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"You're kidding!"
A smug grin found its way into my face, "Oh, I'm quite serious."
Riven didn't like the idea, I could tell. "I've never faced a darkspawn before, let alone killed one!"
"There's a first time for everything, my dear girl." I replied, yanking at the reins of the horse to stop at the side of a nearby stream. Here, I let the animal drink his fill while I gauged our position in the map. I took another assignment pressed by the local task roster concerning the darkspawn plaguing the outlaying caves, preying on wandering shepherds and livestock. An opportunity to hone the girl's skills presents itself, and I seized it. She can't stay the princess forever.
"You've had plenty of practice with me, therefore getting used to it a little too much." I explained, "This way, you learn how to deal with something that doesn't play fair. The sooner you do, the better."
"Well, what should I expect from them?" Riven asks.
"The darkspawn will try to overwhelm you with their numbers. You should expect them to have a mix of melee-fighters and a whole lot of hurlock snipers. What did I say about that?"
"Don't stay in one place, I remember." Riven echoed, wiping the dust free from her axe. "But what if I'm not ready?"
"You're ready." I replied, "Don't sell yourself short. You've got the power to rip mountains right off the face of the earth, I'm sure you can handle a few hurlocks just fine."
"Thanks...I guess."
I grabbed the knapsack and bagged the supplies, including some torches and a filled waterskin. Leliana took her time meeting up with us at the cave entrance where the last victims were said to be dragged into. She was carrying the ivory bow I gave her from our adventures in Ferelden, amazingly remaining unscratched to this day.
"Have you been using that thing at all?" I asked. "Never mind, why did I feel the need to ask?"
"But I have!" Leliana answered anyway, "It's just that my tasks require the use of a blade than a bow."
"You use words, not blades." I pointed out, "Your work as the Divine's agent has turned you into a diplomat. Frankly, I'm a little disappointed."
"Why? Do you have a problem with that?"
"I'm a man of action, always have been." I said, "Diplomacy is a rusted chain that holds alliances together. I've seen it break one too many times. To say that it is a skill is a lie. It is but an illusion of security."
Leliana sighed, but said nothing.
We proceeded to enter the mouth of the cave with lit torches to shine the way, weapons drawn as the scent of dried blood and spilled entrails assaults our nostrils. There will be no hope for the victims, they're most likely dead by now or suffering an even worst fate than the former. Riven shifts nervously at the sight of the red stains lining the stalactites and cave walls, "I'm starting to think this isn't such a good idea, Papa."
"We haven't even started, little one." I rumbled, "Don't back out on me now, you'll miss out on the fun."
Our presence was felt, and the darkspawn within the cave stir. They emerge from the shadows like wolves within the underbrush, crude weapons brandished and gleaming in the torchlight. Their eyes, maddened with murderous desire, stare out like shining rubies. Fangs stem from torn and gashed lips, drool spilling forth from the drawn maws. They scream and smash their swords upon their shields, but for some reason do not press the attack.
"What's up with them?" Riven said.
"I think they can smell your blood." I muttered.
"That's...not a good thing, right?"
"They know who you are, that just makes you a better target." I replied, feeling the faint rumble of an alpha's footfalls as it enters the battlefield. "So yeah, it's not a good thing. Ready yourself, Riven."
"We're going to take on that thing?" The child swallows that lump forming in her throat.
"No, you're taking on that thing." I answered, facing the horde before us. "I'm going to keep the lesser hurlocks from interfering, but you will kill the alpha. Remember everything I have taught you, and you will survive." In truth, I'm not as confident as I should be about my daughter's skills. I just hope it doesn't end too badly.
Riven slides under the alpha hurlock just as it raises its longmace to strike, cutting a deep gash with her axe across its leg as she passes over to its rear. She dives to the left when it swings in a wild arc, the longmace narrowly misses her head as it cleaves through the air and lands with a powerful thud upon the cave floor! The resulting thunder echoes above the din of the clamoring darkspawn. Leliana supports the child with her arrows, confusing the alpha as she aimed for the thick plating of its bloodstained helm.
I hurled a lightning shaft against the genlock snipers perched atop an overhanging rock, killing them the moment it struck their poorly protected bodies.
Riven spun around to gain momentum, delivering a punishing blow to the alpha's leg, chopping it clean off above the knee.
The darkspawn champion roars in agony as it drops to the floor, desperately trying to prop itself up with its weapon. It succeeds only to set itself up for Riven's killing strike- of which the child executes perfectly. With a determined battlecry, she hefts her axe and brings it down upon the alpha's face, shattering the thick plating of its helm and splitting its head clean down the middle!
Not bad for a beginner.
Riven's chest was heaving, but her face reflected on her victory. She looks to me for approval, and I gave it to her. Through the blood adorning her face, Riven smiles. I worried for a moment that she could contract the Blight's taint, but then noticed how the blood dried quickly then burned away from her skin, as if the malevolent energies died at the mere touch of her power.
I uttered a building roar as I channeled the roiling energies within my vessel into heavy gouts of hellish flames, unleashing them the moment the darkspawn decided to let go of their fears and swarm all over us. The wall of fire soon overwhelms them, leaving ashen heaps where beasts once stood. Another nesting ground uncovered and cleansed, more gold for us.
