Hello wonderful people of the interwebs, it's your friendly neighborhood Glader! Sorry if I kept you waiting but I wanted to only put my best into this chapter for you all. I feel good about this chapter but I do know that it could be better. Still I hope you all enjoy it, and if you have any constructive criticism don't feel afraid to review or PM me.

I do not own Dragon Age or the Fate series.

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Chapter 6: Blood

Artorias

Fafnir's lair turned out to be, unsurprisingly, a large cave carved out of the side of a mountain. What was surprising was how deep into the mountain that the cave went. Marius, Brydrin, and I walked for nearly an hour after entering the cave before we finally found signs of Fafnir dwelling. The cave that we had been walking in opened into a much larger cavern, one more then big enough to house three dragons of Fafnir's size. The floor of the cavern, much like the floor of the cave we had traveled, was covered in claw marks, and the cavern walls were covered in scratch marks most likely done by the dragon's scales and burn marks. Lining the wall opposite to the entrance were piles of gold and silver coins, intricate statues made from precious metals, an innumerable number of gems, a dozen treasure chests filled to the brim with expensive trinkets, and even a few beautifully crafted weapons that were buried in the treasure hoard.

Situated in the middle of the large was our target who had noticed us before we even set foot into her domain. Fafnir's poison green eyes stared balefully at us who dared intrude on her territory, but when she saw our drawn weapons she knew exactly why we had come. Her wings were damaged and, while she had managed to fly away from the ambush, she wouldn't be able to fly again until her wings healed.

She was stuck here with us and us with her, and only one side would be leaving this dark place alive.

"Mari-!" My words were cut off as Fafnir attacked. Furious red flame tinged with blue soared at us and barely had time to raise my shield to protect my group. On the front of my shield a series of lyrium-engraved runes glowed bright blue and the flames halted within inches of my shield. Unfortunately, even a master level rune of fire protection can't fully protect one from something as potent as dragon fire, meaning that even though the fire was halted the heat was not and was causing the skin of my left arm to bubble slightly beneath my heavy chainmail.

Marius, Brydrin and Chulainn, who were directly behind me as planned, leaped to escape the fire's path; Marius using the identical rune on his shield to protect him and my dog, and Brydrin using a spell that covered her in a suit of earthen armor as protection from any flames that flowed around me.

The second I felt them leave my shadow my shield dropped from my arm and I dove to my left, through the edge of the fire, as the rune on my shield finally failed and the shield was turned into molten metal in seconds. As I dashed to get out of the flames a sensation I can only describe as being submerged in breathable water overtook me, but from that point when the dragon fire washed over me I didn't even feel the heat that was supposed to accompany it.

Good timing on the barrier, Brydrin.

I dashed towards Fafnir's position the second I escaped the flames, and the dragon, after seeing that her fire hadn't burned any of us to a crisp, tapered off her flaming breath and charged us. Her claw would have crushed me had I not dodged, and as a spell from Brydrin caught Fafnir's attention, I struck.

I stabbed my siverite sword into where Fafnir's paws turned into claws and the dragon shrieked as the blade dug into her body. I twisted the sword painfully, severing the fragile tendons that attached to the base of the claw, and by the end the claw was dangling from Fafnir's hand by just a few stings of meat. Regrettably, I had to abandon my sword in Fafnir's body as she cradled her injured limb and glared at me.

However, before she could act Marius rushed at her side and swung his sword at her belly. A large ringing sound echoed through the chamber as my friend's sword broke in two pieces, and his armored body was sent flying into the treasure hoard as Fafnir swatted at him with her tail. The only reason Marius survived was that Brydrin managed to cast a hasty barrier and regeneration charm on him before the dragon smacked him.

"Heal Maris!" I ordered my mage friend. "I'll distract her until you're done."

Without waiting from Brydrin's reply I ran and circled around the beast's side opposite to here injured hand. Her attention was still on Marius, and now Brydrin as he moved to help him, when I reached for her injured claw and pulled. Fafnir screamed in pain as I ripped her dangling claw from her hand, and I jumped back to dodge her other hand as she swiped at me with her other hand. Seeing that she had missed me, Fafnir roared at me with all her anger and fury, the sheer force of her cry nearly throwing me onto my back.

As I recovered from her dizzying roar Fafnir stomped at me with her jaws opened wide and her razor-sharp fangs thirsting for my blood. At the last moment I managed to roll to my right, just missing being skewered on Fafnir's canine, and as I got back onto my feet I swung with the claw I had stolen from Fafnir. My makeshift weapon arched through the air and dug its self into Fafnir's left eyes, and her scream of pain stunned me again.

This time I didn't manage to recover in time and while I tried to jump out of the path of her mouth again, she managed to catch my left leg in her mouth and used it to pull me into the air. She shook her head left and right, whipping me along for the ride, and pure agony tore its way through me as a scream my leg bones shattered at the violent movement. Fafnir tossed me into the air before catching me, this time her one of her fangs piecing my chest piece and digging deep into my ribs, but I managed to wrap my hands around that fang before she shook again, minimalizing the damage the tooth did as it moved around inside of me. Then the dragon released me, and I went flying into a pile of gold and silver coins.

