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Epilogue

Briala stepped out of the tunnel and into the light of the midmorning sun.

The ground was sheathed in white, and it caught the wan light and glinted. The first snows of winter had come in earnest while she had been down walking among the eluvians, and most of Orlais would be covered with snow by this point. Ahead of her, trees whose bare branches were draped with snow creaked in the breeze. Behind her, the plains stretched, gauzy white in the distance.

She was near the Dales, judging by the trees. She had come back here at Felassan’s request, though she planned to make her way to Val Royeaux as soon as possible. She had work to do.

With the eluvians, she could move across Orlais faster than a chevalier on horseback. And that chevalier would never find her.

“It will be a hard winter,” Mihris said from behind her, shivering. “If neither Gaspard nor Celene finishes this quickly, many people will die.”

“Wars often have that effect,” said Felassan as he came out into the light, squinting.

“I meant that they would starve,” Mihris said sharply.

“And why would that matter to you?” Briala asked, turning to her. “Do you think the Dalish will suffer? Are you concerned for the other clans?”

“Always,” Mihris said. She looked at the trees, and Briala knew that she was getting her bearings. Her clan had lived near here for years. Briala wondered whether Mihris intended to search for survivors, bury the dead, or simply leave. It didn’t really matter. “As you are concerned for … your elves.”

“My flat-ears, yes.” Briala looked back at the tunnel entrance behind her. Even just a few paces away, it blended in perfectly, almost impossible to see unless you were looking for it. Nevertheless, she knew where it was, could sense it like a part of her own body thanks to the magic that still hummed inside her. “I am very concerned for my people, Mihris. And for the first time, I have a way to help them.”

“If you gave the secret of the eluvians to the Dalish,” Mihris said, “we could—”

Briala laughed in her face, and the Dalish woman went silent.

“Every elf in those alienages thinks of you as creatures of legend,” she said to Mihris, “the elves who never surrendered when Halamshiral fell. They’re either terrified of you or inspired by you—you’re the elves who keep fighting, who have the old magic. They think you’re helping them out here, that you’re doing more than playing with demons and hunting for old relics, and if you had actually helped them, you’d have had an army of loyal elves ready to bring back Arlathan for you.” She smiled. “But you didn’t. You said that they weren’t really your people, and you left them to die. So I will help them. I will keep fighting.” She gestured at the entrance to the tunnel. “And I have the old magic.”

“I am not your enemy, Briala.” Mihris lowered her gaze. “I helped you.”

“I had something you wanted.” Briala kept smiling. “And your people are my people, even if they’ve forgotten it. I will work with the Dalish, but only if they help all our people. Pass that on to the next clan you meet.”

Mihris swallowed and nodded. She turned to Felassan. “Will you take me to your clan?”

“I don’t think you want to meet my clan, da’len,” Felassan said. “But good luck with whichever one will take you.”

“Whichever clan I join,” Mihris said, “it will not be one that deals with demons.” She walked off into the trees. Her staff glittered the same color as the fresh morning snow.

“Do you think I should have killed her?” Briala asked when the Dalish girl was lost in the trees.

Beside her, Felassan shrugged. “I suppose you’ll find out.” Briala chuckled, and he turned to her. “Are you sincere? You will use the paths of the eluvians to help your people?”

Briala thought for a moment. “Celene and Gaspard saw an army, but that would be fighting their fight. With the paths, I could get food to alienages where elves would otherwise starve. They would let me move ahead of an oncoming army and warn the target, or move behind them and attack their supply lines.”

“Which army are you going to hamstring?”

Briala looked over at Felassan, smiling, even as she started to shiver from the winter’s chill. “Whichever one seems to be winning. What was it? Anaris and Andruil?”

Felassan smiled. “You prolong their fight, and in the chaos, your people work free from their bonds?”

“It can work, I think.” Briala held her arms around her. “Halamshiral rioted because of a single nobleman. I can find elves who will help me with my work in every city in Orlais, and more who are too afraid to fight, but will serve as eyes and ears if I can help their children survive the winter.”

“That is,” Felassan said, and after a pause, finished, “a unique use of the ancient relics of our people, da’len.”

“I think Fen’Harel would have approved,” Briala said, and saw Felassan give a startled laugh.

“He might have,” her teacher said, “though I very much doubt it.”

“Oh, I almost forgot,” she said. “The passphrase to access the eluvians. In case we’re separated, it’s—”

She broke off as his fingers brushed her lips, looking at him in surprise.

Felassan smiled again, but his eyes were sad, and wiser than Briala could ever imagine. “Don’t.”

She looked at him silently for a moment, and then put it together. “You’re leaving.”

“I must.”

“The Dalish?”

