We headed up the path, looking for Merrill. As we climbed the slight incline that was the beginning of the mountain climb to the peak I noticed a small elf sitting on the ground concentrating on something in her lap. She peeked over her shoulder, and started. Rising to her feet I noticed she was a tiny little thing, dainty, with large green eyes and scrolling tattoos that covered her face. Her hair was jet black and had braids placed all through it. She was an elven porcelain doll. I was pulled out of my musings by her speaking.
"Oh! I didn't hear you coming. You must be the one the Keeper told me would be coming. Aneth ara." Here she became slightly flustered. "I'm so sorry! I forgot to ask your name, its not rude to ask a human their name is it!" I shook my head. "I'm Merrill, which you probably knew already...I'm rambling, I'm sorry." She lowered her head flushing slightly. I could definitely understand her embarrassment, so I smiled before answering.
"My name is Hawke, it is a pleasure to meet you Merrill. And behind me is my sister Bethany, and my friends Varric and Fenris." They all nodded in turn, and Merrill smiled shyly.
"Thank you, I'm afraid I'm not very experience with you kind. The Keeper said you came from Ferelden, I spent most of my life there. We came north not long ago, have you been in the Free Marches long? Do you like it here?" I couldn't stop myself from smiling. Where I turned scarlet when I'm nervous it appears that Merrill rambled. I could identify with her, and I figured we would be friends if she stuck around.
"I have been in Kirkwall for a little over a year now. Its been a great place to get a fresh start."
"Really! Oh I hope so. We should go, your task is for Asha'belannar and it is not wise to keep her waiting." With that she turned and began to climb the winding path, motioning us to follow her. We walked in a companionable silence, I knew that my friends were watching for any reasons to mistrust Merrill. They seemed to be very wary of strangers until they had proven to be trustworthy, and I thanked them for that. It kept our little gang safe, and for that I was glad. We rounded a corner and were just about to climb the steepest part of the mountain when the ground started to shake. I heard Varric from behind me.
"Uh-oh, looks like we have visitors." Merrill chimed in.
"This mountain has been restless since the wars. The dead do not remain so here." While they had both been speaking skeletal corpses began to rise from the ground, we all drew our weapons prepared for what lay ahead of us. In the middle of our battle I noticed that the spells flying around my head was not Beth's usual elemental magic. This was much deeper, primal and nature like. I spun around to see Merrill whirling her staff through the air, firing dark green mists, pulling from the very depth of the ground. Once the last corpse fell I turned to her.
"The Keeper didn't tell me you were a mage..." She sighed.
"All Keepers know a bit of the old magics. The stories tell us that all Elvhen once had the gift, but like so many things it was lost." He face dropped and you could see the sorrow written there. I wondered at why the sadness ran so deep in her. She continued. "It is a Keepers job to remember, to restore what we can."
"Well I'm glad you decided to jump in back there, the help was seriously appreciated." She looked surprised, and giggled.
"Oh, well, I wasn't sure I would be much good. I mean, I've done a little fighting before, but it has always been alone. I'll try really hard not to hit anyone...well anyone on our side that is. I'm babbling again...lets go." She turned bright red and started up the path, Beth falling into step beside her. I could hear her asking about her power, I think it will be good for her to have someone to talk to that understands. I smiled at the sight, Beth never had many friends other than the family, so I hoped that Merrill would become a friend for her. I looked over when Fenris came up to my side. He cleared his throat.
"Are you sure you know what you are doing Hawke? I'm not so sure putting your trust in a strange mage is a wise idea." I sighed.
"Fenris, I appreciate your concern, but we don't know she is a bad person. She doesn't look like she could even hurt a fly. And don't worry I haven't let my guard down, she hasn't proven that she is worthy of trust just yet. I'm keeping an eye on her." I smiled at him, but I could tell he still seemed hesitant but he gave me a small smile anyway.
We made our way up the mountain, only running into small bits of trouble nothing to big for us to handle. I was starting to believe that nothing could stop us, we were a powerful little group of misfits, and it was definitely a bad idea to mess with us. As we rounded the last bend before the top of the mountain we were stopped by an elf. He was standing by the entrance to a cave in the side of the mountain. He looked upset and when he spoke he directed it at me but wouldn't take his eyes off of Merrill.
"So it seems the Keeper finally found someone to take you from here. Finish your task quickly human, we cannot wait to be rid of this one." It was a strange statement, and it caused me to wonder what Merrill had done to warrant this kind of response from one of her clan. I heard Varric chime in.
"Hmm, I'm sensing a story here." He had spoken mainly to himself, but I still glared at him. Wrong time, wrong place. I watched as Merrill spoke up.
