Ch 5: Facing Evil
On and on Hawke and her companions went, following the Deep Roads. Eventually they came across more ruined buildings, the remnants of a mining outpost. There were more corpses, mercenaries in Tevinter armour, craftsmen and smiths equipped with shovels and other digging tools.
Fenris shoved a dead body aside with his foot, looking disgusted and apprehensive. "I don't like this. Those mercenaries wouldn't have gone on by themselves. There must have been more than one mage. Magisters usually travel with at least one apprentice."
Anders nodded. "That sounds reasonable. It might even have been the master's fireball that killed the other mage. The skeletons couldn't have conjured up a flame like this."
Bethany shuddered. "You mean he'd sacrifice his apprentice to take out the skeletons? What kind of person would do this?" Fenris snorted and she glanced at his face. "All right. Forget I asked."
Even the dwarves seemed uncomfortable. The feeling of evil had become palpable now, and Caitlin noticed that they avoided touching the rock around them. Oghren shook himself like a wet dog. "I never thought I'd say this, but... I don't want to go further down, Champion. Something is very wrong here."
Caitlin nodded. "I don't think we have much further to go."
A large building rose before them, the centre of the mining post, the place where the dwarves would have kept their equipment. Its door stood slightly ajar and they didn't doubt a bigger challenge lay ahead, behind that door. They took a moment to prepare before they went in, casting protection spells, coating their blades with poison and magebane. The long corridor they entered was lined with pieces of broken machinery. There were rooms to the left and right, filled with crumbling crates and barrels. Everything in there had to have fallen to dust centuries ago.
At the end of the hallway, there was a huge door, which opened directly into a cavernous room. To their surprise, it was empty except for a number of corpses strewn about and a lone woman in the middle of the room. As they advanced, she raised her small hand to keep them at a distance. Up closer, she looked deceptively tiny and delicate, her waif-like appearance enhanced by her long light blond hair and pale skin. Her eyes were grey as steel and she was extraordinarily beautiful in a cold, remote way. Looking at her, Caitlin immediately felt oversized and clumsy.
The woman was wearing opulent velvet robes dyed a rich purple hue and tailored perfectly to set off her slim waist and small high breasts. On her head, she had a thin steel circlet adorned with strange symbols. Her long spiky staff was made of dark gray onyx. The magister. Not a man, but a woman. The Tevinter mage was surrounded by a massive aura of power that made Caitlin shiver. It is as we thought. The mage up there must have been her apprentice. This is our true adversary.
The magister took one look at Fenris and laughed. Her voice was high and tingly, almost girlish. "Avanna, my pretty one. What an intriguing pattern! I will have a closer look at you later when I've spoken to your master, I promise."
Fenris snarled at her, his posture betraying a mixture of fear and barely contained aggression, but she ignored him and addressed herself directly to Anders, without wasting a glance on the others. "What a charming pet you have, brother. It needs disciplining, though." The look she threw the mage at these words was anything but sisterly.
Anders spat. "The 'pet' is a loyal friend and companion. And I'm not your brother. We have nothing in common."
The magister grinned lasciviously. "I think you'll find you're mistaken, my handsome mage. I can feel your magic, and I'm sure you can... feel mine." She licked her lips. "Anyone with power such as yours wants more. I don't think you are an exception."
Anders snorted contemptuously, but she went on, undeterred. "I came here for the lyrium, my dear, but I found something far better. There is immense power down here, just waiting to be harnessed. Join me, and we'll share it. Together we can vanquish anyone standing in our way."
Anders laughed. "You're mistaken. I don't care about power. All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools. Since I already have all three," he grinned over at Bethany, "you can't tempt me."
The magister shrugged. "Have it your way, then. You won't stop me." With a swift motion, she raised her arms and drew a knife across her palm, chanting an incomprehensible sequence of words. All around them, the corpses began to rise and advance upon them.
Caitlin barked out commands, trying to deploy their forces to maximum advantage. The dwarves and Fenris would have to deal with the corpses, with a little help from Bethany's spells. Anders and Caitlin attacked the magister, trying to neutralize her before she could get in a spell that would seriously weaken them. The strategy was sound, but to their dismay, they soon realized the Tevinter mage was immune to almost every spell Anders tried on her. A series of blasts and spirit pulses kept Caitlin at a distance, swiping her off her feet whenever she got close enough for an attack.
