The hands of spring touched the mountains last. So far they'd failed to touch this place.
Rom was willing to bet they were higher in altitude here than they were at Skyhold. Emprise du Lion, this place was called, though Orlesian rule was nowhere to be seen. It was a frigid place in the Frostbacks, on the other side of the mountainous spine separating them from Skyhold. They'd needed to travel north and around to the other side to find a road suitable enough for their forces, and their allies.
Many had come to see the end of the Red Templars.
The Inquisition's army was mustered in full, a token garrison left behind to secure Skyhold. A detachment of chevaliers met them on the road, led by Violette Routhier and, unexpectedly, Thédore Blancheflor. They'd brought a pair of trebuchets and a battering ram with them, the siege weapons trundling along behind the main column. No doubt the Emperor had plenty of reason to wish the Red Templars expunged from Orlais.
"Lucien regrets that he can't join the battle himself," Violette explained upon greeting the leadership. "But his Advisory Council is rather insistent that fighting reds weeks before he's due to be married is poor form even for him. He sends his regards."
Kirkwall sent its regards as well, in the form of the Queen's Companions. The cavalry unit was able to make good time around the Waking Sea to join them, led by their bold commander, the Baron William Alston. Rom thought he recalled writing a letter to him once, but in truth the names blended together after a while. He had no idea how Estella seemed to keep them all straight.
Rom doubted the cavalry would be all that useful at first. The Red Templars would know they were coming, if not exactly when, and their defenses weren't going to be accessible to horses. Suledin Fortress was where they'd chosen to occupy, an ancient castle high in the mountains, one that had fallen out of use once the Orlesian Civil War broke out. From what Rom understood, it was going to require quite the siege. That meant they might be here a while.
"It's just up the road," Lia said to the small party that accompanied her. According to her reports there was an opportunity here if they moved with some precision and speed before the bulk of the army arrived.
Séverine let a hand fall near her flail, clearly tempted to draw it. "Should we be expecting trouble?"
Lia shook her head. "I doubt it. There's no one in town but the mistress during the day, and the Reds didn't bother putting a watch on her before, so..."
Alban Poulin was who they were due to meet. An Orlesian noble, the only authority in the town of Sahrnia. More of a village, really. It came into sight around the next snowy bend, on the edge of a lake that was still completely frozen. Suledin Fortress was visible in the distance, but it was too far out for them to risk being seen just yet.
Sahrnia looked abandoned more than anything. Some houses had collapsed entirely, others had merely caved in from the weight of snow on their rooftops, left uncleared all winter long. Here and there were the remains of campfires, cowering in the corners of structures still standing. Pitiful fires burned in a few sparsely placed braziers, barely surviving the wind that occasionally knifed through the streets. But there were still signs of life. Bedrolls and sacks of belongings, scraps of food probably. Signs that at night, people returned here, in their attempts to survive the cold and their captors.
“Well, this place has gone to shit." Khari sounded more concerned than outright rude, though as always, she wasn't too delicate with her words. “You think they make these people work the mine or quarry or whatever?" It was hard not to think about the other captives they'd encountered of the course of the long fight against the Red Templars: sickened, dying people turning pallid and deathly just from exposure to the corrupted lyrium. Some went fast, some went slow, but they all went, in the end.
“I'd hardly be surprised." Cyrus drew his hood a little further up where it had started to fall from the force of the wind. His voice was muffled by the thick scarf around his mouth and nose; he squinted against the brightness of sun off snow. “It wouldn't be hard to keep an operation going even in this weather. Not with the heat that lyrium gives off."
Rilien, apparently unperturbed by the chill despite the fact that his exposed ears were beginning to turn red, shifted his attention to the conversation at that. “The conditions are favorable for the task. The cold suppresses the worst of the effects. Anyone harvesting it would last longer here than in a warmer clime, however unpleasant they might find it."
Asala frowned deeply, the sorrow she felt for these people etched deeply into her flushed features. Her cheeks were reddened due to the cold, but her ears were protected by a piece of leather lined with fur tied across her forehead and the rest of the chill was warded off by a thick cloak, and undoubtedly thick clothing beneath. It was still as odd as ever to see her asymmetrical horns however.
"We need to help these people," she said, her eyes drawn to a particularly lonely flame. She didn't say it as a plea, but rather solidifying it as a fact. There was concern on her face, but a certainty in her eyes.
