Chapter 3

Elyssa was being carried. Of that much, she was sure. Where she was and what she was doing there were mysteries to her, her own name little more than a vague whisper in the back of her muddled mind. She tried to focus on the sensations first. She was head down, she lay flopped over someone's shoulder, and that person was moving, fast. Her head joggled as whoever carried me made a short leap, and her eyes finally snapped open.

There was dim light, and as she tried to glance around, the sounds started to filter in to her overloaded brain. She heard the clash of steel against steel, the screams of injured and dying men, and the inhuman screeching of darkspawn. Was she being carried away to be eaten later by the darkspawn? But no, she realized she recognized the back of the person carrying her – Zevran.

"Maker's light ... the battle! What happened?" If Zevran heard her, he didn't respond. He must have felt her struggling, but his steps did not falter. He dodged around the battlefield, carrying her as though she weighed nothing. She fruitlessly tried to hold up her head to look around, but groaned in pain and collapsed back onto Zevran's shoulder. The pain helped to clear her head, and suddenly she remembered. "The archdemon! Zevran, wait. Is it dead? I must be sure."

He finally ducked behind the ruins of a building and carefully set her down. She realized they were not alone, and was able to raise her head long enough to see Sten crouch down, unburdening himself of Alistair's unmoving body, Wynne hovering anxiously beside him.

"Be careful, Elyssa. We didn't have time to fully heal you; I'm not sure what injuries you might have sustained." The Antivan quickly checked her eyes, then her pulse, and relaxed as he found her alert.

"Alistair! Andraste save us, is he... ?"

"No, child," replied Wynne, motherly as always. "He yet lives. However, we cannot seem to wake him."

"Wynne?"

"Working on it, child. Hush and let me do my job."

"Zevran – the last thing I remember is ... driving my blade through the skull of the archdemon. I felt agonizing pain, and then ... nothing. What happened?"

"The archdemon is dead. The death screams could have been heard in Antiva, I'm sure." He paused.

"When it died, a great shape rose from it, almost like a spirit. I could swear it was ... sentient." Oghren, quiet for the first time since Elyssa had met him, nodded silently and paled at the memory, taking a swig out of the canteen he kept always tucked into his belt. "It seemed ... I could tell that it was ... satisfied to have been released. It did not seem evil. It looked at you and Alistair, and you both screamed, and a great blackness flowed out of your mouths to dissipate into the air. You both collapsed. The spirit then seemed to float up, across the battlements, and flow into Morrigan, of all things. She too screamed – and then disappeared. We have searched for her, but can find no trace of her, or her corpse. The tower ... well, it didn't seem stable, so we grabbed you and his heavy majesty over there, and ran for it. We were the last out, I believe, and we made it just in time, too."

Elyssa turned her head to see the tower above Fort Drakon gone from the skyline of Denerim.

"The horde has broken, their organization gone. They flee, or else wander through the city in small bands, feeding. The army is making short work of both, and I suspect Denerim will be purged of darkspawn by mid-day." Checking the sky, and the dim light, Elyssa realized it must be shortly after dawn. "It will take months to purge the darkspawn from the surface altogether, but the blight is over, Grey Warden. You have saved Ferelden."

Elyssa leaned back and closed her eyes, for the first time allowing a trickle of relief and hope to fill the hole she didn't realize had taken up residence in her chest. She turned towards Alistair, painfully dragging herself across the rubble.

"I think he is stable, Elyssa. I do not truly know what ails him, but I do not think he will die this day. Relax, child, and sleep."

Elyssa closed her eyes, and dropping her head onto Alistair's armoured shoulder, she did just that.

When she woke again, she was in a bed. She could hear quiet murmurs of people whispering, and could feel she had been stripped of her armour and put into a soft night gown. She allowed one selfish moment to luxuriate in the relief she felt at awakening at all, then opened her eyes and struggled to sit up. She had vague memories of being carried again, and then shouting, and then being stripped and washed before ending up in bed.

She found herself in an enormous bed, in a large but cozy room, and realized she was not alone. Wynne was standing with a small group of people, talking in hushed voices, in a corner by the door. She turned her head and realized Alistair was laying in the bed also, his handsome face lax and somehow slightly ... gray. She cried out, and jumped up to lean over him – the sudden movement made her head spin, and she almost fainted. Her noise attracted the attention of the group at the foot of the bed, and Wynne hurried over after shooing out her companions.

"Stay calm, child. He is alive."

"Wynne! Why is his colour so ... what is wrong with him?"

"I don't completely know, Elyssa, to be honest. I was hoping you might be able to shed some light on that."

"Me? I'm no healer."

"No, but you are the only one who can confirm what I suspect happened. Without knowing the details, I remain uncertain."

"What do you mean?"

"I gather that, somehow, Morrigan did something to draw the spirit of the archdemon out and into herself when it died. Yes?" Elyssa nodded. "Very self-sacrificing of her. I am surprised, and a little impressed."

"No, not self-sacrificing. I have no doubt she is alive, somewhere. She knew what she was doing, warned me she'd be gone after the archdemon was dead. She did this for her own reasons, not to be a hero."

"Still. I'm guessing that being the one to slay an archdemon is supposed to have ... dire consequences on the one who does the killing, am I right? This is one of the secrets the Grey Wardens protect? That to kill an archdemon, a Grey Warden must die? Oh, don't worry child, I won't tell anyone. I have long wondered why we always believed a Grey Warden must be the one to kill the archdemon, and it was the only thing that made sense. So regardless of her intentions ... what Morrigan did saved your life, did it not? You were the one to slay the beast."

"I ... that is true, isn't it? Somewhat galling, somehow, to admit it, but there it is."

"Can you tell me anything of what she did? How did she ... draw out the archdemon like that?"

"I don't know the details, Wynne. I know it was blood magic, and that if anyone finds out they will not be impressed. But the unofficial motto of the Grey Wardens has always been "Whatever it takes to defeat the blight' and so I allowed it.

"Do you know where an archdemon comes from, Wynne?"

"I have heard many stories, every one more fantastic than the last. No one knows for sure."

"The Grey Wardens do. An archdemon is an Old God. One of those worshiped by the ancient Tevinters, and forgotten in the mists of time. But forgotten does not mean gone; these beings, whatever they are, merely slumber at present. They are neither evil nor good, living nor dead. They merely ... are.

"Somehow, it would seem, the same taint that created the darkspawn, the abominations ... somehow, with enough time, the taint can ... contaminate one of the Old Gods. And once contaminated, it grows hungry. Eventually, it learns to control the darkspawn, give them commands and make them dance to its will, and that is when a blight begins.