Eclipse of Dusk
By: Hseru
Warnings: Shounen ai later on 1x2 3x4 5xM (Hey look...he's got someone now ^_^)
Disclaimer: I own not Gundam Wing, but I do own the world the G-boys traverse. Fear my god power
Chapter 26
It was with the coming of dawn's light that heralded their departure from the warm cave to the bleary cold of winter in the mountains.
Heero was not given lead for once, but rather Wufei took point, with Heero, Duo, and Quatre in the center, and Meiran and Trowa now bringing up the rear guard. They no longer rode the mounts; fresh snow was piled too deeply for them to break through. They walked, each along side his or her respective mount, snowshoes strapped to their feet. The things were awkward at best, and other than serving to save their legs by keeping them from plunging knee deep into the snow, were merely annoying. The only lucky one was Trowa, elven lightness keeping him from the need to wear the cumbersome things.
However, they each did wear their pair, except for Trowa that is, and their speed was kept at a decent pace they would all be able to stay at, even the still recovering Heero.
They stopped for a short rest a few candlemarks before midday. Quatre, surprisingly enough, was the one to call it, saying both Heero and Wufei shouldn't push themselves too hard just yet. The others amiably agreed with him, with the exception of Heero and Wufei. The both of them protested, but the little mage stood firm in what he believed, and he was the closest thing to a healer they had next to Trowa.
So a stop was called, and taken. It was short, consisting of half a candlemark where they removed the snowshoes, kicking out the snow which was stuck in the laces, and taking a bit of grain to the steeds so that their metabolism, and therefore body heat, would stay up.
It was after they began forward again that the hair at the back of Duo's neck began to stand on end, sending unpleasant chills racing down his spine that had nothing to do with the cold.
Someone, or something was watching them.
Pausing in his step for a moment, he then resumed forward level with Heero, who'd previously marched behind him.
"Heero..." He muttered, catching the chocolate haired boy's attention. Heero turned an eye to him, dark brow raised in question.
"Hn...?" He grunted.
"There's something watching us...I don't know what." Duo said, violet eyes glancing about with a somewhat nervous air.
"Did you just now notice this?" The soldier asked, all his attention on Duo now.
"Yeah...right after we started moving again." The braided youth replied. "I don't think it's just one thing either. It feels like we're...surrounded." He added, another shiver brushing down his back.
Heero turned his gaze outwards, focusing his senses now. He'd always been alert; it was trained into him to be so; but he'd not felt what Duo now spoke of. That is, not until he was alerted to it. Now, he did feel it.
The gaze of something, of several somethings eyeing the small traveling party
He cursed silently.
Their short period of non-movement, the day and nights within the cave, had allowed something to lock onto the small group. There was no telling whether what watched was of an evil intent or not, but they had best assume the worst. Especially as they drew nearer to Sarkan's stronghold. He was bound to be able to track Duo's collar; the closer they got, the more opposition they were likely to encounter.
"I'll inform Wufei and Quatre. You tell Trowa and Meiran." Heero said quietly, his training taking over now. With a nod, Duo again paused, casually, and waited for Trowa to come level with him so he could tell the elf of their situation, then Meiran.
Heero moved forward, equally as casual, and bespoke Quatre, then forward again to where Wufei led the group.
"Wufei...we have a situati-" Heero began, but was cut short by the sudden explosion of sound directly behind him.
A grunting roar that sounded half choked accompanied a beast half the size of an Olyphant (1) as it crashed through the brush and trees. Craggy gray in color and covered in coarse darker hair, two tree trunk legs supported a thick, bulky body, accompanied by over-long arms, one grasping the end of a crude cudgel that looked more like a small tree. A diminutive head was affixed to the top, there appearing to be no neck separating the two, and a small, beady pair of black eyes could barely be made out in the brutish face, a low brow over the sunken sockets, giving it an altogether unfinished look. A large, square jaw rimmed with razor teeth set in rows much like a shark's topped off the look of complete beast.
Heero and Wufei recognized the creature immediately, surprise registering on their faces. Troll, and a big one at that.
And it had landed in the foolishly large gap Duo and Heero'd made when moving forward and back to warn the others of the very beast's presence, cutting Trowa, Meiran, and Duo off from the others.
As if to expound their situation, five more of the beasts trumpeted the charge, and there was only a heart beat's amount of time to wonder why so many of the solitary creatures were grouped together, as if it were not obvious enough.
Then the world turned into a melee of motion where they found themselves sorely outnumbered in sheer strength alone.
Three of the six trolls aimed for the front half of the party, while the other three headed for the back half.
