AN: The last chapter had a little action between Duo and Treize they won't do much more the pairing is mostly 1x2 and 13x6x5. Just so you will all know.

Warnings: Are the exact same yaoi, violence, yadda yadda blah blah. I do not own GW, Eragon, and whatever else. If I did, I would be a very rich girl.

Previously:

"Kill the other two. Bring the soldiers and Duo to me."

"Yes master." The two cloaked figures left leaving the man in the dark room alone.

Chapter 5

The mountain scenery changed to miles and miles of green pastures far as thee eye could see. Besides from a few scattered farms and a man riding a donkey they passed on the road, there was no civilization. The sun was quite high in the sky when they finally decided to stop, much to the relief of Duo. They took refuge under a large oak tree, letting their horses free to drink by the stream and graze. Duo pulled off a pack from Epyon, their first day lunch and set out the food which were a few meat pies, bread and cheese. Duo did not eat the cheese. He didn't know why he didn't like it. Whether it was chedder, jack, or mozzarella, cheese and Duo did not mix. There was little talk and Duo drank a whole skin of water, then went down to the stream to refill it. As he was letting the water bag fill with cold stream water, his eyes caught something that glinted in the sunlight wedged between several rocks at the stream shore. He pulled the item out and examined it. It was a small vial of some sorts, made out of thick glass and when he shook it, he knew it was full of liquid. He opened the cap and sniffed cautiously. The smell was unknown to him. It was not bad, but not all that pleasant either. Was it a medicine? Or a poison?

He showed it to Treize who examined it much like he had, lifting it to observe it in the sunlight and then opening the cap to sniff it. "I do not know what it could be. Be safe however, don't drink it or let it touch your skin."

Duo nodded as Treize put the cap back on and handed it back to Duo.

"Let's only spend a few more minutes here." Zechs said who was looking at a basic map. "It'd be wise to reach Fortuna by nightfall. Whatever supplies we don't have we can get there and I'll send an owl to Bujinside to have a ship ready for us when we get there."

Wufei who had been napping under a tree, stretched his lithe form and sighed. "I've never been to the sea. The largest water source I've encountered was the river back in the old location of the Clan."

They packed up and resumed their riding. Duo felt exhilarated as he rode Shinigami. The horse was magnificent and rivaled Heero's own stallion which was the fastest out of all five. They raced ahead in a race, horses going at breakneck speed. Duo laughed and gave a peace sign to Heero who only smirked at him and urged his horse on which slowly crept ahead of Duo's. "No fair." Duo whined as he was overtaken and slowed Shinigami to a calm trot. Heero slowed down as well until Duo managed to catch up to him.

"You're a good rider. What's your horses name?"

"Wing." stated the prince.

"Wing? Why'd you name him that?"

"Hn." was all Heero said.

They started riding off the main road, following the stream to Fortuna. It was a longer ride than it wold be on the road, but it was to ensure they were hardly seen. Duo kept getting this prickly feeling on the back of his neck that they were being followed, but whenever he looked behind them, there was no one. They encountered nothing but wildlife and nature and reached Fortuna when the sun was just touching the horizon, indicating night would befall on them soon. Duo looked around. This was the first city he had ever been too. Instead of winding dirt roads, and spacious homes surrounded by hills of land, the roads were cobblestone, and the horses' hooves clicked and clacked on it in a four beat rhythm. Cloppity clop clop. Cloppity clop clop. There were adjoined houses that looked bunched and crowded. There were also buildings several stories high, that seemed to host several families. He looked at one of the high windows, watching a middle aged woman with a scarf tied around her head, beat a rug against the window sill. Duo's nose wrinkled at the smell of the town. He watched in disgust as a bucket of waste was dumped right onto the street. No, he did not like cities. They were disgusting.

"Don't worry," Wufei told him, lips curled u, disgusted at his surroundings as well. "Not all cities are this dirty and reek so. Malachia, even in it's worse times was not as filthy as this. Believe it or not, sadly, this is the better side of town. Fortuna used to be a grand city, but due to constant attacks and thievery and the darkness it's been consumed it, it's grown poor."

"How do you know all this?" Duo asked.

"I just do."

They stopped in front of a general store. "We'll need lighting fuel and lanterns to get through the forest we will have to enter to reach Bujinside."

"We can eat at that Inn down the street in about an hour. Who will mind sending an owl to Bujinside?" Treize asked.

