Jazz Age: Chapter Fifty-Four
Title Jazz Age
Rating M
Warnings Violence.
Spoilers For pretty much everything, eventually.
Pairings Hawke/Jethann, Hawke/Isabela, Hawke/Fenris
Summary Hawke and his family fled the war in Ferelden on a liner, dogged by Darkspawn U-Boats. Two years later the war is over and Hawke is a private detective in Kirkwall, a city awash with jazz, bootleg liquor and a lot of trouble.
Master List Here.
Evening in the Alienage was quiet in winter. All the doors and windows were shut to keep the warm air in and the flautists and storytellers that gathered under the tree in warmer weather were plying their trade to smaller audiences indoors. I could hear tuneful piping sometimes, and the occasional wave of laughter. As the night deepened and the moon drifted over the buildings, even these noises died away.
Under the tree, a solitary woman sat wrapped in an overcoat, a scarf drawn over her head as she waited for Huon. I was freezing. We couldn’t even smoke to keep ourselves warm in the alcove in which we huddled, in case that drew attention to ourselves. They were long, tedious hours, but Fenris and I were used to nights like this.
It was different now though. Although we stood shoulder to shoulder, he felt so far away.
Around midnight, we heard footsteps. Fenris and I straightened up from our cosy positions against the wall as a thin, middle-aged elf with a haunted look hurried into the square that housed the elves’ precious tree. The woman looked up, and got to her feet.
“There you are,” Huon said. “Come on, we have to go now.” He glanced over his shoulder.
The woman backed away a few steps and shook her head.
“Dammit, come here!” He reached for her and I saw a knife gleam in his left hand.
“Look out!” I shouted, and darted out of my alcove as the woman twisted in the elf’s grip. “Merrill!”
The scarf fell from her head as Merrill swung her free hand at Huon and a spark of lightning jumped from the end of her fingers. He yelped and recoiled, his hand going to his face.
Still holding the knife.
I flinched as the blade sliced through his cheek and the skin above his right ear. He seemed surprised too, but he still had an odd, glazed look in his eyes and he refused to let go of Merrill or the blade, now dripping with gore. I could see the blood starting to form a haze around his head. My magic rippled over my fingers but I wasn’t sure what to do.
“No,” I said quietly, when Fenris raised his gun.
Merrill knew what to do.
Without hesitation she drew her foot back and kicked him. Right where it really hurt. I flinched. Huon let go of Merrill to grab and something far more important to him, and dropped to the ground, curled up and making unhappy groaning sounds.
Merrill stepped away and looked at us, “What do we do now?”
I sighed, “Scrape him up and take him to the Gallows, I guess. We can’t just let him loose in this state; he tried to kill you.”
“He tried to sacrifice her,” Fenris said.
Huon ceased moaning, and instead from his twitching body came a sound I couldn’t recognise at first, a kind of bubbling, hoarse sound. When he staggered to his feet, his cheek gaping like a second mouth, I realised it was laughter.
“Maker’s Breath,” I said.
“Fine,” Huon sobbed, “I didn’t need her anyway. I have enough.” Blood started to flow unnaturally swiftly from his face, the skin around the wound started to pucker, and swell and his voice became an incoherent screech. Magic was swirling around him, bubbling and hissing across his skin like acid.
Fenris’s gun cut through the noise. It jumped in his hand as he fired, and again, at Huon. I saw the bullets bore holes in the rippling magic, but didn’t seem to reach Huon himself.
“Huon! No!” We’d ordered Nyssa to stay inside her house, but the gunshots had brought her out.
The thing that may or may not be Huon turned to her, and extended his arms.
Fenris’s markings flared as he flung himself between Nyssa and her husband, absorbing whatever he was flinging at her.
“It’s up to us,” Merrill said, scooping her parasol up from the bench she’d been sitting on.
“I know,” I said, “I know.”
I’d never seen an abomination before, not for real. Just stage makeup and plaster at the pictures. This was something different; I could feel the hideous life the magic had taken, rolling off him in waves.
I snapped to my senses when Fenris turned and fired his gun over his shoulder. Huon was still stumbling towards where Nyssa was cowering behind Fenris.
I gathered my magic and did my best to punch Huon off his feet; Merrill danced in behind my force, her blade glittering. I noticed she hadn’t cut herself. It was too dangerous with all this other blood floating about.
Merrill yelped and scrambled out of the way as she Huon sent a gout of fire searing in her direction. A few of the leaves above us crisped under the heat. I ducked around behind him and leaped on to his back, wrapping one arm around his neck, physically pushing aside the magic that surrounded him. I hit him on the back of the head and it was like punching a rock.
