Disclaimer: Bioware owns all, except what I most humbly imagine. While, at times, I will take verbatim from the game, I mostly use the events of the Dragon Age games, expansions and universe as a loose structure around which to construct my re-imagined tale. If you are looking for a strict canon piece, I have no desire to offend, and so I warn you upfront!
When reading this tale, I hope you can easily imagine it being told by the very best of storytellers in Varric Tethras (from DA:2). In my version of events, Varric meets "The Hero" (Elissa Cousland) in Kirkwall during the time period of DA:2. I mention this only so that readers can understand his connection along the way, and so I don't have to mention and rehash it again and again as I make my way through the tale.
A/N: Another long delay. Apologies. Hope it was worth the wait :)
Muse Music: Warning Signs by The Anix
Thanks to my readers, followers and reviewers and to my ladies beta artemiskat and Snarkoleptic.
Happy Reading!
-Frayed One
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Warning Signs
Elissa stared at the half-faded map of Amaranthine one more time before beginning to speak. "During the siege on Denerim, the darkspawn spread several generals throughout the city to issue orders to the remaining horde. I'd wager the same to be true now. Even sentient darkspawn would be unlikely to organize themselves to this extent without something calling the shots."
"If we set a course around the city, we should be able to identify and eliminate the leadership and rescue any survivors as we proceed through the city." Nathaniel stepped forward and eyed the map himself, his mind latching instantly to the path of least resistance.
"I agree," Elissa echoed his sentiment, though she did not meet his eyes – instead tracing a finger along the path she intended to take. "We will press forward along this grid toward the Chantry. Whatever resistance remains will likely be making a stand there as it is the most heavily fortified building within the city walls."
Elissa had not chosen the most logical path, but no one dared to question it, not even Nathaniel. She was plotting a course toward Delilah's home, and whatever her intentions he would not object to any efforts made to save what remained of his family.
"Anyone found alive comes with us. Anyone. Am I understood?" Elissa stood and passed her eyes over the group she'd brought along, watching the recognition that she was forgoing her usual manner of dealing with those tainted by the Blight in this instance. "These people were abandoned. They were left without hope. They were left to die. I will not show myself a savior only to take that away from them; not today."
Again, there was no argument. Elissa didn't know whether it was because the air around her crackled with the tension she generated, or because for once they saw the method behind her madness – but neither did she care.
"Any of you who want to come along and offer support will be welcome among us." Elissa turned to the constable and the small group of men that had abandoned the city in its time of need, and offered them a chance at redemption, noting the three men who stepped forward and leveling a heavy glare back at Constable Aidan who was not among them. "The rest of you, feel free to go back and cower among the trees."
Elissa turned her focus away from the cowardly men and pressed the call within her blood, tracking through her senses out across the city and fighting the urge to spit more anger back at those who had left innocents to such a fate.
"I can't make sense of this chaos. Can you?" Anders stood beside her, pushing down the nausea that always came with his reading of the taint and attempting to offer any support he could.
Inside the city new fires sprung to life and houses that had been heavily damaged creaked and crumbled as walls and rooftops tumbled to the ground. It was odd and without a discernable logic which made the sentient darkspawns' motives even more difficult to decipher.
"The city is swarmed. It is difficult to make sense of it, but I'd wager that's been done with the intent of deterring anyone who would attempt to enter." Elissa drew out her blades, flicking them through a quick turn of her wrists before setting the group in motion. "Zevran and I will scout houses and pull out any survivors. Oghren, keep anything outside focused on you. Aidan's men and The Messenger will aid in that endeavor. Nathaniel, keep them off those we rescue and the healer – and Anders, conserve your mana but offer what support you can. We don't know what we're up against, and I'd rather keep you away from the lyrium draughts for as long as I can."
