Dragon Age 1. The Search begins

Arn woke as the first rays of the sun appeared above the horizon to bring light to the world. He found that that he was cocooned around her, her back pressed to his chest, his nose buried into her hair at the base of her neck. His arm was wrapped around her, his hand cupping her breast. There was no eroticism in his touch, simply warmth and ownership.

Even after two weeks he still found it startling to wake to find her there. He raised himself on one elbow and gazed down on her face. It was serene, her lips in the slightest of smiles as she relived some dream. She looked so peaceful and content there in sleep. He watched her for a few minutes, examining every single line and curve of her face. He had chased her across half the known world and now into this unknown one for moments like this. It was worth it, the price had been far less than he had been willing to pay to be with her.

The hand that cupped her breast began to play, to tease it to life, and her smile began to become deeper, and he wondered how her dream changed to accommodate this. But soon he came to the decision that he was being unfair, and slipped from their bed, kissing her hair before he finally left the furs that covered them.

In time he returned to the bedside armed with bread, butter, hard cheese and honey. The comb still encrusted the honey and the crunch it gave the texture of the honey was a luxury to be savoured. He also carried a pitcher of goat's milk and two leather cups.

Since he had left she had rolled around to her back, and her dark dishevelled hair covered her eyes, so that he was not sure if she pretended sleep or not. His hand slipped under the covers to caress her intimately, and immediately she smiled and bit her lip. She was awake then he thought. She made a sound between a purr and a sigh as he continued to caress her slowly, deliberately. Her back started to arch and her breathing become more laboured to his continued touch, until through gasps she demanded what she wanted and needed. His hands complied and she cried out in her euphoria. Her body wracked her with spasms of excitement as she came down from her high. He embraced her and held her until her breathing was calm and steady again. His mouth found hers in a kiss and it lasted long moments.

Amusement sparkled in his eyes.

"And the Anderfels say hello in return"

She laughed a short bark of a laugh. He still teased her about that stupid argument she had had with Leliana, but she had come to laugh at it, to realise how childish they must have appeared, two little girls bickering over who the boy liked best. She could laugh at it now, but how the jealousy had burned at the time. She never thought that she would have resorted to such cat-fighting to mark her territory. She never thought herself possessive, she had been wrong. He was hers and she would fight tooth and claw for what was hers.

"T'was your fault, you started it"

Arn made a face, pretending that he was thinking on what she said, and then nodded his head.

"Agreed, so I have brought food as a peace offering"

She grinned wolfishly and sat up, wrapping the furs around her form to keep out the dewy chill of early morning. Her strong white teeth ripped into the bread as she ate with a ravenous hunger. He too focused on his food. The taint in his blood caused him to have the appetite of two or even three normal men. The foulness inside him required all the fuel it could gain and even though he ate like a trencherman he appeared as slim and svelte as always. In time as their hunger abated they ate more slowly and conversation sprang up between mouthfuls.

"Tis time I discovered more about where we are. I have a theory on its location, yet I cannot be certain. Tell me what do you know of the Black City?"

Arn frowned.

"The Chantry say that the Golden City was the heaven the Maker made to reward his followers after they died. But mages of Tevinter entered the place while alive and their evil converted it to the Black City, corrupting it and turning them into the first dark spawn. I have seen the Black City, while I ventured the Fade; I saw it there in the distance. I am not sure I believe what the Chantry says about the city, but I can say it exists."

"Tis indeed a place that can be seen from the Fade, but did you also notice, no matter where you went there it never got any closer? That is because it isn't within the Fade. Tis in another place, this place in fact"

"The Black City, here? Aren't we in danger from darkspawn?"

