Some Personal Issues
Cassandra eyes gently fluttered open from her first undisturbed sleep since before the she was sent to find Hawke. She was still resting in Rajmael's arms, and took a moment for herself to admire how peaceful his face looked as he slept. Cassandra never felt this way about anyone, even Regalyan. Regalyan would always have a special place in her heart, but Rajmael was truly the man she felt she would always love. Never in a thousand years would she have thought that would find peace in the arms of an elf, but here she was, and she didn't want to be anywhere else. Cassandra decided to take a few more minutes to be selfish and cuddled closer into Rajmael's chest and enjoy this little bit of peace for herself, the world could last a little longer without them.
~XoXoXo~
The War Councilors were standing in the War Room coordinating several militaristic, political and espionage with Varric, Iron Bull and Vivienne, each contributing their respective skills and resources to the efforts of the Inquisition. Earlier Cassandra walked in and observed their progress before leaving to attend to the other matters of the Inquisition. The others in the War Room noticed something strange as the Seeker entered and left.
"Does Seeker Pentaghast seem…different this morning?" Josephine finally asked.
"Yeah." Varric confirmed. "I didn't feel like she'd snap into a murderous rampage and then slam me against the table."
"A lot less…pent up." Iron Bull agreed.
"And did you notice the little spring in her step as she walked?" Leliana giggled. "Wonder where she found that?"
"Oh, I can think of a few ways." Iron Bull answered suggestively.
"What are you all talking about?" Cullen asked rather confused. "The Seeker seemed perfectly fine to me."
"All I know is that I haven't seen such an aggressive woman look like that since…." Realization hit Varric square in the face. "Since Guard-Captain Aveline returned from her honeymoon in Orlais. Shit, no wonder Cassanda didn't seemed so stressed today."
"Hmm. Yes. I understand completely." Josephined giggled under her hand.
"Well, I don't." Cullen stated. "What are you all talking about?"
"So who do you guys think was the brave enough to break in her mustang?" Iron Bull chuckled.
"Oh, come on, Tiny! Isn't it obvious?" Varric asked rhetorically.
"I thought it was odd seeing her walking from the Inquisitor's bedroom so early in the morning." Leliana stifled her laughter.
"No!" Josephine gasped. "When was this?"
"So she has a place in the Neverran royal line of inheritance, served as Right Hand of The Divine, and now she's decided to move on to the Inquisitor?" Vivienne asked with an undercurrent of distaste. "A well-played political maneuver, for I surely can't see why anyone else, least of all the Seeker, could stand the man's presence."
"Oh, I don't know." Leliana added with a prurient smile. "The air of the taboo certainly has appeal."
"And the fact that he's Dalish certainly makes it seem more…exotic." Josephine giggled.
"Will someone please tell me what you're all talking about?" Cullen insisted. "I feel like a stranger surrounded by people who speak a foreign language."
"The Seeker and the Inquisitor are polishing the brass trumpet, Curly." Varric finally answered.
"What?"
"You know." Iron Bull insisted lecherously. "Sheathing the sword under the bedsheets."
"Sheathing the sword? Were they sparring?"
"Cassandra and Rajmael are having sex!" Varric finally clarified.
"And are enjoying it, judging from how happy Cassandra seems." Josephine added.
"Oh, Maker's Breath!" Cullen cursed incredulously. "This is supposed to be the War Council! Not a gathering of gossiping fishwives! Don't have anything better to do?"
"Good point, Curly." Varric agreed. "I'm out of here."
"This meeting's lost its flavor." Iron Bull stated.
Vivienne followed after them. "I have matters of court that need tending."
"And I have to look over my agents' reports." Leliana confirmed.
"I have a thousand diplomatic issues to overlook before midday." Josephine said as she crossed off her clipboard.
Cullen was now all alone in the War Room. Suddenly the idle gossip didn't seem so bad. Oh, well. Time to plan troop movements.
~XoXoXo~
It had been merely a week since the Inquisition had settled in Skyhold and already things were moving very fast, and they began to reach almost every corner of Thedas. Rajmael was currently in a War Council meeting with his advisors and they were talking about the latest mission Leliana's agents had just completed.
"This truly is a magnificent piece." Cullen said marveling at the sword.
"Of course it is." Josephine confirmed. "It is, after all, an ancestral weapon of the Theirin royal line."
The sword's name was Avenger. It was of Alamarri design and despite being over three centuries old it was still as sharp as the day it came out of the forge, a weapon worthy of the Fereldan Monarchy. Rajmael read in King Alistair's letter the history of the blade, how it was originally Lady Shayna's, King Calenhad's champion, general, and one time lover. Calenhad had given it to his wife, Queen Mairyn as a way to heal the rift between them and it has been in the family ever since.
Rajmael held the weapon in his hand for a moment and took a few practice swings. The sword fit in his hand like mold and as light as feather yet strong as an oak tree. "Is the King truly willing to depart with such an amazing weapon?"
Leliana waved her hand nonchalantly. "My spies were able to root out all Venatori agents that had infiltrated his staff and household. Believe me, he sent this weapon, and his regards as for our service."
Rajmael couldn't deny that. Who knows what harm Corypheus could've done if he managed to assassinate, or worse, influence the Fereldan Royals? Rajmael decided he would give this sword to Cassandra, knowing she'd make great use of it.
"To other matters at hand." Cullen anounced. "We still don't know what Corypheus want's with these ancient ruins"
Cullen mentioning that made Rajmael's mind drift back to the Forbidden Oasis and The Western Approach. The ruins in the Oasis were certaintly of Elvhen origin, but why were the Red Templars waiting there and why did it take the skull fragments of Tranquil to open their doors. The only thing waiting behind each door was a powerful demon, was Corypheus hoping to bind them somehow? The ruins in Western Approach, however, were definitely Tevinter in origin. Apparently some ancient Tevinters were experimenting with time travel magic like with what Alexius did but were unsuccessful and only unleashed demons upon themselves and managed to keep time still. That is until the Inquisition arrived and wiped them out.
"One thing at a time here, Commander." Josephine addressed. "It's entirely possible that the Elder One is seeking out these ancient ruins to rediscover old and forgotten magicks. Something like that could only be a boon to him."
Rajmael thought for a moment. "Yes, but the Ancient Elves of Arlathan far predate the ancient Imperium. I think he's trying to discover a replacement for the anchor, or something to augment the power of the one he already has."
"Well, that's last thing we need." Cullen commented. "What should we do about it?"
"Josephine." Rajmael started. "I want you to get in touch of with all of your contacts and associates and ask them to keep an ear out for anything having to do with old ruins, even if it's the slightest of rumors."
"Of course, Inquisitor." Josephine answered while jotting it down on her clipboard.
"If we do manage to hear anything, Leliana, send what agents you can to secure them and make sure that the Red Templars don't get to them first."
"I understand." Replied the Spymaster.
"Speaking of the Red Templars…." Cullen continued. "There's another issue that needs to be addressed."
"Go one, Commander." Rajmael said.
Cullen gave a quick sigh. "It seems that no matter how many we kill there always seems to be more to take their place. We need to find the source of their Red Lyrium and destroy it."
"I already know what their source is, Cullen." Rajmael answered grimly. "Red Lyrium is harvested from the bodies of living people."
"Sweet Andraste!" Cullen gasped while Leliana and Josephine had looks of forlorn and shock on their faces. "That means that somewhere out there that bastard Samson has whole herds of people imprisoned for sole purpose of making lyrium out of their bodies!"
"I've seen how it's done in that future Dorian and went to." Rajmael continued. "It's a painful and horrible death."
"I always knew Samson had sunk low." Cullen snarled. "But even I can't believe how much of a bastard he is, to turn living people into…into fuel!"
"Cullen, what can you tell us about Samson?" Leliana asked.
"We used to share a barrack…" Cullen started. "And back then I always thought he was a decent man. When Knight-Commander Meredith cast him out of the Order he became a beggar on the streets. I heard that he got on by assisting apostates fleeing Kirkwall for Lyrium or gold, or whatever it was that he was itching for."
"Gone from scum-sucking beggar to ass-kissing general." Rajmael stated blithely. "Progress!"
The council gave a small laugh but Cullen continued. "What I don't understand is why has Corypheus made Samson of all people his leading General? Samson was never the best of warriors and was most certainly never a leader. He didn't have either the charisma or the power of command."
"Probably because Samson has shown the Elder One the most belief, the most reverence. And that's something that god's are supposed to reward." Rajmael answered.
Cullen pondered that answer. "It's also possible that Corypheus is also fueling Samson's ego, making think that he is more powerful than he actually is. Samson can use the power that Corypheus and the Red Lyrium gives him to attract more followers. If it can turn someone as pathetic as Samson into the right hand of a supposed god what else can it do for them?"