Impossibly, his arms bent backwards, and I was sure I heard bones snapping as he grabbed me by an arm and my shoulder. I kicked at him, feeling an odd numbness where he touched me.
He shuddered, and I ducked as the end of Merrill’s blade protruded a few inches from the back of his neck. I wrenched myself free and he crumpled with the magic seething around him. Merrill and I backed off, watching it smoulder and dissipate.
“Huon.”
I nodded and Fenris stood aside to let Nyssa go to her husband.
“Are you all right?” Fenris asked me.
“Just pins and needles. Are you?”
“Yes. These markings are good for something.”
“I’m sorry,” I told Nyssa.
“You tried,” she said hollowly. “But I don’t understand it. Huon was never a powerful mage. That’s why they let him out sometimes.”
“Blood magic can give you a lot more power,” Merrill said. “Or at least, it feels like it at first.”
“If the Templars hadn’t stopped him, he wouldn’t have turned to blood magic in the first place!”
I couldn’t argue with that. Even after shots had been fired, we all knew the chances of the police visiting the Alienage after dark were slim, unless Aveline herself was patrolling. We let Nyssa take charge of the body, Fenris and I helped move it into her house in the meantime.
“That woman knows you’re a mage,” Fenris pointed out, as we left.
“So does any observant elf who watched the fight with the Arishok. What would you have me do?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Fenris frowned.
“Well, we can tell Orsino that Huon isn’t going to be causing trouble any more,” I said.
Merrill and I looked at each other. We’d just witnessed the fate that hung over us, just a shadow of a chance, every time we used magic.
“Let’s go and get a drink,” she suggested. “The Hanged Man will be open, right?”
I didn’t feel like I was going to get to sleep much tonight, so I agreed. The three of us walked up from the Alienage to Lowtown. We didn’t make it to the Hanged Man, however.
Anders was pacing up and down outside my door.
“There you are,” he said, hurrying down the street to meet us. “I need your help.”
“Anders-“
“No, this isn’t about the underground,” he said. “Although, it is about a mage.”
“Evelina?” I asked warily.
Anders’ jaw dropped, “How do you know about her?”
“More people know about her than you might think. Lead the way, and tell me what you know.”
Anders had known about Evelina for a while. Two apostates in Darktown would run into each other sooner or later. She’d fled Fereldan like us, and had settled in Darktown to take care of the numerous children orphaned by the war. I didn’t tell Anders that she quietly passed those children who turned out to be latent mages safely on to the Circle, which was the reason they let her operate without interference.
Anders often treated the children should they become sick, and early that day two of them had turned up on his doorstep, saying that Evelina was ill.
“I packed my bag and I went to see her. She wasn’t bedridden, she was raging. Apparently the children had run off, probably sensing trouble, and she said she was going to tear the city apart looking for them. It didn’t sound like her at all.” Anders frowned, “I think the strain may have gotten too much for her. If we can restrain her and give her a sedative, she might calm down, but I didn’t want to try it on my own.”
“So she’s not involved with the mage underground?” I asked.
“No, she’s always stayed out of it, saying that looking after the children was more important, although lately she’s been saying she doesn’t feel anyone is safe in Kirkwall any more. She talked of leaving, but she couldn’t leave the children behind, and she didn’t have the money to pay for passage for them all.” Anders sighed, “It’s not just mages we’re fighting for, Trip. At this rate, the entire city is going to come under Meredith’s control.”
“One thing at a time, Anders.” I told him where we’d just been, and what had happened. He looked deeply unhappy.
“This is just what Meredith needs, more bad press for mages. We’re lucky no one else died. The elves are known for hiding their apostates from the Circle, but something like that might have scared them all out of hiding.”
Walter and Cricket weren’t at Anders clinic when we arrived. Anders sighed.
“Well, these kids go where they please. I hope they’ve found somewhere safe. I’ll show you were Evelina lives.”
One dwelling in Darktown was much like another, but the walls of Evelina’s house were covered in crude paintings and chalk drawings, and someone had written out the times tables on the front door as well as Jason stinks! No you do.
“Oh dear,” Merrill said sadly.
Anders knocked on the door. “Evelina!” he called, “It’s me, Anders again. Are you feeling any better? Can I come in? I brought some friends to help you look for the kids.”
There was silence for a while, and I wondered if we’d have to kick the door in. The door opened a pair of thin, wary looking teenagers gazed up at us.
Anders smiled at them, “Hello boys. Can I see Evelina? How is she?”
The boys flinched as they heard something behind them.
“We came back,” the elder one said in an urgent whisper. “We thought it would make her happy. But she said she was going to punish us for leaving-“ he broke off as someone entered the room behind him.
