Keran led the way back to a tall apartment complex that seemed ready to fall over at any second, which wasn't all that unusual given that it's neighbors were just as decrepit looking. Theron had been looking around the Alienage as they went, barely able to believe what he was seeing. Much of Denerim was in poor condition, but the Alienage was a whole other warren of shanties and hastily erected buildings that should have been condemned as unlivable years ago. Yet the city elves made the best of it, making worth of their own lives every day. Before now he had always thought that the city elves were content with their living conditions in the laps of the shemlen, but now he knew that was staunchly untrue. The faces he saw looking back at him were not those of a people content with their prison. They were people who had been given a bad hand in life and were being resourceful enough to get through it together as a community. He had a new respect for these elves, and Kallian in particular who seemed to be the best of the lot.
She was leading them through the apartment complex, remarking that someone should have been there to greet them at the door out of sense of hospitality if not safety. As they walked inside of the apartment complex she became increasingly nervous, moving silently over the creaking floorboards. At the end of one of the halls a door stood ajar, the doorframe damaged from being knocked inwards by a strong force. Inside the single room suite was utterly disheveled. There was a heap of broken wood in the center of the room that might have been a chair once, a toy had been left on the floor, abandoned, and the dining table was set with chairs that had been hurriedly pushed backwards, one laying on its back where it had toppled to the floor.
"Someone left in a hurry." Aedan muttered quietly, and Keran quickly moved forward into the room, sniffing around and wasn't content until he had put his nose on every surface.
"Or they were taken." Kallian replied softly, bending down and picking up the abandoned doll on the floor, handling it gently and with sadness in her gaze. "They musta come in here an' taken everyone by surprise. I wonder how long ago?"
Keran had finished his inspection of the room and padded out of it quietly, still following his nose. "I don't know. But I suggest we keep following the dog." Theron replied, walking out after Keran. The mabari paused at a door a little distance down the hall and his hackles rose, the sound a low growl in his chest filling the hallway. "Whoever took your kinsmen may not have left yet." He tried the door and found it locked, then quickly produced a lock pick and made quick work of the flimsy house lock. The door swung open practically on its own and Theron nearly lost his head as an arrow whizzed past his right ear.
The arrow was followed up by a slaver with a shield that nearly broke Theron's nose when he bashed it into the elf.
"Oh no you don't!" Alistair knocked the man sideways with his own shield and put his sword through the man's neck in the slot between his helmet and his armor. The bowman still in the back of the room shot again, this time scoring a hit on Alistair's shoulder with a loud ping that dented the metal.
Theron pulled Alistair sideways out of the line of fire not a second too soon as another arrow buried itself in the wall where his head had been. With no targets in eyesight the archer had to move to get a bead on the intruders and those in the room had to file out to try and attack the four. Keran barked, baiting the slavers into stringing out into the hallway where they were mercilessly shredded by either Aedan or Alistair standing on either side of the doorway. The archer had moved into a better position to fire, but accidentally shot one of his comrades in the back instead of hitting Alistair, the slaver pitching forward from the force of it and nearly knocked Alistair backwards and off his feet.
On the other side of the door Kallian sized up what she could see of the room beyond, her daggers working tirelessly to cut down anyone that appeared within range behind Aedan's shield. Occasionally Keran would dart forward and take a soldier by the ankle to drag him into the hallway, but he took an arrow in the flank and retreated with a pained howl. The slavers stopped coming, and only the bowman was left in the room, holding his position. Any attempt to look in the room was met with an arrow.
"We can't just stand here all day." Kallian grumbled, her hands itching to get moving again.
"Hey, throw me your shield." Alistair said suddenly, sheathing his sword and holding out his hand for Aedan to toss his kite shield over.
Aedan at first was confused, then caught on and disengaged his shield. "Be careful." Another arrow buried itself in the wall when the archer saw the shield fly across the doorway.
"Theron, you cover me from behind." Alistair said with a distant grin, slipping Aedan's shield over his sword arm and positioned the two shields so that they would cover the majority of his front and face, making him a hard target for the archer inside the room. "It's too bad you don't have your bow with you. I think I would have liked to see a little arrow duel."
Theron frowned and fell in behind Alistair. "Quiet you." The Dale replied, nudging Alistair forward with a poke from his swords. "Concentrate on not getting shot."
Alistair shot the elf a grin over his shoulder. "Well that just goes without saying, doesn't it?" The brief jaunty dialogue was cut off abruptly when Alistair stepped out into the line of fire, an arrow reflecting off the center of his left shield and ricocheted somewhere back into the room with a dull thud. From inside the room the shooter cursed loudly and started pelting Alistair with arrows, aiming for his legs but met with little success, his metal shin guards doing their work. Theron stuck close to Alistair's back, waiting until they were close enough then quickly rolled out from behind the protection of the shield. The archer didn't even register what happened as the elf bore down on him, slicing clean through the tip of the bow, his next strike puncturing the unfortunate man's throat.
