Chapter 122: Basements are Bad

“The Wardens found more darkspawn than they expected inside the Keep’s basement,” Nate informed me. “There are apparently multiple camps within the tunnels, many on the inside of the barrier door. The Commander assumes that they were assembling there for the assault you warned us about. They were apparently not prepared to attack, but the first skirmish got them a lot of attention. He’s asked for reinforcements; he’s not sure they’ll be able to hold the tunnels.”

I gasped, and Nathaniel stepped over to me, gesturing at a chair like he thought I’d need to sit down. “Varel’s gone to mobilise the rest of the Legion and the remaining soldiers. It’s going to be okay. Maverlies said no one was badly injured.” He left the obvious ‘yet’ to his statement unspoken.

I shook my head at the proffered chair. “I need my armour. I’ll meet you in the courtyard. But Nate ... don’t assume the darkspawn in the tunnels are the only ones. Leave some soldiers at the gates in case there’s more. They’ve surprised us before, and the Architect may know I’m here. We don’t really know what he’s capable of.”

Nathaniel nodded, but appeared to be opening his mouth to say something. I didn’t give him a chance to object, racing away to my room to gear up.

My armour had been cleaned and hung on its stand; briefly grateful for efficient servants, I scrambled into the set of blood-red leather, cursing at the time it took, strapping my daggers to my hips and patting my helmet into place. I left again at a run, and met a now-armed Nathaniel in the courtyard organising squads of soldiers.

He had closed the Vigil’s gates, I noticed; they’d only help so much in their sagging state, but archers had been placed on the walls, split between watching outside for more darkspawn, and watching the basement door. I wonder if those gates will keep more darkspawn out of the Vigil, or in? Soldiers were hastily erecting barricades around the basement door, and armed men seemed to be occupying every open spot in the courtyard.

Nate gestured to me to join him, and I headed over to see what was going on.

“What’s happening?”

“The Legion will be headed in as soon as they’re all gathered. I’m setting up rotations for the soldiers so we can ensure adequate coverage for as long as necessary. I’ll be sending down the first group in a few minutes. Would you care to take command of the gates? After the Blight, you’ve probably got as much experience as any of the captains.”

I shook my head. “I’m going down. For reasons I don’t have time to explain, the Wardens are going to need me.”

“You have to let your husband do his job, Sierra. I know you want to make sure he’s safe...”

I interrupted him. “This isn’t about that. Yes, I want him safe. But Nate, I have specific skills when it comes to the darkspawn. I can sense them. I’m going down. I just want to do a check at the gates and make sure there aren’t any coming over land.”

Without waiting for his response, I jogged up the slight incline and climbed a ladder leading up to the ramparts above the courtyard. I made my way to the section closest to the gates, closing my eyes and trying to listen to my internal taint sensation. I could feel vague tingling, though I couldn’t be sure whether it was wardens or darkspawn, but coming from below – nothing from outside the gates.

I made my way back down, signalling to Nate that I was going to go into the basement. He shook his head and beckoned, but I ignored him and slipped through the door with a group of Legionnaires heading down. I heard a shout as the door slammed behind me, but ignored it too. If he thinks anything is going to keep me from going to Alistair, he’s got another thing coming. I raced down a set of stairs, through an empty dungeon, and down a long winding corridor behind Trevian and a handful of Legionnaires, barely noticing my surroundings. What I did see didn’t line up particularly well with my recollection from the game, though there were multiple doorways and halls we didn’t enter, so I couldn’t be sure.

I hope someone found and re-killed the undead I suspect are down here somewhere.

It took several agonising minutes to wind through the tunnels in the labyrinthine basement; whoever had built the catacombs down there – the Avvar, if I remembered correctly – deserved to be slapped upside the head. We were well outside of the Vigil’s walls and the tunnels just kept on going, periodically descending deeper and deeper underground.

The sound of fighting was the first sign we were getting close, the clanging of metal against metal echoing down the corridor. I pushed my way through the clump of dwarves as they stopped to get their shields in place and draw their weapons; I’d seen the shield walls the Legion seemed to favour, and there was no question they were effective, but I wasn’t going to waste the time getting there. I didn’t need protection from the darkspawn; I just needed to find my husband.

One of the Legionnaires shouted as I pushed past them, and Fargrim, the arrogant one, reached out to grab my arm.

“Get behind us, you daft woman! Rushing in there is only going to get you killed.”

I shook him off and pressed forward to the sound of dwarven cursing and the clattering of shields rapidly snapping into position behind me. I ignored it, racing around the last couple of twists, eagerly looking for my husband and my friends ahead of me.

I hesitated only for a moment when I finally came upon them. Alistair and a couple of Legionnaires were holding off a large group of darkspawn, primarily hurlocks with a few genlocks scattered throughout, with the support of the two mages and Leliana with her bow. Anders froze darkspawn into grisly statues, which Solona smashed with magically hurled chunks of rock; Leliana picked off strays and stragglers with precision.

