Author: May Chang
Warnings: general, adventure, AU
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran
Disclaimers: Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect are the property of BioWare.
Author's Note: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.
Ghosts
Part Eight
Fergus was worried. It's been over a month already and there was no word from Shepard. Teagan had long since gone back to Rainesfere and now That Room was starting to creep back into his mind. He sat down at his desk and began to write a letter to Wynne, hoping that at least she would tell him what Shepard was up to.
His hand bumped into Aedan's amulet and Fergus looked down at it. He had taken out the amulet from his pouch and left it on the desk untouched. Again for a moment he thought he saw a familiar face smile at him and then it was gone. Picking it up Fergus looked over the amulet, wondering where Aedan had picked it up and why it made him see vague but familiar faces. There was a sudden knock on the door and Fergus looked up from the amulet.
"Come in," he called out, putting the amulet down on the desk. His seneschal entered the study and bowed.
"Your Grace," Calum greeted with a bow. "I have the weekly reports."
"Alright, let's have it," Fergus said with a sigh.
"The alienage is up and running now," Calum began, "and Elder Kegan sends his thanks for providing the extra guards. Captain Eoin has rounded up those who had been harassing the elves and gave them a warning. Those who ignored them were made to pay a fine."
"That's good," Fergus murmured.
"There has been a good increase in guards," Calum continued. "The elves in the alienage have taken up some positions as guards. This is especially good since there have been some reports of bandit activities on the outskirts of Highever."
"Perhaps we should recruit some elves for the military then," Fergus said, leaning back in his chair. "I don't like the idea of bandits prowling near our borders. Tell Sir Reilly to look into posting more soldiers on the border."
"Of course, Your Grace," Calum said. "The harvest is nearly finished and the villagers are preparing for the final harvest festival. Merchants from Amaranthine, Denerim and Redcliffe are already beginning to arrive Also it would seem that there are... proposals for you to look at."
"Proposals?"
"Marriage proposals." Fergus stared at Calum, mind going blank before he shook his head.
"I... I can't think about that," he said quietly. "Not yet. I know it's only been half a year already, but... no, no, not yet."
"Of course, Your Grace," Calum replied with a nod. His eyes softened for a moment. "I will put them aside for now. There have no trouble with the ghost area thus far though there are still signs of spirits there. The Chantry still doesn't know why but the spirits are harmless to people. They're still keeping an eye out just in case." Fergus nodded and continued to listen and Calum rattled off a few more reports before he was dismissed. He then finished the letter, looked through more documents before he gave a tired sigh.
He needed to move; perhaps some combat practice will improve his mood.
Shepard was at point again, this time moving noiselessly in the shadows. He had yet to see any signs of demons, shambling corpses or villagers, but then again he didn't think it was going to be easy. He paused, crouching in the shadows to glance back at the others who were coming before looking forward again.
It was about ten minutes later that he came upon a group of villagers. Shepard stopped, squinting down at the group as he tried to discern if they were all villagers and not zombies. Satisfied the people were indeed part of the living, Shepard then checked for any demons or a person who might be a mage before he turned and made his way back to the others.
"I count eight villagers," he whispered. "Didn't see any demons, zombies or a person resembling a mage of sorts there."
"Good," Wallace murmured.
"I need to get in the middle of them to use the spell on all of them," Lachlan said quietly. "The range is limited." Shepard frowned at that.
"I don't think dropping you into the middle of a crowd of people with pointy objects is a good idea," Shepard whispered. Aoibhe's lips thinned before she looked down, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter. "I think the best chance is to send you and Wallace on one side, and Aoibhe and I could flank them. I know I can knock out a few with the butt of my crossbow."
"Acting as decoy might help," Aoibhe said. "We put on a show, Lachlan knocks out the people in the back and then we can work on knocking out the ones we missed."
"It's a sound idea," Wallace agreed. With that they all stood up, Wallace and Lachlan heading one direction, and Shepard and Aoibhe in another. Shepard was surprised at how silent the templar behind him can move as they quickly moved to an area above the villagers.
"Hm... should we just climb down and say hello?" Shepard whispered. Aoibhe studied the group before she looked at the commander with a smile. Instantly Shepard was reminded of Ashley and how she was about to do something nuts.
"Well, we did say we're going to be distracting them," she said, sheathing the greatsword on her back.
And then she jumped off the cliff and on to three of the villagers. Shepard couldn't help but look up at the ceiling for a moment in exasperation as he listened to the surprised shouts from the other villagers and the sound of metal hitting skin before he too jumped off the cliff. Aoibhe had effectively knocked out one of the villagers from her jump and proceeded to render another unconscious with her fist.
