We ran through the rain, mud splashing our legs with each step. Thunder boomed in slow, steady rumbles far overhead. As if the storm itself was alive, its heart beating in time with the lightning's cracks.

All around us, the common citizens of Kirkwall seemed to feel what only Mages should have.

Fearful eyes looked out from windows, or stared up from sheltered doorways. Parents pulled their children inside, locking their doors behind them. Homeless men and women darted into whatever bars and inns would take them, or into a lowtown Chantry covered in scaffolding. Demons of Fear and Despair growled in frustration as people took comfort in the simple companionship.

For a long moment I wished I could hear the Spirits of Compassion and Faith protecting them... and then the growls of a Rage demon made me focus on running harder.

"Burn it. Burn this vile city." It snarled into my mind, "It's always something. Nothing is ever fixed, all they do is take, take, and take from you. Burn them all."

"Fuck off." I hissed, giving my tether to Longing a hard mental yank. "Do your job!"

I felt Rage retreat at once, even if my personal devil was slow to respond. Even when she finally replied her voice was distant, sounding more than a little distracted, "I'm trying to manage nine different contracts right now, Maeve. I'm doing what I can, get to your Dream-catcher!"

I grumbled under my breath, doing my best to make sure neither Merrill or Isabella heard me. Thrask has already run ahead of us, sprinting off to rouse Emeric and the Watch while we followed far behind.

Considering the noise of the storm and the city, I doubted it, but I'd rather they not hear me complaining about useless Desires.

Longing grumbled about needy Elves right back at me before I felt her pull away again.

My mental bitching about her went on for another block or so, where my less than stellar Fade-Guardian was replaced as my biggest problem.

A half dozen men in some kind of scaled armor with red cloth had set up in a line across the street. Swords and axes rose at the sight of us, one of them calling out. "Ha! Knew the horse-bitch would be coming from that dive, and her Templar owner's already run past! Five hundred gold for her head lads!"

Well shit.

I had my sword, and Isabella had both her cutlass and probably a dozen knives, but Merrill was unarmed outside of her magic. Worse, none of us was in armor.

No choice but to use our secret weapon at the start then.

"Merrill!" I called, drawing steel.

She let out a high pitched cry in response, one arm thrown out. Green sparks flew together in an instant, connecting her hand to the leftmost man beginning to charge our way. The scent of flowers replaced the scent of rain, the feel of warm hair tangled in my fingers making me tighten my grip on my blade.

Then the spell completed, and a bolt of lightning nearly blew out my left eardrum with the thunder of its passing.

The thug she'd aimed for didn't have time to scream, nor did the two men next to him when the green-yellow bolt arced to them. All three of them fell to the ground in tumbling heaps.

"Well done Kitten!" Isabella called, meeting the first man's charge with a dancer's grace. She spun around a clumsy slash, her off-hand dagger slamming into his temple as she twirled past him. The hilt of it stuck out from his skull, and he took a few drunken steps before falling, leaving us free to engage the last pair in an even fight.

I got a man whose charge had turned into a stagger; he'd been too close to his friends when the spell had hit. His heavy axe came up in a wild overhand blow that was child's play to step aside to avoid. The weapon buried its head in the dirt street, and the tip of my sword buried itself in his neck.

The last man didn't last long in single combat with Isabella, collapsing with his face cut to ribbons.

I was already kneeling over my opponent, yanking a dagger form his belt. "Merrill?"

She took the weapon, "Thank you, lethallan. Um, do we finish the other ones?"

"They saw you cast, so yeah." I pushed off, already moving that way. "Isabella? These weren't common thugs. You know them?"

"Flint Company." The pirate called back, similarly walking toward the men Merrill had hit with her spell. "Mercenaries. No job's too dirty for them."

I grimaced, thrusting my sword down when I got to the first man. He was still alive; though very much out of it thanks to being electrocuted. Steel in his throat ended his attempt to recover. "The Underground brought in help."

