Chapter Eighty-Five: White Rabbit
We were finally permitted entry to Redcliffe by the small remaining force of Inquisition forces, just as Scout Harding was departing for Haven with the bulk of her forces. The town had been substantially rebuilt since we 'sacked' it less than a year earlier, though the quality of construction was just as shit as it had been before we had.
Even the apothecary's hut that had exploded in Ciara's face had been put up again, the old sign still singed black at the edges as it swung from a new metal frame.
However, it would have been inaccurate to call Redcliffe a town.
As we marched down the hillside from the gates, still smashed from last year's cannonfire, through to the main square, we had to weave our way through a sea of tents and shacks.
People looked thin, thinner than was healthy, and they often clustered around supply wagons guarding by the biggest Inquisition soldiers I had yet seen. Probably because the local tough guys hung around the main intersections, regarding us with barely contained disdain.
All the familiar symptoms of a refugee camp.
By now, there had been three different waves of people fleeing to the town.
First, banditry had increased due to us shooting holes in a large part of the Fereldan Royal Army, making outlying settlements greatly vulnerable.
Second, the Mage-Templar War came to Ferelden as the King and Queen invited the mages, attempting to strength the kingdom but failing to account for the Templars' complete disregard of national sovereignty.
Third, the Breach tore the sky open and demons came boiling out everywhere.
Redcliffe's southeastern gate might have been rubble, but it was still the most defensible location for hundreds of kilometres, and the most likely place to find food.
Most people gave us a wide berth. Everyone knew who the green dragon banners belonged to, and who marched under them. Two more dread magisters had come to Redcliffe, marching at the head of an army of elves. Elves with firelances.
It was somewhat refreshing not to be the main subject of fear for once. Aurelia seemed to be enjoying it, while Dorian just seemed to be enjoying having someone take his request for help against Alexius seriously.
We reached the crossroads and square where the griffon statue dedicated to the Hero of Ferelden was located, and I called a halt, summoning my officers. They trotted their horses up to the front of the column, and I began explaining the plan to them for the deploment of the regiments.
"Headquarters will be in the Gull & Lantern tavern," I said, pointing to it, "The 42nd will secure it and the buildings around it. The 43rd will secure the entire eastern dockyards, the cliffside above it and clear both of any obstructions. 44th will set up patrols through the whole of the town and question locals about troublemakers; I want no nasty surprises."
The officers saluted, and went to carry out my orders. With that done, I rode ahead to the tavern, Aurelia and Dorian following close behind. We dismounted, tied up our horses, and I led the way inside.
The place was surprisingly empty, save for the familiar landlady and two burly guys acting as guards that had to be sons or nephews. She looked up from scrubbing down the countertop to see me, her watery eyes going as large as apples.
"Hello again," I greeted with a wave, "Still do roasts for a silver a pop?"
The landlady got over her surprise at seeing me again, primarily by means of Aurelia stepping around me, scanning the place with disdain and pulling off her leather riding gloves. It didn't help when Dorian came in either, though he seemed satisfied just to be out from under the sky, which was an increasingly threatening dark grey.
"It's three silver a pop now," the Fereldan woman said at last, "Maybe five for you."
"Why's that?" I asked, somewhat offended, "We did good business last time."
"Last time I found out you can afford five silvers a pop," the landlady sniffed, tracking Aurelia as she moved to the centre of the room, "In case you didn't notice, the town is full of good-for-nothings that try to steal any food they can and the countryside is full of demons. Getting supplies in is expensive."
I had flashed a good bit of gold the last time, pretty much by accident, and no Thedosian merchant forgets the flash of gold. I frowned, not sure I'd leave this tavern standing if I had been starving myself and willing to say as much... but Aurelia wasn't in the mood. She was learning what my red buttons were and had little patience for people pushing them pointlessly.
"We'll pay," she stated breezily, "A roast sounds perfect." Said with the air of someone born with far too much money.
"Bring bread, meat and cheese in the meantime," I added, "It was pretty good last time too."
The landlady looked briefly at Aurelia like a demon had just ordered food, but bowed slightly and went off into the backroom, presumably to inform her husband the cook to start up the oven. The three of us went to the back corner, with clear lines of sight to the doors, and sat down at a table.