Theron flicked his blade clean and Alistair straightened, calling an "all clear" and tossed Aedan's shield back to him. Keran whined, limping into the room and Aedan quickly removed the arrow sticking out of the war hound's flank, applying a bit of healing save to the wound and giving the mabari a good scratch under his chin for his bravery.
"If there are more slavers around, they probably heard that fight." Theron said, inspecting a door on the other side of the room but opened it only to find a closet full of clothes and cleaning supplies. "Has your hound got another lead?" Idly he inspected the body of the bowman, turning the corpse over with his foot and relieved the dead man of a key attached to his belt.
Keran answered for himself, barking loudly and headed back out into the hallway with only a small limp from his injury and pawed at a locked door. Theron tried his key and found that it worked, leading them to yet another door, which led outside. Behind the apartments was a long alleyway composted of the back yards of surrounding complexes, the backsides of the Alienage's ramshackle homes just as unimpressive as they were from the front. If they were hoping for an easy way in, then their group was to remain disappointed.
"Who the in the bloody Void are you supposed to be?" A man in full leathers asked, walking forward from a group that had been chatting near one of the houses, trampling a patch of cabbages that had long been unattended if the height of the weeds was anything to go by. "You ain't no Tevinters."
"Do all of these guys have to state the painfully obvious?" Alistair asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Seems so." Theron replied quickly, unsheathing his swords and lunging forward before the man could get off more than a strangled cry of warning to his fellows. The others in the alleyway saw their comrade fall and leapt to join the fray. The guards met heavy resistance from the intruders, Alistair and Aedan working in tandem to break the initial charge with their shields, inflicting a number of their opponents with broken noses and bashed in heads. Theron simply seemed to disappear for a moment, only to reappear again with his daggers in the back of a guard, the man stumbling into the back of his companions when the elf kicked him in the back. Three of the guards trying to pin down Alistair and Aedan lost their balance and fell over when the dead weight of their ally was suddenly thrown at them, making them easy targets for Keran who made short work of anyone the hound could get his jaws around.
A nervous archer who had fled to the opposite end of the alleyway peppered them with arrows, glancing blows off their armor and occasionally hitting allies in the back. Kallian ducked around Aedan's shield, an arrow whizzing past her left ear and quickly made for the cover of an enraged shield warrior that was hastily hacking at Theron with no rhyme or reason. She put a quick end to that, her pinpoint strike slipping between the cracks in his leather armor and severing the tendons of his sword hand. The man howled in pain, dropping his weapon and the two rogues grabbed him by the shoulders, running him backwards until they had the archer down the alley pinned against the wall, his bow useless to defend him when Theron slit his throat wide open with a spray of blood.
Behind them Alistair finished the last of the guards, yanking his sword from the gut of a man that had the misfortune to impale himself. The man grumbled and groaned in pain, clutching at his wound, and the Grey Warden mercifully put him out of his misery. "Right, well, that was fun." Alistair quipped, flicking his blade to get the worst of the blood off of it.
"And it's not over yet." Aedan replied grimly, picking his way over the pile of bodies that had accumulated at their feet, wiping at a track of blood on his cheek from a shallow sword wound. "This could get out of hand very quickly."
"We don't got much choice but to keep going, though." Kallian called from her place near a door the led into a warehouse near where she and Theron had killed the archer. "These blokes we just killed are gonna be missed. I'd bet my boots that they're just a front guard."
"She's right." Theron agreed, not even bothering to clean off his blades, predicting that they would be drenched in far more blood before the day was out. "The bodies will warn any left that we're coming for them, if they didn't hear the noise of the battle already. If we don't press on, we may lose them entirely."
The meaningful look Kallian shot Aedan didn't need an explanation: If they lost the slavers again, they lost Solona too. "Then let's get on-"
"Oy! More bodies over here!" All eyes turned toward the apartment complex they had just left, a familiar face peeking out from the ajar door.
"Sticker?" Kallian called, recognizing his shock of orange hair. The elf moved out into the alleyway, his small cell of fellow Knifers following along in his wake, all of them looking surprised to see their leader standing among the carnage.
"Damn." Sticker whistled, prodding at a dead man with the toe of his shoe. "You do get results when you're serious. We just came from the square and saw what ya'll did there." He took a silent head count of the dead, looking over the blood splattered fronts of the Wardens. "Seems like we arrived just a little late to join in on the fun."
