Chapter Text
By the grace of Andraste, Teia, Viago, Fallon, and her chosen team members are able to remove the gaatlock from the first two locations on Viago's list almost entirely without issue. As they predicted, there were guards stationed outside the gaatlock sites, in addition to half a dozen more waiting inside. It was thrilling, fighting alongside Viago, and when Fallon's mentor shouted, "Nice shot, Rook!" after one of her arrows struck an Antaam beserker right between his eyes, not even taking a burst of ice to the side mere seconds later could keep the smile off of Fallon's face. It's been a long time since Fallon made Viago proud, and she finally feels like she's doing something right.
The gaatlock from the first two sites were boxed up and loaded into wagons manned by a few members of House de Riva, who were then instructed to take the crates to a boat waiting at the dock. Once the gaatlock from the third site was extracted and brought to the boat, the sailing team of House Cantori Crows would take the ship out to the middle of the Amaranthine Ocean and dispose of the crates. If anyone ever found the crates, the bombs would be waterlogged and useless.
It was a good plan. A great plan, even. Unfortunately, the Antaam and Venatori guards were ready for the team when they showed up at the third site. Security was doubled, and they were on high alert. Fallon and her team left no survivors at the first two gaatlock sites, so it's not as though someone was able to run and warn the others. Somebody told them that the Crows were on the hunt.
Fallon and the others were able to eliminate the guards and extract the gaatlock, but not without injury. Taash got hit with a nasty lightning spell at the base of her spine, paralyzing her temporarily. If Assan hadn't swooped in to harass the Antaam soldier intent on beating Taash until his fellow Qunari became a lifeless husk, the dragon hunter might have gotten killed. It took the combined effort of Teia, Lucanis, Davrin, and Diego Cantori to haul Taash back to the Lighthouse— even after the feeling returned to her legs, Taash could barely walk.
This left Viago and Fallon alone to deal with the one Venatori mage they opted to keep alive so they could interrogate him.
"Well, we already knew the Crows were compromised. Less than half a dozen Crows knew where we were going tonight, and none of them knew why. That narrows the list of suspects pretty significantly." Fallon pieces together. If it turns out that the traitor is from House de Riva, and it's not who they think it is, Viago is going to be furious. He'll probably murder the traitor himself. Fallon paces back and forth in the basement of the de Riva estate— an area explicitly used for the detention and interrogation of people who needed it. Their captive is still unconscious— he'd taken a brutal blow to the head from the pommel of Davrin's sword.
Viago remains leaning against the wall nearest to where the Venatori mage is bound to an exposed pipe. There's a hardened look in his eyes as he stares at the unconscious mage. "I intentionally discussed part of the plan for this evening with Andarateia while our primary suspect in Lucanis's capture was within earshot," Viago admits.
Fallon gasps softly. Illario. "The gaatlock was the Antaam's, though. The Venatori just enchanted it. Why would he do something to benefit the occupation?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe his ambitions of power extend beyond just the Crows, and Illario wants to rule Treviso. Or perhaps he's in so deep with the Venatori that he'd be punished by whomever he reports to for not telling them we were coming. It could also simply be that Illario wanted to curry additional favor with the Venatori by selling us out."
Fallon doesn't like any of those theories. She also doesn't like that Illario has yet to do anything to dissuade Viago from the notion that Illario is the traitor. Lucanis has repeatedly said that Illario is smarter than people give him credit for, so it's not like any of Viago's suspicions are entirely out of the realm of possibility. Fallon just worries that if it turns out that Illario is behind what happened to Lucanis, Caterina's death, or anything else to do with the current political atmosphere in Treviso, it will send Lucanis down a dark path of revenge that Fallon isn't sure she'll be able to pull Lucanis out of— especially not while Spite inhabits his body.
Fallon looks over to the unconscious Venatori, then back to Viago. "I dunno about you, but I'm tired of working off of guesses. I want some gods damned answers," She walks over to the table where Viago has laid out an array of toxins, weapons, and antidotes. Fallon picks up the small bottle she recognizes as standard smelling salts, meant to rouse an unconscious person. She also picks up a second bottle labeled Sweet Talker— an elixir crafted by Viago to poison the body slowly, encouraging the taker to cooperate in order to receive the antidote. "Do you want to be good Crow or bad Crow?"
