And So is the Golden City blackened
With each step you take in my Hall.
Marvel at perfection, for it is fleeting.
You have brought Sin to Heaven
And doom upon all the world.
-Canticle of Threnodies 8.13
Apparently Corypheus wasnât above retribution if the bugling dragon outside their doors was anything to go by.
Most likely, heâd been stewing since their little dalliance in the Mythalâs halls. That scream Zahra remembered so clearly hounding their steps as they disappeared through the eluvian came to mind; pure, unadulterated rage. A fury that sheâd thought funny at the time. Appropriate, given all the heartache heâd caused them. But now, it made sense. He wouldnât roll over. He wouldnât cease his assault. If anything, his efforts seemed desperate. Frenzied. A man whoâd lost what he seemed to think he deserved. A Godâs ire, raining down on them. Heâd try to tear the entire world down if it meant their destructionâof that, she was sure.
Didnât mean theyâd just roll over and just let him has his way, either. It wasnât their style. This sure as hell wasnât Haven. Theyâd grown since then; they were made of tougher stuff now, and she knew well enough that they would all rather die then see him smug with victory. Fuck that. She could hear the sound of running outside; people crying out to each other, assembling in a clatter of steel and grit. Accompanied by that damned dragonâs shrieks crackling through the sky like thunder. From what she could hear, it was causing a ruckus. Slamming into the walls of Skyhold and sending brickwork raining down. Thereâd be fire, too.
What she wouldnât give to see that thing plummeting to the ground.
Zahra swung her bow over her shoulder and filled her quiver with arrows. More like than not sheâd end up running out. Who knew what Corypheus had up his sleeves this time. She set several vials into the slots on her belt and readjusted herself, making sure that everything was stoppered properly. It wouldnât do her any good if she rolled out of the way and emptied acid on herself. An embarrassing way to go. She patted her hip and headed for the door, cracking it open a little so that she could see out into the yard. Chaos was an understatement. The beast looked as if it had smashed itself bodily into Leonâs tower, the remnants baring itself to the open sky. She swore she could see books from where she was, midst the rubble. She hopedâŠ
Taking a deep breath in through her nose, Zahra steadied herself, tightening her hands into fists. She looked over her shoulder at Asala, whoâd been prepping as well. âThereâs just no rest for us, is there?â she tried to smooth the pinched expression to her face, but only managed a curt smile. Strained. âLetâs find the others.â
They didn't have to look long before one of the others found them. Khari, already fully armored, looked to be missing only her helmet, but there probably wasn't any time to find it, when they were being actively bombarded like this. âZee, Asala!" She was audible from almost halfway across the bailey, despite the chaos around them. Oddly, Khari seemed cooler than most of the frantic people running about around her, trying to find cover or armor or shelter in the case of the non-soldiers among them.
âCome on! We've got to get up to the wall and turn the catapult on the dragon!" She pointed to a spot on the battlements, where one of the siege engines was half-covered in rubble from Leon's tower. From a distance, it was hard to tell if it would even work, but Khari seemed to think it would.
Zahra snapped her head to the side. Khari was easy to spot even if she hadnât acquired a military voice as of late, capable of cutting through the ruckus just as surely as the dragon. Her fiery hair, a banner. She wasnât ready to argue with her. It was something at least. More of an idea than she had. Though, she wasnât sure if sheâd ever seen those things operational. This would be as good a time as any to find out. Cannons and catapults were two very different beastsâand besides, this one looked like it was little more than rubble. She hustled across the yard and passed soldiers in varying stages of dress; roaring to each other to ready themselves.
Another shriek cracked through the sky. She couldnât be sure where it was coming from until cries were heard in the distance. A moment later and the flapping of wings sounded overhead, the beastsâ shadow slipping over the ground and disappearing past the wall once more. She made sure that Asala was still dogging her heels before crossing towards the wall Khari had been pointing towards. It didnât take them long to clamber up the stairs and find themselves hustling towards the lone catapult. She hadnât expected to find Leon heaving great slabs of stone off the wooden slats, face ashen with dust and debris. So, he had been in the tower, after all. A mercy he hadnât been crushed. It was hard to tell if he was injured at all, with the amount of stone-grime stuck to his skin.
He was alive, thatâs all that mattered.
âLeon!â she closed the distance between them and set herself to removing a chunk of rock from its neck, tossing them to the side. If she were being honest⊠the mechanism didnât look promising. Hitting a dragon in mid-flight? An impressive, if not staggeringly difficult feat. One she didnât have much faith in. But they had to try. Her eyes lit up, mouth tightening into a line. âWeâre here to help. How do we get this thing working?â As if itâd known what they were up to, the dragonâs roar boomed closer, raising the hair on her arms. Itâs outline shifted behind the clouds; soaring in a wide arc.
