Wending Woods – Silverite Mines – The Tricking Mines

Serenity POV

He breathed a sigh of relief as he finished the last of the reports he had to summarize for Alistair. Next, he would make a copy for Serenity, so that she could work out what more… underhanded techniques she had to pull that Alistair would pretend to be unaware of. He wished the reports were of better things, though. Ignoring the unusual darkspawn threat, there was a nation-wide debt, lower food supplies, and, of course, numerous dead that just could not be replaced. The Chantry and nobles were also outraged at some of Alistair's more… revolutionary proclamations. Yet, despite that trouble, Alistair seemed to be holding his own quite well. He was surprised, truth be told. Alistair had never been brought up with the knowledge to rule, so he'd assumed Alistair would flounder and need advice. But that had been a pointless worry. Maybe Maric had been right, long ago when he joked that there were dragons in the Theirins' ancestry. Dragons were strong and could hold their own against almost anything.

Fereldan would prosper under the rule of two 'dragons'. He knew this very well. But it would be more… secure if those two dragons had a dragonling of their own. Or multiple ones, if we were to be honest. Alistair and Serenity absolutely had to have children, as quickly as possible, so that Fereldan's future would be secure. But he'd have to be subtle about it. Too blunt, and not only would he drive Alistair even further away (he knew because Alistair reacted like Cailan in so many ways), but he'd likely have an angry Serenity out for his blood. That would be quite harrowing.

He shook those thoughts out of his head. He was the minister and in charge while Alistair was away. Woolgathering wouldn't get things done faster.

Everything was blurry when my eyes opened. I was strapped to a table and something was dripping down my arm. There was a person nearby. No, there were two people. The second was silent. Furious, but silent.

"I apologize," the other whispered. The voice was strangely calm. Almost soothing. He wasn't talking to me though. "I just want to see why she fought when I took this off." The second person made some odd gestures. "I will give it back. I promise." More gestures. "Yes, yes. Hmm? Oh, she is awake?" The first person turned to look at me. Darkspawn. Talking darkspawn. But he was different from even those. I knew that, somehow.

"Wha' are you?" I tried to ask. My words were slurred together and I wasn't sure if he could understand them.

"I am the Architect," he answered, moving to my side. Something glinted gold in his hand, but he set whatever it was down to pick up a cloth. "My apologies. You struck me and I lashed without thinking." When did I strike? Why? I couldn't remember much of anything. "You are not the Warden-Commander, correct?"

"No, that's Agrona." I'd been captured again, hadn't I? Agrona was never going to let me hear the end of it, wasn't she? "I'm just the queen who helps out."

"It is admirable how you continue to fight to protect your people." He picked up my arm and wiped off something crimson. Blood. I was bleeding. "Utha, could you get me fresh bandages?" Utha? I knew that name from somewhere. Where…? "I do not wish to be your enemy, but now is not the time for this talk, is it?" I was passing out again. I could tell by the way the edges of my vision blackened. "Sleep again. We shall talk later."

I woke up all at once, not the least bit groggy. That being said, I felt like there was weight missing. Remembering Fort Drakon, I held up my arms to confirm the lack of gauntlets and a quick check revealed the lack of the rest of my armor. Terrific. Just like Fort Drakon. I even had simple clothes and my jewelry. …Wait, no. Something was missing. Something… something…

It wasn't until I checked my hands that it clicked. My wedding ring. My wedding ring was missing. My wedding ring. Why was it gone? Who had stolen it? I wanted it back!

"Are you panicking over the fact that we're caged?" The voice startled me out of my frantic thoughts and I turned to see Velanna sitting next to me, knees pulled to her chest, chin on her knees.

"Pardon?" I replied, before the words really registered. When they did, I glanced around to see that we were, indeed, in a cell. Silverite glistened in the rough walls, hinting that we were, somehow, in the mines. But how did we get here? "Oh, I hadn't noticed."

"Then why were you panicking?" she asked. Her voice was quiet and I wondered if she was afraid and trying to hide it.

"My wedding ring is missing." I laughed softly. "It's a rather silly thing to be worried about, mind. Give me a second to get my head on-"

"How long have you been married?" Yes, she was afraid and she just wanted to keep me talking to try and get rid of her fear.

