Another Chapter for you guys and I hope you enjoy this one.


Chapter 17

Entering the castle was simple enough, what with simple undead skeletons and demons roaming the courtyard and hallways of the castle. Dealing with them was a simple issue, the real problem however, came when he tried to enter the Great Hall, only for a magical barrier to bar his entry.

Placing a hand on the barrier, Harry could feel the extreme power of demonic energy running through it, not allowing anything to pass through it. While he could simply overpower the barrier, the resulting backlash could level half the castle and then some. Taking his hand away, Harry was about to walk towards the corridor on the left when someone called his name.

"Harry!" a voice called out.

Turning, Harry saw that it was Aedan who had called out. Following behind him were Luna, Alistair and another Mage, one he did not recognize.

"Harry, what's going on? Why did you run into the castle?" Aedan asked.

"First: Who is he? Second: Someone or something, most probably the person behind this, is summoning the energy from the corpses back to themselves." Harry explained.

"What would that accomplish? Oh and this is Jowan, he knows what's been going on." Alistair answered.

"If this person is indeed summoning the energy towards themselves, they could be a powerful enemy. The problem with that however, is that the body can only take in so much energy before they become a demon themselves." Harry explained.

"What kind of demon would they become?" Aedan asked.

"It depends on what kind of demon was possessing the person in the first place." Harry answered, before turning towards Jowan. "Now, explain why you are here and what you know."

"I was brought here to help train Conner, the Arl's son. He's a mage you see and Conner's mother did not want her son to be sent to the Circle." Jowan explained.

"How old is he anyway?" Aedan asked.

"About six to seven years old." Jown answered.

"That explains why you're here, but that doesn't explain what you know." Harry said.

"Well, soon after I arrived, the Arl became sick, and when Isolde, the Arl's wife asked me to cure him, I couldn't. She locked me in the dungeon as punishment. Two days later , there demons and undead roaming the halls." Jowan answered. "Isolde came to me again and demanded that I release my hold over Conner and that I should undo everything."

"But you didn't do it, did you?" Harry asked.

"No, I was only brought here to train Conner and nothing else." Jowan answered, although he looked extremely nervous by the way he refused to make eye contact with him.

"You're lying, you do know something else. About how Arl Eamon got sick." Harry said, picking up on his nervousness.

"What! I don't know anything about how the Arl got poisoned!" Jowan cried out.

"I would believe you if I did not hold the evidence in my hand. Well, that and the fact that you just said that he was poisoned even though I never said he was." Harry said, holding the letter in his hand. "It says that Berwick the elf was ordered by Teryn Howe to observe for anything of notice and to report to him. While it does not tell us that Jowan is the person that got Arl Eamon sick, just by looking at him, I can tell he's lying. After all, he was here before the Arl was poisoned, and Conner's magical abilities gave him an excuse to be near the Arl easily." Harry explained.

Aedan sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He then grabbed Jowan by his robes and slammed him against the wall. "Tell me one good reason I should not kill you right now?"

"W-wait p-please, I-I was ordered by Teryn Lohgain to poison the Arl. I thought that since he was the one who ordered it, it was ok." Jowan stammered out.

"And how exactly is poisoning an Arl a good thing?" Aedan snarled.

"I didn't know it would lead to this I swear!" Jowan cried out. "Please, if there is any way I could fix this would, I would." he pleaded.

"What do you think Harry? Should we bring him along?" Aedan asked, trusting the older man's judgement.

Harry stared at Jowan, who he knew was remorseful for his actions, but at the same time was also the reason all of this had started in the first place. "Very well, he can follow us. But once this whole mess has been sorted out, he will face judgement by the Arl."

"Very well." Aedan agreed. "Now Alistair, which way do we go?" he asked his fellow Grey Warden.

"Follow me, there's a side entrance that we can get to." Alistair said as he took to the front.

