Notes: This begins the climax of the story. If you don't like dark themes and characters behaving badly, get out now. I've received a fair amount of bitching in previous DA stories about characters doing unsympathetic things, and I don't quite see why when I've given ample warning and people who hate it choose to read anyway (and then leave increasingly sarcastic/nasty attacks). Just... if that's you, click out and find a story that you will like, instead of spending time on something you hate?
No lyric used for the title, but the song inspiration for this chapter was Nena – "99 Luftballons." If you know what that song is about, let it serve as a general warning. When I said this would get worse before it gets better, I meant it.
Chapter 17: The Waking Sea Crisis
"Inquisitor! There are two Qunari diplomats—Ben-Hassrath like me—to meet with you."
Max looked up from the magical theory book he was discussing with Dorian. "Just two?" he said, confused.
"They'll explain it, Boss."
Max shrugged, getting to his feet. With Iron Bull and Dorian by his side, he headed for the Skyhold great hall. Sure enough, two delegates with Qunari emblems were waiting at the great doors: both male, one elven and one human.
"Gatt!" Bull exclaimed to the elf. "Didn't expect to see you."
"Gatt?" Dorian said. "I didn't think that was a Qunari position."
The elven man glared back hostilely at Dorian. "What do you know of it, Tevinter?"
"It's a nickname," Bull explained. "For gaatlok, in fact."
"My temper was explosive," Gatt said tightly. "I was once enslaved by your people, Tevinter. I sought revenge for many years."
"So when you became free, you decided to become a slave to the Qun instead?"
Max raised his eyebrows at Dorian; that seemed unnecessarily combative.
"Slaves do not 'decide' anything," Gatt snapped. "I chose the Qun. That is the act of a free man."
"Peace, friends," Bull interjected. "I recruited Gatt. I killed the slavers who were keeping him, and he decided to join the Qun." He turned to the human. "I do not know you personally. Viddathiss?" he guessed the man's position.
The human Qunari nodded. He was quite young, Max could tell—probably no older than he himself. "Yes, I am Viddathiss."
"Wait just a Maker-damned second," called out a voice that Max instantly recognized. He turned around to face Varric, who had walked up almost silently. The dwarf was glaring at the human Qunari. "I know you. Saemus Dumar."
"That was once my name, before I found the truth in the Qun."
Varric shook his head in disappointment. "Maker. Look at yourself. Listen to yourself! This is a disgrace. The Arishok personally killed your father, and you sided with his people! You even gave up your name and let them tell you who you are! Have you no self-respect anymore, Saemus?"
"The Arishok who engaged in that provocation years ago is dead, and the present Arishok, Arigena, and Ariqun have all disowned his actions," Gatt said. "Viddathiss chose the Qun himself, as I did."
Max tried to take charge. "Gatt. Viddathiss. You are both welcome here. I am told you are here to negotiate the alliance between the Inquisition and your people."
"Yes," Gatt said. "We can discuss this with Hissrad present, and your own councilors as well, Inquisitor."
"Hissrad?"
"Me," Bull said. "That's my Qunari title."
"I see." Max did not like anything about this, if he had to be honest. Bull seemed to be drawing back to the Qunari by the mere presence of more of them, which was not the outcome he or Leliana—or anyone—had hoped for in recruiting him into the Inquisition. The choice of Gatt as one of the ambassadors, an old friend of Bull's, seemed designed to achieve that outcome. And he did not see any good reason why the Qunari high command would have sent, of all people, the one Ben-Hassrath who was the son of the late Viscount of Kirkwall. It looked very much to him as if the Qunari knew full well that there was tension between Kirkwall-VMTO and the Inquisition, and that they intended to fan the flames.
But these were still ambassadors of their people, and Max knew he was obligated to provide them certain courtesies. As he had them shown to their quarters in the castle—they would share a room to make it easier to keep watch on them, that he had already decided—he took his companions aside to talk.
"I don't like this," Varric spoke up first when the four were alone. "They could've picked anyone to accompany the elf and they chose him. They did it for a reason. When Hawke hears about this, she's going to blow her top."
"Is there any way to keep her from hearing about it?" Dorian asked.
Varric shook his head. "Doubtful. If I don't tell her, her brother and Merrill will. Or even Sebastian Vael."
"Weren't they enemies in the war?" Dorian asked.
"They were, but he wants to be in VMTO now, and he's been her ally against the Red Templars. I think they've mostly patched things up. He very well might tell her to try to ingratiate himself. So it's best that I do instead. I don't want her to think I kept something like this from her. Hawke has a paranoid streak when she feels threatened." He sighed. "But that doesn't answer the question of what in the Void the Qunari high command are up to. They can't be blind to how this looks, so they must've done it on purpose."
"The role of a Viddathiss in the Qun is to 're-educate' conquered peoples," Iron Bull said.
Varric scowled. "That makes a damn lot of sense. That young idiot went around Hightown talking about how the Qunari—who were in Kirkwall with an armed garrison—were just another culture, another way of life, maybe a better way of life." He glared at Bull. "Do you believe that?"
"I believe that it would be a bad thing for my people to conquer the south," Bull said guardedly. "It would be violent and bloody as your people resisted."
"So if it could be done peacefully," Dorian said in sarcasm, "you'd be just fine with taking away everyone's freedom and right to self-determination?"
"I didn't say that."
Max held up his hand. "Let's not fight. I just wanted to know more about this man."
"Saemus Dumar," Varric said with emphasis, "nearly persuaded his damn fool father of what he was saying. Old Viscount Dumar insisted that they had no choice but to, and this is not my word but his, 'appease' the Qunari. It enraged Hawke, as you might guess."
"And so she aligned herself with the most anti-Qunari priest in the southern Chantry," Max said.
Varric nodded. "And despite the fact that he'd already converted when the Arishok attacked, she let him go free because he was a minor and hadn't taken up arms against his city. Petrice wanted to execute him. I bet Hawke is soon going to wish she had." He looked grim. "I'd better write my letter to her."
After Varric had sent his letter and the Ben-Hassrath were settled in, Max called them to a conference with his advisors in the war room.
"We are prepared to offer the Inquisition arms and personnel to fight the Venatori," Gatt said. "Of course, this alliance must be two-sided." He gave a nod to his companion.
Saemus—Viddathiss—then spoke. "The Arishok has sent a dreadnought of Antaam to the Storm Coast to intercept a red lyrium smuggling scheme by the Venatori."
"What part of the Storm Coast?" Max asked. "And which side?"
Beside him, Varric chuckled darkly.
