Love's Blush

by Sabrina Zbasnik

  "Maker only knows how many more to go," Alistair added on.

  Continuing onward the roads tipped at an angle, as if the very earth below them began to slide. Lana had to lash a hand out to the wall to keep upright, barely moving as the rest all gritted their teeth and hunched onward. Why would Morrigan head into the deep? What was she hiding from? She turned and caught the King of Ferelden flexing his fingers tighter and tighter to the sword at his belt. Aside from a vengeful father. Alistair's power never concerned her but something else must have. No sane person would flee into darkspawn territory if they had no choice.

  Lana knew better than to voice her thoughts, her head tipped down as she kept her eyes focused on the divots and bumps in the road. She was reduced to shuffling her feet, knowing that a fall would hurt not only her but her baby. Sometimes Cullen would glance over, concern evident, but he wouldn't say anything. He was probably saving up all of his nagging worries for when everyone was safe.

  The roads turned a corner to reveal a cramped hallway. "I'm not sensing any wards," Lana announced just before Reiss all but ran ahead. She wasn't in a waiting kind of mood apparently. Barely any light flickered here, the lava somehow dampened or rerouted. Beneath their boots, the ground cracked like stepping over broken pottery, too dark to see what they trod upon. Carefully, Lana lifted up a hint of flame against her fingers and they all gasped.

  Dozens of dead skeletal bodies lay scattered upon the ground like cards blown off the table. Heaped in what looked like three piles, heads and limbs knotted around each other without thought for how they fell.

  "Right, that's not ominous at all," Alistair moaned, shifting his head back and forth to try and chase away the rising willies they all felt. Eyeless sockets gazed up at the King from a skull he nearly put his boot through. "Why are there so many dead bodies here?" he whined, sliding further inward but now making certain to not step on any fingers.

  "This witch's doing?" Cullen asked.

  "They're not darkspawn," Alistair said. "And some of these are ancient. It's almost like she," he bent down, bringing his face closer to the insect-eaten leathers that clung to cobwebbed bones, "brought 'em here for decoration."

  Reiss snarled, "Forget it. We have to keep..."

  Perhaps she tripped a trigger Lana missed, or they'd crossed deep enough into the trap, but the entire pile of corpses took a breath. It wasn't air they pulled into the long dissolved lungs, but magic. The veil cracked apart as every shattered leg bone connected to pulverized hip bones until the skeleton army began to rise to its feet.

  "You have got to be kidding me," Alistair groaned, drawing his sword. The four trained warriors squared off, each taking on their own set of skeletons. Alistair swung first, his blade cleaving a skull off shoulders, but it didn't do much to slow the skeleton down.

  Cullen took the battering ram approach, smashing a shield into the ribcage until the arms, weapons, and skull splattered onto the floor. "Why is it always undead?"

  "Sometimes it's tainted undead," Alistair threw in, beginning to mimic Cullen's style. The well practiced templar knew a thing or two about dealing with demons.

  "You have to be joking," Cullen whipped his sword through a spine, severing it, then turned to Alistair.

  He shrugged, "On that one I wish. I really, really do. Hey, Lanny..."

  His call went unheeded as she ripped apart the veil with one hand and swung her cane at another skeleton. Fire lanced from the tip, lighting up desiccated cotton and flesh like a wick. For a moment the skeleton panicked, its skinless hands trying to pat out the fire, but then it turned towards her. The flaming undead marched closer, uncaring about its own body cracking and popping from the heat.

  "Lana..." Cullen cried, attempting to turn back to rescue her. But he couldn't get close to the fire.

  Smiling, she rolled her fingers and lanced enough ice to freeze a lake solid at the thing. The skeleton blew back at the force, then erupted into millions of bone shards as it splattered against the wall. "All right," Lana twisted her cane around like a baton, "who's next?"

  She prepared another spell on her fingertips when a skeleton hand lanced out from behind. Dodging downward, Lana jabbed her cane back and let a thunderbolt explode from the end. It was enough to send the skeleton flailing backwards. The sounds of bones scrabbling against stone were suddenly met with a happy gurgle.

  "Gavin?" she tried to spin around to check on her boy, but that only whipped him to face his father and 'uncle' in combat. "Sweetie, this, um..." Lana waved her hands and, drawing forth the pressure of a mountain, flattened the skeleton she barely electrocuted. "This isn't normal. Mommy doesn't usually fight undead. Well, not anymore."

