Sophia led Lucien and Nostariel at a quick jog down the steps and winding streets that would lead them to the docks. They had been so close, to having everything they needed to secure peace in the city, to making the Qunari leave and putting so many minds at ease... of course it would not be so easy. What they had to go on now was only slightly better than what Sophia set out with in the first place. Rather than resorting to begging the Arishok not to attack, she now had to plead with him to wait and allow them to recover the book, since it was so close at hand. His patience was likely nonexistent, but they had to try.
They had hardly reached the outskirts of the Docks when she realized that they were already too late.
The smell in the air was a different kind of acrid than the one that drifted down from the industrial district, and the noise wasn't the typical bustle of an evening on the docks. There was a terror in the air, and she soon found out why. A Qunari warrior burst into the street and hurled a javelin at her. She only barely reacted in time, ducking down and letting it pass right over her shoulder to crack against the stairway behind her. More emerged immediately after, filling the air with deadly projectiles, two of which quickly caught guards that she had brought along as an escort.
"Get out of the street, it's too open!" she cried, drawing her sword and making for a side alley, the others behind her, though a third guard took a throwing spear to the abdomen and crumpled before he could make it to cover. The sounds of Qunari warrior battle cries were everywhere. The Arishok had already launched his full scale attack. "No..." she hissed through gritted teeth. Their escape was not made yet, though. A sword armed Qunari kicked open a residence door in front of her, stepping out to attack, though Sophia turned his blade aside and slashed across his chest. There would be too many of them to deal with shortly, but Sophia wasn't actually sure where to go. She wanted to return to the Keep, to shore up the defenses there and make sure they couldn't get through, but she also wanted to find the Arishok, and try and stop this before it got that far. Perhaps they were one and the same. And the Arishok clearly had a head start.
For now, they would just have to survive.
Tired as she was, Nostariel knew this was hardly the time to be conservative with her magic, and as they made their way up towards Hightown, perhaps reaching an unspoken consensus that they needed to be there, she made a lot of use of her larger-scale spells, especially the ones that would put down or delay large numbers of Qunari at once. Needless to say, there were a fair number of fiery explosions and mass disorientation projectiles, helped along by the fact that the Qunari tended to adhere to tight formations that were organized so as to be very effective against the less militarized City Guard groups they ran into. That same discipline and close quartering made them relatively easy targets for her, and when necessary, she would soften up the phalanxes in order that Lucien and Sophia could more easily cut them down.
The stairs to Hightown waylaid them for longer than she would have liked, as a group of Qunari bore down on them with an enhanced height advantage, probably a rear guard for the Arishokās main force, judging by the number of them who seemed to be wearing more armor than average. That and size were really the only indicators she had of rank in the army, and these ones had both in spades. It was a serious fight up the stairs, and she had no doubts that they would not have made it were Lucien any less sturdy or Sophia any less driven, and by the time she did mount the last one, the majority of them were slicked thickly with the blood of the fallen.
That was the point at which she consumed the first of her three restoratives. Those, she had to be sparing with, else sheād run out of magic long before the fight was done. āWhere to?ā She wasnāt sure if they wanted to try the Keep or the Chantry or some other target, knowing rather less about the situation than either of them did.
āThe Keep,ā Lucien decided, glancing over at both of the others. Heād accumulated a number of injuries by this point, most of them thankfully minor due to the armor protection he had. He was, however, bleeding from a nasty gash in his foreheadāone of the Qunari warriors had nearly succeeded in a full-on headbutt with his horns. Had the Chevalier not chosen to move forward into the hit, he might be down for the count at the moment. Fortunately, the resulting dizziness was passing, and his thoughts were clear enough to lead him to the conclusion that the Arishok was almost certainly heading for the Keep. At least if the arrangements of his rear guards and his path had anything telling to relay on the matter. āWe need to go to the Keep.ā
That was murmured only, but the three started forward even so, meeting no more resistance until they were close to the Merchantās Guild. Lucien had not picked the majority of the Qunari to be stealthyāat least not the warriorsābut theyād apparently caught on to the fact that they were being followed, and seemed to step seamlessly out of shadows and from behind rubble and cover, revealing that the three of them were effectively pincered between two groups of about seven warriors each. Those were long odds even for themāthe Qunari were no inexperienced brigands, to be sure.
