Unknown - Dragon Age

but it was easily the largest thing he had ever seen in his life. It looked almost as if it had been made from pure marble.

“Maker’s breath,” Maric breathed, staring up at it.

The others turned, and Katriel walked up to the feet of the statue, her eyes wide. “Don’t touch it,” Loghain cautioned her, but she ignored him. The statue appeared to rest on a great square column, itself covered in dusty runes.

Katriel held the torch in front of the runes and swept some of the dust off with her hands. “This . . . I think this is a Paragon,” she whispered.

“A what?” Maric asked.

“A Paragon. They are dwarves that achieve legendary status among their people. The greatest of their warriors, the founders of the houses.” She brushed off more of the dust, enraptured by what she was unveiling. “I think this one was a smith.”

“Wonderful, it’s a dwarven smith,” Rowan muttered. “Can we keep moving?”

The elf shot a glare with her green eyes. “A Paragon isn’t just anyone. They were the greatest dwarves that ever lived. The dwarves revere them as gods. This—” She stared up at the expanse of the statue above her. “—is something the dwarves would pay a great deal to know about.”

“Then let’s tell them about it. Later,” Rowan insisted.

Loghain nodded. “We need to see if there’s a way through.”

Reluctantly Katriel nodded. She stepped back from the statue’s base, taking one last sad look and shaking her head as if she couldn’t quite believe it. Only Maric saw the single strand of thick, glistening thread that dangled behind her. He was already leaping forward as she was suddenly jerked up into the darkness.

“Katriel!” Maric shouted, grabbing on to the elf’s legs as his sword fell to the ground. She screamed in terror, and while

Maric’s weight pulled her back down, they both dangled above the ground precariously.

Excited clicking sounds suddenly erupted up in the dark webs above, as well as all around them. They echoed and circled, and many shadows began to move just at the very edges of their torchlight.

“Loghain!” Maric shouted again, his legs kicking wildly. “Help me!”

Loghain moved quickly, reaching up and grabbing one of Maric’s legs as it swung by his head. He yanked down hard. Katriel screamed again as a loud chittering erupted from high above, and with a wet snap, both she and Maric came crashing down to the ground.

“There!” Rowan shouted as something ran into view. Her eyes went wide as she realized it was a giant spider, easily as large as herself. It was a thing of dark bristles and many wet eyes, a great and swollen abdomen rearing up behind it. Its hairy legs moved with startling speed as it scuttled to one side, nervous of either Rowan’s sword or her fiery torch.

Loghain was already leaping back to his feet, spinning about to face more quick shadows that sped past out of sight. Rowan’s spider emitted several loud clicks and rushed toward her, two forelegs raised and dripping fangs bared.

“Rowan!” he shouted in warning.

The spider batted her sword aside with one of its forelegs, almost succeeding in tearing it from her gauntlets. It lunged forward with its fangs, hissing, and she succeeded in interposing her arm. The weight of the spider carried her back as its fangs tried repeatedly to pierce the metal of her armor. They didn’t, and black venom coursed along its surface, leaving a sizzling, smoking trail.

Rowan grunted with the effort of keeping herself from being toppled, and she pushed back with her arm. The spider chattered in anger and tried to leap off her, but her sword

swiftly chopped into the side of its head. White ichor spurted from the wound. The spider squealed, vaulting up into the air and smashing into a far wall. It spun about madly, almost seeming as if it was trying to get away from its injury.

Another giant spider dropped down from above, nearly landing on Loghain. He leaped out of the way, spinning about at the last instant and slicing at the creature’s forearm. It deflected the blow, turning its head to stare down at Katriel right next to it with its many pairs of glittering black eyes. She screamed in terror.

Maric plunged his sword into the side of the spider’s head, gritting his teeth with the effort. The blade glided past its chitinous armor with a wet, crunching sound. The creature’s body shivered, and then it whipped about more quickly than Maric could react, its forelimbs striking him in the shoulder and sending him tumbling back along the ground.

Loghain leaped forward and kicked the giant spider solidly, flipping it over with a horrid squealing sound. Even as it scrambled to right itself, white fluid gushing from its wounded head, Loghain stepped on its thorax to hold it still and thrust his sword down into its body. He twisted the blade around with difficulty as the spider flailed its legs and screeched loudly.

“Maric!” Katriel shouted with concern, scrambling after him. Rowan noticed as well and leaped to the spot where he lay. Even as she did so, another spider raced down the vertical side of a wall toward her. She slashed at it with her sword, causing it to jerk backwards and retreat.

Katriel got to Maric. He shook his head, dazed, and she helped him stand. Then his eyes went wide as he saw something above them. His scream was echoed by hers as a giant spider landed on top of them, its fangs sinking into Katriel’s shoulders.

She jerked away from it, spinning around and stabbing at

the spider’s eyes with her dagger. The spider scrambled away instantly, but not before Rowan rushed it from the side and stabbed her sword into its abdomen. Fluids rushed out as it squealed and spun to face her. She spun at the same time, meeting its head with a great swing of her blade. The creature’s head was instantly decapitated, its body spinning and kicking on its own in reaction, ichor splattering everywhere.

“No!” Maric shouted as he saw Katriel collapse, her eyes rolling up into her head. The vicious punctures on her shoulder were already swelling, black tendrils radiating out from it underneath her skin like a dark corruption. Maric scooped her up in his arms before she hit the ground and stared down in horror as she began to spasm uncontrollably. “Loghain! We have to get out of here!”

Gritting his teeth, Loghain yanked his blade out of the dead spider beneath him and leaped off. He snatched up Maric’s sword and a torch that lay on the ground, threatening to extinguish completely. The sword he tossed to Maric, who caught it deftly even in the poor light, and the torch he reached up toward the strands of webs that hung down above him.

It took a moment for the flames to begin to catch, but as they did, they began to spread upward rapidly. Very rapidly. “Brace yourselves!” he bellowed.

The echoes of clicking around them seemed to rise even as the fwoosh! of the flames became a loud roar. The fire fanned out overhead, instantly lighting up the entire area of the ruins. Maric looked around, blinking in the sudden glare, and saw many spidery shapes skittering on the walls. An alarming number of them. One of the giant spiders scrambled down the wall toward Rowan again, and she sliced upward, hacking off part of a forelimb. Screeching, it retreated again, and Rowan backed up toward Maric.

“There!” he cried, pointing at a nearby building that had

been revealed by the light. It had a dome of tarnished gold, one of the few ceilings they had seen that had not collapsed.

Rowan moved to help Maric carry Katriel, and they began to race as fast as they could toward the domed building. Loghain dashed after them, covering his head as great gobs of burning webs began to rain down from above. The giant spiders had halted their attack and were fleeing in every direction, their maddening screeches becoming a cacophony that threatened to drown out even the roar of the flames.

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