Chapter Five: Totally Ripping Off Maric
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.
The group had just spotted Isabela waiting for them in the Chantry Courtyard when they were set upon by yet another random large group of people who attacked them for no discernable reason. It wasn't like they were even trying to rob them. One never could go more than ten feet without getting attacked by one so it was remarkable that they didn't seem to take offense to each others' presence.
Isabela merely waved to them and then stood back and watched as the group (who had shouted something about avenging Denerim although none of them were quite sure what they had ever done to cause it to need avenging and two-thirds of it was Ferelden anyway) set upon the six.
When it was over, she huffed exasperatedly at them. "It took you long enough!"
"We might have been able to kill them all faster had you deigned to help," Fenris told her, crossing his arms.
"First off, let me remark that you are remarkably attractive and if we spend any significant time in each other's company then it is inevitable that we will have sex," Isabela told him. "Secondly, that wasn't what I meant. Though if it was, I couldn't very well have helped you out!"
"Oh, don't even try to tell me that you don't believe in getting involved in other people's fights, Rivaini, because I have seen the bar brawls," Varric drawled.
"Yes, but that's different. I'm a lot drunker then and I believe that duels should be conducted sober," Isabela explained. "I hope you know that you lot have kept me waiting for hours!"
"Just two hours," Bethany protested. "You're making it sound a lot worse than it is."
"Two hours and fifteen minutes," Emma corrected.
"Not helping," Carver muttered.
"I disagree. I believe that I am being a great help in preserving accuracy," Emma declared.
"I mean, not helping our side," Carver clarified.
Emma stuck her nose in the air. "I stand with the side of accuracy first and foremost. All other petty considerations come as a distant second."
"I've actually been waiting here for five hours," Isabela explained.
"But…we were only supposed to meet you two hours and fifteen minutes ago," Bethany objected.
Isabela shrugged. "I like to be early. So far no one has showed up. While we wait, mind telling me a little about your friend?"
"Sure," Emma said cheerfully. "This is Fenris, the one attractive elf in Kirkwall. He used to be a slave but don't call him that or he'll probably kill you."
"It's true," Fenris admitted. "And I am not comfortable being called the 'friend' of two mages."
"You can be my friend," Isabela offered. "I'm no mage."
"You haven't met Orsino, have you?" Varric asked rhetorically. "I've heard people squealing about him. Apparently he has a nice voice, too, but I wouldn't know. Nobody compares with Bianca."
"I am not actually convinced that the First Enchanter and Knight-Commander really exist and are not just propaganda pieces for their respective sides," Emma replied.
"That's the wench we're looking for!" a woman exclaimed, running up with two minions behind her. "Gut her!"
"But…it's seven on three," one of the minions protested.
"I'm sure they'll just watch us kill her and then just stand there while we're forced to kill them all one at a time to prevent witnesses," the woman assured them.
"That kind of reasoning is worse than Emma's," Carver marveled.
"Maybe we should have actually shown up at midnight like we were supposed to," the second minion remarked.
"I said gut her!" the woman ordered.
Of course, seven on three is really horrid odds and the three were soon dead.
The Hawke siblings immediately began to loot the corpses.
"Hey look, explicit orders for these people to meet that guy Isabela was supposed to duel in the Chantry after she's dead," Bethany said, holding up the letter.
"Hayder sent them," Isabela declared. "Search the bodies. We need to find out where he is."
The others exchanged looks.
"Yeah, we already did that," Carver pointed out but Isabela didn't seem to hear him.
"Let's go to the Chantry," Varric suggested. "She can catch up."
At the door to the Chantry they found Anders.
"Are you aware that it's now two and a half hours past when you were supposed to meet me?" he demanded.
"We're very sorry that we put literally everything that came up before you," Emma apologized. "We'd like to say it won't happen again but, well, we're really not sure."
Fenris groaned. "Not another mage."
Anders narrowed his eyes. "Do you have something against mages?"
"I hate all mages," Fenris declared. "And after being enslaved to a sadistic Tevinter Magister who is still trying to hunt me down and kill me so he can reclaim the lyrium markings he put all over my body that I never asked…well, I think I'm entitled."
"You know, I've always thought that the lot of mages was a great deal like slavery," Anders replied. "I can't believe you are supporting slavery after everything you've been through! You are such a hypocrite!"
Fenris twitched. "I think I hate you."
"Oh, good, it's not just me," Anders replied. "Listen, Karl went in about two and a half hours ago. I didn't see any templars but that doesn't mean they aren't here. I'll do all the talking and you watch for templars."
"Oh, we're not ready just yet," Emma said apologetically. "We have to go find Isabela. If you'll wait right here, I'll be right back."
