Today I'm a king on the Wheel
Still a slave to the Wheel
But this time around I'm smiling
Keep me cautious, keep me safe,
just in case there's a chance
I can leave this Wheel behind me.
Stand in the Middle and you won't get dizzy
Stand in the Middle and you won't fall down
If you stand in the Middle you can keep your balance
Stand in the Middle while the Wheel spins round and round...
~Splashdown, Karma Slave
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Melori stared upward as the Breach swirled and shuddered. It was spitting out trails of green light and smoke that impacted against the mountains and the ground below. The vibrations of the magic in the air spurred her to move, running down the hall until she came to the upper library, and turned down the corridor toward the dining hall. It was so deep into the mountain that they all likely thought it had been an avalanche, common in that area. When Melori slammed into the room, breathing hard, they all looked up in alarm.
"The Breach is reopened," she said as crisply and clearly as she could. "Corypheus is at the Temple ruin. Get your things, get food and water, and meet in the hall." Her eyes shifted to the soldier standing in shock to the side of the room, and she remembered the way Cullen and Bull would shout orders, brooking no argument. Her voice hardened and she pointed to the man she'd identified as a lieutenant. "Keep the sisters alive. Go! Now!"
When she saw them moving, doing as she'd ordered, Melori ran back down the hall. Her hands were shaking and she wanted to pause, to be sick in a corner or to crouch in a corner until the nightmare ended. Surely she was asleep? But Cullen's letter crinkled against her skin where she'd thrust it into her bodice, and its presence was the one thing Melori did not want to deny. Whatever was going to happen now, she had to survive long enough to return to him, to hear the things he should have said long ago.
Dashing into her room, she threw her bag onto the bed and fumbled at the straps, pulling out the midnight blue armor. It took her a few minutes to toss off her clothes and pull everything on and her fingers kept snagging at buckles, making her curse. Her fingers felt fat and fumbling, and her heart was pounding loudly in her chest. For a moment, she swayed unable to move or think, but a few deep breaths and she was able to quell the panic and think clearly - forced herself to think clearly.
Grabbing her weapons in one hand she ran out again, finding a horde of confused faces in the hallway. The sisters were clutching their packs and bags of hastily assembled food and water. They all looked terrified, their faces pale and eyes wide and staring. A few of them were crying.
"What's going on?" Raelyn called out when Melori appeared, eyes widening at the sight of the elven armor and the weaponry.
"The Breach is tossing out demons again," Melori explained, trying to latch the side of her breast piece with one hand. "Considering what happened last time, they'll head to where people are. There's a vault where the older artifacts are stored that has enough space. Anyone who cannot fight will go there and stay there till the all clear is called."
"But ... what about you?" The scholar persisted, her hands on her hips. "You're not going out there to fight the demons?"
"Yes, I am," Melori answered, flashing the other woman a sharp smile. "Go on. Put the bar across the door and wait for the sound of friendly voices. Believe me, I've done this before."
"Enara," Raelyn came closer, brows furrowed. "You're already exhausted. What do you think you can do that the soldiers cannot?"
That got a laugh and Melori felt her confidence returning, her eyes gleaming as she said, "Tthe main thing is that I can help keep all of us a live for a little bit longer. That should be enough, right?"
The soldiers and Melori ran to the Archive entrance and took stock of what they could see. It wasn't clear if more rifts had opened, or If the creatures were coming from the Breach itself this time, but there were demons in the hills and they could see them, here and there, climbing the mountainside. The sound of the Breach was louder than she remembered, straining against both her magical and physical senses, but she could hear the tell-tale sounds of the demons nearby above the roar.
"My Lady," the Lieutenant said sharply, saluting when she turned to look at him rather than the Breach. "What should we do?"
"Secure the doors to the Archive, then we find a good point and hold it against anything that comes our way," she answered, wondering what on earth possessed the man to trust an elven mage, of all people. Not that she intended to question it. "The scouts will arrive first then whoever the Inquisitor can muster from Skyhold will be next. I'm afraid most of the army is still traveling back through the Arbor Wilds, so our job is going to be to survive till help comes. Only the Inquisitor can defeat Corypheus or close the Breach."
"All right then," he nodded and turned to the soldiers behind him. "Listen up, you lot. We've got one task now, and that's to keep the way safe for the Inquisitor. Lady Enara was at Adamant and the Wilds. She's fought darkspawn, red templars, and demons. If she says to duck, bloody well do it, for Andraste's sake."
"Ah… thank you, Lieutenant," Melori said, blinking at him. "I had no idea anyone had been keeping track."
