Author's Note: Because it always bears repeating: Thanks everyone following along and especially those of you taking the time to review. I love hearing your opinions and critiques.
Chapter 58 - Fire Down Below
The halls of Orzammar were unlike anything Serena had ever seen. Stairs led down into a massive chamber, carved straight into the earth itself, and packed hard with stone. Enormous statues of what Serena assumed were the dwarven kings, stood carved right out of the walls, as if they held up the ceilings above with their sheer might.
Beyond the great hall, which a guardsman announced as the Hall of Heroes, a bridge led to the main chamber of Orzammar proper. Upon entering, Serena felt her jaw drop open. The city was larger than even Denerim, running for miles in front of them, and it was all… underground. Rivers of lava followed beneath the bridge, and Serena removed her cloak, tucking it away in her pack. It felt like late summer in here, with the heat of the flows rising up from below.
Dwarves bustled around them, heading in and out of buildings, but always throwing a curious glance their way. Serena supposed the sight of a handful of humans, two elves, a kossith and a mabari hound would confuse even people on the surface, much less a group of people who were used to seeing only other dwarves, day after day after day.
Ahead, a large group of dwarves stood milling about in a group, surrounding two men.
"You'd think they'd stand on something at least," Alistair murmured as they came close.
"It is the Assembly who makes a king, and a king who nominates his successor. None of it is carried in the blood." An older dwarf with a large graying beard tied up into formal braids was speaking to the crowd. Around him some of the dwarves were nodding to one another. Serena noticed most of them were well-dressed and graying on top.
"Or, as now," a younger blonde dwarf challenged. "When someone tries using the Assembly to pull a coup. Who's to say what my father said in his final hours when the usurper Harrowmont was the only one by his side?" Still more dwarves were nodding at this man's pronouncement as guards took their places, readying themselves for a riot.
"I'll have you thrown in prison!" the older man shouted.
"You've bitten off more than you can chew, old man!" the young blonde cried.
"Handlers, separate these deshyrs in the Diamond Quarter!" A ruddy-faced dwarf threw out his hands between the two, although Serena noticed he bore the same symbol on his armor as the older dwarf, Harrowmont. "I will not have Bhelen incite a riot!"
Another dwarf leaped forward and she heard a collective gasp as he pulled a large axe from his back. "You'll not speak that way about the man who should be king!" With a great pull, he swung the axe wide and landed it right in the Harrowmont supporter, stabbing him deep. The man cried out once before succumbing to his wounds. Around him, the crowd quickly dispersed; even some of the guards ran for it, abandoning the dead man in the streets.
"Oh sweet Maker, that was-"
"Brutal." Alim stood next to Serena, his staff out as he leaned against it, shaking his head. His large dark eyes were focused on the body. "Reminds me of the Tower."
"Stone-blind idiots! I won't have fighting in the commons!" A dwarf clad in the armor of the city guard ran past them, clanking loudly as he headed for the dead dwarf's body. "Especially in front of outsiders... If I find that sodding fool, I'll have him in the Legion!" Noticing Serena's group finally, he pulled himself up to his full height, which wasn't much taller, and puffed his chest out importantly.
"Veata, surfacers! I am Rehtek, the Captain of the Guard here in Orzammar. I am bid to let you walk the Commons, but... keep your place. Wardens or not, I want order."
"Could you point us in the direction of the Assembly?" Serena asked, as politely as she could manage. The Captain was unexpectedly bitter sounding. Granted, if Serena was in charge of a city where bloodletting in the streets was commonplace, she imagined she would have a few choice words of warning for strangers as well. "We have a treaty with the dwarven people, to help us in the time of a Blight."
"A Blight? Bah. More surface problems," the Captain huffed. He ran a hand through his already unruly brown hair and scowled. "Well, we have no king to hear you. You can join the shouting at the Assembly in the Diamond Quarter, that's right up that way." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Bunch of deshyr lords bickering over sand. Bhelen, Harrowmont... is one so different? Certainly no Paragons here."
"I'm sorry... What's a Paragon?"
"Surfacers appoint no Paragons? Truly you are lost in all that sky." Rehtek rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "They are the best of us, declared living ancestors."
"Oh, so the statues..."
"Yes, yes, those are only some of our great Paragons." The dwarf waved his hand, as if Serena were slow and he had better things to do than explain the complexities of dwarven society to her. "If you're looking to actually be heard, you should probably look for Vartag Gavorn, he's Prince Bhelen's second. Or Dulin Forender, he speaks for Lord Harrowmont."
"And they're the two men edging for the throne? Prince Bhelen-"
"Yes, Bhelen Aeducan, the surviving son of King Endrin, before you ask. Vartag can be found in the Assembly, most likely. As for Dulin, he's probably at Harrowmont's estate. That's also in the Diamond Quarter, along with all the other rich duffers. If there's nothing else..."
