The report came in at sunset. Liethe had been passing the throne room on the way to the kitchens for supper when Cassandra had grabbed her arm. She turned and saw the sorrow on The Seeker's face as she said 'There's something you need to see.'

Josephine was not at her desk, she had relocated to the war room and was in a heated discussion with Leliana when they burst in. Both women looked agitated which immediately put Liethe on edge. 'What happened?'

'Inquisitor, The Commander and a small band of Templars-' Josephine began but Leliana beat her to it.

'Cullen has been taken by Red Templars.'

Liethe felt ice pour into her veins. 'You're sure?' She demanded hoarsely. Their Commander, of all people-

'One of the Templars managed to get away. He's terribly wounded but Solas is healing him. He managed to report that The Commander and some of Ser Barris' men were helping to set up some watchtowers in Emprise Du Lion when the contingent was ambushed by Red Templars. They were more interested in capturing the templars. They killed the locals.'

'Surely they wouldn't know-' Liethe began.

'The Templar reported that the bulk of the ambush went straight for Cullen. Once they had him, they turned to the other Templars.'

'Nug-Shit.' Liethe murmured under her breath.

'This must be Samson's doing.' Cassandra growled. 'He controls those hulking why would he go after Cullen?'

Josephine's pen stopped on the clipboard. 'Is it not obvious? He is the commander of our military ensure we lose one of our important assets, it leaves us vulnerable.'

'It could be much worse, Josie.' Leliana warned and looked directly at Liethe. She knew that they shared the same horrible thought in that exact moment. 'He is - was - a templar. They corrupt templars. Feed them red lyrium to enslave them to their will. Samson could be hoping to-'

Liethe turned towards the doors as the ice in her veins suddenly became fire.

'Inquisitor?' Cassandra prompted and chased after her as she stalked towards the great wood and iron doors. 'Inquisitor we need a plan-'

'I have a plan, Cassandra.' Liethe snarled. 'And it involves finding Cullen before that evil man so much as tries to make him ingest red Lyrium.'

Cassandra had refused to stay in Skyhold. She had insisted on joining Liethe on her manhunt. Pragmatically, Liethe knew it was because she was angry and terrified and not thinking straight, but she was thankful that Cassandra hadn't said a word of it. Liethe had also recruited Vivienne and Varric to her burning crusade. Viv was a cool head in a storm and Varric was the best rogue she knew. Both had agreed without a second's hesitation to help.

The journey to Emprise Du Lion was still days too long and every night that she lay in her bedroll, Liethe couldn't help but dwell on what Samson was doing to Cullen. Torture, Red Lyrium, Venatori blood-magic, her nightmares ran rife. mixed in with those were the horrible visions of the Envy demon murdering the shade of Cullen again, and again. The Envy demon nightmares had never really stopped after Therinfal Redoubt, but now they seemed more vivid than ever - and so much more focused on Cullen.

By the time they entered Sahrnia, Liethe was village itself seemed to have little in the way of people still living in it. It had when they'd first arrived, barely any signs of life. But after the events of freeing the town from the grip of the Red Templars, it seemed to have emptied itself even further.

'Where is everyone?' Liethe grumbled and was glad that she had a thick fur coat.

'After Mistress Poulin was discovered to be trafficking the people, what little residents packed up and left. I can hardly blame them.' Cassandra glanced around at the empty houses.

'Surely someone still resides here, for us to bother putting up watchtowers.' Vivienne sniffed from her horse.

'Some, Iron Lady, don't have the luxury of upping sticks and leaving.' Varric pointed out. 'And the watchtowers give the other villages around here some warning.'

Liethe was only half-listening. She was scanning the village looking at the signs of Inquisition and Templar occupation. Brightly bannered tents, cooking spits and warming fires spread out. Could just imagine Cullen weaving his way between them, barking orders and greeting colleagues.

And then someone stepped out from a Templar tent. The bog unicorn ground to a halt as he noted their presence, and them, his.

Barris.

'Inquisitor.' He greeted.

'Ser Barris.' She acknowledged as she dismounted and grabbed her horse's reins. 'What are you doing here?'

'I sent him the report, Inquisitor.' Cassandra replied. 'Templars were taken, as well as Cullen. Barris has a right to know.'

And you weren't thinking straight enough to think you should tell him. Liethe cursed inwardly. 'How did you get here before us?' She asked instead.