I came down like a sack of potatoes on the thing, utterly exhausted. It had been a long couple of days. We had purged a couple of hellgate zones while we waited for permission from the Inquisition, and each of them had displayed signs of the time magic Alexius supposedly possessed.
It was good target practice for the troops, very few of the zones had despair demons capable of matching the range of our firelances, but we had trudged around some distance to find them. The Herald had closed most of the hellgates nearby.
"Can't believe I'm back here," I said quietly, "I keep looking over my shoulder for a pissed off Teagan, sword ready to stab me in the back."
"The local lord is of little consequence," Aurelia responded, waving her hand dismissively, "This town's state of degradation is much more concerning. We cannot encamp our brigade here. Disease will kill our soldiers, and it may even return through the eluvians to Troy."
Thus spoke General Aurelia of the Western Legions. Correctly.
"Not planning on being here long enough for that," I said, "We'll be dealing with Alexius tonight and getting the hell out of here before Alistair shows up, if possible."
There was a ruckus as a squad of soldiers came into the tavern. The two guards drew daggers and told the legionnaires to leave. The legionnaires responded by drawing their silverite sword-bayonets and advancing, but I ordered them to stand down with a shout and a waggle of my finger.
"They're with us," I told the tavern guards, "Customers with money in their pockets."
The troops shoved past the guards roughly, asserting their dominance over the situation, but things seemed to calm down after that. There was a lot of movement in rearranging the main room into a command centre for us, which the landlady had no objection to nor to the previous interference. Thirty orders of ale came through at the same time, with food too. She was about to make a whole different kind of killing to the one we were.
Bread and ale was delivered to us in the meantime, which was not of the same quality it had been the previous year, but was welcome nonetheless until we got our eluvians to a secure location.
In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the moment, Dorian turned to me and waved us closer.
"Tell me, how exactly do you plan to deal with Alexius?" Dorian asked, "I know you're immune to magic, but he does have the castle. He could just close the gates and wait until the King gets here, or incite you to an assault by threatening the free mages he has."
I wondered whether telling him was a good idea, but Dorian struck me as a loyal and reliable sort. Why else bother to cross the continent to fight his former mentor?
"Cannon, like the Qunari have but better," I replied, "We'll set our two hundred millimetre siege artillery up on the ridgeline and the docks..."
"I'm sorry, two hundred millimetre what?" Dorian asked, confused.
"Millimetres are... were an obscure academic measurement, invented by the University of Orlais," Aurelia explained quickly, "He is describing the diameter of the projectile being shot by the cannon. In Imperial measurements, it's almost 8 inches."
A Tevene inch was just slightly less than an Earthling inch, by about 1 or 2 millimetres.
The colour in Dorian's face drained away, which left him a greyish colour almost like a Qunari. "You're going to bombard the castle?" he asked, "Not storm it?"
"Of course I'm going to bombard the castle," I replied, "Storming a fortified position held by mages would be bloody, we'd have to soften it up with artillery first even to try it. Far simpler to just reduce it to rubble."
"You can't do that," Dorian said, "There are people inside that castle who don't deserve to die."
"Like who?" Aurelia asked, "They're with the Venatori, Pavus. Holy Tevinter does not forgive traitors."
Dorian rolled his eyes, to my great amusement. The guy continued to cultivate my favour, simply because he treated the whole Glorious Tevinter talk with the contempt it deserved. I couldn't really push it too far myself, given how much aid the Tiberians had given me.
"Oh, I'm sure you'd love to believe that," he said, "Just annihilate anyone even close to the Venatori, it's far more simple."
"Indeed it is," Aurelia agreed, putting a bit of cheese into her mouth, "
"I have a spy in the castle, and Grand-Enchanter Fiona is still inside too," Dorian continued, "All you'll be doing is killing a friend who doesn't deserve to die, and the one woman who can unite the mages."
Aurelia shrugged and kept eating, clearly not impressed.
That was news to me however. I stopped chewing my bread and quickly washed it down with a gulp of ale, which was hard on the throat but the alternative was literally spewing my food.
"The Grand-Enchanter would be worth it," I asserted, giving Aurelia a look, "If we had her, the mages would flock to us. I'm sorta surprised they haven't already. The Templars certainly don't have the forces to attack Troy."
"You sentenced their big hero to death, remember?" Dorian said, "Someone from the Anderfels, I believe?"
Ah, that was true. It felt like something that had happened a century ago, like Dorian was talking about a historical event.
