Obligatory Chapter Heading:
Chapter 44:
It was the cavern of my nightmares. The one where the archdemon would speak to the horde of darkspawn, and they would shout back in something akin to words. My arms wrapped themselves around my middle as we surveyed the area.
"The Dead Trenches." Oghren said somberly, his eyes on the other side of the gulf.
If I'd taken the time to count, I easily would have come up with at least two hundred tainted creatures. Darkspawn and ogres, they both lined the boundary. How were we going to cross?
A melody started in my head, and I looked around frantically. The archdemon made its appearance by flying up from the pool of lava at the bottom of the trench, roaring at our presence. As if to say it had sensed me, which wasn't a stretch of the imagination, and it was calling out to me.
"It is not the time." The words floated through my head, and I felt dizzy suddenly. "You and I will meet again, Grey Warden Anastasia. And you will have the knowledge. You will be prepared."
The dragon landed on the rock that bridged the two sides together and roared again, staring at me. It breathed blue flames and, as if on cue, the darkspawn started their march. Across the bridge. With the horde on the move, the dragon took flight and left us to fight for our lives.
"Was that-" Zevran began.
I interrupted him, staring after the archdemon, "It was."
"Let's kill some monsters!" Oghren yelled, running toward the bridge.
My head whipped around, and I chased after him. He was going to get himself killed, at this rate. I winced mentally at how much I'd sounded like Alistair just then, even though it was only in my head. Shaking myself free of distractions, I reached out and grasped the magic that flowed through the earth, wrapping it around my two companions, and felt-
"There are other people here!" I screamed right as they came in to view. I protected them, as well.
They each glanced at us, almost taking turns, before they dove back in to the fray full force.
One, though, as he busted a darkspawn's head with his mace, shouted, "What is a sodding kid doing here?!"
Me and mine pushed for a foothold on the bridge, taking the easy way by knocking as many over the edge as we could. Killing the ones we couldn't. The darkspawn came in waves, groups of ten to fifteen. If they had come all at once, I'm not sure everyone would have survived, but for whatever reason... they chose to throw themselves at us a few at a time. Once we'd reached the end of the trench, we raced back across. I wanted to know who these dwarves were and what they were doing. It seemed like suicide.
"Atrast vala, Grey Warden." one of them greeted Zevran, who gave me a bemused smile, "I've never seen one of your kind in the Deep Roads."
"Ahem." I cleared my throat, "I am the Grey Warden, here. These are my companions, and Oghren doubles as my guide."
He looked me up and down, a speculative expression on his face.
"And you don't sound surprised at seeing a Warden." I added.
"In the Legion of the Dead, we abandon our lives to be free of fear, free of hopeful blindness. The coming Blight is obvious to us." he'd evidently decided not to comment on the child claiming to be the Warden among us. Smart. "The surprise is not that you have come, but that you have come in so small a number. What do you want here, Warden?"
"I'm Anastasia, and I'm looking for allies."
"It's an odd tactic, recruiting from the frontline. The darkspawn pitch their camps in our tunnels between your 'Blights', you know. Give me a dwarven reason to look topside."
I regarded him silently for a moment, "I'm looking for Paragon Branka."
"Who put this dull idea in your head? We've got other things to worry about in Orzammar..." the light went on, "ah, now I see. The deep lords in the Assembly can't make up their minds, so the pretenders need added influence. I get that right?"
"That's about it. Do you have anything useful to add?"
His lips twitched, "Warden, you've got your work cut out for you. Paragon Branka is dead, everyone with sense knows it. Past our line, the darkspawn kill everything."
"Why hold back?"
"I'd gladly lead an assault through the Dead Trenches, but without an ass in the throne, we have no orders. I won't take a fool's gold from a pretender. You want to go digging blind, you go right ahead."
I nodded, understanding where he was coming from. Without anyone to give the word, his hands were tied. Besides, I wouldn't want him sacrificing his men when all he had were false promises.
"Tell me more about the Legion of the Dead."
"We die in the eyes of our brothers, so we can fight without fear. It offers redemption for the promise of the greatest sacrifice. That's all you need to know. To say more, invites judgment. Or worse, imitation."
"Have you ever heard of the Anvil of the Void?"
"Like dusters have heard of respect. Never seen it, and if it exists, it wasn't meant for me. But if you're looking for Paragons, you may as well look for the anvil. And endless lyrium."
"I think we should press on." I glanced Oghren and Zevran.
"Let us know if you find any Paragons. You're as like to find a dozen, as one. And Warden," I turned back to him, "watch yourself. Drunks make poor allies."
"He's been more help than you." Tossing that over my shoulder, I began the trek across the bridge again.
The large double doors at the other side of the gulf were locked, of course. We only discovered that after dealing with the eight darkspawn and giant ogre that were guarding it.
