Author's Note: Thank you again for your patience everyone. I promise I'm not quite done yet!
I'd like to make a shoutout to ToonyTwilight and Sasse1892 as well as the folks on BSN and DA:L groups who have kept encouraging me in this. Thank you everyone!
Unconsciously they fell into their accustomed places, Alistair to her right and slightly ahead so that he guard her with his shield if the need arose. Zevran to her left and slightly behind so that there wouldn't be a chance of their weapons tangling. Behind them followed Morrigan, Wynne and Leliana who could use their ranged abilities behind the protection of the melee fighters.
When they emerged into the decimated market district of Denerim, it was a scene beyond even the worst darkspawn fueled nightmares for the two Wardens. Acrid smoke from burning buildings and other…material; burned eyes, noses and throats. In the background were the howls, shrieks and snorts of darkspawn interspersed with battlecries, screams of pain and fear of defenders of the city.
Seeing the destruction of a city that had come to mean something was devastating. As the band made its way through the area, they gladly engaged any of the bands of darkspawn they found.
At first it was easy enough, just small clumpings of hurlocks and genlocks, sometimes the occasional shriek. About halfway through the district they were charged by three ogres. Wynne paralyzed one with a well timed glyph while Morrigan froze the second. Lana nimbly jumped away from the hammer blow the third ogre aimed for her, before the beast could recover from over extending itself, she slammed a blade into its hand. Howling in pain, it didn't notice Zevran come up from behind until his blades were in its back.
The massive darkspawn went down in a welter of blood as it was shredded from the front and behind.
Seeing that the two had the mobile threat in hand, Alistair concentrated on the frozen beast, shattering it by hammering on it with sword and shield. The final ogre was butchered like a stuck pig under the combined might of the Wardens and their allies.
When the final ogre went down, Alistair realized that they were just outside the demolished remains of Goldanna's house. In fact it was the very building that the monsters had just plowed through to get at the small warband. Lana gripped Alistair's arm when she saw his stricken expression and realized where they were. "I'm sorry, love, but there's nothing that can be done for her or the children right now. Let's hope they were able to get to a safe haven."
He nodded reluctantly, his expression grim as he turned away to continue on.
It wasn't too long after the ogres that they finally tracked down the general. Or the general tracked them down. A hurlock that was almost massive enough to be an ogre regarded them with too intelligent eyes deep within a misshapen helmet. Around him was a swarm of lesser genlocks and hurlocks. When Lana's gaze met the general's, something passed between them, something she couldn't put into words what it was. Just that something in the Taint that bound the Wardens to the darkspawn spurred her forward.
Whatever that something was, it clearly drove the general as well since he focused on her to the exclusion of everything else. A feral, almost wild, light shone in Marlana's eyes as she ran towards the massive darkspawn. He waited for her, a terrible grunting laugh emerging from the helmet as he readied his weapon.
The two-handed axe the hurlock wielded was larger than Lana was tall and looked to weigh more. While the general was exceptionally strong for one of his kind, he was unexpectedly faster too. No where near as fast as Lana, but he was a bit faster than anticipated. She nimbly evaded the powerful blow aimed at her, there was a crunching sound as the heavy blade smashed into the cobblestones of the street. Starfang, its blue blade shimmering with the silverite runes worked into it, flicked out, scoring a long gash along the general's arm.
Thus began a deadly dance between the fiery, tiny woman and the monstrous giant. He proved to be quite skilled, but the bulky weapon hindered him. So Lana played her deadly game because she'd seen with the general occupied, the lesser darkspawn returned to their normal state of mindless savagery, leaving them vulnerable to her much more skilled friends. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Zev engaged in his own dance against the monsters. Behind her she could hear Morrigan's harsh chants followed by the series of wet thumps as the sorceress turned them into bombs that destroyed their fellows. Wynne's softer chants of healing and protection made an odd harmony with Morrigan's destructive powers. Leliana sang of valor and battle, songs that somehow brought light into darkness as her bow sang in counterpoint.
As always, Alistair was at her side, first protecting them all from the emissaries he stunned with precise strikes of clean, white light. Then he guarded her against the more mundane threats that swarmed around them. When the bulk of the darkspawn were dealt with, Alistair joined her in that dance, taking on the attention of the general, freeing Lana up to do what she did best.
