The Boy In The Haunted Castle

Torph had to admit, Bann Teagan was not a very good dancer, he also had to admit that he hadn't seen Teagan dancing coming. Fucking demons. Why did they have to be so creepy and possess people? Teagan was dancing for the kid, the kid he assumed was Connor now possessed by a demon, with his mother standing by his side, quivering. There was a young woman not too far behind Isolde, hiding in the corner of the room nervously, wringing her hands. Guess the demon kept someone alive to tend to Isolde then, how thoughtful.

Bloody hell though, if Isolde had just told them the actual situation they could have made a better plan than just 'walk in'. They had to learn about all this shite from Ciara's 'brother' who seemed to stress her out quite a lot after he betrayed her. He had never seen Ciara act so creepy before with all those blank faces she kept pulling.

The boy stopped clapping and jumping around in excitement the moment he spotted their group making their way in. Torph almost smiled when he noticed Ciara was gone, faded into the shadows. Hopefully she had a trick or two up her sleeves, especially with that bad arm of hers. Narascha and Alistair were at the head of their group now, with Shale standing guard by Jowan's side.

The moment the demon, boy, creature saw them though he raised a hand, dismissing Teagan who stood up and went to sit down by the Connor's feet.

"So these are our visitors?" Connor said, his voice demonic and clearly possessed. "The one's you told me about, Mother?"

Torph was going to stab her later. Fucking Isolde told the possessed kid about their arrival? How fucking wonderful.

"Y-Yes, Connor..." Isolde replied shakily, clearly ready to have a nervous breakdown at any moment.

Torph would give her something to freak out about. A punch to the bloody face.

"And they defeated my soldiers? The ones I sent to reclaim my village?" Connor growled.

"Y-Yes."

"And now it's staring at me." His eyes were on Narascha. "What is it, Mother? I can't see it very well."

He couldn't? Was that apart of the demon possession thing? Torph eyed Alistair, but he looked just as baffled.

"This is a dwarf, Connor."

"Shall I send it to the kennels to feed the dogs like I did the other dwarves?" Connor cackled, clapping his hands.

"Yeah, you can try that on me, brat." Narascha slammed the blade of her axe down on to the flooring, making a nice, long deep cut. "And then we'll see where you end up, little Lord."

"Please, Connor! I beg you... Please don't hurt anyone..." Isolde pleaded, reaching out to Connor, but she hesitated, her hands twitching, the fear in her eyes growing.

"Lady Isolde..." Alistair's brow furrowed. "I'm sorry, Connor isn't... He's not..."

"M-Mother?" Connor's voice lost the demonic growl to it. He sounded like a scared little kid. Torph wheeled at the sight. "W-What's going on?"

"Okay," Torph sighed. "What the fuck?"

Alistair stared wide eyed, as did Jowan who looked like he had just shat himself.

"Connor, thank the Maker you can hear me," Isolde sobbed in relief as she landed on her knees, reaching out for Connor.

"Get away from me, fool woman! You are beginning to bore me!" The demonic voice bellowed, and Isolde stumbled back, whimpering.

Right, that was just creepy as all hell. Torph spotted Ciara behind a guard. He was cleanly knocked out and leaned against the wall. Ciara slipped back into the shadows again.

"So how normal is this, Alistair?" Narascha asked. "Because you look like you just pissed yourself."

Alistair shook his head. "I did not!"

Torph sniggered.

"Shut up." Alistair scowled. "And no, a possession like this isn't normal at all."

"What does that mean?" Narscha asked quietly.

"I don't know."

"I don't..." Jowan spoke up hesitantly, whispering. "I don't think the demon has completely possessed Connor."

"What?" Alistair startled. "Then we could-"

"Silence! Listen to your Lord!" Connor yelled. "I am curious as to why you are all here, so let's keep things civil." Connor tilted his head, eyes glinting. "Dwarf, what have you come here for? Your kind always like to trade things, so what do you have for me exactly?"

Narascha tilted her head. "If you would like to be civil, I believe our conversation should start with you introducing yourself."

Connor frowned. "You have entered my halls. You should be the one to introduce yourself, dwarf!"

"Fair enough." Narascha smiled. "I am Narascha Aeducan of the Grey Wardens in Ferelden."

Isolde tensed and she mouthed 'Aeducan' with a horrified look in her eyes.

