"Up there!"

"Stop them!"

Ser Barris immediately looked over the balustrade and saw the red templars who had spotted them. "Blast it," he cursed. They had gone for some time unmolested now, crossing yet another open hall, and were so close to the Lord Seeker's Office!

The three templars with them tensed and prepared their stances, anticipating yet another hard battle. Blackwall shifted the weight of his sword to his other hand, trying to ignore the cut on his arm; Cassandra brought out her shield in a defensive position, still not quite recovered from her abilities. They could try to ignore the threat and rush for the office, but then that would leave them disadvantaged in a smaller room and easily cornered.

"Stand ready," Cassandra commanded, hoping to bolster their resolve with the hardness of her voice.

Heavy footsteps echoed louder and louder up the stairs; swords were drawn in a steely squeal of metal, and a bark of angry voices confirmed their location directly up ahead. Several seconds later, the gleam of metal armor appeared right around the bend.

Cassandra narrowed her eyes, trying to see if she could count the men rushing at them. Five, she thought in dismay – just one short of their own number, but with what they experienced so far, it would be more than enough to do them in.

Beside her, Blackwall was suddenly distracted with something from the corner of his eye. She didn't take much notice of it, although she was slightly disappointed in him for allowing himself to get distracted in such a crucial moment. Then a moment later, she was able to tell why.

"Woooohoooo!"

The jubilant cry, so out of place in the gloomy fortress, especially with the red templar threat, jarred all of their senses uncomfortably. Ser Barris couldn't help but look to see what it was, and Cassandra confessed to a sidelong glance in that direction as well. What she saw made her fully turn to gape in confusion.

"Woooooop yeah! Eat that, ya big shite!"

A young blonde girl was swinging up-side down from the heavy chandelier in the ceiling, holding a bow in her hands and loosing several arrows in the red templars' direction. One of them took an arrow through his visor while his companions managed to swerve around him and avoid the incoming missiles. Below her, a templar archer emerged on the scene and took aim at the chandelier; when it swung over his head, an arrow came down from it and killed him instead. As the chandelier swung back closer to the balustrade, the girl let loose another arrow that took a red templar on the back.

Cassandra shook her head. "Charge!" she barked, ready to take the advantage so abruptly given to them.

The six of them met the remaining four red templars head on, bracing themselves for the coming impact. Neither of them took note of what the archer on the chandelier was doing anymore; they focused on the combat instead, hacking away with just as much abandon as their enemies. Cassandra knew that the archer was still working, though, when she saw several more arrows studding the back of one of the red templars. But it wasn't until the archer flipped right-side up and held the templar's neck in a scissor lock with her legs, dragging and dropping him over the balustrade, that he was finally finished.

In an acrobatic somersault, the archer released herself from the chandelier, flipped over the balustrade, and landed deftly behind them. Her arrows, still intact thanks to the quiver design, were immediately put to use as soon as her feet touched the ground. Thus, they were given the bonus of a long-distance auxiliary fighter.

Blackwall rammed his blade through a red templar's gut, doing his best to ignore the shield that bashed him on the side of the head. With a great push, he bowled the templar into the path of his colleagues, pushing them back at once and leaving them prime targets for the phalanx consisting of Ser Barris and the three uncorrupted templars. When they pulled back after a brief clash, the archer loosed another volley, and then they grouped together again with Seeker Cassandra for another assault.

Whoever this archer was, she was able to read the patterns of battle and work in tandem with those in front of her; she was careful enough not to misfire on friendly forces, but fast enough to shoot through gaps at the enemies. She is skilled, Cassandra had to admit.

And with her help, they pushed and pulsed on the enemy templars until they had the lot of them cornered against the balustrade. It was still amazing, how resilient these corrupted templars were; one of them had arrows protruding through his torso, and the other a bad cut on his flank, and yet were still resisting just as fiercely as before. Cassandra held up her shield and bashed the first of them over the balustrade, followed by Ser Barris and another templar. Ser Barris had some difficulty with his, but an arrow to the neck facilitated the fall a moment later.

When they finished, Cassandra turned around to look at their new colleague. An elf, she was astonished to discover from the pointed ears jutting between the shaggy blonde bob. "Who are you?" the Seeker had to ask.

"It's obvious, innit?" the elf asked back.

"No, I'm afraid it is not."

The elf rolled her eyes. "Ugh, really now?" she groaned. "Can't tell between people fightin' with you or against you? I'm a friend, duh!"

Blackwall came up to them and swore. "Maker – it's Sera!"

She looked at him. "Hey, Blacky-beard!"

"Blackwall," he corrected her.

Cassandra stared at Sera in disbelief. "You're Sera?"

"Yeah, and you're the Seeker Lady," Sera grinned.

Cassandra looked from Blackwall and back to Sera, then shook her head. "How did you know to come here?"

"So I got friends, yeah? They told me Lord Lucy-pants was meetin' with the Herald today."

The Seeker frowned. "Lord Seeker Lucius."

"Whatever!" Sera exclaimed, then continued, "I thought, 'innit weird? He hates her guts!' So I went to check it out n' saw some baddies dead out front. Figured something smelled fishy, so here I am."

Ser Barris peered over Cassandra's shoulder to look at the elf, then turned questioningly to the Seeker. "Is she trustworthy?" he asked, his voice apprehensive.

"Hey, I helped you, okay?" Sera shot back, startling the templar.

Cassandra sighed. "We will have to put up with her for now. We don't have the time to debate her presence." Turning to Sera with a gesture at the red templars below, she asked, "I don't suppose you're the only one who's noticed the trouble?"

"I sent word to some friends," Sera told her. "They'll be comin' round soon."

Maker's breath. If they were anything like Sera...but Cassandra had to admit how welcome the news seemed. Let us hope these 'friends' are good enough against the corrupted templars. "All right; no more dallying. We must continue on our way."

Cassandra was aware of the glances the templars sent Sera's way, but contented herself with the fact that the elf had been useful. Of more concern were the injured in their party; some of the templars had sustained new cuts, while Blackwall appeared to be getting a little pale. Still, he carried himself stoically, bearing his pains with gruff dignity.

