Leliana

"And Flemeth thought this would be good for my constitution." Morrigan sighed as she stuffed supplies into her satchel. "But ever on the move we must be."

"Feeling the lack of beauty sleep are we?" Zevran teased. "You needn't, Morrigan. Truth be told, you are quite lovely."

"And it has been how long since you've known a woman's touch?" Morrigan needled, smiling all the while.

"You ready, sister?" Oghren glanced at me.

"As I will ever be." I sighed, swallowing the last piece of dried fruit with which I had broken my fast.

"Best wake th' warden, then." he hefted his axe on his shoulder and walked towards the exit.

I do not want to. I looked down at Salem, feeling my heart beat faster. I did not know if it was with love or fear. Watching Wynne heal you...I did not know it caused you such pain. You must be exhausted still.

"Salem." I whispered, ghosting my lips across her ear. "Salem, love, you need to wake up."

She jerked in her sleep and I felt very much the villain. How often was it that she had been pulled from slumber by dreams too horrible to fathom? How many times during the course of this mission had she gone sleepless for our rest?

Too many...too many to count. But time marches on, unending. I am sorry that you are the one who must suffer for it.

"Salem." I called her name again, pressing gently on her uninjured shoulder. "Open your eyes."

Her breath snapped in and her eyes flared open, seeing nothing. Her hands cast about for her swords; I laced my fingers through hers.

"Everything is well." I assured her. "We are preparing to move out."

She relaxed and I smiled, grateful to see that the dark bruise on her jaw had faded to a sickly yellow and green. Wynne's magic had done its work, despite Salem's adverse reaction. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"How long have we rested?" she asked.

"Long enough." I refused to tell her the time. It would only serve to make her push herself harder than she needed to.

You worry for the others, Salem. I thought as I helped her into her armor. Perhaps the Maker sent me to worry for you.

I tightened the last strap of her damaged pauldron and then strapped her swords to her back. I could hear her berating herself in her mind, decrying her self-perceived uselessness.

"Stop that right now." I ordered.

"What?" she turned her eyes to mine.

I placed my hand against her cheek, careful of her bruises. "Criticizing yourself and hating your limitations. No one could do what you have done, Salem. The Maker chose well when he picked Ferelden's hero. So no more."

She gave me a lopsided grin and leaned in, placing a kiss on my lips. "As you say."

Somehow, I felt that those three words, which she said so often, meant something entirely different. "Come." I looked to our companions, finding all of them ready. "They're waiting on us."

"Well it appears command has not suffered in my absence." she smirked. "I thought bards kept to the shadows."

"I thought wardens were humorless." I quipped, enjoying her good-natured teasing.

Salem laughed, shook her head, and we started off. We exited the caverns and the beauty of the Frostback mountains stole my breath away. They reached high into the air, peaks jagged and sharp as though they had once tried to cut down heaven. The others gazed with me, even Morrigan, captivated by the beauty of this harsh wild.

"It must be lovely." Salem whispered, sensing our awe. "I wish..." she trailed off, refusing to focus on what she could not have.

"There is a path leading to another structrue." I told her, pulling my eyes away from the grandeur. "Perhaps at one time the two were connected."

"Who can say?" Salem asked a rhetorical question. "All those who would know are dead. Most refuse to believe that this place even exists."

It does exist, but we still cannot know if it holds what we seek. How horrible it would be, to have come all this way and shed all this blood for nothing.

An ear-splitting roar shook the earth. Salem pulled her swords and I saw her wince.

Not another battle, I prayed, anxiously searching for what had made the mountains tremble. We cannot afford...

A fierce wind nearly knocked me to the ground and I gazed up...

"Andraste's tits!" Oghren shouted. "It's a bloody high dragon!"

Iridescent violet scales caught the sun and flung it into our eyes. The dragon was larger than any we had seen in the tunnels...larger than any that the legends described.

We cannot defeat a dragon of this size! I watched it soar into the mountains and tuck its massive wings around itself. They were large enough to blot the sun from view.

"Stay quiet." Salem hissed, but we all heard her. "We have no hope of defeating a dragon in our current state. Where is it?"

"It's taken to the mountains." Zevran informed her. I still could not speak, by turns terrified and amazed.

I would never have seen such wonders if I had not been betrayed, if my hellish life had not taken me back to my homeland. I would never have fought so hard, known this exhaustion, bear the many scars I have gained on this quest. But...I looked to Salem, I would also never have known so fierce a love...and so gentle a lover. I am blessed.

"Move slowly." Salem cautioned, taking the first hesitant steps out of the mouth of the cave. We followed her. I was certain that all of us were begging our respective deities to let us pass in peace.

"Warden," Sten came up from behind us, "Kolgrim's men have returned."

"Hells and damnation!" Salem swore. "Morrigan, Zevran, Sten, left side of the tunnels. Wynne, Oghren, Leliana, take the right."

The others jumped to obey her orders. "And you?" I asked, incredulous.

"Me?" she grinned. "We could never coax them out if their appetites are not properly whetted."

"You cannot do this." I pleaded, wishing she did not feel the constant need to place herself in harm's way.

"I can, and have. Go, Leliana."

I frowned. We would have words later. Why will you never listen to me? No matter what I say, how I plead, no matter the tears that shine in my eyes, you refuse to hear me and continue to endanger your life.

I could hear Kolgrim's men rushing through the tunnels. They were few. Why have they returned if they know their defeat is certain? I wondered, stringing my bow, wincing as my injured fingers protested.

They emerged and fixed their eyes on Salem.

"Make her known!" the leader shouted. "Let our Lady avenge her Herald!"

Wait...what? Those were not the words of men bent on revenge at their own hands. Who is this lady? I know Kolgrim proclaimed himself the Herald of Andraste reborn but...oh, blessed Maker. No.

The men lifted their bows, but none of the arrows were directed at Salem. My warden stood there, waiting. Waiting for those she trusted to protect her life.

"Now!" she shouted, but it was too late.

The arrows flew as we attacked. Salem charged forward into the battle and within moments, our few attackers lay dead at our feet. We stood there, bewildered, listening to an eerie, haunting echo.

I looked out onto the bridge of snow and rock between us and the door beyond. A gong stood in the middle, a single arrow embedded in the soft brass. The dragon raised its head.

No. Their intention was never to kill us. They believe that the dragon is Andraste...they have worshipped her and fed her the blood of men and women.

The dragon rose and its roar drowned the echoing of the gong.

"Oh, bloody hell." Morrigan groaned. "We have to slay a dragon."