ACT II: Crowned
Two weeks had passed. Our first meeting was just starting.
"Is there a reason we're deciding to have this meeting here?" I questioned the room at large. The main hall to Skyhold had finally been opened up to clean up and construction work. The workers hadn't been allowed inside just yet, as our group had taken up what limited space there was as we inspected the work needed. Josephine's eyes were on the high stone walls and the tattered tapestries, Cullen's gaze snaked along the ground, minding the broken wood and battered tables.
Leliana's eyes were on me.
"This is where our promise turns into action." Leliana glanced past Cullen as he shifted past her. "The Inquisition was saved, but only just. We need to rebuild and make our stand."
"But what do we do?" Josephine interrupted beside me, writing slab tight in her hands. "We know nothing about this Corypheus except that wanted her Mark." Shadows fluttered over the floor as workers passed behind us, the sunlight sneaking through the open entrance. A wind caught up and whistled through our ankles.
"Corypheus wants to restore Tevinter." I recalled darkly, my right hand rubbing the palm of my left, my eyes to the ground. "Could this be the first step to war with the Tevinter Imperium?"
Cullen, ever the general, took my question, "I get the feeling we're dealing with extremists, not the vanguard of a true invasion."
"Tevinter is not the Imperium of a thousand years ago." Josephine added, leaning into the conversation. "What Corypheus yearns to restore no longers exists." Her candle burned brightly in the gentle shadows of the crumbling corpse of the hall. I resisted the childish urge to snuff it out with a huff; I smothered a misplaced grin instead.
Josephine was unaware, "Though, they would shed no tears if the south fell to chaos, I'm certain."
"Well, what about our not-prisoner?" I questioned, glancing over my shoulder as if the mage would appear at my heels. Josephine and Cullen spared me a look, but Leliana took her pensive thoughts and consulted the ground at her toes.
"With my net of birds currently in shambles, I have yet to confirm his intentions." Leliana pulled her gaze to my throat briefly, then up to my eyes. "He may be more willing to speak to you, though, as he may see you as a neutral party."
"I am hella far from neutral, Sister." I joked. "He's probably heard stories."
"True as that may be, you're unbound to any families or alliances he may be familiar with." Josephine hummed thoughtfully. "For someone of his status, he will be well versed in families, some treaties, alliances and the such, much as I am."
"And because you don't fit into any of those, practically appeared out of thin air, jest intended," Cullen swayed a bit away from Leliana's glare, his focus on my face with a grin tugging at his lips, "he would be likely more at ease to speak with you, erring on practicality. You've shown to be logical, at the least."
"At the least," I intoned, "Barring launching a trebuchet in my face."
"Hence," Cullen twittered with a hint of snark, "at the least."
"Ass." I clipped, my attention back to Leliana. "Coming back; Corypheus said he wanted to enter The Black City, that doing so would make him a god."
A terrible threat passed Leliana's eyes. "He is willing to tear this world apart to reach the next. It won't matter if he's wrong."
"What if he's not wrong?" Cullen shook his head, a hand on his hip. "If he finds some other way into the Fade?" Josephine and I shuffled together, our eyes bouncing between the two, our shoulders brushed up as we stood next to each other.
"Then he gains the power he seeks or unleashes catastrophe on us all." Leliana stated finally, brutal in the facts. Cullen's face scrunched around his nose, eyes wrinkled at the corners, a sigh escaping his chapped lips. I hesitated, my ribs trembling with a question.
"Um," my right hand rose for attention, "Could I ask? Do all dragons look like his, by the way?"
"No." Cullen immediately replied, his shoulders slumped. "Depending on breed and type, they can be different sizes and colors."
"Though…" Leliana paused, an index finger coming to curl over her chin. "The dragon bore some resemblance to the Archdemon from the last Blight."
"Maker," Cullen pinched the bridge of his nose, "the very last thing we need is another Blight."
"Oh, let us not borrow trouble." Josephine tightened her jaw, fingers adjusting on her writing board. "We've seen no darkspawn other than Corypheus himself. Perhaps it's not an Archdemon at all, but something different?"
