Dragon Age: King in Exile
Part Nine
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King Cailan has written Alistair into the succession and is ready to recognize him publicly. Loghain will do almost anything to keep that from happening. The darkspawn give him the perfect opportunity. Alistair/Cousland, featuring F!Tabris.
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Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize from Dragon Age belongs to me.
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Alistair loved spending time with his brother.
They had been riding out together nearly every day, sneaking into the larder most nights, and playing little pranks on the quartermaster and guard captain.
"The only person I won't prank is my wife," Cailan admitted with a rueful grin.
"Because she can't take a joke?" Alistair asked.
Cailan chuckled. "No, because I value my marital harmony." He ruffled Alistair's hair as they walked through the castle courtyard, and Alistair reached up automatically to fix it.
"You'll understand when you marry your lady," he added, and gave Alistair a roguish grin.
Alistair sighed, thinking of her. Elissa was perfect. Gorgeous girl, spirited fighter, and way smarter than he was. He counted himself a lucky man.
"Daydreaming again, brother?" Cailan said, waving a hand in his brother's face. Alistair smacked the hand away as Cailan laughed. "It's okay, you know. Better than not liking her at all. Even if you look like a mooncalf." Cailan's eyes glittered with mirth.
Seeing a bale of hay, Alistair grabbed a fistful and threw it in his brother's face. "That's for calling me a mooncalf!"
"It's war!" Cailan cried, delighted, and the two began to wrestle. They were pretty evenly matched, as they'd learned from previous wrestling contests. The men in the courtyard laughed and made bets as they watched. Alistair ignored everything but his smug brother's laughter until he heard a voice calling his name.
"Alistair!" He couldn't place it, though it sounded so terribly familiar… "Alistair!" A loud huff. "Maker's bloody boots." The irritated tone pricked at his memory.
Alistair struggled free of his brother and turned his eyes to the speaker. An elf stood before him, a small girl in leather armor with more daggers strapped to her than he could count. Her dark hair was in a high ponytail and her arms were crossed over her chest.
"You need to come with me," she said. "We have to get out of here. None of this is real."
Alistair stared, bewildered.
"Who is that?" Cailan said, sounding more like Alistair's king than his brother. "Take her away."
"No!" she said, drawing her daggers as the men started to surround her. "This is an illusion!" she cried to him. "Remember the sloth demon! The circle tower! The mmf—" A large hand covered her mouth as the men dragged her struggling form away.
Alistair stood rooted to the spot. The circle tower? He'd never been there, never made it far enough in his templar training. And what was that about a sloth demon? Something tugged at his memory.
"Sorry about the riff-raff," Cailan said, stepping up beside him. His voice turned cold. "No matter how we plug the holes, undesirable things always seem to get in."
Alistair turned to look at Cailan, shocked by that uncharacteristic speech. "You aren't my brother," he said, with sudden certainty. It was coming back now, the demon that has drawn them all into an unwilling sleep. The fake Cailan's eyes narrowed.
At the same time, Alistair and his brother both leapt for a nearby sword. They struggled, each trying to get a grip on the handle. Cailan managed to swing it, leaving a sweeping cut on Alistair's side. Alistair gasped, jumping back to look for another weapon. He ran for another sword, reaching it just in time to block Cailan's next swing.
They fought with great intensity and equal power. He couldn't spare a moment to look at Kallian and prayed that she didn't need his help. Getting tired and desperate, Alistair attempted a fake-out, making Cailan think he was falling into a trap. Instead, Alistair was the one laying the trap. It gave him the opportunity to flank him and knock him out with the pommel of his sword.
When Cailan was down, he ran for Kallian and stabbed straight through one of her captors. With one out of the way, she was able to dispatch the last remaining quickly and easily. She looked over to where Cailan lay.
"You have to kill him," she said. "Or else you can't escape."
Alistair knew it wasn't his brother, but her words still knocked the wind out of him. "I… I can't."
"You can and you will," Kallian growled. "Do it now. Time is short."
Alistair swallowed and raised his sword. He closed his eyes before he thrust it downward, into the creature wearing his brother's face. He felt wretched.
When he opened his eyes, a shimmering doorway stood before him. Kallian looked at him with approval and perhaps a bit of respect. "Come with me," she said, and stepped through the door.
…
Wynne's daily routine was, well, routine. And that was the way she liked it. Not that she didn't enjoy the occasional diversion or trip outside the tower, but she took great pleasure in her students, seeing their improvement every day.
