Chapter 63) Haven of Madness
Nuada POV
It was always strange to hear the Chant. It was pretty and kind when sung, but it was always difficult to take seriously, because the ones singing it were… horrible.
We sat and listened, some honor Empress Celene wanted to give Father, but my gaze kept turning to the stained glass windows of the cathedral in a desperate attempt to stay awake. It was boring. It was nonsense. I had seen the one singing of peace and kindness refuse to pass out food and medicine to the poor just a few days ago.
I hated the Chant. I hated the Chantry. They were horrible hypocrites who only loved power.
"Are you enjoying yourself, Lord Nuada?" I plastered a smile on my face as I turned to face Empress Celene. In a show of polite deference, she wasn't sitting with Father and Mother, but rather with Fergus, Elspeth, and me, closer to the back.
"Oh, yes, Empress Celene, it's beautiful," I lied to her. Lying was easy, and in Orlais, if you didn't lie, you died. "Thank you very much for bringing us."
So, in my attempts to keep an even weight distribution for the horses, and to tease Elspeth and Alistair, I had completely neglected the whole 'oh, wait, Layla will be riding with me, all pressed up against me for prolonged periods of time' part of the riding pairings. Yeah, the trip to Haven was an exercise in self-discipline. It didn't help that we added some time to our travels because we couldn't figure out what Brother Genitivi meant by his directions thanks to some of the tangents he put in.
"Is anyone else freezing?" Alistair complained as we rode up the slope that, in theory, led to Haven. He looked miserable, bundled up in his cloak and clinging to Elspeth's waist. "Maker, it's cold. Why did Andraste's ashes get hidden in a cold place? WAH!" Alistair almost fell off the horse, again saved only by Elspeth manuvering the horse to steady him. "Ugh… sorry. I seem to have a talent for falling off horses." I'd say. That was the tenth time today and the sun wasn't all that high in the sky yet.
"I'm not sure if it makes you feel better, but Uncle Maric did too," I told him. Alistair looked a little dubious. "I'm serious. Cailan's skill with a horse came from his mother, not his father. Uncle Maric was so used to falling that he specifically rigged his armor to have cushioning for it."
"There was a time where we were hunting," Elspeth added, petting her horse's neck to soothe him. As per usual, Elspeth chose a stallion for her mount, and I would forever think her insane for preferring the fiery nature. I liked my gelding just fine, and I suspected Layla did too. "We were chasing after a boar and had switched to galloping to close the distance, but when Cailan went to aim, we heard a loud clang that even startled the boar. We turned back and saw Uncle Maric had fallen off the horse and he had looked just so resigned to it."
"Loghain helped him up without even looking, and insisted we keep on going like nothing happened. Of course, we all just burst into laughter, barely able to keep on the horse ourselves." I snickered at the memory. "Never did catch up with the boar."
"To actually answer your question, Alistair, I think you are the only one so bothered by the cold," Layla murmured. She actually looked just fine. "Mages do not get warm or cold easily. That is why Morrigan is never bothered by the temperature despite how… open her clothing is." You know; I was so used to her by this point that it took me a second to remember that Morrigan did show a lot of skin. Huh. "Of course, I am certain Elspeth would remain stoic in a blizzard, while Nuada would just laugh off frostbite."
"Ouch, Layla, I don't mind a little bite, but can we leave my poor fragile ego alone?" I teased. She rolled her eyes and I laughed. "Oh, to be the victim of such beauty, such woe befalls me!"
"This is exactly what I mean." She sighed. "I have to keep a constant eye on… oh, Nuada, there is a branch at eye-height on your right." I ducked my head to let it pass over me. "What was I saying? I think I was scolding."
"I live for your lectures, dearest Layla. But, tell me, is that a fence on the right? I can't see it well, thanks to the snow."
"You could turn your head."
"But then I lose a perfect excuse to whisper in your ear." Her face turned bright red. "Goodness, are you running a fever?"
"You are impossible!"
"I exist, so I imagine I am quite possible."