Sera fell into step beside him and peered curiously at his beard. "Look at you, all serious," she mused. "You're not a Seeker, or a Templar – what're you again?"

"A Grey Warden," Blackwall replied, eyeing her strangely.

"Ah, those. What do Wardens do when there's no Blight, anyway?"

"Whatever it takes to keep the world safe," he answered gruffly.

She tilted her head in curiosity. "Like, join Inquisitions?"

Blackwall shrugged. "If that's what's necessary. Hey, you're here, too."

"She's what?" Ser Barris asked incredulously.

"Ignore it," Cassandra commanded him.

Sera looked at the Seeker's back and made a face. "The Inquisition can't be all broody beards like you and the Seeker Lady," she complained.

"Cassandra doesn't have the hair for it," he assured her.

"Oh, I bet she does," Sera giggled. "Places."

Some of the templars found this amusing and snickered. Cassandra, on the other hand, grew red in the face and clenched the hilt of her sword tighter. "That's enough!" she barked, and the templars immediately shut up.

"Knew it," Sera smirked, and giggled again.

Ugh...The Seeker shook her head in exasperation. She was thus grateful for the appearance of the Lord Seeker's door a moment later. The corridor was empty, thankfully enough. But when Ser Barris tried to open the door, he found it locked tight.

"Blast it all," he cursed. "How could I have forgotten–"

"Just let me do it." Sera pushed through the templars and Seeker and bent down by the doorknob. Withdrawing a pin from behind an ear, she inserted and twisted it into the keyhole. After a few seconds, there was a satisfying click, and she stepped back proudly.

Ser Barris opened the newly unlocked door and gave her an uncomfortable look. "Thank you, I suppose..."

"Pfft. You're friggin' welcome."

The group filed inside. They each unsheathed or readied their weapons as they entered the room, having spotted the Lord Seeker standing behind his desk. But what alarmed them the most was the sight of the Herald lying unconscious on the desk, head turned to the side and hair splayed over the wood in a dark curtain. The Lord Seeker had a hand on the the base of her neck, around her collarbone.

"Lord Seeker Lucius!" Cassandra barked. "Step away from the Herald – now!"

He appeared ignorant to this command, continuing to run his hand along the girl's collarbone and then up her neck. When his fingers touched her cheek, he looked up to regard the people gathered in the room. "Well," he mused. "So you've made it."

"Step away," Cassandra repeated. "Now."

The Lord Seeker chuckled. "Why so brash? Can't we just have a...talk?"

"That's not what you've been having with the Herald, apparently," Blackwall said, his eyes glaring at Ahnnie's prone form.

"Oh, it's never too late to talk things out," Lucius interjected. "Six swords to one man; who in their right mind would fight back?" He then held up a dagger in his other hand. "There is always room for negotiation..." With a pointed look, he placed the blade's point in the hollow of the girl's neck.

By the Maker, Cassandra swore. How he has changed! "What is it you want, then?" she asked, wary of the dagger's point so close to the Herald's skin.

The Lord Seeker shook his head. "You wouldn't understand." He turned back to the Herald, and everyone feared for a moment that he would stab her – instead, he hefted her limp body in his arms, the dagger kept across her lolling neck. "And you won't need to. Very soon, there won't be any of you left to understand anything." With a brash kick, he opened the big window behind him, letting in a great gust of wind that flickered the flames in the hearth and sent papers flying about the room.

Ser Barris sucked in a breath. "Lord Seeker, please reconsider–"

"Reconsider! Now you're begging me?" He kept his back to the window, facing them once again. Then he took a step backwards.

"Oi!" Sera shouted, alarmed. "Whaddyou think you're doing!?"

The Lord Seeker noticed her for the first time. "Only what needs to be done," he responded cryptically.

"Bloody bastard," Blackwall spat. "If you dare take another step–"

Lucius laughed, and did just that. "What can you do to stop me?"

Cassandra's grip on the hilt was so tight, her knuckles whitened beneath her gloves. "Lord Seeker Lucius," she ground out, "have you gone mad?"

He turned from the Warden and tilted his head curiously at her. "Perhaps I have." Then, with one last devious smile, he pushed back with a foot and launched himself out the window, bearing the Herald with him.

"No!" Cassandra shouted, but it was too late.

Solas cast a white light with his staff that momentarily blinded the entire scene, like a great flash of lightning; when the light died away, Ahnnie blinked through the spots in her eyes to find that Maxwell had released Cole and was doubling over on the ground. The demon was displeased with the turn of events, as its incensed hissing indicated.

"You!" Envy cried. "Blasted elf–"

Ahnnie looked at Solas. "Wait, you know Envy?"

Solas pulled her to her feet while watching the demon carefully. "We've crossed paths several times, in the Fade." His eyes narrowed. "Usually to its disadvantage."

Envy hissed again. "Not this time, elf! The Elder One will triumph, one way or another."

"I'd like to see him try."

Ahnnie frowned. "You know who the Elder One is, too?"

But Solas gave her arm a brief squeeze that she took to be a discrete warning. She then decided to stop asking questions, though they still raced crazily through her mind. Wait...if I'm in my own mind right now...then how is it I'm still thinking?

Solas interrupted those thoughts with an urgent push. "I must get you out of here." He swept a worried gaze over the scene before him, at the frozen girl and the fetus, and the white tiled bathroom. "Telamdys," he cursed. "I had no idea it was something this serious..." He turned to her. "Envy has been trying to bring you down with bad memories. You must counter them with good memories; only in that way can you break its bind."

Ahnnie's face blanched. "So you saw all of...?"

"That is not important right now," he snapped. He let go of her and pushed her again in the direction of the bathroom door. "Run."

She looked back at him, desperate. "But what about you?"

"Never mind me! Focus on good memories, and take back control of your mind!"

Cole was at her side a moment later, surprising her yet again. "He is right. Here, I'll go with you."

