Chapter 4: Mountains, Reavers and Dragons, Oh My!
"Now, time to free Brother Genitivi," The Doctor said as he went to work on freeing the man from the torture device.
The Doctor ran up to the device that held Brother Genitivi and started to undo the various contraptions and manacles attached to the poor scholar. The man, after his release, collapsed into The Doctor's arms.
"Thank you…another minute in that thing and I would have done anything to make the pain stop." Genitivi said to The Doctor.
The Time Lord looked bemused before saying, "Well, not anything I'd wager."
Genitivi looked at The Doctor and said, "Yes…anything. According to the people who strapped me into this chair, the device looks at your memories and then makes you relive the worst moments in your life for as long as you are connected to it."
Tamara walked over to the scholar and asked, "How long have you been in this…monstrosity?"
Genitivi looked over to her and asked, "What is today?"
"5 Ferventis 9:30 Dragon," Wynne replied immediately.
"Wednesday," The Doctor said.
Everyone but Amy looked at The Doctor.
"…Oh…never mind." The Time Lord said as he walked over to another door in the back of Genitivi's holding area.
He walked behind a bookcase and saw some kind of residue on the floor near a tapestry. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started examining it.
'Hm…Krillitane oil…But what do the Krillitane want here? Due to the energy levels they can't select traits from anything here on the planet. Nothing but…' The Doctor thought until he had a revelation.
He turned and looked at Tamara as she was talking with her friends.
'Of course…Now it all makes sense. What hides as Darkspawn Taint…nothing, that's what.' The Doctor thought as he stared at Tamara.
"What's wrong, Doctor?" Tamara asked as she finally noticed that The Doctor was staring at her.
The Doctor smiled and said, "Nothing…nothing at all. So, shall we ascend the mountain?"
The group wandered up the stairs after Genitivi had been assisted up by Amy and Tamara.
"The door is just ahead. You need a medallion to open the door." Genitivi said as Amy and Tamara sat him down by the door.
Tamara opened her pack and asked very cheeky, "You mean this medallion?"
Everyone, excluding Wynne and Genitivi, chuckled.
"Yes…where did you get this?" Genitivi asked.
The mages in the group looked over to Leliana, who asked, "What?"
"Come now, 'Once a thief, always a thief' as Flemeth would say." Morrigan said.
"Actually I took it off the Father when he was holding Amy." Tamara said.
The group looked over to Tamara.
"What, you don't think everyone at Castle Cousland was Knights, Teryns, and Scholars did you? One of my favorite teachers was Varolin from the Highever Alienage. She was a fourth generation Duelist from Denerim who moved to Highever for her husband." Tamara reminisced, fondness in her voice.
"So?" Amy asked.
Leliana chuckled before saying, "Duelists, Assassins, Bards and Rangers are all Rogues…or as we call them is Val Royeaux, 'Voleur'."
"Oh," Amy said before walking up to The Doctor.
'Translated, 'Voleur' means 'Thief'.' The Doctor whispered to Amy.
'Ah, wait, why didn't the TARDIS translate like it usually does?' Amy asked in a whisper.
'Simple, I don't want our bad guy to discover the abilities of the TARDIS.' The Doctor answered.
Amy looked confused before asking, 'I though Father Eirik was our baddie?'
'No…and I'm liking even less at who is.' The Doctor replied before walking up to Tamara.
"So, let's open up the doors and see who it is that wants to keep everyone from the mountain." The Doctor said as he and Tamara walked up to the door.
Two figures were observing all this from a boiling cauldron from the center of a chamber farther up the mountain. One was Kolgrim, the leader of the people of Haven and the only one spared from the fate of entrapment by the person beside him. Sure, the people were still moving around the village and were still loyal to him and Andraste the High Dragon…but they were now sharing their bodies with another creature; a creature that was brought here by the 'man' beside him.
"When they open the doors, have the group escorted by the Reavers to the main chamber here." The cloaked man said as he walked back to a vanity set.
Kolgrim looked over to a nearby mage that had been…repurposed from her duties at the Circle Tower.
"You heard Lord Kyne, tell the Reavers the message." Kolgrim told the mage.
The mage bowed her shaved head and said, "At once, Master Kolgrim."
Kolgrim looked over to Kyne, thinking all the while.
'Andraste's blessed flames…even I would not resort to plucking people from the very air and depositing them in the possession chamber.' Kolgrim thought warily.
"Relax, Kolgrim…even if The Doctor were to figure out every little possibility in our plans, he would not only have to fight off the entire village and the soldiers that we created, he would also have to face you, me and Andraste." Kyne said as he kept looking at himself in the mirror.
