Chapter 48: Mirror Image pt2
You will hear tales of the woman Andraste. The shemlen name her prophet, bride of their Maker. But we knew her as a war leader, one who, like us, had been a slave and dreamed of liberation. We joined her rebellion against the Imperium, and our heroes died beside her, unmourned, in Tevinter bonfires.
But we stayed with our so-called allies until the war ended. Our reward: A land in southern Orlais called the Dales. So we began the Long Walk to our new home. Halamshiral, "the end of the journey," was our capital, built out of the reach of the humans. We could once again forget the incessant passage of time. Our people began the slow process of recovering the culture and traditions we had lost to slavery.
But it was not to last. The Chantry first sent missionaries into the Dales, and then, when those were thrown out, templars. We were driven from Halamshiral, scattered. Some took refuge in the cities of the shemlen, living in squalor, tolerated only a little better than vermin.
We took a different path. We took to the wilderness, never stopping long enough to draw the notice of our shemlen neighbors. In our self-imposed exile, we kept what remained of elven knowledge and culture alive.-"The End of the Long Walk," as told by Gisharel, keeper of the Ralaferin clan of the Dalish elves
Varterral Hunting Ground
The gang continued on in the vaterral's lair, along the way they spotted bodies of the unlucky fools that wonder into the creature's lair, including some of the dalish hunters. "Why did this happen?" Merrill asked sadly. "Oh, Harshal…I'm so sorry. I'll tell Ineria for you" The lair was quiet, usually places like these were home to giant spiders but with the vaterral here, no other creature dared step foot on its territory. The gang was thankful for the breathing room, but as they continued on they could feel the air of danger getting thicker. Another body of a hunter was in front of them.
"Chandan…" the elf said. "Tread carefully, lethallin. May the Trickster never find you in the beyond"
"Any idea on what we should do with these amulets, Kitten?" Isabela asked.
"We should give their clan amulets to the Keeper. Their families should know that they died bravely" Behind them, the gang heard the sound of footsteps heading their way. From the sound, it sounded human. "A survivor?"
"That's good, so not all of them were killed by the vaterral" A red-haired elf in yellow-green armor ran out of the shaft looking exhausted. His armor was full of dirt and his face was bruised and full of cuts…the elf had a hard time trying to escape the vaterral. When he spotted the gang, the elf quickly took cover thinking they were enemies. "Oy, there's no need to hide" Ericks said. "It's safe, the Keeper sent us" The elf peeked his head over cover.
"The Keeper?" he asked. "Praise Andras…I mean the Creators. I thought I'd never get out of…" He walked out of his cover to the gang but then froze when he saw Merrill. "Merrill?"
"Aneth ara, Pol. Are you hurt?"
Pol's eyes went wide as he slowly walked back. For some reason, he was afraid of Merrill. "Stay back! What do you want from me?"
"P-Pol. What's wrong? I…I'm here to help…"
"Stay back! Don't touch me!"
"Merrill couldn't hurt you if she tried. At worst, she might make frowny faces" Ericks said trying to calm things.
"She'll do worse than hurt me! Don't you know what she is?" Pol then ran away back into the vaterral's lair. "Creators, help me! Someone, please!"
"Pol, no!" Merrill said. "We have to catch him. Hurry!" The gang ran after the scared man but Pol had a head start on them. Meanwhile, Pol stopped to catch his breath…with his wounds he couldn't run for long. He then felt shaking; it was too heavy to be human…which could be only one thing. Pol looked back to see the vaterral standing behind him. The elf's legs turned to jelly and he fell to the floor and crawled backwards in fear as the creature approached.
Elves tell that the varterral has kept its vigil ever since, even over the ruins. They also say that if magically bound to guard something, a varterral will stay alive no matter how many times it is defeated,a lot like a golem. Varterrals thrive in secluded places and hunt elk and bears. They have a rocky carapace, attack with fast strikes and spit caustic poison. At least some of them have no eyes and thus are completely blind, which is offset by the ability to feel movements through the ground like a snake and to taste the guilt of intruders. Only dragons represent a challenge to the beasts, and even they seldom win. In theory, varterrals should never attack an elf, whom they discern by the scent, save in self-defense. Yet the creatures encountered so far lashed out at anyone regardless of the race.
Behind the creature was the gang, Pol didn't know which was worse…the vaterral or Merrill. "Hold on, Pol! We're coming!" The vaterral turned around and roared at the gang. Ericks and Isabela went for the legs while Varric and Merrill attacked from a distance with arrows and magic. Its rocky carapace made it difficult to injure the creature as it shook the ground causing rocks to fall from the ceiling. The gang scattered to avoid the rocks while the vaterral turned for Pol. The creature grabbed the elf with its jaws and mauled the man while Pol screamed in anguish. "Pol!" Merrill shot a rock fist at the vaterral and the creature tossed Pol's body away and charged for Merrill. Ericks parkour up the rocks and tossed a frost grenade at its head and then lashed its back with blades coated with acid. Isabela attacked the legs while Varric gave covering fire for Merrill. The young elf starts up a storm to wipe out the varterral in one blast, the creature soon fell and gang went to check on Pol.
