Chapter 21: Lizard Worshippers
A/N: So I'm done with my exams, been keeping this for awhile, will continue to upload the stuff I've written so far—after I've made edits and done a final read-through. Meanwhile, I hope you are still reading this! Thanks and please give me a review!
Daylen
After spending a really long time in the numerous caves, we finally appeared to be near the very top of the mountain— where the temple housing the Urn was located. The passageway had opened into a large, airy cavern and our party promptly headed for the other end, relieved that our quest for the Ashes was almost over. We were stopped by a shout from the mist that separated us from the opening exit—more of the dragon cultists, I presume. "Stop! You will go no further." The man stepped forward, and through the rising vapor, we saw a small band of burly men.
"Mind letting us pass? Or have you come to tell us more about Andraste perhaps—good Ser?" I knew my words were bordering on rude, but I was beyond caring. if we were to fight them, then so be it—my whole body yearned the feel of sunlight on my skin; spending almost a day in these unending tunnels felt terribly like being back at the Circle, enclosed on all sides.
The man crossed his impressively muscled arms. "No. You have defiled our temple. You have spilled the blood of the faithful, and slaughtered our young." I didn't recall murdering any children on the way up—unless… Oh. Were they referring to the little dragonlings? Oops. "No more. You will tell me now, intruder, why you have done all this. Why have you come here?" His voice grew louder, more demanding.
"Um… We have come for the Urn of Sacred Ashes? Just a little pinch will do." I tried my most winsome smile, even as my face felt so very numb. If this idiot kept us from seeing actual daylight any longer… I gripped my staff tightly, feeling the fuzzy hint of weariness creep up my arm.
"You did all of this for an ancient relic? What mindlessness. Know this, stranger," the man paced away from us as his followers nodded most approvingly. Creepy. "The prophet Andraste has overcome death itself and has returned in a form more radiant than you can imagine!" He had turned dramatically, waving his hands, as we listened on in a shocked silence. Andraste was burned at the stake. We were all pretty sure that the centuries were enough to kill anyone, and make sure that they remained dead. "Not even the Tevinter Imperium could hope to slay her now! What hope do you have?" Thing is, we weren't out to kill Andraste, or whoever they were referring to.
I took a tiny step back, trying not to be too obvious about avoiding the man's spittle. "Yes…. I…see. Um… about the Ashes, are they still there, by any chance?"
The man frowned, his thick brows bunching together. "They are still within this temple, but why do we need ashes when we serve the risen Andraste in all Her glory?" He looked positively daft by the end of that sentence, his eyes blazed with an eerie light. Riiiight. We should get going. Now.
"So we might have the whole Urn instead?" I figured that it might as well come with us, having said magical properties and all that.
The man crossed his plated arms, absently touching his chin. "So you are after the Ashes. Hmm… perhaps there is a way for you to make up for your desecration of our home and temple."
I heard Kiera whisper next to me, "Desecr—Oh Maker—may we kill them now?" I could tell she wasn't joking—she was really impatient.
"I..." I began, but then I had a thought. "Could you be more specific? About how we can make up for our trespass here." I heard more muttering and shuffling as our little party got restless, but if we could avoid fighting the burly men now…
"Perhaps through Andraste's mercy, Her greatest enemy will become her greatest champion." I could just feel everyone's incredulous eyes on me. I know what I'm doing, alright?
"Just say what you have to say—and let us go?" I kept glancing at the sunshine that streamed in just beyond our reach.
The man's sonorous voice was starting to drone on and on. I was beginning to regret not fighting them from the start. "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Father Kolgrim. I lead the Disciples of Andraste. The Ashes you seek reside atop this mountain, watched by an immortal guardian who refuses to accept the truth of the risen Lady—"
"Your point being?" Kiera's voice was sharp, and the man all but jumped as he was interrupted.
"You will do this one small task for us, so that our Lady—"
"Get to the blasted quest thing that you want us to do already!" Kiera snapped, stepping forward and crossing her arms, visibly fuming.
"Er… take this vial of Andraste's blood and pour it into the Urn." The man was nervous, and finished, staring warily at Kiera, who was at her most threatening—she glowered quite impressively for someone that slender.