"Nuada, go easy on the flirting before you give her an apoplexy," Elspeth cut in, voice lilting and chiding. She was smiling, though, eyes dancing with mischief. "As much as it warms my heart to see you having fun, things are serious." Yes, yes.
"Do you two seriously not every notice when you switch languages?" Alistair asked. I couldn't help but smile in pride when I realized he had complained in Orlesian. It was clumsy Orlesian, he did not pronounce a couple words correctly, but it was Orlesian nonetheless. "I caught maybe half of what Elspeth said."
"It is better than me," Layla sighed, sulking. "I have no idea what she said." She pointed to the right. "That is a fenced in graveyard. I would say we are close." Typically that was indeed the case when you saw graves and fences.
Still, I had to admit that I wasn't expecting a guard at the very entrance of the place. "What are you doing here in Haven?" he spat, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "There's nothing for you here." It seemed it was time to lie. We had ridden way too long to turn away now.
"Forgive us, please," I replied, smiling as charmingly as I could. I saw the man relax slightly. "We're travelers, but with the recent troubles, we got lost. Is there a chance we might at least replenish our supplies?"
"I… suppose so." He moved out of the way. "But stay clear of the Chantry. The Revered Father is holding a sermon right now, and we do not take well to outsiders sitting in." Did he just say Revered Father? I had never heard of such a thing. Perhaps Tevinter had something like that, their Divine was male, but this was Fereldan. "Our ways are traditional, and not the ways of the lowland cities." Well, that much was obvious. "You may trade in the shop, but be on your way after that."
"You are a kind man." We dismounted, tying the horses loosely to a nearby tree, and walked past the guard, glancing at each other as soon as we were certain he'd lost interest. "Anyone want to make a bet?"
"Oh, no, surely this is a kind little village that is just a little quirky and not hiding anything," Alistair immediately deadpanned. Elspeth hid a smile behind her hand, Layla muffled a giggle, and I snickered. "So, what do we do? I did notice the 'kind man' didn't exactly give us directions."
"Yes, so we can split up to investigate, and blame our wanderings on not knowing where the 'shop' is," Elspeth said. She nodded to Layla. "Layla and I can split off, to use the need for 'feminine products' to explain why we separated."
"If they are like those in the Circle, they will immediately quiet and slink away awkwardly too," Layla murmured, still muffling giggles. Her eyes danced in mischief. "Neiria and I used that excuse a few times to slip away from Anders and…" Her expression faltered before returning to her cheer. She must've thought of Jowan. "Regardless, shall we?"
With nods and murmurs, we wandered off. Glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention, Alistair and I snuck into a house, closing the door behind us. The inside was empty, likely due to that sermon, and it looked like a fairly normal house. There were books, pots, pans, evidence of food preparation, and other things you would expect. But there was one thing that stood out, an altar. It was like one you would see in a chapel, for home worship, but unlike all the ones I had seen before, it was covered in dark, rust-colored blotches that left far too much to the imagination, especially when there was a pool of fresh blood, so large it ran over the sides.
"It's always the little towns in the middle of nowhere that have the creepy secrets," I sighed, crouching down by the altar. There were some signs of coagulation, so it was not 'recent-recent'. You notice that? It's like that in the stories too."
"Maybe it was used for food preparation," Alistair half-joked. I glanced back and saw him pointedly looking away.
"Meat doesn't bleed this much. I think."
"I'm just trying to be optimistic. The other explanations are slightly more disturbing."
"I suppose so."
"Why in flames are you so nonchalant, Nuada?"
"I am doing my best to not think about how there is that much blood on something that is conveniently the size of a toddler."
"…Maker, I hate you." Alistair groaned, rubbing his temples, and helped me up. "Where would they hide a body?"
"With the altar out so open, I don't think it would be 'hiding' so much as 'disposing'." I crossed my arms as I thought. "Things are quite frozen, so I imagine it would be difficult to dig. However, you could just throw a body in the woods here easily and let the scavengers take care of it. You could also just chop the body up small and toss it around. I'm not sure of the water sources here, but if there's multiple…" I trailed off when I realized Alistair was giving me the drollest look. "I'm talking too calmly of creepy things again, aren't I?"
