Trian led Duncan, Jerath, and Agatha through the northern market. Duncan had pointed out that dwarven merchants were far more common in Tevinter than dwarven servants, and he walked next to Jerath, mirroring the role of bodyguard. Agatha walked next to him, playing the role of scribe. Trian paused a moment to admire the patina a craftsman had managed on a dagger hilt, and resolved to figure out how it had been done.

"Loghain is moving." Agatha's voice was barely a whisper.

He paid a gold for the dagger and started walking. He couldn't make out the blond knight through the crowd of humans. "Which way?"

"Northeast."

They strolled in that direction casually. He still couldn't make out Loghain, but the form currently heading up a staircase into one of the towers looked familiar. "Baradies."

"Might be wise to get word to our mages." Jerath shook his head.

"Any idea how?" Agatha asked. She frowned. "Alai is a mage. Sort of."

"Trail him and see where he goes, but keep our heads low." Duncan glanced down at Trian.

"You are one of the people he specifically targeted." Jerath narrowed his eyes.

"Which is why the keeping of the heads low." Duncan nodded. "But this is why we are here, isn't it?"

"Looks like he's heading into the upper levels." Trian continued walking. "Still plenty of people around to provide cover."

"I don't see Loghain." Jerath scanned the crowd.

"Nor do I." Agatha shook her head. "Maybe he lost Baradies."

"All the more reason for us to catch up." Duncan kept walking a pace behind Trian, though it was clear he wanted Trian to walk faster.

Hurrying would just call attention to them. He increased his pace to a more determined walk, as if he'd just remembered an appointment.

#

"Lost him." Alai made a frustrated sound.

"Why couldn't they wear signs, or have uniforms or something?" Caleb scanned the courtyard.

"Why does every color in Tevinter fashion have to be a hair shy of black?" Loghain frowned. "Looks like Trian might have spotted something. They are headed into the upper levels."

"Shall we go back them up?" Caleb asked.

"We might get lucky and spot our quarry again from that vantage point." Loghain started walking and then stopped again. "I just spotted our quarry."

"Where?" Caleb asked.

Alai let out a string of elven curses. "Following Trian's group." Loghain growled and then started walking again at a faster pace.

"They are walking into a trap." Caleb followed after Loghain. "Again."

#

Gavren narrowed his eyes as another man deliberately stepped into his path. The man glanced at his staff before smirking. "Now where did a youngling like you get that?" He started to step around, and the man moved to block him. "I asked you a question, boy." The man folded his arms.

"It was a gift." Dorian had warned him about magisters dueling in the streets. Showing weakness was not a good option here. "Get out of my way."

"A gift." The man rolled his eyes. "From who?"

"Whom." Gavren met the man's eyes.

"What?"

"The correct phrasing is 'from whom'." Gavren held the man's gaze steadily. "You are in my way."

"Listen, you smart mouthed little pissant..." The man gestured at himself. "Do you know who I am?"

The man was dressed as a magister. It was possible he was someone important. Frankly, Gavren had his doubts. A man of genuine import would not be picking a fight with a stranger in the street. Behind him he felt more than saw Kels and Leandra assume wary stances. "I am a newly arrived to this city, and I am expected elsewhere."

For a moment, it looked like the other man was going to walk away. And then a nearby woman chuckled. "Just challenge him if you want the staff so badly." She waved a hand carelessly.

"Foreigner, eh?" The man shrugged. "Let's see what you've got, boy."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kels reach for his sword. He held up a warning hand. Mage duels had rules in Tevinter, but if Kels or Leandra interfered, they'd simply be killed out of hand. "Very well."

His opponent pulled his staff and started to twirl it. Gavren didn't bother with the theatrics. He simply drew upon the Fade and pushed. His opponent flew backwards and slammed into the wall behind him. Gavren waved a hand, and the man flew in that direction, landing sprawled on the ground. He waved his hand the other way, and the man slid towards him to lie in at his feet. "Are we done here?" Gavren raised an eyebrow.

