Chapter Thirty-Three: Lilac
Ciara took charge as soon as we were out of the ever more raucous ballroom, leading us to a quiet corner of the gardens. Near a hotspring spa, of all things. There were lilacs in bloom there. I knew immediately that our Dalish friend had sought out and explored the famous gardens at some point. She shared the Empress' love for gardens. The location put me at ease, I have to say.
Tiberius and Gaius were silent throughout the journey, though the magister continued looking at me in the way a father-in-law who is pleased at his daughter's choice would. I could almost hear the dad jokes. All the more ridiculous in that I hadn't met Aurelia yet. How much of it was calculation and how much of it was relief that I wasn't some horrifying bastard, I don't know. Or maybe he was just happy that I wasn't an insignificant, that my ill-gotten status was worthy. One look at his grandson's downcast face was enough to know what he would bring up first, worry lines marring what otherwise was a handsome man.
The masked elf disappeared, and I thought briefly about sending someone to watch her. Considering her choice of companions.
I waited until the soldiers shadowing us, both ours and theirs, got comfortable out of earshot. I spied Armen casually joining them, his sentiment compelling him to watch over Ciara. Glad for the back up, I decided to attempt to avoid talking about the business of the proposal.
"I think this is private enough," I said, looking around one last time, "You said there were twenty thousand soldiers at Lydes? Under whose banner and command? What sort of soldiers are they? How are they equipped?" I thought keeping the questions strictly military would send the message loud and clear.
Tiberius reacted in a typically Tiberius way; a direct tangent into whatever he wanted to talk about.
"In time, Sam, in time," he said with a flick of the wrist, "First thing is first, I have something for you." One of his black-clad battlemages was handling something under a tarp, while another brought a wooden tripod. The tripod was set up beside the magister, and the rectangular object was set on top of it. Once they were sure it was stable, the tarp was pulled away and the soldiers withdrew, revealing what was within.
It was a painting. A portrait painting to be exact.
A young woman stared out at us from the canvass with wide brown eyes, the same colour as rich honey. Her pale features were framed by waves of pitch black hair, curling slightly as it fell to either side. She had a very Vinter nose, thin but pronounced, leading to full lips that were pulled into an innocent smile. Innocent because she could only have been fifteen. So while I thought her beautiful, I was a little flabbergasted by Tiberius showing me the picture. If you haven't guessed who the painting depicted, you need to pay more attention.
"Aurelia?" I asked.
"Indeed," Tiberius sniffed with obvious pride, his chest puffing out, "Wonderful, is she not? Don't tell my other granddaughters this, but she is by far the most beautiful among them. Gets it from her mother." Gaius nodded his agreement with glazed eyes, when the dumbass should have been reprimanding his eccentric grandfather. I sincerely hope he was thinking about his cousin rather than his aunt. Given the nonsense about bloodlines and anti-aging magic, I wouldn't have put it past him.
I scratched my head. I knew it would draw me further into the subject I had wanted to avoid, but I had to ask.
"She seems a little young," I said, "To the point that I'm even less interested than I was before." As I have no desire to think of myself or be thought of as a cradle robbing pervert.
"Oh, don't worry," Tiberius said, palms raised, "This was painted some... eight years ago now? Last time we could get her to sit down to do one, you see. She's quite wilful."
I raised my eyebrow without thinking. So Aurelia was in her early twenties. I'll probably get a tongue lashing for admitting it, but I was intrigued enough to wonder what she might actually look like then.
"But loyal to her family and her country," Tiberius added quickly in a fluster, "From what information I have gathered, wilful isn't a problem for you. I sent her the same and she agreed that you are suitable. Even expressed approval about a sketch of you in the last letter I received." A match made in heaven. Ha.
Of course, that raised the question of where he had gotten a sketch of me from. Drawing me still further into the topic. Ciara took to snickering to herself at this point as well, which didn't help matters. Made me wish Tam was around to keep me on task, or for Julie to lay into the magister with barbed remarks about slavery.