"Tch, I though I told you lot to stay out of trouble, not go looking for it." Kallian replied, though her harsh tone was tempered by a good-natured smile.
"Well, you know. Can't keep my nose out of anything." Sticker smiled back.
"Well, just this once I'll let it slip. But we're about to get into more trouble, so you best just come along for the ride." She jerked her chin in the direction of the door at the end of the alley, indicating that the Knifer cell should follow along. "But keep yer weapons out. This ain't gonna be a jaunty little stroll through the park."
"It never is, is it?" Sticker sighed, his tone dry as a desert and fell in with the group, sticking close to Aedan and Kallian, obviously feeling safer between the two of them than with the Wardens.
Fortunately, opening the next door didn't land them in the middle of another battle. What Alistair found upon entering instead was a line of angry looking men, armed to the teeth with swords drawn and all prepared to jump into the fray. Among them standing directly in front of the door was an elven woman in similar Tevinter armor, dark hair framing a thin face and a quiver of arrows sticking out from behind her shoulder. She looked put out at the sudden influx of uninvited guests, sneering at Alistair. "What's the meaning of this? We were told there would be no interference from the authorities."
"You hear that Theron?" Alistair asked with a brief chuckle. "We're authorities now. That's a nice change of pace, isn't it? Do you think that would work next time we bust in on something illegal? Stop! We're the authorities!" His nonchalant mocking did nothing to humor the elven woman or the soldiers flanking her, her expression changing from mildly annoyed to blatantly angry.
For his part, Theron was not amused, a dark glower settling over his features. "I'm constantly amazed at the stupidity of these Tevinters. I never expected an elf to willingly be part of putting her fellows in chains."
The elf in question shook her head. "So, being an elf makes us somehow kin? Don't be a fool. I am Tevinter first and a Servant of the Minrathous Circle second. Those are the things that matter. But enough. I am here to halt your slaughter, nothing more."
"Good sodding luck!" Kallian hissed, pushing her way forward so that she stood next to Theron, every line in her body tense and ready for battle. "You picked the wrong damn Alienage to come stomping around in. You're not getting your bloody hands on any more of my people." Behind her the cell of Knifers grumbled in agreement, loosing their swords from their sheathes and ready to bear arms the second that the tension broke and the battle started. Anyone that knew Kallian knew she was on a warpath, and for once no one was going to try and talk her down. Aedan shifted his position, covering Kallian's flank with his sword at the ready, Keran's low growl filling the room.
The elf woman looked intimidated for the briefest of seconds, her eyes widening slightly, then she laughed. "This is supposed to frighten me? Then let's put you out of your misery. I intend to see you pay for the damage you've done here."
"You first." Kallian hissed and her short knife suddenly flashed out. She darted forward without any warning, dipping low with her weapons at the ready and covered the space between the door and the woman in a few seconds. The elf barely managed to unsheathe her bow as Kallian bore down on her, deflecting the first swipe of her off-hand sword but was left defenseless when Kallian rammed her main hand weapon up into the slaver elf's torso. Her thin blade slipped between the leather sections guarding her abdomen, shearing straight through her stomach and up into her lungs. The woman only managed a surprised look and a gurgle, dropping her bow as the life quickly drained out of her, meeting Kallian's eyes to the end as she sank to her knees.
With a fierce battle cry the Tevinter slavers rallied, falling on the tight knot of elves. A handful of arrows sang through the air at them from the next room over. With a hissed curse Aedan quickly sprinted to Kallian's side, raising his shield and dropping down to cover her from the hail of arrows, taking one in his thigh for the effort but kept the elf from being made into a living pincushion. The slavers moved in, falling on the two estranged from the group white the rest of the group charged the line of elves standing in the doorway.
Alistair bore the brunt of the abuse, deliberately stepping in the way when a hand full of the slavers came straight for Theron, no doubt intending to end the elves before they could cause more trouble. He found the pressure of the onslaught lessened considerably when the Knifers quickly backed him up, using their skills to whittle away at the soldier's concentration and their defense, providing ample opportunities for Alistair to deliver hard blows. After receiving training from Aedan they were more than used to working with an against shield bearing opponents and used Alistair's greater defensive coverage to their advantage, ducking behind his shield and staying out of the way when confronted with an opponent they couldn't face directly, their natural litheness coming in handy.
Sticker cut the tendons of a man standing in his way and used the flailing of the slaver as a cover to back up Kallian, falling into the rhythm of the battle at her side, Aedan heading up their little triangle of resistance. Desperate to get to his master's side, Keran tore ferociously at anyone in his way, barreling at least two men over in his desperate bid to join Aedan and sent the men flailing backwards into their companions when they didn't move fast enough out of his way.
