Mars Colony
Shamara didn't know where she was going, but she continued to push blindly through the forest brush. When she had started off on this foolish quest to find and help Dagan, the sun had still lit the sky, but now she could barely see from the light of the two small moons. Where was Dagan? Why couldn't she contact him?
She stopped once again and closed her eyes, but no amount of concentration brought him to her. "Dagan! Why won't you answer me? I know you can hear me!" Shamara wasn't sure he could hear her, but if Dagan could reach her in a trance of his own will, then certainly she should be able to communicate with him. But there was no answer to her calls, so she could only conclude that he was refusing to answer.
About ready to turn back in failure, Shamara heard something in the distance that made her stop. Was that the call of a wolf? There were no wolves on Mars Colony! Yet she heard the howl again, and this time it was accompanied by the screech of an eagle, so Shamara knew that she had entered a trance and that Dagan was in danger!
"Princess!"
She spun around. "Taeron! What are you doing here in my trance?"
Taeron was holding his sword. "I don't know what you are talking about. I have come from the village where the healer was taken prisoner by the fiend Winner, and he has sent my brother to the mine."
Shamara blinked as she stared at him. She reached out to pinch him.
"Youch! Why did you do that?" Taeron was frowning as he rubbed his cheek.
"I wanted to know if you were real."
He grabbed her arm. "Let us continue in this direction. There should be a mine up ahead."
She heard the wolf again, but Taeron didn't seem to notice the call although they were headed toward the sound. The eagle was flying overhead, and when Taeron almost took a wrong turn, she pointed it out, but he claimed to see nothing in the sky.
"But I will trust your powers, princess."
They continued up a rise that overlooked a small canyon. The area was lighted, and Shamara saw dozens of men being held captive by guards carrying guns.
"I don't see Dagan," said Shamara.
Taeron shoved her down. "Don't let them see you, and we will have an advantage."
"We already have an advantage. You."
He smiled at her. "So, you think I am worthy to by Amyr's imperial guard?"
She smacked his arm. "You are my imperial guard right now, Taeron. And if we don't rescue Prince Dagan, I'll see that it stays that way."
Taeron frowned as he turned his attention back to the men in the valley. "There appear to be only two dozen guards. But I do not trust that giant standing in front of the cave entrance."
Shamara shuddered as she looked at the huge man shouting orders to his men. There was something sinister about him, but she didn't know exactly what it was. She was sure that he was not what he appeared to be. Although the lights were bright outside the mine, Shamara did not see Dagan.
Suddenly half a dozen motorcycles drove into the canyon and one came to a stop to dump a body at his feet. "My brother!" hissed Taeron next to her. He started to get up, but Shamara grabbed his arm.
"There are too many! You will get yourself killed and what good will you be to Stryfe then?" Shamara could feel Taeron's intense emotions. For so long he had worked hard to gain Lord Duo's approval, and now he feared he would lose it if he could not save his brother's life.
"There's Dagan!"
She quickly turned her attention back to the canyon where she saw Dagan approaching the huge man at the cave who was hauling Stryfe to his feet.
"Wizard! Where have you been?" shouted the man.
"Let him go, Magnar!"
"And if I don't?" He shook Stryfe around like a rag doll. Stryfe seemed barely conscious, and Shamara could see that he had been severely beaten.
"You will release him and all these innocent men!"
The man called Magnar flung Stryfe into the black cavern, then turned around to face Dagan. Dagan had put up his hands and Shamara could feel the energy he was drawing into him to use against Magnar. "I cannot allow you to harm these people, Magnar."
"A little late for scruples, isn't it Kael?"
"My name is Dagan, Prince of Bayman. Tell your men to stand down and let the prisoners return to their homes."
Magnar drew a huge weapon befitting his stature. "Come forth, Dagan, Prince of Bayman, and meet the edge of my blade."
"Silly," muttered Shamara. "He can burn that beast to cinders."
But to her dismay, Dagan drew his own sword, which looked like a toothpick compared to Magnar's weapon. "I will fight you on your terms, Magnar the Cruel, and I will avenge all those you have sent to your death."
"Idiot!" Shamara tried to get up, but now Taeron grabbed her arm.
