The Long Road Ahead

Calliara's eyes softened, and she put a hand under Kassina's chin to make her lift her gaze.

''Never look at the ground, cub. Be always proud of what you are, never submit to anyone'' She smiled, and then stroked her hair tenderly. ''Alright, if the Commander gave you permission you can go. Dartmoor, give me Fenrir back. Be careful you two''

With Fenrir again in her arms, she turned her head to Guremi curiously. She thought that maybe her wound was still aching. Head's wounds were a bad, bad thing. ''Guremi, sit down. And don't try to argue, it's an order''

Fenrir tried to lick her, and Calliara set him on the ground. The puppy jumped on happiness and then rushed to play with his lizard friend, waving his little tail and patting it with his little paws.

While Abraxas played with the Mabari pup, he looked curiously at the one horned woman.

He thought to himself for a moment, then rubbed his face and sighed.

He stood up in one fluid motion, and in a blink of an eye, he was standing next to the wounded woman.

He took out a vial of purplish liquid from beneath his cloak, opened it up, and poured it on to his hands.

He rubbed them vigorously together, and a faint purple shimmering, pulsing outline appeared around his gloved hands. With each pulse they seemed to get brighter and brighter, and almost seemed to hum as well.

He began to reach for the head of the woman, and stopped.

"May I? This will help with the healing. It will take hours to regrow your horn, instead of weeks or months." Kraven asked, a soft trembling tone to his voice.

Kassina did her best not to flinch from the other woman's touch as she slowly looked into her eyes and nodded.

She took a deep breath and then practically ran from the clearing, slowing only long enough to grab Dartmoor's hand as she passed and drag him along behind her until they were safely screened away from the others by the trees. Would the long crazy days never stop?

Once they were away she slowed down and finally stopped and turned to Dartmoor. "Dartmoor ok?" She asked with concern in her eyes. He seemed to be taking the wierd events of the day even harder than she was.

As she waited for a reply she pondered what the tattooed elf had said. Obey but not submit. Was there a difference? Maybe Dartmoor would know. "Obey. Submit. How not same?" She asked, a look of confusion on her face.

Then she realized she was still holding Dartmoor's hand and she felt her face flush. She dropped his hand and suddenly became very interested in her boots.

She sat down as Calliara said, grateful for the warden's ability to see what Guremi refused to show. Too much pride? Maybe that was so but she had to keep something for herself to remind her of who she was, who she'd made herself become.

The air almost seemed to shimmer making her look up to see Kraven standing there, reaching for her head.

"May I? This will help with the healing. It will take hours to regrow your horn, instead of weeks or months."

Now that was an unexpected reaction from the man and she tilted her head slowly while petting the red wolf by her side, "You wish to help me? Calliara seems to trust you so I will too. I would very much appreciate that help." In fact she was concerned about insects getting into the hollow horn and didn't want to keep stuffing cloth into it to stop that. As it was, she had a scarf in the crevice to keep insects out but the extra pressure did not help keep the pain away, "But why would you wish to help Qunari?"

As he placed his hands above her head, around where the wound, and broken horn were, a series of pulses flashed out and cover the wound. Energy crackled and cascaded into the wound, and as it subsided, flesh began to knit, and bone began to regrow.

"I choose to help you because I know that you have other blood running through those veins as well." he whispered to her so the others couldn't hear.

"I do not have fond memories of your race, this is true. All Qunari that I have met, were usually already corrupted by the darkspawn, and transformed into what you call Ogres."

"However, their conquest has not interfered with my ultimate goal. At least not yet, if the time does come, and I do see them on the battle field before me, I will not hesitate to take them down."

"You will feel some discomfort for the next few hours as the bone and flesh knit." He explained to her calmly.

He turned in a billowing of his cloak, and for a brief moment, several horns could be see hanging from his belt, going down the side of his leg. He again wrapped the cloak around him, and stood looking into the fire, the blue strands of light from his eyes, seemed to crackle and spark in tune with the campfire flames.

((Kassina and Dartmoor are moving here to go see the wolves. https://dragonageafter.forumotion.com/t258-dancing-with-wolves#3916 ))

"The help is appreciated, I assure you. The dominant genes in my makeup are by no means what makes me who I am." She said while carefully removing the cloth from within her horn, "My life had been spent avoiding that race especially because I know of their culture. They may have accepted me but certainly as a lesser being." She gave Kraven a determined look, "I refuse to be taken as less than my honour and actions demand."

