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Blood Bond	By : Hikari86 Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 4278 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Bioware owns everything Dragon Age. I claim no ownership and make no money/profit.

Chapter List
- 25
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- 27
In the Darkness

“What do you mean, you haven’t seen them? I thought you just said you did!” Arawin was trying to get information from a few traveling merchants about the whereabouts of the Dalish, but they were being anything but helpful.
“Maybe we saw them and maybe we didn’t,” said the first merchant. They were human, and giving Arawin a hard time.
“But you just said a moment ago that you saw a Dalish clan traveling to the west! Why are you changing your story now?”
“Why should we help you?” said the second merchant. “All we do is get trouble from you knife-ears.”
“And why can’t you find them yourself? Don’t elves have some kind of elven detection or something stupid like that? Or are you lacking necessary parts?”
“I don’t think she’s lacking anything really,” said the second merchant. Arawin gritted her teeth and placed her hand on the hilt of Fang, ready to bring it out if she needed.
“Tell you what,” the second merchant continued. “We’ll help you if you give us something in return.”
“Yeah,” the first one added. “We’ve been traveling for a while now... and haven’t had much... company.”
“We don’t mind if it’s elven.”
“You would die before you even got to touch me, shem,” Arawin said as she unsheathed Fang and pointed it at the merchants.
“There’s no need for that,” said the first merchant.
“We’re only trying to make it so that we both get what we want.”
Arawin felt someone walk up behind her and she turned around. A third member of their party, who Arawin assumed might have been a soldier instead of a merchant, was standing at her back, smiling as he looked down on her. He was a big man, much bigger than the other two. He carried a greatsword on his back, and towered over Arawin like a giant. It made no difference to her. Arawin actually liked the idea of a fight at the moment. These merchants were making her mad and she needed something to relieve her stress.
“Do you think a fight really necessary?” asked the first.
Arawin only smiled. “I think a fight--”
“–will not be necessary, gentlemen.” Zevran walked over next to Arawin and turned toward the two merchants.
“And who are you? Another knife-ear to entertain us?”
“Who I am isn’t as important as why I am here. Do you really think it fair to pit such a large man against such a small girl?” Arawin growled but Zevran ignored her.
“Of course it is!” said the second. “How else are we suppose to ensure a win?”
“But you might damage her. Then she would be no use to you.”
“We could always find a use for her, there’s no doubt about that. In any condition.”
“Perhaps, instead, we might be able to make... an arrangement?”
“Why are you talking about me as if I’m some kind of whore?” Arawin burst out. “Forget it! I don’t need your help and I especially don’t need yours!” she said gesturing toward Zevran. “Get out of my way!” Arawin pushed Zevran aside as she stomped away from the merchants and back into the forest.
Arawin was so steamed that she didn’t know which way she was going or where their camp was. At that point she didn’t necessarily care. All she wanted was to get away from the situation and try and calm herself . Her hand clenched around Fang’s hilt, making her knuckles turn white. She stopped in front of a large oak tree and looked down at her hand. Seeing how white it had become, she released her grip and relaxed her arm. She sighed lightly and slumped her shoulders. A twig snapped behind her and her grip on Fang tightened once again. She turned, taking a defensive position, and came face to face with Zevran.
“You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that,” she said.
“Ara, if I wanted to sneak up on you, then you wouldn’t know. But you shouldn’t let such things get to you, my dear. It’s an unflattering feature to see such a beautiful woman so anger.”
“Then why did you do that? Did you think I couldn’t take them down myself?”
“Oh, I know you could have. But must you always cut down those that insult you?”
“Yes.”
He chuckled. “I see. I guess that means I will be saying nothing negative about you in the future. But one thing you must understand, as an elf myself, and as a Crow, I have learned to not take such insults so harshly. I have worked with humans, elves, and dwarves, if you can believe such things, alike. And trust me when I say that we have not always gotten along.”
“I know what you mean, but I can’t help but to feel the way I do.”
“You will learn in time.”
Arawin rested her back against the oak and closed her eyes. She felt so tired all the sudden. Her muscles ached and her head spun with the events of the day. They had been looking for the Dalish for what seemed like forever, and she was getting restless.