"Ah, no," Serena replied, curtsying to the Captain. "Thank you very much for all your help."
"Not sure how much help I was, but luck be with you, Warden."
They were on their way to the Diamond Quarter to look for this Vartag fellow when Serena was stopped by a young girl waving her down.
"Excuse me... I, um, do you... have a moment?"
Serena could hear Morrigan sigh heavily and she waved the party on with a quick "I'll meet you outside the Assembly, if you could find Vartag...?" She saw the witch roll her golden eyes but nod, leading the others on while Serena turned to the redhead dwarf.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm Dagna, maybe you know my father? Janar of the Smith Caste? Anyway, I've been trying forever to find someone who really knows the surface world," the girl explained. Her hands flew in wide circular gestures at every word she spoke. "I don't suppose you've heard of something called "The Circle"?"
"The Circle of Magi?" Alim had stayed back apparently, and spoke up from behind Serena. "I'm an enchanter in the Ferelden Circle." He grinned sheepishly. "Well, most of the time, anyway."
"Really? It's... an honor!" the girl gushed with happiness, as if this was the single most exciting moment of her life. For his part, Alim smiled, looking slightly bemused at her enthusiasm. Most people treated mages with abject terror, so this was probably a welcome relief to him.
"I've never met an actual mage… or an elf," the redhead continued, eyeing Alim's interesting haircut. "Is it true you can manipulate nature's forces with your mind? Like you were born with lyrium in your veins?"
"I... uh... well, yes," Alim stuttered. "Although, it's not as easy as all that, of course. There's lots of studying, and meditation, and you have to constantly be on guard-"
"I think she put it better with all the flash and bang," Serena said with a grin. "So, pardon me for saying so, but why would a dwarf be interested in the Circle?"
"I've been trying to reach someone there for years," Dagna explained. "I've sent missives with every caravan, but I never get a reply. I want to know if they would accept me for study."
"Uhh... I don't see why they wouldn't, I suppose."
"Dwarves can't do magic, Serena," Alim whispered.
"I guess she's never read First Enchanter Caethelun's 'Treatise Concerning Dwarves and the Non-Heritability of Magic'," Dagna added.
"And you have?" Alim asked, surprised. "That thing is nearly eight hundred pages."
"Not the unabridged version! It's nearly two thousand!" the dwarf replied happily. "He tested dwarves from twenty bloodlines and found they couldn't perform any level of spell casting, regardless of lyrium exposure or time on the surface. The Circle speculates that lyrium in the Stone shields us from spiritual influences and over time, made us immune to them."
Serena laughed. "Did you memorize that? I mean, I like reading, but... wow."
"I could have used you when I was studying for my Harrowing," Alim said. "So, if you're aware you cannot perform magic, why do you want to go there?"
"I want to go to the Circle to study!" The girl looked at her boots before shyly looking back up at Alim. Serena smiled as she saw a blush color the young girls cheeks, though whether it was from embarrassment or something else, she couldn't tell. "I don't want to do magic. No dwarf can cast spells, but I don't see why I shouldn't study it... It could be like an exchange. Orzammar would learn of one of the greatest natural forces on the surface, and the Circle gains direct access to our knowledge of lyrium smithing."
"Well, we're heading to the Circle to gather allies in two weeks time. How about if your father lets you, you can come along with us and ask them yourself?"
"That would be... wonderful! I've never left Orzammar, and even if they didn't accept me for study, it would still be an amazing adventure..." Dagna's blue eyes went wide as she nearly swooned with happiness. "Oh, I'll go pack my bags right now! I'll be waiting in my father's shop!" With a giddy little squeal the girl ran off, disappearing into a nearby shop.
"Um, I did say two weeks time, didn't I?" Serena asked, dark eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
"You did," Alim confirmed. "She's just... well, she's young, I suppose. I hope the Circle doesn't disappoint her." He glanced over at Serena as they headed up the staircase to the Diamond Quarter. "Have you ever been to the Circle of Magi?"
"Ohhhh yes. A few months back, we went there looking for help for a possessed child, back at Redcliffe," Serena explained. "The boy had inadvertently summoned a desire demon to help his father after Jowan's little stunt. By the time we reached the Tower, the place had been overrun with abominations, taking mages and templars hostage. Some nutcase named Uldred was behind it-"
"Wait, you're the ones who defeated Uldred? I'd heard about that all the way in Denerim!" Alim grinned broadly, one of the first smiles Serena had seen on the elf. "You saved Irving, didn't you? Maker, you saved the whole bloody Circle!"
