Having spoken at length to his father and sister, Jayden had then contacted Fergus and given his report. He had kept it as brief as he could, sweat was already beading his brow and he was alternating between hot and cold. It wasn't unexpected given the wound and the poison. Laying back on the bunk needing to rest for a moment, he closed his eyes, trying to block out images of the Darkspawn and fire engulfing Gwaren. He couldn't bear the thought of his home ending up as a barren, lifeless place as the Wilds had. He concentrated on thinking about the people and resources he would need to stand a chance of finding a cure for tainted land, before his exhaustion finally caught up with him. He dozed, the pain of his shoulder and general ache of his body filtering through into fitful dreams of his home.

Jayden slipped in and out of consciousness for the next two days. He muttered incoherently, though at times those watching over him could make out names, occasionally Lyra, but more often Anders. When he was conscious, though that was briefly he was agitated, thinking himself back in Gwaren with the Darkspawn to face. Several times Dylan and Reece had to use sleep spells as he would not be calmed, frustrated they would not let him get up. Zevran rarely left his side; his most lethal poison had coated the blade and although given repeated doses of the antidote it was no quick recovery. Despite telling himself it was irrational, Zevran still felt the deep gnawing of guilt. None of them had expected him to survive the confrontation with the Alpha and he certainly didn't want it to be his poison that ensured he didn't.

While Airyl spent most of her time with Jayden, she also spent time on deck. She was anxious and restless, disliking being on the ship with its strange smells and stranger movement. There was nowhere to run or hunt, though training with those present of her pack helped to burn off her excess energy. She had also started to notice a smell about Jayden that she associated with the creatures they had fought and it was getting stronger.

Gawain was in a constant state of frustration and anxiety, there was no way to explain why he should remain at Jayden's side without revealing who he was. Instead, he had to make do with whatever information the Warden Commander passed on to Captain Marcus who passed on daily reports to the General. He sometimes managed to get a quick word with one of the Enchanters, but they always said the same thing, that they were doing all they could. Captain Marcus kept him as busy as he could, but there was only so much to do on the ship. He had vowed he would not leave Jayden's side again and he prayed that death would not take from his sworn duty.

xXx

Yawning loudly Dylan sat on the floor watching his friend sleep. Glancing up he gave a weak smile to Zevran who handed him a herbal tea. "This poison of yours is vicious."

"It was meant to kill the Alpha."

"I'm not getting at you Zev, I'm just saying it's a potent poison, I've never dealt with anything like this."

"It is not something I use with any frequency, but the situation seemed to call for it. I can only hope it will have done its job on the Alpha."

"Well, I can't imagine Darkspawn looking after each other like we do."

Smiling slightly Zevran nodded. "True enough." He frowned as Jayden cried out in distress. "His dreams never seem to give him peace."

"After everything he has been through, I don't suppose we can be surprised."

Airyl inched closer to Jayden whining and pawing gently at his arm in her agitation.

"Damn it." Dylan snarled moving to Jayden realising the fever was taking hold again. "This cannot just be the poison." Both of them looked up as the door opened, Rathnal and Alistair slipping into the room. Both men looked pale. "What's wrong?" Dylan demanded.

Alistair sank onto the chair. "We have both started to sense the taint."

"I knew it!" Dylan snapped. "I knew this wasn't just the poison!"

"He has already had two doses of the preventative, has he not?" Zevran muttered. "Surely that should have been enough to keep the blight sickness at bay."

"Perhaps the Alpha's blood is different somehow." Alistair muttered glumly.

Rubbing his forehead, Rathnal sighed deeply. "There is just still so much I don't know."

Dylan carefully eased back the dressing on Jayden's shoulder hissing angrily. "That wasn't there this morning." They all looked at the dark marks beginning to creep across his skin from the wound. "We have to give him the cure, but I don't know how he will react to it given he has already had the preventative. Added to that we have no way of knowing how it might interact with the multiple doses of antidote to Zev's poison he has had, but we don't have a choice."

