Chapter 15

"Well, so far so good," Gavin said to the others. "We've managed to fight our way through all these dragonlings and not gotten ourselves killed. But, I have a gut feeling that our biggest challenge is waiting for us out on that ledge up ahead."

"I just hope it's not a high dragon," Varric muttered, wincing as Isabella tightened the bandage she was placing around his arm. "You've got all the finesse of a hack wench."

"Stop whining," she retorted, rolling her eyes. "It could be worse."

"Isabela, I want you to stay here with Varric and make sure nothing sneaks up behind us," Gavin had come to stand over them.

"I've come this far, I want to see it through," the dwarf complained.

"No," the mage said firmly, shaking his head. "With your arm injured, you won't be able to hold or aim your crossbow as well as you need to. The rest of us can handle what's ahead."

"And if it is a high dragon?" Isabela queried.

"Then we leave and tell Hubert he's out of luck," Gavin replied.

Fenris watched with approval at the way Hawke was handling things. Up until they had actually entered the mines, the mage had been constantly looking to him and Aveline for confirmation of his decisions. The further in they went and the more battles they fought, the less he had looked to them.

"Seems like he's got his confidence back," Aveline murmured.

"Yes," the elf nodded.

"So, what do you think are the odds of there being a high dragon waiting for us?"

Fenris turned to the guard captain, "Fair to good I would say. At the very least it will be a mature dragon. The sheer number of dragonlings and dragons we've faced so far pretty much guarantee it."

"And what do you think our chances are?" Aveline asked.

"Better than average," the elf said with conviction.

"You seem pretty confident of that," Gavin stated, having silently joined them. "Do you know anything about these dragons that could help?"

Fenris pursed his lips as he contemplated the question. "I was only involved in a fight with dragons once before. There is never more than one high dragon in any area, they are fiercely territorial. But in this instance, there were several mature dragons with her. The party I was with had several mages and dozens of foot soldiers. It took a long time, cost many their lives, and practically drained the mages of their powers, but we defeated them. The only thing I can be sure of is that elemental magic is not very effective."

"That doesn't sound good," Aveline said shakily. She knew that Hawke was very talented with elemental magic. "That limits what spells Hawke can use."

"I seriously doubt we will be facing such a group here," the elf said confidently. "The land around here is just unable to support a large group. However, as in most situations, brute force is often good enough to achieve victory. We just have to watch out for the dragon's fiery breath."

"I can shield the party from that for a short time if necessary," Anders said as he joined them.

"So, we should be capable of handling what's out there," Gavin stated and saw the elf nod. "Well then, let's get this over with." He turned to his fellow mage, "I want you to stay out of harm's way and shield us or heal us as necessary. We can't afford to lose you."

The four of them gathered themselves and headed for the exit to the ledge where the final dragon awaited them. Even though he rarely did it, Gavin sent a prayer to the maker that they would find only one beast. He didn't think they could handle more than that, and he would hate to have to go back and tell Hubert they had failed. He really needed the reward money the man was offering.

"Hollar if you need us," Isabela called out to their retreating backs. She shook her head, "I'm glad it's not me going out there. I'd rather face a pirate fleet than a bunch more of these dragons."

"Hopefully the broody elf is right and there's only one of them," Varric said worriedly.

Gavin was thinking the same thing as he stopped at the opening of the cave to look around. He could see a large, rocky outcrop extending for several meters in every direction. He cautiously stepped out and looked around. He could see no sign of any dragon, big or small. Moving further to his left, he suddenly realized that they were high up and that it was a sheer drop off the edge of the plateau.

"Not much room to maneuver out here," Aveline commented.

"We'll have to be extremely carful of where we step," Fenris said, shivering a little at the thought of plunging off the ledge.

"Oh goody, either the dragon will kill us or we'll plunge to our deaths," Anders said sarcastically. "I just love the wonderful places you bring us to Hawke."

Gavin shot the mage a quelling look, "Just stay back near the entrance of the cave and you'll be fine."

"And what about you?" Anders retorted. "I don't fancy taking the long trip back to Kirkwall by myself."

Fenris saw the brief doubt flash in Hawke's eyes and said firmly, "There's plenty of room for me to swing my sword and avoid the dragon. We'll be fine." He waited until Hawke had moved away before turning to Anders. "Keep your mouth shut mage or the dragon will be the least of your problems," he hissed.

Aveline glared at Anders as well before moving to follow Hawke. She'd barely gone two feet when a spout of flame singed the ground in front of her, forcing her to dodge to the side as a big dragon wheeled overhead. She looked up as a mature dragon landed with a heavy thump mere feet from her. She saw the dragon open its mouth again and threw her shield in front of her even though she knew it would not protect her fully from the flames. Just before they reached her, she felt something cool wrap around her and watched the fire stream harmlessly past. Looking around, she saw Anders nod and smiled her thanks.

