The Dalish Commander (The Daughters of Thedas Book 2)

30: Kal'Hirol

Soundtrack:

Glory to the Brave ~ Sprint Music (The Deep Roads)

The three of us crept around, disarming traps. I heard a screech and felt a crackle in the air. I turned, still in a crouch, and saw a bolt of lightning race towards me from an Emissary.

"Oh, shit!" I knew I didn't have time to duck.

The lightning hit an invisible shield and I glanced at the others to see Velanna holding her staff out. The others rushed forward to give Sigrun, Nathaniel, and I cover while we finished disarming the traps. As soon as we finished, we joined them. Together we destroyed the Darkspawn.

"Thanks, Velanna."

She only nodded.

"What's next, fearless leader?" Oghren asked.

I nodded deeper into Kal'Hirol. "I sense a large amount of the taint farther in."

"Lead the way."

I gave Anders a look, knowing he was about to tag a "my lady" to that. He grinned, knowing that I knew that was what he was going to do. The walls and floor were covered with the taint and what looked like exploded flesh sacks, much like in the Dead Trenches.

"This stuff looks like Felsi's First Day festival stew," Oghren said. "The girl has her strengths, but cooking isn't one of them. I think Alistair's cooking is better than hers."

I laughed. That was saying a lot. Alistair was a horrible cook. During the Blight, Leliana, Morrigan, Zevran and I would run Alistair away from the pot on his night to cook. If Alistair was a better cook than Felsi, I was not going to Oghren's for dinner.

~~~

As we traveled deeper into Kal'Hirol, Anders struck up a conversation with Sigrun. "Is there some great ceremony when someone joins the Legion of the Dead?"

"It's called a funeral." I could tell Nathaniel was trying not to laugh at the way she answered.

"Right but is it boring and somber like a regular funeral? I mean, you're not burying anyone..."

"This is true. Dwarven funerals involve a great deal of ale and singing! Then there is an orgy."

Anders perked up. Luckily, he didn't notice Oghren perk up as well, which meant either it wasn't true or Oghren didn't go to funerals. "What? You're kidding!"

"Of course, I'm kidding."

They both deflated and I couldn't help but laugh. I even heard a chuckle from Velanna. I suddenly heard fighting ahead, but didn't sense Darkspawn. I crept forward, my bow drawn, and peaked around a corner.

"What in hell?" I said. The ghostly figures of Dwarves and Darkspawn were locked in battle before they slowly disappeared.

"I... I've never seen anything like this before," Sigrun said, amazement in her voice. "They say the memories of the Stone are forever. Is this what they mean?"

"I have never known of spirits living in your world without possessing something," Justice said.

"They are not like you, Justice," I said. "They aren't from the Fade."

We walked into what I assumed was the Commons to see more of the ghostly figures.

"For generations, they have told you you were nothing," a man said from a platform. "Swept you away like so much dust. Now you are the only thing standing between them and the Darkspawn that threaten our empire! Show them you are not nothing! Show them that you can be warriors! Let the Stone tremble with the thunder of your footsteps! Fight!" The ghosts faded away leaving me to wonder if the casteless had once fought against the Darkspawn. The way around the platform was blocked, so we went to the left.

"Well, this is a familiar sight," Sigrun said.

A ghostly man ran past us to a woman. "They're gone!" he cried. "Everyone's gone! They've abandoned the thaig! We have to follow them! I'm not going to sit here and get eaten by those monsters!"

"But this is our home," the woman said. "We can't survive out there!"

"We won't survive in here..." They disappeared.

"They just left them?" Velanna asked. "Abandoned them when they abandoned the thaig?"

"If they were casteless," Sigrun said. "Then yes, they would. The casteless are good for nothing in the eyes of the other castes." I saw the sadness in her eyes. She knew that first hand.

~~~

We approached more of the ghostly figures locked in battle, weapons drawn as we sensed the taint ahead. We came face to face with another talking Darkspawn, who ordered the others to attack us. The Architect had referred to them as Disciples in his journal. As there were only three of them, it didn't take us long to defeat them.

"Which one is breeding the army?" I wondered out loud.

"Huh?" Sigrun asked.

"There seems to be two factions of Darkspawn fighting each other. One led by one I have heard referred to as the Mother and the other led by the Architect."

"The Darkspawn are having a civil war?"

"So it would seem. And they're dragging us into the middle of it. If we don't stop them, I fear their war will drag all of Thedas into it."

We turned a corner to see a woman and a teenaged girl holding a little boy close to her. "Watch your little brother. Keep him close," the woman said.

"Mother, please! You don't know how to fight!" the girl begged.

"Oh, I've been in my share of scrapes over the years."

"Mother..." the girl began to sob as her mother lifted her chin.

"Chin up, girl. Someone must fend off the Darkspawn. Dailan says if we do, the... the Ancestors will look kindly upon us and... forgive us." They disappeared.

"Forgive them for what?" I wondered.

"For being honorless and born without a caste," Sigrun answered.

"Do the casteless really believe that your Ancestors forsake you?"

Sigrun didn't correct me. "Somewhere along the line, our forefathers were exiled from their caste. Either by going to the surface or doing something horrible, the casteless' Ancestors probably all started out in the upper castes." She shrugged. "Maybe this Dailan believed that if the Kal'Hirol casteless stood against the Darkspawn, it would prove that they weren't just bums and criminals."

I nodded. Farther in, we saw the same Dwarf giving the speech in the Commons speaking to the casteless. "These weapons were taken from the armories of Kal'Hirol. I ask only for volunteers who would rather die fighting than give in."

"Sod off! You people left us for dead!"

"Yeah! We should just take your weapons and kill you instead!"

"Then you will go to your graves knowing you murdered the one person who thought you worthy to bear arms for Kal'Hirol! Do you want that? Or do you want to prove your worth?" This must have been Dailan.

"Did he really think the casteless were worthy?" I asked.

"Or desperate for numbers if he started recruiting casteless," Oghren said.

"Those bastards left us behind," a ghostly casteless man said. "And he wants us to fight to defend their escape?"

"We're going to die anyway," another man said. "Dailan's giving us a chance to prove we're not worthless."

"You're full of sod, duster. Some of us are going to try to make it to the surface. You in?"

"No. I'm going to do something right for once in my life." After they disappeared, several spiders dropped from the ceiling.

"I really hate those things!" After killing the spiders, we kept moving, keeping an eye out for ghosts and Darkspawn.