Siara entered the ballroom and cast her eyes over the scene, taking in where everyone was standing and trying to mentally map a path to where Celene was moving to stand near the balcony to address her guests.
Cullen was the first to spot her, frowning as he crossed over to her.
"Where's the Inquisitor?" he asked, trying to hide his concern as being business driven rather than emotion. Siara didn't look at him, her eyes still scanning the crowds.
"Probably not too far behind me," she answered.
"Why are you not with her?"
"Because I'm going against orders," Siara gently but firmly pushed past Cullen. "Excuse me."
Cullen stepped back in surprise, then looked back to the door Siara had initially burst in through as Jacquelyn entered the room, her face slightly flushed. He couldn't tell if it was from anger or being out of breath.
"Thank the Maker you're back." he said, Jacquelyn snapping her attention from where Siara was vanishing to the crowds to Cullen, "The empress will begin her speech soon. What should we do?"
"Stop Siara from getting in the way,'' Jacquelyn ordered, "but get your men into position to apprehend Florianne once she has done what she intends to. The easiest way to get Gaspard into power is to let Celene die."
Cullen nodded. There was a part of him that wasn't entirely happy about allowing the duchess to die, but he understood. Sometimes sacrifice was required for the greater good.
He motioned to his men that they should stand by, and that they should get between Siara and her intended target. Some of them shared confused looks, but did as they were motioned, moving to stand in Siara's path. She noticed this and raised an eyebrow, turning around to shoot Cullen a dirty look. Jacquelyn was already moving through the crowds towards, and Siara just shook her head and climbed onto the balcony railing.
She made her way along it as quickly as she could as Celene began her address. She didn't pay any attention to the words, only that Florianne was getting closer to where the empress was, and that Anders looked like he was too far back in the crowd to step in if he needed to. More accurately, when he would need to.
Siara jumped off the balcony railings as she got closer, now having left most of the Inquisition members to the throng of the crowd, and grabbed a pillar to swing herself around a corner faster as Florianne stepped up beside Celene.
"My friends," she was saying, "we are here to witness an historic moment. A great change is coming for all of us."
Siara put on a burst of speed as Florianne moved around behind Celene, absently thanking the Maker that there wasn't anyone between her and Florianne now except a couple of Celene's guards, who seemed a bit too taken aback initially at the seemingly half-crazed elf to act fast enough to grab her.
"Isn't that right, Gaspard?" Florianne asked, pulling her arm back. Siara hardly paid attention to the dagger in Florianne's hand, hardly noticed as Anders began to push his way through the crowds towards Celene. Siara just launched herself forward, tackling Florianne and sending them both tumbling to the ground.
Siara rolled a short distance, the dagger having slid across the floor between her and Florianne. The duchess seemed to recover slightly faster than Siara, scrambling to grab the dagger. Siara spun herself around so she could kick the dagger out of the way, sending it off into the crowds. Florianne scowled, stumbling to her feet as Siara quickly stood up, placing herself defensively between Florianne and Celene as the guards rushed over to escort Celene out of the way. Florianne produced another dagger, lunging at Siara, who blocked the blow by reaching out and grabbing Florianne's wrist. With an infuriated growl, Florianne swiped out with her claw-like nails extended and slapped Siara across the face, sending her sprawling against the balcony rails. Her cheek stung, and she could already feel blood seeping from the scratches as she shook her head, looking out across the ballroom at the horrified guests. She scowled, half turning to face Florianne as the dagger was once again raised high, kicking Florianne squarely in the gut and sending her stumbling back. Winded, the duchess chose that moment to retreat, stumbling a bit as she hurried out to the courtyard.
"Siara!" the elf turned, panting slightly, as Anders came up to her, "Maker, your face -"
"Can wait," Siara cut him off, already chasing after Florianne. Anders didn't wait, running after her.
The courtyard seemed empty when they got there, Siara leaping over the courtyard railing and landing lightly on the ground, pausing to catch her breath as she looked around. Anders took a more dignified route of the stairs, stopping next to Siara and joining her in scanning the area for Florianne.
"Any ideas?" he asked.
Siara shook her head.
"She can't be too far, though. We weren't that far behind her."
Jacquelyn and Dorian arrived at that moment, Cassandra and Vivienne not too far behind them. Jacquelyn looked absolutely pissed.
"We had a plan, Siara," she seethed.
"A stupid plan I elected to ignore," Siara retaliated, "now please be quiet. I'm trying to -" she cut herself off and put herself in front of Jacquelyn, grunting in pain as an arrow embedded itself into her left shoulder. Everyone rushed to find cover, Jacquelyn guiding Siara behind the fountain out of Florianne's line of sight.
