One Step Ahead Chapter 3
As Varric trudged through the snow alongside Cassandra and Aaron, he looked up at the Breach and sighed. Dwarves just weren't meant for this sort of thing.
Dwarves didn't dream, at least not without a demon forcing them—in fact, they weren't connected to the Fade at all. The sum of Varric's entire Surfacer life, which included consorting with mages and exploring the Fade, had driven a wedge between himself and the dwarves of Orzammar. Even so, there were still some things all dwarves could agree on:
Sodding magic!
Magic ran a close second for being the source of all problems, only behind the fundamental nature of people. Dwarves hated it, with good reason, and being disconnected from that nonsense was part of why they considered themselves so superior. Yet the entire dwarven economy depended on magic. Oh, the irony.
Between this green-tinted nightmare, the eerie blue glow of Lyrium, and, of course, the horrific hue of Red Lyrium, Varric was starting to wonder how many more colors of the magical rainbow were going to try to kill him. He bet it would be yellow. Yellow always seemed like a dodgy color.
Varric had seen every kind of weird, dangerous thing running with Hawke, and even more on expeditions and adventures outside of Kirkwall. Demons and dragons were practically passé at this point. After all of that, Varric liked to think he had grown a thicker skin for this kind of craziness, but if he was being honest, right now he was feeling very alone and frightened.
Not that he would ever let it show, of course.
Aaron, the mysterious 'knight' that was rumored to have dropped out of the Fade, was walking not three feet away, and he seemed to be staring down at Varric. It was downright unnerving, not knowing what he was thinking.
Aaron was a very tall man, despite his current slouch, and his size was seemingly magnified by a massive gray mantle fringed with a bear pelt. His body was almost entirely hidden by the cloth, which nearly scraped the snow. A fully enclosed helmet covered by a broad hood disguised his features completely. Behind the front slit of the mantle, he could see fleeting flashes of heavy silverite armor and dull, dark shackles. Words like "brooding" and "sinister" and even "insectile" came to Varric's mind.
Varric finally couldn't stand the staring and the awkward silence any longer.
"My full name's Varric Tethras, by the way. I'm a businessman, writer, and if I do say so myself, raconteur extraordinaire." Varric said, putting on what he hoped was a disarming smile as Cassandra shot him a dirty look. "So, what's your side of the story? I hear you're the one at the center of all this."
The fugitive's pelt moved as his manacled hands emerged from it. They were completely covered by ornate silverite gauntlets that had cruel spikes at the knuckles and finger-sheaths that tapered to long, clawlike points. Even through the gauntlet, a strange energy lit his left hand with a sickly green glow.
Varric flinched, but all the man did was cross his fists over his chest and give Varric a proper dwarven bow. "My name is Aaron. Sertu nal jornun da—I am but a wanderer."
That... that was ancient dwarven, all right. Despite Aaron's slow cadence and weirdly resonant voice, his accent was probably better than Varric could have tried to fake. "The giant is dwarfier than I am!" Varric muttered incredulously. Louder, he said, "No need for the formalities, I'm a Surfacer born and bred. But what brought you here, anyway?"
"I was searching for someone who was supposed to be at the Conclave." said Aaron.
Cassandra's head whipped around to look at Aaron. "What?! You never said this! You claimed not to remember what happened at the Conclave!"
"I don't remember what happened there, but I do remember why I was there. It's no small distinction." Aaron said pointedly.
"And then you claim to have conveniently developed selective amnesia! Really, you expect us to believe that?! It is obviously a lie!" Cassandra said, her face twisting in anger.
Aaron held up his marked hand. "You don't think I've tried to imagine a hundred different ways I could have gotten this? If I wished to lie, I could just pick any of my hypotheses. I could say that I interrupted some maleficar assassin's ritual, and was struck by the blowback. Or that I picked up a cursed object by mistake. I could claim I gained it because I was physically in the Fade, or some other such equally plausible and unfalsifiable lie. After all, no one lives who could contradict me. However, the truth of the matter is that I simply do not remember what happened. That may or may not be a natural phenomenon. Regardless, it would be irresponsible to speculate anything without evidence."
Varric had to stop himself from gaping. If Aaron was trying to appear more trustworthy, he certainly wasn't doing himself any favors. Cassandra seemed to have forgotten what she was about to say, but she quickly recovered.
