With Me Always: A Dragon Age Tale (Dragon Age Inquisition)

Chapter 21

"No! Not here! She cannot be born here. The fabric of time would collapse in on itself!" Javaris panicked. Haylie let out a cry of pain as the first wave of contractions began. "Mirianna, do you think you can help me to slow her labour?" Javaris asked hopefully. "I can try..." She said. "Although I have very little to draw from here, I'd be drawing largely from the both of you and it could weaken you both." Mirianna bit her lip. "We have no choice! We are all dead anyways, we might as well give it our all." Javaris reasoned.
Mirianna took a deep breath, focusing her power on her mother's abdomen. A sense of relief spread over the pregnant elf as the pain reduced itself to a gentle pressure.
The earth shook around them, angry and panicking. Cassandra barely dodging a large piece of falling debris. "Lets get out of here now!" Javaris ordered. Dorian lifted Haylie into his arms, and the group retreated from the crumbling ruins of Skyhold.
"I need you to trust me..." Javaris said, approaching the bridge at Skyhold. He took a step up, standing on the ledge.
"Wait...no no no. Are you insane?!" Cassandra gasped. But before she even finished the sentence he'd jumped backwards from the ledge disappearing over the other side. "Did he just-?!" Cassandra started.
"No." Mirianna interrupted. "It's the way in."
"Oh you're joking!" Dorian piped. "Nope, it's a portal. And it's not like he could open one where someone could accidentally walk into it. I've seen him use portals like this before, but this one must've been here since..." Mirianna trailed off. Cole looked at her with a knowing glance. "This is not because of you." He said. Suddenly Haylie let out a small stifled cry. "We have to jump. Now!" Mirianna said. "I can only hold her off so long." She said with a wince. "How do we know he isn't tricking us into collective suicide?!" Cassandra argued. But Mirianna ignored her and jumped. "Ugh!" Cassandra exclaimed. "We don't exactly have a lot of options here seeker." Dorian said.
"Besides, Cole's already gone. " he observed.
"Wha-" Cassandra started, turning to confirm Cole's absence before begrudgingly jumping over after him. "Dorian. If we die, remind me to haunt Javaris's ass for all eternity" Lavellan said. "Done" he replied.
Almost as soon as they jumped over they found themselves at the entrance of a large stone fortress surrounded with green and gold flags. "Well, the psychopaths do have style." Dorian remarked.
The group followed Javaris over a wooden draw bridge and into the fortress. It wasn't at all what Haylie had pictured, it had green velvet carpets and stained glass of every color imaginable. Books and tomes lined the walls
and a fireplace seemed to burn in every other room. The people seemed friendly, almost tranquil-like. It was a bit unnerving. Javaris lead Haylie into small bedroom. "Mirianna, I need you to go and go and fetch Odette, tell her there is a woman here in labour." Javaris ordered.  As Mirianna left, Javaris turned to Haylie. "I'm sure you have many questions." He said. " Haylie gestured for her friends to wait out in the main hall as Javaris led her to a large fire-lit bedroom. "These are my quarters, I believe they should be sufficient for now, you must try to remain as still and rested as possible so as to stall the laboring process" he explained.
Haylie was bewildered by his kindness and that of the other elves.
"These are the people that slaughtered my entire Inquisition and kidnapped my baby?" Haylie asked. "No" Javaris answered. "Those people weren't part of my team. Their methods were unethical and cruel." He explained.
"Like sending mass amounts of elves into battles you know they can't possibly win?" Haylie snapped.
"You misunderstand. None of them are truly dead. I haven't raised an army of undead, I've simply put the living under a spell. A temporary...curse I suppose. You see, one day when Mirianna dies, the link between her magic and the elvhen will be broken. And I, or my successor will be able to wake every elf from this curse." Javaris explained.
"But what about the army of the undead Mirianna spoke of?" Haylie asked.
"Mirianna, like you, has misunderstood. But perhaps this is best. At least for her." He admitted.
"What do you mean?" Haylie asked.
"I have no plans to summon an undead army, the plan she was referring to was taken from my notes I believe, which requires her blood to raise the fallen elves back to life. But they aren't technically dead, just devoid of brain activity. So no magic can be drawn from time. Frozen in a way, slumbering dreamlessly until her power can awake them. "Javaris explained.
"But if they're alive, why not tell Mirianna?" Haylie asked.
"If I were to tell Mirianna that her death could bring back every elf lost in the war, she would not hesitate to take their place." Javaris said solemnly.
"No, I wouldn't." Mirianna said.