The three Dwarves were bought into the camp of the Dalish, once the hunter patrol informed everyone of who they were the rest of the occupants seemed to relax a little, but still kept a weary distance from them. The hunters directed them towards an elderly looking elf seated in a lavish throne made of a former tree, Krieger stared at its beauty, it was carved to resemble a tree, the 'branches' elegantly linked together to form a suitable place for the Keeper to rest her back, there was elven writing all over the throne and pictures depicting the elven gods or other symbols of the elven faith. The Keeper of this clan was a hard faced, stern looking elf with snow white hair from which hung various Dalish braids, he face was pale save for two ink black tattoos. On her right cheek was an arrow being fired and on her left cheek was a stag being bought down by an arrow, she was dressed in fine green silks and well cleaned furs, were it not for the strange outfit it made, these materials would not have looked out of place in a nobles court. Her outfit appeared to be a lavish green robe which was decorated with leaves made of bronze and gold as well as Dalish religious symbols made out of Halla horn, like her hunters she also wore a green cloak but this cloak was much more elegant, the hunters cloaks were designed for camouflage, this cloak was designed for beauty. It was green silk and covered in designs of creatures, hunters, priests and warriors, it was as if some great Dalish artist had made an entire tapestry out of that cloak and Krieger suspected this to be the case. On her back she carried a venerable looking staff which would have looked like an ordinary tree branch were it not for the green runes glowing on its surface, the particularly bright glow told Krieger this was a particularly powerful staff. The Keeper rose and all the hunters went on bended knee as a formal greeting.
'Keeper' the first elf they had met began 'these Dwarves were found in the woods near the camp, one of them claims to be a Grey Warden, I thought it best to leave such matters to you'
'A wise decision Taal, dismissed' she waved her hand and the hunters strode off, she bowed politely 'yes I remember your face, you are without doubt the man who slew the archdeamon, and truly we are privileged to have such a mighty warrior grace us. I am Keeper Macha of the Iyanden clan of the Dalish elves'
Deciding that politeness was the best course of action Krieger bowed back 'good day, I am Paragon Krieger Audecan, leader of both the Dwarven Audecan house and all Grey Wardens in Ferelden. These two are members of my house and currently my guards'. Rat and Gorim both bowed as well.
'Tell me, what brings three Dwarves above ground?'
'There is trouble under the earth Keeper, the darkspawn grow more and more capable with each passing day. We have barely enough to hold them off as it is; this change is unacceptable for us. We have also received word of darkspawn attacks above ground as well, it is hoped we can find the reason for this and put a permanent stop to it.'
'Then I wish you good luck on your quest' the Keeper smiled 'but for now, allow us to feed and heal your wounds, it is the only thing we can do for such a good friend of the Dalish'
They were lead over to a campfire and were given a meal of venison and spring water, after a few minutes the Dalish began questioning them, many had longed to hear tales of his adventures fighting the Blight and his quest to fight the werewolves, Krieger chuckled and gladly related the story to the children listening. They awed as he told them the details of the werewolves, they cowered in fear as he told them of the dangers of the old Tvinter temple they had been into and they cheered as he told them of the outcome of the adventure, peace to the troubled werewolves and the heroic sacrifice of Keeper Zathrian. Gorim and Rat listened too, they were always eager to hear of war stories from the fabled Gray Warden. Once they had finished lunch they were taken to the sick bay, Krieger was glad their wounds were minor; it meant they did not have to stay long. The Dalish in the bay were carrying serious looking injures and Krieger did not relish looking upon them.
'What has happened?' he asked.
'Our clan suffered an attack a few days ago' an overworked looking apprentice healer told them, 'many were badly injured, three of them died this morning, there was nothing we could do for them' he sighed and mended their wounds. Once they were out of the bay they went back to the Keeper and she told them everything.
'The hunters say that there is some sort of fortress in this forest where dark rituals are being conducted, we saw the wizards ourselves and they were horrible looking humans, they wielded some sort of powerful dark magic which caused great suffering to us, a few days ago a vicious raid by bandits in their employ resulted in twenty-five of our clan-mates being captured, we tried to rescue them but to no avail. We are currently planning on moving north, away from this nation, there are dark times in store for this land, I can sense it'.
