Hello fellow writers and readers! I am excited to start another fanfiction for another fandom that I have adored for many years now. Dragon Age Inquisition is my favorite RPG and I hope I'm not the only one who's obsessed with it (and also that I'm not the only one that has some pretty smutty dreams with Cullen and Dorian lol) Anyway hope you enjoy chapter one!
Chapter One
Commander Cullen leaned over his desk, reading the report for about the hundredth time without really truly comprehending it. He rubbed the back of his neck and growled in frustration. He hadn't been able to focus on anything since Tara went off on another mission into the unforgiving terrain of Emprise du Lion. In fact, anxiety always plagued him whenever she left period. But he knew very well there was nothing he could do. She was the Inquisitor, the hope that Thedas needed in these times of war and poverty. He knew he could not also tag along on her missions, he had to look after her mage soldiers and teach them to defend themselves against all different attackers.
"Sir Lady Cassandra would look to have a word with you" Cullen looked up to see one of his scouts in the doorway, looking skittish as always.
Cullen sighed "Tell her I'll be there in a moment." The scout nods and scurries off. He was used to the inquisition scouts and soldiers being nervous around him. He was known to be an intimidating figure, barking at his soldiers and working them to the point of exhaustion. Tara would tell him frequently to ease up a bit but he could not see the value in that when not enough hard training could get them killed out on the field. Cullen stands up, stretching the kinks out of his back for slumping over for so long. Cassandra was waiting at her usual spot in the courtyard; hacking away at stuffed dummies with her sword. She was doing a particularly hard blow to the dummies abdomen and then slammed her shield until the dummy broke off its wooden post and crashed to the ground. He whistled low.
"Remind me never to get on your bad side." He could see the corner of her mouth twitch upward as she stabbed her sword through her fallen victim.
"How has today been?" She asked, leaving the sword in the dummy. He couldn't stifle another sigh. She always cut to the chase without the common introduction of niceties.
"Better than most. I woke up screaming again but the fatigue and headaches are not as bad." She nodded approvingly.
"Good and you haven't touched one vial?"
"Yes yes Cassandra I gave you your word that I would stop using lyrium and I meant it."
"I know Cullen I just can't help worry that you will relapse. Even the templars of the strongest will have fallen back into the clutches of addiction." He nodded gravely, understanding what that was like too well. Cassandra turned around and yanked the sword from its place.
"I do appreciate you looking out for me, Tara has enough things to worry about then to constantly monitor me." Cassandra only nodded, a rare smile blooming on her pretty, scarred face. Before they could discuss anything further a familiar figure strode towards them.
"Cullen thank the maker I found you." Dorian said, his voice breathless and his dark eyes wide.
It felt like someone had reached into his chest and squeezed his heart.
"Where's the Inquisitor?" He demanded.
"She's been captured, we were ambushed by red templars and behemoths." His breath caught in his throat. So many nights he dreamed of her being captured, tortured, dying slowly in his arms. He would wake up screaming, on the verge of sobbing only to feel her arms wrap around him and pull him close to her. To think he could never feel the warmth of her body against his was unbearable.
"Cullen?" Cassandra's voice sounded far away as everything lost focus. But then it all came startlingly back when he felt a sharp zap run through his arm.
"Ow!" He yelped, jumping away from Dorian who stood at the ready to shock him with another lightning bolt. "Maker's breath Dorian careful where you use your magic I'm wearing metal armor."
"Please it was barely even enough power to shock a mouse." Dorian said, rolling his eyes.
"Enough you two we have bigger problems to worry about. The Inquisitor is missing for Andraste's sake. I'm going to go alert the war council come join me when you got your wits together." With that she strode off towards the fortress that was Skyhold. Dorian and Cullen briefly exchanged looks and followed. As Cullen hustled to the war room, he could still feel the pain in his chest and the fear that threatened to swallow him into senselessness again.
Please let her be alright. I beg of you Andraste. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to her.
He and Dorian pushed open the massive door to find everyone already waiting. The map of Thedas laid in its usual spot and Leliana was looking over it, her green eyes flicking back and forth.
"Glad you could join us Commander and...Dorian" Josephine said, her voice trailing a little as she looked at Dorian. Dorian opened his mouth to make a remark but dark looks from Leliana and Cassandra made him shut his mouth immediately.
"Were you there when the Inquisitor was taken?" Josephine asked Dorian, her quill poised over her piece of parchment she always kept with her, poised on a flat wooden surface in the crook of her arm. The candle at the end of it did barely even flickered at her movements
"Yes, we were gathering some bloodstone when we were surrounded. Iron Bull and Cole were with us. There was so many of them and we desperately tried to fight them off. The chaos was too much that I didn't notice the Inquisitors absence until the behemoth summoned shards of lyrium from the ground to cage us in. Through the shards I could see that the Inquisitor was being thrown over one of the Templar's saddle, knocked out cold. Once we had hacked the shards down they were long gone, leaving no tracks in the snow to follow." As Dorian recounted the events it felt like daggers kept stabbing Cullen all over. He could not keep the panic at bay. He probably had his current state of not being completely rid of lyrium's affects to thank for that.
"I'm going out there to find her." Cullen said a little too loudly and it made everyone go silent. "Dorian I'm going to need you to come with me as well as the Bull and Cole. I need you three to show me exactly where she was taken." Without waiting for a reply, he strode out of the room and towards the armory. He needed sturdier gloves and a helmet if he was to withstand the cold. He grabbed one of the sturdy helmets made of iron with a plate that covers the face.
"I know it is fruitless to say this but I think it would be wiser to think of a plan before heading out there on a suicide mission." Cullen did not turn to look at Dorian, pulling on lined gloves inlaid with iron.
"We can't afford to sit here and ponder Dorian. Every minute that passes could be a minute that is Tara's last and I'm not going to let that happen."
Dorian said nothing else, twirling his staff and running his hands over its smooth handle. The lyrium embedded at the top glowed a pulsing blue, almost like a beating heart. When Cullen was satisfied with his armor he strode out and immediately started to sweat through his layers as the sun bore down on him. People were mingling around but he paid them no mind. Cole and Iron Bull were waitng at Dennet's stable, horses already saddled up for the journey.
"Safe journey out there. Let Andraste keep guide you and bring the Inquisitor back to us." Master Dennet himself said as he made one final adjustment to the saddling on Cullen's horse.
"We will bring her back." Cullen said, his voice sounding confident. But, in reality he was barely holding on to a thread of hope that he would find Tara unscathed or alive. He made one more silent prayer to the maker and gently nudged the horse on the side to get it moving. He and Tara's crew headed out of Skyhold, towards the Frostback mountains that lead to Emprise Du Lion. The journey itself would take days and he hoped nothing would happen to her between then. He needed to find her, for his sake and for the whole Inquisition.
What did you guys think? Please take the time to review I would greatly appreciate it.