Author's Note: This chapter was difficult for me and probably went through the most rewrites, so I hope the end result is still okay. And I took some liberties with the Keeper abilities but..shhhh :)
~Rust Coloured Sorrow~
As Drea slowly roused back into consciousness, she became aware of how cold she was. She shivered violently as the chill in the air descended on her. Carefully opening her eyes, she glanced down at herself to see she had been stripped of everything and had only her under clothes for any modesty. Not sure if she was in danger, she kept still as she tried to look at her surroundings. She was in a small, dank cell and her companions were huddled near her, also with very little clothing. Even Velanna, the elf responsible for terrorizing Pilgrim's Path, was with them. From what she could see in the dimly lit dungeon area, they were alone.
With a groan, she pushed herself into a sitting position, and before the others could speak, she sighed, "Well, I wish I could say this was the first time I've woken up naked and behind bars." Getting to her feet, she brushed as much loose dirt off her body as she could. "Is everyone okay?"
Their subdued replies told her they were alright, but shaken. After another quick look around, she realized their numbers were short - the two mabari were missing. Looking at Nate, she could see the guilt on his face. Nara, Adria's mabari, had successfully imprinted herself to Nate and this was the first time he had taken her anywhere. Forcefully, Drea kept herself from thinking on the missing mabari - the possibilities sickened her. Following her lead, her companions rose to their feet as well. As they were dusting themselves off, Drea's mind ran through the last things she could remember, but it was still too muddled. Stretching her stiff muscles, she addressed the whole group, "We have to try and find a way out. Last time I was in a spot like this, I had a couple of friends come to get me, but I don't think we'll be so lucky this time…"
No sooner had the words come out of her mouth when the door to the dungeon area opened and a sickly looking elf came rushing in. "Seranni!" Velanna exclaimed, recognizing her sister.
"I'm here to get you out," Seranni hoarsely whispered as she pushed a key through the bars at her sister, "But you must hurry."
"Don't you mean we must hurry?" Velanna asked, sharply picking up on what her sister hinted at.
Quickly, Seranni shook her head, "I must stay. Please Velanna, there's no time…I'll explain later." She quickly gave directions on how to get out of the mines, and thrust the key at Velanna. Before she could unlock the cell door and stop her sister from leaving, Seranni was gone.
Velanna tried to race after her but when she opened the door two hurlocks blocked her path. As she stumbled back, Anders hurled a bolt of energy from his fingers, knocking one off its feet. Velanna was able to scramble out of harm's way and gestured at the remaining hurlock. Suddenly, roots snaked up from the ground to close in over its feet, trapping it where it stood. Nathaniel used the distraction to dash across the room to the collection of rusty weapons carelessly tossed in the corner. Finding a dagger, he threw it with deadly accuracy, sinking it into the creature's forehead. With a loud grunt, it fell backwards, awkwardly landing in the dirt with its feet still held firmly to the ground.
Immediately, Drea promised they would try to help Velanna find her sister, and she agreed to join them - at least until they were out of the mines. Together they searched the area and found all of their gear nearby and, after rushing to redress, they were completely prepared when the next set of guards came along on their rotation. The battles were short as they outnumbered the pairs of guards they came across, and the fights were a welcomed distraction from the other horrors they encountered. Each room was another set of questions - more talking darkspawn, bodies of Orlesians, and strange artifacts. One such artifact was a staff that Drea wordlessly secured to her back. Her recruits knew that normally she cared little for such things, but no one dared to ask - they just carried on to the next bloody battle. As they finally felt the incline under their feet, Drea was stricken with the realization that they were nearing the end, and even after searching all the rooms along the way, there was no sign of Arkon or Nara.
