Chapter 3: I Used To Think That The Day Would Never Come
"If you would live, and live without fear, you must fight."
-Canticle of Shartan
Abigail
"So, there we were, miles underground, surrounded by darkspawn on all sides, they were even behind us at that point, so no matter what, we would have to go back through darkspawn, spiders, and deepstalkers. We really had no choice but to keep going because when Orzammar dwarves can't pick a king, they choose the most ridiculous and impossible solution. 'Oh, just go find that crazy Paragon and let her arbitrarily decide, but she's probably dead, so we won't actually get anything decided either, but hey, you'll die trying to find her, so then we don't have to deal with you, win-win for us, really.' And yeah, that is pretty much exactly how they decide that, just so you know. Anyway, Zephyr, Maker's Breath, but I love her, she decided that this was a great way to spend our time, and of course we all followed along, I mean, why not? But I guess our motto was 'do so or die trying' back then. She's still like that in some ways...
So, like I said, there we were, a few Grey Wardens, a Qunari, a chantry sister, an assassin, a mage who wanted to be everyone's mother, a living Golem, a witch, an inappropriate, drunk dwarf, and a Mabari, wandering into the depths of the damn Deep Roads, all 11 of us. We had slogged through so much darkspawn filth and old ruins, we had to have been down there for 3 or 4 days at this point, little rest in between killing things, and we cross this bridge. The bridge that is literally crumbling as we walk over it and that has a darkspawn legion marching underneath it. We cross it, kill a few straggling darkspawn, and Zephyr, she wants to set up camp and rest for a bit because the dog is tired. Not because me, or Leliana, or Ja- No, it is because Brisket, the Mabari, was tired. So we did, I have no idea how anyone slept, I didn't, but the rest of that adventure is a much longer story for another time. That is the best 'dog-loving Ferelden' story I know. Stopping in the Deep Roads to let the dog sleep in the middle of the 5th Blight." Alistair concluded his rambling story, much to Abigail's disbelief and Liam's amusement.
"Y'know, I'm not even sure I can beat that story. I honestly don't know if I have ever heard a better 'dog-loving Ferelden' story. All hail the king." Liam relented, conceding defeat with a bow to Alistair, who gloated confidently.
"Um, guys? There's a rift nearby." Abigail stated out of the blue, disrupting the merriment.
"How can you tell?" Alistair asked, dumbfounded.
"Because of this." Abigail replied, holding up her marked hand which sparked with energy. "I think this rift might be a big one, judging from this reaction."
They soon heard the thunderous sound of a Pride demon stomping about as they approached the area where the rift should be.
"Great. A Pride demon." Alistair remarked dryly, just then they came to the clearing where the rift was, and saw more than just one Pride demon.
"Great. Two Pride demons." He continued. "So, what is the plan of attack?"
"Don't die." Liam suggested as he drew his ax and charged the nearest Pride demon.
"That is NOT a plan!" Alistair shouted as he also madly rushed into battle with Liam.
Abigail laughed a nervous laugh as she watched her two insane companions run off to fight two Pride demons, the last time she had faced a Pride demon, there was only 1 and they had a small force of soldiers helping to bring it down, not only 3 people. "I think he still has the 'do so or die trying' mentality... " she declared, half laughing, half crying.
Julius
"I don't know what I should do. I was out of line, and I don't want them to work themselves to death because of my anger, or feel like I don't trust them, or hate them, or blame them, or whatever! But what do I say...?" Julius spoke, motioning with his hands dramatically.
"How 'bout, 'I'm an idiot ass, I meant to be mean to Coryphetwit, but was mean at you guys instead. I got a glowy, magic hand!' and everything is better, yeah? Ya don't hav'ta make it a deal, 'kay?" Sera responded, not understanding why this was a problem and why Julius always refused to use the easy solution.
"Yeah, 'I got a glowy hand' is not going to solve this..." Julius retorted back, giving Sera the side eye.
"I bet it would with Josie, depending on how ya use it." Sera replied back with an evil grin.
Julius was about to respond, finger pointed and mouth agape, but Varric interrupted, rubbing his neck and saying, "Hey, uh, if you get a chance, can you, um, meet me up on the battlements? It's sort of important."
"Guess you'll be off to that then. Too bad." Sera stated while walking away making inappropriate gestures with her hands. Julius smirked, shaking his head at her antics.