"A month." I smiled as I remembered the craziness of the wedding. Agrona had been cleared for moving about just a few days before and she threw herself into the decorating with a fervor she'd apparently lacked about her own wedding, according to Elder Valendrian. Leliana had insisted on helping design the deceptively simple wedding gown and, as I understand it, Zevran's idea of helping had been to give Alistair 'tips'. Wynne's help had been to keep Kaiser and Revas perfectly clean, and to make sure the flowers would stay pristine during the entire ceremony. Oghren had helped by personally taste-testing all the alcohol and later serving as part of the guards. And that was just the craziness of our little group (minus two)!

"And he's the king, right?" Velanna asked, dragging me from the memory. "You mentioned you were the queen."

"Yes, he's the current King. He's a former Warden as well. We met during the Blight."

"Odd time for a courtship."

"I suppose." Fully out of the memory, I noticed something she was trying to hide. Bandages. "When were you hurt?"

"You have them too, under your sleeves." A quick check proved her right. "That creepy thing that put us all to sleep was sticking us with needles." She shuddered. "I hate needles."

Experiments? "Where are the boys?"

"In that room, but I don't know where it is." Her voice shook then. "There were some screams not too long ago. You slept right through them." That had probably scared her further.

"I'm sorry." All right, need to figure out what to do. "Did you wake up in the middle of it?"

"Yeah. I think you did too." Perhaps I did. I had blurred memories of a talking darkspawn tending to a wound. "The screams scared me."

"Were they of pain?" I took a look around the cell as I asked. No guard, but no visible lock either. Perhaps I could break the bars themselves? That could scare Velanna further, though, so I should get her calm first.

"I can't tell the difference between pain and fear." She sounded annoyed by that. At least she was getting back to normal.

"Well, here's hoping it was more of the latter." I managed a sly smile. "Then we can tease the boys about screaming like little girls."

"They were a little high-pitched." Velanna laughed a little and slowly let her legs slide to the floor. Good, she must not be quite as afraid now. "Sorry for the pointless questions."

"Don't worry about it," I reassured. "Unfortunately, I'm not really sure how we're going to get out. I guess we'll wait until a guard comes by, then kill him for the key."

"You don't talk like any nobles I'd ever met."

"I've been hearing that a lot lately."

"Does it bother you?"

"No." I sighed and leaned against the bars. "Okay, let's see. What to do while we wait?"

"I don't know," she mumbled. "Talk?"

"All right." I smiled as a question popped into my head. "So, tell me about Seranni. She's your sister?"

"My younger sister, yes." She smiled slightly. "Our parents died young, so she and I are all that we have. When the Keeper and I argued, she came with me, hoping to convince me to return."

"Return?"

"Ah, yes." She looked sheepish. "Our Clan was attacked by humans. I wanted to go after them. The Keeper refused. We argued and… and I left. Some joined me and died while I was away."

"These would be the graves?" I asked. She nodded. "And you assumed humans due to the weapons, correct?" She nodded again. "And you hope that your sister is alive because her body wasn't among the dead."

"Yes, I do." Her voice was soft. "I'd walked off because she'd scolded me. Before you ask."

"Did she do that a lot?"

"Oh, yes. She'd also put sap in my hair and push me into icy rivers as children." She looked distinctly annoyed as she recalled that. "Why am I going through all this again?"

"Because she's your sister and you adore her," I laughed. "My brother Fergus used to play horrible tricks on me, but whenever I started crying, he was the first one there."

"Yes, Seranni was always my voice of reason, of mercy." She was quiet for a moment. "You mentioned a sister?"

"Sister by marriage, truly. Fergus's wife." I smiled as I remembered calm and kind Oriana. "They'd been married for a long while, so we referred to each other as 'sisters'. She died when Howe betrayed my father, along with her son and many, many others." There was a sound in the hallway and I glanced back to see a shadow move along the wall. "Someone is here. Let's see what happens, yes?" She nodded and the two of us waited patiently as the shadow crept closer and closer. Soon, I could see that the shadow belonged to a young woman. The markings on her face suggested she was a Dalish. Her short hair was the same shade as Velanna's and her eyes were a clouded blue and reminded me of a ghoul's. The armor she wore was similar to what I'd seen many a darkspawn wear, though she wore no weapons.

Velanna's gasp and cry identified the woman. "Seranni!"

