Author's Note: Thanks to all of you reviewing and following!
Chapter 29 - A Child Gone Mad
They moved through the castle with relative ease, cutting down corpses as a unit. Jowan, true to his word, stood near Morrigan at the back of the group and chanted, allowing the main fighters, Sten and Alistair, to clear the way for the rest. The corpses, which were really more skeletons now than recognizable as people, came at them in nearly every room they passed through.
They soon reached a large dining hall, where a new type of foe surrounded them.
"Demons!" Morrigan hissed, swinging her staff in a wide arc. Ice shot out the end, coating the fiery wraiths with frost. Serena watched in horror as they continued towards their group, their progress only hindered somewhat by the witch's spell.
"They are susceptible to cold!" Jowan shouted over their angry wailing and growling. He ran to the far end of the room where no demons stood and began chanting. Immediately Serena felt her daggers go cold in her hand and she rushed the nearest shade, stabbing deep into what she could only hope was its head. The demon screamed and grabbed at her as it dissolved into a flaming puddle at her feet.
"Maker's breath!" Serena cried, stumbling backwards in surprise. "It melted!" Jowan rushed to her side, helping her up. Around her, the others took down the other shades, knocking them to the ground with their icy weapons.
"It's a spell to enchant weapons with cold," the dark haired mage explained. "I ran into one of them in my Harrowing... they're called rage demons... I enchanted my staff with cold and beat it to death in the Fade."
Serena stared at the mage, her eyes wide. "I... wow. Okay." She sheathed her daggers at her belt and put her hands on her knees. "I am not sure I was exactly prepared for that."
"Serena, are you all right?" Alistair came up to her, putting a hand on her back as she leaned over.
"I just feel... weak, all of a sudden..." Serena coughed, her breathing coming in rasps. "Do... any of you feel it? I mean... usually there's the... headaches...but... oh..." She swayed on her feet and Alistair moved quickly to steady her.
"They can cast," Jowan said quietly. "Not the way we can, but they have spells and things. You were... very close to them." He turned to Alistair, his eyes nervous. "You... used to be a templar, right? You can..."
"Right, right! I should have..." Alistair performed a complicated series of motions and a rush of air expelled from him in every direction. "I probably should have mentioned that, actually."
Serena leaned against the wall, her body suddenly responding to her again. "What do you mean? What did you just do?"
"I can dispel magical effects. I mean, not as well as a full templar can, or as often...since I don't take lyrium..." Alistair shrugged. "But it's part of the training. It's how we... combat mages, mostly. They can't fight back if they can't cast spells."
"And your swords, don't forget those," Jowan added.
Serena grinned at Alistair, pushing herself off the wall. "You have magical swords, too?"
"No, they're just very sharp and pointy," Jowan said, smiling for the first time. Serena rolled her eyes at the mage, shaking her head.
She found herself surprised that the effects of the demon's spell were completely gone. She would have to remember Alistair could do that. "I guess we should-"
"There are more out in the hallway," Sten called loudly from the back door of the dining hall. Beside him, Peanut howled, long and low.
"...Kill those things, too," Serena finished, pulling her daggers again and sprinting to follow the qunari into the hallway. Armored corpses rushed at them from the open doorways, brandishing rusted weapons not unlike the darkspawn as Serena's group filled the hall to meet them.
Together, they were like a whirlwind of blades- Sten's great sword sliced through the ghouls coming in from one side while Serena ripped through the rest on the other. Alistair ran out a side door and corralled the rest of the dead into a funnel with his shield, while Leliana joined her in cutting them down one by one. Morrigan assisted Sten from the doorway, freezing more ghouls with an icy spell, and before long, an eerie quiet overtook the hall once again.
"Well, that was exciting," Alistair said, looking down at the skeletal hand inching it's way towards his leg. He scowled, crunching the bones beneath his boot. "These things just don't know when to give up."
"I think even if I'd wanted to, I couldn't summon anything like this," Jowan murmured, staring at the corpse parts all over the floor. "Not that I'd want to, of course!"