She looked into the young man's slanting eyes, then back at Solas. Seeing no objections from the elf, she decided Cole was not so bad after all and clasped his cold, clammy hand once more. "Thanks," she said, and opened the bathroom door. Together, they raced out of it and into the winding corridors of her head.

"Now that we're alone..." Solas turned his attention back on the demon. "I do hope you're regretting this right now."

"Bah!" Envy spat, rising slowly to its feet. Its form was beginning to distort, bulging and pulsing with a smoky black substance. "You will be the one regretting this, when it is all over."

"I daresay," Solas murmured, his tone sarcastic. The white tiled room disappeared and turned into a cold, misty landscape, lit by single crescent moon. "But I must give credit where credit is due. Had I not thought of coming, you might have succeeded." He chuckled. "Maxwell Trevelyan, hm? Quite a step up, even for you."

The once handsome face, now marred by a garish scar of black smoke, snarled at the elf. "You think you are so powerful, elf. That hubris – wasn't it once your downfall? Have you learned nothing from it?"

"I could say the same for you."

Before a rejoinder could be prepared, the ground beneath them vibrated. Both demon and elf looked up, aware of a disturbance in the atmosphere. The air seemed to shimmer briefly, as though distorted by heat waves, and a distant cry reverberated over them. "Lord Seeker Lucius! Step away from the Herald – now!"

Solas recognized Cassandra's voice almost immediately. So she has found the Lord Seeker, he thought.

Envy cursed. "An interference!" But when it looked at Solas, it gave out a chuckle, which grew into a laugh. "Strut and flaunt all you want, elf. You may have weakened me here, but you forget that I hold power elsewhere. In the end, I am the one who has her body – you won't recover it, not while you're still dreaming!"

"Oi! Whaddyou think you're doing!?" echoed a voice Solas didn't recognize.

Wherever the Lord Seeker is, it is getting urgent, he realized. As much as he hated to admit it, the demon was right. "We shall see about that," he then promised, before pulling away from the wintry mist. The moonlit landscape fell away, blurring into an indiscernible nothing, and then he opened his eyes a moment later back in the little waiting room with Lady Josephine.

Almost at once, the ambassador fell upon him with questions. "Well? What have you found? Is she still alive?"

Solas shot up to his feet, using his staff to steady himself. "Yes," he replied, "but in grave danger. I must go–"

"I am coming with you."

He shook his head. "I cannot put you through th–"

"That is not for you to decide," she interrupted. "Besides, I am not as helpless as I seem." She heaved a sigh, one that seemed to pain her, and explained, "I trained as a bard in Antiva when I was young. I renounced it because of the violence, but..." She shook out a long and thin blade from her sleeve as she rose to her feet. "If it comes down to it, I will use it to protect myself. And others."

Well. Solas hadn't been expecting that. "I see," was all that he said. "Well, then..." He knelt by Captain Denam once again, this time to slip a sleeping draught through the man's lips. We can't have him waking up at an inopportune moment, after all. Then, putting the vial aside, he took down the icy barrier and barricade of furniture. When he and Josephine were out of the room, he placed a barrier on the door – an inconspicuous one, this time – and rushed down the hall. Josephine went after him, daggers held ready.

Ser Barris raced up to the window. "Lord Seeker!" he cried, but try as he might, he could find no trace of Lucius or the Herald. It was as if they had vanished into thin air. "They're gone," he reported to the others in the room, and averted his eyes from Cassandra's glare as she brushed past him to confirm it for herself.

"Well that's just fucking great," Sera groaned. "You sure they're not grease spots down there?"

"I'm positive," Ser Barris insisted. "I would have seen them, otherwise. I...I just don't understand. How could they have disappeared? Unless it was by magic–"

Cassandra pulled back from the window, aware of a noise at the door. "More red templars," she surmised, and they readied their weapons once again in anticipation of another fight.

But when the door opened, she was shocked to find none other than a breathless Solas and Josephine stumbling into the room.

"Lady Josephine!" Blackwall exclaimed. "What're you doing here? It's not safe!"

"Did I not tell you to guard the Knight–Captain?" Cassandra reprimanded Solas.

But the elf was having none of it. "I would not have come if I didn't think the matter serious, Seeker," he bit back. "The Knight-Captain is adequately held for now, but forget about him; where is the Lord Seeker?"

"Jumped out the window," Sera supplied unhelpfully, "taking Herald with him."

Josephine let out a cry of horror. "No!"

"But we're not sure if they're, well, dead," Ser Barris interrupted. "I couldn't see them."

Solas headed up to the window, but after briefly looking down, he looked up and across at the sprawling battlements of the Seeker fortress. "They're fine," he said, drawing away from the open window. "I can lead you to them. However, the Lord Seeker will not be his usual self."

"I think we've seen that for ourselves," Cassandra interjected.

"No, it is more than that," Solas insisted. "It was not the Lord Seeker you saw in this room, but a demon – Envy."

A leaden weight suddenly descended upon the room at this revelation. Cassandra appeared to be hit the hardest, but was the quickest to recover. "Then..."

"We must move quickly. Just as the demon has assumed the Lord Seeker's form, it will attempt to do the same with the Herald. I have given her the tools to fight its influence, but we must not leave her alone with it for too long."

Cassandra cursed for the umpteenth time that day. From her training, she knew envy demons to be of the rarer sort, and among the more dangerous.

Ser Barris was aware of this as well, but his face was set with a grim determination. "So it's a demon," he growled, his eyes burning fiercely. "We've got no time to lose, then. But to fight a demon of that magnitude, we will need more lyrium."

The templars behind him nodded, and one of them piped up, "There's a store of it – regular lyrium – in the upper barracks, not too far from here."

"Where do you think the demon has taken Ahnnie?" Cassandra then asked Solas.

He pointed in a certain direction beyond the window. Ser Barris looked, and said, "The inner courtyard, then, or somewhere around it. We'll have to be quick."

As they headed out of the office in pursuit of this new goal, Sera made a face. "Demons? Eeeeuugh!"

Good memories...focus on the good memories...

Ahnnie shook her head in distress. I can't! Not with all this fear, this uncertainty, and the pressing urgency that marked their flight.