The magister blinked up at him through slightly glassy eyes. He decided to take that as a yes, and stepped around the man to continue on his way. He'd made it a dozen steps before he heard Leandra's hiss of warning. The barrier sprang into place just in time to shield him and his companions from the fireball the magister hurled. Blood trailed in a line down the man's arm as he prepared his next spell.

He pulled on the Fade once more and it bent to his will with a downward punching motion. Before the spell could leave the magister's hands, a mirror of his hand made of the Fade itself slammed into the man from above. There was a hideous crunching sound and the man started to scream as he writhed on the ground.

A few of his companions started to reach for their staffs, and Gavren narrowed his eyes. "I did not come here to fight, but I will not be threatened. I suggest you get your friend to a healer, and hope he has learned something from this experience." He whirled, and once again started walking away.

This time, they let him go.

#

"That estate is a fortress." Salla sighed. "Tisallan, you see any way in?"

"None I like enough to try." Tisallan frowned. "That building has held for centuries, a fact which alone gives me pause. My people knew how to build, when we put our minds to it, and ancient defenses may still be in play."

"There are many wards." Kieran's eyes narrowed. "And they have bound spirits to defend it."

"Jerks." Salla shook her head. "Now we know where they are. Possible we could attack while they are moving through town. Challenge her to a mage duel or something."

"She is not a magister, thus that option is unavailable."

"Let's regroup with the others." Salla jerked her head back the way they had come. "Maybe they've found something."

#

Cullen stopped his pacing when Dorian entered the room. "Any word?"

"None yet." Dorian sighed with frustration. "It is possible we beat them here by a wider margin than anticipated."

"Or they could have camped outside the city?" Alistair raised an eyebrow.

Magister Arenda shook her head. "No. The guards would have chased them off or arrested them if they camped within five miles of the city itself, and further would interfere with their reason for being here."

"And what of their quarry?" Melavan asked.

"On that, we had a bit more luck." Dorian nodded to Arenda.

"A Magister Valis is entertaining guests that match the description of Baradies, as well as Siofra and Padar."

"Padar was the..." Cullen raised an eyebrow.

"The lyrium warrior." Arenda nodded. "My contact confirmed the description. But it won't be long before our arrival in the city reaches their ears. Unfortunately, the estate of Magister Valis is well-fortified and defended."

"Maybe staying under cover is the wrong tactic." Hawke shrugged. "We could strut around like we own the place, let them come to us."

"You remember the part where we don't have an army?" Alistair glared at him.

"You did alright last time you visited Tevinter." Hawke met his eyes levelly.

"I had Isabela, Varric, Maevaris, Isabela's crew, the Arishok, and three qunari dreadnoughts."

"Well, see, you are in excellent shape." Hawke grinned and gestured at the inhabitants of the room. "This time you have us."

"As optimistic as our friend may be..." Arenda shook her head at Hawke. "He might have a point. Dorian and I could make our presence here known. That may draw out either the kids or the cult."

"I'm not particularly happy about the thought of putting the two of you in danger either." Cullen shook his head.

"Then you shouldn't have named your son Gavren Dorian." Dorian smiled at Cullen.

#

Duncan scanned the bridge. "He's almost to the far side."

"If he looks back while we are crossing, he will spot us for certain." Agatha shook her head.

"I don't see any other way across." Trian looked at the neighboring buildings.

"We'll have to take the chance." Duncan looked down at him. "We are in disguise."

"He's a demon." Jerath gave Duncan an annoyed look.

"And he's going to get away." Duncan sighed, and shook his head. "Look, I'm not running headlong after him. He spots us, we head the other way and lose him in the crowd."

Trian sighed, and started across the bridge. If they lost Baradies now, who knew how long it might be before they spotted him again. Stone, but he wanted to get back to Kal'Hirol and the safety of stone above his head. Duncan followed quickly, and he didn't need to look to know Jerath would follow the other man. Agatha moved again to his side.

#

"Caleb, Alai, do you see them?" Loghain asked.

"No..." Alai frowned.

