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Hawke had been almost as militant as Bartrand, setting a brutal pace to make up for lost time and hoping that around every turn they would finally come across a tunnel that looked familiar or matched the Warden maps. They had been marching hard for four days and had yet to see signs that they were going in the right direction. For all any of them knew they could be heading deeper into the depths.

Ever since the argument between the mage and their leader tensions had mounted to a record high among the group. They were no longer on speaking terms, instead relying on silent communication such as body language or facial expressions. Varric was bracing for the inevitable blowup between the two, but they were simmering and hadn't reached the boiling point yet.

They had lost track of how many weeks they had been underground; at this point it had to have been months. The group was quite aware that their luck might not hold much longer in avoiding an army of darkspawn. Blondie's ability to sense darkspawn had saved them all a time or two, but his range wasn't infinite and he wasn't very good at predicting how many were usually in the groups they did engage.

Hawke shot Anders a questioning glance and he shook his head in the negative. She motioned her team into a small dead-end tunnel. "Let's set camp here tonight." The companions gave relieved sighs and began to pull out the required equipment.

"Hawke, we are low on our food supplies. Maybe Varric and I should see what we can find in the nearby tunnels." She knew that Fenris was itching for some action and Varric had seemed a little trigger happy lately. They were right about their food issue – they had only a few deep mushrooms left and they had been using Anders mana to melt ice since they hadn't found another water source. With a tired sigh she gave them leave to hunt.

"I will blame Bianca if you don't come back safe and sound." The concern in those blue eyes nearly stopped his heart. She knelt down to be closer to his face and he stretched out a gloved hand to cup her cheek.

"I swear that I will come back unscathed. Don't kill the mage while we're gone. We need him even if he is a racist asshole." Varric's brows furrowed together in anger as he remembered what Hawke had told him.

She grumbled playfully. "I promise not to kill him, but I can't guarantee that I won't kick him." The dwarf laughed and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving the camp with Fenris.

Standing up she resumed setting up their tent. There didn't seem to be any point in keeping the fourth after it became public knowledge that they shared a bedroll. When they had made camp the night after they'd made love it was decided to just dump the extra tent to lighten their loads some. She was sure that at some point in this trek home they were going to wish they still had it, but it wasn't a necessity in the tunnels and keeping their priorities straight was more important if they wanted to get back to Kirkwall.

"I'm sorry for what I said." Hawke finished stabilizing the final pole and faced the mage. "I realize that what I said was cruel. I was jealous and angry…and I'm sorry." The blond man was standing in the center of the encampment anxiously rubbing his neck with one hand.

"You didn't do much to hide the fact that you were jealous, Anders." He winced and couldn't meet her eyes.

"I only meant to say that I thought you could do better."

The rogue snarled at him. "Meaning you, I suppose? You think that you are better. Ha, that's rich!" Anders was glaring at her as she continued. "Let me break it down for you – you are possessed by a warped spirit of Justice that you willingly took into your soul and cannot separate yourself from. You are the most coveted mage in two countries – by the Circle in Ferelden, by the Grey Wardens, and by the Templars in Kirkwall. And you can't go anywhere without stirring up more trouble!"

Hawke was railing into him now. Anders wished he could stop her, but what he could say to defend himself? Everything she said was true. Painfully so.

"The mage underground? I mean, really Anders! You are just asking for the Templars to either make you Tranquil or string you up in the Gallows to set an example! I don't want to be on the run anymore. I want to have a quiet life – "

Anders ran to her and slapped his hand over her mouth. Hawke squirmed to escape his hold until she looked into his face and her heart caught in her throat.

"Darkspawn," he whispered. He watched as the blood left her face and her eyes widened in horror. He closed his eyes and followed the faint threads of their taint in his mind and felt his stomach drop when he realized they were coming for them. They had heard her yelling at him, no doubt, everything echoed in the stone caverns. He opened his eyes and prayed fervently that he could protect her from a fate worse than death.

He felt her trembling and shook her gently to get her attention. Removing his hand he spoke, "They are coming and you need to be ready." He wanted to tell her not to let them take her alive, but the words died on his lips. He'd never told his team about broodmothers or how they were created and now was not the time. He would make that call if he had to.

Hawke gave a shaky nod as she pulled her daggers from their sheaths. Her mind briefly flew to Varric and she prayed that he was out of danger even as she selfishly wished he was with her. She felt the rejuvenation spell wash over her to keep her stamina up and saw the tension in Anders shoulders as he stared at the entrance to the tunnel. She knew then that they were in real trouble.

Even though she was expecting them when the brood of blood thirsty spawn poured into their dead-end cavern she nearly cried out in terror. The alpha immediately singled her out, pointing to her and casting orders to his minions. Fireballs were raining down on the enemy taking out a few here and there, only to see them replaced by more as they kept pouring into the camp. They began to splinter into smaller groups to make it harder for Anders' area spells to do much damage.

Hawke stealthed and crept along the wall to a small cluster and rapidly tore them down. Others began stalking towards her and she tossed a flask to stun them so she could backstab and hack without resistance. Too quickly the effects wore off and she leapt backwards and immediately dropped into stealth mode to escape their wicked blades.

