It wasn't until she'd called to him that Cullen realized Cassandra was behind him. He turned and looked at her. She tossed him her shield without warning as she said, "Protect the Herald."

He caught it easily and gave her a grateful nod as put in on his arm and turned back around. Now he was ready to take the blow and protect His Lady.

"I did," Katelyn said, "and it's not a decision I made lightly. I would have preferred not to have left anyone behind, but that creature didn't give me a choice."

"But why Hawke? You said there was a Grey Warden with you, why not him?" Fenris asked.

Before Katelyn could answer, Alistair walked up and answered instead, "Because the Grey Warden was one of the two that stopped the Fifth Blight. A discussion was had about how the Grey Warden's need a leader, your Hawke was the one who started the discussion. I wanted to be left behind, but…"

"…but she choose to leave Hawke," Fenris said through clenched teeth and as he glared at Katelyn. Fenris lifted his sword and moved to attack her.

Cullen realized what was happening and moved in front of her before she even had time to react. He planted his feet and raised the shield, bracing it with both arms to be able to take the full impact of the blow without breaking his arm. The sword struck his shield and he grunted at the impact.

Katelyn was surprised by the suddenness of the attack and at the speed Cullen moved to stop it; her instincts kicked in and she backed away from the attack, taking a step back but lost her footing and landed on the ground.

Cullen heard her hit the ground and glanced at her. He wanted to help her, but he couldn't move as it was taking a great deal of strength to hold off Fenris' sword. Fenris was surprisingly strong. As he looked at her, their eyes met. "Katelyn, move," he said, his voice slightly strained.

She nodded in response and tried to stand up, but the ground was slippery, so it didn't work. She then felt hands grabbing her under her arms and someone helped her stand up. She glanced back and found it was Cassandra. Cassandra let go of her and together they took several steps back. Katelyn watched the two of them struggling. They were both using a great deal of strength, but neither was gaining an advantage. She suddenly remembered a time when her brothers had fought a lot like this and it was because they were angry, over a girl. Cullen was just defending her, but Fenris was angry that the woman he loved was gone. How could she help this situation?

"Hawke asked to be left in the Fade Fenris, Alistair can vouch for that," Katelyn said, her voice slightly unsure as she glanced at Alistair.

"Hawke would never have done that…" Fenris started to say, his face twisted with anger.

"I was there, we both asked to be left…Hawke was a little more insistent than I was," Alistair added.

"She wouldn't…" Fenris said as the anger on his face slowly turned to despair. The strength he was putting into the attack slowly seemed to fade and his blade slid down the shield and landed on the ground. Fenris then fell to his knees. He put the point of the sword in the ground and leaned on it for support.