"That's why I thought we'd leave the army behind for a bit." Lia's expression was settled into hard lines, her demeanor grim. She shook her head. "Reds and their hostages..."
"You've returned!" the words came from a middle-aged woman emerging from the largest of the houses still standing. She wrapped a large fur cloak around her shoulders as she stepped into the cold, shielding her from the wind. She took in the sight of those accompanying Lia with something approaching awe. "I am Mistress Alban Poulin. It's good to finally meet you, Inquisition."
A decorative circlet, made of bronze or some similar metal, rested on her head, but that wasn't what drew Rom's attention. She didn't look well necessarily, but she lacked the signs of red lyrium sickness or corruption that one would expect after so long a period of captivity.
"Knight-Commander Séverine Lacan," the templar greeted her in turn. "I'd introduce the others, but there are a few too many to go through. Rest assured, we're here to help. The army is further back on the road. I understand something can be done about the quarry first, though?"
Poulin nodded, eager to explain. "Yes. The Red Templars take the prisoners there every day to work for them, mining red lyrium. They're there now. Most of the Red Templars have fled back to Suledin, expecting your approach, but they leave a token force to keep the prisoners working. I think they need all the red lyrium they can get." She looked over those present again, no doubt finding some inspiration there. They were formidable, after all. "If you strike the quarry soon, and swiftly, you might be able to save them, and you'll cut off a group of Red Templars from retreat. They won't dare sally out of the fortress, if you have an army with you as you say."
"Do you have any information on the quarry's layout or the specific number of troops in the reduced guard?" Leon sounded like he doubted it, but it was probably worth asking anyway, just in case.
Estella, beside Rilien, exchanged a glance with the spymaster that could have meant anything. It was difficult to say for sure given how good she was at hiding what she was thinking, but something about Poulin appeared to be bothering her.
"Oh, uh..." Poulin hesitated, as though she didn't expect to be asked. "Thirty? Fifty maybe? I can't say for sure. The quarry is very deep by now, they've been blasting deeper into the hillsides for months. I think they were expecting more to join their cause, but they never arrived."
Séverine scoffed. "That's because their last attack was a disaster for them. This battle will be much the same, and this time none of them will escape." She took a cautionary look around, as if she expected the enemy to be watching them at that very moment. "We need to send word back. We'll need more men to take down that many."
Leon nodded, turning immediately to Khari. "Can you run back to the main troop? We're going to need an additional squad. Captain Pavell's, if they're ready to go."
Khari snapped to attention immediately, giving Leon a rather lackadaisical salute. “You got it, Commander. Back in two shakes."
With her departure, the conversation shifted back to Poulin. Estella was the next one to step in, her brow faintly furrowed. "I hope you'll forgive me for saying so, Lady Poulin, but you seem rather... hale, for someone whose entire territory is presently saturated in red lyrium."
It was hard to miss the nervousness that crept into her then. "Ah. Yes, well... I haven't been among the miners, necessarily. Or... in the quarry itself."
Rom had his arms crossed. "You've been here since the Red Templars occupied the region, no?"
Poulin licked her lips, shifting uncomfortably. "Look, I know where this is going. I had no choice. There were no soldiers, no chevaliers, no Inquisition here when the Red Templars came knocking. I was forced to make the best of an absolutely awful situation."
“Which means someone else got the worst of it, I take it." Cyrus didn't sound especially impressed, to say the least.
"What was I supposed to do?" she responded, not trying to avoid being defensive. "If I tried to refuse them, they would simply kill me and take what they wanted anyway."
"They seem to have taken plenty of this place," Séverine noted. "What did you agree to?"
Sighing, Poulin seemed to shrink before them. Not difficult, considering the size of some in the Irregulars. "They paid me to look after the town and its people, including those they brought from other villages. None were allowed to leave, so I had to get by on any supplies they were willing to part with. In exchange for my service, for keeping these people alive as long as I could, they did not force me to work in the quarry."
Not an easy thing to deal with, Rom was certain. Especially for someone with no ability to fight, and the responsibility of leading a town to weigh her down. But it was also a choice that helped supply the Red Templars, and that couldn't be ignored.
"This should be dealt with later," he said. "I imagine she'll be here still, after the siege is done. Right now we have more important things to do."
Another attempt at freeing prisoners held by the Red Templars. With any luck, this would be the last time they had to do this.
