I won't be updating as crazy fast as I was as the plot gets a little more... entangled.

Chapter Fourteen

Worry

The horses wended their way through a beaten path in the forests of the Frostback Mountains. It was the path that ran west along the Imperial Highway and it was aptly named Smuggler River.

Hawke rode far ahead to do what she did best, scout for trouble. She pulled her mare up suddenly and dismounted looking for signs of an ambush. Holding the reins, she urged the horse quietly and found a feather that matched Sebastian's fletching under the dust in a hoof print ground into the path.

She picked it up and held it under her nose as she had watched her father do so many times before. Hawke closed her eyes and tried to pick the smells apart.

An arrow slammed into the tree in front of her, it missed her by an inch. Carved along the shaft were the words, "You're going the wrong way."

"I'm sure you're well aware that carving that into your shaft could've made you grievously misjudge, unless you meant to hit me, than by all means, whittle away, Sebastian," she called out.

The Prince didn't answer her taunt. Hawke scanned the trees but could not find the archer. She read his message again.

You're going the wrong way.

Farther back, Fenris led the others to follow where Hawke had left her signature and it did not fall beneath his notice she was suddenly leading them off Smuggler River. He looked down at her trail and saw the bit of fletching. His large green eyes narrowed and he scanned the tall blue firs for the Starkhaven Prince.

"Have you been practicing?" Fable asked Anders.

"It's not an easy talent to learn," he said. They were talking about the Reach which she had started teaching him while they were travelling. "When I lose myself to the Taint, like you do, I just end up giving Justice control."

"So you need to figure out how to control both the spirit and the Taint separately?"

Anders nodded.

"Tempering Justice was never any easy feat, Anders."

"He remembers you," Anders told her. "But I think it's like a dream to him now."

"Why did you do it?" She asked her old companion.

"What? Let Justice possess me?" He thought about it for a few minutes. Hawke had asked him the same question the night she helped him avenge Karl, but that was seven years ago and seven years ago, he was a different man. "I was tired of running."

The forest ended and the wide pale snake of a road that led to the Gates of Orzammar opened up before them. Fenris smiled at Hawke standing triumphantly in the middle of the road as though she were the first to discover such a thing.

"You look like the cat that ate the canary," he said.

"I'm proud, I've never been this far east in my life and look, I found a perfectly xenophobic society just sitting here. Your Orzammar, Dagna?"

Dagna took a deep breath.

"You look like you're about to face a very cross Keeper," Merrill said. "I should know - I've worn that face on more times than I can count."

"It's just, I'm not a big favorite with the dwarves anymore," Dagna replied. "My father doesn't get the magic thing."

Merrill nodded. "The Keeper never got the mirror thing," she said. "Where did the dwarves find an Eluvian?"

Fable stopped. "They used the Lights of Arlathan," she said. "What did Finn do, Dagna?"

"No, it was in Cadash, we didn't need the blood, I swear," she said.

"I was all over Cadash, twice. I think I would have noticed a giant scary mirror," Fable said. "Finn is down there, isn't he?"

Dagna nodded. "He's in charge of the Circle here."

"Tell me we aren't going to introduce Merrill to that lunatic Finn," Anders said.

Merrill's eyebrows rose at the slight.

The road emptied out into a small merchant area of Surface dwarves and humans hawking wares to the travelers going in and out of Orzammar. They stabled their horses here and continued on to the dwarven city.

"You are not welcome here, Grey Warden," said the guard at the gate.

Hawke stepped forward. "Now, we can all be pleasant, can't we? This is the Hero of Fereldan we're talking about here."

"King Bhelen has stated she is no longer welcome here, stranger. Maybe the next time she chooses a king, she won't choose one as weak as Harrowmont, the stone take him."

"We need to gain entrance, we need access to your Circle of Magi, dwarf." Fable's words rang sharp and stern in the cold mountain air.

"I have a gift for King Bhelen," Dagna stated. "Let us pass."

"And what could you possibly bring Bhelen that he doesn't already have, surfacer?" The guard asked Dagna with disdain.

Dagna unstrapped Paragon from where she carried it across her back and twirled it elegantly before clapping it down with a thunderous boom and raising a storm of lightning all around the dwarves at the gate. "Magic, you nug testicle, now let us pass."

The guard narrowed his gaze and stepped aside. "Treachery will be dealt with mercilessly, and we will be watching." Dagna and the others went through the doors and entered the kingdom of the dwarves.

Fenris looked uneasy when the doors closed behind them.

"Fenris?" Hawke asked.

"I- am not comfortable here, there are no windows, there is no sky, there are relentless shadows," he said.

Hawke touched his cheek. "It'll be alright, we won't linger longer than necessary. We've been to the Deep Roads before, this isn't new to you, love."

"This feels – different," he said.

"Is our ex-slave not enjoying the distinct lack of escape routes and the inordinate amount of locked doors?" Anders asked. Hawke frowned at him. "In all seriousness, is it any wonder he has a touch of claustrophobia?"

Hawke pursed her lips together. "We shouldn't stay any longer than necessary," she said.

"On that, the three of us agree," Anders said and caught up to Dagna. "I thought we weren't going to go blabbing about our new toy," he said to the dwarf.

"They wouldn't have let you in, and," Dagna looked up at Anders and then away.

"And?" He crossed his arms at her.

"And I need to lift the shame I brought to my clan," she said.

"I thought that didn't matter to you?"

"It didn't until we got here. I need to see my father, Anders, and he won't grant me an audience. I thought if I brought back something for the dwarves," she said.

"That thing isn't named 'Paragon' because you think it's a pretty name, is it?"

Dagna blushed.

"Leave her alone, Anders, there's nothing wrong with trying to better your people," Merrill said.

"Yes, says the woman who killed her clan's Keeper," Anders said.

Merrill slapped him so hard that the crack rang in the Hall of Heroes. "You ever say that again and I'll show you why my clan feared me," she said with tears in her eyes. "You, above all people, have no place from where you can look down on me."

Hawke laid her hand on Merrill's wrist and the elf spun away. Anders simply looked astonished. "You okay?" She asked him.

"Merrill just hit me," he said.

"But you're charming," Fenris said as he passed. Hawke laughed and shook her head at the pair of them.

Once in the Commons, they were greeted by a small contingent of guards. "This way to the Royal Palace, Grey Warden," the one in the lead said.

Fable's eyebrows rose. "No."

"Excuse me?" The dwarf asked her.

"No. We are going to the Assembly. I know how Bhelen Aeducan works."

"Listen, Legs, you don't have much say in this, to the Palace, now." They brought out Finn, with a sword to his throat.

"Finn!" Fable cried out.

"Cousin," Hawke began. "Perhaps it's best to avoid an incident?"

"Well, what do you know? Here I am in danger again and oh look, Fable Amell is in the same room! What a coincidence," Finn finished dryly. "And she dragged along my favorite Templar, too, it must be my birthday."

"Reunion over then?" The guard asked and pointed them in the direction of the Diamond District.

Cullen stopped Fable to leave some space between them and the guards. "Is Finn a blood mage?"

"Why does it matter now?" She asked him.

"I'm trying to come up with an escape plan in case it all goes terribly wrong, Fable Amell," he said and smiled slyly.

"Oh, my cousin is a terrible influence on you, Ser," she said and took his hand.