Chapter 163: Hold On
The song was so loud now.
Riordan, senior warden of Jader, watched as the genlock fell, it squealed all the way down as he kicked it from the top of the parapet. The foul blade that it had tried to stick him with was in the warden's hand, its blade now slick with its owner own blood.
He tossed the weapon after the darkspawn; he had no more need of it now. Overhead thunder rumbled, the tainted lightning continued to fork its way across the sky.
He reached out into the taint again, into the song, listening to the strains. He did his best to ignore the beauty of the foul music and focus on the orders buried in its notes.
Not long now, he thought to himself.
Not long at all.
The genlock had not been the first spawn to try and stop him from reaching this point. He had hoped that with the others moving in a group that the Archdemon would choose to focus more on them than a single warden, that the monster's attention would be drawn by the larger threat. Of course, that did not mean that his passage had been easy. The strength of the corruption in his blood was like a beacon to the older darkspawn. They had been drawn to him, and so his progress had been slowed. The genlock had been the most recent, a rogue that had spotted him when he entered the palace district, he had known it was there, but had let it follow him anyway, let it believe that it had the upper hand, so it was not so quick to call for aid. The creature had tried to bar his way as he made for this tower. When it had finally struck, it had taken most of his considerable skills to outfox the monster, outfox, and make his way up here. The spawn had reached him only to find its prey ready and waiting. Now it was done, the spawn was dying its belly slit open, and its body tossed from the top of the tower without further thought. Through the taint he could feel the creature crying out for help, warning others of its kind that a warden was here, summoning reinforcements so that they may catch and kill him.
Riordan sneered.
He would not be here by the time they arrived.
He was pleased; the other wardens were making good time. He had sensed the deaths of at least two of the darkspawn generals harassing the city. The Archdemon's attention was now fully on Alim and the others. The victory it had anticipated no longer the sure thing it had thought.
Of course that did not mean that victory was assured for the wardens and their allies either.
Riordan had eyes after all, and from this height, he could see some of what was going on outside the city. The army was holding yes, but that was all it was doing…holding. The darkspawn continued to change tactics, adapting with each new gambit. Through the taint he knew some of what they were doing, slowing the cavalry charges, adjusting their forces so that they would soon be able to attack the trebuchets and ballistae, that and it was not simply a matter of tactics the darkspawn horde had superior numbers as well…
The army was wearing down, if the Archdemon did not fall soon…
…the battle for Ferelden would be lost.
Riordan nodded grimly.
The time was almost here. There would be little warning when the moment arrived.
He needed to be ready.
He regarded his position, checked the trapdoor that he had emerged from, it was locked and sealed as best as he could manage, but he knew that it would not keep out the darkspawn if they were determined to reach him, of course, he did not intend to be here when they arrived, he just needed enough time to carry out his plan.
He kicked at the trapdoor, making sure it would not bounce up if struck from underneath. He inspected the lock one last time, good and tight. The best he could hope for…
The warden nodded.
I chose well today, he thought to himself, the tower was just what he needed; he had both a view of the entrance to the palace district and was high enough to act if anything tried to assault that path from the air. The rest of the wardens and their small force would be arriving shortly, if they intended to deal with the general causing all the trouble here in the palace district, they would need to pass through here.
Once again the song rolled over him, filling him like poisoned water. He could hear the reports from the darkspawn warriors below, and more importantly feel the growing frustration of their master. Impatience flowed through the song, building with each new sense of Alim and the other's advance.
Riordan kept an eye on both the entrance, and the sky above.
The Archdemon's frustration continued to grow, the wardens continued forward.
The old warden smiled.
It would not be long now.
As he listened to the song of the old gods, he found himself drifting back, remembering the last twenty or so years of his service.
He found himself thinking of a Rivaini blooded cutpurse he had stood with long ago.
Good old Duncan, he thought.
It is a shame that you are not here old friend.
You would have loved this.
IOI
After all these years, Riordan still remembered watching Duncan take the joining, watch the man who would become his friend and brother drink from the chalice, fall, and rise as grey warden.
He also remembered Genevieve, the warden commander who had inducted them into the order. He remembered her white hair, her cold eyes, and her intense demeanor.
She had watched Duncan so…intently during the joining; at the time Riordan had not known why. He had not known that Duncan was only here because he had murdered the Commander's fiancé. That she had inducted him into the or for…what…a chance at redemption, for revenge?