Feeling Alistair in that strange mental union between Warden and darkspawn made Lana realize at that moment the nature of the bond between her and her beloved. It had clearly started as the normal tie between Wardens, but its nature had changed. Changed not just from friendship turned into love, but from shared pain and grief as well. So as the two fell into their well worn, yet oddly new, pattern, for it was new with each battle their saw, they took reassurance in that bond they shared.
A swipe of Maric's blade turned the general's attention to Alistair, who barely managed to deflect the swipe of the ponderous axe. The not-quite-templar turned king stared in disbelief as Lana ran up the haft of the axe instead of doing the more sensible thing, which would have involved her coming up behind the huge creature to stab it in the back. No, instead she was running up the length of a weapon that could squash her flat to shove one sword through the eye slit of the hurlock's helm.
Fortunately for her, the hurlock was just as baffled as the human male so he didn't react in time.
"Are you insane?" Alistair yelled as she gracefully hopped away from the falling corpse, "What in the name of the Maker possessed you to do something like that?"
She huffed slightly as she wiped her blades down, and surreptitiously looked for support, Zev and Leli were very carefully not looking at her, though she suspected she saw both of them trying to not to grin. Wynne merely shook her head, resigned to Lana's sometimes unusual methods of combat. Morrigan was glaring at her over Alistair's shoulder, clearly just as annoyed as the big warrior. Seeing the two that typically were polar opposites on everything, usually because of sheer spite, Lana couldn't help chuckling.
That earned her a scowl from both of them, but it was Alistair who commented, "I fail to see what's so funny."
Her lips curved up into that wicked grin that normally would get him to grin back, but not this time, even though her eyes sparkled with laughter, "You and Morrigan agreeing on something usually is a good enough reason."
Despite himself, Alistair looked over his shoulder at the angry apostate who glowered at them both. Morrigan grumpily said, "Sometimes even idiots have good ideas. Let us be off, for there is a dragon we are hunting, no?"
Nodding, Lana sheathed her weapons for the moment leading the others on to the Alienage, fearing what would be found there. Though it seemed futile, they left the piles of darkspawn corpses burning in their wake, like they had been doing for all of the monsters they'd killed since entering the city. They'd been doing such actions in the unspoken belief that there would be something left over once the battle was done.
The Alienage seemed oddly peaceful when they first entered it.
Unfortunately because of all the darkspawn in the general area, Lana still couldn't tell if this part of Denerim was in danger of being overrun or not. Yet, she could still feel the power of the general in the near distance. Then they heard the yelling in the distance, voices raised in defiance against the snarling darkspawn. Beneath that, the sounds of mages chanting as they cast their spells. Out of the corner of her eye, Lana saw Alistair frown as their group picked up the pace to help what defenders were there.
"What is it?" She asked breathlessly.
He continued to frown, "I think…there's apostates up ahead."
"Alistair…" Lana couldn't help her exasperation. She thought he'd changed his mind about mages that were outside of the Circle. Maker knows they'd gotten enough help from the Mage's Collective more than once, even when not as part of the payment for services done. The apostates cared as much about the Blight as the more mundane citizens and did what they could to help.
"There's blood magic being used."
Lana saved her breath at that point as they started to flat out run, most of them had any use for blood magic, having seen far too much tragedy result from it being used by irresponsible people. She held a private opinion that used carefully, it could be a valuable asset. Unfortunately, she hadn't seen many mages use it responsibly. Not looking forward to dealing with blood mages in addition to darkspawn, or worse, darkspawn using blood magic, they grimly continued down the disturbingly empty street.
"Who-", Started the shouted question as an elven woman bearing a bow with a quiver over her shoulders that started running towards them. Shianni beamed with relief when she saw the rather distinctive group of people approaching. "Thank the maker, Warden…the darkspawn..."
The feisty elf trailed off as her eyes widened at the sight of Alistair, clearly word had of what the new king looked like had spread, "Your Majesty?"
He shook his head, "Now isn't the time for formality. We're here to help."
"W-we've got a barricade up, but it won't last much longer."
"Shianni", Lana said quietly, but firmly in an attempt to not upset the woman any more than she already was, "Get your people out of here. The way behind us into the market district is clear."
The elves did have bows, but no armor, no melee weapons heavier than some daggers and Lana was not going to sacrifice them, not when the darkspawn were being held up in a natural choke point. Said point was then blocked by a surprisingly solid wooden barrier that had been put into place by the locals.
Shianni started to protest, "This is our home, Warden. We'll-"
"Get them out of here!" Alistair's bellow cut her off. "I won't see my people throw their lives away like that."
