari be they men, women or children, soldiers or civilians, Kabethari or Viddathari, my orders will be to kill them all!

"I will order my army to burn every city and salt the soil around it. I will demolish their buildings; pull down their walls and heap earth over them. And on top of the grave of Seheron city, I will build a statue of Merrill!"

"Do you understand me now?!" he shouted, his hand moving to grip her throat "If Merrill is not given back to me, completely unharmed or changed, I will bury the land of Seheron in the bodies of Qunari dead!"

The Arishok and Tamassran looked at him with eyes wide with horror. She could see into his eyes and saw that he meant every word of it

"You are mad." She uttered in a scared whisper.

Hawke shook his head slowly.

"No, I am just a man who has given up trying to be reasonable, with a people who do not know the meaning of the word! I have given up being lenient and merciful when neither I nor my people receive any of it in return!"

With that he threw her to the floor and his men dragged her to her feet. He slipped the scroll into a satchel and it was put around her body.

"Get her on the horse" he said to his men. He turned back to her one more time.

"Deliver the message and begin organisation for the prisoner exchange, if you refuse to deliver it or try to sabotage the agreement. I will devote my life towards your death in the darkness of night!" he spat.

He then swept out of the dungeon as the Tevinter soldiers dragged out the still injured Tamassran. This left the Arishok alone to ponder these latest developments.

Hawke's bed chamber

Hawke sat on his bed that night feeling completely miserable. He kept staring at the other side of the bed that Merrill should be sound asleep in at this very moment.

He was frantic with worry over what would be done to her or what had already been done to her if her was too late.

He had used his personal sending stone to send a message to Fenriel in Minrathous. He had told Fenriel to be on the lookout for Merrill in the Fade. Hawke was hoping that if he was able to find her then maybe she could tell him where she was or at least what general area of Seheron she had been taken to.

If they were able to do that then Fenriel could tell Hawke and he might be able to mount a rescue. He could take every shape shifter in his army and attack the place quickly and infiltrate it silently.

But even as he sent the message he knew it was unlikely. To send yourself directly into another person's dreams took careful preparation and time. Something that Hawke did not have a large supply of.

It was frustrating that the Qunari didn't dream as other races did. They never appeared in the fade unless taken there by magical means. And so it was not an option to try and get the answers from one of their sleeping minds.

Even so he had sent out messages to all the Tevinter army units currently out on patrol or scouting. If they found any trace of Merrill or any indication of where she might be, they were to report in. It was also ordered to look out for any viddathlok temples that they might come across while scouting behind enemy lines.

He had made it known across Seheron that anyone who aided in the rescue of Merrill would be richly rewarded beyond their wildest dreams. Hawke had made a monetary reward known. Many of his commanders commented that the scale of the reward bordered on the obscene. But Hawke was willing to pay the weight of the world in gold, if it meant getting Merrill back.

Unable to just sit there any longer he got up and started pacing. He felt the need to do something to help Merrill. But he knew there was nothing he could do except wait for the messenger to return with the Qunari's answer. He had no idea where the viddathlok temples were or which one Merrill had been sent to.

Feeling utterly desperate, he went over to the balcony and looked out into the star filled sky. Slowly he got down on his knees and raised his hands in prayer. He prayed to the Maker to protect Merrill and to bring her home into his arms. But even as he prayed he felt like it was a waste of time.

Not that he doubted the Maker's existence. Any doubts he had were swept away after that encounter with Corypheus. But he often wondered at the point of worshipping the Maker. The Chantry itself claimed that the Maker had abandoned them and would not hear their prayers until the chant was sung across the world.

So why would he listen now to save the blood mage lover of a Tevinter Magister?

He was often resentful to the Maker anyway. He was a silent absent god that didn't even make his presence known to his creations, and then grew angry when they didn't worship him.

The Orlesian Chantry blamed the Magisters for the blights. But it was the Maker that created the taint and the darkspawn. The only reason the blights happened is because the taint infected the Old Gods that the Maker placed within reach of the darkspawn.

He often compared the Maker with a deadbeat dad, who ignored his children until he wanted to fuck Andraste. And as soon as she died he was gone again and to the void with the world he made. And who cared about the millions of people who cried out to him in prayer to return?

He tried to pray to the elven Creators to watch over their faithful and loyal servant. But that was impossible; he couldn't even remember their names!

As he thought about it he remembered the altar that he had found in the deep roads at the base of Corypheus's tower. He remembered the ruins of the temple to Dumat, the Dragon Old God of Silence. Dumat was supposed to be destroyed, yet when he had prayed at his alter and made the offerings, he was answered and rewarded.

Slowly he knelt down again and raised his hands in prayer.

"Dumat, Zazikel, Toth, Andoral, Urthemiel, Razikale, Lusacan. I pray to you, great dragon lords. If my pleas stir you from whatever slumber or prison you reside in, then I beg you to hear me.

My love has been taken from me and is in mortal danger. If I have ever done anything that as pleased or interested you. If my sacrifice on the altar of Dumat was worth anything. Or if the actions of my cousin Marion in saving Urthemiel with Morrigan meant anything to you. Then please, return Merrill to me, alive and unharmed.

If you do this then I will sacrifice in your names. Powerful Old Gods, hear my prayer."

Hawke finished and rose to sit on the bed once more. He surprisingly felt a little better after that prayer. He thought that was because praying to the Maker felt like praying to thin air. The Maker didn't even acknowledge the existence of this world anymore. He didn't even care about the suffering of his creations.

The Maker was a deadbeat. But the Old Gods…the Old Gods walked the earth.

History had shown there were powerful beings that actually heard and answered their people's prayers. And as far as Hawke was concerned, that was the quality that made them worthy to be called gods.

He settled down in bed to sleep and worried slightly what this war was doing to him. He had been fighting this war for near on a year now. And today he had threatened to commit genocide and now he prayed to the Old Gods and resented the Maker. He truly was becoming a Tevinter Magister.

But at the same time he knew that the genocide threat was more of a bluff. He had learned from the history texts that it hadn't been the Andrastian army's that had finally pushed the Qunari out of Antiva and Rivain. It was the suffering of the local people that had convinced the Qunari to withdraw their forces and leave the mainland.

That was why he made the threat. He was hoping that the Qunari would not risk angering him if they felt he was willing to carry out his dark promise.

It was a risk, and he seriously didn't want to consider what he would do if Merrill had been hurt or Maker forbid, given the qamek. But he was confident that he didn't want to find out what her loss would drive him to.

Shutting the thoughts out of his mind he settled down to try and get some sleep. Fortunately the stresses of the day quickly sent him into a deep and slightly fitful slumber.

Authors Note

I am wondering how you all feel about me bringing in the old gods into this story. To be honest I have always felt they were demonised while the Maker is the real villain. If you want me to build on it then review and tell me. If you want me to drop it and leave gods etc out of the fanfic then, well same thing.

Hope you are still enjoying the story. Reviews are always welcome and so is the feedback that comes with them.