  Her baby gurgled again, practically laughing at all the funny corpses dancing at the end of blades. Great, this was certain to warp him. You're terrified of the dark? Probably because when you were six months old I fought a legion of skeletons with you strapped to my back. Sweet dreams, kid. Barely into this and she was already in the running for thedas' worst mother.

  Twisting back around, Lana marched backwards towards the wall to hide Gavin from the skeletons and keep his potential trauma to a minimum. Reiss sliced a head off, then two pairs of arms, and finally leg. As the skeleton tumbled to the ground, she smashed her heel into the skull.

  "I think that's the last of 'em," she panted, wiping sweat off her forehead and nodding at Alistair.

  They both moved to continue onward, when Lana felt the veil knotting itself into a bow. If she concentrated she could see the fade itself like blue light lancing out of the hole deeper into the ground. Oh shit!

  Dirt erupted from below them, hands and legs bursting from the grave Morrigan dug to hide the second wave. The four leapt towards the sides of the hallway as the ground exploded, holes left where they'd been standing. "Seriously?!" Reiss groaned, twisting her shoulder back into position in preparation of beginning again.

  "I love you, Reiss, but this is why we never say 'That's the last of 'em,'" Alistair eyed her up from the other side of the room. Reiss stood beside Lana, deeper in, her eyes hunting the room in preparation of leaping into the fray. Both Cullen and Ali looked ready to charge as well.

  "Everyone freeze," Lana ordered. She twisted the fade through her body, feeding more of herself and the power into the spell winding up her arm.

  "Uh, Lanny," Ali tipped his head towards the skeletons staggering up to their feet, "undead and all. Kinda got to..." His eyes lit up as he realized what the blue orb building on her hand was. "Get down," he ordered, waving at Reiss.

  The elf eyed him up but obeyed, taking a knee. Cullen followed suit too, but he kept his sword within striking distance. The skeletons all twisted like leaves on a bonfire, their limbs shedding dust the way Honor would fur come spring. She had to wait until they were all up. A few stragglers were still bent over, getting their femurs in place, but the others were advancing. Dementedly grinning skulls pivoted unnaturally upon the spines, the cracking of bone striking the air as they all moved towards the crouching humans.

  "Lanny...if you're going to do it. I mean, now'd probably be good. Or, in a few seconds. I'd prefer before we're dead."

  "This is idiotic," Reiss growled, she inched forward, about to rise to her legs.

  "Get down!" Alistair called at her just as the last of skeletons staggered up.

  Releasing the ball of pure cold, the air erupted into freezing ice blasts in nearly 360 degrees. Only the caster was spared, the chill nipping right above the heads of the others who upon feeling it freeze their hair solid dropped stomachs to the ground. The skeletons fared no better, every limb now iced tight to every socket. Their bodies were so brittle a single punch would shatter them.

  Lana sucked in a breath and then glanced around at her people. Tipping her head towards them, she said, "Well, get to it."

  Cullen rose first, his shield bashing into a frozen skeleton and sending ice chunks of bone and human jerky meat glistening into the air. Second behind him was Alistair, while Lanny
turned her cane around and whacked the walking end into the closest skeleton. The ribs crunched in half, another whack breaking the spine until it tipped over and fell dead. They'd have this handled in no time.

  Which was when she turned over and noticed a hole where the elf should be. "Where's Reiss?" she spoke up when she felt the veil being prodded apart. Not here, deeper inside the thaig. "Shit, Alistair, Reiss has gone to confront Morrigan alone!"

  "Are you fucking...? Of course she did, she's..." he snarled, a good ten skeletons remaining to pulverize.

  "Go, go save her. I have this," Lana scurried backwards towards the end of the hall and a cavern where Morrigan must be waiting. Alistair wiped human goo off his cheek and nodded at her before hoofing it after Reiss. "Cullen," she called to her husband, directing him to stand behind her.

  He fell into place but kept his eyes upon the slowly thawing threats. "Lana, what are you...?"

  Dipping deep into a rather esoteric but not forgotten magic, Lana enveloped the fade itself around the ground and then quickly smashed it and all the skeletons against the ceiling. Yanking the fade away, the dirt rained down while a few of the skulls and ribcages remained jammed onto stalactites.

