Sorry it took me so long to get this next chapter out, but I got back from hiking and camping in Montana as a school requirement for my degree. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work :) but I'm back now and ready to continue this story! It's a little shorter than normal, but I wanted to get this one out.
Chapter 14
Spires of earth erupted from the ground in a flurry of dirt and sparks of mana that impaled some of the lesser shades like butterflies to a board. They screeched and howled through stitched lips at their inability to move rather than the pain from it. Long, spindly arms reached impossibly far with their talon-like fingers curling towards my throat, but finally dissipated once they knew my spell wouldn't release them.
I clenched my fist to gather the six spikes I summoned into a tidal wave of earth; I swept my entire arm to the side to direct the soil and gravel to smother the ash wraiths that began to claw their way from the smoldering fireplace that acted as their gateway from the Fade. Their shrieks echoed in the small room but went largely ignored when a fiery arm broke through the mound of dirt. Lava bubbled up as a head began to form from the melted rock and I cursed loudly as I ducked underneath a swipe from a shade that would have severed my spine.
"Fucking Rage demons," I spat although knowing that it was inadvertently my fault and not the work of Quentin's summoning to protect his hideout. Demons were the embodiments of sin and were attracted to large amounts of mana, so my throwing of spells and raging temper was really not helping.
The shade behind me ate a fistful of lightning in retaliation and collapsed into a pile of cinders. I looked back to the lava oozing from the cap of earth; my ice rune flared brightly and frost blanketed the whole west wall. My bad aim notwithstanding still caused the rage demon to hiss in displeasure and retreat back underneath the ground. It would return when the thin sheet of ice melted which wouldn't take long at room temperature. Ice was never my strong suit.
When nothing else tried to eat my face, I bent down tiredly to brace my hands on my thighs to take a few deep breaths. Droplets of sweat beaded the dirt floor of the abandoned cache I entered just a few minutes ago to only be swarmed by demons summoned to protect it. At least I knew I was in the right place. I was almost choking on the taste of necromancy that filled every inch, every pore with death. I stared absently at my boots, covered in a thin layer of ash from the destroyed shades. Damn, that was going to be a bitch to remove.
A gnarled hand with bits of flesh dangling from the mangled bone burst from the ground an inch from the boot I was staring at. I jumped back with a startled yelp and launched a palm full of fire at the offending appendage as a reflex. The blackened hand shriveled as it crumbled into dust, but that didn't stop the other pair from clawing upwards only a few feet away. I slowly straightened up, my head turning as I watched the graveyard come to life underneath my feet. There were too many; I had to make a run for it.
I dodged the corpse's hands that sought to claw open my calf and ran for the other end of the room where the rotted smell emanated from. The entrance to the room was locked. I jiggled the handle and yanked on the unmovable door with no result. The clanging of bones behind me made me growl in frustration as I banged on the wooden door with my fist. I started to back up to ram the damn thing down until I recalled an earlier problem that involved a locked door that required a simple solution: I was a mage so break the thing. More specifically a battlemage so destroying stuff was my specialty.
Nearly rolling my eyes at my stupidity I drew back my hand, rune aglow, and swept it up harshly to command the chunk of hard earth I tore from the ground into its target. The door didn't have a chance. I kicked out the remaining boards of wood that desperately clutched to the frame with my boot and hurriedly ducked through the doorway. There had to be at least thirty decomposing bodies controlled by the puppet strings of blood magic limping steadily towards me with teeth snapping together as some pulled themselves from their graves to follow their orders to destroy me.
So, not very obligingly of me, I summoned the veritable boulder I used as a makeshift battering ram and reformed it to fill the broken doorframe. The earth was soft, not very compact, so it would only slow down the walking skeletons not completely stop them. Well, it was all I needed. Once Quentin was dead his spell would wear off.
As a passing thought I slapped a protection glyph on the homemade barrier. Ancient words sprouted from underneath my palm to twirl into arcane shapes and I slowly removed my hand to see the glyph flash blue before it dissipated. I glanced down at the twin rune on the knuckle of my middle finger that also blinked for a second before dulling. If anything disturbed the glyph on the door I would know.
I turned around and sprinted down further into the abandoned cache that seemed to sprawl through the Undercity by way of tunnels. Damn the Coterie and their incessant need to stow away treasure like gophers. I didn't need any fancy tricks this time to find what I wanted; all I needed to do was follow my nose.
