They stepped into a large, circular room. Light spilled onto the floor from a series of hanging lanterns burning with magical blue flame. Against the walls were a series of empty elevated platforms, places where the dwarves of old could watch the proceedings below.

In the center of the room was a large, stone throne. In front of the throne stood Sabinia.

Elissa was expecting an older woman, someone Paien's age. The woman before her was a young woman who only appeared aged through destitution and self neglect. Sabinia was rail thin, and her arms and legs looked as though they could snap from the slightest tap. Black hair was long and matted at the tips with dried blood. The original color of her robes was difficult to determine under the layers of dirt, filth, and blood.

But despite her disheveled appearance, Sabinia's dark little eyes were sharp. They followed Paien as he moved closer and fell to his knees before her. "There you are, my darling," she murmured as she rested a thin hand on the crown of his head.

"You need to stop this, Sabinia, you know you need to stop this…" the elder Warden mumbled with a bowed head.

Sabinia's gaze focused on the others in the room as swords were cautiously drawn. She studied the unconscious Alistair, then Nathaniel with interest. "You were meant to come alone. That pool was for you, not them." She lifted her staff.

Nathaniel let out a startled cry. His arms were moving of their own accord, twisting out of their binds and snatching the bow from his back. He stumbled backwards as his hands knocked an arrow in the bow and aimed it at Lindise. "What the-?!"

Likewise, Alistair was moving as well, kicking himself out of Vash's grip and scampering away to Sabinia's side. A moment later his blade was in his hand, vacant expression on his face as he stood between the mage and the Wardens.

"She's controlling them!" Fenris sneered, shifting his gaze from Nathaniel to Alistair warily. "Damned, filthy magic!"

The blood pool. The blood splattered darkspawn, had she been controlling them as well? Elissa lifted her chin as her eyes caught movement. On the various platforms above, darkspawn had to begun to appear. Crude bows were lifted in dirty hands, fat arrows pointed in her direction.

Paien, still kneeling on the floor, stared up at Sabinia, a bit slack jawed. "You're so young…"

"Again, the pool was meant for you." The mage looked back down at him, slipping her lean frame further behind Alistair's broad form. "The things that blood magic can do, can really do… Imagine, avoiding the effects of the Taint, ignoring the Calling, staying young and bright forever… You and I, my sweet, sweet Paien."

Nathaniel continued to back away, but his arms were out of his control and continued to aim an arrow at the party. No matter how he twisted or turned his body, his arms would quickly twist and turn back towards their mark. "What have you done to us?" he growled.

Sabinia lifted a brow. "I cannot restore youth to two men who already possess it, now can I? No. Your… intrusion was unwelcome, but not unexpected. Your bodies are mine. Or parts of, in your case. Now stop fidgeting or I'll loose that arrow into the girl's pretty breasts," she said, nodding towards Lindise.

Lindise stood trembling with rage. "Paien," she hissed. "Paien, we came to kill her, get up!"

Sabinia's thin, filthy hand rested atop Paien's bowed head. "I claimed his heart and his mind years ago. He gave both willingly. You can have neither."

Elissa stepped carefully to the side, and Fenris slowly did the same in the opposite direction. Sabinia was controlling Alistair, using him as a shield. If they could flank her...

Elissa glanced to Nathaniel. His arrow was following Fenris. The tip of Alistair's blade, however, was following her. "Alistair, can you hear me?"

The man's face held no expression, though the muscles around his eyes trembled. He grunted, then lunged at her as she drew too close. The movement was slow, clumsy. Alistair was never terribly quick with his fighting, but he certainly was more graceful and powerful than that. Elissa jumped back, "Damn it! Release them!"

Sabinia lowered to sit beside Paien, arms draped about him as she stroked his ears. "Do you remember?" she murmured to him. "I said I always wanted to know where you were, and that you were safe... and you gave me just a little blood. You remember that, don't you? I kept it, darling, my darling. And when I had to flee, I used it."

Paien kneeled passively before her, shaking his head in confusion. "I don't..."

"I know the Calling is nipping at your heels, too. They've tainted the pool I made for us, but we can use them to make another."

