A silence fell. This was the first painful silence Heero had encountered with this group, whose bonds he still didn't quite understand -- but he felt bonded with everyone, even with Wufei. They weren't 'normal' as Duo had once called it, and that which tied them together was stronger than anything else. He couldn't name it -- friendship, fate, destiny, the legend itself -- but he knew it couldn't be broken either. His instinct proved him right, when he heard Wufei's voice. The Nataku warrior wasn't hesitant when he spoke, but the silence between his and Heero's words had been significant.
"We are tied together beyond any normal or regular bonds," Relena voiced his thoughts out loud after her final "Yes". "We've been through so much together already that it's impossible to give up now. Though we all have our own interpretation of what's about to come, we're going to face it together. Together."
"There will be more fighting, Princess," was Duo's answer.
"There will be." Heero could almost hear her nod. "There will be, and I won't ever like it or encourage it. Weapons are wrong in this world... in any world."
"Wrong, but necessary." That was Trowa.
"Tied together, but with nowhere to go." Wufei shuffled his feet -- it took Heero a while to realize that he was sitting down. This was ridiculous, and he nudged Duo. The Fire mage understood him without words, and soon a dozen of small fire orbs enlightened the study.
Quatre blinked, but smiled. "We'll find our way."
"Our way to Sanq," Relena said.
Duo showed a watery smile. "The Kingdom for our Princess."
She mimicked his smile, but nodded again. Heero was about to say something when Trowa spoke up: "I guess we're not going anywhere for the night, so we better make our camp here...?"
Relena swallowd. "I would rather not stay here." Her eyes went to the direction where Tubarov's corpse was.
"We can... take care of that," Quatre said soothingly. "This room is the only one intact."
She twitched a little nervously, but agreed and looked pointedly the other way. Duo offered to go get the blankets, not minding the walk down and out to the horses in the garden. Heero was about to go with him, when Duo already started walking, passing Relena at the same time the girl turned around for whatever reason, and they bumped into each other.
"Oh! How stupid! I'm so sorry, Duo...!"
"No worries there, Princess," he grinned goofily, exactly like he used to grin, the tension gone. Before he could continue, something slid out from under his robes and dropped to the floor, clattering. Duo clicked with his tongue.
"Let me get that for you," Relena said and already crouched down. It was the half-finished gundanium disk wrapped in a piece of cloth; Heero hadn't been aware that Duo was wearing it on his person. He remembered the Fire mage telling how valuable it was, so it wasn't that strange for him to keep it close. One or two slivers had fallen out of the cloth, and Relena moved to pick them up.
"I knew I should have tightened it better, but knots have never been my forte..." Duo's voice died down as soon as Relena picked up a sliver -- which started to glow immediately at her touch.
"Wha... what?"
"Relena," Heero said, confused by what was happening. The others looked up from her surprised cry, and even Duo's eyes were wider than usual.
She got up, straightening herself, looking disturbed at the glowing sliver of gundanium in the palm of her hand. Duo picked up the other one and put it on her hand, and it started glowing immediately.
"What's the meaning of... of this?" she asked, but there was no fear in her voice -- it was curiosity, and Heero didn't know if that surprised or shook him. Relena was hardly the girl he knew before, and maybe he wasn't the same as he used to be either. It always took her some time getting adjusted to a new situation, but once accepted, Relena adjusted herself the best way possible. Had she accepted herself being a 'Princess', or was she genuinely interested in the strange thing happening?
Wordlessly, Duo nudged her towards the small table in front of one of the surviving bookcases, and at his command several light orbs swarmed around them. Relena put the wrapped disk on the table, and Duo removed the small cords holding it together. It was half- finished, odd pieces and slivers surrounding it as he hadn't managed yet putting them together.
"Please finish this for me, Relena," he said.
"What?" She looked at him as if he had gone mad. "I don't know how!"
"You know," Duo said confidently. "Touch the pieces and fit them together."
Relena gave him one more doubtful look, but she touched the disk, immediately basking in the same glow. The material seemed to... grow together, the cracks disappearing, the pieces joining together to form one, smooth surface. She moved a few of the pieces around, and every one she touched started to glow until she fitted it together, completing the disk.
"Amazing," Quatre said, standing up on his toes. Even Wufei had come close, unable to hide his own curiosity. They were all huddled together around the small table, watching how Relena finished the puzzle Duo had been working on for so long. As soon as the disk was complete, it glowed even more intense than before, rendering the light orbs superfluous.
