"So, Shale... when you were standing there all that time? Did you... sleep?" Alistair looked at the golem curiously.

"I have no need to sleep. My body does not tire or do-ugh-other flesh-related functions."

"But don't you get bored? Wouldn't you want to dream, at least?"

"I do not dream. This is what it does when it sleeps? It paws its nose and mumbles incoherently."

"Yes, of course. I thought we all-huh..." He stumbled slightly, and then looked back at her. "You watch me?"

"I watch all closely when they are still at night. There is little else to do."

"For... hours and hours?"

"I count the breaths. it helps to overcome the overwhelming urge to crush their faces while they sleep."

"Well. I won't be doing much of that anymore."

The golem fell back, and began engaging Wynne in conversation. Lenore listened, her face fascinated. After a moment, she joined the conversation.

Saitada felt a bit of relief. Maybe they could get through this without tearing out each other's throats. Then she saw Morrigan heading back. She blinked, taking in the woman's expression. "Trouble?"

"Darkspawn ahead."

"How many?"

Morrigan glanced over her shoulder. Jerath had Brehan's arm over his shoulders as he half-carried the man back to camp. Brehan's face was pale. Leliana immediately rushed forward to help Jerath. Brehan looked up at her. "It's here."

"What's here?"

"The arch demon. In the trenches. It's with the horde. They are on the move."

#

"Atrast Vala, Grey Wardens."

Saitada smiled at Kardol. "That's the warmest greeting I've had since returning."

"Your past means nothing to the Legion of the Dead." He shrugged. "Stone, if I'd had my way, you'd been one of us. What do you want here, warden?"

She sighed. "Believe it or not, I'm working with Prince Bhelen."

"You're working for a fool. We follow the throne, which is empty. Below that is politics beneath Legion notice. That's the benefit of our oath."

"I always did like you, Kardol."

"Suppose that's why you didn't kill me." He chuckled. "What, does he need some weight to swing the vote in the Assembly? I suppose you're sweeping the vents for Paragons."

She shook her head. "That's about it. You have anything useful to add?"

"Warden, you've got your work cut out for you. Paragon Branka is dead, everyone with sense knows it. Past our line, the darkspawn kill everything."

"Why hold back?" Cathiel asked.

"I'd gladly lead an assault through the Dead Trenches, but without an ass in the throne, we have no orders. I won't take fool's gold from a pretender." He shrugged. "You want to go digging blind, you go right ahead."

Saitada glanced back at Brehan, then back to Kardol. "You should know... we sensed the presence of the archdemon. Nearby."

Kardol nodded. "So it is a Blight."

"It is."

He shook his head. "The other kingdoms only care when the darkspawn march in the light. But they are always here, always pushing. You lived here. You know. Blights only take so long because we keep the darkspawn in check. A surge on the surface would reduce the pressure on us." He spat. "When the time comes, I'll care for a good dwarven reason. Sod the rest."

"It was good to see you, Kardol."

"Good luck, Grey Warden."

#

"Old friend?" Cathiel asked.

"Not exactly." Saitada laughed.

Brosca squinted, then suddenly his eyes widened. "Kardol? Wait, Kardol Havor?" He looked back at where the legionnaires were standing. "Stone."

Leliana blinked. "Oh, this sounds like a story."

"He bloody well tried to kill her!"

Saitada shook her head. "Actually, he tried to kill Trian. It was some years ago. If he's holding the line... Orzammar will stand a while longer."

#

"The bloody doors of Bownammar. I never thought I'd ever see these, you know?"

"Why not?" Cathiel asked.

"Bownammar's been lost to the darkspawn for generations. I'm pretty stupid, I'll give you that, but even I won't fight through these hissing beasts just to see some big doors." He twirled the one end of his mustache. "Why'd you think they built them so big anyway? Over-compensation?" He shrugged. "Anyway, you'd better be ready to crack skulls once we get in there."

Cathiel examined the door. "I'm not sure we are getting in that way."

"Kardol said there is a side passage. We'll go that way," Saitada said.

"There are at least five ogres on the other side of this door," Brehan said. He concentrated. "At least one emissary. Few dozen genlocks."

"You're back with us then?" Cathiel gave him a concerned look.

He nodded. "I was unprepared for..." He sighed. "I'll be fine."

