Author's note
Another chapter, I hope you'll enjoy or if you don't, that's fine as well ;)
It won't be long now or the story will really get going, I promise!
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Bioware
Chapter 4 - Corrupt are they, who have taken His gift and turned it against His children.
Once she had moved further away from Duncan's room, she let the Grey Warden's words really sink in. Leaving the Circle behind for a while to fight alongside the army of king Cailan? Against Darkspawn?
Alex could hardly wrap her head around it. Her fourteen year old self hadn't been able to imagine being locked up in a tower for the rest of her life; now she wasn't able to imagine leaving this place for more than a few hours when they were allowed special recess.
She shook her head to clear her mind; she was getting ahead of herself. Until both Irving and Ser Greagoir had given their permission and Duncan had made up his mind about her, she shouldn't even consider seeing the outside of these walls again.
She made her way back towards her room in the Apprentices Quarters. She had barely set one foot inside, when Emilia ran up to her, dragged her inside and slammed the door shut behind her.
Alex's heart dropped to her stomach at the sight of her roommate. Something was obviously wrong, as the girl's eyes were readshot and she was breathing frantically.
"I really need your help, but first you have to promise me you won't tell anyone," was all the other girl said, while she started to pace through their shared space.
Alex, foreseeing that nothing good could follow next, sat herself down on her bed in advance. "Em, you're scaring me, what's wrong?"
"First you have to promise me," the other girl repeated. At the same time, she lowered herself so they were at eye-level and grabbed one of Alex's hands. Her hand felt both cold and sweaty. "Please," she added, her voice barely a whisper.
Every bone in Alex's body told her that she wasn't going to like this, but Emilia had always been there for her. She couldn't do anything but return the favour. "Alright, I promise. Now what is in the Maker's name is going on?"
Her friend's reassurance seemed to somewhat calm Emilia's nerves as she stood up straight, took a deep breath and let it out deliberately. "It's about Jowan."
"Okay," Alex said slowly, "what about him?"
"I was just with him, like I told you before, and he was completely out of it. He didn't want to tell me at first, but when he did..." Her words stumbled faster and faster out of her mouth, at an increasingly high pitch. "I almost couldn't believe my ears. He- They aren't going to put him through the Harrowing, H- He is going to be made Tranquil."
Alex closed her eyes at that, understanding the gravity of her words.
Tranquility... she didn't particularly like Jowan, considering he was kind of an ass. Being made Tranquil, however, was something she didn't even wish upon her worst enemy.
Although the Chantry pretended it wasn't meant as a punishment but more as the ultimate form of protection, it was the worst thing that could be imposed on a mage. She had always thought of it as some kind of torture; but instead of mutilating one's body, it was one's soul that was forever damaged.
She shuddered at the thought and was secretly glad that it wasn't in the cards for her anymore since she'd passed her Harrowing. "I'm so sorry, Em, that is absolutely horrible. If it's true that is, maybe Jowan worries too much. Irving doesn't make such a decision lightly."
"I don't know, he thought he overheard Irving and that prick Greagoir talk about it..." She bit her lip, obviously wanting to believe this was all a big misunderstanding.
"No it's true." Their heads jerked up and looked towards the doorway, where they saw the tiny frame of their elven friend. "I found some correspondence about it on Irving's desk earlier today while I was sorting."
All the life seemed to seep out of Emilia's body as she slouched down next to Alex on the bed, her head burying into her hands.
"Why would they do this?" Her words came out muffled as she was talking into the palm of her hands.
Brianni bit at her lip nervously. She obviously knew the reason why, Alex realized.
Emilia looked up from her hands at her friend's silence. As she apparently interpreted the look on the elf's face the same way as Alex had, she asked, "What is it?"
The elven girl let out a sigh. "They suspect him of being a blood mage."
"What, those old rumours again?!" Emilia's eyes widened in outrage.
Brianni shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Alex could guess what she wanted to say next, but really hoped she wouldn't. It would only make things worse for their other friend in her current state.
Her hope was in vain, as the elf said quietly, "They wouldn't truly consider it, if they weren't already convinced it to be true."
"That is complete bullshit, Jowan is not a blood mage!" Emilia yelled back. "Don't you think that I would know it if that was the case?! We've been together for months now!"
The elven girl took a step forward and it was clear that she tried to keep her voice as friendly as possible. "Oh sweet Em, blood mages are masters of manipulation. It is very well possible that Jowan has done everything in his power to keep this is a secret from you."
"Get out," was all the raven haired girl responded with a shaky voice.
"Em, please, I'm only trying to help you," the elf tried to reason.
