Chapter 59: Objectives

The battle for Caer Bronach ended less than an hour after it had started; the Highwaymen were more than outnumbered. They were outclassed. The farmers and merchants that they had pillaging up to this point were nothing compared to hardened Inquisition soldiers. The securing of the fort took a little longer, some of the Highwaymen chose to barricade doors or set traps to slow the Inquisition's progress, but less than two hours later, the keep belonged to Ana and the Inquisition.

The first thing that Ana did was send runners back to Crestwood. The courtyard of Caer Bronach was now secured the people of the village would be safer behind the fort's high walls. As for the Highwaymen only seven of them remained. Charter, one of Leliana's elven agents promised to begin interrogations at once, to make sure the bandits had left no surprises that might hurt the Inquisition later.

Ana glanced up into the rainy sky, her eye going to the flag pole over the main keep, once it had been empty, but now the Inquisition flag flapped in the dreary breeze, a sign for better times she hoped.

She spent a good hour speaking to the arriving villagers. The Mayor seemed extremely nervous being here, though she could not imagine why. As for the people, they seemed happy to have something more than wooden barricades between them and the horde of undead that had been assaulting their little town since the rift in the lake first opened.

Ana did her best to assure them that they would not be here long, that soon they would all be able to return to their homes, once that rift was sealed, things should start getting back to normal.

At least, she hoped it would.

IOI

"An excellent prize, inquisitor," Charter said beaming, "and with such little cost to our side, if only all our victories could be this easy."

Ana was standing in front of a makeshift war table in one of the guardrooms near the main wall. It was late now, maybe only two or three hours before dawn. Most of the villagers were all bedded down for the night, being watched over by Inquisition soldiers manning the walls.

Ana frowned at the agent, she hated to be a downer here, but from everything that she had seen, it was clear that this was far from over.

She needed to make sure everyone was aware of that.

"We have achieved a mission objective, Charter," she said, "It is not a victory until that rift in the lake is sealed. Then…it will be a victory. Then all these poor people can home."

The elf bowed her head slightly. Down below them they could hear the sounds of the villagers getting settled in in the courtyard, for many tonight would likely be the first good night sleep they had seen in a long time, protected by good stone walls, and inquisition soldiers.

Charter frowned, realizing how insensitive she had been.

"Of course, Your Worship," she said to her leader, "my apologies."

Ana gave her a wan smile.

"No apologies necessary," she said, "It is late, and I'm a bit tired. It…it has been a long day. It has nothing to do with you."

The elf said nothing but seemed to accept her words.

She looked up at both Iron Bull and Corporal Vale; both had been trusted with securing their new fortress.

She was eager to hear how it was going.

"The boys and I got the gates good and barricaded again. Rocky even added a few surprises for any undead that make it up this way."

Iron Bull smirked, she had met Rocky. The dwarf was an excellent sapper. All you had to do was ask him to find that out. It was even rumored that he was developing his own version of Qunari black powder, or at least that is what he claimed when just sitting around the tavern.

Stitches, Skinner, Grim, Dalish, they seemed like a good crew. Ana had come to value Bull's presence at her side, but she was equally glad to have his soldiers backing up hers. When she needed something done right, she knew that she could count on Bull's people; even Cullen's officers respected them.

She was quickly starting to see the Chargers as the tip of the spear when it came to the Inquisition. If she needed something done loud, she could send Cullen's people, when she needed subtlety however. She had learned to send the Chargers.

"You will need to get the doors fixed of course," Bull continued, "but for now, no bandits or undead are getting in here."

"Good," She said with a nod.

She looked straight at Vale.

"Have we located the dam controls yet?"

"Not yet, Your Worship," the soldier replied, "We have been too busy helping getting the villagers settled in and dealing with the last pockets of resistance, lot of doors in this place, strong ones too, not to mention that the bandits here set up some very nasty traps before they fell."

The soldier shook his head.

"I assume we intend to hold this place? I would hate to have to wreck it after what we took to get it, and we were lucky to have done it with no deaths. I would prefer caution as we dealt with those, I would rather we did not lose anybody to something as petty as a defeated bandit's booby trap."

Ana licked her lips as she considered that.

She agreed with the corporal's take on the situation, but still, she knew they had to hurry. The traps had slowed everything down, she had hoped to have had the lake drained by now, but progress had slowed considerably since their initial victory.

Of course, there were other ways to find out what the Highwaymen had done here, easier ways.