Shepard quickly moved up to one of the villagers and swept the person's legs out from under him. A quick jab with his left sent another staggering back as the other hit the ground with a surprise grunt. Shepard quickly punched out the one on the ground, knocking the man out before he moved back to the other. Apparently the speed was a surprise to the villagers and then they were knocked forward, causing the commander to back up in surprise. He looked back to see Lachlan and Wallace approaching them, the latter giving Aoibhe a long-suffering look.
"Really?" Wallace asked in exasperation. "Really?" Aoibhe just smiled at him cheerfully.
"So... how long will they be out?" Shepard asked, gesturing to the unconscious villagers. "Long enough for us to find a crazy blood mage?"
"Hopefully," Lachlan said, looking at the villagers as well. He toed one of them before he looked at the others. "I say we start looking for said crazy blood mage."
It was another twenty minutes with Shepard at point when he found more villagers... and zombies. Shepard paused, tilting his head slightly as he squinted at the zombies. They looked like clothed Thorian creepers to him and he shuddered at that. He then scanned the vicinity for a blood mage or other demons, but found none. Quietly Shepard made his way back to the others.
"Eight villagers... and about ten zombies," Shepard reported in a low voice. Wallace scowled at that, most likely unhappy at the idea that people were killed to house demons in their corpses. Shepard had to agree with him, thinking about the husks the geth had created through unwilling human victims. He didn't like the idea of innocent people dying.
"How do we want to play this?" Shepard asked lowly. Apparently that terminology wasn't used as he received three confused looks. "Er, how do you want to proceed?"
"Lachlan and I will deal with the villagers," Wallace said. "I think you and Aoibhe will be enough to take care of the zombies." Shepard and Aoibhe nodded, and again they split up from each other. Pulling out his crossbow, Shepard led the female templar towards the group and stopped, crouched down nearby. Aoibhe crouched down next to him and scowled. The zombies and villagers were mixed together so it was possible to injure the villagers when taking out the zombies.
Glancing around, Shepard spotted Lachlan and Wallace making their way towards the group, Lachlan already charging up the mind blast spell. He quickly aimed and shot one of the zombies in the head, causing it to stumble back and weakly touch the bolt in its head in apparent astonishment. A second bolt embedded itself in the zombie's throat and it staggered for a moment before it keeled over. The villagers gave no reaction but the other zombies did, growling as they moved towards Shepard's location.
"Nice shooting," Aoibhe said as she stepped out of cover, drawing out her greatsword.
"Thank you," Shepard said, also stepping out of cover, crossbow trained on another zombie. He fired, hitting it in the head again before he slapped in another bolt, cocking it and firing it into its throat. "Two zombies down, eight more to go." The villagers turned at the sight of them, about to move in when Lachlan cast his spell, rendering them unconscious. The zombies were all knocked forward but unlike the human villagers, weren't knocked out as they slowly got back onto their feet. With the innocent villagers out of the way, they all focused on the zombies.
"Fuck!" Shepard swore, ducking and falling back from one of the zombies. He quickly shot it in the head as he pulled away from it, scowling as the zombie turned to follow after him with a snarl. "Well, at least you're right about demons able to see me through mortal eyes, Lachlan!"
"Good! To! Know!" the mage grunted out as he cast a healing spell on Wallace before he whacked one of the zombies with his staff. The templar himself cut down another as Aoibhe let out a war cry and proceeded to charge into two of the zombies. Shepard just swore again as he shot up the zombie that was chasing him before whacked another in the face with the butt of his crossbow.
Jumping back and loading his crossbow Shepard was about to shoot the zombie when something hit him hard. He saw stars as he stumbled to the side and into the cave wall. Shepard still shot the zombie in the head, effectively taking it out before he turned to see what had hit him. An energy ball came flying at him and Shepard ducked, feeling a rain of rocks fall on him as the energy blast hit the wall above him.
"Found the blood mage!" Shepard shouted, rolling away from the blood mage's view. His head ached and he felt like Wrex had just punched him in the side. Another zombie fell and Shepard looked up to see that the others had finished off the last of the undead. Lachlan strode over to Shepard and cast a healing spell on him and in seconds Shepard felt a lot better. Lachlan pulled out a vial of some blue liquid and drained it as Aoibhe and Wallace moved forward. Wallace took a peek around the corner then jerked back as another energy blast came out.
"Oh, this is going to be fun," the templar muttered. Shepard gave a grim smile as he totally agreed with Wallace's assessment of the situation. Lachlan cast a spell on the templar, causing a glyph of sorts to appear under his feet. Wallace readied his shield and looked at the others. "Follow me then."
