Daughter of Tethras

Disclaimer: Don't own Dragon Age

A/N:

Chapter 37 (Potential Successor, and an Avenging Challenge)

Bianca stood among those she sought to succeed her as the leader of the inquisition once she was gone, but was shocked when she only saw one of the Trevelyan siblings sitting at one of the square tables. "Leon. Where is your sister?"

"Varric asked her to join his group on some journey," he replied. She raised an eyebrow and looked to the door. "I think they were trying to find something for you, and wanted a full party of four, but everyone else was busy."

"Oh." They could make do without Trina then, this was just the meeting that she wanted to tell them what she was looking for in a successor. She needed someone that had a good head on their shoulders, someone that was strong under pressure and able to use their judgment and conscience to guide them down the right path. "Well, I'll just talk to her later, then…"

Present also at the table were Jade Lavellan, Megan Adaar, and a few of her companions that were there for a show of support. It was a shame that Trina was not present, since Bianca had been leaning towards the girl so far. Dependability was important, but so was considering the needs of others. If Varric asked her to join on some expedition, he wouldn't do so without cause, so she would let that slide.

"So let's get this underway. As some of you know, dad and I will be leaving on journey once we've defeated Corypheus, and the Inquisition will still stand. Someone needs to lead it, and that's why I've gathered you." She locked her wrists behind her back and paced to the right.

"I need to see who I feel will be the best fit to lead the Inquisition. Someone with the heart, the conscience, the intelligence and skill…Someone with the drive and determination."

Leon spoke up in favor of his sister, much to her surprise. "Trina, when she gets passionate about something, she is all in. I've seen her lead soldiers back home, you know."

"I'll consider it, but I still would like to speak with her first…"

"You may get that opportunity," she heard Cole utter as though his words were to evaporate in the wind. Bianca and the others turned to him, curious what he meant. He was seated on the edge of a nearby table, his hands clutched his knees like bowls around them and he was swaying back and forth.

"I must hurry, I have to hurry before it's too late." Cole gasped out and spoke once more with great fervor. "Terrified, panic like nothing before, have to stop and catch my breath-but no-I mustn't stop. Any minute lost is a minute too late. I must remain calm, I must keep strong."

"Cole? Cole, calm down and explain."

The door flew open and Trina burst in, her eyes were wide and frantic and body trembled with rushed pants. "Bianca. Your dad. There's no time." She felt her heart stop and turned quick, pleading with her eyes for Trina to explain. "Sahrnia Quarry. He's there, with Solas and Hawke."

Trina straightened her posture and breathed in deep. "We need a plan." The woman's eyes darted over and onto Bianca. "Your father's in danger, so are Solas and Hawke. They've been abducted. By Marcus Cadash." A frightful silence came over the group, and she could feel her body growing numb from paralysis. "He…He has demands, Inquisitor."

She shook herself and stepped forward, glaring into Trina's eyes and flaring her nostrils. "What kind of demands?" Trina turned sideways and looked out the door. In the distance was the door to Skyhold's prison, where deep inside, Amelia Cadash lay sleeping.

"He wants his wife, and is proposing an exchange. Your father…for Amelia." Her blood started to boil, and in an instant she regretted letting her foster mother live. Trina locked her hands behind her back and moved forward, staring at the others with sharp eyes. "I feel like it's a trap, I feel like he's planning something…it's only through trickery and cunning that he even managed to catch the others off guard."

Leon rose first, speaking above his sister. "What do we do, then?" Bianca wanted to know as well. A deep hatred was simmering inside of her and she felt as though she wouldn't be able to map out a plan without turning her focus to rage.

"We get my father back." She raised a hand and narrowed her eyes. "By any means necessary."

"It won't be easy." Trina swept her fingers across her forehead and shut her eyes. "He has several mages with him."

"He's a coward who can't fight on his own!"

Trina raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "He managed to subdue your father, Solas, and Hawke. In a matter of minutes, just by using their emotions against them. I don't think he's one to be underestimated."

She wanted to shout back, but Trina was right. Marcus was smart, he was cunning, and he was resourceful. "Fine. What can we do?" Bianca growled low and began to pace the floor. "Marcus wants Amelia? Let's give him Amelia." There were murmurs that questioned her statement, reasoning that it was perhaps not the best idea.

"He has your father," Jade said while raising her hand up. Bianca crossed her arms. "He's got the upper hand. If we just give him what he wants…what's stopping him from killing Varric on the spot the moment Amelia is at his side?"

"That, and what's stopping him from arming her?" Megan asked. "The minute she's armed, she's going to lash out at you and whomever else she can. We can't forget they're basically hired assassins. At the end of the day."