Were all three of them warriors, he would have advised forming in close and putting their backs to each other, but that wasnāt going to cut it with Nostariel to think about. That necessitated a more mobile defenseāthey would have to keep their foes as off-balance as possible, and switch tactics as often as possible so that attack and defense never became a comfortable rhythm. This was not holding a lineāthey would have to be more than simply stalwart. They would have to be aggressive, and that included him. This in mind, he leveled the halberd, in effect calling out the biggest Qunari in the lot, one he took to probably be in charge by a similar line of reasoning to Nostarielāsize and the quality of armor.
It was a challenge that did not go unanswered.
The situation actually suited Sophia fairly well. Mobility was always a focus of hers, and she would have tried to keep them off balance even if it was not a necessity. Lucien seemed intent on engaging the largest of the group, and so she focused her aggression elsewhere, hoping to draw a group of them to her. She was not as injured as Lucien, only suffering a few bruises. She didn't have the confidence to think she could take down more than half a dozen of them single-handedly, if even that, but with luck and skill, she might be able to keep them away from Nostariel, the better to enable her to obliterate groups of them.
She charged in, ducking under a blow and slashing low at the legs in return, not stopping to see the effect. Her eyes constantly darted left to right, her feet keeping a solid distance from the heaviest groups of them, as well as the walls. She couldn't allow herself to be cornered. They attacked typically two at a time, from different angles, and it strained her abilities to block the one and dodge the other. A spear was the first weapon to strike her, though it hit at enough of an angle to slide off her breastplate. She struck the Qunari before her with her pommel, before slashing quickly across the spear-wielder's throat. She didn't need to look long to know that he would be going down.
It was only a matter of time before she was caught, however, a swordsman being the one to do it while she was engaged for a second too long with another. The sword blow deflected off her side, albeit quite painfully, but the Qunari's shoulder hit and stuck, ramming her down to the ground. Instinctively she rolled, not even needing to see the blows to know they'd be coming down. She got her knees and blindly swung, catching two that thought to move in quickly on her. When the swing passed, a broadsword of their own came looking for her head, forcing her to duck quickly under it. When she looked back up, the backhand of a plated fist smashed across her cheekbone. Stars of the night sky flashed momentarily in her eyes as she fell back again, even though the smoke had long since covered up the heavens.
Fortunately, Nostariel had grown rather accustomed to acting as crowd control, and a good half the Qunari were currently waylaid by ice to their waists, though she knew it would not hold them foreverānot so strong as they were. That said, it lifted the pressure a bit from the other two, whom she knew were working to protect her from direct melee confrontation. She might have a few more tricks than she used to in that regard, but none of them would bring down more than one of these Qunari, and sheād only get the one if she was really lucky.
She turned around just in time to see such a one looming over Sophia, whoād been downed apparently by his fist, as he had apparently lost whatever other weapon he was holding already. Wasnāt that supposed to be a serious problem for them? Whatever the case, he didnāt look happy, and the situation seemed bad for more reasons than were really worth counting. So Nostariel reacted, placing the arrow she was holding between her teeth and throwing her empty hand forward, loosing a bolt of raw concussion, blowing the Qunari off his feet and into the nearest wall, where he thudded audibly, the sound punctuated with the wet cracking of broken bones. He slid awkwardly to the ground and lay still, but that was far from the last of them, and the others were starting to free themselves from the ice.
She got another one with magic and a third with an arrow, but she was running out of mana again, and there wasnāt really time to quaff a potion right at this moment. Turned away from both her allies and unsure how close Sophia was to regaining her feet, it was the other that she alerted to her incoming plight.