"All of this is despicable and all." Leliana interjected. "But where are we supposed to find their Lyrium supply?"
"It could be anywhere in Thedas." Josephine answered. "But I think the most likely place is somewhere in Orlais."
"How do you figure?" Rajmael asked.
"The Marches are too far from their goal and Ferelden, while weakened it is united and the Knights of Silver Order was founded by Aedan Cousland for the sole purpose of patrolling Ferelden's borders. Orlais, on the other hand, is divided by civil war and many lords are left on their own. So the Red Templars could take over any of the unsupervised provinces and force the people into their servitude." The Ambassador explained.
Rajmael put a grim look on his face. "It's also possible that they are capturing refugees fleeing from the wars."
The Inquisitor and the other advisors took a moment to think on that until Rajmael decided to break the ice. "If that's the case we should set out patrols to look for any provinces that seem out of order."
"Easier said than done." Leliana rebuked. "The Orlesian provinces are still fighting one another over the throne's succession, the rifts could hinder us in our search, and Orlais is still the largest kingdom in Southern Thedas."
"Cullen, send out our scouts to every province they can get to that's besieged, not only by the rifts but by Red Templars." Rajmael commanded.
"At once!" Cullen responded.
"If they see any Red Templars, they are not to engage." The Inquisitor continued. "They are to send a raven and wait for me to rendezvous."
Rajmael turned over to Leliana. "Leliana, send what agents you can to Kirkwall and have them find out what they can about Red Lyrium, and report it back as soon as possible. No detail is too minor."
"Understood." Leliana replied.
"Josephine, have your contacts send out a message for relief efforts for the war refugees sponsored by the Inquisition. This will prevent Samson's forces from making victims of people fleeing the wars, and make sure that the efforts have guards in case Red Templars do show up."
"I'll begin sending messages immediately." Josephine confirmed as she jotted a note down on her clipboard.
The meeting was adjourned and everyone cleared out of the War Room to tend to their duties. All except Cassandra, who continued to stare intently at the War Table. The way she glowered at it you'd think it insulted her.
It had been a week since the Seeker and the Inquisitor began their relationship, and they delighted in each other's company every day. Rajmael was used to Cassandra being ornery, but this was different. Something was really bothering.
"Is something troubling you, ma vhenan?" Rajmael asked as he gently grabbed her hand.
"I can't hide anything from you, apparently." Cassandra sighed as she held her lover's hand.
"You don't have much to hide from me anymore, Cassandra." Rajmael chuckled.
Cassandra blushed slightly, but maintained her composure. "We saw so many Red Templars at Haven. Possibly all that was left of The Order, but I was most surprised that it's this Samson, not Lord-Seeker Lucius, leading them. In fact, we haven't seen any of the Seekers within the Red Templars, or anywhere else for that matter. I believe that Corypheus has imprisoned them."
"Corypheus could have just as easily had them killed." Rajmael suggested.
"Not easily." Cassandra said warningly. "But yes, they could be dead. But the Seekers were the ones who started the Mage-Templar War, they have to be involved somehow, they couldn't have just vanished into thin air. I had Leliana send her agents to look and they heard a rumor regard Bann Loren in Ferelden. Bann Loren led the agents to his keep, Caer Oswin, and then they went missing, too. I believe this is the lead I've been looking for."
"This really means a lot to you, doesn't it, Cassandra?"
"I have dedicated my life to the Order, and then I left it after the Seekers abandoned their oaths." Cassandra lamented. "But even so, I can't just abandon them. It is my duty to save whoever's left."
Rajmael understood Cassandra's determination. The Seekers were her brothers and sisters, and she refused to abandon them to the likes of Corypheus.
"Get the horses and our comrades ready, we'll leave as soon as they are ready."
"Thank you so much." Cassandra smiled.
Caer Oswin, Ferelden
Rajmael and Cassandra arrived at Caer Oswin along with Vivienne, Cole and Blackwall. The castle that the Inquisition agents disappeared in, and where the Inquisitors supposedly were, was large, but in bad shape. In fact, it looked abandoned. Why would they be here of all places?
"What do you know of this Bann Loren, Cassandra?" Vivienne asked.
"He is a pious man, but his loyalties have always been in question." Cassandra answered. "After the Blight, Aedan Cousland wanted him to be tried an executed as a traitor for unlawfully imprisoning one of King Cailan's Honor Guards, but King Alistair decided to spare him since Loren lost his wife and son in the Siege of Highever Castle. He's been out of public sight for years now."
"That could mean that he's dead." Blackwall suggested. "Castle's in ruins, the owner's rarely seen or heard from, it'd be easy to kill him and take the place over."
"We won't know until we go inside." Cassandra stated.
The castle wasn't very well maintained, or well manned. There were no sentries, or even a presentable locked door. The instant they made it inside, they were attacked by men in Templar uniforms but the flaming sword motif on their armor had been crossed off by red paint.
These strange Templars clearly weren't expecting company. Rajmael and his companions made quick work of the ones they found. Rajmael used lightning magic, while Cassandra and Blackwall cut them down, and Cole stabbed them from behind.
"Promisers!" Cassandra spat while plunged her sword into her target and finished him off. "I should have known they were behind this somehow."
"Promisers?" Rajmael inquired.
"The Order of Fiery Promise." Answered with disdain. "They're ancient cult that predates the Chantry. They have very twisted ideas about the Seekers."
"Twisted how?"
"They think they are Seekers, the true Seekers." Cassandra answered. "They think that the only way to save the world, and purge evil, is to burn it all, and from the ashes 'The World Will Be Born Anew.' They think that we usurped their duty, and have hounded us for centuries."
"I'm surprised the Seekers haven't stamped them out." Blackwall commented.
"We have, many times." Cassandra replied dourly. "Yet somehow they keep coming back, like weeds or cockroaches, nobody knows how."
"Cassandra, dear." Vivienne called. "I think you need to see this."
They walked over to a makeshift cell and found the body of a man, or at least they presumed it was a man, that had been severely tortured. Fingernails were ripped out, and his legs were broken, and the only reason they couldn't tell if the body was truly male was because his face had been torn off in strips.
"A Seeker." Cassandra confirmed when she saw the Seeker's insignia on the man's armor. "Did the Promisers torture him to death?"
"Yes." Cole answered. "Hot knives cut his flesh while hammers broke his bones. I won't submit, I will never forsake the Maker."
"The Promisers will pay for this!" Cassandra swore.
They navigated their way through the castle and found their way into the castles ruinous courtyard, where the Promisers were meeting with Red Templars. With her suspicions confirmed, and no longer able to hold back her anger, Cassandra charged into the courtyard, summoning down a pillar of purifying light that stunned the all her nearby enemies.
The rest of her companions charged after her. Rajmael swung his sword down through the air and summoned a magical recreation of his own fist from the Veil, and smashed a group of Red Templars to the ground and broke their bodies. Cole disappeared into shadow and dashed from on enemy to the next and plunged his daggers into their heart, necks and faces. Vivienne tapped into the Fade and summoned a small snow storm that froze the Promisers and Red Templars alike, and threw balls of fire from her staff that shattered them into pieces.
With their enemies dead on the ground, Cassandra searched one of the Promisers to see if she could find any clue as to what these two groups were doing together. She found a letter that was given to him by the Red Templars.
"As the Seekers of Truth are immune to the effect of red lyrium, the Elder One has seen fit to place those who remain in your care." Cassandra recited sternly. "Reclaim your destiny, and know that The Elder One expects your devotion as payment. Signed by Lord Samson, Commander of The Red Templars and General to The Elder One." Cassandra shook her head confoundedly. "Does Corypheus not know that the Promisers want the world to end? What use are they to him?"
"He must have sold these Seekers to these cultists to gain their loyalty." Rajmael stated.
"And of course these bastards leapt at the chance." Cassandra hissed. "But this doesn't explain how he captured the Seekers in the first place, or what's even been done with them. We must keep looking."
"The letter said the Seekers are resistant to the effects of Red Lyrium." Rajmael stated curiously.
"Our abilities grant us many abilities, but resistance to the Red Lyrium? That is strange." Cassandra concurred. "But it would explain why we saw no Seekers amongst the Red Templars. Which makes me wonder, what happened to those who joined the Lord-Seeker at Therinfall Redoubt? The Seekers are my family, Rajmael. We must find out what's happened to them."
Cassandra led the others further into the castle, and were met with more resistance from the Order of Fiery Promise. But Cassandra would not be deterred, she would not be stopped. With the Avenger in hand, she cut down every sorry bastard that dared to take up the cause of this heinous cult. Her training and her anger only made this easy for everyone else. The Promisers would fade back into obscurity after today.
