21. Anders to the Rescue
It turns out the glow is coming from a forge area with lava flowing to the middle of the room. No dragons in sight, which I make sure to point out to Anders.
He makes a face at me. "Ha, ha, very fun- Oooh, lyrium!"
I laugh, following him over to the huge bucket of irridescent blue mineral as Nathaniel and Sigrun check out the rest of the room. "Thinking of going into business?"
"Sure, why not?" he smirks. "I've always fancied life as a lyrium smuggler. Maybe I'll wear a dashing chapeau." His smile turns almost wistful as he stares at the lyrium. "Y'know, I used to be a good little Andrastian, said my prayers, repented my sins, all of it."
"What's the alternative?" I ask, though I think I already know the answer, thanks to Jowan.
"Life as a hedge mage, brewing love potions for villagers and hoping no one notices?" He shrugs. "Could've been worse. I could've been made Tranquil, haggling over the price of a wand. Or I could be with the qunari. I hear they leash their mages. Or I could be dead. Dead's bad."
I chuckle. He has a point there. "Perspective's good."
"If I didn't have perspective, m'dear, I'd still be sitting in a templar dungeon drooling on my smallclothes."
I can't resist. "'Still'? As in, you were at one point in time?"
"She's gotcha there, sparkle-fingers," Oghren laughs.
Anders shoots the dwarf a dirty look. "Nobody asked you." He turns back to me. "Anyway, if you're done having a laugh at my expense, a sort-of related question: what do Grey Wardens do when there aren't darkspawn running amok?" He grins. "I mean, are there parties? Do we travel the world? Take over small kingdoms?"
No, we get taken for granted and die young. "Sounds like a good start," I laugh. I wish it were so...
"My lady, I like the way you think. Me, I intend to take up knitting. I'll send a scarf to the knight commander every Satinalia. Provided I don't end up in some ogre's belly, chewed into tiny mage pieces," he amends. "But, I'm an optimist."
"You are joking, right?" I giggle.
"About what, the knitting, or the getting eaten?"
"Hopefully both." By this point I'm giggling so hard, I brace one hand against a nearby pillar to keep from falling over.
"It's not that funny, Rahna," Anders points out, looking at me like I'm out of my mind.
"I...know," I gasp out between fits of giggling. "I don't know why I can't stop laughing..."
He tugs on my arm. "Let's get you away from the lyrium, just in case."
"Good... idea." I can feel my head spinning, but if it was the lyrium, wouldn't it have affected Anders, too? And worse than it did me? I'm too dizzy to be worrying about this right now... I offer him a grateful smile as my head clears. "Thanks."
We move on from the room after thoroughly examining the one unusual thing Sigrun and Nathaniel found; a golem and anvil that have been enchanted to repair damaged equipment and weapons. I make use of it to repair some things we've found on our way in, and then we're off.
oOo
There's no end to the surprises hiding in the corrupted hallways of this place. First, there's the man we find, cowering in a cage suspended over lava, his face streaked with sweat and grime. Sigrun, Oghren, and I all find it incredibly odd that he's not dead, and the dwarves are both angered by the fact he was in here to look for valuables. Their shared pique seems to help them get over the lingering animosity from finding the tablet, and I send up a silent prayer of thanks as I let the man go.
"Are you sure that was wise?" Nathaniel asks, his tone quiet and concerned. "If he has the taint-"
"I thought of that." I shake my head. "I didn't sense any taint in him. I'm sure he's fine."
"If you say so, Commander." He shrugs.
The second surprise is more of the Children, the grub-like darkspawn from the courtyard. A pair of them leap on two unfortunate hurlocks as we round a corner, tearing messily at the darkspawn flesh, and then...change right in front of us, legs sprouting where there were none moments before, their faces-for lack of a better word-seeming to split open as they screech and charge at us. Oooooh, Maker... If I wasn't supposed to be in charge right now, I swear I'd scream in terror. With the five of us-plus Fade-working together, both creatures fall rather easily, but they were still the creepiest thing I'd ever seen by a long shot.
Just past them is a crypt, glowing runes carved into the walls and floor. When Oghren and Nathaniel happen to touch two of the floor runes and they glow even brighter before switching places, I'm intrigued. It's fairly simple to figure out that we need to match the floor rune to the rune carved on the wall above, and with so many people, it's the work of a moment to test that idea. As Fade paws the last floor panel, there's a clanking noise, and the lid of the actual crypt lifts.
"Maker, wasn't expecting that," I mutter as I peek inside. There's a few worthwhile things, which I-rather guiltily-take.
"Grave robber," Anders teases in a whisper as we leave the room. I blush and elbow him in the ribs. "Ow!"
"You had it coming," I mutter, smiling nonetheless. "And if I were you, I'd remember who's carrying all the food before making smart remarks. I might not give you any." Oh, Maker, his face... "That increased appetite still giving you trouble, ser mage?"
