150. End of the Road
"It certainly was thoughtful of him, no?" Zevran's voice said lightly as they climbed their way up the circling flight of stairs. "To delve into a darkspawn infested tower, just to deliver a dagger he was putting a rune on."
"What I can't figure out," Fin replied, staring at said dagger, "is what he put on it. This is not the silverite rune I ordered."
"If it is half as effective as whatever he used to kill that veritable bloodbath around him, I would call it an improvement."
Felicity, staying at the back of the group, bit her lip and climbed in silence. For once, she had nothing to add. The sight of Sandal, alone and surrounded by a circle of dead darkspawn, defied explanation.
"Both of you, be quiet," Percy said tightly. "We're nearing the top."
"Good," Fin said. "My legs are killing me. Did they really need to build a prison tower this tall?"
"I am glad I am not the only one feeling this climb," Riordan mumbled with a small smile. "It makes me feel a bit less old."
Percival cast a glance back at them, and all three rogues fell quiet.
Felicity ached for him, enough to understand why his temper was short today. After all, Felicity hadn't been the only one to wake up that morning and wonder where Morrigan's tent was. Felicity did not perhaps know the extent of Percival's relationship with Morrigan, but she knew something had been there. To have her abandon them the day of their big battle... it was no surprise he was so dour.
Such thoughts only led her to her own love life, however, so she steered clear of that and focused on business.
They had been watching from amongst the dwarves as the mages took the archdemon down. It had been their hope that it would fall out of the sky, landing in the palace district. There had been some concern that it would crush part of the army when it did. Instead, it had managed that last burst of flight to put it in a high, defensible position. Thus, they were climbing Fort Drakon to meet it.
They knew they were near the top when Hugo started growling. By the time they reached the heavy stone door, Hugo was barking in earnest. The rest of the Wardens opened the door in dead silence.
The top of Fort Drakon was a desolate world all its own. A cold, bitter wind whipped up from the city below, heavy with the scent of smoke and destruction. Still, it was dark, as their only light was the dull grey sky above.
The tower itself had seen better days. One quarter had been broken apart and tumbled by Kazar's blast, leaving a treacherous slope of broken stone. Four watchtowers stood at each corner of the platform. though two were showing signs of the battle with crumbling facades. A lone raven perched on top of one of the nearly-tumbled towers.
And there, thrashing its great scaled bulk against a third tower, was the archdemon. It flapped its wings in an attempt to get airborne, but the spines were torn straight through, and it only twisted and roared in frustration.
Felicity had to steady her racing heart. In theory, dragons were fascinating... but in practice, they were terrifying.
There was no signal. One moment they were standing at the center of the rooftop... the next, Percival had hefted his greatsword and burst into a charge, and the other three men followed only a couple paces behind him.
The dragon sensed their presence, turning to them with a roar that shook the tower-top. Felicity threw a spirit shield between it and Percy, just as the dragon released its breath attack. The burst of spirit magic split around it and the Wardens rushed between the split blast, unharmed.
The archdemon stood up to its full height, taking its head out of reach. Its tail thrashed, and its forearms braced against the stone. Percival lunged, bringing his sword across the creature's collarbone, and the dragon retaliated with a swipe of its front talon, sending Percy tumbling and skidding ten feet back.
Felicity immediately sent a healing spell in his direction. She had a shield ready and lyrium potions to spare. She had to keep them all alive.
As the dragon bent its head forward to snap at Percival, a streak of leather and blond hair slid underneath it's torso, slashing a line across its belly with his sword. The dragon kicked at Zevran, but the elf dodged nimbly away, and Finian could be seen darting under its sweeping tail to do the same to one of its ankles.
The archdemon turned on the two elves and released a blast of magic that sent them both flying. Felicity's heart skipped a beat as Finian rolled right to the edge of rooftop, bounced another foot... and slipped over.
"FINIAN!" multiple voices cried (possibly Felicity's own among them), and Percival lunged at the archdemon in full rage.
Zevran stumbled to his feet and ran toward where the other elf had disappeared, but the archdemon lumbered after him, snapping down at the assassin, and Zev had to hit the ground to avoid its jaws. Percival dug his sword into the dragon's flank, until its tail caught him and knocked him aside.
