Chapter Thirteen: Templar Mages

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

"So I guess the question is this," Emma was saying as they were walking back towards Kirkwall. "Since we ended up killing everyone that dwarf wanted us to kill because they attacked us on sight, do we actually tell him that we accidentally helped him? I mean, I really didn't like him very much."

"Maybe there will be a reward," Bethany suggested.

"You might curry favor with the qunari for taking care of their outlaws," Aveline opined.

"If nothing else, it should be good for a laugh when Javaris attempts to convince the Arishok to sell him the powder," Varric pointed out.

"Mistress Hawke, I see that you got my letter," Thrask greeted her warmly as they approached the cave that he was standing in front of.

"No, actually, I didn't," Emma told him. "And for that matter, why are you even talking to me at all? You're an evil templar."

"I don't know if I'd call myself evil," Thrask disagreed.

"She would," Carver informed him. "And it's not worth arguing about."

"Of course I am! I'm a mage!" Emma declared loudly.

Varric sighed in resignation and reached into his pockets.

Thrask held up his hand. "I don't think that would be appropriate this time, all things considering." He glanced at Emma. "You really don't remember me? Thrask? The templar who was there when you found out about Feynriel who I've since learned you sent to the Dalish?"

"Thrask…isn't he the one whose daughter turned into an abomination and got herself killed even though she clearly knew that help was coming and so her death was entirely unnecessary and her own damn fault?" Fenris asked.

Emma snapped. "You know what? I think it was. Here." She shoved the girl's letter Thrask's way.

With trembling hands, he accepted it. "I…thank you. I think. I had hoped…"

Hastily, Carver changed the subject. "You said something about a note?"

Looking grateful for the distraction, Thrask nodded. "Yes, I did. You see, I was hoping that you would do mages another kindness."

"Of course we would! We would do all the kindness in the world for mages whether they like it or not!" Anders announced. "But I doubt that you would even understand what kindness to mages is."

"Is it stopping templars from murdering them unnecessarily?" Thrask queried. "Because if it is then I think that I've got it. You see, there are a number of apostates hiding in this cave and-"

"We are not going to kill apostates for you!" Anders shouted.

"Did you miss the part where I just said that I don't want them dead?" Thrask asked, confused.

"Eh, don't mind him," Isabela advised him. She jerked her head Emma's way. "Or her either, for that matter. They have issues with templars."

"Duly noted," Thrask murmured. "These mages were from the Starkhaven circle which burned down under mysterious circumstances the same night that the mages emptied out the Circle wine cellar. Ser Karras is coming to collect them soon and by 'collect' I mean 'murder.' If you could talk them into surrendering to spare their lives, that would be great."

"We'd rather kill these apostates ourselves than talk them into going back to that wretched place!" Anders cried out. "Right, Emma?"

Emma nodded firmly. "Of course."

"Maybe this was a bad idea…" Thrask murmured.

"Well it's too late now," Carver told him as he watched his sister and her wannabe boyfriend race into the caves.

He and the others followed the pair in to find them arguing with a bemused Circle mage.

"Look, I just don't know what you want me to do," the mage was protesting. "I don't even want to be a part of this. I love the Circle. I never wanted to escape and I just want to go back. Plus, you said that there was a templar waiting just outside and more on the way."

"What kind of a traitor are you?" Anders demanded, horrified.

"I'm not a traitor," the mage insisted. "I just want this nightmare to be over…And besides, the others are raising the dead!"

"Why did you run in the first place then?" Merrill asked logically.

"Decimus, that's our leader, said that we were probably just going to be dismissed as blood mages anyway…probably because they're all blood mages," the mage explained.

"What about you?" Carver asked him.

The mage wouldn't meet their eyes. "No…Now if you don't mind, I'm just going to go now…"

Emma just shook her head. "I just don't understand some people…"

"It will be okay, Emma," Anders assured her. "And one day he'll wake up and realize what an idiot he's been when they give him a nice sun tattoo on his forehead."

"I want a tattoo," Emma pouted.

"No, you really don't," Anders replied. "Well…at least not one of those."

"I always wanted to get one on the small of my back, maybe an angel or a butterfly or something but Carver said it would make everything think that I was easy," Emma explained.

"Well I, for one, think it would be a great idea," Isabela declared. "I have a tattoo there, you know."

"Somehow I am not surprised," Varric murmured.

"I figured Bianca would tell you after last night," Isabela said flippantly.

Varric jerked and clutched at Bianca tightly. "Don't even joke about that!"

"Come on," Emma urged and led them all onward.

There were three apostates just standing around at the back of the cave.

