AN / This is just letting folks know that I do not support Bioware and its crappy business practices, lay-offs, worker mistreatment etc, and that my continuing to work on this story is in no way an endorsement of them and what they're doing. I'm only writing this now for the folks that like and follow this story and might want to see where it goes. At this point I seriously doubt DA4 will ever be released, but I guess that means we can all just write our own endings for the franchise!

Dragon Age: Revengeance

ACT III

Chapter 23

Trivia snatched a smoke bomb from Hawke's rigging and tossed it down, swiftly filling the corridor with thick, obscuring clouds of dust. Hawke then felt the girl pull her through the smoke, narrowly brushing past Lysander in the process. Before she knew it they were through a set of double doors, standing within a chamber that made Hawke's mouth drop momentarily.

Arcanist Hall was a library, or perhaps the library, being the largest and most famous one of its kind in all of Thedas. The Hall was built like an immense drum; circular, wide, and deep, with wood panelled walls and floors coated in glossy varnishes and lacquers, lit by hundreds of colourful, scintillating magical lights. Indeed each section of the Hall appeared to be colour coded, presumably organised by specific subjects and areas of interest. Presently it was unoccupied, though given the enormous commotion that Hawke and Bethany had raised during their arrival, it was possible that the Circle guards had ushered everyone back to their rooms until the situation was resolved.

Trivia closed and locked the doors they had just entered through, then pulled a freeze bomb from Hawke's rigging and used it to freeze the doors shut for added measure. Hawke gaped at her.

"Should I be worried that you know exactly where I keep all of my equipment stashed on my person?"

"I'm the Augur of Mystery," she replied, "Clairvoyance and divination are my areas of expertise."

She moved to a glyph panel on the wall and swiped her fingers over it, extinguishing all of the lights in the library and plunging them into near total darkness. A moment later the glyph panel flared brightly and exploded into a shower of sparks as she did something to destroy it. Then she took Hawke by the hand and led her through the inky blackness.

"I hope you know where you're going," said Hawke, adjusting her hold on Bethany, who was still slung unconscious over Hawke's shoulder; probably drugged or poisoned by Tallis. If it was anything like the sleep and knockout powders Hawke used then she would be fine after a while, albeit hungover.

"Certainly I do. This building was originally a temple of Razikale, and I was the High Priestess here. I admit that was very long ago, but the layout has not changed much since then, and I have been here a few times in more recent years. Incidentally, thank you for coming to my rescue."

Hawke pulled a face as she carefully navigated a flight of spiral stairs in the darkness. "You're welcome, although if I'd known what you were I don't think I would have bothered. I have to say, I'm not exactly thrilled to be holding hands with an ancient darkspawn magister, particularly in light of what the last one got up to."

"I am not Corypheus. I have no wish to destroy Thedas, or rule over it, nor do I have delusions of godhood. I only want to try and make amends for the part I played in unleashing the Blight upon the world."

"Aww, you say that with such conviction, I could almost believe it. Almost."

"Mind your step, we're at the bottom of this staircase. I hid an eluvian at the lowest levels of this Hall back when I was … well, human. It's still there, undiscovered; I've used it to sneak into this place several times over the past few months." She stopped abruptly, and Hawke felt her hand tense up.

"What is it?"

There was a loud crash from upstairs, followed by a shrill, maniacal laughter.

"Oh, Trivia! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" cried Lysander. Since he was possessing Fenris, it was Fenris' voice Hawke heard, yet the words and tone used by Lysander were utterly unlike Fenris in every way. Even if Trivia hadn't warned her about him, Hawke would have known something was very wrong.

"Fenris is my friend, can't we do something to help him?" she whispered, her heart pained to think what he must be going through, possessed and enslaved by an evil Tevinter Magister.

"I am afraid not. Those taken by the Sidereal are beyond saving."

Trivia pilfered a pair of shock mines from Hawke and vanished for a few seconds, before returning empty-handed. As she led them deeper into the Arcanist Hall, a cold blue light soared over their heads, and Hawke was stunned to see that it was Lysander – he was flying, the lyrium markings on Fenris' skin glowing brightly enough to offer him some illumination in the darkness. He hovered in the centre of the room and slowly turned, his gaze probing the depths of the gloom.

"It's not enough that you disguise yourself as a child, now you also wish to play games like one? Very well, Trivia, let us go a round of Hide and Seek, Cat and Mouse…"

As Trivia tugged Hawke through the maze of stacks, Lysander suddenly phased his head and shoulders through one of the bookshelves next to them, grinning like the demented lunatic that he was.

"Tag, you're it!" he exclaimed.

They broke into a run, skidded to a stop at the junction up ahead, and then rounded it, only to discover Lysander waiting for them at the head of the next staircase. Arms crossed, casually leaning against the balustrade, he cocked his head to one side as he regarded them with interest.

"I have a confession to make," he said, speaking in a tone of mock seriousness. "I have always had this overwhelming, all consuming desire … to eat you, Trivia. I want to know what you taste like. Will your flesh have a hint of smoked barbecue to it, as Ignatius' did when I devoured him in the Deep Roads? Or will you be sweeter, like a dessert?" He smacked his lips in anticipation as he shifted his posture, preparing to charge at them. "Oh, I do hope so…"

Trivia threw out her arm to stop Hawke from making a move. Sure enough as Lysander sprinted straight for them, one of Hawke's shock mines exploded, the surge of lightning striking him in the chest and sending him flying … directly into the second mine Trivia had planted, which propelled Lysander into a shelf with enough force to topple it, burying him amidst a veritable mountain of books.

"Divination, huh?" remarked Hawke, mildly impressed by what had just happened.

"Indeed. This way."

There wasn't enough time now to navigate the myriad stairs all the way to the bottom in the dark. As Lysander's enraged screams echoed throughout the Hall, Trivia attached Hawke's grappling hook to a decorative silverite railing, conjuring a small swarm of magical light wisps as she did so. As Hawke clambered over the side and prepared to abseil down to the bottom floor, she nodded at Trivia.

"What about you?"

The mini-magister responded by vaulting the railing and calmly floating all the way down, reminding Hawke that the Sidereals could fly. She snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Show-off."

She touched down safely, though the weight of carrying Bethany around was starting to wear her down. Hawke made a mental note to tease her sister about it once this was all over, and followed Trivia to an impressive onyx statue of Razikale that loomed over the lowest levels of the Arcanist Hall like something out of a nightmare.

Well, at least it wasn't a statue of a giant spider.

Trivia whistled a curious little tune, and one of the flat panels at the base of the statue shimmered and glowed, revealing itself to be an eluvian. Their way out. They were almost home free.

"NO ONE LEAVES UNTIL I SAY THEY CAN LEAVE!"

Lysander dropped out of the air and landed directly between them and the mirror. He drew a greatsword from across his back as he straightened upright, his lyrium markings burning bright, wreathing him in blue flames. Hawke swallowed.

"I don't suppose you have a prescient plan for this by any chance?"

"Unfortunately you are all out of grenades and bombs, so I have no choice but to fight him. Please stand back."

Hawke regarded the girl incredulously – less than five feet tall, unarmed and unarmoured, against the dreaded Blue Wraith, wielding a sword larger than she was. Whilst Hawke had precious little love for darkspawn magisters and would ordinarily have no qualms watching them tear each other apart, this seemed a little unfair of a match even for her to stomach.

"You can't be serious? He'll eat you alive. Literally."

Trivia smiled faintly. "There is more to me than meets the eye. Please, Hawke."

Hawke set Bethany down on a nearby bench and hastily checked her rigging and armour in case Trivia had overlooked any ammunition. Meanwhile Lysander had leapt to attack Trivia, in what Hawke felt certain would be a very brief one-sided confrontation. What followed made her stop and stare, forgetting entirely what she had been doing.

Lysander swung his greatsword in wide, sweeping arcs, any one of which would have cleaved Hawke herself in two had they connected. The problem was that none of them did; Trivia ducked and swayed and dodged each swing as if she knew in advance every move he was going to make before he did. Given her background and expertise, it was entirely possible she did. Lysander howled and picked up speed, until finally it seemed he was moving too quickly even for someone prescient to evade. Trivia somersaulted backwards and glided up and away from him, and he soared after her, swinging as he went. This time he couldn't miss.

He didn't, but his attack still failed to connect, as it was blocked by half a dozen spirit blades that materialised in the air around Trivia. The two flying opponents circled each other, Lysander trying desperately to fend off swords made from solidified magic that moved and swung and danced together in perfect unison.

When he broke off and moved away in order to reposition, Trivia flew over to the statue of Razikale and made a dizzyingly complex series of gestures. To Hawke – and Lysander's – astonishment, the statue came to life and moved. Hawke wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it done before; by Meredith, in Kirkwall when she'd fought against Hawke. The dragon statue sprang from its plinth and lunged at Lysander, who tried to fly over it, only to find himself once again being assailed by Trivia's swarm of spirit blades.

Beset from all sides, Lysander executed a series of fade steps that left him perched upon the balustrade on one of the upper levels. He peered down at them like a gargoyle carved from blue ice and laughed eerily.

"Brava, Trivia! This round goes to you. I applaud your ingenuity." He sheathed his sword and did just that, clapping, and Hawke couldn't tell if he was being sincere or sarcastic. He then stopped and gave a dismissive wave. "Run along back to whatever hovel you and your little slave friends call home. You may have won a battle, but you cannot win the war. Tevinter was born from blood and slaves, and no amount of magic or clever tricks can change what this land is deep down."

His lyrium markings went dark and Lysander seemed to vanish, swallowed up by the blackness of the library.

The onyx statue of Razikale sauntered over to Hawke and lowered its head to the ground, allowing Trivia to hop down from it, her hands clasped behind her back and her expression quite serene. Her spirit blades dematerialised into sparkles of yellow light. Hawke fought to keep how impressed she was from showing on her face.

"Not bad, not bad. A little showy perhaps, but the thing with the statue was a nice touch."

Trivia smirked. "Thank you." She pointed to the glowing eluvian. "We should go before the others arrive. I suspect I would not fare quite so well against three or four of them at once."

"How were you ever captured when you can fight like that?" Hawke asked as she hoisted Bethany up from the bench and followed the girl over to the mirror. Trivia stopped before it and shot Hawke a faintly embarrassed look.

"They drugged my tea."

"You drink tea?" That didn't sound right. Surely darkspawn magisters drank blood, or red lyrium, or souls. Not tea.

"Oh, yes! I simply adore tea. Calpernia makes the most delightful mint tea, you really must try it. I remember this one time, I rescued a dwarf that was lost in the Deep Roads, and we had a lovely cup of tea together…"

When Bethany came around and Hawke tried to explain everything she had missed, Hawke wasn't certain she would believe a word of it. She wasn't sure she believed any of it herself, and she had just experienced it.