Trian handed the other end of the rope to Agatha. The elven woman dove off the side of the boat and swam to the shore. She bound the end of the rope to one of the ancient metal rings that had apparently been set into the stone for just such a purpose. "Isn't Isabela going to get angry when she learns we just left her ship here for anyone to find?"

"We'll send her a bird." Caleb caught the other end of the rope with him as they started pulling the ship in.

He shook his head as they finished securing the ship. The debt needed to be paid, and he counted some of these people among his friends, but what they were doing here was foolhardy. Duncan was standing impatiently as the mages discussed the best way to ward the ship. It wasn't difficult to see the young boy who rushed headlong down the stairs in the man. Trian shot a glance at Salla. Duncan had agreed to follow the young woman, and she'd done well enough thus far. He just hoped it lasted. With a sigh, he headed in her direction. "Salla?"

"Yes?" She raised an eyebrow.

"What's the plan?"

"We need more information on our destination. We know the city, but it would be nice to know what building, what defenses it may have, how many allies this thing has, and what it can do." Salla frowned. "And the fact that every spy we know is going to report back to our parents is going to complicate things." She looked around. "We also need some supplies. I found Isabela's gold stash, but we are probably going to need things like lyrium and maybe some more weapons." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Let's head in the general direction of our destination, and try to keep a low profile."

"Alright." It was the best they could do for a plan without more information, anyway. "I'll start figuring out what we need." He turned his gaze towards the bearded man. "You know Kels is going to try to get word out first opportunity he gets."

"We've got enough of a head start that shouldn't be a problem. And Agatha is keeping an eye on him."

"The Seekers are currently in Nevarra."

"There aren't many Seekers, and Nevarra is a good sized country. What are the odds we will run into any of them?" Salla shrugged. "We should get a pack horse of some kind as well."

#

Salla fell into step next to Leandra. She was still having a little bit of difficulty reconciling the tall young woman with her little cousin. "So, how long have you and Gavren been..."

"Together?" She grinned. "Or just engaged?"

"Engaged, I guess." Fighting qunari, and demons, and darkspawn. It was kind of like the stories of how her fathers had gotten together. Or how Leandra's own parents had gotten together, come to think of it, as well as Gavren's parents. History did tend to repeat itself.

Leandra shrugged and glanced over at her boyfriend. "Gavren, when did I tell you we were going to get married?"

"At the Ostagar tourney."

"Right." Leandra turned back to Salla. "Fourteen years."

She shook her head at Leandra, and laughed softly before looking over at Gavren. "You never stood a chance, did you?"

"Nope." He smiled.

"What about you?" She turned to look at Duncan. "There a queen on the horizon?"

"Teyrna Anora has brokered an arrangement between myself and a Pentagast woman who's something like ninth in line for the Nevarran throne."

"What's her name?" Salla asked.

"Um..." Duncan furrowed his brow, and then glanced over his shoulder at Jerath.

"Eglentyne."

"Wait, really?" Duncan frowned. "I thought it started with an S."

"Eglentyne Sofia Agostina Giacinta Mariella Cassandra Silvestra Teodora Valeria Pentaghast."

"And now I remember why I forgot." Duncan shook his head. "She's..." He shrugged. "Nice."

"I have five gold says you can't tell us what color her hair is." Loghain called from behind him.

"I'll take that bet." Caleb grinned.

Duncan rubbed the back of his neck. "Black?"

Loghain held out a hand to Caleb. "Pay up." He shrugged. "She's a blond." His grin widened. "Like her brother."

"Oh for the love of..." Duncan shook his head. "Asshole." He lengthened his stride to quicken their pace. "We've got work to be doing."

#

According to the map, they were unlikely to make it to the city by nightfall, at least at the pace this group was traveling. They hadn't been underway more than a couple hours when they found trouble. "Well well, look what we have here." The bandits leveled their crossbows. "Isn't this lot fancy?"

Jerath noted the positions of Kels, Leandra, and Ser Loghain out of the corner of his eye. Leandra had positioned herself between Gavren and the crossbowmen. Ser Loghain was walking next to Trian and would be able to get the dwarven king out of harm's way. Kels might have been of some use, had he been armed or armored. And that left Kieran, Caleb, Agatha, and Salla undefended. And worse, likely to get in the way. As though being outnumbered did not make the situation complicated enough.

"You'd be advised to let us pass." Duncan shifted just slightly to his left, for once doing as he was supposed to and letting Jerath provide cover.

