Fires burned in massive braziers, lighting the courtyard where the Warden mages were already performing their dark ritual. A number of warriors stood guard, the magic playing off their bright armour.
Clarel and Livius addressed them from a gallery high above. Clarel was just as regal as Solana remembered. Livius was her malicious consort, fingering his staff as if it represented the power he'd been promised.
No one had noticed their party's intrusion yet.
A woman joined Clarel and Livius while Max and Hawke were debating strategy in murmurs. Solana had to squint to see her. The Chantry insignia was emblazoned on her forehead and Solana suddenly recognised her as one of the tranquil mages Falin and Cassey had been seeking to protect.
Solana was still dazed from her encounter with the Pride Demon so she didn't understand.
The tranquil knelt before Clarel, then stood. It happened so fast, in the blink of an eye. Clarel brought a knife around and slit the woman's throat.
"No!" Max ran forward, strategy forgotten and the others followed. Black spots were pressing in on Solana's vision again, bile was rising in her throat, but she forced herself forward with the others.
"Stop them!" Livius shouted. "We must complete the ritual!"
Solana's grip tightened on her staff. Weak as she felt, she would fight them. She had to. She couldn't let them go after the Old Gods, she couldn't let them start a Blight. Even if it cost her her life.
Max held up his hand to halt them and she skid to a stop. He strode forward alone.
Blood was roaring in Solana's ears. What did he mean to do? He couldn't hope to face them on his own?
The Wardens turned. They too were tensed, ready to fight. The magic of their half-cast ritual sparkled green behind them, powered by the blood of the tranquil.
And there was Cassey. Her mouth was in a firm line, her grip on her staff mirrored Solana's. She would strike Max down as soon as the order was given, and Solana knew she'd have to stop her.
"Clarel, stop!" Max shouted, "There will be no ritual and no demon army!"
It was Livius who answered. "Then the Blight rises with no Wardens left to stop it and the whole world dies! Is that what you want?" He raised his arms for emphasis. "And yes, the ritual requires blood sacrifice. Hate me for that if you must. But do not hate the Wardens for doing their duty."
Sick. The lie was so sick, twisting everything the Wardens were into its exact opposite.
Clarel's eyes narrowed as she addressed Max. "We make the sacrifices no one else will. Our warriors die proudly for a world that will never thank them."
Enough. "And then he binds your mages to Corypheus!" Solana yelled.
That seemed to startle Clarel. She took a step backwards and muttered something that Solana couldn't hear from where she stood.
Livius leaned to whisper into her ear. For a moment no one spoke, no one moved.
Then Clarel squared her shoulders. "Bring it through."
As one, the mages turned again. Green magic danced from their palms. It was so similar to Max's strange anchor magic that Solana was hardly surprised to see a rift open within their circle. She swallowed. If any of the Wardens present knew where the Old Gods slept, it was Clarel.
The instant she was bound to whatever they were pulling through that rift, Corypheus would have his Blight.
Max advanced on the Wardens, hand on his sword hilt. The rest of their party followed his lead. Bull held his axe menacingly and the lute-string twang of Dorian casting a barrier echoed across the otherwise silent courtyard.
The Warden warriors reacted, drawing together to form a wall between the Inquisition and their rift. A handful of different spells sparked among the mages, wardings and barriers and enhancements.
If this came to a fight, the Inquisition didn't stand much of a chance.
Something roared through the rift, startling even the Wardens.
"Please," Hawk called, his voice thick with emotion. "I've seen my share of blood magic. It is never worth the cost."
Solana didn't know what to say, but she knew she had to speak. They had to somehow talk the Wardens down. There were no other options.
"My name's Solana Amell," she shouted. "Some call me The Hero of Ferelden. I helped kill the last arch demon. I helped stop the last Blight." Hawke had turned to look at her. There was something strange in his expression. Had she said something wrong? She plunged on, regardless. "I am a Warden too. Believe me, if this plan would end all Blights, I would be standing there beside you. But it won't. It's a trick." She pointed at Livius. "That man's master wants you to wake the Old Gods, he's going to use Clarel to start a Blight."
