Author's Note: Part 2 of A Brother in Peril. (The chapter title, as I'm sure many of you will recognize, comes from a quest in DA2.) Thanks all for the reviews, follows, and kind words of encouragement! You guys are the best, and make writing this story an extra awesome joy.
Chapter 60 - Shepherding Wolves
"Oh, well... damn."
Alim's voice was barely a whisper in her ear. "Serena..." His hand on her shoulder was tight. Behind them there was a loud thumping, as if one of their companions was trying to beat the door down. It was Sten or Alistair, most likely, Serena thought; the pounding was heavy, and coming from the top of the door.
"Looks like we have a couple wannabe martyrs on our hands here," the deep voiced dwarf continued, eyeing the metal door and then Serena. "Too bad your friends are stuck on the other side, eh, Wardens?"
Serena pulled her dagger, ready for a fight. "Are we supposed to be afraid?"
From behind them, another voice chimed in. "Yes, you should." There was the clink of metal and four more dwarves appeared, daggers and crude knives glinting in the low light. "Your friends can pound on that door all day and it won't open unless we want it to."
"Well, bring it on, Shorty," Serena taunted. She flung her dagger hard, landing it in one of the dwarves legs. The man howled and fell over as she pulled her other dagger, keeping herself between Alim and the others as they backed up to the wall for cover.
One of the dwarves, a woman, pulled a lever in the wall and Serena heard Alim cry out in pain as spikes pushed out into them. Serena felt a quick stab in her lower back and the bearded dwarf laughed harshly. "You sodding cloudheads are all the same."
"Serena, when I say, I want you to get down..." the elf whispered, his voice cracking with pain. His hand was back on her shoulder, pushing her down slowly but insistently. "Okay? Just get down."
She shook her head in protest, despite the pain in her back forcing her to her knees. "But you're-"
"Down! Now!" Alim shouted. Serena dove to the ground, sliding in the curdled blood on the floor as Alim's hand shot out above her, the rush of magic erupting out of him. The spell hit the lead dwarf head-on and he fell in a heap at the others feet as the other two armored men staggered uselessly on their feet, the effects washing over them quickly.
"You... I..." The thug's eyes rolled and he slumped over as Alim pushed forward, stepping over Serena on the ground and placing his palms on the two men's foreheads. She could feel his magic, powerful and crippling as it pulsed through him and into their weakened forms. Serena watched wide-eyed as the two somnolent dwarves began to quake and cower in fear, dropping their weapons as they tried desperately to crawl away from the mage.
With a quick gesture, the elf pulled his hands up sharply and the two dwarves jerked in unison, falling to the ground, their eyes suddenly blank and staring.
"Kill the mage! Leave the girl for Jarvia!" another dwarf shouted, advancing on the pair. Serena rolled up at Alim's feet, kicking out her boot as the advancing woman pitched forward, completely off-balance.
Pulling Duncan's blade from her boot, she stabbed it deep in the falling dwarf, kicking her body back off into her fellows. Beside her, Alim put a hand to his head and again Serena felt the pulse of his magic explode out, knocking the dwarves to the ground.
Leaning over, she plunged Duncan's long dagger into the nearest dwarf as blood spurted out of the vicious neck wound, moving onto the next one. It was savage and disgusting, the red insides splattering across them as Serena finished off the stunned thugs one-by-one. The blood from the dead dwarves covered her chest and arms and face, making her look like she'd been the one who was eviscerated.
"Are you alright, Serena?" Alim had turned, his tan skin was flushed from the effort used in... doing whatever he'd done against the dwarves. Serena could see his arms were shaking, there was a fine tremor running just under his skin. "I can't really tell through all that blood."
"What did you-?"
"Death magic," Alim answered, breathing hard. "It heals my wounds by... by draining their energy. I've never... used that much mana before, in... in one go, though."
There was a loud crunch and Alistair finally broke through the door, Sten right behind him.
"Damn door was on some kind of bloody track!" Alistair shouted, his voice sounding exceptionally loud in the intense calm of the room. He peered about frantically taking in the blood on Serena and the floor, and then all the dead dwarves. "Maker's breath... what happened?"
"They tried to kill us," Serena said, wiping a spare bit of cloth across her face. The handkerchief came back red and she grimaced before continuing. "Alim knocked them out while I..." She paused, looking down at her front and frowning. "This is mostly their blood."
