Dragon Age: Origins | The story behind Cousland

Chapter 12- A gift to remember

Chapter 12- A gift to remember

We all approach a templar, or a man dressed as a templar, with curly blonde hair, sitting on the ground, praying, protected- or should I say captured- by a magic shield. He stops praying and looks at us. "This trick again? I know what you are. It won't work. I will stay strong..."

"Are you all right?"

"The boy is exhausted. And this cage... I've never seen anything like it." Wynne mumbles. "Rest easy... help is here."

"Enough visions." He grunts like he's in pain. Maybe he is. I look at him with compassion, while Alistair mutters something. "If anything in you is human... kill me now and stop this game."

Leliana steps forward and looks at him. "He's delirious. He's been tortured... and has probably been denied food and water. I can tell." She gets something from her pack and wants to hand it to the templar. "Here, I have a skin of—"

The templar jumps up and away from Leliana. "Don't touch me! Stay away!" Leliana gasps and takes a step back, clearly shocked. "Filthy blood mages... getting in my head... I will not break... I'd rather die." After each sentence he takes a break to deal with the pain. I purse my lips and really feel bad for him.

"You're not going to die, not if I can help it."

"Silence... I'll not listen to anything you say! Now begone!" He starts to blink fast, but then he stops and looks at us. "Still here?" He mumbled. "But that's always worked before. I close my eyes, but you are still here when I open them."

"I'm real and I'm here to help you."

"Don't blame me for being cautious. The voices... the images... so real... Did Greagoir sned you? How... how did you get here?"

"I'm a Grey Warden, and I'm trying to help save the tower."

"Good... kill Uldred. Kill them all for what they've done." He speak in a tone full of hatred. "They caged us like animals... looked for ways to break us. I'm the only one left..."

"How so?" Alistair asks.

The templar shrugs. "They turned some into... monsters. And... there was nothing I could do."

"You must stay strong."

He puffs. "To think I once felt pity for the Circle. Now I'd like nothing more than to wipe their taint off the face of Thedas."

I frown. I understood that templars are bad, but this bad? "Not all mages are evil."

"Only mages have that much power at their fingertips. Only mages are so susceptible to the infernal whisperings of the demons."

"This is a discussion for another time!" Wynne interrupts. I can see how Morrigan looks at the templar, like she would tear him apart if he kept talking. "Irving and the other mages who fought Uldred. Where are they?"

He looks at the doors near us. "They are in the Harrowing Chambers. The sound coming out from there... oh, Maker..." I focus my hearing and I can actually hear faint screaming.

Wynne grabs my hand. "We must hurry," she tells me, pleading with her eyes. "They are in grave danger, I am sure of it."

The templar seems angry. "You can't save them! You don't know what they've become!"