First off I would like to apologize for the long wait..school and stuff has
kept me really really really really *really* busy.I was going to do this
chapter over Thanksgiving break, but we went out of town and I had no
time..so here it is the long awaited chapter 16...hopefully there will be
another chapter soon.
Duo and the Desert by Travaria
Part 16
The blacksmith approached Duo and his guards slowly; he was almost as large as said guards were, almost. The smith had what appeared to be shackles made out of a silvery metal in his hands. Duo studied the shackles intently, they confused him, and he couldn't find any type of locking mechanism anywhere on them. They appeared to be simple bands of that silvery metal that had thick steel rings welded onto them (to connect the chains to). What was going on?
"This is the boy?" the smith asked gruffly. Duo didn't recognize him, he must have been one of Zechs's, a good thing to, Duo would hate to think that his own people would do things like this to him. Duo's guards nodded in reply to the smith's question. Duo began to wonder if they were mute or something, they hadn't made any noise yet. The smith led them all to his workshop.
Once the smith had Duo and his guards inside his shop he instructed the guards to release Duo's arms so that he could apply the shackles. The guards carefully untied only his arms, so that the smith had the access he needed, but also so that Duo had as little ability to escape as possible. The smith grabbed Duo's right arm and pulled it closer to the fire, the guard on the left held Duo's other arm firmly in his giant hand. The smith then bent one of the strips of metal until it wrapped around Duo's wrist, the metal band was loose enough to allow his writs some growing room, but also tight enough that he wouldn't be able to slip it off. However, the two ends of the band still weren't connected, and they didn't seem to have any way to be connected. Then, in a flash of dreadful understanding Duo realized just how they were going to connect the two ends. His realization was soon followed by the action as the smith began to weld the two ends together. It burned, a lot, Duo felt as if his entire arm was on fire, not just a line on his wrist. The pain only increased, Duo forced himself to look away from his wrist as a pained scream tore from his throat. By the time Duo first shackle was completed he was soaked with sweat and trembling, his throat was hoarse from his screams. He was exhausted, and they still had the other shackle to do. The smith grabbed Duo's other are, and began the process again. Duo passed out before he could even begin.
When Duo woke up he was in a small cell. It was dark and damp and cold. For the first several minutes, all he could feel was the pain of his wrists. Once he had managed to push the pain out of his mind, he got a good look at his new position. He had been placed in a tiny cell, there was barely enough room for him to lie down. There was no windows, or bars. The only source of air was a tiny grating near the floor; the placement and size of the grating lead him to a conclusion that he was in a hidden cell. Someone had laid him on a pitiful pile of blankets on the floor, they wouldn't do much against the cold, but it would be better than nothing. Duo tried to stand up to drag the blankets out from under him; however, he couldn't stand all the way up. They had connected a short chain from the floor to his wrists; it was too short for him to even stand upright. He had absolutely no means with which to escape. His only hope was that Heero would come and be able to find him.
********
"Well Treize, I believe that you handled those foolish soldiers rather well," Zechs complimented Treize airily.
"We can only hope that no one at Magaunac was able to find Shalen," Treize growled, he was still very upset about his soldiers' mistake.
"Why should they care if Shalen was there and the little Maxwell boy wasn't. It should have nothing to do with them," Zechs replied.
"True, it *shouldn't*, but the Winner boy is extremely stubborn and if he was hiding little Duo once, whose to say he won't come looking for him too. Oh well, I suppose there is no use in worrying, if they do show up here they will have no reason to be in your estate, and even if they get in here, Duo is hidden well enough that they wouldn't be able to find him," Treize added.
"Exactly. Now, why don't we go see about dinner," Zechs said, ending the conversation in favor of his stomach.
********
"There it is Heero, we still have to get through the lower city, but we're almost there," Quatre informed his general. Heero nodded and spurred his horse into a slow trot, he would have gone faster, but even in the dwindling daylight the streets were far too crowded to move as fast as Heero wanted to move.
Heero could hardly believe that their journey was almost over, it had seemed like it would last forever. It had seemed like he would never see his beautiful Duo again. But, he would see Duo again, and soon too. They were almost there. Treize would pay for taking his beloved koi away so soon after he had found love in the fiery boy. Oh yes, Treize would most definitely pay. Heero watched as Duo's former home and his current prison drew closer and closer, they were almost there.
