Hello again! Would like to say thanks to all the other people who've been sending reviews and to the people that have been following and favouriting the story! :D it's always a good kind of kick in the ass to jump start the next chapter lol hope you enjoy this one! It's a little more grim in places with the violence and slight gore so I thought I'd put the rating up just in case! Enjoy!
"I don't understand! What are they even doing this far ahead of the horde?" Alistair asked as they cleared the first floor of the tower.
"I don't know Alistair but, if you really want to know you could try asking them; you know, when they're not trying to cut us in half." Neria said as she kicked a dismembered darkspawn arm away from her.
"It's doesn't matter why or how they got here right now, we just have to kill them and light that stupid thing." Lyna said as she pulled a few of her arrow louse from the fallen darkspawn. The other mage watch and grimaced as they came away with a loud squelch and a pop.
"How many floors are there in the tower?" Neria asked as they walked towards the stair case.
"There are three more, the last one is where the beacon is." The guard answered.
The all fell silent as they reached the top of the stairs, carefully opening the door to check the hallway before they entered.
Lyna swallowed to ease the nausea that welled in her stomach at the sight that greeted them, bodies of the other guards lay surrounding the room, their bodies cut up and their head stuck on top of the handles of their swords than had been drove in to the stone ground. She looked around to see she wasn't the only one affected. A sense of dread filled her as she thought of Tamlen, is this what had happened to Tamlen's body? She fought back the anger that sprung forth at the thought of Tamlen at the mercy of such creatures because she couldn't stop him, couldn't find him in time.
"Dar Falon'Din vena na Tamlen am'na etha" she felt a hand on her should and say Neria standing beside her.
"Are you okay?" she asked
"Abelas, I am fine." Neria nodded as the both walk over to mean the others.
"There are darkspawn standing at the end of the corridor, and in the two rooms on either side of the halway." Alistair said pointed to the two doors.
"What should we do." The mage asked.
"We need to spilt up in to two groups," Alistair said after a moment of thinking. "There is a large group there" he pointed to the right "so Lyna and I shall clear that chamber" he pointed to the room to the left, "and exit on to the main corridor while the rest of you clear the other room. Lyna and I shall draw their attention to us, and then you can come of that room behind them and catch them by surprise."
They all nodded, agreeing with the plan, "it will only work if we do the first part quietly, so no big explosions please," he said looking to the other mages.
They spilt-up and entered the two opposing rooms, Lyna walked in silently behind one of the darkspawn spilling black thick ichor as she slit its throat, Alistair ran his sword through the one standing closet to her, the blade piercing its back and protruding through its stomach. The third one turned and quickly had an arrow placed in its throat as Lyna realised the drawn bow.
"Well that wasn't too bad." Alistair smirk, Lyna return the gesture before looking back to see how the others had done. Neria and the other mage had frozen and paralysed the four darkspawn with their magic before they all used their daggers and swords to silently kill them. They nodded towards them to let them know they were ready.
Both Alistair and Lyna took a deep breath before they pulled open the door. Lyna quickly notched two arrows and fired them in to the first darkspawn as Alistair let out a war cry. The darkspawn screeched at them as a few charged. Lyna quickly fired towards the archers as Alistair met the first Hurlock darkspawn, knocking it off-balance with his shield before using his sword to cut his head off at the jaw. Lyna noticed a darkspawn stayed behind, realising why when it pulled a staff out that began to crackly with power.
"MAGE!" she shouted taking aim to fire another two arrows at it, having to drop down as a bolt of lightning came towards her. There was a bag of a door as Neria and the other entered in to the corridor. Ice and wind spun around Neria in a blue and white glow, her hair blew around her face as she realised a torrent of cold freezing a few of the darkspawn stunning the others. She stepped up towards the mage darkspawn, gathering more power for another blast.
