Chapter 106: Gauntlet
The smallest lark might carry it, but a strong might not, of what do I speak?
Alim rolled his eyes. He had been expecting challenges in the Gauntlet, but not this.
Riddles? Really?
It seemed ridiculous to him. Yet, he understood the value of such a defense. It seemed that the ancient Andrastians had wanted to make sure that only those interested in their faith could gain access to the chamber where the ashes were kept. The riddles, though not difficult were not exactly his area of expertise. During his harrowing he had encountered a sloth demon who had challenged him to a riddle game. He had missed one and had to fight for his life, he had won that battle, but it had been a near thing.
Fortunately, he did not have to face this challenge alone.
Leliana, Alistair, and Wynne all seemed up to the task of answering; they recognized some of the shapes these riddling spirits took. Andraste's Mother, several of her disciples, even the Archon Hessarian and his wife. Alim's years of learning chantry history were behind him, and he did not recognize most of these people, plus he had not been a very good student when it came to chantry lore.
The sisters had been trusted to teach it, and given his feeling about them, well…
He had had his knuckles rapped more than a few times.
Leliana, however, was in her element, as a sister herself, she was more than familiar with chantry lore. She figured out quite quickly what answers these shadows of the past were looking for. The humans in their party were clearly intrigued by all this. Oghren looked bored. Kally kept looking around them, as if expecting some enemy to jump out if their friends got a riddle wrong. Theron was…
Alim's ears twitched curiously.
Theron kept staring at one of the specters, a bald elf in old style battle armor.
The warden mage pursed his lips. He did not need to be an expert on chantry lore to know who this person was. It could only be one person in history.
Shartan, Andraste's elven disciple, the one who joined her army, and with his sacrifice earned their people the Dales…
…at least…until the chantry took it away from them.
He went to his fellow warden's side. Alim had not heard the full riddle, but he heard the Dalish's answer.
"Home," the warden said, "The…the answer is home."
"Yes," the spirit answered, "We dreamed of a place of our own, where we would have no masters but ourselves. For this reason, we followed Andraste, but she was betrayed…and…so were we."
Shartan vanished.
Theron shuddered.
Alim gave his friend a worried look.
"Are you okay?"
The Dalish warden shook his head.
"I…I'm trying to remember why we are doing this, risking ourselves to save people that care nothing for ours."
Alim's eyes narrowed.
"Not all humans are bad, you know."
I know that, but what is worse, people that hate us, or people that see that hate and do nothing."
Theron let out a heavy frustrated sigh.
"I never knew my father, but…I…I have heard tales. Mostly from our own storyteller, but a few when we gathered with the other clans. They…they saw my father as a bit of a radical. He believed that our isolation was hurting us, that the longer we were apart, the more we lost, and that our identity as a united people was slipping away.
He chuckled mirthlessly.
"My father felt we needed to reopen a dialogue with the shemlen. That we needed to take a more active role in helping our brothers and sisters living in the Alienages, that we needed to be more than just legends or wanderers that the humans needed to see us more than beggars or thieves."
Alim gave him a slight smile.
"Your Da sounded like a wise man."
Theron's ears twitched with annoyance.
"Perhaps he was, but that did not stop the humans that murdered him. I grew up without a father because of them, and the humans lost one of the loudest voices among my people for coexistence, a sad state of affairs that, and wasteful."
Alim shrugged.
"People can be idiots," he said with a snort, "there are problems on both sides of the line. Elves and humans both, both our races can be too pig-headed for our own good."
Theron shook his head.
"The humans do not honor Shartan, do they? The few city elves we took in claim that the shemlen chantry has tried to erase his sacrifice?"
The warden mage did not know how best to reply, he had heard about Shartan of course, his canticle was considered heresy now, but scholars still were allowed to study it, even if it was no longer sung in any chantry in Thedas. As the years went by, fewer and fewer people knew about Shartan, at least among the bulk of the faithful anyway.
