I am churning these out way too fast. Maybe I'll try to adult for awhile and study instead. MAYBE.
Ash's stomach lurched when she felt the boards break beneath her. She was falling, and she had no idea how far it was to the ground. She clawed at the crumbling wall of the cave as she tumbled, trying to slow her descent by banging painfully against roots, stones, and even Blackwall.
The elf smashed unceremoniously to a stop at the bottom of the hole, some three or four stories down. She gasped loudly, waiting for control of her muscles to return. Blackwall grunted angrily nearby.
Ash sat up with a groan. Her vision was partially obscured. Her entire body ached so much that she couldn't yet tell if one part was worse off than another, or if she was just a single giant bruise. Blackwall rose slowly to his feet. He cursed stubbornly, but he looked much better off than Ash felt. His eyes widened when he saw her. He knelt quickly by her side.
"Inquisitor! You're bleeding," he touched a gloved hand to her forehead, and Ash realized she was squinting her left eye as blood seeped down it and over her face. So that's what was half-blinding her.
"I'd bet money that's not the only place," she wheezed. She looked around the narrow hole. It was like they'd fallen down a well. Behind them, the cave broke into passages to their left and right. That must mean there was a way out.
Telltale signs of a decrepit ladder remained in rotted pieces of rungs jutting out from the rock and dirt above them. Nothing they could use now.
"Let me look you over," Blackwall's eyes darted briefly to her face, waiting for approval. Ash nodded. He started to squeeze gently at her joints, smooth out areas of her armor and leather, lift one leg to flex and extend it, then the other.
Ash hissed and growled as he manipulated her right leg.
"We have a winner," he said dryly.
"Don't forget the arrow in my side," she leaned back with a grimace to show the hole in her armor. The arrow had broken in her fall, but the wound was clearly red, angry, and oozing. The Warden scowled and shook his head.
"Damn it, woman," his voice was a mixture of worry and amusement.
The sounds of battle above finally abated. Two figures appeared at the edge of the hole.
"Ash. Ash!" Solas's frantic voice echoed down to them.
"We're alright," she called up.
"Except for her leg and the arrow in her side," Blackwall added. He turned to Ash. "Can you stand?"
"Of course I can stan-shhhhh-," pain spiked through her ankle and up her side as he helped her up, "-hhhiiiit."
The Warden narrowed his eyes on her.
"What?!" she growled. "I'm standing." He craned his neck up toward the sky.
"I doubt she can walk far!"
"Do you not have any potions left?" the mage shouted. Blackwall looked at Ash.
"I used my last one at the rift," she said.
"I used mine right before that blow that knocked us down here," he frowned. "We're out!"
Solas and Cole exchanged glances.
"Wait. Take one of mine!" the spirit offered excitedly.
"I don't think…" Ash began, but Cole had already carefully aimed and let go of a shimmering bottle. Blackwall and Ash watched it sail at an angle until smashing against a rock outcropping. Glass shards and liquid showered down around them.
"Oh. That wasn't supposed to happen," he called down sadly.
"Please stop dropping glass on me," Ash shouted.
"Just stay there. You can't be very far in. We'll come find you," Solas finally declared.
"Wait!" Ash called before the mage vanished. She pulled a torch from her pack, motioned Blackwall back, and held it out far from herself. "Light this first!"
"Oh, for…" his grumbles carried down the hole, "Watch out!"
A fireball roared down at them, searing the last third of the torch and blistering Ash's hand.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" she tossed the torch to her other hand and inspected the singed, red skin.
"Excellent plan," Blackwall observed wryly.
"We'll be there soon," Solas called. Then the two disappeared from above. The elven warrior's forehead crinkled in annoyance.
"Shit. I don't want to just sit here and wait," Ash wiped fresh oozing blood from her forehead. Damned head wounds. Damned burnt hand. Damned hole in my side. Damned leg.
"Well, what do you suggest? I'm not leaving you, and I don't think tromping off with no healing and you wounded this badly is even possible."
She considered. Blackwall could see the gears turning in her mind and immediately regretted asking.
"I've got it," she announced. She twirled her finger at the Warden. "Turn around."
"What are you on about?" but he obeyed.
"You're going to carry me," she unlatched his shield and handed it around to his front. "I'll get on your back, you support me, and we'll go from there."
"You can't be serious," Blackwall sounded disbelieving, but he reached around and under her thighs as Ash grabbed hold of his shoulder with her free hand and hoisted herself up. Her muscles screamed angrily, but it was a manageable pain.
Being so close to the flustered Warden that she could wrap her arm around his neck was a nice bonus. She did just that as she adjusted herself, leaning so close that her face brushed against the side of his head. Blackwall made quietly alarmed sounds as she fidgeted. The plan was almost foiled by their armor, but she finally managed a good foothold so that she could even crane backward from him.
"Excellent. I think I could fight from up here. Just keep at least one hand on me and I don't think I'll fall off," she instructed.
"You're mad," he was incredulous.
