The infected templars split up. A large number of them slid down ropes thrown over the side of the ravine to reach where the Inquisition soldiers were hurrying to grab their weapons, and templar archers stayed lining both sides of the ravine. Siara felt like they were just fish in a barrel. There weren't enough places for them to take cover, and many of her fellow soldiers were already falling to arrows impaling them.
"Mages, take those archers down!" Cullen's voice boomed across the battlefield. "Everyone else, keep the mages alive and take out as many of the infected templars as you can!"
Siara was already on it, darting out of the way as another arrow flew towards her. She shot towards the nearest red templar, sliding one of her blades across its neck as it stumbled to the floor of the ravine. The templar didn't stand much of a chance, gurgling out its last breath as blood spurted out of the wound and it fell to the ground. The next templar didn't stumble as it reached the body of its deceased comrade, pointed arm of red lyrium already raised to the sky, reaching around with its other hand to pull a sword from its side. It was more than ready to strike Siara down, eyes fixed on her as it advanced. She didn't give it a chance, once more ducking out of the way before shooting forward, trying to insert her blade through a gap in the templar's armour. The strike didn't do as much damage as she hoped it would, and the templar moved to swipe her away, catching her with her defences lower than they should have been. She mostly managed to dodge the blow, but she felt the lyrium scrape against her armour as she darted away once again. She slowly backed up as the infected templar stalked towards her, arms dragging along the ground. More infected templars were skidding down the side of the ravine behind it, all of them searching for their own opponents. Thankfully only a couple more had their sights trained on Siara. She felt that she could, in theory, handle three of the bloody things.
She took a moment to scan the campsite for Cullen, checking to see if he had everything under control where he was. He was fighting in a partnership with Varric. Varric would fire bolts at as many of the infected templars as he could, and Cullen would finish off any that got too close to them. They looked to have a decent handle on things, and Siara couldn't spare that much time to make sure they were okay. She had her own infected templars to deal with. Her attention flicked back to her enemies, mind racing, trying to figure out some sort of tactic for this situation. Sure, three of the bloody infected templars wouldn't be the worst in the world to face, but all at the same time? She needed to thin the numbers. Her eyes flicked to where Solas stood with the rest of the mages just as he looked around at her. She raised her eyebrows in a silent question. Magic would give her at least a bit of an advantage. Well, until the infected templars used whatever power it was that lyrium gave them and nullified her magic. But by that point, she might have been able to kill at least one or two of the advancing enemies.
Solas shook his head, clearly understanding Siara's question. She pulled a face, slowly stepping back as her eyes flicked back to the templars. Evidently Solas didn't think she had mastered her powers well enough to use them in a situation like this, or maybe he just didn't think that now was the time for people to find out about her. She wished she didn't agree with him on that latter point, but she also knew that if it came to it, she would blast these bastards. Let them bathe in her fire. For now, though, they could simply suffer at the ends of her blades.
She shot forward, trying to take the infected templars off guard. She hoped that they would assume her first target would be the templar closest to her, that the templars behind it wouldn't have their guard raised. Her golden blade slipped into a chink in her target's armour, drawing a cry of rage and pain from his lips. But she didn't have time to stop and think about it, spinning to withdraw her blade, twisting it so it would do more damage but still slip out cleanly. In the same movement, she blocked a blow from the next templar with her black blade, sparks flying into the air. The first templar was now turning to face her, and the one she had just maimed was crouched on the ground in pain. He was, however, already trying to get back to his feet. Siara couldn't let him. She ducked to avoid the third templar, darting around him and using her body to force him into his injured comrade, his sword impaling itself through the leg of the grounded templar. Another cry of pain rang out, but the third templar ignored it, already withdrawing his sword and trying to turn on Siara.
