The catalyst for the change Sophia desired seemed incredibly close, she could almost touch it.
The would-be Viscountess paced the living area of her manor, her armor clinking softly with every step. This was no occasion for leathers and mail, for expectations of a light skirmish. An act of open rebellion against the loyalists of the Templar Order never was. Sophia was dressed for battle, in her polished, shining plate, and the others with her were ready for a confrontation as well.
Ashton had the full strength of the guard behind him, and he was extremely popular with the people besides. Nostariel was a respected Warden and a revered member of the community, and Lucien had earned the admiration of any man or woman with a modicum of decency, to say nothing of the political weight his name carried, and the strength of his elite mercenary company. There would be no better group to accompany First Enchanter Orsino, and force the Chantry into action regarding the Templars.
Sophia had received word that Orsino and Meredith had entered a heated debate regarding something a few days prior. The subject of the argument wasn't clear, but it wasn't hard to make guesses. In the end, it didn't matter. The result of the argument was that Orsino had been confined to his chambers on Meredith's orders, as well as almost all of the Kirkwall Circle's senior enchanters. Meredith was keeping the entire Gallows on lockdown, with rumors swirling of a push for the Right of Annulment. Something had to be done.
Thankfully, Meredith's grasp on some of her own Templars was slipping, and a number let slip their intentions to help. Sophia didn't know the exact details, and it was probably safer for her not to. The important part was that Orsino's freedom was to be arranged by a small group of Templars. He was to be delivered to the docks, where he would make his way up to Hightown, and Sophia's residence, along the way to the Chantry. Sophia and her best would accompany him to see Elthina, and make a push to resolve this matter for good.
It came as a surprise, then, when not one, but ten mages showed up at her door. Orsino was indeed at the helm, but a number had come with him, both young and old, their faces ranging from nervous, to brave, to angry. Having little other choice, she ushered them inside.
"What happened?" she asked. "I thought you were coming alone."
"As did I," Orsino explained, pulling back his hood. "But when some of the others learned of the plan, they refused to allow me to do this on my own. The true Templars came through, and managed to free this many." He looked at those he had come with, unable to conceal some of his own nerves, especially as he gazed upon the younger of them.
"I'm glad to have them, but this will only worsen Meredith's rage. We should move quickly. Are your companions ready?"
“Ready.” Nostariel spared a small smile for the other mages, nodding to Orsino and making a last-minute adjustment to the light chain shirt on her Warden armor. If ever there was a time for full kit, this seemed to be it. A considerable amount of time had actually passed since she’d last had the cause, but thankfully it was not so great an interval that she was worried about being out of form. Which was good, since it seemed like this might become very important, indeed.
Ashton slowly stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in and shouldered the quiver that held his bow and arrows. "We are," Ashton answered. As he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, he looked every bit like the captain of the guard that he was. A silly smile was nowhere to be found on his face, as an open rebellion was nothing to laugh at. Meredith would learn whose city Kirkwall truly was. Vesper was also present, pushing herself off the wall she was leaning against and going to stand beside her captain. She didn't say anything and only nodded an affirmation.
Lucien nodded as well, indicating that his answer did not differ. The Lions were on standby in case things became as contentious as he expected them to be, but it would likely be ill-advised to go into the situation with the intent to do violence. It seemed less and less likely by the day, but he yet held out hope for some kind of alternative resolution to this that didn’t involve forcing Meredith to submit by point of a sword. The reports he was getting as to her mental state of late made it seem quite likely that she’d never leave her post willingly, though, and also that such a resignation was quite called for.
"Let's get moving," Sophia suggested, and with Orsino at her back she opened the door, leading the way outside. It was a conspicuous procession at this time of night, to be sure, but it was too late to do much about that now. Sophia wasn't about to try to get these mages to leave their First Enchanter now, after escaping the Gallows with him, and there was really no safe place for them that they could reach anyway.
The group gathered outside, they made their way quickly towards the Chantry, passing several Guard patrols, but no Templars. The patrols merely nodded and either stepped aside or did nothing at all. A few of them were undoubtedly in the loop, and those that weren't had no intentions of trying to do the job of the Templars. One pair even wished them good luck on their way, saluting briefly to their captain.
