CHAPTER 19:
"So, uh… are you still coming with us?" asked Kallian tentatively with a sidelong glance.
The dwarf just shook his head, his demeanour deflated. She wasn't sure if he was answering her question or just shell-shocked by the news. After a while she tried again.
"I heard you the first time," he said gruffly, taking a swig of ale. Oghren let out a resigned sigh. "A man's gotta keep his promises."
Kallian nodded in relief. She had doubts about him, drunkenness and all, but they needed his guidance through the Deep Roads. Everyone was exhausted from the long journey and their food supply was dangerously low. If they didn't find Branka soon, chances were they would die from starvation if not killed by Darkspawn.
He sighed again. "Still… if I knew she had those interests, I could have made some adjustments," Oghren growled bitterly.
"I'm… sorry it turned out this way."
"Ah, what are you apologizing for?" laughed the dwarf weakly. "Not yer fault I had a loveless marriage."
Guilt knifed its way into her stomach and she almost felt as if Nelaros' badge was burning her skin.
"Should have known," Oghren said repeatedly to himself.
Kallian watched as he walked ahead, muttering darkly. They all stepped out of the corpse ridden room, trying to ignore Hespith's chanting voice. She shivered as a cold drop of something fell on her head. Alistair joined her outside and Kallian gestured at the map he was holding.
"Where to next?"
When he didn't reply immediately, the elf frowned up at him. To her surprise, he looked as subdued as Oghren.
"Alistair?"
The other Warden seemed to remember where he was. "Sorry, what was that?"
"You okay?"
Alistair nodded slowly, though he still appeared to be thinking hard about something. He stared at the map before moving to join the dwarf without another word. Kallian was puzzled by his response but followed them anyway. He was probably just tired.
Maker, they all were. Kallian herself was barely able to stay on her feet, dragging her body along with each step. Plus, her head was pounding with a headache and she was aching everywhere. And her stomach had stopped throwing tantrums long ago- in fact, she had hardly any appetite.
Kallian took a few steps, then froze. She moved quickly to the front to hold out an arm and stopped her companions.
Oghren grumbled in irritation. "What are we-? Oh."
Two mountainous ogres were crashing around in the area, guarding a heavy steel door. For the moment, the group was safe because the ogres had terrible vision. But a few more steps and-
"Yarrghhh!"
Kallian winced as the dwarf charged, his axe raised high in the air.
Too late.
The Warden signalled to the others and they all either charged with Oghren or assumed their positions. Previous fatigue dissolved as her body hummed in anticipation. The monsters turned their glassy eyes slowly to the group. They gnashed their sharp, blood stained teeth and long, rope-like muscles tensed as they bent their knees…
"Watch out!" hollered Kallian as the beasts charged.
She barely had time to dive out of the way as the ogres shot past them. As she got to her feet, she noticed Morrigan had its legs immobilized. Alistair, Talon and Zevran rushed at its back. Sten, on the other hand, was dodging the second ogre's arms and drawing gashes on its torso. Kallian shook her head.
"Behead it!" she yelled, running to join him. Leliana sprinted with her, but the elf pointed to the side.
"Stay out of range," she said quickly.
"Kallian, I can-"
"Aim for the neck!"
The Warden swung her sword to distract the ogre as Sten stumbled. She plunged her sword into the abdomen, but the blade didn't go in deep.
Damn, it's thick!
The ogre just roared and punched her.
She cursed herself for her stupidity and ignored her bleeding nose, wrenching her blade out. As the ogre raised its arms for another attack, Kallian slashed at its legs. The skin was thinner there and her blade contacted bone. It roared again and fell to its knees.
"Sten!"
There was a sickening thump as the blade sliced through flesh. Blood splattered her face. Arrows protruded out from the neck and finally, Leliana's last shot severed the artery. The ogre toppled to the ground.
Alistair joined them, covered in red. He saw the blood on the elf's face and ran to her.
"Did it hit you?" he asked, the worry in his voice painfully obvious.