"Umm, Heero. I know that you aren't going to like this, but we're going to have to stop," Quatre informed Heero cautiously. Heero turned towards him and shot him a deadly glare. Trowa quickly moved in between the two of them, just in case Heero got a little out of control. Wufei moved up to Heero's other side.
"He's right you know, Heero," Wufei began. Instantly the glare was focused on the Chinese youth, however Wufei ignored it and continued speaking. "As much fun as it would be to storm into the estate, capture Treize and Zechs, and demand that they return Duo to us, we would probably be caught and lose any hope of retrieving Duo. We need to stop and get some sort of plan together." Heero continued glaring, but he did recognize the sense in this idea, so he gave Wufei a slight nod and turned his horse towards a near by inn/tavern, the other three followed him.
"We'll plan in here. We might as well get a good meal while we plan, we could use one," Heero explained to the others while he vaulted off of Wing and secured the stallion to a post. The others followed suit. In no time at all their five horses were secured and the four of them were entering the comfortable looking tavern, the sun set just as they entered. Once inside, they immediately headed towards a shadowed booth in the back of the tavern. One of the many servers attempted to stop them and lead them to a different table, but one glare from Heero convinced her to leave them be. They arranged themselves in the booth, Wufei and Heero on one side, Quatre and Trowa on the other, and they waited for a server to come to them. With in a few short minutes a man came to take their orders, Quatre recognized him instantly.
"Dairenis? Is that you?" Quatre asked in shock.
"Master Quatre?! What are you doing here?" Dairenis answered with his own question.
"I knew it was you! But what are you doing here? Wait never mind, that's a stupid question," Quatre babbled.
"Master Quatre if you are here to see Master Duo I'm afraid you are too late, Lord Marquise took over his lands weeks ago," Dairenis informed them regretfully.
"On the contrary, Dairenis, we are here just in time to see Duo," Quatre replied. Dairenis was clearly confused, so Quatre quickly related the whole story to him. "You see, Duo came looking for me, but was captured by Treize, but he managed to escape and was lucky enough to be found by my general, Heero," Quatre began, gesturing at Heero.
"However, Treize sent his men looking for Duo, we thought that we had tricked them into thinking he wasn't within my settlement, but we were wrong, and soon the men returned secretly and kidnapped him. We've been following them ever since, and we've determined that Duo, Zechs, and Treize are all in Duo's former estate. The only problem is that we need some sort of plan in order to get him out since Treize has undoubtedly hidden him and that place is filled with hidden passages, rooms, and cells." Dairenis was alarmed by his former employer's capture, but he was also relieved that Duo would be rescued and kept safe.
"Quatre, we don't have time for this," Heero snapped, clearly impatient to get going.
"I'm afraid Heero's right, we really don't have time to talk to you Dairenis, we need to plan our next course of action," Quatre said apologetically.
"Why don't I get you some food, and then perhaps I could help you plan? I don't know how useful I would be, but I would really like to be able to help," Dairenis replied.
"That sounds like a great idea," Quatre answered with a smile. Dairenis nodded and quickly went to get them food.
********
Duo sat in his cell. Truthfully there really wasn't much else he *could* do. The poor braided boy almost hoped that Treize would just do something already, at least the wait would have been over then. But then again, the last thing he wanted was for Treize to do something to him, maybe the wait wasn't that bad after all. Then Duo's stomach decided that it was about time it reminded him that he hadn't had a single thing to eat since he had been captured. They had, of course, given him plenty of water so that he wouldn't, oh say *die* on the way to Treize, but they had completely neglected to feed him. Duo curled even tighter around himself, he was cold and he *hurt*. He just wanted Heero to come and save him. He just wanted to go back home and be with his beloved. That was all he wanted all he needed. He just had to hold on until Heero came to save him. He would be here soon.
********
They were leaving the tavern. With Dairenis's help they had formulated a good plan. It wasn't perfect, but if it didn't work then there was always plan B. Plan B consisting mainly of Heero killing the worthless bastards and ordering the guards to bring him to Duo. Heero quickly mounted Wing and looked up at the sky. 'Soon Duo. Soon you will be free, I promise you that,' Heero swore to the stars. He would not fail his love; he could not fail his love. Duo *would* be free.