āLucienā¦ā
He was pretty sure the Qunari officer had cracked a few of his ribs with that full-body tackle, but the important fact was that Lucien was still alive, and the other man was not. Moreover, he was back on his feet, and so when Nostarielās voice reached him, he pivoted, sweeping the halberd around as he went, catching three of the charging Qunari to varying degrees of success. The first came away with a grievous slash on his chest, but the other two were only glanced, a problem rectified when the spear tip of the halberd was shoved up with Lucienās next step forward, punching into the unprotected juncture of jaw and neck. The chevalier withdrew the weapon, kicking the last one in the chest. As the fellow was off-balance to begin with, he staggered back, doubled over and allowing the axelike portion of the weapon to sever his spinal cord at the neck.
His breathing labored due to the increasing pressure on his ribcage, Lucien grunted and straightened. Keeping mobile was helping them quite a bit, but there were still half a dozen Qunari left, and these were regrouping together for a more concentrated press now that the attempt at a pincer had been broken. Well, that was actually a little better for him at this point: he could mostly stand in one spot and hold it, while the other two worked around him.
Tightly they formed up, and true to pattern, were disrupted by an arrow charged with magic. That was two of them down and one more on fireāthe rest would be up to Lucien and Sophia. Lucien caught one center-mass with the halberd, opening his lower abdomen in a diagonal slash, but in doing so, allowed two to split off to either side, in an attempt to scissor him. He couldnāt block in both directions. Sensing Sophia on his right, he trusted her to know what to do and blocked the one to his left.
Sophia almost didn't reach Lucien's side in time, skidding to a halt even as she blocked a strike meant for him. They struggled to gain the upper hand for a brief moment before Sophia broke the stalemate, throwing a knee up into the Qunari's abdomen, followed by a swift downward swing aim at the base of his neck, the result of which left the Qunari's head half-severed. His body toppled over backwards, the last of the Qunari to fall, as Lucien had dealt with his as well.
As least, that was how it appeared, until a small ball of unstable arcane energy appeared between the three of them. They had perhaps half a second's warning before it powerfully exploded, the force strong enough to knock even Lucien off his feet. Sophia was put flat on her back, sliding several feet across Hightown stone before she came to a stop, breathless and aching. The blast had some kind of disruptive effect worked into it, and Sophia found her vision heavily blurred, her ears ringing. With a groan she rolled herself over and pushed up onto her hands and knees, fumbling around for her sword, which she had lost hold off in the fall. Ahead of her, she could see the outline of a heavily chained Qunari mage. Saarebas, as they referred to them. A dangerous thing. This one lit another spell in his hand, and a second ball of energy appeared, directly in front of Sophia.
She braced herself for the blast, but it never came. A large, shining sword burst from the chest of the saarebas, halting the spell before it could take effect. The sword was withdrawn, and the mage fell to his knees, revealing none other than the Knight-Commander of Kirkwall's Templars, Meredith Stannard. She did not allow the Qunari mage to suffer long, her next swift stroke cleanly removing his head. A number of Templars followed in behind her, though it was only a small force, certainly not enough to drive out the Qunari. The rest would be trying to fight their way up from the docks, Sophia imagined.
When the Knight-Commander offered Sophia a hand up, she gratefully took it, shaking off the last of the spell's disorienting effects. "My lady Dumar," Meredith greeted respectfully, "we feared you had been captured by the Arishok. It is good that you are not. The situation is dire." That, Sophia already knew, and she dreaded to hear what extra news Meredith might bring her. She checked to see that Lucien and Nostariel were both alright, and retrieved her sword from the ground.
"How far have the Qunari made it?" she asked, though she already knew the answer to that. If Meredith was on the streets...
"The Qunari have invaded the Keep, my lady," she answered, confirming Sophia's fears. "There were numerous guards inside, however. They could have barred the interior doors, and may hold them off still. We have precious little strength available to us, but with your help, we may be able to break through to them." Sophia would be trying to break through with or without any Templar help, but it was good that they had found Meredith and some Templars.