"Of course," Serena agreed. She headed down the hallway, stepping lightly over the rapidly decaying bodies. "You'd only summon the nice ghoulies, hmm? Maybe a Spirit of Common Sense? We could actually use one of those."
Serena popped her head in the doors the dead had come out of, looking around. All of them were wrecked, but empty, until she reached the end of the hall. Pulling out her hairpin, she knelt and picked the lock, pushing the door in.
Inside, a young woman screamed at her, falling back into a stack of crates. "Please! Don't hurt me!"
"I wasn't going to!" Serena held up her hands, showing she was unarmed. Alistair peeked his head in the door and she screamed again, the shrill sound making Serena's ears hurt. "Please, calm down. We're not going to hurt you!"
Alistair exchanged worried glances with Serena. "Sweet Maker, she has a set of lungs on her, doesn't she?"
The blonde picked herself up, her eyes wide and frightened. "I'm... I'm sorry! I just..." She took in Serena and Alistair, her hands clutching one of the crates tightly. "Those monsters are everywhere!"
"Well, they were," Serena answered, holding out a hand to the woman to help her up. "What's your name?"
"I'm... Valena, one of the arlessa's maids." The woman twisted an small apron in her hands. "Is she... all right? The arlessa? I haven't heard anything but the wailing from those... those things for days. I've stayed locked in here..." Serena noticed the crates had been broken into and bits of foodstuffs littered the floor.
Serena pursed her lips in thought. "You said your name is Valena? Are you Owen's daughter?"
"Yes! He's my father! Is he...? Is he alive?"
"Oh yeah, he's fine," Alistair answered, his tone reflecting Serena's mood perfectly. "Bit drunk... and very..." He made a hand gesture like he was choking someone. "But what are you going to do, you know?"
Valena stared at the two of them, her eyes filling with tears. "I... want to go back to the village. Is there a way out of here?"
Serena turned to Alistair, her eyes downcast. "Well, I don't think we should just send her out there on her own..."
"I'll accompany her to the mill," Leliana volunteered from the doorway. "We can just meet in the main hall as we planned."
"I will go, as well," Sten added, coming to stand by the bard. "They may require my blade."
"All right, that's settled then. Thank you both." Serena led the maid into the hall, hoping the sight of the corpses on the ground wouldn't incite her to start screaming again. Thankfully, the woman appeared all screamed out for the moment. She ducked her head low and went to stand near Leliana.
Serena leaned down to her mabari, scratching at his tiny ears. "Peanut, I want you to go with them. Mind what Sten says." She turned back to the bard. "Leliana, if you... see Ser Perth, or any of the knights at the mill, could you tell them to meet us at the front gates? We may need the extra help."
"We'll make sure the gates are open for you all," Alistair told the redhead.
Serena turned to the maid, her fingers rubbing her neck unconsciously. "Please, take care of your father. He is... a severely troubled man." The woman gave her a bewildered look, but didn't respond. Instead she simply nodded her head and left with the others through the dining hall.
"We're nearly to the hall," Alistair said quietly. His hazel eyes were focused on Serena's neck, and she knew he was thinking of the day before, when the girl's father had grabbed her unexpectedly. "Since we no longer have sheer numbers on our side, I think it would be wise if we... kept a lower profile moving forward."
"I believe that is the first intelligent thing I've ever heard you say, Alistair," Morrigan replied, smirking at him.
"Well, keep hanging around, Morrigan, and you might hear some more gems of wisdom." He rolled his eyes, keeping pace at Serena's side. "I woke up this morning thinking 'Yes, Alistair, today is the day. Today I will use my brain.'" Serena giggled, pushing through the next set of doors.
More shambling corpses came at them, and with the help of Jowan's chanting and Morrigan's icy blasts Alistair and Serena were able to take the group of them down with relative ease.
"You know, as disgusting as these dead things are, I have to say, I'm liking them a bit better than the darkspawn," Serena said, crushing one of the skeleton's skulls under her boot.
"Really?" Alistair slammed his shield into the last one, knocking it into the wall before taking his blade to it. "Why's that?"
"Well, no headaches, for one." Serena wiped her daggers on the rags of one of the corpses. "Although they do smell as bad. And they try biting as an attack just as often, weirdly enough."
