Dragon Age 3: The Return of the Maker

Chapter 2: A Revolt, An Escape, and a Tunnel

Hey, everyone. Sorry for this really long delay. I can say it was from a combination of writer's block and laziness. Please review. I do not own Dragon Age or any of the characters. (Unfortunately).

"The time has come to act. There can be no half measures," he preaches to First Enchanter Orsino. She watches, stunned, as she begins to feel a low rumble amidst the stone and the rubble on the ground.

"Anders, what have you done?"

He does not look at her when he tells her that it had to be done.

As he finishes, she can see a beam of light erupt from Hightown, from the Chantry. She does not know if it is real, or if it is just a trick of light playing upon the buildings. Or if her eyes deceive her. But then she can see the huge chunks of rock fly into the sky, and the once towering statue fall to the ground. It is then that she knows that it is real. The screams of the citizens of Kirkwall make sure of that.

"There can be no peace," she hears him say, but everything seems so distant. Her eyes do not acknowledge the surprised and shocked looks of her companions, least of all those of Orsino and Meredith. She does not see the resolved look on Anders face. All she registers are the screams and the aftershock. The screams never seem to end.

And then everyone is gone. Orsino has told her to meet him in the Gallows and her other companions stand far away from her looking altogether unsure and indignant. Anders is telling her that this is the justice all mages have awaited. The Champion, as she is called, is torn between anger and pity. She wonders if Bethany is pleased with this and then realizes she would just be as furious as Meredith was.

"I might have understood if you only told me," she answers. She imagines the Grand Cleric torn apart by the blast, and all the innocents that went to the Chantry for peace, not for death. What would she have done had he told her?

"But what if you stopped me?" Is the question she is asked. In her heart she knows that she would have. "The world needs to see this. Then we can all stop pretending that the Circle is a solution."

A sudden anger rises from deep inside her as she feels the bitter sting of his betrayal and murder. Even though she agreed that the Templars, namely Meredith, had gone too far, now she was debating over her previous decision to aid Orsino. How many more innocents would die?

"Whatever you do, just do it," Anders tells her from the broken crate on which he sits. She knows what must be done as she reaches for her dagger.

More images flash through her head of the men, women, and children lost within the explosion. Justice needed to be served for the lives lost because of this one man. The man which she loved with all her heart. "You deserve to pay for what you've done," she can hear herself saying, but she feels out of her body. If she was about to do this, then she had to be.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad it's you. It was nice to be happy…for a while," he says, finally in the surprisingly still air of Lowtown. One had to concentrate to hear the far away sound of fires burning down houses. She does not breathe as she drives her dagger into his back and watches him fall to the ground, lifeless.

Kaira Hawke awoke with a start from her bed, dripping with sweat and breathing heavily. It took her a moment of glancing around to realize that the large room filled with dressers and trunks was her bedroom in Hightown. She is filled with a sudden urge to call out for her mother, but then she remembers what became of her mother and the small grave that she is buried in; the one which she and Gamlen dug together. The only reassuring thing she finds in her room is the strong mabari war hound sleeping peacefully near the fireplace. Kaira watched as his sides rose and fell slowly in rhythm with his breathing and she was finally content with the knowledge that something she loved still breathed.

Lifting the covers off her small frame, she sat up and stared into the crackling flames of the fire which Bodahn had so kindly made for her. Amidst the burning embers she saw something familiar. It was a face.

"Anders?" She asked softly.

Another crackle caused the strange placement of the embers to shift, and the face was gone. It had probably been her imagination, she thought to herself, and felt that annoying sense of foolishness return to her. She could never seem to forget about him, and when she did finally let her mind wander, something would pop up to remind her. It was exhausting and made her feel out of touch with those around her. Kaira supposed it was only natural, though. It had been less than two weeks ago that she killed him. Everything had changed after the final battle. Isabela left her once again in search of riches on her newfound ship, Merrill had gotten wind of a different Dalish tribe in the area, and left to join them, Sebatian abandoned her when she allied with the mages, and Aveline was planning to move back to Ferelden with Donnic. Kaira felt altogether alone. She could not go to Fenris, who had been deeply jealous of her relationship with Anders, and not to Varric, who knew little when it came to matters of the heart.

Sighing, the weary Champion rose from her position and made her way out of her bedroom, still clad in her bed clothes. Her movement alerted her mabari, which quietly followed suit. Remembering the spot where Anders had stood on the balcony, a familiar wave of sadness and loss washed over her. But this was not the first loved one she had lost. Her fearless and headstrong brother Carver was killed many years ago, and she still could not let herself remember the sound of his bones cracking from the strength of the ogre's hands. Her loving, treasured mother was taken from her by the madness of a pyschopathic mage wishing to reconstruct his dead wife. Finally, there was Anders, the one person she knew in her heart she could have saved, but she took his life with her own blade, not because she wasn't smart enough, or quick enough.

Kaira traced her fingers across the relatively cool stone of the balcony. His hands had been here. He had been here, alive and smiling at her. But not anymore. She briefly wondered what had become of his body, but then she remembered there had been a fire soon after the battle with Meredith. His ashes had probably wafted all the way towards the Wounded Coast by now.

The sound of her dog's barking startled her out of her Anders-focused daze. A pounding on the door promptly followed. Looking out the nearby window, Kaira saw that it was easily the middle of the night. The caution that was building within her drove her to pick up her nearby blade and creep toward the door, prepared for whatever may lie in wait.

As quickly as they had dissappeared into the mirror, they were both enveloped in light, and then they were in a field. It was night, wherever they were now and Jacen could faintly smell the sea. He was lying down, and the tall grass was so thick he could barely see anything surrounding him. If he peered hard enough, he could see a cluster of trees in the distance. A terrible fear struck him when he looked around and could not see the supple frame of Morrigan. He dared not to call out her name, for fear of beasts roaming the plains, but he doubted that she would teleport them to an unsafe place.