Duo and the Desert by Travaria
Part 16
The blacksmith approached Duo and his guards slowly; he was almost as large as said guards were, almost. The smith had what appeared to be shackles made out of a silvery metal in his hands. Duo studied the shackles intently, they confused him, and he couldn't find any type of locking mechanism anywhere on them. They appeared to be simple bands of that silvery metal that had thick steel rings welded onto them (to connect the chains to). What was going on?
"This is the boy?" the smith asked gruffly. Duo didn't recognize him, he must have been one of Zechs's, a good thing to, Duo would hate to think that his own people would do things like this to him. Duo's guards nodded in reply to the smith's question. Duo began to wonder if they were mute or something, they hadn't made any noise yet. The smith led them all to his workshop.
Once the smith had Duo and his guards inside his shop he instructed the guards to release Duo's arms so that he could apply the shackles. The guards carefully untied only his arms, so that the smith had the access he needed, but also so that Duo had as little ability to escape as possible. The smith grabbed Duo's right arm and pulled it closer to the fire, the guard on the left held Duo's other arm firmly in his giant hand. The smith then bent one of the strips of metal until it wrapped around Duo's wrist, the metal band was loose enough to allow his writs some growing room, but also tight enough that he wouldn't be able to slip it off. However, the two ends of the band still weren't connected, and they didn't seem to have any way to be connected. Then, in a flash of dreadful understanding Duo realized just how they were going to connect the two ends. His realization was soon followed by the action as the smith began to weld the two ends together. It burned, a lot, Duo felt as if his entire arm was on fire, not just a line on his wrist. The pain only increased, Duo forced himself to look away from his wrist as a pained scream tore from his throat. By the time Duo first shackle was completed he was soaked with sweat and trembling, his throat was hoarse from his screams. He was exhausted, and they still had the other shackle to do. The smith grabbed Duo's other are, and began the process again. Duo passed out before he could even begin.
When Duo woke up he was in a small cell. It was dark and damp and cold. For the first several minutes, all he could feel was the pain of his wrists. Once he had managed to push the pain out of his mind, he got a good look at his new position. He had been placed in a tiny cell, there was barely enough room for him to lie down. There was no windows, or bars. The only source of air was a tiny grating near the floor; the placement and size of the grating lead him to a conclusion that he was in a hidden cell. Someone had laid him on a pitiful pile of blankets on the floor, they wouldn't do much against the cold, but it would be better than nothing. Duo tried to stand up to drag the blankets out from under him; however, he couldn't stand all the way up. They had connected a short chain from the floor to his wrists; it was too short for him to even stand upright. He had absolutely no means with which to escape. His only hope was that Heero would come and be able to find him.
********
"Well Treize, I believe that you handled those foolish soldiers rather well," Zechs complimented Treize airily.
"We can only hope that no one at Magaunac was able to find Shalen," Treize growled, he was still very upset about his soldiers' mistake.
"Why should they care if Shalen was there and the little Maxwell boy wasn't. It should have nothing to do with them," Zechs replied.
"True, it *shouldn't*, but the Winner boy is extremely stubborn and if he was hiding little Duo once, whose to say he won't come looking for him too. Oh well, I suppose there is no use in worrying, if they do show up here they will have no reason to be in your estate, and even if they get in here, Duo is hidden well enough that they wouldn't be able to find him," Treize added.
"Exactly. Now, why don't we go see about dinner," Zechs said, ending the conversation in favor of his stomach.
********
"There it is Heero, we still have to get through the lower city, but we're almost there," Quatre informed his general. Heero nodded and spurred his horse into a slow trot, he would have gone faster, but even in the dwindling daylight the streets were far too crowded to move as fast as Heero wanted to move.
Heero could hardly believe that their journey was almost over, it had seemed like it would last forever. It had seemed like he would never see his beautiful Duo again. But, he would see Duo again, and soon too. They were almost there. Treize would pay for taking his beloved koi away so soon after he had found love in the fiery boy. Oh yes, Treize would most definitely pay. Heero watched as Duo's former home and his current prison drew closer and closer, they were almost there.
