Leliana

"Sten," Salem shouted, her voice carrying and reaching our ears even in the midst of chaos, "eyes to the sky!"

Riordan said the archdemon was aware of us...of them. Wynne, myself, and the qunari are not important to it. We are not the ones who can end its life, its dark dream, permanently. Salem has always been willing to pay in her blood. She is now willing to pay with her life.

I set an arrow against my bowstring and fired randomly into the streets, knowing the missile would strike true. Our enemies were thick, and no reinforcements would be coming. We had been sealed in...Denerim might well have been our final tomb.

A fitting tomb.

"Leliana, to your left!" Wynne called, drawing my eyes to the assembling genlock archers.

I nocked another arrow, certain that, before this battle's end, I would have to steal ammunition from my foes. A spiral of unnatural light spooled around the tip of my arrowhead and I fired into the genlocks, watching as lightning exploded from the arrow and brought down, not just the one I had struck, but the rest of them as well.

"The demon has taken to the sky." Sten warned us, his voice calm, implacable, and impossibly qunari.

"Take cover!" Riordan shouted and we ducked into various and alleyways, attempting to preserve ourself from whatever attack might come.

A massive wind crashed down upon us with hurricane force as the archdemon's wings beat against the earth. The stone wall at my back trembled with the force of the dragon's earsplitting cry.

"Wynne!" Salem shrieked and my eyes flew to the mage, concerned about the panic in my lover's voice.

I looked back, watching the archdemon perch on the stone wall of Denerim, directly above me. Blocks of heavy stone rained down, torn away from the wall by the archdemon's talons. I curled into myself, awaiting the crushing of bones, the tearing of flesh, black unconsciousness and death.

Whie, warm light enveloped me and the pain I had been anticipating did not come. Stone crashed onto a strong, shimmering shield of magic. The rocks splintered into dust, pebbles clattering around me. I breathed a sigh of relief, shuddering once more as the archdemon shrieked.

"Leliana!" Salem's voice, screaming my name in frantic prayer.

She dashed into the street, knocked aside by the flate of a broadsword wielded by a hurlock alpha.

Salem, no! My thoughts cried out. The archdemon is still here! It is your blood he cries for, not mine! Do not put your life at risk for me!

My lover regained her feet and her blades made quick work of the hurlock, cutting him down to the stone streets, washing them with tainted blood. She took another step towards me when the archdemon let loose another shrilling cry.

This one...I concentrated on the cacophonous music...is different from the others. This is not a war cry, not battle song. I have heard this somewhere before...Maker's breath...no. The dragon...in the mountains...before it released its flames.

I looked for Wynne, hoping that I could call her attention to this; that she could bring up another shield to defend Salem from the onslaught of the demon's flames. But the mage was embattled by darkspawn. To tear away her concentration would be to end her life.

Time seemed to slow as the scene unfolded. Riordan roared a warning. Salem glanced to the sky and paled. Her eyes were fierce and glorious, filled with the raging intensity of her spirit and her love. But all of that spirit could not save her from immolation. The archdemon opened its massive, gaping maw and a wash of blue fire, an unholy heat, rained down into the streets.

Tears spilled down my cheeks as my warden crossed her arms before her face...but it would do her no good. I watched the stone of the streets melt beneath the heat of the archdemon's impossible fire and I turned away, unable to witness the woman I loved...die before her time.

How dare you do this, Salem! My thoughts screamed. How dare you depart this world without having accomplished what you said you would!? You have never broken your word...why do so now!?

"Salem!" Wynne called out, and I forced myself to open my eyes an dlook.

I have to know...

The warden stood amid the wash of flames, the gauntlet of her right hand cracked and shattered away. I could see the blue lines of scarring from the dragon's blood. The lines began to glow across her skin and white fire bloomed from her hands and her back in dizzying starbursts that shocked me. The white flames pulsed out, licking at the archdemon's blue fire, driving it away from Salem's body and where she stood. Salem dropped to her knees, glaring up at the archdemon with eyes that screamed of waiting death. A predator's eyes.

The fire ended abruptly and the demon took to the sky, bellowing in rage. I rushed to Salem, feeling the heat of the melted stone seep into my leather boots, scorching the soles. Sten, Riordan, and Wynne surrounded us, keeping attackers at bay, allowing us a moment of solace in a world of anguish.

"Salem!" her name tore from my lips as I clutched her hand, jerking my own back as I felt the chill of her skin. "Salem, speak to me! Are you all right!? Say something!?"

"What...in hell...just happened?" she asked, breathing heavy. "Leli," her eyes filled with confusion, "how am I alive?"

"The blood of dragons protects its own." Sten intoned. "In the slaying of one, in coating your skin with its blood, you have gained protection from other enemies of its kind, for you have earned the right to walk among them as kith and kin."

Salem stared at her scarred hand, the blue lines of dragon's blood mingled with her own. At last, she turned her face to mine. There were thin lines of blood across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose where the shards of her gauntlet had torn skin.

"Are you all right?" she whispered, the fury in her eyes darkening to fear.

"I...I am." I breathed, stunned by the question.

I am thanking the Maker for the strangest of blessings. I thought you were naught but cursed by those scars...only to find that they have saved your life from a greater foe. How strangely does the universe turn...guided by the Maker's whimsical hand.

"Do not make me watch such a display of stupidity again, Warden Cousland!" Riordan cautioned her, vehement. "Your life is one we cannot afford to throw to the winds! Stop endangering it for senseless reasons!"

"Of course." Salem rose from her knees, her voice dripping with bitterness. "I cannot endanger the life doomed to end! Still your fuckingtongue, Riordan! I will not be upbraided for caring for those of untainted blood. I will not hold my life in priority!"

"Then you are a blithering fool." the senior warden condescended, staring into Salem's eyes, perhaps for the first time, so wide with apprehension did his own grow.

"Fool I may be, and if so, let that be my one pride." Salem drew up to her full height, standing eye to eye with the Grey Warden who did not have her respect. "I would have it written of me that I gave my life so that others might live, not that I threw good men and women into the fire so that I might walk to my destination over their corpses!"

"Now is not the time for eloquent metaphor!" Riordan bellowed. "Now is the time to take that creature to the abyss!"

"You are so eager to do this as wardens alone?!" Salem's hand shot out and slammed against Riordan's chestplate, pushing him backwards. "Find him yourself and strike that fateful, final blow!"

Riordan began to speak as the gates of Denerim creaked open once more and a group of mages dressed in Circle robes entered. The air electrified with spells as the darkspawn fell before the might of united magic. Salem's eyes lit as she realized that we had done right, that those who had given their word had honored it.

"The mages." Wynne smiled, beaming. "They came. Maker be praised."

One ally remains faithful to their promise. I smiled. Thank whatever kindness fate still possesses for us.

"Very well." Riordan looked to the sky, tracking the archdemon's movements. "It seems he has settled for the top of Fort Drakon as his stronghold. I will meet him there. Since you are so foolishly set on saving lives already lost, there are two darkspawn generals," he closed his eyes, as though meditating, lifting his hand to direct her, "there."

"That is the alienage gate." I spoke, remembering passing through it not so short a time ago.

"The generals are making the minds of this rabble more cohesive in thought, carrying out the archdemon's bidding." Riordan explained. "There will be confusion in the ranks if you bring them down."

"Burn in hell." Salem spat as her fellow warden departed.

She cannot countenance those who seemingly have no care for the lives of others. To even harbor such thoughts ia anathema to her. It is that which I first saw in her...it was that which first drew me towards her. It is such things that made me love her...it is such things that will break this world when she is no longer in it. The truly good, the truly pure, number too few.

A young mage ran to Salem, stopping briefly to nod to Wynne. "Warden," he asked, panting, "what would you have us do?"

"Secure this area," Salem ordered. "Finding the wounded and survivors and evacuating them is your first priority. Then bring down the darkspawn."

"Understood." the young mage rushed off to dispense the orders to his fellows and Wynne smiled at them with sorrow, wishing that none so young would be tainted by the vision of this nightmarish devastation.

"To the alienage." Salem spoke, calm, unfazed by our loss of Riordan. "If I can cause dissension in their ranks, it will help the soldiers outside the city. I will not lose more lives than necessary."

"Lead on, warden." Sten fell in line behind her and I set an arrow against my bowstring.

The fighting is not yet done. Already I have nearly lost you. Please, Salem, hold strong until the final battle. Do not make me say farewell until I must. I love you...too much to...too much.