Chapter 46 = = From Signal to Flow
Both spent from lovemaking, Aedan cradled Leliana in his arms. Maker, I love this woman. She gave him a smile that lit up his heart. "I would walk to Tevinter and back just for that smile."
"Fortunately for your feet, you won't have to. Just being with you makes me smile. You make me feel loved and…cherished." Her eyes gleamed in happiness.
Leliana had shared everything about her life, the good and bad. Aedan vowed to himself to treasure her, to show her every day in every way that she was worth loving, not because of what she could do, but because of who she was inside where it mattered.
"You deserve to be loved and cherished, and I want nothing more than to be able to do that for the rest of my life."
"Aedan?"
"I can't offer you much – I'm a Grey Warden, and you know what this life is like. I cannot give you children because of the taint, but I want you, Leliana. Will you marry me?"
Leliana thought back to her conversation Dorothea. What do I want? I want Aedan. "Yes, I will marry you."
Aedan was almost late to Landsmeet ante-chamber where he met up with his other wardens, Greagoir, Emmalynn, and Alistair.
"So where is this sword?" Riordan sounded inpatient and edgy; Aedan had already warned Emmalynn and Alistair that it was the taint and that Riordan had been a Warden for a long time.
Emmalynn nodded towards the column in the farthest corner of the room.
They went to the column where a sword and shield hung. It looked just like the ones on the adjacent columns. Only a mage who knew what to look for, would be able to tell that what seemed like an ornamental longsword was anything but. Emma touched the pommel and sent a pulse of magic through it. The sword transformed from standard steel to gleaming Silverite and changed from a longsword to a short sword with a grip made of white Halla leather. Worried about the weight, Alistair had been ready to take the sword, but Emma was able to remove it from the wall as if it were the weight of her staff.
"Rana, take hold of it."
Rana took it and looked stunned. "I could easily use this to stab something."
Emmalynn thought for a moment. "I would have thought Calenhad carried a broadsword. Ali, could you hold it?"
Alistair gripped the sword, and at first, nothing happened, then the sword lengthened and widened into a two-handed sword. "It's lighter than a normal broadsword but feels no less powerful."
"Jowan?"
Jowan held it, and it was once again it transformed into a short sword. He handed it back to Surana where it remained a short sword.
Looking at the blade, Emma said, "The sword is broad enough for Sandal to add the rune. Anora is allowing us to keep it here in the palace. Bohdan and Sandal have been relocated here along with Sandal's equipment."
"What kind of rune?" Aedan asked.
"The rune is made up of five runes – signal, initiation, gateway, separation, and flow layered atop each other. Once the sending spell is ready and connected to the sword, the signal rune will glow; when Surana takes the sword, the initiation rune will trip; when the sword held by a grey warden is lodged in the archdemon, the gateway rune will glow.
"Upon the archdemon's death, the separation rune will activate, and the Archdemon's soul will be drawn into the warden. The four runes, once activated, will trigger the fifth and final rune – flow, which sends the archdemon's and the mage's souls into the Fade."
"That is a powerful rune. Hope's work?" Greagoir asked.
Emma nodded. "Elegant in its simplicity."
"As long as it works; we cannot risk losing the archdemon's soul." Riordan frowned, still not entirely comfortable with the magic.
"It will work." Emmalynn's confidence was evident in her tone.
It took Sandal a morning to enchant the sword with the runes, and he did a brilliant job. The rune looked like it was forged when Nematon was created. To Aedan's happy surprise, the Queen had paid for the work.
~oOOo~
On Drakon's roof, Emmalynn and Devon double-checked that the caches of lyrium, stamina, and healing potions, and healing poultices were accessible and well stocked. The special lyrium for the ritual was also hidden on the roof. Nematon would be carried by Emmalynn as she rarely ever used her staff and the one that she carried was half the size of the normal one.
When she returned to the palace to meet Alistair, he had taken her to the palace armorer. Emmalynn didn't think anything about it, she was just glad to be with him. Then the armorer said, "My Lady, your armor is in the ready room."
"My armor?"
Ali gently tugged her hand. "Come, I have something for you."
On the armor stand in the ready room was a coat of royal blue silk brocade and dark roan-brown leather with matching leather gloves and greaves. All were imbued with what Emma recognized as protection and mana enhancing runes.
"Ali – it's for me?"
Grinning, he kissed the tip of her nose. "Try it on; there are arming clothes on the bench."
Emma came out of the room. "I can feel the power in the enchantments."
Alistair looked at the armor with an eye for fit. "Any parts that rub wrong?"
"How can I tell?"
"Move around as if we were fighting darkspawn."
Emma jogged around, ducked, weaved and rolled as she had done when traveling with Aedan and the group. "Ali, it feels like I am wearing a second skin. How did you manage this?"
"A little birdie told me that your robes would not provide adequate protection and worked with me to design the armor and the enchantments."