Everyone readied themselves—we knew where this was going. So much for not fighting, but we weren't going to defile Andraste's relics. "…That's it?" She asked, glancing at me, slowly relaxing her body.
"…And Andraste will be free— from the chains that bind her?" Maker, I almost laughed. Kiera had scared the cultists.
"The answer is no." With that, she drew her blades, and sprung forward onto the man, pinning him in the rush of speed. I gathered energy and sent fireballs at our enemy, Leliana's arrows were hitting their marks—and Zevran finished off two of the downed men. Alistair had also taken care of the mages—he was deadly with his smite-smash combo. It was really nice to have a Templar on our side for a change. Kiera cocked her head as she stood up from the Kolgrim's body, sheathing her swords and lifted the dead man's weapon, studying it.
"This will be a good gift for a dwarf—no?" She smiled; a wild spark in her eyes. The large double-handed axe looked deadly. And heavy.
"Yes, but I don't want to be the one who carries it back down the mountain. It looks like it weighs a lot." Kiera thought about it, and nodded, laying it aside. "We'll get it when we come back this way again later then." I rolled my eyes—she was persistent.
Alistair
The High Dragon was huge—way bigger than anything we had ever encountered; it flew overhead, the sheer mass blocked out the sun and the gusts from the flapping of its wings buffeted us badly. I was awestruck, and instinctively moved next to Kiera; who was staring up at it and appeared to be judging its length. She had held up her hands in comparison, muttering softly under her breath; and I was reminded of how stupid I was to have caused her injury—the platemail on her arm was pretty much ruined and gaped glaringly, her bare skin could be seen. I was satisfied to see that Zevran was very much disturbed at the sight of the dragon, although he was still standing too close to Kiera.
"Think the archdemon's about this size?" Daylen whispered when the dragon appeared to settle down to rest—its eyes had closed and its dank breath wafted through the area, and I noticed that he had moved to stand in front of Leliana rather protectively. The two of them looked quite cute together.
"Hmm? It's about the same. Archdemon's probably a bit bigger—old god and all that." Kiera answered, still watching the creature intently. A gleam crept into her eyes, almost appraising the beast. It was quite unsettling.
"Well… we'd better proceed on with caution—a fight with that thing would most likely end quite terribly for us." Daylen tore his gaze from the bulk, moving forward with Leliana close behind. I followed, as did Kiera and Zevran; her sudden question startling us all.
"Do you think—if we do kill it—that there'd be enough scales to fit all of us? You know—armor." Her question was innocent enough, but it entailed so much… craziness that Daylen stopped and turned to gawk at her.
"You're mad. You want to fight that thing now? It's HUGE." He had trouble keeping his voice low.
To everyone's relief, Kiera only shrugged and walked ahead, away from the dragon. "Yeah… I guess you're right. We could always come back later. It'd take ages to skin."
There was a long pause as the words sank in. "Sometimes, and I think I say it for all of us, but you scare me, Kiera." Daylen muttered darkly as we followed behind. I saw the elf hide a smirk, and I think I agree with him on that—Kiera might be scary, but it was also sort of what made her… exciting.
xOxOx
Kiera
You told me that anything was possible, that all I had to do was fight—to strain against the chains that hold me down. I had no one else, and the darkness that surrounded me before threatened to cover all I saw. The darkness enveloped within itself—and I was blinded.
He spoke—the thing that wore his shape spoke; words that no one else would have known, in the rich tones that were his voice. No, it wasn't him. It couldn't be. I answered as best as I could, and it deemed that I had indeed moved on, and had let go of the past—the mistakes, the regrets, I knew I didn't want to look back.
You came along, and I found that my eyes were open, and I could see again. You were my guiding star, as I picked my way past deadly crevices—you were all I had. I believed in you as you believed in me, and now that you aren't with me, I will have to light my own way.
