They were racing against time and moved with a swiftness that only the gods could have blessed them with. The fear for the Grey Wardens affected everyone, because if they truly did fall, then the world was doomed. The next Blight would consume Thedas. Corypheus could not win this.
The Western Approach was little more than an empty wasteland. There was a beauty to it's rocky mountains and moving sands, but Talyn didn't like the heat. She felt like her skin was melting. She would rather be on her mountain, where it was snowing at this exact moment. Although, they did get relief from the sun at night, when the temperatures dropped low enough to make snow if there had been any moisture in the air.
There was no time to rest. They only made small stops to water the horses and eat, and then they would be on the road again. So, there was no time for Talyn to ask Solas about the information she had gained from Keeper Adralan in the Emerald Graves. She hadn't told him yet about her encounter with the Dalish either. She knew how he felt about them, and she could understand why. Speaking to them in Elvish had been a disaster.
But that was another thing that bothered her. Why was it that only her and Solas could speak proper Elvish? Why were they so different from the others? The other elves around Skyhold, and even the Dalish elves, had all been shorter, and slender. So why was it that her and Solas were tall, and built more like humans? Their ears were different from the others as well. They were longer, sharper looking. The term "knife-ear" applied to her and Solas more than it did the other elves.
These were all questions she wanted answers to, but the most important one that needed to be answered was this: Why, did one of the only memories Talyn obtained since she fell out of the rift in Haven mention an ancient demi-god from the past? How was she connected to Rasdalalen?
She knew that Solas knew there was something on her mind. Solas knew everything, it seemed. She could tell how hard he had to try to not ask her about it, because he also knew that now wasn't the time for that conversation.
They stopped for the night when they were a day away from Weisshaupt. The soldiers needed to rest, otherwise they wouldn't be prepared for tomorrow. The cool air felt like heaven on Talyn's sweaty skin. She was laying with Solas underneath the stars away from the rest of the Inquisition, their limbs tangled underneath the furs they had pulled over them. She had her head on his chest, his steady heartbeat singing in her ear. Solas was running his fingers through her tangled hair, gently undoing the knots he created during their lovemaking.
She couldn't sleep. After their passion was spent, Talyn couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen tomorrow. She couldn't stop thinking about the fact that the Wardens were willingly inviting demons into their bodies because they were afraid of the Blight. And then there were the questions that have been on her mind for days. It filled her with unease, and that nervousness made it impossible for her to close her eyes.
"Sleep, little wolf." Solas murmured. "You need your strength."
Little wolf. Hmm. She kind of liked that.
"So do you." She replied.
"We're not talking about me." He countered.
"Well then, what are you thinking about?" She asked.
He sighed and wrapped her long hair around his hand. He tugged on her hair, so she was forced to look up at him.
His voice was like honey when he spoke in Elvish, "ar'm cogitare thu ma ema ta faciem an exercitus or mila soldieris enfenim, har or geal, la'var eal erathe slanna ahnsul ma tel'nea neal ne or nen dara to erat."
I'm thinking about how you have to face an army of elite soldiers possessed by fear, while being sleep deprived because you won't rest.
She rolled her eyes and responded, "Ar'm tel din a esha'lin or da'lin."
I'm not a child.
He raised an eyebrow. "Thera diana ajual enal aron sa."
Then stop acting like one.
She didn't know what possessed her to say, "Ehn isa eh Inferna Din Sul'emalan?"
Who is the Faceless Death Bringer?
That made Solas pause. Talyn moved so that she was leaning on her hands above him, his hand still in her hair.
His smile wasn't happy, but it was knowing. He switched to the common tongue. "Which Dalish elf have you been talking to?"
"I ran into some on my walk. They called me Rasdalalen, because of my lyrium."
Solas untangled his hand from her hair, but in one swift movement he flipped her so he was the one hovering over her.
His silver eyes were a stormy grey, showing the depths of his anger. It surprised her, and for the first time she was afraid of him.
