Chapter 2: That Means Demons

It seemed as though demons were everywhere during that first part of the trek to the Forward Camp. We'd take down one, and two more would arrive in its wake. The wispy flying ones were the worst – they'd shoot these energy sapping bursts of something, and the only thing I could do to fight them was to rush them head on and take a swing, which was only slightly more effective than throwing rocks at them (which I actually wound up doing a couple of times.) I'd picked up some elfroot along the way, and Cassandra had a few healing draughts that she shared with me, but it was slow going, at best.

After we finished our trek over the frozen river, we scaled the bank, and I heard fighting ahead. This time there were multiple demons, and what sounded like a couple of soldiers, as well as at least one mage. Cassandra, of course, hurried right on up to help them, while I followed warily behind.

That's always been a thing with me. As things started to get bad in the Shemlen market square, I wound up picking up a few side jobs to bring a bit of gold into the house. These jobs weren't always exactly legal, and – oh, who am I kidding? I ran lyrium from suppliers to dealers. By 9:40 I'd been made liaison to the Carta, and had my own team of runners. Gorim was our main contact – every time you'd hear him say "Fine Dwarven Crafts," you knew he'd just gotten a new supply in from Old Tegrin. We'd go over to his stand (seriously, though. If you'd ever seen the crap he has at that stand, you'd know right away it's a front) and he'd have an "order" stuffed into a breastplate or a gauntlet or something. Anyway, those jobs didn't always go over well. Sometimes we'd get jumped for our goods; sometimes the dealer wouldn't have the gold, etc. So, I learned to be careful – never head right into a back alley, always poke your head around the corner and listen. And I learned how to handle myself in a scrap. But most importantly, I learned how to get into only as many scraps as I had to.

So, when I could hear the fighting from a couple hundred yards away, I knew I didn't want to go rushing in, armed or no. That's what people like Cassandra are for. I hid behind half a blown-out wall, watching the scene unfold. There were two soldiers, or guardsmen or something taking whacks at the wispy ones with the energy-sapping bombs. There was a dwarf with the baddest crossbow I'd ever seen in my life taking chunks out of demons here and there. There was this mage who was so elfy he looked like he slept in a Vhenadahl every night. And there were no fewer than five shades, a terror demon, and three wispy things.

The dwarf was firing shot after shot, turning some shades into pincushions, but he wasn't watching his flanks, and had one on either side of him before he noticed. I came up behind one of them as quietly as I could, then jabbed both blades into its back, between where its shoulder blades would be. He got the other one just fine with a bolt between what passed for eyes. It took three harrowing minutes, but they were all gone. The elfy fellow then grabbed my left wrist and pointed the glowing thing on my hand toward the green crystally thing hanging about 20 feet in the air.

"Quickly!" he shouted. "Before more come through!"

I wasn't sure quite what to do, at first. Then I guess I pushed out with the glowing mark, and there was a jet of green light that went into the crystally thing and blew it up. I'd say it was magic, but it wasn't – at least not the way I'd been taught magic was. There was this tingling in my hand, and then it was almost as if the world stopped and it was just me and the rift. It left a bit of smoldering something that dropped to the ground, which Elfy McElf picked up and put into his pack.

"Well, I guess I'm some use to you people after all," I said, not wanting to crow, but also no longer willing to play the prisoner act.

"Indeed," Elf-Guy said. "It seems that you are the key to our salvation." I couldn't help myself from laughing so hard that I snorted, which amused the dwarf to no end.

"She looks thrilled to hear that, Chuckles," he said, shaking his head. Then he extended his hand to me. "Varric Tethras is the name. This is Bianca," he continued, holding up his crossbow. "Thanks for covering my ass out there."

"No problem. We've been fighting demons all damn afternoon. I'm Nessa. No name for the blades or this glowy thing on my hand, though."

"You should probably work on that," Varric replied. "It will make explanations so much easier. 'What's that on your hand?' 'Oh, that? That's Herbie.' End of discussion."

"Herbie's not a very good name. A glowy thing like this needs something more majestic. Perhaps –"

"My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions," Elf-Guy piped up. "And that mark on your hand is –"

"That's nice," I replied. "Now, I think 'Madame du Greenlight' gives the mark the grandeur it deserves."

