It didn't take too much longer until the ground stopped shaking. There was still the sound of a couple of rocks shifting, along with the sound of coughing. Siara glanced around at Cullen, who was still holding her.
"Think it's safe yet?" she asked, then looked away to cover a cough as dust irritated her mouth.
"Are you all right?" he asked, his voice quiet, but thick with concern. Siara nodded, looking back up at him, not wanting to risk saying anything else in case it started another coughing fit.
Cullen stayed where he was for a moment longer, just until she had stopped coughing, then stepped away. He turned to look at the landslide as he did, walking a bit towards it to get a better look. Siara stayed by the wall, resting a hand on it to keep herself balanced. She briefly looked at the landslide, but from where she was she couldn't see any way over or through it, so she turned her attention to the surrounding area. No one else was on this side of the blockage. It was just her and Cullen. She could hear people shouting from the other side of the rocks and she pushed away from the wall, wanting to get closer so she could hear what was being said more easily. Pain shot up through her left leg as she put weight on her foot, and she only just stopped herself from falling over. Clearly she wasn't as all right as she had thought she was. She closed her eyes and tried to take slow, deep breaths to help with the pain, turning her attention to the rock fall.
"What's everyone's status?"
Cullen's voice. She opened her eyes again and looked over to where he was standing, his back turned to her.
"Everyone escaped the fall, ser," a voice called back. Relief flooded through Siara. No casualties, at least on that front. A quick glance around the area she and Cullen were in showed there were no bodies around them. There were also no other survivors on their side of the rocks.
"What about the attack?"
"A few cuts, but nothing fatal."
Good. Varric, Dorian, and Solas were all okay. That was good. Now all Siara needed to worry about was her and Cullen. She looked up to the top of the ridge, now ignoring what Cullen was shouting across to the rest of the Inquisition members. Her eyes immediately landed on the single man standing there, his chin raised as he stared down at them. He looked worse than Cullen did, even from this distance. His dark brown hair looked sweat soaked, his cheeks sunken in. It was his armour that really caught her attention, though, with a large shard of red lyrium in its chest. Dread sunk into Siara's bones, and it took all her self control not to shrink away from him.
"Cullen," she called out, interrupting whatever he'd been saying. She didn't look around at him, maintaining eye contact with the man on the hill. He was just smirking down at her, not otherwise unmoving, and it didn't make her feel any better. She heard Cullen step closer to her and she glanced at him. He looked mad, which confused her slightly.
"Do you know him?"
"I used to," Cullen admitted. "Clearly I don't anymore."
He looked like he wanted to murder the man, and Siara wasn't sure that the walls of the ravine would stop him from having a go at it.
"Whatever he's done, there's nothing we can do about it now," she told him. "Our priority should be getting out of here."
A sound resembling a growl escaped Cullen, but he tore his gaze from the man at the top of the ravine, half turning to Siara.
"Think we can climb the rocks?" he asked.
"Well, you might be able to," she shrugged, "but I don't stand half a hope of it."
Now Cullen was frowning in concern, looking her over for any sign of injury, meeting her eyes once more when he couldn't immediately see anything obviously wrong. She sighed, tired of her luck being so bad, and motioned to the foot she was trying to avoid putting any weight on.
"Got hit pretty bad during the landslide," she told him, and realisation dawned on Cullen's face. He ran a hand down his face, looking around them.
"This isn't good," he muttered, evidently trying to be quiet enough so that Siara couldn't hear and failing miserably.
"Oh, it's fucking awful, darling," Siara almost crooned, "but unless you know handy little healing spell that you haven't told me about, I'm going to have to just live with this pain until we can get to someone who does."
He raised an eyebrow at her, shaking his head slightly, then headed over to where a couple of horses were standing. Convenient, to say the least. One of them was a lot more spooked than the other, ears pricked and eyes wide, darting away at the smallest of sounds. The other didn't seem like it could care less, happily grazing on what vegetation lined the ravine. It didn't take Cullen long to grab the reins of the scared horse, quietly talking to it and running a soothing hand along its neck, before he turned his attention to the one that was still grazing. He quietly led them back over to Siara, who raised an eyebrow at him.
"I have a crushed ankle and your solution is… horses."
"My family lives maybe a couple of days' ride from here," he explained. "That's likely our best bet. We can splint your ankle, try to stop it moving as much as we can."
"This boot is not coming off. If this boot comes off, then it isn't going back on. We can have a better look at it when we stop. Not that I think getting on a horse is a good idea at all, let alone for a couple of days," she sighed, glaring up at the sky as though everything was its fault. "There had better be a damn good healer on the other end." She pushed away from the wall and limped over to the quieter of the horses, her face visibly paling with every step she took.
Cullen was by her side in an instant, grabbing her arm to steady her.
"You're not alone, Siara. Please, let me help you."
It took her a moment to reply, just watching him for a moment. Then, reluctantly, she nodded her head, turning back to the horse and grabbing hold of the saddle. She felt Cullen put his hands around her waist, readying to give her a boost onto the horse. A moment later, he was easily lifting her, and before she knew it, Siara was comfortably sitting in the saddle. Pain was radiating through her body, and all she could do was hold onto the reins and look straight ahead, hoping that the pain would subside soon, as Cullen gently moved her injured foot into the stirrup.
"Are you all right?" he asked gently, looking up at her. Siara didn't even look around at him, nausea overwhelming her.
"Mhm," she nodded, not feeling all right in the least. Cullen didn't move away for a moment longer, just watching her. Obviously she looked about as shit as she felt, but there wasn't much she could do about that. Slowly, Cullen moved away, grabbing the skittish horse's reins once again and easily swinging himself into the saddle. Only now did Siara look around at him, now that she didn't have to look so far down at him. There was definitely concern in his eyes, but she forced what she hoped was a reassuring smile to her face.
"Ready when you are," she told him. His eyes shifted to look past her, and Siara turned to look where he was looking. The man was still standing at the top of the ravine, watching them silently. He just smirked at them, then turned to say something to someone who was standing just back from the edge, out of their sight.
"Who is he, Cullen?"
"His name is Samson. He was once a good templar, a good man," Cullen replied, turning his horse to begin the journey to visit his family. "Things were hard enough for him when I was in Kirkwall, but it seems he's fallen even further now."
Siara watched Samson as he looked back at them once more, not looking away as he stepped away from the edge of the ridge.
"Well, I think we should be trying to make this trip a quick one. It wouldn't surprise me if they're going to try and intercept us," she said, encouraging her horse to fall into step beside Cullen's.
"What makes you think that?"
"You're Commander of the Inquisition's army. Capturing, or even killing you?" she let her voice trail off, knowing that Cullen would understand her point. Cullen glanced around at the ridge one last time, then nudged his horse to move faster. Siara followed suit a moment later, doing her best to ignore the pain in her ankle.