Rom was willing to bet they were higher in altitude here than they were at Skyhold. Emprise du Lion, this place was called, though Orlesian rule was nowhere to be seen. It was a frigid place in the Frostbacks, on the other side of the mountainous spine separating them from Skyhold. They'd needed to travel north and around to the other side to find a road suitable enough for their forces, and their allies.
Many had come to see the end of the Red Templars.
The Inquisition's army was mustered in full, a token garrison left behind to secure Skyhold. A detachment of chevaliers met them on the road, led by Violette Routhier and, unexpectedly, Thédore Blancheflor. They'd brought a pair of trebuchets and a battering ram with them, the siege weapons trundling along behind the main column. No doubt the Emperor had plenty of reason to wish the Red Templars expunged from Orlais.
"Lucien regrets that he can't join the battle himself," Violette explained upon greeting the leadership. "But his Advisory Council is rather insistent that fighting reds weeks before he's due to be married is poor form even for him. He sends his regards."
Kirkwall sent its regards as well, in the form of the Queen's Companions. The cavalry unit was able to make good time around the Waking Sea to join them, led by their bold commander, the Baron William Alston. Rom thought he recalled writing a letter to him once, but in truth the names blended together after a while. He had no idea how Estella seemed to keep them all straight.
Rom doubted the cavalry would be all that useful at first. The Red Templars would know they were coming, if not exactly when, and their defenses weren't going to be accessible to horses. Suledin Fortress was where they'd chosen to occupy, an ancient castle high in the mountains, one that had fallen out of use once the Orlesian Civil War broke out. From what Rom understood, it was going to require quite the siege. That meant they might be here a while.
"It's just up the road," Lia said to the small party that accompanied her. According to her reports there was an opportunity here if they moved with some precision and speed before the bulk of the army arrived.
Séverine let a hand fall near her flail, clearly tempted to draw it. "Should we be expecting trouble?"
Lia shook her head. "I doubt it. There's no one in town but the mistress during the day, and the Reds didn't bother putting a watch on her before, so..."
Alban Poulin was who they were due to meet. An Orlesian noble, the only authority in the town of Sahrnia. More of a village, really. It came into sight around the next snowy bend, on the edge of a lake that was still completely frozen. Suledin Fortress was visible in the distance, but it was too far out for them to risk being seen just yet.
Sahrnia looked abandoned more than anything. Some houses had collapsed entirely, others had merely caved in from the weight of snow on their rooftops, left uncleared all winter long. Here and there were the remains of campfires, cowering in the corners of structures still standing. Pitiful fires burned in a few sparsely placed braziers, barely surviving the wind that occasionally knifed through the streets. But there were still signs of life. Bedrolls and sacks of belongings, scraps of food probably. Signs that at night, people returned here, in their attempts to survive the cold and their captors.
“Well, this place has gone to shit." Khari sounded more concerned than outright rude, though as always, she wasn't too delicate with her words. “You think they make these people work the mine or quarry or whatever?" It was hard not to think about the other captives they'd encountered of the course of the long fight against the Red Templars: sickened, dying people turning pallid and deathly just from exposure to the corrupted lyrium. Some went fast, some went slow, but they all went, in the end.
“I'd hardly be surprised." Cyrus drew his hood a little further up where it had started to fall from the force of the wind. His voice was muffled by the thick scarf around his mouth and nose; he squinted against the brightness of sun off snow. “It wouldn't be hard to keep an operation going even in this weather. Not with the heat that lyrium gives off."
Rilien, apparently unperturbed by the chill despite the fact that his exposed ears were beginning to turn red, shifted his attention to the conversation at that. “The conditions are favorable for the task. The cold suppresses the worst of the effects. Anyone harvesting it would last longer here than in a warmer clime, however unpleasant they might find it."
Asala frowned deeply, the sorrow she felt for these people etched deeply into her flushed features. Her cheeks were reddened due to the cold, but her ears were protected by a piece of leather lined with fur tied across her forehead and the rest of the chill was warded off by a thick cloak, and undoubtedly thick clothing beneath. It was still as odd as ever to see her asymmetrical horns however.
"We need to help these people," she said, her eyes drawn to a particularly lonely flame. She didn't say it as a plea, but rather solidifying it as a fact. There was concern on her face, but a certainty in her eyes.
