Chapter Thirty-Seven: Freeing Isabela

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age 2.

"I thought you weren't going to tell anyone what we were doing," Isabela complained.

Emma glanced over at Anders. "Well, while I probably will be able to take everyone down by myself, there's a chance I might get swarmed and it would go faster with someone else. Besides, Anders never judges."

Isabela didn't dignify that with a response.

"Not if it doesn't involve mages or templars, that is," Emma amended.

"And they deserve to be judged," Anders insisted. "This I couldn't care less about."

"It's nice to see that my safety is such a high priority for one of my rescuers," Isabela said, rolling her eyes.

"Anders would never let you die when he's trying to save you or hit you with some magic," Emma promised. "It's a matter of pride."

Andres nodded. "I haven't messed up like that since my first year in the Circle."

"And how old were you then?" Isabela wondered.

"Seventeen," Anders replied. "I was doing fine until my first time and I accidentally set the curtains of her house on fire. The worst part is that she didn't even turn me in but some actual well-meaning templars tried to put the fire out and it took awhile."

"He's moved past that," Emma assured a concerned Isabela.

"Alright, his room is right over there," Isabela pointed. "I'm going to need you to be convincing so insult me, hit me, whatever. No matter how I react, keep at it. We need him to take me to Castillon."

"I'm not going to hit you!" Emma cried out, appalled. "And Anders isn't either."

"But if it would really help with realism-" Anders started to say.

"It won't," Emma cut him off.

"Come on, haven't you ever wanted to slap me around? Just a little?" Isabela cajoled. "Not even when I ran off and left a qunari invasion in my wake?"

"Not even then," Emma said firmly. "Honestly, how did I manage to convince you that I was some sort of monster?"

"I didn't say that you were a monster," Isabela tried to explain.

Emma crossed her arms. "Domestic violence is a sign of evilness. Everyone knows that."

Isabela sighed. "Let's just…Just be convincing, alright."

"Trust me, I know exactly what to do," Emma assured her. She quickly bound Isabela's wrists and then the three of them and Loghain made their way into the brothel room.

"I really hope we don't have to see this guy naked," Anders murmured.

"He might be hot," Emma pointed out.

"He's not," Isabela assured them.

"I can never see evil people as attractive," Anders revealed. "It's like some sort of mental block. I can see someone, believe that they are attractive, then find out that they're evil and suddenly they're hideous."

Emma sighed. "I wish I felt that way. It would have saved me a lot of messy break-ups. There's just something about Meredith, you know? And Orsino. And Cullen. And-"

"I really don't need to hear this," Anders interrupted. "Do you think that you and Isabela can handle it from here?"

Emma stared at him. "Um, no, I don't. Why would I have brought you if I was just going to do this by myself?"

"It will be more convincing that way," Isabela suggested.

"I don't think so," Emma disagreed. "If you're so slippery and they haven't managed to catch you yet then wouldn't it make more sense for capturing you to be a group effort?"

Isabela shrugged. "You're the boss."

Fortunately, when Emma kicked in the door (that was what she believed all people-capturers did), what's-his-name was fortunately not naked. He was, however, wearing full armor and pressed up against a scantily clad elf which was kind of weird.

The elf immediately ran from the room, making Emma wonder – despite this being a brothel and him being a paying customer – just how consensual the whole thing had been. Or maybe just the presence of armed strangers had spooked her.

"I don't know who you people are but I hate you," the man declared. "Oh, except for Isabela. I both know and hate her."

"A lot of people feel that way," Anders told him.

"What are you doing here?" the man demanded.

"I heard that there's a bounty on Isabela and I want it," Emma declared.

The man frowned. "Aren't you the Champion of Kirkwall? Aren't you two supposed to be very close friends?"

"I can't go anywhere without being recognized these days, can I?" Emma asked, pleased.

"That's what I've been wondering," Isabela growled, spitting at Emma.

Emma immediately wiped the spit off her face with her sleeve. "Ew! Ew! Ew!"

"It will be alright," Anders assured her.

"Yeah, sure, right after I wash this outfit. And maybe burn it. And take three showers. At least. Why would you even do that?" Emma cried out, horrified.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you're selling me to a man who I really hope wants to kill me," Isabela retorted.

"Why would you hope he wants to kill you?" Anders wondered.

"Because the alternative would be much worse," the man said, reaching up to stroke Isabela's cheek and she tried to bite him. "So, Champion, answer the question."

"Do people even know my name anymore?" Emma wondered. "So, yeah, the thing is that Isabela's great and all but she's not Varric level great and she's not a mage. And that whole qunari mess was kind of all her fault. Or mostly, at least. And I need money if I'm going to both be living a rich and famous lifestyle and funding the mage resistance. So you see, Isabela, it's really nothing personal."

