Chapter 16
~Have Fun Storming the Castle! ~

Morriana

The light in the tunnel was dark as we went through; the only light was from a torch we found and lit. I counted myself lucky that we didn't find any dead or undead in the tunnel. When we reached the end and found the opening to the dungeon, Alistair pushed it open and was the first up. After a quick check that there were no undead, he helped us up. It was quiet as we started on but then we hear the unearthly growls of those creatures in the next room, followed but a man calling for help. Sten kicked the door down and Wynne instantly shot an arcane bolt at one, followed by one of my daggers and Alistair's shield into the last, and Sten's sword being brought down on it.

I looked and then saw a man in a cell. He had mage robes on that were covered in blood, and more obvious that they were long since cleaned. His black hair fell on his face and his eyes were dark from fear and lack of sleep.

"H-Hello? Who's out there?" I walked up to him and relief flowed over his face. "Wait, you don't look like the arlessa's guards. . .who are you?"

"I would like to ask you the same." I stated, the others coming behind me.

"My name is Jowan. The Arlessa hired me to tutor her son when he started to show signs of being a mage. " I was silent for a moment then spoke.

"Conner's a mage?" Alistair said, surprised. "So you're an apostate then?" he nodded.

"And just what are you doing down here?" I asked.

"The arlessa has me arrested because . . . because I poisoned arl Eamon" he admitted.

"What?!" Alistair yelled along with a few creative choice of words, causing Jowan to flinch and cower back a bit.

"I'm also a… a bloodmage. Loghain hired me to poison arl Eamon. He told me Eamon was a threat to Ferelden."

"Are you the one responsible for what's going on here?" I asked.

"You mean the undead?" I nod. "No. I don't even know how to do that. It's possible that Connor might have done this, if he met a demon in the Fade."

"So, the boy is possessed?" Jowan nodded. I huffed. Well, if there's a Maker, he hates me.*

"Please let me out." Jowan begged.

"Why? You poisoned the arl and ran Redcliff into chaos!" Alistair yelled, turning back to anger.

"I know what I did was wrong. But please, I want to make it right." I thought for a moment. If I let him out, Maker only knows where he'll go. If I don't, I suppose we could get him later. I mean, if he did know a way out of that cell wouldn't he have gone out long before?

"I want you to stay, Jowan. We'll be back for you later." He nodded and stepped back.

"Then I will wait for your return." Well… at least he's not throwing a bitch-fit about not being let out. We walked on a bit further, running into more undead, which just totally took me by surprise, but eventually found our way out of the dungeon and onto, what Alistair claimed, as the first floor.

We tried to remain quiet on the floor, but the undead in the hall saw us, which in turn brought out undead to follow it. Well, it seems being all "sneaky-sneaky" isn't going to work.

The castle just seemed to be filled with them. The hounds in the kennel even attacked us with blank eyes, kennel master dead on the ground for what may have been days. Traps lay around that would have most likely killed us had I not found them. I found the girl Alistair had told me of before, Valena, and sent her home, after calming her down of course.

Finally we eventually made our way out of the castle through the dungeon and into the court yard. I walked cautiously through, but then I was suddenly pulled all the way across, and came to the feet of a Reverent. I jumped out of its way as it tried to stab me and before I could get my weapons out it bashed me with its sword. The others focused on the undead, but this Reverent seemed much too focused on me.

I quickly pulled out my weapons and blocked its next blow. I got a swing at it, causing it to bleed black blood. It growled angrily at me and used its unnatural powers to pull me closer and throw me back so that I hit the wall of the castle. I fell to my knees, trying to get rid of my daze. When I look up I saw its blurry figure before me. It lifted its sword and was about to strike but a sword suddenly went through it. Finally my vision cleared just enough for me to make out the figure of Ser Perth.

"Warden, are you alright?" I nodded and picked myself up. He picked up my weapons and handed them to me. I looked over and saw the rest of my companions, along with his men. "Shall we go into the castle together, then?"

"No. We don't know what's in there. Stay here. We will get you when we can." He nodded and he called his men to stay and I called my companions, and we made our way into the castle.

~#~#

*Line from fantastic four. "If there's a god, he hates me."

I don't like Isolde. Just throwing that out there.