"Let's just say I'm glad you're not a crazed serial killer right now."
"Yes, yes. I'm sorry for disturbing you." He mimed a blow to my head, which I ducked. "Anyway, I think we found sufficient evidence that things are strange, and that we need to hurry on our search." Casually, I opened the door again to check on whether or not there were people around. I promptly closed it again when I saw the arrows flying our way. They thudded in the door, and were quickly followed by the sounds of weapons bashing again and again. Well then.
"Are… we being attacked?" Alistair asked slowly. I nodded. "You have got to be kidding me." I wish.
"Ah, I did so want a reminder of Highever's Fall today," I growled, bracing myself against the door to keep them from bursting in. "They are truly lovely hosts to give me my desires." The frame splintered. "How did they notice us anyway? There wasn't anyone around!"
"I'll look for a back door!" Alistair yelled. I heard him running and scrambling as I shifted to get better footing. I tried to lock the door, but it was already busted. Of course it was. "Nuada, got one!" It was nice for things to be convenient for us. "Can you hold on a bit longer?"
"I can." I flinched as something scraped right by my blind right eye. I did not like this. "The door can't."
"Door doesn't have to." I head something scrape the floor. "Move!" I threw myself back, and the door burst open to reveal some angry looking villagers.
Those villagers were promptly squashed when Alistair toppled a giant shelf right on top of them. Well, that was… actually, I felt like laughing.
"Nuada?" Alistair came up on my blind side, careful to call my name before helping me up. "Door?"
"Yeah," I agreed. I felt along the right side of my face, checking for injuries. I found a lot of blood. "I hope the girls were able to deal with the threat much more elegantly."
"What's more elegant than making human pancakes?" Ha! "Okay, just creeped myself out. Let's go."
So, the back door ended up being a direct route to the lake. Alistair and I ended up heading there to get our bearings and, in the process, nearly had Elspeth shoot out my other eye. I was having such a great day.
"I am so sorry!" It had to be the tenth time she had apologized, and I was more or less certain she switched languages in the middle of the sentence. "I didn't think you two would be… oh, goodness, Nuada, I-"
"I love and adore you, my very precious twin, and I assure you that everything is fine, so let's stop giving Alistair and Layla lessons on how to apologize in all the major languages of Thedas." She bit her lip and nodded, head down. I tugged her into a one-armed hug. "Thank you very much for the save, Alistair," I told him, focusing on him and Layla now. "I didn't even see the stupid arrow until I turned." It had been flying at my right. Oh, this was a very good lesson. Even if I was capable of fighting, that didn't mean I had my same level of dodging.
"It's not a problem," Alistair waved off. "I'm always willing to panic and cut down arrows." It had been really impressive actually! "I still don't know how that worked."
"Clearly, we should leave the arrow dodging to you," Layla giggled. It was good to see she had her coloring back. She had been even more frightened and horrified than Elspeth, for some reason. "Regardless, what happened with you two?"
"We found a baby-killing altar," I answered nonchalantly. She gave me a 'what in flames' look. "It had blood and it's the perfect size. Afterwards, we got ambushed in the house. I don't even know how they figured out we found something." I let go of Elspeth and shrugged. "What happened with you two?"
"We actually found the shop," Elspeth explained. She leaned a little into my side for a brief second before straightening. "Unfortunately, while we were looking around the wares, Layla sensed excess amounts of blood and we then found a few skeletons in the closet. The shopkeeper then tried to kill us, but Layla manipulated said skeletons to kill him instead. It was all very messy."
"…There is so much I want to say, and yet my brain is caught on one thing," Alistair deadpanned. He was also facepalming. "Layla?"
"I… uh… w-well…" Layla fiddled with her hands, eyes darting to the side. "You see; there is a spell in the Spirit class and there is also necromancy…" she began hesitantly. "The whole thing was really a complete accident, though. My original plan had been to fill the room with dust and then make it explode, using a barrier to keep Elspeth and I safe."