She charged forward after that, darting in and out of shadows with The Assassin. Many of the buildings were in flames, though whether the incineration came at the hands of the darkspawn or in the desperate fear of those left alive she did not know. Every now and then, Elissa or Zevran would reappear from one of the houses or shops with one or two people who had managed to survive, but most often, they found only the bodies of those they had been too late to rescue.
Hurlocks and genlocks were scattered throughout the city, but the overwhelming presence of the childer made it obvious this attack, just as The Messenger had claimed, was sent directly by The Mother.
Elissa ran another of the adult childer through with her blade, waving Nathaniel forward as Delilah's home came into view. The structure seemed undamaged, but Elissa could sense a powerful wave of tainted blood calling out to her from inside.
"So far as I can tell, there is only one general in the city, Nathaniel… and it's in there." Elissa knew what this information would do to him, but saw no option other than revealing the truth. Were it Fergus behind those walls, she would want to know the odds before looking to see what had happened.
"Delilah!" Nathaniel started to press forward, but Elissa stopped him with a hand against his chest.
"It is not alone." Her eyes held his with enough authority to make him understand her point. "They know we are here just as we know they are, so we no longer have the advantage of surprise – but if I am right, that will not matter."
"If you are right?" Nathaniel's brow knitted in confusion, his ability to follow Elissa's logic waning as the fear for his sister's safety grew.
"I'd wager they are being held with intention."
"You think they've been taken prisoner?" Nathaniel's eyes flashed with recognition before darting over to the door as though he could discern something of what lay behind it by reading the wood grain.
"Yes. I think scouts have been watching us for awhile, here in the city, back at the keep. I think they have noted who is important to us and where we go." Elissa edged closer to the door as she spoke, waving Zevran forward and whispering to him low in Antivan – watching him disappear around the corner of the home in the wake of her words. "If I am correct, then everyone inside is alive. But you should prepare yourself in case I am not."
"I'll not prepare myself for a conclusion that may not come." Nathaniel shook off her suggestion, drawing his bow up to ready. "If there is hope to be had, I will hold to it until it is no longer."
"Nathaniel, I…"
"Go. We waste time here." Nathaniel edged her forward, ending the discussion by refusing to hear any more of her words.
Were it not for the two hurlocks standing guard just inside the door and the Disciple looming over the frightened couple near the hearth, it may have appeared like any other day.
Elissa had sheathed her blades before stepping inside, insisting that her fellow Wardens do the same. If this was a hostage situation as she wagered, they would need to appear cooperative for as long as possible.
"The Mother, she is being right again." The Disciple hissed, its skeletal features curving into an unsettling grin as it turned to face Elissa. "Take this family, she said. Take them and the Warden-Commander, she will come."
"And here I am." Elissa met Delilah's eyes long enough to relay some sort of security before shifting her face back into the arrogant neutrality of the Warden-Commander. "Your… Mother… needs to learn a thing or two about decorum. If she wished to have a discussion with me, she could certainly have sought me out in a far more civil manner."
"Discussion?" The Disciple laughed, a crackling, edgy sound that vibrated through the room. "The Mother is having no discussion. The Warden-Commander will offer unconditional surrender. The Warden-Commander will be escorted to The Mother. The Warden-Commander will be put to death in warning to any who would follow. The Mother, she will no longer be tolerating you or any of your kind."
Nathaniel. Take to the shadows and eliminate the left guard on my signal. Zevran has the right.
Nathaniel made no move to acknowledge the words Elissa pressed forward into his mind, knowing that anything he did was likely to tip off the wary Disciple that stood within arms reach of his very pregnant sister.
She chuckled in response to The Disciple's arrogant assertion, pacing slightly closer to him, though careful not to arouse his suspicions. "You are taking an awful lot on faith here. Who's to say that I intend to come peacefully? Who's to say that I intend to come at all?"
"You have no choice, Warden-Commander. Your threats are empty. Your words mean nothing." The Disciple could sense victory within its grasp, tilting its chin up at an arrogant angle and leveling a haughty stare in her direction. "You will be coming with us. You will be offering no trouble. If you do, we will be killing this family. We will be starting with the child."
