Like a sentence to death

I've got no options left

I've got nothing to show now

I'm down on the ground

I've got seconds to live

And you can't go now

"Furious Angels" Rob Dougan

"Leave it Hawke!" Fenris shouted as they ran down the quickly deteriorating passages. "Kaffar!" he muttered as he doubled back to snatch his wife's hand, and pull her towards the exit.

"My sword, Fenris!" she cried as a strong hand pulled her away from her jammed great sword. She had struck the last assassin with such strength that her blade had become embedded in the wall behind her target. It was a rookie mistake that was going to cost her the best blade she'd ever wielded.

He shook his head as they ran. The explosions sounded closer now, the sound nearly deafening him. He silently cursed over-eager alchemists and their poorly placed explosives.

Hawke ran with renewed enthusiasm as the sound came closer. The old thaig tunnels seemed to stretch out forever. She refused to die without seeing the sky again. The safety they had sought in the ancient tunnels had become the opposite. The Crows had found them somehow and were now chasing them out. Hawke wished she knew if they were running into a trap or if they were truly escaping.

They continued down the seemingly endless passages, still lit by never-dimming torches. They were both silently thanking whichever Paragon created those lights. To be down here in the dark would be unbearable.

The explosions had weakened the tunnel walls and bits of masonry were falling all around them. They ran and hoped that the fist sized rocks that would occasionally hit them were the biggest they would feel. The weakened walls were giving way in places. Sealed off passages were opening again for the first time in centuries. Unfortunately, this didn't mean those passages were unused.

As they ran, they came upon small clutches of dazed, angry darkspawn. Luckily, few had the inclination to fight. Those that did, quickly fell to Fenris' sword. They both wished they could do a more thorough job eliminating the twisted creatures, but with just the one sword between them and the impending doom of collapsing tunnels, there was no time.

After they ran for what seemed an eternity, Fenris looked up "Do you smell that?" he asked.

"Fresh air?" Hawke asked hopefully, catching the scent as well. He nodded. Their flagging strength returned somewhat. Beyond the tunnels might lie a trap, but at least it would be out under the sky once more.

They ran through the final threshold to be enveloped in the cool, moist, night air of the Antivan coast. They had barely gotten twenty paces from the entrance to the thaig when a deafening crack was followed by a furious rumble. When they turned they saw the entrance was now collapsed.

They exchanged wide eyed looks as they caught their breath. Hawke broke the silence. "I'm getting too old for this." She shook her hair out, pebbles and dust falling around her. Turning to her husband she spoke softly. "Do you think we evaded them? Can you hear anyone around us?"

Fenris shook his head, snowy hair streaked with grey and red from the stone dust in the passage, the motion creating a little cloud around him. "I can't hear anyone but after all that noise inside, my hearing isn't all it should be." He looked around, echoing the nervous stance he'd had when they lived in Kirkwall. "We're both too old for this. I wonder how the Crows got back on our trail." He mused as he patted down his clothes. The old leather was definitely beginning to show signs of wear, enchanted or not. He would need to get it seen to soon.

Hawke had hunkered down next to him on the dewy grass. She had taken off her boots and was shaking pebbles out of them. "Did you cut your feet?" she asked him.

"No, I'm fine; a little more deaf and tired than before, but fine." He answered.

He sat down next to her. "We need to find you a weapon. That was bad luck having to lose yours down there" he gestured towards the collapsed tunnel. Perhaps another adventurer would find Hawke's sword one day. He knew they certainly weren't going back in there to get it. He wished them good use of it.

"It was sloppy fighting that had me lose it down there. You would have been furious with Valeria had she swung like that. I should have been practicing swordplay more and raising chickens less." Hawke grumbled testily. For all the weapon collections she had boasted at times, she was really a one sword kind of girl. When she clicked with a blade, she used it exclusively. Kind of like her men. A ghost of a smile crossed her lips at the comparison. "You're right. I need something other than my eating knife to fend off these damned Crows with. These people just don't know when to give up! We've killed over a dozen of them and they keep coming! It can't possibly be cost efficient for the organization." She grumbled as she rubbed some sore spots where rocks had struck her as they fled. They would most likely be black and blue in the morning.

Fenris was doing much the same. They were uninjured. There was no sense in using one of their few healing potions for simple cuts and bruises that would heal by week's end. He cleaned his gauntlets and had a thought. "Perhaps you should take my sword. I have my gauntlets and I can phase until we find something for you." He said, unhooking his sword from his back.

Hawke shook her head (more dust clouds). "No. Hold on to your sword. You're stronger and in better fighting shape than me. We'll head into a town and hope they have a weapon smith there. We're better off with you defending than me." She sighed before she grunted "Ugh! I can't believe I lost my sword!" She buried her face in her knees.