When the magister began chanting a convoluted spell that sounded vaguely familiar, Caitlin threw a questioning look back at Anders and saw him blanch with fear.
"A death cloud! Stop her, Cait, now!" His voice sounded desperate. "Now! Or we'll all be dead."
Caitlin's eyes fell on Sigrun who was just about to fire another arrow at their foe. "Sigrun! Andraste's arrows!" she cried out.
The rogue grinned and immediately grabbed a blue-fletched arrow from her quiver, nocking it and sending it off toward the magister in one fluid motion. The arrow failed to pierce the woman's rock armour, but on impact, it released a fine powder that made her cry out in sudden pain. Her hands went to her eyes, wiping the powder from them, and the incantation faltered. Quickly, Sigrun followed up with another arrow. Caitlin pressed the advantage and closed in on their opponent.
At this moment, Fenris appeared at her side. That meant the corpses were down. She saw his face contort in pain and fury as his tattoos lit up in a bright flare and he reached out for the magister, his glowing fist almost breaching her chest. "Ahh, a shame that you are going to die, no?" His voice was triumphant and his expression savage.
"You can't defeat me. I am too strong!" With a last desperate effort, the magister cast a mind blast that sent them reeling back.
Her body slumped to the ground but before it collapsed completely, her skin started to fracture and a dark green glow began to emanate from the tears. They watched with horrified fascination as a gaping maw of teeth opened where her face had been and black plates began to cover her body. Large spikes formed on her back and shoulder and she grew impossibly tall, towering over them like a huge statue. With a loud roar, the pride demon threw back its horned head, eyes glowing green with malice, its manifestation complete.
Raising a huge clawed hand, the demon fired a spell in Anders' direction. Fenris' eyes widened. Without hesitation, he threw himself into the spell's trajectory, but he had underestimated the severity of the injuries he had already suffered. When the full force of the energy bolt hit him, he crumbled to the floor unconscious. Caitlin screamed at the sight and lunged at the demon, swinging her greatsword in a high arc and slicing deeply into its side.
Oghren immediately followed suit, his axe taking out a large chunk of flesh at the monster's back. "Blast this demon fellow! What say we make him sorry?"
Their fury lent them extra strength and they didn't even feel the draining spells the demon cast on them. Anders had his hands full healing them as they were hacking and slicing mercilessly at their foe. Bethany tried a variety of offensive spells, but every one of them bounced back ineffectively from the monster's magical hide. Brute force would have to win the day.
Little by little, the demon tired out. Their quick barrage of strikes prevented it from casting any spells of its own and Sigrun's arrows weakened its blows considerably. Finally Caitlin saw her chance as she ducked under its huge form and found a tiny chink in its carapace. With a savage cry, she rammed her sword between the thick black plates and drove it in as hard as she could. Oghren just about managed to pull her aside before the huge monster collapsed on the floor, nearly smashing her to a pulp.
It was over. The realization took a moment to settle in as they were limping away from the demon's massive corpse, nursing their wounds. Anders was already kneeling at Fenris' side, his hands running feverishly over the elf's unconscious form, blue waves of magic spilling from them. Caitlin watched them, barely able to fight back the panic that was rising in her throat. It seemed like hours had gone by when Fenris opened his eyes with a pained grimace and Anders breathed a sigh of relief.
"I hate magical healing. It feels like being trampled by an ogre." Fenris' voice was weak, but he managed a crooked smile. Caitlin took his hand and kissed the palm feverishly, too shaken to speak.
"Well, you would know." Anders grinned, then grew serious. "Thank you, Fenris. That spell would have been the end of me. Don't do it again, though. Cait might want us to get along, but if you die heroically to save me she will never forgive me."
Fenris coughed and spat on the rough cave floor. "Nonsense. It was a rational decision. You are our best healer and the only one who can revive a fallen companion. I couldn't let you get killed. Besides," he flinched at the pain when he tried to sit up, "my armour is a lot more solid than your swishy robes."
Anders grinned. "Have it your way. I'm still happy to be alive." He handed Fenris several bottles of healing and stamina potions. "Here, drink this. You'll feel better soon."
Caitlin was dizzy with relief and exhaustion. With a sigh, she slumped down on a rock, wiping her forehead with her sleeve. "Maker, that thing was vicious. I've never met a pride demon with such strong magical powers." She looked at Oghren who had dropped to the floor next to her. "Well, Oghren? Feeling better now that we've taken down the big bad?"
