Chapter 2: The Warehouse
Summary: Fenris finishes his work in Estwatch with the help of some friends and gets a little carried away in the process. He makes a strange discovery. Warning: this chapter gets violent.
The child's hair had been dark, and curly, like Felissa's. Lea, after Leandra, probably. Tanned skin, like Fenris' own, and—
"Alright, duster, we doing this or what?"
Reja, the dwarven warrior, had strolled up to where Fenris leaned against the wall in the alley next to Iva's inn.
"Because I'm telling you, getting up this morning was not easy. There better be some good coin wherever we're going," she grumbled, scowling.
"There will be," Fenris dourly replied. "Those we target have no shortage of gold."
Reja nodded. "Good. Who else is coming?"
As if on cue, Stagio rounded the corner and waved curtly to them, bow in hand.
"Hello, Reja, Fenris," he greeted them politely. "I suspect you'll be going over the plan once our mage gets here, yes? Unless we don't have a mage this time, which is quite alright as well."
Stagio was almost endearingly meek and polite for a Rivaini raider with a face scar and an actual eye patch. Perhaps that was how he had stayed alive for so long in Estwatch. Fenris couldn't imagine the man making many enemies.
"Damn, when'd you get the shiny new toy, Stagio?" Reja exclaimed, her eyes gleaming. "Must have cost a pretty penny."
The Rivaini presented his bow for inspection.
"This Tevinter make, Stag'? How'd you get your hands on it?" Reja ran her hand over the smooth wood and drew the bow. "Enchanted, too. Nice."
He shrugged. "We've been capturing more Tevinter ships than usual. This was in the captain's quarters and I asked if I could have it. Not too many archers in the Armada, I'm afraid."
"And what of the captain?" Fenris grunted.
"Dead. Mages never go down easy, though. Speaking of which, greetings!"
Gideon smirked as he approached the group. "Damn right, we don't," he boasted, but seeing the look on Fenris' face, continued "unless, of course, we become abominations, in which case you are entirely welcome to slaughter us all wholeheartedly, no hard feelings. Relax, Fenris."
Reja snorted and clapped a hand on Gideon's back. "Yeah, it looks like your lady's been gone too long, Fenris. Really lacking some relaxation, although I've told you before and I'll tell you again, the ladies at Jenny's would be more than happy to help you out, they'd love those tattoos over there. How's your Talia, anyway? Any idea when she'll be back? She still owes me for that game of Wicked Grace, you know."
Hawke traveled under an alias here. Reja looked at Fenris expectantly, but he was fixed in place, and it was all he could do not to snap, or worse, begin weeping again. But his associates did not deserve to be on the receiving end of his pain.
He forced himself to squeeze out a "She's… fine," and gave a half-smile to Reja. He was not… ready to speak of it, and besides, they had other things to discuss.
The group bantered amongst themselves for a few more minutes until Fenris gathered the strength to explain the mission to them. Pulling out a map of the southern port district, he pointed to a location marked with an "x".
"The warehouse we will be infiltrating is here. I have it on good authority that a meeting between a buyer and the leaders of the slave trade in Estwatch will be happening this afternoon. I suspect they will be heavily armed, though I think it's best if we observe the area for a few hours before the meeting happens. We'll have access to the building through a sewer entrance somewhere on the southeast corner. Gideon, how are you for lyrium, and everyone else, for potions? We'll probably need them."
Gideon gave him a thumbs up while Reja and Stagio checked their packs.
Fenris continued. "There won't be many mages this time, I think. We're dealing mostly with Antivan Crow assassins, so expect traps and daggers. Stagio, if you could take out the more dangerous rogues before they're able to disappear—"
"Of course."
"—then Reja and I will deal with any heavier-armoured warriors. Gideon, don't worry too much about attacking, just focus on healing and immobilizing any enemies that Stagio doesn't take down right away."
"Aw, but I love attacking!" Gideon complained disappointedly.
"Finally," Fenris' voice hardened, "if you see any mages, leave them to me."
Their battle plan reminded him of when Hawke had issued them their orders at the Gallows before taking on the templars, all those years ago in Kirkwall. That was yet another gift she had given him. If he knew anything of being a leader, it was because of her.
