ACT II: Shelter
Author notes at the end.
"What would you have me tell them? This isn't what we asked them to do!"
The fuck? Why is Cullen yelling?
It took a few moments to find control of my hands to bring them to my face, rubbing at my crusty eyes as comprehension fought for dominance over my grogginess. A hard rub of the heels of my palms blurred my vision, but allowed my eyes to open. I found myself staring at the ceiling of a tent and the memories of the last few hours swallowed me.
"Oh." I breathed, shuddering. "Fuck."
"We cannot simply ignore this! We must find a way!"
There's Cassandra. I winced, her voice was closer than Cullen's, or she was just louder. Like a hungover fool, I shifted my hips on the cot and tried to search for my companions, wondering what triggered their argument this time. Once up and sitting in my cot, my council was found by the campfire near my new tent, huddled amongst themselves, snarling into each others faces.
Well. Cullen and Cassandra were snarling. Leliana and Josephine seemed to be the ones holding onto their leashes.
"And who put you in charge? We need a consensus, or we have nothing!" Cullen snapped, gesturing with a wave of his hand to the camp around him.
"Please, we must use reason!" Josephine interjected, holding her hands out between Cassandra and Cullen. "Without the infrastructure of the Inquisition, we're hobbled —"
"That can't come from nowhere!" Cullen barked back, frustration winning out over manners.
"She didn't say it could!" Leliana retaliated, the first time I had ever heard the Spymaster raise her voice. I leaned back in my cot to bring my legs over the side, quiet and invisible. Things must be dire if Leliana's got to shouting, too.
"Enough!" Cassandra commanded, glaring at the small party, "This is getting us nowhere!"
"Well, we're agreed on that much," Cullen spat sarcastically, detaching himself from the rest of the council and running an angry hand through his hair. The rest of the group watched him go before Cassandra threw her hands up into the air, annoyed.
"Shh," a hand came to rest on my knee, startling me to look up and finding Mother Giselle next to me, "you need rest."
"Holy shit," I whispered at her, catching my breath, "you scared the crap outta me."
Mother Giselle chuckled, patting my knee. "Of all the things you've seen, I would not place myself in the most frightening."
"W-well, that's fair." I shared her chuckle, weakly. My fingers scratched at the base of my skull, digging into my hairline. "How long have they been at that?"
"A few hours since you laid to rest." Mother Giselle nodded over to them, her hand slipping from my knee with a sigh. "But they have that luxury, thanks to you. Our enemy is still missing, and with time to doubt, we are now turning to blame. Infighting may threaten us as much as this Corypheus."
I gave her a hard blink, confused. My hand paused. "How…?"
"Ah." Her full lips tugged into a sad smile. "The Commander had shared the information with the soldiers. He deemed it necessary we know what we are up against."
"That makes sense." I muttered, my hand dropping from my head. Another pause, a dire question at the tip of my tongue, wariness and fear making my tongue heavy with hesitation. "Do we have any word from other cities about possibly sheltering us?"
She shook her head, hands folded in her lap. "We are not sure where we are, so any other cities are reluctant to pull the resources we need to travel to a new home."
"Damn," I murmured breathlessly, running my hands over my face, knees pressed together to keep myself from shaking. No one would take us with a shadow of an enemy over our head. The Inquisition couldn't be trusted to actually hold its own after that battle. How much of the mage forces did we actually smother in the snow? How many of them survived? Did Corypheus get through the avalanche, or did he die in it? Fuck, there's so many blind spots.
"That, or you are believed to be dead, and no one is looking to risk their city for mere foot-soldiers." Mother Giselle added, her brows high on her forehead as she read my thoughts. "Or without Haven, we are thought helpless and left to die. Or the enemy is near and girds for another attack." She, like me, shared the same train of thought: any number of things could have happened to keep us safe, but there was no guarantee it was going to be enough in the long run.
