The Dalish Warden (The Daughters of Thedas Book 1)

2: The Ruins in the Cave

Soundtrack:

Faraway ~ Nave Artificial (The Cave)

"It looks like the Shem was telling the truth. But these ruins look more human than Elven," Tamlen said after we left the sunlight. The ruins were dimly lit by sunlight filtering through cracks in the ceiling. We walked deeper into the ruins. We were barely in before two giant spiders dropped down and came toward us. My blades were in my hands and I swung at them without thinking. Between Tamlen and I, the spiders fell quickly to our blades. While I chose to weld two blades along with a bow, Tamlen had opted for a single blade and a shield.

"I don't think I've seen spiders this big before," Tamlen said as he nudged one with his foot.

"Neither have I. What is this place to harbor such creatures?" I cleaned my blades and returned them to their sheaths. "Just keep a wary eye out for more."

"Indeed."

We continued to explore and as we turned a corner, my hand came up to stop Tamlen. I didn't intend to hit him so hard he nearly lost his breath.

"Ow! What was that for?"

I pointed to a place on the floor. "Trap." I walked over and soon had it disabled, a skill I had learned from my mother. I disabled several more as we wandered around. There were a few chests and corpses scattered here and there, along with large cobwebs and cocoons.

Tamlen noticed the statue first. "I can't believe this. You recognize this statue, don't you?" he said.

"It's worn but it looks vaguely familiar."

"Back when our people lived in Arlathan, statues like these honored the Creators. When the Shems enslaved us, much of that lore was lost," he explained, a sadness in his voice. "This looks like human architecture... with a statue of our people. Can these ruins date back to the time of Arlathan?"

"It's interesting. So much of our past is lost to us." It was my turn to have a sadness to my voice.

"I'd never have guessed ancient Elves might have lived here! With humans!" He walked away and into another room.

"Wait," I called, jogging after him. "How did you know about the statue?"

"I saw a picture of it in one of those old books the Keeper never lets anyone touch."

Made sense, seeing that Tamlen was the Keeper's great-nephew.

"It was one of the old gods. The Keeper called him a 'friend of the dead'. He was a guide that took people across the spirit land to their final rest in the Beyond. But he wasn't an evil god. It doesn't seem right that a place so wrong would be his."

"Why did you want to come down here so badly?"

"Aren't you curious? We could be discovering our history. Minstrels will write songs about us!"

"I am curious," I admitted.

"If I were to bring some valuable ancestral artifact back to the Keeper, she might forgive me for... well, you know."

"We were both brawling. I don't see why you got punished."

Our brawling had turned the camp topsy turvy. Just teens being teens. Keeper Marethari, our clan's leader, was furious. Good times.

"Because I was caught and wouldn't give up any names. Of course, she was angry with me. At any rate, I wasn't expecting this place to feel quite like this. Maybe this wasn't the best idea..."

We explored more in silence before I broke it. "What do you think all this was?"

"I'm not sure. This looks like a very old human place. Why did they build this? And why would Elven artifacts be here? Maybe some of our ancestors lived here, in caves like the Dwarves. I'll stick to roaming the land, myself."

"You and me both," I said, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to laugh. It felt almost wrong to. "Do you think the Keeper will want to come here?"

"She takes any opportunity to gather Elven lore. She shouldn't come without Hunters to guard her, though. The air feels so... sinister. Well, whatever it is, it won't stop me. A Dalish Hunter fears nothing!"

I wanted to call him out on that, but thought better. He was probably trying to put on a brave face to impress me. We finally came upon a large closed door.

"I wonder what's in here?" Tamlen asked aloud and walked forward.

The next moment a green mist enveloped us. I waved my hand in front of my face trying to clear it away and coughed. I turned to get away from it and saw something that made me freeze in my tracks. One of the corpses stood.

"By the Creators!" I cried.

It drew a sword and ran towards me as the other corpses in the area followed suit. I drew my swords and defended. Behind me, I heard steel against steel and knew Tamlen, too, was defending himself. They were defeated and after we were sure they weren't going to rise again, we looked at each other.

"Were those walking corpses? This place is haunted!" Tamlen cried.

"How could walking corpses be here?"

"Hahren Paivel once said in places where many people died, it can become a place of waking dreams. The Veil becomes weak and the spirits slip into our world. Then they possess corpses and walk around." He shuddered.

"Maybe this is the 'demon' the humans saw?"

"It's hard to imagine anything else could live here with these creatures. Still worst things could lie ahead. This place reeks of something... wrong. Can you feel it?"

I nodded.

"Let's press on. I want to know how our people were involved with this."

We faced the door. I pushed it open and we came face to face with some sort of bear, although it didn't look like any I'd ever seen. It charged at us. I jumped to the side and swept my swords in an arc. The beast roared and kept charging. It swung his paw and sent Tamlen into the far wall, stunning him and sending his sword out of his reach. The beast went for him. I wasn't about to let Tamlen die down here. I ran full speed and leapt upon its back. I stabbed several times before it realized I was there. By that time it was too late and it went down. I gave it one last stab to the chest to ensure that it was dead.

"Thanks, Realin. I owe you." He turned his attention to a very large mirror in the center of the room. We approached it, I more cautiously than Tamlen. "Oh, come on now," he said. "Always the careful one."

"Someone needs to be."

"This is the only thing here not broken. I wonder what this writing says?"

"'Don't touch the glass'?"

Tamlen managed a laugh. "I don't think that'll be the problem. Look how clean it is. Did you see that? I think something moved inside the mirror."

My hackles rose at that moment and I felt there was something very wrong about this mirror, starting with the fact that I'd noticed that there was no reflection. "Get away from it, Tamlen!"

"Hold on. I just want to know what it is. Don't you see it? There it is again! Can you feel that?"

"And I don't like it."

"I think it knows we're here."

"What?"

"I just need to take a closer look."

"Don't." I reached out to grab him but missed as he took a few steps closer and touched the glass. The glass seemed to dance under his fingers, much like water rippling.

"It's... showing me places. I can see... some kind of city... underground? And... there's a great blackness. It... It saw me! Help! I can't look away!"

I rushed towards him, forgetting to be cautious. A bright flash blinded me and I felt myself thrown backwards. Then everything went dark.