Good lord, it has been a busy weekend.
Anyway, I really want to thank you guys for your patience and loyalty while I'm not updating as regularly as I'd like to be able to. Thank you to Kira Kyuuketsuki, Raeshall, and Raven Jadewolfe for reviewing.
Anyway, you've waited patiently for this chapter so I'll shut up and let you read it.
.oO***Oo.
Kallia followed Alistair as he walked through the doorway. They waited for all four of their companions to be through the door before moving forward, but Kallia was confused.
The Veil around them was not as it had been outside the wards. There it was untouched, as though it hadn't been used for years. But within the wards, she could see places where the Veil had been used but not yet healed… This confused her because this meant that they Veil had been used recently in this room by a mage.
With a frown, she caught her companions' attention and put a finger to her lips in a shushing motion. Zevran and Leliana went up on the balls of their feet and moved to the front but the only effect this had on Alistair was that he flinched at the noise his armor made every time he took a step. He sent Kallia a pleading look and, though she sent him an amused one back, she wiggled her fingers so that a one-way silencing spell formed around him.
His mouth moved but no sound reached her ears. Kallia smiled and turned her attention back to the room around them.
"I feel the weaving of a young mageling," an echo resounded from the end of the room. The companions all paused, Zevran slipping into the shadows. Kallia pursed her lips indignantly.
"I am no mageling," she warned loudly, stomping her foot in the process. "I am a Grey Warden and a Senior Enchanter of the Tower of Magi."
"Do not break my concentration," the voice snapped, "I will deal with you in a moment."
Kallia felt a tug on her sleeve that she knew had to be Zevran pulling her towards one end of the room. The slight pressure released as soon as they were in view of a man standing over a table at one end of the large room. She marched forward to the bottom of the stairs, still slightly indignant at being called a mageling.
"There is a tear in the Veil the size of a dining hall not even 300 feet away and you are not in the middle of a spell. You can deal with us now," she ordered.
The mage let off an annoyed sigh and straightened his back, "Clearly they have ceased to teach respect for your elders at the Tower of Magi."
"They teach respect for understanding and control. Neither of which have you demonstrated," Kallia paused before adding, "Avernus."
She saw him tense with surprise and held back a smirk. That voice echoed in her mind, filling it with memories that didn't belong to her to the point that she would recognize it as easily as her own. He turned to look at her, his face was much older than the one from the memories in her head but still was far younger than he should have been. She didn't know how he was still alive after a century, but she intended to find out.
If nothing else, the taint should have taken him by now.
"Even now the demons seek to replenish their numbers, I suppose you are to thank for this welcome yet temporary imbalance," he stated, looking her over disbelievingly.
"Not alone," she answered indicating her two visible companions with her hands. "I had a bit of help."
"Oh yes, of course. There was a second elf in your party, wasn't there? Where is he?"
"Around," Kallia replied in a clipped tone, seeing the Zevran shaped shadow flicker for a moment behind the old mage and knowing that was Zevran's way of letting her know exactly where he was. "For a man who's been locked in his tower for a hundred years you seem rather well informed," she pointed out.
"I have a way of knowing things. And what of you? How did you know who I was? As you pointed out, I have been locked away in this tower for a century."
"I also have a way of knowing things," she answered with a secretive smile.
.oO***Oo.
"I am no mageling! I am a Grey Warden and a Senior Enchanter of the Tower of Magi!"
"And the Warden Commander of Ferelden," Alistair added helpfully but was surprised when no one responded to his comment. "Kali?" he asked, looking around at everyone, but Kallia's only response was to begin walking off in a random direction. Leliana followed but kept her distance to watch Kallia's back.
"Guys?" Alistair asked, wishing his voice hadn't taken on panicky tone. Because he wasn't panicking. That was ridiculous. He was just… acting under duress…Yeah, that was it. Not panicking. Not panicking in the least.
He jumped up and down and waved his arms a bit but Leliana was too focused on Kallia and the old mage to notice him and he was standing too far behind Kallia for her to even see him. The elder mage was purposefully ignoring him, his eyes flickering between Leliana and Kallia. Every once in a while he'd scan the whole room, no doubt searching for Zevran, and his eyes would land on Alistair with the tiniest of smirks before searching again.
For a moment, he considered just dispelling the silencing bubble around him but he had no idea how far the effect would go and he wasn't willing to let it to affect Kallia.
Not with a potential danger so close.
He also didn't want to just walk into her range of vision because she looked tense enough to attack any sudden movements and he didn't really want to be at the end of one of her spells or even the small dagger strapped to her leg, poorly skilled with it as she was. Looking around for something that could catch her attention, he found a small pebble in the middle of the floor.
He chucked the stone at the wall behind the mage but was rather surprised when it stopped just short of it with a muffled grunt Zevran appeared from where the rock had hit rubbing his forehead.
"What is it with you people and throwing rocks at me? I have done nothing to deserve a stoning, at least not recently and not in this country. Warden, your Templar wants your attention," he stated Kallia suddenly turned her eyes to Alistair who was gesturing around him emphatically and appeared to be shouting at the top of his lungs.
Kallia wiggled her fingers and Alistair's voice filled the air, "-AND I HAVE SWEATY BOOT RASH!"
Zevran snickered as he slipped back into the shadows, "That is not something I would tell the woman I was trying to woo, my dear Templar," Alistair jumped as Zevran's voice seemed to come from right next to him, but he shook his head and dismissed it as his imagination before turning his attention to the elderly mage who was watching the entire thing with an expression of mild boredom.
"How do we know you aren't possessed?" Alistair demanded.
