Doom Upon All The World

Chapter 38: Burial

      Three days. That's all it took. They had amassed a total of four graves in less than three days. Maeve's heart hurt as she slumped over the desk in her chambers, her head in her hands, trying desperately to stifle her cries. She couldn't be too loud lest she wake Solas and Mythalus. But she couldn't hold it in anymore either. It all just came rushing at her. All at once the flood gates opened and released the monsoon of agony that had wreaked havoc on her last few days. The tears came, stinging and biting without mercy at her eyes, strolling down her cheeks in warm, slow tides, falling onto the letter she'd tried to right to Vivienne about Josephine only a few days prior. The droplets left transparent stains in the parchment, spreading the dark ink into perfect blotched circles. Her efforts were futile though. She should have known that she would not be able to hide it from him. He felt what she felt. Solas approached her carefully and came up behind her, brushing his hand over her back in smooth, mitigating strides. She took a breath as his lips touched the back of her head, kissing her consolingly as she let his nearness calm her. She grabbed his hand, pulling it around her and to her lips, attempting to push the thoughts of the last few days from her mind. 

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      "What do you think they'll do about the Montilyet children now?" Dorian asked Bull as the two of them stood out in the cold just outside of Skyhold. It was late. The sun had set an hour ago. They'd be calling it a night if there weren't graves that needed to be dug. Two. One for Josephine. One for her counterpart. The gray skinned man paused in his hefty shoveling of dirt and looked to his lover. The Tevinter man looked disheveled and in need of a bath. Bull was surprised he had agreed to help. The mage was usually so opposed to things that involved getting dirty. Unless of course it was the kind of dirty Dorian played well at. But recently they hadn't gotten a lot of alone time, so he went along. "I don't know, Kadan. What can they do really? If we send them away they'll be separated. If we keep them here, someone has to take responsibility for them." He answered plainly. There was a stiffness, a hollow emotion in his voice that made Dorian shiver.

     Iron Bull had changed. He was different ever since Maeve told him about Krem. Dorian didn't know what to make of it. Krem was a big part of Bull's life and the young man was just gone. No body, no goodbye, no grave, just dead. When Bull told the story of how he saved Krem and lost his eye, he told it with fondness and gratitude. It was evident that bringing the outcast Tevinter lad into the Chargers was beneficial for both of them. Bull gained someone he could trust and Krem gained a family and people that accepted him for what he was. That was gone now. 

     "When did it come to this?" Dorian whispered as he watched his other half dig further into the hole. Bull just barely caught the words as they came from his mouth. He looked over at him with wide, wondering, sad eyes. "When did we start burying our friends, Bull?" He continued. The Qunari didn't know how to respond. He kept his mouth pursed tight as he looked on his tan skinned partner. A rustling in the bushes startled them both. It seemed for a moment to be nothing. Then in an instant the scene unfolded. Men in sparkling silverite armor, wielding dark obsidian swords and mesmerizing shimmering shields spilled from the brush at them. 

       Bull pulled his great ax from his back and cleaved it towards the first few men to come in his direction. They were flung to the side, crumbling on top of each other as the fell. He turned immediately only to find that he and Dorian were separated by a circle of soldiers. The mage was surrounded, engulfed by a small unit of swinging men. They encroached on him but his staff spun around buzzing and striking out with zaps and pulses of fierce purple lightning. He struck them down one by one and one by one the numbers amassed again. The Qunari man made to stand beside Dorian but could see in the distance where the bulk of the men were coming from. If Dorian was to stand any chance at all Bull would need to take them out. He looked to Dorian and he gave him a confirming nod, telling him to do it as another unit of swordsman charged them. Bull rushed them, forcing his way through, knocking them over in the process and feeling the slight prickle of their sharp swords slicing his thick skin in the slightest of ways.