She dropped her stealth beside Anders who had managed to paralyze a couple of spawn and Hawke took the opportunity to assassinate the bastards before flitting off to a corner full of archers. She felt the impact of an arrow land in her calf, but she didn't remove it until she had taken the group down. "Healing!" The cool wash of magic ghosted across her skin and knitted her torn flesh in a matter of seconds.

"Ahhh!" Hawke saw Anders fall briefly as a hurlock swung his sword at the mage's side. Anders retaliated with mind blast that sent the spawn intent on hacking him apart flying in all directions. Those couple of seconds that she let her guard down were all the darkspawn needed to knock her out with a pommel blow. "Maker, no! Hawke! I'm coming!"

The blond man tried to cut a swath through the spawn so he could reach her before they carried her off, but there were too many of them and he was running out of mana. He rained fire on them, shattered them with ice, and electrocuted every one that got within his personal space bubble. He lost track of her in the melee and he had to focus on destroying them if he wanted to live to find her.

"You messed with the wrong mage," he roared as he threw a chain lightening spell into another group waving their swords at him. TAT! TAT! TAT! "Thank the Maker," cried Anders at the sound Bianca's familiar song.

Fenris jumped into the middle of the fray and spirit pulsed them so Varric could pelt them with metal rain and he moved to hack at those along the edges. With a final war cry the elf crashed his massive sword into the neck of an emissary and sent its head flying across the cavern. Anders collapsed and with shaking hands swallowed one of his precious lyrium potions. Varric grabbed him roughly by his robes and jerked his head up to meet his furious golden eyes.

"Where is she?" Anders quickly scanned the room looking for the rogue.

He turned his pained brown eyes to the dwarf. "They took her." Varric shook him in frustration.

"Why? Why would they take her?"

Anders sucked in a deep breath and quickly explained how women were turned into broodmothers to create more darkspawn. Varric pushed him away in horror when the mage was finished speaking and saw that Fenris looked as though he would be sick.

"NO! No, I will not allow them to have her!" Varric picked up a genlock corpse and threw it against the stone wall, taking sick pleasure in the sound of the body crunching against the rock. "Fucking Deep Roads! Maker-forsaken darkspawn! They will only have her over my dead body." He turned to face his companions and pointed his finger at Anders. "Lead the way, Blondie, we leave now."

The trio left the cavern and followed Anders as he traced the faint threads in his mind. The darkspawn they were tracking had a head start and he was hoping that they weren't already too late or following the wrong troupe. He would never utter his personal fears out loud though; he'd willingly fall on Fenris' sword first or let Varric slit his throat. Anders knew that if they didn't find Hawke or if they did and they were forced to do the unthinkable to her, that none of them would see daylight again. The dwarf would make sure of that.

The pulse of darkspawn became stronger in his mind and he gave a mental cry of exaltation. "We're gaining on them," he whispered to his partners. With unspoken agreement that came from months of fighting together the trio picked up their pace as they moved through the tunnels. Soon the faint whispering in Anders head was a more persistent buzz that meant they were close – real close. He raised his hand to call a halt to the others and carefully peeked around the corner of their tunnel.

He could see the same Alpha Hurlock from the battle in the center of a large chamber gesturing to some of his entourage. Anders scanned the outlying edges of the chamber for Hawke and finally found her, trussed up and still unconscious against a wall. He breathed softly in relief to see her alive and unharmed, but then he heard her moan. The alpha turned his attention to her and gave a dark chuckle that didn't bode well for their leader.

Whipping his head back to the others he quickly explained the situation. Halfway through explaining how he thought they should approach the darkspawn they heard a scream. Abandoning their plan the three of them charged into the chamber not a moment too soon. One of the hurlocks had forced Hawke's mouth open and the alpha was approaching her with a hunk of meat dripping with black ichor. Hawke was desperately trying to wrench herself free while tears streamed down her face at her plight. The tainted meat was only inches from her mouth when a bolt sailed through the air and dissected the alpha's hand from his body. A second bolt followed on the heels of the first to embed itself right between its evil yellow eyes.

The hurlock holding Hawke in place snarled and released her with a rough shove, but was cut down by Fenris before taking two steps. There were a couple of archers on the opposite wall, but a fireball took them out and then it was over. Most of the brood was already dead in their camp, so it was easy to dispense with the rest of them.

Varric was already by Hawke's side cutting her free from her bonds and openly crying in relief. "Katya, tell me you're alright?" His large hands shook as he sawed through the rope.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Are you unharmed like you promised?" She tried to smile through her terror, but it looked more like a grimace. She had come too close to death today to smile just yet.

Varric sobbed as the last rope fell away and they threw their arms around each other. "Not a scratch, my lady." He gave her a rough kiss and then helped her stand. "We need to leave before more come."

Hands clasped in a near-death grip they traveled back the way they had come, only getting turned around once, and managed to avoid any more darkspawn encounters as Anders steered them past certain passages. When they reached their camp full of dead darkspawn leeching ichor on the stones it was unanimously decided that they would pack up and settle elsewhere no matter how exhausted they all were.

They worked feverishly to break everything down and were gone within the hour. They could not leave the cave of horrors behind fast enough.