After forever, I finally finished the next chapter. I apologize for the delay and I hope you enjoy it.
The chantry was overrun with people seeking refuge. Word had come that the Qunari were flooding out of the compound and invading the city, unleashing fear and blood all across Kirkwall. Sebastian heard the news directly from a guard that had barely made it alive with the message; he sent the man on his way to the sisters to get his wounds treated, and felt his stomach clench with fear; his mind had immediately flown to Hawke and the last smile he had seen on her face.
The fire blazing from the torches inside the chantry lit his way to the front doors of the sacred building as he navigated through the ocean of refugees threatening to swallow them all. He barked orders, and was forced to stop many times by the need to make arrangements for Kirkwall citizens, but a shout yanked him away from the tide and pulled him to the entrance: the battle had reached the chantry's courtyard, so Sebastian stepped forward and, with his bow and arrows ready, began organizing its defense, along with the templars and guards that were nearby and already defending the building.
An orange haze painted the horizon ahead of them; screams and the clash of metal against metal filled their ears. Sebastian's arrows sang of death as they flew across the air over and over again, trying to push back the wave of Qunari that threatened to drown their city. Kirkwall was on fire, its streets flowing with innocent blood, and the prince of Starkhaven was fighting for the place that had been his home so many years. He stood firm on the right side of the battlement, finding his targets with ease from such height, but desperation started creeping into his movements after a while: his heart told him he was in the wrong place; he needed to find Hawke. She had to be alive; he couldn't allow himself to think otherwise. Sebastian shouted an order to the archer next to him and began backing away, headed towards the long stairway that went down to the courtyard.
He tried to clear a path for himself amidst the chaos, and soon he found an opening and became a shadow as he huddled against corners and walls, managing to leave the courtyard behind without being noticed.
When he reached the next courtyard, he found himself in front of an even larger battle. The smell of charred flesh wounded his nostrils and he fought the urge to cover his face; there were spells charging the air ahead of him, mages fighting against the horned giants, falling one by one. He wanted to help the mages but knew that if he discovered himself, he would be quickly overpowered by the enemy numbers, so he waited and kept to the shadows, trying to find the one he was looking for, hoping beyond hope her eyes were still full of life.
He first spotted Anders on the far side of the square, fire and ice surging from his fingertips and staff. Sebastian's gaze followed the direction of his spells and found Aveline battling two warriors at the same time. His pulse quickened: if Aveline was here, Hawke must not be far away. The prince began to move but stopped when he watched a lightning storm falling down from the sky over a group of Qunari to his right; he searched the battlefield from the shadows, saw mages trying to defend the city, templars running to them to help them out, and then he found what he was looking for on the other side of the square. There she was, about to get cut in half by a giant axe.
An arrow found its way into his hand before he could even will his arm to move.
Hawke raised her staff to protect herself from the impending slash but something pierced the air above her head and ripped a grunt from the Qunari's throat. She looked up to see an arrow protruding from the giant's left eye, saw him raise his hand, lost, as if trying to understand what had happened, only to crumble to the ground a moment later. She looked back, saw Sebastian running toward her and, in seconds, she covered the distance left between them, finding his arms and his relief flowing to her through his body.
"I thought I had lost you," he whispered against her neck, and she held on tighter, her embrace speaking the words she couldn't seem to dislodge from the back of her throat. But they were forced apart too soon by the last remaining invaders.
When the last Qunari fell, a silence settled over Hightown Square, broken only by the distant sound of voices and metal and fire. Sebastian wandered across the square, hoping to find any survivors, finding none. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, turned in that direction, and saw Hawke as she leaned down to take the hand of an elf mage and help him up.
The prince, recognizing the mage, watched them exchange a few words as he approached them.
"Looks like you fared better than the other mages," he heard Hawke say as he stepped beside her, Anders and Aveline following close behind him.
"The other? Surely, they cannot all be..." the elf's words froze in the air when he looked around him and saw all the corpses of the mages covering the battlefield. He ran over to the closest one with a fleeting hope that he might still be alive, but his knees hit the ground when he realized it was too late. "Gone. I told them to run..." he whispered, pain constricting his voice.
"First Enchanter Orsino. You survive." A strong, commanding female voice reached them and they all turned to look at a group of templars that were being led by the highest ranking templar in Kirkwall.
