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Caged Minds	By : Tanwen Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 11564 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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"I knew it," Morrigan said for what seemed like the hundredth time. Mahariel resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she watched Morrigan pacing back and forth in their cell.
Rolen, the smarmy bastard, would probably have insisted it was their room, but Mahariel knew a cell when she saw one. The only windows were small, thin ones just below the ceiling. Everything in the room was soft — plush rugs covering every inch of the floor, cushions to sit on instead of chairs, pallets in one corner instead of actual beds. The bedding was all silk, edged with the same gauzy material as their ridiculous outfits. The walls were covered in tapestries that seemed to be held up by nothing at all.
It was most definitely a gilded cage — and one without anything that could possibly be used as a weapon.
"I knew that the rumor was a waste of our time," Morrigan continued. Her bare feet made absolutely no sound as she paced across the carpets. " 'Twas but a rumor, and we can ill afford to chase those things down when the Blight advances further across Ferelden every day."
"I know—"
"Then there was that ridiculous ambush." Morrigan either didn't notice or didn't care that Mahariel had said something. "Obviously designed to lull us into a false sense of security. Make us think that we had successfully eliminated all of the enemies in the area."
"You're—"
"Foolish, I know," Morrigan continued. "You tell me so all the time."
"No!" Mahariel shouted. Morrigan stopped pacing and turned to look at her. Mahariel made herself take a few deep breaths, despite the hurt on Morrigan's face. "You're right. About everything. All of it. If I'd listened to you at any point after we left camp, we wouldn't be in this situation. All right?"
Morrigan's shoulders slumped, and she shook her head. " 'Tis little comfort now," she said with a gusty sigh.
"Yeah." Mahariel dropped herself into the nearest pile of cushions and stared at the ceiling. She blew out a breath, puffing up the stray strands of hair that draped across her forehead. "We have to find a way out of here."
"What about Leliana?" There was actual concern in Morrigan's voice. Despite the situation, it warmed Mahariel to realize that Morrigan cared about Leliana as a friend. Quite the change from how she'd been when they had first met. "Surely we will not just leave her here."
"No. Absolutely not," Mahariel said, sounding a lot more determined than she felt. "If … Rolen is holding her, such that we can't take her with us … then we get clear, get everyone else, and come back for her. With all of us, we can take him out. Especially with Alistair."
"The oaf is good for dealing with mages," Morrigan admitted grudgingly. Mahariel hid another smile.
"So, we have an unknown number of undead guards to deal with, as well as the mage," Mahariel said. "And your magic…"
"Is completely inaccessible." Morrigan looked like she wanted to spit nails. Again. Well, at least her anger was keeping her from sinking into despondency.
"Right. Which means our best chance is stealth rather than something straightforward. If one of us gets taken out of the cell, we need to take in as much detail as we can without arousing suspicion."
Morrigan nodded. "But," she said, "that does mean that we will not be able to take the first opportunity to escape."
"Or the second." Mahariel sighed. "Yes. This is a slow and steady plan."
"Which works to his advantage," Morrigan said. "He did seem … rather confident, in his ability to bend our minds to his will."
Mahariel sat up and looked Morrigan in the eyes. "Don't think about it. We'll be able to resist him. We have to."
Morrigan nodded. "Yes. Yes, we must do everything we can to resist."
There was a sound outside of the room, and both of them turned to look at the door. Having just discussed this, Mahariel restrained herself from bolting over the door in an attempt to overpower whatever guards were outside. It would be futile, and she knew it.
Instead, she got as close as she could without making it look like she was going to try to bolt, and watched intently as the door swung open.
Leliana walked in through the door, holding a tray laden down with food. Mahariel breathed a sigh of relief to see her friend, walking under her own power and seeming quite cheerful to boot.
"Are you all right?" she asked, as Leliana put the tray on the floor. The smells wafting from the plates were appetizing. Her stomach growled, reminding her of how long it had been since she last ate. But she restrained herself, needing to hear Leliana respond.
"I am perfectly fine," Leliana replied in her usual cheerful tone. A bit too cheerful, considering their situation. Mahariel narrowed her eyes and took a closer look at Leliana.
And then wondered how she had avoided seeing it right away.
There was a kind of sheen over Leliana's eyes; a thin, translucent haze of a crystalline light blue, obscuring her eye color without blocking it out entirely. It was decidedly unsettling to look at, but it seemed to have no effect on Leliana whatsoever.
Mahariel shook her head and corrected that observation. Just because she couldn't see the effect, didn't mean that it wasn't there. Rolen had already proven that he had access to magic the likes of which she had never imagined.
"What has he done to you?" Morrigan demanded, having also noticed the change in Leliana's eyes.
"Oh, Morrigan," Leliana said with a smile. "You make it sound so terrible! I assure you, it is not. It feels wonderful." Her eyes went half-lidded and she gave a happy sigh.
Mahariel felt a knot growing in her stomach — a growing certainty that something very drastic had happened to Leliana in that single night Rolen had spent with her.
"What. Has. He. Done." Morrigan ground each word out like it was glass in her mouth.