"The south side," Gatt said. "The... I believe the southern nations' borders now put the area inside Ferelden. We did not want to have to conduct the operation on the northern coast within Kirkwall territory, for reasons that need not be stated. We would do it if necessary to stop the Venatori, but the Arishok did not want to risk... a poor outcome... if it could be avoided."
Viddathiss looked impassive. "After years of propaganda from the Grand Cleric and Viscountess, my birthplace is now unremittingly hostile to the Qun."
"Your birthplace was never friendly to the Qun, Saemus," Varric said.
"I am Viddathiss."
"No, you're—"
Leliana cut in. "Varric. Please. Not now. This is the Inquisition, not Viscountess Hawke's Small Council." She turned to the Qunari. "I am given to understand that the present Arishok is, in fact, an old Blight companion."
"He is," Gatt confirmed. "He was a Sten in that period. He rose rapidly through the ranks and became the Arishok after the last one died in Kirkwall. He knows you, the 'Hero of Ferelden,' and the King of Ferelden."
Max was shocked. "Wait," he interjected. "You know the Arishok? How long have you known who it was?" And why didn't you tell me? he thought.
"Inquisitor," she said gently, "I only learned this a few days ago. My spies reported it to me when I told them to keep watch for the Qunari delegation. I didn't keep it from you on purpose."
Max sighed, deciding to believe her.
"In any case," Gatt continued, "the King and Queen of Ferelden and the Teyrn of Highever—albeit with some reluctance—have allowed the dreadnought to enter Fereldan waters, since there is a Venatori cell and a red lyrium shipment to intercept."
"The Crown of Ferelden was prepared to send its army to Therinfal Redoubt to wipe out the Red Templars," Varric said. "Why would they not take care of the Venatori cell themselves, with their own troops? Or ships?"
"The cannons," Gatt said. "Ferelden has an explosive"—he looked sour—"but not those, so better for the dreadnought to attack the Venatori ship."
"And the Red Templars had nowhere to go," Cullen added. "There were too many of them to sneak out in secret, so their only choice was to attempt to build up a force. But the Venatori interception point will be compromised if Ferelden dispatches a complement of soldiers to look for it."
"Yes," Gatt said. "They are few enough that they can simply move somewhere else, we think. Their ship would miss the shipment, of course, but they would not lose the 'cargo.' We know where they will be because we have spies who have confirmed it, but they don't know that we know."
"And when an armed Qunari dreadnought shows up, they won't figure it out?" Dorian said acidly.
"It will be too late by then. Besides, we expect the battle to take place at sea. Ferelden still will not allow the dreadnought to actually dock on its coastline, and of course it must stay out of Kirkwall waters entirely, but our dreadnoughts are equipped with cannons, which the Venatori do not have. Our plan is to let the Venatori ship, which our dreadnought is quietly pursuing, pick up the red lyrium shipment from the coast, and then attack it. We believe we can sink their ship at sea. We simply ask for Inquisition assistance in doing so."
"We do have ships," Cullen said. "We can do that."
"And one other thing," Viddathiss said. "If the Inquisitor himself could be part of the operation—well protected, of course, we do understand—it would send a powerful message of alliance."
Iron Bull turned to Max. "You won't be in any real danger, Boss. Gatt's right that the Venatori don't have cannons. And if it's one Vint ship against a dreadnought plus whatever the Inquisition sends, they're outnumbered too."
Dorian was not convinced. "Are we positive that the Venatori don't have black powder? Ferelden does, and that was a bit of a surprise. It might have spread further than we know."
"It's of limited use on a ship without cannons or rockets," Cullen said. "Kirkwall's designs are definitely secure, and the Qunari have kept theirs secret for ages."
"You know," Max remarked, "it's amazing that in all the years of the Qunari-Tevinter war, Tevinter hasn't stolen a Qunari cannon and reverse-engineered it. Not a single one."
Gatt and Viddathiss smiled thinly. "To prevent that very outcome, we do not let our armaments or ships get captured," Gatt said.
The implications of that were a bit chilling to Max, but Cullen, Cassandra, Rainier, Bull, Leliana, and the other military people there were unbothered. Max suppressed his distaste. "To be clear, then—Ferelden has affirmatively given permission to the Qunari for this dreadnought to enter its own waters?"
"Yes. We will try to keep to international waters, however."
"I guess it's just hard for me to understand," he said somewhat apologetically. "Ferelden was Kirkwall's ally in the Mage-Templar War, and I thought it was Kirkwall's official position that the Qunari were an enemy state."
"But Ferelden is not a member of VMTO, nor can it become so, since membership is not open to anyone outside the Free Marches," Gatt said. "It is true that members of VMTO may not ally with the Qunari. But other treaties are... more flexible in these matters. The treaty between Kirkwall and Ferelden did not restrict either of them from forming other alliances. It only obligated each of them to fight when the other was directly attacked. And we are not attacking Kirkwall."
"I see." Max shrugged. "Well. In that case, I guess we're doing this."
Kirkwall.
Caitlyn Hawke called a Small Council meeting as soon as she received word—not just from Varric, but independently from Carver, Merrill, and even Sebastian Vael. All three sources told her the same thing: The Inquisition was entering an alliance with the Qunari and would even be conducting a joint naval operation with them at sea off the Storm Coast. The map that Varric provided had the site marked, and although it was officially in international waters, it was merely fifty miles from Kirkwall. A dreadnought, fifty miles from Kirkwall Harbor. Given the city's recent history with the Qunari, this had to be a threat.
And then there was the other piece of intelligence: One of the Qunari delegates was none other than Saemus Dumar, now known as "Viddathiss." That, she was certain, was another direct message to Kirkwall. And the Inquisition was continuing with this alliance anyway—a third clear and unambiguous message, given their despicable conduct in Wycome, which Caitlyn was still considering how to counter.
Well, it was time for Kirkwall to send its own message at last, equally clear and unambiguous.
"Council members," the Viscountess began when they were all assembled, "we have dire news from Varric, my brother Warden Carver, his fiancee Merrill—whom we all know from the Mage-Templar War—and Prince Sebastian Vael of Starkhaven, who is now acting as an ally to Kirkwall in all respects." She exchanged a brief look of wonder with Anders at that. "The Inquisition has allied with the Qunari, and they will be conducting a joint military mission at sea. It is against the Venatori," she added, "which is fine in and of itself, of course—the Elder One's forces are our foes too—but they are doing this merely fifty miles from Kirkwall." She glowered. "They're intercepting a Venatori shipment at sea. Why can't they do that well east of here? Why can't the Inquisition and their fine new allies attack the Venatori outside Denerim harbor? Or Amaranthine, or in Ostwick's waters—or anywhere else in the Waking Sea or Amaranthine Ocean? Why would they do it fifty miles from us?"
