Leliana wraps her arms around me tighter and rests her chin against my shoulder. Well, for a few seconds. Eventually, my armor digging into her chin causes her to sigh and take her chin away. For a few more minutes nothing happens and I continue guiding my bronto down the twisting caverns. The walls surrounding us and low ceiling force us to ride one bronto behind the other, and Duncan and Wynne are currently on the other bronto and fast asleep. Leliana's already taken her nap and I refuse to sleep, so we're on the lead bronto while the other bronto's reins are tied to our animal's tail. Mostly, I haven't gone to sleep because I'm the only one who'll be able to tell if we're suddenly charged by Darkspawn before they're literally attacking us.
And, my nervousness at the fact I haven't felt a single thing is keeping me wide awake and alert. The corpses of slain Darkspawn continue to crunch beneath us; however, it's still disturbing that we haven't found a single living enemy. Leliana quietly whispers to me. Her voice is sucked in by the black corruption lining the entire cavern, so I can barely hear her.
"How far are we from the Dread Trenches?". We found a map in our packs a few hours ago and I've put it in a pouch near the bronto's neck (near my left thigh). I dig around before pulling the map out and looking at it.
"We went south from the first thaig and we're in the second one, so...". I take a few minutes to mentally trace our path.
"We'll need to ride for another hour before we get into the open area of this thaig, then head due east until we reach the Dead Trenches. Hopefully, Alistair and his group are in this thaig or the Trenches. If they've reached whatever's beyond that, then I don't now what we can do.". Leliana grunts to show she was paying attention. But it quickly becomes apparent that she wasn't paying attention very well. My human companion yanks on the straps on my armpits and begins trying to undo them.
"Do you mind if I take your breastplate and backplate off?". I'd prefer it on in case of an attack, but I suppose my Grey Warden senses will let me know if anything corrupt is heading towards us. And the things that aren't corrupt (Deepstalkers and spiders) make enough noise that we'll hear them coming.
"Alright. Put them behind you and hand them to me if we need them.". Leliana skillfully undoes my armor and slides it off of me while I keep myself focused on guiding our steed. When Leliana's done I take a deep breath of stale air and stretch my back a little. My thick, heavy armor has been weighing me down. Suddenly, my helm blocks my view as my love (that's an odd word to call her) takes it off of me and places it with the rest of my armor. Then, she begins running her fingers through my sweaty, dirty tangle of blonde hair.
I cringe as she touches my scalp, but the bard doesn't seem to mind in the slightest. All she does is begin untangling my hair until she can easily stroke me from crown to neck. I can't even ask what she's doing before she's moving on. Her fingers begin digging into my shoulders and attempting to work out the tension there. I allow it and feel a heavy tiredness begin consuming me. I begin shaking myself and mumble an explanation to my love.
"Don't do that. I'll fall asleep.". Two strong, confident hands begin sliding down my arms and Leliana takes the reins from my hands.
"Alright, then fall asleep.". I groan and shake my head. However, I can't fight it when Lelian begins pulling me backwards. My head rests on her shoulder and my back molds to the form of her front. Leliana chuckles and kisses my neck. My eyes have already slid close and my breathing is evening out. Leliana begins leading the bronto and speaks to me while I fall asleep.
"I can't wait to show you Denerim. I was there when I was a youth working for my old lover. I was different back then, though. I stole from the chantry, ruined a man's life, and did other unspeakable things. The only good thing I did was save an elf from the dungeons.". I idly question her with a slurring voice.
"What was the elf like?". Leliana kisses the side of my face before continuing.
"Dark skin, dark red hair, and dark eyes. She had braided hair, a thin scar on her cheek, and wore peasant's clothing. I'll never forget her. She promised to teach her daughter of humans like me, then fled the dungeons as quickly as she could. I always wondered what happened to her.". I feel my chest tighten and am wide awake.
"Did you get her name?". I feel Leliana nod.
"Adaia.". I tense up and stop Leliana from kissing my neck when she leads down.
"That's not funny.". I sit up, snatch the reins from Leliana, and curl my back away from her. Leliana reaches out and I reluctantly allow it as she questions me.
"What? Is something wrong?". I snarl.
"That was my mother! It's not a funny joke!". Instantly, Leliana wraps her arms around my waist and tries to fix the situation.
"I wasn't making a joke! It was true! Was it really your mother?". I dig around in my memories and vaguely remember something. When I was a child I recall my mother begin taken away, then showing up later that night and explaining that some escaped human prisoner had freed her.
"Maybe? I remember something like that happening.". Leliana speaks again.
"Did she tell you about 'humans like me'?". I nod.