"I'm going with you," Carver insisted. "It will save us a lot of time and effort, I'm sure."
Emma just shrugged and she and her brother made their way back down to Isabela.
"Isabela, come on," Carver urged. "We've got to go find what's-his-name."
"This is strange," Emma remarked. "But maybe…you know how after Bethany found that letter, Isabela said we should search the corpses?"
"Yeah…" Carver said slowly, wondering where she was going with this.
"Maybe we should put the letter back on the corpse and then take it out again and show it to Isabela now that she told us to do it!" Emma exclaimed.
Carver stared at her. "That…sounds really, really stupid."
Emma crossed her arms. "Do you have any better ideas, brother dear?"
"…No," Carver was forced to admit. "Fine, just do it."
Emma bent down and placed the letter back on the corpse. She waited a few seconds before removing it again. "Isabela! This letter says that Hayder is waiting in the Chantry!"
Sure enough, this time Isabela reacted. "Hiding in the Chantry and sending thugs to do his dirty work? He'll not get away with this," she vowed before racing off to the Chantry.
"What was that all about?" Carver asked, baffled, as they ran after her.
Emma just shrugged. "Some people have odd quirks."
The minute they stepped foot in the Chantry, a man – presumably Hayder – foolishly stepped out of the shadows to confront them personally. "Isabela. Should have known you'd find me here."
"Well, you did have a letter detailing exactly where you were in the hands of someone you sent to ambush me even though you could have just as easily verbally told her and since I was supposed to be alone – and actually was for five hours – you didn't really have to hide from me," Isabela pointed out.
"I wasn't hiding!" Hayder said indignantly. "I was…er…never mind that! Where's the relic, Isabela?"
"Which relic would this be, again?" Isabela asked innocently.
"You know, the relic that you stole from the qunari that are stranded here and its loss is probably what is preventing them from going home," Hayder explained. "Where is it?"
"I lost it," Isabela said simply.
Hayder's eyes bulged out. "You lost it? You stupid…how in the world could you lose it?"
"Funny story. Apparently I do have a limit to how much alcohol I can drink without passing out," Isabela said, laughing nervously.
"First all that cargo you stole, now this…Castillon is going to kill you, Isabela. Unless I do so first," Hayder threatened, fingering his weapon. "And you are absolutely going to deserve it."
"I didn't 'steal his cargo'," Isabela protested. "I freed those Blight refugees you charged to take out of Ferelden and then were selling into slavery!"
"Selling into slavery in a land not ravaged by the Blight," Hayder pointed out. "We were absolutely keeping our end of the bargain. It might not have been what they wanted, but it was what they agreed to."
"You freed slaves?" Fenris said, sounding a little impressed. "And you're not a mage, either, although your…chin ring is a little disturbing. Maybe getting to know you better wouldn't be so bad, after all."
"Score!" Isabela cheered. "This is the first positive thing to come out of me doing that. This just reaffirms my faith in giving into my impulses. Good thing, too, as I never had any intention of doing anything differently."
"Attack!" Hayder ordered. Nothing happened.
"Sorry," Fenris apologized, not sounding very sincere. "While you were all talking, I was quietly killing your half a dozen men. I have a short attention span."
Isabela smirked. "I like you." She threw her dagger at Hayder and hit him between the eyes. "Well now that that's over with…Castillon will find me eventually, even if I did actually believe in subtlety and keeping a low profile. Hopefully, I'll find the relic before then."
"Yes, you said that you stole the relic from the huge army of qunari who aren't leaving until you give it back?" Carver asked her. "In what universe did that seem like a good idea?"
"In the universe where finding the relic is the only way Castillon isn't going to kill me," Isabela shot back.
"Why can't you just wait for him to show up and then kill him?" Carver asked. "Because seriously, I hardly think one man and whatever minions he cares to throw at you is worth living in a city with a trapped qunari army who will eventually lose patience and rise up and kill us all."
"You seriously worry too much," Emma told him.
"Dealing with hired thugs does get tedious," Fenris opined. "If she were really going to try to deal with Castillon, she should just go to him. Unless, of course, he were in some sort of smuggler stronghold. Like Tevinter."
"Tevinter is a smuggler stronghold?" Bethany asked, blinking.
"No, I think he meant that the reason he's not following his own advice is because going back to Tevinter would be suicide since it's a mage stronghold," Varric explained.
"I've always thought Tevinter sounded nice," Anders spoke up.
"Yes, well you're a mage," Fenris reminded him.
"Can I help you look for the relic?" Emma asked Isabela.
Isabela blinked. "Why would you want to do that?"
"My sister has a compulsive helping-people thing," Bethany explained. "She sees someone in need of help, she tries to help them."