The girl smiled. "Hey, Velanna. I'm glad you're well."

"Are you all right?" Velanna demanded as she reached through the bars to grip her sister's hands. "Have they done anything to you?"

"No, I'm fine. They haven't done anything to me. I'm not the one they want."

"They want Agrona." I'd meant to ask it as a question, but my words came out a little too firm. "Why?"

"I'm not sure. I think it's only to talk, but…" Seranni shook her head and released her grip on Velanna's hands to produce a key. "I'm going to get you out of here."

"Yes, all right," Velanna replied, relieved. "Get us out and then I'll take you home."

There was a click as Seranni inserted the key into one of the bars. Oh, how clever. The lock was hidden there. Kudos to whoever designed this place. "I'm going to try and distract them for a bit," she mumbled. "You… you can get me later."

"Seranni! You can't-!" I clapped a hand over Velanna's mouth to muffle her.

"If you're too loud, too soon, we're going to waste this opportunity," I hissed to her, before turning my attention to Seranni. "I'm afraid I have a bit of a conscience now and I'm not as inclined to sacrifice pieces as I used to be. If you aren't certain you'll be fine, I'll knock you out and drag you with me."

"Like I said, they haven't hurt me," Seranni reassured as she carefully pulled open the door. "Not on purpose. When I told them, they stopped. They don't want to harm, but they're like babies. They don't realize things sometimes." 'They'? "The other two are the lab down that hallway." She pointed towards an out of the way corridor that I could barely see. "Hurry, please. I won't be able to distract them for long."

And I doubted we could be quiet for long. "All right, thank you." I kept my grip on Velanna as Seranni ran off.

The elf-mage glared at me, fire already on her hands. "Why did you stop me?!"

"We'll get her next time," I promised, shoving her towards the corridor. "For now, though, if we don't get out of here, I'm not sure we ever will."

It took a lot of convincing to get Velanna to go along with Seranni's plan. I almost thought she was arguing for the sake of arguing, even though she understood. Though it exasperated me, I tried to not let it show, as I knew emotions weren't very logical and she seemed emotional by nature. I eventually succeeded, though, and we found ourselves in the extensive lab soon after.

"Split up and see where the boys are," I instructed Velanna. "I'd rather find them sooner than later."

"All right," she grudgingly agreed, going one direction without prompting. Shaking my head, I went the other way. That direction led to shelves and tables covered with scattered papers. Curious, I picked up a page.

"Two elves were collected from the camp, a male and female," I read. "The rest died, unfortunately. The male has since dashed his head on the wall. Odd. Don't all living beings strive for survival? No matter. The female elf has developed a bond of sorts with her guard. Many of the other disciples seem drawn to her as well. Seranni, they say her name is. Perhaps I should speak with her. Maybe she will understand?" Frowning at that, I looked at the other papers nearby. They were covered with scribbles, jotted down in haste, and barely decipherable. The bits I could read, though, were intriguing. "What happens if the Old Gods perish? Does the song die with them? Blood is the key. Blood is always the key." Blood showed up a lot when dealing with magic and darkspawn. "Seranni is accommodating, allowing me to take her blood for my work. Perhaps she thinks I'll release her if she cooperates? It is a promising notion. My disciples report that another elf is rampaging through the woods, killing humans. Revenge for what we did to her kind, only she hasn't seen through the ruse we constructed to protect ourselves. This must be kept from Seranni. If she is upset, she may stop cooperating." Whoever wrote this was rather crafty. I was certainly intrigued.

"Serenity!" Velanna's shout made me jump. "I found them!" Tossing the notes aside, I raced for where I'd heard her. Luckily, it didn't take long and, equally lucky, the only sign that something had happened to either of them were the fresh bandages on their arms. Well, that and the fact that they were strapped to tables.

"Well, seeing as you're in one piece, may I safely assume you two weren't tortured?" I asked as I worked off the ropes on Anders. Velanna was taking care of Nathaniel, just short distance away. "And that the screams Velanna heard were from fear?"

"I woke up to that creepy thing with disfigured eyes not two inches from my face," Anders grumbled, pushing himself up. "Then he put me to sleep again. I think I'm beyond justified." To my surprise, he attempted to stand, only to fall heavily on my shoulder. "Sorry. There's another person here. Injured. Need to…"

'At least try', I finished in my head as I wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Velanna, keep working on freeing Nathaniel," I ordered. I barely heard her agreement as I helped Anders walk in the direction he indicated, towards a table that was a small distance away. When I saw the man on the table, I had to fight off the urge to gag. His legs were pulp. To put it mildly.

