Kira was suddenly somewhere very dark, very wet, and very cold.
"Blood of the Elder One!" said a voice she couldn't identify as she struggled to her feet, floundering in knee-deep water. "Where'd they come from?"
Two guards, looking very much like the ones they'd just left behind in the throne room, charged at Kira from somewhere nearby. Disoriented and perplexed, Kira had little time to think; she cast a barrier spell over herself and Dorian, who was getting to his feet next to her, and readied herself for battle. She sent her magic into the water, turning it to ice around their attackers' legs, freezing them in place. Dorian sent a handful of fireballs through the air. Between the two of them, they made short work of the guards.
"Maker's breath," Kira cursed when the guards were dead, looking pointedly away from where their bodies floated in the water. She tried to wipe off her wet face with a soaked sleeve, only to fail miserably. "Where are we?"
But Dorian was already muttering to himself. "Displacement? Interesting! It's probably not what Alexius intended. The rift must have moved us… to what? The closest confluence of arcane energy?"
Kira was not in the mood for a scholarly debate. It seemed that she and Dorian were the only two of their party to have made it out of… whatever Alexius had done. And Kira wanted to know exactly what he had done. Now. "The last thing I remember, we were in the castle hall," she said impatiently.
Dorian glanced up at her and, seeing the look on her face, appeared to think more hurriedly. "Let's see… if we're still in the castle, it isn't… Oh! Of course!" he said, sounding as though he'd solved a particularly delightful puzzle. "It's not simply where - it's when! Alexius used the amulet as a focus. It moved us through time!"
Kira stared at him. Had he gone mad? "Through - are you quite sure? That… doesn't sound good."
"It sounds terrible, depending on when we are and what happened while we were away," agreed Dorian jovially. "Let's look around, see where the rift took us. Then we can figure out how to get back… if we can."
As it turned out, they appeared to be in Redcliffe Castle's dungeons. When they emerged from the dank cell they'd arrived in, it was to a row of even more decrepit cells, except these had crystals of red lyrium growing from the walls. While disturbing in a whole new way, it did, at least, have the slight benefit of rendering the doors between cell blocks useless. Kira and Dorian made their way through the dungeons quickly, trying to avoid the poisoned lyrium as best they could.
As they maneuvered through the bowels of the castle, Kira glanced at Dorian. "What was the Alexius trying to do?"
"I believe his original plan was to remove you from time completely. If that happened, you would never have been at the Temple of Sacred Ashes or mangled his Elder One's plan. I think your surprise in the castle hall made him reckless. He tossed us into the rift before he was ready. I countered it, the magic went wild, and here we are. Make sense?"
Kira snorted. "Nothing about this makes sense."
Dorian chuckled darkly. "I don't even want to think about what this will do to the fabric of the world. We didn't travel through time so much as punch a hole through it and toss it into the privy. But don't worry," he added. "I'm here. I'll protect you."
Kira chuckled. At least we can laugh. For now. She thought of something else. "There were others in the hall. Could they have been drawn through the rift?"
Dorian looked thoughtful. "I doubt it was large enough to bring the whole room through. Alexis wouldn't risk catching himself or Felix in it. They're probably still where and when we left them. In some sense, anyway."
"Who is this Elder One? Do you know?"
"Leader of the Venatori, I suspect." Dorian shrugged. "Some magister aspiring to godhood. It's the same old tune. 'Let's play with magic we don't understand. It will make us incredibly powerful.' Evidently, it doesn't matter if you rip apart the fabric of time in the process."
"We have to get back. You do have a plan, I hope?"
"I have some thoughts on that. They're lovely thoughts, like little jewels."
Again, Kira snorted. Despite Dorian's lighthearted banter, she could tell that he was as disturbed as she was by this turn of events. If this was his way of dealing with matters, so be it. As long as he could get them back, Kira was happy to make dark jokes right alongside her newest companion.
The pair climbed a set of stairs and entered a new room. The cells in this block were in better shape than those below; they were still intact enough to hold prisoners. Not that it was needed, Kira realized with a gasp of horror. The red lyrium growing from the walls was doing just fine on that account.
