Good Lord, I'm so exhausted! I'm about ready to slam my head into my desk and just take a nap. It's been a very busy time for your favoritest writer… I'm completely re-doing my chruch's website and need to have it finished by the end of June (not that I'm complaining, I volunteered for this and I do enjoy programming…. It's just so much work :P also very time consuming). The site's going to be awesome though… I'll send ya'll a link when we get it all published. We also have a bazaar on Saturday and I'm making some jewelry to put in the silent auction to raise money.
Busy, busy, busy!
Anyway, thank you to Raven Jadewolfe, Sasuke's Kanojo, Kira Kyuuketsuki, avekay for reviewing this week :D
Reviews are like fuel that keeps me awake to get all my stuff done so I can have more time to work on chapters…. Well….. That and coffee.
.oO***Oo.
(Last Chapter)
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.
Avernus stood, his face determined. It was plainly clear that the cogs in his head were turning as he began forming a plan of action. Kallia motioned to Leliana to lower her bow and Zevran stepped from the shadows next to the bard.
"We need to have a plan," Kallia stated, turning her attention to her companions. "The demons will do doubt try to stop us from sealing the Veil."
Kallia walked to one of the many tables in the room and pulled her journal as well as writing utensils from her pack. She began sketching out a rough drawing of the room, ignoring the questioning looks from the others as to how she could remember the layout so accurately after only being in the room for a very short period of time twice before.
"The center of the tear is here," she marked a point in the center of the room, "That's where Avernus and I will have to stand to repair it."
"Sealing it will require all of our concentration. We will not be able to defend ourselves," Avernus added, "That will fall to you." His tone held a small amount of disbelief, as though to say I can't believe we're relying on you lot.
The companions all studied the map carefully until finally Leliana spoke. "This will be the best position for me. It gives me the high ground and the bottle neck at the stairs will give me a chance to pick off any demons that try to attack me," she pointed at a dais that was raised above the rest.
"It's probably best that I stay near where you are," Alistair told Kallia but then rushed to add, "T-to distract any demons that get too close, I mean." Kallia gave the Templar an amused smile but his face fell as a thought occurred to him, "But if I'm too close I could accidently dispel what you're doing…"
"We will be standing in a protective within a protective barrier the darkspawn blood provides," the elder mage saw the younger man's jaw tighten when the implication of blood magic being used was mentioned. "It is the best way to assure the demons will not be able to affect our concentration and it will allow you to fight near us without worrying about interrupting us. Your Templar abilities should not affect us unless you cross into the circle," Avernus stated in a condescending tone that indicated the Templar should have already known that.
Alistair opened his mouth to argue but Kallia spoke before he could, "I noticed that you're spells didn't affect me when we were fighting before Alistair," she reassured him but then turned a stern eye to Avernus, "You'll need to pay more attention this time. This whole mess occurred in the first place because you didn't watch where your magic was going."
The other mage bristled at being scolded like a child. "I assure you I will not make any mistakes this time," he responded her tersely.
"Being overconfident will only cause more problems," Kallia told him sharply. A glance at Alistair told her that he was not handling the attitude of the blood mage very well, so she subtly rested her hand on the Templar's arm, hoping to calm him. The action did not go unnoticed by the blood mage, and the curious look he gave them only served to set the Templar off.
"But what if a demon gets through?" Alistair demanded, worry over Kallia suddenly becoming anger at the elder mage. "What if one gets through and it does that shield thing? You two will be unable to defend yourself and we won't be able to get through to help you!"
The mage arched an eyebrow at the Templar's strong reaction to the elf's potential danger, one that was uncommon. Unless… turning a calculating eye to Kallia's hand resting on Alistair's arm, he made the connection and filed it away for later use. "It was a trap designed for Arland's men. A mage can pass through the barrier unharmed, since Arland had no mages. However a regular human would be trapped, in or out. As a Templar it shouldn't affect you," he explained slowly, unwilling to admit he didn't know.
"It trapped me out when Kallia was sealed in," Alistair told him with a glare and gritted teeth.
"Well then, you'll simply have to prevent any demons from getting through," Avernus answered.
"That is where I come in, yes?" Zevran interrupted. "I will pick off any excessive demons from our feisty Templar and, should he fail to attract their attention with his charming smile, I can keep them off the shield as well, no?" He sidled up to Leliana, "And do not worry, my Orlesian mistress, I shall keep your flank free from those evil demons as well!" The bard gave him an unimpressed look but lingered a moment longer than necessary before taking a small step away from him. The assassin smirked, but didn't move to follow.