“Tsk. You look so tired, my dear. It is all this constant walking and searching. I think I know what you need.”
“Well I doubt you can give it to me,” Arawin laughed.
“Oh? Is that a challenge I hear? My thought is this: We retire to your tent and I show you the sort of massage skills that one only learns growing up in an Antivan whorehouse.”
He’s joking, right? But Arawin still pondered on it. “That does sound good, actually.”
“A willing victim it is.”
“Wait,” she said opening her eyes and seeing the gleam in his. “You aren’t trying to seduce me, are you? How do I know this isn’t part of your plan?”
“Hmm. This is true. Seducing the assassination target is a sound tactical choice. It makes the job much more fun. It also makes for easy poisoning.”
“Are you trying to say you’re going to poison me? I think I would know if you do.”
“Not really,” said Zevran. “If you did know, then it would obviously be too late.”
“Is that a denial? I can’t tell.”
“Are we not past this? Tsk. I thought we were. Allow me to say this: I am no longer in the business of attempting to kill you. Not only would it gain me little at this point, it also happens to be incredibly hard.”
“Hard, because I won’t let you, nor will either of my other companions.”
“This is true, but you still haven’t officially accepted my offer. Shall we go to your tent and retire?”
“But it’s the afternoon,” she pointed out. “Do you plan on staying in my tent for the rest of the day?”
“I can stay in your tent for as long as need be. Even into the night.”
Arawin considered him. “Hmm. No.”
“As there are many reasons why, but could you explain?” Zevran seemed a little disappointed.
“Because I’m on to you,” she said. “You think you can seduce me just like that? Well, I’m a lot harder to seduce than you may think.”
“Really?” Zevran’s disappointment dissolved and he sounded intrigued. “That sounds like another challenge.”
“You can try, but I won’t let you. I know how you work and can easily block any attempt you pull.”
“I have several ways to seduce a beautiful woman. I’m sure you can’t block them all.”
“Try me.” Arawin immediately wished she hadn't said that.
Zevran slowly walked up to her and pinned her to the tree. He placed his arms on either side of her head and gazed into her eyes with an intense passionate glare. “You really think you can beat me at such a game?” He lowered his head, and gently brushed his lips against her neck. She trembled at his touch. Her knees buckling, as she needed to reposition her legs to stay on her feet. Zevran moved his head across Arawin's chest and nestled on the other side of her neck. He wrapped one arm around her waist and pressed his body against hers. He placed a knee in between her legs, separating them, then began kissing her neck with soft little pecks.
Arawin turned her head away from his and tried to free herself, but his grip was too strong. But at that point, she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to get away. His touch was both gentle and firm. Arawin expected that Zevran had had experience with such things, but she wasn’t actually sure how much. Now she knew that perhaps she wouldn’t be able to resist him. He was doing far too good of a job.
Feeling that he was no longer at her neck, she looked back at him and saw he was staring at her. A wicked smile went across his face. “See? You can’t resist me even now. I can see it in your eyes. I believe I won even before we got started.”
Arawin quickly lost any interest she might've had for him and with all her might pushed him off. “Jerk!” she spat as she stormed away for the second time that day.
“What? I thought you said I couldn’t seduce you.”
“If you ever do that to me again, I will slit your throat!”
“Such ideal threats. Tsk, tsk. Don’t worry, my dear Ara. I have many more things to test on you. I don’t like using the same method twice.”
***
The ladder had taken them down several hundred feet and into complete darkness. Zelda wasn’t sure how he had done it, but somehow Alistair was able to bring Rupee down the ladder on his shoulders. She could hear the scratching of the mabari’s nails on his mail above her. She was sure he was thanking the Maker and Andraste that he was wearing chainmail instead of the leathers both Zelda and Leliana wore. Those nails would have more than likely cut right through the leather and caused great pain. Rupee didn’t whine nearly as much as Zelda had thought, either. Apparently the large dog had come to trust Alistair in some way.
When they finally reached the bottom, there was no light at all. No one could see anything in front of them, except for the outline of their hand when placed right in front of their face. The smell of mold was strong and thick within the tunnel, almost choking them. The sound of dripping water echoed as well as the sounds of the moving lake above their heads.