"Look!" the middle one, the only man, said. Decimus. "Templars come to drag us back to the Circle!"

"We're actually mages," Emma said, looking highly offended. "At least Anders and I are."

"And me. Bethany, too," Merrill reminded them but they appeared not to hear her.

"I really think they are," the woman to the left of him agreed.

"And we're here to help," Anders informed them.

"I will not hear these templar lies!" Decimus raged before raising his arms and calling forth an army of the dead. Unfortunately, the dead weren't very effective fighters and neither was Danarius once Fenris got behind him and so the fight was soon over.

"Decimus!" the same woman from before screamed once he was dead. "How could you do this to him, you monsters! You're mages, too!"

"Easily," Emma said dismissively. "He was completely insane to the point that he thought we were templars and attacked us. Not to mention that we really don't take kindly to being confused for templars."

"You did it because he dared to defy the templars!" the woman accused.

"No, seriously, that wasn't it," Carver assured her. "You saw that he was trying to kill us. Why must you people make everything about defying templars and turn any disagreement into an accusation of hating mages?"

"See, this has been my point all along," Fenris informed him triumphantly.

"I don't believe you but I don't want to go back to the Circle either way so will you help me kill the templars and escape, you vile traitors?" the woman demanded.

"Of course we will," Anders said, not offended in the slightest.

"Wait a minute," Fenris objected. "Why are we just automatically going to do what you want to do? I want to turn them in and I'm sure that if Aveline stopped being a hypocrite for five seconds she'd want that, too."

"I am not a hypocrite!" Aveline protested, making sure not to look at any of the four apostate mages with them.

"Because Emma happens to agree with me," Anders said smugly.

"Well who put her in charge? She has serious issues!" Fenris exclaimed.

They all looked at each other.

"Well, the way I see it, it was just the Hawkes and I at first," Varric saw fit to answer. "I partnered with them to raise money and get a map for that expedition we really should go on soon. Really, I just wanted Emma because she's easily the most powerful of the three – probably more powerful than the others two combined – and since it was her money to raise, I didn't fight her for leadership. Everyone else just sort of tagged along for whatever reason."

"It's still a terrible idea," Fenris grumbled. "Carver, I blame you."

"Oh, you try reasoning with her," Carver snapped.

"Can we just go?" the unnamed mage asked, annoyed.

The group plus the two surviving mages made their way outside to find the mage from earlier waiting quietly with Thrask and a new group of templars rapidly approaching.

Anders' eyes glowed blue and he began shooting fire at them. When Emma noticed this, she promptly added some lightning of her own.

"What in the world was that?" Thrask demanded when the other templars were all dead.

"Huh?" Anders asked as his eyes returned to normal. "Sorry. Sometimes I just attack all templars on sight. It's a reflex, really."

"But I'm-" Thrask started to say.

"You're really better just quitting while you're ahead," Carver advised, cutting him off.

Thrask nodded reluctantly. "So I guess I'll take these three mages back to the Gallows."

"Actually, Grace and I are leaving," the other female mage spoke up for the first time. "Goodbye."

With that, the pair began to walk away.

"By the way, if we get caught, I'm going to hate you all forever," Grace called over her shoulder.

"I feel like I should go after them," Thrask noted. "But I feel even more strongly that you lot should have stopped them. Why didn't you?"

"Apparently Emma's in charge," Bethany replied. "And she didn't want to."

"Hey, do you think that there's anything for us to loot down there?" Emma inquired, pointing down a divergent path on their way back to Kirkwall.

"There's only one way to find out," Carver replied and they set off down said path.

They found a devastated noble on his knees and a medium-sized gang clustered nearby while a woman who was clearly their leader stood over a fallen qunari. "Another dead qunari. That was easier than I expected."

"Well what did you expect?" Isabela asked matter-of-factly. "Two dozen on one isn't great odds."

"Shut up! We're just awesome!" the woman insisted. "Who are you, anyway? Competition? The Winters and I have already claimed the boy."

"Are you slavers?" Fenris asked suspiciously, taking a step forward.

"What? No, no we're not," the woman denied, looking surprised.

"Serah, I really don't want to go back but I will if I must. I just won't see these murderers rewarded. If you kill them, I'll return with you," the noble offered.

"Spoiled brat!" the woman bit out. "I'll cut out your tongue and charge extra for bringing you back quiet!"

"But if you do that then won't they not want to pay you?" Merrill asked confused.

"Oh, they'll pay us all right or we'll kill them!" the Winters woman said viciously.

"Well if you're going to kill them then why not just rob them instead of bothering with all of this?" Merrill pressed.

"Shut up!" the woman screamed. "Die!"