The other Legionnaires and soldiers, several of them looking somewhat worse for wear, worked frantically trying to move debris – rock, smashed furniture, whatever they could get their hands on – to block the main part of the passage, trying to limit how many of the tainted creatures could approach at once. When someone was hurt, another Legionnaire would trade out with him while Anders patched up the wounds as best he could without using up his mana reserves. Alistair looked uninjured, moving easily, spattered with black darkspawn blood but none of it the red colour of his own.

I fell onto the darkspawn on Alistair’s unprotected flank; he grunted in surprise, but saved his breath as we effortlessly fell back into our fighting pattern, instinctively moving together and slaughtering the darkspawn trapped by the temporary barrier swinging into place. The rest of the Legion weren’t far behind me, and the onslaught caused the rest of the creatures to fall back even further, giving the beleaguered group a bit of a breather.

I’d sort of forgotten how much I hated the Deep Roads; if for no other reason, I hated how it messed with my darkspawn senses. There could have been ten or a hundred darkspawn in the tunnel ahead; I concentrated on trying to feel them, but the corruption in the very stone stymied me. I sighed.

One of the wounded Legionnaires began piling darkspawn bodies for burning as I turned to examine my husband critically. I pulled a rag out of a pouch attached to my armour, offering it to Alistair to wipe ichor off his face. He used it and then pulled me in for a quick, chaste kiss.

“Whatever are you doing here?”

“You thought I’d let you keep all the fun to yourself?”

He groaned and squeezed me harder. I thought he was going to say something about me staying safe, and was prepared to pinch his ear in retaliation, but he surprised me. “Thanks,” he whispered, before we were interrupted by an irate dwarf – or rather, a couple of them.

“What in the name of the Ancestors do you think you were doing, pushing ahead alone?” Fargrim demanded.

At the same time, Sigrun, who’d been fighting on Alistair’s other side, turned to growl at my husband, “You should have traded out when it was your turn, Commander. Doesn’t do anyone any good if you’re too exhausted to fight later.”

I chuckled, and Alistair grinned beside me. He assured Fargrim that I was in no danger from darkspawn and didn’t need a babysitter, while I pulled Sigrun aside and quietly explained about Grey Warden stamina.

“Stamina or not, no one can fight for an hour straight without paying for it,” she whispered urgently. “Everyone else was rotating in and out to get a rest. He needs to pace himself or he’s going to get himself – or someone else - killed.”

“I’ll watch him, I promise.” I sighed. “Honestly, though, if he’d backed off you might not have been able to hold out. No one else who was down here uses a shield?”

We had a brief conversation about Legion tactics, which largely involved keeping the shield-wall members together. So when the group had to split, typically the rogues and two-handed weapon fighters went one way, while the shield warriors went the other. Sigrun’s group consisted of dual-wielders and two-handers exclusively. And we’d sent Bel and Rolan – the only two other shield-wielding Wardens – to patrol the Pilgrim’s Path.

After a discussion with Trevian and Fargrim, Alistair clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention. He pointed to a group of four soldiers huddled together, looking frightened. I did too, my first time encountering darkspawn. The four of them were probably barely twenty, by their look.

“You, I need you to block this passageway completely. Use anything you can find; I’ll deal with the Arl later if he has a problem with it. Leave a gap just large enough to fit one human through at a time. Voldrik can help you. You four,” he pointed at another group of slightly more experienced-looking soldiers, “guard them and the gap. The rest of us are going in as soon as we’ve had a chance to catch our breath. There’s at least another forty or fifty darkspawn down there, and I’m not sure how far away that barrier door is. When the rest of the soldiers arrive, have them slip through the barricade and set up positions on the other side in case we miss any darkspawn. No darkspawn can be allowed to get into the Keep. Understood?”

It was sexy watching ‘Commanding Alistair’ tell everyone what to do. His confidence, so shaky in the original video game, was amazing to watch. I stared at him with hunger in my eyes; he smirked and winked at me when he caught my expression, and I knew it was a promise: later.

He looked around and everyone nodded. The soldiers he’d pointed out headed back down the hall behind me, opening side doors and looking for stuff to use as a barricade. Anders and Solona were already crouching down, checking out any remaining injuries. One of the fresh Legion scouts brought around water skins for those who’d been fighting for a while already, and Alistair drank almost an entire one, wiping his mouth with the back of his gauntlet when he’d gulped as much water as he could hold.

I turned my back to the crowd, lowering my voice so no one else could hear me. “Are you okay?” I rolled my eyes when he automatically nodded. “No, really. You’ve been fighting for a long time; you must be exhausted. Are you really going to be up for this?”