She petted the wolf then looked towards Kraven, "I am sorry to be forward but, may I inquire towards the flower and drink. I have yet to see a drink so darkly red as blood besides blood. And maybe you would wish for a new flower. That one is almost beyond its span."

"You know of the drink already." Kraven began, "It is not something that I normally talk about, however, since we are to be friends, then you might as well know."

Kraven got up, and took a step back from the Qunari, looking at his handy work, as the horn was healing nicely.

"When a demon possess a mage, or anyone for that fact, they can not preserve the body forever. Even though, I am an immortal elf, having the power of a demon inside me still weakens my body, and threatens to change it into something grotesque. The corruption courses through my veins, taking away my ability to love, but giving me enormous power in exchange. And to sustain this body as it is, so I do not have to take another, I need to drink upon Lyrium, and the blood of darkspawn. It is similar to the drink you took when you became a grey warden. However, the blood I drink, is also mixed with a certain ingredient that you do not ingest. And that is the birthing fluid from a broodmother. Not very much, just a drop or two with each batch that I make. Just enough to kill or corrupt anything that it may touches."

He paused, looked down at the ground for a moment, and then with amazing speed he scooped something up from the ground.

He showed it to the qunari, in his hand as a small beetle, "This is such a harmless creature, but when you do this, " He took a vial of liquid from underneath his cloak, popped the cork, and then with care, poured a single drop onto its shell.

Before their eyes the beetle began to change, it grew, and mutated into something only thought to be seen in nightmares. Before it got to big, or to grotesque he through it into the fire, where it screeched as it was consumed by the flames.

"This liquid can create dark spawn, because of the birthing fluids of the brood mother. This is why it can only ever touch my lips. I am corrupted even beyond what the dark spawn are, so their blood does not have the effect on me as it would on you. It sustains me instead of killing me."

He looked at her, sorrow upon his face, "Do you know what happens to grey warden females when it is their time to journey into the deep roads, when they can no longer resist the call?"

Calliara had been watching Fenrir playing with his new friend, a small smile on her lips, and almost distracted.

"Do you know what happens to grey warden females when it is their time to journey into the deep roads, when they can no longer resist the call?"

''You be unique among your kind as the Father be unique among mine. The darkness is not bad''

The Wolf looked at them, wide terrified eyes and deathly pale, and remembering other words...

"The Father be glad to take you in''

Broodmother

Nausea hit her, and terror possessed every muscle in her body.

Broodmother

Calliara almost jumped from the stone she had been sitting on, and kneeled beside the nearest bush, vomiting violently

"You know of the drink already. It is not something that I normally talk about, however, since we are to be friends, then you might as well know."

He certainly was ominous when he spoke of strange matters and even though she was used to many being unusual or sounding outright strange, Kraven had an air about him that was more than what others had. She listened and watched as he showed what happens when the liquid in his bottle touched an insect. There was hardly enough time to do anything before the insect was burned in the fire.

The thought of that liquid being in a person. And it was similar to what they had drunk in order to become wardens? What was that? The liquid looked like blood but was it really darkspawn blood? That was worrisome but not something she could do anything about. She'd chosen and would not have done any different even if she knew what the liquid had been before she drank it. It was her oath to do what was best.

Kraven spoke more and she listened carefully. There was much this man went through but his question took her from that thought.

"Do you know what happens to grey warden females when it is their time to journey into the deep roads, when they can no longer resist the call?"

Then Calliara ran off and threw up making Guremi watch after her, "No I do not but I believe Calliara does." She took a water bottle and brought it over to the other woman, "It seems as though this is something I may not wish to know."

"Let us all hope that you die a warriors death against the dark spawn, rather than turn into something that we will have to hunt down and kill later." Kraven said.

He crouched beside the fire, and scooped up a flame into the palm of his hand. He began waving his other hand around it. The fire began to pulsate and strands of blue flame started weave in and out of the fiery orange of the natural flames.

"Permissum is lux lucis rector meus via , quod exsisto me insquequo terminus" he murmured over the ball of fire, as it began to float, both hands now encircling it, strands of magic seemingly pulled from him to fill and replace the flames.