"This is coming from the girl who used to be afraid of fire." Alistair sighed and Layla smiled sheepishly. "Okay, well, the way I see it, there are two choices in front of us. Swim or climb to the Chantry." He pointed to the giant building on a hill. Yeah, that was probably the Chantry. "And I don't know how to swim in armor."
"So, we must climb then." She sighed a little. "Why must things always be so weird around us?"
"I'm calling it 'The Blight makes reality go insane' syndrome."
"I'm calling it 'the Maker really fucking hates us'," I deadpanned. It was telling that not even Layla had a reply to that. "Off we go."
Surprisingly, it was very easy to get to the Chantry. Even more surprisingly, the door was unlocked when we arrived and we could literally just waltz right in. The inside was pretty 'normal' for a Chantry, especially with the people all grouped up in prayer. Truly, the only unusual thing was the 'Father' leading the sermon.
"…We are blessed beyond measure; we are chosen by the Holy and Beloved to be Her guardians." Well, this was certainly different than most sermons I'd heard, aside from the self-importance dripping from each word. "This sacred duty is given to us alone; rejoice, my brethren, and prepare your hearts to receive Her." Layla and Elspeth ducked down the sides. Alistair and I walked forward, clanking in our armor. "Lift up your voices and despair not, for She will raise Her faithful servants to glory when Her-" He cut himself off, likely unable to keep ignoring Alistair and me. "Ah, welcome, travelers," he greeted. The listeners made a path for us so we could stand in front of this 'Father'. "Have you enjoyed your time in Haven so far?"
"Yes, we have," I replied lightly. "We much enjoyed seeing the blood and corpses."
The Father sighed. "And this is why we do not let outsiders into the village. They have no respect for privacy."
"To be fair, you didn't exactly hide that bloodstained altar."
"And you, stranger, do not understand our ways." The Father glared. "You would bring war to Haven, in your ignorance."
"Then tell us," Alistair replied. He even looked earnest. "You can't go complaining about people's ignorance and then yell at them for it when there's no place to look it up."
"We don't owe you any explanations for our actions," the Father answered loftily. I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes. "We have a sacred duty. Failure to protect her would be a greater sin. All will be forgiven."
"Right, creepy. Forget I said anything." Alistair sighed. "Is this going to be a prolonged fight against not trained people?" Well…
Elspeth answered that with an arrow thudding right between the Father's eyes. Before the villagers could even react, they were encased in ice.
"It seems the girls are proving again that they're deadlier than the guys," I joked. I turned to face them. "You were setting that up, just waiting to be dramatic."
"You were also planning on us doing something," Elspeth retorted. I couldn't really deny that. "Besides, even if they seem mad, that does not mean we have to kill them."
"Though, are they only mad to us because we are ignorant?" Layla murmured. She studied the ice sculptures with a little frown. "What they were saying… it made so much sense to them."
"This isn't the place to debate such things," I pointed out. "We have to find Brother Genitivi, and hope he's not dead yet." I needed to lighten the mood, though. Things were too dark and awkward. "Also, next time we face a group of enemies, can you two let Alistair and I show off?"
"You should move faster next time." Well, that was a challenge, and one I was eager to accept. "We are going to have to search the whole village, are we not?" Yes, we were, because I doubted these people would hide someone in their Chantry. It would be too messy and obvious. "This is a massive headache." Yes. Yes, it was.
I was sincerely hoping this would all be worth it.
We looked through all the houses. We looked through all the boats and boathouses. We looked through all the storehouses. We even hunted through the graveyard for signs of a recently dug grave. We found absolutely nothing, not even the villagers from before.
"I am going to be really pissed off if we hit a dead end here," I grumbled. We were back in the Chantry, Layla wanting to check on the health of her ice sculptures, I mean the villagers, and us to think again of something we missed. "The only place we haven't looked is here in the Chantry, right? But it can't be there, right? It's too obvious and open, with people going in and out all the time." If you had a prisoner, you wanted to keep them hidden.