'Wait, you can't just leave your clan-mates behind!' Rat mentioned.
'That's what I said!' came the voice of the militant elf named Taal from the other end of the campfire.
The Keeper silenced Taal with a glare and then spoke to Rat 'it pains me to do so child, but our hunters report the stronghold is impregnable, to attempt a rescue would be to put more lives at risk, believe me if there was any other way I would try it but there isn't'
'There is now' Taal said as he walked towards them, the Keeper thought he was going to argue with her but instead he turned to the Dwarves.
'Well Dwarves, we have done as we promised, we have fed and healed you, now it is time for you to fulfil your end of the bargain'
'Bargain?' the Keeper questioned but Taal ignored her 'You are capable warriors; we need help in rescuing the prisoners'.
'Taal!' the Keeper said in an appalled voice, 'we do not bargain with our friends! How dare you involve them in your fight!'
'You are unwilling to do anything to rescue the captives, so I am taking the initiative here!'
'How dare you, these people have important business to be getting on with!'
'And the lives of our clan-mates are less important!' Taal accused.
The Keeper sighed 'Taal, I don't leave them out of spite, I don't believe we can help them Taal, you've been in that fortress, it's impregnable!'
'Then let me try, if we don't we'll spend the rest of our lives regretting this' Taal declared.
The Keeper gave in and turned to Krieger, 'I hesitate to ask Grey Warden, but if you have the time then-
'You've no need to ask, I would never leave innocent lives to suffer at the hands of these savages' Krieger announced.
'It's settled then, I'll go with the Dwarves, anybody else?' Taal asked, there was no reply, after a minute Taal shouted 'so be it, but when I rescue these captives I'll be sure to tell them how we had to rely on outside aid to save them!' he stormed off, with Krieger, Rat and Gorim in hot pursuit.
The Circle of Magi tower
Senior enchanter Wynne was currently indulging in her favourite pastime, travelling the infinite reaches of the Fade. The Fade was an alternative, metaphysical realm where spirits existed in the place of mortals, the true size of this dimension was impossible to tell, and the rules and laws of that place were constantly ever-changing, the thing mortals called 'reality' had no place in the realm of spirits and daemons, they did as they desired and cared not for such mortal things like rules. Wynne so dearly loved it here, away from the boundaries and prejudices in the mortal world, and there were many of these prejudge to be found, particularly for her kind. The general populace of Thedas had a medieval attitude to her kind, for the sole reason that they were mages, with the ability to commit abnormal acts, their fear was not entirely unfounded, for at all times a mage was in danger of possession by a prying daemon, they fed on the emotions of mortals and many times tricked them into possession in return for great rewards, these were false promises. Possessed mages became what was known as Abominations, horrible twisted creatures with grotesque strength and endurance and powerful dark magic, these were difficult to kill indeed. Thankfully the mood was starting to change, people were becoming more accepting of mages due to Wynne's friend King Alistair giving them more rights, but that fear still remained, Wynne supposed it always would.
Often her colleagues hinted that Wynne was growing senile, they say the harsh realities of war had finally turned her mad, perhaps this was true, but at least her magic allowed her to enter a realm where being sane did not matter. Wynne mused that she was probably going to be going senile soon, for she was certainly not a young woman anymore, she had been a companion to the Grey Warden Krieger on his quest to purge the Darkspawn from Ferelden, and she was elderly even then, but she believed that ridding the nation of the Blight was her final purpose, and that gave her the energy to keep carrying on through all the times of hardship. Now though, she was on her last legs, she was growing older and weaker with each passing month, now that her purpose had gone all that was left for her was to expire, she did not mind this, for she had lived a full life, bringing happiness to many people and even saving the entire nation, few people could have said the same with an honest face. She hadn't thought of her companions in a long time, she reflected with a smile on her face. Ten of them they were, and a stranger group you could never hope to meet. Firstly there was an exiled Dawrven prince, and a cheerful and slightly foolish young former Templar, later came an Orlesian bard and a malicious witch from the southern swamps, and then a Qunari warrior in self-imposed exile. Then Wynne had joined their strange band, shortly after an Antivan assassin had made a failed attempt on their lives and then volunteered to join them. And finally a disgraced Dwarven warrior and an ancient golem had completed their band, and of course, Wynne chucked, how could she forget Krieger's loyal hound!