"Anders, keep shielding her," Hawke shouted. "Aveline, try to keep the dragon focused on you. Fenris and I will handle the direct assault." He hoped that her heavy shield and armor would protect her from the dragon's physical blows long enough for him and the elf to kill the thing.

"Hawke, the underbelly and the neck are the only two really vulnerable spots on her," Fenris shouted.

Gavin nodded and darted forward under the dragon's sweeping tail in an attempt to stab at her belly. He saw Fenris out of the corner of his eye swinging his massive great sword, attempting to slash her neck. Neither of them were having much success as the dragon kept dodging and moving. After several minutes, he suddenly saw an opening and went for it, never seeing the dragon's rear leg moving in his direction. He felt a searing pain and found himself flying backwards, landing heavily at the edge. He felt himself starting to slip over and scrambled desperately for any kind of a handhold, finally latching onto a scraggly bush. Panting, he closed his eyes at the near miss and thanked the Maker he was still alive.

Aveline saw Hawke almost go over the side which caused her to take her eyes off the dragon. This was a mistake as the dragon's tail was sweeping in her direction. The next thing she knew was that her shield was gone and she herself was near the edge of the ledge. Cursing herself for her stupidity, she got to her knees and looked around. Anders was still at the cave entrance and Fenris was now facing the full fury of the dragon. She spotted her shield a few feet away and crawled quickly towards it. She had to get back in the fight.

Gavin realized that he'd dropped his daggers and now had no idea where they were. Studying the battle, he saw that nothing any of them were doing was having much effect on the dragon. The beast was moving around too much for anyone to get a good shot at her. He knew what he would have to do, but he was scared of doing it. He had no idea if he could control his magic well enough. However, if he didn't do something, they would all die here. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on calling the wild power that Force Mages relied upon, binding it to his will.

Opening his eyes, he focused on the dragon and reached out to grab her in an invisible grip, dragging her down and holding her in place. He felt the moment the dragon realized what was happening and her counter challenge almost broke his hold. Gritting his teeth, he focused the power even more and felt more than heard the bones in her wings snapping. The dragon roared in pain and anger and lashed out with her own magic in an attempt to free herself.

Gavin cried out as pain exploded in his skull. His eyes narrowed to slits, he ignored the pain and continued to focus his will on crushing the dragon. He saw that she was now grounded and unable to move. Finally Fenris was able to really attack her. Through tears of pain, he watched as the elf glowed blue and with a mighty stroke, cleaved the dragon's neck in two. The last thing he saw before darkness engulfed him was the dragon's life blood spilling over the ground.

Fenris and Aveline collapsed to the ground, panting in exhaustion. It may have only been one dragon, but it had put up a horrific fight. They heard Anders cry out "Hawke" and turned to see the mage running towards the man lying on the ground at the far side of the ledge. Getting to their feet, they staggered over in time to see Anders rolling Hawke onto his back.

They both gasped at the blood they saw covering their friend's face. "Is he alive?" Aveline asked.

Anders peeled back an eyelid and studied the pupil. "He's unconscious but alive."

"Is he injured?" Fenris knelt down beside them. "Where's the blood coming from?"

Anders opened his mouth to answer and then hesitated.

"What is it?" Aveline snapped.

"I've seen this kind of thing before," the healer answered reluctantly, knowing they weren't going to like his answer. "All the magic we do is governed by our will, which in turn is governed by our strength of mind. When a mage first begins to learn to use their power, they have to be monitored so that they don't try to do too much too soon. If they do, they can put a great strain on their mind which often results in crippling pain and bleeding from the nose as blood vessels rupture in the brain."

"Are you saying he's damaged his brain?" Fenris gasped in horror.

"I don't know for sure," Anders hastened to reassure him. "He's comatose right now and the blood is coming from his nose, both of which are indicators that Hawke's pushed his limits. Whether he went too far or not, I can't tell you. The only thing we can do is keep an eye on him and wait for him to wake up." He didn't add that if the damage was severe enough then Hawke would never wake up.

"I never imagined that using magic could do something like this," Aveline whispered, her stomach twisting in knots at the thought of Hawke being brain damaged.

"It only happens if the mage is untrained and not monitored," Anders told her.

"Hawke is a trained mage," Fenris pointed out.

"Not when it comes to his Force Magic," the healer shook his head. "He's told us how he didn't like to use it because he had a hard time controlling it. A mage needs extensive practice and training in order to use their magic safely and effectively. This battle forced Hawke to attempt something he's never done before. I hope he hasn't paid the ultimate price to save us," he finished in a near whisper.

Aveline stood up, "Let's go back to the others and find a safer place to make camp. Once we've done that Anders, I want you to do whatever you can to help him come back to us."

The others nodded and moved to lift Hawke from the ground. The slowly carried back into the cave to where Isabela and Varric waited. After briefly filling them in on the situation, they set out to find suitable camp site, hoping all the while that there were no more dragons waiting for them.