Chapter 42; The heart of evil

Characters of the chapter

Arya Stark Junior Grey Warden

Dajeah Junior Grey Warden

Nathaniel Howe Commander of the Grey in Westeros

Orvo Junior Grey Warden

Thom "Blackwall" Rainier Senior Grey Warden, assigned to Westeros

Thorpe Junior Grey Warden

Arya shivered, wrapping herself more tightly in the heavy cloak she wore, then continued moving forward. She thought she was used to cold weather, being a northerner and all, but this was something else.

After their victory at the Orlesian fortress the Grey Wardens had resupplied, then pressed onwards, to hunt down the creature leading these darkspawn, their Warden senses showing the way. Their search had led them further north, and deeper inland. The forests had given way to a bare expanse of snow and ice and rock. This far inland the weather was particularly unforgiving, especially in the midst of winter as now. Initially they had a company of Orlesians following along, but they had soon realized the Orlesians were simply not equipped to handle this kind of terrain and the weather. After losing several soldiers to the cold the Orlesian Captain had made the decision to turn back, leaving the Wardens with as many supplies as he had to spare before heading for home with his troops. The loss of numbers was unfortunate, but Arya was not terribly broken up over it. A larger force would move more slowly and would be easier to spot. And right now she figured stealth was more essential. Once they found what they sought, either the Wardens could figure out how to manage without the Imperials, or a single company would not be enough to make any difference. No Wardens had been killed during the battle of the fort or since, so in that regard their situation was quite good.

Thanks to equipment provided by Jon and several helpful tips given by Tormund, the Grey Wardens fared a little bit better here. The skis had been particularly useful, helping them move much more quickly than they could have on foot. And Tormund's advice had been a lifesaver for them on many occasions, helping them find shelter and keep themselves alive. In her mind she thanked Tormund for the help. Hopefully he was now safely on his way South of the Wall. He certainly deserved to live through this.

While they were still doing better than the Imperials, this place was still rough on them. Even northerners and natives of Ferelden like Thorpe were not used to quite as biting temperatures as these. And most of their number were from further South or from more temperate regions like Orlais. They would have been in serious trouble without advice and assistance of those more familiar with these conditions. She turned her head to Dajeah, seeing slowly skiing along with the rest, her thin frame puffed up by the heavy winter clothes she was wearing, her face covered from view by the layers of cloth wrapped around her head and ears. Arya had heard that the tips of elven ears could easily freeze off, even more so than the ears of humans or dwarves. Clearly Dajeah was concerned of the same.

And the risk was real enough for all of them, that's for sure. Just a few days ago one they had found out one of them had been careless, forgetting to replace his soaked through gloves with dry ones for far too long, not noticing when he lost feeling to his fingers. By the time he had actually removed his gloves it had been too late, one of his fingers having turned black and shriveled. Miles away from everything else and no significant medical experience among any of them, there had been little that could be done. They had cut off the frostbitten finger before it could cause any more trouble, cauterizing the wound with fire. The warden in question had protested of course, not fancying the idea of losing a digit. But apparently the cutting had not hurt at all. No feeling left in the finger. An application of bandages later and their journey had resumed, everyone being more cautious afterwards. At least the wound looked to be healing well, all his other fingers were safe and the one lost was only a littlefinger. It's absence would not seriously impede his ability to wield a blade.

Truly Arya had gained newfound respect for the Wildlings who were able to live in these parts, though she was uncertain if even the Wildlings usually bothered to come this far north. There just didn't seem to be anything here to interest anyone. They had not even seen any wildlife since leaving the forests behind them. Animals this far out were likely dead by now, or had been corrupted and added to the darkspawn ranks, or else had fled as far away from the horde as possible. That assumed there had been any in this forsaken place to begin with.

