Chapter 26: Into the Deep

The Deep Roads.

The mere name of the place inspired both wonder and great sadness in the minds of the dwarves. Their highways, their lifelines, built at a time when humans were still living in caves and the elves were still a free and thriving people.

It was said, that a person could get anywhere by taking the deep roads, that at the height of dwarven power, they were the symbol that defined the vast and mighty dwarven empire.

A symbol now lost, a symbol…now tainted.

Once the dwarves had been secure in their power, masters of the darkness under the ground of Thedas, masters of their own destiny, and secure in their power.

Then came Dumat, the dragon of silence, the first Archdemon.

Then…came… the first Blight.

The first darkspawn had surged out of the shadows, destroying all the dwarves had built. Led by the accursed Magister Corypheus and his fallen brothers, the violators, the first betrayers, the darkspawn had begun the slow conquest of the deep roads, crushing the dwarves beneath the heel of Dumat and his tainted slaves.

Against such a force, the dwarves were no match, the spawn invaded and they fell back. The darkspawn destroyed entire thaigs and the dwarves fell back.

Now…their empire was gone…crushed and broken.

The first blight had passed into legend and from legend to myth.

So much had been forgotten.

Many no longer believed those tales, they thought that the Magisters that brought the Blight were simply a legend, a tale told by the chantry to frighten women and children, and justify what they did.

Bethany knew that at least part of the stories were true.

She had met the Magister Corypheus, she and Mari, in his prison in the Vimmark Mountains, the darkspawn had tried to drive her mad through the taint, force her to serve him.

She had resisted… barely, and stood with her sister when the bastard finally fell under their weapons.

The warden mage frowned as the monster's face swam up into her mind again.

She had had the most horrible of nightmares for weeks after their fighting against the creature, but like all of her nightmares, she knew how to end them.

She and Mari had killed Corypheus, now all he could do was haunt her dreams.

Part of her wished she could kill him again…and again…and again.

The warden mage growled low in the back of her throat.

He should have died much slower, as punishment for not only bringing the darkspawn into their world, but for his arrogance, an arrogance that forced the chantry to make the mages slaves for centuries.

For that crime, that first violation, the betrayers should never be forgiven.

She pushed that rage down; there were darkspawn enough down here to slake her urge to kill the creatures.

That urge frightened her, she…she had never seen herself as a bad person before she had joined the order, certainly not a blood thirsty or ruthless person.

The deep roads had changed all of that, and now…she was something worse.

An old warden had told her once that this place gets into your bones. The taint in your blood was nothing compared to the shadows of the deep roads. This place was ruthless and it made good people ruthless to, if you stayed down here too long, you would become as cold and as pitiless as the deep roads, and once that happened, there was no turning back.

Bethany sighed heavily; the first time she had been here had been seven years ago, during Mari's deep roads expedition. She…she had been so innocent then, so naïve. The destruction that the darkspawn had wrought down here had horrified her.

And she had begged Mari to let her come, she had begged Mother.

"It is the Templars or the darkspawn Mother," she had said, "At least I'm allowed to fight darkspawn!"

She shook her head at that memory now.

She had been such a stupid little fool!

She got her wish. She no longer had anything to fear of the Templars…and she would get to kill darkspawn. She would get to kill them for the rest of her life.

She wasn't sure exactly when she had become infected with the Blight, a splash of blood in a wound, or perhaps the small scratch of a blade or a claw, not that it mattered now. She had not desired to become infected, but she had. It had been a subtle thing at first, a headache, weakness, and then a cough. Then one sad morning she could barely walk. She begged Mari to stop, that she did not feel well.

She collapsed to stone floor of the deep roads, no longer able to stand.

They had still been at least a week from the surface when she finally began to succumb.

She still remembered the horror on Mari's face, the realization that she had doomed her little sister.

Bethany would remember that look for the rest of her taint shortened days.

Anders had told them then of the wardens, that he knew where they were. That he thought that he could convince them to take her.

So he had tried, and they had, and her life had been nothing but shadows and death ever since.

She had dared to stare into the deep roads, and now they stared back at her.

May the Maker have mercy on her soul.