Whatever her reason, it had not mattered, Duncan survived, and would spend the next two decades serving the order who had saved him from the gallows, protecting a world that had looked down on him throughout his youth.
Riordan then thought of their last conversation, the two of them sitting in Duncan's chambers in the compound in Denerim, discussing the upcoming journey to the Korcari Wilds.
It had been then that Duncan had told him about the dreams, the music and the nightmares that had finally come to haunt him. By then they had both been old hands when it came to warden business, and had seen many friends get the dreams, and start to hear the first strains of the song.
"It was almost time," Duncan had said, "the Calling is upon me."
The Rivaini warden had chuckled.
"I did not think that it would come so soon."
Riordan had not known what to say, himself, he had not started hearing the music yet, but since he and Duncan had taken the joining together…
He thought it a safe bet that it would not be long for him as well.
"The Korcari Wilds will be my final battle," Duncan had said, "I do not intend to make the journey to Orzammar. If a Blight has truly begun, I would make my end of it stopping it, if I can."
Riordan had nodded.
Wasn't that what they had trained for all these years?
Was it not what was expected of them as wardens?
The music had begun for him during his time in Howe's dungeon. He could not deny that he feared that he would go mad in that place, that he would never get a chance to make one last difference in the world. That he would go mad in a cell, and have to be put down like some rabid dog.
He was grateful for the young wardens that had freed him; they had given him this chance. It was a chance to do one last good thing in this world, to strike for the world they had sworn to protect.
He welcomed that chance.
IOI
He turned his head as the Archdemon broke through the gloom. He could feel the creature's rage, the music rising as it drew closer to the tower on which he stood.
Being so close, he could hear the monster's orders, sang out to those soulless fiends that were its slaves.
"BLOCK THE WAY! BLOCK THE WAY," the Archdemon's thoughts hammered him, the strength of them, those thoughts, so great that he almost staggered.
"PROTECT! PROTECT! PROTECT!"
Riordan nodded and drew his sword.
It was time.
The Archdemon dove for the entrance to the palace district, intent on blocking the way forward with dragon fire, with making any route towards it impassible.
The senior warden of Jader was intent on not giving it that chance.
The old god dove; fire already starting to belch from its mouth.
With the fiercest battle cry he could manage, Riordan leaped into the air.
He came down hard on the Archdemon's back.
The monster roared, reared and bucked.
Riordan held fast to the monster's scales.
It would not shake him off.
His time was done…
…and so was the Archdemon's.
The world became a swirl of noise, the music did not simply flow, it thundered, all thought was drowned out as the Archdemon reached out through the taint, shrieking at the one who dared to try and harm it.
Riordan struggled to hold on, the monster bucked and shot into the air like an arrow. It climbed so fast…he almost lost his grip right then. He hooked his feet under tainted scales and gripped firmly with his left hand. His right still gripped his sword. He would not lose it, it would not fall. It was part of him now, part of his hand.
One did not simply drop one's hand.
The Archdemon leveled off, preparing to either drop or dive, hoping that might shake its unwelcome rider.
Riordan did not give the beast that chance.
He lifted up the scale he gripped with his free hand, and shoved the blade beneath it. The castle forged steel bit into the monster's tough hide, right where the serpentine neck met tainted body…black blood spurted from the wound, yet the warden was not done.
He shoved with all his might; the sword went deeper, sinking up to the hilt.
The Archdemon howled; fire spat from its open mouth, its whole boy twitched.
The monster curled into a ball and dove.
Riordan did his best to hold on.
IOI
Leliana's foot slammed into the belly of the shriek as it tried to charge her. All air rushed out of the monster as it was driven back against the stone wall.
Don't give it a chance to recover, she thought…
Finish it quickly.
Finish it.
The darkspawn opened its mouth, the terrifying cry that gave the beast its name was about to echo off the walls of the archway.
She did not give it the chance.
Her blade found the spindly darkspawn's throat; she sidestepped out of the way as black ichor sprayed from the wound, its cry cut short.
The shriek gurgled and sank to its knees. It slumped over dead…finished.
She gulped air, a mixture of adrenalin and determination keeping her going.
She found herself thinking about her first fight with the spawn all those months ago outside of Lothering.
She was so far from that person now…
…So very far.
All around her, her allies dealt with their own enemies. Another darkspawn ambush fell apart as the wardens and their allies cut their way free.
Suddenly, everything seemed to change.
The darkspawn seemed confused; their struggles more frantic, it made what came next easy for the wardens and their friends.
Spawn resistance collapsed, and for the briefest of moments they had a breather.