"And yet you follow me," she said smugly.
"I…" he sighed. "You have me there."
On impulse, Ash tightened one arm on his neck and pressed her cheek to his thick black hair. He smelled of leather, sweat, and blood, with the faintest hint of sawdust.
"I do, don't I?" she purred against his ear. She couldn't tell his reaction from her position, but she liked to think it was some variation of blushing. "Now, let's go! Erm… That way!"
The elf arbitrarily pointed with the torch down the corridor sloping to the right. She hooked her free hand into the sturdy collar of Blackwall's armor as he trudged further into the cave.
Ash knew Blackwall had great endurance, but she was impressed with how he kept pace through the cave. He didn't slow if the ground tilted up or down, but simply adjusted his movements accordingly.
"Do you think it's wiser to shout for our companions so they find us faster, or less wise for drawing enemies to us?" Ash mused.
"I'd rather you not shout in my ear in general."
Ash smiled wickedly.
"I imagine that would depend on why I'm shouting," she murmured in a low voice. Blackwall let out a sound somewhere between a cough and a guffaw.
"You're especially trying today, my lady," his voice was a little rougher than normal.
"I'm pleased you noticed."
She felt his chest expand in a large sigh.
"You're abusing your position right now," he growled. "You realize this?"
"I recall something about that being an unfortunate side effect of power," Ash was enjoying this. "Would you like me to stop?"
Blackwall didn't say anything. He just continued to move forward through the dark, cold cave.
She opened her mouth to tease him again, but the words stopped in her throat when she heard a familiar squeaking sound.
"Blackwall," she said warningly.
"I hear them," his reply was terse. She glanced around, but the torchlight was not very illuminating. "In front of us! A hole!" He bashed a deepstalker with his shield as it leapt up at him. Ash saw another rush from the aforementioned hole. She tightened her legs on Blackwall and swung hard with the torch. Sparks flew on contact, nearly blinding her, but the creature was stunned long enough for the Warden to pummel it with his shield.
She swung at another, then another, as Blackwall bashed and stomped, all the while managing to keep a hand supporting her on his back. Her side and leg were aching, but it seemed like they had almost dealt with the annoying threat.
Then she felt a thud on her back and a scrabbling of sharp talons trying to gain purchase.
"Ah! One's on my back!" she shrieked. "Smash me against the wall!"
"What?! No!" he stammered uncertainly. The prospect of hurting Ash to dislodge the deepstalker was too much for him to quickly process.
It was slashing at her hair now. One claw got caught in her braid and jerked her head sideways.
"Ow! For fuck's sake…"
Ash sprang backward off Blackwall, tucked her legs and head for impact, and thudded to the ground. Her teeth rattled in her head and pain exploded in her side. The deepstalker screeched like an angry toy and thrashed beneath her. She rolled off it and the Warden stepped in to finish it with his shield.
They caught their breath in the ensuing silence. Ash was on her back and somehow still holding the torch aloft. Blackwall looked down at her. His beard shifted in a rare, wide smile. He started chuckling. Ash blinked up at him.
"What?"
He was shaking his head and rubbing his beard now, then his face, then pinching the bridge of his nose as the chuckle became a full-bodied laugh.
"Help me up, you daft jerk!"
"You look…" he said between hearty laughs, "absolutely deranged out of your mind. Just completely round the bend. Blood all down your face, hair sticking out the side of your head," he reached down to grasp her outstretched hand, "holding out a torch like, 'This way to terror,' covered in deepstalker… Whoa!"
Ash twisted her good leg under Blackwall and pulled hard on his arm. She laughed triumphantly as he crashed down next to her with an audible Oomph! She moved fast to straddle his middle, grimacing in pain, and pushed him hard back down to the ground when he tried to sit up. She looked wild in the torchlight flickering on her face.
"You pledged yourself to me," she growled, "so when I give you an order, you follow it."
Blackwall was holding his breath. His mind was a tumult of conflicting emotions. Concern for the twitches of pain flashing across Ash's face, blind adrenaline from the fight and being knocked off his feet, arousal from the fight and being knocked off his feet… He felt frozen from the internal conflict.
Ash leaned closer. Her hair trailed along his face.
"Are you afraid you'll hurt me?" now she spoke pointedly softer. His blood rushed faster in his veins, to his head, to places. "What if I want you to hurt me?"
"Ash…" his voice was gritty, tense.
"That deepstalker almost clawed its way to my face, and you were too concerned to jostle me," she growled and sat back. Blackwall scowled.
"Jostle you? Is that what you call it? With an arrow in your gut and broken bones and Maker knows what else," he felt a surge of unexpected anger, "in no small part to you just rushing ahead of us all the time, taking risks? Not planning. Not thinking."
The remains of playfulness drained from her expression.
"We're doing fine. A little rough around the edges," she hissed. She knew it was a vast stretch. Her stubbornness had taken over. He barked a disbelieving laugh. She pushed herself off him with obvious, obstinate effort. He sat up and leaned into her. Frustration was rapidly replacing all other emotions.
