Authors Note: Dark times for Amara, it's only going to get worse before it gets better. Amara is on a slippery slope… will be interesting to see how things turn out with her. I changed this around a bit… I always thought it was silly that Greagoir just let the Grey Warden's in and didn't help, just washed his hands of the situation. I also didn't like how there was hardly any survivors. Best part about fanfic? You can fix that kind of stuff. Anyway, thanks for reading! I've changed the story image, let me know what you think. And please review! Two chapters no reviews makes me sad.

-O-

Chapter 29 – Retaking the Circle

Amara

She listened intently to Greagoir and Hadley as they went through the events leading up to the fall of the Circle. Several mages had found their way home after the battle of Ostagar, they fled when the vanguard had started to fail. Nothing but cowards, she thought. How many soldiers would have lived if the mages had backed them up? Maybe Aedan would have lived… she felt herself get angrier the more she listened. There were a few mages that came back that were not a part of this Circle… they claimed to be from the Starkhaven Circle sent here to help with the Blight.

"Wait… first you didn't question why all these mages came back unescorted. Then you're telling me no one cared that there were extra mages with them? Have you been taking extra lyrium or something? How could none of this raise a red flag with any of you?" Lena asked incredulously. Lena's outburst had the Templars looking around sheepishly.

"Honestly Grey Warden… we were so relieved that we didn't have to go hunt down the mages that we overlooked the obvious warnings," Hadley said quietly. Lena huffed and sat back in her chair shaking her head. Amara couldn't help but smile at the elf, she was a welcome breath of fresh air with her brutal honesty. She could see why Will had loved her, between his humor and her biting honesty they must have been great together… never a dull moment. Something Hadley said drew her back to the conversation.

"Who disappeared first?" she asked, Hadley mentioned that certain mages disappeared a day before the attack happened.

"The first was Finn… we never thought someone like him would ever try to escape," said Greagoir. "That boy was never two paces from the library." Amara remembered him, he was always in the library… several times he had helped her find the books she needed.

"The next were Senior Enchanter Sweeney and Niall then Irving… when we realized they were missing we sent teams of Templars to search the tower. We knew then it wasn't just mages escaping… but by that time it was too late. Everything fell apart and the demon attacks started happening, after two days of fighting and losing ground we sealed the doors. Three Templars were sent to Denerim requesting support to carry out the Right of Annulment. We tried to go back in two days later and failed, Greagoir was petrified and half our remaining forces cut down. So we sealed the doors again and were waiting for the Denerim Templars until you got here," he finished and looked at Amara apologetically. "I'm sorry love but there isn't much hope for survivors at this point." Amara shook her head stubbornly.

"No, there were enough supplies in the storage rooms and classrooms for people to survive. They could make it five days," she said as she stood up. "How do you want to do this?" she said as she looked at Lena. The elf stood up and surveyed the group in the room.

"How many Templars do we get?" she asked Greagoir, Lena was as direct as always.

"I can spare only four to come along with us," he said, his stance showed there was no room for negotiation on this.

"Us?" asked Lena. "You're coming? Weren't you a statue a couple hours ago? Are you sure you're up for this?" Greagoir glared at her before responding.

"Either I go or the Templars stay," he said sternly as he stared down at Lena. She rolled her eyes and waved him off.

"Whatever old man, just keep up," she said dismissively causing Greagoir's face to turn red. "Alistair, Morrigan and Argos… you are with me and the Knight-Commander. The rest of you are with Amara and the Knight-Captain." As if expecting a protest she spun and looked directly at Alistair with her finger pointed at his chest. "That's an order," she commanded before turning back to the others. Amara felt his eyes on her but she refused to look at him. She could feel his regret through the bond but it was overshadowed by strong feelings of longing and desire that had not changed from earlier, still as intense. It made her extremely uncomfortable, she managed to stay behind Hadley and Sten, increasing the distance between him. "Grab your Templars and let's go… this is going to be a long night," Lena shouted to the group from the door way. Amara readied herself and tried to push any thoughts of Alistair away, Lena was right... it was going to be a long night.

