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 Thirty Eight A

By SilverLady

Trowa sat staring out the window as the carriage rolled through the mostly empty streets. If there was any doubt that anything was wrong, the condition of the streets erased it. What few people Trowa saw were all wearing black bands on their right arms, a sign of mourning. The fact that the black bands also had a strip of purple through them indicated that it was a member of the royal family that was dead. The last Trowa had seen those bands were when his father had been killed.

The fifteen minute trip seemed like an eternity, but finally they arrived at the castle. Trowa had barely gotten out of the carriage when a member of the household was rushing up to him. Trowa recognized him as Lord Jacob Weston, his uncle's head advisor.

The man looked relieved to see Trowa as he stopped in front of him. "Lord Trowa, I'm glad to see you got back so quickly. I was afraid that the message would take longer to reach you."

"What message?" Trowa asked.

The man blinked in surprised. "Why, the message I sent telling you the accident and asking you to return as quickly as possible."

"I never received a message. There was some trouble on the trip and I decided to return earlier than planned. My ship just arrived at the docks. When I saw the black flags I came straight here to find out what had happened."

"Oh, dear. Then you don't know what happened. I'm sorry. Why don't you go to the library and I'll get His Majesty for you. I'm sure you'd rather here it from him, anyway." With that the man turned and hurried away.

Duo looked around nervously. "Is that such a good idea?"

Trowa sighed. "It doesn't look like we have much of a choice. Let's go. Just be alert."

Heero noticed that Duo's fingers flickered lightly across his right wrist, as if checking for something. He had a feeling that the knife he'd bought for him was hidden beneath the sleeves of Duo's shirt and had probably been there since he'd gotten it. It would explain why Duo had suddenly taken to not rolling the sleeves of his shirt up as he was accustomed to doing.

Trowa looked around the library. There was no one in the room and he didn't see anyone hidden in the shadows. "Quatre."

"Yes, Master."

"I need to check on something, Fetch me the book Dark Passages please. It's over near the fireplace."

Quatre blinked in bewilderment at Trowa's strange request, but moved across the room to obey. Quickly locating the book, he went to pull it out. To his surprise the book appeared to be stuck. Giving it a hard tug he managed to pull it forward.

There was a sudden grinding sound and the fireplace beside him swung silently open.

Trowa had tensed when Quatre had gone across the room, but he relaxed when the fireplace swung open to revel no one. "Thank you. I wanted to make sure there would be no surprises from that way."

Duo blinked. "How many rooms have this little secret?"

"Most. It was designed as a way for the king to escape if the palace was ever attacked, no matter where he might be. My cousin and I used to play hide and seek in them."

Heero nodded. "A good place for an ambush."

Trowa sighed. "If Michal is behind everything. I didn't want to take any chances."

Just then the door to the library slowly began to open.

Bracing himself, Trowa turned to wait for the person to come into the room. When the figure entered the first thing Trowa felt was one of relief. The second was confusion. "What happened?"

Saddened eyes met his. "I was told you hadn't heard. It was a horrible accident. He was killed instantly."