"And set them up to ambush anyone coming from the Hanged Man to the Alienage." Isabella's head was on a swivel, clearly looking for more when she joined us. "We should take a side route. Maybe-"

The dark skies began to light up to my right. I jerked my head around, mouth falling open as red and orange embers flew through the air. Too many sensations ran over my fingers, too many scents filled my nose, but all I could hear was a single roar of noise.

"Down!" I grabbed both of my friends by the hand, throwing myself to the ground and pulling them down with me. If they protested, and I'm sure they did, I couldn't hear it.

They stopped struggling when the column of fire roared into existence. Even prone on the ground I could see it; three stories high at least, steam boiling all about it as rain evaporated... and on the other side of the Veil, I heard an exultant bellow from an enormous throat. Echoes followed as lesser voices in the same tone let out their own triumphant cries.

I stared, gaping, as debris began to rain down from where it had just been blown into the sky. Heard stone and timber slamming into buildings, demolishing them somewhere just out of sight.

"...Creators save me." Merrill gasped, pushing herself up from the mud as the fire began to fade. "What was..."

"Abominations." I heard myself say, guessing as to what had just happened. "Several of them working together. God."

Isabella recovered before either one of us. She scrambled to her feet, stepping over to cut the throat of the mercenary I'd forgotten about. "Get up! That was the Alienage's western wall!"

It took my stunned brain a few seconds to process that. To put the enormous spell onto my mental map, compare where I was to the Alienage...

"Oh God." I lurched to my feet, Merrill doing the same beside me.

Chantry bells began ringing all over the city as we ran. Those people who'd been staring into the night slammed their doors and windows shut. Locks and boards being set as they did their best to barricade themselves inside their homes.

The wisdom of that was proven by the noise of battle cutting through the rain as we drew closer to the Alienage's Gate.

We came around the final turn to find a good two dozen members of the Flint Company trying to force their way into the Alienage. Most were struggling with the heavy chains that would let them open the gate, while a few had formed a shield-wall, pinning Thrask and Emeric into the Gatehouse.

They figured out how to work the mechanism just as we arrived; the rusted hulk of the beginning to swing aside.

"Like fucking hell." I snarled, "Isabella, back!"

She dropped her speed at once, letting me get ahead, my magic coming to me in a rush of fury. "Fuego!"

My fire spell wasn't as eye-catching as an enormous fuck-all pillar of the stuff, but it wasn't any less deadly for that. Especially since the mercs were so kind as to group up together, each one trying to be the first into the Alienage.

Liquid flame rolled over the back ranks, then over the middle as I adjusted my aim. Men and women screamed as I pushed more mana into the spell, not letting up until black spots appeared in my vision. Even then I let it continue longer than I should have, the spell sputtering out only when I had to gasp for breath.

When my eyes cleared, more than half of them were down. A few were already dead; most were screaming, rolling around, trying to use the rain and mud to put out the fire clinging to their armor, to their skin.

Merrill's own war-cry followed on the heels of mine, and another crack of chain-lightning cut down the men blocking our Templars from getting out of their little fortress.

They hadn't even hit the ground before Thrask was charging out in full plate, sword and shield lashing out in both directions. Ser Emeric was right behind him, the older man simply bowling over a stunned mercenary. The thug was promptly buried under Ser Hound's weight, the armored Mabri's jaws fastening on his neck as the man screamed.

Isabella darted forward to join them, the four of them driving the shell-shocked enemies into the Alienage itself. From the way they started yelling on the far side they'd ran into resistance there as well. The Night Watch was awake and doing it's job then. Good.

I started to go after them only to find myself nearly falling on my face. Only jamming my sword down, leaning on it, let me stay upright as I gasped for breath. The magical exhaustion would pass quickly, but it was a bitch in the short term. "Merrill?"

"I'm all right." One of her arms slid around me, helping me to move forward. "You pushed yourself too far."

I shook my head, "Had to. Too good a shot."

