Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing of Dragon Age Origins, or of Lord of the Rings.

If I did, there would be a whole series of Dragon Age action figure of the same quality that were produced when the LOTR movies came out.

Please enjoy this short story.

Demon in the Deep Roads

This was the place. In all its dark, dank and dreary glory. The endless forgotten corners where all manner of dark shadows crept, where the screams of those left behind forever echoed across the crumbling cavern walls.

This was the Deep Roads, the place where she would die.

In all likelihood, she would be cut down in the coming blight, slain on the surface world by those who crept from the deep, under the sun and stars which she and her dalishi clans so loved.

But if, by some miracle, she lived through this war, and whatever battles afterward, this deep pit of death was where she was expected to end.

She hadn't know this at the start, hadn't been told all the rules and expectations of her, hadn't even had time to learn any history of the group she was now a part of, these Grey Wardens. She was simply handed a chalice of dark poison, and, having survived that, was told she had to save all of Ferelden, fighting off the nightmares and the blackness that the silver goblet had introduced into her life.

She had tried hard not to think upon it during this quest, and was mostly successful given the near limitless supply of darkspawn and giant spiders, but there were far to many of the silent moments,-when they prowled the edges of the remains of ancient homes, or sifted through the clues that might lead them to their goal,- when her mind inevitably rolled back to the only thoughts she did not want to be thinking.

This place would become her final home.

This place would become her tomb.

But now was not the time for such thoughts, Oghren had found the diary of his lost wife, and it had lead them to the Dead Trenches. After hours, and possibly days, as it was impossible to tell the passage of time in a place so permanently dark, they were near to their goal.

"This place makes my skin crawl." the dwarf suddenly commented from behind her, and honestly, the somewhat grim statement was far better than the lewd comments he had thrown both at Morrigan and Leliana since the beginning of their journey, both woman growing more exasperated as the time went by. Morrigan threatening him at nearly every interval, and Leliana becoming snappish and short tempered.

For whatever reason, the dwarf had yet to make any comment to her, and she had to guess that it might be because she was an elf, something rarely seen in these tunnels. Or perhaps he thought she had an even greater and more dangerous power than the sorceress, -his lack of knowledge about her kind fueling some kind of dark story,- perhaps he didn't want to test the metal of a Grey Warden. Maybe he simply didn't think her as attractive as the other two, because of her being closer to his height or the blood red color of her hair, or even her sharply curved ears, and therefore not worth the effort of exasperating, she truly had no way to know.

Whatever the case, she was glad he left her in peace.

She only nodded her agreement to his comment as they rounded yet another tight corner, stepping lightly to avoid unnecessary detection.

She felt… uneasy. At first, she had chalked it up to being so deep beneath the earth, where she was unable to see the sky or feel the wind, but the further they went, the worse she felt, like a black hand slowly closing in around her heart…

She shook herself slightly and quickened her pace, maneuvering around a turn, expecting more tight passageways… only to find herself suddenly standing in a huge cavern, the top of which went so high that it was lost in pure blackness, the strange blue crystals that lit up the deep roads unable to reach so far.

Off to her left there was a rather steep upwards sloping hill, and somehow, she knew that it lead into a deep canyon, a chasm that dropped off into oblivion just as the hill reached its peak.

She stopped suddenly, frozen to the spot, now hearing strange sounds from the canyon. For reasons she could not understand, she felt the black hand close tighter, and she could no longer feel the rest of her insides.

"Warden? Are you, alright?" behind her, Leliana whispered in concern.

She gave no reply, but began to slowly march up the hill, her dread growing with each step, her body becoming colder as she neared the edge, the others just behind her.

She reached the edge, then slowly looked down, the chill in her blood turned to ice at the sight.

Darkspawn, thousands- no- hundreds of thousands of them. Milling about the pinpricks of orange that were their fires and lanterns. Like ants they were to them from this great height, the massive ogres like beetles, the whole black mass choking every corner of the pit.

She wanted to swallow in fear, wanted to curse in anger, to back away from the cliff, close her eyes from the sight and reassure herself that all her efforts were not in vain, that there was still hope. But she could do nothing but stare down at the blackness, into this blight.

Oghren swore quietly, Leliana recoiled slightly and recited a line from the chant of light, Morrigan gripped her staff tighter and sighed.