Rupee took the lead, sniffing the air and moving through the tunnel by her nose. Zelda grabbed her stub of a tail and hung on for dear life as she let the dog guide her through the darkness. The tunnel was so small and cramped making them have to follow each other in a single line. Zelda could feel someone behind her, holding on to the bottom of her shield. She wasn’t sure who it was, but she thought it was Leliana by the way her voice sounded when they spoke. It seemed closer than Alistair’s.
“We should've brought a torch,” Alistair grumbled.
“It wouldn’t have done any good,” said Leliana. “The water dripping from the ceiling would've put it out. I can’t believe how wet I am already.”
“Let’s just hope that’s all that gets on us. We don’t want the whole lake coming down.”
Zelda swallowed hard. Did he have to mention that? She was already feeling the tightness of the tunnel coming in on her. She didn’t want to think of how far in the earth she was, or how much water was looming above their heads, beating down on the stone walls of the tunnel. Instead, to keep her mind off the tightness, and the constant drip, drip, drip of the lake, she closed her eyes and took her mind to Castle Cousland.
Zelda wasn’t used to such close quarters. She was more akin to the openness that her home used to give her. The walkway, for one, was open to the sky, allowing bright sunshine and cool breezes to blow on ones face on a hot summer day. It was the best place to be in the summer. Worst place to be in the winter, but it still had it’s magic even then. The snow covering the paved stones would sometimes even create clear ice. She remembered when she was a little girl, how she and her brother and Rory, would run and skid on the ice to see how far they could go. Sometimes they would slip on the ice with nothing but their own bodies. Other times they would find a piece of wood, or even a shield, and use it to go skidding across the ice and all over the walkway. They had gotten into trouble so many times when they did that, but every winter when the ice formed, they would always be there, slipping and sliding until either they were caught or one of them got badly hurt.
The memories helped a little, even if they did bring some other pains, but they were starting to become manageable now. Zelda opened her eyes again, but that didn’t seem to make a difference. Whether they were opened or closed, the darkness was still there.
“Oh, I just thought of something,” Alistair whispered. They had to keep to whispers because of the echo in the tunnel. It was loud, and no one wanted to accidentally cause a cave in. “What if the reason no one has used this tunnel is because it’s already caved in? What if we run into a blockage? How are we suppose to get into the castle then?”
“Please, Alistair, don’t talk about such things,” said Leliana.
Yes, please don’t, Zelda thought. She really wanted to say it out loud, but found she was unable. The tightness was getting worse, and she could feel herself breathing harder. Why did he have to bring up a cave in? Now all Zelda could think about was running into the blockage, then turning back and finding out the tunnel had collapsed behind them, trapping them down here. Zelda shook her head, trying to get the thought out, but it was no use. She could feel the weight of the lake crashing down. The closeness of the walls closing in.
Drip... drip... drip...
“Zelda, are you all right?” she heard Leliana ask. Her voice somewhat brought her back. “I can hear you breathing really fast.”
“I’m... I’m fine,” she lied, struggling to get it out. She could tell Leliana wasn’t buying it, but the bard didn’t push further. Instead, Zelda began pushing on Rupee, hoping it would get the mabari to go faster. It didn’t seem to work. Rupee refused to go any faster. She went at her own pace, sniffing and panting in the darkness. Zelda focused her attention on her panting. It helped to distract her from the tightness, but if they didn’t get out of this darkness soon, she would more than likely go insane.
After what seemed like forever, Rupee suddenly stopped and barked. It caused all of them to stop and cover their ears as the bark echoed loudly through out the entire tunnel.
Zelda fell to her knees, thinking of a reason why Rupee would stop all of the sudden. There was a blockage! Now they would have to go back through the entire tunnel again. Zelda knew she wouldn’t be able to take it. She felt a tongue lick her hand. Trying to keep herself from screaming, Zelda placed her shaky hand on Rupee’s head and inched to her collar. Her hand gripped on and slowly she got off her knees as her dog began leading her somewhere. Zelda bumped into something slimy and smooth. She felt around it and realized that it was not the wall of the tunnel, but a door. Joyously she cried out.