The question was rhetorical. Grand Cleric Petrice nonetheless replied. "Considering what their army did in Wycome, it's clear enough. They have provoked us at every point, Your Grace."
"And there's yet another provocation in this alliance. One of the Ben-Hassrath delegates to the Inquisition is none other than the former Saemus Dumar." She nearly snarled the name. "The Qunari dispatched him, of all the agents they could've chosen. It's perfectly clear that this is a taunt to us. And I regrettably take full responsibility for the fact that he's alive today. Grand Cleric Petrice disagreed with my decision to spare him. She was right."
The priest looked smug, but Anders had to defend his wife. "You had the best of motives," he said. "He was underage and hadn't fought."
"Thank you, love. But this is the outcome of that act of mercy. The Qunari are now using him to send a subtle but unmistakably threatening message to Kirkwall." Her scowl transformed to a look of alarm. "And a threat of what, exactly, you might ask? The Qunari must know that they cannot fight us in a traditional war. They have cannons, but we have rockets, and our formulation of black powder is superior to theirs. But we think they may be trying to infiltrate the Inquisition in order to use that as a foothold for stealing our secrets. Varric Tethras does not have rocket designs in his possession, and I made certain that none of the Free Mages had them either when they were working with the Herald. But the Qunari may think that this is the way to get the schematics that would allow them to fight us as equals."
"Enough is enough," Petrice interjected. "The Inquisition has acted as our enemy, and the Qunari have long been our enemy. Two foes of Kirkwall are entering an alliance and sending unspoken but obvious threats and taunts to Kirkwall via their actions. It is time we responded."
Caitlyn nodded. "None of us wanted it to come to this, and it's possible that war with the Inquisition still may be averted. But if that is possible, it will only be achieved by a fearsome, shocking display of our military might."
"Deterrence through weapons, just as Your Grace had the foresight to understand during the last war."
"The Inquisition must believe themselves secure in their high castle," Caitlyn said. "They must think our rockets cannot strike Skyhold."
At this, she and Anders both smirked. The other Council members gasped. "So you mean they can now?" Comte de Launcet said.
"They should be able to, yes," Anders said. "My team has resolved the last problem, countering gravity sufficiently to reach the elevation of Skyhold. We're going to demonstrate this in the Vimmarks tomorrow."
"And everyone on this Council is invited to watch," Caitlyn said. "The more observers, the better. We want to be certain that word of this gets back to the Inquisition. They cannot use their elevation as a shield anymore."
Caitlyn had wanted word of the demonstration spread as far and wide as possible, and she was not disappointed. The crowd gathered at the Ironbark Ridge research camp for the test was rather large, consisting of far more than just the Small Council. Several hundred observers from the Free Mages wanted to be there, as did a number of interested civilians from Kirkwall. There were even some travelers from VMTO-allied cities, including Markham, Hasmal, Hercinia, Tantervale, and the newest signer: Ansburg.
And, Caitlyn and Anders noted, some from Wycome, including what she strongly suspected were spies from the Inquisition's army, come to confirm Kirkwall's boast. She did not recognize the Inquisition army's assertion that Wycome was no longer in VMTO and continued to treat Prosper de Montfort as the rightful head of state, ignoring the Inquisition agents who were usurping power. She dearly hoped that the Wycome visitors included Inquisition spies.
The new rockets were superior to the original models in every way. The dwarven engineering crew had developed an alloy that was even stronger than the silverite-golem shell alloy of the first rockets, but was also much lighter. They had streamlined the design, sharpening the tip and elongating the cylinder to reduce the drag of friction as it traveled vertically. The narrow, long design also allowed the booster to contain more powder, increasing its range.
And the powder formulation itself was better. It contained a small amount of lyrium dust—not enough to render it unstable, but enough to provide a notable boost to its power and velocity. The high velocity at which the new rockets traveled enabled them to burrow deep into their impact point. If they were moving fast enough, the energy they carried would be dissipated violently on whatever they struck, adding to the damage of the explosive payload itself.
The Viscountess of Kirkwall, her husband, her Captain of the Guard, and their closest allies watched from a wooden observation tower as the test crew fired the base of the rocket. With a loud blast, it ripped through the air, flying higher and higher.
The Vimmarks were about eight thousand feet tall at this location. Caitlyn, Anders, their friends, and the assembled crowd at the ground watched as the shiny silver cone of destruction struck the mountainside at the summit.
When the smoke and dust from the impact cleared, there was a crater carved out of the mountaintop large enough to be visible from the ground. The Viscountess of Kirkwall smiled grimly. Her message had been sent.
Skyhold.
"The Qunari dreadnought has passed Amaranthine," Leliana reported at the war table. Her face was troubled, as was Josephine's, and others, Max noticed, were angry. "It should be near the Storm Coast at our intercept site in a matter of days. But... a complication has arisen."
"Two complications," Josephine said dourly.
Leliana nodded. "The Kirkwall-VMTO fleet has been dispatched. They are not entering Fereldan waters, but we presume they are armed, waiting for the dreadnought to arrive."
"Do they mean to destroy a Qunari ship unprovoked?" Bull asked indignantly.
Leliana smiled bitterly. "The question is whether they—or their leader, rather—would consider it 'unprovoked.' We do hope they don't make a first strike. They have no right to do so if it remains outside Kirkwall's waters, and we hope that the captain understands this. We think that the Kirkwall ships are merely there for intelligence and—perhaps—to form a blockade of Kirkwall's waters once the dreadnought reaches its destination."
"If this fleet stays in Kirkwall waters, that shouldn't be a problem for us," Max said.
"If Kirkwall ships entered international waters—or Fereldan—to attack an Inquisition ally unprovoked, especially with an Inquisition ship there, that is a clear act of war," Cullen said. "Viscountess Hawke wouldn't do that."
"What about Wycome?" Max said tightly. He was still angry about that. "She might consider us already at war."
"She has not issued a declaration of war against the Inquisition," Josephine said. "And our agents' actions in Wycome were legal. Duke Prosper was not a head of state approved by a noble moot or a popular acclamation. He was simply a foreign aristocrat who restored order after a violent assassination. And he and his forces remain in Wycome, treated quite well, residing under our army's protection in a fine estate. Even his wyverns are safe. Our agents and army did not commit a coup in Wycome, and Hawke knows it. She may be a warmonger, but she does recognize formalities. She would issue a declaration of war if she believed our agents' actions in Wycome justified it."
Leliana sighed. "Yes, but we now have the second complication to worry about. We have multiple confirmed reports that Kirkwall now has rockets that can reach Skyhold's elevation. A demonstration for a large crowd at their test site. The new rocket struck eight thousand feet up a mountain, and it was a very violent impact. Our spies reported that the new rockets can travel at a higher velocity than the old."
