Old Friends
"You know I remember locking myself in a cell once down here for an entire day," Alistair mused. "Ah, good times."
That was a bit concerning, Ciara had to admit. He had been alone in the dungeon for an entire day and nobody has noticed? Why did Alistair care so much for Arl Eamon again? He had been living in the stables because of Lady Isolde's fussiness.
"Well it sounds like you're into interesting shit." Torph smirked. "Better watch out, Ciara."
Alistair turned bright red as he spluttered, shocked. "N-No, Torph! I was only a child! Really? Why in the world-"
Torph cackled. "You'd think you'd learn that your reactions amuse me."
Alistair glowered. "I hate you."
"I know. It's adorable."
"Try to get along children," Ciara said.
"Torph started it," Alistair complained.
"Heh, now who sounds like a kid?" Torph grinned.
"Oi, your mother and I will turn this adventure around and we'll go right home," Narascha laughed.
"I'm married and have children," Ciara chuckled. "That was fast."
A scream made them all tense. Ciara had her daggers already drawn and Shale busted down the door with a battle cry. Corpses were clawing at a cell, growling and snarling, and just as their attention turned to them Ciara threw her first dagger. It plunged into a corpse's head and it collapsed to the ground.
Alistair rushed at them with a battle cry, Sten and Shale right behind him. Narascha on their heels
"Get away from me!"
Ciara froze. She knew that voice. She swore her heart skipped a beat, that she couldn't breathe even as some of the undead slipped past the warriors and charged her way.
"Shit, oi!" Torph yelled from somewhere behind her. "Don't just stand there!"
Ciara shoved aside the useless panic and hardened her heart. There was no time to panic. She sliced the undead's throat and booted it back. Ciara cut its knees and forced it down to them before stabbing its skull repeatedly so it didn't get back up.
And to calm some of the anger coursing inside her. She needed a clear head. Ciara had a job to do and this was a new piece of the puzzle to solve.
"Hey, you okay-" Torph rushed to her side then flinched. "Holy shit, what's up with that blank look, woman?"
Alistair reached out to her, confused, but Ciara brushed by all of them and headed for the cell.
"Is someone out there?" Jowan sounded scared. "Hello?"
"Hello, Jowan." Ciara ran her eyes over him critically, even as she touched the dagger Greagior gave her.
The dagger she was supposed to use to kill Jowan.
He had been tortured. Nails were missing, fingers broken and carelessly held together by scraps of wood and rope. Jowan had been beaten black and blue. He was thin, ragged, stank of sweat, blood and urine. Ciara fought off the urge to snarl in fury.
They tortured her brother. Her lying, back stabbing brother, who had always been quiet and sweet and always there for them like they had been for him and he took all that for granted-
She smothered herself in a blank coldness instead.
"Wait, Jowan?" Alistair's brow furrowed. "You mentioned him before, you and Lawrien-"
"C-Ciara-" Jowan went pale. "By all that is holy- How did you get here? Why are you here? Last I heard the Grey Wardens fell at Ostagar and I thought you and Lawrien were dead-" He choked on a sob. "I'm so sorry! I regret everything I did to you-"
Ciara buried herself even deeper in that coldness.
"Quiet," she said. "Now is not the time."
Jowan shivered. "Ciara-"
"Why are you here?" Ciara asked.
"Fucking hell, is that important right now?" Torph scowled. "Give him some food and water, Ciara!"
Ciara handed Jowan a waterskin and watched coldly as he gulped it down.
"Ciara, who is this?" Narascha asked.
"Everyone meet Jowan," Ciara said. "He was one of mine and Lawrien's siblings in the Circle of Magi until he stabbed us both in the back along with his secret lover and ran."
Everyone stared wide eyed at Jowan.
"And as always he hasn't thought his plans through," Ciara mused. "Obviously you're the mage Lady Isolde mentioned from before, and while you are an idiot, you aren't a murderous one."
