Chapter 37
The Fallen Thaig
"Keep them separated!" Leonie barked, "Justin, Colo with me, we will take the one on the right. Faizyl, Merrill flank them, keep the one on the left from helping his friend. Wren keep us healed and alive, MOVE IT PEOPLE!"
Wren shot Justin a curious look, since when had Leonie assumed command? He did not mind female dominance; he would not have fallen for Bela if he had.
"Do as she says," Justin ordered running off to help Colo and Leonie. Some commanders would have been pissed at how the Orlesian had usurped his authority, but to be honest it was a plan he agreed with, plus it was better than just gang rushing the golems as he had intended.
She will make a fine replacement for me if I fall.
No, thinking like that soldier.
Justin would not die here. He would not allow Delance to gain access to Golem technology. Golems, how in the Maker had the Templar done this, the dwarves had not managed to produce any new golems in centuries. No, he could not die here; he had to discover how Delance's people had gained control of golems.
If I die she will be alone.
He would not do that to Bethany, he would not leave her alone.
"Go for the joints," Faizyl cried, putting an arrow in the left golem's armpit, "They are weakest at the joints!"
Justin roared as he charged the right golem, the beast emerged. It screamed for blood.
IOI
Wren cast illusionary versions of his companions to distract the two juggernauts. They had to keep the golems distracted; one blow from the creatures could kill a man.
The golem on the left grunted as its fist went through an illusion of Leonie, but rather than continue its attack, the creature gestured, a Templar prayer of cleansing coming from its stone mouth.
The illusions dissolved.
"They have Templar abilities!" Wren shouted barely avoiding a fist from the left golem.
Shit!
IOI
Justin watched as Merrill went down from a smite from the right golem. Faizyl and Wren were having trouble with their playmate, and this one would not be a good boy and die.
Time for a new tactic.
"Colo," he called to the large Antivan, "Allez oop!"
Nodding the large man fell back lowered his ax and kneeled. Justin ran towards him. The Antivan caught him, and flipped him up onto their golem's shoulders.
The creature whirled and bucked, trying to dislodge him, but Justin had sunk his sword into the joint where the creature's head met its neck. He pried on the head, trying to remove it from the golem's body.
"You will fall!" the golem shrieked, its large hands unable to reach the warden because of its large shoulder plates. "All shall bow to the chant of darkness. Hail Delance!"
Chant of Darkness? Justin chuckled so that was what they called Delance's new chant, cute. Well if they wanted cute Justin could do cute.
"Hail this you ugly pile of stone!" Justin dug his sword deeper, and pried with all his strength.
The golems head came off with a loud pop. A flash of magic blew the warden from the creature's shoulders.
Justin fell hard, he cried out as his arm snapped, but it did not remove his smile. The right golem, now headless staggered, it swiped blindly, weakly as the last of its strength faded.
The golem fell.
The warden commander grinned madly.
One down one to go.
The remaining golem wailed, it swung its massive hands like war hammers. Merrill, recovered from the smite, hit it with a stone fist spell, staggering it. Colo having found an old dwarven war hammer struck at the creatures legs where they connected to the golem's torso, denting armor. Leonie danced around the creature, her great sword jabbing at unprotected areas behind the creature's knees.
Finally the overwhelmed golem went down on its knees. Leonie swung her great sword with a massive war cry. The Orlesian's blow was perfect; it severed the head from golem with a single stroke.
It fell with a resounding clang.
The wardens were exhausted, if this fight had gone on any longer…
Faizyl jumped down from the dwarven statue which had been his perch during the fight. He regarded the golems with a sense of wonder.
"They did it," the dwarf gasped, a look of disbelief on his face, "They actually did it."
"Did what?" Justin growled; he had had enough surprises for one day. Wren touched his broken arm lightly, magic flowed healing the shattered bone.
The dwarf regarded him with a look of pure childlike awe, "They must have restored it, or rebuilt it!"
"Faizyl spit it out!" Justin snarled, quickly losing his patience.
"The Anvil of the Void."
Leonie gasped, she had heard the tales of the fifth Blight. Supposedly, the warden heroes had journeyed into the deep roads in search of the Paragon Branka. They had found her in a fortress buried deep beneath the ground. She had murdered her entire family trying to gain possession of the Anvil, the dwarven tool for creating Golems.
But it was destroyed; the tales had said it was destroyed!
