Chapter 80) Forgotten Victims

Cleon POV


"Hey, you're Cleon, right?" I blinked slowly, not quite sure why this da'len was talking to me. Lyna and I were the children of the former keeper, and as such, we were kept 'separate'. We were 'special'. No one knew if we were even going to stay. "My name is Tamlen!" His voice was warm and bright, and he held out his hand. "Do you want to play?"

I hesitated, not really sure what to say, or even do. It was like looking at the sun, when all I had was the moon before. But, hesitantly, I reached out and took his hand, and let him pull me into the sunshine.

We had been best friends ever since.


Talking dead bodies. Well, that's a new one. Somehow. I was actually impressed there were new things at this point.

I didn't even bother trying to 'listen', waving away Morrigan's signing. Instead, I just focused on Aiden. I simply waited as he chatted with the corpse, perfectly amicable and polite. However, I saw his eyes dart to the side, right at me, and saw him sign, 'kill her, please.'

I nodded once to show I had seen the signs, and casually slid along the sides of the room. That Shadow manual had talked of misdirection, and appearing inconspicuous. It was a good complement to an assassin's skills. Disorientation, flanking and surprise… those were the tricks, allowing for a powerful strike to come from nowhere.

Perfect for sneaking up behind talking corpses and decapitating them. I nudged the body as it fell, tilting my head as I watched for any sort of twitch. I came up with nothing, though, and glanced up at Aiden. 'So?' I signed. The others were staring at Aiden with varying degrees of respect and shock. 'What now?'

'We head to the mage tower,' Aiden signed back. I shook my head and pointed to the others. Confused, he looked back too, and was startled by their reactions. 'Is something wrong?'

'Just admiring your ruthlessness,' Zevran answered quickly, smirking. 'Very hot, most amusing.' Aiden's face turned pink. 'Shall we continue? I wish to praise you along the way.'

'I don't need praising!'

Noting the two of them were going to go at it for a while, I shrugged and walked out the door. Aiden had been just as oblivious as before to Zevran's flirtations, but I got the sense that it was 'deliberate' this time, so I wasn't going to push. Nuada had explained Aiden had his reasons, but hadn't wanted to elaborate. Which was fine. I just wanted him to confront that issue.

The barrier on the other door was gone, so I led the way through it, walking on the battlements towards a huge tower. Up here, the wind blew fiercely, biting with the cold. I ducked back to stay near Sten as we walked. The guy just radiated heat, so it was like having a portable fire. The way others clustered up told me they were doing the same thing. Sten, for his part, was fondly exasperated.

Inside the tower, though, I had to just stare. Cages. The room was filled with cages. Cages with skeletons still trapped inside. The bits of cloth and armor peeking through the bars had griffons. These… were Wardens.

Cautiously, I crept closer, noting an old desk nearby. A vial, deep red and almost bubbling, caught my attention. I popped it open to sniff, and wrinkled my nose. Acrid… I set it down and looked over at the notebook next to it, picking it up to flip through.

Movement caught my eye, and I turned to see Aiden and Zevran had caught up with us, Zevran shaking with laughter, and Aiden pink-faced and glowering. 'Cleon, do you have water?' he asked. 'Hyena over here knocked my canteen off the side.'

Shrugging, I undid the top of my canteen and held it out for him, returning to skimming through the notes. Movement in the corner of my eye told me he reached for it, but I didn't feel him take it from me. Confused, I glanced over and saw Aiden was yelling at Leliana about something she had teasing, not paying attention to where he was grabbing. And his hand was on the vial.

I tried to lunge, thought about screaming even, but I barely had time to register what had happened before he drank down the contents. And immediately collapsed, vial cracking as it fell to the ground.

Panicking, I knelt beside him, holding him as he hacked and sputtered. Something slipped through him, making his veins briefly visible, an ugly and coarse black. Morrigan was on his other side, healing magic in her hands as she tried to ease what was going on.