Once again they were correct and she was wrong; simply abiding by Marcus's demand without any other plan would leave them vulnerable. Her emotions were getting in the way of her judgment, and she couldn't afford to lose her father because of it.

"Okay." She looked at Trina and extended her hand. "Your judgment might be better. What do you say we do?"

"Plan an ambush he doesn't see coming." Trina raised her hand to her chin and bowed her head. Her eyes slanted with contemplation and her lips curled back into her cheeks. "He's got the upper hand, he thinks he's in the power, and he's counting on you to be emotional. He knows you, he knows you would give him what he wants if it meant saving your father's life. So let's make him think you're doing that."

"Slip him a knife in the dark?" She smirked with pride and raised her eyebrows. "l like it. Give him a false sense of security, work his ego against him."

"Right. I think Scout can lead some of Leliana's spies to hide around the area, so Marcus won't see them waiting. If you're patient, we can dismantle whatever trap he's got planned, and you can strike."

"I like what I'm hearing…tell me more."

It was some time before they reached the quarry. Bianca went not alone, but with Amelia at her side. The woman's wrists were bound and her bowed head was covered by a cloak. A rope extended from her wrists and was leashed firmly in Bianca's grip.

"How kind of you to do this," Amelia muttered with a sneer, "And without your weapon. You must really care for that old man." Bianca rolled her eyes and attempted to ignore her the best she could. "You know he's just a weak, pathetic excuse for a dwarf? A Carta reject, a disgrace to the Merchant's Guild. Even your mother says the man she sleeps with now is a better fuck than Tethras ever was."

Bianca took a deep, shaky breath and glared at Amelia through the corners of her eyes. "And you're still nothing but a tool, which you admit to being, with so little sense of individualism that you rely on Davri. The minute she stops feeding you, you're nothing but a small baby that hasn't been weaned yet."

"Oh nicely said, where did you learn that one?"

"I've been spending some time with Vivienne."

They reached the end of the Quarry, where she had faced off the last of the Red Templar lieutenants so long ago. At the opening of a long tunnel was a cage that held Solas and Thane.

Standing atop the cage was Varric. His wrists were tied before his waist and his ankles bound so tight that it seemed the rope was cutting into his ankles. What frightened her more was the noose around his neck, tied to the wooden beam several feet above him. "Dad!" She rushed forward, stopping only when she felt something firm and stiff sinking within the snow beneath her feet.

Varric looked at her with wide eyes and his body began to shake as he tried to free himself. "Bianca, don't move any further. Stay where you are." Tears filled her eyes and she ground her teeth together before screaming for Marcus to show up.

"Patience girl," Marcus replied, "I'm here." He walked out of the tunnel and around the cage. The shadow around his eyes generated a dark and ominous hue His lips stretched into a wide grin as his gaze drifted to Amelia. "And my lovely wife."

"You're going to let my father go, Marcus."

"Aw, I'm hurt." He pressed his palm against his chest and shook his head. "I thought I was your father. I raised you for some time, you know." He swept his hand out, extending it to Varric. His voice turned dark as a growl fled his throat. "Much longer than daddy dearest here."

Bianca yanked the rope in her hand and Amelia fell forward. Her scream echoed into the air, bringing silence to follow. "I've brought Amelia for you. Isn't that what you want?"

"Yes. Now do be a good little girl and bring her over to me."

"Don't do it," Solas said with a weak voice. He raised his bloodied head and grasped the wagon cage's beams firmly with trembling fingers. "The minute you step off that platform he planted, our wagon will collapse on us." A sense of horror shot down her spine and Marcus rolled his head.

"Shut the hell up, Elf." Solas gnashed his teeth and Marcus started to laugh. "Oh Bianca, you would not believe the trouble I went through to keep that elf from using his magic. My mages wound up having to restrain him…and beat him until he could no longer fight."

Solas pressed his forehead against the bars and groaned. "Oh if only you knew, dwarf…"

Bianca yanked Amelia up and shoved her towards Marcus. "She has legs. She can walk on her own." Amelia hissed and Bianca pointed to Varric. "Now give me my father."

She squinted while looking at the wagon, and was able to make out faint signs of collapse points being held together by magic. If the magic was released, those points would break apart, and the sharp edges would impale both Solas and Thane while at the same time leaving her father hanging in place.

Marcus turned his back to her and extended his arms. "How perfectly ironic, Varric. Your 'home' in Kirkwall is a tavern named The Hanged Man, and here you are. Hanging by a thread." Varric bared his teeth at Marcus. "How does it feel to know your daughter unwittingly holds your life in her hands right now? To know if she so much as raises her foot, my mages will shatter the wagon you stand on…"

"How does it feel?" Varric looked down with a smug expression. "How does it feel to know you just acknowledged that she is, in fact, my daughter? Something I thought you would never actually do…now that feels great. I can die knowing you're pissed."

