The Dragonborn Comes Ch. 19

"It has the soul of an Old God," Morrigan added.

"And that's what you're here?" I asked, not wanting an argument, just clarification.

"Yes, it is," she stated. All I did was return a respectful nod in appreciation of her honesty.

The Legion of the Dead weren't the friendliest sort, but I guess when you're technically already dead, you're not used to niceties. But they still had plenty of information about what we might find ahead, though no news about Branka and the Anvil. The darkspawn not on the march were waiting for us, and we helped the Legion clear out plenty of the bastards before we left them behind. Before leaving, I did ask if they would assist the Blight on the surface. Being that their duty was to fight darkspawn, it didn't take a lot of convincing for them to agree.

Meeting Hespith was a portent of things to come. Ohgren recognised her immediately, inundating her with questions. Alistair muttered to me that she was tainted. All she did was repeat a poem that described what the darkspawn had done to her, to Branka's party, even to Branka herself. Once she stopped the poem, she went into quite graphic detail about what happened.

"She's gone fucking insane!" Alistair exclaimed.

"She became obsessed, that is the word but it is not strong enough. Blessed Stone, there was nothing left in her but the Anvil," Hespith said.

"Has she found it?" I asked.

"Not exactly. Her actions taken explain why she has done what she has done."

She stopped making sense after a few more questions. It was clear her mind was completely gone, so I gestured for us to leave her behind. Once on our way, I did have to ask Ohgren, "They were lovers?"

I heard the sigh. "They were before Branka had even left," he admitted, "She was a Paragon. Could I have really divorced her? In the end, I still loved her. And at least it was a woman!"

"Threesome?"

He barked a laugh. "I should be so lucky. I've been a laughing stock for two sodding years, Dragonborn. I've been stripped of nearly everything I held dear. I told Branka it was a bad idea to go looking for the Anvil. There was a reason it disappeared, and now it looks like I've been proven right." He paused a moment before adding sadly, "I wish I wasn't."

"And what about Branka?"

"We need answers. What has she done, Dragonborn? What has she done?"

We found our answer half an hour later. It was... monstrous. I'm sure we all heard Hespith's voice carry down to describe it. Broodmother.

There was no fucking around during this battle, but the Broodmother was a tough son of a bitch. Tentacles rose out of the ground around us. Darkspawn flooded into the cavern. The Broodmother itself spat this bile which was at least acidic in its nature. The battle was short, sharp but absolutely fucking insane. I could have used to Thu'um against the Broodmother, but I wanted the things head. Once all its tentacles were on the ground, Alistair got into position, allowing me to run and leap at the monstrosity, burying my sword in its head. It was so large and fat, I could actually stand on its body and hack off its head. Leaping on the ground, I then ordered the mages to burn the body.

When all was quiet, Hespith appeared on a ledge above us. Her words were simple. We had to find Branka.

And kill her.

Those were her last words, as she leapt to her death afterwards. I'm not a cold hearted bastard. I felt sorry for her. I made sure we paid her body last respects before we moved on.

"Do we kill her?" Cerys asked.

"Let's just see what the situation is first."

Not knowing how far ahead the Anvil was, we made camp a couple of hours later, as we were all absolutely knackered after fighting all the way through the Dead Trenches. The corruption had near enough disappeared, and although Alistair and Cerys sensed the darkspawn, they assured us that they were nowhere close by.

Knowing the Anvil was now tantalisingly close, we again just ate before heading to bed, everyone continuing to abstain from alcohol, including Ohgren who I figured was probably suffering withdrawal symptoms, but he was keeping his word. I promised him a boozy night out once we were back in Orzammar that we would all join in on.

With Solona and Leliana both having joined me recently, I was now waiting for my third partner. It actually took her longer to appear than I thought, as I'd probably been asleep for at least a couple of hours before I felt her kiss my cheek. Opening my eyes, she actually started to blush. "I was just watching you. You look so peaceful when you sleep," she whispered.

