Janeka appeared to have found an alternate path at last, and was leading the way, blasting through rubble-filled doorways with her staff. Fenris was content to hang back and keep a sharp eye on the mage and on Evelyn, who appeared less and less her usual decisive self the longer they stayed in this blighted hole. Varric walked at his side, both men for once of a common accord. Isabela and Bethany followed them, unusually quiet.
As they entered a large room, Fenris could see three stone golems arrayed in front of them. Golems, here? He had to admit, this was the most interesting surprise the tower had held for them so far. He started to speak up, to ask Hawke if they could pause for a moment to investigate these strange constructs, but before he could say anything, the bent, twisted figure of Larius emerged from the shadows behind one of the golems.
"No further!" he cried in his cracked voice.
"No further?" Janeka echoed, her voice cold enough to freeze the blood. "Do you really think you can stop me, old man? I have skills you never dreamed of possessing! I will reach Corypheus and harness his power no matter what obstacles you place in my path!"
Larius simply stared at her. "Your path ends here," he said flatly, and then he disappeared in the dark depths of the room as the golems began to move, the stones they were made up of rubbing together in a cacophony that had Fenris putting his hands over his ears.
"What are you waiting for?" Janeka snapped at all of them.
Isabela looked at her blades, Varric at Bianca's quarrels, then they both turned to Janeka and shrugged.
"Fine!" She whirled to the attack.
Fenris joined the pirate and the dwarf in the doorway, folding his arms firmly as he watched the mage's staff flash blue arcs of power at the golems.
"No glowy thing today?" Isabela asked.
"I lack motivation," Fenris said shortly. His eyes moved to the Hawke sisters—Bethany's staff was in motion as well, as Evelyn hacked and slashed at the golems with that unwieldy sword.
"Look on the bright side," Varric remarked, the corner of his mouth curling up a bit, "maybe it'll break and we can all leave Corypheus to Janeka and get out of here."
"Can't say I agree with you there, Varric." Isabela narrowed her eyes, watching as Bethany shot a spike of ice at a golem that sheared off its arm. "Mm. Impressive." She cleared her throat. "I'm not exactly all 'save the world' over here, but leaving this crazy mage in charge of some super-powerful darkspawn magic doesn't make me feel any safer … and it doesn't keep this darkspawn mage from sending more disturbed dwarves after Hawke. One is enough, after all." She winked at Varric.
"Much as I would like to follow your wise course, Varric, I believe I am of the same mind as Isabela." Fenris sighed heavily. "This is not a mage I would trust with a spare sovereign, much less with the type of power that seems to be at stake here."
"You two and your sodding nobility." Varric sighed as well, unslinging Bianca. "Might as well join in, then."
Fenris drew his blade. "I see little value in our assistance, but no doubt the others would appreciate the support."
"Fine, then." Isabela disappeared into the shadows, reappearing behind one of the golems in a surprisingly short amount of time. One of her daggers found a space between two of the rocks that formed the golem and wedged them apart, causing its arm to fall off.
Between them all, they managed to freeze and pound and sever and blast at the golems until they were nothing but piles of rocks. Janeka glanced at them contemptuously, and stepped over the rocks in front of the doorway. "Are you coming?" she asked. She gave a cursory backward glance at Hawke, completely ignoring the rest of them.
"Right with you." Hawke stowed the ugly sword in its sheath on her back and hurried to catch up with the mage, and Isabela went with her, matching Hawke stride for stride. Varric followed them, an uncharacteristic frown on his face. Bethany tugged at Fenris's arm to keep him lagging a bit behind with her. He glanced in surprise at her hand—to the best of his memory, Bethany had never willingly touched him before.
"Do you really love my sister?" she asked, keeping her voice as low as she could.
He was mildly affronted by the question, but it was not worth an argument. "I do."
"Would you kill her in order to keep her from being possessed by that thing?"
