Okay, so after a much longer hiatus than I ever intended, I am back. Man, babies are a lot of work. Did you all know that? Well, now that little bub has an 8:30 bedtime, I actually have time to write again. Hopefully, I can begin updating with some regularity now that the exhaustion of raising a newborn has passed.

As a quick update, our poor Eriana has been captured by Haden Temmerly, who is working for some unknown mastermind. Poor Zander (I liked Zander) was murdered when they were attacked.

Let me go ahead and warn you, this chapter is not fluffy. There is a rather disturbing scene when Temmerly first encounters Eriana that may trigger some bad memories if you have a history of abuse, so read it with caution.

I hope some of you are still with me. I do have a plan for where I'm taking this, so let me know if you like the direction thus far (or if anyone is still reading this).

-0-

The long shadows of the evening sun stretched over the clearing as Nathaniel stood looking down at the cold body of the Antivan assassin. It had taken Nathaniel a bit longer than he had liked to assemble the team of ten wardens who had set out after their "captured" commander. Though he and Ana had chosen the group weeks ago, it had been difficult to turn people away. Everyone had eagerly volunteered to assist in going after her; most had insisted actually, forcing him to waste precious minutes arguing with those chosen to stay behind, especially Ser Brendan who had taken special exception to being left behind. Nathaniel was forced to pull him aside and explain the entire situation, adding that the Commander herself had insisted that he remain in command of the Wardens.

Now though, looking at the small band of rogues and warriors, Nathaniel was beginning to wonder if it would have been a wise decision to bring more. With the assassin dead, tracking her would be more difficult, but they had not hinged all their hopes on the Antivan leaving them a trail. With his highly developed tracking ability and Ragout's keen connection to her scent, following their trail should have been a relatively simple task. These kidnappers, it seemed, were more clever than they had given them credit for. All evidence suggested that four carts had taken off in four directions, and judging by the way the wolf and the mabari were frantically sniffing each trail, getting a lock on the path they took was proving difficult.

"So, how much of a head start do these guys have on us?" Oghren asked gruffly coming to stand beside the rogue, his massive arms folded across his chest as the two wardens stared down at the dead assassin.

"Judging by his body temperature, he's been dead for over six hours." Nathaniel sighed, dragging a calloused hand over his face.

"Well, I have to say, Howe, that this is one of the stupidest ideas you have ever come up with. You let her go off alone to be kidnapped by the people who have been trying to kill her for the better part of two years, and the only way you have of tracking her being a single now dead assassin. Have I got the basic gist of the plan?"

Nathaniel sighed and nodded. When he heard Oghren explain it out-loud, it did sound rather foolish.

"Well, what were you drinking when you two devised this dumb-ass plan?"

"Look, this was mostly Eriana's plan. She was getting desperate to find out who has been behind this all this time. If I hadn't agreed to go along with it, she would have found someone who would. Regardless of how dumb the plan was," he said, turning to the Dwarf, "the fact still remains that we have to find her and standing here talking about it isn't getting us anywhere." Reaching down, be grabbed a ring and pendant from the dead elf and slipped it into his pocket. Eriana may want something to remember him by. "Someone get this body buried."

"So why is it that I am just now hearing about this brilliant plan? If it's something you two have been cooking up for a while, why wasn't I included on it?"

Nathaniel gave the dwarf an incredulous look. "It was important that as few people as possible knew what was going on. We were afraid that those behind it would have had plants in or around Amaranthine. It had to look like everyone was genuine when we set off after her."

"I suppose I get that, but why didn't you have people trailing them immediately?"

"If these people got any hint that we were on to them, they would have disappeared again into the woodwork, and we would lose this opportunity. Who knows when or if there would have been another chance to ensnare them. The attempts on Ana would have continued until one of them hit us with something that we weren't prepared for. This may have been our only chance to get them."

Oghren sighed, conceding the point. "That still doesn't explain why I was left out here."

"I suggested it to Ana, but she was convinced you'd never go through with it, that you'd lock her away in a tower and go after these punks yourself."