Abigail
A whip of lightning magic surged toward him, but was deflected at the last second by a shield. Liam, nodded his thanks to Alistair for his cover, then swung his ax around in a circle above his head, swinging it down hard once it had gained enough momentum, severing the hand off the Pride demon. It roared in pain, and stumbled back, just in time for both Alistair and Liam to see the other Pride demon sending a surge of electricity straight at them. Alistair held his shield firm, and tilting it slightly as Templars are taught, he deflected the bolt. Liam had jumped right to dodge the attack, and in doing so had placed the wounded Pride demon between himself and Alistair.
"Nice! I forget you have Templar training too!" Liam shouted, hoisting his ax to his shoulder in preparation for his next attack.
"I forget how chatty you two are while fighting!" Alistair rebutted, thrusting his sword at the unharmed Pride Demon, but its armor deflected the blade.
"At least I can talk and actually do damage at the same time!" Liam shouted as he swung his ax down hard, cleaving through the demon and into the ground, leaving a small chasm. Alistair rolled his eyes in response, but decided to focus instead on defeating the demon he faced. Using his shield to block the demon's claws as it swiped at him, he forced the shield back as soon as the demon's blow struck, forcing the demon off balance, it stumbled back. Using this opening, he lunged upward with his sword through the demon's chin into its head, the blow landing most effectively.
" Good work, I bet you killed your fair share of Ogres in the day." Liam complimented as the remains of both demons dissolved away back to the fade.
"I usually wasn't the one jumping on them, actually." Alistair mumbled in reply, mostly to himself.
"Look out!" Abigail shouted back to them. They both turned around in time to watch a volley of flames disperse over a hastily cast barrier spell.
"This shit is getting annoying!" Liam cursed loudly, wheeling his ax to his side in preparation for a side sweep. Alistair readied his shield and sword once more, making sure he was between the demons and Abigail. Abigail spun her stave around to behind her and gathered focused magic energy as she prepared to cast. There were now two Pride demons, two Rage demons, and two shades facing them down. Liam's spinning side sweep attack hit the leg of the right Pride demon, causing it to stumble to its knee. He used the momentum he gained to leap into the air, ax hoisted above his head ready to strike down. However, the kneeling Pride demon backhanded him out of the air before he could make contact sending him hurtling into a boulder.
"Liam!" Abigail cried out, distracted from the battle at hand.
"Don't worry about him, he can take a hit. Pay attention to what's in front of you!" Alistair ordered as he slashed through the shade attacking on her right, and blocked with his shield the claws of the one on her right.
"Right." She confirmed, as she focused her magic into an electric arc that demolished the remaining shade. The Rage demons teamed up with the nearest Pride demon to batter them with a fire and lightning barrage before charging towards them. The first Rage demon pounded Alistair's shield, but was repelled with the shield much the same as the Pride demon before. Alistair's counter attack this time, however, was not successful, his sword slashing through the molten body doing no damage to the semi-liquid form and causing him to stumble a bit from the lack of resistance. Abigail was managing to repel the second Rage demon as she shot a salvo of magic projectiles into it, dealing a significant amount of damage. Catching Alistair off guard, the Pride demon struck, rending the shield from Alistair's hand.
"Go! I can handle the Rage demons!" Abigail commanded.
"But you-" Alistair started to refuse, but was met with a cold glare from Abigail as she swung her stave hitting the Rage demons both with a magic blast, Alistair nodded his affirmation, and did as he was bid.
"That's enough." Liam spat as he stood wiped the blood from his lip. Slinging it to the ground, his eyes gleamed as he brought his ax to his shoulder. The Pride demon had recovered it's footing as well now, and screeched as it began to charge toward him, lightning lashes in its grasp. Liam closed his eyes, as it grew closer, then as it was almost upon him, he opened his eyes and swung. The demon had no chance to counter as it was cleaved in half, the strength of the blow wedged the ax head steadily into the earth.
Alistair gripped his sword with both hands now, staring down the remaining Pride demon. It laughed its haughty laugh as it started to spin around a lightning lash in its hand, clearly it thought him defenseless without his shield.