Fenris turned the blade in his hands, watching Nathaniel cautiously. "I can knock that out of your hands."

"With a blade that size, you'll take my hands off."

"You underestimate my ability."

"Look at how I am holding the bow, elf."

Fenris frowned, and still pointing the flat of the blade towards Nathaniel to deflect any arrows, he looked at the man's hands. "What about it?"

"You ever fired an arrow?"

"Poorly."

Elissa glanced over at Nathaniel. His arm was rigid, and the hand holding the arrow was pulled back towards his armpit.

Not his cheek. He always pulled his arrow back to his cheek, and his arm was never tense. Always light and effortless. Sabinia wasn't lining up his arrow correctly, and her control of Alistair was clumsy. She had no idea how to control these men. Her control of the darkspawn was different. Those she merely pointed in the desired direction.

For Nathaniel and Alistair, however, she required full control. Like flesh golems. "Fenris, step back," she barked.

The elf stared at her a moment in disbelief, "Really?"

The farther his target, the worse his already poor aim would be. Nathaniel was also backing away with cautious steps.

The stone ground trembled as Lindise stepped forward. Pebbles buzzed and twirled as she moved, red faced and furious. "Enough of this, Sabinia! You've gone truly mad!"

For the next few seconds, several things happened all at once. Sabinia leapt to her feet and lifted her staff. She pointed it at the advancing Lindise. Lindise began to pull up the stone floor by lifting her own staff. Vash, who had been hanging back, jogged towards the thin little elf.

Arrows flew. Vashoth stumbled back as the darkspawn arrowed peppered his chest. Nathaniel's arrow flew far to the left, bouncing off a wall.

Lindise was lifted up into the air with a gurgle. Sabinia's eyes flashed, and she whipped her staff to one side. Lindise's arms spread and her head tipped back. Wounds burst open at her wrists like strained seams. Blood began to pour out of the young woman, and red streams wove through the air like smoke, swirling around the blood mage.

Elissa moved, slamming her body into Alistair, shoving him into Sabinia. Under his weight, the blood mage was bowled over and let out a shriek. Lindise fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

The darkspawn on the platforms had knocked more arrows and began raining them down again. Fenris shielded himself with his sword, while Elissa dashed to the side in an attempt to avoid them. There had to be a stairway or a ramp, something to lead her up towards the archers. Her team was down to herself and Fenris now. No way of engaging the enemy at long range, not with Lindise down bleeding and Nathaniel under Sabinia's control.

As she was searching the room, the stone platforms began to crack. Elissa jumped back in alarm as the thick stone came crashing down, bringing the darkspawn archers down with them. She spun to see Lindise, on the ground and bleeding heavily, grabbing at the air with her hands and magically pulling the platforms down.

Vash was crawling towards her, a healing potion in hand. He was bleeding as well. Several of the darkspawn arrows had dug deep, and he was pushing towards Lindise to give her a healing potion rather than take one himself.

Elissa gritted her teeth and stepped back to protect them. "Fenris!" she shouted, pointing at the darkspawn still alive and moving under the rubble of the collapsed platforms. He nodded once and leapt after them.

Sabinia pushed Alistair off her, groaning in pain as she got back to her feet. Alistair scrambled up as well, clumsily, and thrust his blade in Elissa's direction. Elissa feinted and avoided the attack easily. She needed to get to Sabinia before she attempted that blood draining trick again.

She felt an arrow whiz past her cheek, as the controlled Nathaniel missed his target yet again.

"You fools," Sabinia hissed, cupping her arm to her chest. It must have snapped under Alistair's weight. "You should be grateful… your sacrifice… will grant us immortality… Think of how powerful the Wardens will be when we are no longer slaves to the Old Gods!" She dropped to sit in the throne, and Paien crawled after her on his hands and knees. "We shall be the masters... we shall be the Gods," she went on. She stroked his cheek and left a neat smear of Lindise's blood.

"That did not end well for the last mage who tried it, Sabinia." Elissa spun her blade in her palm and stepped closer.

"I can summon a demon to kill you, you know," the mad mage tilted her head. "Hundreds of them. The secrets they have whispered to me... Your Qunari friend over there has more than enough blood to bring them forth."