"Only if you believe the Chantry lies made to cow the sheep into not searching for it." Her face portrayed the distaste she found talking about the religious institution

"Flemeth once told me a different story of the Black City. She told me it has always been black, it is not a heaven or a hell; it's simply a city that the old gods once inhabited. The Tevinter mages found a way to pass from the Fade to this place. Sadly that knowledge has gone, but I shall not digress. The Black City is simply a capital of this world, where all the knowledge and power is contained. The Tevinter mages in their arrogance came with demands, instead of humbled heads to this place and the taint they were given was a punishment and warning for their lack of respect. Sadly the taint spread in them so virulently that they were mindless beasts when they returned to their own realm. They could never pass on the truth. The powers here are beyond our imaginings, the magic here is so powerful that upon Ferelden one would appear a god. Flemeth was first born here; this is what I have learned. She was never human and her soul resides here. Every time she dies she ventures forth from here and claims a new host who then becomes almost god-like. But our son now has the spirit of the ancients, the greatest practitioners of their magic. Here he will remember."

"Does this mean that we could kill Flemeth here once and for all?"

"Potentially... But there is something that must be dealt with before that, if we attempt that at all"

"What is it?"

"The taint you have, it was created here, and the taint is escalating, it is speeding through your system, I can see it like an aura. I fear for you."

"I feel no different, in fact I feel stronger."

"And maybe the candle that burns brightest burns shorter. I wasted time we could have shared; I will not risk you again"

She looked at him, and he saw the love in her wolf-like eyes but he could see the fear there too, the fear of them being separated forever.

"We need to find inhabitants of this place, and to find the geography of this land. I wish to get you to the Black City"

"I am never going to leave you Morrigan; I have fought too long and hard for this to give in. If I am sick, then we will find a way to make me better. No matter how many years we have, it is not enough but I want as many as is possible.

I saw the taint as a way to even out our life lengths, for the Elves live longer than men, those that are allowed to see out their lives anyhow.

And if I am cured of this taint and live my full life, then I do not wish to live it alone, and so I have come to accept that even if it's Blood Magic or if you must take the life of another to do it. If Flemeth's magic would give you an Elven life then I'd accept it. No matter how stained my soul becomes. Without you, good and bad, they are just dust."

"The end justifies the means," she said.

He nodded and they embraced her head on his shoulder.

There love wasn't pure and sugary-sweet she knew, it was fire and blood, chaos and death, lust and respect, but most of all it was reliance on the companionship on the other to make each other whole and it was that last trait that made it sweet and beautiful.

"I had never thought of using Flemeth's spells to replenish my own youth. Being the target of such plans made me over-look it. T'is something to think on for I too feel that a life time is not long enough, I already feel anger inside when I think of time lost"

"Then it is settled, but it something that should not concern us now. It would seem that we must take to the road again. Just like old times."

She climbed out from under her furs and began to dress, which left him silent as she watched her every move.

"T'would be fine, if you did something practical, instead of staring like a half-wit"

"Fine for whom?"

She threw up her hands in exasperation, which only made him watch the more intently.

"Then have it your own way".

He grinned, but was certain she now dressed in such a way to please him more.

Three hours later two horses trotted out of their makeshift camp. Their son's followers had started to build huts and a fence around their clearing in the forest; this would be their home for the foreseeable future. Whatever scouts that had been sent out before said the forest ran for at least 3 days in all directions. The mirror had left them in the middle of nowhere.

But of course the scouts couldn't fly and soon Arn watched a raven take to the air. Morrigan would search in the air while he travelled the forest.

And so the search had started in earnest for the Black City.


	2. The power of blood magic

The raven landed on Arn's shoulder, and pecked at his ear. He laughed at her antics but it was not without cause. The peck was sharp enough to draw a little blood and as the blood trickled into her throat she said words of ancient lore. All of a sudden her voice appeared in his head.

"There is a farmstead about half an hour from here, very small, seven or eight small buildings. I saw no signs of life".

Arn nodded thoughtful.

"Then we should take a closer look, if nothing else we will have a roof over our heads for the night."

He felt Morrigan "nod" in his mind.

"I will return and watch the place, keep heading north and you'll feel me through the ring when you are close enough"

The raven rubbed its head against his hair before taking off in flight.