Beside her, Cole suddenly stopped running, forcing her to stumble to a halt. "Is it difficult for you?" he asked, concerned.

Ahnnie blinked, realizing yet again that the young man had heard her mental anguish. "A little," she admitted. "I'm trying, though."

"Maybe I can help." He bade her sit down and settled across from her, his legs criss-crossed while she sat on her knees. "Can you think of warmth? Of comfort?"

"I..."

"Settle down. You're too fast."

She frowned. "But I'm sitting."

Cole shook his head. "No, no – you're going too fast, you're..." He held up a helpless hand, struggling to make her understand. "You're not still!"

"Um, I'm not moving, except to speak."

"No!" Cole cried out, frustrated. "That's not what I meant!"

Ahnnie grew annoyed. "Just what are you trying to say? I'm not moving at all, and you keep on–" Then she paused. Wait, I think he means..."My thoughts?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

Cole nodded vigorously. "Yes, but beyond that – it's fast, it never stops moving, it's like...like a bird, it won't stop flapping, fretting–"

She immediately latched onto the last word. Fretting. "I get it now," she said, the answer dawning upon her. "You're talking about my anxiety." She heaved a deep sigh. "I...well, I'm trying, but this isn't exactly the best mood for good memories." I mean, there's a demon trying to take my body, and I just witnessed some of the worst moments of my life. Even the most stoic person in the world would be hard pressed to relax after that.

"You must settle down," Cole urged her. "Slow yourself, let go of the pain."

"You're one to talk."

"What?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it. "Never mind," she sighed. "I'm trying, but I can't."

"Try harder."

"How?"

Cole frowned. "Well, how do you normally slow yourself down? Try doing that."

Goodness, this riddle–talk was frustrating. But she knew he was talking about calming her anxiety. Hmm, how did I normally do it? She thought of drawing, but there was nothing to draw with here. Or to read, for that matter. And there was no piano to play. Plus, no dogs to walk. Godammit, this is harder than I thought. She shut her eyes tight, trying to think of other ways; ways she could use without anything around her, that would take place in her mind, and work just as well.

"You're doing it!" Cole enthused a short while later. "Keep doing it!"

What? But I'm not...then she realized that in trying to think of what to do, she'd already forgotten her anxiety. Still, she did not open her eyes. There was something comforting about keeping them closed. Okay, let's see where we'll go with that. She loosened her eyelids so that they weren't squinted as tightly and let her mind wander. Random images floated into her head; a pony, a cloud, a flute, a clover...Right, I should focus on good memories. Hmm, good memories...

"There was that one time Khang stuffed sand into a dude's mouth on Virginia Beach," she suddenly said. "The guy had his body buried in the sand and was asleep...I heard the lifeguard had to make him eat wax to get it all out..."

The crashing of waves met her ears, as well as the delighted laughter of children. Her eyelids shivered, then fluttered open, and she found herself kneeling on a sandy beach, surrounded by beachgoers and facing a group of four young children squealing mischievously over a spluttering head in the sand. Then her father ran up to the sand-choked man and began apologizing profusely. Her aunts followed shortly after.

"Khang got into big trouble with his mom after that," she murmured. "But when the adults weren't watching, we all laughed about it again."

"And?" Cole prompted.

Ahnnie pursed her lips, thinking. "And there was that one time Phương, Tiên, and I put our hair up in pigtails. 'Cause, you know, we were being girly, and then–" She chortled. "And then Khang suddenly wanted to do it too. But he's a boy, right? And his hair was short, so it was difficult...in the end, we did it anyway, and took a walk in the neighborhood to show it off."

The scene transitioned to a homely little neighborhood. Four such children as she described were linking arms, skipping merrily on the sidewalk and laughing hysterically every time a passerby saw the pigtailed boy. He looked like Boo from Monsters, Inc., but stockier.

Ahnnie laughed as well, and pointed at him. "Did you see that? His hair – ahaha!"

"Keep going," Cole urged her. "What else do you remember?"

"We went to Disney World together, and saw a play at the Cinderella castle–" The amusement park rose around her, as magical and charming as the first time she beheld it. "–we went on the Disney cruise line a year or so later, and visited the Bahamas–" Dreadlocked musicians played on their steelpan drums in an island city of color. "–and then there were those days when my dad would take us out to get bubble tea at the local Bánh Mì place." Four children sitting in the car, slurping on colorful drinks with black tapioca balls at the bottom. "Oh! And that one time...godammit, I can't remember what we said, but we laughed so hard, Khang squirt milk through his nose!"

It was like a locomotive gaining traction. The more Ahnnie remembered, the more memories returned to her. Even after the custody battle, she could think of something. "When me and Bình and Tiên, just the three of us went to see this Christmas parade in this small town – I think it was five years ago? God, was I really a teenager then? I'm old!"

And she couldn't forget the first time Cao-Cao and Cixi were brought home as puppies. Cao-Cao was older, so he came to them first, while Cixi followed around a year later. Cao-Cao was always a stocky one, puffy and fluffy like the big ball of fur he was. Cixi was smaller, and a lot more sassy, but no less adorable. Then the miracle of birth as Cixi welcomed nine little puppies into the world. And how could she forget Bilbo's antics, sticking his nose up people's buttocks in greeting and doing all sorts of tricks for a tasty little tidbit?

"See?" Cole said, smiling. "You just had to slow down."

Ahnnie turned her head from the ever-changing scenery and smiled back at Cole. "Yeah...you were right. Thank you."

At last, the memories slowed to a pause, like the sweet dusk of a summer sunset. They left a pleasant glow inside her, a warm and fuzzy feeling that she welcomed with all her heart. At that precise moment, Cole stood up, holding out a hand for her.

She eagerly took it and let him pull her to her feet. "What's going on?" she asked.

"It's time," he responded.

"For what?"

"To break free."

Still confused, she looked around them. "I don't see..." Then she noticed how their surroundings were slowly brightening, as if the sun was rising over a new land. The air before her shimmered and sang with a powerful clarity that struck her in the very core. Cole's hand grasped hers a little tighter, and he gave a short nod.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

She looked into his watery blue eyes. "Yup," she nodded back.

