There may be a pause there where I've had to check my screen twice. 100 reviews! Bloody hell. Er, I mean, wow...
Thought I might as well pull out most of the stops for the 100 milestone chapter, so... well, let's just say this is another one I've wanted to write since starting Armour.
A little violence and oh, please don't hate me for this...
Templar
Morgana
There are mages. Not Tranquil, either - they're doing this of their own volition.
"We walk into a strange, spooky temple and we get attacked. Why am I not surprised?"
She glares at Alistair and sends a half-hearted arcane bolt at a mage. Part of her recoils at the thought of killing her own kind, but then she remembers that they seem to have absolutely no problem with killing her. Stunning one with a stonefist, she runs at her, sword slashing into the elf's robes and leaving a trail of blood in its wake.
She looks back at her companions to find in horror that they're getting their arses kicked. Every time Leliana makes any forward progress, she is thrown back by fireballs or stonefists, left gasping for air and picking herself up off the floor.
Alistair's trying his best to wade into the battle, but is having as little success as Leliana.
Only Morrigan, at her side, and herself seem to be having any effect, mostly using magic; they are weaving together spells as fast as possible, occasional nods to each other the only things showing whose spells are which. She guesses that it really is best to fight fire with fire - or magic with magic.
Concentrating intently on how she's using her mana and trying very hard not to get them all killed, she is surprised by Alistair's voice in her ear. "Sorry about this, by the way."
Him stepping in front of her. A flash of light.
Anders often described a smite as like having your stomach pulled out of your mouth, and she finds that he was right; what he didn't describe was the literal feeling of your blood freezing as the mana stops flowing, disappears. The shock and the feeling of being punched in the stomach send her to her knees, desperately clutching and reaching out for the Fade but finding nothing. All she can think is it's all gone, it's all gone, it's all gone. How couldhe do this to her?The protective warmth of magic has disappeared and they are in the middle of a battle, for Maker's sake...
She hears Leliana's shocked shouts, the loud crack of a slap and the templar's "ow!" as Morrigan calls him something much worse than fool, but everything is blurring and why can't she see...?