"You think it's Orlesian?" Varric asked.

"As bright and showy as this thing is? What else could it be?"

Cassandra rather conspicuously cleared her throat and nodded towards Solas, who was looking a bit put-out.

"Yes, well," Solas said. "Regardless of its name, I believe that mark on your hand will, given enough power, be able to close the Breach. Perhaps we should head to the forward camp to let the others know."

"I'm sure that can wait, Solas," Cassandra said. "Sister Nightingale certainly has nothing else to do right now than wait for us to finish being entertained by Varric Tethras's mighty wit."

"Oh, Seeker," Varric said. "You know full well that flattery will get you everywhere. Let's go."

"Where are you going?" Cassandra asked. "Your job here is finished, dwarf. You are free to go, and rather encouraged to do so."

"Come on, Seeker. Have you been in the valley lately? You need me. Your soldiers aren't in control anymore."

Cassandra grunted, shook her head, and headed off toward the forward camp.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Varric asked.

The forward camp was on an elevated section of the road we'd been following, blocked off by a door. On our side of the door, of course, was another fade rift. This one caught me by surprise, and I was just about in the middle of things by the time I realized I was surrounded by demons. It's amazing how quickly something like demons falling from the sky becomes old hat. But I managed to wound one, which bought me enough time to slip off into the shadows. And it was there I had a thought: maybe if I get the rift closed, the demons will just die or something, and we won't have to risk fighting them. So, I looked at the rift, pointed my hand at it, and imagined I was pushing that green light toward the center of it. At first it felt like I was on to something. The mark managed to connect with something inside the rift, just like when I'd closed the other one. But when it exploded, it didn't close. Rather, it shook the place, and the demons themselves looked like they'd been punched in the gut - one of them seemed to have keeled over, too. My little experiment made quicker work of the demons for the rest of them, and I was just about to close up the rift, when five more demons tumbled out of it.

"Well, shit," I mumbled, which gave Varric a chuckle.

"You'll be fine. Do that thing with the rift again - that should slow them down."

It took me a try or two, thanks to some obnoxious thing that actually shot ice at me, but I managed to slam the rift again. Of course, all the bobbing and weaving I did to avoid the ice-throwing demon and still get a good lock on the rift meant I didn't see a terror demon bounce out of the ground and right on top of me. He got a good jolt from the rift, but wasn't too hurt to take a chunk of flesh out of my arm with one of his talons. I howled in pain, and Cassandra came running right for me to fight the green spindly thing off. Varric threw me a healing draught, which got me back in the game to some degree, but mostly I tried to stay out of the way until it was time to close the rift. After the second wave of demons was dispatched, the rift closed just like they're supposed to.

"You're getting to be quite proficient at that," Solas said as I collapsed to the ground, clutching my injured arm. I simply stared at him blankly.

"I meant that as a compliment," he persisted. "I don't see why you need to be so disagreeable about things. If we are to seal these rifts or that Breach," he continued, "there should be at least some measure of collegiality between us."

"Fine," I sighed. "I'm Nessa, and this is Madame du Greenlight. The shoulder that was nearly taken off by a demon doesn't have a name."

"A pleasure," Solas replied.

"Good, so now what? There's a big hole in the sky that needs fixing, the Fade is shitting out demons, and my hand is the only thing that can fix it, right?"

Cassandra grunted loudly and pushed us forward.

"Enough," she said, walking between the three of us. Then she told the soldiers guarding the gate (who did fuck-all to help us with those demons, I might add) to open the gate and let us through.

We made it to Leliana, who was just about to introduce me to a man wearing a Chantry tunic, when that man ordered Cassandra to take me to Val Royeaux for execution. And if I didn't know I was safe before, I knew I was safe then. Varric and I couldn't help snickering as she ripped into that poor guy for a good five minutes reminding him of his place in the Chantry, the mission, and life itself. I took a moment to look at the Breach in the sky. There were really no words to describe such a thing except that it looked like the end of the world. Maybe the world needed ending. Maybe this is the Maker's way of telling the Shems that they screwed the whole thing up so badly that it was time to scrap what was left and try again. I doubt there were many Elves in many alienages who would disagree with that line of thinking. But just as I was thinking this all might be for the best, the mark on my hand flared up something awful, and I sank to my knees in pain.