"And why would a Grey Warden be here?" Connor frowned. "With other people? Who are they?"

"My fellow Grey Wardens. Torph, Alistair-"

"Alistair?" Connor scowled. "Mother speaks most angrily of him. I should have his head!"

Teagan stood up, silent and cold, his sword slowly being drawn. Alistair edged back nervously, casting Isolde a pleading look. She looked scared, a little satisfied too, but still terrified. Bloody hell, she was going to enjoy Alistair be murdered by her son? What the fuck?

"You who seek to usurp my position!" Connor yelled. "You who would take what I rightly own? You are nothing but my father's bastard!"

Oh, right, that shit. Isolde thought Alistair might be Eamon's kid. Torph fought off the urge to cackle at the look of horror and fury on Alistair's face.

Narascha scoffed. "Your mother is a paranoid woman, Connor. Alistair isn't Eamon's bastard."

"Narascha-" Alistair narrowed his eyes, a warning bite to his tone.

Narascha grinned wolfishly. "Don't be shy, Alistair."

"None of that matters!" Connor snarled. "I will have his head. I will have all your heads!"

"Oi, if you make this into a fight you won't win," Narascha growled. "Just think it through here, kid. We're a lot meaner than your possessed knights."

They didn't look dead, so guess this lot were being kept alive just like Teagan and the maid. Torph wondered if they were important to the boy, if this was his main guard that he saw everyday. Ciara had knocked out several of them already, but Torph could see she was beginning to struggle. There was a sweat built up on her brow, and she was beginning to shake and hold her shoulder. She was still hidden, but if anyone moved too close to her she was going to be spotted.

"Please, Grey Wardens," Isolde begged. "Please don't hurt my son. He's not responsible for what he does."

"Your secrecy is." Narascha glowered. "You could have told us all about this and spared Bann Teagan this suffering, but you didn't bother. You even told the demon about us hoping it would kill us off."

"Connor didn't mean to do this and neither did I. It was that mage!" Her eyes, if they could, would have burned holes into Jowan who flinched back. "He summoned the demon! Connor was just trying to help his father!"

"I didn't! I didn't summon any demons!" Jowan cried.

"Fool boy," Sten growled. "You obviously haven't taught him right. He needs his mouth stitched immediately and his collar on now-"

"What are you talking about?" Isolde cried.

"You will not dare lay a hand on me!" Connor howled at Sten. "Kill him! I want his head!"

"Ciara!" Jowan sounded terrified.

It all happened in a blink of an eye. Ciara was nowhere to be found, then she was suddenly behind Connor, swinging her dagger. Connor barely ducked in time, the demon snarling. Teagan swung his sword at her. It had been the butt of Ciara's dagger though that had been aimed at Connor's head, not the blade, so she barely managed to block Teagan's blow. It took Torph a moment to spot what had Jowan so worried. Her damn wound had reopened again!

"Now can we punch something?" Shale yelled.

"Find an ass and kick it!" Narascha ordered. "But take the knights alive, they don't look dead to me!"

"No!" Isolde screamed. "Please don't hurt my son, it isn't his fault!"

Teagan kicked Ciara down who stumbled and slip on the stairs, falling back. Jowan barely caught her in time as Connor went running past, fleeing into the next room. Torph went to throw an axe after him, but fuck, the kid was so small-

He hesitated for too long, the door closed right behind him and Torph barely avoided getting cut down by a knight. There were three knights and one Teagan left. They needed to move their asses.

.::.

Teagan swung down at them. Ciara had no time to move, she hadn't felt this dizzy in such a long time. She felt Jowan shift, covering her body with his own, and Ciara couldn't help but grip his robes, ready to yank him back. The idiot, he would get himself killed, she at least had armour on-

Alistair bashed Teagan back with his shield with a yell.

Ciara gripped Jowan tightly as she pushed herself up so she could sit. The room was blurry, and her arm felt sticky and throbbing wildly. Ciara grimaced when Jowan pressed his own hand tightly to the wound, and she shivered when her blood began to slow. It felt sluggish, just as slow as she did, and Jowan's brow was furrowed in concentration.

Torph came rushing over. "Fuck, I haven't stitched a wound in years."

"I can only slow down the blood flow for so long," Jowan said.

