"You never explained to me what exactly these mages have done to have you hunting them," Siara said, looking across the fire at Barris. They had found a quiet spot at the side of the road and set up camp for the night, and now he was busy slowly turning a rabbit over their campfire. He glanced up from his cooking. Already it was smelling pretty good, and Siara could feel her stomach beginning to contemplate growling in anticipation.

"They were apostates even before the Circles fell," he explained.

"So? A lot of people were. My sister was an apostate. I hardly care if mages aren't sitting around knitting in Circles all day, or whatever it is they do."

A quiet chuckle escaped Barris and he shook his head.

"Definitely not knitting," he said, "and it's not just that they're apostates. There are also rumours that they partake in blood magic."

"Again, I'm not exactly one to judge. Mara was a blood mage."

"Did she make it seem like blood magic was a safe thing to do?"

Siara shook her head, leaning back on her elbows and staring into the fire.

"No. Jacen and I didn't even want her to be doing it, but she said it was the only way to keep us safe. She even said she didn't care about her own safety, only that Jacen and I were all right," Siara shrugged. "We always thought she was being reckless. After the templars attacked us, I think she had a coming to the Maker moment. From what she wrote, she tried to stop using blood magic. I don't think she managed very well."

"No good can come of blood magic," Barris said, a small frown on his face. "Even when used with the best of intentions, things can go wrong. It's dangerous."

"That's exactly why Mara used it. We were three kids, out in the world with no protection. We needed an edge," Siara shrugged again. "Maybe your quarry has a similar reason for using it."

"From the reports Cullen was getting, it doesn't sound like their own blood that they've been using. Or for defensive purposes."

"I see."

It was hard for Siara to condemn the mages for the use of blood magic, even if she wasn't a fan of it. But if they were sacrificing innocents for it, that changed things.

"What sort of reports are there?"

"Too many for me to tell you all of them," Barris checked the rabbit and started slicing parts off it, offering some to Siara.

"Tell me a few of them."

"Are you sure you want to know?"

Siara pulled a face, shaking her head slightly.

"Oh, come on," she said, taking a bite of her dinner. "I kill people for a living. I've seen some pretty awful stuff. If you're trying to save me from being disturbed, then drop it. Just tell me."

"All right, then," Barris leaned back, pulling the rest of the rabbit from the fire and continuing to tear shreds off it. "Cattle mutilations, sacrificing travellers, summoning demons."

"Some of that sounds closer to necromancy."

"Blood magic and necromancy often go hand in hand."

"Do you know why these mages are doing this?"

Barris shrugged.

"Why do mages ever turn to blood magic?" he asked. "It could be that they started out looking for a way to protect themselves. But now it's clearly something far worse than that."

Siara didn't say anything, just stared into the fire as she finished her dinner, lost in her own thoughts. She wished she was able to share the wide-spread belief that all blood magic was bad, but she couldn't help feeling that it was a bit more of a grey area than that. When it was used correctly. Sacrificing others or using blood magic to control someone else was definitely not okay, but sometimes it was the most effective way to get where you wanted to be, or to get the best result. Though the people who didn't fall to the dark side of blood magic were few and far between.

"What was it like," Barris asked, "growing up with a blood mage as a sister?"

Siara's eyes flicked up to regard him for a moment before falling back to the flames between them, a vacant look on her face.

"What's it like not having a sister practising blood magic?" she shrugged. "She'd been using blood magic for at least five years before we were separated. I don't have many memories of her using magic and not dabbling in blood magic. We were kids. Mara did what she thought she had to for our survival. She wasn't a bad person."

Siara shook her head, thinking for a moment. She could feel Barris' eyes on her, watching her movements closely, as though he was waiting for her to continue. She took a deep breath in before releasing it in a slow sigh, meeting his eyes as she leaned back.

"I can remember the first time she killed someone. It broke her a little. Mara was a healer, she was always wanting to heal rather than harm. She knew some offensive spells, of course, but before we left our clan… if she'd had proper training, she would have been the most powerful spirit healer I've ever seen. Never got that training, though. And the best way for her to get good at offensive spells, the easiest way, the fastest way, was blood magic. She cried for days, if not weeks, after her first kill. She never cried when she thought there was even a possibility that Jacen or I could hear or see her, but we both knew. She wasn't a bad person."

"People don't have to be bad to use blood magic," Barris agreed. "Many good people start using blood magic, but they don't usually stay good for long."

Siara just shrugged, looking up at the sky.

"I'm not arguing against that," she told him.

A soft silence fell between them, both in their own thoughts.

"I thought you said there were only a couple of mages?" Siara muttered to Barris from their vantage point. They crouch just below the top of a nearby hill, looking down over the small encampment, settled in a very shallow cave. It was more like a deep overhanging rather than a cave. There were at least three mages clearly visible, and Siara could count a couple of demons hanging around the place. Hopefully there weren't more hiding in the surrounding trees.

"I thought there were only supposed to be two," Barris replied, a frown on his face.

"I didn't like our odds when it was two on two," Siara admitted, "but three mages and at least two demons against one templar and a mercenary?" she shook her head.

"We should find somewhere to camp out. Send word back to Skyhold asking for reinforcements."

"That'd take too long and we'd probably be discovered. Even if we went far enough away that we wouldn't be discovered, they'll probably find another poor sod to sacrifice so they can either summon more demons or control the demons they already have," Siara glanced over to Barris, trying to get a read on what he was thinking. There was a frown on his face, suggesting that he agreed with her and wasn't happy about it.

"Do you have a plan?" he asked her.

"I've never made many plans."

A sigh escaped Barris and he regarded the scene before him thoughtfully.

"We're not going to stand a chance against the mages and the demons," he reiterated.

"Split them up, pick them off. Let me scout the area first for more demons. They don't look like particularly strong demons, if there are more in the area I should be able to handle them without too much trouble."

"What if the mages discover you? You'll be on your own. You can't fight off that many by yourself," a frown of concern was on Barris' face as he spoke, regarding Siara closely. She shrugged, half smiling.

"You'll be up here, won't you?" she asked. "Somehow I doubt those mages would kill me outright. Why pass up a perfectly good opportunity for a free sacrifice?"

"You're insane,"

"You're only just realising this now?" Siara chuckled. "Look, Delrin, we don't have many options here. And frankly, though I'd like to see you try and sneak around in that clunky armour, I'd prefer not to do it when my neck is on the line. If you have any better ideas, now's the time to share with the class."

Barris regarded Siara closely for a moment, then sighed, shaking his head.

"I don't like it," he admitted, "but I don't have any better ideas."

"Yeah, I've never been much of a fan of my plans, either," Siara joked, keeping low and sneaking off into the cover of the trees. "I'll be back soon."