Lyrium Greed
Chapter 4: Integrity
Arrangements had been made and Hawke's team found a place to stay while The Revenant healed. Varric had taken the mage to a cozy inn, five streets away from the docks, inside the outer district, where they took the last three available rooms. From his room, he could listen to the hustle and bustle; officers bellowing orders to their deckhands, angry drunkards cursing fate for their bad luck and the cold beds awaiting at their homes. Your usual day in a lawless city. Another day gone, a new story begins.
The innkeeper was a kind man well into his old age, dedicated to his craft, although as sharp as any wise scholar. At least, he carried himself that way. His experience with life in Oakbrire meant he either stayed up to date or got overwhelmed by petty criminals. He was a good judge of character and cowered under no threat, for his own loyal clients respected him enough to protect his life. Hawke called bluff on that last part, just before the dwarf assured him it was all true. He promised to reveal the story once drinks were served. Tonight, it seemed, was a perfect opportunity to swim among beer and ale to forget about the impending doom looming over their heads.
Hawke and Varric were the first ones to gather at the inn tavern, ordering their first round of drinks. Curiosity forced the mage to ask first about the innkeeper's story, since the rest of the night would certainly become a tangled mess of details next morning. They expected Aveline and Isabella to join them soon, although by the time they came, Varric sipped the last of his second drink and Hawke had his curious mind sated long ago. Daylight began to drain outside. The locals started to light street lamp posts.
"This huge guy comes in, soaked to the bone, dagger ready in his hand" Varric explained to the two recent arrivals, while Hawke stood up to ask for another round "You could tell the wet armor was weighing him down, but he didn't care about it. He took some guy by the neck and threw him across the room."
"Should I be impressed by that?" Isabella said with a raised eyebrow.
"But there's more to it, Rivaini. You see, one of the poor guy's friends was none too happy about it, so what he does is take his own chair and smash it to bits on the big fella. Right in his head." Varric stopped short and leaned forward for dramatic effect. "The whole tavern went silent. Big fella turned, seemingly unfazed. He didn't even flinch!"
"Surely you must be exaggerating." Aveline said.
"Not at all! I would never lie to you! You're a crowd too small for that."
"Right." Aveline mumbled.
"So that fool got his ass kicked?" asked Isabella.
"Why was he soaked?" asked Hawke.
"Outside was raging the worst storm in history. Not a soul in the street. Big fella just gets out, ignoring the cries of the angry tavern owner for wrecking his property who runs after him only to discover he's disappeared. No one to be seen."
"Is this going to turn into a horror story?" Hawke deadpanned.
"Give me a little credit." Varric leaned back in his seat, eyeing his friends. "Besides, there is always truth to every story."
"What happened next? Did the lights go out? A child screamed bloody murder?"
"A couple of weeks later big fella's corpse was found next town over. No sign of the man he took hostage. His family mourned as if he were dead. He was never seen again."
"I'm sure he was just tired of his life and tried to find some excuse to leave his wife" Isabella said.
"And nobody even cared to investigate what happened?" asked Aveline.
"Not that I know of. Local authorities weren't even able to know who the big fella was, so people started with the demon talk."
Hawke scoffed, toying with his ale tankard "I'm guessing Templars closed the matter quickly."
"Exactly. They wanted the matter behind them as soon as possible. They had their scapegoat, they took it."
"The way I see it, that is one big piece of crap."
Varric shrugged after a new swig of his drink. "We'll never know."
"Let me tell you, Varric," a new voice intervened "that was a mediocre story if I ever heard one."
They all turned their eyes to the source, who stood just behind Isabella arms crossed
"You've been eavesdropping on us?" Aveline frowned.
"No. I just know his stories are always mediocre" Elora smirked. Varric tried to retort, but the woman grabbed a nearby empty stool to join the group and continued speaking. "I hope you don't mind me intruding. I've had a horrible day I need to forget."
"As long as you don't mind my 'mediocre' stories" Varric mocked, air quotes included.
The innkeeper interrupted them to ask Elora for her choice of poison. The hunter settled for the strongest available, which made Hawke raise his eyebrow. Back at the Revenant, her drinking habits manifested little. When they did, never something too heavy for the liver.
"That bad?" Hawke asked after the innkeeper returned with the order.
Elora threw him a stern look which spoke volumes and dived into her tankard to refresh her throat "To top it all off, I will be stuck sleeping tonight at the Revenant" she complained, sighing.