“It’s a door! We made it to the other side!”
“Good,” Alistair sighed with relief. “Now can you see well enough to open it?”
Zelda had placed the ring on her finger and as she felt around the door, she finally found an indentation where the signet would fit. Placing the ring inside, she turned it and heard the dull click of the lock coming undone. She was probably too hasty as she tried pushing the door open as it didn’t seem to be moving very fast.
“It won’t open,” she cried, maybe a little too frightened. She felt Alistair’s chainmail brush against her.
“Step aside,” he said. “Let me see if I can do it. It might have been rusted shut.”
Zelda stepped back. She could hear the loud sounds of his plated shoulder banging against the door. She was eager for that door to open, she could feel it. Every time his shoulder hit, her breathing got faster and harder as it meant that the door wasn’t open yet. But then, after one heavy shove, a crack of light burst into the tunnel. It was dull, but nearly blinded them anyway. A new smell admitted into the tunnel: fresh air. Not as fresh as it could be, but better than the thick moldiness.
As their eyes adjusted to the light, Alistair placed his whole body into the door, forcing it open. The door moaned with his attempt, echoing through the tunnel and probably the whole castle. It would be a miracle if no one heard it.
Finally, Alistair had the door open enough for everyone to slip through. Once out of the darkness of the tunnel, and into the torch light of the dungeons, Zelda felt relief. The tightness had loosed, but it was still there. The only way she could get rid of it was to be out in the open, but at the moment, it was manageable. She breathed out a deep sigh of relief before taking a look around.
The dungeon didn’t look any different than the one in her own home. Stone walls, the same as in the tunnel, with small cells cut into them and iron bars as doors. Torches were hung on the walls every other cell. Zelda wondered why they were there. No one was in any of the cells. Or at least, no one was in them now.
“Okay, Alistair,” she said feeling she could speak now without hysterics. “You used to live here, so go ahead and lead the way.”
“I haven’t been here since I was ten years old,” he said. “And the dungeons were one place I was never allowed to go.”
Zelda frowned as she felt the panic beginning to set in again. Was she ever going to see the sun?
Alistair saw it in her face. “But... I might be able to find the way out,” he said. “Come on, I think it’s... this way.” He began leading them down a hallway to the right, and Zelda could only wonder if he was just guessing in order to make her feel better. In a way it was working.
***
They made their way through the dungeons, and everyone wondered if they were going in circles. Alistair wasn’t the best guide, and it seemed when they came across a place that looked very familiar, he would then choose a different path randomly. Zelda was beginning to get annoyed. She wanted to be out of there. She wanted to see the sun and clouds. To breath in fresh air. She wanted this tightness, which was starting to grow, to go away.
“Something tells me that if it wasn’t for Morrigan, we might still be lost in the Wilds,” said Zelda.
Alistair grunted at her but said nothing. He then stopped in the middle of a hallway and looked around. “I told you I was never down here,” he said. “I don’t know where to go.”
Zelda sighed. “It’s okay. I should've--”
“Wait, listen,” Leliana hushed, stopping her from saying more. “Do you hear that?”
They all stopped to listen before they heard what Leliana was talking about. There was a light echo of shouting. Someone was calling for help. Rupee perked up her ears and barked before running in the direction that the shouts were coming from.
“Why didn’t we just let Rupee lead like in the tunnel?” Alistair asked as they ran after her.
“I don’t know,” panted Zelda. It’s because I’m not thinking straight right now.
The shouting got louder as they turned a corner and found three corpses attacking a cell door. Zelda didn’t think, she just quickly grabbed Silverbrand and her shield and went straight for them. The fight that ensued helped a lot with her tightness, keeping her mind occupied. She wondered why the corpses weren’t dead like the ones in the village. She thought that the sun had been the reason why they had stopped moving, but it might have been because the castle was the main source of evil. This was where the power was concentrated and so it didn’t matter if it was day or night. This made Zelda and the others wary. They were probably in for a fight once they reached the main part of the castle.
