The sun had almost completely sunk beyond the horizon. Linn waited by the barricades, gripping her staff tightly. Morrigan kept her eyes on the hill, and Sten waited patiently for the battle to come. Convincing Sten had been simple compared to convincing Morrigan. Linn had figured out that if she stood her ground with Sten, then he at least treated her with a begrudging respect. Morrigan however… She seemed to think that this was a waste of time and effort. Linn had finally been able to convince her after pointing out that they didn't exactly have a wealth of allies. The dwarves, elves, and mages might help them with the darkspawn, but they couldn't do much about Loghain. Saving the arl would at least challenge Loghain's claim that they were traitors.
After taking a deep breath, Linn focused on keeping calm. She would be no help to anyone if she lost control. The smell of the woods could barely cover the rotten stench emanating from the castle or the smell of the oil barrels by the barricade. Closing her eyes, Linn tried to focus on the magic. Dead bodies didn't just rise by themselves. There had to be some kind of necromancy at play here, but the castle was too far away for her to pinpoint the source. Linn opened her eyes to try to see through the darkness. Nothing yet…
Linn's eyes found Alistair's, and she gave him a smile of encouragement. Shouting below caught her attention. Linn quickly turned towards the village. With a sigh of relief, she realized that it was just a speech that the knight was giving the villagers to strengthen their resolve. As she turned back to look at the hill, her eyes met Morrigan's before Linn focused back on the darkness. No doubt Morrigan was mentally cursing her mother for sending her into this mess. However, Linn was grateful for another person as she stared into the shadows. Waiting…
Along with some of the chantry's templars, Sten, Morrigan, Alistair, and Linn were the first line of defense for the village. Leliana and Rabbit were guarding the chantry with some of the villagers and the rest of the templars. The village hadn't been prepared for the assault when they'd arrived, and things had been looking grim at best. Luckily, a promise to the blacksmith had secured his assistance, and the men had taken the "Andraste-blessed" talismans with hope in their eyes.
A man ran towards the village. One of the scouts. He shouted that the dead were on the way as he sprinted for the safety of the village. The scout dashed by Linn and down the path. The sound of moaning echoed from the distance. Alistair looked into the incoming darkness, and Linn did the same. The knight yelled at his troops to be ready.
Linn gathered her magic and waited. She didn't have to wait long as corpses soon appeared out of the darkness… And they were running.
Linn groaned and whispered, "Is it too much to ask for the ones who just shamble?"
After waiting until they had clustered at the choke point she'd set up, Linn released her magic as flames. Morrigan did the same. The oil barrels exploded, and the walking corpses were set alight. However, even with the fire enveloping them, they charged forward. They seemed focused on Morrigan and Linn, but the soldiers rushed forward before they could get to the mages. Sten stayed beside Morrigan. The dead were cleaved in two before they could even get close to the Witch of the Wilds. Similarly, Alistair cut down any stragglers that charged toward Linn. After a deep breath, Linn concentrated on their blades. Soon, the soldiers' blades were alight with flame.
One of the soldiers screamed and fell to the ground as another wave of undead emerged from the night. Linn quickly let out a bolt of lightning at the walking dead. It spasmed and fell to the ground. Linn ran for the fallen soldier but stopped as the soldier's dead eyes stared right through her. More groans echoed from the shadows. Alistair yelled at Linn to retreat, but she could barely hear him over the pounding of her own heart. Each beat brought more heat as though fire burned through her very veins. Whispering in Enochian, Linn focused her magic before letting it out in a fiery blast. The undead horde tried to run away, but the other soldiers were also ready to avenge their fallen friend.
Linn tried to regain her breath as the last undead fell. The air was filled with the awful stench of burned and decayed flesh. Panicked screaming came from the village, and Linn turned to see that the barricade around the chantry was on fire. Linn ran past Alistair to the village. She desperately searched for Leliana and Rabbit. Had they been hurt? A growl made Linn turn away from the chantry to see more undead enclosing her. Linn's very presence seemed to draw the attention of the undead. Linn let out another blast of fire. The undead immediately rushed toward Linn when an arrow came from the darkness, striking the closest undead in the eye. It stumbled, and Linn quickly hit it with her staff to knock it away from her. Linn looked towards where the arrow had come from to see Leliana on a roof. With a sigh of relief, Linn turned her attention back to the undead.
