Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age or any of its related characters. This is just for my own enjoyment and the potential enjoyment of other fans like me, and no monetary gain was expected or received.

Rating: T+

Spoilers: May contain spoilers for Origins, Awakening, Origins DL content, and Dragon Age II as well as the novels The Stolen Throne and The Calling.


Chapter Forty-Five: The Stone Prisoner

Honnleath turned out to be quite a lovely little village. It was a pity, Loghain thought, that it was dying.

There were only a handful of darkspawn, truthfully, but too many for the poor locals to deal with. Loghain, Elilia, and the others ripped into the creatures' flank like a band saw.

"Head north," Loghain said to the fleeing villagers. "We're evacuating villages that sit too close to the Wilds. Steer clear of West Hills; the darkspawn were massing there last I knew."

Their arrival gave the villagers time to prepare themselves for a long, hard journey, at least. The party camped out at the entrance to town and watched to keep the road clear. Elilia nudged Loghain.

"Look," she said, and nodded at the statue in the village square. A great stone being, reared back and roaring at the heavens.

"Hmph," Loghain said.

"What do you mean, 'Hmph?'" Elilia asked. "That's the golem, isn't it?"

"So I assume. I 'hmph'd' because I thought perhaps it was the one that belonged to that acquaintance I mentioned, Wilhelm, the mage who wanted to move here. It looks about the same but it's not nearly so big."

"He was a mage? Maybe he shrunk it down."

"How exactly do you shrink a golem?"

"I don't know. Magic. A chisel, and a lot of nerve."

"Ha!"

"No sense in leaving it here for the darkspawn, yes?" Leliana said. "Might as well see if the control rod works."

Loghain walked up to the golem as he took the control rod out of his pocket. "Now, what was that activation phrase the merchant sold us on?" he said. "Oh yes. 'Dulef gar.'"

Nothing happened. "Beggin' your pardon, My Lord," a woman said as she loaded several babies into the bed of a wagon. "Are you trying to make the statue work?"

"Yes. Is it broken?" Loghain asked.

"Don't rightly know. But I do know it used to belong to old Master Wilhelm. His son, Matthias, might know how to make it work, if you want to ask him. He lives with his wife and little girl in that big tower right over yonder. Them and some other folks holed up down cellar when the darkspawn first attacked."

"Thank you, I'd better go and let them know about the evacuation at any rate. Luck be with you and yours, Madam."

"Thank you, My Lord."

Loghain gestured to his companions. "It seems like the village is in the clear, for the moment. Private Kireani Hawke, Lt. Vallen, and Ser Wesley, stay here and make sure it stays that way. If you get into any trouble, holler. If there's fighting, Ser Wesley, try and stay out of it. I don't like the looks of that wound: maybe we can find you healing here. The rest of you, come with me. The fools holed up in a cellar; the darkspawn could have tunneled into it."

As they descended into the tower's understructure, Elilia nudged Loghain. "So the golem did belong to Wilhelm, eh?" she said.

"Seems that way. I guess you were right: he did shrink it down somehow."

There were darkspawn in the cellar; more than they'd found in the village, in fact. "I think we're going to find nothing but tragedy down here, Ser," Carver Hawke said as he sliced an arm off a genlock.

"Maybe so. Wilhelm was a powerful mage, though, so it's possible the people who bivouacked down here have some defenses."

"This Wilhelm," Leliana said. "He was the mage who King Maric freed of the Circle for his services during the Rebellion, yes?"

"Yes."

"Must be nice," Carver muttered.

"Actually the man was a superior ass. But his service was invaluable, so his arrogance wasn't unwarranted," Loghain said, as he took the lower jaw off a hurlock with his shield. "No sign of people here. Let's go further in."

"This is one heck of a deep cellar," Alistair said.

"I expect Wilhelm used it to keep prying eyes away from him when working his magics," Loghain said. "He was something of a scholar, I suppose you'd say, and liked to experiment with spells. Unfortunately, he often liked to experiment upon me."

Elilia chuckled. "Brave man. Or very, very foolish."

There were more darkspawn, and finally they found the people, still alive behind a barrier of magic. They slew the darkspawn and approached the barrier. Loghain spoke to a tall, blond-haired man who looked familiar.

"Are you Matthias?" he asked. "Loghain Mac Tir, at your service."

"Andraste's ass…Teyrn Loghain? An…an honor, My Lord. Er…here, let me take down the barrier." He raised a hand and with a touch of mana the barrier spell fell.

Loghain stuck out a hand. "I fought alongside your father. You're a sight bigger than he was, but you look very much like him."

Matthias shook with him. He looked slightly awed to be shaking that hand. "I know, My Lord. I mean, my father spoke often of his service in the Rebellion."