"Yes, it is, and I think I hate you right now, you cruel, cruel woman." His grin belies that statement, but I still play along.
"Nonsense. I'm entirely too lovable for anyone to hate me," I tease, hearing a noise that sounds suspiciously like a strangled-off laugh behind us. When I turn to look back, all three of the others are very plainly looking anywhere but at me and Anders. I still shoot a hard look at Oghren, who I think is the most likely culprit, before turning back to Anders. "But you're not earning any points when you say things like that, y'know. I'm tempted to give your share of dinner tonight to Oghren."
"You wouldn't."
"I would. Unless you somehow manage to earn your way back into my good graces."
"Rah-na!" He looks almost frantic, like he half-believes me.
"Oh, don't worry; I'm sure you'll do something fantastic like save the day and win me over and everything will be fine." I put an exaggerated emphasis on the last word, grinning impishly at him.
oOo
Had I known how sodding true my joking prediction would end up being, I'd have kept my mouth shut.
After a bit more traveling through corruption-smeared rooms and tunnel, fighting Children and regular darkspawn what feel likes every step of the way, we come to a long hallway in the lower reaches of the city. And I mean long. I can't even see the far end of the bloody thing.
"Ooh, the suspense is killing me," Anders mutters, eyes darting back and forth.
"Tell me about it," I mutter. A hushed murmuring fills my ears as we follow the hallway toward its now-visible end, feeling almost like the twisting vertigo of nearby darkspawn, but there's something different. Wrong. "D'you feel that?" I ask Anders. He nods silently, reaching for his staff.
The sight that greets us when we pass through the doorway at the end of the tunnel is not one I'll soon forget; two darkspawn, much like the talking one at the Vigil, and the biggest golem I have ever seen in my life. Maker as my witness, that thing is at least twice the size of Caradin. It punches one of the darkspawn, wearing silver and purple armor, to the ground, and then picks it up, holding it toward the other darkspawn, clad in black and red armor.
This darkspawn rails at the defeated one, talking about some Architect, who it calls a coward, before referring to itself as the Lost and swearing that all who serve the Architect will die as a warning to this Architect from some "Mother".
At that, the golem preceeds to rip the defeated darkspawn in two. All five of us curse at that, though at various volumes. I hear the rasp of weapons being drawn behind me, even as the Lost turns to face us.
"Who comes now?" it growls, squinting as if trying to see us more clearly. "I can feel you, but you are no darkspawn! What trickery is he planning?"
"You all ready for a fight?" I whisper, receiving affirmative answers from everyone, even though Fade whines and presses against the back of my legs.
"You will die! As all who serve the Architect will die! The Mother demands it!" the Lost howls.
Oh, sod...I don't know how we're going to do this; fight both the golem and the darkspawn mage at the same time.
Anders temporarily solves that problem by trapping the golem inside a force field, allowing us to focus on the Lost. "That won't last forever, so I'd hurry if I were you!"
"Noted!" I holler back, ducking to the side in order to avoid the ice spell that hurtles in our direction from the darkspawn's staff. Sigrun and Fade aren't quite fast enough, and get caught in the torrent of magic, leaving me as the sole target for the Lost, since Oghren is still a few paces behind me. "Andraste's knickerweasels!"
"That's my line!" Anders protests from across the room, conjuring a stonefist to send flying toward the mage.
"Well, now it's also mine!" I yell back, slashing against the darkspawn's chest in a vicious x-pattern that sends it stumbling backwards.
"Save it for later, you two!" Nathaniel hollers at us.
I resist the urge to holler back 'Yes, Mother' or a reminder of who's in charge here, mostly because I don't want to take my attention off the darkspawn mage, even as the stonefist knocks it off its feet. As it rises, an arrow whistles over my shoulder to bury half its length high up on the Lost's chest. Good shot...could've been better, but then, I guess I am kind of in his way. A thought hits me. "Anders, do that mana clash thing!"
"Already tried that; didn't work!"
"Dammit!" I ram the hilt of one sword against the darkspawn's forehead to take out my frustration, and it goes stumbling right into the path of Oghren's axe. The darkspawn is one tough son of a bitch, however, and hardly seems phased by our attacks. It lets out a gutteral growl and flings its hands out in a spell that slams a wall of magical energy into all of us except Anders and Nathaniel, who are out of its range. Oghren and Sigrun being dwarves, they have a higher level of magic resistance and regain their balance after only a couple backwards steps to avoid falling over.
Fade and I, however, both go flying, and I'd swear I hear my head bounce off the wall as stars fill my skull. Sod, Alistair, that really hurt...
"Rahna!" Anders completely loses his concentration for whatever spell he was trying to work up.
Fighting double vision and wobbly-beyond-cooperation knees as I struggle to regain my feet, I gesture toward the failing shield preventing the golem from moving. "Look... out..." I lose my balance and fall again, not able to stop my head from banging against the stone floor.
