We All Fall Down
Shepard stared out over the medieval village spread before her. She had never seen one before of course, but it looked like what she thought a medieval village should look like. The buildings were all made of wood or stone. There was what she thought were called thatches on the roofs and she could have sworn she saw what looked like a stone well of all things in the center of the square. It would have been vid perfect if it hadn't been on fire.
She moved out of the way of a heavy influx of villagers headed towards the church behind her. Why the hell was I in a goddamn church? She pushed the thought away. She would find out the how and the why later. What mattered now . . . is that a harvester? She had to deal with a goddamn harvester now?! What the hell! At least it looked like the normal variety and not the reaperized version that she had come to loathe.
Shepard reached absently for the Arc Projector she normally carried on her harness, only to find empty space. That's right. She had lost most of her kit during that last desperate run. Alright I can handle this. All she had to do was make sure the civilians inside stayed safe. The soldiers in charge of defending seemed to be doing well enough. At least they had a decent wall around this place that time had forgotten.
"What are you doing up?! You should still be in bed!" A human woman stopped next to her. Shepard judged her to be late twenties to early thirties. Pretty underneath the pinched expression and fear clouding her face. She had no visible weapons and wore a ruffled shirt and dress and had impractical shoes. She was a civilian and no threat at the moment. "Come back inside the Chantry. The Commander and the Herald know what they're doing." The woman reached to take Shepard's good arm, trying to lead her back into the building she'd just left.
Shepard set her feet and refused to be moved. She wasn't going anywhere until she knew more about the situation. And she certainly wasn't in the mood to be handled like a damn politician. "Who are you and where the hell am I." She ducked instinctively as the harvester flew overhead, a fireball taking out part of a nearby wall as it flew past by them. "Never mind. You can tell me later. Get your ass inside."
"But" The woman hesitated, torn between her desire to drag the still injured biotic to safety and obeying the command implicit in Shepard's voice.
"NOW" Shepard shoved the woman towards the open door as a group of men dressed in the most ridiculous white cloth robes and pointy armor she had ever seen came though the breach in the wall. She pulled a barrier over herself and made her way towards the men. There were a few defenders trying to keep the remaining villagers safe as they ran towards the stone church. A man in an elaborate red and white robe, a priest maybe, pushed a woman with a toddler in her arms out of the way as one of the attackers raised a sword to cut her down.
Shepard reached for her biotics; the energy answered her call as it always had. She made a tossing motion towards the attacker, and the man was suddenly thrown hard against the stone wall of a nearby building. A few other attackers were treated to the gravity distortion of a singularity, holding them suspended and helpless two meters above the ground.
The group of villagers, instead of running like sensible civilians trapped in a war-zone, just stood there, mouths gaping wide. "Move your asses' people! I can't keep this up all night!" She threw a warp at her singularity, causing a localized explosion as the two energies combined.
"You're awake! You're helping!" Only familiarity with Kasumi and her tricks kept Shepard from jumping out of her skin as a young man appeared next to her. He wore a large brimmed leather hat that obscured his features, tattered leather clothes and boots that had seen better decades. Bright blue eyes peered at her from underneath the brim of his hat. "I was afraid that you would stay forever in the forest, lost, lonely and longing, but you woke up! I'm so happy you woke up!" He looked towards the attackers, a sudden scowl on his face "I don't like them." His expression turned savage as he snarled a challenge at them. "Can you see me? You will see me!" and with that he disappeared into nothingness.
Shepard stared at the spot where the kid had been, nonplussed by the whole interaction. And I thought Legion had a strange introduction. She turned her attention back to the task at hand. The priest had shaken off his shock and was herding his group of civilians into the church behind her. One of the women paused and stepped up next to Shepard, a sword in her hand.
"You keep doing whatever it is you're doing mage. I'll keep the blighters off you." Mage? What the hell was she talking about? Did they call their biotics mages here?
"You know how to use that thing?" She dropped a stasis field on a new group of enemies. These wore what looked like metal plate armor with red glowing crystals clumped in random clusters all over it. The strange kid dropped out of stealth, stabbed two of the red attackers in the back, and vanished once more. It was like fighting with Kasumi, only slightly more confusing without her HUD.
