Chapter 29:
The first few days in the Deep Roads were not exciting. Sylina still hated it and everyone was relatively quiet and contemplative, except for the dwarf of course. He seemed to be constantly drunk and making horrible jokes at every moment. On the fourth day they were fighting a band of darkspawn when Sylina turned to see Morrigan changing. She screamed and the spot where the witch had been there was now a horrible large spider. Sylina stumbled back and the spider ripped the heads off three darkspawn. She saw Alistair charging the spider and it hissed at him. Sylina shouted that it was Morrigan and Alistair stared at her, dumbfounded. After the battle Morrigan changed back and glowered at them all.
Everyone avoided her until they made camp that night, or at least it could have been night or day since time was of no relevance in the Deep Roads. Sylina looked over to see Morrigan making her own fire away from everyone else and sighed. She bit her lip and walked over to the the dark-haired witch. "Um...hello Morrigan," she said taking a seat on the ground a few feet away from the witch.
"Speak Warden," Morrigan demanded, not taking her eyes off her small fire. Sylina heard laughter from the other fire and saw Morrigan flinch slightly.
"I was just wondering...what happened today?" She had been incredibly interested in the fact that Morrigan had changed her shape, but the witch had practically impaled anyone who came close to her after it happened so Sylina had kept her distance.
"You saw what happened. You have eyes, no? I changed my shape, an old skill of Flemeth's." Morrigan glanced up at Sylina before putting her gaze back on the fire. "I had thought I mentioned it before, but I was mistaken."
Sylina shook her head. "I have read many tomes on magic, though I would say I can only perform half the spells I was taught. But I have never heard of shapechanging before. I did not even know it was possible."
Morrigan frowned. "Well 'tis not unheard of. Though I would not be surprised if your Chantry kept the knowledge hidden from you. The zealots in the Chantry would destroy all practitioners of ancient magics if they could."
"I don't see why. Ancient magic should be preserved to be used by newer generations of mages. It is not dangerous...or is it?" It hadn't looked like blood magic as Morrigan had not cut herself to perform the change.
"'Tis not dangerous...for the caster. But for others..." Morrigan glanced up at Sylina again and curiosity showed. "But I'm shocked you think differently from your Chantry, being a mage of the Circle, as you were." Morrigan looked her over and a small smile tugged at her lips. "But perhaps you felt a little like a caged bird, caught within that dark tower?"
Sylina nodded staring at the flames. A caged bird indeed. Being thrown from the tower into the pit of the earth.
"I thought as much," Morrigan said, turning back to the flames. They sat in silence for several minutes before Sylina got up.
"Well, I think it is a useful skill, and perhaps someday you may teach me...if you want." Sylina smiled down at the witch and walked toward the larger fire.
Morrigan watched her go and turned back to her fire. "A most practical opinion," she muttered into the flame.
So on through the Deep Roads they went. Killing darkspawn and spiders. They found Branka's journal and headed to the Dead Trenches. They killed more darkspawn and the days began to run together. Sylina forgot how long they had been down there, she forgot how the sun felt on her skin, how the wind moved through her hair. She forgot what it felt like to be clean and well-rested. Every night her darkspawn dreams were worse. She felt as if they could see her, as if the archdemon itself saw into her and knew where she was and what she was doing. When they rounded a corner in the Deep Roads and Sylina saw a large drop off she walked toward it. She could feel the thrum of the taint in her blood. She knew that there was a massive amount of darkspawn down there. She fearfully glanced at Alistair and tiptoed to the edge.
She saw lights, glowing torches and she saw the darkness around them moving. The darkspawn moving. "By the Maker," Leliana breathed next to her looking down. Sylina could only stare. She felt weak, helpless. How could they ever defeat so many? She looked at Alistair and saw fear in his eyes as he looked at her. He knew how she felt.
Suddenly there was a terrible roar and Sylina jumped back from the edge. She almost landed on Sten, but at the last second the qunari steadied her with his giant hands. She would have said thank you, but just then a giant black dragon appeared flying up over the gorge. Sylina's eyes widened and she stopped breathing. She knew that dragon, she knew its roar. It was the one from her dreams, the archdemon. She could do nothing but stand there gaping at it as the dragon flew to a bridge and screamed its orders at the darkspawn below. And she could feel it, feel its orders, feel its very presence within her. And she felt the darkspawn respond, felt them move faster below, faster to the surface, to the Blight. Sylina shuddered and felt strong arms grab her. She blinked. Alistair was holding her tightly against him and she hadn't realized she was crying. She was crying because there was no way they could do this. They would never be able to defeat the Blight.