"Shitting nug-biscuits!" Siara cursed, gritting her teeth as she placed her left hand around the base of the arrow and craned her neck around to see where Florianne stood. Jacquelyn glanced at Siara, then followed where she was looking to Florianne.
Then she noticed the other Venatori entering the courtyard, a heavy sigh escaping her.
"This is a fantastic mess that you have landed us in, Siara," she muttered. Siara looked around at the approaching Venatori and scowled, gritting her teeth as she wrenched the arrow out of her shoulder. Jacquelyn looked at her in horror.
"You will simply do yourself more damage!"
"It can be healed later," Siara snapped back, pushing herself forward, "I'd rather have a dud shoulder than be dead."
She still wasn't entirely certain it was true, but there were more important things to be worrying about at that moment than if she didn't want to die or not.
"You should stay back, let us handle this."
"Yeah, right. Because you don't have enough on your plate as it is without having to watch my injured arse." Siara looked around to where Anders and Dorian had sought shelter, "Can you blast her?" she called.
Dorian and Anders craned their necks to spot where Florianne was, shared a look at each other, and nodded.
Dorian took charge of 'blasting' Florianne, as Siara had put it. Anders, meanwhile, took to attacking the oncoming Venatori, balls of fire hitting a couple of them square in the chest. Siara and Jacquelyn moved from their hiding spot as Florianne started darting out of the way of Dorian's lightning.
Jacquelyn very easily dispatched a couple of Venatori while Siara took on one, running towards him before skidding along the ground and kicking his legs out from under him. He hit the ground hard, and Siara wrapped her legs around his neck and weapon arm, holding his wrist between her hands as she cut the air off from his lungs with her legs. She only stood up once he went limp, taking his sword and plunging it through a gap in his armour and into his chest.
By now Florianne was on the ground with them, shooting arrow after arrow at them. Siara dove over a shrub, knowing it wasn't the best cover but better than nothing. It didn't take her long before she was attacked by another Venatori, but this one was easier to kill now that she had a weapon.
Siara looked around, taking in that the mages were all distracted and that Cassandra was off dealing with a couple of Venatori of her own as Jacquelyn circled Florianne, who had come down and was firing at the Inquisitor from the ground. She didn't seem to notice the Venatori brute coming up behind her.
There wasn't any time to think about it; wasn't any time to think of a plan. Siara simply acted, throwing herself at the brute, striking at his heavily armoured back with her sword. The brute turned as though a fly had hit him, slowly and lazily as though he couldn't care less. He raised his war hammer above his head, Siara darting out of the way. She jumped onto the edge of the fountain, using that to launch herself higher and wrapped her arms around the brute's neck. He stumbled a bit, taken off balance, and staggered towards the edge of the fountain. Siara kept her hold around his neck as tight as she could, kept trying to get the edge of her sword into the gap between his helmet and his chestplate. She didn't let go when he fell backwards into the fountain, flailing wildly. The water rushed in her ears, her lungs ached to take in air, and still she held on, waiting for the Venatori to stop moving.
Jacquelyn didn't even look around as this was happening, her eyes trained solely on Florianne, deflecting every arrow that was fired at her. She steadily drew close to the duchess, sword held ready to strike, shield held up before her. Once she was close enough, Jacquelyn put on a burst of speed, lashing out with her shield and striking Florianne across her head. Florianne tumbled to the ground, bow flying out of her reach as she stretched out her hands to catch her fall. Jacquelyn stepped forward, looming over her adversary with her sword raised. Florianne rolled over to look the Inquisitor in the eye defiantly, waiting for the final blow.
But it never came.
Siara stumbled out of the fountain, breathing heavily as she looked around. The Venatori brute lay motionless in the fountain, Cassandra's spellbinder and stalker lay side by side at her feet, and various other venatori scattered the ground where they had been felled by ice, fire, and lightning. Florianne slumped back on the ground as Jacquelyn stepped back, returning her sword to its sheath and turning as Inquisition soldiers flooded the courtyard. A couple of them made their way over to Florianne, grabbing her by the arms and forcing her hands behind her back as they guided her away.
Jacquelyn looked over to Siara as she stumbled out of the fountain, walking over to her with a dry look on her face.
"We shall have a discussion regarding this later," Jacquelyn only just came short of sneering, "for now I must attend to your mess."
Siara sighed, shaking herself off slightly as Anders approached. She looked a mess, blood still trickling down her cheek from where Florianne had scratched her, more blood seeping through her jacket from the wound on her shoulder.
"Do you have time to be patched up, now?" he asked, Siara simply collapsing to the edge of the fountain and leaning forward to catch her breath.
"Do as you will," she said, Anders taking a seat beside her and pressing his hand to her shoulder.