Ramia, Athras and Drynne had not moved a muscle. Each one of them waiting for the other. Athras and Ramia flinched when Drynne slowly raised her right hand, palm flat and arm bent at the elbow. Ramia followed her line of sight and she knew her attention was on the small room where Laisa slept.
Ramia saw two of the sentinels take the signal, charging after them as they ran off ahead of Drynne. Which was exactly what she had wanted. Instead of coming head to head with one of the agents, a foot had lodged itself straight to her gut, Drynne pouring some mana into it sending her reeling back.
"Ramia!" Athras was erecting a barrier to the room to protect Laisa while running to Ramia's side. The wind was knocked out of her, but her eyes were trained on the woman in front of them. Athras leaned in close. "You can just charge in like that." He spoke in hushed tones. "She is not to be trifled with kid, if we're going to get out of this alive you'll need to listen. Alright." Ramia nodded hesitantly, still catching her breath.
Athras' eyes trailed up and across the stairs to where the other sentinels stood, awaiting their commands. Drynne used her mana to generate a spectral blade. Half the size of the long-sword in her right hand. She appeared bored and uninterested but he'd already picked up one weakness.
Drynne could not carry such a large sword and swing with one hand, not with her strength alone. Magic was at work, and if he could keep her distracted enough to waste mana they could stand a chance.
"I'll keep her on her toes, I want you to get rid of those other guys Ramia. Can you do that?" The crystal of her staff glowing was his only answer as she rose to her feet. Athras looked pleased, spinning his staff around dramatically as he slowly approached Drynne.
"Eyes on me sweetheart."
Drynne scowled at the endearment, taking an aggressive stance. The grip she had on the spectral blade was loose, Athras would have to watch out for that. Ramia wasted no time attacking Drynne's other agents and the sounds of their combat got the two of them going themselves, Drynne sending blow after blow at Athras as he expertly dodged or fended of her moves with his staff.
One block in particular sent Drynne off balance, Athras used the opportunity to send his staff hacking away at a barrier she erected, flames dancing off with each hit. The sound of Ramia's scream of pain distracted Athras momentarily, enough time for Drynne to get the upper hand, grabbing him by the collar, sending a jolt of electricity through his body and throwing him into a nearby pillar.
"Athras!" Ramia made a quick healing spell to the slash to her side and sent a force of magic at the sentinel who tried to finish the job. His head hitting against the wall hard enough to be fatal. Four tried to come at once. Ramia gathered her mana, slamming her staff into the ground. The ground erupted into long jagged crack and the force sent all flying, one them heading straight at Drynne and knocking her over.
Ramia gave a sigh of relief as Athras balanced himself of wobbly legs, his whole body give a shiver and head whipping about to shake off the remnants to Drynne's lightening spell.
"Hate it when they do that."
"Are you ok?!" Ramia ran over to Athras checking him for any major damage.
"Nothing I can't handle." Ramia saw through the bravado, his hands still shaking. They should have been more prepared she felt and despite taking out many of the sentinels, three still remained and Drynne was still standing.
"Get up! Floundering imbeciles!" Drynne continued to chastise her men. Ramia bit her lip as anxiety filled her.
"What are we going to do?" Athras chuckled, darkly as he surveyed their surroundings.
"Drynne was it?" She jerked towards the sound of her name, releasing the sentinel in her grasp and placing a hand on her hip. Lifting her chin up, urging Athras to continue.
"Are you aware exactly where we are?"
"Does it matter?"
"This was one of the battlegrounds the inquisitor fought in…" Athras walk at a leisurely pace, everyone at present silent and watchful. He came to a stop in front of a skull much too large to be human or elvhen. He gave it a tap with his staff before continuing. "Many Qunari died by her hand here." Ramia looked around and suddenly it seemed they were everywhere. The bones of the dead, scattered all over the vestibule. Harder to have noticed before, perhaps due to their fighting unearthing them.
An uncomfortable feeling settled inside of Ramia and was felt by sentinels themselves as well. Athras' hands began to shine with a purple aura, his magic seeping into the ground around them and spanning the entire vestibule.
"While I would prefer not to use such…crude magic on such sacred ground, at least as sacred as anything is in this day and age." The dead around them including those of the recently disposed of agents began to animate and come to life, weapons in hand and ready to do Athras' bidding.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures as they say."
Drynne sneered at Athras, spectral blade re-forming and at the ready.
