Chapter 49
Spotting Nadezda sitting on the ground, Emma turned to Aedan. "Perhaps we should try asking around, and see if anyone knows the whereabouts of Jarvia."
His gaze travelled over the inhabitants of Dust Town. "Well, I would, but I'm thinking these people would rather slit my throat than answer my questions."
She chuckled but pointed to Nadezda. "How about her?"
He shrugged in a manner that suggested there would be no harm in trying and walked over to the dwarf. Noting the dwarf's twisted and deformed leg stretched he felt a pang of sympathy for the woman. Nadezda struggled to her feet when she spotted the stranger approaching. "Well now. It ain't often that old Nadezda gets to see such finely dressed strangers here in Dust town."
Aedan smiled kindly. "You look like a woman who knows a thing or two so I was wondering if you could help me out?" Nadezda stared at him, then back to the group, then back to Aedan. "Look, lad, you got some fine-looking women in that group behind you and I'm sure one of them could help with your needs." Aedan stared at her for a second before the penny dropped. "Oh Maker. No! That's not what I meant." He turned and glared at his friends, who were in fits of laughter at the misunderstanding.
He gave up glaring and turned back to Nadezda. "I was talking about information. I thought you might know something about Jarvia and her group." Understanding dawned in the woman's dark eyes and she chuckled at her own mistake. "Now lad, it's lucky you asked old Nadezda. See, I used to run with Jarvia and her lot, before my leg became useless." She explained about the tokens that looked like finger bones and how Jarvia only kept one entrance open at a time.
"Any idea how I can get one of these tokens?"
She shook her head regretfully. "Sorry salroka, Jarvia's become real paranoid of late and is being extra careful about who she gives them to." Aedan dropped some silver pieces in her hand and Nadezda beamed at him. "I'll think of you when I go to bed with a full stomach tonight."
He filled in his companions, who had missed the majority of the conversation due to their laughter. Leliana discreetly got Aedan's attention. "I think you might want to check out the building behind me. The door has been partially opened three times, and someone has been watching us." Not by the flicker of an eyelid did Aedan reveal that he'd noticed the door being nudged open a fourth time. From his peripheral vision, he saw the door close and signalled his companions to hold their position. With deadly speed and in complete silence he moved to the suspicious house. Emma watched in astonishment as he blended into the shadows. Bloody hell! She'd never seen him do that before. She grinned with pride; her man had some serious skills. Suddenly, he reappeared in front of her, making her jump and stifle a scream. He offered an apologetic smile and then turned to everyone, speaking low and quickly. "There are seven men, all armed to the teeth. I'd say we just found ourselves some of Jarvia's thugs."
This time, when he moved to the house, everyone followed. "Sten, Wynne and Zevran, guard the door and keep an eye on the side of the building. I don't want anyone getting away." His commands were answered with nods of understanding. Facing the door, Aedan delivered a powerful kick to the lock. The wood cracked and splinters flew as the door frame gave way and everyone rushed inside. The cramped quarters made fighting difficult, and Emma was grateful that Sten had been left outside because having that huge sword swinging around in such a confined space would have been disastrous.
They made short work of the men until only the leader remained barely alive, bleeding from numerous wounds. Aedan squatted down and grabbed the front of the dwarf's armour, dragging him up close. "Where do I find Jarvia?"
"Th..third house on the right. You need to put a token in the keyhole and the door will open." Aedan let go of the dwarf. "Good man. That wasn't too difficult, was it?" The foul smell of fear permeated the already rank air in the house.
"So, does that mean you'll let me go?" the dwarf stammered.
Zevran tilted his head to the side. "Well now, this is quite the dilemma. You see, last time we let someone go, they shot my friend here with a poisoned arrow. So, I'm sure you can understand our reluctance to leave anyone alive."
The dwarf gulped. "I won't come after you, I promise. I'll head for the surface, just don't kill me."
Aedan contemplated the matter, his eyes running over the deep wounds. "I don't think you're going to survive long, so I'll give you a choice. You can stay here and die in what will probably be a fairly painful manner, or I can put you out of your misery."
The dwarf managed to grin, though it looked more like a grimace. "We dwarves are resilient bastards. I'll take my chances."
Aedan stood up and gave him a respectful nod. "Fair enough. But know this, if you come after me or mine, I won't hesitate to kill you."
The dwarf coughed and blood splattered his mouth and beard. "I hear you, loud and clear." The sound of harsh, rasping breaths followed them out of the house, indicating that perhaps the dwarf's resilience might not be enough to pull him through this time.
Aedan looked at the token he'd picked up from one of the men and examined it carefully, noting small marks carved into the bone. This Jarvia was no fool and every instinct in him screamed this would be a damn difficult fight. "We have our key, now let's go and pay a visit to the queen of crime." They found the entrance easily enough when they knew where to look, and Aedan inserted the token. The lock clicked and he pushed the door open, stepping into a stone tunnel which led them to a large room filled with guards. "What's the password?" The dwarf folded his arms and waited.
Alistair clicked his fingers. "Damn, I knew we forgot to ask for something before we killed Jarvia's men."
The dwarf's eyes widened and he reached for his blade, just a fraction too late to defend himself. Aedan's dagger sliced across his throat before he could fully comprehend the danger. Shouts of anger echoed around the small room, and the remaining guards quickly engaged in battle. Metal scraped against metal and arrows soared through the air unerringly finding their targets. Spells and buffs were rapidly cast. When they'd ended the fight, they looted a few health potions before moving onwards.
Each room contained more dwarves and mercenaries, including a few Tal-Vashoth, which seemed to please Sten. As they traversed the low tunnels they came across a dwarf locked in a jail cell. Emma recognised Leske from the Dwarf Commoner origin story and glanced over to the other cell, noting the badly rotted corpse of a dwarf, making it difficult to tell whether it was male or female; either way, she knew the person had been Natia or Faren Brosca. Emma found it rather tragic that in other circumstances, he or she might have been standing here instead of Aedan. It always saddened her that the characters from the other Origin stories died or were at least presumed dead because Duncan hadn't been there to intervene.
At the sound of the cell being opened, she shook off the morbid thoughts and turned in time to see the back of Leske, who sprinted from the room as if the hounds of hell were after him. Wise man.
At length, they came to a solitary metal door set into the rock. Aedan looked back at everyone. "I have a feeling we've reached our destination. Get ready, I'm sure she'll be expecting us."
Everyone nodded, looking grim as they drew their weapons.
"It might be best to stick close to the rogues as there are several traps set up, specifically around Jarvia and at the top of the stairs," Emma advised, remembering the numerous times she'd tripped the damn things.
"Okay, good to know. Can one of you put a force field around me and Zev while we disarm the traps?" The three mages confirmed they each knew that spell and would alternate between keeping the two rogues covered and attacking Jarvia. Emma knew the tripwires were buggy as hell in the game, but how could she explain that without going into details about computers? She scratched the back of her neck, desperately trying to figure out how to word her warning.
In the end, she decided to go with being vague. "Look, these tripwires might be more difficult than usual, so please, please be careful when disarming them." Her worried gaze jumped from Aedan to Zevran but ultimately ended up back on Aedan, her large eyes silently pleading with him to stay safe. As if she had spoken the words aloud, he gave her a nod of understanding and a reassuring smile. He turned to face everyone. "Let's go kick some ass!" They all grinned, the light of battle in their eyes as they strode into the heart of the Carta hideout.