The dwarf snorted, but didn't dispute it. "You know I would do anything to protect her, Howe; you know that, but sending her off to intentionally be abducted by those who want her dead seems counter productive to me."

Nathaniel couldn't really disagree, so instead he turned to bark out a few more orders. At least it felt as if he were doing something.

Around him, the wardens were frantically searching for clues or trying to clean the clearing up. Off to one side stood Ulfric, the old warden who had transferred in from the Free Marches, stood, his eyes closed in deep concentration. As he finished up with his orders, the large gray wolf that had been inspecting the perimeter came trotting up to him. As the wolf approached, the air around it shimmered, and it transformed into a man dressed in mage's robes. "Well, Niko, what did you find?"

The mage sighed. "Well, her scent is distributed rather evenly in four distinct directions. It's difficult to pinpoint which way they took her. Her scent is the strongest to the west and north, but I can't be sure that she was taken in either direction."

Nathaniel shook his head and looked back at the dwarf. "Can you sense her at all?"

"No; you?"

"No, she's too far away to get any feel of her." Nathaniel's stomach clenched as he considered their options. Without clear scent, they were wandering round in the dark, hoping to stumble across her, and Ferelden was a big place to be stumbling through. If he had enough people, he'd send a group after each trail, but with only ten wardens, there was no away to do that. At most they could choose two trails and go from there. He wished that he could send messengers back to Amaranthine for more support, but there was no time. He was about to send them down the paths Niko had indicated when Ulfric walked up to them.

"The Commander is to the southwest."

The relief on Nathaniel's face was visible. "Thank the Maker, you can sense her?"

"I sense two distinct lone warden presences. I assume that the one to the east is your warden King, so that leaves the one to the west to be our Commander."

"That's good enough for me. Niko, you and Ramouth head down the path and we will follow. Use your hawk form to scout ahead and see if you can find any evidence of our Commander. Wardens! Move out."

-0-

It was difficult for Eriana to determine just how long they had been traveling. The lack of air in confined space she had been thrown into along with the violent shaking of the cart had knocked her unconscious several times. Slowly coming to, the battered elf tried to take stock of her predicament, but she couldn't get past the image of Zander crumbling before her, a look of panic crossing his face as the light began to leave his eyes. In that moment, Eriana had realized a tragic truth, the elven assassin had begun to develop feelings for her, and that, perhaps she too had felt something more for him. The realization was hard for her to swallow. However, this wasn't the time for that; she would have to process those feelings after she got out of this mess...if she ever did.

Focusing all her will, Eriana threw out her Warden senses, seeking out the prickling of the taint from her fellow Wardens. With a growing sense of panic, she realized that there was an emptiness that she hadn't felt in three years. She couldn't even feel Alistair in Denerim. So they had headed southwest away from the capital and Amaranthine, but there was no way for her Wardens to realize that. If she couldn't feel them, there was no way they could feel her. There was still the hope that Ramouth could follow her trail; he was, after all acutely keyed into her scent. Shifting around, the elf tried to free her arms from the ropes that kept them pinned behind her back, but they were too tightly bound. Sighing to herself, she tried to pull her knees up to her chest, yet the confined space kept her where she was. Trying her best to block out the pain that was beginning to creep through her body, she began to try to work out her situation. She should have just executed Hayden Temmerly when she had the chance. Clearly, he wasn't the mastermind behind this; after all, the man had yet to demonstrate any wits at all. Well, except for allying Himself with whoever was behind this. Sure, there were plenty of people in the kingdom who disliked her, but she wasn't sure who hated her enough to go to these lengths to kill her.

As she was trying to sort out the possibilities, the cart she was in came to a halt. A few moments later, her box was roughly lifted from the cart, jarring her around as they began to move her. They hadn't gone far when the lid was jerked open and she was poured roughly out of the bag and on to the floor. Her head smacked the hard floor, nearly knocking her out again. Before she had a chance to regain her senses, rough hands grabbed her and forced her down on a dirty mattress, securing her still bound hands to the board above her head. Opening her eyes, she saw Hayden Temmerly standing over her, looking down on her with a smug, self-satisfied expression on his face.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the eleven whore finally in her proper place," he taunted, pacing in front of her. Eriana chocked back a retort, trying to focus instead on formulating an escape plan. It didn't look good, though. The room they were in had only one opening, and between it and her were five or six men all the same size as Temmerly. Her stomach sank as she recognized the looks in their faces. How many times before had she seen those same looks from the humans who frequented the taverns around the alienage?