Pushing their way into another room, they were surrounded by darkspawn staring down at them from walkways several feet above them. Among them was the darkspawn that called itself the Architect and Drea realized she had seen it when she woke earlier. As with the thoughts of her dog, she pushed that memory aside - one thing at a time. Beside the Architect stood Seranni and an unknown dwarf who looked as ill as the elf. Proudly, the Architect proclaimed it was ushering in a new era for the darkspawn by freeing its brothers and the ladies with it claimed they were volunteers for the cause. Asking questions proved to be useless as the conversation began to go in circles with the Architect refusing to provide details of its work. Drea was not even able to get a straight answer regarding the mabari. Velanna finally lost her patience and tried to scale the walls to reach her sister and the room suddenly filled with darkspawn to stop her. All the group could focus on fighting their way out.
Forcing their way out of that room, they ended up in a tunnel with a sharp incline. Scrambling up it, they were abruptly greeted by the bright sun and found themselves outside. To their surprise, no darkspawn followed. After walking a few paces from the exit, Drea's mind kept repeating the Architect's words when she asked where the mabari were… The dogs? I had no use for them. The creature was so vague, but the hard expression on its face made her heart sink. Finally, she stopped suddenly, forcing the others to do the same. Turning to Velanna, she quietly asked, "Do you know where we are? Can you take us to the entrance?"
"I know where we are," she replied, "Are you sure that's wise?"
"The mabari might be there. We have to try," Drea was too disconnected from the situation to even be irritated at her judgment being called into question. Velanna nodded and started leading them to entrance they had originally found. The walk was relatively short, the exit not being as far away as Drea expected.
As they made their way down the steep path towards the mine entrance, Drea looked over the side of the raised path and saw two mounds a short distance away. They were dark in colour, almost blending with the dirt, only she could see a gleam reflecting in the sun. Before she understood why, her blood ran cold and she started in a dead run from the group.
As they started instinctively chasing after her, they saw what caught her attention. Getting closer, it was obvious she spotted the two war hounds…both bloody and unmoving…
"Arkon," Drea screamed as she drew near. One mound stirred and struggled to raise its head. It was Nara. Arkon didn't move. She stopped short at the mounds and heard Nara's strained panting, but nothing else. Sinking to her knees, her hands were outstretched to touch her beloved friend, but hovered above him. She couldn't see a spot safe to touch; it was a mess of blood, dirt, and fur. Realizing that he was pointing away from Nara, she scrambled over to his face and dropped onto her stomach. With her face in front of his, she could see his eyes were closed. "Arkon?" she asked again, her voice trembling. Nothing.
The others saw her lying nose to nose with her unmoving dog as they approached. Time seemed to slow down as her face crumpled in pain and her jaw clenched tightly. "No," she cried at her lifeless friend, "It can't end like this." Angrily she slapped her hand loudly against the hard ground by Arkon's nose. Her vision was blurred, distorted by her tears. She continued to smack on the ground trying to rouse him but afraid to touch him, "Arky…please…"
Finally, she saw his eyelids flicker. Slowly his eyes opened and rolled forward as he tried to focus on Drea. A sob escaped Drea's throat as Arkon's tongue lolled out past his lips, trying to lick her hand. His tail only twitched against the ground when he tried to wag it. As his eyes became more focused, his pain filled whimpers started. Tears rolled down Drea's cheeks as she rubbed her hand against his nose trying to comfort him. "Anders…please," she begged, "Do something."
The surreal scene had cast a spell on the group, but her pleas snapped them into reality. "Heal…dogs?" he asked, uncertain. Nate, Sigrun, and even Oghren turned to shoot Anders a glare while Drea focused on Arkon. "Won't be much different than anyone else," he finished hastily.
"I'll help with this one," Velanna offered briskly, gesturing to Nara. Without hesitation she moved over to Nara and started to build up energy within her hands. "They are your friends, not your pets. I can respect that," she added a formal tone. Anders moved over to Arkon and started focusing, trying to block out his pained cries.
Anders fell into intense concentration as it took all his willpower to make any noticeable improvement to the dying mabari. Eventually, Akron quieted and his breathing was more regular while he helplessly stared at Drea. Remaining on her stomach, Drea looked deeply into Arkon's brown eyes as her face hardened against the tears she had shed. Her cheeks were flushed from emotion – hurt, anger, and shame.
