She didn't scream as she fell. He couldn't help but feel grateful. The nightmares were going to be bad enough already. He twisted, and used his free hand to grab the stone ledge. His ribs burned as he pulled himself up, hauling Caleb with him. Caleb was screaming Alai's name.

He levered himself onto the bridge, and yanked Caleb the rest of the way to safety. Standing hurt. So did Caleb's fist when the other man punched him. Caleb shoved him, and then shoved him again. Loghain let the other man drive him backwards a few steps. "You dropped her." Caleb stared at him, and shoved him again. "How could you drop her?" Tears fell from Caleb's eyes. "Why did you drop her?"

Loghain spat a mouthful of blood onto the stone of the bridge. He met Caleb's eyes levelly, fixing the other man with a cold stare. Caleb dropped his own eyes first, and shook his head as if he could make what had just happened go away by the motion. Loghain pushed the grief away. There would be time later to consider all that had just been lost. He heard Caleb's voice. "Alai."

"The others are in trouble." Loghain started walking towards the men that were coming in their direction, drawing his blade as he did so. "Move, Hawke."

#

Cullen felt his jaw drop open as Carver's eyes went solid black. The man turned and charged at the oncoming qunari. One flung a spear. Carver caught it without missing a step, spun, and hurled it back without breaking stride. The spear went through the qunari and the qunari behind him, pinning both to the stone wall. And Carver's fist went through the armor of the next one in line.

The elven man launched himself at the attackers coming from the south, spinning as the magical blades sliced through his opponents. He saw Salla's hands glow, and felt the tingling familiarity of a barrier on his skin. There would be time for questions later. He raised his shield and blocked an incoming spear from the qunari coming from the north, and moved in. There was a surge of something, and he felt ten years younger. He parried an incoming blow far more easily than he should have.

Several qunari came out of an alleyway, and lightning started arcing around Kieran, swirling as though he stood in the midst of a storm. He hurled spheres of lightning at the oncoming qunari, sending them flying in all directions. Cullen spun, striking another qunari with his shield. A swath of ice caught some of his incoming attackers, sending some sliding to the ground and freezing two others in place entirely. He caught a glimpse of Salla raising a glowing staff above her head as she called hailstones out of the sky.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the alley, Carver put his fist through the iron collar of a saarebas and landed atop the corpse. Another qunari charged at the man, and Carver simply grabbed him by the front of his armor and hurled him into a small group of other qunari before moving in to close. There was a sharp cracking noise as he did so, and he realized what it was a heartbeat later when Carver drove the horn through his next opponent's chest.

The elven man's magical blade seemed to ignore the armor of his opponents, and as the qunari moved in to close he simply vanished to reappear behind them, glowing blades attacking from unexpected angles. He danced in and out of the fray, faster than the eye could see. One of the qunari hurled a spear at the elf's back, but he somehow moved aside from it anyway, letting it instead hit one of the other qunari.

A battle axe came down at him with full force. Cullen caught it on his sword almost effortlessly, and wasn't sure who was more surprised by that, him or the attacker. He shoved the axe to the side and ran the qunari man through. A quick look over the battlefield showed no other attackers left standing. The fight had to have taken time, and yet he felt no more winded than a quick walk up the main staircase of Skyhold.

"Anyone hurt?" Salla asked. "Commander Rutherford?"

"I..." Cullen glanced down at his side and was almost surprised to find himself bleeding. From a wound that should have put him on the ground. "Yes?" She moved in and her fingers glowed white with healing magic. A heartbeat later the wound was gone entirely, with only the mark on his armor to show it had ever been there.

Carver walked over, his hands coated with gore from where he'd taken on half a karataam with his bare hands. The strange inky blackness faded from his eyes. The storm had vanished from Kieran, and the blades disappeared from Tisallan's hands. Kieran's eyes suddenly narrowed as he turned to the west, and Cullen heard him snarl. "Kieran?" Salla turned towards him.

"Alai's song is silent." Kieran narrowed his eyes. "Loghain is hurt. The others are in trouble." He turned to Salla. "We need to hurry."

She nodded. "Tisallan, make sure they get back safely." Abruptly two hawks were flying to the north.

Tisallan made an annoyed noise, and gave the vanishing forms a disapproving look. "That girl was slightly less trouble before she grew wings."

"Salla..." Cullen stared. "Did she just..." He turned towards Carver. "And you just..." He glanced down at his sword. "And I just..." He swallowed. "What just..."