This was her youngest class, little children learning about their new home. She loved seeing them slowly open up and welcome their talents. She taught them more than magic—she taught them that the tower was a safe haven, the only place they could learn and be themselves away from the populace that feared them.
"Good morning, class," she said with a smile. "Today we begin by reviewing schools of magic. I will cast a spell, and you must tell me which school it comes from. We'll start with something easy. Raise your hand to answer!"
Wynne made a small gust of cold air sweep the class. There were gasps and giggles. Several students raised their hands. She smiled, calling on a gap-toothed girl who was waving her hand wildly.
"Primal!" the child lisped.
"Correct," Wynne said. "And this?" She cast a shimmering shield around her.
A few hands were raised, but before she could call on one, a voice from the back of the room rang out. "I don't give a damn."
Wynne glared at the newcomer. "Mind your language in front of the children. Who are you? I haven't seen you at the tower before."
"Kallian Tabris, grey warden. And you have seen me before, both at the tower and at Ostagar."
"Ostagar," Wynne repeated, shaking her head. "Impossible. And I certainly would have remembered a grey warden." The children looked on in fascination.
Kallian huffed in annoyance. "When we met in the tower, you nearly attacked me because you thought I came with the Right of Annulment. You had a bunch of kids right inside the big door."
"Impossible," Wynne said again, despite the doubt that had wormed its way into her mind. "Everything is perfect here at the tower. There's no need for the Right of Annulment."
"This," Kallian said, sweeping her arms wide, "is an illusion. It's fake. The tower is overrun with demons, a guy named Uldred's trying to start some kind of revolution, and your Knight Commander is going to kill everyone unless the First Enchanter says the tower is safe. So no, everything is notperfect," she spat.
"It can't be," Wynne said again, but that feeling of doubt was growing.
"You need to leave with me," Kallian said. "You'll see."
"Don't leave us, Wynne!" cried the tiniest of her students, a little boy no more than five years old. He tugged on her robes, and she wrapped an arm around him.
"I'm sorry," Wynne said. "I must stay with my students."
Kallian pulled a dagger from somewhere Wynne didn't see and flipped it into her hand. "I really wish I could have convinced you some other way." She looked at the children. "Sorry, demons. She's coming with me." And with near supernatural speed, she stabbed the nearest child.
Wynne cried out in horror as the small body slumped to the floor. Then it was chaos. Though she was unarmed, with only the most primitive spells at her fingertips, she moved towards Kallian without thought. She was yanked back by several small hands holding fast to her robes.
"You belong to us," the children said in unison. "You will never leave." The smallest boy had begun to climb up her back, reaching his tiny hands around her neck. She couldn't believe this!
He tightened his grip, more than a child that size could ever exert, and she began to see stars. It was all coming to her now. No wonder she had wanted to believe this lovely dream. Her reality was a nightmare.
She yanked the child off with no more concern for his welfare. She'd battled demons before. This trickery would no longer work, not now that the blinders had been ripped from her eyes.
She battled the childlike demons with her magic until only the smallest boy was left. "Please Wynne, please don't hurt me," he begged.
She hardened her heart and thrust out with her magic. An arcane bolt silenced him, and a doorway appeared.
"The way out?" she asked Kallian, who was wiping off her daggers.
"Yes," Kallian said. "We've got work to do."
…
"Come on, darling," Eleanor Cousland called to the young woman following her. "We've got several more shops to visit today."
"I'm exhausted, Mother," Elissa sighed. "Who knew shopping in Orlais could be such a misery?"
"You're marrying a prince, my dear. If you don't have the best of everything, people will talk. If that means visiting two dozen shops in one day, then needs must!" Eleanor said crisply.
Two servants followed behind the women, carrying eight or nine bundles between them. At least a dozen more parcels waited back at the hotel, with more to be delivered later. They'd visited dressmakers and fabric warehouses, had ordered nearly twenty pairs of shoes. There were jewels to be had, new gloves, and every kind of delicate ornament money could buy.
"Alistair won't care," Elissa protested. "He likes me just as I am."
"That boy adores you," Eleanor said with a smile. "But his opinion isn't the one I'm worried about. You could be queen one day, darling. You must look the part."
Eleanor directed the servants to wait outside as stepped into a dim shop, her daughter following behind her. Elissa blanched when she saw what kind of shop it was, with displays showing off a number of frothy nightgowns and delicate underthings.