"We will discover the truth, and see if it matches your story." Cassandra said. "I had assumed you were there because you are an apostate fighting in the Mage–Templar War. Who were you searching for?"
"I was never a party to the war. I was searching for a woman at the Conclave, that I might speak to her about an urgent matter. She is called Lady Nightingale, the Left Hand of the Divine, or Sister Leliana. Seeker Cassandra, you said you were the Right Hand of the Divine, yes? If you survived, isn't it possible she did as well?" Aaron asked.
"I was not actually at the Divine's side in the Temple of Sacred Ashes, and nor was she." Cassandra said, her words carrying a freight of bitterness and loathing. "Believe me, you will get your chance to talk with Sister Leliana during your interrogation and trial."
Varric frowned at Cassandra. He sympathized with her current situation, of course, despite his own interrogation. She wasn't just a close-minded thug, or at least that had been his impression of her. But under this kind of strain? She was paranoid, furious, close to cracking. Not in any kind of shape to be thinking clearly or making decisions. She was barely in a mental state to be attending the Divine's funeral, much less fighting demons and investigating apostates. That couldn't stand, not with so much depending on them.
Varric interposed himself between the two—which would have been more effective if they hadn't both been able to see and reach completely over him—and spoke up before things got too heated.
"Can we all just settle down for a moment? We all have a job to do, and that's to get to this rift. It's not too far ahead, just up that ridge." said Varric, pointing.
Aaron nodded, and Cassandra looked affronted but said nothing.
They fell into an uneasy silence as they ascended the steep slope.
Despite his intervention, Varric was maddeningly curious about the so-called Knight of Andraste. What could he possibly have wanted from Lady Nightingale? What was the urgent matter he wanted to talk about with her, and could it be related to the Breach?
Speculation ran through Varric's mind as he watched Aaron. Oddities just abounded about him. It seemed he didn't want to confirm or deny that he was a apostate mage, which was somewhat understandable if he was. But what apostates wear full suits of incredibly expensive silverite plate armor, or waltz into chantries to turn themselves in? Apostates were usually poor and solitary, and avoided the Chantry at all costs. The disguise, combined with his blunt, matter-of-fact manner, practically screamed that he was a Qunari or a Tal-Vashoth, the rebel Qunari that liked to cut off their horns. It wouldn't surprise Varric, given Aaron's height, and it would also explain his strange, deliberate, foreign-sounding manner of speech. Even his name sounded vaguely Qunari-ish, with that long 'Aa' sound they used so much. Still, Varric couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.
Every apparent inconsistency just added to Varric's sense of intrigue. As he puzzled over it, the voices of various people, all imagined, offered their opinions and advice to him.
Aveline would have wanted to haul him off to a magistrate, and launch a by-the-book investigation whose crucial clue would end up being a long-forgotten piece of paperwork somewhere. Even if he's innocent of this crime, he's definitely hiding something. Nobody can cover their tracks completely, she'd say.
Fenris would have wanted to kill him, just on principle—He's a mage, the Breach is made of magic, and you want him tampering with it? Madness.
Hawke would have thought he was probably a patsy or hireling that had gotten in way over his head. She'd cleaned up plenty of similar messes. I can sympathize, she'd say. How many times have we tried to do a simple job which turned out to be a trap, or got way too complicated, or ended up doing the opposite of what we were trying for?
Varric dismissed them; just because they talked to him didn't mean he always took their advice. Aaron was trouble, no doubt, it just remained to be seen if he was trouble in the same vein as a person like Hawke, or a person like Anders.
Now that's a disturbing thought.
Varric shuddered, and turned his attention to more pressing matters—like what the hell he was going to do about this mess. They passed the ravaged corpses of two soldiers and a templar as they crested the hill, which was dotted with fires.
Part of a building atop the hill came into view, now blasted into unrecognizable rubble, and the clangs and shouts of combat rang through the air. Nearby, a dozen soldiers were fighting a group of shades that were scattered around a floating, crackling cluster of green crystals, which is apparently what a tear into the Fade looked like.
Leliana and the apostate Solas were there as well, assisting the soldiers from a distance with magic and arrows. Leliana's distinctive white-fletched arrows unerringly found their targets in the chaos, and Solas' elegant, efficient movements sent purple orbs of lightning crashing into the shades. Together, they were doing more damage than the rest of the soldiers combined, and the shades had apparently taken notice. Three split off from the others and headed their way.