Quatre had to hold his bucking Arabian from running off, the Illians more ready to fight the trolls themselves than flee from the eight foot tall beasts. It left the little mage without the concentration needed to cast a spell, and he released the lead reins to free his hands and mind for a spell, the white stallion galloping away from the objects of its fear.
Wufei gave a grim smile as the trolls advanced, and his blades shimmered out of their sheaths. He took a step forward, cursed the snow shoes he suddenly found hampering his full abilities, and was fell upon by one of the trolls, cudgel and fist swinging. He dodged around, again cursing the damn snowshoes, and landed a slice home on the troll's upper abdomen. Only to have his blade deflected in a shower of sparks. A loud curse erupted from him then, as he realized just what type of troll they were up against. Well nigh invincible to steal weaponry, the mountain troll was made from nearly solid stone, easily hard enough to break most weapons. Their weak spots were few, and small. Inside the razor rimmed mouth, and at a certain spot close to where their legs joined heir thick bodies. Gritting his jaw, Wufei aimed for those spots, hoping he would be able to finish the beast off quickly before any of the others were overwhelmed.
Heero's diamond blade scythed out of its metal sheath with a loud rasp, and the bright shower of sparks from Wufei's deflected sword told him all it needed to.
Aiming low, he swiped at the troll advancing upon him, intent upon hitting the soft spot. The beast saw it coming, and carelessly brought its arm up to guard itself. Heero cursed silently as his blade missed its intended target, instead hitting against the rock hard forearm of the troll; and sinking deep into the suddenly yielding flesh.
With a howl of pain, the troll swung back with its fist, and Heero's own surprise was almost enough to allow his wits to be overcome by the blow, yet he brought his sword back up to block. The black diamond blade bit deep into the troll's fist, easily slicing through layers of rock hard skin, muscle and bone as if he were merely slicing bread.
The troll backed off with a stupid look on its face, suddenly realizing it was not so invulnerable as it had first thought.
Heero was given a half second to figure out exactly why he'd been able to cut into the mountain troll. Then it dawned on him.
He possessed a solid black diamond blade, the hardest mineral known to exist besides star silver. Phenris had said something about the edge being monofilament sharp. Able to cut through stone.
It was with a grim smile that Heero leapt forward, two things on his mind.
Kill the trolls.
Get to Duo.
...
At the sudden appearance of the trolls, Meiran's tan mare had reared back in fright, nearly jerking her arm off in the process as it pulled against the leader rope she held.
She was reluctant to let the mare go, but she needed both her hands free to fight. A quick motion had both hers, and her late brother's sword in her hands, her hold upon the bay mare gone, allowing the snorting horse to kick its way through the snow and away from the attacking trolls.
"Duo!" She shouted, tossing her brother's sword hilt first to the braided youth who had at first been paralyzed with surprise and no small amount of fear. Murasaki was in front of him, a blazing black demon ready to flail with those mace large hooves at anything close enough.
Her yell jolted him to awareness in time to fumble a catch of the sword, managing to not cut himself in the process, and he then took forceful hold of Murasaki's reins, and gave a good hard slap to her rear. Startled, she was moved into a hard canter, away from the fight.
Even as he directed his attention to more important matters, he was barely in time to block the half swing of a huge cudgel aimed his way. The blow was indeed blocked, but Duo flew back with the force, coming up sharp against the hard bark of an aspen tree. It just about knocked the breath from him, and he moved quickly behind the thin screen of trees in an effort to escape the next attack.
Trowa had grabbed his bow and arrow as soon as he got a good look at the attacking trolls, his un-named Illian backing up with him, yet just behind to stay clear of the elf's shot. Backing up as quickly as he was able, which was quick indeed without having snowshoes strapped to his feet, he nocked an arrow to the taunt string of his bow.
The first release was useless, as his target moved at the last second, the arrow bouncing off the solid skull of the troll advancing upon him. However, when the beast let loose with a feral roar of delight as it bore down upon its intended victim, it found the feathered end of an elvish arrow protruding from the back of its throat, and odd kind of numb feeling spreading down from where the thin, barbed head of the arrow had pierced through to its brain.
The troll dropped dead at Trowa's feet moments later.
The elf did not have time to rejoice, for his comrades were yet in danger. He moved forward to where Duo and Meiran each struggled with their own troll, each unable to inflict damage, and worse yet, not knowing where or how to do so.
Nocking another arrow, the elf came first to the troll facing Meiran.
He loosed an arrow, aiming to gain the beast's attention rather than do any damage. The arrow reflected off the back of the troll's head, flying away to who knew where.
Before he could loose another to further gain its attention, he was knocked to the ground by an explosion of sorts, the force of what he presumed to be a spell knocking even the trolls flat, not to mention Meiran. He could not see Duo anymore -the youth had dodged into the trees to try and elude the troll that followed- and that worried him beyond what had managed to knock him flat.
