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Vhenan'ara	By : Arcanis_Born Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 6576 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from this.

Chapter List
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Dragon Age: Origins is owned by Bioware, as with all its characters, the story as it deviates from canon is mine, however, as with the personalities of characters as they deviate from those in the game.
Thank you all so much for your continued readership! It means so much! And a BIG thank you to everyone who leaves a review!
Translations:
None for this chapter.

Spider blood smelled something awful. Like rotten eggs mixed with mabari piss, it was just another foul smell that Riel was slowly getting used to. Between Darkspawn filth, the blood of blighted creatures, and the foul blood of dragons, Riel was passed caring about what she smelled like whenever she battled. Fighting was dirty, messy, and if you didn't walk away with some sort of blood or filth on you, then you were doing it wrong.
However, she had never purposefully covered herself in those other stenches before. And as much as she saw the logic in lathering up her skin and armor in the blood of the foul spiders, this was just yet another disgusting thing that would probably haunt her dreams for years to come.
"Remind me to send the bill for a new set of robes to the Legion…" Morrigan groused as she dipped her hand down into the belly of the spider at her feet and scooped up another handful of the strong smelling gunk. Shuddering visibly and her beautiful features pinched, she slathered the dark liquid on her arms and down the front of her robe. "Tell me why again we are covering ourselves in this filth?"
"Because," Riel snapped, rubbing her cheeks and forehead with the spider blood. "If they can't smell us, then they can't attack us."
"This reminds of one time a heavy rain that battered the grounds of the Tower one year," Wynne chuckled softly. "The ground outside practically turned into a giant pool of mud. However, a group of apprentices were scheduled to be outside that day to practice their spells in an open area. Maker…" she laughed, her eyes bright and a smile on her face despite the filth that she covered herself with. "What started out as mild alteration class turned into a mud fight. All of us, even the Templars, slipping and sliding in the wet mud. It wasn't long before we were all covered head to toe! It was weeks before the Templars stopped complaining about the difficulty they had in cleaning their armor afterwards!"
"A bunch of mage ladies covered in mud, slipping around and getting all dirty? Heh… That's hot…." Oghren laughed lecherously.
Riel rolled her eyes, her mind automatically going to whatever inappropriate thing that Zevran would say to Wynne's story. Probably something to make her and the older mage blush, no doubt.
What an enticing sight that would have been, my lovely Wynne! I can just imagine the dark mud covering your glorious bosom!
Tears pricked at Riel's eyes as she imagined what his words would be. Zevran always had a way to make her smile with his flirting or comebacks. Even if she felt terrible. Or incredibly stressed. Or just simply lost. Pretty much exactly how she felt at that moment. By the Creator's she missed him. The threat of never seeing his laughing eyes again or feeling the touch of his arms circling her was a heavy stone in her chest that refused to budge.
"Almost ready?" Kardol called out, bringing Riel's mind out of the misery of her thoughts and to the current crisis.
Riel looked over to her companions, judging their progress with the spider's muck, her eyes critical of every strength and flaw that each companion possessed. Satisfied that each had covered themselves well enough - all except Shale of course, who required no such covering - Riel nodded to the commander of the Legion.
"Good. Seeing as I let you lead the last assault, I'm going to take point here, if you don't mind Warden. Out in the open, crawlers are easier to pick off. However, in enclosed areas like these tunnels, they get infinitely more dangerous. You don't just have to watch the space in front of you, but in there you need to be aware of every direction. They can crawl along walls and ceilings as you have seen. One trick they are fond of is cornering an unfortunate duster, getting him distracted by what is in front of him. Then one will suddenly drop down on the poor sod from above without him even noticing."
"That's what happened to that little redhead," Oghren voiced, his brow furrowed.
Riel felt her heart clench hearing the details about what happened to Leliana. However, she couldn't let her mind focus on that. Not now. The others needed her daggers more than her sympathy at that moment. Her tears and regret were not going to save Leliana or Zevran. Only her blades would do that.
"I figure we let that golem of yours go in first, drawing out their attacks."
Shale sighed, before interrupting. "Figures."
Both Riel and Kardol rolled their eyes before he continued. "Archers in such close combat will be useless. So I'm having my lads grab their swords for this. Don't worry though, if they see an angle to safely shoot from, you can bet your knickers that they'll take the shot."