"I SAID GET OUT, YOU DISLOYAL BITCH!" This time Emilia's voice came out unwavering and with full force.
Alex' mind was in overdrive as she tried to come up with a way to resolve the growing tension between her two best friends.
Brianni looked like she just got slapped in her pretty, delicate face. She quickly hid her hurt look and her voice was calm and even when she said, "As you wish." She then turned to Alex and gave her a most penetrating look. "I trust you to do the right thing." With that she walked out of their room.
Emilia got up, slammed the door shut behind her and took another deep breath. Her voice was all venom when she said, "Can you believe that snake? And that calls herself my best friend."
Not wanting to ruffle Emilia's feathers any further, but also wanting to stick up for her other friend, Alex tried to sound as neutral as possible. "She means well, even if it doesn't feel like that."
"Yeah right," Emilia scoffed towards the shut door. She then turned her attention back to Alex and sat back down once more on the bed. "I also know you will do the right thing, Alex. You know this is all wrong. They will take away his hopes, his dreams"-a single tear escaped from the corner of her eye-"our love."
"I'm so sorry, Em." Alex didn't know what else to say.
The other girl wiped her eyes furiously. "I don't need your pity. Don't you understand what needs to be done?"
A desperate feeling began to knot together in her stomach as Alex had no idea how to help her friend. "Em, I really don't know what you expect me to do here? As much as I oppose the idea of Jowan being made tranquil, there's nothing any of us can do about it."
"That's not true!" A spark of hope became visible in the girl's hazel brown eyes. "We have come up with a plan. We want to escape; all we have to do is destroy our phylacteries. Without those, they won't be able to come after us."
Alex shook her head. "That's the most crazy thing I've ever heard. Even if you managed to destroy your phylacteries, and let me point out that I don't think that's even remotely possible, how are you ever going to make it out of the tower? We're stuck here remember?"
"That's the good part! Jowan has already figured everything out! He befriended a templar initiate, she told us how to get into the repository and will help us get out of the Tower later on."
"Then what do you need my help for? I figure the more people there are involved, the more dangerous, no?"
"We will have to blast through one of the doors to the phylactery chamber. The tools to use this can only be requested by a mage, not by apprentices." She bore her pleading eyes into Alex's. "So we really can't do it without you. You will help us, won't you?"
Alex found her own voice had become strained as well. "I just can't believe you would really go... leave all of this, us, behind?"
"It is just not safe for him at the Circle anymore! And... I love him, Alex." In one last attempt to win her friend over, she bowed her head and spoke silently "Please."
Although it made her feel nauseous to her core, she knew she couldn't refuse the friend who had always been there for her; not when she needed her the most. "Allright. Let's go meet up with Jowan and get on with that plan of yours."
"We made it!" Jowan yelled out triumphantly when they stepped through the door of the phylactery chamber. "We're one step closer to getting out of this prison, babe." He wrapped one arm around Emilia, who laughed blissfully and rested her head against his shoulder.
Not feeling the same amount of happiness as her two companions, Alex remained silent. They had successfully overcome numerous obstacles in their way here and hadn't gotten as much as a scratch fighting the suits of armor that had come alive and guarded over this part of the Circle Tower. Still, she didn't think she'd feel at ease until this was all taken care of and none of it could be traced back to her.
"It's unbelievable, isn't it?" Emilia had left Jowan's side to stand next to her. "The blood of every single apprentice is stocked away here in all these vials. They are somehow beautiful, are they not?"
Alex had to agree with that. There was indeed some beauty to all those glass containers with their crimson red contents. They also seemed to glow slightly in the relatively dark room, creating both an enchanting and eerie ambience.
"I think it's horrendous. These phylacteries are nothing more than tiny little leashes to keep us in check; they represent everything that is wrong with the Circles," Jowan remarked coldy from the other side of the room.
She knew it was unfair, but the boy was working on her nerves and had been doing so ever since she and Emilia had met up with him to roll out his plan. "Whatever, let's just look around for yours," she bit back bitterly.
The next few moments they searched in silence, until Emilia squealed out, "I've found yours, Jowan." She took one of the vials out of its holder and handed it over him.
Alex looked away as the pair started their little ritual of destroying the vial together, the feeling of unease growing as the end of their undertaking drew nearer.
Then she saw the second vial they were looking for; the one with Emilia Revka Amell stained on it in elegant golden letters. For a split second her fingers lingered above the vial; alerting the others would mean moving on to the next phase of the plan, which involved her best friend becoming an apostate and leaving the Circle Tower behind for good. Part of her felt hurt that Emilia wanted to leave her behind and part of her envied the other girl for having the bravery she feared she lacked herself.