The made their way towards the back of the castle through a dark hallway. At the end of it, at the bottom of a flight of stairs, laid a young man dressed in the uniform of a Seeker. He was alive, but in terrible pain.
"Daniel! Daniel!" Cassandra cried as she rushed to him. "Sweet Maker, what's happened to you?"
"C-Cassandra?" Daniel groaned.
Daniel's body was convulsing in terrible pain, with blood dripping from his mouth. His skin was deathly pale with sickly red veins snaking under his flesh. Had he been poisoned?
"Y-you are alive, Cassandra!" The young man almost wept.
"As are you." Cassandra said worriedly. "I'm so glad I found you."
"No. They…they p-put a…demon inside of me, Cassandra." Daniel wept. "It's tearing me up…from the inside."
"Flesh tearing on the inside, veins on fire." Cole said cryptically. "Red Lyrium couldn't poison him, so they poisoned him with something else."
"What? You can't be possessed! That's impossible!" Cassandra denied.
"I-I'm not possessed. They fed my…things." Daniel answered in pain. "I…can feel it growing."
Rajmael could feel this man's pain, and his death would soon follow. "Cassandra, there's…nothing we can do for him."
"No!" Cassandra denied. "There has to be a way! Rajmael, you possess remarkable healing magic. You could do something!"
"It's too late for me, Cassandra. There's nothing anyone can do." Daniel groaned. "But listen, you have to find the Lord Seeker."
"Of course we'll find him." The senior Seeker assured. "If he lives, we'll…"
"Lucius betrayed us, Cassandra." Daniel moaned. "He sent us here. One by one. 'An important mission', he said. Lies! He was here with them all along. He's been helping the Order of Fiery Promise all this time."
"But we saw Lord Seeker Lucius in Val Royeaux!" Rajmael remembered. "He couldn't have been here."
"That wasn't him. What you saw was a demon that the Elder One summoned." Daniel answered.
"What? How can that be?" Cassandra asked disbelievingly.
"Because the Lord Seeker allowed it!" Daniel cried. "He let the thing take command of the Order in Therinfall Redoubt while he did this to the rest of us."
"It takes a special kind of bastard to betray his own men." Blackwall said hatefully. "But to do this to one of his own? That's a new kind of low."
"And I thought the Seekers were supposed to be the very best of the Chantry's elite." Vivienne sighed with disappointment.
Seeker Pentaghast had a look of utter betrayal painted on her face. Rajmael could feel the pain that Cassandra was feeling right now, she came her hoping to save her brothers and sisters, only to discover that they were betrayed by the one she trusted most. "Cassandra…."
"Now is not the time for sympathy." Cassandra said determinedly.
"Wait! Don't leave me like this. Please…." Daniel begged.
"You should have come with me, Daniel." Cassandra lamented sorrowfully. "You didn't believe in the war any more than I did."
"You know me, Cassandra. I had to have the big promotion." Daniel coughed so hard blood spurted out of his mouth.
"Rest now, Daniel." Cassandra bade as she closed Daniel's eyes for him. "Go to the Maker's side, and know that you'll be welcome." Cassandra stood above her comrade with a look of as she drew her sword. Her face washed with determination as her blade found its way into Daniel's heart and ended his suffering. "Daniel was my apprentice. I have never known a finer young man. Now let us go find Lord-Seeker Lucius."
Without shedding a tear, and without any more remorse, she wiped the blood off her blade, and marched forward to meet the man who dared to commit this crime.
Cassandra charged up the flight of stairs and found herself at the outer battlements with even more Promisers waiting for her. Good. She needed something to kill right now. None of these blasphemers had an inkling of what they unleashed when they chose to anger Cassandra Pentaghast of all people. She would show them what angering her meant. She would show them the meaning of wrath.
There was no mercy, no offering of quarter, or even regret in Cassandra's attacks now. All she wanted was to send them screaming into the afterlife. With her sword and shield she broke their bodies and cleaved their skulls. Leaving nothing to chance, Cassandra pierced the hearts and cut off the heads of any and all who fell before her.
There was only one last door, one last courtyard in this castle where the Lord-Seeker could be hiding. Cassandra kicked the door open, and standing before several armed Promisers, and in full Templar armor with the same motif as the rest of them, stood the Lord-Seeker.
"Lord Seeker Lucius." Cassandra hissed with venom in her voice.
"Cassandra." The ugly Lord Seeker greeted somberly. "With a man who I can only assume is the new Lord Inquisitor."
"And you're scum who murdered your own brothers and sisters." Rajmael seethed hatefully.
The Lord Seeker was unmoved. "I presume you know that we Seekers of Truth were once the original Inquisition. Oh, yes. We fought to restore Order long ago, just as you do know, but where has that gotten us? We became proud, sought to remake the world, make it better." Lucius' face twisted bitterly. "And what did we create? The Chantry, the Circles of Magi, a war that will never see an end, all because of the lies had sewn, thy betrayals we committed. Everything we did only brought about more ruin."
This was not the same Lord Seeker Rajmael insulted in Val Royeaux. This one was calm, collected, and completely aware of what he was doing. He truly believed in the rightness of his actions.
"And so you aid in Corypheus' evil?" Rajmael asked angrily. "You think this is more righteous?"
"Yes. It is better that he burn away the mistakes, and ruin that we've created, instead of letting it continue to poison the world." Lucius answered righteously. "I had to stop what the Seekers were doing if that was to happen."
"You murdered Daniel, and everyone else because you hate the Order?!" Cassandra asked hatefully.
"We Seekers are abominations, Cassandra." The Lord Seeker reasoned. "We created a decaying world built on lies and hypocrisy, then fought and killed to preserve our own decadence, even as the wretched world we created crumbled around us. We had to be stopped." Lucius reached into his satchel and produced an ancient looking tome with the mark of the Original Inquisition. Lucius tossed it at Cassandra's feet. "If you don't believe me, see for yourself. The secrets of our Order, passed to me after Lord Seeker Lambert was assassinated. The war with the mages had already begun, but it was not too late for me to do the right thing, for once in my life."
"If you think murder and genocide is the only way to peace, then you're the one who deserves to die." Rajmael spoke.
Cassandra's face only became angrier as her former comrade spoke. "Lucius, what you've done here…."
"I know." Lucius confirmed. "I've seen what Corypheus has done with the Templars, and it does not matter I have seen the future. I have removed all traces of the Order and replaced it with a new one. The world will end and we can have a pure beginning, just as it was always intended." Lucius looked on at Cassandra with hope in his eyes. "Join us, Cassandra. You could help recreate this world. It is the Maker's will."
That was the final straw. Rage consumed Cassandra completely; she snarled viciously as she drew her sword on her former comrade. There would be no mercy for him.
Rajmael extended his marked hand towards one of the nearby archers, and a magic claw flew through the air and grabbed him by the throat, and pulled him back towards Rajmael to be impaled on his sword. The man gurgled and screamed as he was dangling on the elven blade. Rajmael launched several deadly rocks from the Fade out his the Anchor and each one lodged into the skulls of several promisers. Solas' teachings were paying off.
Blackwall fought two Promiser simultaneously with his shield and mace. He blocked and evaded their strikes be before knocking one off balance with his shield and crushing his skull with the Thunderstrike. The second one came at him with an axe, Blackwall dodges beneath it and smashed his mace into his opponent's armor and caved his chest in.
Cole was surrounded on three sides by Promisers with swords. They charged the strangely clothed young man in a weird hat, but he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Where did he go? One Promiser fell down dead when a dagger flew out of nowhere and landed right into his eye. A fountain of crimson flew out of another's neck when his coratid artery suddenly opened. The third searched frantically for his invisible enemy. Where was he? A searing pain erupted in his chest, he looked down and saw a dagger stuck deeply inside him, and in front of him was the strange young man. How did he not see him?
Vivienne rained fire and ice down on the Promisers. Several of them foolishly charged her like she was some wayward apostate. She raised her arms and erected a wall of ice in front of her to halt their charge. Then she struck the wall with her staff and the wall exploded into a volley of sharp icicles that flew at the Promisers. Every one of them was soon turned into bleeding little pin cushions with icicles sticking out of their bodies.
Cassandra rained blow after blow down upon Lucius, the traitor who sullied the title of Lord Seeker, and dared call all this blood and murder the Maker's will. The memory of plunging her sword into Daniel's heart and the rage she felt by this betrayal completely consumed her as she viciously struck at her enemy. They both were masters with their Seeker Abilities, so using them in this fight was meaningless. Cassandra wouldn't need to rely on them, Lucius wasn't worthy of being killed by such holy gifts.
Lucius masterfully held his own against the younger seeker. He blocked and countered her every angry swing with devastating skill. He was using a tower shield that completely covered his front, and he used an Orlesian longsword with incredible dexterity and skill to parry Cassandra's attacks. He was not made Lord Seeker for nothing.