Jowan winced. "Please believe me when I say I was already imprisoned when the corpses attacking all began. I couldn't have done it."
"Perhaps." Ciara raised a brow.
Jowan withered. "I was sent to poison the Arl, okay? I'm sorry-"
"You tend to say that quite often," Ciara said.
"I know..." Jowan deflated. "When Lady Isolde came down here she demanded I reverse what I'd done, but I swear I had nothing to do with the demon and corpses. I was locked up after I poisoned Arl Eamon."
Alistair tensed, but Ciara dismissed that.
"She thought I summoned a demon to torment her and her family, but there's no way I could do that-"
"You learned blood magic off of a demon, did you not?" Ciara raised a brow.
"Blood mage?" Sten spat.
Ciara placed a warning hand on her dagger and eyed Sten. He was slower than her. She could out pace him, tire him out, then stab his eyes out if he dared interfere with her and Jowan-
"I didn't learn from a demon!" Jowan yelled, then sighed, running a hand through his dirty hair. "I... You won't believe me, but it was Uldred."
Ciara's eyes left Sten completely. She stared at Jowan, who stared at her back, eyes damp and face crumbled.
"...Excuse me?" Ciara barely managed that out through her gritted teeth.
Uldred caused this mess? Uldred was the one to teach Jowan blood magic?
"If that is true," Ciara growled out, and she saw Alistair flinch out of the corner of her eye. "You know what I will do to him. You know I will execute him in cold blood. So if you're using him as a scapegoat like you did with us-"
Jowan flinched. "I deserve that... But I'm not the only one he's taught Ciara... He's taught a lot of people..."
"I'll kill him then," Ciara said sharply. "I'll gut him, and I'll make whoever knows about this and is letting it happen watch. I will carve him apart for this. You were my family, and what he did enabled you to try and get away with a stupid idea."
She glanced back and saw how the others all stared at her, Alistair in concern and fear, Narascha in confusion, while Torph looked ready to piss himself. Sten looked murderous, ready to join her in her own murder spree, because after Uldred was done she would do the same thing to those who allowed him to do it.
She pushed the anger back, the cold hard rage and forced herself to calm down. Ciara would deal with that situation logically. She would make sure of it, but now was not the time for such reckless anger. They needed Arl Eamon to deal with Teyrn Loghain and his bounties. They needed Ferelden on the Grey Warden's side.
"Why did you poison the Arl?" Ciara asked.
Torph flinched. "What the fuck- What was- How-"
"Focus, Torph," Ciara said.
"I was hired by Teyrn Loghain-"
Alistair barked a harsh laugh. "Of course."
"Well Cobian's reaction is going to be quite interesting," Narascha sighed.
"I had been captured by the Templars and had been brought to Denerim to stand trial, but two lords and Teyrn Loghain himself came to me," Jowan explained. "They said if I poisoned Arl Eamon who was an enemy of the crown then I'd be pardoned for my crimes and I could go free."
Ciara rolled her eyes. "And you really believed that?"
"I didn't have much choice," Jowan muttered.
"Fine, whatever," Ciara huffed. "Why did Arl Eamon hire you? I doubt you made a very good butler."
"First can I ask where Lawrien is? And what happened to Lily? Are they both alright?" Jowan asked hopefully.
"Lawrien survived Ostagar and is now the Commander of the Grey Wardens in Ferelden-"
"What? No way!"
"She was the only person who could handle the role," Ciara said. "We both know I tend to stick to the shadows."
Jowan grimaced. "Fair point." He smiled shakily. "I'm proud of you both, you're both trying to save the world and I-"
"Jowan," Ciara sighed. "I'm sorry."
Jowan's brow furrowed, then he went pale as a ghost. "Lily... Oh Maker no... What happened to my poor, sweet Lily?"
"She was sent to Aeonar."
Jowan sobbed into his hands. "I thought my tears were all spent by this point... Ciara, what have I done?"
