Pride, Wolf and Rebellion

Rescue

The Inquisitor wasn't exactly the sort to blend in to a crowd and it wasn't long before the throng in the Val Royeaux square began to murmur her name. It took their attention away from the hangman's platform, with its executioners and thick rope, but it didn't stop the proceedings.

Days ago, Fen'Asha received notice from one of Leliana's contacts that Blackwall had left. He left behind a note stating his intentions to "right past wrongs" and was gone. There was a small search that turned up a notation about the execution of a man named Mornay in Val Royeaux. This Mornay character had done the bidding of one Thom Rainier and was accused of the brutal annihilation of Lord Vincent Callier and his entire family.

A man in a hood, presumably Mornay, was on his knees on the platform while the executioner stood behind him. A soldier in silver armour was reading the details of the crime to the crowd.

A voice shouted something from the right side of the platform and that's when Blackwall appeared, striding up the stairs to where the doomed man was facing his final judgement.

Fen'Asha's eyes widened as she watched him.

"This man is innocent," said Blackwall. "Orders were given and he followed. He should not die for that."

The soldier in silver armour crossed his arms. "Who gave the order?"

"I gave the order," said Blackwall, looking down.

The crowd murmured.

"Blackwall?" blurted Fen'Asha.

The crowd turned to see where the outburst had come from and murmured all the louder.

"Control yourselves," shouted the silver soldier, lifting his helmet.

"I am not Blackwall," said..."Blackwall." He stared out at the crowd, trying to find the source of the shouting.

Mornay shifted under his hood.

"I was never Blackwall," continued..."Blackwall."

"After all this time..." called Mornay.

"You shut up," cried the executioner, knocking Mornay on the back of the head with the butt end of a sword.

"I am Thom Rainier," said...Thom Rainier. "Warden Blackwall has been dead for years. I assumed his name to hide...like a coward."

The crowd muttered again and the volume rose as the silver soldier conferred with the executioner. They flipped through a stack of papers, looked around, talked seriously. After a while, they decided what they were going to do and dragged the comatose Mornay off the platform. After another while, the silver soldier apparently remembered Rainier and roped his hands, pulling him away as well.

Fen'Asha followed the guard as he tugged Rainier to the dungeons of Val Royeaux. She waited, pacing in front of the place until another guard appeared to light the torch for the coming darkness. They exchanged looks.

She didn't know what she was waiting for.

Blackwall was Thom Rainier. He was a fraud, responsible for a massacre. He should be left to rot, shouldn't he?

She pushed open the heavy door to the dungeon anyway, informing the guard of the obvious facts and insisting on seeing Rainier in his cell. The guard shrugged, retrieved a hanging set of keys from the wall and walked the Inquisitor down a set of stairs to the sunken prison cells. He opened the first metal gate and swung it open, producing a deafening screeching sound in the process.

"Place is falling apart," he said absently.

Several bearded men scowled, spat and made gestures at the Inquisitor as she walked by. The guard shouted at a few and eventually led her to the end cell, where Rainier sat on a bench. When he saw the Inquisitor, he put his head in his hands.