"Whatever it is, it's dangerous. Commanding such a creature gives Corypheus an advantage we can't ignore." Cullen amended, an apologetic glance over to Josephine. The woman next to me stiffened for a moment and I leaned against her shoulder, letting her go lax into my weight.
My hands ran up into my hair. Varric knows. The dwarf knew Corypheus, if not in origin, then at least in his first appearance, confused and violent in the depths of the mountains with Hawke and his sister. I swallowed, a seething heat curled under my heart, unsure of my next step.
"Someone out there must know something about Corypheus." Josephine murmured.
"Unless they saw him on the field, most will not believe he even exists." Cullen countered, shifting his weight to his back foot. My tongue was glued to the back of my throat. I knew I needed to share what I had, but I also knew Varric had done everything he could to keep his friend out of the Inquisition.
Guilt started to bubble at my throat.
"We do have one advantage." Leliana set her eyes on Cullen, then to me: "We know what Corypheus intends to do next." I caught up with her, my eyebrows raising with my hands still in my hair. They dropped as the light bulb flashed over my head.
"The assassination attempt." I breathed, stunned. "Right, I saw that shit when we went to save the templars."
Josephine inhaled sharply. "Imagine the chaos her death would cause. With his army…"
"An army he'll bolster with a massive force of demons," Cullen growled, "now that he's acquired the mages."
"Corypheus could conquer the entire south of Thedas, god or no god." Josephine took a glance at me, my left hand her next stop before she reached up and rubbed at her temple, worry touching her smooth face. Leliana ducked her chin to her throat, brow tucked to her nose.
"I'd just feel better if we knew more about what we're dealing with." She murmured, tired and sore from the days events. A wince ticked at my eyes and my guilt forced me to relent, I had to tell them, and I would apologize to Varric for it later.
"I know someone who can help with that," the dwarf's baritone echoed into the hall, stilling me. Startled, my group and I turned to spy the stout stride of my companion trudge up to us, his mouth and eyes strangled between amusement and terror.
He raised his hands, ever the entertainer. "Everyone acting all inspirational jogged my memory, so I sent a message to an old friend." Varric locked eyes with me over Leliana's shoulder. Tightly, my lips pressed together and I sighed, a horrid sense of relief doused my guilt. It didn't have to be me.
"He's crossed paths with Corypheus before, and may know more about what he's doing. He can help." Varric played the part well, grinning at me like a knowing fool and a flush flooded up to my ears. He's keeping me out of trouble. Fuck, now I really do owe him. A forced smile took over my frown and I stepped between Leliana and Cullen.
"I'm always looking for new friends," I answered, practiced as if for hours, "Introduce me, please."
Varric's grin turned gentle as he nodded. "Parading around might cause a bit of a fuss. He should be here tomorrow. I'll have you meet privately, on the battlements. That all right?"
"Yeah, whatever is most convenient." Thank you. I grinned a real smile this time, "If I'm dead by the end, we know who's to blame."
"Ain't that the truth," Varric chuckled. "See you then, though. I got a message to send." Varric reached out and patted my arm, leaving me with a knowing tick of his brow. A swallow went down my throat, thankful that he had covered my back.
"Well, then. We stand ready to move on both of these concerns." Josephine sighed, her weight centered over her feet, fingers lax on her writing board.
Leliana chuckled, hands behind her back. "I know one thing; if Varric has brought who I think he has, Cassandra is going to kill him."
I swallowed again; that's what I was afraid of.
"Well." I croaked, clearing my throat and turning back to my troupe. "Is there anything else on the schedule we need to go over?" An alarm blared through my ears as all three of the heads shared a look amongst themselves. Oh, fuck me. Now what? Leliana was the one to snare me with her gaze.
"One last thing, Herald." She stood forward and reached out to touch my elbow, turning me away as Josephine and Cullen took the lead and marched out through the front entrance. Nerves flared with a swift anxious twinge all along my back, my gaze flickered between Leliana and the other two who left us.
"Why do I feel like I'm about to be executed?" I twittered nervously.
