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The Mage and the Templars	By : Nyghtlei17 Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 8458 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age or any of its characters. I do not make any money off of this fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 20
- 21
“Are you sure you’re okay to walk?”, Alistair worried when they continued their journey through the Fade.
She was leaning on her staff for support, “I am fine. Let us just get out of here.”
Silence. She wanted to say something to Cullen. What? ‘I am sorry I was not strong enough to resist.’ “I have failed you and myself.’ ‘I do not know why it was easy for me to throw everything away.’ This is what he was taught wasn’t it? That mages are weak, feeble minded creatures. Magic was meant to serve man, not control him. Certainly she’d be an abomination by now had they not come to her rescue.
The silence was too much. “Cullen?”, she lagged behind. “Can we talk?”
“No.”
She hadn’t expected such a blunt response. “Please?”, she touched his forearm and he pulled away. “I am sorry.”
“I’m sure”, he continued walking.
“Will you listen to me?”
“No.”
“I did not want all of this!”, she’d stopped walking and the others followed suit. “I thought I would kill some darkspawn, become a different person! I thought I would get better if I left.” Shoulders began to tremble. “I was wrong okay? This? This is not what I intended. Never did I think I would be carrying the weight of so many lives! Look at what I have lost already! I was not whole when I left but now? Now I am chipping away!” There was a power in her. It flowed and moved like a fire. “I did it on purpose”, she whispered.
“Kitsune?”, Wynne was worried. Her tone said it all.
“I did it. On purpose.” Eyes were on her.
“Why would you-”, Alistair tried to say but it was Cullen’s voice that was the loudest.
“Because she’s a mage.”
“What?”
“The Chantry is right for locking you people up”, his voice, a haunting snarl. “You’re walking abominations. You can’t be trusted to control your own power!” There was an arm’s length between them.
Didn’t he know? In here she had the upper hand. “What are you saying, Cullen? You want to make me Tranquil? Is that it? Am I too dangerous?” She shoved his chest but he didn’t move.
“Yes! That’s exactly what I’m saying! You’re cursed! You’re no better than the demons!”
So much pain. All of this hate. It started with him. They wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t been so weak. He was right wasn’t he? She’s more trouble than she’s worth. What had she accomplished at this point? Worthless powers that she could hardly control now. “I remember when you loved me. I remember when you were dying and all I could do was cry. This place was my escape. This is where I would run to when I could not stand the world. I have not changed.”
“That’s a different time. I was a fool for loving someone as weak as you.”
As many times as she’d come close to death. This was when she wanted it the most. The tears that burned her eyes were not from his words but from her own stupidity. “I should have stopped you. I should have never come back here. I should have-” There was a change in the air. Something was pulling them in.
“Bickering and fighting. Mage and Templars. Always so angry”, the thick voice came from all around them.
“Another demon”, she breathed. “Is there nothing pleasant in this place?”
“Now is not the time for this. That is a sloth demon. The one that imprisoned you”, Wynne brandished her staff. Something Kitsune had only seen during lessons. Was her old mentor truly capable of hurting a demon of the Fade?
“We kill it and we get out of here?”, Alistair questioned.
“That’s usually how this sort of thing works”, Cullen answered.
“Then we fight!”, Leliana drew her bow.
“There’s an energy in you mage.” The demon that she saw in the library was towering over her. “You are strong and yet so lost.”
Her brow twitched. “I am not as lost as you think I am”, she smirked and let the raw power, strength, overflow. Thundering clouds, a chilling wind, she pulled this magic from all around her. Being here did things to her. Being angry, and remorseful did things to her. She could do this alone. She didn’t need their help.
The storm swirled around the demon, engulfing it, surrounding it in fog. Cracks of thunder and flashes blue lightning. “Mages with this much power should be worshipped”, the voice bellowed from the clouds.
“No. We should be kept in a cage.” There was a finally burst, loud and violent. Lightning struck what the ice had froze. She could feel weight coming back to her. They were leaving the Fade.
In the library there was no trace of the demon. The five of them sat up simultaneously.
“Is everyone alright?”, Wynne called.
They grumbled and dusted themselves off.
“Good. We have to find the First Enchanter.”
They ran to the Harrowing Chamber. Whatever evils await them in there made Kitsune jittery with anticipation. She wanted to kill something, itching for destruction. That sloth demon wasn’t enough.
“The door must be barred from the other side”, Cullen rammed his shoulder against it again.
“Maybe we can break it down together”, Alistair offered his help. They charged the door in unison, thrice before they gave up.
