Chapter 66: Broken Promise

Caer Oswin was not the most unpleasant place Ana had ever been, but it definitely came close. The old fortress was in poor repair; clearly Bann Loren had not seen the value of keeping up his holdings, if he was even still alive. Now that they were inside it not hard to imagine that the lord of this place was dead.

Caer Oswin did not feel like a place that was lived in, it might have been a home once, but that was a long time ago.

Darker things had likely taken up residence.

There was a sense of…foreboding here, the rooms were dark; blackness seemed to cover everything like heavy cloth. The few torches that did burn here did little to push back the gloom, if anything it made the various shadows seem darker.

The Inquisitor grimaced.

What would have made the Seekers of Truth want to come to such a place? Even if they had joined the rest of the Templars on the road to being Corypheus' slaves, this place hardly seemed like a place to gather power.

It felt more like a crypt.

It felt like a place that someone went to die.

They entered with their weapons drawn, even Cassandra seemed on edge. It was like staring into a black pit, a pit that you know was occupied by something foul.

You knew that that something was watching you, and all you could do was wait, wait for it to make the next move.

It was not a pleasant experience to be sure.

In front of them a shadow moved. The group all tensed as they readied themselves for battle. It the dim light they could just make out the shape of a man wearing black armor.

Ana's fingers tightened around the hilt of her sword.

It seems that they had found the Seekers.

Cassandra did not sheath her weapons, but she did lower them slightly.

"Brother?" she called out.

The man turned.

"INTRUDERS," he shrieked drawing his blade.

"SLAY THEM ALL!"

"So much for talking," she heard Bull growl behind her. The Qunari let out a fearsome roar and charged, his head lowering slightly as looked to trample the man.

Ana was at his side, shielding him on the side that he could not see because of his eye patch. It was a maneuver they had used more than once over the last few months.

Again it proved wise.

A pair of archers opened up from a nearby doorway, while several more black clad warriors flooded into the room. Ana kept the archers at bay, while Bull charged into the thickest of the fighting. Solas' magic dark the dark room bright as day, fireballs lanced out towards the attacking seekers. While Sera kept back peppering them with arrows.

Cassandra battled two of her former compatriots. The first she cut down after the first block, the second tried to back pedal and was caught with a very basic feint.

Ana blinked, she had figured a seeker would not fall to so basic of a move, they were said to have been culled from the best of the Templar order.

Cassandra would not have fallen so easily.

She had no further chance to question what was happening. Two more armored warriors fell upon her. She blocked with her shield and thrusted forward with were flickering longsword.

She had spared with Cassandra and Cullen many times in the last few months. She had trained to fight and kill rogue Templars and the red Templars that had replaced what was left of the order. Compared to those sparing matches the threat she faced now was almost laughable.

What in Andraste's name was going on?

Even if these men were raw recruits they should not have fallen anywhere near so easily. She could see that they had some Templar and seeker training. They knew the basic moves but little else.

Plus there was the matter of Solas, he was devastating these "seekers" with his magic, not a one had tried to use their abilities to deflect his spells or drain his mana.

By the time that Ana had cut down her third opponent she had come to an epiphany.

These men might be wearing the armor, but it was clear that they were not really seekers.

This was either a badly constructed trap, or a fraud.

She set her mouth in a grim line.

Now they had to find out which.

Bull ended one of the archer's lives with a single swing of his ax. Cassandra finished off the other when he tried to run.

Her mentor shook her head. She stalked over to one of the dead men in black. She flipped the body over with her toe.

The man wore seeker armor, but the heraldry was clearly not of the Seekers of Truth. The inquisitor did not recognize it.

Cassandra, however, did.

The Seeker snorted with distaste.

"Promisers," she spat the name like it was some foul curse word.

She shook her head in disgust.

"I should have known."

IOI

Ana looked at her mentor, a look of concern on her face, that look did not surprise her.

It was rare that Cassandra let her true feelings shine through, but this was different. The promisers however had more than earned her ire over the years.

"What is a Promiser," The Inquisitor asked.

The warrior woman sighed.

That was the question wasn't it?

Iron Bull kept watch while Cassandra told Ana the…history between the Seekers of Truth and the Order of Fiery Promise.

For the Seeker it was not a pleasant tale.

"The Order of Fiery Promise thinks that they are Seekers, Ana," she began, "They think of themselves as the true Seekers, and we, who served the chantry, merely pretenders."

The older woman shook her head.

"They are obsessed with us. They claim we stole their powers, and that we block them from carrying out the will of the Maker, as if the Maker would endorse their mad dreams."

"And what mad dreams might those be?" Ana asked.

Cassandra growled when she saw a Promiser banner staked to the far wall, she ripped it down and tossed it into the nearest fire started by Solas.

If only it was as easy to destroy the order as it was to burn this banner, alas that was not the case.

The Promisers came back; they always came back, spreading their mad gospel.

It was frustrating.

She turned to face Ana, her eyes cold and furious.

"The Promisers believe that the only way to save our world is to end it," she said, "They believe that the world should be consumed by flame, only then will the Maker remake it as a paradise."

Bull snorted at that.

"So they are a cult?" he said, "A doomsday cult?"

Cassandra nodded.

The Qunari smirked.

"Least we know that we are not fighting Seekers," he chuckled, "A shame, I would have preferred a fair fight."

Cassandra glared at him, but said nothing else.

Sera walked over to a dead promiser and retrieved one of her arrows.

She frowned down at the man's corpse.

"What a load of dog shite," she said, "How will ending the world make everything better? It is not like anyone will be alive to enjoy it."

"Such groups spring up in difficult times, Sera," Solas said sagely, "The breach, the coming of Corypheus, many no doubt think that these are the end times."

