Disclaimer: I own none of this. The ideas are mine, though.

Sorry for the longer wait, guys. Work has been ridiculous, so I haven't had the chance to sit at my desk and write. If I decide to keep writing, I may try to take more time for that, but right now I usually do it after work or on my off day.

Oh, just a random sidenote: I made up the name 'Vivial's Grace' for that flower the kennel master needed. It's the name of Andraste's daughter, so I figured it would make sense to have her be part of it. I wanted to make it more than 'the white flower' that they mention in game.

All that aside, it's time to dive into the rest of Ostagar, and see what -really- happened at the Tower of Ishal!

In Dragon Age, there is a 'common tongue', or just 'common'. Other languages will be shown in italics.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Canticle of Transfigurations 1:1

"These truths the Maker has revealed to me

As there is but one world,

One life, one death, there is

But one god, and He is our Maker.

They are sinners, who have given their love

To false gods."

Lyra Mahariel

"It's strange, the things that you take for granted until they're gone…" Lyra muttered, pulling back one of the bows that the soldiers had at their impromptu archery range.

She had been testing her newfound strength, and realized she could use a proper longbow instead of her short bow she had been using for the past several years. She had very little difficulty drawing her old bow now, so was trying to get a feel for the type of bow she should use instead.

'Maybe I'll find ironwood I can craft a new bow from…'

She stopped when she saw Alistair angrily slashing at a training dummy, a final hit knocking the straw bust off its stand.

"Still mad about the battle strategy?" She asked.

"No. I guess? Maybe?" Alistair shook his head.

"I just feel like our talents are being wasted… I thought Duncan would trust us all on the battlefield, but instead we get to carry a torch and light a big signal fire." He sighed.

"Do you think he expects trouble? Or that something will go wrong? It may be wise to not have all of the wardens in one spot if the battle takes a turn for the worse." She argued.

"I just… he's the first person who's really wanted me with them, so it hurts for him to not want me with him." Alistair walked over to the fence and sat down against a post, sighing.

"This is about your father, then?" She asked with a frown.

"Yeah… Arl Eamonn never told me who he was, just that he couldn't take me in. His wife Isolde didn't make it any easier with how she acted."

The pair sat in silence for a minute before Lyra spoke.

"I… I never knew my parents. They passed before I was old enough to remember them, and nobody in my clan would tell me what happened."

Sitting down beside him, she smirked when she heard footsteps behind them.

"Still, you have all of us now, and you're stuck with us. We're all even sort-of related now, what with the blood thing."

Alistair lurched forwards to try and get up, causing Faren to laugh as he fell forwards when his armor got in the way. Helping the man up, the trio started walking towards the other end of camp.

"I suppose it's time, then?" Lyra asked.

"Yeah, Duncan and the other senior wardens are gathering their gear together for their place in the vanguard. Aedan was going to say something to his brother before the battle starts." The dwarf explained.

"I gotta say, I never thought I'd feel like this though. I don't think I've ever been in such good a shape in my whole life. The other dusters back home would never believe I had made it into the Wardens."

"We come from all walks of life. From nobility and riches, or from poverty and the dust. Trees or city walls, we all have answered the call to vanquish the darkspawn's evil." Duncan said, walking up to the group with a somber Aedan trailing by him.

"I wanted to see you all off, and to give you all a warning. Just because you are all stronger and more capable does not diminish the danger that you face. Please, be careful. We've already lost two of your brothers, and I'd hate to lose any more of you before I truly get to know you all. I hope to see you all in the morning." Duncan finished, looking at them all with pride.

-line break-

Faren Brosca

Looking out at the sea of fire and blood, Faren felt like he was in a whole new world. This was so far removed from anything he had ever seen or done. Watching a catapult throw a flaming boulder at a nearby tower, there was a loud crack. The tower collapsed on itself, before falling and landing in the center of the darkspawn. It must've killed at least a few hundred of the creatures, but the rest swarmed around it and over it, uncaring for their losses. Turning towards the bridge, he jogged to keep up with the others.

