Warden Gothic

Part 20

Store - Haven

Just yesterday this village had been inhabited, now it was a ghost town. There were no signs of violence here it was like people had grabbed what they could and then they had just left of their own free will. Oddly this place seemed more welcoming than before now that it was no longer inhabited by people.

It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened here. When last I'd seen the dragon god he'd been flying towards this settlement. That combined with the fact that this place hadn't been burned to the ground, that and no one had left in a hurry suggested that the dragon-god had opened a portal and the people had willing walked through it.

Normally such a thing would be worrying, but since we all knew that everyone here in Haven was a basket case, that meant we weren't sorry to see them gone. The only thing we did worry about as that more than one village might have been emptied.

Staying anyone's abandoned home had been to creepy, at least for some of us, so we had decided to camp inside the local shop as aside from the chantry it was the biggest building around, and unlike that church there were no dead bodies in here.

Wynn had started to cook a large meal for us, as there was plenty of food here that would never be eaten if we didn't take it, and she had roped Alistair into helping her. Which was really good as right now I so didn't want to talk to him, yet I knew at some point I would have to.

"Does this armour look good on me?" I asked the group as they busied themselves with setting up our indoor camp.

There was a crude mirror in the store, so I was checking out my new outfit. Depending on how I looked at the suit, it either made me look very formidable or it made me look like I was off to a convention as some sort of cosplayer. Which was something I would never lower myself to doing.

"Tis an impressive gift" Morrigan said while set up her bedroll as far a way from the rest of us as possible "You would be wise to wear into battle, it will serve thee well".

That wasn't an answer to my question, but she did have a good point. I was no mage and even I could feel the power of this armour. It would be wise to wear if only to make sure no one else ever did.

"It is intimating" was Wynn's opinion on the matter.

Well as long as the darkspawn agreed to be scared I figured that was what really mattered, but I still wasn't sure if normal people would just think I looked very silly. Not that it mattered a great deal as anyone who did start something with me would not be the one to end it as I now had a very deadly dragon themed blade.

"Forget the armour!" Alistair then called out "What about the Blood Mage who gave it to you".

At times like this it was clear that Alistair had been given a very religious eduction while growing up. His view of things was limited, he could not seem to grasp the idea that not everything that involved magic and blood was evil. Which he should understand as Templars used Blood Magic in order to track down rogue mages.

"That was no mage" Morrigan stated simply.

She was right about that, and given that she was dragonkin then she most likely had sensed something of the god's true nature just as he had been able to sense that the witch had the blood of dragons.

That was something I found interesting as it supported my theory that Flemeth was in fact a dragon who could turn into a woman rather than a mage who had learned to take that form, or it could even be that she was a Tevinter old god that had somehow been reborn.

That would explain how she knew that if I, or even Alistair, got Morrigan pregnant then the soul of the old god would jump into the unborn child, she knew because that was also her origin.

Not that the soul of a tainted god jumping into a fetus really made any sense as if an adult couldn't survive it then a recently conceived baby should be snuffed out like a candle. Clearly there was something more going on around here than I understood.

"But he used Blood Magic!" Alistair protested.

That made me snort. He really did have a limited world view and it was getting funny as well as annoying.

"The Templars use Blood Magic when they track rogue mages" I pointed out "We used Blood Magic during the Joining. Besides if that dragon-god had wanted to hurt us then he would have and we'd all be dead".

In fact the bastard prince had nearly gotten himself, and perhaps the rest of us, killed. The only reason we were alive was because the dragon-god knew a version of me in another universe.

That at least I had no trouble believing as I was a fan of the many worlds theory, but it was hard to imagine that somewhere out there there was a version of me that was a god. If there was then I wasn't sure if I wanted me to meet him or not.

"Alistair, that was no mere Blood Mage" Wynn said calmly "I believe it was one of the Tevinter old gods".

While I knew that the dragon-god wasn't even of this world, I also knew the older mage wasn't crazy for thinking that as the dragon-god could have been a Tevinter old gods, as they had been dragons. I knew that to be true, because the arch-demon was a tainted god. Which was why it so damn hard to kill.

"Those are just stories" my lover insisted "the Maker is the only god".

I felt the need to correct her at this point, which I normally wouldn't do as I wanted to have sex with her many, many more times, but she did really need to know this stuff and she deserved to if she was going to be risking her life in order to fight the Blight.

"The arch-demon is one of the Tevinter old gods" I explained to her "The Maker sealed them away underground a long time".

That was the legend everyone knew, but there were other things that the average person did not know.

"That's why the spawn stay underground, they dig around down there looking for the old gods so they can infect them with the taint. When that happens the old god becomes an arch-demon, which begins the Blight".

Naturally learning all of that was a little overwhelming for the group, aside from Shale who didn't seem to care and Morrigan already knew all of this so she was faking her surprise.

"There is one more thing you all need to know, about the Blight" I then told everyone "To kill the archdemon a Gray Warden must strike the final blow and when the Warden does he or she will die".

Lee and Morrigan already knew this, but others didn't so they were rather shocked to say the least.

"What?" the bastard prince shouted.

It was hard to explain, but I did my best.

