At Your Side (A Dragon Age fanfiction)

Blade of Mercy

Sounds reached him hazily through the fog: a heavy thud and a ghastly gurgle. A woman's voice rose above it all with shrieks that pounded like spikes into Fenris's head, and he wished she would stop. Slowly he blinked, coming to gradual wakefulness. He reached for the memory of where he might be, remembering only sitting in Mistress Blodgett's kitchen, drinking tea ... and then nothing.

Where was he? That was the first, and most important, question. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he studied his surroundings, deciding that he was in a basement. To judge from the greasy black grime that covered the walls, it was the basement that held Mistress Blodgett's bake ovens. The smell was nauseating, and he held onto the contents of his stomach only through the greatest effort. He was tied to a chair with rope—had she really imagined that could hold him? He tested his bonds. Tight, but not overly so.

Across the basement he recognized Mistress Blodgett standing in front of an opening in the wall, possibly the bottom of a chute. She was beating at something on the floor with a broomstick. Thankfully, she had stopped screaming.

"Do you require assistance?" Fenris asked.

She shrieked again, louder, jumping around to face him. "Oh, duckie, it's you. You did give me a turn," she said. She kicked at the something viciously. "He won't die!"

"Who won't die?"

"What?" Her eyes shifted guiltily away from his.

"You may as well be truthful. It would be difficult to prevaricate with me under the circumstances."

"It would be ... come again?" She peered at him across the basement, her brow furrowed.

"Do not lie."

"Oh."

"Who is it that you are having to much trouble with?"

"Captain Jeven."

"Why are you attempting to kill the former Guard Captain?"

"Oh, it's Drury and his grudges," she snapped. "Always on about 'em, he is, all his wrongs."

"Do I take it that Captain Jeven was involved in the misfortunes that cost Serah Drury his family?"

"I suppose so." Mistress Blodgett stomped on Jeven's stomach, hard. "That's got him."

"Most resourceful of you," Fenris said. "May I ask, what is it that you intend to do with me?"

She looked up at him now. "Duckie, you don't know how sorry I am. If there was any other way ... but I'm too close now. I been workin' toward this for years."

"Toward what? Murder?" He had hoped that he was wrong about the disappearances, but his current predicament seemed to confirm all his suspicions.

"Murder?" Mistress Blodgett shook her head. "Oh, no, the murders were just an extra." Her tone was flat; Fenris couldn't tell if she was pleased or saddened over having killed people.

"How many were there?"

"How many?"

"Men. How many did you kill?" He restrained his desire to get out of the chair and shake her with some difficulty. She would talk better from a position of power, which necessitated that he stay seated.