“Move aside, boys.” Wynne’s staff glowed an earthy tone. The Stonefist spell cracked the door enough for the two men to break through it.
She shouldn’t have been shocked.
“First Enchanter?”, Kitsune ran into the room. The last time she’d been in here she was doing her own Harrowing. Cullen had stood there, with Greagoir and Irving, waiting for her to come out of the Fade. Successful or not. “First Enchanter?”
In the center of the room there was no response. But he was in here, he had to be. “Irving?”, Wynne called out.
“I have an awful feeling about this.” Leliana had an arrow drawn, turning in small circles. “The air in here is too thick.”
It was familiar. It felt like Blood Magic. “You should leave.”
“We’re not leaving”, Cullen cut her a glance from above his shield.
“I do not want you to get hurt! You should leave!”
“We’re not leaving”, Alistair repeated.
Fine, but when you get hurt, I wil not be blamed.  She growled her frustration. Not even Leliana and Wynne heeded her warning. Warm light washed over her.
“I’ve put up a defense around us. We’ll be alright”, Wynne smiled and she wondered if she believed it.
A bookshelf leaned, falling toward her with no sign of stopping. Cullen forced her out of the way with his shield. Dazed for a second he helped her to her feet. “Had we left you would’ve been crushed.”
She had a retort. Hot on the tip of her tongue. All words were frightened away.
Athame in one hand. The other on Irving’s throat. A Senior Enchanter she had only seen a few times, stood ready to strike
“Uldred?”, Wynne’s tone was hushed.
“Ah, Wynne! I thought you were dead!”, his voice was sinister, distorted.
“He’s an abomination”, Cullen concluded. “He must be what’s corrupting the others in the tower.”
The other’s you struck down without a second thought.  “Let the First Enchanter go!” She wouldn’t be afraid of him. Abomination or not.
“I can’t do that, child. I need him. I need his blood.”
That’s why this was a familiar feeling. Blood magic. “I’ll strike you down, demon.”
“Oh the would-be Templar. I see you’ve come back after killing your Knight-Commander”, Uldred released Irving, who was now very noticeably unconscious.
“Shut your mouth”, Cullen threatened.
“What’s wrong boy? You can’t accept the pain you’ve caused. The nightmare you’ve created. Can’t you hear it? How her screams echoed. How you begged and begged. He forced your hand, didn’t he?”
He was shaking. Was it anger or fear?
“Enough! Leave him out of this!”, Kitsune came closer to him, stepping over the mess of books. “Your problem is with the Mages. You want us! Try to take us.”
Rumbling laughter chilled her. He pointed the dagger at her as he spoke, “You’re trying to be brave. You’re trying to prove that you can resist temptation. You can’t. You’ve always been impressionable. Easy to control.”
She closed her hand around the blade, steel cut into her flesh. “Kitsune!” Alistair knew just what she was going to do.
What was the use in trying to save face? She’d already lost them both. Why not give it all she had. “I cannot fight you on my own. I cannot win without using your own tricks against you.”
“Then you are not as stupid as you look.”
Demons. They came from the floor, breaking through to the real world as if there was no barrier to begin with. She was separated from the rest of them. She heard their voices, their metal, spells, and arrows. Uldred was hers. He may have had the demons on his side but she had all of her regrets to fuel her.
The blood in her palm burned. It bubbled with energy that was not hers. It spread through her. Arms, chest, even down to her heels. It was a crippling, searing, pain. Her jaw was locked, she couldn’t move, couldn’t scream. “You think you know how to control this?”, Uldred cackled. “You have no talent in this form of magic, mage!”, he picked her up by the hair. “But I can teach you”, he whispered. “I can give you the knowledge, the power to destroy any being that challenges you.”
The pain was subsiding. “Even you?”
He smirked and pushed her face into the cool stone. “Even I. All you have to do is let me in.”
Kitsune could see them fighting. Even Wynne was keeping everyone protected. Cullen and Alistair were fighting, side by side. Clearing demon after demon. Leliana provided them with cover. And here she was, lying with her face against the stone. “I do not want to be like you. A puppet!”, she grumbled into the floor. “I do not need blood to kill you.”
On her feet before he could react she disarmed him with the butt of her staff. The dagger clattered to the floor. Lightning buzzed at the head of her staff, she had it aimed for his throat.
“Kill me. Your precious home is destroyed. You will never get it back”, Uldred cocked a smile.