"Yeah." Carver nodded. He accepted a cloth Tisallan handed him, and began using it to wipe his hands clean. "I suppose you're going to want an explanation, aren't you?"

#

"Is this the right warehouse?" Leandra asked Gavren.

"I'm pretty sure." Gavren hesitated, and then lifted his hand to knock on the door. There was silence. He lifted his hand to knock again, and then there was a scraping sound. The door opened, and an elven man with white tattoos was frowning at them. "Um..." Gavren swallowed. "Fenris. Um..." He glanced at his companions and their prisoner. "Commander Cullen said you had wounded?"

Wordlessly, Fenris stepped back to let them in and pointed at the nearby staircase. Gavren and Kels immediately started in that direction. Leandra pulled their captive inside, and looked from the bound man to Fenris. Fenris shut the door behind her. "Uh, this is..." Leandra glanced at the prisoner again. "Actually, we never got his name. Where should I put him?"

"You would think after so many years of being with Hawke I would have lost my capacity for surprise." Fenris shook his head. "Bring him this way."

#

Agatha turned back towards the tunnel behind them. "Shh..." She held up a hand and the others fell silent. She heard the scraping sound again. "Someone's coming."

An elven woman, flanked by two men, stepped into view. Agatha's eyes went to the staff on the woman's back. If that was the one, well, it was a lot plainer than she'd been expecting. The woman looked them all over coldly. "Well, well." She smiled. "What have we here?"

Jerath and Trian immediately drew their weapons. Jerath stepped slightly in front of Duncan, raising his shield. Trian did the same for Agatha. Duncan fitted an arrow to his bow. Agatha put her hands onto daggers. The woman shook her head and gave them a disapproving look. "Such poor manners." She waved a hand. "Hand over your weapons."

"Come get them." Duncan started to draw back his bow.

"Do not be foolish, child." She shook her head. "You are behind a barrier. Nothing will pass through unless I allow it."

"Siofra, I presume?" Trian asked.

She smiled. "I am. And it appears I've caught nothing less than two kings in my little cage." She folded her arms. "I said, hand over the weapons."

"And I said, come get them." Duncan glared.

"Ah." She looked over her shoulder at the man behind her. "I think they are still waiting on their three little rescuers." The men behind her laughed. "Unfortunately, I fear they will not be coming." She shrugged. "They had a..." She smirked. "Falling out. They didn't make it."

Her blood went a little cold. Loghain, Caleb, and Alai couldn't be dead. Next to her, Jerath's eyes narrowed as he shifted his grip on the sword. Duncan shook his head. "You're lying."

"Duncan Therin, son of Alistair, son of Maric." She gave him an appraising look. "Blood of Calenhad." She snorted. "I expected something a little more..." She shrugged. "Impressive. No matter. You and the dwarven prince are of use to me." Her lips curled, revealing her teeth. "Your two companions are not."

Agatha saw Trian lift his shield slightly higher in response to the implied threat. The dwarven man shook his head. "You have to take that barrier down to get to us, and you'll die the moment that happens."

Siofra rolled her eyes. "We'll see how much more cooperative they are feeling after a day without water." She gestured to the men to follow her out of the room.

As soon as she was gone, Agatha started shaking her head. "They can't be dead, right?"

"Maferath's balls." Duncan shook his head. "His grandfather died six years ago and was still able to lead us out of the Deep Roads. I won't believe a Mac Tir is dead until I've burned the corpse." He lowered his bow and put a hand on Agatha's shoulder. "And even then I'll still have my doubts."

"The others are out there as well." Trian smiled reassuringly.

It wasn't lost on her that Jerath remained quiet and wary.

#

Loghain gutted the first of the men. One of Caleb's crossbow bolts caught another in the leg, and Loghain slammed his shield into him. He spun, and a backhanded blow from his sword sent the last man's head flying. He heard Caleb's footsteps as the other man caught up with him, and he continued to where the others were being held.

"Get the cage open." He jerked his head at Caleb. The other man glared at him, but went into the room, pulling the key off his neck as he did so.

Alone, he spat out another mouthful of blood. He pressed his hand against his ribs, and felt a jolt of pain as they moved beneath his hand. Breathing was starting to become difficult, and sparks were dancing at the edge of his vision. I need a little longer. We aren't safe yet. He felt the pain fade, and some of the weariness leave his muscles. He could feel the tightness of his lungs, but the next breath came freely. The darkness receded, bringing his vision back into focus. He swallowed, and followed Caleb into the room, blade in hand.

#

"Thank the Maker." Despite his words to Agatha, Duncan couldn't help but feel relief at the sight of Caleb. "They told us you were dead."