"Oh, well as long as its mostly their blood," Alistair replied sarcastically, going to her. He put his hand under her chin, examining her for wounds, his mouth pursed in a deep frown. Apparently satisfied by his inspection, he absently handed her his own handkerchief before turning to the mage next. "What about you, Alim?"
"I'm healed already," the elf murmured, removing his ruined outer robes and stuffing them in his pack as the rest of the companions shuffled into the chamber, each looking around curiously. He shivered slightly in the chill of the lower tunnels and he felt Serena's hand on his shoulder briefly before she handed him her cloak.
"'Tis you who drained these two, was it not?" Morrigan pushed one of the corpses with the toe of her boot. "'Tis powerful magic." She eyed Alim with her intense golden eyes, smiling slightly. "I am impressed."
"Uh, thanks." Alim pulled Serena's cloak on, it was a big snug in the shoulder put otherwise fit reasonable well. "I don't think I'll be doing it again any time soon, though."
The witch's grin simply grew. "A pity, that. I would like to see you fight sometime."
"I think we must be near-ish to Jarvia," Serena said, pointing ahead to another passage that led out the back of the room. "One of the dwarves wanted to bring me to her. She may... know we're here already."
"Then that shall make this even more fun," Zevran replied. "A bit like shepherding wolves, no?"
The carta was an intricate series of tunnels that connected different smaller chambers, each one absolutely filled to the brim with stolen goods. Chests of weapons, both used and new, as well as large crates spilling over with armor littered most of the rooms.
A few traps, including exploding barrels triggered to trip wires, and some flimsy leghold traps were also set up throughout the hideout, causing Zevran and Serena to split up frequently to disarm them before everyone else could walk through.
Jarvia appeared to hire on anyone willing to work for her, and not just casteless dwarves. Renegade mages, and even two kossith mercenaries, which Sten growled were called Tal'vashoth, were present in some of the chambers, ready to fight for their dwarven employer.
The giant qunari seemed especially incensed at the appeareances of the two kossith men, engaging them quickly, fury reading clearly on his usually impassive face. At Serena's query, he explained that to leave the Qun, to reject it, was punishable by death.
"You see how they saw off their horns? They relish their outcast role, their self-imposed exile." Sten stomped around the dead bodies in his too-large boots, practically seething with rage. "To stand with these... dwarven basra... for coin... It is pitiable."
"Wait, so kossith have horns?" Serena peered at the two dead men and realized they had indeed filed their horns down to fine nubs, barely noticeable if one was not looking keenly at them. "How come you don't have any?"
Sten puffed out his chest proudly, pulling his white braids back into a tail. "Unlike these... vashedan... I was born this way. It is why I was chosen to come here. The Arishok believed I would blend in better."
Serena giggled. "How big are the horns that he thought you would blend in at eight feet tall?" Sten held his hands up near his head, extending them out around a foot and a half. "Oh. Oh, dear. Well... perhaps your Arishok was correct in that."
"Indeed," Sten agreed.
"Hello? Hello, is someone down there? Please-"
The call was low and gravelly and most definitely male. Serena started down the passageway when Zevran grabbed her. "Let me, my dear. It could be another trap." Despite the elf's warning, Serena found herself jogging after him, her curiosity almost overwhelming her. Who would be asking for help in this place other than Bhelen's brother-in-law? So far, the carta's main rule seemed to be kill anyone you don't recognize, ask questions later.
"Please... strangers, let me out. I see you bear no love for Jarvia." A large black haired dwarf clung helplessly to the bars of a small prison cell, his eyes looked slightly sunken into his face from malnourishment. "Please, help us."
"Are you Faren?" Serena asked hopefully.
"I'm Leske, but... that's Faren in there... please!" Serena ran to the door, pulling her pins from her hair as she quickly worked the tumblers of the lock. The dwarf, Leske, practically fainted into her arms, his happiness at being freed was so great. "Th-thank you. We've been down here... it's been so long."
Next to her, she saw Zevran working on the next cell's lock and soon it clicked open. Detaching herself from the thankful Leske, she stepped inside, squinting in the low light for the other dwarf Faren. A low groan in the corner alerted her and she kneeled at the man's side.
"Wynne, I need you!" Serena called. "He's barely breathing!" The older mage came running then, her hands already glowing blue as the rest of the companions filed into what operated as the carta's dungeon.
"He is gonna be alright?" Leske asked, slumping tiredly to the ground. "He was moaning this morning, one of the guards beat him pretty bad last night... I think it was last night..." He shook his head. "Do any of you have anything to eat?"