"Your relief overwhelms me, Knight-Commander," Orsino replied with sarcasm but Hawke barely listened, for her eyes had found a familiar face standing next to Knight-Commander Meredith, and her heart had skipped a beat.
"It figures I'd find you in the middle of this, Sister," Carver said with contempt before Hawke could even open her mouth and the feeling of relief that had filled her turned to dust in her mouth.
"Wherever there's trouble, that's where you'll find me," she replied instead, resorting to the sarcastic tone she knew irritated her brother so much.
"The last time troubled followed you, it found Mother," he said, making Hawke flinch. That was a low blow, even for him. How dare he talk about mother and blame her for it. Her eyes smoldered but Knight-Commander Meredith interrupted their conversation.
"There is no time for talk. The Qunari are gathering everyone in the Keep."
"Why?" Aveline asked, a frown painting her brow.
Sebastian answered her question, "When Qunari invade, they gather all the nobles just like this. Those who convert to the Qun live. Everyone else..."
"Oh..."
"We must strike back, before it's too late," said Meredith.
"And who will lead us into this battle? You?" Orsino demanded.
His voice ignited a flame behind Meredith's eyes and words started flying between them like deadly darts, none willing to bow to the other while their city burned down around them. Their shouts slowly raised above the screams of the dying until Hawke felt they would all drown in a feud that seemed as old as Kirkwall if she didn't do something about it. Her anger exploded and she spoke before she could think twice about what she was going to say. "I won't have you two at each other's throats. I'm in charge."
Sebastian hid a small smile when he heard her speak like that and said, "And I'm right behind you."
Her hand searched for his and gave it a squeeze.
"You? You're not even of this city!" Meredith said, offended by the suggestion.
"Neither am I, yet I don't hear you complaining about us both fighting to defend our home," said Orsino.
The Knight-Commander glared at the mage but comprehended the urgency of the situation. "Very well, then. But whatever you plan, be quick about it."
"This should be interesting," Carver offered, ironic.
Hawke frowned but chose to ignore her brother. "Let's find out what the Qunari are planning, but not risk our necks in the process."
"An excellent choice. Let's move quickly," said Meredith and started to move out, leading the way to the Keep. They all marched behind her and managed to find a place where they could remain hidden from Qunari eyes, the shadows of the large corridors at each side of the main path offering them a respite from where to plan their next move.
Aveline peeked from behind a column and saw a large group of Qunari guarding the Keep's entrance. "I don't see any of my guardsmen."
Meredith frowned, "Then they've already taken it over. Clearly the Qunari have been planning this for some time."
"Either that or we're the pushovers they think we are," Carver remarked but the Knight-Commander ignored him.
"This is the only way. We must assault them now, before their numbers grow."
Orsino frowned, "Are you mad? They have hostages! We need a distraction."
Meredith turned, exasperated, to look at Hawke. "Decide quickly. We have no time."
How do I always end up involved in these situations, Hawke thought, shaking her head. She decided it was at least worth to listen to Orsino's plan and asked him to share his mind.
"We'll need to get you inside and catch up as soon as we can," the first enchanter said and began moving towards the main street leading to the Keep's entrance.
"And just how will we do this?" asked Meredith, following him closely with her eyes.
"Have confidence, Knight-Commander," Orsino replied, a confident smile on his face, and began walking forward, taking his staff from his back, straight to where the band of Qunari were guarding the gates. They watched him run fearlessly to the enemy, a small figure dwarfed by the enormous height of the gray walls around him, and stopped a few feet away from the stairs that led to the Keep.
"You will not conquer this city without a fight!" he shouted at them.
"Saarebas! Vinek kathas!" a Qunari shouted, ordering an attack, but Orsino had already unleashed a ball of flame on them and set on fire at least three of their warriors.
Hawke watched him from the corner where she and her friends had managed to sneak into thanks to Orsino's distraction and saw the first enchanter nod at her before he unleashed a new attack and forced the Qunari to follow him and leave the gate unguarded.
She seized the opportunity and beckoned her party to follow her into the Viscount's Keep. As soon as they were inside, they found themselves surrounded by an unnatural silence. The place was littered with corpses; Hawke approached the closest to the entrance and removed the spear that had killed the man: Qunari. She tossed it to the floor and heard the clang it made when it fell echoing on the empty walls.