"Any questions?"
"Nope. Let's bash some heads!" Reja happily proclaimed.
The group made their way to the location of the warehouse. Fenris knew of an abandoned boarding-house next to it from which they could conveniently observe any surrounding activity and look for the sewer entrance. Coming in and out of the warehouse were several men armed with daggers and wearing leathers. Rogues, as he had suspected. He spotted one or two guard-types by the entrances, wielding heavier weapons and wearing plate armour. Furrowing his brow, he imagined that the warehouse was more heavily guarded than what they could see, however. As if reading his mind, Stagio spoke up.
"It looks like this can't be everyone. Shall I go for a stroll around the neighbourhood and take a look?"
"I'll go," Gideon offered. "I'm more dangerous when unarmed."
True, thought Fenris. They didn't want to draw the slavers' attention by walking around with their weapons on display. "Very well, Gideon, go."
They observed as he inconspicuously hurried through the length of the alley containing the entrance. Reja stood closest to the window, tapping her foot anxiously.
"The skinny mage is gonna get himself killed," she muttered, "and then we'll have no one who can revive him."
Fenris couldn't help but smile; despite her hardened exterior, Reja had a protective streak which reflected her fighting style.
Gideon returned shortly, slightly out of breath.
"So the good news is, I found the sewer. The bad news is, I have no idea how many people we'll have to fight through. I couldn't get a good view."
Fenris sighed resignedly. He preferred to go into a fight with more information, but his patience had worn thin, and the time of the meeting was approaching.
"Let's do this, then," he said.
The sun was high in the sky as they descended into the sewers of the southern port district, a truly Maker-forsaken place. The noblewoman had not lied: it seemed there really was an entrance to the warehouse underground, and it was unguarded from the outside. Listening first for activity behind the door, Reja bashed it in with her shoulder and gestured for the rest of them to follow. Stagio notched an arrow and covered their flank.
Once inside, a swift arrow to the head of the distracted guard (who had been taking his midday meal) eliminated the chance of anyone else being alerted to their presence. They crept carefully through the basement of the warehouse, looking for a stairway. The squalor was unfathomable; empty cages where people had been held like chattel were filled with waste, and the smell was nearly intolerable. A few decaying corpses lay in some of them. Fenris had seen many horrors in his time in the Imperium, where the slave trade was an accepted part of society, but he supposed a consequence was that the slave trade was relatively clean and palatable, at least on the surface, to the everyday citizen of Tevinter. Here, slavers needed not keep up such socially acceptable appearances.
In the last room, one of the cages had people in it. Emaciated elves, mostly women, barely even looked up when they entered. The woman in the cage sitting closest to the entrance turned to them fearfully. Her eyes widened when she saw Fenris and she scrambled to get up.
"Please, you're not one of them, you have to help us, please," she pleaded desperately.
Fenris felt righteous rage start to bubble up. He felt his lyrium markings glow faintly and saw Gideon eye him warily. He strode over to the cage and grabbed the lock. It shattered in his hand.
"You will never endure this again," he spat, probably frightening the poor dozen or so elves that crouched in the cage. He felt waves of healing energy emanating from Gideon as he channeled it to the elves. The prisoners started slowly getting to their feet, with Stagio and Reja helping them out of the cages, while Fenris approached the woman who had first called out to him.
"Why are there so few of you here?" he demanded, and realizing his tone, softened. "My apologies. We expected more people, and more resistance. Do you know where everyone went?"
The woman was shaking as she leaned against the wall. "I-I don't know, serah, they took them up a week ago and I haven't seen them since. My son, he was with them, please ser, will you look for them?"
Fenris frowned. "What's upstairs? Is that where the sales happen?"
"I think so," she stammered. "I'm sorry, we've only been here for two weeks and the guards don't tell us anything."
"Alright. The way out into the sewers is clear. Take your people and stay hidden there for now. If there are any more prisoners upstairs, my friends and I will send them your way. Here, take this," he instructed, reaching into his coin purse. "We will try to meet you in the sewers to help you book safe passage to Ferelden, but if you run into trouble and need to leave, you will have to do it yourselves. Do you understand?"
