Hawke screamed as the mage turned on her, the crackle of electrical energy up her limbs leaving her reeling back. Her vision flared red, and she snap-kicked the woman's legs, falling upon her with her daggers to dig into her gut. Blood welled, and the Tevinter mage choked on her words, struggling beneath Hawke until the blade came over her throat. She was struggling to her feet as the nausea in her stomach evaporated, a healing light suffusing her limbs.

"Where - where is she?" Hawke panted.

"You're smoking," Anders said, about to cast another spell, but she waved him away.

"It's a terrible habit I know, I'm trying to quit," Hawke replied, her clothing charred from the magic.

"She ran back into the street," Aveline said, expression dour. "Leaving us to fight for our lives."

"Maker, she better have the bloody book," Hawke said, and they jogged out of the warehouse. Amidst the bodies of the qunari, lay Wall-Eyed Sam, twitching as he bled out.

Hawke was on him, clutching his shirt, "Where's the fucking book?" Sam's head flopped back, a crumpled parchment falling out of his mouth.

"He's dead," Anders said, the light on his hands dissipating as Hawke stood up and unfurled the paper.

"Shit," Hawke spat, trembling and coiling her hand into a fist. She threw the parchment at Aveline and stalked towards the edge of the water. Spinning, she punted one of the stray qunari helmets lying around them, narrowly avoiding the head of its owner. It splooshed into the water below. "Fuck!"

"That bitch-born whore," Aveline snapped, her cheeks flushing. "She - she never cared about any of it. It was always just about her and a damned payday."

"I thought that was obvious," Anders said, earning a reproachful glance from both women. "Sorry. What do we do now?"

Hawke stood covered in blood, looking into the water and bouncing one of her legs. Eyes wide, her pulse was still racing from the combat, and her mind leapt between options. The arishok had been on edge the last time they'd spoke. It was obvious the citizens of Kirkwall walked a fine line, toeing the demands he never ceased blithering about. And now this - this. As if the chantry zealots weren't trouble enough.

"Hawke?" Anders took a step towards her.

"We meet with Fenris and Varric as planned. I.. I need to think. Maker's fucking balls, Isabela." Hawke put her hands on her hips, closing her eyes and hanging her head. "We do not need to see the arishok till dawn. Or later." More airily she said, "Or never? Please?"

"Thank you for your help," Aveline said, handing the scrawled note back to Hawke. "It means a lot."

Hawke avoided her gaze as she took her shoulder and they turned, "It might help a little if we pray and hope someone's god hears us."

"Tell me, Hawke," the Arishok said from his position on the stairs. "What would you do in my place?"

"You don't want to be here anyway," Hawke chuckled, glancing amidst the qunari that were pressing close. "I will track down the thief and your relic, this I swear."

"Were it only so simple," The Arishok shook his head, fingers tensing on the battleaxe he laid across his shoulder. "I can no longer turn a blind eye to the greed and festering waste that crawl through the streets of this city. To your zealots that slaughter their own for petty gains, and the corruption that weakens you all. I can no longer ignore the demands of the Qun." Turning back amidst the karasten on the steps, he commanded, "Vinek kathas!"

There was a whizz before the guard standing next to Hawke glurked and blindly clutched the spear square in his chest. Another hit the ground beside them as Aveline raised her shield and backed against her friend. The other guard with them took two spears and crumpled to the ground as a pair of qunari launched at them.

Punching her attacker in the arm, Hawke twisted to nearly break her hand on his face, before grabbing a horn as he floundered and smashing his face down into her armoured knee.

"Hawke!" Aveline yelled, snatching her arm to haul her away. "Not here!"

With a last fleeting look at the Arishok as he barked orders in a foreign tongue, Hawke bolted with Aveline back towards the gates. Snatching a flask from her belt, she whipped it at the qunari waiting there, and it burst into a combustive cloud down his chest. The chemicals ate at his skin, and he screamed as Hawke buried her daggers into his stomach, flames licking around them. Another spear smacked across her shoulder, spiked into her victim's chest.

Behind her, Aveline swept her shield through another karasten who challenged her, yelling her fury as she raked her sword across his hip. The qunari snarled and their blades clashed before Hawke flashed by her friend's side, another sharp point fraying his defences.