Max felt chilled. A shiver traveled down his spine as he imagined Skyhold being reduced to rubble by such an instrument of death. The envy demon's horrible vision came back to him full force. We draw ever closer to that dark future, he thought. "You really think she would strike Skyhold unprovoked?" he exclaimed.
"No. I do not. To reach Skyhold even with her new rockets, she would have to have forces deployed in Ferelden. Ferelden is her ally, but the treaty only requires them to fight for the other if one is attacked. It does not obligate support in wars of aggression. Ferelden would not let her station troops and armaments inside its borders if she attacked first... and while it does not have rockets, it does have blasting powder of its own."
"And for all of her military menace, she still has to contend with the opinion of Thedas. The blowback against her for an unprovoked attack on Ferelden—to say nothing of one against the Inquisition—would be tremendous," Josephine added.
"Then it's all right, isn't it?" Max asked hopefully. "Her ships are just there to watch the dreadnought and make sure it doesn't enter Kirkwall's waters. And if it doesn't—and if we also keep to our own business—then everyone will just go back home without any attacks."
"Ideally, that is what will happen. It all depends on no trigger-happy hotheads being on the scene, however." She sighed. "It is a great pity that no one has been able to replicate what Shale and Wynne did to activate the ancient elven communication crystals. A means of instant communication over a distance would greatly reduce the possibility of hotheaded fools causing a war without the knowledge of their commanders."
"Well, we won't have hotheaded fools," Max said. "I'm going to be in command of the ship myself. And if the Qunari don't make trouble for anyone except the Venatori, Hawke's fleet will have no reason to attack." Despite his initial misgivings about being at sea in such a risky endeavor, he was now more determined than ever to be physically present. It might be the difference between peace and a ruinous war.
"The Qunari won't be hotheaded fools either," Iron Bull put in. "They're there strictly to intercept the Venatori's red lyrium shipment."
Vivienne spoke up discontentedly. "I still do not like this," she said. "What right does Hawke have to interfere with our alliances?"
"As much as we have to interfere with hers?" Varric said acidly. Max gave him a smirk. "It's fine if we do it but not anyone else?"
"Vivienne, please continue," Josephine said, sounding weary.
The Iron Lady huffed at Varric. "Even if it goes as you hope it will and her fleet does nothing but follow along and guard Kirkwall's maritime border, this is a hostile action intended to weaken our alliance with the Qunari. However close it may be to Kirkwall's waters, it is not taking place inside them. I acknowledge that they do have the right to dictate the alliances of those cities whose lords signed their treaty, but they do not have the right to dictate the treaties and alliances of others. But Hawke and Anders apparently think that because they can threaten anyone in Thedas, that gives them such a right."
"What would you have us do?" Leliana asked tiredly. "Are you implying that we should make an unprovoked preemptive strike?"
"We're not," Max said at once, not wanting this sort of talk to go any further. "I am making a preemptive strike of my own: a preemptive veto."
"I do not mean an attack. But Hawke sent us a message with her demonstration. What purpose would she have for developing this new rocket at this time, except to let us know that she can strike us? Do you disagree?"
"No... I do not disagree," Leliana reluctantly said.
"Then we should send a message back to her."
"Enough," Max cut in. "No more 'messages,' at least the kind that consist of violent threats and taunts. The only message I want to send is the message that our Qunari alliance is against the Venatori and poses no threat to Kirkwall." He gazed hard at them all. "A few weeks ago, I said no interference and no surprises. I mean it, all the more so now that stakes are that much higher. I don't want Skyhold to be blown off the mountaintop. Corypheus is our enemy. Let's keep it that way. That is an order from your Inquisitor."
Ensconced in the secret crafting room that she and her dissidents had set aside in their quarters of Skyhold's sprawling guard walls, Knight-Captain Briony turned over the message she had received from Painter.
The Inquisitor and his allies are heading to the Storm Coast. Move the weapons aboard, storing them secretly in the ship's hold, and be sure that you and your allies are the crew that mans the ship. The inner circle is showing weakness in the face of clear provocations and hostility. This must not continue. I know that you agree. The Inquisition has not shown the strength it needs to show to be a true player in Thedas or defeat Corypheus.
Do not fear Hawke. Even if she can strike Skyhold now, she would have to have her troops and weapons deep inside Ferelden to do it, and even she would not be so bold. Take the new weapons aboard and make sure the VMTO fleet knows that the Inquisition has them. Hawke is afraid of red lyrium, but that is because she does not have the secret of how to use it without becoming poisoned. We do. The sooner she learns that we can deploy it as a weapon without suffering the dark consequences the Red Templars do, the sooner she will back down. Shows of strength and menace are the only way to survive in this world. The stronger eat the weaker, and we all know it.
"Hawke might indeed be 'so bold' if we don't act now," Briony muttered to herself. "She will nearly invade Fereldan waters to prevent two outside parties, the Inquisition and the Qunari, from honoring an alliance. She has no right. None. We have to let her know now that there will be serious consequences."
The Waking Sea.
Captain Terrie of the Free Mages was not the leader of the Kirkwall fleet, but her ship—the Vindication—was the one chosen to break away from the rest of the convoy and approach the ships of the Inquisition and Qunari—and, word had it, a Venatori ship. Her job was not to attack without provocation, but to observe the proceedings and be ready to fire the onboard rockets if any of the other parties threatened the Vindication—or if the Qunari ship crossed the invisible line into Kirkwall's maritime territory. If that happened, Terrie had her orders straight from Hawke: obliterate it. There would be no tolerance of Qunari provocations in Kirkwall or VMTO. Give them one inch and they'll take over the city next.
The Vindication's arms were not, of course, the terrifying new rockets that the Viscountess had tested recently. They were short-range, intended for use on the battlefield—or at sea.
Terrie watched out of the spyglass she held as a low, menacing ship came into sight. The Qunari dreadnought, she thought. She was not there the night that the late Arishok and his Antaam had shipwrecked at Kirkwall after a battle with Captain Isabela's ship, but it must have been terrifying for Isabela and her crew to see the dark shadow on the surface of the water in the gloom of night, knowing that they had no defense against its cannons. It was frightening enough in daylight from a ship that could defend itself very well indeed.
We can strike it with rockets, she thought, and they have a greater range than the Qunari cannons do. Our black powder is better than theirs. As long as we can destroy that thing before it gets close enough to blast a hole in our hull, we'll be fine.
Terrie knew she was supposed to hope that they wouldn't have to engage the dreadnought at all, but a bloodthirsty part of her, the part that had thrilled to the fight for mage freedom and risen through the ranks to become a captain, did want to participate in a fight. She tried to suppress it as well as she could.
