The Dragon Age world, plot, and their characters aren't mine but belong to Bioware. Some characters may be my creations. I get no money for writing this sequel.

- x x -

Grey Warden Prison, Sashamiri's Floor Hawke:

Despite Anders' healing me before I fought that pride demon, I was exhausted. The demon was maddened enough that it didn't even try to talk to us. Usually you couldn't get a pride demon to shut up.

My hunger was roaring too and I wasn't happy about the possibility of eating the rations we'd found. Only the Maker knew how old they were.

Anders made me finish my water, filling my waterskin with a small spell for a second time when I gave the first batch to Paws.

Varric finished polishing Bianca and put her away. "Is it just me, or is this Larius a few bricks short of a wall?"

"Who could deny the former?" Fenris sounded amused at the question and a small smile appeared when Varric did a double take.

"He knows something, even if I'm not sure how much he understands that he knows." I retrieved and wiped off my blades, glad that none looked damaged. I put them away and wobbled a little when I was straightening up.

"Be careful, love. We still don't know what we're dealing with in here. I don't like the frequent use of blood magic." Anders looked away, almost haunted.

But I couldn't let him leave us, there was no way out, and he'd only die on his own.

Fenris looked at the bloodstained pedestal bowl and spattered droplets below where the streams of energy had been. "It seems your blood is special, Hawke. Why am I not surprised?"

"My brother's blood would have done just as well." The battle over, I yawned, but I had an unhappy thought. If I died they'd have to use Bethany's blood to get out

Anders put an arm around me and I leaned back, glad for his solid presence. A brief burst of energy from a spell and he handed me a potion made from Deep Roads mushrooms. The ones I'd gotten sick of as we fled to the surface.

"... I felt something... in my blood as it broke, not like those... It was different that the Joining. Deeper, somehow." Bethany sounded confused.

When Mew made a loud demand at Anders, Fenris and Varric started too. He kept slinging Bianca away and bringing her out as we healed and cleaned up.

No one seemed to want to meet my eyes. Anders petted Ser Mew, but his eyes were strained.

After moments of silence, Varric said, "The sooner we find our way out of here, the better."

Anders shuddered but didn't pull away from me. His almost continuous touch was not sensual but more for assurance. His mutter wasn't as quiet as it should have been. "I'm not listening. I'm not listening."

It made my heart ache, and I held the arm around me.

"Come on, Blondie. You're strong enough to overcome this." Varric sounded worried, more worried than even in the Deep Roads.

Fenris hissed like a cat. "He'll kill us all if he allows this insanity to take him."

"Back off!" I snapped at them. "I will not allow that to happen." Not again, I wanted to plead to Andraste.

Bethany looked at the men in surprise, though she had been quiet.

Anders hugged me and whispered, "Thank you, love. I don't... we don't want that to be needed."

Deep mushrooms, even raw, helped extend my endurance, but they couldn't help Anders or Sister. I had to push on and be careful, at least a little further before we could rest. I didn't know how long they could ignore whatever they heard that I didn't.

Was I the clear-headed one, or the only one who could not perceive the danger?

Anders was already hearing too often, but I doubted we would see the surface here until we finished with Corypheus. We should rest soon.

We left the central tower across a bridge to the other side of the chasm. I was slowing to look at some rubble when a piece of the column moved. A huge genlock came into view and went berserk, thrashing into a column and finishing its destruction.

"That is one seriously heavy-looking shield." Varric stood off to the side.

One bolt hit as I moved closer. The massive shield knocked me aside and I grabbed to the side of the bridge, praying this chunk of stone would hold as I tried to pull myself up without footholds.

I could see the flash of Fenris' great sword as Anders pulled me up with a grunt. We could only exchange glances before I ran to help Fenris. I slipped around to backstab and kept moving so Fenris and I kept bracketing the genlock.

When the darkspawn was dead, there was less bridge left than when we started.

The shield it knocked me over with looked too big for all of us together to lift, and I rubbed my sore shoulder.