Viago nods approvingly at Fallon's choices in implements of interrogation. "It's your operation. I'll follow your lead."
Keeping the smile off of her face at his words is nearly impossible, and it fills Fallon with renewed confidence. Viago trusts her. She can do this. Fallon pulls the Venatori's hood off, and she's surprised to see the man beneath is older. He looks like he's a few years Viago's senior, with strands of silver hair streaking through his jet-black hair and a weathered complexion. Fallon doubts they managed to catch one of Zara's generals, but if they did, she and Viago could hopefully gather all the proof they need to accuse someone of treason tonight.
The man jolts awake within seconds of Fallon placing the bottle of salts under his nose, and he looks around wildly. He attempts to free himself from his restraints, but his hands are bound to the pipe securely. "Lovely of you to join us." Fallon greets the man once he's conscious. The expression on the Venatori's face is nothing short of hateful when he looks at Fallon and Viago.
"If you think you'll get anything out of me—" He snarls, but Viago lunges for the man like a viper waiting to strike, holding his mouth open so Fallon can quickly pour the Sweet Talker in. Viago closes the man's mouth, and the Venatori struggles against his restraints again as Fallon covers it.
"That's it, be a good boy and swallow that, if you want to live." Fallon coos in a condescending tone. The Venatori glares at Fallon, the conflict in his eyes evident as she and Viago work together to keep his mouth closed. She knows from having briefly tasted this poison once upon a time that the concoction intentionally tastes incredibly sweet to encourage its victim to swallow it, and the Venatori barely makes it six seconds before doing as he's told.
Fallon pats the Venatori's cheek and steps back a few paces. "You, amicus, have approximately ten minutes before that little cocktail you just had kills you. He has the antidote," Fallon informs him, tilting her head towards Viago. "If you tell us what we want to know, we'll give it to you, and you'll walk out of here. Sound good?"
Fallon says the second half in fluent Tevene, and the Ventatori sneers at her.
"Why does an Antivan Crow know how to speak Tevene?" The Venatori responds in kind.
"I'm just trying to be hospitable," Fallon winks, replying in the man's native tongue before switching to Antivan. "A menos que hables Antivan, compadre?" From behind the Venatori, Viago gives Fallon an amused look as if to remind her that she is barely fluent in Antivan herself. The irony is far from lost on Fallon.
When their hostage says nothing in response to being addressed in Antivan, Fallon continues, reverting to Trade. "Truthfully, I don't care what language we have this conversation in, as long as you talk. Why are the Venatori working with the Antaam?"
The cultist remains silent. Fallon looks at Viago and nods subtly. Viago grabs the man by his hair and gently presses the tip of his dagger to the man's neck. "Answer her, or I'll break the skin, and you'll be hit with a different poison that will kill you much faster." Viago threatens.
"It was a simple transaction. They wanted magically enhanced gaatlock, we wanted additional protection whilst we remain in Treviso." The man attempts to pull his head away from Viago's grip and his dagger to no avail.
"Who tipped you off that we were on our way to your warehouse?" Fallon follows up.
"An informant who saw what happened at the first two locations." The cultist's answer is far too vague and too casual to be entirely truthful. He's covering for someone.
"Really? We've got a poisoned dagger against your neck, with another poison already starting to work its way through your system, and you're still trying to protect someone? I doubt whoever it is would offer you the same courtesy if the tables were turned." Fallon scoffs.
"I've been Venatori longer than you've been alive, knife ears. Half the reason I've made it this far is due to loyalty. Not that you'd know anything about that— you Crows are only loyal to the highest bidder." The cultist glowers at her, and Fallon simply rolls her eyes at the dated, racist insult towards her lineage.
Viago, on the other hand, reacts violently. Viago yanks the Venatori back by his hair, slamming the back of his head against the pipe. The cultist swears and lets out a grunt of pain. "If you speak to her that way again, I will cut out your tongue. Slowly."