"I'm still not sure how I feel about letting Daf go with Fergus. I'm glad he has an extra set of friendly eyes on him, at least." Aedan muttered

"She'll be fine, your brother and her will protect each other." Alistair said, reassuring him.

He winced when he felt the bridge shake and heard screams behind him, knowing the ballistae men he had ate with earlier that day were gone, off to join their ancestors wherever humans went to.

'Maybe the sky? We all go to the Stone, but then where do the elves go?'

Shaking his head, the dwarf followed the others and soon reached the base of the tower.

"Hey, you! You all are Grey Wardens, right?! The tower… it's been taken!" A man yelled, running up to them.

A mage followed behind him, huffing as he tried to keep pace with the soldier.

"What are you talking about, man? Taken how?" Alistair said angrily.

"The darkspawn came up through the lower chambers! They're everywhere! Most of our men are dead!"

"Then we have to get to the beacon and light it! Can you aid us?" Aedan asked, drawing his sword.

The mage nodded, casting a spell that made all their weapons glow red.

"That should cause the horde to think twice before engaging you, or at the very least make it easier to cut through them all."

Nodding in thanks at them, the soldier and mage fell in line with them.

Lyra shot an arrow in the darkness, striking a genlock above the group on a wooden tower nearby.

"Ambush!" She shouted.

The group raised their weapons and charged in, the mage sending out waves of restorative power. Faren felt any fatigue he may have felt fade, as a calm fell over him. Slipping into the darkness, he managed to get behind a Hurlock holding a cruel barbed staff. Seeing the creature raise it towards his allies, he jumped forwards and knocked it down. Before it could scream, his dagger opened its throat. Moving onto the next target, he saw Aedan knock down and kill another one of the beasts.

Before he could get to the archer attempting to kill their new mage ally, an arrow from Lyra put it down. Surprising the other archer next to it, he shoved it off the wooden platform onto the fire below.

Faren winced when he saw some of the embers from the creature's landing get thrown towards the others.

Aedan Cousland

It hadn't hurt quite as bad as it did before after he and Fergus spent a few hours hunting some smaller packs of darkspawn. The distraction and feeling of battle did the rest, letting Aedan focus on the task at hand. Raising his shield, Aedan glared at Faren when he lowered it. The dwarf looked apologetic, but Aedan made a note to sit them all down and talk about situational awareness at some point.

'God, I sound like Hames. That old veteran used to yell that at Fergus and I in the yard whenever we missed one of his traps… I'm glad he didn't live to see Highever in Howe's hands. The man had never liked him after he fought alongside my father during the occupation.'

Rushing forwards alongside the other man, he slammed his shield into the Hurlock in front of him. Shoving the creature aside, Aedan brought the point at the base of his shield down into its throat. He knelt behind the shield, narrowly avoiding a blast of fire from the darkspawn emissary ahead of them.

Faren burst from the shadows, knocking it down and ending the creature, and then there was silence.

"Check the bodies, make sure they're all dead. Then we move. We need to get that flame lit at the top of the tower." Aedan ordered, sliding into the role of commander.

Alistair and Faren went through, catching one of the genlocks that had lay in wait alongside it's fallen brethren. After that had been dealt with, the group moved on towards the tower.

Falling back and letting Lyra take the lead, Aedan moved beside Alistair.

"I'm sorry for jumping in and taking over there. You're the senior warden here."

"No… no. It's totally fine. It's honestly a relief. I've never been very good at giving orders in a fight if I'm being honest."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Alistair. You led us well while we were in the wilds, right?"

"That was just a mission, I can't lead people for real…" Alistair said, looking to the side.

"You might surprise yourself, if you give yourself the chance to."

Aedan moved back up, nodding at the others and making sure they were alright, while Alistair hung back, a strange look on his face.

After dispatching a pair of genlocks outside of the tower, the group approached.

