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: I realize I'm breaking what is a quick, brutal sequence in game apart into segments - but I think it's important so that consideration can be given to the amount of stuff that actually happens during this time period. There is simply too much to gloss over it by pressing through too fast.
Thanks to my readers, followers and reviewers. I always love to hear what you have to say :D And thanks to my wonderful betas artemiskat and Snarkoleptic.
Happy Reading!
-Frayed One
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Taking Help From All Sources
The short reprieve did little to soothe the frayed nerves of the city folk or the Wardens. Everyone knew the lack of darkspawn presence was more likely to mean The Mother's forces were gathering their strength for another attack rather than having been thwarted by the Wardens' valiant defense.
Tensions between the Wardens themselves were running high in the aftermath of Elissa's decision to quarantine Delilah's husband. Nathaniel kept vigil at his sister's side, seeing to her needs and casting furtive glances in Elissa's direction whenever her movement would catch his eye.
Elissa established a secure amount of distance from everyone, sequestering herself in the Revered Mother's office – much to the holy woman's chagrin – and poring over her notes for anything that could provide her with any advantage in predicting The Mother's next move.
Anders spent most of his time offering what comfort he could to the rattled citizens of Amaranthine. Though he knew there was little he could do to heal the emotional trauma of battling monsters through the night only to have half the survivors claimed by the taint regardless, he knew that sometimes healing the physical markings of the event and offering a few kind words did more than most would admit.
He was in the middle of fashioning a doll out of clean bandages for one of the newly orphaned children when one of the guardsmen Elissa had posted outside the Chantry came rushing through the sanctuary toward the office at the back. The look on his face was more than enough to send all of the Wardens trailing in his wake to hear whatever news he had come to deliver.
"W-Warden-Commander." The guardsman shuffled nervously just outsider her door, waiting for her to acknowledge his presence before continuing. "The darkspawn are launching a new assault on the city. To our knowledge we've barricaded all the entry points, but they still seem to be breaking through somehow."
"Breaking through where?" Elissa pushed to her feet, snapping her journal shut and securing her blades at her back as she followed the guardsman back toward the Chantry doors.
"It appears as though they're coming from inside the Crown & Lion." The guard looked as though he fully expected her to question his sanity for suggesting such a thing, but Elissa looked up to catch Nathaniel's eye – knowing immediately how they were getting in.
"They must be using the old passageways from Smugglers' Cove. Those surface outside the city walls. I should have had them sealed long ago." Elissa worried at the bridge of her nose, knowing this error could easily cost them more lives but unable to do anything more than fight against this next wave. "Pull all guards back to this section of the city. The Chantry and the Infirmary must be protected at all costs. I will take my team and deal with those invading through the inn."
"Maker bless you, Warden-Commander." The shaken man bowed low, as though this reverence would erase the scar left by his earlier cowardice.
"The Maker stopped caring about me some time ago. Best to keep those blessings for yourself and those you are here to protect," Elissa replied, pushing out the Chantry doors and running a quick scan of her surroundings until she found the specific trace she'd been looking for.
As though he'd been called, The Messenger emerged from the shadows just outside the Chantry where he'd been waiting for Elissa's next move. He stalked closer to her side, stopping just out of range of the rest of the Wardens who seemed just as likely to kill him as to speak with him.
"We go to stave off the next wave of soldiers in The Mother's army. Will you come with us?" Elissa held the creature's milky gaze. Though it had been cooperative up until now, she knew that could easily change – but the creature stood steadfast in front of her.
"Yes, Grey Lady. The Mother, she is knowing that her first initiative has resulted in failure. She is sending more soldiers to assail you here and at The Keep. The Messenger will be helping you, so long as you will have him." The Messenger dipped its head respectfully as its words trailed off, waiting for further orders.
Elissa could sense the disapproval from the rest of her company with regard to taking a darkspawn, any darkspawn, under her wing – and though her logical mind could understand their hesitation, she could sense nothing duplicitous in The Messenger's words or actions.
"Well, come along then." Elissa darted down the Chantry stairs, heading off toward the main entrance to the Crown & Lion Inn and leaving no room for further discussion on the subject.
Oghren had been an outcast and a drunk when she found him. Anders, an apostate accused of murder. Zevran had been an assassin attempting to take her life. Even Nathaniel did not come without warning signs, son of a traitorous father with a shadowy past of his own. Elissa had always taken help where she could find it, favoring potential utility over the labels society had branded upon someone. She hoped they would understand as she chose to do it again.
