Chapter 26: Act of Mercy
Foul and corrupt are you
Who have taken My gift
And turned it against My children.
—Transfigurations 18:10.
The ancient Tevinters did not originally consider blood magic a school of its own. Rather, they saw it as a means to achieve greater power in any school of magic. The name, of course, refers to the fact that magic of this type uses life, specifically in the form of blood, instead of mana. It was common practice, at one time, for a magister to keep a number of slaves on hand so that, should he undertake the working of a spell that was physically beyond his abilities, he could use the blood of his slaves to bolster the casting.
Over time, however, the Imperium discovered types of spells that could only be worked by blood. Although lyrium will allow a mage to send his conscious mind into the Fade, blood would allow him to find the sleeping minds of others, view their dreams, and even influence or dominate their thoughts. Just as treacherous, blood magic allows the Veil to be opened completely so that demons may physically pass through it into our world. Thought for some time to have been stamped out in the Imperium, the practice of blood magic seems to be on the rise in recent years. The current Black Divine has lifted most of the prohibitions against dreamwalking, and so many mages in the Imperium now use it openly in the name of research.
—From The Four Schools: A Treatise, Third Edition, by First Enchanter Josephus.
Gamlen's House
Ericks and Bethany was back at home after escorting Sebastian to Viscount's Keep. Romulus ran to the door excitedly and tackled the rogue to ground and licked his face. Since being freed from that tiny cage Romulus was shown to be a happy-go-luck hound and very excitable…his visible health was getting better thanks to Bethany's healing and eating the food Ericks prepared for him. The Amells has had mabari hounds in their households for generations as they were not only good guard dogs but a status symbol for rich nobles. According to Leandra, Romulus was very likely the great-grandson of the mabari she and Gamlen had as children. Gamlen and Leandra were at home but it was quiet for once, since finding their father's will Gamlen hasn't been so unbearable lately. Then again it was hard to be haughty when it was discovered he tried to cheat his own flesh and blood out of the will due to resentment.
"Keep it down, dog!" Gamlen said. Romulus just tilted his head in confusion. "Another mouth to feed and all that noisy dog breath…nice choice you made in bringing that mutt home, boy!"
"Well, pardon my dog for breathing! If you think you can stop him, be my guest"
"Bah! Blight take you" Gamlen said. "And what am I, your servant? There's a letter for you on the desk" Gamlen walked out the door, probably going out to drown his bitterness in ale. Bethany went to the bedroom to rest while Ericks head for the desk to read the newest letter he had received. When he opened the letter two sovereigns fell out, to pay him out front before he even read must meant this was very important to the person who wrote the letter.
"Interesting…you now have my attention"
Proud scion of the Hawke family,
I dare not contact you directly, but we have met before, and I know you to be a person of good character and unusual ability. Indulge me in a meeting outside the city, for I require your aid in a delicate task. As a token of good faith, I have enclosed a modest sum. There will be more waiting if you can help.
Please come as soon as you receive this. If you do not, the lives of many innocents may be on my hands.
Sincerely,
A friend
The Wounded Coast Approach
The gang was at the Wounded Coast to meet with the author of the letter. Halfway up the coast after fighting the dragonlings that had made a nest here, they met the contact. It was none other than Thrask, the Templar that was looking for Feynriel a while back. Ericks frowned, was this a trap set by the Templars…did they know about Bethany and the other mages in his company. Varric assured him that Thrask wasn't like that and he was one of the good ones…which didn't make the rogue feel any better, after all a Templar was a Templar.
"Master Hawke"
"Arianni tells me you sought a better path than the Circle for her son Feynriel" Thrask said. "I thought perhaps you would be willing to show mages a kindness once more" This surprised Ericks, Templars didn't like it when someone stepped on to their jurisdiction. That usually resulted in a long stay behind bars, for a Templar to be so open minded Ericks decided to hear him out for now.
"Details first"
"Of course, there are a number of apostates hiding in those caverns"
"And you've allowed this?" Aveline asked.
"I was hoping you might speak to the group, convince them to surrender peacefully before my fellow Templars arrive" Thrask didn't have much of a positive opinion of the Templar assigned to take in these apostates. Ser Karras is the knight-lieutenant of the Templars and a great crony to the Knight-Commander. If Karras finds the apostates hiding from pursuit, he will tell Meredith and she consider him justified in murdering all of them.
"You don't seem fond of your Knight-Commander" Ericks said.
"She has changed the rules for mages in Kirkwall, they are less free than elsewhere" Thrask said. "She believes she have made the city safer but all she's done is created as much dissent as fear among the mages"
"There are many like me that feel this way but alas we are the minority"
"Who are these apostates? Where did they come from?" Aveline asked. When the Circle at Starkhaven burned to the ground many mages and Templars died. With no circle, the mages could not stay in the city and so the surviving Templars asked Kirkwall's Templars to help with the relocation of the surviving mages. But on the journey to Kirkwall, the Templars from Starkhaven were caught in the middle a terrible landslide and the mages used the chaos to escape. With their phylacteries burned, it had been impossible to track them.