Saitada nodded. "Leliana, probably don't need to tell you, but stay close to him."

Leliana smiled. "I shall."

"Jerath, take point. Brosca, back him."

#

"See those barrels?" Brosca whispered.

"I see them."

"Tripwires. Rigged to explode."

Jerath sighed. "And if you go to disarm them..."

"They've got crossbows."

"Call up the mages?"

"Tunnel is unstable. They start throwing... or for that matter, the barrels go, we're stuck trying to break that door."

The two exchanged a look. Jerath put a hand to his sword. "I'll go high, draw them off, you disarm."

"Junior, you heard what Brehan said about the ogres." Brosca shook his head. "Even you can't take on half a dozen ogres solo."

"I don't need to. I just need to keep them from noticing you."

"You realize if you get dead, Morrigan is going to turn me into a pain-wracked smear on the wall, right?"

"Yes, but I'll be dead, so it won't be my concern."

Brosca nodded. "Right." He readied his dagger. "Go."

Jerath came out of cover and leaped lightly from barrel to barrel. He landed among the darkspawn and slashed out with his blade, cutting down the emissary. He shifted direction almost immediately, tumbling away and heading down the next corridor. The spawn gave chase, and Brosca went to work on the traps.

#

He ran up along a ledge above the carvings on the wall, then dove into a tunnel too small for the ogres to give chase. He heard a sound, and crept towards it. He sensed... something. Similar to what he'd sensed from Lenore's little friend.

Jerath heard it again. It sounded like... chanting. He moved cautiously. The smell that came from the small chamber was horrific. He dropped down. A woman stood, and turned to face him. Her skin was mottled in shades of gray, and her eyes were glazed as she looked at him. "What is this? An elf? Exotic and impossible." She shook her head to move past him. Skeletons, bits of red and rotting flesh still clinging to the bone, were scattered around the room. Dwarven skeletons. "Feeding time brings only kin and clan. I am cruel to myself. You are the dream of strangers' faces and open doors."

His eyes widened, and he looked back at the skeletons. "You've been forced to eat your kin?"

"And others." She circled him slowly. "Fresh, not those who turn. Killed right here. And we're fed. Laryn first. But I am filled. I am..." She looked away, and to his horror picked up a bone and nibbled at it. "All I could do was wish Laryn went first. I wished it upon her so that I would be spared." She tossed the bone aside, and pulled another from a pustule of corruption. She rejected it, tossing it aside as well. "But I had to watch. I had to see the change. How do you endure that? How did Branka endure?"

He looked again at the skeletons. "Are you from Branka's house?"

She rounded on him, and a sob escaped her. "D-do not talk of Branka, of what she did. Ancestors preserve us, forgive me. I was her captain and I didn't stop her." She shoved a hand into his chest, pushing him back a pace. "Her lover, and I could not turn her. Forgive her..." She threw a gobbet of flesh at him, and he only barely managed to dodge it. "But no, she cannot be forgiven. Not for what she did. Not for what she has become."

He hesitated, afraid to ask. Afraid of the answer. "What did she do, Hespith? What did Branka do?"

She paced. "I will not speak of her! Of what she did, of what we have become! I will not turn!" She shoved him again, then lifted her hands and turned desperately from side to side. "I will not become what I have seen! Not Laryn! Not Branka!" She looked at him again, and then turned and fled. He looked back over his shoulder, and then followed.

#

Saitada saw led the party into the tunnel. She saw Brosca disarming a trap. He held up a hand as they approached. "One more," he said.

"Where is Jerath?"

"Playing bait."

"Brosca..."

"Got it, let's go rescue Junior." Brosca drew his weapons and rushed off down the tunnel. The others followed. Alistair and Sten quickly took the lead, their longer legs allowing them to outdistance the others. Leliana and Cathiel began firing their bows as soon as the darkspawn were in sight. Alistair rolled, and then came up behind an ogre. He stabbed backwards, putting his sword through the back of the ogre's knee. He yanked it back as the ogre fell, and then smashed his shield into the ogre, unbalancing it further. It flailed at him, and then he slashed, opening its throat with a spray of black blood.