With his shield up, Wallace turned the corner and made his way quickly towards the blood mage. Aoibhe, Lachlan and Shepard followed after him, the commander wincing as an energy blast bounced off the templar's shield. Somehow Wallace managed to keep moving forward despite the bolts fired by the blood mage and Shepard moved slightly to the side to see what was in front.
"Wallace, villagers straight ahead!" Shepard called out. Wallace let out an annoyed snarl before literally bashing his shield into the villagers. A mind blast spell from Lachlan felled about a third of the villagers as Aoibhe struck one with the pommel of her greatsword. Seeing as he couldn't shoot the villagers, Shepard smashed the butt of his crossbow against one of the villager's head, knocking him unconscious before he slung it onto to his back and got into a ready position. Clearly this wasn't to be expected by the villagers and before long, he had flipped a few onto the ground and incapacitated the others with brutal efficiency.
Good to know that his hand-to-hand combat training was still at tip-top shape.
Lachlan was busy healing and doing some other spells to aid Wallace and Aoibhe, and it looked like whatever spells the mage cast on Shepard had him fighting even better and not feeling tired. Still it would be better if he or one the others could get to the blood mage as she was still shooting them with energy bolts and looking rather smug.
There was a howl and Shepard jerked to see that the blood mage had summoned demons. A whirling blue portal was at her back and the commander figured it was the portal to the Fade that Lachlan had talked about before. Still seeing the demons, Shepard knew he could take down without help.
"I've got the demons!" he yelled out to the others, pulling out his knife and running towards one of the fire demon. He liked hitting those first as it would injured the others, and since none of the demon could see him to stop him, Shepard quickly slashed the fire demon and ducked behind one of the big ones. The fire demon hit the ground and exploded, fire burning the other demons and causing them to howl in pain. Shepard moved out of his cover and took down another fire demon, again using a big one to cover him as the demon exploded.
Sure enough taking out the fire demons had confused the rest of the shades and gave Shepard the opening to take down the other demons one by one. He narrowly avoided an energy bolt from the blood mage and he turned to look at her, taking in her furious expression as she threw another bolt at him.
"Take out the mage, Shepard!" Wallace shouted. "We've got the rest!" Shepard barely nodded as he turned and ran towards the mage, backstabbing a few shades on the way. A couple fell from his attack and Shepard gave a grim smile as he dodged another bolt from the blood mage, sheathing his blade and pulling out his crossbow.
"Why aren't you attacking him?" she screeched at the demons, throwing another blast at Shepard. He ducked behind some rocks to avoid the blast then jumped over them and continued on towards the mage. The blood mage gave a frustrated growl and threw another bolt. This time Shepard dodged the bolt and fired a bolt of his own at the mage. Luck was on his side as it caught her in the shoulder, causing her to stagger back and stared in bewilderment at the arrow protruding from her shoulder. "What—?"
The commander quickly slapped in another bolt, drew it back and fired it at the mage. The bolt went through the mage's neck and Shepard heard a surprise gargle as she grasped at her neck, touching the bolt. She looked at Shepard, mouth opened and still gargling as she fell to her knees. Mouthing something the blood mage fell forward, fingers clawing the ground. Shepard moved towards her, slinging the crossbow onto his back and pulling out his knife to make sure that the woman was dead. It took her a few more seconds before expelling one last breath and Shepard checked to make sure.
The sound of bodies dropping to the ground caused Shepard to look over his shoulder, seeing the still-alive villagers passed out on the ground. The few demons he passed were quickly dispatched by Aoibhe and Wallace. With one more glance at the body of the blood mage Shepard got up and jogged back over to the templars and the mage.
"She's dead," he reported.
"Good," Wallace panted out, bending over a bit. Aoibhe was equally out of breath, her greatsword in one hand as she ran her other hand through her hair, wiping away the sweat. Lachlan moved over to Wallace, casting a healing spell on him before he sat down heavily, pulling out another vial of blue liquid and drinking it. Shepard looked over at the gateway to the Fade as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He frowned after a moment, feeling a moment of familiarity.
"Shepard?" The commander started, turning to look at Aoibhe who had called out to him. "Is something wrong?" He opened his mouth, closed it as he glanced back at the gate and then looked back at Aoibhe.
"I... I don't know," he said with a frown. "Something about that gate is... really familiar, like I've been through it before." Shepard wanted to walk up to the portal to... to...
