Chapter 39: The Gates of the Dead
The road to Bownammer was surprisingly clear.
Alim led the way; the deep roads down here were still mostly intact. Where they had crumbled, someone had added reinforcements, a strange black stringy substance served to anchor the ceilings in certain places. All the ruined barricades and bodies had been cleared away here, and still they saw no sign of the darkspawn.
It was more than disturbing.
Bandit went up to sniff of the black substance; Alim slapped his knee and called the dog back.
Whimpering the dog retreated to his side.
Sereda shook her head.
"Darkspawn corruption in its purest form," she warned the elf, "Do not touch it."
He nodded, he might be immune to the taints effects but that did not mean he wanted to take any chances.
Leliana kept her bow nocked and ready. Sten, Sereda, and Oghren gripped their weapons tightly. Shale stomped along in its usual manner, its glowing eyes watchful for any darkspawn.
None materialized, Alim cursed under his breath.
Where were all the blighted creatures, this deep underground the deep roads should be teeming with them.
Part of him thanked their good fortune, but another part of him realized that if the spawn were not here, they were likely causing no end to trouble elsewhere.
He was not sure what was worse.
They finally emerged from the tunnel they were traveling down, a great cavern stretched out before them. The walls of a massive dwarven fortress, even from here anyone could see the greatness of this place.
It was hard to imagine that it had ever fallen.
"Welcome to Bownammer warden," Sereda said softly.
"Finally," Oghren grumped, "Let's go find Branka before the spawn realize that we are here."
Leliana nodded, in this she and Oghren were in total agreement. The longer they stayed here the more likely the spawn would find them.
She turned to say something to Alim to find that he was not there.
She glanced around quickly, seeing no sign of him.
"Alim," she whispered not wishing to draw anything's' attention, "ALIM?"
The others joined her, but their search was fruitless.
Leliana felt worry burn in her gut.
Where had the elf gone?
He could not have simply vanished!
IOI
The taint sang in his blood.
Alim could not resist the pull; it drew him farther and farther from his companions.
The foul humming in his blood rose to a crescendo.
He was drawn to great cliff overlooking the old fortress. Below him a stream of lava flowed freely.
He looked down into the swarming sea of light, and was shocked to discover that it was not lava at all, it was torches.
The river of lava below him was no river at all.
The elf shuddered.
He had found the darkspawn horde.
There were thousands of the monsters down there, maybe hundreds of thousands. Hurlocks, genlocks, shrieks, and ogres all mingled together.
Alim's tainted blood swam…he felt…sweet Maker he felt light headed.
The taint…it was so thick here. He could hear nothing, see nothing, smell nothing. Everything here was simply the taint.
TAINT. TAINT. TAINT. TAINT!
The ground shook underneath him. It nearly knocked him down. A huge shape flew out of the shadows; it landed on the great bridge separating the wardens from Bownammer.
The taint in Alim squealed loudly.
The creature let out an ear-shattering roar.
It was a high dragon, but unlike any that Alim had ever heard of before. The beast lived, his violet scales moved with its every movement, with every breath the creature took. Yet the creature still looked emaciated. It scales were covered with black film in some places; he could see rotted flesh in others. The skin on the creature's massive diamond shaped head was pulled tight against its skull. Milky white eyes regarded the darkspawn horde with a sense of sinister purpose, a form of mad glee.
The elf fell to his knees.
Such a creature could have only one name…
Archdemon.
Alim swallowed hard, the Archdemon, the sodding Archdemon was right in front of him!
The creature roared down at the horde, tainted flame flicked in its mouth.
Down below the darkspawn began to march. The call could not be clearer if the creature had tried.
GO FORTH! DESTROY! OBEY!
Alim rose, he began to walk forward, he was a puppet on a string now.
The Archdemon turned its massive head, its pale dead eyes glared at where the elf was moving. They narrowed.
It sensed something.
Alim continued to walk.
The Archdemon roared again.
Alim continued to…
Strong hands seized him, he struggled but there was no escape.
He tried to scream for help.
"Alim stop," a familiar sweet voice warned, "You must stop! It will hear you!"
The elf continued to struggle.
The Archdemon began to move closer.
IOI
Shale held tightly to the struggling warden. Sten took up the rear guard as they retreated down a side tunnel.
Sereda glared at Alim.
"Damn it warden," she shouted, "Wake up! You're calling the demon down on us!"
Alim did not seem to hear her, he struggled against Shale's grip, and fortunately the golem had his hands pinned to his side. He could not caste without them.
"I could knock it out if anyone wished," the golem offered.
Leliana pushed her way passed Sten. Bandit barked loudly.
"Silence Bandit," the bard shouted.
The dog fell silent.
Leliana made her way to the elf; she seized him by the shoulders.
"Alim!" she shouted.
His dark eyes were so distant, he seemed to be seeing through a sea of endless fog, but he had heard her. He looked into her eyes.
"Alim look at me," she ordered.
She saw him starting to drift away again; she took his face in her hands.
She gently stroked his cheek with one hand; the other went to his left ear.
The elf gasped, her touch helped him focus.
He finally looked into her eyes.
She gave him her sternest look.
"Alim fight it," she demanded, "Whatever that monster is doing to you, you must fight. Come back to us," she purred, "Please Alim…come back to me."
The elf blinked the soft touch of her fingers, that sweet Orlesian voice…
Come back to me.
Alim took a deep breath, then another.
He focused on her voice.
The heavy sensations of the taint retreated into the background.
Alim was able to focus again.
He looked right into Leliana's eyes.