"To the Keep, then. We must hurry." The Knight-Commander nodded gravely. "As you say. These creatures will pay for this outrage."
Nostariel didnāt really consider herself the kind of person that was usually relieved to see Templars, but in this instance, she most certainly was. Picking herself up off the ground with a bit of a groan, she went for the second of three blue potions on her person and threw it back while Sophia talked to Meredith, keeping an ear on the conversation but content not to contribute overmuch. A wave of her hand went some way towards setting Lucienās ribs and putting Sophia back to rights, but she couldnāt use a lot right now, and she knew they both understood that. As long as everyone was still in fighting shape, that would have to be good enough. Meredith didnāt even blink at the obvious use of magic, either recognizing Nostariel from the occasional trip she made to the Circle or else just not caring at all about one more mage given all that was going on at the moment. It was an attitude that seemed most practical, and it was appreciated.
The consensus seemed to be that hurrying was a good idea, and so hurry they did, crossing Hightown at a jog manageable to men and women in a lot of armor. In the courtyard before the Keep stairs, however, they ran into more troubleāit would seem that the mages of the Circle were out en masse, defending their city from invaders even as the Templars did the same. They were up against a lot of Qunari this close to the Viscountās castle, though, and it was perhaps only by dint of the groupās interference that many of them survived. About seven in total, perhaps, all in various states of disrepair. They would, unfortunately, have to do for themselves as far as recovery went, though Nostariel did trot over to the prone figure of Orsino, offering him a hand to stand. āAre you all right, First Enchanter?ā
Orsino took the hand and pulled himself up, wincing. "Yes, I'll be fine. Thank you." One of the mages that had survived appeared to have some skill in healing, though there were perhaps too many wounds to go around at the moment. They did what they could to keep each other battle ready, however. The elven mage looked about at the fallen mages, somewhat stricken, though some still stood yet, doing what they could to hold back the tide.
"You survive," Meredith noted, greeting the First Enchanter in what was clearly her usual way. Orsino sighed tiredly, likely also his typical greeting.
Your relief overwhelms me, Knight-Commander."
Introductions out of the way, Meredith turned her attention up towards the nearby Viscount's Keep. "There is no time for talk. We must strike back, before it's too late."
"And who will lead us into this battle?" Orsino asked, not wanting to let Meredith take charge so easily. "You?"
Sophia's patience for such squabbling, when so much was on the line, was approximately zero. She had not wanted to stop at all, but the mages had clearly needed the help. Her father and the guard would need help more, however. "This is more important than your power squabbles, First Enchanter. The Knight-Commander has been trained for these situations. You'll follow her lead until this is resolved, understood?"
The First Enchanter clearly had not taken note of the presence of the Viscount's daughter, but he bowed his head when he did. "Ah... forgive me, my lady. Of course. Lead the way, Meredith." It clearly gave him no pleasure to be forced into handing the reins over to the Templars, but Sophia frankly couldn't have cared less at the moment. They had a job to do, and needed a centralized authority to get it done. She'd have taken command herself, but she knew Meredith's actual experience outstripped anyone here, and the Templars would follow her commands without question.
"Thank you, Sophia," Meredith said, offering a nod. "Let's move. We need to find out what we're up against."
As it turned out, the Qunari had held the entrance to the Keep long enough to begin defensive preparations themselves. They were out in front of the Keep in large numbers, at least thirty, with more undoubtedly inside. Bodies of guards and precious few Qunari were littered around the entrance, evidence of what appeared to be a slaughter. The guard had failed to hold them out here for long. With Meredith's direction, a plan was devised to get a number of them inside the Keep as quickly as possible. The Knight-Commander would lead Templar forces in a direct attack against the Qunari, while Orsino and the mages would remain in support. As soon as an opening was made, Sophia and her companions, as well as several Templars, would push around the flank and into the Keep itself.
