And Then There Was More Death

Maric's blood was pounding so hard in his ears that he barely heard the cries of battle around him. His plan had worked better than he had hoped. There were only a few Darkspawn left that he could see. It looked like they would be triumphant after all.

As another Hurlock fell to his blade he felt the ground tremble under his feet. He turned and saw a large armored ogre clomping into the courtyard. Already, several soldiers were hurling themselves at the beast. It brushed most of them aside as if they were nothing more than insects.

Maric started heading for the monstrosity, taking his time, trying to find the best way to approach it without being knocked away. He was assessing its armor as he went, looking for a weak spot he could use to his advantage. He noticed a gap between the chest plate and the helmet, leaving a vulnerable spot at the beast's neck.

As he approached the ogre, moving behind it to find a way to climb up on it the monster suddenly bent over and pulled a large piece of earth from the ground. Hefting it over his head, the ogre threw the boulder sized chunk.

Maric's heart felt like it stopped when he saw the projectile's trajectory. Resisting the urge to close his eyes he watched in horror as it flew directly at Anders and Zevran. They were standing on the battlement one moment and the next moment they were both gone.

He heard a blood curdling scream and recognized it as his own. Feeling rage and grief crawl over him like a palpable thing he screamed again. "No!" He ran at the ogre and lunged at it. He pushed off of something, possibly another fighter and flung himself at the Ogre's neck.

Gripping the edge of the ogre's armor Maric thrust his sword into its throat, still screaming. He pulled the sword out and stabbed the ogre again and again. Not even when the Ogre gripped him trying to pull him away did he stop. He felt the ogre stumble and then start falling backwards. He heard his voice screaming, but it sounded strange in his ears.

"No more, you get no more of my children. If you want a Theirin you take me damn you."

Once the ogre was on its back on the ground he yanked his sword free again and plunged it into an unblinking eye. "You can't have them. You take me." He didn't notice the silence the fell around him as he continued stabbing the ogre and yelling.

He felt a hand on his arm and moved to jerk his arm away.

"Maric, stop. It's dead."

Maric stopped and looked at her, she was streaked with blood, dirt caked much of her face and armor. She tugged on his arm gently. "Come down, they're all dead. We won."

Maric looked around at the men and women standing around them. They all looked relieved, if a bit confused. He climbed down off the ogre and looked to Sareyna. He felt pain grip him again and he wrapped his arms around Sareyna not caring who saw or heard him. "Anders…" he sobbed against her shoulder. "I wasn't…fast enough." He clutched at her back and she wrapped her arms around him. "I keep letting my children die." He shook his head, still buried against her shoulder.

Sareyna finally realized what Maric was saying and she felt her breath hitch. "Anders?" her voice was tremulous. She pulled back and scanned the wall and saw a large chunk of it missing where Anders and Zevran had been standing earlier. "Where are they Maric? Where are Zevran and Anders?" Her voice was getting close to hysterical.

Maric stood upright, tears stains tracking down his cheeks. "The ogre knocked them off the wall." He shook his head. "They didn't have a chance."

Sareyna took in a shaky breath and shook her head no, tears in her eyes. "No…no…please…no." She sank to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. She started sobbing, "NO!"

Maric crouched down and wrapped his arms around her while she wept. The soldiers standing near the duo slowly started moving away, leaving the two to grieve.

"Holy Maker, that's ugly, even for a broodmother." Alistair made a disgusted face as they walked into the lair.

"What's wrong with it? I've never seen one that looked like that." Oghren looked as disgusted as Alistair.

Alistair shrugged, "Maybe it's a byproduct of the Architect's ritual?"

As they approached the stench of her hit them and they all recoiled slightly.

"Keep an eye out. Look at all the pods." Nathaniel nodded up towards The Mother. "They run the whole length of the room."

They stopped a few feet in front of the hideous broodmother.

"Now the pieces fall into place. The Grey Warden comes, the instrument of The Father. Oh, and the Father, he is but a shadow. How my children protect me. How they love me."

Alistair cringed at the sound of her voice, she even sounded utterly mad.

A specter of the Architect appeared beside them. "I have told you many times Mother, I am not the Father, I am simply the Architect."