"Amazing," Quatre repeated. Duo looked a little sour, slightly miffed that Relena managed to finish the disk with barely any effort compared to all the work he had done. She seemed to be startled by her own success the most; she kept staring at the disk as if it was going to bite her.
"Why is it glowing so much?" Trowa asked, squinting. He had barely spoken or the light intensified again, and Heero shielded his eyes, just as everyone else. The disk vibrated on the table as if an invisible hand was moving it. "What's going on?"
"Get back," Duo hissed. "Get back everyone! It's opening a portal!"
"What?"
"Get back!" Duo grabbed Heero at his elbow and tugged at him. He stepped away from the table, just in time to see the disk standing upright on the surface -- how was that possible? It was only a mere second before the light was too intense to look at, and to see how the disk grew in size, enlarging itself in the study.
Trowa said something, but Heero couldn't hear him. The disk was still growing in size, the edges of the portal cutting through anything in its path. It changed its shape; it was no longer a perfect circle, but a triangle shape, reminding Heero oddly of the gate Duo had opened to visit Libra. It finally stopped growing, but the light remained intense, and he held his hand over his eyes.
"This side," Duo hollered to Trowa and Wufei who had been on the other side of the table. A portal could only be approached from one way, and they quickly came over to Duo's side. He still stared in disbelief at the portal, shining brightly in front of them.
"I should have known," the Fire mage sighed. "The disk was the key -- even Khushrenada said so, and I overlooked the only one who could solve it for so long. We had the Princess with us all the time, and I didn't connect the dots."
"This is a portal to Sanq?" Quatre's voice almost skipped an octave. Trowa shared his incredulous look, and Wufei had recovered from his earlier surprise and looked as stone-faced as usual. His fingers were around the hilt of his katana, however.
"Are you telling me that we find Khushrenada if we go through this portal?" He already stepped closer, but Duo firmly placed his hand against his chest plate, holding him back.
"He had a disk, but he doesn't have Relena," Duo said. "Apparently, only a Peacecraft can activate the portal. This really is a wonderful discovery."
"You could have come up with it sooner," Wufei remarked, but his voice lacked the usual disdain. Duo grinned widely, taking his remark in stride.
Heero looked at the portal suspiciously, and then looked back at Duo. He was all but prepared to step forward and go through that portal -- as the first, to see if there was any risk.
"I go first," he announced. Duo didn't even look at him.
"No, I'll go first, Heero. If I don't return in five minutes, the portal is probably a blank, and Quatre knows how to close it."
"But then we would lose you."
"We can't risk going through it together, we don't know what's on the other side -- if it's the Kingdom of Sanq, it could be a dangerous place after being abandoned for so long."
"You're not going first," Heero insisted. "If we really don't know what's on the other side, it's too dangerous."
Relena took the decision out of their hands. "I'll go first," she said. "If I'm really a Peacecraft," -- her voice held a funny tone when she pronounced the name -- "and able to open a portal to supposedly Sanq, I doubt it will hurt me."
"Relena, wait," Heero hurriedly said, but she slipped past him before he could grab her, and she was engulfed by the light soon after. He immediately jumped after her through the portal, together with Duo, who had grabbed him by the upper arm. They were so hurried that they lost their balance and rolled over each other, ending up in a heap of limbs on a large courtyard paved with cobblestones. Not a moment thereafter, Quatre, Trowa and Wufei stepped through the portal, calm, but careful.
Duo rolled off of Heero, lithely getting up and dusting off his robes again. Heero groaned and got up himself, using his sollevar as support.
"This is Sanq?"
"It has to be," Duo said and tilted his head. They were in the middle of a large courtyard, pristine buildings surrounding them. There was no one to be seen, not even a gust of wind to be felt. The buildings were plastered white, the shudders painted a lively green, and there were flowerboxes hung below the windows. Light red roof tiles reflected a weak sun; it wasn't outspoken hot or cold. All the windows were open, but there was no movement behind them. The wooden gate in the north wall was wide open; the locks keeping it in place violently broken.
"It looks like something is missing," Trowa remarked. He had been looking at the sky -- not a bird in sight.
"It is, it very much is," Quatre murmured. "Everything here is out of balance."
"Maybe we need another key?"
"No," Duo shook his head. "We are here, that's what matters. The environment is distorted, and that can mean only one thing -- Khushrenada is already here."
