Chapter 37: Faith
The Guardian of the Ashes had not been wrong.
He had warned them that the Gauntlet, a series of ordeals that protected the ashes, would test them. He had warned them they had to prove themselves worthy of entering the chamber that housed the ashes. That to save the Arl's life they would have to put their faith in the Maker and his bride.
He had not lied to them about that.
The first test was of cleverness, spirits of Andraste's disciples and enemies challenged them with riddles relating to her life. Solona was glad that she had brought Leliana and Alistair with them, both of them having either lived or served in the chantry. They were a great help deciphering the riddles and opening the door to the next chamber.
The next chamber was filled with mist, once they entered it they were confronted by people from their past some living some dead.
Solona was confronted by Jowan, he was pleased that she had finally let go of her anger involving himself and Lily, that she had embraced her new life without fear or reservation.
Alistair was confronted by a vision of Duncan, the elder warden tried to convince Alistair that the defeat at Ostagar was not his fault, that he had to let go of his past and embrace the future if they were to stop the Blight.
"We must do whatever we can to defeat the darkspawn," Duncan reminded him, "Never forget that Alistair. You must press forward…always press forward."
Solona had tried to get her lover to accept that from the very beginning, but he never could, the specter of Duncan had always stood in the way.
Alistair sighed; he had needed this, a chance to see Duncan, the true Duncan one last time.
To truly say good bye to his old friend, Alistair had needed that, it was the only way to truly let go.
Wynne was confronted by an old Templar, her eyes filled with tears at seeing the man. Solona had never seen her old mentor like this.
"Is he well?" Wynne asked the spirit.
The old Templar nodded.
"You would be proud of him love," the Templar said warmly, "he has grown into his own man; he is an enchanter now in the circle of Orlais. Our Rhys has done us very proud, though he is a stubborn as you are." The Templar chuckled, "like mother like son."
Wynne laughed at that.
"Would you have cared for me if I was not as stubborn as I am?"
"No," the Templar admitted, "You are perfect just the way you are."
Solona was shocked, Wynne had loved a Templar, and if she had heard correctly…Wynne had a child…a son.
Solona remembered her feelings for Cullen, if she had not been taken from the tower, could they have not ended up having the same story?
It was definitely possible.
Perhaps they were not as different as she thought.
Leliana was faced by a woman in chantry robes. They spoke in rapid Orlesian, almost too fast for Solona to follow.
From what she did understand, Leliana was asking the woman if she had failed as a servant of the Maker, if she had done everything she had done for the attention, like the Guardian had claimed moments ago.
The chantry woman sighed.
"The Maker works in mysterious ways child. Never doubt that his hand is on your heart. Trust in your faith, it will save your life, and your soul."
The woman vanished.
The door to the next chamber opened.
Inside were ghostly versions of themselves. A Solona covered in blood driven mad by her magic, an Alistair who had remained in the Chantry, one who had become a cold and empty Templar. The Wynne was an abomination, twisted by the magic of her spirit of faith. The Leliana was the bard she had been, the one before she had found faith.
These spectral doppelgangers attacked them.
The false Alistair smited Solona, the real one dove to her defense. Leliana faced herself, meeting her counterpart blade upon blade. Wynne traded spells with her double.
The false Solona transformed into a Bereskarn, it tried to devour the warden mage.
Solona unleashed a wall of flame, it drove her double back.
She cast crushing prison on the false Leliana; it gave the real bard a chance to slit her throat.
The spirit vanished.
"Switch opponents," Solona ordered.
Alistair cleansed the mana of the false Solona; before it could recover he ran it through. Wynne and Solona battered the false Alistair; the ghostly Templar could not fight them both, every time he engaged one the other struck from behind.
It took some time…but they eventually overwhelmed him.
Leliana backstabbed the false Wynne. It tried to heal itself only to find its mana cleansed by Alistair. Solona destroyed it with a well-placed lightning bolt.
The next door opened.
They moved on.
The next step involved, them working together. The room contained a deep chasm, by stepping on certain panels on the floor, a bridge piece would appear.
"You see those thingies on the floor; I think we have to step on them to move on." Alistair suggested.
"Alistair," Leliana sighed, "Most people tend to avoid stage looking sections of floor, thingies as you say, they tend to be traps."
Alistair gave her a sheepish grin.
Still they had no choice and Solona tended to agree with Alistair. They would try the floor panels.
They needed to stand on certain panels at certain times. Solona crossed the bridge while the others handled the panels. Soon the bridge was solid and allowed all of them to cross.
"I guess Andraste favored only the clever," Alistair sighed.
Solona shook her head, she tended to agree.
IOI
Zevran and the others waited outside, he flipped his dagger over and over in his hand.
He didn't like this…the waiting. As a crow he could usually be infinitely patient, but he found that he was worried about the others.
No…not the others, one other….he was worried about Solona.
He was always an openly flirty person, it was his nature, but…but over the last few weeks he had come to see the warden in a new light.
He understood what she was, he understood why she did the things she had done. He knew she cared for Alistair, but she could also see that the man could not readily accept what she was becoming; Zevran suspected that the two were drifting apart.