"I'm Threnn. I served under Teryn Loghain during the Blight" Threnn parried a blow from another red attacker. She kicked him back to give herself room and swung her sword, slicing deep into the man's exposed side. He fell down with a gurgle, blood pooling under him.
"Don't know who or what that is. You can tell me later. Name's Shepard." She danced back, an arrow bouncing off her barrier. Another warp, followed by a scream that cut off as the kid sliced the archer's throat. Shockwave to break up the enemy formation that was advancing on the square. Finally reinforcements bothered to show up in the form of a group of fighters in mismatched armor. Shepard pointed at the group tearing into the attackers from the rear. "You know these guys Threnn?" Stasis field on a guy wielding a shield bigger than he was. A krogan sized humanoid with horns coming out of his head hit him with a hammer, smashing him flat.
"Those are the Chargers. They're on our side." The Chargers worked together like a well-oiled machine. Each knew where the other was in the general melee. Shepard was suddenly, sickeningly, aware that Garrus wasn't there to watch her back. She controlled the urge to glance over her shoulder. Threnn was at her six, but it wasn't the same as having her own squad backing her up. A shout and the thrust of a sword that scored a hit across her thigh brought her back to the now. She threw her attacker towards a man across the square using sword and shield to his advantage. He acknowledged her by lifting his weapon high, before bringing it down on the fallen man.
Threnn and the kid were doing their best to keep the attackers off Shepard, but the fight was beginning to take its toll on the biotic. She could feel her ribs protesting as she moved around the square. She had taken her left arm out of the sling to better control her biotics, and the shoulder joint was screaming at her with every movement. Her vision was wavering; her head pounding like a krogan was tap dancing inside her skull. She was pushing her limits and Shepard knew it. And the waves of attackers just kept coming. It was the fucking Skyllian Blitz done in miniature. I think I'd rather be fighting a thresher maw on foot. Again. And that was something she had never thought would happen.
"Form a perimeter!" a man's voice, a nice strong parade ground bellow. Shepard approved. "Archers and mages in the center. Warriors hold the front. Don't let them through!" She caught sight of the man bellowing the orders as the combatants shifted ground to obey. Heavy steel armor with a red and black mantle made of some kind of fur. Given the setting she found herself in and the ornate look of his armor, Shepard was betting that this was the commanding officer of the defending troops.
She tossed a singularity into the center of a large grouping, followed by a pyro charge that came from a man standing on her right. She blinked, bringing him into focus. "I could do that all night!" He flashed a grim smile. "Can you do that again?" Tall, tan complexion, dark hair, dark eyes. Thin mustache he probably spent at least an hour on every morning. Fine clothing with an inordinate number of buckles. I can take him. A wave of dizziness hit her, and she staggered. The dark haired man grabbed her shoulders, holding her steady. Just maybe not right this minute. "I'll take that as a no. Commander, we're getting slaughtered out here!"
There's no need to shout, she thought fuzzily. I'm standing right here. Oh, wrong commander. The man in the ornate steel armor began barking more orders. "Fall back to the Chantry!" There was a break in the fighting, three last villagers made their way past the defenders and into the church. Six more defenders were working their way through the village, checking the houses and buildings as they went past.
The priest she had saved stood in the doorway, beckoning everyone into the crowded interior. "Come in. Hurry, the Chantry is your shelter." Slowly, the retreat into the church started. First the rank and file, then Threnn and the dark haired man until only the Chargers, Shepard and the commander remained.
"Let's go ma'am" Shepard ignored the horned man. She would retreat when everyone else had taken shelter. That was just the way it worked in the Alliance. She might be missing her armor and weapons, but she was still an N7. And that meant first in, last out.
"I'm fine. Get inside." The big guy moved to block her next warp. Shepard aborted the move, glaring up at the man. Damn what do they feed them here? "Move your ass, I said I'm fine." She knew she was being unreasonable; however the Kincaid stubbornness that her mother’s family was infamous for had kicked in with a vengeance. She would leave when she was damn good and ready.
