Chapter 16: Trespasser
Theo remembered the future. He'd seen a green sky and hunks of red lyrium growing out of a shattered earth. He'd fought off the Venatori and the red templars, and eventually defeated Corypheus. There had always been a sense of urgency to the ordeal: defeat Corypheus before he defeated them. But it wasn't like this. Theo stumbled through the Crossroads in a daze, expecting to meet a Qunari army on the march at every turn they took. They emerged into the store room in Halamshiral and he listened for the sounds of a battle in progress, and when he heard nothing he thought they were too late; the thought did not leave his mind until he was sitting in his room with his advisors, Bull, Krem, Varric, Cassandra, and Dorian.
"Qunari, in Halamshiral?" Cullen asked, brow furrowed deeply. "We've had no disturbances."
"The body of our friend has been… dealt with," Leliana said. "The palace has been scoured. That is the only Eluvian on the grounds, which begs the question why he was the only one to come through."
"These documents mention Agents of Fen'Harel," Bull said, pulling out what he'd salvaged. "These Qunari, they want to come through, but whoever these agents are, they're making it tough. It's pretty impressive, really."
"The Elven trickster god is stymying a Qunari army? Why didn't the Imperium think to hire him first?" Dorian asked. He sat next to Theo on a too-delicate settee, resting his hand on Theo's thigh. "It does explain why they attacked us on sight, without giving us a chance to explain anything."
Silence descended over them like a thick blanket. "Whatever was in those elven ruins is making my mark flare up worse than ever," Theo said at last. He tore his gaze away from his hand. "I need to stop this."
"The Exalted Council will not be pleased," Cassandra said, leaning against the wall. She'd shed her vestments on the bed and wore a simple tunic and skirt. Her boots, though, were the broken in, scuffed pair she normally wore.
"They can be dead," Theo offered as an alternative. He ran his hand through his hair and leaned back on the settee.
"We can't take on a Qunari army without any warning," Cullen said.
"I don't intend to." Theo clenched his hand and sat up straighter, looking around. "I go after them. Find out what they're up to, find out if we do need an army, and what Fen'Harel has to do with any of this." What he has to do with my mark. "If I come back, then we make a plan. If I don't, the Council gets what it wants."
"That isn't true," Josephine objected.
"It is. Teagan wants the Inquisition gone; Cyril wants to control us, and I'd rather disband the Inquisition before I let him get his hands on it. This is what needs to be done." He stood. "I'm going back through the mirror."
"And you're an idiot if you think you're going alone," Dorian snapped.
Theo sighed. He knew better than to think his husband would let him do something so foolish, but also knew better than to argue with Dorian. In the end Bull and Varric agreed to join them. Cassandra and Josephine worked out a plan to appease the Council for a little longer; Cullen, Leliana, and Krem broke off to discuss security and gathering information. Theo ran things through his head: Empress Celene had remained in Val Royeaux. King Alistair was still in Denerim. He looked around the room and his heart leapt further up into his throat.
"Cassandra…" he began. Everyone looked at him. "You've kept up with your swordsmanship skills?"
"Of course. I'm not an idiot," she snapped, though she was grinning.
"You should probably come with me," he said. "I don't think Thedas can handle having to name a new Divine again, in such a short span, if this Qunari thing comes to fruition."
The weight of his words settled over everyone. "Blessed Andraste," Josephine whispered, sinking back onto a chair.
"I'll stay and help Ruffles and Nightingale," Varric volunteered. "I'm a shitty politician, but I can be entertaining and distracting."
So an hour later, after forcing himself to eat something, Theo and his small party stood before the Eluvian once more. Cullen had placed a guard on the mirror, who saluted as Theo stepped through into the Crossroads again. He'd wondered how he'd know which mirror to choose, but didn't have to think for long. He caught sight of one last Qunari disappearing through a mirror just down the stone steps before them.
"Know where this one goes, Boss?" Bull asked, and Theo shook his head. "Shit. That's what I was afraid of." But he still followed as Theo headed toward the Eluvian.
He didn't know what to expect, since the last time the mirror had taken him to lost elven ruins. This Eluvian did not disappoint. He stepped over the bottom of the mirror frame and into the stone and darkness of the Deep Roads.
"This is cheerful," he remarked when Bull, Cassandra, and Dorian joined him. He looked around and tried not to think of the weight of the rock overhead, or where they might even be. The Deep Roads stretched thousands of miles all over Thedas, and the Eluvians and the Crossroads were not straight paths. They could be right under Halamshiral right now, or they could be beneath Ferelden or even the Free Marches. There was no way of knowing. All they could do was remember the way back to the Eluvian if they had to make an escape.
"Qunari in the Deep Roads?" Cassandra asked, her voice soft. She was dressed in resplendent golden armor that looked ceremonial, though she assured everyone that she'd made sure it was fully functional. She had her shield at the ready.
"I'm as confused as you, Seeker," Bull told her. "But Qunari are practical bastards. If we can use it, we do. That's why it's not uncommon to see Viddathari: human or elf converts to the Qun. They find some sort of peace or purpose, we find a resource. Everyone wins."