"More or less, yes," Serena said, smiling shyly. "That's when Wynne joined us, and probably why Morrigan was so... annoyed earlier, with me. She doesn't like how I 'pick up stray dogs' as she puts it. When we started this, it was just me, Morrigan, and Alistair."
"So you aren't all Grey Wardens then?"
"No, just Alistair and I are. But if people want to assume we all are, we don't really... challenge the notion," Serena said quietly. "Being a Grey Warden offers a bit of politically neutral protection, especially for the mages who travel in our company. You know how some templars can be about mages wandering around outside the Circle..."
"Oh, do I," Alim said with a nod. "Isn't that man... Alistair... isn't he a templar? He dispelled my magic back there. Scared the dickens right out of me, if you don't mind me saying so. Even six months out of the Tower and I still get all nervous around them."
"Well, we thought you were one of Loghain's... Anyway, it's true Alistair was trained as a templar by Chantry, but he was recruited by the Grey Wardens before he could take his final vows," Serena explained. "He's rather fond of magic, actually, as long as it doesn't get too... bloody... if you receive my meaning."
"Yes, well, know I'm not a big fan of cutting myself to use my own life force as fuel for dark magic." Alim's dark eyes rolled to the ceiling. "I'm just fine using lyrium, despite the taste." He grinned. "Regardless, I want to say that this is certainly more fun than I've had in weeks."
"Which speaks poorly of supposed King Loghain's hospitality, hmm?"
"Considering I was locked in a cell for two weeks with a group of elves from the Alienage before they realized I was a mage, and thus, could be used... yeah, it stinks pretty bad. I'm surprised they didn't put us in Fort Drakon and leave us to rot."
"What were you doing in a cell?"
"I was hiding in the Alienage... I mean, an elf in the alienage, who would look twice at that, right? It seemed like a good idea at the time. I have family there, anyway, a second cousin." Alim shrugged, running a hand over his spiky hair. "There was some celebration, a wedding I think, I'd never seen a wedding, they don't allow them in the Circle, so I thought I'd take a peek. Then these men storm the Alienage... someone said it was the Arl of Denerim's son, but I don't know about that. I'd never seem 'em before."
"Anyway, they grab a bunch of the women and run for it! I couldn't just stand there and do nothing; one of the women had sheltered me from a templar who was sniffing around the Alienage, so I went with the groom and some of the other men and we... uh..." Alim looked at his boots. "We tried to storm the arl's estate."
"And thus, the cell." She could just imagine how well that probably went- a bunch of unarmed elven men, hellbent on revenge...
"Yes. It… didn't go so well." The elf sighed heavily. "We got pretty far in, I casted a powerful Misdirection Hex... I think Nelaros even found some of the girls, although I don't really know what happened after that... I was hit with a blast of ice and got knocked out... Woke up in the dungeons with Soris and a few others. Jowan was already there, he'd been picked up near Dragon's Peak..." Serena nodded, not knowing who any of these people were, but sensing that Alim felt guilty about it nonetheless and needed to talk. "They're... probably still in there, actually. Well, except Jowan, of course."
"I'm sure you did all you could, Alim," Serena said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps we could find out what happened, next time we're in Denerim. We have to go there after we wrap up all this treaty business, anyway."
"If we could, I'd… like that very much," Alim said softly. "Anyway, there are your friends."
"Serena, there you are!" Alistair waved to her. "So, Morrigan didn't want to wait, color me shocked, so we already spoke to that Vartag fellow. Turns out the treaty only compels the king to help, and since they don't have one..." Alistair trailed off, shrugging sheepishly.
"So, how do we do this? Convince the Assembly to elect someone?"
"Well, he says he'll give us an audience with Prince Bhelen if we deliver two notes to some lord something or other. According to Vartag, Harrowmont is bribing nobles for their votes." Alistair rolled his eyes. "I'm surprised they don't have us assassinating other candidates outright, honestly. Dwarven politics are vicious!"
"Well, who are the notes for?"
"Lady... Dance and Lord Happy? I honestly can't remember. Leliana and Zevran left to go deliver them already." He smiled crookedly. "Morrigan's doing, I swear."
"Well, whatever gets it done, I suppose." Serena laughed. "I find it hard to believe anyone in Orzammar goes by Lady Dance or Lord Happy, though."
"Perhaps a bit of wishful thinking on my part, then," Alistair replied. "So what did the redhead want?"
"Oh, she just wanted to marvel over our newest companion's rippling muscles. They don't get a lot of elven mages down here, I suppose." At Alim's bewildered expression, Serena grinned. "Joke! That was a joke, Alim. We make those sometimes, Alistair and I." She turned back to Alistair. "The girl wants to study magic at the Circle, so she asked if we could pass the request along. I told her we'd do her one better and bring her to the Circle ourselves."