Fenris smiled and put an arm around his wife's shoulders. "Don't worry. I'm a fair swordsman. I'll teach how to use a sword, finally." The endorphins from surviving the attack and collapse of the thaig were kicking in. He recognized the elated feeling for what it was. Still, he was glad to be alive and well.

Hawke elbowed him in the ribs before chuckling. She was also happy for their escape. Nothing for it now but to continue to follow the few leads they had dredged up. It seemed more people knew about them and wanted them dead or captured than seemed possible. Leaning into his body for warmth and comfort she said "At least you got the last of the Dog Lords. I can't begin to tell you how distasteful it was to find fellow Fereldans working with slavers and making their mabari part of it too. I hate killing mabari."

Fenris leaned towards her in return. His aversion to physical contact had diminished, but the only touch he actively sought were Hawke's and Valeria's. His wife's caresses and his daughter's hugs were a balm to him. He tried to convey some of that comfort back to her. "I know they remind you of your own mabari. He died a good, peaceful death. He was a very old dog when he went." He kissed her temple. They sat on the hillock, each in their own thoughts for a while, both feeling distracted and disjointed after their near death experience.

She turned to face him and their eyes flashed desire for each other. Their bodies wanted to celebrate just how alive they were. Their lips locked in a crushing kiss and their arms were around each other, with the fervor they had burned with in those early days in Kirkwall. Their armor creaked and resounded metallically in their embrace. It was this and the realization that their passion was being shared with a lot of grit and dirt in the middle of an open field while they were being hunted by half of Thedas that made them break away. The smiled at each other and gathered their few possessions. They hiked for a while until they found a nearby stream which ducked into a hole in the ground. "Probably a water source for the thaig" Hawke commented. They set up camp next to it and went about cleaning themselves off and their armor. They built a small fire and placed their armor around it to dry. Clean and relatively safe, they absconded to the tent to show each other just how happy they were to be alive.

When morning found them, they had rested, their armor was wearable again and their bellies growled for food. They ate the last of their food supplies, having decided they had to go to a town, no matter what. Hawke broke the silence as they headed down the road, trying to make sense of the scraps of information they had. "Bethany said Empress Celene needs a strong ally to bolster her power. She wants to expand her empire…so, where would she expand to?"

Fenris shook his head. "No, first of all she needs to put her nobles in their places. Her rule has always been in danger from civil unrest. During the Blight, I was briefly in Orlais. Everyone was gossiping about her state of affairs, personal and royal. I heard a rumor that she was planning to marry some foreign king. It made her the laughingstock of the nobility." He inclined his head, considering it. "Of course, they were probably afraid of the clout a foreign consort would potentially bring."

Hawke looked at Fenris like he was a stranger. "How long were you in Orlais? Since when do you know about gossip? Who are you, and what have you done with my husband?" her face the very picture of disbelief.

Fenris shrugged elegantly, a bit of color rising to his ears betrayed his embarrassment. "I was there a few months. As to the gossip-mongering, that's all they do in Orlais! I was trying to learn the language, so I listened to everyone around me. I was hiding out near servants' quarters. Thanks to that, I can understand Orlesian fairly well, and speak it a bit, but I wouldn't say I'm fluent." He defended himself.

Hawke gestured the odd conversation away. "Anyhow, maybe we don't need to look for a conspiracy. The Empress shares her country with the Divine. I lived in a house with three grown women; the power struggles happening there were horrible, and none of us had a standing army to back up our interests."

Fenris considered it. "That would bring us back to the Chantry and Varric's Seeker."

They walked in silence for a while. Trying to piece a coherent picture from the bits they had.

"We need more information." Fenris said softly. "There are too many unknown factors to make a successful strategy."

"As you say, General Fenris, ser!" Hawke grinned at him mischievously.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Anyhow, what we need to concentrate on now is getting out of Antiva. Clearly, heading north to avoid trouble was not a success. Perhaps we need to meet the enemy face to face."

"So should we head towards the dragon's lair? Are you saying we should go to Orlais?" Hawke was surprised by the implied suggestion.

"Maybe not right away. Perhaps we should go by way of Ferelden. You once had a meeting with King Alistair. Maybe it's time you came home as the Champion of Kirkwall and got what she's due. Ferelden always knows when Orlais' got a bee in its bonnet." Fenris mused.

"Hmmm. Maybe the king will see the Champion of Kirkwall. We'll need a boat." She pondered.

Decision made, they continued towards the shore in search of a sword and a boat that would take Hawke home once more.