Fiona, the former Grand Enchanter, stood in a cell by the door, leaning her forehead against the wall of her cell. Of course, stood was a rather optimistic word. In reality, her body was supported by giant shards of red lyrium that seemed to have sprouted from her torso, twisting and clawing their way throughout her body and into the very stone of her cell.
Kira couldn't help it. She stared. It was too horrible for words.
Fiona must have heard them enter, because she turned her head slowly, painfully, towards the cell door. Her eyes glowed crimson, but they widened with surprise when they found Kira's. "You're… alive?" she whispered, her breathing labored. "How? I saw you… disappear… into the rift."
"What's… happened to you?" Kira asked, her voice trembling.
"The red lyrium," Fiona explained slowly. "It's a disease. The longer you're near it… eventually… you become this. Then they mine your corpse for more."
Maker, preserve us.
"Can you tell us the date?" asked Dorian. It's very important."
Kira shot him a look. How in Andraste's name was Fiona supposed to know the date in the state she was in? She hardly had a calendar posted in her cell.
But, to Kira's surprise, Fiona managed to gasp, "Harvestmere… 9:42 Dragon."
"Nine forty-two?" Dorian sounded shocked, which did little to make Kira feel any better. "Then we've missed an entire year."
"And whatever happened in that year," said Kira grimly, "This is the result."
They could do no more for Fiona, who was trapped by the lyrium that was slowly draining the life from her body, and they left her with empty promises of a past they would try desperately to save.
They found Cassandra in the next cell block. She was mercifully free of red lyrium shards, but her eyes glowed the same demonic red as Fiona's, and Kira knew that sooner or later, the Seeker would fall to the same fate as the former Grand Enchanter.
When she saw them, Cassandra lunged at the bars of her cell with a gasp. "You've returned to us! Can it be? Has Andraste given us another chance?" Tears rolled down the Seeker's cheeks. "Maker forgive me. I failed you. I failed everyone. The end must truly be upon us if the dead return to life."
"I'm not back from the dead, Cassandra," Kira said gently. "I just got… well, it's hard to explain."
"I was there," Cassandra insisted. "The magister obliterated you with a gesture."
"Alexius sent us forward in time," said Dorian. "If we find him, we may be able to return to the present."
"Or, rather, to the past," Kira clarified. "If we can go back to that moment in the throne room…"
"Can you make it so that none of this ever took place?" asked Cassandra urgently.
"That's the goal."
"Alexius's master…" Cassandra's eyes were bleak. "After you died, we could not stop the Elder One from rising. Empress Celene was murdered. The army that swept in afterwards - it was a horde of demons. Nothing stopped them. Nothing."
"We'll find a way back," promised Kira, struggling against tears. "We'll stop this from ever happening."
They broke the lock on Cassandra's cell. She was thinner than Kira remembered, and there was something off about the way she moved, as though she'd forgotten how it felt to be able to move freely. Kira tried to tell her to run, to hide, to wait here, anything, but the Seeker insisted on accompanying them to the throne room. She wanted to be there when Alexius was finally beaten.
Varric sat in a nearby cell, staring blankly ahead, and he cursed when he saw them. "Andraste's sacred knickers, you're alive?" He got to his feet. "Where were you? How did you escape?"
"We didn't escape," explained Dorian. "Alexius sent us into the future."
Varric looked like he wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. "Everything that happens to you is weird," he informed Kira.
"Don't I know it," she agreed drily.
Varric, too, insisted on coming to help defeat Alexius, and so their party grew to four.
They moved quickly through the last few cell blocks, and Kira thought that maybe, finally, they would be able to leave the dungeons behind - but they held one more surprise for her.
In the last cell of the last block sat their commander. Kira stopped in her tracks.
He sat with his back against the wall of his cell, his arms on his knees and his head tilted back against the stone. He stared at the ceiling, his eyes the same dull crimson that had claimed Cassandra's and Varric's. When he heard movement, he launched to his feet, his hand going automatically to a sword he didn't have, a cold fury etched on his face.