They both sounded distant. Ciara wondered when they got so far away.

That was when the world spun and everything went dark.

.::.

"Ciara!" Alistair cried.

Sten swung his fist and knocked Teagan out with a punch across the back of the head. Alistair ignored him dropping to the floor and rushed to Ciara's side. Narascha ignored them both and gestured for Sten to start tying people up while she marched up to Isolde who cowered away.

"Sit the fuck down now!" Narascha spat, gesturing to a chair by the fire with her axe. "And if you try and go anywhere I will break your legs."

"B-But-"

"SIT DOWN!" Narascha bellowed.

Isolde obeyed, sitting down shakily. Narascha turned to the last girl cowering in the corner and forced herself to inhale.

"Who are you?" Narascha asked tiredly.

"V-Valena..."

"Owen's daughter?" Narascha gasped, then shook her head. "How are you alive right now?"

"I-I was kept alive to attend to Lady Isolde..." Valena said shakily. "Please, you know my father?"

"I do, but first you sit down too. Don't go anywhere," Narascha growled, pointing to another seat, across from Isolde.

"Y-Yes!" Valena rushed to the seat, almost collapsing onto it.

Narascha marched back to Ciara's crumbled form. Alistar was knelt by her side, holding her hand tight, while Jowan held her in his arms and Torph clumsily stitched her wound. There was blood all over her shoulder, running down her chest, staining her bra and peeled off armour.

"Report," Narascha said coldly. "Now."

"Fucking hell, Princess!" Torph scowled. "I'm stitching, Jowan's slowing down the blood flow with his blood magic- And before you say shit, Sten, shut the fuck up, it's keeping her alive- and I need some bandages. I haven't done stitches in ages because I fucking dodge shit!"

"Can I do anything to help the bun girl?" Shale asked hesitantly.

"Bun girl?" Torph blinked, then shook his head. "Right, her hair is usually in a bun. Uh, can you make sure none of those women run off? Alistair, do me a favour and go find bandages and some water to clean this crap off her-"

"But-"

"You're the only one who knows the layout of the castle," Torph insisted. "The Princess would likely bring me back nothing but more bodies or some alcohol."

Naracha shrugged at Alistair's look.

He sighed and squeezed Ciara's hand. "Hang in there, Ciara." He laid her hand down gently and hurried by, rushing out through a side door towards the kitchens if Narascha remembered right.

"Okay, after this, Ciara doesn't do anything," Torph said through gritted teeth. "Agreed?"

"Agreed." Narascha nodded. "I don't think she can handle anymore blood loss."

Teagan groaned, shifting against his restraints. He let out an alarmed noise, then relaxed against the ropes when he noticed them. "Warden Narascha?" he called softly, then his brow furrowed in concern when he saw Ciara. "By the Maker, is she alright?"

"Not sure yet." Narascha approached, tilting her head. "You no longer Connor's slave?"

"No. My mind is my own again," Teagan said, shaking his head. "I never would have expected any of this to happen."

She signalled Sten to be wary as she untied Teagan. If he tried to go anywhere near Ciara, Torph and Jowan they would knock him right back out again. Ciara couldn't afford anymore danger at the moment.

"I don't entirely understand what is going on," Teagan admitted.

"Connor's not entirely possessed," Jowan said shakily, the blood slowly seeping back into Ciara's wound, sliding off her arm and chest in a cautious, steady flow. "His spirit is trapped in the Fade by the demon, and we could get him out, but you would need to use a lot of lyrium."

"Which I doubt Redcliffe has," Narascha sighed.

"Or..." Jowan grimaced. "We could... I don't know, I'm hesitant to say it... We would need to use blood magic, but the sacrifice would be great..."

"If it can save Connor then just say it," Teagan said, then eyed Isolde. "Why are you just sitting there-"

"I ordered her too," Narascha said, and scowled. "And my threat still stands, Isolde. Move out of that chair and I'll break your legs."

Teagan paled. "Warden-"

"I am in a very bad mood right now, Bann Teagan." Narascha glowered. "My friend and comrade is down, and her sister, our Commander, is going to be furious when she arrives here and find Ciara in this condition. I'm also done with your sister-in-law for right now. If she so much as irritates me any further I will not hold back."