"Is the Legion of the Dead a house?" I asked quietly as we snuck through a side passage to get around the doors.
"Nope." He was good at those succinct responses.
I wondered what would happen if we found some kind of records... something, anything... if the Assembly would award them a house of their own. Technically, they seemed to be casteless right now. The protectors of the dwarven kingdom should be treated with more respect than that.
It was around the time I'd settled on trying, that we found the first piece. It was dwarven armor, the same the Legion had all been wearing. We gathered up every piece we came across, in case they might come in handy later.
"First day, they come and catch everyone." A voice drifted down the corridor toward us.
I shuddered horribly.
"What was that?" Zevran reached my side, placing his hands on my shoulders and giving me a gentle shake, "Are you alright?"
"It's what I saw." Taking a deep breath, I gathered the magic to me and surrounded us with healing. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. "We need to keep going. Branka isn't far."
He and the dwarf raised eyebrows at each other, but followed without comment.
"Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat."
"Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn."
"Who is that? Where is that coming from?" Zevran looked around the passage.
I shook my head, "You won't find anyone. Wherever there's a tragedy or someone died horrifically, an imprint might be left behind. It's not a spirit, per say, but it's something someone left when they passed."
"Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams."
"It is... unsettling." he remarked.
"Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew."
"Eighth day, we hated as she is violated."
"Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin."
We reached a door, and the voice echoed from beyond it.
"Now she does fears, as she's become the beast."
When we walked in to the room, a woman sat on the floor, huddled up. She was saying the poem to herself. Over and over. For a brief moment, I wondered how long she had been here.
She rose and straightened to her full height, which wasn't very tall, being as she was a dwarf, "What is this? A human? Bland and unlikely. Feeding time brings only kin and clan. I am cruel to myself. You are a dream of strangers' faces and open doors."
"I think that's Hespith. She went with Branka when she brought her house to the Deep Roads." Oghren muttered.
I examined her closely, noting how flushed her cheeks were. How pale her skin was. She was covered in dark blotches, and I could sense the corruption in her.
"First day, the come and catch everyone."
"Is this darkspawn corruption? It looks... different." I muttered to myself, unsure how to approach the woman.
"Corruption! The men did that! Their wounds festered and their minds left. They are like dogs, marched ahead, the first to die. Not us. Not me. Not Laryn. We are not cut. We are fed. Friends and flesh and blood and bile and... and... All I could do was wish Laryn went first. I wished it upon her so I would be spared. But I had to watch. I had to see the change. How do you endure that? How did Branka endure?"
"Are you from Branka's house?" I bit my lip, not wanting to push her. I didn't know what she was capable of. She may have appeared weak and helpless, but one never knew.
"D-do not talk of Branka, of what she did. Ancestors preserve us, forgive me. I was her captain and I didn't stop her. Her lover, and I could not turn her. Forgive her... but no, she cannot be forgiven. Not for what she did. Not for what she has become."
"What did she do? What did Branka do?"
"I will not speak of her! Of what she did, of what we have become! I will not turn! I will not become what I have seen! Not Laryn! Not Branka!" She shouted at us, then sprinted down the corridor.
I chased after her, but I ran smack in to a dead end. The tunnel she'd gone in to had collapsed and, from the looks of it, it had happened long ago. It was almost as if she'd disappeared in to thin air.
Retracing my steps and joining with the other two again, I looked around for anywhere she might have gone.
Then, the voice started again.
"She became obsessed... That is the word, but it is not strong enough. Blessed Stone, there was nothing left in her but the Anvil."
"If we follow the voice, surely we'll find her again." Zevran assured me.
I nodded, more to myself than to him, and went in the direction it had echoed from.
"We tried to escape, but they found us. They took us all, turned us..."
A chill went up my spine, and I had to pause, "Guys."
They came closer, Zevran worried. Oghren was eager and ready to find Branka. We were so close.
"There's something waiting for us. It's... a woman, but not. I'll be too busy keeping us alive to fight, so it'll be up to you two."
"We'll be seeing Branka soon. She'll help us."
"No. She waits for us to fight it." I frowned at him, "I can't see after that. After the fight starts. That's when the vision ends, every time."
"You had the vision again? The same one?" the elf gave me a look of doubt and suspicion.
I dithered for a few seconds, "Well, I've been forcing myself to see it every night, when you thought I was asleep."
He tsked, shaking his head at me, "Ana."
"We don't know what we're walking in to, and every bit of information helps. Anyway, we shouldn't keep Paragon Branka waiting, should we?"
I pushed open the thousandth door to stand in our way. And walked in to a room guarded by spirits of fallen dwarves.
"Bownammar. I thought it would have fallen in to dust by now." our own dwarf remarked as we took in the sight of the chamber.
