Camping under the stars should have been miserable, but while it was true he was missing the warm bed back in Skyhold, right now there was nowhere else Dorian wanted to be. Elden had nodded off beside him and was leaning against Dorian's shoulder. Although he wished the Inquisitor would get a proper night's rest for once instead of insisting on staying up by the fire, at least for the moment everything was fine. Corypheus had been stopped and no one else was trying to end the world at the moment. The goal now was to finish closing all of the stray rifts and to just generally clean up the mess the darkspawn magister had left behind—which, aside from the demons, was rather straightforward. No conspiracies, no alliances, just traveling around the countryside closing all these holes in reality. Just an ordinary day for them, he supposed.
Unfortunately, the act of actually closing the rifts was rather taxing on the Inquisitor. But of course the man refused to rest, immediately insisting they press on to the next once a rift was dealt with. Dorian couldn't wait until all this business was done. Perhaps they could go on holiday somewhere. Wouldn't that be something? An actual proper rest.
Their companions had long since retired for the night except for a few guards patrolling the perimeter, so for the moment at least they had some privacy. Dorian ran his fingers through Elden's hair and the man leaned appreciatively into the touch. Elden placed gentle kiss after kiss on Dorian's neck as he wrapped his arms tightly around him.
"You all right?" Elden murmured against him, and Dorian chuckled.
"You're the one who closed that rift earlier. Perhaps you should be more concerned about yourself."
"I'm fine," he said with a contented sigh as he held Dorian close. "Thank you for coming. I know you would have preferred to stay at Skyhold."
"And miss out on all the demons and camping? Nonsense." Dorian kissed the top of Elden's head fondly. He wanted to say that he didn't want Elden to have to do this alone, that Elden shouldn't have to do any of it alone, but he didn't know how to put it all into words. All he knew was that he wanted to be there for Elden, to make sure he was safe and happy no matter what they had to face. Instead he said, "Besides, without you there to warm up the bed, Skyhold is unbearably freezing."
Elden chuckled. "Oh good, glad I'm still useful for something."
It was these quiet moments, just the two of them enjoying their closeness, that always hit Dorian the hardest. This was real. This was really happening. He cared so much for this man and was cared for in return. It was a little terrifying to think about but it was all so easy, so casual. He had always thought that love was beyond his reach, impossible and incomprehensible, but perhaps…
"Come," Dorian said, interrupting his own train of thought. Now wasn't the time. "I think we'd best turn in for the night. If you fall asleep there's no way I'll be able to drag you to the tent."
They both stood and Elden yawned sleepily, reaching out to take Dorian's hand. It only took a couple of steps for Dorian to realize something was wrong. Considering the way Elden tensed beside him, squeezing his hand slightly, he must have sensed it as well.
"Can you feel that?" Dorian asked. It was like a faint buzzing, perhaps a magical buildup of some kind.
"No, but I thought I saw something. Like a shimmer at the edge of my vision, but when I looked it was gone."
Luckily Elden and Dorian kept their weapons on them at all times from force of habit. They readied them wordlessly and walked forward, preparing to raise the alarm if it turned out to be a threat. Too late Dorian realized it was an illusion spell. It was an impressive one too. One moment they were standing near the edge of camp; the next they could barely see the light of the campfire through the thick trees around them. Dorian was too busy trying to figure out how it was done (had they been drugged to distort their perception of distance? Was someone using time magic?) that he almost didn't see the assassin drop out of the tree beside him.
Years of constant danger had sharpened their reflexes and as Dorian dodged to the side, Elden stepped forward, slamming his shield into the black-clad assailant and knocking him to the ground. Dorian sighed in annoyance as several more materialized out of the darkness around them. Elden kept close to him, keeping the attackers' attention, allowing Dorian time to cast. The two of them fought well together, practice allowing them to fall into an easy rhythm while watching each other's backs.
The commotion they were making should have been more than enough to bring reinforcements from the camp. Why hadn't anyone heard? The two of them alone could only hold their own for so long. Dorian was contemplating attempting to set the camp on fire himself to get everyone out here when an assassin appeared out of the shadows and dropped down practically on top of Elden—which was when Dorian remembered the warrior wasn't wearing his armor. Elden took the dagger in the shoulder and grunted in pain but spun around quickly and forced the assassin to retreat. Elden seemed completely unfazed, shrugging off the injury like he always did, but it was enough of a distraction that Dorian missed the assassin that was sneaking up behind him.
Dorian expected the cold biting agony of a dagger, but instead there was just a gentle prick at the back of his neck and suddenly he couldn't keep his feet any longer. He could hear Elden calling his name and he tried to focus. He could barely see Elden, trying to get to him, but then an assassin with a maul came up behind him. Dorian tried to call out, to get his magic working, but everything went black as he saw Elden fall.