"Where do you want my mages?"
"Heh, as much I loved seeing those blighted things light up like an old fashioned Ancestor's celebration, we can't risk damaging too many of the eggs. The blasted fighting will do enough as it is. So I want your ladies staying back. We'll funnel the wounded back to them when we can. But unless the Paragons have completely abandoned us and turn all of us into spider food, they should stay as far back from the fighting as possible. After all, we need those two to mix up that brew to save our people. It would do no good to have them laid up with the same venom that is infecting the others."
"The dwarf is correct," Sten stated in his usual distant manner.
"I have no problems with that. The question I have is this…" Riel folded her arms across her chest and leveled a hard look at Kardol. "Do you really think we can take out this queen?"
"It's isn't going to a walk amongst the mushrooms, Warden, if that is what you're asking. But I don't think you have noticed something…" Kardol took a few steps closer to Riel and lowered his voice. "The Legion is old. Very old. There are stories of Legionnaires going back to the first Blight. And yet every year, we lose a little more ground. Another city. Another thaig. By the Ancestors, we even lost our own headquarters in Bownammar to those sodding 'spawn seventeen years ago!" Kardol spit out in anger, the loss still a very sore spot with him. "We do this - we clear out this nest, and we gain something back. Me and my men will do something that hasn't been done in centuries. And while it may not be Bownammar, we take back just a little bit of what we lost." Kardol then leveled a hard gaze on her, his tattooed covered jaw set in raw determination. "We take the queen spider, and we take back a bit of our honor. That is something that I will not deny my men. Even if we all die doing it, word will spread that for once, the Legion finally took something back!"
Riel stared at the dwarf, seeing for the first time just how important this was to him. This wasn't just about her and her companions, she realized. It was about something so much larger. Like everything that she and others have faced in the past, this fight was just another small piece of a much larger war that they all fought. Against the Darkspawn and their corruption. Against everything people everywhere had lost.
"Well, it looks like we have some crawlers to skin, doesn't dwarf?" Riel chuckled darkly, her response greeted with a hearty laugh from Kardol as he lightly slapped her on the side of his shoulder.
"Excellent! Men! Time to lace up your skirts! We're meeting a queen tonight!" Kardol laughed as he walked off towards his men.
"I'll have Zevran gut him for you when this is over."
Riel looked over to see Morrigan glowering at Kardol's back. Riel couldn't help but smile slightly. As much as she still hated being touched by others, Riel couldn't find it within herself to blame the dwarf. Although the reassurance from Morrigan did go a long way in easing her nerves. Now if only she had her laughing elf with her….
"You will not win if you doubt yourself, Riel. Remember that," Morrigan quipped suddenly, her yellow gaze boring into Riel. "To most people, they believe is but two options to any event. Win or lose. Stop or go. Left or right. However, I have noticed that this is not the case with you."
"I don't understand."
"For you, there have never been two options. Has there?" Morrigan paused as she stared into Riel's eyes. "You have made it thus far by knowing that there is no such option as 'losing'. You do not fight to win. You do not fight because you believe you will win or lose. You fight because you know there is no other option. You fight because you must. And such it is with the elf and the bard. For you, there must not be any other option other than your desire to save them. And you will. Not because you can. Not because there is an option that you will not succeed. You will save them because you will refuse any other alternative outcome."
"What if we don't get back in time though?" The sob that threatened to break free lodged in Riel's throat, even as her mind demanded that she ignore it.
"You must realize something about yourself, Riel," Morrigan placed her hands on Riel's shoulders, her eyes almost glowing in the darkness. "You have a power in you that few have. Power beyond that of a Warden. Beyond that of a mage. What you desire comes to pass. What you fight against falls under your blades. What obstacle you come across crumbles. You are a leader, not because fate placed you here. You are a leader because you do what must be done. And you will not accept any other outcome than what you desire."
"Is that why you follow me, Morrigan?" Riel whispered, her voice close to breaking. Never had she seen the witch be so open with her. So forward in her faith in Riel. Or really much of anything. It was strange, but also comforting. Yet still her mind clung to past fears and doubts despite the witch's words.