"You Antivans are all the same," Avernus muttered in disgust and turned away to root through a chest nearby. Finding what he was looking for, he stood and tossed a rather non-descript looking bag to Zevran, the assassin caught it easily. "Perhaps those will be of use to you. I'm afraid I was never able to decrypt them."
The assassin arched an eyebrow and opened the bag. It contained several dried plants and liquids of various colors and consistencies as well as a leather scroll tube. Avernus went back to digging through the chest while Zevran turned his attention to the contents of the bag. All of the companions watched in rapt silence as he carefully inspected the leather tube, running his fingers over the whole thing gently.
"Why don't you just open it?" Alistair asked, "It doesn't even have a lock on it or anything…"
The elf didn't answer him, instead he placed his fingers at seemingly random locations squeezed. An almost inaudible click was heard and the bottom of the container popped open. Avernus suddenly lost interest in whatever he was looking for as he began to pay attention to what the elf was doing. The mage narrowed his eyes and muttered something under his breath.
Zevran carefully pulled a several aged pieces of velum from the tube. He flattened the paper on the table next to where he had placed the bag. It looked to be nothing more than gibberish and random symbols to the rest of the companions, but it must have meant something to the assassin because he turned suspicious eyes to Avernus, who was now trying to look over the paper with interest.
"Where did you get these?" Zevran asked in an even tone.
"Sophia heard of a group of assassins in Antiva. She approached them for assistance in dealing with Arland. Unfortunately, they were already under his employ and refused to break their contract with him. One of his subordinates did not agree, however. We did not know that he had sent his best assassin to follow us until we arrived back at the Peak and found her casually warming herself by the fire in Sophia's office," Avernus explained and reached across the table for one of the sheets.
Zevran slammed his hand on the table, purposefully spreading his fingers over the paper and obscuring the words from view. "Crows do not write down their recipes. They memorize them," he told the mage, his tone becoming slightly colder. His companions remained silent. Alistair opened his mouth several times to ask questions but each time Kallia or Leliana would pinch him and he'd be distracted long enough to forget his question. Avernus withdrew his hand at the deadly glare the assassin sent him.
"Carmen was going to send it to her Master, whatever that means, but Arland attacked. She could have left us. She was perfectly capable of sneaking past the kings men and she'd been through the caves enough time to have the route memorized," Avernus shook his head. "She was a fool who allowed the loyalty she developed for Sophia override her better judgment," he sighed and sent one more glance at the papers under Zevran's hand, clearly realizing whatever knowledge was to be had there was lost to him.
The older mage walked to a nearby cupboard and pulled out two vials filled with a blue liquid. He downed one then offered the second to Kallia. The young elf just stared at the blue liquid, from the corner of her eye she had seen both Zevran and Leliana tense the moment the blue liquid had been held out to her.
"I have my own Lyrium potions," she informed the other mage, though she made no move to get one of her own out. The two rogues relaxed at her words, clearly relieved she wasn't going to be putting any more questionable substances in her body.
Avernus's face took a look of mild amusement, "We are allies, I believe were your words."
"Unfortunately for you, we've seen how you treat your allies," Leliana responded with narrowed eyes, her tone clearly held a warning.
Avernus looked at the bottle in amusement, "It is not poisoned, if that is what you are implying. Drink one of your own if you prefer, I'd like to get this over with as quickly as possible."
"As quickly as possible has proven to be a rather poor battle strategy and this is too important to risk losing," Kallia commented. "It isn't necessary to drink one of those yet and, seeing as I have a particular dislike for them, I'll hold off for now. First, we should make sure we have everything we need."
"We should eat too," Leliana stated, already digging into her pack for ingredients to make their dinner.
"I'm starving," Alistair added, "Especially after such a long walk up all those stairs. I'll cook if-"
"No!" three voices simultaneously cut him off rather loudly causing Leliana to giggle at his deflated face.
Kallia scrambled for something to cheer him up with but was amazed when Zevran beat her to it, "Do not be offended, my dear Templar, for they simply understand that I require your invaluable assistance sorting out the loot."
"Riiiight," Alistair answered as he rolled his eyes. Still, he moved over to where the assassin stood.
Kallia glanced between the two men. Something had changed, Alistair's unending distrust of the assassin seemed to have lessened somewhat. The mage was glad for the change but could only wonder at what had caused it as the two men began pulling items out of all four companion's packs.
Avernus let off a dramatic sigh, "As we will not be making any progress in the near future, come here and I will repair your shoulder."
Kallia hesitated, still not trusting the other mage. "My shoulder isn't injured," she answered him, though his comment had reminded her of the dull ache she had, thus far, managed to ignore.
