Dragon Age Inquisition: The Legacy of Dorian Pavus

16: The Mark

Nathaniel

Feeling more positive about things than I had in weeks, we headed out to the Exalted Plains. No Solas or Sera this trip though. The last thing I needed was Sera disparaging any Dalish we might encounter, or Solas and his moody, dark comments about the evil nature of humans.

I was well aware of human shortcomings. I certainly didn't need him insulting me or my long-dead ancestors. Especially since I also knew he'd be aiming the majority of his comments at Dorian, seeing him and his country as the root cause of every human failing.

It was a dismal place, made worse by the civil war which was currently being waged over the stupidest thing I'd ever heard -whether the current Empress or her cousin Gaspard should rule Orlais.

Yes. While a giant hole in the sky threatened all of Thedas and an ancient, supposedly long-dead magister was waging war on Grey Wardens and Templars, Orlais had decided now was a good time to argue over rulership. Yet another reason why I hadn't brought Solas.

I had, however, brought Dorian, Cole and Iron Bull. I wasn't sure Bull could keep his suggestive comments to Dorian in check, but I hadn't a choice in the matter. Blackwall had once again rubbed me the wrong way with his evasive answers to my questions about the Wardens and Cassandra was busy trying to track down the rest of her Seeker order.

Despite all that I was still glad to have Bull there. He was bigger than the three of us combined, and his sheer size was intimidating enough that I'd seen some enemies run off at the sight of him. He was very striking, even from a distance. With his bare chest, piercing stare and large horns, I'd found him very useful for scaring off bandits when the rest of us were too tired to deal with them.

Especially lately. Between closing rifts, dealing with rogue fanatics who wanted me dead, hand-holding nobles and fighting demons, I was growing increasingly exhausted. Once we finished helping out the missing and presumed dead Orlesian army stationed here, we had to finish up our exploration of the Emerald Graves.

After closing some rifts, claiming several logging stands and a quarry and recovering some ancient elven runes, we found the Dalish camp. They weren't overly hostile, but their Keeper was less than pleased to see us. Thankfully, I knew their history and had enough spare resources on me that I soon gained his trust.

From there, we headed for the two military outposts which had somehow become overrun with the undead. It was a disturbing business, especially when we had to burn the pile of bodies at the end. But the four of us had become adept at clearing hot-spots, and were on our way to the main army encampment in under two hours.

Unfortunately, by the time we made camp it was very dark. After eating a light meal, I bid everyone goodnight and crawled into bed. I was sure Dorian would wonder at that, but I was too tired to care. Within minutes of my head hitting the bedroll, I was out as surely as though I'd been drugged.

Dorian

Nathaniel had been acting strange all day. At first he hadn't noticed much, but when he began going around things, rather than through or over them and hanging back when they ran into demons or mercenaries, he felt the first stirring of alarm.

He'd planned to question him after they made camp, but he'd gone to bed so soon after that he hadn't been given the chance. He could feel Bull watching him from his spot across the fire, the flames flickering in his eyes.

"Notice anything odd today Vint?" Bull asked.

Dorian sighed. "Please don't call me that."

"My apologies Dorian. Well?"

"Yes. The Inquisitor has seemed quite tired today."

"And the avoiding enemies? The going around and hanging back?"