The Dead Trenches
The Legion of the Dead were fighting at the beginning of the bridge, blocking the way. Narascha charged in with a roar, as did Oghren, and the pair joined the battle without an ounce of hesitation. Epona and Leliana fired off arrows, while Cobian made his way to the front, slamming his shield off a hurlock mage, and tossing it off the ledge of the bridge before it could release the fire ball it had been forming in its hands. He heard Torph cheer him on, even as a hand axe plunged into the genlock next to him. Cobian swung round, beheading the genlock with another heavy swing of his sword.
Lawrien's fire suddenly exploded from his sword, much to his surprise, but Lawrien looked amused as the other dwarves began cheering loudly.
It wasn't long before they cleared through the darkspawn on this side of the bridge, but he could see Epona's heavy frown as she stared across the bridge.
"How many are there?" Cobian asked.
"I can count twenty already," Epona said gravely.
"The darkspawn are endless fucks," one of the Legion of the Dead complained.
"Well, Grey Wardens, I'll give you a credit for your back bone," another one said. "You've dug a line through the spawn. Still no sense in your heads, but you've got skill."
Lawrien grinned. "Hey, you were down here before me."
The dwarf laughed. "True enough."
"I take it you haven't seen a large mass of dwarves coming through this way?" Ciara asked. "We're on the tracks of Paragon Branka, and she was last noticed to be going this way."
The dwarf grimaced. "Nah, not seen any of them. Is that why you're down here?"
"Yeah, Prince Bhelen needed us to do this to get him on the throne faster," Torph huffed. "It's a pain in the ass mind you."
"We should have just made this Bhelen and Harrowmont fight each other," Shale complained, earning a few startled looks from the Legion of the Dead members.
"A golem?" a few of them whispered to each other.
"I don't suppose you would be willing to help us get across this bridge?" Alistair asked.
"You want to go hunt for legends? Be our guest, but my men and I will hold this line until there is an ass on the throne," the dwarf grunted.
"Fair enough," Narascha said.
Oghren frowned. "Let's get moving. Time's wasting."
"And Wardens?" They turned back to the dwarf. "Watch yourself. Drunks make poor allies."
He eyed Oghren, whose scowl deepened.
"At least Oghren doesn't need a king to tell him what to do," Narascha scoffed.
"We would still have a king if it weren't for you, kinslayer."
Torph glared daggers.
"Enough!" Ciara said, shaking her head. "We're all tired and frustrated, but we should be fighting the darkspawn, not arguing with each other. Let's put our energy into that instead."
Epona's frown deepened. "More are swarming over the bridge."
"Then let's go meet them," Lawrien said.
Cobian, Calenhad, Sten, Narascha, Alistair, Shale and Oghren took the lead, charging in first. Faren, Ciara and Zevran slipped in and out between the darkspawn, cutting them down from behind, as arrows and magic flew above their heads, but soon they were all swarmed in darkspawn, trying to fight their way through.
It had all been going well so far, with only minor wounds from what Cobian had gathered, when Oghren and Torph both screamed.
.:.
"Princess!" Oghren yelled.
"Nara!" Torph lunged, grabbing her wrist just as she fell over the ledge.
A hurlock Alpha had slammed into her, throwing both itself and her over the railing. Torph had only just grabbed Narascha in time, while the hurlock fell to its death. The fucker.
The bridge's railing dug into his gut, but Torph tightened his grip. Narascha tried to reach up, to grab the ledge, but she was out of reach. He tried tugging her up, but lacked the strength. He was barely holding her up.
"Torph, you can't pull me up. You're going to fall-" Narascha began, her eyes wide.
Torph gripped her tighter, snarling. "Oh sure, I'll just drop you then, fucking idiot!"
"Torph! Nara!" Lawrien yelled.
Torph glanced over his shoulder, Lawrien was too far away, and a darkspawn was heading towards him, raising its axe. Everyone was too far away. Alistair screamed, and Sten tried to cut his way back to their side, but he was too slow. Oghren howled, in pure, utter fury. Screaming and bellowing and cutting down darkspawn. Narascha's eyes grew teary, but her face hardened as she let go of his wrist. He cursed, gripping her with both arms. He felt himself slide forward an inch.
"Narascha, grab back on to my wrist, you stupid bitch!" Torph snarled.
"Let go," Narascha ordered coldly. "Let me go, Torph! You're going to die if you don't let go!"
No. No. No. No. No. HE FUCKING REFUSED!
The darkspawn was right behind him. Torph cursed, buried his head against the ground. Narascha screamed. Everyone was screaming. Until the darkspawn yelped. Torph glanced back, seeing Epona tackling it away. The darkspawn stumbled, its axe skimming Torph's back. Epona spun, stabbing her dagger into its side, just as it punched her in the face. Epona stumbled back, nose bloody, but ducked beneath its next swing. Kicking its stomach as she twisted round.
