(300k words! And people are still reading! Wow! XD
uchiha jinrai: The Eamon thing: I know. Somehow, Eamon got stuck like that in my headcanon, and now I can't seem to shake it off. I blame Garott's pov for being so cynical about the idea of a genuinely nice politician, and then having Eamon's character sticking that way. And it probably doesn't help that I don't like Eamon much, either.)
107. Going Off-Road
Tracking Kazar was child's play. The young man kept to the roads on the way to Orzammar, with any wolves or bears or other animals that dared to cross him left as charred corpses on the road as testament to his passage. Even Alistair stopped commenting on them after a while.
Then, as they neared the base of the mountains, the trail veered west, off the road. Meila paused, peering curiously at the trail of upset scrub and footprints as it left the safety of the packed dirt. Fang ranged forward along the trail, only pausing as he noticed that they weren't following. The white wolf sat on the trail expectantly.
"We're stopping? Why are we stopping?" Alistair asked.
Meila nodded toward the wolf. "The trail leaves the road here. Heading west."
"That's… odd." Felicity said. She frowned thoughtfully.
"Might he be trying to throw us off?" Leliana asked.
Meila shook her head, glancing at Fang for confirmation. The wolf was definitely tracking his scent heading west. "Unless his being an abomination somehow allows him to split himself into two, and then fly… no. He is headed west."
"Do you think he knows we're following him?" Alistair asked.
Jowan made a sound. "With that Pride Demon… if he did, who knows whether he'd even care."
Felicity nodded in agreement to that. She seemed to be turning something over in her head. "If I recall correctly, geographically, that is the direction of Bownammar. Going through Orzammar is a more circuitous route, really." She froze and paled. "Orzammar. Oh no, he's not going through Orzammar." She turned wide eyes to the rest of them. "We're not going to have a chance to get lyrium."
Silently, they all turned to look at Jowan, who shifted nervously under the attention.
"We're not sacrificing anyone," Alistair said sharply. He glanced toward Meila.
She was inclined to agree, this time. She hated the idea of watching her da'lethallin succumb to a demon, but she could not see the sacrifice of any of her fellow Wardens, or even herself, as an equal trade. And the idea of Leliana being sacrificed... the very idea hurt her in a new, frightening way.
It was a vulnerability that she was very aware of, bringing the singer into the Deep Roads as they were.
"Can we not take a detour to Orzammar?" Leliana asked, sounding a bit hopeful. Meila wondered if perhaps the bard wanted to see the place; the elf had no such inclinations.
"It's a week out of the way, now," Felicity said. "Kazar is taking a direct route. If we're going to have any chance of catching him, we have to do the same."
"But…" Alistair said. "How will he know where it is? How will he get in? He doesn't know of an entrance in that direction."
Meila stepped off the road to follow the trail. "Perhaps he intends to make one."
In uneasy silence, the others followed behind.