My attention returned to my scattered council, Cassandra had taken to a table, scrolls of information thrown open in her haste to find an answer. Cullen stood away, shadowed in the tents with his arms crossed as he spoke quietly to one of the soldiers. Leliana and Josephine shared a spot by the fire, their voices muffled between them. My other companions had disappeared into the folds of what remained of our people, helping where they could or licking their own wounds.
"We need to do something," I murmured into the air, "we can't just sit around and wait for someone to save us."
Mother Giselle considered me with a hum. "Our leaders struggle because of what we survivors witnessed. We saw our defender stand," she glanced at me with a sad smile, "... and fall."
"But I came back." I replied gently, uncertain of her lecture.
She shook her head. "And that is just it. The more the enemy is beyond us, the more miraculous your actions appear. And the more our trials seem ordained." My hands gripped the edge of the cot, words spooled at the tip of my tongue, ready to spring the truth. Ordained we hardly were, but I hadn't yet noted a change in the Inquisition. The council may have decided to keep the secret of the Mark's origins.
Damn it.
"That is hard to accept, no?" Mother Giselle prompted me quietly, ducking her chin to catch my eye. "What we have been called to endure? What we, perhaps, must come to believe?"
"... how much do you know?" I asked, guarding my reply. A knowing smile came to her lips and she shrugged a shoulder, the firelight playing across her face like fingers caressing her skin as she moved.
"Of Corypheus' attempt to assault the heavens? All of it." She turned her gaze back out to the camp, my shoulders slumped with relief. She huffed lightly, "Your council deemed it wiser to be honest than to continue on false pretenses. To allow the people to believe what they saw fit."
"That could come back to bite us," I scoffed and released the death grip on the cot, "fanatical belief is what got us here in the first place. Ours and that monster's."
She paused, her eyes studying me. "If we recall, scripture says magisters, Tevinter servants of the False Old Gods, entered the Fade to reach the Golden City, seat of the Maker."
"Mother —" I went to interrupt her, I didn't need another lecture on a religion that had started the mess. Mother Giselle's gentle and scarred hand rose from her lap to silence me, her expression softly patient. Quietly, I settled, my shoulders tucked close and my mouth shut.
"For their crime, they were cast out as Darkspawn." She continued evenly, her hand returning to her lap. "Their hubris is why we suffer Blight, and why the Maker turned from us." Her back straightened and for a moment, her voice was lost into the light of the fire, the shadows growing larger as the fire dimmed. A beat or so passed before she sighed.
"For me, Herald… If such is the claim of this Corypheus, he is a monster beyond imagining." Another pause, her jaw working to find her words and a cold sense of humility and shame curled at the bottom of my gut. Of course. This isn't just my nightmare. It's theirs, too. The faithful now know the reason for their abandonment… shit.
"All mankind continues to suffer for that sin." She brought her gaze back to me and weakly, my own rose to meet hers, my sense of self shrunk and wilted at having accidentally insulted the woman. A trembling smile graced her lips, "If even a shred of it is true, all the more reason to believe Andraste would choose someone to rise against him, no?"
I can't just… shoot her down.
"I can understand that." I answered lamely. "But… we can't just — we can't just run on faith. We need more than that. Faith didn't save Haven. Faith didn't stop the mages. Faith —" Shame and anger bubbled under my lungs and I stood on shaky legs. I hated arguing with the faithful. I wanted to avoid arguing religion. I avoided it for a reason, because the theology made sense to me, but the belief did not.
My feet carried me out from the cover of the tent and I helped myself along with my hands pushing against the supports of the tent. The fire sparked and sputtered as a soldier placed more logs into the flames, illuminating the area. My council remained separated and avoidant, my own hopelessness returning at the sight of their withered wills and crumbling strength.
It's all falling apart now.
I didn't even know where to start. I didn't know how to rebuild anything more sophisticated than a Jenga tower, and my graphic design skills built worlds from nothing up to the skies, but that couldn't be used to rebuild people. Not real ones, anyway.
And this world had become extremely real to me.
