The Archdemon

CONTENT:
Rating: Teen
Flavor: Adventure/Drama
Language: yes
Violence: yes
Nudity: no
Sex: no
Other: none

Author's Notes:

The Final part of the Final Battle. FINALLY!

Props to the In This Moment fans! \m/

The Archdemon

==#==

The Archdemon seemed to sense that the ballistae could harm it. Or maybe it had some sort of malevolent intelligence - Alistair didn't want to contemplate that. One ballista was smashed from the sweep of the Archdemon's tail; one was billowing a thick caustic black smoke from the fiend's breath.

When one team of knights got their apparatus armed and ready to fire, the Archdemon heaved itself into the air, flapping like a drunken bat above the skirmish, and landed at the other end of the roof. It set upon the emplacement, biting at the knights, clawing at the bolt, dislodging it.

Now Alistair hacked at the thing's neck, braving its dark flame with his battered shield. He struck, and the Archdemon whipped away. Alistair jumped back, looking for the tail to come around.

Instead, the Archdemon struck out towards another of the ballistae and shot black flame under it, engulfing the three Templars struggling to turn it. They screamed, clutching at the eyeslits of their helms.

Alistair saw the Knight Commander charge up the steps to take their place, struggling alone with the heavy bulk. Alistair ran to help him, lending his Warden strength. They heaved the heavy emplacement around.

Alistair glanced over his shoulder. The Archdemon was positioned about perfectly, side on, a broad target. "Bannon! Keep it there!" Just a few more desperate seconds.

==#==

Bannon heard Alistair's yell. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the knight struggling with the ballista. So far those had proven useless - destroyed before they could be aimed, or lobbing a huge bolt through the melee, missing the infernal dragon and threatening the defenders.

The thief had been working on the Archdemon's ankles. He'd thought to hamstring it, cripple it, but its thews were a bit too mighty. So he settled for chipping at a tendon here and there. Or maybe he could score a talon.

At any rate, getting it to stand still for the ballista shot was going to require that he get its attention.

He disengaged from its stomping feet and traveled under the belly. He met Zevran gamely trying to wedge a sword into a belly scale to pry it off.

"We need to hold it steady!"

"With what?" the assassin demanded.

"Our charm and wit," the thief shot back.

Zevran shrugged and followed his patrone, his amore'.

"Hey! Down here!" Bannon waved at the monster like an idiot, thankful to feel the tingling glow of magical protection envelop him. He was going to need it. "Your breath is terrible! Stick your head down here, and I'll clean your teeth!"

It snapped at him, and he rolled aside.

"No, no, no!" the Antivan called. "My services are much better than his!" He danced away from another chomp.

"They are not!"

"They are, and you agree!"

"I never!"

"I believe your exact word was 'incredible'!"

"I'm gonna kill you!"

The two elves capered and dodged back and forth in front of the Archdemon, crossing paths, switching sides, moving towards the beast when it started to edge too far forward.

==#==

"Alistair, look out," Greagoir grunted.

"Just a little... further..."

"No, NOW!"

Alistair leapt back as the Knight Commander triggered the firing mechanism. The treetrunk bolt shot past his head with a rush of hot wind.

The Archdemon had worked its way forward in its pursuit of the annoying elves, so they didn't achieve a heart shot, but the bolt chewed through the dragon's flank and belly, right at its groin. It roared and tried to rear up, but its hindquarters gave out, and it toppled over.

Bannon and Zevran wasted no time leaping upon the downed beast. Bannon stabbed into the armored chest while Zevran worked on dissecting the still-flapping wing. Alistair charged forward towards the exposed underbelly.

The Archdemon wasn't dead yet, and not about to give up without a fight, either. It roared again, screamed its siren call for the horde to come to its aid. Its neck and tail thrashed; its foreclaws raked at the air, desperate to slash anything that came near.

The Templars closed in, swords rising and falling relentlessly. Mage bolts and lightning converged on the fallen beast. It shook off its attackers like a dog with fleas, but they kept coming back.

==#==

Bannon worked his way up the chest to the neck, trying not to lose his footing on the ichor-slicked scales that heaved and twitched beneath him. He remembered his Fade dream of glorious battle - keep your eyes focused right in front of you and it wasn't so hard. And it was working! Dare he try to run up its neck?

A huge CRACK rent the air as Morrigan appeared before the Archdemon and sent an arc of lightning into its brain. The monster started to scream, but bit its own tongue as its muscles all seized.