The last thing I hear before the lights go out is Anders' muttered, "Oh, by the bloody Void, not good..."
oOo
"Rahna, wake up." The voice is masculine, familiar, although I can't exactly place it. Not many men I know who'd be telling me to wake up, though...
But I'm having a good dream, Alistair.
"Rahna, I swear...get up!"
No... not Alistair. Can't be Alistair.
"Maybe you should wait a bit longer. You may end up doing more harm than good."
"Shut it, Howe. Rahna, for the love of all that is good and holy in this world, would you sodding wake up!"
Who...what...? I groan and mutter a string of disjointed syllables. Feeling suddenly floods through me, and I'm aware of the cold stone underneath me, and hands on my shoulders. Their borderline-desperate grasp pulls me the rest of the way back to reality. Well, almost. "Alistair..." the mumbled name slips free unbidden, despite knowing, knowing that it's not him and never will be.
"Come on, Rahna."
The memory of magic, and darkspawn, and a bloody huge fiery stone thing straightens itself out in my head, the last thing I remember coming through crystal clear even still. The golem was getting free... He was in trouble, I... think. He needed help and I let him down. My eyes snap open. "Anders!"
"There you are." The relief in his voice is unmistakable. "You had me worried for a minute, Rahna." I wince as sitting up sends a spike of pain shooting through my head. "Easy," he cautions, offering a relieved grin. "You've got a pretty thick skull y'self if that knock you took didn't do any permenant damage, which I don't think it did, but I wouldn't move too fast if I were you."
"Noted," I mumble."So what...what happened? With the golem, and all?"
"Oh, Anders and I kinda saved the day, that's all," Sigrun pipes up, grinning madly beneath a black eye.
I raise an eyebrow-which hurts, but not enough to make me stop-and shoot her a curious look. "Do tell..."
So she does, using her hands almost as much as her words. Turns out the golem was a bigger problem than the darkspawn mage. Fire spells didn't harm it much, of course, and Anders doesn't know too many ice spells-which he swears to rectify in the near future, "just to be safe"-so it was a matter of slowly chipping away at it. Said chipping happened even more slowly after the thing punched Oghren hard enough to knock him out, too-right as Nathaniel ran out of arrows again. With the rest of us all out of the fight for one reason or another, that meant Sigrun and Anders taking it down just the two of them.
"Well, what about the Lost?"
"It spent a lot of its energy on that blast thing it did that knocked you out, and while it was recovering, Nathaniel shot it in the eye." Sigrun grins up at him as he shrugs. "Still don't know how he did it."
"It was a lucky shot, I told you that already," he tells her, his tone one of quiet patience, which makes me think he's already said it more than once.
"And I already told you I don't believe you," she retorts, still grinning.
"I'm-ow! I'm fine, Anders-I'm inclined to side with Sigrun," I comment as I shift position and try to stand, which maybe wasn't the smartest idea. My vision doubles again for a second, and I reluctantly settle back into a sitting position. "Maker's breath, this is annoying..."
"Here." Nathaniel offers me a hand up, which I accept.
"Thanks. And as I was saying, I'm with Sigrun. I know how good you are, Nathaniel Howe. I doubt it was just a lucky shot." I brace one hand against the wall and rub the back of my head, wincing when I feel the size of the bump sprouting just behind my left ear. It doesn't really hurt, but Maker, that thing's big.
"I know you didn't want to camp down here, Rahna, but you really should take it easy for a while," Anders points out as he stands. "This place wouldn't be so bad. Less corruption, only two doorways that would need watching..." He sighs when he sees he's not convincing me. "Look, you and Oghren are in no shape to go charging off into another fight right now."
"Oh, fine, you win," I mutter, reaching down to rub Fade's head as the mabari sidles up to me. "We'll camp here tonight. I guess it's night... Sod it all, who knows. And Anders?"
"Hm?" He's started to walk away, but swings back around.
"When I said you'd have to save the day in order to get back in my good graces, I didn't mean it quite this literally."
"Clarification noted," he laughs, before turning to help Nathaniel and Sigrun set up camp.
A/N: Muahahaha that was fun to write. :D Yes, the lyrium conversation at the beginning is another I pulled pretty much straight from the game, but it's too perfect, and c'mon, it's Anders. On the topic of Anders...I wound up watching all these party banter videos from Awakening on youtube(yay for fun "research"=DDD) and I swear I wanted to cry because I miss Awakening!Anders soooooo much now. =( Darn you, BioWare.
And yes, I was sorely tempted to end the chapter with Rahna blacking out. But I figured I was just that evil, what, two chapters ago, plus it would've been too short, and I decided to spare you. So I took it through Anders and Sigrun being all awesome and saving the day. Hopefully, just one more chapter with mention of Kal'Hirol before they head back to the Vigil(yay for impending politics...Rahna's gonna love that).