And so Alistair led them through the side entrance, turning right and leading into a long hallway. As they quickly made their way through, they came across one of the many dining halls used by the servants. They passed the empty kennels and entered into another hallway. This one was different as all the other areas were littered with the bodies of the undead, whereas here there a group of them trying to smash down a door at the end of the hallway to the left.

The sudden scream of fear, told the group that there was someone inside. Using his Shadow Strike ability, Harry took down every single undead. Turning towards the door, Harry carefully knocked on the door, not wanting to frighten whoever was inside by just opening the door.

"Hello, is someone in there?" He asked gently.

"Hello?" A timid female voice asked. "Are you real? Are the monsters outside gone?"

"Yes the monsters are gone. Do you mind if you could open the door?" Harry asked.

The person inside did not answer, instead the door opened inward slightly and a head poked out. Harry and the others noticed that it was a young woman in her early twenties with a pale complexion, dirty blonde hair, brown eyes and wearing a maid's outfit. The young woman suddenly flung the door opened and hugged Harry tightly as she began to cry onto his shoulder.

"You real!" She cried. "I thought that i was going to be killed by those monsters! Thank you!" She said as she held onto Harry.

Harry, somewhat uncomfortable, simply hugged back with his left arm and simply patter her on the back. All while the rest of the group tried to hide their smile's, except for Luna, who just simply grinned at her husband. Soon, the young woman let go, blushing slightly.

"What is your name young lady, and why were you hiding in here?" Aedan asked.

"My name is Valena, i work as a maid here in the castle." Valena answered.

"Valena, the Blacksmith's daughter." Aedan asked in surprise.

"You know my father?" Valena asked in joy.

"Yes, your father has been worried sick over you. I promised that i would try to find what had happened to you." Aedan explained.

"How is my father? Is he alright?" Valena asked, worried for her father.

"He's fine, he has been helping the village defend against these undead." Aedan answered.

"Luna why don't you bring Valena back to her father, while we sort out the rest of this mess." Harry suggested.

"Alright." Luna said before leading Valena out of the castle.

"Come on, we've wasted enough time as is." Aedan said. "Alistair, how much further?"

"Just past that door and we'll be in the main hall." Alistair replied, pointing towards the door on the far right.

"Let's go." Harry said as they all prepared themselves.

Opening the door slowly, Harry took a cautious step through the door. Indicating for the others to follow, Harry walked into the main hall. As the four of them walked into the hall, they saw six armed guards, all under the thrall of the demon. Meanwhile at the end of the hallway was a large fireplace, with a fire going, lighting the hall. Above the fireplace was a large painting of Arl Eamon in full battle armour in his younger years. Standing in front of the fire was a young boy, while another woman, who was kneeling nearby was staring at the boy in both worry and fear.

"That's Conner." Jowan whispered quietly.

Harry stared at the boy, who was standing extremely still facing the fire. They could see a mist of purple energy surrounding the boy as ghostly horns were sprouting from the top of Conner's head. Every single one of them could feel the amount of energy that was being absorbed by Conner, and Harry knew that the more demonic tendrils that she absorbed, the more powerful she becomes.

"Harry, what's happening?" Alistair asked, freaked out.

The demon is using Conner's body to absorb the demonic energy from the undead to enter the mortal world. It is slowly stripping Conner away, piece by piece, until what is left standing is not a young boy, but rather the demon itself." Harry explained.

"We have to stop it!" Alistair shouted, drawing his sword and charging at Conner, hoping to break the demon's concentration.

Unfortunately, it did not work as Alistair seemed to have bounced off a large shield that protected Conner from harm. This also alerted the demon that he had intruders in the castle. The demon possessed Conner turned around to face the intruders.

Harry was taking a good long look at Conner's body and came to the conclusion that he was right about it being a Desire Demon that had taken control of Conner. He could tell, not just by the horns, but also the flickering form of the Desire Demon that was standing in the same spot as the body she inhabited, although it was so faint that it was almost impossible to see.

