Author's Note: After a rather long hiatus but much needed break, Tricking the Past is back! Chapters resume Monday and Thursday. Thanks everyone for the continuing support and feedback- you keep me writing!
Chapter 71 - Betrayed, But Not Surprised
After Kallian's breakdown, they rejoined the others in one of the passageways, where Alim and a returned Zevran were helping a few prisoners. Binding their wounds and prepping them for exiting the dungeons, Serena supposed, when she noticed Morrigan was among them. The witch gave her a brief nod before returning her attention to Kallian, who had a health poultice pressed to her badly bruised arm.
"They're going to help Soris and the others escape while we... take care of Howe and his pet mage." Alistair slipped closer, his mouth nearly brushing her ear. "Fergus went ahead, to scout the rest of the dungeon."
"And you let him go? Alone? What if... what if he finds Howe?" Serena frowned, pulling Alistair with her. "We have to find him. Now." As an afterthought, she called over her shoulder, "Get them out, and we'll meet whoever is left back at Anora's guest room. Go! Go now." She saw Alim and the others scramble up, pulling the two elves and a few other prisoners up between them.
"Wynne is near the kitchens," Zevran said quickly, his amber eyes focused on Serena. "As soon as we get them to her and Leliana, I am coming back to you. Had I known your brother would..."
"Yes, I didn't even think he might try to find Howe himself. I should have-" Serena cursed, her mind frantic with worry. "It doesn't matter now, I just have to find him. Take care, all of you. I'll see you upstairs."
It was the last door on the right that they found Fergus. He was propped against the wall awkwardly, his body slumped nearly to the floor. He appeared knocked out and Serena felt her chest tighten painfully as she swooped down to him, fear gripping her with its icy hands.
"Be okay... be okay... sweet Maker, please be okay..." Serena pressed her hand to his neck, searching for a pulse. Thankfully, it was there, though weak. "You stupid, stupid man, just wandering off like that..."
"Well, look here, boys. Bryce Cousland's little spitfire. All grown up and still playing the man."
Serena whipped around, her eyes burning. She knew that voice. "Rendon Howe." She pulled her dagger, signaling Alistair to protect her brother behind her. It was only the two of them, and her brother was what mattered. "The man, the myth... the monster."
Howe's smile was as slimy as it was cruel. "It would appear that you have made something of yourself, after all. Your father would be proud." His lip curled, revealing yellowed teeth. "I, on the other hand, want you dead more than ever."
"Well, here I am," Serena mocked, hoping her voice didn't betray her fear. Both her daggers were out now, and she saw Howe's dark eyes drift down to them as he sneered. "Or shall I turn around so you can stab me in the back like my father?"
"He was a traitor to me and a coward to his nation! Trips to Orlais... gifts from old enemies; all while I sank in obscurity..." Howe ran a hand through his graying hair before he pulled a short sword from the sheath at his back. "Your family squandered the glory that was rightfully mine. How suitable that their deaths should raise me to the ear of a king."
He brandished the sword at her then, his eyes were two angry little slits in his face. The sword jabbed at her with every other word he spoke, even though she was half a room away. "If you think you can take this from me, that I will allow it, you are very... much... mistaken!"
Before Serena realized it, they were running at each other from across the room, fueled by rage, both of them with their weapons drawn. She distantly heard Alistair's voice, shouting nonsense, the sound of metal on metal as she clashed with one of Howe's guardsmen who foolishly thought to protect his master.
Quickly parrying his blow, she stabbed him deep in the gut with her second dagger before kicking him away, intent on reaching Howe. Her blood boiled with the audacity of his words, that her family had ever squandered anything... her father had been a good man who always put duty first, to his family, to his people, to the country... She wouldn't have been a Warden otherwise!
She reached Howe in what felt like seconds, her daggers meeting his blade viciously. He was quick for an old man; perhaps he was likewise aided by his own fury. She sensed Peanut's unique signature nearby, and within seconds the hound was beside her, barreling into any guardsmen stupid enough to try to get in their path. The dungeon filled with shrieks and screams as more people entered the fray; a confusion of voices, some Serena recognized, melded together.
Zevran was nearby, cursing in Antivan, slicing his way through the melee towards her from across the chamber. Morrigan was there too, and Alim; their spells shooting out in every direction, disabling anyone who dared come near Fergus or the others.
Fergus!
It was barely a thought before Howe was there, right in front of her. His blade, already covered in someone's blood, was swiftly arching towards her and she parried it, though just barely. He was remarkably strong, relying heavily on two heavy twin blades instead of Serena's lighter, quicker movements. It went back and forth for what seemed like too many precious seconds before he slipped under her defenses, knocking one of her daggers askew.