Luck was not on their side, sadly, as they heard a loud and aggravated shout just before they rounded the corner and the Chantry came into view. Halting, Sophia turned to see Meredith and an impressive group of Templars, at least thirty in number, approaching with weapons drawn, though their formation was compact rather than spread, implying they did not intend to attack just yet. Templars knew better than to cluster when combating mages, Sophia knew.
"This is the last straw, Orsino!" Meredith proclaimed, coming to a halt directly in front of the First Enchanter, who placed himself before his students. The mages clutched their staves defensively, the less experienced unconsciously stepping behind their instructors. In the Knight-Commander's hand, she held a phylactery tightly; undoubtedly Orsino's. There would be no other way for her to have found them so quickly. Even questioning a turned Templar would have taken too long.
"This is all the proof I need, right here!" Meredith continued, eyes wild and aggressive. "Mages conspiring with avaricious nobility to overthrow me. You will throw Kirkwall into chaos, allow the blood mages among you to run amok! I will have the tower searched for them, top to bottom!"
"You cannot do that," Orsino countered, though he seemed to know his words would have little effect. "You have no right!"
"I have every right! You are harboring these blood mages, and I intend to root them out before they infect this city!"
"Blood magic!" Orsino threw up his hands. "Where do you not see blood magic? My people cannot sneeze without you accusing them of corruption!"
"Do not trifle with me, mage. My patience is at an end."
"A wonder that I never saw it begin..."
"Meredith," Sophia said, trying to cut into the conversation, while also keeping her tone calm, "can we not have this conversation in the presence of the Grand Cleric? She can surely prevent this from going any--"
"This does not involve you," Meredith stated, "and it will not involve the Grand Cleric. Have I not made myself clear?"
"Kirkwall is against you, Meredith," Orsino declared, anger slipping further into his voice. "Lady Dumar is with the mages, as are a great many others. They know what you have done."
"What I have done is protect the people of this city, time and again. What I have done is protect you mages from your curse and your own stupidity. And I will not stop doing it. I will not lower our guard. I dare not! As for your 'great many'... I see a mere handful, sneaking through the night. I will not give in to their terror."
"You would cast us all as villains, but it is not so!" Orsino said, taking a step closer to Meredith, who held her ground entirely. They locked eyes for a long moment before Meredith spoke again.
"I must remain vigilant. It often breaks my heart to do so, but it is the only way. If you cannot tell me a better way, do not brand me a tyrant!"
Orsino sighed, tiredly, and turned away. "This is getting nowhere. Grand Cleric Elthina will put a stop to this." Meredith took a step to give chase, placing her hand on the First Enchanter's shoulder. Just as she did so, the entire world was rocked around them, as a great explosion of magical fire burst from within the Chantry just around the corner. The force of it send massive chunks of stone hurtling through the air, smashing against the walls of buildings, tearing great holes in them. Pieces shattered into smaller fragments all around them, several hitting Sophia hard. That combined with the shockwave of the explosion was enough to leave her sprawled on her side.
All of the mages fell to the ground, and most of the Templars as well, a great billowing of dust and smoke flooding out and enveloping them from the Chantry, which collapsed entirely upon itself, a great pile of rubble. Pieces of it had soared into the air, and now rained down around the city, some picking up great speed and crashing all the way into Lowtown. It sounded for the moment like it was hailing, as little shards of rock fell to the ground all around them, clattering off stone.
Nostariel avoided the worst of the shrapnel, partly in virtue of being somewhat behind Lucien at the time of the explosion and partly in virtue of the fact that she’d thrown up the largest arcane shield she could muster as soon as she’s realized what was going on, but she’d still been struck in the shoulder by a large piece of falling stone, and accompanying the sound of smaller debris falling back to earth was the slightly wet noise of someone popping a shoulder back into its socket, accompanied by a soft, pained grunt. Of course, once she had the chance, she moved around slightly so that she could see in front of them, and it was only then that she noted the pile of rubble that had once been the Chantry.