The interior of the tavern exploded into chaos the moment Elissa kicked open the front door, sending her group scrambling to make up for what they lacked in numbers. The two drones and handful of childer grubs just inside the door were easily dispatched by the combination of Nathaniel's arrows and the expansive swings of Oghren's great axe – but that did little to thin the ranks they found themselves up against.
Elissa could make out several of the adult childer as they advanced down the stairs from the upper portion of the inn. There were two Alphas that she could see, a hurlock and a sniper, and another that she could sense though she could not lay her eyes upon it. It was unsettling that one of them had foresight enough to remain hidden, but she could not focus upon that fact with so much she could see to contend with.
She sent Zevran off after the sniper, wanting him taken out of the mix as quickly as possible, while she waded through the newest wave of childer to take on the hurlock. Oghren waded into the middle of the crowd and pulled the attention of anything he could in his direction, giving Nathaniel and The Messenger ample time to finish them off while Anders offered what support he could pinned down just inside the door.
He lost sight of Elissa as she darted inside the kitchen door in pursuit of the Alpha she'd chosen to target, and attempted to move forward in search of her. His change in position drew Nathaniel's focus as he'd taken himself out of the circle of protection offered by his company in an attempt to get to Elissa. It was in that moment the final Alpha made its position known, seeming to materialize out of thin air at the top of stairs and leveling a shot in Nathaniel's direction.
By the time Nathaniel noticed it, there was nothing he could do. No shift in position would be fast enough to save him from an injury that would prove to be fatal, and so he braced himself for the impact he knew would come – but the sound of the arrow piercing flesh and the pain that should have accompanied it did not come as he'd expected.
When he opened his eyes The Messenger stood in front of him, the arrow sent by the sniper's hand protruding from his upper chest and already running thick with blood. The creature fell back against Nathaniel, who caught him securely and dragged it over to the front corner of the room – tossing a table over to provide him some meager sense of protection.
"This shot would have killed me," Nathaniel said, inspecting the wound with careful fingers. Though the creature was bleeding heavily, the arrow had not pierced anything vital and he would survive if the arrow was to be removed and the wound treated in a timely fashion. "Why would you take it for your own?"
"You are following the Grey Lady, as am I," The Messenger responded, his words laden with the pain Nathaniel was certain he felt. "I am giving my life for hers. I am giving my life for you all."
Nathaniel wasn't sure how to respond to that assertion, though it was obvious that the creature meant it. What he knew of the Wardens both from Elissa and the tales of old gave no indication that the creatures had any intentions of working with the Wardens toward any sort of common goal. But the world was changing, and Nathaniel tried not to allow himself to feel unsettled by how much of that change seemed anchored upon Elissa and her specialized version of the taint as he waved Anders over to see to The Messengers wound.
Zevran and Oghren finished off the last of the stragglers as Anders made his way over from the kitchen to see what it was Nathaniel needed.
"Are you injured?" Anders asked, kneeling down and passing an inspecting eye over The Archer who seemed unharmed.
"Me, no." Nathaniel's eyes drew Anders down to where he was working loose the arrow that had lodged in The Messenger's shoulder. "But this is going to bleed even more once I dislodge the shaft. I'll need you to heal the injury. Bandages aren't going to do enough."
"You want me to heal a darkspawn?" Anders made no attempt to hide the disgust in those words, backing away from the spot in the corner to see if there was anything worth his attention. "You're as mad as she is if you think…"
His words trailed off as Elissa came into view, Oghren and Zevran close at her heels.
"What's going on?" She passed her eyes over the group in the corner; kneeling next to Nathaniel when she realized The Messenger had been injured in the fight.
"This darkspawn took an arrow meant for me. It saved my life, and I am attempting to return the favor but the mage refuses to heal him." Nathaniel pressed his hands against the wound, attempting to stem the blood flow as much as he could – but it was an uphill battle. The creature would die if no one could convince Anders to offer his aid.
Elissa took in a deep breath, knowing that her words must be chosen carefully if she was to convince the reluctant healer to do what was necessary to have them all back on their feet. "I understand your hesitation, Anders. The Messenger is a darkspawn; the instinct not to help him is a natural impulse – just as his instinct not to trust us must have been when I requested he offer his blade to our cause. Yet here he lays, a darkspawn who has taken an arrow to save the life of a Warden. Even if you were hesitant before now, that should be proof of his loyalty."