"Pride." Alistair voiced, shaking his head. He tensed, he could feel the tainted blood coursing through his veins, strengthening his limbs and enhancing his senses, the evil within ever threatening to take over and destroy everything around it. The demon whipped toward him, but he dashed left. It reached with its left hand, attempting to catch him, but he ducked under its claws, rising with his sword and removing its arm to the elbow. It released a blast of electricity from its core, radiating outward. It caught Alistair with the blast, but it wasn't enough to save itself from him. Rushing towards it and through the electric field he plunged his sword to the hilt through its chest, killing it effectively.
"And the fall." Alistair glared as he ripped his sword back.
Abigail had been doing well against the two Rage demons, until one melted her stave to nothing. At the Circle she had learned to focus her magic into the stave for combat, without it as a focus, she wasn't sure how effective her casting would be. She should have had Solas teach her some focusing techniques that didn't involve a staff! The Circle at Ostwick had gone away from teaching combat magic without a staff as another attempt to control the mages magic, especially with the years of unrest and blood magic being had in Kirkwall, and that was before the rebellion. She had managed to cast a barrier around herself which the Rage demons were making short work of now. She looked to her companions to see that they were fairing favorably, Liam was still attempting to wrench his ax from the earth, and Alistair was hoisting his sword back out of his foe. If only she had a weapon like they did, she'd make quick work of these two demons. Then the thought occurred to her, why not focus her magic to her hands and make a weapon? Focusing, she waved the barrier away with her other hand, letting the Rage demons charge close. Holding her hands as though she held a sword, she struck the first, then spun and struck the next, imitating both Liam and Alistair. When she was done striking them, she clenched her fist, the magic wounds exploding outward, sending Fade slime flying all around her. Alistair had turned to look just as she struck the demons, and stepped toward her when a splatter of slime hit the ground before his foot. Liam rejoined them congratulating Abigail on her fighting skill, both he and her were covered head to toe in demon slime. Alistair looked at his hand which had only a slight bit of slime on it from where he had stabbed the Pride demon then looked back to his companions.
"You two would've died during the Blight." He concluded.
Julius
Julius was pretty sure he was about to go have a conversation with Varric in which Varric was going to tell him that he had known the Champion of Kirkwall's location this whole time, so he was vastly unprepared for what happened once he got to the top of the wall. Walking down the steps to meet them was the Champion of Kirkwall. To say that his eyes were wide with surprise would have been an understatement, the Champion was much taller than he would have guessed from Varric's writing. His eyes did match Varric's description, "odd colored, you can recognize Hawke from his color changing eyes" they were a bright green-blue, sometimes more green, sometimes more blue. Julius stopped being star struck when Hawke spoke.
"Though, I don't use that title much anymore." Hawke spoke with a general disinterest.
"Why didn't you join us sooner?" Julius immediately skipped the formalities and went straight to interrogation.
"Oh, you're the rash one. I'd have preferred meeting the nice one. Since we haven't really met, hello, I'm Hawke, when I show up, everyone dies or everything goes to shit, it's great to meet you. I figured I'd show now, since it has already all gone to shit." Hawke's sarcasm was as great as his legend would have you believe, Varric hadn't embellished that bit at all, it seemed.
"Ah, well, not everyone. Corypheus managed to meet you and live, care to take care of that problem? The Inquisition wasn't created to clean up another of Hawke's messes. Don't worry, we settled the Mage-Templar war for you, you're welcome." Julius bit back. Varric knew Julius was prone to anger, and acting rashly, which is why he too would have preferred this meeting be with Abigail, she was much more reasonable than her twin.
"Oh, good. Another person who knows my life story better than I do because they read a book. Do tell me how I should react, since you clearly know so much about me." Hawke dryly remarked, leaning over and looking uninterestedly over the wall into the interior of the fortress.
"Why is he even here?" Julius asked Varric, while pointing to Hawke.
"Ah, there's the Free Marcher impatience! I'm here as a favor to my friend, who said you could use some help in fighting Corypheus, and since I did in fact kill him once, I am willing to help, but only if you say 'please'. " Hawke was amusing himself by angering the younger man.
"I don't have to take this from someone whose only accomplishment was not dying when everyone around him did." Julius spat in reply as he turned to walk away.
"Do as you like, I'd rather talk to the polite one anyway, when is she getting here?" Hawke laughed it off.
"Hawke, she's..." Varric began, but the obvious shift in mood toward doom and gloom finished the thought for him.
