A/N: Well, I didn't get this up at the beginning of the month like I'd hoped, but I did at least get it posted within a month, this time! And it's extra long, so hopefully that makes up for it! I didn't manage to get to the Corypheus fight in this one, though. There was too much going on, but he will definitely be in the next chapter! Hope everybody enjoys :).
Thanks to everyone who has favorited, followed, and read this story so far - I'm happy you're enjoying it!
Extra special thanks to my awesome reviewers of the last chapter, Ioialoha, WolFang1011, Lethal Dragon, and LostSpace. You guys always totally make my day!
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Disclaimer: As always, I do not own any Bioware events or characters you recognize, just my characters and the rest of the story.
Chapter 18: The Calling
They had moved forward around the corner from where the barrier had appeared, and eventually the hallways had led them back out to a balcony on the side of the mountain. The balcony afforded a view of the chasm below, showing that the next tower of the fortress across from them descended far down into the chasm, so far that they couldn't see the bottom. They could, however, see figures shambling across the way on the balcony of the other tower.
Alistair sighed, darting a quick glance to Anders. "You can feel it, can't you?"
Anders nodded, looking equally exhausted – and exasperated, Brianna noticed. "Darkspawn," Anders agreed. "There are at least twenty of them over there. Far more down below, though I can't tell how many. Can you?"
Alistair shook his head as Ayla squeezed his arm, looking sympathetic. "There's far too many to get an exact count, at least from this distance. Probably a couple hundred, at least. Can you feel anything yet?" he asked Carver, who shook his head in reply.
"Not really," he admitted, looking confused. "I can feel something weird, though, like tingling along my spine."
"That's the presence of the darkspawn you're feeling," Alistair told him. "As time goes on, you'll be able to use it to tell how many of them there are – most of the time, anyway – and what kinds are there."
Brianna frowned at the Wardens, wondering what in the Maker's name they were talking about. "Mind sharing with the class?" she asked pointedly, seeing that a couple of the others looked curious as well, though Ayla and oddly, Varric, didn't. Fenris and Merrill didn't appear to be paying attention, instead looking across the chasm as if to make out what the figures were.
Anders looked to Alistair, who nodded, and the mage turned to Brianna. "Remember when I said I could sense where the other Wardens were, when we were looking to get help for Carver?" When Brianna nodded, wondering what that had to do with anything, Anders went on, "It's not just other Wardens. I can sense where the darkspawn are, too, and so can any other Warden. It's . . . an ability we gain after the Joining, one that helps us to know when darkspawn are about to appear, and how many of them there are, so we can hopefully avoid ambushes. It takes a little while to develop fully, so Carver won't be able to use it for some time yet."
Mardin was frowning, studying Alistair with suspicion before he finally said, "It sounds like a handy thing to have."
"It is," Anders agreed. "Rather like your instinct for danger. Although, like your instinct, it can become a bit of a problem in the Deep Roads, where there are so many darkspawn it can start to feel overwhelming. And this tower seems to lead to the Deep Roads."
"Oh good," Brianna said with a sigh, wondering when it was she'd developed such awful luck. "Because the Carta and this Corypheus weren't bad enough, now we have to go back into the darkspawn-infested Deep Roads again?"
Varric snorted with agreement. "With you on that one, Hawke. The other dwarves keep asking me why I prefer the surface." He pointed at the creatures across the way. "That's why."
Ayla laughed. "I don't blame you for that one."
"We should get moving." Brianna could feel the staff she still clutched tightly in one hand pulling at her, insisting she move forward. "We still have to find out who this Corypheus is and what he wants, though I am starting to believe the ancient darkspawn theory, especially if this place leads to the Deep Roads." She turned to Alistair as a sudden thought struck her. "If he is, can't you sense him?"
He nodded. "If he is, I would be able to. Right now, I don't feel any abnormal darkspawn, but that just might mean we're not close enough. Corypheus might be at the bottom of that tower."
"He probably is," Mardin grumbled. "Since that's the kind of luck we seem to have."
Brianna smiled at him in agreement, even as she started to move forward. "Let's go find out if he is, then. There might even be another way out down there."
"Let's hope so," Mardin muttered, but he fell in beside her willingly enough as she began to move forward, following the only path open to them, which led back inside the fortress, but in the general direction of the tower and the darkspawn.
Brianna made her way through the stone hallways, going the direction that the staff was pulling her in. Some of the rooms appeared to contain ancient cages, and the odd skeleton that had likely been locked up in them. Sand often lay in heaps around the rooms, and some of them had roots growing through the cracks in the stone above. Anders and Alistair called out a warning as she approached a small, closed door leading into another room, causing Mardin to gently push her aside and open the door himself.
Sure enough, as Brianna followed him through, Alistair right behind her, she spotted a darkspawn bent over a body, apparently tearing it apart to eat. Brianna grimaced in disgust at the sight, even as the darkspawn lifted its head, seeing Mardin right away. It roared, leaping to its feet and rushing forward towards them, numerous darkspawn streaming out of the doorway behind it. Mardin snarled at it in turn, drawing his sword and shield and moving to meet it.
Brianna began to ready a fire spell, even as she moved aside to make way for Alistair and the others to hurry through the door. Alistair, Fenris and Carver joined Alistair in fighting the darkspawn head on, while Ayla and Varric provided support from a little further back. Brianna lobbed fire and ice spells at the onrushing darkspawn, joined by Merrill's spikes of stone and twisting roots, while Anders cast healing and defensive spells on the fighters. There had to be at least fifteen, if not almost twenty, of the darkspawn that attacked them, but between all of their party members, they were able to defeat the darkspawn with only minor wounds, quickly and easily healed by Anders and herself.
Once the fight was over, Brianna noticed two large shields, one on each wall, with a griffon emblazoned on them. A flashing red gem shone in the middle of both shields. Further forward in the room, she spotted an orange barrier that appeared to have two more glowing red gems embedded in it. Curious, she drifted forwards towards the barrier, which appeared to be blocking off one of the ancient cages, only to have an eerily familiar voice boom out at her, echoing around the stone walls.
"Be bound here for eternity, hunger stilled, rage smothered, desire dampened, pride crushed. In the name of the Maker, so let it be."
It couldn't be the voice Brianna thought it was, could it? But she wanted, badly, to know if it was, and somehow she knew that removing the barrier would help her find out. The others in the room, though startled by the voice, had returned to checking the crates around the room for anything of use. Except for Carver, who was staring at the barrier the same way she was.
"Carver, you break that gem over there," she ordered, pointing at the shield to her right. "I'll get the one over here."
Carver blinked at her for a moment, and she could see his impulse to ask her why, but instead he shrugged and moved over to the shield, smashing the gem. One of the lights on the barrier winked out, and Brianna hurried over to the other shield, bringing the staff she bore down on its gem, causing the other light to wink out, and the barrier to disappear.
A shade appeared on the other side, larger than any Brianna had seen before, and suddenly the room itself was filled with numerous other shades. Her friends cried out in surprise, moving instantly to try to attack the shades, though weapons were largely ineffective. She began casting ice at all of the shades, Anders and Merrill helping her, the three of them freezing as many shades as possible so the others might bust them apart with their weapons. Eventually, all three of them had to cast ice on the large shade bearing down on Carver and Mardin, who had moved in front of Brianna as soon as he could, and the two took the shade down simultaneously with their swords.
Before any of her friends could ask what had happened, the voice spoke out again, this time quieter, and Brianna could see it was coming from a shimmering cloud of blue smoke as it said, "I can do nothing about the Wardens' use of demons in this horrid place. But I will have no one say any magic of mine ever released one into the world . . ." The smoke disappeared as soon as the voice stopped speaking, and suddenly Brianna was sure.
"Was that . . . who I thought it was?" Carver asked, clearly astonished as he looked at her.
"That . . . definitely sounded like Father," Brianna agreed faintly, trying to work through her surprise and shock. "I don't understand how, though. And it sounded like . . ."