Were they not in the middle of an interrogation, Fallon would have been completely endeared by the way Viago came to her defense. Not that Fallon ever thought Viago wouldn't defend her, but it's still nice to see it in practice and not theory. Fallon folds her arms across her chest. "Let's try a different topic, then: is Zara Renata still in Treviso?"
Whether the cultist cooperates because he believes Viago will make good on his threats, or his head simply hurts too much to endure a third, likely concussive, blow in forty minutes, it's unclear. After a moment, the man gruffly replies, "Yes."
It's probably the least surprising piece of information they'll receive this evening. Still, it does confirm Lucanis's theory from a few weeks ago: Illario's "contact" was lying to him or being lied to, or Illario lied to Lucanis and Fallon himself. "Did Zara have help from an Antivan Crow to breach the Cantori Diamond in the attack where the First Talon went missing?"
A cruel sneer appears on the cultist's face. "Yes."
"Who?" Viago growls, pressing the tip of his dagger a little harder against the cultist's neck.
"Don't know," The Venatori winces, pulling his neck away from Viago's dagger as much as possible with a hint of fear in his eyes. "Never saw his face. Masks up like the rest of us when he comes and goes, and only speaks to Zara."
"Then how do you know they're a Crow?" Fallon counters skeptically.
"Knew how to breach your base," the cultist says, as if it's obvious. "Led us there, told us to wait thirty minutes for him to get inside so he could cover his own ass, then to proceed with the attack."
Fallon and Viago exchange looks. A male Antivan Crow doesn't exactly narrow it down. There are hundreds of Crows, and sixty percent of them are male. However, the fact remains that only one male Antivan Crow has a motive for wanting Caterina out of the way, and that same Antivan Crow showed up at the Cantori Diamond right before the Venatori attacked.
"Were you involved in the ambush and capture of Lucanis Dellamorte?" Viago asks next, and Fallon holds her breath. She's not sure what she'll do if this man was there for that.
"No, but I knew about it."
"Do you know who sold him out?" Fallon exhales as she tries to remain calm.
The cultist shrugs. "Same guy who told Zara how to get into your hideout, I reckon." The Venatori's skin goes pallid as a look of discomfort flashes through his eyes. Viago barely manages to move far enough out of the way that his boots remain clean when the Venatori turns his head and vomits in the spot where Viago had been standing.
"The poison is beginning to take effect. We have two minutes. Maybe three before he's dead, so talk fast if you have more questions." Viago warns Fallon. She, of course, knows this, but their captive did not, and he suddenly looks terrified.
"Fuck, I'll tell you whatever you want to know if you just give me the fucking antidote!" The cultist pleads desperately before vomiting again as his body tries to figure out how to reject the poison coursing through his body.
"Where is Zara Renata?" Fallon asks sharply.
"In the old Chantry! Near the café!"
"How many more of you are still in Treviso?" Viago follows up.
"Three dozen or so? I don't know, pe—people are— are always coming and going." Their captive's speech begins to slow, like forming sentences is starting to take effort.
Fallon looks at Viago. "Have you heard enough?"
Viago nods and takes a small vial out of his jacket and tosses it to Fallon. She catches it easily, pulls out the stopper, and walks over to the desperate-looking Venatori. Fallon squats in front of him so she's looking him in the eyes. "Never forget that House de Riva showed you mercy." She says icily before pouring the antidote into the man's waiting mouth. He gulps it down, and within ten seconds, the Venatori no longer looks like he's on death's door.
The cultist's eyes remain locked on Fallon's as he catches his breath, like he's quite literally trying to breathe life back into his body, and suddenly, a look of recognition appears in his eyes. "Wait. I know you."
Fallon frowns, and she looks to Viago, who seems as confused as Fallon feels. Her mentor shrugs. "What do you mean that you know me?"
He lets out a bark of laughter in disbelief. "No fucking way—you're her."
Fallon pulls out her own dagger and presses it against the cultist's neck. "I'm going to need some more context, if you'd like to keep the life I already gave back to you once tonight."