Following three deadly Humans and an equally deadly Mabari, I recovered enough to start cutting throats of my burn victims. Not all of them. I didn't have the time for that before the last of the mercs trapped in the vice ahead of us fell, leaving Thrask to impatiently wave me forward.

My second wind hit when Merrill and I got through the gate, skipping over the corpses to find Elowen and a dozen of her shield-wall about halfway up the stairwell. None of them were in full armor, hell, one of the men was wearing nothing but his underwear, but all of them had their tall shields and spears in hand.

And behind them the central square was filling with terrified elves, all fleeing from the west side of the Alienage.

"Lady!" Elowen called on seeing me, "The entire western wall fell! They're killing everyone they can!"

"Who!?"

"Mages! Seven or eight of them, and three times as many of these mercenaries!"

Shit.

"Where's Zatris?" I demanded.

"Took what archers he could find to harass them!" Her spear pointed up at the rooftops, then back down toward the square. "Shina's trying to get the rest of the Watch armed and rallied at the Vhanadel. Are the Guard coming? The Templars?"

"There was a giant magical explosion. They'd fucking better be, but for now we fight! You!" I used my sword to point at a young woman with a mohawk, "Get Merrill's staff from the Guardhouse. You two!" A pair of men wearing the least among of clothing, and with the same damned hairstyle, "Throat cutting here, then catch up!"

They ran off, everyone else forming up as an escort to get me down the stairs. Isabella stayed close, apparently appointing herself as my bodyguard, while Merrill was tight on my other side.

Words cannot describe just how much of a mess was waiting for us in the square. People were fleeing in every direction save west, everyone was shouting, screaming, shoving. Men and women in the Watch were trying to push their way towards the Vhenadal, using the great tree as a rallying point, but they were swimming against the tide.

I didn't even bother trying to shout orders to get control of the chaos. There wasn't a chance in hell I'd be heard over all of that. Dammit. Really wish I'd had the time to work on that noise spell. Something to make everyone shut up for a moment.

"Thrask!" He was close enough to hear me, "You and Emeric have to stay alive! We need you to shut down their magic more than we need you on the line!"

"I understand Lady!" He had to seriously shout back despite how close we were. "You should remain in the back ranks, the better to command!"

Considering I was wearing casual clothes with only a cloak for armor, I thought that was a good idea as well.

We made it to the tree with a lot of shoving on the part of those with shields, finding maybe thirty more of the Watch forming up around Shina. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate. We found another ten or so of the actual Night's Watch, and another twenty wearing the cast-off armor of the militia. Everyone else had nice spears or bows, they had clubs and sharpened sticks.

But they were armed, armored, and willing, which was what we needed right now.

If only we actually had someone capable of leading people in a real battle!

"Lady!" Shina rushed over on seeing me. "What do we do?"

I had no fucking idea, but I knew better than to say that out loud.

Left with no real choice, I blurted out the obvious in the hopes it would sound profound. "We can't fight the mages in line, that's just giving them an easy target. And we don't know how many there are, or where they are, so we can't just run off into the streets either."

"Zatris would know." Shina said at once.

"He would." I swallowed, then turned to the only person I trusted to be able to find him on a random rooftop in the middle of a battle. "Isabella? Find him, and anyone with him. Get them back here."

Isabella gave me a grin, "Be right back, sweet thing. You and kitten care of each other."

I forced a smile as she ran off, then tried to look around again to come up with an actual plan of battle. Until Zatris got back to tell me just what the hell was really going on... yeah. We had to stay here, and protect as many of the residents fleeing the western quarter as we could.

"Right." I said, going with more obvious tactics. "Everyone with a bow needs to get up onto the roofs!"

A young man I didn't know promptly hefted his bow over his head, "Archers with me!"

"Focus on the mages!" I ordered, "And anyone who's giving orders! Stay close to the square, no running off!"

He nodded once, "Yes lady! Let's go!"

Six men and women ran off with him, the little group scaling the Elders' homes on the far side of the square. Leaving them to it, I glanced over everyone else and tried not to look panicked at the way they were clearly waiting for orders.