Elspeth knelt in front of us, frowning at the cracked vial. 'If this is poison, it is not one I know,' she signed. Still, she set it down and peered at Aiden's face. 'No signs of poison in his face… Morrigan?' Morrigan simply shook her head, eyes narrowed. 'If this is another case of a Reaver Ritual, I might just cry again.'

A bit reassured by the knowledge that it wasn't quite poison, I focused on Aiden. Carefully, I held my hands in front of his face and signed, 'you grabbed a vial. Not my water.' He nodded, still hacking. The force made him shake and I thought he might have collapsed entirely if I wasn't holding him. 'Scale of one to dragon's blood, how bad is this?' He gave me a look, mustering enough strength to do so. 'So, dragon's blood. Got it.' I grinned, hoping it would make him exasperated, and he rolled his eyes showing it had.

Slowly but surely, though, his breathing evened out and he was able to sit back on his heels. I still got a sense of 'otherness', but he looked normal, and that was more important at the moment. 'That was a burn,' Aiden signed. His hands shook, though, so Sten crouched down to sign for him. Aiden smiled in thanks. 'It felt like it went through my whole body.'

'How do you feel?'

'…Like I need to pretend I am walking on eggshells. I feel strong, too much so.'

There must have been some sort of sound, as everyone started and whirled. I slowly stood, eyes narrowing as I noted the old mage who walked into the room. 'Ah, I see you are signing, so one of your number is deaf,' the man said. Morrigan switched to signing for me. Everyone else save Levi was armed. Levi, for his part, ducked behind Aiden. 'Why are you here? What is your intent?'

'Who are you, for starters?' Leliana growled. Her eyes flashed dangerously, and I was reminded on how she used to be a spy. 'What is going on? We met Sophia.'

'The demon that wears, or rather wore, her face if I am sensing correctly.' He shrugged. 'I am Avernus.' Was that not the name of the mage who… how hold was he?! 'I have been studying and focusing my efforts for the past two hundred years in unlocking the power within the Tainted Blood of the Wardens, and ensuring demons did not overrun Fereldan.' He nodded to Aiden, who shakily stood up. 'I see your friend accidentally volunteered to be a test subject.'

'What did it do?' Aiden asked. His hands were still too shaky to sign, so Morrigan continued. 'I have to say. It feels just a little less worse than the Reaver Ritual Lord Nuada described.'

'Ah, the might of a dragon… strong and fierce.' Avernus shook his head. 'No, all this did was unlock the power in the taint,' he explained. 'Demons do not understand the taint well. It is a bit of blood magic, but one that can be used by any Warden. I have notes for my suspicions on what it would do to a non-mage Warden, but I am afraid I never had a subject to test it on besides myself.'

'Is this going to kill me?'

'No more so than what the Taint normally does. I used it, and you can see how I am.' Did Aiden just condemn himself to outliving us then? 'Now, now, this is a very interesting group. Two Wardens, a Cousland, a Qunari, a mage, and two assassins.'

'You should see the rest of us.' Aiden smiled wryly. 'So how did you guess?'

'Research, observation, and blood magic.' I felt my skin crawl. He had used blood magic to read us, and none of us had even known? Terrifying. 'Now then, might I make a bargain with you lot?'

'Is this going to be anything like the talking dead one's? Because I had Cleon kill her.'

'And I imagine with me, you would just let the two archers fire, and the rest clean things up. But no, I don't want to leave. I want help cleansing this place.' Cleansing?

'You are going to repair the Veil,' Morrigan explained. Her eyes were wide, and shining even. Adorable. 'But it is difficult to do alone because demons will come through to stop it.'

'Exactly.' Avernus nodded. 'I am so tired and so old. I regret that I failed. I regret Arland never paid. I regret that I cannot fix things. So, help me.' He reached out entreatingly. 'I will accept whatever judgment you give, afterwards, Wardens.' Morrigan gave both of us a look of 'if you don't agree, I will hurt you', so Aiden and I shrugged and nodded. 'Thank you.' His smile warmed, and I felt the magic in the air pulse. 'One moment.'