Serena dug into her pack, pulling out a small cheesecloth. "Here, take whatever you need," she said, handing it over to him. Leliana handed him a small loaf of bread, smiling gently.
"Is this... wh-wheat?" The dwarf looked wonderingly at the bread before digging into it. "Blessed Stone, it tastes so... so sodding wonderful. I haven't had wheat in..." Leske shoved the rest of the small loaf in his mouth, his words lost to his chewing. Picking out some of Serena's dried fruit from the cloth, he gobbled those up quickly too, and Serena found herself wondering if Jarvia had intended the two men to starve to death.
"He's awake now, Serena," Wynne said quietly. "He is still weak, but..."
"L-Les..." The dwarf coughed and sat up slowly, his eyes blinking tiredly. He was even thinner than the black haired dwarf, his skin looked mottled from the beating he took and lack of food. "Leske?"
"I'm here, Faren," Leske called, abandoning the food to join his friend. "Thought you were a goner there for a bit, salroka."
"Felt like it..." Faren ran a hand through disheveled hair. "How'd a bunch of topsiders come about this place, anyway?"
"Prince Bhelen sent us," Serena said. "He said you were his brother-in-law."
"Bhelen actually said that?" The dwarf's expression changed from bemused to impressed. "I never thought he'd admit that out loud. Rica must be having a good influence on him." With Zevran's help, he stood up. "I suppose we're in your debt, stranger."
"You can call me Serena, actually, and these are my companions. We're Grey Wardens."
Faren nodded, as if this wasn't particularly surprising. "Grey Wardens, eh? You know a man named Duncan? Came 'round here a few months ago, seeing about recruits... nearly went with him, but my sister Rica was heavy with child then... didn't feel right leaving her. Didn't know if it was going to be a boy back then."
"And I'm guessing Bhelen is the father of her child?" Serena asked.
"Lucky for us, yeah, otherwise it'd be just another casteless waste of space." Faren shook his head. "Bhelen's rough, but at least he sees us, you know? With most of those deshyr dogs, you'd think these tattoos made us invisible."
"If you'd like, I can send you with some of my friends here, back to the palace. We still have business with Jarvia, I'm afraid."
"Her study, if you can even call it that, is right down the tunnel there, to the left. Blessed Stone, I hope your lot knock her into next week. Sodding bitch... Almost makes me miss Beraht..." Feran leaned on Leske, both of them limping back towards the exit, supporting each other.
"I will return to the palace with them, Serena," Wynne volunteered, already following the two dwarves out. "Could I bring your hound with me?"
"Of course. Leliana, if you could go as well, in case Jarvia set out any more traps...?" Serena pressed a pin from her hair into the bard's hand. The redhead nodded, whistling for the mabari and the small group disappeared, heading back for the city surface.
Following Faren's brief but surprisingly accurate instructions, they arrived in the study to find themselves face to face with a stocky dwarven woman, a handful of armored thugs at her side.
"Welcome to my humble abode, Warden. I'm sure you know who I am."
Short brown hair with a tattoo under one eye, the same as Serena had seen on other casteless in Dust Town, Jarvia had all of the swagger of someone who was used to getting their way. Serena found she had been expecting a gruff, angry tone, but strangely, Jarvia had a calm, smooth voice, like that of any young maiden bent on enticing a rich husband.
"So, Bhelen realized his throne means nothing if he can't hold onto it, yet he still doesn't bother to send his own men?" Jarvia shook her head, sneering up at Serena. "Well, you picked the wrong side, stranger. It doesn't matter who's king, as long as there's a queen!"
"Certainly cocky, isn't she?" Zevran chuckled, as if the dwarven woman was having them all on. "We just decimated your little protection ring, and still you think to fight us?"
"You'll pay for their deaths a hundred times over!" Jarvia spat. "I'll take their vengeance in blood!"
"That doesn't even make sense, really." Serena rolled her eyes, she'd heard so many threats by now, it didn't even phase her much anymore. Fighting the dwarves, unless they were in particularly vast numbers, reminded her a bit of wrestling with Oren back at the castle. They were much more vicious, though, of course, usually with giant axes or long twin blades.
"Kill them! But leave the pretty one alive... I have plans for her." At her signal, the room flooded with more warriors, much to Serena's chagrin. So much for an easy fight, she supposed. "I'm going wear your pretty teeth around my wrist!"
