The sound of crows cawing in the distance became ever so near, replacing the silence that had been plaguing the forest ever since the encounter with the darkspawn.

Zevran and I had decided to follow the road where we had previously fought the darkspawn, in hopes of eventually finding our friends.

After only a few hours of walking, the density of the forest began to clear, leading up to a crossroad.

I could not help but notice the patches of withering grass along the road with flowers long dead and trees already rotting. The flora was dying. "I think we're on the right path," the elf commented as he knelt before tracks of footsteps, tracing each of them with his finger tips. "These tracks are fresh. They must have been here just recently. And it looks like they were walking. No signs of danger."

While he was analysing the traces, I approached the sign in the middle of the crossroad. There were two signs pointing to the left, indicating 'Redcliffe,' and 'Lothering,' and two signs to the other direction.

Unfortunately, both of them were crossed out. Squinting my eyes, I took a few steps further until I was finally able to discern the word 'Honnleath' on one of them. The other was unreadable still.

"Someone must have wanted to keep the travellers away from these places," I mused, "I wonder where the other sign leads to."

As my gaze landed on the path to our right, I noticed the footsteps continuing into that direction.

"Did you say something?" I heard Zevran ask as he got to his feet.

"Just talking to myself," I replied, shaking my head. "Honnleath is in this direction. The others must have already arrived there. Let's not keep them waiting."

"Let's go then," came Zevran's reply with his usual grin.

As I slowly set off to leave, with Zevran already having gone past me, I threw one last glance at the mysterious sign, barely hearing his muffled calls for me to hurry.

-

The outskirts of a village were beginning to appear, with dense clouds of dark smoke emanating from it. We passed another sign indicating 'Honnleath' as we further followed the road and the stench of burning wood became more imminent. As we came closer, we noticed two figures waiting by the outer gate to the village, one of them wearing what seemed like a red robe.

"That must be Alistair and Wynne," I concluded and we immediately picked up the pace.

"Liona! Zevran! It's really you!" Alistair exclaimed as he came rushing towards me, pulling me into a tight hug. Upon releasing me, his eyes darted back and forth between us, his hands still resting atop my shoulders. "Are you two alright? We were worried something might have happened to you!"

I chuckled, embracing his hands in mine. "We're fine. But we were more worried about you. You were both gone when we came to."

"What? No hug for dear Zevran? I am disappointed," Zevran spoke theatrically, placing his hand atop his chest in mock sadness.

"You were both unconscious when we were battling the darkspawn," Wynne remarked, ignoring Zevran's comment, "we had to lead them away in order to ensure your safety. But when we returned, you were nowhere to be seen."

"I see," I replied with a nod and Zevran added, "We had been looking for you, as well, but then found it more sensible to come here and meet up with you."

Wynne smiled at that. "That was our reasoning, as well. I am glad we have found each other at last."

"Since we are all complete, we should go back to the task at hand," Alistair proposed in a now serious tone, the smile disappearing from his face.

They briefed us in on the situation, explaining that the village had been completely overrun. They had been able to secure two survivors leaving the village and killing the darkspawn following after them, but refrained from entering the village, as they were outnumbered.

We then proceeded to plan our next move.

"There is only one entrance, so we will need to make a frontal assault," Alistair pondered, "there are too many of them for any of you to stray too far. I cannot risk either of you to get hurt, so you will have to stay within Wynne's spell range. Flank them only when you deem it safe."

Zevran and I nodded. "Understood."

"Let us not waste any more time then."

Author's Note: @Guest1995: Thank you so much for your two reviews! I'm glad you like both of my stories! I do have a lot planned for both fics, but it's not so easy when life catches up with you. Readers like you keep a writer's motivation going, though! So thank you again for your kind words!! 3