Closer.
Leon looked momentarily relieved to see them, though it didn't last long when the shadow of the dragon passed over them. Too high above to attack for now, but it was clearly wheeling back for another pass, and they probably needed to have the catapult operational before that happened. "Help me get the rest of these rocks off. Khari, you know how to work oneâfind something to load it with and get it set." He paused to heave another large stone over the wall. "We need to keep it from destroying too much until Cyrus and Astraia are readyâand then we need to get back down to the bailey to meet up with the others."
"Right," Asala answered with a determined nod. Her barriers sprung to her hands, and then began insert themselves into the gaps in the rocks, leveraging and wrenching the stone off of them with quick upward swipes.
While the other three worked to clear away the stone, Khari was picking through them for one to load the catapult with. It took her a few tries to get something of about the right size for the bucket. She set it on the crenelations and checked the ropes, springs, and frame, re-securing the restraints just to be sure. By the time the last of the debris came away, she was hefting the payload in. âWanna eyeball the aim for me here, Zee? You're the archer."
âMy arrows are a wee bit smaller than this,â Even so, she rolled out her shoulders and took her place at Khariâs side, hands planted on the base of the catapult so that she could see straight ahead of her. The trajectory of the catapult. Zahraâs eyes were her strength. Her timing was precise, even if the intended target was a huge, fire-breathing dragon bearing down on them like a boulder being thrown through the open skies. Would it try to blast them with fire? Or would it come down with its claws and weight, hoping to crush them?
It only mattered what direction it came in and whether or not it tried to veer off in another direction. From what sheâd seen of dragons so far, as strong as they were, they couldnât just deviate once it began its descent towards them. Not a dragon as large and heavy as this one. They were smart creatures; but she wasnât sure itâd expect them to try to anchor it to the ground by pelting it with a catapult. That, at least, worked in their favor. Surprise, dragon. Unfortunately⊠this also meant they didnât have many chances; if it noticed them, it would most likely try to disable the threat immediately.
âItâs coming back around.â The flap of wings. Itâs bugle, shrieking down at them. A terror with wings. Sheâd be impressed if she hadnât seen what it could do. If it wasnât so damned ugly. Pock-marked and rippled with ridges. Far different than the oneâs spotted on the Storm Coast. âIt sees us.â Whatever had been distracting it before no longer did. It was baring towards them now. Intentionally so. Striking through the clouds like a sword and descending lower, passing over the opposing wall. âItâs gonna pass over usâweâll get a shot. Iâll tell you when.â
She fucking hoped so. The timing was imperative, and if it decided to do anything different⊠she wasnât sure what the outcome would be.
The tension held for several seconds, Khari ready to release the catapult on Zahra's mark. They had to wait for it to get right over them if this was going to stand a chance, but not so close that it could cook all of them and the catapult where they stood. Slowly, it resolved into view, and when its underbelly was in just the right spot, Zahra called it.
Khari released, and the projectile flew in a ponderous arc. The trajectory was just a little off, but despite aiming for the dragon's wing and missing, they still managed to strike it in the chest, heavy stone breaking apart against its red lyrium scales with a crack and raining back down over the bailey.
The dragon screeched, changing direction to pull out of its descent. âIf we're buying time, this is what we got; let's go!" Khari was the first to abandon the catapult and sprint back along the wall for the stairs.
The rest of them followed, no longer needing to push so much through crows of running people. The time they'd spent on the wall was apparently enough for just about everyone to get geared up, and though several more chunks of Skyhold were missing, the dragon had not managed to drop anymore towers, at least.
As they headed towards the main gate, Zahra could spot Rom, Stel, and several of the others massing nearby. Lia had just come in with a couple scouts, and the iron portcullis shut abruptly behind them. Leon looked to her first. "Captain. You've a report?" He wiped only somewhat effectively at the stone grit and dust on his face, but his only aim seemed to be clearing it away from his eyes, which worked well enough. He had donned no armorâquite possibly his set was in the rubble of his quarters, and no ordinary spare plate could possibly fit his dimensions, meaning he'd have to go without.