Mother Giselle's voice rose up behind me, a haunting Cathedral's echo to her voice that reverberated through the snow and the walls of the rocks that hid us. A shudder ran through me, but I only half heard the words as she sang. She walked toward me and gently, she threaded her arm through mine and leaned into my side, her voice now vibrating into my ribs.
Leliana's voice followed, much to my surprise. Soon after, so did Cullen's voice. With Mother Giselle by my side, the soldiers and workers echoed the hymn and the music rang in my ears. They slowly approached and circled the fire at the center of the camp, a few of them saluted me or bowed their heads as they approached. Dumbfounded, I couldn't do much more than nod my head at them.
Not long after, the steady wave of Maryden's voice floated up through the words, followed quickly by Blackwall's deep thrum and Sera's gentle twittering voice. The sound of their voices had tears prickling the corners of my eyes and I raised my chin to keep them at bay. The gentle hymn soothed ragged throats and as it drifted to the end, the voices began to cheer and chatter with their newly lifted spirits.
In the blink of an eye, Mother Giselle had turned despair into hope.
"Faith is made stronger by facing doubt. Untested, it is nothing. Though my faith is different than yours, never forget that it was your faith that brought you back." A sharp glance of my gaze found her face, awestruck. She smiled at me and pulled away from my side, her hand found my wrist and brought my hand up to her face, kissing the edges of my knuckles. She drew away and wandered into the crowd, leaving me rolling with chaotic thoughts.
"A word?" Solas' sharp voice cut through my mind.
"Yes, please." I choked, scrambling to catch my thoughts and follow him. We ducked behind the tents and treaded the thick snow carefully. Solas, I was astounded to see, was still barefoot. I would have to bring that up with him later, my mind decided obnoxiously. Out from the camp we went and Solas brought us to the rounding edge of the slope with a metal torch and covering stuck up slantways from the ground.
Solas' hand drew close to it and as it passed, Veilfire sprung to life, glittering against the snow with its tendrils flickering high into the air. The blue light kept the atmosphere gentle and no true heat came from the light, but it was enough to settle my nerves as I stood by my friend. With his hands behind his back, Solas turned slightly to face me at a third of his profile, his mouth drawn tight.
"A wise woman," he began, "worth heeding. Her kind understand the moments that unify a cause. Or fracture it."
"Tell me about it," the snark comment flew from my mouth, unchecked. "We're not quite fanatical, but I feel a few more songs and we'll be prime."
Solas smirked. "We? You, perhaps, though of them all, I would wager you would be the last to lose your mind."
"You lost that wager, my friend." I joked, comfortable with the familiar tone of dialogue. A small chuckle escaped him and peaceful, comfortable silent rested between us. More than likely, Solas was offering me a moment to regain my bearings from being thrust into the spotlight as I had been with that hymn.
"Previously, I had promised to inform you if I found something that pertains to the orb that Corypheus used against you." Solas picked at my curiosity, leading my eyes to his face with the turn of his mouth. "In my efforts, I have found information that confirms the item in question is elven."
"What the shit?" I breathed, surprised. "How — did you find that out? What books did you save, my dude?"
"What matters now is that we can identify our enemy's weapon." Solas redirected me. A frown touched my face, it was mildly unlike Solas to pass up an opportunity to teach me something, but considering that the situation was dire, I let it go. Ask him later, mental note to self.
"Well, then what is it supposed to do?" I prompted instead, looking for a hole to wiggle information from him.
"It, like the orb that must have been absorbed into your hand, were foci, used to channel ancient magicks." He relaxed, his hands linked at the small of his back, his shoulders straighter with his gaze shifting from me to the Veilfire. "I have seen such things in the Fade, old memories of older magic."
Not books, then. That makes sense.
"So then…" My mind ran over the definition of the word, hoping it proved similar to my English one. "He used it to assault the heavens, but we got a destroyed Temple of Sacred Ashes instead. A bomb, kinda?"
Solas snorted, leveling me with a heavy-side eye. "A fair deduction, though unrefined. The orb originally supported and empowered lesser spells, or served as beacons to help maintain the structure of a spell."