“Maker…” It was but a whisper of sound, full of an almost-incredulous horror.
Lucien had remained mostly still, partly because he knew the less-armored Nostariel was in fact standing behind him, and he took a few large chunks of masonry for his trouble, but thankfully it was nothing too major. The worst one clipped his temple, leaving a bloody scrape there, but fortunately it hadn’t actually hit that hard, leaving him free of the worse kinds of head injury.
It was with a grim expression that he took in the smoldering ruins of the Chantry—death on such a scale was something he had never thought to encounter outside of outright war. But then… maybe that was what this was. Someone declaring a war. This new way of doing it, where the deaths were civilians and innocents rather than soldiers, didn’t sit well with him in the slightest, but his outward reaction was minimal, and he kept his thoughts to himself, at least for now, restricting himself to a small hand gesture that Ainsley, following at a discreet distance, would see. The Lions would be marshaled. Whether he would be leading them to battle or just to try and move enough of this rubble to dig out any survivors was something he didn’t know yet, but probably would soon.
It was with practiced instinct that Vesper threw up her shield to protect herself from the debris and from the time spent fighting together that Ashton knew to hide behind it with her. His forearm braced her back to help keep her steady as bricks and mortar struck her shield. One large chunk of masonry struck, pushing both of them backward from the force, but by the end, both had managed to escape the worst of it.
Vesper slowly dropped her shield, staring in wide-eyed shock toward where the Chantry once stood. She turned toward Ashton in anticipation for her orders, but Ashton could only stare mouth agape in horror at what had transpired. When his eyes finally dropped back down the Vesper, he didn't know what to say, or what to order. But he would, soon.
"Maker have mercy..."
The words came from Meredith, who rose from a knee and viewed the destruction. The Chantry was gone, and judging by the destruction, there was no real chance anyone inside had survived. In the immediate aftermath, an odd sort of silence settled over the scene, perhaps from the weight of the act falling over those who had witnessed it. Templars and mages alike were looking for their leaders through the swirling dust and debris, waiting for instruction, of any kind.
"No..." was all Sophia could think to say, as she got back to her feet. Of all the things she expected to happen when tensions boiled over, this was not it. Elthina had always been there for her, not as a mother, but as a mentor and a guide in her youth. And now she was gone, too, at the hands of... what could only have been magic. No mundane force could have created an explosion so powerful. If they'd been even a little swifter in reaching the Chantry, Meredith wouldn't have caught them, they'd have made it inside, and... more than likely, they all would have died.
"The Grand Cleric has been slain by magic," Meredith suddenly said, her voice cutting through the horrified stillness of those present. "The Chantry is destroyed." She drew her greatsword from her back, slowly. Sophia had never really noticed it before, but the red crystal of some sort laid into the handle was hard to miss now. She knew not what it was, but it seemed to be emanating power of some kind.
"As Knight-Commander of the Kirkwall Order of Templars, I hereby invoke the Right of Annulment. Every mage in the Circle is to be executed... immediately." Orsino's staff was taken into his hands, and the other mages present armed themselves, though no attack was yet made. Everyone was in too much shock, both by the destruction of the Chantry and by the suddenness of Meredith's order to slay them all.
"The Circle didn't even do this!" Orsino cried, but the lack of any change on Meredith's face swayed him to stop arguing. He looked around at his allies. "You can't let her do this! Help us stop this madness!" There were many Templars before them, and Meredith herself leading them. Sophia wasn't sure the fight could be won, but she was certain that it couldn't be turned away from now. Even if a mage was responsible for this, there was almost no way they were affiliated with the Circle. Meredith had no proof, and no right to simply kill them to satisfy her paranoia. The Templars were supposed to stand for order, but this would only throw the city further into madness.
"We'll defend you, Orsino. This has to end." She knew the others would be at her back, no matter how grim it looked. They'd been through so much together. This was just one more battle.
"If you stand with them," Meredith said, leveling her blade at Sophia, "then you share their fate. None will be spared."
Sophia drew Vesenia from her back, and prepared for the fight. "I've made my choice."
