Chapter 36:
Out of Lothering and back in the tower. Sylina sucked in air as she saw all the bodies littering the ground of the Fade tower floor. She felt despair pull at her and her heart clenched. She tried not to look at the bodies, but the corner of her eye caught several that she knew. She closed her eyes briefly and heard a faint prayer being recited from another room. She turned toward the noise and opened her eyes walking toward her old teacher.
Wynne was kneeling on the ground over the body of an elf boy Sylina had seen a few times when she had been an apprentice. The boy had lashes all over his body and his eyes were staring blankly at the ceiling. Sylina shivered and Wynne looked up at her. The old mage's eyes were clear, but she saw the utter hopelessness the mage was feeling. "I failed them." Wynne said softly turning back to the boy in her arms. "I failed them all."
Sylina bent down and touched the elder woman's shoulder, "You didn't fail them Wynne. We haven't failed yet. We can still save the tower."
Wynne looked up at Sylina and a spark of anger crossed her eyes. "How can you say such a thing? Do you not see the death around us? Do you not see what happened?" Wynne swept her arms around the room and then turned sharply to Sylina pushing her hand off her. "And where were you when this happened? How could you let this happen?"
"The old schoolmistress asks a lot of needless questions," Morrigan scowled from in the back of the room. Sylina saw that the witch was leaning against a pillar with an amused expression on her face.
"Your blatant disregard for the dead is utterly inappropriate!" Wynne shouted standing up and turning to the witch.
"Woah. Wynne calm down," Sylina said, putting her hands up and coming between the two mages. "Don't believe what you see."
"You are stronger than this Wynne, I know you are," Leliana said, coming to stand next to Sylina.
Wynne frowned at both of them.
Sylina put down her hands and approached the old mage cautiously. "Think about the last thing you remember, before all of this." She gestured around the room not daring to look at the bodies of her fellow mages.
Wynne put a hand to her temple. "What you think this will accomplish, I do not know. But I will try." The mage sighed and closed her eyes. "I entered the tower. There was so much death...but I don't remember any of them dying." Wynne opened her eyes and furrowed her brow looking at the bodies around her. "How do I not remember them dying?" The older mage shook her head. "I think I should leave here, for a little bit. Get some air."
Suddenly the body of the elven boy stood up. "Wynne, don't leave us." Several other bodies stood up and asked Wynne not to leave.
The white-haired mage's mouth opened and her eyes went wide. Sylina felt sickened and readied her staff. "Stay away, foul creatures!" Wynne shouted, her staff in hand as she aimed at the first dead mage to walk toward her.
Sylina watched as the elven boy transformed into a sloth demon and said in its deep voice: "Don't leave Wynne."
She cast a frost spell and felt her companions spring into action. There were many walking corpses coming to life around them, but she was confident her companions would dispatch them. Sylina, Morrigan, and Wynne focused their strength on the Sloth Demon. She recognized that it wasn't the same demon who had entrapped them. This demon was far weaker and likely helped his fellow Sloth Demon control this area of the Fade.
When the demon finally sank into the floor of the Fade Sylina turned to Wynne. The older mage's face was white and she was shaking. Wynne looked at her and shook her head. "Best forgotten," the mage said and straightened. Sylina smiled in spite of herself and nodded.
They were in a city. That much Sylina could see. She had never been to a city, other than Orzammar. And the dwarven kingdom built its city in a way where one could not see past the buildings in front of them. This city had many buildings and she could see the tops of hundreds of buildings each seeming to be taller than the last. But her eyes immediately went to a building not far from her group. This building was lit up in an eerie light. Alistair, she thought. Her fellow Grey Warden. She would never let him fall to demons.
She pushed the door to the building open and walked in. The first thing she noticed was that the inside of the house looked far larger than the outside permitted. She also noticed Alistair talking to a young woman and smiling brightly. Her heart skipped a beat and she forcibly reminded herself that Alistair could speak to whomever he wanted. After all, her dream had been far worse than talking. She blushed at the thought.