"Shit, there." Caleb gestured. "They are a level above us, on the bridge."

"Let's find a way up, fast." Loghain started down the next corridor, and stopped. "I think they know we are here."

Caleb swallowed. Nearly a dozen men in Orlesian style armor blocked their path, hands on their weapons. The one in the lead sneered. "You'll be wanting to throw down your weapons and come along quietly."

"No..." Loghain shook his head. "That really doesn't sound much like us." He glanced at Alai. "Does that sound like us?" He drew his blade, and readied his shield.

"It does not." Alai pulled her blade from Caleb's scabbard, and smiled. She grabbed the shield as the men started towards them.

"Are you two insane?" Caleb hissed. "There are a dozen of them."

"Yes, but..." Loghain glanced back at him and waved casually. "They are Orlesian."

"Well..." Caleb stared at him in disbelief. "In that case, have fun."

"We will." Alai chuckled, and glanced at Loghain. "Winner gets to be on top."

Loghain grinned back at her, and charged. Caleb grimaced and started loading his crossbow.

#

Gavren headed up the ancient stone staircase, and looked down at the market. "I don't see any of them."

"Which means either they found trouble or trouble found them." Kels sighed. "Or both."

"Perhaps we should..." Leandra trailed off. "Warehouses to the northeast."

He glanced in that direction, and then blinked. "That man bears an incredible resemblance to Dorian. He's talking with a man that bears an incredible resemblance to my father."

Kels felt a moment of frustration as he looked back at Gavren. "My suggestion of going over and saying hello is going to get ignored, isn't it?"

"Yes." Leandra said.

"Possibly not." Gavren frowned.

"Gavren?" Leandra turned towards him.

"They found us..." Gavren folded his arms. "Everywhere we've gone, they've found us. Including in Starkhaven, a place they couldn't possibly have had reason to go." He touched the sword Leandra was carrying. "I've got a hunch we aren't the only ones that have received a bit of help."

Slowly, Leandra nodded, and then she shook her head. "But who is helping them? Kieran's parents, or..."

"A very good question." Gavren sighed. "But either way, they are soon going to know we are here. If they do not already."

"Does this mean we are going to go over and say hello?" Kels raised an eyebrow.

"It means..." Gavren sighed. "That we need to find the others."

#

"Kieran, where are they?" Salla scanned the square below.

Kieran tilted his head, and half closed his eyes. "Gavren, Leandra, and Kels are in that direction." He turned slightly. "The others are in that..." His eyes snapped open. "Loghain, Alai, and Caleb seem to have found trouble."

"Unfortunately..." Tisallan gestured behind them. "So have we."

One of the men that has been with Siofra earlier had just emerged from an archway behind them, accompanied by seven other men. He stared at them with a dumbfounded expression, and then immediately turned around and began running, shouting something to the other men. Two men followed him, and the others started for them. "We've got to stop him before he tells them we are here." Salla growled. Next to her, Kieran shifted into a raven and took to the air. Salla made a frustrated sound. "Dammit, that's not what I meant!"

"On guard, Mirthadri." Swords appeared in Tisallan's hands as the other men started for them.

Salla drew the green staff and called her magic to her.

#

Alistair stared out at the city through the gap in the shuttered windows. Outside, the shadows were lengthening, darkening the lowest levels of the city. He hated feeling helpless and useless here while his son was out there. Somewhere.

He heard a sound behind him, and saw Magister Adralicus pouring wine into glasses. The younger man smiled at him when he saw Alistair looking, like an eager puppy hoping to please. "I brought dinner." He gestured to the box full of wrapped items he'd set on the table.

"You weren't supposed to leave the building." Brehan sighed.

Adralicus's face fell. "Oh. I didn't go far. Just to the edge of the market."

The smell coming from the box reached him, and caused his stomach to growl slightly. "We need to be careful." Alistair tried to keep his voice gentle. Despite the younger man's... exuberance... he did indeed mean well. "Thank you."