"I have made my choice, and I will save our clan no matter what you think." Here the elf pushed passed Merrill and glared back at her as he stormed down the mountain and out of sight. I was concerned about her reaction. What would make her own clan so hostile towards her. It certainly couldn't be anything good.
"Merrill, what is going on here." Her face bore her sadness.
"Nothing Hawke, only ignorance at something they cannot understand. We should go." I could tell she didn't want to talk about it, and although I understood I still needed to know.
"I understand not wanting to talk about it Merrill, but if it becomes a problem I will need to know, alright?" She nodded that she understood, and I smiled at her to reassure her that I wasn't upset. I noticed that the path forward had been blocked so I asked about it. Merrill let me know that a landslide had blocked the path last winter, but the cave exited on the other side of the slide so we could still continue that way. We headed for the mouth of the cave but as we reached the entrance Merrill turned.
"I'm sorry, you are not really seeing the Dalish at their finest. We are good people who look out for each other, just not today I guess." She hung her head.
"I'm alright, I am more worried about you than I am about us. Is there anything I can do?" She smiled slightly as she raised her head.
"Thank you, but no. I am fine, and you know, even if my people don't realize what I am doing for them I will see this through." She held her head high as she continued. "Lets go, Asha'belannar is not known for her patience." And with that she entered the cave motioning us to follow her.
We entered the cave to find more spiders awaiting us. This was turning out to be one hell of a day. Corpses and spiders, my favorite, but we managed to take care of them quickly seeing as there were five of us and only a handful of spiders it wasn't very difficult. We found a few more obstacles inside the main cavern but had little trouble getting them taken care of and exiting the cave on the other side. Once outside I noticed that there seemed to be some kind of barrier blocking our path. I looked over to Bethany to see if she may have some idea of what it was, but she shrugged looking perplexed. We watched as Merrill walked up to the barrier and she spoke without turning away from it.
"I can remove the barrier and open the way forward, give me a moment." She pulled a small dagger from her hip, and the minute it appeared I felt Fenris tense beside me. I had to admit to myself that I tensed to, usually when people pulled out sharp objects and said they will handle it, it tends to end badly; and I was pretty sure she wasn't going to slice the barrier to death. Merrill proceeded to slice her palm, and I watched in mild horror as she manipulated the blood and fired it at the barrier. I just barely heard Fenris' growl at my side, and for once I wasn't about to chastise him for it. I was not happy with what I had just witnessed, and I was finding it hard to keep the scowl off my face when Merrill turned to look at us. She opened her mouth to speak but Bethany cut her off before she could.
"I felt the Veil shift, you summoned something here. Are you insane!"
"It was blood magic yes I know, but I know what I am doing. Besides the spirit helped us didn't it?" She looked at me when she said it, and I couldn't help but pity her. She was so nieve and that would end up hurting her someday I knew it. The harsh words died on my tongue before I could speak them, yet I couldn't bring myself to condone what she had done.
"Well they do not keep helping. I know you think you know what you are doing, but you have to be careful. Lets go." I opted to end the conversation there, it was better that way. I could her Fenris' huff of disapproval behind me but I would deal with him later; and Beth shot me a look of indignation. Right now we had more pressing matters to deal with. Merrill nodded her understanding that there would be no more discussion of the issue now.
"Be careful up ahead, restless beings prowl this mountain." She turned and walked through the place where the barrier had stood and we all followed. She stopped just inside the barrier and began to speak. "In the days of Arlathan the elders came here to sleep. Uthenera, the endless dream is what they called it, but they don't sleep peacefully anymore." She sounded so sad as she finished speaking, but she didn't look back as walked through the elders resting place. She indicated the altar on the other side and as I walked towards it the earth began to shake once again. Prepared for it this time we all drew our weapons, but I had to catch myself when a large robed creature popped out of the ground directly in front of me. I heard Beth's shout from behind me.
"Be careful sister, that is no simple skeleton. Do not let that Horror get his hands on you." No sooner had she spoken than it lunged for me. I swung my greatsword and struck it across the back knocking it forward. It spun around and fired a bolt of energy towards me which I had to hit the ground to dodge. It attempted to take advantage of my prone position but I rolled out of the way and sliced its chest as I leveraged myself off of the ground. By this time most of the other creatures were dead and both Fenris and Beth were able to come to my aid. It took us a bit and I sustained a nasty shoulder injury where one of the reanimated corpses had managed to plunge a dagger in when I was otherwise occupied, but finally the last corpse fell and the Horror crumpled into dust. Beth came running over to take a look at my shoulder, Fenris had already removed the obstruction, and Beth cast a healing spell to take care of most of the damage. Varric had to have a large gash patched up from his forearm, Beth had a small but deep cut above her left eye, Merrill had a few cuts and bumps, and Fenris had to have his leg patched, but thankfully we were all safe. Once we had all been patched up and Varric and I had finished looting what I turned to Merrill to see what I needed to do next.