The elven apostate shook his head.

"I have seen many such cults during my exploration of the fade. People trying to make sense of what is going on around them."

"They want to kill everybody!" Sera growled, "How is that making sense of anything?!"

"It isn't," Cassandra agreed, "Though I don't see how Corypheus figures into all of this."

The Seeker shook her head.

"The Promisers have an interest in the Seekers, but I do not see how or why they would serve the red Templars?"

Ana wiped off her blade on one of the promiser's cloaks. Her expression was grim.

"There is only one way to find out I suppose," she said, "We search this place from top to bottom, if any Seekers are here, we will find them, and then we will have our answers."

Cassandra nodded.

Yes, they would have their answers, and the promisers would find out what it meant to tangle with the Inquisition.

Many times over the years the Seekers had tried to exterminate the Order of Fiery Promise, but they always came back, like weeds, or vermin.

It was hard to kill and ideal and the promisers' ideals were strong.

Cassandra drew her sword.

She would find out what was going on here.

She would have her answers, and the promisers would be destroyed again, hopefully, forever.

If the Maker willed it so, his will be done.

His will be done.

IOI

The purge of Caer Oswin was not as hard as one might have expected.

The Promiser warriors were poorly trained; perhaps they believed that their faith shielded them. Few among the cultists showed any true military skill, and the few that did were likely rebel Templars who had taken up with the Promisers when they refused to go to Theirin Fall Redoubt.

Still it did not make the work any less bloody.

Ana was disgusted as the promisers continued to throw themselves against her and her allies. She and Cassandra dealt with skilled warriors among the promisers while Bull, Sera, and Solas worked crowd control.

Slowly they began to put together what had been happening here in Caer Oswin.

It was not a pretty picture.

They had found the bodies of several Seekers; all showed evidence of having been tortured. The sight only seemed to fuel Cassandra's rage against the cultists. She might have left the Seekers, but part of her still considered herself one of them, part of their family.

Seeing so many of her brothers dead was clearly affecting her.

Her fury made her lethal, but it also made her reckless, twice already Ana had to step in and protect her from enemies that she had not seen because she was so lost in her rage.

The Inquisitor shook her head.

She could not say that she completely understood what her mentor was going through, but that did not mean that she did not care.

She had come to not only respect Cassandra Pentaghast, but to love her as well. She was not just a friend. She was a teacher, a leader, the closest thing to family that Ana had in Skyhold, at least until her own family had arrived.

The Inquisitor shook her head. She hated this, seeing Cassandra torn apart like this hurt.

And still the Promisers attacked them, further fueling the Seeker's anger.

The group fought its way into the Caer's courtyard, more Promiser knights awaited, them promisers and several Red Templars.

Cassandra roared when she saw Corypheus' pets. It was a roar that likely would have even given Iron Bull pause.

She charged the monsters, even as they drew own weapons.

Ana glared at them, in her fury Cassandra would be easy prey.

She would not let that happen.

"Solas," she whispered.

Her friend nodded.

The elven apostate cast. A wave of cold washed over the red Templars before they had a chance to use their own abilities, the spell turned them into icy statues.

Cassandra crashed through them like a battering ram.

She spun glaring at Ana for denying her, for keeping her away from her prey.

Ana glared right back.

"Focus, Cassandra," she shouted, "Don't let your temper run away with you!"

The Seeker blinked. It was the tone that made her listen. It was a tone she had not heard in years.

The same tone that Byron had used when she was a girl, it worked now, just as it worked then.

Cassandra blinked the red haze fading from her vision.

She…Oh Maker!

Another promiser charged her; she met his blade with hers and quickly struck him down.

The battle continued for a few more minutes, once again the poor training of the promisers meant that things ended quickly.

When it was over, they searched the bodies. One of the cultists had a letter on him.

The act of reading made the bile rise in Ana's throat.

It was from General Samson, Commander of the Red Templars, it seemed that Corypheus had had somehow lured the seekers into the hands of the Promisers. The letter said that they were immune to the effects of Red Lyrium and that they needed to be…cared for. The Elder One trusted that the Promisers would tend to Seekers as they needed to be.

Cassandra snarled when she finished reading it, she tossed it on the ground in impotent rage.

"Does Corypheus not realize that the Promisers seek to end the world?! Why would he even consider allying with them?"

""He was likely planning to betray them before they became too powerful," the Inquisitor said, and then another thought occurred to her, one she did not like thinking about.

"It is also possible that he might have slipped Leliana's agents the location of this place."

Cassandra looked aghast.

"How could you even think that?"

Ana shrugged.

"It makes a sick kind of sense," she said, "He uses the Promisers to deal with the Seekers, and then he lets us deal with the Promisers. It costs him nothing and we get to see what his schemes did to one of the most powerful military forces in Thedas. If any of us get killed here, we are weakened while his forces remain strong. It would be a win-win situation for the Elder One."

Bull snorted at what she said.

"Let's hope that Corypheus is not as smart as you think he is Boss."

She gave him a wan smile.

"We can all hope, Bull."

Cassandra shook her head.

"The Promisers could not have killed all of us. Lord Seeker Lucius would not have fallen so easily, the senior knights would not have fallen so easily."

She stalked through the courtyard, hunting more promisers, eager to avenge those who had already died.

She clung to the hope that she could save at least someone today.

"They could not have killed all of us," she repeated.

"I don't believe it."

Ana and the others followed after her, hoping she was right.

Unfortunately hope and belief were sometimes not enough.

Sometimes you could not save everyone.

Sometimes the battle was lost before it had even begun.

Cassandra Pentaghast refused to believe that.

She couldn't.

All she could do was hope…

…and pray.