"The archdemon's soul is tied to the Darkspawn horde because of the taint so as long as it exists the Blight will go on because the soul of the arch-demon will transfer to another spawn. Which means in order to destroy the arch-demon a Warden must strike the final blow and absorb the soul. But because Gray Wardens already have a soul the spirit of the arch-demon can't take over the Warden's body. Which kills both the Warden and the arch-demon. Then, and only then, will the Blight will end"

It didn't take long for everyone who already didn't know, to figure that this meant Alistair or I would have to die in order to kill the arch-demon.

"So that's why it took so long to stop the first Blight" Alistair reasoned "Duncan always said he would tell me someday, but… I guess he just never had the time".

Well that and I suspected Duncan planned to strike the killing blow himself so that us younger Wardens would not have to. Also I figured that he had never told Alistair so that the bastard prince wouldn't be tempted to try to kill the arch-demon himself in order to spare his friend.

"Lets get some sleep" I suggested to the group "I think we all have things to think about".

I did. I had to rethink my views on people. Like who trust, and I had to plan a way to gain more allies. However I wasn't given much time to ponder such things as Lee wanted to ask me something.

"Did you foresee that we would met a god on that mountain?" was the question.

Since my visions were just memories from playing a video game they only included things from the game that I could remember. There had been no dragon-god on that mountain in Dragon Age.

"No I didn't see it" I said to my girlfriend "I have memories of things that haven't happened yet, but it's not perfect".

Which meant I could be taken by surprise, and that was worrying.

(Line Break)

Wilderness – Felderan

"Help me" a woman screamed.

Alistair, who was at point as he could sense the darkspawn at a much greater distance that I could, called a halt to our movement

A moment later an upset looking woman came around the corner, running as if her life depended on it, only she stopped when she saw us

"Help me. Bandits came out of nowhere. Please, stop them" the woman pleaded before running back the way she had come.

Alistair gestured for the rest of us to follow him, but before he could led us off into an ambush I grabbed him.

"This is a trap. The woman works for the Crows" I explained "We go chasing after her and we'll get cut down by archers".

Despite everything that had happened Alistair still trusted me, at least when it came to not running into danger. Besides I was in charge so he really had to listen.

"Okay this is the plan" I told the others "Sten, Alistair, Shale and I well go and fall for the trap, and when the Crows show themselves the rest of you will attack them".

It was pretty simple, but it should work and everyone agreed.

"Now let's go spring the trap" I then said the others.

They nodded and prepared for combat. Without another word Alistair started after the woman while the rest of us followed. She led us around the turn and into the expected ambush.

Wagons were scattered about in such a way as to make it appear that bandits had attacked some wagons, but actually the wreckage had been carefully placed in order to limit movement and give cover the assassins. Also there were traps scattered alongside both hills next to the site of the wrecks. I couldn't see them, but I knew that they were there and should be try to flee that way we would trigger them. Finally the tree that fell to block our retreat had just fallen behind us. Clearly the Crows knew what they were doing.

Sadly it wouldn't do them any good, because before any of the Crows could move from their hiding places, the ambushers became the ambushed.

Judging by the fact an arrow went flying past me to kill a Crow I figured that Leliana was somewhere behind me, firing her bow from concealed spot at our would-be assassins. Morrigan also joined in, she blasted some of the hired killers with an enormous fireball. Which really helped to thin out their numbers

The woman who had led us into a trap died when Shale rather effortlessly crushed her skull. Four others died without realizing just how horribly their plan had gone wrong as Sten and Alistair charged into their lines. As for me I ran up a side path, while ignoring the arrows shot at me, and then I started to cut down more assassins.

The final assassin, an elf I knew the name of, made a run Alistair, and the bastard prince slammed his shield against the elf's face. Zevaran went down without another sound and my fellow Warden killed him by stabbing the elf with his sword.

I felt bad that Zev was dead, but since he'd been trying to kill us that softened the blow quite a bit.

"Who sent them?" my fellow Warden asked while most of the others looked for loot.

I didn't think he needed an answer, but I supplied one anyway.

"Loghain" I answered "Arl Howe's advised him to hire these Crow guys to kill the last of the Gray Wardens".

Saying that made me wonder if all Couslands had died when Howe had attacked that family's home. I knew the Amell mage had died because I'd seen him die while we were trying to lit the signal fires. Upon reflection I really wished that part of the story hadn't slipped my mind, but it had been a rather intense day.

"Just another crime for him to pay for then" the possible future king said as his eyes narrowed darkly.

Now that I knew the truth about Loghain I didn't seem him as the purely evil being that my fellow Warden did.

"You can't just kill him Alistair" I said.

He looked at me with righteous anger on his face before I continued,

"Don't get me wrong he's going to die when we're done with him, but it has to be a certain way. He must die because his crimes have been exposed and he gets sentenced to death. If we just assassinate him then we will look as bad as him in the eyes the people who support him".

Loghain had done many bad things. He even had a hand Uldred's attempt to take the Circle. He gotten Jowan to poison the Arl of Redcliffe. Also he was kidnapping and torturing his political opponents, or at least Howe was doing it for him. He would, or could right be, allowing some Tevinters to enslaved Ferelden citizens.

Once we had evidence of these crimes, or even just some of them then the Landsmet would be forced to act. But before worrying about that we needed to go save the Arl because without him we had no voice in the Landsmet and we badly needed one.

"Let's go going" I said to everyone "We've got a lot of ground to cover and the Arl needs the ashes".

Within moments were on the road again and heading towards Redcliffe.