Alistair turned when he saw them approaching. "Sylina! I was just talking about you." He grinned widely at her and gestured to the woman next to him. "This is my sister, Goldanna." Sylina gaped at the woman. Alistair had never told her he had a sister. She peered back at her fellow Grey Warden. What else hadn't he told her? "We're one big happy family, isn't it great?"
"I might throw up," Morrigan muttered.
"Ah, his dream is so happy," Leliana said. "But I never knew he had a sister, did you?"
Sylina shook her head and saw Leliana frown out of the corner of her eye.
"I am overjoyed to have my baby brother back. I'll never let him out of my sight again!" the demon Goldanna said, smiling toothily at the group.
"Oh joy, and I was thinking we would reason with the demon," Zevran said dryly, his hand resting on his daggers as he leaned against the doorway to what appeared to be a dining room.
"Alistair," Sylina said calmly. She could see that this would not be easy. Alistiar was more deeply enthralled than her other companions had been. He had been here too long under the influence of his 'sister'. "She isn't your sister."
He frowned at her. "What are you talking about? Of course she is. Oh, and she has children," he said as a small child ran past them followed by a large dog, "lots of children. There are probably a lot running around somewhere." Sylina groaned. So the demon had servants – that would make the fight more difficult. "I'm so proud of her. Look at all she's done, while I was off fighting, no doubt bound to end up dead in a pit somewhere...alone." His eyes clouded for a brief moment before he was again smiling back at her.
Sylina felt her heart pinch and she put a hand on Alistair's arm. "You would not die alone Alistair, but we must get back to fighting the Blight. You know this."
Alistair shook his head. "No. I don't want to go back. I don't want to end up like that." He looked down at her hand. "Why don't you stay here too?" he asked suddenly beaming at her.
"We may not be able to reason with him," Wynne cautioned, her staff in her hands. Sylina saw Morrigan and Sten preparing for battle.
"If we don't he might attack," Sylina whispered.
Alistair stared at them frowning slightly. "You're acting awfully strange. You know what. I bet you're hungry." He turned to Goldanna, grinning. "They can stay for dinner, right?" He glanced back at Sylina briefly. "Goldanna makes the best mince pie. You'll love it."
"Well, I wouldn't turn down pie," Oghren grunted from the back of the group.
"See! We'll all be happy." Alistair was grinning at them.
"Parasharra," Sten said, pushing himself through the group. Alistair frowned as Sten approached him and the giant acted so quickly Sylina didn't have time to cast. Sten pulled out his greatsword and hit Alistair in the head with the pommel. "Now we fight the demon," he said calmly as Alistair fell to the floor, unconscious.
"No!" Goldanna shouted suddenly changing and her voice becoming deeper. "You'll never take him from us!" Where the woman had been now stood a Pride demon. The most powerful and largest of the demons. The one that Sylina had seen in her Harrowing. Perhaps even the one who had warned her. She would never know.
She jumped back and Sten swung at the demon. But Pride would not be undone so easily. An army of servants, skeletons, descended from the stairs. Oghren had his battle axe out and swung at three of them as they approached. Sylina focused her energy on Pride. His purple eyes burned into hers as she tried to freeze him in place. The spell did nothing but cause a slight chill.
She saw Morrigan throw a fire ball at the demon, but Pride deflected it with its huge arms and the fireball went whirling in another direction. Sylina stepped back. She put her staff over her head and remembered a tome she read so many months ago, before her Harrowing, before becoming a Grey Warden, when she never thought she would need it in her life.
The air around her cooled as she called on her mana. "Stay back!" she shouted and she saw Sten move away from Pride. She glared at the demon and it approached her.
The elements were collecting and her hands felt numb. But she could do this. She knew she could. As the demon took another step she let her fury unleash. The storm raged around the demon. Ice and wind. The temperature dropped dramatically and the demon froze in its path, its purple eyes still burning into hers. She grinned and pulled the spell off. "Sten," she said simply, and the giant swung his sword and pierced the frozen statue of the demon, shattering it into a million pieces. The battle with the skeletons was still going on, but many of them were now running upon seeing that their master had fallen. When the last of them had fallen, Sylina stared at the spot the Pride demon had stood and shook her head.