"Legion of the Dead Relic." I murmured, reading aloud to myself, "I wonder what it does."
I touched it but nothing happened. Walking farther down the way, I stopped by a stone altar. It held the helmet we were missing, the one thing we needed to complete the Legion of the Dead armor. When I picked it up, something fell out and clanged against the ground. It was a key. I tucked it away in my pocket.
With the whole set of armor in our possession, we turned to leave. My fingers brushed the Relic, and the ghosts went berserk, unsheathing their weapons and launching themselves at us.
Upon leaving the room, the voice came again, "The men, they kill... they're merciful. But the women, they want. They want to touch, to mold, to change until you are filled with them..."
The key found its use by unlocking the next doors. I was beginning to detest doors.
"They took Laryn. They made her eat the others, our friends. She tore off her husband's face and drank his blood."
A sarcophagus sat in the passage, just off to the side. Inside, it held the Insignia of the Dead Caste. My eyes wide, I stared at it for longer than I probably should have. This... this was what would make the Legion of the Dead be considered a house, I was sure of it. It had been a house in the past, and it would be again soon.
"And while she ate, she grew. She swelled and turned gray and she smelled like them. They remade her in their image. Then she made more of them."
We rounded the corner, and I heard someone gag beside me. The woman-creature loomed in the center of the room, tentacles waving around haphazardly. She screeched when she saw us.
"What the fuck is that?" Zevran exclaimed, his eyes wide and disgust evident on his face.
"I... It's a mother for darkspawn. A broodmother." I explained quietly, feeling disconnected from the situation.
"Let's sodding kill it!" Oghren charged forward, and I was glad I'd already protected the three of us.
The two of them focused their energies on the same tentacle, tag-teaming it, until it retreated in to the earth. Once all of them had done the same, the mother was unprotected.
"Now! Guys, she's vulnerable!" I called out, alerting them to the opportunity.
They were so hellbent on getting as much damage as possible on her, they didn't see the tentacles rise.
I raised my hands at the same time they were thrown backward. Time screeched to a halt, and I rushed to pull them from the air, placing them gently on the stone ground. Then, I set my sights on the tainted woman. Time picked back up, started flowing normally again.
Moving toward the main body, I weaved my way through the tangle of appendages, dodging every swipe and sweep. I climbed up one of them, jumped on to one of her shoulders and plunged my dagger in to her eye. She slumped forward, tossing me across the room unintentionally, and I smacked against the floor with a loud thud.
"Ana!" Zevran shouted, concerned.
"She's crazy!" Oghren was more excited, than anything, laughing at my actions.
I sat up slowly, not wanting to exasperate any injuries I might have gotten, "G-get my dagger, please."
The dwarf ripped it from the body, coming over to where the assassin was helping me to my feet, "That was something else, girly."
"You shouldn't encourage her." a steely glare, much like when he had caught up with us after I'd ditched everyone.
"Ah, she's fine. She ain't dead, is she?"
I couldn't argue with that logic, "You're not wrong, I guess. I might have a concussion, but I doubt it. I'm talking and," I paused to take a few steps. Not a single wobble. A limp, yes, from hitting the floor at the angle I did, but no dizzy wobble. "walking just fine."
"I would like to leave this place as soon as you are able. I don't want to spend any longer here, than we have to." I nodded to the Antivan, wholeheartedly agreeing.
"Let's go, then. We have a Paragon to meet." I waved my hand at the exiting tunnel, "She's just out that way. Can't miss her."
"You said you hadn't seen past the mother."
"I didn't think I had. I thought that meeting her had happened before this went down, but I was wrong."
"So... the others could have joined us?"
"No. I only saw her when it was just Oghren with me. I knew you would somehow reach us, so I figured that wouldn't matter, because once you'd made the decision to follow, the scene would have changed. If it had any bearing on the outcome. Which it didn't. Now, come on. I'm feeling a little irritable and tired. The sooner we meet her, the sooner we can set camp, and we can rest."
"That's where they come from. That's why they hate us... that's why they need us. That's why they take us... that's why they feed us." The deranged woman from earlier stood on a rising above the dead mother, "But the true abomination... is not that it occurred, but that it was allowed. Branka... my love... The Stone has punished me, dream-friend. I am dying of something worse than death. Betrayal." She disappeared from view as she turned her back on us.
"Ugh. I'm sick of riddles and non-answers. Let's meet this damn Paragon, already." I whined, forcing myself to go through the exit.
No sooner had we stepped foot in to the new cavern, when the barricade went up, blocking our way out. Oghren and Zevran both whipped around in surprise.
"What was that?" the dwarf frowned.
"Let me be blunt with you. After all this tie, my tolerance for social graces is fairly limited. That doesn't bother you, I hope." Branka stood on higher ground, looking down at us.