"Sometimes even when this is not in her best interest," Carver added.
"I have to admit, I don't even really know what the relic is," Isabela revealed. "I think it was some sort of book."
"It's probably a sacred text of theirs," Fenris suggested.
Everyone turned to stare at him.
"What? I spent some time in Seheron," he said defensively.
"Since I don't even know where to begin looking for the relic, I'm just kind of going to hope the information drops into my lap," Isabela decided. "Furthermore, this leaves me with nothing much to do and since I'm interested in more than one of you, I think I'll hang around. For now. I may randomly ditch you later, fair warning."
"Well, as long as you tell us in advance," Emma said indulgently.
"This is all well and good but can we please focus on my problem now?" Anders asked them. "I see Karl and this fight is sure to have attracted some attention."
"I can't believe we killed someone in the Chantry," Bethany murmured, shaking her head as they walked over to Anders' friend. "That is so King Maric."
"I don't believe that really happened," Carver said stubbornly.
"I do. If it didn't then why wouldn't Maric have ever denied it?" Emma challenged.
"Because it was an absurd claim," Carver replied.
"Whatever makes you feel better," Emma said patronizingly, patting him on the shoulder.
"Hey, Karl. Sorry I'm, what, three hours late," Anders greeted his once-lover. "It really wasn't my fault."
"Anders. I know you too well. I knew you'd be here," Karl said in a monotonous voice. He wasn't facing them.
"Well, yeah. Didn't you guys make plans to meet up?" Emma asked.
"What's wrong?" Anders asked worriedly. "Why are you talking like…Fuck."
Karl had turned to face them and there was a mark on his forehead.
"Ew," Emma said, making a face. "He has a tattoo on his forehead? And not even a very interesting tattoo either."
"That's not a tattoo," Anders said solemnly. "He's Tranquil."
"He's what?" Carver asked blankly.
"He was stripped of his connection to the Fade and thus his magic," Fenris explained. "It's quite useful in keeping mages safe while not requiring that they be locked up."
"At the cost of their emotions!" Anders burst out.
Fenris shrugged. "I didn't say it was a perfect system."
"Well, even if this is a by-product of being Tranquil or something it still means that he has a tattoo," Emma insisted.
"You completed your Harrowing, though! This isn't legal!" Anders burst out.
"And yet it happened anyway," Karl said simply.
"I hate to break it to you, Blondie, but I think your friend led the templars straight to us," Varric said, eyeing the templars that were closing in on them.
"This is the apostate," Karl said, pointing at Anders.
"Wow, lack of emotions or not this Karl is kind of an asshole," Emma remarked.
"No!" Anders shouted, his eyes flashing an unnatural blue. He doubled over and started shaking, as if he were in pain.
"Now's really not the time for a medical emergency," Isabela complained. "Seriously, this is your mess we're dealing with."
"I find this immoral so I will just watch," Fenris declared.
Anders jerked back to his feet and, in a much deeper voice than normal, bellowed, "You will not take another mage as you took him!" The same blue glow was present in the cracks that had appeared on his face and in the energy that had formed behind him. The others didn't even have to do anything as he quickly took out the templars.
"You know," Carver said once it was over. "It's really things like this that make me wonder why we had to spend a life on the run."
"We were afraid of the genuinely competent templars," Bethany reminded him. "Of which father assured us that even though we'd never met, they did exist."
"I…" Karl trailed off, shaking himself. "Anders, what did you do? It's like you brought a piece of the Fade into this world."
"Did Blondie just cure Tranquility?" Varric asked, stunned. "There's a market in this…"
"No, it won't last long," Karl told him. "Even now I feel it fading. Anders, please! While I may be…content like that, it's truly abhorrent now that I can feel horror. Please, don't let me go back to that."
"But I…I can't save you," Anders protested, the glow in his eyes fading.
"You can," Karl insisted. "Kill me. Please. I don't have a weapon or anything. They didn't trust me that much, even dead as I was."
"Karl, no…" Anders said helplessly, sounding on the verge of tears.
Everyone looked to Emma.
"What?" she asked. "I don't care if he does it or not. You people need to make your own damn important life decisions without my input."
"I would have just killed him anyway so I'm not sure why I bothered looking for a second opinion," Anders admitted. He took out his knife. "There is no curing this. The dreams of Tranquil mages are severed from the Fade and I cannot stay like that all the time. Goodbye. I am so sorry." With that, he stabbed Karl.
"It is so good to be a dwarf," Varric declared. "I feel that way in general but now especially. We're never connected to the Fade."
"You realize that now we've ripped off Maric twice?" Emma demanded.
Carver's eye twitched. "That. Never. Happened."
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