The mood at the Inquisition camp pitched on the Dennet farm was a tense one. Yasmin was off pacing to the side of the tents while the rest of her party and Scout Lace Harding sat around fire. The latest correspondence from Haven was lying somewhere on the requisition table. The Ferelden Queen, Anora, was enroute with an army to sack the village if it came to that. It was only because she still valued Leliana's counsel and Lady Montilyet's letters urging against hasty bloodshed that Anora hadn't already had her soldiers storm the castle.
Yasmin noticed that Scout Harding was clutching a missive from her superior, Charter. Apparently Harding was now in nominal control of Leliana's agents in the absence of the Herald. Despite the obvious youth of the young dwarven woman, Yasmin had to smother a grin at Leliana's confidence in the Hinterlands native.
The Herald and her Party had been given permission to recruit the mages, and Lady Montilyet was especially worried about Tevinter influence striking so deep, so far south of the border. Commander Cauthrien advised caution, and Leliana's extra agents came with a rough schematic of Redcliffe Castle.
The Arl hadn't fixed the sewer tunnels underneath that had allowed the Hero of Ferelden and her party's infiltration ten years ago. Yasmin sneered at the gross incompetence of the man. The Arl Teagan was fucking spineless. Something would have to be done about him long-term.
. "Should we not meet with Sister Nightingale, Seeker Cassandra, Commander Cauthrien, and Lady Montilyet first? This is a big decision," Lysette asked tentatively.
"And allow the opportunity for a sitting Tevinter Magister to abscond back to his homeland with a significant portion of the Mages of Southern Thedas? They would be slaves and soldiers, all of them, at best. You heard Alexius himself say he would not even spare the children. That would certainly bode ill for any steps forward with the goal of sealing the Breach," Solas spoke up firmly, casting a light glare at the former Templar. "Not to mention it could give them a boon in their war with the Qun and it could threaten Orlais, as divided as it is now."
Yasmin kicked a rock that skipped across the tiny pond next to their encampment. It did not go over anyone's head that the 'Herald' was in a turbulent mood after dealing with the Tevinters earlier that day. "We will send a raven to Leliana and the others, but Solas is right. We cannot allow them the time they'd need to leave the area with the mages."
Yasmin paused before I know Fiona, and she wouldn't have agreed to such horrific terms if she didn't truly believe extermination of her charges by Templars or other Chantry forces was the alternative."
Yasmin frowned as she took a seat with the rest of her crew. "Alexius wants an audience, he'll fucking get one." Scout Harding tried not to flinch at the contempt in the disenchanted Seeker's tone.
"What about the poncy one? Dorian, right?" Sera spoke up. The Tevinter mage in question was due back to the camp in the next quarter hour after having been sent to retrieve water from the nearby creek. Sera could almost hear Dorian's eye-roll from across the encampment. The man had a sixth sense to know when people talked shit about him.
"He'll be with us when we go to meet Alexius," Yasmin decided. "I would like you to keep a careful eye on him, Sera. I doubt he'll be able to try any tricks while avoiding your keen gaze."
Sera shrugged, "Too right he won't. Dorian seems alright, mostly. But I remember the 'Vints from Denerim. They were right twats. Dorian's poncy alright, but I don't think he's evil. And Elfy here can talk his ears off about elfy shit. Y'know, 'cause they're both mages."
Yasmin paused with great patience, Harding thought, before resuming, "And with Alexius, I feel he'll try something. It's what I would do if I felt I was losing control of the situation and backed into a corner. With me in front of him, he won't be able to resist. Solas, I want you to intercept whatever he tries. You've got quick reflexes and ranged attacks that have a less obvious start up than say, a drawn bow."
"Very well. I concur that the Magister will tip his hand, futile though it may be, against our combined power," Solas replied with just the right amount of arrogance to be correct.
"My fellow scouts and I will enter the castle from the sewers, yuck, and then take these 'Venatori' assholes by surprise while you take down the Magister," Scout Harding said with a grin. Yasmin wished she knew how the younger dwarven woman seemed so chipper all the time, she'd love some tips in that regard.
All in all, Scout Harding thought things went pretty smoothly right up until Alexius realised he'd been betrayed by both his former apprentice and his beloved son. "You should've never even existed!" he shouted at the Herald.
Sera had stepped closer to Dorian, perhaps worried he had double crossed the Inquisition. The horror rose in Lace's gut as the little rock floating over his palm light up in lurid green runes.
Both Solas and Dorian shouted out, Dorian's staff igniting and making the Magister fumble his ritual with the green stone. Seeker Yasmin's commands and Sera's swears were lost in the blaze of sickly green light that tore through reality. Lysette and Sera each stepped closer to the Herald, to shield her.
Then they were gone. The Herald's Crew was just gone.
Sera, Dorian, Seeker Yasmin, Lysette, and Solas just vanished in that awful green flash Scout Harding knew she'd be seeing in her nightmares in the coming days.
The Inquisition agents cut the throats of every Venatori in the room at Lace's command. The Magister had won, despite the Lace didn't think, she flung her dagger at the smug bastard's face. He intercepted it with a small pillar of ice erupting from the ground.
With a mounting sense of horror, Lace realised she was the ranking member of the Inquisition in the room. Charter and Scout Pelane were waiting with the Inquisition's delegation meeting with Queen Anora's legion.
Lace drew her bow along with every other person in the room readying their primary weapon to subdue or kill the Magister. Felix Alexius backed away from his father, eyes still on the place where the Inquisition's only hope had disappeared from. Part of Lace's mind went back to the briefing she had gotten from Charter, and the fact that it was a likelihood that Felix and Dorian were romantically linked. Felix's expression looked about right for having just watched his own father murder his lover.
A veritable thunderclap of power clove reality apart for a second time in moments. All movement stopped, as everyone's eyes trained on the ominous green whirl of magic chipping away the stone floor.
Seeker Yasmin was first to emerge. Blood, viscera, and what Lace recognized as demon essence coated her armour and speckled her face. She hefted her spear before stepping forward with a grim, glorious purpose. Dorian, together with Lysette, dragged a screaming and obviously wounded Sera back through the portal. Somebody Lace didn't recognize stepped through before it slammed closed and winked out of existence with a soft 'pop' that belied its threat.
Dread stirred in Lace's gut as she realised why Yasmin looked at the magister with death in her eyes, and why Sera was crying. Even the Tevinter, Dorian, looked haunted. Lysette just looked relieved to be standing there. Scout Harding's only thought in the moment was, Where was Solas? Oh. Oh fuck.
The Herald's Mark was flickering, but it was not as chaotic as it had once seemed. It took a few moments but Lace realised that the Mark must've been flaring along with her heartbeat. Seeker Yasmin flexed her left hand before closing it into a fist, halting the glowing of the Mark.