Heero volunteered with a short "I will" and rode off. Duo was disappointed to see him go. His interest in the frigid man grew steadily each minute. Duo watched him disappear around a corner before he sighed and dismounted Shinigami, rubbing his sore thighs from the extreme riding they had been doing. The horse nuzzled his side as if expressing his condolences and Duo smiled. "Sir, may I look around?" Duo asked Treize who nodded and gave him a small purse. Duo stared at the pouch, blinking. Just how many of these purses did Treize have? Geez!

Duo took Shinigami's reins in his hands and led him slowly through the town, making sure he noted every street and turn so that he would not get lost. His first stop was an interesting old antique shop. It was the sign that caught his eye. It was very pink with squiggly, poorly carved green letters that said Maggie the Collector of Artifacts: Buy or sell. The shop was like a shack and wasn't attached to another building. The shutters were open and old gray curtains fluttered in the breeze. He left his horse outside and sneezed when he entered the dark, dank room, cluttered with any item imaginable.

"Who enters?" said a voice and Duo found a red haired woman with large round glasses that covered half her face, sitting at a table fiddling with a trinket of some sorts with a screwdriver.

"Um...hi. I just wanted to um..."

"Are you here to buy or do you want me to examine something for you?" she cut him off and looked up at him as if annoyed he had bothered her. The glasses she wore made her eyes look ten times larger, so she looked very much like a fly.

"Look I suppose. Hey! Though I may ask you what's in this vial." Duo took the vial he had found out of his pocket and handed it to the woman.

She pursed her lips. "I'm an artifact seller, not an apothecary." She unscrewed the cap and sniffed. "Can't say much on what's inside, but it's rather thick. I don't think you want to drink this." She put the cap back on.

Duo nodded. She sounded like Treize. "But the bottle...it's very detailed for such a small vial. Made of some sort of glass...no it can't be glass..."

Then without warning, she set down the vial and pulled out a hammer and hit the vial with it as hard as she could as Duo watched in horror.

"Hey!" he shouted angrily. "What was that for?" He looked at the vial that laid there on it's die innocently and strangely unharmed. She had hammered it brutally. She looked at Duo over her glasses.

"I just wanted to test it out. That hammer was steel." she said as if Duo was supposed to know that and handed the vial back to him. "Nope. That sucker's not going to break."

Duo shoved it back into his pocket. "And what if it did break after you tried to smash it to bits?" Duo demanded and she went back to fixing her little jigamabob.

"I guess then, it would have shattered into itty bitty pieces and the liquid would be seeping all over my desk right now." She told him simplistically and began to hum a tune. Duo just stared at her as if she was crazy. She suddenly stopped humming and looked back up at him. "Well, now that I've looked at your little potion are you going to sell it to me or buy something." Her eyes gave him the once over and rested on his chestnut braid that hung past his thighs.

"Hmm perhaps scissors then, to cut that rat tail off." She began humming again as Duo stormed out making sure he whipped around fast enough that his "rat tail" gave her a smack in the face as he exited. What a freak she was! Harrumph. He'd show her rat's tail. Shinigami snorted when he saw Duo and Duo continued to lead him around town. With some of the money Treize had given him, he wound up buying a silver necklace with a pretty charm hanging from it, or what he thought was silver. Wen he put it on, the necklace snapped like paper and the charm rolled off into the dust, where he could not find it. Duo had stormed back to the vendor, demanding the money he had been cheated out of. He left five minutes later. Behind him, the vendor was shaking his fist furiously at the retreating back of the teen with a black right eye and his cart full of cheap necklaces upturned in the dirt (That was Shinigami's doing. Good horse, Duo thought.).

Duo found some time to kill and he played some sort of kick the ball game with several children whose faces were smudged with dirt and wore rags for clothes. After three games, Duo bought sticky buns at a nearby bakery and passed them out to the children, giving two to the smallest runt, who reminded him of himself. He strutted back to the general store when there was nothing else to see. With a copper penny, he bought a dozen of peppermint sticks at the general store, clutching the bag in his hand and one stick dangling from his mouth. He heard Shinigami neighing and snorting ferociously and the uneasy cries and screams from citizens. Duo walked out to see what exactly was the matter.

He stopped, frozen, peppermint stick falling from his mouth and breaking at his feet. There, standing several yards away from him were three cloaked figures. Duo could not see their faces, but he did know, however, that they made his blood run cold and fear strike every fiber of his being. One pointed a gnarled, long nailed finger at him as if confirming his identity. He started when Heero jumped in front of him, standing between him and the cloaked strangers.

"Go"." Heero said, voice like steel.

"But Heero...who are they..."

"Ra'zac." Heero hissed like a cat. Duo gasped his bag of peppermints fell from his hand. One Ra'zac walked forward and gave a type of sound between snarl and a shriek and people on the street began screaming and stampeding to safety.