"Brasca," Colo hissed, a look of horror on his face, "If possessing the taint was not enough for Delance, if he gains control of a golem army as well…"
"That is not going to happen!" Justin snarled coldly, this mission had taken a decidedly different turn, "Delance must not gain the ability to make golems. I want that Anvil in our possession, now!"
Easier said than done Wren thought, it was then that he noticed movement at the entrance to the fortress interior. Dwarves in full battle armor, their weapons ready.
"We got Company!" the healer called out, an arcane bolt crackling on his fingertips.
Justin regarded the newcomers with a sneer, "I don't suppose you will just let us pass," He said drily.
"We are sorry Warden," a dwarven captain said regretfully, "but the future of Orzammar is at stake. We must kill you all now. I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Justin purred in a dangerous voice, a feral gleam in his eyes, "We aren't the ones about to die."
He flung himself at the dwarven captain, severing the man's head with a single swipe of his bent long sword. The beast roared in delight, hot blood splattered the wardens as they engaged the defenders of Kal'Hirol.
He was surprised to see several Exaltednist Templars scattered among the defenders. He caught their cries of 'Hail Delance' right before he gutted them. They were good, so were the dwarves many of which were likely members of the dwarven warrior caste.
The Wardens were better.
The close quarters fighting in the fortress itself suited the wardens far better than the fortresses defenders. The dwarves superior numbers meant little in the close confines of those narrow hallways. Leonie and Colo followed in his wake, sword and ax doing their work with ruthless efficiency.
There were far too few Templars to prevent Wren from using his illusions effectively. The defenders were assaulted by ghostly wardens, and were thus unprepared when the real thing engaged them in combat.
The defenders tried to barricade the trade quarter of the old fortress as its defenders had done in ancient times against the darkspawn; a lone arrow struck the barrier…an arrow with a lit fuse.
The barricade exploded throwing shrapnel, and flinging defenders through the air.
From his perch above, Faizyl giggled, "Aveline says hi boyos," the archer cackled.
Seeing that they were outclassed the dwarves fell back to the fortresses lower levels, Merrill's lightning storms bedeviling the entire time.
Justin gasped, the fury fading, the redness of his vision faded. He regarded his companions. They were surprisingly in good shape. Scrapes and burns were the bulk of the injuries; Wren had done his job well.
"Maker's Breath Justin," Leonie gasped, "You have blood from head to toe."
The commander regarded himself, he did look pretty bad, but most of the blood was not his. Berserking it seemed was a good fighting style in tight places.
"Most of the warriors we have fought so far are from the noble houses," Faizyl said with distaste, "I don't see any of Bhelen's troops here, and none of his brands either."
Interesting, Justin thought, were the nobles planning a little coup here. It made sense; perhaps they offered Delance Golems in exchange for his help.
Whatever it was Justin could not allow it to succeed. Delance was dangerous enough as is; he could not be allowed to gain a foothold in Orzammar. So, Justin would do his part to aid the dwarven throne.
He did not like or trust Bhelen, he simply had no other option.
"Captain?"
Justin turned Wren gave him a predatory smile; he looked like the cat that had eaten the canary.
"We have survivors," the healer gloated, "I think you got to hear this."
Justin followed his friend. It was time for a little information, and then they would get to the bottom of this.
IOI
"Tell them nothing brother!"
"But sister, they said they would spare us and they are very angry."
"You swore an oath!"
Justin regarded the two dwarves sitting before him. Kalla and her brother Kathis were members of the smith caste, sent here to study at Kal'Hirol three years ago. They had been resting in their rooms when the fighting occurred and hid there until the fighting was over. Wren had found them there, and now dragged them before Justin.
"Start at the beginning," Justin growled, "and maybe you will survive this."
"Sister," Kathis blubbered, "We should! Bhelen will kill for this!"
"You swore to serve the true King," His sister ranted, "The stone will curse you if you say anything!"
"I take it when you say true King you are not referring to Bhelen?" Leonie asked.
"We will say nothing bitch!" Kalla snarled.
Kalla was fanatically loyal to their cause it seemed. She had spit and shrieked obscenities as Wren had dragged her down the hallway. Her brother it seemed did not share her loyalty.
"He returned to us two years ago," Kathis whimpered, avoiding his sisters shocked gaze.
"Shut Up!" she growled.
Her brother did not listen.
"He came here from the surface, the chantry brother Simons with him. They had claimed…they claimed they had an offer for the Assembly. Apparently he and his allies within your chantry had braved the deep roads. They had found Caradin's fortress beyond the dead trenches."