The only other living thing here other than them was the darkspawn. And they more than made up the difference. Clashes with small groups of the creatures was becoming an almost daily occurrence. So far the Grey Wardens had won every battle, bringing slaughter to their enemy. But the enemy numbers did not seem to be at all abating from that. Between fights they sometimes noticed the darkspawn in the distance, though they kept out of sight as much as they could, moving through low areas and canyons in the ice. At night they could still hear them, sometimes see the fires they lit. After the first few nights in this region they had stopped lighting fires of their own. The cold made it harder to sleep, the dark harder to keep watch for enemies, but at least the light did not attract even more of the monsters. And fortunately the significant numbers of darkspawn kept them from sensing the Grey Wardens, allowing them to advance unnoticed by the darkspawn they didn't directly run into. But sadly that worked both ways, as the presence of so many darkspawn made it impossible to sense specific groups, or if they were near of far.

Hiron, Thorpe's mabari, had been anxious the entire time they had been here, sniffing the air constantly, growling at things in the distance. His scent had been a useful thing along the way though, giving them at least some advanced warning against the darkspawn, though this place and the sheer numbers of their enemy seemed to confuse even his senses all too often. He had also managed to fell a decent number of darkspawn since they had gone north of the Wall, proving the value of Ferelden's favorite dog breed.

With so many darkspawn around they had to be getting close to something big. The body of their foes main force most likely, and hopefully the entity in charge. All the more proof of this was the prevalence of the song. Before hearing it constantly had been bothersome. Here it was starting to become borderline unbearable. The closer they got to their target, the worse it seemed to get.

And it had caused a most remarkable incident several nights prior. She had been on watch outside their encampment, walking around while looking for signs of darkspawn attackers. Nothing much had been happening, and she had allowed her mind to wander. Somewhere along the line her mind had been drawn to the song in her head, other thoughts receding, unnoticed by her. Like she had been entranced by it. When she had realized what had happened she had snapped herself back to awareness. At that point she had realized she had wandered far out of the camp, having lost sight of it. With no idea how she had gotten where she was and no lights to guide her back she had gotten hopelessly lost, unable to find their camp until dawn. It had been a frightful walk wandering in the dark, afraid of running into a group of their enemy too large for her to defeat. She had not dared to call out or do anything else that might have attracted the wrong sort of attention. She had also been worried about what might happen now that she was no longer at her post. The thought that something might happen to the other Wardens because of her stupid carelessness haunted her during her lonely walk.

Once she finally made it back she discovered the others had been just as concerned about her once they realized she was missing. They had tried to look for her, but had not been able to go very far for the risk of becoming lost like her. Explaining what had happened to the others was quite an awkward experience. To most she had given a simplified explanation of what had happened: She had wandered too far from camp during her patrol and had lost her way back. Only to her friends had she admitted the whole thing. Because of the concerned looks she received as a result she regretted doing even that.

What had happened was rather embarrassing really. And a little concerning. Being able hear the Song was one thing. But she had not anticipated it being able to affect her mind like this. It did not match up with what she had been taught about the Song of an Archdemon. It created a compulsion for darkspawn and those reduced to ghouls. Wardens were supposed to be immune from that until they were old enough to go on their Calling. Then again, maybe she was just more sensitive than most. After all, she had been among the first to start feeling the darkspawn presence, way back when this had started.

Had this been a lone incident it might not have bothered her that much. But it had been just the beginning. Since then the Song had continued to linger in the back of her mind nibbling at the edges of her thoughts, looking to gently slip in and take control at a moment of carelessness. She could keep it at bay easily enough, but it took a little bit of mental focus at all times when she was awake to do so. It was rapidly becoming quite toilsome.

At first she thought she was the only one having issues with this. But as she began paying more attention she realized other Wardens were having trouble with this as well. Brief moments of what looked like dizziness, vacant expressions that they jerked themselves back to awareness from. The more time went by the more she saw the symptoms. And Nathaniel and Blackwall… there was a brand new look of concern on their faces. They knew something, had some suspicion what this might be about. She was certain they had discussed this amongst themselves but were not yet ready to speak about it to the other Wardens. She got the sense they wanted confirmation about something first. She thought about asking what they knew, but thought better of it. They would break their silence when they were ready for it. She could bide her time until then.

