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What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted	By : kruemel Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 4863 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age or any of the Dragon Age characters. This is a non-profit fanfiction.

Chapter List
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Chapter 6 - Vertigo
The sun dappled speckles of gold onto the forest floor, its amber light peeping through the green canopy of leaves. My eyes half closed I laid in the grass, breathing in the scent of summer. The wind rustled in the branches, birds chirped cheerfully and bees buzzed by. Downhill on a meadow of wild flowers next to a clear blue lake there stood a small cozy house—my house. Laundry flew in the wind, the scent of freshly baked bread wafted in the air, the distant laughter of playing children echoed across the lake. My heart told me I had finally come home. Grinning from ear to ear, I hurried across the meadow. I didn’t know what I was expecting, I just knew this was where I belonged.
When I approached the house, the door was closed. Nervous and yet deliriously happy, I hesitantly stepped closer, my heart skipping a beat when the door swung open and a petite slender figure, her skin as dark and smooth as chocolate appeared in the threshold.
“Suri!” I laughed with exuberant joy.
“Alistair?” she frowned, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean? I live here! We live here!” I stammered in bewilderment.
Suri poked her head out of the door and took in her surroundings. “Maker preserve me! This has to be the arse-end of nowhere!”
“Err...” was all I managed to say. Suri never had been the countryside type. She wasn’t very fond of children and to imagine she would do the laundry... Suddenly I had a throbbing headache. I couldn’t think straight anymore.
Suri sighed, scrutinized me, then stepped aside to invite me in. I just stood there and gawked, too confused to react. “I don't understand,” I croaked. “Aren’t you glad to see me?” It wasn’t the welcome I had expected. With another sigh Suri dragged me inside.
“Whoa!” I gasped when I entered the cozy little house and found myself standing in a library so huge I couldn’t make out the end of the vast hall. High shelves crammed with books rose towards the painted ceiling, stretching like the starlit canopy above us. It rested on magnificent pillars of white and black marble. Through paladin windows of painted glass, colorful light flooded into the hall. This was Suri’s very own world, so unlike mine. “This... this is the Fade, isn’t it?”
“Of course, stupid,” Suri scolded me softly.
“So... you are just an illusion?” Maker, I so didn’t care as long as she was there with me. My life didn’t mean anything to me without her. I would rather live an illusion of happiness than endure a reality of misery. I reached out for her and she took my hands, holding them, gently squeezing them but keeping her distance. I longed to hug her, hold her, kiss her, but when I attempted to embrace her, Suri pulled away.
“Alistair,” she whispered, the sound of my name pearling off her lips sent a shiver down my spine. A desperate longing possessed me and I tightened my grip on her hands. “You do not belong here.”
“Suri, I... Maker’s Breath! I’ve missed you so much. I do not care if this is the Fade, I do not care what happens to my body. I’ve been living in a waking nightmare ever since I lost you. Please don’t send me away,” I begged in despair.
“You have to leave now.” Suri said in her soft husky voice. A tinge of sadness touched her dark eyes speckled with gold but her voice did not waver.
“But I want to stay here,” I protested forcefully. “I want to be with you. Here we can be together. I love you, Suri. I cannot live without you.”
Suri closed her eyes, a shiver ran through her body and it seemed she would reach out for me. Instead she retreated yet another step, straightened, and forced herself to meet my gaze. “Alistair,” Suri said sternly, suppressing the tremor in her voice when it threatened to crack. “Do you really believe I made you king and sacrificed myself so you can pack it all in and give up when the going gets tough? You have it in you to become a good king, a great king. You can make a change. For the mages. For the elves. For your people in general. Stop whining and pull yourself together for fuck’s sake!”
“You’re so bossy,” I chuckled sadly, my voice choked from the effort not to cry.
“Damn right I am,” Suri snapped, her dark eyes glittering with unshed tears. “And I won’t see my plans ruined by your weakness. Play the part you were meant to play, Alistair.”
“There’s no happiness meant for me then?” I lamented. “Only duty?”
Suri wacked me over the head with her staff so quickly I didn’t see it coming. “Open your eyes, you idiot. Your happiness is right there in front of you.”
And so I opened my eyes.
A bright red mess of curls framing a pale heart-shaped face with a myriad of freckles dappling a rather snotty nose hovered above me. Large blue eyes, puffed and blurry with tears met mine. “Alistair?” Rori hiccupped in between heartbreaking sobs and relieved laughter. Her lips brushed against my brow, a breeze of a kiss cool against my heated skin. “You’re not dead!”
“Huh?” I said, wondering how I came to lie on the ground with my head resting in Rori’s lap and her cradling me. I had a splitting headache and before I could go on wondering about my situation, I was nauseous. Rori patted my back, helped me clean myself and rinse my mouth, and then made me lay down again, insisting I needed rest. “What happened?” I croaked. “I’m so dizzy. Ow! My head!”
“The horse threw you off.” Rori said softly. “Maker, I thought you were dead. You didn’t breathe anymore and I couldn’t feel your heartbeat—and then you... came back to me.”
“Yeah... she threw me out...” I muttered.