"You can take the spare bed in my room" Aveline offered, to Elora's surprise. She was unable to hide her confusion.
"I thought you didn't trust criminal types like me."
"And you trust me?" Aveline avoided the hunter's question.
Elora stared into the liquid before her for a while. "Ah, well, life is short" she glanced at Aveline "I can't really spend it worrying about that. I will take your offer, ma'am. Thank you" she smiled in appreciation.
Aveline's plan had appeared out of nowhere, but it was solid as far as she was concerned. Her kindness possessed a specific purpose. Cleaning any doubts about Elora's allegiance came first, before her involvement became a threat. If it was not her fault, the Revenant's Captain was already investigating his own crew. Aveline stared at her black surroundings long enough so her eyes adjusted. Outside the room, the crowd talked loud, even well into the darkest hours of the night and drank as if there were no tomorrow. Activity never died down.
Their room was peaceful, the hunter never moved an inch. Asleep or still awake? Aveline did not manage to make a guess, all she saw was her backside. The task ahead required finesse, stealth, not one of her greatest talents. Still, she was hell bent on following through.
For the entirety of the trip, Aveline observed how the hunter kept each of her belongings in a leather bag which she brought everywhere, just like her own weapons. The window of opportunity stands open once, then closes until who know when. Deciding on ransacking Elora's property pressed her heart with guilt. Not a good moral choice, although necessary, she had to remind herself. Forget about it.
After half of a night drinking and chatting, her body demanded rest, much to her dismay. Youth drained from her body, but she still retained some of it. Old was not a word for her.
Elora had retired to sleep sooner than anyone else, and Aveline followed suit soon after, exchanging glances with a confused Hawke and waiting enough time to avoid the hunter's suspicion. Thus, she had been lying in bed for the last hour, struggling to hold consciousness close, just to confirm the situation ran in her favor.
Stealing one last look back at the hunter, she tiptoed to the other side of the room, where she had seen her backpack the last time. Under her bare feet, the floor shirked softly a few times, yet the hunter remained still. She touched with her right hand the wall as she reached it, then slid down and grabbed the bag after her feet collided with it. While digging inside, realization came to her. The faint light from the street lamp posts leaking through the ajar wooden window grew faint as it dispersed throughout the room. If she wanted to have an actual look at the bag contents, she needed to get near to the only current source of light. Taking the entire backpack as careful as a newborn child, she moved to the window and opened it to widen the area where light reached. Her attention turned back to the inside of the bag, clutching the first object her hands came into contact. It was soft and small, and once outside, nothing more than a quill stained with dried black ink at its hard end.
Then, it was easy to identify a small jar of black liquid as ink, so Aveline paid no mind to it and moved on. Glancing inside the bag, she found various papers and envelopes, some rather crumpled, other neat and folded. The woman took them all to lay them on the floor for further examination. She discarded paper full of stains, smudged or just unreadable. Aveline shook her head in disbelief, too much garbage for no apparent reason. While fixing the mess into two piles, she also found a notebook embroidered in its cover with a strange design. She checked once more the bag for any remaining objects only to find several drawing tools, random food, several throwing knives and a few coins in a tiny pouch. Aveline was tempted to check the notebook first, however she saved the best for last.
Several pieces of paper held a different version of the same drawing. It was as sluggish sketch in most versions, some with similar shapes, others deviated, however, there were two of them who stood out. The paper itself was stronger and more rigid than the rest, more yellow and aged and worn out. The image it showed was a single idol of a woman reaching for the skies, body so thin her skin stuck close to her bones. Her eyes were closed and her hair fell on her shoulders as a tangled mess of locks. She also held a strange object in her hand, doing her best to hide it behind herself from whatever cosmic forces beyond her reach. The picture lacked shading or coloring, except for various blue lines running along the whole idol, veins like any living being has.
Aveline flickered through the other pieces of paper around her, now understanding what it was about. She was holding the original drawing in her hands. Then, she shifted her eyes to the second paper which called for special attention. It portrayed one of the darker versions of the original illustration: a woman with hollow eyes, starved to death, bald, naked and an angry expression in her face. Blue veins were engraved in this one, too, in a more realistic pattern than the original. Overall, it delivered an amazing sensation of being true to life. Aveline admired its beauty, both of the relic and the artist capable of such a fine illustration. The idol was drawn in several points of view and had various notes and arrows around it.
