Chapter 106) Blight's End
Aiden POV
"Hold your arms steady, Aiden," Mom whispered. She reached around to help me as I struggled to balance the oversized stick she had insisted was a 'practice sword'. "Breathe deep and hold firm. Let the weapon be an extension of your arm and will."
"Why are you teaching me weapons?" I asked. We were elves, in an Alienage. No one else knew anything like this.
"Because, Aiden, I think you will need it." She smiled when I gave her a skeptical look. "Haha, you look like your father when you do that. But call it a mother's intuition." She squeezed me tight in a hug. "Besides, you get to spend time with me~ isn't that fun?"
"I suppose." But I doubted I would ever need to know how to swing an oversize slab of metal like she insisted. "How do I keep steady?"
"Like this."
The darkspawn were in a panic. Something had happened. Not quite sure what. I was a little too busy focusing on not dying to Shrieks that appeared from nowhere.
But they fell into panic too, and it was easy to kill them after that. Then, though, there was a… strange thing that just made me pause. And I didn't mean the reinforcements arriving.
"Did it leap back to where we could reach it?" I asked, startled. Why didn't it remain? Yes, we had figured out a way to injure it, but it still kept it away from most of the Wardens. "Why would it do that?"
"Based on the spastic movements, I would say it flew into a rage," Lord Nuada replied. It was hard to hear him through the rain and thunder. "Is it a pun to say that? It's wing is a little ripped apart, but it did glide a bit when it leapt over."
"How am I supposed to know?" The Archdemon screeched and a tower of purple… something crashed down. "Well, that's going to suck."
"It feels like magic." We both exchanged a tired look. "Damn the fact that we asked Alistair to teach us templar abilities?"
"Let's just charge in." We shared a grin, and did just that, slipping in the rain and blood as we broke through enemy lines, and jumped straight into the purple cloud of magic, neutralizing it so that others could follow.
From there, I focused on the power in my blood, in the Taint, and threw all of my strength into each blow. It was tiring, and I knew my stamina was flagging, but the blood flying and the Archdemon's screams told me it was worth it.
It lunged forward, intending to bite me, but Lord Nuada intercepted the blow and twisted, driving his sword up through its jaw, dislodging some teeth. I jumped up and slammed my greatsword onto its neck, leaving a clear gash. One more, and I just might…
Lord Nuada twisted and struck the leg, knocking it down. We both stumbled back, just staring at the Archdemon as it struggled to stand. We had to end it soon. Otherwise, it would simply bleed out and then… then we would have to deal with this all over again. But who would make the blow? Lord Nuada and I were closest, so logically, it was ours, but…
"Aiden, Nuada!" Both of us turned as Lady Elspeth called our names. "Should I call the troops back?" she asked, eyes sharp. I nodded, but I noticed Lord Nuada frown. It took me a second to realize why. She was smart, observant. Even now, she held herself firm, tense, with all too-knowing eyes. Why would she-?
Gasps made me whirl again, and everything focused on Cleon as he slipped out of the shadows and charged the Archdemon, now the closest. Cleon was far faster than Lord Nuada and me. He would get there long before we could. He was… he was…!
I almost screamed when I realized just what had happened. This was why she had called our to us. To distract us as Cleon got close. This was what she and Cleon must have talked about. Cleon wanted to take the final blow, and had asked her for help. And she agreed and thoroughly tricked us.
So, all I could do was watch. Watch as Cleon slid underneath the Archdemon as it tried to snag him up in its jaws. Watch as Cleon swung up on its neck, barely able to keep his footing. Watch as Cleon smiled and mouth something as he brought one of his daggers up. Not one of the daggers Fergus had given him, but one of the ones he had been carrying since we left the forest.
Watch as he slammed the dagger down. Watch as a strange pillar of light erupted from the Archdemon's head. Watch, through the hazy light, as he tried to pull the dagger out, but couldn't.
I stopped watching when the explosion happened, but that was more because I had been knocked off my feet and sent crashing into a wall.
The light cleared and I slowly picked myself up. The constant 'singing' that had been in my head was gone. Sunlight broke through the gathered clouds, chasing away the torrential rain. The darkspawn were fleeing. Those things told me that it had been done. The Archdemon was dead. Cleon did it.
But… but I couldn't even see his body… we couldn't… we couldn't even…?
"I could use a little help over here!" Startled by the words, I whirled and saw Lady Elspeth half-hanging off the edge of the roof, struggling to stay on. "He's heavy!" she shouted back, looking annoyed. "Stop being miserable and help me before he goes splat and really does die." …What did she mean by…? "I meant now!"
Automatically, I ran over and leaned over the edge. Cleon. She had Cleon and, if I wasn't hallucinating… he was still breathing. Was it a delayed…?
"AIDEN!"
"Sorry!" I yelped, reaching down to grab Cleon's collar. My fingers pressed against his neck, and I thought I felt a pulse, strong and steady. "Is he…?"
"He won't be alive if you don't help me pull him up."
"Look, you have the advantage of knowing what in flames is going on!" Still, I helped her pull him up, and she rested him in her lap, checking his pulse too. "How?"
"He will tell you." Her words were certain, and her smile was wry. "I actually don't know much. I just… knew there was a chance, and he wanted to make sure he was the one to gamble."
"This is what you talking about on the way."
"Well, actually, we more talked about Morrigan leaving than this, but I think they might be related." She shrugged. "As I said; I do not know much." But he was breathing. He was actually breathing. He was alive.
"Aiden! Elspeth!" Lord Nuada and Mistress Layla ran over, Mistress Layla looking ready to cry. "Is everything…?" Lord Nuada began. He looked confused, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at Lady Elspeth. "My lovely, dearest twin, what did you plot?"
"I plotted nothing," Lady Elspeth replied with a little pout. "I simply made sure Cleon could do his. Layla, be a dear and check his health, will you? He is alive."
"And the Archdemon is dead." He pointed over and I saw the Archdemon's corpse burning. "I decapitated it, just in case, and Layla set it on fire." Mistress Layla only nodded as she knelt down, the threatened tears falling even as she smiled. "What's that sound?"
It took me a moment to realize what he was even talking about. A strange roar filled with happiness, elation. It took me a moment to think of the word. 'Cheers'. That was what the sound was. Those below were cheering so loudly; the sound echoed up to here.
"There you are!" Slowly, I stood and turned, seeing Alistair running up. He was bleeding from a bad face injury, and crying, but he was also beaming at us. "We did it!" he cheered, coming over to clap me on the shoulder. "It's over!" It… it was. We… did it… we did it. We ended the Blight. We actually won. We just… just…
Finally, everything started to click and I started to laugh. I couldn't help it. I laughed and screamed and jumped for joy. Nuada and Layla soon joined in, and before, the others on the roof were doing the same, mirroring the soldiers below.
This felt so unreal. This felt like a dream. But it wasn't. The Blight was over. We ended the Blight. We ended the Blight, and none of us were dead.
Master Duncan… Thank you for sacrificing yourself that day. Because, thanks to that, thanks to us living… we did your duty. We did what Wardens were supposed to do, in a time frame no one had ever done before.
Thank you. Thank you.
Next Chapter – Epilogue 1, Aftermath with Nuada