"It is not over." Leliana informed us. "If a darkspawn presence as large as this exists, that can only mean the involvement of a Broodmother. We must find it and destroy it."
"Papa, what's a broodmother?"
There was a foul taste in the back of my throat as I thought of the horrific abominations, finding myself reluctant to share the information that the child inquires of. "They are ghouls, Riven. Forced to feed on their fellows, then undergo the transformation should they survive the ordeal. Bloated obscenely to the point that they become immobile juggernauts, the broodmothers are responsible for reproducing the darkspawn locks. Steel yourself, my child. You are about to witness something that turns the stomach of even the hardiest of warriors."
"Um, okay."
It didn't take long for us to find what we were looking for. Located in the deepest recesses of the caverns, the Broodmother awaited our arrival within her lair, surrounded by Emissary Alphas and a horde of blood-crazed hurlocks. Massive and covered with sacs of tainted flesh, her bloated body stemming an array of blackened tentacles, the sight was most grotesque, and I heard Riven struggle to contain the bile rising up her throat. The Broodmother lifts her heavy limbs and howls, spewing forth freshly birthed darkspawn to add to her brethren's number.
"I wanna go home now." Riven muttered, the words spoken more as a joke than a whine.
I chuckled at her simple humor and spearheaded the assault on the breeding pit, enwreathing my sword with black pine and igniting it as I struck down the hurlock vanguard. A bright light fills the room as Riven casts a spell of her own design, interrupting the Emissaries as they attempted to combine their foul ritualistic spell into one powerful attack that dissipated as soon as the light scorched their eyes!
"Well done, girl!" I bellowed, blinking the spots out of my eyes. "A little warning would be nice next time!"
"Sorry Papa!"
Leliana had a smile on her face as she regarded the interactions between myself and my daughter, "Who would've thought this adventure was your idea of a family outing?"
It was way better than going out on a certain festival at a certain city in Antiva, that's for sure.
Together, we defeat the horde and slew the broodmother. Riven made quite a show doing it too, with her fancy flips and mixed spells. We made sure to burn everything before leaving the cavern. Never know when one darkspawn left behind makes a mess of things when you least expect it. Cleaning up after a battle keeps that from happening.
Upon our return to the village, I took my reward money and split it between the three of us.
Here, as we prepared to make the journey back to Kirkwall, Riven brings up the question. "Papa, can you have someone make an axe for me?"
"You already have an axe, little one."
"No, I mean a new one, something that looks as fancy as your sword."
My brow arches, "My sword isn't 'fancy'. The best weapons are not the best-looking ones, but the crudest-looking tools. And yet, in spite of this, they pack a hell of a punch. The same goes for your axe, my dear."
"Oh, I just wanted to make it feel special, y'know?" Riven said dejectedly. "Never mind then."
"Child." I took her aside, "I gave that axe to you not only as a practice tool but as a gift. Everything I have given you, whatever the form, has been for the sole purpose of making you stronger. I am teaching you now the value of function over form, do you understand? Not everything in your possession has to be pretty, that is selfish and foolish for anyone to think of. They only need to serve their purpose, nothing more."
"Yes, Papa." Riven sighed.
"Good." I rose up and helped her into the wagon, "Now let's go home."
Our return to Kirkwall took three whole days, and it was late afternoon when we arrived at the city gates. After submitting my papers to the City Guard, we were allowed entrance into the citadel. The first thing that I noticed upon our passage through the walls was the significant rise in Templar presence. Like some army sent to conquer the city while we had but a few weeks of absence, the military arm of the Chantry trumped the ranks of the Viscount's own forces. They practically owned the walls and streets as they patrolled and garrisoned the barracks in place of the City Guard.
I kept Riven close the whole time we crossed the distance from the walls into the Keep. Once we were safe within our castle, we let out the building breath within our chests. The child feels just as concerned as I was, "Papa, what's going on? Why are there so many Templars today?"
"I plan on finding out." I replied, carrying the baggage inside and guiding the horses to the stables. Once I've given their share of hay and filled the trough, I instructed the child to remain indoors while I headed downtown. Leliana offered to watch over her while I'm gone, which I gladly took up on.
As I passed the streets of Hightown, I noticed a commotion in the square. The Deep Roads Expedition team had returned from their tasks down under, but they came without Hawke and his party. I approached Bartrand, the dwarven prince and kin of Varric Tethras leading the expedition, and inquired of the fate of my friends. "What happened down there? Where's Hawke?"
"They're dead, so is my brother." He said matter-of-factly. "A cave-in, the roof collapsed on top of them and half of my expeditionary forces. Nobody survived."
"And you didn't dig out their bodies?" I said, for some reason feeling suspicious about the dwarf's words.
"Look here, sir, I don't know you and I don't owe you anything." Bartrand dismissed, "I just lost my brother and I'm very tired from the long journey. If you would be so kind as to not pester me with your inane questions, that would be much appreciated."
I frowned, acquiescing though I remained unconvinced. "Very well. I bid you good day."
"Thank you."
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