"Anders was his name, but he was more or less from Ferelden," I clarified, "And he had already escaped, so it wasn't much of a sentence."
"I suspect that does not matter, dear husband," Aurelia said politely, "Is this Fiona so important that we should risk an assault?"
"She's practically the reason the mages were organised when they rebelled," I said, "It would be a big win if she's still here."
"She was supposed to leave with the rest of the able-bodied mages," Dorian said, "But she suddenly was ordered to stay along with a group of about twenty knight-enchanters. That was the last thing I heard from the castle before you arrived."
Knight-enchanters... I had a small flashback to one Vivienne swinging a spirit blade down at my horse's neck outside of Halamshiral, anticipating being trapped under the headless creature. Luckily, while I was atop her, Bellona was immune to magic too.
"How many Tevinter troops?" I asked, "How are they armed?"
"Not sure," Dorian said, "Felix hasn't got a count yet. Standard legionary armaments where weapons are concerned." Which implied the number was large enough to be difficult to count, and they were armed as well as the regular Tevene military. Not good.
"Felix?" Aurelia inquired, suddenly more interested, "Your spy is Alexius' son?"
I was impressed. "Betraying his father to save lives?" I mused, "That is worth some consideration."
"Isn't it just?" Dorian said, "So, you agree that turning that rather fine looking castle into a pile of rubble and corpses is the lesser option?"
Aurelia snorted with contempt. "You call that a castle?" she said, "It's already half a ruin."
Indeed it was.
"It's quaint," Dorian shrugged, before looking to me, "By the way, as useful as your little anti-magic skill is, the Venatori do have bows. It won't be a case of you walking in there, brushing off their spells like a light breeze, and dragging Alexius out by his ear. It'll take more than one person to subdue him."
"I did realise that," I said , "Lucky for us, I'm not the only one immune to magic."
We assembled my companions once more for a different kind of anti-magic mission, having placed our eluvians in the eastern Chantry chapel, which was simultaneously the best protected and largest structure in the town. It had the added bonus of being the centrepiece of the mage section of the refugee encampments, which had a certain irony to it.
Once more, we prepared for battle, back in Troy.
Tam, Julie, Ciara, Armen, Leha, Mariette, Aurelia and I donned our armour and prepared our weapons.
As Tam was Empress, very few chances could be taken with her security, so she went full hog where defences were concerned. She started with a full body application of vitaar to her skin. The poisonous red mixture granted her skin metal-like durability within minutes. Julie used gloves to daub it in spiral and line patterns, resembling eagles or wings.
And no, it wasn't wise that she'd be at the front line... but of all the people in the world, my companions and I were best suited for the task at hand. The Assembly was duly informed.
In something like solidarity, the rest of us donned blue and white Avvar warpaint, even Aurelia.
After that, kevlar with silverite plate inserted in between for everyone, and Earth helmets for all. We were as well protected for a frontal assault as it was possible to be.
And to dish out the damage, the non-mages took Earth assault firelances.
The last thousand-ish rounds of 5.56 NATO ammunition we had left were distributed, just enough for the five of us to have six or seven magazine reloads. I reflected that this was the last of the Earth weaponry we had left with some trepidation, but I couldn't take the chance that a lack of ammo would result in the death of any of the people coming with me on this mission.
We said our goodbyes to our children, who were left in the care of Portia Tiberia, and made our way through the eluvians to Redcliffe once again.
Stepping out of the Chantry into the evening drabness, it had rained in our absence and was threatening to again. The path through the clustered tents was soggy, and we found elderly and very young mages watching on as we went, silent. The escorting troops with us were careful to keep them back, but there was no danger really. They were looking at us like we had stepped out of a book of mythology.
The alternative to slavery under the Venatori or death at the hands of the Templars had arrived. I gave a group of kids a little wave as I went, and a couple waved back with smiles on their faces before the nearest adults shepherded them away from us. Damn cynics.
Outside of the tavern, we met with Dorian and Marcus. The latter was taking command of the Foreign Legion while we went to take out Alexius, and saluted on our approach, correctly directing his eyes not to myself or Aurelia, but to the Empress.
"Report, Legate," Tam commanded.
"We have had word from our cavalry pickets at Lothering, your Excellency," Marcus responded, "The Fereldan Royal Army has bypassed the village. We expect them to encamp, and advance to our defensive position by mid-morning tomorrow."
