Category: Angst, Adventure, AU, Slave/Master

Pairings: 1x2, 4x3 (eventually), 5x?

Rating: R (?)

Disclaimer: Standard. You know them all by now so I won't bore you with a repeat.

Warnings: This story does show how a lot of people felt about the owning of slaves, a feeling that was very alive in this country not that long ago, as well as in many civilizations down through the ages. There are some good owners and some bad owners, like in everything. If someone owning another person bothers you, you might not like this fic. But then I'm not forcing anyone to read it. There are also M/M relationships in this fic (I'm very much a 1x2/3x4 fan.) so if boys being together (and I do mean together) bothers you don't read.

Golden Lights Part Nineteen

By SilverLady

It was two hours before Heero could calm Duo down enough to get him to agree to move on. But Duo refused to ride alone, so Heero allowed him to ride tandem with him.

Quatre frowned as he watched the two of them. He couldn't figure out how in the world that burr had gotten under Duo's saddle blanket. It didn't seem possible for Duo to have missed it and he hadn't seen any plants with burrs on it near the campsite. That meant that it had to have been deliberately put there. But who would do such a thing? Duo could have easily been killed if he had fallen from the runaway horse. I don't believe anyone here would want to deliberately hurt Duo.

He glanced over at Wufei. Although the two seemed to derive a great deal of fun out of teasing each other, he didn't think Wufei was petty enough to try such a stunt. To try and deliberately hurt someone in such an underhanded manner would be, in Quatre's opinion, beneath Wufei's sense of honor and justice, the code by which the foreign boy lived. And he was pretty sure Wufei knew what the outcome of such a nasty trick would be.

Heero, he also crossed off his mental list. It was obvious to anyone who looked how deeply in love with his long-haired slave he was. Quatre believed that Heero would cut out his own heart before harming Duo in any way. He really felt sorry for whoever had done it. He had a feeling that when Heero got done with him, he's wished he'd never even seen Duo, let alone tried to hurt him.

Now Trowa, he wasn't sure about. He'd certainly had the opportunity to place the burr. But then, so did everyone else. Was it possible that Trowa was not happy with the attention Heero now paid Duo? He had heard that Heero and Trowa had been very close for a very long time. Maybe Trowa was hoping to make the friendship into something more. But now Heero's interested in Duo and it's obvious that no one else has any chance with him.

Then there was always the possibility that it had been Duo himself that had put the burr there. Maybe he hadn't realized just how badly the horse would react. Maybe he was trying to scare Heero into finally admitting out loud his feelings.  It seemed like a silly idea, but then it was hard to say just how Duo's mind worked.

Or perhaps Trowa's cousin had instigated the incident. Quatre had heard that he had not been happy with Duo's reaction to his attack on Quatre himself. Quatre knew that Michal had wanted Duo severely punished for his attack and had not been happy when that had not happened. Maybe he was trying to get Duo back for it now.

And a final scenario crossed Quatre's thoughts. Maybe it hadn't been Duo that had been the target. Maybe the burr and accident had been meant for one of the others or even Quatre himself. He knew that Michal was just as angry at Heero as he had been with Duo. And Quatre knew there was no love lost between the two cousins. And he's probably not very happy with me either. Not only did I get away, with Duo and Heero's help, but I also told his father what had happened. The loss of face he must have suffered would not please him at all.

Quatre frowned again. He had grown fond of Duo himself and was determined to figure out how would try and hurt him and why. Then he would cheerfully hand that person over to Heero to take care of.

*****

It was late afternoon before they reached Termal. Though not a large as the capitol, Termal was a thriving trading city that was always bustling with the sights and sounds of trading.

Fortunately, Trowa's name was recognized at the first inn they stopped at and they had no difficult in securing rooms for the time they planned on staying.

Seeing how badly shaken Duo was, Trowa suggested that they retire for the night and go out the next day to explore the city and resupply.