Then, with a flash of bright white light, it was over, and floating in front of Kraven was a solid ball of light, it glowed and pulsated with a life of its own. Blue and white energy strands seemed to crackle and cascade across the surface, as it came to float beside his shoulder.

''Don't talk about that'' Calliara pleaded, breathless and not looking at them, avoiding their eyes, their concern, and moving away from Guremi, her shoulders shaking. ''Not in front of me''

Broodmother

The Wolf shivered. Fenrir looked at her and cried, worried for his Mommy, and licked Abraxas one time before trotting to be next to Calli, patting her boot and looking up to her, ears low. The Dalish managed to smile and whispered something soothing to him, and the puppy went back to his playing with the lizard

"I will not mention it again," Kraven started, "However, just because it is not spoken of, does not mean it is still not there."

Abraxas stopped playing with the wolf, cocked his head, and went to stand beside Kraven, pushing against his leg.

Kraven scratched the lizards head for a moment, and gave him a good pat on his side. The large lizards tongue hung out as he enjoyed the attention he received.

''I know it'' Calliara whispered. ''Better than you. I've been told by them what I was meant to become. I saw Broodmothers in the Deep Roads. I know it very well''

"I have gone deeper into the roads than anyone has been brave enough to try. And have spent years at a time patrolling, and wandering around, hunting and slaying darkspawn as I went."

Kraven thought for a moment, before he decided to continue, "The things that you may have encountered here on the surface, or even in the depths that you have been, is nothing compared to what is ACTUALLY down there in the darkness. Maybe if you are brave enough, and we all survive the coming darkness, I will take you there, and show you what REAL dark spawn are all about."

"For instance, I found Abraxas here about five years ago, at a depth of about 2 years. And Lobo a few months later even further down, just as I was coming back."

Kraven sighed, and looked at Calliara, "There is away for you to not have to go through all of that." he whispered, his voice barely audible, just enough for elven ears to pick up.

"We should leave this topic be and discuss more about topics less controversial." Guremi suddenly spoke with an authoritative voice. This was too much. Whatever these broodmothers were they were more than enough to make the seasoned warden blanche like whitened laundry and that was not a good sign at all. No one knew what all types of darkspawn there were or how they interacted but she did know there was more than enough with the few everyone was used to.

"The commander should be here any time so since the both of you know much more about this than I it would be helpful if you could tell more of other things to me about darkspawn and being a warden of the grey, other than these broodmothers. I do not believe I wish to know of that as of yet. My head hurts enough without squabbling." She rubbed at the base of the broken horn and sighed.

"What can we expect as wardens?"

Part Qunari or not, her sensitive ears heard the comment to Calliara, "Excuse me? How is this?"

Kraven's head snapped around quickly to look at the qunari female, "This option would only work for an elf. It would be no small task though; it involves getting her immortality back."

Abraxas let out a soft whine, and laid down at Kravens feet, his tail slowly snapping back and forth.

"Any elf could can regain their immortality will be able to resist the corrupting changes of the blood they ingested."

He closed his eyes, and lowered his head, "You want to know more about the dark spawn that you have yet to encounter? These things are so horrible and nightmarish that they would make your skin crawl. You think an Ogre is frightening to behold. These things are mere children compared to what awaits in in the bowels of the deep roads."

He looked up, the color gone from his face, "I have encounter creatures that could only be called living ooze, and no way of actually dispatching them, only way is to run. Another creature that I encountered had jagged rock like growths growing all over its body, making it hard to score a hit on its soft flesh. And even when you did, when its blood would pour, it would create more rocky growths to protect it more. And these two creatures were the least nightmarish of the ones I have encountered."

''Stop already!'' Calliara snarled, in her usual stoic mood again. ''Enough! Those are things you'll speak with the Commander and not with the recruits!''

The Wolf looked at Guremi and shook her head. ''You'll be told what is needed and no more. Stop asking. This conversation ends here. Sit down and rest''

Fenrir whined and Calliara picked him up to ease herself by petting the puppy. Looking again at Kraven, she shook her head again. ''I don't want to be immortal. And by the way, you said you can't touch. Then why can you touch your little lizard? Is a he or a she? What's its name?''

"Your recruits should not be coddled like children. They should know the horrors that they are getting themselves into. Considering how rare it is to see an old Warrden." Kraven snarled back.