They travelled down a ravine a small stream had eaten into the ice, carrying their skis on their shoulders for the time being. During spring or summer months they might have been up to their knees in water melting from the walls, but at this time it was dry, a coating of ice covering the bottom. It was an extremely cramped space, at times to the point of claustrophobic with wardens only able to get by one or two at a time. At times they had to squeeze sideways through a particularly narrow chokepoint. It was dark too, with only a limited amount of daylight coming in from directly above. She was not a fan of this place. There was hardly enough room to fight here. If there were darkspawn somewhere ahead forward progression would be very difficult. If darkspawn found their way here after them they would likely be trapped, unable to escape and unable to press through the numbers of their enemy. And if these walls were weaker than they looked anywhere they could easily end up buried under a mountain of ice. At least they were fairly well hidden here. The darkspawn would not find them easily.

After some twenty, maybe thirty minutes of travel they emerged to a slightly wider area right in front of a cliffside of jagged black rock. The waterless route of the stream disappeared somewhere between the stones.

"Could be a much better view from up there. To get our bearings and look for further signs of the spawn main force." Blackwall mused.

"You could be right. And we need to look for a way forward anyway, unless we want to double back." Nathaniel concurred.

"I'll try to climb to the top. The rest of you wait here in the meantime." He told the others.

As Nathaniel began his climb, the other wardens slowly poured into the open area filling it up as much as possible. Arya leaned against a rockface, letting out a heavy breath. Her skis she placed right next to her. It was prudent to avail oneself of whatever breaks were available, even one as brief as this. It had already been a long journey today, and unless something unexpected happened there would be many more hours yet to go.

Still hearing the song, she rubbed her temples, willing it out of her mind.

"Not getting any better for you? Yeah, for us neither." Thorpe said in a low voice.

"It's very persistent to say the least. Like a headache that just won't go away. Can't wait to bury an ax into whatever critter is causing this, get some peace and quiet." Orvo joined in.

"Yeah, I'll want to add my sword to that. Then maybe we can get the fuck out of this frozen hellscape." Dajeah commented. "Uh, no offense." She hastily added to Arya.

Arya merely chuckled. "None taken. Mostly because the stuff north of the Wall doesn't actually count as my homeland. And you're right, it's pretty cold here, and rather hellscape-y. I'll be just as glad to be gone as anyone."

"Though I for one suspect we'll need to come back here, probably several more times. Even after we kill the thing in charge and rout the horde there will still be cleanup work for us to do. Hunting down darkspawn stragglers and the like. Can't leave all that to the locals, since we're supposed to be the experts." She added.

"Urgh, you're probably right. Well at least we'll get to have a break somewhere warmer first. Probably. And at least we will be doing something useful with our time. I suppose I can put up with a little cold for that" Dajeah said.

"Me too. And I'd say we have already done some good work so far. A lot of dead darkspawn we have made since going beyond the Wall." Thorpe said.

"Very true. Here's hoping we can keep on track." Arya concurred.

Some time passed. Then Nathaniel returned, to Arya's surprise looking quite startled.

"Did you find a path for us?" Blackwall asked of him.

"Uh, I did find a route up there, but I didn't really spend a lot of time looking for a way down. But I did find something else. You should come and see. The whole lot of you." Nathaniel replied.

Blackwall raised an eyebrow in puzzlement, but nevertheless motioned for the others to follow. Nathaniel brought them to the rope he had set up, and one by one they began their climb upwards.

When they reached the top it quickly became apparent what Nathaniel had been so worried about. The cliff they were on descended sharply as a sheer rockface, creating the edges of an expansive valley. And at the moment the valley was black with darkspawn. Many thousands at least. And more looked to be pouring in over the hills further out, a seemingly endless flow.

"Holy damn!" Dajeah cursed, wide eyed, instinctively taking cover behind a nearby rock.

"Oh-kay. I take it back. We clearly haven't done enough to pat ourselves on the back." Thorpe said quietly.

"Yeah…" Arya breathed. They had had every reason to expect significant darkspawn numbers, but this was a lot worse than they had feared. Skilled they might be, but an army was a bit much for them to handle. And even with their warden senses oversaturated it was astonishing they had failed to spot an army of these things before they were practically on top of them. She could only conclude the shape of the valley and the ravine they had been in had blocked the sounds of the horde from them.

Somewhere from deep within the song they had been hearing emanated. The creature they had been hunting was here without question. That was more bad news for the Grey Wardens.

