A Tale of Two Wardens
Chapter 10 - The General's Choice
"Alistair, doesn't something about this…feel wrong?" Theron asked as the group of wardens stood beside the fire, readying themselves for whatever small part of the battle they would take part in. Ever since he had heard Loghain's words in the tent, he couldn't shake this sense of apprehension over the fight, he had always trusted his instincts but he was out of his field here.
"I don't understand it either, Theron, I want to fight with Duncan, but if Duncan agrees then well….it's what we have to do," Alistair responded, but there was something to his words that struck Theron, something deeper behind them.
"Are you ok Lara?" Alistair asked, shifting the conversation
Lara looked up at Alastair from her seated position where she had been absentmindedly polishing her sword with a small stone. "I'm ok, just thinking about my brother. There is a massive horde of Darkspawn out there, and Maker knows where he is."
"He's doing an important duty, we need to defeat the Darkspawn but if the horde breaks off to the north, it could mean danger for the rest of Ferelden," Alistair responded before placing his hand on Lara's shoulder.
"The King promised he would get vengeance for your family."
"It's just hard," she sighed before looking up at him. "Thank you though."
"I don't know what our orders will be after the battle, but I'll help Lara, I'll help find him with you. I was there too at the castle, what was done there….I'll help you," Theron added and Lara gave him a warm smile.
"Thank you, the both of you."
Alistair opened his mouth to say something but his words were cut off by the sound of a war horn.
"It's time, let's go."
Theron had never seen this many soldiers in his life, hundreds of soldiers stood in rows beneath them in the gorge that the Ostagar fortifications were built over, but what was even more terrifying, was what the army below him would soon face. The horde of Darkspawn was marching forward, the corruption they carried was so thick that a dark fog amassed around the horde, obscuring it and making it impossible to determine the size.
Another war horn rang out and Theron was snapped out of his focus on the army.
"We have to go, we have to be ready for the signal," Lara said and Theron nodded his head, following the Wardens to the Tower of Ishal in the distance.
"Wardens, we received word that you would be joining us at the tower, we must hurry, the battle has begun and we need to be ready to light the signal fire," said a man who had been waiting at the gate towards the tower. Theron ran his eyes over the man, this was not just a regular soldier, his armor was made of glittering silverite that shone ever brighter in the torchlight.
"Let's go then," Alistair replied.
"My name is Elric Maraigne, General Loghain picked a dozen of us from the King's royal guard to protect the tower of Ishal. We had a full legion of soldiers from Denerim housed here, but now it is just us," Elric explained as they walked up the path towards the tower of Ishal.
"Why are you not with the King? Isn't it the job of the royal guard to be at the King's side?" Lara asked, stepping forward to walk at the head of the group. "That doesn't make sense if I may say," she added.
"I cannot say, but this was the order of General Loghain. If the general had his way, the King would not be serving at the front of the forces, but King Cailan demanded to serve with his men. There are plenty there who can protect him," Elric replied.
The group made their way closer to the tower when suddenly a loud bang could be heard across the field. Another bang followed, and then another. Suddenly Alistair put his hand in front of Lara, stopping her, before turning to Elric, "Darkspawn, the Darkspawn are here."
"How do you–" Elric began to say but was cut off by the sound of screaming in the distance, followed by another loud bang. The group could now see what was making the noise, a massive Darkspawn smashed through one of the walls and stepped forward.
"Maker….what is that?" Theron whispered, his eyes opening wide as he saw the ogre in front of him. The beast stood over twice the height of a man, with massive horns, and scarred purple and gray flesh. In its hand was a massive stone that the creature had used to break down some of the old walls around Ostagar.
"There is no time – RUN!" Alistair yelled as he drew his sword. "We have to get around it and get to the entrance of the tower!"
"Wait!" Lara yelled and turned to Elric, "We need you to get to the King and tell him we might not get to the signal!"
"Right…right I'll go, maker watch over you," Elric replied before running off.
"Follow me!" Alistair yelled and led the group to an old wall just outside of the tower, out of the sight of the Ogre,
"How in the world are we going to get past that thing?" Theron hissed as quiet as she could as the three Wardens pressed up to the wall.
Alistair stood there quietly, trying to come up with an answer but he was interrupted by Lara, "We need a distraction, someone who can pull its attention away from the entrance. It's huge, it can't move quickly."
The three Wardens all looked at one another before Theron drew his sword and one of his throwing knives, "I'll do it. You guys are in bulkier armor and I'm smaller. I can draw his attention over to the fortifications and climb in and then join you from behind, and if not….it'll get you two in there." Theron shut his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. "Maker…what have I gotten myself into."