Tam shook her head. "You do not know King Alistair," she said, "He is a fellow Warden, and fought against the odds in the Blight. He fought us with tenacity and cunning too."
Marcus raised a dark eyebrow, before looking to his baby sister for some clarification. Which I provided.
"He will continue the advance through the night," I said, "And attack us directly."
"That's madness!" Marcus declared, "His troops won't be able to see where they're going once they're off the road!"
"He thinks we won't be able to see his troops either," I replied, "At the Hafter, he used fade-fog to obscure his forces and to get them close to ours, which reduced the effectiveness of our firelances. He'll try and use the cloudy autumn dark the same way. It's what I would do."
"They also know the terrain here better than we do," Tam added, "No doubt they have guides or people that will be able to get them into the town unseen. Perhaps even knowledge of tunnels beneath the defences."
Marcus' lip curled upwards, not happy with the possibility of having to defend the town at night.
"This is going to get ugly," he declared, "Very ugly."
"It's Ferelden," Mariette remarked, "It's already ugly. If the Fereldans attack, they will learn yet another harsh lesson."
"We shall attempt to prevent that outcome," Tam replied, addressing the harlequin's remark, "Send an envoy to Alistair at once, in the name of the Tevinter Imperium. Inform him we are not here to invade or occupy, but to remove Alexius and his Venatori."
Oh, and on our march home to Jader, we'll just drop into Haven and check things out... Alistair didn't need to know that part.
"Send one of our own retainers to lead the delegation," Aurelia agreed, "Holy Tevinter has no quarrel with the Kingdom of Ferelden, at present."
"And if the King insists on entering Redcliffe as soon as he can possibly arrive?" Marcus asked.
"Let him," Tam said, "It's his town, after all."
Marcus saluted again, and departed back inside the tavern, presumably to find a fellow Tevene to bring the news to Alistair that would hopefully prevent a confrontation. I really hoped it would succeed. With demons and Venatori already on our plate, we didn't need the additional pile of shit that open war with Ferelden would bring.
Dorian sighed loudly. "Speaking of the dark..." he said, "How exactly are we going to fight in it? Magelight will just be a big sign saying 'shoot me full of spells and arrows'."
"We have ways," Tam said, "Let us proceed. I want this to be finished and to be back in Troy as soon as possible." Her face was passive, but the way she was carrying herself told me she was ill-at-ease with the mission. Hellgates were no threat at all to us. Venatori arrows on the other hand... It didn't matter.
Duty called.
We made our way to the first bridge to Redcliffe castle, the assault companies of the 42nd and 44th infantry regiments awaiting our command there in column, their bayonets already fixed and gleaming in the torchlight. They let out hurrahs as we wandered into view, knowing that our arrival meant the appointed hour to attack had arrived, and began knocking the butts of their firelances and the heels of their boots in a war drum like rhythm.
"They seem enthusiastic," Dorian remarked, over the din.
"Of course they are," Julie smiled, "They are the former slaves of Tevinter mages, and today, they get to kill Tevinter mages. No doubt they'll be competing with each other."
Dorian blanched, seemingly not having considered this. I gave him a slap on the back and a grin. "Welcome to the revolution, Altus Pavus," I said to him.
"I hope you'll at least give Alexius a chance to surrender," Dorian replied, "Alexius is many things, but his service to the Imperium at least gives him the right to a trial, if he comes quietly."
I wasn't really in the mood for mercy, but it wasn't my decision.
I turned to Tam, but she looked to Aurelia. "Governor Tiberia, this seems to be a legal problem for the Imperium," she said, "Is it permissible to offer mercy to Venatori?"
Aurelia pursed her lips in thought, considering the matter.
"You may find yourself facing a treason charge in Tevinter some day," Dorian pointed out for her benefit, "Particularly with the way your family have been acting of late. Your power will not protect you from the scandal forever."
"I could make myself Empress of all Tevinter with my power, Pavus," Aurelia sneered back, before relenting, "But you do have a point. My dynasty is large, and not all possess my gifts. We shall offer a chance to surrender."
The Altus sighed loudly with relief.
"You do your family a great service with this, Tiberia," Dorian said, "Not that I care about that, but I have had nothing but surprises the last few days. What's one more?"
Pushing his luck there, but it was surprisingly tolerated. They had to be old classmates or something, I thought.
