Chapter Text
Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel Comics, Dragon Age, Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, Hogwarts Legacy, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, “Redcap” Skyrim companion mod, or any of their related characters. Character Warrjen Zevonishki or “Zevon” is an homage to my favorite musician, long deceased, no disrespect intended, I included him because King dedicated the novel Doctor Sleep to his memory. This is just for my own enjoyment and the potential enjoyment of other fans like me, and no monetary gain was expected or received.
Rating: T
Spoilers: May contain spoilers for Doctor Sleep, Dragon Age Origins, Origins DLC, Awakening, and Dragon Age II, Dragon Age II DLC, Dragon Age Inquisition as well as the novels The Stolen Throne and The Calling. May also contain spoilers for Marvel movies, series, and/or comics, Harry Potter books, and WB Games’ Hogwarts Legacy. Song lyrics included herein were used without permission.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Stone Prisoner
“Huh. I thought it would be bigger.”
Thus were the first words spoken, by Zevon, upon seeing the golem standing rared back silently in the little village of Honnleath. There were only a few darkspawn in the village, easily overcome. The townspeople were barely alerted to the danger before it was over. Loghain stepped closer to the frozen automaton. He towered over it. Many Nord males would stand taller than it, though certainly not all. It was probably six and a half feet in height. The only other golem he’d ever seen, in the Rebellion, had been at least ten or eleven feet tall – the biggest bipedal thing he’d ever seen in the world, at that point, short perhaps of his own father. He’d never seen his father standing next to the golem, so he honestly couldn’t compare them properly.
“The one I knew previously was a lot bigger, or at least it looked that way to me at the time,” he said, after a momentary inspection of the bird poop-flecked statue. “’Course, I was quite a bit smaller then, so maybe it’s a matter of perspective.”
Loki was inspecting the golem closely. “I wonder if I could take this form,” he mused. “It’s not a living thing, but it’s in the shape of a living thing, and I can affect my density, so I could theoretically become like unto stone… though probably not actual stone itself. Could be useful from time to time.”
“What are we waiting around for?” Laz Brosca said. “Start it up!”
Loghain reached into his coin purse and pulled out the control rod. “Dulef gar,” he said.
Nothing happened. Laz’s pretty face was screwed into an ugly thing. “Er… I don’t know who sold you that thing, Big Guy, but they gave you bum words. That ain’t Dwarven, Boss.”
Loghain dropped his arm a bit. “We thought it might be a dialect, something from one of the distant thaigs on the far side of the world.”
“Well, maybe it is, but it didn’t work, did it? Try ‘Dulen harn.’ It’s Orzammar Dwarven, and it makes sense as an activation code.”
“What does it mean?”
“’Activate now.’”
“That… does make sense. Dulen harn.”
Still nothing from the silent golem.
“It’s either the wrong words or the thing is broken,” Loghain said.
“Or there’s another possibility,” Laz said. “That you’re too damned Fereldan.”
“What do you mean by that?” Loghain said, bridling a bit.
“I mean you didn’t say it right, Long Tall. It’s not ‘dulen hahn,’ it’s ‘dulen harn.’ You have an accent, you sort of de-emphasize your r’s. Try it again, and this time put some r in it!”
Loghain looked disgruntled, but he held out the control rod again and said, with clear emphasis, “Dulen harn.”
With a terrible groan, the golem stretched and moved. “Ohhhhhhh, what a relief it is after so many miserable centuries to move again,” it said. Its voice was husky and vaguely effeminate, like an older woman with a serious drinking problem and perhaps a long-time smoking addiction. Bright, lyrium blue eyes blinked and regarded the companions with what might have been curiosity. “And what is it that holds my control rod this time? Not a mage this time, I should think, not with those bulging muscles. For a creature of flesh it doesn’t look particularly squishy, which I suppose is an improvement over most such creatures. In truth I might almost mistake it for a golem, for it is certainly large enough.”
Loki was clearly fascinated. “How did the inventor of golems figure out how to make solid rock move so fluidly? There are no joints! They must have been an unparalleled genius!”
