The Daughter of Tethras
Disclaimer: Don't own Dragon Age
A/N: I wasn't happy with this chapter as it was a rushed job and I didn't think anyone would notice, but someone pointed out something very startling and very true that I messed up on. I take pride in my writing and try to do the best that I can with character development and storyline, so I redid this chapter. Enjoy this.
Chapter 21 (A Frustrating Reminder)
Bianca awoke in a cold sweat, panting heavily as her eyes darted about the room. The morning light poured in through her windows, flooding the dark surrounding and bathing her with a warm, comforting sensation. "Will these nightmares never cease?" She looked down at the mark on her hand and cringed. "At least I know who to blame for this…Mother Giselle would have a panic attack if I blamed Andraste."
Solas confirmed that the mark was the reason she could dream, and tried in vain to console her over it by saying that dreams were a remarkable thing to have. She figured when all someone had was nightmares and painful flashbacks, they would happily stay away from dreams.
She dropped her hand to the blanket and fell back onto the pillow. Her eyes froze on the cloth drapery that hung over her head. "I should get up," she muttered. It would be a busy day preparing for the Winter Palace that evening, so the sooner she awoke the better.
Bianca rolled onto her side and pushed her hands beneath her head. The bed was much more comfortable than what she had in Haven, it was almost fit for royalty. Her room was large and had two balconies that overlooked stunning views of mountains. It was the kind of room that, on a lazy day, she wouldn't mind hiding away in.
It took several minutes of forcing herself to keep her eyes open and to wake up before she could manage to leave the bed. When she did, she begrudgingly put on her clothes started to leave the bedroom.
Just as her hand came to rest on the handle, she noticed something peculiar; the door was ajar. She knew it wasn't a case of forgetting to shut the door since she always closed the door since early childhood. "Someone was in my room…"
She held her breath and looked over her shoulder, squinting at the room. There wasn't anyone in view, but the feeling in her gut suggested otherwise. To the left, her closet doors were closed but to the right the doors that led out to the balcony were wide open.
The mental list of people that would sneak into her room wasn't long, since none of her companions would do that. Cassandra knew it would trigger bad memories for her, Sera understood pranking her was off limits, and Cole would likely try to keep her from even realizing he'd been in there.
"I'm imagining it." She straightened herself with a sigh and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Stupid dreams are messing with my head."
As she started to turn, she could see something flash in the open space of the door. Her eyes widened and the door pushed forward, striking her in the shoulder. Bianca fell to the ground with a violent crash and looked up to see who was there.
Fear choked her when her horrified gaze fell onto two older dwarves wearing fancy outfits to designate Dwarven nobility. "Marcus?" She choked out the names of her adoptive parents and pulled her hand towards her throbbing chest. "Amelia?"
The woman pulled her long blonde hair over her shoulder and stared down with a smug expression. Marcus's bushy black eyebrows fell and closed like a pendulum and his pale blue eyes squinted in rage.
"You didn't think we couldn't find you?" Amelia laughed. "The minute we heard you were named Inquisitor, we knew where to look for you." Sweat trickled down the side of her head and her body started to shake as the man made his approach. "You've spent a good amount of time hiding from us, but we're here to take you back now."
Guards were positioned throughout Skyhold, so these two couldn't possibly have managed to slip in. "How? How did you even get in here?" They certainly weren't crafty or as skilled in stealth as Lantos was. They couldn't possibly pass as refugees either if they were wearing noble clothes. "W-What do you want?"
"To take you back home, darling. We've been looking for you for the past five years." She gasped out and pulled her leg away from where Marcus was standing. Her eyes trailed to the bed where her axe was, and she immediately began thinking of ways to defend herself.
"No. You just want to control me, you want to keep me locked away." She flung herself on hands and knees and started scrambling for the bed when she felt a sudden force grab the back of her outfit and yank her from the ground.
"You absolutely have no business being here," Marcus growled. "If you didn't want us to find you, you should have stayed hidden in the Carta." His fingers tightened around her shirt and she could feel herself losing control of her body as he pulled her to the door. "Staking out your little castle for the last few weeks paid off, it's easy to slip past the defenses when you've watched enough."