"How do you think we should proceed?" Cassandra asked me as I struggled back to my feet.

"Excuse me? Were we talking about something?" I asked in return. "I wasn't really paying attention."

Cassandra, already agitated by the man who wanted her to run me to Orlais, looked at me as if she really was going to see if they could use my hand to close the Breach without it being attached to my body. Leliana put a hand on her shoulder and answered for her.

"We are trying to get to the Temple of Sacred Ashes," she said. "Or what's left of it. That is where the Breach is, and that is where the first, and largest, of the fade rifts sits. The Chancellor and I are afraid that a direct approach would have us all slaughtered by demons, and we believe a mountain pass would be a safer route. Cassandra is worried that going through the mountains will leave you stranded, like it did an earlier group of soldiers, who may not have survived the trip. She believes a frontal assault is our only hope. What do you think we should do?"

I laughed out loud. "Seriously? The Left Hand of the Divine and Fifth Blight hero, a Chantry Seeker, half a dozen soldiers, this shouty guy over here with the pencils, and you're asking some knife-ear who wipes a Grand Cleric's ass which way to go? You folks are in trouble if that's your decision-making process."

"Be that as it may," Leliana answered, unfazed by my observation, "you are the one we need to get to the Temple. Without you there, we have no hope at all."

"Okay, fine," I huffed. Then I turned to Varric.

"Hey, you got a copper?"

Varric snorted. "No copper, but I do have a silver. Here you go."

I tossed the coin into the air, caught it, and flipped it over on my wrist, where the coin lay sword-side-up.

"Over the mountain," I said, pocketing the silver.

"That easy?" Cassandra huffed. "You flip a coin and your decision is made? Good men and women may die down in that valley, and you would leave their fate to a flip of the coin? I know you dislike humans, probably for good reasons, but this? This is just callous."

"Anymore callous than leaving a serious military decision in the hands of someone unqualified to make it?" I asked, worked up into my own snit. "You want me to make this decision, clearing your own conscience of any consequences, and then laying the outcome on my head? I don't think so."

Cassandra sighed, had some words with the Chancellor, and we were off on the mountain path. Once Cassandra and Solas had gotten far enough ahead, Varric nudged me.

"You were going to pick this path anyway, weren't you?" he asked.

"Yeah," I admitted. "That was pretty much for show. I just didn't want to get blamed if it all goes tits up. Besides, rushing headlong into a battle never seemed like the smartest course of action, you know?"

"I getcha," he replied. "Now give me that silver back."

The trip over the mountain ridge wasn't terribly eventful, except that by this point I'd been in the Frostbacks a little under a week, and my feet had still not gotten used to the cold. A trip to Val Royeaux, while it certainly would've meant death by hanging (at best), would at least have had me go out with warm tootsies. But the cold rocks led us to cold, slippery ladders that ran 50 or 60 breezy feet up from the path, which was already a few hundred feet up from the valley. If ever there were a time not to have a fear of heights, this was it. The demons had either the courtesy or the good sense not to attack us on the ladders, but by the time we got into the mining complex, they were waiting for us. No rifts, but two wisps and three or four shades came at us as we made our way from one side of the tunnel to the other. We nearly tripped over three dead Shems as we were leaving the tunnel, but as Cassandra and Varric mentioned that they were part of the company we were trying to save, I let them get a bit ahead of me before ransacking their bodies for a few silver and a couple of pieces of sentimental jewelry.

Climbing back down the mountain is where we ran into another rift. The scouts who were there fighting must have at least gotten some whacks in, because there were only four demons to finish off before I could seal it up.

"Lady Cassandra!" one of the scouts called out.

"Lieutenant," Cassandra called back. "I am glad to see you still live."

"Same here, Seeker," the Lieutenant replied, "but it was a near thing. Those demons had us pinned back; they took more than a few of us. I don't know how you did it, but closing that rift probably saved our lives."