Morrigan dropped her arms from Riel's shoulders and shrugged in the way she usually did when she felt uncomfortable with an answer. "I follow you because you taught me something that Flemeth in all of her wisdom had not. And in truth, never could. You taught me what it is to be a friend." Morrigan paused, mentally cursing the blush that she felt at her cheeks. Clearing her throat she continued on. "You will gain followers, Riel. People who will fight for you because they believe in your cause. Or because they believe in the Wardens. Or perhaps simply out of fear for the Darkspawn. However, you will also gain to you friends and allies who will fight for more than that. And while… mistakes... may be made, know that your greatest enemy will never be the Darkspawn or humans. It shall always be your own doubt."
"I never expected a pep talk from you, Morrigan," Riel laughed softly, ignoring the tears that gathered at her eyes.
"Yes, well. We shall not mention it again, shall we?" Morrigan replied with another blush. "I am ill-suited for such things," she waved her hand as if wanting to dismiss the whole thing. "Best to leave such mushy emotions for Leliana or that assassin. When you awaken them from their current malady. And after you sorely punish them, of course."
Riel actually laughed at that. "Of course. But what about you?"
"Me? Isn't it enough that I am currently lathered in foul smelling spider insides, surrounded by even fouler smelling dwarves, on my way to combat even more venomous spiders, including a supposedly very large queen?"
Riel laughed at the woman's outrage. Although perfectly well played to the point where the witch even looked offended and angry, Riel knew the woman far too well. Under that bitter look of disgust and annoyance, Riel saw how much she meant to the witch. And the spider innards did smell horrific. Although…
"Three days of sharing watch with Alistair when we finally leave Orzammar. Then we will be even," Riel giggled evilly.
"Oh now you go too far woman! You will do no such thing! Not unless you actually favor the idiot surviving until we reach the Dalish!"
"Alright! Enough yakking, ladies! We've got baddies to squish!" Oghren called out, pulling both women out of their reverie.
Right. Spiders. Big spiders. And a Voidforsaken queen… Riel thought bitterly to herself with a heavy sigh.
"No other option," Morrigan added briskly before leaving her side and joining the others as they gathered at the entrance to the tunnel.
"Right. Win. Lose. It doesn't matter. I will get those eggs!" she stated to herself, cursing.
"Okay then, you sodding rock lickers, let's go introduce ourselves to the queen!" Kardol roared, raising his sword in the air. The action was mimicked by his men and Riel couldn't help but join in, raising one of her own blades into the air and issuing forth a mighty yell.
"Do try to not get squished! You all already smell bad enough without winding up corpses!" Shale muttered loudly as it started down the tunnel at a surprising pace considering it's huge size.
The Legion dwarves followed closely behind the golem, charging their massive force down the tunnel, their battle cries echoing off the walls around them. Riel and her group followed shortly after, their weapons out and ready.
It was up to her, Sten and Oghren and Riel's mabari hound to protect both Morrigan and Wynne as they cast spells to aid the fighters against the swarm of spiders that greeted them. So even when the screeching of the vile creatures mixed with the roars from the dwarves, they stayed behind, making sure any spider's that made it past those up ahead did not get to the mages.
"Watch their fangs, you dusters!" someone called out from the mess of bodies ahead of Riel. A moment later, a pained scream sounded out. One that didn't belong to any spider.
Riel twirled her blades in her hand, shifting the daggers before she lurched forward to stab the hairy back of a crawler just before it was able to strike at Sten. The giant turned, and seeing the screaming spider he hefted his blade and decapitated it. He then nodded briefly to Riel before turning to face the next foe.
Riel caught movement to her left and almost slashed out, however caught herself barely in time to keep from slicing into an already wounded dwarf. He had a large gash on his forehead that was bleeding profusely, and he stumbled as if he were drunk. Cursing, she quickly shoved the dwarf behind to her where Morrigan and Wynne stood, casting restoring and boosting magics on them all.
"They are starting to get injured! Prepare yourselves!" she called out. "Sten, Oghren! Hold the line! I'm going to check on Kardol!"