"How?" Quatre asked, shocked.
"I don't know," he answered. "It feels just strange being here, everything is distorted, out of balance, as you said yourself. Either an unknown force is at work, or Khushrenada has managed to find a way in."
"He could not find his way into Libra," Wufei snorted. "And now you are telling me he is here all of the sudden?"
"I don't know," Duo repeated and his voice was borderline angry -- not with Wufei, but with the strange situation. Quatre seemed to gripe for something, but he suddenly pointed at the gate.
"Someone has gone through that before, or it still has to be from the first attack on Sanq."
"That's impossible," Trowa said. "Everything would have to show signs of battle. The Five couldn't defend the castle and were overrun by the people. Nothing seems to be demolished here."
"Maybe magic healed this place in time," Duo muttered and he stepped forward to touch a wall, his hand darting over the white plaster. Not a speck of dust or a grain of sand stuck to his finger. No flakes of paint, no cracks in the woodwork. Nothing.
"We better restore the balance before worse things happens," Quatre insisted. As a Nature mage, he felt the distortion better than the others, though anyone would have to be blind to not see that something was wrong. As they moved over the courtyard, Heero still hadn't seen a bug or a bird, and there was no wind or sound but their own voices and footsteps. Relena hurried to stay in line and walked close to Heero, the hems of her dress dragging over the cobblestones -- but just like the mages' robes, no dirt stuck to it.
"I don't get it." Duo said, puzzled.
Trowa looked at the small wooden cabin outside of the gate and suddenly nodded. "It's for a guard," he said. "He could take shelter for the rain, and keep an eye on everyone passing the gate from here."
"I think in this case, this was for a writer," Quatre pointed at the small desk inside the cabin. The Kingdom of Sanq didn't know of an army or any other form of military, so they probably wouldn't have guards either. "The writer would take your name and write it on the list, so they would know who was inside the castle or not."
"All the way over there?" Relena asked. Despite the sun not being bright, she used her hand to shelter her eyes from it and pointed it in the distance. A plain, similar white-plastered castle was a mile away, bearing two large towers with huge banners. From this distance, Heero could only make out the light colors of the banners, not what was on it. Trowa patted on a strange wooden construction next to the cabin.
"There would be horses waiting here, to transport the guests to the castle so they didn't need to walk. Courteous and polite."
"We'll have to use our own feet," Duo said lightly and started walking down the path. Just like Quatre he had left his staff with the rest of their luggage on Mercurius' back, but their magic wasn't dependant of it. The intense glow of the portal was still visible behind them, yet it made Heero uncomfortable as he resumed his pace, walking next to Duo. Maybe for the others, walking through portals and ending up somewhere only the Twelve knew, was the most normal thing to happen, but to him it felt like he was ripped out of his environment, an environment he trusted and knew.
It didn't escape him that everybody walked closer to Relena, forming a circle around her. This was their destination, the place Duo had talked about so often before; the Kingdom of Sanq. Heero thought it was just as eerie as Catalonia Castle -- despite the nice weather and the bright colors, something was just not right here, and his own gloomy feelings made him tighten his grip on the sollevar. Someone touched him; it was Duo, who put his hand on his. He moved his lips, mouthing an "It's all right" to him, but it didn't comfort him.
They reached the gate of the castle without any delay, and Heero inspected the heavy iron bars. Why did a Kingdom so proud of bringing peace, have such a defensive gate? He could see from the perfectly aligned cobblestones that the gate had never been closed, however. Madness, he thought. Overrun by their own good intentions. He walked in front along with Wufei, with Duo and Quatre flanking Relena, while Trowa covered the back. He hadn't whipped out his bow and arrows, but he was tensed enough to draw his weapon any second -- Heero felt the tension too, the growing tension of danger.
"It feels so wrong," Relena suddenly said, and her voice sounded sad. "It's such a beautiful place, and... it's just like I can feel how soiled, how tainted it has become. This isn't how the Kingdom is supposed to be."
Trowa moved forward and all but slapped Duo on the shoulder. He immediately halted.
"Skeefs," he said. "A lot of them. A whole lot of them."
"How?" Duo hissed. "They must have been brought here!"