The fight went accordingly, the mages easily drawing the aggression of the group and pulling them out and away from the Keep's entrance, where the main body of Meredith's Templars engaged them. Sophia impatiently watched for the right opening from the sides with Lucien and Nostariel, and the moment it arrived, she darted out, cutting through what few enemies got in her way, and sprinting for the doors.
A flicker of hope remained, but Sophia was having trouble keeping it lit.
They had hardly reached the outskirts of the Docks when she realized that they were already too late.
The smell in the air was a different kind of acrid than the one that drifted down from the industrial district, and the noise wasn't the typical bustle of an evening on the docks. There was a terror in the air, and she soon found out why. A Qunari warrior burst into the street and hurled a javelin at her. She only barely reacted in time, ducking down and letting it pass right over her shoulder to crack against the stairway behind her. More emerged immediately after, filling the air with deadly projectiles, two of which quickly caught guards that she had brought along as an escort.
"Get out of the street, it's too open!" she cried, drawing her sword and making for a side alley, the others behind her, though a third guard took a throwing spear to the abdomen and crumpled before he could make it to cover. The sounds of Qunari warrior battle cries were everywhere. The Arishok had already launched his full scale attack. "No..." she hissed through gritted teeth. Their escape was not made yet, though. A sword armed Qunari kicked open a residence door in front of her, stepping out to attack, though Sophia turned his blade aside and slashed across his chest. There would be too many of them to deal with shortly, but Sophia wasn't actually sure where to go. She wanted to return to the Keep, to shore up the defenses there and make sure they couldn't get through, but she also wanted to find the Arishok, and try and stop this before it got that far. Perhaps they were one and the same. And the Arishok clearly had a head start.
For now, they would just have to survive.
Tired as she was, Nostariel knew this was hardly the time to be conservative with her magic, and as they made their way up towards Hightown, perhaps reaching an unspoken consensus that they needed to be there, she made a lot of use of her larger-scale spells, especially the ones that would put down or delay large numbers of Qunari at once. Needless to say, there were a fair number of fiery explosions and mass disorientation projectiles, helped along by the fact that the Qunari tended to adhere to tight formations that were organized so as to be very effective against the less militarized City Guard groups they ran into. That same discipline and close quartering made them relatively easy targets for her, and when necessary, she would soften up the phalanxes in order that Lucien and Sophia could more easily cut them down.
The stairs to Hightown waylaid them for longer than she would have liked, as a group of Qunari bore down on them with an enhanced height advantage, probably a rear guard for the Arishokās main force, judging by the number of them who seemed to be wearing more armor than average. That and size were really the only indicators she had of rank in the army, and these ones had both in spades. It was a serious fight up the stairs, and she had no doubts that they would not have made it were Lucien any less sturdy or Sophia any less driven, and by the time she did mount the last one, the majority of them were slicked thickly with the blood of the fallen.
That was the point at which she consumed the first of her three restoratives. Those, she had to be sparing with, else sheād run out of magic long before the fight was done. āWhere to?ā She wasnāt sure if they wanted to try the Keep or the Chantry or some other target, knowing rather less about the situation than either of them did.
āThe Keep,ā Lucien decided, glancing over at both of the others. Heād accumulated a number of injuries by this point, most of them thankfully minor due to the armor protection he had. He was, however, bleeding from a nasty gash in his foreheadāone of the Qunari warriors had nearly succeeded in a full-on headbutt with his horns. Had the Chevalier not chosen to move forward into the hit, he might be down for the count at the moment. Fortunately, the resulting dizziness was passing, and his thoughts were clear enough to lead him to the conclusion that the Arishok was almost certainly heading for the Keep. At least if the arrangements of his rear guards and his path had anything telling to relay on the matter. āWe need to go to the Keep.ā
That was murmured only, but the three started forward even so, meeting no more resistance until they were close to the Merchantās Guild. Lucien had not picked the majority of the Qunari to be stealthyāat least not the warriorsābut theyād apparently caught on to the fact that they were being followed, and seemed to step seamlessly out of shadows and from behind rubble and cover, revealing that the three of them were effectively pincered between two groups of about seven warriors each. Those were long odds even for themāthe Qunari were no inexperienced brigands, to be sure.