"So you have. Templars, kill them all!"
The would-be Viscountess paced the living area of her manor, her armor clinking softly with every step. This was no occasion for leathers and mail, for expectations of a light skirmish. An act of open rebellion against the loyalists of the Templar Order never was. Sophia was dressed for battle, in her polished, shining plate, and the others with her were ready for a confrontation as well.
Ashton had the full strength of the guard behind him, and he was extremely popular with the people besides. Nostariel was a respected Warden and a revered member of the community, and Lucien had earned the admiration of any man or woman with a modicum of decency, to say nothing of the political weight his name carried, and the strength of his elite mercenary company. There would be no better group to accompany First Enchanter Orsino, and force the Chantry into action regarding the Templars.
Sophia had received word that Orsino and Meredith had entered a heated debate regarding something a few days prior. The subject of the argument wasn't clear, but it wasn't hard to make guesses. In the end, it didn't matter. The result of the argument was that Orsino had been confined to his chambers on Meredith's orders, as well as almost all of the Kirkwall Circle's senior enchanters. Meredith was keeping the entire Gallows on lockdown, with rumors swirling of a push for the Right of Annulment. Something had to be done.
Thankfully, Meredith's grasp on some of her own Templars was slipping, and a number let slip their intentions to help. Sophia didn't know the exact details, and it was probably safer for her not to. The important part was that Orsino's freedom was to be arranged by a small group of Templars. He was to be delivered to the docks, where he would make his way up to Hightown, and Sophia's residence, along the way to the Chantry. Sophia and her best would accompany him to see Elthina, and make a push to resolve this matter for good.
It came as a surprise, then, when not one, but ten mages showed up at her door. Orsino was indeed at the helm, but a number had come with him, both young and old, their faces ranging from nervous, to brave, to angry. Having little other choice, she ushered them inside.
"What happened?" she asked. "I thought you were coming alone."
"As did I," Orsino explained, pulling back his hood. "But when some of the others learned of the plan, they refused to allow me to do this on my own. The true Templars came through, and managed to free this many." He looked at those he had come with, unable to conceal some of his own nerves, especially as he gazed upon the younger of them.
"I'm glad to have them, but this will only worsen Meredith's rage. We should move quickly. Are your companions ready?"
“Ready.” Nostariel spared a small smile for the other mages, nodding to Orsino and making a last-minute adjustment to the light chain shirt on her Warden armor. If ever there was a time for full kit, this seemed to be it. A considerable amount of time had actually passed since she’d last had the cause, but thankfully it was not so great an interval that she was worried about being out of form. Which was good, since it seemed like this might become very important, indeed.
Ashton slowly stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in and shouldered the quiver that held his bow and arrows. "We are," Ashton answered. As he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, he looked every bit like the captain of the guard that he was. A silly smile was nowhere to be found on his face, as an open rebellion was nothing to laugh at. Meredith would learn whose city Kirkwall truly was. Vesper was also present, pushing herself off the wall she was leaning against and going to stand beside her captain. She didn't say anything and only nodded an affirmation.
Lucien nodded as well, indicating that his answer did not differ. The Lions were on standby in case things became as contentious as he expected them to be, but it would likely be ill-advised to go into the situation with the intent to do violence. It seemed less and less likely by the day, but he yet held out hope for some kind of alternative resolution to this that didn’t involve forcing Meredith to submit by point of a sword. The reports he was getting as to her mental state of late made it seem quite likely that she’d never leave her post willingly, though, and also that such a resignation was quite called for.
"Let's get moving," Sophia suggested, and with Orsino at her back she opened the door, leading the way outside. It was a conspicuous procession at this time of night, to be sure, but it was too late to do much about that now. Sophia wasn't about to try to get these mages to leave their First Enchanter now, after escaping the Gallows with him, and there was really no safe place for them that they could reach anyway.
The group gathered outside, they made their way quickly towards the Chantry, passing several Guard patrols, but no Templars. The patrols merely nodded and either stepped aside or did nothing at all. A few of them were undoubtedly in the loop, and those that weren't had no intentions of trying to do the job of the Templars. One pair even wished them good luck on their way, saluting briefly to their captain.