Elissa didn't take her eyes off Sabinia to look at Vash, and she could hear the clanging of steel as Fenris continued to engage the darkspawn. "He's not a Warden. Surely, Warden blood is a far better resource than Qunari blood."

Sabinia's eyebrows quirked. "Are you volunteering?"

"You said it yourself. I should be grateful. Proud to spill my blood to uplift the Grey Wardens." Elissa spread her arms and dropped her blades. They struck the stone floor with loud, echoing bangs.

"No." Elissa glanced at Paien, who was on his feet now. "No," he said again, "no, Sabinia. Lindy… what have you done?"

Sabinia rose with narrowed eyes, her hand out to hush Paien. "This is a trick."

Elissa spread her arms and stood still. Across the room, Fenris fell silent as the last darkspawn was slain.

Paien slipped past them, crouching down beside the bleeding Lindise. Elissa's eyes never left the blood mage. "Sabinia, stop. It's time to stop," Paien said, his voice weary. "It's time to stop fighting and... accept what we knew was our fate."

Sabinia stepped to the side to follow him, placing herself between Elissa and Alistair, who stood perfectly still under her spell, sword raised. Her voice shifted from screeching anger to despair in mere seconds. "Accept our fate? I never accepted it. Always fight it. Always. This is worth fighting for. You! You are worth fighting for, Paien!"

Elissa sprang forward, barreling into Sabinia. She shoved her backwards into Alistair, sinking his blade through her back, through her kidney, and out her stomach. The blood mage's eyes grew wide, and Alistair's hand snapped out to grab her by the shoulder and pull her deeper into his blade.

The spell was broken. Elissa stepped back to fetch her blades again and looked up to see an arrow between Sabinia's eyes. Nathaniel lowered his bow and met Elissa's gaze.

Paien shuddered and let out a haunting cry. He doubled over, trembling. "Maker…"

For the first time, Elissa saw that Vash wasn't moving. He lay beside Lindise, healing potion still in his hand. Lindise lay pale and bleeding with terrified eyes open and fixed on Paien.

"Help!" she called out as she plucked the bottle from him, rolling Vash onto his back to pour it down his gullet.

Alistair kicked Sabinia from his sword, then gagged and bent over, vomiting on the stone floor. He dropped his sword and heaved a few times, hands on his knees. "Andraste's boots, I swallowed some…" he gurgled.

Fenis scampered over to the dead Sabinia, and removed her head to make sure she was dead.

Nathaniel quickly kneeled beside Elissa and dug through Vash's things for more healing potions. "She's dying."

Paien seemed to have recovered some of himself, and placed his hands over her wounds. "That won't… that won't help her now." He sucked in a breath, "Give me his dagger."

Lindise's eyes widened even further, voice weak, "No…"

"Paien," Elissa began.

"Give it to me!" he demanded. Nathaniel slipped the little enchanted blade from Vash's belt and dropped it in Paien's palm.

"No…" Lindise whispered. "Paien, no…"

"Let him go." Alistair straightened and stepped closer. "I feel as though I've been shouting that at you this whole time. Just… let him go." He locked eyes with Elissa for a moment, and then he kneeled at Paien's side. "I can help."

Paien hesitated, but placed the blade in Alistair's open hand.

"Paien…" Lindise whispered again, trembling as Paien took her bloody hand in his.

"Sh. It's going to be all right." The elder warden gave her a faint, sad smile. "You're doing me a kindness, before the Taint takes me completely."

Her head shook again as Alistair stood over him, blade in hand. "Close your eyes," he told her, and rested a hand on the back of Paien's head. "Ready?"

"Yes," he said. "Thank you."

The younger Warden paused, his lips set in a grim line. The blade swung across Paien's throat, then down towards Lindise. Just as Vash had done, the blade missed her by inches, but splattered her with Paien's blood. Alistair quickly pulled Paien back to that his body would not drop on the trembling elf.

The magical cuts along her arms began to close up, and she gained the strength enough to choke out a sob, rolling onto her side. As she continued to heal, the sobs turned into wails, and Alistair slipped closer to gather her up in a bear hug, holding and rocking her as she screamed.