"What's wrong knife-ears? Not so brave without your Warden protectors around you, huh?"

"What could you possibly hope to achieve with this, Temmerly? Nothing you could do to me would change anything; you're still a wanted man and the wardens will still be in control of Amaranthine. What do you think this will accomplish?"

Hayden Temmerly smiled a sick and twisted smile down at her. "I have ceased to care about gaining anything in this country. Once we're finished with you, I'll be on a boat headed to my new life in the Free Marches. This, however, will just be sweet revenge. You've destroyed a lot of lives here, you knife-eared bitch, and it's high time you started to pay for it, starting now," he said, reaching for the laces on his trousers.

Eriana's heart sank into her stomach as all the long-buried feelings of helplessness began creeping back into her. All of a sudden, she was no longer Eriana Tabris, Hero of Ferelden, Commander of the Grey. No, she was just little Eriana, a poor elven girl making her way back from the taverns of Denerim, terrified about being pulled into some back alley. She was Eriana, too weak to defend herself from the drunken noblemen who followed her on her way back to the alienage. Fervently, she began to struggle against the ropes that were holding her in place, knowing deep in her heart that her efforts were in vain, but trying nonetheless.

Above her, Temmerly began to laugh. "Struggle all you want, you whore. I like it when they have a little fight in them." Moving over her, Temmerly ripped the thin tunic and smalls off her. Taking a minute to appraise her body, he ran a hand down her torso. "I've waited a long time for this."

Pulling himself free from the confines of his trousers, he leaned over her, and Eriana began to panic, feeling the old, familiar weight on top of her. Closing her eyes, she willed the encounter to be over quickly, but Temmerly was having none of that. The sudden sting of pain from his fist forced her eyes open. "Open your eyes, bitch. I want you looking at me." Though she wanted to disobey, to be defiant, the weak, submissive creature that was still in Eriana opened her eyes, looking up into his sneering face as he slammed into her. It felt as though her entire body was splitting open, and, despite herself, she cried out in pain. Her distress only served to spur him on because he only increased his pace, slamming violently into her.

The whole ordeal was both agonizingly long and blissfully short at the same time. After only a few minutes, Temmerly pulled out, spilling his spunk on her stomach. Once he was finished, he stood up, fixing his trousers before spitting on the disgraced elf. "She's all yours boys. Just remember that the boss man wants to finish the job, so don't rough her up too bad."

As he left, Eriana's eyes flicked over the group of men he had left behind. Andraste's grace, it was going to be a long night.

-0-

Ulfric stood on the creek bank, listening passively to his fellow wardens as he stretched his warden senses to the limit. "What do you mean you lost her?" Nathaniel shouted in frustration. To his credit, Niko didn't flinch in the face of the angry rogue.

"Her scent disappeared in this creek. We followed it up and down in both directions till the creek hit obstructions, but couldn't pick it up again. My best guess is that they reached this creek and doubled back, taking one of the other creeks we passed."

Ulfric sighed silently to himself. They had sloshed through about ten sizable creeks in the last few hours. Anyone of them could have easily accommodated a cart without leaving behind evidence. The only reason they didn't inspect them more carefully was that they picked up the scent immediately on the other side. It would take forever to backtrack and search up and down them all hoping to reencounter her scent. Frustrated, Nathaniel turned toward him. "Ulfric, can you still sense her? Are we still headed in the right direction?"

"Yes, but it takes a great deal of concentration. It will get easier as we get closer, but until then, I can only indicate general directions."

Oghren gave him a hopeful look. "That means she's still alive, right? If you can sense her, she's still alive."

Ulfric nodded, "for the time being, yes, but it is important that we move quickly and tracking through the wild isn't going to help us move. Our best bet is to find a roadway leading us in the right direction."

