Chapter 4 Mists of the mind.

The morning dawned cool and gray with a heavy mist flooding the depths of the ancient forest. Wufei insisted on walking behind the three women. He would trust no 'weak onna' to guard his back. Misca and Laki led the way, and Heero walked solemnly at Qahlen's side as they formed the middle link of the small human chain. As he walked, Heero couldn't help thinking about the night before. What in him had frightened her so, and if he was so repulsive to her, why didn't she move away from him, and join her sisters? These and many other questions swam through the soldiers confused mind as they traversed the fog; one question being 'how were they finding their way?'. They seemed to be cutting straight through the forest. They certainly weren't using the road, and they certainly weren't using their eyes.

Qahlen's gray cloak and pale skin disappeared into the mist, so that only her swaying braid was visible. Heero found himself comparing her to the castle ghost. He wondered if his hand would pass through her right now if he tried to touch her. 'Where did that come from?' He suddenly discovered he'd been staring and immediately looked away. Why did she affect him this way? Why did part of him feel like he had the right to touch her hair and even a need to hold her? He shook his head to try and clear the foreign thoughts from his mind.

"Headache?"

"What?" He realized the object of those thoughts was speaking to him.

"I asked if you have a headache. Walking in the mist can have a dizzying effect if you're not used to it."

"I'm fine."

"Okay. I take it you're not much of one for conversation?"

"That's an understatement!" The shout came from a few feet behind them, buried in the fog.

"She didn't ask you . . . Wu-bear."

"grrrrrrrrrr"

Qay just raised an eyebrow and laughed quietly, she was in a far more joyous mood this morning than last night. Heero suddenly wanted to hear more of that laugh, it wasn't the usual tinkling-of-bells laugh, it was low and musical and he was suddenly addicted to the sound. She noticed him staring at her again as they walked and pulled him out of the way of the rather large oak he was trying to walk through. For a moment he just stared at the hand on his arm, she could feel the muscles go taut beneath her fingers and quickly released him. They finished the day's walk in silence. Him keeping both eyes on the figures ahead of them, and her lost in thought.

As the sun began to set, the weary travelers stopped in a small glade for the night. Heero unrolled his pallet and surveyed his surroundings. It was small, but adequate. The three witches seemed to be circling the forest walls of the clearing and muttering as they went. As they neared the trees nearest him and Wufei, his eyelids grew heavy and both boys fell to their mats in a deep slumber.

/~\~/~\~/~\

Heero was wandering through the witches' castle, Qay had forgotten something and sent him back find it for her. As he searched he found a large ominous black door and chose to avoid it. He continued down a long corridor and searched room after room. Just as he reached for a silver door handle at the end of a twisting hall, a child's scream filled the air. He started running, trying to follow the sound, but it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. He threw open the doors to every room he passed, but all were empty. Once again he came to the black door, but it was locked, so he kept running, kept searching, time and time again the black door appeared, always locked, finally he stopped and listened, that room was the source of the sound. He had to get through. He slammed his shoulder into the door, but it wouldn't budge. He picked up a statue to use as a battering ram, but it turned to dust in his hands. He threw himself bodily into the door again and again, until finally the hinges broke, along with his collarbone, dislocating his shoulder. He burst into the room, trying to ignore the pain. He saw a small, violet-eyed boy, screaming in terror, as a cackling young woman glared at him with glowing eyes and the beginnings of a spell on her lips and her fingertips. Her short brown hair stood out against the stark whiteness of her skin, as she laughed maniacally at the defenseless child, oblivious to the presence of the man behind her. Heero ran at her, throwing her to the ground and grabbing the boy, trying to hold him with his one good arm and run for help. She wasn't far behind. He ran down staircase after winding staircase, searching for an exit as he clutched the crying child to him.

He burst through a door on the ground floor and found himself in the courtyard. A slim woman with short dark hair stood from her gardening as he ran toward her. It was Laki. She looked at the two in confusion until she saw the other woman pursuing them. She stood calmly between him and her fellow witch, and threw a spell at her. "Sentrie, stop."