She saw no sign of Jerath. Brehan yanked the foot out from under another ogre, and Brosca brought his mace down on it with three solid blows. Sten drove a third ogre back into Shale, who simply used her massive fists to smash its head open.

A fourth ogre started to charge the casters, and Saitada moved forward to block it. Oghren went to her side, and they drove it back. After driving her blade into it, she turned to mark the fifth, and found the archers had dealt with the matter.

Brosca looked around, and then looked around again. "Where's Junior?"

"Brehan?"

Brehan closed his eyes. After a moment, he pointed. "That way. Moving." He opened his eyes again. "There is something else moving along with him. And darkspawn in the area."

Saitada growled, and turned to look at Brosca. "You realize that after I kill him, I'm going to kill you?"

Brosca sighed, and then nodded.

#

He caught up with her near a small shrine. A few genlocks entered. Jerath started to reach for his blade, and she caught his arm. The darkspawn moved past, heading back up the tunnel. Hespith looked up at him. "She became obsessed... That is the word, but it is not strong enough. Blessed Stone, there was nothing left in her but the Anvil." She closed her hand around his wrist, and pulled him with her.

#

They fought their way through a tomb of risen corpses. If she weren't worried sick about their young companion, Cathiel would actually find the place fascinating. A hall of the ancient dwarves. She glanced at her friends, and then frowned. Wynne looked frantic. Morrigan didn't look concerned at all. Bitch.

Saitada raised an eyebrow at Brehan. Brehan sighed. "I still sense him. I can tell you which direction he's in, but with all the tunnels and corridors, that means little." He frowned. "He moves, then stops. Hiding from them, maybe?"

She rubbed her forehead. "Look around. See if you can find any sign of Branka."

They searched quickly. Oghren shook his head at her. "Not sure she was ever in this section."

Lenore tucked a few books and scrolls away in her pack. "There are two options for travel. A door, and a corridor."

"Brehan?"

Brehan pointed. "He's that way."

"My guess would be the corridor," Lenore said uncertainly.

#

She cowered. "We tried to escape, but they found us. They took us all, turned us..."

He crouched next to her. How had Lenore managed to gain the cooperation of the other one so easily? "Hespith, I have allies..."

"No!" She grabbed his arm again. He tried to pull free, but her grip was stronger than he would have thought possible. She stood, pulling him with her past another group of genlocks. One looked in his direction, and then turned back to what he was doing. She shook her head. She led him into a room that pulsed with the corruption. Half-dismembered bodies, starting to rot, hung from the ceiling. Foulness filled the air. She looked back at him urgently. "The men, they kill... they're merciful. But the women, they want. They want to touch, to mold, to change until you are filled with them..."

#

The bridge ahead was broken. Alistair flung a rock off the side in frustration. "Not this way."

"There were side corridors," Cathiel said.

"I'm going to kill him," Saitada said. "I'm going to sodding kill him. Then I'm going to shove a spirit down his throat, bring him back, and kill him again." She turned to glare at Brosca.

Brosca sighed. "He was just supposed to lead them away. A quick distraction while I disarmed the traps, so we didn't get buried under rock."

"I know." She sighed. "I know. And..." Her face softened. "Had I been there, I would likely have ordered exactly that."

"Saitada?"

She turned to look at Brehan, and read his face. "You don't sense him anymore?"

"He could just be out of my range. Or there may just be too much stone between..."

She looked around at their faces. "Back the way we came. Towards the Anvil." She held up a hand to forestall the protests. "We could search down here a lifetime, and find nothing. He knows our destination, and it is just as likely he is seeking us. Brehan, keep your senses open."

He nodded.

#

She dragged him through another corridor, her grip like a vise around his wrist. She stopped, and pulled him down next to a pulsing module of corruption. "They took Laryn. They made her eat the others, our friends." She caressed the pulsing node, and then pushed her hand into it. From inside, she took a skull, and held it out to him. "She tore off her husband's face and drank his blood." She went still as a genlock passed, close enough that he could have reached out and touched it.

"Why aren't they attacking you?" He could see more genlocks moving around them.

"Need me. Feed me."

"Why aren't they attacking me?" He cast out with his senses, trying to get an idea of just how many he'd have to fight through if they suddenly started paying attention to him.

She touched his cheek, and he nearly shuddered at the feel of the corruption coating her fingers. "Young. Fresh." Her eyes narrowed. "Tainted."