"All right, then–" With a great leap, he pulled her after him, and they fell into a weightless abyss of shining white light.

It turned out to be light from the sky a moment later, as Ahnnie's eyes began to flutter open. Wow, how pretty...but then her vision cleared, and the stony face of Lord Seeker Lucius appeared directly above her. A cold piece of metal was also laid against her neck; with a dawning sense of horror, she realized it was a dagger. Before she could let out a scream, Cole tackled the Lord Seeker away from her.

Ahnnie sat up, feeling the bite of the blade drag against her skin. She held a hand to up her neck and pulled it away to find blood. Luckily enough, it was just a flesh wound. Not so luckily, Cole received a stab to the shoulder for his insolence.

"Cole!" she cried out, scrambling to her feet. The young man was then rudely pushed in her direction, bumping into her face. She steadied him from behind and whirled him around to look at his shoulder. "Oh no, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he ground out.

She let out a hiss of breath upon seeing how deep the wound was. "Christ, Cole, can you even move your arm?"

"Enjoyed yourselves, didn't you?" the Lord Seeker then snarled, and her attention turned to him.

With one hand still placed on Cole's shoulder, she unsheathed her sword and held it out threateningly. "It's over, Envy," she shot back. "You couldn't take control of me. I won't let you try again, or hurt anyone else!" She deeply regretted leaving her glaive behind at the chateau, but resolved to fight using what she had. I've got no other choice.

The Lord Seeker's features started to bubble and contort. His limbs jerked wildly, as though he were suffering from a seizure. But he was still standing, and he appeared to grow taller with every jerk. "I touched so much of you," he reproached, his voice unsteady. "But you are selfish with your glory. Now, I'm no one!" With a great roar, he burst through his armor, sprouting two extra limbs on each side of his torso. His shoulders and legs elongated, and his face bubbled over in a great mound of flesh. What stood before them was the Lord Seeker no longer – it was a stilt-legged demon with four arms and a bulbous face, stretched over with a naked skin of musty pink flesh.

"Christ on a cracker," Ahnnie swore, drawing back a step. Cole did so as well, but stopped clutching his injury to withdraw two daggers from his belt. Seeing the resolve in his eyes, she strengthened hers as well and lowered herself into a fighting stance.

The demon roared, and made to lunge at them.

They arrived at the upper barracks only to find it barricaded. Ser Barris pounded urgently on the door, hoping there were still people inside. "Is there anyone there? Let us in! We are normal templars!"

"I am Seeker Cassandra, of the Inquisition," Cassandra then shouted. "We are here to help."

Still, no response.

Cassandra nodded at the door. "Break it down."

Ser Barris, the three templars, and Blackwall made to rush for the door; Solas waved them off impatiently and cast a spell with his staff. It splintered the wood with a spear of ice, and he cast another to do it in. But just before the magic could reach, it was repelled with a force only templars were capable of.

"All right, all right!" a voice shouted from inside. "Just stop making so much noise!"

The elf smiled knowingly and lowered his staff. A moment later, part of the barricade fell away and the splintered door was pushed aside to reveal a room sheltering several other templars. Seeing that the people before them were uncorrupted by red lyrium, they tentatively let them inside.

"Ah, Barris," one of the templars sighed in relief. "Thank the Maker, you're alive!" He didn't even bother with the fact that a mage was with them; being able to find people who weren't red templars was consolation enough.

Ser Barris nodded at him. "Same to you, Fletcher."

Ser Fletcher then directed the other templars to rebuild the barricade, but Cassandra stopped him. "Since we have found you here, we might as well go together to stop the Lord Seeker."

"Or rather, a demon that's been impersonating him," Ser Barris clarified. "We need to defeat it, rescue the Herald, and get the hell out of here."

Ser Fletcher's eyes widened. "Surely you don't think a force our size can overtake the red ones down below?" he challenged, gesturing briefly at the weary men in the room. Ser Fletcher included, they numbered at six, which if added to the other party made fifteen people – a pathetic force, indeed. "There won't even be a man left to fight the demon, if it ever comes down to that."

"So, what, you're just gonna sit here?" Sera asked, crossing her arms. "Hide until they disappear?"

He shook his head. "What choice do we have?"

Ser Barris furrowed his brows and stepped up to him. "We are Templars, Fletcher," he reminded him. "We do not hide, not when there's people to save."

"It's just one girl–"

"Who holds the key to stopping the Breach. Even then, who knows what else this demon will do? And all because we refused to stop it." Ser Barris held the other's gaze steady with his eyes, before breaking away to say, "Those who choose not to go, fine; don't go. But allow those of us who are going the lyrium we need to fight the demon."

An uncomfortable silence followed this declaration, weighing heavily upon them all as Ser Barris and the three templars with him rummaged through the stores for lyrium. Eventually, one of the other templars in the room began to help, and so did another, until only Ser Fletcher was left. With a sigh, he joined in as well, and drank a draught of the glowing blue lyrium.

"I still don't think you should come along," Blackwall was saying in the meantime to Josephine. "It's a demon–"

"Bard training includes combat against Fade creatures," the ambassador interjected. "Besides, I will be assisting you from the side, not diving into the thick of battle."

Cassandra turned curiously in their direction. "That may be true," she agreed, "but how long has it been since you've last fought?"

"Not counting the occasional skirmish or unwanted advance of an overeager noble, it has been several years," Josephine admitted.

"Hardly reassuring," said the Seeker dryly. "But we shall see how it goes."

The templars at last were ready. Their attention turned to the Sers Barris and Fletcher, who were engaged in formulating a plan of action. It was at last decided that they would not return to the hall but take down a barricade on the farther side of the room and exit through there, where it would lead out to a series of parapets that could take them to the inner courtyard faster.

They stalked out of the barracks in two groups, careful to keep their advance quiet lest they should encounter red templar patrols. If there were to be any, their greater advantage lay in that of surprise. Each group split up at a certain junction in the parapets, led by a capable templar who knew the way by heart. When they met up again a while later, they were relieved to have not encountered any corrupted templars on the way, though that luck might prove to be short-lived.