I just pulled her close and kissed her, before she lifted the blanket and settled herself next to me. She was naked already, of course. Just like Leliana, Brosca was always prepared. I was also naked, as I had been expecting her to arrive, feeling her naked skin against mine, and she held my hands on her breasts, using my fingertips to harden her nipples. It didn't take long for me to get hard. She lifted her right leg over mine, and I managed to manoeuvre in a way that I could slide inside her. Hearing her gasp, she turned her head enough so I could kiss her, grabbing her breast a little harder as I slowly started to thrust into her.

"Gentle," she whispered, "We have the rest of the night."

I just stroked her cheek. "Whatever you want."

With one arm under her neck, I rested my other hand on her stomach or on her leg as I slowly thrust into her. If we weren't kissing, I just watched her face and the expressions she made. She could still manage to take my entire length, but as we'd discussed, she didn't have to be fucked hard if she didn't want to. I was just me, not anyone else she might have been with. I know she'd still like it occasionally. So would I. As she said that first time, I would ruin her from time to time. I even mentioned some of the things Haelga liked to do, and she was interested, more so because if we did do it, she could absolute trust I'd never hurt her, at least intentionally.

I eventually moved so she was underneath me, feeling her feet resting just above my butt, her legs simply not long enough to get around me. Resting my forearms by her head, I stroked her hair and kissed her, still just watching her face, the desire in her eyes, the near consistent smile on her face. She loved running her hands up my arms and down at least part of my back, complimenting me on the muscle definition. Little wonder after years of fighting.

"Will you last much longer?"

I stopped and had to ask, "Why?"

"Because I don't want you to stop!"

I couldn't help chuckle. "Well, it is you, Natia..."

"And my tight, little dwarven pussy, that you can't get enough of?"

"Well, what about my massive human cock?"

"It certainly is massive, particularly a dwarf to take." I thrust into her hard. Just once. The smile on her face broadened significantly. "By the stone, that's what I mean. I still wonder if I can take it in my arse..."

"You're serious?"

"By your Gods, I am. You own me already, Ragnar. Figuratively, not literally, but you're not getting rid of me easily. Not any of us, to be honest."

"So you're talking a lifelong thing then?"

The smile stayed broad, but she actually turned a little shy. "I'd love that," she whispered, unable to meet my eyes.

I leaned down to her ear. "Well, Leliana has already said I've probably got three girlfriends for life already."

I felt her arms hug me tighter, her little feet dig into me hard, as she whispered into my ear, "Fuck me. Just fuck me." I kissed her hard as I started to fuck her hard. I made sure I kept kissing her as she started to moan rather loudly, though we both had to break it eventually to take a couple of deep breaths. "Oh, fuck. Your cock is so big!"

Remembering that she had quite the filthy mouth, I kept kissing her when I could, but I could feel myself getting rather close, lifting myself up slightly, now resting on my palms, as she spread her legs so I could just pound her. "By Talos, you're so fucking tight," I groaned.

She was. "You going to cum in me?" I nodded. "I want you to cum on me. Then I'm going to wear it all the way back to Orzammar."

I would normally have laughed, but I was in the zone, and I think she was serious. So after another couple of minutes of just fucking her hard, which she loved every second of, I pulled out and stroked myself for a few seconds before firing a number of thick, white ropes over her stomach. She laughed as I did so, commenting that it was going to mix in with all the sweat she was covered in. I could feel it all over myself as well, and with one final groan, I collapsed beside her. "You'll be the death of me, Natia."

"Just imagine how good my arse will feel. I give you a couple of minutes at most."

"I think you're being generous there."

"It's yours if you want it. Now, I'm just going to lie here and wait for it to dry. Not sure you'll exactly want to cuddle when I'm covered in your spunk."

"To be honest, not really. But you're serious?"

"My people marked my face. You've just marked the rest of me. Difference is, I wanted this one."