“Good thing this place has never felt like home.” Her staff met his chest. The smell of singed hair and flesh assaulted her. His screams, she was sure, could be heard in every part of the tower. He lie unmoving. She retrieved that dagger and put it through his heart for good measure.
Silence fell over the room.
“Blood Magic?!”, Cullen screamed when he reached her. “Are you daft?”
Silence.
He snatched her wrist and put her own bloody hand in her face. “This is forbidden! This, caused all of this!”, he gestured to the ruined Harrowing Chamber. “You’re one of them! Do you understand what that means? Do you understand that you are a Maleficar?”
“Then strike me down! Like you did to the others! I am just like them, right?”
He snarled and threw her wrist down. His sword was pointed at her gut before she could blink. “I should. I should kill you. You’re just a walking Abomination.”
She watched the tremors in the blade. His hands were unsteady. “I deserve it, right? I am just like them.” His knuckles and fingers collided with her face, sending her to the ground.
“Get out of the tower. If I see you again, I will not hesitate.”
That had to be a lie. He couldn’t mean that. This was the same man, wasn’t it?. The one she fought so hard to save. The one she was so willing to risk everything for. The one she’d lost so much for. “I remember when I asked you if this was love”, she spat blood at his feet.
“I told you to stop me.”
“Do not pretend that was meant as a warning! Do not pretend like this was all me! You are just as guilty, Cullen.” She smacked his sword away with her staff.
“You have this idea of me! You think that I loved you but, I didn’t! How could I love a monster like you?”
She was seething. Anger and betrayal. Why did she come back to the tower? “I am not leaving until I speak with Irving.”
“Take her back to Meredith”, he spoke to Leliana and Alistair. “Wynne, help me with the First Enchanter.”
Not another word between them. She wanted to say goodbye, with her fist in his mouth.
Irving had come to after some healing from Wynne. Uldred had yet to do any true damage to him. Kitsune was happy to see him. He seemed happier to see her. They talked of Redcliffe, he agreed to send Lyrium. They talked of conscripting mages. Though now was hardly the time, they still had a blight to end. “Kitsune”, Irving had said. “Be safe. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.”
“Always”, she smiled as she left him again.
They’d stocked up on supplies and though she fought against it, Wynne insisted on coming with them.
“I do not know what to say”, she finally spoke to Alistair when they were on the road. Lake Calenhad was now far behind them. “I feel like everything I say will only make things worse.”
“There’s nothing to say”, he offered a defeated grin.
“Is this possible?”
“I don’t think so”, he made a choking noise. “You know, for so long I thought I wanted to be him. I thought I wanted to be the one you looked at with that shimmer in your eye.”
“Who could love a monster like me, Alistair?”
“You’re not a monster. And I do love you. I just know I’m not the one you love.”
No matter what she said, there was no way to tell him he was wrong. It was possible to love them both but, he could never see it that way. “I am weak.”
“No you’re not.”
“Weakness is succumbing to demons.”
“And strength is admitting when you are weak.” The back of his hand grazed hers. “I’ll never leave you. I don’t think I could, really. The thought’s never even crossed my mind.”
“That means more to me than you know”, tears stung her eyes.  I’ll never leave you but I’ll never be with you.   She couldn’t tell him how much it hurt her.
“Stop!”, Alistair whispered. She heard it too. The faintest of rustling.
Caught off guard, there were blades at everyone’s throats. She looked up at her captor. An elven woman, a few inches taller than her held the metal to her skin. “Easy to find”, she spoke to her companions.
“Not easy to kill.” Kitsune watched as Alistair used his weight to knock the one holding him down. “You’re assassins”, he concluded.
“I do love a challenge”, another voice came. Their eyes met. “It will be a shame, having to kill such a beauty.” His blades moved fast in his hands. “It’s hard to believe you are the one we’re supposed to kill.”
“You talk too much, Zevran”, the woman holding Kitsune groaned. “Our job is to kill them not, flirt.” Her knee dug into her back and pushed her forward. “Huh, you’re right though. She’s quite the looker. What’s with the eye patch?”
“And I get scolded for flirting?”, the elf she assumed to be Zevran chuckled.
“Who hired you?”, Alistair withdrew his sword from the man that tried to subdue him.
Muscles twitched in Zevran’s face. “Does it matter? Someone wants you dead. They paid me the coin to do it.”
Alistair’s stance suggested he wasn’t going to let that happen.
“Lesson one of the being an assassin, Nina”, Zevran turned his blades over in his hands. “Speed beats muscle.”
- 20
- 21
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The Mage and the Templars