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It was a beautiful day. Sunlight glittered off the surface of a massive lake that stretched deeper into the valley as massive, fluffy clouds drifted high in the sky. The chill of Arlathan had been replaced by something that could almost be considered warm, though the trees along the ancient walkway still cast cold shadows.
Radhika avoided the dark boughs and needles. No birds sang from the branches. Perhaps they sensed the strangeness in the air or even more likely, they had fled before Elgar’nan’s Archdemon showed up and thought them snacks.
On her left, Davrin adjusted his armor under the old Venatori disguises Strife had dug up for them.
“Stop fiddling with it,” Neve hissed, standing to Radhika’s right dressed in her much nicer, less bloodstained robes.
“Easy for you to say,” Davrin said, forcing his hands down to his sides. He walked like a man whose trousers were drying in uncomfortable places. “I think someone threw up in these.”
Radhika winced. Her own outfit was stiff in places, and she hadn’t gone looking for why that was. “Do you want to jump in the lake?”
All three of them looked towards the cliff side and the good twenty-foot drop.
“I think I can handle it,” Davrin drawled.
Pressing her fingers to her lips, Radhika tried to hide her smile but figured she failed at the amused look Davrin shot her.
Neve hummed in the back of her throat. “We’re nearing the front gate,” she said quietly enough that the words almost got lost amongst the trees.
Radhika and Davrin pulled on their stolen masks with little complaint, though the smell was… it sure was something. Sweet and sharp like sweat and blood. They took positions behind Neve, who walked towards the ruins with her head held high and her shoulders squared. A bit of magic shimmered across her face. Some sort of glamor she and Bellara had been working on before they had left the Lighthouse.
Something that would make her unrecognizable to any Venatori that might have run into her in the past, but not obscure her face entirely.
Noise drifted from the ruins. At first, it was nothing more than a dull, distant roar, but the closer they got, the more words could be picked out amidst the din. None of it was particularly interesting. People found each other despite the masks; others made… comments about people they didn’t particularly like, and one pushed past them, crowing about a deer.
Davrin sucked in a breath.
Someone had pushed six iron cages to the back of a room with a towering statue of Mythal. Four of them held halla, with a fifth fighting against the ropes wrapped around its neck and muzzle. Their white coats gleamed even in the shadows, bright against the ivy and stone. One was lying on its side, not moving, and the other three tossed their heads and clacked their horns against the metal.
The one at the far back lifted its head. Black eyes stared back at the group; full of sorrow and knowing.
Davrin reached out and grasped Radhika’s wrist. His grip was tight, almost bruising, as the line of his jaw hardened.
“Don’t,” Neve said softly.
He took a deep breath. Radhika’s blood roared in her ears.
“I know,” Davrin managed after a moment. “I know.”
Radhika turned her arm in his hold to grasp his hand. “We should move,” she said and hated the words the moment they left her mouth. How heartless they seemed. How heartless they felt.
Davrin nodded, but didn’t move. His eyes were wide and glistened with unshed tears. His lip didn’t wobble, and his voice did not grow hoarse, but there was something else there. Painted across his face. As though that young boy who sang to the halla all those years ago had returned.
Only to see the very creatures he had helped to shepherd locked away.
Radhika squeezed Davrin’s hand. He sucked in a breath through his nose, and the strength returned to his shoulders.
Even when Elgar’nan arrived, when his blood magic roared through their ears, Radhika thought about the pain on Davrin’s face. She was ripping the disguise over her head when the sight of iron over the edge of a wall caught the dim sunlight.
People were whispering, their words unrecognizable hissing. A wave of voices rose behind them. Voices roaring as an ancient not-god urged them into a frenzy.
“What—”
“Rook! We have to go!”
Those were cages. A couple of cages. Radhika tossed the uniform to the side and absently took her axe from a waiting Taash. She took a step toward the wall.
Someone grabbed her arm, and she looked up into Davrin’s face. “I’ll be right there,” Radhika said, tugging free. “I’ll be right there. Give me—give me just a moment—”
Neve cursed and flung a spell at the approaching group of Venatori, freezing a few of them to the ground so Lucanis’ daggers and Taash’s blades could cut them down. “We need to go! Now!”
“I know! I know!” She dropped the axe. It hit the overgrown cobblestones with a clunk.
“Rook!”
Radhika ran, leaping up—
Her grip caught on the edge, and the slam against the stone drove the air from her lungs. The wall was smoothed down from years of unrelenting weather, and her boots scrambled against the side.
Hands reached beneath her thighs and pushed up. Radhika scrambled forward, crawling up to the top of the wall and looking back down.
Davrin stood at the bottom, his sword and shield off to the side. Radhika reached for him, barely conscious of what she was doing before his glove was against hers and their fingers were curled around each other’s wrists. She heaved with all her strength, and he pushed with all his pure warden grit until he was rolling on top of her, away from the edge.
“Neve’s going to be pissed,” he said, eyes glittering with amusement and his brow furrowed in concern. High thigh was between hers, breath warm against her face. She could trace the scar along his brow and see the tiny lighter freckle in his left eye.
“I know,” Radhika told him. “But you—I—”
The words caught. She swallowed and looked to the side.
He followed her gaze. Sucked in a breath.
Cages of halla waited for them. Not many, and definitely not all the poor creatures, but enough. Davrin sat up. “Rook—”
“We can’t leave them here,” she told him. “Davrin—”
He got off her and slid down the ledge to the first cage. The halla watched, head ducked down and antlers scraping against the top bars of the cage. “Hey,” he said, voice soft. “Hey, it’s okay. We’ll get you out of there.”
Following him, Radhika kept quiet in the hope of not spooking any of the animals. Their dark eyes tracked her, weighing the Tevinter armor she wore against the Warden that she stood beside.
The one Davrin was talking to snorted, pawed the ground with a leg, and threw its head back. Metal rattled as its horns slammed into the roof of the cage.
Radhika froze.
“Whoa,” Davrin pulled his hands back, palms facing out. “Easy… easy. She’s a friend.”
One of the halla let out a strangely disbelieving snort.
Fair.
“I mean it,” Davrin said. “She’s going to help get you out. Right, Rook?”
Radhika kneeled carefully beside the cage. “Please don’t eat me,” she tried to say in the politest way possible.
Both Davrin and the halla snorted, but the dark eyes were no longer looking at her like she was going t skin them alive the moment the cages opened. The Venatori locks weren’t that impressive; a bit of a turn, a little push, and they clicked open. She moved from cage to cage with Davrin trailing behind, gathering a small herd of massive, white ducklings with hooves and horns at his heels.
When the last one was freed, they took off into the woods together without looking back.
Davrin breathed in, his shoulders slumping. The weight from before had lessened. “Alright, better get back before Neve loses her patience.”
As they turned back to the wall, though, Davrin reached out and took Radhika by the arm.
“Thank you,” he said.