Max and his team stood on deck as the Inquisition ship, the Golden Sunburst, approached the rendezvous point in international waters. For this mission, he had taken Dorian, Rainier, Iron Bull, Varric, and Sera. Rainier was the only one with any relevant experience, so he was captaining the Golden Sunburst. A squadron of Templars led by a Knight-Captain named Briony had volunteered to crew the ship, but Max did not know any of them particularly well—though Cullen had vouched for Briony as a reliable, if somewhat rigid, soldier—and he would just rather have a friend in control of the ship and hence the course of events.
The Inquisition ship was not alone. Bull's Chargers, led in his absence by his second, Cremisius Aclassi, had a vessel of their own. It was a repurposed mercantile fishing boat, large enough to carry them relatively comfortably, but certainly not a man-of-war or any other type of proper ship. The boat was named the Winged Nug, which Bull said was an inside joke of Krem's.
Today was not particularly stormy, but there was a gloom of fog and fine spray over the surface of the sea from a recent rainstorm. The Fereldan coast was just visible. Max frowned as he cleaned the outer lens of his spyglass. He would just be able to see the Venatori ship pick up its red lyrium shipment—if this were the right place. He hoped so. And he hoped that the fog would provide enough of a cover to shield the Inquisition and Qunari—as well as any Kirkwall ships present—from Venatori eyes.
Max wondered where the Kirkwall ships were. Hopefully they were not entering international waters, but were instead patrolling on the outer boundary of Kirkwall's territory. That would be better for everyone. In this mist and fog, the chance of a misunderstanding seemed heightened.
Max kept having the feeling that this day, and this event, would be a pivot. Something important was going to happen, and not just the consummation of an alliance between the Inquisition and the Qunari.
He hoped that the important event was not some sort of crisis that would cause a runaway, unstoppable escalation culminating with the destruction of Skyhold. In the envy demon's vision of that possible future, "I" survived the attack on Skyhold itself, Max thought uneasily. If things happen today that result in that, I... will not be at Skyhold. Unless this ship goes down with me on it, I would be alive to see the aftermath, just as the vision showed me.
He pushed these unwelcome thoughts out of his mind. It was a taunt of a demon, not a glimpse of the inevitable sent by the Maker. It need not happen. I have power. I have free will. I will not let that outcome occur.
"Inquisition ship approaching, staying out of our territory," Terrie called out, noting the sword-and-eye flag with a scowl. "Called the Golden Sunburst. Self-righteous shits." She raised her voice to the signal crew. "Hail them. I won't let them claim we took them by surprise."
"We've been hailed by a Kirkwall ship," Dorian reported to Max, setting down his spyglass. "A friendly-neutral signal, basically 'hello, we see you.'"
Max nodded. "That's how I want things to remain. Any sign of our allies?"
"Dreadnought approaching," Iron Bull called out.
Dorian and Max snapped their spyglasses back up again. Sure enough, just visible through the fog was the Qunari dreadnought. Max took a deep breath as the Inquisition ship hailed it.
"Now we keep an eye on the coast for our Venatori targets," Dorian said.
They kept their spyglasses trained alternatively at the coast and out to sea to look for the Venatori ship, but there was no sign of it. As more time passed, and the fog began to burn off with the sun, Max became worried. This would make it crystal clear to the Venatori that they were not alone. Would all this be for nothing? Would they have to find the new location of the transfer? Or would the Venatori get away with shipping more red lyrium to their bases?
"Wha—wait, what the hell is that dreadnought doing?" Varric exclaimed suddenly.
Max, Dorian, Iron Bull, and Sera whipped their heads in the direction he was pointing. To Max's horror, the dreadnought was moving away from the coastline, toward the edge of the international-waters zone.
Toward the demarcation line of Kirkwall's waters, an invisible line, but a line that would be catastrophic to breach.
It was apparently doing so to prevent the Venatori from seeing it whenever they finally showed up, but if it entered Kirkwall's waters, it would be sunk. Did the captain not realize that?
Iron Bull reacted immediately. He grabbed for his magically-enhanced bullhorn, a piece of equipment that all of Max's friends had, as well as Knight-Captain Briony. "Kathaban! Do not cross into Kirkwall waters!" he called in Qunlat.
Max held his breath. The nightmare at Therinfal Redoubt flashed through his mind.
Terrie gaped in disbelief. "Those fucking Qunari! They're sailing right for the line!"
"Do we fire, Captain?" asked her first mate. "They remain in international waters—for now."
Her gaze hardened. "We fire. A warning shot," she specified. "Use a small one, and deliberately miss. But it's fine if you rattle them a bit." She scoffed. "Stupid, overconfident mage-hating tyrants. They pack their ship with gaatlok, thinking that makes them masters of the sea. It'll go up like a bomb itself if we do have to strike it. But not yet. A warning shot."
"Aye, aye." The first mate motioned to the rocketry crew.
Max and all of his friends gasped in horror as a rocket blazed through the increasingly clear sky from the Vindication, heading for the dreadnought. It was a small one—but that wouldn't matter if it struck a ship loaded with explosive. The dreadnought would blow apart.
If this rocket struck the dreadnought, it could start a major war between VMTO and the Qunari. In Max's opinion, the Vindication would have been in the right to strike if the dreadnought had actually entered Kirkwall's waters—but it had not.
Maker help them all, it had not.
If this rocket struck, it would be an unprovoked attack by Kirkwall on the Qunari in international waters. The Qunari would have every right to retaliate.
Would they demand that the Inquisition took their part? The agreement only entailed mutual support against the Venatori...
No matter what happened, such a ruinous war would benefit only one side: Corypheus's.
All of this flashed through Max's quick mind in a second. The rocket reached its zenith and began its descent.
"It's going wide," Varric observed. "It's—they deliberately missed. A warning shot. Thank the Maker."
Max, Dorian, and Sera let out their breaths.
The rocket struck the sea surface. The impact was powerful enough that the water acted like stone. The rocket exploded on contact, the blast sending sea spray high and kicking up tremendous waves. The dreadnought, the Golden Sunburst, and the Winged Nug all rocked. Max staggered on his feet, almost falling—no, he was going to fall—
Before he could slam to the deck, arms enveloped him. Dorian pulled him upright as he clung to a mast to support himself.
"Maker!" Rainier exclaimed, trying to right the ship. "I hope the Qunari captain understood that message, Bull!"
"I warned him," Bull said. He grabbed the rail and yelled through his bullhorn again in Qunlat. "Kathaban! It was a warning shot! Do not fire back and do not go any further toward Kirkwall waters! They will blow up your ship if you do!"