With that, she and her men attacked. Two dozen on nine was much better odds, particularly when they were all so delightfully lethal.

"Good riddance," the noble said once they were all dead. "But she said she was waiting for more. A lot more."

"This is ridiculous," Emma complained. "Who are you? Who are they? Why are they attacking me?"

The noble visible started. "You mean…you don't know?"

"Of course I don't know!" Emma burst out. "Tell me now or I'm just going to leave because I'm nearly positive that you aren't a mage."

"I'm not," the noble confirmed. "My name is Saemus Dumar. My father is the viscount. We don't get along so I get out of Kirkwall as often as I can. I met a qunari called Ashaad who was the most fascinating being I've ever met. He didn't care that I was a noble and judged me on my own merits. As such, I left a note informing my father that I was leaving forever to be with Ashaad and he reacted…poorly. He announced that I was kidnapped and offered a reward to bring me back home safely. Now that Ashaad is dead, I suppose I might as well return."

"It sounds like they were more than just friends," Isabela mused. "And speaking of, Varric, do you smell the possibilities here?"

Varric nodded eagerly. "Oh, I can see it now: two star-crossed lovers from not only feuding families but feuding cultures! They'll never truly be able to understand each other but love still finds a way. Until, of course, tragedy strikes."

"The only question is whether or not Saemus' character commits suicide at the end to make it more dramatic or not," Isabela said thoughtfully.

"We could publish it in installments," Varric suggested. "Then Saemus' character's ultimate fate depends on how popular he is and if we think a sequel would be a viable option."

"You do realize I'm right here, right?" Saemus asked, annoyed.

"We do, yes," Varric confirmed.

"And that Ashaad and my relationship was nothing like that?" Saemus pressed.

"No comment," Isabela told him.

"Why did your father say that you got kidnapped if you didn't?" Merrill inquired innocently.

Saemus barked out a harsh laugh. "I suppose it sounds better if he can tell people that I was abducted and not that I went to go live with the 'savage' qunari."

"As one who has lived among the qunari myself, I do not think that you truly understand what it is that you seek," Fenris said wisely.

"Well I'll never know now, will I?" Saemus sulked.

"You know, you're really hot," Emma said, noticing this for the first time. "We should totally hook up sometime."

"Hey, what about me?" Anders demanded.

"Sorry but I can't promise monogamy to anyone that I'm not actually in a relationship with," Emma said unrepentantly. "Just say the word, Anders."

Anders looked away. "I can't. Justice-"

"I think there's the next wave," Saemus announced worriedly.

"Oh, whatever," Emma huffed. "If those romance novels that my mother so adores know anything than sooner or later my continuous pressuring you to date me will pay off and you'll fall madly in love with me."

"And if they don't know anything?" Carver asked curiously.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Stop being so unsupportive!"

Saemus was still vaguely traumatized when they took him back to his father. "I didn't know people would burn for that long…"

"May I present to you Serah Emma Hawke who rescued Saemus," one of the viscount's people informed him.

The viscount looked her over. "Hawke…Hawke…now where have I heard that name before? Ah, are you of any relation to Leandra Hawke who won't stop pestering me to give her back her legally sold family estate?"

"To be fair, we did kill the previous owners and they were evil slavers so it's not like anyone's using the property," Bethany pointed out.

"If I give you the deed to that back, do you think Leandra will leave me alone? She's here all day and she keeps sneaking into my office," the viscount complained.

"No promises," Carver said.

"Well I'll do it anyway and hope for the best," the viscount decided. "Have the papers drawn up, will you?"

"Way to not even acknowledge that I'm here, Father," Saemus complained, abruptly snapping out of it.

"Saemus, I'm overjoyed to see that you've returned safe and sound," the viscount said exuberantly.

Saemus cross his arms. "Don't even pretend that you care besides avoiding an incident. I bet if you could figure out a way to have me killed without making you look bad, you'd absolutely take it."

"Now, son, you know that's not true," the viscount said soothingly.

"Your men killed my friend!" Saemus complained.

"If you're referring to the Winters then they weren't really my men," the viscount corrected. "And I had been told that you were captured alone."

"I wasn't captured, Father," Saemus insisted. "I ran off to go live with the qunari. And don't even pretend that you didn't know because I left a note!"

"Oh?" the viscount asked, surprised. He glanced at his desk. "You run off so very often and you never date your notes so I thought that that was an old one. I'm sorry about that."

"Look, this is all very boring so can you just give me my money and let me go?" Emma demanded.

"Then we're going on the expedition, right?" Carver asked hopefully.

There was no answer.

"Oh, come on!"

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