"Master has helped me to see the truth of things," Leliana said, and that knot in Mahariel's stomach turned into a cold, heavy lump.
Morrigan's mouth snapped shut, her eyes going wide in horror. Mahariel took a couple of steps forward. "What truths, Leliana?"
"That we truly are better off here, in his care, than out there." The sincerity in Leliana's voice only added to Mahariel's feeling of dread. She should have seen this coming. Rolen had told them that this was his intention.
She just hadn't expected that it would happen so quickly.
"That's not true," Mahariel said, putting as much urgency behind the words as she could manage. "It just isn't. You have to fight it, Leliana. Fight it so we can get out of here."
"She no longer wants to fight it," Rolen's voice said from outside the room. Mahariel stiffened. "It feels too good to fight, doesn't it, Leliana?"
"Yes, Master," Leliana responded, turning towards the sound of his voice, her smile even brighter than before.
"Would you like to show your friends how good I make you feel?"
Oh, that wasn't ominous in the least. "I believe you," Mahariel said, also turning towards where she guessed Rolen was standing outside, raising her voice to ensure that he heard her. "There's no need for a demonstration."
"I must beg to differ, dearest Viera," Rolen said. "I can guess that you are still skeptical, still searching for a way to get out. You are smart, and clever, and I expected nothing less of you. But you must see that it is hopeless. Inevitable that you will share Leliana's fate. And the best way for you to realize that … is to view a demonstration of my power.
"Ha'mi'lin. Juveran na su tarasyl."
Leliana fell to her knees, overcome by whatever it was that those words had triggered in her. Her head fell backwards, her eyes closed, as her hands began to roam freely over her body. "Master," she moaned, that single word somehow seeming to carry a wealth of desire with it.
Mahariel mentally translated the words. Relax. I will take you to the sky. It wasn't a phrase she had heard before, but the context was unmistakable. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight of her dear friend lost in overwhelming arousal.
"Master," Leliana said again. "I'm so horny. I need you, Master. I need to feel you inside me."
"Of that I have no doubt," Rolen said. "I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but I simply can't come into that room to help you out. Why don't you pleasure yourself while you recite your mantras for me?"
Mahariel watched in horror as Leliana's hand slid downwards, underneath the skirt that somehow seemed to provide even less coverage than it had a moment ago. She knew that she should look away, that this was exactly what Rolen wanted her to do — watch the way that Leliana's fingers slid inside her entrance, the way her body shuddered around her hand. Mahariel shifted her gaze up to Leliana's face, and that wasn't any better. The expression there was one of complete rapture. Her lips parted, releasing a sigh.
And then she began to speak.
"You are my Master. I will obey. I am your slave. My only purpose is to serve you. My only desire, to please you."
The words sent a shudder through Mahariel's body. They were ones of complete and total surrender. Leliana was pledging her mind and body both to Rolen through these actions. It was horrifying, and at the same time, utterly fascinating.
Mahariel had always found Leliana attractive. But attraction alone wasn't enough to convince her to make a move. Before being recruited into the Wardens, she'd lost Tamlen, her best friend. And the mission they were on was a hazardous one. That was about the only thing that she and Rolen agreed on. Mahariel hadn't thought that she could stand to lose anyone else that was dear to her, and made the decision to keep her distance from all of her companions. She was their leader, but not truly one of them. She couldn't be.
That resolve, which had seemed iron-clad a moment ago, was cracking in the face of Leliana, more lovely than Mahariel had ever seen her before — her face flushed, strands of hair matting from the sweat on her forehead, her breasts bouncing up and down as her movements became faster. Faster.
"You are my Master. I — I will obey. I am, am, am your slave." Mahariel thought that it was incredibly hot how Leliana was tripping over her words, caught up in the throes of her desire. "My only purpose — my — purpose —"
Mahariel was moving before she realized she had made a decision. Her mouth closed over Leliana's, stopping her mid-mantra, tongue sliding into Leliana's mouth. Leliana's muffled exclamation of surprise turned into an extremely gratified moan. The pair of them fell backwards onto the nearby cushions, their mouths still pressed together, and Mahariel forgot about everything else.
Morrigan couldn't believe her eyes. One minute, Leliana was obeying that man's ridiculous commands, and the next, Mahariel had her pinned on the floor, her hand already darting in to brush Leliana's aside. Frankly, Morrigan didn't see how choosing to participate was a better outcome than being forced, even if said forced participation was reduced to pure voyeurism—
Strong hands grabbed her arms and hauled her away. She only had time to get out an embarrassing squeak before the door to their cell closed, and her guards hustled her along a path, through an open courtyard. Remembering their earlier discussion, Morrigan looked around, seeing if there were any other guards (it was easier to think of them as guards than to acknowledge that they were undead), and if there were any paths out that they might take advantage of in their flight.
She was steered back inside and through a twisting maze of corridors before she had made a full count. Likely a deliberate move on Rolen's part, she admitted grudgingly. It would not do to underestimate his intelligence.