"Khushrenada," Wufei growled, unsheathing his katana again. There was nothing to be seen ?et -- but everyone felt the ominous threat. Relena trembled in indignation; all this beauty and hope the castle represented was already soiled, and was going to be tainted more, as a fight was imminent. Her eyes were darting around as if she was looking for someone to talk to, to call off any attack, but as soon as they moved into the courtyard of the castle, all the doors and windows burst open, pouring out the vicious animals, howling, their sharp nails damaging the perfect walls and stones as they moved.
Skeefs were immune to fire, Heero recalled, and he expected Duo to team up with Quatre again, doing whatever needed to be done to fend off the animals. To his surprise, the Fire mage was right next to him, a lopsided grin on his face. He could let himself go with these creatures that had been bred for fighting only; no one would be grieving for them. Trowa was already aiming arrow after arrow, animals going down with a high-pitched yowl. Heero lunged forward, the sollevar cutting through skin and fur, ripping out intestines and carving up bones as he went. The temperature around him dropped, and he took it that Quatre was conjuring one of his ice spells, but this cold felt different... it felt... hollow.
The air was torn by a howling noise, and dark red and purple rays went through the animals, and Heero swallowed when he saw what exactly was leading those rays. Skulls. They searched out their victim and flew right through them, animal immediately dropping dead after the slightest touch. The creepy skulls flew howling past Heero, and he had one moment to compose himself before another skeef jumped to him. The sky darkened from the use of Death magic, and as the skulls did their work, Heero noticed more skeefs running through the open doors, as well as people.
Duo had been right; Khushrenada was here. He recognized the soldiers of the Treize Faction by their armor and uniform, and he hollered to Duo.
"His army is here!"
Duo looked to the side. "Save the Princess! Get her out of here!"
He hissed when seeing the soldiers, the look on his face regretful. It was too late to call his spell off, and the skulls went around the charging soldiers, bodies dropping with eyes dazed and confused, unable to grasp that they were dead. The skulls howled and floated through the air, tearing everything and everyone apart they came across. Heero embraced himself for another wave of skeefs, and to his horror he noticed some soldiers coming after him. He had killed humans before -- back at the farm, when they were all but trying to kill him. These soldiers would kill him as well, in the name of whoever paid them, and they would have no qualms using their swords... and if he wasn't able to stop them, they would go after Duo, after Relena... his sollevar sunk into human flesh, and the scream of agony was awfully high-pitched -- when he withdrew his weapon, he ignored the sickening sound of the trident-shaped head tearing bits of flesh with it, dripping with blood.
The chunks of ice were almost familiar, and both skeef as human were crushed by it, some soldiers trying to protect their faces from the sharp edges of the ice, but not even their helmets were helpful in this battle. Heero saw men and animals fall to the ground and grunted whenever one managed to injure him; he had scratch marks all over his torso, and one soldier had managed to knick his thigh. There were so many; Khushrenada believed religiously in 'power by numbers', Heero thought. The usurper didn't skimp on fodder; man and beast were nothing but cheap and expendable to him. He growled; how was it possible that one man could be so disdainful and careless about human life?
Two men were standing out -- men clad in robes, not in armor, and they managed to behave themselves extremely calm, unperturbed by the chaos of fighting soldiers and snarling beasts around them. So this is were the mages recruited by Khushrenada end up. Heero didn't know and didn't care if they were still in training or not; it was rather obvious they were conjuring other animals, strengthening them, and from the look of their robes they were both schooled in Fire -- one Detonation and they all could die here.
"Get the mages first," Trowa hissed. "No animal can be conjured if they're dead!" At least the archer had less scruples, Heero presumed, but he was right; without the mages this battle could be easier -- as far as any battle could be 'easy'. He didn't realize how fighting was in his blood, and how fast he had accepted that people would die, even by his hands. Preparing himself for the onslaught, he wielded his sollevar, paying no heed to the howling noises and screams. He tried to clear a way for himself, when he saw one of the mages' hands engulfed in reddish flames. The man was preparing a spell or a dortang, and Heero hurried, disposing of his enemies, man or animal, focused on the mages.
He wasn't going to make it. How long would it take for the mage to prepare his spell? So many of those blasted animals, each and every one of them vicious and strong, he had to strike twice or even thrice before they went down. Growling in frustration, Heero started pushing and stabbing, hurrying along. Suddenly, he was pulled backwards and he raised his sollevar, ready to stab anyone who dared to attack him from behind. It was Wufei, the Nataku warrior sweating from exertion, his armor covered in blood.
"You stay here," he barked, "and protect the Princess! Leave the mages to me!"
