It has been several minutes — perhaps hours, Garrett did not know; he has already lost track — but they still could not find a way past the collapse, as well as any trace of Sandal. He wiped grime and blood off his face and looked around his companions who were already starting to gasp for breath, the exhaustion visible on their blood-streaked faces. Carver prodded a darkspawn corpse with his foot, examining it closely until Varric announced, "Come on. Let's get a move on."
They walked on ahead, Garrett always on the alert. He threw a glance at Anders who was quieter than usual, eyes at an unease, always looking around but finding nothing. Garrett remembered hearing about Wardens sensing darkspawn, and he wondered what could be running in Anders's mind as he turned here and there. There was that certain paranoia in his eyes that revealed itself soon as they stepped foot outside of camp, and Garrett could not help but feel guilty for asking him to come with them, but he needed his help for the sake of the expedition. Anders had not exactly complained, much to his relief, although Garrett can still sense his discomfort. It goes without saying that the rest of them were starting to feel that same discomfort, now that they were finally seeing the Deep Roads for themselves.
Garrett looted more bodies along the way, Carver picking along from the corpses out of his brother's reach. They passed tunnels crawling with lyrium veins, fought giant spiders and ignored the haunting drip-drips coming from the dark and filthy walls accompanied by silent whispers from centuries past, until at last they reached a wide corridor where they could see an opening that was headed farther into the Deep Roads. It would have been a welcome sight if not for the fallen darkspawn on the ground that lay before them, and Maker, was it gruesome to look at.
One by one they lie bloodied and dismembered; several guts and limbs and something else Garrett did not bother investigating scattered feet from them, and it was hard to tell which foot or hand or head belonged to whom. It was disturbing, yes, but Garrett soon found this was the least of his worries. His eyes rose to the one source of light in the corridor and he would have suspected a demon's involvement in his vision if Varric did not disrupt the eerie silence.
"Well, I'll be a nug's uncle," he was muttering. "Isn't that Bodahn's boy?"
Feet from them was Sandal himself, scratching his backside, his back turned on the party and the sea of bodies. He was standing before an ogre whose arms were stretched out from behind its shoulders with its mouth wide open, supposedly in the middle of roaring at its enemies but had been magically frozen from head to toe. Sandal was looking at it as he would a curious, less horrifying specimen, still in the process of ridding himself of the itch from his backside while standing idly by. He turned when Varric spoke, that same smile imprinted on his innocent face which had been smeared with blood.
"Hello," he said.
The four of them approached, slowly and carefully, all examining the corpses around them. Varric and Garrett halted before Sandal. Carver suddenly chuckled.
"It is!" he exclaimed. "The great warrior stands victorious."
Varric and Garrett exchanged looks. Garrett eyed the frozen ogre again. He hated to admit it, but the sight was rather fascinating to look at, albeit terrifying. He half expected the thing to move and grab Sandal with its monstrous hands, but it remained still where it stood — a gleaming statue, now simply a frozen threat.
Garrett shook his head, unsure where to place his confusion. He said, "I'd really like to know how you managed to kill all of them." He knelt before Sandal who reached a hand out to him, grasping something in his palm. Garrett took it and studied the object — it was a rune, small and silver.
"Boom!" Sandal said dramatically and excitedly as if it explained everything, hands lifting and waving as if scaling out the size of an unseen explosion.
Garrett frowned. "And how did you do that?" He nodded towards the frozen ogre. Sandal followed his gaze.
He then shook his head, grinning from ear to ear.
"Not enchantment!" he replied. He turned away then, and walked back the way the other four came from. Garrett gazed after him even as he was already out of sight, still hardly believing what happened.
"Smart boy," Varric said simply. They turned again to the frozen ogre which shone impressively in the dark tunnels, roaring over exploded darkspawn guts.
"Maker preserve me," Garrett whispered to himself. They resumed walking ahead, back to searching for a way past the collapsed walls, but not without throwing a final glance at the corridor. Perhaps Bodahn will provide answers upon their return, perhaps not. Garrett could only hope. For now — there was a job to be done. Silently he wished he took Sandal along so that he could help them get rid of more darkspawn waiting for them.