"Lyrium?" whispered Aveline, as she read the note pointing to the blue veins of the idol. Then, she raised her head abruptly, for the hunter had stirred. Aveline froze, unable to even breathe. Apart from turning to her other side, Elora remained calm. She released the air contained in her lungs, as silent as she could, before continuing her search.
Other notes, such as: "Human?" "Object or power?" "Pose?" were littered around the page, but revealed little concerning the nature of the relic. Of course, all that information had to be gathered at the notebook.
After returning every last piece of paper to Elora's backpack, the woman concentrated on the notebook, hesitant all of a sudden. Nothing indicated the hunter lied about her purpose. A contract to retrieve an ancient relic. Everything checked out with her story. If there was any reason to be suspicious, the notebook was her last resource.
She opened it by its first page, finding sundry papers with unimportant information. Aveline went through every page, mainly records of old bounties and work completed in the past, until she arrived at the place where Elora's current mission was described. The hunter had extensive research written down, more than any other job. At first, it had a brilliant professional touch, reporting theories and legends with possible connections to the relic. Gradually, though, it transformed into a series of personal musings and rant. Did Elora not find anything else? Text was also supplemented with sketches every once in a while, all explaining further any points stated or describing a scheme, structure or appearance. Aveline started reading to herself some fragments from different dates.
"The object I've been tasked to find is an ancient lyrium idol, or so does the report say, long forgotten since the dwarves fled their thaigs once the darkspawn invaded. Apart from an overall description, details about it are more than insufficient, as always. The report she provided stated the relic is capable of bending a man's will and must be treated with care. In addition, it is engraved with lyrium and still somewhere in the Deep Roads. We'll see if any of that proves true. In any case, if it seems to have any magical properties, it will be easier to track down. Will start asking dwarves."
Aveline wondered about the 'she'. Was the hunter talking about a contact? Or the individual who hired her?
"Last visit to Kal-Sharok proved fruitless, just like Orzammar. There's absolutely nothing. Will have to try new approach."
"Information came in, although not a very trustworthy source. It claims the relic doesn't look like anything I thought. Back to the sketch board? Still, couldn't find anything about the lyrium engraving"
"Desperate times, desperate measures. I'm prying locals for any legends they might remember. Casteless are the most useful source. I'm getting tired of travelling between Kal-Sharok and Orzammar, though."
"I've been getting all sorts of information, wild and not so wild, so I hit the books again. This time, in an unrelated library. Jackpot. Or as close as it can get. Of course, still nothing about the relic itself, but I might have an idea of where it could be found. Primeval thaig, the first ever known, when dwarves didn't even have Paragons to worship. Fits some of the information I've been getting. If this relic has proved this elusive until now, it's because no one has seen it before, and if no one has seen it before, it still must be in the Deep Roads."
"I'm running out of time, but I know I'm getting close than I was nine months ago."
"Locals are talking. They already know me by now. Legends are shady, though, not many details. Now that I know exactly what I'm looking for, dwarven libraries became useful. It all points to a place under Par Vollen or the Free Marches. I will continue research, though, see if I can shorten the area."
"Looks like it's not going to be easy to get there. I've not been able to pinpoint the location to a 100% certainty, but either way, I'd rather not try my luck with Par Vollen unless absolutely necessary. Through that's not the point. Research says the thaig will be pretty fucking deep. As if the Deep Roads weren't deep enough."
"She is getting impatient. But I already have it all planned. Just need to find transport and people crazy enough to go into the Deep Roads. After that, I believe it will be easy to guide them down to reach the suitable depth. I've also found other information which will let me know if we've reached the thaig or not. Hopefully that will be sufficient for her. I'm so asking for more money once I'm done."
"That confirms it" whispered Aveline to herself, this time, lowering her voice. She had almost forgotten Elora lay just a few meters away from her position. The guard went back to the notebook, and settled for reading the last entry, from a few days ago.
"Found a crew. Finally. Though I'm way out of my timeline. I did some digging, just in case, and found nothing on her. I'm wondering if I'm losing my touch. It may be just because this bounty doesn't give me good feeling. Too fishy for my taste. Too late to turn back now, though."
"We're underway. People are a bit reluctant about my presence, but nothing I didn't expect. They just don't believe I want to be done with this job as soon as possible and don't care about the money anymore. Yeah, I find it strange too. I just don't like this."