"If this were anyone else in your army, would you say they were doing fine? If you saw Cassandra, or Dorian, or Sera with this-" And then he poked her in the side, just above the wound. Her eyes flew wide. She gasped in pain. The torch fell from her hands, into a puddle of black water, and hissed out.
Blackwall immediately regretted it. His ire flipflopped so quickly into panicked apologies that he almost felt dizzy.
"Maker. I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that. I can't believe… My lady, I should never have-"
"Inquisitor!" Solas's voice echoed distantly down the corridor.
"Hello? Where are you?" Cole called, his voice overlapping the mage's.
Blackwall glanced back. He could see the distant light of Solas's staff and a veilfire bobbing closer. He exhaled heavily out his nose and looked back to the barely visible outline of Ash in the dark. He reached out gently, found her legs, and fumbled until he felt her hand on his.
"It's alright, Blackwall. I deserved that," she sounded drained, but he was relieved to hear amusement in her voice. She could barely make out the rough shake of his head in the darkness.
"You deserve many things, but that was certainly not one of them," he protested. He could vaguely see the features of her face again as the veilfire drew close.
"Damn it all, ASH! Where are-" Solas's shout died on his lips as the light spread across the pair of warriors sitting on the ground ahead of him, sprawled in the cold mud and surrounded by the small squashed bodies of deepstalkers. Ash's hair was partially horizontal as it stuck out from her braid and one side of her face was all but caked in dark blood. She was covered in gore and mud from the waist down. Blackwall's beard had bits of something sticking out of it. He was half-sitting, half-leaning against his mud and viscera-covered shield.
"Where've you been?" Ash asked lightly.
"You look scary," Cole observed.
Blackwall stood and gently helped the elf to her feet.
"Anyone have a spare healing potion? I kind of feel like death."
Solas and Cole exchanged glances. The mage looked back to her as he leaned against his staff.
"We… encountered some spiders on the way down," he said. She raised her eyebrows at him. She looked at the spirit.
"Sorry," Cole said quietly.
"Really?!"
"They were very large spiders."
"You've got to be- fine. Nevermind!" her voice pitched high. She would've thrown her hands in the air if every part of her body weren't aching. "Let's just get back to camp."
Solas watched with narrowed eyes as she gingerly hopped onto the human's back and slumped tiredly against him. She waved lazily ahead.
"Onward," her voice was muffled against Blackwall's hair.
They were halfway back to the camp when Ash finally felt well enough to walk on her own. It was no easy thing clinging to the back of a broad, armored man, after all, and it was good to stretch her legs. She still had a prominent limp. She wondered how long it would take the potions to work now that the injuries had settled in and made themselves more at home.
"You know," Blackwall had been walking quietly beside her for half a mile, slow enough to keep her injured pace. Solas and Cole walked a few yards ahead. He was replaying their time in the cave in his head. "You were partially right, back there." She furrowed her brow.
"Which part?"
He sighed.
"I should have listened to you. Could've knocked the damn thing off your back and you wouldn't have had to risk worse by jumping off me," he admitted.
"Ah," Ash smiled. She had said many things in the heat of anger, but she had meant that part. "I recall someone saying something about how we need to focus on our duty. Not let our feelings cloud our judgment."
His face colored and he dropped his stare to the ground.
"Aye. Wise words. You'd think I'd listen to them," he said. He shook his head, annoyed with himself. "You need to be able to trust me in battle." Ash looked over at him. Her expression softened with affection, and a hint of sadness. Blackwall blew out a frustrated snort. He looked back at her with stern eyes. "I need to be able to trust you in battle." The elf blinked and tilted her head to the side.
"Eh?"
The warrior didn't immediately respond. He stared at her as she limped along, considering some thought. Then a sudden and self-satisfied smile began to spread across his face. Ash felt sure she'd missed something.
"Ash," Blackwall began with an uncharacteristic smirk. She felt the hairs raise on the back of her neck. "I've decided to take you up on your offer."
Her heart thumped a little harder. Which offer? Now? This is a trap.
"Have you?" she asked warily.
"If I beat you back to camp," his voice was all gravel and satisfaction, "I get to choose a new set of armor for you."
Her eyes snapped wide.
Blackwall was gone, sprinting away up the gently sloping hills.
"Ow! Damn it! Maker, smite him! Heed your chosen!" Ash lunged after him. Her leg and side spiked in pain. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, hobbling as fast as she could past Solas and Cole. "Shit! Shit! Solas, turn the ground to ice and push me across it!"
"No."
"The Dread Wolf take you!"
He laughed quietly. Cole stared between Solas and the frustrated, jerky motions of Ash. Blackwall was a dark blotch against the hillside now.
"I don't understand," the spirit said quietly.
"Oh?" Solas asked. Obscenities continued to float back to them.
"All of you said the caves were bad to go to," he recalled, "but I think they liked them."
The elf mage scowled.
"Yes, well. There's no accounting for taste."