The Qunari captain finally called something back to Bull in Qunlat that Max did not understand. But Bull breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to Max and the others. "They get it."
"This has gone far enough!" Max exclaimed. Now that the terror that the rocket would strike the dreadnought had vanished, his fear had transformed into anger that this situation had come so close to spiraling out of control. "We must remember why we are here, and it is to fight the Venatori!"
"Where in the Void are they, though?" Dorian asked.
Knight-Captain Briony had observed the warning shot with a grim expression on her face. This is exactly what we have to stop in its tracks right here and now, today, she thought in determination. Hawke may not be captaining that ship, but she has set the example from the top that violent threats are acceptable and welcomed. The dreadnought was in international waters and that Kirkwall ship fired a rocket at it anyway. A "warning shot," but still an act of aggression. This cannot go unanswered.
She headed below deck, where her Templars were waiting. "Bring them out," she said. "It's time."
"And the Inquisitor?" her lieutenant asked.
"He has no idea. But we outnumber him and his friends. And perhaps after that appalling display, even he will see why we have to put an end to this sort of intimidation. The Kirkwall ship fired a rocket, a warning shot, but what if it had not missed? They aren't perfectly accurate, I hear. What if it had hit by accident? A war between the Free Marches and the Qunari, simply because of some hotheaded captain and a warmongering mage Viscountess who lets her officers know that she condones such conduct."
"I concur fully. Which weapons, Knight-Captain?"
"The ballista and the lyrium cannon. Everyone put on your new gauntlets, the ones with spirit runes on the inside, and be prepared to fight the Inquisitor's people when we go on deck—but do not kill them."
"Max!" Dorian shouted. He grabbed his staff and whirled to face the Templars, the Inquisition crew, who were emerging from the hold—with weapons.
Weapons that gleamed malevolently red.
Knight-Captain Briony, donning a pair of gauntlets that Max had never seen before—and which also gleamed red on the outside—stared back. She raised a hand even as Dorian tried to muster a spell. The smell of lyrium, and the horrible miasma of red lyrium, surrounded her. Dorian gagged and collapsed to the deck on his knees, his staff clattering away. Max was also inside the range of the attack. He staggered, winded, temporarily unable to cast a spell.
"It's nothing personal, Pavus," Briony said. "But this has gone far enough. Inquisitor—a demonstration for you and your friends of how to deal properly with your enemies."
"You traitorous scum-sucking fuckface!" Sera yelled, nocking an arrow and shooting it directly at Briony. But the latter merely held up her gauntlet in the arrow's path. It pinged off the thick metal harmlessly as more Templars—Red Templars? Max thought in horror—swarmed her and Varric to restrain and disarm them.
Briony approached the second of the two large weapons her crew had brought up. The first was familiar to Max, a ballista, though its bolts were horribly identifiable as being abnormal. Red lyrium, unmistakable in its aura of malignancy, gleamed and glowed in the bolt's metal, and crystals of the foul substance in its pure form glittered on the barb. But the second weapon was unlike anything Max had seen before. It resembled a cross between a mage's staff and a battering ram, with a large red lyrium crystal as its head, pointing horizontally outward at the sea—and the Kirkwall vessel. But Max was quite sure that it was neither ram nor magic staff...
Betrayal, blinding fury, and stark terror passed through him as Briony put her red-lyrium-gauntleted hands on the strange weapon. Her face became determined and resolute.
A blast of red lyrium, a huge spray of variously sized pellets, exploded from the crystal at the end of the weapon. Let it fall short, Max prayed.
But the sheer size and power of this thing enabled the boat-sized spray to travel much farther than an elemental spell from a mage's staff could travel. The crystals went wide, but they could have reached the Vindication. The ship would have been perforated with red lyrium if they had.
"That was a warning shot too!" Briony called through her bullhorn to the Vindication's captain. "Now go back home and stay there!"
Max was finally recovering from the Holy Smite. He wobbled to his feet, helping Dorian up with one hand. "You have no right!" he roared. "I am in charge of this ship!"
Briony gazed back impassively at him. "You were going to let them get away with threatening our allies. You're weak, Inquisitor."
"You are weak, Trevelyan." Duke Prosper de Montfort's words came back to Max. "No," he snarled. "I am not weak. Who authorized this? This is red lyrium. Who ordered this, who made these, and who brought them aboard?"
There was no answer, not that Max had truly expected one.
"I'm going to get to the bottom of this in Skyhold. Someone knows about this and I'm going to find out who. I told them 'no surprises and no interference' and what do they do? They have red lyrium weapons created in secret and loaded on my ship! Red lyrium! Is there anything they won't do?" He turned back to Briony. "I don't care which of my lying advisors authorized this, or if every one of them knows about it. I am in command of this ship and I command you to put those foul things away!"
Terrie gaped in disbelief. "That's red lyrium!" she exclaimed.
"Aye, yes, it is, Captain."
Her gaze grew stormy. "Those despicable pieces of shit. I see now why they wanted to ally with the Templars, what they wanted out of that alliance." She put her bullhorn to her lips. "Inquisition! We see what you have! If you wanted to shock us, we're not surprised—Hawke and Anders were absolutely right not to trust you! You have one warning: Either destroy this filth where we can see it, and let us board to confirm it's gone, or we will sink your ship!"
Iron Bull had managed to avoid the Templars' attacks, and at the ultimatum of the Kirkwall captain, he lunged for Briony and her people. Max and Dorian, now recovered, joined the fray.
"You heard her!" Max roared. "Give it up! Are you out of your mind?"
Rainier was still at the helm. The Templars were eyeing him as if considering attacking him too, but he still had the use of his bullhorn. Desperately he put it to his mouth and called out a reply.
"Vindication!" he shouted to the ship. "The Inquisitor is aboard and he didn't know about these weapons! He's furious and we are considering this a mutiny by our crew!" He realized that this might provoke the Templars to subdue him, but he had to risk it. The Kirkwall ship could not be allowed to strike the Golden Sunburst with Max aboard.
There was a pause, then a response.
"We don't believe a word out of your lying mouths! Why would the Inquisitor be on a mission as dangerous as this? You either destroy the weapons now and let us board or we're going to fire!"
Max cursed. Dorian, Sera, and Varric were looking green and queasy. Iron Bull smashed a Templar away as he continued struggling with Briony.
But then another Templar smashed headlong into him, head-butting him away from Briony. The Knight-Captain wiped her brow and picked up her bullhorn again before Max and Dorian could even approach her. She directed her call to the dreadnought.
"Qunari captain!" Briony called out through the horn. "We can defeat this! Move closer to the Kirkwall ship, too close to be in range of its rockets. Fire your cannon directly at its hull! We will keep the Vindication occupied and target its rocket launchers."