"No!" Heero shrugged his hand off. Wufei's katana was dirtied and dripping with blood, much like his own sollevar. "I can handle them!"
"The Princess needs you more than I do," Wufei said dryly, lifting his katana, pointing behind him.
Heero whirled around, his eyes searching out Relena. To his horror, she was standing in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by the remaining three -- Trowa, Duo and Quatre. Strangely enough, there was quite a circle of space between her and the others, as if she had marked an invisible territory. She was just standing, her hands clenched at her dress, her lips clamped together. Heero's mouth dropped open in a silent 'o'. He wanted to ask her why in all the gods' names she hadn't taken cover, why she hadn't hidden herself. The courtyard was filled with fighters, with vicious animals, with people who would kill her if they could reach her.
"Relena," he mouthed at her, but she didn't pay attention to him, forcing herself to look right past him. Wufei grabbed him at the shoulder again.
"Go to her," he urged him. "Leave the mages to me. You can defend her better than I can."
"You..." There wasn't time for a discussion. It suddenly dawned to Heero what Wufei was doing, and he wanted to grab the Nataku warrior to keep him from plunging himself into death.
"No! You're not going to die for me because of your stupid honor, Wufei!"
The mage was about ready to unleash a spell, and Wufei stormed forward, cleaving a way through the masses. Heero's voice was lost in the cacophony of howling noises, human screeches and the horrifying sounds of the Death magic floating around. Quickly, he turned around and ran back towards the circle, taking his place right on time to prevent a skeef from jumping towards Relena and ripping her throat out.
Duo's skull spell was finally depleted and he switched to leeching life force; Heero didn't want to stop and think about it, whenever he saw one of the dark purple or dark red beams of magic flashing so close to him. The howls and the screeches were the worst -- it was nightmarish, and he thought he was never going to get used to it. He might be a fighter, but this was the worst part; the horrible screams, people twitching and jerking in their hour of death. He would continue to fight to reach his goal Khushrenada -- and between him and Heero was this sea of animals and soldiers. Gritting his teeth, he swung the sollevar and struck another skeef down.
It felt like hours had passed when the last of the soldiers and the last of the skeefs had fallen down, gurgling when blood welled up in their mouths, bodies jerking before death claimed them. Heero panted from the exertion and used his sollevar to keep standing upright. Wufei was calmly wiping his katana clean on the robes of the fallen mages, his face oddly serene. Trowa collected his arrows, face set in something similar to disgust, mixed with nausea. Anyone would throw up when seeing this carnage -- right on a courtyard belonging to a castle that was the supposedly capital of peace.
Relena hadn't moved, and her face was so neutral that it was almost painful. She stared in the distance, focusing on anything but the bloodbath surrounding her, swallowing thickly. Quatre stood close to her, collecting his bearings, chest heaving up and down. Heero couldn't find Duo, until he saw him kneeling down next to a soldier. Frowning, he saw how Duo held his necklace, the cross dangling on a chain, in his hand as his other hand went over the soldier's face. The man twitched once more.
"What is he doing?" Heero asked, confused.
"He's granting death to those who are on the threshold," Quatre answered. "He soothes their pain by helping them to cross over. No one would survive long with all these injuries; he makes their death less painful."
Relena swallowed again and again. She did everything she could to not start crying or screaming, but her hands twisted and clenched at the fabric of her dress.
"We better get out of here," Heero said. The sight of all this blood and cadavers wasn't something he wished to see for much longer.
"He's almost done," Quatre said, almost absent-mindedly. Trowa finished collecting his arrows, herding them together in his quiver before hoisting it over his shoulder, next to his bow. Wufei was studying the castle, weighing his options.
"I would say that Khuhsrenada is in the throne room," he thought out loud. "Isn't that the place where everyone in power goes, especially those who are doing the usurping?"
"I guess that's the best place where we'll...meet him, too," Trowa said listlessly. Despite these animals bred for death and destruction, he didn't like them all being killed. He preferred to have one to tame or to study; but with their deadly character and nature, he knew that was unlikely to happen.
Duo came walking towards them, not a spatter of blood on his robes. His face was pale, if only for his cheeks burning with a fiery red color. Somehow his eyes looked hollow, so unlike Duo that Heero had the feeling that he was seeing someone else instead of the Fire mage he knew.
"I'm done," he said, rather brusquely. "We have to continue. We'll be encountering Merquise and Lady Une somewhere down the road, I'm sure of it."