"Like a binding spell," Merrill supplied softly, looking sympathetic as she moved to Carver's side, and he tentatively wrapped an arm around her. "If that was your father, Hawke, he bound that demon behind that barrier."
"And it sounds like he did it for the Wardens," Anders added, frowning. "But I can't see the Wardens making use of demons. They wouldn't, would they?" He looked to Alistair, who, Brianna noted, looked disappointed, but not surprised.
"Wardens have always done whatever they needed to do, to stop the Blights and the darkspawn," Alistair said softly. "They've even used blood magic, sometimes, so if they thought binding demons would help . . ." He shrugged. "I don't know how it would help, and I'm not saying I agree with it, but I know if they thought it would be useful in combating the Blight, they would do anything."
"Anything no matter how dangerous or foolish, it would appear," Fenris muttered, and Alistair nodded in sombre agreement, Ayla moving to his side to slip her arm around him in silent support.
"I'm guessing your father never mentioned working with the Wardens?" Mardin asked quietly, clearly seeing the shock on Brianna's face.
She shook her head slowly, trying to process just how she felt about the whole thing. She'd never expected to hear her father's voice again, not after so many years, and indeed, had almost begun to forget what he sounded like. She didn't know if she was happy or devastated to hear him once more, nor why he would have done such a thing. Why would he have helped the Wardens bind demons? Why, when he had always been so adamant in his teachings with her and Bethany that they never become involved with demons, or blood magic? And why would he have never talked about it? "He never mentioned it," she said at last. "Not once. Did he . . . say anything to you?"
Carver shook his head, looking equally confused and shocked. "No, never. I had no idea he even knew any Wardens, let alone that he worked with them."
"Well," Merrill said hesitantly, "it sounds like he bound more than one demon, and it seems like he left a message behind with this one. Maybe if we find the others, there might be more messages to help you both understand."
"A few of the dwarves did mention your father, too," Varric pointed out. "How they needed the blood of Malcolm Hawke. Maybe if we run across more dwarves – or this Corypheus fellow – they'll know what your father was doing here with the Wardens."
"You're right," Brianna agreed finally, as Mardin gently squeezed her shoulder, giving her a sympathetic look. "If we keep going, we might find out what he was doing here. As long as everyone's okay with fighting more demons. Releasing that first one seemed to be the key to the message."
Varric grinned at her. "Anything for my favourite human, Hawke."
"We should not leave the demons here, in any case," Fenris said. "They might break out eventually, and it sounds like your father did not wish that to happen."
The others all added their agreement, and Brianna thanked them, touched by their support, before she turned and kept moving, leading them through the door beyond the cage where the demon had been, hoping to find out more about her father, about who Malcolm Hawke had really been.
Over an hour later of moving through more stone hallways and rooms, filled with more sand, more darkspawn and yet more cages, Alistair suddenly called up to Brianna to stop, just in front of another door. She halted, turning back to look at him. "What is it?"
He and Ayla moved up to join her, looking equally confused. "I'm not sure," Alistair admitted. "I can sense something that might be a darkspawn, but I can't really tell . . . it feels different."
"And I can hear someone," Ayla supplied. She looked up at Alistair, seeming a bit reluctant as she went on, "He doesn't sound like a darkspawn, though."
Brianna frowned. Like she needed anything else weird to happen down here. "What's he saying?"
Ayla tilted her head, obviously listening closely before she repeated, "'The key! Did they find it? The dwarves? I heard them . . . looking . . . digging . . .'"
The key? Was this person, whoever they might be, talking about the staff? Brianna looked down at it, wondering if she might finally get some answers. She'd felt as soon as she picked the thing up that it was a key to something, maybe Corypheus. The staff pulsed and hummed in seeming agreement, and she looked to the door, then to Mardin, who had been close by her side since she'd heard her father's voice.
Mardin nodded as soon as she looked at him, obviously knowing what she'd been about to ask. "We should find out who – or what – it is, and what they know. There's no way to go but forward, anyway."
Brianna nodded in agreement, suddenly determined. He was right; they couldn't go back, and if she wanted answers, she would have to keep looking for them, no matter what. With that in mind, she pushed open the door and strode through. The door brought them out onto an old stone bridge, littered with debris and sand. Across the bridge, shambling towards them with an odd gait, was what appeared to be a man with dark hair growing in odd tufts, and a patchy beard. He wore what looked to be rusted platemail, and as he got closer, and Brianna moved further forward, the others following her, she could see that there looked to be a griffon on the front of the armor, much like there was on Alistair and Carver's armor. She looked behind her at the realization, and saw by the horror on Alistair's face that he'd come to the same conclusion. Even the blue and silver woven chainmail showing through the gaps in the plate armor matched what he and Carver wore. Did that mean this man was a Warden? But why would Alistair have said he felt like a darkspawn? She could see matching horror on Anders' face as he came up next to Alistair, and how tightly Alistair clutched Ayla to his side, and wondered what piece of the puzzle she was missing.
Before she could ask, however, Mardin was snarling, "Stop right there!"
She turned quickly back, to see that the man had come quite a bit closer, only halting about six feet away at the sound of Mardin's voice. The man was staring at her, or more accurately the staff she still held, and then he lifted his gaze to look her in the eyes. It was only now that they were so close that she noticed how gaunt and haggard the man's face looked, and that his eyes were glowing a frightening silvery-blue. "How do you bring the key here?" he demanded in a raspy voice.
"You're talking about this, right?" Brianna asked him, holding out the staff horizontally in front of her. "How is this a key?"
"Magic, old magic, it is," the man answered, his odd gaze dropping down to the staff again before it darted back up to her face. "Magic from the blood. It made the seals. It can destroy them."
"Seals? What seals? Do they have anything to do with Corypheus?" Brianna demanded, hoping that she could finally get more answers. This man, though clearly not fully sane, at least seemed less crazy than the dwarves had.
"Do not say his name!" the man cried, looking panicked. "He will hear you! Do not wake him. Not when you hold the key!"
"The way we came – it sealed behind us," Ayla said softly from just behind Brianna, clearly doing her best to sound soothing. "Do you know if there's another way out?"
"We can't leave until we make sure this Corypheus never comes after us again," Carver said with a frown, having joined Brianna on her other side.
"Of course not," Ayla murmured, "but we need to be able to leave after that. I have no plans to stay down here."
"Neither do I," Brianna agreed, and looked expectantly at the man in front of them for the answer.
He shook his head. "No way out when the walls stand. The Wardens built their prisons well. If the center holds, who cares what else is trapped?" He walked back and forth on the sand-covered bridge as he spoke, the wind whipping past him.
"Who cares, right," Mardin muttered sarcastically. "That's just great."
"I don't think we're getting any help here, Hawke," Varric added from a little further back.
The strange man whipped back towards her at Varric's words. "Hawke! You are the blood of the Hawke?" Brianna had only just managed to nod when he continued, "Yes, I smell the magic on you . . . But you hold the key! The key to his death . . . Yes, I can show you out, yes." He nodded emphatically.
"Who are you exactly?" Brianna asked, trying to keep her tone gentle. "What is it that's wrong with you?"
"You ask me that?" the man said, frowning. "I am the one who belongs here, not you. You are no darkspawn."
"That armor," Carver said slowly, clearly wanting to ask the same question that Brianna did. "It's Warden issue, isn't it, Commander?"
Before Alistair could say anything, the man looked suddenly at Carver, saying, "You hear it, no? Hear it calling? I smell it in you . . ." He looked over their group. "In three of you. Commander . . . that sounds familiar . . ." He shook the thought off, going on, "I know the way out. Follow me. Down and in. Down and in." He went scurrying off, back the way he came, before anyone could stop him.
Brianna turned to look at Alistair, raising her eyebrows. "Well? Is he a Warden, or not? I thought you said you sensed a darkspawn."
"I said something like a darkspawn, but different," Alistair corrected her, still looking a touch horrified, though he'd obviously gotten himself largely under control, Ayla still leaning against his side, her hand over his. "And yes," looking to Carver, "that armor is Warden issue. He is a Warden. Or rather, he was a Warden."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mardin demanded, frowning.