A strange thing occurred, just as Wynne was thinking about them, she saw them standing in front of her, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief but they were still there, laughing and joking among themselves. Krieger saw her and waved her over.
'Wynne, so glad you made it! Come and join us, we are having such fun!'
Wynne slowly walked forward but then stopped, her sense told her something wasn't quite right, and any good mage had to trust her senses. She stopped and began gazing further into her friends, determined to find something that was wrong with this spectacle, by now the others had advanced on her.
'Come and join us Wynne, it's great to be back together' they all shouted.
Wynne started backing away 'no, this isn't right' she warned, they were closing in on her, their faces becoming aggressive 'Come with us' they demanded quite uncharacteristically.
Wynne backed off further, her hands beginning to lighten up as a spell was forming 'no! I will not come with you! For you are not my friends!'
Realising that the ruse had been seen through, her friend's faces twisted into daemonic grins, they writhed and lurched until their true form became apparent, they were Desire daemons! This specific kind of daemon preferred trickery rather then combat, but they were fierce fighters nonetheless. They all closed in on her with their claws stretching outwards. Wynne flung several balls of magic at them but they merely shrugged these off and floated further. Wynne tripped and fell back painfully; the daemons were almost on her.
'Stay back! Stay back!' she cried, the daemons smiled, closing in for the kill.
A bright light began to shine above in the "sky", the daemons looked up, displeased at this disturbance, beams of light shone down and struck the ground with the force of a falling meteor, the daemons hissed and backed away from the shining lights, one of them struck the daemons, it screamed in pain and disintegrated away, a daemon could not be killed in the truest sense of the word, it could be "killed" and then gather enough of its energy to reform, though this took a long time. The other daemons began fleeing, some were caught in the beams and were horribly slain, but Wynne did not feel a scrap of sympathy for them. When they were all gone another figure appeared, this figure was wearing a robe not unlike that of the Circle towers librarian, he wore small glasses and carried scrolls under his arm, his face was ancient and wise, his features looked as if they had been carved out of stone. He watched Wynne with an expression of disappointment, like the one a parent gives when punishing a child. Wynne got up and sighed heavily 'I know I know, I should have seen through it, but remember, I don't have all my faculties' anymore old friend'. At the mention of such a thing as aging, the spirit cocked its head curiously, because both spirits and daemons were immortal creatures in a realm that was always changing at the whim of some powerful creature, both creatures had no concept of time, the fact that things happen in such a contextual space was alien to this creature. It held out its 'arm' and helped Wynne up, in reality this was not the spirits true form, in reality both spirits and daemons had no true form, they could change their image if they wished to deceive someone, but in the Fade most spirits and Daemons chose a form which suited their personality, and this spirit was no exception.
This was a sprit, a creature that felt no need to pry in the affairs of mortals, these were also creatures of emotion as well as other things, but the main difference was that spirits were creatures of positive things, such as Justice, Healing and Compassion, for all their benevolence, most spirits did not know of or care for mortals, they regarded them as inferior beings and scoffed at the daemons for associating with them. But this sprit was different; this was a spirit of Knowledge, always keen to learn about everything and everyone, including mortals and daemons. And this wasn't just any spirit of Knowledge, this was her spirit of Knowledge, it had been her companion throughout her entire life, watching her, protecting her, and above all guiding her and teaching her the ways of the Fade, it had even helped her during the Blight, giving her power to slay the Darkspawn and heal her friends. She was glad to have this spirit as company in her final days.
'Thank you for that timely rescue, tell me then, what besides myself brings you here?'