Heero knew Laki couldn't hold Sentrie off by herself. He placed the child on the ground and pulled a sword out of the sheath at his side, he didn't know where that had come from, but he was glad to have it. He stood at the young witch's side. Sentrie was muttering something under her breath. Heero looked up to see the child being levitated over his head toward her. He dropped the sword and grabbed the child, trying to pull him back down to Earth.

"No! DUO!!!!"

Heero awoke with a start, his right hand was in the air and the last words of the dream were still fresh from his lips, for a moment he was disoriented. He had been in the castle, what was he doing here, Duo needed him. After a few moments the previous day's events came back to him, but the realness of the dream stayed with him, he could still feel the boy's leg in his hand as he tried to pull him down out of the sky. As reality returned to him, he noticed Qahlen looking down at him in concern.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." He turned his back to her in a masquerade of sleep. He did not want her to see him in such a state of weakness, or to witness such a breech of his training as a nightmare.

/~\~/~\~/~\

Qahlen watched as the soldier slept. She knew what had caused the dream. She shouldn't have cast that spell herself. Her magic had done this. She ought to have let the others do that section. She knew the sleep would affect those inside the circle as well as without. Only her sisters would be immune to it.

She returned to her own bed and fell back into an uneasy slumber of her own, still pondering the mind of the young man a few feet away.

/~\~/~\~/~\

Duo pushed the heavy oak door as quietly as possible, wincing as it slowly opened on its whining hinges. He looked back over his shoulder into the sleeping castle before making his way out into the night. He adjusted his pack and closed the door.

"I'll find you, Heero. And then I'm gonna kill you and 'Fei for going on a nature walk alone in a place like this." With that he set off down the deserted highway, quite alone, and quite unprepared for the road ahead.

/~\~/~\~/~\

Trowa woke to the sound of the main entrance door being opened and quietly closed on its noisome hinges. He was prepared for this. He knew Duo couldn't leave Heero alone in the forest with Wufei much longer. He grabbed the bag he'd packed two days ago, and followed Duo into the night air as the first traces of daylight met the horizon.

/~\~/~\~/~\

Through the wood an ill wind blew, carrying secrets to a long forgotten cave and the evils that lie within.

/~\~/~\~/~\

The travelers awoke the next morning to the first hints of sunrise peeking through the trees and the sounds of a fire crackling merrily in the center of camp. Misca was just returning from a successful bit of hunting, and put three freshly skinned rabbits on spits over the blaze. Her sisters welcomed her as did the brown-haired youth, but she noticed Wufei gave her only looks of mistrust.

"Chang, you need not waste your suspicions on me. I will not betray you, there will be no trickery in this wood from me." Wufei looked away, angry at being patronized by the likes of her. He looked to Heero, but the boy was staring openly at the woman who claimed to be Maxwell's mother.

"Earth to Heero. We have to keep our guard up in this forest." He glanced around at the company they kept. "You never know what to expect."

"Hn." He pushed his friend's hand out of his face and jumped up to follow Qahlen as she walked away from the group. He was glad to leave Wufei alone with his conspiracies.

Qay wandered away from the group. She wanted some time alone to ponder the past two days, and decide what to do about the dark-haired teen who called himself Heero. Each witch has a special talent that she brings to her coven, an area of magic in which she was stronger than most. Qahlen and her 'sisters' were no exception. Misca could read the human soul like a book, and was impossible to lie to. She also had some insight into the future, though she was forbidden to do anything to change what she knew would come to pass. Laki could communicate with any creature, magical or mundane, and understand their motivations. Most of the inhabitants of that wood considered her a goddess, and few would dare harm her or any in her company. Qahlen's gift was rare, even among witches. She could look into the soul and see every day of every past life a person had lived. If she so chose she could know a person more intimately than they knew themselves. It is a powerful gift, and a dangerous one. She dared not discover the true extent of her power, for to know too much is a dangerous thing. She could also communicate with the dead and the spirits that haunted the island often complained to her of their troubles.

What troubled her now was no message from Eon or his troublesome friends, but what she had seen in the boy that night, when she peered into his soul. She recognized him. She knew him. She had met that soul twenty- seven years ago, and now the touch of her magic had brought back a memory of who he'd been. It had begun with a story he partly knew. She was certain the dream had been of his last moments, but if the dreams continued, he would remember more. He would remember the years he had spent there with her. He would know who he had been. He would know everything. And then he would return to his war. She had seen that too. He was a dedicated soldier whose training had been to thorough for him to ever abandon his goal. She could not bare to have him come back to her only to leave again, possibly to die, again. She had to decide now whether to stop the process begun by the touch of her spell. She could do it with a word, but did she want to? She was on her way to finding Duo, this was her chance to have her family back. But was it fair to Heero? He had a life of his own to live. Remembering, becoming Roan again, might take that away. She owed the one who was bringing her son back to her more than that, much more. She would think about it through the day, and when the night came she would end it, and let him remain who he had become. Her husband was dead and gone, she could not bring him back . . .

"Mrs. Solos"

"Call me Qay. My husband's been gone too long for me to hide behind his name any more." The sadness that filled her voice seemed far more recent than a loss thirteen years old.

"What was he like?"

"Roan? He was a soldier. He was given a dishonorable discharge, for disobeying orders. That's why he turned to the sea." She saw the distaste on Heero's face at the thought of disobeying orders. "He refused to bomb a civilian hospital that was rumored to conceal an enemy base. They discovered later that there was no base and tried to get him to come back. They even offered him a promotion, but he wouldn't go. He had a boat and a shipping contract. He no longer trusted his superior officers. So he was better off at sea." Heero's expression softened. He understood the tragedy of the senseless deaths of innocents.

"He sounds like a good man."

"He was."

"So what are you doing?"

"Hm?"

"You've been standing over here alone for the past ten minutes, you looked like you were searching for something."

"Only a few answers."

"Answers to what?"

"Life, the universe, everything."

"Forty-two."

"What?"

"That's what Duo always says when that question comes up. It's from an old book he likes. He keeps saying I should read it, but I never have . . ." By the time they returned to the others, all were ready to move on. They fell into step in the middle of the human caravan without a pause in conversation.

/~\~/~\~/~\

Quatre wandered the castle halls calling the names of his friends as he went. Where could they be? They had abandoned him, left him alone with none but the ghosts for company. A cold draft ran through the hall and he walked a little faster, calling the names as loudly as he could.

/~\~/~\~/~\

Duo had been walking for three hours when he realized he was being followed. He quickly dove to the side of the road and hid in some tall bushes. By the time Trowa walked by, there was already a low trip wire set. As he hit the ground , he heard the distinctive laugh of Shinigami, and growled.

"You sound like Wufei." Duo could barely hold the laugh in as he helped his friend to his feet.

"Where are you going?"

"For a walk." He started walking down the path again. Trowa immediately fell into step.

"Then I suggest you turn around. Isn't this far enough for one morning."

"Now why would you say that?" Duo started walking a bit faster.

"The others will be back any day now, why don't we head back so that we don't miss them?"

"Because," Here he began to skip and sing loudly," I'm off to the see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz, because, because, because . . ." By now he had entered the forest and his voice was slightly muffled by the surrounding trees. As Trowa ran after him a large web dropped between the first two trees blocking the road. He was caught in an instant. He looked up to see a dozen tiny balls of light, and heard as many tiny voices sing as they left him to follow his friend. "because of the wonderful things he does."

"DU---" Two of the lights returned with a gag of thick spider's web and silenced his warning cry. Trowa could only watch as Duo merrily made his way into the lair of the lights.

/~\~/~\~/~\