A blink, a feeling of plummeting, and suddenly we… we were back in the room where we had seen the demons be summoned. Uh…

'So…' I began signing. Elspeth translated for me, I think just because she recovered first. 'Isn't warping, teleporting, whatever something magic really can't do?'

Avernus looked rather pleased with himself. 'Well, that is only really true when the Veil is intact,' he explained, Elspeth signing for him. This others looked a little too disoriented still. 'Magic that is even theoretically impossible is capable of being used when it is not! I tried to play a bit with time magic, turning back the block to fix things that way.' He sighed, the movement paired with a shrug of his shoulders. 'Alas, I could not, even with so many years of study. A shame, really. Perhaps you could go all the way back and discover what truly caused the Blights.'

'Or get killed by ripping reality apart.' Okay, if Layla ever got this scholar-happy, I was going to… to tickle her back into a healthier mindset. 'So?'

'So, I must unravel the summoning circles.' There was an air of absolute stillness about him and I could sense the air dance with magic. 'They come.' Oh, yay. Demons. …Had I actually fought demons on this bizarre adventure we had or had I just fought the vicariously through Nuada and Layla? I couldn't remember.

I suppose it didn't really matter. Demons died the same way everything else that got shoved with copious pointy objects did. Messily.

They really died messily when Aiden went to work though. He was faster. He was faster and he was stronger, and I swore he could actually predict where the enemy was about to strike. It was strangely breathtaking, except… you know… all the blood and gore. Which made it terrifying.

The fact that Aiden was already damn strong made it even scarier. He commanded the field. It was his, and the enemies were just interlopers he was dealing with. The flow of the battle was his, and everyone was dancing to his tune, even his allies.

I made myself look away, mostly to keep myself from being caught up. There were demons to fight, after all.

Finally, though, all the demons were dead. I did a headcount once the magic in the air faded. Elspeth and Leliana had kept Levi safe with their arrows. Zevran and Sten were laughing at something. Well, Zevran was laughing and Sten just looked exasperated. Morrigan was poking at the charred markings on the ground, and Aiden was… what happened to his armor?

He must have noticed me looking because he glanced up. I pointed at the remnants of the armor and he grimaced with a shrug. A demon broke it, then. Well, it had lasted him a while, I suppose.

'And thus, it ends.' Sten, being the least tired of all of us, signed for me as Avernus talked. 'The Veil is stronger now. It is safe here, again.' Avernus nodded to us. 'A shame about your armor, child, but go ahead and take Sophia's. She'd rather someone like you wear it.' He shrugged. 'So, child, what is your judgment?' Oh right. That.

Aiden was silent for a while before nodding. 'If you might continue your research, ethically?' Aiden requested. 'You do have old knowledge, but I want no more forgotten victims.' Knowledge! Right! The whole reason we came here! 'Though, that reminds me. What do you know of Blights and Archdemons?'

'Nothing, I am afraid. That information was on a need to know basis, and the records pertaining to the secrets left with the Wardens who did not support Sophia.' Damn. 'I only know what history tells us. A Warden was always the one who killed the Archdemon… and that Warden had a grand funeral in the aftermath.' Wait, what?

'There… are records of Garahel's funeral,' Elspeth signed slowly. Her eyes were wide. 'But every? I had thought… He was slung a great distance. His griffon died too. I had simply thought…'

'It could have been that. Maybe it is something else. But it is a fact. Their memorials are in the Warden Headquarters.' He bowed. 'I will return to my tower and start up my research again. I will send word the instance I have something. I promise.'

He left without another word, and we were left in an awkward, somber air. Was that… how it was going to be with us? Was one of us five Wardens going to die? I… wasn't sure how much I liked that thought. We had gone through so damn much after surviving Ostagar… Mythal, please, give us a sign of hope?