Aveline sighed. "Starkhaven, it seems we'll see no end of trouble from that place"
"If you've got this many mages escaping, you Templars aren't too good at your jobs…"
Aveline shook her head. "Not now, Ericks"
"These mages have been shown to attack Templars on sight" Thrask said. "You have a better chance than I to convince them they are better off alive in the Circle then free and dead"
"If they have nor surrendered by the time Ser Karras arrives, this will be a blood bath" The gang went inside the caverns. Upon entering the gang was attacked by corpses and the apostates, Varric fired an explosive arrow to scatter the enemies while Bethany enchanted Ericks and Aveline's weapons with fire. Aveline cut down the corpses while Ericks headed for the apostates. When the mages found themselves against the wall, they resorted to blood mage and took control of Ericks and Aveline. They tried to make them attack Varric and Bethany but the Hawke with great effort broke the blood mages hold over them. When Aveline and Ericks are freed, they quickly turned and killed the apostates before they could cast another spell.
"Blood magic because of course" Ericks said. "Feels like I got hit by boulder"
"Only one way out for these mages now" The gang continued on their way through the caverns fighting off the undead. They soon met with one of the mages, he wasn't attacking but the gang kept their guard up.
"Maker's blessing! I thought I was going to die down here in this…this tomb!" the apostate said. "Are you with the Templars? Please, I need to go back to the Circle. I never wanted to get involved in this"
"Not when he started making those…those things!"
"He?" Aveline asked.
"Decimus…it was his decision, said the Templars was going to call us blood mages for fleeing anyway" the mage said. "So might as well use it as our best tool"
"He slit his wrist, and the magic…it rose from the blood and woke the dead in the cave" he said. "I ran, Decimus is wrong…he dabbling in dark forces, there's a reason blood magic is forbidden"
"And he's the leader of these mages?" Ericks asked.
"He's no leader, he's crazy" he said. "He said with our phylacteries gone, no one could find us. That we would be free, honestly I think he's the one set the fire"
"There must be a demon working through him, I know it! No normal man would profane the dead like this"
"There's a Templar named Thrask is waiting outside. Surrender to him and you won't be hurt" Aveline said.
"I surrender! Take me to the Templars! I don't want anything to do with this…blood magic" the mage said. "The rest of them are still following Decimus…he's gone mad, he'd kill the rest of us if it means taking the Templars down" The gang went forward to the apostates stronghold where they saw a red-haired bearded mage in an lavish robe casting some kind of spell with the other mages around him. He stopped and readied his staff.
"They're here! The Templars have come to take us back to the Circle!" A young woman with a tattoo on her right eye turned to him.
"Decimus, no! Stay your hand, these are no templars"
"What do I care what shield they carry?" Blood swirled around him as the other mages ran for cover. "If they challenge us, the dead themselves will meet the call!" The undead then rose up behind the gang. Bethany inscribes the ground with a glyph that repels the undead with a strong physical force. She then sped up the rest of the gang to take out the undead quickly. Decimus cast a large lighting spell over the area and the gang took cover while the mad mage summons more undead. Varric pins Decimus to the wall while Bethany rained down fire upon the undead. Aveline and Ericks headed straight for the pinned mage and quickly stabs him in the gut killing him. With the mage dead his power over the undead faded and they all crumbled into dust.
"You killed him! Oh, Decimus, you should have listened to me, love" The other mages came from behind their cover. The woman then frowned at Bethany. "You…you are one of us, but you wear no mark of the Circle. How is it you side against your own?"
"That man was a blood mage, I don't have to be part of the Circle to know that is wrong" Bethany said.
"Decimus gave us the courage to face the Templars, without him, we would be prisoner still"
Ericks crossed his arms. "If he taught you any of that blood magic, you have him up and walking in no time" That struck a nerve with the mage and she started to pace around, nervously. With all of them knowing blood magic, the Templars will kill them on the spot.
"I warned him. I told him, once he marked himself as a blood mage that was all anyone would see" she said. "Please…we only want our freedom. Without your help, the Templars will execute us all for Decimus's crimes"
"Crimes you were all too willing to take part in" Aveline said.
"If you try to turn us in, your friend is coming with us" she said with a frown. "Do not doubt that the Templars will let an extra apostate share our punishment"
"You should be careful about who you're threatening, lady" Ericks said. "We could easily let you join Decimus and not even bat an eye" The mage took a step back and the tone in her voice changed very quickly.
"Please, will you buy time to flee Kirkwall?"
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