To her horror, when Hawke awoke the spell wisps had dimmed considerably.

Idiot! She had wasted their light!

Hawke pulled herself together hurriedly. She would have to get moving again, climb as much as she possibly could while she could still see. Above her head, the flickering light that was her goal had grown to the size of a coin in her vision, and was clearly the firelight of the chamber she had fallen from.

She might actually make it! Though still far, her goal seemed within reach. Oh, to lie down her aching body in her own bed, that was the most wonderful thought in the world. Just a little bit longer, she told herself.

Every muscle screamed in protest as she began her climb anew. But she had adrenaline to aid her now. She was getting closer, and she knew at least one person was looking for her, and if she could get near enough... perhaps they were climbing down right now to aid her!

As time dragged on, there was still no sign of anyone in this pit. Not alive, at any rate. She did see a body, in the dim light of the spell wisps, jutting out of one of the dragonling's holes. She had cringed at the sight, hoping none of her companions had fallen in and been devoured. But she could just make out a miner's hat dangling from the stripped skull. One of her workers, poor sod.

Hawke paused in her upward journey and worked her way over to the dismembered corpse, retrieving a bit of gold from the body - a chain, with an emblem dangling from it. Some family member would be glad to have this. It was too bad she had only one good arm, or she might have been able to bring the body for a proper funeral.

Her inspection of the lost miner was interrupted when one of the spell wisps blinked out suddenly, and then relit, a little bit dimmer.

They would not last forever – she needed to move on.

Hours later, she was still pulling herself along. Her body had grown even stiffer, and she feared that if she stopped to rest she would not be able to get back up again. Her body would curl up and clench and refuse to do anything more. So she continued on slowly.

Light fell into the pit now in delicate, twinkling shafts of illumination. She could make out the opposite side and the many holes in it. Nests.

She took care, now, to be quiet. So close to her goal, she would not risk another attack. She even pulled off her helmet, to prevent it clanking against the cliff wall every time she leaned against it. She chucked the thing straight into the center of the abyss below her, the sight of the helmet disappearing down into the dark making her briefly nauseous.

Her vision improved considerably without the gear cutting it off at the sides, and she could certainly move her head more freely. One of the spell wisps had died away, and the second was sputtering. It sat on her shoulder like a tame bird and flared weakly. It was no matter - they had gotten her most of the way up and she was grateful for their help. She would be able to see without their aid very soon.

Now and then she would be dizzy, and would have to stop moving and wait for it to pass. The sight of her own hands, which she had stared at for so many hours, seemed to be getting farther and farther away from her, as though retreating down a long tunnel, and everything became darker again.

She shook herself vigorously, to keep her traitorous body awake.

No sleep. Not here. She could not rest now until she got to the top. If she fell asleep like this she would die. And although it was getting harder and harder to care about that, when her waking hours were so endlessly painful, Hawke was stubbornly determined to survive.

It may have crossed her mind, once or twice, that if she would only let go she could see them again. Mother and Father and Carver. But no. Not yet. Not today.

(Why did she always end up struggling alone for survival? Why was there never someone there to help her, after all she had done to help others?)

Hawke could not think of anything coherently now. Her body was proceeding on its own, grasping and climbing.

In this stupor of pain and plodding motion, Hawke reached inadvertently into a nest.

Unthinkingly she reached even further in, wondering if she could drag herself into it, before her hand encountered something warm, something that jerked at her touch.

Ohshit.

Suddenly very awake, she hurried past the hole, hoping the thing inside would be asleep, would not be hungry, would not emerge. As usual, she had no luck. A screech emanated from inside the nest and a long, large head emerged below her, looking around.

ohshitohshit. A drake.

gogogogogogogogogo

Eyes focused firmly on her goal, Hawke rushed ahead, moving faster than she had in many hours. Her heart hammered in her chest and she panted with the effort, and pretended she didn't hear the rustling sound of the drake pulling itself out of its nest.

She kicked at the talons suddenly grabbing at her foot, and whimpered. oh no please I'm so close...

Hawke chewed her lip so not to scream as the thing bit into her uncovered leg, letting out only an involuntary whimper. With all her strength she clung to the wall. It pulled at her, to try to drag her down, and her vision exploded with agony.

The part of her mind that still functioned was searching desperately for a solution. What- what could she do? No axe, no armor, one good arm that clung to the wall. How could she kill this thing? Her mind whirled uselessly.

The rest of her simply hung on.

The thing pulled again, and tore through skin and muscle. An involuntary cry squeaked out, and she saw to her horror that more of the things were coming, drawn to the noise and the light and the blood that dripped from her leg. Little and big, the lizards skittered along the cliff-face, expertly spitting in the face of gravity.

They were going to eat her a little bit at a time, suspended here in the dark.

Tears streamed down her face as another of the things raked its talons across her back.

help me somebody help me please

Again between being eaten and falling to her death the latter was a more appealing option. Why hang on now when all hope was lost? Let go. Let go. Her family was waiting for her. Let go.

Crying, she tried to shake them off, to take another handhold and climb up. She wasn't ready to die yet. Please, Maker, not yet. To her last breath she would keep climbing.

A great maw reached beneath her good arm and clamped around her breastplate, biting down with a great popping sound that punctured something inside.

And then -

And then-

there was

a light?

Yes. The light. Everything stopped because of the light.

The air above her crackled with energy, and all the things tearing into her were drawn up into the eerie blue light.

The claws and teeth left Hawke still clinging to the wall, shaking and crying in pain and terror.

Blue light... Anders? Anders, my love, is that you?

Hawke gulped and gasped and fought to bring herself under control. Someone was up there. A sudden burst of petulant stubbornness propelled her to climb again. There was terrible damage to her body, she knew, but the feeling of it stayed strangely distant. She pushed up, climbing to one handhold and then another.

Anders, you came for me. I knew it.

Anders, why did you take so long, why did you leave me alone, why do you always...?

Unchecked tears streamed down her face as she inched along in agony.

Gradually, she could hear voices. Several voices, chatting away.

Chatting?

All the pain and terror of the last few days coalesced into rage.

Were they having a fucking picnic up there, while she bled to death? What on earth were they doing? Why hadn't they come for her?

Securing herself to the wall, Hawke's fury rose into a loud cry.

HELP ME MAKERDAMNYOU she screamed.

She had to catch her breath before trying again.

HELLO UP THERE?

This time there was a distant cry.

"Hawke?"

"AVELINE! Instead of being relieved, Hawke was even more furious. "WHAT IN HELL ARE YOU DOING UP THERE I NEED HELP" She choked on a sob. "YOU ASSHOLES... I need help..."

The reply floated down to her faintly. "HAWKE STAY WHERE YOU ARE I'M COMING."

Someone was coming.

Hawke put her forehead to the stone and tried to stop crying.

It would not do for Aveline to see her cry.

Just a little bit longer. Just hold on a little bit longer.

Author's note: hey everybody, thanks for all the comments! You guys are awesome.

Hopefully I'll be putting up one more chapter later today.