They had managed to cover a great amount of ground, and had managed to accomplish more than one might have expected from just two. Aden had learned to trust the little Warden's sense, and kept the young man in front of him more often than not. Risky, but Aden could read his body language faster than the warden could even say it. The way the boy tensed when Darkspawn neared gave Aden more than enough time to ready himself afore the mage. This time it had proved to be a bad thing, as the creature that burst from the tunnel was far larger than they expected. An ogre. The templar was thrown as it swung it's large arm, landing heavily a short distance away. It moved past him, targeting Gwal, and the boy let loose an arrow, which only served to anger the creature. The boy moved, knowing better than to stand still, and the blow intended for him crashed into the stone, cracking it. Aden recovered a bit, and moved to distract the ogre, buying the warden time. The time was well used, and the Ogre suddenly went up in flame. It screamed it's defiance and pain and than began to flail, sweeping blows meant to hit anything near it. Aden backed off, ducking under a blow before getting accosted from behind by a group of the smaller varieties. Gwal was not so lucky, getting hit hard and thrown into the wall. A cry burst from his lips, and the boy dropped, instantly curling into a ball with his hands cupping the back of his hear. A nasty blow. Aden heard the cry and pushed away from the darkspawn, ducking again under the Ogre's arms to get to the little bird. "Talk to me warden." "Hurts." "Of course. Can you fight?"" 'mgunna be sick." The boy muttered instead, shaking his head slightly in denial. Aden was not surprised. Damage to the head often caused nausea and disorientation, and for a mage, that made casting difficult. Leaving the boy was his only option. He couldn't expect him to fight. The Ogre seemed to be padding the last of it's fire out, no longer in a frenzy, and the other darkspawn were moving forward, so Aden moved. A quick cut or two had the Ogre focusing on him, trying to catch or crush him, and the fast yet clumsy blows caught it's allies instead of the intended target. Aden dodged and moved, until most of the darkspawn had been outright killed or stunned by the largest, and thats when he closed, using the bit of his ax to hamstring it, and finally to bury the ax in it's neck. Unfortunately it didn't immediately kill it, and it went after him again, the grip being pulled from his hand. Aden was forced on the defensive until he got a hold of one of the dead hurlock's swords, burying that in the weakened Ogres chest. Fighting with purely borrowed weapons and a shield put him at a severe disadvantage in the cleanup, but Aden was victorious. His concern was for the little warden. They needed to find the others, as that was the best chance for the youth surviving, not lost here in the Deep Roads with a concussion. The templar foisted the young boy onto his back, the youth's arms around his neck, the legs supported by the templar's arms. Gwal was light, not a huge burden for the templar.Rest was gained soon after, Aden checking the youth again and again, making sure he was alright. If Gwal wasn't so tired and irritable, he'd might take note of the fact that Aden shed the armor he had been wearing after the first halt, and the lower garment soaked from the abdomen, a mixture of black and red. Luck brought Aden close to the Warden-templar group, and when they were discovered, the boy was taken from him. It was then that it was discovered that Aden had been stabbed twice, not immediately fatal wounds, but the time between had allowed blight and infection to set in. He had stitched them up so he hadn't bleed out, though it had only served to allow Aden the strength to reach the camp. He wouldn't have held out much longer.
