In theory, the Archdemon was just a twisted dragon. Kiara had dealt with dragons, there was nowhere in Thedas that didn't have some sort of dragon nest somewhere, and the Companions had actually fought dragons in the past—tucked deep in their Compound in Highever there was a number of dragon-bone armour and drake-scale armour, which they should have really taken with them but the fact is dragon armour are too heavy to just cart around in their packs.

The surface dragons had always put a thrill of fear in her veins, but they had nothing when compared to this.

Large, black skin that clung to bone and lean muscle, the stink of the taint was overwhelming and the flames it breathed was as corrupted as its skin as it called down to the army that followed it. The stone bridge under its clawed hands groaned and broke as it took flight, screaming out its desire for blood.

Staring down at them from their perch, peering down into the chasm at the army that marched with a single-minded determination, well Kiara could finally understand why the Wardens would one day think it's a good idea to summon demons and attempt to kill the rest of the Archdemons.

"Oh Maker," Wynne breathed out in horror and Kiara gripped Morrigan's hand, hard, and glanced at Elion, Saya and Zevran—she was fiercely glad that Malika had stayed behind now, even though it felt like she was missing a limb.

Saya's hands were trembling, her knuckles actually turning white as she gripped her staff, and ice was cracking around her feet, begging its Mistress to set it on the source of her fear.

"You know I was still mad about Ostagar?" Elion whispered and Kiara barely inclined her head. "I forgive you. I also would like to add that Kirkwall really isn't that bad this time of year."

Kiara would have smiled but fear had frozen her face and had turned her feet to clay—it took so much more than she was expecting not to flee, to turn around and blindly run like Kiara had never allowed herself, to take those that were hers and say fuck you and hid away, but she knew there was no running from this, you can't outrun a Blight. Not even Hydra or the Nazis had ever frightened her as much as that Archdemon and its army.

It was Morrigan's hand trembling in her own that made her draw on her last dregs of courage and strength, and fake the rest, and Kiara bought her lover close and pressed a kiss to ebony hair—greasy though it was because of weeks of travel in the deep earth—and silently promised that she would protect her.

"Stone-blind beasts," a male voice called almost as soon as the Archdemon was out of sight. "You're no nightmare to us!"

"What the—?" Elion cut himself off and he spun around, drawing an arrow and knocking without thought.

"The Legion," Faren grunted, tense and wary as they headed towards the sound of battle.

Great, I had become one of those idiots that threw themselves into battle and ran towards it, Kiara thought though she didn't hesitate to add her blade to the Legion of the Dead.

"I can't let you do this," Kiara's voice was strong and fierce, she would not back down, she would not let this happen.

She reached out to stop him and he spun to face her, magic lancing from his hands to her body. His gaze widened at her unarmed state and she stumbled, her eyes wide as she stared down at the burnt, torn and bloody hole that had been the right side of her torso.

She shuddered, blood leaking from her lips as her knees failed and she fell.

Morrigan's horrified and tortured scream filled the air as she moved, arms out-stretched to grab her lover and hold her close.

Flemeth woke with a gasp, her daughter's scream echoing in her ears, and sat hunched in her bed as she stared at her hands.

Sometimes the sight she had been gifted with by Mythal was a curse. Especially when it foresaw such pain for her daughter and Flemeth was bound in a way that made her unable to help, to stop it, and she cursed.

For all her power, Flemeth still had to bow her head to Fate.

Oh Morrigan, my Morrigan. I told you love will only hurt you, but you have never listened when it came to Kiara, Flemeth thought and she wept for her daughter, her youngest and last daughter, who would feel a pain that Flemeth had experienced and hoped to spare her from.

It was horribly fitting that her most beloved daughter—who was so much life her—would also lose the one that she loved to death.

"You have been very quiet since they left," Lelianna commented as she came to rest beside where Vala was staring out at the Diamond Quarter from one of the windows of the palace.

"Twice I've been left behind," Vala mused. "At Redcliffe, it was easier as I was knocked out for most of it, but here? It's worse, especially when I look at Ellana and Malika."

"You are not the reason that they have stayed behind," Lelianna told her firmly and Vala smiled slightly as she played with the plain golden ring on the chain around her neck.

"Perhaps not the reason that Malika stayed," Vala allowed. "But Ella stayed to watch over me," she glanced at the bard, "it's hard for her being so far away from Elion and not knowing if he's alright. It's hard on us all, I know."

"We must trust in the Maker to keep them safe," Lelianna said softly and Vala looked away.

"It's hard to believe in Him when all this happens," she finally muttered and Lelianna just hummed for a little while.

"He is testing us," the bard stated and Vala scoffed.

"When will He be finished testing us?" she demanded, angry in a way that she hadn't been since her Wedding Day. "He has turned His back on us and yet He still tests us without offering any aid when we beg and plead for a shred of His kindness."