"Speak with the surviving Highwaymen," she ordered, "Inform them that I'm willing to let them go provided they help us disarm the traps here. Make sure they understand that the Inquisition is not going anywhere. Their days of freely raiding the poor souls that live here are done."

Vale gave her a surprised look.

"They're criminals, Your Worship."

"Yes, they are."

"And you would still let them go?"

She shook her head.

"I might be wrong, but I'm guessing the people of Crestwood would prefer to have their home undead free, over getting the opportunity to hang a couple of stupid sods for thievery. Still…you make a good point; we should check with the village elders, if any of our prisoners are responsible for anything really bad, murder, rape, that kind of thing, then they should be turned over to the King's men to face justice."

"As you wish," Vale replied.

"Any not on that list, inform them that I am willing to let them go, or if they wish, they are welcome to stay here and sign up with us. We still need good fighting men and women."

Ana gave Bull a curious smile.

"I'm willing to bet more than a few of the chargers have a few black marks in their past."

"A few," the Qunari said with a shrug and a hint of a smile.

"Then, I hope you won't mind, evaluating our guests, see if we got people worthy of a second chance, or a troublemaker that needs to be moved as far away as possible."

Iron Bull chuckled.

"You're starting to sound Qunari, boss," he said warmly, "Salvaging what and who you can, when you can. Krem will be able to handle the prisoner evaluations; so far, it seems we got at least two who might be salvageable."

What makes you say that?" Vale inquired.

"They warned us about the giant spider living on the lower levels," Bull said lightly tapping the hilt of his weapon, "Big bastard too, white, mean, and hungry. It is also as big as one of those druffalo they have out in the Hinterlands. The Highwaymen used it to keep spies and enemy soldiers out of the lower levels."

Ana winced, she had faced giant spiders before, she wasn't scared of them, but that did not mean that they did not creep her out a little. Something about those dark doll-eyes of theirs, it gave her the shivers.

"I suppose it is a good thing we did not try to breach the lower levels first," she said, "A spider that size could have caused a great deal of confusion before it was stopped."

"No kidding," Bull said shaking his head, "According to the bandits, old Snowball is quite dangerous; they used to threaten to feed merchants they kidnapped to it.

Ana shuddered, but then she processed what the Qunari had said.

The Inquisitor frowned.

"Snowball?" she asked.

"That's what the bandit we caught told us it was called."

They…they named a giant spider, Snowball? Seriously?"

Bull laughed out loud.

"I'm guessing the Highwaymen's leader had a sense of humor, either that or a talent for coming up with weird fucking names for monsters."

Ana chuckled.

Snowball, she…that…that was just plain wrong!

It was like naming a dragon cuddle-muffin or something like that!

"Make sure the men know about "Snowball"" she told Vale, "I don't want to hear that any of our men got eaten by that thing. Bull, as for me, we're going to see if we can find the dam controls. The sooner we get old Crestwood drained out the better.

"Yes, Inquisitor," Vale said snapping to attention, "We will see it done immediately."

"And I'll have Krem talk to the prisoners some more," Bull offered, "He will make sure that those assholes did not leave any surprises on the way to the dam. The few talkative ones we have seem eager enough, maybe they are willing to earn a little more leniency before we go and cut them loose."

Ana nodded, both seemed like good ideas. She also thought it might be a good idea to talk to the mayor again, see if he knew anyone who might be able to fix the controls to the dam, he had said the darkspawn smashed those years ago, but, with a little luck, they might be repairable.

The Inquisitor sighed.

She had thought that Mayor Dedrick would be pleased that his people were safe here in Caer Bronach, but if anything he seemed more troubled than ever. He said it was just nerves, anger over all that his people had lost since the attack began, but that didn't feel right.

Perhaps he did not think that the Inquisition belonged in this place? They had come across more than a few Fereldans in their journey here who looked at the Inquisition as a foreign occupying force. They feared that the Inquisition was just an arm of the Orlesian Chantry, maybe even directly allied with the Empress herself to steal their homeland. Then there were the people who thought that the mages were controlling the Inquisition through blood magic. That she had become a pawn of the very people she was trying to save, it wasn't true of course, but that did not mean that the rumors were easily banished.

If that was the mayor's problem, taking Caer Bronach would not put his mind at ease. More and more she realized that she might have to set up talks between herself and King Alistair. The more powerful the Inquisition became, the more resistance they were likely going to find with the nobles of Ferelden and elsewhere.

She smiled slightly.