"Who's…?" the man gasped out, trying to push himself up. His hand slipped in his own blood and he cracked his head hard on the table. "Ow…"

I dropped Anders near the wounded legs and reached over to check the guy's head. "I'm Serenity Cousland," I told him. "Do you know your name?"

"Keenan." His voice was raspy. "Oh, thank… thank the Maker. That thing… kept poking my legs. Torture."

"Actually, there's some rudimentary first aid here," Anders corrected absently. His hands glowed as he held them over the more intact portions of the legs. "Someone tried to help. Might've made things worse, though. Probably only knew what to do from stupid tales that skip or exaggerate steps."

Keenan didn't seem to hear him. "Darkspawn crushed them. Dragged here. Prodded. Hurts."

"Easy, you're safe now," I reassured. I risked a glance at Anders and fought the urge to grimace as Anders slumped and shook his head. Anders noticed me looking and pointed at the blood. Too much blood lost, then, for recovery. "You're safe and with Grey Wardens."

"Oh, good. Some… some survived." He smiled. "I'm glad." He winced suddenly and groped for his something on his hand. When he managed to grab it, he tried to reach for my hand. I held it out silently and he pressed something into it. A smooth band that looked like a wedding ring. "My wife. Amaranthine."

"What's her name?" I asked gently. "I'll give it to her."

"Nida." His dying eyes lit up at her name. He obviously loved her very much. "Tell her… tell her 'sorry'."

It was another minute before he stopped breathing. As soon as he did, Anders loosed a stream of curses in a language I actually didn't recognize. "-And Andraste's flaming knickers," he finished with disgust. "I spend a majority of my life being told how powerful magic was and how dangerous a mage is and ever since Joining the Wardens, all I seem to be able to do is confirm that I can't save people!"

"You saved me back in the Deep Roads," Nathaniel pointed out calmly. I glanced behind me to see Velanna helping him stand up. "Sigrun too. You can save some people, Anders. You just can't save everyone. No one can." I heard Anders mutter under his breath, though I wasn't sure of the words. It was in that different tongue again.

"What language is that?" I asked him, fumbling the catch of my necklace off to slip the necklace on. It clanged dully against Hespith's ring and I noted the similarities between the two. "I don't recognize it."

"Anderfels," Anders curtly answered. "I'm originally from there. Anders is a nickname. I refused to tell the templars my name, so they gave me this one. I'm too used to it now to go by my old one. I didn't hear it much, the last few years."

"If I teach you a language, will you teach me what you remember?" I requested. I turned away from the corpse then, to focus on the three living people here. "I know quite a few."

"Ah, sure?" My question startled Anders out of his black mood. "I've wanted to learn Orlesian for a while."

"I lived there for a year. I'll gladly teach you."

"I'll… I'll trade Elven to learn as well," Velanna offered hesitantly. She refused to look at anything but the ground. "If you don't mind."

"I can't teach a language, but I can teach a culture, namely the Free Marches," Nathaniel said with a wry smile. "Since we're teaching each other. We'll get the dwarves to teach us their culture too. It'll be fun."

"Yes, it will," I agreed. "Now, then. Let's see whether Nathaniel and I can find a usable weapon. I'd like to get out of here, if you don't mind. We'll catch up later."

Nathaniel and I managed to find knives. They were dented iron, but they would serve sufficiently as we snuck out. Of course, the whole thing would be better if two certain mages would stop arguing.

"I don't suppose you could gag them?" I asked Nathaniel pathetically as the two started going out at it again. I'd lost track of what it was over a long time ago.

"No cloth to spare," Nathaniel grumbled. "I don't think it's helping that Anders is mocking her with flirtations."

Joy. "All right then. We'll talk business and not give in to our urge to hurt them. I recall the darkspawn had a dwarf with him?"

"Yes, but she didn't speak and looked… off." I could tell he really wanted to use some other word, but opted to be tactful instead. "Some odd cross between a 'normal' dwarf and those genlock things." He hesitated a moment before continuing. "I thought I saw a griffon on her armor."