"Ah, sorry for the loss then." Hawke spoke sincerely for the first time since he had arrived.
"Abigail is missing! She isn't dead!" Julius shouted in reply spinning back around on his heels.
"Right then." Hawke said, standing straight, "I am assuming you have exhausted your resourced to try to find her? I'll see if my contacts can drudge anything up, I'll put the word out straight away, though most of them Varric know, so don't get too hopeful."
"Wh-what? Why are you suddenly helping me?" Julius questioned, taken aback by Hawke's sudden shift in personality.
"Cub, I already told you, I came to help. Here's an old Ferelden saying for you, 'don't look a gift Mabari in the mouth', okay? Now, I guess I'll go give my regards to your advisers." Hawke replied, waving as he walked away.
"Varric, what in the Maker's name just happened?" Julius asked, clearly dumbstruck.
"Cub, you made an ass out of yourself again, but Hawke has always been a sucker for helping out those who need it, and, we need it." Varric stated, shaking his head.
"Here are my terms, first, I don't do anything involving children or animals. Secondly, any items, potions, gold, silver, copper, or other that I liberate or find is mine to do with as I see fit. Third, I get to pick out my quarters while I am here, for the duration of while I am here. And lastly, leave Merrill out of it, don't try to find her, don't try to contact her, I will know if you do." Hawke stated his terms to Leliana and Josephine.
"I see no reason why we cannot comply with these terms, Champion." Josephine graciously accepted, Varric had not embellished on Hawke's compulsive nature to hoard gold and items, it seemed.
"What do you bring to the table though, Hawke?" Leliana inquired, shrewd as ever.
"Information regarding Corypheus and a contact in the Grey Wardens who has some idea of what is happening with their disappearance from Ferelden and Orlais, plus my name, which can get you to anyone in Kirkwall, from Darktown to Hightown." Hawke confidently asserted, he was owed by the entire city of Kirkwall for various reasons, after all..
"Then we have a deal, Hawke." Leliana confirmed.
"Gaius!? When did you get here?" Cullen exclaimed as he walked in with Julius and Cassandra. Julius looked about the room, eyebrows raised, who was Gaius?
"Gaius...? Commander, who are you referring to?" Josephine questioned before anyone else could. Leliana giggled since she was privy to the same knowledge the Commander had as Cullen held his hand up in a gesture that read as "really?"
"Just so everyone here knows, my last name is Hawke, and I do have a given name." Gaius replied, waving his hand in a greeting manner.
"Hawke!? When did he get here!?" Cassandra shouted, suddenly recognizing the armor as that of the Mantle of the Champion.
"He just arrived today, though he embarked on his way here as soon as he received Varric's letter." Josephine responded, then getting a sideways glance from everyone except Cassandra continued, "What? Did I misspeak?"
"I will kill him." Cassandra promised, clenching her fist, you could see the murder flashing in her eyes.
"Before any of that, I have something to say to everyone here. Except you, Hawke. You can leave." Julius began, and the room grew quiet as the everyone except Hawke expected to hear some grave life changing news of some sort.
"I, um, I was harsh after Haven fell. I said things that I regret and that were unreasonable, and, I guess hurtful. Um, I was just upset and lashed out like a child, I apologize. If anyone is at fault, it is me, it was my poor leadership which got us into that mess, and don't try to deny it, I know it was." Julius began looking everyone in the eyes, even Hawke who didn't really need to be present, but when he looked Josephine in the eyes, all he could see and hear were Sera's words and gestures, which suddenly made him very flustered.
"And, um, ah, well, I guess what I am trying to say, is, uh, I'm an idiot ass, and uh, Corypheus. I wanna be mean to Corypheus, and uh, not you guys, and I'm sorry and uh, well, uh... I have a glowy magic hand!" he finished by holding up his right hand and shaking it then ran like mad outside.
"What in the Maker's name was that about?" Cassandra huffed while Gaius laughed loudly, holding his sides and rocking in the chair he was sitting in.
"An apology, I believe." Leliana giggled.
"Should we get a healer to check up on him? He's usually more eloquent than that. That rambling speech was just...bizarre." Josephine concluded, slightly worried about Julius.
"Anyhow, we should be getting back to our duties now." Cullen dismissed, he could sense the incoming headache he was going to have later.