"Hand over your gold..." The bandit smiled. "And maybe the ladies, and we might do just that."

"Oh you cannot be serious," Leandra said.

"Are these actual bandits?" Kieran tilted his head.

"Yes, they are actual bandits." Duncan's voice was impatient.

"How exciting. I've never had someone try to rob me before." Kieran actually started to smile.

The lead bandit gave Kieran a confused look. "What's wrong with him?"

"Answering that question would take all day." Duncan shook his head.

In response, the bandit shrugged and gestured to him. "The gold. Now. And those fancy swords."

"You want my sword?" Leandra put her hand on the hilt. "Come get it."

"Oh, a dangerous one." One of the bandits leered at her. "Dibs."

"Heh." Leandra grinned. "Your mistake. I'm not the dangerous one."

"Shoot one of them." The lead bandit gestured.

Jerath shifted to stand between Duncan and the bolts, getting his shield into bear just in time... for the bolts to strike something a couple feet in front of him and bounce harmlessly to the ground. He shrugged and drew his sword, glancing back at Salla. "Orders?"

"Well," Salla glanced at where Kieran was standing with his palm outstretched. "I think we ask them politely not to attack us. Once."

Duncan nodded. "You heard the lady."

"Kill them all!" The lead bandit drew his blade.

#

Duncan sent an arrow into a bandit's throat. He was about to shift his aim towards the left when Kieran rushed forward and leaped into the air. He started to shout and Kieran's form suddenly shifted. What went into the air was a man. What came down was a spider the size of a carriage. He thought two of the bandits might have technically died of shock.

Behind him, he heard Leandra laugh as she strode forward, putting her massive blade to good use. The bandit leader managed to get a good swing at Jerath. Jerath parried it easily before running the man through. Loghain put his own shield to use more as weapon than defense, casually battering his way through the bandits. Both Salla and Rutherford provided some support in the way of spells fired at various bandits. Trian had positioned himself near Salla and Rutherford, keeping his shield between the mages and anyone that might have thought about moving in to attack. And Caleb, Kels, and Agatha wisely just stayed out of the way.

He fired two more arrows before the battle was finished. The spider freed a corpse from its leg, and then took a step backwards before shifting back into Kieran. "That was awesome." Caleb immediately walked towards Kieran. "What else can you turn into?"

"Anyone hurt?" Salla started looking them over. Her fingers glowed white as she healed the minor wounds taken by Leandra and Jerath. She frowned down at the dead bandits, and then shook her head. "Kels, find yourself some gear. You too, Caleb." She turned to give the rest of them a critical look before glancing at Jerath. "Jerath, would you please ensure everyone is properly outfitted in case this happens again?"

Jerath nodded. Duncan retrieved his arrows before helping himself to the quivers carried by some of the bandits. He noted that Caleb looked rather uncertain before grabbing a couple of long knives. When he passed Jerath, he lowered his voice to a whisper. "When we make camp, give the boy Hawke enough of a lesson that he doesn't stab himself by accident."

"Yes, your majesty."

#

Caleb frowned as Jerath adjusted his grip on the dagger. "That feels weird."

"Your control is greater. Fingers, wrist, and elbow can all shift the blade. You don't have strength, so you'll need speed."

"I do so have strength." Caleb glared.

"You've got strong fingers, but not arms."

"I do so have strength." Caleb put a hand on Jerath's chest and tried to shove him backwards.

Jerath didn't budge even an inch. He gave Caleb an annoyed look. "Don't block. Parry and shift, or at the very least you'll lose fingers."

He looked down at his hands. Losing a finger meant losing the ability to play the several instruments. "Um..."

The other man abruptly swung a stick at him. Caleb brought the dagger up. The stick hit it and knocked it out of his hand. Jerath shook his head. "Loghain?"

"Right." Loghain picked up the dagger and held it the way Caleb had been shown a moment ago. Jerath drew his sword and brought it down. Loghain brought the dagger up to meet it, and redirected the sword to the left before immediately moving in and holding his fist to Jerath's neck. If he'd had a knife in both hands, the blade of the other weapon would be pressed against Jerath's throat.

"Oh." Caleb looked down at the other knife. "But what if he had a shield?"

Loghain flipped the dagger in his hand and flung it. It hit a tree blade first and sank in a couple inches. "Then I suggest not letting him get near you in the first place."

"I do know how to use a sword, you know." Caleb shook his head. It took him three tries to pull his dagger free. "My fathers and Aunt Aveline both taught me. And Salla too."

