Chapter 162: Ambushes
The assassin was dead.
Morrigan could not really say she was surprised. Zevran had always had a death wish; he proved that by coming after the wardens in the first place. The elf always seemed to be near the front of the battle, always pushing forward while their little groups other rogues tried to stay back. Bravery perhaps, bravado most definitely, add in a secret wish to die for past sins, and it was clearly not surprising that he was the first of their number, minus the Dalish girl who died way back in the beginning of course, to fall to the darkspawn during their final battle.
No, knowing the lecherous elf, it was not surprising at all, but the fact that he had fallen helping others, however…
Well…that was most…unexpected.
Alim had quickly gathered everyone up after the loss, and did his best to set them back on their course. They still had a battle to win after all, and there was nothing they could do for Zevran Arainai now. The dead would have to be mourned later. For now, the Archdemon took precedence.
Zevran's body would need to stay where it lay for now, the Archdemon still ruled the skies over Denerim, and as long as that was true, the Blight would continue.
Ending that was all that mattered now; it was their duty, no matter how painful it might be at the moment.
Duty endured.
The group pushed forward out of the alienage. The elves had secured things the best they could. If any more darkspawn managed to breach the city gates or flow from one of the other overrun districts of the city, the people of the Alienage were ready for them. The red haired elf Shianni had wished them well before they had left, promising to help find their friend when all this was over. Alim had thanked her quickly, and gave the order to move out.
Morrigan was impressed with his professionalism, but perhaps she should not have been. Alim had come a long way since she had seen him all those months ago slogging through the mists of the Wilds.
They fought their way down the narrow backstreets of Denerim. Their progress slowed by darkspawn ambushes or rubble left in the monsters' wake. The latter was avoidable, but the former was quickly becoming a problem. The darkspawn seemed to be learning from each failed ambush, and changing the next ever so slightly, making each more deadly than the next.
Clever creatures, Morrigan thought to herself.
They would need to be more careful.
Alim used both magic and blade in an amazing display of power. Winds blew darkspawn archers from their perches and sent them crashing to the ground. Lightning crackled around his blade and with every stroke could two enemies for every three, and what the elf did not finish, his faithful hound did.
He was clearly angered by the loss of Zevran, but did not let it affect his skills. If anything he was letting his anger sharpen those skills.
Morrigan did not only approve, but was impressed.
Alim had proven her wise.
She was glad that it was he that she chose to perform the ritual with.
The warden was no fool, he had accepted the fact that they were all living on borrowed time, and that it was likely only a matter of time until someone in the group was lost. He had spoken of this of before, did his best to prepare them for this very moment. Yet, even he could not stop the emotions that this death had unleased among their allies. After fighting together for so long, after so many narrow misses, it was understandable that the death of one of their party would leave them all shaken.
Morrigan pursed her lips at the thought.
Well…almost all of them.
She had never really liked the elf, with his crude innuendos and lecherous attitude. The only person beside herself that seemed equally unaffected was the Cousland girl. The newest warden seemed not only indifferent to their ally's death, but seemed to grow stronger from the pain that now emanated from the rest of the group. Seri's pain, in this case, was the worst of all. She had been sharing the elf's bedroll for months now, that he was gone, the dwarven girl now fought in a black rage. Twice now, Morrigan had seen one of their allies blast a shriek or a Genlock off the girl as she, in her rage, had gotten ahead of the rest of the group.
Morrigan shook her head.
She was surprised by that.
Sereda had been raised as soldier, had trained to be one all her life. Surely she must have realized that losing someone she cared about in battle was a possibility; surely she should have prepared herself.
It is not that easy, some distant part of herself seemed to say.
But it was, she tried to argue back, love is fleeting and has no meaning.
If that is true, then why do you stay so close to Alistair? Why do you keeping checking to make sure that he is well and shielded by his guards? How would you feel if it was he that had been lost and not the elf?
Morrigan frowned.
She had no answer to that question.
It was at that moment that they were ambushed again. They had been moving down a side street with man homes bunched together. As they had found themselves in the center of that street many of the doors suddenly opened spilling out a wave of howling attackers. Both their flanks were attacked while both the way back and the way ahead were suddenly cut off.
There group stood back to back and tried to endure the attack.
Morrigan bashed one enemy in the head with her staff, while at the same time blasting down another with an arcane bolt. This time their ambushers wore no armor, their clothing suggested that they had been citizens of this fair city not too long ago, but now the Blight had changed them. Their skin had yellowed and black weeping sores covered their hands and faces. They were simply ghouls now, expendable soldiers under the command of the Archdemon.
And now, they had the wardens and their allies trapped.
