Nothing is ever simple. Really, nothing can ever just be a straight forward task, everything has to be complicated in some way or another. For starters, when we crossed the bridge to the elven fortress, almost immediately, we were set upon by hoards of walking corpses. There were hundreds of them! Our only saving grace was that they were slow and clumsy where we are quick and cunning. Whilst they were not difficult to kill, they took a long time to get through.

"This is a bad sign." Triona panted when there was a break in the onslaught.

"You're telling me! There's no sign of the empress' people anywhere. Not alive anyhow." Marrianne gestured to the aftermath around us. The barricades that lead up to the fortress were in ruin. They couldn't hold them off.

"They must have retreated further in." I said, taking the first step toward the fortress.

"Should we not wait for reinforcements?" Raphael asked.

"By the time they get here it will be too late for any survivors. We get in and out again, with minimal casualties." Maharen said, fixing his blades to his back. I arched my brow in suspicion. This was the first time he had agreed with me since I'd met him. Even on the directions I took to get here, he contradicted me. I put it down to him wanting to save as many people as he could. Which was admirable, even if my gut told me there was something else.

"So, this has turned into a rescue mission. They never go well." Grant mumbled.

"Always such a pessimist." I sighed.

"Forgive me, I didn't realise you were the glass half full type." He chuckled as we walked on through the barricades.

"My mother always told me that it didn't matter whether the glass is half empty or half full." Marianne chimed, her lilting accent sweet and musical. She would have been the picture of innocence had she not been wiping blood and corpse guts off her daggers. "The only only thing that matters is what's in the glass."

Triona scoffed, "Typical Orlesian, philosophical nonsense."

"Typical Ferelden, all you people talk about is the weather and your farms." Marianne snapped back.

"Farming is the life blood of Ferelden-"

"Shh!" I hissed, cutting their argument dead. They all stopped behind me and awaited an explanation. I stayed silent, listening out for what I thought I heard. That distant scream, there and not there. The angry pull of a fade rift. "I thought I heard something..." I whispered. If we ran into a rift, we were most certainly out of our depth.

"What did you hear?" Maharen asked me, his voice full of concern, his hazel eyes settled in a frown.

"Nothing, just a trick of the wind, come on lets keep moving." I said, urging them on wards. I tried convincing myself that I was merely hearing things.

Around the next bend we were met with another barrage of un-dead, along with two demons. One was a tall hooded figure, like something from a nightmare, the other a mass of living flame. This was more difficult. I rained my arrows down onto the corpses and tried to focus on the demons, but every time I turned my back another clumsily swung sword was approaching me.

"There is too many! We must fall back!" Raphael shouted. I shook my head and kept fighting, if we turned back now it was more than likely any survivors would die. I scanned the area for something, anything that might give us an advantage. Some sort of weakness that might make them fall.

"Lavellan, we have to retreat!" Grant called, falling back in a flash of smoke. I was about to do the same, there seemed to be no end to the corpses. But suddenly, as I readied my flask to escape, my eyes caught sight of a body pit. It was guarded by a magical barrier but if we could get to it, burn the bodies and release the spirits then perhaps we could stop the dead from rising.

"Cover me!" I called to the agents. They shouted many colourful protests in return but they didn't abandon me. They kept the dead and the demons off me whilst I implemented my plan. With all the magical strength I had in me, I sent out a ball of flame and shattered the barrier. I focused on the pit of bodies, clenched my fist and it erupted into flames. Almost immediately the attacking corpses fell back to the heaps of bones and dead flesh that they had once been. After that, the two demons fell easily. When the nightmarish demon faded away into nothing, we stood breathless and tired. It had been a hard fight.

"We should keep moving, we have to reach the survivors before it's too late." I said, once again strapping my bow to my back. This was met with silent agreement .We continued on up towards the gated entrance of the fort, but I stopped once again as that distant shriek tugged at my senses. I ignored it and kept going, which wasn't the best idea I've ever had.