"You must let him fight, princess. If you try to save him now, you will dishonor him."
"I would rather he be dishonored than dead." But Shamara knew that Taeron was right. Dagan seemed to be determined to defeat the man on his terms. Surely he had the sense to fall back on his powers if he were in mortal danger, and if he did not, dishonor or not, Shamara would intervene.
Shamara was so intent upon the scene below that she hadn't realized Taeron had gone until she saw him lurking behind Magnar. Magnar lifted his sword and swung it at Dagan who jumped back barely in time to avoid a blow to his midsection that would have sliced him neatly in half. Shamara gasped and inched forward. Dagan sidestepped another swipe of the huge sword and Shamara cringed when he swung his own at Magnar. Magnar was able to raise his sword and the meeting of the two blades made a terrible clang. Dagan stumbled back, visibly shaken. Shamara doubted he had ever crossed swords in real combat and now he was fighting against a superior opponent who would give even Taeron a difficult workout.
She thought Taeron was going to help Dagan by clubbing the beast Magnar from the back, but he ducked into the cave. He should be helping Dagan! Then again, a roar from the cave made her fear for Stryfe now as she realized the boreworms were nearby. The ground itself was rumbling and while Dagan tried to keep his balance, Magnar threw back his head in mocking laughter.
"I am going to kill you now, wizard. I'd feed you to the boreworms, but they might spit you back out." He swung his sword in a wide arc down at Dagan who threw up his own to defend himself. The blade bent inward until Shamara heard it snap. She couldn't sit by any longer and watch him be slaughtered.
With a running start, she jumped off the cliff edge, flipped in the air and came down between Dagan and Magnar just as he was bringing down his sword to end Dagan's life. She threw up her own short sword in time to stop the blow. Shamara had taken many hits in her training, so she was well prepared by the force of his deathblow, and her blade of imperial alloy held firm against his. Sparks flew from the meeting of the metal in a blinding array, and Shamara used the opportunity to knock Magnar back.
She turned her head to glance at Dagan. "Get up, you fool, and use your powers."
Magnar regained his balance and brought up his sword to wave in front of Shamara's face. "So, you have come to protect him. I thought I might drive you into the open."
Shamara looked back at Dagan and saw that he was wounded. He was having difficulty rising. "Dagan?"
His breathing was heavy. "Princess, what took you so long?"
Shamara would kick Taeron in the backside if a boreworm hadn't already consumed him. Concerned about dishonor? Indeed not! Dagan was considerably lacking in pride where his fighting skills were concerned. Truly, Avar was going to be the laughing stock of the galaxy when it became known that Dagan defeated him.
"Come now, princess." Magnar was beckoning to her. "There are things I would rather stick you with, but if it must be my sword, then so be it."
Shamara ran at him, and when he would have hacked her down, she dived into a somersault and came up under his guard. She did not think twice about ramming her own blade between his ribs and into his huge beating heart. The look of surprise on his face was gradually replaced by a menacing smile, and then he fell back dead.
She stood up and slapped dust from her clothing and turned to see Dagan ready to use his powers. "A little late, my lord prince."
He shrugged and dropped his hands to his side. "You make life easy for me, princess. Come here, I have a reward for you."
Shamara smiled, then dashed, did a flip and landed nose to nose to the prince. Before he could speak, she grabbed his head and jerked it to hers. As she kissed him, she heard the men corralled by Magnar's men cheering. She thought about what the doctor had said about a lover's kiss, and as she continued to kiss him with abandon, she knew in her heart that the gods had chosen Dagan as her mate. His arms were around her, and he pulled her close to him. The miners were escaping despite the efforts of the guards, but Shamara was almost completely oblivious.
The kiss might have gone on forever. Shamara would not have minded if it had although she had other things that she wished to experience with her wizard prince. But reality intervened as the ground began to shake.
Dagan pushed back from Shamara who spun around to face the cave. Taeron stumbled from the darkness behind helping Stryfe, and they barely cleared the cave entrance when a boreworm shot out, reared its hideous head and struck down at the two men. But Dagan let forth a stream of power that hit the creature before it could attack. Its pained shriek was cut short when it exploded and pieces of it rained over the entire area.
When the splatter finally finished Taeron and Stryfe joined Shamara and Dagan. The men who had been captured had already fled, and Magnar's brigands were lying dead in the canyon, killed by the men they had sought to feed to the boreworm.
"That was a nasty business," remarked Stryfe as he looked at the chunks of flesh scattered everywhere. He wiped some off his sleeve.
Taeron took one look at the dead Magnar and said, "Princess, I thought I told you to stay where you were."
She kicked his shin and enjoyed his cry of pain as he hopped on one foot. "You fool! He needed my help! Remind me to remind you that you are my guard, not…"
"I know!" Taeron looked at Stryfe. "Are you all right, brother?"
"I think I still have all my body parts despite the best efforts of that boreworm."
"Then we should return to the Winner mansion to help Lord Duo," announced Taeron. "The healer has been taken prisoner."
Dagan was wiping boreworm slime from his own clothing, but he quickly found his sword. "We must help her. I have heard his plans for her."
Stryfe reached down to take Magnar's sword, but suddenly a bright light illuminated the ground and they heard maniacal laughter. "Do you think we are finished, wizard? We have only just begun!"
The light faded, and Dagan saw that the bodies of Magnar's men had transformed into creatures not of this or any world. Stryfe managed to grab Magnar's sword and jump back as the monster that Magnar had become rose from the ground. He was a demon, twice the size he had been before, with long claws and cloven feet. Shamara stumbled away and was immediately attacked by one of the creatures that had once been a brigand. Taeron didn't hesitate, but charged with his characteristic gusto for killing at the beasts that were approaching. Stryfe stared with wide eyes at the scene, and Dagan could see that he was terrified, but taking a cue from his brother, he followed Taeron with sword swinging.
Shamara had killed one creature, but another attacked immediately, and Dagan started to go to her aid, but the mocking laughter of the monster stopped him.
"You cannot ever kill me. I am empowered by the mighty lord, Camridaeus."
Dagan rushed him with his sword pointed out. The monster swung it's clawed hand and hit him with such force that Dagan flew back high in the air and landed on his back. His sword landed several feet away. He scrambled to retrieve it, but the beast placed his huge hoofed foot over it. Dagan fell back and could do nothing but stare up at the creature.
"Get up and fight me," goaded the beast in his eerie voice. Dagan was sure that the creature had come from the underworld, that the gods had sent it as one last test of his courage and faith.
"They keep coming!" shouted Taeron.
Dagan saw that the creatures appeared impossible to kill. Each one they defeated rose to fight again.
"You must kill their master!" cried out Shamara. "Do it, Dagan!"
Dagan leaped to his feet and called forth all the power he was sure he possessed and blasted the creature. The ground heaved and shuddered, and the winds in the sky wiped into a storm, casting down lightening and roaring with thunder. But when the tempest ended and the turbulence of the earth became calm, the monster was still standing before Dagan.
"Is that the best you can do?" It threw back its head and roared.
Shamara beat down the last of her opponents, then dashed to Dagan just in time to throw out her protective shield. The monster was unable to penetrate. "What are we going to do?" she asked. He was surprised to hear fear in her voice. Dagan had been thinking that the first princess of Calabria was not afraid of anything.
Stryfe and Taeron were still hacking at the other creatures, but they continued to rise and now that Shamara was not fighting, they were outnumbered. Dagan knew Shamara was right; the key to defeating them all was in killing the master beast that now circled them, waiting for her to weaken.
"We must work together," he finally said. He came to stand behind Shamara and reached out his hands to hers. The power that rushed from her into him and him into her was both tremendous and terrifying. He barely felt able to control it.
The monster shrieked in despair as light even brighter than what they had seen earlier, again blinded them and when they could see again, the bodies that had been lying on the ground had returned; the monsters had disappeared.
Dagan released Shamara and they both fell to the ground, drained of all energy. As he gathered her into his arms, Taeron and Stryfe came to them, both exhausted from their battle.
"I'm not even going to pretend I understood what just happened," said Stryfe breathlessly. "But we have to get to Winner's mansion."
"I can't move," murmured Shamara as she snuggled closer to Dagan.
"I can't either," admitted Dagan. Then he felt warmth spreading through his body and looking down, he realized that Shamara was the source. "What are you doing?"
"You were wounded when you fought Magnar. I am healing you."
He grabbed her wrist and moved her hand away from him. "You are too weak."
"That's a shame," whispered Shamara. "There were some things I wanted to try."
Dagan raised his brows. "You will just have to tell me about them." Before he could question her further, their attention was drawn to the sky where bright lights suddenly appeared.
"By the gods, what is that? More monsters?" Taeron finally seemed to have tired from a fight. Dagan didn't think it possible.
"I think they are gundams from L12," answered Stryfe.
"Such as the warbirds?" Taeron was scratching his head. "Ah yes, I remember! The one our sister pilots is akin to a monster."
"They are headed to the Winner estate," said Dagan.
Stryfe sat on the ground. "They will take care of everything."
Taeron swung his sword, then it suddenly disappeared. If Dagan had the power to move at all, he would wrestle the princess' imperial guard to the ground to find out where he had put that weapon. "Lord Duo will take care of everything before they arrive."
"I hope so," said Stryfe quietly.
"For the healer's sake," added Dagan. "If Winner harms her in any way, I call upon the gods to give him a most loathsome death."
"May he reap what he sows," said Shamara, and Dagan knew Quatre Winner had been sufficiently cursed.
The last man Duo encountered, he spared his life when he pointed in the direction where Quatre Winner could be found. The lack of discipline and the extreme lack of loyalty Quatre inspired in his men shouldn't have surprised Duo. Only a few of his men put up a fight, but the rest quickly fled a fight with Duo when they realized they would likely lose. Now he walked stealthily toward the door the last coward had indicated, and noiselessly, he opened it and stepped in. He could see in the dim moonlight filtering in from the windows that it was a long, wide corridor leading to a set of double doors at the end. Duo guessed this was the private domain of 'the Boss.'
Suddenly the doors swung open, and light flooded the corridor. Duo looked around the room and was amazed by the many weapons that decorated the walls. It resembled the training room of the imperial guards in Trey's palace.
"Nice of you to finally join us, Lord Duo."
Duo turned back to see Quatre standing in the doorway, wearing only loose black silk pants. "Where is Trynity?" he demanded.
His brows shot up, and he put a finger to his lips for silence, then turned to close the doors behind him. "She's resting. We got tired of waiting for you, and now she's a bit exhausted." Quatre yawned. "It is rather late, Lord Duo, or early depending on your perspective."
Duo drew out his sword. "Am I going to have to kill you?"
Quatre chuckled, and from behind his back he drew a pistol. "To get to her, I think so. I really am not willing to give her up. She is mine now."
He was prepared for the gunfire, and the reflexes Duo had developed in his training as an imperial guard saved his life. Quatre continued to fire at him as he approached, and Duo was able to deflect each bullet with his blade.
Finally out of ammunition, Quatre tossed the gun aside with a laugh. "I suspected I wouldn't be able to kill you that easily." He casually walked to a wall and pulled down a spear with a long, sharp curved blade at the end. "I have an advantage now, Maxwell. My spear is longer than your sword." He chuckled suggestively. "I wonder which Dr. Nelson prefers."
Duo knew that Quatre was goading him, so he couldn't afford to listen to him. If he became angered, he would lose his fighting edge, and Duo concluded that Quatre had mastered the weapons he displayed. Now he was twirling his spear with the ease of an expert. Duo was reminded of Trynity doing the same in the Shadowhawk with her weapon many years ago.
"I see you recognize this move." Quatre was circling Duo. "Lars was kind enough to teach me the skill to use this weapon. He was such a good friend, and probably the best father Malik had. Too bad I was planning to kill him and take his wife even back then." He struck out at Duo, but Duo leapt over the blade, then flipped backward over the spear Quatre was swinging at him again. Quatre lost his balance and stumbled, but he quickly recovered and turned around to face Duo.
"You're going to be a hard bastard to kill, I see."
"You may as well surrender, Winner. Didn't your men inform you that troops from L12 and the World and Space Alliance have already landed at the spaceport and are coming here to arrest you and what is left of your men?"
