"Where are we?" Luhan whispered, his voice weak. It felt warm all around him, a dull, humid heat which he did not remember feeling before. His last conscious thought was of fear and exhaustion. And it had been cold. Now, he heard voices all around him of a busy and bustling community with an echo which rattled his brain. "Are we..."

"Orzammar. We're inside Orzammar," said Minseok and despite Luhan's confusion, he heard the nervousness of Minseok's voice.

Somehow, he was moving on his own two feet, but only because Minseok supported him on one side and on the other, Yixing. Bits of pieces of what had happened began to come back to him, and his legs collapsed completely. But just for a moment.

"Get up. You have to walk," Yixing grumbled beside him, although the gentleness of his limbs did not match the harsh tone of his voice. 

"What..."

"We can talk later. First, walk." The elf mage cursed almost silently after that, and Luhan finally managed to lift his head to look around.

"Orzammar...?" he gasped. 

All his life he'd heard of the famed thaig of legend, the last bastion of the once great dwarven kingdoms, all but nearly lost after one Blight after another sent purges of Darkspawn from the Deep Roads and swamped the thaigs. Once upon a time, it was said, a dwarf could travel to every country in Thedas without ever seeing the surface, so vast were the tunnels and roads below the earth. Now, Orzammar was it. Above Luhan's head ranged a great cavernous ceiling, part raw rock, part crafted stonemasonry, and the latter so exquisitely designed. The echo loomed louder, the more Luhan realized why. Crowds of vendors and craftsmen, merchants selling their wares, hagglers arguing for the best value they could get. Men, women and children, all dwarves, lingering on the path Luhan was even now walking, and all of them turned to stare as the travelers came by. He wasn't surprised, for they made quite a sight. 

Their were soldiers, each as tall as Suho but much more heavily armed. Jongin and Chanyeol lead at the front, or were being lead. Behind Jongin, Baekhyun trailed, and the three of them were hushed by the soldiers every time they attempted to talk. They looked beyond worried, and given what Luhan was remembering now, it should have been over Minseok. However, none bothered with Minseok anymore. Luhan walked between the two mages and he stumbled as he strained to look behind them: a very terrified Suho, still dressed as a girl. He walked with his head down, long hairs of his wig concealing most of his face, and behind him walked Jongdae. The assassin looked just as nervous although he hid it better than Tao who crept along, getting scared of everything that moved including his shadow. Only Kris appeared to have no fear, but then he was twice as tall as any of the dwarves and all who saw him looked afeared. 

"Where are..." Luhan's question ended in a wheeze, his voice failing him again. He just felt so tired...

"Sehun and Kyungsoo?" Yixing finished, and Luhan nodded. "We lost them somewhere, or rather they did, somewhere before our little scuffle began."  He shook his head at the three who walked in front, and then continued. "Heechul managed to run off before the dwarves came, I guess. No sign of Alistair since before the--"

"Little scuffle?" Baekhyun scoffed, but Yixing did not hear him. 

"Minseok?" Yixing hazarded a question across Luhan's staggering body. The soldiers had spread to the front and back, giving them a few feet of privacy even as they marched along. "Minseok, I have to ask... what has this got to do with Xiumin?"

"I don't know." Minseok frowned.

Luhan looked between them, and when the one didn't answer, Yixing explained quickly. "We have been invited, most sincerely, by some lord. Or rather, Xiumin has been invited."

"What?" he gasped.

"Don't look at me. Ask your lover here. He's the one who knows this place. Although, so does his brother, apparently," Yixing sighed. "Minseok, this is not good."

Luhan panicked internally once more. He tried to shrug off the two proffered elbows, but immediately fell to his knees. Jongin heard his groan and slowed, turning around to see what was the matter, and even the dwarven soldiers slowed politely while Minseok and Yixing quickly pulled him back upright.

"Is he... okay?" Baekhyun asked quietly, almost remorsefully, although not quite.