With his flank guarded by Aedan's body Keran worked the battle, offsetting the slavers by ramming their legs and tripping them up, barking furiously enough to frighten some away all together and make them easier targets. Once some of the close combat slavers fell, they opened up a window for the archers to start up again, a handful of bowmen standing behind a long table that would prevent any headlong charge from reaching them.
Aedan took an arrow to the shoulder in one of the lulls in battle, the metal arrowhead managing to stick though his armor and chainmail straight to the bone. With a grunt of pain he broke it off at the head and ducked out of the way of another arrow that came whizzing his way, raising his shield to block an oncoming barrage despite the pain it caused in his fresh injury. The defenders scattered when another round of arrows took one Knifer in the leg, the elf crumpling where he stood in pain and it took both Kallian and Sticker to haul him to the safety of a nearby hallway once the door had been kicked down by Sticker and to their relief found it empty.
Seeing a possibility at a more strategic place to hold their ground Theron made quick work of the slaves standing between their group and the hall, allowing the Knifers who had come along to make a dash for the safety of the hall. Alistair and Aedan were the last to file into the room, beating back two more surviving slavers that wouldn't lay down and die before escaping the range of the bowmen behind the tables.
They were given a brief reprieve, two arrows shuddering in the doorframe where they'd buried their heads, missing Alistair and Aedan as targets now that the two were well out of the line of fire. "I'm really missing your bow right about now." Alistair muttered at Theron, keeping his eye on the room beyond to make sure that the bowmen didn't get smart and decide to abandon the safety of their current position to come and hunt them down.
"I'm starting to agree with you." The Dale replied, bending down over the elf who'd gotten shot in the leg and quickly removed the projectile, his skilled hands wrapping a quick field dress over the wound before things could get too bloody, his quick efficiency speaking of having to do the same motion many times over. "I never thought I would miss having Wynne around, but I certainly do now."
"Well, no point pinin' over what we can't have." Kallian's brisk tone interrupted the Warden's little bonding session, watching Theron carefully to make sure he didn't unnecessarily inflict pain on the injured elf. "We need to figure out a way around those archers if-"
"Here they are!" The shout was a warning call to several more slavers that had gathered at the end of the hallway, all of them looking angry and ready to shed blood. Kallian whirled around, ready to face the charge with Sticker at her side. Before they could do anything however, Keran broke rank and charged the oncoming slavers, scattering them in the narrow hall and sending at least two flying off their feet. Aedan followed his war hound, plunging his blade into the mouth of one man that had the unfortunate luck to fall facing up, his spine severed instantly at the base of his skull. Despite the pain in his shoulder Aedan mustered his defenses, focusing his mind and blocking out the debilitating shoulder injury, putting it aside for the moment.
The Knifers sprung into action shortly afterwards, falling in behind Aedan in a well practiced maneuver that they'd honed on the docks of Denerim fighting more slaver cells than any cared to count. The hallway was soon filled with puddles of blood and severed armor pieces, leaving it clear for them to advance onward.
Theron had barely any time to join the end of the slaughter before the last slaver fell, and his shook his head in mild surprise. These city elves definitely weren't what he'd expected. At. All. The incredulous look that Alistair shot him indicated that the human hadn't expected it either, and Theron took some small comfort in that. Kallian noticed the two exchanging glances and smiled smugly, unbearably proud of her Knifers. "Right, anybody missing any limbs?"
Sticker was taking a head count, panting with exertion from the fight. "Not so bad as that, boss." He said, wiping off his blades on his pants before sheathing them to inspect a bloody patch on his leg. "Though we didn't all come out unscathed."
"We brought along a few potions." Theron offered, digging out a hand full of small cloth wrapped vials from a padded kit on his hip. "They do their best work on small wounds." He explained briefly as Kallian took them in hand, giving them a cursory once over before deeming them safe for her people to use.
"Basher, lemme see your arm." She called once she'd distributed the potions to her fellows that needed them most, keeping one for the human. Aedan hesitated to let Kallian at his injury, but she jerked his arm down so that she could get a good look at the wound, barely able to see the tip of the arrowhead through the small slit it had found in his armor. Ignoring his grunt of pain, Kallian dug out the arrowhead with her fingers and dumped the contents of the potion over the wound, holding Aedan still when he tried to flinch away. "Baby."
"Trollop." Aedan shot back bitterly and received only a grin from Kallian in return.