I frowned. "That would imply her being a Warden." Before we could continue discussing that unnerving implication, there was a sound that caught our attention. Quickly, Nathaniel and I grabbed the two mages (still arguing!) and got all four of us against the wall, hopefully out of sight of whatever was approaching us. Since I was in front, I carefully peeked around the bend of the wall we were hiding behind and had to keep myself from gasping when I saw the… the thing. It looked almost human, but the movements were too graceful. Unnaturally fluid, as if it didn't really have bones. Dressed in high grade leather armor and wielding a bow that looked oddly familiar, it scouted the area with dull onyx eyes. Something told me that the thing wouldn't be easy to bypass.

"Can't I just set it on fire?" I heard Velanna hiss. She was arguing. Ten sovereigns it was with Anders.

"Since when is fire subtle?" Anders countered. Someone owed me ten sovereigns. "Did you miss the part about us sneaking out? You'd think that since your sister is the one being distraction, you'd be more considerate of that. And that you'd hear it, thanks to those ears."

"What did you say, you…?!"

Ignoring the mages' argument, I fumbled open one of the beads of my bracelet to take out a pellet of poison, waited for the… thing… to come closer, and then popped the pellet into its mouth, slamming the jaw shut to make sure it didn't spit it out. Only after it flopped to the ground did I actually say anything. "Well, it's nice to see poison prove its domination over everything again."

"Where did the poison come from?" Anders asked. I glanced over my shoulder to see him looking rather confused. "You don't carry vials."

"Bracelet," I answered, holding up my wrist. "See? Each bead contains a little bit of poison."

"Who hides poison in a bracelet?"

"Antivans," Nathaniel answered for me. "Did Oriana have it made for you?"

"I… she told me to take them if something happened to her," I whispered, before shaking my head. The image of Oriana and Oren dead in their own room was not something I needed. "Anyway, any guesses on what this is?"

"A magical construct," Velanna answered immediately, hiding behind me as she studied it. "I think the word is homunculus."

"Yeah, but it's considered impossible by modern magic," Anders added, kneeling next to the thing and poking its head. It rolled on the neck, still maintaining that unnerving fluidity. "And entirely theoretical."

"We're taught that the elves once had homunculus as servants, before the shemlen arrived." Velanna scowled. "Their mages stole the knowledge from us."

"It must've gotten lost when the Empire fell," I commented absently, frowning as I studied the bow the thing held more closely. "Nathaniel, isn't this yours?"

"Pardon?" he asked, startled, before helping Anders roll over the body to check the bow himself. "Yes, that's mine. And…" He studied the thing more closely. "And this is my armor, actually. Or, at least, something very similar to it."

"So, did this thing steal your items?" Anders asked. "And are there more of them with our stuff?"

An ominous growl from up ahead caught all of our attentions. When it subsided, I replied, "We're about to find out. We have to get out of here."

Once Nathaniel recovered his equipment, I took his borrowed dagger and led the way down the tunnel. Unfortunately, though, a 'presence' entered my head as we approached an 'open' area in the mines. "Darkspawn are before us," I informed the others. I heard groans in response. "A lot of them." Even louder groans. "Stay quiet."

Even that warning didn't prepare us for the sheer number that were in the room. All four of us ducked behind a railing and peered down. The ground below was crawling with darkspawn. Some were talking, but most weren't, just obeying orders. It looked almost like an army camp, right before marching off for war.

From beside me, Nathaniel whistled softly. "I think our 'sneak out quietly' plan just hit a dead end," he whispered.

"Did you have to use the word 'dead'?" I muttered. Silently, though, I agreed. There were far too many of them. "Opinion on magic?"

"Well, there's two options for it," Anders began slowly. "One is stirring them up and letting them know we're here. The other is kill them all and risk the structure we're on collapsing and killing us too."

"Seems like both options involve high risk to us." I sighed. "All right, then. Anyone see anything that might be useful?"

"Unstable statue with a convenient ballista aimed straight at it?" Nathaniel sarcastically replied.

Velanna's response was exactly what I wanted to say. "If you can't say anything helpful, then don't say anything."

"I am being helpful." He pointed at two places. "Look." Grumbling, I did, only to almost blow our cover with a yelp as I realized Nathaniel hadn't been sarcastic. Nathaniel also, helpfully, covered the mouths of both Velanna and Anders as they proceeded to gasp. He had the grace to not say 'I told you so'. I'd thank him for that later.

