Mythal's Favour: A Dragon Age Origins Fan Fiction

Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – Deep Connections

 

Morrigan and Wynne soon found the Warden and the elves. Wynne quickly sat Ayu down and began to wash out her eyes with water from a skein. As Wynne tended to Ayu, the rest of the party appeared from various places in their block of houses.

 Ayu blinked her eyes repeatedly. “It's good Wynne,” she waved the mage off. “My eyes are stinging, but I can see again. I'll be alright now. Check on the others, please.”

 Wynne patted the elf's shoulder and stood, doing as Ayu had asked and looked the others over. Ayu bent forward, resting her head in her hands as she blinked and squeezed water from her eyes. She dried her face on a scrap of cloth, that may once have been a sock, from her pack. Beren sat beside her, his chin resting on her thigh. She sat up and rubbed his head, offering him a small smile. She glanced at her friends, seeing that no one was seriously hurt and sighed in relief. With a twinge in her heart, Ayu spotted Zevran standing away from the others, cleaning his daggers. His expression was all but unreadable. She had never been so confused in all her life. Every time Zevran grew closer to her, he pulled abruptly away. Now he sat in quiet meditation, wiping off the blade of his dagger with well practiced strokes. Ayu selfishly watched him for a time, and thought, just once, that she had seen a sadness claim his features.

 Ayu stood from where she sat and took in the extent of the carnage around her. Buildings that had once been standing now lay in ruin. A thick layer of heavy dirt covered everything on their block. She slowly moved around the street, watching her step carefully. The elf picked her way from building to building, steadily making her way down the road. Near where she had first spied the spider queen, Ayu spotted a stone slab, standing apart from any other feature. Curiosity got the better of her and she walked toward it, keeping her stance ready to turn and run.

 As she neared the stone slab, Ayu noticed that it may have once been an alter, or other place of importance. The stone came to just below her waist as she stopped in front of one of its long faces. She blew a lungful of dust from the top of the stone, and discovered something there, under all the dirt and debris. A book lay open on the slab, its pages crimped and torn. Ayu gingerly lifted the book and shook off the layer of filth coating it. The cloud that erupted from the pages of parchment caused Ayu to cough, startling the others.

 “Ayu!” Wynne cried. “What are you doing over there? Come back here.”

 Ayu rolled her eyes, a smirk on her lips, and made her way back to her companions. She gingerly carried the book in one hand, letting the pages flop to release more dust. Once Ayu had rejoined the group, she sat on a fallen section of slightly curved wall, and balanced the book on her lap.

 “What do you have there?” Leliana asked, sitting down beside the Warden.

 “I don't know. It was laying open on a slab of rock just over where the spider was before she spotted us. I think I can just make out what it says.” She tilted her head from side to side as she spoke.

 Ayu brushed her fingers over the parchment, removing more dust in a plume. She squinted down at the pages laid out on her lap, her concentration focused. The others watched her expectantly, but it was a moment before Ayu began to piece together the words.

 

“ 'The Anvil is not here. It never was. The dwarf that lied to me shall be made to pay' . . The next few words are too smudged for me to read.” Ayu tilted the book on her lap, trying to catch better light. “ ' . . a touched dwarf . . too painful to carry an actual conversation . . He lived here in the Roads – knows all their secrets. He has seen the Anvil. It does exist – I knew it! We are making our way to the Dead Trenches. I am so close to claiming the Anvil for my own . . . Branka.' ” Ayu closed the book, letting it rest beside her on the stone. “It looks like Branka went to a section of the Roads called the Dead Trenches.”