Were all three of them warriors, he would have advised forming in close and putting their backs to each other, but that wasnāt going to cut it with Nostariel to think about. That necessitated a more mobile defenseāthey would have to keep their foes as off-balance as possible, and switch tactics as often as possible so that attack and defense never became a comfortable rhythm. This was not holding a lineāthey would have to be more than simply stalwart. They would have to be aggressive, and that included him. This in mind, he leveled the halberd, in effect calling out the biggest Qunari in the lot, one he took to probably be in charge by a similar line of reasoning to Nostarielāsize and the quality of armor.
It was a challenge that did not go unanswered.
The situation actually suited Sophia fairly well. Mobility was always a focus of hers, and she would have tried to keep them off balance even if it was not a necessity. Lucien seemed intent on engaging the largest of the group, and so she focused her aggression elsewhere, hoping to draw a group of them to her. She was not as injured as Lucien, only suffering a few bruises. She didn't have the confidence to think she could take down more than half a dozen of them single-handedly, if even that, but with luck and skill, she might be able to keep them away from Nostariel, the better to enable her to obliterate groups of them.
She charged in, ducking under a blow and slashing low at the legs in return, not stopping to see the effect. Her eyes constantly darted left to right, her feet keeping a solid distance from the heaviest groups of them, as well as the walls. She couldn't allow herself to be cornered. They attacked typically two at a time, from different angles, and it strained her abilities to block the one and dodge the other. A spear was the first weapon to strike her, though it hit at enough of an angle to slide off her breastplate. She struck the Qunari before her with her pommel, before slashing quickly across the spear-wielder's throat. She didn't need to look long to know that he would be going down.
It was only a matter of time before she was caught, however, a swordsman being the one to do it while she was engaged for a second too long with another. The sword blow deflected off her side, albeit quite painfully, but the Qunari's shoulder hit and stuck, ramming her down to the ground. Instinctively she rolled, not even needing to see the blows to know they'd be coming down. She got her knees and blindly swung, catching two that thought to move in quickly on her. When the swing passed, a broadsword of their own came looking for her head, forcing her to duck quickly under it. When she looked back up, the backhand of a plated fist smashed across her cheekbone. Stars of the night sky flashed momentarily in her eyes as she fell back again, even though the smoke had long since covered up the heavens.
Fortunately, Nostariel had grown rather accustomed to acting as crowd control, and a good half the Qunari were currently waylaid by ice to their waists, though she knew it would not hold them foreverānot so strong as they were. That said, it lifted the pressure a bit from the other two, whom she knew were working to protect her from direct melee confrontation. She might have a few more tricks than she used to in that regard, but none of them would bring down more than one of these Qunari, and sheād only get the one if she was really lucky.
She turned around just in time to see such a one looming over Sophia, whoād been downed apparently by his fist, as he had apparently lost whatever other weapon he was holding already. Wasnāt that supposed to be a serious problem for them? Whatever the case, he didnāt look happy, and the situation seemed bad for more reasons than were really worth counting. So Nostariel reacted, placing the arrow she was holding between her teeth and throwing her empty hand forward, loosing a bolt of raw concussion, blowing the Qunari off his feet and into the nearest wall, where he thudded audibly, the sound punctuated with the wet cracking of broken bones. He slid awkwardly to the ground and lay still, but that was far from the last of them, and the others were starting to free themselves from the ice.
She got another one with magic and a third with an arrow, but she was running out of mana again, and there wasnāt really time to quaff a potion right at this moment. Turned away from both her allies and unsure how close Sophia was to regaining her feet, it was the other that she alerted to her incoming plight.
