Dragon Age: The Silences Song

Chapter 12

Guys, over here," La'el's voice broke through the eerie silence of the cave.

The group instinctively followed her through the narrow opening. As they stepped through, Cullen's eyes widened, and his mouth fell open in disbelief.

"It's... a massacre," he whispered. His voice barely carried over the horror that surrounded them.

Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of darkspawn bodies lay strewn across the ground, lifeless and mangled. The jagged walls of the cave were splattered with black blood, staining every inch of stone. The stench of death was overwhelming.

Elizabeth grimaced, covering her nose with her sleeve. "This... this isn't just a battle. It's carnage."

Cullen knelt down beside one of the darkspawn corpses, inspecting the ragged wounds. "What could have caused this?

La'el's voice cracked as she took a shaky step forward, her eyes wide with fear. "I don't want to find out when it comes back."

"Let's keep moving forward," Cullen ordered. "But be careful. Their blood is still tainted."

Carefully, the group wove their way through the sea of darkspawn corpses. Elizabeth fought to keep her stomach in check, each step more gruesome than the last. In all her years, she had never seen anything this bloody, this horrific.

La'el's sharp intake of breath broke the silence. "What's that?" she whispered, pointing toward a large, shadowy figure lying on the far edge of the room.

As they cautiously approached, the scale of the figure became clear. Cullen's eyes widened. "Is that—?"

"A bloody Archdemon," Oghren finished.

La'el looked between the others, panic edging into her tone. "What could kill an Archdemon?!"

Elizabeth knelt down, her eyes falling on something even more chilling. "A Grey Warden, perhaps," she murmured, gesturing to the human body lying lifeless at her feet. The man's armor bore the unmistakable sigil of the Grey Wardens.

La'el crouched beside her, her eyes wide with confusion. "This doesn't make any sense. Why would a Grey Warden be down here alone? There's been no sign of a Blight. Did he kill all these darkspawn?"

Before anyone could respond, a figure darted past them in a blur. A hooded stranger, moving faster than any of them had time to react. Without thinking, Elizabeth bolted after him, her body fueled by pure adrenaline. She pushed herself harder, her feet flying across the uneven stone ground, and just as the figure rounded a corner, she reached out and yanked his hood.
Her heart nearly stopped when she saw his face.

It was him—the mysterious man who had visited her in the shadows, the one who had whispered warnings and given her advice, always vanishing just as quickly as he had appeared.
She froze, her mind spinning with the impossibility of it. And in that split second, the figure slipped away, disappearing into the labyrinth of tunnels before she could react.

The others caught up, breathless and confused. Cullen was the first to speak. "Did you get him?"

Elizabeth stood there, still stunned, her heart racing. "No," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "He got away."

Cullen looked at her, concern etching his features. "Who was it?"

"I couldn't see his face," Elizabeth lied, her voice steady despite the rapid pounding of her heart. She avoided Cullen's gaze, focusing instead on the darkened tunnels ahead. "He was too fast. Just... slipped away."

Cullen stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Right," he said slowly, though his tone made it clear he wasn't entirely convinced. "We'll need to report this to the Wardens. They need to know what we found—and what we didn't."

Elizabeth nodded, trying to keep her expression neutral as the adrenaline still coursed through her veins.

"Before we head back," Cullen continued, his voice firm, "see what more you can gather from the area. There might be something we missed."

La'el knelt by the remnants of what appeared to be a small, hastily abandoned camp, her eyes scanning the ground. "Over here," she called out, drawing the others' attention. As they approached, she crouched down and examined a bag left behind in the center of the makeshift camp. She opened it and pulled out a folded piece of cloth—a dress.

"It seems our mysterious figure might be female," she remarked, raising an eyebrow at the find.

"No," Elizabeth said sharply, too quickly for it to go unnoticed. Cullen raised his eyebrows at her. "He—uh, they didn't look like a woman from behind."

"Well, you never know. Appearances can be deceiving." La'el continued rifling through the bag until her hand closed around a small vial. She pulled it out and held it up, inspecting the glowing blue liquid inside.

"Lyrium," Cullen said, his brow furrowing as he stepped closer. "So, our mysterious woman is a mage. We've got a mage on the run, a dead Grey Warden, perhaps another person on the run and something powerful enough to wipe out all these darkspawn."

He turned, his gaze settling on Elizabeth with intensity. "What in the Maker is going on here?"

La'el slipped the vial of lyrium into her own bag for safekeeping and glanced between them. Sensing a lot of unspoken words. "So what's the plan?"

"We head back to the Wardens," Cullen said, his eyes still locked on Elizabeth. "Then we report to the Inquisitor."

Elizabeth nodded, her expression unreadable. "Agreed," she replied.

"I uh..." Oghren hesitated, shifting uncomfortably. "I'm staying here."

Everyone turned to look at him, confusion and concern flickering across their faces.

"I've seen too much," Oghren continued, his voice quieter than usual. "I agreed to help with the Deep Roads, but this... this is too much for me to carry."

Cullen nodded, stepping forward to shake Oghren's hand firmly. "Very well. Thank you for your help, Oghren."

Elizabeth gave him a small nod and a warm smile. "Take care, Oghren."

La'el, unable to stop the tears from welling up, bent down and wrapped her arms tightly around him. "I'll miss you."

Oghren, taken aback by the hug, chuckled and patted her back. "Take care of yourself, pointy ears," he said with uncharacteristic softness, returning the hug before pulling away. "And don't let Curly over here get you into too much trouble."

With that, he turned away, his gruff exterior masking the weight of his decision as the rest of the group prepared to leave