"Well, maybe we're over-thinking and need to go the obvious route," Alistair pointed out. He was already wandering the side rooms. "Maybe they thought being in the middle of nowhere would be enough."
"They couldn't be that stupid, though, right?" I glanced at Elspeth, who held up her hands in defeat and went to help Layla. "Alistair, if it's hidden, it'll be on that opposite wall."
"Hmm? Why?"
"It would make the room symmetrical, which would be appealing to the eyes of an architect whether they meant it or not." Alistair left the side room and started wandering the walls. "But, seriously, they have to be smarter than to leave a person in the most obvious-"
"Got a hollow sound." Oh, you have got to be kidding me. "And I think I heard a groan." You have really got to be kidding me. "What were you saying, Nuada?"
"I am an idiot who over-thought, but in my meager defense, you all played along." I was still peeved, though. I have definitely had better days.
"Okay, well, time to find-"
"Alistair, move please." I looked up just in time to see Alistair do exactly what Layla said, and for Layla to throw three bolts of light that exploded the wall, revealing a hidden room filled with books. "I am very done with this village," she deadpanned. I just stared at the rubble, silently reaffirming my desire to never get on Layla's bad side. "I also smell, and sense, blood. I believe it is 'living' blood." Well then.
"Elspeth, Alistair, guard the front, just in case," I requested, heading over to the hidden room. Layla trotted in behind me, and there, behind one of the bookshelves, we found our missing scholar, sprawled out on the floor with a noticeably broken leg. "Brother Genitivi, I presume?"
"Who are you?" Brother Genitivi groaned, rolling onto his back to better look at us. He was bruised and bleeding, but that leg looked to be the worst of the injuries. They likely broke it to minimize the chances that a rescue or escape would succeed. "Are you here to finish me off?"
"No, we're the rescuers in this scenario," I answered, crouching down to help him sit up. "We sent our assassins to deal with another group."
"Ah, thank you. You don't know how glad I am to see someone who isn't from this village. I…" He groaned in pain as I finally got him up. "Sorry, my everything hurts. Especially my leg. And maybe my foot. I can't feel it."
"That would be due to festering wounds and broken bones," Layla answered. She knelt down and went to work with healing magic. "Due to your age and how serious the injury is, it will be better for me to set it and ease the pain. Rest is what you need to heal, better than magic."
"I don't have time to rest now! I'm so close!" His eyes glittered in triumph. "The Urn is just up that mountain and-"
"You will have no time to live if you do not listen to me." Layla gave him a no-nonsense look. "Though we seek the Urn as well. Arl Eamon is ill, poisoned by Loghain."
"Politics. Never did anyone any good." He sighed heavily. "The Arl is a noble soul." While Alistair nodded, Elspeth and I exchanged dubious looks. Eamon was a good man, sure, but I wouldn't exactly call him a 'noble soul', especially in light of what we learned of Alistair's childhood. "Yes, surely, the Ashes will cure him." He nodded. "Haven lies in the shadow of the mountain that holds the Urn. An old temple hides there, built to protect it." There was a giant ancient temple and no one had noticed? "Eirik, the Father, wears a medallion that can be manipulated to form the key to the temple." Oh, so we were going to be looting bodies again. "Take me to the mountainside, and I will open the door for you." The implication was clear. If we didn't take him, then the only way we were getting in would be to explode a part of an old temple we knew nothing about. We could probably persuade him to show us how to make the key, but we would either be sending him on his own to walk, on a broken leg, back to safety, or leave him in a freezing village where he was a literal sitting target.
So… "Let's get going, then," I sighed. Layla scowled, but I shrugged. There was no good option here. "I wouldn't want to go mountain climbing in the dark with all this snow."
Author's Note: Ah, Haven. Such a cozy little town, once you get past the whole 'murderous cult people'. I wonder how much cleaning up they did before it was deemed safe for pilgrims. Or an army. Maric being bad at riding horses comes from The Stolen Throne. (I distinctly remember the line, "I fall off horses. It's what I do." or something similar)
Next Chapter – Interlude, Zevran
