cry for help can echo a long way, even to the ears of strangers and friends alike. Luckily, no enemies heard the panicked shouting of Maxwell's friend, most of them yelling at each other in a fruitless bickering to come up with some sort of plan. The only two who seemed to be working together were Solas and Dorian, Varric shouting at a guard to go get them help, the towing guard saying he had to stay there to keep his job.
"No, your JOB is to PROTECT PEOPLE, not just STAND HERE." Varric yelled, shouting some words louder than other while Solas and Dorian exchanged a glance.
"Is the dwarf always this tempered?" Dorian asked, half joking, half honestly.
Solas nodded with somewhat of an exasperated sigh. "Sadly, yes." The two exchanged another glance, both of them slightly smiling as Varric was screaming at the guard.
Dorian overheard the guard say "I Don get paid enough for this," Dorian laughing only for a second before Solas looked at him, the two trying to stop Maxwell's bleeding. But Solas mist of understood why he laugh, him rolling his eyes about the commotion going on behind them.
"I'm surprised you even get PAID AT ALL." Varric started shouting again, Dorian finally having to let the amusing show end by speaking up.
"Not to interrupt, but are we just going to let him bleed out, or are we going to do something about it?" He rhetorically asked, Solas thanking Dorian for saying that while the guard just glared at them. "You can glare, or you can help save the Inquisitor, your choice."
As soon as the guard heard the mention of the Inquisitor, realizing that's who was lying on the ground with the black haired mage's hands applying pressure to the gaping wound in the man's leg. "The Inquisitor!?" The guard seemed panicked now, quickly opening the gates and calling for more troops and three of their largest horses, which were about the normal sized mares.
"Somebody has the ride with Maxwell," Solas began to say. "We need to keep pressure applied to the wound, other wise he could easily bleed out on the way back to Haven." The group exchanged glances, Dorian feeling the blood only pouring out, it trying to push past his stained hands.
"I'll do it, my hands will need rinsing now anyways," Dorian said, pushing down harder, Maxwell's chest seeming to pause, not breathing before he resumed. "We need to leave, now." He told them, the guards that were called for finally coming with the horses.
One was a horse as black as night itself, eyes of the same shade; this one had the name Shadows given by the steed that rode into battle with Trofilis the Great into a battle, the two never seen but the battle ended over night. The second, smaller than Shadow, was an eggshell white with a tan mane, eyes of a honey brown; she was called Gretio, named after a gentle farmers wife who helped when crops were failing, helping a town survive. The third, it being the biggest of the three has no name yet. It was a light brown with splotches of black and one hoof that was white, along with eyes of a blueish brown.
"Dorian, you both take the largest horse," Varric told them. "Solas, you take Shadow, and I'll take Gretio." Nobody complained, Solas quickly helping get Maxwell up on the horse while Dorian got on as well. As soon as the two were on the horse, they took off, the horse seeming to go on its own. Solas and Varric got on their horses, quickly chasing after them.
Jump and jump, trail and trail, the large horse continued, Dorian trying to control it, managing somewhat. He got it to turn in the direct he wanted and let it run towards Haven, him more worried bout the man leaning against his stomach, him barely breathing, and Dorian even less than that.
"Come on, you can't die yet," Dorian said, the blood only spewing out more, him having to take part of his white mage robes and pressed it against the injury. "I won't let you die yet." Dorian sounded determined, Haven in sight, and it quickly coming closer. The gates were there, the wooden doors being where the Horses stopped, luckily close enough to where Dorian could pound his bloody fist on the door, the stains being apparent as the oak soaked it up.
"Who is it?!" A guard shouted from the other side.
"The Inquisitor!" Dorian shouted back, a laugh coming from the other side.
"You don't sound like the Inquisitor! "
Before he could say anything else, Dorian yelled louder than before, his voice actually becoming intimidating as he saw how pale Maxwell had become. "He's hurt! I have him but he's dying, just open the doors!"
There were murmurs behind the wall before Cassandra's voice ordered them to open the gate. "If the person behind those doors says he has the Inquisitor, than to our knowledge, he does." There was an even louder commotion of questions. "I'm not going to stand here and possibly let our only chance die, now open the gates!"
The doors were slammed open, the horse trotting in and Dorian hoped off the horse, blood splattered on his clothing from where Maxwell rested. Instantly, Dorian picked up Maxwell, agreeing with what the dwarf had said earlier about him being surprising light. "Thank you," Dorian began to say, Cassandra noticing the blood and scowling.
"You," She said pointing to a group of scouts. "Take the Inquisitor to our healers." She glared at Dorian. "You, who ever you are, come with me. I have a few questions to ask you." She looked around. "I'm sure we all have questions that would like answers."
Dorian hesitated but nodded when he saw Solas and Varric arrive, handing Maxwell to the scouts who dragged him away. He went with Cassandra, her leading him to the war room to meet with Cullen and Josephine. After getting in the room, the first thing he notices is the way the rest are glaring at him, questioning why he was covered in blood.
"Why are you bringing us somebody covered in blood Cassandra?" Cullen asked, a slightly irritated but all the more commanding tone.
"I bring you-" Cassandra started, Dorian quickly speaking.
"Dorian, my name is Dorian." He made sure they understood.
"Right...I bring you Dorian, the man who came in Haven out of nowhere with the Inquisitor badly injured." The group of commanders shared glances, Dorian quickly knowing what he was being accused of.
"Now wait just a second," Dorian began to speak, his voice echoing in the rather large room. "I have a feeling this is going to be more like an interrogation, am I right in assuming so..."
"Cassandra," She replied, looking at the others. "Yes, but you can't blame us. You are a stranger Dorian, and you come in here covered in the Inquisitor's blood, him near death. Surely you must know what this looks like." She paused for a moment before sighing. "This is Cullen," She said, directing his attention to the former templar.
