We picked up someone trying to shadow us on the next day. The terrain was in our favor there; the elevation on our side of the river rose more quickly than it did on the east side, where the terrain flattened out into peasant-run farms.

Apparently unwilling to attack the serfs, or risk approaching the small noble estate in the area, the pair of men on horseback drew up short. They clearly watched us ascending the narrow paths on the other side, but they began doubling-back south soon enough.

That left us free to reach the mountain road itself the next evening. Again we pushed the horses as hard and as late as Thrask thought safe, setting up camp on the other side of the bridge. Considering the narrowness of the path we actually slept right on the road itself, something that we repeated the next two nights as we headed east towards Sundermount.

On night three, Brennan woke me up just after I'd fallen asleep, pointing wordlessly behind us. I followed her finger to see a tiny glow of a campfire.

The sight had our paranoia doubling, and we set off before dawn. It was a process that continued over the next two days, and true to my prediction everyone started to show signs of the stress of being pursued. Our words got shorter and our tones snappier, it got harder to stay awake during watch at night, that kind of thing.

We spotted that campfire again the next night, far closer, and began to sight four men on horseback during the day after. Worse, in the far distance below and behind, we saw three more riders struggling to catch up to the first group of pursuers.

I'd told Varric that I'd sent a warning to Merrill in the Fade, but we'd both done the math.

We'd reach the Blue River, the final crossing before the Starkhaven-Kirkwall road sometime in the early afternoon the next day. Our best case scenario had Merrill and the Watch there and ready to escort us.

The problem was that our first group of hunters had closed to within a mile of us; their horses clearly better rested, the people riding them far more certain when it came to riding quickly along the narrow path. They'd catch up to us before we could make the bridge for certain, assuming they didn't risk pushing on at night to attack us.

A brief debate over marching through the dark was dismissed; our horses were nearing the ends of their ropes, and there was no guarantee we'd get far enough ahead on the winding path to avoid a fight. If we didn't get some sleep we'd be easy targets. Especially since the road was beginning to descend rapidly, meaning our enemies would be able to rain arrows down on us from above.

So we did the only thing we could.

Brennan and I crept along the path, virtually unarmored, our swords sheathed. I had my bow in hand, the swirling sparks of my silencing spell making sure no one at the camp ahead could hear us coming.

"Guy on watch is Human." I reported, kneeling down when we were about fifty yards away. "No armor."

She nodded, crouching down beside me. The enemy hadn't set a campfire, and the partial moon was hidden behind the mountain we were on. While it wasn't pitch black, it wasn't that far off either, leaving her entirely reliant on my eyes. "Horses?"

"Far side." My tongue slid over my lips. "You sure about this? They might not be Qunari. None are Kossith."

The city's Guard-Captain shook her head once. "No, I'm not. But if they weren't they'd have set a fire tonight, and not cared that we or the people ahead or behind would notice them."

I tipped my head, not mentioning that it was possible they were nobles fleeing from the Chateau. That they were just as paranoid as we were about bandits or Qunari, and that they thought we might be one or the other.

Brennan would know that just as I did. Just like she knew that our options were pretty limited at the moment.

Reaching back, I slowly pulled an arrow from my quiver, setting it to the string. "Last chance to call it off, Bren."

Her weight shifted, eyes staring ahead at someone she couldn't see. "...kill him."

I moved, rising in a smooth motion, arm drawing back, aiming upwards just enough to let the arrow fall right where I wanted it. The bow let out a quiet sound as the arrow snapped free, hurling through the air.

I stared down my target until something struck him in the chest. He seemed to surge up to his feet, then waver in place... and then he collapsed into a heap.

None of the sleeping men rose.

"Dead." I reported, already slinging the ranged weapon back over my shoulder. "Let's go."

One of her hands found my belt, using it to steady herself as I set off, staying well away from the sheer drop to our left. The approach to the small camp went flawlessly; my spell made sure none of them heard us coming, and the watchman was clearly expired.

We both drew our swords on arrival, Brennan and I carefully picking our way past three sleeping rolls to approach the dead man.

He was no noble, that was for sure. He was too roughed up for that, and he had a nasty brand on the left side of his temple. Grimacing, I could guess what that meant even before I noticed that one of his arms was covered in very precise little burn marks arranged in neat rows.

While I'd never seen them in a pattern like that, I knew what they were. I'd seen things like them in the north; the kind of burns a Mage might give an uppity slave. A sharp pain to put them back into their place without doing too much damage to their supposed property.

"Vint slave." I whispered.

Brennan grimaced, having managed to spot a nearby bag. She dug through it slowly, eventually pulling out a small book. Wordlessly handing it to me, I opened it, tilting it around until I could see the writing.

"Qunlat."

Her sigh was one of pure relief. "Good. I'll handle the rest, you see if you can get the horses."