"That's why I thought we'd leave the army behind for a bit." Lia's expression was settled into hard lines, her demeanor grim. She shook her head. "Reds and their hostages..."
"You've returned!" the words came from a middle-aged woman emerging from the largest of the houses still standing. She wrapped a large fur cloak around her shoulders as she stepped into the cold, shielding her from the wind. She took in the sight of those accompanying Lia with something approaching awe. "I am Mistress Alban Poulin. It's good to finally meet you, Inquisition."
A decorative circlet, made of bronze or some similar metal, rested on her head, but that wasn't what drew Rom's attention. She didn't look well necessarily, but she lacked the signs of red lyrium sickness or corruption that one would expect after so long a period of captivity.
"Knight-Commander Séverine Lacan," the templar greeted her in turn. "I'd introduce the others, but there are a few too many to go through. Rest assured, we're here to help. The army is further back on the road. I understand something can be done about the quarry first, though?"
Poulin nodded, eager to explain. "Yes. The Red Templars take the prisoners there every day to work for them, mining red lyrium. They're there now. Most of the Red Templars have fled back to Suledin, expecting your approach, but they leave a token force to keep the prisoners working. I think they need all the red lyrium they can get." She looked over those present again, no doubt finding some inspiration there. They were formidable, after all. "If you strike the quarry soon, and swiftly, you might be able to save them, and you'll cut off a group of Red Templars from retreat. They won't dare sally out of the fortress, if you have an army with you as you say."
"Do you have any information on the quarry's layout or the specific number of troops in the reduced guard?" Leon sounded like he doubted it, but it was probably worth asking anyway, just in case.
Estella, beside Rilien, exchanged a glance with the spymaster that could have meant anything. It was difficult to say for sure given how good she was at hiding what she was thinking, but something about Poulin appeared to be bothering her.
"Oh, uh..." Poulin hesitated, as though she didn't expect to be asked. "Thirty? Fifty maybe? I can't say for sure. The quarry is very deep by now, they've been blasting deeper into the hillsides for months. I think they were expecting more to join their cause, but they never arrived."
Séverine scoffed. "That's because their last attack was a disaster for them. This battle will be much the same, and this time none of them will escape." She took a cautionary look around, as if she expected the enemy to be watching them at that very moment. "We need to send word back. We'll need more men to take down that many."
Leon nodded, turning immediately to Khari. "Can you run back to the main troop? We're going to need an additional squad. Captain Pavell's, if they're ready to go."
Khari snapped to attention immediately, giving Leon a rather lackadaisical salute. “You got it, Commander. Back in two shakes."
With her departure, the conversation shifted back to Poulin. Estella was the next one to step in, her brow faintly furrowed. "I hope you'll forgive me for saying so, Lady Poulin, but you seem rather... hale, for someone whose entire territory is presently saturated in red lyrium."
It was hard to miss the nervousness that crept into her then. "Ah. Yes, well... I haven't been among the miners, necessarily. Or... in the quarry itself."
Rom had his arms crossed. "You've been here since the Red Templars occupied the region, no?"
Poulin licked her lips, shifting uncomfortably. "Look, I know where this is going. I had no choice. There were no soldiers, no chevaliers, no Inquisition here when the Red Templars came knocking. I was forced to make the best of an absolutely awful situation."
“Which means someone else got the worst of it, I take it." Cyrus didn't sound especially impressed, to say the least.
"What was I supposed to do?" she responded, not trying to avoid being defensive. "If I tried to refuse them, they would simply kill me and take what they wanted anyway."
"They seem to have taken plenty of this place," Séverine noted. "What did you agree to?"
Sighing, Poulin seemed to shrink before them. Not difficult, considering the size of some in the Irregulars. "They paid me to look after the town and its people, including those they brought from other villages. None were allowed to leave, so I had to get by on any supplies they were willing to part with. In exchange for my service, for keeping these people alive as long as I could, they did not force me to work in the quarry."
Not an easy thing to deal with, Rom was certain. Especially for someone with no ability to fight, and the responsibility of leading a town to weigh her down. But it was also a choice that helped supply the Red Templars, and that couldn't be ignored.
"This should be dealt with later," he said. "I imagine she'll be here still, after the siege is done. Right now we have more important things to do."
Another attempt at freeing prisoners held by the Red Templars. With any luck, this would be the last time they had to do this.