āLucienā¦ā
He was pretty sure the Qunari officer had cracked a few of his ribs with that full-body tackle, but the important fact was that Lucien was still alive, and the other man was not. Moreover, he was back on his feet, and so when Nostarielās voice reached him, he pivoted, sweeping the halberd around as he went, catching three of the charging Qunari to varying degrees of success. The first came away with a grievous slash on his chest, but the other two were only glanced, a problem rectified when the spear tip of the halberd was shoved up with Lucienās next step forward, punching into the unprotected juncture of jaw and neck. The chevalier withdrew the weapon, kicking the last one in the chest. As the fellow was off-balance to begin with, he staggered back, doubled over and allowing the axelike portion of the weapon to sever his spinal cord at the neck.
His breathing labored due to the increasing pressure on his ribcage, Lucien grunted and straightened. Keeping mobile was helping them quite a bit, but there were still half a dozen Qunari left, and these were regrouping together for a more concentrated press now that the attempt at a pincer had been broken. Well, that was actually a little better for him at this point: he could mostly stand in one spot and hold it, while the other two worked around him.
Tightly they formed up, and true to pattern, were disrupted by an arrow charged with magic. That was two of them down and one more on fireāthe rest would be up to Lucien and Sophia. Lucien caught one center-mass with the halberd, opening his lower abdomen in a diagonal slash, but in doing so, allowed two to split off to either side, in an attempt to scissor him. He couldnāt block in both directions. Sensing Sophia on his right, he trusted her to know what to do and blocked the one to his left.
Sophia almost didn't reach Lucien's side in time, skidding to a halt even as she blocked a strike meant for him. They struggled to gain the upper hand for a brief moment before Sophia broke the stalemate, throwing a knee up into the Qunari's abdomen, followed by a swift downward swing aim at the base of his neck, the result of which left the Qunari's head half-severed. His body toppled over backwards, the last of the Qunari to fall, as Lucien had dealt with his as well.
As least, that was how it appeared, until a small ball of unstable arcane energy appeared between the three of them. They had perhaps half a second's warning before it powerfully exploded, the force strong enough to knock even Lucien off his feet. Sophia was put flat on her back, sliding several feet across Hightown stone before she came to a stop, breathless and aching. The blast had some kind of disruptive effect worked into it, and Sophia found her vision heavily blurred, her ears ringing. With a groan she rolled herself over and pushed up onto her hands and knees, fumbling around for her sword, which she had lost hold off in the fall. Ahead of her, she could see the outline of a heavily chained Qunari mage. Saarebas, as they referred to them. A dangerous thing. This one lit another spell in his hand, and a second ball of energy appeared, directly in front of Sophia.
She braced herself for the blast, but it never came. A large, shining sword burst from the chest of the saarebas, halting the spell before it could take effect. The sword was withdrawn, and the mage fell to his knees, revealing none other than the Knight-Commander of Kirkwall's Templars, Meredith Stannard. She did not allow the Qunari mage to suffer long, her next swift stroke cleanly removing his head. A number of Templars followed in behind her, though it was only a small force, certainly not enough to drive out the Qunari. The rest would be trying to fight their way up from the docks, Sophia imagined.
When the Knight-Commander offered Sophia a hand up, she gratefully took it, shaking off the last of the spell's disorienting effects. "My lady Dumar," Meredith greeted respectfully, "we feared you had been captured by the Arishok. It is good that you are not. The situation is dire." That, Sophia already knew, and she dreaded to hear what extra news Meredith might bring her. She checked to see that Lucien and Nostariel were both alright, and retrieved her sword from the ground.
"How far have the Qunari made it?" she asked, though she already knew the answer to that. If Meredith was on the streets...
"The Qunari have invaded the Keep, my lady," she answered, confirming Sophia's fears. "There were numerous guards inside, however. They could have barred the interior doors, and may hold them off still. We have precious little strength available to us, but with your help, we may be able to break through to them." Sophia would be trying to break through with or without any Templar help, but it was good that they had found Meredith and some Templars.
"To the Keep, then. We must hurry." The Knight-Commander nodded gravely. "As you say. These creatures will pay for this outrage."