"No." Her lips parted to scream, but Marcus pulled again on her shirt, causing her collar to tighten around her neck and force only a whimper to flee from her mouth. "I have a job to do. I have responsibilities."
Amelia stepped beside her, moved her face in front of Bianca's and raised her voice. "That's too bad." Saliva spilt from the woman's tongue and Bianca jerked her head to the right. "We'll return to Orzammar, it won't matter what happens on the surface."
"Why?" She ground her teeth and felt a heavy strain in her eyes. "What could you possibly want from me? I'm old enough to go wherever I want."
She looked over her shoulder and, with an angered shout, kicked her heel back and into Marcus's inner left thigh. The man's bearded cheeks puffed up and his grip on her shirt loosened enough for her to twist free.
Amelia shrieked and swung her arms through the air, but Bianca ducked under her and flung herself towards the bed. "Leave me alone." She grabbed the axe from underneath and stood with her legs spread apart and the axe positioned vertically in front of her.
Her muscles grew tense and her knuckles white from gripping the haft as though it were her lifeline. She watched Marcus roll onto the ground, clutching his leg and howling in pain. Amelia put her hands to her hips and shot a poisonous glare onto Bianca.
"It isn't what we want so much as what your mother wants." A shiver ran down her spine and she shook her head. "When you ran off, we couldn't keep watch over you. I don't know if you're still looking for your father or not, but-"
"Shut up." It had always been about her father, no doubt about that. Marcus and Amelia had always been quick to silence her whenever she posed a desire to find the man. "What has my father ever done to you?"
"Us?" Amelia raised her fingertips to her chest and bent her wrist upwards. "Oh nothing to us personally."
Marcus pushed himself to his feet and a sneer spread across his face. "Your mother has often said she wanted us to make sure you stayed away from him. She'd sooner have us give you to someone else if you ever made contact." Amelia rolled her eyes and scolded him for revealing the information. Bianca's jaw dropped and she took a slow step back.
Her breathing jumped and her eyes darted for the balcony that overlooked the battlements. On the center of the balcony railing, she made out a pair of hooks. Her body grew pale as she picture the couple climbing over the railing.
It was still early in the morning that the dawn wasn't in full swing. Most people would still be asleep, but guards rotated throughout the night. "How did you slip past the night watch? Cullen's people watch the battlements like a hawk, he makes them." Then there was Leliana, whose agents were made to hide in the shadows. "How in the hell are the two of you even here?"
Even Varric, who was high up in the Merchant's Guild, was able to keep merchants on high alert should anyone infiltrate the fort.
Marcus walked towards her and she tensed further while pushing her axe forward. "Not another step," she shouted. The man's fiery glare fell into hers and a paralyzing sensation swept through her.
"We should have killed your father a long time ago," Marcus growled. She gasped out and looked back at the balcony. "Your mother didn't want to, she wanted to control your father. To keep her under her thumb…Your mother can't resist having that man on the side, if he leaves her, we get rid of you so he'll never find you. That's the deal, and that's why you're coming with us."
"Too late." She swallowed the lump in her throat and started for the balcony while praying the hooks were indeed holding a rope ladder. Marcus was fast on her heels and before she could look to see what was below, his arms slipped around her abdomen.
She screamed out, hoping someone would hear her. Amelia ran up and thrust a piece of velvet cloth into her mouth. "Don't make this harder than it has to be," Amelia said with a sneer. The woman pulled the axe from her hand and Marcus locked her wrists together with his arm.
Bianca's vision started to blur and her head felt as though cluttered by clouds. "What's happening?" She asked with a slur, though her voice was muffled by the rag. She ran her tongue across it and cringed when a bitter flavor burned the tip. "You're poisoning me…"
"Not necessarily. You remember what this is, don't you dear?" Her throat started to burn and her body grew numb. "You shouldn't act so surprised that we got past the night guards."
The memory of Amelia's bow entered her mind and her eyes grew heavy. The woman was a hunter within Orzammar's nobility, so she and Marcus were often granted the privilege to leave for the surface. In this process, they had a potion sedative they used to knock out the animals that they would hunt.
They used the sedative on her when she was a child as well whenever she acted up.
She looked weakly at her left arm, groaning as the mark on her hand began to throb with pain. The more numb she became, the more pain she felt from the anchor. "Now," Amelia stated, "We're going to take you home and write to your mother to let her know you're safe and sound."