The wardens' eyes went to the sky, the senior wardens anyway, Alistair, Alim and Theron.
"What is going on?" she heard Elissa ask, "What just happened?"
Alim turned to her, a feral smirk on his face.
"Riordan," he said grinning.
"He reached the Archdemon."
Leliana considered that, she did not how Alim and the others knew, but…
"The beast is in pain," Alistair said.
"Yes," Alim nodded.
"It is in agony."
IOI
The Archdemon continued to fight and buck. It snarls mixing with blood and flame.
Riordan hung on, now using his sword to brace himself; all the while he twisted the blade, trying to drive it deeper, into the tainted beast's flesh.
"AWAY!" the song seemed to shriek in his head.
"AWAY! AWAY! AWAY!"
Never Riordan growled under his breath.
Never!
The darkspawn swooped down; it banked hard to the side, trying to shake off its unwelcome rider.
The warden glanced up, noticing the burning tower rushing towards him. Closer and closer it drew…
The Archdemon meant to scrape him off like a bug.
He did not give it that chance.
He drew his daggers and leapt.
The tainted god slammed into the tower, sending the top tumbling down, a shower of burning rubble.
The senior warden of Jader was not falling with it. His blades sank into the webbing of the dragon's wing.
The Archdemon howled; enraged that it had not dealt with the gnat causing it so much pain.
It corkscrewed in midair, trying to shake him off, once again to no avail.
The Archdemon climbed its flight more jerky than before with the added weight on one of its wings.
Still Riordan did not let go.
He would never let go.
His life flashed before his eyes. He saw those he had loved and hated. He saw the faces of friends and enemies. Faces of all the men and women he had fought with over the years, the warden brothers and sisters that had shared his journey.
He saw Duncan, first as the young cutpurse that stood beside him during the joining, and then later…the warden commander for all of Ferelden. The man he had grown to respect and admire. The two of them stood together offering him their strength.
All of them, all those past friends were there, offering him their strength.
"Hold on Riordan," the cutpurse screamed, "You got the bastard."
"Don't let go," Commander Duncan said grimly, "Do-No-Let-GO!"
Riordan hissed; he kept his teeth clenched, afraid he might bite off his tongue if he opened his mouth with all this knocking around.
The Archdemon flapped its wings harder and harder, trying to gain more and more altitude.
Riordan struggled, clinging to his daggers trying to use his legs to wrap himself in the thick leathery flesh of the dragon's wing. He…
RIIIIIIIIP!
The Archdemon shrieked in pain!
The warden's daggers tore through the wing, ripping down, ripping further and further down.
Riordan tried to find purchase, to stop the fall, to reach out and grab the wing.
He missed his mark, too much flapping, too much black ichor spraying in his eyes as the wing tore. He slid down that tear like a sailor ripping through a sail.
He pulled out one of the daggers trying to sink into another section of the webbing.
He missed.
The daggers tore through the wing, tore and slid out the other side.
Riordan, senior warden of Jader no longer had a grip on the monster; he was in the air, tumbling through the skies over Denerim.
Then…he began to fall.
The world seemed to slow down.
He watched the Archdemon, its wing ripped almost in half, no longer could the beast stay aloft.
It fell, spinning…down…down…down.
The taint filled with the monster's panic! It attempts to stop itself, to soar over the city once again.
It was a lost cause.
The Archdemon fell…
And so did Riordan.
He watched the top of Fort Drakon rush past. He did not see the beast come down hard on the top of the great fort, but through the taint he could feel its pain, the terror as it struck the ground.
Everything seemed to fade away, become slower.
Riordan smiled.
The Archdemon was down. It was not dead, but it would take some time for the monster to regenerate enough to take to the skies again.
He had not failed.
The Archdemon was down.
The other wardens had their chance.
It did not feel like he was falling, picking up more and more speed. It felt as if he was drifting, carried down by so many friends that had passed away over the years.
Friends that now were welcoming him home.
He thought of Francois, Guillaume, and Calder…he thought of Genevieve, her pale hair, her cold eyes. He thought Kelley, Brianna, Anita…
He closed his eyes.
He thought of Duncan, the cutpurse that had taken command, the young man who had risen higher than he had ever dreamed.
"Hello old friend," Riordan whispered as his heart burst; a contented smile on his face, as he slipped from one world and into the next.
It has been a long time, he thought before he finally struck the ground.
So very…
Riordan hit.
Then…he felt nothing at all.