"How are the fortifications?" Zeriah asked as she strode through the Keep, making sure everyone was up and ready to defend. Voldrik smiled slightly. The expression looked odd on his serious face.
"They are not at their best, but they will hold them back. Everything has been upgraded properly, so I have no doubt that the Keep will hold." he assured her. She nodded sharply.
"Good." she replied as he rushed off to do his duty. She reached the inner gate, where she found her Wardens suited up and ready to go. Well, mostly ready. Some of them were still slightly intoxicated. They were joined by a large portion of the Keep's defenders.
"Commander." Traven said, crossing his arms over his chest in a gesture of respect. The others replicated his action.
"This is the time. The Mother has chosen to attack us here, and we are as ready as we can be to make our stand. Let us fight to put these darkspawn back in the ground." she called simply before placing her winged helm on her head. They marched through the gates to the battle below. Darkspawn were swarming everywhere, but her men were well equipped to fight them off. The Wardens cut through the swarm of beasts like butter, trying to keep them out of their main defenses.
Zeriah was beating a hurlock back with her shield when it happened. The massive, armored ogre burst through the gates with a roar, and her green eyes widened. She saw some of her friends near the creature, and she began to make her way toward it when suddenly, Varel appeared out of nowhere. He roared back at the beast and charged alone, sword raised. Zeriah sprinted, he couldn't take on an armored ogre by himself! She watched as he ducked one of the ogre's fists, stabbing his sword into its foot. He raised his weapon for another strike, but did not notice the ogre's other hand reaching toward him. It grabbed him in its massive palm and squeezed. Even from where she stood, Zeriah heard the snapping of Varel's spine. Blood dribbled from his mouth.
"No!" she screamed as the beast tossed her Seneschal aside like a rag doll. Her companions had joined her by that point, and they attacked the beast with everything they had. It was angry, but it was also slow and stupid. Her team took care of it in record time, and she rushed to Varel's side before the ogre had actually collapsed to the ground.
"C-commander. Did we win?" he breathed, not moving anywhere else. Zeriah frowned.
"Hold on, Varel! Healer! Traven, come help!" she shouted. Varel laughed softly.
"I've seen enough battles to know I'm a dead man, Zeriah." he said. She shook her head at him. "It has been an honor, my lady. Fight them with everything you have." She felt a tear roll down her cheek.
"The honor was mine. You will not be forgotten, Varel." she assured him. His eyes fluttered closed just as Traven and another healer reached their side. "It's too late." she said, standing.
"I'm sorry, Zeri." Traven said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She nodded.
"Me too. We have more darkspawn to kill." she said, determined.
"Commander! Commander! A messenger is here, Amaranthine is under attack!" a soldier cried. She sighed and followed the soldier into the main hall.
"Commander, this messenger informs us that-" Captain Garavel began.
"That Amaranthine is under attack." she finished. Garavel nodded.
"Yes. What do you wish to do?" he asked. She closed her eyes. It was definitely a tough decision. If they lost the keep, they would lose much morale, but if they lost the city, the Wardens would be blamed for the deaths of the people.
"Traven, Nate, and Mhairi, you're with me. We will go save the city. Oghren, Sigrun, and Velanna, you will stay here and defend the Keep with everything you have. Don't let it fall to them, understood?" she decided. Oghren stepped forward and crossed an arm over his chest respectfully.
"You got it, Commander. I'll show them their insides." he said proudly. She nodded.
"Let us be off then." She ordered, turning from them and heading out.
Amaranthine was worse off than they had expected. The only building that was safe was the chantry, and that was where everyone who still lived was huddled. Nathaniel had been relieved when they found his sister and her family sheltering in the building. Darkspawn had been leaping out from buildings, and it seemed as though there was a large system of tunnels beneath the city. Traven shook his head.
"This is the worst city design I have ever seen." he muttered as he sent a bolt of lightning through a darkspawn's head. Zeriah laughed drily.
"True, but I think we've mostly cleared it out. We should probably get back to the gates and interrogate that talking darkspawn that told us not to come here." she pointed out. Traven nodded.
"I'll follow your lead, as always." he agreed as they made their way through the piles of monstrous corpses. Traven wrinkled his nose at the massive ogre corpse that lay near the front gates. He hated the things, but facing two in one day was ridiculous. Zeriah had reached where the guardsmen held the talking darkspawn. Her arms were folded, and she was having a terse conversation with it. Traven glanced at Mhairi. They hadn't really had the chance to talk after they had almost kissed, and he really wanted to say something. She caught him staring at her, and her creamy cheeks blossomed with color. She really was beautiful. Her lips quirked into a small smile and she turned her attention back to Zeriah, trying to maintain her composure. Traven smiled to himself and scratched at his short beard.
"Just...release him." he heard Zeriah say, causing him to snap back to attention.
"Wait, what?" he asked, along with everyone else they were with. She turned her dark head to look at him.
"I have decided to release him. He was the one who sent the messenger to the Vigil and he has given us the Mother's location. We're going to let him go. He has promised to fade quietly into the Deep Roads and never bother the surface again. He has also promised to take his like-minded fellows with him." she said calmly, like a parent lecturing their child. Traven gaped.
"Zeriah, it's a darkspawn. You know, one of those things we are sworn to defend against?" he exclaimed. Her bright green eyes closed for a moment, and for the first time he saw how tired she looked. She seemed so much older than when they had met in Highever those long years ago. He had never really thought about how much all of the decisions she'd had to make over the last two years had weighed on her, but he could see it etched on her face now. He wondered if he looked as tired as she did.
"Traven, if some of these creatures want peace, I feel that I am obligated to give it. Due to the experiments of this...Architect, they are not all mindless beasts any longer. Some of them want to be left alone, away from us. Honestly, if it gets the Darkspawn out of Thedas, I'll do it." she explained. He was nodding long before she finished.
"You're right." he agreed. She smiled gratefully and turned back to the creature.
"You're free to go. Take your people and go far away from any humans, elves, or dwarves." she said in her most queenly voice. The beast bowed gratefully and backed away. Traven put an arm around her shoulders.
"Do you ever wish that you got to have a normal life instead of being relied upon for everything?" he asked fondly. She smiled softly.
"Not for a second." she admitted. "Although a small holiday every once in a while would be nice." she said before he had the chance to add anything. He laughed.
"We'll try to have that arranged." he promised. Zeriah snorted.
"If Alistair or I tried to take a day off, Thedas would probably explode." she pointed out. Traven shrugged.
"You never know, it might be worth a shot." he reminded her. She grinned.
"Maybe someday it will happen." she agreed. He nodded. He hoped, for her sake, that it would.
"Come on. We've got a big ugly darkspawn to defeat." he said. She nodded, determined mask slipping back into place. It was time.