Still Anders stood motionless, puzzling over her words as though he couldn't quite make sense of them. Elissa stood and paced over to his side, holding his eyes as forcefully as she could without seeming too aggressive. "I know it defies logic, but this is one of those times when as Wardens we must travel in the grey area that marks the divide between what is right and what is wrong. I hope that you can see the necessity of that because I do not wish to order you to do this, though we both know that I can and will if that is what must be done."
Anders stood for a moment longer before giving in and kneeling next to the wounded darkspawn. He passed his hands over The Messenger's body, quickly finding the tears through tissue and muscle and binding them back together so that they could focus once again on the advancing segments of The Mother's army.
"Thank you," Elissa said, offering him a half smile as he made his way back to where Zevran and Oghren waited while she and Nathaniel helped The Messenger to his feet.
"Something powerful waits at the top of those stairs." Nathaniel's jaw was tense as Elissa looked in his direction, and she could sense just how little he wished to face the hurdles that obviously still stood in their way. What happened to Albert had scarred him, forcing him to face just how fragile they all were, and how much they stood to lose.
"Another of the Disciples if I had to guess." Elissa paced away from him, laying a hand on the banister of the staircase that would lead her to the upper landing. "Come along then."
She disappeared around the corner, forcing the others into an all out dash to regain the ground they had lost with her momentary head start. By the time they caught up with her she had fought her way through a series of childer grubs and was locked in battle with the Disciple she had predicted awaited them.
Nathaniel launched a quick burst of arrows in rapid succession that cleared the remaining childer from the area, then focused his fire in on the two hurlock drones that Oghren and Zevran had engaged as they emerged from a nearby doorway. The Messenger stood just in front of him and Anders, menacing anything that drifted too close with his sword and pushing them back just far enough that Nathaniel could finish them off with an arrow or two.
Soon the Disciple was all that remained of the forces which had penetrated the inn, and he was losing focus as Elissa danced around him landing blow after blow with her swords until he finally dropped to his knees and gave himself over to the inevitable. Elissa lopped off its head and moved beyond it into the back room as its body thumped to the floor behind her.
"Here's the hatch." Elissa sheathed her blades and knelt down to pry up the heavy door, handing it off to Nathaniel and The Messenger and dropping down into the caves below as they lowered it back against the wall. "It's safe to drop down. Though there are more in the tunnels, the entry way is clear."
Elissa scouted ahead while the others made their way down into the passage, which would lead them to the hidden port of Smuggler's Cove, stopping to disarm a tripwire that the darkspawn had left in the hopes that it would warn them of the Wardens approach.
"These things are leaving traps now?" Anders shook his head, progressively unsettled by every new piece of information about the darkspawns' evolution that made itself known to them.
"It seems unlikely that the 'spawn wouldn't have tripped it if it were leftover from the previous tenants," Elissa said, dusting off her hands as she stood to search her senses for what lay ahead. "My guess is the Disciple in that room set it up, or gave instructions that it be done."
"Another Disciple? How many of them are there?" Nathaniel asked, drifting up to her side and pressing at his own blood ties. He was still leagues behind Elissa in understanding what he could sense, but he could feel the strong pulse of whatever lay ahead tugging at the taint in his own body.
"The Disciples, they are endless," The Messenger replied, turning all eyes in his direction. "The Mother, she is feeling their every end. She is growing in her fury. More will come. Always more."
"Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine?" Anders grumbled, rubbing at his forehead in frustration.
"If these varmints are just gonna keep comin' anyway, I say we take a few more of 'ems heads off before the next wave comes," Oghren grunted, tilting his chin up at the grin that spread across Elissa's face.
"Best idea I've heard all day." She dipped around the corner and melted into the shadows, leaving Oghren to run screaming into the group of genlocks and childer that surrounded the Disciple just inside the main body of the cave.
One swing of Oghren's mighty axe took out half the childer swarm in one blow, leaving Zevran and The Messenger to finish off the two genlocks and single adult childer to remain. The Disciple stood steady on the dock at the rear of the pirate cave, dodging the arrows and spells that Nathaniel and Anders flung in his direction with a careless ease. It was clear he searched for Elissa and tried not to appear unsettled when he could not easily find her.
"You should be showing yourself, Warden-Commander. The Mother is knowing you are here. Hiding will be doing you no favors today." The creature's cloudy eyes searched the boundaries of the room, darting from shadow to shadow as though attempting to follow the traces of the taint in her blood to discover her location.
