Ch. 17: In Which Everyone Goes To the Wrong City, But Arrive in the Right One on Time Anyway

They left for Redcliffe, where the armies were gathering. When they arrived, however, it was to news that the darkspawn horde had changed direction and was heading for Denerim instead. And that the Archdemon was with it now. Of course. The horde would arrive at the capital in two days.

There was no choice but to turn around immediately and take as much of the army as had arrived at Redcliffe to Denerim as quickly as possible, leaving in the morning, the soonest everyone could get ready.

"Great." Said Olivia. "The big question is how exactly are we supposed to defeat the Archdemon, anyways?"

Riordan looked…. Absolutely horrified was the only description Olivia had for it. "You don't know? Of course you wouldn't, you're both new recruits, Duncan wouldn't have expected that…" he trailed of muttering.

Arl Eamon gave Riordan a look and announced that he would go give everyone the marching orders.

"Perhaps you and Alistair should meet me before you go to bed," said Riordan to Olivia. "There are… things… that I need to tell you." He looked extremely unhappy.

Olivia and Alistair met up with Riordan in his room. "Oh, you're here," he said. "Good." Riordan still looked pretty miserable. "Please understand- I assumed that you had already known. Otherwise I would have told you as soon as you freed me in Denerim or at least before Loghain died. I am so, so sorry." All right. That was ominous. There was no way that whatever he was going to tell them would be a good thing.

"Told us what?" asked Alistair, irritated. "What are you apologizing for?"

"Have you ever wondered why the Grey Wardens are the only ones who can defeat the darkspawn?"

This was really, really going to be bad, wasn't it? "I have a feeling we're about to find out."

"The Archdemon can be killed just like any other darkspawn, but if anyone other than a Grey Warden does it, it won't be enough. Its spirit will just jump into the body of the nearest darkspawn and be reborn. The dragon practically immortal. The thing is, though, that this works by the Archdemon's spirit going into the nearest creature with the taint. So if it's killed by a Grey Warden, the spirit goes into the Warden instead of a darkspawn."

"That… doesn't sound very healthy for the Warden," said Olivia. "Or the Archdemon, but I don't actually care about its health."

"A darkspawn," explained Riordan, "doesn't have a soul, meaning that there's room for the Archdemon, but a Grey Warden does. When the Archdemon tries to possess a warden, the two souls mutually destruct- meaning that the Archdemon's essence is destroyed… but so is the soul of the Grey Warden."

"Meaning…the Grey Warden who kills the Archdemon… dies? And their soul gets destroyed?" Alistair looked stunned.

"And without the Archdemon the Blight ends," said Riordan as if that made everything fine. "It is the only way."

"So it's up to just us three to kill the Archdemon. And have their soul obliterated." said Olivia.

"In previous Blights, the Grey Wardens closest to being killed by the Taint would decide beforehand which of them would kill the Archdemon," said Riordan. "If we're lucky, it should be me who does. I am the oldest of the three of us and the Taint I closer to killing me than either of you. But if I fail, one of you must do so instead."

"Me, then," said Olivia.

Alistair looked suspicious. "Is this because I'm king?"

"No. It's because I don't want Bethany to become a widow within a fortnight of being married. And also because you're king. But mainly because Bethany would kill me."

Alistair and Olivia bade Riordan good night and headed to their rooms. When Olivia entered hers, however, it wasn't empty. "Morrigan?" Olivia asked, surprised. She frowned. "Are you all right?"

"I am perfectly well. You're the one in danger. Luckily, I have a plan," said Morrigan. "A way out. I know what happens when the Archdemon dies," Morrigan continued, turning from where she was gazing into the fireplace and walking toward Olivia. "I know a Grey Warden must be sacrificed, and that sacrifice could be you. I have come to tell you that does not need to be."

Olivia felt like she was getting mental whiplash. "How?"

"A ritual. Performed in the dead of night on the eve of battle."

"What kind of ritual?" Olivia asked suspiciously.

"Old magic. From a time before the Circle of Magi existed. Some people would call it Blood Magic, but that isn't strictly accurate."

Okay, not exactly Blood Magic. Olivia'd take it. "Tell me more."

"What I propose is this. Convince Alistair to lay with me. Here. Tonight. And from this ritual a child shall be conceived within me. The child will bear the Taint and when the Archdemon is slain its essence will seek it out like a beacon. At this early stage, the child will absorb the essence and not perish. The Archdemon will still be destroyed, with no Grey Warden dying in the process."

"And the child becomes… what?"

"Something different. Born with the soul of an Old God. After this is done, you allow me to walk away… and you do not follow. Ever. The child will be mine to raise as I wish."

"Wait-" said Olivia, thinking. "You have a spell that allows Grey Wardens to have children?"

