A/N - A bit of a note before we start. Initially, I didn't really want to bring myself in to this too much but I feel now that it should be said. With this being my first fumbling attempt at any sort of real writing, I find it utterly ludicrous that anyone is choosing to read this. Ludicrous but also immensely touching so thank you all. Reading the first review I got actually made me a bit teary eyed which may not sound like a lot but it is coming from me. So thank you LuniaWolfe and all who have followed after.
"What are you wearing?" Solas asked with a chuckle.
"My new armour, the girls got it for me. What do you think?" Ellana replied, giving a quick turn. "It's a bit more revealing than I would have hoped but they say I need to 'show off my best assets'."
"Well I can't argue with that," he added with yet more laughing.
"Well?" she asked grumpily, put off by his teasing tone.
"It's certainly eye-catching…" he replied.
"You don't like it?" she asked, crestfallen. "They said it looked good! I should probably go change…"
"No!" he replied a little too eagerly. "I mean, it does look good; really good in fact. I'm just… I wish we had more time…" he added, shifting to caress her cheek.
"Oh… Oh! So it looks that good huh?" she laughed.
"It's…" he tried to form the words but was much too distracted.
"Eye-catching, right?" she said as she reached up and kissed him. "We really don't have time?"
"No, I'm already late," he said mournfully.
She reached up and kissed him again, hoping to dissuade him for a few moments.
"I'm serious Ellana. I need to go," he said, pulling away from her. Seeing her dejected expression, his tone softened, "I'll be waiting when you return." He gently raised her chin. "Ar lath, ma vhenan."
She let out a satisfied sigh as she kissed him goodbye. She was glad she would have a task to occupy her. She welcomed anything that could distract her mind from him.
It had been a tediously long journey from their Eluvian exit point to the location that had been marked on their map. Ellana was surprised by how unremarkable the site seemed. Beneath the vast mountain range there was some evidence of Elvhen architecture but it had been almost fully reclaimed by nature. Anything that may have once been significant was now shrouded in foliage. Amongst the green the entrance itself looked like little more than a simple cave. Broken boards covered part of the entrance and abandoned mining equipment dappled the floor which only added to that image.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Ellana asked.
"Definitely. It's been months but I'm sure this is it," Areina replied.
Mirwen had been here before, entire clan in tow, so Ellana trusted that Ari knew what she was talking about. However, there had been no mention of any mine so the strewn equipment made her question.
Shivra mirrored her thoughts, "What's with the mining operation? Who sets up in an ancient elvhen ruin?"
"Maybe they just found the cave and saw an opportunity?" Lis added.
"Or maybe they didn't know what they were dealing with," Ellana thought aloud. "Whatever their reasons, looks like they left in a hurry. That can't be a good sign."
One by one they climbed through the entrance, careful to avoid the splintered wood. When it came to Ari's turn she paused, turning back out to the wilderness with a start.
"What is it?" Ellana asked, concerned.
"I thought I heard something… It's probably nothing; an animal," Ari replied, brow furrowed.
Ellana nodded as Ari came through the entrance. The Dalish girl had been blessed with far greater senses than the average elf. It was a very valuable skill and Ellana was happy to trust in it. She did not actively doubt her friend's judgement but she couldn't help taking a long, suspicious look out in to the wilderness before she joined the others.
They proceeded down the winding passageway that splayed out before them, passing more equipment as they went. It got darker as they moved deeper in to the mountainside, too dark to keep their pace. A quick search of the surrounding equipment yielded two torches that they hastily lit. With these in hand they were able to proceed mostly unheeded. After some way they reached a crossroads.
"Left or right?" Lis asked.
Darkness enveloped both tunnels so neither seemed like a welcome option. Ari walked a brief distance down both, sniffing bizarrely in both directions.
"Let's go left. The other way smells funny…" she mused.
"Your basing your decision on how it smells?!" Ellana asked with disbelief and amusement.
"Well we can't see can we?" Ari replied confidently.
Following Ari's nose, they advanced down the left hand corridor. The mining equipment was more evident the further they walked, almost tripping them on several occasions. The tunnel eventually opened out to a great chamber. Wooden scaffolding rose against the stone walls with walkways and platforms allowing access to the ore within. The team fanned out to check the area but it yielded little.
"This must be the mine," Miris mused. "Looks like a dead-end."
"There's nothing remotely elven here. Maybe they got it wrong?" Lis added.
"We should go back, try the other way," Ellana ordered, unwilling to give up so quickly. "Sorry Ari, but you'll just have to power through the smell."