It screeched a release another bolt of lightning, Neria quickly pulled a barrier up knocking the blast away, the darkspawn charged towards her in rage, she quickly ducked to avoid the swinging staff, gathering her own lightning in her hand quickly bring it up and ramming the small ball of electricity in to the darkspawn chest. it screamed and convulsed as current tore it way through its body before it grew limp and fell dead at her feet. She looked up to see the others fighting six more darkspawn, the other mage trying to protect himself from an onslaught of blows, as Lyna had been forced to switch to her dagger to fight in close quarters, Alistair and the other guards trying to take out a group of three.
She took a deep breath gripping her staff with both hands, she lifted it felling the power build and build and she quickly forced as much mana to gather at the end of her staff before she brought it down to the ground with such force, it chipped the stone floor. Her power exploded, realising a tempest of lightning that struck each of the darkspawn, killing them.
When the spell had finished her sighed before sat down on the ground, trying to avoid the spilled ichor.
"Are you alright?" she looked up to see Alistair and the others staring at her as Lyna rummaged around in the darkspawn mages pack.
"I'm okay Alistair, just took a little bit more out of me than I thought it would." She said with a huff of a laugh and a tired smile.
"Here I found this; you used a lot of mana." Lyna joined them holding a lyrium potion that she had found in the darkspawns bag.
"Thank you." She said, quickly drinking the tangy metical drink, grimacing at thetaste.
"Only one more floor before we reach the beacon, and we'll be able to celebrate with a better tasting drink," Alistair said with a smile, helping her to her feet again, "I know a solider that can get us the good stuff."
"Good I'll need something to wash the taste out of my mouth," she said returning the smile.
They quickly made their way to the next floor, finding the kennel for the Marbari war hounds. Lyna ran quickly realising the leaver holding the cages closed. The Marbari quickly ran and attacked the darkspawn, helping them clear the floor quicker.
It wasn't long till they had reached the top of the tower, as the opened the door and enter the last room they meet with a huge creature, over teen feet tall.
"WHAT IN THE VOID IS THAT?" Neria asked as it turned round to look at them.
"OGRE" Alistair said before they had to drive out of the way of its charge.
"TRY AND DRAW ITS ATTENTION!" Lyna shouted towards Alistair and the guard, "KEEP TRYING TO FREEZE AND PARALYSE IT" she shouted towards Neria and the other mage. Lyna quickly grabbed her poisoned arrows and began to fire them at the ogre as Neria worked on immobilising it. Alistair and the guard shouted and taunted the ogre drawing it attention away, as soon as the ogre stopped moving Lyna ran and jumped on to its back, using an arrow and a dagger to drag herself up its body on to its shoulders. She quickly rammed the arrow in to one side of its neck, using the leverage to plunge her dagger in to the front of its throat. She felt the creature beginning to fall as she leaned forward, making it crashed face first in to the ground as she scrambled to stay on its back.
"Well that was impressive, but let's not rush to do it again." Alistair said as she pulled her dagger from the ogre's neck, "come on the beacon over here, we've probably already missed the signal."
Neria quickly dropped a small ball of fire in to the beacon, sending a gust of fire out of the top of the tower. They stood watching the flames flicker in the fire when the door to the chamber busted open. Neria felt an arrow hit her right shoulder, before she could gather what little mana she had left to create a barrier, knocking her to the ground. She heard the other shout and watched as the guard and the mage were over taken by the darkspawn. Lyna and Alistair were hit by arrows as a loud and shrill cry sounded out around them, Neria saw the feathers of a bird before she fell in to darkness.
Another sorta-kinda-cliffy! lol Hope you all liked it! I'm finishing off another rewritten version of chapter 17 at the moment, this story has taken on a life of it's own right now, we're still not in Redcliffe! But think by chapter 20 one group of our heroes will meet the other! :O lol Let me kno how you think it's going! :D
I keep forgetting to do this, but Elven translation, Lyna's basically saying "May Falon'Din find you Tamlen and keep you safe" I might end up going back over the last couple of chapters cause I'm pretty sure I've abused Elvish and not stuck in what it was suppose to mean a few time now... Sorry!