I wanted to finish Mark of the Assassin in this chapter, but alas! My muse got ahold of me and used my fingers to type this chapter, cackling wildly as she moved away from the general outline of my fic! Anders, Fenris and Varric also contributed a lot to this! (I blame their voices! I can still hear them in my head!) The next chapter will mark the end of the DLC, however, and a step into a VERY interesting sub-plot – essential to the overall plot of the story! :D
I LOVED all your reviews, and I thank my ever-so-loyal reviewers profusely: Morninglight, anesor, Violet Enigma, Eilonwycousland, Alexandrine Jennings, Pintsizedpsycho and Apollo Wings! Cookies, cake and nice chocolate bars for you all because your reviews keep me so motivated and happy enough to continue writing! LOVE YOU ALL! :D
I also want to thank my lovely betas CouslandSpitFire and Eynla for all their help! You two ladies rock! :D
My disclaimer as always: Bioware owns everything! :D
Chapter 22
"You want to do WHAT?" Anders exclaimed.
They were all standing close to the Chateau gates, having washed in a nearby stream and changed. Rhianna and her team had indeed managed to kill a large wyvern and the Duke himself had arrived and not a moment too soon, as they had been ambushed by a crazy Orlesian called Baron Arlange. The said baron had told them that he had paid to be the first to kill a wyvern and that Hawke had 'stolen' his rightful kill. The Duke had sided with Hawke and had urged the group to attend the party, which was being held in the Chateau courtyard on the other side of the gates.
"Look, if all of us show up in the courtyard, we'll only draw attention to ourselves," Rhianna smiled at him. "If we split up and you three look for another entrance to the Chateau outside, while we look around for an entrance here, then there are less chances of being interrupted. And that means we'll get this done much sooner!"
"Makes sense," Varric agreed with a smile, which earned him a scowl from Anders. Fenris just nodded in agreement, smirking ever so slightly at Anders's reaction.
"Yes! By all means, let's get separated!" Anders's managed to say through clenched teeth. "It's not like two rogues will have ANY NEED WHATSOEVER for a healer, an archer or a warrior! Have you seen how many guards and chevaliers the Duke keeps here?"
Rhianna's response to this was to take Anders's arm and lead him gently to the side, out of earshot.
"Please, my love," Rhianna begged, giving him the slow smile that made his knees grow weak. "I know what I'm doing. I'll be fine! I promise!"
Anders crushed her to him in response, holding her tightly, the fear he was feeling still squeezing his heart. "I don't want anything to happen to you!" he finally whispered – a tremor in his voice.
"I promise nothing will," Rhianna whispered in his ear.
He captured her lips in a loving kiss – he was too afraid to show any passion at the moment because of a feeling of impending doom that had descended upon him.
Rhianna broke away from him gently, the loving and confident look in her eyes finally soothing him a little.
"Tallis says the jewel is in the vault. She knows a way through the dungeons," Rhianna whispered. "So if we get captured, we'll be back in the dungeons and you'll know where to look for us!" Anders's eyes widened fearfully at her comment and a giggle escaped her lips.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist!"
"Don't really feel much like joking now," Anders shook his head, looking positively miserable. She hugged him tightly and then gently disentangled herself from his arms, a soft smile on her lips.
"Come on," Rhianna urged gently. "We're wasting time."
…
They had been walking alongside the high walls that surrounded the Chateau for a while now. The whole place was so massive that Anders guessed they wouldn't make it back to the gates before nightfall. Varric suddenly pointed to a part of the wall that was covered in vines. The dwarf walked right up to it and grinned when he pushed the vines aside.
"I'd say that's an entrance."
"Did they honestly think nobody would notice how badly concealed this entrance is?" Fenris wondered.
"It looks like some kind of window. Where does it lead to?" Anders asked Varric.
Varric knelt and peered into the opening as best he could. The entrance was barred, and this made it difficult for him to get a good view of the place, but he could still make out what he was looking at. Satisfied, he got back on his feet again, moving away.
"I saw a couple of barred cells," he informed them.
"A way into the dungeons!" Anders exclaimed with a grin. "Rhianna is going to love this!"
"Is it big enough for us to squeeze through, though?" Fenris asked.
"Blondie?" Varric turned to him hopefully. "Do you know of a spell that could help us with the bars in this opening?"
"Well, I don't know, but freezing them could help," Anders replied as he knelt before the opening. "Frozen things tend to shatter when they are hit hard and the metal these bars are made out of looks worn and rusty. Let's see what happens."
Anders focused on his strongest ice spell for several minutes. Then, he cast the spell onto the two middle bars, freezing them solid. He stood up, and his eyes locked on Fenris.