Getting up quietly, he dusted off the soil from his armor and paced around in search of her. Had she abandoned him again? Was the mirror just a ploy to leave him and get him off her trail? His heart raced wildly, and he would have been sweating, had the relatively slow breeze kept him cool. His fears were assuaged, though, when he saw her appear out of a black portal beside him. She staggered, and he motioned out to catch her. Jacen could smell the sweet scent of pines on her. She had obviously kept to heavily wooded areas in their separation.

"Morrigan..." He said. She looked up at him with her cat eyes and kissed him. He could not get enough of her.

Jacen tore off the heavy gloves he wore so that he could once more feel her skin. It was light and creamy and soft. How had he survived without feeling it? Morrigan closed her eyes and let out a soft moan. He trailed his on the small of her back and up, so that he could undo the skimpy clothing that she wore. Her small hands helped him as he removed his terribly heavy armor. Skin against skin, it was almost too much for him. With all the conviction he had, he knew that he had to have her then and there, or he would desperately need to have a dip in that, probably ice cold, ocean.

There was only a small bump on her stomach, where his child grew. He placed his hands on the bump, kissed it, and removed her underclothes. Without her gaze breaking his, Morrigan removed his as well. He kissed up her body, trailing his hands along with his mouth. Jacen kissed her once more. Then they were lost in each other admist the tall grasses.

She readied herself for an attack as she barely opened the door. To her relief (she let out a verbal sigh), it was Bethany. "Sister," Kaira said, calmly. "Come in." Without saying hello, and with barely a look, Bethany nearly ran inside the house. Her mabari jumped up excitedly, and tried to lick Bethany's small hand.

Bethany's previous blank expression almost immediately transformed into one of horror and worry. "Kaira, something's happened..." She trailed off.

Her sister could tell something was deeply troubling her. "Wait, would you like to sit down? Have some water, maybe?" Kaira motioned towards the table in the adjacent room.

Bethany shook her head so fast it appeared as though it was going to fall off. "No, no. There's no time," she pleaded.

"Tell me what's wrong, then." Kaira could not help the seed of worry begin to creep its way into the back of her mind.

Her sister began to pace around the room. "The other mages, they've started to attack people. Demanding compensation for the way the templars treated them. The Gallows, it's on fire. Before now, everyone was complacent, and didn't know what to do now that Meredith was gone. There were some that had the ideas for a violent call to action to save the mages from other towers. They-" Bethany was saying all of this so fast, her face had become flushed. She took a deep breath. "-They captured any living templars a few days ago, and have been using magical forms of torture. Many of them died the first day. But...Cullen, he...he made it, so they executed him. They've hung his body on the gates to the city."

Kaira was speechless. How had that much been occuring right outside her door, and she hadn't noticed any of it? Had she really been that focused on Anders that she missed that much? The death of Cullen? She could have prevented that, had she just made a simple speech to the mages. She realized that she had been sleeping most days, but when she couldn't sleep, she paced around her house, with weary eyes from Bodahn. She never asked for news, so she never got any. She couldn't even remember the last time she had eaten.

Bethany saw that if Kaira had an appropriate response, she wasn't about to say it. "The mages, they're plundering and burning houses, and killing people not far from here and...they're using your name as their battle cry. I was able to get out of the crowd and rush here. I needed to warn you...They're planning on taking you hostage and forcing you to lead them. If not..."

How could they do that? After everything? She had sacrificed so much to aid the mage cause, and now they are acting worse than their enslavers. Kaira was furious...and scared. "If not, what?"

Bethany swallowed. "They're going to kill you to make it look like Cullen and his templars murdered you. They'd pretend like you were a martyr, then." Kaira's sister searched in the Champion's eyes for guidance. She found nothing but confusion, anger, and fear. "We need to leave Kirkwall. Now. I know a passage out of the city. There's a tunnel in Darktown."

"I'll get a couple things. Wake Bodahn and Sandal. Tell them to pack only essentials," Kaira instructed. She looked towards her faithful four-legged warhound, and pulled out two trinkets that belonged to Varric and Fenric, respectively. "You know what to do. Find me afterwards. Hurry." The dog sniffed the objects, licked his master, and ran out the door as fast as his paws could carry him. Kaira turned her back to her sister and raced up the stairs.

Throwing on her champion armor, grabbing her daggers, and stuffing her various potions and other clothes into a small sack, she was ready in less than five minutes. "Damn," she said to herself, "I was faster getting out of Lothering." Kaira then ran back to the balcony quickly, touched Ander's stone quickly, and made her way down the stairs and out the back door with Bethany, Sandal, and Bodahn.

Finally, with all his armor back on, Jacen was ready for whatever Morrigan had in store. "Where to, my lady?" He teased.

She smiled and looked out towards the plains, and spotted something towering above the shore in the distance. "Kirkwall."

"We're in the Free Marches?" he asked.

She scoffed nonchalantly. "Obviously. We need to find a mage named Orsino. He has some very interesting knowledge."

He moved towards her. "About what, exactly?"

"You'll find out in time, my love." Morrigan put on her shoes, and began to trudge through the plains, carefully avoiding fallen trees and puddles of water. Jacen caught up with her, but found it difficult to maneuver in his heavy plate armor. "But first, there should be a tunnel somewhere not far from there. We need to go through that. Kirkwall doesn't take too kindly to apostates showing up at its gates."

"You'd be surprised how no one seems to care in the big cities. We just need to blend in."

Morrigan frowned. "We shall act like refugees. They have plenty of Fereldens in this city."

Jacen merely nodded in agreement.

How was it? I tried to make this chapter longer, since I don't know when I'll update next. Please review.