"It is not for us to question Him, but I can understand your thoughts and feelings," Lelianna glanced at the large stained-glass window. "I, too, have often though those things, but my faith remains strong. I have to believe that He'll turn back to us and help us, I have to."

Vala wondered what happened to Lelianna to make her cling to the Maker so much, her thoughts travelled to her cousin and she shuddered slightly, pushing the thought away.

She had meant to protect her, protect Shianni, and she failed her when her cousin needed her the most. Vala would never be able to forget that and just hoped that Shianni was now safe, or as safe as she could be in the Alienage.

"Are you alright?" Lelianna's hand was warm as it wrapped around her fists and she glanced up.

"I will be," Vala decided as she stared up at those kind blue eyes. "Thank you."

Dagna hitched up her pack higher as she followed eagerly after the Warden Elven mage and the Exiled Princess towards the Mage Tower, she had been bouncing with impatience for the last too long weeks as she awaited word from the Circle after Lendanis promised to send a letter to the First Enchanter and now she was finally going and completing her dream.

"Here," Lendanis waved her staff over her and Dagna realised just how cold she must have been as her skin warmed and pins and needles attacked her.

"Thank you," she said and looked up at her with wide eyes. "What spell did you use?"

"I didn't," Lendanis told her easily, matching the short strides of the dwarves she was traveling with. "I just directed my magic in a different way," green eyes glanced down at the eager dwarf and Lendanis smiled, "I learnt it from the Qunari Mage, Saya, that I have been traveling with."

"Where is she?" Dagna asked and it was Sereda who answered.

"In the Deep Roads, searching for the Paragon Branka with some of our Order and her Companions,"

Dagna bit her lip worriedly, "the Paragon is presumed dead by most."

"Prince Bhelen has evidences that makes him believe otherwise," Sereda responded shortly.

"I'm surprised you agreed to come with me," Lendanis spoke up after a while and glanced down at the blonde dwarf at her side. "I would have thought you would have stayed with your brother."

"I'm a Kinslayer exiled from the Stone," Sereda explained. "No matter how welcoming my brother is, I still should not be allowed to pass Orzammar's gates. The Assembly would have been in an up-roar if they thought I was allowed in and being treated as a Princess when that title and that right had been stripped from me if they weren't already fighting. It is only because I've become a Grey Warden that my presence hasn't harmed his campaign for the throne, me keeping away from him will be the best thing for him in the long run."

"And I thought Circle politics were complex," Lendanis mused idly, pulling her hood around her more closely as they marched across the snow—thankfully it wasn't deep so they weren't wading through it.

Sereda almost smiled.

First day, they come and catch everyone.

Elion frowned as the song echoed back to them and glanced at towards Kiara, whose face was set in stone where it was visible, and Saya, who was scowling deeply.

Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat.

"Hespith!" Oghern roared in anger and only reverted to mutters when Faren put her hand on his shoulder. "Sod it all to hell, if it's not enough she's been fucking me wife, but now she's singing that blasted song."

"Considering she left you behind," Elion spoke up, quietly and with a hint of malice in his smile. "You should have had some idea that she had a lover on the side."

Oghern opened his mouth, outrage darkening his face to a deep red, and closed it when Kiara shot him a deadly look.

"I don't know why we are so surprised," Morrigan muttered. "I'm still shocked she married the oaf."

Elion wasn't even surprised that Oghern just grunted slightly and didn't even grumble at Morrigan—when tension had been running high, the Sten had snapped something about mages that had caused Kiara to set him on his ass and levelled the Qunari's sword against his throat. Since then the Sten had kept close to his 'Kadan' and away from the human rogue, Oghern had kept to himself and away from Morrigan and Saya since that little display.

Third day, the men are all gnawed on again.

"I must say that I dislike this song," Zevran decided. "I need to hear Lelianna's sweet voice singing a proper song."

The smooth carved walls and bold runes had given away to rough stone—dug out by clawed hands and picks—and the fleshy corrupted tendrils and veins began to thicken on the walls.

Elion long decided that breathing through his mouth was a lot better than his nose, only people like Kiara truly got used to the smell of rotting flesh to a degree that they don't even notice it.

He glanced at the bulging sacs that were starting to appear and almost stilled when he saw something moving inside it, sluggishly yet alive.

Kiara's longsword pierced one sac, the size of a small dog, and she twisted it brutally before ripping it out, dark fluid shone on the steel blade and Kiara's eyes were hard as they peered out from under her helmet and over her facemask.

"What….what is that?" Jowan asked, gripping his staff close to him.

"Where did you think Darkspawn come from?" Kiara questioned grimly in return. "They are born like everything else."

"You mean...these are wombs?" There was deep revulsion in Wynne's voice and Kiara nodded.

"Kill them," Alistair's voice was flat and he stabbed his sword into another sac.

Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate.

"That's it," Elion's jaw clenched. "I'm shooting her in the eye."