He paled when he saw her.
"Maker's breath," he breathed. "It can't be."
Kira forced herself to walk the last few steps to his cell.
"It can't be you," he said again, backing away. "You're dead."
She took a steadying breath. "It's me, Commander."
"We didn't die," Dorian informed Cullen airily. "We simply got thrown forward in time."
Cullen was silent, his eyes never leaving Kira. She watched as he processed Dorian's words, as first disbelief, then relief, then suspicion filled his gaze.
"You're a demon," he said, crossing his arms. "Or some trick of the Fade."
"We're real," Kira insisted.
"Prove it," he challenged, clenching his jaw. His knuckles were white where they clenched against his crossed arms. Kira heard an undertone of fear in his voice, and she reached for the bars of his cell, concern on her face. She'd never seen him like this before, wild and caged and afraid, so much more so than Cassandra and Varric had been. It worried her more than she'd have expected, but then, she didn't care for the others quite like she cared for him.
She blinked, biting her lip. It was the closest she'd gotten to admitting that her feelings for the commander of the Inquisitions's forces were no longer strictly platonic. Here, now, seeing him in this state - she wanted nothing more than to spirit him away to some remote place where they could live in peace and where he could never be hurt again. But now wasn't the time to dwell on the fact that she was half in love with the commander of the Inquisition's forces.
No, she could worry about that when she was back in a time where they might still have the possibility of a future.
Kira wracked her brain for something she could say or do to prove that she was real and not the conjuration of a bored demon. What was something he would recognize as true, but no one else would?
She stepped closer, lowering her voice. She wasn't sure she wanted the others to know about their midnight talks. "Do you remember stargazing by the lake outside of Haven? And the only constellation you knew was Judex."
Cullen's gaze softened, his posture relaxing slightly. "The Sword of Mercy. I remember." The wild look in his eyes faded, and he started to step forward, then hesitated. "You're truly alive?" he asked, his hope almost palpable.
"Yes," she said simply. "We need to find Alexius so that we can get back to our own time and stop all of this -" she gestured broadly, to everything, "- from happening."
Cullen nodded once, decisively. "Then find me a sword."
As they moved through the silent halls, Kira's companions filled them in on what they had missed over the past year. To Kira, it sounded like a nightmare. A demon army? The assassination of the Empress of Orlais? They were frightful stories told around a campfire; they couldn't possibly be reality. And yet, they had happened.
And she had missed it.
Guilt gnawed at Kira as she led the charge through the bowels of Redcliffe Castle. This was all her fault. If she'd been warier, if she'd been more prepared for Alexius… could she have prevented this from happening?
And when - if - she and Dorian managed to make it back to their own time… would she still be able to stop this before it was too late?
When they emerged from the prison cells, it was into a row of torture chambers. Most of the doors were closed, but their group could hear muffled thuds and sharp cries from within. Kira hesitated before each door, longing to burst into each room and liberate its occupant, but Dorian gently pulled her away. The only way to save these people was to get back to their own time.
She knew that. She did. But it still hurt to walk away.
Harsh laughter emanated from the last room in the hall, startling Kira and her companions. A familiar voice rang out, defiant and proud. "… he'll have to get used to disappointment."
"Leliana!" Kira whispered to her companions, and then she burst into the room.
Leliana was suspended by her wrists from the ceiling. A Venatori cultist held a knife to her cheek, and a thin line of blood trickled down her face from where it cut into her skin. When the door opened, the cultist turned away from the Inquisition's spymaster. It was his last mistake. Leliana, sudden hope and vengeance taking over her face, summoned all her strength to throw her legs around the cultist's neck, distracting him while Kira plunged her staff's blade into his heart.
"You're alive!" exclaimed Leliana as Kira rushed to unchain her.
"We never died in the first place," Kira explained. With a feral grin, she added, "Alexius miscalculated."
Leliana returned the grin. "Then it will be his last mistake."
As the spymaster crossed the room to a lockbox and began rummaging through it, Dorian cleared his throat. "You… aren't curious how we got here?"
"No." Leliana turned, a bow and a quiver of arrows in her hands, looking satisfied with her find.