But Cassandra would not be beaten. Not by him, not after what he has done. Cassandra thrusted the Avenger right through Lucius' tower shield and right through the arm beneath it. The Lord Seeker cried out in pain, but he wouldn't relent. He brought his sword down on Cassandra's hand, but let go of her sword and left it stuck in Lucius shield and his arm. Lucius vainly tried to strike at her again, but she blocked his blade with her shield and knocked his sword out of his hand before smashing him in the face, and struck him again to the ground.
Unarmed, and badly injured with a sword stuck in his arm, Lucius looked up to his former sister pleadingly. "Cassandra, listen. You're only repeating our mistake. The Maker…."
"SILENCE!" Cassandra screamed as she brought the edge of her shield down with all the force she could muster on to Lucius' neck and removed his ugly head from his shoulders.
Cassandra stood there in utter silence as she breathed the anger out of her system. She looked down upon her former brother's decapitated body with a look of mixed anger and sympathy as she took back her sword. Cassandra walked over to Tome of The Seeker and picked up off the ground.
"He was insane. He had to be. The influence of Corypheus perhaps? Was he trying to weaken the Seekers?" Cassandra reasoned desperately.
"Corypheus found someone whose belief was weak, and used it to remove those he couldn't control." Rajmael answered. "He exploited Lucius' doubt, and turned him into a puppet for his cause."
"He could not have destroyed all of us. I won't believe it!" Cassandra denied. She looked at the tome in her hands with determination in her eyes. "Come, let us return Skyhold. I must learn what this Book of Secrets tells."
Back at Skyhold…
It had been a whole day since they came back from Caer Oswin and Cassandra practically barricaded herself in the loft above the armory with that book. Rajmael knew that what happened with the Lord Seeker was hitting her hard, and he was starting to worry about her. He went to see how she was doing and found her just staring at the pages of the book with a forlorn face.
"This book has passed from Lord Seeker to Lord Seeker, since the time of the First Inquisition." Cassandra said sadly as Rajmael approached her. "And now it falls to me."
"Dry reading, I take it?" Rajmael asked humorously.
Cassandra tried to mirror his humor, but was poor at it. "On the contrary, it's a delight. I'm truly riveted."
Rajmael smiled gently at her, and she smiled back, but it was a sad smile. "Do you know what the Rite of Tranquility is?"
Rajmael was very aware of what it was, and he hated it. "It's the reason why my parents didn't want me to be taken to the Circle. No one has the right to rob someone of their soul."
"It should only be used on those who cannot control their abilities." Cassandra said reasoningly. "But that…has not always been the case."
"It shouldn't be used at all!" Rajmael stated. "You give mages the option of facing down a demon, or you kill them, or you rob them off all sense of living!"
"I always thought it was a necessary evil."
"There is no such thing!" Rajmael asserted. "Saying something is a necessary evil only leads to even greater evil, and worse abuses."
"You may be more right than you imagine." Cassandra admitted sadly. "What finally began the Mage Rebellion was a discovery that proved that the Rite could be reversed. Lord Seeker Lambert tried to cover it up, there were many deaths. It was dangerous knowledge. The shock of its discovery in addition to what happened in Kirkwall…." Cassandra realized she was only making excuses. "But it seems we've always known how to reverse the Rite, from the very beginning when the Order was founded."
"This whole war started because of the Seekers' attempt to control people. But when you try to control people with something so awful, all it will ever do is lead to destruction."
"Just one more thing that we're guilty of." Cassandra confirmed grimly. "We created the Rite of Tranquility."
That was a shocking but not surprising fact to learn.
"I told you of my Vigil, yes? The months I spent in solitude emptying myself of emotion?" Cassandra's eyes were filled with hurt and betrayal. "I was made Tranquil without even knowing. The Vigil summoned a spirit of Faith to touch my mind. That is what gave me my abilities, what restored my mind. The Seekers hoarded that secret for themselves, not even the Divine knew about it." Cassandra stood from her seat and stared out the window sorrowfully. "Lucius was not wrong about the Order. "At first I thought to rebuild the Seekers, no I'm not sure they deserve to be rebuilt."
"What else does the book say?" Rajmael asked curiously.
"Eventually, power becomes its own master." Cassandra answered dourly. "Originally, the Rite of Tranquility was not meant to be used on the mages, because it was believed to be abusing the Maker's creations. But we cast aside our ideals for the sake of pragmatism, and told ourselves that it was for the people. And then killed anyone who threatened that goal." Cassandra's head hung low with regret. "Will that happen to us, Rajmael? Will we only recreate the mistakes of our predecessors?"
"I can't predict the future, Cassandra." Rajmael answered. "I don't know what will happen tomorrow."
"But we know the past. And if we don't learn from it, we risk making the future worse."
It almost broke Rajmael's heart seeing the woman he loved so broken inside. Her faith had been shaken to the core, after dedicating her whole life to the Seekers to do her god's work only to learn that everything she ever served was a lie was a truly terrible betrayal.
Rajmael stood behind Cassandra and wrapped his arms around. "I cannot decide the fate of the Seekers, ma vhenan. You devoted yourself to the ideals of this Order, you chose to look for your brothers and sisters. And even when the Chantry and the Seekers abandoned the world when it needed them most, you chose to stand by your oath, and protect it. And as far as I'm concerned, you are what it truly means to be a Seeker of Truth."
It was so hard for Cassandra to think with Rajmael whispering into her ear and kissing her neck. "You're…flattering me."
"Just stating the obvious, ma vhenan." Rajmael answered as planted another kiss.
Cassandra turned to face her lover and wrapped her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his around her waist. "Thank you. I could now have done any of this without you." Cassandra pulled his lips to hers and they embraced into a warm, passionate kiss.
Cassandra would rebuild the Seekers once victory was theirs, and she would make them as they were meant to be. But for now, she would focus all her attention on stopping Corypheus, and enjoying the company of the man she loved.
~XoXoXo~
A few days ago Sera approached Rajmael asking for some help. Apparently some shemlen lords were were trading blows with each other over land disputes and their small folk got caught in the middle. She asked that Inquisition send soldiers to spook the nobles enough to stop fighting, and then the small folk would stop getting hurt. It seemed like a small enough matter, so Rajmael sent soldiers to stabilize the region.
Earlier Sera informed him that some of her people to meet with her pay Sera for services rendered, and she wanted Rajmael there to receive a cut. Rajmael wasn't all that interested in being paid but, he was interested in seeing how the Friends of Red Jenny operated. Her "friend" instructed them to meet him/her somewhere on the fringes of the Storm Coast, and when they arrived with Iron Bull and Varric, they found nothing.
"Wait, this is weird." Sera finally said.
"That's one of the first things people say before they realize it's a trap." Varric pointed out.
"What's wrong?" Rajmael asked.
"Put me in a city or a village I could give you a grand tour, but surprise, surprise! I don't do stupid ruins or outdoorsy things." Sera answered.
Someone approached them like he was approaching a sleeping bear. A gangly, scared-looking human with red hair. "Please, don't hurt me!" he begged. "Harmond made me do it!"
"What? Who're you?" Rajmael asked confused. "What's going on here?"
"Harmond made me come here!" The man sobbed. "He told me to lure her out here, because I said things. It was just tavern talk!"
"And of course things have gone wrong." Varric sighed.
"No! If things don't go right, he'll kill me!" The man wailed. "He knows that Red Jenny's been getting in his way, and he wants me to bring her."
Rajmael looked to Sera wondering if she knew what was happening, but judging from the look on her face, she had no idea either. "This was supposed to be a simple drop. What's happening?"
"You're her, aren't you? You're the one he's waiting for!" The man turned around and ran like he stole something. "It's her! She's Red Jenny!" Arrows flew out of nowhere and turned the scared runner into a pin cushion.
"What the FUCK!?" Sera screamed.
"Well, that was crappy." Varric commented as armed men ran out of their hiding places towards them.
These men were very run-of-them-mill mercenaries, more suited to scaring peasants and catching thieves rather than handling the elite of Thedas. Sera and Varric shot most of them down quickly and those that got too close were quickly cut down by Iron Bull with his axe.
"Is that the Inquisition?" A well-dressed human asked. "N-now hold on! There's no reason to fight!"
Rajmael approached the man angrily with his sword in hand. He could see the fear in this man's eyes, and after seeing his mercs get cut down to size so easily, he didn't blame him.
"This is all a tragic misunderstanding! Why don't we all just sheathe our weapons and we can conduct this like business!" The noble pleaded.
Rajmael gestured to his companions and apprehensively sheathed his sword.
