Grayson had said that the journey to Kinloch Hold would take us seven days on foot. On horseback, we cut that time in half. By the time we arrived on the shores of Lake Calenhad, my ankle was almost fully healed and so too was the rift between Morrigan and I. The witch continued to travel in animal form throughout the day; sometimes on the wing as a crow, and sometimes on foot as a large, grey wolf - much to the confusion of the hounds.
At night, however, after some prompting from Grayson, I made a concerted effort to join her by her camp-fire. At first she was openly hostile, but I had been prepared for that. I knew that asking her questions about her upbringing had the potential to provoke her ire, so I avoided that line of conversation, instead offering details of my own life back home. Her curiosity of my world soon lowered her guard, and before long I was fielding all sorts of questions from her, answering to the best of my ability. I steered the conversation away from my knowledge of Thedas, instead explaining as much as I could about our science and technology, politics and history.
Her fascination quickly took precedent over her determination to dislike me, and even I had to admit that she wasn't as much of a heartless shrew as I had first decided she was. The irony that the only one of our companions I hadn't made an effort to befriend was also the only one I could really be honest with was not lost on me. It was actually quite nice, being able to speak openly about home.
By the time we reached Lake Calenhad, I wouldn't exactly say that we had become friends, but I definitely felt that I had more understanding of why she was the way she was. I had even managed to make her laugh a couple of times.
Alistair was none too pleased with these new developments, as he made clear by drawing us dirty looks and sighing huffily whenever I left our camp-fire to join Morrigan by hers. I heard him complain in a low voice to Grayson, to which Grayson responded by slapping him on the back and cheerfully telling him to get over it. As the tension between Morrigan and I decreased, the tension between Alistair and I seemed to increase, and morph into something that was entirely unpleasant. Before, things between us had become tense and awkward at times, but never unfriendly. Now, he barely looked at me. I was preoccupied enough with our current task that I decided whatever issue Alistair had with me was going to have to wait.
More than once on our journey we encountered darkspawn. For the first time, Grayson and I realised we could sense them. Alistair's 'spawny sense, as I had started referring to it in my head, was still much stronger than ours and he sensed them a good few miles before either of us did, but it was definitely there. It wasn't like I thought it would be. For some reason I had thought of it as being almost like radar, but it was more like a sixth sense, like that feeling you get when you know you're being watched, or that tingle in your spine that happens when someone supposedly walks over your grave, only much more intense and much more sinister.
Sten was fascinated by it, and asked a range of questions, displaying uncharacteristic enthusiasm. I reminded myself that as well as being a soldier, he was also acting as a Qunari anthropologist of sorts, on a blight-related fact-finding mission, and was no doubt filing all of this information away to relay to his Arishok upon his return to Par Vollen.
Given that we were prepared, we had no real trouble with the darkspawn. I was still pretty unsteady on my feet but, as I've already mentioned, darkspawn are not the brightest creatures I've ever come across. The only real threat was when an emissary appeared amongst one of the groups, and Grayson barely managed to dodge a well-aimed fireball, but Alistair did some neat templar-smite thing and took the creature down. I made a mental note to ask him more about his templar abilities when he decided to get over his huff and talk to me again.
It was a close call and for the rest of the day Grayson smelled a little of burnt hair, but we arrived at Lake Calenhad otherwise unscathed.
The others seemed to think that convincing the mages to help with Connor and join forces with us to stop the blight would be fairly straightforward. The knowledge that this was not going to be the case was a heavy thing to carry alone.
On the fourth day, when Kinloch Hold finally came into view in the distance, I fell silent as I tried to remember each of the challenges we would face inside the tower. All I could really remember was that Wynne would be there, Uldred would turn into a Pride demon and try to kill us all, and something about a...Litter-tray of Lasagne? I frowned, reasonably confident that was not what it was called, but I knew it was important for...something. For the millionth time since arriving in Thedas, I silently reminded the powers-that-be that they really had chosen the wrong twin for the gig.
We tied off the horses outside the Spoiled Princess tavern, and Grayson, Sten and Morrigan went off to arrange passage across the lake while Alistair, Leliana and I spoke to the inn-keeper to pay for the horse's livery while we were at the tower. Alistair assured the man that we would be back within the day, and they worked out a price, but after he turned to leave I surreptitiously slid another few coins across the counter. The inn-keeper cocked an eyebrow at me and I smiled, grimly.