Riel waited until she caught the eyes of both men and had them nod their understanding to her before she rushed off. Another two dwarves laid unmoving on the ground just a few feet down the tunnel, and Riel let go a deep growl as she sliced with her blades, removing the head of one spider and plunging her other dagger into the face of another.
"Incoming!" Riel shouted down to her companions before quickly placing her blades on the ground and grabbing one dwarf by his collar and the bottom of his armor. Calling on every ounce of strength she had, Riel lifted the heavy male then roughly tossed him towards where Sten waited to catch the dwarf and get him to the mages. Sodding bastards weigh more than they look Riel cursed as she grunted under the weight of the next dwarf. Then with far less precision than she intended, Riel tossed the second dwarf. They landed with a heavy thud indicating that she missed the mark of Sten's arms enough where if they were alive, the dwarves will probably feel it after they awoken.
Her back screamed in protest as Riel grabbed her blades and righted herself. Squinting her eyes, she looked further down the tunnel and tried to see past the mix of bodies and limbs that fought back and forth, trying to see the leader of the Legion. She would never forgive herself he ended up dying. Regaining their honor or not, Riel was just not okay with losing any more dwarfs in this fight. Kardol most of all.
Slashing out with her daggers, Riel carefully made her way past the chaos, dodging blows from both spider and dwarf. Once almost taking a heavy hammer to the chest, Riel rolled free of the blow and let it hit its intended target of the snapping mandible belonging to a very angry spider. Several times she would find injured dwarves, and she would try her best to herd them towards the back where the others waited. She also used her blades to keep near fatal blows from landing on the dwarven Legion. Attacking with her daggers at legs and biting fangs, slicing them clean off and preventing them from being used further.
Finally Riel moved past the fighting to the front where Kardol and Shale were battering away at crawlers larger than any Riel had ever seen. Twice the size of the ones she had seen previously, these ones easily stood as giants over even Shale. Black in color, these vile spiders hissed and lunged forward with their fangs and claws, trying to grab at any flesh it could reach.
"Nest warriors!" Riel heard Kardol call out to her a moment before he cursed violently.
"Kardol!" Riel cursed as she ran to him. The large spider he was fighting managed to sink one its clawed limbs through Kardol's sword arm. Riel screamed and rushed forward, her blades out and singing. Just as the beast turned to attack her, Riel skidded to her knees and slid under it, slicing off the limb that stuck in Kardol with one blade, and using the other to slice right through the creature's outstretched fangs.
Once Kardol was free, he fell backwards to the ground below. "Damn blighters…" he coughed, looking down at the limb that still stuck out from his arm.
"Grit your teeth dwarf," Riel stated flatly before she took hold of the hairy leg and pulled it out in one swift motion. Kardol screamed out, his eyes squinting shut against the pain. "I told you to grit your teeth."
"Next time give me more than a sodding second of warning!" he hissed back, cradling his arm to his chest. "Look… I-I don't-" he stuttered as the color from his face started to drain. "I-I don't have much time…. so-so listen…."
"Save your strength, you sodding idiot…" Riel cursed as she knelt by his side.
"Listen damn you!" his stern shout cut off Riel's further argument, causing her to focus. "That-that queen… I saw her… She's bigger than anything we th-thought…" His face was almost devoid of its natural dark pigment, yet he reached out to grab hold of Riel's armor and held it with a strength that defied his worsening condition. "She has a stinger… moves… moves very fast… and… and…"
"Kardol!" Riel screamed, shaking the dwarf, yet he was fully unconscious, the venom in his system working to slowly kill him as it was doing to the other that she cared about. "Damn it!"
"Riel!"
Riel looked up from the body to see Wynne rushing over to her. With practiced motions, the mage began to examine Kardol, going first to the obvious wound on his arm before checking his pulse and other vitals. Riel looked past her to see Sten and Oghren battling a single nest warrior while Morrigan had managed to find herself up on top of a large rock where she cast repeated spells at the remaining spiders. Around her were the remaining dwarves, only a handful in number, yet they fought just as fiercely as before.
"What are you doing here?" Riel demanded of the woman next to her.
"The ones in the tunnel are either dying or dead. When the Legion moved forward, so did we," Wynne paused as she counted the beats she could feel under her fingers. "He still lives. For now. However, we must get him out of the main area." Wynne stood up and placed her staff at her back before taking hold of Kardol's heavy armor in both her hands. "Either help me drag him or go help the others kill those things!" Wynne snapped before using her strength to pull Kardol's unconscious body a few inches, before bracing herself and pulling again.