That is, until he leaned down so their faces were inches apart and spoke pasisionately without taking his eyes off hers. "They know nothing. You are no one's slave, you are not Rasdalalen. No one's blood is on your hands, ma vhenan." He kissed her forehead. "You are guiltless, ma'alas'en."
"But, Solas-"
He put two fingers on her lips to silence her. "The only thing that you are, my love, is mine. And I will protect what is mine. So stop, and go to sleep."
Talyn let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine."
She rolled over on her side, and Solas moved behind her. One arm went under her head, and the other went around her waist. She closed her eyes and did her best to let it go.
They arrived at Weisshaupt just as the sun began to set over the blurry horizon. It was a massive fortress of red stone, rising high into the sky like the gates of the Black City itself. They stopped in its shadow, and Talyn stared up at the figures who stood on the wall.
They were two dark shadows, and along the lines were black shapes that she assumed to be archers. It was hard to tell because the blinding sun was setting right behind them, casting them in shadow. But she could see the insignia of the Grey Wardens.
"Warden-Commander Clarel!" Talyn shouted so she could hear her. Her eyes were watering from staring into the light like that, but she refused to look away.
"And who is it that comes to Weisshaupt?" A man's voice responded.
"Inquisitor Talyn, Andraste's Chosen, and her Inquisition!" Cullen responded pridefully.
"And why is it that the Inquisitor wants to speak with me?" Clarel asked.
"I know about The Calling, Clarel. Stroud told me."
"Warden-Commander, you are being deceived! There is no arch-demon! You are being manipulated!" Stroud, who was next to her, shouted.
"And so you came to tell me this, with an army at your back?" Clarel sounded accusing.
"Let us in, Clarel. We can explain it to you, and you can stop this madness." Hawke tried to reason with her.
There was a moment of silence, while Clarel and the mystery man spoke to each other. Talyn's keen ears picked up a few words.
"Liars." And "Deceivers" caught her attention.
"We have an agent of Corypheus with us." She told the others. "He's probably the mage who suggested they try blood magic."
"Damn Tevinters." Iron Bull's voice came behind her.
Talyn turned around in alarm, and saw Bull and Dorian standing behind her.
"Bull?" She asked in surprise.
"He's finally admitted that he was acting like a huge jack ass. He's apologetic, but he won't say it to your face because he's a stubborn Qunari." Dorian explained.
Talyn grinned. "Apologize for what?"
Her and Bull shared a look, and he smiled back at her.
"Well, first of all, I would like to apologize for my fellow Tevinters. They aren't as cute and cuddly as I am. I was trying to work with them on that, before I betrayed Alexius and his little cult." Dorian's voice was as sarcastic as ever.
"If there's a Tevinter up there with the Warden-Commander, we're going to have to force our way in." Bull grumbled.
"I agree with Bull." Solas interjected. "Weisshaupt is an ancient fortress. Trebuchets should bring down the wall easily."
"I will tell the men to get them ready." Cullen said.
"You will leave this place immediately!" Clarel shouted at them from above. "We do not need your sage advice, Inquisitor. We will do what we must to protect Thedas."
"Clarel, think!" Hawke responded. "Why would you all hear The Calling?"
"You will leave. Now!" The man shouted.
"I will not leave until you let me speak, Clarel!" Talyn insisted.
"Then you give me no choice. I will not put Thedas at risk!"
Talyn already knew was what going to happen when Clarel lifted her arm. When she brought it down, a hail of arrows came with it.
Talyn felt the tingling sensation of Solas' magical barrier around her. Everyone within range of Solas was protected by the raining arrows, while the others lifted their shields and hid under them. Talyn could hear the cries of those who didn't lift their shield in time.
There was only the sound of the arrows bouncing off steel shields. They sounded like raindrops. After a moment of complete silence when the last arrow fell, the world burst with sound.
The Inquisition archers fired back, some of their arrows hitting the archers that stood along the wall with Clarel and the Tevinter. Soldiers shouted battle cries and launched the trebuchets. The giant boulders crashed into the wall, making it rain red rocks and dust.