"Your parent's died on their knees," Howe growled, using this opening to grab at Serena's neck. His hand was like iron on her throat, and she gaped, clawing at it uselessly with her free hand while the other held onto her precious silverite dagger with all her strength. "Your brother's corpse rots in Ostagar; and his brat was burned on a scrap heap, along with his Antivan whore of a wife. And what's left? A fool husk of a daughter, likely to end her days under a rock in the blighted Deep Roads." His hand tightened on Serena's neck and she felt her air cut off completely as she tried to shift her weight, desperate to shake the man off and grab some air.
Howe leaned in, his face practically a snarl, his breath hot and fetid in Serena's face. "Even the Wardens are gone. You are the last of nothing. This is pointless. You've lost."
"Doesn't... matter..." Serena gasped. "You... forget-"
"What was that, girl?" Howe spat in her face and she cringed, unable to do anything but gasp for air. "No snappy retort this time?"
"You forget I have-" The words were a whispered mumble, barely coherant, and Howe leaned in further in order to hear, practically nose-to-nose with her now.
"Say it again," he commanded, shaking her like a rag doll. Serena couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't-
"She said 'You forget I have people who love me.'" Alistair's clear voice, now steeped in anger, rang out from behind the arl. A limping but furious Fergus was beside him, his sword already drawn.
"Unhand my sister, you murderer."
A look like lightning passed between the two men as Howe recognized he had missed a Cousland, but it was only a moment, and then Fergus was plunging his sword in Howe's side, so deep it appeared to nearly disappear within the gray-haired man.
Serena dropped to the ground, practically collapsed, her dagger still held tightly in her hand somehow. Her face slipped from purples to deep reds as she sucked in grateful lungfuls of air. Her head was still swimming, but she was gaining footing. Backing against the wall, she glanced up at the cringing, injured form of Howe as her brother and Alistair towered over him.
"It would appear as if my corpse has risen from the grave to exact its revenge on you, Howe." Fergus' words were puncuated with a cry from the crippled arl as Fergus twisted the blade. "For my wife, who was taken from me too soon... by you." Another twist, another scream. Howe was practically on his knees now. "For my son, who will never grow up to be a man... because of you."
"For our parents, who protected us," Serena cried, plunging her own dagger into the man. Her voice was hoarse from being choked, but she couldn't stop, not now that they had him. "Who taught us honor, and to never cower before traitorous scum like you."
"Maker... spit on you... both! Your family..." Howe spluttered, blood trinkling out the side of his mouth. "I... deserved... more."
With a final gasp, he slumped back to the ground, and Serena plunged Duncan's dagger deep in his chest. "If I thought you had a heart-" she whispered, pressing it deep until his blood flowed out over her hands. "I'd rip it out and feed it to my hound." She ignored the tears that slipped down her nose, mingling with the blood and gore on the dead man's breastplate.
A fine tremor set in her arm as she released the hilt, the tears coming fiercely now, hot and wet and salty. Then strong arms were pulling her back up, holding her firmly, keeping her safe as they always had. Alistair. His smell; sweat and pine and something else, something musky and uniquely him, reached her nose and she almost sighed.
"The mage is dead, Zevran got him." He guided her to the doorway where she could see the others were waiting. "They got all the prisoners out. Leliana and Wynne took them to Eamon's." She felt Fergus' hand at her back, silent but soothing, letting her know she wasn't alone in her grief.
"We should grab Anora and go. This place is crawling with guards," Alim said, his dark eyes flipping around the dungeon quickly. Serena took one last look at the carnage, at the man who'd destroyed her childhood home, who had destroyed her brother's family and felt a small lightness in her chest, relief mixing with retribution until the two were almost the same. Turning away, she grabbed Alistair's hand and followed the others out.
They found Anora quickly enough, despite the enormity of the estate. The magical seal that previously glowed bright and blue no longer sealed the door shut with its spellmaster dead. Erlina was pacing nearby, her agitation practically a perfume. A stack of linens folded in her hands, presumably so she didn't stand out too much.
"What took so long?" The elven woman eyed them warily, as if they were up to something. Serena resisted the urge to shove her dagger into Erlina's throat. After everything they'd been through, of course the pedantic maid would find something to quarrel about. "It has been over an hour... the guards are becoming restless. Asking questions." She frowned at them, eyes narrowed. "You are covered in blood!"
"Why don't you shout it from the rooftops, my dear?" Zevran hissed angrily. "I am certain there are guardsmen who did not hear you yet."
"You didn't exactly ask us to pick the queen a bouquet of flowers, you know," Serena added, her voice haughty. The elf brought out the absolute worst in her, it seemed. Turning to the door, she rapped quickly. "M'lady, if you're ready, we should leave. Now."
The large wooden door creaked open and a soldier stood facing Serena.
"My thanks," Anora said shortly, her voice echoing strangely from inside the helm.
"Aren't you a little short for a guard?"