The assassin sighed, he knew how foolish this was, had he not learned his lesson with Rinna? Still it was hard not to feel desire for their beautiful leader.
Now…Alistair was in line to be King, the warden may not want to admit it to himself, but Zev had heard the Teyrna's men talking in Soldier' Peak, he had heard the Teyrna herself talking…
Alistair would likely find himself on the throne, whether he wanted it or not.
Then…then what would become of Solona?
It was a very good question.
Zev would not leave her, she had saved his life after all, he had sworn an oath to protect her, and he, much to his surprise, had meant it.
Father Kolgrim paced nervously, Zev watched the man closely, and his guards were spread out farther apart than they should have been.
Zevran pulled a small flask from his pouch; it contained a rather nasty soldier's bane concoction. He let it drip on the blade.
He had a feeling he would need it.
He motioned to Oghren and the others, pointing to their weapons. He had come to know Solona very well over the last few months. HE serious doubted she would do as the cult leader asked.
They needed to be ready when the others returned. They needed…
The door to the temple opened. Solona and the others emerged; the mage had a small, yet satisfied smile on her face.
Zev shot her a glance. He motioned at Kolgrim who was now walking towards her and the others.
After months of fighting together, he had come to be able to anticipate the mage woman's whims.
She nodded.
The cult leader had outlived his usefulness.
"Our Andraste has not been freed," The cult leader hissed, "What treach…"
He never got the chance to finish.
Zevran struck.
Solona blasted a young drake with ice. Morrigan transformed into a spider leaping on the cultist mage who was tending to it. Shale crushed one of Kolgrim's bodyguards. Oghren cut down the other with his battle ax.
Kolgrim lay dead on the ground, his throat slashed by Zevran, the Reaver had tried to kill Solona before he had died, but the poison robbed him of the last of his will. He had died powerless before the warden mage.
The confrontation was over before it had even begun.
Solona nodded to the elf. She held up the pouch of Ashes they had retrieved from the temple.
Mission accomplished.
They were free to leave this place.
They could save the Arl now, and hopefully the rest of Ferelden.
IOI
They made camp for the night in the lower Temple, it was dark by the time they had rejoined Brother Genitivi and a fast moving snow storm had blocked the path to Haven.
They would have to wait until morning.
They stood watch for any surviving cultists, but none appeared. Solona kept staring at the bag containing the remains of the long dead prophet.
She had literally had to walk through fire to get it.
The cleansing flames of Andraste had given her a new respect for the words of the Chant of Light. She wondered if the priests that would come to this place would understand the difference between what the chantry teaches and the truth.
Mages were not the problem, the chantry continued to see them as one though. Fear and ambition had replaced love and forgiveness in the hearts of Chantry leaders.
They needed to come here; they needed to understand the truth.
Solona knew she would have to do something drastic in the morning.
She could not leave the ashes surrounded by these cultists; one might eventually come up with a plan to reach the ashes.
Solona could not allow that. There was only one option here; she had to take away the reason for the cultists being here.
They had to remove their precious dragon.
She told the others about her plan. Leliana agreed to help, Zevran to, Shale wanted a chance to crush another giant scaly bird.
Alistair didn't like the thought of her risking herself, but he agreed to help. Morrigan rolled her eyes, but said that if Solona insisted on throwing herself into danger she would help. Wynne promised to keep everyone healed. Oghren was itching for a fight, eager for the glory of killing another dragon. Sten nodded, she was lead, and he would follow.
Binder stayed behind to watch Genitivi and the camp. When the sun rose, they followed an old livestock path Zev had found the night before. It allowed them to by-pass the caves and reach the summit more quickly.
The dragon slumbered above.
Solona approached the gong, the one the cultist had used to summon their Andraste to feed. The dragon rose from where it had been dosing…the battle began.
"Face me creature!" Leliana shouted putting arrows into the beast's eye. The dragon bellowed in agony.
Shale charged the dragon from behind, her fists hammering its hind leg.
"Squish," the golem laughed as its shin bone shattered under her assault, the dragon pushed the golem away with a flap of its mighty wings. Wynne summoned lightning down upon the creature while Morrigan hit it with ice and Solona with fire.
The creature reared crazily, shooting flame blindly at its many enemies.
Sten drove Asala deep into the dragon's side; he leapt back as the lightning Wynne had summoned struck the hilt of his sword, channeling the blast beneath its scales.
Crazed the beast snapped viciously at Alistair, who grabbed the dragon by the horns and was hoisted into the air.
Solona watched as he sank his sword deep into the base of the creature's skull. The dragon tried to fight on, but is strength was waning.
One final roar later, the dragon collapsed.
The false Andraste, goddess of the Cult of the Disciples of Andraste was now dead.
Solona smiled grimly. This had been good practice for when they finally faced Urthemiel.
Of course she doubted that the Archdemon would fall as easily as a high dragon. It was far more cunning.
The snow had finally stopped; it was time to begin their journey aback to Redcliffe. Solona would stop in the nearest village; send missives to both First Enchanter Irving and King Bhelen in Orzammar.
It was time for the army to begin to assemble.
It was time to make ready to end the Blight.