Elissa was able to catch little glimpses of Paien ahead of them. She and Lindise had crossed from the cave into the Deep Roads not too long ago. The road was lined with ornate brick, hand carved from the stone by dwarves countless years ago. The roads opened up into a large, cavernous room filled with pillars, and little pools of water with glowing algae to illuminate the dark underground room.

Paien was at the far end of the room, and between him and Elissa were darkspawn. The creature's heads and faces were painted red, and they simply watched the old Warden pass before they turned their attention back to Elissa and Lindise. They snarled, banged shields on the ground, and began to advance.

Lindise sucked in a breath beside her, and she lifted up her arms. Bricks pulled themselves up from the road and began to stack up into a large, human form. She was making a golem.

Alistair had wanted to see her make a golem.

Elissa shook her head quickly. Focus. She drew out her twin blades and charged forward. She could hear thundering steps as Lindise's magic sent a stone warrior into battle at her heels.

Why had the darkspawn let Paien past? Elissa drove one sword into the collarbone of a darkspawn, twisting it to sever nerves and arteries. They needed to catch up with him. "Paien!"

The stone brick golem was smashing darkspawn into jelly, and Lindise hung back, carefully controlling its actions by swinging her arms and kicking her feet. She cried out for Paien as well, as the golem picked up one of the smaller darkspawn and pulled its arms off as if plucking petals from a daisy.

That was handy magic. Not perfect, of course. Controlling her golem left Lindise vulnerable and distracted. Elissa stepped to one side to keep the mage protected, and into the swing of a darkspawn mace. She grunted as a mace struck her gut and stumbled back with the impact. She heard the whiz of an arrow a moment before she felt the second dig into the back of her knee.

Lindise cried out in pain as well as another darkspawn bowman struck her with an arrow in the side. She swung her arms out, and the golem did the same, knocking the archers from their perches and stomping on their heads.

Very handy magic indeed.

Elissa had lost count of how many darkspawn she killed. Perhaps it was the Warden in her taking over, but she simply turned into a machine, despite the pain from injuries. It felt familiar, a strange sense of comfort. Her sword just always seemed to know where to strike, and it almost always found its mark.

By the time the darkspawn were dead, Elissa was breathless and Lindise was exhausted. Her golem fell to pieces, making a pile of bricks on the floor, and the mage herself crumpled into a similar pile.

"There will be more," Lindise said weakly, getting back to her feet. "There are always more..." She sucked in a deep breath and called out, "Paien!"

Elissa dug into her pack for a healing poultice and gulped it down.

The mage turned back to her, "We can't stop! He was just ahead of us!"

Elissa lowered her bottle and blinked at the woman. "We need to stop and catch our breath, Lindise. You're bleeding, take a poultice. And some lyrium." She dug out a second bottle and held it out to her.

"Paien was... just ahead of us. He's alone, all these darkspawn..."

"The darkspawn were ignoring him, Lindise." She grasped the mage's wrist and pressed the bottle into her palm. "And we are no help to him when wounded. Drink. Now."

Lindise frowned down at the red bottle in her hand, but nodded and pulled the cork. "Do you think they got out all right?" she asked in a small voice.

Elissa straightened, feeling the warmth of the healing potion spread through her body as the pain faded. "I think we need to remain focused on our task. Can the three of us take on Sabinia?"

"Not easily." Lindise drained the red bottle before uncorking a blue.

Elissa nodded, "Then we shall secure Paien and convince him to leave with us. The desire to finish a task should not trump the need to do it properly and without needless casualties."

"You sound like Paien," Lindise said with a soft sad chuckle. She sucked in a breath and rose back to her full height. "I'm ready." She paused, "And I apologize for... losing my head a bit."

Elissa locked eyes with the slight elfin mage for a moment. "You know, I meant to ask you about Paien, and I never had the chance to. Now I have no need to. It's very clear how highly you think of him. How much you admire him."