"Your turn," he grinned.
Fenris stepped forward brandishing his greatsword at the frozen bars. He put all his weight and strength into his blow and they shattered into small pieces, leaving a relatively large gap.
Anders's grin widened just as Varric expressed his admiration. "Nice work, Blondie. You too, Broody. But I think we'll need to get rid of the rest. Not all of us are as slender as Broody here, or Tallis."
After having frozen the rest of the bars and Fenris shattering them, the opening they faced was now wide enough for all of them to slip inside. Anders turned around with a smile on his face, as he led them back to the gates.
"Let's go tell her we found a way in! Rhianna will be so happy!"
…
Meanwhile, Tallis and Rhianna were already inside the Chateau and had just made it into the vault. Rhianna was grinning as they stepped under a raised gate, only to frown immediately when the gate closed tightly behind them with a resounding crash.
"I didn't know this would happen!" Tallis quickly said in a rush. "I swear!"
Rhianna did not reply because she was looking at pressure pads directly in front of them, her brow furrowed in concentration. When she turned to inspect the rest of the place, she noticed there were pressure pads leading up the two staircases that were opposite each other as well.
"I think we'll have to do some team work to get out," she murmured finally. "I read about this in a book. It's usually a very good security system; unless you know how to disable the locks, and I think I know how. The pressure pads will eventually open the way forward, but we need to work closely together to get out of here."
"What do you mean?" Tallis asked.
"You'll have to do exactly what I do – shadow my every movement," Rhianna replied, stepping on the first pressure pad directly in front of her and waiting for Tallis to do the same. As soon as they both were standing on the pressure pads, the two gates on the stairs on either side of them raised, revealing two more pressure pads.
Tallis caught on very quickly, and soon they had stepped on each pressure pad at the same time, each one on opposite sides of the room. Working this way, they were finally able to open the gates that surrounded a wooden door, which clearly was the way out of their temporary prison.
Rhianna used one of her lockpicks to open the door and stepped inside a huge room with a frowning Tallis following close behind.
"Is something wrong?" Rhianna asked, turning to face her.
"No," Tallis began to say, rubbing her forehead – narrowing her eyes slightly. "Yes!"
They were instantly surrounded by the Duke's soldiers and chevaliers – with the Duke's personal bodyguard aiming his great axe directly at Rhianna and Tallis.
"I see the party has moved indoors!" Rhianna's snarky comment rang out and bounced off the walls. "I love the accommodations, but I'm afraid I have to leave now!"
"I'm afraid you can't!" the Duke smirked, and then turned his icy blue stare on Tallis. "I knew who you were the moment I laid eyes on you, assassin!"
"Assassin?" Rhianna echoed, turning to face Tallis with wide eyes.
"She didn't tell you?" Prosper's laugh bubbled out, his amusement making his eyes twinkle. "The elf is Qunari!"
"You're Qunari?" Rhianna gasped incredulously. Then, her countenance changed and her eyes flashed angrily. "You…lied to me!"
"Leave her alone, Prosper!" Tallis shouted at the Duke. "It's me you want!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, either! I can't risk setting her free, while there is even a small chance that she might rescue you from the dungeons. I have an appointment to keep and cannot be interrupted. And you are here to do just that, aren't you?" the Duke purred at Tallis, licking his lips.
"You lied to me!" Rhianna repeated again, her eyes shooting daggers at the redheaded elf.
"Take them to the dungeons!" Prosper ordered, his lips curling into a sneer as he turned to leave the room. "I'll deal with them later!"
…
Anders was staring at the gates in shock, the darkness concealing him, Varric and Fenris rather well. Rhianna was nowhere to be seen. As a matter of fact, there was nobody left in the courtyard, aside from the servants who were busily running about cleaning the courtyard up.
"She's in the Chateau, Blondie," Varric said soothingly. "Since she had to go to the dungeons to get to the vault, let's just go back to that entrance we found and look for her inside."
"Maker!" Anders finally croaked. "What if she's run into trouble and needs me? I'm not there to heal her, Varric!"
"Now, why would that happen, Blondie? You know she's very good at sneaking and Tallis had a map and everything!"
At that moment, one of the servants, clearly Orlesian, ran up to one of the Marcher guards and started to yell at him. "The Duke is in a terrible temper! It seems that two of his guests were caught in the vault and sent to the dungeons! Hurry up and help me finish this, so we can go back in and tend to dinner! I don't want him to yell at me again!"
Anders turned to look down at Varric in silence, the fear in his eyes clearly visible even in the shadows where they stood. The servants hurried away and they looked at each other for a few moments – too shocked to utter a single word.