Solas stirred in the direction of the courtyard, and the rest believed they could hear the distant sound of shouting and things crashing. "It is near," the mage surmised.

Ser Barris then led them down to a set of stairs in the wall. They all descended at a rapid trot, eager to reach the Herald as soon as possible. As they gathered at the bottom, they were wary of the possibility of red templars in the area and came close together.

Strangely enough, there were none.

Cassandra kept her sword ready as she stalked forward. "Be wary," she warned them all. "This seems too good to be true." She would have told them to split into two groups again, except that their numbers were so few and their enemies, so powerful.

Unbeknownst to her, Sera occasionally flitted her eyes to the parapets above them, as if in search of something elusive.

When they finally neared the fated courtyard, they found a tall, fleshy demon swinging its long arms in haphazard motions at the ground. It was chasing a fleeing figure, who was ducking frantically around its sweeping attacks. The figure turned out to be the Herald, overall fine except for the dust and scratches she'd received from rolling on the ground. What baffled Cassandra most was that the girl was actually head-to-head with a demon, all on her own.

Of course, she would not be able to hold out for long. "Charge!" Ser Barris cried, and they leapt to life at this command.

Upon sensing their intrusion, the demon whirled around and roared. Almost as if they understood it to be a command, red templars rushed out of nowhere, blocking their advance with an impassable line.

I knew it! the Seeker cursed. But seeing no other way around it, she ran to meet their charge; as she did so, she mentally prepared herself for another display of her abilities.

"Whoa!" Sera cried out upon seeing the templars. She skidded to a stop and shot an arrow randomly into the air, hitting nothing but the dusty ground behind the enemy's line.

"What're you doing!?" Blackwall shouted incredulously, unable to believe her ridiculous aim.

"Just watch!" she shouted back, a wide grin on her face.

Bees.

Timed with an almost accurate precision, glass jars of bees were suddenly thrown from the parapets to break open at the red templars' feet, right before Ser Barris' force could come close. Upon hearing the angry buzzing, Cassandra and the other templars halted their advance, watching in bewilderment as the mighty red templars before them were reduced to angry flailing and screaming. The bees were aggressive, hounding the men relentlessly and following their chosen targets regardless of where they ran.

Everyone turned to Sera, dumbfounded.

"Never fail to ruin parties, those bees," she said smugly.

"The work of your 'friends', no doubt?" Cassandra asked.

The elven archer only shot her a grin before loosing arrows into the frenzied red templar ranks.

The Seeker shook her head, and the warriors took advantage of their opponents' distractions to dive into battle.

Ahnnie heard the clanking footsteps of templars heading out to battle under the command of the demon. She turned in that direction and recognized her companions rushing to meet them; Cassandra, Blackwall, Solas, even Sera, and...Josephine!? she thought in disbelief as she saw the ambassador on the edge of the conflict, throwing knives at a templar. Little specks flew around his head, looking an awful lot like bugs of some sort. Ser Barris and some other templars appeared to be on the Inquisition's side, fighting against the demon's templars...

This is so confusing! Why were templars fighting fellow templars, and who was who? What the girl did not notice, however, was the almost feral ferocity of the demon's templars. She would not have time to notice, for Envy turned back from the momentary distraction to attack her again.

"Cole!" she cried out, jumping to the side to avoid another swipe. "Cole, where are you!?"

The young man had been hit by the demon earlier, thrown off to god-knows-where. She certainly didn't know, despite running round and round in circles for what felt like ages. Three slashes graced Envy's left leg, the only cuts she was able to score before being kicked away or forced to duck. On the lower half of Envy's torso, there was a slash and a stab that had been dealt by Cole in an amazing feat of magic that turned him invisible, allowing him to sneak up on the demon when it least expected it. But it was from that attack that he was abruptly tossed away, taking the brunt of a swipe from one of Envy's long arms.

At last, one of the friendly templars broke through the line and rushed at the demon. His sword flashed white and he raised it into the air before connecting it to the demon's leg a moment later. Envy hissed, and turned to swipe at him. A second templar arrived and repeated the same maneuver. Thus occupied, Ahnnie shook away her worry for Cole and charged at the demon, aiming for the back of the legs. With the aid of the two other templars, she was able to score more cuts, and the demon appeared to be hard pressed between them.

Then it suddenly hissed and shimmered in a cloud of black smoke into nothing; in a bewildered whirl, she found that the demon relocated itself at the far side of the courtyard, erecting a glowing green barrier in front of it.

"It's trying to hide," Cole said from beside her, and she whirled back around to face him.

"Holy fuck, Cole!" she swore. The young man looked terrible; he was not only bleeding, but was badly bruised along his other shoulder and corresponding cheek. Blood was also dribbling from his nose in a thin red line; it was a miracle his hat even stayed intact. "You've got to get out of here–"

"But you need help," he protested.

"You're the one who needs help," she insisted. "Seriously, before you get too hurt."

He suddenly looked behind him, then urged her to run towards the demon. "Hurry; it's bringing out the redder ones."

"The what?" Ahnnie asked.

"The horrors."

Josephine couldn't remember the last time she moved so urgently, flexing her limbs in an agile dance as she alternated between throwing knives and scoring hits with the elusive points of her daggers. On her own, of course, she was unable to take down a red templar; but alongside Blackwall, the feat was a possibility. They cornered one of the flailing men, the Warden parrying and slashing while the ambassador flitted around, stinging him in places he left open.

It was breathless and exhilarating, reminding her of why she had taken up the way of the bard back in her youth. It was also very sweaty, much to her dismay several moments later. I do hope I am not required to do this much.

Just before the red templar could make a damaging riposte in response to one of Blackwall's attacks, Josephine snaked out a hand and thrust her dagger beneath the point of his armpit. The Warden immediately took advantage of the injury and bashed the red templar's chin in a punishing uppercut before thrusting his blade through the man's abdomen. With a final push, he slid the corpse off his blade, and nodded appreciatively at Josephine.

