Chapter 159: For Ferelden
Under a sky of shadow and blood, the Ferelden army formed up in battle array.
Alim watched from a small hill near the tree line. It amazed him how the commanders were able to keep so many soldiers together as they prepared for their final push towards the city of Denerim. It was a feat, he knew, having had to shepherd their little group many times during the last year, he knew how difficult it was to keep a group together, being able to do it with such a large amount of people…it said much of the skill of the Ferelden officers.
Even their allies had fallen into the necessary rhythm; the mages took their places thanks to the Templars that accompanied them. The dwarves, after centuries of war were used to staying in formation, if the dwarven commanders had any problems with the casteless recruits it did not show, they flowed like water into where they were needed. The only group Alim had worried about was the Dalish, he knew how much resentment some Dalish hunters had towards humans, but once again he had been surprised. The hunters and archers took lead from their captains who clearly took the grey warden treaties seriously. The elves directed their own, but they did so in a way to maximize their skills in concert with their human and dwarven counterparts.
It was a heartening sight, a good sight, an advantage they had over the darkspawn horde.
A much needed advantage, he knew.
The elf frowned slightly as he thought of the advance scouts' last report. The news had not been promising. The darkspawn horde was bigger than they had thought, and much stronger…
That…and they had arrived too late.
The darkspawn had already breached the city.
The news had shocked the veteran commanders during their last strategy session; Denerim's defenses had been strong. They could not believe that the spawn had taken the city so quickly.
"The monsters have no siege equipment, one general had complained, "No towers, no battering rams, no ballistae. It is impossible to take a city without them."
Alim had merely shaken his head.
"They have ogres," he repeated. "Those big bastards are both ram and siege tower for the darkspawn. Emissaries can cast spells that would make any defender think twice about holding…"
"And the Archdemon leads them," Alistair had added, "Kind of hard to keep a dragon in flight out of a city, a few blasts of dragon fire, and any gate would open."
No one had said anything after that, to say that the commanders were likely daunted by the task ahead of them was an understatement.
Yet, they had no choice.
If they failed here, the horde would spread beyond Ferelden, and then it would take an alliance of nations to battle it, and Ferelden would be left a dead husk of a land.
The army of Ferelden had no choice.
It was win, or die.
Alim glanced over at Alistair, atop his charger, as they had grown closer to the horde a change had gone over his friend. A cold calm had settled over the former Templar, warden, turned king. Alistair might have feared what came next, ruling his father's kingdom, but that was a problem for another day, for the moment he was all warrior, and that was what Ferelden needed most of all right now…
…A warrior king to defend his nation, a nation on the verge of collapse and death.
He was so grim, so stoic. Alim might have teased him about it, but now did not seem the time.
They needed Alistair to be the king right now, and that is what he was doing.
They could ask nothing more from him.
The rest of their allies stood gathered near the rest of the officers awaiting the order to commence the final march. After months of conflict and blood, their little group was as ready as anyone could be in the face of such darkness.
Hopefully it would be enough.
Alim heard a soft whimper at his side; he looked down to see Bandit staring up at him with those large brown eyes of his. The elf smiled and scratched the Mabari behind the left ear, the dog snuffled and rubbed his head again his master's leg.
Alim welcomed the brief show of affection. Once the battle began, there would be no more time for such niceties.
"You look worried dearest."
He smiled; he had not even heard Leliana approach. Once her cat like approach would have annoyed him, now he saw it as a virtue, he had come to admire her grace and silence, but the time for grace and silence was almost done, they stood at the edge of battle.
What would happen next would decide the future.
He sighed.
"We're not enough," he said only loud enough for her to hear, "Our army is not big enough."
The bard pursed her lips.
"All is lost then?"
He shook his head.
"If I believed that I would not be here. This won't be a battle of armies, not like the fight at Ostagar. We just got to hold things together until we can reach the Archdemon. We draw the beast in where it can be engaged and slain. Cut off the snake's head, the body will die."
His elven ears lowered slightly.
"Alas, I do not know how the fuck we are going to do it."
Leliana chuckled slightly. It had been gallows humor at best, but at least it had made her smile.
One small victory for the day at least.
"You will think of something dearest," she said kissing the tip of his good ear.
"I know you will."
Alim snorted.
He wished he had the same confidence in his abilities that she had.