"There is no luck in the world that could explain that," I breathed, just staring. The ballista was old, but it looked usable and it was aimed in the direction of a very large statue. The only thing preventing that statue from crushing the darkspawn below it was a crumbling ledge. A single bolt would be all that was needed to send several pieces of very heavy stone and crush a majority of the camp. "Anything else you see, Nathaniel? You've apparently sharper eyes."

"Well, I am an archer," he quipped. "Give me a second." There was a long, tense silence filled with us just watching the darkspawn below rush about and prepare for battle before Nathaniel finally pointed to something in the back part of the room. "There's lyrium powder there. Very explosive."

"And you're sure it's lyrium powder?" I pressed.

"Dworkin has enough around the Keep to blow Fereldan into the Deep Roads if someone accidentally drops hot wax on it. Yes, I'm sure." And I was certain that I'd need to talk to Dworkin the Mad about how much powder he had.

"Very well." I took a breath to steady myself. "Nathaniel, you and I will go and fire the ballista. I'll need you for aiming." Nathaniel nodded. "Anders, you'll set the powder off right after the statue goes down."

"A ballista to shoot down a statue and you want me to shoot a fireball at the powder to stir up even more chaos?" Anders summarized, incredulously. When I nodded, he groaned. "Oh, all right. Explosions can be fun, I guess."

"I'll do it if you don't think yours will be big enough," Velanna taunted. Anders rolled his eyes and muttered something about a chip replacing Velanna's head before carefully peeking over the railing to get a better view.

"Velanna, you'll help him aim," I told her. "Don't argue, please." She nodded briskly and knelt beside Anders.

Praying to Andraste for her patience and mercy, I followed Nathaniel over to the ballista. It was almost the exact same model as the ones atop Fort Drakon, so it wasn't long before Nathaniel and I had it aimed right for the statue. A quick glance to the mages showed that Anders had a fireball spell ready, so I sent up another prayer, for luck this time, and pulled the trigger.

Sounds soon bombarded my ears. The crack of the statue, the screams of terrified darkspawn, and finally the 'boom' of an explosion that swallowed everything up. Dust and fire choked the air and the sudden silence after the explosion made my ears ring. As everything settled, we were greeted with two more of those… things. One was dressed in Velanna's outfit. The other was wearing Anders's robes. Neither were wielding staves, but their hands glowed with the light of magic. The one wearing Velanna's clothes thrust its hard forward as if punching. A flash of green magic emerged from it.

"Hey, that's my spell!" Velanna complained, firing back the same spell back. The two spells collided and I had to duck to avoid the explosion. "You can't steal it!"

"And you can't-!" I tried to snap, but I had to duck again to avoid a second explosion, courtesy of Anders and his creature. I watched the four mages duel for a minute before sighing. "They aren't going to hear me, are they?"

"Well, I think we're safe up here, providing we keep ducking," Nathaniel told me, moving so that he was right next to me. "We can also keep an eye on any darkspawn that come in."

"Why must our two mages both be hotheads?" I whined. "Honestly."

"Well, at least they're having fun?" Nathaniel said. He laughed as I glared before we both focused on the two magical duels. It was rather interesting, actually. Looking between Velanna and Anders, you could see the differences in how they were taught. Dalish Velanna cast spells gracefully and freely, as if she were branches in the wind. The spells she chose flowed together in a set pattern, like she was dancing. Circle-trained Anders, however, had harder, more deliberate movements, aiming precisely at separate targets. His spells were more random, meant to keep the opponent guessing as to what was to come. It was actually fun to watch. However, their 'creature copy' things mirrored their movements almost exactly.

"You two, switch opponents!" I ordered. Only their brief glances to me showed they heard. "We're wasting time and you're burning magic. Switch now!"

For a couple of seconds, I thought they weren't going to listen. But then, as if they'd planned it from the beginning, the two launched simultaneous firestorms and switched targets. In the confusion of the flames, the two creatures could only shriek as Anders bombarded one with ice spells and Velanna took out the other with stone and leaves.

I breathed a sigh of relief as the creatures fell. "Did you two plan that from the beginning?" I asked them.

"Plan something? With him?" Velanna scoffed. "Hardly."