  Her husband squeezed a hand against her shoulder, his eyes wide in surprise at her power. She prayed it wasn't fear. Slowly sheathing his sword, he whispered, "I wonder why I worry about you sometimes."

  "How's our baby?" she spun back to let Cullen have a quick check.

  "Giggling like crazy, which I assume comes from you," he added before replacing the hood.

  Nodding at Gavin being safe, Lana drove more healing through her legs, then followed after Reiss and Alistair. They had to turn down a narrow hallway, which emerged into what must have once been the dwarven equivalent of a mansion. Fires not of this world burned against the sides, casting everything in a haunting blue glow. It was well carved into the stone, a true marvel to behold no doubt, but her eyes were upon the woman in the middle of the room. Dressed in all black save a bit of burgundy around her chest, Morrigan held something tight in her arms while the other waved at Reiss.

  The elf had dashed forward fast, her sword extended back to cut the witch down, but at the last second Morrigan must have paralyzed her body. That was the scene Alistair came upon, his eyes narrowing as he shouted, "You'll pay for everything you've done."

  Whipping his sword into position, he too charged towards Morrigan. The witch sighed, tipping her head back, then blasted another attack at him. But Alistair must have been practicing harder on his skills as he deflected the spell and advanced quicker. Maker, damn it! Lana hobbled faster towards them, pumping all the healing she could into her legs to let her run a bit faster. If she didn't catch up in time someone was going to die.

  Alistair placed a hand to his chest and a wave of dispelling erupted from him, it was enough to knock Morrigan back a step and also free Reiss. The elf barely missed a beat as her body returned to her. Spinning up on her foot, she drew her blade back to strike when the witch yanked a dagger from her bracer and dangled it towards the bundle in her arms.

  "One more step and the child dies," her voice echoed through the cavern.

  Both parents all but collapsed, their attacks falling apart as they stared hard at a little peach head prodding out through the blankets. The baby was quiet, almost deathly so, but when the dispelling magic reached her she began to fuss. Myra's cries caused Reiss to stumble to a knee, her lips blubbering, "My baby." Snarling, she shot back up, nearly beside Morrigan. "I will gut you like a fish."

  "Then I will kill the baby," she said, tipping her head.

  "If you hurt one hair on her head, I swear to the Maker and anyone else listening, Morrigan that I will have you begging for death," Alistair didn't drop his sword, his weapon rising higher with his threat. Reiss followed suit, vengeance burning in her green eyes. Not to be outdone, Morrigan slipped her dagger closer to Myra.

  "For the love of Andraste," Lana hobbled forward, "will you all calm down a moment!"

  At her appearance, Morrigan's sneer faded and she glanced over almost in surprise at Lana. "You I did not expect."

  "Nor did I expect for you to start kidnapping children. Is that not supposed to be your mother's purview?"

  "Ha," Morrigan tossed her head back, the sneer of indignity back in place, "you know nothing of me, Warden. Not who I am, nor what I am capable of." She turned from her only possible friend in the room to glare over at Cullen entering the fray as well. "And I see you brought another templar to my doorstep. Wonderful. It's been a few years since I've had to fight any off."

  At that he went rigid, Cullen's lion stare winnowing down on the witch. Lana gripped onto his arm, trying to keep his sword in the scabbard. The last thing they needed was to make this standoff worse. "Morrigan," she honed in on the witch, "why are you doing this?"

  "Because she's evil, Lanny. You don't need another reason."

  Morrigan rolled her eyes at Alistair, "As obtuse as always. 'Tis a wonder Ferelden didn't return to its state of barbarism under your tutelage."

  "Says the witch that's ripping children from their cradles. Sounds like you fell right out of a fairy story, you know the one where the good knight rams his sword straight through the evil witch's cold, dead heart then heads home the hero." Alistair didn't back down at Morrigan's venom, didn't try to laugh it away or cower as he had all those years ago. She failed to account for the young adult she once knew hardening from life into a man.

  "You speak better than I remember, influence from a dozen tutors to the spittle soaked King I imagine, but it changes nothing. I have your child, and if you make one move upon me, she will die." Morrigan's yellow eyes whipped around the group but kept landing right back upon Alistair. Why? Reiss was more of a threat, the woman close enough she might get in before the witch had a chance to strike. What about this was so personal?