Morrigan kept that in mind when her guards brought her into the throne room that Rolen had greeted them in, the previous day. He was sitting on the throne, eyes intent on her. She resisted the urge to shudder. She did not like being the one on the receiving end of such scrutiny.
The invisible bonds around her wrists and ankles had reappeared. She was stuck kneeling in front of him. An image of Leliana, kneeling in their cell, flashed into her mind. Morrigan banished it ruthlessly. She would not end up like that.
"I apologize for the rather abrupt change of scenery, but it seemed best to give Leliana and Viera some time alone." Rolen's smile turned into a leer. "I know from experience how … enthusiastic … dear Leliana can be."
"Well, I do thank you for that," Morrigan commented, making only a token effort to keep the acid out of her voice. "I did not care to watch them. They are my friends. Such things ought to be private."
Rolen's smile turned thoughtful. Morrigan wondered what part of that he found most interesting, but kept her face carefully neutral. She did not want to give him anything more than she already had.
"I'm glad to see you finding the bright spots in your situation," Rolen said. "You and Viera seem to be misunderstanding my intentions, and the quality of your future here. I would have thought that seeing Leliana's joy would help to convince you that I truly do want the best for the three of you."
"It does not convince me of that," Morrigan shot back. "What you call Leliana's joy, I call a perversion of her mind and her free will."
Rolen sighed. "It pains me that you persist in this severe misunderstanding of things."
"And I will continue to 'persist', as you so put it, until we are freed from this place."
"I suppose I must admire that stubbornness of yours," Rolen said. "It is a trait that we share, you and I." He reached under his shirt. "It means that mere words will not be enough to convince you."
He drew out a pendant on a long chain and held it in front of him. A flick of his wrist sent the pendant — a blue stone in a simple setting — floating through the air towards Morrigan, stopping a few inches from her face. At the same time, she felt an invisible pressure settle around her head, keeping her gaze firmly locked on the stone.
"So this is supposed to change my mind? A shiny bauble?" Morrigan knew there was more to it than that. Rolen was a mage, and by all accounts a powerful one. "At least, 'tis pleasing to look at."
"I'm glad you think so, because you'll be doing that for the foreseeable future," Rolen replied. The stone began to glow brightly from within. The exact hue of that light seemed familiar, like she'd seen it recently.
Oh. The sheen that had overlaid Leliana's eyes. Morrigan suppressed the urge to shudder. She couldn't let him know that any of this was getting to her.
"You've been fighting for so long, Morrigan," Rolen said, his voice turning soft, coaxing. "Fighting against everything and everyone. Here, I am offering you a chance to rest. To let go of all your cares."
"Letting go of them does not make them disappear from the world entirely," Morrigan spat back at him. "The Blight advances. Without us, the darkspawn will win."
"So much easier just to look into the light and let it relax you." Rolen gave no sign that he had heard her words. "So easy to let your gaze fall upon the stone, noticing the subtle patterns in its surface and how the light brings them out."
Morrigan ground her teeth. Clearly, he intended to keep droning at her until his magical light stole her will. Well. She was no weakling, not, apparently, like Leliana. It genuinely pained her to think that the Orlesian had fallen so easily, and not just because it boded ill for herself and Mahariel. Leliana was full of conviction and bravery. Morrigan would never have guessed that she would be so easily overcome by tricks of the light.
Of course, there was magic behind that light. She could feel it trying to work its way inside her, looking for any opening, no matter how small.
She would. Not. Let. It in.
"Feel the warmth of it moving through you. Feel your body start to relax. Your shoulders are relaxed. Your neck is relaxed. The light is so warm, so comforting."
"I would be a lot more relaxed without these bonds upon my limbs," Morrigan said.
Rolen shook his head. "Not while you still fight me."
Oh, well. She hadn't really expected that he would go for it.
"It will feel so good when you stop fighting, Morrigan," Rolen continued, his voice dropping even further. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "It feels good to let the light wash over you, let it fill your mind. A feeling of pure bliss, of total relaxation. I know that sounds nice to you, Morrigan. I know that a part of you is starting to want it."
Morrigan hardened her expression. It was true that there was a part that was curious, but that curiosity was easily overcome by common sense. "The only thing that I want is for you to release all three of us."
"One might argue that Leliana is released—" Rolen began.
"She is held even tighter than before," Morrigan spat back at him. "Lie to yourself all you wish, but I will not sit here and simply let such absurd statements pass unchallenged. Leliana is my friend. What you have done disgusts me. What you are attempting to do to me disgusts me." Her eyes were daggers of the finest, sharpest steel, boring holes into his skull.
Rolen met her stare with one of his own, but Morrigan fancied that she was managing to get the better of him. She knew that the blue stone was supposed to be making her pliant, receptive to his words.
She was also quite certain that it wasn't working as intended.
Rolen was the first to turn his gaze away. She saw the anger and the frustration in his face, and the moment when that fury turned to cold calculation.
He waved a hand almost negligently, and she felt her bonds dissolve as his undead servants hauled her to her feet and out of the throne room.
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Caged Minds