"You can't just threaten a lady of Ferelden-"

"Does this face look like it cares at the moment?" Narascha snapped. "So shut up before Sten knocks you out again, Teagan."

Sten cracked his fists.

"Narascha, stop threatening people!" Alistair scolded as he rushed back in, a bowl of water, clean cloths, and bandages in his arms. He sat them down carefully, kneeling by Torph's side. "What can I do?"

"Find a blanket so the woman can have some privacy," Torph ordered sharply. "Ciara's not going to like waking up half naked in a room full of people. The creepy kid can be talked about later. Right now all of you shut up so I can try not keep making crooked stitches."

Narascha sat down by his side and began rinsing a cloth. "Want me to clean her off?"

"Jowan?" Torph didn't so much as look at him, still focused on his stitches.

"I've gotten as much of her blood back into her that I dare to try and do." Jowan's brow furrowed. "Anders would strangle me right now for taking such a risk, but Ciara's very weak right now and couldn't afford to lose anymore."

"Anders?" Narascha tilted her head as she followed Jowan who began to clean Ciara's arm very carefully.

"Our big brother," Jowan said. "I think he's the oldest of us. There's Anders, Ciara, me, Lawrien and Myra. We were all very close back in the Circle, then Anders began to run away, Ciara was deep into her Templar training, Lawrien and Myra were getting ready to go through their Harrowings and I felt like I was so far behind..." Jowan deflated. "And I allowed Uldred to whisper in my ears and show me how to make everything better again..."

Narascha grimaced. "He's the one who taught you blood magic?"

"Yeah, and even then I'm not that good at it either," Jowan sighed.

"Fucking hell," Torph huffed. "If I had been one of your siblings I would have smacked your head and told you to stop moping."

Jowan winced. "I would have deserved that."

"Besides, if you weren't here right now Ciara might have died," Torph said sharply.

"But I began all this-"

"Loghain would have just found someone else to poison the Arl, someone who we didn't know. They probably wouldn't have been able to help us with Ciara, or wouldn't have bothered unlike you," Torph said firmly. "So yeah, you messed up, but everyone messes up. None of us are perfect, otherwise we'd be full of shit, y'know, since we wouldn't have holes in our asses."

Narascha couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"So put on your big boy trousers-" Torph eyed the robes. "Or robes in your case, and focus on helping us now."

"Thank you..." Jowan smiled shakily. "Torph, was it?"

"Yep."

"Again, thanks."

Torph groaned. "And now you're being sappy. For fuck sakes."

Alistair yelped from somewhere in the corridor Connor had sprinted through. There was a few curses and a sword swinging, but it died off as quickly as it began.

"I'm okay!" Alistair yelled.

Narascha couldn't help but laugh at Torph's sigh. Alistair came back through with a large, thick blanket in hand, and once Narascha and Jowan finished cleaning Ciara they wrapped it around her and let her sleep with her head pillowed on Jowan's lap.

"What do we do about the demon?" Sten frowned.

Narascha gestured Isolde and Valena over. The pair were hesitant, and Isolde was actually shaking, putting Teagan between them as if he would protect her.

"I don't like the idea of killing a kid, but he's been murdering all those folk down in the village." Torph crossed his arms. "Besides, he's possessed right? That means he's fucked."

"It's not the same as a normal possession," Jowan insisted. "If the demon can be defeated in the Fade we could free Connor, allowing him to return to his body free of its clutches."

"But there are only two options you said." Narascha frowned. "We either use blood magic or lyrium."

"You're asking him? After he poisoned my husband?" Isolde screeched. "And summoned a demon to torment my family?"

Narascha slammed her axe back into the ground, making both the women squeak. Isolde instantly went quiet, while Valora shakily backed up until she registered it and forced herself to be still.

Good. Nobody was running away today.

"Blood magic is no option at all." Alistair scowled.

"If it wasn't then Ciara would probably have bled out before I could have stitched her up," Torph reminded him coldly.

Alistair flinched hard, throwing Ciara a horrified look.

"Don't rule anything out," Torph snapped. "We've got enough problems without making things even more difficult for ourselves."

"The problem is..." Jowan bowed his head. "It requires a lot of blood magic. Not that it matters right now. We don't have another mage here. We'd need to go to the Circle."

"But it's like three days from here by sea, right?" Alistair grimaced. "Won't Redcliffe be attacked again?"