Everyone waited. It was as though the entire chamber held its breath in anticipation, all eyes snapping forward when the sound of scraping bone and punctured flesh drew all attention to the pair of blades now protruding through both sides of the Disciple's torso.
"Peek-a-boo," Elissa hissed, twisting the hilts of her blades so violently the top half of the creature's body tumbled loose from the legs with a grotesque spray of black blood that sent them all staggering away to avoid being coated in it.
Elissa stooped down at the water's edge to clean her blades of some of the blood before sheathing them at her back and turning to regroup for the last span of tunnel before they resurfaced outside of town. When she turned, everyone stood staring. Even The Messenger appeared slightly fearful.
"What?" Elissa stood waiting for whatever they had to say to be said. They had precious little time to be wasting on yet another critique of her mental status.
"That was quite the flourish, my Warden," Zevran offered, pulling her focus in his direction as he could sense the fluctuations in her temperament becoming more volatile the longer they remained locked in battle.
"It's dead. End of story," Elissa replied, brushing past him and into the tunnel that would take them to the surface passage. "Now come along. You can ponder whether or not I'm a monster after we've freed the city of this threat."
Though Zevran shared a quick glance with the others, they all knew better than to question her further. Zevran and Oghren knew best how Elissa could become when she spent enough time fighting, but the others had seen enough at this point to know that with her singular focus she lost more and more of her conscience. It was unsettling, but not unusual.
As they pushed through the caves they were pressed upon by wave after wave of drones. Shrieks, genlocks, hurlocks and various forms of childer swarmed in upon them in groups of twenty or more attempting to prevent them from gaining entry to the surface and barring their entry point to the city by sealing the passage once and for all.
Elissa pulled herself up through the hatch, running an adult childer through with her sword before turning back to pull Zevran up behind her. Together they alternated fending off the remaining waves and pulling the rest of the company back to the surface. Once all of them were free, Nathaniel bolted the hatch closed and Anders melted the lock and the hinge to irreparable levels with a blast of flame. If the darkspawn wished to gain entry to the city again, it would not come through this passage.
The last of The Mother's numbers were thinning, but Elissa still seemed anxious. Nathaniel searched his senses to find the cause of her anxiety, finding the large pulse of energy the same time her eyes found the retreating form of the remaining Disciple as it drifted around the corner of one of the wrecked outbuildings.
She was gone before any of them could think to stop her, racing off behind the creature intent as she was on ending any threat to those who remained alive inside the city walls. It was all they could do to keep up with her, even Zevran's natural speed seeming taxed with the effort of gaining the ground given by her much longer strides. They were forced to follow glimpses of her moving in and out of shadow as she dashed through alleyways and around the corners of the ruined houses outside of the city. When they found her again the Disciple was dead and Elissa stood toe to toe with the largest ogre any of them had ever seen.
"By the Stone! They've armored the thing!" Oghren gasped, feeling as though his eyes must have been misleading him rather than believing the darkspawn could have advanced so far as to begin crafting heavy armor for their soldiers.
Elissa circled the beast, dodging out of its range each time it would swipe out an armored claw in her direction. The others didn't know what to do. There appeared to be no weak spots on the creature. Even its eyes had been covered giving Nathaniel no opportunity to offer any sort of distracting fire.
"What should we do?" Anders turned his attention to Nathaniel when the paralysis spell he fired off did nothing to slow the ogre's pursuit.
"Why are you asking me?" Nathaniel grumbled, turning his attention back to Elissa and watching with morbid fascination as she sheathed a blade and used the tip of the other to open a section of her palm.
"Well I'm not waitin' for you ladies to stop yer arguin'," Oghren yelled, hefting his axe up on his shoulder and turning to Zevran. "Comin', ya wee fairy?"
"I thought you'd never ask, you filth-encrusted pig of a man." Zevran smirked, dashing in at Oghren's side and fighting with Elissa for the now infuriated ogre's attention.
With the ogre's attention now divided, Elissa could focus in on her plan, taking advantage of his turn in Oghren's direction to swipe her hand across the chest plate and release her caustic blood to coat the surface of the steel plating. The others watched it in action as it ate through the metal, listening to the bellowing roar of the creature when it moved past that layer and began to burn into its flesh.