"It does not change what you are. You took away the beautiful music and left us with nothing."

"It was a mistake to free you. It has left you with madness, I am truly sorry."

"What's done is done. The mother is a horror and must die." Alistair spat.

"Ah, but perhaps the Warden would like to hear how it was the Father that began the Blight. You want the source of the Archdemon? The one that brought our kind to the surface? Here he is."

The Architect lowered his head.

"Well paint me green and call me a turnip."

"Really, Oghren you're surprised that he…of all people…started a Blight?" Alistair arched a brow at Oghren.

"No, suppose not."

The Architect looked up at the sound of the two of them talking. He seemed to disregard their remarks, "Ah, there it is then. Unfortunate. I did find the Old God Urthemiel, but I did not wish another Blight. I attempted my joining ritual. My hope was that this would free all Darkspawn, unravel the curse from its source. Alas, I was unlucky."

Alistair snorted, "Do you even think about the repercussions of your actions?"

The Architect's voice was again calm and cultured. "Is it not the way of the Grey Wardens to do what must be done, in the name of combating the Blight? The Blight is a menace, both for your people and mine. To end it requires sacrifice and risk."

The Mother cackled, "And how lonely the Father was, how terrible to be the outcast, the outsider. He claims he wishes the Darkspawn to be free, but what he truly wants is to correct them."

The Architect looked back to Alistair, "However you feel about what I have done, the Mother is mad, she cannot be allowed to…"

His words were cut off with a wave of the Mother's hand, the specter disappeared "Begone shadow! You cannot harm the Mother anymore than you already have. And now the hero is alone. Oh, the Mother knows your ways. You will not let her be, no, not after what she has done. And so it must end, it all must come crashing down." He voice started sounding far away, almost wishful. "Perhaps, we will hear the song again when we die. Oh, let it come, let it come." The Mother's face seemed to peel open in four sections, revealing muscle and bone as she screamed.

All of them drew their weapons and the battle was joined. Nathaniel and Morrigan concentrated on picking of the dozens of Childer that kept pouring into the lair as Alistair and Oghren hacked away at the Mother.

Suddenly, Morrigan felt her mana drained away. She looked down and saw a glowing glyph of negation. "Fuck." She moved back out of the way and quickly drank a Lyrium potion. From there on she tried to keep moving while she cast, on the few occasions she paused to cast a larger spell she found her mana drained again.

After the fifth time Morrigan had had enough. She was feeling a bit loopy from drinking all the lyrium and knew that the Mother was going to just keep draining her mana away. Morrigan grabbed her knife and made shallow cuts along the inside of each arm. Reaching out she held all of the childer in the lair paralyzed.

Most of them were already injured and bleeding, she used it to her advantage. She used their blood to fuel her spells as she started firing them in rapid succession at the Mother. When the Mother realized that her glyph was having no effect on Morrigan she started screaming in frustration.

Oghren and Alistair continued to attack her as Nathaniel started taking care of the now paralyzed Childer. Morrigan felt herself start to tire as the Childer were killed as she had to use more and more of her own blood to fuel her spells.

She was surprised when Nathaniel grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away from the fight. "Enough, all the little things are dead and the Mother is nearly so."

Morrigan sagged to the floor exhausted. "Help them."

Nathaniel nodded and went back to fight, his arrows landing with a dull thud as they hit the massive creature. The Mother was waiving her tentacles around, trying to knock Alistair or Oghren down, but for the most part they were able to avoid her clumsy attempts.

There was blood flowing down from her forehead, and running into her eyes. And she kept shrieking the whole time. Oghren spun and hacked off the tentacle closest to him, Nathaniel pinned another one to the ground with an arrow.

When the Mother bent down to scream at them Alistair took his sword and shoved it straight into the middle of her face. "Shut up, you crazy bitch!" She let out a last weakened squeal then slumped forward. Alistair grunted in satisfaction and turned and started walking out of the lair.

Morrigan raised a brow at him, "Going to leave that blade here to rot?"

Alistair scowled, "I was trying to make a dramatic exit." He laughed suddenly, "Alright," he jogged back and pulled his blade from the Mother's face with a wet pop. "Let's go home."

End of Part 2, Part 3 will start to be posted this weekend!