They eventually returned to the keep in the evening when the night shift was fresh on the battlements and Knight-Captain Rylen was making sure the grounds were in order for lock-up.

  "You're back." He nodded as Iron Bull and the others strolled through the gated entrance that was being locked down behind them for the night.

  His eyes widened with interest to see three Grey Wardens trailing the party's rear, but hardly with surprise. Yet, he sensed tension among the group and wondered if it was because of the strange magical occurrence his men had spotted around Death Drink Springs.

  "Magic happened at Death Drink Springs, was that you guys?" He bluntly asked Iron Bull when he stood before him.

  Iron Bull answered with a weary nod. "Remember me mentioning the Venatori job? That was them. Some enchanters were opening fade rifts." He added with caution, "We stopped them, but there might be more."

  "They were what?!" Rylen let out a curse and turned to issue some serious orders to his men, who were eager to call it a night.

  "Ser?" One of his seniors looked confused when he was ordered to get everyone perky and back to their posts but didn't question his captain's orders.

  The keep's lull was broken with a flurry of activity in the area and sounds of rushing boots to the battlements and choke points. The soldiers were ready with weapons in hand for anything that might attack them.

  Rylen didn't want to take chances. If those Tevinter bastards were out there, then they'll definitely make an attack on the keep.

  It was just as well.

  The sky overhead darkened swiftly with a sickly shade of green. The keep was suddenly surrounded by static spatial rifts as a number of dark-robed Venatori enchanters materialized on the courtyard upper levels and battlements of the keep with sparking black orbs within their hands.

  Demons poured out of the cracks as a shrieking, ear-piercing horde to disrupt the focus and spirit of the nearby victims. Some of the battlement soldiers screamed to their deaths when they were seized by shade wraiths they couldn't fend off.

  Rylen raced up to the battlements and cut through floating green spirits with his templar-blessed sword. He swore profanity at the shade wraiths he had weakened and knocked to the lower levels with a holy Spell Purge.

  "Knight-Captain." One of the junior soldiers panted, nodding his thanks as he grabbed his sword and continued to fight demons on the ground level.

  Krem and his handsome, blond-haired comrade Grim joined the fight to send the shades and spirits back to the Fade.

  "Demon scum. Get back to the Fade where you belong!" Krem bellowed as he carved a path through a horde of rage demons and shades slipping out of newly formed static rifts.

  "We have to take out the enchanters and their orbs!" Hawke shouted over the din of clashing steel and magical droning.

  A sickly, charged energy tugged at everyone's senses, trying to drag them into a sleep that they wouldn't wake up from. The fatigue attack was making swing strikes clumsy and desperate.

  Fenris used his lyrium abilities to climb up to the enchanters he saw and attack them, but the power drawback had weakened his strikes so they couldn't land killing blows. Unlike the earlier ones, these orbs were too steeped with spirit magic to be destroyed.

  A shade wraith emerged to knock Fenris to the ground. Another had a bony arm outstretched to rip out his heart.

  "Keep your filthy hands away from my man!" Hawke shouted as he performed a Deadly Strike attack with swift precision, dancing in and out of sight with purposed strikes that had the wraith dissipating with a high-pitched shriek.

  "Hawke." Fenris panted as he leaned on his greatsword to stand. He continued the fight.

  Demons continued to pour through static rifts the more the men cut down. It was becoming an endless battle with the enchanters and their orbs virtually untouchable. The soldiers were tiring fast.

  "We have to change the flow of battle!" Rylen gasped as he cut his way through wraiths to stand next to Hawke.

  "The enchanters are magically shielded." Fenris commented.

  "They aren't without weakness." Alistair coolly said as he came up beside Hawke. "They use their orbs to siphon energy from the Fade. But I noticed spirit magic is weaker in a corner of this very courtyard."

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  Iron Bull's eyes lit up with an answer. "Yeah, that. Krem gather all the men into the front courtyard. It's the only way to survive this."

  Rylen nodded, seeing Iron Bull had a plan. He pulled out a horn from his belt and blew it to also rally his men to the courtyard. Shortly afterward, the soldiers entered trailing demons.

  Hawke, Fenris and the Chargers covered the mens' rear: cutting down foul-smelling and gassy demons to make them vanish and their energies return to the Fade through a static rift.

  "Goddamn demon shits!" Iron Bull cursed as he rushed for the courtyard's shaded corner and yanked off a table what appeared to be a misshapen crystal ball, which was fashioned of unworldly dark metal. Its sparky aura of green energy made his skin tickle and crawl as he carried it back to the courtyard's center and slammed it down on the ground.

