Morrigan let out a small gasp as the lightning on the tip of her fingers faded and vanished. It had taken every last bit of her mana to take down the last ogre as it lumbered down the tunnel toward them. The warden had charged around a blind corner into a hall swarming with darkspawn, blades flying and eyes blazing. She had not slowed her pace despite the odds and the rest of her companions were scrambling trying to keep up. But in the end it was Morrigan's tempest and chain lightning that had saved them, she was just glad the tunnels underground were not wet, lest her spells backfire and kill them all.
Zevran rushed to Morrigan's side as she collapsed to her knees and began digging through one of the woman's hip pouches for a vial of lyrium. Morrigan snarled at the assassin when she felt his hand. "I do not need your help Assassin, stop touching me." She growled just as he found what he was looking for and pulled back.
"Come now my dear Morrigan as much as I would love to fondle you, I would much rather wait until we are out of these cursed tunnels." He smirked as he handed her the potion which she took and downed gratefully in one large swallow.
"I...Thank you." She mumbled softly as she licked her lips and began to feel a bit more like herself. She brushed her dirty matted hair back from her face and looked around. "Where is the warden?"
"She took off down the Tunnel with Oghren and Shale mumbling something about raw Lyrium."
Morrigan tsk'd as she stood up and leaned against the stony wall. "I was afraid of that."
"Hmm?" Zevran asked as he began wiping his blades down.
"You and I ….nor this flea bag, " She said gesturing at the panting mabari beside her, "can follow, we can only stay here and hope they realize we are not with them and come back."
"Ah you wish to keep me to yourself awhile do you?" He smirked as he slid his blades into their scabbards and leaned against the opposite wall. Of course he knew what she was talking about, raw lyrium would kill her, and he would end up naked and delirious probably trying to hump the golem.
Morrigan tsk'd again just as a blur of a dwarf bolted past them. Zevran moved to follow but Morrigan grabbed his arm and stopped him. "T'is up to the warden now, we cannot follow."
A slightly worried and almost hopeless look crossed the Antivan's face as he watched Branka charge down the tunnel after the Warden. Braska! giuro se succede qualcosa a lei...
..~~
We honor those who have made this sacrifice, let their names be remembered.
Nahalanee's fingers gently slid over the engraved words, names and houses of those who gave themselves, literally, to the anvil and became the protectors of their world. She wondered she would have had the courage to volunteer, to be laid across the anvil and forged into a being of iron, stone, and lyrium. She wondered how they withstood the pain of the hammer blow, alive, and feeling everything as their flesh was reforged into something... greater.
"You, forged them all. They all really volunteered?" She whispered almost breathlessly.
"No." A sad metallic voice said from behind her. "I was forced to start forging golems from those unwilling, and when I refused I was forced to take my place among them. It was when I felt the hammer blow myself that I truly learned what it was to regret. My greatest creation became my worst mistake. And that is why I need your help to destroy it, Warden."
Nahalanee turned toward Caridin and strained her neck upwards. "But I need the Anvil, without it Branka will not help me. There is a blight Ancestor... Paragon, and you of all people know the lengths we must go to stop it."
"I cannot allow it, I have guarded it these many centuries and I will continue to do so until I can undo what I have made."
"Then you must help me Ancestor, name a new king and I will destroy the anvil." her heart cinched tight in her chest as she struggled to keep eye contact. Caridin, sweet ancestors she was making demands of the greatest Paragon ever to grace the mountains.
"You are both fools." Branka's voice boomed as she raced into the cavern. "I will not let you destroy the anvil, I will kill you all first! Warden I demand you help me take this anvil for ourselves!"
"Branka!" Oghren suddenly shouted making Nahalanee jump slightly. She had completely forgotten about Shale and Oghren who had been standing silently watching them. "Stop and think woman, look at all you lost for this. It's not worth it."
"Shut up you old drunk." She snarled and stalked up to Caridin. "I did not sacrifice all this for nothing, and you will not stop me. You are no more then a relic of the past Caridin, I am the future of Orzammar and I WILL have that anvil!"
"Listen to me..."
"NO!" Branka yelled and pulled something that looked like a control rod from her hip. "This anvil will be mine, and no..."
"What are you doing?" Oghren yelled in a rather loud and high pitched squeaky voice causing both Paragons to start.
"Forgive me Ancestors." Nahalanee whispered as she pushed her blade between the buckles holding Branka's armor together, her other hand quickly twisting the control rod from the warrior's hand. "May the Ancestors forgive us both Paragon." She carefully laid Branka on the ground as she pulled her blade from the woman's body muttering under her breath some stones prayer in dwarfish.
"What did you do that for?" Oghren yelled as he rushed over and dropped beside the lifeless body of his wife. "Why did you do that Warden, why couldn't you just give her the anvil?"
"Because..." Was all she said as she stood again wiping off her blade and looking up at the golem before her. "Help me and I will help you."
"Agreed, I shall put hammer to steel one last time and craft you a crown for the king of your choice."
"Wait what?" Nahalanee sounded suddenly horrified. "No I cannot choose I..." She searched desperately for a reason. "I am an exile... I can't choose I... it's... I..."
"I shall trust in your choice Warden, I do not wish to know their names it is your choice." He said as he turned away and approached the anvil.
..~~
Nahalanee had been leaning against Shale's leg sleeping when she was woken up by the booming voice of Caridin. She looked up at the golden crown that the golem held carefully in one large palm.
"That's..." She said as she scrambled to her feet and looked at the crown. Her hands reached for it and paused taking a deep breath and then finally taking it in her hands. "Amazing." She finally finished as she turned it this way and that. She had never seen such craftsmanship in all her life, and she as an Aeducan had the best smiths in Orzammar fussing over her at one point in time.
"Now, fulfill your end of our bargain Warden, I beg you."
"How am I suppose to break something that strong?"
"Push it over the edge, it will not melt but it will sink and forever be out of the reach of any who seek it."
Nahalanee nodded as she carefully shoved the crown into her own rucksack which had become dangerously empty, before slinging it over her back. "Oghren I need your help."
"I ain't gonna help you." The man said bitterly as he rolled up several pieces of parchment and shoved them into his own sack. Apparently while she slept he had been making rubbings of the monument for the shaperate.
"Fine. Then Shale will pop your head like an overripe melon." She said in a tone that could curdle blood.
Oghren glared at the warden but said nothing else, the look in her eyes said she was far from joking.
Together the two struggled to push the heavy anvil over the edge into the molten rock below, they were lucky it was already near the edge or they may never had made it. When she turned back she saw Caridin handing Shale something, the quiet rumbling of his voice was to low for her to understand anything. She watched as the two spoke for another moment then Caridin turned and approached the two dwarves.
Caridin leaned over the edge and nodded. "Thank you Warden Nahalanee of House Aeducan. May your name forever be remembered, Atrast Nal Tunsha." He said and without warning suddenly toppled over the edge following his creation into the life blood of the mountain. Nahalanee fell to her knees and looked over the edge muttering the same words she had spoken to Branka as she stilled the warriors life.
"What was that Warden?" He asked curiously.
She slowly stood and wiped her face before turning and facing him. "A prayer reserved for kings and queens of Orzammar." She said softly before heading back toward the tunnel. Oghren didn't want to feel moved by it, but something in his heart cinched tight as he watched the warden walk away with her head bowed.