"Come on, hermano, try the move again." Panchito encouraged. Donald just groaned and let himself flop down on the ground. He didn't see the point in getting up when he knew that he was just going to be thrown back down to the ground again.
"But I'm tired." Donald glared at Panchito in exhaustion. "Why do you want to teach me mucho libro anyway?"
Panchito laughed out. "It's called lucha libre." Panchito had said as much nearly a dozen times, but Donald just didn't care enough about it to remember the proper name. "And you learn because it's fun."
Donald sat up and rubbed his sore tail feathers to try to get some feeling back in them. "I know it's boring down here, really, I do, but there are better ways to pass the time. Ways that won't break my tailbone."
"You won't break your tailbone." Panchito scoffed. "A leg, maybe." Donald hated it when Panchito talked like that. It was impossible to tell if he was being serious or not. "Do you want to try again?"
"Ugh," Donald groaned a whine. "No more."
If Panchito was disappointed, he didn't show it. "Okay, hermano."
Donald rolled his eyes. "What does that mean anyway? Hermano."
Panchito sat down next to him. "In English it means, uh, brother."
Donald tilted his head and looked at Panchito in confusion. "We're not brothers."
Panchito's constant grin fell away to a more cautious, concerned look. "You said your, uh, good grandpa?"
Donald snicked. "Great-grandpa." Donald corrected him. "He's my dad's grandpa."
"Oh," Panchito nodded in understanding. "Bisabuelo."
"Sure," Donald said, though he didn't understand the word himself. He just assumed that 'bisabuelo' meant great-grandpa.
"Okay, so you said your, uh, bisabuelo gave you the amulet, yes?" Panchito began.
"Yes." Donald nodded, wondering where Panchito was going with this.
"And he got it from the first caballo, right?" Panchito asked. Donald nodded in response, feeling slightly impatient. What was with all the questions? "What did your bisabuelo tell you about the other caballeros?"
Donald frowned slightly and tried to remember what Great-grandpa Coot had told him about the other caballeros. He had been frustratingly vague about it. "He just said they were brothers...oh." Donald hadn't even considered that if the original caballeros had been brothers, then the new caballeros might be too.
"If you don't want us to be brothers…" Panchito began almost shyly, but Donald cut him off.
"Hey, if you want to call me hermano, go ahead." Donald said. He himself didn't understand how somebody could call someone they weren't related to and barely even knew a 'brother', but if it made Panchito feel better than Donald didn't see the problem with it.
Panchito looked so relieved that Donald was glad he had given him permission. "Gracias, amigo." And now Panchito was back to calling him a friend. Was the title of 'hermano' just going to be a sometimes thing? Was there going to be a significant difference between 'hermano' and 'amigo', or were they just two different terms that meant basically the same thing in terms of how they were used?
Donald remembered hearing once that English was the hardest language to learn, but it wasn't like Spanish was a walk in the park to learn.
The two boys flinched when the secret entrance at the top of the spiral stairs opened up. Sheldgoose didn't come down very often. After Sheldgoose and Felldrake had left Donald on his own for nearly a month and had learned that Felldrake's magic would keep him alive, even without food, they had stopped bringing him food unless they had to.
It was a little scary to be left alone for so long without food, but Donald wasn't going to complain. His fear and distrust of Felldrake and Sheldgoose was worse than the unease he felt about not having food. Sheldgoose only came down with food once every three days, just to be safe. Because they had gotten food yesterday, Donald knew that Sheldgoose had to be bringing them food because he was about to leave with Felldrake on one of their schemes, and they wanted to be sure that Donald and Panchito had something to eat as soon before they left as possible.
Sure enough, as Sheldgoose came down the stairs Donald saw that he was wearing that ridiculous robe again. He didn't understand why Felldrake insisted he wore it, but Donald had a lot of fun teasing him for it. "Is it Halloween already?" Donald hadn't always been really sarcastic but spending so much time with Panchito was rubbing off on him.
Panchito looked at Donald in slight awe. "You think he looks like going to a costume party too?"
Sheldgoose was not amused. "Laugh it up you two. You won't be laughing when Lord Felldrake's plan finally gets realized."
"If." Donald fake coughed.
Panchito tilted his head. "Your lord might have an easier time realizing his plans when he realizes why they never work."
Donald raised an impressed eyebrow at his friend. "Nice word play." Once again, Panchito's delivery had been completely neutral, and it was hard to tell just by his tone alone if he was being serious or not. Donald knew that he was just messing around though.
"Gracias." Panchito grinned. He was really proud on his progress of the English language.
"You-you…" Sheldgoose looked like he wanted to shout at them, but his words were getting caught in his throat.
"Us?" Panchito asked innocently. That was Sheldgoose's breaking point.
"Listen here, boy," Sheldgoose dropped the plate of sandwiches and stormed over to them. He grabbed the front of Panchito's jacket and lifted him so that his feet were just barely grazing the ground. "I wouldn't mess with me if I were you."
"Or what?" Donald got to his feet and glared in defiance at Sheldgoose. He was fairly confident that the man wouldn't hurt them, as aside from pushing Panchito down the stairs he hadn't done anything to them yet. "You'll kidnap us? Lock us up? You've already done that."
Sheldgoose turned his gaze to Donald, who refused to back down, though he was beginning to feel a little nervous. "Felldrake may be biding his time to deal with you two, but he has no such qualms about your families."
Donald felt his legs go weak and he couldn't help but take a step back from Sheldgoose. On his own, Sheldgoose just wasn't an intimidating game, which was why Donald had been so defiant. When he wore that cloak with the hood that covered his eyes, and spoke in a tone that sounded so much more like Felldrake though, he was kinda scary, and Donald couldn't help but take his threat seriously.