"I did not close the rift," Cassandra said, gesturing in my direction. "It was the Prisoner. She is the one who saved you."

The Lieutenant walked over toward me with a purposeful demeanor that had my hands get twitchy looking for my knives. But then she stopped, saluted, and bowed at the waist.

"I thank you, Mistress," she said. "You've saved many lives here today. May Andraste guide you."

It's tough when you're used to always having a quip at your disposal to be left completely taken unawares like that. But "have a Shem salute me and thank me for her life" just wasn't a possibility I'd ever planned for. So, I was left with mumbling a half-hearted "you're welcome," wished them well, and followed Cassandra down towards the Temple.

The temple itself was pretty much gone. There was the occasional wall that was only half crumbled, and a few items here and there that looked salvageable. But mostly it was a field of bodies burnt to a crisp, one of which had somehow used the person's body fat to create a candle effect. I turned my nose up and quickly walked past that horror show.

On the other end of that was Leliana, who'd brought with her a grip of archers, both human and elven. I made a noise of surprise at this, and Cassandra shot me one of the more obnoxiously smug smirks I'd ever seen.

"There it is," Solas said, pointing far up into the sky while we had a moment to pause. "The Breach."

"Think you can levitate me up there?" I asked. "That's a hell of a long way up." Solas chuckled, which was refreshingly unexpected.

"No need. If you look instead at the rift in front of us, you will see that it is larger than any we have faced so far. It was also the first to appear. If you seal it, you may seal the Breach itself."

"Seems easy enough," I said. "No demons pouring out of this one. "Let's get down there, and maybe they'll get me to Val Royeaux to have my head lopped off in time for the Wintersend festival. Can't beat a good knife-ear beheading for entertainment value."

We began the descent toward what must have been the foundation of the temple, when we started to see red stones – crystals of some sort – jutting out of the ground.

"Shit," Varric swore. "Seeker, do you know what this is? Red Lyrium. It's evil, I tell you. Evil. Don't touch it, don't go near it, hell, don't even look at it that long."

"Noted," I said. "Red rocks are evil."

"I'm not kidding," Varric replied. "This stuff turned the Knight Commander of Kirkwall into a statue. It drove my brother crazy, and furniture and shit was flying all over his house. Evil."

That got my attention, and I took his advice on the matter. To be honest, those stones were plenty creepy on their own without Varric's horror story.

We'd just about made it to the bottom when one of the deepest voices I'd ever heard boomed from the heavens.

"Keep the sacrifice still."

That was followed by an older Orlesian woman who cried out.

"Someone, help me!"

"That's Divine Justinia!" Cassandra shouted. Then there was another voice. Mine.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Voice-me asked.

"And that's your voice!" Cassandra exclaimed. "Justinia called out to you, but –"

That's when the voices turned into full-fledged visions. The deep voiced figure looked to be about eight feet of the ugliest constructed person-shaped-thing I'd ever seen. And Divine Justinia was suspended by her arms in midair, thrashing, trying to escape.

"Run while you can," vision-Justinia called out to me. "Warn them!"

The next thing I remember hearing was "Slay the elf," and mercifully that's when the vision cut out, leaving my slaying for another day.

"You were there!" Cassandra said. "Who was attacking? Who held the Most Holy prisoner?"

"I've already told you, I don't know. If I knew that, do you think we'd be here?"

"No, I –" And before she could finish her thought, I dropped to my knees as the mark flared up something horrible. Solas walked over to us, his face grim.

"I fear this rift has not properly sealed. The Prisoner must open it, and then she may seal it properly. Although I shudder to think what manner of being a rift this size will attract from the other side."

"That means demons!" Cassandra shouted. "Stand ready!"

Cassandra and Leliana were a blur of martial activity, as archers and swordsmen hustled to get into place. Varric stood next to me, while Solas positioned himself on the other side of the temple ruin.

"You ready for this?" Varric asked me.

I shook my head. "Not even close."

"Good," he replied. "The ones that feel ready for something like this are the ones who wind up dying. Don't die, kid. I like you."

The first honest smile I'd had in a long time blossomed on my face as I returned the sentiment.