“A little squishy creature. Marvelous,” the golem said, voice dripping disdain. “I suppose I shall be in charge of keeping the squishy progeny alive during whatever dangerous adventure it requires a golem to accompany it upon? And I daresay such a tiny specimen of squishy creature will be a handful and a half to keep alive.”
“Actually, I’m pretty well defended,” Loki said, smiling. “Not that I don’t appreciate some extra help.”
“It is rather an odd feeling,” the golem went on. “I have not been commanded to do a thing, and yet I am able to speak and to move as if I have been commanded to do so. I suppose I should take it to mean that the control rod is… broken? I see it there in its hand. Quickly, order me to do something. Order me to pick it up and carry it.”
Loghain had no idea what the golem meant but he said it anyway. “Er… pick it up and carry it.”
“And… nothing. I feel absolutely no impulse to obey. I suppose this means that I have… free will?”
“Congratulations. Welcome to the complicated life of a sentient being. Well folks, let’s make sure these people are able to take care of themselves if the Darkspawn come back.”
“Wait a moment,” the golem said. “This is unprecedented for me. I have never had free will before, that I can remember. What do I do with it?”
“What do you want to do with it?” Loghain said.
“I have not the slightest notion. It must have had some plans, coming here to activate me. What did it intend to do with a golem?”
“There was a golem that belonged to a mage named Wilhelm I fought alongside long ago,” Loghain said. “I thought if one could do as well against the Darkspawn as that one did against the Orlesians then, it would be worth the trip.”
“Wilhelm? That was my late, unlamented master’s name. Were we previously acquainted?” the golem said.
Loghain’s face registered shock. “I… find it hard to imagine. That golem was huge. Much bigger than you, I would think.”
“My late, unlamented master’s wife didn’t like me stomping about the house at eleven feet tall. My former master shrank me down somewhat. I don’t recall seeing it before. Squishy creatures all look alike to me, it is true, but I should think I would recall one as large as the average golem.”
“I was… considerably smaller back in those days,” Loghain said.
“Ah. And squishier, I should imagine? Well, it is good to see that there is a chance of improvement for some of its species.”
Loki suddenly shot up to six and a half feet tall, dark gray in color, and the appearance of stone. “What on Mundus is this? Is this some foul working of magic?” the golem said.
“Not exactly,” Loki said. “It’s biotics, in my case. It’s like magic, but innate. People don’t mind it like they do magic.”
“Well it certainly disturbs me. Although I must say, the tiny squishy creature is far more attractive this way. Will it remain like this?”
“Not forever,” Loki said. “I just wanted to see if I could do it. It might come in handy, now and then. Of course, I can’t actually become stone… at least, not yet.”
“You think that could be an option in the future?” Loghain said.
Golem-Loki shrugged. “Anything is possible.”
“I wouldn’t have thought quite so much was possible, but you make me rethink that every damned day.”
“Cutest little damned deus ex machina ever,” Zevon said. Loki shot him a look that said he’d like to use his new golem form to see how he squished.
“Well, however disturbing I find your companions, your reasons for seeking the aid of a golem are reasonable enough,” the golem said. “The Darkspawn are a scourge and should be eradicated. I will accompany it, if it has no objections, at least until I figure out what to do with myself. It seems a better idea than standing around allowing foul beasts of the air to land on my shoulders and shit all over me for centuries, as I’ve been doing.”
“Well, you got your golem, if not quite as you expected,” Elilia said. “What now?”
“Now we make sure these people are prepared to weather the Blight,” Loghain said. “Then… well, I think Loki has plans for what comes next.”
“I do,” Loki said, and morphed smoothly back into a child. “I do not wish to discuss them openly, however. Tonight, when we are safely camped.”
“All right,” Loghain said. “Spread out, and try not to look menacing. Talk to people, see what they know, and find out what they have for local defenses. It doesn’t seem to be much, seeing as their village wall doesn’t even have a gate to it.”
“What do I do?” the golem said. “These people are afraid of me, always have been. And rightly so. I daresay I cannot look unmenacing to them.”
“Why don’t you position yourself at that nonexistent gate and keep watch down the road for Darkspawn?” Loghain said. “They could be anywhere out there, even though I don’t sense them.”
“Very well. I shall squish any Darkspawn that dares to come nigh.”
“All right folks, let’s try to make this town safe.”