Arn found amusement in the fact that the woman was in his head more than enough with his own thoughts, let alone by actually entering his mind through blood magic. He grinned to himself, drifting between watchfulness and the thought of those wolf-like eyes that swept him away to wicked places. He truly felt blessed with his life.

Arn picked his way through the forest, closing in on the farmstead until he could see that the trees were starting to thin. There he clambered off his horse and hobbled it before stringing his bow.

He couldn't tell why but there was something about the area that disquieted him. It took moments before he realized that there was no bird song, no whirring of insects, no snuffling of ground animals, it was totally silent.

He called to his wolf, a high pitched sharp whistle that passed between the world of men and the Fade to a plane where the beast heard and through the almost magical link between ranger and beast was drawn immediately to Arn's side.

As if to confirm Arn's trepidation the wolf's hackles rose and it growled low in its throat. Following the call of the ring, he flitted from tree to tree until he was crouching next to Morrigan who was knelt in the cover of a tree. Even with the disturbing aura of the place he found it hard to take his eyes from her. Her focus was on the buildings, but she was aware of the electricity that charged the air when they were together. He placed his mouth to her ear and whispered.

"What do you see?"

"Nothing, yet I sense magic here… I cannot put my finger on it, but there is a presence here. T'would it be better to circumvent this place? I see no purpose to being here"

Arn nodded into her hair.

"True, but also if there is a presence here, I'd prefer to know what it is, then have it sneak up on me at camp tonight. We will not be a safe distance from here before dark falls."

He slowly drew an arrow. At great expense he had had the finest Dwarven smiths forge him arrow heads of Silverite that could puncture Darkspawn plate at over 300 paces. He saved these arrows for the most dangerous of creatures, and here in this quiet place his gut told him to knock one.

Creeping closer on totally silent feet he entered the clearing. The wind seemed to die and the air was oppressive and humid as if walking into an oven. He found he couldn't breathe and he fought down the rising panic to run.

Firstly he moved to the smaller buildings, gazing through rough cut windows he saw a barn and a tool shed. Bags of grain were spilt on the floor, dead cows lay on the floor, their bodies no more than skeletons now.

Not bandits he thought. What bandits would leave good milk, meat and grain? This was something else, something far more sinister that had left a stain on the atmosphere of the place.

He came to the first hut that appeared to be a home; looking through the window he saw plates and rough utensils in place for an evening meal. The whole scene was covered in cobwebs as if it was a living tomb, a moment captured in time. He decided he needed to enter the building. There would be no more silence when he did. Pushing the door, the hinges squealed, and the sound was deafening in the silence. A bird landed on the floor just ahead of him and turned into a beautiful woman.

Almost immediately Morrigan's features turned into a snarl as the presence hit her magically acute senses.

She whipped her head around searching for the origin of this corruption.

Arn heard her growl deep in her throat; low bestial sounds that made his bones ache. A blood red aura wrapped her form and he realized there were words in the sounds she made. A thin trickle of blood ran from her nose as her words seemed to freeze the very air in the room.

Old blood stains on the floor, almost invisible to the mortal eye started to burn with a magical blue flame, leading like a path to a room at the back of the hut. On leaden feet they followed.

Morrigan was aware she mustn't use her life force too long, but there was something there, something that coveted the blood of mortal men, something that had corrupted this place. She could feel the horror and anguish that had been committed here and she must know. She must find it.

Arn reached the last door within the small corridor. It was here he knew. It took no magic to feel the evil permeating through the door. Morrigan let go of her spell and she looked pale. He feared for her when she performed blood magic, he wished she would take his life essence instead, but she always refused. He feared for her, for he knew she would push herself too far. And yet he could think of no other he would trust with such a dangerous and wicked magic. The end justifies the means.

Arn pushed open the door and stepped back, arrow drawn and ready to be released.