"I'm here," he gasped, "It…it is me, shit…Shale let me go!"
A nervous laugh escaped the bard's lips.
"Praise the Maker," she cried.
Alim struggled against the golem's strength.
"Shale let me go," he repeated.
"Is it going to try to walk up to the giant scaly bird again?" the golem asked.
"No," the elf spat, "Let me go."
"Very well," it replied, it dropped Alim right on his butt.
He yelped and glared up at the golem.
It gave him its biggest grin.
He gave it the finger.
Leliana wrapped her arms around him, he blushed but did not try to resist.
He actually liked the feel of her against him.
The elf's ears twitched.
"That was the Archdemon," he growled.
Leliana nodded.
"That was the sodding Archdemon."
Sereda continued to watch the bridge.
The Archdemon finally lost interest; it flew off, following the path of the horde.
The former princess breathed a sigh of relief.
"It is gone," she sighed.
Sten glared down at Alim.
"What were you doing?" the Qunari asked.
"I could not help it," he spat.
"You lead us; you are supposed to 'help it."
Alim glared at the large Qunari.
"Why did we not attack the great tainted bird?" Shale asked, "The warden must kill the Archdemon to end the Blight yes?"
"Sure golem," Sereda said dryly, "You can take the ten thousand darkspawn on the right. I'll take the ten thousand on the left."
"Seri is right," Leliana agreed, "We could not attack the beast with so many spawn around it."
"It would have been suicide you pile of stones," Oghren snorted.
"If we took the creature with us, our deaths would have been worth it," Sten said.
"Enough," Alim growled.
The others fell silent.
The elf sighed and took a deep breath.
"We are not yet ready to face the Archdemon," he said, "I'm not ready, there will be another time. When we fight that thing it must be on our terms."
Leliana and Sereda both nodded.
Sten did not look so sure.
"We shall see," he said coldly.
Alim glared at him, but let the matter drop.
They still needed to enter Bownammer; they still needed to find Branka.
The elf drew his sword. He motioned the group forward.
They followed in his wake.
IOI
Alim and the others returned to the great chamber, the Archdemon was indeed gone, but it had left some of its friends behind.
Darkspawn now swarmed the bridge like ants.
Alim was about to order an attack, when a large company of dwarves charged out of one of the side tunnels, they were dressed in mat black battle armor, a skull like symbol adorned their shields.
Sereda nodded.
"The legion of the dead," she informed the elf.
He nodded; he had not expected to find any help down here.
Well, never look a gift horse in the mouth.
He led the others into battle. The elf fired lightning from his fingertips, it blasted several of the spawn off the bridge, they fell into the chasm and to their deaths.
It opened the way for the legion; the dwarven warriors attacked the spawn like a tidal wave. Every now and then they would attack Bownammer, they had lost too many to actually retake the fortress, but they could at least give the spawn a bloody nose.
They did that now.
The warden and his allies turned the tide, the Legion swept the spawn off of the bridge, and they fought their way up to the very gates of Bownammer.
Alim fired chain lightning at a group of genlock archers, while Sten and Shale engaged a second group.
Oghren, Sereda, Bandit, and Leliana attacked a single advancing ogre. Leliana blinded it with her arrows while Sereda and Oghren attacked its legs. He broke one of its kneecaps. She sliced the tendons in its legs. The ogre fell.
Bandit leapt atop it, the Mabari's teeth tore out the Ogre's throat.
Its opponent dead, the dog returned to its master's side. It wagged its tale happily.
Alim paused, he downed a lyrium potion.
They had managed to reach the fortress.
Now the real work could begin.
IOI
"I'm Kardol," the dwarf commander leading the legion said offering the elf his hand.
"Alim of the Grey Wardens," the elf responded, "Thanks for the help."
The Legionnaire shrugged.
"Got to give you credit warden," the dwarf said, "drew a line through the spawn, no sense in your head, but you got skill."
Alim nodded. He was not sure if Kardol meant that as a compliment or an insult.
He decided to take it as the former.
"You should be more concerned about the coming Blight," Alim said quietly.
Kardol's eyes narrowed.
"Why, the other kingdoms only care when the darkspawn march in the light, but they are always here, always pushing. Your nightmare is our best day. A surge on the surface would give us a break."
Alim might have said something he would have regretted later, but Leliana interrupted him.
"We seek the paragon Branka," she informed Kardol, "Have your men found any trace of her?"
"Never seen any," he shrugged.
"What about the anvil of the void," Alim asked, "Ever hear of that?"
"Like dusters have heard of respect," the legionnaire chuckled, "Never seen it, but if you are looking for paragons, you might as well search for the anvil as well, and endless lyrium."
Alim glared at the dwarf, the two were definitely not getting along.
"We seek entrance into the fortress," Leliana said, "Do you know a way?"
Kardol pointed to a tunnel to the left of them.
"The spawn first breached our defenses there, we have seen them moving people through there. That should lead where you seek."
Alim nodded in thanks, but found him eager to get away from the snarky dwarven commander.
He did not like him.
He was the snarky one after all.
The others followed after him.
Kardol called out to them one more time before they entered the tunnel.
"Watch yourself warden," he said, "Drunks and kinslayers make poor allies."
Both Sereda and Oghren turned to glare at him.
Another fight might have broken out, but Shale herded them along, with Leliana's suggestion.
They did not have time to waste, the spawn were distracted for the moment.
They needed to take advantage of that.
They entered the fortress of Bownammer, entered the city of the dead.
All hoped that they would make it out alive.