We climbed up to the top of the ramparts, avoiding the many dead Imperial soldiers that lay at our feet. It sent an uneasy rush up my spine. Was this all that was left? Is this why there had been no word from them in weeks? I still hoped, perhaps a vain hope, that they had retreated inside the fortress. The gate to the ancient stone keep was just ahead, up a final flight of makeshift steps but just as I climbed the last few, and the gate came into view, so did the vile green fade rift.

I almost tumbled back down the steps away from it and hushed my team. They crouched down, with worried looks on their faces, all waiting for the bad news. I raised a slow finger to my lips as a final warning before I peaked my head, ever so slightly, over the top of the steps. There was no hope in sneaking by it, it had ruptured and demons already lumbered around it. I shrank back down into cover before they saw me and turned back to the rest.

"Slight problem..." I began.

Triona guffawed, "You think?"

"Shhh!" Marianne hissed, "You'll draw their attention!"

"We need a plan," Grant whispered, looking back to me for an answer.

I looked to the rest of them but they all had the same look he did, apart from Maharen. His face was stony and disappointed. They expected me to know what to do and in all honesty I hadn't a clue. On one hand we could hardly fight our way through an endless supply of demons, we had no way of closing the rift and one of us, if not all would certainly die. On the other hand, I couldn't let those people in the keep wait on a rescue that might never come. They had to be low on supplies. Their injured would be suffering, dying. No, we had to help them. I had to help them.

"We cannot face that thing by ourselves," Raphael prompted.

"No we can't," I sighed.

"We need The Inquisitor." Grant added.

"I know."

"Then we retreat, call for her aid. The people in there are probably dead already." Maharen said, sheathing his daggers.

"You don't know that," I snapped. My head was growing tight behind my eyes, the pull of the fade right at my back caused a pressure that made my whole body tense. I rubbed the bridge of my nose.

"He's right, Lavellan," Grant said dejectedly. "We need the Herald, there's no way all of us will make it past that."

What he said struck me and a gamble of an idea formed in my head.

"We don't all need to get through," I began and the rest of their faces fell suspicious. "What I mean is, if one or two of us get through whilst the others distract the demons, we can get in and find the survivors, help fortify where we can and aid any injured. Once we're in, the rest can retreat and call on the inquisitor to get those people out of there."

They all looked at me like I'd just sprouted two heads.

"That is a bold plan, Lavellan..." Rapheal said uneasily. I noticed that he had shrank further down the stairs, like a cat does when it comes across a rival. I looked between the rest of my people, all of them looked equally sheepish.

"So, I'll just take this one solo them," I sighed.

Grant shrugged, "It's your show Lavellan. We'll keep them off your back but let me go on record for saying this is the stupidest thing you've ever done."

"He's right, this is folly," Marianne hissed, "If we retreat now, we can come back later with the Herald."

Triona, at least, had the courtesy to look slightly sorry as she turned back down the steps.

"My cousin is in there..." Melissa's soft voice whispered. It was one of the few times I'd heard her speak. Grief and fear sat in her eyes but her jaw was tight with determination. "If you're going in there, then I will come too. I will not leave them to die."

"Thank you. Don't worry, we'll find your cousin." I said, bracing her with a hand on her shoulder. She nodded and half smiled, her eyes said that she believed me.

"This will be the death of me..." Maharen sighed, his tongue curling easily around the elvhen words. "Fine," he spoke back in common, "we will follow through with your insane plan, but I agree with Grant, of all the stupid things you've done, this is by far the worst."

I hadn't expected him to agree so readily with me but I was grateful. Even if he had called me stupid.

"Thank you Maharen. So! Are we all ready?" I said cheerfully.

"As we'll ever be, I suppose." Grant chortled.

I nodded, not entirely sure how this plan would go. But here we were again, being rash and ploughing ahead even in the face of certain disaster. I was putting these people in danger and for what? Because there might be some slim chance of finding survivors in this Mythal forsaken keep? I barely remember jumping out from behind our cover. All I remember is my legs propelling me forward into a blur of green and red. I let some of my arrows loose in the blur. Shots of lightening leapt from my finger tips too, almost unintentionally. Reality seemed to move in slow motion and at an impossible speed all at once, nothing seemed real until I felt my palm press firmly onto the wooden door of the keep. The manic scramble finally seemed to make sense in my head and with a shove, I pushed the door open and the three of us tumbled through. Maharen quickly shut it behind us, along with the noise of battle and the light of day. It was dark in the keep, but not still. In the distance we could hear the disturbing clatter of bones as they came to life along with an oppressive roar.

