Chapter 72
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."
Sten handed Alistair the helm he'd taken from the genlock. "I believe this completes the set of armour."
Alistair stared at it as though seeing Cailan's face, then he tucked it beneath his arm. "Thanks, Sten"
They were soon clear of Ostagar and had just reached the highway when an imperative bark brought everyone to a halt. Emma smiled upon seeing the white mabari. She crouched down and it bounded over to place a sloppy kiss on her cheek. "Hello again, girl. Now, I wonder what we should call you?"
"Something to consider while we find a camping site."
She gave Wynne a sheepish smile. "Right."
A mile or so down the road, they found a decent spot. Emma could hardly contain her joy at the chance to rest, eat, and sleep off her headache. As the tents were being erected, Emma saw the white mabari and Revek circling each other. "Do you think they'll be all right?" she asked Aedan.
"Yeah, you know Revek is a big softy. He's just showing her the ropes."
"He's only a softy when there are no darkspawn.. and squirrels," Emma said.
Aedan laughed. "Don't even mention that word near him."
Soon, the group gathered around the campfire and were eating and talking when Zevran suddenly cocked his head, turning it slightly towards a nearby bush. Emma watched him with curiosity; what the hell was he doing? Abruptly, he disappeared into stealth, and at the same time, Leliana tensed and lowered her head, again keeping it turned towards the bush. Emma was about to ask why everyone suddenly had such an interest in a perfectly ordinary bush when Aedan's head snapped up and he too stared at the shrubbery as he slowly reached for his blade.
"No sudden moves! There are a lot of jumpy and armed people just waiting for a chance to kill someone." Zevran's smooth tones reached the ears of the party a moment before he stepped out from the bush with his knife held to the throat of a man who judging by his pasty skin colour was terrified. Emma squinted a little as she stared at the intruder, but couldn't make out any features in the poor light.
Aedan climbed his feet and strode over to the stranger as he barked questions. "Who are you, and why were you spying on us?"
The man trembled and held up his hands in a peaceful gesture. "No, no I'm not spying exactly, I just wanted to make sure I had the right group."
"The right group for what? Were you planning to rob us while we slept?"
The man waved his hands frantically. "What, no, nothing like that, I swear. I only wanted to ask for your help. I was a friend of Duncan's, you see, and he said he'd help me, but then… well, he's no longer with us. Maker rest his soul."
Emma rose and drew closer to the stranger when the voice sounded familiar. She could have sworn it belonged to... "Levi Dryden's the name," he said. His eyes darted nervously around the circle of people who had closed around Aedan. After Emma vouched for Levi's identity, Aedan invited the merchant to join them and tell his story, which he did. In great detail. Blimey, the man could talk for England and then some! She dearly wished for the dialogue wheel so she could hit the option that told Levi to skip ahead to the main part. But with that unavailable she settled for resting against Aedan's shoulder. When Levi had finished telling his tale, the fire had died down and everyone looked exhausted.
"All right, I guess we can take the Imperial Highway along the coastline and visit this Warden's Keep."
Levi thanked them all and soon retired near Bodahn and Sandal's wagon. Everyone else quickly followed suit and hurried to their tents, perhaps worried that he'd come back with more to say.
-x-
They stopped at the entrance to the massive stone castle that towered over the landscape and gazed in awe. "I wonder why the Grey Wardens never used this place as one of their outposts?" Alistair questioned.
"I'm guessing the story behind the building has something to do with that," Aedan answered. "It doesn't sound like the most shining moment in the history of the Grey Wardens."
They entered the courtyard and were immediately assailed by images of the past; Emma flinched as a ghostly soldier strode through her to talk to his Commander. When the vision ended, Wynne explained to Levi about the veil being thin and how it allowed echoes of the past to seep through. He shook his head as he tried to grasp the intricacies of the Fade, and his eyes darted nervously around, especially to the corpses that littered the area at the bottom of the stairs.
Emma grabbed her staff as they moved towards the large castle, knowing that they were going to be fighting soon. Her companions followed suit and were therefore ready when a sickly green glow suddenly surrounded the desiccated corpses which then rose from the ground. "Why did it have to be undead again? These things smell horrible," Zevran grumbled.
"Well, at least you won't get blood on your clothes," Leliana replied cheerfully.
The elf grinned as he sliced the head off one skeletal archer. "Ah, my little bard, always looking on the bright side."
After they'd ended the undead threat, everyone entered the Keep and were met with another vision. Aedan leaned close to Emma and asked, "Is this going to be a regular occurrence?"
She nodded. "I'm afraid so."
"Damn! Just how thin is the veil here?"
"It's practically non-existent. You'll see why as we move through the Keep."
"At least these aren't like the visions at Ostagar. Those were awful."
"Yeah, strange it only affected Grey Wardens and not Wynne."
"Hmm, that is odd. Any thoughts on the possible reason?"
"Nope, maybe it's something to do with the darkspawn taint we carry? Best I can come up with."
His lips brushed against hers. "Works for me, Angel."
They pulled apart as the first of many demons attacked. They fought their way through the keep, watching snippets of the past unfold before their eyes, and then they reached the hall that contained the summoning circles. Emma gripped her staff a little tighter. Ah, crap! She hated this fight. However, before the combat, another flashback appeared. This lasted longer than the previous ones and was a lot more disturbing. The sight of the demons turning against the Grey Wardens was horrific and just added to the tragedy of the story. The ghostly screams had barely faded when the summoning circles shimmered, and undead Wardens rose from them. Simultaneously, a Rage abomination appeared from thin air and attacked.
"Take down the undead Wardens, they're healing the abomination," Emma shouted. The team split up with Zevran, Wynne, Emma, Leliana, and Frostie the white mabari, focusing on the healers, while Aedan, Revek, Oghren, and Alistair fought the abomination. As its health dropped, two Greater Rage demons pushed themselves out of the ground and joined in the fight, shooting streams of flame. Wynne and Emma turned their attention to the Rage demons, using every cold spell at their disposal. With a furious roar, one demon went down, swiftly followed by the second. Focus then returned to the abomination; it fought hard, but without the healing spells from the undead it was soon nothing more than an unpleasant memory.
At last, they reached the Warden-Commander's office. Aedan pushed the door open, and then everyone just stopped and stared at the demonic figure of Sophia Dryden. Even though Emma had been expecting this, she was, nonetheless, shocked by its appearance. In the game, the demon had looked pretty bad, but it couldn't quite capture the horror in all its glory. The stench of rotting meat and sulphur combined to fill the room with a noxious odour. The skin of the former Warden-Commander had blackened in places, and pieces of decomposing flesh slid down its cheek to fall on the floor with a sickening plop.
The demon attempted to bargain for its freedom, but Aedan cut it short. "Oh shut up, and just die!" It sneered, and with a simple gesture more undead rose from the ground. These were easily dealt with, however, the same couldn't be said for the possessed Warden-Commander. Even with the full force of Aedan's team battling against the demon, it was still a difficult fight. Eventually, the creature fell, and so did the barrier that had previously blocked their progress.