The air shifted as we neared the entrance to Haven and I was not the only one who felt it. Every single one of us had our guard up and there was sparing idle talk before we came upon a single guard. He didn't help the party's suspicions but Wren just inquired about a trading post and he okayed our passage into the village.
"Wren? Why are we going to the shop here when we don't have any wares to trade?" Alistair questioned.
"If anyone in this barren town is going to tell us about Haven and the location of Brother Genetivi, it would be a barkeep or shopkeep. Plus, it was the only way we could get in here without killing the guard. I know something is going on here, but I would like to not kill anyone just yet." She was delaying the inevitable and she knew it, but some peace here and there was nice.
It ended as soon as she began to ask the shopkeep questions. The man was much too vague and the mabari's muzzle was twitching. Wren's own nose wrinkled with distaste before she brought her hand up to massage the bridge of it.
"Alright. One more question and I will leave you alone. Where are you keeping the body?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Weylon, Brother Genetivi's real apprentice was killed and a replacement was put in to suss out suspicions. Brother Genetivi and one Knight from Denerim are still missing. My nose may not be as good as my dogs, but I know someone dead is in your shop. Who and where?" Her forced smile formed more of a grimace and the man paled and booked it for the door.
Sten's towering figure prevented him from leaving. It was remarkable that he just stepped back in line as Wren had commanded him to less than an hour ago. Before they had ascended the hill, he had questioned her choice to travel here at all and even challenged her ability to lead. Wren was annoyed, but dropped her quiver to accept the test he was giving her. Her slight frame and stature made it nearly impossible for his blows to strike her as she danced around him. She was taking advantage of his bulk and slowness, already knowing his way of fighting. It ended with her crossbow striking the back of his head hard enough to make him eat dirt. All because his weapon got stuck in the earth. When he rose, her quiver was back on and she had it loaded and aimed at his face. When she softly ordered him to yield, I let out a low moan.
"We aren't going to kill you unless you attack first. I told you already. Just tell us and we will go." Wren didn't move to look at him nor did she make to search the building. Her eyes, however, appeared to already know where to go. The shop owner's shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Go on then. It's in the back. The Knight came by asking questions about the Urn."
Wren let out an array of elvhen that sounded as familiar as they did profane.
"Let him go, Sten. We can handle whatever he brings back. I doubt there are really that many people here, anyways." The qunari grunted but moved aside while we all prepared to fight off townsfolk.
"We still have no idea what they're all hiding. Do you really think the whole village will come after us?" Alistair spoke like he wanted her to be wrong.
"No, unless he yells or something, I'm sure he'll just bring some guards. I would love to be wrong but the humans here seem off. More than what I'm used to."
"Whatever this secret of theirs is, they killed a knight and Genetivi's apprentice to keep it. Who knows how many others they've killed." Wynne sighed.
"Makes one wonder if this Urn of Sacred Ashes is truly a hoax…" Morrigan commented as we all heard yelling and screaming.
"That's a lot of guards." Oghren pointedly looked at Alistair, who shrugged.
"We're a threat to them and their way of life. If we look in other houses, I'm sure we will find more clues. Red ones." Wren loaded her crossbow and led us outside. Sure enough, there were plenty of people waiting for us with drawn weapons.
"There is no peaceful way out of this, is there?" Leliana whispered as she prepped her bow.
"This is starting to look painfully familiar." Oh? Now, that was intriguing.
"What do you mean? What's familiar about a village teaming up against a group of travelers and two Wardens?"
"Their behavior is familiar, Alistair. This is cult mentality. We found a cult. You can try to incapacitate them, but they are set on killing us. Let's get this over with and move up the mountain as we go." Then she pulled the trigger. It was all we needed.
It was a rare time when I didn't enjoy a battle, but there was no thrill in this. Some were trained, but most could just be knocked out.
"Revered father was our first clue. This place is ruled by him and whatever he has told these people. Isolation, single leader, small area, simple people...no one to question the way of things." The elf seethed as she rammed her crossbow into a cultist's face and kept moving.
"You think they are protecting the Urn?" Wynne's breathless question as we pushed through the crowds.
