WARDEN'S CURSE http :/ /shaleene1 .deviantar /gallery/ # /d3glqq9
The heavy stone doors scrapped loudly against the floor as the guards pushed them closed
behind her. She felt Harrowmont's gaze on her but refused to look back at the risk of looking
weak or fearful, no she would not give him the satisfaction. She heard the locking mechanisms
turn, and as the last of the echos vanished she was left in silence.
It was official, she was no longer an Aeducan, a memory, nor even a dwarf, she was an exile. She
wondered briefly if perhaps this is how the casteless felt each day. She pictured the shapers
inking out her name from the memories and shuddered. She sat down hard on the cold ground
as the tears began to well up in her eyes. She did not cry for herself, she cried for Gorim, for her
father, for her brother who lay encased in the stone.
After awhile she heard the faint cries of darkspawn far off in the tunnels. Well, if I'm going to
die, better sooner then later, she thought as she regained her feet with a heavy sigh.
She walked down the old road until she came to a small tunnel branching off to the left. The
echoing cries of the darkspawn seemed louder in that direction. She eyed the cave-in blocking
the road and sighed as she turned and headed cautiously down the tunnel.
Unfortunately, the tunnel lacked the luminescent rocks and insects she had become familiar with
on the patrols with her brothers. The deeper she went, the darker it became until finally, she was
plunged into total darkness. She waved a hand in front of her face, but even that was beyond
her field of vision.
Great, a spider could attack me and I wouldn't notice until it's fangs ripped at my face. The
sudden visual made her shudder as she began moving again, slower this time keeping one hand
on the wall while her bare feet carefully felt out their next step.
She didn't know how long she continued this extremely slow process. Her anxiety was mounting
with each passing hour, but she could not, WOULD not let fear take her. No Aeducan would ever
fear the darkness, exile or no.
Her foot moved forward and stepped down, but instead of contacting stone it continued
downwards until she was falling. She closed her eyes and yelled out, jagged rocks tore at her
flesh as she tumbled downwards. The air was violently knocked from her lungs as she landed on
a flat smooth surface. She lay there for what seemed like a long time catching her breath before
opening her eyes and looking around.
Thank the ancestors, she thought as she saw the faint glow of light. But that thankfulness
was short lived when she realized it was fire, not rock or insect. She sat up quickly scanning the
ground for her weapon, she found her sword but failed to locate the shield and she was out of
time. She jumped to her feet and faced down the narrow hall as her right foot slid back turning
her body sideways.
She watched for a very brief moment as the darkspawn flooded down the narrow road toward
her. Ancestors give me strength, she whispered and ran toward the creatures, adding her
own battle cry to the mix.
Luck was on her side, the old road was indeed narrow, three darkspawn shoulder to shoulder,
and her enemy though many, were hurlocks. Close quarter combatants with swords were easier
to deal with then those damn arrow flingers, and with their limited brainpower they attacked
one or two at a time as they fought each other for space. The sound of steel on steel was almost
deafening to her as she fought, bare foot and without armor.
She wasn't sure how long she could keep this up, she was slowly losing ground and her arms
began to ache, the right in particular. She had taken a hit high on her right arm and the large
unbalanced hurlock blade she held in her right hand was not making things easier. The battle
seemed to go on forever and just when she thought she wouldn't be able to continue, the last of
the 'spawn filed toward her and fell.
Her weapons clattered loudly to the ground as she dropped on her knees breathing heavily.
Relief washed over her as she fell onto her back and stared up at the high ceiling. She lay there
for quite some time silently, watching the fire light throw shadows across the stone as the rush
of adrenaline subsided and her heartbeat slowed. Her thoughts were interrupted as a vile
smelling black smoke began to creep towards her.
Blasted bronto turds, she thought bitterly as she struggled to her feet. Many of the torches had
landed on the darkspawn carrying them, causing leather and flesh to catch fire and burn. She
had to move despite the wariness in her limbs.
She grabbed her sword, hesitated, then grabbed one of the hurlocks blades, along with one of
the few torches that had landed on the stone instead of its bearer. Had she stopped to think, she
might have grabbed a couple more, but the only thought on her mind was getting away before
the stench brought more darkspawn to investigate. She spun on her heels and ran down the
road, her bare feet slapping the cold stone.
She had made many twists and turns before she was forced to stop. Her torch had begun to
sputter, threatening to go out soon and leave her in the dark one again. She sighed and sat
down hard, leaning against the wall. She took a few moments to check over herself, the cut on
her right arm had stopped bleeding at least, but it would no doubt become infected with a lack
of water or clean dressings. She used the hem of her prison garb to bind it. She had many other
small scrapes from her tumble, but nothing to worry about.
As the last of the light from her torch burned out her eyes slipped close, she realized she had not
slept since the night before Trian's death. It was a mistake, but her body cried for rest, and
weariness won over rationality.
...
Something touched her left hand and she jumped up painfully biting her bottom lip to keep from
yelling out. Her first thought was darkspawn, but it was only a single curious deepstalker baby
who had come to investigate the strange sleeping dwarf. It turned and began to scurry off but
she quickly cut off its wormy little head.
She wasn't about to have it warn the others, and there would be others they never traveled
alone. She realized there was dim light surrounding her and looked around, Thank the
Ancestors. The tunnel walls and ceilings were covered with glowworms.