Nodding once, I rose, heading to where the mounts had been tied to stakes crudely driven into the mountainside. A few glances back let me make sure none of them woke up before Brennan cut their throats, her strong arms pinning them in place to stop their flailing.

"Hey beasties." I whispered on reaching the first horse, gently tugging its reigns free. "How about you come with us?"

The horse huffed, obediently following for a few steps when I pulled him along, but then his nose flared. Probably picking up on the scent of blood, he neighed, shaking his head wildly before going into reverse.

Not about to try a tug of war with a horse, I quickly let go, letting him back off before he dragged me with him.

I tried twice more, and then had Brennan come over with some food she found in a bag to try and tempt at least one of them to come with us, but none of the horses wanted anything to do with moving past the dead men. Giving up, we cut their reigns loose, hoping that none of them fell of their own accord, then did a quick inspection of the camp.

All four men had heavy crossbows settled somewhere near their bags, several dozen bolts each, and vials of something viscous that was definitely poison. We chucked all of it over the side, then began a retreat to our own camp.

It took us longer than I would have liked, mostly because we had to move slowly so that Bren didn't go tumbling down after the crossbows. The same darkness that had let us approach unnoticed having also made it a pain to get there in the first place, and an equal pain to get back.

Varric was supposed to be the only one awake and on watch, but I wasn't surprised to see that Evelyn was sitting upright when I called out that we were back.

"Who were they?" The girl asked before Varric could.

I sighed, getting my weapons off as quickly as I could. "Four ex-slaves from the look of it. Each of them had crossbows with poisoned bolts ready to go, and a little book in Qunlat."

Varric let out a soft grunt. "Good that you handled them then. They could have made a mess of it when we head down tomorrow. No horses?"

"No." Brennan said tiredly, already laying down. "They wouldn't go near the bodies. We'll have to make do without."

I saw him nod tiredly, "Could be worse. Get some sleep you two, Thrask and I will take the last watches."

"Thanks." Putting my bow and sword belt to one side, I got my quiver off as well. "Budge over, little one. I'm exhausted and there' only a few hours of darkness left."

She slid over at once, turning onto her side so that we'd both fit. I slid into her sleeping roll, back to her front. One of her arms hesitantly slipped around my waist out of a lack of anywhere else to put it, while the other awkwardly moved around a lot before I growled at her to just put it under my head.

"Sorry." She whispered.

"'s fine." I yawned, already closing my eyes. "Sleep."

Five seconds later Thrask was gently nudging me, making me blink my eyes open to see the light of sunrise filling the air. Groaning petulantly, I had to force myself to get up, something made even harder by how damned warm little Trevelyan was to cuddle with.

Look, I loved Merrill to death, but she and I were both bony twigs. Humans were bigger and softer than we were. It was why I'd so often curled up with Isabella on her ship, even if I'd never let her put a hand down my pants.

Getting upright, we packed up as quickly as we could, drinking water that I desperately wished was strong tea. The lack of caffeine and the long night left me slumping back against the Templar squire once we were mounted up again, following the narrow road ever downwards toward sea level.

I slowly woke up during the ride, but it wasn't until mid morning that I could honestly say that I was cognizant.

That worked out, because it was around then that Brennan and Varric, riding at the rear, shouted a warning. Twisting around as best I could with Trevelyan behind me, I saw the reason for their alarm; the other group of hunters was riding dangerously fast down the path we'd just descended from.

Five on three was a fight I'd have taken, and I was ready to say as much when I saw the leading figure's hood fall back, revealing a plume of red hair. A second, harder look made me think that the rider behind had a staff or spear in hand.

Tallis, Bethany, and Greg. They must have left the same night we had, taking the mountain road from the Chateau towards Kirkwall, knowing that it would be our destination. Our delays had let them catch up, let them try and run us down on the road instead of having to try and sneak into the city itself.

Two of those people I was fine with throwing down with. One was not.

"Fuck!" I swore, "Evelyn, get us to the bridge! Now!"

"Ha!" She shouted in reply, kicking the horse in the sides with her heels. He let out a deep snort, head lowering as he began to accelerate from a slow walk into a slow gallop. Our friends were hot on our heels, all of us racing ahead.

Racing was, sadly, a relative term. Our horses were damned tired from the constant motion, from having to carry more people than they were used to. The trio chasing us didn't have the same restraints, and began to steadily close the distance.

Our lead held as we neared the bridge stretching out over the river Merrill and I had once practiced magic beside, hooves pounding on wood and stone as we raced across.

"Hold!" I shouted, "Spread out here!"

Everyone had noticed how quickly they were catching up, and that we'd have to make a stand. Feet began hitting the ground, weapons being pulled free. I badly felt my lack of armor, but forced myself to start walking back out onto the bridge regardless.

