The Seeker Inquisitor

One of the last things she remembered was their plea for mercy. Pleas that went mocked, and then ignored as her victims succumbed to her powers. They deserved it. They deserved so much more; agony that she was unequipped to inflict on them. Her unique brand of punishment would have to suffice.

Their blood was on their beds, and the stones on the ground. And it felt good, and right to her. Their corpses were a sight that brought her immeasurable peace. But at the same time she was still as hollowed as the day she arrived in Dairsmuid. It was justice done; because these last guilty souls finally understood the horrors they had wrought.

And then there was just blankness, and the sensation of time passing.

Suddenly the world was mist and panic and the Woman standing just out of reach, wreathed in golden light, and offered hand shouting at her to do something. But what? She couldn't remember.

So she wasn't exactly surprised when she came back to consciousness that she was bound in chains. She didn't open her eyes yet. She was surprised to realise two of the guards in the room were Templars. She could feel the lyrium like poison in their blood. But that didn't make sense. If they knew who she was, they knew better than to have one of those so easily susceptible to her kind's powers in the same room as her. Perhaps something else was going on here.

There was something else wrong. She felt it on her hand. It was magic, and powerful magic at that. It felt foreign, and dirty. She quashed her first instinct to relieve one of the Templars of their blades and cut her arm off, severing her from this pulsing, foul green gash on her hand. Almost in response to her thought, it flickered to life and she couldn't help but let out a gasp of pain. It felt like molten steel was being poured into the muscles of her hand. It was worse than when she received the scars on her other arm that one time she was struck by lightning.

The door opposite her was barged open and all her guards immediately stood to attention and evacuated the room.

The woman in chains finally opened her eyes as she heard those unmistakable and angry footsteps…it had been a while. She coiled for violence, but deflated when her eyes came across the face of her former mentor.

"Cassandra?" she rasped in utter confusion.

Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast did a double take but steeled herself. "What happened? Tell me why we shouldn't kill you right now, half-breed."

Kill me? I only murdered a few Templars here. Unless she found out about the deeply unholy task Justinia V asked of me… which I executed flawlessly…even if it took a couple years. But if that were true, then why would Cassandra be acting against the Devine?

"Racial slurs already, Princess Cassie? I have a name, and you know it well. You're either drunk or enraged. Maybe both? Is it even noon yet?" the prisoner couldn't help but retort with venom. Why does Cassie look at me like I'm the enemy?

Cassandra made an aggressive move towards the prisoner but was halted in her step by a surprisingly sturdy Leliana.

"Don't, Cassandra. We'll need her." Leliana said urgently. The prisoner's eyes widened at the hooded Left Hand. If both of them were here, giving her their undivided attention? They reeked of fear, something that surprised the prisoner…something horrible had happened and she needed to find out what.

"What is this accursed thing? And what are you accusing me of, Teacher?" the bound woman spat out; done with the pleasantries.

"Need me for what? I'm your prisoner, yes?" the bound Seeker was very quickly losing her temper. Perhaps it was Cassandra's influence over all those early years.

"It would be better to show you," Cassandra said with pained resignation. "Leliana, go to the forward camp."

"No. You brief the men, I'll shepherd our wayward prisoner," Leliana replied to the surprise of both Seekers. Noticing their surprise, Leliana followed up with, "You two obviously can't be trusted not to come to blows right now. And expediency is the word of the hour." She took a knife from her sleeve and cut the Prisoner's bindings. Cassandra's squawk of indignation was accompanied by the prisoner's slightly pained grin.

"What is your name, prisoner? Cassandra tells me you're a Seeker." Leliana said with cold eyes.

"Firstly," the prisoner said as she rose to her full height. "I haven't been beholden to our glorious order for some years now, so I don't know if 'Seeker' is the best ah, title for me. I've been following orders from Divine Justinia recently, so perhaps you can take my presence at the Conclave up with her." Leliana admirably hid her flinch as the lithe woman now towered over her and Cassandra. She was as tall as Cassandra, so of an even height of most men. She was human then…or perhaps mostly human considering Cassandra's odd remark about her breeding. Her skin was was as dark as Josephine's, so Leliana immediately assumed Rivaini or possibly Antivan heritage, though her accent was Ferelden enough to mask her country of origin. She was doubtlessly raised in Therinfal Redoubt, considering her affiliation with the Seekers of Truth.