"I am a Grey Warden." He was in the middle of an enemy army. A chill ran down his spine. If he wasn't beyond the range of Brehan's senses... If they thought he needed rescue... Please, Saitada, don't let them do anything stupid.

"They need me. Feed me."

He blinked, and then looked back at the genlocks. "Feed you. They think I'm your lunch."

"Don't run. Hunt you, if you run. Hunt you and bring you back to me, piece by piece. Meat."

"Where are you taking me?"

She pulled him through the darkspawn without answering.

#

The next tunnel they tried took them to a caved in area. Brosca started to backtrack before Saitada could say anything, and went to a different tunnel. Oghren suddenly blinked. "There. Look. Wall chips. Branka was here."

"A good sign," Saitada said.

A few minutes later, Brosca knelt to disable a trap. He smiled. "Dwarven work. Not darkspawn."

"Brehan, any sign?"

"Genlocks all over the other tunnels, but I think this way is clear. And no."

#

"First day, they come and catch everyone. Second day, they beat us, and eat some for meat. Third day, the men are all gnawed on again." She recited the bitter poem as she pulled him deeper into the tunnels. This time, she went around the larger group of darkspawn. "Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate. Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn. Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams."

"Hespith, where are we going?"

She turned back to him and put a hand over his mouth. Her glazed eyes met his. "Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew." She removed her hand, and shook her head at him. Her voice dropped until it was almost just a hiss. "Eighth day, we hated as she is violated."

He felt a chill run down his spine. And then, it was almost like the rage was with him again. This was the fate to which Bhelen had been willing to condemn Saitada. Hespith must have seen the look in his eye. She nodded, and pointed ahead. "Ninth day, she grins..." She leaned forward until she was almost whispering in his ear. "And devours her kin." She drew back, then pulled him forward again. "Now she does feast, as she's become the beast."

#

"Darkspawn ahead." Brehan narrowed his eyes. "Genlocks. A lot of them. Maybe three hundred. At least five alphas and a half dozen emissaries. Two ogres."

"Those odds are a bit longer than I'd like," Saitada said. "Let's see if we can't find a way around."

A side passage took them through a tomb. One wall was collapsed to a section of natural tunnel. Brosca went first, keeping an eye out for traps.

They had not gone far when Brehan stopped. He closed his eyes, and turned a slow circle. "Brehan?" Saitada started to ask.

"Shhh..." He seemed to sniff the air. Then he opened his eyes. "Jerath passed this way. Not long ago. Maybe an hour."

"How do you know?"

"I..." He shook his head. "I just do."

"Brehan..."

"Duncan told me of a warden once, who could track by what he called the scent of another warden's passing," Alistair said, staring at Brehan. "Maybe..."

Saitada raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that what you are doing?"

"I don't know. I've never actually tried this hard to find one of you before," he replied."

Saitada nodded. "Take the lead."

#

They came to a cavern. She led him up an incline. "And while she ate, she grew. She swelled and turned gray and she smelled like them. They remade her in their image. Then she made more of them."

She released his wrist. He felt a tingle as circulation began to return to his nearly numb fingers. She held up a hand, and pointed. "Broodmother..."

He looked at her, then walked to the ledge and looked. The creature below resembled something between a maggot and a spider and... He turned back to Hespith. "That's Layrn?"

"That's where they come from. That's why they hate us... that's why they need us." She touched his arm, her face urgent. "That's why they take us... that's why they feed us."

He nodded. "Broodmother."

She looked away. "But the true abomination... is not that it occurred, but that it was allowed. Branka... my love..." She shook her head. "The Stone has punished me, dream-friend. I am dying of something worse than death. Betrayal."

He nodded, and drew his sword.

She smiled.

#

Brehan's face broke into a wide smile. "He's ahead. He's not moving, but I can sense him."

"Good," Saitada said. "I'm going to have a brief chat with him."

"I'm going to drag him all the way back to the surface by an ear," Wynne said. Saitada glanced back at the other woman. Relief seemed to war with anger on Wynne's face.

They'd walked about a hundred feet more when Brehan stopped short. He shook his head. Then shook it again. Saitada frowned as he began to mutter something in Elvish. "Brehan?"