Max yelled, "I do not authorize this! This is mutiny!"
"It's for your own good, Inquisitor," Briony said. "We have to teach those warmongers a lesson, that they cannot bully and threaten everyone in Thedas into doing as they wish. Our alliance with the Qunari is none of their damned business, and was not directed against them, yet they saw fit to interfere! If we do not draw the line here and now, they will think they can simply pull out their arsenal every time someone does something they don't like."
To Max's dismay, the dreadnought began its ponderous shift. In that moment, he realized something.
I am not the Inquisitor except in name only. I have lost control of the Inquisition and also this ship. Despair threatened to choke him.
Rainier then called out again. "I know nobody wants to hear this, but... Venatori ship finally fucking approaching the Coast to pick up the red lyrium."
"From whom, I wonder?" Max spat. "Their people, or ours?" He put his hands over his face. What a failure I am. The envy demon was wrong. Skyhold will be struck, and the Inquisition, Orlais, and the Qunari will go to war with VMTO, Tevinter, Ferelden, and Maker knows who else, but I won't live to see it happen. Corypheus will, though.
But then he remembered the sacrifice of Haven. His defiance before Corypheus. His friends. His niece Alison.
Dorian.
I have lost this ship, but I have not lost control of this situation. Not yet.
Thedas will not go to war for no reason as Corypheus sits back and laughs. Not while I still draw breath.
"The Vindication is tilting its rockets," Dorian warned as he observed through his spyglass.
That was it. Max was done trying to reason with Briony and her Templars. "Fuck this," he spat to her. "You want this? Be my guest. But everyone who's still loyal to me—to the lifeboat!"
The Templars who were holding Sera and Varric released them at once. Varric grabbed Bianca away from the Templar who was holding the weapon, but Sera was not strong enough to retrieve her bow. Cursing colorfully, she followed him rapidly to the lifeboat.
"You too, Rainier!" Max called out.
"I am the captain! The captain goes down with the ship."
"To the Void with that! The crew has mutinied! You aren't under any obligation to die with them! Get your ass into that boat, now!"
He hesitated for another moment before making up his mind. He, Iron Bull, Varric, and Sera piled into the boat. Varric grabbed a piece of sailcloth and waved it, hoping that the Vindication would see the white flag and at least wait until the lifeboat had gotten away before firing.
Max remained aboard the Golden Sunburst. So did Dorian.
"What are you waiting for?" Rainier exclaimed from the lifeboat as it began to push off slowly. "Get off that ship!"
"Someone at Skyhold authorized this," Max said. "Someone wants a world war. If Kirkwall's rocket strikes, they'll get it." He gathered his cloak around himself. "So the rocket is not going to strike."
"You have no weapons that can stop that!" Dorian exclaimed.
Max gave him a hard, dark look. "Oh yes I do."
Dorian gasped as he understood. The Templars also understood, and Max vaguely heard Briony's shout to "stop him!" But before she or anyone else could stop Max, the Herald raised his Rift-marked hand and called down the powers of the Fade.
The Herald had never before used his hand to open a rift and bring forth energy. He knew deep in his soul that he had the ability, but it was not something he had ever needed or wanted to do.
But things were different now.
Ages ago, all the fundamental forces of Thedas were just one force—magic—and that force was unimaginably strong. The Fade still held this unchecked raw power. It only required artifacts that could channel and command it.
The elves of ancient Arlathan had crafted such artifacts. In a freak incidence, a human mage had picked one up while it was at its highest level of power from the ultimate force of a life sacrifice, not knowing what he held, not even remembering it after the event. But he bore the mark of this action—and just a fraction of the power the orb had once held. But even a fraction of such power was also unimaginably strong.
For an eternal second, Max ripped apart the sky right above the Golden Sunburst. Green blasts of light and lightning bolts of raw magic tore through the hole, crackling down his hand.
It burned like nothing Max had ever felt in his life, but in that eternal second, he held on through the pain. He held on and he directed the raw force to the ship that surrounded him.
Blow it apart, he thought.
For a millisecond, the Golden Sunburst defied its name, glowing green, bulging ever so faintly in every direction. The hull rippled, as if fading in and out of reality itself.
A single creak.
A Templar's shout of dismay.
The warm, grounding grip of his amatus's hand on his other arm.
Then the ship exploded in a blast of green light and splinters of wood.
The lifeboat was close enough to be flung about and showered in splinters, but they had managed to pull away far enough that the small crew could keep it from capsizing.
To Varric's eyes, the sight was all too familiar. "Nobody else in this group was there," he muttered, "but that's what the Conclave at Haven looked like, just a lot bigger."
Rainier gazed sadly at the wreckage. He closed his eyes in respect for the friends he believed lost. "What do we do now?" he moaned.
Terrie gaped in disbelief at the green flash and the violent blast that immediately followed. "What just happened?" she exclaimed.
"Best I can tell, the Inquisitor really was aboard, and he blew up his own ship," the lieutenant said. "Nobody else could do that. You weren't there anymore, but that's what it looked like when he closed the Breach at Haven, green like that. It was him, Captain. The captain there was telling the truth."
"Well... shit."
Max was vaguely aware that he was somehow alive in spite of what he had just done. He was also aware that his hand burned like the hottest fire in the deepest hell of the Void. His eardrums were also throbbing, and he suspected they might be ruptured. He wondered if he had tumbled into the Fade. Nothing made sense. He couldn't tell up from down. Disoriented, he flailed about—before something enveloped him, stilling his motions.
"Stop, amatus. You'll knock us into the roiling sea."
Max finally dared to open his eyes. To his shock, he was not in the Fade. Instead he was on a slightly concave piece of... hull, he guessed... with... a strange purple bubble around him and his companion.
Dorian cast a protective shield, Max realized. He gazed at his amatus. Dorian was bloodied and burned, his fine clothes singed and burned off in large places, but he was otherwise fine. Max's ears were in pain, but they were just ringing, he realized. He was not deafened.
Beyond the purple arcane shield, the fragments and splinters of the Golden Sunburst continued to fall into the sea, some of them aflame. A plume of smoke rose from the bulk of the wreckage, but Max could not see any surviving Templars—or red lyrium weapons. And the rift he had opened had closed.
Well, thank the Maker for small favors. He hoped he hadn't destroyed the lifeboat with his friends in it.
His fear was soothed quickly when he turned around and saw that the boat, indeed, was ahead of them, a bit battered, but safe. He saw four figures aboard. They all made it. We all survived.