The Wardens turned to their Commander and Solana dared hope her words had gotten through to her.
Livius immediately jumped in, gesturing wildly to Clarel as she stared at him. She asked him something that Solana wished she could hear. Whatever it was, he didn't react well. He raised his staff.
"My master thought you might come here, Inquisitor," he called to Max as he slammed down his staff. Once. Twice. "He sent me this to welcome you!" A third time.
A familiar screech cut the night and Solana turned her gaze automatically to the sky.
The archdemon.
Chills raced through her like the touch of a wraith. The archdemon. Her destiny.
Out of potions, out of strength, she had no idea how she was going to fight it, but she knew she had to.
It dived, breathing red magic into the courtyard indiscriminately. Wardens and Inquisition alike leapt aside, out of its path. It circled above them again, coming to rest on one of the towers, beating its giant black wings.
It was difficult to think of a worse choice Livius could have made. Up until that moment, Clarel had been uncertain of his allegiance. Now she backed away from him in horror. He was too wrapped up in his own glory to notice. He raised his arms into the air and the beast responded, sticking out its neck and shrieking its bone-rattling call.
Clarel's chain-lighting hit Livius in the back with such force it bowled him over. Then she focused her attention on the archdemon, sending forth a blast of electricity big enough to attract its attention but not to do any major damage. It responded instantly, breathing its strange red fire in her direction, before taking flight again and cutting a swath of flame across the courtyard. Livius scrambled to his feet and, as before, made a run for it, darting up the closest flight of stairs.
The rift roared again, and another Pride Demon burst through.
"Help the Inquisitor!" Clarel shouted to her Wardens before running after him.
The Pride Demon brought its hands together and when they came apart electricity was sparking between his jagged fingers. Solana ran forward, ready to pitch in against it, Max at her side. But Cassey skid in front of them, holding out her staff to block their path.
"Cassey – " Solana didn't want to have to fight her.
The woman's look was hard and unfamiliar. "Get Clarel," she said. "We'll handle this."
There was so much Solana wanted to say to her. She wanted to apologise for getting her involved in all this, for hiding her identity, for abandoning her, for killing Falin. But there was no time.
"Thank you," Max turned to pursue the Warden Commander and Solana followed.
Clarel was facing off against Livius by the time their group reached the upper battlements.
Something had destroyed most of this walls below them – Cullen's trebuchets? Perhaps the very same blast that Solana had witnessed? Behind Clarel, the ground dropped away into darkness. One of her spells slammed into Livius, sending him skidding along the floor.
He curled in on himself in obvious agony. "You could have served a new god."
"I will never serve the Blight!" She declared.
She was raising her staff, probably to put an end to the magister, when the archdemon, as if personally insulted by her words, swooped down. It snapped her up in its giant maw and carried her in its mouth as it took flight again.
Solana stumbled backwards, momentarily frozen in horror. It landed on one of the towers and shook its head. Clarel was floppy as a ragdoll. Then it flung her to the ground. She landed hard, tumbling to a stop on the stone. A lesser person – a person without the strength of a Warden – would have been killed, but she lay there, chest heaving, bleeding out.
There was no chance to help her. The archdemon started prowling towards them like a giant cat, eyeing Max as if it intended to make him the next meal. He backed away, towards the edge that looked like it was the edge of the very world.
But Clarel wasn't done yet. She pulled herself along the ground, even as the archdemon moved above her, each giant footstep threatening to squash her. "In war, victory." She rolled onto her back. "In peace, vigilance." She lifted her hand. The last part of the vow, didn't need to be said. In death, sacrifice. The archdemon leapt towards Max. At the same moment, Clarel struck up at its stomach with the very last of her magic.
It screamed and tumbled forward, thrown off balance. Solana dived aside as it clawed and scrambled, slamming its huge armoured feet against the edge of the battlements. But it was too heavy. It fell into darkness, taking a good chunk of the ramparts with it. Then everything around Solana was crumbling. The ground gave way beneath her. She fell to her knees, clutching for purchase, slipping down towards the dark. She reached up desperately. Max grabbed her hand and for a moment she was running, running from a landslide of rock and rubble. And then they were falling, all of them, into the abyss.
