A Kitty and a Golem
"I wasn't expecting a kitty..." Alistair mumbled, blinking at the cat.
Ciara had to admit, she wasn't expecting to find Amalia playing with a cat. A cat with glowing eyes and was clearly possessed by a demon. The question was, did Wilhelm put the demon into the cat, or did the demon put herself into a cat? Or did it just appear to their eyes that way? The thought made her head spin, and Ciara decided that it wasn't forth thinking about at this moment.
"Have you come to play with us?" Amalia asked, beaming.
"We actually came to bring you back to your dad," Torph said, earning a slow blink from Amalia, who tilted her head, confused.
"But I can't go. Kitty can't so I can't." Amalia crossed her arms. "I won't leave her!"
"Child, this is clearly a demon," Sten said through gritted teeth.
"Liar!"
"Isn't its eyes glowing?" Torph asked.
"I didn't know cats from above ground could do that," Narascha added.
Amalia giggled. "Are you dwarves?"
"We are indeed, kiddo!" Torph grinned, and eyed them pointedly, before chatting loudly with the girl again about dwarves. "The height gave us away, huh?"
The cat watched them, even as Ciara deliberately lowered her voice.
Ciara sighed. "She's been charmed by the demon cat. Fantastic."
"Can we fix that?" Alistair asked quietly.
"Kill the cat," Sten grumbled.
"The girl is bound to her right now," Ciara sighed. "If we kill the demon we could very well kill Amalia too."
"Okay, no, no killing the creepy cat then," Alistair whispered back.
"If she is possessed-" Sten growled.
"She's charmed," Ciara corrected. "There is a difference."
"Nothing any of you say will convince Amalia to go with you," Kitty said.
Everyone froze. A stunned silence.
"The cat..." Alistair blinked heavily. "It talks?"
"Of course it does, silly!" Amalia giggled.
"Because that ain't creepy." Torph shivered.
"Kill it," Sten ordered.
"No! I won't let you hurt Kitty!" Amalia cried.
"I am her friend, while you are all strangers," Kitty said. "She loves me, and only me."
"What did you do to her?" Alistair scowled. "And how do we free her?"
"I have done nothing. I am powerless. The mage made sure of that," Kitty sighed. "It was a relief when Amalia found me. I have been isolated for over a decade."
"Poor soul." Torph rolled his eyes.
"Not that powerless," Ciara chuckled. "You've managed to bewitch the child well enough."
"And you want to return her to her father." Kitty stretched out lazily. "Let us compromise then, mortals. You free me from this prison, and let me have the girl, and we shall all return to her father."
"Yeah, because her old man is gonna want a cat possessing his kid," Torph scoffed.
"You really think any of us will let you possess Amalia?" Ciara frowned.
"That is such a crude way of putting it. I do not wish to harm her, merely see the world through her eyes. Is that so wrong?"
"Oh no, just the possessing her part, forever binding her to you, and puppeteering her body for the rest of her life," Alistair said dryly.
Torph muttered something to Narascha who paused thoughtfully. They were both eyeing the platform behind Kitty and Amalia, and Torph threw Narascha a wicked grin. Narascha shrugged, muttered something back, but Ciara had no idea what they were plotting.
Torph grinned. "Y'know what? I'll help. But you leave the girl behind. No creepy possession or whatever and you can go free. You have my word."
"I do like this one..." Kitty sighed, staring up at Amalia longingly.
"I like you too, Kitty!" Amalia beamed.
"But very well. This prison is impossible for me to break free from alone, and Amalia has been unable to free me," Kitty said.
"You're going to be free, Kitty?" Amalia cheered. "This is perfect! You can finally climb trees, and play in the town, and go wherever you like!"
Torph grunted and jumped up on to the platform. Ciara joined him, while Sten argued with Narascha. Narascha who dug her heels in.
"Torph?" Ciara asked quietly.
"Relax." Torph winked, and whispered. "I gave her my word. Nobody else's. Nara's ready to fuck the creepy ass cat over. Now help me with this puzzle, because its on fucking fire and I don't want to be a cooked dwarf."
"Fair enough," Ciara mused, and smiled sharply. "And Torph?"
"Yeah?"
"Nice idea."
Torph smirked. "Well us dusters are sneaky fucks."
.::.