"You're right." Rathnal stated. "I have no means here to make him a Warden." He frowned as Jayden moaned in pain and clutched his gut. "Maker, what's happening now?"

xXx

Glancing down seeing tainted hands clutching at a weeping wound, Jayden tried to cry out in panic, but he couldn't move or speak of his own accord. He heard snarling realising it was from his own lips, or rather the creature he seemed to be. He staggered through dark passages, the way ahead lit only with the faint glow of the phosphorescent moss clinging to rocks. He collapsed to his knees growling and groaning clutching his gut by a pool of water, silently screaming in horror at the face looking back at him, before he recognised the scarring and realised the gut wound was one, he had inflicted. Trembling he tried to exert some will over the body, but he was an observer only in that respect. Heart pounding, Jayden wondered if this could possibly be real. Pain like fire flared in his shoulder and he gave a gasp of pain, his eyes flaring open realising Rathnal, Alistair and Zevran were holding him down as Dylan's magic flowed through him. He glanced at Rathnal as he gripped his arm.

"Will listen, the poison has weakened you and the taint is taking hold. We need to give you the cure, but we have no idea what that will do given you have already had two doses of the preventative."

"No, not yet." He shuddered feeling like ice, sweat stinging his eyes.

"Will, we have to …"

"No, not yet. Not until I see where he is going." He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth in pain, missing the frowns of his friends.

"Who is it you are speaking of?" Zevran coaxed, gently smoothing back a damp strand of hair from Jayden's eyes.

"The Alpha." Jayden gasped. "It wasn't a dream, I felt his pain, saw through his eyes." He forced his eyes to open, seeing Rathnal's horrified look.

"The taint is connecting you to the Alpha, I … I didn't know that was possible."

"He's still alive. If I can figure out where he is going …"

Alistair shook his head. "The damn thing will be underground, there is no way you could figure out where it is and even if you did, what are you going to do, go after it? Into its territory?"

"No, but if it is going back to the army, I might see something useful."

"No." Dylan snapped, removing the dressing from his shoulder. "Will look. This isn't something we can mess about with. What you saw was something brought on by fever and even if it was real it isn't worth risking your life. We already know we are up against a massive army, what more is there to know?"

Lying weakly back on the bunk Jayden closed his eyes. "I don't know."

"Damn it." Dylan muttered realising he was unconscious again. He grabbed the vial of the cure startled when Rathnal stopped him.

"If Will really is seeing through the Alpha's eyes, he is right, he might see something that could help us."

"How far are you willing to let the taint spread?" Dylan growled. "This could just be fevered ramblings!"

"You don't believe that any more than we do. Whatever else you believe about him, he keeps being shown things we need to know. For the moment let's see if Will finds out anything useful."

"I won't let him die!" Dylan snarled.

"You think I want him to die?" Rathnal snapped. "But if he is seeing what the Alpha's sees, he might discover a weakness we can exploit, or at least get a glimpse at the size of the force we are facing. Damn it Dylan you saw what happened at Gwaren, we need every advantage we can get."

xXx

The dark passageways seemed never ending, Jayden marvelled that the Alpha could keep moving given the nature of its wound, but already the pain was less and he felt a burning itch instead of the piercing pain and the Alpha's steps were quicker. Its healing was phenomenal. He wondered how the Alpha knew where it was going, terror gripping him as he felt the Archdemon sweep into the Alpha's mind. He wanted to shrink himself, desperate to wake up, terrified that the Archdemon would realise he was also present. Urthemiel however was gone almost instantly, but Jayden was left with the horrifying feeling that the tainted dragon had known he was there and wanted him to see the Alpha's destination. The Alpha was moving quicker now, the wound had stopped weeping, scar tissue already forming. Jayden felt the strength in the creature's body increase and it began to run.

xXx

Frowning Reece stared at the tainted flesh as Dylan carefully cleansed the shoulder wound. "We should give him the cure now." He knew Dylan felt the same way so didn't expect an answer. "How far do you think the Warden Commander will let this go, I mean they are friends aren't they?"

"Wardens do terrible things in the name of doing what they must." Matthew murmured. "And let's not forget he was willing to let Will die at Ostagar in order to save the King and have his memories restored."