"You're the little Cael'Urden bitch who got away, aren't you? Shit, we thought you died when the ceiling caved in." The Venatori says cruelly. Fallon's blood runs cold as her eyes widen at the use of her former surname, as a memory her psyche had so thoroughly blocked out comes rushing back to her, and she realizes that she knows this man, too.
Fallon is fifteen, and running through the halls of her family home in her dressing gown, hand-in-hand with her governess, Danika. Smoke billows through the house as everything around them burns, and Fallon isn't sure if the tears in her eyes started because of the smoke or because Danika just told her that her parents are dead. The door to the servant's quarters of the Cael'Urden estate comes into view as they round a corner, and Fallon feels a large hand grip her wrist.
"I don't think so. No one is leaving this house alive." A man in mage robes and a mask snarls at Fallon as he yanks her back, ripping her hand from Danika's grip.
"Fallon!" Danika yells, lunging for the teenager's hand, but another mage appears out of thin air and grabs Danika around her waist. Fallon watches in complete horror as the mage runs his sickle across Danika's throat with their free hand. Fallon's governess takes her final breath, grappling at her throat to try and stop the bleeding, but it's no use, and the mage holding her lets Danika drop to the ground unceremoniously to choke to death on her own blood.
Fallon screams in despair as the mage holding her wrist begins dragging her away. She thrashes against him, determined not to go quietly if this is how she dies. In one lucky hit, Fallon manages to knee him in the groin, incapacitating him long enough for Fallon to make a break for it. The second mage, the one who killed Danika, attempts to tackle Fallon to the ground as she runs towards him. By the grace of Andraste, she's able to dodge out of the way and keep running.
Just as Fallon crosses the threshold of the servant's quarters, a support beam engulfed in flames collapses, dropping to the ground on the side of the entryway that the mages are on, blocking their way to her. Fallon doesn't allow herself to look back at the damage. She just keeps running until she makes it to the hidden passageway out of the estate that she knows exists.
Fallon's nostrils flare as she stares at the Venatori. "You were there." She says slowly, anger rising within her.
"Fallon—" Viago interjects, almost like a warning.
"Fallon, that's right! That's the name the old woman screamed before I slit her throat." The Venatori's eyes are filled with mirth as he looks at her. He must have thought they were going to kill him slowly, or keep him alive just so they could question him again later, if he chose to taunt her.
Fallon feels like she's going to be sick. "You killed my parents." Her words come out like a statement, but there's disbelief in her eyes, because there's no way this no-name lackey was the one who took out Assan Cael'Urden, member of the Tevinter Magisterium.
"Oh no," The Venatori clarifies, his expression turning downright evil as he laughs. "Zara took that pleasure for herself. She killed your mother first, if that matters to you. I was tasked with holding your father down and making him—"
The Venatori does not get to finish his sentence, because Fallon's dagger slashes across his jugular. She watches the wickedness leave the man's eyes before his head falls forward lifelessly, blood spilling over Fallon's hand and dagger as his body goes slack. Fallon drops her dagger as her ankles give out, and she falls forward onto her knees as fury consumes her.
Zara Renata killed her parents.
Ever since learning who Zara was on the Minrathous job with Lucanis a few years ago, and remembering that she'd seen Zara in their house just over a year before her parents died, Fallon suspected it was possible. That doesn't mean she wanted it to be true.
"Zara tried to blackmail my father. She—she wanted his support on a motion to use blood magic on people sentenced to life in prison for her experiments. My father said no. He—he told her that he wouldn't be bought. And she had him killed for it." Fallon says more to herself than Viago as she realizes that the same woman who ruined Lucanis's life is responsible for the events that changed Fallon's entire life.
"I know," Viago says evenly.
Fallon's head snaps to Viago. He knew?
"What?" Fallon slowly gets to her feet, her hands shaking. The Fifth Talon has taken several steps back, and there's a wary look in his eyes. Viago also holds his dagger like he's ready to defend himself, if needed. Fallon is officially as much of a threat as the dead Venatori was before they caught him.