"The more I think about it, the more I feel this Father Eirik is protecting himself from discovery. These people...are just throwing their lives away for a madman."
We took a breather once we got to the Chantry and Alistair tried the door. Of course if was locked.
"I am not wasting time picking that. Oghren, would you get the door, please?" The dwarf grinned and readied his maul.
"Gladly." He chuckled. The sound was either drunk or malicious but he managed to run in a straight line before he leapt and swung. The impact sent splinters and he didn't stop until we had a clear path into the structure.
"Thank you."
"Since when are you not the sneaking type?"
"We were nearly forced to massacre an entire village. I'm sure his holiness already knows we're here."
"Aaaaand he's an apostate..." Alistair groaned. The mage seemed unbothered by our brutal entry and continued his sermon until Wren drew near enough. Then he began to scold her for disrespecting the ways of the village and she rolled her eyes.
"Well, I'm an elf, so...now you know how we feel...all the time." She quipped in a deadpan.
"Not even here to bring war. Just looking for Brother Genetivi so we can maybe find a magic Urn." Her eyes shifted to the ground pensively and she brought her hand to her chin.
"Buuttt, you. You are the reason I broke the door down. You're also the reason most of your town put themselves in danger. The only one I have a real problem with, in this place, is you. A person of any status who truly cared for his people would let them leave and handle threats himself, head on." The sparing times Wren spoke this way made me wonder why she ever asked me to speak with people for her. She had a way with words when it suited her.
He kept talking and she shook her head, tilting her crossbow down.
"What a waste of breath." Then she shot him in the foot while he wasn't paying attention. Smirking at her actions even as the mage screamed in pain, she backed away from him. It widened when he tugged the offending arrow from the, now open, wound.
"He's not a healer." She stated, pausing next to Wynne as Father Eirik tried to drink a potion to cure his injury.
"You've been paying attention. I'm pleasantly surprised." The elder mage stated shortly before the poison on Wren's arrow began to visibly react. I was relieved to know what they were talking about. Magic isn't an antidote to poison and you should never remove a pointy object from your body unless you are a healer...or near one. Now, we wait for the poison to rot away the rest of his body or for him to bleed out. It was cruel but I considered her reasoning. He poisoned the minds of his people and took advantage of their faith and ignorance. Now, his own would kill him.
"Wren, are you feeling alright? You're just going to let him suffer?" Alistair called after her as she continued into the room behind where Eirik was writhing.
"Yes. If you want to put the shemlen out of his misery, go for it." She didn't even stop. Smiling right now would be more than inappropriate, but her way of brushing the issue off so smoothly reminded me of Redcliffe and how she'd wanted to deal with the matter. Here was no different and she was done explaining herself.
"Brother Genetivi, I presume."
"Were you sent to finish it?" His ease with the words made me uncomfortable, reminding me of my own resignation when I first met the wardens.
"It would be pretty anticlimactic for me to come all this way in search of you and the Urn of Sacred Ashes only to kill you."
"Then someone finally got through…"
"Are you injured?"
"I can still walk with help, but my leg has been giving me trouble." It didn't appear injured but there was a notable resistance when he moved to stand.
"Wynne?"
"I can set it, but you will have to try and stay off of it for a while so it can heal properly."
"You said you were here for the Urn. I know how to get into where it is kept but I will need the amulet Eirik was wearing." This Genetivi was set on the Urn himself. No wonder he almost fell victim to the cult settled here.
"Sure. Alistair?" Injured or no, she still refrained from touching men. Well, most men.
"I can walk, but if you don't mind me leaning on you on our way up." I caught up with one Warden while the other assisted the scholar.
"I've a question, if I may." I wanted to know something.
"Of course, Zevran."
"It occurs to me that we are nearing the end of our Archdemon problem. I was wondering what you wanted to do with me after you no longer have need of me." It was strange, the anxiety that slithered around my gut. Usually, talking to a beautiful woman was like talking to anyone else.
My inquiry caught her off guard as she stopped and gawked at me before getting this confused look on her face.