Aurelia ignored him, and stepped away at a quick pace, taking her naginata in both hands.
She advanced through the troops, who cheered her as she went, presuming that she was about to unleash some truly awesome magic on the castle. I wondered what they thought of her themselves, given that they had been her family's slaves. Their reaction suggested that they very much admired her, given that her dowry was their liberation.
Stepping up to the start of the bridge, directly opposite the gates of the castle, Aurelia Tiberia Valentina summoned her swirling tornado of barriers. Heads appeared among the crenellations, followed quickly by crossbows. Bolts hissed through the air at her, but were deflected harmlessly away.
The troops immediately returned fire, but mostly hit rock and stone, as the crossbowmen ducked behind the defences to reload again. I ordered a halt to the shooting, to give Aurelia the chance to deliver her offer.
She must've done something magical to her voice, because it boomed like she was talking through a microphone at a huge concert. The air shook with her every word.
"Magister Gereon Alexius, present yourself for arrest at once!" she said, "In the name of Holy Tevinter, you are charged with the crime of treason! Surrender now, and spare your family your dishonour and your fate!"
Nothing happened at once... but then, we hadn't expected it too. I doubted the man was on the battlements himself, so even if he had agreed to come out, it would still take a while.
No reason not to ratchet up the tension though, the more danger he felt himself to be in, the better. I changed the channel on my radio set, and gave an order.
"Battery 44C, fire," I commanded, "All other batteries, uncover your cannon."
"Yes, my lord," came the monotone reply from the Tranquil battery commander.
The light cannons fired, not into the castle walls, but directly into the sky at maximum elevation. When the shells had reached their greatest altitude, they exploded with white light and hung there, a little parachute on each of them keeping them aloft like a Chinese sky lantern. The town and castle were taken out of the dark gloom of the late evening, and bathed in the light of artificial day.
The entirety of our forces arrayed against the castle, including the some forty heavy siege cannon aimed directly at it, were visible to the defenders.
That ought to do it, I thought, and moved forwards to join Aurelia, my companions following close behind.
"Well, you did say that you had a way to deal with the darkness," Dorian said, looking up at the sky where the star-shells were finally descending towards the lake, "But I didn't think it would be quite that spectacular."
"Homemade fireworks were something of a family hobby back home," I replied, "The shell design is Julie's own though."
"A complete pain in the cul," Julie added, "Even now, some of the shells will burn their parachutes instead of hovering."
Almost to prove her point, the illumination battery fired their cannon again, and one of the shells came down into the black water below instead of hovering, the light still burning below the surface.
"It's not the only trick up our sleeve either," I continued, as Dorian looked at Julie with some interest, like he wanted to know how she achieved it exactly.
"What now?" Leha asked impatiently from behind, in Orlesian, "I've got work to do back home, are we gonna sit here all night?"
"No, we'll wait for fifteen minutes," I said, checking my watch, "Then we'll blow the doors and storm the place."
"Good," Leha said, nudging her crossbow back into place on her back while she checked her firelance. It wasn't exactly the role of a Minister for Finance to storm castles, in her or my opinion, but there was no way in hell she was going to let Julie do that without her.
It took less than ten minutes for the small door cut into the gate to open. Out stepped an elf mage with shortish black hair, hurrying across the bridge. I placed her age at forty-something. She was dressed in Grey Warden mage robes, the silverite scales clinking as she moved. It became apparent that the griffon icons of her clothes and armour had been removed as she got closer.
As the newcomer stepped into the light, there was something immediately familiar about her, especially from the nose up. She had high cheekbones and piercing eyes.
There was only one person this could be.
"Grand-Enchanter Fiona?" Armen said, pushing his way to the front, "Enchanter Cartier? Do you remember me?"
Fiona stopped and examined my companion, before giving a small smile.
"How could I forget?" she said, "We dispatched you to Halamshiral... and all that happened afterwards." She was referring to the Circle there rebelling before the others of course.
"Yeah, sorry, that was my fault," I said quickly, "Had to burn down the prison to escape."
Fiona looked to me now, with some expectation. I realised she was waiting for me to introduce myself.
"Samuel Hunt, Marquis de la Fayette," I said.
"A friend to mages everywhere," Fiona said, inclining her head, "Well met, sir."
"Not to all mages, though," I said, "I hope you being out here means that Alexius has agreed to surrender."