Sighing Dylan finished putting on a new dressing and stood. "We can't force Will to take it as much as I would like to and he is determined to find out where the Alpha is going."

xXx

Finally, Jayden saw what looked like light from fires up ahead and realised the Alpha was making for it. The passage opened up into a huge cavern, multiple fires flickering throughout. Jayden could barely comprehend what he was seeing, by each fire there was a huge ogre, clearly an alpha. Though the armour was mismatched it was covered in spikes. With each Alpha there were at least ten others, though smaller they looked equally brutal. Jayden shuddered, there were at least twenty fires. He noticed some scuffling breaking out amongst the ogres, but a roar from their Alpha and they stopped. Jayden wanted to shrink from sight, as the Alpha he was connected to stepped into the cavern, all of the ogres turning to face it. The Alpha gave a snarl and the ogres roared in unison. Jayden woke with a start, his skin felt like fire and he glanced at his arm, the taint having spread down his forearm.

"What did you see?" Rathnal asked gently, handing him a drink.

Hands shaking Jayden could barely hold onto the mug. "The damn thing has an army of ogres and I think the Alpha has been put in charge of them. There were at least two hundred and those are the ones I saw."

"That's impossible. Ogres are the rarest of all Darkspawn."

"You said that in Gwaren." Jayden snapped. "I know what I saw."

"I need to speak to Ayanna, perhaps Avernus will have some idea or strategy that could be employed for those kinds of numbers, he's read every book in that damn place, there must be something that can help us."

"Maybe Morrigan has something that can help in her mother's tome." As he left Jayden shivered, giving a grateful smile as Zevran wrapped another blanket around his shoulders. "I'm starting to think that the Archdemon didn't want me to die at Gwaren. I think it wanted me alive so I could see this."

"Why you?" Zevran continued to tuck the blanket around him.

"In the Deep Roads the Archdemon whispered in the warden's minds that they would fail, the horde was too vast to defeat. Since they have had the brooches, it has not found a way to infiltrate their minds. This was a clever way of seeding more fear and despair." He shifted slightly trying to get comfortable. "They could have swamped us at any time in Gwaren, it was all staged. Of course, he wanted to destroy Gwaren, but getting me out there to face the Alpha, it was all just theatre."

"You can't be sure of that." Dylan stated anxiously.

"A single arrow could have killed me at any point."

"He couldn't have known the Alpha's blood would have enabled this." Reece muttered.

"Of course he did, because he made sure it could. The Archdemon has knowledge of blood magic and blight magic, that's all it would need. I … I thought the Alpha wounded my shoulder as part of just making me suffer before it killed me, now I think it was to make sure its blood got into mine."

"There was no way you could have escaped. It couldn't have known about the Sylvan."

"I'm sure the Archdemon would have had an alternative worked out and he controls the horde which means he controls the Alpha. He is playing with us, taunting us with what he thinks will make us despair. He should never have shown me, now we can plan for them."

"If you believe the Archdemon knew you could see through the Alpha's eyes, why didn't he attack your mind?" Reece asked anxiously.

"I doubt he would touch my mind directly again, unless he's damn certain he would be able to take over."

Matthew frowned as he paced. "Will, if you are right and the Archdemon used blood and blight magic to ensure you were tainted so you would see through the Alpha, might he not also have had another motive." He swallowed uneasily as they turned to him, Jayden easing himself up. "Listen Will, that thing has been thwarted twice when trying to control you, I think you are right that he won't risk entering your mind until he knows he can win."

"What is it that are you suggesting?" Zevran demanded feeling his gut begin to churn.

"What if the Archdemon's intention was to make sure Will became an ally. What if the taint in him has been enhanced by magic. Will, he has been in your mind, he knows the kind of man you are. He would have known you would have stayed tainted in the hopes of seeing something of use to us." He shuddered. "Think of how much the people would despair if Andraste's Champion becomes a servant of the blight. Wouldn't that be taken as a sign that Andraste and the Maker have truly abandoned us?"

Jayden lost any colour he still had. "He is cunning enough for that to be his plan."

Dylan sucked in a sharp breath. "If that is true, maybe you weren't going to escape, maybe they were going to take you back to the Archdemon! We would have all thought you dead and in the chaos of the Darkspawn destroying Gwaren, effectively forcing us to flee, no-one would have known you had survived. Dead you are useless to the Archdemon, but imagine Andraste's Champion, not only a servant to the blight, but one of the Archdemon's generals leading the horde against his own people. The Sylvan's ruined his plan."