"It does more than that."

"But it also allows Grey Wardens to have children. Who would be completely normal as long as there wasn't an Archdemon killed within a few days of their conception."

"Yes."

"I'll convince Alistair to sleep with you, but I want to learn that spell."

"…Why?

"I want options, okay? People keep taking them away from me!"

"…okay."

Olivia ended up convincing Alistair by talking to Bethany first and both of them going to talk him into having sex with Morrigan. It was probably one of the strangest conversations Olivia had taken part in, which was saying something. The next morning, the armies set out for Denerim.

They arrived in Denerim two days later to find that the darkspawn had already reached the city. As they prepared to engage the darkspawn, Alistair gave a really nice speech to get everyone excited. Or at least less terrified. He really was getting better at public speaking. The speech gave Olivia most of the credit for getting everyone to this point, too. It was technically true, but Olivia still found herself being surprised. The speech also mentioned avenging King Cailan, Alistair specifically referring to him as his brother. Olivia suspected that Arl Eamon had had a hand in writing it.

They managed to retake the gates of the city, but they were still vastly outnumbered. Things looked bad. Which was why Riordan came up with the idea of sending a strike team of Grey Wardens sneaking around the main horde through the city to kill the Archdemon, with the thought that once it was dead the rest of the horde would lose coherency and scatter. The idea was to get to the top of Fort Drakon and draw the dragon's attention, killing the darkspawn generals in the city on the way there so they wouldn't have to deal with them at the same time as the Archdemon. It was a pretty solid plan, or at least as solid as they were going to get. There were still lots of things that could go wrong. At least there was the possibility of calling backup while in the city, as a few units of their allies had managed to make it inside.

As a smaller team would be better, Olivia ended up splitting the party in half, leaving Leliana, Wynne, and Oghren- and also the dog- behind to lead the forces keeping more darkspawn from entering the city behind them through the gates and taking Morrigan, Zevran, and Bethany along with herself and Alistair.

"So, this is it, then," said Wynne. "Whatever happens now- to either of us, know that I am proud, infinitely proud, to have called you friend. Also, in case you die- I promise not to mention to anyone about Bethany, er, taking after her father. It's not like anyone will notice she's more than just a fighter now that she's learned all that Arcane Warrior stuff from you."

Olivia smiled. "Thanks, Wynne. I guess you aren't completely brainwashed, after all."

Wynne smiled back. "Farewell, and may the Maker watch over you."

"So this is it," said Oghren.

"Yep. This is it."

"I owe you. You took in a drunken disgrace of an Orzammar warrior. You gave me a reason to fight and the will to keep going. You helped me find the one woman in the world who would put up with me and helped me get over Brankha so I could move on. Let the Stone turn red from the blood of heroes. Today I will be the warrior you taught me to be." He announced dramatically, then nodded and walked over to join Wynne.

"So this is it," said Leliana. "This is the end. It's kind of strange to realize that all our fates will be decided in a few hours. I wish I could come with you. I respect your decision to leave me here, though I would have stood by your side even to the death."

Olivia smiled. "I know."

"You have been a true friend… and I would be extremely cross with you if you… don't return. Be careful out there. See you soon."

Olivia almost laughed. "Watch out for Dusty while I'm gone, yeah?"

"Of course."

"So, we head into the city together. As it should be," said Morrigan. Once this is done, no matter how it turns out, I will be gone. You know this, yes?

"I know," said Olivia. "I'll miss you."

Morrigan sighed. "Allow me to say one thing before we go. I knew nothing of friendship before we met, and I will always consider you such. Live well, my friend. Live gloriously. Now let us see this finally done. The Archdemon awaits."

"You know," said Bethany. "This is pretty much the last thing I could ever have expected to happen to me. But here we are."

"Here we are," Olivia agreed. "Maker, Aunt Leandra is going to kill me. Somehow, I suspect that taking you to fight the Archdemon is not what she had in mind when she said I should bring you with me."

"No way I'm staying behind, though," said Bethany.

"So, we head into the city to face the Archdemon together, do we? Just as it should be," said Zevran. "Allow me to say that it has been a pleasure. Attempting to assassinate you was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me."

"And to me," said Olivia quietly.

"By your side I would storm the gates of the Dark City itself. Never doubt that.

"So, before we head off to fight the Archdemon, I want to say something," said Alistair. "I know Morrigan's… what she did is supposed to save us. But just in case it doesn't do what she says, or we don't live long enough to even take that final blow, I want you to know that it's been an honor fighting by your side."

"Same here," said Olivia. "You've been a good friend. And cousin-in-law. I'm going to be very put-out with you if you die."

Alistair smiled. "Let's find this Archdemon, then, and kick it's ass."