And so she sobbed into his ichor stained armor and felt his grip tighten. She was no leader, who was she kidding? She was a Circle mage, a girl who knew nothing and was far too innocent. She didn't know how to raise armies, how to command men. "I c-can't do this," she gasped out, her body shaking.
Alistair leaned down and put his forehead against hers looking into her eyes, "Yes, you can." His hands still gripped her and she stared into his eyes. She saw resolve. Alistair would not stop. He would try until his dying breath to stop this Blight, she knew that. She weakly nodded, because she would not leave him alone to that fate. She would fight with him...and if she should perish she would know that her sacrifice will not be forgotten.
Alistair sat down next to Sylina at the fire when they finally stopped for the night. After seeing the archdemon it had taken several minutes to calm everyone down and continue on. Alistair had stayed next to Sylina the rest of the day. She had not spoken, not since seeing... He shook his head, he didn't want to think about it. Seeing her like that, broken, crying, with fear in her eyes, had made Alistair realize that he would do anything to protect her. He would have tackled the archdemon right then and there if only to make sure he never saw her like that again.
"Alistair," Sylina whispered and he turned to her. She just stared into the flame, not blinking, not moving. Finally she bit her lip and her hands clenched. "Just...talk...make me...forget." She looked up at him and he saw the fear in her eyes.
He cleared his throat and looked toward the flames. "Um, well...let's see. I could tell you about..." His mind drew a blank, what could he possibly say that would take her mind off that?
"Tell me about being a templar," she said and he saw her hand go to the chain around her neck, he wondered, not for the first time, what hung there beneath her leathers.
"Well...let's see. I went to the Chantry when I was very young. I hated it there." He shook his head and sighed.
"Why did you go to the Chantry? What happened to your parents?" Sylina blinked at him and frowned.
"Um..." Well he had walked right into that one didn't he? Quick, think of something Alistair! "Well I was raised by devout Andrastian dogs...flying dogs actually. From the Anderfels." He blinked at himself. Flying dogs? Maker couldn't he have thought of something at least realistic.
"Well I suppose that explains the smell," Sylina commented, the corner of her lips turning up into a small smile. Alistair looked at her, shocked for a second, and then broke into a wide grin.
"And the table manners. Though I remember the other templars ate like that too," Alistair grinned at her and she laughed.
"So these flying dogs...they what? Sold you to the Chantry?" Sylina asked, smirking at him. He was surprised to see her playing along with his story and glad that it was causing her mirth. He would do anything to make her smile.
"Well now my fellow Warden. There is your first problem," he said, shaking a finger at her. "You started listening to me. I can tell you that is never a good sign."
"Oh, are we in for another Blight or just more horrible cooking?" Sylina said laughing and shaking her head, a faint 'hey' was heard from across the fire from Leliana who was usually the one cooking. "Ha, sorry Leliana."
Alistair looked at her and nudged her shoulder with his. "You don't really want to know about my life, do you? It's pretty boring."
She smiled up at him and nudged his shoulder back. "I do Alistair. If you tell me your story I'll tell you mine. I guarantee mine is more boring though."
"Oh, I doubt that. Learning magic is a giant tower, sounds exciting to me." Alistair glanced at the fire and gathered his thoughts. "Alright...I suppose I should start from the beginning then..." He told her about his mother being a serving girl at Redcliffe castle, that she had died when he was young and that the arl raised him. He told her about how the arl's new wife thought the rumors about him being Arl Eamon's bastard were true and how the arl sent him to the Chantry. How he hated it there and how he shattered his mother's amulet because he was so angry about being sent away. He told her the only thing that he enjoyed was the training itself, that he took pride in the one thing he was good at. "But I never felt at home at the Chantry, or anywhere really. Until...Duncan recruited me to the Grey Wardens. He thought my abilities would come in handy when we came up against darkspawn magic, so I've kept it up." He sighed and glanced at Sylina. Her chin was in her hand and she was gazing up at him. He smiled. "What about you? Still consider the tower home?"
She blinked and shook her head. "I-I don't know. I mean it's not like I can go back there...nor do I exactly want to."
"Not feeling a little homesick for the comfy tower?" he asked teasingly.
"Ha well..." She gestured around the dark damp passage they were in. "I guess this is my life now. I don't think I could ever go back to sitting in a tower reading books."
He frowned. "We won't always be traveling like this, you know. Eventually, when the Blight is over...well, we'll have to think about having a real home again." He sighed and gazed into the flames. "Though that seems a far ways off."
She frowned and bit her lip. Her hand moved to rest on his forearm. "Then I'll be there. Wherever the Grey Wardens go...wherever you go."
