Chapter 15: The Battle

Duncan and Aeden walked toward the warden camp fire. Delia and Alistair were sitting in front of the fire, but looked deep in thought and didn't look up. Aeden noticed that they were holding hands, and he found it bothered him.

"Alistair, Delia, we have much to discuss." Duncan seemed frustrated. This wasn't what they would expect from him.

Delia and Alistair stood and walked toward the commander. The four wardens stood in a small circle, with Aeden looking glumly at his feet.

Duncan looked at Alistair. "Alistair, your part in the battle will be to go with Aeden to the Tower of Ishal and ensure the beacon is lit."

Alistair was shocked. "What? I won't be in the battle?"

Duncan sighed. "This is by the king's personal request, Alistair. If the beacon is not lit, Teryn Logain's troops will not know when to charge."

Alistair huffed in disgust. "So he needs two Grey Wardens standing up there holding the torch. Just in case, right?"

Aeden shot him an angry glance. "Stop your whining. We have an important job."

Duncan tried to be patient. "We must do whatever it takes to defeat the darkspawn… exciting or no."

Alistair shrugged his shoulders. "I get it, I get it. Just so you know, if the king ever asks me to put on a dress and dance the Remigold I'm drawing the line. Darkspawn or no."

Delia looked at Alistair and giggled. "I think I'd like to see that!"

He looked back at her and laughed. "For you maybe. But it has to be a pretty dress."

Duncan sighed in frustration, and then looked at Delia with concern. "Delia, I do not want you to remain alone, so I want you to go with Alistair and Aeden. Remember, you two, that she has not fought the darkspawn as of yet, and I expect that you will watch out for her." He paused a moment, then continued. "The tower is on the other side of the gorge from the king's camp, the way we came when we arrived. You'll need to cross the gorge and head through the gate and up to the tower entrance. From the top you'll overlook the entire valley."

Aeden glumly answered. "Sounds easy enough."

"We will signal you when the time is right. Alistair will know what to look for."

Looking up at Duncan, Aeden asked, "Can we join the battle afterwards?"

Duncan shook his head. "Stay with the Teryn's men and guard the tower. If you are needed, we will send word."

Aeden replied, "I know what I have to do."

Duncan looked over the three people in front of him. As much as he hated to leave them on their own, he was needed on the field. "Then I must join the others. From here, you are on your own. Remember that you are both Grey Wardens, and Delia you are a recruit. I expect you to be worthy of your titles."

Alistair suddenly became deadly serious. "Duncan… may the Maker watch over you."

Duncan took a final look at them. "May He watch over us all."

Delia gave Duncan a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He smiled at her in return, then turned his back and walked toward the king's tent.

Aeden looked at Alistair. He shrugged his shoulders. "Let's just get to the tower. It may not be the most glamorous job, but we'd best not dawdle."

The two wardens, the recruit and the mabari started to walk to the tower. As they crossed the bridge over the gorge they found themselves running. Explosions were going off all around them. One of them knocked Delia off her feet. Alistair was by her side quickly, helping her up and making sure she was alright.

As soon as they got to the other side of the gorge, they were met by some soldiers and a mage.

"You… you there… you're Grey Wardens aren't you? The tower has been taken!"

Alistair's eyes opened wide. "What are you talking about, man? Taken how?"

"The darkspawn came up from the lower chambers. They're everywhere! Most of our men are dead!"

Alistair looked at his companions. "Then we have to get to the beacon and light it ourselves!"

The party ran toward the tower and immediately was beset by darkspawn. Delia had never seen anything so horrible looking in her life! Although she was more frightened than she had ever been, she fought as hard as she could, earning smiles and words of encouragement from the wardens. Since Aeden and Alistair were doing the majority of the fighting along with Dusty, Delia took the time to loot the corpses of the darkspawn as well as the various chests and boxes they passed. Luckily for the group, the mage continued to fight alongside them. He was obviously afraid, but he battled furiously and was quite a good healer.

Delia was impressed by him. "I think we should know each other's names if we are fighting together. I am Delia, warden recruit. The mabari is Dusty, and the wardens are Aeden, with the dark hair, and Alistair, with the blond."

The mage smiled at her. "I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, Delia. My name is Mortimer. I have to admit, I never expected to be fighting this way. I'm barely passed my Harrowing and they said that I would be with the backup troops. Guess plans need to change, huh?"

"You are in good company then, Mortimer. As I said, I am a simple recruit. Aeden just had his Joining and Alistair had his only six months ago. There's nothing quite like being thrown into the heat of the battle!"

The group ran up a ramp toward the door of the tower, and as they fought more darkspawn a larger, more powerful darkspawn attacked. Working together, they were able to defeat the Alpha. Delia found some healing and lyrium potions before the party walked to the doors of the tower itself. A feeling of unease swept over them as the doors were opened by Aeden. As they walked in, it was quiet. It seemed to be too quiet, and then Delia saw the reason why. Bodies seemed to be strewn everywhere.