"Tiberius, have you been spying on me?" I asked flatly, arms crossed.
"Of course, I have not been able to retrieve any useful military knowledge, which is a shame," the magister replied, gesticulating, "But our spies have provided a record of your public and some private utterings, as well as the sketch of your likeness. It was quite expensive, but it was worth it to learn more about what sort of man you are."
Cursing under my breath, I reminded myself to talk to Leha about better security. No wonder Tiberius seemed chirpy, I thought, I must have lived up to his expectations while he watched from afar. Tevinter magisters are very particular about these sorts of things, believing that most traits are inherited through parents. However much he liked me as a person, and he did in fact like me, he was sizing me up more like a stud on a horse farm. The legacy of his house was his primary concern.
At least he wasn't running away with the secret of gaatlok. Getting a little riled up, I searched my mind for a way to get out of it to no avail. The desire to tell him to go fornicate himself washed over me, but I had to bite my tongue. He had intelligence I wanted, badly.
"So, what do you think?" Tiberius asked, "I can tell you were impressed, but I want to hear your thoughts."
"Yeah, she's easy on the eyes, but how can I really answer if I haven't actually met her?" I asked, "Not very polite to talk about someone behind their back like this." I thought to add a rebuke about his pushing of the match, before shutting my mouth. I had run into his trap.
"A meeting can be arranged," Tiberius continued, amusement glistening in his eyes, "Aurelia is busy on Seheron at the moment, fighting the Qunari, but winter will stop the campaigns there."
So she was a soldier like her grandfather. Chip off the old block on that front. Which increased my interest slightly until I realised the utter furor that her sudden arrival would have, assuming we weren't all dead. I was sure Tam would take it with her usual calm facade, I thought, but Julie would blow her top.
And I found my way out.
"Haven't you heard the news?" I grinned, "Julie Hunt is High Chancellor here. I'm married already. So unless they practice polygamy in Tevinter, you're too late." I turned to Ciara to see if I wasn't getting into more trouble, but she just shrugged, apparently unaware of the marital laws of a distant country.
Tiberius scoffed, dampening my feeling of triumph. "Don't insult my intelligence," he said, "The fact you were married was reported, but we had no report of any ceremony even in private. I am well aware of the relationship with the Qunari defector. Those two facts taken together, along with my impression of your personality, I very much doubt you would marry one despite the other. And I am absolutely certain that Madame Marteau would not abandon your mutual lover to do so either."
"Ran yourself into that one," Gaius added, "You did not object that you were married first, you had to think about it. Even sounded like you were surprised you had not thought of it earlier, truth be told."
"Well, shit," I thought loudly. The younger Tiberius was right. Even without spy reports, I had essentially tipped my hand by not making the fact I was married my first objection. Should have guessed that Tiberius would have excellent judgment when it came to people's motivations, considering he was most likely the head of Vint spying for the entire South.
"Not to worry though, my original offer still stands," Tiberius said, "There is no need to abandon your paramours. This is about duty for us, and an opportunity for you to live in peace."
Not damned likely, I thought. I had my fill of this topic. I changed my stance to one that afforded a little more intimidation value, and rested my hand on the top of my handcannon. Sue me, John Wayne.
"Why are you here, Tiberius?" I asked, brooking no further deflection.
"The Tevinter Imperium has sent me to aid your cause," he replied immediately, "Secretly." I could have sworn that his eyes had flashed with fear, for a moment, before being replaced with the same mask of mirth that Armen would have been familiar with.
That response was not what I expected. "Why?" I asked.
"Nevarra," Gaius replied, "There have been minor skirmishes on our border with the Neverrans, and the Magisterium thinks that a war with them may be inevitable within the next few years. Orlais must not be in a position to help them."
"So you want to extend our war?" Ciara asked, "But Sam said before that it will probably take years to win anyway?"
"My fellow magisters do not believe you shall last long enough, or that you can win at all," Tiberius said, "And I agree with them. But helping you will drive a further wedge between Celene and Gaspard, and that would start a war lasting years, possibly as many as ten or fifteen years."