"We can't hold this," Aveline panted, finally whipping her sword to half-sever the guard's neck. She stumbled back towards the wooden gate with Hawke.

"Really? You could have fooled me," Hawke said in a breath, dropping to her knees to avoid the swing of an axe, cutting the Achilles of the last qunari in their way. Standing up, she grunted and kicked the man back as he spurted blood.

Aveline tucked her shield down and charged through the gate, breaking the rudimentary latch. They tumbled out down the stairs, Hawke taking them three at a time to where the rest of Aveline's retinue clashed with another clutch of qunari. With the extra hands, it still took another death before they had laid the foreign invaders to waste.

Hawke knelt on the chest of a karasten, pulling her blade out from the man's jaw, and his head lolled uselessly to the ground.

"Aveline," Donnic rose from his knee, catching the guard-captain as she reeled. "Thank the Maker."

"Guardsman," her eyes softened in the brief moment their eyes met. Aveline tore away as she looked back up the stairs. "On your feet!"
As the guards scrambled up, Hawke fingered another flask from her belt, hurling it up the stairs to the qunari compound and coating them in a slick of grease. Clutching the scruff of an injured guard, she hauled him up and scurried after Aveline.

"Wha-what's happening," the man gasped, limping with a hop to keep up as Donnic shoulder him.

"The Arishok may have just worn out his welcome," Hawke said as they made it up the stairs and darted into one of the hexes. There were men and women looking down on them from the homes. "Get inside and bar the windows and doors. Don't let anyone in!" When they hesitated, she lifted her bloodied blades and shouted, "Does this look like fucking raspberry jam to you?"

"Hawke!" Aveline snapped, lifting her head from where she helped the injured soldier. "The qunari have revolted. Barricade yourselves in for safety and pray for us all." She let her attention drift back down, "Hold still, Dixon."

"Thank ye, captain," he said, eyes rolling back in pain as she ripped open his armour and pressed a poultice into the wound.

Hawke stalked back towards the entrance of the alleyway, eyes on the skyline there was a massive explosion. The ground shook, and the guards nearly tumbled as she stood her ground.

"Maker preserve us," Donnic said, on his feet again with his sword at the ready.

"The gaatlok," Hawke murmured, stumbling as another explosion from elsewhere in the city shook the ground. There were screams and the sound of splintering wood in the distance, crashing and blades. Her eyes glazed over a moment as she listened.

"Drink this," Aveline said as she cracked a potion for the guard, helping him drink it back before she assessed her other men. Smoke poured into the sky.

Where was the biting cold and the sleeting snow? It was late day and the sky was bright - but there, another flash. The coming storm, it was only time before she would see the blighted sky. She could smell the burning flesh and hear men screaming - it was hopeless, no matter how bright the sky. They were coming. Carver's blade whipped before her eyes, sweeping the darkspawn back from their defended circle. His limbs were gaunt and his step lighter than she remembered. She was choking on her panic.

"Hawke," Fenris said, looking back into the street from whence he'd come. "They're here!"

Chin falling down as Anders took her arms, Hawke blinked.

"Thank the Maker you're safe," he said, pulling her into his arms. "I feared the worst. People are pouring into Darktown."

"Come on, Blondie," Varric smirked, and tugged him away. "You'll smother the woman. And she might come in handy."

"Are you alright?" he asked, before doing a double take and going to Aveline. There was a blossom of light as he healed the injured guard.

"They were none too pleased to hear about the tome," Hawke finally said. "I might kill Isabela if I see her again." Fenris lingered at the edge of the court, his eyes flashing to her. "This is because of her."

"Shit," Varric sighed.

"They've been planning this," Aveline said, taking her shield in arm again. "This - this is too quick. They were ready when we went to speak with them." She turned around, "Men! On your feet! Kirkwall and her people need us."

"Lovely, Hawke said to her. "I - I don't know what they expect to accomplish with this."

"Make for your house, its walls are strong. You can barricade there." Aveline turned and whistled, "Follow me."

As Aveline followed the guards back into the street proper, Anders said, "We'll be safe there."

"Not bloody likely," Hawke muttered. "They will go for the viscount."

"Course they will," Varric said offhanded. "It's what I'd do."

"No doubt they meant to capture you," Fenris evenly said. "He deemed you basalit-an. You are their only threat."

Her dark eyes hardened, Hawke looked back into the street, "Then I best live up to that threat."