"Mother!" she hissed. "What are we doing here?"
"Something that your betrothed will care about," Eleanor said with a sparkle in her eye. "In a matter of months you will be a married woman. One of your greatest responsibilities is keeping your husband happy. This is part of that."
Elissa's face burned. "Do you have to be here for this part?" she whispered.
Eleanor's lips curved into a slight smile. "You couldn't possibly do this without the help of a happily married woman."
Elissa shuddered. "I did not need to hear that."
As the shop attendant approached and began to speak with them, questioning the ladies about their needs and preferences, the shop's bell rung again.
"Hello Elissa," came a voice from behind her. "Fancy seeing you here."
An elf in armor was watching her with deep amusement etched on her face.
Elissa frowned and touched her mother's arm. "Do we know her?"
Eleanor's brows lowered. "She's not one of our servants."
"She's not a servant," Elissa replied, somehow certain. Seeking a reason for her certainty, she added, "She's in armor."
"What are you doing in this store?" the attendant asked the elf. "You don't belong in this establishment. Get out!"
Elissa's eyes widened at the attendant's rudeness, but she didn't get the opportunity to speak.
"Your 'establishment' is nothing but a pretty lie," the elf said, rolling her eyes at the attendant. "I'm here for her," she said, pointing at Elissa, "so kindly bugger off."
Elissa's jaw dropped at the language as her mother gasped, clearly offended.
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Elissa said, finding her voice. "I don't know you!"
The elf sighed. "Kallian Tabris, grey warden, unwilling companion to you and your little prince. We're fighting the blight together? Remember Ostagar, Redcliffe, the circle tower?"
Elissa blinked. She didn't want to believe it, but something about the elf was familiar. The places she mentioned… something was important about them. Something happened at Ostagar.
"Get out!" the attendant cried. "I'll call the guards!"
"Try it," the elf said. "They're no match for me."
"Let's go," Eleanor said finally, taking her daughter's arm and pulling her past the elf to leave.
"No," Kallian said, grabbing Elissa's other arm.
"Get off me!" Elissa cried, pushing the elf away. "What's wrong with you?" She scrambled back towards her mother.
"Damn it, Elissa," Kallian growled. "Remember me!" She whipped out a dagger and Eleanor screamed.
The way Kallian flipped the dagger triggered a cascading flood of memories that hit Elissa like a sledgehammer. She remembered everything now, everything up to the moment the demon put her under.
Elissa looked at her mother, heart racing. Her mother was dead.
"How…" she turned back to Kallian. "How do we get out of here?"
"No!" Eleanor cried, yanking Elissa back to her. "You are mine! You will never leave this place!" With an inhuman strength, she began to drag Elissa away.
Elissa fought against the creature wearing her mother's face, struggling to escape her grasp. Kallian rounded on the attendant, making careful swipes with her dagger before plunging it into the woman's stomach. Only after the attendant collapsed did Elissa find the strength to thrust her mother away. Eleanor fell into a display and tumbled to the floor, mannequins and boxes falling atop her.
"You have to kill her to escape," Kallian said as she pulled away from the dying attendant.
Those calm words shook Elissa to the core as she remembered leaving her mother and father at Highever Castle on the worst night of her life. Panic gripped her heart. "I won't!" she said, whipping around to face Kallian. "You can't make me!"
"It's the only way, Elissa," Kallian said, coming forward, holding out her bloody dagger. "You'll be trapped here forever."
Elissa shook her head rapidly, tears forming in her eyes. "I left her to die once. You can't ask me to kill her now. I won't. I won't!" Her hands trembled as she held them out in front of her.
There was movement under the wrecked display, and they both turned. When Kallian looked back at Elissa, her eyes shone with fury. "You don't know what I had to face to get to you," she spat out. "I'm not leaving without you, you ungrateful bitch!"
As Eleanor finally came to her feet, Kallian wrenched Elissa's wrist to thrust the girl behind her, and threw her dagger straight into Eleanor's chest. Elissa screamed as her mother fell to the ground.
When Kallian turned, Elissa was crumpled on the floor, her face in her hands.
"Get up," Kallian said, pulling her roughly to her feet. "We have to go."
Elissa looked at her with tearful eyes. "Why didn't you just leave me? I was happy here."
Kallian stared at Eleanor's body for a moment. When she turned back, her eyes were hard. "I need you to fight the demon. I can't do it alone. Now let's go."
Kallian dragged Elissa to the glowing portal and shoved her through.
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