"During which time you can thrash Nevarra," I said, completing their notion aloud.
"Exactly," Tiberius said.
"But there's just one problem," I continued, "Our revolution seems to have united Celene and Gaspard against the common threat."
"Ah, so it seems," Tiberius said, "But I have learned two things that indicate that they are at each other's throats. First, Celene rejected Gaspard's proposal of marriage, after that nonsense with the Ferelden ambassador."
I shrugged, not having a clue what incident he was referring to. Bann Teagan wasn't anywhere on my radar in those days.
"The second is that Duke Remache has defected from Celene's side to Gaspard's," Tiberius continued, "Remache was trying to marry Celene for years. My guess is that he will marry Gaspard's niece or something."
I nodded to myself. The pieces fit. It was a bold strategy for the Tevinters to try, but the reward was more than enough to justify it. Their constant war with the Qunari was more of a seasonal and limited affair, but one large enough to cause problems. Nevarra they could fight on even terms with, even while fighting the Qun, but Nevarra and Orlais together? The Vints would be seriously put down, even with huge superiority in magical artillery.
"How do you know all of this?" I asked, "Getting a spy into the Empress' own court seems like quite a feat."
"I told him," said a voice to my left.
I turned to find the silver-masked elf standing close, flinching that she had managed to get there without my notice. She pushed a thread of cinnamon brown hair behind her mask, and bowed slightly. Joining her was another elf, fair-haired with intricate facial tattoos threading his face, holding a staff. A Dalish mage if his robes were any clue, and the first person I had met who had vallaslin. He had violet eyes, not unlike Tam's, albeit narrower. Quite a pair, I thought. Who the hell they were, I had no idea.
Ciara leapt forward and drew the mage into a hug. The violet eyes smiling as much as his mouth, the mage reciprocated with a short laugh. I was struck utter dumb, and I was far from alone.
"Felassan!" Ciara shouted happily, "I can't believe you're here!"
"Ah Little One, I did not expect to see you here," he intoned cheerily, "Though I guess I cannot call you that any more."
"Don't be silly, I don't mind at all," Ciara said, detaching from the man, "Why are you here?"
That broke the spell of utter disbelief on me.
"Good question," I added, glancing at the masked one, "I've got a better one. Who are you?"
Ciara fell in beside the mage, rolling her eyes. To her, he was the furthest thing from a threat. I wasn't convinced, and it must have been obvious too. I have been told I have a certain attentive expression when I see someone I view as dangerous.
"This is Felassan," she said, "He's the reason I left the Dalish to explore the world. Everyone else told me it was madness, but he convinced me that I had to follow my own path."
"Has it been worth it?" Felassan smiled, "I am curious."
"So far," Ciara nodded, "It was hard going until I met Sam, but I've found something worth fighting for with him."
"Oh?" Felassan continued, "Worth fighting for?"
I saw an opportunity, to see what the Dalish opinion of our enterprise might be. Unfortunately for my schemes, Felassan was not actually Dalish.
"She's vice-Chancellor of Free Orlais," I explained, "Second person in the entire Empire, if we have any say in it."
Ciara waved it off, embarrassed beyond what I expected of her. Clearly, she had known this mage since she was a child. Maybe even he was a crush, once upon a time. Felassan's brows gathered together with troubled thoughts, enough to speak on it, but Tiberius had had enough of the diversion, the hypocrite.
"Reunions are wonderful," the magister said, "But onto business. This other elf is Briala, former servant and lover of Celene. A rich source of information, as you can imagine. That is how we know the details."
Briala glared at Tiberius. "How dare you," she growled, "I only accepted your help because you could get me to Halamshiral more quickly, I didn't agree to be your pawn."
Evidently revealing certain details hadn't been part of the plan when they had rode in, and if you don't know what detail in particular she would have preferred to keep hidden, you're an idiot. Tiberius simply raised his arms and shrugged, not caring one iota for her feelings.
I was utterly baffled.
