CHAPTER THREE: The Wrath of Heaven
"What did happen?" the prisoner asked the Seeker as the scout unlocked her chains.
"It will be easier to show you," the Seeker said abruptly, and as soon as the prisoner was up on her feet, she led her through the dungeons and out of the Chantry.
She had to shield her eyes against the sudden glare when the Chantry doors opened, but as soon as she had accustomed herself to the light, she was instantly stunned at what she saw. "Maker…" the prisoner couldn't help but whisper as she looked up at the sky. A great, gaping hole marred the once-blue sky, now tinted green, occasionally spewing out rocks or energy down to the earth.
"We call it the Breach," the Seeker explained. "A magical tear in the Fade."
"And you said that was caused by an explosion? What explosion could do that?" the prisoner burst out, pointing up at the Breach. Then suddenly, she screamed in pain as the mark on her hand glowed and sparked with energy again. She looked, horrified, at her hand. "What is happening?"
"The Breach is somehow tied to the mark on your hand," the scout answered. "As the Breach grows, so does the mark on your hand… until it will consume you." The prisoner turned her horrified face on her.
"What do I do then?" the prisoner asked.
"Messere Solas cast wards on your arm before he left, and they should be enough to keep the magic from invading the other parts of your body," the scout said.
The prisoner flexed her left arm. "I noticed. They are indeed helpful in keeping the magic calm, and separate from mine."
The Seeker and the scout stared at her, then at each other, then back at her again. "You're a mage?" the Seeker asked incredulously.
"Is… that a problem?" the prisoner looked uncertainly at both of them.
"No… not yet," the Seeker decided after a short pause. "Come. Let us go to the nearest rift."
As they walked through Haven, all around, the people threw suspicious, hateful glances especially at the prisoner, who kept her eyes on the ground almost all the time.
"Pay them no heed," the prisoner heard the scout say beside her.
"How can I do that if they look as if they'd gladly kill me when they have the chance?" the prisoner replied wryly.
"They look at you that way because they think you killed the Divine," the scout explained.
"I am innocent," the prisoner said through gritted teeth. "How many times am I going to say that?"
"Until an explanation for the tragedy can be found, whether you like it or not, you have to bear the people's ill-will for a while," the scout answered. "The people of Haven mourn the death of the Most Holy, as well as all hope for peace between mages and templars. Anyway, with Seeker Pentaghast in front of us, they wouldn't dare do anything. But later… you might have to protect yourself."
The prisoner glanced uneasily around her. "I truly doubt nothing's going to happen to me now," she said. "Even the Seeker had doubts about me."
"You're the only suspect we have about the death of the Divine," they heard the Seeker say. "I will protect you, if only to make you talk."
"That's very reassuring," the prisoner muttered sarcastically.
The Seeker paused in her tracks, then sighed. "I apologize," she said, glancing at the prisoner. "The Divine is dead. The Conclave has been burned to ashes. All hope to stop the mages and templars fighting each other is gone. I've been lashing out at you for all these tragedies, but I must think beyond myself, as the Divine did," the last a little wistfully. "I hope you understand." The prisoner didn't respond, but simply looked at her in sympathy.
The trio passed through Haven's gates, and the prisoner visibly sighed in relief. Her relief quickly turned into alarm as they started running through a path littered with burning wagons, corpses, scattered belongings, and screaming villagers running for their lives. It was chaos.
"How… how did I survive this blast?" the prisoner asked softly.
"They say a rift opened and you tumbled out of it, unconscious," the Seeker replied, walking alongside her. "Before the rift closed, the soldiers saw a woman behind you. No one knows who she is." Her tone changed, becoming sad. "Everything in the valley beyond was laid waste, including the Temple of Sacred Ashes. I suppose you'll see soon enough."
"I think I've seen enough, thanks," the prisoner mumbled. In her peripheral vision, she saw the scout shake her head.
"Aaah!" the prisoner cried out suddenly and clutched her marked hand close to her chest. The scout and the Seeker turned to her immediately, and the scout took her hand gently. "It hurts!" she moaned.
"The pulses are coming faster now," the scout replied, assessing her hand. "The closer we are to the Breach, or at least a rift, the more the energies in your hand build up. We need to get to a rift fast."
"Why?" the prisoner asked. "What does getting to a rift have to do with my hand?"
"It might help if you use some of that energy building up in you," the scout answered. "Messere Solas conjectured that releasing the magic in your hand might be able to effectively close rifts created by the Breach, and hopefully even the Breach itself."
"How do I do that, exactly?" the prisoner muttered. The scout shrugged helplessly.
As soon as the prisoner caught her breath, they continued on the path. The prisoner flinched at the falling rocks from the sky, and the Seeker and the scout glanced up warily every now and then.