"The name's Greer. And you might be surprised at how much we know. You saved the Commander's life in the Wilds," he answered. "We heard it from some of the scouts passing through, and none of us are like to forget that. We've got your back whatever happens."
"Then I pray I don't get you all killed," she replied grimly. "First, let's gather whatever we need from the Archive. After that, we look for a choke point and hold it. Know any place like that, Lieutenant Greer?"
"I do," he nodded sharply.
"Good," She smiled. "Then we should hurry to it. We've not got much time to get ourselves into position."
Her sword ripped through a despair demon, lightning flaring as she turned and threw a fistful of energy into the face of a terror demon even as it sent her flying backward into a snow bank. One of the soldiers caught the thing with his blade, and Melori climbed to her feet, dodging sideways as a bolt of green fire erupted in the air near her head. Blood was caked on her forehead and in her hair, her armor was stained with demon ichor, and everything hurt, but they'd been fighting for hours now and the small group was doing well.
They'd made it to a narrow point just above the Temple and had managed to hold onto it despite the demons surging forward in ever greater numbers. Her magic had proved the key to keeping the small group of men and women alive, and she'd spent the last few hours hording the power she had, resting whenever she could in order to keep fighting. The small healing ward had helped a great deal, but they'd lost four soldiers already and couldn't afford to lose anymore.
Lightning struck the ground at several points, stirred up by her casting, and wisps along the periphery died. Melori wasn't sure how long they could keep this up, not with the Breach Spitting monsters out at every turn. They'd managed to take down a Pride Demon earlier, which had worn everyone to the bone. Greer had a concussion, but a healing potion had kept him on his feet. She feared what would happen if he fell or if something worse came at them.
"Take a moment," he said as Melori made her back to the hastily erected barrier they'd built with roadway debris. "We've got anything smaller for now."
"Do we have time to rest?" She asked, leaning against one of the boulders at the side of the path and taking a drink out of the flask he handed her. Fortunately, it was snow melt and not liquor.
"For the moment," he chuckled, shaking his head. "If we didn't have you with us ..."
"You'd just be working harder," she answered. "I only speed things up a bit."
"Is that all? Could have sworn I saw a demon's claw bounce off Geoff's chest a minute ago, doing no damage whatever."
"It's all that marvelous armor he's wearing," Melori said drily, looking up at the sky. "We should be seeing scouts soon. It's been long enough, hasn't it?"
"It has," he agreed. "But we can't know what they've encountered on the road."
"Fight and fight some more, then." she stood and stretched, her breath hitching a little as the bruises pulled. She reached down for her staff and blade, and felt a weird glare of power in the direction of the Temple and froze, eyes widening in alarm. One of the soldiers shouted and those who had been on the road came running back, faces white and terrified as they skidded to a halt across the icy terrain.
"Something big's coming," the woman gasped, her hands white knuckled around the polearm she carried. "I've never seen anything like it."
"How far?" Greer barked, leaping to his feet and grabbing his blade and shield.
"It shot out of the Breach and landed near the Temple. Not too far."
Melori felt the hair on the back of her neck rising, terror rolling through her in a wave, for a moment the world narrowed to a single point and she wanted to curl up into a ball and hide. It took everything she had not to take off for the Archive to hide with the Sisters. Her eyes narrowed and she said, sharply. "Fear demon, and not one of those spindly things you see most often. I can ... it feels wrong."
"We can't take something like that," Greer gasped, staring at her in horror.
"We have to," she snapped, turning on them and glaring. "If we want to survive this, we have to. And if we don't, we don't. If we're going to die today, at least make them work for it." She heard herself echoing Cullen from the battle at Haven and swallowed, hard. He would hold his ground, as Hawke and Hugh and so many others had. She could do no less, give no less. "I haven't given in to the demons inside the Fade and I won't give in to them outside it either. Remember, whatever you see or feel, it's a demon and it will end if the demon dies."
It rose like a tide that broke and swamped the soldiers and Melori, gray skinned and angular, it's skeletal fingers stretching toward them as it laughed and hissed. The thing was tall and narrow, covered in what looked like slimy gray plates of bone, and it had eight arms like a spider. It seemed to break as it moved, it's bones coming unhinged and then re-knitting as it jerked and cackled, a miasma swarming out of its mouth and slipping through the air in a noxious cloud. The world around it seemed to darken, and ... things ... scuttled out of view and crawled across the skin ...
Two of the eight remaining soldiers shrieked and fled, scrabbling over rock and ice to fling themselves behind the barrier, but the rest stood strong, either paralyzed with fear or too stupidly brave to run. Greer forced himself forward until he could go no further, his face white and strained, a gray tinge to his lips. None of them were prepared for this.