The spirit looked at her sadly and held out his hand, an indication that he wanted her to travel with him, she took it and a blinding light filled her vision, when she could see again she was in her spirits domain, his part of the Fade. It was a massive library, with countless tomes spanning all the knowledge the spirit possessed, because he was immortal she guessed that it possessed all the knowledge of the world. The spirit pointed to one large volume on a pedestal in the centre of the library. Wynne went over to the book and looked at it, she was amazed by what she saw, it was a book about her.
It contained everything, her life, her deeds, her thoughts and feelings about situations she had forgotten she had been in. Wynne's jaw dropped in amazement, this book was written about her and her alone, it contained the secrets of her past, and the secrets of her future. She turned to her friend, but not before noticing the book said she would turn to her friend.
'What is this!?, is this a book of what I have been and will become!'
The spirit nodded with a small frown, she had already figured that out for herself, Wynne was simply refusing to believe it. The spirit waved its hand and the pages of the book flew to one side, she saw many writings go past, many pages flew by with such speed, Wynne was still in disbelief, she only had a few more years on this earth, surely she could not do so much in such a short time. The pages finally rested on a blank one, well at first it was blank but then writings started to appear. The spirit pointed to a particular passage, Wynne was horrified by what she read.
Wynne's body was broken, her limbs had been smashed and severed, as her lifeblood lay pooling around her she saw Krieger one last time, he knelt on a mountain of Fereldan corpses, including the bodies of Leliana and Alistair, he was valiantly fighting off those monsters, but both they and he knew he could not win, before Wynne passed, the last thing she saw was Krieger falling down.
Wynne gasped in horror, but the pages were turning again this time the text read.
Wynne fell down, an Orlesian blade finishing her arm off, she lay down in a pool of blood and her opponent left her to die. She tried to scream defiance into the air, but her body lacked the strength now, and never would gain it ever again. She was dying and she knew it, the last thing she saw was all her friends, dead in a pool of blood, she tried to resist, tried to stand up and do something about it, but she knew it was a useless gesture. She was dying, her friends were dead, they had failed, they had all failed. The last thing she saw was the banner of the Orlesian Empire being raised in victory, then all was dark.
Wynne turned back to her spirit friend, appalled that he would do such a thing to her, 'Why!?' she cried 'why show me such visions!?' the spirit turned to her with a severe gaze, he pointed again to the writing and Wynne noticed something else. Unlike the writing of her past which was written in black ink and was quite solid, this writing of the future kept changing colour and kept moving and shifting, it looked at though someone had written this with a multicoloured cloud, she also noticed that the passages kept changing, some words changed, some passages rewritten, sometimes they settled back to what Wynne had read them as, sometimes they did not, the spirit answered her questions before they were asked.
'These are not writings of things that will be, they are writings of things that may be' it warned gravely 'there is trouble coming to your home, if these shadows remain unaltered, what you read in the volume shall happen in reality, you know what you must do'
At the last word the spirits voice seemed to echo, the blinding light returned and Wynne could not she a thing, unlike before, when the light was warming and pleasant, this light was cold and unforgiving, she screamed as it consumed her.
When she came to she was on the cold stone of the tower floor, there were several people standing around her, she recognised one as her apprentice.
'Wynne! Wynne! Can you hear me?'
She rose up to the relived sighs of the crowd, there were several mages crowded into the chamber and many Templar's with weapons drawn. Her apprentice spoke up again, 'you screamed and were flung back against the wall, the Templar's suspected daemons' the apprentice shuddered.
Wynne recovered from her ordeal 'no you needn't worry, there was no daemon involved, but there is something important, take me to the First Enchanter, I must speak with him at once!'
The large crowd followed her all the way to the First Enchanter's office.
The Forest
Taal escorted the three Dwarves across the forest, at his order he marched farther ahead with Rat behind him for Krieger and Gorim to follow, both Taal and Rat were lightly armoured and the heavily armoured Dwarves would only give away their position. Once they were out in the forest Rat asked the elf a question.
'So have you and this Keeper been at odds for long?' he innocently questioned, the elf turned with a severe glare.