-O-

The sound of the doors behind them being locked and bolted did nothing to settle her nerves. She raised her palm up and glowing orbs started to form in the air above her hand. They shot out from her hand and attached themselves to the walls and ceiling before them. With the room fully illuminated they could see a battle had taken place here, there was burn marks on the walls and floor. Dried blood spots covered the floor and splatter littered the walls in all directions. Amara felt sick… several people died here, there was too much blood for just a few.

"Where are the bodies?" asked Argos, the large man looked uncomfortable in the confinements of the Circle's walls.

"The demons would have taken them," said Hadley in a low voice. He looked over at Amara, his eyes were haunted… he knew.

"Why would they take them?" asked Lena, she looked shaken as well.

"Food… entertainment… Demon's take their prey for many reasons," Morrigan said sharply. "I suggest we move the Veil is nearly nonexistent in this place." Amara nodded, she could feel it too. All of the hairs were standing on the back of her neck and she felt uneasy. The two groups traveled together down the long hallway until they came to the library. Amara sent more orbs down the adjacent hallway, it was empty as well.

"The library is pretty big, let's do it together then split up," Amara suggested quietly as she summoned more orbs to her palm. Lena nodded and motioned Argos and Alistair to the door, both her and Leliana readied their bows as the two men pulled the doors open. Amara felt her heart speed up as the doors creaked open. She willed the glowing orbs in her hand through the opening doors to provide some light. The acrid smell of sulfur filled the air, before the others had time to react Amara willed a shield around the two men at the door. The Veil seemed to thin more in a matter of seconds, she felt them before her eyes could see their forms on the other side of the doorway. A bolt of lightning shot past her as Morrigan casted, sending bolt after bolt into the library doorway. The piercing howls of pain grew louder as the demons charged. Amara felt her power start to pulse around her, she glanced at her hands, they were engulfed in a brilliant orange flame… lightning danced in the flames crackling and hissing around her fingers. She walked slowly towards the doorway, arrows whizzed through the air on either side of her as Lena and Leliana shot them into the open door. The first of the beasts showed itself as it pushed past the opening only to be struck with Alistair's sword. Behind it were at least five more, she could see their red eyes glowing in the dim light of the orb.

Argos and Alistair fought the first pride demon, it claws ripped at their armor, its screams of rage were terrifying. The other demons were more cautious than the first, they lingered in the doorway briefly before pushing past, their victims selected. Amara walked towards the demons as they rushed them, she heard Hadley call her name but she pressed forward anyway. She reached forward toward the demon running directly at her, orange flame and lighting shot out from her hand completely surrounding the demon. Its claws and scaled flesh burning as it screamed in pain. The other demons tried to quickly pass the burning one to reach her and her companions. A wall of flame encircled them restraining them and kept them away from the others. Seeing that the other demons were restrained, the Templars rushed forward and started hacking at the burning demon that Amara had ensnared. Greagoir and Sten hurried forward to assist Alistair and Argos with the first pride demon. It was organized chaos as Lena and Leliana stayed back with Morrigan damaging the demons with arrows and spells. Zevran stayed at her side guarding her while occasionally taking a few opportunistic hits with his daggers before returning to her side. Amara held the flames in place as the warriors quickly dispatched the wounded and weakened demons. She felt the flames die as soon as the last pride demon was killed. The power diminished only slightly, she did not feel weak or tired… it surprised her. Hadley rushed to her side and grabbed her by the arms, he looked her over for wounds before pulling her to his chest in a quick embrace.

"Maker's balls! You scared the shit out of me," he said as he pulled away to look at her again. "Why did you just walk up there like that? You could have been mauled by a demon or taken an arrow in the back!" he scolded her.

"I needed to get closer," she said lamely. She felt like she was fourteen again and was caught sneaking out after curfew.