But there was no more time for idle sightseeing, no more moments to calm the fear, for merely a second later, a huge roar erupted somewhere far above their heads, and there was a loud 'swoosh' of large wings. Just out of the corner of her eye she caught something massive and dark coming down the canyon tunnel, heading for the cavern.

The others saw it too, and they swiftly backed away from the edge, scooting down the hill and resting against it for cover, but she stayed. Something… pulled at her to stay, holding her firmly at the spot as the monster neared her position, it's great wings carrying it swiftly out of the shadows, closer and closer…

"By the maker…" Leliana whispered frantically just as Oghren growled. "Warden, get down."

But she couldn't. She felt hypnotized, pulled towards this, thing. She wanted to see it fully, why shouldn't it see her?…

Suddenly there were hands upon her shoulders, strong thin hands that pulled back hard, and for a second she struggled against them, only to snap out of whatever trance that had held her, going limp against the pulls. She fell back, crashing right into the person who held her by her shoulders, and by the grunt of pain that followed, she knew it was Morrigan.

The two slipped down the incline, both trying to regain their footing only to collide into the other two. They all crashed down hard, herself and Morrigan twisting to fall on their backs, the tops of their heads pointing up the crest of the hill, Oghren crashing on his side to her left, and Leliana slapping down upon her abdomen just beyond Morrigan.

And not a moment too soon.

A mere split-second later, before they even had time to regain their breaths, a second roar accompanied a great crescendo of beating wings, and they heard the gargantuan thing pass right over where they lay before landing with an ominous rumble.

Knowing it was a risk but unable to stop herself, the Grey Warden pushed up and twisted to look further down the canyon line, to the bridge that crossed its breadth (which she was only just noticing). But it wasn't ancient architecture that froze whatever breath had returned to her lungs, but the thing that stood upon it.

A gigantic mass of purple-black scales, long whipping tail, and two wings that would have enveloped a whole platoon of men were only the first hugely noticeable features of the dragon. It stood nearly with its back to them, looking down over the bridge to the legion of darkspawn below who had taken up a great roaring cheer at it's arrival, each subtle movement of its body serpentine in every respect.

This time she did swallow, shifting her weight back down to her back, eyes staring widely up at the dark ceiling.

"What's a damn dragon doin' down here'?" Oghren growled out in a strangled whisper, still staring at the beast from his position upon his elbows

"Get down you drunken fool!" Morrigan hissed over at the dwarf, her eyes filled with a sort of fearful awe.

"Maker preserve us all." Leliana whispered, her eyes tight shut.

Then they were still, more importantly, they were quiet, and they could hear every single motion made by the dragon not a hundred paces from them.

Somehow though, she wasn't really listening, but feeling, suddenly keenly aware of the amulet that rested against the bare skin of her neck.

It was the one Alistair had given her the night of her joining, a glass oval filled with the same blood from the goblet from whence she had drank. The near-black darkspawn blood a reminder of those who did not make it, of her oath and duty, and of the taint she now shared.

From the moment she had put it around her neck,-what felt like eons ago in Ostigar,- the smooth thing had been so cold it burned against her flesh, but she kept it on, letting it serve its purpose, letting it remind her.

And now she realized what had been bothering her most about being here. What, -somewhere in the back of her mind- jarred her senses and unsettled her heart.

The amulet was hot against her skin.

It had started at the beginning of the path into the deep roads, a warmth that grew greater with every move deeper into the darkness. And it wasn't the heat from her own body, she had worn the thing for days-weeks even, and it had never lost it's chill. She had gone on, deeper and deeper, without even noticing the small trinket as it matched her own temperature, then began to surpass it.

Now it blazed, it burned like an ember fresh from a bonfire upon her chest, painful and yet numbing at the same time, and the longer she concentrated upon it, the hotter it grew. But that wasn't the only thing.

It pulsed.

Just as steady as her own heartbeat, it's strength grew with the heat, until it felt almost like it had replaced her own heart altogether. And now she wasn't running blood through her body, but blackness.

The taint.

Her eyes rolled back in her head, her breaths becoming shallow. Now she could feel other pulses too, a whole symphony of heartbeats, all running to their own tune, all black as pitch, threatening to deafen her. She could feel all of them below her, each pounding heart, closing in upon her. Yet there was one that beat loudest above them all, slower than the rest. Every time it pulsed, a huge pressure passed through all the others, jarring against their vibrations, forcing them all in line, to beat as one.