I held her close as she lay on her back, and realising she hadn't cum, I helped bring her to orgasm with my fingers a few minutes later. She cried out rather loudly, praising how good I was with my fingers, enough that everyone would have heard it again. I had a little chuckle, figuring Leliana and Solona were probably jealous again, while I knew Sereda was getting a little antsy, and was finding waiting until our return to Orzammar quite difficult. I didn't blame her, and I felt the same way.

Brosca pretty much went straight to sleep after she'd cum. I did lie back, wide awake, thinking back to what I'd said. Lifelong. I had thought of marriage to Leliana, pretty much the day we'd met. I'd fallen in love with her near immediately. It didn't take me long to fall in love with Solona or Brosca. Did Thedas allow multiple marriages? I might have to have word with Alistair, have the laws changed if they didn't. I didn't give marriage a thought until meeting Leliana. But I also knew I was a greedy bastard. I knew I could commit to her if she wanted, but I really believed she would be happy sharing me with however many for... well, maybe even forever. But if she ever asked me to be with her, and only her, I knew I'd have to break a lot of hearts to do it. I mulled it over for a while before finally drifting off.

It took another day before we entered a cavern system that appeared untouched by both darkspawn and dwarven presence for probably centuries. There was still no sign of Branka and her house. We'd still seen no bodies, though we knew from Hespith that she'd sacrificed Gods only knew how many to the Broodmother.

Branka was a Paragon, so she was obviously smart. And I should have been a lot smarter. Before I knew it, I'd walked all of us into a trap. And it was then that we had our first glimpse of Branka, and the fact she was completely, utterly, one-hundred percent, batshit insane. I mean it. I've met plenty of crazy people in my life. But she took the cake, the biscuit and the gold medal for being utterly insane. Yet, despite that, there was actually reason to her madness. I could understand it. Gods, I hated myself for it, but I could understand it. She wanted to beat back the darkspawn. I think my fellow dwarves could understand that sentiment too. But the sacrifices she'd already made...

Ohgren couldn't get through to her either. In fact, I'd say she was downright cruel to him, though it washed over him. He was used to it, he said afterwards. And while he still loved Branka, and he thought at heart that she still did have love for him, her obsession took precedent over everything. Despite my threats, my blusters, and I even thought about using my Thu'um on her, I eventually had to relent. Part of me thought we might end up finding the Anvil. Perhaps it would be worth it all in the end.

Caridin hadn't been stupid either. The traps were well made and would catch out even the smartest people. We walked by plenty of bodies, dwarven as well as darkspawn, many having decayed since their deaths. The first trap was easy to pass through, darkspawn in addition to a number of foot traps. Leliana sorted those out for us as the rest dealt with the darkspawn. I refrained from using my Thu'um, just for the moment. I didn't want to show Branka my power just yet.

The next trap was a gas room, in addition to golems. Shale stepped forward to deal with those as the rest of us looked around for the valves to turn off the gas, hoping we wouldn't choke to death first. Once the gas was off, we all joined in on killing golems. I was surprised that, despite being made of rock, we could eventually hack them to death, Ohgren's giant battle-axe coming in very handy.

We faced even more golems the further we travelled, thinking Branka was following us somewhere behind. I was tempted to turn and face her, but figured we might as well just keep on going. It was now that I gave an example of my power. A couple of the golems stood so close that they were blown apart by my Thu'um, many others knocked onto their backs, leaving them as easy pickings for the others.

The last trap was the worst so far. I'm still not sure how we all survived. It was some sort of machine that... I'm still not sure what it did. Attracted spirits, for one. Spat something at us, requiring those of us with shields to protect everyone else. It took a lot of heavy, sweaty work, but we finally managed to destroy the bloody thing, muttering my dark thoughts as I we marched out of there. I think if Branka had been standing in front of me upon leaving, I'd have cut her down without hesitation.

Instead, we walked out into a massive cavern, and it was there that we found the Anvil of the Void.

And also Paragon Caridin.