"Remember, no matter what happens, we need to get this signal fire lit. We'll be just as dead as everyone else if this doesn't get done. We all ready?"

Nodding at each other, the group all moved towards the tower.

Lyra Mahariel

Hearing the two warriors, Lyra sighed. She knew that she should be focused on the battle and getting to the top of the tower, but she couldn't stop thinking of the wilds. She hadn't seen the dead horses and ruined wagons in the wilds. She had seen burnt aravels, the Halla half-eaten, and her whole clan butchered while she was powerless to stop it.

Ever since she saw the horde that descended on the human army, it was all she could do to focus on staying. She knew she had to stay to stop the darkspawn, but all she wanted to do was go back and convince the keeper to run.

Passing by old worn statues, the group entered a large central chamber.

"Maker's Breath. What are these darkspawn doing ahead of the horde? There wasn't supposed to be any resistance here!" Alistair exclaimed, seeing the fortifications that the darkspawn had built.

"It certainly seems like they've been here for at least a few hours. That doesn't seem like random chance…" Faren muttered.

"Didn't Duncan say that the horde uses real strategy and can be much more dangerous in the presence of an Archdemon?" Aedan asked.

"I guess he was right. Still… We best get a move on. This mission just got a lot more complicated." Alistair said, moving further into the chamber.

"Allow me." The mage said, throwing fire at the basic wooden palisade the darkspawn had constructed.

Knocking the crude defenses away, the group rushed forwards towards the darkspawn that had laid in ambush. Realizing that their trap hadn't worked, a group of hurlocks rushed out of the door across the room. The group's melee fighters rushed forwards, the three warriors crashing into the creatures. Faren followed behind, jabbing between the group's shields.

A trio of archers quickly lined up by the door, catching Lyra's eye.

Drawing her bow, Lyra let her breathe release alongside the string, her target falling with a new hole in its head.

Shifting slightly to the left, she repeated the action. Before she could kill the third archer, a wall of flame washed over it, leaving a burnt husk. Nodding at the mage, she ran to the side, stopping to take out another of the beasts that was trying to flank the melee fighters. The warriors all locked their shields together as Faren threw something, and then there was an angry buzzing surrounding the creatures.

The others all backed away, leaving the four creatures left as easy targets for Lyra and the mage. Quickly eliminating two more of the creatures, Lyra paused as the mage sent another wave of fire. Approaching the bodies, Lyra scowled when she saw what had been in the glass jar.

"You've been carrying bees around with you this whole time?" She asked, exasperation clear.

"Daveth suggested it would be a good idea. He said it always worked when he and his cousin wanted to escape their lessons for the day."

The other wardens all paused when the man was brought up.

'It's hard to believe he and Jory just… died. How close was I to that?'

Moving towards the door, Alistair led the group on. Moving towards the door on the right, the party entered an empty room.

"This is the area we fought through to get to you all. They had killed everyone else, but we knew we needed to warn someone." The mage explained.

Entering another room, the group came to a large tunnel that opened to a dark abyss below.

"This is where they came in. We never stood a chance. One minute, we were in our barracks preparing for the battle, and the next minute the doors had burst open to reveal dozens of them ready for us. I've never heard of them acting like this before." The soldier shuttered, remembering the ambush.

Opening the door to the next room, Aedan was thrown back when a ball of fire slammed into him. The mage immediately ran to his side and started to heal him, while the others rushed in.

Drawing her dar'misu, Lyra charged with the others. This room was a bit too confined for her weapon of choice, but her blades had just as much sting as her arrows. Running towards the emissary that had tried to kill Aedan, she dodged a swipe from a genlock on her right. Kicking out, she heard the beast cry out in pain.

Closing with the emissary, she grit her teeth when the large creature caught her blades on its staff. The malice in the creature's eyes was sickening, the low rumble in its chest causing her to see red.

Hearing someone silence the genlock she had knocked down, she stabbed forwards with her other blade, burying it halfway into the creature's stomach.

"Laugh now, creature." Lyra said, glaring at the creature as it collapsed.