"I looked into your family after bringing you back to Antiva. I wanted to know if someone—whether it be a relative or a person coming to finish the job— was going to come looking for you eventually," Viago explains calmly, like he's dealing with a wild animal. Fallon can't believe it never occurred to her that Viago would have looked into her background, given his paranoia. "I was trying to keep you from the fate we're all watching happen to Jacobus in real time: You were young, and angry, and I didn't want you to do anything stupid. By the time I felt certain that you were level-headed enough to understand why I kept it from you, it had been long enough that I decided it would be best if it remained secret."
Fallon's head spins, and she swears her ears start ringing. "All this time…all this time, you knew who was responsible…and you just thought it would be for the best if I never found out?"
"Despite the way I try to see every possible scenario before it plays out, so I can come up with a plan to avoid or fix it— paranoia, as you and Andarateia like to call it—not even I could have predicted that we would find ourselves in a situation where Zara Renata has infiltrated our ranks and you are part of the team trying to stop her." It's almost strange, seeing Viago like this— trying to dig himself out of a hole that he knows he dug himself. Fallon can't remember a time when she's ever seen Viago so ruffled. So… afraid. Not just that, but Viago is scared of her.
And honestly? He should be.
Not because Fallon is going to kill him. No. She knows better than to physically attack Viago de Riva. He'd put her down so fast that Fallon wouldn't even have time to get a hit in. There are other ways to hurt Viago anyway. Ways Fallon never thought she would use.
Giving Fallon the contract on her ex-boyfriend's life. Telling Lucanis not to pursue her all those years ago. Deliberately meddling in Fallon's love life so she wouldn't get distracted as a fledgling and young assassin. Exiling Fallon when she, arguably, needed Viago most.
Those were all things Fallon could forgive. Those were things that, while they angered her or caused her grief (or, in the case of Gabriel, quite literally almost got her killed), Fallon understood why Viago did them.
But keeping it from Fallon that Viago definitely knew who was behind the death of her parents?
That's an act Fallon can't let go unanswered or without retribution.
"I fucked Teia." The only secret Fallon has ever truly kept from Viago flies from her mouth with cool, calculated malice.
As her confession hits Viago, he lowers his dagger in utter shock. "What?"
"Ten years ago. It was just once— when you were still in denial that you were in love with her. She helped me prep for a seduction job. Taught me what to do. We decided it would be best if you never found out, but it was so long ago that surely you're not mad," Fallon says sarcastically as she bends down to pick up her dagger. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Fallon feels guilty for the grief this will cause Teia. Unfortunately, any loyalty and love Fallon holds for the Seventh Talon is currently overshadowed by her need to hurt Viago in the cruelest way possible. Based on the way Viago stares at Fallon, she succeeded.
Fallon wipes the Venatori's blood off her dagger on her pant leg and sheathes it once more. "I'll send a messenger when my team is ready to move on Zara, or if we stumble upon any more information about who helped the Antaam, and you can pass any messages you have for me through Chance. Or Lucanis. But you and me? We're done."
Without another word, Fallon turns on her heels and walks out. To Viago's credit, he doesn't throw his dagger at her back as she goes. If their roles were reversed, Fallon probably would have.
As if to taunt her and make her feel worse about involving Teia in all of this, Fallon runs into the Seventh Talon immediately upon arriving back at the Cantori Diamond to use the eluvian that will bring her back to the Lighthouse.
Before Teia can ask her about the results of the interrogation, Fallon hugs her tightly. "He knows, Teia. Viago knows. I told him," She murmurs into Teia's ear. The soft gasp from Teia as Fallon pulls out of the hug tells her that the other woman knows exactly what Fallon is talking about.
"What? Fallon, why—" Teia starts to ask as their embrace ends.
"I'm sorry, Teia. I really am," Fallon cuts her off, her throat closing up as she sees the bewildered, hurt look in Teia's eyes. "I have to go."
Fallon makes it through the eluvian and halfway down the path through the Crossroads back to the Lighthouse before the tears begin to fall in earnest as the regret and guilt of hurting Teia, of hurting Viago, finally consume her.