"See? Now was that so hard?" The noble asked smugly. "Pell Harmond, at your service. I hope you'll continue to respond with reason, after all, your choice of company is hardly virtuous."
This unarmed, unarmored, finely-dressed turd's arrogance was already beginning to grate Rajmael's nerves so he decided to remind this Harmond of the creek he was swimming in. "You realize that I can kill you with a mere thought, right?" He informed.
"I say you do it, Inquisitor." Sera said with contempt. "This prick's just another noble arsehole that sucker-punches all the little people!"
"We are alike you and I, Inquisitor." Harmmond continued, ignoring Sera's comment. "We both need people."
"Trying to ambush me isn't a good way to start a sales pitch." Rajmael stated glowering.
"I cannot express enough that I wasn't trying to ambush you, Inquisitor. I was trying to rid the world more of these Red Jennies before they caused me any more grief than they already have. Honestly, I think I've done you a favor, it's only a matter of time before that thief hinders you as well."
"Bullshit." Sera spat. "This arse pit is filling his pockets by getting people hurt!"
"Mind explaining that?" Rajmael demanded. "Before I start exercising my sword arm."
"I'm guilty of nothing but bettering my wealth and position. Lady Chelle Morveau and I are both jockeying for the lands of south Verchiel. My men would encourage hers to leave and then she would nudge mine, so on and so forth."
"Yeah!" Sera shouted. "And everyone else in between gets caught and gets hurt!"
"Casualties in a conflict are inevitable." Harmmond stated casually. "I'd think you of all people would understand that, Herald."
"Quit talking to this puss-bucket and kick his teeth out his arse already!" Sera demanded angrily.
Rajmael felt his temper begin to spike at both Harmmond and Sera. "But what was the point of killing those people, all they did was make idle gossip!"
"Yes." Harmmond answered as if nothing was wrong. "Your Friends of Red Jenny made their complaints a threat, if you wanted your friends and contacts to stay alive you shouldn't have involved them."
"THAT'S IT!" Sera finally exploded. "I'm going to make this prick wear his smile around his arse!"
"Bull, hold her back." Rajmael ordered.
"You got it, boss." Bull acquiecesed.
The massive ox-man held back the petite elf while she began spouting out profanities that almost sounded like a new language.
"There. I knew you were a reasonable man, Inquisitor." Harmmond complimented arrogantly. But then Rajmael drew his sword and but it to the miserable shemlen's throat.
"Get on your knees." Rajmael commanded threateningly.
"N-now, now, my lord." Harmmond pleaded whilst obeying the angry elf. "Th-think carefully, I implore you. W-we c-could make good partners you and I."
"Partnering with a miserable shit-brain like you would only demean me, and lower the standards of the Inquisition. Instead of giving these horrible excuses and reasons for what you did to these people you should be begging me not to liquefy your brains from skull and watch it ooze out your ears!" Rajmael's eyes glowed with power and his sword was ablaze with veilfire. The sight of him scared the miserable human senseless.
"Hey, is it just me or does the rain around lord whats-his-face look kinda yellow?" Varric pointed out while chuckling.
"Yeah!" Sera yelled out. "Not so hot shite now, are ya!?"
"P-please, p-please, sweet, merciful Herald of Andraste!" Harmmond sobbed. "I'll do anything you want, just please don't kill me!"
"Congratulation, Pell Harmmond." Rajmael said while sheathing Victory. "You've just been requisitioned into the Inquisition."
"WHAT!?" Both Sera and Harmmond demanded.
"Shut up!" Rajmael commanded the two of them. "Your task will be gaining the rest of the land of southern Verchiel for the Inquisition, without violence. And then you will begin trying to recruit the people of Verchiel for the Inquisition and try to convince them why our Order is the best thing for them, without resorting to coercion or pressing on them."
Harmmond began to stand back up trying to regain his composure while doing his best to keep his own filth in his trousers. "Y-yes. I-I swear. You won't regret having me in your ranks."
Rajmael was not moved. "If I find out that you're not living up to the standards that I have set, you're going to be…well with things as they are now, a despised local lord disappearing forever won't be the strangest of things.
They all posed for a moment to let Rajmael's orders and threats sink in and Sera had a wide grin on her face going from the top of one pointed ear to the other.
"You know, the families of the servants you killed and the people caught in your petty squabble deserve compensation for their pain and heartbreak and I'm sure that as a representative of the Inquisition, you'll be more than happy to donate your own wealth, won't you?" Rajmael continued while putting on a vicious smile.
"Yes, yes, of course!" Harmmond answered eagerly. "I'll begin right away!"
"I won't have to send my spies to make sure that you do, right?"
"Yes…I mean no! No! Of course not."
"Now, go on! Get out of here!" Rajmael snarled and the petty lord scrambled away while tripping over himself.
"Ewww!" Chortled out Sera. "Now there's a pair of trousers I won't try swiping!"
Rajmael looked down on Sera seriously. "Sera, we need to talk, when we get back to Skyhold."
Back at Skyhold….
When Sera returned to her room in the Skyhold Tavern, she knew she was in a bit of trouble when she found the Inquisitor sitting in her room waiting for her. He was smoking that fancy Dalish pipe of his with a serious look in his eyes.
"Hey, you!" Sera greeted in her normal chipper manner. "How's that Harmond mess? I know I should be mad that you let him live. But it's all good, yeah? His kind hating having to be put on a leash."
Rajmael said nothing, he just kept puffing the smoke in his pipe.
"I mean he deserved worse for turning it all bad, but we made it out alright, yeah?"
Smoke slowly billowed out of Rajmael mouth with a pissed off look on his face. "You fucked up big time, Sera."
Sera's face mirrored her outrage. "I'm sorry what are you on about? Because that sorry excuse for a person was a full vetted arsehole! I didn't do anything to the little people."
"You think you can poke a hungry bear in the face and it won't bite back?" Rajmael asked rhetorically. "You didn't think about what the consequences would be, and your people paid the price for it!"
"Don't put this one me!" Sera spat. "Yes, they got hurt. But who actually hurt them? Who made it necessary to speak out? That noble prick, that's who. And that's just who we flushed out!"
"And because you didn't care enough to think this through, your people died, while you still get to run around with your head up your ass!" Rajmael yelled. "What happens next time when you piss off the wrong guy and he decides to get back at you by killing whole families!?"
"What you'd rather do nothing?" Sera hissed. "I'm trying help people!"
"No!" Rajmael denied. "You're a spoiled brat who just wants play around and line your pockets by stealing from the nobles to make yourself feel better about yourself. You just use helping people as an excuse, but you don't actually care about what happens to them afterwards."
That last remark actually hit Sera where it hurt. "Well, I…I…" Her hurt look turned to anger to cover it up. "You know what? Go suck some eggs! I take it back. No, I don't change the world, but that's hard, right? Even for Heralds, or you're lying!"
"Every worthy cause is hard!" Rajmael yelled. "You'd know that if you weren't so selfish! And if you don't have the character to understand that, and that your actions have consequences, then you don't deserve to be here!"
"Easy to talk down at people when you're the friggin' Herald, ain't it? Well, I'll just hop to it, your arseness!" Sera spat. "Let me just go and find someone to bark me orders and stand around like a prick."
"Yeah, go do that, Sera, because it's obvious you can't figure shit out on your own." Rajmael seethed. He wasn't backing down to the woman. "One mistake, Sera! One stupid mistake with other people's lives, and it can cost you everything!" Rajmael knew that lesson all too well. It cost him those he loved most. "Grow the fuck up, Sera. I don't ever want to have this conversation again."
Sera flashed him a nasty look, but said nothing. Rajmael doused his pipe and strode out of the room. He heard Sera scream in frustration as soon as the door was closed, followed by the sound of something made of glass hitting the wall and breaking. Good. Some people just don't listen until you piss them off first.
~XoXoXo~
The cold rain bit into Rajmael's bones while the whipping wind lashed at his face. The Storm Coast was as welcoming as always. Not the ideal place for ships to make port, not many would come to these turbulent waters. But that was probably the point, since no one used these shores it made it the best place to secretly launch ships and smuggle Red Lyrium out of the country. As Rajmael, Cassandra and Varric waited int the frigid cold for Iron Bull's contact, he thought back to the reason they were here.
Iron Bull had received contact from his fellow agents within the Ben-Hessrath. Apparently, they didn't like the prospect of an ancient Tevinter Magister and his Venatori cult taking over the world, and they really didn't like red lyrium. They wanted to make sure this stayed out of the Qunari's backyard.
The Ben-Hessrath learned of that was going to happen on the Storm Coast. The Venatori are going to use smuggler ships to sneak red lyrium into Minrathous. The Venatori were dangerous enough as it is in the South, if they could get it into Minrathous, the heart of the Elder One's beloved Tevinter, then the Venatori could have a new base of power far too close to Qunari lands. And that was something that the Triumvirate of the Qun did not want.
