Chapter Text
Cadash paused, looking at the fortress at the end of the road. At his feet, Dog growled, low and wary.
"Not to worry anyone," he said, not looking at his companions, "But I can sense darkspawn."
Harding sighed and slung her bow off her back, nocking an arrow in readiness.
"Surely not in the Keep?"
"In the Keep," Cadash said cheerily. "Come on. It's been like - a fortnight since we last -"
Which was when the darkspawn burst out of the shadows and started running towards them. Cadash swore and drew his daggers alongside Lucanis.
It was worse as they approached the gates. A dying soldier warned them that the Keep was overrun, that the half-dozen or so Wardens all seemed to be dead.
"Seneschal Varel was meant to meet us," Lucanis said as Cadash scanned the outbuildings for any sign or presence of darkspawn, "Do you know if he's still alive?"
"I - I don't know." He said, "There was a mage but she -"
He cut off with a groan. Harding hurriedly pushed a potion to his lips, encouraging him to swallow.
She stabilised the man as best she could whilst Lucanis and Cadash picked off a few stray darkspawn, Dog standing guard over the dwarven medic. Then they headed inside.
"This is weird, right?" Cadash asked, vocalising his thoughts aloud, wishing Cassandra was there. "An ambush that could take out the whole Keep? The Archdemon's dead, the darkspawn should be -"
He stopped talking at the scene before him.
A handful of darkspawn were dead on the floor, alongside four men in platemail. Not Wardens - Cadash recognised the style, the colour of the robes underneath, the sword of mercy emblazoned on one chest. Templars. And there, in the middle, a small pale elf with vallaslin on her forehead and blood splattered across her features was breathing raggedly. She wore Circle robes, but there was a turquoise scarf around her neck. Her staff still crackled with lightning.
"Oh! People -" Her brown eyes widened, as she realised the scene. "I didn't do it. I swear!"
"I mean," Cadash said, looking about, "I'd be pretty impressed if you did."
There were a lot of bodies.
She hesitated for a moment, before lowering her staff.
"Well - yes. I enchanted one of the old suits of armour to attack the darkspawn and -"
There was a clanking noise from the next corridor and the door opened to reveal said suit of armour, held together by magic. It was wielding an ancient looking sword and shield. Cadash grinned.
"- I wish Emmrich was here, he'd love you."
If it were possible, the woman's eyes went wider.
"Senior Enchanter Emmrich?" She asked. "Oh! You must be the Warden-Commander! It's an honour to meet you, I -"
Lucanis cleared his throat.
"Dain?" He said quietly, "We should keep moving."
"Oh! Yes! I saw them take someone to the roof," the mage said, looking between the three of them as if she couldn't quite believe they were real. "I'm Bellara, by the way. Enchanter Bellara, technically. Urgh."
Cadash swallowed the dozen questions he had about who she was, and how an elf with markings of the Dalish had ended up a clearly unwilling part of the Circle. Lucanis was right - there were more pressing matters. Like the fucking darkspawn in his Keep.
"Care to back us up, Bellara?" He asked. "You can bring the suit of armour."
She was more than happy to, in the circumstances. Cadash noted how she stepped over the bodies of the Templars without any more thought than she gave the darkspawn. Even if she had not killed them, she did not mourn them.
A little further in, a dwarf blew up a cluster of darkspawn, and both Bellara and Harding whooped at the explosion. The dwarf gestured down to Cadash.
"Ah, Commander! You're just in time to kill the -"
Darkspawn barrelled through the remains of the explosion, and the dwarf darted off, yelling about laying down more explosives. Cadash focused on not dying in the meantime.
Down the corridor and up the stairs, they found another man dying. He looked at Bellara as she crouched down, eyes unfocused. There was the awful, distinct smell of a perforated bowel in the air and an even more distinct blackening around his lips.
"I think he's beyond healing magic," she said.
Harding nodded in grim agreement.
Cadash sighed and crouched down.