"I'm going to find you one day and I will gut you," Isabela threatened.

"Why can't we be grown-ups about this?" Emma asked, sighing and shaking her head ruefully.

"I'm supposed to believe that you would betray a close friend for coin?" the man asked, not really sounding all that skeptical, actually.

"Not for coin, no," Emma corrected him. "For mages."

The man nodded understandingly. "Ah, a fanatic. Now I see."

"I'm not a fanatic!" Emma burst out.

"You're trading a good friend for your cause," the man pointed out.

"Yeah, well, she wouldn't talk to me since she almost screwed me over with the qunari so she's not that good of a friend," Emma argued.

As two guards (who weren't there to stop them from bursting in and so were probably in the room watching their boss and that elf girl) led Isabela away, the man turned back to Emma. "Castillon will be pleased. We've been looking for Isabela for quite some time now so here's a token of our appreciation."

Emma gladly accepted the money.

"How hard could you have possibly been looking?" Anders demanded. "She's been right here pretty much the entire time and the last three years she's been openly friends with the world-famous Champion of Kirkwall even if she wouldn't really talk to her."

The man blushed. "I…Well…We have her now and that's all that matters. Good day!"

With that, he quickly fled the room.

Anders just shook his head. "Some people are so touchy."

"I guess this is where the trail leads," Emma said, glancing over at the building they hoped to find Isabela in.

"It's really impressive that she managed to leave us such a comprehensive trail to follow," Anders remarked. "I wonder if her captors thought that there would be anything suspicious about that."

"Probably not," Emma replied. "They likely thought that she was just trying to escape."

"In addition to all being ugly, evil people are all really stupid," Anders declared.

"Of course they are," Emma agreed matter-of-factly. "If they weren't then why would they have thought being evil was a good career path?"

Anders nodded his agreement.

"That's why I'm not freaking out about the bad guys having Isabela," Emma confided. "Because if she can manage to be this obvious about the fact that she's been 'kidnapped' then she can easily manage to escape if need be."

"Sure she could," Anders agreed. "But what if it interfered with her getting to see Castillion?"

Emma hesitated. "Maybe we should search faster..."

Eventually, they found the pair.

"I'm just saying that since Castillon isn't here right now and my many guards and I are while you're restrained, I can do whatever I want to you," the man was insisting.

Isabela sounded bored. "So you keep saying and yet all you've done is try to convince me to sleep with you."

"Well…what am I supposed to do?" the man asked, confused. "Force you?"

"I'd rather you didn't, actually, but in that case your threats really don't have any teeth," Isabela explained. She spotted Emma and nodded to her just before her bindings broke free. "I guess that means my rescue party is here."

"Rescue…?" the man didn't have time to say anything else before Isabela stabbed him in the throat. That was fine, though, because his next words probably wouldn't have been very interesting anyway.

The guards took offense at this but none of them were magical or giant qunari and so they were quickly dispatched.

"Castillon is on his way," Isabela announced. "But first let's snoop through everyone's things while we're waiting. I want to find out why he's in Kirkwall and I also want to make a lot of money over this little inconvenience."

"That sounds like a plan," Emma said agreeably.

They were just finishing up their search when a man walked into the warehouse all by himself. Very risky.

"Castillon," Isabela greeted him neutrally.

"Well done, Isabela!" Castillon cheered, not appearing to be in the least bit upset that his men had all been killed. He peered at the ground. "Oh, but he does make such a pretty smear…"

Emma backed away nervously. "This guy's kind of a freak…"

"I'm Antivan," Castillon informed her.

"If you're going to tell me that all Antivans are freaks then I'm not going to argue with you," she replied.

"So if this is all a trap, what do you want, Isabela?" Castillon asked her.

"You're slave-dealing in the Free Marches?" Isabela asked rhetorically. "Oh, they're not going to like that."

"Get to the point, Isabela," Castillon ordered.

"Give me your solemn word of honor – which, as a slave-trader, I'm sure you'd never break – that you'll leave me alone, give me your ship, and leave," Isabela demanded.

Castillon chucked. "I think we can-" He fell over dead.

Fenris tried looking inconspicuous over by Anders.

"Where did you even come from?" Isabela demanded, not fooled in the slightest.

"I thought I heard someone saying something about slave trading in the Free Marches," Fenris explained. "Or, more to the point, slave-trading period."

"Yeah, two minutes ago," Isabela replied. "How did you even get here so fast? Were you stalking us?"

"Don't worry about it," Emma advised. "Anders is the same way when it comes to mage issues."

"But…this doesn't even make any sense!" Isabela protested.

"Trying to figure it out will just hurt your head," Emma said knowingly.

