He should have paid attention.
But Loki's mind had been elsewhere. His mind had been on Bull, worries curling in his stomach. It had been less then a week since the Qun had reached out to them for a alliance. Normally Loki would have told them to stick it.
But they had been clever of course.
They had used Bull to deliver the message. Bull who Loki cared for. Bull who made odd things happen in the others stomach and his heart pound extra hard.
And so he had agreed to meet up at least. Had told Bull straight out though that he didn't trust the qunaries or believed the offer. The Qun was not a peaceful converter if refused and to give them a foothold in Thedas seemed dangerous.
But so was letting red lyrium into Minrathous. So he had agreed.
And then everything had gone terrible. Loki still didn't believe that the Ben-Hassrath had been unaware of the backups but he would not tell Bull that. This mission had been as much a hand of alliance as it had been a test for Bull he figured.
At least the Chargers were still alive.
But Bull was Tal-Vashoth. He knew that hurt the other even if he couldn't understand it, not being part of the Qun himself.
He still remembered watching the dreadnought come in, Cassandras hesitant question to it sinking and he himself snorting, telling her that Qunari dreadnoughts did not sink, Bull silent before them as he stared at it before shielding his face as it blew up.
At least Bull seemed mostly good about it. Or perhaps he was losing himself into work to avoid it.
Loki wasn't sure which and thinking about in the middle of a fight was a bad idea.
Which might have lead on to what had happened.
So Loki should have had his eyes on the fight, on all the members of the fight. But no, of course not, his mind had focused on the archers, throwing spells at them so the bandits arrows would not hit any of his group, Loki's green eyes narrowed on them.
He was wholly unprepared for the bandit with the shield charging him down, giving a cry of pain as the shield caught his face and jarred him of his feet, making him drop his barriers as blood poured from a cut the shield left behind.
"Loki! Look out!" He heard the shout but turned to slow, his confusion blooming in pain that seemed to originate from his back, his companion yell for him even as his knees hit the ground, staff dropped to the muddy ground of Crest Wood, all breath having left him as his mind struggled to understand what had happened.
'Assassin?' He felt himself wonder as his hands grasped the ground, swallowing heavily as blackness tickled at the corner of his eyes.
()()()()
Loki went down. He went DOWN.
Blighted voids, that was not suppose to happen!
The mage had taken a charge head on, the bandit coming between Cassandra and Iron Bull defenses to quickly for them to stop her from charging at the Inquisitor. The warrior held her shield high and hit Loki hard and fast, Bull able to tell even from a distance that the mages barriers had dropped in his dazed confusion, blood quickly dripping from a cut below the others left eye.
"Loki! Look out!" He heard himself yell, heart in his throat.
Behind the qunari mage a rouge burst from the shadows of his fade cloak, sharp pointy daggers planting into a vulnerable back. Breath escaped the Inquisitor but no noise as his poison green eyes widened in shock, staff falling from numb fingers as he fell, knees burying themselves in the mud as their owner struggled with consciousness.
Loki's hands joined his hands on the ground before he thumped to the floor, passing out.
"Blighted nug shit, hang on Boss!" Varric aimed Bianca with precision, eyes narrowed on the assassin only to come to short as Bull did his name sake pride, charging like a mad ox, giving the ax in his hands one ferocious swipe that cleaved the man apart, the great ax going through the collarbone with crushing force and out the hip, the bandit giving a shocked gurgle before falling over.
"Well shit." Varric cursed and turned his weapon on the other bandits who were doing their best to escape from the raging mercenary leader.
Cassandra took the chance to race to the fallen member of their group, sheathing her sword but keeping her shield prepared just in case any enemy had lingered. Unlikely though with the way Bull had scared them off of. She turned him around on his back, hoping she wasn't antagonizing the wounds.
Shaking, glove covered fingers quickly pushed against the mages neck, checking, feeling...
A pulse, slow and weakened but there.
"We need to get Adaar to the camp! They'll have someone competent with healing there." She shouted, looking up as thumping steps came over, Bull suddenly there.