She could literally feel the taint crawling across her skin, the inky blackness stretching itself as a too tight shirt might, chaining itself to her body…

Not understanding how it was happening, she found herself back on the hill, gazing at the huge beast still upon the bridge. She could still feel the hard ground against her back, her own weight pressing her duel weapons painfully against her amour, and she understood that she wasn't physically seeing this, but sort of spiritually feeling it.

The heartbeats went on and on, the heat upon her chest feeling like it was searing itself into her bone, tendrils of darkness reaching across her forehead. She wasn't really paying attention, so focused upon the great dragon, and as she stared through this Fade-like reality, she could see the vibrations of its pulsing heart, she could match it to the slowest beat, the strongest beat, the beat that all the others marched to.

Without realizing it, her hand had began a slow trail up to the amulet, almost without thought. As though something was coaxing her on…

Then something in the dragon shifted, and it seemed like it had turned its head to look back at her. But that was impossible, its head was still gazing over the bridge. Then she realized that it was looking at her the same way she was looking at it, a spiritually hazy image of its true form, it split from the neck, making the beast look like it had two heads.

Only the second one was out of focus, hazy, like a face through a fog. All except the eyes.

Those burning yellow eyes.

Eyes so crystal clear that her own eyes found them before she had any conscious thought to do so. Then she was caught, still very aware of everything else in her spirit sight, but completely and utterly unable to look away.

Those eyes, they burned so, and yet froze, in them she could see everything, and nothing. The end to all things, in those eyes…

Then there was a voice, and though it spoke almost softly, it cut through the thundering heartbeats with the ease of water over rocks.

It spoke in a strange, ancient tongue, the words so foreign, and yet somehow so familiar, like she knew it in someway, just there, at the back of her mind. It was… male, and yet it was also female, sweet but strong, its rhythm all at once startling and soothing, the words sinisterly seductive… drawing her in.

And still the eyes held her, still she felt herself slipping into them. The pounding hearts, and the voice, and ever her hand creeping closer to that amulet, the heat beyond bearing, the clawing shadows reaching for every part of her mind.

I see you.

The voice rolled through her in all its terrible wonder, and she was falling further, her body clenched in the heat and darkness, her spirit completely frozen by the golden ovals and black slits. Completely unable to fight, unable to even scream.

Come, Grey Warden. You are your own doom. Come to me and end it…

Her heart was racing so fast now, as if it was the only thing that could offer any kind of defiance, standing out against the dreadfully slow pulse of the demon, but still only barely felt over the pulse of the amulet.

Death is the only escape, Warden. Else you join these creatures you hate, else you become my thrall.

Her spirit felt so cold, so utterly frozen and immobile, the voice weaving around her in a web of pleasant music, the heartbeats almost comfortingly familiar now.

Come to us, come to me…

Then she saw past the eyes, to something buried just beyond this hazy image, to a deeper, darker, and more dangerous power. The outline of a woman stood in the center of the black slits, infinitely calm, infinitely powerful, and ancient. A goddess of malicious ages past.

Her fingertips brushed over her breastplate, then lightly touched upon her burning skin. She really wanted to hold the amulet, didn't she? Wasn't it her own mind that drew her slim hands to the heart of darkness… Yes, reaching for the taint…

Then suddenly, a hand came out of nowhere and snatched at the amulet, the fingers closing around the blazing glass and pulling it out of contact with her skin. The nails upon the hand were as black as the ceiling above…

For a moment, it felt like she was choking. The heat was still there upon her chest, but it shuddered and began slipping away, the darkness feebly clawing at every nitch, trying to hold on. The eyes of the dragon wavered, growing as hazy as the rest of its shadowy form, then beginning to fade entirely, and her spirit fumbled backwards, lost without the hold of the eyes.

And just for a second, she wanted it all back, the heartbeats of the hive below, and the voice, which slipped and twisted away every second the amulet was clear of her skin, the calmness she had gained. All of it was sliding out of her grasp and she longed for it, thirsted as though she would perish without it.