But Dorian couldn't help himself. "Alexius sent us into the future. This - his victory, his Elder One - it was never meant to be. If we can get back to our present time, we can prevent this future from ever happening."
"And mages always wonder why people fear them," Leliana said with disgust. "No one should have this power."
"It's dangerous and unpredictable," agreed Dorian. "Before the Breach, nothing we did -"
"Enough!" snarled Leliana. "This is all pretend to you, some future you hope will never exist. But I suffered. The whole world suffered. It was real."
Kira took a step forward, her hands held up in a peaceful gesture. "I'm sorry," she said. "You're right. But we have to fix it. Will you help us?"
"To stop this from happening? Of course."
The castle was in shambles. Even as they emerged from the dungeons and torture chambers, there were scars from the new world order. In every room they passed, red lyrium grew unfettered from floors and the walls. Some held evidence of blood magic. One great hall they passed through had runes drawn in blood on the floor, mangled corpses left carelessly in their center. It was depressing and terrifying in equal measure. The once-proud castle was in complete disarray, and Kira couldn't help but feel that it was her fault.
The members of their little party were mostly quiet. There was little to say, save from the barest descriptions of what had happened after Kira and Dorian had "died." And what had happened sounded atrocious. Kira gathered the most cursory of information to carry back to her companions in the present, but didn't press for more; her friends of the future had been through enough, and she was loath to force them to relive what had happened because she hadn't been prepared enough to face Alexius.
They clashed with several bands of guards throughout the lower parts of the castle on their way to the main hall, where they theorized Alexius would be staying. It was clear that the Venatori cultists guarding the magister hadn't faced any real resistance in quite some time. The battles were quick and bloody - at least, they were bloody for the enemy. Kira and her companions made it through their ranks largely unscathed.
It was strange to be fighting alongside friends who were so familiar, and yet so different from what she knew in the present. Cassandra was largely silent, and though that was not unusual for her, the pure desperation with which she fought was. Varric, too, was quiet, and Kira found herself missing his witty banter and sarcastic quips. She'd grown so used to them that their absence was all the more noticeable, and she kept casting glances towards the dwarf, as though to check if he was still there.
It was Cullen whose behavior was the least strange to Kira, since she had very little experience fighting beside him in the field. They found an armory on their way through the castle, where they outfitted him with a sword and shield. He was ruthless and efficient with the weapon, and Kira was glad to have him along. He and Cassandra drew most of the attention of their foes, making it easier for Kira, Dorian, Varric, and Leliana to pick them off from afar.
When they finally emerged from the lower castle into a courtyard, Kira stopped to stare in horror. "The Breach!" she said. "It's -"
"Everywhere," breathed Dorian, who looked rather pale. Kira wasn't sure she'd seen the Tevinter mage look quite so shocked.
Not that she could blame him. The Breach had grown to overtake the entire sky. It bathed the castle in a sickly green glow that seemed to grow brighter with each passing minute. Kira quickly realized that the Breach was still growing. It crackled above them, thundering with each new expansion. Rocks, dead trees, and even parts of buildings floated in the sky, slowly being sucked towards the Breach. It was only a matter of time before the Breach swallowed the world.
And it was all Kira's fault.
"Come on," she said, firmly shaking herself and resolving to look anywhere but up. "We have to find Alexius."
Their group started across the courtyard, passing more crystals of red lyrium, jagged against the green sky. They were halfway across when it happened. There was a crack of thunder and a flash of green, and a rift opened right on top of them.
"Back me up!" Kira shouted, her mark thrumming with power as she thrust her hand at the sparking rift. She heard more than saw the others disperse around her; sounds of fighting filled the courtyard. She hadn't been quick enough to seal the rift before demons could make their way out of it.
There was a shout beside her, and she turned just in time to see a shade reeling away from Cullen's blade. She quickly cast a barrier across them both and turned to guard his back. When the demon fell to Cullen's blade, a rush of dark energy flew back into the rift. Her fire spell exploded nearby, sending another demon back to the Fade. All around them, demons were falling, and it wasn't long before Kira's palm thrummed again. She thrust her hand toward the rift and, this time, it closed.