Fiona's brow creased with worry. "He has... but he wishes for you to enter the castle," she said, "He wishes a formal surrender... to the Trojan Republic."
"Well that won't do," Aurelia replied at once, "This army is assembled under the flag of Tevinter, not that of Troy."
"Alexius does not trust the justice of Tevinter," Fiona said, "He wishes for his case to be judged honestly, and his voice heard."
"As Governor of the Far-Southern Provinces, I can promise him that," Aurelia continued, "But under Tevene law."
Fiona shook her head. "If he is convicted of treason under Tevinter law, then his son will lose his status as an Altus and his property confiscated by the Archon. His son's health and honour are his primary concerns," she explained, "He said he will fight to the death and destroy the fabric of time around this town if these terms are not met."
That was quite a threat to make. While Tam, Julie and I wouldn't be affected by such a thing, there was no way we could've repaired such damage to reality either. Needless to say, relations with Ferelden would've been completely unsalvageable if we had let that happen to one of realm's major settlements.
"So what?" I asked, "He wants to surrender to Troy rather than Tevinter."
"He is willing to try and explain what happened beforehand," Fiona clarified, "He awaits your answer." She gestured to the castle itself.
"Well, that's a trap," Ciara said flatly, "I say we go with the original plan."
"In fact, since Fiona is here, we can go with the truly original plan," Aurelia said, very pleased with herself, "And level the castle."
"I beg you, some of my mages are still inside!" Fiona said desperately, surging forward, "Do not condemn them for my decision. I had no choice after the Breach, the Templars were going to kill us all!" Aurelia aimed her naginata at the woman, which ended the movement towards us.
The talk of the Breach reminded me; the Grand-Enchanter was supposed to have been at the Conclave. "We have our own questions about the Breach," I said, "But I suspect your cooperation will be much easier to obtain if we keep your people alive."
"What remains of them," Fiona said gloomily, "Almost all of the able-bodied adults have already sailed with the bulk of the Tevinter legion that Alexius arrived with. Where, I do not know. If you accept Alexius' offer, perhaps he will tell you and we can rescue them."
That was an offer I couldn't really refuse. More mages could boost our economic and military strength even further.
"He's probably going to try and use time magic again," Dorian said, trying to convince me, "But we've already run the experiment; that won't work while you're nearby. What's the harm in seeing what the man has to say after his trap fails?"
"I agree," Tam said, crossing her arms, "You shall go back and tell him to stack all armaments in a pile outside the gates. Swords, crossbows, spears, magical staves with any sort of blade, anything that could harm us."
She pointed at the gates.
"He will release your enchanters from his service, and they will leave the castle with their hands on their heads. His Venatori will assemble in the main hall, kneeling, with their hands on their hands. Only then we shall discuss matters with him."
Fiona inclined her head once more. "It will be done," she said, "Presuming that you are who I think you are?"
"Tama Hunt," Tam said, omitting her title, "Tell Alexius that Troy will accept his surrender and that of all those under his command, under the terms I've already outlined. Go now."
Fiona bowed deeply, as she would've to any other monarch, before departing rapidly to carry the message to Alexius. We watched her go, until she disappeared back through the small door in the gate and it was closed behind her.
"You should've let me make that decision," Aurelia said, turning to Tam, "Alexius is a Tevinter citizen, accused of a Tevinter crime. Membership of the Venatori is not illegal in Troy yet."
Which was true, at least as far as our own laws were concerned. The Assembly hadn't passed anything that banned specific organisations at all, in fact. In theory, the Templars could've set up shop in Troy legally, albeit they wouldn't be able to grab mages off the street.
"Slavery, indentured servitude and terrorism are illegal, however," Tam replied, before her voice gathered menace, "And do not forget who truly commands here." As in, step off before I step on you, little mage.
Aurelia leered back, as Tam walked by, away from the bridge to sit on a nearby wall. It wasn't even a minute later that the crossbows that had been shot at us before were being dumped over the edge of the walls to the ground below.
Alexius, it seemed, had accepted our terms.
A pile of weapons having materialised by the opened gate and the few rebel mages within having been marched out of it, we went into Redcliffe castle with a company of firelancers, all of us ready to shoot at the slightest provocation.
We weren't given any.