It was at that point that the ogre began to realize what was happening, focusing back in on Elissa and swiping hard enough to tear into the armor at her shoulder when she failed to dodge quickly enough – but the damage had been done. A breach had been made in the creatures defenses, and Nathaniel watched the spark of bloodlust bloom to life in Elissa's eyes as she launched herself at the ogre, jamming her sword hard into the gap she had created and twisting it several times to shred its internal organs beyond repair.
It lumbered about for a few more seconds, crying out in pain and rage, before toppling to the ground and dislodging Elissa in the process. She regained her footing and went to retrieve her blade, favoring her shoulder slightly as she sheathed it back in its place. Anders inspected the damage to her shoulder and hand while taking care not to make contact directly with the surface of her skin. He'd seen what that blood could do and had no desire to risk his own flesh had Elissa not managed to render it to a neutral level again.
As it became clear that the threat to the city had ended, those hidden away in the boundaries of the city emerged from their hiding spaces, coming forward to ask questions and request entry to the city once again. Constable Aidan was among them, and though he made an effort to avoid Elissa's notice, she stopped him before he could get too far.
"Constable Aidan." Her voice was even, but there was a chilly edge to it that set her companion's nerves on edge and clearly cut into the already fearful man who turned back in her direction. "I hereby relieve you of your post as chief officer of Amaranthine. I will see to filling it once I have settled this business with The Mother. For now you will answer to Hasan. He can be found either at the Chantry or the Infirmary at the rear of the city. Put yourself to use in any task he requests of you and perhaps I shall return in a merciful mood and allow you to retain some sort of rank even in light of your massive failures."
"It was a massive army that came upon us in the dead of night! We had little warning and even fewer to fight! What would you have done?" Aidan hissed, daring to take a step in her direction with the glare he leveled in her direction.
"I believe you have seen what I would have done," Elissa responded, making no move either in defense or retaliation, much to the relief of her companions. "Now leave me. I tire of looking at your face and find my patience for the useless to be at its lowest today."
The man looked as though he thought to say something more, his ego bruised and battered at the hands of Elissa's uncensored humiliation, but eventually thought better of it and turned to enter the city with the rest who had hidden outside.
Elissa paused for a moment longer, hoping that she had done enough, hoping that if this was the last mark she was to leave on the world that the scar would heal in time and leave those who had suffered stronger in the wake of it. It was all that she could give. For now her attention must remain focused on the larger threat of The Mother.
"Can you take me to The Mother?" Elissa did not turn to The Messenger, but it was clear to whom she was speaking, and so the creature stepped forward to answer.
"The Messenger will be taking the Grey Lady wherever she is wishing to go," he responded, dipping a slight bow with his response.
"This is likely to be a one way trip. You should know that going in," Elissa said, turning to the rest of them. "I will not order any of you to come, but I must go. Nothing will deter me from that cause, and I have no time to linger. Make your choices now. Those who are coming will leave immediately. Anyone who chooses not to come will stay here and aid Hasan in tending to the city."
"I don't know about these sissies, but I'm not done hackin' things apart," Oghren bellowed, stepping forward with a crooked smile as he took a pull from his flask and handed it over to Elissa. She took it and drank some down with a smile, handing it back down to him before glancing back up to the others.
"My blades have always moved at your request, Doamna Mortii. And the dwarf and I have stood at your side on suicide missions before. I see no reason to stop now." Zevran leaned against Oghren's shoulder with a grin of his own, accepting the grumbled respect of his compatriot who had no doubt he'd be the next to follow.
"Can't have you wandering off without a proper healer," Anders quipped, holding her eyes briefly before settling in with the others.
Nathaniel hesitated. Elissa could feel the emotions churning under the surface of his stoic features. Delilah was in the city, shaken and suffering as her husband died of the taint in a building no more than a few feet away. A part of him wanted to stay and be her support they way he should have when his father sent him away to the Free Marches years ago, and if he decided to stay, Elissa would not fault him for it.
"My place is at your side, Elissa. It always has been." Nathaniel moved to within arm's reach but made no move to initiate physical contact. His emotions were just as uncertain as hers, but he knew this was where he belonged. She was his destiny, and if their story ended in shadow, then he would follow her into it willingly.
"Then we ride."
Elissa passed her eyes across them one last time, feeling exceptionally lucky for managing to surround herself with such remarkable people once again and hoping that was enough to bring them all out of this safely. It was too much to think on. For now she would simply focus on getting them to The Mother's lair in time to stop her from launching her next attack.