"Ok, maybe something did happen…" Varric finally mumbled sadly.
"We'd better run back to that entrance we found to rescue her," Fenris growled.
"Shit!" Anders exclaimed as he turned to run back to the concealed entrance with the others. "From now on, I'm going to put my foot down when I feel something is going to go badly!"
…
"Hawke, I'm sorry I lied. I should have done my homework and – told you everything, too," Tallis said again for the fourth time. She was sitting on the floor against one of the walls of the cell, while Rhianna was still pacing the short length of the room angrily. After a while, Hawke sighed and sat on the only cot in the dusty room, trying to make sense of why Tallis had lied to her.
"So you just needed someone with an invitation to do something about the Duke meeting someone? Explain yourself!" she snarled.
"The Duke's supposed to meet someone here. Salit. He is – was – my…mentor. My teacher. He has something that he will give to the Duke and it will cause the deaths of thousands. I was trying to stop him before it was too late. I want to prevent death, not cause it!" Tallis exclaimed, a sad look in her eyes.
"But you're an assassin!" Hawke protested, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Not all paths have to lead to the same ending," Tallis whispered. She stood up and paced the room herself. "Look. I'm here because I didn't agree with what the Ariqun said – I was Ben-Hassarath and it was my duty to stop Salit. I mean, I am Ben-Hassarath…"
"It sounds like you're trying to convince yourself," Rhianna scoffed. "So you came here without anyone knowing? You're acting on your own to what purpose exactly?"
"It isn't easy – being an elf in the Qun," Tallis replied. "I thought I could win myself back into their graces, but this is more personal because Salit was my mentor like I said. He recruited me."
"And you needed someone who had an invitation to the Duke's hunting party?"
"The jewel isn't the only thing that is the Heart of the Many – the Ben Hassarath is called the Heart of the Many because of what we do. We are defenders of Qunari faith and unity. Our purpose is to ensure everything is as it should be. I couldn't let Salit put the lives of thousands in danger!" Tallis exclaimed. "You were the only one with an invitation who was not a personal friend of the Duke's and you are also Basalit-an, remember? An outsider worthy of respect."
"You know about that?" Rhianna asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
"Of course!" Tallis smiled. "Any Qunari in Thedas would look for you to ask for help."
"So I have to overlook the fact that you are one of the people I fought against to protect Kirkwall?" Rhianna frowned. "What does Salit have that can endanger the lives of so many? Who are you protecting?"
"I can't tell you that," Tallis replied with a sigh. "I was hoping you'd help me because well, you're Hawke and a legend! The Champion of Kirkwall!"
"So I just fell out of the turnip wagon, right?" Rhianna answered angrily, her cheeks red. "And you're STILL lying to me!"
"I'm not lying…exactly! I'm just - not telling you everything," Tallis said sadly. "I know the way it sounds. But believe me, you would want to help me because it means saving the lives of thousands!"
Rhianna sighed and looked down at the floor, shaking her head. The only thing that made any sense to her was the fact that she was imprisoned and still didn't know the real reason why she was imprisoned.
"I don't want to stay here to find out if the Duke wants us as a main course for dinner or anything. Any ideas?" Tallis asked.
"I'm sure the others must have found a way inside by now," Rhianna said, and then sighed. "I suppose with all this extra time, I can brush up on my knitting!"
"Can you knit me a sweater?" Tallis asked with a coy look on her face.
"No," Rhianna scowled back at her.
…
"Didn't we pass that pillar before?" Anders huffed as he stopped running, looking back at where they had come from.
"Shit. I don't know," Varric replied. "All the pillars in this place look pretty much the same to me!"
"We're lost," came Fenris's voice in a monotone.
"Hey! Don't be so negative, Broody!" Varric exclaimed. "There's another corridor on the right over there. We haven't made a right turn since we entered, have we?"
"ALL our turns have been right turns!" Anders groaned.
"That's what I said," Fenris commented. "We're lost."
"Bloody Orlesians!" Anders growled.
"What do they have to do with us being lost?" Varric wondered.
"They built these dungeons as one gigantic maze, didn't they?" Anders shot back.
"Then blame the Tevinters," Fenris growled. "This is a Tevinter construction."
"Bloody Tevinters!"
"I think if we turn left down there, we could break the circle," Varric said, scratching his head.
"I think we're lost," Fenris pointed out the obvious yet again.
"I think you need to shut it!" Anders snarled back.
Fenris's tattoos started to glow.
"I think you should both stop bickering at each other!" Varric exclaimed, standing between them. Of course, Varric himself wasn't that imposing – given the fact that he only reached their stomachs, but he had Bianca strapped on his back, and both Anders and Fenris respected Bianca. Anders shut up and glared at Fenris while Fenris glared right back, the glow from his tattoos gradually diminishing.