"Oh, my love, you shall never know how much I have missed you. Your beautiful face: such a gift it is to me to see it once again. Those delicate fingers, oh how I have longed to hold those in my hands again. My darling, I have missed you. I have missed you so much."
Thick hands, almost clumsy in their size, lovingly stroked the cheek of the woman who sat deathly still in the chair in front of him. He crooned adoring words as silent tears poured down his cheeks into his scraggly beard that did nothing to cover the smile he wore brightly on his face.
It quickly changed into a scream of pain as a spike of earth erupted from the ground to pierce through his hand that had been trailing over his wife's face. He sputtered and clawed at his impaled hand but the small spire was too thick to remove without ripping it in two. Blood sluggishly crawled down to stain the earthen barb, but no matter how he struggled it remained firmly in place. His breathing was harsh but he still turned to his wife and pleaded to her.
"My love, I do not understand. Have you done this? Have I done something to displease you? Love?" His free hand reached out. "Darling?"
"Don't touch her!"
The mage's hand jerked back at the snapped order and automatically scanned the room for the source. Silently, I stepped from the shadows; my hand alight with an orange glow.
"Get away from her," I growled, my body trembling in anger.
To see Quentin admiring his twisted experiment plucked a cord so deep within me that hadn't been disturbed for over a decade; not since…that day. Its resonance traveled so hard, so fast, that my mana pool rippled and I felt my magic shake nearly as hard as my body. The earth spear I raised from the ground shrank just enough for Quentin to free his hand and then grew large enough to stab the ceiling just from a skip in the flow of mana to my earth rune. I took a deep breath to try and steady my emotions, but all I could see was that smiling blood mage. He…he took my mother! He shouldn't be smiling! He didn't deserve to be happy!
A pulse of mana summoned a fierce gale that focused into a thin vortex that struck the still grinning necromancer in the chest and pushed him into the rock wall behind him. He gasped as he struck the wall with enough force to expel all the air from his lungs and hopefully cracked a few ribs along with the staff he wore on his back. Strands of earth sprouted and twisted around Quentin's arms and caged his chest to hold him firmly in his new prison. My harsh breathing matched the cackling blood mage's as I tried to regain control over my magic. I-I hadn't-! I didn't-!
Shakily, I turned my palm over to see the illuminating runes that sparked wildly, mana bleeding from every one and not just the ones I used to restrain the necromancer. I…I didn't understand what was going on, but I clenched my hands into fists. Right now, I didn't care to ponder over the sudden rush of power. I turned my boiling gaze back to Quentin who smiled widely at my form.
"You!" He gasped through his mad cackling. "You…are a mage!"
Why did everyone I meet like to make that obvious observation? It's not like it was such a rare thing. Every week it seemed there was a crazy blood mage hell-bent on destroying the world or whatever demon-possessed mages liked to do on their days off from the loony bin.
"Yes," I bit out. "Where is my mother?"
A mad gleam sparked in his eyes. "Your mother? I do not know your mother, boy."
"You do!" I cried and another pulse of mana had the cage of earth around Quentin squeeze tighter. I had to wrestle control over my magic to loosen it enough for the mage to breathe. "Leandra. Her name is Leandra and I know you took her," I said as sweat gathered on my brow. The urge to simply wipe this murderer from the planet was very, very strong.
Quentin giggled, fucking giggled. "Oh, so Leandra is your mother. You must be Garrett. She spoke so fondly of you over the lunches she prepared for me in the manor."
"You were in my house?" I whispered in shock. How could I have not known that? Why didn't I know that this psychopath stepped a single foot into my home?
He shook his head and tutted in mock-disappointment. "My dear boy, Leandra did wait for you to come home to meet her new suitor, but you never showed," the mad blood mage lamented with a sigh. Why did I never stop in to ask mother how her day was? All of this could have been prevented. Could have been stopped before it even started.
"Of all the conversations we've had," Quentin continued, "you were the star of many. Although she never mentioned you were a mage, and a very powerful one at that. I could teach you many things. Perhaps the power over death interests you?"
"Shut up!" The cry tore from my throat and I couldn't stop the next pulse from shaking the very ground beneath our feet. Fissures crawled from my booted feet towards the walls of the emptied out room and raced up them. Rarely did I ever activate my earthquake rune as control over it was close to nil. "Where is she? Where is she, Quentin? Tell me or I'll bring this entire room down around our ears!" I was desperate and so, so angry.
