Chapter 83
They followed Aedan into an adjoining room and found more prisoners. Emma walked past Vaughan, throwing him a nasty glare, and made her way to Irminric's cell. Alistair winced at the sight of the Templar in the late stages of lyrium withdrawal and explained to the others why the man was so confused. "Alfstanna… is that you, little sister?" The man's eyes were glazed, and he was plainly disoriented as a jumble of words fell from his lips. Emma moved closer and took the ring from his shaking hands. "I promise I'll get your sister here as soon as possible."
She placed the ring in her bag and back-tracked to Vaughan's cell. "You can't do this to me! I'll have you all flayed. I'm the Arl of Denerim." Emma looked him up and down, her contempt obvious. "No, you're not. You're a murderer and a rapist."
His eyes widened, and he stopped his ranting. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, I do. I know very well what you're capable of." Without any further ado, she thrust her blade through the bars and into his stomach. Or so she thought. When he didn't fall down, she looked a little closer at the wound and realised she'd only gone in a couple of inches. "Bloody hell, I need a sharper sword."
Zevran chuckled. "No, my dear. You need more strength." He walked up behind her and pushed the blade in the rest of the way, then Emma added her own touch, and released a cold spell. The sword thickened with ice, widening the wound and causing Vaughan to scream in agony. He soon fell silent as the ice spread and covered his body. Emma tried to pull her sword free, but the damn thing was stuck in a chunk of ice. "Er… a little help here?" She was reminded of Camelot as everyone took turns pulling at the sword, but it remained steadfast, even a group effort yielded no results. "Ah, sod it. Open the damn door." Emma hastily unlocked it and stepped back. Oghren swung his massive axe, shattering Vaughan with one blow, and her weapon dropped to the ground. "Problem solved," Oghren said with a grin.
After that, they returned to Anora's room and freed her. She stepped out dressed in a guard's outfit. In the game, Emma always used the line that was a reference to the scene from Star Wars: A New Hope, and she couldn't resist saying it now. "Aren't you a little short to be a guard?" The Queen raised a cool eyebrow. "I don't think anyone is going to notice." Emma turned her head slightly and glimpsed the soldiers waiting in the next room. "I think you're right."
Aedan's eyes widened as he too caught sight of what awaited them. "Are you sure this plan will work?"
"I bloody hope so."
"Then let's kick some ass!" Oghren grinned as he pulled his weapon free. Everyone followed suit, and they stepped into the large room, lined with soldiers, mages and, standing front and centre was Ser Cauthrien. A smug smile spread across the female knight's face. "Surrender and you may be shown mercy." Emma pulled her sword free and raised it in the air. "Death first!" she shouted loudly.
Alistair looked over at her. "That was a bit melodramatic."
She grinned and shrugged. "I thought it was very uplifting." She turned to Cauthrien. "What did you think? Was it too much?"
The warrior stared at her in astonishment. "What…"
Taking advantage of the momentary confusion, Emma suddenly raised her hand and slammed a wave of energy into the thick double doors behind the soldiers. There was a split second of silence as she waited… and then the doors heaved outwards as if someone was pulling from the other side. Ser Cauthrien climbed to her feet. "You fool! Do you think we'll let you escape through the front door?"
Emma chuckled. "Oh no, you're mistaken. I don't want to get out, I'm letting people in." Again, the doors were pulled from the outside, and she helped them along by releasing another wave of Force magic. With a thunderous crack, the doors splintered and were torn from their hinges. A cheer went up from her friends at the sight of Sten, Shale, Wynne, Leliana, Morrigan and Revek standing in the doorway.
The soldiers were thrown into confusion as they tried to compensate for the extra enemies, but they were soon overwhelmed. Thanks to the placement of the soldiers, it was a simple task to drop an area-of-effect spell in each corner, which effectively wiped out half the force. Ser Cauthrien fought well, as was to be expected from a knight trained by Loghain. Emma felt a moment of pity for the warrior; her loyalty to the traitorous Teyrn had brought her to this end, or perhaps it was her blindness to see the wrongs done by her mentor. Either way, she knew that Ser Cauthrien would shed no tears over the death of herself or her friends, and so shelved the sympathetic feelings and fought harder.
Wanting to end the battle as quickly as possible, Emma cast a Vulnerability Hex which momentarily weakened Cauthrien causing her guard to briefly drop. That was all the time Sten needed to swing Asala and decapitate Ser Cauthrien. Her head rolled across the plush carpet, only stopping when it hit the leg of a dead soldier. Weapons were sheathed, and together Aedan and his group walked out of the estate in silence.
Before making their way back to Arl Eamon's home, they stopped at the Chanter's Board and reported the whereabouts of Rexel. Then they headed over to the Gnawed Noble tavern to speak to the nobles, where Bann Sighard thanked them for rescuing his son and promised to back them at the Landsmeet. They moved onto Alfstanna, Bann of the Waking Sea, and handed her the ring; she sat up straight and asked where they had got it from. To Emma's surprise, it was Alistair who answered.
She looked over at him, and what she saw on his face made her smile; his cheeks were flushed, and his eyes looked upon Alfstanna as though she were the best thing since sliced bread. "I'll take you straight there, milady," He made the offer with a shy smile, which she responded to with a grateful one. Emma was happy for him, but a little concerned about his return to the estate. "Are you sure that's wise?"
"There's no Arl to command the remaining soldiers, so we'll be fine, Emma."
The rest of the party returned to Arl Eamon's estate, with everyone but Aedan and Emma retiring to their rooms for some much needed rest. The two Grey Wardens walked into Eamon's study, and then spent ten minutes calming him down when he noticed the absence of Alistair. "Maker's Breath! After Anora's description of the situation you were left to face, I thought for sure he'd fallen during the battle." After the Arl had regained his composure, the normal conversation ensued which consisted of Anora voicing her concerns about the Alienage, and ended with Eamon asking them to talk to the Queen.
Finally, they left the Arl, and Aedan started making his way to Anora's room; Emma grabbed his arm. "Oh no, she can wait." She linked her hand in his, and dragged him off to their room; Aedan was in dire need of some downtime, and she intended to see that he got it.