Nathaniel agreed, calling over Tarquin, a Dalish elf who had joined the wardens the previous summer. "You're familiar with this area, yes? " The elf nodded and began looking over them map once Ulfric had given them a rough directional bearing.

"There's an old Dalish pathway what will lead us in that direction. It's in good shape and will keep us off the main roads, which I believe is important, right?"

"If the Imperial Highway is the fastest, I don't care about keeping out of sight. We just need to catch up with them."

Ulfric glanced at the map where the elf was indicting the path's location. "The elfin path will likely take us closer to our destination."

Nathaniel nodded, rolling up the maps. "Alright, Tarquin, lead the way. Niko, scout ahead in your hawk form."

Ulfric questioned the wisdom in sending their only mage out on his own, but remained silent. From what he had seen of Niko, the young elf was insanely powerful and deadly in a fight. That, however, wasn't the real reason he wanted the mage close by. He could feel Eriana's pull weakening even though they were closing the distance to her. Their commander was in bad shape and getting worse. Niko and his healing, however limited his healing spells were, would be needed if there was any hope of retrieving the commander alive.

-0-

Time had ceased to possess any real meaning for the battered elf who lay on the dingy mattress, covered only with a thin tunic. The only time she had any light was when one of her captors paid her a visit. Then and only then was the elf afforded a little light, light so that these men could see what they were doing to her. Other than that, Eriana was trapped in a world of darkness. Not that the darkness was that bad. In fact, darkness was preferable to the light because light meant her captors, and that meant Eriana was dealing with every kind of abuse one could imagine. For what seemed like an eternity, Eriana had been beaten, raped, and tortured...everything short of killing her. That privilege, it seemed, was being saved for who ever was in charge, the mysterious person who had yet to arrive.

Since she was being kept away from any kind of light and her visitors were constant and unpredictable in nature, there was no way of telling just how much time had passed since she and Zander had left the Keep. Had it been days, weeks? It was impossible for her to really know. All she did know was that she was being kept alive until the boss arrived, the person who wanted to kill her, the person this whole ordeal was intended to trap. That was the original plan anyway, but after numerous hours spent in the company of Temmerly and his companions, Eriana no longer cared if Nathaniel and the other wardens arrived before this nameless one did. She just wanted it to be over.

Never in her life had she endured the abuse and degradation that she had received over the past few days. At first, the elf fervently, almost desperately, sought out the comforting presence of the taint from her fellow wardens, but that feeling had remained empty. Hope began to die, and Ana had ceased to seek them out. She was alone, helpless, worthless. There was no cavalry coming to rescue her from this. Whoever was behind it had clearly outsmarted them all. It was clear that Nathaniel and the wardens had lost the trail and weren't going to make it.

Just outside the door, Eriana could hear her captors talking about her. "Just make sure she eats something today. If she starves before the boss gets here, he'll be none too pleased."

"What does that matter? If she dies before he gets here, she's still out of his way. Problem solved."

"He'd be disappointed to have missed it, but I don't think he'd be overly devastated to be perfectly honest. I think he really just wants her out of the way. Just enjoy her company till he gets here. It shouldn't be more than a few more days now."

There was a roar of laughter as the men moved away. If she would have had her wits about her, Eriana might have tried to reason out the identity of their leader, but all her mind could focus on was the word days. This boss was still days out; she still had days of torture to endure.

Suddenly, she was no longer to stem the tide of tears that were welling up in her eyes. Despite her torture and humiliation, until now Eriana had been able to keep from crying. It was a trick that she had learned at a young age back in the alienage. Crying always made it worse, both for yourself and your abusers. Either the tears made them feel guilty, which usually caused them to lash out at her, or the tears spurred them on to greater cruelty. Either way, it was safer not to cry. Now, though, Eriana was unable to still her emotions. She was just too exhausted, too beaten down to be strong any longer. Pulling her knees to her chest, the young elf began to cry, heaving sobs shaking her entire body.

How desperately she just wanted it to end. How it ended no longer mattered, and despite herself, she wished this nameless boss would arrive sooner rather than later. Death would be a sweet release.