Stifling a smile at seeing Alistair using his new position in such a way, Lana nodded her agreement. As she started to head towards the barricade, she gestured for Wynne, Morrigan and Leliana to take positions on the platforms rigged to either side of the street before the barricade. She wondered if this was something planned for other reasons since they were too well constructed to have been together in time for the darkspawn invasion of the city.
It was both heartening and dismaying to see the elves remain in position to continue to defend their homes. She saw a few hooded and robed forms mixed in with the archers, their frantic gestures were unmistakable as spellcasting. She wished that there was some way of getting people to see how the apostates were protecting people at risk to themselves. Maybe that would go a long way to getting others to realize that not all mages were evil. But that thought was for another time.
The continuous thudding abruptly changed to a splintering sound as the ogre that had been pounding on the wooden barrier finally brought it down. It continued to ignore the hail of arrows and spells that rained down upon it. The genlocks at its feet, childlike in size in comparison to the massive creature, went down easily enough from the ranged attacks.
Gleaming blades whipped out as the tainted monster charged towards the small woman. She stepped aside at the last moment letting it run by her. One blade lashed out severing the tendon in the back of the ankle, causing it to scream in pain and fall face first. She ran the blade up the length of the same tree trunk sized leg to keep it down. Zevran finished it off by shoving both of his blades into its head as he ran by. The most immediate threat down, she returned to the fray at the bottleneck.
Falling into comfortable patterns with Alistair and Zev, Lana was able to keep most of her attention for the general. It was an exorcise in frustration as they slaughtered massive numbers of genlocks, hurlocks and the occasional shriek, but fortunately no further ogres. She could feel the power of the general nearby, yet couldn't spot it.
Lana shouted, "Can you see it?"
She skewered a genlock with the blade as she blocked one of its brethren with the other. One of the archers was kind enough to feather the monster for her. A hurlock shrieked and exploded before it could reach her as one of the mages dealt with it.
"No! But I can feel it! I think it's some sort of emissary!" Alistair yelled back as he slammed his shield into the face of a charging darkspawn.
Snarling, Lana shredded another group as she whipped her blades through the legs of more darkspawn before bringing them back together through their throats. On Alistair's other side came Zevran's laugh as he neatly decapitated a genlock.
The seemingly endless number of darkspawn finally stopped, leaving a small group of casters that stared at them with animalistic hate, anger and hunger. Belatedly, Lana realized that she hadn't noticed the lack of hostile magic, occupied with the slaughter and trying to locate the now easily seen general. Who was a genlock emissary of some sort. The mages, not all of them apostates judging by the wary expressions on non-hooded faces as they regarded the hooded ones, had managed to keep the darkspawn casters occupied.
It was a measure of how tired she was that she found herself marveling at the irony that there were genlock spellcasters and no shriek emissaries. She mentally shook herself as Alistair smote the casters making them easy prey.
Ragged cheers erupted from the elves that had been acting as defenders when the last of the darkspawn went down. Fortunately, there weren't too many non-darkspawn bodies, but they still needed to be properly dealt with to keep from causing further problems for the residents. A gentle touch of unknown magic revived Lana and she looked up to see one of the hooded figures before her.
"Forgive me, my lady, for not showing my face." The voice, slightly higher pitched than normal for a male, was familiar. Very familiar, but she couldn't place who it was or where she knew it.
"Of course", she replied smoothly, "You would rather not be recognized. Though I can promise that Alistair has bigger concerns. Particularly since you and your fellows kept us alive."
The mage shifted uncomfortably, giving the sharp eyed young woman a good glimpse of a long, pale face with black stubble on chin and cheeks. Then she recognized who he was. Well, that explained the blood magic, she just hoped he hadn't used any of the elves, though the only bodies she saw were ones hacked apart by darkspawn, and none that were...suspicious. She remembered offering the man a chance for redemption, if only for having to deal with Isolde, and letting him go from the Redcliffe dungeons in the middle of the night, making it look as if he'd managed to get out on his own.
It wasn't until much later that she wished he'd done a better job of poisoning Eamon.
"Er, on second thought, yes, you don't want him to see you", Lana said as she kept a wary eye out for her betrothed.
"I did promise I would find a way to make up for what I've done, Warden. Or should I say, Your Grace? Your Highness?"
She sighed. Even apostates were starting to lay it on thick, "Warden is fine. The rest isn't confirmed yet."