The Qunari wanted the Inquisition's aid in stopping this heinous material from reaching the North. They wanted the Inquisitin and the Bull's Chargers to meet with another member of the Ben-Hessrath, and stop the Venatori from shipping off the Red Lyrium. In exchange the Qunari would make a formal alliance with the Inquisition. More Ben-Hessrath reports, use of dreadnaughts, and soldiers of the Antaam pointed at the Venatori. It would be a most advantageous arrangement.
Rajmael didn't fully trust the Qunari. The Qunari would never aid outsiders unless it's for their own gain. Normally, Iron Bull would agree, but this was the first time in the Qunari's history that they were willing to ally with a foreign entity. It could be a major step forward for both groups. So Rajmael agreed.
Despite Iron Bull's solicitation for the aiding the Qunari, Rajmael sensed his reluctance. Iron Bull believed in the Qun and what it does for all people who live under it, but not many people outside of Qunari rule would be accepting of such a radical change. Rajmael believed that Iron Bull was nervous with being reunited with his fellow Qunari after being disconnected with them for so long, perhaps he didn't want to be seen as a qunari in front of his men.
Any longer out in this weather, and they were all going to drown in it. "How much longer do we have to wait here, Bull?"
"Our Qunari contact should be here to meet us soon." Bull answered.
"Sooner than you think." A strangely armored elf answered. "Good to see you again, Hissrad."
Iron Bull's single eye lit up ecstatically. "Gatt! Last I heard you were still in Seheron."
"The Ben-Hessrath have decided that I've calmed down enough to be released back into the world." The elf chuckled.
"Boss, this is Gatt." Iron Bull introduced. "We served together in Seheron. One of my oldest surviving friends."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Inquisitor." The elven convert greeted. "Hissrad's reports say you've been doing good work."
Rajmael politely nodded his head to the Qunari agent.
"What's a Hissrad?" Varric asked.
"Oh, that's my title under the Qun." Iron Bull answered. "I was assigned to secret work, so you can translate it to 'Keeper of Illusions', or…."
"Liar." Gatt answered almost accusingly. "It means liar."
"Well, you don't have to say it like that." Iron Bull glowered.
"I just love being the center of attention." Rajmael said sarcastically. "Especially when people from foreign powers gossip about me in their secret spy reports."
"His reports about you are all the rage amongst the Ben-Hessrath. Especially since they aren't really secret." Gatt's tone was more accusatory than complimentary.
"Look, Gatt…." Iron Bull spoke.
"It's alright, Hissrad." Gatt waved off. "Unlike our superiors, I know how it works out here. We both want the same thing. The Tevinter Imperium is bad enough without this Venatori cult and their red lyrium making things worse. We cannot let that stuff leave these shores, it could make the war with Qunandar much worse than it already is."
"With this Red Lyrium crap the Vints could make their slaves into an army of magical freaks." Bull asserted. "We could lose Seheron, and then see a massive army made of red lyrium land on Par Vollen."
"That's why we're here now." Gatt confirmed.
The Venatori had already established themselves both on the shore, and in the hills overlooking the bay. So the plan was simple: The Bull's Chargers would take the shore and stop the Venatori's smugglers from loading the Lyrium and taking out the mages that would be a threat to the incoming dreadnaught, but that put them in range of the mages camped out on the hills. To that end Rajmael and his group would wipe out the mages out in the hills to keep them from attacking the chargers and the dreadnaught. And from there they would signal in the dreadnaught. Seemed simple enough, except it wasn't. Venatori were not to be underestimated.
"Bull, are you sure you want to go this route?" Rajmael asked.
"I don't know, Boss." The qunari answered nervously. "I've seen a lot of shit go wrong while trying to cover a dreadnaught run. It's really risky."
"More risky than letting the Venatori ship this stuff to Minrathous?" Gatt questioned. "It's a risky plan, but it's the best way to stop this shipping operation for good."
"I'll go give the orders to my men." Said Iron Bull. "Come get me when you're ready."
Once Iron Bull was out of earshot, Varric started eyeing this other qunari agent. "So, you're another member of the Ben-Hessrath, huh? The Heart of the Many?"
"That's right." Gatt answered. "And you must be Varric Tethras. I've read other agent reports describing a beardless dwarf with an advanced crossbow and an attitude."
"Yeah, well, what can I say? Last time I saw an elven agent of the Ben-Hessrath, my buddy Hawke wanted to strangle her to death." Varric recalled.
"We're not that easy to kill." Gatt stated as a matter of fact.
"I'm sure Arishok thought the same thing." Varric countered. "You know, right before Hawke split his skull open."
"I get the distinct notion that Iron Bull isn't exactly in high standing with the rest of your organization, Gatt." Rajmael surmised.
"Hissrad said you were observant." Gatt answered. "Our superiors weren't pleased with how forthcoming he was with the Inquisition, it defeats the purpose of being an agent. But he was one of their best agents. Kept the peace in Seheron longer than anyone before, or sense. And besides, the Ben-Hessrath won't discard a tool that still has some use."
That last bit didn't sit well with Rajmael, and it is part of the reason Rajmael didn't have a high opinion of, or trust the Qun. The Qun saw people only as tools to keep itself functioning, and if a tool was broken they reassigned or discarded it. And if you weren't a Qunari, you were less than that to them. They could only ever use outsiders, never truly ally with them unless they gained more from it.
It was time to get things moving.
"Alright, men, hit 'em hard, hit 'em fast!" Iron Bull urged his men heartily. "And when this is over, drinks are on me!"
"You got it chief!" Krem saluted.
"HORNS UP!" The other Chargers cried in unison.
"Ready to hit the Vints when you are, Boss." Iron Bull said readily.
"Before we go, Hissrad. There's something I'm supposed to give you." Gatt informed. The elf opened a crate with a massive battle axe and a helmet resting in it. It was almost as long as Rajmael was tall. The end of the shaft had a spiked mace butt to act as a counter balance and secondary weapon. The axe head long and widened close to the base of the head, made of pure black steel, and the back side of the head had a long, piercing pike to puncture armor. This was most certainly a weapon of devastation.
And the helmet was in the shape of a hornless bull's skull, meant to fit over the face like a mask, and the wearer's horns would fit perfectly in it. It made Bull's appearance much more frightening. The helmet was aptly named "Dread".
Iron Bull held the axe with effortless ease and found an inscription on the axe head. "Ash-karek tel en Anaan." Iron Bull Recited.
"Find purpose to find victory." Gatt translated. "Something to remind you of who you are."
Iron Bull didn't know if he should feel vindicated or conflicted that Gatt chose to give him such a weapon. But he accepted it graciously. Ready and eager, they set out to fulfill their task.
They made their way through the tall, rolling hills of the coast towards the Venatori without incident. With sometime to kill before doing real killing the two qunari got talking.
"You had your men take the low ground, farther from the smuggler ship, and less likely to be heavily guarded." Gatt pointed out. "You gave them the easier target."
"Well, then, I guess we're going to need to do the real work. Just like old times." The two qunari joined together in friendly laugh.
Varric seemed less than thrilled. "Not sure I like helping the Qunari out here, Inquisitor."
"Not too pleased with our potential allies, Varric?" Ramael questioned.
"Hawke and I have been burned by the Qunari on several separate occasions. Oh, and then there was that time they invaded Kirkwall." Varric answered cautiously. He could feel Aveline talking through him. "I don't think Qunari are capable of real alliances with outsiders. Their kind always comes first, and if you're not one of them, you're either an obstacle or a means to an end."
Varric's words had some weight with Rajmael, but he wasn't going to act on them. Iron Bull gave his word on behalf of his people, that this arrangement was legitimate, that his people truly meant to ally with the Inquisition. This could be an historic day in the relations between Thedas and the Qunari. He had to put a little faith in this venture.
The Venatori were deeply entrenched in their position. There were over a dozen battlemages and Venatori soldiers holding this hill. Cassandra used her Seeker abilities to disable as many of the mages as she could while Varric and Bianca fired Explosive Shots at them. Rajmael raised his sword above his head and summoned a lightning storm above his enemies that shocked and fried them to death.
Iron Bull and Gatt moved in perfect unison, their movements so intune you'd beieve they were thinking on the same wave pattern. Bull fought with raw power while Gatt moved with incredible speed. If the Venatori moved to attack their bodies were pierced by Gatte, and if they moved to defend they were cut down and slaughtered by Iron Bull. The Ben-Hessrath trained their agents well.
With the Venatori here dead, they moved to signal the Chargers below. Iron Bull looked down on the beach with pride as he saw that his men had already dispatched the Venatori below, and were now lighting their signal.