The young elf crinkled her nose as they back tracked to the crossroads and along the other passageway. As they eventually turned a corner, natural light came through gaps in the stone and bathed the walls in light. Age-old paintings were visible sporadically across the inner wall.
"That's more like it," Shivra remarked as they took a closer look.
They were faded with age but Ellana could still make out some of the details. The first depicted an island; white cliffs against a lashing sea. What looked like a white spire rose from the centre. The second depicted a figure. It was difficult to make out the finer details but it looked like an elf. The figure held forward an item – a golden vial filled with red. The third painting was the most faded. The centre was so damaged that it was impossible to identify but wings framed the edges; their form blotting out the sun behind.
"Do you think the red thing is what we're looking for?" Ari asked as she looked at the painting quizzically.
"Who knows? Apparently we elves are never fucking clear about anything," Shivra replied, clearly disinterested. She sighed in annoyance. "If we keep going then maybe we'll find out instead of all this guesswork!"
She was right of course but Ellana would have preferred some more time to study the drawings. It was rare to see such links to the ancient elves and she found it fascinating. Some of the others obviously shared her feelings but they needed to press on. She motioned reluctantly for them to continue.
As Shivra and Miris argued the merits of the ancient elves, they came to a doorway. Writing was etched on either side of the door in the elvhen tongue. It was sealed and had no obvious means to open it. However, the miners had clearly not appreciated this obstacle as a more recent tunnel stood to one side.
"What does it say?" Ellana asked, moving to get a closer look at the writings.
"Who cares? The miners clearly didn't," Shivra added, gesturing towards the tunnel.
Miris joined Ellana beneath the writing. Age-old dirt obstructed portions, fading the letters in to obscurity. Miris ran her hand across the surface, trying to feel for the words beneath.
"That part looks like 'Venavis' – stop. I can't make out this part…I guess that could be some derivative of 'Lin' – blood," Miris mused.
"Blood? That doesn't sound good. Do you think the tunnel gets past the door?" Lis asked hopefully.
"Can you understand anymore?" Ellana asked, turning to Miris.
"It must be instructions to get the door open. The first part is definitely a warning and I can only make out some of the rest – the path; blood; something about death; the elvhen people…maybe its blood of the elves? I don't know."
"If we even read it then I guess we have no other option; we try the tunnel and hope," Ellana replied.
Miris tried to argue, "If you give me more time then I'm sure I can…"
"We shouldn't dally. We try the tunnel first, if we need to then I'm sure you won't let us down," Ellana interrupted, hoping she didn't sound too dismissive.
The others had already started down the tunnel when Ellana turned away from Miris and joined them. The blonde elf looked back at the writing and sighed before following grudgingly. As they went on it quickly became evident that this door was far from unique. An opening to the side of their path led out to another door and even further on there was yet another. Both led out to their own chamber with yet more sealed doors. Miris looked out hopefully with each new development but each time Ellana shook her head; pressing them further on. As they proceeded beyond the final opening, darkness enveloped them once again and even with the torches, it was difficult to watch ones footing. Even for those without Ari's keen senses, the smell was becoming undeniable. A thudding sound and a loud swear was all that told Ellana that Lis had taken a tumble.
"Are you all right?" she asked, running carefully over to the sound.
"Yeah I'm fine," Lis replied. "What the fuck did I trip on?" she asked angrily as she felt around on the floor. Her hand fell on something hard.
Ellana brought her torch down to illuminate her friend and Lis looked down in horror to see bones beneath her hand.
"Shit!" she exclaimed, getting up with a start. "Shit, shit, shit!"
"Well now we know what happened to the miners!" Shivra added, amused by her friends ardent disgust.
The further they went the more frequent the piles of bone became. With each step the smell was becoming more overwhelming but they struggled carefully through. In the thick air, apprehension gripped them and Ellana was beginning to feel claustrophobia inching in to her awareness. Mercifully the tunnel came to an end; opening out in to another small chamber. Overtaking the back wall was yet another door and accompanying tunnel. Before the door sat a new addition – a stone pedestal with yet more writing. Another painting depicting the red vial adorned one of the walls. White wings were painted above the vial with red flowing between the two. More bones were strewn about the entrance of the side tunnel, making it a very unattractive option.
"What does this one say?" Ellana asked as she joined Miris by the pedestal.
"This one is clearer," Miris remarked, holding up a torch to get a clear view. "'Elven blood', 'path, 'open'…"
"Elven blood opens the path?" Ellana added. "They want elf blood?"
"Here, this indent. The writing above it says 'blood for blood' I think. It would make sense – a door that can only be opened by elves?" Miris pondered.