'Have you been a nosy Dwarf long?' his voice pierced, but he softened slightly when he saw the Dwarf meant no harm by the question. 'The Keeper and I have had a sort of thing going on since I was a youngster, my clan is by nature weary of humans but many have forgotten this lesson, but not I. I know that the humans will forever trouble our kind, they have committed such unforgiveable crimes against us that our races will never live in peace'.
'I've seen humans before, and they seem alright'
'You are a Dwarf, it is different for you, the elves have suffered greatly under the humans, and we have long memories'. He was solemnly quiet the rest of the journey.
They arrived at the main gate of the fortress and Krieger immediately saw why the Dalish were reluctant to attack it, even Taal gave a slight twinge of fear, the fortress looked all the more terrifying now that daylight revealed its mysteries. Arrow slits dotted the walls which were made of fine solid granite which made them difficult to climb, a field of pikes ensured there would be no charges against the walls. Smeared all across the walls now was the same symbol Taal had described along the way, there was also something in the air, they could all feel it but couldn't quite grasp it. The air smelt faintly of rotting eggs and there was a general feeling of maliciousness that Krieger and the others did not feel before, he had only ever had a similar experience once, when Blood Mages overran the Circle tower.
'Your Keeper was right' Krieger sighed 'if the clan attacked they wouldn't make it to the gates before they were all slaughtered'.
Taal merely shrugged 'the only place that would be safe for you to cross is when the drawbridge goes down, I'll climb over and open it, you'd better rush in, that falling drawbridge will attract attention'. He then fastened a rope to one of his arrows and fired it over the wall, once he tested it to make sure it was tight, he began the long climb. As he was watching him Krieger held up a hand to his forehead, there was something else about this he couldn't quite understand, Gorim saw what was happening.
'Something the matter Paragon?'
'I don't know Gorim, I can just sense something, this environment, this feeling, it all reminds me of some sort of blood magic, but I'm not sure'. Gorim was about to answer when they heard the sound of groaning metal. With a loud protest the drawbridge drew open, it started slowly at first then fell to the ground with a massive thud, Taal stood there, his bow at the ready, he beckoned them over.
'Something's wrong' he warned and pointed to the courtyard 'do you see what I see?'
Rat was the first to notice 'There are no guards' Taal nodded, 'I saw a small army the first time I came in, why is there none now?'
'I have an unpleasant feeling we'll find out' moaned Gorim.
They advanced very quickly with no guards to distract them, they came up into the main door into the castle, this was made of solid oak and they guessed it was a few feet thick. This door would take days to cut through so that was out of the question; there was also no visible means of making the door move. Rat noticed a nearby window and pointed to it.
'That probably goes to the door, I'll go in and move it' he picked up a rock and smashed the window, in the dim silence it sounded all the louder, Krieger withdrew Starfang, somebody almost definitely would have heard that. Rat climbed through with difficultly and soon nothing else could be heard, it stayed this way for several minutes. Krieger shifted nervously 'I don't like this, something is wrong' he said before they heard the sound of the door creaking. Two men dressed in crude armour came out talking and did not notice the others until they bumped into them, for a moment they stared at each other blankly, and then they started to raise their weapons. Fortunately Taal's Elven reflexes were much faster and he had an arrow lodged in his enemy's skull before he could even shout. The other guard began running to raise the alarm but as he turned a crossbow bolt made contact with his face, he fell in a heap, his face in ruins.
'Sorry I'm late, but there are many passages in here, you could get lost easily' he warned, 'and that same symbol is smeared all over the walls, even inside this fort'.
As they entered they saw this was true, the same symbol, painted in blood dotted the walls of the chambers, having one symbol face you was a bad enough assault on the senses, having this many was a most unpleasant experience indeed. Taal began to clutch his head in revulsion, it was beginning to ache strongly, even the sturdy Dwarves were beginning to feel weighted and sickly. Taal pointed to a large door at the end of the hall.
