Anders just after the midnight bell, he rose from his bed and pulled on his trousers. His hands were shaking, and his heart was racing. He can't be nervous, no when she's depending on him. He turned and grabbed his tunic and coat before heading out into the main room of the clinic. There came a knock on his door and he froze. He grabbed his staff from a nearby wall and slowly made his way to the door. The knocking came again. More insistant and Anders swallowed.
His hand reached for the door, but he jerked it back suddenly when the door clicked open and Hawke, Varric, Bethany and Fenris stood just on the other side of the door. Anders sighed heavily as they all stepped forward into the clinic. "Damn, Anders, you've looked better." Hawke chuckled with a smirk and clapped his hand on Ander's shoulder.
"Gee, thanks Hawke, you're so flattering." Anders replied sarcastically.
"Enough idle chatter, we're wasting time." Fenris grumbled, waiting at the door impatiently.
Hawke nodded and turned to Anders, "Aveline is standing guard just outside the tunnels, we don't have long." Anders nodded and they made their way out of the clinic and down to a hatch on the southern end of Darktown. He lifted the hatch and a stagnant, putrid smell wafted into their noses, making everyone cringe. Anders lowered himself down and was followed by the others, making their way towards the Gallows.
-ooo-
Jennifer sat in her cell. She had counted the stones by hand, paced and sang every song she knew by heart. Only when the Templars came did she will herself to remain stoic and defiant. The first visit was at Cullen's request, giving her food and drink and giving her an empty chamber pot. Eww… before leaving once again. The second visit was awful, they made a phylactery, from her understanding, it was a way to find where the mages were located, a way to always return them to the Circle, should they escape.
It was painful, they took a small blade and knicked the inside of her arm letting a little of her blood flow freely into a vial. The pain made her squirm as they coaxed enough blood from her body to fill the vial. They bandaged her arm and left her remaining in her cell.
The third and final visit was from an elder elf, he introduced himself as the First Enchanter Orsino. He was nice, and kind, his voice gentle and soothing. He healed her arm and then soothed her as she cried, until the Templars returned for him. He looked down upon her with pity before he walked through the door. After that, Jennifer sat in the corner of her cell and cried again. He said he didn't sense the fade. I shouldn't be a mage. What's happening?
By the time, she heard the tenth bell; there was silence through the hallway. Her eyes drooped but she dared not close them. She was frightened and apprehensive, and worse she felt… empty. The room was sealed with runes that kept her magic at bay and irretrievable. When it was half past the tenth bell, she heard the squeak of a door hinge and heavily clad footsteps, they stopped directly at her door and Jennifer could hear the jingle of a keyring. They door swung open and Alrik stood before her, glaring intently at her.
She instantly backed against the farthest wall. Alrik stepped into the room. He brought his first fingers to his forehead and mumbled something under his breath. A shockwave of power filled the room and Jennifer fell forward onto her hands and knees gasping for breath. She coughed and sputtered and looked at Alrik with fear in her eyes.
He smiled down at her and snapped his fingers, two Templars stepped into the cell. Brown-noser and someone Jennifer didn't recognize. They picked her up, not heeding her need to breath and dragged her from the cell. She couldn't fight, and whatever Alrik did to her made her feel weak. They through her into a room with a wooden table that had straps on either side, a side table with a some vials and a long metal rod, on the tip of the rod held a brand of a sun with twisting rays. Confused, she stared at the rod as they forced her down onto the table strapping her body down.
Alrik dumped the contents of a vial into a small bowl, murmuring along the way. In a brazier next to the door he placed the rod, brand-side down, into the burning coals. He added a few more ingredients to the bowl as well as retrieving a healing pot from his pocket.
Jennifer squirmed and turned in her restraints. Alrik smiled angrily and wickedly down at her. "A mage should know her place." He turned and retrieved the brand from the brazier and came back to her side, he dipped the red hot brand into the bowl, it sparked and sizzled within the contents and Jennifer hissed when some of the contents splashed onto her exposed arm. He then removed the brand and instead of it being red from the burning metal, it was a bright iridescent blue.
He placed the bowl back onto the side table and held the brand in both hands, poising the metal rod over Jennifer's forehead. He chanted as well as the two other Templars. The noise grating against Jennifer's hysteria she twisted beneath the restraints again and pleaded. "No. Please."
She turned her head from one side to the next before Brown-Noser held her head still and forced her to face the glowing blue brand. Their chanting flowed from their lips in a well practiced manner and when it reached it's peak Jennifer screamed in agony and writhed atop the table as Alrik pressed the brand firmly onto Jennifer's forhead. Her screams echoed through the halls and down the corridors as pain, color, and seemingly her very soul were ripped from her body and pulled out through the brand burned against her forehead.
-ooo-
Anders, Fenris and Hawke darted through the tunnels, urgent for every moment that passed. All of them fought desperately as they made their way through the underground caverns towards the Gallows. Aveline was waiting for them near the hatch she paced nervously, when Hawke walked towards her she stopped and watched them carefully, "Argam and his men are already inside, he said that you needed to meet him at the usual recovery point." She looked at Anders, "He also said you would know what that meant." She stepped aside and nodded with her head. "I didn't get clearance to be here tonight, so make it quick. Brennan is covering my patrol tonight."
Anders nodded and moved to the hatch, he waved his hand before the door and a symbol appeared before it, the lock clicked and Anders pushed the hatch open. "Thank you." Was all he said as he climbed the wooden trellis and out into the Gallows. The others followed and Varric looked around.
"It's awfully quiet here, Hawke. It's making Bianca's trigger a bit twitchy." Varric stroked the crossbow lovingly and Hawke nodded.
-ooo-
Jennifer gasped, tears stung her eyes at the pain radiating from her head down to her chest. Alrik was all that remained, he stood by her side and began pulling the straps from their buckles and releasing her from the table. Jennifer couldn't move, didn't want to move. She looked around, everything seemed duller than it was before. Hollow. Alrik grasped her arm and she staggered off the table. "You have been a bad mage, attacking Templars is a crime against the Chantry."
"It was not my intention to attack a Templar." Her voice sounded wrong. It sounded empty.
"I've made sure you will never attack another again." He hissed in her ear and opened the door to the cell. When he stepped out, something hit him hard in the chest and he fell back into the cell. A figure in blue, flew past her slamming the door shut as she hit the floor, her legs not wanting to support her. Something hard gripped her arm and lifted her. Then an arm came behind her knees and she was being carried quickly through the hallways.
She felt so very tired. And she rested her cheek against the chest of the one carrying her, in the distance she heard the clang of metal against metal, she sizzle of fire searing past her, the angered screams of people battling all around her. Everything was empty. So empty.
She did not mind the emptiness, it comforted her, just as the person holding her did. A safe cocoon around her body that blocked out everything harmful, everything wicked. Her eyes drifted shut, but the sounds remained. She was jostled from her sleep when she was set firmly to the ground, still supported with her arm around the person that had carried her.
She was then slowly lowered to a soft dirt laden ground that squished under her boots. She noticed the irritating feeling of some something sticky and tight caked on her face. When she moved to wipe it away, her fingers came back with flakes of dark red. She wiped her hands upon her trousers before removing more. "I have bled." She said, without inflection.
The figure beside her stilled, and he turned her towards him. "Anders." She stated simply.