"No, mia cara. You mustn't give in. You must fight mi amora; please fight," a familiar voice whispered in her ear. The gentle caress of that sultry voice only made her sob all the harder.

"Why?" she whispered to the darkness. "Why can't I just give in? I'm just so tired, Zev; I just want it all to end. I need it to end."

"You must hang on, my warden, for me."

She nearly laughed out loud. "Why would you care? You left me, remember. I needed you," she sobbed to herself. "I still do, so where are you. I thought you loved me."

In the darkness, she felt a pair of strong arms encircle her. "You know that leaving was not what I desired. I had to protect you."

"Well, clearly your plan is working wonderfully. I'm perfectly safe here can't you tell?" she bitterly snapped.

"That is why you must hold on amora; your wardens will be here for you."

"No one is here for me. I was a fool to believe otherwise," she whispered. Deep down, she knew her desperation was manifesting this fantasy. After all, she was telling herself everything she wanted to hear: that Zevran still loved her, that she had good reason for living, that her friends would find her in time. It was all an illusion. There were no comforting arms around her. Zevran wasn't here, whispering comforting words to her, and she wasn't going to be rescued by her companions. In a few minutes, her captors would come in and shatter this illusion of hers, so she let herself believe it, gave in to the fantasy if only for a moment. If she was going to die, she was going to do it believing that Zevran still loved her, even if the sensible part of her knew that it wasn't true. She let her self feel his arms around her, hear his voice in her ear, relax in his embrace one more time. She let herself feel loved even if it was only her imagination.

Outside the door, Eriana heard the jingle of keys, and Zevran was gone.

-0-

Nathaniel rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. It had been seven days since they had lost Eriana's scent, and for the most part the only evidence they had that she was still alive was Ulfric and the slight pull of the taint that he felt. Unfortunately, tracking this way was proving to be extremely imprecise, so it was taking them a long time to pin down her location to more than a vague direction. It was only in the last day that Nathaniel and the others had begun to feel her presence. That was the only thing that was helping them keep it together.

They recently had been forced to leave the Dalish path, so their pace had slowed significantly as they trekked through the wilderness. Several times over the past day of so, they had been forced to double back and find paths around obstructions. Though they were getting closer, Nathaniel was starting to get truly desperate. It was only sheer luck that she was still alive, and the chances of her staying that we're growing slimmer the more time passed. They needed to find her...now.

Overhead, a hawk screeched as it dove down toward them, shimmering and transforming into human form as it neared the ground. "I think I may have found something," Niko said excitedly. "Just to the west, there is a new path that we're about to intersect. I followed it for a while, and began to pick up some familiar scents. Not the commander's, but some of the ones that were with her originally. I followed the path for a while, and there's a cabin a few miles from here. I could feel the pull of her taint very strongly from there. I think we found her."

For the first time in a week, Nathaniel felt a small bit of relief and a rekindling of hope. Barking out a few quick orders, Nathaniel motioned for the mage to lead them ahead. Maybe they could work this out after all.

-0-

Eriana curled into a ball as the harsh light from the hall from the hall flooded the room, nearly blinding her. The light as followed by a bucket full of cold water hit her as Temmerly entered the room. The cold from the water shocked her, causing her entire body to spasm as she coughed, trying to catch her breath. As she blinked up at the massive silhouette standing in the doorway, she was hit in the face with a plain tunic.

"Let's go, knife ears, get dressed; there's someone here who is very eager to see you," the young nobleman sneered. When her movements were too sluggish for him, Temmerly grabbed her, pulling her to her feet and jerking the tunic over her head. The moment he let go of her, she collapsed again to the floor, her weakened legs unable to support even her own weight. Temmerly threw his head back and howled with laughter. "Oh how sweet it is to see how low you've fallen. I almost wish I could just keep you here forever, but, alas, it's not meant to be. There's someone else who wants the pleasure of your company, and he's waited a very long time for it."