"I knew you gave them the easier target." Gatt commented. "Give me a moment and I'll signal the dreadnought." Gatt lit a flare that burned red and flew like a star in the sky. Within moments the Qunari Warship came pulling into shore with its signal bell ringing.
"Ah, damn that brings back memories." Bull sighed nostalgically.
The dreadnought spat thunder and lightning from its hull and shot down the Venatori's smuggler ship into an explosion of fire and burning splinters.
"AH-HA-HA! Nice one!" Bull laughed. His joy was cut short when he looked back down to the shore. "Aw, vashedan."
An unforeseen force of Venatori reinforcement was moving on to the Chargers. And there were a lot of them, too many for the Chargers to take on their own in an open field. Within minutes the Venatori would be upon the hill the Chargers were holding. The Chargers stood their ground, ready to fight, and to kill.
"They cannot hold that position! They'll be slaughtered!" Rajmael knew the Chargers could get away if they fell back now.
"I know." Bull acknowledged desperately.
"Your men need to hold that position, Hissrad." Gatt reminded.
"If they stay there, they die." Bull responded angrily.
"And if they don't the Venatori retake that hill, and the dreadnought is dead in the water." Gatt responded beseechingly. "You'd be throwing away an alliance between the Inquisition and the Qunari! You'll be declaring yourself Tal-Vashoth!"
Iron Bull shot a vicious look at his fellow qunari at the mere mentioning of that word.
"With everything you've given the Inquisition, half the Ben-Hessrath think you've betrayed the Qun already!" Gatt informed sharply. "I stood up for you, Hissrad! I told them there's no way you could ever become Tal-Vashoth!"
"They. Are. My. MEN!" Iron Bull shouted with anger and desperation.
"I know! But you need to do what is right. For this alliance…and for the Qun." Gatt begged.
Rajmael didn't know what the Qun considered to be right, and he didn't care. He already knew the right choice. He wasn't losing any more people to the Venatori. "Pull them back. Now!"
"Don't!" Gatt cried.
Gatt's plea fell on deaf ears. Iron Bull blew into his war horn and called his men from their position. They watched from the other side of the bay as the Chargers made a safe retreat. The Venatori would not claim their lives.
Relief was painted all over Iron bull as his men got away safely. Gatt, on the other hand, was not happy. At all.
"All these years, Hissrad, everything that you gave and did for the Qun, and you throw away everything that you are." The elven qunari ranted. "And for what? For this? For them?!" he pointed at Rajmael and his companions accusingly.
"This is my mission!" Rajmael growled. "The Chargers and Iron Bull are my people, and I won't just stand here and watch them die for you!"
"I suppose he is." The qunari agent shook his head sadly. "He isn't one of us anymore."
Gatt trudged off while Iron Bull stayed behind and watched as they Venatori mages threw fire and lightning at the qunari battleship. It blew up into a great explosion of bright flame and smoke, and with the destruction of the dreadnought, so too did Iron Bull's place amongst the Qunari.
Back at Skyhold….
Rajmael met back with Iron Bull in the training yard and was surprised to see Gatt approaching them both.
"Inquisitor, it is my duty to inform you that there will be no alliance between our people." Gatt said formally. "Nor will you be receiving anymore Ben-Hessrath reports from your…Tal-Vashoth ally."
A bitter scowl twisted on Iron Bulls face at that title. "Were you sent to kill me, Gatt?"
"No." the qunari answered calmly. "The Ben-Hessrath have already lost one good man. They'd rather not lose two."
"Then I suppose you should have these back." Iron Bull offered up the helmet and axe back to his former brother.
"Keep them. They're the only thing that Qunari about you anymore." Gatt rejected. With no other purpose for being here, the qunari agent walked out with disapointment in his step.
Rajmael couldn't give a shit what that oxman wannabe thought. "You looked after your people and got them out alive, Bull. I'm proud of you."
"Heh. Thanks, Boss." Bull appreciated it. Krem approached them both with a wide smile on his face. "You're late, Krem."
"Sorry, Chief. Still sore from fighting all those Vints." Krem joked. "Good to see you too, Inquisitor."
"I'm glad you made it back from the Coast alive." Rajmael said graciously.
"So's the Chief!" Krem laughed. "He's even breaking open a cask of Chasind Sack Mead tonight!"
Iron Bull shoved his lieutenant jokingly. "Hey, that's something you don't need to to tell the Inquisitor."
"Sorry, Chief." Krem said as he grabbed his training shield. "Ready to show me how that shield technique works?"
"Actually, I think you've got it down just fine." Iron Bull smiled a genuine grin.
Later….
Earlier Krem passed a message to Rajmael that Iron Bull wanted to meet him on the battlements, but wouldn't say why. This felt just like when Varric called him there when he secretly brought in Hawke. The surprise Iron Bull had was not nearly as pleasant. The instant Rajmael got to Iron Bull, two Qunari assassins dressed as Inquisition soldiers attacked Iron Bull. One of them managed to tag the Bull with a poisoned dagger, and Iron Bull still killed them both with his bare hands.
"I guess this is the way the Qunari say 'You're no longer in the club'." Rajmael commented as he looked at the recently deceased bodies.
"Two measley hitmen." Iron Bull grumbled. "Guess I'm not worth sending real assassins. So that's it then, message delivered. I'm Tal-Vashoth. Tal-Va-fucking-shoth."
"Is that really so bad?"
"Yes, it is!" Iron Bull answered vehemently. "I've killed hundreds of them back in Seheron, bandits, murderers, bastards who turned their backs on the Qun! And now…now I'm one of them."
"No, wrong! You're The Iron Bull, Commander of The Bull's Chargers!" Rajmael responded. "You are not a savage! The only reason you burned out of the Qun was because you got tired of seeing your brothers get slaughtered."
"But I've always enjoyed fighting and killing." Iron Bull confessed. "Without the Qun, I could turn as savage as the rest of them."
"You've lived without the Qun telling you how to piss for years." Rajmael reminded. "The Qun may have taught you how to live, but the first step to being a man is learning how to make your own choices. And you chose to save your men, I'd say that's a great start in the right direction."
Iron Bull paused for a moment and chuckled to himself. Rajmael's words actually brought him a little peace. "I…I can live with that."
Rajmael smiled back at his mercenary captain. "You, and your men, are one of us, Iron Bull. You're a part of my clan."
"Thanks, Boss. Whatever I regret leaving the Qun, whatever I'll miss about that life…this is where I want to be. Whenever you need a door or an ass kicked, The Iron Bull'll be there."
~XoXoXo~
Rajmael found Dorian back in the library and felt a little uneasy about what he was going to tell their resident Tevinter. Earlier today Mother Giselle approached him, she had told him that Dorian's family, House Pavus of Qarinus, had contacted her. Rajmael remembered Dorian telling him that he and his family were not on good terms and apparently they contacted Mother Giselle to speak with Dorian and arrange it for him to meet with a retainer of theirs at an inn in Redcliffe, without his knowledge.
Instead, Mother Giselle wanted Rajmael carry out this matter. Judging from the tone in her voice, she didn't want Dorian to know what was truly happening, and seemed to want him gone. Apparently, a mage of Tevinter made the Chantry Mother more than a little uncomfortable.
Well, Rajmael wasn't going to lie to Dorian. If his family didn't have the courage to come and face Dorian themselves, then they had no business trying to make contact with him. However, if Dorian's family wanted to contact him, then Dorian had the right to know about it. There was no honor in tricking him about it.
"Hello, Inquisitor." Dorian greeted in his normal, witty demeanor while putting down a book about the Grey Warden, Garavel. "Come to talk to the Tevinter mage again? What will people say?"
Very astute of him, Rajmael thought. "Dorian, there's a letter you need to see."
"Ooh, what kind of letter?" Dorian asked in giddy voice. "Is it a naughty letter? A marriage proposal from some minor nobility in Antiva? Or an invitation to Montfort's hunting party at Chaeteu Haine? I hear the have the best parties of the season in all of southern Thedas!"
Rajmael could tell that his fellow mage was being sarcastic but this bit of new was going to wipe the smirk of his face. "Actually, it's a letter from your father."
And just as Rajmael predicted the smile fell from his face. "Ah. I see. May see that letter?"
Dorian paced the floor with an agitated look on his face, and it only got worse the more he read it.
"I know my son!?" Dorian blurted out. "What Magister Halward actually knows about me would barely fit into a thimble! And I'll bet this retainer of theirs is just some henchmen sent to knock me out and drag my back to Tevinter!"
"You really think your own father would do that?" Rajmael quizzically. He found it odd that a father could ever harm his son.
"You'd be surprised the things my father would do, and the excuses he'd make to justify them." Dorian answered angrily. "He expects me to go with Mother Giselle. He must really not know me well if he thinks that I would!"