"She is simply filled with fun little catch phrases, isn't she?" Zevran quipped, sweeping his long daggers across an opponents neck. Blood spurted from the wound as the dwarf dropped to the ground, another moving in quickly to replace him.
Serena turned and kicked out, catching an oncoming assailant in the chest before digging her dagger in deep. Remarkably persistent, the dwarf reached for her throat, closing on it tight as she twisted the blade in his guts, shoving him to the ground. His gauntleted hand clenched as she tried to wrench herself away, her neck burning now, the man's blood flowing out over her hand until finally he relented and fell back dead.
Searching the field for Jarvia, Serena pushed past Alistair, who was back to back with Sten, his sword slashing ruthlessly, catching one of the carta thugs so fast he lost an arm in the process. The dwarf howled, grasping at his ruined stump as Sten turned, plunging his sword in the man's throat, cutting his screeching off.
"Serena! Wait!" Alim's sharp voice paused Serena in her tracks. His hand shot out quickly and a nearby barrel exploded, his spell protecting her from the worst of the blast. "This place is littered with traps. And Jarvia-"
"Looking for me, girly?"
The soft voice was eerily calm considering the carnage surrounding them and Serena saw Alim throw up his hands, magic pulsating there as he threw a spell at the rogue. Catching it full in the face, Jarvia growled, shaking angrily like a mad hound before throwing a thin blade directly at the elf. The blade curved in the air, swinging wildly to the left as it landed in one of her fellows, who screamed as he clutched his ruined eye.
"Sodding mages!" Jarvia bellowed, her soft voice lost now as she poised to launch herself at the elf. "See if you can stop me from beating you to death!"
"You can come through me first!" Sprinting to meet the other rogue in the distance between, Serena landed her fist in the women's side as Jarvia's hand connected with Serena's face. Grabbing the smaller woman by the hair, Serena threw her down on the ground, shaking off the pain in her cheek to land a kick in Jarvia's shoulder.
"All that needs now is a pool of mud, I think," Zevran called, watching the two women roll across the floor, both desperately grabbing at whatever they could to rip apart the other's armor. Serena felt another of Alim's spells wash over them and she realized quickly Jarvia had been paralyzed beneath her.
Duncan's dagger was already in her hand as she moved, Serena bringing it up to cut under the dwarven woman's neck. Dark red blood poured out as Jarvia tried to scream, unable to move her mouth and Serena rolled back off her, her own blood mingling with the mess from the fight.
"I think that's the lot of them," Alistair said from somewhere nearby. "Is anyone seriously injured?" There were muttered reassurances around the room as Serena and Zevran raided the bodies for valuables and weapons.
Morrigan was changing back from her wolf form, her arm bleeding from a long cut. Alim quickly went to her, pressing his hand on the wound and closing it. Serena elbowed Zevran, both of them eyeing the two mages intently. Morrigan appeared almost entranced as the elven mage healed her cut, his tan skin a sharp contrast to her own pale flesh. "I apologize if this stings," Alim murmured, his hand glowing on her arm still.
"'Tis fine," Morrigan replied, her mouth almost a smile. Catching the two rogues attention on her finally, her half smile quickly turned to a deep frown. "Something I might help you with, Serena?"
"Oh, uh..." Serena flushed, grasping about her. She picked up one of the looted gauntlets from Jarvia's corpse. "These uh, have... lyrium on them, right?"
"Nice save," Zevran breathed, continuing to root through the rest of the bodies so as to avoid the witch's keen gaze.
The witch smiled briefly again at Alim in thanks before moving to kneel at Serena's side. "'Tis drakeskin, I believe, with... yes, that is lyrium that runs across the sides, I can sense it." Her golden eyes found Serena. "You should wear them, sell the ones you have. These are infinitely better."
Replacing her old gauntlets with the new lyrium-laced ones, Serena felt the strange rush of magic colliding with her; the senses that the Lady of the Forest had opened up in her were expanding once again with these new gloves. Her mind felt cloudy, confused, like it had when the spirit had touched her...
"Interesting." Alim pointed to her upper arm, where a brownish leaf pattern could be seen, rippling gently, like a moving tattoo. Slower than before, the markings disappeared, fading back into her skin until it was perfect again. "Does that happen often when you touch lyrium?"
"No. I don't know." Serena exchanged quick glances with Morrigan. "I don't think so?"