Visions of death and abandonment crept over Melori and her sword hand shook. She felt the staff fall from numb fingers to strike the ice and snow, rolling down the hill and out of reach before she was able to jerk herself together and grip the hilt of her sword more tightly. In a low voice, she began to remind herself why she was there, why she was fighting, and moved forward, one foot in front of the other. Thinking of Cullen and the Inquisition brought the Chant of Light to mind, and she began to repeat it out loud, the verses she most often heard Cassandra sometimes praying as she sparred.
Maker, my enemies are abundant.
Many are those who rise up against me.
But my faith sustains me; I shall not fear the legion,
Should they set themselves against me. **
And heard the verses taken up by the others in voices trembling and hoarse, and soon she was silent as the soldiers spoke. It gave her the energy to attack and she drew on her wards and threw herself forward, swinging at one of the creature's arms and dodging as it tried to hit her. Her boots skidded across the snow and ice, sending up mud and debris and she nearly fell, gasping as she saw other creatures seeming to crawl out of the snow at her feet. Even knowing that it wasn't real, she was almost unable to ignore them or the feeling of sick dread in her stomach.
The demon laughed, the hissing sound snapping her into the present, and Melori folded the Fade to appear behind the it. She struck before it could move, the storm runes on the blade sending lightning arcing and spitting in all directions. Large, bony hands grasped at her, caught her and she fade-stepped again, falling to one knee and spinning, blocking with the blade and throwing out a hand to summon a veil of fire. The demon screamed and she shuddered, visions of deep water overwhelming her as she sank beneath a wave. Something huge loomed beneath her in the dark, and she found herself vulnerable, small and lost in the volume.
Maker, though the darkness comes upon me,
I shall embrace the light. I shall weather the storm.
I shall endure.
What you have created, no one can tear asunder. **
Bony hands closed over her and lifted, her feet dangling far from the roadway as it laughed, shaking her viciously before throwing her to the side. Melori gasped and rolled, skidding across sharp ice and stones. The soldiers were still quoting their verses, though she heard their voices trembling as the demon neared them. They could not defend themselves, not yet. Gritting her teeth, she summoned all her energy and lifted her blade, throwing her arms wide as her magic erupted in a wave of power. Storm energy slammed into the back of the demon and threw it sideways into the nearby boulders.
Though all before me is shadow,
Yet shall the Maker be my guide.
I shall not be left to wander the drifting roads of the Beyond.
For there is no darkness in the Maker's Light
And nothing that He has wrought shall be lost. **
Melori fell onto it with her blade, muttering her own verses and wishing Elgar'nan's wrath upon it as the thing swept sideways and caught her across the face with a fist. She reeled backward, dazed, and felt claws catch her shoulder and back, ripping through leather and skin where her mail did not cover. The Silverite held, but she felt blood sliding, hot and wet, down her back. It hurt to move, and she found herself struck again, tossed like a rag doll to the edge of the steep hill where her staff had already gone over, clawing at the rocks to find purchase, to keep herself from going over the side. Below her, the boulder strewn ravine loomed, and she screamed.
She heard Greer then as he shouted and came charging forward with the soldiers who were still able to move. The demon rolled to face them, but they were already on it, hacking and carving at the creature while Melori climbed to her feet, her left arm hanging limp at her side and her ears ringing oddly. Her magic was nearly gone, but she still had her blade, so she waded in behind them, hacking against nightmare, against terror.
The deep water was gone, replaced by visions of Cullen dead, of her friends broken, and the whole of the Fade open and hungry. Melori growled, and stabbed at the monster again and again, and, when it was dead. The fear receded bit by broken bit until her head was clear again, and she stood breathing raggedly above it, swaying on her feet. The soldiers around her were staring at her with wide, frightened eyes.
"What?" She asked, her voice raw.
"You ... your eyes are white," Greer managed, looking as nervous as everyone else. "You're lit up like a Santinela lantern."
"Oh. Is that all?" Melori laughed and moved to wipe her blade on a piece of her cloak before sliding it into the sheath. The power faded, and they all relaxed a little. "Better?"
"You look less like you're about to call a thunder storm down from the sky," the Lietenant admitted. He turned and barked at the soldiers. "Back behind the barrier. NOW."
They jogged back toward the choke point, Melori limping along behind them, her hand grasped tightly to her shoulder. All she wanted to do was lie down and have a bit of rest. Surely the rest of the Inquisition was almost here? They couldn't take much more of this. But then she heard the deep, chuckling laughter of Pride as it lumbered up behind them, and she gave a heartfelt groan. This was never going to end.
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** Chant of Light - Canticle of Trials