"Don't you die, either, Varric"

Cassandra gave the signal, and I pushed into the rift with the mark. The good news is that only one demon tumbled out once it was opened. The bad news is that this thing was huge, armored with thick scales, and holding these ridiculous lightning whips that could mess up half our people in one blow. I could've sworn I heard it laugh when it landed, which really pissed me off. I snuck off into the shadows while Cassandra and some of the soldiers started to whack away at its knees – that's how big this thing was. Arrows were flying down from above, but not a one of them stuck, so I wound up dodging those, too. I finally saw an opening, but all my knife did was clank into the armor. Tried again – same thing. Meanwhile, Cassandra and the other folks in front were taking a heavy beating. Solas was doing his best to freeze the beast, but that just seemed to annoy it.

I saw the rift itself crackling and shifting, and my hand started to flare up, which reminded me of one trick I still had up my sleeve. I snuck back around to the front, took a position beside Solas, who put up a barrier around me, and tried to slam the rift, to see if that would hurt a demon this size. It did. I could see some of the arrows begin to stick, and the soldiers up front started to draw a little blood. I rushed around back of it to try to take a chunk out of its ankle, but I wasn't anywhere near careful enough, and I got smacked halfway across the temple by one of the lightning whips.

"Fuck!" I yelled, and grabbed one of the healing draughts. Cassandra seemed to be in pretty bad shape, too, so I tossed her one. I got to my destination behind the demon and got one good whack in before it stopped staggering. Once again, my blades were useless. I looked up at the rift and tried to connect, but it was kind of an amorphous blob at that point, so the mark had nothing to hold on to. But besides staggering the big demon, my slamming the rift did one thing – three shades had fallen from the sky and were attacking Solas. Gingerly, I stepped into the shadows and came up behind the one to his left, sinking my blades into its back and ripping downward. Solas got a good shot in with his staff on the one in front of him, but he took a claw to the face from the one to the right and fell to the ground. I leapt over Solas (well, really, I sprung off of his back) and onto the shade, getting some good slices into its face. Solas got to his feet, slammed his staff to the ground, and both shades hit the deck, giving us time to dispatch our opponents.

I pumped my fist in victory, but that was short-lived, as I saw Varric dealing with a couple of shades of his own. One of the soldiers was helping him, though, so I let that be. Our folks in the thick of it with the big demon were getting slaughtered, and the arrows were providing little cover. I looked at the rift and it was crystalline again. Here was our chance. I snuck underneath it, locked on, and began to push. But before I could really do any damage, I felt a power-sapping bomb hit me, which broke my concentration. I looked over, and there was one of those wispy things aiming for another shot at me.

"Shit!" I yelled. "Solas, take care of that for me. I've got to hit this rift." And without even a questioning word, he distracted it long enough for me to get a good rift-slam in. I ran back towards the big demon, stepping over one poor Shem who didn't make it. Then I saw Cassandra take a whip across the face, which knocked her to the ground, unconscious. I yelled out for her, and ran over, grabbing her by the collar of her armor and dragging her into the shadows.

"Cassandra! Cassandra!" I said, smacking her face lightly. She was breathing, but only barely coming around to consciousness. "Wake up. I've got you – here." I poured our second-to-last healing draught down her throat and sat with her until it took effect.

"Thank you, Ghilani," she said, rising to her feet. "Where are my weapons?"

"They were knocked out of your hands when you were injured. Let me get them for you." I tiptoed across over to where they lay, next to another fallen soldier, and dragged them back over to Cassandra. I would have to find out one day how she could wield such heavy equipment so easily.

"Are you sure you're able to get back in there?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm fine now, thanks to you. Go. There's still a battle to be won."

I let Cassandra run back into the fray, and took a moment longer in the shadows to catch my breath. The rift was ready for another hit, and the demon was struggling to stay on its feet, so I slammed the rift again, and the demon crumpled to the ground, dead, or whatever passes for dead with a demon. That left the rift ready to close, and I began to do so. But this rift, because it was so large, slammed shut with a force than knocked me ass over tits. I saw a green light that shot up into the sky towards the Breach, heard a loud cheer, and then everything went dark.