"Mm hm. Anyway, there are other pockets of the Collective in the city doing what they can. I don't know how they're fairing, but they'll help where they can."
"Any bit of assistance is appreciated. If you'll excuse me..."
"Of course. May Andraste guard and guide you."
Bemused the a maleficar would call upon Andraste for a blessing, Lana accepted the blessing. She wasn't going to turn away any well wishing. As she rejoined the others, she marveled at the fact that she could trust a blood mage before she could trust Riordan. But the worst she'd seen Jowan do was poison Eamon. She believed the mage truly regretted everything he'd done and was looking for redemption. Riordan however...
Again, she shook herself. This wasn't the time to let her mind wander. But she was glad she had spared the somewhat incompetent blood mage. He'd proven useful in the defense of the Alienage and had wisely stayed away from the more questionable magics once he'd seen Alistair. So perhaps he could learn after all.
Crossing the bridge heading from the Alienage further into the city, Lana briefly considered the possibility that she was being controlled with regards to her attitude towards mages, but dismissed it. For one, she noticed while they were cleaning up the mess that was Uldred's rebellion that those that had been controlled, it had been done either by desire demons or after days of torture like that poor templar. Not that blood magic wasn't-
All thought about such abstract subjects vanished as a certain call seared its way through her mind.
"Incoming!" Both Wardens cried out, "Run!"
They ran across the remainder of the bridge just barely in time as the massive, corrupted dragon swooped down breathing odd, shadowy flames. The unnatural flames burned through the bridge. Clearly intending to make another pass, this time to get the people that were such threats to it, the archdemon swept into the air to make another pass. Instead at the apex of its arc, it abruptly banked away to fly in a completely different and unexpected direction.
Bending down and bracing his hands on his knees as he gulped for air, Alistair panted, "See? Swooping is bad."
Trying to regain her breath, Lana gasped out, "Only when there's dragons involved."
"Ha!" The two grinned at each other, still too breathless to laugh. Remembering Alistair's comment about swooping in the Wilds, Morrigan glared at the two. The rest stared at the three debating if they wanted to know or not as they tried to get their breathing under control.
Spurred on by the appearance of their long sought foe, Lana chivvied the still slightly breathless group into moving. As they made their way through the city to their rendezvous with Riordan, they kept catching glimpses of the great flying beast. Soon they could see that it was flying in circles around one of the watchtowers of the city. Every so often it would shriek in fury, accompanied by a bursts of that unnatural fire. It attempted to land once on the top of the tower, but it screamed in pain and leapt back into the air to return to its circling. As it dropped below the roof of the tower, Riordan appeared on the ledge.
Too far away to do anything and no darkspawn nearby, they paused for a moment wondering what the senior Warden was up to.
Morrigan gaped, "That fool is not going to do what I think he's about to?"
As Riordan leapt from the roof to the back of the flying monstrosity, Alistair dryly said, "Yes, it does indeed seem like it."
Shaking his head, Zevran commented, "This can only end in tears."
"I never want to hear another comment about how I fight dragons", Lana huffed. "I at least wait until its on the ground."
Stupefied at the scene, they resumed their journey to the Fort, wondering how Riordan was going to get the gargantuan creature to his intended destination. On their way, they could see enough of the aerial battle. The horrible screams of pain and fury from the archdemon were very easy to hear.
At first it seemed like Riordan's mad plan would work, since he was able to claw his way up from the dragon's rear up to the middle of its back using his sword. Until he raised his blade for the next pull up and the dragon took the opportunity to remove the painful irritant on its back. With a shriek of mingled rage and victory, it bucked and twisted in midair, sending the Warden flying.
Fortunately, he managed to land on a wing, once again using his sword as an anchor.
Unfortunately, the dragon shook its frame and twisted while pulling up the wing that the man was on. With a sickening ripping sound the sword sliced through the leathery webbing. The dragon flung up its head, howling in agony as it snapped its wing in the effort to rid itself of the source of pain once and for all. The sword continued to slide through the tainted flesh even faster. It reached the edge, and with nothing to stop it, ripped out of the wing with a trail of burning, poisonous blood.
Riordan fell in silence.
They didn't see his landing, but they didn't have to see it to know what the outcome was.
Grimly, Alistair and Lana exchanged glances, hoping that Morrigan's ritual would work. Yet, they knew their duty regardless of the ritual and continued on their way. They watched the archdemon struggle to remain airborne with its ruined wing until it landed roughly on the roof of the Fort. At least one part of Riordan's plan had worked.