The dwarf shook his head. "Naaah, that was just a demon. I've fought plenty of those. This is not over, Champion. The evil is still here. It's in the stone somehow, like a disease."
Caitlin frowned. It was true, the feeling hadn't disappeared. She had attributed it to the lingering presence of the demon. "In the stone? But you said there is no taint."
"It's not like the taint. The stone feels... wrong, unclean." Sigrun looked at her helplessly.
"Can you tell where it's coming from?" Without a moment's hesitation, all three dwarves pointed toward a stone archway at the far end of the room. Sighing deeply, Caitlin got up and, with Oghren's help, recovered her sword. With an effort, everyone staggered to their feet and made for the archway. When they passed through, they stopped in their tracks and gaped speechlessly at the sight before them.
They were standing on a ledge, a kind of natural stone balcony, overlooking a cavern that was larger and deeper than anything they had seen before and illuminated by a soft blue glow. The source of this was immediately obvious. Far below them, a huge expanse of lyrium stretched all the way across the cavern and far into the distance. Rusty chains led down from where they stood, remnants of some ancient transport system.
"The vein." Oghren's voice was almost reverent. "By the tits of my ancestors, this is huge. It would take decades to mine this."
They were far enough above not to be harmed by the raw lyrium's poisonous effects, yet Caitlin felt almost physically sick just looking at it. Anders and Bethany were pale and controlled, but Fenris' face was agitated. There was no way of telling how the proximity of this amount of lyrium would affect his tattoos, she realized. Just then, something stirred on the far side of the vein.
Caitlin stepped back involuntarily even as her brain refused to process what her eyes saw out there. She tried to form words. A twisted shape? A monstrosity? A teeming, seething mass? But none of it seemed adequate. The only thing she knew with absolute clarity was that whatever it was, it was evil. Pure, undiluted ancient evil. For a moment, she stood frozen in place, then she felt Fenris' hand on her arm.
"We need to get out of here, love, away from this. Now."
She shook her head. "But we can't just leave it. This must be the power the magister was referring to. We have to..."
"There is no way to reach it, Cait, even if we stood a chance of defeating it. We can't get past the lyrium. It would be suicide to press on."
"I can't believe I'm saying this but... Fenris is right." Anders' words were flippant, but there was an odd quality to his voice. His gaze was fixed on the other side of the cavern. Was that fear in his eyes? Caitlin swallowed but just then the thing writhed again and they all stepped back instinctively. There was something about the way it moved that was utterly unnatural, that defied every category they had ever known. It was alien and other and it frightened them to death.
Caitlin had never run away from danger, but this was different. It was the look on Bethany's face that decided her. Her sister had almost died once because she had stubbornly pressed on. Not again.
"All right." Her voice was firm. "We retreat. Dworkin, can we seal it off, stop it from spreading?"
The dwarf paled visibly. "You mean, set off an explosion here? With the amount of raw lyrium down there, we'd probably take down at least half of the cavern. It would seal it off alright, but there's no way we'd get out of here alive."
"Maybe there is." Anders' eyes were sparkling with excitement. "I have an idea."
They retreated to the room where they had fought the demon, and Anders outlined his plan. "There's a new spell I've learnt recently. It allows me to time my spells, make them come into effect only after a considerable delay. If Dworkin prepares everything, I could set up a fireball here and we could make our way out before it goes off."
Caitlin chewed her lip. "Sounds risky. How long can you delay?"
Anders shrugged. "Ten hours, maybe twelve. It should give us enough time to reach the surface if we don't dawdle. No exploring of side tunnels, no opening of ancient graves." He grinned at her, remembering the old times when she would insist on leaving no stone unturned.
"It might work." Dworkin's face showed a grudging respect for the mage. "Pity about the lyrium vein though."
"Forget the lyrium! There's no way to mine it anyway with that thing in there. Plus the explosion will permanently close off this part of the Deep Roads, making the exit safe as well." Sigrun looked excited. "Let's do this."
Caitlin nodded. "Right. Set it up, Dworkin, Anders. The others, prepare for the way back. Gather what we need. Leave behind what we can do without. Use up the potions if necessary, and rest while you can. There'll be no second chances."
A huge thank you and hugs to zevgirl for her encouraging words and her endless patience with my punctuation errors. ;-)