Ashes, Ashes
Rekkah watched the people of Haven celebrating the closing of the Breach. There was a great deal of dancing, and a whole lot of drinking. Mages and Templars both had put aside their hatred and celebrated together. It was nice, but she knew that it wouldn't last. Tomorrow, or maybe the day after, they would remember that they hated each other. But for now the peace was holding.
"Are you well My Lady?"
She smiled up at the bearded human as Blackwall ambled over to stand beside her. Rekkah liked the warden. He had the weathered look of a man that had seen his share of grief and battle, but he also smiled and laughed freely. He made her feel . . . something. She didn't want to look too closely at her own feelings. It was too soon yet for anything to come of it, and she had learned through painful experience that trying to force her feelings just didn't work. So for now she enjoyed his company and his dry comments. She had also given up on getting him call her by name. At least he doesn't call me Herald. "Well enough Warden."
"You should be celebrating. You closed the Breach, you've brought peace, a temporary peace for sure but it is peace none the less, to the Hinterlands. What is it that troubles you?"
"It just feels too easy." She looked up at the scared night sky. At least it hadn't turned red when she had closed it. "If I had been the one to cause this, I would've had defenses in place to keep others from meddling with my work." A slight smile quirked her lips, "Of course if I had killed the Divine, no one would have been the wiser. The old woman would have simply died in her sleep, as old women are prone to do."
Blackwall laughed quietly. "Then it is a good thing that you're on our side."
"Is it?" She looked back at the dancers. "I've always worked from the shadows. I'm an assassin, a good one. I take pride in the fact that only my targets have died on my blade when on assignment." Rekkah watched Blackwall's expression from the corner of her eye as she spoke. She had never hidden what she was from any in the Inner Circle, as the core group of the Inquisition was coming to be called. Better to be honest in what she was than to hide it. Cause that would bite me on the ass when least expected. My fellow Carta Clans would have a field day. "I've stood as my Grandfather's left hand since my uncle was killed in the Blight. The shadows have been my home for most of my life, and now I'm forced to stand in the bright sunlight, called the Herald for a religion I don't even follow."
He was silent for a time, watching the dancer below. "How old were you when you uncle died then?"
"Twenty three."
"You were doing Leliana's job at such a young age?"
"Essentially. Though Leliana and I have different methods. She has her contacts and I have mine. Between the two of us, Varric, and Sera, the Inquisition has eyes and ears at almost every level of society." She paused as a loud burst of laughter came from the dancers. "I've also been in touch with a mercenary band of my own choosing. They're finishing up a job in the Planasene Forest, but should be free to join us next month."
"Why hire another mercenary band when you've already got the Chargers?"
Below her Minaeve was dancing with Adan, and that grumpy bastard was actually smiling and laughing. Rekkah hadn't known that he knew how. "Two reasons. One, as much as I like Bull, I don't trust him. He is qunari. He will always put the Qun before anything else. He all but told me as much when I hired him."
"Then why did you hire him?"
"Because as long as I know who the Ben-Hassrath has spying on us, I can control what information they receive. And while he's been honest so far in his dealings with us, I will never fully trust him." Silver eyes met blue in the dark "and The Iron Bull knows that."
Blackwall was quite for a moment. "And the second reason?"
"It's a matter of trust again. I trust this band of mercenaries. I've worked with them before. The group that I'm hiring is led by a good friend. And they aren't part of the Chantry." Her voice was a quite whisper as she said this. "Cassandra and Leliana, for all that they worked to distance themselves from the Chantry, are still seen as the Right and Left Hands of the Divine. Cullen might have left the Templar Order, but as Bull said, it left its mark on him. Those people out there," she pointed to the dancers laughing around the bonfire, "They still see us as part of the Chantry, no matter what the Chantry itself says. I want people around me that aren't part of that religion. That don't have the weight of what the Chantry taught them to believe when they were young."
"Not everyone in the Inquisition follows the Chantry."
"No, but most of you do. You swear by Andraste and the Maker." Rekkah smiled up at the burly human. "Of all the Inner Circle, the only ones that don't follow the Chantry in some way or form are Cole, Solas, Bull, and I." She laughed. "Poor Josephine. I thought she would have heart attack when I told her I believed in the Stone." Her smile turned bitter. "Even if I am a topsider."