"So it could be used for anything, then?" I speculated, my old D&D mage coming up from the depths of my memories. "It didn't have a main job, only what you wanted it to do? Use enough magic and you can poke a hole through anything."
"Exactly." Solas nodded, satisfied with my addition. "Corypheus used the orb to open the Breach. Unlocking it must have caused the explosion that destroyed the Conclave."
"Holy fucker," I shut my eyes and rubbed the heel of my right palm into one of them, "that means he must have been there when it happened, unless you can leave it behind with a set time to activate?" Solas gave me another strange look, much like the one I witnessed when I first mentioned the nightmare situation I had been in with the monster.
"That," Solas answered carefully, "I do not know. The memories are unclear of its finer details, but I would imagine for such an explosion to happen and go drastically wrong, he may have been there." I growled into my hands, rubbing both of them against my face rapidly, bringing heat into my cheeks. My palms rested against the sides of my face when I stopped.
"That son of a bitch," I cursed, "how the fuck did he get out of that mess?"
"I do not yet know how Corypheus survived." Solas muttered, equally frustrated. "Nor am I certain how people will react when they learn of the orb's origin." A wince ticked at my eye, because he was right. Much like in my old world, racism wasn't absent in this one. The elves, it seemed, had the worst of the cards from the deck, right alongside the mages.
"I can't have fanatical faith throw elves under the bus." I muttered with an instinctive glance back at the camp, knowing well that many of the people that worked with us were city elves or Circle mages that had escaped before the war had started. Leaving them to hang was not an option.
Solas scoffed, hands tight behind his back. "Corypheus may think it Tevinter. His empire's magic was built on the bones of my people. Knowing or not, he risks our alliance. I cannot allow it."
My gaze returned with a blink. "Solas — if you know about something that can help us, now is right about fucking time."
"Yes," Solas muttered darkly, his gaze dashed to the camp behind us, "judging by the faithful, now is the time. Come."
-0-
The next morning had what remained of our people packed up and in their marching boots. Solas had managed to convince Leliana and Cullen to trust in the memories he had wandered through in the Fade; of a stronghold a solid day's march from our position, to the north. It was a risk, because we had little in the way of food and if we got lost, there was no guarantee we'd be able to find another suitable valley in the mountain pass to shelter us again.
My two-cents of; we're dead in the water anyway, so fuck it prompted them both to fall in line despite the circumstances. That very same attitude saved me from Corypheus, I unashamedly reminded them. Much to Leliana's displeasure at not having a solid plan or backup plan, and Cullen's worry over the accuracy of our scouting, we were off.
Cullen had taken Blackwall and Bull, with the Chargers, to direct and guide the main body of our parade of people. Varric and Sera had been tasked to stay with their group of scouts and waylay any dangers that came into their sights. Vivienne stayed with our not-quite-prisoner, the mage Dorian Pavus. As far as that went, if the laughter was anything to go by, they were getting along famously.
Cole had disappeared, though occasionally I could feel a presence at my back or at my right side (away from the Mark) whenever we stopped for a small break. Solas had sensed him, too, but made no mention of it aside from a tick of his nonexistent eyebrow. Cassandra stayed with Cullen and the soldiers, Josephine had been packed up on a cart pulled along by a bronto.
Speaking of brontos. Upon first seeing one in the clear morning light, I had damn near shit myself. It was hugely akin to what I knew as a rhinoceros, but higher at the shoulder by at least a foot. Mind you, I had never actually stood next to a rhino, but if the fucker was tall as a Clydesdale, we had a problem. Horns protruded all along it's face and back, I could only imagine how the Chargers had managed to wrangle the damn things.
A story for another time.
True to Solas' word, it had taken us nearly all day to finally reach our destination. Determined to at least get my people there without collapsing and throwing all hope to the wind, I marched on until the first shouts from the scouts reached us. Two came dashing through the snow from a high cliff, making their way towards me as Leliana came up from behind.
"Did you find something?" Leliana asked from my side, the scouts were rosy-faced and grinning like Cheshire Cats.