After several tense moments, Velanna looked over at the others. "This one has a dark feel I can't really describe."
"The taint. She put up a fight," Drea replied in a subdued monotone voice, finally looking up at her companions. "Just stabilize her. On the way back from the exit, I saw a grove of plants that looked out of place, but I'm sure among them was the Wilds Flower…Sigrun, they are the white ones with the dark red centre that smell very sweet. I need you to go back there and grab as many as you can carry. I can use those to make a mixture to help Nara." Looking to Oghren and Nate, she continued, "And I need you both to salvage a couple of carts on the path. We need them to get these guys home." The three dispersed quickly to complete their tasks while Drea numbly turned back to Arkon. The healers continued to cast.
Once Nate and Oghren returned with carts, they took care with moving the dogs in preparation for travel. Each of the men ended up with arms and chests smeared with dirt and blood, but no one complained. It did not take long for Drea to mix together a few ingredients for Nara, but it was hard to tell if it was making a difference as she continued to lie quietly. Moving from Nara to Arkon, Drea gently rubbed his nose and stared down at him with concern as he weakly sighed. Her companions were ready to move out when she glanced from her mabari to the mine entrance over her shoulder. A dark expression crossed her face as she turned to face the entrance, and her recruits paused out of confusion. Taking a couple steps towards the entrance, she suddenly shouted, "You're dead Architect!" Bending down to scoop up a rock, she heaved it towards the entrance and it cracked against its mark. "Dead!" she repeated at the top of her lungs. Everyone held their breath, half expecting darkspawn to swarm like ants from an anthill. There was nothing. Fighting off her foolish urge to charge back into the mines, Drea forced herself to leave.
Oghren insisted on hauling Arkon on his own while Nate and Anders took turns hauling Nara. Coming across a tiny stream, they stopped for a break and carefully helped the dogs from the carts. After they refilled their flasks, the dogs limped over for a drink. That small gesture wore them both down, and they flopped down onto the sand. Drea pulled a few bandages from her sack and silently handed one to Nate as she strode over to Arkon. Settling beside him on her knees, she wet her bandage and gingerly started to clean him. His flesh was still tender, but he remained quiet as she laboured to find fur under the mess. The exhaustion was in Arkon's eyes as he stared up at Drea who kept intensely focused on each stroke of the cloth. The rusty looking water ran off him and soaked into the sand, but even that was something Drea couldn't acknowledge.
Nate moved to Nara to clean her as well when Velanna grabbed the cloth from him and pointed towards the stream. A few paces away, Anders and Oghren were trying to clean their armour with Sigrun's help. Without waiting for his reply, Velanna sat next to Nara and began cleaning her so reluctantly Nate joined the others by the water. Drea had not ordered them into silence, but the mood was too ominous for any of them to break. Eventually, the group secured the cleaner mabari in their carts and carried on.
It was an eerily quiet walk, closer resembling a bleak processional rather than a victorious return. With their quickened pace, the journey back to the Vigil was made in good time.
As they arrived at the outer gates of the Vigil they were greeted by Seneschal Varel and several guards. With no preamble, Varel explained, "When the lookout spotted the carts, we came to see if you needed help."
Everyone slowed to a stop before Varel and his men. Everyone, except Drea. Without greeting anyone, she side stepped Varel and marched past the rest of the guards. He started to question her when he noticed it was the mabari in the cart and wisely closed his mouth. It was Anders who quickly spoke, "Someone needs to go talk to her."
"I'll go," Nate replied, already turning to leave.
"Oh, just what she needs - a Howe in her face. That'll calm her down," Anders blurted. His fatigue was written on his pale face, as was his disapproval.
"Well one way or the other, she'll probably throw things," Nate acknowledged, "at least she won't feel guilty throwing them at me."
"I've known her the longest," Oghren huffed, "I'll go."
Anders turned to the dwarf and let out an arrogant laugh, "Why? So you can go call her a nug humping sissy?"
Insulted, Oghren's face flamed as red as his hair. "Watch it boy," he growled dangerously. "I will not be spoken down to by some sparklefingers!"