Fiona led us through the defensive atrium. I could see arrow slits down the sides of the walls in the torchlight. She brought us across the courtyard towards the secondary bridge to the main keep itself. The Venatori were all kneeling near the bridge, with their hands on their heads, as promised.
I recall thinking to myself that this all would've been a complete bitch to deal with in an assault, as our firelancers lined up and aimed their weapons at the surrendered mages. Metal shackles came out as I had ordered and the Tevinter mages were secured for transport back to Troy, where they'd become a political football between the Aequitarians and the Impera for a couple of years.
Alexius' son was there too, though he was standing up. He was a young man, with dark hair and a thin moustache... but he was pale as a ghost, clearly very sickly. He had the good sense to put his hands up as about a dozen muskets were trained on him, but Dorian rushed ahead, putting himself in the line of fire. I waved off the troops, and with my companions, joined the pair.
"Dorian, you did it," said the son, "I can't believe it."
"I can barely believe it myself," Dorian replied, "Saved by the bloody Tiberians, of all the people in the world. Who would have thought?"
Dorian half-flinched when he realised I was standing right behind him, but he was always quick on the draw.
"Sam, this is Felix Alexius," he said, "Felix... these are the Trojans. The rumours about what Tiberius Pansa was up to were true, and then some."
"The magical immunity?" Felix asked, looking at us like we were ghosts.
Dorian nodded. "Watched this one ride through terror demons like they were less corporeal than an annoying bush," he replied, gesturing to me, "They dissolved when he touched them."
The son coughed and spluttered, perhaps trying to say something in reply to that news but not getting it out.
"You are Blighted," Tam said, moving in to examine Felix more closely, "Badly so."
My suspicions about the situation were immediately roused. If his son was Blighted, why was the Magister Alexius demanding that he be allowed to surrender to Troy to protect his son? Was this another nobility-honour thing I didn't fully understand?
"Yes, I am," Felix replied, "How did you..."
"I am Warden-Commander in Valhalla," Tam interrupted, "The symptoms are... familiar. I always carry the ingredients for the Joining, if you wish to try and save your life?" It was almost a year before that Tam herself had been Blighted, and it wasn't an experience that anyone ever forgot, at least according to her own explanations of such things.
She began rummaging in a large pouch hanging off her side, but the young man's hand stopped her.
"The disease has progressed so far that it is very unlikely I would survive," Felix said, "The physical symptoms can be fought, but the corruption still spreads. I do not want to die before seeing justice done, but I thank you."
Tam frowned, but removed her hands from the pouch, accepting the man's decision.
"Where is your father?" Dorian asked, "I thought some sense had finally graced him and he was going to talk this out."
"Magister Alexius awaits in the upper royal wing," Fiona said from behind us, "He left his troops here outside, and asks only that the Trojans come to him."
"Where no doubt he will attempt in vain to eliminate us with magic," Julie drawled, rolling her eyes, "After which, I will drag him in front of a war crimes tribunal for misusing a truce, or his head will meet my warhammer." She pat the head of said weapon, which was at hip height by her side.
"I'm eager to see that happen myself," I agreed, "Felix Alexius, stay here. Take us to the magister, Grand-Enchanter."
Fiona moved off, but Dorian cut her off. "I'm coming too," he said, "I want to hear what he has to say. He was my mentor. I need to know how he could do all this from the man himself."
Another mage certainly could be useful, so I shrugged and waved him on.
"Come, don't come, it makes little difference," Aurelia smirked, "It may be hard to hear him though, with a black bag over his head."
She produced said bag and waved it around a little. Julie snatched it out of her hands, stuffing it under her own belt.
Enough talking, I thought.
"Assume this is a trap," I commanded, forestalling another exchange of insults between the two Tevinter mages, "Goggles on. Let's go."
There was much rustling as goggles were taken out and attached to the front of our Earth helmets, turned on and flipped down over our eyes. The world turned a sickly green to my eyes, as my infrared night-vision flared to life. Dorian stared at me, his retinas appearing to glow as he looked right in my direction.
"Another trick?" he asked.
"Night vision goggles," I clarified, before thumbing at Tam, "Hers are heat vision ones actually, but still."
"What next?" Dorian chuckled, "A flying machine?"
That actually got a laugh out of us, taking Dorian aback, and we proceeded in good spirits as a result.
Fiona went first, followed closely by me, the rest coming behind me with one hand on the back of the person in front of them.