"Be careful," Alistair whispered and Theron simply nodded.
Lara reached forward and put her hand on his shoulder. "Follow us after, we need you," she whispered before pulling her helmet visor down.
Theron steadied himself, muttering a small prayer to the maker under his breath, "Blessed are they who stand before the corrupt and the wicked and do not falter."
WIth his sword held tightly in his right hand, he ran forward, his eyes focused on his target, a gap in the fortifications right across from him. If he could get there, he would be out of the reach of the ogre. He ran forward, running directly towards the ogre who roared the moment Theron entered its sight. The ogre stomped on the ground, hard enough to shake the ground around Theron but he had to stay steady on his feet. With a swing from his left arm, the throwing knife buried itself into the chest of the ogre, causing it to roar in rage at Theron, but the pain was more an annoyance than an injury. The ogre turned and began to run towards Theron but Theron was faster, diving forward into the fortifications that were still standing. The ogre swung out with its hand, knocking down a few of the pillars but not enough to take out the fortifications protecting Theron.
"Alistair, we have to go!" Lara barked and grabbed Alistair's hand, pulling him out from the wall they were hiding behind.
"You're not my mother, I'm coming!" Alistair replied and the two of them, with Reilly at their heels, ran toward the entrance of the Tower of Ishal.
"Theron! Hurry!" Lara yelled out as the ogre roared again, slamming into the fortification wall.
"Shit shit shit!" Theron yelled as he dove forward to escape the crumbling stone of the fortification that was coming down around him. The ogre grabbed a piece of the fallen masonry and slammed it into the fortifications, this time taking out a large section of the remaining wall. Theron continued to run through the fortifications, but he was running out of ground and was beginning to reach the turn towards the very entrance that Lara and Alistiar were running towards. Theron began to turn when suddenly he stopped, his eyes opened wide when he saw the ogre taking its chance. The ogre grabbed another piece of the broken stone and threw it forward, directly above where Theron had been standing. The masonry began to fall apart around him and Theron ran forward, but it wasn't fast enough, a piece of stone fell directly down onto his back, knocking the wind out of him.
"Maker….shit…" he growled, trying to push himself up as the ogre began to march towards him.
"Alistair, wait! We need to help Theron!" Lara yelled, stopping in her tracks when she saw Theron knocked down. "I've lost enough people," she spat before turning on her heel and running towards the ogre itself.
"Over here you big horned bastard!" Lara yelled as she ran forward with her shield in front of her but the ogre swung out its arm towards Lara, slamming it into her shield and knocking her back.
"Lara!" Alistair yelled and ran forward towards her with Reilly in tow.
"I'm fine! Get Theron!" Lara barked as she pushed herself up. Defense was useless against something as massive as the ogre, she either had to hit it or dodge out of the way. She let her shield go, letting it crash into the ground and she gripped the grip of her sword with two hands..
Distracted by Lara, the ogre turned its attention towards her and roared before throwing a punch, but Lara was quicker, quickly shifting aside and swinging up towards the Ogre's arm. The enchanted blade cut into the bicep of the Ogre, causing it to roar in pain and stumble backwards, clutching its bleeding arm.
"Come on, come at me!" Lara yelled and charged forward with the blade in front of her.
By the time Alistair reached Theron, Theron was pushing himself up and trying to catch the breath that was knocked out of him.
"Theron, Theron are you ok?!" Alistair asked and Theron simply nodded. Reilly ran up beside him and licked his hands to comfort him.
"We have to go, Lara can't fight that thing on its own," Theron hissed and picked up his blade from the ground and with a quick look at one another, Theron and Alistair ran forward.
Lara dove to the side to avoid another punch from the Ogre, but she landed poorly, causing her sword to fall out of her hand. Lara cursed as she pushed herself up but she froze when she realized she was standing in the shadow of the ogre. The beast growled and raised its fist to slam down on Lara but the ogre was stopped as Alistair ran forward, slamming his shield into the leg of the ogre, causing it to stumble and fall down on one knee.
At the same time, Theron ran forward with his dagger in one hand and his sword in the other before jumping onto the back of the ogre. The beast cried out, the two blades piercing its thick hide. The ogre shifted, trying to knock Theron but when the ogre moved, so did Theron. He took his enchanted dagger and pushed it in farther, the enchantment burning the ogre's skin which caused the ogre to roar in agony.
Seeing her chance, Lara pushed herself up and grabbed her blade. With a tight grip on the blade, she spun on her heel and cut deeply into the leg the ogre was standing on, causing it to fall forward with Theron still grappling onto its back.
