Sisters of Tevinter

Return

      Jor snarled as she struggled to stand, trembling. Her limbs were weak. Bull was fending off a knot of dreamers. Claws caught him off guard along his side. One lunged for his blindspot and his lacking eye, but Bull lopped off its head with a snarling grunt. 

        Jor staggered towards the writhing demons and gave a ragged yell. They turned, clawing towards her with voracious hunger. Bull felled one from behind, catching Jor's gaze with grateful ferocity, Jor nodded as she danced out of the way of raining claws. A masked face bore down on her from the side and the rogue yelped, nearly falling to her knees. 

         Jagged blades dug into her arm, tearing her leather sleeve, blood dripped to the floor as the hissing dreamer leaned in close to her face, smelling of rot and somehow... dry wildflowers. Jor's limbs shook. As the dreamer drew her close, lifting its mask, she felt strength ebb from her bones. 

         "GHRAAH!" Bull slammed headfirst into the dreamer, practically skewering the thing on his horns as his tossed it to the wall. Never pausing, the qunari charged after the demon, swinging his axe in a fury. 

        Jor's blood ran in scarlet rivulets down her hand. She lifted it weakly to the rift, relief flooding through her chest and finding stability in her legs. Cassandra backed past her, ducking beneath her stolen shield as she slashed at a demon's haunches, a dance of blades and steel. 

          Kaisen had her back to Dorian, defending him with rabid ferocity as shades burst in shimmering green mist around them. They were beginning to pull through, enemies falling dead and dissipating around them. A serpent of shimmering violet smoke rose from Dorian's staff, lashing out with a rattling hiss at Alexius. The Magister twisted to one side, darkness obscuring his form as he reappeared with a pop on the other side of the chamber once more. Fireworks of sparks and lightning crackled around him as he spun his staff over his head to retaliate. 

           Jor started to melt into the fragmented light as she knew how, hope daring to spread gossamer feathers in her breast- Then her heart slowed, dropping sluggishly into her stomach. Dread filled her every pore as her movements were dragged through heavy air. She was deafened, every breath took minutes, hours. 

        Cassandra fell slowly, as if encased in amber. A shade shot a vicious orb of flashing green essence into the Seeker's chest, forcing her to curl in on herself at the pace of molasses. Bull was pushing through as best he could, but Jor could see his knees buckling as demons scrambled towards him in scraps of shadow. 

      Dorian's twisting signs of magic flashed like distant storms, slow and rumbling, billowing like smoke around him. Kaisen's form was blurred in the violet smoke, as if she had been painted in motion. 

       A feathered shaft launched itself from the blackness and buried itself deep in the Magister's shoulder. Time resumed its brisk march, sound and sense crashing over Jor and the combatants with clamoring force, hearts resumed their gallop, sweat ran its course, blood dripped like rain. 

        Leliana emerged from the shadows, raining arrows over the demons around Iron Bull. Alexius stumbled on his dais with a shout. Jor whirled around and braced her wrist with her arm, struggling to seal the rift in flashes of emerald lightning. 

         It resisted, pulling her inwards, towards it, time seemed to falter for just a moment, sound still rampaged over stone, and the magic hissed. Demons vanished with screams and blue fire, the rift knit itself shut with peridot threads. 

          Kaisen leapt forward without a moment's hesitation, snapping into a violent turn and propelling her dagger into the mage's chest with a flick of her wrist. 

          Alexius clutched his heart, falling to his knees. His staff fell with a clatter. Then he keeled, crumpling face first into the stones. 

          The companions glanced around at one another, panting, bleeding. Kaisen grinned, rubbing her eye sockets wearily, leaving her face smeared with blood and gore. 

           Dorian approached the body of the Magister, crouching beside him. His shadowed face was stoic, but his eyes were full of pain. 

         Jor staggered to stand beside him, looking down at the corpse. "I'm sorry for your loss."

          "No you're not." Dorian smiled slightly, his moustache twitching upwards. "But that's alright. Truly, he was once a good man." The mage shook his head and reached beneath the magister's hood, drawing forth the golden amulet on its slender chain. "Give me an hour. I'll have us home in a jiffy." 

           "An hour?"  Leliana slashed her hand through the air. "That's impossible!" 

            A great shuddering roar shook the hall, dust and ash and blood falling in clouds. Shrieks echoed the cries, thunderous marching feet approached the doors. 

             "The Elder One," Dorian whispered. 

            Kaisen locked eyes with Jor. "...I've got you." She smiled a crooked, dazed smile, warm as hearthstone, and vanished. 

          "Kaisen!" Jor grabbed for empty air. 

           Bull and Cassandra exchanged glances. The qunari smiled ruefully. Cassandra looked up at the warrior for a long moment, and nodded. The marching was grew louder, chanting echoed down the halls. 

            "We'll buy you some time." Bull turned to the doors. 

           "No!" Jor's voice was desperate, hot with rage. This wasn't fair! They'd won! They could go home! Everything would be fine. It had to be. "I won't let you. There's got to be another way." 

           Dorian ducked his head, fiddling desperately with the latches and dials of the amulet, his fingertips glowing softly.  Cassandra shook her head. "Jor. You must return." 

           Bull glanced over his shoulder at her. "Don't worry, boss. Get home safe." 

          He and Cassandra disappeared into the hall, hauling the enormous stone doors shut behind them. A high scream pierced the air, driving an icicle through Jor's chest. Kaisen...

        Leliana positioned herself before the dais. "Hurry. You have as much time as I have arrows."

        Something thudded heavily against the doors with a ringing like a gong. Jor winced, hovering helplessly at Dorian's side. His tinkering grew rhythmic, he mumbled quietly under his breath. 

         The doors suddenly burst open with an ear splitting bang. A towering Terror with bent hind legs, carpeted in pale thorns and twisting horns of bone took long, trembling steps that clicked along the stone, tossing a pale corpse to the ground. 

          Bull's lifeless body thudded to the marble. Cassandra's bloody shield was kicked aside by the legion of Venatori soldiers that marched through the doors. A matted mane of red hair was gripped in one of the soldier's gauntlets, dangling a bleeding head from its threads. 

           "No!" Jor surged forward as Leliana knocked an arrow. Tears blurred the scholar's vision. 

            Dorian caught her arm as the amulet belched a swirling void of howling wind in a portal of light. "Move and we'll all be killed!" he shouted over the roar of magic. 

             Leliana fired arrow after arrow as the ranks closed around her, a sword snapped her bow, she shouted a devout prayer and wrapped it like a garotte around a soldier's neck, flipping over his shoulder.

             One grabbed her by the hood, pinning her arms behind her back. Jor could only watched in sickened horror as the Terror raised its claws. 

            Leliana met Jor's gaze, steadfast. Accepting. She closed her eyes. The Terror shrieked, claws falling in jagged blades. 

            "Come on!" Dorian squeezed Jor's wrist, pulling her into the flashing chasm of the portal.