An army gathers

It had taken nearly three weeks for all the armies to gather, in that time the elder one's forces had also arrived but seemed unable to breach the forests defences. Elves who were clearly not dalish or anything else had been fighting the red templars and every other soul who dared to approach the forest, wisely the armies remained a safe distance. The armies were far from idle while they waited for all the forces and allies to gather, they constantly harried the edges of the red templar forces.

It was late afternoon when the last army arrived with the Raider captains and their hand-picked crew, the war council had wasted no time gathering to go over the plan. It was a simple plan overall, the armies would remain outside of the forest to hopefully avoid fighting on two fronts, while a small team entered the forest to reach the temple. The team going in was made up purely of those skilled in stealth, the hope was to avoid conflict with these new elves, even though all attempts to contact them peacefully had failed.

After the long council mission, Taeris gave Morgana and Amethyne run of the camp until they would need to gather for the battle tomorrow. Amethyne wandered the camp alone, Morgana had begged off exploring wanting to catch up with her trainers. Simra had vanished somewhere with Sera, and trapper from the Valo-Kos, so Amethyne wandered looking for some chocolate for Morgana.

"Remember to duck tomorrow, we do not want your face scarred on the day that your soulmate loses to demons." Amethyne whirled to tell off the voice, but stopped short at the sight Resentment in Daniel's body.

"What are you talking about!" Amethyne growled at the demon hybrid, resentment looked deeply at her.

"we guess you never knew, about the quartet of demon that await her moment of weakness. A single slip and one of the strongest monsters would be born, what could be a better slip than the fall of her own soulmate?" Resentment asked is a causal tone, Amethyne felt her blood run cold at the thought she had missed her mage fighting a battle this whole time.

"So what duck and all will be good?" Amethyne asked, not even close to believing the creature.

"No, she is doomed to fall and fall very soon… Well that is without any form of protection that is." Amethyne glared, but the creature just watched calmly.

"Yeah right resentment and want would be the price my body?" Amethyne asked, shifting her weight to one side and crossing her arms.

"we do not need another body. Your treasures are another matter, the arms of your family and you when you fall in battle… and your most precious memories, in exchange for a lifetime of protection from possession for both sounds fair." Resentment smiled while Amethyne glared and stormed off.

"The offer stands, come to my tent if you want to accept!" Resentment called after her, Amethyne clenched her teeth to stop from yelling back.

Her mind spun with questions and a need for answers, settling on a question she set off for the mage's area of the camp. When she arrived, she crossed over the bounds of the wards without breaking stride, casting about she found her mage and stormed over. Grabbing her wrist Amethyne dragged Morgana behind a cart and spun to look at her, Morgana looked highly concern and reached out to Amethyne but she stepped out of her reach, the look of hurt on her mage's face hurt but Amethyne needed the truth.

"Is there really a quartet of demons waiting to take over you?" Amethyne asked bluntly, the expressions on Morgana's face told her the answer, surprise, fear, and finally guilt.

"Yes, it is true. I am sorry Sweetie, when we first met you were so pure and happy that I could not burden you with it. Later it was too awkward, Taeris had forbidden you from knowing until you turned eighteen." Morgana explained not meeting her eyes, Amethyne sighed and pulled her into a hug.

"Morgana I know you meant well, but I can't be left out like this. Taeris wanted you to wait until I was strong enough, if you did not trust me why not at least trust Taeris?" Amethyne asked, Morgana hugged her back tightly.

"It was not a matter of trust sweetie, I did not want you to have to burden yourself with this." "We are soulmates, we are suppose to share burdens."

The pair moved apart, Morgana smiled weakly. "I know, I will do better next time, when we get a proper bed sweetie I will make it up to you." Morgana kissed her deeply, Amethyne could feel the love and care in the kiss and melted into it.

"I have to get back to the others, we were in the middle of laying out the ward plans for tomorrow. Join me for supper tonight?" Amethyne smiled, glad that they could get over things so fast, nodding she let Morgana go.

The moment Morgana vanished from view the smile slipped from her face, Amethyne turned and headed for the only spot she could think to check for her next target this close to meal time. She had to hurry, she could not miss supper with her mage but she also needed some more answers. She reached the camp of the Valo-Kos and inner circle, to her relief she saw Simra sitting on her own mending some arrows.

"Simra, I need to ask you some questions about Resentment." Amethyne started, Simra pulled out a strange carved stake and stabbed it into the ground before lighting it with magic.

{Simra has warded this area so no ears or eyes can tell our talks Snarky-Knife. Tell Simra what Snarky-Knife needs to know about Resentment?} Simra asked, Amethyne sat on a stump opposite Simra.

"If he said someone was going to fell to possession how much could he be trusted. Also if he offered protection from Possession for a lifetime could he really?" Amethyne asked, Simra looked at her with a glare before sighing and looking sad.

[I will not ask who or why, I know that you would have gone to Asaaranda for it. I hate that demon, but he is never wrong and is more than powerful to keep a person from possession their entire lives.] Amethyne shivered at the serious attitude Simra had, nodding her thanks she left quietly.

After a happy supper with the inner circle and the Valo-Kos, Amethyne slipped away, promising Morgana to meet her at the tent. On her way to supper she had seen Resentment lounging in front of a tent, making her way back to the tent she opened the flap and walked in to find the creature sitting on the edge of the cot.

"You have a deal." Was all she said, Resentment smiled. "Pleasure doing business with you, I will lay the ground work spells tonight and stand ready tomorrow. Remember every time you lose a family member their armor and weapons belong to me. Now come here and I will take my first payment."

Amethyne approached, and Resentment laid a hand on her forehead. Like a rapid-fire slide show, she saw memories, her first true praises from both parents in their lessons, her meeting with Morgana, meeting Cutler, the day her uncle named her an officer, losing her virginity to Morgana. When it ended she could not remember what she lost or why she felt like crying.

"Thank you, now we have what we need to protect you both, now go leave us." Resentment ushered her out of the tent.

Reaching her tent in a daze, Amethyne simply collapsed into Morgana's concerned arms and cried herself to sleep, weeping for memories she could not remember.