"Place the amulet on the altar, and I can begin the rite." I approached the altar and set the amulet on it, Merrill stepped forward and raised her hands to the sky. She began to speak in her native tongue and I was lost in the beauty of the words. Once she had spoken the last words she reached out towards the amulet and a burst of energy radiated from it. It was magic like I had never seen before, and in the blink of an eye the witch was before us. She rose, stretched, and stepped towards me.
"Ahhh, and so here we are." At the witches words Merrill fell into a little bow and addressed her.
"Andaran atish'an Asha'belannar." The witch looked curiously at Merrill.
"One of the People I see, so young and so bright. Do you know who I am beyond that title?" Merrill had remained in her bowed position and answered from her stance staring at the ground.
"I know only a little."
"Well than stand. The People bend their knees too quickly." And here she turned her attention to me and the rest of the group. "You know it is so refreshing to see someone who keeps their end of the bargain. I expected my amulet to end up in a merchants pocket, not here where I asked it to be." I was taken aback, sure I had temporarily forgotten my task, but I was a person of my word and I would have never gone back on it.
"I gave you my word to deliver the amulet and so I have, but the least you could have done is told me you were inside it the whole time."
"Ah but there was just a piece of me inside, a small piece was all I needed. A security blanket if you will, in case the inevitable should occur; and if I know my Morrigan it already has." The witch was cryptic to say the least, but that did not stop my natural curiosity from getting the better of me.
"So I take it you have plans?"
"Destiny awaits the both of us my dear, we have much to do. But before I go I have a word of advise for you. We stand upon the precipice of change, the world fears the inevitable plummet into the abyss. Watch for that moment, and when it comes, do not hesitate to leap. It is only when you fall, that you learn that you truly can fly." She had truly taken cryptic to a whole new level.
"When that time comes what should I do?"
"Well you do as I do and become a dragon." And here she threw her head back and laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh it was a cold merciless sound. Cold as ice and just as harsh. "You could never be a dragon." And here she turned to Merrill. "And you child, step carefully. No path is darker than when you have your eyes shut."
"Ma serannas Asha'belannar." The witch turned and addressed us all.
"The time has come for me to take my leave you have my thanks, and my sympathy." She turned on the spot and as we watched turned into the massive dragon that I had already seen once before in my life and took flight. She sent out one bone chilling screech and flew away over the distant mountains. I looked around at my companions and I knew no words would be sufficient for what we had just witnessed so instead I indicated that we should begin our descent back down the mountainside. I knew we wanted to reach Kirkwall before nightfall and we were running out of both time and daylight. We climbed back through the cave and the little path back to the Dalish camp. Here we were stopped by the Keeper, she spoke to me first.
"Ma serannas child, your debt had been paid in full." I handed her the amulet as she spoke and she placed it in a little box at her feet. She then turned to Merrill.
"It is still not too late to change your mind Da'len." Merrill shook her head as she held the Keepers hand.
"Dareth shiral Keeper." She released her hand and turned to me.
"I am ready, let us depart." And with that we walked silently out of the camp.
Our trip back down Sundermount took much less time that the trip up had. We traveled in silence for most of the trip, the only one who seemed to want to talk was Varric, asking questions of Merrill and her life. Fenris hung at the back of the group and seemed to be distancing himself from our new addition, uninterested in engaging her in anyway. I could tell that this was going to be difficult, but I knew keeping Merrill around would be good for her in the end. I was hoping that by learning more about her I would be able to persuade her of the bad idea it was dealing with demons. We made it into Kirkwall just before nightfall and Varric took charge of telling Merrill about life in the city. Having lived with her clan for her entire life she had no idea how to function inside a city environment like Kirkwall, and I was thankful that Varric was giving her little lessons on survival. I found a small house in the Alienage for her and we got her settled. She was absolutely horrified at the way the elves seemed to live, but we reassured her that she was making the right decision, and that with a little practice she would do just fine here. We left her alone for the night to get settled and I promised that Beth and I would return to visit her soon, which she was very thankful for. I felt sorry for the little mage. Strange city, strange place, away from her clan for the first time, and I wasn't about to leave her by herself for too long. We parted ways for the night once we left Merrill's, each of us returning to our own homes for a well deserved night of rest. Although after all of the cryptic and crazy things I had to think about I was pretty sure I was not going to be doing much sleeping tonight.