"I'm fine," Luhan grunted, not meeting the elf's eyes. "Where are we going exactly?" he asked Minseok.

"I don't know yet, although I must assume it's to the Diamond Quarter. Where those in the noble caste live. This is the Commons around us, their main marketplace. All the other castes live here, except for nobles and those who are..." Minseok paused, and his eyes flitted behind him briefly. Luhan didn't have to look to guess he was glancing at Suho. He was noticing more how rivulets of molten lava seemed to pour down the walls in specifically carved channels, pooling deep below from whence so much of the heat and steam arose. They rounded a corner and Luhan first noticed that the Commons seemed to be built of ledges placed all around the steaming pits below. A long bridge stretched from the main entrance to another massive stone and mortar , marked by stone doors at least five times the size of Kris himself. 

"At least they're not sending us to the Proving Grounds," Yixing commented. He then added mockingly under his breath, "Much rather we're guests to some pitying lordling than thrown in to a duel. Baekhyun would never make it there."

Whether or not the redheaded archer heard him or was doing a spectacular job of ignoring the taunt, Luhan didn't know. They passed more and more dwarves including shopkeepers, miners, artisans, smiths, servants of all sorts, and warriors guarding large fortified doors, even the occasional human who Minseok whispered must be down here conducting business for trade. And still, their presence along the stone pathway captured everyone's attention. 

"Hate to mention to this anyone," Jongdae intoned from behind, "but not a soul here is going to miss seeing us today." He hushed soon enough when a guard glared in his direction. 

The Diamond Quarter, once they were admitted through was another sight entirely. They were escorted up a series of steps and gates, one balcony hanging above another until all of the city lay before them, for it was from here that the nobles could look down on every caste below. Here, their guards traded off with another set, fewer this time and they wore a different insignia. 

"I am Wenhan, senior guard of House Zygmunt." They stopped up short before the new warriors and waited. Behind him stood half a dozen others in similar dress, each standing staunch and alert, their weapons sheathed. "Please, which of you is the mage Xiumin?" 

Jongin, Chanyeol and Baekhyun each shuffled around each other uneasily until a path was clear. Wenhan looked up, and his eyes traced professionally from Minseok to Luhan, to Yixing, and back the other direction, and it was clear that he had not been given a clear description of his lord's guest. Each of them wore robes which might indicate a mage, and only Luhan the marks of a templar. None of them knew how to answer though. Baekhyun in particular looked just as intrigued. 

It was Minseok who spoke first. He hesitantly unwound his arm from around Luhan, who shifted his wait to lean more on Yixing instead. Then Minseok said politely, "I believe there may be a misunderstanding here. You see, we--"

"You are Xiumin?" Wenhan interrupted. "You are welcome. My Lord Yibo has been anxious for many seasons to meet you. He sends his apologies that your travels have been cut short by our most gracious invitation, but makes it up to you by offering suitable accommodations for all your companions. It is this way. Follow us."

They had no choice but to continue their march. Luhan heard Suho squeak uncomfortably once or twice, oversaw Kris muttering after almost banging his head on a lamp. Tao grew intrigued by a set of statues of dwarven giants which Suho mentioned were depictions of Paragons, the most elect, almost god-like worshiped ancestors of Orzammar. It grew darker the further up they went, the noble caste quarters making its name by the hundreds of lamps that clung to the stone stretching out in a large arc that encircled the walkways of the loftiest homes in Orzammar. It had been brightest below, where the liquid lava glowed red and warm. Above it was cool and earthy, dozens of grand doorways marking the noble estates that were seemingly built right into the stone. 

They paused before one of them now. Wenhan waved them through and another set of servants welcomed them. There was no lord yet to greet them, "But please, sers, make your comfortable. And would the lady prefer her own suite?" 

Luhan had almost forgotten. Suho himself seemed to have forgotten. 

"No," said the dwarf, at the same time Jongdae answered, "Yes, please." 

