Three words
He moved quietly through the gloom. He had never really liked the underground roads but his experience and their relationship had given him familiarity with their ways.
She was no longer bothering to hide her tracks. He could read the signs of her passage quite clearly. She had left a full day ahead of him. His greater skill at tracking and his knowledge of her probable path had helped him gain most of that time back. He felt certain she could be no more than an hour or two ahead of him now.
The problem was that they were now both far past Bownommar. Further indeed than he had ever been. The stench of darkspawn was omnipresent, neither growing nor diminishing. He continued his quiet trot along the wall lining the road.
He began to hear the faint sounds of a battle ahead. He had no sensitivity to darkspawn as the Grey Wardens had. There were very many, he thought. He quickened his pace. The darkspawn sensed Grey Wardens and headed for them. He had no need of secrecy now.
His eyes saw something shine in the distance. As he closed towards it, he saw a shining line rise and fall in a familiar rhythm. There were many darkspawn, mostly genlocks, but he saw the taller forms of hurlocks in the mob. They were dropping quickly as the gleaming blade rose and fell amongst them.
Absurdly he heard a song. In the midst of his desperate hurry he had to stifle a laugh. She was singing a very bawdy Antivan ballad he had taught her. She had paid better attention to his singing than he had thought. "That clever minx!" She was nearing the bit about the miller's predicament when she stumbled on a line.
He moved into a full run. She resumed singing briefly then stopped. He was near enough that he heard the blade slide past her armour. There were only four genlocks left and no hurlocks. One more fell and he could see her. Her back was to him and she stabbed, hard, another foe. It grunted and returned the blow. She staggered back. Another genlock sidestepped and stabbed for her back. She twisted and the blow grazed her shoulder. Her left arm fell limp.
Horrified, he threw himself on the other genlock. It squealed in surprise and crumpled quickly. He wheeled towards her and saw her collapse in the pool of her own blood. The last genlock roared triumph and plunged its blade into her eye. He slashed its throat, cutting off its cry.
No foes remained. White faced, she looked at him. Her eyes were surrounded by patches of black. Her skin was mottled. He had never seen someone so beautiful. She smiled and died as he reached for her.
"I love you" he wept.