"What exactly is your issue with your family?" For Rajmael and most Dalish clans, family was everything. He couldn't comprehend how someone could have such animosity towards his own family.
"They're not proud of the choices I've made, and I'm not proud of theirs." Dorian answered vehemently.
"Is this all just because you decided not to get married?"
"No. That was just the icing on the cake." Dorian finished. "Come on let's go meet this retainer. I hope he was paid well to just stand around if I didn't show up, and to have his legs broken if I did."
The Warden's Rest, Redcliffe Village….
So here they were, back at the inn at Redcliffe and once again to meet Tevinters with ill intentions. Only this time the inn was empty. Could this be a trap?
"Strange." Dorian observed. "Why is there no one here? This doesn't bode well."
"Dorian." A stranger hiding the shadows of the hallways announced. He stepped into the light revealing a man close to his fifties.
"Father." Dorian said the word like it was a curse.
This was Dorian's father? Yes. Rajmael could see it now. He looked like an older version of Dorian except clean shaven, and was wearing a mage's robes that pronounced him as a high ranking member of the Magistirium. Other than that, the resemblance between the two was uncanny. Although, Dorian probably wouldn't want to know that.
"So, I guess the thing about the retainer was just a convenient smokescreen then?" Dorian assumed.
"So you told him. I apologize for the deception, Inquisitor. I never intended for you to be involved." Magister Pavus spoke slowly in a voice thick with a northern accent. Apparently he never spoke out of his own native tongue much.
"Of course not." Dorian scoffed. "The great Magister Halward Pavus couldn't be seen in Skyhold where the most powerful man in Southern Thedas is a knife-eared descendant of servani! What would they say back in Qarinus?!"
"Dorian, I didn't come here to fight." Halward sighed.
"Obviously you have!" Dorian spat. "Instead of coming to see me in person at Skyhold, you wanted to use an old Chantry Mother to lie to me and bring me here so you can what? Kidnap me? Or try to use blood-magic on me again like you did the last time!"
Blood-magic? What the fuck? Rajmael never saw blood-magic as being evil, he just saw it as another form of magic. Contrary to what the Chantry dictates the Dalish don't see any magic as good or evil, there's only people with good or evil intention. But to use something as extreme as blood magic on one's own son? "Wait, what do you mean, Dorian?"
"Dorian, don't." Halward pleaded.
"I prefer the company of men." Dorian let out easily. "And my father disapproves."
Oh, that's it? Rajmael had known about Dorian sexual preferences for quite a while now. He was never very discreet about it. He always spoke with charm and beguilement, and had half the female staff in Skyhold smitten, but never partook with them. And Rajmael always noticed how Dorian sometimes eye Iron Bull's bulging muscles.
"That's…not exactly a secret, Dorian." Rajmael informed casually.
"No." Dorian confirmed. "Nobody here in the South seems to care, Father. So why should it matter in the North, where deviancy is the Imperium's national pastime?"
"This display is uncalled for." This Magister replied ruefully.
"No. it is called for." Dorian retorted. "You called for it when you lured me here."
"This is not what I wanted." Magister Pavus sighed wearily.
"I'm never what you wanted, father! You've made that abundantly clear." Dorian said spitefully.
"Why is this such a problem?" Rajmael continued. He found it extremely ironic that from a nation that was legendary for its debauchery could consider anything deviant.
"It's simply because I'm not the way he wanted me to be!" Dorian answered beginning to get teary-eyed. "All the Great Houses in Tevinter breed, and interbreed, to distill the perfect mage, the perfect leader, and my Father got me, the flaw! When I refused the marriage proposal he set up for me, I told him and my mother the truth. Then he tried to use blood magic to…to change me! To change how I feel. What I believe in!"
"What?" Rajmael said disbelievingly.
"He taught me to hate blood-magic, he told me that it was a crutch!" Dorian cried angrily. "The last resort of weak minds, he said. But what was the first thing you resorted to when your precious heir refused to play pretend, and be another lifeless pawn in the Magisterium's bullshit!?"
"I was only doing what I though was best for you." Halward said with a voice full of regret.
"No, Father. You did what was best for yourself. For your fucking legacy!" Dorian finished and this time the tears were apparent.
Rajmael understood Dorian's anger. Sometimes the people you love most, are the ones that can do the most damage.
"Dorian." Rajmael addressed. "Your father came all the way to the frozen armpit of this continent just to see you. He may be trying to reach out to you. Trust me on this, if you don't make peace now, you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Rajmael knew that all too well. His god-child would never grow up knowing her parents, and would always regret it. Just as Rajmael regretted not being with her right now.
Dorian heeded the Inquisitor's words and let out a sigh. "Why have you come here?"
Halward looked at his wayward son for a moment with remorse and let out a deep breath. "I didn't mean to drive you away, Dorian. What I did…betrayed your trust and it drove you away from us."
"I didn't leave because of you." Dorian argued. "I left because it's the right thing to do."
"Regardless of why you came here, I did try to use blood magic on my own son. I didn't come here to take you back with me to Qarinus, I came to…ask for your forgiveness." Halward finally let out shedding tears of his own.
Dorian looked at his estranged father for a moment. "Can you give us a moment, Inquisitor?"
Back at Skyhold….
Rajmael waited outside the Tavern for what felt like hours. When Dorian finally emerged, he said nothing, and remained so the entire trip back to Skyhold. Rajmael found Dorian in his usual spot in the library, staring out the window with his face blank and his eyes full of depression.
Dorian sensed the Inquisitor's approach. "He says we're so much alike, he and I. Too much pride. At one point I would have been proud to have heard him say those words. Now, I'm not so sure. I still don't know if I can forgive him."
"Are you going to be alright, Dorian?" Rajmael asked honestly.
"No. Maybe? I'm not sure." Dorian sighed. "Thank you for bringing me there, and not tricking me. It wasn't what I was expecting, but at least it was…something. Oh, Maker knows what you must think of me now after all that."
"What you do in your personal life is none of my business, Dorian." Rajmael answered truthfully. "But…I think that you're incredibly brave."
"Brave?" Doian repeatedly disbelievingly.
"Choosing to walk your own path, even though it's difficult, and the rest of the world tries to put you down and tell you to be otherwise, is something to be admired." Rajmael answered. "It is something that my people know very well."
A small smile spread across Dorian's face once more. "Well, it's good to know I've got something in common with worthy men. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go raid the winery and drink myself into a stupor. It's been one of those days."
~XoXoXo~
After spending the past few days dealing with his companions' personal crap, Rajmael decided to end the week by visiting the tavern, and getting drunk and stupid with everyone else. The place was already rowdy and full of life. Varric was in the middle of a drinking contest with Iron Bull, Krem, Blackwall and Sera. At first Rajmael's money was on either Iron Bull or Blackwall just because they had the most mass, but was surprised and even concerend to see that it was Sera who out drank them all. Where does she pack everything she consumes? Does she have a Rift in her stomach, or just a tapeworm?
Dorian was wowing the other patrons, especially Scout Harding and the other tavern girls by flashing some minor spells. Making fire dance into wondrous shapes while lightning crackled in his hands made them all giggle and laugh. Such a shame those girls would never get to truly partake in Dorian's foreign Northern charm.
Rajmael managed to catch a few glimpses of Cole scurrying through the tavern, secretly refilling drinks, or stopping people from falling when they were too inebriated to stand. He even saw him stop a bar fight from breaking out by making to angry drunks forget their anger and start laughing again. Even when people were getting completely smashed and stupid, Cole tried to help people.
Rajmael sat by himself until he noticed Cassandra walk into the tavern. She flashed him that beautiful smile of hers and gave him that special look that only he recognized, then motioned him to follow her with his eyes. He handed his drink over to the nearest drunk and followed Cassandra out of the tavern.
Their clothes were scattered all over the loft of the smithy where Cassandra liked to hang out. It was a good thing the workers were all asleep in the barracks or in the tavern right now. Cassandra was a very loud sex partner. She had him pinned beneath her and clawed his chest as her passion rose.
Rajmael rolled over and threw her beneath him, she laughed heartily and locked her legs around his waist, and he his face to hers in a heated kiss.
Rajmael would do always aid his companions, and he would always do anything for her. Especially when aiding Cassandra could be so…rewarding. She rewarded him many times, and then he rewarded her right back. It was a very rewarding night for the both of them, and it was definitely going to make them sore and tired in the morning.
Language Codex:
Ma Vhenan: Elven endearment, translated, "My heart."
Ash-karek tel en Anaan: Qunari phrase, roughly translated, "Find purpose to find victory."
Vashedan: Qunari swear word, roughly translated, "Crap" or "Trash".
Servani: Tevene term, translated, "slave" or "servant".