Lia was out of breath, having clearly just ran at full sprint from wherever she'd been posted in the mountains back to Skyhold. She also looked a little in shock at the state of their fortress, but she pulled herself together quickly. "Corypheus is coming. Bringing... everything. Couldn't get a sense of their numbers, but it has to be everything." A last ditch attack, it seemed. No more games, no more maneuvering in the shadows. Corypheus was forcing the issue. "Shit, I should've had something set up to warn against the dragon, I didn't think he'dâ"
Leon shook his head. "It's fine. We've got measures in place to deal with it, but we're going to need to prepare for what happens when it comes down." Scanning the assembled faces, he found Cyrus's first. "If you can, try to bring it down near the lake. That should keep things far enough away from the fight at the gates that you won't have to deal with any interference." He took a deep breath, then nodded, almost to himself. "Asala, Captain Pavell, Rilienâthe four of us will head down to the lake now and prepare to face it. The rest of you will have to hold the gates and find a way to reach Corypheus."
Bringing down the dragon was a stretch, in her mind. An impossibility given its stature; its lyrium-embued hide. But the Inquisition was all about facing the impossible, so she supposed this wouldnât be any different. Besides, it wasnât like they had much of a choice. The dragon was too much of a threat to allow it to cause anymore damage. Zahra wasnât sure how theyâd manage to ground it permanently, but Leon seemed to have some ideaâor else, Cyrus did. She didnât doubt that they had something up their sleeves. Something thatâd make sure they could pit themselves on fairer terms. Or else, keep it anchored on the ground. She crossed her arms over her chest and scanned their faces once more, mouth easing into a smile.
She was glad to see them here, alive. A small relief for what they were about to face, but still. It was enough. A small allowance before theyâd have another helluva fight on their hands. One that she hoped would end all of this once and for all. A pirate could hope, couldnât she? If this was Corypheusâ last ditch effort to tear the world down around them⊠then theyâd make sure to give him all they had. Make him remember who the Inquisition was, and how heâd made a mistake facing them in the first place.
Slapping a hand onto Cyrusâ shoulder, she rounded towards them and grinned wide. Sweat had already stuck her wild curls to her face, whether from the exertion of trying to get the catapult in order, or the sheer suspense of having the dragon bear down on them and coming out unscathed, was anyoneâs guess. A mix of the two, probably. âIâm not gonna say any mushy stuff,â she knuckled at her nose, and arched an eyebrow, âbut I bloody well better see all of you at the end of this.â A cough, clearing her throat of any lump that might threaten to choke her up. âLetâs kick Corypheusâ arse this time. Make sure he doesnât get up again.â
Most likely, heâd been stewing since their little dalliance in the Mythalâs halls. That scream Zahra remembered so clearly hounding their steps as they disappeared through the eluvian came to mind; pure, unadulterated rage. A fury that sheâd thought funny at the time. Appropriate, given all the heartache heâd caused them. But now, it made sense. He wouldnât roll over. He wouldnât cease his assault. If anything, his efforts seemed desperate. Frenzied. A man whoâd lost what he seemed to think he deserved. A Godâs ire, raining down on them. Heâd try to tear the entire world down if it meant their destructionâof that, she was sure.
Didnât mean theyâd just roll over and just let him has his way, either. It wasnât their style. This sure as hell wasnât Haven. Theyâd grown since then; they were made of tougher stuff now, and she knew well enough that they would all rather die then see him smug with victory. Fuck that. She could hear the sound of running outside; people crying out to each other, assembling in a clatter of steel and grit. Accompanied by that damned dragonâs shrieks crackling through the sky like thunder. From what she could hear, it was causing a ruckus. Slamming into the walls of Skyhold and sending brickwork raining down. Thereâd be fire, too.
What she wouldnât give to see that thing plummeting to the ground.
Zahra swung her bow over her shoulder and filled her quiver with arrows. More like than not sheâd end up running out. Who knew what Corypheus had up his sleeves this time. She set several vials into the slots on her belt and readjusted herself, making sure that everything was stoppered properly. It wouldnât do her any good if she rolled out of the way and emptied acid on herself. An embarrassing way to go. She patted her hip and headed for the door, cracking it open a little so that she could see out into the yard. Chaos was an understatement. The beast looked as if it had smashed itself bodily into Leonâs tower, the remnants baring itself to the open sky. She swore she could see books from where she was, midst the rubble. She hopedâŠ
Taking a deep breath in through her nose, Zahra steadied herself, tightening her hands into fists. She looked over her shoulder at Asala, whoâd been prepping as well. âThereâs just no rest for us, is there?â she tried to smooth the pinched expression to her face, but only managed a curt smile. Strained. âLetâs find the others.â
They didn't have to look long before one of the others found them. Khari, already fully armored, looked to be missing only her helmet, but there probably wasn't any time to find it, when they were being actively bombarded like this. âZee, Asala!" She was audible from almost halfway across the bailey, despite the chaos around them. Oddly, Khari seemed cooler than most of the frantic people running about around her, trying to find cover or armor or shelter in the case of the non-soldiers among them.