Bending over and panting to get his breath back after running, Julius breathed, "Damn you, Sera."
The fortress was active that night, news of the Champion of Kirkwall being within the keep exciting all the soldiers, and seeing him in the tavern toasting with the Iron Bull made everyone that much more engaged. It was a great reprieve from the haunting thoughts of a few weeks past and the people they had lost at Haven. As the celebrating and drinking got intense enough that Bull and the Chargers started singing their song and swaying, Julius noticed Hawke make his way out of the festivities and exit. Julius followed him up onto the ramparts, curious as to what he was doing.
He approached as he noticed Hawke stop to look over the ramparts at the vastness of the mountains in the moonless, starless night.
"Something about these walls make them perfect for staring over in deep thought. Maybe we should open a monastery here." Julius stated, getting a bit of a smirk from the Champion.
"I was wondering when you were going to join me, I tend to notice when I am followed, blame Kirkwall for that. Oh, by the way, I need to congratulate you on your fine speech earlier, too bad we didn't have a scribe to take it down for the history books." Gaius replied, getting an eye roll from Julius.
"Yeah... I just can't resist an opportunity to make myself look foolish in front of Josephine." Julius lamented, leaning up against the wall.
"Heh. At least you're honest." Gaius replied. Julius was starting to change his opinion about Hawke, he wasn't all that terrible once you got past the fact that literally everything you could say or do would be joked about or made fun of, but he wasn't a bad person. Julius was curious to see if he lived up to Varric's description of his fighting prowess, he was eager to see whether or not this man actually could have killed the Arishok.
"So, what are you doing out here?" Julius inquired after a time.
"Just doing my best impersonation of Fenris." Hawke deflected with a smirk.
"Right, sure. Well, enjoy the festivities, I guess." Julius stated as he started to walk away, it was obvious Hawke wasn't going to tell him the real reason.
"Hey! Quick question!" Hawke called after him.
"What?" Julius asked back.
"Isn't there supposed to be a guard up there?" Gaius asked, pointing to the gate house tower.
"Oh. Yeah? Where did he go?" Julius puzzled.
"That's what I thought." Gaius confirmed as he dragged Julius down to squatting so as not to be seen above the wall.
"What's going on?" Julius whispered, he was smart enough to understand that something was up, he just didn't know what.
"We are under attack, clearly. Assassins, I would guess. This small a force would have to be assassins, or idiots." Gaius spoke under his breath.
"You saw them?" Julius inquired.
"No, but I don't see an army out there, so I'm guessing it is a small force, better for a precision attack, that's why I figure assassins." Gaius replied, adding, "Since you are with me, we need to get to your advisers, we can't assume you are the only target, but we can definitely assume you are one of the targets. Cullen is the closest, follow me."
"Couldn't we just have a lazy guard?" Julius inquired, was Hawke this paranoid?
"Sure, and the guard patrolling the top of the walls a moment ago could have just decided to get lazy as well, and so could the guards at the end of the bridge who disappeared, but I prefer to believe my theory." Gaius gave a distinct side glance as he rebutted, and Julius was forced to concede the point for the moment.
Varric hadn't written much about Hawke's stealth, but the man was a shadow. Julius lost sight of him several times while following him a mere few feet behind. Unlatching the door to Cullen's room, Gaius slowly pushed it open, then entered, blocking a sword aimed at his throat with his dagger.
"Maker's breath! It's just you, Hawke." Cullen said, withdrawing his sword.
"Trevelyan is with me. Any idea what's going on?" Hawke asked quickly.
"I know there are more than two, and one is a mage. I came to get my shield when I found evidence of magic by the gate, someone froze the metal making it brittle enough to be shattered. They are inside already, we must get to Josephine first." Cullen declared.
"I agree, the Nightingale can take care of herself." Gaius nodded. Julius felt useless and dumb with these two around to formulate plans and be paranoid, but he was glad to see the Inquisition's Commander wasn't easily distracted from the safety of the keep.
"The quickest way to her office is across this bridge, but there isn't any cover other than the half walls, so if you are going to go, be quick." Cullen suggested.
"I'll go. You can go the long way around, I'm sure Leliana has already figured it out too." Gaius stated, and not waiting for a response, he was gone.