"Control yourself, boy!" Quentin snapped and I immediately paid attention, my head snapping up at the authoritative tone. "If you would calm down for one second you could see she's right in front of you."
Frantically, my eyes dashed around until they landed on the single chair sitting in the middle of the room. The tremors ceased as I stumbled wildly over to the veiled woman that had my heart beating harshly in my chest. Garrett's memories and mine began to sync as a trembling hand reached out to lift the flimsy, white material and the ashen face of my mother appeared beneath it.
"Mother," I wetly gasped. "Oh, Mother, I'm so sorry. God, I'm so, so sorry."
As it happened in Garrett's memories, eyes glazed over with the sheen of death rolled to meet mine and blue lips moved as she tried to speak. Words were hard to gather from the both of us as I saw the bright line of red across her throat. The wedding dress my mother wore could not completely cover the stiches that kept her body together. Nausea rolled in my belly. I was too late. This…this wasn't even my mother anymore. This was a doll-a plaything-of a demented man.
I fell to my knees rather than crouched. My hand gently cradled Leandra's cheek, thumb brushing over the line of stiches behind her ear and I whispered to her how utterly sorry I was. I had fallen in love with this strong woman; mentally replaced her as my real mother. I cared for her more in the seven months I'd known her than I ever had for Coraline Amell. It was just so easy to be completely besotted with her easy humor, her kindness, her generosity, and fierce protectiveness over her family. I wanted so much to have a mother who genially cared for me, loved me even, and I received that precious gift from Leandra. And now she was gone. Damn it, she was gone!
"You don't understand. Your mother is not dead she is now a part of something greater," the mage behind me insisted. I ignored him. "I have done the impossible. I have touched the face of the Maker and lived! Do you know what the strongest force in the universe is, boy? It's love! Love!"
Dangerously slow, I rose from the ground to place a tender kiss on my mother's temple. I turned around, my gaze no longer softened with sadness. Fury tightened my features and I roared. Let him see how much power love gave me!
I pushed my hands upwards and smashed my open palm to Quentin's forehead.
He laughed louder than before. "I pieced her together from memory: her skin, her delicate fingers, and her face…oh how long I have searched for that beautiful face! I have finally found my beloved and no force on this earth can tear us apart!"
My fire rune blazed to life, subconsciously or not, and flames engulfed the necromancer's body. I dispassionately watched as his insane cackling transformed into shrieks of pain and terror as the fire ate away at his skin but the earth kept him firmly rooted against the wall no matter how much he struggled. The flames were hot enough to char, but it would be a long while before they burned their way to vital organs and since the fire was fuelled by magic and not wood there wasn't any smoke for Quentin to choke on. He would die a painful, slow death.
I turned away from him and gently gathered my mother into my arms to carry her away from the screams of the demon burning in his own hell.
"I've got you, mother. Everything will be alright," I softly promised her. Her head bobbed aimlessly against my chest as she kept trying to speak, but I soothed her wordlessly with my hand that pressed her closer to me.
At the corner of my eye I saw the protection glyph shine brightly and warm the knuckle of my left hand. The corpses finally broke through. It would be mere seconds before they overwhelmed this place still feeding off Quentin's necromantic magic that kept them moving. I couldn't attack them while holding my mother. I would have to run.
I held my mother tighter to my chest and snapped my fingers to activate the Haste rune.
I burst out of the entrance to the abandoned cache with the animated corpses hot on my heels. Blood dripped into my eye from a lucky swipe a rusty blade gave me across my forehead, but I didn't stop to wipe it away as I ran faster with my mother still held safely in my arms.
"Hawke!" Came the distant cry or so I thought until I nearly ran into Varric who smiled cockily at me until he saw what I carried so carefully in my arms. Or perhaps he saw how utterly tired I was or the ash smeared all over my shirt and breeches along with tears in both skin and cloth. Either way he stopped and stared for just a moment before he sprung the safety on his beloved crossbow and fired a deadly arrow two feet to my right. I heard the metal tip crash into bone and shatter.
Hurriedly, I set my mother on the ground next to the dwarf being as careful as I could and whipped around my arms spread to the side as I saw a veritable army of the undead limp and crawl towards Varric and I. A resident of Darktown screeched as she unknowingly ran across a hissing corpse and dropped the ceramic bowl she carried. She was run through by the walking dead's blade before the half-rotted fruit inside the bowl even hit the ground.