'There is where I saw the ritual last time, be prepared, this is not something easy to watch'
They entered cautiously, weapons drawn and prepared for battle, at first it was total darkness, not a thing could be seen or heard, the warriors were uneasy, then the whole scene was brilliantly lit. Someone had ignited all the torches in the room at once, they revealed a whole room filled to the brim with bandits, there was also a large dais atop which stood many evil looking men in red robes, they all carried strange deadly looking surgical tools and stood with hostile glares at the interlopers. The bandits raised their weapons to charge but a commanding voice told them to be still, the bandits quickly obeyed with looks of fear on their faces. A man came striding up the dais so that he could be picked out among the rest. He too wore a large red robe but also a black cloak rested on his shoulders, it was clear that this man was in command. The other red robes had balls of energy glowing in their hands, an indication that they possessed magical ability, but the commander sported an ornate gold staff. It would have been a grand thing were it not for the screaming faces carved into it; it looked as though they were giving wails of despair. The commander gave an almost friendly smile 'Good evening my fine fellows, may I say welcome to our grand unveiling' his voice had an almost silky politeness to it.
'Taal! Help us!' came several cries from a cage nearby, inside were several Dalish men women and children of all ages, they were all desperate looking and crying out for help, at the sight of them Taal's face twisted into a furious snarl.
'Let them go at once!' he demanded, the commander chuckled.
'Ah yes the elves, don't worry they will get out of that cage, though you may not like them when they do' he laughed mockingly. Taal aimed his bow and, incensed with rage, fired a shot at the human's head. He simply waved his staff and the arrow caught fire, it was ash before it was even halfway to the man.
'Oh don't worry, they'll be time for that later, as for now, a little entertainment I think' he snapped his fingers and a monster came down. Everyone, even the bandits, recoiled in horror at this abomination. Its skin appeared to be covered in a thick chainmail, but on closer inspection its skin was chainmail, its face was ghoulish and filled with long black fangs, it moved with unnatural agility. Its only weapon appeared to be its claws, but these were so sharp it could cut even through the thickest armour. Krieger pointed his weapon directly at the creature, it looked at him, slowly hopped towards him but backed away when the sword point came to close.
'Scary isn't he, what do you say to a little duel, I've been eager to test this creature in combat'. He waved his hand and the creature pounced forward. It caught Krieger in the chest, its long claws making a mockery of his armour; the tips stabbed his chest painfully. Krieger responded by slashing it across its back with all his might, the creature was able to dodge the worst of the damage, but still jumped back painfully. The others ran to help Krieger but the commander stopped them 'oh I am sorry, but this is a one-on-one duel, if you help all my men will attack you' he mocked.
Krieger recovered himself, 'don't worry, I'll take him' he raised Starfang and charged at the creature, his forward slash missed by a hairs length and the creature pounced on him, tearing at his back savagely. Krieger quickly sped sideways and smashed the creatures head with the pommel of his sword, it lost a few teeth and there was a trickle of blood at the corner of its mouth. It ran towards him again but Krieger used his sword to block it off, its arms flailed around, looking for gaps in his defence, Krieger let it come closer to gain a little slack, but then used all of his strength to push it back, with his considerable strength it flung the creature down, as it landed Krieger ran it through with Starfang, it screamed in pain and struggled to get the sword out of its chest, Krieger twisted the sword to make it more painful before withdrawing it, to his horror, the creature got back up. It sped fast then he thought and knocked Krieger down, he sprawled painfully upon the floor, he barely had time to get back up before the creature bit at its face, it tore mercilessly, inflicting many long scratches before it managed to gain a hold on his helmet, its teeth sank into the helmet slowly, the creature was trying to crush his skull. Krieger struggled desperately, without his helmet he would not have survived the creatures attacks, he could ill afford to lost it now. His left hand tried to batter the creature while his right one searched for something to hit it with he reached out and felt the pommel of his sword, he grabbed it and swung with all his might.
At first there was nothing, just a large form falling on top of him, then Krieger found the energy to stand up, he was forced to remove his helmet, the creatures teeth still lodged in it. He looked down and saw the creature's corpse and knew the reason for this, the creature was beheaded and its head was attached to his helmet in a grotesque manner. Krieger immediately threw away the helmet in horror but soon regretted it. That was a specially designed Grey Warden helmet; it was a very expensive thing, the commander looked extremely angry.