He snorted. “Them? Please.” Then his face turned serious. “But the elves of Orlais are in good hands, it seems. Many other things are not, and I have more work to do elsewhere.”

She nodded, though her eyes stung. Begging him to stay would accomplish nothing, she knew. The protestations in the back of her mind—that she had more to learn, that she could not do this without him—she silenced before they gained a voice. The wisest man she had ever known trusted her to win her people’s freedom. And to her surprise, she found that she didn’t doubt his judgment.

“One last question, then, hahren. Was this…” She gestured at the tunnels; then at the woods where, somewhere a few days’ journey away, Clan Virnehn lay dead; then to the north, where Halamshiral tilted toward the war that might set her people free. “Was this always your plan?”

He chuckled one last time. “No, da’len. You did this yourself.” He leaned in and kissed her gently on the forehead. His lips burned like a brand, and her head spun for a moment.

When she opened her eyes again, she was alone, and though she looked in all directions, no tracks marked which way Felassan had gone.

Briala looked back at the tunnel. She was no longer shivering. Perhaps Felassan had left her some trace of his magic to guard her against the winter chill, or perhaps simply having a purpose warmed her.

She mouthed the passphrase, and the tunnel closed behind her, as if it had never existed.

“Fen’Harel enansal.” The Dread Wolf’s blessing.

She would make it count.

* * *

Wincing against the unnatural light, Celene took the last few steps on the path and stepped through the eluvian.

She had asked Briala to send her back to Val Royeaux. It had been her original goal, after all, back when she had a lover and a champion. Reach Orlais before Gaspard, make it clear that Gaspard’s attack had failed, and then rally the full might of the Orlesian army and crush the rebels.

And it would have worked.

But Celene had seen Briala’s face when the empress had made her request. She had seen in Briala’s soulful eyes the little glint of calculation. She knew what she herself would have done in Briala’s place.

And so she was not surprised when she stepped through the eluvian, blinked against the strange wave of energy, and found herself in a modest dining hall decorated with elven relics.

She had used the room for breakfast on occasion, since it had lovely windows that overlooked the gardens.

She was in her own Winter Palace just outside Halamshiral.

Celene sighed and shook her head. It could have been worse. Briala had at least been kind enough not to send her to her death in some long-abandoned tomb. She turned around and glared at the eluvian, and after a moment the crimson clouds marking its surface faded to dull blue-grey.

She had no champion, no army, and no master of spies. She was far from her seat of power, near a city Gaspard had likely conquered.

Her heart was broken, and she would cry about that later, she was sure. But perversely, some small part of her, deep in the darkest parts of her mind, was laughing. She felt like a girl of sixteen again, orphaned and alone in Val Royeaux … and the last time she had felt that way, she had won.

For a time, she suspected, she would have no trouble sleeping late in the mornings, even if she slept alone.

She closed her eyes, listened hard, and then crept from the dining hall into the corridor. She had grown up spending her winters in her family palace, and she knew the back hallways that kept her out of view.

A few moments later, she had reached her room. She picked up a silver bell by the nightstand, rang it loudly, and waited.

One of the palace servants, a stout and matronly human woman, entered in confusion, then stared in shock.

Celene, still wearing stolen armor, filthy and unmasked, simply waited.

After a breath, the woman dropped into a low curtsy. “Your Radiance.”

The key, as in all things, would be confidence.

“I need a report on Halamshiral, a bath, and a strong cup of tea,” she said, and hid her smile as the servant rushed to obey.

She stripped down as the bath was drawn, ordering the armor burned. As she soaked and scrubbed, she listened to the palace’s ancient seneschal, a tall, thin man she had known since she was a baby, as he sat on the other side of a modesty screen and reported on Lord Pierre’s surrender to Gaspard, and his subsequent requests for the guards at the Winter Palace to surrender as well.

“Send a messenger to Halamshiral asking Lord Pierre to come here personally to discuss the surrender,” she said, and gestured wordlessly for her attendants to use more lavender-scented soap.

She had her first sip of tea while the servants pulled her into a corset and gown. The gown was deep purple, trimmed with the gold lions that were both her family’s symbol and the symbol of Orlais itself. The tea was hot, strong, and heavenly, and she drank deeply, sighed with pleasure, and then kept her face still so that an ancient elven handmaid could apply her makeup.

The servants announced Lord Pierre’s arrival just as Celene found her spare mask. She slid it on and felt a momentary strangeness at the sensation against her face, the tiny walls at the edge of her vision. It had been decades since she had gone so long without wearing it.

She waited at the top of the white spiral staircase, comfortably out of view, as Lord Pierre was announced. She heard Pierre walk in, along with the rattle of armor that must be from both her palace guards and his own troops. He greeted the seneschal with all the politeness of a proud Orlesian lord.

