Guess who's got internet!

After nearly a week of fighting with Qwest to get my internet turned on (at the correct address), it has finally happened and I've learned two things:

1) Don't count on Qwest employee's to know how to do their job (no offense meant if you are one… but my experience so far has been that even the supervisors don't know what they're doing with a few decent reps thrown in the mix somewhere).

And 2) Never run my boyfriend around in circles enough that I piss him off to the point that he feels the need to run me to the ground using my own stupidity (I feel kinda sorry for the reps and supervisors that managed to piss him off .).

Anyway, internet means I have more chances to work on chapters again which means You should be able to go back to reliably getting a chapter every week soon :)

Anyway I wanted to thank everyone for reviewing the last couple of chapters, I do still enjoy the reviews even when I can't publish a chapter every week and even if I sometimes have to skip thanking you guys for lack of time.

You should really enjoy this chapter… I loved writing it!

Enjoy!

.oO***Oo.

The good news was that skeletons are rather ineffective without their heads… or skulls (technically). The other good news was that Kallia's new staff, while practically useless for spells, was very useful for causing their heads to suddenly go missing. As were Alistair's sword and shield. So while Kallia and Alistair fell into a familiar pattern against the skeletons, Leliana and Zevran fell into their own against Sophia and Levi ran for the other room where he found a suitable corner to cower in.

Things were finally looking up for the Warden's party.

That is, they were until a particularly large fanged skeleton noticed the mage was slightly favoring her right side. Alistair heard the undead growl and saw it go after Kallia. The Templar was there in a flash, standing between her and the skeletons, reducing the one that had tried to attack his mage to no more than a pile of cracked bones.

Unfortunately, in defending her, he had also pinned her against the wall so Kallia was unable to help him in the fight as he was being flanked. He pushed heavily at the skeletons with his shield, knocking them back long enough for him to strike at their heads, sending several rolling across the room with one swipe.

An arrow struck the wall just above the Templar's shoulder. It just grazed Alistair's armor enough to tear the leather holding together the breastplates. He could feel it starting to slip by the time the group had finished off the last of the undead.

The two rogues were relentless against the demon-possessed Sophia, Leliana's flurry of arrows kept the undead sluggish in her movements allowing Zevran to flit unharmed around her aimless swings to jab at her poorly-guarded back. The former Commander wasn't watching her footwork, an amateurish mistake in Zevran's opinion, and stumbled over one of the fallen undead's bones. That was all the opportunity the assassin needed, he quickly crossed his blades in a scissor-like fashion and cut the possessed woman's head from her shoulders before she was able to regain her footing.

The moment the decaying woman's head left her shoulders her body began to disintegrate, leaving nothing behind but a pile of bones filling her armor.

.oO***Oo.

Alistair examined his breastplate carefully and sighed. "It's ruined," he announced as he fingered the cut straps.

"Can't they be repaired?" Kallia asked. "You've got plenty of armor in your pack you could salvage straps from," the elf seemed to think about it for a minute then added, "Or you could just use a new one."

But Alistair shook his head, "The leather on these were cut so easily because they got wet then frozen, it

caused the leather to become brittle. Any armor that was in my pack will have the same problem."

"This is true, my Warden," Zevran came up and rubbed the leather straps lightly with his finger, watching it flake and break off under his fingers. "Had the lovely Leliana and I not held our leather above our heads when we were wading though the water we would be fighting in our smallclothes by now. And while I'm sure you would enjoy the show, it would be a rather dangerous activity, yes?"

"Not to mention it would be horribly stiff . We must be able to move freely… like in a dance," Leliana did a small spin then curtsied with a flourish.

Zevran watched Leliana move with a pleased expression before replying, "Certain activities require it to be stiff though, my dear Leliana." The bard scoffed in disgust then crossed her arms over her chest and pointedly turned her attention away from the assassin. Zevran smirked, simply admiring the different angle before turning to Alistair and asking, "Haven't you picked up any armor from the fallen Wardens?"

Alistair shook his head, "Nothing was worth salvaging. They've all sat in the cold for too long and had the same problem."

"What about that armor?" Kallia asked, pointing to the now empty pile of Sophia's armor. "It's been continually moving so it wouldn't be brittle, right?" The elf looked to her three companions for confirmation she was correct.

Alistair grimaced, "Well…. That's… It really should belong to Levi, family heirloom and all that."

"No, please! If you need it, you are more than welcome to use it… I-it's what grandmother would have wanted," Levi quickly answered. Glad finally to be of some help.

"But, Kali's really the Warden Commander. It wouldn't be right for me to wear Warden Commander armor…." Alistair tried again.

Kallia frowned and put her hands on her hips, "It's much too heavy for me to wear, Alistair."

"But… but… but it's had a dead person it in!" he whined. Leliana laughed, Zevran scoffed, but Kallia just cocked her head to the side.

"So?" the mage questioned.