And yet these words echoed in my head as we crossed the stone floor—the cold flagstones that would lead us to the Urn of Sacred Ashes. I had written them in one of the books that Marc had given me—books that detailed blood magic and its dark rituals. He probably had no idea of the contents; these had been written in Ancient Tevinter, but I thought he'd appreciate that I'd left them behind for him to find, and maybe destroy.
Maybe one day I won't have to fight, maybe one day this war will end;
Maybe one day I'll find the future will, and put this heart to mend.
I realized now that I might have been flattering myself—that a Templar like him would never have kept anything from a blood mage like me, but I'd wanted him to have something of mine, the words that I had scribbled in invisible ink. He had taught me how to make that ink—only visible when held to heat, and I wanted to show him that I remembered. I remembered everything.
Maybe my own light will lead me to the endless cliffs and barren plains, maybe my light will fail. Maybe my little light will draw me back—to the ones who love me still.
But now that he was gone, and I was only reminded of this foolishness by the manifestation that had been most startling—it had seemed to be Marc, and it had looked so sadly at me. I now knew that the tan leather tomes had gotten him killed— had labeled him an accomplice; knowledge that would haunt me for the rest of my life. I knew that I could not ever risk anyone else like that—especially not another Templar (and I suppose, one day a King); I glanced at Alistair when we created the stone bridge. I had to try and let him go, for his own safety.
Zevran
Kiera seemed most distressed after meeting that last apparition that had taken the form of her friend—whom I presumed was already deceased, judging by her crestfallen face. She claimed to have already let him go, but I knew that it had moved her heart—she was barely attending whilst we fought the copies of ourselves. These… duplicates of the three Grey Wardens were also ridiculously hard to defeat. I saw Leliana—the red-haired girl look worriedly at my bella, but we both remained silent, to bring it up this soon would be extremely… impolite.
Daylen
With no small amount of relief we had arrived at the Gauntlet's final trial; and after reading the inscription on the pedestal, Kiera immediately took off her armor and her undergarments— leaving only her smallclothes. The act itself was without warning, and although the rest of us did our best not to look, I inadvertently saw Kiera's bare torso; the scars on her back and front were faint, but some of them stretched inches, a few curved wickedly, forming a myriad of proof—that she had had been through a lot since the Circle. I caught the rest staring at her too, their eyes trailing her slender body; noting the faint marks. A couple looked to have been deep gouges, now-healed—but still hinted at the pain that was forever scored into her fair skin.
She walked through the blazing fire without a second thought; before we could recollect our senses—and the Guardian stepped forward, acknowledging that she had indeed passed the last test.
Kiera's only reaction to that was to pull on her undershirt and walk up the steps to the Urn, scooping the Ashes and slipping them into a small felt pouch. She then strode back to us, and Kiera handed the pouch to me, and began putting on the rest of her platemail. I couldn't stop watching her—marveling at her—wondering of her experiences. Part of me wanted to ask her about the scars; but that part of me was also afraid of the stories she might tell.
xOxOx
Alistair
I was shocked to say the least, but watching Kiera during the Gauntlet really made it clear how much of her was kept hidden from view, secret from prying public eyes. She had evidently wanted it so, but the apparition that had called her name—the figure brought up so many memories; and I realized that I had seen him, and by extension, I had met Kiera years ago, before the Blight. She wasn't called Kiera then.
Leaving the temple, we found the High Dragon waiting for us, eyeing our exit with a beady, uncomfortable interest. Leliana and Zevran both drew their bows, also unsettled by the attention that our little party was getting, whilst Daylen and Kiera were preparing to cast up something so large that the back of my neck itched with the feel of such strong magic.
Sure enough, the monster swooped down upon us, and landed heavily in the space that we had vacated, scattered in our haste. Zevran and Leliana fired their arrows at it, and I tried smiting it—only to have the energy resisted so thoroughly that I realized that I had nothing else to do but to engage the beast directly. The two mages had already finished casting—and successfully encased the dragon's claws in a thick layer of ice. Kiera was approaching the drake on its flank, trying not to draw attention to herself; and from that one image, I knew my role in this fight. I was to distract the beast from her—by any means necessary. I put up my shield and charged at the fiend.
P.S.: Hope you like it! Dragon fight's next!