"Stay back." I said as commandingly as I could. "Varric, be ready to cover me. Thrask and Evelyn, ready with your Smites. Bren, stay back."

Varric called to my back as I walked away, "You sure?"

"No." I admitted under my breath, watching as the trio began their own approach to the bridge. Heard Greg call out a halt when I stopped a dozen paces away from the east bank, my sword in my hand.

They came to a stop on their side, Greg and Tallis apparently having some kind of argument. That lasted until Bethany snapped, loudly enough for me to hear her, "Shut it! Both of you! And stay here!"

Both of the others did, and Hawke's little sister swung herself out of the saddle. Staff in hand, she stomped out on the bridge.

She looked an awful like said sister when she was furious, her magic grating on my senses with how much she was allowing to swirl around her. The feeling of a second sun on my skin, the taste of wine on my lips, and the sight of yellow sparks eventually firming up into a shield.

I whispered the words to call up my own, exhaling in silent relief when my power diluted the sense of hers.

"Maeve." She snapped, stopping a few yards back from me. "You lying bitch."

I tried for stoic, but I'm pretty sure I winced. "Prosper?"

"Escaped on his Wyvern." Bethany spat. "It was a Maker damned miracle we managed to destroy the list before he could take it with him. If Tallis hadn't had more of her people with we wouldn't have managed it."

The mention of Tallis having others with brought my own anger up. "She tell you she had people waiting to murder us on the road?"

Bethany twitched, "Liar."

"Ask Trevelyan." I countered, "You think she would lie?"

She clearly didn't, but she didn't let me try to disrupt her own fury. "No, but you certainly would. Andraste's bloody tears, I wanted to like you, and you lied to my face! I wouldn't have let Tallis do anything to you!"

"Tallis wouldn't have asked permission." I pressed hard on that point. "You think she gives a fuck about you, or your opinions? To her you're just a dangerous thing, Bethany. Not even a fucking person. You're an object."

Her jaw worked, fingers tightening around her staff. When she spoke again it was to ignore what I'd just said. "Give us the list, Maeve. And any copies that you made on the road. This doesn't have to get ugly."

"It doesn't." I agreed, bringing my sword up to en garde. "You can back off, and leave the soulless drone."

"There are innocents that will be hurt if you use that book." Her staff whirled in her hands, her feet shifting into a ready stance of her own. "Burn it, right here and now, and I'll stop Tallis from going after you again."

I inhaled, pulling in more of my mana, readying it. I lowered my voice, genuinely pleading with her. "Bethany. Please. There's traitors in Kirkwall, people who will make shit worse when the Qunari attack. I don't intend to let innocents get hurt, but... I have to help the city survive what's coming. I have to."

She swallowed, her own power forming up into what looked like invisible spears around her. Spells forming by her will... but remaining tightly leashed.

"What about Salit?" I went on. "The Vashoth with him? Didn't they deserve to live? To make their own choices? Tallis slaughtered them all, didn't she? Had you help kill people that just wanted to be free."

It was Bethany's turn to flinch, her voice hot but equally quiet. "Maeve. Stop."

"No." I snapped. "You want to be free to help? So did they! At least I saved some of them from the knife! At least I got some of Prosper's servants away! Where are the lives you saved today, Bethany? How many southerners are going to have their throats cut because they don't know there's a Viddathari next to them?"

The grip on her staff was white knuckled, her jaw clenching so hard that it was a wonder she wasn't breaking her teeth.

"Back. Down." I growled. "You know I'm right."

I think... I think I would have managed it.

Tallis must have thought so too.

A small bit of motion had my eyes snap past Bethany just in time to see her whirl something over her head, a sling that sent a smoking orb hurtling right at my face.

Too keyed up, I responded on reflex, "Schwert!"

The spell smacked the little bomb to one side, making it burst over the water. I couldn't tell if it was a smoke bomb or a grenade because Bethany had been on a hair-trigger as well, and the moment she felt my spell she cut loose with her own.

Spears made of ice abruptly condensed out of the sparks she'd had ready, hurtling at me as if they'd been shot out of a cannon. I twisted to once side, dodging two, taking the third on my barrier. The impact was jarring even through the protection, leaving me snarling, another Schwert whipping out to try and drive her back.

Spinning in place, she took it at an angle on her own shield, adjusting her magic, lightning forming up around her staff.

It slammed into me before I could think of dodging, shattering my protective spell, leaving me no choice but start sprinting back and away in a frantic retreat. A desperate raising of my sword let it catch the second lightning bolt on its anti-magic runes, the spell disintegrating with a magical scream that hurt my ears, and left Bethany recoiling.

I quickly sent another strike down range, hammering at her barrier, forcing her to stay on the defensive as our respective reinforcements came storming forward.