She moved slowly and quietly, her lack of footwear make her almost completely silent. One
deepstalker meant more, and soon she found them picking clean the bones of another
unfortunate. She dispatched them and searched the area, YES, she blurted out despite her need
to stay silent. She found a dagger hidden between two rocks, and it was dwarven made.
She tossed the hurlock blade aside, happy to be rid of it, and continued her exiled trek, tunnel to
tunnel, road to road, darkness to bio-luminescence. darkspawn, spiders, deepstalkers, more
darkspawn, resting only when she needed and not for very long.
She wasn't sure how long she had been down there, usually she was good at time, but the
constant battles and thick darkness had turned what could have been only a couple days into
years. She was covered head to toe with the filth of the roads, her feet were covered with
plundered mismatched leather boots, and her prison garbs were torn and dirty. She was
beginning to think she would not find the wardens or a way out of the blasted deep.
She stepped out of the tunnel into a huge open cavern lit with the red glow of molten rock from
huge chasms. Its immensity would have made Orzammar look like a Dust town hovel. As she was
admiring it a deafening roar broke through her thoughts . She spun around to reenter the tunnel,
but the rock face was smooth and complete, no hole, not even a crack marred its beautiful face.
She slowly turned pressing her back hard against the wall as if expecting the stone to embrace
her and hide her, keep her safe from what her eyes had fallen upon. Ahead was an army of
darkspawn, swords and crossbows raised. Ogres towering over their brethren, emissaries
glowing with their dark magic, and behind them the biggest and most terrible beast she had
ever seen.
It's wings unfurled as it stretched its long neck upwards. It's huge maw opened showing what
looked to be a thousand teeth as dark unnatural flames leapt from its mouth, followed by the
most frighting, bone shattering shriek she had ever heard. She fell to her knees and covered her
ears, she thought she might have even screamed.
... ... ... ...
Zevran sighed as he sat swinging his leg lazily back and forth from the thick tree branch that
doubled as his watch post. Nahalanee had asked him once why he chose to sit so high up.
"It is a good place to ambush from, should the need arise. Ample cover from the leaves and
branches, and a good vantage point. You can see all the way around camp from there. If you
like, I can help you up so that you may see for yourself." He answered her and had laughed
when she declined quickly and wandered off as if afraid he might toss her up there anyway. She
sat on one of Bodan's cart horses once, she would never even consider climbing a tree.
He stopped swinging his leg and sat up cocking his head to one side and listened, something had
stirred in the camp. He silently leapt from his perch and returned to the dieing fire in the center
of their camp. The noises were coming from the dwarf's tent. He went over and stuck his head
in to see her thrashing and mumbling in her native language. It was obvious her mind was
plagued with dreams, and from the looks and sounds, they were none too pleasant.
He crawled into her tent, knelt at her feet and gently shook her calling to her in a low tone as to
not wake anyone else in camp. Last thing he needed was Alistair, or worse Sten, waking and
seeing the assassin hovering over their sleeping leader.
... ... ... ...
When she was finally able to open her eyes she looked up saw the army of darkspawn start
running toward her. The huge dragon screeched again and took flight swooping over the black
horde. She stood and ran. The sounds of metal boots and growling darkspawn were closing in on
her from behind, she ran as fast as her feet would go.
She came to the edge of the stone, skidding to a halt barely keeping herself from going over. Far
below her was nothing but a river of hot molten rock, behind her the darkspawn. She turned,
pulled her weapons, and stood. the giant dragon beast dove toward her, she swung her sword at
the huge talon but it snatched her up, a large claw burying itself in her stomach. She screamed
out in pain as her weapons fell from her hands. The talon opened again, the claw wrenched itself
loose and she was falling. She closed her eyes, but she could still feel the searing heat as the
molten rock quickly rose to greet her.
... ... ...
Something touched her arm and she sat up her left hand flying up and over her shoulder, her
right hand went to her hip, both searching for weapons that weren't there.. Her breathing came
in quick ragged bursts that burned her lungs. A dream just a dream "...Warden, it's just a
dream." She heard a voice calling to her.
Just a dream. Her mind said, but it was so real, she could feel the dragons grip, feel the heat
from the molten rock burning her skin. She looked down as she raised her tunic enough to
examine her stomach. Her hands and eyes searched for a hole, blood, something. There was
nothing there but smooth pale skin, she shuddered.
As her mind searched for something to grasp, her head turned left to right and back again
looking but not seeing. Her hands stayed pressed against her stomach as her thoughts tried to
wrap around reality. She did the first thing she could think of.
She lunged forward and grabbed Zevran, her arms sliding under his and around his back hugging
him almost painfully as her mouth covered his. Just a dream, her mind said again. But he is real,
I'm awake, this it real. After a brief moment she pulled away and looked up into the face of a
stunned and rather amused assassin.
"I'm... Oh stone take me, I'm sorry." She whispered as her pale faced turn a deep shade of red.
Awake for less than a minute and already making an ass out of yourself, she thought as she
began to move away from him. His hand shot out and grabbed her arm pulling her back against
him.
"There is no need to apologize my dear warden," he purred as his hands slid under the hem of
her tunic and around her waist. His touch sent shivers up her spine as he leaned in and kissed
her briefly before she could react.
Oh yeah, this is most definitely real. Her mind mused as she looked up into the elf's face and
giggled despite herself. He raised a questioning eyebrow at her as his fingers danced across her
back sending another wave of shivers through her body.
"I'll tell you later." She said in a soft tone and slid her arms around his neck, their lips met again
and her last coherent thought was, it's going to be a good night after all.