The cold stone dug deep into Yugi's bare feet. His soles were like leather on most surfaces but he had not been on mountain ground in years. Dicho made sure to keep his body soft. Yugi grunted as he climbed the umpteenth peak only to be met with more in his path. The sun, from his guess, had set some time ago because the fog was darker. Yugi huffed as he searched for the door Dicho had spoken of.
"It will be a round smooth flat head stone, surrounded by the tiniest foliage," Dicho had drawled as he stroked Yugi's matted hair last night. Yugi shivered thinking of the disgusting man.
He kept his pace firm but steady, so not to fall. At a clearing with tuffs of grass sticking out of the rock, Yugi lay down and breathed. He stared at the stars. He had not been outside at night watching the sky since he helped his best friend escape.
Yugi rolled over on his side. His body ached from the climb and the previous nights. He started to see his friend, Bakura, sitting right next to him.
Ryou and Bakura were alike at first appearance, but the differences were obvious. Bakura was human and his hair was untamed. Two bunny ears, as Yugi called them, stuck out on the top of his head. He was more muscled and mature in face and his eyes were a reddish brown, almost like dried blood.
The fake Bakura Yugi imagined turned his head and looked at him. He smiled and held out his hand as if to pet Yugi's head.
"Remember, I'm coming back." The apparition faded.
Yugi closed his eyes and sighed. The real Bakura had promised to come back for him. Three years of waiting had dampened that promise; however Yugi never let it die. He got up from his rest and went on. The mountain pass on the side was the way he would take to return to Dicho and the others, Yavanna willing he was not killed.
By morning, as Yugi looked up at the brightened fog, he had found the stone. The key Dicho had given was an ornament with gold filigree bindings on the sides and a large oval hole in the middle. Yugi examined the stone for any sign of the same engraving. He found the engraving under some vines that had sprouted from the ground. Yugi tore at the wine to clean the place for the key. Once done he breathed and pushed the key in the key hole; the stone started to rumble and began to sink.
Yugi shook at the sudden hole. He leaned into the opening and listened. If the dragon had been woken, then it would have roared or something. The stone was silent. Yugi sighed and descended down the path.
Not many things surprise an immortal. Especially a dragon. He had heard the secret passage open, however some fun with his food was more tempting when it thought it was safe. The dragon hid in the piles of gems and silver, perfect for his scales. His azure eyes scanned the entrance that the passage led to. By now, or later, the thief would reveal himself. He waited patiently; anticipation boiled in his stomach. The last thief who came here was something of a quarter of a century. As a young dragon, he expected more to believe they could face him. Soft footsteps were vibrating through the halls. The dragon's brow quirked; the thief should have been out of the entrance, not the halls. He shifted his head slightly, not enough to be noticed, and saw a most peculiar being.
The thing was small like a brownie, but it resembled a human. The dragon sniffed the air. The scent from this thing was nicer than brownie or dwarf and man flesh had a pungent odor of another's blood. This thing in his mountain smelled like death and….he could not place the second scent. It was pleasant and reminded him of his mother. The dragon frowned. His mother, like his kin, had banished him from the island to this cold place. He remembered how he had no choice but to be in this land where dragons where so weak as to be killed by one arrow. He had heard of Smaug. Everyone heard of that disgrace.
The dragon stopped his thoughts when he heard a tiny gasp. The thing had moved to the skull. Now the dragon had to act.
He lifted himself from the pile, letting the trinkets slip off his body slowly. The thing trembled and turned to be met with the dragon's gaze on him. He smirked at the obvious fear. But then, the thing did not run. In fact, it just stayed put. This would not do. So, the dragon let out a small roar. The thing shook and started to sob lightly, although it still did not run. Now the dragon was indignant. This thing should be running and screaming in fear, begging for its life, try and fight him, anything! Instead, the little mortal stood stock still, despite the trembling.
The dragon huffed.
"At least you are an easy meal," he said to fill up the silence. The dragon walked through the piles and stood in front of the thing. At closer inspection, it was smaller than brownies. The whole outlook was human, however this creature was not a human. "My, what huge feet you have," he said. The creature stared at him. The trembling had stopped. "For me, scream going down. This silence makes me crazy."
With his right front hands, the dragon lifted the little creature by the shirt; he prepared to open his mouth until the creature said something.
"Excuse me?" the dragon said.
"What are you?" it said.
"A dragon. What else did you expect?"