"Shoot her in the mouth so she doesn't continue with that song in death," Zev suggested as he stabbed downwards with his short swords and killing forming genlock in it.

"If these are wombs," Faren began as Shale stomped on another sac. "Where is the….?"

Elion grimaced as Morrigan shuddered while both Saya and Kiara were brutal in making sure that none of this sacs—these wombs, and oh gods, they were wombs and that meant….—would birth the Darkspawn within.

Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn.

Elion had never been so relieved that Ellana was still in Orzammar as that verse was sung and echoed.

"Be wary," Alistair called, his voice flat and his eyes hard as they moved forward. "There has to be a Broodmother near."

Broodmothers, Kiara had told them about them and yet Elion doubted they realised just how Broodmothers were created until Hespith began her haunting song.

She had been the second tainted dwarf they had come across and like Ruck before her, she would end up dead by one of their hands. There would be no gentleness for her though, Ruck despite his insanity had been a more sympathetic victim and it had been a mercy killing. Hespith, though, she would be killed without mercy if only because her chanting song.

Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams.

Morrigan shuddered again and Elion almost joined her. This was the cause behind Kiara's fear, this was why she hadn't wanted to go but couldn't let Morrigan go alone.

Elion knew for however longed he lived, he would never want to enter the Deeproads again, and never would he dismiss Malika's fear. Because now he understand, now he wanted to be as far away from this Blight as she had since the beginning.

But like Malika, like Kiara, it was because of their promise and stubbornness that they would stay and fight these monsters.

Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew.

Kiara should have killed Hespith as soon as she saw her, but had let both Oghern and Alistair lead the questioning. If she had just killed the dwarf then they wouldn't have to listen to her.

It was bad enough that they were about to meet and fight a Broodmother without her telling them just how it was made. Because it had become an it, Kiara couldn't, wouldn't, refer the creature as a she.

Eighth day, we hated as she is violated.

Kiara was thankful that Vala wouldn't hear this chant, that Vala hadn't tried to come with them and had done as Kiara ordered. Kiara didn't order her Companions much, but she wasn't going to let Malika, Ellana and Vala be here, hell she didn't even want Elion and Saya here but she was also horribly grateful that they were here.

The sacs were becoming bigger and the corrupted flesh was spreading across the walls and the floor so they were now stepping in it.

Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin.

Oghern held his hammer tightly, this had been his House, his family, and Branka had let this happen? His wife had let this happen to their family? Sod it all, she had to have gone mad to let this happen.

Now she does feast as she's become the beast.

If Hespith wasn't hiding then Oghern wouldn't hesitate to shut her up with his hammer to her face. It had nothing to do with the fact that she had been sleeping with his wife, and everything to do with the fact that she was mad and just wouldn't shut up!

She hid from his stone-sense, but he knew Hespith. She would be watching them, waiting for another time to unleash a new horror on them, and Oghern knew she would be killed for it—perhaps she even welcomed the thought of her coming death. Perhaps she was keeping up that chant in that toneless and flat voice so they would kill her quickly.

He had never imagined Hespith being a coward, but he hadn't imagined that she had been fucking his wife.

There was a blind corner coming up and Oghern didn't have to be a Grey Warden to know what was behind it.

Broodmother…..

"By the Paragon," he breathed as he stared. "Laryn."

If Hespith hadn't named her as Laryn, he would never have recognised her.

She filled the carven almost, grey, corrupted, and bugling. Her pretty features were gone, deformed into the nose-less monster. There was nothing in the beast that reminded him of Laryn, her brown hair was gone, wasted away until she had only a bald grey head. This couldn't be Laryn and yet he knew deep within that it was.

Morrigan almost gagged as she took in this Broodmother that took up the rear third of this carven. Grey flesh stretched over bugling fat, it had rows of heavy breasts more suited for a beast then any humanoid thing, its' arms were short, too short to feed itself so others were feeding it, and the veins and tendrils came from it—they were thick, corrupted appendages that actually moved as well as birthed Darkspawn.

"Kill it, we have to kill it," there was something frantic in the voice that spoke and Morrigan realised with a start that it was her, she had spoken with such fear and she felt no shame for that.

Only a fool would stare at that and not feel fear, and Morrigan had never been a fool. She was her mother's daughter despite everything.

Saya's staff was the first to slam into the floor and ice spread quickly, greedily, freezing the flesh and making the monster scream a loud and echoing scream.

"Andraste's mercy," Wynne seemed to plead as she threw out her own staff and added her power to Saya's ice, Jowan and Morrigan joining them.

Morrigan's heart leapt in her throat as she watched Kiara dart forward, her swords flaming and trailing flames, and she wanted to shout out, to tell her to stop, but she couldn't, she had to kill it, kill it now!

AN: I hope you like this chapter, slightly longer than normal and damn hard to write. Please review and let me know what you think.

The votes for Game of Thrones fic.

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