Chapter 2: Corruption
Five days. Surely that was some sort of record for walking across the entire length of Ferelden. Duncan had set a hard pace, something for which Troy was exceptionally grateful. The hard travel over rough terrain kept his mind focused. Duncan preferred to travel in silence, which was fine by Troy – he really didn't have anything to say anyway. Any time his mind did start to wonder though, he asked Duncan questions about the Grey Wardens; what kind of training he would have to go through, what would be expected of him at Ostagar, what happened afterwords? Duncan was always willing to answer the questions asked, even if the answers were cryptic at times. Dane was also unusually quiet, perhaps sensing Troy's mood. By mid-morning on the fifth day they had arrived at the Brecilian Forest.
"We have arrived at last," Duncan spoke for the first time that day. "I have one stop to make before we continue on to Ostagar. There is a Dalish camp nearby, the Keeper – clan leader – Marethari, and I are friends."
"And you would recruit from the Dalish?" Troy had heard stories of the Dalish as a child. Fierce warriors, and possibly the best archers in all of Thedas. But they were also said to be brutal savages, scouring the countryside for anything they could take from humans. "Isn't that dangerous?"
"As I said, the Keeper and I are friends. And the Dalish have always been supportive of the Wardens. In fact Garahel, the Warden who slew the Archdemon, Andoral, at the Battle of Ayesleigh to end the last Blight was Dalish." Duncan moved deeper into the forest, Troy could only assume he knew where he was going.
"Shh, I heard something," Tamlen held his hand up, stopping Sam in his tracks. Now that Tamlen mentioned it, he could hear the sounds of running feet... clumsy shemlen feet.
"Three shems by the sound of it," Sam replied, "In a hurry. Frightened, but then, when isn't a shem scared of something?" He smirked at that.
"They're headed this way." Before he had even finished talking, Tamlen moved towards the path, drawing his bow as he went.
Sam hung back, covering Tamlen in case of an ambush. Not that he felt these shems were capable of such a thing, but better safe than sorry. Suddenly three shems broke through the foliage at a dead sprint. The first saw Tamlen standing there bow drawn, arrow pointed at his throat, and slid to a stop at his feet. The others quickly followed suit, tripping over each other in their haste.
"Whoa, it's a Dalish!" The first said, still on the ground.
"And you three are somewhere you shouldn't be," Tamlen said threateningly. He eyed all three, likely reaching the same conclusion Sam had; they were unarmed farmers, probably lost in the woods and scared by a bear or some such creature of the forest.
"Let us pass, elf, you have no right to stop us!" So the shem thought he would tell Tamlen what to do, Sam knew that would not go over well at all. He came out of the underbrush, his own bow drawn on the shems.
"No?" Tamlen asked mockingly. "We shall see about that."
"Please don't hurt us!" The sight of a second Dalish quickly changed the aggressive shems attitude into one of fear.
"You shemlen are pathetic," Tamlen began to advance on the three, "It's hard to believe you drove us from our home."
"We've never done nothing to you Dalish," Spoke the third shem. "We didn't even know this forest was yours."
"This forest isn't ours fool, but you've stumbled too close to our camp. You shems are like vermin, we can't trust you not to make mischief."
"Look, we didn't come here to make trouble," The first shem spoke again. "We just found a cave."
"Yes!" The angry shem spoke up again. "A cave with ruins like I've never seen. We thought there might be... eh..."
"Treasure?" Tamlen interrupted. "So you're more akin to thieves than actual bandits."
"Liar," Sam spoke up for the first time. "There are no such ruins."
"I have proof!" The angry shem practically screamed. "Look!" He handed Tamlen a small rock with strange carvings on it.
"Is... is this Elvish?" Tamlen demanded. "Written Elvish?"
"There's more in the ruins, but we didn't get very far..."
"Why not?" Sam also recognized the symbols carved on the stone, he'd seen them in the Keeper's scrolls. "What else was in that cave. What scared you so much that you ran without thinking, ran deeper into the forest?"
"A DEMON! Huge, with black eyes!"
"Ha! A demon," Tamlen scoffed at the idea. "Where is this cave?"
"Off to the west, I think. There's a cave in the rock face, with a hole just inside."
"What do you think, Lethallin? Do you trust them? Shall we let them go?"
"So they can go back to their village and gather an army to drive us out? No. Kill them," Sam replied coldly as he sighted in on the nearest shem. He released the arrow and had another notched before the shem had hit the ground. The other two turned and tried to run, but each caught an arrow in his back.
"Well, shall we see if there is any truth to their story?" Tamlen asked as though nothing had happened. "These carvings make me curious."