Her scream echoed in the maze of the Undercity which sparked a frenzy amongst the corpses who smelled the blood pulsing in living bodies. Some began to break off from the main horde that was focused on the crossbowman that fired multiple shots into their ranks and the mage who stood still enough to be mistaken for a statue. They grinned maniacally at the appealingly easy prey and rushed forward to claim it, but failed to notice the air heating up around them.
The hot air didn't escape Varric's notice though.
"It's getting a bit stuffy in here, Hawke. Just what are you doing?" He asked while smirking as his bolt shattered a skeleton's skull.
I didn't answer the dwarf's question and instead blanketed the layer of warm air with a cool gust drawn in from the coast line of Kirkwall.
It quickly became very…exciting in the Undercity.
The effect was nearly instantaneous. The hot air, being lighter and more buoyant, struggled through the denser, colder air and wrenched a hole in the layer to rise through the opening. Then the hot air began to spin from the orders of my twirling fingers and I sent just a small spark of flame into the twisting air. The vortex roared to life as the temperature of the newly birthed fire whirl exceeded 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Massive columns of hot gas rose erratically through the cool upper layer and the fire twirled happily. It touched down to the ground among the corpses that tried to flee from the tornado of flame.
Sweat blended with the blood smeared on my forehead and dripped down my unshaven cheeks as I ordered my wild creation to incinerate everything in its path. I had never done anything like this before. I mean, I knew the science behind it, but creating it on the fly was something else entirely. I would be impressed with my genius later.
"Holy shit," Varric cursed in awe. "You're just full of surprises today and on a side note remind me to never piss you off. It looks…unhealthy."
Varric's comment fit well with the destruction before us as the fire whirl picked off the undead one by one reducing them to cinders that obliterated any control Quentin had over them. All of a sudden the vortex jerked and I quickly clenched my fist to wrangle control back to me. I wrestled with the singing flames as it begged for freedom, for chaos, and I could feel myself waning.
"Varric! I saw the fire from the clinic and-! Is that Hawke's mother? What is she doing down here? Is she all ri-? By the Maker, what is that?"
The familiar voice was enough for everything to come crashing down after that one loosening of the block. The vortex wrenched itself from my hands and veered off towards a more populated squatting area for the residents of Darktown.
"Less slack-jawed amazement and more putting out the fire, Blondie!"
Freezing air shot past my ear and I watched as it struck the blazing fire whirl with no visible effect. The tornado merely shrugged off the ice and seemed to even spiral faster.
"That must be mage-fire!" Anders gasped even as he shot another blast of Winter towards the cone.
"No shit, Blondie! Things like this don't randomly pop up and say hello in Kirkwall!"
A fire extinguisher would really come in handy at the moment. The fire was too hot for water or even ice to cool it down and the instantaneous evaporation just managed to fuel the cool layer of air on top causing the whirl to spin even quicker. As Anders raised his staff to shoot another bolt of ice I put a hand on the tip to push it down.
"Hawke, what are you doing?" Anders asked even as he tried to bring his staff up again. I smacked it away.
"You're making it worse," I muttered, my mind sifting rapidly through idea after idea.
Think. Think! How could a fire be put out? A fire extinguisher. Damn, we still didn't have one of those! Okay, wait, fires feed off oxygen because oxygen burns. Could I draw out just the oxygen in the air? Nope, didn't have the control for that and I would probably just end up killing all of us due to suffocation. Well, how about a gas that didn't burn? From my chemistry lessons I knew one of the answers to be carbon dioxide, but again I would most likely kill us if I tried to isolate it. Smothering it wouldn't work, the flames were too hot.
"Hawke!" Varric called.
"I'm thinking!" I snapped back to him.
My eyes widened in realization as the answer came to me: forget about the fire. I didn't have the control anymore to manipulate multiple runes, but I thought I had enough juice for one.
"Anders! Follow me!" I told the Healer and sprinted towards the towering fire devil.
"Are you insane?" Anders yelped although I saw him follow me out of the corner of my eye. "Hawke! What are you doing?"
"Science," I quipped with a smirk as we both got as close as we could stand from the heat radiating from the vortex.
Tell me what you think! Please remember to review. I love reading them. The next chapter will be up soon.
)*(Sailor Elf)*(