"It means," Anders supplied with clear reluctance, "that he's closer to being a darkspawn now than he is a Warden. The taint has . . . corrupted him. It's what would have happened to Carver had he not gone through the Joining, though it would have been worse."
"But I thought . . ." Brianna looked anxiously to her little brother, who wasn't meeting her gaze, back to Alistair, whose expression was grim. "I thought being a Warden was supposed to stop that. But you're saying that man was a Warden and he's still corrupted?"
Alistair sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "It doesn't stop the corruption, the taint. It just delays it by about thirty years or so, and gives Wardens the gifts they need to stop the Blight in the meantime."
"What did you just say?!" Mardin snarled, moving towards Alistair, though Ayla quickly stepped between them, halting her brother's advance. "Do you mean that's going to happen to you? How long do you have? How long before you bring my sister down with you?!"
Alistair flinched as though Mardin had just punched him, but he answered, his voice like iron, "It's not going to happen to me. Not ever. I'd rather die, like he was supposed to."
"You'd better start explaining what you mean, and quickly," Mardin growled, taking another step forward, only to have Ayla put a hand to his chest, pushing him back.
"Stop it, Mardy," she snapped, bringing her brother's gaze down to her, while Brianna looked on in shock, trying to figure out what this meant for her brother. "Stop trying to pick a fight with him."
"You already knew about this," Mardin accused her. "All of it."
"Of course I did," she retorted. "He told me a long time ago. And yes, he told me long before we bonded."
"And what I meant," Alistair interrupted before Mardin could say anything more, which Brianna could tell he was about to, his body vibrating with fury, "is that Wardens don't let the corruption take them over. Or they're not supposed to. When a Warden feels the corruption coming, they're supposed to go down into the Deep Roads and die fighting before it takes them over. We call it retirement," he finished dryly.
"I did say becoming a Warden came with a price," Anders added softly, meeting Brianna's gaze. "And it's not one they tell you in the recruitment speech."
"Obviously," Brianna said sarcastically, trying to define how she felt about this. "I imagine it would hurt their numbers a little."
"It was still the best choice for me, Bree." Carver came forward, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. "For me, it was die now or thirty years from now. So don't get upset, okay? I would still make the same choice over again."
"So would I," Ayla added firmly, staring at her brother and holding up her hand to forestall his argument. "I mean it. I told you before, I chose to bond with Alistair and take the risks that come with it, and I'd do it again. Over and over again." She looked back at Alistair, smiling reassuringly at him, and he returned the smile, relief and love evident on his face.
Brianna, looking between the two and the still-furious Mardin, remembered what he'd told her about his parents and the bond, and realized just where his anger was coming from: he was terrified. Alistair would die in thirty years – less than that, actually, Brianna realized – and Mardin's little sister would either die with him, or never be the same again. She knew that was something he never wanted to see his sister go through, or experience himself, and could sympathize with his anger and fear, but now wasn't the time to have this argument. Carver was now trying to reassure Merrill, who was close to tears, and Varric and Fenris had drifted further back, talking amongst themselves and clearly trying to stay clear of the sudden family drama. Meanwhile, the man that had triggered the argument was now well out of sight, and they still needed him to get out of here.
With this in mind, she moved to Mardin's side, taking his hand as he was about to shout at Alistair again, and squeezed it gently. He turned to look at her, surprised; he obviously hadn't sensed her approach. She could see some of the anger starting to drain out of him, though, as he looked down at her. "Now's not the time to argue," she told him softly. "And she's telling you she made her choice, knowing the risks. Remember, it's not your right to tell her otherwise, no matter how it makes you feel." She met his gaze steadily, trying to tell him without words that she knew exactly how it made him feel, and she understood.
He let out a deep breath, squeezing her hand in turn, and she could visibly see him trying to let go of the anger. "You're right. Thank you." He turned to his sister. "And I'm sorry, Ayles. It's not that I . . . I just . . ."
Ayla smiled at him, clearly understanding the problem as well as Brianna had. "I know. And I'm happy with my choice, Mardy, I really am. You know why I did it."
"I do," Mardin said with a sigh. "I'm not happy about it, but I do know why." He glared over her head at Alistair. "And you'd better understand how lucky you are."
"I do," Alistair replied quietly, squeezing his wife's shoulder. "Of course I do."
"Well," Brianna tugged on Mardin's hand, which she still hadn't let go of, "should we follow him? Or do you not think it's a good idea?"
Mardin frowned, looking in the direction the former Warden had gone thoughtfully. "It's hard to tell what's dangerous and what's not, down here, since it all feels so dangerous, but . . ." he glanced back at his sister.
She nodded. "It's harder to tell than it would normally be, but I don't think he means us any harm."
"Have you decided yet, Hawke?" Varric had come up to join them, obviously deeming it safe now that the yelling had stopped. "Are we following the crazy guy, or what?"
"I think we are," Brianna replied, reluctantly letting go of Mardin's hand for now. "He says he knows the way out, and apparently he doesn't mean us harm, so I think it's our only option now."
"Then we had best hurry," Fenris advised, "before we can no longer find him."
"I can still sense him," Anders offered quietly. "I don't think he's gone all that far."
Alistair nodded. "It feels like he stopped moving."
"Then let's go." Brianna turned and strode forward in the direction the man had run a few minutes ago, Mardin at her side again and the others trailing behind as they picked their way around the rocky debris and finished crossing the bridge. Beyond the bridge, several yards away, was another door. It led to the outside of the circular tower, and halfway around it, the former Warden stood, waiting for them.
"What do I need to do?" Brianna asked him simply as they approached, holding up the staff again as a reminder.
"The seals hold us in," the man told her. "Anything comes in, nothing ever leaves. Not without the key. You must use it, yes. On the seals. Every seal, you touch the key to it. Only then they open. Only for the Hawke. Not back. Not up. Only way out is down and through the heart. Down . . . Down in the depths . . ." He pointed to the side, over the edge of the walkway, where the chasm yawned below them.
"Just what I wanted to hear," Anders muttered, and both Alistair and Ayla nodded in agreement, looking less than happy about the news. Not that Brianna was precisely happy, either. After the disaster that was the expedition, she'd never wanted to go back to the Deep Roads again. Now, it appeared she had no choice but to go, if she ever wanted to get out of this place.
"Come, come," the man said, waving them on as if in response to her thoughts. "We must go further in, deeper in, yes."
He scurried off, continuing to circle around a tower, and with a sigh, Brianna and the others followed. Most of the walkway around the tower was blocked off by fallen rocks, but they were eventually able to weave their way around and through enough to enter the circular tower. The room inside was hollow, empty but for a glowing green circle, almost like a raised dais, in the very center. Hanging along the walls on the inside were blue banners with the griffon of the Grey Wardens emblazoned on them, interspersed with the shields they'd seen earlier. Across the tower, another orange barrier blocked the other archway, which was flanked by huge griffon statues. That, Brianna guessed, must be what the seal would unlock. And the seal . . .
She moved over to the green, glowing circle. "This must be the seal, right?"
"I think it must be," Anders agreed, as they all gathered around, staring at it.
"And you'll have to use your blood to open it, along with the key," Merrill offered quietly. "That's why they want your blood. They need either the blood of the mage who made the seal, or of someone who shares his blood."
Brianna looked at the elf in shock, shaking her head. "But, he wouldn't have. Father . . . he would never have used blood magic. He hated it."
Merrill shrugged, looking uncomfortable as Carver stared at her in disbelief also. "Maybe he wouldn't normally, but he did here. That seal . . . I can tell it's made with blood magic, and it would explain why they wanted your blood."
Brianna looked around for the mysterious man who'd led them here, but couldn't see him anywhere in the room. He hadn't mentioned blood, only the key. Surely Merrill was wrong, wasn't she? "Where is he?" she demanded, realizing she didn't know his name. "He just said to use the key."
"The key, yes, but with blood on it," Merrill said again, reluctantly.
"And he snuck off," Mardin answered her question. "I can't smell where he went, not down here."