It was as if a shaft of ice had speared his stomach. He nearly fell over as all-too-vivid images of Hawke crazy from that sword's influence and himself having to thrust his hand inside her and squeeze her heart until it stopped played in his mind.
Bethany huffed in disgust. "Fine. I guess it would fall to me, then."
"No. If … if such a thing were ever to need done, I would do it." He couldn't bear the idea of anyone else being with her in her final moments, whenever and however those were to come. With some difficulty, he pulled himself together. "That day is not yet here, however."
"Not yet, but if this goes much farther … And who knows what this Corypheus wants. Look, Fenris, we've never gotten along."
"We have not," he agreed.
"But this is about Evelyn, and I want her and that sword far, far away from each other."
"As do I."
They were silent for a moment; the others had all drawn ahead and gone around a curve in the stairway. "You seem to make her happy," Bethany said abruptly.
"She would not have me if I did not," Fenris pointed out.
"No, I suppose that's true. She used to be with a lot of men who didn't make her happy … but none of them lasted very long. You—You've been all she could think of ever since she first saw you."
"That is gratifying." It was far more than that. It was intoxicating.
"I knew the moment she met you that you would change her life." Bethany's tone said she wasn't sure that change had been for the better. She sighed. "I wish I knew how she knew. You know, that you were … it."
"If I had the faintest idea, I would tell you."
"How did you know?"
Fenris frowned, not certain how to answer. Having Hawke's sister come to him looking for what appeared to be romantic advice was not something he had expected, and certainly not while they were still trapped in an underground tower searching for a deranged darkspawn mage.
"Well?"
He shrugged. "How could I not know? Your sister is … extraordinary. She draws people to her with her courage, her generosity, her undaunted spirit. It is my good fortune that she saw something in me that caused her to return my regard. Had she not done so, I would have continued merely admiring her from afar."
"And that would have been enough for you?"
"What more could I possibly have asked for? It was all that I felt I deserved. I still …" He stopped, uncomfortable with speaking so freely of his emotions with this woman who, Hawke's sister or no, he did not trust.
Bethany nodded. "I think I understand."
Fenris wondered if she truly did. Bethany appeared to have no ability to wait and determine what she truly wanted, leaping first after Anders and then after Orsino. It was no surprise that she should now be considering a similar leap after Isabela. What was not so expected was that Isabela seemed interested in the mage in return, and in more than a casual manner. Typically, Isabela's curiosity would have been sated by the first encounter, but that it had been followed up not just with further physical explorations but with protectiveness and companionship as well … was it possible the pirate was beginning to consider settling down, and with Hawke's sister?
That line of thought was abruptly derailed by the cheers of Isabela and Varric ahead, and Fenris hurried his steps to catch up with them. The cheers had faded by the time he and Bethany burst through the door, although he understood their point of origin. Filling his lungs with the clean, cool, fresh night air, he looked up at the stars with as much relief as Varric and Isabela must have felt. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Isabela and Bethany's hands meeting in a brief grasp. He could foresee nothing there but pain for the pirate, and possibly for the mage as well, but they were grown women. There was no need for him to interfere.
His eyes sought Hawke, concerned for her welfare given the dark influence of that sword. Varric was next to her as they topped a rise in the path. The dwarf stopped, staring at something ahead. Hawke kept going, not so much as if she didn't see what Varric saw; more as if it didn't register for her in the same manner. Fenris quickened his steps to catch up to the dwarf, and he, too, paused at the rise. Ahead of them lay a pavilion, surrounded so thickly with magical protections that one could see the glowing streams of the spells.
"Nice, isn't it?" Varric asked.
"You appear to be using a definition of that word I am not familiar with," Fenris said, staring at the structure. "What, precisely, is 'nice' about that?"
"Well, here I was, just wondering what someplace sinister and foreboding would look like, and here it is. Serendipitous, if you ask me."
"You are a strange, hairy little man."