Mages were throwing their magic at the Inquisition, and Talyn turned to see Fiona shouting orders at the mages to fire back. She saw a thin green haze around the soldiers working the trebuchets.
Talyn pulled out her own bow and started to fire. The sun was setting quickly behind the Wardens, making it easier to see them. Every target she made, she hit. She grinned
There was a loud boom! She looked over to see the trebuchets exploding one by one, black smoke billowing into the twilight sky.
"Qunari explosives! How the hell did they get those?" Iron Bull shouted.
"Cover me!" Talyn shouted, leaping off of her horse.
"Talyn, wait! Pala!" She heard Solas shout behind her.
The same men who had been working the trebuchets hoisted a burgundy tree trunk as thick as a troll's leg, the battering ram, onto their shoulders and were running towards the gates. The magic shields that covered their bodies kept the arrows from shooting them down. Talyn could feel the arrows bounce off of her own shield.
As she ran towards the gates she put her bow back and pulled out the two daggers strapped to her thighs. She jumped, and then pushed off of the battering ram. She soared through the air towards the red stone and drove her knives into it.
The stone cracked with the impact. She tore it out of the stone and drove it back in, little pieces of stone flying. The knives lit up with lyrium light as she steadily climbed up the wall. The area below seemed to be louder, so she looked down to see what was happening.
There was another wave of soldiers running towards the Inquisition from behind. They were wearing the jester-like armor of the Venatori, their swords high in the air. She saw Venatori mages appear by magic behind the rebel mages, cutting them down while they were focused They attacked the Inquisition soldiers before they knew they were there, making the shields around the soldiers holding the battering ram fail. Arrows started to descend upon them, blood splattering and men shouting as they got hit.
'No! He cannot win!'
She worked faster, her tattoos lighting up, and the light moving into her daggers. The little holes they left burned blue. When she reached the top, a hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her up.
It was Solas. His eyes were shining the way they did in the Fade, his sleek midnight staff glittering with blood already. He lifted her up onto the wall, and then whirled around to fire an ice shard into the chest of a Warden. Talyn's daggers went back into their sheaths and she pulled out her sword.
How did he get up the wall before she did?
More Wardens surrounded them, getting in between them and blocking her view of Solas. As far as she knew, they were the only two on their side who were standing on the battlements.
"Solas!" She shouted, but she couldn't hear his voice over the song of war.
The painful screams of her enemies falling beneath her blade scratched at her eardrums. Her senses were being overthrown by panic, her arms and legs started to shake with fear. She fought as hard as she could to get to Solas, but the gap between them just kept growing wider it seemed. She saw a flash of his bald head, and for that fraction of a second, she saw his robes stained with red.
Her sword dropped to the ground, everything seemed to move in slow motion for that moment. And when he disappeared, her panic was set into overdrive. She frantically fought her way towards him, using her bare hands to break necks and punch holes through the Wardens. That burning Fade fire clung to her hands, latching on to anyone who got too close to her.
"Solas! SOLAS!" She screamed so violently that it tore throat apart, but she couldn't see him.
No. No. She wasn't going to lose him. They promised they would stay by each other's side, Solas was surrounded and injured and she couldn't leave him all alone-
'Stop.' A cool, collected, voice of reason sounded in her head. It was her own voice, but it was different. It was cold, like ice that cut through her panic.
'Solas can take care of himself. If the gates aren't opened, we'll all die.'
Talyn's eyes landed on the lever on the far side of the battlements that would open the gates.
'Open the gates, then find him.' She told herself.
She barreled her way through the sea of Wardens, not bothering to kill them anymore. She weaved through them, dodging their blades. As she ran, she leaned down and picked up a shield that had been dropped on the ground. She used it to block the sword strikes that should have killed her.
She used her stolen shield to shove at the Wardens, some of them fell over the wall, plummeting to their death with screams in their throats. She swung it at the others, the edges of it slicing throats or crushing bones.
She made it to the lever and pulled with all of her might. The wood shattered beneath her hand, making it impossible to get them closed again.