Fenris came over to look at it too. "The ancient Tevinters made walls with shields like that, but it took half a battalion to hold one."

I nearly told him that darkspawn was half a battalion...

"You buy that one, Broody?" Varric was forcing the humor in his voice.

Fenris gave an aggravated sigh at the nickname. "Shield walls are for disciplined formations, every shield part of the whole. The Qun are more disciplined and value their soldiers more than the empire."

We didn't spot Larius in the last few rooms before we found a stairway going down. I was uneasy, even if we were healthy enough. "Down and in? We forgot to ask how many floors this tower has."

"I guess we need to look for the next seal in these Deep Roads." Bethany sounded like Anders' dislike.

I would not accept being stuffed into the darkness so much that I forgot what I fought for. Soldiers got leave. "After this, you are taking more leave, Bethany. This mess doesn't count as leave."

She didn't argue for a change, even if she rolled her eyes. Sigrun and her Provings, Anders and his clinic and Manifesto. Even the Warden had her Arling. Bethany didn't have anything outside duty. I'd thought his anger at the Wardens was related mostly to Justice and Vengeance, but Bethany had some too.

I couldn't exactly go and threaten a Warden Commander, especially one who'd know about my Joining as soon as I arrived. But it was tempting.

We moved down the stairs, and these stairs didn't seal behind us. The passage opened up and the room seemed misty, somehow. I rubbed my eyes, but it didn't change as we poked around.

A crudely carved figurine sat in a pile of debris; it wasn't worth much.

Anders grinned. "I think I know who to give it to. He could use a reminder about his being a pain in the buttocks." At Fenris' snort, Anders added, "No one here."

At a turning, I saw yet another shield with that old Warden arms on it. I'd seen dozens by then, but this one had that mark in the center.

I slowed. "Sister?"

When she caught up, she said, "I see it too, another mark."

Looking around the corner, this cell was cramped in a narrower hall. The abomination's hands began to glow, but he couldn't do anything for now.

I didn't see the second mark, but I realized that the huge shields the genlock used were everywhere around us. They'd appeared to be buttressing the columns. I wondered how much had been stored here and forgotten?

When I approached the front of the cell, Papa's voice pronounced his binding again.

I missed him so much.

He would have known what to do. How to help Bethany.

How to save Mother. And Carver.

Moments had passed, and Anders said with a smirk in his voice, "He has no dress sense. He's been in there for this long and his robes look like he stole them from a Qunari sarabas and stored them for a few years in a mud pit. Shameful!"

"You should know," Fenris smiled a tiny bit.

"Yes! And you have to admit I'm much more stylish than that. True, black was easier. It goes with everything, blood or ichor, and getting those feathers took me years." Anders moved next to me and squeezed my hand.

Bethany choked out, "Our uniform is something to be proud of."

"Sure, on you, Daisy. But for this Sashamiri, not so much. Eliminating darkspawn doesn't really fit with keeping one like a pet. Gerav was an idiot, but they didn't deserve having their minds scrambled for the amusement of the Warden's pet." Varric sounded angry.

"Why are we unbinding this demon?" Bethany asked. "Maybe it's here for a reason."

"Because we are cleaning up after these idiots. Demon, darkspawn, or whatever. They've had it for ages. Have they really taught you any secret magics that makes you better at killing darkspawn? Or are they wasting lives for nothing? If those quiet ages after the fourth Blight weren't enough time, there never will be enough." I wasn't going to admit that just as important a reason was a hope to hear Papa's voice again when the binding dissolved.

The next room only seemed to have debris at first, but corpses and skeletons rose from the ground to attack. Before they were destroyed, Anders charged into the next room with a howl and began casting ice and storm without us in the room.

I struggled past Anders into the cold and saw a darkspawn casting spells too. I grinned because a single target was my forte.

Standing over the body, I saw the second marked shield beside me and I triggered it. I almost felt a breeze sweep through the windowless chamber. I turned back to the others and the captured abomination.

