Sorry for the long time! But the next chapter has arrived.
This has little of Alistair in it, sorry.

Chapter 34
~Carta~

Morriana

We gathered at a table back at the tavern once the meeting with Bhelen was over. Have to say, I might not like him too much, but he did have a way to persuade people. It was agreed I would take Zevran and Leliana, who would know the tricks of the assassins within the Carta, and Sten and Shale, who would no doubt insight fear amongst the dwarven thieves. I would have taken Wynne and Morrigan along, mages do awesome damage (unless you're the one getting attacked, then it sucks), but Alistair told me that magic doesn't work on dwarves.

Alistair was a bit disappointed that he couldn't go with me either, but he had no idea how to deal people in stealth mode, and this is how it needed to be: smart, Careful, and swift.

Well, I wouldn't say that Shale was any of these, but you don't need them when you're a golem, do you?

It didn't take us long to get to Dust town. Even when we got lost and asked for help the only response was "follow the smell." And they weren't kidding. At All. The smell was fairly similar to the Alienage (mixtures of unbathed neighbors, trash, and maybe the stench of death, normally rats of course). The smell almost brought back memories, but memories I didn't want to think about as we stood in the middle of Your Screwed town.

The other might not have thought the same. Leliana's eyes were practically watering, though from the smell or the "poor, desperate" people, or both, I couldn't tell. The smell was obviously bothering Zevran, but he made no move to show it. Sten didn't even seemed bothered. Shale . . . well, Shale's a golem, not much to say.

Even though having Sten and Shale with me was imitating to the dwarves, I had to find someone who would give me information on the carta. That was probably going to be a bit more difficult than I thought, since every dwarf we passed either scurried away or gave me a lethal glare. Not that I blame them. Most of them have learned not to trust those who come near.

I finally walked to a woman who sat near a fire, and didn't notice my approach. It was only when I stopped next to her that she finally noticed.

"Spare some change?" she asked, her voice cracked with weakness and depression, and I couldn't blame her. I knelt down next to her, pulling five silver from my pocket. Some might argue that this would be too much to give, but I lived in a place like this, and believe me, nothing is too much. "Thank you. The Stone bless your kind heart."

"Listen," I said softly. "I'll make a deal with you. I'll give you more if you tell me where the Carta is." She didn't even hesitate.

"Carta? Then you're after Jarvia? Yeah, I thought so when I saw ya. You'll need one of their finger-bone keys from her lackeys. Try the slums." She pointed at a door some feet behind her, in the corner. "Couple of them are bound to be there." I smiled and handed her a few more silver. Her eyes lit up more than the fire.

"Thank you for the help. Take care." I then stood and walked in that direction. It would be a lie to say that I wasn't nervous. Or scared. Or worried. We are going against the carta, and, from what I've gathered, they didn't seem like the type you wanted to mess with. Or bump into in a dark alley. Or owe money to. But, nothing was really going to stop us now.

I walked into the slum building and there in front of me stood four dwarves in shady armor and weapon that they most likely don't ever bother to hide.

"Well, well, look what we've got here boys. Heard there was a Grey Warden in town. Honestly didn't believe it myself. Either way, Jarvia doesn't like you all poking around. We're here to teach you a lesson. I sighed as the fight began, and we brought out our weapons. But as we were fighting, I couldn't help but think: You see how small they are, and they have deep voices. Shouldn't they have those high-pitched voices that you want to laugh at for hours?

Either way, the fight ended with a small cut on my thigh, one of their men dead, and three other very scared dwarves.

"Alright! Alright!" the presumed leader of this group cried as he backed off. "You fight like a bleeding archdemon!"

"Hand over one of Jarvia's keys!" I shouted at him. I normally don't like to shout at people (Except when they piss me off, then I'm fine. Or it's Soris and I just do it because he doesn't like it when people yell.) The shaky dwarf thrust the key into my hands.

"Here, take it. Now . . . will you let us go?" he asks hesitantly. I fold my arms and pretend to think.

"Alright, fine. But you may want to stay out of the Carta hideout. Trust me when I say, you won't want to be in there." With a quick shout of "Stone, bless you" from each of the dwarves, they all run out. It is only when the door slams shut that I chuckle. But I waste no more time.

We all head out and walk to the center where we'd been previously. I take a quick look around and try to think where this hideout might be. And when a very dark colored, suspicious door caught my eye I figured that was my best bet.