"Aye, my lady." The woman saluted hastily and then jutted her thumb over her shoulder. "Just as the Herald said, we have a mountain's cliff to manage, but there's a stronghold just beyond."
"It's stunning," her partner injected, he just as breathless with excitement, "we can't yet tell how big it is but —"
"What do you mean?" Leliana interrupted, her brow in a frown.
"The stronghold's main entrance is over a long canyon in the mountains, but it looks to be nestled right up against the opposite mountain range, there may be a valley or some such behind it." The woman explained, gulping in as much of the thin air as she could. Leliana speared me with a look and I cobbled together a grin for her, exhaustion shoved into the recesses of my soul.
"Let's keep up, then." I entered the conversation, Leliana's face morphing a bit with turbulent thoughts. "One of you go get the other group of scouts, bring them back and find us the best way to it. Remember, brontos."
"Aye!" Both of them saluted, one dashed away toward the northeast where the other group had wandered off, and the other took bounding leaps of their legs to get through the snow and back up to where Sera waited for her, bow resting against her hip.
Like an amoeba, our traveling group shifted and redirected itself toward the northwest, keeping close together and pushing through the snow until the dying light of the sun setting met us at the top of the mountain. Solas and I kept ahead of the group, my eagerness to see the stronghold outweighing the pain in my ribs and the aches in my bones. My breath was coming up short and if it wasn't for Solas' attentiveness in keeping up with the restoration spells, I would have passed out a long while ago.
"There it is," Solas murmured as we breached over the top, the sunlight glittering over the snowcaps, "Skyhold."
The vision of the stronghold hit me with all the force of a maul. Gutted, I stumbled a bit down the slope as the enormity of the place engulfed me. The stronghold seemed to jut from the rock of the mountain under it, the gate house for the main entrance rested on a singular carving of mountain that stood before a chasm. The chasm broke the mountain range from one end to the other, not quite an even split, but it allowed Skyhold to sit in its nest of rocks on the other side safely, a valley sitting behind it, protected.
"Holy shit, Solas." I exclaimed breathlessly, turning toward him. "You saw this in the Fade?"
"Not as dilapidated, but yes." He answered, briefly smug. "It had seen better days and now only sits here, waiting for a force to hold it. There will be much in the needs of repairs —"
"Are you and I looking at the same thing right now?" I said flippantly, turning on a heel to gesture with wide arms to the stronghold, my ribs snarling with pain but I ignored it happily. "Look at this beast! Christ, Solas, these things don't just exist like this!"
He chuckled, leaning into his staff. "In your experiences, perhaps not. I will grant you, though, that these are a rarity here, as well. Come, it seems the scouts have found us a way to the gate house." Gently, he took my arm and we moved ahead. The rest of our people had come around at a lower level with a wider opening in between the rocks to get the brontos through.
I only made it about halfway down the slope to the dip of the valley when my knees finally gave out. Solas' arm gripped mine instantly, but the awkward downward angle of the slope and the snow made it nearly impossible for me to catch my footing. Not wanting to have us both tumble down like morons, I let my arm slip from his elbow hook and rolled.
Fire immediately presented itself in my ribs, stealing my breath. Over the crunch and slithering hiss of the falling snow, I could hear shouts. There was a thundering pace that came my way and I shut my eyes, bracing for the possibility of colliding with whatever boulder had come loose in my miniature avalanche.
"Vashedan!" Qunlat echoed in my head as a large pair of hands came under my stomach and arm to lift me up, cleared from the snow. A few surprised blinks brought my gaze back to focus, hard, painful gasps escaped me and I found myself held aloft by a highly bemused Iron Bull.
"I slipped." I defended, breathless.
"I cannot take my eyes off you for a damn day, can I?" He sighed. Gently and mindful of my ribs, he set me down on my feet, but didn't release my arm. Cullen and Solas were making their way down toward my landing site, but Bull waved them off. On his heel, he turned his back to me and with the arm he still held, brought my hand up to his shoulder.
