The Heart of a Dragon (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

His Place in the World

"Where are the rest of the Venatori?" Ren asked Gatt.

"Up ahead. On that knoll." He pointed.

"Good. The rest of you head up that way; I'll go around, take out any outliers."

Gatt looked questioningly at the Iron Bull, who nodded. Ren disappeared into the underbrush, only the faint swaying of the grasses testifying to her passage. "You two seem cozy," Gatt said, falling in next to the Iron Bull as they made their way up the mountain.

"Mind your own business."

"Just saying." Gatt looked around at Dorian and Blackwall, who were behind them a bit. The Iron Bull was fairly sure Dorian's sharp ears could hear anything they said, and while Blackwall had been stolidly silent so far, as was his way, that didn't mean he wasn't paying attention. The Grey Warden was sharp and intelligent. Gatt continued, "I'm told to tell you that your reports have been on the skimpy side."

"Since what, since we all nearly died at Haven? The Ben-Hassrath really want to hear about the days we spent clearing all the crap out of the buildings at Skyhold, or—"

"Don't play dumb with me, Hissrad. I know you too well."

"Look, you pass on the message that the reports will pick up as soon as there's anything to report."

"That's not what you're there for."

"I can't make things happen."

"Try harder," Gatt snapped.

"Would you two like to keep it down, or are we planning on announcing our presence?" Blackwall asked from behind them, and they both shut up.

Ahead, the Venatori camp was relatively quiet; but not for long. A cry erupted from the edge of camp, then another. The Iron Bull shook his head; Ren was getting sloppy if she let the marks cry out like that. He'd have to mention that to her later.

Meanwhile, there was fighting to do. He threw himself into the combat, feeling the bloodlust rising, the problems he carried in his head silenced when all there was to do was slice and strike and block. He felt a disquiet; where were the Venatori mages? There weren't nearly enough in this bunch. He hoped the Chargers hadn't gotten hit with too many. Mages were hard to take out, and it was only a strike force of Chargers he had brought along, too small to handle more than a couple of mages.

Ren joined the rest of her team when the last of the Venatori were down. The Iron Bull made sure the ones at his feet were dead, then told Gatt to send up the signal.

The elf knelt, and a flare of red light flew into the sky. The Iron Bull pointed across the water to the opposite knoll, where a similar light had already gone up. "Chargers sent theirs up, too," he said with relief.

Gatt looked over, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Ren didn't like that smile; but then, there wasn't much about Gatt that she did like. "I knew you gave them the easier job," he said, and the corner of the Iron Bull's mouth turned up, too, sheepishly, not denying it.

From the mists on the ocean, a long dark shape emerged. It looked dangerous even to Ren, who had never seen one before. It reminded her of pictures she had seen of sharks ... or dragons. The Iron Bull nudged her with his elbow. "Pretty fucking amazing, isn't she? That does bring back memories." He sighed.

As they watched, fireballs erupted from the dreadnought and landed in the midst of the Tevinter ship that was hove to near the opposite side of the cove. It went up in flames, and Ren breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't expected things to go as planned.