"Necromancer. You would dare?" Drynne instructed her men to ready themselves and take their places and she summoned up more mana. Ramia's eyes widened, unsettled by Athras' spell.
"Have you never seen necromancy da'len?"
"No…I haven't…"
"Don't be afraid, we're still on the same side right?" Ramia took in a deep breath, concentrating on the enemies ahead of them. Not before giving a reassuring smile to Athras. In an instant the last three sentinels at Drynne's disposal were frozen.
"Yeah, let's throw everything we have on her."
It continued like that for some time, despite the numerous amount of undead they were relatively easy for Drynne to destroy, but also avoiding Ramia's attacks proved challenging. The battle was calamitous to the vestibule that was their battleground. So engrossed in the fight, they were unable to notice the amount of columns and foundations that were getting destroyed in their wake until it was too late.
The ground shook around them, halting all three of them. Parts of the ceiling was falling all around them. Drynne cursed at the turn of events, her gaze switching from the two mages, Laisa's hiding place and the Eluvian back up the steps of the vestibule. The floating building would be rubble within a matter of minutes and a decision had to be made quickly.
Deciding to fight another day, Drynne headed for the Eluvian.
"Fate has chosen to show you mercy today Ramia Lavellan, do get yourselves out of here alive. We'll be waiting in Arlathan Forest." With that she was gone through the mirror. Ramia jumped out of the way of a fallen pillar.
"Laisa!" Athras sprinted for the girl, dispelling his barrier and retrieving the young girl who slowly was waking from her sleep. Laisa blinked and her eyes widen at the sight before her, turning her attention to the man holding her.
"Where's Ramia?!"
Ramia's scream shocked them both to attention, the side of the room she was on crumbling and breaking apart from the part they stood on. Jumping across and trying to get her landing proved difficult and sent her tumbling over the ledge of the vestibule floor.
A desperate and tight grip was all from keeping Ramia from falling to the unending depths of the crossroads below. Athras wasn't far behind putting Laisa down and ordering her to stay put. Ramia's face was in full panic and fear and the corners of her eyes dusted with tears as she held on to the crumbling structure.
"Oh gods…I'm gonna fall…I'm going to die!" Athras shushed her placing his staff beside him and clicking his fingers at her.
"Listen to me, Ramia. Ramia!" She forced herself to look at him instead of below at her dangling feet, tears freely falling down her cheeks. "You are not going to die ok? Just stay calm and-"
"How can I stay calm?! I'm hanging off a fucking ledge Athras!" Athras pursed his lips, exhaling heavily through his nose as he clenched his fist.
"Look at me, don't look anywhere else ok?" The thundering sound of rocks breaking around them caused Laisa to whimper beside him with Ramia in toe. "I promised to get you two to your mother, remember?" Ramia acknowledged his words, trying to re-adjust her grip. Athras peered at carefully as he could over the ledge, while still keeping most of his weight on his own side.
"Alright, arm around my neck…easy now." As soon as her grip around him was strong enough, he used all his strength to haul the girl over, rubbing her back and wiping a few tears from her cheek. "Good girl! Can you walk?" Ramia tried but the tumble had caused a sprain to her ankle and she yelped in pain when she put pressure on it. Athras tutted, both of them looking up towards the eluvian that seemed so far away.
"We'll never make it…" Ramia yelped again, this time more form surprise than pain as Athras hoisted her up. Laisa jumped up his back, kicking him like a mule to start running.
"I should've asked for payment…" Athras groaned, running as fast as he could to the eluvian. Laisa giggled in excitement erected a barrier around them and blocking falling debris. "Your sister can use magic?!"
"Long story! Keep running!"
Athras roared dramatically when they finally reached the eluvian, jumping through and all three of them landing on soft grass.
The sound of an owl's hooting, cicadas and Laisa's giggling was a pleasant change to the hellish landscape they just escaped and Athras, belted out a huge yes before pulling both girls to his sides in a group hug.
"We made it! Gods I thought that was it, oh I thought we were going to die. Thank you Mythal, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Ramia's eyes narrowed at Athras' confession but a smirk graced her lips.
"What happened to 'we're not going to die'?" Athras peered one eye open at Ramia before turning his nose up at the sky.
"What was I supposed to say? Screaming like a banshee as you were….ow! You and the hitting." Ramia wrapped her arms around Athras, leaving him frozen on the spot.
"Thank you." Amused at her change of mood, he returned the embrace and sealed the eluvian behind them.
"Bless your heart I'm growing on you."
"You're still a tit. Don't ruin the moment."