'Well, this is all nice.' It took a wave for me to even notice Sten was signing, and it took a point for me to realize Levi was the one talking. 'Soldier's Peak is safe again.' His smile was kind and warm. Despite this likely being in no way what he wanted. 'For so long, I and the rest of my family were focused on the past,' he said. His demeanor, and the wistful look on his face, made me think he was murmuring. 'On answers. Well, I have, them. Not what I wanted or expected, but that doesn't matter. I have them. So, perhaps its time to focus on the future.'

'So, what will you do?' Aiden asked. His tone was kind. I knew that by his eyes. 'Will you head home?'

'Well, I was thinking that, but I was also thinking I talk legal things with Lady Cousland here, and see if I can get this place fixed up for you lot to use for your forces.' What. 'And, in exchange, my family comes here to do business, help you all with your supplies, have a safe place to stay, that sort of thing.' He shrugged. 'What about it?'

'I will gladly take any and all help I get.' Aiden grinned as he held out his hand. 'Thank you, Levi.'

'No, thank you, Warden Aiden.' The two shook hands, sealing the deal, and I was left more than a little bewildered.

We… got a fortress. Disturbing information, and a fortress. Well, it wasn't a wasted trip. That was something.


We ended up doing some poking around before departing, leaving with a sword Elspeth and Morrigan found. Asturian's Might, they said it was called. I just knew there was magic in the blade. Aiden had immediately decided we were going to give it to Nuad, so that he wasn't relying on his family's sword forever. There was probably something poetic in that.

Regardless, though, night had fallen, and we all were going to sleep. We headed for Denerim, and the Landsmeet, at long last.

Morrigan was staying awake, reading some book. I absently traced shapes on her bare back, watching her face. It was something we had just fallen into recently, after having sex. It was fun, watching her smile, watching her desperately bite back laughter when I hit a particularly ticklish spot.

'What are you reading?' I signed, dropping my free hand on the book so she had to see. She gave me a dirty look and I grinned. 'Yes, like a cat.'

'I am the catty one here,' she signed back. She smiled wickedly. 'Perhaps you want more marks on your back to prove it?'

'Maybe later.' I was rather content right now. 'So?'

'It is a history of Soldier's Peak. Tis how Elspeth and I found the sword.' Ah, that made sense. 'Oh, right, here.' She reached over to her pack and plucked a ring from it. 'A gift.' I took it and gave her a look. I knew what rings meant in shemlen countries. 'Not like that!' Her face colored though. 'It is simply a way that I might find you if you get lost in the city.'

'I do not get lost.' Still, I slipped it on my hand, right above the promise-ring from Merrill. I wondered… how she was… Was she crying? I hoped not. The world was always darkest when she cried. 'It fits.'

She didn't reply. She just looked at the rings I wore. I could tell she wanted to say something. But something made her pause, and whatever that something was, I could tell it made her uncomfortable, and maybe a little afraid. So, I reached over to tickle her sides, grinning as she burst into what I knew was loud laughter, based on the bright smile on her face.

'I am going to check the fire,' I signed to her when she calmed down a little, shifting to put on pants again. I could feel her staring into my back. 'Be right back.'

Her leg hooked around mine briefly, a teasing way of saying 'come back soon'. I smiled over my shoulder and stepped outside, letting the cold blast me. I was completely unsurprised that Elspeth was sitting up by the fire, reading by its light in her nightclothes, despite it being Sten's watch.

She was smiling at me as I approached, hair undone from her braid for once. 'I heard the laughter,' she signed, eyes soft. 'Having fun?'

'Yeah,' I signed back. I plopped down next to her, poking at her book.

She read the silent question easily. 'It is a book on how to make better speeches?' Her smile turned shy. 'I want to do a good job. At the Landsmeet. I am certain we can win even if I do a bad job.' She signed 'bad' twice. 'But I want to do a good job. It will make a better impression on you all.'

'And you want to impress Alistair~' I grinned teasingly, and it only grew as her face heated up in a bright-bright blush. 'To think I used to believe you were made of stone.'