"What? Do with you? You do not belong to me, Zevran. You could do whatever you wanted. Go wherever you wanted. Even now. I like having you with us, but I have no interest in doing so against your will."
"Truly?" The anxiety was quickly replaced with a warmth that scaled up my ribcage.
"Of course. If we survive this Blight, I am sure I could use a friend." She noticed the doors opening. Just a friend? That should be okay. Then why did my chest hurt?
"We should join them, yes? I will think on what we talked about. Thank you, Warden."
"No worries, Zev." She smiled and went to catch up with the others. I did a double take this time. Was something wrong with my ears? There was only one other time she had used the shortened version of my name. Then she was off before I could catch her and inquire about some hidden meaning in it. Every time she skipped off after speaking with me, I had to wonder if she felt my eyes trailing after her. I wanted her, that much was true. What scared me was how much. The other's called me one way or another as it was their way, but with her it was rarely anything other than "Zevran".
Why was I focusing on something like this?
Genetivi busied himself with the wall decorations and carvings once we were inside and it gave us time to delve further into the ancient temple. It was filled with plenty of beastly things and I caught Leliana make a comment about how glad she was that the old man had stayed behind.
"How did you know it was a cult?" Alistair asked while we fought off some cultists.
"While traveling with my clan, we have run into all sorts of other clans as well as shemlen groups. At least one was cultish in nature. They sacrificed volunteers and travellers for this or that. In a way, perhaps they are a little like your mother, Morrigan. They prefer to take those who will not be missed." Wren's words were casual like she was explaining the call of nature, but it told me something I'd been wondering for a while. She listened to our banter.
"Are those baby dragons?" Her mood and tone changed drastically. Wren's eyes somehow managed to grow wider in her excitement while poorly attempting to hide her excited smile by biting her bottom lip.
"Not too close, my dear. If they are a dragon's younglings then they probably breathe fire." Wynne's words fell on deaf ears as she already had her crossbow trained on them.
"I know someone looking for new materials to use and I just hit the jackpot. We bring back enough scales and we might just get some free armor." She whispered. That explained why she was so happy walking out of the blacksmiths.
"Then we need ice. Ice fixes our fire issue, right?" Her wide grin turned to Morrigan, who rolled her eyes but complied. The glyphs appeared holding the creatures in place which all of us took advantage of. While we fought the dragonlings, I heard a whispering behind me. It turned out to be Wren speaking in elvhen. I assumed it was a prayer of sorts, maybe for protection or thanks. She didn't seem the type for such a thing but I wasn't one to judge.
Whatever it was, it didn't make her any less of a marvel to watch. She shot arrows in a flurry as she dodged and led the battle. Wren ended it just as well as she'd started it, wide eyed and grinning. She dropped to her back under the final beast to save herself from being knocked away by its barbed tail. Her crossbow nearly aimed itself up at its head before she shot the final bolt up through their skull. Our leader stood, breathing heavily as she plucked a small knife from her pack and began to descale her quarry.
"You wanna take a bit of a break there, Wren?" Alistair almost chided.
"This temple isn't small and this isn't our main mission. The longer we take the less of a chance your Arl Eamon has."
"If this bloody human shit even works." Oghren grumbled as we proceeded.
Eventually, we met with a group of assumed cultists. The first one introduced himself as Father Kolgrim and Wren's instantaneous reaction was for her eye to twitch. As he spoke, her patience with him decreased drastically.
"I'm going to have to cut you off right there. I don't have time for your obsession with a dead god I don't believe in. Either you and your men get out of our way, or we kill you." Wren was more trigger happy than usual and it tended to only be underground places and ruins that made her feel this way. Whatever the cause, Kolgrim and his men were dispatched with some difficulty.
"Is this place not fascinating to you?" I asked while we were getting patched up by Wynne.
"I would rather admire it from a distance…"
"You've never really liked ruins and temples...you didn't even like Orzammar before the Deep Roads." Alistair commented and Wren shrugged him off.
That was interesting. She has traveled with him the longest and they were in a relationship, yet she never mentioned the source of her unease in temples. Still? Did she not trust him with such a tale?
"Of course there's a fucking dragon…"