"If you are Celene's lover, why are you with Tiberius at all?" I asked, "You're not a Tevinter spy, or I'll eat my hat." I looked to the magister himself for answers, but he said nothing. He was a compassionate man, in his own way.
Briala's head recoiled away, refusing to put her gaze on us for a moment. Her jaw clenched, and her breath became audibly short. The half-mask failed to hide either tell. She was choking down sadness. My throat dried up a little, feeling bad for pressing her. I moved to apologise quietly to her, but she recovered in time to meet me head on.
"It's your fault!" Briala said, stabbing a finger against my chest, "Celene was ready to give us everything, to free Halamshiral and the elves, but you just couldn't wait. You had to throw it all away to start this absurd, doomed rebellion!"
"Wait? We weren't given any time at all!" I snapped, "Templars, Qunari, assassins hired by someone with enough wealth to assassinate dozens of nobles in a single day. Every improvement we made in Hearth just added to those trying to kill us. They slaughtered our leader's sister, her friends and their children in front of her eyes! You expect us to wait to die?!"
Briala remained silent, while I loomed, awaiting a response with increasing impatience.
"Marquis, I must point out that she is here now to help your cause," Tiberius said slowly, "It is your choice to reject her of course, but I feel you need to know that. Briala, you need to tell him why you have made that decision."
"I agree," Felassan added, his eyes locked on me. The man was perceptive at least. There was a long pause, heavy with expectation.
"Celene intends to bring her full might to bear on the Dales," Briala said, "She has no choice, Gaspard will use his own forces to do so if she doesn't. I begged her to order Gaspard to stand down and to send me instead. I thought I could broker a peace before your war machines caused any irreparable damage. But we both knew that Gaspard would not have listened. He will spend the blood of every man, woman and child in the Dales if it buys him the throne. So Celene declared war herself."
"You make it sound as if Celene was on our side," Ciara asked, "But that just doesn't make sense."
"She was," Briala said deeply, sorrow channelling her tone, "She read all the literature from Hearth. I introduced her to it. She did not agree with every word, but she was willing to change things. Many of the younger nobles were talking about the same ideas."
"Not enough to come to our aid, I notice," I replied.
"Most of the chevaliers are loyal to Gaspard," Briala retorted, "If she did help you, she would face war with half the Empire, not just half the Dales. So she chose to fight you instead, hoping that it will cement her support with the higher nobility who hate you. But I cannot stand by and watch my people butchered for her throne, so I will help you."
"If my reading of the situation is worth anything, Celene already faces Gaspard," Tiberius said, before turning to me, "His allies in the Dales are not gathering in Val Royeaux as ordered, and Gaspard himself will sail from Val Chevin. They shall link up at Lydes and march on Halamshiral in force, before the Royal Army under Celene can arrive."
I shook my head. There was a serious flaw in Gaspard's logic, if Tiberius had a good read on the man.
"But that doesn't make any sense," I said, "If Gaspard goes up against us, we'll put many of his thugs to death even if he does eventually win. He'll lose most of his army, and most of his chevaliers too." They did oh so love charging into the sights of our firelances.
"Perhaps Gaspard knows something that you do not, shemlen," said Felassan, fiddling with his staff, "Even I have heard of the power of your weaponry, but they do not make you invincible."
Unable to fault him there, I grunted my agreement, but I had taken that into consideration long ago. Discipline and aggression are what made the Free Army truly great and I was very proud of that even then, but most of our soldiers still carried pikes or crossbows. It would be 9:41 by the time that changed.
"Then I'll crush his army before it can gather," I snarled back, "Tiberius, you better start talking about the troops already at Lydes or I'm bringing our Templars into this."
The magister actually cringed, before getting himself correct.
"Twenty thousand, most of the professional forces in Gaspard's camp from the western Dales," Tiberius said, before smiling again, "I understand you smashed their friends at Sahrnia."
"Hoping to do the same to them," I replied.
"It'll be easy," Ciara declared, "We're better and there's more of us."
"As long as we can get there in time," I said, rubbing my neck, "It'll take two days to settle things here. Any idea how many more troops that'll mean?"