The gates creaked open, and those who were left at the battering ram dropped it and charged inside. The rest of the Inquisition followed suit, the sound of thousands of feet making the earth rumble beneath them.
Talyn dropped the shield and pulled out her daggers again, facing the Wardens that were left on the battlements. She was a whirlwind of shadow and steel, moving so quickly through the enemy ranks that all she could see was a blur of crimson. Her only thought now was to get to Solas, the image of him bleeding out in her arms in that twisted future branded into her eyes.
'Mine. He's mine, I will not let him die.'
The sun finally set over the horizon, shrouding their battlefield in darkness. Torches were lit, but those on the wall still couldn't see nearly as well as Andraste's Chosen. It made cutting through to the other side much easier for her.
She saw Solas behind a wall of ice. There were bodies hanging by the sharp points of the ice wall, one was facing her, as if he had been running before he was stabbed in the throat. Blood was dripping from them, steaming in the chilly air.
Talyn killed a few Wardens, and then leaped over the wall, slicing her palm on one of the icicles in the process.
Despite the blood on his robes, he looked unhurt. Relief nearly cleaned Talyn of her adrenaline rush, but an arrow aimed for Solas had it going back into overdrive. She caught it, and then flung one of her daggers at the offending archer.
"Our men are in." She told him.
Solas did a quick once over, making sure she was okay the way she did with him, and then nodded. "I saw where Clarel and that Tevinter man went."
The two of them raced down from the battlements into the courtyard of Weisshaupt, cutting down Wardens and Venatori alike as they did so. Bull and Dorian joined them. Dorian and Solas used their magic together to more solidify the barriers surrounding Talyn and Bull, and they did the same when Hawke, Stroud, and Fenris joined them.
"We have to get to Clarel before we slaughter them!" Hawke shouted at Talyn.
He was right. This was dangerous. These Wardens were only attacking the Inquisition at the orders of their commander, who was being manipulated. They all were. The more time it took to find Clarel, the less time they had to save the Wardens from annihilation.
Having the others join them made getting through the crowds of bloodthirsty swordsmen much easier. Solas soon led them to a door, the heart of Weisshaupt.
"The ritual room, back when this fortress was controlled by Tevinter." Dorian said. "Of course they'd be here."
Talyn tried the door, only to find it unsurprisingly locked. Her tattoos glowed again as she rammed her shoulder into the door, making it fly open, chips of woods going everywhere.
The sight she saw before her made her skin crawl.
Demons stood against the walls of the room. Shades, with their oozing black skin, Rages leaking liquid fire onto the stone floor, even Desires with their hourglass figures and barely concealed lavender bodies were scattered about the room. Wardens were also standing in the room, they were older, more grey in their beards and more wrinkles in their faces than Talyn had seen in the raging battle outside of this room.
And the man, who Talyn could now see, was standing in the center of a raised stone circle with symbols on it. Clarel was standing in the circle as well, the jewel on her staff shining brightly. The man had dark hair and an unkempt beard. There was a madness in his eyes that Talyn recognized on Corypheus' face.
Clarel looked up at her in alarm but didn't stop as one man got down on his knees.
"Take me for the ritual, Warden-Commander. I can't serve Thedas with this arm, but I can do this."
"Clarel, stop this!" Talyn demanded.
The Tevinter man sneered. "The Wardens are sacrificing themselves for Thedas, Inquisitor. Please do not interrupt."
Clarel pulled out a knife, and draw it across her palm. She took the other man's hand and drew it across his hand.
Talyn stepped forward, only to find that there was a barrier around the room. She slammed her fists into the invisible wall, and she started to shout, "Clarel, it's Corypheus! Don't do this!"
Clarel didn't pay Talyn any attention. Talyn watched in horror as she bowed her head and a green haze started to encircle them. She hit the barrier until her hands started to bleed, screaming and shouting at Clarel. No spell that Solas and Dorian shot at wall broke it.
She needed to get through, she needed to stop her.
The light started to dance on her skin once more, her hands lit with azure fire. She could see the barrier crack beneath her fists now, the fissures spreading until it shattered like glass.