Brehan sighed, and accepted the glass of wine Adralicus handed him. Lenore accepted one as well. Adralicus seemed to take that as an invitation to start talking again as he handed out the contents of the box. Alistair found himself staring at some kind of flatbread wrapped around strips of heavily spiced unidentifiable meat. Tentatively, he took a bite, and then blinked in surprise. "I think I like this." He looked down at the item in his hand. "Which probably means you shouldn't tell me what it is."

"I've never tried much in the way of Ferelden cuisine." Adralicus went off on a tangent about some delicacy he imported from Rivain, somehow managing to drink from his wine glass without pausing his speech.

With a shake of his head, Alistair lifted his own glass to his lips. He yelped as Brehan struck it out of his hand, sending it shattering to the floor. "Brehan what the..."

Brehan met his eyes, and Alistair felt a moment of dawning horror just before one of his oldest friends started to fall. He caught Brehan, easing the man to the ground as he started convulsing. He looked up at Adralicus to find the man exchanging a terrified look with Lenore. Lenore's fingers started to glow white with healing magic that sparked out of existence again as she staggered. She fell across a bench, then rolled to the ground as she started twitching. Adralicus dropped his glass and caught the edges of the table before he started shaking, and a heartbeat later he too was on the ground.

"Hawke!" Alistair yelled. "Hawke!"

The door slammed open as the man came running.

#

"I don't see him." Agatha scanned the crowd.

"There." Trian nodded. The tail of Baradies' silvery robes was vanishing down a staircase. He kept his pace measured as he followed.

The staircase descended into another corridor, and Baradies was just barely visible going into a room at the end of it. Cautiously, Trian continued after him.

Halfway down the corridor, the floor suddenly gave way under his feet as a trapdoor opened. He heard exclamations from the others as they all tumbled down a smooth inclined stone. It dropped them into the darkness of another pit. Someone landed on him. "Ow."

"Ow." He heard Duncan's voice echo.

Agatha's voice came from near his ear, proving that she was the one who had landed on him. "Everyone alive?"

"I am." Duncan's voice answered.

"Get off me." Jerath said a moment later.

"Sorry." Duncan replied. There was a scrambling sound. "Trian?"

"I'm here." Trian winced as Agatha rolled off him. "But I took an elf to the ribs." He blinked into the inky blackness.

"I had a soft landing." Agatha said.

"So did Duncan." Jerath said.

"How bad?" Duncan's voice asked him.

"Dislocated my shoulder." There was a loud thumping sound, and then Jerath's voice continued with a pained sound. "Fixed it."

"Don't look now." Agatha said. "But I've got a sneaking suspicion we just fell into a trap."

"We are the biggest idiots in Thedas." Trian ran a hand down his face.

"Well..." Duncan sighed. "Kieran does have some kind of thing where he can find us, so -"

"So now we get to be bait." Jerath cut him off.

"Ah." Agatha said. Trian heard her stand up. "Well. Shit."

"What do we do..." Duncan started to ask. He trailed off as the room suddenly glowed with a dim light. "What the..."

Jerath looked down at the sword he'd drawn. He put it back in the sheath and the glow vanished. He drew it again, and it gave off the dim light again. "Well, that's handy."

"Hold it up." Duncan ordered. "Agatha, you see any way out?"

"Yep." Agatha gestured. "Got a door there." She headed towards it. Duncan immediately joined her.

#

Loghain felt one of his ribs crack from the blow delivered by his opponent. A split second later, he'd opened the man's throat. He smashed another of the men in the face with his shield, sending him staggering backwards. Alai ran him through almost casually.

Behind him, the crossbow twanged, and the last of the men fell. Loghain immediately turned to Alai. "What was the final score?"

"We tied." Alai wiped the blood from her blade before sheathing it.

"Against the wall it is." Loghain cleaned his own blade.

"Maker, will you two get a room?" Caleb retrieved his crossbow bolts.

"That's the plan." Loghain started walking. "As soon as we go save the kings."