"That was good," he commented. "Better than I expected, even."

The ambassador tossed back a stray brunette curl. "Well," she said, her cheeks growing warm. But then she noticed the blood on the Warden's arm. "Good heavens! Are you all right, Warden Blackwall?"

He waved it away with a dismissive, "Eh, it's just a scratch."

A bloodcurdling scream diverted their attention from the wound. They looked in its direction to find one of the regular templars fallen, having been cut down by a brute of a red templar. Red lyrium crystals jutted out from this templar's back and his hands were unnaturally bent and clawed. It was then they noticed he did not wield a sword. Instead, the crystalline templar grew a wad of red lyrium in his back and flung it at his target with a hand.

"Holy Maker!" Blackwall pushed Josephine out of the way when he realized the red lyrium was heading for her. He narrowly avoided it himself, watching ominously as it exploded on the ground behind him and emitted an angry red essence. He turned his head back around and brought out his sword defensively before him, shielding the ambassador with his big form.

Several more of these brutes suddenly headed into the courtyard, taking aim with their red lyrium crystals. At this, Blackwall urgently ordered Josephine into hiding. "It's even less safe than it was before. Go–"

"I will not flee," the ambassador objected stubbornly, though she eyed the crystal templars warily. "Our being trapped in this mess is...partly my responsibility. I will do what I can at your side."

Blackwall stared at her in awe, as if unable to believe what he was hearing. "But the moment it gets too dangerous, you're getting out of here."

"Oooh, gettin' a little sweet now, aren't we?"

They both turned around in shock to find Sera smirking at them.

"Not now, Sera," Blackwall scolded her.

She rolled her eyes. "Ugh! Broody beard!" Then, shooting up an arrow again, she sent another signal to the invisible friends on the parapets.

"More bees?" the Warden asked.

"No," Sera shook her head. "Friends!"

Ropes came down from the parapets on the walls around them and hooded figures with various weaponry slid down to the ground. Their numbers were not easily counted, but one could chance a guess that they gave a boost of some eight to ten people to the Inquisition's numbers. They were not equipped to take down the crystal templars, of course – Josephine didn't think Sera or any of her 'friends' knew of that in advance – but their various other projectiles were certainly useful, such as a grenade that exploded sticky pitch all over a red templar.

"You certainly have some interesting friends," the ambassador remarked, watching the pitch-coated templar getting set on fire with a flaming arrow.

Sera chortled. "Told you they'd come!"

Ser Barris bellowed in pain as a red lyrium shard struck his cheek. Cassandra whirled around and blocked another shard with her shield, turning back to look at the injured templar. "Are you all right?" she asked, her voice sharp.

The Knight-Templar winced as he clutched the side of his face with his free hand. "Maker's balls!" he ground out. "I should be fine–" But he screamed again as a burning heat singed his skin, threatening the corner of his eye and mouth.

Cassandra's brow furrowed deeper as she held off the red templar he had been fighting in addition to the one she was occupied with. In a risky push, she set their blood afire with her ability, granting herself the small advantage of their distraction but draining her stamina yet again.

An arrow sang through the air and sank in from the back of one of the red templars' neck. As he gave way, the other templar beside him received a jarring whack to the helmet with a powerful flail, causing him to stumble; a sword poked out of his stomach a moment later, and Cassandra looked up to face her hooded assistants, grinning broadly back at her.

"Afternoon, Seeker," one of them, a shaggy city elf greeted imperiously. "Red Jenny sends her regards."

Red Jenny? Then she remembered. "You're friends of Red Jenny."

The other, a bulky human, snickered. "Surprised, yeah?"

"We sure showed her up," the city elf grinned. "Proud one, she is, trying to take two on at once."

"Wonder if she'd take us two on at once?"

Amused cackling.

"If you have time to be joking, then you have time to be fighting," the Seeker put in dryly, unamused by their antics. She left them behind to assist Ser Barris, whose face was still burning. Why am I not surprised? she asked herself as she heard the two 'friends' behind her make more insidious jokes as they fought. Looking left and right, she made her careful way towards an open arcade, herding the injured templar behind a pillar. "How are you feeling?"

Ser Barris winced. "It hurts like hell," he grimaced, "but give me a minute or two and I should feel better."

"Stay here in the meantime," she commanded him, and jogged back into the fray.

"Seeker!" another imperious voice called out to her.

But it was not a Red Jenny, thank the Maker. It was Solas; at least she could trust him to be serious. "What is it?" she asked him, drawing near.

He twirled his staff, shooting magical ice at red templars and crystal templars alike. "Where is Ahnnie? I need her to get rid of the demon."

Cassandra shook her head. "I've lost sight of her long into the battle."

He cursed in elvish. "Well if you find her, tell her that I need her. I have an idea she will be required for."

The Seeker could tell that the elf had hatched yet another plan in his mind. It amazed her sometimes, the solutions he could come up with. In situations like these, they almost always resulted in something useful – such as his foresight on the Lord Seeker being an impostor, she thought. Trusting this to be another one of those plans, she nodded at him. "I will." If I ever do find her, she then thought, giving the chaotic field one last glance before going off to join it.

Horrors? Ahnnie wondered, and then Cole shoved her rudely to the ground. "Hey, what gives?"

But a short moment later, he too fell beside her as an angry red projectile flew over their heads, landing on the nearest templar with a splintering hiss. It shot into his face and his skin, causing him great agony as its vehement redness spread like a poisonous cloud over his features. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

"It sings...sick music," Cole muttered, his blue-gray eyes widened fearfully.

Ahnnie looked in the direction of the projectile and saw its source. "What the fuck?" A hunchbacked giant of a templar was growing crystals on his hump and flinging it at everybody! What on earth? But somehow, those crystals were familiar. She narrowed her eyes, struggling to remember what they were. "Red leer...leer-something," she said at last, remembering Varric's horror upon seeing them.

"Red lyrium," Cole corrected her.