It did not take long for the soldiers to finish forming into battle lines, word was sent up from the officers to the commanders, and from there to Alim and the king. The warden heard the armor clad Arl Eamon give word to begin the march. One by one signals were sent, drums pounded, and horns sounded.
The army surged forward.
They had stopped just short of the last hill that revealed the valley where the city of Denerim sat. They had stopped just short of being able to see the city, the commanders not wishing to dishearten the army by the sight of the massive horde swirling before the capital.
When the army cleared the final rise, the city came into view.
Alim's eyes widened, his elven ears rose in surprise.
Sweet Maker, he thought.
No.
The valley around the city was a swarming mass of darkspawn. Tens of thousands of the creatures moved like a black sea around the walls and slowly trickled through ruined gates. The few buildings and carts caught outside when the horde attacked were just burnt husks now. The smell of smoke and death filled the elf's nostrils, and beneath it all...
Alim shuddered.
Beneath it all…he could hear the song, both beautiful and terrible. So many darkspawn together, the air was thick with the taint, almost as bad as it had been in the dead trenches, only here it was not contained by stone, here…it was everywhere, infecting both the ground and the sky. Nature seemed to recoil from the foulness that flowed off the darkspawn army, and in the tortured sky, the sky lit with rainbow colored lightning…
…The Archdemon soared back and forth over the city, a vulture or a crow seeking bodies to feast upon. Even at this distance, Alim could hear the beast roar, he could only imagine what it would sound like up close.
The sight made him shudder. He felt a sudden desire to be anywhere else but here. He…
He shook his head, and swallowed hard, mustering his courage.
They had come too far, he had come too far.
He was not going to fall apart now.
The Archdemon was here, right where they needed it to be.
Get to the beast, he thought.
Get to the beast…and kill it, do that and the Blight would end.
Kill it…
…And it would all be over.
A murmur ran through the army, an almost physical shudder. Alim did not blame them, even he felt daunted by what they were about to face.
It would not take much to break the army's spirit not in the face of such horror. They…
"FRIENDS, SONS AND ALLIES OF FERELDEN, HEAR ME!"
Alim blinked, he had been so focused on the horde he had not seen Alistair slip down to where Wynne and their other allies stood. Now the new king of Ferelden rode before his army, his voice booming like thunder, a simple spell, a spell every first year apprentice in the circle learned... Yet effective, when one needed to be heard.
Wynne had cast it no doubt, he realized, it was something he should have thought of himself, but he had been too lost in what they would soon face.
Had Alistair thought of this, or had Arl Eamon? The Arl had not been near Allie, so…
Alim smiled slightly.
Perhaps his friend was far better at this king thing than he thought.
Alistair rode back and forth across the lines on his charger his sword, his father's sword, drawn, his voice booming over the ripple of fear and thunder overhead.
"BEHOLD THE MIGHT OF THE DARKSPAWN HORDE! LOOK UPON THEM AND FEAR THEM NOT!"
The king rode up next to Alim.
"THE MAN BESIDE ME IS AN ELF, RAISED TO THE HIGHEST RANKS OF THE GREY WARDEN'S THROUGH BOTH SKILL AND VALOR."
Alim said nothing, fearing that he might say something stupid and ruin Alistair's moment. Sometimes, during this journey, he had needed to come to his friend's rescue.
This was not one of those times.
Alistair was doing just fine on his own.
"HE HAS SURVIVED, DESPITE THE ODDS AND GIVEN US THE CHANCE TO FACE THIS ENEMY ON A FIELD OF BATTLE. HE HAS GIVEN US A CHANCE TO SAVE OUR WORLD TO SAVE OUR FUTURE!"
Alistair began to bang his sword on his shield, and slowly, but surely, men and women in battle lines took up the call, pikes banged against the ground, swords banged against shields, and gauntlets pounded on breastplates. The sound rose like thunder, mustering the courage of the army that stood before the might of the horde.
Stood…and prepared for battle!
"TODAY," Alistair shouted, as the sound punctuated his words.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
"TODAY, WE SAVE DENERIM!"
BANG!
"TODAY WE AVENGE THE DEATH OF MY BROTHER KING CAILAN."
BANG!
"TODAY WE SHOW THE GREY WARDENS THAT WE REMEMBER AND HONOR THEIR SACRIFICE!"