Kallian turned her head away awkwardly. "'s nothing," she said, grimacing as her nose throbbed and burned.
Wynne tutted as she examined it, shaking her head. "It's broken," she said.
Leliana came over and pulled the elf's hands away from the bleeding.
"I said I could handle myself," said the sister, sighing. "Now look what you've done to yourself."
Wynne raised her staff and there was an unpleasant popping as the cartilage and bone healed. The pain faded away and Kallian sighed, relieved.
She turned to the dwarf. "Next time, tell us before you charge in like that."
Oghren grunted but nodded.
Kallian turned back to the rest of the group and noticed Alistair looking at her with an odd expression.
She was disturbed by what she saw on his face but time was too valuable for them to linger. The elf quickly moved on to the steel doors before she could think too much on it.
The doors led to another narrow tunnel, and Kallian was beginning to wonder if there were giant earthworms living in the Deep Roads.
This is just ridiculous… how many more of these are there?
Their footsteps rebounded off the hard walls and they all held their weapons at the ready, alert for any Darkspawn around the corners. For a while they didn't see anything. Surprisingly, the tunnels were dead quiet. Too quiet.
Kallian continued forwards, eyebrows furrowed. She jumped when a hiss echoed in the passageway, but it was only an insect. A strange, scuttling creature with a purple carapace and multiple pincers. She shuddered.
There was a clinking noise behind her as Oghren took a swig from his flask.
"What are you drinking my fine dwarven friend?" asked Zevran.
"You can't have any!" shot back Oghren.
"Oh, do not worry, I won't. The stench is worse than your feet."
"What are you doing smelling my feet, huh? Some kind of Antivan perversion?"
"It is not difficult to smell your feet. Perhaps in Antiva."
"Hmph. Now you're just-"
"Shh!" hissed Kallian, stopping. "There's something ahead!"
Everyone tensed, advancing cautiously. More sweat gathered on the Warden's grimy face as she moved. A distorted shadow stretched on the ground and there was a peculiar bubbling, slithering sound coming from nearby. Kallian's face contorted as the smell hit her suddenly. It was something she had only experienced a few times in her life… something that reeked of-
"Is that rotten squid?"
The heroes walked into the area to gape up in horror at the monster awaiting them. It was a freak of nature, designed only to elicit terror and revulsion. The broodmother loomed over them, absurdly obese and purple skin mottled and slimy. Slimy like the countless tentacles wriggling from its torso. Kallian could only stare as the creature moved, great folds of skin bulging and quivering. Her mind blanked. It was only when Alistair shouted the order that she was startled out of her reverie.
"Attack!"
There was a flurry of activity as Talon, Sten and Alistair went for its tentacles. Morrigan, Leliana and Zevran threw fire bolts, arrows and acid flasks at the creature. Kallian, on the other hand, surveyed the area. The tentacles were everywhere, and it was only a matter of time before it grabbed them. And she had no idea how long those slimy appendages could reach. She warned the ranged fighters to stay back and rushed to help the others.
It was quickly apparent that they weren't getting anywhere. As soon as she lopped off a tentacle, another sprouted in its place. They were preventing the warriors from nearing its torso, where it was vulnerable. More than once, the four of them were slammed to the ground by a tentacle from behind. Only Morrigan's spells helped free them from the grip.
Kallian growled in frustration. They hadn't achieved anything- except fuel its anger. The broodmother roared and whipped Alistair onto the ground. Sten hacked off three of the tentacles, to no avail. Leliana was firing arrows at it but they hardly did any damage, burrowing in the folds of flab.
Only Zevran's acid flasks seemed to be working, corroding the flesh and slowing it down. One of the projectiles hit a tentacle, making it sizzle and shrink into the hole in the ground. To Kallian's surprise, it didn't rise again.
That's it!
"Zevran!" she shouted. "The acid flasks are working!"
The assassin gave her a helpless shrug. "Only three left!"
Never mind. I have another way.
Kallian sprinted back to the elf and took a flask from him. He didn't have the time to question her. She ran back to the broodmother, pouring the contents on her blade. It dripped down and Kallian tried not to let it burn her.