"Who is Caradin?" Justin asked.
"The smith who made the anvil," Faizyl offered.
Justin nodded, "Go on."
"They found it there," Kathis said his voice full of awe, "the broken shards of the Anvil of the Void. He…offered it to us for the future of Orzammar, a chance to restore our army of Golems. All he demanded was that we help him oust Bhelen from the throne."
"Who is he?" Justin asked.
"Brother I swear, by the stone I will bash your head in, if you don't shut up!"
Kathis whimpered at his sister's threat, but continued anyway. He had never wanted to be part of this…treason.
"Lord Aeducan," he murmured, "Lord Duran Aeducan."
Justin narrowed his eyes; he had heard that name before, weeks ago. Bethany had told him the story of Bhelen's rise to power. The youngest of three sons: the eldest Trian murdered by their middle brother, the middle brother who was banished into the deep roads during the blight.
A middle brother named Duran.
"So this Duran convinced you to rebel against your King." Leonie muttered to herself.
The male smith nodded.
"Two months ago one of Bhelen spies discovered the deal we had made with Duran. They…they would have ruined everything. We had kept the Anvil secret for years. Bhelen would have claimed it for himself and killed us all. Duran killed the spy, and we… sealed the Thaig, we thought it was for the best. Duran sent word to his allies on the surface, and they sent soldiers down here to reinforce us. Brother Simons arrived almost a month ago. He had brought word from the Assembly; we were to start producing Golems immediately."
"So the Assembly is aware of this plot?" Justin growled.
Kathis nodded.
"How many golems have you finished?"
"We have built four in the last year. The work is dangerous, the energies the anvil uses is unstable. Three standard golems and one experimental model, we call it a maelstrom golem."
"What does it do?"
"Projects lightning."
"Thank you brother," Kalla hissed, "you just doomed Orzammar!"
"Duran lied to us sister!" Kathis cried hysterically.
Justin asked the dwarf what he meant by that.
"I heard Lord Duran and the human talking. This…it…it was never about saving Orzammar. Duran wants the city…he wants our home… destroyed. He blames us for his exile. I heard him tell the human that he could have all the lyrium if he let Duran destroy Orzammar!"
"So your savior intends to sell your people into slavery." Wren laughed.
"That is not true! You heard wrong!" Kalla shrieked in her brother's ear. "Duran is our true King he will save us!"
"How can he save us as a golem sister?"
Justin wasn't sure he heard that right.
"Wait," Justin growled drawing the dwarf's attention, "What do you mean he wants to be golem."
"I mean exactly that human." Kathis said in a haunted voice. "He was laid on the anvil yesterday, when our sentries spotted your approach. He has bonded with the Maelstrom golem. He has gone mad!"
"Where is he?"
"The lower levels, he has the chantry brother and a few of his soldiers with him as well. You won't be able to stop the Maelstrom; it is twice the size of the standard golem, and far more powerful without a control rod."
"We're going down there aren't we?" Wren groused.
"You must hurry!" Kathis begged, "The brother ordered us to prepare the last golem for activation. If he has succeeded…"
Then there would be another death machine waiting down below for them, lovely.
Wren volunteered to stay behind and watch the prisoners, leaving Justin and the others to go to the fortress's lower reaches.
No problem, kill the exaltednists, kill this Maelstrom golem, and seize the anvil, piece of cake, and maybe after that they could cleanse the black city while they were at it.
All in a day's work for the wardens.
A sense of despair seemed to emanate from the tunnels up ahead. They thought that they could hear voices, no not voices…
…screams.
IOI
This place felt wrong…so very wrong.
Merrill shivered as they made their way down the lower corridors. The long abandoned hallway echoed with screams from farther down the chamber.
The veil to the beyond was very thin here. The Dalish was surprised that they had not encountered any random spirits. The air felt charged, as it was right before a thunderstorm. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
Be brave Merrill, you can do that, she thought to herself.
Leonie shot her a reassuring look. Justin and Colo looked so very tense. Faizyl grinned excitedly; he could hardly wait to see what waited for them at the end of this very long hallway. The archer murmured how the suspense was killing him.
Hopefully whatever was waiting for them would not finish the job.
The screaming finally stopped.
Merrill took a deep breath, mustering her courage. There was no going back now.
Steeling their resolve the Grey Wardens entered the main chamber.