The woman nodded quickly and took the money. "Thank you, serah," she whispered, seemingly unable to believe his words, and called out to the rest of the prisoners. Fenris felt their eyes on him as they filtered out of the room. He hoped he could help them once they concluded their mission.
Stagio tapped him on the shoulder. "Shall I take the rear?"
Fenris' expression darkened, and he made a sound of agreement. "Onwards."
Having seen the last of the imprisoned elves flee, they pressed on until they rounded a corner and met a stairway, which they slowly ascended. It opened into what appeared to be the foyer for a larger hall. Ducking down before reaching the top of the stairs, Fenris turned to Gideon.
"Cast the quiet thing," he hissed to the mage, who mouthed "got it" and raised his staff. Once he was finished casting, they leapt into the foyer.
The surprised faces of a dozen confused guards encircled in a shimmering cloud of electricity greeted them.
"What the—" one of them cried out as Stagio's arrow put an end to his sentence.
"Surprise!" exclaimed Reja and launched herself at them.
It was a close-quarters fight, made even closer by the spell, which paralyzed anyone trying to leave its area of effect. It also happened to dampen any noise trying to escape its grasp, making it a particularly convenient spell for those trying to stay undetected. Fenris charged, snarling, at a group of guards standing bunched together, backs to the wall, bracing their shields forward. He stunned all three with a wide sweep of his blade. Too easy, he thought with a smirk, and geared up for another swing. One of them recovered more quickly than the others and struck at him with his axe but he knocked it away easily. With a mighty downwards blow of his sword, the guard's breastplate was cleaved in two and he fell, hot blood splattering on Fenris' cheek. He saw a blade whirring in his periphery and dodged it easily, retaliating with a pommel to the face of his opponent. The last of the three guards, frozen by one of Gideon's spells, shattered satisfyingly under his blade.
Fenris paused to catch his breath. Suddenly, he felt a piercing pain in his lower back, and turned just quickly enough to spot his assailant vanish. Fucking assassins. Hawke had never focused on honing her stealth skills, so he had no idea how they worked, but Fenris swore it had to be magic. Thankfully, no one was immune to the blast of energy that he now unleashed, lyrium marks flashing, and the nearby assassin was revealed, falling to the floor. An arrow from Stagio made short work of her, and Fenris shot him a grateful look as he sprinted over to where Reja was taking on five guards simultaneously.
"Come on, dusters, scared to fight a girl?" she bellowed, before using her shield to knock one of them unconscious. She cut down one, then two men with a flash of her steel. Fenris swept through two more and Stagio finished off the last one with a sharp twang of his bow.
The ground was now littered with the bodies of the guards they had defeated. Stagio gingerly stepped around them as he eyed the spot where the assassin had wounded Fenris and to which he was now pressing a bloody hand.
"Would you mind if I take a look at it? Antivan poison can be nasty stuff," the Rivaini inquired, brows furrowed.
"I'm fine," Fenris growled, wincing. "We should hurry. These bodies are unlikely to go unnoticed for long."
He saw Stagio and Gideon glance at each other, and then at him.
"Just a little something for the road, Fenris," Gideon quipped with a wink, and promptly started looting the body at his feet. Stagio shrugged and did the same.
Reja tossed Fenris a bandage. "Here, put it on. Magey, could you do your job and heal the stubborn elf?"
Fenris grimaced as he placed the bandage over the wound and wound it around his torso. A wave of energy washed over his body and he felt it stitch itself together, along with the scratches he had sustained elsewhere. That was an uncomfortable feeling, but he could not deny that the rejuvenation that accompanied the healing felt amazing: somewhere in between waking up well-rested, scrubbing away a Deep Roads expedition's-worth of filth, and the first sip of warm mead on a cold winter's day. He reveled in it as he wiped the blood from his face. In the many years since escaping Danarius' clutches, he had always hated feeling the effects of magical energy on his body, whether coming from enemies or friends. He found it ironic, now, that Gideon's healing was appreciated, comforting, even.