“What?”
“Suri. She said I couldn’t stay. She said...” Something important I couldn’t remember no matter how hard I tried. The memory trickled away like sand through my fingers.
“Bless her,” Rori whispered, her fingers gently stroking my hair as I dozed off again.
When I awoke, Rori was gone. I was all alone, my head resting on Rori’s cloak as a makeshift pillow. My own cloak was wrapped around me as a blanket. Breathing in Rori’s scent of verbena still lingering on her garment, I wondered where I was and why. Soft footsteps announced Rori’s return when I had finally come to the conclusion I should get up and search for her.
“Keep still,” she said, kneeling beside me to change the cool cloth on my forehead. “I’ve paid a messenger to send word to the palace. They will be here soon to take you back. You cannot walk or ride on your own.”
“Blast it! I’ll be grounded for at least a decade,” I groaned. “Eamon will give me a good telling-off.”
“Undoubtedly we’ll both receive one,” Rori sighed.
“Stupid horse.” The blasted beast was standing nearby, flicking its ears and shifting nervously. Rori went to take care of it, soothingly talking to it when she checked on the saddle. Suddenly she gasped. “What?” I asked in alert, sitting up abruptly. My vision turned black at once. When I could see again, Rori stood there with her hands covered in blood. “Your hands...”
“It's the horse’s blood,” she said tonelessly. She held a small metal ball in her hands. It reminded me of the spiky shell of a chestnut, with far longer, nastier spikes.
“What’s that?”
“It was stuck under the saddle,” Rori said, her voice trembling. She had turned a whiter shade of pale. “That’s why the horse bolted. The spikes pressed into its flesh when you sat in the saddle. But... how did it get there?”
Even with a headache that made me wonder if someone was trying to split my skull open I couldn’t avoid the elephant in the room... forest... wherever...
Doom!
DOOM!
I would be grounded for the rest of my life. Which would be as long as it took the assassin to dispatch me. Now I wished I had told Rori about the danger. I wished I had taken her seriously instead of regarding her caution as paranoia. Before I could offer an explanation, the thundering of hooves announced the arrival of my royal guard with Teagan and Fergus Cousland at the very front. Rori got up to greet them, the spiked ball still in her hands.
“What have you done?” Fergus barked at his sister the moment he spotted her. He stopped right in front of her, slipped off his horse, and slapped her so forcefully she stumbled backwards.
“HEY!” I yelled, jumping to my feet. My vision went black immediately, forcing me to sink back to my knees. Unable to move I watched the Teryn of Highever haul his sister back to her feet and drag her off by her hair. “What in the name of the Maker...? Leave her alone!”
“Calm down, your Majesty. You are safe now,” Teagan said softly, holding me back when I tried to go after Cousland. He shoved Rori into a cage on a carriage and slammed the door shut behind her. She cried and threw herself against the bars over and over again, wild with fear. Helplessly I watched them cart her away.
“What—” I was confused, dizzy, nauseous. I got sick right onto Fergus Cousland’s boots when he came to apologize to me for whatever. I didn’t understand half of what he said. I was ushered into another carriage, the comfortable version with cushions, where a mage took care of me.
When I awoke again I was lying in my bed with a bandage around my head. It took me a moment to realize where I was and some more moments to remember what had happened. Once I was sure this was not some weird nightmare, I jumped out of bed, clutching the bedside table for support when my head was spinning. Arlington appeared out of nowhere, ready to shoo me back into bed. One look at my face and he changed his mind.
Damn right. It was better not to mess with me right now.
Arlington hurried to fetch my clothes and five minutes later I ran down the corridor, roaring: “EAMON!” at the top of my voice. Seldom did I lose my temper, but today’s incident had me seething with anger. Servants, scribes, and guards scrambled out of my way as I stormed past. I barged into the throne room, spotted Fergus Cousland right next to Eamon, and gladly returned the favor he had given Rori earlier. My knuckles hurt but seeing the blood spurting from Fergus’s nose was worth the pain. “Where is she?” I demanded to know, grabbing Cousland by the front of his shirt to shake him violently. “What did you do to her?”
“Your Majesty,” Eamon said calmly. “Please, don’t get upset. There is a reasonable explanation for what happened today.”
"Oh, I’m already way past upset, Eamon. I’m seething.” I growled menacingly through gritted teeth. Shoving Fergus away, I paced the room unable to control myself. I was worried out of my mind for Rori, guilt gnawing at me for not helping her when she needed me the most. “I do not like to repeat myself. Where is Rori?”
Silence.
I grabbed a goblet from the table and threw it against the wall, wine splattered across the assembled men. I was far too upset and angry to care about my rather unkingly misbehavior. Quite the contrary. I’d had about enough. Ever since Suri’s death I had functioned as best I could with the pressure inside growing stronger each day until I was feeling like I could break down at any moment. Overloaded, I struggled to cope with whatever they burdened me with, clinging to anything that would keep me from falling. I just couldn’t soldier on anymore. “Where is she?”
“In Fort Drakon,” Teagan bravely answered after seeking cover behind the throne.