That was one templar down, two to go. Well, so long as the downed templar stayed on the ground. There was a good amount of blood pouring from the wound in his leg, so Siara hoped that something vital had been hit and he wasn't about to get up. Most of her attention stayed fixed on the two templars that were advancing on her. She kept taking slow steps backwards, trying to keep them both in her line of sight as they split to try and flank her. Neither of them showed any signs of letting their guard down, which didn't bode well for her. They were both significantly larger than her, and had an advantage in strength. She hadn't yet managed to gauge how fast they were compared to her, but she wasn't convinced she wanted to take a risk and find out.
More arrows rained down on them, and Siara had to make a dive to take cover behind one of the tents that had already been taken down. An arrow embedded itself in the ground not far from her leg, and she glared at it for a moment before hesitantly looking over the tent to where the archers at the top of the ravine were already knocking their next barrage of arrows. They were looking towards someone standing just out of Siara's sight, clearly waiting for the signal to fire again. Siara looked back to the templars advancing on her position. One of them had an arrow in the back of the shoulder, and Siara smiled slightly. That was something she could use to her advantage.
She shot out from her hiding place, slipping one of her blades back to its position on her back as she did so. She moved as fast as she could, darting between the templars before they could do anything to stop her. She reached up, grabbing the arrow, and used it to haul herself onto the templar's back. She paid no attention to the roar that escaped him, instead reaching around and thrusting her golden blade into the man's neck. Blood ran from the wound, and more sprayed the ground in front of him as she withdrew the blade, her eyes fixed on her final opponent as she leapt to the ground. The final templar seemed completely emotionless, not even caring that it had lost two of its comrades. Did infected templars not even feel emotion anymore? There wasn't time for Siara to really ponder this as she withdrew her second blade once more, only just in time to block a barrage of blows. She was forced back, only just managing to stop herself from tripping over backwards on a bow that had been discarded on the ground. There was no way of knowing where its owner currently was, but Siara couldn't see them nearby. With any luck that meant that they were still alive.
She was just about to retaliate as the templar briefly slowed the attack, but she didn't have to. The templar fell forward as lightning crackled over its armour, a smouldering hole in its back. Siara looked up and met Dorian's eyes, nodding her thanks to him. He smiled back, then turned his attention back to shooting lightning at the archers up on the edge, his magic getting almost lost among all the other blasts being directed at the enemy.
Siara took a moment to catch her breath, far enough away from the rest of the fighting that it seemed the infected templars in the ravine with them weren't paying her any attention anymore. Her eyes scanned the top of the ravine, where the archers were once more letting loose their arrows. She darted behind cover once more, emerging only once no more arrows hit the ground, and she resumed her studying of the infected templars along the ridge. There were a surprising number of melee fighters still up there, and the ropes that had been tossed down for the infected templars to attack them up close had been pulled back up. Even the archers seemed to be easing their attacks, none of them knocking any more arrows. Siara frowned. It didn't make any sense. They had the advantage, why wouldn't they be -
Her thoughts were cut interrupted as her eyes landed on a group of soldiers near a pile of boulders. They were clearly pushing at the pile, and Siara could see that the rocks were already starting to move. She looked over to where the main fight was now calming down. Cullen was just finishing off another infected templar, withdrawing his sword from its sternum as it fell to the ground. She glanced back up at the rocks, and her feet were moving before she knew what was happening. A shout of warning escaped her, though she didn't even know what she was saying, her mind fixed solely on Cullen. He was the only one she could see that was in the direct line of the landslide that the infected templars were attempting to begin. She reached him just as he was looking up at the ridge, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him back. They were running just as the first boulders were reaching the floor of the ravine, the ground beneath them shaking under their feet.
A rock hit the back of Siara's foot, sending her sprawling to the ground, a yelp of pain escaping her as another hit her ankle. She rolled over, scrambling backwards as fast as she could as more rocks fell. It wouldn't be fast enough, she knew she couldn't move fast enough like this. Strong hands wrapped around her upper arms, hauling her to her feet. Next thing she knew, she was up against the edge of the ravine, Cullen's body between her and the landslide, one of his arms braced against the stone, his other hand on the back of her head. Siara clung to his arm, pressing herself as far against the stone as she could, praying to the Maker that they would live through this.