The Iron Dragon

Chapter 18. Duhaime

On the somewhat longer way to the Villa Maurel, where the Free-Fighter Commander named Duhaime should be, I had a little talk with the Inquisitor, which I found quite pleasant. While our conversation was pleasantly relaxed, I could hear the bull and Varric talking a little louder behind me. Freya also noticed the louder conversation and we both decided to listen to her conversation.

"Hey, little one, is there any way you can get out of the way when I try to shoot? ". I was reluctant to ask myself in this moment why a figure like the cop had the nickname "Little One" and that Varric, who was quite small compared to all the others in the group, including myself, had decided to use this nickname seemed to me very strange. But Varric didn't seem like someone who permanently hid a meaning behind certain words either.

"Maybe you should stand in front of me, then I would still have a clear field of vision to hit the opponents". Ouch, that statement had probably hit exactly where it was supposed to have landed. Because you couldn't hear another word from Varric after that. When I turned to him a little bit I could see that he had a distinct grin on his face just like the bull. It was nice to see that even hidden messages, like this one had been, were taken so calmly here. They generally seemed very friendly to each other. The bull had obviously noticed that I had enjoyed their conversation and now joined me a little closer, which I welcomed.

"You could, of course, stand in front of me in battle, I would certainly appreciate the view". The corners of my mouth hardly twitched noticeably upwards when I heard his words. Of course I could hear the undertone in his voice and therefore I knew exactly that he made pretty eyes at me. However, I had to admit that I liked the ominousness in his voice.

"I don't mind, but to be fair, you should stand in front of me every now and then - after all, I would enjoy the view just as much". His muscles tightened a bit and I could say that I liked this sight.

"So we're in agreement then". I gave him a smile and then nodded. I liked that his eyes almost went hungry as soon as he looked at me and it didn't matter where his eyes were looking. With Qunari my mixed blood had its advantages.

"Now if you two would refocus on what is our job at the moment". For the first time I had the feeling to hear more than one or two words from Lady Penthagast's mouth. I was about to open my mouth when Varric approached me from the side.

"Don't worry too much about her words, she generally holds a grudge against anything that might cause a feeling of joy". I raised an eyebrow because I could not quite believe it. I had the feeling that there was more behind her cool and dismissive façade than she revealed.

We went on and after a while the white stone wall surrounding this villa came towards us. Following this fence, we soon came to an archway made of branches and leaves that led directly to the property. Through it we came to a garden that Freya admired. I admit that it was hard not to stop to look at everything, because it seemed simply beautiful for the moment. The light of the sun hit you as soon as you left the overgrown path through the arch. In front of us there was a big garden with many trees and another archway, only much bigger, was enthroned in the middle of this splendor. Below our feet was a white path of gravel, which we followed, knowing that it would take us to the entrance of the mansion. Just as the two statues came into our field of vision, two huge ladies in a robe who had taken up a praying position, we met our first opponents, of whom we were sure that they must be free men.

Immediately and without much hesitation, the first lightning bolts shot out of Freya's hands, which almost immediately caused the first man who came towards us to virtually explode. What a sight. Another free man who had been standing right behind it hadn't even had time to process what had just happened to his colleague before the earth burst into flames under his feet before my fire burned him. With number three of the opponents I simply made a small but nice explosion right where he had just been standing and a few seconds later I could watch his head and a few other body parts flying in a high arc over our heads.