The reason for this was that the night's darkness had well and truly fallen over Redcliffe by now, and we weren't shooting up any more starshells. It was pitch black, and would be darker still inside the main castle.
We were careful to check every corner as we moved, not leaving to chance that Venatori could've played us, even if it did seem unlikely with the son now in our custody.
As I refused to let her create a magic light, Fiona dropped back to my side and I took whispered directions from her, and we advanced through the chambers and up the stairs in silence. All this was drill we had practiced many times before, the exceptions of Aurelia and Dorian keeping to the rear and catching onto the idea quickly.
We soon came to the door leading to the reception room that Alexius was waiting in. I stopped Fiona from just walking in by grabbing her hand, and gently pulling her to the side.
"Stack up," I whispered to the others, through my radio.
Tam, Julie and Leha lined to one side of the double doors, while Ciara, Mariette and Armen did so opposite, leaving a space nearest the door for me to fit in. They set the selector switches on their Earth firelances to full-automatic, ready to hose down the magister and whatever else was waiting inside.
"Join on either side," I said quietly to Aurelia and Dorian, as I moved to my breach position. Both did as they were told and unslung their magical staves, Aurelia's razor-sharp naginata joined by Dorian's more club-like weapon, the end of it tipped with a large orb held in place by what looked like tree branches.
Fiona simply looked at us with interest, sliding over behind a small desk for cover.
I gave the hand signal, clenching my fist and making a knocking gesture on my helmet. At once, Tam swung herself in front of the doors, and kicked viciously where the two joined in the middle. All that athletic Qunari muscle made its mark. The doors burst open at once in a shower of splinters, swinging hard against the walls beyond.
Julie and I rounded the doorframe and went into the room, sweeping past Tam, firelances raised. Behind us, Leha and Ciara came in after us, and then all the others save Fiona. We stopped in the middle of the room, all weapons aimed towards the end.
There was a figure there, standing in front of a fireplace with bare embers in it. In the green glow of my night-vision goggles, I could see a man standing, his back to us, staring down at the smoking remains of the firewood. He was dressed like a damn jester, so he was definitely Tevinter. He seemed to be muttering something.
"Gereon Alexius!" I roared, "Kneel, and put your hands on your head!"
The man's head raised itself, but no other reaction came. The shit had responded like I had asked him vaguely if he wanted a cup of coffee.
"Warning shot," I muttered to Julie.
My companion let out an amused breath, before the barrel of her weapon drifted slightly left and down and barked out three bullets, the muzzle flashes strobing strongly in my goggles. The bullets thundered into the fireplace, sending the bright embers swirling around, licks of flame tugging at the ashes. The room filled with the scent of wood smoke.
The magister turned on his heel at once, holding something up in front of us. His face was grave, like a man condemned, yet his eyes were determined, narrowed at us in... pity. The object he was holding was a pendant, though I couldn't tell what shape it was. It glowed and pulsed with magical power, even in my night-vision.
"Fire!" I ordered, not taking any chances.
Too late.
Swirling green energies flared across the walls, and it felt like gravity swirled with them. We fell to the ground, unable to stand. My heart practically stopped.
This couldn't be happening. This wasn't supposed to be possible while I was the target, to say nothing of Tam, Julie or Mariette. I willed myself to pull the trigger, but the target was no longer visible.
The room and Alexius disappeared behind a vortex, which half-blinded me thanks to the goggles, and a sensation of falling even though we were already on the ground.
I flipped up the goggles and blinked away the afterimages, which seemed to include strange runes that I did not recognise as being anything in the dwarven script.
When I was finally able to see again, the magic had disappeared, and the smooth stone we under me had turned to gravel... and my ears told me that we were in a tunnel, as our every move echoed ever so slightly. The others were arranged on the ground beside me too, in equal disarray, though I could barely see them; it was even darker where we were now.
I thought we must've been dumped in the dungeon or something, but several things were very off.
The heat and humidity was intense all of a sudden, like we were at the height of summer in upper Valhalla, not autumn in Southern Ferelden. The smell of the air wasn't that of a dungeon either, that of shit, piss and fear, though it was musty and stale.
I shifted my weight to get up, my hand reaching out to my side... only to find smooth metal protruding from the ground. I flipped my goggles back down to see what the hell I was touching.
It was a rail. A subway rail.