"I think you better close it now, Lachlan," Shepard said, taking a step back and giving the portal a wary look. "I... it..." He wasn't sure what to say, unsure if he wanted to go through the portal as his mind wanted to or get as far away from it as his gut told him to. Usually when his mind and instinct were conflicted, it was usually his instinct that was right. The mage and templars were looking at him with a confused expression before Lachlan stood up and walked over to the portal. He made a thoughtful noise as he looked over the whirling blue gate. Shepard took a deep breath, feeling rather anxious for some reason before he caught a concerned look from Aoibhe.
"I... I think I can do it," Lachlan said after a while. "Yes, I think I can, except I'm pretty sure that there are going to be demons coming out to stop me from closing it."
"We can take care of the demons," Shepard said with a shaky grin. "Just concentrate on closing that portal." Lachlan gave him a nod, turned to look at the gate and took a deep breath before he started to work. Shepard absently flipped his knife as he nervously scanned the room for any hostile demons before he looked back at the portal.
"What are you feeling?" Aoibhe asked, looking at the portal. Shepard thought for a moment.
"It's... I feel... the portal is calling me," Shepard said slowly. "I feel like I need to go through but my gut is telling me that it's a bad idea." Aoibhe frowned, looking from Shepard to the portal and then back at him. Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by a roar as shades made their presence known.
"Lachlan?" Wallace called out as he readied his sword and shield. "Work faster."
Fergus was surprised to see Nathaniel arriving at Castle Cousland the next day. He had honestly thought that the man would do his best to stay as far away from Highever and Fergus himself. Still Fergus was glad to see the Howe even if his men were leveling hostile looks in Nathanial's direction.
"Nathaniel!" Fergus greeted with a smile. The Howe stiffly bowed his head in Fergus's direction.
"Your Grace," he acknowledged. "I apologize for the surprise visit."
"Not at all, a Grey Warden is always welcomed," Fergus replied, shooting a look at his own men. He could tell that the guards were not pleased with the idea that a Howe was welcome, even if he was a Grey Warden. Gesturing for the Grey Warden to follow him, Fergus made his way to the study. "What brings you to Castle Cousland?"
"...letter from the commander," Nathaniel replied after a moment. Fergus could feel the tension from the man behind him and he mentally sighed. He couldn't blame Nathaniel for being wary in a castle filled with people who hate him due to his father's actions. Personally Fergus had hated Rendon Howe for killing his family, but Nathaniel had nothing to do with the attack as he had been in the Free Marches then. Arriving at the study Fergus motioned for Nathaniel to take a seat as he closed the door and then moved to to his desk. The Howe pulled out an envelope and handed it over to Fergus without a word, and the teryn took it.
Fergus sat down, opened the letter and quickly read through it before giving a frown. Calum had reported about bandits on the outskirts of Highever, but from what the Warden-Commander wrote it would seem that it was a bigger problem that either he or Calum had thought. Fergus was also concerned by the conspiracy to murder the Warden-Commander.
"Did you encounter any bandits on your way over here?" Fergus asked. Nathaniel gave a snort, leaning back in the chair and crossing his leg.
"I highly doubt bandits would want to fight a person who can kill them in more than twenty ways," Nathaniel replied snidely. Fergus chuckled at that, though he still made a note to get Sir Reilly to look into the situation. He put the letter down, absently tapping his fingers on the letter.
"Lady Caron also mentioned a conspiracy...?" Fergus asked. Nathaniel's expression darkened.
"Ever since His Majesty bequeathed Amaranthine to the Grey Wardens, the banns there have been... annoyed," Nathaniel explained. "Of course they were all loyal to father, and seeing as the Warden-Commander is an Orlesian they're doing their best to get rid of her. Don't worry, Caron knows what she's doing."
"Of course," Fergus replied neutrally. Most Orlesians seem to enjoy intrigue and with the way the conspiracy was done, it was probably infantile to the Warden-Commander. "Now that that's out of the way, would you like to stay for the night?" Nathaniel was silent for a moment before he spoke.
"Why?"
"You're a guest here," Fergus replied, confused by that. Nathaniel shook his head.
"No, not that. Why are you being nice to me?" Nathaniel asked. "After everything my father has done to you and your family, you should be doing your best to hang me."
"Ah." Fergus rubbed his forehead. "Well, as you said, it was your father that attacked. You, on the other hand, had nothing to do with Rendon Howe's action to my family. Why should I blame you for what your father did?" Nathaniel seemed to pale at Fergus's explanation, sinking lower in his seat.
"I see the Cousland kindness still runs deep," he replied softly.
"Stay the night, Nathaniel," Fergus said. "It'd be nice to talk to you again." Nathaniel was quiet for a moment before he nodded. Fergus smiled, feeling like he won a battle.