Panchito also seemed to realize that Sheldgoose's threat was a real one, but unlike Donald he didn't react by backing down. "Leave our families alone!" Panchito swung his dangling feet and wrapped his legs around Sheldgoose's arm. What happened next happened so quickly that it seemed like a blur to Donald. One second Sheldgoose was holding Panchito in the air, the next Panchito was safely on his feet and Sheldgoose was on the ground unconscious.
Panchito looked as stunned as Donald felt. "What just happened?"
"It looks like your lucha libre came in handy afterall." Now that Donald had seen how useful the strangely acrobatic form of wrestling could be, he made a point to remember what it was called. Maybe he would start paying attention when Panchito tried to teach him how to wrestle like he did, but that would have to wait until later. At that moment, a window of opportunity had just opened up for them.
"Look." Donald nudged Panchito's arm and gestured to the top of the stairs. Sheldgoose hadn't closed the secret entrance. "Now's our chance."
Panchito took Donald's hand and the two of them scurried up the stairs. They didn't know how long Sheldgoose would be down, or if Leopold would be up there waiting to stop them, but they had to at least try to escape.
Donald was beginning to feel fairly confident about their getaway when he was stopped in his tracks so quickly that it forced the breath right out of him. Panchito, who hadn't faced any such problems, yelped in shock when his hand was pulled away from Donald's.
"What are you doing?" Panchito asked. He was already in the study, but Donald couldn't get past the stairs.
"I can't get up." Donald tried to push his way up, but it felt like his chest was hitting a barrier or something. He could get his head and hands past the floor, but his chest wouldn't move. He immediately knew that Felldrake's magic had something to do with this, but he didn't understand why it just stopped his chest, and hadn't affected Panchito at all.
"What are we going to do?" Panchito asked anxiously.
Donald looked behind him and frowned. They were wasting time. "...you need to go."
"W-what?" Panchito looked a little sick at Donald's words. The young duck turned and looked at him firmly.
"We don't know how long we have. If you can get out of here, you need to go."
"I won't just leave you." Panchito insisted, but Donald was just as determined as he was.
"If you get out, you can get help," Donald said reasonably. Panchito still looked incredibly conflicted. "Look, Duckburg's not far from here. Go there and find Scrooge McDuck. He's my uncle. He can help us." Donald knew that Great-Grandpa Coot lived just next door, but he also knew that his great-grandpa wasn't always home. And if Panchito was going to be getting away from their captors, it wouldn't be smart for him to stay so close. Especially if there wasn't any guarantee that he would find help.
"...But-" Panchito trailed off, because he knew that Donald was right, he just didn't like it.
"Just get out of here." Donald growled slightly. "I'll be fine." Panchito fiddled his fingers and he looked extremely hesitant, but he did as Donald said and ran right out of there. Donald was relieved, but we he watched Panchito leave without him he felt his chest tighten in a way that had nothing to do with Felldrake's magic.
Donald sat down on the steps and drew his legs to his chest. "I'll be fine."
Panchito whimpered as he ran as quickly as he could. He didn't even know where he was going. He just knew that he had to hurry. He ran as though there was somebody following right behind him, because for all he knew somebody was. He didn't let himself worry about what might have stopped Donald, or what Felldrake and Sheldgoose might do to punish Donald because Panchito had escaped. All the young rooster could allow himself to think about was getting away from danger as quickly as he could.
Panchito was safely able to make his way outside and he immediately shuddered when he felt chilly night air and cold rain hit him.
"Hace muy frío." Panchito shivered and wrapped his arms tightly around himself. He wasn't used to chilly weather, as it didn't get all that cold where he lived in Mexico. He couldn't stay put and warm himself up though. He had to get going.
Panchito continued running. He didn't know where he was going, he just knew that he needed to be anywhere rather than where he was. Panchito began to run down the streets. He didn't bother paying attention to where he was going, his main goal was just to go as quickly as he could.
Panchito ran as long as he could before he was so out of breath that he was forced to stop. Panchito felt his legs give out beneath him and he just collapsed on the sidewalk. Panchito tried to gasp for breath, but it wasn't coming easily to him.
As Panchito tried to catch his breath he looked around and tried to figure out where he was. He didn't recognize any of his surroundings, and he was beginning to realize just how much trouble he was in. How was he supposed to get to Duckburg if he didn't even know where he was?
Panchito wished that he had paid attention to where he was going. He felt like he had just run around in circles, but because he hadn't bothered to notice his surroundings when he had started, he really had no way of telling.
Panchito groaned and crawled over to the the grass next to where he had collapsed and he just laid down right on top of it. The wet grass and feeling of rain hitting him felt surprisingly nice. Panchito closed his eyes and just let the rain soak him. He knew that he should be going, that it might not be safe to stay in one place for so long, but he was just so tired. If he could just rest here for a few minutes, he would be fine.
"Hey, are you okay?" A little girl's voice said from just above him. Panchito opened his eyes and was surprised when he saw a familiar but still unfamiliar face leaning over him.
¿Quién eres...quién…" Panchito blinked as he reminded himself that the girl probably just spoke English. "Who are you?"
The girl took his hand and pulled him into a sitting position. "I'm Della." Della. Panchito felt like he should know that name, but it just wasn't coming to him. "Are you okay? What are you doing out here in the middle of the storm?"
"Yo...I had to...to…" Panchito blinked. He couldn't think of what to say, not just in English, but in Spanish as well. He just couldn't think.
Della smiled gently and pulled Panchito to his feet. You're going to get yourself sick if you stay out here. Why don't you come inside with me? My Great-Grandpa is making some hot chocolate."
Panchito knew that he shouldn't be wasting time, that he needed to go find Donald's family in Duckburg, but maybe Della and her bisabuelo could help him get there.
Besides, it would feel really nice to warm up a little bit, just for a few minutes.