Alistair and Sten had taken the front line, but Linn could see the undead going around them… and straight towards her. Linn took a moment to inspect the corpses as she concentrated her magic. Closing her eyes for a moment, she once again focused on finding the source of the necromancy. It wasn't spirits of the dead forcing the bodies to rise… No, these were different. Spirits that had never truly "lived". Spirits of the fade… or perhaps demons. Linn closed her eyes. With her sight gone, Linn could now focus on the feelings of the spirits, and they felt… scared. Scared of going back to the fade… of the abyss… They were most scared… of her.
Linn quickly opened her eyes as a pair of hands gripped her shoulders. She flinched at the sudden contact. Alistair looked at her with worry.
"Are… Are you okay?"
"Spirits are possessing those bodies… We can burn every one we find, but for every soldier that dies… another corpse is going to rise tomorrow," Linn explained quickly. "I need… I need to find a way to lure them into one place. If I run, they'll follow."
Alistair's hands gripped onto her shoulders as he said, "I… I don't understand. Why would you–"
"We need to stop people from dying," Linn pleaded. "The more that die tonight… more will rise again tomorrow. But the dead… they're focused on me. I can get them to follow me, cluster them together. Then Morrigan can use fire to weaken them, and Leliana can pick them off from above. Believe in me, Alistair. I can do this. The more we hesitate, the more are going to die."
Alistair's grip loosened slightly before he let go of her. His eyes said that he didn't want to let her, but he couldn't find any better alternatives.
Linn took off through the village. To make sure she had every undead's attention, she made sure to whack them with her staff. Footsteps echoed behind her as she ran. Adrenaline surged through her veins with each step. Anxiety clawed at her as she could feel the magic from the fade at her heels. When she reached the top of the hill, she turned and blasted the corpses with fire. They staggered, giving her enough time to get around them and race back toward the village.
Linn tried to be careful with her footing as she ran down the hill. However, despite her best efforts, her foot snagged, and she fell to the ground. One of the undead had lost its legs but not its fighting spirit as it clutched onto her leg. Linn smacked it with her staff. As it released her, she looked up to see a sword coming at her face. Throwing up her hands, she put up a barrier just in time. The blade crackled on the barrier for a moment before Linn sent the momentum back at her foe. After kicking the undead without legs, she sprinted back toward the village.
Arrows whizzed over her head. Linn kept her head down as she ran. Alistair called for her in the distance. He was standing in front of the barricade with Sten and the other soldiers. As soon as Linn approached the barricade, Alistair pulled her behind him. Linn looked out into the night to see the horde of undead running towards the barricade, but now the soldiers were prepared. They banded together for the assault.
Sten ran into the fray and swung his greatsword through the undead bodies. While the bodies were fortified by dark magic, they were still just rotting corpses. The greatsword cut through them leaving some without arms or legs. Even so, they still charged toward Linn with single-minded fury… The soldiers kept most of them at bay, but some slipped through. Linn hesitated on using her fire magic. There were too many people around the undead. She was just as likely to hit a soldier with her flames as a corpse.
Lightning surged from above her at one of the nearby corpses. Linn looked up to see Morrigan and Leliana on the roof of a nearby house. Taking her cue from Morrigan, Linn let out bolts of lightning into the undead approaching Alistair. Using his shield to ram the undead, Alistair knocked them to the ground before slicing through them with his blade. One of the undead grabbed onto his leg, and he tumbled to the ground. Linn ran forward as one of the undead focused on Alistair. The undead swung its blade down. Alistair threw up his shield, and the steel hit steel.
Rabbit charged the undead, knocking it onto the ground. The dog then grabbed it by the leg and dragged it away with the corpse flailing wildly. Linn quickly helped Alistair to his feet, and Alistair swung down his blade at the undead that had tripped him. Two more corpses ran at them/
Linn hit one of the undead in the face with her staff, sending it stumbling back. Alistair regained his footing and charged at the other undead with a battlecry. The other soldiers followed suit. Between the arrows and lightning from above and the fury of the soldiers' blades, the undead horde was no more. Linn leaned against the wall of a house as she peered out into the darkness. Part of her expected a new wave of undead. Closing her eyes, she tried to sense the magic that she had felt earlier. Either the demonic menace had run out of magic or nearby corpses… Linn breathed a sigh of relief before shouting made her open her eyes.
