A/N: I'm going to post two chapters today for two reasons, 1 - they are both rather short and 2 - i got my first review and im uber pumpt. And so i dedicate these two chapters to Alazaaster00. Thanks so much!

My dagger swept through what would have been the stomach of the corpse in front of me, frantically waving its sword around, teeth gnashing. When my blade broke its spine it fell to the ground, lifeless, like it should have been in the first place.

When we arrived at the Dalish camp we were informed that there was a ritual that had to take place for the amulet and that the Keeper's First was to accompany us further up the mountain to perform it. When we first met up with this Merrill I was taken aback and almost turned around to go back to Kirkwall.

The woman looked like Esperance. A lot like Esperance. The short dark haircut, the deep green eyes, even the tattoo on her face was eerily similar. Instead of leaving, however, I just clenched my fists, tried not to ground my teeth too loudly and trailed as far behind as I could as we climbed up the trail leading to the top of Sundermount.

And now here we were, fighting the risen undead, and I was trying desperately to ignore that the woman was using magic as well. Luckily I had all of these shambling corpses to take my anger out on.

I swung my blade and buried it into the empty skull of another corpse, when I tried to pull away my blade wouldn't break free. Shit! It also didn't stop the damned thing either, and I almost got tagged by it's rusted blade before I kicked it in the spine to break it in half like I did with the other one. I bent down to tug my blade free, instead the head came off with it. I sighed in frustration even as I heard the creak of another one behind me, so I frowned and collided the skull on my blade with it's face. The two skulls shattered and the corpses body crumpled to the ground, to join the half dozen others around me.

And then the corpses in my little area were gone and I looked to the others. Varric was alternating between shooting arrows and stabbing at any corpses that Isabela didn't take down before they reached him. Hawke was furthest up the mountain forcing back corpses as they lurched towards the mages, who were busy casting their spells. And Fenris was...where was Fenris? I skirted around the others as I made my way back down the path we had just come from, knowing he hadn't gone past Hawke.

My assumptions were correct, before I even turned the corner I saw a faint blue glow through the trees and heard the unmistakable sound of metal hitting bone. Fenris was there swinging his sword in an arc around himself, re-killing a few of the corpses and forcing back most of them. There was blood dripping down from under his hair and I couldn't stop myself from being surprised, he was surrounded by corpses, more than were in the clearing I had just come from. And he was taking them on by himself.

I cursed and kicked off my boots as I ran into the fray, my daggers pointing outwards to at least damage some of the corpses before I reached his side. If he saw me he did not acknowledge me, but I pressed our backs together and unconsciously buried my toes in the dirt knowing I needed as much contact as possible.

His sword was still swinging which left me with only his side to grab onto when I reached behind me to anchor him. I pulled the essence of the river towards myself, collecting it in my body, my eyes glowing slightly at the concentration I was containing within myself. Then I simply pushed, and the essence I had gathered turned itself into an invisible force, throwing the corpses away. As they hit the ground it opened up, pulling the bodies into its depth and crushing them as the dirt forced itself back into the holes it had created. Then...

Silence.

I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when voices drifted from around the corner where the others were, their corpses gone as well. A heavy tiredness fell onto my shoulders. Strongly hoping I wouldn't have to do that again today I opened myself up as much as I could to the river and let it slowly flow into me to replace what energy and power I lost. Even so I slumped as I struggled to catch my breath.

"You can let go of me now." A gruff voice said behind me.

I started and quickly pulled my hand away.

"Sorry." I muttered, straightening and re-sheathing my blades before turning away and rejoining the others.

...

Before we reached the caverns that would take us through to the altar where we were to take the amulet to perform the ritual we ran into another member of the Dalish clan. It was then we found out that Merrill wasn't exactly popular with her people, despite being the keepers first. Although she didn't elaborate as to why, instead apologizing for the in-hospitality that the clan showed us before entering the caverns.

And then the spiders, oh maker, the damned spiders. Unlike the corpses these were more bloody and lively, although they didn't take a whole lot of effort to kill. I made the mistake of tearing one open along its back and got spider guts all over me. I didn't have time to do much about it though as more spiders showed up, I made sure to simply stab them.

When the spiders were gone and Hawke glanced around to make sure everyone was still standing he burst out laughing.

"Maker's breath," he sputtered, trying to catch his breath, "What the devil happened to you?"

I was already scowling so I sighed in response, I still had some very liquid guts dripping from my hair and off of my chin. Not to mention the mess all over my daggers. I flicked my blades one at a time, sending viscera flying before wiping them on the back of my pant-legs and re-sheathing them. Bethany, chuckling while everyone else laughed at my expense, offered me a rather large handkerchief.

"...I didn't know they would explode" I mumbled, trying to squeeze the gore out of my hair.

"Yes well, somebody probably could have mentioned it." Bethany said after she forced herself to stop giggling, "sorry about that."

I sighed, "I think I need to get my hair cut, this is ridiculous."

We continued through the caverns, Hawke smacking me on the shoulder as he apologized for laughing so hard. I shrugged my shoulders, figuring that I probably would have laughed if it had been someone else.

By the time we made it to the other end of the caverns, and back out on the mountain, we had dealt with some more skeletons and a shadow assassin. Thankfully we had also stumbled upon a small puddle, so I got to rinse out my hair some, although I knew I would be spending quite some time in the bath when I got back.

In spite of the 'facing creatures intent upon my death' thing, or perhaps because of it, I was in a relatively good mood. I had a place to stay, I had acquaintances that I had started to consider friends, and I was making use of my skills for reasons of my choosing. Despite having been 'free' for more than two years I had never quite felt it as much as I did at that moment.

My good mood did not last long however, I was trailing behind the others when we approached the shimmering, barely-there, blue barrier.

"I can open the way forward, one moment." said the Dalish elf.

And then she pulled a knife out and sliced through her wrist. As the blood fell it stopped short of hitting the ground and rose, swirling around her. After a few moments she was engulfed in a red cloud of her own blood and, throwing her arms forward, she sent it into the barrier where the red almost appeared to absorb the blue. Then it was over, and she turned around to face the group again.

I was backing away before she even finished and was already back in the caverns before anyone had the chance to speak.