âCome on! We've got to get up to the wall and turn the catapult on the dragon!" She pointed to a spot on the battlements, where one of the siege engines was half-covered in rubble from Leon's tower. From a distance, it was hard to tell if it would even work, but Khari seemed to think it would.
Zahra snapped her head to the side. Khari was easy to spot even if she hadnât acquired a military voice as of late, capable of cutting through the ruckus just as surely as the dragon. Her fiery hair, a banner. She wasnât ready to argue with her. It was something at least. More of an idea than she had. Though, she wasnât sure if sheâd ever seen those things operational. This would be as good a time as any to find out. Cannons and catapults were two very different beastsâand besides, this one looked like it was little more than rubble. She hustled across the yard and passed soldiers in varying stages of dress; roaring to each other to ready themselves.
Another shriek cracked through the sky. She couldnât be sure where it was coming from until cries were heard in the distance. A moment later and the flapping of wings sounded overhead, the beastsâ shadow slipping over the ground and disappearing past the wall once more. She made sure that Asala was still dogging her heels before crossing towards the wall Khari had been pointing towards. It didnât take them long to clamber up the stairs and find themselves hustling towards the lone catapult. She hadnât expected to find Leon heaving great slabs of stone off the wooden slats, face ashen with dust and debris. So, he had been in the tower, after all. A mercy he hadnât been crushed. It was hard to tell if he was injured at all, with the amount of stone-grime stuck to his skin.
He was alive, thatâs all that mattered.
âLeon!â she closed the distance between them and set herself to removing a chunk of rock from its neck, tossing them to the side. If she were being honest⊠the mechanism didnât look promising. Hitting a dragon in mid-flight? An impressive, if not staggeringly difficult feat. One she didnât have much faith in. But they had to try. Her eyes lit up, mouth tightening into a line. âWeâre here to help. How do we get this thing working?â As if itâd known what they were up to, the dragonâs roar boomed closer, raising the hair on her arms. Itâs outline shifted behind the clouds; soaring in a wide arc.
Closer.
Leon looked momentarily relieved to see them, though it didn't last long when the shadow of the dragon passed over them. Too high above to attack for now, but it was clearly wheeling back for another pass, and they probably needed to have the catapult operational before that happened. "Help me get the rest of these rocks off. Khari, you know how to work oneâfind something to load it with and get it set." He paused to heave another large stone over the wall. "We need to keep it from destroying too much until Cyrus and Astraia are readyâand then we need to get back down to the bailey to meet up with the others."
"Right," Asala answered with a determined nod. Her barriers sprung to her hands, and then began insert themselves into the gaps in the rocks, leveraging and wrenching the stone off of them with quick upward swipes.
While the other three worked to clear away the stone, Khari was picking through them for one to load the catapult with. It took her a few tries to get something of about the right size for the bucket. She set it on the crenelations and checked the ropes, springs, and frame, re-securing the restraints just to be sure. By the time the last of the debris came away, she was hefting the payload in. âWanna eyeball the aim for me here, Zee? You're the archer."
âMy arrows are a wee bit smaller than this,â Even so, she rolled out her shoulders and took her place at Khariâs side, hands planted on the base of the catapult so that she could see straight ahead of her. The trajectory of the catapult. Zahraâs eyes were her strength. Her timing was precise, even if the intended target was a huge, fire-breathing dragon bearing down on them like a boulder being thrown through the open skies. Would it try to blast them with fire? Or would it come down with its claws and weight, hoping to crush them?
It only mattered what direction it came in and whether or not it tried to veer off in another direction. From what sheâd seen of dragons so far, as strong as they were, they couldnât just deviate once it began its descent towards them. Not a dragon as large and heavy as this one. They were smart creatures; but she wasnât sure itâd expect them to try to anchor it to the ground by pelting it with a catapult. That, at least, worked in their favor. Surprise, dragon. Unfortunately⊠this also meant they didnât have many chances; if it noticed them, it would most likely try to disable the threat immediately.