"What is that sound?" Melissa hissed, wincing as it drew close and retreated again.

"I don't know, but we'll be careful, come on." I took a step forward, out of the shadows of the door way and into the light of the courtyard. Immediately however, I was yanked back and watched in horror as a pillar of flame came swooping right past my face.

"If that's what you call being careful I'm surprised you've made it this far." Maharen said as he released me harshly from his grip. The feeling of where his hands hand grabbed me on my upper arms throbbed with future bruises.

I couldn't find words to thank him at that moment, I could only stare dumbly at him. His deep hazel eyes ran over me quickly, then back to the pillar of flame ahead. They looked concerned but not overly frightened. Creators, how did he act so nonchalant? He folded his arms over his chest and looked thoughtful, like he was forming a plan. I watched the muscle on his forearm flex as he tapped his finger.

"If you're quite done leering, I suggest we try head for the survivors." His voice drew me back to his face.

"I wasn't staring." I could have kicked my self for such an adolescent throw back.

"Come on, we're wasting time," he said, poking his head around the wooden panels.

I looked to Melissa who was almost smirking and embarrassment rushed into my cheeks. I tried to cool them down with the back of my hand, but it only got worse when he turned around and noticed me.

I was staring... I was staring at him the entire time. Even fighting through the thin hoards of walking dead, I stared and my cheeks flushed and my stomach did butterflies like some sort of foolish teenager! How had I not noticed it before? His piercing eyes, his dark hair that he tossed loosely to the side whenever it hung around his face. He had a proud nose and a thin face, very elfy. But he was taller and broader than most and he must have been from the north as his skin was a smooth tawny colour. Every time he attacked, I watched as his arms flex, and when he stopped I watched how his chest rose and fell in deep heavy breaths. My face was as red as red lyrium by the time we had finally reached our goal.

We had managed to shut off the pillar of flame that ravaged the keep and rescue the few remaining survivors within. They were in a bad shape, most of them wounded in some way or another. One, who leaned heavily on crutches made their way towards me and wrapped me in a clumsy hug.

"I knew we'd be alright." they said.

I returned the hug and held them tightly, "Yes," I said, "You're alright. The Inquisition is on it's way."

We passed around whatever supplies we had with us and scavenged more from the rest of the keep now that it was safe to explore. It would keep us going for a few days but until The Inquisitor got rid of that rift at the entrance, we were stuck. There was no way we could get so many wounded past it. I watched from the battlements as the demons lurched back and forth and the entrance of the keep. The sun had almost set but the green glow of the rift kept them in view.

"Melissa found her cousin. He is wounded, but should recover." Maharen said as he walked up behind me.

I nodded, "Good," not turning my eye away from the rift or the bridge beyond.

"You know the saying a watched pot doesn't boil?"

I turned to look at him as he leaned casually on the stone walls and shrugged, "I'm not watching a pot, am I?"

He smirked and hesitated as his eyes floated to the ever darkening horizon. "No," he said, "But you've been standing up here for three hours waiting on the Inquisition and I'll guess at least half that time waiting for the demons to break down the door."

I chuckled at his accurate analysis.

"Look, You did a good job today, we're all quite safe. The Inquisition won't be here for another day at least and I doubt the demons are even aware of the concept of a door. Get some rest," he said.

"I'm not tired," I sighed in relief, his words grounding me. My body relaxed as I turned away from the rift and settled next to him.

"Then you'll need to find another way to pass the time." His voice was low and close and I hadn't missed how he moved closer to me.

I chuckled quietly and bit my lip, the thought of his chest heaving like it had today, his strong arms grasping me it all pushed me that inch closer to him.

"Care to give me any suggestions?" I whispered, looking up at him from under my lashes.

He smirked and leaned into my neck, his breath condensing as he spoke, "I can think of a few."