"Or you can just simply…die."

"What? And let Davri and Corypheus miss the chance to kill me themselves? Perish the thought, Cadash!"

"Enough of this," Bianca whispered. She extended her left hand, opening her palm towards Amelia, and let out a terrifying shout. "Marcus! Let my father go now." Marcus twisted around and his eyes enlarged as Amelia froze on her knees while staring at the anchor. "If you take my dad's, I will throw you all into the fade…and let the demons tear you apart."

Marcus turned fully to her with his calm demeanor changing to grief and panic. "You wouldn't dare. You wouldn't do it."

"Don't test me."

She might not make good on her threat, since it was against her own sense of moral decency; but there was no telling just how far she would fall if something happened to Varric. "I have spent twenty years trying to find my father…"

Her shoulders rose and her chest expanded as the fire burned in her eyes. "I have spent a decade and a half being manipulated, abused, beaten down by you and your fucking wife." She raised her voice out, sneering as Marcus dropped to his knees. "I ran away to the carta and was abused physically by a man too guilt ridden because he couldn't protect me from the others in the carta that abused me in ways too perverse for even your fucked up mentality to comprehend."

An exhale rolled away from her and her voice was now so loud she was certain the dragons of the Emprise would wake from their slumber. "So maker help me, help you, help us all. If you murder my dad, the one person that has finally given me a some sense of purpose and semblance in this crazy, screwed up life in this condemned continent of hell…Corypheus will be a whimper compared to what I would become."

Marcus crept towards Amelia, extending his trembling arms. "N-No please. Bianca I beg of you, you wouldn't do this."

She looked up slowly, smirking when she saw Jade descending from the mountain above. The elf was skillfully hidden among the snow and rocks, so no one saw her cut through the noose and grab Varric to keep him from falling over.

Scout and several archers appeared on the top of the rocks and mountain surrounding them, each taking their aim at the mages standing within the circle. While they did this, Megan and Leon approached the wagon cage from behind, with Cole sneaking up to the lock to unlock it as he had done in freeing the captured villagers of Sahrnia.

"No." Bianca slammed her left hand into a fist and. "I wouldn't do that. You're right. I could never destroy so much, but I don't know what I would do if I lost my father after all this."

Marcus cradled his wife and looked up with a suspicious glance. "What are you saying, then?"

"That I don't have to worry about any of that."

It came like a flash of lightning, and in an instant that seemed to mirror Alexius's men being killed on the spot, the mages were shot down by the archers.

Having unlocked the wagon's door, Solas and Hawke were pulled to safety by Megan and Leon. Varric was still being clutched tight in Jade's arm as she dropped to the ground.

Marcus's jaw dropped open and his face turned red with rage. "What is this?" He bellowed. Marcus stood and pointed an angry finger to Bianca. "What did you do?" She shrugged and flashed a cunning smirk.

"Me? Nothing. I only played my part in making sure you didn't see the ambush that was being set up. You bought it, hook and line."

Trina walked up behind her, wielding her Broadsword and extending Faith's Edge to Bianca.

Varric stretched his arms out and his eyes glistened with pride. "That's my girl," he said with a laugh.

She swung her axe over her right shoulder, resting the beam on the tip of her shoulder. "Come on Marcus, I know you're just dying to hit me. Right? You would love to kill me on the spot, I know."

She lifted her foot off the platform and took a step forward. "Your plan's failed. You're surrounded." Her eyebrows rose at the sound of a distant horn. "And Trevelyan's plan isn't even finished yet."

"What are you going on about?"

Trina brushed the snow from her shoulders and quickly cleared her throat. "I had Josephine send word to King Aeducan of Orzammar." Marcus stumbled back and began to stammer. "Bhelen Aeducan has only left the surface a few rare times, but he has decided that for the sake of the Inquisition, he will attend to the Inquisitor's side."

The horn was louder now, and it's triumphant blast shook the snow from the tops of the rocks. Bianca turned around and smiled when she saw the Dwarven King approaching with several armed guards with him.

"I'm honored," she said aloud. "I don't know what made you decide this matter was important enough to leave Orzammar for, but I thank you." Bhelen slid his hand through his long braided beard and huffed his words with a deep and entrancing voice.

"I was moved by the tale that your ambassador wove for me." Bhelen moved past her, glaring down at Marcus and Amelia, who were now clutched together. "The tale of a young child who would become the one thing to keep all of Thedas from sinking…comes not only from my homeland, but from one of the most important noble houses of all Orzammar. To think that she was to be diminished, destroyed and battered by the two of you."