Wave upon wave of darkspawn tried to block their path as they got closer to the archdemon's landing place, but by then they'd been joined by units from the various armies that had been gathered. One brought word that the forces under Oghren and Sten's command still held the gates, despite a sizable incursion. The numbers made sweeping through the area around the palace incredibly easy. They were relieved to see that the palace was secure with no sign of any of the monsters getting into the building.
Having those extra numbers was what made it possible for them to get through the meat grinder that had been hastily setup by the darkspawn as they tried to defend their injured god. Furious roars made by the wounded dragon could be heard in the distance. On the ground they faced not only heavily armed and armored darkspawn, but also some of the most skilled. Behind the hastily erected barriers and heavy melee fighters lurked the emissaries casting their terrible spells.
Just as it looked as if they were going to finally break through the blockade, the dragon-thralls arrived.
Dragons corrupted by the Taint, the already fearsome creatures possessed greater strength and spat out a foul spew instead of clean flame, thralls were a terrifying weapon in the darkspawn arsenal. Fortunately, they were rarely seen, even more fortunate was the fact that these thralls were clearly young dragons that hadn't yet matured. Still dangerous, but after facing numerous mature drakes, dragons, and two high dragons (or high dragon-like being in the case of Flemeth), Lana wasn't too fazed, though she would still be careful. As she eviscerated another darkspawn, she called out, "Hunters! Aim for the wings. Soldiers, once they're down, have at them."
Though there were losses from the foulness spat out by the thralls, they went down quickly enough. Shot down by the bows of the Dalish arrows, then butchered under the swords and axes of the dwarven and human soldiers. Lana was already on the move, stalking through the shadows for the darkspawn casters. She knew Zev was on a similar hunt on the other side of the courtyard. Alistair obligingly created further distraction by simply charging up the center of the way, unleashing a powerful, widespread strike of holy fire on two of the emissaries closest to him. A hail of arrows from what archers remained helped to further reduce the numbers.
Blades dripping with poisons specific to draining a mage of energy, the two assassins slaughtered the rest of the emissaries.
With the last of the spellcasters down the courtyard was theirs, but at a high cost to their forces. Once again the roars of the archdemon could be heard, prompting the Wardens to return to their hunt. Leaving enough troops to secure the area, and making sure there were enough healers to tend to the wounded, they proceeded up the stairs to the massive doors of the Fort.
Lana stared up at the doors for a moment, lips compressed into a pale, thin line. Her eyes dark from distress, she wondered if this place was going to be the death of her after all. A light touch on her shoulder from Wynne caused her to look over at the elderly healer, who in turn was watching her with concern. She gave the other woman a wan smile that didn't reach her eyes before going in to the place that had the starring role of her latest nightmares.
Inside were piles of human corpses mixed with darkspawn. The sounds of battle echoed nearby. Hoping to save someone they raced on and found a group of beleaguered guards who surrounded someone in a protective detail against the swarming monsters. The darkspawn went down quickly under the additional support. Wearily the guards parted, revealing the person they'd been fighting so hard to defend.
Pale and shaken, Anora stared at Alistair and Marlana fearfully, unnerved by the close proximity of the darkspawn. Or perhaps worried that the new King might finally fulfill his terrible promise.
Grimly, the Wardens stared back at the former queen. While he considered the situation, Lana studied the defenders with cool, dispassionate eyes. Not showing the relief she felt, Lana caught her fellow Warden's attention and subtly shook her head.
He nodded slightly in return, then as he pinched the bridge of his nose, gritting his teeth as he said, "I'm not going to give even Anora to the darkspawn. Get her out of here."
Lana impatiently nodded as the head of the guard looked at her for confirmation as she angrily said, "I wouldn't make the King change his mind if I were you."
They fled before anyone could change their minds.
As their group began to make their way through the lower level of the Fort, Alistair said in disgust, "I can't believe they thought I'd give them to the darkspawn. That goes against everything I am as a Warden."
"Well, You know that I've promised to feed people to the darkspawn in the past."
A disbelieving snort was the only response he gave her as to what he thought about the likelihood of her filling that promise.
Behind them Zev began to pester Leliana about his role in her ballad about their adventures. Everyone snickered, including Morrigan, as the bard said in exasperation, "If you keep up in such a manner, Zevran, everyone will know you as the short, fat and bald companion!"