"Seeker its a 20 minute run back to the last one." Varric argued as Bull bent down and scooped the mage up, one arm going under knees and the other under Loki's upper back.
"We have no other choice Varric, I do not know anything but basic bandaging and I do not believe you do either." She said harshly.
"Its a 10 minute run if I do it." Bull growled and took of, leaving the other two behind, not about to wait on the two to finish arguing. "Just take his staff with you!" Boots splattered up mud on already stained pants as he carried Loki, good eye focused on the road he had to take, his body pushing him to go as fast as he could.
'Damn you Loki! I'm not losing you too!' Losing the Qun had been one thing, losing those he had come to care for, his men or Loki in the same month?
Bull needed this anchor to keep him steady and sane.
()()()()
It ached. That was his first thought as he opened his eyes slowly to stare at the brown sky over him.
Wait, brown sky?
Loki blinked slowly, trying to understand why he was hurting so badly, why this place smelled of elfroot and why the roof was brown.
He had been...the bandits!
Loki pushed to sit up only to give a choked cry of pain that seemed to explode like a grenade over his back, falling back as white hot rivers spasms tried to destroy him and sent white spots into his eyes.
His shout had alerted someone that he was awake though and Loki was vaguely aware of someone carefully pinning him from thrashing more.
"Steady there boss, steady." Loki looked towards the voice and swallowed as a blond head came into view. "Varric?" He asked confusedly, voice rough as he squinted up at the other through one good eye and one swollen, the cut underneath still healing. Around his midsection was carefully placed bandages to prevent the wounds on his back from worsening.
"Yeah, good to see you awake, we been really worried." Varric smiled at him, hiding that deep sheathed fear that the other wouldn't wake under his smile.
Loki frowned at him and glanced around again. "Where...where are we?" Last he remembered, they had been at the outskirts of Crestwood and they had gotten attacked after they left the Keep, on their way back to Skyhold.
"A half days ride away from Skyhold. You took a pair of daggers to the back Loki so you been out for four days now." Varric sighed. "We got a cart and set it up so we could transport you back without doing more damage to you after a healer took a look at you and bandaged you up. Said it would be fine as long as we kept you as still as possible. Got a nice blue eye too."
"Oh." The Inquisitor swallowed. He vaugely remembered what had happened now and his back itched with healing wounds. "...Where is Bull?" He glanced around, his stomach burning a bit at the thought of the other not being there.
"Tiny? Cassandra and him went ahead to make sure the road was safe to travel for the moment. If you had woken up half a our earlier he would have been jogging beside the cart, following you. He hardly left your side since the attack. You know, he really cares about you."
That got a smile out of the injured oxman. "That's...good to know. You wouldn't happen to have a painkiller potion would you?" He looked back to Varric.
"Yeah, hold on, the healer sent a few with us for when you woke up, just in case. Elfroot and some stuff I don't really want to think about." The dwarf chuckled, getting one of the bottles from where they had stashed them in the cart.
He helped Loki hold his head up a bit and held the bottle to his mouth, watching the injured man drink the whole thing before settling him back down, dragging the covers up to his chin. "Try to sleep a bit yeah? Bianca and me will keep a eye on things." He grinned down at the other.
"Yeah...alright...wait, who's driving the cart?"
"Oh, I was until you woke up, don't worry, we have things in hand." Varric soothed.
Loki peered at him before sighing and nodding, closing his eyes to try and sleep properly. His last thought before he fell asleep was about Bull, how Bull cared.
The storyteller watched him for a bit before moving to the front to grab the reins again, sighing to himself. "Tiny's going to be so annoyed he missed you being awake." He mumbled, carefully getting the horses back into a trot, the soldiers around getting a move on it when he did.
Having a injured and unable to defend himself Inquisitor in a cart was just a recipe for bad things to happen so Charter at Caer Bronach had sent a small troop of soldiers with to guard and protect him along with Bull and the other two.
