Adult-FanFiction.org : Games

The Last of the Couslands	By : MistressofMagic Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 4401 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Bioware and EA own everything associated with the Dragon Age universe. I am making no money off of this fan fiction.

Chapter List
- 21
- 22
- 23
Chapter 21
Skeletons, Spiders, and Spirits Oh My!
Bridget stepped forward and descended the steps into the ancient temple. She gripped her blade tightly and blew a few strands of her hair that had fallen from her bun out of her eyes. Upon reaching the end of the stairs, two werewolves blind-sided them out of nowhere. Fortunately, they were easy kills, though fear rushed through Bridget as one of the wolves nearly took a chuck out of Zevran's shoulder. She shook her head.
"We need to keep our guard up. They're angry." She stated.
Alistair sighed.
"And they were so polite before…"
Bridget quickly looked around and scanned the area. There was a passage to the west side, but there was a large and intricate door to the north. She knew not to get her hopes up, but approached the large door anyway and tried to open it.
"Of course it would be blocked." She said under her breath after failing to open the door.
Leliana and Zevran both tried to pick it, but to no avail. Bridget turned to the others.
"Guess we'll be taking the long way, then." She announced.
Bridget led the others through the westward passage and were immediately ambushed by giant spiders. Bridget shuddered as she killed a poisonous one and watched in disgust as the deadly liquid dripped from it's fangs.
"I really hate these things!" Alistair shouted as he killed a particularly hairy spider with giant pinchers. Zevran and Bridget rushed to Leliana's aid as the spider she was facing overpowered her and knocked her to the cold stone floor. Luckily she was not bitten. They pressed forward with great difficulty. Alistair kept walking into giant cobwebs, some skeletal remains had come to life and tried to kill them all, and Bridget accidentally set off a trap before either Zevran or Leliana could stop her. All in a days work for our group! As they continued to descend the staircases, an ominous growl echoed throughout the tombs. Bridget swallowed and looked at the others.
"I don't like the sound of that." Alistair stated.
Bridget turned back around.
"Neither do I."
Leliana bit her lip.
"I-It's not possible for a…a dragon to be down here amidst all this rubble…is it?"
The party carefully walked on, and entered a room filled with corpses that surrounded a mosaic etched into the stone. Leliana and Zevran disabled some traps that they saw…but as the party crossed the center of the room, a large dragon swooped down upon them and breathed fire throughout the air. Bridget and the others ran for cover as the fire spread across the room. The dragon roared fiercely, causing the others to cover their ears to keep their eardrums in tact. The dragon's tail swooshed about and knocked over a stone column sending large chunks of rock in every direction. Bridget looked to the others and nodded before charging out of her hiding place and rushing towards the dragon. This was the first dragon she had ever seen, apart from her nightmares about the Arch Demon. Thankfully this dragon was nowhere near the size of the Arch Demon…but it was still a dragon no less. After much slashing, shield-bashing, and cutting, the dragon finally fell at their feet. Bridget leaned up against a nearby pillar to catch her breath.
"Damn…"
Zevran chuckled.
"You could say that again, my friend."
Alistair took a deep breath.
"The worst part is…that dragon wasn't even fully grown…"
After a few more minutes of regrouping (and looting the dragon's hoard) Bridget and the others walked down another flight of stairs, into the lower levels of the ruins.
Upon reaching the lower level, a spirit of an elven boy stood ahead of them, wandering around aimlessly, shouting in his ancient tongue. As Bridget stepped forward, the spirit ran away and in his place skeletons rose from the ground and began to attack. Fortunately they were easy kills and the party walked away without a scratch. The party continued forward, but was forced to stop as the rest of the passage was blocked due to a collapse of pillars. They had to detour through an eastward passage. They entered a large room with another mosaic etched into the floor. The elvish spirit stood in it's center, looking around. Bridget slowly approached him. He whimpered and cried,
"Mamae? Mamae na mara san…"
Bridget looked towards the others for guidance. Leliana slowly stepped forward.
"Can we help you spirit?" she asked softly.
The spirit did not hear her, Bridget guessed as he screamed,
"Mamae! Mamae! Mamae!" before disappearing into thin air.