Cullen motioned for Julius, and he followed. They were heading for the entrance to the kitchens around the side when suddenly Cullen pushed Julius out of the way and blocked a volley of magic shots which lit up the darkness. The light from the magic faded before they could get a good look at their assailant. Back to back, they both had their shields raised, looking out into the starless darkness trying to get a hint as to where the attacker had gone. A soft sound of a boot on the dirt alerted them that the attacker was before Cullen, and he lashed out with his sword, catching a shield and bouncing off ineffectively. They heard the side door creak open and saw in the brief light that the mage had gone inside.
"Go!" Cullen ordered as he blocked a sword with his shield this time. Julius didn't hesitate, and inside he ran, trying to catch up to the mage. The torches that lit the inside hurt his eyes, but soon he adjusted to the light. He ran until he came to the library, looking about like a terrified nug, searching for the mage.
"What brings you here away from the celebration?" Dorian inquired, noticing Julius acting strangely.
"I'm looking for-Ah! There! The mage!" Julius shouted, as he saw the cloaked figure trying to open one of the blocked off doors.
The figure startled at hearing him, and ran towards the railing, jumping off the side, and dashing past Solas, who then watched as Julius did the same and was further confused.
"What in the Maker's name is going on!?" Dorian shouted after him. Solas looked back and forth seemingly trying to figure out whether Julius was chasing Sera through the castle again or whether he was pursuing an enemy.
Cullen and his attacker continued to trade blows to the other's shield, a tit-for-tat, getting them nowhere. Cullen was getting frustrated at the lack of light, making a mental note to add torches out on this side of the fortress. The lack of light soon rewarded him, however, as he backed into the wooden post of scaffolding that had been set up to mend the walls, he could use this to his advantage, just so long as his foe was as blind as he was in this darkness. Back against the scaffold, he awaited his foes next sword thrust. He heard his foe breathe, then he readied his shield, sure enough, the sword was thrust straight at him, he deflected the blade right and slid out of the way, sending his foe into the scaffold the full momentum of his own attack against him. The man hit the wood full force, bloodying his face. Cullen placed one foot on the other's shield, pinning it to the ground, and held his sword against the throat.
"Commander! What is going on!?" Cassandra ran over, carrying a torch.
"Wha-You!?" Cullen shouted in surprise as the light revealed the face of his attacker.
As soon as the mage reached the grand hallway she stopped, but still Julius tackled her to the ground, then held his sword to her head, saying, "Don't even breathe."
"Hey." Varric said, then nodded towards the back of the room, where he could see Gaius, daggers on the ground, and hands held up in surrender. Gaius wasn't the one in danger though, Josephine stood just outside the door to her office a hand visible past the door holding a blade to her throat.
"Let her go!" Julius demanded as he stood, Varric having taken over with a bolt aimed directly at the head of the mage.
"He is interested in making a trade." Josephine stated, translating the faint whispers of the man who held her captive. "He wants his mage. And he wants only the Herald to deliver her, if not, he..."
"I'll do it!" Julius agreed immediately, hoisting the hooded mage to her feet, and roughly marching her towards the back of the room.
"As soon as the switch is made, we'll kill them both." Gaius whispered as they passed him, and he nodded back to Varric, who nodded in affirmation.
"Stop! He would like you to stop there." Josephine nervously shouted then started to move as the towering man moved out of the room with her.
"So, I was the last one, huh?" He said, removing his hood to reveal his face. He looked just like Gaius, only he had red hair and red eyes. Gaius huffed a laugh at the reveal. The sun starting to rise and spread light through the fortress, the mage removed her hood slowly then too, revealing her identity.
"Abigail...?" Julius choked.
A/N: So, I had some feedback regarding the confusion from jumping between our two heroes, so I broke it up a bit more, and put the name at the top of the paragraph stating who it was meant to be about. This is my temporary fix, it may become a permanent solution, it doesn't look bad, in my opinion. (FYI, my editor and co-writer agreed with you guys on that, but I was waaaaaay too stubborn to listen... Now I'll never hear the end of it... oh well.) Also, who else wasn't expecting that ending? Just wait until the next chapter, it's a good one, promise. I'm really excited about it, and terrified, since I kinda have some writer's block now... But, I should be back to updating by next Tuesday. And yeah, I know I am a day late updating this week... my bad, sorry.
