The journey to the Breach was quiet. The ranks of the Inquisition marched with haggard breaths towards the Temple of Sacred Ashes, or what was left of it. Dane and Iron Bull led the masses, carving a jagged path through the snow.
The Qunari made a good walking companion, letting Dane drown himself in his own thoughts as he forged ahead. There was one whisper in his mind that stuck. It twisted and turned, nagging and biting like a persistent horsefly. It was the fact that this was quite likely the last time he would see the outside world, and those he had met in it. 'Then it'll be back to a Circle,' He thought with a bitter sigh. 'One of those still standing, anyway. Bet that'll make Vivienne's day.'
"Thought you were meant to be saving your energy."
Dane turned at the interruption of his miserable thoughts. Varric was plodding along behind him and Iron Bull, being sure to walk in their larger footsteps. He slowed, matching pace with his friend.
"Distance."
"Ah." Varric replied, a knowing smile spreading across his face. "How's it treating you?"
"About as well as you'd expect," Dane mumbled. "There's only so much snow I can run through."
Varric chuckled; his rough, throaty sound. It transported Dane back to the few evenings he had spent in the tavern. Ale and a haze of pipe smoke, friends and jokes that made his stomach ache from laughter. 'Everything you're about to lose.' The pestilent voice needled through the memories. A frown deepened along his features.
"And this whole demon-rift business?"
He turned away from Varric and focused on the freshly trodden snow, thanks to Iron Bull. His guts had been coiling tighter with each closing step to the Breach.
"What if I can't seal it? And if I can, what happens after?"
Varric shrugged, throwing his hands up in defeat.
"None of us know that. Whatever happens, that thing has got to be sealed. No two ways about it, I'm afraid. It just so happens you're kinda the catalyst for this whole thing."
Dane sighed. He hardened his features and forced himself to walk faster, despite the protestation from his calves.
"That's the problem."
The rest of the journey passed in a silence laden with unspoken words. It only lifted once the Inquisition forces made the final descent into the basin of the ruins; no words needed for what they faced. The temple remains were much as they had left them; as blackened and gut-wrenching as before. The only difference being that the snowfall had masked the stench of charred flesh and rot somewhat. 'Thank the Maker for small mercies.' Dane thought with a grimace. Something awful crunched beneath his boots.
He climbed the final set of crumbling steps to the centre of the rubble. The mark on his hand flared into life of its own accord as he approached. It glared the same emerald colour of the Breach above. He craned his neck, casting his anxious gaze toward the vast wound in the heavens. Two sets of footsteps sounded in his ears as he studied the sky. Solas and Cassandra stood proud and determined at his side, waiting for his signal.
"It's a pity I don't have a witty one-liner prepared." Dane said with a wry grin, lowering his gaze. With jaw clenched and hand burning, he cast forward.
Haven was no longer a quiet and unassuming township. The victory at the temple had transformed it into the beating heart of celebration. Dane watched from his perch in front of the chantry with a soft smile. Roaring fires dotted the snow all over the town, each circled by grinning revellers. They danced and laughed with a sense of joy that seeped into every splinter of the rustic settlement.
"Solas confirmed the heavens are scarred, but calm."
Dane didn't turn from his view of the festivities. He listened to the quiet sound of her boots in the snow as she approached.
"The Breach is sealed," She continued. "Many questions remain, but this was a victory. Word of your heroism has spread."
Dane resisted the urge to snort at any notion of him being a 'hero'. He shook his head as he replied, keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead.
"You know how many were involved. Luck put me at the centre."
"A strange kind of luck." She hummed, closing the gap between them and following his gaze to the spectacle that was Sera.
Their raucous companion sat perched on Iron Bull's shoulders, a flagon of ale in hand and singing at the top of her lungs. Dane folded his arms and bit back a smirk, catching several choice words in the lyrics.
"I'm not sure if we need more or less.." Cassandra trailed off, a note of exasperation clear in her voice.
"So what happens now? Back to the Circle with me?"
"This was a victory of alliance. One of very few in recent memory," She replied, her voice slow and deliberate. "With the Breach closed, that alliance will need new focus."
Dane frowned in confusion, not expecting that reply.
"And this new focus.. How does that include me?" The question came too swift off his tongue.
"There are still rifts to be sealed, people to be helped. The Inquisition has need of you yet, Herald."