The treasure had managed to break my momentum and I survived a crash that should have killed me, but the dragon's actions had rent my armor asunder, and most of it fell of my body as I forced a health poultice down my throat, dumbing the pain. My sea-green eyes meet with her remaining poison-green orb as she opened her jaw again, fire once again licking from inside her throat ready to consume anything before it.

The flames were thrown off course as Fafnir hisses in pain, and out from behind the beast I saw my trusted mabari tearing a large chunk out of the dragon's wings. Every time Chulainn would touch the ground he would quickly back away from the dragon, so he could get a running start before leaping onto Fafnir's wings. From there his claws and nature would ensure that he cut huge sloughs of wing membrane as he returned to the ground. But, after Chulainn touched back onto the floor, Fafnir lashed out at the war dog with huge tail.

"Chu, dodge!" I cried out and tried to stand up, red spittle accompanying my words as agony rocked through me and I fell onto my knees.

Chulainn had managed to avoid the dangerous appendage by sprinting beneath the dragon's and out the other side, but now the mabari was stuck on the defensive. He was able to skirt around any attack Fafnir threw at him with superior speed, but with out help he would be overcome at some point.

Think! Think! I need to do something, or we are going to die!

I curled my fists in frustration and slammed my fist into the pile of gold beneath me, causing another spasm of pain to travel up my body from my wound and forced my eyes shut. When the pain was gone, and I managed to reopen my eyes, my gaze fell on something I hadn't noticed before.

My fist had slammed onto not the cave floor, but the flat of a huge blade buried beneath the sea of coins. With some difficulty I succeeded in pulling the great-sword from the under the coins and by doing so I was greeted by the sight of the most beautiful sword I had ever seen.

The sword's dark leather handle was large and unadorned, except for deep brilliant blue gem that was situated between where a warrior would put his hands to hold the sword. The cross-guard was decorated with a simple cross and slightly flared at the ends with detailed ends. The blade its self was wide at the base and had three diamond shapes that connected to each other and the cross that decorated the cross-guard and traveled half way up the blade before stopping in the middle. The rest of the blade was unadorned, and in total the sword was a bit bigger than I was, but it shimmered unlike any sword I had ever seen, and just by looking at I knew that with it I could slay Fafnir is only I stand up.

And from deep in my soul something called out to the beautiful sword.

Balmung, Felling of the Sky Demon.

As if hearing my thoughts Brydrin at appeared at my side with Marius not far behind her. The elf just looked at me, her face full of worry, before gulping down a flask of lyrium and kneeling next to me, healing magic flowing from her hands into my wounds. Marius was walking with a slight limp and a large crack ran its way through his chest plate, but he looked a lot better than when Fafnir hit him with her tail.

"We can't keep this up." Marius grunted as he looked down at me. "If we don't end this soon Fafnir will be able to gobble us up after exhaustion deprives us of the ability to move."

I agreed with him as I watch my loyal war hound just barely dodge another swipe of Fafnir's claws.

"Brydrin." I coughed up a glob of blood and spittle. "Can you fix up my leg enough so that I can move? I can slather a health poultice on the chest wound to block out the pain from it, but I have a plan and for it to be successful I need to be able to use my broken leg."

The elven mage frowned and looked at me with disapproval at my decision but nodded none the less and moved her glowing hand to injured leg.

"Marius." I got my friend's attention. "I need you to help Chulainn distract Fafnir. Use the claw that I used to injure her, I heard it fall onto the ground somewhere around us."

Marius nodded at me in response and ran off to my right, barely stopping to bend over and snag Fafnir's fallen claw that was still warm with her blood, and then ran at the dragon that was trying to devour my dog. My hunting partner once again charged the dragon's side and swung his weapon at the beast's belly, only this time his weapon bit deep into Fafnir's side and her screech echoed throughout the large cavern.

With the dragon's attention firmly divided between a speedy and cunning mabari, and my claw wielding partner, I pulled my last healt poultice out of my satchel and pored the soupy substance onto the whole in my stomach. The thick liquid burned and sent a ripple of pain through my body, but before long everything above my legs and below my chest just felt numb. Then I knew my leg was good enough to walk on when my mage friend offered me her hand to help me to my feet.

"I did what I could, and you will be able to put weight on it, but I will need to look at it again after the bitch is dead."

I grunted my understanding back to her and flashed her a quick, bloody grin, before I reached down and grasped the hilt of the great-sword I had dug out of the treasure pile. Balmung, being a sword longer then I was tall, was about as heavy as I expected and took all my upper body strength to stay standing with it in my grasp. Its beautiful unidentifiable metal shimmered in the low light of the cavern, and its edge looked un-dulled despite the many years it undoubtable spent under a pile of treasure.

And as my grip settled with my right hand above the blue jewel and my left below it, I just felt right.

