They finally reached the small strip of land which was barely visible from the other side of the shore. As the wooden boat bumped against a large rock with a dull thud, its sound echoed across the unusually silent island.
"What are we even looking for, here?" Varric asked, looking around, a bit confused.
"Oh damn it, it's so slippery!" Dorian commented, as he balanced his weight on a shiny rock, before dropping to the ground himself. "I can't stand this weather anymore!" his elegant robes soaked wetbecause of the rain.
Luthien inhaled a breathe of cold air and gracefully jumped off the boat, landing onto the wet grass. She heard a sonorous splash behind her and didn't have to look back to know that Iron Bull had touched the solid ground too.
It was raining. Lightly but unrelenting. Everything was covered in a translucent glaze.
"Ah! Can you smell it?" the qunari shouted, letting out a pleased grunt. "This tastes of something good!"
Luthien figured he was referring to the vile smell of filth itching her nose. A mixture of rotting carcasses and decay.
"Come on! Let's find the dragon!" the qunari's excitement clearly escalating.
"You are far too pleased about this!" Dorian exclaimed, a bewildered look on his face.
"We might don't want it to find us first..." Varric whispered, "which is exactly what's going to happen if the two of you won't shut up!"
Luthien chuckled as she detected a slight hint of nervousness in the dwarf's agitated voice. She knew he was fearless, but not reckless.
Iron Bull responded with a dismissive groan.
"Let's just take a look around," Luthien said to end any further discussion, while the four of them set off uphill across a slope.
The group proceeded in silence for the rest of their climbing, until they finally reached an open clearing.
A sudden roaring sound rose above their heads, breaking the unnatural silence surrounding the island. The ground violently shook beneath their feet, preannouncing the ominous presence of what they were exactly expecting.
And then they saw it.
There it was: a massive, threatening mountain of scales and muscles. Majestically pacing on the stony ground, circled by walls of solid rocks, was a dragon.
Luthien squeezed her eyes to put into focus the gigantic beast through the white haze of rain.
Its scales, tracing lines of variegated colors on its muscular body, as sharp as spikes. Its horns, curved toward the pointed snout, stood out as a pair deadly weapons.
The dragon let out a piercing long cry. Otherworldly, it echoed into the cold air.
Luthien instinctively clapped her hands on her sensitive ears.
"Oh this is gonna be good!" Iron Bull couldn't contain himself, his eye shimmering in anticipation, as brightly as the metal patch covering the other.
Luthien spread one arm out signaling them not to move further.
"All right everyone, you know what to do. We can do this," she tried to make herself heard above the sinister rumble of the dragon's steps, which apparently hadn't noticed them, yet sensing their presence. "Varric, Dorian, hit it from the distance. Try to stay as far as possible," her tone was firm but the frown lines between her eyes betrayed a trace of concern.
The two silently nodded back, in approval. Then she turned her head to the qunari.
"Bull... Well..." she started, before letting out a resigned sigh, grinning. "What do I even have to tell you? Drinks are on you tonight."
The qunari burst in a loud laughter and with no further hesitation launched himself forward, directed to the colossal creature, as a large rock rolling straight toward a sharp, menacing mountain. He was shortly followed by the slender Inquisitor.
Then it begun. The dragon immediately snapped its head toward them, detecting unwelcome intruders in its decaying territory, and then launched forward, spreading its dark, majestic wings.
Terrible. Inexorable.
It all happened very quickly. Arrows flying from the distance, helplessly hitting the beast's impenetrable scales, just like pebbles thrown to a gigantic, edgy diamond. The dragon didn't even bother to turn its head, still racing, incredibly fast.
Then spurts of raging fire surrounded its snout, causing the dragon to let out an angered cry and hesitate for a moment.
Iron Bull, running forward, taking advantage of his own speed, jumped onto one of the beast's clawed hands, before plunging the heavy hammer into its flank. His own powerful blow was enough to send him back to the ground.
The dragon roared loudly.
Luthien took her hands to the forehead while conjuring a magical barrier which descended over her own body and Iron Bull's.
The qunari swung the hammer again, as he managed to regain his balance. New and forceful blows drove his weapon deep into the dragon's flank.
The beast movements got even faster, clearly frustrated by those annoying intruders and the intolerable pain it had never experienced before. Its sharp-pointed tail snapped with a loud noise and sent Iron Bull crashing to the solid ground.
"Hold on Bull!" Luthien shouted, charging up to the dragon. A yellow glowing mist appeared in her right hand, rapidly taking form into a long, translucent sword. With graceful movements, she managed to slip under the dragon's chest, and forcefully buried the sword up into its sturdy flesh.
The suffering beast roared again in its devastating fury, while the sword disappeared into thin air.
Luthien dived sideways, a frantic attempt not to being squashed under the dragon's weight.
Varric's arrows were still flying from all directions, directed towards the angry snout. Dorian's magical fire, was still flowing forward, eating the dragon's flesh, burning through the shiny scales.