Dane couldn't help the beam that blossomed on his face from her words, foolish as it was. The corners of Cassandra's mouth turned up in amusement. Their smiles faded gradually; his frost coloured eyes locked with hers. The look stretched past polite, into a new territory where neither of them was quite willing to glance away. Thrumming sounded in Dane's ears; only it was too distant, too menacing to be his nervous heartbeat. He tore his gaze from the Seeker in search of the source of the rhythmic thudding.
"Forces approaching! To arms!" Cullen shouted from nearby. Dane felt his stomach drop as he realised just what the noise was. A vast, dark shadow spilled down the mountains in the distance, dotted with pinpricks of orange flame.
The strumming of the lute and harks of merry laughter turned into cries of panic and the shrill of alarm bells. The villagers scattered in frenzy as Dane and Cassandra reeled, taking in the sheer amount of enemies that were approaching.
"What the.." Cassandra breathed, unsheathing her sword. She took a step towards him, brushing her arm against his chest as she passed. "We must get to the gates."
The pair tore from the chantry to the wooden defences where a crowd had amassed. The Commander paced back and forth, his hands twisting against the pommel of his sword.
"Cullen?" Cassandra demanded.
"One watchguard reporting," He replied in one stressed breath. "A massive force. The bulk are over the mountain."
"Under what banner?" Josephine stepped forward, wringing the fine gold material around her wrists.
"None."
"None?" Dane and the Ambassador asked in unison.
The Commander opened his mouth to respond, only to clamp it closed when the gates they stood before shook from a powerful impact. Dane and Cassandra surged forward; she with her blade at the ready and he with magic crackling at his fingertips.
"I can't come in unless you open."
The voice was young and shaky, prompting Dane to wrench open the gate and rush out. He skidded to a halt on the icy path, spotting a brute of a man stalking towards him. The ball of energy died in his hand as the warrior collapsed with a gurgle. A slender ghost of a boy pulled a wicked looking dagger from the body.
"I'm Cole, I came to warn you. To help," The boy gushed, darting over the fresh corpse. Dane stumbled in retreat, taken aback by the strangeness of the encounter. "People are coming to hurt you. You probably already know." A pale hand grasped his arm, his grip vice-like.
"What is this? What's going on?" Dane managed to utter out.
"The Templars come to kill you."
"The Templars? Is this the Order's response to our negotiations?" The Commander questioned angrily, advancing on the young man.
"The Templars went to the Elder One," The boy's strange hat flopped in a comical fashion as he shook his head. "You took his mages. There."
Dane followed the pale hand he pointed towards a cliff. A grim looking warrior stood on the precipice, watching their exchange. Dane heard several sharp intakes of breath as a skeletal creature materialised from shadow next to the man; towering above the battlefield.
"He's very angry you took his mages." Cole whispered, his statement settling like lead on all those that heard.
The trebuchet fired with a resounding crack. Dane stood back from the contraption, following the boulder's trajectory with bated breath. The rock sailed through the sky, crashing into the mountainside with a resonant boom. He and his companions fell quiet as a rumble began to thunder from the landing site. The snow broke away and made its terrifying descent down the cliffs. The dark stain of the Templar troops disappeared as the avalanche swallowed up everything in its path.
He heard shouts of joy from behind as the few remaining soldiers realised the bulk of the enemy forces had been engulfed by snow. The celebrations were short lived, cheers dying in throats as a guttural roar sounded from the skies.
"Get back!" Cassandra shouted, unfamiliar panic in her voice.
Strong hands wrapped around Dane's shoulders, hauling him away from the trebuchet before he had the chance to move himself. Not a second later a burst of crystalline red fire smashed into the siege engine. The machine exploded into wreckage, monstrous wooden splinters embedding themselves in the snow.
"What was that?" Dane yelled, dirt flurrying around him as he leapt to his feet.
"That was a dragon." Iron Bull uttered.
"A dragon?"
"Yes, a dragon. We must return to Cullen." Cassandra interrupted, snatching up her shield.
The group made a hasty retreat, one eye glued to the heavens. The winged monster flew over the town, flinging random fireballs from its maw and screeching in fury. Cullen was waiting at the main gate into the village, shouting for any and all to get back inside.
A soldier slammed the heavy doors closed as Dane and his companions raced inside the walls, panting from the sprint.
