Dragon Age: Last Flight Read Online Free PDF Page B

poisoned, and where they passed, no lavender would ever grow again.
    She sat heavily on the side of a cot, fingering the rough woolen blanket that some servant had washed and folded for her. Probably they’d chosen their best blankets, out of gratitude for the Wardens coming to rescue Antiva.
    “We have to save them,” she mumbled.
    But she said it very quietly, and to no one in particular, and if anyone heard, they did not answer.

 
    3
    5:12 E XALTED
    The next morning, Warden-Commander Turab split them into pairs and sent the Wardens ranging into the air to scout for any possible escape routes over land, points at which Antiva City might conceivably be defended, or information about the darkspawn horde. The Antivans had already provided the best maps they had, along with local goatherds and hunters who knew the hidden tracks around the city, but Turab wanted eyes in the air to match their information with current news of the darkspawn’s movements.
    It was, Isseya understood, strictly a last resort. They’d be lucky to get a hundred Antivans out along the goat paths, and that only if the entire darkspawn horde could be diverted long enough to make good their escape. But if the king and queen did not act swiftly, it might be all they had.
    That thought loomed large in her mind as she clasped her hands around Huble’s waist and braced herself for the lurch of the griffon beneath them. The ground heaved like a rough sea as Blacktalon coiled his muscles and leaped, his wings beating a blizzard of dust around them. Isseya held her breath, partly to keep from choking on the dust and partly out of instinctive reflex. It was impossible, utterly impossible , not to be wonderstruck by the magic of a griffon’s flight.
    And then they were airborne, spiraling higher and higher over the Royal Palace, until the interior gardens were laid out like tiny tiles of gold-flecked green below and the guards on the walls seemed so many crawling bronze ants. The refugee tents were a blur of dun and gray outside the city walls, the docks a spiky white fringe along the cool green sea.
    There seemed to be even fewer ships than there’d been the day before. “Are they evacuating?” Isseya asked.
    Huble shook his head, waiting to answer until Blacktalon turned to coast on a current of wind. “The king has said nothing. But many of the captains aren’t waiting. Their warships started slipping out as soon as our audience was ended and they heard the Wardens weren’t going to be saving their city. Nearly a dozen of them escaped under cover of night. The royal guard caught one of the captains and hanged him this morning, but I doubt it’ll stem the tide. Hanging’s still better than dying to darkspawn.”
    “Is there anything we can do?”
    “Probably not,” Huble answered, “but we’ll try.” He tightened the reins against the right side of Blacktalon’s neck, signaling the griffon to dip to the right and swoop down. “Let’s take a closer look at these darkspawn. Maybe we’ll see something that can scare some sense into the royals.”
    The griffon stayed above the clouds, using the gray sky for cover, as they crossed over the ring of verdant land around Antiva City and neared the darkspawn army. Then, cautiously, Blacktalon broke through the massed clouds and began a controlled descent.
    The darkspawn horde stretched out beneath them, a knotted carpet of corrupted flesh gathered around ragged banners. They wore patchy armor and carried jagged weapons of impossibly crude make.
    From this height, Isseya couldn’t begin to make out the faces of individual darkspawn, but she could identify the different breeds by their builds and the way they moved. Genlocks were short and squat, scuttling along low to the ground like four-legged spiders. Hurlocks stood taller and, although heavily muscled, appeared almost rangy next to the genlocks. They walked more upright, closer to the posture of men, but no one would ever have mistaken the