###

And, of course, I was right. The door lead us into a tunnel, which lead us through other tunnels crawling with Carta thieves and traps, which actually weren't hard to disable. Sten and Shale's enormous size proved useful in scaring the carta thieves, some into either surrendering or panicking so that they began to fight horribly. Some held their ground and put up a good fight. Which would explain the cut on my arm and some bruises on Leliana's legs that she claims "form a pretty pattern."

Either way, I had no trouble raiding the carta chests for nice item and potions and other things. To be honest, we needed some of them. I mean, it's not like being a Grey Warden fugitive in the middle of a war was an excellent source of income. Just saying. But so long as the others were fine with it, I was fine with it and there were no problems. Well, other than being in an underground place in which a bunch of dwarven thieves want to kill you.

But as we continued we began to see less and less of carta thugs. I began to wonder if we almost cleared the place of them. But as I opened the door in front of me, I realized I had made it to the source, the head of the carta. The black haired, tattooed, dwarven woman stood before me blades drawn and blood-hungry eyes with about twenty other carta members with her with their blades and crossbows drawn.

Dammit.

"Well, well," Jarvia began, "Bhelen finally realized we're taking over the city. And yet, he still can't be bothered to send his own men. But it doesn't matter whose king, as long as there's a queen." I head Zevran chuckle behind me.

"You're awfully cocky for someone whose entire carta is dead," He said.

"And you'll join them." I added.

"And you'll all pay for their deaths a hundred times over. Kill them!" She shouted. "But leave the pretty one alive. I have plans for her."

We each sprang out of the way of the bolt from the crossbows and attacked as Jarvia vanished into the dark areas within the room. With a shout to Leliana, she felled three of the archers within a five seconds then quickly turned to shoot a rouge behind her, and then continued shooting. Zevran disappeared into the shadows and reappeared behind two stand together and literally stabbed them in the back, then disappearing once again to kill more.

Sten swung his sword, hitting and killing any who got close. Shale stood there for a second, letting the dwarves hit him with their swords and bolts before him gave a deep sigh and walked toward them and then crushing them with his large, stone fists. I think he was enjoying their fear just a little too much.

As for me, I was stabbing and slicing the ones who came from the shadows to kill me. I thought there weren't going to be any left but I saw movement and, with only a millisecond to spare, I moved and dodged a killing blow from Jarvia. She stepped out of the shadows, and to say she was pissed was an understatement. I mean, nearly all of her carta people were dead, so I could understand.

"I'll wear your pretty teeth around my neck!" She hollered at me and she lunged toward me, but stumbled back as an arrow stuck in her shoulder, and an throwing dagger in her other shoulder, curtosy of Leliana and Zevran. With that distraction, I stabbed her in the stomach, and when I pulled my dagger out she was flung across the room by Shale, landing at Sten's feet where he finally killed her with his great sword through her back.

I took a second to catch my breath and looked around. All the rest of the carta members lay dead, their traps disarmed (which I don't know how Zervan and Leliana disabled them in the middle of the fight) and their leader killed.

I sighed and shook my head.

"Let's get out of here," I called to them, and we made our way out of there before any more members came.

###

I was glad I had finally made my way back to the Diamond quarter. I wanted to get out of Orammar. These dwarves were quiet hostile, to the point where Harrowmont supporters attacked us as we exited Dust Town. Dwarves. Quick to fight, but not smart enough to think about it. When I finally approached the palace, the guards let me through. I guess Bhelen made I known I was with him.

Finding his room wasn't challenging since I remembered the way, and, luckily, he was in there, bent over his desk looking through some papers. He looked up as we approached and smiled.

"Well, you've simply outdone yourself. They're talking all over the city about how someone finally went through Dust Town and slaughtered all of the carta like genlocks." I nodded.

"Yes. Now, that have done as you asked, may I have my troops?"

"You have done this city a great service. As soon as I take the throne, I will send as many troops as you need."

"And when will that be?" Sten grumbled behind me. "The darkspawn do not wait for petty politics." I nodded.

"We need those armies, Bhelen." I begged him.

"Unfortunately," Bhelen sighed, "I cannot say when. While many deshyers appreciate me ending Jarvia's threat—" Uh, me, not him. I was the one who almost got a knife through the back—"Harrowmont still holds a great loyalty. We need something more . . . dramatic to shift the balance." I lifted an eyebrow.

"Like?"

"Tell, me. What do you know of the Paragon, Branka?"