"It's amazing, thank you – and thank you to your birdie."
"I'd say you're welcome but giving you good armor is really a gift for me because it keeps the two of the most important people in my life safe."
~oOOo~
The closer the Archdemon came to Denerim, the more the taint roiled in the wardens' blood, serving as a reminder of how, bit by bit, the darkness would ultimately claim them.
Riordan kept to himself. The call of the Archdemon created both a yearning for it and a revulsion of it. Riordan realized that one way or the other, his life was coming to an end. He felt his humanity had turned the final corner on its inevitable transformation into the very monsters of darkness he'd been fighting for much of his life. Even so, he knew he would leave this world as he'd come into it – his soul would be his own. "This is what I owe to Emmalynn...to Hope."
Aedan was serenaded by his betrothed. They were lying in bed, and each sweet, pure note of Leliana's gorgeous soprano was like a caress – cooling his burning tainted blood, lightening his burdened, grieving soul and calming his whirling, darkened thoughts. Leliana's song battled back the song of Urthemiel and allowed him to sleep safely in her arms.
Surana sought distraction – a way to ignore the sweet and terrible song of the archdemon that called to his blood, to his soul. A way to ignore his fears, ignore his worries, ignore the world and focus one thing – pleasure. Giving pleasure to the one he loved, of seeing the sweet release on Zevran's face, tasting it, feeling it and then receiving it back from him in full measure.
Jowan spent the night in meditation. Emmalynn had taught him the practice when she was reunited with their group. He used it frequently, and it had helped him combat the song of the Archdemon that had plagued his dreams since his joining. Tonight, the former blood mage focused his mind on building his own mental fortress. He gained confidence and strength with each stone he saw in his mind's eye, each layer of grout, each row of the wall of his fort.
~oOOo~
Unable to sleep, Emmalynn walked through the encampment, Alistair with her, and they sat at the fire pits of mages and templars. Emmalynn listened to their fears, addressed their concerns, prayed with those who asked, and laughed with those who sought light-hearted banter. The mood at every campfire they left was lighter than before they visited, buoyed by a little hope in the night.
~oOOo~
That it was dawn was impossible to tell from the darkened sky, but the dim glow from the orbs allowed enough sight for troop placement.
Anora, seven months pregnant, stood with Aedan on a platform before the assembled army. A Jainen mage helped amplify their voices so they could be heard among all of the armies.
Anora spoke first. "You all have the gratitude of a nation and its Queen. You honor us with your courage, your strength, and your resolve. It will be a tough fight, but you will be the victors, you will vanquish the darkness; tomorrow we will see the dawn, and we will rejoice together!"
Cheers rose from the crowd.
Aedan looked out at the sea of people. "We will stop the Archdemon here, and end in a year what it has taken decades for other nations to accomplish. We fight for those who cannot, and for those who won't. To Victory!"
Thousands of voices responded. "TO VICTORY!
~oOOo~
The Darkspawn attacked between the two flanking armies. The ones that tried to attack the city from the north were met by siege weaponry, magic, and arrows. The Grey Wardens got the Archdemon's attention by killing the darkspawn generals and kept it while fighting through to Fort Drakon. At the barriers to Fort Drakon, Aedan told Zevran to stay and work with people to hold the gate. Emma was surprised at the change in plan but had no chance to ask about it.
The archdemon followed the wardens as hoped, and because troops were stationed in the fort, they didn't have to fight their way to the roof.
Once up there, Riordan, Emmalynn, and Alistair moved to the far corner as planned. Wynne and Leliana ran behind the pair of ballistae across from the door. Sten, Surana, and Jowan ran to the opposite side of the roof; Oghren and Aedan went to guard Devon and Mary, who went to the part of the area closest to the door. They all saw the archdemon approach.
Riordan stood defiantly in the open as purple fire rained down from the dragon's maw and broke upon Emma's shield.
It flew in closer and tried again.
Emma's shield held.
It flew in still closer and tried once more.
Emma's shield held but was barely able to repel the flame.
Believing it would be victorious in its next attempt, it descended even lower. This time, before it could breathe out more of the searing flame, Jowan, Surana, Devon, and Mary cast the Storm of the Century dead center where the dragon hovered. The four mages managed to create a massive, mega-storm that engulfed the dragon, freezing parts of its body and wings, bringing it down to the ground. The storm continued to rage and, suddenly, the right wing was wholly frozen then shattered by a bolt of lightning as the spell and storm ebbed.
The archdemon was grounded.
It was then that Riordan charged the dragon.
Emma, with no choice but to spend mana to shield the wayward warden, shouted, "Riordan, no! Come back. I cannot shield you forever!"
Riordan yelled back, "You won't have to, I see a weak spot. Let me end this now!" He slashed
at the enormous dragon while it was trying to stand, balancing itself and trying to compensate for the lack of a wing.