The levity faded as they fought their way floor by floor. Fighting not just darkspawn, but summoned demons and spirits as well. And on one very memorable occasion, a mass of corpses reanimated by a genlock necromancer.
Finally they were at the stairs leading up to the entrance of the roof.
Both Wardens could still feel the sickening allure of the archdemon.
Lana distributed vials to the group explaining, "This is a stimulant I've used a few times when there was no opportunity for me to get any rest." She didn't say that that the last time she'd used it had been over a year before when she fled her home. "We've been fighting and running through the city all day and I know that we're all beginning to feel it. It's best used sparingly since we won't be in shape to do anything after, but for now..."
No one said anything as they grimly drank the bitter contents. The burst of energy was more than welcome, even if it was temporary.
Marlana was in the lead when they emerged onto the roof and got their first good look of the archdemon up close.
Bigger than the high dragon they'd battled in the mountains around Haven. Bigger than the form of a high dragon that Flemeth had assumed. In fact, it was bigger than both put together. Unlike the ravaged and warped visages of the darkspawn there was a kind of twisted beauty in the dark violet scales studded with odd glowing growths. Though the eyes seemed blind with thick cataracts that covered them, there was a malevolent intelligence and awareness in the seemingly blind orbs.
At first it was occupied by the human soldiers that were on the rooftop trying to battle the thing. Then it sensed the two Wardens it raised tattered wings as it threw its head up in the air to scream its challenge before swatting aside the soldiers in its way like insignificant bugs.
In that moment all could believe this was once a god. One driven into madness from corruption of the Taint.
Falling into that strange serenity that had fallen on her intermittently ever since Riordan's revelation about how the Wardens sacrificed themselves to kill the archdemons to end the Blights, she gazed into those blind, seeing eyes. Marlana Cousland, reluctant Grey Warden, smiled her cold and terrible smile as she coolly said, "Let us end this then."
Another scream of fury and the battle was joined.
It didn't take long for her to be separated from the others, though Alistair was the only one who remained anywhere near what could be called close. But he was quickly overrun by mobs of darkspawn and so his attention fell to keeping himself alive despite what his instincts screamed at him to defend either Lana or to bring the fight directly to the archdemon.
So it fell to her to direct their forces against the corrupted dragon.
"Archers! Continue to aim for the wings and joints." She didn't know how much it understood of what was being said, but she had no other means of issuing orders. So she hoped that it wasn't as smart as she feared. In response to her command, the few Dalish that had made it to the rooftop battle sent another of their beautiful and deadly rain of arrows. They quickly scattered as the dragon's head whipped around in their direction to spit out its strange, otherworldly flames, before it went back to trying to get at Marlana.
As she rolled out of the way of one claw swipe followed by a lightning fast snap of jaws that could have made Shale blanch, Lana tried to figure out why the dragon focused solely on her. Until she realized that there was something that made her blood feel like it had turned to liquid fire in her veins and that it was most likely the last of Avernus's concoction finally unlocking what potential there was that had been hidden away in the presence of the archdemon.
Yet for all that it feel like she was burning up from the inside, it didn't hurt. If anything, Marlana felt more alive and energetic than she had in a long time. And it was whatever that was now singing in her veins that was drawing the attention of the archdemon. Getting a fast jab in with her blade into the side of the dragon, she called out again, "I need teams to man the ballistae!"
Those that weren't bogged down by darkspawn ran to the nearest ballista to them. A small corner of her brain was pleased to see men, dwarves and elves working together without any more snarling than usual amongst warriors, but most of her attention was on the archdemon. She didn't really want to end her life being eaten by a dragon of all things. Even one that was once a god.
Snarling, it snapped at her again, flailing tattered wings, sending sprays of poisonous blood in arcs about it. Some of that blood fell on nearby warriors who screamed out in agony before collapsing. Unable to allow herself to think about what she might have to do those poor souls later, Lana once again ducked under the gaping maw of the archdemon, this time with blades at the ready. As she ran under the beast, she dragged the rips of her swords through the vulnerable flesh. Its blood drenched her, which while incredibly unpleasant, did nothing worse than get her disgustingly sticky.
Roaring loudly, the archdemon yanked its head up and away from Lana and swatted at her like a cat after a mouse since the angle was wrong for it to try to fry her with its flames. but she managed to evade it in time.
Or rather, most of her evaded in time. The claw caught the tail end of her braid, breaking the ribbon and snagging a few strands of hair. Having no time to rebind it, Lana shoved her mane out of her face as she dodged another attack.