She heard a groan and looked down to see Alistair stirring.
"Ow, my head. Why'd you do that?" He looked up at his companions and his eyes slowly cleared. "Oh." He blushed and stood up. "Well, um...perhaps we can pretend that that didn't happen? Maybe?"
Morrigan sneered at him and Zev gave a small chuckle.
Sylina smiled and walked up to Alistair. She gently put her hands on either side of his head and looked into his hazel eyes. She sent healing magic to his throbbing head and he never looked away from her.
"It was a powerful demon, Alistair, don't worry about it." She backed away and saw him lean ever so slightly in her direction before shaking his head and taking a step back.
"Right, well. Let's just move on then. Um...wherever that is." Alistair was blushing and refused to meet anyone's eyes. Sylina hid another smile and nodded to Morrigan who opened a door in the Fade.
Sylina looked down at the demon, now dead, at her feet. She shook her head and turned to look at her companions as they picked themselves off of the Tower floor. "Is anyone hurt?" she asked, giving them a quick once-over. They all seemed to be in one piece.
She heard some grumbles that sounded like 'no's and turned to look at the door on the far side of the chamber. They were close to the Harrowing chamber. Only two more floors. She felt a small shiver at the thought of returning to that room. She heard rustling on the ground and looked to see Morrigan sifting through the pockets of a male mage, dead on the ground a few feet from the Sloth Demon.
"What are you doing?!" Sylina asked sharply. She remembered Alistair and Leliana looking through dead bodies in Dust Town for coins, but she wasn't about to let Morrigan defile the bodies of her fellow mages. As she stalked forward, Morrigan got up and Sylina glanced at the body. She stood still and willed herself to look away, to not recognize the face of the body. She couldn't stop now, she couldn't mourn him now. Mourning would have to wait.
"Bah, he was in the Fade. I spoke to him before finding you," Morrigan held out a piece of parchment. "He mentioned that this might help us."
Sylina reached out and took the paper gently. It looked rather old and the edges were worn. She skimmed the words. She could read very little of it, but she could tell it was a spell.
"The Litany of Adralla," Wynne said, coming up to them and reading over Sylina's shoulder. "Why did Niall have…?" Wynne paused. "Blood magic. The Litany protects from mind control by blood magic."
Alistair groaned not far away and Sylina heard him whisper, "By Andraste, blood magic! As if our day couldn't get any worse."
Sylina glanced at Morrigan who was wearing a haughty look and held out the parchment to her. "Can you read this?"
Morrigan nodded and gently took the Litany back and rolled it up.
"Good. When we find Uldred I will need you to perform the spell. We don't know what we are walking into and it's possible he will be using blood magic."
She figured 'possible' wasn't the right word. More likely than not the mage was foolish enough to use blood magic. She saw shock flicker through the dark haired witch's eyes and then they darted to Wynne and back to Sylina. Sylina smiled, knowing that Morrigan was wondering why she hadn't given the spell to Wynne to perform. The truth was that she wanted to trust Morrigan, and she needed Morrigan to know that. Especially if she was going to be learning new, potentially dangerous, magic from her.
"Of course, Warden," Morrigan said respectfully, though the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
They made their way to the other end of the room and out into the corridor. Sylina knew little about this part of the tower, as it was off limits to all apprentices, so she let Wynne lead them.
As they made their way down the hall, Sylina thought she heard some scratches coming from up ahead in one of the rooms. When they approached she heard squeaks and rustling like something big was being dragged around. She turned to look at Wynne, her brow furrowed. It didn't sound like demons or mages, they were not usually so loud. The noises sounded almost...animal.
"What are you mages holding up here?" Oghren asked as they neared the door. "Sounds like a bleeding bronto."