"Watch out!" the prisoner heard the scout shout suddenly, and felt the scout slam into her as the bridge they were on was hit by a flaming rock that came from the Breach. The bridge crumbled, and the three of them fell onto the frozen river below.
"Ah!" the prisoner cried out as she nursed a bruised arm. She looked up to see the Seeker and the scout draw their weapons to face the…
She did a double take. "How can demons be here in the waking world?" she shrieked, panicked, and hastily scanned her surroundings for a weapon, any weapon to defend herself. "I don't have a staff!"
"Stay there!" the scout shouted as she slashed into a shade. Enraged, the shade flailed, hitting the scout across the chest and sending her flying a few feet away. Seeing its quarry weakened, the shade bore down on the struggling scout, who scrambled to grab her daggers from the ground…
…until a blast of energy ran through the shade and dispersing it into nothingness. Stunned, the scout followed the source of the magic, and found the prisoner holding a staff glowing with purple energy.
The Seeker saw the prisoner release another barrage of energy towards another wraith, while she angrily thrust her sword through the shade that attacked her. As soon as it dissipated into nothing, she ran over to the prisoner, who had also finished off the wraith. "Put that down!" the Seeker commanded, blade raised against the prisoner.
"You didn't say that Breach is sending out demons!Would you want me defenseless with demons around?" the prisoner retorted, holding her staff even tighter.
"We can defend you," the Seeker replied.
"I prefer to defend myself," the prisoner answered proudly, glaring at the Seeker. After a moment's pause, where both prisoner and Seeker held each other's gazes, the Seeker sighed and sheathed her sword.
"I suppose you're right," the Seeker said. "It's dangerous enough as it is, and we can't always stay by your side protecting you. You have to be able to protect yourself. And apparently you do that well," she added, grudgingly.
"Thank you," the prisoner replied mockingly. She looked down at the scout, and extended her hand towards her. The scout took it gratefully, and with the prisoner's help, raised herself up.
"Thank you," the scout said, and saw the prisoner smile softly. "Where did you get that staff?"
The prisoner pointed at some overturned boxes and weapons littered around the ice. "Thank the Maker there were staffs there. Otherwise…" She shook her head. "Now I curse myself for not listening to Papa when he wanted to teach me swordsmanship."
"Let's march on," the Seeker said, and they all started walking again.
"Here," the scout said, and pressed into the prisoner's hands a belt of potions. "Healing potions, just in case."
The prisoner looked at the vials with slight distaste. "I… don't particularly like potions," she said.
The scout raised her eyebrows. "But they saved your life," she said.
"Doesn't improve their standing with me. I can heal myself. You keep them," the prisoner said, and ran faster to keep up with the Seeker. The scout shrugged and put on the belt again.
They encountered a few more shades and wraiths along the way, until they came to a hill, and found a ruined house where they heard voices apart from the screeches of the shades.
"There are people there!" the prisoner cried out, and outran the Seeker to join two people – an elf and a dwarf – they found fighting off a group of wraiths and shades pouring out from a small rift.
"Quickly, before more come through!" the elf shouted, and, as soon as she was near enough, roughly took the prisoner's marked hand, thrusting it on the rift. To her surprise, she felt the energy from the hand being pulled toward on the rift, which she could also somehow feel like a torn cloth. She kept her palm open as she felt the rift closing, then, by some instinct, she closed her hand in a fist and pulled her arm back, cutting off the energy from her hand, and closing the rift as well.
"That was…" Lost for words, the prisoner simply looked down at her hand as if it had done something miraculous. Then she turned to the elf. "What did you do?" she asked suspiciously.
The elf in front of her gave a small smile as he stood straight in front of her. "I did nothing," the elf replied pleasantly. "The credit is yours."
"Huh," the prisoner muttered, looking again at her hand. "Thank the Maker this is useful for something other than killing me."
The dwarf walked up to them, hitching a peculiar looking crossbow on his back. "Good to know something can close these rifts," he said. "And here I thought we'd be ass-deep in demons forever."
The scout and the Seeker finally rounded up the last of the shades and walked up to them as well. "I see you've met our volunteer mage—"
"And your fellow prisoner," the dwarf interjected. He bowed ostentatiously towards the prisoner. "Varric Tethras – rogue, storyteller… and occasionally, unwelcome tag-along." As he rose from the bow, he gave a cheeky wink at the Seeker, who grunted in disgust.
"Vanessa Trevelyan, as you all should know," the prisoner answered scathingly. She turned to Varric. "Did you know, they never once asked me for my name. Not once!"
"The scandal!" Varric pretended to be shocked. He pulled the Seeker towards Vanessa. "Introduce yourself!"