"It happened once before. Briefly," Morrigan said, her mouth pursed in deep thought. "A spirit gifted her with a more intense connection to her ranger abilities."
Alim nodded. "Ah, so that's what I sensed. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I knew you weren't another mage, but there was... something strange about you."
"Ah, yeah. Thanks." Serena flipped her wrists around, examining her skin for any more of the leaf pattern, almost disappointed that it had faded so soon. It looked pretty, if not a bit strange. "Do you think... uh, what do you think that means?"
"It could mean anything... or nothing. Perhaps you are just sensitive to lyrium? Or perhaps your abilities have been intensified?" Alim shrugged. "One way to find out. What can you sense from here?"
"I... uh..." Serena closed her eyes, trying to focus her mind on any animals in the general vicinity. "There's... some nugs... a group of them just above on the surface..."
"Call them to you," Alim urged her excitedly. "Call to them with your mind."
"I... from here? I don't think..." But at Alim's obvious enthusiasm at the idea, she relented. "Oh, alright." Serena closed her eyes again, intent on doing as Alim said, though she thought it unlikely the little pink animals would be inclined to agree to her request. Pushing out with her mind, she called to the nugs, demanding their presence at her side. "They... they're coming. They're uh... all coming." She couldn't help the surprise in her voice.
"Well then, I guess that answers that question, doesn't it?" Alim grinned, patting Serena on the back, as if she were a student who had gotten a correct answer. "Definitely keep those gloves."
"Gah! By all the beards of my ancestors! How did you... where did you come from?" The back of Jarvia's carta hideout emptied out through a tunnel that happened to run right through the shop of Dagna's father- a brutish looking man named Janar. The dark haired dwarf stomped forward angrily, hands waving. "Y-you made a hole in my wall! And where did all these bloody nugs come from?"
At his mention of them, another cluster of nugs started cheeping madly, hopping towards Serena as she stepped out of the broken bit of wall.
"Ah, sorry about that..." She smiled apologetically. "Did you know this leads underground to Jarvia's carta in Dust Town?"
"It... it does? Jarvia, you say? Oh, sod it all. If people find out about this, my business will be ruined!" He booted one of the squealing nugs across the room where it landed in another squeaking pile of pink. Still more nugs appeared to be hopping into the shop, intent on reaching Serena. "And that's assuming I can get all these bloody things out of my damn armory!"
The rest of Serena's companions stepped out of the makeshift tunnel opening and Serena could hear Alim laughing. "Oh boy, you really did call all of them, didn't you?"
"This is your sodding fault?" Janar bellowed. "Blessed Stone... First you bust my wall... You know, I... I don't want to have anything to do with this! Just grab these damn nugs and get your sodding arses out of my shop!" The man turned away, muttering darkly about criminals and cloudheads.
"Right, uh... come on everyone... Let's get out of this man's way." Serena looked pointedly at the nugs, focusing her energy on commanding them out. "That means you little guys, too... Out! Out of the shop!"
"Maker's breath, Serena," Alistair muttered, picking up a clutch of the pink bunny-pigs in his arms. "There must be over a hundred in here... what did you do? Call every nug in the city?"
"Basically." Serena shrugged sheepishly, gathering up a group of nugs and carrying them out of Janar's store. "I didn't think it would be so... many. They must breed like bunnies, you know?" She sighed, shooing more of the pink things out the door. "Ugh, do they ever stop squeaking?"
They could still here Dagna's father griping as they exited, a herd of fat pink nugs in their wake as they made their way back out into the Commons. Passing dwarves peered at them curiously, some openly laughing at the nugs squealed happily around them, oblivious to their growing irritation.
"Can't you just... tell them to go away?" Alistair asked, shaking a nug off his boot. "We can't go back to the palace like this."
"I'll handle it," Morrigan said. Shifting quickly, she shook out her limbs as her body elongated to become the sleek black wolf again. She then let out a ear-splitting howl and the nugs quickly dispersed, scattering in every direction to escape the furry black beast now licking it's chops.
"Always so dramatic, eh, Morrigan?" Serena murmured, rolling her eyes. "Just don't eat any of them."
As if I would, the wolf replied, coming to walk at Serena's side. They smell worse than your mutt. Glancing at Morrigan sharply, Serena paused, clapping a hand over her mouth. The others looked at her, confusion reading clearly on their faces.
"Oh my goodness. I... I can... I can hear you," she whispered.