They pressed forward, Theo taking point as the stealthiest of the group. Torches had been wedged into crevices in the walls, lighting the way and casting strange shadows in the gloom. His heart pounded and his hand throbbed. He paused at an overlook. "Sentries," he whispered. He squinted, but it was hard to see too far in the dim light. "And… is that mining equipment?" Dorian settled next to him and scanned the area as well before nodding.
"Iron Bull," Dorian asked as they moved on. "I'm not about to get into an argument about the brutish way you treat your mages. But you don't have anything quite like templars, do you?"
"The Arvaarad holds the leash," Bull told him. "But they don't disrupt magic they way southern templars do."
"Then why do I sense some of that lovely southern hospitality nearby?" Dorian asked.
Bull opened his mouth with a quick retort, but Cassandra stopped him. "I feel it too. There is a templar nearby." She took the lead this time, sword poised to strike and shield tucked close to her body. She stopped by a mining shelter built into the rock. "This is a lyrium mine," she said suddenly, looking around.
"And you're a trespasser."
Cassandra brandished her sword and Theo nocked an arrow. Next to him, Dorian held a flickering ball of flame in his hand as a pale, gaunt man emerged from the shadows. His head was shaved, and his cheeks hollow. "Tell me what you mean, templar," she spat.
The man put up both his hands, palms out, to show he was weaponless. "Of course, your Perfection," he said with an ironic grin that quickly faded.
"Explain yourself before I run you through with my sword," Cassandra snarled.
"You'll do it anyway," he said. He ushered them into his mining shelter. He sat on an overturned crate and prodded the ashes of a dead fire with an iron poker. "I'm Jerran. A Viddathari," he explained. "Joined the Qun when shit went pear-shaped with the Chantry just after Kirkwall. Thought they… you had it right all along," he said with a nod to Bull. "I needed the purpose. I needed to master lyrium withdrawal without being around temptation. The Qun helped with that, and then the Breach happened. Let's just say, the Qun's response to it is leaving me feeling a little disillusioned."
"So you're helping us?" Theo asked. "And what did you mean, we're trespassers?"
"And who's giving the orders?" Bull interjected.
The templar sighed. "My life's forfeit no matter what I do. May as well go down fighting. You're trespassing in the Viddasala's lyrium mine."
Bull kicked a rock pile and swore in Qunlat. "If you know something, we should probably hear it," Cassandra told him.
"Senior Ben-Hassrath agent in charge of stopping dangerous magic. If she wants lyrium so badly she's mining it, we're beyond fucked," Bull growled.
"Again, it's not my place to question the Qunari treatment of mages," Dorian said, and Bull wheeled around and stared him down. "But if your dangerous things are kept chained and leashed, why would this Viddasala need lyrium?"
Jerran stood and went to the door. He stared out into the gloom. "You're a dangerous man, Inquisitor," he began and Theo sighed. Not this shit again. "Your mark is magic no one understands. The Viddasala studies dangerous magic to learn how to best destroy it. That's why she took on an ex-templar Viddathari. You're too dangerous to live, if you ask her."
Theo sunk down onto another overturned crate. His whole life he'd wanted to be somebody. He'd wanted a purpose. He'd wanted an identity apart from the Chantry, and moreover, apart from being seen as the accidental, surprise youngest child. He'd achieved all that as the Inquisitor. But now he was somebody else: a threat to Ferelden freedom, a threat to Orlesian imperialism, and a threat to the Qunari fear of magic. He was dangerous. Too dangerous to live. "If I let her kill me that solves a lot of issues for everyone," he said at last.
This time it was Dorian who slapped him. Theo tumbled off the crate. "Stop that," Dorian snapped, staring down at Theo, his expression a mix of concern and anger. "It may solve some issues, but would create more. Namely for me. So stop talking like that, and let's form a strategy for dealing with this Viddasala, shall we?" Dorian kept his voice steady, but Theo could detect the forced sound to it, and didn't miss the gleam in his pale eyes.
The things Jerran told them made the future of Thedas seem even bleaker than it had looked under the threat of Corypheus. Fresh-mined lyrium for a contingent of Sarebaas? Barrels of Qunari gaatlok powder that only needed to be primed and detonated beneath palaces throughout Thedas? And worst of all, the mysterious Dragon's Breath plot? It was the Qunari's version of an Exalted March, and it would start with the Exalted Council and the Inquisition.
Theo got to his feet. "We're ending this. Now," he said.
"What about him?" Bull asked, staring Jerran down with his eye. "We leave him, he runs off and tells the Viddasala we're on the way."
Jerran didn't beg for his life. "At least if you kill me now I died in service of the Inquisition and the Divine," he added with a bow to Cassandra.
Bull stepped forward, hefting his axe, but Theo stopped him. "Thank you, Jerran. May the Maker watch over you," he said, and before Jerran could reply one of Theo's arrows sprouted from his throat. He avoided looking at Cassandra, Bull, or Dorian. He avoided looking inward at himself. He had to tell himself that he'd done Jerran a favor. That he'd really been protecting him from a worse death at the Viddasala's hands, and not that he was protecting himself from betrayal. If he came through this, he had to be able to live with himself.
"So," he said grimly, "Who gets to tell Cullen and Josephine we're probably at war with the Qunari?" he asked as they headed into the mine. No one answered. He sighed. "They're going to kill me."