"Nothing so dramatic." Leliana soothed, and nodded forward toward the entrance. There, Cassandra stood, proud and waiting. Now my nerves really were on fire and with my hands wrung together like knotted laces, I stepped toward her. Leliana abandoned my side, disappearing into a doorway just before the door.
"What's going on, Cassandra?" I hissed to her, hackles raised. The woman only offered me a small, crooked smile and turned to face out toward the courtyard. The lower level was slowly filling as new bodies came in through the gate, new tents hastily set up, stacks of crates dotted the walls.
"They arrive daily from every settlement in the region." Cassandra explained softly. "Skyhold is becoming a pilgrimage." Soldiers were quick to disperse newcomers from the gate, helping with the flow of traffic and directing the sick and wounded to the healing tents. Others still able-bodied were given supplies and sent off with new orders.
A few snagged a seat on crates and held their heads in their hands. My heart shuddered for them.
"If word has reached these people, it will have reached The Elder One." Cassandra took a handful of steps down from the hall's entrance, over the stone steps to a lower platform. Her eyes continued to scan the crowds as they came into Skyhold like a tide.
"We'll give them a home." I placated, unsure of what she was gunning for as a response.
She nodded, stopping at the lip of the platform. "We have the walls and numbers to put up a fight here, yes, but this threat is far beyond the war we anticipated."
"War likes to do that." I murmured, standing next to her, my hands folded behind my back to mirror her stance. A few of the new arrivals stared up at us, the sun now overhead and slowly making its trek behind the massive fort. I spotted the familiar glint of Krem's pauldrons as he hurried through the courtyard toward the gate. A frown touched my mouth, where is he going?
"It is a beast well known and ever unpredictable." Cassandra agreed, a short glance toward me. "But we now know what allowed you to stand against Corypheus, what drew him to you." I raised my hand, the light of the anchor, the Mark, glowed with a sputter and dimmed. My attention distracted from the lieutenant, it drew up to Cassandra's face, her gaze floating across my face.
A sigh drew from my lips. "This damn thing. I'm standing in his way."
"Perhaps in more ways than we've considered." Cassandra tilted her head, a speculative blink down at my hand. She shifted to face me slightly, a third of her instead of a profile, and she settled her shoulders, her hands at her sides.
"Your decisions let us heal the sky. Your determination brought us out of Haven." She stated. Embarrassment heated my neck and ears, turning them pink and I raised a hand to stop her, my mouth going slack, but she trudged on; stalwart. "You are the creature's rival because of what you did. And we know it. All of us."
New footsteps drifted behind us. With a jerk, I caught sight of Leliana coming down toward us with a sword at her side, bright and menacing, a hilt the size of both my hands adorned its handle and glittered in the sunlight. Oh, no, sonvabitch, don't put me on the spot like this!
"Uh," I let out lamely.
Cassandra chuckled. "The Inquisition requires a leader: the one who has already been leading it." A sharp ring of silence came through my ears. Nervously, I turned to glance below and found that the courtyard levels had been filled with merchants, pilgrims, and soldiers. Cullen and Josephine smiled up at me from within the crowd, the bodies slowly swaying to a stand-still as they turned their gazes up to us.
To me.
You bastards.
Tears welled up in my eyes. Leliana held the sword aloft in both her hands as she faced me, Cassandra at my left, as always. She nodded, her face stern and confident, the smallest hint of a smirk touched her bottom lip.
"You." She confirmed.
"Did everyone agree to this?" I murmured, emotions gripped at my throat. A hard swallow forced its way into my voice, the corners of my eyes wrinkling with unshed tears. Leliana and Cassandra shared a swift glance before the Spymaster stood tall and step forward.
"No one here has shown a greater sense of duty than you, Jaime." Leliana spoke gently, soothing the frayed ends of my nerves. "And of all those involved, you were the last of us who held that responsibility."
"Cass?" My gaze searched her face, a shiver of anticipation curling through my limbs. Her mouth hesitated, her eyes broken from their gaze over my face before she sighed and nodded, her hands fists at her sides, resisting an urge that I could see flash across her face.