Plus, she would finally get a chance to speak with her childhood crush. Though she would have to try not to turn into a total giggling idiot around him, she did have a reputation to maintain now after all. Andreas would love to meet him, but since he was a hostage he would need to stay in Skyhold. Leliana and Alistair were old friends apparently, she would take her along as well, perhaps…perhaps she would bring the Grand Enchanter along as well, let the two of them mend fences.

Fiona had said little about the king since she had mentioned him back before that business outside the Winter Palace; maybe it would be good to get the two of them talking. It could not hurt after all.

She and Bull went looking for Solas and Sera. If there were any surprises waiting at the dam, she at least wanted to have her inner circle around her. She was unable to find Solas, but Fiona had been just finishing tending to an injured villager when they crossed paths. The mage seemed more than willing to aid them, despite the lateness of the hour.

Krem, who had returned from speaking with the prisoners, showed them the way out of the fort, and onto the dam. According to the surviving Highwaymen, there were no traps on the path, or in the old tavern that linked to the dam controls, Old Crestwood was already flooded after all, they had no reason to mess with the dam.

There was no profit in it, the prisoners had said.

Thank the Maker for that, Ana thought.

The dam would have made an excellent threat for ransom, the people pay, or their home gets flooded.

She imagined what it would have felt like, standing in the village watching a wall of water approaching, all the while knowing that there was no escape, knowing that you were about to be swept away to your death and been powerless to stop it.

The very thought made her shiver.

She wasn't afraid to fight, but being swept away drowned and left to rot on the bottom of a lake.

She found the thought terrifying, simply…terrifying.

IOI

Ana and Bull led from the front as they made their way across the dam. Sera griped about not getting any sleep, but said nothing more when Fiona pinned her with that silent, motherly glare of hers.

The old abandoned tavern up ahead was little more than a ruin now. The bandits had long ago pillaged all the ale and spirits from its cellars. Yet, she did notice that there was still light in the windows.

Ana felt herself settling into a fighting crouch, almost smelling a trap.

She tried the door, the handle turned easily in her hand. She flung it open and stepped back.

No enemies emerged...

The Inquisitor frowned.

They could see that someone had lit the fire inside, and she thought she could hear voices, voices…and giggling.

What was this now?

They slipped quietly inside, weapons ready, fully expecting an ambush at any time.

They charged into the room.

"Eek!"

Ana froze, a dark blush exploded on her face.

Bull snorted in amusement.

Sera giggled.

Fiona shook her head, and rolled her eyes.

"Maker's breath, children," she gasped, "Put some damn clothes on!"

The mention of damn clothes made Ana giggle hysterically, she did not know why.

They had found their suspected ambushers. It was just a teenage couple from Crestwood; Ana thought she even recognized the girl from when they first went to speak with mayor.

They had been curled up next to the taverns old hearth, wrapped in thick fur blanket.

The two had been making love, now they were questing desperately for their clothes. Sera taunted the boy with his breeches, but Ana made her turn them over.

"You're no fun, Inquisitor," the elven archer pouted, we should send these two back to the fort in their small clothes, that would get everyone's attention! It would be great!"

Ana, who was feeling merciful, had not agreed; these poor kids weren't a threat to her.

It would have been funny, but that was about it.

She ended up promising Sera that they would find some really worthy of her attention. That it would be a waste to torment these poor kids whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Fortunately the elf agreed.

Both of teens begged her not to tell the girl's parents, the father apparently did not approve of the boy, and the two of them had thought that the Inquisition had only been interested in the fortress, they had not known they would come here.

Ana, who was only a few years older than the two, promised to keep their secret, she left the two to their embarrassment and mortification, though it sounded like they might already be planning where they would go for their next tryst.

"We could try the caves outside of town," the boy suggested.

"But you hate spiders," the girl reminded him.

Ana again had to suppress and urge to giggle.

It was a good thing the two had not tried the lower levels of Caer Bronach.

Snowball would have absolutely loved them!

The wheel that controlled the dam was not hard to find, the door was clearly marked, with the key hanging on hook beside it.

They entered, and were more than a little surprised.

The dam controls were intact. In fact the room looked untouched, like no one had set foot here in ages.

Ana frowned.

"I thought Mayor Dedrick said the darkspawn destroyed these controls?" she murmured.

"I heard that too," Bull said, "Perhaps we should ask him about this when we get back to the fort?"

Ana's eyes narrowed.

She felt that twinge in her stomach, the one she got when things were not quite what they seemed. She had had that funny feeling since the first time she had met the mayor when they had first arrived in Crestwood.

The Inquisitor's frown deepened.

It seemed that they had walked into a little mystery here.

It would be interesting to find the answers.