"He's still nearby . . . somewhere," Anders added with a frown, "but I can't see him. Anyway, I do think Merrill's right, unfortunately."
"Then . . . I guess I'd better try it." Blood magic was the last thing she wanted to get involved in, but Brianna knew she had no choice if she wanted to get out of here. She moved closer to the circle, then turned and held her left hand out to Mardin, holding the staff in her right. "Can you cut it for me?"
Mardin frowned at her. "Are you sure?"
She nodded, and he reluctantly pulled out one of his daggers, crossing over to where she stood by the circle. "Wait!" Carver called, interrupting them as Mardin reached for her hand. "Won't my blood work too? Let me do it."
"It will," Merrill agreed.
"It sounds like there's more than just this one seal. We'll take turns, okay?" Brianna smiled at her brother, and he sighed, but nodded, stepping back again.
Mardin took her hand gently in his own left hand, holding it open as the dagger in his right hovered above her palm. "I'm sorry," he whispered to her, and she shook her head, smiling to let him know it was fine as he carefully drew the dagger across her palm, just deep enough to cause a line of blood to well up. It hurt more than she'd expected, but she did her best to remain stoic, knowing that it might upset Mardin, judging by the frown on his face. As soon as it was done, she gently withdrew her hand from his, holding it down over the staff and letting her blood drip on it. Once several drops of her blood were on the staff, she pressed it to the dome of the glowing green circle. With a flash of light, the barrier disappeared.
In its place stood a huge, horned monster, wreathed in flames, which roared and swung its fist right at Brianna, who was too startled by its sudden appearance to move. Fortunately, Mardin wasn't; he dove right at her, knocking her to the side and bringing them both to the ground, just out of range of its fist. He moved almost instantly after, while Brianna still felt winded from his bulk slamming into her, scooping her up and darting further backwards. Anders was the first of their party to recover, blasting the creature with ice. It roared and moved forward, met by Alistair, Carver, and Fenris, who did their best to block its attacks as Anders and Merrill fired more ice spells at it, followed by Varric's bolts and Ayla's daggers.
Mardin set Brianna down carefully once he'd gotten her back by Anders and Merrill. "Are you all right?" he murmured as he drew his sword and shield.
Having mostly recovered her breath, Brianna nodded, though she knew she still sounded a bit breathless as she replied, "I'll be fine. Go; I'll stay back here and hit it with ice."
He nodded, racing forward to join the others, taking the place of Fenris who had just gone down hard from a blow to his side, and Brianna sent a powerful blast of ice right at the creature's head, causing it to roar and stumble. Alistair and Carver took that opportunity to slip behind the creature and hamstring it on either side, causing it to fall to its knees even as more ice spells blasted it in the chest. Mardin leapt up, striking the creature directly in the heart, and with a gurgling roar, it fell backwards, the others having gotten out of the way just in time. Though the creature was down, Alistair drew his sword across its neck just to be sure, apparently, as Mardin wrenched his sword out of its heart.
Brianna looked up to see that the orange barrier was disappearing, and breathed a sigh of relief as she glanced around at the others. No one appeared to be hurt other than Fenris, who was clutching his side as he stood, likely due to some broken ribs from the blow. He was snarling at Anders to stay back, however; he'd never been much of a fan of letting Anders heal him. Brianna sighed and went over to help; for whatever reason, Fenris appeared to tolerate her healing spells much better, and it would stop an argument.
She was just finishing up the spell on Fenris, grateful that it was something she could heal without Anders' help, when their mystery man came shambling towards them again. Brianna frowned at him. "So that was the first seal, right?"
The man nodded. "Two thousand years, the magic holds. Never broken. Give it the key." He gestured at the four pillars that remained standing on the circular dais. "Let it take the magic back to itself. Absorb it, all who came before . . ."
Brianna sighed, moving over to the seal and standing in the center. "What should I do?" she demanded, shrugging her shoulders.
Anders walked around the seal thoughtfully. "I would guess that you touch one of those pillars with your staff, the way you did the seal, and absorb the magic."
Brianna frowned and then shrugged, picking one of the pillars at random, touching the staff to it. A burst of bright energy went into the staff, sending a shockwave of power through her arm and into her body, much like when she'd first picked up the staff. It was almost a bit painful this time as she held onto the staff, her arm shaking with the effort of keeping it in place as it absorbed the energy. Finally, the light disappeared, and the man nodded in satisfaction as she lowered the staff. "The blood works. It is good."
Brianna stepped out of the circle, slowly approaching him. "Thank you for helping us, but . . . you still haven't said who you are. What's your name?"
The former Warden tipped his head thoughtfully, slowly strolling over to the wall of the tower. "Name . . . So long since I've said my name. La . . . Larius! I was Larius." He nodded, appearing pleased with himself before he turned to look up at the shield on the wall he'd wandered over to. "There . . . was a title, too. Commander . . . Commander of the Grey."
"Commander of the Grey?" Alistair repeated, sounding shocked. Brianna glanced at him, seeing the look of horror was back on his face as he stared at Larius. "You were a Commander?"
Ayla apparently understood what worried him, for she crossed over to him, putting a hand to his armoured chest and saying firmly, "That won't be you. It will never be you, I promise. I wouldn't let it happen."
Alistair nodded slowly, the horror and worry fading from his face as he pulled her closer, whispering something to her that Brianna couldn't hear, even as Anders said quietly, "He must have been a former Commander from one of the other countries, who came down here on his Calling and failed."
Larius, who had still been staring up at the shield, turned at Anders' words, nodding emphatically. "Yes! The Calling . . . the songs get louder. Only death stops them. I am dead. But I never died." He looked Anders squarely in the eye, and the mage dropped his head, looking uncomfortable.
"What's this Calling he's talking about?" Brianna looked from Anders to Alistair. "Is it something to do with the corruption?"
Alistair nodded, his attention obviously having been drawn back to the conversation by the mention of the Calling. "It's how we know the corruption has started, that our time has come. Once we start to hear it, the voices that the darkspawn hear, we know the taint is taking over, and that's when we head to the Deep Roads to die before . . . well, before that happens." He gestured at Larius.
Brianna frowned, wondering what precisely Larius had meant when he'd said he was dead but had never died. Did that mean he'd died fighting darkspawn, but the taint had kept him from dying, turning him into this shell of a person? Or was it just rambling from having allowed the taint to take him over? She wasn't sure, and that made her nervous. For this to happen to Carver, or Anders, or even Alistair, though she didn't know him that well, was unthinkable, and so she decided to simply not think about it at the moment. There was enough to worry about right now; maybe later, she'd think on it some more and see if she could find out for sure what Larius had meant, for she wasn't about to let her brother go through this.
Mardin was starting to look upset again, obviously thinking along the same lines she was and how that would affect Ayla, and so Brianna staved off the argument she knew was coming by turning to Larius. "I've opened the first seal, so what are we supposed to do now?"
"There are more." Larius pointed to the archway that had been blocked before. "Follow them in. All the way to the heart. Many locks. Only one key." He whirled around suddenly, looking behind him as though startled by something that wasn't there. "C-Corypheus calls! In the darkness! What waits there?" He scurried forward once more, through the archway, leaving them all behind to stare after him.
He had only been gone for about thirty seconds when Anders suddenly cried out, clapping his hands over his ears. "I'm not listening! I'm not listening!"
"No!" Alistair cried at almost the same time. "I won't listen!"
Brianna looked quickly to Carver. Though he was frowning, tilting his head as if he was straining to hear something, he didn't appear to be affected the way the other two Wardens were, and Brianna wondered if it was because he'd become one so recently. Whatever reason there was behind it, she was grateful that Carver still seemed relatively normal, while the other two were panicking, trying to block out the sounds that apparently only they could hear.
"What madness is this?" Fenris growled, but Brianna could only shake her head; she had no answer.
"You're okay, aren't you, Carver?" Merrill asked worriedly, looking up at him, and he nodded, smiling down at her. "I'm fine, Merrill. I think I can hear something, but it's so faint it's not bothering me."