"You'd be wearing your own padding, Alistair," Leliana answered and began pulling the armor off Sophia's damp, putrid gambeson[1].

"But its girl's armor!" he whined.

"If you need new armor anyway and we don't have anything else, what would it hurt to try it on?" Kallia asked him.

"Maybe we could just repair old one afterall," the Templar grumbled morosely, looking over his splintmail.

"Alistair," Leliana started reproachfully. "You said yourself it cannot be repaired, the same thing will just happen again. Besides, this is better than your splintmail anyway," she pointedly held out the armor to him. He just glared at the offending piece of metal in her hands and she giggled, "Are you afraid you'll catch cooties?"

"No!" he snapped and snatched it out of her hands, quickly doing up the buckles for the breast plate. He gave Leliana a childish smirk look, all but sticking his tongue out and going nah-nah-nahnah-naah.

"You cannot wear those pants with that breastplate, my friend," Zevran commented with a critical eye.

"Why not?" Alistair demanded.

In the blink of an eye the assassin was standing next to the Templar and running his pinky finger around the top of the pants where they didn't quiet meet the breast plate. The human squeaked in surprise but Zevran was out of reach before he could react. He turned to Kallia and wiggled his little finger, "Not sharp, not pointy, not even my pointer finger."

"Kali!" Alistair demanded angrily.

"He is right, Alistair," she answer smoothly.

"You sound so surprised, my Warden!" Zevran exclaimed, exaggeratedly offended. But the mage ignored him, instead giving her Templar a pleading look. Alistair sighed.

"Fine, give me the pants as well," he grudgingly pulled the plated pants on over his linen trousers. The Templar wiggled his hips to test the movement of the armor and commented, "It's surprisingly roomy…"

"You might as well put the boots and gloves on as well," Leliana commented, starting to remove those from the old Commander's padding.

"Not the gloves," Kallia answered. "The gloves he's wearing now have enchantments on them."

Alistair took one look at the boots and shook his head. "I draw the line at heeled boots," he insisted.

"But I think the name Alice suits you quite nicely, my dear Templar," Zevran teased with a smirk.

"That's it. I'm taking it off," Alistair declared and began unbuckling the breastplate.

Kallia quickly caught his hands in hers. "You look fine, Alistair," she sent a pointed glare at the assassin, who's only response was mild amusement. "You can't even tell it was a woman's armor. Look it even has one of those things so there's room for your-"

"It's called a cod piece," Alistair cut her off quickly, flushing bright red as she gestured between his hips. Leliana let off a giggle at his expense and he was reminded, once again, of why he hated that giggle so very much.

"Yes," Kallia nodded. "One of those things…." She cocked her head sideways and Alistair flushed even brighter as she stared at the area she had indicated. Without thinking about it his hands moved forward and he turned away from her. "Why does it have one of those things…"

"There are some things best left unquestioned, my Warden. Let sleeping dogs lie, yes?" Zevran answered.

Kallia frowned, "What do dogs have to do with it?"

"It's a saying, Kali. It means leave well enough alone," Leliana answered with amusement.

"Oh… Well why didn't you just say that?" she asked in frustration, throwing her hands up in the air. Her three companions just laughed before Zevran turned to look back at the door they had come through.

"Anyway, there is only one place left for us to go, yes?" Zevran pointed out. Surprisingly, Alistair nodded his agreement.

"To the old mage's tower to see what it was she so desperately wanted us to destroy," the Templar added.

.oO***Oo.

The group backtracked to the room they had been in before to find the other door. It was heavier than the others, so Alistair warned that it probably led outside. Leliana giggled as that comment has Zevran digging through his pack for warmer clothes.

"It isn't that cold, Zevran," the bard teased.

"Oh, but I can assure you, my fair Leliana, that it very much is," he answered, wrapping a thick scarf around his neck and burying his face in it.

Alistair creaked open the heavy door letting in more and more snow flurries the further he opened it. The group carefully stepped onto the icy stone walkway.

Even from their place at the bottom of the stairs the group could see the tall tower raising high above any other part of the building, partially because it had been built into the mountain behind it, much like the Tower of Magi was. No doubt an attempt to mimic that.

"What is it with mages and towers?" Alistair asked idly. "Does magic not work as well at ground level as it does up hundreds of flights of stairs?" he groaned, eyeing the hundreds of flights of stairs they were about to have to walk up.

Kallia glanced at him, amused. "As much as some mages may hate the Tower, for most of us it's home and where we are most comfortable. It makes sense they would try to duplicate it," as she spoke, a sad smile graced her lips and she turned her eyes back to the stone spire.

"Kali?" Leliana asked, concerned by the longing in the elf's eyes and drawing the Templar's attention to her sad tone.

"We understand the way the world works in the Tower. Everything is much simpler. Sometimes it's nice to close your eyes and pretend that you're back in that world… Even if you can never go back," Kallia murmured without taking her eyes off the tall Tower before her.