The servant dwarf smiled and looked amused, but she introduced herself as Seungyeon and bade them follow down a long passage, the end of which branched into three separate rooms for their own personal use. Dinner would be in three hours exactly, and they could meet the lord then. Until then, would they please relax as they wished and freshen up?

"We need to talk, now," said Jongin once they were finally left alone. Together, they crowded into the center room, the largest. It was lit like the passageways outside, through torchlight, although a strange red-blueish light emitted from the rafters above. Jongin gave himself just long enough to verify that they were truly alone and that the room appeared safe before rounding on the two mages. 

"Xiumin! Or, Minseok. Whatever your name is. First thing's first: What exactly is...is..." He started to stutter when he saw the mages lifting Luhan onto the bed, the templar sighing in relief to feel comfort beneath his body. "What is... is he alright? What's wrong with him?"

Baekhyun chewed on his lower lip, something Jongin had learned meant that the elf was unhappy with the current situation, but there was nothing that could be helped for the moment. Too much of their lives had taken a sudden turn in the last twenty minutes alone, and right now, one of their numbers appeared seriously ill.

"Lyrium deficiency," said Minseok. "He's been rationing whatever he had with him over the past few weeks, and it's not been enough. Templars need it... Without it he is... Well, you can say it's like an addiction. His body is reacting to it now ever since he dispelled..." Minseok broke off speaking and furrowed his eyebrows in Yixing's direction. Then he started again. "The dwarves mine lyrium. Center of the lyrium trade. If we can just get some from them in a purified concentration then--"

"Wait, wait wait." Surprisingly, it was Chanyeol interrupting this time, his hands waving in the air. "One thing at a time here. Look, I know about templars and lyrium. He won't likely die from it, especially if he's already grown accustomed to smaller doses. But we can't start talking about trade with the dwarves until we know exactly what our situation is. I don't know if anyone's noticed this," he growled, knowing specifically that everyone was, "But we are the most imprisoned-feeling guests of some dwarven lord we've never heard of, and to top it off, we are missing Sehun outside!"

"And Kyungsoo," Jongdae added unhelpfully with a grin, taking advantage of Chanyeol's dramatic pause.

"And Kyungsoo," Chanyeol returned, not at all humored. 

Baekhyun slumped into an armchair unhappily, growing even more unhappy when he determined that the chair was made completely out of stone. "Is there a soft thing in this place at all?" He mused hopefully at the bed which was covered in blankets, but Luhan was already dozing on it somewhere between reality and dreams. 

Jongin frowned and cleared his throat, directing his eyes on Minseok. There was nothing like the present to ask. "Who is Lord Yibo? And why has he asked for... Xiumin?"

He was going to assume Minseok's story that Xiumin was his brother until proven otherwise. Underground with no clear pathway out and hundreds of dwarven soldiers between them and the gates of Orzammar, he, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Kris, and Tao were never more at the mercy of the mages than now. He had to trust them, or at least manage to have Minseok trusting them. Otherwise, they may never escape with their lives, and Sehun would be lost forever, prisoner to a tainted Darkspawn human, for all Jongin knew. 

Minseok appeared not even to be listening. He knelt on the bed next to Luhan, sighing, and Jongin was about to ask again when the mage lifted his head and slid off the bed. He ran a hand through his bangs and gave the room a cursory glance around. 

"Lord Yibo is... well, he was just a boy the last time I heard that name. He can't be much older now than when... And he wasn't the heir." Minseok shook his head. "Something is wrong here, but I cannot fathom that we were invited like that based on a simple mistake..."

"And by invited, you mean, weapons confiscated, ordered into Orzammar at sword point, just about?" Baekhyun had his arms folded across his chest, knees up with his feet on the chair and he looked very small in the stone setting. He'd also, Jongin noticed, lost some of the fight out of his voice. As if he knew as well as Jongin that they had nothing going for them currently.

Minseok sighed. "Correct."

"It's a scheme," said Yixing. "Xiumin's scheme to be exact. It has to be. There's no other plausible reason."