Without waiting for her to summon the strength to stand, Temmerly grabbed her again, dragging her unceremoniously behind him until they reached the center room of the cabin. Days ago, Eriana would have used this time to attempt to escape, or at least to scan the premises for the best escape route, but it was hopeless. She knew all too well how many men were present in the small building. There was no way that she would even make it out of the hall, even if she did have the strength to break free. No, Nathaniel and the other wardens were her only hope, and now it was too late. The end was here, and frankly, she was ready for it. However, she couldn't hold back her surprise when Temmerly threw her at the feet of his previously unknown accomplice.

Eriana lifted her head to see who it was who had been so desperate to see her dead. A sudden burst of energy surged through her as she tried to suppress the surprised gasp threatening to escape her. "You? But, why?"

Above her Eamon Gurrin smiled down at her, his eyes burning with unsuppressed disgust and hate. "Why? Do you really need to ask why? After everything you've done since you showed up on my door step, you still have the audacity to ask me why."

Eriana blinked owlishly up at him, shocked at the venom in his voice. "But…but I saved your life."

"Only after you murdered my son and brain washed my brother into following you, and believe me, I know that you didn't save my life out of the goodness of your heart. You needed me. You used me; you used my family, just like you use everyone else to push your agenda."

"I did everything I could to save your son, but he was killing people. Half of the staff of the castle was dead and attacking the village. He was possessed; there was nothing we could do."

Eamon's laugh erected the hairs on the back of her neck. "Conner is the least of my issues with you. I knew we couldn't keep his perversion a secret; Isolde just couldn't let it go. No, I could have let that go, but you just wouldn't go away. I should have let Loghain and Howe have you."

"But you needed Alistair."

"Yes, and because I needed Alistair, I had to put up with you," he sneered.

"When Alistair finds out about this…"

Eamon laughed again. "Do you really think I'm that careless? Alistair will believe that you ran off after that assassin of yours, and do you know why he will believe that? Because that's what I will tell him. With you out of the way, I will finally have his full attention. He will turn to me for everything, and then we can get this country back on the right track."

Eriana looked up at him, bewildered. There was never any love lost between her and Eamon, but she had no idea his distain ran this deep. It had always seemed as though he was merely annoyed with her, but this level of hate, where had that come from? When had he… then it hit her.

"You're jealous," she blurted out. "You're jealous of the relationship that Alistair and I have. I'm a threat to you because he listens to me."

"You're a threat to everyone, to the entire nation. I haven't fought two wars for this nation to just turn it over to you and your crazy ideas." Eamon began pacing, glairing down at her like a wolf sizing up its prey. "I knew from the beginning that you would be trouble. You had your claws deeply into him when I first met you. I thought that forcing you to end that romantic relationship would loosen your grasp, but you somehow managed to hang on. Then I thought that you had killed the relationship when you allowed Loghain to live, but you still managed to draw him back in." Eamon shook his head. "Even shipping you off to Amaranthine didn't do it. If anything, it made it worse. He still looks to you."

"He's my friend; that's all it is. If you're not happy with your relationship with him, then perhaps you shouldn't have sent him to sleep in the stables."

Eamon moved so quickly that she barely saw the back of his hand coming before it made contact with her face, snapping her neck with such force that it sent her tumbling back to the ground. "He is going to ruin this nation if he keeps following your lead. Don't you think I see the reports coming out of Amaranthine? Elves working in the city watch, mages living outside the chantry, casteless dwarves wandering around; what's next? If this continues, it could completely destroy the structure of the entire country. I refuse to believe that we saved this nation only to sacrifice everything that is good about it."

"Everything good? Things were far from good before the blight, at least for anyone who wasn't a nobleman."

"This country was doing fine, and I intend to keep it that way. Once you are gone, Alistair will forget these crazy ideas and get things put back the way they should be." He glared down at her. "It will be better for all of us once you are gone, and after a while no one, not even Alistair, will miss you. Loghain and Alistair will be remembered as the heroes of the Blight, and you will be a footnote in their epitaph."

Before Eriana could respond, Eamon grabbed her by the tunic, pulling her back to her feet. "You know, in a way, I'm glad all those original assassination attempts failed. This way is going to be so much more satisfying. This way, I'm going to get to watch you as your life drains out of you."