Narascha watched Torph yelp as a wave of flames nipped at his heels. Ciara darted back out of the way and glowered at Torph.
"Not there!" Ciara yelled. "I didn't say step there!"
"Fuck you, woman! Your directions suck!"
"I said go left, not backwards. How is that complicated?" she argued.
Yes, demon firmly distracted. Good, because Sten looked murderous right now.
"We should just hurry up and kill it," Sten hissed.
Narascha eyed the girl and demon, but their attention was firmly on the puzzle, and the screaming Torph.
"Show some patience," Narascha scolded. "Torph made his promise alone, not on the behalf of the Grey Wardens."
Alistair grinned. "Ooooh, very sneaky."
Narascha smirked. "I wouldn't ever dare underestimate Torph. He's grown up as a casteless dwarf and lived all these years, and even then, he survived the Provings and impressed Warden Commander Duncan. He's one to keep a close eye on."
"With the way you two keep arguing I kinda thought you hated each other," Alistair admitted.
"No." Narascha's smirk softened. "I respect him a lot."
The magic blocking the doorway faded away, just as Torph cheered. He and Ciara climbed down from the platform and approached.
"Just don't tell him I said that," Narascha ordered.
"Said what?" Torph raised a brow. "What are you talking about me for?"
Narascha smirked. "I was talking to Alistair, not you, duster."
"Pfft, princesses and their sneaky words," Torph snorted.
Narascha barely held back a snort of her own. Yes, as if she was the one who had just tricked a demon cat.
"Yes... I can feel the magic fading. Oh I had forgotten what it feels like to be free..." Kitty purred
Amalia looked confused. "Kitty? What's happening?"
"A wonderful thing, my dear. For both of us." Kitty nuzzled her leg.
"Yeah, lookie here, you're free," Torph cheered. "Now you get to go your way and we take the kid and go ours."
"I've changed my mind-" Kitty began, then yelped and darted back when Narascha's axe came crashing down, right on the spot she had just been in.
She hadn't been fast enough. Dammit.
"Betrayal!" Kitty spat.
"You changed your mind first!" Narascha snarled.
"I'm scared!" Amalia cried out, stumbling back from Kitty. "What are you doing? I won't let you inside me, Kitty!"
Alistair snatched up Amalia and bolted. Amalia who screamed. Kitty howled, furious, and lunged, but Sten blocked the way, swinging his sword. The cat dodged again. She was too nimble as a cat. They needed her to change into her demonic form. But the former Templar just ran off with the kid.
A burst of light hit Kitty, throwing her to the ground. The cat transformed, glowing and transforming into a Desire Demon. Kitty threw herself to her feet, and glared daggers at Ciara.
"Templar!"
Narascha paused. Ciara was a former Templar too?
"Former Templar Hunter," Ciara corrected, twirling a dagger in her hand. "And I believe you can catch her now, you two."
Well, that was handy. Narascha and Sten swung at the same time. She cut deep into Kitty through her stomach, while Sten took off her head. No hesitation.
"Damn," Torph whistled.
"That went well." Narascha grinned.
"Demons," Sten growled.
"A dead one," Torph added in cheerfully. "Isn't that nice?"
"Yeah, now we get a golem!" Narascha cheered.
"If Alistair didn't trip and fall off the pathway with the girl," Ciara teased.
Narascha froze, right at the same time as Torph. Alistair would trip. There was a high possibility of it.
"Fuck," Torph cursed.
.::.
Ciara smiled. It seemed that Alistair hadn't dropped Amalia down into the abyss as they had all feared. They were safely beside her father who was pressing kisses to his daughter's hair and hugging her tight to his chest.
"Soooooo..." Torph began, grinning.
Matthias frowned. "A deal is a deal..." he said reluctantly. "But you'll regret waking that monster up."
"That's for us to decide, and I'd say a big giant battering ram is a good thing to get in between us and the darkspawn," Torph said.
"He does have a point." Alistair grinned. "I like the sound of this giant battering ram."
"So bet it. Good luck, Grey Wardens. I hope Shale doesn't kill you all. The password is 'Dulen harn'."
.::.
The villagers decided to leave before the golem could be activated, but Ciara thought that a family looked familiar. Very familiar. Cullen. They were Cullen's family. He had family in Honnleath.