A moment later, Riordan was there, his bastard sword stabbing into the side of the archdemon's mouth. It screeched and jerked its head up, and Riordan went up with it. Riordan held tightly to his sword, lodged in the demon's jaw, as it bucked again.
It likely helped that Percival was repeatedly slamming his sword into the archdemon's shoulder and Hugo had his jaws firmly around one ankle. The dragon swiped at Percival with one talon, but the warrior only turned his sword and slashed the talon open even as it knocked him down again. Felicity was fast to heal him, though she still expected he'd ache in the morning from all these blows. Provided he survived.
Riordan's bucking sword finally slipped, and the older Warden somehow managed to time it so he was tossed back over the dragon's head, landing on the archdemon's shoulder. He brought his sword around and dug it into the monster's back. The archdemon bucked, slamming Riordan with one of its destroyed wings. Felicity healed the damage caused by the impact.
Felicity was afforded enough of a view of the battle to see Zevran pull Finian back up over the lip of the tower, and she sighed in relief. As if sensing it, the elven Warden flashed a shaky smile across the battlefield at her, and the pair moved around and came in at the archdemon from opposing sides.
The archdemon roared and spit spirit magic at them, knocking each of them aside after a few slices of their blades. Felicity kept a steady stream of healing, not daring to waste mana for so much as a spirit bolt. The archdemon would have reduced them all to swollen, bloody pulps without it. It was hard to say whether their steady attacks were doing much good against it.
Then, Hugo leapt up and latched onto the archdemon's throat and held on with the tenacity only a mabari could summon. The archdemon roared and surged upward, its massive wings flapping in a futile attempt to get airborne. Percival, Zevran, and Finian were all thrown clear by the force of it, and the dragon managed to rise a good fifteen in the air and launch forty feet across the tower-top. Hugo's grip failed, and he plunged from the apex of the leap, landing hard on the stone with a resounding crunch.
Riordan, however, was still on its back, and he lunged up and plunged his sword into the back of its neck. The dragon lurched to the side and slammed into one of the nearly-tumbled towers on top of Fort Drakon. The structure groaned and collapsed under the weight, and both dragon and Warden nearly went down with it as stones collapsed atop them, and the entire corner of the roof crumbled and tilted.
Except that the dragon slammed itself into the side of the tower with a screech, leaving Riordan dangling over the city, the only thing preventing his fall being his one remaining hand on his sword, which was in turn lodged between two of the dragon's scales. As Felicity watched in horror, the blade of the sword slipped out of the dragon, and it seemed for a moment that Riordan was suspended in the air.
Then, he fell.
The Wardens atop the tower all froze as the reality of that sank in, even as the archdemon clawed its way back to the tower-top. They'd just lost Riordan.
Percival and Finian shared a meaningful look, and Fin nodded once. Then, they charged, with Zevran sticking close to their heels. Felicity followed in their wake, stopping to kneel beside Hugo's crumpled form.
The dog had landed badly, shattering his shoulder against the stone. As Felicity knelt beside him and sent a surge of healing into him, he whimpered and tried to stand. Felicity laid a hand to the back of his head. "No, Hugo. Stay."
Hugo whimpered again, but laid back down and just breathed. He would probably live, but he would certainly be out for the rest of the fight.
Then Felicity stood and turned her attention back to the other three, immediately casting another heal as she noticed scratch marks across Percy's face and chest. She downed a lyrium potion quickly, and even that took long enough that Zevran got bitten in the side. She was tempted to call the assassin back to her—he was not a Warden so he did not need to be near it—but she doubted he'd comply if she did.
So she made do with healing fervently. Percival had mastered the art of staying in front and under it, even as it twisted around, and Finian had started climbing his way up the dragon's back, using his daggers as anchors. Zevran dodged around behind it, tearing open its flanks.
Finally, it appeared that the archdemon was weakening. It roared and spit, but its movements seemed to be slowing, and its own blackened blood coated its scales.
Then, Finian reached the juncture between the dragon's back and neck, and his offhand dagger suddenly emitted a pulse of light as he plunged it in.