It was a spell, concocted by Quatre, and aimed at the troll nearest him. The only thing he could think of to stop one of the things was a spell designed to decimate rock. It was more of a defensive spell than a war spell, but it worked well enough. The troll he'd aimed it at was no longer alive, half of its body blown off by the blast. The carcass now lay in a steaming puddle of its own viscous crimson blood.
Wufei and Heero had both been blown off their feet, not to mention the troll each faced, only they were the quicker to get up.
The sword's master plunged his sword deep into one of the mountain troll's body via the soft spot on its lower abdomen.
Heero did not bother to find any such spot. His troll was lacerated in many places, but just because he could damage the beast did not necessarily mean it could be felled easier. Merely that dispatching it took a quick, strong slice at the creature's non-existent neck, severing the head from the body in one smooth move.
A yelp from the surprising distance that now separated them from the others caught all three's attention. The only visible troll was backing Meiran into a corner, and both Trowa and Duo were no-where to be seen.
Heero reached out a hand, and a tall line of fire abruptly rose to life between the troll and the young woman, halting the troll for the few seconds it would take them to get there.
The creature was impervious to the flames, which was why he'd not used them before, but their appearance had been enough to puzzle it into stopping.
As they arrived, Heero extinguished the flame, focusing on the creature before them.
Now surrounded by four smaller beings intent upon hurt, the mountain troll was confused. Its small capacity for thought did not have the ability to understand why it was being fought back. With a snarl, the troll took a back swing at the three newcomers, each avoiding it in their own way.
Heero sliced inwards, scoring a deep cut across the troll's stomach. It bellowed in pain, and struck back. The soldier caught the blow in such a way that he was sent flying backwards to land hard in the soft snow, rolling to better take the impact.
Wufei took his place, driving inwards at the large gash Heero'd made in the creature. His sword sank deep, carving into the pain riddled mountain troll, revealing that only their tough skin was so impervious to harm. Once past that, it was as easy as facing anything else with a razor steel weapon.
Wufei gave his blade a sharp twist, and pulled it out as quick as he'd plunged it in, ripping viscera and letting loose a fountain of blood on the way.
With a pain filled squawk, the troll grabbed at him, only to find itself holding nothing but air, much to its dismay and confusion. By then, Wufei was far from its reach, and already moving in again for another strike. This was his forte. Even bound with the snowshoes, he could move in and out far faster than the troll could keep up with, blade a flash of now reddened steel.
Heero picked himself up from the snow, eyes darting at everything.
Quatre was now next to Meiran, the both of them ready to help should it be needed, rather in awe of Wufei's mastery.
...But where were Trowa and Duo?
His search became a bit frantic as Wufei finally downed the last troll, flipping the blood from his blades to spot the snow with red tears.
Hurrying over, he went straight to Meiran.
"Meiran...where are Duo and Trowa?" He asked quickly. The warrior maiden blinked, looking around.
"I saw the both of them just moments ago." She said, the silence that now descended upon them heavy with unvoiced thoughts. Heero was the first to move in the direction of the trees, going to where he himself had last seen the braided youth.
Evidence of the scuffle littered the ground; broken and twisted trees from the mountain troll's attacks narrowed down his area of search, not to mention giving him a clear path to follow.
Over the heavier steps of the troll, a light pair of tracks were barely evident, which meant that Trowa had followed the same trail as well what could have been only moments before.
Quickening his pace, the others only a few steps behind, Heero nearly stumbled over the long, hard metal thing that lay in his path. Pausing to pick it up, he stared at what he held.
Meiran's Brother's sword.
Meiran herself came up behind him, eyes wide with fear for her friend.
"That's Duo's sword..." She whispered.
With a grunt, Heero moved forward again, the hurry evident in his step.
All too soon, they came to a small clearing. Here, they found the tracks of several more trolls converging onto the solitary one's now more uniform tracks.
Here, Trowa's light prints disappeared.
And the entire pack of trolls had moved out from the area towards the North-West.
Towards Sarkan.
Heero felt a weight settle over his thoughts, over his heart.
They had Duo.
By the gods, Sarkan had Duo.
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1. Ok, so I cheated and pulled a Tolkien. Obviously, this is an elephant. Think big, like African elephant instead of Indian.
Hrmmm… I liked writing this chapter. It means that things will pick up.
Tell me if you think I should change the rating. I'll warn now, Sarkan is evil, and tends to torture.
Just a heads up to further goad the suspense.
Mwahahahahaha!!!
Erm *cough cough* yeah
Ja!
-Hseru
Review, review!! ((Yay ^^ I had lots of reviews for the last chappy. Keep 'em coming!))