Kicking the karasten down the stairs, Hawke darted back to help Fenris reinforce the gates of the Alienage. They hoisted the last block in place, the elves on the other side backing away.

"Damned shem," one of them spat at her.

"Yes, damned me, saving your fucking life," she cursed and pushed away. She staggered back to where Anders knelt, healing a guard. "How are you doing?"

The man he was tending sucked in a breath and stirred, his eyes fluttering open, and Anders slumped back. He closed his luminous eyes and said, "Been better."

"Hawke, now's not the time for whispering sweet nothings to Blondie!" Varric called out, holding Bianca in his hip with one hand. "There's a massive fight outside of Gamlen's place."

"Shit," she said, taking to Fenris' side as they ran down the alley, Anders downing a vial of lyrium on their heels. There was a flash of light, and the qunari warring in the square staggered, half frozen and clawing at their heads in a horrific frenzy. A man in resplendent full plate barrelled a path through them, bearing a griffon shield on his arm. When the sten turned on him, a crushing cage of energy ensnared and snapped his limbs, trapping him as the glyph flared at his feet.

"Another mage," Fenris hissed as they approached.

"Watch your mouth," Anders snapped, stumbling as he stared. "That's the Hero of Ferelden you're talking about."

"Huh," Hawke said, before launching into the fray. She took a set of stairs to tackle a saarebas as the manacles on his wrists glowed, stabbing him as they grappled on the ground. The qunari snarled and hurled her off the ledge, and she skidding down the wall to break her fall, huffing into a roll. Regaining her balance, another karasten swiped her with the pommel of his sword, before nearly impaling her.

When Hawke cried out, a phantom responded, shimmering ephemeral gold and surrounded by an orb of reality warping auras. A lightning enrobed blade cleanly decapitated the qunari, and Hawke collapsed down.

"Don't move," came a soft voice, and Hawke struggled to keep her eyes open as the battle blurred. There was a wash of healing mana through her, and she stirred, looking up into a ghost. "Drink this."

Hawke snatched the potion and drank it as her vision doubled, lying back in her own blood as the elixir coursed through her. She lay panting afterward, before saying, "Thank you, I almost thought I'd seen a..."

"A ghost," Anders said as he approached, the qunari scattered and dead around them. "There's only one person I know who can do that."

The Fade-shimmering mage turned about, her concentration fading as she solidified, "Is... Anders - Anders is that really you?"

"In part," he said, glancing back to where the other Warden was helping Fenris up. "What are you and Alistair doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Neria said, pushing back the bower on her helm. Ice blue elven eyes looked up at him as she frowned, "What is wrong with you?"

Anders took Hawke's hand to help her up, and the rogue wiped her daggers on her thigh as he said, "A lot."

"Might have something to do with the qunari," Hawke said with a false smile. "Lucky we saved you."

"Saved us?" Neria lightly, glancing back to Alistair. A black mabari trotted up to her side, and she lay her hand on its head. "I think we can handle ourselves." She frowned again and looked back at him, "You abandoned Amaranthine. Why? Why Anders?"

"Me?" he answered, putting himself before Hawke as his brow knit. "You and yours ran off long before I did. You went to play house and be free, leaving me trapped at the Vigil with that templar."

Neria drew back, and was about to open her lips.

"As much as I would love to hear all the little bits of who abandoned who," Hawke said, drawing a deep breath. "There might just be an invading army bearing down on the city we call home."

"She's right," Alistair said, his hand on Neria's back.

"You feel wrong, Anders," Neria said, dropping her bower. "But thank you for... saving us, either way."

"Come with us," Hawke said as they turned away. "I may be grand, but I'm not sure I can take them all."

Neria issued a command to heel the mabari, stopping as she summoned her auras again, "We have other duties that have precedence. There is more at work than you know."

"Are - are the children alright?" Anders stammered.

The Hero's head dropped down, and Alistair secured his shield as he said, "They are somewhere safe. In Ferelden."

"I'm sorry," Neria said, hefting the Spellweaver once more as her voice wavered. "Maker watch over you."

Anders stood amidst the dead, watching them march away, scarce moving as Bianca wound and snapped, sending a flurry of bolts upon an advancing group of qunari.

"Come on," Hawke hissed, shaking his shoulder. "Time for that later."