Then it dawned upon her. The templars on Envy's side were the ones wielding red lyrium. On those who didn't wear it on their backs, she realized their faces or other open skin were veined with copious amounts of red, whereas the templars on their side appeared normal. She did not yet know of lyrium consumption; hence, her confusion.

Ahnnie scrambled to her feet. "We can't stay here. We've got to stop Envy."

Cole jogged after her, giving her helpful pointers for when she had to avoid incoming launches of red lyrium. Along the way, she realized new people were on the scene; hooded people, working in tandem with the the normal templars, often with eccentric methods of fighting. As if in response, a pitch-coated, flaming red templar sped past her eyes, screaming wildly.

Ignoring them, she continued heading for Envy; along the way, she bumped into the Seeker.

"Maker's breath!" Cassandra exclaimed when she whirled around and saw Ahnnie. "There you are!"

Ahnnie smiled at the Seeker, more relieved than ever to see the glaring woman. "Cassandra! I'm so glad to see y–"

"Not now. Solas has been looking for you!"

The girl was then pushed in the direction of the elven mage, who was working with some three normal templars in holding off an advance of the lyrium launchers. The first line of red templars had more or less diminished by now; it was the crystalline ones they were now wary of, and fighting so haphazardly to diminish. Meanwhile, Envy nursed its wounds behind the glowing green barrier, summoning more crystal brutes onto the field alongside auxiliary archer forces.

Solas froze off one of the brutes, and noticed Ahnnie's approach. "Finally! Come with me."

Ahnnie ducked after him, running up to Envy's barrier. He waved his staff to deal with an enemy archer before stopping in front of the barrier, turning urgently to her. "What is it?" she asked, eager to be of use.

"I know you may not like this," he began, "but I will need you to focus on your mana."

With a grim determination, she nodded in affirmative. There was hardly any room for squeamishness now. "What else?"

"Give me your left hand."

She did just that and closed her eyes, trying to steady her breath. It had been a while since the last time she willingly tapped into her mana; but then Solas began to chant something, and it helped her to relax a little more. Feeling the familiar tingle, she worked it up from her stomach and up to her arms. No further effort was required on her part, for the mark sucked all the power for itself, grabbing hungrily at the magic.

"Very good," Solas congratulated her as he held up her crackling hand. She opened her eyes accordingly and saw it flaring with wild green energy. "Let us see if this works–"

He held it up at the envy demon's barrier. Perhaps because it was reacting to something from the Fade, the flare suddenly shot out wildly in a beam almost like a rift-beam, but in a shorter burst. The dancing magic hit the barrier and broke it down, leaving Envy vulnerable once again. The demon screeched, obviously incensed.

Both she and Solas sprang back as Envy swiped an arm at them. Still holding onto her hand, Solas then said to her: "Now, we are going to create a rift."

"What!?" she exclaimed.

"Trust me," he assured her. Holding up her left hand once more, he urged her to think of shooting mana from the mark.

She turned away and closed her eyes again. All that mana, gathered collectively in her mark, pulsed and squirmed in an almost delighted eagerness to be set free. She was surprised to think of it that way, as if it were a living being, and with another chant from Solas, felt the familiar tug and pull of an elongated rift-beam. When she looked up to see it, she found it tearing at an empty space in the air, creating a neon green hole that grew wider and wider.

"Is this such a good idea?" she shouted over the din of the rift. It frightened her to think of what else could emerge from this tear in the Veil – they were hard pressed with the red templars already. She didn't think the addition of other demons besides Envy was such a strategic maneuver.

"As I said, trust me," Solas repeated. With an imperious hand, he waved forth the templars behind them.

Their swords flashing white, they charged for the demon with a bold war cry. Ahnnie noticed that they purposefully came at Envy's flank opposite the rift. When they fought the demon, they drove it back, pushing it closer and closer towards the newly torn rift.

Ahnnie beamed. "I get it now!" Solas is brilliant! But she found herself faltering a moment later, and would have stumbled to her knees if it weren't for his firm grasp.

Solas noticed it. "You're magically weakened from your encounter with Envy," he said, looking over her confused features. "I apologize, da'len – if you can bear with this a little longer–"

She bit down on her lower lip and nodded. "I'll try."

In addition to the templars, the rift was sucking Envy in, pulling at the demon as it neared the many neon tendrils. Envy attempted to delay the inevitable by clawing its feet into the ground, but the rushing templars, with their anti-magic abilities, pushed it ever closer to the rift. Ser Barris arrived a moment later to assist them, one side of his face swollen red with an angry burn. With a great swing of his sword, he managed to hack through Envy's shinbone, severing the limb.

Solas pulled her hand away, suddenly stopping the beam. "And now, we close it," he explained, and brought her hand back up again for a new one.

Envy's shriek was ear-splitting as the mark shrank the rift. Ahnnie wasn't sure whether this was meant to trap the demon back in the Fade, or weaken it as usually happened when closing rifts. Her eyes were starting to blur and her head grew heavy, making that question seem inconsequential anyway. She could feel Solas using his other hand to steady the rest of her body, all the while the beam pulled and pulled at the center of her palm.

In a bright blast of green light that echoed across the courtyard, the rift was finally closed. Envy's body was suddenly petrified in green light, then shattered into a million points of light particles.

A great commotion went up from the courtyard around her. She could only assume that they were cheering, or fighting off the remaining red templars with a renewed vigor. At any rate, it didn't matter to her anymore, as she suddenly slipped from Solas' grip and fell to the ground, exhausted.

She was aware of someone pulling her up into their arms a moment later, causing her head to loll haphazardly like a weight on her neck. With bleary eyes, she tried to see who it was.

"Herald?" the person was saying. I think it's Ser Barris..."Are you all right...all right?"

Ahnnie blinked and squinted, finding the glare of the sun on his armor uncomfortable. A shadowy figure wavered behind the templar's shoulder, wearing what looked like a wide-brimmed hat. "Cole," she called out to it, her voice weak.

"What?"

She blinked again, and the figure disappeared. "Where...where is Cole?"

But she was unable to receive an answer to her question as the blackness crept around the corners of her vision, and stole over her eyes.