Alistair

Moving to help Aedan up, Alistair smiled grimly at the man when he waved him off.

"I'm glad you're unhurt. That looked like a nasty hit."

"Just need a minute to catch my breath, then I can keep going. Why don't one of you take the lead and we can go from there?" Aedan suggested.

Nodding at the man, Alistair moved forwards. The group moved up the steps, not encountering any more darkspawn.

After another half dozen rooms on the second level that lay empty, but bore signs of the creatures having been through, they stopped.

"Something is really not right. Unless they went back through their tunnel, there's about 2 dozen darkspawn missing…" The soldier said.

"Just stay alert and look for survivors. Don't let them surprise us." Alistair cautioned.

Entering a room full of kennels, the group approached the hounds.

"I'm not sure if the creatures are still here, but releasing the dogs will give us a better chance of survival either way." Faren said.

Nodding at the dwarf's idea, Alistair and Aedan went around and broke the locks on the cages, releasing seven mabari hounds that immediately started investigating the area.

"It's been so long, I almost forgot how efficient a group of mabari can be for finding things." Alistair laughed.

One, larger than the rest and with red kaddis, growled and rushed into a hallway that led deeper into the tower. The others all rushed after him, with the party on their heels. Entering the hall, Alistair grinned when he saw a group of three genlocks being swarmed by the pack. The group cleared another two rooms like that, letting the hounds rush in and cleaning up what they would leave behind.

The group slowed down a minute to save energy, letting the pack rush ahead. Before anyone could say anything however, there was a loud roar.

Looking at the others, Alistair rushed in alongside them to a room with a large staircase. At the base of the stairs was a pair of ogres, ripping into and decimating the hounds.

Alistair rushed forwards, wincing when he saw a hound thrown across the room. A loud crack and a pitiful whine made him growl, lashing out and cutting deep into the ogre's knee. As he pulled the blade back, Aedan swung at the leg from the other side, severing it and causing the creature to topple backwards. They joined the others in attacking the second ogre, the remaining four mabari making quick work of the downed creature.

The ogre took a step back and leaned forwards, pointing its horns at the group. Jumping out of the way, the ogre impaled the large alpha mabari, before twisting and shaking its head. Pulling back from the shredded corpse, the ogre turned its milky white eyes onto the others.

It made for a terrifying moment, the gore and entrails dripping from the head of the creature. With a roar, Alistair charged forwards, dodging a swing from the ogre. Before the creature could react, he dropped his shield and planted his feet firmly. Holding his blade with both hands, he thrust up and into its throat. Alistair nearly dropped his blade as a waterfall of black ichor coated the top of his head.

The creature gave a weak growl, before tilting forwards. Alistair fell sideways, barely avoiding the body, although his blade snapped once the weight of the creature came down on it.

Standing, Alistair couldn't help it.

"This is disgusting!" He exclaimed, while the others all looked at him with wide eyes or smirks.

"By the Stone! What possessed you to do that?" Faren asked, holding in a laugh.

"It was a technique we were taught when I was a templar, training us on how to deal with a pride demon if you can get inside of it's defenses. I guess I forgot that it only works so well because demons don't bleed, and their bodies fade once they've been defeated." Alistair said, grabbing a blanket from one of the cots on the side of the room.

Doing his best to get the worst of the ichor off his face and ensuring he could still fight, he grabbed his shield.

"At least it was only a sword that broke…" Alistair said glumly, looking at the blade he had lost.

'That was the blade that Teagan gave me for my sixteenth name-day…'

Quietly accepting the blade that Lyra offered him, the group moved up the staircase alongside the remaining three mabari.

Faren Brosca

They all entered a room at the top of the tower, and were met with a grisly sight. There was only one darkspawn emissary there, but it was surrounded by mounds of corpses. It was waving its staff over them and clearly working some kind of foul magic.

Lyra quickly dispatched the creature, letting the group approach the signal fire.

"Can you light this?" Aedan asked, looking towards the mage.