The townspeople celebrated, hugging each other and the soldiers. Linn felt a hand on her shoulder and tensed. After realizing that it was Alistair, she relaxed and gave him a tired smile.
"Now… aren't you glad we set up the camp closer to the village now?" Linn asked with a smug grin, and Alistair let out a breathless laugh.
"Okay… you win. But… are we sure that's the last of them?" Alistair asked as he looked into the shadows.
"For now," Linn assured him. "And maybe even for the next few nights. I think it ran out of dead bodies. Now we just need to burn the bodies… but that's going to need to wait until I get some sleep."
"A fine idea," Bann Teagan said as he walked closer to Alistair. "We can burn the bodies in the morning, and I will have my scouts take turns watching the castle while we rest. They will alert me should we face more of these 'walking dead.'"
Linn nodded in agreement as Rabbit sat down beside her with a large huff.
Bann Teagan looked up toward the hill for a moment before he said in a low voice, "Come see me in the morning. There is… something I need to discuss with you in more detail."
Alistair and Linn shared a look before they followed Bann Teagan's gaze toward the castle. It sounded like he may have found a way inside the castle. After bidding Teagan goodbye, Linn made sure that everyone was accounted for before beginning the trek to camp. Even Leliana was uncharacteristically quiet as they walked through the night. Linn knew why. The tiredness had sunken into her very bones. Even the mark was quiet.
Taking a moment to reflect, Linn realized that it had actually grown quiet after the Grey Warden ritual. The rage inside of her had been calmed. Linn wondered if that was due to the darkspawn blood or something else. Deciding that she could decode that mystery after getting some rest, Linn continued to lead the way to camp. Alistair kept pace with her and seemed to have something to say. Linn gave him a curious head tilt.
Alistair looked away. Whatever he had to say, he didn't want to say it in front of the others. Linn checked to see Morrigan watching them like a hawk. Giving the witch an irritated glare, Linn focused back on the path. The light in the distance made her relax. The campfire had long since been put out, and Linn relit it before sitting by the fire. Even though she could barely move, her mind was still racing from the adrenaline. The others quickly crawled into their tents except for Alistair, who took a seat beside her at the fire.
They sat in silence as they watched the flames. Alistair seemed to be trying to find the right words, and Linn tried to hide her curiosity.
"I… uh, I wanted to thank you. When I fell… that could have been… very bad," Alistair said awkwardly as his hand touched the back of his neck.
Linn smiled and replied, "You are very welcome… and I wanted to thank you as well. We make quite the team, don't we?"
Alistair let out a chuckle and relaxed. "The former templar and the mage without a Circle… Quite the pair. Oh… I'm sorry if I was rude. I just meant that you had to leave your Circle to become a Grey Warden… Do you miss it?"
"Not really," Linn admitted to Alistair's surprise. "I was only there for a few months, and being in the Circle… It was like being trapped in a cage. The templars looked down on you while keeping you on constant watch. Almost like they were waiting for the chance to kill a mage."
"So there wasn't… You weren't friendly with any of the templars?"
"Well… there was one," Linn admitted. "Cullen. When I first got to the Circle, I didn't exactly want to make friends. I wanted to learn… to control my magic before it controlled me. But… he was very kind. Not just to me. I would see him talking with the mages like… like they were people not prisoners. It was a small thing really, but it mattered. In fact… you remind me a bit of him."
"Oh, so he is incredibly handsome as well?" Alistair joked, and Linn couldn't help but laugh.
"Sure… but I meant that you are both very kind. And awkward," Linn joked back, and Alistair pretended to be insulted. "A charming kind of awkward."
Alistair rolled his eyes, but the smile had already spread onto his face. He turned from her to stare into the fire. His eyes were on the fire, but he wasn't truly looking at the flames. Linn sat beside him, enjoying the newfound peace of the night. They would likely have to fight for their lives to enter the castle in the morning, but for the moment… It was a great comfort to have a friend.