Tiberius shook his head. "Perhaps some of Celene's vassals could be tricked into joining Gaspard's, but unless they start pressing peasants into service, twenty thousand is about as many as you can expect."
"But Gaspard can still bring his army in by sea," Briala corrected, "And Lydes' walls are high. The army can hold out until he arrives, even if you can breach the defences."
"Then we need to march even earlier," I sighed, "Fuck."
Ciara came and pat me on the side. "I'll tell the others," she said, "I know how you hate the politics."
I barked a laugh. "So do you, yet here we are," I said, "Go on ahead, I want to speak to Tiberius privately about something anyway." To see the man about a horse, to be exact.
With a nod, Ciara took off at pace, waving for Briala and Felassan to join her. The latter did, but Briala remained, causing the others to stall as they looked to her to move. She stood bolt upright, her shoulders back, feet rooted to the spot.
"I must ask," she said, "Is it true you are from another world?"
The question that always came. It was getting tiresome, but thankfully, there was a better way than saying yes and having to go through the process of proving it all. At least she didn't ask me to prove my immunity to magic.
"You will march with us," I replied, "Ciara, show her the book. Armen has it. The book with images from Earth, that is."
"I know which one," Ciara snorted, "Come on, princess, you're in for a treat."
Briala departed without any further delay, Felassan lingering for a moment to examine me, his smile utterly gone. Not one to be intimidated, not least by a mage, I stared him down until he left. Noticing he wasn't wearing any shoes in the process, which was curious to my mind.
"I don't like that one," Gaius said, addressing his elder, "We should not have trusted her."
"Whatever you say, Bitch Puddin'," I said flatly. Both Tevinter mages regarded me in confusion. I did not offer an explanation then, and I won't here either.
"Tiberius, may I speak to you alone?" I asked.
The magister inclined his head in agreement, and bade his grandson to stay with a finger pointed to the ground. Gaius threw his arms in frustration, but obeyed. Together, Tiberius and I began the walk back towards the palace at a crawl pace. We were quiet for a little while, mostly because I was gathering my thoughts.
"Do you wish to speak about why I am helping you, now that you know the elf's story?" he inquired, "My personal motivations, not the decision of the Magisterium."
That wasn't the reason for the talk, but I knew we had to go there, now that the notion had been spoken of.
"You don't believe we can win," I said, remembering his Christmas visit, "And I suspect you have enough influence to get out of those orders with ease."
"You're wondering why I am prolonging matters," said Tiberius, stopping in his tracks, "When the faster you lose, the more likely it is you will take me up on my offer. Or so you think."
"Exactly."
"The only way I can prove my good intentions is by supporting yours, Sam," the magister said, resuming the walk, "What I propose for you cannot work if you do not trust me. Yes, you will lose, but it will not be because I withheld any support. My battlemages and I will wear your sigil as our own, fight with you. When it is all over, I can come to you and say that we have proven ourselves, and your place is with us. By my granddaughter's side, protecting our people from the Qunari hordes that would destroy us."
"A cunning plan," I mused, "You still haven't gotten around the fact that you own slaves, though."
"You are more valuable than all my slaves put together, don't think that I would hesitate to free every single one of them to prove a point," Tiberius laughed, "The rest of the family would likely be displeased, until they saw Aurelia's new power."
Yay for the mother of my child being a walking nuke. "It isn't going to go down that way, you understand," I said.
"We shall see," Tiberius said.
"Either way... onto something else," I said, "You're the only expert on 'outlanders' that I know, so this should be interesting."
"What would you like to know?" Tiberius asked.
I halted to explain. "I fought Madame de Fer yesterday. She came at me with her spirit-blade, tried to cut the head off my horse to pin me down and finish me off with a dagger," I said, "The blade broke against Bellona's skin, just like it would have if she had tried to cut me with it instead. Care to explain?"
"Does anyone know of this?!" Tiberius asked at once.