"Just in case." I muttered, low enough that the others couldn't hear.
By the time we made our way down to the docks, Grayson had already convinced the templar, Carroll, to grant us passage to the tower, although he protested that the small row-boat would not carry all of us, eyeing Sten speculatively as he did so. We agreed to travel over in separate groups, and Sten, Leliana, Larry and I waited behind while the others made their way to the tower.
The early evening air was freezing, and there was a chill wind rolling in from the lake. I had been largely avoiding conversation with Leliana since our discussion about Sten's sword, and conversation with Sten was never particularly easy. Sten asked Leliana a few questions about life in the chantry, and seemed dissatisfied with every answer she gave, so after that we mostly waited in silence. We can't have waited more than an hour before Carroll returned to ferry us across, but it felt much longer.
Carroll led us to the doors but didn't stay, probably afraid of what Greagoir would have to say to him for bringing us to the tower. I led the way inside to find Grayson, Alistair and Morrigan having what appeared to be a heated discussion. A man I recognised to be Greagoir shot us an exasperated look, but said nothing as we approached our companions.
"...pointless. These circle mages are little better than slaves, I highly doubt any of them possessed the strength or the ability to survive these demons." I caught the tail end of Morrigan's contribution and, to my surprise, saw Alistair nod in agreement.
"I hate to agree with Morrigan...on principle, more than anything, but this time she may actually have a point." He said, with a pained expression.
"What's going on?" I asked, brightly.
"The tower's been overrun by demons and abominations. Greagoir has locked all of the mages inside and sent for the Right of Annulment." Alistair explained, and I nodded to show that I understood.
"Okay, so what about the survivors?" I asked, trying to move the conversation to where I knew it needed to go. He shook his head, hopelessly.
"Survivors? At this stage, it's highly unlikely that there are any. If the templars here have resorted to barring the doors, that means there was nothing else they could have done."
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at his unfailing belief that all templars were valiant heroes.
"With all due respect, you don't know that, Alistair. We need mages. There are mages in there." I pointed to the barred doors at the end of the hall. "I think it's pretty obvious what we have to do."
"It doesn't seem so obvious to me." Grayson frowned, thoughtfully. "I think we may have to consider this more carefully. Perhaps there's another way to save Connor..."
"But there won't be another way to save the innocent mages who are trapped in there, waiting to be slaughtered because the Chantry are so scared of corruption that they won't give them the benefit of the doubt." I protested, panic fluttering in my chest. I hadn't even expected this subject to be up for debate, let alone the possibility that I might be on the losing side. "We're supposed to be the good guys, remember?"
"We're supposed to end the blight." Grayson argued. "The only question we should be asking ourselves is will this further our cause or hinder it."
"Well, I don't know about you, but if we're going up against an archdemon I'd quite like a few more mages in our corner. Morrigan's good, but she's just one person, she can't be everywhere at once."
"I agree, Lauren, but the fact is we don't know there are any mages left in there. Chances are, if we go in all we'll find is a tower crawling with abominations." Grayson said, slowly, as if explaining something very complicated to someone very slow-witted. I narrowed my eyes at his tone.
"And we also don't know that there aren't mages left in there, trapped with said abominations. The longer we stand here talking, the more likely your scenario becomes. Any mages left inside that tower are likely to be the most skilled the circle had to offer to begin with, if they've survived this long. Don't you want them on our side?" I reasoned, eyeing him hopefully. I could see his mind working, processing what I had said, but his face was unreadable.
"I agree with Lauren. We have to do what we can to help these poor people." Leliana spoke up from behind me. I was a little surprised to find her agreeing with me, but I shouldn't have been. I knew she was all about second chances.
"Let's get in there and look for survivors, save who we can, and kill everything else." I said, more confident now that Leliana was with me. I locked eyes with Grayson and we had a silent battle of wills before he eventually nodded.
"Fine. Yes. We'll all go." He sighed, looking at Alistair. "I hope you remember your templar training."
Greagoir overheard this and approached us, cautiously.
"If you truly mean to...well, if you succeed, I will owe you much. I do not hold out hope that you will find any survivors, and once you enter the tower the doors will remain sealed. I will only reopen them if the first enchanter stands before me and tells me that it is safe to do so. If Irving has fallen, then the Circle is truly lost."