"Die you big ugly beast!" Theron yelled as the ogre fell forward and Theron pulled his dagger out of the ogre's back and buried it into its throat, ending its life with a disgusting gurgle that sprayed out the black oozing blood of the darkspawn right into Theron's face.
"Maker…we did it," Alistair whispered as Theron climbed off the back of the dead Ogre, "I can't wait to tell Duncan about this," he added, excitement appearing in his voice.
"We can tell him together," Lara said with a smirk
"It'll be a great story," Theron added, wiping the blood off of his face with a handkerchief. He opened his mouth to say something but they were quickly brought back to reality as Reilly began to bark, causing all of the Wardens to turn and look at the hole in the fortifications that the ogre had broken through. A group of Darkspawn were charging towards them.
"Into the tower, now!" Lara yelled and the group ran towards the tower's entrance.
The Wardens ran into the tower, slamming the door closed behind them but when the group turned, three of the King's royal guards had their blades held up at them.
"Who are you?! Is that monster dead?" One of the guards asked but he was interrupted by the sound of a darkspawn slamming onto the door that the Wardens entered.
"We don't have time, the darkspawn are coming and we need to light the beacon when the signal is sent!" Alistair responded and the guards all seemed to understand the threat immediately.
"Maker be with you…go, we will guard the entrance," another of the soldiers responded and they all looked at one another, an understanding between them. These soldiers were about to die, so that the Wardens could reach the top of the tower safely.
"We have to go!" Theron yelled as there was another slam at the door and the three Wardens ran past the guards.
"Those poor men," Lara whispered as the Wardens made their way to the stairs.
"I know, but they know their duty…and we know ours,"
Eventually the Wardens reach the very top of the tower, a large open gallery that originally was used as an aviary for the messenger birds of the Tevinter Imperium, but now was simply an empty room with a massive bonfire built in the center. Immediately Alistair made his way to one of the open balconies to look down at the battle below. "Maker…." he whispered, staring down at the battlefield in the distance. It was almost impossible to separate the actual army from the Darkspawn they were fighting.
Lara came up behind him and put her hand on his back, "Duncan and the others, they're going to be ok, Alistair. They're going to be ok. If we could take down one of those monsters, the experienced Grey Wardens can do even better," Lara said, trying to reassure Alistair but Alistair had his eyes focused on the battle ahead.
While Lara and Alistair were watching the battle below, Theron locked the door behind him, pulling the bar down across the door. "Where is the signal? When is it coming?" He called out while grabbing a torch off of the wall and bringing it over to the bonfire, the wood covered in a thin sheen of oil to spread the fire immediately and cause a bright blaze to signal Loghain's forces.
"I don't know, it should've come by now," Alistair replied when suddenly there was a bang on the door they had entered.
"They're here already," Lara growled, drawing her blade.
"We need to hold this room, we need to," Alistair said, drawing his blade as well.
Theron dropped the torch to draw his blade, and in that moment, the Darkspawn broke into the room.
Reilly charged first, tearing across the room and slamming a hurlock down onto the ground, but more darkspawn entered the room behind it, quickly overwhelming the Wardens. Lara fell, an emissary firing a bolt of mana directly at her and sending her into a wall, knocking her unconscious. Alistair was able to distract the emissary with his templar powers, enough for Theron to kill it, but it wasn't enough to stop two hurlocks from charging forward. One swung out a mace slamming right into his chest plate to wind him and another cut along his side at a gap in his armor, knocking him down. Try as he might, Theron was unable to stop the onslaught of Darkspawn as more entered the room. Two more hurlocks entered the gallery wielding crossbows which were fired at both him and Reilly. Theron's whole body seared with pain from the crossbow bolt in his shoulder and lower back, sending him to the ground but at that very moment, just as his body crashed to the cold ground, he saw the signal. While they were able to overpower the Wardens, the darkspawn were not paying much attention to the bodies of their victims, this gave Theron a chance. Drawing as much of his strength, Theron crawled forward, moving as slowly as possible with his right arm hanging limp at his side. He crawled to the torch that he had dropped before and while his body was running out of energy, he managed to reach the torch. He grabbed it with his good arm and lifted it up to the beacon, lighting it and causing the fire to burst to life, but this also drew the darkspawn's attention and one of the crossbowmen fired at Theron, burying another bolt into his back.
It was like his voice was taken away, he couldn't even cry out in pain, barely a whisper coming out as he slumped down to the ground and looked into the distance, into the night sky that was obscured by smoke from the battlefield below. "I hope….I hope I didn't let you down mom….I hope you're proud of me…I'll see you soon," Theron thought to himself as his eyes slowly shut, the life draining out of him. The very last thing he heard was a loud roar, but before he could try and see what it was, his eyes had shut and he fell unconscious.