Nearby came the swish thwock of a ballista, the thud of the bolt impacting the side of the dragon could be heard of the sounds of battle. Roaring in pain and anger it turns its attention to the thing that had injured it. The team ducked down between massive tower shields as flames rushed over the area taking out the wooden weapon. Protected by the shields, the soldiers were slightly singed, but not as badly hurt as they could have been without that protection.
Lightning arced through the air into the large piece of metal imbedded in the monster's side, diverting its attention before it could press its attack on the ballista team. Snarling, it spat out another blast of flames, but the mage had already gotten out of range. Using the dragon's distraction, Lana shoved her blades into the nearest joint, causing another scream of pain filled anger.
As it twisted to go after the Warden, another bolt thudded into the other side. Squalling, it swung its head in the direction of the latest threat even as it tried to step on the young woman. Another blast of lighting flew at the newest bolt, once again the metal making it easier for the energy to rip into the Tainted god. Completely infuriated it whirled around to go after the irritating mages, only to get struck by yet another ballista shot. Instinctively it tried to flap up and away, but the shredded wings did nothing but spray more of that deadly gore.
Mantling its ruined wings, the archdemon began to suck in a breath to spit out a massive storm of its uncanny fire, Lana saw her chance. The tail of the beast had lowered enough, and more importantly, was still long enough, for her to run up the improvised ramp. By the time the dragon realized what she was doing, the Warden was able to use her blades as pitons to hang on as it lashed about in fury trying to dislodge her to no effect. More spells, accompanied by a few lucky arrows, distracted it from trying to get it's latest unwanted passenger.
"What is that blasted girl doing?" Wynne's angry question made Alistair look up from the mass of darkspawn that was swarming the area he was in. He'd been trying not to fret over being separated from Lana, that he'd been too occupied by slaughtering the darkspawn surrounding the area. When he looked up to his lady scaling the back of the archdemon his heart sank.
"Lana! What in the name of the Maker are you doing?" He yelled out. Realizing that she couldn't hear him over the sounds of fighting, the big warrior began began bulling his way through the seemingly unending numbers of corrupted monsters. Feeling Morrigan at his back as well as Wynne was something of a surprise, but it wasn't enough of a shock to break his focus on the insane woman scaling the incredibly huge dragon like it was a mountain. Mountainous was a good description, he thought, and knew Lana wasn't likely to survive the fall if the beast managed to throw her off like it did Riordan.
Arrows sang out, bringing down the darkspawn in his way as Zevran appeared at his right, the elf's blades flashing as he helped clear the way for Alistair. But there were too many darkspawn for them to be able to get to the archdemon in time.
Stomping about, the archdemon bellowed in rage and pain at the blades digging into its back, Lana grimly held onto the hilts of her swords sunk into the scaly hide while the dragon continued to try to dislodge her. It couldn't reach her with its fanged maw and it didn't dare try flaming itself. Instead it bucked and twisted, not caring that it crushed its darkspawn followers in its paroxysms, even as it tried lashing out at the other sources of its agony. Gritting her teeth, she silently acknowledged that this wasn't one of her better ideas. Since there were no better alternatives, she pressed forward.
Once she got to the neck, it was actually easier for her to climb since the neck ridges made for convenient hand and footholds.
The she was on the head.
Duncan's sword, the normally dully grey blade a bright and shining silver from the runes worked into it, plunged down into the left eye as Starfang went into the right eye before the archdemon was able to react to her arrival.
The wail that emerged was a terrible thing to hear.
Marlana lost her grip on the dragonbone weapon's hilt almost immediately when the archdemon began flailing its head in earnest. Her feet skidded and slipped when her boots were unable to keep traction. All that saved her from falling to her death was her death grip on Starfang. For a moment she swung out over a sea of slavering darkspawn as the lesser monsters gathered at the claws of their corrupted deity. What forces that remained surged against the mob so that if she did fall, she wouldn't be overwhelmed.
The mages in particular were helpful by lobbing fireballs, blizzards and electrical storms where no friendlies could be injured. As the disparate magics blended, they caused an impressive display of power, destroying large numbers of darkspawn.
In a desperate attempt to be rid of the agonizing weight on its ruined eye, the archdemon snapped its head forward and down.
With the wail of a dying soul, Starfang shattered just below the hilt.
Marlana fell.