“Now, now, boys, you know the rules. You shouldn’t talk to strangers.”
Anders cleared his throat, “It’s fine Evelina. I’m just here to see you.”
“And what about these others? Strangers at my door. Reeking of Templar filth! I won’t let them take my children!” she snarled.
The boys looked at us beseechingly. Anders stepped aside, “Run,” he told them, and to my relief they did.
I couldn’t see what was going on the darkened room beyond, but I heard a roaring that didn’t sound like it could have come from any human throat.
“You will not take them!”
I staggered as Anders was punched back into us with a wall of force.
“She’s lost it,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Maker,” I said, raising my fists, but He didn’t answer me.
I don’t want to relive what we did. There were four of us and one of her, and while her anger burned fast and bright, she directed it at walls and ceilings just as often as she did at us. Stick figure drawings, pinned to the wall, crisped and burnt, rubber balls melted into piles of goo but thankfully, when we spread out through the house afterwards, we found no children.
“Where have they all gone?” I asked Anders.
“They’re Darktown kids. They have bolt holes and places to hide. Evelina was just one place available for them.” He bowed his head, “The safest place. She didn’t make them work for the things she gave them, didn’t make them do anything. Darktown’s darker without her.”
“I’m almost afraid to try and find de Launcet now,” I said.
“Who’s de Launcet?” Anders asked, mystified.
“This is just more than lousy luck tonight, Anders. I’m on a job. Orsino knew these mages and he knew something was up.” I had very little idea what else Orsino might know, and unfortunately it wasn’t as simple as just calling him up and asking him.
“You’re working for the Circle? The Templars?”
“I’m working for Orsino,” I said sharply. “I had no intention of turning anyone in unless they were in danger. He asked for information, nothing more.”
“I don’t think this is a coincidence,” Fenris said, having finished searching the cellar.
“I agree,” I said, “which is why we need to find de Launcet sooner rather than later. He could be in real trouble.”
“What will you do if you find him?” Anders asked.
“Honestly? I’d tell him to go back to the Circle. This is not a good night to be an escaped mage in Kirkwall.”
“Or any sort of mage,” Merrill said.
Anders scowled, “I have to go back to the clinic,” he said. “If any of the kids show up I want to be there to help. I don’t want to be a part of Orsino’s plots.”
“Anders!”
He shook his head and walked away.
Rating M
Warnings Violence.
Spoilers For pretty much everything, eventually.
Pairings Hawke/Jethann, Hawke/Isabela, Hawke/Fenris
Summary Hawke and his family fled the war in Ferelden on a liner, dogged by Darkspawn U-Boats. Two years later the war is over and Hawke is a private detective in Kirkwall, a city awash with jazz, bootleg liquor and a lot of trouble.
Master List Here.
Evening in the Alienage was quiet in winter. All the doors and windows were shut to keep the warm air in and the flautists and storytellers that gathered under the tree in warmer weather were plying their trade to smaller audiences indoors. I could hear tuneful piping sometimes, and the occasional wave of laughter. As the night deepened and the moon drifted over the buildings, even these noises died away.
Under the tree, a solitary woman sat wrapped in an overcoat, a scarf drawn over her head as she waited for Huon. I was freezing. We couldn’t even smoke to keep ourselves warm in the alcove in which we huddled, in case that drew attention to ourselves. They were long, tedious hours, but Fenris and I were used to nights like this.
It was different now though. Although we stood shoulder to shoulder, he felt so far away.
Around midnight, we heard footsteps. Fenris and I straightened up from our cosy positions against the wall as a thin, middle-aged elf with a haunted look hurried into the square that housed the elves’ precious tree. The woman looked up, and got to her feet.
“There you are,” Huon said. “Come on, we have to go now.” He glanced over his shoulder.
The woman backed away a few steps and shook her head.
“Dammit, come here!” He reached for her and I saw a knife gleam in his left hand.
“Look out!” I shouted, and darted out of my alcove as the woman twisted in the elf’s grip. “Merrill!”
The scarf fell from her head as Merrill swung her free hand at Huon and a spark of lightning jumped from the end of her fingers. He yelped and recoiled, his hand going to his face.
Still holding the knife.
I flinched as the blade sliced through his cheek and the skin above his right ear. He seemed surprised too, but he still had an odd, glazed look in his eyes and he refused to let go of Merrill or the blade, now dripping with gore. I could see the blood starting to form a haze around his head. My magic rippled over my fingers but I wasn’t sure what to do.
“No,” I said quietly, when Fenris raised his gun.
Merrill knew what to do.