"I... I don't know what that is, Saitada, but... Mythal guide me, it's like..."

Leliana put an arm around his shoulder. "Pull it back, vhenan."

He nodded, and then swallowed. He turned to look at Saitada. "I think he found trouble."

"Well, then, let's go rescue him so we can kill him."

#

He was sitting next to a doorway when they found him, his knees level with his chest, and his blood coated sword resting atop them. His eyes were closed. Gore was smeared across his face, and coated his pants nearly to his knees.

"Jerath, where the hell have you..." Saitada broke off when he opened his eyes. They were cold and angry.

He stood, slowly, his blade in hand. "It is through there. The Anvil lies just behind it."

Saitada blinked. The bruises around his arm stood out starkly against his skin, looking almost like a series of overlapping handprints. "Are you all right?"

He looked past her to Oghren. "I'm sorry," he said.

Oghren shook his head. "Branka is dead?"

"She's alive." He looked down at the sword. "I'm going to kill her." He started for the door.

"Jerath, wait..." Saitada said.

"Layrn has waited too long already."

#

Cathiel felt bile rising in the back of her throat when she saw the creature. "Maker's breath..." She glanced at Jerath. "That's the thing holding Layrn?"

It was Saitada's voice that answered, quiet and bleak. "That... is Layrn."

"Broodmother..." Alistair's voice was little more than a whisper.

As they approached, tentacles suddenly rose out of the corruption surrounding the thing. It shrieked, an unholy, ravenous sound.

"Incoming," Brehan yelled as he slashed at a tentacle trying to grasp Wynne.

Lenore turned and put up a wall of fire in front of one of the tunnels. A dozen genlocks streamed out of another. Oghren, Brehan, and Sten turned back to meet them.

Shale let out a howl, and slammed her fist into one of the rising tentacles. Saitada slashed at another. Alistair attempted to charge past them, slashing across the stomach of the creature. It grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground and spewing corruption into his face.

"Alistair!" Cathiel yelled. She tried to bring her bow to bear, but tentacles struck at her. Jerath leaped from a pillar to come down on the back of the thing, bringing his axe down into its shoulder. It dropped Alistair, who fell motionless to the ground, and flailed about trying to get a hold of the elf. More genlocks entered, and Morrigan used her magic to hold several in place for Brehan to cut down with his axe.

Shale stood over Alistair, keeping the tentacles from striking at the unconscious man. Jerath drove his sword through the back of the broodmother's neck. It jerked, then one of its hands closed around Jerath's ankle. It yanked him off his foot, then used him as a weapon to knock Shale off hers. One by one the tentacles went slack as the thing flailed about a last time, then went still.

"Lenore, Wynne!" Saitada called out as she joined the others holding back the genlocks.

Lenore rushed to Alistair, and Wynne to Jerath. Cathiel forced herself to trust the mage's skills, and turned her arrows to the oncoming spawn.

#

"How are they?" Saitada asked, going to where the mages were tending to the wounded men.

Lenore looked up at her. "If he hadn't upgraded his armor in Orzammar, he'd be dead. The guard is all that kept the thing from crushing his throat. His breathing is steady now, but he's got a broken leg from where she dropped him, and he's coated in... I'm just going to call it ew."

"And Jerath?"

"As well as can be expected from someone who recently struck a golem with considerable force," Wynne replied. "Several broken ribs, a leg broken in two places, and I believe his armor has been damaged beyond repair. Fortunately, his skull is particularly thick." She glanced up.

Saitada nodded. "How about you, Shale?"

"I have an elf-shaped dent in my left side. It is most unbecoming.'

She shook her head and gave a small laugh. "Brehan, any more incoming?"

"Nothing more than a few stragglers within the range of my senses."

She nodded. "Let's move on, see if we can find a place that isn't coated in..." Her eyes went to Lenore. "...Ew, and regroup."

Sten went to pick up Alistair, and Lenore blocked him. He raised an eyebrow at her. "You aren't a warden, Sten, and he's coated in that stuff. Brehan, can you get Jerath?" She waited for him to nod. "Shale, mind carrying Alistair?" Before the golem could object, Lenore continued on. "I promise we will find you some more gems and get you a good polish later."

"Very well. I will carry it."