"She told me that there were good and bad humans. She said a good one freed her, but bad ones were the ones who put her there.". Leliana takes the reins from my hands. Reluctantly, I lean back against her. Leliana is the first to speak.
"I can't believe I saved your mother's life.". I chew over the new information for a few minutes.
"I was six when that happened. How old were you?". Leliana groans and turns my head so I'm facing her neck. Instinctively, I close my eyes and breathe her in.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't remind me how much older I am than you.". My tiredness is slowly consuming me again.
"Looks like you're a cradle robber.". Leliana lightly taps my arm.
"Don't say that!". I chuckle.
"You were robbing people when I was still playing with boxes and throwing mud at people!". Another light slap.
"If you keep saying that, then I might start feeling guilty about bedding you.". I snicker and yawn.
"You haven't bedded me yet.". For a small stretch of time we're both silent. Then, Leliana mumbles into my ear.
"I'm going to soon, though. As soon as my mentor's dead, then I'll take you.". I ignore the arousing tone of her voice in favor of going to sleep. All I can do is mumble a final playful insult.
"I hope you don't do it on her bed.". Leliana chuckles deep in her throat.
"Now there's an idea.". I reach a heavy hand up and lovingly tap Leliana on the side of the face. Finally, silence consumes me and I'm able to fall asleep. My last thoughts are of Leliana.
I'm woken up by Leliana rubbing my back. I've sweat an uncomfortable amount in my sleep, so when I come to I feel soaked and filthy. I roll my tongue around in my dry mouth before looking over at Leliana.
"What?". She pushes the reins into my hands and motions in front of us. I look up and see the tiny, corruption filled tunnel opens up onto another cracked road of the ancient dwarves. I lean back and kiss Leliana on the neck once before snapping the bronto's reins and trudging him forward. The beast is exhausted, but we can't stop and make camp until we're near the Dead Trenches. That way, we'll be deep enough in that I won't have to worry about anyone from the city (or even the surface) tailing us. There's a small chance that Loghain's men are following us, but it's still a chance.
"Thank you. You can go to sleep if you want.". Leliana begins putting my backplate on.
"And leave you to your own thoughts? That sounds too dangerous to do.". I scoff and begin leading the bronto through the open area. Soon, crumbling buildings are sprouting up and I'm leading the bronto through an ancient city. A winding, dusty path leads us in the right direction. Dead golemns, Darkspawn, spiders, Deepstalkers, and one dwarf litter our path. Looks like Alistair and his group came through here. And, soon if the bloodstains are anything to judge by.
I allow Wynne and Duncan to continue sleeping, but when we reach a wide bridge I'm forced to wake them up. Wynne groans and Duncan snorts, but the elderly woman is able to control her bronto and get theirs up beside ours. I begin riding my beast across the bridge with Wynne and Duncan riding right beside us. The stone structure groans underneath the animal's combined weight, but manages to hold. A dead golemn and more dead dwarves are littering the other side of the bridge. I ride the bronto over the dead and see another thick tunnel leading deeper into the Deep Roads.
The brontos are finally able to walk beside each other as they go. Thankfully, the tunnel doesn't last long and we're in another large cavern. Dead spiders litter it and another passage by the back has a table near it. I don't get off of the bronto, but lean down and snatch a map off of the table. A map to the Dead Trenches. I show Leliana the map and tell everyone the plan.
"Let's go to the Dead Trenches. Hopefully, they'll be near the entrance.". I begin leading the group atop my bronto. Leliana is the first to speak.
"Can we camp once we're in the trenches?". I shake my head.
"I've changed my mind. I want to find Alistair first. I have a bad feeling about what he's up to. I think he's going to either be in deep shit, or close to it.".
Everyone falls silent as I lead us into the Dead Trenches. The tunnel leading to it is steep, but wide and short. All our brontos have to do is stay on their feet. When we reach the bottom of the tunnel we've entered the trenches. Suddenly, Duncan barks. I glance over in time for my dog to toss me an extremely heavy and ancient helm. I laugh and slide it on (Leliana still has my old helmet behind her). I've just secured the helm when I notice where we are. The ground in front of us stops as the gigantic trench (the thaig's namesake) is in front of us.
And, a few hundred feet to our right is a tremendous stone archway. Sitting atop of that archway is something that makes my heart stop. The beast is towering over us, corruption is leaking off of him, and his eyes are entirely white. The dragon raises his head and lets a plume of green flames spill from between the gigantic swords he calls fangs. The Arch-Demon. I'm struggling to breathe when it happens. The sensation of hundreds of thousands of Darkspawn consumes me. I feel myself sliding off the bronto as I scream.