"Ha! I've wondered that myself. Why are you trying to bite me when you have a perfectly decent sword in your hand?" Alistair held the door open for her and the mages. "But... Yes... the headaches... I can tell you, you get used to them, sort of. At least they're handy for sensing the darkspawn."
"True, these things just-" Serena pulled one of the knives from her belt and heaved it at an oncoming ghoul, landing it right in throat. "...Appear out of nowhere, it seems."
They crossed through another hallway and Alistair pushed up against a door. "It's stuck." Serena joined him, pulling one of her pins from her hair. "This door leads right to the main hall."
"Maker's breath... there's no lock!" She replaced the pin in her knot of hair. "So what do we do? Break it down?"
Alistair pushed on the door with his shoulder. "It's too solid... Morrigan could probably blast it off its hinges, but if Teagan is in there... we could end up doing more damage than help." He moved over to another door, trying the handle on it. "Okay, we could go through here and around. This will lead to the front courtyard, anyway. We should check the gate for Leliana and Sten."
Moving through the hallway, they ended up coming out of a side entrance leading to the courtyard. Alistair sprinted to the front gate, working a crank to pull the enormous gate back up.
"There they are! Leliana!" Serena waved down the bridge to the red haired bard. Beside her was Sten and Serena's mabari, along with Ser Perth and six of his knights. Peanut bounded towards Serena, barking happily. "Such a good boy, yes, you are!"
"My lady! So good of you to send your fellows for us." Ser Perth came forward, bowing slightly to Serena. "We were all extremely nervous to hear that Bann Teagan had entered the castle on his own." The knight peered up at the castle, his eyes narrowed, then focused on Jowan. "My lady, that is the mage that Lady Isolde..."
"Oh, yes..." Serena moved towards Jowan, putting a hand out to protect him from the knights. "Jowan here has done some unfortunate things, but he's been helping us move through the castle. It was nearly overrun with those horrible monsters. I believe he can help us with... whatever we may face inside the hall."
Ser Perth pursed his lips, but nodded. "Of course... Shall we... enter the main hall together? It must be held if we are to regain control of the castle."
"Yes, thank you, Ser." Serena took a deep breath, praying silently to the Maker as she led the way up the stairs and into the main entertaining hall.
The hall was surprisingly full, with a dozen guardsmen hanging around the edges, watching blankly as a man danced and flipped around to a child's amusement. Serena and her companions stood at the end of the hall as Bann Teagan stood on one hand and spun around, breaking into a strange series of awkward dance moves.
On the dais, an auburn haired child stood, clapping and cheering, his dark eyes unusually focused on the bann. Serena was immediately struck by how much he looked like her nephew at this distance. Beside the child, a miserable-looking Lady Isolde stood slumped, her face red from crying.
Serena stood transfixed, her eyes wide. "What in the-" At her words, Bann Teagan stopped his horrific dance and crawled back across the ground to sit by the child's feet. Lady Isolde watched the bann, her eyes wide with fear.
"Ah, so these are our vistors?" The child spoke to them, his voice horribly distorted. Serena had never heard such a sound come out of one so small. "The ones you told me about, Mother?"
"Y-yes, Connor," Lady Isolde replied, her head ducking low.
"And this is the one who defeated my soldiers? The ones I sent to reclaim my village?" Connor leaned forward, his dark eyes focused on Serena. She felt Alistair move to stand next to her and she was grateful. The intensity in the child's eyes was filling her with icy dread that made her want to step back from him. "And now it's staring at me! What is it, Mother? I can't see it well enough."
"This... this is a woman, Connor," Lady Isolde stammered in her lilting accent. "J-just as I am..."
"You lie! This woman is nothing at all like you!" Connor's eyes turned to his mother, his small hands gesturing wildly. "Why, just look at her! Half your age and pretty, too. I'm surprised you don't order her executed in a fit of jealousy!"
The arlessa grabbed her sons arm, hugging him tightly to her. "Connor, I beg you, don't hurt anyone!"
Connor looked up, his dark eyes changing to a light gray. "M-Mother? I... what's... what's happening? Where am I?" Serena exchanged perplexed looks with Alistair. The boy's voice sounded... normal.
