Loghain frowned in thought as they rode south. They should be at the sinkhole soon. And from what Podge had told them, it sounded as if it was a good thing that he'd brought some of the army south with him.
Things had initially gone fairly well, Podge had said; they'd gotten in, got the surviving trappers out, then gone back in and tried for the youngsters. It had already been too late to do anything for either of them; the boy already long dead and mostly consumed, the girl past any help the wardens could give save one. Velanna had incinerated the remains, so they were at least able to return the ashes to their families. Then the Joining for the tainted hunters, after which they'd brought the new-made, swiftly recovering wardens down with them while they checked for signs of any additional darkspawn in the area, or of any other captives. And explained to the new wardens just exactly what darkspawn wanted such captives for.
They'd found a few small groups of darkspawn in the area and killed them, and then once Oghren's group had shown up with engineers in tow had begun work on sealing the tunnels. It was known that darkspawn could tunnel a fair distance when motivated to do so, so the decision was made that they'd need to collapse not just the entrances themselves, but several junctions further in as well, from where the sinkhole was to where a major north-south artery ran by some distance to the west. That would render a large area around the sinkhole impassible, and lessen any risk of the darkspawn re-emerging later.
"Work on that was going fine; we had the northwest area rigged to go and were working on the southwest. The engineers said there was a good chance that whole area of land might fracture and drop when the explosives went, so we were clearing people out up above and planning to blow both sections at the same time. Thankfully it's all forested hills, so that just meant warning a few hunters and loggers to move on out of there," Podge had explained. "Then the day before yesterday we ran into a large group of darkspawn, mostly genlocks but with a bunch of hurlocks mixed in, and a couple ogres as well. We ended up in a fighting retreat, getting the engineers and the local helpers they'd hired out of there. Once we had them to safety we were able to concentrate on fighting the darkspawn, and killed them off. But when we checked the tunnels afterwards, we found signs that the ones we'd been fighting at the southern tunnels weren't the only ones who came out; there'd been more that emerged from the northern tunnel, and they'd split up and gone in two different directions."
Nathaniel had, at that point, split his own forces; he'd taken his patrol off after one group, sent Podge's group off after the other, and left Oghren behind to guard the sinkhole and their camp full of non-wardens in case any additional darkspawn showed up. A dangerous decision, but Loghain could see he hadn't had much choice; the darkspawn that had escaped could wreck considerable harm if they came across any of the small settlements that dotted the forest hereabouts, especially if they succeeded in capturing and returning underground with any females.
Loghain just hoped Nathaniel and his group had fared better against the darkspawn they'd gone after than Podge's group had. Knowing Velanna's destructive capabilities, they likely had, at least as long as they hadn't ended up facing rather more darkspawn than Podge's patrol had been treed by.
He glanced over to where Podge and his group were walking along by Alistair, Alistair having dismounted from and leading the gelding to more easily talk with them, the group of wardens effortlessly keeping up with the steady pace set by the soldier's horses. The boy was smiling at something Wilf was saying, actually looking relaxed and cheerful for once. It quite transformed his face, making his resemblance to Maric all the more obvious, at least to one who'd known Maric well. Loghain sighed silently and looked away, forcing his mind back to the matters at hand.
Hopefully they'd arrive at the sinkhole – less than an hour away by now – to find everything still stable. The worry was, of course, that things might have gone even further wrong since Podge and his patrol had set out in pursuit of the darkspawn. He could only hope that such worries proved unfounded, and meanwhile strained every sense for any hint of darkspawn or other wardens in the vicinity.
The sky was darkening, the first few stars appearing, when he finally felt the first hint of something in the distance. Wardens only, he was relieved to notice, no feeling of darkspawn, and since he knew from past experience that he could sense the latter from a longer distance than the former, that was entirely a good sign. He let Captain Dorn know, and they maintained their current pace, arriving at what was clearly the sinkhole a short time later.
It was much larger than he'd imagined; a truly vast cavern in the stone must have collapsed inwards for this large of a hole to have opened up. When he cautiously approached the edge and looked down, he could dimly see far below them and off to one side a darker patch that must be the northern tunnel entrance, at the top of a slanted ledge disappearing down underneath the small mountain of fractured stone that filled in where a deeper area of the cavern must once have been. The southern tunnel entrance was not visible from here, hidden from view behind that same pile of stone, even from this higher vantage point. He could make out the glow of campfires in the trees to the south; the warden's camp.
Podge led them around the sinkhole, keeping them all well back from the edge of it, explaining the rock there was still unstable and likely to crumble. Loghain could feel a warden approaching from the direction of the camp as they neared it; and passed the word to Captain Dorn that they were being met, just a few minutes before Nathaniel walked into view.