"Pol…maybe it's not too late!" Merrill said. "Ericks, you can save him, can't you?" Ericks checked his body, there was a deep gash across the chest…deep enough to break his ribs and puncture the organs. Pol's bones was shattered, no amount of mending was going to fix the bones and finally the elf's skull was broken to point that he could see bits of brain showing. A horrible way to go…at least his death was quick.
"I'm sorry, Merrill"
"Why did you run? You shouldn't have run!" Merrill sobbed over Pol's body, despite how the clan treats her so still cared deeply for them. Ericks placed a hand on her shoulder.
"There was nothing you could have done" Merrill grabbed his hand and gripped it. She knew Ericks was trying to make her feel better but the failure still stung nevertheless. But what hurt the most was that Pol looked at her like some monster…did her people really hated her that much?
"He was more afraid of me than the vaterral…" Merrill said sadly. "Pol wasn't like the others. He was city-born, worldly. He ran away from Denerim and found us"
"I thought if anyone would understand, he would. This…something is very wrong. I want to see the Keeper" There was nothing more they could do here and they left the grounds for the camp.
Dalish Camp
On the journey back to the camp, Merrill had been very, very quiet. The fear in Pol's eye kept replaying in her head over and over. The elf then felt an arm wrap around her, it was Isabela. "Still thinking about what happened?"
"Pol…what was he thinking? He acted like I was a monster…"
"Don't blame yourself, Kitten. Sometimes men do senseless things" They made it back to camp and met with the Keeper.
"The vaterral is dead"
"Ma serannas. I'll breathe easier, knowing that we will lose no more people to it" Merrill came up and gave Marethari the amulets they found on the dead hunters. The Keeper solemnly accepted the amulets. "I'll return them to their families"
Merrill lowered her head. "We lost Pol. In the cave, he…he fled at the sight of me, straight into the vaterral"
"Many of the clan fears you'll bring back the corruption…or worse from the mirror"
Merrill frowned. "And where did they get that idea?"
"I am their Keeper, da'len. It was my duty to warn them" she said. "It's still not too late for you to return to us. Reconsider…there's no need for you to live alone" It was obvious Marethari cared for Merrill but it was also obvious that she was quite controlling.
"Must we go over this again? You'll never accept what I'm doing"
"Merrill, the eluvian is a trap. It cost us Tamlen and Theron, it lead you to blood magic" the Keeper said. "Will you let it twist you further from who you really are?"
"And who am I?" Merrill asked. "We've done as you asked. Honor our bargain, give me the arulin'holm"
"Hawke…because Merrill won't listen, I give this heirloom of my clan to you for safekeeping. Please…don't let her do this" The Keeper walked away to attend other matters. The gang headed back to Kirkwall, it looked like they overstayed their welcome.
Imperial Highway
"Thank the Creators! I thought…maybe she'd go back on her word"
"What did the Keeper mean; the mirror led you to blood magic?" Ericks asked.
"I…the shard I picked up was corrupted. I couldn't cleanse it without help" Merrill said. "The Keeper refused. She said that it belonged to another time, and should be left there"
"So I found a…spirit. It gave me the power to purify the mirror through blood magic"
"I've never heard of blood magic 'purifying' anything"
"There's nothing inherently evil about blood magic. It's magic, like any other" the elf said. "I tried the normal means but the power that contaminated the mirror was to strong"
"If I had piles of lyrium lying about, I could have used that, but I didn't…I used what I had"
Ericks shook his head. "All that just to restore this mirror" he said. "Your clan turned against you, Merrill, is this really worth it?"
"You know what it's like to lose everything, Ericks" she said. "We didn't lose our land and freedom, but we lost history, stories, language, magic, rituals. Even our gods are gone…"
"If this mirror can restore even one fragment of the past, then it is a sacrifice I will gladly make"
"Alright, I'll give you this tool…on one condition…"
"Name it"
"You let me help, it's obvious that you care deeply about this" the rogue said. "But it's also obvious that this mirror is dangerous, so I'll watch your back"
Merrill blushed. "Y-You don't have to do this"
"I want to do this, you might be willing to sacrifice yourself to this thing but I'm not willing to lose you to it either" Ericks gave Merrill the arulin'holm.
"Ericks…I could have never faced the Keeper myself" She said. "I never imagined a human would help me restore Dalish history"
"No one ever understood, not the Keeper…not my clan, just you"
"I'm sensitive, handsome and supportive…what else could you possibly want" Ericks said jokingly.
Merrill smiled. "Nothing…oh, not that I'm saying I want you" The elf then blushed. "I'll just stop talking now"
"You're the first real friend I've ever had" she said. "Ma serannas, lethallin"
"Hey what are we, chopped liver?" Varric asked. "We'll help too, better to have eight eyes watching out for you than four" Isabela nodded her head in agreement. Merrill was touched by this, her friends knew it was dangerous but they still believed in her and trust her enough to allow her to continue than the Keeper of her own clan. Perhaps living away from her clan wasn't so bad, after all.
A blossoming friendship or something more... Next Time! Review and Comment!