'Dang and blast it! I was so hoping that creature would kill you! Do you know how much magic it takes to manufacture a creature like that! I am positively miffed sir!'
Krieger spat out a mouthful of blood and adopted a severe voice 'I have defeated your champion, the rest of you will be slain much more easily. I give you all one last warning, release the Dalish now or you will all be slain, I guarantee that'.
There were some looks of hesitation, but the commanding mage silenced any rebellious thoughts 'you've upset me greatly sir, I'm afraid I must force you to join my ranks now'
'What do you mean?' Taal asked hesitantly.
The mage smiled 'you see, I've had my mages chanting a spell ever since that Dwarf knuckled down with my creation' he spoke the truth, they were chanting all together and a large ball of energy was forming above them. 'And would you be so kind as to look where you're standing' the mage chuckled.
The group looked down to discover their boots were slick with blood; the bandits looked down to discover they were standing in it as well.
'And now gentlemen I bid you goodbye, to make up for your damage you shall swell the ranks of my army! Just as these simple bandits will!' he cried before uttering a disgusting word, it was a harsh inhuman word which bent the rules of reality and opened a massive portal in the room. It opened with a wet sucking sound as reality and insanity clashed together in an insane vortex, it swirled around painting the room every colour imaginable before sending sparks of Fade energy everywhere. Everybody noticed the blood at their feet was beginning to heat up painfully, it also seemed to be growing on them, seeping into their pores and pouring into gaps in their armour. Krieger sensed the danger and ran towards the exit with his arms flailing.
'Get out of the room now!' he screamed, the others needed no second bidding and ran out to the massive doorway, as soon as they got there the blood slackened off, as if it knew it would not be able to consume them. The bandits also tried exiting, but for them it was too late, the blood consumed every inch of their being until they were completely covered in it. They thrashed about wildly in rebellion but it was futile, the blood began to heat up more and then the screaming began, the humans screamed at the top of their lungs as they writhed upon the floor, each tearing at their eyes, their chests, all parts of their body, as if something inside them was struggling to get out.
'Let us not waste time!' Taal yelled and fired an arrow into the prisoner's cage, it went through the lock, breaking it and allowing the door to open.
'Move now!' Taal ordered they quickly ran to avoid being consumed by the ravenous blood; they all sped out of the door with pure panic motivating them.
'Taal! Rat! Guide them to the camp! We'll hold them off' Krieger ordered, Taal immediately ran ahead, shouting to his fellow Dalish as he went, Rat looked reluctant to leave his friends but ran behind, making sure none fell down and were left behind.
By now some of the bloodied forms were able to stand up, their coating of blood melted away and their new form was revealed, they too bore similar forms to the creature that Krieger had fought, and they advanced slowly with their claws aimed for the Dwarves faces.
Krieger and Gorim slowly backed away, their outstretched weapons ensuring that no creature ventured too close. The laughing shouts of the commanding mage ringed in their ears.
'Success! Success I say! My experiments have come to fruition! With an army of these things Ferelden will be ours!'
The creatures were running now, any sense of danger forgotten as they dashed to consume their prey, the two Dwarves realised they could not fight them all and ran with all haste. Even though they were enemies Krieger could not help but feel sorry for those bandits, they had no doubt been promised the world but had instead been enslaved to the will of a madman. Suddenly any sympathy he might have had was lost forever.
One of the creatures pounced upon Krieger's back, weakened by his fight earlier Krieger instantly gave way, the creature clawed madly at his back; he was able to create an opening in the armour and reached for Krieger's spine. Gorim's mace scored a direct hit and send the creature sprawling back, the Dwarf picked his friend up and carried him to the door, and they were out in the courtyard before they saw them again.
The creatures all swarmed out of the fortress, each pair of eyes fixed on the two Dwarves, true to their creation, the creature that Gorim hit was not killed; it only had a few scratches upon its chainmail like skin. Krieger had recovered but still walked with a limp, one of the creatures leapt upon them again but an arrow to the eye stopped it before it could harm anyone, it fell to the ground in a slumped heap, all were sure it was genuinely dead. Rat and Taal were at the gates, peppering the advancing horde with arrows, there was nowhere near enough to stop them, but they provided enough cover for their allies to limp back. as they were nearing the gate disaster struck.