Caleb roughly jammed the key into the lock. "Alai is." He turned the key and jerked the door open.

Agatha made a horrified gasp. "Alai?"

Duncan looked from Caleb to where Loghain had entered the room. The knight was bleeding, but gave him a nod. "What happened?"

Jerath spoke before Caleb could reply. "We need to get moving. Siofra was just here, and she could be back any moment." He touched Agatha's shoulder, and she nodded in response, setting her face into determined lines.

"The way out is clear." Loghain nodded.

Caleb grabbed the key out of the lock as they headed out of the room. Duncan's eyes narrowed slightly as he caught the anger-filled look Caleb shot at Loghain. He frowned. Loghain's own face bore no expression, but he kept his eyes away from Caleb. Something had happened. He started to open his mouth to ask, and thought better of it. They could ask questions once they were back at the safehouse.

They were about halfway back when they ran into trouble. A dozen men, two of which had staffs, started pointing and coming their way, drawing weapons as they did so. He aimed an arrow at one of the mages, only to have it bounce off a barrier. The mage started to twirl his staff, and then a hawk grabbed the staff and yanked it out of his hands.

"What the..." Trian started to say.

A second hawk swooped into their midst, turning into Salla. She immediately sent a blast of ice at the oncoming problem. The other hawk dove back and turned into a bear, grabbing the still armed mage and hurling him into the nearby building with a sickening crunch.

Duncan shrugged, and aimed his bow at one of the swordsmen.

#

Kels took the vial out of his tunic as he knelt next to Brehan. As carefully as possible, he opened the stop. He shook a tiny bit of the ashes into his finger, and gently spread them across Brehan's lips. Gavren knelt on the other side, his fingers starting to glow white with healing magic. "What are you..." Hawke started to ask.

Brehan gasped, and shook his head. He rolled to one side, and started coughing. Gavren immediately touched him with the glowing hands. "Brehan?" He asked.

"Maker's breath." Brehan rubbed at his forehead.

Vial in hand, Kels moved next to Lenore and repeated the process. Hawke moved to Lenore's side, catching her gently as she started to cough. Melavan went to assist Adralicus.

"I would very much like an explanation." King Alistair folded his arms. "Where is my son, and where did you get..." His eyes widened. "That..." He shook his head. "Is slightly more than a pinch."

"Pinch?" Brehan blinked in confusion. "What's going..." He looked at the man next to him. "Gavren?"

"Commander Cullen and Lieutenant Carver are on their way. They just had to deal with some qunari." Kels looked up at King Alistair. He glanced down at the vial in his hand, and then quickly offered it to King Alistair. "I um..." He swallowed. "Lieutenant Carver told us to bring these here as fast as possible."

King Alistair took the vial from him, and held it up to the light. He shook his head, and looked down at Brehan. "You, Lenore, and Adralicus got yourselves poisoned. Fortunately, Carver managed to pull Sacred Ashes out of his ass."

"That..." Lenore winced. "May be the single most sacrilegious statement I have ever heard someone utter." She sat up. "And you are talking to Brosca's wife."

"Sacred..." Brehan looked up at the vial Alistair was holding. He uttered several elven phrases that had Gavren choking and Melavan looking at him in shock.

"What now?" Adralicus started looking around him. "The..." He stared at the vial. "That's...?"

The king went to his pack, and carefully tucked the vial away. "I am not going to be the one to break that piece of news to Leliana."

"Nor am I." Brehan shook his head.

"Bastards." Lenore sighed. She looked around here again. "That's Kels. Who..." She turned her eyes to Gavren.

"Gavren, the Inquisitor's son." King Alistair turned towards where Leandra and Fenris were coming up the stairs, accompanied by the elven captive. "And that's Leandra Hawke and Tisallan."

"That is not Tisallan." Melavan stood. "Bahalan."

"Melavan." The man narrowed his eyes.

"Explain?" King Alistair turned to look at Kels.

"We..." Kels took a deep breath. "We kind of ran into the Dread Wolf while attempting to regroup with the others. He apparently told Bahalan there to follow us, but Gavren and Leandra got the drop on him. We were taking him back to our base when we ran into Commander Cullen and Lieutenant Hawke. And then qunari attacked. They sent us on ahead while they took care of it."

"My little brother is fighting qunari without me?" Hawke sighed. "He's going to pay for that."

"They may need help." King Alistair shook his head.

"We should go try to help them." Gavren stood up.