Quatre nodded. "She won't be surprising us."
"The throne room," Wufei suggested again. He showed a brief smirk when Duo agreed that the throne room was the best place to go looking for Khushrenada, and they crossed the courtyard, Relena safely in their midst.
Heero entered the castle first, sollevar clenched firmly in his hands. There was no one to see in the hallway. Large pillars supported an ingenious structure of a soft-white, gleaming material, far higher than Libra's monastery. Heero tried to mentally calculate how many people could stand on each other's shoulders before reaching the ceiling; it had to be at least twenty, twenty-five. The ceiling was painting with a floral pattern, unknown animals in the middle of flower fields with cloudless skies. No dark colors were used in the paintings, not even in the tapestries on the wall.
He was cautious to proceed, but it appeared that really no one was in the castle. If Khushrenada was really here, he would have taken more men with him than those who had died on the courtyard; the sheer volume of his army had been daunting to everyone. Wufei was just as careful, dark eyes darting between the pillars, aware of a possible ambush. Not a gust of wind, not a single sound. Lifeless. Wrong.
"Which way?" Heero asked, wondering briefly why he whispered. The hallway had ended and they had the choice between right and left. Huge windows offered a view on a luscious garden, beautiful flowers adorning a summer-house covered with vines, every color vibrant.
"It's so beautiful here," Relena said and pain was audible in her voice; so much beauty and calmness, and it had already been tainted by battle and fighting. The garden was the first place Heero saw natural life of all of Sanq; a butterfly moved from one conspicuous orange flower to another, its wings a lilac-white with a dotted pattern. Beautiful, indeed.
"Go left," Duo said. "We need to walk around the garden, and there will probably be some steps... the throne room usually is in the center of a castle, if I'm not mistaken."
"I know the way," Relena suddenly piped up. "It feels like... I've already been here."
Duo looked oddly at her, but it only took a second before a bright smile graced his face. "By all means, Princess, lead the way." It didn't mean that he allowed her to walk in front freely; both he and Heero flanked the girl tightly. Wufei and Trowa followed, while Quatre brought up the rear.
They were only past the garden, turning around the corner, when Quatre said: "Show yourself, dorin'essauyan."
The rest immediately halted, Heero pulling Relena towards him as they took cover against the wall -- not that there was much cover to begin with. The east walls all sported the same open windows with the view on the garden.
Heero reproached himself mentally for overlooking the small corridor on the west side, especially when someone stepped out of it -- every movement calm and composed, the heavy dress rustling gently. He recognized them; the same white embroidery as Quatre's, the same midnight blue color... and the woman wore a tight smile, colorless lips pursed together, but the fierceness in her eyes was undeniable.
"I can't let you continue," she said, her voice reflecting the same fierceness. Her hands were limply next to her sides, and there was no sign of her summoning or conjuring any spell yet. Her chestnut hair framed an intelligent face, beautiful in its own way -- the Nature mage who had been accompanying Khushrenada, looking for glory and honor.
"Lady Une," Quatre said, sounding tired. "This is not as it's supposed to be. Please, return to Libra and remain there. So many people can learn from you, you and your talent --"
"Enough, Quatre Raberba Winner." She stuck out her chin. "There's nothing you can tell me that will ever change my mind. You barely know me, who are you to judge me?"
"I know that you are a talented mage," Quatre continued. "You were very eager to learn -- I'm sure you can pass your knowledge with the same zeal onto your students. There --"
"A teacher," she interrupted him again. "Do you really think I want to stay at one place and teach children? That's not my place, and you don't know anything about it! My place is next to Tr-- Khushrenada, that's where I want to be."
Duo shook his head; her slip of the tongue didn't elude him. "We're wasting our time here," he said. "We can't change her mind, and even if we were able to, it doesn't matter in the end."
"Duo," Quatre said sharply, "we have the obligation to protect our brother and sister mages, and help them wherever we can."
"She's beyond our help," Duo shot back. "Her loyalty to Khushrenada far surpasses every other wish of hers. He's the one she's been searching for, for glory and honor, and her own opinions and ideas have mingled with his. She's blinded by him!"
"You don't know what you're talking about," Une retorted, and moved her hand.
"You weren't seriously considering encasing a Fire mage in ice?" Duo asked snootily, and Une hesitated, if only for a second -- and that was all that Quatre needed. Vines burst out from the floor, ruining the perfect smooth surface, grabbing the screaming Lady and hoisting her up in the air.
