Darkness Within
Chapter 5
***
*Hello?*
Duo looked toward the stables where the slaves were quartered. The guards would make their nightly check soon. He's take another minute to savor the night air. Even if it smelled hot and dusty, before returning to the filthy cell with its bed of dirty, bug-ingested straw, before returning to the stink of fear, unwashed bodies, and human waste.
*Hello?*
Duo spun around, his dark wings flaring for balance as he set his feet in a fighting stance.
He felt like a fool when he saw the girl staring at him, wide-eyed.
She was a scrawny little thing, about six or seven years old. Calling her plain would have been kind. But, even in the moonlight, she had the most extraordinary eyes. They reminded him of a twilight sky or a deep mountain lake. Her clothes were of good quality, certainly better than a beggar child would wear. Her blood-red hair was done up in sausage curls that indicated care even if they looked ridiculous around her pointed little face.
"What are you doing here?" he asked roughly.
She laced her fingers and hunched her shoulders. "I-I heard you. Y-you wanted a friend."
"You heard me?" Duo stared at her. How in the name of Hell had she heard him? True, he had sent that wish out, but on an Ebon-gray thread. He was the only Ebon-gray in the Realm of Terreille. The only Jewel darker than his was the Black, and the only person who wore that was Heero Yuy. Unless...
No. She couldn't be.
At that moment, the girl's eyes flicked from him to the dead man in the boat, then back to him.
"I have to go," She whispered, backing away from him.
"No, you don't." He came toward her, soft-footed, a hunter stalking his prey.
She bolted.
He caught her within seconds, heedless of the noise the chains made. Looping a chain over her, he wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her off her feet, grunting when her heel banged his knee. He ignored her attempts to scratch, and her kicks, while bruising, weren't the same kind of deterrent one good kick in the right place would have been. When she stared shrieking, he clamped a hand over her mouth.
She promptly sank her teeth into his finger.
Duo bit back a howl and swore under his breath. He dropped to his knees, pulling her with him. "Hush," he whispered fiercely. "Do you want to bring the guard down on us?" She probably did, and he expected her to struggle even harder, knowing there was help nearby.
Instead, she froze.
***
I know these chapters are short but bare with me. When I get a bunch I will make all of these into one and go on from there. Review me PLEASE I'm now thinking up a hard chapter and I'm getting a little stuck. Also if you like this then I say you need to read Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop. It is a good book. Trust me.