"Aw, and here I thought we were going to start painting each others' toenails," Anders teased. "No, the only thing planned was to switch under the cover of a big spell. Pure coincidence we chose the same."

I sighed again. "Okay. You two change. Quickly. We need to get out of here." Before I got a headache.

By the time we made it to the next open area, darkspawn were swarming the place. Even worse, they were being 'commanded' by something that was wielding my Vigilance and wearing my Dragon Armor.

"I'd recommend not using fire spells on it," I told the others lightly. "The armor has good protection against fire. And well, everything. I paid a lot of money for it and Vigilance and it shows."

"Basically, you have the best equipment and, now that its been stolen, we're in a lot of trouble going after it," Anders summarized with a groan. "Damn it."

"I never expected someone stealing it from me," I defended. "And the protections are mostly runes on top of it." As the darkspawn began charging us, I made a decision. "Tell you what. I'll take care of that thing while you three handle the rest?"

"Being a Warden is insane," Velanna commented, calling up a spell. "Absolutely insane."

"Rather exciting too," Nathaniel added, firing an arrow. "All right, let's play bait."

"Have fun!" I called before edging along the fringes of the battle that was unfolding, heading straight for the thing wearing my armor. As I did so, I noticed both Velanna and Anders casting large spells that were quickly taking care of darkspawn with Nathaniel picking off the ones they missed. It was a good tactic, but not something to use when there were a lot of people about. Like a city. That sort of strategy would be very bad for fighting in a city.

I'd hoped to catch the thing off guard, but it somehow managed to see me and unhooked Vigilance to try and just cut me in half. I dodged the blow, however, and grabbed its arm. I gave it a quick twist and found myself grinning at I heard a rather sickening 'pop'. The thing screeched in pain, dropping its guard. I took that opportunity to release the arm and slam the heel of my foot under its chin. Its head snapped back with a spray of blood before it flopped clumsily to the ground.

The first thing I recovered was my wedding ring, breathing a sigh of relief. I'd be sick about the snapped bones later. For now, though, the Taint was stirring and I just needed to keep calm and having my ring back did wonders to soothe me.

"Um, did you just snap its neck with a kick?" Nathaniel asked me. I glanced back to see him staring. "Since when have you been that strong?"

"Since I became a dragon," I quipped. "Focus on killing while I arm up, please."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am." He turned to fire an arrow as I quickly buckled my armor on. The shoulder part of the right side was bent out of place, likely due to me popping that thing's arm out of its socket. I'd have to get Wade to fix it back at the Keep. A couple of rolls, though, proved that it didn't impede my movement all that much and, if I had to, I could wield Vigilance with just my left. I did a couple of practice swings, just to make sure.

On the last swing, a darkspawn helpfully appeared to be decapitated, proving that Vigilance's edge hadn't dulled in the time away from me. A quick look around proved that, fortunately, that had been the last of the darkspawn in the area.

"Good job rounding them up," I praised the other three. "Now then, let's get out of here, shall we?"

The next open space was an area that had sunlight at the other end, hinting that we'd finally reached the end of the mines. Thank Andraste. Unfortunately, as we raced for the sun, it was suddenly blocked by two sets of wings.

"Dragons?" Velanna groaned. "Does everything in Thedas have to block our way out?"

"So long as I don't have to fight a second High Dragon, I think I'm good," I muttered before sighing. "All right. Last fight and then we are out of here."

"And then we get to hear about the first High Dragon?" Nathaniel suggested, putting an arrow to his bow. "Yes?"

"Sure, whatever. Wings and eyes are weak points. Anders, be a dear and freeze one of the wings, actually. That'll make it harder for them to fly. Nathaniel, whichever one he takes out, you aim for its eyes. Velanna, you'll help me with the other one. You take out that one's wings."

"Ladies first," Anders joked. As a dragon buffeted him with its wings, he yelped. "Or, maybe it was dragons first?" I laughed as he launched an ice spell, with Nathaniel quickly firing two arrows in rapid succession. Velanna and I focused on the other one. Velanna helpfully seared both of that one's wings, making it impossible for it to fly. I felt sorry for it as it struggled trying to figure out a way to fight without flying. I ended up cutting its throat as soon as possible, though I made sure not to drink any of the blood this time. No need to find out if there were more abilities dragon blood granted. A screech echoed from behind me as the dragon Velanna and I fought died in a pool of blood. I turned to see it belonged to the other dragon, killed by three arrows driven through its skull after its wings had been frozen and shattered by Anders.