Once the last page of the notebook was turned, Aveline found two sealed envelopes, which nagged at her mind harder than the feeling of unfinished business. Its contents may be vital, but opening them meant leaving evidence of her meddling.
Working as fast and silent as possible, she left every belonging in its original position, including the bag, as her mind operated with the loose ends of the mystery. It was clear Elora spoke the truth about her intentions. Creating false evidence of that claim came as an option only apt for paranoid people. Aveline was not that suspicious to believe everything she had seen was fake.
Right now, her body and mind ached for rest. Bringing in conclusions was an activity best left for the morning.
Daylight brought soft summer rain which left the atmosphere hot humid, adding to the general sense of corruption within the city. Elora won the race for breakfast, while Varric came in second place. The hunter had ordered a plate of spicy baked beans when the dwarf appeared with his own choice of food.
"Go strong or go home?" Varric asked, while taking the seat opposite to the hunter. She stopped poking her food, then looked up.
"Spice is a great wake up call."
"Among other things" Varric smirked. "So any reason you didn't sleep in?"
"Same as yours, I'm guessing. Business. Got stuff to take care of."
"And what business is that, if I may ask?"
"Nothing much" she went back to probing her food. "Just some research."
"Being sleep deprived is not good for that."
"Ah, well, I really don't expect much from it anyway."
"So you're just doing it to kill time?
"Not exactly. Why did you wake up early, then?"
Varric made a mental note about how good the hunter was avoiding the subject. "I find the morning a perfect time to get some writing done."
"You write? As in novels? Why didn't I know that before?"
"Good question. It's outrageous you've never heard of my work. Do you even know how to read?"
Elora threw him a stern look while munching on her beans. "If there was anyone else listening to you, they wouldn't be laughing either."
"We'll agree to disagree. But if you must know, I have a few published books. And I'm working on a new project. Best one I've ever done, if I say so myself."
"I'm wondering if that's just your ego speaking."
"You just wait, hunter, you just wait."
Both rogues continued conversing about trifling matters for the remainder of the time until Elora finished with her food and left with her bag on her back after a farewell and an agreement to return later in the day. Varric decided to leave the tavern behind to find a suitable spot to set loose his muse.
Aveline found Hawke eating alone, much later into the morning, Isabella and Varric nowhere to be found. The woman approached him, sitting down quickly in a nearby stool.
"I found nothing suspicious" said Aveline.
Hawke glanced up to her, then crossed his arms. While she had warned about her intentions last night, he did not quite agree, though he would not stop her.
"That's good."
"I did find what is this relic she's looking for."
"In other words, everything you found checks out with her story."
Aveline nodded. "Aren't you curious to know what it is?"
"Should I? People like her get hired to find trinkets all the time."
"Not this one, it seems. It's so unique, she had a hard time finding anything about it."
"And you know this because…"
"She has a notebook with her research. And speaks about her employer getting impatient."
The mage raised a hand to his chin.
"And if it's so unique" Aveline continued, "it's also dangerous."
"That just sounds ridiculous" Hawke raised an eyebrow at her words.
"I'm just considering all the options. It might mean less trouble further down the road."
"Then you are still suspicious of her intentions?"
"No, I believe her intentions are true. It's her employer I don't trust. And the artifact itself."
"I guess we can only deal with that if the need arises" Hawke said, finishing the last of his food.
"Maybe we can ask Varric to make some questions and find out about Elora's employer?"
Hawke stood up to leave "Get something to eat first, then we'll talk with Varric."
"Where are you going?"
"For a walk. Possibly to speak with the Captain and see if he found out anything on his crew."
A/N: Whoa! It's been a year since last update. And a half. I hope you're still out there reading, but I already warned about this. Can't promise more regular updates, it comes whenever it pleases.
Anyway, I've come to think this year has been useful for my writing, at least, I've noticed some improvement since 2014. Hopefully you will notice, too! Feel free to comment on this matter, it would be so helpful! Mostly to see if the improvement I see it's actually real or not.
Oh, also, I know the description of the relic is different from the game. It's done totally on purpose.
Please read, subscribe, fav, scream, follow, like, retweet, share, unsubscribe, unscream, unretweet and all those things you usually say here. Seriously, though, reviews are appreciated!
Until next time!