Coin purses sufficiently padded, Gideon and Stagio were ready to move on, as was the rest of their group. Listening at the door leading to what he assumed was the great hall, Fenris could hear muffled voices. He recognized the shrill tone of the Orlesian woman. He slowly cracked the door open.
"…and I would like new slaves to replace the ones that were worthless once they reached Jader. Really, Benicio, plague? I can't imagine any of your other buyers were satisfied—"
She stopped as Fenris and his companions burst through the door and strode into the hall. It was about the size of the dining hall in Iva's inn. He imagined a merchant would store their goods here for the winter, crates of spice bundles and dried fruit stacked on top of each other, smoked meat hanging from the rafters; now, however, it was empty. The Orlesian stood in the middle of the hall, with Leontine at her right side and a complement of guards at her rear. Another pair of guards stood austerely on a landing up the stairs behind them, carefully monitoring the exit. She faced a hooded man flanked by his own guards, all with their backs to them. Fenris also noted a handful of archers leaning casually against the wall on his right, who immediately stood to attention on their entrance.
"Ah, I see my friends have finally made it," the noblewoman proclaimed. She shot a steely look at Fenris. "I'm afraid we will have to interrupt the negotiations."
The Crows twisted to face them, and the man Fenris assumed was Benicio, based on the fineness of his leathers, smirked. The multitude of scars on his face and arms spoke of a history of battles. "I see you are capable men, and based on your appearance, I suspect my guards behind the door are dead and that Mademoiselle Thibault intends to use your prowess to take over my business. I am obliged to tell you that whatever deal she's cut you will be useless without the cargo that we provide. How does a hundred sovereigns sound instead?"
To the Crows and the noblewoman's people, it must have looked like Fenris was thinking it over, when really he was counting the numbers on each side. His companions stood, silent and tense, behind him, waiting for his response. The Crows had more people, true, but the archers were lightly armoured, and Gideon would be able to dispose of them quickly. That left Benicio and his three warriors to Amelianne's seven.
"No, that won't be necessary," he growled simply, and put a hand on his blade.
"Ah. That is a shame," sighed Benicio, and drew his daggers.
The archers against the wall let loose a hail of arrows in their direction, which appeared to stop midair as they embedded themselves firmly in Gideon's hastily-erected barrier. Fenris drew his sword and raced to confront the Crow leader. A fleeting glance in the Orlesian's direction showed Leontine guarding her mistress, striking at a Crow with her shield while the noble's other guards parried with additional Crows that had streamed in through a side door. Fenris' target vanished into darkness before he could reach him; grunting, he decided to assist with the elimination of the archers. His blade sliced through the air and connected with hardened leather as some of the archers leapt away and drew daggers. The air crackled as electrical energy stunned the man closest to him, and Fenris cut him down, but was quickly surrounded. With a roar, Reja launched herself through the circle, shield-first, to his side, and they sliced and bashed their way through the rogues, circling back-to-back, the same way he had fought together with Felissa so many times before. At last, the archers laid dead at their feet. Wiping sweat from his forehead, Fenris glanced at the noblewoman's side of the hall: her warriors were still dealing with the remaining Crows but Amelianne appeared unscathed. Good, he thought, and shot a look at Gideon and Stagio, still standing with their backs to the doorway. Stagio gave a wave before firing off a series of arrows towards where the Orlesians were fighting, in tandem with Gideon's bolts of electricity. Benicio was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, the hall filled with a wall of pungent, dark, opaque gas, reaching from Fenris' feet to well above his head. He coughed violently; it had to be poison of some kind. He felt a burst of pain as a blade was driven into his shoulder. There you are, he thought triumphantly. Snarling, Fenris dropped his sword and felt his lyrium markings light up as his flesh began to fade. Not having expected the stroke of the dagger to continue, the assailant stumbled forward. Fenris phased his hand back into a solid state as he grabbed Benicio by the throat.
He then crushed the Crow's windpipe.
Tossing the body to the side, Fenris roared, "GET RID OF THE GAS, GIDEON!"