“I have come, as you requested,” he said, “and I am prepared to show every kindness to you and your staff. Rest assured, this is a difficult time for all of us, as I can attest from the state of Halamshiral itself, and it is no dishonor to surrender in the face of such force.”

As he started talking, Celene descended the stairs. She had timed it perfectly, courtesy of years of practice, and came into view from the entry hall just as Lord Pierre finished speaking.

“I am pleased to hear you say such noble words, Lord Pierre,” Empress Celene of Orlais said as Lord Pierre stood there looking dumbfounded, “and while in darker times an emperor might have had his lord executed on the spot for such disloyalty, I find my heart moved by your speech.” She smiled as she reached the bottom of the stairs, and her palace guards stepped out to flank her. “And so I accept your surrender.”

Lord Pierre of Halamshiral was a good, kind man, but he had never been a strong one. He had not had the will to curb the elven rebellion himself, nor the courage to defy Gaspard, and neither of those things surprised Celene.

After a long moment, Lord Pierre dropped to one knee, and that did not surprise her, either. “Empress.”

Celene had been back for only a few hours, and she had already taken her first city.

* * *

Michel and Gaspard grunted as they stepped out of the tiny elven ruin where the eluvian had deposited them and back into the world of men. They stood on a windswept, snow-covered plain marked with a few scrubby trees. The sunset gave the snow a pale reddish tint that reminded Michel of the eluvian. He could have done without ever seeing that color again.

An icy wind cut through Michel’s thin cloak, and he shivered, but it was not full winter yet, and as a chevalier, he had had training in surviving in harsh conditions.

Though he was not a chevalier any longer, he supposed.

“Maker’s breath,” Gaspard said behind him, “I’ll take a little chill over those cursed paths.”

“Agreed, my lord.” Michel looked at the trees. “Do you have any idea where we are?”

Gaspard squinted, then laughed. “You don’t recognize it? If memory serves, we’re about a day’s ride from Val Chevin.”

Michel ducked his head, chagrined. “I have visited the city a few times, after Comte Brevin secured my title, but I am hardly familiar with the area.”

“Brevin?”

Michel supposed he should have left the noble’s name and reputation intact, but the man was dead. More than that, Michel was tired of the lies. “Yes, of Montfort. He saw me fighting in the street as a boy. He took me in to train me with his family guards, and then eventually had my title … found, I suppose. He said I had potential.”

“He wasn’t wrong,” Gaspard said, nodding. “Wouldn’t be the first.” He turned. “Tunnel closed right up behind us. Can’t even see where it was.”

“Some sort of magic, no doubt.” Michel didn’t look. In the cold air, his wounds were starting to ache.

They had kept a slow pace, both of them, and still they had come from the Dales to Val Chevin in just a few days, faster than even a messenger bird could have traveled. They had talked little, saving their strength and staying alert for threats that, as it turned out, had never come. At night, before they rested, they had rebound each other’s wounds.

“What a loss. Imagine if Emperor Drakon had known about the eluvians. How much farther could Orlais have spread?” Gaspard shook his head. “We’ll never know. Unless Celene’s elf decides to pick a side.”

Michel watched as the last sliver of sunlight slid down below the distant western horizon. “She isn’t Celene’s any longer, my lord.”

Gaspard laughed again. “That she isn’t. And neither are you, come to think of it.”

Michel turned to him. “So what happens now?”

“Damned if I know.” Gaspard turned from side to side, stretching, and winced. “That wound you gave me likely ended my fighting days. And that was after I broke your sword.”

“I meant what happens to me, my lord.”

Gaspard turned to Michel. “The Academie would strip your name from the rolls and order you executed.”

Michel nodded. He knew the rules as well as Gaspard did.

“Tell me something,” Gaspard said after a moment. “Why didn’t you just kill me?”

“I gave my word,” Michel said, and shook his head. It had seemed a matter of paramount importance to keep his secret back outside the warehouse in Val Royeaux. Had he known what the promise he had given would cost, would he have done anything differently?

“But why keep it?” Gaspard insisted. “You’re not really a chevalier, son.”

Michel reached for a sword that wasn’t there, then drew his dagger instead.

“If the chevaliers wish to strip my name from the rolls and kill me, that is their right,” he said, staring at Gaspard down the length of the blade. “But they will not take my honor. And I will not stand to have it insulted.”

“See?” said Gaspard, and smiled. “That is why I won’t report you to the Academie.”

Michel blinked. “I don’t understand.”

“Ser Michel.” Gaspard shook his head. “You beat me in a fair fight. You held to your honor even when it cost you everything. You’re the damned model for a chevalier, no matter what blood runs in your veins.” He looked behind them again, to where the tunnel had been. “Two hundred years ago, they’d have killed a woman for doing the same thing, and then along came Ser Aveline, and Freyan changed the rules.”