"Stand asssside." it hissed like a snake. "We want the boy."

"Damn it Duo run!" Heero shouted and the first of the Ra'zac attacked Heero and Duo's feet kicked into motion and he began to run. He looked back to see Heero swinging his sword, fighting two of the monsters, but one was chasing after him and it seemed every step Duo took, it took several bounds. It was super fast. Duo could hear the snarling of the Ra'zac behind him and he ducked, rolling on the hard ground and landing under a wagon and the Ra'zac had swooped for him. he Ra'zac, missing its target, hit the ground with a hard thud and skidded several feet before it came to a stop. It did not stir and Duo thought frantically. Oh please Wufei, Zechs, Treize. Help Heero fight those monsters. I don't want him hurt. He watched the fight ensue and winced as a claw had slashed Heero's arm. It was not too deep, but blood steadily poured from it and Heero clutched his arm. He did not cry out in pain, but his eye twitched.

As if they heard his plea, Zechs and Treize came running from around the corner, swords slashing as they fought into the crowd of five Ra'zac for three others had appeared as well. Duo watched them in awe, how they charged the creatures. Wufei appeared and leapt from off a building and swung his sword, completely decapitating a Ra'zac's head who had attempted to attack Zechs from behind. His sword was not thick and heavy looking like the other's but was thin and looked lightweight, but from what Duo saw, it was as sharper than any other. He was surprised to see Heero mutter something and a blew flame flew from his hand and towards his cloaked enemies. Two dodged but one was caught with the blast and disintergrated like dust. Soon only two Ra'zac were left standing surrounded by four, dangerously armed men.

One gave a giant piercing screech and over the buildings swooped down a black dragon the size of a ship. It was magnificent. Each wing was the length of a giant tree. It's body was monstrous and it's neck was elegant with ivory white spikes decorating the limb. It had a thick collar around it's neck and clasps on his claws and feet and gave a roar. Distracted, a Ra'zac attacked Zechs whose sword impaled the creature. It made a gurgling sound and it's hood lid off, revealing the bald head, large eyes devoid of pupil or iris and the large beak that gave a croak before it fell to the ground dead. While it's partner had bit the dust, the other Ra'zac had leapt high in the air and fell safely on the dragon's back. It pointed a gnarled finger. Zechs, Wufei, and Treize dodged as a mighty flaming blaze was directed their way. Heero, however was heading towards Duo. Duo could not figure out why for a second until a shadow fell upon him and he cried out as a gnarled hand dragged him from under the wagon.

Duo struggled fiercely and managed to land a solid uppercut to the concealed beak. It did not hurt the monster, but it startled it and it let go of Duo as Heero began slashing at it with his weapon. The Ra'zac began shrieking and after a mighty blow to it's midsection, it collapsed in it's robes. Duo ran to Heero. "Heero, you're hurt."

The Ra'zac rider, who had heard the last shriek of its kin, veered the dragon away from Treize and Wufei who were holding up a wounded Zechs and it charged towards Heero. The dragon's mouth was open in a roar, mighty claws outstretched, ready to tear, when Duo jumped in front of Heero much as Heero had done when he was faced with the Ra'zac.

"Leave him alone! STOP!" Duo shouted and as if struck the dragon flew sharply to the right and hit the ground, rolling down the city street crushing its rider in the process. Somehow the dragon avoided Duo and Heero completely and gave an angry roar. It slowly rose and it's long neck whipped around and yellow reptilian eyes glared at the braided boy.

Please, don't hurt us. Duo silently begged and gasped as a deep voice, like the sound of thunder entered his head.

Set...me...free. It said as if it struggled to speak. Heero, who had gone pale, collapsed to his knees.

"Heero!" Duo yelled and knelt by Heero. "P..p..poison." Heero stuttered. "The...Ra'zac... claws...posionous."

Duo gasped, but Treize knelt by Heero as well. He grabbed Heero's sword and turned towards the dragon.

"I should killyou. Your masters...Heero he's..."Duo struggled to speak, tears filling his eyes. This was not supposed to happen, not this early in their adventure. The adventure had turned dramatically into horror.

Set me free. The Dragon said again and it gave a small grunt, smoke trailing from his nostrils.

"How can I?" Duo asked. He shivered. It was as if he could feel Heero's life slowly draining away. He shouted in desperation and swung his sword at the dragon. It met with the collar and it's impact shattered the collar in two half pieces which fell from it's regal neck. Soon after, Duo hacked at the bands surrounding the Dragon's feet and claws and they too shattered and fell to the ground. The fallen pieces glowed as if doused in liquid fire, before they quivered and then lay still. The dragon stood up and gave a roar. A roar of freedom. He leaned his head down so that one yellow eye stared directly at Duo.