Amelia cackled and leaned forward, speaking in an attempt to defend herself. "She doesn't come from us. She comes from the Tethras house! She comes from nothing!"

"Nothing?" Bhelen leaned his head back and bellowed out a laugh. "Paragon Garen and Paragon Tethras were certainly more than 'nothing'. The Tethras house has done more for Orzammar in the last few centuries than House Cadash. The only claim you take, as far as I am concerned, is that you have an ancient golem in your family who happened to aid in ending the fifth blight. Nothing more."

"You know." The ground trembled at Bianca's feet and she quickly planted her axe into the ground and leaned against it to remain stable. Her eyes darted to the source of the deep tremble and the husky voice behind her. "I take offense to that."

When she saw a large rock figure approaching from the shadows, the color left her skin and she nearly fainted from the shock.

The golem's shadow fell over Marcus and Amelia. They shook with fear, clutching each other as though their lives were nearing the end. "When Leliana wrote to me, I was appalled by the stories that were told. Appalled that I would have a descendant so disgusting, so filthy, too filthy for even the pigeons to perch near."

"We're disgusting?" Marcus released Amelia and marched towards the golem, seemingly filled with a new strength. "What about you? Turning yourself into one of those…things. For what?"

"I see." The golem turned to Bhelen and shrugged. "As the Cadash House 'elder', I give my permission…"

"Elder? What are you going on about?"

"I am the oldest living member of House Cadash. Orzammar's king must approach the elders of the noble house when it is in the process of being revoked or when a fight of power breaks out between two houses."

"Fight of-"

Bhelen dropped his hand to Bianca's shoulder and flashed a smirk. "Because the Inquisitor is by birth from noble house Tethras, I hereby name her as champion of the Tethras house." Bianca raised an eyebrow and Varric stared at the king with suspicion.

"What's going on?" Bianca inquired.

"I wish to restore Tethras as a noble house of Orzammar, but in doing so, the Cadash noble house will fall. After hearing your tale, I wish to make this interesting…for me. Have you ever heard of a proving, Inquisitor Cadash?"

"No," Varric muttered, "No King Aeducan. With respect, don't put my daughter through this." Bhelen frowned and Varric ran his hand over his forehead, sighing heavily. "Please she's been through enough thanks to these two. I'm the head of House Tethras. I don't wish to be reinstated. Respectfully, I have no desire to return to Orzammar…I've lived on the surface all my life. There's nothing for me there. Don't put my daughter through this, please."

Sensing her father's pain, Bianca held back her opinion for a moment of contemplation. She understood what was going on, as unorthodox as it was-it had been said that Bhelen was an unusual king for Orzammar.

Still, a grievous insult had been performed, one that she felt tarnished what honor there may have been for her father at one point of time. If she had to champion the Tethras house, she would, but there was a sense of desire to do more.

"No." She stepped forward and all eyes fell on her. She raised the axe and pointed the tip at Marcus. "Dad, let me decide this. I want to avenge the insult that the Cadash house dealt my father…" Varric dropped his shoulders and sighed.

"I can't talk you away from this?"

"No. This is personal, but it's not about revenge. It's not about me." Marcus sneered in response while Bhelen's happy grin increased.

"Do we have a duel?" Bhelen inquired. "A challenge?"

"Yes." She lowered the axe and breathed out calmly. "I will avenge the insult dealt to my father, and in doing so, Marcus and House Cadash will be stripped of nobility." She met Marcus's enraged glare and watched as he reached for the daggers on his back. "Do you accept the terms of my challenge?"

"I do," he said with a low growl. Onlookers backed out of the way, forming a circle around them. Varric ran up to Bianca, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking into her eyes.

"Bianca, you don't have to do this."

"Let me." She smiled at him and he smiled back, albeit faint. "I love you dad. You should never have had to suffer because of this man, he's diminished you, and I am going to fight him to avenge that…"

"You know I'm proud of you, and I love you with all my heart. I trust you, and having you in my life now means more than any fight with that man could ever do. If you're set on this path, then you have my blessing, but please…be careful." He pulled her into a firm, but gentle embrace and lowered his voice to a whisper.

"He's old and slower, his back and his knees are weak. If you strike anywhere, strike him there…" She looked straight ahead at Marcus watching as the man sized her up. Varric kissed her forehead and backed away slowly. "You got this, Bianca."

This was certainly an intense chapter. What are your thoughts? Do you think Trevelyan makes a good potential successor, or who else might you have in mind? Furthering that, what did you think of the plan? Now at the end, Bianca's challenge to Marcus to a duel. How are you thinking that will go? Next chapter, it's Bianca versus Marcus, and the return of the Proving-in a bit of an unconventional and different setting. Oh, and another familiar face. Thoughts anyone? Tom?