This was it. I was going to die, plummeting to my death. That was probably the shortest time a Grey Warden has been in the order.

I suddenly stopped falling. I looked up and saw Alistair leaning over the edge and had grabbed hold of my wrist. "You alright?" he asked. I nodded and he pulled me back up easily.

As soon as I was up we continued our run across the bridge, dodging every missile and arrow that came our way. Alistair ran easily faster than me due to his longer legs - well, longer everything. I ran into him when he stopped all of a sudden. Looking around him I noticed that the bridge had collapsed in front of us, leaving a gap of 10 feet. Alistair backed up a bit, and with a running start leaped across just barely making it. He turned around and I threw the torch to him. I backed up as well, and took off like an arrow. As soon as I came to the edge, I leaped as far as I could and easily reached the other side, tumbling into a roll.

Alistair passed the torch back to me and we took off again. Something was odd though. We heard the clanging of swords and shields ahead of us and cries for help. We rushed to a clearing before the tower and found Darkspawn fighting our soldiers. We grabbed our weapons and joined in the fight. I noticed a mage fighting against a hurlock; the mage not having enough room to cast his magic ended up trying to hit the creature with his staff. I ran up behind the creature, stabbing it in the neck and pushing the fiery torch into it's face.

The creature screamed and dropped its weapons, hitting its face trying to put out the flame. I pushed the creature toward a pillar hard enough that it's skull cracked audibly and fell over dead.

The mage nodded his thanks and started casting fireballs at other darkspawn. Alistair blocked attacks with his shield, and used it as a weapon as well. There was a soldier who stayed close to him so either one wouldn't get overwhelmed. I stayed near the mage, killing darkspawn as they drew close.

Finally the last of the creatures in the clearing had been slain, and the four of of gathered together. "What happened?" Alistair asked. "Why are all these darkspawn here before the horde?"

The soldier, who was trying to catch his breath, replied in between breaths. "The floor inside caved in, and more than fifty of them swarmed us. We had no warning."

The mage spoke up. "They've killed everyone inside. The tower is lost."

"No it's not," Alistair said positively, standing tall and proud. "As long as we still live, the tower is not lost. Let us not disappoint the king and take back the tower." It seemed what he said gave the tow men hope, because they nodded in agreement. "We need to get to the top of the tower so we can light the signal. We need your help."

"For the King!" the soldier said, the mage nodding his head in agreement.

The four of us climbed the stairs and entered the tower. The broken tile floor was covered in a mixture of mud and blood. Bodies were sprawled all over the place, most of them human. The stench from them filled the musty air, making it almost unbearable to breath. Some of them had been thrown into a pile and set aflame.

"Maker's breath," Alistair exclaimed.

We continued our way, trying to avoid stepping on the squishy bodies. In the main chamber on the first floor, a dozen darkspawn were piling more bodies getting ready to dispose of them. So far, they had not noticed us as we hid at the entrance. We looked around the room to strategize our move.

"Darrian," Alistair whispered to me. "Do you see those barrels above the darkspawn?"

I searched the room and noticed where an emissary and five genlock stood, there was a pillar that had large barrels sitting on a small wooden plank that was held up only by a rope. "Yes, I see them."

"Those are filled with dwarven explosives," he explained. "Shoot for the rope and that should take care of some of the darkspawn."

"Are you crazy?" the soldier exclaimed, quietly. "He can't shoot from this far away, especially a target so small."

A challenge! "Want to bet?" I said, handing him the torch and pulling out my bow. I placed an arrow in position and aimed. I let out a slow breath and relaxed myself. If I hit the rope, we would have a much better chance of fighting these creatures. If I missed? I didn't want to think of that. I pulled the arrow back and released it.

I could almost see it moving in slow motion. The arrow moved through the air so swiftly and silently and headed straight for its target. The rope was severed by the arrow's tip, or so I thought. I looked closer and the rope was still held up by a few threads. Damn!

As the arrow hit the stone wall and fell, the darkspawn looked our way and started raising their weapons. Alistair and the soldier raised their own and started to charge them. The mage cast a spell of speed, quickening our warriors movement. I started shooting arrows at the creatures that tried to creep up behind them.

Suddenly, Alistair froze on the spot, still in a striking position. "The emissary," the mage explained. I looked to see that it was still standing by the pillar below the barrels. I took aim for the rope again and released. This time, the rope cut all the way through and the barrels fell from their perch.

The mage and I hid and braced ourselves against the wall as the barrels exploded. Cries from the darkspawn were heard from the other side, and debris flew through the entryway. I just hoped Alistair was not hurt. The mage had resumed casting and I joined with my arrows. There were only a couple darkspawn left, which were easily killed, now that their emissary was not protecting them. The two of us walked in the large room to find Alistair had regained movement.

"Are you alright?" I asked him and the soldier.

They both nodded. "We're fine," Alistair replied. "Let's get to the top of the tower and light the beacon."

We entered a corridor that had a flight of stairs at the end of it and headed for them. Before we reached them, we found a large sink hole in the stone floor. "Is this where they came in?" Alistair asked.

"Yes," the soldier replied. "I don't want to know how far down it goes."

"Let's hope that no more come up from there," I said.