They all knew the Qunari must be hiding somewhere within. Sebastian took a couple of steps forward, beyond Hawke, seeing something she couldn't see on the stairs. She heard him whisper, "There are traps at the top of the first flight of stairs." She nodded, acknowledging his remark and made sure the rest of the party had heard him.
"Let's be careful," she said, took a step forward, and her movement unleashed a horde of Qunari on them.
"I'll disarm the traps!" she heard Sebastian shout at her as he disappeared from her sight before she could stop him. But there was no time to think and magic sang through her body, reaching the battle like a swarm of lightning riding the air towards her enemies. She forgot about Sebastian while she took down everything that moved on her path, dodging axes and swords with the grace of a dancer. The moment she stopped, she heard the air behind her crackling and jumped out of the way before the spell unleashed by a saarebas exploded in the place where she had been standing a second ago. But the blast reached her anyway, knocked her off her feet for a moment. A ball of fire engulfed the Qunari mage, giving her time to get out of the way, and she nodded to Anders as a thanks for guarding her back.
And then she felt the absence of her archer and searched for him amongst the chaos. Following what she thought were his battle shouts, she followed the sound of his voice, fighting her way towards the top of the stairs, where a Qunari archer was blocking her view from the upper landing.
Hawke was about to throw a spell at him to catch him off guard when the enemy released the arrow he had been holding in his bow and a nightmarish sound made her heart stop. She ran up the stairs, feeling as if her legs had turned to lead, reaching the top just in time to see the arrow pierce Sebastian's chest, too close to his heart. Fury and despair filled her body until they spilled out of her mouth in a scream that formed his name in the air, as she watched Sebastian's knees give way underneath him.
She tried to run to him but the archer had already turned his attention towards her and stood between them.
"No!" she summoned a tempest of lightning that showered over her enemy but, still, she couldn't reach Sebastian, she couldn't even spot him in the middle of the chaos anymore, for more of the horned giants had made their way to block her path. She shouted and her desperation made Aveline find her and cover her retreat.
Finding a gap that allowed her to move in the direction she needed to go, she hurried, evading swords and spells, and finally found Sebastian's body crumbled at the feet of a sten.
"Get away from him!" she screamed and threw an earth spell at him, the force of her despair so deeply embedded inside her magic that it crushed his skull with the impact.
"Sebastian!" she shouted as she kneeled beside him, but he didn't respond. There was so much blood soaking the carpet under his body...
"Sebastian..." She reached for his hand and gasped, relieved, when she felt a weak squeeze on her fingers.
"I'm so sorry, Hawke. I'm such a fool," he whispered, then started coughing.
"Shh, don't talk, you're going to be fine," she said and wiped the blood that was trekking down the side of his mouth. Hawke tried to heal him but she had consumed all her mana when she had killed the sten and it wasn't regenerating fast enough.
She searched desperately around the chaos for Anders, feeling Sebastian's life spilling out of his body in a pool of blood.
"Hawke..." another whisper, weaker than before, and her eyes snapped back to her beloved's face.
"It's ok. I am going to save you..." she said, tears filling her eyes as she looked down at Sebastian's pale skin.
"Hawke, I... I love you," he said and closed his eyes, his hand limp inside her own.
"No! No, no, no..."
Hawke screamed and screamed Anders's name as the battle died down, until the mage came running, kneeling on Sebastian's other side.
"Help him!" she pleaded.
Anders didn't even think about it; the healer in him was stronger than his resentment and so his magic started flooding in the form of a blue light out of his hands as he worked on the terrible wound that had brought Sebastian down.
"Is he..."
"He's breathing."
They heard Aveline shouting Hawke's name.
"Go, Hawke! You need to stop the Arishok. I'll take care of him," Anders told her, grasping her hand and forcing it away from Sebastian.
Her eyes turned to her friend, so full of desperation and despair that a lump formed in Anders's throat. He didn't want to see her this hurt. Not ever again.
"I will save him," he promised her. "Go."
Something in his eyes convinced her. She nodded, then leaned down to whisper in Sebastian's ear, "Don't you dare die on me. Not now... I love you too..."
She got up and, leaving her heart lying on the floor, left to face the Arishok.