"It would seem that we have some uninvited guests within our halls." Conner's voice spoke, although it was much more deeper and twisted.

"You must the demon possessing Conner, correct?" Harry asked. "A Desire Demon."

"You are very perceptive for a mortal." The demon stated.

"Why did you possess Conner and then send an army of undead to attack the village!" Alistair demanded.

"I will not be spoken to like that mortal!" the demon shrieked as it waved his hand and sent Alistair flying back to the wall. "As for why i have taken this child as my vessel? The boy wished for his father to be better, to be from the poison that afflicted him. I gave him what he asked, it was not my fault that the boy did not know what he was truly asking."

"And the attacks on the village?" Aedan asked.

"For my amusement, but also for a way to shed this mortal body and step into the mortal world as my true self." the demon answered.

"You know we can't let you do that." Harry statde.

The demon chuckled, clearly amused by what he had said. "And what would a mere mortal know about stopping me. You wouldn't dare kill a child just to stop me."

"Maybe. Maybe not. The question now is, are you willing to bet your life on it?" Harry asked, goading the demon.

The demon snarled. "Mortal! Serve your queen and kill these trespassers!" The demon shouted before running off.

Immediately all, the guards drew their weapons and charged at Harry and Aedan while two of them broke off and charged at Alistair, who only now managed to get up. Acting swiftly, Harry cast a Mass Paralysis Glyph, affecting every guard in the room. Once they were all frozen, Harry used a Stupefy upon each of the guards, knocking them out one by one. Once the guards were suitably rounded up, Harry cancelled the spell and walked towards the woman, who was silent throughout the entire duration.

Aedan went to help the woman up, and introduce them when the main door from earlier that Harry couldn't get through, slammed open and Teagan along with several knights from the village came rushing in, swords raised. The new arrivals stopped at seeing what was in front of them.

"What happened here?" Teagan demanded.

"Well, lets see. We broke in the castle, found the person who poisoned Eamon, killed a lot of undead, saved a trapped servant, found out that a Desire Demon is possessing Conner, and Harry just knocked out all the guards here." Alistair answered. "Anything I forgot?"

"You forgot about the part that you screamed like a girl as you were thrown back against the wall." Harry answered with a straight face.

"Oh and I- hey! I do NOT scream like a girl." Alistair whined. "I have a very manly voice, thank you very much."

"Did you hear Alistair scream like a girl just now Aedan?" Harry joked.

"Oh yes, very much like a a little girl." aedan replied with a wide smile.

Alistair harrumphed. "You guys are mean." he said.

"That's what we're here for." Harry and Aedan said at the same time, earning a laugh from them.

"As fun as it is to make fun of Alistair's girly scream, we still have to deal with, we still have this problem of a demon possessing my nephew." Teagan said, smirking at the banter that had just taken place. "Isolde, please, tell us what happened."

"It was HIS fault. He poisoned Eamon, he made the demons come! He is the reason Conner is, that he is...Please you must save my son, he is not at fault." The woman, Isolde begged.

"I know that what I did was wrong and that I had taken advantage of your hospitality, but please, if you let me help.." Jowan spoke.

"HELP! After you poison my husband, and made Conner into an abomination, you want us to accept your help." Isolde thundered.

"Is this the mage you spoke of? What's he doing here?" Teagan asked.

"He was in the dungeon. Someone must have set him free." Isolde snarled.

"Yes, well that was me." Aedan spoke up. "He said that he knew what was happeneing and that he wanted to help."

"And you believed him?" Teagan asked.

"This was before we knew what he had done, but even so, Jowan at least has to answer for his crimes." Aedan answered.

"I think this blame must also be placed on Isolde, for what she did." Harry stated, much to the surprise of everyone and the thunderous look that Isolde was giving him.

"How dare you." She snarled. "All I wanted was to make sure that Conner was kept safe."

"Isn't that what started this whole event in the first place. You wanting to protect Conner." Teagan asked, unhappy with the events unfolding right in front of him and the fact that this whole thing could have been avoided.