'I was leading a contingent back from The Exalted Plains when I got the missive.' Barris replied. 'And I knew you'd be riding down here as fast as you could.' He added. 'I sent them ahead, back to Skyhold and proceeded to try and meet up with your party. I hear those Red Templars are going after Templars that escaped their purge and I won't put my men at risk.'

But he still came. Putting himself in danger. She had to admire someone so reckless to put their own life on the line for someone they hardly knew.

As though he could read her mind, Barris continued 'Cullen was a Templar, he is one of us no matter what he does now. His brothers and sisters in the order will always be there when he needs them.'

'So, Barris,' Liethe replied. 'Any idea what happened?'

The new Templar officer looked around him and shook his head. 'Your guess is as good as mine.'

The party spread over the scene in silence. Each trying to piece together the events that led to the kidnap. Corpses and blood, broken timber and stone, old footprints in the snow.

It was confusing and led them no closer to where they'd taken Cullen. Liethe was a bundle of terrified energy as she flitted from one side to the other. It looked like the workers were trying to erect a wooden watchtower on the crumbling remains of a stone watchtower and were butchered as they worked. Some corpses still held tools in their hands.

She worried a nail as her eyes took in the carnage and days old bodies, but no clue to where Cullen had been taken.

'We'll find him, Inquisitor.' Barris soothed from behind. She whirled around spraying fresh snow over the old footprints.

'I'm more concerned with what state we'll find him in, truth be told, Delrin.' She replied, letting some of that fear slip out. Red Templars went after Templars and ex-Templars because of their years long affinity with Lyrium. Templars had the best success of ingesting it and living than someone who had never taken Lyrium at all.

Cullen was an ex-Templar, and he'd confirmed once before that he knew Samson before he was thrust from the order. That Samson knew of him.

It was a terrifying thought to put together. Cullen and Red Lyrium. All she could see when she thought about it were those golden eyes as he told her that he'd stopped taking Lyrium. That he needed to be watched.

Barris nodded solemnly. 'You know, he told me he'd made the decision to quit lyrium not long after the Templars joined up with The Inquisition. I advised him not to.'

That surprised her. 'Why? It's what he wanted.'

Barris sighed and looked out across the snow. 'Templars spend decades taking Lyrium. It's built into our bodies, like an addiction, we can't function without it. We need it. Those of us who leave, they either continue taking it until they die or they wean themselves down to almost nothing. Cullen wanted to go cold-turkey. He said he didn't want to continue taking lyrium that could go to a Templar that was still active, still able to perform their duty. He argued that he was no longer a Templar and, therefore, should stop taking it. But you can't just stop taking Lyrium like that. Few people have ever been successful. Those who don't die can go mad. I told him it was suicide.'

'What did he say?'

'That he'd already made up his mind.'

That sounded like Cullen. It brought a tentative smile to her face. Cullen always chose the right way. Regardless of easy or hard - and it was almost always hard. It made her hopeful that whatever Samson was doing to him, he could endure it.

She looked up at the remains of the watchtower and fought the urge to worry a nail again. Everyone around her was acting so cool and calm and professional - she was a bag of nerves and feelings as she raced to try and piece together what happened.

'Inquisitor!' Someone shouted from the bottom of the hill. 'Word for you!'

She abandoned Barris and skidded down the slope to grab the parchment from the scout. 'What is it?'

'Sister Leliana's scouting parties have reported back, ser.' The scout handed over the parchment. Liethe ripped it open hungrily as her companions raced down the hill toward her.

'Have they-?' Cassandra asked in a hushed voice.

'Nothing on Cullen, but they tracked the red templars to a fortification in The Emerald Graves.' Liethe frowned. If the red templars who had attacked Sahrnia were there - then it was a good bet that Cullen was as well. The scouts, however, couldn't be certain of that.

'Then we must go there post-haste and rescue The Commander.' Vivienne replied authoritatively.

'We don't even know if they're holding Curly there or not.' Varric pointed out.

'Then we shall ask them where they are keeping him in a very pointed manner.' The enchantress sniffed.

'Remind me never to get on your bad side.' Varric mumbled as Liethe crumpled the note and called for her horse.

'We're going there.' She replied angrily.

A/N: I haven't even concluded this yet, but right now in the UK it's 30 degrees Celsius, I'm melting, my plot bunnies have abandoned me for the time being so why not give myself incentive to finish it by posting the first part?
Lots and lots of red squiggles in this but I promise I've double checked every location name, google docs just doesn't like it.
If I could stop obsessing over blonde chantry boys, and write ANYTHING ELSE for the companions that would be great too.