When I Look at You (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

Flemeth

By the time they got there, the battle was in full swing, with flaming projectiles flying toward the bridge. Halfway across, the three of them were sent flying by the concussion of something smashing into the bridge. Getting to their feet, they kept running, finally reaching the base of the Tower to find a panicked mage running toward them.

"You're the Grey Wardens, right?" the mage gasped. Without waiting for an answer, he cried out, "They've taken the Tower!"

"Who?" Alistair shook the man, trying to get him to calm down some. "Who's taken the Tower?"

"The darkspawn," the mage said. "They've— They've killed everyone!"

Una and Alistair looked at each other in shock. What were darkspawn doing in the Tower? Calling for the mage to fall in with them, they started forward, battling their way through darkspawn all the way to the Tower steps. The mage, though clearly in shock, stuck with them as they went in, finding more darkspawn inside. Grenli was in his element, attacking and fighting. As they came to the second floor, Alistair shouted in Una's ear over the din, "Where did they come from? There aren't supposed to be any darkspawn this far from the battlefield!"

Una shrugged, shouting back, "You were complaining you wouldn't get to do any fighting, weren't you?" She understood now a bit more about the elation she'd seen on Cailan's face and in her father and brother after their battles. Her blood was up and she felt ... invincible, her blade biting into the darkspawn left and right. She'd picked up a greatsword in one of the rooms on the first floor, and swinging its heft gave her a fierce joy.

Alistair looked at her, admiring the high color in her face and the fire in her golden eyes. "I suppose it is a bright side, at that," he said. "Come on—we've got to get to the top of the Tower to light that beacon!"

On the top floor, an ogre awaited them. They hacked into it together, Alistair climbing on top of it to plunge his sword into the ogre's chest and finish it off. He looked up at Una. "The beacon's over there, but we must have missed the signal. We have to light it now before it's too late!"

She nodded, running to the beacon and setting it alight. Down on the battlefield, the men saw it and a tremendous shout went up as they anticipated the fresh troops of Teyrn Loghain. But unbeknownst to all, when Loghain saw the beacon, he ordered his lieutenant, Ser Cauthrien, to sound the retreat instead. She stared at him with her mouth open, but he grabbed her wrist, hissing, "Do as I say!" And in her loyalty, she assumed he had a good reason, and she did as he ordered.

On the battlefield, men were slaughtered waiting for the reinforcements that never came. A giant ogre lifted the king, shaking him and finally slicing open his neck with a single savage blow. Enraged, Duncan used his sword and dagger to climb the ogre, sustaining a massive wound in his side before he managed to dig both blades so deeply into the creature that it collapsed. Near collapse himself, Duncan crawled to the body of his friend and king. He never saw the battleaxe that sent him into oblivion.

On the Tower, Una and Alistair knew none of this. All they knew was that once the beacon had been lit, a flood of darkspawn rushed out at them. Una saw Alistair fall under a pile of them, Grenli under another, and then nothing more as blackness closed over her.

When her eyes opened on a bright, sunny day, she was sure she was in the Fade. She started looking around for her parents. Instead, she saw the inside of a small rustic hut, and working on something at a wooden table was Morrigan.

Una sat up slowly, every muscle screaming. "Wh— Where am I?"

"Your eyes finally open," Morrigan said, not unkindly. "Mother shall be pleased."