"Eamon, please…" Eriana started, but was unable to get anything else out as the arl's large calloused hands tightened around her throat, stopping her breath. If she had been at her full strength, she may have been able to fight him off, but not only was her strength at an end, but so was her will. Her struggle was brief and futile. Her lungs burned and her vision darkened as everything around her began to dull. In her heart, she said goodbye as everything faded to black.

-0-

"Look, Oghren," Nathaniel hissed at his companion, "I'm as eager as you are to go in after her, but it's not as simple as rushing in after her. The people who have her plan to kill her."

"All the more reason for us to get her as quickly as possible."

Nathaniel sighed. "And when they hear us, what do you think they'll do? They kill her. They've had her here for days and have yet to do anything. They're waiting for something or someone. We must get in undetected, so please be patient. Once we have her, then you can go all Oghren on them, but we must secure her first." In the distance, he heard a bird call. "That's Tarquin's signal. You stay here until we take out these two guards; got it?" The dwarf beside him grunted in response. Nodding, Nathaniel motioned toward the other to rogues who seemed to vanish into thin air.

Nathaniel himself slipped into the shadows and crept toward the trio of guards at the front door. Moving in behind the closest one, Nathaniel waited a few moments, giving his companions time to get into place.

"Yeah, well, it's a shame he's here. I was having fun with the little elven bint. I was kind of hoping to have one more go at her," the guard was saying.

Nathaniel didn't hesitate. Drawing his daggers, he swirled out of the shadows, slicing a long gruesome gash across the man's throat, dropping him before the man even realized he had been attacked. Without pausing, his second dagger was embedded in the second guard's chest while his companions took out the final one. It was over before any of them could make a sound. "We've got to move, and now," Nathaniel hissed as he moved to open the door. If someone new had arrived, Eriana was in very real danger. Fortunately, the door was unlocked, so he quietly opened the door, grabbing his bow as he motioned for Oghren and the rest to follow.

The cabin was small and, thankfully rather empty. It seemed as if everyone was congregated in a central room. Signaling for Ramouth to follow him, Nathaniel crept forward slowly, peeking into the room. The walls of the room were lined with a dozen or more men who were armed, but not dress in armor. Glancing over the group, he noticed one fully armed man, Hayden Temmerly who was smiling grimly, watching the action taking place in the center of the room. Nathaniel pushed the door open further and moved into the room, notching an arrow as he began to survey the rest of the room. As soon as his eyes reached the middle of the rom, his arrow was flying through the air, piercing the neck of the man who was holding Eriana by the throat. The impact of the hit sent the man staggering backward, his hand shooting to his throat, allowing Eriana to collapse limply to the floor in front of him. Before the Nathaniel could loose another shot, the man was carried to the floor by a snarling mass of russet hair. Around him, the room erupted into desperate fighting as Oghren led the remainder wardens in, engaging Temmerly himself. Nathaniel moved instantly to Eriana's side, gently rolling her over, assessing the extent of the damage. Niko joined him instantly, his hands glowing with healing magic.

What he saw nearly stopped Nathaniel where he was. He had seen Eriana beaten and bloodied in battle before, but this was the worst shape he had ever seen her in. Both eyes were black and there were bruises visible on every inch of her body. Her skin had a sickly pallor to it, and her lips were an unnaturally blue. "Niko, she's not breathing."

The mage's forehead glistened with sweat as his hands hovered over her. "Her throat is crushed," he muttered. "I've got to get it healed before I can get any healing potions to her."

The sounds of battle around him began to die out quickly as the wardens defeated the last of their unprepared enemies. Nathaniel watched in desperation as she continued to grow more and more pale. Beside him, Niko cursed, downed potion and returned to work. Desperation began to creep into him as he watched his friend beginning to fade away, so Nathaniel did he only thing that came to mind. He put is mouth to hers and forced air into her lungs. Nothing, no change. Again, he bent over her breathing air into her. Nothing. Over and over, the nobleman breathed for his friend, ignoring he crowd growing around them.