"This, is Abraxas." he patted the lizard on the head. "He is immune to my touch because he is no ordinary lizard." He looked up at Calliara and grinned.

"He's a dragon."

"It will still be years before he is full grown, but what a beast he will be."

Abraxas stood up, and lifted his head proudly, and gave a small tiny roar, then shook himself, and laid down, his head resting at Kraven's feet.

''I agree with you, but it's not your place nor mine to choose what things to tell and what not. It's the Commander's'' Calliara replied back.

Then she crouched, with Fenrir in her arms and looking at Abraxas curiously, even amazed.

''It is an honor to meet you, Abraxas, Da Falon (little friend)''

Guremi petted the red wolf as the other two spoke, noticing that she was becoming agitated from what was being said, whining and looking up at the part qunari. She whispered to the wolf, making hushing sounds to calm the animal. The warrior was not one who blanched easily and this news, disturbing as it was, did not make her fearful but more determined, "It is ok, Da'Vhenan (Little Heart). We will not be going into these roads for quite some time and I doubt if we will ever be able to traverse that far. Hush. It's alright."

The name she gave to the wolf sounded more like a true name rather than a term for what the wolf was. In fact, Da'Vhenan was the wolf's actual name.

When it was said that Abraxas was a dragon cub she looked up to the animal and smiled, "A dragon? It is nice to meet one of you in a pleasant situation." She commented, "Yet ... you look different from dragonlings I have seen above ground. I wonder if there is many sub species."

"I am not sure of what species of dragon he might be. When I found him all I thought he was was a lyrium infused rock. So I stored it away in my satchel, and a few months later he hatched."

"I've never really thought about what kind his is, or where he came from, he just follows me everywhere, must think I am his family." he scratched the dragonling behind his ears, and Abraxas made some happy growling sounds from deep in his throat.

"He hunts when he needs foods, and always comes back to trot next to me. I don't think me and him have parted for more than a few hours at a time."

With a flash of light and howls of pain Lobo appeared in the campsite, right in the middle of the roaring fire.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!" he screamed in pain, dancing around, patting himself down, trying to put out the flames. Then he stopped for a moment, his clothes on fire, and dropped to the ground, and started rolling around. With in moments the fire was out, and all that was left was a smoldering Lobo, his clothes all in tatters. The satchel his wore at his side seemed to be unscathed.

"Why Lobo get hurt all time?" he asked, speaking to no one in particular.

He looked around, his clothes in tatters, shrugged his shoulders, and dug into his satchel, and pulled out a new shirt, hat, shoes and pants. All exactly the same as before. Before anyone could protest, he stripped down, and quickly changed into his new attire, showing no modesty what so ever.

He then went and sat next to Abraxas, took out his flute, and began to play a beautiful and enchanting melody. The shadows around the camp seemed to spring to life and dance in time to the music. The fire flared, and waved as if controlled or enchanted by the wondrous notes that filled the air.

To anyone listening to this melody, they could hear that in the background other instruments could be heard softly playing. A lute, some drums, and other air blown instruments. It was almost like an invisible orchestra playing right here in the camp.

Abraxas got up, and began hoping around in time to the music, almost like a little dance.

''I wonder if he would let me pet him...'' Calliara sighed, looking at Abraxas with softened eyes.

That was when Lobo jumped out the fire and started rolling around, clothes on fire. Before any of them could think of what to do, he strange creature was standing and changing clothes again, not minding who was staring or who was not.

But when that little funny thing sat down and stared playing that flute... Oh Creators. Calliara's eyes went wide and looked in disbelief at Lobo. How...?

''How can you do that?'' She asked, crouching in front of him and looking at him with wide surprised eyes. ''That music... How can you do that with just a flute?''

Abraxas wagged the end of his tail, and danced over to Caliara, and gave her a nudge, trying to push on her to come join him.

Lobo stopped for a moment, "Lobo find flute in deep roads. Lobo like shinies." he said as he went back to playing.

The music became more ominous, and the shadows changed to what looked like a huge battle scene. Men and elves alike fought each other; cutting each other down with brutal force, showing no mercy to one another.

To any Dalish elf, this could only be the battle of Elf vs the Tevinter Empire. The empire that invaded Thedas, the homeland of the elves, slaughtering them without mercy, before they were enslaved.