"Look I don't know who you've been fighting with in the past but when I'm here you will stay back for Maker's sake," he said resolutely. "You'll listen to me Amara and that's final!"

"As entertaining as it is to watch you chastise the most powerful mage in a millennia like a five year old girl we really should press on Templar," Morrigan said with a sneer. "The Veil has many tears in that room, they need to be fixed or we will be fighting demons here all night." Hadley gave Amara sheepish look and stepped away.

"I'm sorry, I just want you to stay alive love," he said softly. Amara sighed, Hadley was right… she did take an unnecessary risk getting that close. She didn't know what had come over her, she just knew she wouldn't be injured and that was the best way to do it.

"No, you're right… I'm new to fighting like this, I'll stay back," she said quietly. She turned to Morrigan, "How many tears?"

"'Four or five," Amara nodded and motioned to Lena to proceed with leading them in. As soon as they passed through the door way the sickening sweet smell of death permeated the entire room. Amara felt her stomach heave and she had to step to the side and empty her stomach on the blood stained floor. Even with her stomach emptied the queasiness did not go away. The smell of burning demon was more welcomed than this. Orbs of light formed on her hand and she sent them to all the corners of the room and the center of the arched ceilings. Amara was not prepared for the scene before her, a new wave of nausea hit her and she covered her mouth. They had found where the bodies… what was left of them anyway. She knew what demons were capable of but never had she seen such a horrific sight. Hadley and Greagoir went over to examine the bodies to see if they could identify any of them. She could see that she was not the only one shaken by the sight by the looks on the faces of her companions.

"Let's go!" Lena ordered as she motioned the others forward. "Morrigan take us to the tears." The witch took the lead, Amara followed along behind. She could sense where the tears were as well, it was like someone left a window open in a storm. She could feel the cold energy of the Fade pouring in. Morrigan beckoned for her to join her next to one of the bookcases.

"Do you feel it?" Morrigan ask. Amara could only nod, the raw power of the Fade was overwhelming; she could feel herself unintentionally drawing it in. Morrigan gave her a sharp look. "What are you doing?" she snapped. Amara couldn't respond, she was frozen in place as she drew more and more of the Fade in. Morrigan cursed and shoved Amara back, pushing her to the others, she would have fallen of Argos wouldn't have caught her. Morrigan raised her staff above her head as she chanted, when she brought it down hard on the stone floor light burst from the bottom and trailed across the floor to where the tear was. The ground and air above it shimmered then seemed to collapse in on itself… the hole was closed. Amara felt it as soon as it sealed, she sat up gasping for breath, her whole body was tingling from all of the energy she absorbed. Morrigan stomped over and pulled her to her feet. "Have you lost your mind? That energy could have torn your to pieces!" she yelled.

"I'm sorry! I couldn't control it… it just happened," Amara apologized. Her whole body felt energized, she wondered just how much she did absorb and how more she could have.

"You need to learn to control it or you are going to end up killing yourself," Morrigan reprimanded. Amara nodded and stepped back behind the others. Twice today she had been reproached for something she had done, she felt like a first year Circle mage. Morrigan lead them to the other tears and repaired them while the others guarded against demons. Amara kept her distance, trying to not get too close to any of the tears, she did not want a repeat of earlier. "That is all of them here," Morrigan said as she took out a lyrium potion. "It looks like they deliberately tore the Veil to let the demons out so that anyone that came in would get shredded like the others." Greagoir and Hadley had rejoined them, their faces grim. Amara looked at Hadley.

"Was Cullen…" she started but Hadley shook his head.

"No, these were the men that went in with us three days ago… two are unaccounted for," he said quietly. Amara didn't know what to say, she was relieved that there was still hope that Cullen might be still alive but she felt terrible for the men that died like that. She reached over and gave Hadley's hand a squeeze, she knew it wasn't much but is seemed to help, he gave her a brief nod.