"By the Void!" Riel cursed as she stood and took hold of the other side of Kardol's armor. Together the two of them hefted the dwarf's body to just in front of the tunnel that led back to the the beginning of their battle.
"I have him now. Go on! Your hound shall stay with me, you are needed with the others!" Wynne stated, all but shoving Riel towards the fighting before she went to check on another dwarf.
"It comes!"
Riel spun at the sound of Sten's loud bellow, her eyes finding the large body just as it descended from a monstrous hole in the ceiling. Easily the size of an entire building, the spider queen's legs long reached out further than several horses lined end to end. Fangs the size of great swords and dripping with venom clicked against mandibles large enough to snap a full grown man in half. And each black eye seemed to seethe anger and wrath as they fixed on Riel and her companions.
With a large breath, the spider queen let loose a horrid roar, spital and venom spewing forth as it raged against the intrusion to its nest. The remaining smaller spiders that guarded their queen skittered back, almost as if being called back by their queen. Quickly they disappeared into the shadows and along the walls, leaving the queen alone to deal with the intruders herself.
"That's one big eight legged freak!" Oghren called out, followed by a low whistle.
"Stay away from it's front legs! She will use them to pull you into her mouth!" an unknown dwarf called out as the group spanned out to encircle the beast.
"Attack the legs! Remove the claws the at the ends!" screamed Riel as she readied her daggers.
No other option. It dies not because it can. But because it must.
Riel bellowed an angry war cry as she charged the monster, ducking a swipe of it's leg and cutting out with her dagger. Around her, the others had also charged, their attacks distracting the queen to where she pranced around like a nervous halla. Suddenly Riel heard a scream of agony and turned her head in time to see a second dwarf scream and fall to the ground, covered in what looked like a greyish purple glob of slime.
"It spits venom! Watch yourselves!" Sten could be heard shouting.
Riel cursed wildly, dodging and rolling as she avoided being stepped on by the spider queen's clawed legs. Seeing an opportunity, she struck out, slicing into one of the hairy limbs. However, unlike the other limbs she had previously dismembered, the queen seemed to have a natural armor to her. Instead of Riel's sharpened blade slicing straight through its flesh, it stuck about halfway through.
"Shit!" she cried out as she pulled on the blade.
"Move Warden!"
Riel looked up at Oghren's voice just in time to see the queen take aim at her, spitting forth a glob of its venom straight at her. It was solely due to her long hours fighting and practicing with Zevran that Riel had developed the speed needed to roll away in time to barely miss the attack.
However, she had to leave to blade stuck in the creature's leg. Down to just one dagger, Riel shifted the blade into her main hand and took quick inventory of the situation. Sten and Oghren still swung their weapons, yet her experience fighting with the two men told her that their arms were tiring. Wynne and Fen stayed hidden by a collapsed building, with Wynne casting her protective spells to whoever she could. Morrigan was now on the short roof of another stout building, launching her spells in quick succession, while Shale charged and battered at the queen, using its whole body as a weapon.
"Morrigan!" Riel called out, dodging past the dancing legs of the spider to get closer to the witch. "Remember Alistair and Redcliff?"
"I shall try!" she answered back, her power obviously waning under the strain. Riel saw the woman reach down and pull a potion from her robes before quickly downing in, then tossing the vial away.
"How do I ever detest spiders!" Riel heard Morrigan curse out as she gathered magic to her. Unlike the spell she had cast on Alistair when he annoyed her, this one needed to be larger to encompass the queen's immense body. It also would not be held back with how much damage it would do, the point not to teach a lesson to an idiotic Templar, but to kill a powerful and monstrous queen spider.
Riel waited with held breath, watching for the moment the witch's spell would take effect. When it would, Riel would rush forward and attack it's frozen body, slicing at whatever she could with her sole dagger.
However, it seemed the queen had other plans. Noticing the pull of magic, the queen shifted her focus to Morrigan, hissing out in unrestrained anger. "Morrigan!" screamed Riel, unable to reach her friend in time. The woman's senses were better than most humans though, allowing Morrigan to see the attack aimed for her and managing to dodge the venomous the glob. Twisting her body, Morrigan leapt from her perch down to the ground below.