Zevran slowly stretched. "While it is possible of course, we cannot presume to know the mind of the Archdemon. He does not have Will and so his plan has failed."

"Which is why he showed him the ogres, so he would allow the taint to grow. If Will doesn't take the cure the Archdemon's plan might well succeed." Dylan pushed.

Jayden lay back on the bunk exhausted in a way he had never felt before, his body felt so heavy he doubted he could lift a finger let alone sit back up. In his heart he believed Dylan was right and it terrified him.

Matthew knelt beside the bunk. "I know you want to help the Wardens and I know you carry the burden of this blight on your shoulders, but this isn't a game, this is your life. I won't stand by and watch you become a ghoul, even if the Warden Commander will."

"Matthew …"

"No Will, listen I understand you are friends, but the Warden Commander has changed, circumstances and his position have dictated it, but I have no doubt he would exchange your life to get what he needs. I won't stand by and let that happen. It's time to take the cure and Maker forgive me, I will force it down your throat if I have to."

"But …"

"No but's, you have seen enough and we can't risk you any further. You are weak and we know the cure is brutal so Dylan is going to put you under a sleep spell while it does its job."

"Matthew …"

"I mean it Will, you are taking the damn cure."

"Alright but don't make me sleep please, if it's not the Alpha I have other awful nightmares. Please."

Matthew glanced at Dylan who looked frustrated but nodded. "Alright." He waited until Jayden drank the contents of the vial before he relaxed.

Sighing Jayden rested his head against Airyl glad of her warmth. "Alright well all we need now is something that kills a lot of ogres in one go. Matthew, could you find Master Govak? I need to speak to him."

"You need to rest and …"

"Please."

"Alright." Matthew glanced at him anxiously. "But after you speak to Govak you need to rest."

xXx

Jayden fell into a doze, relieved as he was roused as the door opened, Matthew having returned with Govak, he had glimpsed the ogres again and it was terrifying.

Frowning Govak shook his head. "You look dreadful lad."

"I feel it."

"We can talk when you are …"

"It won't wait."

"Lad we are on a ship, Darkspawn can't get us here."

"Exactly, so we have time to plan."

"Just listen to him." Matthew snapped. "So we stand a chance of convincing him to rest."

"Alright, alright, come on then lad, what's this about?"

"How much of that special fire of yours was left in your workshop?"

"One box, completely by accident you understand, we were all in such a rush."

"And how much does one box contain?"

"Due to its volatile nature, there are four vials per box."

"Only four!" Reece gasped. "It destroyed the whole bloody place!"

Govak winced. "I did mention it was potent!"

Dylan paled. "And you have more vials on this ship?"

"Two boxes. My men and the golems watch it constantly in shifts."

"Well that's comforting."

Govak turned back to Jayden. "What are you thinking lad?"

"If four vials could cause that much destruction and you still have eight left that might be just what we need. Could the contents of one vial be separated out into several vials so we could cover a larger surface area of multiple targets."

"It's tricky lad, once in the vials and stoppered it was meant to stay in there until used. That said with the right equipment and a base to work in, we could do it. The ingredients are rare, but if you can source those too, I can make more. I reckon you are thinking about taking out the horde with them and it could do it, but I don't think quantity is your problem, getting the vials into the horde will be. It is unstable, you can't just launch it out on a catapult or throw it like the grenades. It could explode right next to you and you've seen what it can do, how fast it spreads. It explodes in the wrong place; you could end up killing your own soldiers and allies. Pity we don't have a dragon of our own, it could fly the stuff over the horde, assuming I could stabilise it enough for flight. Tell you what, me and the lads once we get to Highever, you get us somewhere to work and we will get this stabilised and separated. You figure out how to get it where it needs to go."

"Thank you Master Govak."

"Listen lad I … thanks, for doing what you did for us. For what you would have done for us."

"I'm a soldier, I …"

"You might well be, but that went above and beyond. Right, better let you get some rest. I have work to do."

The moment the door shut Dylan turned to Jayden. "If Govak can stabilise it, Morrigan could fly it right over the horde and those damn ogres and drop it on them." He knew Jayden would know he meant himself as well, but being so explicit in front of Matthew was too dangerous.