Ellana studied the pedestal more closely. It looked like it opened and Miris was right – there was a clear indent that drove within.
"It's worth a try," Ellana said, drawing a dagger.
"We could just go down the tunnel!" Ari added desperately.
"I'm not sure it's just the door. Looks like this opens too and maybe it contains something we'll need," Miris retorted.
"There is no way I'm going down another fucking tunnel!" Ellana added.
Ignoring the ongoing argument, Ellana drew her dagger across her palm. With a quick squeeze the blood flowed easily. She placed her hand across the indent allowing red droplets to fall within. After a nervous pause, the edges of the pedestal shone with blue light and the upper surface folded in on itself. With some unease Ellana reached inside and pulled something cold and hard from the darkness. As the item came loose sconces on either side of the door erupted with blue fire and the door opened. Ellana pulled her hand from the pedestal, now holding the elusive vial as her friends looked on in wonder.
"It's empty," she remarked in annoyance.
"We must have to fill it; with blood by the looks of things," Miris added, now examining the painting.
Ellana moved nervously towards the now open door. It looked like another chamber was beyond but the darkness veiled it in mystery. She moved further in, torch in hand. The smell was at its peak in this room and her friends seemed naturally reluctant to move along with her. As Ellana took a step closer she heard a rumbling sound within, a sound she couldn't identify. It was curious, both gentle and threatening in equal measures. Ellana's curiosity drove her further in to the darkness and with each step she took, the sound loudened. She inched beyond the threshold and in to the chamber but as she did the door slammed shut behind her. Fear overtook her senses as her friends shouted frantically from beyond.
"Ellana! Are you okay?! What the fuck happened?!" Shivra shouted the loudest.
"I'm fine," Ellana replied deceptively. "I can't get back through! Shit, shit shit!" she shouted, bashing desperately against the door.
"Wait there! We'll come through the tunnel!" Lis replied.
Ellana continued her tirade against the door, accidently dropping her torch in the process. Luckily the torch managed to stay lit so she could still see her surroundings. In her panic she hadn't noticed the rumbling sound had stopped. She gave up on the door, bashing it weakly one final time. She turned around to retrieve her torch but as she did she froze. Yellow eyes and white scales illuminated in the orange light was all she saw before the torch went out.
She dodged instinctively to the right. She could hear the air being cut by the blow she narrowly missed. She had no idea what she was dealing with and the darkness would only hamper her efforts. By the sound of the beast's movements, the all-enveloping gloom was not going to slow it down. She dashed away, carefully hugging the wall. She needed to keep track of where she was and, if luck would have it, find the way out. The beast was hot on her trail and snarling angrily. Narrowly dodging it again, she saw its eyes reflecting what little light there was. She had already seen its scales and judging by the size and spacing of the eyes it was either a dragonling or a wyvern. Neither was a comforting option as both had equally dangerous ranged attacks but at least if it was a dragonling she would get some light. She let out a desperate swipe with her daggers towards the yellow eyes and was pleasantly surprised to hear an angry squeal in return. She ran off again, hoping her pursuer would be delayed by its wounds. She made her way to the only source of light in the room – a sliver of daylight coming through the rocks. She pulled at them with all her might but they wouldn't budge. The sound of renewed snarling turned her from her task. Leaving it a bit too late, she dodged to the side again and the beast bashed against the cave wall. Smaller rocks fell from the surface and the walls shook with the force giving Ellana a much needed plan.
She dodged away again, purposefully moving herself back to stand in front of the sliver of light. The snarling followed and for the briefest of moments she saw the eyes before her, poised to strike. At the last second she dodged and the beast hit the wall with its full force. Rocks tumbled free and one hit her on the head, leaving her momentarily dazed. Once the haze had lifted she was thrilled to see the light that now cascaded in from the ruined wall. The beast was hunched over on the rocks, but recovering quickly. She could see now that it was stocky with the classic stunted wings of a wyvern. She moved out of the way as the wyvern charged and managed to land a quick blow to its back. It roared and turned to shower her with poison in reply. She managed to dodge away just in time but lost her footing on a nearby rock. As she fell to the ground she tried desperately to recover. Her wrist jarred painfully as she caught herself. She used her own momentum to bring herself back to her feet but it was much too late. The white wyvern had rounded on her and grabbed her leg before she could get away. She crashed to the ground and the beast dragged her in beneath its gaping jaws. It brought its teeth down to finish her and she met it with a dagger, plunging it deep in to the beasts lower jaw. The pain made it hesitate and she brought her second dagger up to meet the first. She pushed desperately against the beast with everything she had but her strength couldn't match the wyvern's. Its jaws inched closer to her face as it snarled triumphantly. She could feel her strength waning with each inch.