Cullen's family had almost been slaughtered by the darkspawn.
Ciara shook off the thought. They weren't safe yet. None of them were until the Blight was ended.
"Here we go." Narascha breathed out heavily. "I... I still can't believe it. A golem here?"
"Yeah, this is all weird!" Torph snatched the rod from her hands. "And now we gotta see if Shale is actually crazy or not. So wish me luck! Dulen harn."
"Wait, shouldn't we have a plan-" Alistair yelped.
Stone ground as the golem began to shift, groaning and stretching its limbs. Ciara took a step back when Shale looked down at them, growling.
"I knew the day would come when someone would find the control rod." Shale said dryly, with a strangely distorted voice. "I wasn't expecting dwarves travelling with two humans and a giant man."
"Um, are golems usually this talkative?" Alistair whispered.
"I don't know. I've never seen one," Narascha muttered back. "They were all pretty much gone from Orzammar by the time I was born."
"Ah, that's why you two were freaking out so much," Alistair said.
"At least none of you are mages," Shale scoffed.
"How does he know that?" Alistair startled.
"For a 'he' he does sound rather feminine." Ciara remarked. "Also I would advice not talking about Shale as if the golem isn't here."
Alistair flinched. "True."
"It thinks these crystals are for show." Shale, if it could, would probably be rolling its eyes right about now. "It thinks I cannot sense the energy it commands. I've stood here, on this spot, watching this wretched little villagers scurrying about for who knows how long."
"Yeah that must have sucked..." Torph grimaced.
Shale grunted. "I was just beginning to get used to the quiet too. I saw those villagers all run out. A shame they still lived." Shale paused, tilting its head. "It does have the control rod yes? I am awake so it must..."
"Yeah." Alistair grinned. "So you better not get any funny ideas."
"Order me to do something," Shale insisted.
"Hug Alistair," Torph ordered.
"Hey!" Alistair yelped, stumbling back from Shale, only Shale hadn't moved an inch forward.
Ciara hummed. "Interesting."
"And nothing? I feel nothing!" Shale sounded stunned. "I feel no compulsion to follow its orders. I suppose that means the rod is broken then?"
"I guess so." Torph shrugged, tucking it back into his belt.
"You're keeping it?" Alistair blinked.
"It's got a good weight to it. Might be good to whack someone with."
"I wonder if the control rod is damaged or just too old now to work," Narascha mused.
"So we've wasted our time," Sten grunted.
"Not exactly. A village was saved," Narascha said.
"But the mission is to kill the Archdemon-" Sten argued.
"Yes, but for that to happen you can't just run head into it. We need every ally we can get. If any of those men and women can take out a darkspawn it will be better for us in the long run," Narascha snapped. "We need to end the Blight, but we need to not just run into the Archdemon like some angry deepstalker."
"So, wanna come fight darkspawn with us?" Torph asked.
"You're asking the murder happy golem who can't be controlled to come with us?" Alistair raised a brow.
"Yeah, Shale can happily murder darkspawn with us."
Ciara eyed Narascha and Sten, but the pair were still arguing. No input there then.
"I have no memories of anywhere beyond this place..." Shale mused, sounding rather stunned. "You referred to the darkspawn. The ones who destroyed this village? The darkspawn are an evil that much be destroyed, true. Though they are not as evil as those damnable birds."
She and Alistair shared a look. "Birds?"
Torph shrugged.
Shale ignored them. "I have two options then do I not? Go with you or go elsewhere? I do not even know what lies outside this village."
"A lot of walking," Torph groaned. "So much bloody walking is what lies ahead."
"I will follow it about then I guess. For now." Shale decided. "I'm called Shale by the way."
"Torph Brosca," Torph grunted. "Then there's Alistair, Ciara, and Narascha whose arguing with Sten at the moment. Think he mentioned something about her being a woman again."
"I'll shove my axe so far up your ass you'll never be able to take a dump again!"
"This is a stupid argument-"
"I'm glad one of us agrees! Maybe if you learned to shut your mouth you wouldn't piss everyone off."
"Why did Narascha want him with us again?" Alistair whispered to her.
Ciara smiled. "A giant battering ram, of which we have two of now."
"Huh. Probably a good thing, because Narascha looks like she's going to act out on her words very soon," Alistair said.