"Let's go, before these," Sam gestured towards the bodies of the dead humans, "Start to stink any more than they already do."
Sam Mahariel returned his bow to his quiver as he surveyed the shemlen who lay dead before him. While he had grown up amid the fears and hatred his people held toward the shems, for him the pain they had caused was far more personal. He had grown up an orphan, raised by his father's clan after human bandits had killed his father and left his mother for dead before his was born. He never had a chance to know his parents, so there was nothing to miss, but somehow that had always made the loss that much greater.
It dawned on him as he turned away from the lifeless bodies that he may have just left three human families without a father, husband, brother, or son. 'So the circle of nature turns,' he thought grimly, 'it's no wonder we can't get along with one another.'
He and Tamlen traveled in relative silence until they got to the cave the humans had described. They descended into the ruins and began to look around. It appeared the shems had been correct, there were certainly signs of elven artifacts scattered around, but also a lot of human architecture. Sam got an uneasy feeling, something about this place made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He pulled his Dal'Thanaan battleaxe off his back, and heard Tamlen draw his Dar'Misaan longsword and shield behind him.
He cautiously edged forward until "Arrghh!" He had walked into a large spider web. Not unsurprising, considering how old the ruins were, but when he realized how big the actual web was his breath caught in his chest. "Tamlen," He whispered, "Don't move."
"What?" Tamlen froze on the spot, scanning the room.
Suddenly Sam was aware of the sounds he had not noticed before. Clicking, scrabbling, nasty wet sounds he couldn't even describe. He only knew of one creature that made those kinds of noises.
"I don't want to scare you," He began looking around in the dim light, seeing the glint of many eyes in the corners of the room, "But we just walked into a giant spider nest."
Just then the shadows melted into the forms of three of the oversized arachnids. Two came at Tamlen while the third went for Sam. Sam swung in a large horizontal arc, severing two of the spider's legs as it closed in. It scrabbled backward as Sam brought the down the Dal'Thanaan in a vertical smash. He caught it in the center of its 'head', but the legs spasmed for a few seconds before is stopped moving. Behind him, Tamlen was fending off one spider with his shield, while slicing at the other with his Dar'Misaan. Sam took another sweeping blow, sending the spider sprawling in a cascade of blood. Tamlen used the opportunity to bury his blade into the thorax of the spider still attacking his shield. It stumbled around before curling up into a ball. Tamlen stabbed it again to make sure it wouldn't get up again.
"By the Creators!" Tamlen swore. "I didn't know spiders could grow so large."
"They can," Sam replied nervously, "But I've never heard of it happening to surface spiders. In the lands of the Durgen'len, where the darkspawn taint has been spread, the spiders are said to get very large. Perhaps these ruins reach down that far."
"In any case, let us see if there is anything else in these ruins," Tamlen responded eagerly. "If we don't find anything at least we can warm the clan to avoid these caves."
They continued further into the caves. The darkness was foreboding, Sam expected every shadow to conceal another monstrosity. Eventually they arrived in what appeared to be the main room of the ruins. Sam paused in the doorway and looked around. Statues lined the walls, parts of the ceiling had caved in, revealing some of the sunlight outside. Sam slowly entered the room, but as soon as he stepped down, he felt part of the floor give way.
"TRAP!" He yelled as he tackled Tamlen out of the way just in time to dodge a blast of flame. He rolled to his feet as several spiders, disturbed by his yelling and the light of the fire, charged at them. Tamlen rolled into a kneeling position and grabbed his bow off the ground. He'd drawn and fired in the blink of an eye and one of the spiders skidded to a halt. Sam spun his body to build up momentum for a powerful uppercut that cleaved through the next spider. He continued the motion and planted his axe into the brain of a second spider. He felt Tamlen at his back, fending off another of the eight-legged monsters. A fourth spider leaped at Tamlen, who bashed it to the side with his shield before impaling it with his sword. Sam brandished his Dal'Thanaan, scanning for more spiders, but all he saw and heard were the retreating footsteps of the animals.
They cautiously pressed forward, careful to avoid any more traps. A little deeper into the ruin they found a large statue honoring a god from the ancient elven pantheon. Neither knew enough about the history of their people to guess who is was, or why ancient elves appeared to have lived in this human ruin. Opposite the statue was a short hallway leading to a large door.
"No this looks important," Sam said as he started to walk towards the door. He hadn't even taken two steps when some sort of magical enchantment was was triggered. A rune glowed on the floor, and suddenly he could hear unholy moans and wails coming from both sides of the main hallway. He spun and saw several... skeletons? Tamlen had already notched an arrow and let it loose into the eye socket of one of the corpses. The force of the blow knocked the skull from the rest of the body – definitely reanimated skeletons.