Now it was just the five of us facing the abomination in the cell. Its hands began to glow again.

It may have been prideful, but we had faced far worse over the years.

My first strike didn't prevent his summoning profanes of golden rock and fire, like in that ancient thaig in the Deep Roads. My blades worked better on the abomination than the rocks.

The abomination finally broken, the blue mist appeared at the edge of the cell again.

"I may have left the Circle, but I took a vow. My magic will serve that which is best in me, not that which is most base."

Paws whined partway through, but I just listened.

As short as it was, I'd be willing to hear it over and over.

Bethany knew it too. "That's... that's what Father used to teach me. 'That which is best in me, not that which is most base.' Simple words to a foolish little girl. Father..."

I mopped my dry eyes. "I know. I miss him too."

"Those are not foolish words." Fenris' voice was rough.

Wanting to say more, my voice wouldn't work, but Anders pulled me close. I had managed to stuff my grief aside between protecting the twins and Mother years ago, but I wished I to hear Papa just one more time.

Varric, Bethany, and Fenris were talking, but I let it wash by.

Anders pulled me back around the corner and I finally noticed that Paws was bumping me as I walked,

Then Anders lifted my chin so I would look at him, and his fingers traced back to lightly flow over my hair. "Love, you have served the best in you and for those around you. Your father would be proud of his Champion."

I wasn't convinced but I couldn't say why.

He sighed and held me tight, until I started to feel guilty I was this upset when he was hearing things.

"How are you, Anders?"

He looked down at me. "I'm fine now. It was a bit worse when you broke the seal. I should have expected that, not that I'm planning a holiday here to enjoy the wind-driven sand."

"It's a little short on drinking holes," Varric said from a couple of steps away. "But the prisoners of the Shaperite should sell well in the thaigs."

I had one more thing to say to my mage. "If you start having problems, tell me."

He grinned. "I'll hold my stuffed hawk against me and suck... my thumb at will. You will tuck me in at night?"

"Always."

Varric shook his head and we moved into the room that had the warding mark. That room had open windows that looked out over the chasm at at the tower again. It was like we spun around the tower, moving down like a water vortex. If we kept going down, what was light we saw at the top?

We passed through more tunnels and chambers until Varric commented, "So does anyone else feel like we're walking into a trap? Just me? Good to know."

He really hadn't waited for an answer and I met Fenris' eyes. Varric was usually the calmest.

Another room looked out at the tower again, where it loomed over us. It was dark above the crevice, but not so dark down here. There once had been a bridge to the tower but it looked long gone and I wondered if Papa had stood where I was right now.

I heard something and looked across the gaps to see darkspawn just moving silently into view in two different directions.

Anders took my hand.

Looking at Varric, I forced a smile. "It's too bad we didn't bring a bunch of rope ladders, we could just skip all this."

"Next time, I'll add it to the shopping list, Hawke. Just one bronto's worth of supplies would make a big difference"

I was worried. We only had a week or so of our own supplies and I hadn't brought any for Paws. He couldn't eat anything down here, except any stale biscuits we found. We'd have to ration.

"How deep does this hole go?" Fenris looked over the edge.

Anders was cross again. "The tower can't be floating in midair, so there must be a bottom."

Bethany had been quiet but finally said as we left the crevice again, "Father was here; I can almost see it in my mind."

Papa'd died over ten years ago, and I'd hated that his face was no longer clear in my memory. Maybe I hoped to see him here, like I heard his voice.

When I opened the next door, I almost expected this bunch of darkspawn. Once in the middle of the wider space, I misjudged a leap and was knocked back like dried weeds.

Fenris kept their attention until I got my footing again and we finished the fight.

Inside a closed room, we found some supplies. What was more alarming was a table by the wall with small objects, including a scrap with writing on it.

Fenris hissed something in Arcanum.

When I picked up the paper, it was barely legible and a tiny piece flaked off. Fenris started to lunge to grab it but stopped. Less than two score words were legible, but I almost dropped it like it was burning.