"We're evacuating the village," Loghain said. "Sending everyone north, away from the darkspawn horde in Korcari. There should be time enough to pack a few essential possessions before you go, but you really can't stay here. The army is currently defending West Hills and we can't spare the manpower for these remote little holdings. My suggestion would be Denerim, the Chantry there has the most space, but South Reach or Waking Hills would take you, as would Gwaren. It's close but well-barricaded against the Wilds."

"I can't leave until I find my daughter," Matthias said. "She ran off, deeper into my father's laboratory. One of the men followed her, but there are defenses…I don't think he made it very far. Please, My Lord…could you go after her?"

"Why didn't you go after her yourself?" Elilia demanded.

"I had to be here to hold the barrier up, and I…I was…"

"Scared?" Loghain said. He snorted. "Some father you are. All right, we'll do your job for you. Hold tight."

He led the way deeper into the substructure. It was apparent that from this point forward, more than likely, the cellar was carved out by magic. A room overgrown with roots and wild herbs, and then a deep well. There were a few spirits conjured to thwart them, but there was no sign of any child. There was still one more room, however; one that looked old enough to have been carved out by the Avvar ages past. The girl was there, and she was talking to a…a cat?

"Oh, hello," the girl said when she saw the newcomers. "Have you come to play with us? Kitty and I were playing a guessing game. It's more fun with more people!"

"Your father is worried about you," Elilia said. "You shouldn't have run off like that."

The little girl wrinkled her nose. "But then I wouldn't have found Kitty, and Kitty is so wonderful and soft. Father doesn't like cats, but I bet he'd like Kitty!"

"Run along, now," Loghain said. "We don't have time to waste."

"But I can't leave Kitty, and Kitty can't leave. Not until someone solves the riddle Grandpa left. He locked her up down here. Isn't that terrible?"

"Yes, Amalia," the cat said. "Your grandfather was a terrible, horrible man."

Loghain and Elilia shared a look. "That's…not a cat," Elilia said.

"And I think I know why Wilhelm locked it away, too, though why he had a cat-demon is an open question," Loghain said. "Amalia, is that your name? Come away from the kitty-cat, Amalia; it's not as nice as it seems."

"No!" Amalia said. The cat's eyes glowed brilliant violet.

"She loves only me, now, Mortals," the cat said. "She will not listen to you."

"What is it you want?" Elilia asked.

"Freedom," the cat said. "To be free of this prison, and to join with Amalia so that I may see the world through her eyes. It is such a little thing to ask, is it not? In exchange, I can give you the key to unlock the shackles of the Stone Prisoner you seek."

"The Stone Prisoner?" Loghain said, and shifted his body slightly to an angle, the better to hide what was going on behind him. "Do you mean the golem? It's broken, isn't it?"

"No, only frozen in place. With the right words, it will function again. I know the right words. Release me, and I will tell you what you want to know."

"Mm, tempting…but in all honesty, I'm less interested in retrieving a golem than in retrieving this child," Loghain said, and spun out of the way as Alistair swooped out from behind him and brought his sword crashing down on the cat's head. The cat transformed into a buxom, barely-clad demon of Desire, and died with a hiss of rage.

"K-K-K-Kitty?" Amalia asked, wide-eyed.

"Sorry, Amalia, dear, but Kitty wasn't really a Kitty. Kitty was a demon, who wanted to possess you," Alistair said, as he wiped off and sheathed his blade.

"Don't fret much about it, dear," Elilia said. "There's plenty of real kitties in the world for you to play with. There's a kitty at my house in Denerim, all black with a white mark on her belly that looks like a smile. Do you want to know what her name is? It's Glad-Ass. My children have to call her Happy Bottom. This guy," she continued, with a thumb-jerk toward her husband, "gives all his animals strange, funny names like that. Do you want to know what he named his dog? The dog is named Not My Dog."

Amalia giggled. Loghain rolled his eyes. "That's not - oh, never mind. I surrender. Let's get out of here, now, can't we please?"

He turned on his heels and stalked out of the chamber. The others had no choice but to follow. Amalia was surrounded by an honor guard of mabari, and quite happy about it. She seemed to have forgotten all about her ordeal with the deceitful "Kitty" already in the midst of so much splendid Puppy.

When Matthias saw his daughter he swept her up in his arms and hugged her tightly. "I scarcely dared hope…" he said. "Thank you, My Lords and Ladies. I could never repay your kindness."

"I know a way you could try," Leliana said.

"Yeah," Carver said. "That golem outside. His Grace got the control rod from a gent not far from West Hills, but the words he gave us don't work. The lady outside said you might know why not."