"Looks like someone wants to die again," Sam muttered to himself as he charged three coming from the opposite direction. Seeing that the undead couldn't survive without their heads, Sam took a heavy swing at the skeletons are they closed. The blow cleanly took the head off the first, and cut deep into the side of the second. Sam delivered a powerful kick to the skeleton's torso to dislodge his axe, shattering several of its ribs in the process. As his spun away from the stunned monster, he caught the blade of the other with the handle of his axe, effectively deflecting the blow. He followed through with a blow from the end of his Dal'Thanaan which shattered the ancient skull. The skeleton collapsed at his feet. By this time the wounded skeleton had recovered and pressed its attack from behind him. He wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the blow and felt a familiar sting as the blade bit into his left bicep. He used his axe to sweep the skeleton's legs, breaking both of its shin bones in the process. He finally finished it by crushing its skull beneath his boot.
Gasping for breath, he turned to see Tamlen slam the last skeleton into the wall with his shield at its throat. The force of the blow decapitated the beast and its again lifeless body slumped to the floor. "Animated... corpses?" Tamlen asked between ragged breaths. "What kind of dark magic is this?"
"I don't know, lets see what's on the other side of this door and get out of here." Sam warily approached the door and pushed it open. Inside was a circular room, housing nothing besides a large silver mirror in the center of the room. It sat on a granite pedestal, and unlike anything else in the ruins they had passed, it looked to be in perfect condition. Tamlen moved closer.
"What is it?" Sam asked from right behind him.
"I... something moved in there!" Tamlen continued walking towards it, practically touching it. "Its showing me things, places."
"Get away from it!" Sam warned. Nothing good ever came from messing with enchanted items. This is how all the worst stories began.
"Oh no! It saw me!" Tamlen was nearly screaming at this point. "HELP! I CAN'T LOOK AWAY!"
Sam tried to run over and grab Tamlen, but the mirror emitted a burst of energy that blasted him backwards off the pedestal. He hit the ground hard, and did not get back up.
"Wait," Duncan suddenly stopped dead in front of Troy. He looked around, as though he were staring through the trees that surrounded them. "Something has happened. I can sense the darkspawn taint. It's coming from that direction. We need to investigate this. If the darkspawn have moved this far north and east... no, it can't be the horde. The taint is not strong enough. Come, its this way."
Troy hurried to keep up as Duncan quickened his pace. Within ten minutes at a light jog even he could tell something was wrong in the forest. He heard no animal sounds, the air was too still, and the smell was getting worse by the step. Dane was also uneasy, whining and sniffing the air. Troy tried to calm the dog as he continued to follow Duncan. After another five minutes he noticed a dark cave in the cliff face not far ahead. He pointed it out to Duncan, who nodded and headed that way. They hadn't gone far in when Troy noticed him. An elf, half crawling half dragging himself towards them. The elf's tan skin looked pale somehow. As he and Duncan approached, the elf reached for the large battleaxe strapped to his back and started muttering in his language. As they grew closer he got up on his knees and locked his steel gray eyes with Troy's.
"Shhemleh, come no closh-" His head bobbed for a second before he looked back up, his eyes wide in alarm. "TAMLEN!" He screamed before collapsing into a heap on the ground. Troy started to move forward, but Duncan's hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Don't. He has contracted the taint somehow." Duncan walked over to the elf and bent down, scooping him up. "If I'm not mistaken his camp is this way, due east of here. We will leave him there, in the care of his Keeper."
Sam woke with a start. He searched the room quickly, disorientated. Finally he realized he was in the Keeper's aravel. He pulled himself out of the bed, feeling a little weak. Stumbling to his feet, he opened the door and stepped out into the blinding sunlight. Fenarel was waiting just outside.
"Lethallin, you're awake! How do you feel?" The concern in his voice made Sam uneasy. Why would Fenarel be this worried unless...
"I'm fine, what happened to Tamlen?" It was the only explanation, Tamlen was either dead or dying... or missing.
"You... you don't know where he is either? The shem who brought you here said he hadn't seen Tamlen. He was a Grey Warden, and appeared out of nowhere with you slung over his shoulder. He said you probably wouldn't survive the night, the Keeper's been using the old magic to heal you."
"I must speak with her at once!" Sam knew Tamlen didn't have much time. If it had taken old magic to keep him from dying... he couldn't imagine Tamlen surviving much longer without it.
"It is good to see you awake, Da'len," The Keeper spoke as she approached. "It is fortunate Duncan found you when he did. I know not what dark power held you, but it nearly bled the life from you."