Alistair appeared to be back to normal, Brianna noted; Ayla had both her hands to his chest and was murmuring something to him, while Mardin studied them suspiciously. Alistair's face had cleared, the panic and pain on it gone, but Anders still appeared to be affected by it; he was nearly doubled over now, chanting, "I'm not listening!" over and over.
"Come on, Blondie!" Varric exclaimed, having gone to Anders' side. "You're strong enough to overcome this!" He whacked Anders on the back, and whether it was that or the sounds had really stopped, Anders suddenly straightened. He looked around, his face pale and drawn, and then smiled shakily at Varric.
"You all right now, Blondie?" Varric asked, still looking worried.
"I . . . think so," Anders answered. "The voice seems to have stopped."
"And exactly what voice was that?" Mardin still hadn't taken his gaze off Alistair, his frown deepening.
"It was Corypheus, I think," Anders admitted reluctantly, glancing at Alistair as well. "Wasn't it?"
"I think so." Alistair shrugged, looking disturbed as he held Ayla close still. "It was almost like the archdemon, but a little different. Almost . . . worse. I could shake off the archdemon without too much trouble, usually, but this was . . ." He glanced down at Ayla, then up at the rest of them. "It was harder. And I don't know what Corypheus is, but he's definitely got something to do with the darkspawn."
"Worse? That's great!" Mardin threw up his hands. "Does that mean he can control you two like he's controlling the dwarves?"
"No." Alistair shook his head, his voice like iron again. "I'll be fine now." He cast a quick glance down at Ayla again, causing Mardin's eyes to narrow, before he looked up. "Corypheus won't control me. Or Anders, either. Right?"
Anders nodded, though Brianna noted that he looked a little less sure than Alistair. "Right. I can't hear him anymore, and if I hear him again, I'll just . . . shake it off."
"We should find some place to rest soon," Carver observed. "It's getting pretty late, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm feeling pretty tired. And if we've got more of these seals to go through, we might want to rest up first."
"You're right," Brianna agreed. "I am getting a little exhausted." She didn't add that she wasn't sure she could take another energy absorption like that without a little sleep; everyone else looked exhausted enough that she suspected they would agree without protest, and she didn't want to worry them.
"We should rest," Mardin said, finally turning his attention away from Alistair and Ayla, "but not here. We'll need to find somewhere a little more defensible first, a smaller room that's more closed off, maybe with only one entrance, if we can."
"Perhaps it would be beneficial to continue onwards to find a room to rest," Fenris suggested. "It would save us time later if we do not backtrack."
"It's a good idea," Brianna conceded. As much as she wanted to rest, she didn't want to go back the way they'd come; indeed, she wasn't even sure that she could, since the staff was still pulling at her to move forward. It wasn't as urgent now that she'd opened the first seal, but it was still a persistent, nagging impulse to keep going deeper in. "Is everybody all right with that?" When the others all nodded, no matter how weary they looked, she turned and followed Larius through the doorway that had previously been blocked.
Though they'd had to fight a couple more groups of darkspawn along the way, they had found a small room with only one door into it off one of the hallways after only an hour's search. And luckily, Brianna thought, there had been no more seals or barriers to get through before they had found it. She was sitting on her pallet, her back against the wall, the staff lying next to her; it had finally let her put it down, almost as if it knew she needed to rest for a while. Most of the others were asleep, with the exception of Anders, who was on watch, and Mardin, who was pacing back and forth in front of her, not unlike a caged animal, which she supposed wasn't entirely inaccurate.
"Mardin," she called softly, unable to watch him pace any longer, "come here."
He turned to look at her, his expression unreadable, but when she patted the pallet next to her, he finally came over and sat down, his arm pressed to hers. "What is it?" he murmured, glancing over at her.
She debated how best to bring up what she wanted to ask him, but in the end, she settled for being blunt. "Are you okay?"
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Am I okay? I should be asking you that! I mean, finding out your father was involved with this place, and then hearing what being a Warden means for Carver . . ."
"That's what I'm talking about, though," Brianna replied, determinedly ignoring his comment about her father; she didn't have enough information on what her father had been doing down here, and so there was no point in even thinking about it. "Carver's right; it was the best choice for him. But your sister . . . she's bonded to Alistair, right? Like your parents were bonded together?" Mardin nodded tightly, his expression darkening. "Which would mean she shares his fate, and she doesn't have to. I know that must have been hard for you to hear."
"It was," he admitted, not looking at her now as he wrapped his hand around the hilt of his sword, clutching it tightly. He kept his voice low as he went on, "It was bad enough knowing she'd bonded with him. They're both skilled fighters; I could hope that they'd be able to stay alive through anything that happened. But now I know; no matter what they do, or how hard they fight, he'll die in less than thirty years. And no matter what happens with the bond, my sister – the Ayles I know – she'll be gone."
Brianna carefully pried his hand off his sword hilt, and threaded her fingers through his, knowing that he needed the comfort. She could at least comfort herself with the knowledge that with Carver, there had been no choice. He would be dead right now if he hadn't become a Warden. Mardin didn't have that. But . . . "Maybe not. Maybe we can do something about it."
He looked sharply at her, his hand tightening its grip on hers. "What do you mean? Do you know something about this Calling?"
She shook her head. "No more than you do. But we can find out, see if there's some way to delay it, or get rid of it altogether. It won't be easy, especially if the Wardens keep secrets even from their own members, but I'm not going to let that stop me. I don't think you will, either."
"Damn right I won't," he agreed, and she could see his expression easing now that a new purpose was set in front of him. He smiled down at her. "So when we get out of here and back to Kirkwall, we'll see what we can find out?"
She nodded. "I'll ask around, and maybe get Varric and his spies to help too, see what we can learn about the Calling. There must be a way to at least delay it, if not stop it altogether. And even though I know this was the best choice for Carver, if I can give him more time, I will. I'll do anything."
"Me too. And maybe once we figure out what I need to help you with in Kirkwall, we can make that our next mission." He shifted, letting go of her hand only to wrap his arm around her shoulders and draw her into his side, and she went without any protest.
"I think we can," she agreed, smiling up at him. "Any idea what this destiny of ours is supposed to be?"
He frowned, shaking his head slowly. "No idea. Maybe it has something to do with that idol we found on the expedition, or maybe it has something to do with the Qunari in Kirkwall. Both feel dangerous."
"Well, we'll figure it out," she said, suddenly certain that they would, though she wasn't sure why. "And we'll figure out how to give them more time." She nodded to both of their siblings, asleep across the room.
"Yeah, we will." He squeezed her, smiling down at her with clear gratitude. "Thank you." He loosened his grip, moving to get up, but she pulled him back down.
"Stay." She wanted to say that it would make them both feel better, but somehow she knew that would only send him running, so she said instead, "I'll be cold otherwise." It wasn't a lie; the tower wasn't very warm, and she only had a thin blanket.
He studied her for a moment, but eventually he nodded, as she'd known he would. "Okay."
"But no funny stuff," she teased him as they shifted to lie down and Mardin pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her.
He laughed, the sound vibrating against her back. "Well, I wouldn't want to make everyone jealous. And I did promise to wait until we were back in Kirkwall, as much as it's killing me."
She didn't dare admit it was killing her just a little bit too, especially pressed to his body as she was. She still wasn't about to risk absolutely everyone hearing them, so instead she said, "Don't let it kill you before we get back to Kirkwall, or you'll be no use to me."
Mardin snorted. "I promise; I'll be very useful when we get back."
She couldn't contain her smile. "I know you will." And as they fell asleep, she couldn't shake the knowledge that this little fling of theirs was not going to be as uncomplicated as she'd hoped.
"Be bound here for eternity, hunger stilled, rage smothered, desire dampened, pride crushed. In the name of the Maker, so let it be."
It was early the next morning, and not long after they'd left the room they slept in, they'd come across another of the barriers containing red gems. And once again, just as she approached it, Brianna could hear her father's voice chanting the spell; the spell he'd apparently used to bind demons down here for the Wardens. She hesitated for a moment, glancing over at Carver, who nodded, and then at the others, who readied their weapons. She and Carver moved to break the gems on the shields, the same as last time, and the barrier disappeared, revealing an abomination that summoned several profane to aid it.