A creature caught the unwary Gorim by the ankle, he stumbled back as he struggled valiantly, Krieger tried to help but Gorim pushed him into Rat's arms.
'Take him boy! I'll hold them off!' Gorim cried.
Krieger desperately called out to his friend 'don't be foolish Gorim, we can make it!' but he was too wounded to see that he was lying,
All around them the horde closed in, and the commander mage had instruceted the drawbridge to rise, in a few seconds they would be trapped, and none of them believed they could win this fight. Gorim handed Krieger his shield 'give this to my family' he solemnly commanded.
'Gorim no! Don't do this!' Krieger wailed.
Gorim took one last look at his dearest friend 'it's been an honour serving you, my lord Audecan' before he ran into the midst of the creatures and fought like a Dwarf possessed. Taal pulled the rest of out of the fortress and commanded 'now! We need to leave now!'
Rat practically had to drag Krieger all the way back; he was screaming his friends name all the way.
The Fortress
The blood mage leader gave a satisfied smirk, he was very pleased with the results of his experiment, and that Dwarf, my oh my, what a ferocious fighter! Since he knew he wouldn't survive he fought with all haste, taking down four of his creations before he was slain, he was currently been devoured by the survivors now. It was a shame that he couldn't be made to join their ranks, but oh well. He'd only lost five creatures today; he could replenish that number very quickly. He chuckled to himself, all was going well.
The Dalish camp (several hours later)
It was a scene of mass celebration, all the prisoners had been bought back safely, they were currently laughing and hugging their families while the clan feasted for this joyous occasion. Only one soul was not in a celebratory mood.
Krieger had been on the brink of death when he was bought back into the camp, even though he was going to make a full recovery, he certainly didn't feel that way. He'd just lost one of his greatest friends, they had known each other since childhood, he was certain Gorim was going to be at his side for the rest of his life. He was a good man, an honourable man; he didn't deserve to die that way. Keeper Macha came and sat with him.
'I was told of your friend, I am truly sorry, rest assured that when we thank the Creators for this rescue we will also give thanks to your friend, were it not for him we wouldn't have cause to celebrate tonight'
Krieger looked up at the old elf's face 'thank you, I know he would have liked that'
The Keeper smiled and rose 'Taal also told me of the creatures in that fortress, we will leave early tomorrow morning, for now rest, you've more than earned it'.
Rat soon came running over 'I didn't know Gorim that well, but I know he served and protected you all his life, it's fitting that he died that way I suppose' Rat mused.
Krieger smiled, the lad was not experienced at comforting, 'thanks lad, I will honour his final wish, his shield, my father's shield, will be sent back to his family. I will also ensure that he be remembered as the hero he was'.
Taal also decided to accompany them 'you've helped us well Dwarf, for that I will guide you to Denerim, I promise that. I would also request permission to join you in your travels'
Krieger and Rat looked at him 'why?' they both asked.
'The Keeper and I have been hostile to each other since I returned; she says my influence drives the clan to commit rash acts. Personally I think she just needs time to cool off, overall, I think it would be better if I left the clan for a few weeks, besides, you can handle yourselves quite well, and you're a follower short I believe' he began to chuckle but was silenced by Rat's stare.
Krieger sighed and poured them all a glass of wine, 'so be it, you're a good archer Taal, you'll be an invaluable help to us. I vow to finish this quest, so the sacrifice of my friend will not be in vain, for Gorim!' he declared raising his glass in a toast.
His other two companions raised their glasses 'for Gorim!'
Authors note- when I was working on this chapter I remembered that there hadn't been any mention of darkspawn for a while, and I'm sorry for that. This story sort of took its own path with Orlais and whatnot; I'm unsure whether to fit the darkspawn in because they are not particularly relevant to the story. I am considering doing a sequel once this story is finished, I'll appreciate possible feedback on the matter.
Sincerely Quill-Weaver
