"Wynne's back."
"Did she say what's happened?"
"Apparently the troops at Ostergar were slaughtered by the darkspawn."
"But she got away..."
"The First Enchanter has had a healer with her since she got here."
Dorian paid little attention to the the mages huddled near the books on famous mages. He was trying not to stare at the templars in the room. If only they would move. He had decided to speak to Anders and the hidden passageway that passed close to the isolation rooms could only be reached when a sprite opened the switch on the other side of the third bookcase along from the start of the section on magical creatures.
It was a terrible idea. There were no windows into the isolation rooms, but the passageway went along side them. You could talk to people in there, but you had no way of knowing whether or not a templar was nearby.
Anders was not a popular man. There had been a chance for people to spend time outside again several months ago; some had loved it, others had hated it, but before most of them had had their turn outside to exercise, Anders had ruined it for them.
Dorian was fairly confident in his belief that the templars had wanted Anders to try and escape, so that they could claim they had tried giving the mages more freedom but that it hadn't worked. There was no other reason to include that man in one of the first excursions otherwise. After all, he had escaped more times than anyone else, he knew passages that no one else did; he typically was watched so closely by templars that he had no privacy whatsoever.
However, out of everyone in the tower, Anders was the one who might have some idea of how to handle the blight. Dorian had spent time reading up on blights, trying to determine how much of a threat it posed to them. He'd found that darkspawn tunnelled; the lower levels of the tower went deep into the earth... If there were hoards of the monsters making their way to the surface, then the tower could be overrun.
He needed a plan, and his best bet for making one was to use the knowledge that Anders possessed.
The mages moved away to the central room in the library and the templars followed them. Summoning a wisp as he moved, Dorian hurried to the far wall. The dot hummed as it passed through the wall and pressed against the correct stone. The bookcase shimmered and the young man stepped through the illusion, shuddering as the fade rippled around him.
Once inside, the wisp was the only source of light, and Dorian quickly removed his boots and stockings. It was entirely possible that his footfalls wouldn't be heard through the stone anyway, but Dorian didn't want to take that risk. He padded quickly down, robe hiked up in one hand while the other pressed firmly to the fall to help him balance.
"Mr Wiggums?"
Anders' voice was rough, but the hope in it made Dorian pause for a moment. The other man had been down here for months now, all alone. He almost felt cruel for having not thought to come down sooner... but then he dismissed it. They weren't friends, and Anders was the reason he had never been outside.
"Just me, I'm afraid." Dorian whispered. After a moment's silence he added, "Dorian."
"Oh?"
"I... There's a blight coming. I wanted to ask you about outside."
"Outside?"
"Yes please." Dorian nodded as he sat down on a step.
"I guess..." Anders sounded puzzled.
"The books say that darkspawn decimate towns and villages. I assume that means they head towards them. A- Are there any near here?"
"How near? Ozammar is to the West, about three days on foot at a decent pace. North East of here are the coastlands, but they are mostly only small villages. Crestwood is the nearest town if you are walking. Redcliffe is closer if you have a boat."
"I need information, but I don't know what I need."
"Are you planning to run? If you are, I feel I should warn you..."
"Of what?" snapped Dorian, nerves bubbling up.
"You won't be able to run, not quickly. Try and find a horse."
"Don't... I thought horse riding was something you had to learn..."
"I thought I was fit, then I tried running once I got outside. The first time, I was sick just from being outside. Then I realised that wandering through the tower doesn't build up stamina. You'll also need to chance clothes, robes make you stand out a mile."
"People don't wear robes?" In the fade, everyone he encountered wore robes. Even in his memories, distant as they were, he remembered people wearing robes.
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"Because robes are expensive and not really practical."
"Expensive?" Dorian stared at the wall separating them, eager to hear more of this bizarre world. "As in money?"
"Not a myth. People use it to barter for things. They sell stuff to get it, then use it to buy things."
"I understand the theory." Dorian replied, his voice too full of wonder to snap. He'd read books that explained the power that money provided, but he had no real understanding of this power. "Thank you."
"I've a request of my own, as it happens."
"How may I help?" Dorian asked as he got to his feet.
"If there is a blight coming... remind them that I'm down here?"
"Oh! I- Yes, I will." Dorian startled as he realised how helpless the other man was. "I'll let them know."
"Thank you."
As he headed back up, Dorian couldn't help but wonder about the people who lived outside the circle. What were they like? How many towns and villages were there? How much bigger was a city?
His mind buzzing, Dorian didn't notice the fuss until he had wandered back to his bunk.
"What's going on?"
Templars were rushing through the corridor, shouting loudly as they went. Cian hurried over to him, small legs stumbling as two dark eyes stared up at him.
"There were an abomination." It was one word that every mage in the tower knew. It had no positive connotations attached. "And they was shoutin' about blood magic."
The child trembled as Dorian spun around.
"Blood magic?"
"Aye. Enchanter Uldred was shoutin' that were shouldn't be scared an' that we have roles to be better than what we are."
"Shit." Dorian swore. Blood magic, abominations and Uldred; just what he needed when he was trying to sort out an escape plan for if the blight doomed them.
"Aye." whispered the boy, wiping his eyes on his tattered sleeve.
A screech by the far door made them both jump as what had to be an abomination limped inside. Fear flooded Dorian's mind as he looked at the creature, its face warped beyond anything human. Grabbing the boy's arm, he ran from the room with Cian struggling to keep up with him.
"Hurry!" he yelled as he moved, passing some mages who had chosen to fight.
"Yeah." the child yelled back, his breathing laboured as they moved. "Th-tha-that was a... an- an abomination..."
They halted as Dorian stared hopefully up at the door to the next floor. Would it be unlocked in the chaos? It was typically locked so late in the evening. Screams erupted in the library behind them and Dorian decided they had to try. Pelting up the steps, he grinned as he realised it was open.
"Come on!" he shouted to Cian as he moved through into the store room.
They only got a few steps in when Enchanter Richard smirked at them. With a wave, Dorian was trapped in a crushing prison and it took only one more for Cian to be bound. His strength sapped, Dorian dropped to his knees when he was released.
"Now, now..." tutted the enchanter as Dorian reached for his staff. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Elsabeth and Jerome strutted out beside Richard.
"What's going on?" He hissed angrily at them, wondering where the fuck the templars had disappeared off to. He's take having his mana drained if it meant theirs was too.
"Uldred has a plan. We aren't going to have to bow to the templars anymore. We won't need to hide here. They shall bow to us. They shall beg! Stand with us! No more shall we have to hide from reality. We shall join the outside world and we shall discover their reality and they get to understand ours."
"No." he whispered, fear keeping him on his knees. Most the templars were proud to a fault. They must be dead. Dorian trembled and as he was dragged along, he though of Cullen. Thinking of Cullen was typically far more pleasant than thinking about abominations, but now the two combined and his mind flitted around the idea of becoming an abomination and killing Cullen with his own hands. As they were pushed upstairs, Dorian trembled at the thought of such helplessness.
"Uldred will make us great again."
"Lift not the painted veil." murmured Dorian to himself as they continued. They were about to have their reality ripped away from them and he knew it would not be pleasant.