âItâs coming back around.â The flap of wings. Itâs bugle, shrieking down at them. A terror with wings. Sheâd be impressed if she hadnât seen what it could do. If it wasnât so damned ugly. Pock-marked and rippled with ridges. Far different than the oneâs spotted on the Storm Coast. âIt sees us.â Whatever had been distracting it before no longer did. It was baring towards them now. Intentionally so. Striking through the clouds like a sword and descending lower, passing over the opposing wall. âItâs gonna pass over usâweâll get a shot. Iâll tell you when.â
She fucking hoped so. The timing was imperative, and if it decided to do anything different⊠she wasnât sure what the outcome would be.
The tension held for several seconds, Khari ready to release the catapult on Zahra's mark. They had to wait for it to get right over them if this was going to stand a chance, but not so close that it could cook all of them and the catapult where they stood. Slowly, it resolved into view, and when its underbelly was in just the right spot, Zahra called it.
Khari released, and the projectile flew in a ponderous arc. The trajectory was just a little off, but despite aiming for the dragon's wing and missing, they still managed to strike it in the chest, heavy stone breaking apart against its red lyrium scales with a crack and raining back down over the bailey.
The dragon screeched, changing direction to pull out of its descent. âIf we're buying time, this is what we got; let's go!" Khari was the first to abandon the catapult and sprint back along the wall for the stairs.
The rest of them followed, no longer needing to push so much through crows of running people. The time they'd spent on the wall was apparently enough for just about everyone to get geared up, and though several more chunks of Skyhold were missing, the dragon had not managed to drop anymore towers, at least.
As they headed towards the main gate, Zahra could spot Rom, Stel, and several of the others massing nearby. Lia had just come in with a couple scouts, and the iron portcullis shut abruptly behind them. Leon looked to her first. "Captain. You've a report?" He wiped only somewhat effectively at the stone grit and dust on his face, but his only aim seemed to be clearing it away from his eyes, which worked well enough. He had donned no armorâquite possibly his set was in the rubble of his quarters, and no ordinary spare plate could possibly fit his dimensions, meaning he'd have to go without.
Lia was out of breath, having clearly just ran at full sprint from wherever she'd been posted in the mountains back to Skyhold. She also looked a little in shock at the state of their fortress, but she pulled herself together quickly. "Corypheus is coming. Bringing... everything. Couldn't get a sense of their numbers, but it has to be everything." A last ditch attack, it seemed. No more games, no more maneuvering in the shadows. Corypheus was forcing the issue. "Shit, I should've had something set up to warn against the dragon, I didn't think he'dâ"
Leon shook his head. "It's fine. We've got measures in place to deal with it, but we're going to need to prepare for what happens when it comes down." Scanning the assembled faces, he found Cyrus's first. "If you can, try to bring it down near the lake. That should keep things far enough away from the fight at the gates that you won't have to deal with any interference." He took a deep breath, then nodded, almost to himself. "Asala, Captain Pavell, Rilienâthe four of us will head down to the lake now and prepare to face it. The rest of you will have to hold the gates and find a way to reach Corypheus."
Bringing down the dragon was a stretch, in her mind. An impossibility given its stature; its lyrium-embued hide. But the Inquisition was all about facing the impossible, so she supposed this wouldnât be any different. Besides, it wasnât like they had much of a choice. The dragon was too much of a threat to allow it to cause anymore damage. Zahra wasnât sure how theyâd manage to ground it permanently, but Leon seemed to have some ideaâor else, Cyrus did. She didnât doubt that they had something up their sleeves. Something thatâd make sure they could pit themselves on fairer terms. Or else, keep it anchored on the ground. She crossed her arms over her chest and scanned their faces once more, mouth easing into a smile.
She was glad to see them here, alive. A small relief for what they were about to face, but still. It was enough. A small allowance before theyâd have another helluva fight on their hands. One that she hoped would end all of this once and for all. A pirate could hope, couldnât she? If this was Corypheusâ last ditch effort to tear the world down around them⊠then theyâd make sure to give him all they had. Make him remember who the Inquisition was, and how heâd made a mistake facing them in the first place.
Slapping a hand onto Cyrusâ shoulder, she rounded towards them and grinned wide. Sweat had already stuck her wild curls to her face, whether from the exertion of trying to get the catapult in order, or the sheer suspense of having the dragon bear down on them and coming out unscathed, was anyoneâs guess. A mix of the two, probably. âIâm not gonna say any mushy stuff,â she knuckled at her nose, and arched an eyebrow, âbut I bloody well better see all of you at the end of this.â A cough, clearing her throat of any lump that might threaten to choke her up. âLetâs kick Corypheusâ arse this time. Make sure he doesnât get up again.â