Shadow and Rose

by Lady Norbert

A/N: Many apologies for the delay in posting! It's all downhill from here, though, so quite possibly I'll finish in the next few days. Such is my hope, anyway. If you wondered about the chapter title, the Dawn Ring is given to the Warden by Shianni during the Battle of Denerim, as thanks for saving the alienage elves.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Dawn Ring

Carved from a single, perfect topaz, this ring is the color of honey, and is warm, as if it has been left in the sun. When equipped in a set with the ring named Dusk, the character gains a bonus to armor.

It's been several days, but I'm finally able to pick up this book again. So! I guess the first thing you can assume from that fact is that I'm still alive. Good to know, right?

We had to march double time to Denerim, and frankly, I think everyone was exhausted before we ever got here. But when we got close to the city, and we could see the sky blazing red from the flare of all the buildings that had been put to the torch... well, it just got everyone's blood pumping and no one thought of their own need for rest anymore. We had to save whoever we could. Since it's kind of a tradition for Fereldan monarchs to stir the troops before a battle, though, I got up on a big rock and addressed everybody. Like Eamon said, we had gathered an army to replace the one we lost at Ostagar, and we just had to hope that it would be enough.

I hope someone else remembers what I said, because to be honest, I'm a little fuzzy on the details. I'm not used to making speeches. After the first couple lines, I had Elissa come up beside me and showed her off to the people as an example of how anyone can rise from being just a single person to being someone great. Then I said something about avenging the deaths of Cailan and the Grey Wardens, and the next thing I knew, everyone was running into the city and throwing themselves at the darkspawn. It was kind of terrifying and thrilling at the same time.

There was a lot of blood. A lot of screaming. A lot of fire. I'll remember those things in my dreams for years to come.

But there was a lot of hope, too. Humans and elves and dwarves, all fighting together as one army for probably the first time since the Fourth Blight. Plus a Qunari, probably for the first time ever. That's really something if you think about it. I'm not sure what, exactly, but it's definitely something. And I can only think of one person who could have ever brought it to be. (Not me, that's for sure.)

So we made our way through Denerim to the market district, which is where Riordan found us. I remember this part very clearly for some reason; it kind of felt almost like time slowed down long enough for this to happen. He gave us the very good news that we were making better progress than he could have anticipated, all things considered. Part of this, we later learned, is because Eamon's runners did actually make it to the city ahead of the horde - not by much, the people had maybe an hour's warning, but a lot of the common folk were able to escape into the countryside. Still others, we would find, had managed to barricade themselves inside some of the buildings; the Chantry, for instance, somehow came through the whole thing in halfway decent shape, and those who sheltered inside were spared. Maybe it was the Maker. I can't find a better explanation, that's for sure.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. After Riordan spoke to us about the dent we were making in the horde, he said that the Archdemon was circling around Fort Drakon, and that was where he intended to bring it down. He had made us promise that we would let him take the fatal blow, if circumstances didn't prevent it, and we were oathbound to hope that Morrigan's ritual (which even now is known only to her, me, and Elissa) would succeed and spare him. He needed us, meanwhile, to move through the city and secure certain key points which were being attacked by the Archdemon's two main generals. But he didn't want all of us to go. Since our ragtag bunch of misfits has more experience fighting darkspawn than anyone else in the entire country, he wanted a chunk of our group to remain at the city gate to cut off possible reinforcements.

"Now... who do you wish to take with you into the city?"

Up to this point, I don't think it had quite occurred to Elissa that we would not all go together. I know it hadn't crossed my mind. "Alistair," she said finally. "Wynne. And Shale."

"The rest of you will need to stay here at the gates of Denerim, to keep additional darkspawn forces from entering behind us," Riordan said. "Who will lead the forces here?"

"Morrigan - you have been at my side for a long time," she said. "Will you do it?"

"As you wish."

Riordan nodded. "Very good, that should be sufficient. Nothing you have done has prepared you for what you will face now. Maker watch over us all, my friends. I will leave you to say your farewells."

With Riordan gone, Elissa turned to the entire group. "I am... honestly not very good at speeches, if you haven't noticed," she said in a thick voice. "So I will say this quickly, to everyone together, and then I would say a few words to each of you before I go. You have been the best friends and the fiercest allies I could have ever imagined, and I am grateful to each of you for all that you've done in the last year." She blinked quickly. "I love all of you. All right, then, say what you must to one another - and then we need to go, before the fighting leaves us too far behind."

Everyone, it seemed, had a few last words to exchange with each other. While Elissa was busy with hers, I turned to Sten. "We've come a long way together," I said. "You're one of the finest warriors I've ever met. I'm glad you joined us."

"As am I... I think," he replied. "You have the makings of a good ruler. I expect you to nurture that seed and help it to grow, when this is all over."

"Indeed," said Zevran, stepping to my side. "We did not begin well, friend Alistair, and for that I am - I always will be - sorry. But you gave me a chance, and I am grateful."

"You're a pretty decent guy, you know," I told him. "Deep down. Under the tattoos."

"Well, don't say it too loudly. I do have a reputation to uphold."

"What's with all the mush?" Oghren grumbled. He sort of glared at me, then offered a hand to shake. "The drinks are on you when the fighting's done, I hope."

"Sure, why not?"