"You wish you could grow hair like mine, elf." Varric moved forward, following Hawke and Janeka, and Fenris accompanied him.
As they approached the pavilion, four figures stepped out of the shadows, blocking the path. With some surprise, Fenris recognized Larius as the figure in front. His Grey Warden uniform seemed cleaner, less taint-spattered and rusted, and he stood much taller. There was an air of authority about him that hadn't been there before. When he spoke, his voice was clearer, his words more coherent. "You will go no farther, Janeka."
Appearing unimpressed by the alteration in the former Warden Commander, Janeka laughed. "You can't stop me, Larius." She looked past him at the other three Wardens. "They will see—the Wardens will all see—that I am right about this. With Corypheus's power, we can end the Blights forever!"
"But at what cost?" Fenris murmured. Hawke glanced at him, her blue eyes wide and worried and he held his hand out, hoping to reach her and bring her to see reason before it was too late.
Larius broke the moment, stepping toward Hawke and saying urgently, "Hawke! You must listen to me! Janeka is blinded to the truth. Corypheus is using her! He speaks to her through their shared taint."
"Don't you share that taint, too, little man?" Isabela asked. "What makes you immune to this Corypheus's influence?"
Ignoring the pirate, Larius continued, staring at Hawke. "You cannot allow this to continue!"
Hawke looked uncomfortable, her gaze darting between Larius and Janeka. "Larius has accused you of being Corypheus's dupe several times now, Janeka. Is it true? Do you hear his voice?"
There was a look in the mage's eyes that Fenris didn't like, a furtive, greedy look that she hid almost as soon as it had appeared on her face.
"Of course it isn't!" Janeka declared. She turned her eyes on Larius, scornfully. "This is a madman, his brain rotted by the taint and twisted by years in the Deep Roads. Look at him, Hawke. You'll see I am right."
Larius, eyes blazing, returned Janeka's sneer. "She should not wear the griffon—she is a traitor to the Wardens, seduced by the voice from the Fade." He moved toward Janeka, his hand going to the hilt of his sword. Behind him, the other three Wardens tensed, ready for action.
Hawke put herself between Larius and Janeka, the ugly sword glowing in her hands. "One more step and you're dead."
This farce would continue, then. Fenris felt bile rise in his throat at the sight of his Hawke defending a mad mage. It was clear there would be no further reasoning with her until they had rid the world of this Corypheus once and for all. Stifling a sigh, he stepped forward, next to his wife, and held up his own sword. She gave him a surprised and grateful glance. It was enough—for now.
Larius looked energized, his eyes lighting with battle lust. "Better to die than to live with Corypheus free. Wardens!"
And he charged, but even with the adrenaline in his system from the ongoing fight with Janeka, he was too feeble and tainted to stand for long against Hawke and Fenris together. Janeka, her eyes lit with as mad a light as Larius's had been, attacked her fellow Wardens, light flashing from her staff. Bethany moved to stand beside the other mage, adding her power to the fray. Isabela and Varric looked at each other and shrugged before bringing their own weapons to bear on the Wardens.
To no one's surprise, it was a very short fight. Larius gave a last groan as he sank to his knees, the light going out of his eyes.
"It is best this way," Janeka said. "For all of them. A Warden's end is harsh when it does not come in battle." She looked down at her fallen comrades not with pity, but with contempt. "They were fools to deny all that Corypheus can mean to us, and to all of Thedas. Come," she continued briskly, taking Hawke's arm and all but dragging her along. "Onward. Corypheus sleeps now, but not for long. The last of the prison's magic still holds him, but with the blood of the Hawke, we shall set him free."
"I really don't like this," Varric muttered.
Isabela stared moodily after the two women. "Who does?"
"So what do we do?" Bethany asked, looking anxiously around at all of them.
"We allow her to free this abomination," Fenris said, and when they all stared at him in shock, he gave an unpleasant smile. "Then we kill him."