Without hesitation she drew her foot back and kicked him. Right where it really hurt. I flinched. Huon let go of Merrill to grab and something far more important to him, and dropped to the ground, curled up and making unhappy groaning sounds.
Merrill stepped away and looked at us, “What do we do now?”
I sighed, “Scrape him up and take him to the Gallows, I guess. We can’t just let him loose in this state; he tried to kill you.”
“He tried to sacrifice her,” Fenris said.
Huon ceased moaning, and instead from his twitching body came a sound I couldn’t recognise at first, a kind of bubbling, hoarse sound. When he staggered to his feet, his cheek gaping like a second mouth, I realised it was laughter.
“Maker’s Breath,” I said.
“Fine,” Huon sobbed, “I didn’t need her anyway. I have enough.” Blood started to flow unnaturally swiftly from his face, the skin around the wound started to pucker, and swell and his voice became an incoherent screech. Magic was swirling around him, bubbling and hissing across his skin like acid.
Fenris’s gun cut through the noise. It jumped in his hand as he fired, and again, at Huon. I saw the bullets bore holes in the rippling magic, but didn’t seem to reach Huon himself.
“Huon! No!” We’d ordered Nyssa to stay inside her house, but the gunshots had brought her out.
The thing that may or may not be Huon turned to her, and extended his arms.
Fenris’s markings flared as he flung himself between Nyssa and her husband, absorbing whatever he was flinging at her.
“It’s up to us,” Merrill said, scooping her parasol up from the bench she’d been sitting on.
“I know,” I said, “I know.”
I’d never seen an abomination before, not for real. Just stage makeup and plaster at the pictures. This was something different; I could feel the hideous life the magic had taken, rolling off him in waves.
I snapped to my senses when Fenris turned and fired his gun over his shoulder. Huon was still stumbling towards where Nyssa was cowering behind Fenris.
I gathered my magic and did my best to punch Huon off his feet; Merrill danced in behind my force, her blade glittering. I noticed she hadn’t cut herself. It was too dangerous with all this other blood floating about.
Merrill yelped and scrambled out of the way as she Huon sent a gout of fire searing in her direction. A few of the leaves above us crisped under the heat. I ducked around behind him and leaped on to his back, wrapping one arm around his neck, physically pushing aside the magic that surrounded him. I hit him on the back of the head and it was like punching a rock.
Impossibly, his arms bent backwards, and I was sure I heard bones snapping as he grabbed me by an arm and my shoulder. I kicked at him, feeling an odd numbness where he touched me.
He shuddered, and I ducked as the end of Merrill’s blade protruded a few inches from the back of his neck. I wrenched myself free and he crumpled with the magic seething around him. Merrill and I backed off, watching it smoulder and dissipate.
“Huon.”
I nodded and Fenris stood aside to let Nyssa go to her husband.
“Are you all right?” Fenris asked me.
“Just pins and needles. Are you?”
“Yes. These markings are good for something.”
“I’m sorry,” I told Nyssa.
“You tried,” she said hollowly. “But I don’t understand it. Huon was never a powerful mage. That’s why they let him out sometimes.”
“Blood magic can give you a lot more power,” Merrill said. “Or at least, it feels like it at first.”
“If the Templars hadn’t stopped him, he wouldn’t have turned to blood magic in the first place!”
I couldn’t argue with that. Even after shots had been fired, we all knew the chances of the police visiting the Alienage after dark were slim, unless Aveline herself was patrolling. We let Nyssa take charge of the body, Fenris and I helped move it into her house in the meantime.
“That woman knows you’re a mage,” Fenris pointed out, as we left.
“So does any observant elf who watched the fight with the Arishok. What would you have me do?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Fenris frowned.
“Well, we can tell Orsino that Huon isn’t going to be causing trouble any more,” I said.
Merrill and I looked at each other. We’d just witnessed the fate that hung over us, just a shadow of a chance, every time we used magic.
“Let’s go and get a drink,” she suggested. “The Hanged Man will be open, right?”
I didn’t feel like I was going to get to sleep much tonight, so I agreed. The three of us walked up from the Alienage to Lowtown. We didn’t make it to the Hanged Man, however.
Anders was pacing up and down outside my door.
“There you are,” he said, hurrying down the street to meet us. “I need your help.”
“Anders-“
“No, this isn’t about the underground,” he said. “Although, it is about a mage.”
“Evelina?” I asked warily.
Anders’ jaw dropped, “How do you know about her?”
“More people know about her than you might think. Lead the way, and tell me what you know.”
Anders had known about Evelina for a while. Two apostates in Darktown would run into each other sooner or later. She’d fled Fereldan like us, and had settled in Darktown to take care of the numerous children orphaned by the war. I didn’t tell Anders that she quietly passed those children who turned out to be latent mages safely on to the Circle, which was the reason they let her operate without interference.