"Nathaniel, I'm relieved to see you. I assume by your presence that things are under control at the moment?"
"Hello, Commander. Yes, everything is fine right now," Nathaniel said, sounding tired, and nodded to Loghain before looking to where Podge and his group were. He smiled thinly. "I see you found our missing patrol."
"That he did," Podge agreed. "Good thing, too, it was a close call between whether we were going to finish off those darkspawn we'd been chasing or them finish off us instead."
Nathaniel nodded. "I worried, when you weren't already back when we returned; our own group was not large, but they travelled quickly and led us a lengthy chase before we finally caught up with them and finished them off."
"And how are things here at your camp?" Loghain answered.
"Peaceful, thankfully. Oghren's group are down in the tunnels right now with the engineers, making sure that the darkspawn have not disturbed the charges they set. We plan to detonate them tomorrow, assuming they haven't been disabled somehow; the southern tunnels aren't mined as far as we'd like, but the stone around here is brittle enough that the engineers think the area of destruction should bring down a goodly section beyond where they've mined. Far enough that the darkspawn would be unlikely to make any effort to dig their way back out again, anyway."
Loghain nodded. "We should continue on to your camp, so that these soldiers can settle in for the night," he said, signalling to Captain Dorn that they could resume their advance, then turned back to Nathaniel. "Do you have maps of the tunnels?"
"Of course," Nathaniel said, and fell in beside Loghain's horse as the army started up into motion once again. "I've marked on them what area we intend to collapse, as well as what we've explored of the area beyond them."
"Good," Loghain said. "I'll want to see that."
They arrived at the warden's camp within minutes. Loghain was pleased to see that Nathaniel had put some effort into making sure he had a good, defensible location, with a ditch and palisade having been erected around the camp. Too small for the entire army unit to fit within, but Dorn had his men clearing brush and pitching extra tents among the trees nearby almost as soon as they were off their horses.
Loghain passed off the reins of his stallion to Alistair, then started off with Nathaniel towards his tent. Nathaniel frowned at Loghain. "You're limping," he pointed out.
"I'm aware of that. Twisted my ankle a few days ago; sprained it. And then had to run on around on it earlier when we caught up with your missing wardens and their darkspawn. Which didn't hurt too badly at the time but I'm regretting deeply now; I fear I may have injured it further. I'll want Kedar to take a look at it when there's time, and see if he can do more for it than the army's herbalist could."
Nathaniel nodded, then ducked into his tent long enough to retrieve his roll of maps; wardens travelled light, and he didn't have a command tent, just a small one not large enough for much more than sleeping in. Captain Dorn, having left his second-in-command in charge of his men, caught up with them as Nathaniel re-emerged from his tent with the maps. Nate knelt down and unrolled them on the ground, for lack of any better surface, and started sorting through them looking for the one he needed. Dorn frowned at that, and whistled piercingly for one of his runners, and sent a message to his second-in-command to have his camp table fetched immediately.
The table was brought and the requisite map spread out on it, Nathaniel quickly indicating to them where the extents of the sinkhole were marked, and the warren of tunnels under the hills around it.
"We've circled around the collapsed area as best we can underground, and apart from the tunnels we're mining to the west, there doesn't seem to be anything within miles of it on any other side," he explained, running a hand along the extents of what they had mapped. "Unless there's a route that branches off somewhere further away, and passes either under or over the tunnels marked, these are the only tunnels that seem to pass through the area. But it's a maze down there, so I can't guarantee it."
Loghain nodded, looking over the map. "Good work," he said. And it was; short of spending a significantly longer period of time in exploration and mapping, Nathaniel had done pretty much all that could be done to be reasonably certain of sealing off the area surrounding the sinkhole.
"These markings here are the areas the engineers have rigged with explosives," Nathaniel continued. "And this shading indicates places they're certain those will bring down, while this lighter shading is tunnels and caves they think are likely to come down as well just from the disturbance. They've recommended we have everything clear of the larger area by at least a half mile though, in case the stone proves weaker than they thought; as many caves and tunnels as the limestone hereabouts contains, a larger collapse is at least a possibility."
Loghain nodded. "You seem to have things well in hand," he said approvingly. "When is Oghren's group due back?"
"Assuming they don't run into any further difficulties with darkspawn, they should be back by morning."
"Right. Well then, I suppose we might as well plan to retire early then. It sounds like all of us have had a long day already, and tomorrow is likely to be a busy one. Is there anything else you think I should know?"
