Last Flight Read-along: Chapter 5 & 6

[tersa]

THE READ-A-LONG

What is this? The read-a-long is an opportunity to do a long distance book club with other Dragon Age fans, where once a week one chapter will be discussed in Liane Merciel's tie-in novel, Dragon Age: Last Flight

[Official book teaser blurb]The Grey Wardens are heroes across Thedas once again: the Archdemon has been defeated with relative ease and the scattered darkspawn are being driven back underground. The Blight is over. Or so it seems.

Valya, a young elven mage recently recruited into the Wardens, has been tasked with studying the historical record of previous Blights in order to gain insight into newly reported, and disturbing, darkspawn phenomena. Her research into the Fourth Blight leads her to an encoded reference scrawled in the margins of an ancient map, and to the hidden diary of Issenya, one of the last of the fabled griffon riders. As the dark secrets buried in Isseyna's story unfold, Valya begins to question everything she thought she knew about the heroic Grey Wardens. . . .

If you've read it and have Thoughts or Feels, comment to discuss! Discussion can be serious or snarky, but please keep it constructive and not destructive.

- Chapter 1 (29-Sep)
- Chapter 2 (06-Oct)
- Chapter 3 (13-Oct)
- Chapter 4 (20-Oct)

(If the first person who gets to this post can start a comment thread entitled 'Serious Discussion' and a second one for 'Snarky Discussion', I would greatly appreciate it.)

[Chapters 5 & 6--Synopsis]Chapter 5 Synopsis
5:12 Exalted

The darkspawn invaded Antiva before the griffon riders and their charges even made the walls. Isseya's joy at being allowed, finally, to fly her own griffon is tempered by witnessing the carnage with Amadis, who she finds out is from Starkhaven, not Antiva, at her back.

As the Wardens fly to escape, the Archdemon makes an appearance in the false storm above the darkspawn army, killing Huble and Dendi with a breath attack then going after the rest. Garahel alters his course towards the archdemon, distracting it and, seeing his ploy, Isseya follows after. The two do a credible job of doing this, allowing, she hopes, time for the rest of the Wardens to escape, attacking the archdemon physically with griffon claws and magically from Isseya and Calien, Garahel's passenger, until the archdemon unleashes a magical breath vortex that begins to pull them inexorably in. They're saved only by some spell combination of Calien's which explodes, tossing them out of the grip of the vortex and away, where they make their escape, the fight gone out of them.

Chapter 6 Synopsis
9:41 Dragon

Two months have passed, and Valya and the other mage recruits still haven't undergone the Joining. Bothered by this and afraid their indeterminate status will make them vulnerable if the Chantry or templars come for them, she seeks out Caronel in a small courtyard and asks him why. He relates his history, asks her why she seems so eager to Join given the risks involved, then tries to re-assure her that he, at least, will protect the mages from the templars if they come, explaining that the First Warden is a political creature and will play the politics.

The templars came a week later...but not as Valya feared. They come as refugees, with word of outposts of Wardens simply gone noticed on their long journey from southern Orlais. Valya avoids them as much as possible, but Sekah, one of the Hossberg mages, talked to them and found that they, too, are contemplating undergoing the Joining. He urges Valya to find something, anything, of the information the Wardens seem to be looking for about the Fourth Blight beyond the scattered handful of references to deserting Wardens, one intelligent darkspawn, and a few possibly related incidents, to encourage the First Warden to allow them to stay and not choose against them in the conflict.