Anders often treated the children should they become sick, and early that day two of them had turned up on his doorstep, saying that Evelina was ill.
“I packed my bag and I went to see her. She wasn’t bedridden, she was raging. Apparently the children had run off, probably sensing trouble, and she said she was going to tear the city apart looking for them. It didn’t sound like her at all.” Anders frowned, “I think the strain may have gotten too much for her. If we can restrain her and give her a sedative, she might calm down, but I didn’t want to try it on my own.”
“So she’s not involved with the mage underground?” I asked.
“No, she’s always stayed out of it, saying that looking after the children was more important, although lately she’s been saying she doesn’t feel anyone is safe in Kirkwall any more. She talked of leaving, but she couldn’t leave the children behind, and she didn’t have the money to pay for passage for them all.” Anders sighed, “It’s not just mages we’re fighting for, Trip. At this rate, the entire city is going to come under Meredith’s control.”
“One thing at a time, Anders.” I told him where we’d just been, and what had happened. He looked deeply unhappy.
“This is just what Meredith needs, more bad press for mages. We’re lucky no one else died. The elves are known for hiding their apostates from the Circle, but something like that might have scared them all out of hiding.”
Walter and Cricket weren’t at Anders clinic when we arrived. Anders sighed.
“Well, these kids go where they please. I hope they’ve found somewhere safe. I’ll show you were Evelina lives.”
One dwelling in Darktown was much like another, but the walls of Evelina’s house were covered in crude paintings and chalk drawings, and someone had written out the times tables on the front door as well as Jason stinks! No you do.
“Oh dear,” Merrill said sadly.
Anders knocked on the door. “Evelina!” he called, “It’s me, Anders again. Are you feeling any better? Can I come in? I brought some friends to help you look for the kids.”
There was silence for a while, and I wondered if we’d have to kick the door in. The door opened a pair of thin, wary looking teenagers gazed up at us.
Anders smiled at them, “Hello boys. Can I see Evelina? How is she?”
The boys flinched as they heard something behind them.
“We came back,” the elder one said in an urgent whisper. “We thought it would make her happy. But she said she was going to punish us for leaving-“ he broke off as someone entered the room behind him.
“Now, now, boys, you know the rules. You shouldn’t talk to strangers.”
Anders cleared his throat, “It’s fine Evelina. I’m just here to see you.”
“And what about these others? Strangers at my door. Reeking of Templar filth! I won’t let them take my children!” she snarled.
The boys looked at us beseechingly. Anders stepped aside, “Run,” he told them, and to my relief they did.
I couldn’t see what was going on the darkened room beyond, but I heard a roaring that didn’t sound like it could have come from any human throat.
“You will not take them!”
I staggered as Anders was punched back into us with a wall of force.
“She’s lost it,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Maker,” I said, raising my fists, but He didn’t answer me.
I don’t want to relive what we did. There were four of us and one of her, and while her anger burned fast and bright, she directed it at walls and ceilings just as often as she did at us. Stick figure drawings, pinned to the wall, crisped and burnt, rubber balls melted into piles of goo but thankfully, when we spread out through the house afterwards, we found no children.
“Where have they all gone?” I asked Anders.
“They’re Darktown kids. They have bolt holes and places to hide. Evelina was just one place available for them.” He bowed his head, “The safest place. She didn’t make them work for the things she gave them, didn’t make them do anything. Darktown’s darker without her.”
“I’m almost afraid to try and find de Launcet now,” I said.
“Who’s de Launcet?” Anders asked, mystified.
“This is just more than lousy luck tonight, Anders. I’m on a job. Orsino knew these mages and he knew something was up.” I had very little idea what else Orsino might know, and unfortunately it wasn’t as simple as just calling him up and asking him.
“You’re working for the Circle? The Templars?”
“I’m working for Orsino,” I said sharply. “I had no intention of turning anyone in unless they were in danger. He asked for information, nothing more.”
“I don’t think this is a coincidence,” Fenris said, having finished searching the cellar.
“I agree,” I said, “which is why we need to find de Launcet sooner rather than later. He could be in real trouble.”
“What will you do if you find him?” Anders asked.
“Honestly? I’d tell him to go back to the Circle. This is not a good night to be an escaped mage in Kirkwall.”
“Or any sort of mage,” Merrill said.
Anders scowled, “I have to go back to the clinic,” he said. “If any of the kids show up I want to be there to help. I don’t want to be a part of Orsino’s plots.”
“Anders!”
He shook his head and walked away.