"I'm… a little… busy at the moment!" the mage yelled back, his speech punctuated by crashes of magical energy. Fenris saw flashes of lightning and fire emanating from a corner of the hall. Sword raised, he rushed towards it to assist Gideon and nearly ran over Reja in the process. They met eyes, she flashed him a toothy smile, and they rushed towards the source of the magic. Once they got close, a blast of energy nearly knocked them off their feet and sent several Crows flying.
"GIDEON, we're coming to help, now don't fucking blast us with anything," Reja yelled.
However, no thanks to either of them, it seemed that the attack on Gideon had finally ceased, as a gust of blissfully clear air emanated from his direction. The dark smoke disappeared to reveal Gideon panting and clutching his side a few paces from Fenris and Reja. The assassins Gideon had stunned started to recover, but the two warriors methodically cut them down. Glancing at the Orlesian noblewoman, Fenris was pleased to see that she and some of her warriors were tired, but still breathing. The corpses of the Crows littered the ground, and Reja avoided them as she rushed to help Gideon sit down and handed him a vial of lyrium, which he promptly swallowed. The mage's hands glowed with a soft white light as he began to heal whatever wounds he had sustained.
A whistle came from somewhere above him. Grinning, Stagio dropped down from a rafter and landed gracefully next to him.
"I got some good shots from up there," he announced with satisfaction. More quietly, he turned to face Fenris with his back to the Orlesians and asked, "What's the plan now?"
Fenris frowned. "Follow my lead." He then addressed the noblewoman.
"Lady Thibault, I trust you are unhurt?" he asked, striding towards her group as the woman was speaking sharply to Leontine. She turned at the sound of her name.
"Yes, I am fine. I was beginning to think you had no intention of showing up. I am pleased to be wrong, Fenris." Amelianne smoothed her hair and inspected a speck of blood on the sleeve of her gown.
"You got location of your cargo from Benicio, then?"
"Yes, they are in a holding cell upstairs. He's gone and sold off half of the men already," she complained with a scowl, "and they fetch the best prices in Jader. No matter. They will be on my ship by the morning. Will your group be taking over the warehouse? I cannot deny it is a convenient location, with the sewer exit and all…"
Fenris was stonefaced as he met her gaze, standing an arm's length away. "Do you regret it, Lady Thibault?" he found himself asking.
"What, Benicio? Bien, I suppose the Crows won't be happy, but they wouldn't dare post a contract on a Thibault."
He nodded resolutely. The lyrium markings came alive as the flesh of his arm became transluscent. The Orlesian and her pawns watched with fascination and then horror as he plunged it into her chest, firmly grasped her still beating heart, and tore it out.
Fenris hadn't done that in a long time. Felissa didn't like it; when it came down to it, Hawke relished killing very little, and despised turning it into spectacle. Yet, now, the hot blood of the slaver bitch streaming down his forearm was satisfying, as were the horrified looks of the Orlesian guards. Why should she not feel the pain that she had caused? The pain that he had felt, a plaything for his Tevinter master, and now felt, the weight of a thousand unfulfilled futures bearing down on him? The woman's lifeless form slumped to the ground, and he watched, as if from above, as Leontine unsheathed her blade. He observed himself draw his own and thump, her body hit the ground as he tossed her aside after running her through. Another thump, and then a clatter, as he cleaved the burly bodyguard's head clean from his shoulders and the great axe he had been too slow to draw fell to the ground. Thump, as an arrow went through the eye of a lightly armoured young man, no older than eighteen, reaching for his own bow. Thump, thump, THUMP.
It was only when he sensed overwhelming fatigue in his muscles that Fenris' mind lurched back into his body. Like the bodies around him, he lost grip of his blade and fell to the ground. Arms around his knees, the tears came unbidden; he simply wept, salty tears mingling with the metallic tang of the blood on his cheeks, torso heaving, shoulders shaking. He feebly batted away a tentative hand of one of his companions. Maker, he thought desperately, why bring me Hawke, if only to take her away? Would that I could have stayed miserable and lonely in that Hightown mansion forever, it would have been better than to suffer these dreams of a future that would never be…
If the Maker heard his anguish, He gave no indication. Now, Fenris had become aware of his companions hovering over his shoulder.