"Is everyone alright?" she asked, panting as she looked around at their party. Cullen had a scratch on his forehead, and Dorian was guzzling a health potion, but fortunately, they all appeared to be in one piece.
The rest of their short journey across the courtyard was uneventful, but they all breathed a sigh of relief once they were back in the castle, even though the upper castle was no less foreboding than the lower castle had been. The halls were dark and dismal, and there was a certain chill in the air that smelled of rot and decay. Pieces of the roof were gone, floating slowly toward the hole in the sky that shone down even here.
When they made it to the main hall, they found it infested with demons and Venatori cultists. Their group had the element of surprise, and they quickly dispensed of the enemy.
At the end of the hall, a strange door barred their way. Dorian inspected it, running a hand over his mustache thoughtfully.
"Can we get through it?" asked Kira.
"Perhaps, but it looks quite strong," the Tevinter mage mused. "His servants must have a way in, though."
Of course it wouldn't be easy. "All right. Let's look around."
They found a chantry, deserted but for a few Venatori cultists, who were too busy praying to bother guarding the door. Instead of a statue of Andraste, there was an idol made from red lyrium at the head of the room, glowing in the sickly green light that shone in from the patchy roof and shattered windows.
They backtracked, making their way up a staircase into what had once been the castle's family chambers. Bodies hung from nooses in the rafters, swaying in the cold wind from outside. Kira tried not to look at them too closely, afraid of who she might recognize.
Dorian found the first red lyrium shard in a library on the body of a Venatori cultist they had slain. He hummed thoughtfully, seemingly unphased by the death of his countryman. "I think I know how to open that door," Dorian informed her as he rose from beside the cultist's body.
They found the rest of the shards - which Dorian theorized were keys - on the bodies of other guards they killed as they searched the upper floors of the castle. Once they made their way back to the main hall and to the strange door that blocked their way into the throne room, Dorian inserted one of the shards into the door. It began to glow, and the Tevinter mage looked to Kira, who nodded.
"Get ready," she told the others.
When the doors swung open, they found Alexius standing upon the raised dais in the center of the room, his back to the door. He didn't move when they entered, nor when they drew closer, spreading into a half-circle around him.
"I was worried I'd have to search the whole castle for you, Alexius," Kira said finally, her voice conversational. Alexius stiffened at the sound of her voice. She found it oddly satisfying.
"There's no longer anywhere to run," Alexius said. "I knew you would appear again - not that it would be now - but I knew I hadn't destroyed you. My final failure."
"Was it worth it?" Dorian asked, taking a step forward. "Everything you did to the world? To yourself?"
"It doesn't matter now," replied Alexius, turning to face them at last. "All we can do is wait for the end."
"It does matter," Kira insisted. "I will undo this."
Alexius laughed humorlessly. "How many times have I tried? The past cannot be undone. All that I fought for, all that I betrayed, and what have I wrought? Ruin and death. There is nothing else. The Elder One comes: for me, for you, for us all."
There was a sudden noise and they all turned to look behind Alexius, where Leliana stood with what appeared to be a corpse in her arms, a knife held to its throat. Upon further inspection, Kira realized it was a man, and that he was still alive. He was pale, his skin waxen, his eyes sunken and lifeless. And yet, there was something familiar about him, something that Kira couldn't quite place…
"Felix!" cried Alexius, reaching out for his son.
"That's Felix?" gasped Dorian. "Maker's breath, Alexius, what have you done?"
"He would have died, Dorian! I saved him!" Alexius held out his hands pleadingly. "Please, don't hurt my son. I'll do anything you ask."
"Hand over the amulet, and we let him go," said Kira, ignoring the way her stomach rolled. How could Alexius have done this to his own son? At what point had he lost sight of Felix's humanity?
"Let him go, and I swear you'll get what you want," pleaded Alexius.
Leliana's lip curled. "I want the world back," she said.
And then she slit Felix's throat.
The result was instantaneous and predictable.