"Thrask," I swallowed, "Groups of three or four you think?"

"Four." The Templar replied. "We spread out in a crescent in the Square, facing west."

I thought I got it. "Merrill cuts down the opening wave, you and Emeric stay ready to Smite their mages. Then when they rush in, we hit them from every side at once."

Elowen hefted her spear up, "You heard her! Spread out in groups of four! I want good gaps between you all, no easy targets for the mages! Shina! I want you on the far right, make sure no one gets around you!"

It wasn't the most orderly deployment, especially with other residents running around trying to find safety. Still, we'd mostly gotten formed up in a rough half-circle, the center of which was where I was standing near the Vhenadal. Beside me Merrill accepted her staff from the runner I'd sent to fetch it, the same young woman revealing she'd taken the time to grab my armor.

"Quickly." I muttered as she began belting the leather chest piece on for me, my free hand doing its best to help while the other kept a grip on my sword. "They're getting closer."

"Yes lady." The girl, if she was twenty yet I'd call bullshit, frantically tightened some of the straps. "Chest piece is on. Should I-"

"Leave it. Get into the line."

She dropped my leggings and arm bands, racing to get into formation with the nearest little group.

I'd hardly looked away from her when the first of our attackers arrived, incinerating the last of the fleeing civilians in a way that made us all flinch away from the Abomination's approach.

There really wasn't mistaking one for anything else. It had once been a man, but no living man could look as though his skin had melted and half-dripped from his body. No living man could have eyes that glowed bright red, or whose clothes were on fire despite the slowing rain.

And no Human throat could have matched the sheer volume, or sheer hatred, in his voice... or maybe that was just my magical senses going haywire as he got closer.

"KNIFE-EARS! YOU SHALL ALL BURN!"

"Emeric!" Thrask snapped.

The old Templar already had a fist in the air, dropping it with a ringing shout that sounded tiny against the Abomination's scream. I could tell that his Smite had been a direct hit when the thing's confident swagger turned into a stumble, a deafening yowl of pain following it. The sharp ache on my head faded at once, leaving me free to give more orders.

"Archers!" I screamed, hoping they'd heard me. "Kill it!"

Either they did hear me, or they simply knew to take advantage of an obvious opening. Arrows cut through the rain, slamming into its fleshy body. It staggered around some more, seemed to rally, then took a final bolt to side of its head.

Our good start was promptly ruined when the bulk of the Flint Company came sprinting down side-streets. Not in a mob either; they were marching in step, kite shields and long-swords held in steady grips.

A woman's voice shouted orders somewhere in the distance, "Kill them, burn them, get paid!"

"Hah!" The unified bellow rattled my little group of guards and militia, several of them taking nervous steps back.

I brought my own voice up, shouting back, "Fuck off and die! Lethallan!"

Merril promptly chucked lightning down-range, hammering the front ranks, then hammering them more literally with a Stone-Fist that slammed into the second ranks like a bowling ball. The tight formation fell apart into chaos, the mercenaries scrambling to spread out to stop giving her easy targets.

A quick gesture from Thrask told me what to say next, "Now! Take them!"

Apparently rallied by Merrill's opening strike, the defenders of the Alienage were all too happy to obey that order. They rushed in, grouping back up to lock their shields together. Slim Elves charged the reeling line of Humans, steel, wood, and flesh colliding. We drove them back, but this group was apparently made of sterner stuff than the ones we'd fought; they rallied in turn, dug their feet in, and began to push back.

Worse, more of them began to emerge from other streets, swarming toward the battle. Elowen took command of that problem before I could; "You two groups with me! Lengthen the line!"

She led eight more spears in, plugging the gaps as the Flint Company's numbers swelled. Our people desperately held their ground, but the Flint Company was better armed and armored. Too many of our people just hadn't had the time to prepare.

I saw at least one elf fall. Then another, then two more.