I didn't exactly read want to read it aloud but I didn't want anyone else to touch it. "In reverence, you will approach the altar. Know that you come into the presence of Dumbass. With head bowed, say: 'Blessed are you, Dumbass, silent and strong. We bring gifts, sacrifices to your greatness."

That got a snort from Fenris and a chuckle from Varric.

I wondered why it wasn't in the language of Tevinter. "This isn't Arcanum. How many Wardens worship a god of Tevinter ages later? How many Wardens came and went while this creature was a prisoner? There must be a path in and out for them."

"That path might have collapsed or the magics lost." Anders moved closer to peer at the words. "Chantry lore says Dumat taught blood magic to the first Magister. His followers entered the Golden City."

"That really worked out for them, didn't it?" Varric's returning sarcasm was welcome.

Bethany rubbed her arms. "Dumat was released by darkspawn and became the Archdemon of the first Blight, that lasted a hundred years."

"Greater than a high dragon, once called a god, that Blight ended when he died." Anders looked at the altar, very unhappy.

I never thought I'd see an altar to an old god, long dead. "Am I the only one who's suddenly wondering what could imprison a dragon or a god, down far inside the Deep Roads?"

"Bianca was just thinking the same thing, Hawke. There were no Wardens and Andraste came after the Blight."

Anders flashed blue, so Justice must have taken interest even if he only looked at the paper before he was gone. "Too much knowledge was lost in the first Blight. It's hard to fathom how much... Now I sound like Merrill." Anders looked sheepish.

"This must be destroyed, completely! Magisters claim to get much more power from the old gods when they refute even the Black Divine." Fenris grabbed my other arm painfully.

"Fine." I was more than a little angry from the pressure of his fingers. "Let go of my arm. Who'd be stupid enough to think a dragon would see us as much more than a snack, anyway?"

The paper was burnt to ash immediately and the rest was burnt to slag out near the window holes outside the room and we scattered the last fragments throughout the area.

When Anders and I reached the archway to the next area, I heard metal raking on stone and I got more awake and alert. I gripped Anders' hand in a spurt of nausea.

He stiffened and cast about as if listening. "Yes, love..." And then he barked out for the others, ""Darkspawn, that way, and a lot are coming."

Bethany was already throwing up her defenses.

Varric brought his Bianca forward for fighting. "It does feel like a good ambush spot."

Once we had the room to ourselves, I looked around. A small chest was in one corner and stuck under a broken pillar which came free with some lifting, scrapes, and magic. Inside were some lists for supplies and names with cryptic notes beside them. The only other surviving writing was a folded parchment, that had only been partly sanded to remove the crossed out text of the draft of a letter. The remaining text was enough to continue my earlier nausea.

-x-

First Warden Jaecher, Weisshaupt

Warden-Commander Farele, Vimmark, Augustus 1004 TE

The creature can speak. It has a name, Corypheus. We have encountered darkspawn before who use words, but none individual enough to have chosen a name. This Corypheus appears unique among darkspawn, and has gathered many of its brethren to follow it.

It would be wasteful to kill such a creature. If it can be captured, tamed somehow, its unnatural influence over the darkspawn could perhaps be turned to our favor. It is clear the darkspawn will never bow to human commands, but this Corypheus seems at times more human than beast. I have conversed with it, and though its thoughts are disordered and inhuman, it speaks of the Old Gods by their Tevinter names. I have wondered if perhaps he is no darkspawn at all, but a ghoul, so corrupted by the taint as to have become a new creature entirely.

I recommend we find a way to capture Corypheus, hold it somewhere safe from both men and darkspawn, and study its unique nature. This will require magic, however, for Corypheus' own abilities are powerful. It uses spells both human and tainted, and has a strength that would shame any Magister. We must muster our best mages to face it and to hold it.

-x-

Fenris spat when he read the report. "How could they think to tame this Magister if they could not tame lesser darkspawn?"