Lindise blinked in surprise, then dropped her gaze. "Well, I-"

"Elissa!"

The two women turned to the voice. Jogging up the tunnel was Nathaniel, his arms crossed over his chest and held in place with bandages. Behind him was the tattooed elf they'd met in Bisbeck, and at the rear was Vash with the still unconscious Alistair slung over his shoulder.

"Nathaniel!" Elissa jogged towards them with wide eyes. "I told you-"

"There was an ogre blocking the entrance. We couldn't get out. Where's Paien?" Nathaniel's gaze wandered over the piles of dead darkspawn.

"Just ahead of us. An ogre?" Elissa arched a brow at the newcomer, "So... you changed your mind, I see?"

The elf shrugged, "I bore easily."

"Fenris, this is Elissa and that is Lindise." Nathaniel nodded to the mage.

Fenris stared at Lindise for a long moment, his eyes narrowed. But he said nothing, only walked past them and nudged at dead darkspawn with his toe.

Elissa moved closer to Vash, stepping around him to study Alistair's face. "No change?"

"None." The kossith shook his head and shifted the warrior's dead weight on his shoulder. "We can take a moment, feed him some poultices, try some healing oils."

She turned to look at Lindise, who nodded. "Yes," Elissa said, "quickly."

Vash settled Alistair on a low bench to the side of the road and propped him into a sitting position with his usual care. He dug into a bag and fished out a pair of bottles, one of which he tossed to Lindise. "Try rubbing that on Nathaniel's arms, see if it has any effect."

She nearly dropped it, but after a bit of fumbling, Lindise managed to get a grip on the little yellow bottle and turned to face Nathaniel. The bandages were unwrapped to let his arms fall limp. Lindise quickly shook a few drops onto her palm from the bottle, filling the air with the scent of rosemary and tart hawthorn berries. Nathaniel sighed and tipped his head back, letting Lindise vigorously rub the solution into his arms. "I can't even feel that..."

Lindise's mouth twisted up in a grimace, "It's blood magic. I wish I could do something... So foolish of me to continue to be so afraid of blood magic, even now that I'm outside the Circle. But I suppose it's a good thing, isn't it? With how she turned out." Her head shook a little, "Paien told me I was powerful enough, not to risk myself by studying it. But now…"

Nathaniel was quiet, staring at the dome rock ceiling carved out by dwarves countless years ago. Finally he said in a very low voice, "You're in love with him, aren't you?"

The elf blinked and stared at him, color flooding her face. She scowled quickly and returned to her task with a bit of agitation. "And you are in love with her."

"Mm," Nathaniel said by way of not exactly confirming her statement. He watched Elissa from the corner of his eyes, bent over Alistair while Vash fed him poultices and attempted his oil rubs. "Nothing is keeping you from getting what you want."

"Don't be ridiculous. You don't know the first thing..." She stopped herself, then huffed, "He is my commander, and a great deal older than me. What's more, he..." She frowned and rocked back, corking the bottle. "He has someone."

"And it's not you?"

"It's not me."

"The worst kind of ache."

"Yes," Lindise said. She leaned forward and began to wrap him up again in the bandages. "We need to find him."

Nathaniel tried wiggling his fingers. Nothing. He sighed and nodded, gazing down the road before he looked back at the others. "Are we ready?"

Elissa remained crouched over the unconscious Alistair, concern lining her face. She looked at Nathaniel, "It's not safe for you to remain here, is it?" She swallowed and rose. "Stay close to Vash. Lindise, can you make another golem to walk with us? Another means of protection?"

Lindise nodded, waving her hands, "I can continue to control a golem as long as the lyrium holds out."

"Fenris and Vash, be careful of the blood. Avoid it if you can. Stay close, keep weapons drawn. We are to secure Paien and retreat."

Fenris turned and gave her a dark look, "What about the mage?"

"Another day when we don't have so many injured and incapacitated," Elissa responded. "He headed northward. Let's move, quickly."