"Catch!"
She threw it to Alistair.
He followed her order and Sten did the same. The three of them slashed at the tentacles wildly, watching in satisfaction as they writhed and corroded away. Again and again, they chopped off the flailing appendages until the broodmother was left defenceless.
The combined attacks of the whole group overwhelmed the creature. Arrows protruded from its eyes and chest, fire burned it and swords plunged into its heart.
It gave one last shudder before dying.
The warriors pulled their swords out. Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief and looked around in disgust at the tentacles lying around.
"That's where they come from," came a familiar, hair raising voice from above.
Kallian's head snapped up at the sudden sound and she saw Hespith hunched over on the cliff.
"That's why they hate us," she continued, eyes glassy and distant. "That's why they need us. That's why they take us. That's why they feed us."
Kallian exchanged a bewildered look with the others.
"But the true abomination is not that it occurred, but that it was allowed. Branka, my love," the dwarf breathed. "The stone has punished me, dream friend. I am dying of something worse than death… betrayal."
Then she slipped away into the shadows, leaving them all with the repulsing corpse of the broodmother. Kallian glanced at the slime dripping from her sword and grimaced.
"Well that was… somethin'," said Oghren, grunting.
"Urgh, that was the ugliest thing I have ever seen," commented Leliana. "I'm glad that's over."
"No kidding," said Kallian. "Hope that's the only one I'll ever see."
"Keep your eyes open," said Alistair. "You never know what we'll be facing."
They all continued up the slope, going through another tunnel. All of them were so similar that Kallian had given up trying to navigate long ago. It was best just to guess.
The dull walls of the tunnel gradually lightened with each step, and Kallian squinted as it opened up into another area. There was a figure standing on a ledge up ahead. It was a female dwarf, armoured with a sword strapped to her back.
Is that… Branka?
But before they could reach her, there was a deep rumbling and the elf whirled around in panic to see the tunnel closed off.
Her worry was reflected in the others' faces.
"I'll be blunt with you," a sharp, brisk voice rang out. Kallian turned to the dwarf, who looked down at them impatiently. "After all this time, my tolerance for social graces is limited. That doesn't bother you, I hope?"
"Shave my back and call me an elf!" said Oghren excitedly. "Branka? By the stone, I barely recognized you!"
"Oghren…" said the woman with obvious distaste. "It figures that you'd eventually find your way here. Hopefully you can find your way back more easily. And how should I address you, elf? Another hired sword, sent by some lordling to find me?"
"Be respectful, woman! This is a Grey Warden!" said Oghren, wagging his finger.
"Ah, an important errand girl then. My mistake," said Branka, pacing the ledge. "I suppose something serious has happened then. Is Endrin dead? That seems most likely… he was on the old and wheezy side."
Straight to the point, then.
"Yes. And Harrowmont needs your support as his successor."
The dwarf scoffed. "Harrowmont, is it? I don't care if the assembly puts a drunken monkey on the throne! The Anvil of the Void is lost to the very Darkspawn it should be fighting! With it, the ancients were once able to raise up an army of golems to defeat the Archdemon. This is what's important, this has lasting meaning! I have sacrificed many things to find it and gain access to its locked secrets."
"Does that include Hespith and the others of your house?"
"Enough talking. I will not involve myself in this imbecilic election. I must first have the Anvil. There's only one way out Warden- forward."
Oghren let out a growl of disbelief. "What has this place done to you? I remember marrying a girl you could talk to for one minute!"
At this, Branka's face slipped into something resembling regret. But then it was gone. "I am your Paragon," was her final word before melting away into the shadows.
"Blasted woman!" muttered the dwarf. "Never knew when to keep her nose out of these things."
Everyone paused for an awkward moment as he let out a string of curses in dwarvish.
"Well… I guess we don't have a choice," said Alistair to Kallian, shrugging.
She nodded, moving to follow Branka into the darkness. "You heard her- the only way out is forward."