"A Templar?" Avernus eyed the young man with undisguised distain. "How charming… My body is sustained from a similar source as Sophia's but my mind and my volition remain intact. If you don't believe me ask you mage friend, there. Certainly she can recognize an abomination as easily as you can… Probably more accurately as she lacks the prejudice of a Templar. "
Alistair looked to Kallia for confirmation but she had her eyes trained on Avernus. "I can only recognize the most obvious ones," she muttered under her breath to him. "I don't think he is but the more clever demons can disguise themselves very well. On the other hand, he isn't decomposing like Sophia was. You can tell that by just the smell."
Avernus gave Kallia a disinterested half-glare, "Oh you've met dear old Sophia, have you? I thought I recognized the Templar's armor. Does he always dress in women's clothing or just their armor?" The older mage let off a dramatic sigh at Kallia's carefully blank face, "Why are you here? What is your purpose?"
"We came to reclaim the Warden base," Leliana offered from her place behind Kallia before the elf could mention Levi. The merchant had found a hiding place the moment Kallia had motioned for silence and it was best to keep the non-fighter a secret.
"An admirable goal, if it's true," he eyed Leliana and turned to look at Zevran, "Though, with two Wardens in your group, it is at least a believable lie."
"How do you know we're Wardens?" Alistair and Kallia questioned at the same time, instantly defensive. Leliana bite her lip in order to stop a giggle from spilling over as she still held her bow at the ready. .
"A combination of my research and pure skill," Avernus stated in a rather proud tone. "Though, admittedly any Warden could learn to do it. But even without that, only two Grey Wardens would be able to enter the Soldier's Peak at all, or have you forgotten the lock I placed on the front door? In order for you to take back the Peak, the demons must be cut off forever."
"I cannot seal the Veil alone," Kallia pointed out.
"You were foolish to even try, mageling," he replied and Kallia narrowed her eyes, though whether it was suspicion or anger that caused her to do so was unclear and no one was standing close enough to feel the heat emanating from her.
"I wasn't trying to seal it, I was shifting it closer so I could cast a spell and kill the demons," she responded, coldly adding, "Demons that you unleashed."
Avernus let off an exasperated sigh. "We have no time or attention for blame. If you wish the Veil to be sealed then it must be done so quickly," he stated pointedly.
"How do we know you won't just turn and run the moment the fight gets a bit rough?" Alistair demanded.
"You abandoned Sophia and your loyalty ran much deeper for her than us," Leliana added, her arrow still trained on the blood mage's chest.
"No," Kallia stated simply and all eyes turned to her curiously, "He has no loyalty for anyone but himself. Sophia was little more than a pawn to him." The companions all stared at Kallia. It was easy to see she was straining to keep pure hatred from showing. Confusion filled the faces of all but the two mages as Kallia continued, "It's mages like you that give us a bad name. People hold you up and think all mages are like that. Do you know how many children have become abominations or Tranquil because they were so scarred by the rejection they faced once their magic became known? It's because of mages like you that children arrive at the Tower starved, beaten, and terrified." The young elf's voice had fallen to a barely restrained sneer by this point and her companions were forced to wonder just how many magelings never actually made it to the Tower if the ones that did were in such bad shape for Kallia's voice to contain such venom.
"What I did was necessary-" Avernus started but Alistair quickly interrupted.
"Necessary? Having to relieve yourself after an eight hour ride is necessary," the Templar quickly pointed out. "But there's noooo excuse for summoning demons or abandoning your Brothers."
Avernus gave Alistair a bored glance, "I see that only childish teachings will work for you. He who fights and runs away may turn to fight another day, but he that is in battle slain will never rise to fight again. Perhaps that old adage will get through to you," he commented but when Alistair's glare didn't lessen any the mage finished, "No, apparently not. Had I stayed to fight at Sophia's side that day, there would have been no one to restrict the demons to the Peak. They would have had run of the world by now. Would you have preferred that, little Templar?"
"You shouldn't have summoned them in the first place!" Alistair shouted.
Avernus brought his hand to his head and muttered under his breath, "Perhaps it would have been better if you'd kept that silencing spell around you." The older mage turned his attention back to Kallia, giving up on reasoning with the Templar and recognizing she was the one in charge anyway, "In order to achieve our goal sacrifices had to be made. 'Whatever it takes,' as a Warden you should know that."
Kallia seemed to freeze in place at his words. Whatever it takes had stuck a cord with her it seemed. The anger drained out of her but the accusation remained, "I believe the saying is, 'Whatever it takes to end the Blight.' "
Avernus shrugged. "We had no Blight, only a few scattered darkspawn, but we couldn't even fight those with that Tyrant Arland in control."
"What you did here was wrong, only a monster would sacrifice his fellow Wardens the way you did. You're no better than the demons," Kallia accused coldly and Alistair suddenly got the distinct feeling that they weren't just talking about how Avernus had run from the battle. It seemed Avernus understood whatever hidden meaning Kallia had though, and the fight suddenly drained out of him, leaving him looking very much like the frail hundred year old man that he was.
"It was inevitable that there would be… calculation errors," he lowered himself to sit on the stairs with a quiet grunt. "Please, let me undo my greatest of mistakes. Let me cleanse this place. Then…" the old mage hung his head slightly and closed his eyes, "Then I will accept whatever justice you feel I merit."
Alistair opened his mouth to answer, but Kallia quickly cut him off with a quiet, "The time for questions and accusations is over."
Avernus opened his eyes and raised his head to look at her, "If justice or vengeance drives you, I beg you to stay your hand until the demons are defeated and the Veil is sealed."
"We are allies until then, I make no promises for after," Kallia responded.