Landing in a crouched pile, Riel rushed over to her. However just before she reached the woman, the queen shot out one of its legs and struck Morrigan hard. The force of the blow sending the witch flying back and through the wall of the building just behind her.
"Morrigan!" Riel screamed as she watched on in horror. No! Not her too! I can't lose all of them! Riel's mind raced. Images of Zevran and Leliana lying pale and close to death flashed to her mind. Images of what she imagined Morrigan's broken body would look like were next in her mind. Her friends. The only ones that had truly meant anything to her, were now either dead or dying. Kardol and his men. Duncan imagined, lying dead on the battlefield of Ostagar.
Riel felt her body warming without warning. The air around her heating as if the sun had somehow broken through the miles of rock above their heads and now shined down in all its glory upon her. Anger suffused Riel as she turned back towards the queen spider. The beast looked down on her, its body shaking slightly as if the queen was laughing at the pain that assaulted Riel's whole being.
"YOU SHALL NOT HAVE THEM!" Riel bellowed as fire took over her body and shot forth from her outstretched arms.
A wave befitting an ocean of fire flowed from Riel towards the spider queen, taking over its body completely. Screaming in agony, the queen thrashed about, trying to put out the flames that were consuming it. Perhaps it was the thick hair that covered their bodies, or perhaps it was something about the venom that they spewed, but all the spiders of the deep were susceptible to fire, and the giant queen was no different. Quickly the flames spread all over, burning and charring her flesh despite how much it writhed under the pain.
Then as quickly as it happened, it was over. Letting out a final screech, the spider queen collapsed into a jumbled heap of burned limbs against the far wall. There was a chorus of shouts, exclaiming happily at the death as the handful of remaining dwarves shouted and laughed.
The fire that stemmed from Riel died out, pulling back from the queen's corpse and seeming to return back into Riel's outstretched arms. With a deep shudder, Riel then collapsed down to the ground. The sounds of victory quickly became calls for concern. Of worry. And as they got louder, the world around Riel continued to spin. The voices around her were muffled, as if she were underwater as they called out to her. She tried to pull herself up, yet her body was far too weak to even lift her head.
Fear descended onto her. She couldn't move! Surrounded by people she not only couldn't trust, but strangers who she didn't know. Legion members who probably did any of number of wretched things! Screaming at herself mentally to move, Riel's heartbeat so hard she thought it would shoot free from her very chest.
"The Warden is injured!" a dwarf said as he approached her.
"I didn't know she was a mage!" another one said.
"We should move her back to her camp!" came a third.
Suddenly all voices stopped, and everything became deathly still. Riel cried silently, unable to even lift her head to see who came close to her. She could nothing to defend herself despite how badly she yelled at her body to comply.
"The Grey Warden is not to be touched."
It was Sten's voice Riel heard. The hard surety of it something that Riel had grown accustomed to over the weeks of travel. However, she didn't know whether to be thankful or even more fearful at his statement. Did he plan something else for her?
Suddenly Wynne's face appeared before her own. Smiling down at her, Wynne leaned in closer, yet was careful to not touch her. "Morrigan is alive. She has some bruises, and a broken shoulder, but she is alive. However, we need to take you both back to the camp to see to everyone's wounds," she said carefully before pausing to look at something off to the side. Nodding she looked back down to Riel. "Shale will carry you, dear. Alright?"
Riel really had no option but to agree. She could barely keep her eyes open, let alone even nod her head. So instead she closed her eyes and stopped fighting against herself to move. At least it wasn't Sten she thought to herself. After a few extended moments, Riel felt herself being lifted and being cradled against something hard. It carried no warmth to it. No scent that branded it as a man or woman. The only smell Riel could place was the scent of the spider blood and lyrium. Riel made herself focus on how the only thing that touched her was normal rock and stone. Even if it moved and liked to talk back whenever it could.
Instead of the swaying feel of herself being carried, Riel forced her mind to think back to warm touches and honey eyes.
Zevran, please don't die…. I still need you…..
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Vhenan'ara