"Check all of the side rooms," Lena ordered as they fanned out to search the rest of the library. Amara checked a few of the rooms with Leliana and found nothing. She was starting to lose hope that anyone would be found alive on this level of the tower.

"Ser Hadley… this door is warded," called one of the Templars. Morrigan and Amara rushed forward to the door. She went to pound on the door when Morrigan pointed to one of the runes cast on the doorway… a sound glyph.

"Let's start with that one," Amara suggested. The two mages set about unraveling the spells cast for the runes. Once they managed to remove the sound glyph Amara pounded on the door.

"Hello? Is anyone alive in there?" she called as Morrigan continued to work on the other runes. She thought she heard a sound, it gave her hope. Amara joined Morrigan at removing the rest of the glyphs. Several minutes later the last glyph was off. She was about to open the door when Hadley pulled her away.

"Just in case," he said as he drew his sword. Alistair joined him at the door and pulled it open…laying on the floor in the back corner of the room was a man, he wasn't moving. Amara pushed past the two warriors to reach the man… it was Finn. She pulled her hand up to heal him and saw that the normal blue glow had been replaced by a deep purple color. Amara hesitated for a moment, worried that there was something wrong with her magic but knew she couldn't wait, she could barely feel his heartbeat. She laid her hands on his head and let just a tiny bit of the power flow into him. It only took a moment before she saw his eyes start to flutter. Finn opened his eyes and stared his glazed over expression worried her.

"Andraste?" he said softly as he blinked his eyes rapidly. "I must be dead…" Amara smiled at him, relief filled her.

"No Finn, its Amara," she offered him her hand to pull himself up. He stared at her for a moment before taking her hand.

"Are you sure I'm not dead? You're dead so that means I'm dead… right?" he babbled as he looked around.

"No Finn… I'm not dead, neither are you," Amara said patiently as she led him back out to the library. "We rescued you… you're safe." She led the confused Finn out to the others, Greagoir had two of the Templars take shaken but very much alive mage back to the main door. Amara gave Hadley a pointed look.

"Wasn't he the first to go missing?" she asked, her hands on her hips. Hadley looked down at his boots and frowned.

"I honestly didn't think there would be any survivors," he said sadly. "Just look at what the demons did to the Templars… " Amara shook her head, she was angry that they had just given up and were going to leave these mages to die.

"Hadley, mages deal with demons all of the time… we've learned a few ways to handle them or get away from them," she responded crossly. She took a few steps towards the doorway to the hall. "Come on! There's no telling how many warded themselves. There could be dozens of survivors!"

-O-

After they cleared the second floor they had found a total of thirty seven adults and seventeen children hiding in warded rooms within the tower. The number had surprised and humbled the Templars. She could see it in Greagoir's guilt filled eyes, he was almost responsible for the death of all these innocent people; several were his own men. With information from the survivors they had started to piece together what had happened. Niall had overheard the blood mages discussing their plans and had reported it to Senior Enchanter Sweeney, the blood mages attacked before they could alert the First Enchanter. The two along with Senior Enchanter Leorah and Senior Enchanter Torrin had managed to hide and ward the survivors they found. Some say that First Enchanter Irving and the Senior Enchanters had joined the battle with a handful of Templars lead by Cullen against the blood mages but the stories varied so much from survivor to survivor it was hard to know the truth. All of those people were currently listed as missing, they hadn't found their bodies. They still had one floor to go and the Harrowing chamber, she still carried hope that they would find more survivors.

"How many mages came back from Ostagar?" she asked Hadley as they made another sweep of the sleeping quarters. They had found only minor desire demons on this floor and had made quick work of them.

"Twelve," he said quietly. Amara had noticed his behavior became more reserved after they found the last batch of survivors. She could see that guilt was eating him up inside.

"We should assume all twelve were blood mages. We have found six bodies that witnesses say were attacking them and I killed one. So there are at least five more in here…" she commented as they walked back to the rendezvous spot where they were meeting up with Lena's group to go to the third floor.