A tremor rippled through the massive body, finally throwing the elves off. Zevran twisted in mid-air like a cat, landed on his feet, overbalanced, and fell on his face. Bannon was thrown head first, but managed to tuck into a roll, losing his swords as he caught himself on his hands.

Alistair gave the assassin a hand up.

The blinding flash ceased with the snap of arcane tang, and the Archdemon went limp, a low groan issuing from deep in its throat as its head fell to the flagstones, smoking slightly from its lips and nostrils.

"Stop!" Alistair commanded. "Stop attacking! Fall back!"

Knight Commander Greagoir added his authoritarian bellow, and the Templars and mages cleared away from the huge corpse. A cry of 'someone needs help' came from the vicinity of the entryway, and they moved off in that direction.

"Is it dead?" Alistair wondered. Then the Archdemon's chest rose slowly, and fell, like a great bellows.

"Of course not," Morrigan snapped, moving closer to the three men. "If I could kill it myself, I wouldn't have needed to bother with you lot." She singled out Zevran for a personal glare. "A Warden must do it," she emphasized.

Alistair and Bannon looked at each other. This was it, then. The end of the Blight - and possibly the eternal end of the Warden who slayed it. Alistair said, "I think you should do it."

Bannon looked over at the beast, fear trying to hide behind his eyes. All he had for hope was the witch's promise.

Alistair continued. "No matter what happens, it will be good for your people to have an elven hero."

Bannon swallowed, then his eyes turned to Zevran.

Alistair bit his lip. "If you rather I did..."

Morrigan sighed. "Well someone do it, before it regains its strength."

"I'll do it." Bannon snapped out of his doubts and paralysis. "You're right, it should be me. For the elves of Ferelden."

Alistair nodded.

"Uh... can I borrow your sword?"

"Sure!" Alistair gave him the longsword.

"We just need a moment," Bannon said quietly, moving towards the Archdemon. "Zev." The Antivan followed.

Alistair watched them move off, but sidled towards Morrigan, pushing her back with her distaste for people's proximity, especially his. He noticed her eyes narrowed in focus as she tried to eavesdrop on the elves. "Hey, Morrigan... explain to me again why you think I'm stupid...?"

She huffed in exasperation. "If you can't figure it out..."

"No, that's what you always say, but I think you really just don't know."

It was working; the witch was thoroughly distracted and missed the elves' final goodbyes.

==#==

Bannon and Zevran moved closer to the Archdemon's head. Its eyelids fluttered, its lip twitched. A low groan accompanied its next exhalation.

"We don't have much time," Zevran said, his voice tight with worry.

"I know, and I'm sorry." Bannon turned to face him. "Zevran, it was worth it."

The assassin frowned and glared at the floor, fighting down maudlin emotion. He felt a light touch, the back of his lover's fingers brushing his cheek, along the flowing tattooed lines.

Then Bannon gripped his neck, pulled him close, into a kiss. A kiss of fierceness and longing. Zevran responded, but the upwelling of feelings threatened to break the dam within his heart.

He didn't want to feel. Not this, not now. Tomorrow, maybe, if they were still alive.

Bannon broke the kiss and enveloped him in a tight embrace. Not passionate, but strong, comforting. Zevran shut off his fears to just live in this moment, to cling to love. In life, that's all one had - moments.

"I do," he blurted, but couldn't finish.

"I know." Bannon nuzzled his neck, below his ear. The thief's whisper tickled his skin. "You are the best thing in my life, amore'. Remember that. And whatever happens to me, Morrigan must die."

They eased apart, and their eyes met. Zevran clenched his jaw, not trusting his voice. He nodded. One last order from his beloved patrone.

Bannon looked as if he wanted to say something else, but he tore his gaze away. He left Zevran to do his duty.

Zevran's eyes stung. He cursed them and clenched his throat, but he couldn't stop watching Bannon go. Perhaps the last glimpse of his lover he'd ever see.

==#==

Bannon gripped the longsword and strode to the Archdemon's head. Its eye opened, the milky membrane slid aside, and its baleful eye fixed on him. That same malevolent eye that haunted his nightmares, that had seared him in the Deep Roads.

He heard a thudding in his ears, a mighty heartbeat. It pulsed in time with his own.

Kindred. We are One.

He felt his consciousness pulled into that infernal eye, slipping away from his will, from his self.

Become Me.

"No!" Enraged, he raised the sword and plunged it into that eye, destroying it, and the malevolent brain behind it, roaring his defiance.

Then the world was obliterated in an explosion of light and noise.

And Bannon knew no more.

==X==