They ripped the corpses apart until they were deemed harmless. The power of the evil within the castle was evident as Zelda watched a completely severed hand, which was missing a thumb, inch it’s way across the floor.
“Who... who are you?” she heard an unfamiliar voice say. “You don’t look like the arlessa’s guards.”
Zelda turned to the cell the corpses were attacking and saw inside a young man in blue robes. He had long black hair, and looked as if he had been beaten and bloodied. “No, I'm not,” she said walking to him.
“Then who are you?” he asked. “Did you come from outside of the castle?”
“Yes, there's a tunnel that leads under the lake and to the village. We followed it here and heard your cries for help. We came and saw you were being attacked.”
“There’s a tunnel?” he exclaimed. “Then... why hasn’t anyone in the castle used it? We could all have escaped by now!”
“I wondered that myself,” said Zelda. “But it’s not my concern right now. I want to ask you some questions. I want to know what’s been going on in the castle.”
He looked at her as if he was unnerved. He had probably been through a lot in the last few days. Who knew how long he had been down here. “Look,” he said. “I don’t know if I can answer everything...”
“Just tell me your name,” she said calmly. “I am Zelda, and I came here to help however I could. But I need answers.”
He swallowed hard. “My name is Jowan, and I’ll tell you anything, just please... don’t hurt me.”
“I’m not going to hurt you,” said Zelda. “But I assume you are the mage Lady Isolde mentioned. The one that poisoned the arl?”
“Y-Yes,” he said timidly.
“What? You mean you’re the one that tried to kill the arl?” Alistair almost screamed. He advanced up to the cell and grabbed the bars, making Jowan step back. Zelda had never seen Alistair so mad. She went to place herself between them.
“Relax, Alistair,” she said sternly. “I told him he wouldn’t be hurt, and I meant it.”
She touched his hand and it seemed to calm him down. Looking in her eyes he saw her determination and let go of the bars. “I don’t like this,” he said. “Why is he down here? Why is he not dead yet?”
Zelda focused on Jowan. “That is something I was wondering myself. I assume when it was discovered you poisoned the arl, they brought you down here, but did they forget about you or something?”
“I think so,” said Jowan. “All I know is that at first, Lady Isolde came here with her men demanding that I reverse what I’d done. I thought she meant my poisoning of the arl. That’s the first I heard about the walking corpses. She thought I had done something to torment her family and destroy Redcliffe. She... had me tortured. There was nothing I could say or do that would appease her. So they... left me here to rot.”
Zelda felt a tinge of sorrow for Jowan. “Why did you poison the arl?” she asked.
“I was instructed too. By Teyrn Loghain.”
This didn’t surprise Zelda. She knew somehow, someway that Loghain had something to do with it. “Loghain told you too? Why?”
“He said something about Arl Eamon being a threat to Ferelden. I wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth, but why would I not believe him? He said that if I took care of the arl he would settle things with the Circle. You see, I’m... I’m an apostate, or maybe a better way of putting it would be a maleficar: a blood mage.”
“A blood mage?” Alistair nearly growled.
Zelda placed up her hand, quieting him. “So I assume you were caught and Loghain set you free and sent you here.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you here? Why did Isolde hire you?”
“It was because of her son, Connor,” Jowan explained. “She wanted to hire someone outside of the Circle to teach her son in secret. You see, Connor was beginning to show signs, and the arlessa was afraid they would take him from her.”
“So Connor is a mage,” said Zelda.
“Well that isn’t good,” Alistair muttered.
“But you’re only an apprentice,” Zelda continued. “What could you teach Connor?”
“Lady Isolde didn’t know anything about me except that I was an apostate. I think Loghain was the one that told her to hire me because he knew I was trustworthy. Oh, now I can see he was lying to me, wasn’t he? I’ve been abandoned and lost everything!” Jowan placed his face in his hands. “I’ve made such horrible choices. I lost the love of my life, as well as my friends. I know they will never forgive me for what I did to them. Not Keiven, or Esumi, or... Lily. The way she looked at me.” He brought his hands down and stared into them. Zelda saw that in his left palm was a deep scar that looked as if it was having a hard time healing.