"Good. Keep an eye on Queenie there, since I can't." I had to smile, remembering what he told me about thinking of Elissa almost like his daughter.

"It will try to get through the upcoming battle without too much whining or bad humor, I hope?" asked Shale.

"Be careful, Alistair," said Leliana, coming over to me. "This is the first time I've ever been invited to a royal wedding and I would hate to miss it." Her expression was mischievous, and only a little sad.

Toby butted his head against my thigh, and gave a bark. I knelt down and scratched his ear. "Don't you worry, boy," I told him. "I'll take care of her. I promise."

"You had better," drawled Morrigan's voice, and I looked up. There was an expression on her face not too far removed from the one she had worn during our conversation at Redcliffe Castle, when she had asked for my advice. "We will not meet again, you and I," she added in a tone that was for my ears only. "I expect you to do your best to at least try to be worthy of my only friend."

"Look after yourself... and the... you know." It was the only thing I could think to say.

"This won't be anything close to easy," said Wynne with a sigh, when I approached her. "But I'm glad that I'll be accompanying you two to the end." She patted my cheek. "You really are like a son to me, Alistair. I'm so proud of the man you've become." I couldn't speak - my throat constricted when she said that - so I just took her hand and kissed it.

Finally, Elissa concluded her goodbyes and returned to my side. We looked at each other for a long moment. "This is it," I said. "Soon this will all be decided... one way or another."

Her big blue eyes glittered for an instant. "I love you, Alistair."

"And I love you. Always."

Had to leave off there. This king business is already getting a bit tiresome. Every time I'm out of sight for more than thirty seconds, someone comes looking for me. They say they need my permission for things, but I think they're really just making sure I haven't slipped out the back and escaped.

Anyway, I should be safe for a little while, so let's get moving. We left the others at the gate, hoping they'd still be in one piece when we came back, and made our way to the alienage to take care of one of the generals. I don't know about Elissa, but I felt pretty sick seeing what had happened there. The elves there really aren't very well equipped for fighting, and Shianni came running as soon as she recognized us, pleading for aid.

"We'll take care of the darkspawn," Elissa told her. "Just get your people to safety." We had the backing of a contingent of the Dalish elves, a couple of mages, and some of Eamon's men, so we were certainly better equipped to handle the situation. I'm not sure exactly where Shianni took the city elves, to be honest, but I saw a number of them later so she must have found some escape route. Before she left, she gave Elissa a ring of some sort, for luck I guess.

Again, a lot of what happened next is a huge blur, but as we neared Fort Drakon to go to Riordan's aid, we discovered that we were too late. His broken body lay on the ground outside the building; he clearly fell from a tremendous height. We looked up and saw a lashing tail. "He's downed the beast," Wynne remarked, stooping and closing Riordan's eyes for him. "It's trapped on the roof of the tower. We must get up there, and soon, before it finds some means to heal itself."

Of course it wasn't that simple. Darkspawn had completely overtaken the fort, and I didn't want to think about what had become of any prisoners who had been held inside. Anora was in the tower of the castle, rather than Fort Drakon, and I was really glad I'd done that because the country was in a lot of trouble if she and I were both killed by darkspawn.

Finally we got to the second-highest level, to the area which led to the roof. We were very wary at this point, because I figured there must have been a good dozen or more darkspawn waiting to prevent us from reaching their boss. We froze in our tracks, just taking in the sheer carnage. I counted at least ten regular darkspawn, plus an ogre. All dead. And right in the middle of it all...

"Sandal?"

"Hello," he replied, smiling vaguely.

Wynne and Elissa immediately moved to check him over. "What are you doing here? Are you all right? Are you hurt at all?"

"I thought you sent him to Soldier's Peak with his father," I said.

"I did," Elissa said, peering into his face. "Sandal, what happened here?"

"Enchantment." He shrugged.

We all just sort of looked at each other. What could we say to that, really? "Well, you don't seem to be hurt," Elissa said finally. "Just... just stay here, okay? We'll come back for you soon."

I still to this day have no idea how in the Maker's name he got there, but there wasn't anything we could do about it at the moment. The Archdemon was waiting for us, and out we went onto the roof.

There he was, big as life and twice as ugly. Several of Eamon's best soldiers followed us, and a handful of the dwarves too, which was good because there were a lot of regular darkspawn up there trying to defend the bleeding thing. It could still fly, a little, but in a very limited capacity; mostly it just sort of flopped from one portion of the roof to another. There were ballistae up there, and I could see in Elissa's face she was calculating.

"Alistair - you take this one, I'll take that one," she said. "Keep firing on the Archdemon. We've got to weaken it as much as possible so it stops moving and one of us can take the final blow. Wynne, stay with our king and keep his health up. Shale, you protect Wynne."

"What about you?!"

"Never mind that! We don't have time!" And off she ran to the second ballista. Stubborn woman. I almost followed her, but she has the annoying habit of being right about these things, so I turned my attention to my weapon instead.

I couldn't afford the luxury of thinking. If I stopped to think, I'd stop, period. We had to keep whittling away at the Archdemon's health, had to keep realigning the ballistae every time it changed position, had to not notice the screams whenever one of our allies lost their fight. I really don't know how long we were up there - somewhere between five minutes and half of eternity, I guess.

What I do remember is the end of the fight.