“WHAT!?” Memories of that doom-laden day when Suri had been held captive in Fort Drakon swamped my mind like an invasion of dark phantoms. I felt the same helplessness and hopelessness drown me, felt the shadows close in around me. Maker’s Breath! “Are you mad!?”
“Your Majesty, she is charged with attempted murder,” Eamon hurried to explain.
For what seemed an eternity I just stood there and gawked. “This is ridiculous,” I finally snorted, my voice shaking with hardly suppressed anger. “Whom did she try to kill?”
“You,” Fergus breathed, still clutching his bleeding nose.
“Huh?” Suddenly the vertigo returned so forcefully I slumped down on the throne.
“When Arlington reported you missing this morning we started looking for you, and in the process also searched Lady Cousland’s room,” Eamon professed.
“You had no right to do so,” I mumbled weakly. “It’s her private room...” My head was killing me. And I longed for a drink. I went for the next goblet in reach and the assembled men all dived under the table expecting me to throw it at them. Only when they were sure I was solely satisfying my thirst did Eamon go on to present the evidence.
“This is what we found.” He handed a letter to me. Adorned with a crow’s drawing at the top, it addressed Rori personally, offered her 500 sovereigns for my death, 200 at once, 300 after my termination. At the bottom of the page there was a crow’s footprint instead of a signature.
Eamon put a bag filled with gold coins onto the table in front of me while I still frowned at the letter in mere disbelief. “200 Sovereigns,” he said gloomily.
“She took the money, lured you out of the palace, and placed this object...” Teagan held up the spiked ball. “... under your saddle.”
“It would have been the perfect murder,” Eamon added. “A riding accident. Considering your riding skills nobody would have been suspicious. She would have gotten away with it.”
“Whoa! Wait! This is ridiculous! Rori didn’t do anything. She said she had a tail. I thought she was imagining things but now I believe she was right. That person put the ball under the saddle when she wasn’t paying attention.”
“That’s what she says,” Eamon pointed out. “You have no proof but her word.”
“That’s enough for me,” I snapped furiously. “We’re friends.”
“Are you sure? To me it seems she only fooled you into trusting her. What do you actually know about her? The Antivan Crows accepted a contract before when Loghain hired them for assassinating you and Surana. It was Howe who brought Loghain and the Crows together. At that time, Lady Cousland was Howe’s guest.”
“You mean his prisoner,” I corrected.
“Again, that’s the story she told you,” Eamon said tiredly. “We do not know for sure about the nature of her relationship with Howe.”
“You can’t be serious! He tortured and abused her! I demand you set her free at once! This...” I waved the letter in front of the Arl’s face. “... is fake!”
“We understand you are fond of the young lady,” Eamon went on as if I hadn’t said anything at all. What had happened to kings giving orders and subjects obeying said orders? “It is easy for a beautiful woman to fool a young man. Your father made the same mistake. The defeat at West Hill was the result of his credulity. I will not stand by and watch you throw your life away for a worthless wench.”
“Alistair, I know it is hard to accept,” Teagan said soothingly, gently resting his hand on my shoulder. “I wish it wasn’t true, but the evidence is crucial, and unfortunately, quite damning.”
Clutching my head, elbows resting on my knees, I allowed his words to sink in. I closed my eyes, summoning my memories, searching for hints I had missed. I went back in time, lived through our first meeting again, I saw her bright smile reserved for me alone, the warmth in her eyes when she regarded me. We had found each other by accident it seemed, kindred spirits bound together by tragedy. I remembered her anxiety when she had told me about the tail she had spotted, how she had hesitated when checking the saddle, her suicidal dive for the reins, the gentleness of her cradling me, the soft pressure of her lips against my brow.
It didn’t make sense. Sure, Rori was broke and thus at her brother’s mercy. He could force her to marry, but she seemed more likely to run away and join the crew of an infamous pirate queen than to agree to murder the king. Not once had I detected any deceit in her behavior. Quite the contrary, Rori was a rather straightforward young lady, stepping on feet and dropping bricks wherever she went. And why should she try to rescue me and endanger herself when she wished for my death? Last but not least, I neither could imagine the Crows to send a letter with a detailed description of their plans, nor Rori to be so stupid to leave it lying around for everybody and their dog to find it—not with that nosy chaperone lurking about.
“Your evidence does not convince me,” I insisted stubbornly, lifting myself off my throne with some effort. Maker, my head was spinning. I needed rest but that would have to wait. I couldn’t leave Rori rotting in Fort Drakon. I couldn’t even imagine how terrified and scared she had to be right now. “Rori is the perfect scapegoat. You jump to a conclusion because it suits you,” I informed my chancellor curtly. Anger, frustration, exhaustion, the turmoil of emotions inside of me made it hard to think straight. I knew only one thing for sure: I had to prove her innocence. King or no, I very much doubted Eamon would ever let me see her again if I didn’t convince him.
“Where are you going?” Eamon demanded to know as if I were a disobedient teenager.
“Paying an old acquaintance a visit,” I retorted. “Don’t even think about trying to stop me. I either go with my royal guard or without them, but go I shall."
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What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted