CHAPTER THREE: MIGUEL

It was nearly mid-day before Miguel stirred from his sleep. He lifted his head from the soft feather pillow, and glanced groggily around the room. Then recognition of last night all came flooding back to him and he quickly looked to the door. Much to his surprise, he found Tulio sitting fast asleep in a large comfortable chair, mouth hanging open, head drooped against his chest, snoring loudly.

Miguel smiled and shook his head, climbing out of bed and heading over to him, and gently shaking him awake. "Tulio?" he asked as the other man blinked into consciousness, licking his dry lips.

"Huh? Eh?" he murmured. Miguel laughed at him.

"Wake up you lazy lout, it's almost noon. How you been here all night?" he asked.

Tulio stared up at him, and was so relieved that he was still here that he lost himself for a minute and wrapped his arms around him, crushing him against his chest. "You're still here…" he breathed.

Miguel's pale face turned a shade of crimson against Tulio's shoulder, and shaking slightly he put his arms around Tulio as well, briefly, but fiercely, and then gently pulled away, smiling. "Of course, silly. Do you think I would have lit out in the middle of the night?" he asked as though the idea were simply absurd. However, it was what had happened before.

Tulio shrugged, standing up, stretching and cracking his neck, which was sore from sleeping up-right. "Well, how about some breakfast? I'm starving." he said, taking Miguel's hand and dragging him towards the door. The fact that Miguel had staid had emboldened him, and he was no longer afraid to reach out to his friend and show him he still cared, even if he couldn't show him how MUCH he still cared just yet.

Miguel stopped him at the door way, "Hold on, Tulio!" he gasped. "Would you mind if I put some pants on first?" he laughed.

Tulio glanced down, remembering that Miguel was in night clothes and laughed. "Oh of course! Just come down when you're ready." Tulio said, leaving him at the door as Miguel clothed it quietly. He leaned against it for a long moment, biting his lip.

"Oooh, Miguel old boy…what are you doing? You can't do this, you can't just let him brush it all under the rug like this." he berated himself, feeling frantic. He was suddenly torn between the overwhelming urge to stay with Tulio and his fear of allowing himself to get hurt again. He had been reunited with his old partner for less than a day and already he was falling in love all over again.

He tugged on his pants, which were newly mended, as well as his shirt, and he found that they had replaced his shoes completely. Then he crept silently to the window, peering out of it. Altivo stood below, dozing in the warm afternoon sun on a bed of straw.

"Altivo!" Miguel called in a loud whisper getting the horse's attention. He looked up at Miguel and whinnied, saying "Good morning!"

"Altivo, we've got to get out of here. Come on, stand still, I'll jump." he called quietly. The horse stared at him blankly for a moment and then rolled his eyes. He wasn't about to let Miguel make this mistake. So he got up, just as Miguel expected him too, but then backed far away from the wall.

"Altivo, what are you doing? Come here, old boy, I need to leave!" Miguel called again. Altivo stood his ground, staring up at Miguel.

"Oh you stupid horse, I said come here!" he said a little louder this time.

Altivo let out a loud horsey laugh and turned up his nose at Miguel in defiance.

"Altivo, this is no time for games, now get over here!" Miguel yelled this time. Altivo shook his head. Suddenly Miguel heard a knock at his door.

"Miguel are you coming?" Tulio's voice practically sang from the other side. Miguel looked desperately at Altivo.

"You don't understand, I can't face him, Altivo, I can't!" Miguel continued in a whisper once more to the horse.

"Yes you can" the horse's eyes said quite plainly. Miguel scowled. "Who's side are you on, anyway?" he muttered as Tulio knocked again.

The horse laughed at him.

"I'm coming!" Miguel called, his escape plan foiled and he reached the door. Tulio was standing there beaming at him. "Well come on, then partner! It's getting cold!" he said brightly.

Miguel felt a pang of pain in his heart at those words, but he pushed them aside, and followed Tulio downstairs. Breakfast consisted of fried eggs with chopped peppers and oranges and fresh-baked bread.

As the two of them ate, Tulio noticed that Miguel seemed to be rather fidgety, which usually meant that he needed to tell him something but was just working on how to say it. He decided it might speed up the process if he prompted him.

"Is there something on your mind?" he asked.

Miguel stared up at him, looking startled. "Oh, uh…" he started, gritting his teeth and looking away. Tulio knew that look all too well. He was in trouble. "Tulio, there's something you don't know." he said quickly, glancing around nervously.

Tulio raised an eyebrow and blinked at him curiously. "Go on…"

"You see," Miguel sighed, "I'm sort of…on the run." he admitted at length.

"From the law? That's no surprise, we're…I mean, you were always on the run, Miguel." he said.

"It's not the law that wants me. It's a Protégées noble-woman." Miguel at said in a strained voice. "You see…she's sort of my fiancée."

A moment of silence followed by an Earth-shattering; "YOUR WHAT?!!!?"

Miguel flinched away from shouting, looking positively miserable. Tulio was standing up now, leaning over the table, staring at the golden-haired man. He felt angry, more angry than he'd ever felt at Miguel. His fiancée!? How could he have a fiancée!? How dare he come back into his life, with the promise of rebuilding what they had, and tell him he had fiancée!!

But slowly reason sunk in and Miguel had said that he was on the run from her. Obviously then it hadn't been a mutual agreement. Miguel was looking at him like a child who had just broken his mother's priceless china and was about to get beaten for it. He forced himself to calm down, smoothing back his hair as he always did and slowly sitting down again, looking composed and calm, albeit serious.

"You see, it all happened quite by accident," Miguel began without having to be prompted this time. "I was in Portugal, having come more or less full circle in my travels. Altivo and I were wandering along the streets, looking for prospective opponents as usual, and I happened to come across this procession of noblemen all headed to church.

"I decided to follow them, not having been in a church in a long time myself. It was then that I noticed a little scrawny kid that was tailing the procession as well. I realized then that he was a pick-pocket, and not a very experience one because he went right for the Duke's purse. Well naturally the little whelp got caught, and…Tulio they were going to kill him! They tried to run him through, right there in front of the church!" Miguel cried passionately, and Tulio nodded in understanding, gesturing for his partner to continue. "Well, of course I jumped to the rescue and disarmed the Duke after only a few moments. I said something like 'How dare you strike at a defenseless child, sir! You're battle is with me!' and well, his daughter, Her names was Margarita, I believe, was so impressed with me that she demanded her father forgive my impudence, and well they invited me to sit with them at mass, so I did, and then they invited me to supper, and then to a dance and by the end of the night she was confessing her undying love to me and demanding that I marry her!" he gasped, breathlessly.

It took Tulio a moment process all of what Miguel had just told him, for he had a habit when he was excited to talk very quickly, so that now as he finished he was gasping for breath and gulping down his water.

"I…wow…I…that's insane!" Tulio concluded finally. "And what did you tell her?" he asked then.

"I told her simply that I was a man of the road and that certainly there were men more worthy than me of her love and so regretfully I had to decline." Miguel replied. "She didn't take that very well. In fact, she told everyone that I had proposed to her, even though I had not, and had me taken back to her villa and locked in my room. I escaped of course, and well…here I am." he concluded.

"You really ARE on the run then, aren't you?" Tulio asked.

"Ugh. Her father is the best huntsmen in all Europe. He's hunting me down as we speak, so I dare not stay in one place too long." Miguel concluded.

"Understandably. But I'm not letting you out of my sight." Tulio said.

Miguel stared at him. "What?"

"Miguel, it's been two years. And frankly, life simply hasn't been the same without you. It's been…ugh, I hate to say it…boring. I've missed you. I want you to stay, I want to be partners again, I want to love you like I should have before…"

Of course Tulio didn't say this last part, but his mind did. However, even without the last sentence, it was enough to bring Miguel to tears and into Tulio's arms.

"Oh Tulio, yes! Yes, of course, of course!" he laughed and cried all at once. Perhaps he didn't have Tulio's love, but he had his friendship. That would have to sustain him for now, until he gathered his strength to tell him what he really wanted.

They drew back, grinning at each other. But then Miguel's smile fell and he looked worried.

"What's wrong?" Tulio asked.

"Oh, Tulio…I…I can't stay here, she'll find me! If she finds me, I'll have no choice, I'll HAVE to marry her!" Miguel cried, waving his arms wildly.

This was indeed a problem. Tulio rubbed his chin, trying to think. Miguel was right, they couldn't stay in Madrid forever, they would be too easy to track. And then an idea struck him. "I have a plan!" he said, and Miguel's face lit up just like it used to. "There's a ship, leaving for the America's in a little less than a month from now. We'll get on it. We'll go back to El Dorado!" he cried.

Miguel's jaw dropped to his knees. He was the one that supposed to say stupid, impulsive, outlandish things like that, not Tulio. "But…but, Tulio, the cities sealed, we don't have the map, we--" he began, but Tulio put a finger to his lips to silence him and Miguel flushed again.

"Ah, ah! You remember the way, don't you? Besides you know as well as I do, there has to be more than one way into the city, even if the others don't know about it." he said.

Miguel began to get that excited gleam in his eyes, talking feverishly. "Oh Tulio, one last adventure? This incredible! I thought I would be spending the rest of my days wandering aimlessly with no hope and no point and then…and then out of the blue you come and rescue me, just like always!" he cried. Tulio laughed, after the state he had found him in, it was wonderful see Miguel acting like his old self.

"Partner?" Tulio asked, extending his hand. Miguel stopped his ramblings and stared at the hand in front of him. If he did this, he would be risking everything he had fought to preserve. But if he didn't…he may never get another chance.

His hand found Tulio's and they shook hard. "Partner."