Not to be shown up with Aaron standing right beside him, Varric unslung Bianca and set to work, while Cassandra charged into the fray. She pounded the shade nearest Leliana with her shield, knocking it flat. With two quick thrusts of her sword, it was destroyed. Varric sighted down Bianca's length and pulled the trigger, feeling the familiar jump in his arms as the bolt flew out to strike the shade rearing up for a slash at Cassandra.
It was tough picking targets without accidentally hitting a soldier, but before long, they had turned the tide, and the last shade burst into motes of Fade-stuff. The rift reacted, bursting into an ethereal, billowing sheet of green light.
Aaron slowly came forward, seeming to be very wary of the surrounding soldiers, and Solas rushed to his side. Aaron tried to draw away, but Solas reached into the pelt and seized his shackled arm.
"Hurry! We haven't much time!" Solas said, pulling the larger mage towards the rift with surprising speed.
Solas thrust Aaron's hand at the rift, and the mark reacted, sparking to life. Brilliant streams of yellow-green energy burst out of the mark and connected with the rift. There was a crackle of static accompanied by a hum of increasing pitch. Something made the hair on the back of Varric's neck rise, and then the rift suddenly shattered, its unnatural green glow leaving the surroundings.
Varric stared in disbelief. Yesterday, he had watched for hours as various mages and soldiers tried their damnedest but couldn't produce the slightest effect on the rifts, which seemed to be bottomless wells of demons. Yet Aaron had destroyed one in mere moments.
Holy shit. He's the real deal.
The soldiers looked at each other and muttered lowly, relieved but unsure of what to say or do.
Cassandra bull-rushed through the pack of soldiers, battering them aside like rag dolls to reach Aaron at the center of the gaggle. "We are going to the Breach. Now."
Varric jogged up to them. "Hold on, Seeker, we really need to think through this-"
"I agree," said Leliana, who slinked between the soldiers. Slinking and sneaking was what she did best, being a spymaster and all. At least, a better spymaster than Varric, by all reports. "We need to consider how best to position our forces to assail the Breach."
"What exactly is there to consider!?" Cassandra roared. "The Breach grows larger with each passing hour! Most Holy's murderer is in our custody! The sooner we close the Breach, the fewer people die and the sooner we can bring him to justice!"
Leliana visibly winced. "Justinia was my purpose as well, Cassandra, but this is not the time! We cannot afford to make mistakes—or alienate allies! We must keep Aaron alive and cooperating at all costs! If he dies, then there will be no stopping the Breach!"
It occurred to Varric that Aaron wasn't reacting to Leliana at all. Did he not even recognize the person that he had been looking for? No one had used her name yet, should Varric tell him in the hopes of finding out what the big issue was that brought him here in the first place?
"I may have some insight on that," Solas interjected before Varric could make up his mind, joining the circle of people who had gathered around. "I believe that by sealing the Breach, or at least preventing it from spreading, we can also prevent the mark from spreading and killing Aaron."
"Please. We must hurry. I want to do this." Aaron said, leaning on a half-collapsed wall for support. "I understand the need for caution, but I can feel myself weakening again. We may not get another chance if we don't act now."
"Right. Cassandra, fortify here with the other soldiers. I will tell Cullen it's time to gather the rest of our forces, everything we can muster." Leliana said, turning on her heel and sprinting off before Cassandra could say a word.
Well, shit. This was really happening. They were going to stop the Breach and save the world. Varric should have felt excited, or nervous, but instead he just felt a rising dread about what would happen after the dust settled, assuming they even survived.
Despite his apprehension, Varric knew he couldn't just walk out on this one, no matter how dangerous it was. He had to know more, or his curiosity would eat him alive. There was a story here, and he would get to the bottom of it.
After all, somebody had to write all this weird shit down, and who better than Varric Tethras?
A/N
Varric's got his own theories about who this Aaron guy is. Are they right? Or is he something else? Leave a comment with your ideas about who or what Aaron could be! I don't think it would be revealing too much to say I'd be shocked if anyone can guess correctly before the big reveal in Aaron's POV chapter, which is still a ways off. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!