'Most do.' Her blush faded for a wry smile. 'It made things… easier abroad. Then we came here, and found even more expectations on us. I suppose it broke us a little.' Her smile became warm. 'I like being with everyone here, though. I know I can make mistakes, and no one will mind. Much. That is a nice feeling.'

'I'm glad, but don't think I didn't notice you changing the subject from Alistair.' She sulked and I grinned. 'So, tell me-' She held up a hand suddenly, all humor gone. 'What is it?'

'Sten is yelling.' …Sten was… 'Ambush!' Fen'harel's teeth!

It was absolute chaos. Darkspawn had attacked us. Darkspawns that looked remarkably like elves, and clearly had the same night-vision elves had. I saw flurries of motion, arrows and magic soaring.

I ran back to my tent, intent on snagging my daggers to join the fight, but something tackled me from behind, sending us both rolling down the hill that was supposed to have been a source of protection.

I landed on my back, and the something had its hands around my neck, intent on choking me. I reached up, intent on fighting back, but I froze. I knew this face. There might be no hair, and the skin might be purple-black, but I knew this face. I knew these eyes. Tamlen.

But… but Tamlen was dead! Duncan had said… had he lied? Had he lied to me?! …Or maybe he had just assumed based on what normally happened? Maybe he had told me that so I could get back, and make my choice, whatever it was.

Whatever the reason, I couldn't even bring myself to be mad. I was in too much shock. My hands just fell to my side, vision slowly going back as he choked me. I couldn't… was he mad? Was he mad that I survived? That I had been making something of the life forced on me?

As the world slowly faded, I saw his mouth moving. He was trying to say something. Ah, Tamlen…

"I can't hear, Tamlen." I said the words. I think I did, anyway. I felt something vibrate in my throat at least. "Ir abelas, Tamlen. I can't hear anything. I can't hear you."

Something hit my cheek, and I realized Tamlen was crying. I reached up to wipe the tears away with my sleeve, like I used to when we were kids. I would tease him all the time. Of course, I wasn't wearing a shirt, so I just used my hand, like Lyna used to.

He snagged the hand abruptly, and put it on his own throat, pushing deep enough to make him cough. Then he mouthed the words again, and I figured out what he was trying to say.

'Free me.'

Automatically, I rolled pinning him down. I hunted for something sharp, but there wasn't anything.

'Kill me.'

So, I reached down and wrapped my hands around his neck, pushing as hard as I could. I felt something give under my hands, something break, and kept on pressing as he coughed and choked.

His hands came up automatically, aimed for my face in instinctive defense, but they fell to my arms, where he traced out letters. Words he wanted to say, but I couldn't hear, so he was 'writing' them for me.

'Ma serannas, my dearest friend. I am glad I found you at last. Be happy. Be safe. Tell Lyna that I…'

His hands fell to his side then. I knew the rest, though. 'That I love her'. That was all it could be.

Slowly, I let go of his neck, and shifted to the side. I had no idea what I was waiting for. Was I waiting for him to move again? Not move again? Magically get better like this was a fucking story with a happy ending? Happy endings like that didn't exist. You had to make your own miracles.

And there wasn't going to be one. Tamlen was dead. I killed him. I killed Tamlen.

I don't know how I got to my tent. I can only remember looking at Tamlen's body one second, and collapsing in tears the next blink, somehow in my tent.

Gentle, hesitant arms wrapped around me, tugging me into an awkward, but reassuring hug. Morrigan. Morrigan was trying to…

I broke down and sobbed the whole night, resting against her shoulder. She didn't once pull away, just gently stroked my hair. For this one brief moment, I was just… I was just allowed to cry for my best friend, who had suffered so, so much.


Author's note: At some point after completing… I believe it's two main quests, the Archdemon launches an ambush on your party camp, the one time in the game you aren't 'safe' there. If you're of the Dalish origin, though, you get an 'extra surprise' there: learning the fate of Tamlen. Things like that really imply the Archdemon is a very lucky creature, or is incredibly calculating. Based on the Darkspawn Chronicles, I go with the latter personally.

Next Chapter – Interlude, Oghren