Alistair blinked and looked down at her hand. He looked up at her and saw she was smiling shyly at him. He smiled. "I...I guess I like the sound of that," he said, blushing. He saw her cheeks tinge pink and she moved her hand off his arm.
"Broodmother." The eerie voice of Hespith echoed from somewhere behind them. Sylina shuddered and turned to Alistair as they walked down the winding pathway. They had spoken to the woman after hearing her sinister poem and Sylina was not sure what to make of what she had told them. It sounded like the dwarves of Branka's house had been taken by the darkspawn, though she wasn't sure if corruption had taken them...or something else.
"I don't like thi..." As they turned a corner she saw it. The monster called Broodmother. It was disgusting, hideous. Once a dwarf and now...a creature. Sylina felt her stomach roil and she gagged. Pushing down the bile she felt her companions move around her. The mother had tentacles and was massive. How would they defeat this?
Suddenly she shouted, shouted for them all to get away, to stay away from the Broodmother. Pulling on her mana she called a firestorm down upon the once dwarf. She pulled for more and felt the heat intensify. She saw darkspawn on the edge of her vision but she focused all her energy on the flames, on making them larger, more powerful. She heard the creature shriek and scream as the flames licked her body. Then she felt her mana dip, the warning that she was low. She pulled away from the spell and watched as the firestorm dragged on. It would end soon and then the creature would be greatly weakened and still burning. Sylina looked around and saw her companions fighting darkspawn and the tentacles of the creature. She cast a spell to make their weapons licked with fire and heard Oghren shout, "That's more like it!" as he sank his now flaming ax into a darkspawn's body.
And now she was low on mana and she stayed away from the fight, dodging darkspawn and tentacles. She saw Sten reach the Broodmother, saw him launch his giant body onto her chest and his blade sank into her, where her heart would be. She heard the dying scream of the creature and Sten jump off, pulling his ichor-stained blade out. Then it started to quiet down. The darkspawn were dead or fleeing, the Broodmother was slumped, dead and her tentacles were no longer a threat.
Sylina nodded and moved amongst her companions. She saw Leliana had a gash on her side and she stopped the bleeding with magic and bandaged her up, then she moved on to Oghren who shook her off when she tried to heal his arm, saying it was nothing more than a scratch. Alistair was sitting on the ground and she found him bleeding out of his leg with Hesper leaning against him with a torn ear and a burn on the side of his body from getting too close to her firestorm. She looked around to make sure everyone else was capable of healing their wounds, she knew Sten wouldn't let her use magic on him so she only hoped his wounds were not severe, before walking over to him.
"Can I look at that?" she asked, kneeling down next to his leg.
"I-it's fine, really," he tried, but when she touched it he flinched.
"Sure it is," she said smiling and pulling on her mana to heal the wound. Over the weeks of healing minor cuts, bruises and abrasions she had found her healing spell was more powerful. She would never be a Spirit Healer, as that required direct connection to Fade spirits, but she could heal well enough. She looked up as she finished closing the wound and saw Alistair staring at her. She blushed and moved over to Hesper. "Oh you poor baby," she cooed. "Did you get hurt? I told everyone to stay back from the flames, baby." Hesper whined while she pulled on her mana and he licked her hands.
"How come you don't talk to me like that when I'm injured?" Alistair asked in a feigned hurt voice. She glanced up and saw him grinning down at her.
Sylina chuckled as the burned Mabari healed. Then she hugged Hesper, smiling, and said in a baby voice, "Becaws you awe not my big adowable puppy. No, you awen't."
"You don't think I'm big and adorable?" Alistair raised his eyebrows and pouted.
Sylina laughed. "You're right, you're pretty cute." She was still sitting on the ground and Hesper was trying to lick every inch of her.
"Cute? Cute. Ouch, you really know how to hurt a man." Alistair looked hurt and put his hand on his chest as if struck. Sylina giggled and he shook his head and grinned at her.
"We should move on," Sten's baritone voice interrupted. He was standing a few feet away looking at them. He was frowning, but Sylina had quickly found out that the qunari was always frowning. She nodded, pushed Hesper off her, and stood. Alistair sighed and followed suit. Sten sheathed his sword and they headed out of the chamber. As they were leaving Sylina heard Hespith's voice from above. She looked up to see the woman on a cliff looking down at them with hollow eyes.
"That's where they come from. That's why they hate us...that's why they need us. That's why they take us...that's why they feed us. But the true abomination...is not that it occurred, but that it was allowed. Branka...my love...The Stone has punished me, dream friend. I am dying of something worse than death. Betrayal." Hespith turned and disappeared into the shadows.