The archers began to try to even the odds, slamming arrows into the Mercenaries' unprotected backs, but the wet strings apparently weren't doing them any favors. I saw too many arrows bouncing off of armor, missing the vulnerable points.

Even I could tell it this wasn't a battle we were going to win if shit didn't change soon.

"Shit. Emeric!" I waved my sword frantically to the left side of the fight, "Take those four and get in there, take them in the side! You four, get closer, you're the last group with us!"

He was off like a bolt, Ser Hound loping along beside him. Four of the militia ran with him, the little squad wading into the Flint's exposed flank, dropping several of them before the mercs own reinforcements, lead by an absolutely towering woman, ran in to stiffen the line.

I was debating charging in myself with the last four spears, all proper Night's Watch who'd darted over to join us, when an Elven man in ragged clothing appeared on the main street, running toward our little command unit.

"They're right behind me!" He shouted, frantically waving his arms. "Another two mages!"

"Run!" I shouted at him, "Thrask! Be ready to-"

"Huon!" One of the spear-carriers shouted, her voice alarmed. "Lady! He's a mage!"

The man had run close enough I could see his face twist in fury, a knife simply appearing in his hands. Reacting on intstinct, Thrask and I charged forward just as the other man cut open his palm, ugly red sparks screaming through the air.

I felt my body lurch at the pull of the blood magic, heard the woman who'd cried out her warning howl in agony as the spell latched on to her.

Thrask's smite cut off the sparks, making the other man real back even if the woman's screams didn't stop.

The blood mage managed to dodge Thrask's first strike, but ran right into my thrust.

"Tr-traitor!" He spat, clutching at the sword I'd buried in his guts, "Flat-eared whore!"

Those weren't the last words I'd have picked, but Thrask beheaded him before he could say anything else.

Movement made me look up in time to see two more figures approaching... but I didn't have time to react before red-yellow sparks became a bolt of lightning that struck the headless corpse before it could collapse.

Huon's body slammed into me at runaway-car speeds, throwing me onto my ass and bouncing my head into the mud. I think I heard Merrill shout my name somewhere in there. Or not. It got hard to hear much of anything as several mages all began throwing magic around at the same time, and the screams from the main battle got louder.

Shaking my head, I shoved the headless corpse off of me, grabbing my sword out of the mud. A few spits got his blood out of my mouth... or maybe I'd bitten my tongue. Either way I tasted blood, and was all to eager to stop doing so. I spat some more as I got my shaking legs under me, lurching upright once more.

My ability to do anything about the rest of the battle vanished when a widely built merc bull-rushed me the moment I was on my feet again. I barely parried aside a thrust from his sword, lurching backwards when he followed it up with a cut that left a gash on my leather armor.

"Cunt!" He swore, aiming a kick at my belly that I only barely avoided. "Die already!"

"Fuck!" I tried to catch my breath, parrying another blow, a sloppy riposte glancing off his armor. "Off!"

He was good with a sword, and light on his feet for a big man. His attacks were quick, controlled, forcing me to stay on the defensive, driving me back from wherever my allies were. Parries sent my own attacks into his armor, the plates easily holding up, leaving him free to use his fist to try and break my nose.

I twisted, taking it on the cheek with a gasp, a lash from my sword drawing a cut across his chin. "Bitch!"

His stagger made me cocky. I tried to press my advantage, aiming for his neck and face. He deflected the first attack, ducked the second, then simply rushed forward again. I tried to dodge, promptly ran into the side of an apartment that I hadn't realized was so close, and was completely open when his shoulder slammed into my sternum.

The bastard drove right through me like a good football player, taking us both to the ground next to the building. A fist between my eyes stopped my attempt to thrash my way free, leaving me stunned and wide open for the sword he brought down.

Isabella's boot diverted it before he could open my throat, her own blade finding his before he knew she was there. A second shove of her foot got him off me before I had another corpse fall on me, one of her hands grabbing my wrist.