The battle wasn't anything their party couldn't handle, however, and soon enough, the abomination fell and the blue smoke appeared once more, the voice of Malcolm Hawke drifting from it. "I may have left the Circle, but I took a vow. My magic will serve that which is best in me, not that which is most base."
Brianna was unable to help mouthing the last sentence along with the voice; she'd heard it probably a thousand times before. She stared at the spot where the blue smoke had once more disappeared, silently willing it to say something else, to grant her more of her father's voice.
"'That which is best in me.' Father used to say that, didn't he?" Carver asked her in a low voice, moving to her side. "To you and Bethany? She never felt like she could live up to him."
"Neither did I," Brianna admitted with a shrug, looking up at him. "But I know he would have been proud of her. You too."
Carver ducked his head, looking embarrassed, though a slight smile passed across his face. "You really think so?" When she nodded, he grinned. "He would have been proud of you, too. Isn't odd that a darkspawn-filled pit is making me feel closer to Father?"
Brianna smiled. "Not at all. I feel it too; we haven't heard his voice in so long. Come on, maybe we can hear it again."
She turned and nodded to the others, who had been waiting a ways back, respecting her and Carver's privacy, and they moved out of the room, which brought them to another bridge, this one destroyed. They could see across the way, however, and Brianna could just make out Larius darting past several darkspawn. They hadn't seen him since the night before, but it appeared they'd finally caught up to him. Brianna moved forward, determined to catch up to him now that she knew she was going the right way, and after circling around the tower, found another door leading forward.
They made their way through more stone rooms, down a long hallway filled with pillars, and through yet more rooms, fighting more darkspawn as they went. Finally, they found another barrier bound by the red gems, and like before, she and Carver immediately moved to break the gems and open it. This time, the barrier disappeared to reveal a desire demon, which raised corpses around the room. The others moved to destroy the corpses by knocking the heads off, while she and Carver, eventually joined by Mardin, fought the desire demon, eventually bringing it down. When the desire demon fell with a cry, Brianna looked around impatiently, willing the blue smoke to appear once more.
It seemed to take longer than it had the last two times, so that she was beginning to think it wouldn't appear, but then suddenly, there it was. She almost thought she could make out her father's image in the smoke as his voice said, "I've bought our freedom, Leandra. We can go home now, us and the baby. We'll be together. I hope it takes after you, love. I would wish this magic on no one. May they never learn what I've done here." And with that, he was gone.
Brianna could only stare at the spot where her father's image had been, frozen with shock. He hadn't wanted a child with magic? He hadn't wanted her?
"Father didn't want a child with magic?" Carver repeated, incredulously, and she could feel him staring at her. "He got that one wrong twice over."
"That's not funny, Carver," Brianna snapped, glaring at him, the pain of her father's words twisting through her heart.
"No, you're right, I'm sorry," Carver said, shaking his head. "But . . . he sure didn't show any regret back home. The attention he gave you and Bethany . . . Well, I guess he figured the worst that could happen to me was tripping on my sword."
"He believed in you," Brianna told him softly, now wanting to ease the pain she saw on his face, even if her own hadn't gone away. "He knew you didn't need protecting, that you were the one who was protecting us." And it was true, she realized; how many times had Carver put himself between her and danger, giving her the time she needed to use her magic?
Carver shrugged, though some of the pain on his face was easing. "Sure, it's easy to believe that now. But I think . . . I just wanted to help. I did sometimes worry, for you two. Bethany just wanted to be 'normal'. As if I made a good case for it."
Brianna grinned, unable to help herself as she poked him in the shoulder. "Nobody thinks you're normal, don't worry about that. But yes, she did always see the best in everyone, didn't she?"
Carver laughed, shaking his head. "Fine, I suppose I deserved that. I miss her and Father. And . . . well, I guess soon I'll be missing you and Mother a lot more, too. Gamlen can go suck an egg, though. Come on, this mess down here, it's not following us out." He turned to leave, Merrill hurrying to catch up to him and slip her hand into his as they went.
Brianna turned to follow him, and Mardin, who had simply watched quietly, fell into step beside her. "Do you need to talk?" he asked after a moment.
Talking with Carver might have made her feel a little better, but she still couldn't stop the bitterness in her voice as she retorted, "Talk about what? How my father didn't want a mage for a daughter? I must have been such a disappointment to him."
"Come on," Mardin said softly, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her into his side as they walked. "You know that's not what he meant. It sounds like he was forced to use his magic down here, and I'm sure he just didn't want any child of his to go through the same things that he did. You weren't a disappointment to him; he was proud of you."
"How do you know he was proud of me?" Brianna snapped at him, the bitterness still twisting deep within her, even as part of her acknowledged the logic in his words. "You didn't know him."
Mardin gave a one-shouldered shrug. "It's true, I didn't, but I know you. It would've been impossible for him not to be proud of you. You're funny, brave, feisty," he gave her a wink, "and devoted to your family. Any father would be proud to have you as a daughter, I'm sure."
Brianna halted, staring at him in surprise, forcing him to stop with her as an unaccustomedly warm feeling bloomed through her chest, chasing away the bitterness she'd felt. She went with the impulse suddenly taking her over, and looping an arm around his neck, pulled his face down to hers to gift him with a thorough kiss, not caring who saw them at this moment. Like the first time she'd kissed him, it was as though she'd broken down a dam; he surged forward, pressing her against the nearest stone wall, his mouth devouring hers hungrily. She wrapped herself around him, returning the kiss with equal ardour, fire burning through every vein in her body, not even thinking about where they were.
He was just pressing her hips into his when Brianna felt a thump, like someone had whacked him in the back, the impact shaking both of them. Mardin lifted his head, both of them panting for air, as Varric said, "Come on, Red. Not that I blame you for jumping at the chance, but this really isn't the time for that, you know?" As Mardin let her down, stepping back, Brianna stared at Varric, raising her eyebrows. He simply smirked at her. "You too, Hawke, everyone's waiting."
Brianna glanced past him; the others had moved on ahead, following Carver, and didn't really appear to be waiting, probably in order to avoid embarrassment. Ayla was the only one looking back over her shoulder, clearly amused, and Brianna couldn't help but remember both the warning and advice Ayla had given her about Mardin when they'd first met. You're the first woman I've seen with the power to truly hurt my brother. Take care that you don't, or I'll rip your throat out. When Brianna had assured her she had no intention of hurting Mardin, Ayla had nodded, pleased, and given her advice next: You could make him happy, too. Take it slow, and pretend you're just having fun until he's in too deep to run away. She gave Ayla a slight nod, suddenly certain that she wanted to follow her advice, and Ayla grinned before she turned to catch up with Alistair.
"Go on, Varric," Brianna waved her friend off. "We'll catch up. We're done . . . for now," she added teasingly, grinning at Mardin, who smiled.
Varric smirked. "If you say so, Hawke." He moved to follow the others, and Brianna and Mardin fell in behind him.
"What was that for?" Mardin whispered to her after Varric was far enough ahead. "Not that I'm complaining, of course."
Brianna tilted her head to look up at him, smiling slightly. "You know what it was for. If you say something sweet like that, you're going to get rewarded."
He smiled in return, his eyes starting to blaze with that blue fire as he looked her over. "Then I'll have to do that more often, clearly."
"You should," she agreed, "once we're out of here and back in Kirkwall, that is." She gave him a teasing look as she hurried to catch up to the others, and he groaned, but followed her willingly enough.
They moved on through several more rooms and a hallway that curved around, passing through another cavern where they fought more darkspawn before crossing another bridge and arriving in a circular tower room, identical to the last one, with a glowing green seal in the center of the room. This time, Brianna let Carver cut his hand, his blood dripping down onto the staff while the others readied their weapons in preparation for another guardian. As soon as the light flashed, Brianna moved away quickly, allowing Carver, Mardin and the other fighters to take on the huge, horned guardian with spiked arms.