The prisoner's features were pretty, though not without their flaws. Her thick ebony mane spilled just past her shoulder unrestrained at the back. Her eyes were large and did not match. One was inviting and brown, the other was emerald with a solid two thin rings of gold; one around her pupil and one between her iris and the white of her eye. Her nose was long and slightly curved, though there was a faded scar running across the bridge and spilling onto her cheek. There was another long scar from above her left eye to jaw. Though the dark samite cloth wrap she wore across her forehead obscured the rest of the scar as it journeyed toward her scalp. However, the thick line of scar tissue down her face skirted her eye, forming a neat crescent. It looked too clean to have been an accident. Maybe she was tortured? A pretty girl like her would be quite the prize for some of the darker patrons of the Game, or any man with those leanings, Leliana thought with revulsion and more than a flicker of horror from her own time in Raleigh's dungeon. Shaking herself from her worst memory, Leliana observed that the prisoner's larger scar was clearly newer than the one on her nose.

"You may call me Yasmin, Sister Leliana," the prisoner–Yasmin spoke with a slight smile.

"Cassandra, we'll meet you at the forward camp. Clear a path for us." Leliana said as she cut the bindings on Yasmin's wrists. Cassandra spared Yasmin a look that Leliana pegged between fear and anger, and then the elder Seeker quitted the dungeon. Leliana didn't say it aloud, but she knew cutting the younger Seeker's bindings was merely a formality. They both knew running away wasn't a possibility, and likewise, such a simple binding would've been child's play to escape.

"What has happened," Yasmin asked Leliana point-blank once Cassandra had ventured forth from the dungeon. "Cassandra is a harsh woman, and an exacting mentor, but I've never seen her distraught like this before."

With a heavy sigh Leliana said, "Cassandra was right when she said it is better to show you, I think." Leliana held the door open courteously as they exited the dungeon. "Everything has changed," she muttered.

They exited what Yasmin recognized now as the Haven chantry. For all of Yasmin's earlier cockiness with Cassandra, she knew now why her former mentor was so incensed. There was a green gash in the sky, and from it rained green projectiles she couldn't identify.

"What…" Yasmin breathed as her eyes welled up. "What of Divine Justinia? The Conclave?"

Leliana's reply was short. "We call it the Breach. It's been two days now."

Yasmin didn't question her further. As they walked through Haven, Yasmin couldn't help but notice the tension in the air.

Leliana just shook her head in mourning as they walked through the small village once she noticed the animosity of the townspeople. Yasmin caught several of the dark looks people were unashamedly levelling at her. "Ignore them for now. They well not touch you while you walk with me. You should know however, that my agents killed no fewer than three would-be assassins while you recovered from your ordeal." Leliana was blasé about it, but Yasmin shivered at being so vulnerable.

"You have my thanks then, Sister Nightingale," Yasmin said with a seriousness she'd lacked until that point.

Once they'd exited the gates of Haven, it was a blur of snow until they crossed the first stone bridge. That was when the Mark acted up again, driving Yasmin to her knees, gasping in agony. When she recovered enough, she saw Leliana's slightly concerned eyes on her. "No need to fret Sister; if there was one thing the Seekers of Truth taught us, it was how to handle pain."

"Well, I doubt the Seekers trained you with the intention of killing you outright. Or perhaps they were mulling it over at the time; that Mark however, has already made up its mind about killing you. If we don't get you to the Breach and something miraculous happens, you are not long for this world Seeker Yasmin." Leliana's words were as cold as they were true. Yasmin glanced down at the redheaded and couldn't help but think Orlesians were supposed to be subtle. But then Divine Justinia did attract odd allies.

They were crossing the second bridge when a green rock the size of a house spilled from the Breach shattered it. In the tumble to the ground, Yasmin was able to orient herself around the slight Orlesian so that she was shielded from the crags and hard landing on the iced pond. "What the hell?" Yasmin groaned as she shakily rose to her feet, pulling Leliana with her.

Before either of them could do much more than exchange a harried look with the other; another green rock crashed into the pond they were standing on. Demons poured forth, two shades, and one Terror.

Luckily, Leliana's bow and quiver remained miraculously intact, which the Left Hand made quick use of. Yasmin cast her eyes around for a weapon and surely enough; one of the dead soldiers had an old zweihander strapped to his back.

Dead man's zweihander in one hand, which gave Leliana a moment of pause, Yasmin turned to face the remaining demons with a feral smirk on her face.