Before Anders could make a comment on the dwarf's height, Nate impatiently spoke over them, "Enough. I'm going - I can't make sure the dogs are alright like you can Anders. Please, get them to the kennels." Finally, Anders relented to the look of deep concern in Nate's eyes.
Drea was in her study by the time Nate found her. She was facing away from the door, but by the motion of her arms, he could see she was busy grinding more of the mixture for Nara.
"What…are you doing?" he asked carefully. Only a brief pause in her grinding told him that she heard, but she never acknowledged him. With slow, deliberate steps, Nate crossed the floor and came up to the side of her. He could see that she was staring straight ahead with tears welled in her eyes. Pausing for a long moment, he was unsure how to continue. Her knuckles were white from her tight grip on her stone mortar and pestle. Quietly, he prodded, "He's okay, you know."
"Don't," her lips curled back as she forced the word through her gritted teeth. Desperately, she kept staring at nothing, refusing to look at Nate as she continued to grind. He kept watching her, and finally she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Stop giving me that look. I'm trying not to fall down here…I have no time. I've got to make more mixture for Nara because I don't know if that was enough to turn the tide. I have to honour Velanna's request so I need to prepare for the Joining tonight. I have to talk with Sigrun and Oghren about taking Dworkin back to that entrance to blow it up to the Maker himself. And I have to look into this," she gestured to the staff that was resting on the chair by the table. Her tone was hard, but that failed to hide the distinct waver.
Refusing to allow her to blur the point, Nate cautiously replied, "It's about more than just Arkon….I know Nara wasn't my mabari, but Adria was like a mother to me and Nara loved us kids as fiercely as she did. I grew up with them both caring for me. That dog is one of the last ties I have to that time of my life now and the thought of losing her…it makes me feel like I'm losing everything." Clenching her jaw, she continued to face wall and grind at what was already a fine powder. "And, he is your best friend. It's okay to be upset."
"Upset?" she snapped, spinning towards Nate. "Am I upset Nate? Or is this the way the world ends?" Slapping the grinder into the bowl, her voice began to rise as she spoke, "I thought I had seen the worst during the Blight, but it doesn't even compare. Those darkspawn not only talk, but were smart enough to frame a group of humans with Seranni's disappearance, tricking Velanna into declaring a one-woman war against all humankind. Do you know how frightening it is to think they can be that calculating? And I don't even know if the location was a coincidence or if they're trying to cut of us off from the rest of Ferelden. And what about this Architect 'freeing' his fellow darkspawn and starting some war in my arling? I can't even sit back and let them wipe each other out because they keep dragging us into it either attacking innocent people or targeting Wardens. I mean, they ambushed and kidnapped an entire unit of Orlesian Wardens for…experiments? I don't even know if they died or if I abandoned them to their fate. And us! They experimented on us, and I don't even know if they took something out or put something in!" Not giving Nate a chance to interject, she was almost yelling.
Abruptly she stopped as she covered her face with her one free hand. Instinctively, Nate reached over to squeeze her shoulder in support. Flinching, she twisted out of his grasp. "Don't touch me! Mabari die," she growled, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to keep it together. "They are war hounds. They die in battle, they die from infection, or from the taint, or they just die from old age. But they die. They die and they leave. I know that. Everything is falling apart, and I don't have time to worry about a dying mabari." Her voice cracked and she had to hold her breath to keep in a cry.
Softly, Nate replied, "But he's not dying…"
"Dammit Nate! What do you want from me?" she screamed as she violently hurled the mortar and pestle across the room causing Nate to jump. The white powder exploded in the air as her tools crashed into the wall, leaving a large dent, before clanging onto the stone floor. The emptied mortar rolled on its side, amazingly still in one piece. Drea pulled a chair under her as she felt her knees finally buckle. Angrily shoving the remaining bundle of flowers to the floor, she hunched over the table, burying her face in her arms and finally broke down.
As she shuddered from her muffled cries, Nate moved closer and carefully rested his hand on her shoulder again. This time, she let him.