Luck was not on their side, sadly, as they heard a loud and aggravated shout just before they rounded the corner and the Chantry came into view. Halting, Sophia turned to see Meredith and an impressive group of Templars, at least thirty in number, approaching with weapons drawn, though their formation was compact rather than spread, implying they did not intend to attack just yet. Templars knew better than to cluster when combating mages, Sophia knew.
"This is the last straw, Orsino!" Meredith proclaimed, coming to a halt directly in front of the First Enchanter, who placed himself before his students. The mages clutched their staves defensively, the less experienced unconsciously stepping behind their instructors. In the Knight-Commander's hand, she held a phylactery tightly; undoubtedly Orsino's. There would be no other way for her to have found them so quickly. Even questioning a turned Templar would have taken too long.
"This is all the proof I need, right here!" Meredith continued, eyes wild and aggressive. "Mages conspiring with avaricious nobility to overthrow me. You will throw Kirkwall into chaos, allow the blood mages among you to run amok! I will have the tower searched for them, top to bottom!"
"You cannot do that," Orsino countered, though he seemed to know his words would have little effect. "You have no right!"
"I have every right! You are harboring these blood mages, and I intend to root them out before they infect this city!"
"Blood magic!" Orsino threw up his hands. "Where do you not see blood magic? My people cannot sneeze without you accusing them of corruption!"
"Do not trifle with me, mage. My patience is at an end."
"A wonder that I never saw it begin..."
"Meredith," Sophia said, trying to cut into the conversation, while also keeping her tone calm, "can we not have this conversation in the presence of the Grand Cleric? She can surely prevent this from going any--"
"This does not involve you," Meredith stated, "and it will not involve the Grand Cleric. Have I not made myself clear?"
"Kirkwall is against you, Meredith," Orsino declared, anger slipping further into his voice. "Lady Dumar is with the mages, as are a great many others. They know what you have done."
"What I have done is protect the people of this city, time and again. What I have done is protect you mages from your curse and your own stupidity. And I will not stop doing it. I will not lower our guard. I dare not! As for your 'great many'... I see a mere handful, sneaking through the night. I will not give in to their terror."
"You would cast us all as villains, but it is not so!" Orsino said, taking a step closer to Meredith, who held her ground entirely. They locked eyes for a long moment before Meredith spoke again.
"I must remain vigilant. It often breaks my heart to do so, but it is the only way. If you cannot tell me a better way, do not brand me a tyrant!"
Orsino sighed, tiredly, and turned away. "This is getting nowhere. Grand Cleric Elthina will put a stop to this." Meredith took a step to give chase, placing her hand on the First Enchanter's shoulder. Just as she did so, the entire world was rocked around them, as a great explosion of magical fire burst from within the Chantry just around the corner. The force of it send massive chunks of stone hurtling through the air, smashing against the walls of buildings, tearing great holes in them. Pieces shattered into smaller fragments all around them, several hitting Sophia hard. That combined with the shockwave of the explosion was enough to leave her sprawled on her side.
All of the mages fell to the ground, and most of the Templars as well, a great billowing of dust and smoke flooding out and enveloping them from the Chantry, which collapsed entirely upon itself, a great pile of rubble. Pieces of it had soared into the air, and now rained down around the city, some picking up great speed and crashing all the way into Lowtown. It sounded for the moment like it was hailing, as little shards of rock fell to the ground all around them, clattering off stone.
Nostariel avoided the worst of the shrapnel, partly in virtue of being somewhat behind Lucien at the time of the explosion and partly in virtue of the fact that she’d thrown up the largest arcane shield she could muster as soon as she’s realized what was going on, but she’d still been struck in the shoulder by a large piece of falling stone, and accompanying the sound of smaller debris falling back to earth was the slightly wet noise of someone popping a shoulder back into its socket, accompanied by a soft, pained grunt. Of course, once she had the chance, she moved around slightly so that she could see in front of them, and it was only then that she noted the pile of rubble that had once been the Chantry.