Despite her hesitation, Alex knew very well she could never betray her friend's trust so severely. She pushed her reservations aside and grabbed the glass container, walked over to her friend and enclosed it in her hand. "Here, I found yours," she said softly.
Emilia stared at the vial in her hand, then looked up at her friend. With a lump in her throat, she stated, "This is it, isn't it?"
Before Alex could reply, Emilia crushed into her, engulfing her in an embrace. "Thank you, you've been the truest friend anyone could ask for. I will always remember this."
Somewhere behind them Jowan had taken over the vial from Emilia's hand and was getting rid of it quietly. Alex didn't pay attention to him and instead focussed all of it on hugging her friend for one last time.
"We shouldn't linger around here for much longer. Luck has been on our side till now, I hate to see it turn on us," Jowan remarked.
Emilia let go of her, gave her a light kiss on the cheek and turned around. She grabbed Jowan's hand, backend Alex to follow her, and together they walked towards the exit of the chamber.
Once they were outside, back in the Apprentice Quarters, Jowan stopped Emilia by giving a small chuck of her arm and turned to Alex. "I wanted to thank you for your help we couldn't have do-"
Before he could finish his sentence, a snarking voice came from the shadows. "So the information you got was legitimate, Irving."
No! Alex froze in her spot as she recognized in an instant that the voice belonged to no one less than the Knight-Commander.
"The bloodmage and his apprentice puppet breaking into places they really shouldn't." Ser Greagoir walked into the hall, three templar knights and the First Enchanter following in close pursuit. He walked past Jowan and Emila and came to a halt in front of Alex, his face disturbingly close to hers. "And this one, newly a mage and already flouting the rules of the Circle. Despicable." He almost spat the last word into her face.
Nothing he said, however, affected her as much as the hurt look on the First Enchanter's face. "I'm disappointed in you, Alexandra. You could have been the one to tell me about this plan, but you didn't."
Jowan stepped angrily forward. "How could anyone ever come to you with anything? You don't care for mages, you never do. All you do is bow to the Chantry's every whim!"
Emilia, all colour drained from her face, tugged at his sleeve, trying to get him to step down. "Jowan, please don't make it any worse."
"Enough!" Ser Greagoir's voice roared through the hall "As Knight-Commander, I hereby sentence the blood mage to death."
Emilia sucked in her breath, drawing the templar's attention to her. "And this apprentice has proven herself to be of a weak mind. She will be made tranquil in order to prevent her from endangering the Circle ever again."
Alex wanted to intervene, to cry out, but somehow no sound came out of her throat. She wanted to try again, but someone beat her to the punch.
"No, that wasn't part of the deal!" A high-pitched scream came from behind the group of men.
If Alex had thought the situation couldn't have gotten any worse, she would have been wrong as Brianni pushed through the group of templars and turned around to face the Knight-Commander.
"You told on us?!" Emilia looked just as astonished as Alex felt.
The elf didn't look at them, instead focused all her attention on the man before her. "You said that you would punish the blood mage, not that you would do anything to my friends!" She looked particularly small now, in front of the fully armed warrior, holding her tiny hands up in defiance.
Ser Greagoir pushed her out of the way as if she weighed nothing, a cruel smile around his mouth. "That's right, I didn't say anything about your friends. That doesn't mean they will get away with their grave wrong-doings."
Brianni was about to say something in return as Irving grabbed her shoulder in a firm grip and pulled her back. He spoke softly, only to her. "Don't interfere and lose the favour you have just gained." It worked, as she lowered her head, still avoiding any eye contact.
"Good girl," The Knight-Captain said. "Where were we? Ah right, the tranquil!"
Suddenly, Jowan jumped in front of Emilia and screamed, "I won't let you touch her!" All it took was a second for him to draw a knife out of nowhere and before anyone could react, he cut his hand open.
Chaos ensued as the templars tried to annul his blood magic and Irving tried to cast a barrier spell, but all failed miserably and were knocked back by an immensely powerful magic blast.
Jowan then turned to Emilia, trying to grab her hand. "We have to run, now!"
But Emilia stood frozen in place, a look of pure horror on her face. "By the Maker... blood magic! H- How could you? You said you'd never!"
"I admit, I- I dabbled. I thought it would make me a better mage!"
"Blood magic corrupts people, Jowan! Changes them into evil beings! I loved and trusted you. I was willing to sacrifice everything for you"- she hung her head in defeat-"I did sacrifice everything."