The sounds were definitely coming from the room and as near as Sylina could tell something big was behind the door. She pulled out her staff and raised an eyebrow at Wynne who shook her head. Clearly the senior enchanter didn't know what was behind the door either. The group approached more quietly.
"We don't have to go in there, do we?" Alistair asked as they drew up to the door. Sylina heard the sound of furniture being ripped in half and a loud roar muffled by the door. They were other noises. Quite a few squeaks. Almost as if an army of children were running around the room. Except Sylina doubted they would be so lucky.
"We have to clear out the tower, remember?" Sylina said - though she regretted it immediately. She heard more shuffling as if the creatures inside had heard her and were now headed toward the door.
They reached the entrance and Sylina heard one of the creatures throw themselves at it and the door shook on its hinges.
"Um...Zev?" she asked, looking at the blonde assassin. He was the quickest after all, and if he could open the door maybe she could blast the things quickly.
"Mmm," Zev said coming to stand next to her and eye the door skeptically. She heard another bang as one of the creatures flung itself against the wood.
"Okay, you open the door and I'll...freeze something."
Zev chuckled and moved toward the door. He glanced back at her as he reached the knob and she nodded. The rest of their companions were making a small semi-circle around her and both Wynne and Morrigan were preparing spells. Sylina concentrated on her ice spell. It would slow whatever would burst out of that door. She heard Leliana nock in an arrow and Alistair's blade come out of its sheath.
Zev nodded back and pushed the door open. The first thing Sylina saw was a black mass that ran out the door. It made a small growl but she was already projecting frost out of her hands and couldn't see the rest of the creatures clearly as they spewed out the door. She took a step back to allow Alistair and Sten to jump into the fray, being careful not to accidentally freeze them. She felt Wynne casting spells to increase the warriors' resistance to cold and Morrigan cast a hex on the creatures.
She heard many of the creatures falling and Zev's laughter which told her the battle was going well from beyond her plane of vision. She only hoped the cold was slowing them down enough for the others to kill them. Then she heard a roar. She had forgotten that there was something obviously larger than the small creatures she felt moving about.
"What th-" Alistair said as she released her spell. The constant cold spell was draining her and she needed to see the enemy to determine which spell to use next.
Through the door and the pile of bodies Sylina saw the roaring animal. She immediately recognized it, though shock told her it couldn't be possible. A drake. A male dragon. How in the Maker's name had it gotten up here? In the tower. On one of the top floors.
She shook her head to concentrate and saw the three warriors leap into the room. Leliana sent an arrow at the Drake's head and it roared, twisting its head around to see the men running toward it.
From what Sylina could make out, the Drake had fought off several demons and shades whose bodies littered the floor. Likely it had been defending its brood from them and hadn't had time to see the humans kill the dragonlings.
The Drake was quick to realize what had happened and growled as it tried to grab Oghren. The dwarf managed to use the momentum to sink his axe into one of the Drake's legs. Sylina mustered another cold spell and sent it flying at the creature. The male dragon slowed and Sten sunk his greatsword into its flank.
In moments the Drake wailed and collapsed onto the ground. Overpowered by the combined might of the warriors and spells launched at it. Sylina stared at the powerful creature before she heard the distinct grunt of pain. She looked up to see Wynne kneeling over Oghren and casting a healing spell despite the dwarf's protests. The red-bearded dwarf got up moments later grumbling about women and always needing to meddle.
"How did these creatures get up here?" Leliana asked, coming up to Sylina.
Sylina glanced at the laysister and shook her head. "I didn't know about them. Did you, Wynne?" She looked over at her old teacher who was now examining the dead Drake.
"I never heard about it. Though I dare say it's possible that some mage got it in their head to run experiments on dragon's blood." She got up and scowled. "Foolish. And I can't see how the templars allowed this."
Sylina frowned. She wondered how excited she would have been as an apprentice if she had heard there were dragons in the tower. Now she was just glad they were dead instead of her, or one of her companions.