She had been in the deeps many times since then, fighting with both seasoned wardens, and raw recruits. She had seen many die, and many more fail in their joining, but as the years went by, she still could not forget that first time down here, that particular horror that had latched onto her soul.

She felt it even today.

She had mourned her lost innocence many times since, even though it felt stupid to do so. The girl she had been, that foolish little thing always so scared of the Templars would not have survived long in the wardens.

She had needed to become stronger…harder, and she had.

She had horrified Mari the first time they had fought together, back when they had been drawn to Corypheus's prison. The coldness she displayed in dealing with the dwarves.

What has happened to you sis?

Mari's question had annoyed her.

"I grew up Mar," she replied, "You should too."

It had been a harsh thing to say, but she had not regretted it.

Bethany Hawke had been a child the first time she had walked into the deep roads…

She was not that child anymore.

IOI

The warden mage took point, with the exception of perhaps Leonie; she was the senior warden down here. Many of her patrols had taken her down here, far more than the Orlesian that was for sure.

The warrior did not seem to mind, not that Bethany cared if she did.

She preferred to be out front, she wanted no one to get between her and the spawn.

She wanted no one to get between her and her rage!

The warden mage glanced back at the others, at Justin, Bradley, Serene, and Merrill.

It was for them that she felt truly sorry, not that she felt many such emotions these days.

They all had that green behind the gills look, that first time in the deeps look.

She knew that look well; she had seen it many times in the last few years.

They were all sensing the taint…truly for the first time, not the whispers that one felt when they were on the surface, battling the few spawn stragglers that surfaced sometimes, but the true Maker cursed taint.

It was a lot to take in for the first time.

She pushed such thoughts away, she needed to stay focused, and keep her respect of this place.

The moment you stopped respecting the deep roads, it would kill you.

She knew that. She had learned that lesson the hardway.

More than any of them she knew what it was that they would face.

A cold sensation ran down her spine.

She raised her hand, bringing the group to a halt.

She drew her staff, a fire spell already on her lips.

Justin came up beside her.

"What is it?" he asked.

"A large group," she warned, "Not sure how many, but they have locked onto us."

Bethany glanced around at the tunnel they were standing in.

She smiled grimly.

"We should wait for them just up ahead; there is a small turn off. We should be able to bottle them up; their numbers will mean nothing there. We'll push them back and blast them down."

She gave him a cold yet pleased look.

"They will never know what hit them."

IOI

Justin nodded, his command experience taking over, he began to set the wardens to meet their…guests. The mages would take cover in the back, while the warriors drew the spawn in, and then the mages would open up on them. The rogues would make sure that no stragglers got away or behind them.

Justin glanced over at Serene; the ruby eyed elf gave him her bravest of looks. She drew her scythe and chain and hurried off to find a safe place to strike from the shadows.

Faizyl, Bethany's friend, used that strange vest of his to pull himself up along the wall, he anchored himself well out to the reach of even an ogre, and set to rain death down upon their enemies.

Bethany had insisted that the dwarf accompany them. He had been down here before, and had won honors protecting caravans to the Thaigs that Bhelen had reclaimed in the last few years

The Warden Commander hoped that the dwarf was no simply blowing smoke up their asses.

Justin drew his sword and boarding ax; he took up position out front, already starting to draw on the rage, what the dwarves called the battle wrath.

It was quite easy to do down here.

He looked at the ruined surrounding, the tainted stone, and crumbling structures. This place…it had become a monument to the darkspawns' depravity.

His Father, his holiness, had loved talking about the deep roads; he saw it as an example of what the Maker did to heathens. The dwarves did not bow to the Maker; they preferred to honor their own…

And for that the Maker had punished them, he had set the darkspawn against them.

There in the depths of the earth they dwelled,

Spreading their taint as a plague, growing in number

Until they were multitude.

And together they searched even deeper

Until they found their prize,

Their god, their betrayer.

The Canticle of Threnodies, his father had enjoyed using it as a club.

Justin's brow furrowed.

If he had seen this, would his Father have still thought the dwarves deserved their fate? Would he have thought that the world deserved to suffer such horrors?

Would he justify the existence of the darkspawn, his…murderers?

