Chapter 29: Antidotes
Delia sat with Leliana and Morrigan outside the Chantry while Zevran played a game of fetch with Dusty. Morrigan was asking about the many spices Delia had purchased, especially some of the herbs bought specifically for potions. There were several Antivan herbs that were not native to Ferelden that were used as antidotes which Morrigan had never seen before.
They were so immersed in their discussion that they didn't notice the four arrive from the castle. Aeden walked up to them, smiling, and when Delia realized someone was behind her she stood. Turning around and seeing Aeden, she smiled and gave him a welcoming hug. She looked for Alistair, who was in the back of the small group, and quickly walked to him, hugging him as well, but placing a kiss on his cheek. He was also smiling, and Delia thought it looked as if they had been successful.
She looked straight into Alistair's eyes and asked, "How did things go? You look happy, so can I assume Connor is fine?"
Alistair's face beamed. "He's not only fine, but he doesn't remember anything that happened to him. Did I ever mention that Wynne is an extraordinary mage? She is really amazing… I mean, it's not every day that someone goes into the Fade and kills a demon. I think she's one of the best mages I've ever known… maybe the magiest!"
Wynne chuckled. "The magiest? You make me sound as if I have a skin disease! I am, however, glad that I could save the child. His magic is strong, and with the right guidance he has great potential."
"I'm so happy you were able to save him. He's such a sweet boy. Last summer he would ask me to read to him every day. His favorite book was about Aveline, and I must have read it to him cover to cover at least three times in the month I was there!" She smiled at the memory.
Aeden cleared his throat. "Alright, we need to talk a moment about what's next. Would you all follow me over here where we can have a bit of privacy?" He led the party past the blacksmith's shop toward the docks. There was an area on the hill that was perfect for seating his companions so that he could see everyone at once. Aeden stood in front of his party and summarized where they stood.
"So… we've defeated the demon and saved Connor, but Eamon is still unconscious. It may very well be that the only thing that will save him from the poison is the Urn of Sacred Ashes. Alistair, Wynne and I talked about it, and we feel that we have to try to find the ashes, however if it takes more than a few weeks we'll be forced to abandon Eamon to pursue the warden treaties."
Sten huffed in indignation. "We must defeat the Blight. We have no time to waste on such foolishness."
Aeden nodded. "I understand, Sten, but to fight the Blight we need a unified Ferelden. To unite Ferelden we need Eamon to work with us at the Landsmeet. If we can save Eamon, it will save us time in the long run." Taking a deep breath, he looked around at his companions. "Our next journey will be to Denerim. We need to find Brother Genitivi. He has been searching for the ashes for years, and, the last Isolde heard, he was very close to locating them. His house is near the Gnawed Noble Tavern, so I propose we stay at the Tavern while we're there. It'll give us all a chance for a real bed and baths for a night… a luxury I think we would all appreciate. Were you able to get the supplies we need?"
Delia nodded. "Yes, the shop has reopened, and the owners are friends of mine. We bought the food we needed as well as a selection of spices and herbs. The spices will hopefully make our meals taste better and the herbs will give us more powerful potions."
Wynne raised an eyebrow in interest. "You'll have to show me what you've purchased. I'm always looking for better ways to make potions. "
"I would be more than happy to teach everything I learned in Antiva, Wynne, and I'm sure there is quite a bit you can teach me as well." She smiled warmly at the mage, who nodded in agreement.
"Is there anything else we need? If not, I'd like to make camp outside of town before dark. Teagan offered us rooms in the castle, but I felt it might be a bit… awkward." Aeden ran his hand through his hair, in a way that reminded Delia of Alistair's nervous habit. "Teagan did do one thing to help us speed up our travels – he's given us some horses and a wagon. We're supposed to pick them up here in town, so why don't we go to the stables?"
The group walked to the stables and found Ser Perth talking to the stable master, a man named Jerzon. Ser Perth had chosen horses for each member of the group, but upon looking at the Qunari warrior he realized that not all would be able to ride. Both Wynne and Morrigan preferred to ride in the wagon with Sten, so Jerzon chose a pair of horses strong enough to pull the wagon with the three occupants.