"I can make it quick," he said, addressing the man.
"I - yes." The soldier said, "I can - feel it, in my blood. But - there's - there's a darkspawn that talks. It's here -"
"It's alright," Cadash said, "It's over, now."
It was a simple thing to drive a dagger through the man, to stop the corruption in his blood. When he stood back up, Bellara looked worried.
"Darkspawn don't talk, right?"
Cadash thought of the Deep Roads, of Hespith. But she'd been a ghoul, not…
"Not usually." Harding said, "He might have been hearing them because of the taint. I've heard it sounds like whispering, or a song."
"Come on," Cadash said, "We need to keep moving."
Except, when they got to the battlements near the roof, there was a fucking talking darkspawn.
Cadash heard it, and gestured for everyone to stop even as he crept forwards himself, light on his feet and the sound distorted in the heavy rain. He didn't take his eyes off the genlock that had seemingly learnt to talk as a grey-haired man in armour was dragged forwards.
It has ended just as he foretold.
He frowned, raising one hand to signal for Harding.
Cadash hesitated when he heard the genlock speak again.
"Take this one gently. We wish no more death than necessary."
The Darkspawn didn't wish for death? Now that was even more unheard of than a talking one. What the fuck was happening here?
The man on his knees clearly had similar views as he snarled at the genlock. He swore that others would come and offer vengeance. That, Cadash thought, was probably meant to be him. If this was the Seneschal he had to know the Hero of Ferelden was close. A stupid title, considering he was not the one who'd slain the Archdemon.
Cadash moved a little closer, and the genlock looked up and round despite him making no noise. Shit - could they sense Wardens as Wardens sensed Darkspawn?
There was so bloody much Cadash didn't know about being a Warden. He wished Riordan had survived the Siege of Denerim. He wished Cassandra had. He wished he wasn't fumbling around blind.
The Darkspawn showed more teeth in a way that suggested it was trying to smile. It made Cadash's blood run cold.
"It seems your words be true. Capture the Grey Warden. The others, they may be killed."
Oh no. Not a chance in fucking Thedas that Cadash was going to be a Darkspawn prisoner - that he was going to let them kill his friends. He'd lost enough to the bastard rotting monsters.
"Fucking try me." He said, before drawing his daggers and darting forwards.
Harding was quicker, an arrow slamming into the neck into one of the spawn holding the prisoner. A moment later the air around Cadash seemed to ripple with static and a bolt of lightning ripped out of the sky, hitting the other.
Okay, he liked this new mage. He hoped he could convince her to hang about now that the Templars were dead.
The taking darkspawn drew a staff from it's own back, and Cadash was close, far too close, to dodge properly. The spell hit him square in the chest and he felt the tainted, corrupted magic wash over him. He pushed through, snarling.
His daggers buried themselves deep in the genlock. He pulled them out, black blood slick on the blades and tried to move to the handful of darkspawn remaining, only to stagger as the tainted magic drained at his strength. He gritted his teeth, trying to shake it off.
Lucanis and the suit of armour moved past him, charging into melee. Another arrow flew. Cadash stumbled forwards, body sluggish and slow - but still quick enough to bring down another spawn.
And then it was done, and Lucanis was there, a hand on Cadash's shoulder as he dropped his blades, wincing at the way it felt like his blood burned, how he could hear the slow creep of taint in his blood. When he blinked, the world wavered, just a little.
"Are you alright?" Lucanis asked, concerned. They'd all seen him take the hit.
"Fine, fine," Cadash lied, shivering a little, "Who doesn't love getting whacked with blight magic by a fucking talking darkspawn?"
The man they'd rescued cleared his throat.
"Ah - the Warden-Commander, I presume? Thank you for the timely rescue. I am Seneschal Varel."
Cadash groaned, head slumping onto Lucanis' chest. What a way to introduce himself to the man who'd help him run the Wardens and a whole Arling. So much for being a bloody hero.