"Do you mind? I've only just convinced them it's a good idea, you don't have to be ominous threat guy." I grumbled, pushing past the templar and making my way to the double doors before anyone could change their minds. Two of the templars barring the way unlocked the doors and, after a few moments hesitation, stood aside to let us pass.
As soon as we were all inside, the doors were slammed shut behind us and the locks clicked back into place. The scene before us was one of utter carnage. Bodies of mages and templars alike littered the ground, and the smell...
I forced myself not to think about it, and led the way through the first rooms.
"This is a fool mission." Morrigan said, quietly. "Everyone is dead."
A shout from ahead of us proved her wrong almost immediately, and we ran in the direction of the noise, entering the hall just as Wynne dispatched what I recognised to be a rage demon. The foul creature screamed and disintegrated, and Wynne turned to face us. Her eyes scanned our faces before settling on Grayson.
"You? I met you at Ostagar. What are you doing here?" She asked, her staff still firmly in her hand. Grayson took a step towards her but she held out a hand in warning. "No! Come no further. Grey Warden or no, I will strike you down where you stand."
Grayson shot me a wary glance and I shrugged. I really didn't remember her being so hostile.
"It's...Wynne, isn't it?" He started, with what I'm sure he hoped was an easy smile. "Don't be alarmed. We're here to help you."
"The templars wouldn't just let anyone in." She replied, suspiciously.
"The templars are afraid." I said, when Grayson appeared to be lost for words. "Greagoir has sent for the Right of Annulment, but nobody here wants it to have to come to that. We came because we need mages to help us against the darkspawn. When we found out what was happening, we offered to look for survivors."
"I feared they would send for it. What else could they do?" She said, sadly, but she lowered her staff. "So Greagoir thinks the Circle is beyond hope? He probably assumes we are all dead. They abandoned us to our fate, but we have survived. If they invoke the Right of Annulment..."
"That won't happen." I assured her. "We're going to clean this tower out and save anyone who can be saved. Greagoir won't open the doors again until the first enchanter tells him it's safe to."
"Then we must find Irving. I have erected a barrier over the door leading to the rest of the tower so that nothing from inside could attack the children. I will dispel the barrier if you will join me to save this Circle."
I looked at Grayson for his response, and he nodded.
"Very well. We're happy to have you along, Wynne."
Morrigan made a small noise of what sounded like disapproval in her throat but said nothing.
Wynne was as good as her word and brought down the barrier, allowing us access to the rest of the tower. My ankle was much better but still stiff and, noticing my slight limp, she healed it without a word, winking at me when I felt the heat of her spell repairing the injured tissue. I shot her a grateful smile and we pressed on.
If the first few rooms had been bad, what followed only seemed to grow worse and worse as we progressed. There was so much death, and the part of my brain that I was using to compartmentalise my emotions was working overtime. I knew I would have nightmares about this later, but right now I just had to keep it together. None of us could afford to break down, not when so much was at stake.
We made our way through the rooms, clearing out demons as we went. The demons and abominations were far more terrifying than anything I could have dreamt, but after I killed my first one I started to feel better. They might look horrifying, but they died just as easily as darkspawn.
We made our way through the library and reached the stockroom to find Owain there, and Wynne and Grayson spoke with him. He told them in that chilling monotone about Niall and the Litany of Adralla...not the Litter-tray of Lasagne, and insisted that he would stay in the stockroom until everything was back to normal. The demons and abominations might have been grotesque, but Owain's calm, emotionless demeanour creeped me out far worse than any monster I had so far encountered in Thedas.
We fought our way through some more demons, clearing out each room as we did so. We came across what we initially thought were survivors, but who turned out to be blood mages, and they attacked us on sight. I hung back, unable to bring myself to kill a human, no matter how twisted or dangerous they might be. There were enough of us that I was sure nobody would notice my lack of participation, but Leliana flashed me a small smile of understanding as we left.
When we reached Irving's office, it was thankfully empty of demons. We rummaged through some drawers and chests, searching for healing draughts and lyrium potions, and I looked over to see Grayson shove a large, black book into his pack which I knew to be Flemeth's grimoire. I bit my lip, wondering how Morrigan would react to finding out her mother's plan, while undoubtedly suspecting that I had withheld that information from her. I resolved to tell her later, before she turned me into a toad or something.
After clearing a few more rooms, we made to head up to the next floor, but we didn't make it very far.
AN: Thank you to my new beta, Kira Tamarion, for your words of wisdom and invaluable suggestions. And thank you to everyone for reading!