Mythal's Favour: A Dragon Age Origins Fan Fiction

Chapter 31 - Goodbye, mio amore

 Beren raised his head, a mournful howl following Zevran's wail into the sky. Wynne and Alistair moved closer, hugging both the assassin and Ayu's body. Wynne stroked the deceased Warden's hair, blotting her weeping eyes on her sleeve. Alistair kneeled on the other side of Zevran, one hand on the elf's shoulder and the other resting on Ayu's calf. Beren laid his wide head against Ayu's back, her chest still facing Zevran as he held her.

The companions sat in silence for a few moments while their tears dried on their cheeks. The city laid quiet beneath them, casting them in eerie silence.

"We should get to the others," Wynne said quietly. "They'll be waiting for us."

Zevran numbly nodded, wiping his face and rising with the others. He shifted Ayu's limp body in his arms to carry her easier. Alistair offered to take her from him, but Zevran just absently shook his head. The man nodded, tucking her arms together over her body for the elf.

"Maybe we can find a blanket to wrap her in," Wynne offered. "Perhaps the guard's sleeping chambers will have one in good shape. We'll look on the way down." Wynne turned Zevran toward the door, still open from when they entered the rooftop.

Zevran followed wherever they led. Beren walked quietly beside him. The elf was dejected and lost. He felt like an empty vessel, walking through the tower in a daze. Alistair found a thin blanket, not burned in the raid, on one of the soldier's bunks. Zevran stopped, allowing them to wrap her, head to foot, in it. It covered her loosely, hanging off her feet and cowling around her head. The group continued on their way, eventually passing the darkspawn with the arrow between its eyes.

'Ayu's arrow,' Zevran thought absently. He turned his head away, a fresh tear escaping his clenched eyes.

The group kept moving, finally exiting into the city and making their way to their other companions. They found them still near the gate where they left them, in what felt like a lifetime ago. Alistair and Wynne stepped through the arched opening first, their eyes downcast and their faces grim.

"Where is Ayu?" Leliana asked, her head bobbing from side to side, trying to see past the pair. The rogue's face grew more and more panicked as the seconds dragged on.

Wynne and Alistair finally had enough space to move aside, revealing an ashen-faced Zevran behind them. The elf carried Ayu's body still. He squeezed her to him in a tortured hug, cradling her head under his chin. Leliana's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes instantly welling with tears. The rogue fell to her knees, screaming and sobbing, her other hand clinging to Sten's wrist in desperation. Oghren looked downcast and away from the sight, toeing a pebble away with his boot. Wynne's eyes misted over and she walked to Leliana. Putting her wizened hand on the woman, Wynne pulled her up into a tight embrace. Leliana's fierce sobbing could be heard throughout the courtyard.

Alistair cleared his throat as best he could from the thick lump that was formed in it. "I see there are no darkspawn here anymore, Sten. Were they all routed?"

"Indeed," Sten replied, "of a sort."

Alistair looked at the serious qunari with a questioning look.

"Those that did not disintegrate into ash as the shockwave hit them, were returned to their previous selves." Sten pointed to an area in the courtyard where a few dozen people were crowded. The remnants of the army finding blankets and water for them all. The people looked stunned and filthy, grime clinging to the overlarge garments or fragments of armour they wore. People of all races huddled together in silence, sharing rough blankets and cups of water.

Alistair looked from the group of people and back to Sten questioningly. "What exactly happened?" He asked slowly.

Sten rolled his eyes as if he hated having to repeat himself but told him all the same. "There was a beam of light from the top of Fort Drakon," he started in his deep voice. "The sky swirled and we could see Mythal herself at the top of the tower. The light grew blinding, even here, and there was a powerful shockwave that blew through the entirety of the city-"