Now it was Jowan's turn to sound desperate, as he pleaded to Emilia, "I'm going to give it up, all magic! I just want to be with you, Mila. Please, come with me."
Emilia shook her head decisively, her face a hard mask. "No, I don't know who you are, blood mage. Get away from me."
Jowan looked as if she had just plunged the knife he was still holding into his heart. With a last pained look at his ex-beloved face, he made a run for it. Alex faintly realized she could try to stop him, prevent him from fleeing, but she had no energy left in her.
Irving was the first to get up and hurried over to help the Knight-Commander, steadying him as he tried to stand straight. Ser Greagoir sounded faint when he spoke, "I knew that blood mages were strong, but to overpower so many. I never thought him capable of such power."
Irving didn't lose his grip on the arm of the head templar as he kept supporting him, "Greagoir, are you alright?"
"No!" The Knight-Commander yelled, strength returning to him. "If you had let me intervene sooner, Irivng, this wouldn't have happened! Now we have a blood mage on the loose and no way to track him."
Alex finally found her voice, anger at Jowan and Brianni for getting Emilia and her into this situation building up in her. "He couldn't have gotten far, we can still try to capture him!"
"Oh believe me, our every resource will be devoted to that." Then the Knight-Commander signaled his templar-knights. "Take those apprentices out of my sight, the blood mage pawn is to be made tranquil at the earliest convenience."
"No, please, she had no idea she was a bloodmage, neither of us did," Alex started.
She got interrupted by Emilia's small hand on her arm. "You don't have to fight my battle any longer. I made a grave mistake and I have to face the consequences." She smiled sadly as she added, "Maybe having no feelings, isn't the worst thing to happen to me now."
Alex watched her get led away by two knights, not looking away till they were completely out of sight.
Brianni lingered for a moment, her face also stained with tears. "I'm so sorry Alex, I thought I was helping you. Please say you forgive me?"
Without looking at her, she didn't think she could without breaking down in tears as well, she replied, "I'm the one who's sorry, as I don't think I can." Alex heard a small sob, then light footsteps fading away, accompanied by heavy metal ones.
Her head snapped back, as the Knight-Commander addressed her next. "And you, you should have known better. Your antics have made a mockery of this Circle, what are we supposed to do with you know?!"
"I had no idea," Alex repeated in her defense.
Ser Greagoir scoffed. "And you think that excuses you? No, you have assisted a malificar and shown no regards to the Circle's rules. I therefore sentence you for life imprisonment at Aeonar."
Alex swallowed hard. Aeonar. The prison meant for the most atrocious malpractitioners of magic. It must be a true record, being sent there after having passed your Harrowing only a day before, she thought weakly.
She felt completely numb, but as she was about to hand in her staff, Duncan came out of nowhere, preventing her from doing so.
He gave her an incredulous look, before turning to the only templar and other mage left. "If I may, I am not only looking for mages to join the king's army. I'm also recruiting for the Grey Wardens. I would like this young mage to join our ranks."
The Knight-Commander looked at the Grey Warden as if he had just asked him to dance the waltz together. "You are out of your mind, this mage is a danger to all of us!"
"I disagree; It is a rare person who risks everything for a friend in need. I stand by my decision."
"No!" Ser Greagoir's eyes were almost popping out of his head in fury. "I refuse to let this go unpunished!"
"I will recruit this mage. There are far worse things out there than bloodmages. I use the right of conscription and will take full responsibility for her." Duncan's voice was final.
Realizing he wasn't going to win this argument, Ser Greagoir made one last futile attempt. "The accomplice of a blood mage not only gets away unpunished, but is rewarded by becoming a grey warden?! Are our rules nothing? Have we lost all authority over our mages?!"
"Enough, Greagoir. We have no more to say in this matter." Irving concluded, not once looking into her direction. "Alexandra will join the wardens, thereby leaving the Circle of Magi for good."
Alex's world was reeling; she was feeling more than her body could handle. On the forefront was grief for having just lost both her friends. Nonetheless, there were other feelings, like anxiety for having to leave the safety of the tower behind to fight in some war she knew almost nothing about and anger for having the men in front of her making decisions about her fate.
There was however no time for her to get a grip on the situation, as Duncan was already walking her through the halls. "We will depart immediately, once you have packed your bag. We are expected in the south, at the ruin of Ostagar at the edges of the Korcari wilds. This is where you'll be initiated, but I'll explain more about that when the time comes."
Alex just nodded, only vaguely paying attention to all Duncan was saying. There was no way Duncan didn't notice her absence, but he continued guiding her through the Tower while explaining what was in store for her next.