Disclaimer: I own nothing, I make no money.

Author's Note: I'm so excited for the next few chapters! I cannot wait to post and share with you some of my favorite scenes between these two. Also thanks to FenZev and JayRain for ruminating over a couple ideas for the following scene with me. Much appreciated. :) And thank you again for your continued support, readers. Please enjoy.

Interlocking

Chapter Twelve: Bloody Jowls

"Harding can see the chestplate of his armor drenched in blood. She begins to shake." - Krem and Harding find each other in a world torn apart. A story told in brief glimpses.

"Maker, this place is dreadful." Krem looks around at the withered and rock-strewn Exalted Plains. He can only make out a section of the plains past their camp, where small cliffs taper off the horizon and obscure his view further.

"Tell me about it," Harding agrees. "Between the constant flies and pompous Orlesians and the foul-smelling dead things that keep coming at us? Yeah. I'm about ready to stab the Inquisitor. With a really, really big sword."

Krem can't contain his chuckle at her look, the pursed and tight lips, the furrowed brow, down to her angrily crossed arms. Harding shoots a glare his way.

"Can you carry one?" he teases.

She punches him in the ribs beside her.

He has to hold his side in mirth rather than pain, as he's overtaken by laughter.

After the path to Ghilan'nain's Grove is cleared out by Inquisition forces, and the Inquisitor claims the previously unreachable camp, the Exalted Plains are relatively cleared of Venatori agents. Harding sends in her scouts to the entrance of an underground cave, seeming to be the entrance to a lost elven temple. She recalls Solas mentioning something called "Dirthamen" when the Inquisitor's party is around the campfire with them that night. It piques her interest, but she can't understand most of the words he speaks and figures there's not much use she could be in that arena anyway. Her job is to clear the area of danger for the Inquisitor to continue further. Anything to do with ancient pasts and unfamiliar worlds is not her territory. She leaves that to the Inquisitor.

So, her scouts investigating the lost temple entrance, and the Inquisitor busy clearing out the Northern Ramparts, Harding is left to look over what treasures and missives were left by the Venatori in the area. She asks Krem to join her in perusing the maps and items left behind, hoping that his being fluent in Tevene will help to pinpoint any indication of other Venatori camps. He agrees easily, instructs the Chargers on sweeps he wants made by the damaged bridge in the west, and then the two travel deep into some of the rocky paths and caves the Inquisitor had recently cleared. The bodies of Venatori mages and warriors still litter the grounds around the small abandoned camps.

"I don't see much here, love," Krem sighs as he raises an unrolled parchment toward the slim light coming through the rocks above them, trying to get a closer look.

Harding continues sifting through the contents of a chest behind him. "It was a small chance anyway."

Krem squats down to drop the parchment beside the leather pack he was currently searching and moves to pull out a map. He hears the slow whisper of a hiss before he sees it's source. His body tenses immediately, his eyes darting to the entrance of the cave in narrowed slits. Harding catches his reaction instantly and has her bow drawn before he can fully raise himself to a standing position.

"What is it?" she whispers urgently, her eyes straining to see through the tall waving grass of the swamp.

Krem swallows. "I heard something, an animal I think." His voice is also a low whisper.

There is the steady hiss again and Harding catches the flicker of movement farther left of the cave entrance. "Gurgut!" she calls, releasing her bow quickly, and then the painful, furious shrieking of the animal echoes through the cave. The large slinking lizard rears back on its hind legs, arms swiping through the air and Harding can catch the glimpse of her arrow in its neck. It slams back down to the ground and is on them instantly.

Krem charges the creature, taking note of several others splashing hungrily through the swamp grass toward them, still a good distance from the cave entrance. His blade sinks through the wounded gurgut's neck, splashes of purple blood tainting the murky water around them. "Harding! We've got to get out of this cave before they corner us!"

"On it!" she yells above the terrible hissing and shrieking of the scaled beasts, because his back is to her and she knows he cannot see her nod. She rushes around his right and breaks into the unhindered light outside the cave, letting loose another arrow to land sharply in an oncoming gurgut's eye. It howls in pain, two of its pack rushing past it, toward them.

"Go!"

She feels Krem's hand push her shoulder and urge her in the opposite direction of the pack. She does not hesitate. Keeps running. Her legs are shorter, and the water is well past her knees. She curses as she splashes through the swamp, and half crawls over the ledge of rock before them. She is only aware of Krem behind her by his own loud splashing.

And then she hears him cry out in agonizing, heart-wrenching pain. She whips around, still sprawled over the ledge of rock and finds him face down in the water, thrashing violently as a gurgut pins his body with its weight, its jaws clamped tight over his right shoulder, tearing at the flesh. The water is flooded red instantly and Harding reaches for her bow on instinct, the fear clawing at her throat so that she cannot even scream. She lands an arrow in the gurgut's neck and it releases its jaw over Krem with a raging screech. Another arrow in its heart and it slumps into the water, still beside Krem.

Krem is pushing against the ground with his one good arm, his teeth grit in pain, spluttering in the muddy water. Harding cannot reach for him. She's too busy firing arrows into the five remaining gurguts closing in on them. Krem roars unsteadily and drags himself to his feet, reaching for the ledge of rock and trying to crawl over it. Harding can see the chestplate of his armor drenched in blood. She begins to shake.

"Keep going!" Krem's voice is a growl beside her, pulling at her elbow to get them over the ledge, the gurguts slithering through the wet grass mere inches from their feet. They push further up the rock, Krem's boot kicking forcefully into one creature's jaw and Harding clambers over the rock, her eyes locked behind them at the hissing monsters with tongues flicking through their jagged teeth. She does not see the edge as she nears it, does not notice the drop until she places a hand where she expects more rock to be and there is not. There is the sharp pull in her gut when she realizes she is falling, and then she is reaching for Krem beside her, finds his blood slick and warm between her fingers when they grasp for his arm and they are both tumbling down over the ridge of rock.

Everything goes black.