Thank you, small one. You have set me free from the Ra'zac. Use the Salvenweed.

The what?

The dragon archedit's neck and it's large nose brushed Duo's hip rather roughly.

It's in your pocket. Was all it said and with another roar it flapped it's wings and then took off into the sky. Duo watched him fly off.

Wufei's cry brought Duo back to Heero's situation. The Prince's skin was blue, and he shivered uncontrollably, sweat pouring from his brow and gasping for air. In my pocket. Duo thought and he pulled out the vial and looked at it. Was it possible? He knelt beside the cobalt-eyed man and opened the cap and held it to Heero's lips. "Hold his head up!" he barked and Wufei did so.

"Duo what are you..." Treize trailed off as Duo poured the contents of the vial in Heero's mouth, massaging his throat so that he could swallow. Heero continued to gasp and shiver for a few minutes, but it soon died down and the man gave a throaty cough.

"Heero? You okay buddy?" Duo asked, forcing a smile on his face. Heero's deep blue eyes rested on him, staring at him and Duo could almost see the unspoken thanks in them.

"Hn." was all Heero said before he blacked out.

Once the dust died down, a portly looking man, round as a melon came waddling out, bowler hat perched on his bald head as he approached them nervously, all the while looking at the sky for more danger.

"I saw you five enter my city. I'm the mayor." he said. "The King Dermail sure to know you've been stirring up trouble, bringing those monsters here. We've had peace these few years and you come bouncing along in here, and trouble arrives. I know your kind. Give me your names so that the King will have word of th..." he said no more for Wufei had landed a swift chop to his neck and he fell back unconcious.

"We must leave." he said. "It is not safe to stay in this city. We can take refuge in the forest."

No one could argue. Treize quickly dressed Zechs on his leg and Duo wrapped the gash on Heero's arm.

"I'm fine." Zechs insisted. "It only stings. I will be fine by next morning."

They mounted their horses. Heero was strapped onto Wing, who made no comment and they carefully rode out of Fortuna and into the Firnoch Forest.

Once they were deep enough into the forest and all five men exhausted, did they stop. Duo immediately began taking out bedding and laying them out neatly in the clearing they had found by the stream. Wufei started a fire, and tended to Heero, whose ride had been rather bumpy, head bouncing and bobbing as Wing trotted along. However, it seemed the horse took extra care on carrying Heero, knowing he was injured. Heero was placed on blankets by the fire and Treize was trying to help Zechs sit down.

"Damn it you sissy noble. I'm no invalid." he snapped at Treize who only glared at him. "Well it's what you get, you dumbass, tryingto take on that dragon. You're lucky that it's only a scratch, though any scratch from a dragon could be fatal."

The blonde smirked. "Why Treize, you still care." he said and Treize stiffened and left, fiddling with pack on Epyon for. Zechs sighed sadly and looked away.

"Shall I make dinner?" Duo asked. Treize shook his head. "Just take out some dried meat and bread. I don't think anyone's hungry much."

"Speak for yourself." Zechs and Duo said together. Duo took out a meat pie and cut it in half, giving one piece to Zechs. Treize shook his head at them and ate a quick meal of bread and meat before he fell onto his bedding and sighed. Wufei did not eat much as well, but spent his time stoking the fire. THe next half hour passed in silence, except for Duo's snoring, who had fallen asleep. A few more minutes passed before Wufei spoke.

"This might sound odd, but back at Fortuna I could have sworn I heard Duo screaming for us to help Heero, even though I was several streets away."

Treize and Zechs did not respond, but both agreed in their heads that they had heard Duo too. Another amazing feat was Duo's encounter with the dragon. The dragon did not attack Duo, and when Duo cut off its bonds, the dragon had sniffed Duo and then flew away. Duo had also given Heero whatever had been in the vial he had found earlier. Whatever the phenomenon, all three men thought in their heads that Duo was not at all as he seemed.

Duo unbeknowngst to it all, muttered in his sleep, "Dragons...Heero...peppermint sticks..." The rest of the night went in silence.

An: La dee da da! Sorry this chapter was a little rushed but I wanted to finish it before dinner and post it afterwards. How was it? Oooh it seems Duo has some special connections eh? Next chapter will be up as soon as possible. Review please oh and jess-eklom, you should really read my chapters more closely. I don't think it's Trowa whose trapped in the dungeon...BYE! -----Kenya