The room was small and the bed was the centre piece of it. A bed made for two. Yet it was not the bed that drew his eye. It was the four corpses that swung from the ceiling. They were little more than desiccated husks now but at one time they had been a man and woman and two young children. The coverlet of the bed was a deep brown and Arn realized that the colour was aged blood. Whatever had done this had hung them with slit throats so their life blood could pour out onto the bed.

Arn felt the temperature in the room turn to ice and something coalesced on the bed. A form he had seen many times before, the shape of a woman, yet with curled and wicked goat horns. A desire demon form appeared for a moment before it turned into a roiling cloud of blood red that entered the hanging skeletons. Four voices screamed out at once.

"The smell of fresh blood is so invigorating. You have such essence, strong and vibrant like a wine. Come my loves share with me"

Arn felt the assault on his mind, the pull of his desires built in him, to learn the wicked ecstasy that only one so corrupt could teach.

All of a sudden the spell broke with almost a stunning 'pop'.

The demon reeled and Arn found Morrigan next to him, staff outstretched, black viscous energy pouring into the skeletons.

"T'is not wise to claim what is mine demon"

The demon laughed a musical sound that could lure even the sharpest mind and the spell from Morrigan's staff died as quickly as she had conjured it.

Woken from the dream created by the demon Arn released an arrow, its enchantments mean it passed between worlds, striking in this and the Fade causing the demon to howl in torment. Four voices sang a cacophony of agony as they all screamed in unison.

Morrigan spoke words of magic and a prison of magical energy wrapped around the demon pressing in on it, crushing the life force out of it. Tendril of blood essence appeared in her hand and she lashed out at the trapped demon, scourging its very soul, if in truth a demon possessed what we would recognize as a soul. Morrigan had learned this technique on coming to this place, it was a spell that no other mage knew of, but here it had come to her as her understanding of blood magic became more and more pronounced

Arn fired more arrows on the prone creature, shattering the corpses that it had inhabited. He could feel its existence quivering between this and the void.

"Stop firing" commanded Morrigan.

Arn stopped and Morrigan stepped forward.

Her whole being was surrounded by a blood red aura that pulsed with the quickening of her heart. It swirled and its tendril lashed out and wrapped around the demon, squeezing it, twisting it, inflicting the most terrible torments on it.

Words poured from Morrigan's mouth and although he could not understand them he felt as though his soul was insulted by their profanity.

A child's skull flew into Morrigan's outstretched hand and he saw the tendril force the essence of the demon into the skull, binding it in place.

"You are mine, demon. Remember that. You will do as I say, answer what I ask, and maybe freedom will again be yours."

A red glow appeared in the black eye sockets of the child's skull. A hissing voice issued from its dead jaws.

"Curse you human, I'll feed on your soul before I'm done, I'll make your man dance on your cooling corpse before I drain him dry and the last sounds you'll hear is him cry out my name"

"Tsk tsk, t'would be wiser to keep such thought to yourself. I am not a gentle mistress"

To prove the point Morrigan lashed out with her magic flaying the demon with agonies beyond reason.

Gasping the demon cried out.

"Pleeassee mistress, enough. I'll do as you say"

"Tis better. Now, answer me. Tell me where we are, tell me of the Black City, and tell me all I need to know."

Arn listening as the demon spoke its answers, sometimes in a pleading tone, sometimes in a haughty one, but always with respect, always with fear. In time Morrigan put the skull in her pack. She would converse again with demon again.

"We should travel east from here."

As they vacated the farmstead Morrigan turned and conjured a firestorm of terrible proportions. Soon everything was ablaze.

Arn nodded his head in recognition of her actions

"Let us leave this place, it sickens my stomach"

Her yellow eyes gazed into his, lost in her magic there was no recognition for a moment, before she realized where she was and her love came through.

"Yes".

And as the witch and ranger left the clearing the huge blaze caused their shadows to lengthen in the dimming light. And unbeknownst to them there was a third shadow, the shadow of a child.


End file.

Dragon Age, Adventure, Romance