Isolde shook her son, kissing his head. "Oh, thank the Maker! Connor! Connor, can you hear me?"
"Get away from me, fool woman!" Connor shrieked, his voice once again the low terrifying baritone. He pushed at his mother, knocking her to the ground. On his other side, Teagan clapped excitedly. "You are beginning to bore me."
"Grey Warden... please don't hurt my son!" Isolde begged from the carpet. "He's not responsible for what he does."
"The boy is possessed," Morrigan murmured. Serena nodded slowly to show she had heard her.
"What... did you do to Bann Teagan?" Serena asked.
The bann giggled perversely, rolling over onto his back. "Here I am! Here am I! Ha ha ha!"
"I like him better this way!" Connor slapped Teagan on the shoulder. "No more yelling. Now he amuses me!"
"Connor didn't mean to do this! It was that mage-" The arlessa pointed a shaking hand at Jowan, tears running down her frightened face. "He poisoned Eamon... he started all this! He summoned this demon! Connor was just trying to help his father!"
"I... I didn't summon any demons!" Jowan cried. "I was locked in the dungeons! I didn't-"
"It was a fair deal!" Connor roared, interrupting the mage's babble. "A life for a life! Father is alive, just as I wanted. Now it's my turn to sit on the throne and send out armies to conquer the world! Nobody tells me what to do anymore!"
"N-n-nobody tells him what to do!" Teagan called, his voice high and shrill. He rolled around on the floor, his hair flopping about his face. "Nobody! Ha-ha!"
"Yep, definitely possessed," Alistair mumbled. He hand settled on his sword hilt and he sighed. "Monsters, blood mages, possessed kids... must be Tuesday."
"Let's keep things civil, shall we?" Connor stepped down off the dais towards Serena. "This woman will have the audience she seeks. Tell me, woman... what have you come here for?"
"I came here... to help the arl," Serena answered. "We heard he was ill."
"So you're a concerned well-wisher." Connor backed up, coming to stand by his mother once again. "Why didn't you say that in the first place? All this sneaking around and killing is so unnecessary!" Connor turned to the fireplace behind him. "But Father is so very ill... we really shouldn't disturb him. Isn't that right, Mother?"
"I... I don't think..."
"Of course you don't!" Connor raged at her. "Ever since you sent the knights away, you do nothing but deprive me of my fun. Frankly, it's getting dull." The boy turned back to Serena, his eyes wild. Serena felt her hands inch towards her dagger belt. "I crave excitement! And action! This woman spoiled my sport by saving that stupid village, and now she'll repay me!"
The boy clapped his hands once and ran off the dais and behind a door. Around them, the guardsmen and Teagan pulled their swords, rushing towards Serena and her group. She pulled her own daggers, shifting her position to stand back to back with Alistair.
"Knock them out," Serena called to the others. "They're possessed, and may not know what they're doing!" She kicked out, landing one of the guardsmen in the groin before pummeling him over the head with the hilt of her dagger.
"I'm so sorry!" she shouted as the man collapsed at her feet in a heap. Serena spun on her heel and snapped her leg out again, connecting with the stomach of another guard. He fell back with a breathy "oof!", his sword just nearly missing her boot. Serena leaned down and punched him square in the jaw, knocking him out.
Around her, the knights and Alistair were doing much of the same, using their shields to knock the guardsmen to the floor before punching them out. Sten was so large, he needn't even bother with a shield, his fist alone was enough to knock one man across the floor and into a wall.
"A bit lighter than that, Sten, maybe!" Serena called to the qunari. "That man will probably be bleeding from his brain for weeks as it is..."
Morrigan leveled her staff at Bann Teagan, the last of the possessed that were attacking them, and shoot him with a bright light that knocked him back onto his rear end. The dark haired witch strode up to the nobleman, her eyes flashing dangerously, and hit him with a spell right in the chest.
"What did you cast on him?" Alistair shouted, rushing to the bann's side as he passed out into his arms.
"Sleep," Morrigan replied, smirking. "Why? Did you think I'd killed him?"