There was a cry behind them followed by a loud crashing sound. Morrigan could only gasp as one of the buildings behind their group suddenly began to collapse. Rubble and mortar slid forward, burying many of the ghouls trying to attack their rear.
The witch could not say what had just happened, but did not waste any time trying to figure it out.
The wardens and their allies took advantage of the chaos.
They fell on the ghouls like a storm.
IOI
Alim coughed as he tried to peer through the cloud of dust and ash that had once been a city street.
His eyes darted around quickly trying to get a head count of both his people and the soldiers that had accompanied them.
He found Leliana and Bandit quick enough, which immediately put his mind at ease, or at least as much at ease as it could be under such circumstances. He saw Alistair and his body guard, the latter fussing over the new king like hens. It looked like one of the men had fallen during the attack, but there was not much that they could do for him, not until the battle was over.
Like Zev.
Alim did his best to brush such thoughts aside. Zev knew the risks, they all did, and it was up to the rest of the group to make sure that their comrade's death had not been in vain.
As the dust started to clear he got a better picture of what had happened, the building and half the one next to it at the end of their little column had collapsed, the bulk of it falling across the road, burying many darkspawn and their ghoul allies. The collapse had been a saving grace for the wardens and their allies, giving them both a distraction and a chance to fight their way out of the darkspawn ambush that likely would have ended their mission right here.
Thinking of the ambush, Alim's eyes darted up towards the sky, expecting another swooping attack from the Archdemon. Such a narrow street would have been perfect for the beast to bathe their entire force in dragon fire.
Alim's eyes narrowed as she scanned the skies, a lightning spell already on his lips.
It would have likely been their only defense against the tainted god, fortunately for them, it proved unnecessary.
The Archdemon made no attempt to attack them.
Seeing that the skies were clear the warden turned his attention back to his allies. He spotted a dust covered Wynne seeing to Carver, while Jowan was shoved back by Seri. The dwarf spat something of being fine and being able to take care of herself, yet her voice almost seemed to resonate with pain and loss.
Alim's ears lowered slightly.
He found himself thinking back to the beginning of their journey, to Bellethiel…
He remembered the girl's face, her smile, the eagerness with which she had tried to aid them.
He shook his head.
He knew what the dwarf was going through right now, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do.
This was something she needed to get through herself, later when she was ready, her friends would be there to help. Like Leliana had been for him.
That patience and friendship had made all the difference.
As he watched the rubble began to shift and move. Their allies backed away, weapons raised to meet the unknown threat.
Alim summon the lightning within himself, ready to cast against whatever horror was emerging from destroyed building.
One of the fallen walls shifted, and from the dust the light of dozens of crystals emerged.
Alim dismissed his lighting, and called on the others to lower their weapons.
He now understood what had happened.
Shayle pushed the last wall burying her away and trudged through the rubble and returned to their group. The golems grey body was almost white from dust thrown up by the collapsed wall.
She blinked her glowing eyes as she looked at the ring of soldiers awaiting her.
"I do not believe that the darkspawn will try that again," the golem said wiping off her large hands.
She looked at the damage she had inflicted and nodded appreciatively.
"I do not believe that I've ever squished so many enemies with a single strike. Even back before Wilhelm shrunk me down."
Alim might have been wrong but it looked like the golem was grinning.
"I wonder if there were any birds hiding among the rafters? If there was they deserve the same fate as the rest of the monsters within, the damnable winged vermin. I should…"
"Uh Shayle," Theron said pointing.
"Yes?"
The elf winced.
"You got a ghoul on your back."
Without another word the golem reached behind, felt around, and yanked. She held the creature by one broken leg.
The ghoul must have grabbed her as she brought the building down leapt on top of her and tried to sink its diseased teeth into her stone shoulder. From the look of the ghoul that went about as well as one might have expected. Its snapping mouth was filled with broken teeth, as it still struggled to grasp the golem with two skeletally thin arms.
The creature hissed at the golem reaching for her face.
Shayle gave the creature a dirty look.
"Go away," she said, and then without another word flung the ghoul into the sky as far as she could toss it, and considering that the golem usually tossed a boulder; that was quite far.
The ghoul disappeared over the next street.
Alim tried not to chuckle with amusement, Shayle's little victory aside.
They needed to find their way out of these side streets.
They needed to have a better view of where the Archdemon was. There was still at least one darkspawn general somewhere near here, possibly hiding in the palace district.
The wardens still needed to reach it. Killing the monster might just be enough to lure its tainted master into trying to attack their group again.
The elf's mouth became a grim line.
Their next encounter would not be like the bridge where they had lost Zev.
The next time, they would be ready.
Thunder rumbled overhead, and in the distance he heard the dragon roar defiantly.
Alim's ears lowered dangerously.
Next time…he thought, we'll be ready.