"That's it then, isn't it? There's too many of us to beat alone. We wouldn't get to the thing in charge. We'll have to fall back and meet the darkspawn in battle with a greater force." Blackwall said glumly after he managed to find his words again.

Nathaniel look at the ground, pondering. "You're right. We have no choice."

"And we won't be able to bring an army here. Too remote and too cold for that. We'll have to let the darkspawn move further south, so we can face them on more favorable ground." He added.

"Are we sure there is no other way? Nothing else we could try?" Arya asked.

"I'm sorry Arya. There really isn't another way. There is no way we can get to our target unnoticed. And it would be suicide for us to go toe to toe with that many darkspawn at once." He replied, not unkindly.

"I guess. Dammit." She said, defeated. She would much rather have ended it here and now, before this horde reached more settled lands. So would all of them. But she had to agree it would be stupid to attack with these odds. Still, to come this far just to turn back was disappointing to say the least.

Apparently Nathaniel agreed with that sentiment. "That said we are not going to just retreat with our tails between our legs. We'll keep tracking the movements of this horde and keep hunting the smaller war bands while we're at it. That way we'll inflict damage and we will have a much better idea where the darkspawn intend to strike when that time comes." He told them all.

Blackwall nodded. "Good. That sounds like a plan. I think the first order of business is to get down from this cliff and out of this ravine. Not much we can do from here."

With that every one of them could agree. Arya too nodded and took the first steps in heading back the way they had come. But then some strange impulse made her turn around and take one last look at the horde, perhaps lured by the Song.

What happened next was difficult to even describe. She felt a sudden lancing headache, like a white hot spear driving into her skull through her forehead. For a brief instant that sensation was her entire existence, everything else receding away. She doubled over from the pain, holding her head with both hands, emitting a scream. Then she felt her consciousness jump out of her body, drawn across the fields before her. Ground swirled beneath, as did the multitudes of the darkspawn at a terrifying speed. Deep within the ranks of the horde she came to a stop. There she beheld the strangest looking darkspawn she had ever laid eyes on observing the arrival of its army to this place.

It was a big creature, towering over all darkspawn except the ogres. Despite its size its thin and wiry, looking almost malnourished. Long arms ended in bony black fingers that looked as sharp as talons. Its back was oddly crooked, making the darkspawn lean heavily to the right and giving it a misshapen appearance. But the most amazing thing was how the creature was dressed like some king. It wore elaborate robes of red, orange and gold, whose pattern mimicked flames. At one time it might have been a beautiful attire but it had been badly tarnished by the darkspawn filth. In the same spirit the creature wore a golden headgear that covered its features entirely. The headgear looked warped, melted, apparently having fused into the darkspawn's flesh around its neck. The darkspawn was likely unable to remove its headgear even if it wished to.

At first the monster's eyes were on the other darkspawn around it. But almost instantly the creature turned its head in her direction. Despite the distance separating them she could tell its eyes were looking straight into hers.

At that moment she was thrown back into her own body. As her vision slowly swam back into focus she looked around herself. From the pained expression on the other's faces it was clear they had gone through the same experience.

"What was that?" Nathaniel asked, groaning and holding his head.

"I… I think it saw us! I think it knows were here!" Arya said. And indeed, in the distance the darkspawn horde was now moving, surging toward them in a great wave.

"Oh crap… we need to move! Get going! If we stay here we die! Move it! MOVE!" Nathaniel shouted hastily. The wardens rushed down the rope, fleeing back into the ravine as fast as they could.

"Don't forget your skis! We're going to need them if we want to get out of here alive!" Arya shouted when she reached the bottom, snatching her own pair.

The last of them had made some distance from the cliff when a massive explosion made the world shake. A spell of some kind fractured the cliff they had been standing on, some splinters of black stone flying in after them. Somehow Arya knew the darkspawn she had observed was the one responsible. Such a powerful spell, flung over such a long distance… this monstrosity possessed immense powers.