Just as he was about to lose hope, Eriana lurched and began to cough violently. Around him, he heard a collective sigh of relief pass through the group. Wearily, she blinked and looked up at them. Though they were blood-shot and exhausted, Nathaniel could see the relief pass though her eyes when they focused on them.

"Took...your...time," she whispered, her voice raspy and strained.

Nathaniel rolled his eyes and shook his head at her as the wardens around them chuckled. It took everything in him not to pull her into a hug. He knew she was far too fragile and injured to be so rough with, but his arms longed to hold her, just to reassure himself that she was there and whole and breathing.

Niko gave her shoulder a soft pat. "Don't talk just now, Commander. Your throat is really damaged," he said, holding a potion vial up to her mouth. "Take this, then I think it would be best if I put you to sleep so you don't make any of these injuries worse."

Eriana nodded, swallowing the potion before looking back up at Nathaniel. "Don't...tell...Alistair," she whispered before Niko's spell put her under. Yeah, that was probably a good idea; Alistair would likely pitch a fit if he found out how they had endangered her. Nathaniel glanced up at the mage.

"Will she be alright?"

The mage nodded. "Her injuries are rather severe, but I should be able to stabilize her and stop any internal bleeding. Anders would have her completely patched up by tomorrow, but healing drains me completely. Plus, I'm just not that skilled. I can keep her stable, but it would take me a long time to get her back to normal. Our best course of action would be to get her back to the Keep as quickly as possible. I'll use spells and potions to keep her comfortable till we get to Anders or Petra."

"Alright, let's torch this place and move out."

"Um, Howe," Oghren said from across the room. "I don't think it's going to be that easy." He was standing over the body of the man who had been strangling Ana when they came in. Nathaniel had been so focused on her well being that he hadn't given a second to the identity of her attacker. "You may want to come and take a look at this."

For months, Nathaniel's brain had been scouring lists of nobles, vassals, merchants, all trying to pin down who could have been the person behind the assassination attempts. Eamon Guerrin had never even crossed his mind. Hell, he thought Anora had more reason to want Ana dead than Eamon did. No wonder she didn't want Alistair to know; finding out that his second in command was attempting to kill his best friend would shake the foundations of everything the King believed in. He would begin to doubt himself or second-guess every decision that he made.

"Is there a problem?" Ulfric asked, coming up to look down dead nobleman. "This is someone who will be missed, I take it?"

Nate sighed. "Yeah, he's the second most powerful man in the kingdom. His disappearance, if misinterpreted, could lead to war."

"And we can't be connected to his death," Oghren said. "It could easily be interpreted as the wardens trying to gain more power in the government."

Ulfric shrugged his shoulders. "So we make sure he is found in a way that implicates neither the wardens nor any other nation. We take his guards and his wagons to the King's Highway and make it appear as though his camp was ambushed. We take anything of value from him, sell his horses, and then come home. I will take a team and return to Amaranthine from another way as if we are returning from a raid. He will be found, and it will be assumed that he was simply surprised by thieves, no danger of war or blame."

Nathaniel and Oghren glanced at each other. "That could work. Unfortunately, it would mean that the nugghumper would get a proper burial and all, but it would give us some distance," the dwarf pointed out. "We'll have to make us some excuse as to why Ana can't attend the funeral because there's no way in the fade that she will be going."

"I think we can come up with something," Nate pointed out. "But for now, we need to get her home. Spread out and collect anything that looks important before we torch this place." Nathaniel knelt down, taking the sleeping elf in his arms and carrying her to one of the carriages. The other wardens were efficient and would take care of the details; he just needed to hold his commander for a little while, to feel her warm and breathing in his arms just to assure himself that everything was going to be okay. He climbed up into one of the wagons and settled down against some folded cloths. Ramouth hopped up into the wagon and curled up beside them, falling asleep immediately. He was no pro on reading mabari moods, but Nathaniel was pretty sure that the dog was as relieved as he was. Sighing to himself, the rogue closed his eyes and cradled Ana close, allowing himself to enjoy a relaxed and restful sleep for the first time in weeks.