"Xiumin," Jongin exhaled. "Xiumin, who is your brother. And he's a blood mage?"

Minseok nodded. "He's two years older than me. I haven't seen in almost eight years. We... we don't get along. Or at least we didn't bother trying to get along until he probably anonymously tipped off the templars about where he could be located, and sent them right to my doorstep."

"And that's where Luhan comes in," said Jongin, trying to make sense of this whole operation.

"Yes."

"And you didn't bother to try and correct him?" asked Baekhyun.

"At the time, no. To be honest, I wasn't planning on sticking around very long. I knew that if he took me back to the Circle Tower in Ferelden that the Templars there would likely sentence me to death, and it wouldn't matter that I wasn't my brother. When the Order gets an idea into their head, well... they don't often take their sweet time dispensing justice however they see fit." He paused long enough to look at Luhan in the bed, whose eyes fluttered open for just a second. Minseok smiled, reprovingly gentle, before continuing his story.

"There's no proof that I'm not Xiumin. My brother would have taken and destroyed his own phylactery when he left his Circle. All anyone would have of him anymore is a rough drawing from ten years ago, so we look well enough alike, as Tao can probably testify. He seems to be the only person here who has seen both of us. Well, him and Yixing..."

Jongin felt like his head's about to spin. "So you and Yixing really do go back? And you hid that as well?" 

Minseok was distracted from answering, however: Luhan an arm out, begging to sit up on the bed. Yixing got to him first and Luhan's head wobbled on his neck. His coloring was going from bad to worse, pale white and sickly, dark lines beneath his eyes. "Your... your brother was in the Circle?" the templar gasped. 

"Yes. In Orlais. He joined voluntarily when he was a teenager."

"How... why?" Luhan begged to know.

"He saw ambition there. In the courts. People with power, influence, knowledge. You've never been to Orlais, but they treat their mages quite a bit better than in Ferelden, even better than in Nevarra or the Free Marches. Orlesian mages, they have much more freedom to learn, to live. They're not guarded every single moment by templars like in Ferelden."

"I... I had heard of such things but, never realized how... lax they were?"

"Some might say too lax," said Minseok. "In an order where some mages are free to carefully study magic at their own pace, others flourish beyond what is acceptable. They tear at the Veil and disturb the demons beyond, and that is what my brother has done." He turned to Jongin then, apologetically defensive when he stated in no uncertain terms, "And that is why, if he's behind this, then we are in trouble and we need to find a way out." 

Jongin sighed heavily, a migraine starting to flourish. "Andraste's arse, you couldn't have warned us before how bad this situation could get?" 

"Uhh, yeah," Baekhyun added. "Because I couldn't help noticing how very deep into the stone we've gone, and there are at least six levels of guard-patrolled balconies between us and the Commons, and a lava pit below."

Minseok sunk onto the bed frame again, and Luhan relaxed his head back onto a pillow. Yixing looked like he was silently thinking, but he offered none of his thoughts out loud. Even Chanyeol had nothing further to add. Baekhyun was quiet, Tao and Kris stunned into silence. Jongin had no ideas other than trying to muscle their way out, weaponless and all. In all of their cluelessness, however, that just left Jongdae to pout.

"Well, if everyone wants to just ponder our imminent death, perhaps we ought to ask the only person here who really knows this place?"

One by one, as if sparks were being ignited in their brains, everyone turned to stare at him. And then they looked at Suho.

The dwarf looked scared, haggard, his overcoat and dress fitting him poorly, and his wig was dusty and dirty. The fact that nine pairs of eyes were suddenly staring at him like he could save the world clearly unnerved him. His face began to convulse, panic and confusion and a streak of comprehension, of how he could possibly be viewed as their impending savior.

"I... I have a sister in Dust Town," he started out quietly. "And..." Suho swallowed heavily and then started to choke from his own nerves.

"And?" Jongin prompted, hoping against hope that this dwarf had a better idea than him.