"If you're all done…" Theron drawled, unamused as always. Kallian shot him a radiant smile and he turned away with a roll of his eyes, Alistair following along closely behind. The room they were in led to a long hallways, the archers that they had faced before either fled or advancing on ahead of them to warn the others. The general consensus was that they wouldn't be springing any surprises and so the Knifers and the Wardens kept their wits about them, scanning the long hall for traps and tricks as they went. The hallway ended in an empty barrack, the state of affairs too nice to have been left in a rush. They were in the thick of it now, the heart of the slaver cell that had been plaguing the Alienage ever since Howe had the misfortune of holding it.
The room beyond would have been the crating room if this were any other warehouse, where the objects assembled would have been put into boxes for shipping. Instead, it seemed to be the holding ground for the elves that had been captured, two barred cells on either side of the room thick with elves that had been captured and put in chains. Kallian's skin crawled to see it, her face paling noticeably at the sight. Theron noticed and came to stand at her side in case she started to do something stupid or faint, brushing against her shoulder to silently let her know that he was there. Kallian shot him a quick look, her face clouding over with anger which she saw reflected on the Warden's face.
On the main floor a woman was standing among a group of men in slaver livery, her elaborate raven-shaped headdress and flowing feathery cape marking her a mage as clearly as the metal runed staff in her hand. She seemed to have been in the middle of a conversation with one of the archers that had come running, and when she turned to see the group standing on the elevated platform above the crating area, she smiled. "Well, speak of the devil. Look alive my men, we have important guests." The mage's teeth flashed white, her smile creased with age lines that no amount of thick makeup could even hope to cover up. Her crimson and feather gown flowed around her, obviously of a fine make that would probably even rouse jealousy in the nobility of Orlais. Alistair tensed, remembering the woman none too fondly from their brief encounter in the Denerim estate.
"We stand in the presence of quite a noble gathering!" The mage declared, taking a few steps forward so that she headed the group of slavers gathered around her, her smile seemingly open and welcoming. "The Grey Wardens, and even the bastard that would pretend himself king. I'll admit, it does tickle my fancy that you've brought the orphaned son of a disgraced noble along with you, Wardens. I had thought you would keep yourself in more dignified company. Then again, I suppose you need all of the allies you can get, don't you?" Her eyes rested on Aedan briefly, the smile that curved her lips turning dangerous for just the briefest of seconds, then she flashed her attention back to Alistair and Theron, pinning them as the leaders of this little expedition, not knowing that Kallian was truly the one that she should have been dealing with. "But where are my manners? I am Magister Denailah, and you, I assume, are here for righteous vengeance, yes?"
"Vengence is a good enough word, if you wanna use it." Kallian hissed, tired of being ignored. "But I prefer slaughter."
The Magister's eyes widened in surprise, not at all expecting the rag-tag looking redhead to be the one that appointed herself speaker of the group. "And who is this? A native, I presume? Let me guess dear, have my men taken your siblings? Your parents? Perhaps your lover? Whatever the case, it is regrettable, but business is business, yes? And I do believe I have some interesting business for your Warden friends, here."
"Whatever you're offering, we're not taking." Theron spat back, his hackles up. He had no patience for slavers, or their deals.
"Hold on, hear her out." Aedan said quickly before the slavers standing around the magister could jump to arms. Kallian and Theron both shot him an acidic glare, and the Knifers looked ready to impale him at any second if given cause.
"Yes, the Cousland boy has the right of it." Denailah purred, tracing the runes on her staff absently and held out a hand to stop her men from launching the offensive. "The city is abuzz with how the Grey Wardens are looking to overthrow Loghain in this upcoming Landsmeet. Quite the daring move if I do say so myself, but it must feel like a difficult task, yes? Like washing away a mountain, or splitting a tree with a herring. Perhaps you'd like a little help in that area?"
"This should be good." Theron turned his glare from Aedan to the magister, his tone laced with heavy sarcasm.
The magister arched her eyebrow. "Sarcasm is the lowest form of irony, my dear Warden. We can do better than that, can't we, hm?" She smiled again, the purr back in the tone of her voice. "If the truth is to be told, then it should be said that our time here always had its limits. We have been useful in Loghain for paying for the arms and armor of his troops, but once the Landsmeet is finished… Well, either you dethrone him, or he controls all of Ferelden. Either way, we become expendable. Or inconvenient, depending on how looks upon the situation. Neither is a good place for me to be in, so I am prepared to offer you a deal. For a hundred sovereigns, I will give you a letter bearing the seal of the Teyrn of Gwaren implicating him in all of this. Then we leave a few days earlier than planned with our slaves and are out of your hair permanently. No need for bloodshed, just a simple exchange, and we both walk away with what we want."