"We would need more than Morrigan to make that work. Those eight vials might be separated into maybe fifty vials, especially if he can make more, the horde would catch onto what we were doing and we would lose the element of surprise. It would need to be a coordinated attack to destroy as many of them as possible."

Reece nipped his lip. "You said Flemeth got you off that battlefield in the form of a huge bird right? Do you think Morrigan can do the same? I mean changing into something else would be the real challenge surely, maybe size would be easy to adjust and that way she could carry more, assuming she would agree to it."

Jayden thought of his own suggestion to Anders to simply change the size of the cat form he could take, if he found himself in danger and the giant spider Morrigan had become that day in the Wilds. "Morrigan definitely knows how to adjust the spell to make the form's size change."

Zevran pulled out a dagger testing the balance in his hand. "Perhaps Morrigan could be persuaded to teach our talented mage friends her clever spell of changing her form and then she would not be alone in this endeavour. Should she agree, of course."

Matthew frowned as he realised Dylan and Reece were glancing at each other. "Don't even think about asking Morrigan to teach you. Do you know what would happen if the Order found out you could do that kind of magic?"

"I can guess." Dylan muttered.

"Can you? Well let me spell it out for all of you! You would be considered dangerous, because not only could you evade the Order, you could teach others, which means in the best case you would be put into solitary in a room with no windows and dosed with magebane daily. If you were allowed out of that room or more likely cell, you would be chained and again dosed with mage bane. Or they might decide to send you to Aeonar, or they might just decide to execute you!" He felt relief as the mages paled, feeling his gut churn at the fury on Jayden's face. "It's how it is, Will. I don't agree with it, especially given we are facing a Blight, but you all need to understand what would happen and three ravens suddenly helping out the army, especially giant ones, well it won't take much for them to figure it out."

"That thing has an army of ogres!" Reece snapped. "If we could do this, we would stand a chance against them. I'd rather take my chances doing that then face them in battle."

"Say you were to actually be mad enough to attempt this, whatever form was taken there would still be risk. I mean it is a sure-fire way to get the Archdemon after you!" Matthew snapped.

"Exactly." Jayden stated. "I assume the wardens will group together so it knows where they are and hopefully will go to them, but it does have the advantage of wings. Ballista on the top of Fort Drakon might be high enough to reach it, but Urthemiel is too cunning. We may need a way to force it there."

Zevran smirked slightly. "A dragon cannot fly without its wings." He shrugged as they turned to him.

Matthew frowned. "And how do you propose we separate the Archdemon from its wings?"

"With distraction and skill. Perhaps one of the ravens, if large enough, could fly someone onto the back of the dragon while it was being distracted by perhaps another giant raven. The membrane of the wing is less armoured than the rest of its body and a rune enhanced sword should have little trouble slicing through."

"Maker, you are serious." Matthew muttered.

"I think this idea could work." Jayden stated softly, almost too exhausted to remain awake. "But we need to be realistic. Assuming Morrigan will teach other mages the spell this will be dangerous. No matter how stable, the vials will still hold explosives that could explode before we want them to. Fly too low over the horde and whoever does this could be killed. If the spell fails for whatever reason and the form reverts back while flying, the fall will kill the mage! Not to mention as Matthew pointed out, the appearance of the Archdemon."

Reece nervously bit his lip. "If I'm going to die, I want it to mean something. This doesn't scare me, well it does, but I will tell you what scares me more, spending the rest of my life in a Circle."

Jayden met Matthews worried gaze. "I'm not asking them to do blood magic Matthew and you have seen how valuable this magic has been with Morrigan being able to scout ahead. If you were so against it I'm surprised you didn't smite her the first time she did it when you were there, or informed other Templars of her abilities."

Dylan nipped his lower lip. "Why haven't you?"

Sighing Matthew lowered his head. "Because I knew what they would do to her and she has risked her life repeatedly to help. I won't turn anyone in who does that magic, but I can't protect you if you do it. Maker I won't be able to protect myself. I will either be exiled for being an accomplice, or they will assume my incompetence that I was unaware you were learning this magic. Either way if this plan was to be put into action and you are discovered my time in the Order is over and perhaps my life."

