Sand was in everything.
Every. Thing.
Every time Solana moved, sand scraped somewhere. And it was usually somewhere most inconvenient.
She was hot, and tired, and the Calling was so loud it was all she could do not to scream. But they had seen the old ritual tower on the horizon, finally, so they were galloping towards it. It looked something like the bottom of a dragon's maw, all teeth and red stone. A more foreboding structure, Solana couldn't imagine.
She buried her head against her horse's neck and tried to hold on to the contents of her stomach.
She hadn't had any alcohol since they'd set out weeks before – there hadn't been time - but it didn't seem to make a difference. The Calling was its own hangover. And the rotten egg stench of the nearby sulphur pits did not help in the least.
Trevelyan called for a halt and she pulled up the reins. He was already dismounting, hurrying forward into the sand. Oh Maker, did he never run out of energy?
Solana re-arranged her headscarf and slipped down from her own steed. Varric passed her a canteen. She wished it had something stronger than water in it, but warm water was better than nothing at all. Her throat was parched.
The ruin looked less intimidating up close. The entrance was no more than a chipped stone archway.
"I fear they've already started the ritual," Max said, gazing inward. "I hope we can stop them before more people get hurt."
Solana could see a long flight of stairs through the arch and, above it, some kind of green dust swirling. It wouldn't have been out of place in this horrid desert, but for the colour.
"Take point," said Hawke. "I'll guard your backs."
Solana wiped her sweating forehead with her sleeve and trudged after the Inquisitor. "What's the plan?"
"We stop them," Hawke provided.
"If I thought reasoning with them was going to work, I would hardly have run around Thedas looking for help."
"Who said anything about reasoning with them?"
She hoped he was joking.
"They're bound to change their minds when they realise they're being manipulated," Max said. His hand on his sword belied his confident words.
The only way to get further into the ruin was a bridge over the abyss Cullen had described. As Solana followed the men along the sun-bleached stone, she felt the pull of it.
What had Cullen said?
Straight to the Deep Roads.
She knew it without even looking over the edge. She could feel it tugging at her. She could feel the darkspawn far below.
The wind whined past them, echoing the call that reverberated in her mind.
The ruins themselves were eerily quiet. Were they too late? They were halfway up the vast flight of stairs when they heard voices, snatches of an argument on the wind.
"-wait."
"…Orders were clear."
"…this is wrong…"
Max dashed forward, armour clanging. She hurried afterwards, stumbling to a halt at the top of the stairs.
There weren't many Wardens, a handful perhaps. But they all already had demons standing passively beside them. All except the two currently circling each other in front of her. The one was hooded and had his hands raised, as if pleading mercy. The other… the other was Falin, brandishing a knife. His hair was hanging dank and loose, he was scowling.
On a platform slightly above them stood the strange man she'd seen with Clarel, the one who'd said they needed mages. Now, in the sunlight, she could see from his clothes he was Tevinter.
"Remember your oath," he said. "In war, victory. In peace vigilance…"
He had the hooded man's attention, and while he was distracted, Falin moved up behind him.
"In death…" the man said.
"No!" Solana rushed forward, but it was too late. Falin thrust the knife in between the man's ribs and blood gushed forth. A rift opened between them and Solana.
"Sacrifice." The Tevinter grinned as if he hadn't been interrupted.
From the rift, summoned by the blood, came a demon, roaring its displeasure.
"Good. Now bind it just as I showed you," the Tevinter said, still speaking as if there had been no intrusion.
"Falin! No! Wait!" Solana called.
But either he didn't hear her, or he was ignoring her. Where was Cassey? Where were the others? She scanned the area and her eyes fell on the pile of bodies.
Blood sacrifices. She wanted to be sick. Elite warriors, turned to nothing but reagents.
Cassey wasn't among the Wardens. Was she one of the bodies?
No, they wouldn't kill a mage. They needed mages.
Unless she'd refused to perform this disgusting ritual?
Or her will had failed her, and she'd gone to the Deep Roads.
Or… or she hadn't made it through the Joining.
I should have warned her. I should never have let them become Wardens.
Solana didn't see what Falin did, but the demon fell silent and the rift blinked away.
The Tevinter smiled at Solana now, as if noticing her for the first time. He waved a greeting.
"The Hero, the Champion and the Inquisitor. What an unexpected pleasure." He gave an exaggerated bow. "Lord Livius Erimond of Vyrantium at your service."
Solana forced her legs to move her forward. She ignored Livius, addressing the man who had once been her friend. "Falin! What have you done, why are you doing this?"
He stared at her blankly. His eyes glowed red.
And then she knew, she knew exactly what was happening. The sick churning in her guts was the only thing that stopped her from launching herself at Livius's face.
"Wardens, this man is lying to you!" Max yelled from just behind her.
Livius laughed. "Wardens, hands up."
As one, the Warden mages obeyed.
"Hands down."
Again, they followed his command.
Of course, why would Corypheus make the Wardens destroy themselves when he could have such prize fighters on his side, leading his demon army? Leading his… oh, Maker. It wasn't their magic he wanted. They weren't just mages, they were mages with Grey Warden secrets.
"The Calling had them terrified." Livius said. "They looked everywhere for help"
"The Calling?" Max looked to her. She should have said something. She hadn't thought it important but it had been the essential part. If she had only told them at the start of it all, maybe the Inquisition would have figured out the connection sooner. Maybe they could have stopped this.
"And since it was my master who put The Calling into their little heads, we in the Venatori were prepared," Livius continued. "Sadly for the Wardens, the binding ritual I taught their mages has a side effect. They're now my master's slaves."
Solana looked at Falin, heart pounding so hard in her chest that it was drowning out everything Livius was saying. This kind of mind control, this kind of magic… there was only one way this could end.
"Once the rest of the Wardens complete the ritual, the army will conquer Thedas," Livius said.
The rest. So this wasn't all of them…
Cassey could still be alive.
Without warning, Max rushed forward, brandishing his family sword. Livius lifted his arm. Red chased across his skin and then Max was on his knees, howling in agony, clutching his cursed hand.
"The Elder One showed me how to deal with you."
"And what about me?" Solana raised her staff.
It had been a long time since she'd needed to draw on all of her power. But her body still remembered. It remembered how to tap into pain and fear, to transform her raw emotions into energy. Primal magic sparked up from her chest, along her arms and into the staff. It glowed blindingly white and then Livius, the Warden mages, the demons, everything erupted in a column of flame. It scalded her face and frizzed her hair. Her allies scattered. Max curled in on himself, hiding his head.
It swirled around them, a roaring inferno, punctuated by screams.
"Kill them!" Livius screeched.
Wardens and demons came at her. Their magic glanced off her hastily-cast barrier. She froze one of the rage demons with a blast of ice, dodged a bolt of lightning from one of the Warden mages. But she was caught on the defense, and casting the inferno had almost drained her. They drove her backwards, back towards the precipice, back towards the Deep Roads.
And then Max and Hawke were at her side; Hawke casting, Max slashing. A rain of Varric's arrows came down a few feet from her. Metal hit metal, opposing spells collided in midair. It was a symphony of smashing weapons and exploding magic, and then nothing but ringing silence. The bodies of the Warden mages joined the bodies of their comrades. There was no sign of Livius.
Solana wasn't sure who'd killed Falin. His face was burned and he stared up at her glass-eyed. It could have been any one of them. She fell to her knees at his side, panting, unable to hold herself upright anymore. She couldn't seem to get in enough air. She couldn't cry either. Weren't people supposed to cry when something like this happened? Instead, all she could do was stare.
"I'm sorry," Max said, sheathing his sword. "I'm assuming he was your friend?"
She swallowed. "Yes. We… we only knew each other for a few weeks. But he was a good man."
She remembered how determined he'd been to help the Tranquil. Is that why he'd done this? Had that been the price of his devotion?
Max's heavy hand landed on her shoulder. She knew he was trying to comfort her, but somehow it didn't help.
"Do you think you can… leave me alone for a moment. I just need a minute."
"Absolutely. We'll wait on the bridge."
It was slightly easier to breathe when they were gone. She slipped a ring off one of Falin's fingers.
Solana stood at the top of the jagged parapet, looking down, down, down. She'd intended to head back to join the others, but the abyss had pulled at her like vertigo. It was a twisted scar in the face of the earth. A long, black yawning chasm. There was no end to it. It just kept going. Straight to the Deep Roads and maybe through the very world.
They were moving down there like ants in an ant hill. She had the oil-slick feeling of them crawling across her skin. She knew their need, their longing, as they dug, dug, dug for that which every sane part of her hoped they'd never find. But she wasn't all sane anymore. There was a part of her that wanted to join them, that called for the same thing.
If the Chantry was right about Max, perhaps it was right about her curse too. A curse from the Maker himself. Perhaps she was fooling herself believing that she had any choice at all? What mortal could rally against the will of the Maker?
She heard someone approach, but didn't turn to look at them. She knew it was Hawke. Max clattered everywhere he went and Varric's swagger was unmistakable.
"It's not your fault," he said at length. "You know that, right?"
The wind was whipping up the sand across the chasm. It glittered in the afternoon light, ethereal.
"I took them to the Wardens. Did I tell you that?" She didn't wait for an answer. "They were on the run from the Templars. They were trying to protect their Circle's Tranquil. I thought the Wardens could help them." She closed her eyes. "I should have taken them with me when I ran."
"If I know the Wardens, it's a small miracle you got away at all. Getting my brother out when all this started was an operation in and of itself."
"If I'd found help sooner… I should have tried harder." She shouldn't have accepted that the Inquisition wanted to close the Breach first. She should have told them about The Calling. Now she knew the Corypheus connection, it seemed like she should have guessed his plans from the start.
"It's not your fault." Hawke repeated. She heard him move closer. Perhaps he was trying to get close enough to grab her should she decide to jump. "People like us, people who have so much power… we often feel like we have power over everything. But that's not the case. Some things you can't stop."
"Like a mage uprising?"
He snorted. "We're not talking about me."
With a sigh she stepped back. "I need a drink."
"I hear there's an old raider bar not far from here." Varric called to her from where he stood a few metres away. Max was with him.
"How far is 'not far'?" she asked.
"About half a day."
She groaned. Hawke wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"By the way," she said, as he led her back along the bridge. "If I'd wanted to jump, you couldn't have stopped me."
"Uh huh."
"You do know that I defeated an archdemon once?"
"Pff." He rolled his eyes. "I fought a Qun Arishok."
"So?"
"I had to get through about 20 of his men first."
Varric laughed at her expression.
"I'm starting to feel a little inadequate here," Max commented.
Varric patted him on the back. "Come along, Inquisitor. We might even let you sit at the grownups' table."
A/N Worry not, sexy Cullen returns tomorrow.
Is it just me or was Hawke cribbing his encouragement speech from something someone said to him after that thing with his mom? I hope it was Avaline and not Varric otherwise how embarrassing.
A huge thank you to ~elhariah for helping me with this chapter.