Then she was back in her own body, and she pulled in a shocked silent gasp, her back arching itself off the ground as she regained sensation, her eyes opened wide and staring at the ceiling. She remained like that for a mere moment, then collapsed back, panting hard, heart thundering in her chest, refusing to close her eyes, fearing that she might see those burning golden orbs again.

There was another warmth against her chest now, but this one was comforting, instantly familiar. The keepers necklace, filled only with love, the one she had worn since she had left her clan, her family. Somehow it felt like it was pushing away the unnatural heat, replacing it with the kind one felt after being hugged by someone special, someone loved…

Across the way, she heard the loud thump of a huge paw, then an earsplitting roar accompanied by the sizzling crack of fire.

She shuddered, terrified that the monster, having failed to kill her spirit, would now try to kill her body. She and the others with her. But a mere second later came the odd rustling of wings being opened, and then the rushing of wind as the giant beast took to the air. She didn't have to look to know it was flying away, down the canyon, she could feel it still, that and the horde far below as it began following its leader, its keeper, the one master.

Her breathing had slowed to shuddering gasps and she swallowed hard, beating back the wave of bile that threatened. Tilting her head down just slightly, her gaze fell upon the pale hand hovering just above her chest, the sliver chain of the warden amulet disappearing between tightly clenched folds of skin.

From each crack of the hand, between each of the fingers, glowed a dark purple energy, dancing like flame upon the skin, and, she guessed, smothering the influence that had crept through the innocent looking item.

Dropping her arm back to her side, her eyes traveled from the hand to it's owner.

Morrigan started hard down at her, a grimly serious look etched into her dark features, amber eyes studying every move she made, body tense.

Just beyond her, she could just make out through her bleary gaze the frightened face of Leliana, who seemed to be shaking slightly.

"Damn, warden." Oghron said, not bothering to speak softly as the rumbling march from below almost blocked out his voice anyway. "This sort of thing happen often? You looked possessed."

She realized that she was shivering, and chanced the moment by shutting her eyes. Blissful nothingness greeted her, just blackness, an empty void under her eyelids.

"What happed to her?" Leliana questioned hoarsely.

What indeed. She could mostly figure it out on her own, but wasn't really interested in sharing it, that meant reliving those moments, those horrible transfixed seconds, that sedative voice.

"I…" Morrigan began hesitatingly. "as near as I can tell, that, dragon, or demon, or whatever it was, used the darkspawn blood in the amulet to," she paused, sounding both somewhat afraid and intrigued. "to reach out and, I don't know, posses the taint in her."

She opened her eyes again, still staring up at the ceiling, Morrigan's hand still holding the amulet.

"What did you feel, Grey Warden?" Morrigan questioned her, and she turned her head to look up into the witch's face. "What did you see?" her tone lowered with intensity, and there was an odd glint in her eyes.

Unbidden, the great burning golden eyes flash across her mind,-her sight,-and she heard the whispers of the voice again, only now, in her memory, it sounded out it a slithering hiss, the language guttural, violent. She wondered which part of her memory was correct, the pleasant musical tone that so easily drew her along, or this new bestial tongue. How much of the whole ordeal had been woven into pleasantries in her mind, and would she had been able to resist had Morrigan not intervened?

What would have happened if she had be allowed to touch the amulet in such a state?

She found that she might know the answer, but was unwilling to search within herself for it, fearing what that meant about her own strength, her own heart.

So she blinked and shook her head slightly, biting her lower lip. Her eyes returned to Morrigan's hand, to where she still held the amulet.

The purple flames vanished soundlessly. Slowly, Morrigan uncurled her fingers until just the tips were putting pressure upon the chain at the amulet base, keeping the simple looking thing suspended in the air. It dangled there, just a little oval of dark red upon a single twist of silver chain, a drop of blood forever suspended in the glass.

Gathering up her courage, she nodded once, and Morrigan lowered her hand slightly, -the slack chain slipping back down against her skin,- then let go completely. For the briefest of seconds, time froze, and she stared at the false gem suspended in the air, such a small thing to cause so much danger, then it fell upon her chest.

The others seemed to hold their breath right along with her.

Nothing happened.

She noticed immediately and with some unease, that the thing was still warm, the blazing heat was now gone, but still it simmered against her chest, an angry kind of heat, at least compared to the kind that came from the carved beads of the keepers necklace, which hung from a single brown piece of leather. The two pieces of jewelry lay next to each other, each worlds away from the other in purpose and intent, and yet complimentary upon her pale skin.