"When did you kill one?" Hadley asked surprised. Amara frowned and looked away, she shouldn't have mentioned it. He was going to ask questions she was not prepared to answer.

"In order to free Greagoir I had to kill the blood mage that controlling the spell," she stated as they walked down the hallway. She hoped he would let it this discussion end there.

"You didn't say anything…" he trailed off. Amara kept walking through the awkward silence. "Amara…"

"There was nothing to say… we had to save Greagoir. It was a blood mage… you would have killed her too," she pointed out. Hadley frowned.

"Yes, that's my job but not yours. When I left…" Amara cut him off anger suddenly filled her.

"When you left I was fifteen years old. A lot has changed in three years… a lot has changed in just two months. Killing IS my job now… including the blood mage that's six for me this week alone. There will probably be more added to that list before the night is through," she said bitterly. Amara didn't look at him as they continued down the hallway. She didn't want to see the judgment in his eyes or the disgust over what she had become. They rounded the corner and found Lena and the rest waiting for them.

"Ready?" Lena asked, Amara nodded and noticed there were a few more Templars with them. She raised an eyebrow at them. "They have a score to settle… they said they were well enough to go… Who am I to deny retribution?" she explained with a shrug. "What can we expect up there?"

"The mages quarters, a small kitchen area… the baths, about the same as this floor. Then there is the Harrowing chamber the next floor up." Greagoir said as he pulled his sword from its sheath.

"The will be waiting for us at the door…" Amara said. "Let me go first and put up a shield." Amara knew the reaction she would get but she knew it was the best course. She could feel the energy from the Fade running through her… she knew she would have enough power to do this.

"A shield like that will take a too much power," said Morrigan. "It would be meaningless if you cannot hold it… they will break through, the results will be the same except you'll be dead." Amara shook her head.

"I know I can do this… I took in enough power from the Fade. You'll have to trust me," she said evenly. Morrigan gave her a worried look. "Believe me Morrigan, if I don't use this on something soon I feel like I'm going to fly apart."

"'Tis against my better judgment… but if you think you can…" she said reluctantly. Both Hadley and Alistair expressed their displeasure over her plan, they didn't understand… without some type of shield several were going to die when those doors are forced open.

"Look I'm doing it, I understand the risks," she said exasperatedly. "We need to go, every moment we delay gives them more time to prepare." She pushed past Greagoir and Sten and started climbing the stairs giving them no choice but to follow. The power from the Fade seemed to come to life as she climbed the final few steps. When she got to the top of the stair she could feel a tear in the Veil somewhere beyond the door. She could use that, if she had to, she glanced down the steps at Morrigan, Amara knew she felt it too, a look of concern flashed across Morrigan's face… she knew. Greagoir and two men brought up a small ram for the door, Amara shook her head.

"There is no need," she said as she brought her hand up. Dark blue energy swirled around her hands, it was snapping and popping with small lightning bolts twisting around her arms. Greagoir and his men nervously backed down the stairs. Amara nodded at Lena and reached her arm out towards the door. Her intention was just to force it open, like she did to the doors downstairs, what happen was entirely different. As soon as the power left her a strange whistling noise occurred right before the door was blasted into shreds. The sound of the explosion mirrored the sound of thunder as the whole tower shook, the sound echoed throughout the entire stone structure. Amara heard the startled gasps and people calling her name but she continued forward through the now open doorway. She was right, they were waiting for them, four blood mages… they now laid broken and bleeding against the far wall. The rage demons they had summoned fared better, they began to stand fueled by their need for vengeance. Hadley and Alistair pushed past her, they were followed by the rest of the Templars.

Time seemed to slow as her eyes took in the battle before her, she turned and saw the stairway leading to the Harrowing chamber and found herself drawn to it. The sound of the battle seemed to dim around her as she walked slowly towards the stairs. Amara walked slowly through the fighting, unnoticed, everyone was too focused on their fight to see the mage walk past them. The tear in the Veil was near, she felt herself draw in its power as she moved past it, her eyes never leaving the door at the top of the stairs. Her skin was alive with energy by the time she reached the stairs, never had she felt so powerful before.