Epona wasn't a front line fighter. She couldn't keep distracting it for long. But that didn't mean she wasn't giving it her best shot.
Narascha gripped his wrist once more, and reached up again, trying to catch the ledge. Torph felt himself slide some more, and cursed. Another darkspawn charged them, laughing, but Faren lunged in, tripping it and tipping it over the bridge railing. Zevran was instantly by their side, grabbing Narascha's arm and together they struggled to drag her up. Narascha was pale and shaking, while Torph massaged his aching, trembling arm.
"Epona!" Leliana screamed.
Torph looked back, but Faren was already on it. The darkspawn had Epona on the ground and raised its sword but Faren blocked the sword's swing and twisted the blade from its grasp. He stabbed the hurlock's face with his dagger, again and again until it stopped screaming and collapsed.
"Everyone out of the way!" Lawrien yelled.
She charged forward, and threw down a wave of flames at another swarm of darkspawn charging down the bridge. It tore right into them, burning them to ash, as Lawrien poured more power into the spell.
The flames carried across the entire bridge, burning hot, but it seemed to do the trick until an armoured ogre broke through the flames and charged for Lawrien. Shale caught the punch it threw at her, and a glyph appeared beneath the ogre's feet. Lawrien braced herself, gritting her teeth, and shoved back with her force magic.
It sent the ogre stumbling back, and Alistair and Cobian slammed their shields off the back its leg, causing it to fall. The moment it hit the ground Sten's sword tore deep into its face, as did Oghren's axe.
All finally grew silent after that. Lawrien leaned back against the bridge railing, panting and sweating, as they all stopped to breathe and gather themselves again. Thank fuck for that. Torph had enough of this Deep Road shit to last him a life time, that was for fucking sure.
Faren pulled Epona back up to her feet, Epona who grimaced at the long cut across her arm as she wiped her bloody nose. Wynne immediately healed her wounds, then glanced at Torph and Narascha.
"Are either of your arms broken or sockets out of place?" Wynne asked.
Torph shrugged. "Arm's a bit sore, but otherwise all good. Narascha was the one who got tackled and flung off a bridge."
"I'll be fine." Narascha turned to him next, furious. "As for you!"
Torph winced. Oh fuck-
Torph braced himself for a punch, but instead Narascha grabbed him, shaking him roughly. "You could have died! What the hell were you thinking? Why would do that? You absolute, bloody moron!"
Torph scowled. "So just drop you next time?"
"If there are darkspawn coming to murder you? Yes! Of course you should drop me when your life is in danger!"
Torph shoved her hands off him. "As if I would just let you die when I could do something about it-"
"It was pure luck we both lived-"
"And here we are. Be happy, Nara."
"Not when you could do something like this again. Not when you'll put your life recklessly in danger to save my own, when I am possibly beyond saving-"
Torph snarled. Beyond saving? They were both alive and safe, and even then he would not have dropped her. Like hell. They were friends-
The complete opposite of his and Beraht's relationship. He would have dropped Beraht, and Beraht wouldn't have even bothered to catch Torph.
"As if I'd drop you when I know you'd never drop me!" Torph spat.
"I could pull you up. I'm stronger than you, but how could you pull me up when I'm wearing such heavy armour?" Narascha argued.
"I'm not about to drop you of all people-"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you're my friend, you idiot!" Torph snapped. "So if you think I'd ever drop you and send you to your death then you're a bigger idiot than I thought. You've got my back, and I've fucking got yours!"
Torph growled lowly. "You, Leske and Rica showed me that dwarves aren't worthless. Rica was the first person to love me, Leske was the first person to have my back, but you? You were the one who showed me that I was your equal and an actual person. That I could be your friend. So if you think I would let you die without trying to save you, then I guess I'll have to beat some common sense into your thick head!"
Narascha's jaw dropped, and she threw Torph a hopeless look, surprisingly stunned. Torph just raised a brow at that, unimpressed. The fucking idiot seriously expected any of them to just drop her? At least out of the Grey Wardens, none of them would, not when there had been a chance, and their fucking chance had been Epona.
Ballsy fucking elf. Tackling a darkspawn when she was an archer.
"If I had the choice," Torph hissed, grabbing her shoulders. "It would be you I'd put on that throne."
She froze. He gently squeezed her shoulders, trying to make her focus, but Narascha didn't seem to register him. So he shook her, startling her.
"Never ask me to drop you again," Torph growled. "Got it?"
"I've got it..." she whispered weakly.
"Can we make camp?" Alistair asked tiredly, leaning heavily on his sword. "I think we could all use a little rest."
"Let's find somewhere a little more secure first," Cobian said. "But yes, a rest would be excellent right now."