Anders only gripped my hand, tilting his head as if another spoke.

"I don't see much choice between a different kind of darkspawn or a Magister who became a ghoul." I couldn't imagine how they ever thought over all those ages that this was a good idea.

"I will have to report this to Commander Cousland." Anders did not like saying that.

Bethany agreed, but she was under the command of the closer Warden-Commander who might know about all this, and didn't say anything.

Scouting ahead through the passage toward the next chamber, I felt skritchy vibrations in metal and stone ahead of me. I moved back as they were too many. "Darkspawn... "

An ogre charged through the archway I'd just exited, and in one step reached close enough to swing at me. The wall cracked where his fist hit, and dust fell from the damaged wall onto my head.

I rolled under his next swing to get behind him; shrieks appeared and made communication impossible.

At least the noise didn't ruin my attacks. I couldn't spare the time to see if Anders or Bethany had trouble with their spells.

I ran, slipping behind the ogre for a backstab attack. It was always a thrill when one of those huge darkspawn fell down. That had not changed after my Joining. Then knocking shrieks aside, Fenris and I kept most of them off balance between kills. The mages and Varric attacked at will from a safer distance.

Few made it past Fenris and I, Varric and Anders were nearly untouched. Bethany, though, had developed a nasty habit of moving forward too far into the fighting. Anders usually healed her first, which was very fine with me. Her armor just wasn't as protective, even if she could heal herself a little.

Checking for any useful trinkets, Varric spoke while trying to sound casual. "Are you hearing the voices now too, Hawke?"

The still from the others said it wasn't casual enough.

"No," I said shortly, hoping he'd let it drop.

The silence stretched out, and I could feel Varric's eyes on me. Probably Fenris too, but he didn't poke as much. Anders and Bethany stayed quiet.

Void take it. "I went through the Joining at Orzammar. I have direct orders from Cousland, to avoid notice as a Warden for a while."

Anders came to stand next to me and check for injuries. His voice was sad. "This is her first time in the Deep Roads since then. Hawkes should be in winds and clear sky."

Bethany glared at him. "You don't say that about me, Anders."

"I'm sorry," Anders said to my sister. "Your Joining was as much necessity as mine, Bethany. Dera's wasn't and I almost can't stand the thought that she will sink into cold pragmatism like most Wardens I've met."

A low whistle came from Varric. "So we have three Grey Wardens, no wonder these darkspawn have seemed easier."

Fenris made a rude noise. "That is also a consequence of our increasing skill over the years."

Waving that debate away, Varric said, "No, having the Champion of Kirkwall under Grey Warden orders is a very interesting development. There's enough rumors about Warden actions in Queen Anora and King Behlan gaining their thrones. Adding the fame of the Champion to their quiver..."

"I didn't sign away my morals in the Joining, Varric," I said tiredly. "I signed up for killing darkspawn and going with Anders on his Calling. They ask anything stupid, they can go play with the Qun."

"The First Warden..." Bethany started to object.

"The First Warden doesn't scare me. Not after what Meredith and Orsino became. And they were far, far behind what happened to Mother."

There wasn't much more to say right then. It really wasn't going to change most things. We were still hunted. The mage war was too big for either of us to do much, and not until we got out of this.

Varric would want more later but I wasn't in the mood, and I didn't want Anders angry or guilt-ridden.

When I moved forward again and into the next open area, I could see another cell with a desire demon this time. One mark was on the near wall and easy to trigger.

Her voice was muffled but still clear, getting gradually deeper and more familiar. "That echoing pain of loss, of years under a heavy burden with no one you can trust not to betray you. No one who really cares for you and trusts you. Wanting so desperately... I can help you with that, my brave Champion, I can give my clever girl the wisdom and help she needs..."

- x -

A/N: Thanks to my beta reader who has been kind enough to read this and point out stupid flubs. Any typos that remain are not intentional... Reviews or a PM to let me know what you think would be very appreciated.