"No," whispered Alexius. Then, louder: "NO!"
An angry burst of magic surged from the mage, knocking Leliana backwards from the dais. Kira and Dorian cast barrier spells just in time; the rest of their group watched, unphased, as the magic washed harmlessly over them.
The battle was brutal. Seeming to respond to Alexius's emotions, the Veil around them twisted and splintered, opening rifts seemingly at random around them as they fought. Demons poured from the rifts, spilling into the throne room with glowing red eyes and sharp, angry claws.
Kira cast spell after spell, ducking and dodging as fire and brimstone rained down upon them all. She lost track of her companions in the chaos. Panic threatened to strangle her. She choked it back, fighting her way through the demons until she could get her back to one of the pillars scattered throughout the room, protecting herself from behind. She thrust the blade of her staff towards one demon that got too close and sent a fireball towards another, but still all she could see was demons.
A rage demon appeared next to her, its arms raised, preparing to strike, and she knew she would be too slow. It was going to kill her.
Was this how it was all going to end? In a future she'd failed to prevent, fighting against a demon horde, unable to protect herself or those she held dear?
Suddenly, Cullen was there, fending off the demon's blow with his shield and darting in for a killing blow with his sword. Kira hurriedly cast a barrier, shouting a warning as a new demon took the place of the one Cullen had just killed. Cassandra was the next to appear, joining Cullen in beating back the horde and giving Kira some room to maneuver. Before long, they had found Dorian and Varric, and they were slowly turning the tide of the battle.
When the last demon fell and the rifts throughout the room were sealed, the group turned their attention to Alexius, who had cast a barrier to protect himself from the chaos. Kira and Dorian made short work of the barrier, and it didn't take long for Alexius to fall. Kira wasn't sure who made the killing blow. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
She hoped it hadn't been Dorian.
She watched as the Tevinter mage knelt beside his one-time mentor. "He wanted to die, didn't he?" asked Dorian mournfully. "All those lies he told himself, the justifications… He lost Felix long ago and didn't even notice. Oh, Alexius…"
Kira knelt beside him, placing a gentle hand on his arm. "This Alexius was too far gone, but we can still save the one in our time."
"I hope you're right." Dorian sighed, then seemed to pull himself together. He rose, grasping something in his hand. "This is the same amulet he used before. I think it's the same one we made in Minrathous. That's a relief." He shook his head, as though to clear his thoughts, and squared his shoulders. "Give me an hour to work out the spell he used, and I should be able to reopen the rift."
"An hour?" interrupted Leliana incredulously. "That's impossible! You must go now!"
Almost as though on cue, a horrible screech rent the air around them, shaking the entire castle. Rubble fell from the ceiling. Were those wingbeats Kira heard outside? Just what manner of beast was this Elder One?
Kira cursed, sharing a look with Dorian. He turned away examining the amulet and mumbling softly to himself, clearly trying to work out the spell with renewed fervor. Kira turned to the others. Cassandra and Varric shared a look. Varric nodded once. They turned to her.
"No," Kira said before they had a chance to speak. "I won't let you kill yourselves for me. There must be another way!"
"Look at us," said Cullen, drawing her attention. His eyes were sad, his jaw set. "We're already dead. The only way we live is if this day never comes." Kira stared into his once-golden eyes, at a loss for words. He was right, but sending them to their deaths… she couldn't bear it.
"Cast your spell," Cullen said quietly. "We will give you as much time as we can."
Cassandra, Varric, and Leliana took up posts outside the room; Cullen stood at parade rest at the base of the dais, his hands braced on the pommel of his sword, its tip rested on the cold stone of the floor. Kira followed Dorian up the stairs of the dais reluctantly, taking up a position at his shoulder as he began to work the spell that would - hopefully - take them back to their own time.
It felt like hours before they heard the first sounds of fighting outside, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. Kira heard shouting, and the screeching of demons, and then something thudded against the door.
When the door opened, a demon dragged Varric's lifeless body through. Cassandra fell backwards, and the enemies trampled over her as they entered the room.