"You're trying to activate Shale?" Matthias said, bewildered. "My mother sold its control rod years ago, after it killed my father. I'd bet she gave the man the wrong words. She never wanted to see Shale active again, and neither do I, but if you really want to press your luck with it I'll not stop you, not after this. The words are 'Dulen harn.'"

"Thank you, Matthias," Loghain said. "If the creature is broken I won't let it hurt anyone else; you have my assurance. I'll reduce it to loose sand and gravel before I'll let it kill again."

"Thank you, My Lord. I feel better, hearing that. Er…I hate to take advantage of your goodwill further, My Lord, but…you said you're sending us to the Chantries. My daughter and I, we're…"

"You're mages," Loghain said.

"Yes, My Lord. I know we're supposed to be in the Circle, but…"

"Say no more. Get me a quill and parchment, and some sealing wax, if you have any."

Matthias put his daughter down and scrambled to clear a space on his father's old writing desk. Loghain bent over it and scribbled out a quick message in his upright, precise hand. He folded the missive and sealed it with a blob of red wax, into which he pressed the signet ring he wore on his left index finger. He handed the letter to Matthias. "Take your family to Gwaren, and go to the Keep. Give this letter to my seneschal, a man named Cort. You can stay with us until this threat has passed."

"Are there kitties there?" Amalia asked.

"Yes, there are many kitties there," Elilia said, with a smile. "You shall have to ask Seneschal Cort to tell you all their funny names."

Carver stared at Loghain. He'd started staring the moment Loghain started writing the letter. "What's wrong with you?" Loghain asked him.

"Andraste's ass, I wish we'd known you were so nice to apostates before we sent Mother and Bethany off with no plan and no place to go," he said, in a burst. Then his face turned beet red as he realized what he'd just said, and to whom he'd said it. "I…I mean…"

Loghain stood up straight. "Which one is it? Mother or sister?"

Carver gulped. "Er…it's my sister, Your Grace. My twin sister. Father was a mage, too, but he died."

"Where were they headed?"

"Denerim, Your Grace. Kireani thought it would be easier for them to pass unnoticed in a big city."

Loghain bent down and scribbled out another note. He sealed it with his signet and handed it to Carver. "If you can find one spare, strong horse in this one-horse town, you might be able to catch them before the templars do. Send them to Gwaren House, my Denerim estate. If your sister is as skilled as you and your other sister, tell her we could always use another mage to aid our soldiers. Your mother is welcome to stay with us as long as necessary. My city seneschal's name is Aldritch; he'll take care of them. I can't make any promises, but if Bethany serves she may find herself a free mage but 'apostate' no longer. King Maric is good at handing out rewards, even when you don't want them. Dismissed."

"Thank you, Your Grace," Carver said, and saluted. He shot out of the cellar like an arrow loosed from a strong bow.

"That boy can move when he wants to," the Qunari said, the first words he'd assayed since he submitted to Loghain's show of strength and skill.

"Family is a powerful motivator," Loghain said. "Come on, let's get out of this cellar. It's damp and smells of must."

They returned to the surface world. Most of the villagers were still packing their things into carts and wagons. Private Kireani Hawke saw them return and saluted, followed by Lt. Vallen.

"Any trouble?" Loghain asked.

"No, Ser - no sign of darkspawn," Lt. Vallen said. "Your Grace, if I may…my husband is growing weaker. Have you found anyone who knows ought of healing?"

Loghain turned to Matthias, who came outside in their wake. "I don't suppose you can work any healing spells?" he asked.

"I can," the man said. He stepped forward and knelt at the templar's side. Blue light erupted from his hands and poured out over Ser Wesley's body. "The wounds are healing, but…there's something wrong," he said after a moment. "It's like a poison. I can feel it, coursing through him. It's very…black. I think…I think it may be the Blight."

Loghain looked at Ser Wesley's ghastly pale face, at the eyes already clouding over. "Blast. I think you're right."

"What? No, that can't be," Lt. Vallen said.

"Aveline," Ser Wesley said, and his voice was rather weak. "I can feel it, too. I'm dying of it."

"Not necessarily," Loghain said. "If we can get you to West Hills quick enough, the Grey Wardens may have a cure for you. It would mean becoming one of them, though."

"Better that than dead," Aveline said. She knelt down and put an arm under her husband's shoulders. "Come on, Wesley - I'll carry you if I must."

"That may not be necessary, either," Loghain said, and walked up to the golem. He held out the control rod. "Dulen harn."

With the groan of long-still stone, the golem came suddenly to life.

"Oh, at last, I can move again! But it stopped the darkspawn from killing all the villagers: such a pity," the golem said. "I was quite looking forward to watching them all die."