"Unless we make sure demon boy doesn't summon anymore undead," Narascha said. "Torph, know anything about making people sleep?"

"Like poisons? I do use one for a sleep trap I've got, but I'm nearly out," Torph admitted. "I haven't needed to brew any in ages."

"You want to poison my son?" Isolde gasped.

Narascha raised her axe and Isolde blissfully grew silent again. "Alright," Narascha said, lowering her axe. "If we can make sure the brat sleeps for a few days we could try get to the Circle by boat and back before the demon can do anything else."

"The problem is Ciara..." Torph eyed her. "She won't be moving anytime soon."

"And we're meant to meet Lawrien's group here too," Narascha sighed, running a hand over her face. "Shit. The only one here who probably has been to the Circle is you, Alistair."

"Only once," Alistair admitted.

"There's no way they'd do a favour for people they don't know." Narascha frowned. "Torph, do you know if you can get the ingredients you need to knock out the kid here?"

"I'll look about," Torph said.

"If you can prepare that it would be good." Narascha smiled weakly. "We'll wait for Ciara to recover, and if the others arrive before she does then we can tell them what's going on and head over to the Circle together. If she recovers before they arrive we'll leave some of us here to keep the kid out and to tell them what happened."

"What do we do with Connor in the meantime?" Teagan frowned. "We can't let him hurt anyone else."

"We keep chasing him back upstairs if he tries to come down," Narascha said. "Or Sten can punch him."

"I could just end it for the demon-"

"Just give us a chance to fix the kid first," Narascha sighed.

"You are only making this more difficult, Narascha," Sten said. "You know your goal. We are here to defeat the Archdemon, so why waste our time with this? We kill the demon, and wake the Arl, get him to deal with your politics, and we'll build the army we need to defeat the Archdemon."

"At least you've improved on the allies part," Narascha chuckled. "But we can't just ask the poor man whose son we killed to do us a favour unless the situation becomes dire."

Sten's eyes hardened. "You saw all the bodies out in the town."

Teagan flinched.

"It is already dire," Sten said coldly.

"We can't just kill Connor!" Alistair snapped.

Isolde sobbed. "I don't care about anything else, please just don't kill my baby!"

"This is ridiculous," Sten spat. "This would never have happened if you were all brought under the Qun."

"Well we're not under the Qun, and you're not in charge here," Narascha said coldly.

"Perhaps I should be." Sten drew his sword. "Alistair acts like an emotional fool, and the other leader of this company is too injured to be making critical decisions. You will fight me for the position, Grey Warden."

Narascha scowled. "If you really want to fight me then go for it, but one, we do this outside, and two, it doesn't matter if you beat me, Ciara and Alistair are still in charge."

"So it is the company's purpose to wander aimlessly then," Sten complained.

"Yeah, just as you're about to wander aimlessly into my fist," Narascha said.

"So, wait, does this mean that I have to beat him?" Alistair grimaced.

"I highly doubt you can considering," Sten scoffed. "Especially if you allow the woman to fight for you."

Narascha twitched, then grinned sharply. "Alright, alright. We're going to get down to some business, Sten. I'm taking this fight, Alistair."

"Go for it. He terrifies me," Alistair said, shivering.

"Outside, now," Narascha ordered.

"Have fun." Torph waved a hand.

"Make sure they don't leave," Narascha reminded.

"Sure, I'll break their legs if they try," Torph said, and the women went pale.

"Narascha, are you sure this is the right time?" Teagan asked as he followed them outside.

"It's fine," Narascha said, as she and Sten walked down the stairs, side-by-side, Shale happily trotting along behind them.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Shale beamed. "Will you sing again, dwarf girl?"

Narascha shrugged. "I don't know what that means, but I'll try?"

Damn though, the courtyard had really been blown to bits. The walls were burns, ashes coating them, the grass long gone, and whatever furniture had been there was blown to bits, shards of leftover benches and crates laid along the grass or impaled in mud. She and Sten ignored that though and faced each other once they found a suitable piece of land to fight on.

"Defend yourself, Warden. We will settle this now," Sten growled.

Narascha snorted. "You do realise you still have to fight Alistair if you want to take command. I'm just here to bring you down a notch, Sten."

"Then are you ready for this?"

"Then let's fight!" Narascha charged with a howl.