"I don't need to do that!" the Seeker said, flustered. "And anyway, she knows who I am already."
"The Right Hand of the Divine," Varric said for her. "The Stabber of Books, the Kidnapper of an Innocent Handsome Dwarf who just Happened to be Somebody Famous' Friend and Who doesn't Know Anything About the Whereabouts of Said Friend. Cassandra –bla bla bla, I know you have a lot of names in between— Pentaghast."
"I didn't kidnap you!" Cassandra fumed. "And my middle names are not 'bla bla bla'!"
"So what did you do then? Ah, 'forcibly taking a dwarf from his comfortable home', is that it?"
"My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions," the bald elf said to Vanessa while the two bickered. "I am pleased to see you still live."
"He means, 'I kept the mark from killing you while you were asleep'," Varric interjected, smiling smugly while Cassandra walked away, muttering angrily to herself.
"Oh?" Vanessa retorted, surprised. "Was it you? Mind you, these are some complex wards I've ever encountered in my life. And you were very considerate in making sure this magic is kept separate from mine. I'm so impressed."
"Thank you," Solas said, flushing at the generous compliment. "Those were some wards I've encountered in the Fade, taught to me by –"
"This is pleasant and all, but we have to get going if we want to make it to the forward camp before sundown," Cassandra cut in.
"Ah, you're such a mood killer, Seeker," Varric said.
Cassandra rolled her eyes at that, and turned to Solas. "Is it true? That the mark on the p—Vanessa's," glaring at Varric's emphatic stare, "hand can close the rifts?"
"That is my theory," Solas answered.
"Even the Breach itself?"
"Possibly, but we still need to study it further," Solas answered. He turned to Vanessa. "Your prisoner is a mage, yes, but I find it impossible for any mage to have this kind of magic. This is simply magic beyond anything we've ever seen."
"Understood," Cassandra replied. "However, as long as it is something can be used to close the Breach, I'll take any chance. We should hurry."
Vanessa looked around. "But where's –"
"There are a few shades along the way, Seeker, no rifts, but with the five of us, they are nothing we can't handle," they heard the scout say as she walked towards them, coming from the trees. She slid her dagger in its sheath. "We should definitely go now."
The group filed out of the ruined house, Cassandra in the lead, and the scout bringing up the rear. Vanessa hung back to talk to the scout. "I didn't even notice you leaving the group."
"You were busy," the scout replied simply. She turned to Varric. "I have to ask, ser, what were you two doing here without any escorts? If the Seeker didn't allow to you have them, I'm sure Sister Leliana could have managed to send two soldiers with you both."
Varric pointed to the elven apostate. "He wanted to study the rifts. I went with him."
The scout looked at Solas. "It was dangerous."
Solas nodded. "Yes, but it was necessary."
The scout looked as if she wanted to say something else, but eventually said nothing and walked on. Vanessa lengthened her strides to match the scout's.
"I didn't get to ask your name," Vanessa said.
"You didn't," the scout replied.
Vanessa waited for a rejoinder, but when nothing was forthcoming, she pouted. "And?"
The scout stared at her. Varric supplied helpfully, "Is your name something like 'Miller' or 'Archer' or some other thing?"
"Sparrow," the scout replied. "It's Sparrow."
"Oooh, that's a good one, like Nightingale," Varric remarked.
"That is a nice name," Vanessa agreed.
"You should know, Sparrow also watched over you when you were unconscious, and saved your life when one of my spells went awry," Solas chimed in.
Vanessa turned to Sparrow. "You did?" she said in awe.
Sparrow opened her mouth to reply, but Cassandra cut in. "Your conversations are getting very cozy, but let's save all that when we're already safe at the forward camp, shall we? The demons are coming."
They looked down to see a swarm of shades and wraiths wandering around in a frozen lake. "Our way is there," Cassandra pointed at a small pathway beside a burning house. "If we can get there safely, then we can get to the forward camp quicker than if we go the long way round."
"So all we have to do is to get through the shades. Should be easy enough," Vanessa remarked wryly.
"If we flank them, we can get rid of them easier," the scout said.
"Great idea," Varric said, unslinging the crossbow from his back.
"You know, I really like that crossbow the moment I first saw it," Vanessa remarked as they prepared to battle the demons.
"Ah, Bianca is a beauty, isn't she?" Varric gazed at the crossbow fondly. "She and I have been through a lot together."
"You named your crossbow Bianca?" Vanessa said, surprised. She looked at the staff in her hand. "Maybe I should name my staff Theodore or something," she said, laughing.
"Can we all stop talking now and fight? There are shades over there if you haven't noticed," Cassandra cut in sharply. Varric rolled his eyes and Vanessa laughed harder.