  "Damn thing." He shook off the weird feeling from his arms and readied his weapon.

  The demons howled and shrieked at feeling their energies weakened when they neared the Elven Artifact. The object ensured the fight was on an even playing field. Seeing that the battle flow was about to change, four hooded enchanters emerged with attempts to reclaim the situation.

  "It's useless. With no more Inquisition and your false Herald to close rifts, you're all just ants shaking a tree."

  "This ant has a nasty bite." Hawke smirked as he smashed vials of tempest liquid all over himself. In a blur time stopped around him: only he was able to move normally.

  Anri had spent time inducting him into the Tempest process and teaching him the fundamentals back at Wycome, which was right up his alley. Although, there had been a few times he had almost lost a nipple in the process. Luckily he was a quick learner. Along the journey to the Western Approach he kept up his training and had been able to master the lightning pathway.

  He appeared before a motionless enchanter and used a combination of blade attacks. The enchanter's eye slowly moved, inch by inch, in Hawke's direction with clear disbelief at seeing his death before he could even move another muscle to stop it. The effect stopped and time flowed normally. The enchanter dropped dead. Hawke leaped to the courtyard to recover his strength through a normal fight. One of the orbs dropped to the ground, free from control.

  Alistair frowned as he applied his templar ability of No More Darkness and used the blight in his blood to counter the orb's resistance. With one mighty strike of his greatsword he shattered the orb into pieces that severed the fade binds to the spatial rifts within the keep's right. Swiftly the rifts shrunk back and closed, but the demons that had emerged remained.

  This victory empowered the soldiers morale while sowing seeds of panic in the Venatori. Iron Bull raced up to an enchanter with a Whirlwind strike that knocked the orb out of the hooded mage's hand.

  Alistair destroyed the orb with the same process.

  The night was long and brutal as the former Inquisition army, Chargers, Wardens, and Shadow Sect agents defeated the Venatori siege and destroyed the orbs to see the static rifts close. It was only when the sun rose in the sky did the men finally finished off the enemy and saved the day.

  "By Andraste." Rylen heaved through panted breath at finally seeing the attacks over. He slumped down on a step to catch his breath.

  "Good work Knight-Captain." Iron Bull handed him a flask of strong drink.

  "Shit." Rylen gratefully grabbed the flask of spirits and downed hearty gulps.

  Iron Bull slapped his back with cheer.

  "Is that what you and the Inquisitor always faced?" Rylen wiped his mouth and handed back the flask, feeling a lot better.

  "Worse." Iron Bull flashed him a cocky smile.

  "Well, me and my men owe you our lives. If you ever need anything just ask."

  Iron Bull eased back on the step and took a swig of the good drink. "Ah, you owe us nothing. You're our people no matter if the Inquisition is disbanded. The Inquisitor will never forget his own."

  "Really?" Rylen frowned, finding this tidbit interesting.

  Iron Bull caught Alistair's eye from an inconspicuous corner. The man was keeping a distance from the soldiers hearty conversations around campfires while observing the aftermath carefully.

  "He's a good warden," Rylen said with a look that indicated that he knew Alistair was more than he seemed to be.

  Iron Bull nodded and rose to approach Alistair.

  "Why are you really here?" Alistair soberly and bluntly asked Iron Bull upon his approach.

  "I've got a job to do."

  "The Vints."

  "That too."

  This fact threw Alistair off thought. He frowned: his instincts screamed at him to get away from the Qunari but something was keeping him rooted. Something deep down wanted him to stay and hear out what the big, bullish man was going to say next. And this something wasn't the Calling or the cursed blight in his veins. From what he had observed and learned over the years, he knew that Iron Bull was no longer loyal to the Qun. Loyalty. The word was a big joke to him.

  "You know the Orlesian Wardens are Inquisition allies." Iron Bull added.

  "Were."

  "These men were our allies too. We don't forget our own." The tone of Iron Bull's words made it sound like it was fact.

  "Good for them," Alistair aloofly answered. "But that doesn't change the fact that everyone has a self-interest." He left his corner to make his way out of the keep.

  Alistair cursed when he saw Hawke leaning against the gate. He was in a hearty conversation with the sentry guards. Hawke's jovial mood sobered when he saw the warden's approach. He broke away from the conversations and went to greet him.

  "See you learned some new tricks." Alistair commented.

  Hawke frowned, wondering where Alistair had seen him fight and guessed it was when he had been with Loghain.

  "Came in handy. So, are you ditching this place now?"

  "Got no reason to stay."

  Hawke sighed and glanced around the area to ensure know one was in ear shot. He caught Iron Bull eying them from the distance and nodded.

  "What if I gave you a reason?"