Countless number of skeletons rose from the ground and immediately began attacking Bridget and the others. The party took quick care of the skeletons and pressed onward. Bridget wasn't sure exactly how she was going to get the heart. Witherfang would obviously put up a great fight…she was beginning to feel fatigued from all of the fighting they were doing. They turned and began walking southward as they reached the end of the corridor. Bridget shook her head as they came to another horde of skeletons. After killing them, she turned to the others and said,
"These things are getting predictable. It seems like they're around every corner!"
At long last the party finally came to another door. Bridget pushed it open slightly and scanned what she could see of the rooms. Leliana looked over her shoulder and said,
"There's a lot of pressure plate traps…and I'm sure more skeletons as well. If you and the boys can manage the fighting, I'll do my best to disable the traps."
Bridget nodded and walked forward. All the skulls in the room turned to her attention and those with blades began to attack. Leliana set to work disabling the trap nearest her as Zevran and Alistair ran in after Bridget, taking on as many skeletons as they could handle. Bridget winced as an arrow hit her in her arm. Thankfully her armor blocked the brunt of the attack, but she did feel its tip lightly graze her skin. Soon enough, Leliana had disabled all of the traps and all of the skeletons had been defeated. Bridget led them through a door towards the west and continued through the ruins. After more skeletons, stairs, and spiders, the party entered a room with a large sculpture standing in the middle. Bridget looked at it, curiosity growing. It looked like a planet with a moon orbiting around it. She didn't have much time to study it though as an Arcane Horror emerged in the corner and began shooting her and everyone else with bolts of electricity. Bridget charged for him, but he disappeared before returning in another corner where Alistair swung his sword, but missed as the Horror disappeared again before reappearing once more in another corner of the large room. Several skeletons came to the Horror's aid. He continued to shoot electricity at them before Bridget was able to sneak towards him and knock him backwards with her shield. Once the Horror was down, Bridget gave him no chance to get back up and killed him while the others handled the skeletons. Finally the room was cleared and the passage leading to the werewolves' lair was open.
Bridget cautiously led her friends through the entrance. A rather ominous door stood before them. Bridget had a pretty good feeling what was behind it. She turned to her companions and said,
"The wolves are probably furious…but we must've cut down through a lot of their numbers. Let's be cautious…"
The others nodded and held onto their weapons. Bridget pushed the door open and immediately a swarm of werewolves ran towards them. A new breed they had not encountered before now attempted to overpower Bridget and the others. They were very difficult to kill. Bridget yelped as she stepped into a trap. The teeth from the trap graze her skin, and she was quite sure they probably broke through. After freeing herself from the trap, Bridget hurried as fast as she could to Alistair's aid as a wolf attempted to bite him. She quickly threw a dagger and hit the beast in between his eyes. Bridget retrieved her dagger.
"Thanks for that." Alistair said with a smile.
Bridget smiled at him, but winced slightly. Alistair noticed her leg and asked,
"Are you alright?"
Bridget nodded.
"We need to move on, we can't afford to waste anymore time. I'll be fine, just a scratch."
They descended more steps and came to an abrupt halt when three more werewolves stood before them. Bridget recognized him as the one from before who fled when they first entered the ruins.
"My Lady wishes to speak with you, human. She fears that you do not know the whole truth, as I'm sure the knife-eared bastard left out quite an important point. Are you willing to parley with my Lady?"
Bridget thought for a moment and nodded.
"I wish to avoid a confrontation, if I can. I will gladly speak with your Lady." She stated.
The Gatekeeper looked down his nose at her.
"Very well…mind you keep your word, human, lest your corpse join the others in the ruins above."
He turned and led them down more steps into the wolves' den. Upon entering, all the werewolves growled and sneered at Bridget, some of them snapping their jaws at her. The Gatekeeper stopped and stood next to Swiftrunner. The wolves began clawing at the air and growling maliciously. Bridget swallowed.
"That's a lot of werewolves…and they all look really mad…" she said softly, fear quite present in her voice.
Alistair gently took her hand in his from behind her.
"It's alright, I'm sure the Lady will tell them to calm down so that we may speak with her." He whispered.
His confidence in the situation eased Bridget's nerves a little, but not much. Swiftrunner roared but stopped suddenly. Bridget watched as a beautiful spirit appeared from behind him, gently running her branch like fingers through his hair and easing him. The spirit had ravenous black hair and deep, black eyes…yet they held impeccable amounts of kindness and understanding, wisdom as well. The soft blue hue of her skin reminded Bridget of the sky. Her legs had branches running up them and entwining themselves around her flesh. Swiftrunner slowly knelt on his knees, as did the other wolves around them.