"Bull?" I squeaked. I knew the gesture well, my father and brothers had given me plenty of rides on their back when I was still small enough to be carried without complaint.
"I'm not going to trust that you're gonna keep your footing this time. We still have another uphill to go before we cross the bridge." He explained and tugged on my fingers to prompt movement. A harsh shudder went up my stomach and choked my tongue to the back of my throat. Nervously, I stepped forward and tentatively placed my other arm on his empty shoulder.
"And up we go." Effortlessly, the madman hauled me up onto his back with his other arm hooking a leg to his hip. My stomach plummeted through my pelvis at the sudden increase of height as he stood, my legs secured around his hips and my arms desperately clinging across his broad shoulders. The pain in my ribs was muted behind the thunderous hammering of my heart.
"Fucking hell." I stammered. His arms hooked under my knees and he bent forward, I had to keep my face pressed to the back of his neck in order to avoid his horns as his head tilted and turned.
"See? Not so bad. Now we can't lose you again." Bull took one lumping step forward and I squawked as the jolt rattled my ribs. Solas appeared at Bull's side, a heavy frown on his mouth.
"Thank you for catching her before she got too far." Solas narrowed a stink eye at me. "I apologize for my misstep."
"You're okay, dude." I smiled at Solas from behind Bull's horn. "I should've kept my eyes on the ground and not at Skyhold."
"Yeah, well." Bull carefully brought us around a sludge patch and walked us back toward the group heading up toward the gatehouse. "It's getting to the point that I can understand why Cassandra needed a leash all those months ago."
I pinched at his clavicle. "Don't you start. That's not a conversation to be had."
"Not in polite company, at the very least." Solas added snarkily.
"You're not helping, Solas." I quipped, throwing his stink eye back at him. It was a nightmare to feel the rumble of Bull's laughter under my ribs and in my stomach. I blamed all the blood in my rosy face on the snow and the tumble I had taken. We plodded along easily (or Bull did, at least) through the snow. What remained of Haven's people slowly funneled their way up toward the gatehouse of the massive stronghold.
Up ahead and under Bull's horns, I could spot Cullen and Harritt hurrying their way up toward the main gate. Solas left Bull's side to aide them, fleet-footed over the snow and through the crowd of people. Between the three of them and Harritt's loud banging from a hammer, the ironwork gate was loosened. Cullen turned away from the gate and scanned the crowd until he found Bull, a quick wave signaling him over.
"Probably need you to lift the thing up." I murmured near his ear. Funnily, the tip of his ear twitched and his grip on my legs tightened, his patched eye offered nothing in the way of his expression, but the corner of his mouth pulled back and flattened.
"More than likely," he rumbled. At the gate, he turned his back to Cullen and knelt down enough for me to slip from his back. The Commander quickly took up my arm and kept me steady before once again passing me off, to Harritt this time. I grinned at the man.
"Funny how it takes you almost dying again to get you to behave." Harritt's voice was gruff, but his eyes flashed over my face in concern. The skin over my body was still bruised, in multiple stages of purple and blue, yellow and some red. Mirrors weren't readily handy and no one was in the mood to stare at me too long. A small shrug was all I could offer.
With Bull's help, Cullen and a few of the soldiers managed to lift the gate up enough for Solas to slip under like a limbo expert. He disappeared from sight and forced his way into the tower. Minutes passed. Bull stepped away from the gate to look up at some of the arrow loops that spotted the tower. There was a hiss somewhere deep in the stone and the gate groaned loudly before its weight began to draw up.
"I was just about to throw Krem up there and hurry it up." Bull jested. He turned to look for me and raised his eyebrows. "Think you can make it, or do you still need a ride?"
My cheeks were scalding. "I'm pretty sure we could put me in the cart with Josephine. Not like that's going to be any less dignified that being carried in by my bodyguard."
"Yeah, but it also means we get to go in first. Come on." He grinned at me and repeated his steps to have me attached to his back. Harritt helped me up this time and patted my shoulder sympathetically. Bull wormed our way toward the front and walked us through the crowd to the head of the procession where Cullen and Cassandra walked shoulder to shoulder.