"Nothing," she said suddenly, still staring down at the two pieces. "I saw nothing, Morrigan, nothing important." a lie, and if what she could see of the witch out of the corner of her eye was correct, Morrigan recognized it as such.

But she left it alone, for which the Warden was grateful.

"Well, that was interesn'." grunted Oghren, pushing himself to his stout legs. "but hows' about we get to movin' along, Branka ain't gonna find herself." he reached around and patted the hilt of his large war ax. "and' let's give the darkspawn something to really fear while we're at it."

"I agree," Leliana had pushed herself around to sit on the hill, holding on to one knee with both arms, still looking worried. "Let us finish what we came to do so that we may leave here," she uneasily reached for her bow. "I pray to the Maker we do not come across that dragon again."

No, not a dragon, nothing quiet so simple as that, she feared. She knew all to well what that creature had been, it had haunted her dreams far too many nights for her not to be able to recognize it.

The Arch Demon, far more terrible and deadly that she could have even imagined, she shared the taint with it, and through it, the Demon had a power over her. A far more terrifying thought than even the legions of darkspawn on the march below.

What did it mean? What had any of it meant? Was she truly fighting against what she thought she had been?

"Teardra, are you, all right?"

Her name served to pull her slightly from her drowning thoughts, and she looked over Morrigan -who was still watching her very intently- straight to Leliana, who frowned at her in concern.

She pushed herself up quickly, brushing off imaginary dirt from her drake scale amour, and frowning. Suddenly, more than ever, she wished to be out of this place.

"I will be." Teardra replied without looking at the bard, "for now, it seems that the…dragon, is gone, let us move on least it returns."

Apparently satisfied, Oghren grunted and strode over to Leliana.

"Come on, cutie, let's use those archer eyes of yours to spot our next fight, I'm just dieing to chop into something that breaks open and bleeds."

Disliking the name, but understanding the tactical advantage, Leliana trotted away, using her roughish stealth to scout ahead, the red haired dwarf stomping several paces behind.

She wanted to follow, but just felt so very drained. Just a few moments more, just to get used to the sensation of her physical body again, to push the unpleasant thoughts back away from her…

Then, very unexpectedly, there was a hand upon her shoulder and she looked back up at Morrigan. The witch had never been tactile by any means, and for her to even instigate physical contact without a dire crisis involved, well, it was something to cause pause. And there was this strange look in her amber eyes, was it, concern? Worry even?

"You and I are going to have a talk about that little trinket of yours, once we are out of the damnable caves." she stated, and her normally aloof and uninterested tone was flavored with… yes, Teardra could safely call it, concern. "That was far to close, Grey Warden, had I let it continue…" she shook her head, and her fingers tightened around her shoulder slightly. "I do not think the outcome would have been, pleasant."

She nodded. "Duly noted, and for the record, the initial event was not altogether pleasant either."

Amber eyes narrowed slightly. "Yes… and when we are in private, we shall discuss that also."

"Hey!" Oghren bellowed from somewhere ahead. "You two gals comparing hair care back there? Come on, let's get movin'!"

Morrigan dropped her hand and walked past her without so much as another glance. "Yes, we hear you, you horrid little man, and so does every darkspawn in the place."

Still she did not move, the swirling images infecting her mind. She took another shaky breath, and looked over her shoulder at the cavern.

Do your best, Grey Warden. I want a true challenge when we meet again.

She swallowed hard, and trotted quickly off to rejoin her companions.

Teardra had the terrible feeling that things would only get harder from here on out, the amulet still glowing warm against her skin.

As anyone who has read my 'Wounded Soldiers' story knows, I seem to have a thing for inflicting discomfort and pain upon my characters. In truth, I was inspired to write this story at nearly the same time as my other Dragon Age story, and it has been complete for some time now, I was just waiting for my Beta reader to finally get around to helping me out. :P

The idea for this short came to me when I was watching Lord of the Rings while doing dishes, the similar complexities between the influence of the ring on Frodo and the taint in the Grey Warden bringing out this little idea. Also, I felt that the Warden amulet could have played a slightly larger role, and this worked perfectly.

In case you couldn't tell, Teardra is of the dalish elf origin

Please review if you enjoyed, I would greatly appreciate it. :D