Tallis had stayed mounted, at least until Varric put a bolt into her horse. Leaving the poor animal to tumble and slide off of the bridge, she nimbly leaped clear, throwing another smoke bomb ahead to obscure her approach.

Greg's response was more natural; he stormed forward on foot, coming up protectively in front of his wife, shield raised when Thrask and Evelyn raced past me to close the range on Bethany. I slid to a stop, reversing direction to be ready to cover them.

Evelyn cried out an exultation of Andraste, and the feeling of Bethany's magic abruptly faded, then vanished when Thrask brought a fist up, and then down as if he was hammering an invisible nail.

The little Hawke recoiled, staggering back, Greg backpedaling along with her.

"Let them go!" I called, "Back!"

Our Templars slid to a stop, retreating just as more smoke bombs were flung at their feet. Cursing, I rushed forward, getting past them, calling up my magic once again. "Fuego!"

Napalm screamed out, and Tallis avoided it only by way of throwing herself backwards, rolling frantically away. Strongly tempted to immolate her, I forced myself to focus on sweeping my hand back and forth, pouring as much of the fire onto the bridge itself as I could.

I stopped when I felt my magical reserves reach their limits. "Run!"

The others didn't need to be told, all of us bolting for the safety of the shore as the flames began to full catch on the bridge's wooden sections. Black smoke began billowing just as we got back to Varric, Bianca up and aimed just in case someone tried to risk leaping through the fire.

Instead Bethany proved to have one last spell in her. I felt the edges of it before she brought an invisible boulder down, smashing the burning section of the bridge in a single effort. It shattered most of the central span, leaving a wide gap, and left her to collapse against her husband on the far bank.

But it also sent the fire into the water, leaving a gaping hole, but one that could still be jumped.

And in the distance, I could see more Qunari racing down the road we'd taken. Several dozen of them in fact.

Tallis clearly did too. She approached the gap in the bridge, yanking up the shield that Greg had dropped at some point. Keeping it between her and Varric, she came close enough to shout.

"I just want the list of names! Give it up, and you can go!"

"Liar!" I called back. "Fuck off!"

"You won't make it to Kirkwall!" She shouted in reply. "You know we've got a team between us! Give me the book, and I'll send Hawke and Smith with you! They'll stop anyone from attacking!"

As if in response to her claim, I felt more magic in the air. A woman's hair sliding between my fingers, the scent of wildflowers in my nose... and green sparks snaking past, connecting Tallis to someone else.

Merrill's own lightning bolt blew the shield into tiny fragments, and left the Qunari assassin screaming in a pain and surprise. She scrambled back, staring past me, then turned and ran without hesitating another second.

Relaxing slowly, I glanced back to see my lethallan storming forward, several dozen furious Elves right behind her. All of them were in full armor, and I saw Shina on horseback in the center of the formation, directing her troops forward.

"Heh." I smiled, turning to watch Tallis retreat. Watched Greg and Bethany withdraw to their horses, mounting up. Saw them completely ignore the assassin in favor of turning their tired horses north, getting them moving. There was a ford up there, somewhere.

Tallis slowed, watching them go, then changed direction, walking back toward where her own reinforcements were coming down from the mountain.

I was still watching when Merrill came up on my left side.

"Lethallan." She said, her voice quiet. "I got your message. Obviously. And, um, your apology."

I felt my teeth bite my lip, both of us watching the distant Qunari. Barely listening to everyone else's exclamations of relief, of Shina giving an excuse to Brennan that they 'just felt like a training exercise today'.

"...forgive me?" I asked, just as quietly. "I can grovel if you like."

In my peripheral vision, I saw her lips quiver a little. "That would be nice. I've never had someone grovel to me before."

Smiling, I shifted over, leaning into her side. She let me, passing her staff to her left hand so that she could wrap her right arm around my shoulders.

"I'm sorry I'm an idiot." I whispered. "An incredibly stupid moron who doesn't deserve someone as wonderful and understanding as you. Please forgive me, oh greatest mage of her generation, savior of the People. I swear I'll never go off and do something stupid without the incredible Merrill there to make sure I have someone wise to tell me when I'm a fool."

Her skin had started to redden halfway through, "Maeve! That isn't proper grovelling!"

"Hmm. Maybe not." I agreed, feeling my self control snapping one last time. "It needs a proper finish."

Merrill had just started to frown when I shifted, rising slightly on my toes to press my lips against the side of her mouth. She froze, eyes wide, then lunged after me when I started to pull back.

The kiss that followed wasn't sisterly, or chaste. There was, in fact, a lot of tongue. And hands pulling the other closer, to make sure that they couldn't get away.

It was also in full view of about thirty of our friends and comrades, a good dozen of whom began cheering in celebration, loudly demanding coin from everyone around.