They were interrupted when alarm bells started to sound. Warden and dwarf turned together and scanned the surrounding hillsides, looking for the threat. "There." Blackwall pointed to the main pass out of the valley. Torches flowed out of the pass and into the valley like water down a streambed, there seemed to be no end to them.
"Forces approaching! To arms!" Cullen shouted as he ran past them. Cole appeared next to her, his eyes wild under the brim of his hat.
"He's coming! The Elder One is coming. Do you know him? He knows you."
“Cole what are you talking about? Who is this Elder One?"
"He's very angry that you took his Templars. I don't like him." He looked towards the Chantry. "Maybe she can help. She scared the fearless ones; maybe she can scare him too." With those words the spirit boy vanished back into shadow.
"Stone forsake him! Cole!"
"It's no use My Lady. Come, let us to the gate."
"Cullen?" Cassandra had beaten them to the gate. With her were Vivienne and Josephine. The rest of the Inner Circle had also gathered around the gate. All were armed and armored, ready for battle. The only one missing was Leliana. Rekkah assumed she was with her scouts. Or plotting something.
"One watch guard reporting. It's a massive force, with the bulk still over the mountain."
"Under what banner?" Josephine's voice wavered with fear. Rekkah understood. The ambassador was a civilian through and through, she had no place on this kind of battlefield.
"None."
"None?!" Such complete outrage and disbelief in that one word. Poor Josephine. Their opponent was not following the proper, civilized, rules of war.
Outside the gate, there were two harsh cracks of light and sound. Then "If someone could open this, I'd appreciate it." Rekkah and Cullen looked at each other, and pushed open the gates. The others spread out, ready to repel any intruders that slipped past them.
In the clearing in front of the gate, Dorian Pavus, the mage they had met in the Redcliffe Chantry, knelt down in a circle of dead men. Most were dressed in ornate white robes and armor, but she could also pick out a few Templar uniforms adorned with red lyrium. Rekkah wasn't all that surprised. It would have been too simple to have gotten them all at Therinfal Redoubt.
"Well I'm here to warn you. Fashionably late I'm afraid." The Altus pushed himself to his feet. Exhaustion radiated out from him. He was on his last legs and would have to rest soon, whether he wanted to or not. You could only push your body so far before it gave out on you.
He faced Rekkah, relief on his handsome face. "There you are. I came to tell you what happened with the mages at Redcliffe. You're not going to like it. They are under the command of the Venatori. In service to something called the Elder One. With him is Calpernia. She commands the Venatori. I don't know who the man in the red armor is."
Dorian pointed dramatically towards the pass, he probably couldn't help it. He was drama personified. "There, the Elder one."
"They were already marching on Haven. I risked my life to get here first." Behind the three on the rise came more and more Venatori, with some Red Templars mixed in among them.
"Cullen give me a plan. Anything." She looked up commander. Rekkah was under no illusion. This was going to be a bad fight.
He looked back at her, then towards the trebuchets that ringed the town. "Haven is no fortress. If we are withstand this monster, we must control the battle. Get out there and hit that force with everything you can." Rekkah nodded and turned towards the others as Cullen rallied his forces.
"Madame de Fer, I leave you in charge of our mage forces." Most were former circle mages, use to taking direction from senior enchanters. She would also have the best knowledge of what they could accomplish as a group.
"But of course darling."
"Sera, Varric. Get on the wall. Provide cover fire for us and the trebuchets as you can. If the walls are breached, engage at will, but get back to the Chantry. Bull, gather your Chargers and support Cullen. But first, get the villagers into the Chantry. It's the strongest building in Haven." She met his one remaining eye. Bull knew as well as she did that the Chantry was a deathtrap in the making, but they had no other choice. "Make sure Josephine and Leliana are there before you join Cullen."
"On it Boss."
"Everyone else with me. We need to hit them, and hit them hard.”
“Mages! You! You have sanction to engage them. That is Samson. He will not make it easy." Cullen's parade ground voice reached from the gates up to the Chantry doors. "Soldiers! Gather the villagers. Fortify and watch for advance forces. Inquisition! With the Herald. For your lives. For all of us!"