"This is it. This is how I die," she thought, closing her eyes.
But in that moment the wyverns tone had changed. Eager snarls were now replaced by pained roars. She opened her eyes. An arrow was lodged in the side of the beasts skull. In its momentary distraction Ellana was able to use what little strength she had to push its jaws further from her. A stabbing sensation shot through Ellana's wrist as the beast pushed back with renewed vigour. A second arrow flew through the air, thudding in to place beside the first. The snowy wyvern gurgled uselessly above as it finally collapsed. Ellana allowed the beast to fall, unable to hold its weight any longer. Without the beasts roars she could finally hear her friends' shouts. Three of them scrambled to her side and pulled her free. It took Ellana a moment to find her feet; still shaking.
"Did it get you? Are you hurt?" Lis asked, checking her over.
"No, it didn't bite me. I think I'm okay," Ellana replied, thankful for her friend's concern.
"You're sure?" Shivra asked.
Ellana didn't hear her as she looked around for the only member of their team who wasn't crowded around her. Despite the darkness, she saw Areina a short distance away. She stood frozen, with her bow still drawn. Ellana left the others.
"You killed it?" Ellana asked once she reached Ari's side.
"I had no choice, it was going to kill you," Ari replied, trembling.
"Thank you," Ellana said as she wrapped her arms gratefully around her friend's neck. "You just saved my life."
"Ellana, I think we need to take its blood for the vial," Miris called over as she examined the wyvern beneath her.
Ellana released Ari from her grasp to attend to Miris. Lis took her place, thanking and comforting Ari like a mother hen. Ellana looked down at the slain beast. It was much larger than any wyvern she had previously fought and entirely white. She had seen a snowy wyvern before but only once; a testament to their rarity. Miris outstretched her hand and Ellana handed her the vial. The tall elf set about finding an appropriate place to cut the beast and extract its blood. Once she had finished her task she handed the vial back to Ellana. Ellana snapped its golden lid shut it and it illuminated with aquamarine light. As it dimmed, sconces around the room erupted with coloured flames. With the room now illuminated another painting was visible, much larger than those that had come before. The red vial lay in the forefront of the image with a great eluvian behind it. From the edges of the painted vial, the eluvian seemed to illuminate out to reveal its depths. Ellana gasped as she took a closer look at the painting.
"We did it," she whispered. "We found the key."
With Ellana fully recovered they had made their way back through the caves. She was exhausted and her arms still hurt from the effort but she couldn't be more thankful for her friends. The walk had been easy by comparison as, with the vial now in hand, the doors all opened and sconces lit as they went. Ellana took the time to properly thank Ari again. She didn't know how Ari managed to land two arrows in the darkness but she was just glad she had. The group was jovial as they neared the entrance, all relieved to finally see the light of day once again. Before they could reach their freedom Ari stopped abruptly making Shivra trip over her.
"What the hell, Ari?" Shivra shouted angrily.
"Do you smell that?" Ari asked, ignoring Shivra's annoyance.
"What? Fresh air?" Lis asked uselessly.
The others laughed but Ellana could tell by Ari's expression that she wasn't joking. She sniffed the air.
"Smoke," Ellana replied.
Ari nodded and the others stopped laughing. Ellana snuck forward and tried to peer out the entrance to no avail.
"It wasn't like that when we came in," Lis was saying as Ellana joined them again. "Do you think there are people out there?"
"There's no other way out," Miris added.
Her friends debated their options but Ellana remained silent. They all thought it was likely just a group of bandits but Ellana had a bad feeling, a feeling she couldn't shake. Ellana walked away from her friends to a nearby assortment of mining supplies. She settled on a barrel and opened it with some difficulty. She took the vial from her pack and placed it inside before closing it as Lis came to see what she was doing.
"We can't let them know we found anything. Just in case," Ellana said.
"You don't think it's bandits do you?" Lis asked suspiciously.
Ellana gave her a dreading look. Lis watched as she made for the entrance. The group stopped talking and followed dutifully behind. As they passed through it took a moment for Ellana's eyes to adjust to the daylight. Blurred by the harsh light but undeniably real was a large group of soldiers; definitely not bandits. With a heavy heart she recognised their armour immediately. At the back with the archers she saw a crop of familiar red hair.
A/N - Bad times... So, this chapter was actually supposed to be merged with the next one but it ended up being way too long so I cut it here. That means the next chapter is actually all written, you'll be relieved to hear. Although I should say it hasn't had any read-throughs and it's still fucking long so you'll have to bear with me while I do that, sorry.