Chapter 71
Emma headed to the location where Elric had hidden the key and retrieved it. With that in hand, she found the Royal Arms chest and unlocked it. Stepping back, she allowed Alistair to look through his half-brother's items. He picked up a pile of correspondence which he stowed in his backpack after a cursory glance. Then he lifted out the chest piece of Cailan's armour, along with Maric's blade.
Emma drew closer to look at the legendary weapon and felt the pulse of power from the glowing runes.
"I do not understand why the human left behind such a blade. It is foolish not to use the best weapons at your disposal," Sten said contemptuously.
Emma nudged the big Qunari, but Alistair nodded. "You're right. It makes no sense. Well, it won't be left out of the battle this time." Carrying the chest piece and sword, he went behind a partly destroyed tent and emerged a few minutes later wearing the new armour and weapon. "Right, let's go."
They reached the bridge and all three wardens staggered as a vision of the past hit them. Emma could smell burning oil, and feel the heat of the flaming arrows as they whizzed past her. Screams of the dying mingled with the roar of the fighting. Metal scraped and clashed, magic sizzled in the air, and the cloying coppery scent of blood made her want to vomit. Emma staggered back as the vision abruptly ended, and Leliana steadied her with a firm hand. "What happened?"
Aedan shook his head and wiped a drop of blood from his nose. "That…" He coughed. "That was not fun. I was back in Ostagar during the battle."
Alistair wiped a hand over his pale face. "Same here. It was so real."
Emma pinched the bridge of her nose willing the headache to recede. "Yeah, I didn't expect that." However, she should have done as there had been flashback scenes in the DLC.
She breathed in, grateful for the fresh winter air rather than the acrid smoke and blood. Her gaze drifted along the pale stone bridge wondering if Cailan's corpse would be visible. She turned to Alistair. "You should know that Cailan's corpse is on display further along and it's not a pretty sight."
Morrigan raised a sleek eyebrow. "Would any corpse be pretty after being on display for months?"
"Oh, it's not decomposed. At least, it shouldn't be." She hoped that remained true to the game or they'd be looking at a grisly skeleton. "It's just that the darkspawn, being the assholes that they are, have despoiled the corpse."
"Maker's balls! Is there no end to their depravity?" Alistair fumed.
Oghren hefted his axe on a broad shoulder. "You do remember the broodmother, right?"
"And now I'll be having nightmares again, thank you very much," Zev grumbled.
"Thanks for the heads up, Emma. At least we can send him off to the maker," Aedan said as he beckoned everyone to move.
A few minutes later, they stopped as Alistair swore at the sight of Cailan hanging from thick wooden poles. Emma had expected it to be bad, remembering the spears impaling his chest, but it exceeded her memories. Some foul magic had kept his body from decomposing turning the king into a marbled corpse. A vision hit again, all of King Cailan, although she didn't get the one where he met her at the entrance of Ostagar. She came round with the headache being a step closer and tears rolling down her cheeks. Aedan's arm slipped around her shoulders, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She in turn took Alistair's hand and squeezed.
He managed a smile. "Thanks. How many more visions will there be?"
It had been a while since she played so kept her reply vague. "At least one more, but I can't be sure if that's it."
"Okay, well, let's get him down."
Right on time, the genlock necromancer appeared, and a dark mist roiled around the creature as it summoned the dead back to life.
Aedan pulled his daggers free. "It's going to have to wait, Alistair."
They fought through skeletons and corpses until they reached the end of the bridge. Alistair looked over his shoulder. "We'll be back, my King."
With vengeance in their hearts, they fought valiantly through the hordes of darkspawn until they stood before the Tower of Ishal. Aedan led the way, and everyone followed.
"This must have been magnificent in its day," Leliana whispered as she took in the massive halls and chambers.
Emma couldn't see the splendour, nor imagine it from a previous time. To her, it would always represent darkspawn and death. They eventually reached the room where most of the floor had fallen through leaving a gaping hole. Aedan peered over the edge. "It seems the only way is down?"
Emma gave a nod. "Yep, this is as far as we go in the tower."
Carefully, they lowered themselves into the hole and everyone except Emma looked around, surprised to see elven ruins rather than dank caves.
"We've come across this a few times," Zev said as his fingers trailed across scrollwork adorning marble columns. "The elven ruins in the forest were of a similar design. Hmm, it makes you wonder why the elves were below ground, doesn't it?"
He glanced at Emma. "Anything to add?"
She smiled. "I'm afraid not. This is as much a mystery to me as it is to you."
"Blast, and here I thought you had all the answers."
She snorted. "Not bloody likely."
The banter came to a halt as more darkspawn crawled out from their holes, along with a few large, hairy spiders. Emma bit her lip but refused to give in to her fear; she'd made it through Ortan Thaig so she could do this.
Soon, they reached a large hall where broken boulders parted to reveal a slim passageway. She focused on another set of spiders that had just dropped from the ceiling causing her to break out in a cold sweat. She chugged a lyrium potion and froze a few spiders which the warriors shattered. She gave a sigh of relief when the final eight-legged beast squealed and curled up. She shuddered at the sight and jogged over to the exit.