"All right, let's try turning left this time!" Anders sighed, turning to peer at the intersection before them. "And this time, I'm taking the lead!"
Fenris let out a guffaw, which ended in a snort.
"What?" Anders demanded, bristling visibly.
"You think I'm going to trust you to find Hawke?"
"Just change that stupid attitude you've got, and I might even consider YOU taking the lead," Anders retorted.
"Attitude? I don't have an attitude!" Fenris responded, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"All mages are eeeeeeeeeeeevil! Woooooo!" Anders called out, shaking his hands high above his head.
"All mages may not be evil, but there is one in particular who is being extremely annoying!"
"We could always just stop right here and play some diamondback!" Varric grinned. "At least that would keep you two off each other's throats."
"Are you serious? Hawke could be hurt! She could be…she could be…"Anders paled.
"Don't say it!" Fenris interrupted. "I won't allow it!"
"Then let's all turn left here, instead of right," Varric interrupted, his eyes on Fenris and then flickering back to Anders.
"That's a good idea," Anders said. "Let's go then!"
They walked into the corridor on the left and their eyes fell on a row of cells on their right – all the way down the corridor.
"Oh, look! More cells!" Fenris observed.
"We are so lost!" Anders said sadly.
…
"I'm officially tired of waiting to be rescued!" Tallis exclaimed as she got up. She went right up to the barred door, and fiddled with the lock, then pulled it up right after it clicked.
"Why didn't you do that before?" Rhianna asked, her eyes widening slightly.
"Well, you said your friends were coming to rescue us, didn't you?" Tallis replied with a shrug.
As soon as they left the cell, Rhianna spied Anders at the end of the corridor and she gave a surprised cry, walking towards him. Anders spotted her and sprinted into a run, with Fenris and Varric close behind.
"My love!" Anders crooned as he gathered Rhianna into his arms. After a few moments he pushed her away, holding her at arms' length as he inspected her for wounds. "Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm not!" Rhianna laughed as she was literally picked up by Anders and twirled around.
He laughed as he held her tightly, overjoyed that they had found her at last. "I was so worried."
"That's an understatement," Fenris interrupted with a rusty smile. "Glad to see you in one piece, Hawke."
Anders handed Rhianna her backpack – he had been carrying it all along – and she smiled gratefully at him. They waited for Rhianna and Tallis to change back into their armor and once they had, Tallis set her pack on the floor and opened it, rummaging around for something inside. Anders took Rhianna in his arms and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.
"Get a room, why don't you?" Fenris growled as he took a few steps forward, looking away with a scowl on his face, his eyes flashing angrily.
"I have a map of this area!" Tallis interrupted as she smiled at the three men and Rhianna, taking a sheet of parchment out and spreading it on the floor. They all knelt around the map as she spoke. "We could just go on – straight ahead there's an opening on the wall in one of the cells that leads to an underground path. That path leads to The Retreat, which is an area used by the Grey Wardens to house refugees during the Fourth Blight. Or… we could climb this staircase, here" she pointed to an area on her map, "which leads to the Treasure Vaults…"
Rhianna started to smile, her eyes suddenly twinkling.
"Treasure Vaults?" she said, licking her lips unconsciously. "You're telling me this leads to a treasure vault?"
Tallis nodded, a chuckle escaping her lips.
"Why don't we just get out of here?" Anders suggested. "I hate being underground and really could do with a breath of fresh air."
"I've just been in a cell for Maker knows what," Rhianna paused, as she threw Tallis a dark look. "So I really think we should go to the Treasure Vaults. Robbing the Duke blind seems like a sensible choice, if only as pay back for the dungeons."
"You really think we should rob the Duke?" Fenris asked, shaking his head. "It could be dangerous and we could all get captured."
"I'm so glad we have you here to point out the obvious," Anders quipped.
Rhianna burst out laughing. "The clink of gold puts me in a very good mood. I think it's high time someone left the Duke copperless…arrogant bastard!"
"And don't forget he's Orlesian!" Varric grinned.
"That too," Rhianna replied – one of her slow smiles on her face. "Let's go!"
"Andraste's knickerweasels!" Anders exclaimed with a pout. "I'd almost forgotten you have a death wish!"
…
A/N: I did some research and some metals CAN be frozen to a brittle state, and if at minus 40, they could shatter if they are dropped. Since this is Dragon Age and we learn in Origins that frozen things can be shattered, I decided it would be conceivable to include this here when Anders freezes the bars of the window they use to slip into the dungeons and Fenris's mighty blows do the rest!:D