With the first sword strike, however, this guardian split into three with another bright flash of light, leaving their party split and facing three monstrosities. Brianna just barely dodged out of the way of a fist, bringing up a magical shield to block its next blow as Carver ran back to help her. Meanwhile, Ayla had been forced to pull her swords, keeping herself between the guardian and Merrill while the elf cast stone spikes at it, and Ayla rolled out of the way of a fist before coming up behind the demon and hamstringing it while Alistair hurried to help her. Anders and Varric were facing off against the third guardian, while Fenris moved to attack it from behind, taking its attention off the other two. Mardin looked torn for a second as to who to help, but eventually came to Carver and Brianna's aid, as the guardian attacking his sister went down with a stone spike through its chest, Alistair driving his sword into it shortly after. Brianna knocked their guardian back with an explosive fireball, sending it to the ground and allowing Carver and Mardin to finish it off. The third guardian fell at almost the same time, brought down by Varric's grenades, Anders' magic, and Fenris' sword.
"I guess I touch one of these pillars again?" Brianna asked, approaching the seal once they'd determined everyone was okay.
Anders nodded. "I imagine it would be the same as last time. Be careful, though. We still don't know exactly what we're dealing with."
Brianna nodded, approaching the dais with caution, and carefully touching the staff to one of the pillars. As before, it lit up with nearly blinding light, passing through the staff and into her, the light pulsing through her body, more powerful and painful than last time, and she couldn't stop the cry that escaped her lips as the last bit of energy slammed into her body before the light winked out. She dropped to her knees, gasping, trying to catch her breath.
"Brianna!" Mardin was at her side instantly, kneeling next to her, his voice sounding urgent and panicked. She could hear Carver calling for her in the background, too, as Mardin rested a hand on her back, tilting her face up to his with his other hand. "Are you all right?"
She took a deep breath, smiling reassuringly at him as the pain faded away. "Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a bit more intense than last time, that's all." He looked at her doubtfully, but she moved to get up, and he scrambled to help her, lifting her to her feet as she assured him, "I'm fine, I promise you."
"If you say so," he said at last, letting go of her as she nodded. "I do. Now come on, let's keep going."
She headed towards the doorway that, like last time, had been blocked by a barrier until she'd brought down the seal. Mardin and the others moved to follow her, but even as they approached it, Anders cried out. "No! Get out of my head!"
Brianna whirled to look back at him; like before, the other mage was doubled over, hands pressed to his ears, trying to block out the voice of Corypheus. She darted a glance to Alistair. He looked pale, but he wasn't panicking like last time, though he kept Ayla close to his side. Brianna thought she heard Mardin mutter something, but she didn't quite catch it as Carver moved to Anders' side, shaking his shoulder.
"Anders? Anders!" There was no response as Anders kept his hand pressed over his ears, shouting for the voice to go away, and Carver looked to Brianna, clearly worried. "Maker, it's like he doesn't even hear me."
Varric moved to him too, calling, "Blondie! Come on, Blondie, snap out of it!" This time, though, even Varric whacking his back didn't work. It wasn't until Alistair told him to focus, to listen to something else and block out Corypheus, that Anders finally straightened up, seeming to shrug off the sound at last.
The mage looked pale, but he smiled shakily at them. "I'll be all right. Let's keep going."
"We cannot afford for you to lose it down here, abomination," Fenris growled.
"Fenris, enough," Brianna snapped, glaring at the elf. "That is not going to help." Fenris scowled, but he stalked away, and Brianna turned to Anders, smiling gently. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?"
Anders nodded firmly, looking determined, if still pale. "Yes, I can control it. I can shut him out now."
"All right, let's go then." Brianna started forward again, following Fenris who had already started to circle around the outside of the tower, and the others followed behind without incident this time. They reached a bridge, and at the other end, they could finally see Larius again, waiting there for them.
As they got closer, he shambled towards them. "He is waking. The magic grows lax. He feels us walk where no step goes."
Brianna frowned at him, still not understanding precisely what was going on. "What do you mean waking? How could this Corypheus be sending the dwarves after me and my brother if he's asleep?"
"He can call, dream, but not know," Larius explained, glancing over his shoulder as if he expected to see Corypheus there. "He calls like an Old God. He mimics their cry. When the seals are gone, he will wake. And he must die."
"Well, I don't think you're wrong about that," Brianna muttered. She studied the strange former Warden and his gleaming eyes, curious as she asked, "How have you survived down here? Those darkspawn before didn't even seem to notice you when you ran by them."
"The Calling. The music. It is our death." Larius looked at Alistair, then Anders. "You know."
"Supposedly, once the corruption goes far enough, the darkspawn can't sense you anymore," Anders answered, frowning as if the thought made him uncomfortable.
Alistair nodded. "He feels enough like they do now that even they can't tell the difference."
"Your last advantage as you throw yourself at them, then?" Carver said dryly.
"Yes. I lived, but I died. The corruption feeds me. So many years in darkness . . ." Larius murmured, trailing off as he looked behind him.
"Can you hear him again?" Anders looked worried as he followed Larius' gaze.
Larius turned back. "He calls them to free him. The dark children and the light, any with taint in their blood." He nodded at the three Wardens again.
Brianna scowled, frustrated. She wanted to know what the Calling was, who or what Corypheus was, and she still didn't feel like she was getting any concrete answers. "You say Corypheus mimics the Old Gods. So if Corypheus isn't an Old God, what is he? Human, demon, darkspawn?"
Larius shrugged, as if he couldn't properly explain the answer. "More than darkspawn. More than human. He thinks. He talks. He pierces the Veil."
"Are you talking about an awakened darkspawn?" Alistair crossed his arms, frowning. "I've only run across them once before, and Weisshaupt said that was the first time we'd encountered them."
"That might have been what they told you, but that doesn't make it the truth," Anders pointed out, to which Alistair gave a reluctant nod of agreement. "After all, they didn't bother telling you what this place was."
"He wants what was once his," Larius said, as if that answered any of their questions.
"What exactly would that be?" Brianna wanted to know.
When Larius didn't bother to answer, Mardin offered, "Freedom, maybe? The dwarves kept talking about letting him free to walk in the sun. Which I'd like to do if we ever get out of here."
"We will," Brianna promised him, turning to Larius. "You're supposed to show us the way out. You can't keep running off. Where do you go, anyway?"
"I know the darkness before the seals. Here, the voice is too strong. I cannot stay!" Larius cried in sudden panic, before he ran off again, leaving them behind, ignoring Brianna's call for him to come back.
"Well, if we keep going down, we're bound to run into him again," Ayla offered.
Brianna sighed and nodded, heading towards the door Larius had run through, the others trailing behind her. Through the door, several flights of stairs wound down to the next level, bringing them into an underground cavern of immense size, littered with pillars and ruins amongst the natural cave formations. A hazy green smoke seemed to run through everything as they picked their way forward along the only path through the ruins. They made their way past an underground stream which eventually fed into an underground lake, fighting their way through darkspawn and deepstalkers. Finally, the path led them to a very long stone bridge which brought them to the base of another huge tower. They were circling around to the left of the tower, having just killed more darkspawn, when Anders shook his head, clapping his hands over his ears again. "Ugh, just make him stop talking! Make him stop!"
"He's hearing Corypheus again, right?" Carver asked, looking to Alistair, who nodded. Brianna noted that while Alistair once again looked pale, his face drawn with exhaustion, he didn't seem to be struggling the way Anders was. And strangely enough, Ayla also looked pale as she stood next to Alistair.
"Corypheus is calling him," Alistair explained quietly. "Trying to get Anders to come help him, like the dwarves. Anders, you have to focus. You have to shut him out."
Anders cried out in pain, dropping to his knees in answer, and Brianna noted that Alistair winced, as though in similar pain, but straightened up a few seconds later, holding tight to Ayla's hand. Mardin was watching them with narrowed eyes, looking suspicious, though Brianna had no idea why. When Anders cried out again, Brianna hurried to his side, kneeling next to him.
"What is it? What's wrong? Can't you shut him out?"