"Then Tamlen probably has it worse than I did, he actually touched the mirror..."
"A mirror caused all this? Duncan said there might be darkspawn creatures in the cave, is that true?"
"No, just giant spiders and animated skeletons."
"I was hoping for some answers when you woke, but there are only more questions. And Tamlen is still missing... he is more important than any lore in those ruins."
"Then I need to go back!"
"Duncan returned to the cave to look for darkspawn, but we cannot rely on him to look for Tamlen as well. Do you feel well enough to show us the way, Da'len?"
"I'm fine," Sam spoke with more certainty than he felt. In truth, he could still feel something... foreign in his blood, boiling.
"Take Merrill with you to the cave, find Tamlen if you can but do it swiftly. The Clan is moving at nightfall."
"Then I'd better get going." Sam left and went over to where Fenarel was waiting and motioned for him to follow. He knew he'd need all the help he could get. The two approached Merrill at the edge of the camp.
"The Keeper says I am to accompany you," Merrill said as they drew near, "As her apprentice I may see something you missed. Of course our main priority is finding Tamlen. We must make haste, he may not have much time."
"Come on, it will take some time to get there," Sam said as he started walking off. "And Fenarel is coming with us, trust me, we'll need him."
As he sprinted through the forest, Sam could feel the boiling in his blood calling him closer to the source, guiding him to the cave. Even if he hadn't had the route memorized, he would have easily found it, and that worried him. They were nearly upon the cave when he saw the darkspawn... or what he assumed to be darkspawn. They fit the description he'd heard in every story. Twisted and evil, carrying brutal, makeshift weapons and armor. He could sense them as he drew closer, sense the evil pouring out of them. He paused at a ridge line overlooking the small group, drawing his bow and taking aim at the fearsome creatures. A quick nod to Fenarel and two of the beasts lay dead, arrows sticking out from throats and chests. Merrill launched several magical blasts at another darkspawn, freezing it in a solid block of ice then casting a second spell to shatter it. Sam drew his Dal'Thanaan to cover the other two while they continued to rain death down on the enemy from afar. The short creatures attempted to swarm him, but with Merrill and Fenarel providing support he never faced more than two at a time. He planted the blade of his axe into the head of one and viciously lashed out with his foot at another, dislocating its jaw and knocking it flat on its back. He wrenched the axe free and brought it down into the chest of the downed darkspawn. One of the beasts jerked to a halt mere feet from him clutching at an arrow in its throat, and another was consumed with fire. Sam bellowed a war cry and charged the two remaining darkspawn, who fled. One dropped with a arrow in its back but the other escaped back into the ruins.
"Were those... darkspawn?" Merrill asked.
"I guess so," Sam replied looking at the ugly creatures.
"Are you alright, Sam?" Asked Fenarel, concern lining his face.
"You do look really pale," Merrill added.
"Its nothing," Sam grunted, "Come on we need to find Tamlen."
Troy had heard legends of the Grey Warden's fighting prowess, but seeing it in person was something else entirely. Duncan fought elegantly, yet at the same time there was a fierceness that not even the darkspawn could match. Even three on one the darkspawn were getting slaughtered, and the man kept going. Troy was broken from his thoughts by another small darkspawn charging in from behind them. He quickly side-stepped, knocking the creature's blade aside with his off-hand dagger while he drove his sword through its useless armor. He ripped up with the blade as he yanked it out, tearing an even bigger hole in the center of the monster's chest. It fell without a sound. Duncan was already pushing forward and Troy ran over to give him a hand. As he ran, he sheathed his dagger and pulled out one of his knives. He'd practiced with throwing knives for years and was equally good at throwing them with his right hand as he was with his main hand. He leaped into the thick of combat and launched the knife, catching a darkspawn archer in the throat. He already had a second knife in his hand as he landed and shoved it up through another darkspawn's jaw and into its brain. Behind him Duncan caught a larger darkspawn's sword between his two crossed blades and delivered a swift kick to its midsection before driving a sword into its torso. Troy could hear Dane barking and growling from behind him as the dog charged down another darkspawn.
Troy noticed they had fought their way through the ruins into a room with a strange mirror. He took the high ground on the steps leading up to the mirror as he continued to cut down the monsters. He noticed one of the larger darkspawn coming at Duncan from behind and without even thinking, threw his dagger across the room, where it stuck into the beast's side. The darkspawn was knocked off balance and slowed enough for Duncan to spin in time, parry its attack and decapitate it with his dagger in one smooth motion. Three new figures suddenly burst through the door. One fired off an arrow at Troy, who had just enough time to see it before jumping to the side. As he hit the ground, Troy noticed the familiar white hair of the elf he and Duncan had found earlier. The elf looked fearsome; blood spattered, tattoos covering his face, his white hair shaved into a mohawk, and carrying one of the largest battleaxes Troy had ever seen.