"I feel dirty." Alistair said quietly, looking like he'd just been forced to taste something sour. "We're not considering this, are we?" Secretly, Aedan was impressed that the Wardens even had a hundred sovereigns to be bargaining with.
"Of course we're no-" Theron started but Aedan rolled right over him before he could make the declaration.
"IF!" he shot Theron a glare and Kallian one too for good measure to keep them both quiet. "If we were to agree to this, do you have the papers here? You'll understand if I'm cautious about letting one of your men go to retrieve it before handing it over."
The magister smiled and pulled an envelope from the folds of her robe, the rampant wyvern of Gwaren clearly marked in the yellow wax. "Of course. Then we have a deal?"
"Basher don't you dare-!" Kallian was surprised when it was Theron who reached out to stop her, laying his firm grip on her arm.
"Alistair, go make the exchange." The elf suddenly declared, much to the surprise of everyone in the immediate vicinity. Kallian looked like she'd been slapped, the other Knifers staring at the Wardens in horror. Had they really fought all this way just to be turned on now?
For his part, Alistair gaped like a fish for a moment then a stubborn look crossed his face. "Theron, this is slavery we're dealing with here. Are you sure?"
Theron dug out his coin pouch in answer, handing it over to his fellow Warden. "Sure as I've ever been." He replied somberly, then whispered a single word to Alistair, a surprised look on the human's face when he heard it. Kallian saw what he'd said and it all clicked together for her. She'd have to apologize for thinking the worst of Basher later, but for now she had to keep looking distraught and angry.
Looking somber as a funeral, Alistair descended the steps toward the Magister, coin pouch in hand. Denailah's smile became more cat-like the closer that Alistair got, the envelop still in her hand. "I do hope that you become king." She said when he got close enough to hear. "You have friends with sense. That will get you far." She stretched out her hand for the coins just as Alistair took the envelope from her fingers. That close to the source, there was no time to react when the full force of a Smite suddenly rolled over her and dropped the magister to her knees with a scream of rage. The coin pouch fell on the ground, forgotten as Alistair scrambled to get his shield and sword out, tucking the envelope away in his armor before the first slaver ran forward to cover the Magister's prone body, the steel of his sword clashing with Alistair's thick armor.
In the next second Theron vaulted the banister and landed on the main floor, rolling to his feet with the momentum and in a quick dash forward had severed the knee tendons of the man attacking Alistair. The distraction gave the human Warden enough time to pull his shield onto his arm and get his sword ready for the onslaught, but before he could finish Denailah off, another slaver was there to cover her, swinging a broad bladed sword at Alistair's head in a move that would have nearly decapitated him if he'd been just a little closer.
Aedan was quick to arm himself, taking the stairs three at a time after Theron to quickly come to the aid of the Wardens, Keran dashing from the landing straight into the middle of the fray with a fierce howl. The war hound made for the archers standing just to the side of the magister, bowling one over with his teeth locked in the slaver's ankle. Aedan came to Alistair's side, diverting the path of the deadly two-handed blade meant for Alistair's neck and thrust his shield into the offending slaver's side. The added muscle was enough to unbalance the slaver with the giant sword, staggering backward under the weight of his own weapon when Aedan shoved him with his shield, following up the bash with a quick slash of his sword that had the man retreating even further back.
"Come on!" Kallian yelled over the sudden commotion, dashing down the stairs after Aedan, the Knifers recovering from their shock at the sudden turn more slowly than she'd like. If she hadn't seen Theron whisper the word 'Smite' to Alistair she'd be just as confused, but now was not the time to be understanding. They had a fight on their hands and it was going to get really ugly, really quickly. She confronted a shield bearing slaver who had been guarding the gates of one of the cages, deftly turning out of reach of his initial shield bash to poke holes in his leather armor, Sticker following fast on her heels to aid her, flanking the man so that he had an elf on either side and couldn't turn one way or the other without being gutted by one of them. The Knifers on the landing followed Theron's path, vaulting over the banister and coming to the Dale's aid as he was suddenly set upon by two more slavers and kept more than busy dealing with them with no time to worry about how Alistair was fairing.
The magister managed to escape the shuffle of bodies, her luxurious coat of feathers covered in dirt from the floor. She stared at the squabbling mass of what little remained of her hired hands, her rage bubbling over until she could barely see straight. These peasants wanted to ruin her plans, even after she'd had the good grace to try and cut a deal with these smelly dog lord flea-bitten mongrels? It was not ending like this. Not while she was still a mage.