"No!" Delilah was frantic; while Albert did the best he could to act as a barrier between them. Elissa felt the flare of Nathaniel's temper reaching unmanageable levels and knew she was out of time.
"It seems I am left with no other options," Elissa said, leaning her face forward to stare at the floor – obscuring any intentions that may have read on her face from the curious eyes of The Disciple.
He did not notice the subtle movement of her fingers sending both Zevran and Nathaniel into action, and by the time his focus had shifted back from Nathaniel's apparent vanishing act, Elissa was armed and upon him.
"Flip that table over, get behind it!" Elissa yelled, shifting herself between Albert and The Disciple with three quick steps and blocking his heavy blow with crossed blades. "Do not come out until I tell you it is clear!"
Albert scrambled to do as he was told, shuffling Delilah off behind him as Zevran's target dropped hard to the floor bleeding dark blood out into the threadbare carpeting. Delilah stifled a scream as she caught sight of Nathaniel nearly taking the head off the second guard in his fury, turning her face into her husband's shoulder and closing her eyes against the horrors.
"You may have won this round, Warden-Commander, but the battle is far from over." The Disciple's laughter echoed out into the room again, though he lay pressed against the wall held fast at the end of Elissa's blade.
"The battle is never over," Elissa replied, pressing the blade forward until it made contact with the wall, then twisting it with such force that The Disciple's head popped loose and rolled off to the corner.
Elissa took in several deep breaths before cleaning off her blades and re-sheathing them at her back. Nathaniel was already at Delilah's side; helping her to her feet and offering what comfort he could as she sobbed against his chest. Anders did a quick inspection, before making his way back to her side.
"Nathaniel's sister and the baby are miraculously unharmed, though she is understandably shaken," Anders noted, unable to meet Elissa's eyes as he pressed forward with his observations. "Her husband has a wound on his arm. It appears to have come from a blade, I—"
"I know. I can sense it in his blood already. Make no mention of it now. I will address the issue when the time comes." Elissa shifted closer to the door, turning her attention back to him one more time. "Gather the others and meet me outside. We must press toward the Chantry now while we have an advantage. I dare not tarry here any longer."
Anders nodded, turning his attention back to Nathaniel and dreading what he knew would come before day's end.
The Chantry was filled with sounds of prayer and gratitude as families reunited and those who had once seen no hope found themselves offered salvation at the hands of the Hero of Ferelden. This moment of rest, of reprieve and jubilation, did little to calm Elissa's frantic mind, though she hid the chaos well behind the resolutely calm veneer of the Warden-Commander.
Close to five hundred souls had made their homes within the walls of the city, and of those barely two hundred had survived – and even they would dwindle in number as the taint took hold in the great many who had been exposed. Elissa took in a deep breath and made her way up to the Revered Mother and Ser Rylien where they stood near the rear of the chapel hall.
"Ladies, might I trouble you for a moment of your time?" Elissa watched the look of distaste barely hidden on the Revered Mother's face flicker into a false smile at her approach.
"But of course, Warden-Commander." The woman inclined her head and folded her fingers at her waist. "What can we do for you?"
"The large outbuilding just below the guard tower at the base of the hill, does that belong to the Chantry?" Elissa watched the women exchange glances, clearly wondering what it was she was hinting at.
"It does. Mostly it is used for storage for old relics and some supplies. Why?" Ser Rylien arched a brow at her, folding her heavily armored arms across her chest.
"I'd like to take a few people down and convert it to an infirmary. We will need to separate those suffering signs of the taint from the remainder of the survivors as soon as possible." Elissa sighed when the utterances of disagreement began almost immediately, and waved them to silence with a flick of her wrist. "Look. You are full beyond capacity here, and this sickness will spread if we do not separate the ill from the healthy. I am asking for permission only to the extent that it does none of us good to sow the seeds of discord while the city hangs in such a fragile state. I will do this, with or without your blessing – but it will go much easier if I have your support."