There was a trap just past the lobby. Delia saw it before her companions tripped the wire and was deactivating it when an explosion knocked them off their feet.

"Maker's breath, what was that?" yelled Aeden.

"That's an emissary. He's run behind the pillar. Let's go!" Alistair ran toward the hurlocks, followed by the others.

The party made quick work of the various darkspawn they found. After clearing several rooms they found a crater in the floor. "Well, I guess that's how they got in," remarked Aeden.

They made their way up the stairs to the next floor of the tower. Everywhere they looked there seemed to be more darkspawn to fight.

"Maker's breath! What are these darkspawn doing ahead of the horde? There wasn't supposed to be any resistance here." Alistair was puzzled.

Aeden huffed in response. "You could tell them they're in the wrong place."

Alistair scowled at him. "Right. Because clearly this is all just a misunderstanding. We'll laugh about this later." He looked around at each member of the group. "At any rate, we need to hurry! We need to get to the top of the tower and light the signal fire in time! Teryn Logain will be waiting for the signal!"

Aeden was clearly frustrated at the number of darkspawn that had invaded the tower. "Logain had better be ready to charge as soon as we light the signal. The king is depending on us."

With darkspawn in every room, the group's progress was slow. Mortimer showed himself to have quite a sense of humor. He actually seemed surprised whenever he had a killing blow and would make risqué comments about the darkspawn's lack of equipment. Aeden would usually laugh at his comments while Alistair would look at him as if he had no sense of decorum! Delia would just shake her head. "Boys will be boys," she thought to herself as she chuckled.

When they finally climbed to the third level, they entered a room with several genlocks and an alpha. Along the walls were caged mabaris, some of whom were already dead.

"That lever over there - it will release the hounds!" Alistair pointed to the left wall. Delia ran quickly to the lever and opened the cages. The mabari immediately joined the fight. For the wardens' group, this was a relief. They had been tiring, and the assistance of the dogs gave them enough of a reprieve to give them a second wind. After the last of the darkspawn was dead, Delia made a point to give each dog some attention and personally thank them. The mabari licked her hand to say that she was welcome to their help.

"It's truly amazing how smart these mabari are. I've never actually seen one before today's battle," Mortimer exclaimed. "They are so fierce, and yet can be so gentle. If I didn't see it for myself, I would be terrified of them."

"You have no mabari at the Circle?" Aeden asked.

"No, we have our books, herbs and potions… we rarely ever even have visitors from the outside."

Delia couldn't help but feel sad for the mages, but didn't have time to think about it before they were again attacked. As Alistair fought a hurlock, Delia crept behind the monster and killed it with a quick backstab. Alistair smiled at her and winked. "I think we work well together!" She returned his smile with a slight blush, then they followed Aeden through the door leading to the top level of the tower.

What they found before them was the most terrifying thing they had seen. A huge ogre was squatting over the corpse of a soldier, feasting upon the man's flesh. When it noticed the arrival of the group it stood, blood trailing down its chin onto its chest. As it roared at them, its spittle flew across the room. Delia had never been this afraid; it felt as though her feet were frozen to the floor! The two wardens ran across the room to attack, followed by the mabari.

The ogre met them blow for blow. Then it noticed the mage and knocked both warriors to the floor to get to him. Poor Mortimer was no match for the brute strength of the ogre, so Delia ran to the beast and delivered a hard hit to its head with the butt of her dagger. The ogre was temporarily stunned, but Mortimer had enough time to move away from the monster as Aeden and Alistair retook their positions at its sides. Their swords swung with all the fury they could muster, and they used their shields to attempt to keep the beast stunned. Delia used her daggers to slice into the ogre's back.

Finally the ogre became weak and stumbled backward. Alistair used the opportunity to leap upon the beast's chest and plunge his sword straight into its heart. As the ogre breathed its last breath, Alistair jumped back to the floor and wiped the sweat from his brow.

He surveyed the room and said, "The beacon is over here. I'm sure we've missed the signal. Let's light it before we're too late!"

Delia ran to the beacon and lit it. As the flames raised high into the sky, they heard a loud cheer erupt from the troops below. Aeden looked out over the battleground and was shocked by what he saw.

"Logain has his troops retreating! He's supposed to be going to help the king!"

Before Alistair could reply they heard a crash. Arrows flew through the air as a mass of darkspawn crowded through the door. Mortimer suffered a fatal hit, straight through his jugular artery. As Alistair tried to reach Delia's side to shield her, an arrow flew into her neck and she began to lose consciousness. The last thing she saw was Alistair as he pulled her close to him behind his shield as the darkspawn swarmed closer.