Quatre smirked. "They wouldn't dare interrupt my intimate moments with the lovely doctor with such inconsequential information."
Duo charged forward, and Quatre made the mistake of stabbing out with the pointed end of his spear. But Duo jumped onto the long end, took a step on it toward Quatre, then flipped over the other man and swung his sword, expecting to hear flesh cutting and bone breaking. But Quatre had turned quickly and threw his spear out to catch the edge of Duo's sword. When the metal of his weapon gave way, Quatre dropped it and dashed to the wall to find another weapon.
Trembling with anger and frustration, Duo turned to face Quatre again. This time his opponent pulled a sword down from the wall and swiped it through the air. "I am disappointed in your manners, Lord Duo. You come to my colony on a peaceful mission, and your son murders dozens of my men, including my dear, beloved son, and now you are trying to take my woman."
"She's not your woman." Duo couldn't help the fury that was building inside.
"Possession is nine tenths of the law, Maxwell, and I've had her quite thoroughly." Quatre's knowing smile snapped what control Duo had on his anger. He charged Quatre, realizing too late that it had been a mistake. Expecting his action, Quatre swung out the sword, and Duo barely jerked back to avoid losing his head. The tip of Quatre's sword sliced cleanly through his tunic and he felt the stinging pain across his chest. The wound was only surface, but it bled and distracted him. Although he knew he needed to forget his personal feelings, Duo wanted Quatre dead at his feet so badly that he could taste it. He attacked again, and Quatre easily avoided him while dragging his blade across Duo's thigh, drawing blood again.
"You're making this too easy, Maxwell," he taunted as he stood back, beckoning him with his hand. "Why don't you charge at me again and we can get this over with. I'm sure Trynity's getting a little cold. But warming her up is half the fun, isn't it?"
Duo almost made the mistake of playing into his hands again. But he was able to push back his anger so that he could concentrate on his opponent. The smile faded from Quatre's face, and he tossed away the sword to grab two shotels from the wall, which had been crossed under the Winner family crest. They were the same type of curved blades with which Sandrock had been armed. Duo knew that Quatre had some considerable skill with them.
He swung them a few times to get the feel of them, then moved toward Duo. "Do you like them? I had them made with what gundanium I could get my hands on, so now we truly are on equal footing. I think it would be more proper if you took that scythe down behind you."
"A scythe is not a weapon," stated Duo, watching Quatre carefully. The man must have a weakness as all men did. Quatre had already found his and tried to exploit it. Duo wouldn't let that happen again. Whatever he had done to Trynity was unimportant as long as she was still alive.
Quatre swung out with one shotel, and Duo caught it with his blade, and when he quickly countered with the other, having trapped Duo's blade, Duo used the strength of his trap to propel him over the curved blade slicing towards his belly.
Shoving him back, Quatre laughed. "You have become very limber, Maxwell."
"My training demanded it," he said, then added, "and I have become accustomed to the gravity on Calabria, which is higher than Mars Colony."
"Interesting. Well then, after I kill you, I may go back to Calabria to claim everything that was yours and get in a little training of my own. Is that how things are done there?"
"Hardly," scoffed Duo. "Kill me, and the imperial family would seek to avenge my death."
Quatre attacked again, but Duo was able to hold him off. Now he swung, and Duo parried blows from both weapons. "I would be interested to see how well Trey's sons fight."
"Even if you could defeat Taeron, your first challenger from the imperial house would be the first princess, and I doubt you could defeat her."
Concentrating on the fight now, Quatre stopped talking, but try as he might, he could not land another blow on Duo. Finally he stopped and stepped back, tossing aside the weapons and cracking his knuckles before forming fists and putting himself in a stance to fight.
Duo should have run his sword through Winner's heart, but the opportunity to break his bones with his bare hands was too good to give up.
He carefully set aside his sword, because unlike Quatre, he appreciated the many times the blade had saved his life. It was not just a piece of sharpened metal that could be tossed aside like useless junk.
"You aren't going to say a prayer now, are you?" mocked Quatre.
Duo tossed off his bloodied and tattered tunic. "You are the one who should be saying a prayer."
Quatre stood with his fists up and a smirk on his face. "I can't wait to see what Calabrian training you have in hand to hand combat."