King Alistair put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him into a nearby chair. "You three are not going anywhere. Hawke, Fenris?" The two men immediately headed for the stairs. The King raised an eyebrow. "And my son is where?"

"We, um..." Kels winced. "Don't actually know at the moment."

#

Cullen wiped the blood from his blade and sheathed it before he began walking back towards the warehouse. "An explanation would be welcome."

"Right." Carver nodded and fell into step behind him. "Just kind of hard to know where to start." He shook his head. "You know more than most. You know what Jerath is, and that I work for him."

"I admit to being somewhat surprised you didn't phrase that in the past tense."

Carver chuckled. "Kirkwall is a bit of a trouble spot. Since we have people there, it made sense for Merrill and I to be the ones keeping an eye on things."

"Several of your former companions are still part of the Inquisition." Cullen narrowed his eyes.

"Of course they are. The Inquisitor and the Inquisition are at the heart of things, and you need all the help we can give you." Carver sighed. "Cullen, you knew who we were. Jerath is the one that asked you if they could stay with the Inquisition."

"I..." Cullen made a frustrated sound. "You..." He shook his head. "Are you an abomination?"

"No."

"I'm supposed to believe you? After seeing that?" Cullen gestured back behind him. "You put your fist through two-inch-thick steel."

"I'm not an abomination." Carver growled. "This is one of the reasons we don't..." He sighed. "It's too easy to be misunderstood. I'm not an abomination, at least not in the way you mean the term. I'm not possessed. I just..." He spread his hands. "I carry a piece."

"A piece?" Cullen raised an eyebrow.

"A tiny fraction of the whole, but enough." He sighed. "Cullen, I serve a living god. We have a duty to him. And he has given us what we need to fulfill that duty."

Cullen caught Carver's arm, and stopped. "Vague comments aren't good enough."

Carver turned back towards Cullen. "I..." He took a deep breath. "Jerath is a creature of the Blight, and we have to account for that. That means..." His face became pained. "Being a Warden isn't enough, not for what he is, not anymore. So he gave those he trusted most just enough, in case..." He met Cullen's eyes. "In case we need to kill a god."

"In case..." Cullen closed his eyes for a long moment. "In case The Warden falls."

"We are bound to him. Perhaps that alone will be enough to stop it from happening, but in case it's not..." Carver shook his head. "Then it is our duty to kill the best friend most of us ever had, the finest man I have ever known. Because that is what he has asked of us." He shook his head. "It is a duty and a burden we took willingly, knowing full well what it meant. And we keep it secret because..." His lips twisted into a bitter smiled. "Because the alternative is for the world to look at us the way you are looking at me right now."

"I..." Cullen tore his eyes away. "Maker."

"He gave us our abilities." Carver lifted his head proudly. "We serve him, trying to save the world as best we can, and we will die when he does."

"I..." Cullen took a deep breath. "Alright. I..." He blinked. "When?"

"What?"

"You said..." Cullen frowned, and met Carver's eyes. "You said you will die when he does."

"A small price." Carver smiled. "Paid gladly."

"But he's..." Cullen shook his head. "He can't die."

"He can." Carver nodded. "And he will. Whatever else we have become..." Carver squared his shoulders. "The duty cannot be forsworn."

"The Inquisitor needs to know this." Cullen nodded slowly. "Beyond that, I will keep this secret." He blinked, and turned towards the man who had been watching them both silently.

Tisallan shrugged. "I am fairly confident the god I am sworn to knows all this already." He gestured. "We should get a move on, before one of your children trips over a fachan."

"Do I even want to know what a fachan is?" Cullen started walking towards the warehouse again.

"No."

#

Salla focused her energy into healing magic. She faded the abrasions on her brother before moving to Trian. His ribs were bruised. Jerath gestured to Loghain, and she headed for him next. Her eyes widened when she delved the spell into him. She counted four broken ribs and a punctured lung, as well as damage to the muscles in both his shoulders, a fractured leg, several bones broken in his hand, and a lot of internal bleeding. Men had died from far less. "How are you still upright?"

"Hate, mostly." Loghain's voice was hard.

"Alai..." She sighed. "I'm sorry." She let the healing magic flow into him.

Duncan turned towards Kieran. "Any sign of Gavren and his team?"

"He is with your folks. We need to get there as well."

"Um..." Agatha raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Brehan, Lenore, and Adralicus were poisoned." Salla turned towards them. "Cullen and Uncle Carver were attacked by qunari. We left Tisallan with them to get them back to the warehouse safely." She shook her head. "Not that Uncle Carver really needs the help."