It was the smartest thing really, somehow, people had gotten wind of it and several groups had attacked their group. None got close to the cart though, not with Bull prowling like a injured tiger, his good eye on everything and everyone when he wasn't checking on Loki.
"Talk about the sun and it shines. Shit." Varric sighed as he saw Bull approaching with Cassandra right behind.
"Varric, why have you stopped?" The Nevarran warrior peered at him, a frown furrowing her sharp face.
"Well, Loki was awake an-"
"Awake?" Bull was there.
"Was. He was. He woke up enough to talk a bit and get a painkiller. But yeah. He was awake enough to talk. Good thing too right." He grinned at the other two.
Bull gave a deep rumble, frowning at having missed out on the other being awake. But Varric was right, the mage waking up was only a good sign and with good speed they'd be in Skyhold before nightfall. It would be good to be back and have Adaar settled in with trained healers to look at him again and rest up.
"Oh Maker, thank you." Cassandra gave a low sigh before nodding. "Very well, let us continue to Skyhold and make haste."
"Not telling me anything I haven't thought myself Seeker." Varric smiled at them.
To Skyhold!
()()()()
"I don't need a nursemaid Bull." Loki mumbled quietly, staring at the other man among all the pillows on his bed. The healers had said that they had done good job on keeping Loki both still and the wounds on his back clean and mostly healing, so the Inquisitor had just been restricted to bed rest and any food he was able to stomach.
"No but having someone help you get up and fetch food isn't someone being a nursemaid Boss." Bull offered in return, face amused. "Beside, sitting here alone won't help you heal. Now, Pawn to B-7." He moved the piece across the chess board.
Loki grumbled and glared a bit at the game board. "...I'm not really that good at chess you know."
"Which makes this a wonderful time to practice. You do want to beat Cullen, don't you?" He chuckled at the other, smiling ever so slightly. 'Sulking like a cat denied milk...you are to cute Kadan...wait...Kadan? Ah shit...'
Loki, unaware of the others thought huffed. "Queen to 7-C."
"Hmm, a bit aggressive there Boss." Bull pulled the thoughts away, focusing on the game.
"I guess. I told you Bull, I'm not terribly great at chess." He sighed before glancing at Bull from under white eyelashes. "Hey...Bull, how do qunaries show that they are serious about a relationship?" Loki asked, trying to spin it off as a light conversation.
"Hrmm? Oh, they don't. We don't have sex for love." Bull glanced at the other. "But for someone you really care about, there is a old tradition." He moved his tower. "You find a dragon tooth, break it it in half and you each wear a piece."
Loki blinked at that. He could kill a dragon. Hell, he knew he could take on the one in the Hinterlands. He was suppose to do that anyhow soon so that the dragon would stop attacking the caravans and scaring everyone.
He moved his pawn to take the tower.
"That way." Bull continued. "No matter how far apart life takes you, you're always together."
Loki blinked. "...For a way of life that doesn't put much value on love, that is one of the most hardcore and warming ways of showing you care that I have heard of."
"Oh?" Bull chuckled warmly.
"Yes. You have to find a dragon tooth, dragons are either hard to find, hard to kill or always in territories its difficult to get to...the kind of devotion that takes...well its sweet." He shrugged, hissing as that pulled on the healing wounds on his back.
"Huh, I guess you're right. Never thought of it that way." Bull smirked.
Loki tilted his head and hummed before scrowling at the board. He could already tell that Iron Bull had some kind of technique going on and that he was going to lose, blasted voids. But in the back of his mind, a soft voice asked him. 'If I got him a dragon tooth...how committed is Bull to this relationship?'
When this had all started out, Loki was aware it had been a physical thing. More a way to relieve stress, Bull wanting to help him relax.
But was it still that?
'Its not for me at least.' The mage thought as he moved his king out of harms way. 'It hasn't been just that for quite a while now.' He watched Bull.
"You really need to get better at this Loki, I'm going to take your pawn in four moves." The warrior chuckled.
Smiling slightly, Loki nodded. "I guess I do Bull, I guess I do."
'One way to find out...time to kill a dragon.'