Nostariel didnāt really consider herself the kind of person that was usually relieved to see Templars, but in this instance, she most certainly was. Picking herself up off the ground with a bit of a groan, she went for the second of three blue potions on her person and threw it back while Sophia talked to Meredith, keeping an ear on the conversation but content not to contribute overmuch. A wave of her hand went some way towards setting Lucienās ribs and putting Sophia back to rights, but she couldnāt use a lot right now, and she knew they both understood that. As long as everyone was still in fighting shape, that would have to be good enough. Meredith didnāt even blink at the obvious use of magic, either recognizing Nostariel from the occasional trip she made to the Circle or else just not caring at all about one more mage given all that was going on at the moment. It was an attitude that seemed most practical, and it was appreciated.
The consensus seemed to be that hurrying was a good idea, and so hurry they did, crossing Hightown at a jog manageable to men and women in a lot of armor. In the courtyard before the Keep stairs, however, they ran into more troubleāit would seem that the mages of the Circle were out en masse, defending their city from invaders even as the Templars did the same. They were up against a lot of Qunari this close to the Viscountās castle, though, and it was perhaps only by dint of the groupās interference that many of them survived. About seven in total, perhaps, all in various states of disrepair. They would, unfortunately, have to do for themselves as far as recovery went, though Nostariel did trot over to the prone figure of Orsino, offering him a hand to stand. āAre you all right, First Enchanter?ā
Orsino took the hand and pulled himself up, wincing. "Yes, I'll be fine. Thank you." One of the mages that had survived appeared to have some skill in healing, though there were perhaps too many wounds to go around at the moment. They did what they could to keep each other battle ready, however. The elven mage looked about at the fallen mages, somewhat stricken, though some still stood yet, doing what they could to hold back the tide.
"You survive," Meredith noted, greeting the First Enchanter in what was clearly her usual way. Orsino sighed tiredly, likely also his typical greeting.
Your relief overwhelms me, Knight-Commander."
Introductions out of the way, Meredith turned her attention up towards the nearby Viscount's Keep. "There is no time for talk. We must strike back, before it's too late."
"And who will lead us into this battle?" Orsino asked, not wanting to let Meredith take charge so easily. "You?"
Sophia's patience for such squabbling, when so much was on the line, was approximately zero. She had not wanted to stop at all, but the mages had clearly needed the help. Her father and the guard would need help more, however. "This is more important than your power squabbles, First Enchanter. The Knight-Commander has been trained for these situations. You'll follow her lead until this is resolved, understood?"
The First Enchanter clearly had not taken note of the presence of the Viscount's daughter, but he bowed his head when he did. "Ah... forgive me, my lady. Of course. Lead the way, Meredith." It clearly gave him no pleasure to be forced into handing the reins over to the Templars, but Sophia frankly couldn't have cared less at the moment. They had a job to do, and needed a centralized authority to get it done. She'd have taken command herself, but she knew Meredith's actual experience outstripped anyone here, and the Templars would follow her commands without question.
"Thank you, Sophia," Meredith said, offering a nod. "Let's move. We need to find out what we're up against."
As it turned out, the Qunari had held the entrance to the Keep long enough to begin defensive preparations themselves. They were out in front of the Keep in large numbers, at least thirty, with more undoubtedly inside. Bodies of guards and precious few Qunari were littered around the entrance, evidence of what appeared to be a slaughter. The guard had failed to hold them out here for long. With Meredith's direction, a plan was devised to get a number of them inside the Keep as quickly as possible. The Knight-Commander would lead Templar forces in a direct attack against the Qunari, while Orsino and the mages would remain in support. As soon as an opening was made, Sophia and her companions, as well as several Templars, would push around the flank and into the Keep itself.
The fight went accordingly, the mages easily drawing the aggression of the group and pulling them out and away from the Keep's entrance, where the main body of Meredith's Templars engaged them. Sophia impatiently watched for the right opening from the sides with Lucien and Nostariel, and the moment it arrived, she darted out, cutting through what few enemies got in her way, and sprinting for the doors.
A flicker of hope remained, but Sophia was having trouble keeping it lit.