#

Gavren led Leandra and Kels through the city. The others weren't in the first of the two fall back locations. Leandra made an irritated sound as they cut through the rapidly thinning crowd of the market to reach the other location. They were halfway there when something tingled lightly through the Veil. He could feel it tingling against his skin, and he froze in his tracks. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kels open his mouth to say something, only switch to wide-eyes silent recognition as a man stepped out of the shadows.

"Solas." Gavren's voice was quiet.

"Fascinating." Solas's eyes looked Gavren over. "You have your mother's eyes."

"What do you want, hahren?" Gavren put a hand on Leandra's arm as she tried to move in front of him protectively.

"First, to satisfy my curiosity." Solas clasped his hands behind his back. "I wished to meet my apprentice." His eyes flicked first to Leandra, and then to Kels. He gave Kels a small nod of greeting. "Congratulations on your promotion, lieutenant."

Kels managed a nod. "And the second?" Gavren asked.

Solas gestured at an archway. "Through here is an eluvian. It will deliver you safely to one located in Kirkwall."

"Just like that?" Leandra asked.

"I have no wish to see any of you harmed." Solas met Gavren's eyes. "And when your mother first realized you were in danger, she asked me to help. That is not a request I will deny her."

"Your agents attacked Kieran."

"If I wished to do Kieran harm, I have had plenty of opportunity." Solas shook his head. "Abelas was ordered to apprehend, not injure, for Kieran's own safety." Solas's eyes narrowed. Gavren could see a few other figures moving in the darkness behind him. "An order I would prefer not to have to give here."

He looked from one sentinel to the next, taking in all three of them. And then he switched to the elvish language. The man to your left is named Laharis. He uses more spells than most arcane warriors, primarily favoring ice, and he uses the element in his barriers as well, making them particularly strong against fire. When he and I do battle, I defeat him by calling a stone from the Fade and using it to crush his armor into his ribcage. His eyes went back to Solas. I was ten. You have taught me much since that day.

For a moment, Solas stared at him. His lips twitched slightly. That sounded like a threat.

It was a simple statement of fact. Gavren squared his shoulders. We both know you will not compromise your plans by killing me. Thus the only question remaining is if you are willing to sacrifice your agents in an attempt to force the issue.

I... Solas smiled. I notice you do not appear to be concerned for the safety of your companions.

You know who my parents are, Solas, and you know my mentor. I think you far too intelligent than to threaten the safety of my friends.

I will leave the eluvian, should you change your mind. Solas gestured to the sentinels behind him, all of whom started to melt back into the shadows. I think you will be an interesting student. He inclined his head.

Until our dreams cross once more. Gavren returned the nod, and watched the Dread Wolf vanish into the night.

"Um..." Kels' voice was almost a squeak. He coughed. "What just happened?"

"My elvish is really bad..." Leandra stared. "But I think my fiancé just threatened an elven god."

"He did what?" Kels' mouth hung open.

Leandra grabbed the front of Gavren's robes and pulled him to her for a kiss.

#

The four men lasted only a few seconds against her self-appointed elven bodyguard. It occurred to her that Tisallan might just be one of the few men who could hold his own in a fight against her father or Uncle Carver.

Salla quickly caught up with Kieran. "Don't go flying off like that."

Kieran blinked at her, and gestured to the three bodies at his feet. "They were getting away."

She grabbed him by the front of the robes and kissed him soundly. "I said, don't go flying off like that."

"Ah. Yes." Kieran nodded to her. "It will not happen again." He smiled to her, and brushed her hair back from her face. "I apologize."

Behind them, Tisallan let out a low chuckle. "Hush you." Salla rolled her eyes at him.

A frown came to Kieran's face. "The others are in trouble, and..." He tilted his head, and frowned. "The Dread Wolf is here."

"Ah." Salla swallowed. "That..." She shook her head. "That's bad."

"I am not certain." Kieran shook his head. "We need to find Gavren, and..." Kieran frowned. "I think Duncan's group may have been captured. Loghain's group is trying to rescue them. And there is a harsher tune playing..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "There are too many melodies playing. I cannot tell the harmonies apart."

"Which way to Gavren?" Salla asked.

"That way."