"I knew that if Conner was found to have magic then he would be taken away. I had hoped that if i could find an apostate to teach him enough to hide it." Isolde said quietly.

"It would not have worked." Harry stated bluntly. Everyone turned to him in confusion. Harry sighed as it seemed that he had to now teach about magic. "Jowan, you were raised in a Circle, so you would not know this." He said to Jowan, getting a nod of understanding before moving on to Isolde. "You are not the first person wanting to keep their child's magic a secret. The problem is that as the child grows, so to does the magic within. While Jowan's teachings might have held for about two years, by the time he reached ten to eleven, his magic would be more wild and unless he learns to control them, he is at a much higher risk of being possessed by a demon." he explained.

"You make it sound like you never grew up in a Circle?" Jowan asked.

"No I did not. I was born, much like Conner to a noble family. However, when my magic began to show, my family deemed it necessary for me to learn from the Circle while also being able to return to my family at least once a month." Harry answered.

"This is all very informative but how exactly are we going to deal with the demon inside Conner?" Teagan asked. "Where is Conner, anyway?"

"Upstairs in Eamon's room." Isolde answered. "It must be where he is keeping him alive."

"Well, killing Conner would be the easiest way for sure. But there is another way." Jowan answered slowly, not sure about the idea.

"The Fade." Harry stated

Jowan nodded. "Yes, that is where we can beat the demon." he said.

I'm sorry, but is the demon not within Conner himself?" Teagan asked, not knowing much about magic other than what the Chantry spoke about.

"No. The demon inside Conner approached him in his dreams and it is there that she can be beaten." Jowan answered.

"We will need to move quickly though. That Desire Demon was trying to pull in the demonic energies from the undead to strip Conner away until she had her body." Harry said.

"Well how does someone enter the Fade?" Teagan asked.

"Normally it would take a substantial amount of Lyrium and several Mages to create the , i have Blood Magic. It will allow me to sacrifice one person to gain entry to the Fade." Jowan answered.

"Absolutely not! There is no way we are letting a Blood Mage kill someone for a ritual." Alistair cried out.

"Alistair, I too would not normally allow a Blood Mage to do something like this unless there was no other option, but are you really willing to let Conner be controlled by that thing?" Teagan asked.

"Why don't we just go to the Circle for help, they owe us." Alistair asked.

Harry shook his head in disagreement. "I'm sorry Alistair, but it's a three day journey towards the Tower, and even if you had the fastest horse available you would still need to drag them all the way here."

"There has to be another way! Harry, you're an expert, surely you know something that could help us?" Alistair pleaded.

"I would hardly call myself an expert Alistair. However you are correct in that i know something that could help us." Harry stated. "I could, with the help of my new ring, enter the mind of Conner and, using the connection that the demon has on his mind, enter the Fade from there."

"How long will it take for you to go through his mind and to the Fade?" Aedan asked.

"Not that long. The connection is strong enough that it is like having a bright torch in complete darkness. I can even deal with any remnants of the demon's influence." Harry answered.

"And Conner will be unharmed?" Isolde asked.

Harry nodded. "Yes, your son will be fine."

"How long will you need to prepare?" Teagan asked.

"I can start immediately. However there still remains the problem of the many undead and demonic energy that has permeated these lands. Alistair, if you are up for it, take Luna and Wynne back to the Circle and tell them that they need to come to Redcliffe and cleanse the area of it's energy." Harry said.

"Why?" Alistair asked.

"Because with the amount of undead here being killed, the odds of the veil to the Fade being thin here is pretty high." Harry answered.

"Right." Alistair said before making his way out of the castle.

"Now if you will excuse me, I will need to deal with a Desire Demon." Harry said.


And there we go. What did you guys think? Good? Bad? Ok? Leave a review and tell me your thoughts and if you have a question, please send a PM to me.

And Remember to Have an Awesome Day!