The way to the Storm Coast has been surprisingly quiet so far. Bull's team barely had to fight at all, they way impeded only by some wild animals, and that was how Bull liked it. Sure, some excitement would be good, but if he had to choose between quiet journeys and imagining his men battling giants without his help, it was better if the journey was quiet.
He still felt cold shivers run down his spine when he thought that Krem might have been killed on that 'routine' Emerald Graves mission.
It seemed this girl, Rush, attracted trouble whether she intended to or not. Thankfully it also seemed she had the skills to get herself out of trouble, and more importantly, get the rest of her team out of trouble as well. He wondered what she'd be like as a leader. Somehow, he had the feeling her leading style wouldn't be that different from his own.
All in all, she seemed to fit in nicely. Still a bit reserved around them, but that was only to be expected.
But there was a more important matter that… intrigued him. Rush respected him.
This reaction to one's leader was something only the Qunari had - the men who served under him on Seheron or back in Par Volen. Even with them, he had to prove himself to be capable first, before he was given the respect he was due.
Rush… when she told him about her 'research', he read several things in her. Most he already suspected. But the respect in her eyes when she looked at him, the way she let him read her even though she found it invasive…
When did he manage to win her over?
Bull couldn't remember the exact time, and that was disconcerting. He always knew when he stopped being the 'big stupid brute' to his men and became their Chief, but with Rush, it almost seemed as if she already respected him before they even first met. Once more, he wondered if she was Ben-Hassrath, despite knowing that it was impossible.
Anyway, she was capable. Two missions under her belt and Bull already had a good opinion of her fighting skills. Now the only thing he needed was to analyze what unique skills, if any, she had that would benefit his team. Until then, he was glad to have another mage around, even if she didn't fight like one.
Strange, perhaps, that he would prefer to have a mage with him, considering the way the Qun viewed those who possessed the talent, but he was first and foremost a Ben-Hassrath. And they were taught to use anything they could, even if they were not allowed to use mages while on Seheron. Sure, there were several Arvaraads with their charges, but they used the Saarebas the same way one would a blackpowder cannon - aim and shoot, nothing more. It was not the same as fighting alongside a free-thinking mage.
He sometimes thought that the fighting back on Seheron might have gone differently, had there been at least a couple unbound mages on their side.
He looked back at his men and found them valiantly keeping up with his fast tempo. At this rate, they will reach Storm Coast today. Rush kept close to both Rocky and Stitches, all the while scanning their surroundings for any potential danger. Bull approved of her caution, even if it was his job to keep them safe. She will have to learn to trust them, if they were to work together.
Bull stared at the path ahead of them, watching the first rocky caves and steep slopes that signaled the beginning of the Coast when movement to the right caught his attention.
He slowed down and watched the thick woods just past the clearing they stood on. His instincts told him the sound wasn't caused by mere beasts. His hand went to grab the handle of his axe.
There was a tense moment of silence.
Then arrows came flying out of the thick foliage and barely missed his head. Bull cursed and readied for the fight. He heard more than saw his team get ready as well, then felt the cool, comforting blanket of Rush's barrier cover him head to toe. 'Good girl', he thought, even as he scanned their surroundings for the enemy.
They came into view soon enough. Tall, misshaped figures carrying filthy half-broken weapons. Rotten skin pulled taut across deformed skulls.
"Darkspawn," Stitches snarled and readied an arrow.
The tallest hurlock raised its maul threateningly and roared, while several archers aimed at them again. The rest of the monsters followed its leader in his charge.
Bull answered with his own roars and charged. Seeing this, Rocky pulled his own daggers but stayed back to throw small flasks of experimental explosives at the monsters, while Stitches engaged the archers. And Rush… was trying to outrun him.
Bull almost interrupted his charge to pull her back. Capable she might be, but that was no reason to risk herself and try to get in front of him. He needed no other fighter to protect him, he was just fine taking hits and returning some of his own to…
She ran up next to him, stretched out one empty hand, and blasted all nearby darkspawn with a wave of sharp ice.
Half the charging Hurlocks were impaled, the other half froze on spot, and even their huge leader was moving much slower. Their archers froze too, but from shock rather than magic.
Rush met Bull's incredulous eye and yelled, "What are you waiting for? Shatter them!" Then she pulled out her other dagger, ran up to the closest hurlock and used all the strength she shouldn't possess to stab through the ice. The hurlock's body… broke around the wound.
Bull grinned and hefted his axe. Then he brought it down with all his might to smash the next hurlock's head. "Yeah! Shatter! I see what you mean!" he shouted with a happy laugh as he gleefully broke another spawn's body before he turned his attention back to their leader.
Rush paused for a second to stare at the scattered brains of the first hurlock Bull shattered and the body's mangled, oozing hole where the head used to be. Seemed the Iron Bull liked her frost spells… She shrugged her shoulders, "I see where this is heading."
Bull laughed outright at that and smashed his axe into the Hurlock leader again. "Yeah, this is great! So let's hand out a couple more splitting headaches!"
His only answer was a snort as she continued to shatter the frozen bodies.
The rest of the darkspawn screeched in anger, but still considered Bull to be a more dangerous target, despite the way Rush was decimating their ranks. With Bull and Rush attacking directly and Rocky with Stitches for support, most of the spawn were soon on the run. The moment Bull delivered the final crushing blow to their leader's head, the last of the darkspawn gave up the fight and ran.
Bull slowed down and threw the axe over his shoulder.
While letting the rest of the darkspawn escape was not the ideal end to this fight, they had more important matters to attend to than chase after the beasts who would no doubt lead them back to their nest. And lead them to a lot more darkspawn – probably more than they could handle.
He turned back to check on his team, when he noticed the way Rush grinned at the spawn's retreating backs.
This time, he decided not to jump to any conclusions and just trust her; he wanted to wait and see what she had planned.
Rush raised a hand and gathered power in one palm, then shouted over her shoulder, "Hey, Rocky! Watch this!" and threw a big-ass fireball at the retreating monsters.
The fireball exploded on impact and swallowed the entire group stupidly running close together in a huge wall of molten flame. The darkspawn gave one last screech and fell. Bull grinned at both the smell of burning spawn and the way Rocky shouted with glee.
"Now that's what I call an ending move," he commented idly as the panting girl came to stand beside him.
She grinned up at him, "Ending? With spells like these, you only need one move."
"You could use them more often, you know." He told her gently. Having a skilled mage who fought like a mage would be useful.
Her shoulders hunched a bit and he knew he pressed too hard. "I'd rather not. The marks it leaves are kind of… obvious." She waved her hand at the clearing around them.
Bull looked around and immediately saw what she meant. The spikes of ice weren't melting… or even breaking under the weight of impaled darkspawn, and the ground around the burned bodies was completely black from magical fire. It was obvious that a mage passed through here. Not to mention the unique sharp tang of magic and pure power that now clung to Rush's form.
If the templars had at least one capable tracker who spotted this carnage, it would be easy to follow it back to its source. To Rush.
It would be useful to have a mage around, one who threw spells at their enemies, but… not at the cost of their teammate's safety.
He nodded to her and when he saw her shoulders relax, went to check on the rest of his team before they aimed for the Coast.
They still had a job to do, after all.
A/N: That strange moment when a Qunari likes spells more than a mage does…