Throwing a fireball towards the pyre, the group soon settled in to defend the tower.

Lyra frowned when she looked out of the window.

"They're not engaging the horde. The Teyrn's forces haven't moved."

"Why aren't they charging? They must've seen us!" Alistair exclaimed angrily.

Rushing to the window, the rest of the group watched in horror as the army that lay in wait to assist the King's party and the rest of the wardens turned around.

"What! What are they doing! The Teyrn is abandoning the King!" Aedan yelled, getting red in the face.

"This is treason. And death… without the Teyrn's army… we're all that's left after the main battle group…" the soldier said, going pale.

"Then we take as many of these things with us as we can. Not like we can do much else." Aedan said grimly, drawing his sword.

"You can't be serious?" Faren asked, looking at the warrior.

"That's your grand plan? What about Howe! What about your family?!" The dwarf said, now glaring at the man.

"If you have a way for us to get out of this, then I'm sure we'd all love it if you would enlighten us. This is the second time I've been in a hole and been betrayed recently. I'm not sure there's an escape tunnel this time though since we're on the TOP FLOOR!" Aedan said, not looking away from the doorway to the tower below.

Before Faren could reply, or the others could say anything, the door to the chamber they were in burst apart. The last of the pack rushed forwards, buying the group a minute to draw their weapons and try to get close. Before they could attempt to force the creatures to the doorway, a swarm of genlocks and hurlocks rushed out at them.

Seeing Lyra get hit by a ball of ice and go down, Faren narrowly avoided the same fate. Swinging his sword, he caught a genlock's throat and ripped it open. Moving over the corpse to try and get to the hunter, He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. Growling at the arrow, Faren jumped at the two hurlocks in front of him.

Knocking the two over, He caught one's head with his blade, but was not quick enough to stop the mace from the other. Feeling his helmet crack, he felt himself pushed to the side.

Before darkness consumed his vision, he saw Alistair standing above Lyra, while Aedan was defending the mage.

-line break-

Flemeth

Looking at the bodies strewn about the tower, she let a breath of hot air out. Reaching back inside of herself, she let the form she kept around Morrigan out. Where once a dragon towered above the broken bodies, now an aged woman walked between them.

Waving her hands over the bodies of the wardens, their bodies rose and were left by the still burning pyre. Looking out at the rest, she took note of the dying mage in the corner.

"You'll do." She said, raising her hands towards the man.

The pain is what woke him first. He struggled for a minute before opening his mouth to speak.

"What i-"

He quickly choked on the blood flowing out of his mouth, unable to scream because of it. She let the body fall a few minutes later, now a desiccated husk in old shabby robes. Letting the blood hover over the wardens, Flemeth reached out once more towards the bodies, this time retrieving trace amounts of dark ichor from the darkspawn.

"I've always wanted to try experimenting on these creatures… I suppose there's no time like the present!" The witch cackled, merging the two balls of blood.

The thick ball of blood broke into four smaller ones, which then were directed towards each warden. Going to each one and manually forcing each one to swallow the dull glowing mixture, Flemeth smiled when she felt them return from the brink.

"So… more heroes. I suppose I should take them home, then. Especially after I came all the way out here to save them."

Shifting back into her High Dragon form, she beat her wings a few times before rising.

Flemeth grabbed one of them in each claw, before flying out of the ruined tower. Gazing across the carrion field that hours ago had been the best hope for Fereldan, she sighed.

"I hope that girl appreciates what I do for her. I would hate to have to move the house…"

And…. That's it. Sorry again for the long wait guys, but I hope this chapter can make up for it. I have more time off now as things start to slow down at work, so hopefully I won't be away for weeks at a time too often.

What did you all think of the blood magic ritual? I figured it would explain why the characters lived, without being some long-drawn-out scene. I'm a little impatient to get to the main game, but we're almost there!

Anyway, it's 5 am, so I should probably get a little bit of sleep before work at 8.

I'll see you guys next time!

Ameridane