Chapter 11

Just when Matthew thought that they were all dead, Nathaniel and Anders acted. The former pulled a glass bottle filled with bubbling read liquid from his tunic and threw it at one group of darkspawn, while Anders launched a fireball at another. Both struck the ground and exploded, sending dirt, metal, glass and darkspawn body parts in every direction. The surviving spawn were shocked at their sudden reversal of fortune, and hesitated before attacking. Oghren and Matthew, sensing weakness, immediately charged forward and hacked the survivors to apart before their archers could loose their arrows.

As soon as the last of the monsters fell, Matthew allowed the group a moment to collect their wits after being ambushed. Once they had all calmed down and caught their breath, Matthew turned to his companions and said, "Alright, everybody, we need to track down that elf; she is the only one that could point us in the right direction now, and we need to stop her from slaughtering any more innocents." They all nodded, and were nice enough not to point out the obvious fact that they might never find the elf; with her transportation spell, she could be anywhere. Still, they all fell in line to head back to the elven camp; it was their one clue to her location, and she seemed attached to the site; Matthew was confident that the Dalish women would eventually return there. They need only wait.

As they set out, Matthew noticed a strange glimmer on one of the darkspawn corpses. Leaning down, he saw that it was a necklace of some sort, and it was too finely crafted for darkspawn hands. Tacking it, he looked it other, and on examination, he determined that it was of Dalish origin. Thinking that it might belong to the Dalish mage's sister, he pocketed the medallion, and started toward the campsite.

As they were going up the trail that lead to the top of the hill, however, their target decided to come to them instead.

Halfway up the trail, Matthew looked up at the overhang, and saw the elf standing there, watching them with a mixture of anger, frustration, and hysteria on her face.

"What do you want from me?" she demanded. "Don't you understand; I have to do this to get Seranni back!" Matthew assumed that that was the Dalish elf's sister's name, and Matthew felt sympathy for her; she was trying to get her family back, a cause which Matthew could understand completely. However, her atrocities left him with a bitter taste in his mouth, not to mention the fact that she was punishing the innocent.

"I just want to speak to you," Matthew shouted, again trying to be diplomatic. This time, however, he failed. "We have nothing to talk about! Stop hounding me!" the Dalish mage screamed. And with that, she drew on her magic, and brought two nearby dormant sylvans to life, and brought in a pack of wolves to attack them. Then the mage began to run back toward her camp.

Matthew shouted to Oghren and Anders to deal with the sylvans while he and Nathaniel held of the wolf pack. The archer quickly shot three wolves before being forced back. As the first predator leapt at Nathaniel, Matthew slashed down, decapitating the animal, then pulled a knife from his belt and hurled it at the next wolf, hitting it in the chest. The wolf fell with a pained whimper. Then, the last animal sprinted at him at full speed. Matthew, with no time to bring his blade to bear or get out of the way, initiated his last option; he pulled a crossbow from his shoulder, string already drawn and a bolt already held in place, aimed at the approaching predator, and fired. The bolt hit the wolf in the neck, severed its spinal column, and passed out the other side. The animal fell, dead before it even hit the ground.

Reloading the crossbow, Matthew turned to see Anders call forth a raging inferno, burning one of the sylvans to a crisp, while Oghren was just finishing chopping the second into what was beginning to resemble firewood.

"I didn't know that you knew how to shoot, Commander," Nathaniel said, calling Matthew's attention back to the rogue. Turning, Matthew grinned, and then said, "Hey, Nathaniel, I know how to shoot." Nathaniel chuckled softly, and then looked confused. "Why didn't you say anything before?" "Because," Matthew replied, "you are the resident sharpshooter, and I didn't feel like embarrassing myself." Nathaniel laughed in earnest at that comment.

Once he had stopped, Matthew called to their two other companions, and the group continued their hike up the hill to the Dalish camp unmolested. When they arrived, they saw the Dalish mage bent over near the graves, panting heavily. Upon hearing them, her head shot up, and she tried to cast a spell to blast them off the cliff. "Tried" was the key word, however; when the spell hit Matthew, it had all the power of a slight breeze. Finally spent, the mage fell on all fours, head hung low and gasping for breath. It was obvious that she was out of mana.