"A half-brother... I, don't think he'll help us because he probably hopes me dead right now but, there might be a few servants left in the household who... who... might... could assist...?"

"Who's your half-brother," Minseok suddenly demanded, and the room grew silent.

They almost didn't hear him, his voice squeaked so much. Finally though, he was able to answer. "L-Lord... Namjoon."

Kyungsoo wiped his face furiously, pulling up the hood of his cape high enough so that it protected his ears, cheek, and nose too, preferably. It might be a losing cause, but he feared Alistair's tongue might just stay permanently gray if the hound persisted in giving him a bath. He sighed and pet the animal, untucking his legs from their cramped position behind the boulder. It should be safe enough now to poke his head out. The dwarven soldiers had gone, taking with them all of the rest of their very confused, exhausted, defeated looking party. 

Kyungsoo hadn't stopped muttering and cursing for the last ten minutes, and it had nothing to do with being stuck outside with the welp of a boy. Sehun, he could handle like putty in his hands. He already had. Rather, the reason he was furious was because Minseok was effectively gone, and Minseok had the ring. Kyungsoo couldn't even sneak off now. He had Sehun, but not the ring. And now the others had been rounded up and taken to Orzammar, for what reason Kyungsoo did not know. 

He put his hand to Sehun's forehead, checking that the boy was still knocked out but breathing. He was, just as Kyungsoo had planned, although perhaps the bruise on the side of Sehun's head was bigger than it should be. Foolish boy for trying to resist, trying to leap into the middle of a possibly disastrous fray of steel and magic when he still couldn't hold onto a simple dagger properly enough. 

He muttered anew and guessed he ought to have at least ten more minutes to scout around. No one at the surfacer's market would recognize him. Plenty of shady characters came this way every week. He would be safe, and Sehun too as long as he didn't wake up too soon and try to run off. 

Alistair padded by his side, the two of them trotting up the hill and around the bend to where the shop stalls and hovels began. How fitting, that a veritable slum would stand as the first sight for visitors to the great dwarven Orzammar. 

"That's a nice animal there," said an elderly woman about four feet high. 

Kyungsoo grimaced and didn't reply. Beside her sat a dwarf boy, a teenager from the looks of it, although he could be a bit older. Kyungsoo could never tell with dwarves. Not that he'd had much experience with them. 

"Donkey," said the boy. 

Kyungsoo stopped and stared. Alistair's nose perked up curiously, as if he too was trying to figure out who was the donkey.

"Excuse me?" said Kyungsoo. The woman hadn't said anything, although she did look at Kyungsoo like he was supposed to say something else.

"Donkey," said the boy again.

Kyungsoo had no idea what to say. He started to walk on by, looking for any sign for how he could get into Orzammar without the guards noticing. It would probably be extremely hard, if not impossible.

"Donkey." 

This time Kyungsoo did not even look behind him, until the woman sighed and said, "Jackson... why you don't tell him about your donkey?"

Something in her tone caused Kyungsoo to turn, and this time she caught his eye with a mischievous glint. "Is there... something I should know?" 

She smiled, feigning ignorance as she started fiddling with her wares, but it must only have been a ruse to anyone watching from nearby. Kyungsoo stood closer to her stall, trinkets and jewelry, nothing particularly especial, except, "Donkey."

He sighed and looked at the boy called Jackson. It was only then he noticed a caged animal pen that stood behind the tree line quite a small distance away. 

"You have donkeys?" Kyungsoo felt stupid even as he asked. 

"Tour Orzammar and the Deep Roads. If you buy one..."

"Donkey?" Kyungsoo suggested.

Jackson smiled. 

3,840 words

Sorry about the donkey, but if anyone watched Jackson in Roommate, you will know why I had to add this here.

So! How's the plot coming along? I detect some bed stuff coming up in the next chapter. Of course, consider that this is me, your author, speaking and I try never to write the obvious stuff that people think is coming so. *coughs* Ahem. Anyways. 

♡ Rosie

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