"Kali…" Alistair started, though he seemed unsure of what he was supposed to do it was clear he wanted to comfort her in some way. His mouth opened and closed several times as he tried to come up with words to say. But Kallia just reached out and squeezed his hand. He relaxed at her touch, glad that she knew what he had meant, even if it could not put it to words.

Once the elf had released his hand, the group began making their way across the long walkway. The seemingly harmless skeletons came to life at started shooting arrows at them and the companions fell into formation best they could on the narrow passageway.

"Traps, watch out!" Leliana pulled back on Alistair's armor just before the Templar's foot hit the trap. "I'll trip them if you cover me."

The ice and snow didn't seem to bother the skeletons as they came running towards the group, blades drawn. Alistair knocked aside the first blade that came towards him with his shield, while Kallia hit them with her staff. The mage suddenly lost her footing slipped on the ice, and the skeleton was able to knock the staff right out of her hands. Without thinking the mage held out her hand and sent an Arcane Bolt at the undead, turning it to dust.

Zevran came out of the shadows and held out his hand to help her up. "You must careful, Warden," his voice was muffled by the scarf. "There is ice on the stones."

The elf looked baffled as to why there would be ice when she hadn't cast any, forgetting the events outside the cave only the day before.

Leliana took a step back to be able to get a better angle to aim, her foot hit something solid and cold. The bard looked down and saw something sticking out of the snow. She bend to pick it up and immediately dropped it, it felt like she just touched a piece of ice. Leliana bend to pick it up again, this time making sure the leather on her gloves touched it instead of her exposed fingers.

It was a staff!

The red head looked toward their mage, she was holding her own against a skeleton with her feeble dagger skills, but just barely. "Kali!" The bard called over to her. "Catch!" she said and tossed her the staff.

The mage easily caught it and shouted her thanks to the bard. The moment she grasped it, she could feel the power surging through it. This was an excellent staff and her magic easily flowed through it as though she'd been using it for years.

She could feel the cold emanating from the very core of the staff as it shared with her the remnants of magic from its last owner.

"There's more coming from the way we came, Warden!" Zevran shouted. With a sudden burst of strength, Kallia twisted her body and sent the skeleton trying to pin her over the edge of the wall. The sound of its icy bones shattering hundreds of feet below was lost to the wind and the sounds of battle. Kallia turned her attention to the door they had come through and could already feel the ripples in the Veil from the demons and the clank of the armor from the undead skeletons.

A skeleton tried to sneak up on Alistair, but a swing of her new staff froze it in place as Alistair quickly shattered it with his shield before running to take on a group that were out numbering Zevran. "How many?" she shouted back.

"Too many," Leliana answered as she ran from her place by the door. "I barred the door to buy us some time but we need to retreat!"

The elf looked around for any path they could retreat but there was only the locked door.

"Alistair, you need to break down the door," she ordered and turned her attention to the skeleton that had taken notice of Leliana.

"Bit busy at the moment," he shouted back as he tried to fight three fanged skeletons.

"Zevran-"

"I already tried, my Warden. It is barred, not locked," he called over his shoulder.

She muttered a curse under her breath as she realized they couldn't wait for Alistair to break down the door. A large crack was already appearing in the door behind them and more enemies were going to rush the walkway very soon.

"No choice," she muttered quietly and began tugging and pulling the threads around her. She wove them as fast as her fingers could move. A tiny tug on the Veil behind her indicated a demon and she sidestepped just as Zevran sent its head rolling. Every second the flaming ball in her hands grew larger and finally, as she tucked the last thread in place she shouted, "Look out!" and launched it at the door. It splintered into a hundred pieces sending a rain of splintered wood in all directions as the companions made a run at the now open entryway.

"Maybe we should have found another way through besides blowing up the door, yes?" Zevran yelled as he ducked to avoid a rather large chunk of flaming wood.

Leliana spun around, notched an arrow in one smooth movement, and took aim at the doorway. She wait patiently for the demons to come through the archways, the small entrance would bottleneck the creatures allowing the bard to pick them off. Another minute passed and nothing came through the stone archway. The redhead lowered her bow an inch, "Something is wrong, they are not following us."

"That can't be right," the Templar almost skipped to a stop. "They were almost on top of us, it has to be a trick."

Zevran slipped into the shadows and crept to the door. Demons and skeletons were pacing just beyond the threshold of the door but, despite looking very annoyed at having lost their prey… they were making no move to follow the small group.

.oO***Oo.

[1] gambeson – the padding worn beneath armor

So I'd like to make a comment about Sophia's armor if I might :) Originally my plan had been "no magically gender-changing armor" but well the chance to make a joke of Alistair in women's armor was too much to pass up! I always found it hilarious that they never made any comment in the game how you can take armor that was very obviously a woman's and put it on a man and it would just fit, this is my little call out to that.