"Not necessarily." Zevran stated. "There may be a way to avoid serious repercussions for you and the mages, however it may fall on other shoulders." He glanced at Jayden. "The poster declaring you as Andraste's Champion, on it was stated that by order of the Chantry and the Queen herself, you were to be given any and all help to defeat the blight." He met Matthew's shocked gaze. "So by Chantry dictate and the orders of Queen Anora herself, our delightful Champion could order Enchanters Dylan and Reece to learn this magic to aid in the blight effort."

"Will, this is crazy." Matthew whispered as he realised his friend was giving Zevran's words serious consideration. "The Chantry doesn't mean this!"

"Then they should have been more specific in the parameters of the help I was supposed to enlist." Jayden muttered. "Besides those posters were sent throughout Ferelden, I don't see how they could deny it."

"Will …" Matthew gave him a pained look. "They will destroy you."

"Given everything that has happened they might well do that anyway. I am happy to say I ordered Dylan and Reece to learn the magic if they want to participate in this plan. It is protecting you afterwards that we need to ensure. I will speak to the General and have him speak to Queen Anora about royal documented permission to gather any support I deem necessary. I imagine she will not be very pleased, but I believe the General can persuade her. He understands making hard and unpopular choices. He knows what it is to face an enemy with little hope of defeating it and he used whatever tactics he needed during the occupation."

"Will you tell the General why you really need it?" Dylan asked cautiously.

"No, that would put him in too difficult a position." He turned to Matthew. "Now, what would need to be in the document to ensure any mage who does this and yourself are protected?"

Matthew was silent for several minutes, this went against all of his training, everything that had been drilled into him as an initiate and after becoming a Templar and yet what they faced was no ordinary situation and it would require exceptional tactics for them to stand a chance of surviving. "It would have to grant you power to order anyone to provide you with support, skills and knowledge you believe you need, specifically stating that this includes magical assistance. It might be worth putting in it that it excludes the use of blood magic so the Chantry will be at least some way appeased. Even then …" He shuddered. "Are you willing to stand against the Chantry if this blows up in our faces? And you have to understand even with this document, if we are caught, just because the Chantry will believe you ordered them to do it, they will still take us into custody. Once the blight is over and the threat is gone, we will be seen as the threat."

"So, there would need to be a section that anyone I order to do tasks out with their normal duty would be given amnesty by royal decree."

"That still does not change the fact we would now know that magic." Dylan stated softly. "If they find out we know it, even if you could get us amnesty, I suspect we would have lethal accidents."

Sighing Jayden rested his head on the pillow, his temples throbbing. "Then we need an escape plan as well. I will meet with a representative of the Mages Collective." He slowly opened his eyes at a choked noise from Matthew. "Problem?"

"Yes, there is a bloody problem! What are you doing, associating with the Mages Collective?" Matthew felt ice move down his spine as Jayden eased himself back up, clearly with difficulty, his eyes dark with anger.

"Because while everyone else ignored my warnings that a blight was coming, I had to find other allies, those who would help me prepare this country for the danger I knew was coming. Where do you think all of the runework came from, for the armour and weapons for the army? Where do you think the additional healing supplies came from? I have contacts in many organisations that have created an invaluable information and resource network and given what we might be about to do, you will damn well need their help if we are caught." Closing his eyes, he grimaced as a wave of nausea took him by surprise. "If the Wardens can do whatever they deem necessary to defeat a blight, then as Andraste's Champion why should I do any less?" He forced his eyes to open. "I will do whatever I must to destroy that army of ogres and you should be bloody proud that you know two mages so willing to risk their lives in the protection of Ferelden!" Shuddering he slumped back onto the bunk his energy reserves depleted. "However, before we consider any of this, we need to speak to Morrigan because without her, this plan has no chance of happening." He grimaced as another wave of nausea hit him. "But we will need to wait until we see her in person to discuss this, we can't risk using the communication crystal in case a warden overhears, just in case Urthemiel does find a way past the brooches' defences." He met Matthew's anxious gaze. "This is war Matthew and we do what we must, but I swear I will do everything in my power to protect you all."

xXx

Author note: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed.