"You have not taken your eyes off of me, Leliana." Morrigan stated while following Briala through the darkened caves. The only thing lighting their way was the veilfire that Morrigan held in her hand.
Leliana turned her eyes forward while Morrigan turned her head to look to the spymaster, the veilfire dancing against her face; the flame ignited her golden eyes with an eerie aura. "I am entitled to my suspicion, no?"
Morrigan let a boisterous laugh escape from her chest. "Do you truly think this is all a trick?"
Leliana furrowed her brows, "I know enough about you to wonder if there is an ulterior motive to this." She brought her eyes to Morrigan, "You wanting to come along makes sense for only a single reason. But, anybody back at the camp would've have been capable to also save Damon. So, why insist?"
"If you want something done correctly..." Morrigan said, shooting Leliana a cocky expression.
Leliana rolled her eyes and pushed ahead. She watched Briala skillfully scout in front of them, finding traps and disabling every single one with ease.
"It shouldn't be much longer," Briala told them. "The warden crests painted on the walls suggest that we're close to Weisshaupt."
They continued down the path, slaying lesser spiders that would occasionally crawl down from the walls and insist on keeping their caves for them and them alone. After a few moments that felt like an eternity in the damp cave, they stumbled across a door. Debris covered the area in front of it.
"A cave in?" Leliana assumed.
"Tis most likely to have happened many years ago." Morrigan added, tipping the veilfire towards it.
"Could you handle it, Morrigan?" Briala suggested.
Morrigan nodded, and handed the veilfire to Leliana, "Do not drop it, spymaster." After a sigh from Leliana, Morrigan put her hands in front of her. They shined with a florescent blue as she manipulated the rubble away.
"If these maps were correct, this door should lead us straight into the dungeon. " Briala said as she proceeded to the door.
"Let us hope you are correct." Morrigan said, following Briala up and through the door.
The door led to a staircase that was lit by torches that played on the stone walls. They descended down with caution, their weapons drawn. Briala was still at point, while Leliana and Morrigan were at her flanks.
When they reached the bottom, Briala peeked her head from the corner with her bow drawn. She could see a dwarven man in a rocked back chair. A small snore echoed against the stone.
"There is a warden on guard about fifteen paces ahead." Briala whispered to her companions.
Leliana looked to Morrigan, "Do you hear that?"
"It's Oghren." Morrigan tipped her head up, "If only I did not remember the sound of that dwarf sleeping so fondly."
Leliana held back a chuckle, and moved ahead. They walked up to Oghren with quiet steps. Briala tapped him, and he fell back in his chair.
"Ancestors!" Oghren cursed.
The Warden's groggy voice came from his adjacent cell, "Oghren, are you-?" When his eyes adjusted, his mouth refused to voice any more words. He saw the scene in front of him and was struck by a remarkable relief.
"My love," Morrigan breathed. "You are alright."
"Morrigan, I-" He stood up and walked towards the bars, "I knew you would come." A small grin peeked onto his face.
"Warden, we need to get you out of here." Briala stated, and walked up to the bars. She fiddled with the lock and broke the cell door open.
He pushed through the threshold and wrapped Morrigan into his arms.
She pulled her head away from his chest, "We must leave this place."
He nodded, and looked to Oghren, "It looks like this is the time for you to defect."
Oghren was on the floor, still recovering from his rude awakening. He looked to Damon and shook his head from side to side, "Yeah, yeah. Well, what are we waiting for?"
Leliana looked to Damon and let out a thought, "Have you heard of the Inquisitor being here?" She turned to Oghren, "Or the Champion?"
"I don't know if you noticed, sister, but we were taking our afternoon nap." Oghren said, then let out his signature chuckle.
She sighed, "I hope they're alright."
"I'm sure they'll be fine." Briala looked to her, and grinned with reassurance.
Morrigan separated from Damon and headed for the exit, "Then, let us be off."
Hawke and Brady sprinted through one of the many corridors.
"Where did that bastard go?" Hawke exhaled between exhausted breaths.
Brady winced and stretched his back, and then looked to Hawke. "I don't know, but be on guard- I would put one hundred sovereigns on other wardens joining us soon."
"Your wound is still open," Hawke walked up to him and ripped down his visible undershirt. He watched her with confusion riddling his face. She bit down on her bottom lip and pushed his shoulder away. "That's not supposed to happen. I healed you in that office. You shouldn't be..."
"I know," Brady rotated his shoulders, "The dagger must have been enchanted." He gave her a weak grin and leaned forward with a laugh, "I'm sure when it wears off, I'll be alright."
Hawke gave him a sideways stare and shook her head. "Whatever the case, we need to get out of here."
"I agree," He looked down the hallway and back at Hawke. "But, are we certain our friends got out with the warden?"
"No, we aren't." Hawke sighed, "But, we aren't the position right now to find out. We did our part."
Brady looked down for a moment, then nodded his head in agreement.
They started down the hallway with their weapons drawn. They kept a quiet step to their feet at the best of their ability, but they were no rogues.
The clanking of armor down an adjacent hallway alarmed them. They clung their bodies to the wall.
"That hallway leads to the courtyard," Brady whispered. "We could fight through them."
Hawke peaked at the four wardens coming down the hallway, "That could tip off others. I'm not really trying to fight the entire fortress's forces."
"Scared?" Brady mocked with a cocky smile.
Hawke raised an eyebrow, "Mockery, coming from the one who is bleeding all over the wall?"
Brady narrowed his eyes and peeked his head into the hallway. The wardens drew closer, and he readied his blade. Hawke had her staff in hand. Brady nodded a silent command, and Hawke popped into the hallway- startling the wardens.
"Aye-" One warden said.
With one quick flick of her staff, she froze them in place. "Come on!" She commanded and began to sprint down the hallway.
Brady followed, "Decent. Should've done something before even one word got out."
He heard her scoff in the distance and chuckled at himself.
Down the hallway led to the entrance of the fortress. Hawke swung a side door open to reveal exactly what they were expecting: A room full of wardens who were battle ready.
Brady scanned the room- two warriors, three rogues and a mage. With a nod to Hawke, they charged in with their weapons ready.
Brady cut and pressed through, protecting Hawke while ice projectiles flew from her staff.
"The mage, Hawke." Brady commanded of her, and she complied.
The warden mage was no fighter, but an experienced healer, Brady had gathered. He was dressed in robes, unprepared for a sword fight but still able to hold his own in a fight with his side in favor.
Brady covered Hawke's back as the three rogues took their daggers and tried to slash through any defense they had. Brady blocked and reacted to their quick strikes. He could feel the slash in his back tearing, but refused for that to slow him down. The two warriors joined the rogues, and almost instantly Brady was outmatched. He had to now only rely on the tricks the chevaliers at Skyhold had taught him during sparring matches. He could feel the teeth of the daggers cut through the exposed gauntlets and prick at him with overwhelming annoyance. Warm blood collected in his gauntlets, but he pressed on, protecting Hawke with everything he had.
Hawke placed a barrier on both of them and deflected the mage's weak shots at them. She slid at him and used her staff blade to puncture the cloth of his armor, causing him to quickly fall to his knees. With mercy, she slit his throat and redirected her attention.
"You need help over there?" She called out, watching him block strike after strike.
"That would be nice." He answered between strikes.
Hawke began shooting ice from her staff, slowing down the attacking wardens as much as possible from the safest distance she had.
Brady pushed away a single rogue and jabbed his blade into her shoulder. She screamed in agony, and swung her other arm at his neck. With a quick dodge, he took off her arm and she fell to the floor. In one fluid motion, he used a two handed sweep to knock them down to their feet.
Hawke cast Blizzard and Brady used the spell to his advantage, slicing at the remaining wardens while the cold slowed them to almost a halt. He ran his blade over a warrior's throat and watched him fall. He saw from the corner of his eye the other warrior using all the strength her could muster to bash Brady's head in with his hilt. Brady dodged and dipped down, finding a vacancy in the warden's armor, digging his blade into it with a quick shot and then just as quickly pulling it clean out of his body.
Hawke took care of the other two rogues with her Blizzard; they watched both warden rogues shatter to pieces on the ground.
"Are you okay?" Hawke said as Brady walked up to her. "I mean, that was pretty impressive... I guess."
Brady shot her a small smile and exhaled with exhaustion. "Tell Varric to put that in one of his books."
Hawke pointed to the door that led to the courtyard. "That's our way out."
Brady brought his eyes to the door. "They'll be waiting for us."
"Without a doubt." Hawke walked over and began to pull on the large door. "You gotta plan?"
"Yes," Brady joined her. "You: run to our horses. When I mean 'run', i mean run."
"So, I'm going to run." She gave him a sideways look. "And you are...?"
"Er, I'm going to..." He scratched the scruff on his chin with his bloodied gauntlet, "Open a rift in the middle of the courtyard?"
"We have officially reached desperation, haven't we?" Hawke chuckled, and began to pull on the door.
Brady followed her action and pulled hard on the large door. With a loud creek, it opened for them.
Wardens were in the courtyard and were walking towards them with a quickness in their step.
"Run, Hawke." Brady commanded as he charged at the wardens with confidence.
Hawke ran with her staff in her hand, hitting any attacker that tried to touch her with a wisp or the tip of her staff blade while she carved through the crowd and dashed to the gate.
"Wardens." Brady addressed them.
"Stop him!" A warden from the crowd cried with the taste of blood in her tone.
Brady raised his hand and watched the air bend to him. The rift opened above their heads, and with horror on their faces, he saw the life being drained out of them. Brady ran after Hawke and refused to waste the bought time.
Hawke waited at the gate and gestured for him to run faster, and he did. Exhaustion almost took him, but he continued to the gate and followed Hawke through it.
"We have to get back to camp before we're followed." Hawke said as she mounted onto her mare and began riding away.
Brady hopped onto his horse with unexpected difficulty and followed Hawke. He threw his blood filled gauntlet onto the ground and brought his horse to a gallop. "I hope Anders is as good of a healer as I hear."
Brady could see the camp and the sun setting on it. He could see Hawke arrive ahead of him to a crowd of people. His vision was getting more blurred with each trot of his horse, but he fought to maintain his consciousness.
The camp became more clear as he became closer and closer. He could see the features of Hawke, who had dismounted and was waiting for him to arrive. Before he knew it, the horse came to halt on his own and waited for him to dismount.
"Get Anders!" He heard Hawke's voice ring and echo in his ears.
He felt pairs of hands help him off of his horse and place his feet on the ground.
He could see Leliana's recognizable figure on his left, supporting his entire body's weight. He chuckled at the thought.
"So typical," her voice rang like a song, with a hint of scolding in it. "Bleeding out and you're laughing."
He chuckled again and looked over with a cocky smirk. "Leli, I'm fine."
Before she could retort, Anders and Hawke came running up. Anders took his right side and gathered all of Brady's weight, relieving Leliana.
"Inquisitor," Anders said, guiding him through the camp and to the makeshift infirmary, "This is... probably going to hurt."
Brady grumbled and hung his head.
Damon sat in Morrigan's tent. He watched her read a tome. He watched her bright gold eyes examine every word like her life depended on her to do so. He had missed her for thousands of reasons, and this was one of them.
"Do you need something, my warden?" She addressed him, but never took her eyes of the tome.
He leaned forward against his knees and cocked his head, "Maker, I've missed you."
She lifted her eyes from the page and connected with his grey gaze. "Do you, now? 'Tis a funny way you show it."
He smiled and held out his hand. She put the tome aside and slipped her hand into his. The light tug on her hand led her to sit in his lap and wrap her arms around his shoulders.
He looked at her with warmth and tucked back a few misplaced hairs. "We need to catch up."
She pulled on a grin and leaned in. "Perhaps, we shall start with this..." She pressed her lips onto his and could feel a hum of vibration from his chest as she deepened her kiss.
He placed a hand on the small of her back and laid her down on the bedroll, keeping his lips on hers and closing any space between them.
"Warden-Commander!" A voice called from outside of the tent.
Damon groaned and bowed his head onto Morrigan's forehead. "A little busy..."
"The Inquisitor and Serah Hawke have returned from Weisshaupt. The Inquisitor is in the infirmary. They said you would've wanted to know, Warden-Commander, ser."
"Go," Morrigan said. "I'll be waiting for you when you return."
He pressed a soft kiss on her forehead, and then exited the tent.
He walked the camp, still in awe the rebels managed to have such an organized set up. He saw the infirmary tent and let himself in.
Inside, Anders was patching up Brady, while Leliana stood to the side.
"Damon," Anders said, keeping his eyes on the stitching of Brady's back. "Nice to see you out of there in one piece."
"Anders," Damon said, crossing his arms. "Nice to see the camp isn't on fire."
Anders looked up from the stitches with a sneer aimed at Damon. Brady growled in pain as Anders was unintentionally pulling apart the stitches.
"Do me a favor and stay focused." Brady said through gritted teach.
Anders looked back to the stitches and continued, "Sorry, Inquisitor."
Damon walked up to Brady and crossed his arms, "It's nice to finally meet you, Trevelyan."
Brady met eyes with Damon and replied, "I will say, when I pictured myself finally meeting The Hero of Ferelden, I assumed I wouldn't be half naked in an infirmary."
Damon let out a laugh, "I want to thank you and Hawke for your part in getting me out, and helping for agreeing to help our cause."
"Leliana is the one you should thank, Warden. She's the one who convinced all of us to go through with this." Brady turned his head to her and smiled with warmth.
Damon looked at Leliana, who was standing in the corner of the tent with her arms crossed across her chest. "I should've guessed." He nodded his head at her. "Perhaps we could talk, Leliana. Outside?"
She nodded and followed him out.
They stood outside of the infirmary tent and watched the others organize and relax near the fire.
"You stopped responding to all of my letters," Leliana turned her head to Damon, "I was worried."
He let out a sigh, "In my defense, you sent a lot of letters." He chuckled at himself and looked over to her. "No excuse, I'm sorry."
"You should be." She smiled, and looked down at her feet. "I'm just glad you're okay."
"Now, we can take Weisshaupt and change The Order for the better." He dipped his head, "Do you ever get tired of taking part in world changing events?"
She laughed, "Not one bit."
He pulled her into a hug and then separated, "I'm going back to Morrigan. Take care of him." His eyes lingered on the tent for a moment, then he turned and walked away.
Leliana headed back into the tent to see Brady prepared to snap Anders' neck.
"Isn't there a spell to numb the area?" Brady growled against his teeth.
Anders pulled the stitch tight, causing Brady to tense up and grip the table. "The blade was enchanted, Inquistor." He then started to wrap bandages around Brady's wrist. "I warned you it was going to hurt."
Brady rolled his eyes and looked up at Leliana. She was looking at Anders wrapping his wrist up tightly.
When Anders finished, Brady hopped off the table and rolled his shoulders. "Finally."
"I would tell you to relax and take it easy," Anders said while wiping his hands clean, "But you won't. So just be careful, and don't tear the stitches."
"No promises." Brady said while he slipped on a wool undershirt. He walked up to Leliana and pulled on a grin, "Good as new, right?"
"We'll see about that," She teased.