"With all due respect ma'am, no you're not." Shepard made to go around him, when he apparently realized that trying to reason with her was a lost cause. He reached down, grasped the biotic around her waist and hoisted her over his should like a sack of grain.
Shepard was not amused.
“Innit that the woman you pulled out the temple last week Inky? The one Bull has tossed over his shoulder?” At Sera's question Rekkah looked over towards the Chantry. They had just pulled Adan, Minaeve and Flissa out of the wreckage of the tavern and were checking the rest of the cottages for any remaining stragglers on their way to meet up with the rest of the Inquisition.
Sure enough Bull and the rest of the Chargers were heading into the Chantry. And there was Bull with the mystery woman from the temple hanging face down over his shoulder.
“She's got a nice arse don't she?” Sera whistled as the woman's voice reached them. “She's also got a mouth on her.” She hummed in appreciation of both the view and the cursing. “Wonder what a vorchas suppose to be? Sounds creepy. Remind me to remember that one would ya Varric?”
“Sure Buttercup, I'll just update my journal.”
“Thanks Varric!” The dwarf's sarcasm flew right over the archer's blonde head. “You're the bestest.” Varric just sighed.
“Do you think we should help?” Blackwall's remark startled a snort of amusement out of Cassandra.
“Which one?” she asked. “Bull or the woman cursing him?”
“Come on.” Rekkah interrupted, starting towards the Chantry again. “We can continue this inside.” She dodged a fireball from the dragon circling above “If we live that long.”
The six of them made it into the Chantry just ahead of the next fireball sent their way. Cullen shut the doors behind them. The main hall was surprisingly empty of people. Only the Chargers, Bull, Dorian, Cole, Chancellor Rodrick, and the mystery woman were in sight.
Bull had set the woman down on a chair against the wall, and then turned to tend to his own men. Rodrick crouched in front of the woman, his normally pinched expression softening as he pressed a healing potion to her lips. She examined it warily, her earlier temper exhausted. Rekkah was shocked to realize the Chancellor was trying to comfort the woman. She tried to reconcile the helpful Chancellor in front of her with the one that had been a thorn in her side since the start, and failed. The Chancellor succeed in getting the woman to drink the potion. He then beckoned Solas over to her, gesturing as he stood. "Ser Solas, could you please attend this woman. She saved a great many lives and I fear she has injured herself in the process."
The elven apostate gave the Chancellor a sharp look, but complied. "I am surprised you are even awake. Much less able to fight. You are a mage are you not?"
Rekkah turned her attention back to Cullen and Dorian as the two men approached her. Dorian was the first to speak. His voice soft so as not to carry past her. "A brave man. He stood against the Venatori. He would have died if the woman had not been there."
Cullen spared the mage a glance before interrupting him. "Herald. Our position is not good. That dragon stole back any time you might have earned us. There has been no communication, no demands. Only advance after advance." She could feel the frustration radiating off Cullen. He knew as well as she did that they were trapped.
"There was no bargaining with the mages either. This Elder One takes what it wants. From what I gathered in Redcliffe, it marched all this way to take your Herald."
Cole drifted over and murmured softly "The Elder One doesn't care about the village. He only wants the Herald." He shrank back as everyone turned to look at him. "I don't like him." The spirit boy went back to hovering over the woman as Solas tended to her.
"If you have any idea of why he's after me, I'm all ears." Rekkah dismissed Cole from her mind. She would deal with the convoluted thinking of the spirit-boy later. If there was a later.
"Besides taking the Templars? I've no idea what would incur this much wrath. And such a promising start with the landslide." Dorian gave a bitter chuckle. "If only trebuchets remained an option."
"They are. If we turn the last of them to the mountains above us." Cullen's eyes were bleak as they met Rekkah's.
She swallowed hard. It had to be said. "We're overrun. To hit the enemy we'd bury Haven."
"This is not survivable now. The only choice left is how spiteful we end this." He was only speaking the truth, but it was a bitter potion to swallow.
"Well that's not acceptable. I didn't race here only to have you drop rocks on my head!" the Altus' outburst made the others in the room focus on the trio by the door.