*****

Trowa looked up at the knock on his door. "Who is it?"

"It's me," Heero's voice came through the door. "And Wufei. We need to talk."

Trowa had been expecting Heero, but he was a little surprised that Wufei had come as well. "Come on in."

The door opened and Heero and Wufei stepped into the room. Both men had serious expressions on their faces.

"How's Duo?" Trowa asked as Heero sat down.

"Sleeping. I left Quatre with him."

"Is that a good idea?" Wufei asked, also taking a seat.

Heero shrugged. "Didn't have much of a choice. I don't want Duo left alone tonight. He won't try anything, though. Not with anybody else around."

Trowa frowned. "What are you talking about? What's wrong with leaving Quatre with Duo? And who wouldn't try anything?"

"That burr was put there deliberately." Heero's voice was flat and cold.

"You think Quatre did it."

"He found it without any trouble."

"He also has a lot of experience with horses. He probably knew what was wrong by how the horse reacted."

"He says he knows horse. But how do we know if he's lying or not? You know how he feels about his situation."

"But why take it out on Duo? Why not me?"

"He had plenty of opportunity to place that burr." Wufei pointed out.

"So did the rest of us."

Wufei glanced at Heero. "I told you he wouldn't listen to us."

Trowa looked at the two of them. "You don't have any real evidence that Quatre tried to hurt Duo, just a few things that could be pinned just as easily on any one of us. Besides, Quatre seems to trust Duo more than any of us. Why would he hurt the one person he actually seems to like?" There was a hint of sadness in the last statement. Trowa was beginning to think that he would never gain the blonde boy's trust.

"Which is the only reason why I haven't wrung his neck," Heero informed him coldly. "But if I find out it was Quatre, he's mine."

Trowa shook his head. "If Quatre was behind the attack, I will deal with him."

Just then there was another knock on the door. Trowa frowned. "Who's there?"

"It is me, Master," Quatre's soft voice answered. "I brought you something to eat."

"Come in."

Heero's eyebrow arched as Quatre came in carrying a tray with a selection of sandwiches and three mugs of some kind of drink.

Quatre placed the tray on the table. "I saw Heero and Wufei come in and I thought perhaps you would like some snacks, Master."

Trowa frowned at the boy's use of the word master, but said nothing.

"You're supposed to be watching Duo," Heero said in a cold voice.

Quatre blinked at him. "He was sleeping when I left. I was going right back." He was already backing towards the door.

"Thank you, Quatre, for the snacks. But you didn't have to go through the trouble." Trowa's voice was calm.

Quatre nodded slightly. "It was no trouble, Master. I knew you hadn't had a chance to get supper yet."

"You had best be getting back to Duo."

"Yes, Master." Quatre bowed slightly and then left.

Wufei glanced at the sandwiches and drink. "I'm not hungry," he announced, though he had not eaten and his stomach was beginning to complain.

Trowa glanced at Heero, who shook his head. Trowa could tell that neither of the men trusted Quatre enough to eat the food that he'd brought, especially since it hadn't been asked for. Even he wondered how long Quatre had been standing there and how much he had heard. Could they be right?

"So, do we continue the trip as we have been, do we send for the others, or do we go back?"

"I don't think we should involve anyone else," Heero answered. "But if we go back, we may never find out what happened."

Wufei nodded his agreement. "Justice must be served. It won't be if we don't find out who tried to hurt Duo. We just keep a very close eye on Quatre. If he is the guilty party, eventually he will reveal himself."

"Then that's what we will do. "

Heero looked at the other two. "And I would recommend that we try and keep Quatre in sight at all times. I don't want him trying anything else against Duo."

The other two nodded their agreement. Between the three of them, they felt they could keep a close eye on Quatre.

After a few minutes planning what they would do the next day, Heero and Wufei left.

Trowa sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Since the blonde haired slave had entered his life, nothing had gone the way he intended. He was beginning to wonder if buying the boy had been such a good idea after all.