Justin had not hated his father, he…he had always hoped to one day win his approval. To show the old man that he was worth something.

The darkspawn had taken that hope away from him.

He intended to pay them back for that.

He…he found himself thinking of home, of Lothering. Bethany had described its destruction, and what had happened to Carver when the Hawkes had fled.

Thinking of his old friend…the very friend who thought that Bethany had been too good for him…

That thought helped to feed his rage as well.

That is when he heard it, a low hum, a droning in the shadows.

The taint in his blood responded, singing back in turn.

Hissing cries and war whoops sounded in the shadows. The wardens tightened their grip on their weapons.

Justin gave one last cursory glance in Serene's direction, but the elf was gone, hidden and waiting.

The warden commander took a deep breath.

Here they come.

Darkspawn burst forth from the shadows, snarling with fury and screaming their phlegmy war cries.

Justin let go of the beast, the rage within.

The fury took him.

The berserker surged forward, his world lost in a haze of red.

IOI

Serene let the beasts pass. She waited until they were all engaging the warriors. She waited until the way was clear.

Only then did she move.

She darted into the fray.

Her chain ensnared legs, tripping spawn, her scythe sliced throat and under arm. Her powerful legs fired hard kicks that put genlocks on their backs. She flipped up onto shoulders, snapping the necks of hurlocks and flipped the bodies into their fellows.

The bard sprang to her feet, looking for more victims.

Darkspawn squealed as fire, ice, and arcane bolts crackled through the air. The mages striking at the spawn, keeping them disorganized, keeping them confused.

Serene could feel it, that sense of panic.

She could feel it in her tainted blood.

The elf shivered.

Was this what she had to look forward to? To spend her life bound to the very monsters she was now tasked to kill?

She…she did not even feel elven anymore. She had more in common with the darkspawn than her own people.

The thought filled her with rage, white hot fury!

She could sense the others as well, Justin first and for most among them.

The closeness that they had shared, their passion, it had created a bond between them.

The fury that he gave himself to filled her up as well.

She surged against the spawn.

A genlock rogue tried to backstab Colo. Serene was on it in a second.

She broke its arm, its legs its jaw.

The creature spat black blood and saliva at her, soaking her face.

The genlock giggled at her.

She drove her elbow into its face, snapping its nose, but she did not let it fall. S

She held the creature up; she struck it again, again, and again.

All thought faded; the world became a red haze.

Kill! Kill! Kill! KILL!

KILL!

"Serene?"

"Bastard," the elf howled, "Tainted bloody bastards!"

Strong arms grasped her.

She shrieked struggling to free herself.

NON!" she shouted," Let me go! Filthy…"

"Serene stop!"

Justin's command finally brought her up short. She found herself held tightly in his arms.

She panted, and stared at the horror around them.

The darkspawn were not so much dead but splatter along the walls of chamber.

Had…had they done all that?

Wren emerged from his spot with the mages. He tended to the wounded. Bradley had suffered a gash on his arm, and Colo might have broken his leg when he had been struck.

Beyond that…everyone was still here.

Everyone had survived.

"Deep breaths," Justin said to her, "Take deep breaths, let the rage pass though you."

She did as she was told, the anger faded, leaving only the buzzing background noise of the taint in her blood.

Justin finally released her. She wobbled but quickly regained her feet.

The elf shook her head in violence around her, the horror.

She shook her head.

Nothing she had seen in Orlais had prepared her for this.

Bethany approached her, a wolfish grin on the mages face.

"Still alive I see," the mage said.

Serene gave her a cold glare.

The warden mage chuckled.

"It is hardest the first time, your first true fight as a warden in this place, the mage said sympathetically, "The taint carries you away."

She put a hand on the girl's shoulder. The gentleness of the move shocked the bard.

"You did well," Bethany whispered.

Serene gulped air and nodded, trying to focus on something other than the humming in her blood.

It was not easy.

The mage went off to aid Wren and Merrill. Serene stood their surrounded by blood and death.

The taint carries you away.

You did well.

The bard shook her head.

She might have done well, but she doubted that she would ever be well ever again.

Being well was for other people…

…Not for Grey Wardens