The dragon shrieked in outrage and swerved. Then suddenly turned its head facing the young elf.
Its eyes raging wildly.
Luthien instinctively put her staff forward as a gigantic clawed hand inexorably descended towards her.
Her eyes wide open in terror.
And then everything went dark. She felt her body being violently squeezed down onto the wet ground, between the solid stone and the coarse scales of the dragon's hand. All the air escaped from her lungs. The head throbbing from the brutal impact. The vision blurred.
She moaned in pain. The elf felt she was slipping out of consciousness.
Looking up with half closed eyes, Luthien detected a black bulk figure climbing on the dragon's sharp elbow which was stretching outward, as its claws pressed heavier down to her fragile body.
She could only hear the sound of a distant, hoarse yell, while a familiar horned figure, right on the top of the dragon's neck, outlined against the hazy sunlight.
Iron Bull raised his hammer up high in the air, clenching his sturdy qunari legs around the muscular beast's neck, and then he dived it down, with all his strength, right on the dragon's massive skull.
There was a loud crack, then gleaming, sharped scales flew into all directions. A shrieking cry thundered loudly and forcefully into the air, shaking the ground.
The massive head of the agonizing creature finally fell down with a heavy thump.
The dragon stood motionless.
And everything went silent.
Varric and Dorian hurried toward Luthien, still lying down under the heavy claws of the dead beast.
"Woo-hoo!" Iron Bull shouted out in excitement, painting, as he extracted his bloody hammer from the dragon's skull, "did you hear that? The last breath of life coming out its mouth?" blood was still pumping through the veins on the qunari's neck. His face stained with dark liquid, "yeah! That's how Iron-fucking-Bull kills a dragon!"
"Would you stop fooling around with that thing and help out down here?" Dorian snapped, his shoulder pressed against the beast's enormous leg, in a desperate attempt to move it away from the Inquisitor's body.
"Getting jealous, mage?" the qunari asked with a mischievous voice. Dorian rolled his eyes.
Luthien had regained some consciousness, as the dwarf and the mage lifted up some of the weight holding her down.
Every bone in her body, from head to toes, hurt.
Iron Bull looked towards them, an interrogative look on his face. "Hey boss, whatcha doin' down there? Taking a little rest, uh?" he asked, half joking, half concerned.
"You know," Luthien managed to say, in between fast pants, "I fancy being used as a living carpet while you just ignore me and go strike the final blow."
She was clearly in great pain, even if she tried to hide it with an humorous tone.
The qunari hopped off the dragon's neck, smirking.
Luthien frowned at him and inhaled deeply as the dragon's claws were finally lifted from her body by the qunari's powerful moves.
How amazing feel just to breath again, she thought.
"You alright, Inquisitor?" Varric asked her, clearly relieved to see she wasn't hurt enough to loose her sense of humor.
"Yes, I am always good at timing my protective spells," the elf muttered, as she tried to get herself up. A piercing pain run throughout the right side of her body, forcing her to stand down again, "I might have a broken leg, though," she grumbled, letting out a sigh, "and a couple of broken ribs, possibly, too."
Iron Bull squat down and unceremoniously lifted her up into his strong arms. A gentle touch though, to Luthien's surprise, despite his threatening appearance.
"Of course you're broken! A tiny thing like you should have stayed back, wiggling hands around and shooting magical crap from a safe distance!" he protested, while the four of them finally set off back on their way.
Luthien abandoned herself into the qunari's arms. Her cold cheeks touching his steamy shoulders. A pleasant relief as she tried to send the pain away.
"What were you thinking of?" his voice as deep as always, echoing through the broad chest, sending reassuring vibrations to Luthien's own body.
"Oh would you just shut up?" she warned him, in a mocking threatening tone, "or I'll never bring you along to any lady dragon's nest... Ever again!"
"Hmph," Iron Bull gave a dismissive grunt. "Let's get back to camp and fix your delicate elven bones," he stressed the last few words in a tone of self-importance.
They always teased each other that way. The horned giant and the tiny elf.
"And then we'll celebrate!" he added after a while, shouting in excitement.
"Just wait until we get back before Taarsidath-an Halsa-something, all right?" she teased him back, remembering their last conversation over a drink, celebrating their first dragon's killing.
Iron Bull burst into a loud laughter, "Can't promise you that, boss!"
"The Inquisitor tent is not the appropriate place celebrate," Dorian reprimanded him, an unbashed look on his face, "plus, it's too small".
"Join mine. I have a big one..." Iron Bull sniggered, sending an eloquent look to the mage, "a big tent, I mean..."
"Well, in that case..." Dorian seemed to carefully consider the offer, while softening his expression.
"Oh come on! For Andraste's sake, you two!" Varric exclaimed, shaking his head, lifting one hand to the forehead, half bewildered, half amused.
A moment of silence, and the four of them broke out into a final, liberating laughter.
The dragon's motionless body behind them, the path back home ahead.