She landed hard, but managed to absorb most of the impact by tumbling. Glyphs of protection and repulsion snapped into life around her keeping the darkspawn at bay, even as some faint healing began to work on her injuries. Lana go to her feet as quickly as possible, breath coming as wet, ragged heaves, little rivulets of blood training down the corners of her mouth. The once bright silver-white hair was matted from more blood flowing down from a gash in her head. Moving without her normal grace, she grabbed a greatsword out of a nearby corpse, one so charred that it was impossible to identify if it were human or hurlock.
Limping due to an injured knee that hadn't mended yet, one that sent sharp shocks of pain all up and down her leg, Marlana began to charge the dragon, the sword dragging on the ground since it was longer than she was tall. There was no time for her to search for weapons more suited to her style.
Anyway, it was the time for butchery, not finesse.
Seeing what she was up, Alistair frantically tried to cut through the remaining darkspawn, screaming out, "MARLANA! NO! WAIT!"
But she either didn't hear him, or ignored him, as she haltingly ran towards the archdemon, thrashing about in pure agony amidst a crimson pool of poisonous blood. She paused just long enough to see where she wanted to strike, unaware of her own blood flowing down the blade of the unfamiliar sword. Muscles screaming in protest, she swung the immense weapon up and over her head, then drove the sword down between the ruined eyes. Light blazed up the weapon into her hands as a visible sign of the power just being released from the former god.
Marlana realized why the Wardens may not have used the ritual as light and power surged through her. Or maybe they had and it just hadn't used.
With the power sizzling agonizingly along her nerves, gouging trails through her very soul, she understood there was still a price to be paid.
It required a soul that was not just compatible with the old god, and god was indeed the right term for Urthemiel, dragon didn't begin to describe him and was a grave insult to a being of such power. There had to be a soul willing to sacrifice some part of itself so that the god could be reshaped so it could be contained within the vessel of mortal flesh.
More importantly, the god had to accept the price demanded of the mortal and the price of being changed so that it could be redeemed.
Everything has a price.
For her love of Alistair, her love for her friends, for promises made to protect others, she paid that price in full.
Her very essence was slowly splintering away as Urthemiel considered his end of the bargain, Marlana gazed into Alistair's distressed eyes as he finally managed to get to where she stood over the nearly dead god's corrupted form. The forces being released with the god's death kept him away from her, she studied him intently, memorizing every line and shadow of that beloved face. Despair welled up as Marlana began to believe that all the sacrifices made were coming to naught. She tried to say something to him, but couldn't hear herself and hoped that she was successful.
She grieved when she saw his distress shift to grief and despair of his own.
She hoped that he would eventually find at least happiness if not love again in the future.
Unexpectedly the god spoke to her, his words echoing in every part of her being, "For your love and my redemption, I accept your payment and make my own."
Alistair's expression of grief tempered by love was the last sight she took with her into the darkness that consumed her.
Seeing Lana struggling against the energy pouring out of the dead dragon was horrifying to Alistair. And frustrating since he was helpless to do anything. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a similar expression on Morrigan's face and it felt like icy talons squeezed his heart. It was clear this wasn't expected by the mage.
After everything they'd done, the sacrifices made, the prices paid, the ritual wasn't going to work.
Sapphire eyes full of love and sorrow met his. Though he couldn't hear with his ears what she said, some part of him understood Lana when she said, "I'm sorry. I love you."
The world exploded.
When Alistair opened his eyes, he was amazed to be alive and knew he had to be. He hurt too much to be dead in the Fade. Groaning, he got to his feet, his companions were all doing the same.
Except for one.
The most important one.
It was a scene from his worst nightmare. Looking more like a child's broken and discarded doll, Lana lay face down in a crumpled heap. Silver hair was stained crimson with blood, her armor black and crimson instead of black and silver. Slowly, numbly, he staggered over to her and stopped at a strangled sound from Morrigan.
Hate and pain filled him as he whirled around, blade in hand ready to strike down the treacherous bitch. Yet, he stayed his hand at the look of horror, grief and disbelief in those yellow eyes.
Alistair didn't recognize his own voice with how harsh it sounded as he ground out, "Get out of here before I forget what you were to her. Before I forget what you carry."
She stared at him in distress, "I-I'm sorry, Alistair. I-"
Morrigan didn't finish what she had to say, instead vanishing into a flurry of black feathers.
Heartbroken, he turned to gather up the shattered body from the pool of slowly spreading blood.