"Ah, I recognize your uniform." Dorian began to explain.
"Oh? Did some of my templars help you at one point?" Cullen almost seemed proud.
"Yes," His voice had sarcasm all over it. "They helped us most when they decided to butcher some of my friends, you know-the mages?" Dorian quickly scowled as Cullen seemed to choke like a chicken, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"Oh, that."
"Yea, oh." Dorian replied scornfully.
Cassandra moved on from Cullen quickly, not wanting to add to the already high tension between the two of them. "And this is Josephine." Josephine merely waved, not seeming to know enough about Dorian to feel comfortable saying anything. "So, back to the questions Dorian, where did you find the Inquisitor."
"Maxwell," Dorian corrected.
"Uh-" Cassandra looked confused. "What?"
Dorian rolled his eyes. "He likes to be called Maxwell, he got all bent out of shape when I called him otherwise, kind of funny actually." A small smile with a single chuckle came up before Dorian recalled what was going on, him folding his arms.
"Well- where did you find Maxwell?" She asked again.
"Long story really, but I'll sum it up. We met when fighting for the mages yada yada yada time rift a year into the future blah blah blah stabbed with red lyrium-the works." The three gave him the exact same, wide-eyed expression.
"I'm sorry, repeat that part about the lyrium?" Cullen requested this time.
"Huh? Oh, he cut his leg on red lyrium, I'm guessing from the fall but it didn't bleed so I wasn't worried. Then a giant warrior came out of maker knows where and shoved him back, him getting stabbed through the thigh on a deposit of red lyrium." He thought some more before saying more. "It came out, and boom, here we are now."
"You all just let him get stabbed?" Josephine asked.
"Yes, we brought popcorn." He had this somewhat hurt expression. "No! We were all kind of busy trying to fend of demons from Maxwell who said he could handle it."
"Well obviously he couldn't," Cassandra stated.
"Yea, I figured." Dorian replied. "Can you ask a different question now? I'd like to get out here before my hair grows white." The three seemed not to like Dorian's joking.
"How long ago was he hurt?" Josephine asked this time.
"Well given that it happened in a rift, it's hard to say given the 'time hopping'. Coming back may have sent the process backwards or forwards." Dorian looked like he was thinking, honestly not able to come up with a great time frame to satisfy their question.
"Okay, are we just going to ignore the fact that he has blood on his clothes, the Inquisitor's blood no less. Why?" Cullen asked this time.
"Ah, now we're getting to the real questions." Dorian remarked. "I had to keep Maxwell from bleeding out, so I covered his leg with cloth and pressed on it. So it's natural I would have blood on my clothes." Dorian gave a sigh, feeling like this was all rather unneeded.
"You do realize this whole story seems kind of crazy, right?" Cassandra quizzically asked.
"You realize everything that's happened, including the giant hole in the sky pour out demons, is crazy, right?" Dorian mocked, Cassandra scowling.
Just as the questions were about to begin again, A scout ran into the room, the woman tiny and her armor clanking as she walked.
"Miss Cassandra!" She shouted, the black-haired lady turning to look at her with brown, narrowed eyes.
"What is it?" She questioned.
"It's the Inquisitor! Solas told me to inform you he hasn't responded to the medicine he took!"
"This is a problem how? Maybe he can just cast a spell to get him to respond." Cullen asked, Dorian sending him a sharp glare.
"I think you're the last person we want making suggestions when it comes on how to use magic, no offense." Dorian smirked slightly, Cullen quickly shutting his mouth and just glaring at the mage. "You can't just wave magic willy-nilly and expect to solve all of you problems. It could be nothing, or a side-effect of the medicine."
The scout nodded frantically, her helmet in her hands falling out and she stumbled to pick it up. "People have tried to get him to talk, but he won't listen!" She seemed terrified, not wanting Maxwell to be sick any longer.
The group exchanged glances. "Should we let him?" Cassandra asked.
"It wouldn't hurt to try," Josephine told her.
"I don't see what harm he could do-well I do-just not without being killed by my troops." Cullen replied.
"What a nice welcome," Dorian said before shaking his head. "Well, let's go, I'd rather Maxwell not die while we all chit-chat." Now, don't get him rummage, he hated being as rude as he had been, but seeing as how they were accusing him of something which wasn't the case-them thinking he harmed Maxwell-he had every right to be angry.
The woman quickly exited the room, Dorian following as well as Cullen who decided to supervise the ordeal. "Coming along then?" Dorian asked Cullen.
"I want to make sure you don't try to harm Maxwell." Cullen explained calmly, Dorian chuckling.
"Not needed, but if you insist." As they went to the cabin, the scout leading them through the crowds. People seemed to be in a panic, mumbling about if Dorian killed him, if Maxwell would be okay, and what divine this deformed potato looked like-the usual. The two made their way across Haven, quickly getting to a cabin-like shelter. "Through here sir," she said, Dorian merely nodding in a thank you while she ran off.
Cullen was about to bang on the door but Dorian stopped him. "I really don't think that's a good idea."
"Why?" Cullen asked.
"Because, if you were sick, would you want somebody banging on your door and yelling?" Dorian watched the blonde man shake his head. "Alright then." Dorian gently knocked on the door, a voice coming from inside.
"Who's there?" Maxwell's voice was hoarse and dry. "Solas, go away." Maxwell sounded angry.
"Maxwell?" Dorian said, the man inside going silent inside. Slowly opening the door, Dorian peeked inside, Maxwell laying in a bed of straw and hay, him just watching the ceiling, not a sound or move made by him. "Maxwell you want to talk?"
He didn't respond, only locking his jaw in place as he did so, grinding his teeth. Dorian thought and spoke. "Well if you don't want to talk, then you'll just have to listen."