Denailah withdrew the elaborate silver and pearl knife from its sheathe at her hip, a malicious grin curving her bright maroon lips. The letting of her blood was like a sigh of relief; the magic inherent in her veins stirring to life at her call and it enveloped her form. Clawed hands made of magic lashed out, reaching into the chests of her fallen mercenaries and drawing what little life force was left in their dying bodies, drawing them back to the source, fueling her magic. "You have dared to tamper with the whims of a Magister." Denailah cackled, raising her hands and the corpses of her fallen mercenaries stood on unstable legs, picking up their weapons to bear for her a second time. To her side she reached out, her fingers caressing the air, teasing the Veil open, ripping it with the pure force of her willpower and summoning a demon of Rage from the Fade, the molten body sliding into the realm of reality like puss oozing from a wound. "But this will be your final mistake!"
"It's the damned Circle all over again!" Theron hissed in displeasure, ending the life of one of the mercenaries by cutting open his throat, only to have the man return to un-life a few seconds later and resume the battle.
"Well look on the bright side! At least there are no abominations!" Alistair called with a small twinge of panic in his forced jovial tone. The Rage demon was attracted by the sound of Alistair's voice and slid toward him, the base of the creature leaving a bubbling trail of warped stone in its wake.
"How in the bloody Void do you kill a lava monster?" Kallian's panicked voice aired above the crowd as she dispatched one of the reanimated corpses, taking off its head for good measure so that it wouldn't come back to life a second time.
"With ice!" Theron replied, disengaging from his target and letting the two Knifers that had come to help his defense handle the shambling meaty corpse. He withdrew a small flask from his hip kit, checking the top with his fingers to make sure he had it right then threw the bomb across the room. It hit dead on target, splattering across the Rage demon, ice crystals forming over its liquid skin as the corrupted frostrock inside the flask exploded.
Alistair quickly took the momentary advantage that the freezing bomb created to slash and bash any part of the Rage demon he could get his sword or shield on, knowing that he only had a few seconds before the demon's natural heat would burn through the coating of frost and would start damaging his weapons. Kallian went to help and the creature screamed in agony, clawing at them in slow motion as it tried to overcome the biting coldness hampering its movements, the bright orange and yellow of its lava surface turned dark black where there frost had splashed over it. Alistair delivered a particularly powerful blow with his shield and the creature's arm cracked off, disappearing in a wisp of ash as soon as it hit the floor.
Seeing her demon being picked apart, Denailah screamed in frustration again, digging her knife into her palm. "I will not be ended here!" Her words were answered with a crackle of magic, the very air seeming to go brittle as her consciousness reached out, her fingers splayed like a puppet master guiding strings and took hold of them, subjugating everyone in the room to her will, laughing like a maniac the whole way. The screams of the elves in the cages quickly filled the room, their blood boiling in their veins when the magic touched them, completely without defense against the insidious magic. Kallian fell to the ground, her daggers clanging on the floor as she twitched violently, too much in pain to even scream. Her Knifers were much the same, clawing at anything in reach in a vain attempt to relieve some of the agony. Theron lasted longer, but he dropped to the ground as well on his hands and knees, gripping the handles of his weapons until his knuckles flushed bone white with the pressure, silently riding out the burning waves that assaulted him with every beat of his heart.
Alistair's face screwed up in concentration, resisting the mental pull of blood magic, the Chant of Light on his lips as he mustered his arms to bear against the magister, every step toward the mage an intense struggle. Aedan centered himself, pulling away from the irreverent whispering in his head just as the journal had said, concentrating on one thing and one thing only: This mage was going to die.
Denailah watched the two not-quite-Templars struggle against her, her maniacal laughing silencing instantly when she realized that they were successfully overcoming her mind control, their steps growing surer with every second that they remained upright and not writhing on the floor like the worms they were. "Why won't you fall?" She screeched, renewing her grip in the hope that it would ensnare the two as well. The elves in the cages screamed and whimpered louder, but the two men did not fall. She backed up, concentrating her magic on the two, but their steady walk turned into a run as they leveled their swords.
With a scream of frustration she summoned a powerful barrier, one that would turn aside any blade. But they kept coming and the cool wash of anti-magic suddenly burst from Alistair, the cleansing wave of power bringing down her barrier as if it had been little more than paper standing against a gale. The first blade skewered her straight through the stomach, the second through her heart, and she only got a last glimpse of their eyes before she died with a curse on her lips.
With the Magister dead the walking corpses dropped and the blood-boiling magic faded as soon as it had been inflicted, leaving the combatants who had been felled by it gasping for air when they suddenly had control of themselves again. Alistair trotted over and helped Theron to his feet, steadying the elf when he threatened to fall over. Keran managed to nose his way over the Kallian, helping the elf off the floor with a weary wag of his tail and Aedan knelt next to her as well, helping to lift her into a sitting position.