Nathaniel shook his head. "No, unless you want a more detailed report about what we've seen and done."
"I do. But I trust your judgement as to whether or not I need to hear it now, or whether you'd prefer to deliver it later."
Nathaniel visibly wavered, then smiled crookedly. "Now, I think. I'm too on edge from recent events to sleep for a while anyway. And I'd rather trust your judgement than just my own."
"Right," Loghain said. "Captain Dorn, I'll let you know if there's anything else that comes up that you need to be aware of."
"Of course," Captain Dorn said, and made polite farewells to both of them before heading off to let his own people know what was going on, and that they could expect to move on again early the next day.
Alistair woke early, to faint sunlight beginning to filter through the canvas of their tent and a morning chorus of birdsong. He wasn't sure what had woken him, at first – the birds alone wouldn't normally be enough for it – until he caught the faint sounds of people moving around outside and the scent of frying bacon. Right. Early start today, so that everyone would be up and fed and ready to move on as soon as possible, assuming that when Oghren' group returned the news was good.
The faintest of snores made Alistair realize that Loghain was, for once, not already awake. So far on this journey he was usually already up, partially dressed, and shaved by the time Alistair woke up, or was rather pointedly woken by him. As a consequence it felt distinctly odd to look over and see him lying there with unshaven cheeks, eyes shut and mouth just slightly open, his face smoothed out in sleep. Though not all that much smoother, his features having a deep set of permanent lines, not to mention a growing network of faint wrinkles. Loghain's expression looked rather different when he was asleep, Alistair noticed as he sat up as silently as he could, most of the scowl lines having smoothed out, leaving the commander with more of a worried look than an angry one.
He'd have expected it to be the other way around, he found himself thinking, as he eased himself out of his bedroll and reached for his pack to dig out his shaving things, wondering how much of his morning routine he could get though before Loghain woke. It would be nice to be the one already up and shaven for a change. He'd forgotten how sensitive to odd sounds the commander was though; something in his pack made a noise as it shifted, and Loghain was suddenly awake and looking around, one hand hidden under his pillow. Alistair froze, startled by the sudden movement.
Loghain blinked sleepily, then sighed and lay back again. "Oh. Morning," he said, and scrubbed at his face with one hand. "Finish what you're doing, then go find me some tea. And Kedar. I should have had him look at this blighted ankle last night."
"Yes ser," Alistair said, grabbed his shaving kit and a change of clothes, and crawled out of their tent in search of water to shave with. He was far from the only one already up and about on such an errand, and quickly joined a lineup to get a bowl of water, and then stopped by the cookfires to cadge a mug of tea for Loghain. He spotted Kedar on his way back, and let him know that Loghain needed his services once he was available, and then continued back to the tent, passing the tea in to the commander before sitting down to shave his own face. He'd shaved and changed from his night shirt into gambeson and leggings, and fetched a second tea for Loghain, as well a mug full for himself, before Kedar finally put in an appearance, already fully dressed and immaculately groomed.
The mage crouched down in the doorway to the tent, asking questions and examining Loghain's swollen ankle carefully before wrapping long-fingered hands around it, a faint healing aura welling up around them. "I think you're right, by the amount of swelling I think you must have re-injured it yesterday," Kedar said, frowning slightly over it. "This will fix the worst of it, but I would recommend keeping it strapped for several days to prevent it happening again. And let me know if you feel any additional pain."
Loghain nodded, and thanked Kedar for his help, then sent Alistair off to fetch shaving water for him while he changed. And once he'd returned with that, sent him off again, in search of breakfast for the two of them.
Alistair had just returned to their tent with tin plates heaped with hotcakes and bacon when Loghain suddenly rose to his feet, looking off northwards. "More wardens coming; Oghren's group must be returning at last," he said.
It was uncanny how he did that, Alistair thought, unable to even pick out any wardens yet beyond the feeling of the ones already right in camp. But Loghain insisted on them going to the gate, leaving their still-untouched plates of food behind. Sure enough, Oghren's group was just arriving back at camp, as well as the pair of dwarven engineers from the keep and a few unknown faces who must be local hired help. All of them looked tired, but that was hardly surprising considering they'd been in the deep roads since some time the day before.
"Commander!" Oghren exclaimed, a grin lighting his face. "Glad to see you made it down here in one piece."
"Oghren," Loghain said, nodding toward the dwarf. "I'll want to hear your report right away. How do things look down below?"
"Short version is things look fine and we can fire off the charges as soon as everyone has moved out of the area, which judging by all the extra bodies I'm seeing here will take some time. Is it okay if I get on the outside of some food while I tell you the long version?"