The women reluctantly gave their blessing, animosity rising as they no doubt felt backed into a corner by Elissa's poorly veiled threats – but she gave no more thought to this than she had the prayers and praise of the remaining citizenry of the city. She spoke in hurried whispers to the group of guardsmen who had survived the siege, sending them off to prepare the outbuilding to serve its purpose as a makeshift infirmary.
"Anders." She waved him over as the guardsmen exited the chantry, watching as his gaze passed across them with suspicion. "There's a group of Chantry sisters and two of the towns' herbalists gathered in the back room. I need you to go run them through the paces of changing bandages and tending to fever. Pay special attention to safety with regard to the spread of the taint."
"You intend to have these people cared for?" It was hard for Anders to wrap his mind around this change in Elissa's behavior. In the past she had always dealt with those exposed to the taint in a clinical and sometimes brutal fashion.
"I intend to see them made as comfortable as they can be until I can devise a more suitable solution. I'll not leave these people to suffer needlessly. If I cannot offer them a cure, the least I can do is give them what comforts can be offered until I do what must be done." Elissa's face was blank as she met his eyes, but her voice betrayed the security in that mask. Something about this was getting to her more than it normally would have.
Her eyes drifted back across the room, coming to rest once again on Delilah and her family. Nathaniel sat on one of the Chantry pews, a rare smile cutting across his face as he discussed something very animatedly with his brother-in- law. His sister stood nearby, relaxed and secure in the arms of her husband. Her tainted husband.
"Perhaps it's just a cut. Perhaps—"
"The man is tainted. Pretending otherwise won't change that." Elissa's voice was cold as she moved away from him. "Please go and see to the caregivers. I have to begin identifying the sick so that we can move them to the infirmary as soon as possible."
Anders watched her walk away, and though her posture gave nothing away he could sense that the weight of the world had fallen again upon her shoulders.
The infirmary was complete and the sick were already being moved into the adapted space when Elissa made her way over to where Delilah's husband stood just out of earshot of his family. He had watched Elissa separating out those showing signs of the taint with a careful eye, and now that she stood across from him, it seemed his time had come.
"I knew when that blade hit my arm I was done for." Albert's voice was surprisingly calm though he was acknowledging his own mortality. "May I have a few moments to say goodbye to them? I can't imagine I will see them again."
"Of course." Elissa watched as he walked over to rejoin his family, leaning down to plant a soft kiss on his wife's face before speaking softly to her. She watched recognition dawn on her old friend's face as her eyes darted over to the doorway where Elissa stood waiting. She watched Delilah struggle to stand against Nathaniel's arm and stride angrily in her direction.
"You're sending Albert off to the infirmary because of a cut on his arm?" Delilah's body language screamed frustration though she was doing everything she could to remain calm. "It's just a cut, Elissa. It could have come from anywhere."
"It came from a tainted blade, Delilah. You know that as well as I do." Elissa kept her voice even with her response. She had known this battle was coming the moment she sensed the taint running within Albert's blood. "I am quarantining your husband and all others bearing signs of exposure for the good of those of you who are still healthy. It is all that I can do for the moment to delay the spread of this any further than it has already gone."
"And what then? I've seen you shuffling nursemaids off with the sick. Is there a treatment to be given?" Her eyes flickered back over to her family and she forced out a smile for their benefit though nothing about it was genuine.
"There is no cure." Elissa watched what was left of the strength fade from Delilah's features as she turned back in her direction.
"So… they're to be corralled off into that building and, what? Left to die?" Delilah's body was starting to shake as her temper rose.
"Go and spend the time you have with your family, Delilah. Remember Albert as he is now. You will not see him again." Elissa stood steadfast in the hateful stare the woman leveled in her direction. "One way or another, he will not survive exposure to the taint."