Kolgrim crossed his arms and said, "Yes, but the only reason all this is possible is because of you. If he defeated you; the village, the soldiers AND Andraste would awaken from the enforced sleep that you had imposed onto them. It would only be seconds before I would have a full scale revolt on my hands."
Kyne pulled the hood back and said, "Well, it's good that you would be meeting with The Doctor first then."
Kolgrim looked at the man, slightly repulsed by his slicked back brown-ish grey hair and steel grey eyes.
"Now, you get everything ready. I will be along in a moment." Kyne said as he turned back to the mirror and stared back at the mirror.
The group, once inside the enormous main hall of the temple, sat Genitivi down and stared in wonder at the beauty of the building.
"It the building is this beautiful now, I wonder how much better it would look when it was new?" Genitivi asked as he too was amazed at the grandeur of the hall.
"Good question…better question, who are those people there at the top of the stairs?" The Doctor asked as he noticed a group of people at the top of the stairwell.
The group turned and looked at the stairs.
"Great…more trouble. Is this normal for you, Doctor?" Morrigan asked.
"Pretty much," The Doctor said as he started to walk up to the center of the hall.
Amy added, "Actually, from what I gather this is all the time with him."
The rest of the group walked behind The Time Lord as a woman with a shaved head walked up to The Doctor.
"Maura…why are you here?" Wynne asked, looking surprised as she did.
Tamara turned to Wynne and asked, "You know this woman?"
Wynne shook her head yes, still in a kind of shock.
"Wynne, whoever that is standing before us is not your Maura. My guess is that she either is dead and something is wearing her form or she's under some kind of control like they were trying to do with Genitivi." The Doctor told the old mage as he walked up to the woman.
"Master Kolgrim and Lord Kyne extend their greetings to you Lord Doctor." The enchanted Maura told The Doctor.
The Doctor frowned for a second before saying, "And what do they want…besides greetings."
"They wish for you to follow The Reavers of Andraste and myself to the Main Birthing Chamber. The details are for them alone to discuss with you." Maura responded.
Leliana spoke up and said, "This could be a trap."
The Doctor smirked before saying, "Why not, besides…could never resist a good invite to a bad place."
After a long walk up to the chamber, they were all seated right next to a bubbling cauldron.
"Well, it's been a long time since anyone came, willingly, to the Temple of Andraste. I am Kolgrim, the leader of this holy place." Kolgrim said as he entered the room.
The Doctor smiled as he said, "Yeah, and since I assume you know who all of us are we can skip the pleasantries."
Kolgrim smirked as he said, "Very observant, Doctor."
"Isn't that hard really, now, answer me this: why are the Krillitane here in this part of the galaxy in this time period? You know as well as I do that the Krillitane can't take any form here on the planet at this point in time because of the ambient energies here." The Doctor wondered as he stood up and started strolling about the room.
"Actually, Doctor, he isn't the one that you should be asking." A voice said from the shadows.
The Time Lord turned around and said, "I figured that you would be back Brother Lassar. But something about this whole plan is confusing; what are you doing here if it's not to conquer the human race, the dragons, or the darkspawn?"
Kyne smirked before asking, "Really Doctor, Have I changed that much that you can't remember one of your oldest friends?"
The Doctor looked off in thought for a few seconds before saying, "That's impossible…everyone either died or was locked in the Time War."
Amy looked over to Leliana and asked, 'Ever get the feeling that we've been caught-up in one of The Doctor's old memories?'
Leliana just shook her head and continued to watch as the events unfolded.
"Almost everyone died or was Time Locked. I was on the planet Gravos 12 in the year 16/peach/.5." Kyne said as he walked closer to The Doctor.
"Observer, I had no choice." The Doctor said as he walked backwards a little bit.
"I know Doctor, just like I had no choice to enslave all these people and the dragon that they worshiped. Everyone has choices, It just depends on what we choose that matters." Observer said as he walked backwards towards the wall.
Kolgrim looked on in confusion as he saw 'Kyne' near the door to the outside.
"What are you doing?" Kolgrim asked in confusion.
"Giving you your just reward, Kolgrim; Reavers…Attivare." Observer said as he opened the door and ran.
Immediately, the Reavers and everyone else that had undergone the procedure had stood stiff as a board and walked over to Kolgrim.
The Doctor hung his head as he saw that the enslaved had started tearing Kolgrim apart.
"Doctor, do something!" Amy shouted as she and the others watched Kolgrim being torn to shreds.
The Doctor shook his head and said, "There's nothing I can do for him…but I can stun them while we escape to the back door and confront The Observer for this."