"She's dead," he choked out, feeling as if this outburst owed some explanation, but not turning to face them. "She's dead, she's not coming back, and I am alone."
He could feel their stunned silence. Finally, Stagio spoke.
"Talia? What happened? But she seemed so strong, so—"
"—invincible?" Reja finished for him. "Yeah. Tough as nails, that one." She cleared her throat. "I—I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't know."
He waved away her apology and started to get up. Gideon gave him a hand, pulling him up off the floor. "Small consolation from a mage, but I'm sorry about Talia. She seemed really special."
Fenris wiped his cheeks and managed to choke out, "Yes. She was."
The group stood in uncomfortable silence, staring at him. He picked up his sword from the ground and tore off a piece of the noblewoman's dress to wipe off the blood. As if snapping out of hypnosis, Gideon shuddered and strapped his staff to his back. "Right, Stagio, you want to see if there's anything good on these poor sods? Mistress Snooty over here radiated wealth, so I'd check her first. I know you hate doing this, Reja, so anything for you?"
"If you see any amethysts, let me know. I'll go with Fenris to go take care of the real reason we're here," she retorted amicably, putting away her shield but keeping her blade bared.
He did the same with his weapon – if any Crows remained, ready for an ambush, he didn't want to be caught unawares – and gestured towards the stairs leading to the landing. There were two doors on either side, leading to the rooms adjacent. They split up, each exploring either side. Another door, with a heavy bolt laying next to it, greeted him. He cautiously listened for movement on the other side. Nothing yet, but the damn assassins knew how to be quiet. Carefully, he eased the door open and slid into the room. It was dusky and smelt of damp and terror. Five or six cages stood side by side, so close that prisoners could reach out and touch one another or pass things between them.
Close together, and… empty?
Puzzled, Fenris crept forwards. The Crows, had they cheated the Orlesian once again and sold the slaves already? She had told him she was there to buy; perhaps the Crows had intended to cut her out of the business today. He then noticed something glowing faintly in the last cage. Approaching slowly, he got close enough to make out what it was. An assassin, dressed in the same leathers as the ones they had just killed, appeared to be frozen in place inside of some kind of magical barrier, not unlike the ones the mages he knew would cast, but instead of forming a sphere, it formed a sort of column of green light. Strangely, the man's flesh appeared translucent, much like Fenris did when phasing. He had never seen this spell before and shuddered to think of the sheer power of the mage that was sustaining it for so long and from so far away, assuming they weren't still in the building.
Keeping his eyes on the enchanted assassin, Fenris backed away to the doorway. He called out to his companions. "I've found something!"
A few moments later, Reja appeared, a satchel she hadn't been wearing before hanging from her shoulder heavily.
"Me too! I don't like looting corpses, but chests, I can handle…"
"Look."
She did. Gideon and Stagio entered the room soon after. Immediately, Gideon groaned and leaned on the door frame.
"What the hell is this? I can practically see the Fade leaking in here."
Now that he had mentioned it, Fenris could feel something. It was as if all the tiny hairs on his body were standing up. His markings glowed faintly.
Stagio hummed. "Where are the slaves?"
"With whoever did this, I assume," Fenris muttered, scowling.
Sighing worriedly, Gideon pointed his staff at the frozen assassin and attempted to cast a barrier. Fenris could see that it didn't take, and the blue sphere flickered away after a few seconds. "I've never seen magic like this before, not in the Circle, not anywhere else," the mage stated, running his fingers through his hair.
"Neither have I," Fenris said, "and I've met my fair share of Tevinter magisters. This is no Tevinter mage's doing."
"Sounds like our cue to get out of here, then. I'm a dwarf, I don't mess with this creepy magic shit," Reja grumbled.
"You don't have to tell me twice. Let's go," said Gideon, eyebrows knitted together.
"There are still the elves from downstairs that we can help, Fenris," Stagio said softly. "Whatever happened to these people, it seems they were being helped."
However, once they had gathered their loot and gotten back into the sewer, the group they had released from the cage in the basement was nowhere to be found. Sharp-eyed Stagio spotted a crumpled piece of paper stuffed inside a hole in the sewer wall.
We are safe now, it read, in messy script. Thank you.