"Stupid things," Ciara breathed out, reaching through the bars with her hand.
Jowan eyed her, then her hand, then latched on to it as tightly as he could despite his fingers still healing. They remained silent for a time, to the point where Narascha gestured for Sten and Shale to follow her into the next room. Immediately there was a battle cry and the sound of fighting. Torph groaned but followed after them. Alistair however stayed by her side.
"Jowan-" Ciara began.
"I know... You need to know what happened here..." Jowan breathed in heavily, sniffing. "I was hired at Lady Isolde's behest." Jowan frowned heavily. "You see I was hired to tutor Connor who was starting to show signs of magic."
"Connor? A mage?" Alistair gasped.
"Yes she wanted me to teach him secretly so he could learn to hide his abilities. Teyrn Loghain must have found out which was why he hired me..."
"But how did he find out?" Ciara frowned. "He must have had a spy in these halls, that or Howe."
Alistair scowled. "The sooner they are dealt with the better."
"Maker, I made so many mistakes! I disappointed so many people!" Jowan cried. "Ciara, please... I wish I could go back and make things right again."
Ciara crossed her arms. "We both know there is no way to go back, Jowan. You made your choices and now you have to live with the consequences. We risked everything for you because we love you and you didn't even bother telling us you were a blood mage! I would have cared of course but Lawrien- You didn't trust Lawrien of all people?"
Lawrien would have stood at his side. She would have helped him.
"I didn't want to drag her down with me..."
"And look how that turned out!" Ciara snapped. "We left Myra alone, you idiot!" She banged her free hand off the cell bars. "And you ran without us. You ran away and left us to be punished by them. I might have gotten off easily enough but what would have happened to Lawrien? Why didn't you think about your family? I trusted you after everything my brothers did to me and you said you'd never betray it and you did! I was a fool!"
Jowan flinched, as if he was slapped. He faltered, raising his hands before lowering them, looking ready to cry. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Ciara!"
"Sometimes sorry isn't enough," Ciara said bitterly, her eyes stinging with tears burning at the corners of them. "How do you think it feels to have people who are supposed to love and protect you betray you time and again?"
"Ciara..." Jowan trembled.
She could feel Alistair boring holes in her back from the weight of his gaze. She could feel the concern, but this wasn't the time. She couldn't break down right now. They had to deal with Redcliffe's demon situation.
Ciara forced herself to breathe in deeply, and release it with a shaky sigh.
"How much magic did you teach Connor?" she managed to ask.
Jowan breathed out heavily too, still squeezing her hand tight. "Some but he's very young and can only manage basic spells."
"He wouldn't have the capabilities of deliberately summoning a demon, but he could always have accidentally brought it," Ciara said weakly, rubbing away the tears burning at the corner of her eyes. "His cousin just died, his father's in a coma, his mentor turned out to be an assassin, he suddenly has all this magic at his fingertips. It is a lot to take in."
"I-I want to try and fix things. If I can," Jowan said earnestly.
"You have a lot to make up for," Ciara said, her voice forcefully cold. "And as reluctant as I am to say this, we need a mage."
Alistair frowned. "A blood mage, Ciara? Really?"
"Sadly yes. The undead army from last night was difficult enough, and our injures haven't exactly healed properly yet," Ciara said. "And we do not know yet how powerful this demon is, but it managed to bring about that army. We both know it's going to be strong, Alistair."
Alistair grimaced. "I understand, but if he does anything to you-"
"Then I'll deal with him personally," Ciara said softly.
Greagoir's dagger felt heavy at her side. So heavy.
She missed Lawrien. If Lawrien was here she would know what to do and what to say. Ciara felt ill, sick to the stomach in fact that she had to rely on Jowan again. He was just going to betray them again, but if there was a chance he wasn't? She hoped he wouldn't. They needed all the help they could get.
She picked at the lock, barely a decent lock to be honest, Faren and Torph could do this in their sleep, and reluctantly released Jowan from his prison.