Mages were extremely powerful, but even they had limits. Their spells required mana to work, and the amount of mana each mage had was finite. From what Morrigan and Wynne had explained, mages could regenerate mana over time, but it was clear that this elf had been casting spells with such frequency she had no opportunity to replace her losses. She was essentially defenseless now.

Finally looking up, the mage said, "You will never take me alive." Looking down at her, Matthew said, "I am not going to kill you." The elf snarled. "I will not go with you to some shemlan magistrate. I will not bow to your laws." "I am not going to give you a trial either," Matthew continued, raising his voice. "I am going to do something much worse; I am going to tell you the truth. My people did not attack yours, the darkspawn did. And when they were finished, they attacked my people, took their weapons, and planted them here, to mislead you."

The elf spat at his feet. "And what proof," she growled, "do you have of this?" Reaching into his pocket, Matthew pulled out the Dalish necklace he had found on the darkspawn, and handed it to the Dalish elf, saying "Does this look familiar?" The elf's eyes went as big as saucers. "This….this belongs to Seranni." She then glared daggers at Hawke. "Where did you find this? This necklace was given to her by our mother before she died; Seranni would no more part with this than with her head!" Matthew swallowed, and then said, "I found that on the body of darkspawn that attacked us when we discovered their ruse."

"That means," the elf said slowly, realization dawning on her, "that the darkspawn killed my people. They killed Seranni." "No," Matthew said, dreading the fact that he would have to tell this women that her sister was worse than dead. "They wouldn't have killed her. They would take her prisoner, then turn her into a broodmother."

Broodmothers were, beyond all doubt, the most monstrous things that Matthew had ever encountered, surpassing even the Archdemon. They were the remnants of women who had been taken by the darkspawn, corrupted by the Taint, and turned into massive, bloated horrors that could birth thousands upon thousands of darkspawn over the course of their lives. Which type of darkspawn was produced depended on the species of the broodmother; dwarven broodmothers produced genlocks, human ones produced hurlocks, elven ones produced shrieks, and kossith, the race that had founded the Qunari religion, produced ogres.

There was no way the Dalish mage could have known what a broodmother was, but she clearly knew that it was not good. Standing, she looked Matthew in the eye and said, "I know you have no reason to trust me, but I beg you, let me come with you. I have to find my sister, and I cannot face the darkspawn alone."

Matthew knew that against the darkspawn they needed all the help they could get, so he replied, "Fine, but I am watching you." Nodding, the elf continued. "My name is Velanna, if you care for such things. Where would the darkspawn dwell?" "In caves and tunnels, most likely," Matthew replied. Velanna nodded. "There is an old Silverite mine not far from here. Let's go."

Vellanna attempted to walk past Matthew, but started to fall over before she walked more than a few feet; she was clearly still suffering from mana deprivation. Matthew caught her, and slowly lowered her to the ground, then said, "Anders, get me a lyrium potion. A strong one." The mage handed the flask to the Commander, and Matthew brought it to Velanna's lips, careful not to spill any; lyrium was poisonous, and contact with the substance would cause insanity and death to non-mages. How the Templars ingested the stuff on a regular basis without killing themselves was a mystery to him.

After Velanna had drank the potion, Matthew turned to Anders and said, "Get back to Amaranthine and tell the Merchant's Guild we found the source of the attacks and have dealt with it." Anders blanched. "Commander, you're sending me to do this ALONE?" "Oh come now, Anders," Matthew chided him. "You are a big boy now; you can do these things yourself. And besides, you are a mage." Anders crossed his arms. "And what if the Templars decide to come after me?"

Matthew pulled his signet ring off his finger, and handed it to the reluctant mage. "If the Templars come after you, show them that and tell them you are there on Grey Warden business. And if they arrest you anyway, then I will personally burn the Chantry of our Lady Redeemer to the ground. With them inside it."

Finally smiling, Anders took the ring, and headed off. Turning back to Velanna, he saw the mage was now on her feet, the lyrium potion having replenished her mana pool. Then the group set off to the south, heading toward the Silverite mine. Before they got halfway there, however, they stopped.

A large group of darkspawn was headed their way, streaming out of the mine that Velanna had mentioned.

The four of them drew their weapons, and charged down the hill toward the spawn.