"Calabrian's do not fight with their hands. It is considered dishonorable." They were circling each other now, each looking for an opportunity to strike.
"Too bad for you, Maxwell. I was a champion boxer at my prep school, and I continued my training after I was finished with the Cinq Kingdom Defense." He struck, and he was too fast for Duo to avoid. The first blow stunned him, and the second knocked him to the floor.
Quatre beckoned to him again. "Get up. I'm enjoying this."
Duo wiped blood from his mouth and hoped that his nose wasn't broken. But he got up and was promptly rewarded with another dizzying blow to the face. He staggered back, and Quatre hit him again in the face, then in the gut, forcing the air out of him. He dropped to his knees, and Quatre grabbed a handful of his hair to jerk his head up.
"Just because they call you 'Lord' Duo on Calabria doesn't mean that you are anything more than you ever were here: a dirty little nameless street rat. You had no right to pilot a gundam, and you certainly had no right to put your grubby hands on a beautiful, intelligent woman like Trynity Stryfe."
Duo grabbed Quatre's legs and jerked them out from under him. Then he leaped on top of him, straddling him and pinning him to the floor as he punched him repeatedly and grabbed his hair to bang his head on the floor again and again. Finally he stood, pulled Quatre up, then struck him again and watched as he sagged to the floor.
He walked around the groaning man who was bruised and bleeding. "You learn a lot on the streets." He kicked him in the ribs and was sure he heard one crack. "If you had grown up on the street, you could have predicted that and tried to avoid it." He kicked him again, this time in the face. One more kick he did for Trynity, and Quatre's shriek of pain as he curled into an infantile position assured Duo that he would take that to his grave.
He drew out one of his daggers, tested the sharpness on his finger, and satisfied it would do the job quickly, Duo grabbed Quatre's hands away from the area he was grabbing in his agony. "Now, I truly regret that there won't be any more Winner heirs, but…"
"You don't know that," choked out Quatre. "There might be one in the lovely doctor now. She wouldn't know it if was yours or mine until it was too late. Besides, she's too softhearted to get rid of an unwanted baby. After all, she didn't get rid of your brats."
Duo put the dagger to Quatre's throat and was about to drive it in, but a voice stopped him.
"Duo!" It was Heero Yuy. "Put the weapon away. I am here to arrest him."
"You don't need to arrest him. You found him dead already."
The click of a gun warned Duo that Heero was serious. "Put away the weapon and let me arrest him or I'm going to have to shoot you."
"You can't!" Quatre laughed nervously. "I tried, but he's too fast. I emptied a whole round and he didn't even break a sweat."
Quatre was talking like the annoying buffoon he had once been and not the demon he had become. Was this the side of him that he showed Heero?
"Put away the weapon," repeated Heero. "You can't kill him and defend yourself at the same time."
Duo chuckled. "Perhaps you would care to test me."
"I don't want to pull the trigger, but I will. He has to stand trial for what he has done. There are hundreds of others who want their chance for vengeance, and if you kill him here and now, only yours will be satisfied."
Duo didn't want to listen to Heero. He would rather end Quatre's life, but Heero was right. Many had suffered because of his greed and lack of humanity, and they had a right to see him suffer. So he closed his hand tightly around the hilt of his dagger, then struck Quatre's face as hard as he could before he moved away. Heero's men had to drag the unconscious, bleeding man out.
Heero was tucking away his gun as he came to Duo. "I hope you understand, old friend."
"I understand," muttered Duo as he turned away to look at the double doors. Trynity was in there, and he wanted to go to her, to assure himself that she was unharmed.
"We ran into Taeron and Stryfe on our way here. They had a fantastical tale that I'm not even sure a Calabrian would understand."
"Stryfe is unharmed?"
"Taeron pulled him to safety before the boreworm could get him and Prince Dagan killed the boreworm. We can only hope it is the last of them. Princess Shamara is with Prince Dagan and they are all at the spaceport waiting evacuation to L12. Where is Trynity?"
Duo turned his attention back to the doors, then taking a deep breath, he moved forward without answering Heero. He needed to see her alone. So much had happened that night. He prayed to his gods that she would have the strength to overcome it.