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
"COMMANDERS!" The king roared
"SOUND THE CHARGE!"
War horns blared out, so loud that even the distant Archdemon likely heard them.
Alistair turned his horse.
"FOR FERELDEN!" he shouted.
"FOR THE GREY WARDEN!"
Cries rang out throughout the army.
CAILAN!
FERELDEN!
WARDENS!
VICTORY!
VICTORY!
VICTORY!
As one the army charged Alistair at its head, the cavalry shaking the ground as the soldiers followed close behind.
Alim stayed close to their circle of friends, keeping them together.
After months of preparation, and untold numbers of hardships and dangers the time had finally arrived.
The final battle for Ferelden had begun.
IOI
From her place among their allies, Morrigan watched Alistair with a thoughtful expression on her face.
Emotions flitted quickly through her. Sadness, desire, pride, anger, and excitement all blended together into a tangled cacophony.
The witch shook her head.
Even now, the fool still surprised her.
When they had first met, she had not thought much of him, now he stood above all others, showing a greatness she had never imagined him possessing.
The thought that that had been there the whole time was most…disturbing.
He would have been a fitting match for her, she thought, in another life, they could have had something, the child just beginning to form beneath her heart could have been a part of that, but if she had let herself give into that feeling even for a moment.
Morrigan frowned.
No, she had made the right choice.
Alistair was not hers, he was never meant to be.
She was meant for greater things than simply being a piece of frill at the court of Ferelden.
Her child was her future; that was what mattered.
Her desires, her regrets, were small compared to that future, that joy.
The child was the future, not just hers, but the worlds.
What was a moment of weakness compared to that?
She would mourn what she could have had eventually, but not now, not now.
Now she needed the last piece of the puzzle, the soul of an Old God.
Once she had that prize, the future was hers.
For the Future she thought to herself.
My future.
IOI
As the army charged, the darkspawn finally noticed their approach, they did not charge out to meet the attackers, but instead formed up to meet their advance.
Hurlocks rushed to the front, all wielding long spears and pikes, some of these weapons once wielded by dead Ferelden defenders, defenders that now were flayed and decorating the battlefield.
They would stop the charge with a line of steel. They would break the fools like so many others had been broken.
In the heads of each monster, the Archdemon sang out its orders. Break the enemy, break their lines, encircle them, consume them, devour them!
OBEY!
OBEY!
OBEY!
Darkspawn vanguards roared a challenge as the army drew closer. Emissaries snarled and hissed at any monster seeming to shy from the incoming charge.
Their enemy was nothing, just meat to be torn apart and consumed they were nothing!
In the midst of the charge, the darkspawn could feel the presence of their ancient enemy, those who were a part of the song, but were sour notes in its perfection, these…these grey ones would be ripped apart, they would not stop the rise, the light was theirs!
They would die with the others.
They would be flayed, torn, devoured!
The enemy cried out as they charged into the line of spears and pikes, the darkspawn howled in anticipation.
The sky cracked, and a blinding flash swept over the darkspawn lines. The light was too bright, many darkspawn snarled and dropped their weapons, pikes and spears lowered, the ground exploded as lightning came down in the center of their formation, burning spawn were thrown into the air, cries of pain and surprise filled the air.
The enemy slammed in their line, slammed into it, and breached it.
Darkspawn howled as the enemy punched through them like a spear. A vanguard tried to rally them, but lost his head to the one leading the charge, the grey one in the armor of gold.
Lightning flashed again, throwing the horde into panic. They tried to surge forward, but more steel met them.
Horses crushed genlock and hurlock both and still the charge did not stop.
The enemy surged forward.
Ever forward.
IOI
From his place near the back of the column Alim grunted in exertion, it…it taken a lot out of him calling down that lightning, nature was roiling from the presence of the darkspawn, it had almost not listened. He…
He coughed and when he went to cover his mouth his white sleeve came away bloody, red flowed freely from his nose.
He wiped it away.
If a bloody nose was all he had to worry about today he would be lucky.
He drew spellbinder.
Alistair had broken the darkspawn line, and was pushing for the gates of Denerim.
It was time to give his warden brother a hand.
He and his allies charged into the breach the army made. A few darkspawn that had survived the first charge tried to meet them and were cut down. The sound of steel and the cries of the dying were everywhere.
The battle for Denerim had begun.
The battle for Ferelden had begun.