The knight paused with his prisoner to await the young woman's answer. The mercenary stumbled, unable to stand straight. Ordhan's brows drew together. He would rather kill the man outright than torture him, but that would lessen the chance that the incident would be looked into, if not eliminate it completely. Leaving him behind to die was in no way an option. No matter how foul a man this was, no one deserved that.
The messenger noticed the man's struggle as well, though it was obvious she shared Ordhan's lack of sympathy. Brittle anger was in her face and voice as she offered her horse to carry him. The knight gave a short nod and loosened the bindings on the man's hands enough to aid him climbing onto the horse's back. Though Ordhan hadn't been overly rough about it, the activity proved too much for the prisoner, and the moment he was astride the horse he slumped in the saddle, either unconcious or near it. Another length of rope secured him there, feet tied into the stirrups and hands bound to the saddlehorn.
It was the best solution, but Ordhan did not overlook how difficult and loathsome the option would be for the young woman. She deserved an explanation. "If we can get him to Lothering, it will be useful for getting to the bottom of this," he began, voice low. "There is someone who went through a great deal of trouble to have you ambushed. If we came and said you were attacked, they could have it dismissed as a bandit attack--and it could happen again." He loathed the fact that he knew enough about Ferelden politics to predict such things. It was just one reason why he preferred fighting Darkspawn, monstrous as they were.