When Fate Summons (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

Through the Fire and Flames

It had been strange sleeping in the cave Granny had brought them to, like being back in the Deep Roads only with the outside air blowing in. Anawyn woke slowly from a troubled sleep, stretching and yawning. Cybele was waking, too, and she smiled at Anawyn.

"So much nicer to be able to hear the birds, isn't it?" she said, her face lighting up.

Anawyn nodded, getting up from her bedroll. She looked around the cave. "Where's Granny?" she asked.

"Not far," came Granny's voice from outside the cave. She sounded unusually cheerful. "I have quite a treat for you girls today. Come along." She waited impatiently as they hurried to perform their ablutions, and then strode off at a brisk pace, forcing the girls to scurry to keep up with her.

They climbed through the mountains for some time before emerging into a large, barren valley in the midst of the mountain peaks. Ruined walkways and parts of crumbled buildings surrounded them.

Granny looked at them, her eyes aglow. "Watch well, children. Few have ever been privileged to see what you will witness today. And lived to tell about it, that is." She looked around, then led them to a pile of large boulders at the base of one of the cliffs. Gesturing for the two girls to hide behind the boulders, Granny said, "You two should be safe here. Don't move, don't make a sound ... but watch." She threw her head back and laughed. "I'm going to have some fun." Once the two girls were tucked into the pile of boulders, Granny held her hand out over the boulders. She chanted a string of words, and a blue glow surrounded the girls. "The protective ward should prevent any ... distractions," she said.

Anawyn and Cybele looked at each other, both filled with a nervous eagerness. Granny's enthusiasm was infectious, and they couldn't wait to see what was going to happen.

Turning from them, Granny walked into the middle of the open area, where Anawyn could now discern the outline of a circle etched into the ground. Throwing her head back, Granny flung her arms out, calling out a few words in a harsh, guttural language Anawyn had never heard before. As she watched, Granny's arms began to elongate, her figure to stretch and thicken, and then there was a flash of light the color of flame. When Anawyn's dazzled eyes could see again, where Granny had been now stood a giant red dragon.

Its (her?) scales glittered in the sun, and Anawyn thought she could see Granny's amused and knowing expression in the eyes that gazed down at the two girls. Then the giant mouth stretched up toward the sky and a jet of flame burned brightly in the air as the dragon's great roar echoed through the mountains. Cybele and Anawyn sat watching with their jaws open.

This was what her mother would have to defeat? Anawyn thought in despair. What Anawyn herself, with or without Cybele's help, would have to defeat if her parents didn't arrive in time? She thought of Urthemiel sadly, feeling sure that somehow she would have to let him down. How could one little girl, or even two, take on a whole dragon?

And then, as the sound of Granny-dragon's roar died away, the sky darkened and another roar split the quiet that followed. Looking up, the girls saw a green dragon wheeling in a large circle above Granny-dragon, its wings blocking out part of the sun. Slowly it circled, coming closer and closer, until finally it landed on the opposite side of the circle from Granny-dragon.

The two dragons looked at each other for a long moment, then the giant heads bowed, nearly touching the dirt, and they both stood to their full height again. As if a signal had been given, they charged across the circle toward each other.

The green dragon attacked first, one claw striking out at Granny-dragon's neck, but Granny-dragon dodged neatly, striking the green dragon smartly across the head with her tail as she turned. The green dragon reeled from the blow, staggering backward, and Granny-dragon followed up her advantage with a burst of flame in the direction of the green dragon's eyes.

The green dragon flung its wing up to protect its eyes, but it gave a howl of pain as the flame singed the wing. Granny-dragon danced back, her eyes alight in exultation, but when the green dragon lowered its wing, its mouth emitted a burst of green poison, and Granny-dragon shrieked, choking and staggering as the cloud hit her. The green dragon lumbered forward, great claws ripping at the air, just missing Granny-dragon's shimmering red body as Granny-dragon jerked about in pain. As the green cloud dissipated, the girls could see bare dragon-flesh where scales had fallen off from the poison, and Granny-dragon seemed to be moving slowly.

Anawyn thought maybe the green dragon would win, and then there wouldn't be anything to worry about. Maybe she could help it along! She gathered fire in her hands, readying a fireball to throw into the battle.

"What are you doing?" Cybele asked sharply.

"If the green dragon won, we'd be free to go home."

"Or get eaten. Besides, what about that protective circle?" Both girls looked up at the blue glow. "I'll bet the fire can't get through."

Anawyn wasn't used to this new, more assertive Cybele, but the point was a good one. She let the fire dissipate, then poked at the blue glow with a finger. It was—or at least felt—solid. Cybele shot a tiny blast of arcane energy into the blue glow with one finger, and it was absorbed.

"See?" Cybele said. "She thought of that."
Anawyn's shoulders slumped. For a moment, she'd seen freedom before her. Now the task ahead looked just as hard as ever. Wanting to cry, she turned her attention back to the battle between the two dragons.

They'd both slowed down quite a bit. The green dragon's wings were hanging uselessly, and one eye wept poisonous green tears that splashed sizzling onto the dirt. The Granny-dragon was still pitted from the poison attack, and she was favoring one leg. She blasted another jet of flame from her mouth, the green dragon too slow to get entirely out of the way, and it keened in pain as the fire seared its vulnerable underbelly. It clawed at Granny-dragon, the claws connecting with Granny-dragon's injured leg, but that mostly seemed to make Granny-dragon mad. She pushed closer to the green dragon, her great wings buffeting at its head, and her mouth closed around the delicate area where the green dragon's head joined its neck.

The green dragon reared, screaming in alarm and pain, and Granny's hold was dislodged, but the girls could see blood streaming from where Granny had bitten out a chunk of the green dragon's flesh.

It wouldn't be long now, Anawyn thought with a sinking heart. Their best chance to escape gone, because the green dragon wasn't strong enough.

It was floundering now, clearly too injured to fight any longer. With a final lunge and a snapping of her great jaws, Granny-dragon bit through the green dragon's spine. With one foot on its fallen body, she trumpeted her victory to the skies. It was a terrifying sound, and Anawyn hoped her parents weren't close enough to hear it. They shouldn't have to be as scared as she was right now. She wiped away a tear that was falling down her cheek, and when she looked back, Granny in her human form stood there, her eyes closed as she concentrated on healing all her wounds.

Once she'd done so, Granny knelt at the side of the fallen dragon, filling a vial with its blood. Her grisly trophy in hand, she stood up and looked at the girls. "It is finished," she said, her face aglow with triumph. "Tomorrow, the ritual will be complete." She smiled at Cybele with a terrifying glee.