"One way or another? Meaning what exactly?" Delilah searched her eyes for some remnant of the girl she had once known, but found nothing. "You intend to kill them! To execute the sick without even attempting to help them!"
"It is a mercy, Delilah. I know that you cannot see that now, but—"
"A mercy? You know nothing of mercy!" Delilah stepped forward, tears welling in her eyes as she faced off against the one person she never believed would betray her. "When I found out that you were alive again, I thanked the Maker – but you toy with my brother's heart and sentence my husband to death when you don't even know his name! To the Void with you, Elissa Cousland! You are no hero! You are a monster, just like Father! To the Void with you!"
Delilah spat in her face before spinning and striding furiously back in her husband's direction. Elissa tugged a small scarf free of her pack, wiping off her face with as much decorum as possible before waving over one of the guards set to escort the next group of tainted down to the infirmary.
"That man is family. Every possible courtesy should be extended to him. Is that clear?" Elissa watched as Albert extricated himself from a sobbing Delilah and made his way over to them, sharing a stern gaze with Nathaniel before stepping outside to look out over the city.
When she heard the door open again, she didn't need to search her senses to know it was Nathaniel.
"What are you doing, Elissa?" Nathaniel stopped directly in front of where she'd taken a seat on the bench, blocking her view of the city.
"What has to be done."
"What has to be done?" He snorted, tugging his fingers through his hair in disbelief. "Is that your excuse for everything? That you were merely doing what has to be done?"
"Yes." She had no intention of arguing. She had known this moment was coming just as she had expected the assault from Delilah.
"You aren't even going to defend yourself?"
"Defend myself from what, Nathaniel? I have done nothing wrong." Elissa stood then, as casually as she could muster, and willed her voice to remain calm and not betray the heartbreak and fury underneath. "Would you have me leave the sick among those who have been resistant thus far? Would you have me expose your sister and her unborn child further to the taint knowing how virulent this strain is – knowing it would kill them both just as surely as it has those already gone?"
"There has to be a better way. There has to be—"
"And just what would that be?" Elissa cut him off mid thought, holding his eyes and daring him to come up with something she hadn't seen. "How would you deal with this dilemma?"
"You can put him through The Joining. You can make him a Warden," Nathaniel insisted, the muscle in his jaw flickering as though he knew the fault in that logic even as he spoke it.
"I cannot remake the world just for you, Nathaniel." Elissa's laughter was sad as she stepped around him, staring off into the dwindling light of day. "Your sister's husband is not a soldier, he is a craftsman, and even if he could wield a blade – what makes him a better candidate than anyone else here? Or would you have me put them all through the Joining to relieve your guilty conscience?"
"My sister's husband has a name." He was furious. Whether it was the cold logic of her words or her perceived ignorance of anything personal with regard to Delilah's family that broke him, Elissa didn't know. But the look in his eyes, the judgment in his voice, and the torrent of doubt and disbelief pouring into her through the conduit pushed her over the edge as well.
"Yes. I know. His name is Albert. And that man down there?" Elissa pointed to the infirmary at the bottom of the stairs below, turning Nathaniel's attention to the group being escorted inside. "His name is Relian. He is the last of his bloodline. When I execute him I will be ending his family line. The woman beside him, her name is Coraline. Her husband was killed during the Blight. He fought in the army that fell at Ostagar. She has three sons and a daughter, all of whom will be orphaned when I end her life."
Elissa turned her eyes back to Nathaniel once more. "Think that I am cold if you like. That I am heartless and clinical. But do not think that I do this without knowing what I am taking away. I know their names. I remember them all. They are carved into my soul just as they are inked into my skin. I take no joy in this - in the taking of innocent lives, but I do it to save more of them. I do what must be done."
She stood a moment longer before turning to the door, anxious to increase the distance between herself and yet another reminder of her inability to save anyone she loved from the pain and suffering that seemed to trail behind her like smoke.