Solana opened her eyes and blinked. Max was standing upside down above her head. She blinked again, trying to clear her vision.
"We were… falling." Hawke's voice said. She turned to try find it. He was standing sideways, on a lump of rock. They were surrounded by a green-tinged darkness and columns of broken buildings. There were stone pillars too, stretching upwards like blighted fingers. "Is this… are we dead?"
"No," she said, slowly. "This is… the Fade."
"This isn't how I remember the Fade," Hawke said.
It was different to how she remembered it too. She'd been here often, but it had always been more like a blurred pathway. Now she could see every detail, she could feel the rock beneath her feet, she could smell stagnant water. "Maybe it's because we're here physically instead of just dreaming?" She looked up at the Inquisitor. "They say you walked out of the Fade at Haven. Was it like this?"
"I don't remember."
"Well, whatever happened at Haven, we can't assume we're safe now." Hawke said. "That huge demon was right on the other side of that rift Erimond was using and there could be others." His voice pitched. He was frightened.
Solana pushed down her own fear. There'd be time enough for that later. "In the real world, the rift that the demon came through was not far away, maybe we can get out the same way?" she suggested to Max
"It beats waiting around for demons to find us, right?" He agreed.
She jumped and somersaulted. The strange gravity caught her and tugged her down to where Max was standing. She landed on her feet, but It took a moment to adjust to thinking she wasn't standing on the ceiling. Now she was the right way up she could see the sky – the twisting green and black clouds. In the distance, the Black City of myth. She had first seen it on the day of her Harrowing and it chilled her now just as it had then. If she squinted at it, it looked like there were lights on inside. What lived there now the Maker had abandoned it? Goosebumps prickled her flesh.
The last time people had physically walked through the Fade, they'd corrupted that city. At least that's what the Chantry said. They'd also started the first Blight by bringing that corruption into the mortal world.
Hawke landed beside her. "Do you think if I say Cullen's name here he'll suddenly appear with his army?"
"Please don't," she said. "It's bad enough that we're stuck here."
"They're fighting demons and blood mages out there," Max pointed out, moving forward. "I don't know if it's any better."
"I don't want to think about that," she said.
Hawke patted her on the back, "Oh, don't worry, familiar territory for him."
They walked a little way in silence. They were in some kind of marshland, the water green and greasy-looking, the stones jagged and sharp. Skulls and bones littered the ground, and every here and there a candle flickered as if to accentuate them… or make a shrine of them.
Bull was muttering to himself, Blackwall looked as if he was trying to take everything in, Dorian was curiously quiet.
"Was he really that bad, when you met him?" Solana asked Hawke, trying to take her mind off her surroundings. "He's told me he was… different."
He didn't have to ask who she was talking about. He chuckled. "Yes, that's one way to put it. The first time I encountered him, he was punching a young man in the stomach for being away from his barracks."
"W -what?" Was he joking? She couldn't even imagine the Cullen she knew doing such a thing.
Their conversation drew Dorian's attention. "Oh, Ser Prim and Proper has a dark side? Tell me more?"
Max glanced over his shoulder at them. "I'm sure he had a good reason."
"Well," Hawke said, "the young man did transform into an abomination a moment later. Shame, poor fellow. Someone had performed experiments on him. Implanted a demon."
"That's possible?" Bull sounded horrified, something Solana had never pictured hearing.
"Hey, look where we're standing right now," Hawke said. "I'm coming around to the belief that anything is possible."
"So, Cullen was right to suspect him then?" Solana asked.
"He told me he'd meant to scare a confession out of the boy. I think he managed to scare him a little more than he'd intended."
"Oh."
Hawke gave her a small smile. "He wasn't all that bad. He didn't make a habit of hurting mages. He mostly just glared at them broodingly. And he didn't think ordinary people could possibly be friends with mages. Imagine my surprise to find him in love with one." He snorted.
Solana didn't know what to say. She felt her cheeks colour.
The Iron Bull broke the awkward silence. "Everyone, if I get possessed, feint on my blind side, then go low. Cullen says I leave myself open."
No one spoke for a while after that.