"Watch your fire!" He called as he got to his feet. A quick scan of the room revealed the darkspawn threat had been eliminated. He would hate to die by friendly fire after surviving all that. Dane was growling at the intruders, but made no move to attack.
"Fenarel, stand down," The elf ordered.
"You are the young elf we found at the cave entrance, I'm surprised to see you up and about," Duncan held out his hand, "I am Duncan of the Grey Wardens."
"Sam," Came the curt reply, suspicion evident in his eyes. Grudgingly he took the offered hand. "This is Merrill, Keeper's apprentice, and Fenarel, a fellow hunter."
"I'm Troy, but the way," Troy said somewhat sheepishly, somewhat angrily from behind Duncan as he walked up. "Grey Warden in training."
"Your Keeper didn't send you after us did she? I told her we would be fine"
"We're here for our clansman, Tamlen. He was with me when we first found the mirror," Sam said as he surveyed the two humans and the hound. The Keeper had only mentioned the one shem, likely this Duncan. Where had this other one been while Duncan was at the camp?
"There is no one here but darkspawn I'm afraid," Duncan replied somberly. "Your clansman is likely dead. This mirror, the Grey Wardens have seen similar artifacts before. It is Tevinter in origin. Sometimes they simply... break, and become filled with the same taint as the darkspawn. Tamlen's touch released the taint, infecting both of you."
"Then we must destroy it, so it can never harm anyone else again," Sam replied, taking a step toward it.
"But the Keeper has cured the sickness, we have nothing to fear from this mirror," Merrill pointed out.
"No, it is not cured Merrill," Sam glanced back at her, "I can still feel it in my blood, that's why I looked so sick when we encountered the darkspawn. It gets worse the closer I get to the mirror."
"Yes, we must deal with the mirror, it is a danger." Duncan turned, walked past Troy and approached the mirror, drawing his sword as he went. As soon as he was close enough Duncan brought the sword crashing down into the mirror, sending tiny pieces everywhere. "It is done, let us leave this place. I must speak with the Keeper about your cure."
While Duncan spoke with the Marethari, Sam went to speak with Paivel, the clan's storyteller, about Tamlen's funeral. They had no body to return to the earth, but Paivel still said the final prayers to guide Tamlen's spirit. Troy watched in fascination. Everything he had learned about the Dalish suggested they were savage warriors without hearts. The evidence clearly contradicted those assumptions. After the brief ceremony Sam came back to the campfire and sat across from where Troy was sitting with Dane sprawled across his lap.
Sam stared at the human and hound. He knew little of human culture, but understood that the Mabari were held in very high regard. It seemed odd that shems would value any animal in that way, as an equal, a friend. The stories of his people always spoke of how humans asserted their dominance over creatures, from livestock to beasts of burden. He felt the need to express these thoughts, but instead sat silently watching the pair. The silence seemed to drag on for an age until Duncan and the Keeper finally emerged from the aravel and came over to the campfire..
"Da'len," Marethari began, looking sad, "It appears Duncan was correct. The sickness is still within you and there is nothing my magic can do to stop it."
"There is, however, a solution," Duncan continued. "Join the Grey Wardens and you will learn to master the taint. It will not be an easy life, and you will have to leave your clan. In the end, the choice is up to you."
"Is there no other way, Keeper?" Sam searched her eyes for answers, but found none. "Must I leave the clan?"
"You will always be part of our clan, Da'len. But no, there is no other way."
"Then I accept. I will join you, Duncan of the Grey Wardens."
"Then come, let the clan embrace you one last time before you leave us." Marethari led Sam away from the two humans.
Troy watched silently, absentmindedly scratching behind Dane behind his ears. While the people around him were certainly foreign in their own ways, he saw nothing to suggest that the Dalish and his own people couldn't coexist. The Dalish certainly were not the boogeymen many humans believed them to be. The farewell was a short affair, and soon Troy, Sam and Duncan were on the road again.
"Ostagar is less than a day away," Duncan was saying from up ahead. "We can make it most of the way there before we stop for the night, and get there by mid-morning. The other recruits will be awaiting our arrival and we must commence with the Joining that night. After that, you will officially be Grey Wardens or..."
Troy and Sam shared a glance. Neither liked the way Duncan left the sentence hanging but neither really had a choice. At least that was something they had in common.