Amara slowly climbed the steps in a daze, a small part of her mind shouted warnings that she did not care to hear. The power rippled through her, the feel of it was intoxicating… at that moment she truly felt invincible. Amara put up a shield and slowly reached for the door handle, she had no idea what she would find inside but for some reason she was not afraid. She stepped into the Harrowing chamber, the door slammed shut behind her. Amara realized her mistake when she turned and was hit by some type of glyph of binding that froze her in place and put a shield around her… leaving her powerless.

"Hello my Queen!" said a man's voice. Amara's head snapped up to see a tall man standing on the far side of the chamber. He was dressed in a Senior Enchanters robes but Amara had never seen him in the Circle before. "I apologize for this but after everything I presumed you would not be very hospitable correct?" he asked as he stepped down the dais. Amara surveyed the room, she saw Irving laying on the floor next to Senior Enchanter Sweeney and other missing mages, their backs were facing her so she could not identify them. A growling noise drew her attention to the other side of the chamber. Laying on the floor was Cullen, he was bloodied and not moving. Standing over him were two abominations, their circle robes hung off them in tatters, their faces and bodies too deformed to know who they once were. "Oh don't worry my Queen… your pet is still alive… for now anyway. Consider him my insurance that I make it out of here alive." Amara narrowed her eyes at the man.

"Who are you?" she hissed between clenched teeth. Her magic was testing the shield, prodding it, looking for some way out of it.

"I am Caladrius," he said with a bow. "It is an honor to meet you…" he said as he stepped closer to her. Caladrius gave her an appreciative look, his eyes traveling over her body, he smiled. "Stunning… You will bring my Master great happiness." He walked over and sat in a chair near the wall. "So… you are probably wondering why I'm here? Why bother with all of this?" Amara just glared at him, she kept her mana focused on the shield. "Come now… not even a little bit curious?"

"Does it matter? It's not like I can believe anything you say to me," she replied unable to hide the contempt in her voice. Caladrius smiled at her as he leaned back in the chair.

"Oh you can believe me… I wouldn't lie to my Queen," he said with a smirk. "I have no reason to… the truth is bitter enough."

"I'm not your queen!" Amara seethed. To that the man laughed, he seemed genuinely amused.

"Oh my dear, yes you are! Even I can see his influence on you… you cannot be in the presence of a god as much as you have to not escape it unmarked," Caladrius chuckled. Amara felt her blood run cold.

"Miel…" she whispered. Caladrius smiled and nodded.

"My Master has many names… that is one of them, reserved for those closest to him," the man said with a knowing look. Amara felt sick. "So… back to the reason for this little excursion. I required some items from the Circle that they have been using to keep you weak. As much as my Master believes you will come to him willingly there are some of us who do not wish to take chances. So I've acquired a little reassurance…"

"I don't understand, what items?" she asked, what he was saying didn't make any sense. None of it did, they wouldn't deliberately suppress her magic… would they?

"Please tell me that you noticed the difference since your return to the tower? Are you not able to do more? Are you not stronger than ever before?" he asked, he smiled again his eyes twinkling.

"Yes but I thought that it was just because my magic is stronger now…" she reasoned. Caladrius shook his head and laughed.

"No my Queen, this tower was your prison in more ways that the obvious… They kept you bound here… your magic bound here for twelve years until Irving knew he couldn't hold you here any longer… he knew my Master would come for you," he explained, there was an excitement in his voice that unnerved her. "I bet your powers when crazy after you left this place… It was something that scared you… that feeling of losing control."