"I can check this off my list of things t'do before I die now." Kallian muttered, her voice scratchy and raw. She cleared her throat, looking at her downed Knifers. "You lot all right?"
"Sure thing, boss." Sticker replied weakly, rolling over on his back and dragging in a deep breath. "Never been better." She got similar assurances from the others, though with less sarcasm.
Once assured that everyone was still alive, Aedan looked around at the cages of elves against the wall, hoping to see Solona peering out at him, but there was still no sign of her. "Keran, can you find Solona? Is she here?"
The mabari whined, obviously not at all wanting to do anything more than sleep, but he wearily got to his feet and began working the floor, searching for any hint of their lost mage companion. Aedan gave Kallian a hand and she got to her feet unsteadily but once assured that she wouldn't fall over immediately waved Aedan off. "Go find Ammy." She said hoarsely, letting go of Aedan and eyeing Keran who was steadily working his way toward the grand doors that would lead out into the Denerim back streets. "I have to get these poor sods out of their cages." She offered a weak smile and gestured toward the cages behind her.
Aedan gave her a stiff nod and followed after his hound, leaving Kallian to pick open the locks and free her kinsmen. She turned to do just that, her world spinning briefly and walked to the nearest cage, picking the lock open and looking over the elves who were struggling to sit up after their blood magic encounter. Her heart was in her throat, but with a forced calm she crossed the room to open the other door. Theron was already there, twiddling with the lock and popped it open just as she walked over, the elves getting on their feet and stumbling out of the cage, using the bars to support themselves after the blood magic left them weak and drained of energy.
Kallian almost hit the floor, the feeling of overwhelming despair rising up sharply and claiming her when none of the faces that looked back were those of her father. Theron noticed the tremble of her knees and quickly moved to support her, lending his shoulder for her to grab.
The last to leave the cage was Valendrian, his face pulled down into a frown that quickly eased once he saw Kallian. "Tabris." He breathed quietly, stepping over the threshold of the cage and came within arm's reach of Kallian. "I never thought to see a friendly face again."
"Hahren." Kallian croaked, her throat suddenly desperately dry and she cleared it once, letting go of Theron to stand on her own once more, though he hovered just within reach. "I… we came as soon as we could. My father? Where is he?"
The old elf's silence was telling enough, his gaze growing immeasurably sad. "I'm sorry child. We all heard what happened in the estate and thought you had died. If we only would have known, your father might have held out longer but… between the plague and the Tevinters…"
"No…" The denial was only a whisper that left Kallian's lips, having no strength to properly vent around the lump growing in her throat. She took a step back, very nearly pitching backwards when her legs refused to support her weight and had to rely on Theron to keep her standing. After a moment she collected herself, closing her eyes for a long moment before opening them up again with a curiously blank expression on her face. "Then what's done is done." She hissed harshly and turned on her heel, trailing after Aedan who had disappeared along with Keran through a newly opened hole in the wall.
"Whoever you are, thank you." Valendrian said before Theron could go after her, stopping the Dalish up short. "All of us owe you our lives. Please, watch after her." The hahren of the city elves watched Kallian disappear into the dark square that led to a secret corridor off the side of the building, Theron's eyes following her movement. "She has been through much. Again, thank you." With a polite bow he turned to help the others that had been trapped in the cage with him to their feet and out of the building, obviously eager to leave their brief experience as slaves far behind them.
These past couple of chapters are really just me indulging in Kallian badassery and working out some of the physical aspects of battles with mages and their demons. Please forgive me. I do love Kallian so, and since Solona had been behind bars, I had to fill the space with someone. I hope you KallixTheo shippers are happy with all of this interaction our beloved Dalish has had with my very favorite city elf. Laying paving stones~ (Is the official shipping name for Kallian+Theron Thelian? Kalron? I'll leave it up to you guys.) Also, yes, I really did use a Monty Python reference in this chapter.
Now, I know that I said chapter 50 would be a huge celebration of how awesome this story is, but I might have to renege on that a little bit. This chapter and the last one were supposed to be the same chapter, but as I kept writing, they kept getting longer and longer and loooooonger… So eventually I had to split the chapter into two parts, and even then they're still bigger than the average chapters I publish. So, depending on how much I can shove into chapter 50, we'll see if I can get my fun in or if it'll have to be delayed until chapter 51. Mah. Thanks you guys for sticking with it this long, I really appreciate it. Also, sorry for the long delay between chapters. I decided that I would update on Fridays instead of Mondays, so this just happened to be my switch over week. Back to weekly updates!