"Umm, Heero. I know that you aren't going to like this, but we're going to have to stop," Quatre informed Heero cautiously. Heero turned towards him and shot him a deadly glare. Trowa quickly moved in between the two of them, just in case Heero got a little out of control. Wufei moved up to Heero's other side.
"He's right you know, Heero," Wufei began. Instantly the glare was focused on the Chinese youth, however Wufei ignored it and continued speaking. "As much fun as it would be to storm into the estate, capture Treize and Zechs, and demand that they return Duo to us, we would probably be caught and lose any hope of retrieving Duo. We need to stop and get some sort of plan together." Heero continued glaring, but he did recognize the sense in this idea, so he gave Wufei a slight nod and turned his horse towards a near by inn/tavern, the other three followed him.
"We'll plan in here. We might as well get a good meal while we plan, we could use one," Heero explained to the others while he vaulted off of Wing and secured the stallion to a post. The others followed suit. In no time at all their five horses were secured and the four of them were entering the comfortable looking tavern, the sun set just as they entered. Once inside, they immediately headed towards a shadowed booth in the back of the tavern. One of the many servers attempted to stop them and lead them to a different table, but one glare from Heero convinced her to leave them be. They arranged themselves in the booth, Wufei and Heero on one side, Quatre and Trowa on the other, and they waited for a server to come to them. With in a few short minutes a man came to take their orders, Quatre recognized him instantly.
"Dairenis? Is that you?" Quatre asked in shock.
"Master Quatre?! What are you doing here?" Dairenis answered with his own question.
"I knew it was you! But what are you doing here? Wait never mind, that's a stupid question," Quatre babbled.
"Master Quatre if you are here to see Master Duo I'm afraid you are too late, Lord Marquise took over his lands weeks ago," Dairenis informed them regretfully.
"On the contrary, Dairenis, we are here just in time to see Duo," Quatre replied. Dairenis was clearly confused, so Quatre quickly related the whole story to him. "You see, Duo came looking for me, but was captured by Treize, but he managed to escape and was lucky enough to be found by my general, Heero," Quatre began, gesturing at Heero.
"However, Treize sent his men looking for Duo, we thought that we had tricked them into thinking he wasn't within my settlement, but we were wrong, and soon the men returned secretly and kidnapped him. We've been following them ever since, and we've determined that Duo, Zechs, and Treize are all in Duo's former estate. The only problem is that we need some sort of plan in order to get him out since Treize has undoubtedly hidden him and that place is filled with hidden passages, rooms, and cells." Dairenis was alarmed by his former employer's capture, but he was also relieved that Duo would be rescued and kept safe.
"Quatre, we don't have time for this," Heero snapped, clearly impatient to get going.
"I'm afraid Heero's right, we really don't have time to talk to you Dairenis, we need to plan our next course of action," Quatre said apologetically.
"Why don't I get you some food, and then perhaps I could help you plan? I don't know how useful I would be, but I would really like to be able to help," Dairenis replied.
"That sounds like a great idea," Quatre answered with a smile. Dairenis nodded and quickly went to get them food.
********
Duo sat in his cell. Truthfully there really wasn't much else he *could* do. The poor braided boy almost hoped that Treize would just do something already, at least the wait would have been over then. But then again, the last thing he wanted was for Treize to do something to him, maybe the wait wasn't that bad after all. Then Duo's stomach decided that it was about time it reminded him that he hadn't had a single thing to eat since he had been captured. They had, of course, given him plenty of water so that he wouldn't, oh say *die* on the way to Treize, but they had completely neglected to feed him. Duo curled even tighter around himself, he was cold and he *hurt*. He just wanted Heero to come and save him. He just wanted to go back home and be with his beloved. That was all he wanted all he needed. He just had to hold on until Heero came to save him. He would be here soon.
********
They were leaving the tavern. With Dairenis's help they had formulated a good plan. It wasn't perfect, but if it didn't work then there was always plan B. Plan B consisting mainly of Heero killing the worthless bastards and ordering the guards to bring him to Duo. Heero quickly mounted Wing and looked up at the sky. 'Soon Duo. Soon you will be free, I promise you that,' Heero swore to the stars. He would not fail his love; he could not fail his love. Duo *would* be free.