Sisters of Tevinter

Seam

        Varric stumbled backward with a deep shout. Jor heard the rasp of steel as Cassandra rushed to draw her sword- skeletal trees were illuminated by a flash of blue light and Solas' guttural yell. 

        A snapping crack of thunder shook the ground, green light burst in a jagged seam in the air ahead of the party. Something shrieked from far away, sending Jor's head spinning. In an instant, the companions were moving. 

         Jor pressed her back to the trunk of a tree, the rift shimmering behind her. Krem drew his sword with a high yell laced with challenge. Bull roared, the green light cast his form in shattered emerald shadow as he locked horns with a massive, compact shape in tattered robes. Jor caught sight of arrows and blades embedded like ornaments over its back. 

       A flash of violet lightning struck down, illuminating the pale, emaciated forest to Jor's left. Something rose from the earth, glowing in angry levels of fire and scarlet. She barely processed the back of Solas' head and the shape of his staff as he danced between the trunks, an arc of silver sunlight blasting out from him in a brief halo of force that shook the trees.

       Someone grabbed her wrist in gloved fingers, yanking her aside as something burst into foul green powder against the bark where her face had been just moments before. Kaisen released the scholar without a word and sprang with leonine grace at the shimmering specter that threw its essence. The creature was nearly invisible in the intermittent flashes of light and darkness, yet the Crow flanked it easily, leaping into a ferocious kick without a sound. 

         As her solidity struck the essence of the creature, a red sunburst spread like a disease along its abdomen as it slammed into the earth. Kaisen droved her blades down into the featureless, flickering face. 

        Something snatched with long claws from the dark, raking at Krem's legs. The mercenary lieutenant gave a shout, whirling to slash at the shadows in a single heavy arc. Jor sprang forward in a rush of uneven strides, pressing back to back against the Charger's as she backhanded another talon with the edge of her dirk. Sparks flew in the dark, something hissed. 

        Dane went charging past them, leaping into the air and sinking his teeth into the neck of the shade attacking Iron Bull, dragging it down and shaking it vigorously with a furious snarling. 

         Krem whirled, Jor lost her balance and the mercenary's sword sank deep into the gut of another ragged demon, the silver blade missing Jor's hip by inches. The creature was already fading, its hollow eyes full of hatred as it boiled away in a mass of hissing mist. 

         Krem caught Jor's arm to steady her. Cassandra backed past them, parrying the smoldering hands of a gelatinous mass of magma and stone with flaming eyes. Solas lifted his staff in a flash from the rift, three bolts of electricity rained like hellfire from the sky and struck the remaining masses of creatures dead on, illuminating their hazy forms in writhing arcs of violet light. 

          Stunned, Cassandra's demon bubbled and began to solidify. On instinct, Jor wrapped her fingers around Krem's wrist and turned, practically flinging the mercenary back towards Iron Bull and in turn moving her closer to the rift. She tore off her glove and extended her hand with a shout. The rift thundered and crackled, glowing with unearthly fury.

        The demons shrieked, shaking the mountaintops, reaching for their prey. The rift flared and the horrible shapes burst into mist with wails of despair, siphoned into the tear in the Fade in whorls of color Jor had never seen before and would not remember.

        Everyone was breathing hard, but no one seemed to be bleeding. "Head count!" Jor shouted into the shadows. 

         "Here," Varric panted. Jor heard a the click of a crossbow bolt. 

        "Here." Solas' voice sounded to her left. 

        "Fine," Krem reassured in measured tones. "Chief?" 

        "That was awesome." 

       Krem relaxed slightly, smiling in the moonlight. 

        "Hey, Crow!" Bull shouted. 

       "Hey, Bull!" Kaisen echoed from somewhere above them. Jor looked up. The rogue was crouched on a low bough of the scrubby trees, grinning down at them. 

        "How much are you worth?" 

        "Define worth!" 

        "You're not half bad with a blade. How easy would it be to take you from your Nightingale?" 

       "Easy as taking an egg from a deepstalker nest." 

       "Damn." Bull laughed and shook his head. "Would've had you join the Chargers."

      "Would I be paid?"

       "Hmmmm.... no." 

      "Shit." 

      Krem nudged Jor with the plates of their elbow. "Thanks." 

      "Oh. Don't mention it." Jor smiled at the warrior. "Just next time, try not to graze my kidneys." 

       "Ah, that's why we're born with two." Krem chuckled and sheathed his blade. 

      "Cassandra?" The scholar called into the night. 

     "I am well." The Seeker's shield flashed from somewhere ahead. "I have found something. Solas, what do you make of this?" 

     The mage cocked his head to one side and strode to where the Seeker crouched in the moss. There was a small mound of rubble, rodent bones and a divot in the stone. A curious bronze sphere the size of Bull's hand sat abandoned in the mud on a small stand, green with patina. The orb and the rings surrounding it were mysteriously untouched. 

      Kaisen landed beside the elf with a dull thump, reaching for the treasure. "...Can I-" 

      "No." Solas brushed her hand away as he crouched to examine the orb. Kaisen huffed and turned away. Dane, panting, paced in slow circles around the rogue, weary. 

      "What is it?" Jor took a hesitant step towards Solas, kneeling beside him. 

      "It is an artifact of elven origin. According to the inscription..." He trailed a pale finger towards the runes on the outer ring of the strange little globe. "It predates the Blight." 

      "Amazing." Jor smiled slightly, settling in the moss to pull a journal from her satchel and a sliver of charcoal, beginning to sketch the trinket. The mark on her palm flared, and the outer rings of artifact turned, just an inch, as if stirred by wind. 

       Solas suddenly beamed. "It is fel'shahar!" 

      "A what now?" Kaisen leaned over the mage's shoulder, skeptical. 

      "A Veil Thread, Crow. I do recommend you touch up on your elven." 

     "And you can touch up on your manners, you-"

     Varric coughed. Loudly. 

      "What is its purpose?" Cassandra queried. 

      "Jor must touch it." 

    The scholar looked up. "Huh?"