"Mama was poisoned?" Agatha stared.

"That's why we need to get to them." Salla nodded. "They could be in trouble."

"We..." Trian slowly shook his head. "Need to go rescue them?"

"Oh for..." Duncan rubbed his forehead, then frowned. "Alai, can we..." He turned to Loghain. "What happened?"

"He killed her." Caleb's voice was harsh.

"Caleb..." Loghain sighed.

"What?" Caleb shook his head. "That's what happened, isn't it? You had her, and you let her go." He gestured back towards the bridge. "He had her, and he let her fall to her death. That fucking bastard dropped her."

"Loghain..." Duncan turned towards the knight. "What is he talking about?"

"The bridge exploded. I managed to..." Loghain closed his eyes, and then opened them before meeting Duncan's eyes. "I let Alai go."

"He killed her." Caleb clenched his fists.

"Fuck, Loghain." Agatha glared. "She was one of us. How could you..."

"You think I wanted to?" Loghain drew himself up. "You think I'm happy about this? That I'm not going to see her face every night for the rest of my life?"

"Why did you drop her?" Caleb shouted, stepping forward.

"Because you had the fucking key." Loghain stepped forward as he shouted back.

"Because..." Caleb touched the key that was again hanging around his neck. "The key?"

"I couldn't pull you both up." Loghain looked down and shook his head. He waved a hand before looking back up at Caleb. His voice was tired as he continued. "The enemy was moving in to finish us off, the others were in trouble, and you had the key. What was I supposed to do, Caleb? Tell me."

"You were supposed to..." Caleb choked on the words.

Kieran exchanged a look with Salla, and she nodded. She moved to her brother as Kieran moved to Loghain, pulling the two men apart gently. "We need to get to our folks." She glanced back at Duncan.

"Right." He nodded, and gestured. "The warehouses are this way."

#

"Back so soon?" Alistair looked down the stairs when he heard the door open. Hawke and Fenris entered, followed by Cullen, Carver, and an elven man he didn't recognize.

Hawke shrugged. "They apparently took care of the qunari..." He shot a glare at his brother. "Without leaving any for us, and were most of the way back already."

"Everyone alright?" Alistair frowned. Both Carver and Cullen had blood on their armor.

"We are fine." Cullen nodded. "We got some healing from Salla."

Fenris blinked. "Salla?" He turned towards Cullen. "She's not with you?"

"You..." Cullen sighed. "Might want to sit down." He glanced up at Alistair, then gestured to the elven man. "This is Tisallan."

"Nice to finally meet you." Alistair gestured for them to come up the stairs.

"Likewise." Tisallan gave him a polite nod.

As soon as they were up the stairs, Hawke turned towards his brother. "Now, why isn't your niece with you?"

"Because she turned into a bird and flew away." Carver spread his hands.

For a moment, Hawke stared at him. Then he rubbed his forehead. "Let's try this again. Where is my daughter?"

"He is unfortunately telling the truth." Cullen shook his head. "She and Kieran swooped in to help us against the qunari. Then she told Tisallan here to get us back to the warehouse safely..." Cullen rolled his eyes. "Before turning into a hawk and flying off with Kieran."

"She finally managed it?" Gavren asked excitedly. He swallowed and looked down at his feet when they all turned to stare at him.

"What part of 'grounded for the rest of your natural life' are any of you failing to understand?" Hawke shook his head.

"We did alright." Leandra folded her arms defiantly. "We even captured an agent of the Dread Wolf. You guys didn't manage that." She smirked. "You guys barely managed to learn of the cult's existence, and we found their secret bases. You didn't know about the sentinels. We recruited them."

"We've managed to keep ahead of the cult, the Dread Wolf, the qunari, and you." Gavren nodded. "Discovered who was behind the cult, what they wanted, and how they managed the entire time warping thing in the first place."

They both glanced at Kels, who started shaking his head. "You kidnapped me."

"And we also kidnapped the spymaster of the Inquisition." Leandra nodded. Tisallan coughed lightly into his hand. Leandra shot a glance his way before moving to stand shoulder to shoulder with Gavren. "We rescued the Prince of Starkhaven, stole a ship out from under the Queen of the Eastern Seas, and ran circles around the Seekers."

"We are not children." Gavren folded his arms, matching Leandra's stance.

"Father." Leandra stared at Carver. "You know what was in that safehouse. Look me in the eye and tell me we weren't meant to do this."

Alistair turned towards him. "Carver, you have something to add?"

Carver sighed. "We..." Slowly a smile came to his face. "Are awesome parents."