"Thanks." I gasped when she hauled me up, "Fucker was-"

Pain slammed into my right hip, my mouth opening in a soundless gasp. Isabella's parted in shock at the sight of the arrow protruding just below my wait, her head whipping around in time to see a merc archer frantically trying to get a second arrow on his wet string.

She didn't bother with a war-cry, she just charged right at him... and the archer leaned around as best he could, loosing his second shot right before she was on him.

My left leg buckled with another arrow sticking out of my shin. I only barely threw an arm out, hand hitting the wall to keep me upright.. "...fuck!"

'Lethallan!" Merrill staggered over, leaning on her staff. She had two cuts on her arms, and was panting like a windmill, but she otherwise looked all right. "We should-"

"Leave them in." I gasped against the pain. It hurt both more and less than I'd thought, but I didn't think I was going to be going anywhere. "Supposed to leave them in."

She swallowed, nodding, then turned pale features back to the battle. "I... I think we're losing."

I looked up to see that she was right; the shield-wall had been split into two, the bloodied but still numerous mercenaries pouring through a gap in the middle. Elowen and Emeric were still up, still fighting, but the Flint Company was clearly just holding them off. One more tried to get around them, to come at Merrill and I, only for Isabella to relieve him of his limbs in a single furious exchange.

Those not still fighting were sprinting across the square, drawing small pots out of their packs as they ran. I saw the sparks as they struck flint against them, setting fuses to light.

"...no." She whimpered when the first of the incendiaries hit the Vhenadel. When more began to hit nearby buildings. "I..."

I felt her try to cast... try to smother the fire from a distance, but she was as tapped out as I was. No sparks appeared to douse the flames appearing all over the square. The slowing rain wasn't enough to put them out. Just enough to make little puffs of steam boil up every few seconds.

The mercenaries didn't stick around after their arson; they streamed toward the stairwell in a rush. Job apparently done, they were ready to get out of here before the city's actual defenders showed up to deal with them.

Assuming they were coming at all.

"What do we do?"

"...don't know." I mumbled against the throbbing pain in my calf, in my belly. Watching as Isabella ran back to us. "Don't know. Where's Thrask?"

"I don't know." Merrill shook her head. "Don't know."

Isabella slid to a stop in front of us, her lips pressed in a thin line. "We're leaving. Now. Merril, can you run?"

Merrill blinked. "We can't-"

"You're too exhausted to fight, and Maeve's wounded." Isabella snapped. "We lost, there' no reason to stay and die for it. Now-"

It was her turn to be cut off.

Not by an arrow or spell, but the crisp sound of a horn blowing.

Everyone seemed to freeze for a moment, turning around to try and find the source. It sounded again a moment later... and it was followed by a hundred men and women shouting an exultation in the Maker's name.

The wall of Templars that charged down the stairwell showed no mercy to the ragged line of mercenaries that had been more concerned with fleeing the area than with further battle. Fresh, armored in full plate, the Templars offered no quarter as they flooded into the Alienage. Their victims died screaming whether they fought or tried to throw down their arms.

And at the head of the Templars was a woman without a helm, a bright red cloak flying in the wind, blade flashing as she slaughtered everything in her path.

I was starting to shake. Maybe I was in shock, but the pain seemed distant.

What wasn't distant was the fact that Meredith and a legion of zealous Templars was right fucking there, and Merrill was standing next to me with a staff in her hands.

"...Isabella." I gasped, "Get Merrill out of here. Now."

Merrill shook her head, "No, I-"

"Go!" I shoved her as hard as I could, nearly falling over in the process. "Meredith can't see you, go!"

"No, I'm not-" Isabella grabbed her, spun her around, and then heaved her up over a shoulder before she realized what was happening. "-put me down!"

"I'll be back for you!" Isabella spoke over her exhausted protests, "Don't die!"

"...try not to." I murmured, but she was already gone. Racing into the ruined western quarter, carrying my struggling sister away.

Leaving me with two arrows sticking out of me, a bad case of magical exhaustion, and the most ruthless Templar in Thedas less than a hundred yards away.

...all while the Alienage burned around us.