I was caught off guard. "Eh, Lady Vivienne herself, all of the Loyalist mages, the Tranquil, they all saw it. I told a good few people... including Leha," I thought aloud, "So it's probably all around the city by now, but why does that matter?"
"You are great, great danger if that is true," Tiberius whispered.
"So you know why my horse suddenly has my ability to deflect magic?" I asked.
"Of course I do," Tiberius replied, "Tiberia Major wrote that the First Outlander's favoured steeds all were able to deflect magic, but only when being ridden by him. The theory among my ancestors seemed to be that the loyalty of the animal and the appreciation of the master for it allowed for limited 'essence-joining" to occur. For the same reason your offspring will undoubtedly be powerful mages, your horse can share your ability when you're in contact with it. It's about the soul and its whims. A child and its mother are a part of a father's soul, a war horse is part of a warrior's soul. The connection with your child is far greater of course, hence the difference in what happens."
"Which means what?" I asked, "Why would that be dangerous to me? Sounds more like a benefit than a risk." In fact, it sounded like I could hold hands with Julie, Tam, or maybe even the others and they'd get the same deal. Which would have been nice, if it was the case, but alas, it wasn't.
"Think about it," Tiberius said, closing in on me, "If you can transfer your immunity to the Fade to a horse, some might be under the impression you could transfer it to another person. Or even many people. Your immunity was an oddity, it was your weapons that were talked about the most at court. But imagine the lengths that the Chantry or the Qun will go to in order to capture you, for their goal to throw back magic forever!"
He paused for breath.
"They'll kill you six different ways before they realise it can't be done, and that's not even the worst thing. I am not sure that it even is impossible. It's entirely uncharted territory."
My eyes widened. I felt a cold sweat on my neck. Real fear hit me. The magister was absolutely correct. This was Exalted March, Total War with the Qun level threatening. The fear of magic was widespread and deeply rooted everywhere. I began to appreciate why Tiberius was so eager to have me come to the Imperium; his kind would likely be the target of a true genocide, if his worst fears about the nature of outlanders were true. Appreciation not large enough to agree to his absurd plan, but enough to respect his effort, at least.
"Then I must win," I croaked out, before clearing my throat.
"You cannot win," Tiberius sighed, "The numbers are stacked too highly against you."
"Maybe not, certainly not if I have to beat them all at once," I replied, regaining my steel, "But divided, I will beat them."
Perhaps I should have listened then and there to the man, but even with decades of retrospect, I cannot see any way I could have acted differently. I simply did not have all the facts.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Smallish chapter completing the third part of what should have been only one chapter. Only two more chapters to the end of the volume, though as with the last three, they might get split up due to huge length. I haven't written any of it yet, so we'll see.
Twenty internet cookies to those who can guess which video game/novel character was the inspiration for Aurelia's appearance. Hopefully I haven't made it too easy. And no, her personality won't be modelled on the same.
We're really moving now.
By the way, if my stories suddenly disappear, it's due to some guy who claims to have reported every single chapter of my Wars of the Systems Alliance story for non-compliance with the terms of service. Even though that is my least offensive story, and I can see no way that it breaks the terms regardless.
Ioialoha: Glad to hear you find it so enthralling.
Jarjaxle: The Templar-Mage War hasn't started yet, but... I think it's fairly obvious that Sam and Co will have to play a part in it. The mages with him would demand it. Have a very interesting idea as to how that might be achieved.
Hypothetical Spiritual Entity: I share your opinion entirely. Very fun lady. Shit politics.
Lord Mortem: No doubt there are a good number.
Orco-n7: You're telling me that you translate my stories? Using what? Google? And they translate well? I am amazed.
Tusken1602: Cheers.
American-Gentleman96: I decided that the autobiographical style would let me build up tension and expectation in a way that suited the story best. I've already been called out on it for laziness, but it is really very effective to my mind. Plus the story was originally a less than subtle jab at the self-insert genre, where someone from our world arrives in Thedas with all the knowledge of the future that they need, or most of it. Those stories are usually in first person, either like this or in present tense.