Cullen surged forward, his sword moving so fast that Kira couldn't see it. It arced to behead one demon, and then to slice another nearly in half; he had engaged with a third when an arrow flew through the door to embed itself in his shoulder.
Kira gasped and began to move to the commander's side, raising her staff without thinking. But Dorian grabbed her and pulled her back. "You move, and we all die!" he shouted, and turned back to his spell.
There was a cry behind her. Kira spun around to see a Venatori cultist fall beneath Cullen's blade.
But there was another cultist, and another, and another, and Kira knew that Cullen wouldn't be fast enough to kill them all.
"Cullen!" she shouted, too anguished to remember propriety - but it was too late.
Cullen fell as her world faded to black.
When they reappeared in the throne room in their present time, Kira was in shock, but she didn't stay in shock for long.
A cold fury contorted her face, and she stalked from the rift that had just deposited them back in their own time with her blood pounding in her ears. Alexius, resigned to his failure and appearing suddenly afraid, fell to his knees upon her approach.
When Kira spoke, it was in a voice that she hardly recognized. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you now," she demanded. Her magic itched under her skin, threatening to break free.
Dorian materialized at her side, a hand on her arm in warning.
Those in attendance hadn't lived through what they'd seen; her appearance from a rift threatening murder was unlikely to win them any friends. Besides that, she had promised Dorian the chance to help his old friend.
So, with a great deal of effort, she reined in her anger and took a step back. "Put aside all claim to Redcliffe, and we let you live," she growled, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You won," admitted Alexius, "There is no point in extending this charade."
It was short work for Inquisition agents to collect Alexius. He offered no resistance now that his final card had been played. As they took the magister from the throne room, Dorian sidled up to Kira. "Well, I'm glad that's over with!" he said jovially.
It was at that moment that the sound of marching overtook the room.
"… or not."
A squadron of soldiers, all bearing the Ferelden crest, lined the room. Behind them came a blond woman in fine clothes, her manner regal. "Grand Enchanter Fiona," she said, her voice accusatory.
"Q-queen Anora!" said the Grand Enchanter, stepping forward, wringing her hands nervously.
Kira had never seen the queen, and she was, quite honestly, too tired to be surprised, or to even remember to curtsy. Or would she need to bow? She wasn't in a gown, so maybe a bow would be more appropriate. In the end, it didn't matter; she didn't do either.
Still, no matter how exhausted she was, she had to admit that it was somewhat satisfying to watch Fiona receive the dressing down that the former grand enchanter so dearly deserved.
"When I granted your mages sanctuary, I thought it was understood that they would not force my people from their homes," Anora was saying.
"Your Majesty, let me assume you, we never intended -" began Fiona.
But Anora was not in the mood for platitudes. "Your intentions ceased to matter when my people were threatened! I am rescinding my offer of sanctuary. You and your followers will leave Ferelden at once."
"But… we have hundreds who need protection! Where will we go?"
It was at that moment that Kira stepped forward, calling upon the last reserves of her strength to force a politely neutral expression onto her face. Now that the immediate threat was neutralized, it was time for some diplomacy. "The Inquisition might be willing to take in the mages," she offered.
Fiona bristled. "And what are the terms of this arrangement?"
"Hopefully better than what Alexius gave you." Dorian pointed out. "The Inquisition is better than that, yes?"
Fiona sighed. "It seems we have little choice but to accept what you offer."
Kira was, in a word, annoyed. They would have had far more choices if Fiona's decision-making hadn't been so absolutely abysmal to begin with. That she would now question the Inquisition's motives for the mages was insulting.
But however much Kira might dislike Fiona, many of her fellow mages had had nothing to do with this debacle, and Kira felt that she owed it to them to extend an olive branch, to make things better for them if she could.
"We would be honored to have you fight as allies at the Inquisition's side," she said. "The Breach threatens all of Thedas. We cannot afford to be divided now. We can't fight it without you. Any chance of success requires your full support."
"Whether you accept the Inquisition's alliance or not, you will leave my kingdom," said Anora coldly.
There was a moment while Fiona considered. "We accept," she said finally. "It would be madness not to."
