The Cathach

Chapter 13

All right, here's the next Chapter, after suffering setbacks from Fanfiction.net's breakdown, a crashing Fujitsu and writer's block. Usual Warnings, usual disclaimer.

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The first thought that entered Duo's head when he came to was that he had a headache. The second was that he was moving. The third was that someone was holding him. With tremendous effort he opened his eyes to see the owner of the strong arms that enveloped him…Heero?

Sure enough, he was half-sitting, half-lying across Wing in Heero's arms. What the heck was going on? He opened his mouth to ask for an explanation, but his query came out less articulate than he had hoped.

" Whaaaa…..?"

Heero called out to the others, which sounded like a foghorn in Duo's battered mind. Heero lifted the injured faerie off of the horse with surprising gentleness and laid him down in a clump of soft grass. Duo stared at the sky, it was dark but with the first light fingers of dawn approaching them. He thought it was strange, before he had closed his eyes it had just about turned noon…

Before he had closed his eyes?

Quatre!

An image of the griffon carrying off his friend fired its way into Duo's mind. He sat up abruptly, ignoring the pain in his head, and looked around for the Alicorn. The entire sequence of events re-enacted itself in the faerie's brain when he realised that Quatre wasn't there. The expressions on the faces of the other soldiers confirmed what had happened. Wufei looked grim and Trowa looked shattered. Heero was staring at Duo solemnly.

" Lie down. You need to rest."

" Go to hell, Heero. Why aren't we looking for Quatre?"

Heero leaned over him and spoke softly.

" Quatre's dead. We found the evidence."

" Where?"

" On the wasteland, where we found you."

" No, he's not dead! I saw them! They carried him off to Tara!"

" Duo…"

" I'd know it if he was dead, Heero! He's alive, I can feel it!"

Trowa got up and walked over to Duo. His face held no emotion, but there was pain in his eyes.

" Tell us what happened."

Duo took a deep breath, closed his eyes and began.

" We were just flying there, and I heard a noise, and when I turned around, there was a griffon coming after us. I tried attacking it, but my spells didn't work against it. Then Quatre tried to escape it, but a whole bunch of 'em came out of nowhere and ganged up on us! Then he got himself injured and…"

He stopped to swallow the lump in his throat.

"…he threw me off of his back before they knocked him out. The last thing I saw was one of them picking him up and flying off towards Tara."

Heero seemed to be deep in thought as he stared in the direction of the town. Finally, he turned to Duo.

" Are you certain that he's alive?"

" I know it!"

" Fine then. We hide out in Tara for a few days, infiltrate the castle and see what we can find. We won't go for Treize until we find out what's happened to Quatre."

Duo nodded gratefully, and Trowa looked relieved. Heero loaded the injured faerie back onto Wing and nodded to the other two.

" Let's move out."

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The largest griffon, the one with the bat's wings , sniffed at the unconscious Alicorn's back legs as another, the one with dirty feathered wings, lapped at the blood that trickled from his face. Treize tried to ignore them, but it was difficult. The sooner Une got rid of them, the better. Whatever they had planned for the immortal, it would certainly be better than leaving him to those savage creatures.

Finally, Une entered the chamber with a large sack.

" So brief me on our plans, Lady Une."

" Certainly, sir. I will combine the corrupted soul of a demon with the life force of the immortal. If it works, you will have a number of demons with much more power than their predecessors who will obey your commands without hesitation."

" Straight to the point, Lady. Very good. How many demons will you be able to take from it?"

" It's very young, sir. I'd say six or seven at the most."

" Excellent. That's plenty. What about the souls, who shall you be getting them from?"

She gestured towards the griffons, and Treize smiled. He'd be glad to get rid of them.

" Wonderful, Lady Une. I'll let you get to work."

Treize left the chamber and went upstairs. On his way to his personal quarters, he encountered his right hand man, Zechs Marquise, who had just marched his troops back home after the battle at Glendalough.

" Good evening, Zechs. I heard the battle was a success."

" It was, your Majesty."

" No need for such formalities between us, my friend. All of the opposing troops were killed?"

" All but four."

" Four? This is disturbing news."

" It's not worth worrying over, Treize."

" It takes one man to rule a kingdom, Zechs. It takes another to make trouble for that man. Four men could cause a lot of trouble for me. Have minute guards stationed all over the castle."

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The griffons looked up at the eerie sound of lady Une's voice, chanting a spell from a thick book. A sense of terror spread through the group as they chattered uneasily. The nervous chatters became horrified shrieks as five of the griffons suddenly exploded into white flames. The remaining seven felt their skin and bones crumble around them, leaving nothing but their sludgy black spirits, which they were unable to move.

The Alicorn, heavily drugged, was suspended by chains above a pool of water. One of the souls was dragged by some unseen force into the pool and held still while Lady Une removed the bodies of a pig, a dog and a goat from her sack. With a long knife, she slit the throats of the animals and drained the blood into the pool. The blood seemed to take on a life of its own, throbbing and pulsing it covered the griffon's soul. With the same knife, Une made a small incision into the neck of the Alicorn and allowed the blood to drip into the pool. Likewise, she carved of a section of Quatre's horn and plucked three feathers from his wings, and added these to the mixture.

The pool glowed first a deep crimson, then shining gold, and then obsidian black. Something stirred from the depths, and then the water drained away to reveal a new creature. It resembled a horse, with huge metallic hooves and a bloody red mane and tail. Its body was thick and muscled, and covered with coarse black fur. Two bat's wings sprouted from its back, and a hagged metal horn jutted out between it's fiery red eyes.

Smiling, Une patted its back as if it were a puppy, then prepared the pool for the next soul.