The power of the explosion reached the channel they were in as well, long cracks appearing in the ice, chunks raining down on them. Arya gasped as one sizeable piece struck a glancing blow against her back, making her stumble. Her back continued to hurt after, almost certainly leaving behind a bruise, but no time to worry about that. Some distance ahead of her she saw Dajeah and Thorpe raising their shields to deflect other chunks. Fortunately a larger collapse was avoided, and their flight continued, jumping or stepping over the larger fragments in their way.

When they once again emerged into the open, no darkspawn were immediately there to challenge them. Apparently the fiend had not yet found a way to reach them. For a moment she dared hope they might have time to make a getaway before their enemy could catch them. She threw her skis down about to strap them to her feet when she heard a growl from her right. She turned her gaze just in time to see a large blur knock down one of the wardens, tearing him to pieces in seconds. Their first casualty on this expedition. She jumped to her feet, drawing her weapons, the others around her preparing for a fight as well.

At that point she got a good look at their attacker. It was a direwolf, and a big one at that. Or it had been a direwolf once. Whether it still was one was debatable considering the state the poor creature was in. Its fur was matted and filthy, large patches having gone completely bald. In many areas the skin had also sloughed off, revealing the muscles and bone beneath. Sharp spikes grew out of its back and a black mucus continually dripped from the corners of its eyes. This poor wolf had caught the Blight sickness, its body warped into a monstrosity, it's every moment rendered into an existence of constant suffering. It pained her to see such a noble beast so horridly twisted. For a moment she inadvertently imagined Nymeria in place of this poor thing. But she banished that thought as soon as it emerged. That was NOT an image she wanted floating around in her head. Just as unwelcome was the thought that there was an army of darkspawn bearing down on them, getting closer with every second they spent with this creature.

The wolf snarled at them, its head moving around as the Wardens spread out, surrounding the beast. Then it chose a target, lunging at her. But she was ready for that, diving out of the way. Deftly she turned her dive into a roll, slashing at the direwolf's face as it rushed past. No sooner was it past her that Nathaniel fired an arrow into its hind leg, crippling it. Hiron briefly clamped its teeth on another leg, hampering the wolf further. But then he had to dodge away from the direwolf's snapping jaws. Blackwall and Thorpe rushed in next from opposite sides, pinning the wolf in place with their shields, burying their blades deep. Orvo finished the job with a swing of his ax, buried deep within the wolf's skull.

"Holy… didn't know wolves could grow that big." Dajeah gasped, looking at the carcass. Clearly she had not encountered Ghost during their stay at Winterfell.

"No time to stay and gawk! Come on, we need to go! Hurry!" Nathaniel told them. They hastily put their skis back on their feet and rushed off. They might have even left their sleds behind to move faster had they not known that surviving this place without their supplies was impossible.

What followed was a long, intense day of fleeing and fighting. In addition to the main horde every group of darkspawn raiders in the vicinity was zeroing in on them, forcing the wardens to do battle. Each clash was a heart pounding race against time, the wardens dispatching their foe as efficiently as possible, constantly fearful of being pinned and wiped out by an overwhelming force. As soon as their opponents were dealt with, their escape continued. But each fight created plentiful noise, attracting even more of them monsters to them, the cycle of fleeing and fighting repeating over and over. Two more wardens were killed in the fighting. Thankfully no one Arya really knew, though the losses still stung. Many others sustained minor injuries, some no doubt earning new scars to serve as reminders of this day. Of the darkspawn casualties it was hard to even keep track, a trail of death left behind them.

Their wild escape continued through the day and night and well into the following day. By the time they were sufficiently safe to stop, they were so tired most of them dropped to their hands and knees from the exhaustion.

"What…was…that thing leading them?" Arya asked between shuddering breaths, feeling like she was just seconds away from shutting down.

"Yeah. I definitely have never seen or heard of anything remotely like that." Thorpe commented, similarly out of breath.

"I have, when I was still working for the Inquisition." Blackwall spoke up.

"What?" Arya asked.

"The creature leading our enemies, the Venatori and the Red Templars. Corypheus. It looked an awful lot like that. Different attire and all, but very similar." He explained.

"And many years ago I encountered another creature like that while travelling with commander Mahariel. One called the Architect. This one isn't the Architect, but again it's very similar. He also had some ability to command the darkspawn. And Warden records mention Corypheus having the same capacity, just like the one here. It seems we have run across our third one." Nathaniel joined in.