"Ha ha," Anora replied. "Very funny. I did this for you, I'll have you know." Her voice still carried it's distinct coolness, despite the disguise. "It wouldn't do to announce my presence to the entire castle. Especially the guard."
"And why not? Half of them are dead, anyway." Serena half-shrugged. Her arm felt tight, probably a pulled muscle from the exertion with Howe downstairs. She neck and shoulders burned, too, and she knew she would be hurting in the morning. "The rest are simple men. Shouldn't they be made aware of their treasonous actions?"
Anora flipped up the visor to her helm and sighed, obviously annoyed. "Must we discuss this now, Serena?"
"Yes, we must."
Another sigh, accompanied this time by Anora's bright blue eyes rolling to the ceiling. "If Howe's people find me, I'll be killed. And my people will insist on escorting me back to the palace, where my father... may also have me killed." She spoke slowly, as if explaining to a child.
Zevran snorted, murmuring an Antivan curse Serena knew was the equivelent of what came out of a horse's backside.
"We need to secure my lady," Erlina pleaded, her eyes flipping from Serena to Anora and back again. The tension between the two women was palpalable, and it was obvious Anora needed Serena and her fellows much more than they needed the queen. "She is most important."
"That's debatable," Serena snapped back at Erlina, thinking of Alistair. "She won't be stopping the Blight on her own, I imagine." The elf looked as if she were willing to protest the many virtues of the queen again when Serena held up a hand to silence the elf. "Enough. We're going." She turned to Anora. "We'll talk when we get back to Eamon's."
It wasn't a request, and Anora knew it. Frowning slightly, she nodded, dropping the visor on her helm again to hide her face. Serena wished she could commanded Peanut to relieve himself at her feet.
They moved quickly then through the estate; Serena directing Zevran and Peanut ahead to scout the passageways for the rest of them. The hallways were strangely quiet, as if suddenly all the guards had found a very interesting card game to belong to.
It was through the next door they found where all the guards had been hiding.
"Warden! In the name of the regent, I am placing you under arrest for the murder of Rendon Howe and his men-at-arms!" It was Cauthrien, in all her shrewish glory. Her dark eyes flicked to Serena's blue, and a small half-smile twisted her plain features. "Surrender, and you may be shown mercy."
"Zevran, get Fergus and Alistair away," Serena murmured under her breath in Antivan, knowing her brother and the assassin would understand. "They matter most." She heard the blonde assassin curse, but knew he would follow her command. To Cauthrien, she spoke clearly, and in the King's Tongue.
"I'm here to free Anora," Serena called. "She was being held against her will by Howe." She allowed herself a small, ironic smile. "I'm sure you knew that already, though?"
"Enough with your lies, Warden!" Cauthrien shouted, clearly shaken by Serena's words of condemnation. "If the queen is here, let her speak for herself! Or have you magically spirited her away? Turned her into a mouse, perhaps? How convenient is it that you invoke her name, but are unable to have her here to support your flimsy lies!"
"Oh, Cauthrien, thank the Maker you're here!" Anora bumbled forward then, awkward in her guardsmen's disguise. "These Wardens kidnapped me and my maid! They placed me in this uniform so my people could not rescue me! Oh, you have to help-"
The queen was pitch perfect. The weepy sounding voice, with just a touch of true fear... nevermind it was she and that blasted handmaiden of hers that had bid them come in the first place! If a stare could kill, the look Serena shot at the queen then would have left her a pile of ashes. She could hear Zevran cursing, a steady stream of Antivan bubbling out from his lips. She hadn't known the Antivans had so many words that meant 'bitch'.
Cauthrien caught Serena's eye next, and something like triumph flashed there, if only for a second. Serena could have kicked Anora for how much they set them back with her little melodrama. If she ever got out of this, she would kick Anora, queen or not, preferably in the face.
Then Cauthrien's guards moved, and Serena lost track of everything in the ensuing madness. The queen disappeared in the throng of guards as Serena and her fellows took up their weapons, ready to fight.
It was brutal, the men taking the queen's supposed kidnapping personally, it seemed. Great swords flashed and it was everything she could do not to be cleaved into two by a square-shouldered man that easily could have passed as a bear. Cauthrien's dark head appeared nearby and she saw her blade clash with Alistair's father's sword, the two nearly matched as her blade was that much larger.
He used his shield to block her from taking Serena, but it was her loss as her focus shifted and the large man knocked her flat. She felt the man's weight as he dropped onto her back, holding her down as she struggled. Rope was being tied tightly around her wrists, cutting deep into the sensitive flesh there.
"Bring the Wardens... Loghain doesn't care about the other two..."
Two? Serena heard Cauthrien's words just before something slammed into the back of her head. There was a loud crack, the sound of her skull busting open, and her head exploded in pain and then darkness.
And then nothing at all as she blacked out.