The dragon screamed, throwing its head back to shriek to the sky. Fin shimmied another foot up its neck, and Zevran and Percy both plunged their swords into its underbelly.
The archdemon twisted and thrashed, its jaws closing around Zevran and throwing him across the rooftop directly at Felicity. Felicity emitted a telekinetic pulse as Zevran hit her to stop the momentum from sending them both off the tower altogether, and they both fell to the stone instead. The elf let out a groan.
Felicity could catalogue a number of bruises about her own person from the impact, but they were far too minor to warrant an extension of her dwindling pool of magic. She pushed up to her knees, sending out more healing as Percival shrugged off another slash of those claws and slammed his sword into its talons.
Finian crested to the dragon's head, bracing himself against its horns as the head tossed in an attempt to throw the elf off. Felicity healed his wrenched shoulder, then turned her attention to Zevran. The assassin was right beside her, trying with little success to climb to his feet. Judging by the way he clutched at his chest, he'd cracked a few ribs. She sent a pulse of healing through him and reached for her last lyrium potion.
His head snapped over to her. "Do not waste your magic on me!" he snapped, but successfully found his feet nonetheless.
In front of them, the dragon roared in pain, and the two turned in time to see Finian, clinging to the dragon's snout, plunging a dagger deep into the archdemon's eye. The dragon arched back and, as if in slow motion, Percival raised his greatsword for one final lunge, leaping and sliding under the dragon to rend its underbelly in half. The monster shrieked one last time, and Felicity was forced to look away as a light brighter than the Golden City itself erupted from the archdemon. Felicity fought to keep her feet under the concussive force of magic that tore out of the thing, whipping into them like a mighty wind for a few very long seconds.
Finally, the light and the magic died down, and already Felicity could feel the difference. The ever-present singing of her Tainted blood had stopped, and around and below her, she could feel the darkspawn's feral confusion, the horde cast adrift as its anchor disappeared.
The light died down, revealing the dragon's collapsed form, and two equally still smaller figures, one underneath the dragon's head and one on top.
"No..." Zevran choked, shoving to his feet. "No no nono, amor no te mueras!" The elf took off running toward them, and the raw panic in Zevran's voice made Felicity realize that Zevran knew. Finian had told Zevran. A violation of protocol, perhaps... but Felicity could not say that she wouldn't have done the same thing.
Zevran scrambled up the dragon's side toward Fin, so Felicity headed for the other Warden.
Percival had landed half under the dragon's throat, his armor partially crushed under the sheer weight. She knelt beside him, vaguely aware of the stream of panicked Antivan from above her.
She took a breath and sent a tendril of healing into Percival's body.
It took.
Her heart stuttered. The magic took, which meant Percival was still alive. She sent in more, focused on repairing the damage done by the dragon falling atop him.
Once she'd set things back in motion, and she'd confirmed that Percy was breathing, she glanced up sadly. Poor Zevran.
The Antivan was shaking, balancing precariously on the dragon as he bent over Finian. With shaking hands, he smoothed the hair back from Fin's face.
Then, Finian coughed.
Felicity froze, trying to make sense of that, even as Zevran let out a joyous, relieved laugh and hugged Fin to him. Finian twitched and mumbled something against the assassin's chest.
Felicity turned blankly to stare down at Percival, who was also stirring vaguely. But... that wasn't possible. Someone had to take the archdemon's soul... there had certainly been no darkspawn closer than these two.
"Oh, usted tonto, loco hermoso. I am going to kill you, for scaring me like that," Zevran mumbled, and Felicity could not understand it.
Underneath her, Percival's eyes fluttered open.
"Percival?" she tried, because he had a glazed, dazed look in his eyes. She couldn't detect any major head wounds. "Are you all right?"
Percy blinked, his eyes focusing on the distant silhouette of a black bird, flying away from the tower. "I almost didn't expect it to work."
"Pardon?"
His eyes turned up to meet hers and, for a moment, he looked about to say something. Then, he shook his head to himself and closed his eyes. "We won. Anything else is in the Maker's hands now."
Slowly, Felicity nodded, and stood up to let him have some rest. After taking down an archdemon, they certainly all deserved it.