"It doesn't stop, does it?" Cullen exhaled, enthralled by the size of Skyhold.
Cassandra shook her head. "If the scouts are right and there's a field or open valley behind the keep, this place will be ideal to hold off against our enemies."
"The only thing that makes me nervous is the background." Bull added once he was a pace behind them. Cullen and Cassandra turned to share a look with Bull, and his tipped his chin up toward the rocky peaks behind Skyhold, where the sunset was now almost completely gone.
"I suppose it doesn't stop anyone from repeating what we did at Haven, avalanching us in, but that would take too much time." Cullen nodded, gesturing toward the mountaintops and then down toward Skyhold's sides. "See? She's been braced to handle the impact of trebuchets, and separated well enough to avoid invasion."
"It would be quite a feat for someone to get over those walls." Cassandra peered over to one side, glancing between the stonework of the bridge to inspect the walls. She hummed with a frown, "I can see there are a few places that will need repairs."
"That's what Solas said," I peeked again from under Bull's horns, my chin pressed to the back of his shoulder, bottom lip nearly at his skin. "But I think the only issue there is getting the supplies in. This is a long walkway."
"It is, but it's not a concern." Cullen flashed me a brief, tired smile. "I'll have Harritt and Josephine start contracts. Once we get word out that we've re-established a fort to work from, they'll come."
Skyhold's shadow passed over us, the sunlight from the fading sun was gone and torches behind us started to dot the procession as people lit them up. One was quickly passed to Cullen and Cassandra each. We reached the main entrance and found the ironwork already open. Tentatively, Cullen passed under it, keeping a trained eye on the gate in case it suddenly decided to guillotine his head.
Same as before, he disappeared into the tower and there was a loud bang that echoed in the silence and through the keep. The gate rose steady, rusty gears shrieking in effort as the gate was fully retracted. The rest of us passed through once it was made safe and the mouth of the courtyard opened before us. In the night, there wasn't much detail, but the safety the walls provided was unexplainable.
Relief warmed my shoulders and dripped through the rest of my bones, I slumped against Bull's steady back and he patted my knee gently, another rumbling chuckle coming up from his chest. We walked toward one end of the courtyard and waited until his company escorted the last of the people through. Krem jogged up and nodded to us, his eyes on Bull.
"Got 'em all, Chief. Most of the supplies are dropped off now, Your Worship." Krem peered at me around Bull's head, staring at me for a moment. "... should we get a tent set up for you, Your Worship?"
"Please." I relented, for once not in the mood to be stubborn. "Thank you, Krem."
"Of course." He smiled at me and trotted off. Bull turned his head lightly and I shifted over to his right side so his good eye would be in view. I raised my eyebrows at him questioningly and waited. He shifted my weight on his back and shook his head.
"Lost the thought," he murmured and then chuckled, "do us a favor, though, no more wild parties."
"I am a party." I retorted through a yawn. My arms dangled lifelessly over his shoulders, my hands barely at his pectoral muscles. "Christ, I'm exhausted. Think anyone would mind if I slept for a thousand years?"
"I would only mind if you came back looking like that darkspawn asshole." Bull teased. "Take a nap, boss. I'll get ya to bed."
"M'kay. Thanks, Bull." My smile was pressed against his shoulder and I patted his chest affectionately, without a thought. Another rumbling chuckle was all I heard before I allowed my mind to wander and sleep to finally capture me.
Notes: I apologize to all of you for keeping this chapter for so long. I had a moment a few weeks (months now?) ago where I ended up losing my laptop, my phone, my bag all on the light-rail getting home. I'm safe and unharmed, but losing those valuable items has put a huge restriction on my writing and access to the webs. Thank you for your understanding.
No guarantee when the next chapter will come up, as I only managed to find 2 or 3 other pre-written chapters, the rest will be typed up at work on spare time. I appreciate your patience with the matter.
Thank you for coming back.