As the dragons crumpled, a small flash of magic dragged my attention to the balcony overlooking the area. The odd darkspawn who'd called itself the 'Architect' was casting a spell that was slowly bringing rocks in front of them, which would block off any attempt to pursue them. Next to him was Seranni, who looked nervous, but unafraid. On his other side was a dwarf. The dwarf was as Nathaniel had described. An eerie cross between a genlock and a normal dwarf, she carried a mace on her belt and her armor was emblazed with the griffon rampant of the Wardens. She seemed unable to speak, making gestures I'd seen Duncan use way back in Orzammar, when he 'talked' with dwarves of the Silent Sister order.

Silent Sister Order. Wardens. I knew a name from the records that matched both. "Warden Utha?" I hesitantly called. The dwarf looked surprised at the name, but smiled warmly as the rock cut off my view of her, Seranni, and the odd darkspawn.

"Seranni!" Velanna yelled, racing for the balcony. Nathaniel snatched her by the waist and started dragging her to the door. "Let me go!"

"I think not," he retorted. "You'll try to blast through it and likely bring the entire mine on our heads."

As the two left, I glanced at Anders. "So, is he right about that?" I asked.

Anders nodded. "The rocks didn't come from thin air," he explained. "They were dragged from the surrounding area."

"So breaking it would weaken the area significantly."

"Yep. Nathaniel just saved us." He paused briefly. "I'd better run and make sure Velanna's not setting him on fire."

"Oh, surely she won't…" I trailed off as I realized just how angry she probably was. "On second thought. Out of here. Now."

Luck was with Anders and I as we returned to the woods. Nathaniel was not a pile of ash. There was, however, a bruise blooming on his face and a very angry elf yelling at him. He glanced over at us as we adjusted to the sudden brightness and smiled slightly. "She hits hard for a mage," he told us. "Be careful of her punches."

"I'm sure mine hurt worse," I cracked with a smile. I was going to scold Velanna about the yelling, but then I realized she was yelling about how brusquely Nathaniel had grabbed her and I couldn't help but laugh. She must have realized what Anders told me and was just looking for something to yell at him about.

"I will join the Wardens," Velanna suddenly declared, startling me. "They can sense the darkspawn, even through the ground, yes? I'll find her with those abilities. Let me join!"

"Are you certain?" I asked. She was about to nod, but I held up a hand to stop her. "It's not a duty easily discarded, Velanna. Alistair and I had to jump through a lot of loopholes to leave and even then, we haven't fully. The Taint is still in our blood, slowly killing us. Even though we've left, Alistair and I will end our lives in the Deep Roads, just like every other Warden. We're just taking a slightly different path to the same end." I paused to give Velanna time to speak, but I continued when she remained silent. "It is not something to decide on a whim. The Joining could kill you outright, before you do anything, and it will lead to your death. There will be many who will never fully understand your sacrifice, even though they are just as likely to never forget the results of such things. Are you prepared for a life like that?"

She was silent for a long time before she replied. "Yes." She looked me straight in the eyes, gaze unwavering. "I am prepared for a life like that."

I smiled then. "Welcome to the Wardens, then, Velanna."

Author's note: And here is the end of this quest line. Also, we're just past the halfway point of the story, if I'm counting correctly.

Arl Eamon is our 'prologue' narrator today. Its just a short little thing, sorry?

Anders mini-rant thing actually plays on what I consider a big 'theme' for DA2, one I particularly like and plan on utilizing in my novelization. That is, no matter how strong or powerful a person is, sometimes a problem is just to big to really 'solve' and how sometimes, in order to save something, you must let it fall apart and rebuild. It's a solemn realization, one I know not many people liked. But I did, so I'll try to make it interesting.

Velanna and Anders's party banter, to me, seem to consist mostly of them arguing or mocking each other. Also, Velanna is apparently very sensitive about her ears. Both were put in play here.

I couldn't find anything about homunculi anywhere. However, they were the first thing I thought of when I saw the "Experimental Subjects", so I added it.

Next chapter – Finishing up the Blackmarshes with Agrona