The Doctor raised his Sonic Screwdriver up into the air and pressed a button. Immediately, the screeching from the device dropped the slaves. Everyone wasted no time in running to the back door and ran up the built-in footholds towards the outside.
"Your too late, Doctor. Soon, the infection will spread from Haven. Genitivi already has the first signs of this. Even your friend Tamara is starting to show the symptoms." Observer said as the group approached the gong.
Everyone looked at Tamara as she looked on towards The Observer and said, "What sickness?"
"The Reaver Taint is similar to The Darkspawn Taint; the only difference is that The Reaver Taint is much more refined and is much more potent than The Darkspawn Taint. Both of these combined should even topple your formidable will Ms. Cousland." Observer said as he raised the mallet to strike the gong.
Leliana tackled the Observer and started to beat the man with her fists. The Observer countered with a punch to the jaw before getting up and running to the gong. Morrigan changed into a bear and lunged at The Fallen Time Lord. Observer leaped over the transformed mage and continued towards the summoning gong. Wynne created a small earthquake in the Observer's general area. Observer took a running leap over a pair of rocks and missed the area where the spell affected. He had just made it to the gong when he ran into Tamara.
"You decide it…right here, right now: Life or Death." Tamara said as she drew Starfang.
Observer smirked and said, "It doesn't have to be like this, Tamara. Unlike your friends and The Doctor, I can give you everything you ever wanted: your family, your name, your home…Iona…everything."
Tamara hesitated for a moment as the world around her turned into a haze of colors and sounds. For a moment, her brother was standing beside her with a kind grin. A moment later, her father and mother were both in front of her with love in their eyes. Later still, Iona…her eyes caring and loving stare back at her. But it was this image that woke the alarms inside of The Warden.
"What…no, stop this…you're supposed to be in a state of blissful peace." The Observer's voice said in her mind.
'Not yet…not your time, young one…' Another, far older and benevolent voice said in her mind.
'Time's up Teryna Cousland. Time to go…' A third voice, this being The Doctor, said in her mind.
The colors and sounds around her faded into a white light that was everywhere around her. Observer and Doctor both looking at her, one with malice while the other with quiet strength.
Observer walked over to her and said, "If you leave, you'll never have the things that you want. You'll more than likely die in the service to Fereldan but that's it, no more. Join me, and together we can do it all: Make Loghain die for his crimes Duncan and the Wardens, Make Howe die for his crimes against your family, make The Darkspawn die for ruining your world. Everyone would learn to fear the Cousland name, from here to Wiesshaupt and Par Vollen. All would bow down to Empress Tamara Cousland and no one would stand in your way!"
Tamara turned to The Doctor.
"Well, I can't compete with 'Empress'…but you know as well as I do what really would happen with that." The Doctor said simply with a smirk.
Tamara looked at both The Fallen Time Lord and The Last Time Lord. Then she turned around and looked at a mirror that had appeared behind her. One half of the reflection showed a woman that had a crazed look in her eye and blood covering her armor. The other half of the reflection showed a woman with a noble look in her eye as she stared back at her. Both were smirking; one with evil malice, the other with a noble, knowing smirk. Tamara returned the smirk as she turned back around.
She walked up to The Observer, and punched him in the face.
"That's for messing with my mind," Tamara started as she pulled back for another hit.
Her second hit was a kick to the stomach.
"That's for trying to turn me against my friends," Tamara said as she pulled him from the ground.
"And this is for ruining my day." Tamara said as she kneed him in the groin.
The white light faded and showed her back at the mountaintop with the gong. The Observer was unconscious on the ground and everyone, minus The Doctor, looked at her in shock.
"I'd say that's good…anyone else?" Amy asked as she looked at the others in the group.
The Doctor however walked over to the gong and started scanning it with the Sonic Screwdriver.
"Interesting…" The Doctor said as he kept scanning it.
"What Doctor?" Morrigan asked as she made her way towards The Time Lord.
The Time Lord turned to her and said, "This gong was made of a special material…no doubt made to control the dragon."
Tamara walked up to the gong with her sword in her hand.
"WAIT!" The Doctor shouted as he tried to stop her.
Tamara pulled back and smashed the gong with her sword.
"Problem solved." Tamara said as she sheathed her weapon.
Not two seconds later, the dragon roared as she turned back to the group. They all looked up and saw a giant red dragon flying in a circular motion and land on the ground in between them and the temple proper.
The Doctor smiled as he said, "Hello, there!"
Surprisingly, the dragon replied, "GREETINGS, OLD ONE."
And that is chapter four. Sorry it took so long, my inspiration took a break.
Disclaimers from other chapters.