"Oh, the swamp witch is going to hate that."
"Morrigan hates everything, last time I checked."
"At least these foolish tasks are getting us closer to ending the Blight," Sten grumbled from nearby.
"Yes, no talking trees, no abominations, no werewolves, no cultists, and no dragons." Serena ticked off the creatures on her fingers. "This might be the easiest treaty yet if we just have to run errands for a prince."
"You didn't really run into all those things, did you?" Alim asked. The elf seemed caught between disbelief and wonder. "Werewolves and dragons and such?"
"Oh yes," Alistair said. "We killed a high dragon. You know, as practice for the archdemon."
"Is this another joke?" The elf looked between the three of them, as if they were putting him on. "You're just... just messing with me, aren't you?"
"No." Sten pushed up the sleeve on his shirt. "This is a burn I got from one of them, it has taken awhile to heal. The Wardens also received significant injuries."
"Cut my leg wide open," Serena muttered. "Worth it, though." She pulled the high dragon's tooth out of the bunch of necklaces she wore at her neck, grinning proudly. "See?"
Alim whistled low at the sight of the long fang. "So, I'm not sure I caught everyone's names just yet-"
"Oh, I'm so sorry! How rude of me." Serena gestured to herself. "I'm Serena, but you knew that. This is Alistair, he's the other Grey Warden, and this giant is Sten."
"I am not a giant. You are just woefully small."
"Right, that must be it," Serena said sarcastically. "Anyway, you know Wynne. The other elven man that's traveling with us, that's Zevran, he's from Antiva. That's why every word he says sounds like he's trying to get in your pants."
"He's also probably going to try to get in your pants," Alistair added, winking.
"Then the redhead is Leliana," Serena continued. She pointed surreptitiously over to the wall. "That angry-looking dark haired young woman is Morrigan, and this... is Peanut." Serena's mabari let out a happy bark before moving to snuffle at Alim's robes.
Alim leaned down, scratching the hound between the ears. "Peanut? As in... like... a peanut?"
"Wait until you see what he'll do for one," Alistair said. He turned to Serena, his honey colored eyes pleading. "Can I?"
"Oh, why not? It's not like we have anything better to do." Serena dug into her belt purse and dropped a few of the nuts into Alistair's hand. Immediately, Peanut began to swing his miniature tail back and forth, as if he could smell the tiny kernels clasped in the blonde's hand.
"Can you... do a little dance, boy?" Alistair asked. In response, Peanut began turning around in circles, his big rump wagging as if in time to music.
"How about if you... sing me a song?" They watched entranced as the hound began to howl, long and low, in a haunting canine melody.
"Ugh, not this again," Morrigan called, disgust reading clearly on her face. "Must you torture the mutt?"
"He's earning his reward," the former templar shot back. "Okay, last one. Can you show me who's your favorite human?" Peanut let out a gleeful bark before shoving his flat head under Serena's hand, who was shaking with laughter. "I believe you earned three, fine ser." Alistair tossed the nuts into the hounds' waiting jaws, bowing slightly before turning back to Alim. "Pretty amazing, huh? I want to teach him the Remigold when we get some spare time."
"That dog would certainly be better at it than you, Alistair. He is supposed to have two left feet." Morrigan rolled her eyes and stalked off to lean against the wall, although Serena could see she had the tiniest smile on her lips. "And that fool arl wants to put him on the throne... unbelievable..."
"She's usually in a better mood than this, Alim," Serena said apologetically.
"No, she really isn't," Alistair replied, crossing his arms over his chest. Serena stuck her tongue out at him just as Zevran returned to their group, grinning broadly.
"Our new friend Vartag now has Lord Helmi in his pocket," the assassin said proudly. "He was drinking away his house's considerable amount of coin in the local tavern. A delightful little hovel called Tapsters."
"That must be Lord Happy, eh?" Serena glanced at Alistair and grinned as a blush crept up the blonde's neck under her gaze. "By chance, did you see Leliana at all?"
"She isn't back? We split up when I headed for the tavern to track down Helmi, but she only needed to go so far as the Diamond Quarter-" Zevran peered around the group, as if the redheaded bard were simply hiding from his view. "I assumed she would have returned before me."
"Well, we'll give her five more minutes and then I'll go look for this Lady Dance myself."
Zevran raised an eyebrow. "Lady Dance?"
"Long story," Serena replied.
"Oh, I love a good story!" Leliana said, coming up the stairs. "Who is it about?"
"Just a dwarf we met who really likes to party." Serena motioned to the rest of the party to follow. "Let's just go and meet this prince."