Chapter 93

They moved forward, and Emma bit back a groan when she remembered the next fight which had a rock-throwing ogre stationed at the top of a flight of stairs. The best option would be to take down the ogre before they tried climbing the stairs.
"All right, I think I have a plan to take out the ogre. Morrigan, fire a bolt at it."
"Anything in particular? And won't that get its attention?"
"Yes, I'm hoping he'll pick up a boulder."
Morrigan threw a nasty glare her way. "And if he doesn't throw a rock at me?"
Emma shrugged. "Well, it means we find another way of taking him down, or he may even come down the stairs to attack us, which works out well for us too."
"Has anyone ever told you you're crazy?"
Emma thought about it and shook her head. "Not that I can remember. Now, fire the bolt, or the Archdemon is just going to get pissy and go home if we're late."
Morrigan tutted, and then shot a fireball at it; the creature thumped its chest and bent down. Emma waited for just the right moment... and there it was; the ogre lifted the boulder over its head, and she released a grease spell on its hands. It looked up, confused at the sudden slipperiness of its palms, and the boulder landed right in its face. Morrigan stared as the massive creature went down, then she looked over to Emma. "I can't believe that worked."
"Let's move, before they replace it with something else," Aedan ordered.

Unfortunately, the boulder hadn't killed the ogre, but it was dazed long enough for them to reach the top of the stairs and take it out with relative ease. The Emissary gave them a lot of trouble though, especially when it managed to knock Morrigan unconscious. Emma carefully made her way over to her friend after unleashing Mana Clash on the darkspawn mage. She healed Morrigan until the mage awoke, and then handed her a health potion to take care of any remaining injuries. At the end of the long battle, everyone was starting to feel the effects of the continuous fighting, and Emma was thankful she'd taken the time to learn the Creation spells from Wynne. She cast Mass Rejuvenation on the party, and felt the immediate increase in her own energy; she really needed to remember to use that school of magic more often.

Once more they walked the streets of Denerim, noting where some of the fighting had taken place, leaving bodies from both sides of the war to rot in the gutter. They reached the door leading to the courtyard of Fort Drakon, and Emma called everyone together. "All right, this fight is going to be a real pain in the ass. You've got a row of archers off to each side, further back at the doors to the fort you have a lot of darkspawn, including another Emissary. Oh, and on top of all that, there will be a couple of drakes."
"What... no ogres this time?" Alistair joked.
Emma chuckled. "Not this time, no. But don't worry, you'll still have a couple more to fight, later on."

It was clear from Aedan's expression that he was picturing the set-up, and contemplating the best way to deal with it. After a couple of minutes had passed, he looked up at the mages. "Do you both have the shield spell?" They nodded. "Okay, good. I want you two to go in first and drop an area-of-effect spell over the archers, effectively disabling them, so that we can make our move. I'll be in stealth, and will make my way to the doors to start taking out the darkspawn gathered there. Alistair, you stay near the mages and protect them when their shields fall. Sten, you join me."
"I can also cast Heroic Aura," Emma said, "which will deflect missiles from you for a while; it might be useful for Sten when he's running towards the doors."
Aedan nodded his approval. "Then we have a plan. Let's move."

The mages pushed the door open, casting their shields at the same time. Emma turned to the archers closest to her and dropped a Death Hex and a Death Cloud; the thick black mist shielded her view from the darkspawn's death-throes, but the sounds of them choking was clear enough. Morrigan had gone with Storm of the Century, and when both spells had cleared, the archers were all dead. They moved up a little further, Emma casting Heroic Aura on whichever melee fighter seemed in the most need of it. The first drake appeared, and Alistair moved in to attack; Emma decided to distract the beast with a Stinging Swarm, and watched in surprise as the creature went down quickly, with the help of Alistair's sword and shield.

After a quick discussion, it was agreed Morrigan would move forward, after casting another shield spell, to help out Aedan and Sten, while Emma and Alistair waited for the next drake. It wasn't long in coming, and once more, the creature was dealt with a lot more rapidly than she'd dared hope. With the rear cleared of enemies, the two moved swiftly forward to help out with the growing number of darkspawn appearing by the doors to the fort. It seemed the Archdemon was throwing everything at them, including more Emissaries and even shrieks. Emma could see the melee fighters flagging again, and she cast another Mass Rejuvenation to help them along. When the last darkspawn fell, everyone turned towards the door, half-expecting another wave to emerge, but after a couple of minutes nothing else appeared, and Aedan ordered them to take a ten-minute break. "Eat and drink. We'll be no good fighting the Archdemon if we're exhausted before we even start the battle."

After the much-needed rest, everyone arose, refreshed and ready to face the next wave of darkspawn. They didn't have long to wait because shrieks attacked them from all sides as soon as they entered the fort. Emma looked around, knowing who needed to be taken down to bring this round of combat to a swift end. She spotted the Conjurer, half-hidden behind a door, and threw Mana Clash at him, followed by a number of spells, until the creature fell dead to the floor. She checked her lyrium supply, and found she had only three left; she swallowed one down, unconcerned as she knew they'd soon meet up with Sandal.

They moved through the rooms, methodically killing any darkspawn and undead they came across before finding the dwarf.
"Sandal? What are you doing here?" Aedan asked as he looked around at the numerous corpses of darkspawn surrounding the lad. "And how did you kill all of these?"
A wide grin spread across Sandal's face. "Enchantment!"
There were a few chuckles at his answer, and then they got down to the business of restocking their health and lyrium potions. As they ascended the staircase, Aedan asked. "Is he going to be all right?"
"Yeah, he can take care of himself," Emma replied.

The second floor kept Aedan busy as they found traps scattered around like the toys of a child. "Maker's Breath, I'm going to get a crick in my back if I have to disarm anymore of these things." He threw the dismantled spring trap to one side as he stood up, and they set off once more. All too soon, they entered the final room to face two ogres and another Emissary. Emma's eyes darted over to the massive double doors, knowing that just behind the thick metal, the Archdemon Urthemiel awaited them.

She brought her attention back to the fight at hand, and concentrated on the darkspawn mage; a bolt of lightning struck her just below the ribs and she gritted her teeth against the burning pain that shot through her body. She slammed the Emissary into the ground and cast an Inferno while he was still trying to get to his feet. It shrieked as its skin burst into flames, and she turned her focus to the ogres. One was already down, and the other was staggering; she helped it along with a stone fist to the head, and after a few more attacks from the melee fighters, it hit the ground with a thud that reverberated throughout the room. They looted the chests and crates in the adjoining room, and after a round of healing for everyone, they stood in front of the doors.

"This is it, I guess?" Aedan asked. Emma's mouth had suddenly dried up, so she just nodded her answer. Desperately, she tried to memorise the face of the man she loved, knowing she wouldn't have another chance once they stepped through the doors. She quickly moved forward and crushed her mouth to his, needing to taste him one final time. She fought back a sob as she broke the kiss and his hand comfortingly squeezed hers before they separated. The group strode towards the doors and threw them open. "May the Maker watch over us all," Alistair whispered as they walked out to face the Archdemon.