With a wicked grin I began limping my way closer to the beast as I called out to the Dalish behind me.

"It's time to end this Brydrin, time for the final push. Go help Marius piss of Fafnir, get her to breath fire at you two then sit back and leave it to me."

"I hope you know what your doing." Brydrin responded before sprinting off to convey my message to my partner while the dragon's attention was on the war hound that was tearing up her wing.

Together the human and the elf ran at the dragon's back, Brydrin launched a plethora of stone spikes that, while drawing blood, must have had enough momentum behind them to break bones, and Marius impaled Fafnir's tail with the claw that he was using as a weapon.

The black dragon screamed in agony, spinning to face the surprise assault and, once seeing who dared attack her from behind, bent her neck to be parallel with the ground and released a gout of stone-melting dragon fire. Marius' enchanted shield held back the flame for all of three seconds, but it was enough time for Brydrin to use the last of her energy to form a thick wall of stone protect the pair before falling to her knees.

With the Fafnir's attention focused solely on trying to consume my friends in flame, I had the perfect opportunity to act. Before me lied two choices; one, take the sword and sacrifice my friends to run away, or two, attack the beast a bet everything on my last-ditch effort.

Remember pup; you are a Cousland, and Couslands earn their laurels. Our family gained its status by doing what had to be done and not taking the easy path.

A wide, bloodthirsty grin spread across my face and I charged the dragon.

Every step hurt, especially when I stepped forward with my hastily healed leg, but within seconds I had reached my target and, while Fafnir had noticed me as I got within her field of vision, she didn't notice me until it was too late.

My newly acquired great-sword cut through the bottom of Fafnir's throat like a hot knife cuts through butter, and her scalding hot blood fell upon me like a waterfall. The dragon managed to rear her head and neck away from me in time to avoid having her entire throat slit all at once, but the wound was bad enough that she was going to bleed out soon enough.

We, the dragon hunters, had won and we all knew it. And that stroked Fafnir's furry like nothing else.

Her roar once again shook the entire cave system and caused stalactites on the unseen cave roof above to fall and shatter upon the floor. Luckily, I had managed to cover my ears in time to block out most of the dragon's scream, but the noise dill stun me long enough for Fafnir to launch one final, desperate attack against me.

By the time I had shook off the effects of her screech her open maw was right above me. Her impossibly sharp teeth gleamed in murderous glee and her blood, serpentine tongue snaked out to taste what would be her last meal.

I responded with the only think that came to mind.

As her mouth closed arouSecondnd me, as one of her fangs plunged through my right pectoral, another plied into my upper back, and yet another ripped apart skin from my collar-bone to my stomach, as she tried her damnedest to end my life I did the same by plunging Balmung into the inside of Fafnir's mouth.

The pain from Fafnir's fangs was indescribable, but as more blistering blood erupted from the inside of her jaw into my eyes and mouth, I knew that I was the victor. The pain of my last blow had shocked the ancient dragon into reopening her jaws, inadvertently removing her teeth from inside my body, and with the grace of someone who just got impaled three times I stumbled to look my prey in the eyes.

For the last time poison-green and sea-green orbs meet. I let out a bark like laugh of exhaustion and exhilaration, and Fafnir let out a snort and rolled her remaining eye as if she couldn't believe the stupid stunt I had just pulled off. Then she closed her eye and released one last shuttering breath.

Then I collapsed, my sword splashing as it landed by my side and my body falling head first into the growing pool of dragon blood that was already up to my shins. My last coherent thoughts:

I did it. I Slayed the Dragon!

Arc 1: Fafnir's Bane; Complete!

Phew! Fafnir lies dead and Artorias faint lies victorious in her blood. Many of you who are familiar with the fate series or with the legend of Siegfried will know the consequences of this but please don't spoil it for those who don't know and want to learn through the next chapter.

Also some announcements.

First: After this story reaches the end of the Ostigar Arc I will be splitting my attention between Dragon Slayer and the second story in this series; Dragon Age 2: A Wizard's Beginning.

Second: After I finish with the first DA2 arc I'm planning on starting a third story unaffiliated with the series that this one will be apart of because I don't want to burn myself out by working on only the same universe. I want you all, my readers to have some impact on what I am going to write, but I will have the final say.

So... What idea sounds more appealing for a story?

a) Harry Potter/Dark Souls crossover set in the Harry Potter universe but the souls of characters from Dark Souls are reincarnated into the people in the Potterverse. *(Warning; this option could lead to a overpowered Harry later on down the road.)

b) Dark Souls/Skyrim crossover set in Skyrim. The Dragonborn is a reborn dragon (not going to say which one, but he is my favorite) from the Souls franchise and his goals are much different from your traditional heroes.

c) Highschool DxD/Code Geass crossover with Akito as the main character. (Warning; my knowledge on the DxD franchise is much less thorough then the other fandoms on this list so I might not do very well or may not be able to take it very far.)

Any way I hope you all liked the chapter and are looking forward to returning to present day Artorias, and let me know what idea you all like for a third story, Glader out!