Zelda wanted to question him about it all. Wanted to know what he had done to make him so sad. She also wanted to know about one of the mages he mentioned. Could it possibly be? No, if she could, she would ask him about it later. She needed to deal with the current issue first.
“What do you intend to do?” she asked him gently.
Jowan stopped looking at his hands and stared into her eyes. She saw the tears forming in his. “I want to help,” he said. “I want to do what ever I can in order to save as many lives as possible. I want to redo what I did wrong. But I... can’t.”
“Why, because you’re locked in a cell?”
“That’s one reason,” he muttered.
“Leliana.” Zelda turned to the bard standing behind her. “Do you think you can pick the lock on his cell?”
“Sure,” she said without questioning why Zelda was asking her to do this. Leliana went to open the lock but was stopped by Alistair.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked Zelda.
“I’m setting him free,” she said. She could see the look in his eyes that meant he wasn’t approving of her actions. “Alistair, you are not a templar, and I believe in second chances, so if you don’t approve, then that’s fine, but don’t try and stop me. You did make me the leader after all.”
Alistair slowly gave in, letting Leliana pass to open Jowan’s cell. He didn’t say much after that, and wasn’t able to look Zelda straight in the eye. Zelda didn’t take much offense. She knew he would get over it.
Jowan stood in the cell staring blankly at the open door. “Why are you setting me free?” he finally asked.
“Because you said you wanted to help,” said Zelda. “But there is one more question I want to ask you before we continue on.” He looked up at her questioningly. “This evil in the castle... do you know what it is?”
“I’ve been thinking about it,” said Jowan. “And I think it’s a demon. It’s the only thing that makes sense. And if I’m correct, with the walking corpses and the power I can feel in the air, I think it’s a demon of desire.”
“Oh, great!” Alistair mumbled.
It wasn’t something good to hear. Zelda had never dealt with a demon before. Her decision now was more important than ever. “Well then, I guess that means you’re coming with me,” she said.
“What? No! I can’t come with you,” Jowan exclaimed. “I think it would be best if I stayed here in the cell.”
“No, you’re coming,” said Zelda. “You don’t have a choice in the matter. You said you wanted to help. Well, here is your chance. Come with me and redeem yourself.”
“But...” he stammered. “I’m useless against the corpses. They are immune to magic, and I know nothing about fighting demons!”
Zelda narrowed her eyes. “That doesn’t matter. You are a blood mage whether you want to be or not. Whatever happened to you has branded you one for the rest of your life which means you have very little choices. So now the choice is this: either come with me and show everyone that you are sorry for what happened, or stay here and wallow in self pity.”
Jowan looked at her defeated. “You’re not really giving me the last choice are you?”
“Nope.”
“Then I’ll come,” he sighed. “But I don’t know how much help I can give. You saw the corpses attacking the cell. They don’t respond to any spells that I know.”
“You’ll be fine,” said Zelda. “Now.” She looked around the dungeon. During the conversation, the tightness had disappeared, but once she saw the walls and ceiling again, it was beginning to come back. She could feel them coming down on her. “You... do know the way out of here, right?” she asked trying to not sound panicky.
She wasn’t sure if Jowan had caught her mood, but he did seem suddenly confident. “I think I do,” he said. “Come on. If I remember it correctly, this is the way they brought me from the outside.”
Hearing the word, ‘outside’, Zelda followed him without hesitation. She didn’t care if he was a blood mage. She needed to get outside, and she needed to get there now. Alistair, on the other hand, had something else on his mind. He pulled himself in front of her, settling in between her and Jowan.
“Listen Jowan,” he said while they hurried through the hallways of the dungeon. “I may not be a templar, but I still can perform their talents. If you try anything...”
“Stop it Alistair,” Zelda cried out. He ignored her.
“...I will be watching you.”
Jowan slowed his pace and swallowed hard. “I understand,” he said. “But do know that I don’t plan on hurting any of you. Not with all the kindness you’ve been showing me.” He chanced a quick glance back at Zelda before facing front again and speeding back up. “But we need to hurry. She’s not going to make it much longer.”

Paraphrasing from Dragon Age: Origins
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Blood Bond