At least the scholars kept his name alive, kept him from vanishing completely, like so much else about elven culture.
It was a small victory, but a victory none the less.
"They have tried," Alim admitted, "History is written by the victors you see. They don't want to acknowledge that the elves helped them once."
The Dalish warden spat at that.
"Then we must remind them of the strength of the elvhen. Our people are not finished yet, and if we defeat the Blight, they will have to take notice of us again."
Alim chuckled lightly.
"Does that mean that you have not given up being a warden then? Will you stay with us, even if there is a chance to cure yourself of the taint?"
Theron met his gaze; his eyes were cold and determined.
"Elves and humans fought against Tevinter, we pushed them back to their foul capital in the north. Now the Archdemon, an old god of Tevinter, threatens this world again. We…this group…we will show the world what an alliance of elves and humans can do, what we can do."
The Dalish gave his friend a wan smile.
"I will stay. I will not cower from my responsibility. The wardens saved my life, I owe it to them to do my part, to whatever end.
Alim clasped him on the shoulder.
"I'm happy to hear it, but perhaps there is something we can do for you, a way that you can return to your clan."
Theron shrugged.
"I would like to have the option, lethallin."
The warden mage smiled at him.
"Then we will find it together, my friend," he promised.
"Mas serranas."
Alim smiled.
"Your welcome."
IOI
The door to the next chamber opened.
Leliana stood bow at the ready. So far the tests to reach the ashes had been about knowledge and chantry history. They had faced the shadows of people that had defined Andraste's life, each riddle reflecting their personal desires. A mother's love, a friend's happiness, the loyalty of a disciple, the passion of a general, all these things Andraste gave her followers. Even the vengeance and mercy of the Archon and his wife showed the effect that their prophet had had on the world.
It was all a matter of faith, of course, seeking what was right, in spite of your own ambitions. They had passed this first test a challenge of the mind.
She suspected more physical challenges coming soon.
The next chamber was dark, dark and misty; she thought she could see shapes moving around, but…
Her eyes narrowed, anything could be in there.
The group entered slowly, carefully, the mist seemed to entangle them, pulling them apart.
Leliana felt a moment of distress, fearing that they would get lost or separated from each other. She…
"Leli?"
Alim's voice pierced the shadows, she found him at her side, the mist seemed to part, letting them see each other once again, they could also hear voices, distant whispers, some sounded like their friends, others were…different.
She felt his hand touch her arm, she relaxed slightly, grateful that he was here, if there was threat to face, they would do so together.
She drew strength from that connection.
Two shadows appeared before them, one was shorter, clearly armed. She could make out the shape of a bow and quiver. The other seemed to be…dressed in finery. Leliana started to raise her bow, fearing an attack.
"You have become so dark my little Nightingale," a familiar Orlesian voice emerged from the darkness, it sounded hurt, "Would you truly try to kill me, after everything I did for you?"
Leliana gasped and lowered her bow. The missed parted revealing an elderly Orlesian noble woman. She wore no mask, but that did not surprise the bard, this woman had been no stranger to the game, but tried to step away from it whenever she could.
"Lady Cecilie?" she murmured.
The old woman smiled sadly at her.
"I tried to be there for you," she said shaking her head, "Your Mother, Maker keep her, was not only a good servant but a friend to me. I…I would have kept you out of the game if I could, but then that…that…woman got her claws into you, changed, made you over in her image. That…that is not what I wanted for you."
Leliana winced. Cecilie had been kind to her, always she had been kind, and she had not needed to be. She had tried to be loyal to her patron, but from the very first moment she had met Marjolaine she had been lost.
The bard shook her head.
She had been young and foolish, and Marjolaine had seemed so beautiful, so worldly. The world she had offered had been so exciting and dangerous. Lady Cecilie could not have protected her from that. She had been enthralled, the game had called to her, and she had answered.
Cecilie gave her a sad look.
"I wanted what was best for you, but all you found was pain. Do you blame me for that, my little Nightingale? Did I fail you?"
