"Isabela, stop!" protested Anders as she dragged him into the next cave. She ignored him as she bodily dragged him across the floor of the cave, making directly for the light shining dimly through the entrance on the far side.
Anders set his staff firmly against the stone floor and managed to wrench away from her, stumbling a little.
"What are you doing?" she exclaimed as she halted and turned back. "The exit is just up ahead!"
Anders shook his head, ignoring the flare of pain in his head. "I'm not leaving Hawke and Fenris to face darkspawn alone," he said with grim determination.
"It's their choice, Anders!" she protested.
"And this is mine!" he snapped back as he turned back to face the way they'd come. He fumbled through his pouches, fingers brushing potion vials and reagents.
"Those miasmic blast things Varric and Hawke use - have you got any with you?" he asked suddenly.
"Yes - why?" asked Isabela as she pulled a couple from a belt pouch and handed them to him.
"Just an idea I had," muttered Anders as he slung his staff on his back then drew his belt knife to open one of the small capsules.
"I hope you know what you're doing," murmured Isabela as she drew her knives, the sounds of combat coming closer.
Anders ignored her, pulling reagents out of his pouches and adding something to the contents of the capsule, stirring it a little with the tip of his knife. He pulled a vial of lyrium from his belt, uncorking it with his teeth then carefully adding a few drops of the glowing blue liquid. The contents of the capsule began to glow with an eery green light similar to that of a paralysis glyph as he sealed it up then opened up the other capsule.
"Whatever you're doing, better make it fast!" warned Isabela. "They're almost upon us!"
Anders ignored her, crumbling reagents into the capsule before adding a few drops of lyrium. This time the contents of the capsule glowed a purplish-red as he sealed the capsule back up.
"Anders!" hissed Isabela.
The former Grey Warden tucked his belt knife back in its sheath as he backed away, unslinging his staff again. He may not have magic at his command any more, but the end of his staff bore a blade and he knew how to wield the staff as a weapon in a pinch.
Hawke staggered backwards into the cave, Fenris a step behind. "What are you still doing here?" exclaimed the human rogue raggedly as he stared at Anders and Isabela, anger warring with desperation across his face.
"Get out of my way," said Anders, readying his staff.
"Are you mad, mage?" hissed Fenris, sparing him a glance as he turned to face the dark passage. "The emissary is right behind us!"
"All the more reason for you to get out of my way," growled Anders as he twirled his staff.
There was a blast of energy from the passageway and Fenris was sent hurtling backwards into Hawke, the two men going down as the emissary emerged into the cave. It gestured at Anders and a bolt of green fire roared towards him.
Anders swung his staff and deflected the fire with the dragons-head end of his staff, twisting the staff in midair to sling the energy straight back at the emissary. He swore as he felt a backlash of energy through the haft of the staff, scorching his palm, even as he hefted the glowing green capsule and hurled it at the emissary's feet. There was a brilliant flash of green light and then the emissary was held in a glowing green matrix of energy that pulsed at its feet and wound around its lower legs up as far as the knees, pinning it in place and effectively blocking the passage behind it.
"Get back!" called Anders as he brought up the bladed end of the staff and slashed the emissary across the chest, following up the blow with a hurled vial of something dark that shattered against the darkspawn's bleeding chest. The emissary shrieked and wailed, clawing at the sticky liquid before hissing in fury, its cries eliciting screams of impotent fury from the genlocks trapped behind it as the blond apostate backed away.
"What did you do?" asked Hawke as he helped Fenris to his feet and they backed away towards the cave entrance.
"I'll tell you later," muttered Anders as he pulled out the glowing purplish-red capsule. "When I throw this, run."
"What-" began Hawke but got no further as Anders hurled the capsule at the emissary. There was a bright flash of red light and a detonating blast that lifted them off their feet and threw them towards the cave entrance.
Hawke somehow managed to get an arm around Anders' waist and pulled the blond apostate to him as the cave floor came up to meet them, cushioning their impact with his own body, dropping his bow to cradle Anders' injured head as they landed. Anders cried out as pain lanced through his skull at the touch then slumped over the rogue.
Fenris was coughing as dust filled the small cave. "Got to get out of here," the elf muttered as he rolled to his feet.
"Someone give me a hand with Anders!" called Hawke as he struggled upright. Fenris reached over and dragged a limp arm over his shoulders as Hawke got to his feet, his arm still around Anders' waist. Isabela grabbed Hawke's bow and Anders' staff, coughing as she darted a glance back through the billowing dust to the wall of broken rock that now filled the rear of the cave where the emissary and genlocks had stood a few minutes before.
"Venhedis, what did the mage do?" wondered Fenris.
"Never mind that now, let's get him out into the fresh air," coughed Hawke as he shifted towards the entrance.
They emerged coughing into the late afternoon sunshine, all of them covered in pale grey dust and blinking. Fenris and Hawke dragged the unconscious apostate down the hillside, Isabela bringing up the rear. They halted near a small stream, and Isabela pulled out a bedroll and pillow for the two men to lay Anders on.
"How did he do that?" asked Hawke when they'd all caught their breath and had a drink from the stream to wash the cave dust out of their mouths.
"A couple of miasmic blast capsules he modified with reagents from his pouches," said Isabela.
"So even without his magic our former mage is still a force to be reckoned with," remarked Fenris thoughtfully.
"Well, he is a Grey Warden," pointed out Hawke. "I never knew he could redirect magic with his staff like that though."
"There's a lot you don't know about Blondie," remarked Isabela.
"And you do, I suppose?" replied Fenris acerbically. The Rivaini pirate shrugged.
"Only a little more than you do. I met him in the Pearl in Denerim several years ago during one of his escapes from the tower. We only spent a handful of nights together before the templars showed up to drag him back again. It was fun whilst it lasted. We weren't exactly swapping life stories though."
"I can imagine," replied Hawke drily.
Anders groaned faintly and stirred as he slowly came to. Hawke shifted to his side to help him sit up as Anders blinked dazedly. The rogue handed Anders a waterskin and the apostate accepted it with a cautious nod, wincing as even that small movement caused him pain. He rinsed out his mouth then drank.
"What did you do back there?" asked Hawke when he lowered the waterskin.
"Improvised," replied Anders tersely. "Augmented Isabela's little bombs with a few extra ingredients, used lyrium for the charge to power them. The stuff in the vial was magebane extract - hurts like buggery when it gets into an open wound, and blocks the ability to use magic - in mages, at any rate. I didn't know if it would work on an emissary - they're not exactly human, after all - but anything that would stop it getting off another spell had to be worth a try."
He put a hand to his head, rubbing his temple gingerly. Fenris wordlessly uncorked a healing potion and handed it to him; Anders looked at the dark red liquid then sighed and drank it down.
"Do you think you can walk for a bit?" asked Hawke. "If we get going now we might make the gates of Kirkwall before sundown."
"I can try," said Anders as he lowered the empty flask then breathed a soft sigh of relief, the pain dulling to an ache.
"I am sorry I called you a cripple, m- Anders," Fenris corrected himself. Anders blinked at him in surprise.
"You're apologising to me?" he exclaimed.
The elf scowled and got to his feet, dusting off his leather armour. "We should move on," he said tersely, slinging his sword across his back and heading towards the road.