Bianca pushed the cloth from her mouth with her tongue, closing one eye as the bitter taste stung her. "Let me go," she said once the cloth dropped to the ground. "You don't know what's going on. The anchor…"
"What?" Marcus grabbed her hand and laughed. "This thing? We'll simply cut off your hand if it becomes a bother." The pain was beginning to go away now that she wasn't sucking on the chemical laced rag anymore, but that didn't mean it wouldn't have adverse effects lingering on the anchor.
"We will do no such thing, Marc." The woman scratched at her chin and paced to the right. "Now we've wasted enough time, we need to get her out of here without anyone noticing."
"They'd come looking," Bianca growled, "All of them, with my dad at the head." The pair froze and looked at her with their eyes wide open and their mouths agape. She flashed a weakened smirk. "You didn't realize my father was already here?" Marcus's arm relaxed for a brief moment, enough time for Bianca to escape his grip.
Thinking fast, she pulled her arms free with a grunt and tore off the glove she was wearing over her left hand. The green light spilled from the anchor, forcing Marcus and Amelia to fall back and shield their eyes.
Bianca took a deep breath and clenched her fist. "Long enough." She put her hand to the rail and pulled herself over and grabbed the nearest rope that was hanging down.
Her hands grasped onto the rope tight and she peered down at the ground and yelped when she saw how high off the ground she was. "Oh god…" She raised her head and saw the couple leaning over the railing and scowling down at her. "Shit."
"Get your ass back up here you idiot," Amelia screamed. "If you know what's good for you."
Her body still felt weak and numb, and her stomach had only the fleeting sensation of air within it. Certainly she would fall from being unable to hold onto the rope, and she wasn't strong enough at the moment to climb back up-not that she wanted to go up.
"Bianca!" Vivienne's voice filled the air around her and she glanced back at the battlements to see the woman waving her arm in the air. "Bianca darling, hang on."
"Vivienne." She strained her voice to speak, but every word from her raw throat came in broken breaths. "My adoptive parents. They poisoned me." Her clammy hands slipped on the rope and she let out a violent scream while throwing her legs around it. "I'm afraid of heights too." It was the only way she saw that she could escape, and she didn't have the time to think of an escape plan.
Vivienne whipped out her staff and Bianca felt a cool breeze flowing around her. Her grip on the rope loosened and one by one her fingers fell away from it until her body was entirely separated.
As she descended, she watched Marcus and Amelia leave from the balcony. Her eyes rolled upwards and she felt her body collapse into someone's arms. "I've got you," Vivienne whispered, "Let's get you inside, sweetie."
It took some time before she could regain both her consciousness and her strength. Leliana and Cullen had people their people searching every inch of Skyhold, but the couple were nowhere to be found.
Varric stood beside her as she lay on Vivienne's bed with her hands folded over her abdomen. "I should have been able to fight them," Bianca muttered, "I couldn't do anything. I can fight demons, I can fight darkspawn, but…"
"Shh." Varric placed his hand onto her forehead and peered down with a gentle smile. "You're okay now, and that's all that matters."
"What if they come back?"
"They won't. Cullen and Leliana are bolstering their people, it's going to be a lot harder for something like this to happen again." His voice was soft and soothing for her, like honey and silk. She closed her eyes and shifted in the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Better." Her eyelids opened partially and she looked to the clouds rolling past Vivienne's balcony. "I think I just want to leave for the winter palace now. I…I need to be doing something."
"You need to rest. You've had a hellish day. We will head to the Winter Palace soon, but for now you should rest." He lifted a cup of water from the table and moved it before her. She started to sit upright, so he aided her by placing his right hand beneath her back.
"I'm okay. Really." She took the cup and moved it towards her dry lips. It was almost too much that he was so concerned, but she understood the reason behind it. "From now on, I think I'm just going to sleep with my balcony doors closed and locked."
Marcus and Amelia wouldn't try the same thing twice anyway, but any precaution was a good one. No matter how much of a shelter Skyhold was, it wasn't perfect. She thought she could let her guard down, but the moment she did, she was attacked by the last people she wanted to see.
Well, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, though about as much as you could. I certainly feel better about it after rewriting it. Thoughts?