Leliana's lip trembled, but she did not cry, there were so many things she wanted to say, so much that she owed this woman, this honorable noble woman that had cared for her when she had no reason to. She had left her side with barely a word, entranced by Marjolaine's attention and promises.
"You did not fail me, Milady," she answered, "It…it is I who should apologize. The life you offered me, the opportunities, I was foolish to turn away from you, young and foolish. You…you are not to blame here, it is me, only me. I would ask your forgiveness, but I fear it is too late."
Cecilie gave her that knowing smile, the one she remembered so well from when she was a child. When she had successfully mastered a new dance or song, Cecilie was kind, but she could be stern when she needed to be. That knowing smile had always needed to be earned by her young charge.
It made Leliana smile to see it again.
She had missed it.
IOI
"And what of you, sorcerer?"
Alim blinked, he had been surprised that he was able to see the woman that the gauntlet had conjured up for Leli. He could not see what the others now faced, perhaps it was their own private test.
He and Leliana had achieved a degree of closeness that he did not have with the others, he had come to know her, her fears and her joys. Meeting the woman that had raised her, facing her past seemed to be the point of this test, confronting an old pain.
He turned to face his own test, still beautiful, still clad in the armor of her people.
He shook his head.
Of course it would be Bellethiel.
"Do you still think of me Alim?" she asked, "Has your mission made you forget what happened? What we could have shared?"
The Dalish huntress blinked, unshed tears filled her eyes.
"Have you forgotten about me?"
He could not deny that seeing her again hurt. He ahd felt it once before, when confronted Dalish woman back in the sloth demon's domain, and then again, after, when they had spoken in the raw fade…
Alim swallowed hard.
Leliana glanced over at him, perhaps his love worried still about what could have been. He would not blame her if she did. She had been there when Belle had been alive, she had seen what had went on between the two of them.
Perhaps it was time to show her that what was in the past, was in the past.
Alim smiled at Bellethiel.
"I'll never forget you," he told the Dalish girl, "You were kind to me, in time we might have been more, but fate was not kind to us was it, Belle?"
The Dalish woman said nothing, but she did nod.
The warden mage sighed.
"What if's can make you crazy if you let them, I won't deny what I felt for Belle, for you, and I'll always carry those emotions."
He gave her a sad smile.
"But I moved on, Belle. I needed to, if we are going to end this Blight I couldn't afford to stay lost in grief. I…I honor you memory. You wanted to see the Blight stopped, and it will be.
He gently squeezed Leliana's hand.
"I feel sorrow, but I feel no regret."
The shadow of the Huntress smiled.
"You have put the past to rest, Alim, that is good. You still have such a long road ahead of you. You will face trials, darkness, and great evil…"
Cecilie looked at him then, the old woman seemed pleased that her young charge did not stand alone.
"Together, you will defeat it," she said. Cecilie held out her hand to Leliana.
"Let the past rest," Belle said holding out her hand to Alim.
They both took the object from their loved one's hands, a flash of light filled the chamber, causing everyone to shield their eyes.
When it faded, the mist and the ghosts of the past were gone.
The party members looked around, perhaps out of surprise to see those they had spoken to gone. Each of them now held a small silver amulet, a gift from those now long gone.
The door before them opened, revealing yet another chamber.
Alim might have been wrong but he thought he heard distant thunder.
He could see that more people awaited them in the next chamber, more riddles, more questions perhaps? They…
An arrow flew through the air. He barely had enough time to block its flight. The crackle of magic and the sound of steel being drawn greeted them.
"Looks like we come to the physical portion of our test," he said grimly.
Behind him Oghren chuckled pleasantly, he drew his ax and swung it eagerly.
He said only one word, one that did not surprise Alim in the least. After that he leapt forward into battle.
"Good."
The others followed him in, eager to meet their enemy.
Alim drew his sword.
One step closer to the ashes, he thought. Perhaps this would be the last step…
He smiled grimly.
…just…one more.