Anders shook his head frantically, his hands still clutched tight over his ears. "I can't . . . the voices . . . W-wardens . . . the Joining . . . I have too much taint in my blood. I can't shut him out."
Alistair had come forward now, crouching down by Anders, Ayla close behind him as the others watched on in concern. "You have to try, come on. If you work at it, focus on other things, you can block it out."
"Commander, I can't. I've tried . . . help me. I will not . . . be controlled." His voice suddenly changed halfway through, deepening and echoing, as magic surged through the air and Anders straightened up with a burst of energy, his body cracked and glowing blue along with his eyes as Justice took over.
Ayla and Mardin, who had also come closer, jumped back, snarling as if in reflex, reaching for their weapons. Fenris, too, drew his sword, coming closer as he growled, "I knew he was nothing but an abomination. We should eliminate him now, before he attacks us."
"We're not going to kill our friend!" Merrill cried, looking distressed. "We're not, are we, Hawke?"
"Don't worry, Daisy, we won't," Varric said as he came forward, though he was clutching Bianca tightly. "Blondie will be fine; he'll shake this off too."
"Of course we won't kill him," Brianna added, glaring at Fenris. "We'll find another way to deal with this." She turned to Anders, saying soothingly, "Calm down, Anders. You have to let it go."
"Get back," Alistair said suddenly. "You can feel it, can't you? The pull on the Veil? He's about to summon something. I'll handle it, but I need you out of the way. You and Merrill especially."
"Why me and Merrill especially . . ." Brianna began before it suddenly hit her as she remembered Alistair mentioning that he'd trained as a Templar before joining the Wardens. "Oh. You're going to . . ."
"Yes," he cut her off, never taking his eyes off Anders – or Justice, Brianna supposed. "Which is why you two need to be well out of range. Hurry, now."
Brianna didn't bother to argue, hurrying back from where he stood, grabbing Merrill's arm as she went and pulling the elf with her. "Hawke, what are you doing?" Merrill asked, though she went willingly enough.
"Getting us out of the way," Brianna hissed as she moved them well back, behind Varric and over a hundred yards away. "Alistair is going to smite him."
"Oh, but that will hurt Anders, won't it?" Merrill looked back to the others as Alistair moved closer, sword and shield up, and Ayla and Mardin began to circle around behind Justice.
"It'll hurt less than if Fenris hits him with a sword," Brianna pointed out.
And then she felt it, even from this distance, the push of – well, negative energy was the only way she could think to describe it. It hit Justice, and he roared. "Templar! You dare!"
Alistair didn't answer, just hit him again with another smite, bringing Justice down to one knee. The spirit moved, lifting Anders' staff as if it was about to retaliate, but suddenly one of Ayla's daggers struck the staff, causing Justice to look at her as she shouted, "Hey! Over here!"
Just as the spirit turned to look at her, Mardin rushed him from behind, slamming his shield into the back of Justice's head. He pitched forward, falling flat on his face, but the blue glow wasn't quite gone yet. Brianna felt one more push of energy at the same time as Mardin slammed his shield into the back of Anders' head again, and suddenly, the blue glow was gone, as if it had been sucked out of Anders' body.
Brianna hurried forward as Varric let out a sigh of relief. "Poor Blondie. I'm glad I didn't have to use Bianca, though. She hates being turned on her friends."
"It would have been simpler to eliminate him," Fenris muttered as Brianna went by him.
She sighed, shaking her head at him. "We're not going to do that. He's our friend, and besides that, we need his help, especially down here."
"I suppose he is occasionally useful," Fenris conceded grudgingly. "If he transforms into an abomination again, however . . ."
"He won't," Brianna promised, even though she couldn't be sure, of course. She hurried on from Fenris, moving to Anders' side, casting a healing spell on him as soon as she reached him. She looked up at Mardin as she did so, feeling a fair bit of damage in Anders' head via her healing magic. He shrugged, looking apologetic. "I tried to hold back as much as I could, but I needed to knock him out."
"Well, I think I can fix this," Brianna said at last, her spell continuing as she glanced back at Alistair. "But what will the smite do to him?"
"He likely won't be able to cast spells for an hour or so," Alistair answered. "It's supposed to drain all the magical ability out of a mage, cut them off from the Veil, in essence. I'm not as powerful as a proper Templar, or it probably would only have taken one smite to bring him down. They take lyrium to enhance their abilities, but I've got no interest in getting addicted. Still, I can do some damage. I didn't want to have to do that, but . . ." he shrugged.
"You didn't have a choice," Ayla said gently, and Brianna nodded in agreement as Ayla laid a hand on his arm. "It was either that, or fight him and whatever Justice decided to summon to help."
"I know, but he's still not going to be happy," Alistair said with a sigh.
By this point, Brianna had finished healing the damage done when Anders had been knocked out, and she sat back as the other mage slowly began to awaken, eventually sitting up and blinking at them. "What – what happened? Commander – did you – smite me?" He didn't wait for an answer before he got to his feet, looking agitated. "You promised me you would never do that!"
Alistair looked a little guilty, but he replied evenly, "To be fair, when I made that promise, you weren't possessed by a spirit capable of summoning demons. I did what I had to do. It was that or fight and wound you."
Anders frowned, not looking fully convinced. "Justice wasn't really going to summon demons, was he?"
"I could feel something pulling at the Veil. I don't know for sure what it was, but Justice was definitely summoning something to attack us," Brianna told him. "It really was the best way to make sure no one got badly wounded."
Anders studied her for a moment before looking at the others, who all nodded in agreement, with the exception of Fenris, of course. "Then, thank you, I suppose." He sighed. "I guess no matter how far I run, I can never run from being a Warden, can I?"
Alistair shook his head. "No, I'm afraid you can't."
"Well, let's keep going," Anders said at last. "I think I can hold against him now. Against both of them. I hope so, anyway."
Brianna nodded, relieved that the situation hadn't devolved into a bigger fight, and continued forward along the path circling the base of the tower that they had been following before. The path eventually brought them up to another platform with another seal on it. This one, when opened, revealed another horned guardian which multiplied into six different forms this time. This fight was a good deal harder than the last one, especially as Anders' magic had yet to fully recover, but they were eventually able to prevail. Fenris and Carver were both wounded following this battle, but both wounds were fortunately still within Brianna's abilities. Once she'd made sure they were both okay, she used the staff to absorb the power of the seal once more.
This time, the light was nearly blinding as it passed through the staff into her body, and it was far more painful as the energy rushed and slammed through her body, crackling with power. By the time it was finished, she dropped to her hands and knees on the dais, panting with the effort to bring her body back under control.
"Bree!" Carver was the one who got to her first this time, helping her gently to her feet, though Mardin was right behind him, waiting nearby. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she told him. "It was just a bit difficult this time to absorb the energy, and it hurt a little. But I'm okay now, I promise."
Carver frowned, checking her over. "Are you sure?"
"Positive," she said firmly. After the initial rush of power, her body had recovered and she felt nearly back to normal. "Now let's keep going; I think we're getting close, and I'd like to get this over with." Not only that, but the staff was starting to pull at her again, buzzing as though it were excited, and she was having difficulty resisting the urge to follow it.
Carver nodded, letting go of her, and she headed towards the entrance that had been revealed by the next barrier, Mardin, Carver, and the others following closely behind. The path led to another long, stone bridge, and she could see Larius once more, waiting halfway across it. They had just reached him when the bridge shook beneath their feet and some dust rained down from above.
Larius looked up above them. "He feels the seals weaken. He knows you are close. You must be ready . . ." He suddenly turned around abruptly before Brianna could reply, sounding panicked as he exclaimed, "What's that? Who? No . . . no. They're here."
"Who is here?" Brianna asked. "More of the Carta?"
Alistair shook his head, frowning as he answered before Larius could, "No. There are other Wardens coming."
Larius bobbed his head in agreement, still looking panicked. "Worse than the dwarves. More treacherous, more dangerous. The Wardens. They listen to Corypheus. They want to bring him the light. Stop them. You must stop them!"