"Not that I'd put it past you," Alistair murmured, as Serena came to help him drag Teagan's body over to the side of the hall. They propped him up in a chair, leaning his head on one of the shoulders. "Uh, he'll... be okay, right?"
"Certainly. He shall awaken soon." The witch surveyed the rest of the knocked out men critically, searching for what Serena was sure, another victim to cast on. "Ah... didn't hit that one hard enough, I see..." A bright bolt of light passed from her staff into one of the guardsmen who was foolishly trying to get back up and he fell back to the floor, sprawled on his back.
"Teagan! Teagan, are you alright?" Lady Isolde emerged from the bookcase she had taken refuge behind and shuffled over to the bann, shaking him awake. He opened his eyes, groggy and disoriented and nodded.
"I am... better now, I think." He straightened his coat, putting a hand to his head. "My... mind is my own again."
"Blessed Andraste! I would never have forgiven myself had you died, not after I brought you here." Isolde wiped at her face, more tears spilling out. "What a fool I am!"
"Indeed..." Morrigan muttered, and Serena had to stifle a laugh behind her hand.
"Please... Connor's not responsible for this!" Serena eyed the arlessa warily, as if she too was just a possessed animal waiting to attack. "There must be some way we can save him!"
"I'm not about to just kill a child," Serena replied haughtily. She'd had more than enough of this woman for today, positive that it was her meddling that had ended up getting her husband poisoned and her son possessed. "You knowingly brought Bann Teagan back in here on your son's orders. He could have been killed! All your men could have been killed!"
"I... I... what could I do?" Lady Isolde cried. "He is a child! My only child! You have to help me..."
"Connor is no longer a child," Jowan said quietly. "He is... an abomination."
"You! You did this to Connor!" The arlessa ran at the mage, her fists in the air. Quickly Serena and Leliana closed ranks to protect the man, holding the raging woman at bay.
"Calm yourself, woman," Leliana said, and her usually light tone was hard as steel. Apparently the arlessa hadn't only gotten on Serena's nerves with all her lies. "He did no such thing."
Jowan backed up near Morrigan, his hands gesturing in a placating way. "Please, I didn't! I didn't summon any demon, I told you! Please, if you'll let me help..."
"Help? You betrayed me!" Lady Isolde screamed at the mage, pushing wildly against Serena and Leliana in an effort to get at Jowan. "I brought you here to help my son and in return you poisoned my husband!"
"Listen to me. You lied to us and everyone else about your son! If Connor is a mage, he should be trained at the Circle of Magi!" Serena put out her hands, pushing the crazed woman back towards Teagan, who caught her deftly and held her. "You put everyone you claim to love in danger by allowing him to be trained by an apostate, and now your own son is possessed by a demon!"
"I... I wanted to help my son! I didn't want to lose him..."
"And I understand that, but what you did was still wrong." Serena stared into the woman's eyes, willing her to acknowledge that. "You and Jowan both made mistakes that rippled into the mess we have now. If we are to help your son, I need you to trust us and stop trying to attack Jowan."
"I know... what you must think of me, my lady," Jowan said quietly. "I took advantage of your fear, and I am sorry. I never knew it would come to this."
"Well, I shan't turn away his help," Teagan replied, letting the arlessa go. "Not yet. And if Connor truly is an abomination-"
"He is not always the demon you saw! Connor is still inside him, and sometimes... he breaks through." Lady Isolde's shoulders slumped as she looked to Serena. "Please, I just want to protect my son..."
"Isn't that what started this?" Teagan's voice was harsh. He must be remembering his funny dance and flip routine from earlier. "You hired the mage to teach Connor in secret... to protect him. Now my brother is ill, the castle taken..."
"If they discovered Connor had magic, then they'd take him away from me! I thought if he learned just enough to hide it, then..."
"Then you are more foolish than you seem," Morrigan said clearly from behind Serena. "Even a properly trained mage cannot hide their magic, nor should they have to."
"Well, regardless, we need to help Connor now," Serena reiterated. "What are our options?"
"I... wouldn't normally suggest slaying a child, but..." Alistair took a deep breath. "He's an abomination. I'm not sure there's any choice."
