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Chapter 25
~Andraste's cult~
Morriana
We left the store with Bodahn after their hour of trading and only little gossip. While that did that I took my time walking around the village. Peering through windows I found no sign of anyone here at the moment, save for a little boy playing with a finger and singing some odd song. I talked to him, and found only little about what was going on.
I headed back to Bodahn as he stood next to his cart with everyone else.
"Alright, Bodahn, we're going to find out what's going on here. I need you to go back with the others, just to be safe." He nodded.
"I will, my lady." We waited until he was packed up and went on his way. The guard who had been their earlier was gone for some reason, which was good and bad. No more suspicion as to why the merchant left, leaving his mercenaries behind. But on the other hand he could have gone to tell the people who might have taken Genitive and then they could come after us if we don't hurry.
We trekked up another hill near the village that lead up to another building, only larger than the other buildings. Even when we were half way to it I could hear singing. It way beautiful, but I didn't know what it was.
"They're singing the chant!" Leliana said, a bit surprised and answering my questioning thought.
"I wouldn't know what the chant sounds like." I admitted. "I've been in a chantry only once when I was very young." Leliana stopped.
"But I thought… you were a Maker—"
"Worshiper? I am. Most in the Alienage are. But it's not like we have our very own chantry. We were hardly even allowed out whenever we wanted. They caged us like the animals they thought we were." Alistair winced as I spoke. I know he hated it when I talked about it. But it is the truth, wasn't it?
When we finally reach the singing got louder. Well, it's not like they live near other people to bother. I suppose they can be as loud as they want. Without hesitating, I opened the doors, and the four of us walked in. There in the center of the large room stood the rest of the villagers in a circle, with some guards stationed in various places around the room. The apparent priest stopped chanting as we walked in, letting the door slam shut to make us completely know to all in the room.
They all turned and looked at us. Some curious, some angry, and others frightened for reasons I had no idea. I walked along the room, keeping a hand close to the dagger at my belt, as I made my way to the priest. The people broke the circle, letting us pass and I stopped in front of him.
"Welcome child," he greeted, bowing his head. "It is an honor to have such guests in our small village here. I trust you are enjoying your stay?" The villagers obviously knew something we didn't at this time and quickly left. Out of the corner of my eyes I caught Zevran disappearing into the shadows.
"Where's Genitive?" I ask, getting strait to the point. His welcoming look turned into a cold scowl.
"This, my friends, is what happens when outsiders come into our village. You will bring war among Haven." It was then he shot an arcane blot at me that flew me across the room. I stumbled to regain my balance, but ended twisting my ankle . However, through my adrenalin rush, I didn't notice it. I stood and pulled out my blades, dancing around the guards and killed them easily. Alistair used smite against the priest and stabbed him with his sword then pushed his off with his shield. The rest died quickly by our companion's hands.
As my adrenalin rush ceased, pain struck my ankle, causing me to cry out in pain and crumbled to the floor. I heard a loud cling of metal hitting the floor and Alistair was suddenly at my side. I struggled to keep my breathing calm and even, but, even with Alistair there, the pain was just too much. I had actually broken my ankle when I was home, but not even then had it hurt this badly.
Morrigan dropped in front of me and rummaged through her pack.
"Why… why does this hurt so… much?" I asked, barely choking out the words.
"When your leg was injured at the tower it was healed my magic, then on its own. Perhaps it did not heal all together as we thought." Now that I thought back, I normally walked in front as we traveled and somehow when we camped I found myself in the back, like I had slowed down.
"I'm fine—" I tried to stand but Alistair and Morrigan pulled me back down.
"No. If you do, then you will only make it worse. Zevran, see if you can find Genitive while we attend to her." Alistair said. Despite taking orders from someone who wasn't the leader, Zevran nodded and dug through the priests pockets. Alistair moved to sit behind me, to support me, and (after he removed his gauntlets, of course,) rubbed my shoulders to ease my pain. Morrigan brewed up a potion that didn't seem to have a smell to it. I hear something moving behind me and turned to see part of the wall moving with Zevran in front of it. Inside, I could see numerous amounts of books and a figure lying on the ground. Zevran ran to him and talked to him, but their voices were too muffled.
"Here," I turned and Morrigan forced the potion down my throat. "This will not heal it but it will numb the pain.
"No, she needs to be healed," Alistair argued, keeping his hands on my shoulders as I began to feel a bit dizzy.
"I'm sorry, but were you not the one complaining we needed to be faster the entire way here?" He didn't reply.
"We can move on after this, but the potion will wear off in twenty four hours." I nodded.
"That's just fine. If we're gone longer than that can you make more?" I asked and she nodded. I waited a moment until the dizziness stopped and Alistair helped me up. We then walked into the next room, once they were sure I wouldn't fall, and saw Zevran knealing next to a man sitting on the ground.
"Genitive?" I said. Please, please, please…
"Y-yes. I am. Your friend told me about why you're here. You have to help me find the ashes."
"We will," Alistair agreed.
"But, his foot isn't doing too well," Zevran explained.
"We'll help him then." Zevran nodded and went to his left while Alistair took the right.
"Wait, there should be an amulet—" Genitive broke off when Zevran showed it to him. "Yes. That's it. When we get there I should be able to figure out how to use it."
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Alistair
It felt almost ten times colder when Genitive took us up the mountain to a door that, apparently, would lead to the ashes. I watched, curiously, as he worked the amulet and opened the door. The inside took my breath away.
Icicles hung on the high ceiling and snow covered the ground and built us at the corners. The structure of the walls was beautify done, most preserved in time due to the cold. A stair case was directly in front of us with a fire pit in front of his, lite recently too. All of us were amazed. Even Morrigan.
"This… this is just… amazing!" Genitive said is awe. When I looked to Morriana she had one of her wondrous smiles on her face and her eyes glistened like the ice. It just brought warmth to me.
"We'll be back when we can Genitive," Morriana told him, still gazing around.
"Very well. Return when you have the ashes. I… I need to study this architecture…." He stopped talking as he went to the wall to look as the designs and we went on. I hope that he, at least, stays in place. We done need to be looking all over for him… again.
We ran into a group of the cultists as we began to ascend the stairs, and they were not too happy about us desecrating their temple/home place. When it ended we tried going through a door, only to find out it was locked.
After venturing around in four other rooms, we eventually found the key and moved on. More cultists attacked and we nearly killed ourselves on all the traps laid out. Luckily Morriana and Zevran caught them and quickly disabled them. I honestly had no idea how long we were in there. But when I saw that we were all getting more tired and Morriana was starting to limp.
"I think we should stop," Morriana said to me. I nodded and she told Zevran and Morrigan we were just going to stop and set up. We didn't bother with a fire to alert any more cultists, but we tried to be careful. Morrigan took first watch, and the rest of us laid down on our bed rolls. Mine was placed next to Morriana's. Morrigan decided spider form would be best for watch and crawled onto the cavern ceiling for stealth. Pulling a blanket over herself, Morriana laid on her side, facing me. I did the same. We stayed like that a moment, just looking into each other's eyes. I honestly couldn't tell what she was think or what her emotion was.
My eyes then flickered to the movement of her hand as she slid it closer to me. I did the same so my hand lay on top of her. She smiled and I squeezed her hand. When she laid her head down on her pillow she fell asleep not much longer. I listened to her steady breathing and smiled. I fell asleep not long after, my hand still holding hers.