The creature tilted its head. For the dragon, he inspected his find more closely. The hair was tricolored in braids and the thing was a boy. The feet had hair on them, making him wonder what this thing was.
"I did not mean that," the boy said. "I meant what type of dragon are you?"
"Oh," the dragon said. "I am known as the white dragon."
The boy nodded. The dragon had also gotten a good look at his face. Very young, but those amethyst eyes were old. The dragon found the eyes to be beautiful. The boy himself was not homely. The dragon shook his head from that thought. He opened his mouth again.
"What is your name?" asked the boy.
"I am called many things in many languages." He put the boy back on the stone. It is not often the thieves conversed with him, so a friendly chat would be nice before he ate.
"Well, what did your mother call you?" the boy asked, tilting his adorable head.
The dragon shook his head again. "Seto," he said. The boy smiled.
"I am Yugi Motou," he said while bowing, "at your service."
Seto chuckled a bit. This boy certainly was interesting. And his voice was so soft compared to the gruff ones of past thieves. Seto felt his lips twitch up. He quickly stopped it.
"You know I am going to eat you," Seto said. A bad taste entered his mouth.
"No you're not," Yugi said and he smiled.
"How so?" Seto knew he was losing control.
"You didn't have to answer my question and you put me down. It's obvious to me you are not going to eat me." Yugi had smugness in his grin. Seto found it cute instead of annoying.
"Fine, Yugi Motout who is at my service, if I will not eat, then what is your fate?" Seto smirked at the way the grin vanished.
"I…I do not know." Yugi looked at the skull. "You will not give me that and I doubt you will let me leave." He looked down at his hairy feet. Seto did not like how the trembling returned. "I suppose you will kill me."
"I should," Seto said. Yugi's trembling increased. "But I won't."
Yugi's head shot up. Seto liked how his gems seemed to get bigger. "You are releasing me," Yugi said, hope in his voice.
Seto shook his head back and forth. He brought his head to eye level with the confused boy.
"I plan to keep you."
Ryou first heard the shouts and arrows aimed at them. It was Joey who had to protect them and Tea who freed him. The bandits surrounded the carriages quickly, bows and rifles at the ready. The dwarves were easily shackled and Dicho had several barrels aimed at his head. The cage had been tilted to the top, but Joey had them out of it, unharmed.
The group of men had taken no interests in them. In fact, one with a red bandanna and dark hair actually came to check on the slaves. He introduced himself as Duke. Duke stared at Ryou before the leader, the one who had caught Weevil and Rex, called him over.
The leader's face was hidden by a hood and he was the only one with daggers. He walked to Dicho, dagger raised.
"Where is he?" the leader snarled.
"I don't know who you could be talking about." Dicho sneered. He grunted when one of them, a woman with big blonde hair and purple eyes, punched him in the gut.
The leader pulled back his hood and out came a mass of spiky white hair. Ryou stared and at the hair.
"I will say slowly. Where is Yugi?" with each word, the leader brought the dagger closer to Dicho's face.
The man snarled but managed to sneer again. "You're too late," he whispered. At that the leader cut Dicho's face, the blade leaving a straigtline from the cheek to the nose. Dicho gasped in pain and went down on his knees. Then he laughed. Ryou felt a chill down his spine.
"Do what you wish, Bakura! That Half-breed is dead! If the dragon doesn't kill him first, then starvation will. You need two keys to enter and leave the Sunny Mount and I didn't have the other." He laughed loudly and the whole forest shook with the high pitch sound.
It stopped. Bakura had ended it with a blade to the throat. The surrounding company lowered their weapons. Duke and the blonde woman were holding back tears. Bakura turned his gaze to Ryou and the others.
"There's nothing else here. Less you wish to see if dwarves run when their heads are cut off!"
The dwarves shook.
Ryou stared at Bakura. He looked like him, except for a large scar going down his left eye and two small ones on his cheek. Next to Ryou, Tea was sniffling with Joey holding her.
Bakura whistled. His company followed him, the dwarves being dragged.
Ryou realized they had the wagons and horses with supplies too. They were free.
"For what? We are still far from the outlands and I don't know the way," Ryou thought. He looked at the two slaves still comforting each other. The bandits were not far, they could probably use the horses and provisions.
"Wait!" Ryou yelled. The company turned in unison. Duke and the blonde woman smirked knowingly as Bakura came back from the front.