Leliana shook her head. "We cannot kill a little boy, demon or no demon." She turned to Serena, her blue eyes imploring her to agree. "Please don't say we're considering that!"
Serena pursed her lips in concentration. Her thoughts were going all over the place, and she couldn't help thinking of Oren. "I..."
"Connor is my nephew," Teagan said clearly, commanding their attention once again. "But... he is also possessed by a demon. Death would be... merciful."
"There is... another option, though I... loathe offering it." Jowan stepped forward, his eyes on the ground. "A mage could confront the demon in the Fade, without hurting Connor himself."
Bann Teagan frowned. His handsome face was beginning to bruise on one side from earlier. "What do you mean? Is the demon not within Connor?"
"Not physically," the mage replied. "The demon approached Connor in the Fade, while he dreamt, and controls him from there. We can... use the connection between them to find the demon."
"You can enter the Fade, then?" Lady Isolde asked quietly. "And kill the demon without hurting my boy?"
"No, but I can enable another mage to do so." Jowan rubbed his wrists self-consciously and Serena was once again drawn to the burn scars there. She wondered where else the arlessa had burned him. "It normally requires lyrium and several mages, but..."
"You're going to suggest blood magic," Alistair interrupted, coming to stand next to Serena. He exchanged quick glances with her and his normally honey-colored eyes were dark with anger. "No! Absolutely not! You'd basically be killing someone else to use their blood to power the... the whatever you're planning!"
"But you were fine with outright killing a child possessed by a demon, were you?" Morrigan shot back.
"I think we should just kill the demon child and be done with it," Sten replied.
"Wait, wait, wait." Serena held up her hands between the witch and Alistair, quieting all of them. "What is this, exactly? You'd be using someone's blood? Why can't you just use lyrium?"
"Without a sufficient number of mages to power the magic... lyrium wouldn't be enough," Jowan admitted, shrugging helplessly. "Lyrium provides the power for the ritual, but I can take that power from someone's life energy. This ritual requires a lot of it, however..." He frowned, his hair falling into his eyes again. "All of it, in fact."
"So someone must... die? Must be... sacrificed?" The bann sat back down, the weight of this revelation appeared too much for him.
"Yes, and then we send another mage into the Fade while I'm doing the ritual." Jowan ducked his head, his voice very quiet. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, it's... not much of an option..."
"You see?" Alistair said. "Someone would have to die in order for him to be able to help Morrigan battle the demon in the Fade. Assuming she would even go into the Fade at all!"
"Then let it be my blood!" Lady Isolde cried. "I will be the sacrifice! I... I brought this down upon my family, and I should be the one to fix it."
"Hold it, everyone, please!" Serena stamped her foot angrily. "We're not killing Connor, and we're not killing you, either, Isolde. I want everyone to just... shut up about sacrificing anyone!" She paused, breathing hard. "We have two mages already, if we could... we could get some more than could we do this ritual with lyrium instead?"
Jowan nodded. "Yes, but... where are you going to get more mages? Lady Isolde was lucky to find me."
"Of course!" Alistair turned to Serena, grabbing her hand excitedly. "The Circle of Magi is not far from here! It's just on the other side of the lake! I mean, if they would even do it..."
"Then we'll go to the Circle and find out," Serena said. "I'm not murdering a child or his mother out of sheer... laziness!"
"But... what will happen here?" Lady Isolde murmured. "Connor will not remain passive forever."
"The alternative is we kill you or your son, or who knows, both of you accidentally," Serena said, staring the arlessa down. "Can I get a show of hands of people who would prefer that?" Unsurprisingly, Morrigan and Sten raised their hands, and Serena frowned, pointedly ignoring them. "We're going to the Circle."
"Very well," Bann Teagan said, nodding. "I will keep Jowan here as a precaution. He says he wants to help, so he will keep an eye on Connor with us. Go to the tower quickly, then. The longer you are away, the greater the chances of disaster."
"I understand," Serena said. "Seal the door to protect yourselves, if you must." She turned to her companions, already stomping her way towards the door. "Let's get our things from the Chantry, we're leaving. Immediately."