Riordan leaped on to the archdemon's neck, stabbing it and using the dagger blades to help pull himself up the constantly moving column of bone, sinewy muscle, and scales. The beast shook its head, and Riordan held on. Emma kept shielding him.
Aedan yelled after him, "We cannot attack it while you are on its back, Riordan. Get down! That's an order!"
"I am not risking the soul of the archdemon. I can kill it."
Straddling its neck, Riordan leaned down and aimed for a gap between scales. Sensing when the warden's balance was most precarious, the Archdemon shook its head. He managed to unseat Riordan and pitch the senior warden over the edge of the roof. Once he was out of sight, Emma could no longer provide a shield. He would plunge to his death.
The loss of Riordan was disheartening and completely unexpected, but Aedan know they couldn't let that interfere with killing the archdemon. "Everyone, we need to remain focused!"
Alistair, Sten, and Riordan had been trained on firing ballistae by Zevran and Leliana. Without Riordan, it was only Alistair, Sten and Leliana who would be operating the ballistae. Aedan and Oghren served as protection for Sten and Alistair. Wynne stayed near Leliana as they were protected behind the bulk of the massive weapon. Emmalynn, Jowan, and Surana came together behind and to the side of the dragon; they would try to stay together through the next phases of the battle.
Aedan blew the horn signaling the mages and archers, who poured onto the roof and moved quickly into position. Aedan slowed his breathing and calmly counted down.
"Volley one!"
10…9… "Ready!"
Alistair's ballista was loaded, the archers had knocked their arrows, and the mages began to cast.
7…6…5… "Aim!"
3…2…1…. "Fire!"
Within seconds, a hail of arrows rained down on the archdemon. Alistair fired his ballista, a set of mages cast winter's grasp, and the Dalish mages cast nature magic.
"Volley Two!" Aedan began the countdown
1…2…3 "Ready!"
Alistair reloaded. It was Sten's turn and his ballista was loaded.
5…6…7... "Aim!"
9…10…. "Fire!"
Sten fired his ballista. Archers sent another hail of arrows, and stinging swarms attacked the dragon's eyes.
The beast raged as it was attacked from all sides. It flapped its one good wing to create a vortex. Devon was caught in the whirlwind and dragged toward the towering dragon. He tried to break free but couldn't – instead he used all of his energy and mana to send a lightning bolt into the archdemon's tender underbelly as the hind foot of the dragon crushed him.
"Volley Three, destroy that wing!"
10…9… "Ready!"
7…6…5… "Aim!"
3…2…1…. "Fire!"
Leliana fired her ballista. The archers launched another barrage of arrows.
Casualties were unavoidable but fortunately fewer than expected – and there would have been more without shielding and healing from Wynne, Emma, and several Dalish mages.
Even with the casualties, they were able to repeat the sequence a second time. Alistair, Sten, and Leliana fired their ballistae; archers and mages all aimed at the Archdemon. By the end of the second sequence, the Archdemon's remaining wing was effectively crippled.
Aedan blew the horn again, signaling the ground attack. Dwarves and the human forces charged the now wingless dragon. Leliana left the roof to help battle any darkspawn that may try to enter the fort and give a progress report to the field commanders.
The Archdemon was noticeably weakened and roared as it tried to summon darkspawn to its aid.
Few, if any, could answer its call.
Surana, Jowan and Emmalynn were prepping the sending spell while being shielded from the dying archdemon, when a bird landed next to them and unfurled into Morrigan. "I am here to provide additional help."
Emmalynn beamed "Thank you Morrigan! I never turn down help."
Jowan, Emmalynn, and Morrigan held hands when Emma cast the spell; the signal rune on Nematon glowed.
Aedan called out, "Get ready to cast!" He slid under the archdemon's neck and severed the tendons, then rolled out from under the Dragon as its head crashed to the ground.
Surana took Nematon and began to run towards the Dragon. The initiation rune came to life.
Aedan and Alistair yelled, "Everyone back off!"
"Only the Warden can approach!" Aedan added.
Surana yelled, "Die you bastard!" and plunged Nematon into the archdemon's skull, puncturing the bone as if it were made of parchment. When the gateway rune glowed brightly, Surana gave the sword a twist.
The separation rune came to life, connecting all the previous runes, and the flow rune roared to life.
Then light exploded from the skull of the dragon, knocking everyone down and practically blinding those nearby.
As the light dimmed, the silence on the roof was almost absolute. Morrigan and Jowan opened their eyes to find that not only was Surana lying unconscious – but so were Emmalynn and Alistair. Morrigan lifted the lids to look at Emmalynn's eyes, while Jowan ran to Alistair and then Surana.
Aedan looked worried. "What happened to Emma and Alistair?"
"They are like Surana: alive and in the Fade."
AN: I know…cliffhangers are evil. I promise not to keep you in suspense for too long