“Maker…” It was but a whisper of sound, full of an almost-incredulous horror.
Lucien had remained mostly still, partly because he knew the less-armored Nostariel was in fact standing behind him, and he took a few large chunks of masonry for his trouble, but thankfully it was nothing too major. The worst one clipped his temple, leaving a bloody scrape there, but fortunately it hadn’t actually hit that hard, leaving him free of the worse kinds of head injury.
It was with a grim expression that he took in the smoldering ruins of the Chantry—death on such a scale was something he had never thought to encounter outside of outright war. But then… maybe that was what this was. Someone declaring a war. This new way of doing it, where the deaths were civilians and innocents rather than soldiers, didn’t sit well with him in the slightest, but his outward reaction was minimal, and he kept his thoughts to himself, at least for now, restricting himself to a small hand gesture that Ainsley, following at a discreet distance, would see. The Lions would be marshaled. Whether he would be leading them to battle or just to try and move enough of this rubble to dig out any survivors was something he didn’t know yet, but probably would soon.
It was with practiced instinct that Vesper threw up her shield to protect herself from the debris and from the time spent fighting together that Ashton knew to hide behind it with her. His forearm braced her back to help keep her steady as bricks and mortar struck her shield. One large chunk of masonry struck, pushing both of them backward from the force, but by the end, both had managed to escape the worst of it.
Vesper slowly dropped her shield, staring in wide-eyed shock toward where the Chantry once stood. She turned toward Ashton in anticipation for her orders, but Ashton could only stare mouth agape in horror at what had transpired. When his eyes finally dropped back down the Vesper, he didn't know what to say, or what to order. But he would, soon.
"Maker have mercy..."
The words came from Meredith, who rose from a knee and viewed the destruction. The Chantry was gone, and judging by the destruction, there was no real chance anyone inside had survived. In the immediate aftermath, an odd sort of silence settled over the scene, perhaps from the weight of the act falling over those who had witnessed it. Templars and mages alike were looking for their leaders through the swirling dust and debris, waiting for instruction, of any kind.
"No..." was all Sophia could think to say, as she got back to her feet. Of all the things she expected to happen when tensions boiled over, this was not it. Elthina had always been there for her, not as a mother, but as a mentor and a guide in her youth. And now she was gone, too, at the hands of... what could only have been magic. No mundane force could have created an explosion so powerful. If they'd been even a little swifter in reaching the Chantry, Meredith wouldn't have caught them, they'd have made it inside, and... more than likely, they all would have died.
"The Grand Cleric has been slain by magic," Meredith suddenly said, her voice cutting through the horrified stillness of those present. "The Chantry is destroyed." She drew her greatsword from her back, slowly. Sophia had never really noticed it before, but the red crystal of some sort laid into the handle was hard to miss now. She knew not what it was, but it seemed to be emanating power of some kind.
"As Knight-Commander of the Kirkwall Order of Templars, I hereby invoke the Right of Annulment. Every mage in the Circle is to be executed... immediately." Orsino's staff was taken into his hands, and the other mages present armed themselves, though no attack was yet made. Everyone was in too much shock, both by the destruction of the Chantry and by the suddenness of Meredith's order to slay them all.
"The Circle didn't even do this!" Orsino cried, but the lack of any change on Meredith's face swayed him to stop arguing. He looked around at his allies. "You can't let her do this! Help us stop this madness!" There were many Templars before them, and Meredith herself leading them. Sophia wasn't sure the fight could be won, but she was certain that it couldn't be turned away from now. Even if a mage was responsible for this, there was almost no way they were affiliated with the Circle. Meredith had no proof, and no right to simply kill them to satisfy her paranoia. The Templars were supposed to stand for order, but this would only throw the city further into madness.
"We'll defend you, Orsino. This has to end." She knew the others would be at her back, no matter how grim it looked. They'd been through so much together. This was just one more battle.
"If you stand with them," Meredith said, leveling her blade at Sophia, "then you share their fate. None will be spared."
Sophia drew Vesenia from her back, and prepared for the fight. "I've made my choice."
"So you have. Templars, kill them all!"