Jerzon asked each of the other members of the group about their riding abilities and experience. Alistair was the least experienced with horses, so he was given a large, but gentle chestnut. Aeden was given a spirited black horse with a blaze and white socks which was nearly as tall as Alistair's, but far more of a challenge. Both Delia and Leliana received bay horses that were trained both as riding horses as well as to pull a light carriage. The two were nearly identical, and Delia could imagine how beautiful they must look with a fancy carriage behind them. Zevran was given a grey gelding, which was older than the others, but still sound. Delia noticed how Jerzon was reluctant to give any horse to the elf, and she decided to be certain to mention the man's prejudice to Teagan when she next saw him.
Once they were all ready, they mounted their horses and made their way out of the town. Aeden decided to travel as far as he could take them, pushing until late in the afternoon and having barely enough time to set up camp. Since there was no time to hunt, they ate a meal of smoked meat and dried fruit. Wynne made certain that everyone riding a horse drank specially prepared healing potions so that their muscles wouldn't be sore.
After they ate, the group started to settle around the camp fire. Leliana brought out her lute and started to play some folksongs while Sten and Zevran cleaned and sharpened their blades. Aeden and Alistair were giving Delia more details about their time in the castle when they suddenly both fell silent and looked at each other. Both sensed darkspawn in the area.
The two wardens sprang into action, rousing their companions before the monsters caught them off guard. They were ready when the creatures attacked. Leliana was able to immediately kill an emissary with one well-placed fire arrow in the neck. Delia and Zevran worked behind the three warriors, using their blades and poisons to slow and disable the creatures while the warriors eradicated the menace. It wasn't long before the fight was over, and they were left with a huge mess to clean up.
The warriors started to pick up the darkspawn corpses and stack them downwind of the party. Zevran, Leliana and Delia collected wood, and before long they had a pyre burning at the side of the lake. Delia noticed there was a lot of blood on her armor, so she decided she needed a bath, no matter how cold the water was. Retrieving her soap, she called Dusty and brought him with her to a secluded stream that emptied into the lake. After removing her armor, she scrubbed it with roots she pulled from the riverbank to be certain all the blood was eliminated. Once the armor was clean, she removed the remainder of her clothes and jumped into the cold water.
She shivered as she cleaned her skin. The water was colder than she expected, and she tried to scrub quickly. The moment she felt clean she exited the water and dressed in the clean tunic and breeches she brought with the soap. Quickly she walked back to the campfire with Dusty at her side, but once there she couldn't get warm. Dusty noticed her shivering and ran to his master, trying to get his attention, but Aeden was preoccupied with burning the darkspawn.
The mabari ran in search of Alistair and found him patrolling the perimeter of the camp. Knowing he would most likely get even less of a response from the human, the dog simply took the man's hand firmly in his mouth and began to pull him to Delia.
"Heeeeeeey, what's wrong with you? Aeden won't like it much if you hurt his only other warden!"
Dusty simply growled in response and tugged harder. Alistair had one of two choices – go with the dog or lose his hand! He chose the less bloody route and followed the dog. He was surprised when Dusty brought him to a shivering Delia, who just sitting at the fire with her arms wrapped around her knees. Alistair quickly went into his tent and brought out his blanket. Gently he wrapped it around her and started to rub her back. When she still wouldn't stop shivering, he went into her tent and brought back her own blanket. Wrapping it around her back, he sat next to her and pulled her close to him, trying to give her his own body heat.
"Dusty, please go get Wynne. I don't know what's wrong with Delia and she needs Wynne's help."
The mabari barked once and ran off, returning in a few minutes with the mage.
"Alistair, what happened?"
He looked worried. "Honestly, I don't know. Dusty literally grabbed me and brought me to her. No matter what I do, she won't stop shivering. That's why I sent him to get you. I thought you could help her."
Wynne looked at the girl, who shivered against Alistair's chest. Delia wasn't responding to them, and Wynne grew more concerned.
"Help me bring her into her tent, then get Morrigan."
Alistair nodded and stood up, then picked up Delia and gently lay her down in her tent. Leaving her with Wynne, he ran to Morrigan's tent.