Everything was such a blur, yet time almost stood still as Talyn rushed into the room. She felt something, like the echoes of time as her footsteps pounded into the stone, and Solas' voice mirrored another's as he shouted, "Talyn, stop!"
She slid across the stone, shoving the Warden out of the way. She brought her daggers up caught Warden-Commander's knife just as she brought it down on her.
Talyn glared at Clarel, strands of her hair falling into her eyes. Clarel stared at her in horror, the light in her staff fizzing out, and the green ring around the circle faded.
"Clarel," Talyn's voice was slow and calm, her eyes remained on Clarel unblinkingly. "There is no Calling. You are being controlled by your own fear."
"Don't listen to her, Warden-Commander. She's a false prophet." The Tevinter man said.
Clarel started to look at Corypheus' agent, so Talyn snapped, her voice deep and commanding, "Clarel!"
She turned her gaze back on Talyn, her bright eyes wide with confusion and fear.
"A few years ago, there was a darkspawn you had imprisoned. He was different. He looked like a man, but was also not a man, and he whispered in your heads."
Clarel blinked, understanding started to dawn in her eyes.
"His name is Corypheus, Clarel, and he is whispering in your heads again. He is planting false images in your minds. He wants you to complete this ritual, Warden-Commander. He is counting on you wiping yourselves out and joining his army."
"Hurry, Warden-Commander, before the Inquisition kills you all." The Corypheus agent said in a bored voice.
"Warden-Commander, please listen to her." Stroud stood next to Clarel.
Clarel looked around the room, her eyes lingering on the demons who stood there. Talyn watched the horror register on her face at what she had done.
"There is still time to stop this." Talyn spoke quietly. "You can stop this, right now."
Clarel stared at her for a moment, and then she dropped the knife in her hand. She shot a fireball at a Desire demon, and it burst into flames. The others stood still, awaiting orders, it seemed.
The Warden-Commander helped Talyn to her feet, and they faced the Tevinter man.
He was grinning at Talyn, an evil glint in his dark eyes. He said, "my master thought you would show, Inquisitor. He sent you a gift!"
A roar shook the walls, that death song ringing in Talyn's heart. She pulled the bow off her back and knocked an arrow into it, staring at the ceiling in expectation.
Stone crumbled into dust as the dragon's claws shredded the roof above them. Talyn released her arrow, and it hit her mark, wedging itself between two scales.
The Tevinter man was laughing. There was another boom!, and she turned around to see one of the largest rifts she had ever seen. It went from the top of the ruined ceiling to the floor, and was as wide as the dragon in the air above them.
Talyn saw it's throat light up, and shouted, "RUN FOR COVER!"
Clarel stood in front of Talyn and started to shoot magic at the dragon. It bent it's massive neck and reached into the room, swiftly chomping down on the Warden-Commander.
"Clarel!" The Wardens shouted in anguish.
The demons came to life, and the remaining Wardens attacked them. Talyn fired another shot at the dragon, and another, making sure to angle her bow so the arrows would slide in between the dragon's inky scales. It didn't seem to do anything other than irritate the massive beast however, and it drove it's front legs into the room.
The sheer weight of the dragon forced the ancient stone to crumble, and the floor tipped towards the dragon. Man and demon both started to slide and fall to their deaths.
"Solas!" Talyn shouted as she was thrown back, falling rapidly towards the rift.
"Inquisitor!"
"Boss!"
"Talyn!"
The rest of the group lunged for Talyn, but gravity worked against them and they ended up falling with her into the emerald, swirling magic of the rift.
OMG OMG OMG YOU GUYS. GUYS. GUYS. Are you ready? Are you as excited as I am?
WE ARE SO CLOSE TO FINDING OUT WHO TALYN REALLY IS!
I might have slightly rushed the Warden battle scene because I'm just too damn excited about this, and I refuse to apologize for that. :p
EEEEEEK THIS IS FINALLY GOING TO HAPPEN.
Thank you guys for the comments! I love them!
C.J.