"Not at all, I was just about to sit down and eat breakfast myself. You and your patrol and the engineers should join me. Alistair, run ahead and let Nathaniel and Captain Dorn know Oghren is back. Then go fetch another six servings of breakfast."
Alistair nodded, and headed back through the camp at a trot. He met Nathaniel already headed for the gate, and confirmed that, yes, Oghren's group was indeed back, and let him know that Loghain planned to hear Oghren's report over breakfast.
"Excellent. I'll go join them. Could you fetch me breakfast, please," Nathaniel said, and hurried off toward the gate without waiting for an answer.
Alistair supposed that fell into the category of an order that didn't conflict with those already given to him by Loghain anyway, and continued on, finding Captain Dorn just sitting down to his own breakfast within the command tent. He looked quite pleased by Alistair's news. "Excellent. Though they might as well come here to eat, where we've a proper table and chairs. Please let Loghain know I've offered my tent, and then, if you wouldn't mind, inform the cooks to serve food here."
"Of course," Alistair said, and bowed in salute, then hurried back off toward the gate again, meeting Loghain and the others already halfway back. He passed on Captain Dorn's invitation to make use of the command tent, then turned around yet again to hurry off and let the cooks know about breakfast for eight being needed there. He was almost back to the tent again before he realized that he'd forgotten to ask for a serving for himself as well. Then he remembered the breakfasts he'd fetched earlier, and hurried on to his and Loghain's tent.
Someone, however, had beaten him to it – both platefuls of food were empty, Crunch stretched out beside them, asleep. Alistair was standing there indecisively, trying to decide whether he should go ask for food again, or head back to Captain's Dorn tent, when he heard Loghain call his name. He looked around, and saw the commander leaning out the doorway of Dorn's tent.
"Don't just stand around over there doing nothing, I need you to take notes. Fetch your writing things and get back here," he ordered, then disappeared back inside.
"Yes, ser," Alistair called after him, and ducked into their tent long enough to grab the writing case he'd been supplied with, then hurried over to Dorn's tent.
Sitting there jotting down notes while everyone else was busy stuffing themselves full of fragrant hotcakes and crispy bacon, not to mention drinking cup after cup of hot sweet tea, was pure torture. The only thing that prevented his stomach from growling embarrassingly was that he'd had that one mug of tea earlier, so it wasn't entirely empty. Still, concentrating on listening and writing down important bits was made much more difficult when all he could think of was hotcakes and bacon.
He was trying to make sense of something one of the engineers was explaining about the nature of the stone hereabouts when he felt a touch at his elbow, and looked that way to see a hotcake folded in half around a couple of slices of bacon sitting there. He glanced at Loghain, the person on that side of him, but the commander seemed utterly unaware of it, being busy listening to the dwarf, his hands folded neatly in his lap. Was it Loghain who'd put it there? Or someone else?
Not that he was about to say no to food. He put down his pen long enough to pick it up, bite off a sizable mouthful of it, and transfer the remainder to his left hand before quickly picking up his pen again. He took smaller bites after that first one, stretching out the bit of food until shortly before the meeting finally ended, Oghren and the others having talked themselves out about everything they'd seen and done.
"We'll be able to move out of the area as soon as everything's packed up again," Captain Dorn said. "Call it another hour for all my men to be ready."
"About the same for the local help," Nathaniel said. "Perhaps a little longer."
Loghain nodded. "Excellent. We should be able to set off the explosives and seal off this area by noon then, if not earlier. There's a good-sized meadow by a river about a half hour's ride southeast of here, if I recall correctly. That would be a good place to move our camp to. Oghren and the others will need rest, before we can go much further, and we'll need to decide what if anything remains to be done in the way of mopping up around here anyway, though discussion of that can wait until after the move."
"That sounds good," Dorn said, Nathaniel nodding his own agreement.
Loghain rose to his feet. "Well, we've much to do still this morning; best we get to it."
Everyone made varying sounds of agreement and rose, polite bows being exchanged as they exited from the tent and scattered in various directions.
"Right," Loghain said, striding toward their tent. "Alistair, I'll want you to make a clear copy of your notes later, for my own records. For now just pack them where you can find them again, and then see to getting all our gear picked up and packed away again. I'm going to need my horse, I'll want to take a ride around the area before we depart. You'll accompany me on that, so pack quickly. But first, go see if you can cadge anything from the cooks to fill that gaping pit of a belly of yours. Hurry, they'll be packing up already."
"Yes, ser!" Alistair exclaimed, dipped a bow to Loghain, and hurried off.