"And to what do I owe this intrusion, Alistair? I cannot think of a thing that you would want to speak to me about."
"Morrigan, it's Delia. She's shivering uncontrollably and Wynne asked me to have you assist her." He looked at her imploringly. "Please, she needs help. I don't know what's wrong and she can't tell me."
Morrigan nodded and picked up her herb pack. She ran to Delia's tent to join Wynne. Alistair followed her closely, but when he started to enter the tent, Wynne gently stopped him.
"Right now, Alistair, I need you to look for clues. Her hair is wet – she must have been in water. Find her armor and see if you can find anything at all. Perhaps she was poisoned somehow during the battle."
He nodded and found her armor next to where she had been sitting at the fire. Laying it out to better see it, he checked it carefully from top to bottom. There were no holes, and it looked as though she had cleaned it. As he turned it over to look at the back, he noticed what looked like a root of a plant caught at the edge of one of the straps. He carefully removed the plant and brought it to Wynne.
As she looked at the root, Wynne grimaced. "If only she had waited until there was sunlight to clean her armor. Morrigan, it's deathroot. We need an antidote quickly. Alistair, stay with her. You need to keep her warm, no matter what it takes."
The mages ran from the tent to look through their herb stores. Alistair sat with Delia, feeling helpless. He called the mabari into the tent and had him lie next to Delia while he had her head on his lap. There was nothing he could do except pray that she would survive.
The mages rushed back into the tent and pushed him back out along with the dog. Wynne started to look at her hands for any small cut where the deathroot could have entered her blood. She found small scrapes on her knuckles, no doubt from scrubbing her armor with the poisoned roots. Morrigan looked through Delia's herb pouch until she found the Antivan herbs shown to her that afternoon. She tried to remember exactly what Delia had told her about making the antidotes, but wasn't sure of the exact proportions. The only other person she could think of who would know how to make the antidotes was the elven assassin, so telling Wynne of her plan the apostate left the tent and found the elf.
Alistair was not happy when Morrigan brought Zevran into Delia's tent. He sat there, wringing his hands, with the mabari sitting worriedly by his side. Zevran went to work immediately creating the antidote.
"My dear Wynne, this antidote will take time to work. We must arrange for our sweet Delia to be kept warm overnight, so I volunteer to stay with her." Zevran looked at the mage with an expression that told her he was not teasing.
"Thank you, Zevran, but I think that perhaps that job should be left to someone else." She called Alistair into the tent, and he hurried to Delia's side. "Alright, Alistair, she will be fine, but must be kept warm overnight. I want you to take her near the campfire, and you can sit with something to support your back with her sitting in front of you, leaning back against the warmth of your chest. She'll need both blankets, I'm afraid, but if you get cold whoever is on watch can loan you their blanket."
He nodded, wordlessly, and picked up the recruit. Morrigan helped by finding a cushion for his back. Gently he sat her down, and then pulled her onto his own lap with his arms around her. He rested his cheek against the top of her head and closed his eyes. "Andraste, please watch over Delia. She is a warrior much like you, but to do your work she needs your help. Keep her in your loving embrace and have her wake in the morning."
Alistair dozed a little bit over the night. Each time he woke, he listened for her breathing and then kissed her on the top of her head. Sometimes he would find himself stroking her hair. In the hours before dawn, he noticed that she was beginning to feel warmer. He dozed off again, this time allowing himself to relax into a deeper sleep since she seemed to be better.
The sun was just coming over the horizon when Alistair was woken up by a kiss being planted firmly against his lips. As he jolted to alertness, he realized that Delia had his face held between her hands, and he relaxed into the feeling of her soft lips against his own. When she broke the kiss, she asked him why she was bundled up in his lap, so he explained how she had nearly caused her own death by being careless in the dark, so he suggested creating a supply of safe roots to scrub with when the need would arise.
Then, he took her face between his own two hands and gently kissed her again and again, making certain she could feel how worried he had been, but also how grateful he was that she was well. Delia said her own silent thanks to the Maker for putting this thoughtful and very warm man into her life.