"You have made me proud." Cassandra muttered, a tint of embarrassment coming through. "Though I had been reluctant to allow you the chance to lead, you never failed when you did. I trust you."
"Cass," I breathed, floored. The tears dribbled down my cheeks.
"There would be no Inquisition without you. How it will serve, how you will lead: that must now be yours to decide." Cassandra reaffirmed, her hand nearly reaching out to take mine. Heat swelled against my lungs and the tears burned with that new heat as they slid down my face. With a stare, I turned to the sword held in Leliana's hands.
My own looked miniscule when I reached to take the handle. Both hands were needed to pull it up and hold it up into the air, my tear-stained face reflected in the grooves of the polished steel. A hard clench of my teeth tightened my throat to clear it as I stared.
There is no Inquisition without me? The heels of my feet turned me toward the crowd, my heart hammered and stuttered like a madman in my chest, my lungs rebelled and swallowed my inhale, refusing to let go. The sword was steady in the grip of both my hands and I faced the true Inquisition below me.
Hundreds had died, senselessly and without cause. Corypheus had unarmed us with his ruthlessness and demanded sacrifices. And yet, the people continued to return, continued to bolster our forces, drive us harder with their determination to see an end to the madness that had taken ahold of us. I could spy the hazy figures of the Chargers at the back, the merchants along the walls, the few mages who escaped with their staves held up, unafraid of the templars that stood beside them.
My own screams in the hidden, ice-bitten cavern echoed through my bones.
I inhaled, my back straightened, the tears continued to fall.
"Corypheus will never let us live in peace, he made that perfectly clear!" I cried out over the courtyard, the echo of my voice ringing through the stone walls, my knuckles white as I held the sword before me. Cullen smirked from below with Josephine grinning giddly next to him. The spatter of my companions dotted the crowd.
"He intends to be a god, to rule over us all!" I continued, my voice stronger once the ball of bile had been forced back into the recesses of my bowels. A pair of horns near the gate caught my attention, even though I couldn't quite see his face.
A new, deeper heat surged through me. Emboldened, I grinned.
"Corypheus will be stopped!" I exclaimed, brandishing the sword before me, grin bright. "And we'll be the ones to do it!" Cheers burst through the courtyard, hands shooting into the air with fists and swords and staves.
"Have our people been told!" Cassandra commanded, stepping up next to me, her voice carrying over mine to the crowd below. A flash of gold caught the sunlight as rays of it scored along the level from the fort behind us.
"They have!" Josephine replied, exuberant. "And soon, the world!"
"Commander!" Cassandra barked. My arms were starting to shake. "Will they follow!" Cullen came to life next to Josephine, his shoulders going wide across his back, his head held high and he faced the horde behind him, with a back step onto a jutting rock, looking for higher ground.
"Inquisition!" He commanded, "Will you follow!" The crowd erupted before him, the soldiers howled behind the civilians, their hands raised into the air, shields exploded with sunlight as they were raised and drilled into the ground.
"Will you fight!" He challenged, his own fist raised as well. Another explosion of shouts, louder than the last as the Chargers at the rear near the gate roared up amongst the voices of the pilgrims and soldiers. My eyes spied the curious tilt of the pair of horns. Amusement, or pride?
"Will we triumph!" Cullen continued, enthused by the people around him. Their roaring cheers slammed together and rose like a heat over the platform, staves glowing bright, swords held high over their heads, civilians crying out as far as their voices would take them.
"Your leader! Your Herald! Your Inquisitor!" He hollered, the breath of his sword drew from its sheath and glinted in the fading sunlight, matching the stance of mine on the higher platform. He raised it as I desperately tried to keep my elbows from bending from the whirlwind of emotion.
Caught up in the moment, I forced my arms up and the sword over my eyeline.
My own scream of triumph was lost among the many others.
Note: This was an awkward chapter. Gameplay-wise, I understand why it's shoved right there after you reach Skyhold, but realistically... you shouldn't be having meetings in crumbling forts. And everyone's got to get their bearings first.
Eh well. We did what we could, lads. Thanks for coming back!
Psst. Dorian comes in next chapter.