"Shh, Swiftrunner…" she whispered in her cool, melodic voice.
The spirit set her gaze on Bridget and said,
"Greetings. I am the Lady of the Forest, I welcome you here."
Bridget respectfully bowed to her and replied,
"Thank you. I wish to avoid more unnecessary deaths. I am glad we have a chance to talk things through."
The Lady nodded.
"As am I,"
"Do not listen to her! She will betray you, my Lady! We must kill her, now!"
The Lady turned to Swiftrunner.
"Hush Swiftrunner, our guest just said herself that she wishes to avoid more unnecessary deaths, and I fully agree with her. We do not need more of our brethren to die today."
Swiftrunner looked as if he wished to say something else, but instead he took a step back and replied,
"Of course, milady."
The Lady turned back to Bridget.
"I apologize on his behalf. He struggles with his nature."
Bridget nodded.
"I believe everyone does, Lady." She replied.
She nodded and folded her hands in front of her.
"That is very true, indeed. Few, however, could claim the same as these poor creatures…that their very nature is a curse upon them." She stated coolly.
Bridget furrowed her brow, so the Lady continued.
"I am sure you have many questions. Let me start first by saying Zathrian did not tell you everything."
Bridget raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so? What has he not told me?" she asked slowly.
The Lady sighed and shook her head before looking back at Bridget.
"I am quite certain that Zathrian failed to mention that the curse these poor creatures suffer the curse his very own clan suffers…originated from him. It was he who created this curse and he alone."
Bridget's eyes widened. The Lady continued.
"It was many, many centuries ago…back when the Dalish first arrived to this land. A tribe of humans lived nearby this forest…and they sought to drive the Dalish out. Back in this time Zathrian was a young man and had both a son and daughter. Whilst out hunting one day…the human tribe captured them both…"
Before Bridget could say anything, Swiftrunner sighed.
"The humans…they…tortured the boy and thus killed him. They went on to rape the girl and then left her for dead. The Dalish found her…but soon after she realized that she was with child…and killed herself in shame."
Bridget swallowed and asked,
"So that is when Zathrian placed the curse on them?"
Swiftrunner turned and said,
"He came here and summoned a terrible, powerful spirit and bound that spirit to a great wolf. Thus Witherfang came to be. Witherfang then hunted the humans of the tribe, killing many. Others though were cursed by his blood and became twisted, savage creatures."
The Lady nodded.
"Just as twisted and savage as Witherfang himself is. They were driven into the forest and after the human tribe finally fled, their cursed brethren remained as pitiful and mindless animals."
Swiftrunner turned to her and knelt by her side.
"Until we found you, my Lady. You gave us the peace we sought."
The Lady looked at Bridget.
"I soothed Swiftrunner's bestial instincts and showed him the beauty in the forest. His humanity emerged and he began to bring others to me."
Bridget furrowed her brow once more.
"But why ambush the Dalish? Did you want revenge?"
The nodded slightly and replied,
"Only in part. Our greatest wish is to end this curse. The crimes that befell Zathrian's family were grave indeed but occurred many centuries ago. Those that were responsible are now long since dead. Word was sent many times to Zathrian, whenever the landships past by us…but we have been ignored, time and time again. We will no longer be denied."
Swiftrunner nodded.
"We spread the curse to his people so that he would have no choice but to end it in order to save his clan. That is why we ambushed them."
"Please, you must go to him, bring him here. Once he hears these creatures plight…surely then he will end this madness."
Bridget thought for a long moment. After a while she nodded and said,
"Very well, I will bring him here, Lady."
She nodded and said,
"Keep this in mind: Tell him I will ensure Witherfang is never found if he refuses."
Bridget nodded.
"I have unbarred the door so that you may return to the surface the quickest way possible. Please return with Zathrian as quickly as you can."
Bridget nodded and led the others out of the chamber. Once out of earshot of the wolves, Alistair asked,
"Do you really think he's going to come here?"
Bridget shook her head and sighed.
"It's going to take a lot of convincing…but I see no other way for this to end."
Alistair nodded and followed her up the stone steps, back to the surface where Zathrian himself stood waiting for them.
- 21
- 22
- 23
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Last of the Couslands