"Yes… she said quietly as she remembered how she felt like she didn't have control over her magic and how terrified she was when she hurt Aedan. Duncan should have killed her then…

"I told you I wouldn't lie to you my Queen… I left Irving alive so you can ask him yourself," he said giving her a harsh smile. "It is the only reason why he still does… the meddling the Witch and he have done brought us to this current path."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"They hid you from my Master… if he could have sensed you he would have broken free before the darkspawn found him, we would not have the problem we do now. Now we will have to take extra steps to ensure our Master can rule again," he said, his voice full of annoyance.

"He's the Archdemon! He has been corrupted…" she exclaimed.

"Yes we know but there are ways around that my Queen… you must not give up hope," he smiled at her. There was a loud insistent banging on the door, Caladrius looked at it and frowned. "As I said earlier… it has been an honor to meet you… I will be your humble servant once my Master takes his rightful place," he said with a bow. He gestured to the two abominations standing over Cullen. "I know your abilities are great but not inflatable. Here is what is going to happen my Queen… I will release you from the glyph at the same time I command my two servants Uldred and Leorah to attack your pet. You must choose… will you attack me or will you protect your pet?" He walked over to the one of the windows that was broken. "Goodbye my Queen until next time…" he said before his form shimmered and was engulfed in a white light as he transformed into a brown spotted falcon. He hopped on the broken frame of the window and let out a series of chirps. Amara felt the glyph break and saw the abominations lunge for Cullen. There was no decision to be made… she let lose her magic on the abominations forcing them back against the far wall, they cried out in pain as a blue flame engulfed them. Amara turned to the broken window, Caladrius was gone. She let out a cry of frustration and raced to Cullen's side, her hands glowing a gentle blue as she started to heal him. The door buckled under the onslaught of the men from the other side, a few more hits and they were in. A wild-eyed Alistair charged into the room, his sword glowing green, he immediately ran to the burning abominations and started to hack and stab them. The rest of her companions filed into the room, Greagoir rushed to Irving and checked his pulse.

"He's alive!" he yelled, the relief apparent in his voice. Morrigan pushed her way through the Templars and checked the other mages that lay on the ground next to the First Enchanter.

"They will live…" she said as she crossed the room to where Amara knelt healing Cullen. Amara did not need to see her face, she could feel the anger radiating off of her.

"Do you lack self-preservation entirely?" she snapped at Amara. "What were you thinking? They could have killed you or taken you!" Amara looked up and shook her head.

"Not now Morrigan…" she said curtly. "Yell at me later… help the mages." She pulled her green bag off her shoulder and tossed it to Morrigan. "They probably used Magebane… there are some antidotes in there, the small orange vials." Morrigan opened her mouth several times to say something… finally in a huff she turned and left. Amara continued to heal Cullen, they had nearly beaten him to death.

"She's right you know…" said Hadley as he came over and knelt by her side. "You scared us all when we realized that you were missing and the only place you could be was the Harrowing chamber…"

"I was drawn there… I didn't go sneaking off, they used some type of spell to pull me there and then bound me," she said indignantly as she turned to look at him. "The man… Caladrius wanted to talk to me." Hadley looked around for the man. "He turned into a falcon and flew out the window… he said all of this…" she gestured around at the now dead abominations and fallen mages. "It was so he could get some items from the tower… all of those people killed for some items he claim Irving had in place to keep my magic weak when I was here." Cullen start to moan, his eyes fluttered open. "Cullen! How are you feeling? Do you hurt anywhere?" she asked frantically as she ran her hand down his cheek. His eyes slowly focused on her face, he let out a cry and pushed himself away from her. "Cullen, it's me… Amara," she said as she reached for him. He sat up and pushed her away, knocking her back on to the floor. Hadley grabbed him and held him down.

"I know who you are! You are Urthemiel's whore!" he yelled, drawing the attention of the rest of the people in the room.

"Cullen…" she sat up, tears started to roll down her cheeks. "Please…" Again she went to touch him, Cullen flinched away.

"Don't touch me whore!" he snapped at her. His eyes focused on her shocked tear streaked face, his mouth twisted into a hateful sneer. "You have doomed us all Amara!"

-O-