"Should we submit? Let him kill us?" The two men faced each. Rekkah feared they might come to blows.
Dorian raised an accusing finger towards Cullen. "Dying is typically a last resort. Not the first. For a Templar, you think like a blood mage." That was a low blow, and one that drew blood. She saw Cassandra and Blackwall come closer to the men, ready to physical separate the pair.
"There is a path. You wouldn't know it was there unless you'd made the summer pilgrimage as I have." Rodrick's words pushed the mage and Templar apart, both turning to glare at the interloper. "The people can escape. She must have shown me, Andraste must have shown me so I could . . . tell you, show you the path."
"What are you on about Rodrick?" Rekkah was still suspicious of this new, helpful Chancellor.
"It was winter I walked the path. I did not mean to start it, the path was overgrown. With so many dead at the Conclave, to be the only one who remembers? I don't know. If this simple memory can save us . . . it could be more than mere accident. You could be more." The sincerity, the belief, in those words gave Rekkah a dangerous hope that there was a way to save everyone. That all the people hiding down in the cellars would have a chance to see the dawn again.
She turned to her commander. "What about it Cullen, will it work?"
"Possibly. If he shows us the path. But what of your escape?"
Rekkah looked away. There would be no escape for her. Cullen swore under his breath and turned back to the others. He began shouting orders to his lieutenants, telling some to load the trebuchets, while others were given the order to gather the villagers and follow the Chancellor, that they would be able to reach safety. Stone, don't have let the Chancellor lie. He turned back to Rekkah.
"They'll load the trebuchets, and then join us on the path. Keep the Elder One's attention until we're above the tree line. We'll send up a flare when we reach the pass. If we are to have a chance, if you are to have a chance, let that thing hear you." He gripped her arm in farewell and turned back to organizing the retreat from Haven.
Dorian gripped he shoulder. His hand tight against her leather armor. "Perhaps you can surprise the Elder One. I know you've surprised me." He gathered her into a brief hug, and then turned and followed after Cullen.
Rodrick gave her a long look before he left to lead the villagers through the Chantry and up a half remembered path. "Herald, if you are meant for this, if the Inquisition is meant for this, I pray for you."
The Carta assassin nodded her head, understanding and farewell in the gesture. When she turned back, Blackwall, Solas, The Iron Bull and Varric stood next to the door, waiting for her. "What are you lot doing still standing here?" she demanded. "You should be with the rest of Haven, getting the hell out of here.
"We are with you till the end My Lady." Blackwall gave her a grim smile. "You didn't think we would leave to go it alone did you?"
"He means that we drew straws to decide who would stay and who would go." Varric gave her a smug grin. "I won of course."
"You want to draw the attention of some red-lyrium monster that controls an Archdemon?" Rekkah could only laugh at him. "Are you insane?"
"That's up for debate" Varric agreed, still smiling. His eyes turned grim. "I wouldn't miss this for all the coin in the world."
"And I suppose the rest of you feel the same way?" She looked at them.
"Indeed." Solas' calm voice spoke for them all. "We will retreat when you have gained the monster's attention and not a moment sooner."
A commotion drew Rekkah's attention before she could open the door. It was the mystery woman from the temple. She had evidently recovered enough to get her temper back. "I do not need a damn stretcher!" She stood, swaying slightly before steadying herself against the wall. She pointed down at her legs. "You see these? These are not broken! I am perfectly capable of walking."
Solas sighed heavily, resting a palm against his face. "She shouldn't even be capable of standing, much less walking. She has multiple injuries, including a severe concussion. Perhaps I should..."
Bull stopped him. "I wouldn't worry about it. The Vint and Cullen seem to have it well in hand."
Dorian had walked up behind the woman while Cullen had been trying, without much success, to reason with her. His hand glowed briefly as he made contact with the back of her head. The woman stopped talking, her eyes rolled back and she dropped to the floor. Cullen caught her before she hit, picked her up in his arms, and turned to look at the group at the door. He bowed, and then hurried after Dorian. They were the last ones through the hidden door.
"Come on salrokas, let’s get this done." Rekkah led the way back out into the burning village.