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
About the Author
Patrick Weekes is a senior writer at BioWare™ and has contributed to all three of the award-winning Mass Effect™ games. His stories have appeared in Amazing Stories, Realms of Fantasy, and Strange Horizons. He has also published a stand-alone fantasy novel.
Electronic Arts Inc., EA, and EA logo are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. BioWare, BioWare logo, and Dragon Age are trademarks of EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DRAGON AGE: THE MASKED EMPIRE
Copyright © 2014 by Electronic Arts, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Ramil Sunga
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-3118-2 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4668-2810-0 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466828100
First Edition: April 2014
Dragon Age: The Masked Empire Page 36