"Let's take a breather, okay?" Aedan said, pulling off his pack and sitting on a broken column. "We've been fighting practically non-stop since we got to Ostagar,"
Emma stared at the spiders and resolutely turned her back on them. She felt a warm nudge at her arm and saw the white mabari sitting behind her. Emma immediately felt safer knowing the dog had her back. While they ate and drank, Emma filled them in on the upcoming fight. "The genlock necromancer will control the battle, so he's the one we need to focus on. However, there's going to be a lot of undead, so we need another group to keep them busy. Also, you should know that he'll be resurrecting an ogre. The same one that killed Cailan."
Aedan rubbed a hand over his face. "Okay, Sten, Emma, and Zev, you're with me in taking down the necromancer. Leli, find a high spot and snipe. Wynne, go with her so you can see when someone needs healing. The rest of you, keep the dead under control. We have no idea how many will be there but I'm guessing there are a lot of corpses for that necromancer to work with."
The cool air smelled sweet after the musty underground ruins and their breath misted in the cold. "Crap. I nearly forgot, guys, we're going to have another vision when we reach the battleground."
Alistair grimaced. "Okay, let's get this done."
When the flashback hit, Emma knew the worst had been saved for last. She stared in horror as a hail of arrows sailed through the darkened sky to thud into the ground dangerously close to her. Battle cries echoed across the plains as combatants clashed. Dogs whimpered, and she saw a Grey Warden in the mud clutching what remained of his leg, his agonised screams ignored as the darkspawn overwhelmed Cailan's army. Somewhere a trumpet sounded the retreat, and Emma's hands curled into fists as she imagined beating the crap out of Loghain. Then they were back and this time the headache ran through her skull like a rugby linebacker. "Bloody hell, I hope that's the last one.," she muttered.
"Agreed." Aedan shook his head as if to clear the last remnants before grabbing his weapons. Emma noticed the thick mist covering the ground and reached for her staff. "The genlock is at the end, so we need a path."
"Gotcha!" Oghren roared and charged at a shambling corpse, slicing it in two with one swing of his mighty axe.
The others readily joined in, pouring their vengeance and anger out with each slice and slash.
Aedan, Sten, Emma, and Zev raced across the field. Emma staggered the genlock with a hex, but it countered with death magic which felled Sten. She dropped a shield around him but kept her focus on the fight. Her frost spell held him in place for Aedan and Zev to get in a few cuts but then he knocked them back with a mind blast. Emma wanted to wipe the smug grin from his slimy face. In the Inquisition, her quick finish spell would be… wait, why hadn't she used any of the spells from that game? Blimey, what an idiot! With a rather smug grin of her own, she dropped a fire mine beneath the genlock. It looked down at the glowing orange circle and tilted its head to the side, confused at this new spell.
"Grab the helm," Emma shouted.
Sten having regained his feet, grabbed it off the distracted darkspawn. As soon as Sten had stepped back, Emma dropped a static cage around the creature, and it screamed as flickering strands of lightning hit from all sides, then the mine exploded and the genlock turned to dust.
Stunned eyes stared at Emma. "What in the Maker's name was that?" Zev asked.
She shrugged. "I just upgraded a couple of spells."
"Damn, Angel, those were impressive. Extra power never hurt."
Sten growled. "That is not always true, and people wonder why we fear magic."
Emma's lips twisted. "We're not all bad, you know, and it's not as though the Qunari don't use magic."
"We keep the magic controlled."
Emma blew out a breath. "Okay, now's not the time for this discussion. Let's get this finished first."
They joined the group and finished off the last of the dead just as Alistair took down the ogre with a flying leap. He stepped off the dead darkspawn and retrieved Duncan's sword and dagger from the ogre's massive chest. He stowed them away before turning his gaze to the field. "Duncan has to be around here somewhere."
Emma looked closely at the bodies. "Damn it, I wish I knew where."
Wynne pointed to a section. "That's where the ogre came to life."
"All right." Alistair strode off. "That's a good place to start."
Some thirty minutes had elapsed as Wynne and the wardens checked the corpses. Emma was beginning to lose hope when Wynne shouted. "Here, I've found him."
The wardens gathered around their Commander. Emma swallowed back tears upon seeing the vicious wound cutting through Duncan's collarbone. She reached into her bag, retrieved her cloak and laid it over him. Alistair lifted the body onto his shoulder, and they all returned to the bridge to retrieve King Cailan.
It took some time gathering the wood, but no one complained, understanding this meant a lot for the wardens and the Fereldens. Once the pyre had been built, both bodies were laid next to each other. Wynne stood to the right, and Emma to the left. They reached into the pyre and lit the kindling. They stepped back to join the gathered group of friends as Leliana sang a touching song of sorrow and joy.
Emma didn't even try to hold back the tears and leaned against Aedan as the pyre burned.
After a few solemn minutes had passed, Alistair said, "I'm ready to go when everyone else is."
In silence, the group left the funeral and returned to the highway. A mile or so down the road, they found a decent spot for camping. Emma could hardly contain her joy at the chance to rest, eat, and sleep off her headache.