"I don't see what the problem is," Fenris told her. "Now you're no longer being hunted."

"That is true," Isabela conceded. "But what about my ship?"

"Would you really put getting your own ship when you can easily afford to buy one above saving hundreds if not thousands from slavery?" Fenris asked dangerously.

Isabela forced a smile. "Of course not! And since I'm sticking around, I didn't see the need to waste money on a ship."

"Besides," Anders spoke up. "You can probably still take his ship now that he's dead."

Isabela's eyes lit up. "Oh, good point! But Fenris, since you're making this so much more difficult than it had to be I'm just going to warn you now that I'm coming home with you."

Fenris didn't seem to mind that.

"Hey, Emma!" Varric waved her over to his area of the Hanged Man.

"I was just about to come here anyway," Emma said, taking a seat.

"No, no, no!" Varric told her.

Confused, Emma stood up again. "Okay…You wanted me to come here but I can't sit down? Are you mad at me and wanted to make sure that I knew it?"

Varric shook his head. "No, I just thought that you might want to know that that last escaped mage is sitting right over there and he's telling everyone he's a blood mage. He's clearly not, though. He just seems to think it will impress women but I think someone already went for the templars."

Emma sighed. "Oh, very well. But only because I don't want templars to ever succeed in locking up a mage, even if they're really stupid and kind of clearly deserve it."

She went over to the man that Varric had indicated. "Emile?"

The man automatically looked her way before slapping his own forehead. "Um…no. Well…okay, fine. You forced it out of me. I am he. But now's not really a good time. I gave some girl my signet ring in exchange for a kiss and later on she's going to make me a man."

"Seriously, you gave up a signet ring for a freaking kiss? Imagine the damage that could be done with that!" Varric exclaimed, following her over. "Quick, tell me who she is so that I can try and buy it from her and hope she doesn't understand the value of a noble's seal."

"If Anders were here then he would probably say something about how it's not his fault he's stupid because he spent his whole life in the Circle but my father was actually born in the Circle and he managed to get by just fine. And my mother wasn't much more knowledgeable than he was since she had been a pampered noble," Emma remarked.

"And speaking of Blondie, I seem to recall that he mentioned how everyone in the Circle slept with pretty much everyone else for lack of anything better to do," Varric remarked. "How is it, then, that this guy's still a virgin?"

"Well, look at him," Emma said pointedly.

Varric nodded. "Good point."

Emile was near tears. "Why are you being so mean?"

Emma and Varric exchanged glances.

"This isn't mean," Emma protested.

"Definitely not mean," Varric agreed. "If you think this is mean then you really have no chance of making it out here in the real world."

"Who are you people anyway?" Emile demanded.

"I'm Emma Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall," Emma introduced.

A little freaked out, Emile rose from the table and started pacing. "Maker, I know what this is about! I swear, I'm not actually a blood mage."

"Then why would you go around telling people that you were one?" Emma demanded. "Are you just stupid?"

"That is entirely possible," Emile said with a sigh, sinking into his seat. "It's just…I wanted to seem dangerous and suave."

"Nothing in this world will make you seem either," Varric said flatly.

"The templars seem to think so," Emile said stubbornly.

"Well if you want to hook up with a templar then that might be useful," Varric told him.

"I've been in the Circle since I was six and it's been twenty years since then," Emile said desperately. "I guess that really all I wanted to do was-"

Emma cut him off, laughing. "No way are you twenty-six."

Emile looked honestly confused. "But…I am."

Emma stared at him in horror. "Who hates you enough to curse you to age like this?"

"I don't follow," Emile said, frowning.

"You look like you're in your forties. At least," Varric helpfully explained.

"I-" Emile started to say. He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Look, I'll go back to the Circle. I just really want to have sex first."

"Well that girl you gave the ring to isn't going to do it," Varric said bluntly.

Emile looked down, disheartened. "Oh…"

"Are you actually going to take him back to the Circle?" Varric asked, surprised. "You're usually really against that."

"I know," Emma agreed. "And I still am, really. It's just…it seems too cruel to just throw him to the wolves. It's not like he'd get any help or support from his family or something, he'd be hunted forever by templars even if they're not looking for him specifically because they think he's dead. I just don't think he has what it takes to survive in the real world."

"Merrill does okay," Varric pointed out.

Emma laughed. "Really? You want to add yet another expense in your monthly bribes to take care of this idiot?"

"On the other hand, it seems to be what he wants," Varric said hastily. "And honestly, I really couldn't care less about this whole mess one way or the other."

"We can take you to the Rose on your way back to the Circle," Emma offered. "It's on the way."

Varric stared at her. "No, it's really not."

"Isabela said that it was," Emma replied.

Varric laughed. "To Isabela, everything is on the way to the Rose."

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