His hand hurt like nothing he had ever felt before, and he was afraid to even look at it, for fear that there would be nothing there but red charred muscle—or bone. But no, he thought suddenly, burns like that are painless because the nerve endings are destroyed. I can feel terrible pain, so I still have most of my flesh. But he was still afraid to see how bad it was.
When they were out of the range of the falling debris, Dorian took down the shield. By that same point, they had reached the lifeboat. Iron Bull pulled Max aboard with his uninjured hand as Rainier helped Dorian aboard. As he collapsed inside the boat, he happened to gaze back at the wreckage. A final piece of debris was settling on the ocean: the Inquisition flag. It had been shredded in half, right down the middle of the sigil, its edges singed orange.
"The Vindication has moved its rockets back," Varric reported.
Dorian wrapped his arms around Max. "Congratulations, love. You just saved Thedas."
Max gazed wearily back at him. "For the moment."
"And then you save it for the next moment, and the next, until Corypheus is finally defeated." He cupped Max's face and leaned in to kiss him.
The others let the couple have their moment, turning aside to give them privacy. But it could be only a brief moment. Max was ready to just let go, fall into Dorian's arms and sail away from all this, when Iron Bull reluctantly brought him back to their present reality.
"I hate to bring this up, but in the midst of that bullshit—I mean the red lyrium, not you, Boss—the Venatori have engaged the Chargers."
Max had lost his spyglass on the ship, so he accepted Varric's. He gazed through it. "Ugh. You're right." The Venatori ship, bearing a menacing black serpent flag, was attacking the much smaller Winged Nug.
He took a deep breath. "You all saw what I just did. I... could do it again to the Venatori ship." The idea of going through that again wearied him, and he was not actually sure that he could sustain another rift-surge with his hand in as much pain as it was in. He studied the positions of the ships and stifled another groan. "But if I do it, it'll take out the Chargers too. The dreadnought will likely escape the blast. I have to admit, that seems wrong to me. The Qunari captain sided with Briony."
Indeed, the Venatori ship was staying well out of range of the Qunari cannons—but the smaller Chargers' boat was solidly within shooting range.
"Or you could signal to the Chargers to get out," Max said. "But if they do, the Venatori will probably engage the dreadnought with fireballs."
Bull closed his eyes. His face crumpled. "Fuck," he said. "I never wanted to be forced to make this kind of choice."
"You know what Max just did," Dorian said quietly.
Bull nodded. "Yes. Saved us all, chose his friends, and said to hell with an organization that he doesn't stand with anymore." He sighed. "Have the Chargers withdraw."
The others all stared at each other, wide-eyed. The import of their friend's decision was lost on no one.
Iron Bull signaled to Krem to withdraw, not expecting the Venatori to pursue such small prey. Sure enough, they did not, but instead immediately trained their fireballs upon the dreadnought. Everyone in the lifeboat knew what was about to happen, and Max winced as he watched the second ship of the day explode.
"Shok ebasit hissra. Meraad astaarit, meraad itwasit, aban aqun. Maraas shokra. Anaan esaam Qun."
Dorian raised his eyebrows, and Varric began to speak up. "Tiny—"
"Don't," Iron Bull growled. "I know damn well what I am now. Doesn't mean I can't show respect for the dead in the way they'd want it done."
That silenced Varric.
After a moment, Dorian spoke up, changing the subject. "Well... the Venatori are going to get away with their red lyrium smuggling, I'm afraid."
"Not necessarily," Max said. He was gazing in the distance at the Vindication, which was drawing ever closer to the Venatori vessel.
"That's him, all right," said Terrie, eyeing the lifeboat through her spyglass. "And his Tevinter lover, I assume. Amazing they survived." She scowled, not wanting to admit what she was about to say next. "Maybe Andraste really does favor him."
"Well, they lost their Qunari allies, and their lifeboat and that piddling-ass fishing boat can't do anything to the Venatori. But we can."
Terrie agreed. "Rocketry, blow the Venatori to the Void where they belong."
"With pleasure, Captain." The lieutenant did sound genuinely pleased that they would be destroying a Venatori vessel rather than starting a war with the Inquisition. He gave the order to the others to launch.
Max had finally dared to look at his hand, and he wished he hadn't. Fluid and blood leaked from blisters, charred edges gave way to tender red flesh, and the entire hand felt as if it was on fire. Worse, Max was fairly sure that the mark was somehow more active—and unstable—after his action. He gritted his teeth, trying to protect the burned appendage from the scalding salt air by hiding it under his cloak—but also keeping the fabric itself from touching it. Dorian supported him with an arm around his waist.
"Welcome aboard," said Krem Aclassi. He gave Bull a nod. "And thank you. I know what that meant."
"You're my crew," Bull said roughly. "In the end, that's what's most important to me." Max understood the sentiment perfectly.
"I'm Stitches," introduced a human Charger. "I'm a Healer. Let me have a look at that hand, Inquisitor—"
Max flinched in fury at that title. "Do not call me that. My name is Trevelyan."
Krem spoke up, shrugging. "I understand. If your name—or title—has bad associations for you, choose a different one. It's your name, after all. Who has a better right?"
"It doesn't seem respectful to just say 'Trevelyan,' though," Stitches objected as he lathered Max's burned hand with ointment.
Max breathed heavily; the medication stung, though he understood that that was just what happened when someone got burned. "Fine," he said. "If you want to use a title, then use a title. But not that one," he added darkly. "Not 'Inquisitor.'" He glared at the smoking ruin of the Golden Sunburst. "I did not order red lyrium weapons and I don't condone them. Not in my name!"
Dorian wrapped an arm around him comfortingly.
Max breathed deeply. "If you must use a title, call me 'Herald.'"
The Chargers all nodded to each other. But as Max uttered the word, Dorian's eyes widened in shock. He knew what this meant.
Notes: This chapter is loosely inspired by the Cuban Missile Crisis, and its climax was heavily inspired by the X-Men: First Class AU of it.
I don't understand why Ferelden or Orlais would let an armed Qunari dreadnought come ashore after what happened in Kirkwall—their neighbor across the Waking Sea—just a few years ago. It's yet another display of weakness from whichever nation that area belongs to, and yet another indication that in the game, it is the Inquisition calling the shots instead of heads of state. This is clearly Fereldan land in my story, and they wouldn't tolerate it, so the crisis occurs in international waters instead. But Caitlyn Hawke would regard the ship as a menace even nearby at sea.
In Spells, the Chantry capture scene involving Saemus Dumar didn't occur because Hawke's plan was to let him convert and then use that to discredit Viscount Dumar as an appeaser. The Qunari still attacked Kirkwall, and Saemus survived because he stayed at the compound. After the attack, she would not let Petrice execute him due to his age. He left with the handful of surviving Qunari. This is the outcome of that decision.