"Lying doesn't become you, mageling. You are the one that is so determined to go into this battle fully prepared, that includes healing injuries… minor as they are. Now sit down so I can repair the damage," he ordered and pointed to a stool in front of him.
"It isn't necessary, my shoulder is fine as it is and I have other things to do to prepare," Kallia answered, turning to put her ink and journal away. The moment she turned her back to him, Avernus put his hand on her bad shoulder. She flinched slightly and jerked away from him.
"Avernus…" she practically growled in warning.
"Warden," he replied coolly, one hand subtly disappearing behind his back as the other motioned towards the stool again.
For a moment, she was far angrier than her companions had ever seen her but the young elf closed her eyes and, after a moment, her fists unclenched and her face drained of all emotion. When she opened her eyes, she dumbly made her way to the stool he had indicated.
Avernus placed his fingers over the small hole the arrow had made in her robes. "This might sting a bit," he warned an instant before blinding pain erupted from her shoulder. Her knuckles went white from her grip on the stool she sat on and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. It only lasted a few moments, but those moments seemed to stretch on for hours as she literally felt every cell and nerve spark to life as if waking from a deep slumber and begin to regenerate.
Avernus had finished the task and removed his hand by the time Alistair had even opened his mouth to protest. Seeing the mage back off, the Templar opted to check on Kallia before resuming his yelling. She hadn't seemed to notice the blood beginning to drip from where she was biting her lip though her grip had at least loosened a bit on the stool.
Slowly, Kallia turned her eyes to Avernus with a glare. "Why…" she brought her hand to her mouth in surprise as she tasted blood, though she looked unconcerned as her shaking fingers came away from her lips red. Instead she turned her gaze back to Avernus and repeated, "Why would anyone prefer that over healing? That was worse than the small ache that was wrong with it…"
"You removed a barbed arrow from your shoulder. Because of the way you healed it, you would have had a slightly reduced flexibility with that shoulder as well as suffered that ache for years, if not the rest of your life," Avernus replied coolly. "I have done you a favor so if you would kindly call off your assassin, I would greatly appreciate it."
Kallia and Alistair both glanced around the room in momentary confusion. Leliana had crossed the room, notched an arrow, and aimed it at Avernus but Zevran was nowhere to be found. Kallia looked at Avernus again and saw it, the tiniest shimmer of a dagger held against the mages throat. Kallia sighed and rested her head on the Templar kneeling in front of her.
"I'm fine, Zevran. You can let him go," she muttered. It was muffled but loud enough the other elf was able to make it out and as he removed his dagger from the blood mage's throat and stepped from the shadows Avernus gave him an almost amused glance.
"All Antivans really are the same, aren't they?" he chuckled at his own private joke before turning to look at Kallia's sagging form. "The healing will leave you quite exhausted. You should probably get some sleep while the rest of us go about preparing for the fight," he informed her.
Her whole body sagged against Alistair, nearly falling off her seat, but her muffled voice quickly protested, "I need to stay awake to help…"
Hesitantly, Alistair's arms came up around the mage, picking her off the stool and cradling her against his chest.
"You will be of little use to us as you are," Avernus replied, earning himself a glare from the Templar, and turned to shuffle through papers on the desk.
Kallia didn't answer, she'd already gone limp in Alistair's arms as the three companions turned suspicious gazes to the blood mage.
His back was to them otherwise they would have seen the barely repressed smirk that covered his face.
.oO***Oo.
Leliana made sure Alistair was distracted with Kallia and was out of earshot before she made her way over to Zevran. The Templar lacked any sort of subtlety and this was a conversation that needed to be handled delicately.
The assassin made no acknowledgement of her as she approached him and began digging through her pack that he just so happened to have situated himself near. She saw his eyes flick to the blood mage, scribbling frantically in a book at a table across the room.
"The Warden's shoulder was healing fine, no?" he asked.
"You got a better look at it than any of us," the bard murmured quietly in response. For the briefest of moments, she saw a frown flicker over the assassin's face but it lasted only a second before it was gone.
He seemed to be considering all possible outcomes, but finally nodded his head once before casting a cautious glance at the blood mage. "It would have healed fine. No limited mobility as he claimed," he confirmed.
Leliana kept fought not to look at Avernus as well as she finally pulled out the spice bag that she had pretended to be looking for. "Then what did he want with Kali?" she wondered, glancing up at him.
"That, my fair Orlesian flower, is something I cannot answer," the assassin's face fell into a smirk and his eyes took on a mischievous light as he added, "Yet."