With the five of them, a Seeker, two mages, and two rogues, the swarm of shades were dispatched quickly, and they were able to go to the forward camp without much incident. When they passed through the gates, they saw Leliana arguing with somebody.
"You cannot be letting that prisoner run around freely!" a man clad in Chantry vestments said hotly.
"She is the key to closing the Breach," Leliana explained patiently.
"She is a murderer," the Chantry man spat out.
Cassandra walked forward. "Chancellor Roderick," she said, addressing the Chantry man.
"Seeker Pentaghast, good you're here," the chancellor said without hesitation, moving forward eagerly towards the group. Pointing grandiosely at Vanessa, he declared, "As Grand Chancellor of the Chantry I hereby order you to arrest that woman for the murder of the Divine, and take her to face execution at Val Royeaux."
At that, the scout moved forward defensively in front of Vanessa, while Solas and Varric moved in closer. "I didn't -!" Vanessa started to say, but the Seeker spoke for her.
"Order me?" the Seeker said, seething with rage. "You are a glorified clerk! A bureaucrat!"
"And you are a thug, but a thug who supposedly serves the Chantry!" Chancellor Roderick countered.
"We serve the Most Holy, Chancellor," Leliana stepped forward, more to prevent Cassandra hitting Roderick than to appease him. "As you well know." She glanced meaningfully at Cassandra.
"Justinia is dead!" Roderick burst out. "What we have to do now is to elect a new Divine and to follow her orders on the matter."
"Isn't closing the Breach the more pressing issue?" Vanessa chimed in spitefully.
Roderick rounded to her. "You brought this destruction on us in the first place!" he spat out, livid. It was Varric's turn to hold on to Vanessa as her fist closed tightly in anger. Roderick turned again to the Seeker. "You must call a retreat. Pull back your forces. Our position here is hopeless."
"We must get to the Breach," Cassandra said adamantly. "We can stop this before it's too late."
"How?" Roderick countered. "Getting there is not even easy, even with all the soldiers at your disposal."
"Charging through the Temple grounds ought to work," Cassandra answered. "It's the quickest route."
"But not the safest," Leliana remarked. "Our forces can serve as a distraction here, while we pass through the mountains." She pointed at the direction of the mountain path.
"We lost contact with an entire squad over there. We haven't even learned why," Cassandra said. "It's too risky."
Roderick shook his head. "Abandon this idea now, before more lives are lost!"
Before Cassandra could answer further, the earth under them shook, and the Breach pulsed stronger and shot out rocks and energy once more. In reaction, the mark on Vanessa's hand flared again, and she gritted her teeth, enduring the pain of the sparking energies that lasted for a few seconds. When she looked up, all eyes were on her— pitying, disdainful, concerned eyes. "I'm fine," she muttered.
"As we can't seem to decide," Leliana said, a small smile on her lips, "let us ask you: How do you think we should proceed?"
"Oh, you're asking me now?" Vanessa said sarcastically, but under Cassandra's withering gaze, she contemplated seriously. "Let's charge with the soldiers," she abruptly decided. "I won't survive long enough for your trial, anyway," glaring at Roderick, "so whatever happens, happens now."
"That settles it," Cassandra said decisively. Ignoring Roderick's sputtering protests, she started barking orders. "Leliana, call in every able-bodied soldier left in the valley. Everybody."
As they passed Roderick, they heard him say, "On your head be it then."
As the company started to move, Sparrow went near the Hands of the Divine. "Seeker, Sister Nightingale, may I be allowed to go to the mountain path and find the scouts?" she asked them. "They might still be there."
"It's dangerous for you to go there alone," Cassandra said.
"I'll be fine, Seeker," the scout said.
"Very well," Leliana said, but Vanessa, hearing their conversation, quickly retorted, "No!" The three women looked at her. "You can't leave me alone!"
"Solas and Varric are with you," Sparrow replied, somewhat surprised at Vanessa's outburst. "Not to mention the Seeker and an army of soldiers."
"Yes, but…" Vanessa fidgeted. Sensing her unease, Sparrow laid a reassuring hand on Vanessa's shoulder. "You'll be fine. Let's meet at the Temple, all right?"
Vanessa nodded, and with a small wave, Sparrow started on the mountain path.
"Don't be afraid, kiddo," Varric came up to Vanessa who still looked at the scout's retreating back. "She'll be fine."
"Sparrow is one of my best scouts, and one of the best fighters as well," Leliana reassured Vanessa. "She will be able to bring back news of the missing scouts with no problems." She turned to Cassandra. "I'll meet you at the Temple soon. For now, try to hold out as long as you can."
Cassandra nodded. "All right," Vanessa said, and held her staff tightly, with a determined look in her eyes. As soon as the soldiers were gathered, they set out towards the Temple.
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A/N: Read and review please!