Michel had lowered his dagger as the grand duke spoke. He sheathed it now, speaking quietly as he did. “So you would let me remain a chevalier.”

“You are a chevalier. What you do with it is up to you.” Gaspard chuckled. “Now, I doubt you can still serve as Celene’s champion…”

“No, my lord.” Celene had made that abundantly clear. For his betrayal, his life was forfeit if she ever laid eyes on him again.

“And I won’t insult you by asking you to serve me.” Gaspard looked over, and Michel nodded in gratitude. “That said, we’re looking at fire and death for this empire. Me and Celene, the templars and the mages. Maker knows what Ferelden and Tevinter will do when they see Orlais weakened. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. I went against Celene because I thought I was the man to guide Orlais through it…” He paused, then smiled faintly. “… and because I wanted the throne, if we’re being honest. But whatever happens, this empire is going to need men who care more about honor than about holding on to their titles.”

Michel swallowed. “Thank you, my lord.”

“Thank me by doing something good when it counts,” Gaspard said, and extended an arm. Michel clasped it.

The grand duke walked off toward Val Chevin, whistling a soldier’s marching tune. Michel watched him go, the grand duke’s form fading into the twilight, then stood awhile and looked at the stars.

He had no idea where he should go.

He had no armor, no horse, not even a sword to mark him as a chevalier. If anyone encountered him on the road, they would think him no more than a wandering peasant.

And he supposed they would be right. For the first time in years, Ser Michel had no great lie to protect, either.

There was only one debt he carried, now that he thought about it. It had been incurred in service to Celene, but Michel knew this one was his alone.

The demon Imshael walked the world now because of Michel’s actions. He could be anywhere in Orlais, anywhere in the world, really, but wherever he was, he was causing chaos and endangering innocent people.

Michel was neither a spy nor a tracker. Finding the demon might be the work of a lifetime, if it was possible at all.

But it was a purpose.

He picked a direction at random and started walking toward his new life.

* * *

In the darkness that night, the elf who had called himself Felassan made a fire in the deepest woods. He set wards around his camp, carefully marking a circle with energies that would awaken him if anything approached … because wandering bandits were clearly his biggest concern at the moment. The thought made him laugh, and he dismissed the ward with a negligent wave of his hand. It always made the air smell funny, anyway.

He had caught a rabbit earlier in the day. He roasted it over the fire, taking his time and savoring the smoky meat. When he finished, he washed the juices from his face and hands with a bit of snow, then called the magic to himself to warm the chill away.

He looked at the fire, crackling and hissing from the wet wood. Smoke curled up through the trees until it was lost in a brilliant field of stars that dazzled the night sky like distant diamonds.

The thought of staying awake struck him. He had herbs that would keep him from dreaming most of the time, and wards that would do a good job of blocking him from the Fade when the herbs failed. He could have a lovely time, he thought, running and hiding and looking over one shoulder for the rest of his life.

But Ser Michel had held to his word, and Felassan could not stomach letting some headstrong boy show him up.

It was pointless to put it off any longer.

He reached into his robe and drew forth a packet of herbs. He sat cross-legged, calmed his breathing until he found his true self inside the shell of his flesh, and sprinkled the herbs over the fire.

The fire flared, going green for a few heartbeats, and the smell of the smoke changed to something sharp and old.

Felassan shut his eyes and dreamed.

He still sat in the forest before the campfire, but everything around him glowed faintly with the aura of the Fade, and the smell of the herbs was rich and fresh, as though he walked through a meadow in summer.

Behind him, dead leaves crackled as someone approached.

“I don’t have the passphrase,” Felassan said, not turning around. “Briala did not tell me.”

It was a lie, of sorts. She would have told him, had he not stopped her. And the figure behind him heard the lie and knew it as well.

“Yes, I know. She deserves a chance,” Felassan said. “And what’s the harm, really? Why not let the girl try?”

Behind him, there was only silence. There would be no debate, no logical argument or impassioned plea. Felassan had known that when he sat down before the campfire.

Felassan sighed. “I’m sorry. I will not take the eluvians from her.”

Dead leaves crackled again as the figure came closer behind him.

Felassan closed his eyes, straightened, and inhaled the rich scent one last time. “They’re stronger than you think, you know.” He smiled. “You know, I suspect you’ll hate this, but she reminds me of—”

He never heard the blow that killed him.

His last thought was for an elven girl, alone, with no magic, no family, no power, searching for her people.

DRAGON AGE NOVELS PUBLISHED BY TOR

Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne

Dragon Age: The Calling

Dragon Age: Asunder

Dragon Age: The Masked Empire

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