  "Why his daughter?" Lana spoke up, trying to get this back on track. She was never a negotiator, darkspawn not known for waving a white flag, but she could tell when things were tipping south fast. Morrigan whipped her head to Lana; her eyes narrowed but the bite softening. The others turned to her as well, everyone hoping for someone to find an answer.

  "There are hundreds of infants across Ferelden, thedas itself. Why did you take Alistair's?"

  Morrigan snickered a moment, her head tipping down as she stared at the bundle in her arms she was threatening. "Astute as always, Amell. It was hard to get much past you." When she glanced up, Lana gasped at tears, honest to the Maker tears, trickling in the witch's eye. "It is...my son," Morrigan turned to the side and twisted her head to point towards what looked like an altar. A body lay across it, dark hair cushioned by a silk pillow while the chest barely stirred.

  She expected to see a child, but, no, it was nearing twenty years since the blight. This boy had to be in his eighteenth year or so. Practically a man, nearly the same age Lana was when she saved the world. Morrigan whipped back fast, her eyes first darting over Reiss, who was trying to inch closer to save her baby, before landing upon Lana.

  "He is dying and the only thing that can save him is the blood of the mother," she gestured the dagger at herself, "and the blood..." Morrigan turned her eyes upon Alistair and the edge of her lips ticked upward, "of the father." She glanced quickly at Reiss, clearly expecting something, but the elf only glared at her baby. Reiss had eyes for no one else. "No surprise? No shock? No belabored argument of how that witch could have a child same as your...bedwarmers?"

  "Maker's sake, Morrigan," Lana groaned.

  Reiss stared right into her eyes as if she was facing down a lion. "He already told me," she sneered, surprising Morrigan.

  "Told her what?" it was Cullen who stuttered, lost at the information. "You...your boy was," he whipped over to Alistair who froze, terrified to do anything that could hurt Myra, "was his?"

  "Ah yes, I remember you now. The mangey Commander set on his quest of redemption in the Inquisition. Amell, do not tell me this is wh
at you chose? Out of every option in..."

  Lana flicked a single ice pick against Morrigan's cheek, only strong enough to sting, but it shut her up. "This is not the time for such stupidity!" she screamed at Morrigan but in her head she was screaming at herself. She never told Cullen because it wasn't her secret to give and now...Maker's sake, this was a mess. "Give us the baby."

  "Then my son dies," Morrigan hissed. "Or does that mean nothing to you? He was a means to your end, or rather your un-end, Warden. And you," she jerked her chin, her hawk gaze honing in on Alistair, "How little do you care for the fate of your first child? Does it mean nothing in comparison to the second?"

  Alistair wrung his hands tighter against the sword, a growl rumbling up his throat while he stared dead set upon Myra. Her little hand broke from the blankets, trying to reach up to touch the deadly knife that was about to spill her blood. That threat seemed to shake Alistair and he snarled, "Take my blood, then. Spare her... Please."

  The witch wobbled a moment at the heartbreaking please, before digging her fingers tighter to the dagger. "Your blood is tainted, useless. I would save my son only to doom him to the blight. No, it must come from an untainted source, a child carrying her father's same. Do you think this was my first choice? That I didn't try everything I could?"

  "How convenient for you to need a child off of Alistair the moment she comes into being," Reiss spat, her fingers aching to snatch her baby free.

  "Fate can be kind and also cruel," Morrigan sighed. The baby in her arms began to fuss, a few more cries beginning when she heard her mother. For a brief second Morrigan glanced down at the big green eyes filling with tears, before she sneered and stared out at all of them. "What shall it be, King? Or you...gutter rat? Does one child die tonight, or two?"

  "You will not hurt her, Morrigan," Alistair swore.

  "And you are hardly in a position to stop me."

  "For the love of Andraste," Lana hissed. Stomping forward, she stepped in between the witch and the King. For a second Morrigan dipped the knife closer to Myra as if she feared Lana would snatch her away, but she extended her empty hands. "Do you really think you'll get away with this Morrigan? You kill that child and we will cut you down." She stared right into those eyes and sneered, "All of us."