"We must get back to the chantry. It's the only structure that might hold against.. that beast." Cullen instructed, causing a contingent of soldiers to tear off ahead. "At this point, just make them work for it."
With that the Commander strode off. Dane turned to face his friends, taking a quick headcount of those that were with him. Cassandra and Iron Bull stood ready and waiting; she sombre and unsmiling, and Bull with a manic grin stretching his cheeks. Dane blinked in confusion at the Qunari's strange sense of humour, but didn't comment. He squinted at his surroundings, taking stock of the ruined buildings.
"We need to round up any survivors." He announced, sounding more confident than he felt.
"I can help."
Dane jumped at the new voice, realising the pale boy from before had come to be at his side.
"Please let me help." Cole pleaded, looking very earnest.
"I.. okay. Cassandra, go with.. with Cole and get as many as you can. Bull, with me."
The Seeker looked like she might protest for a moment, but acquiesced. Cole seemed to melt away from his side as they set off towards the burning tavern, leaving he and Iron Bull to check the remaining cabins.
They worked well together. Bull's strength proving lifesaving when a burning rafter collapsed inside one of the cabins. They managed to save every villager they came across.
"Looks like that's everyone, boss."
Dane nodded and took one last look around the village. Cassandra and Cole caught his attention; the two running back to the chantry on the opposite side of the town.
"Let's go."
The pair made their way to the comfort of the chantry's cobbled walls, shutting out the smoke and fire behind them. Dane all but crashed into Dorian as he arrived. The mage was escorting a robed man to a nearby seat. He wasted no time in taking up the man's other arm, easing the burden on Dorian and setting him down with as much care as he could manage.
"A brave man. He stood against a Venatori." Dorian stated, his voice soft.
"Briefly.. I am no Templar." The man muttered. Dane swallowed his surprise, realising it was the Chancellor that had advocated with such fervour for his imprisonment.
"Ah, there you are!" Cullen exclaimed, striding down the hall.
He and Dorian looked up from the poor man. 'This can't be good.' Dane thought with a pang of fear. Cullen appeared even more anxious than before.
"Our position is not good. That dragon stole back any time you might have gained."
Dane brought a hand to his forehead, trying to scuff away the ache pounding in his skull.
"No communication, no demands.." Cullen trailed off, resuming his pacing along the hall.
"He only wants the Herald."
All three men started at the sound of Cole's voice. The boy seemed to have popped into their midst from thin air.
"Why? Why does he want me?" Dane blurted, grasping Cole by the shoulder to stop him from vanishing away.
"He wants to kill you-"
"Yes, I think we've established that." Dorian interrupted, his curious gaze fixed on the young man.
"No one else matters. But he'll crush them, kill them anyway.. I don't like him."
"You don't like him? I- Herald," Cullen shook his head, turning away from Cole to try and regain some grasp of sense. "There are no tactics to make this survivable. The only defence we have left is the trebuchets. We could turn them, fire them into the mountain and cause one last slide."
Dane took in the idea, frowning at the logistics running through his head.
"We're overrun. To hit the enemy.. We'd bury Haven."
"We're dying, but we can decide how. Many don't get that choice." Cullen replied, his voice sombre. Dane chewed the side of his mouth, feeling the weight of all the people that had rushed to the chantry for 'safety' crush down upon his shoulders.
"Yes.. that. Chancellor Roderick wants to say it before he dies."
He and Cullen exchanged a look at Cole's odd statement. The young man had knelt down next to the Chancellor. The man had deteriorated an alarming amount; blood had seeped through the white of his chantry robes and his breath was laboured.
"There's a path.. You wouldn't know it unless you'd made the Summer pilgrimage, as I have," The Chancellor stuttered, talking sucking the life out of his body before their very eyes. "The people can escape. Andraste must have shown me.. so I could tell you."
"What about it, Cullen? Could it work?"
"Possibly. But what of your escape?"
Dane had no answer. He moved away from the small group, feeling his pulse roar as loud as the marching drums in his ears.
"Perhaps you will surprise it.. Find a way." Cullen expressed, a slim glimmer of hope in his words.
"Perhaps."
[A.N] Had a bit of trouble with this chapter, so I apologise if the direct-quoting from the game was a bit obnoxious. Thank you to all who read, follow, favourite and review. [/A.N]