"Wha… what else do you know about them?" Dajeah asked.

"From what us Wardens and the Inquisition have learned, these creatures were once the Magisters who broke into the Golden City, bringing the Blight back with them on their return. The very first of the darkspawn. By virtue of that accomplishment the ultimate evil. Beyond that they are extremely dangerous opponents. Fearsomely powerful in magic and supremely difficult to destroy. And among other things they have been known to have the ability to have influence over any creature that carries the Blight corruption, not just the darkspawn. Sadly this can include Grey Wardens." He said.

"Grey Wardens…? So that's… what's been getting into our heads?" Orvo asked.

"Yes, that is most likely the case." Nathaniel replied, nodding. "When Blackwall and I noticed all of us starting to feel the effects, we started to suspect this might be the cause. Now those suspicions look to have been confirmed."

"Why didn't we ever hear any of this until now? Of these creatures?" Arya demanded.

"Knowledge of their existence is typically only for the ears of Senior Wardens. Even the Inquisition only knew of Corypheus because they directly ran across him. Before this you didn't need to know, so you didn't. Besides, with the destruction of Corypheus and total lack of aggression from the Architect it was assumed that the danger had passed. We did not think there were any more of these creatures around. A premature assumption it seems." He explained.

"Well… at least now we know this is not a full blown Blight. That's something." Thorpe said.

"What are you talking about? Were you in the same fight we fought just now? It looks pretty much like a full Blight to me. Minus an Archdemon of course, but that's just details." Dajeah said.

"Regardless, our plans in this crisis have not changed. We will harry the darkspawn and prepare a larger armed response when the opportunity arises." Nathaniel said.

"It looks like we are in the clear for now, and this looks like a safe enough place. We'll rest here today. Set up camp, tend to your wounds and gear. Then feel free to have a bite to eat and take a nap. Been long enough since our last chance. Blackwall and I will keep watch till nightfall. Then we'll resume our normal guard schedule. We'll set off again tomorrow morning, provided the darkspawn don't drive us off before then. Just in case keep yourselves sufficiently ready to move at a moment's notice." He ordered.

"If any of you wish to say something to remember those we lost, we will arrange a moment for that tomorrow morning." He added softly.

They did as they had been bid, and as they were preparing for their rest she was quietly grateful for Nathaniel's and Blackwall's leadership and care. No doubt those two were just as exhausted as all the rest of them. Yet they still chose to keep watch until nightfall so the others would get a chance to rest first. Putting their troops ahead of themselves at difficult times was exactly what she wished to see in a leader. It was something she hoped to emulate should she ever rise high enough in the ranks to command others.

She took her rest, sleeping in full gear so as to be ready to leave quickly if necessary, as requested. When she woke she noted Nathaniel still on watch, so she stood up and went to speak with him.

"Arya. Something the matter?" He asked in greeting.

"Nothing really. Just a question that got stuck in my head from the earlier discussion." She said, keeping her voice low.

"Oh?"

"You mentioned encountering a darkspawn named the Architect."

"That's right."

"But later you mentioned there was no aggression from him. I take that to mean you didn't destroy him after your encounter with him. Did he escape from you?" She queried.

Nathaniel grimaced, mildly irked by Arya's deductive ability. Then he looked at the ground, to Arya's surprise looking a bit embarrassed. "Uh… not quite. Back then… the Commander decided to cut a deal with the creature. We let it go."

She blinked. "What!? Why would you do that!? A creature you just called the ultimate evil!?" She sputtered, just barely managing to keep herself from shouting those words.

"We did not know its true nature at the time we made this decision. And there was something we were hoping to gain from that deal." He explained quickly.

"As to whether or not that was a bad idea… I've often wondered that myself. It hasn't backfired so far though. I am entirely certain the one here isn't the Architect. And regardless what's done is done. Too late to change that now." He added.

"…I think I'd like to hear the full story of this." Arya said.

Nathaniel looked around himself. "I suppose we have enough free time for storytelling. But please, let's keep between us for the time being. I'd like to keep this private for now."

"Very well." Arya said with a nod.