"Leave me out of this." Salla called over from where she was talking to the other mages.

"I've seen Fenris fight." Jerath shrugged. "He's a force of nature. But he also has lyrium tattoos and a lifetime of training. As for your other father, he's a mage. His sword gives him an advantage simply because few expect a mage to be able to wield one even semi-competently, and he combines it with magic."

"So unless you have tattoos or magic you haven't told us about?" Loghain raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe I'll stick to the crossbow." Caleb sighed.

"That would likely be best." Jerath nodded.

#

"Heading up the Imperial Highway is the smart thing to do." Salla folded her arms and looked the group over. They'd ditched their fancier clothing, though they'd kept the nicer armor and weapons. There'd been enough war lately those weren't going to stand out much. "None of us are experienced enough woodsmen to try cutting through unfamiliar forests."

"The Imperial Highway has regular guard patrols." Caleb shook his head.

"Yes, but I doubt they are specifically looking for us. Our parents aren't going to be hanging out banners saying we are lost. They only want their people hunting us." Agatha shrugged. "Trying to cut across country might actually draw more attention than just walking down the highway as if we had a perfect right to be there."

"She has a point." Duncan adjusted his cloak. "Never underestimate the power of a good bluff. The only better option would be to actually dress as Nevarran soldiers."

Trian held up the map. "We should make it to the next town by mid-afternoon."

"Where Kels is going to try to escape and tell everyone where we are." Duncan glanced at him. "Any way we could convince you not to do that?"

"None whatsoever."

"We could claim we are bounty hunters and he is a prisoner we are transporting?" Salla raised an eyebrow.

"Has that ever worked?" Leandra turned to Gavren.

"Once."

"Really?" Caleb asked.

"Yes." Gavren shrugged. "Sera was being such an obnoxious prisoner all the guard wanted was for us to get out of there before they got stuck with her. I'm not sure Kels could pull it off even if he was cooperating."

"What if we gag him and claim he's a rogue mage?" Caleb tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"It leaves him vulnerable if we get attacked by bandits again." Jerath immediately shook his head.

"Well, we won't do it until just outside town. But it's unlikely we'll be attacked again." Duncan shrugged.

#

"When you said it was unlikely we would be attacked again, did you remember to calculate the Hawkes and Amells?"

Duncan loosed another arrow at the demon. "No. No, I did not."

#

Lenore watched Cathiel pace back and forth, holding one of the twins to her shoulder. Nesiara held the other. "No." Cathiel shook her head. "I refuse to believe one of my children could be that stupid."

"From the sound of things, you and Alistair were both assassinated at some point, possibly by the entity responsible for this." Lenore looked into the next room, where Nesiara's daughter was tending to Wynne. Divine Victoria hadn't said if the other children had survived the attack that had killed their parents. "The drive to avenge loved ones can be a powerful force."

"Hard to imagine where he gets that from, no?" Zevran raised an eyebrow.

Cathiel let out a bitter laugh.

"And our son followed his liege." Ser Gilmore shook his head, and put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "I'm not sure if I'm proud or furious."

"Both." Nesiara looked up at Lenore. "Kieran was there? His son?"

"Kind of hard to imagine, but yes."

"Then they will be fine." Nesiara shifted the weight of the sleeping child in her arms. "Mythal is the mother and protector. And…" She smiled. "Well, you know him."

She really wished she could share the other woman's certainty. And yet, at some point in the next few years, Alistair and Cathiel had been assassinated and Jerath had not prevented it. The attack had occurred in the first place. As much as she knew he'd want to help, she had to acknowledge the possibility that he couldn't. "There are other forces at play here, and Kieran was weakened by what happened. The fact that they've yet to weigh in..."

Silence filled the room. Cathiel was the first to speak. "I can't leave Denerim. Will you..."

"You do not have to ask." Zevran held up a hand.

Lenore nodded. "Even if Agatha wasn't out there with them. Brosca is staying in Kal'Hirol to keep an eye on our network. I brought a couple agents with me to help keep an eye here, and Zevran and I will head out in the morning to help find them."

"And beat them about the head until they come to their senses." Zevran shrugged. "That part may take some time."

#

Kels stared ahead at the lights of the town. He was sore, tired, hungry, and filthy. The Commander would probably kill him, but... "Lady Salla?"

"Yes?" The mage was leaning tiredly on her staff.

"If I promise not to try to escape or alert anyone, can I get a drink?"