"What are you doing?" she cried, and the temperature dropped significantly, ice forming on the vines, rendering them brittle and fragile. Quatre didn't answer, but at his command more vines shot up, wrapping around her body, not too tight, but tight enough to incapacitate her. Her eyes went wide when the vines pulled at her arms and forced her hands close to her face; she gasped audibly, her breathing erratic.
"If you unleash your spell now, you'll freeze your face," Quatre said. "You have my apologies, Lady. You will survive -- you deserve to survive, but you won't be involved in the battle."
"Let me go," she hissed. "Where is your honor, dorin'essauyan? And where's your honor, dorein'ang'essuyin, if you had any to begin with?"
Duo looked up at her, his eyes lacking every bit of compassion or pity. "My honor? Sorry about that, but it was destroyed when your beloved Treize burned down my church and killed my family. He might have been good to you, Lady, and whatever motif you have to follow him around is your own, but he killed every shred of honor and decency in me when he took my family away. You can think about it, for as long as it takes for you to figure how to get down or to be freed by us."
"Come back!" she hollered. "You can't leave me here!"
Relena threw a pitiful look at her, and she opened her mouth -- probably to ask to let the woman go, but she decided against it. Heero realized he still had his hand on her shoulder, the sollevar protectively in front of her, and he withdrew the weapon, out of her direct view.
"We have to go," he said and Relena nodded. Une yelled louder, and Quatre spared her another pitiful look, his hand on his heart as if it really pained him. The Nature mage was sensitive -- Heero took it that it really pained him, no matter that Une wouldn't hesitate to kill him as long as her Treize would order it. Her cries died away as they walked, and he couldn't shake the image of the woman with her hands close to her face. She would freeze herself to death if she would unleash a spell, any ice spell -- he had seen so much of magic now, but he still had the feeling he had seen nothing but the surface.
"Through here." Relena pointed to the end of the other hallway, to an artistically three-arched door. The panels were wide open, and from here they could see it gave way to a large room.
"Is that the throne room?" Wufei inquired. Relena nodded.
Subconsciously, everybody fell back to a cautious pace, forming a circle around Relena. Wufei and Heero had their weapons drawn, and Trowa looked ready to throw his knives. Quatre and Duo held their hands close to their sides, nothing indicating that they had prepared a spell, but Heero had no doubt they would react just as fast and adequate to an attack as the fighters.
They went through the door.
The new room, presuming it was the throne room, was humongous. The ceiling here was even higher, the arches from the same soft-white, gleaming material supporting it, artistically sculpted with waving lines. The same huge pillars were glistening in the setting sun; large windows providing a breathtaking view on the landscape. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, intricate and beautiful, and colorful carpets muffled the sound of boots and shoes. A single row of soldiers on both sides, all Treize Faction members, ruined the majestically character of the room.
Three men, with their backs turned to the entering group, stood in front of them -- the middle one wasn't hard to identify, with his flaring red robe. Heero narrowed his eyes, sollevar ready to attack. Merquise would probably meet his match in Duo, but he wasn't going to take any risk. Duo, however, lifted up his hand, a sharp gesture, and immediately put it down again, a signal to not attack. It took a little restraint, but Heero moved the sollevar back, allowing it to rest against his shoulder as if he were at ease, walking in complete silence over a flowery carpet, towards the three men.
As if someone had given an invisible signal, the three turned around simultaneously, Merquise's hands gripping the fabric of his robe before straightening himself, assuming the same false pose of being at ease, just like Heero.
The group halted, the five of them aligning to form a front to protect Relena. The Princess was finally in Sanq -- they had gone through too much to allow anything to happen to her now. Duo sketched a mock-bow to Zechs, even going as far as to bend through his knees, as if he was going to kneel on the floor. Heero recognized the two men flanking the Fire mage -- they were both with him at their first confrontation with Khushrenada in Iria country. The man with the sideburns looked friendly, despite being obviously tensed; he was significantly older than anyone else in the room. Heero estimated him at his late forties. Compared to him, the man on Merquise's left looked like a young boy; his eyes were narrowed and his lips were drawn into an impatient frown.
"Otto, Nichol," Merquise said. His voice was low, but held unmistakable authority. The elder man made a respectful bow and said: "I am not leaving your side."
"Me neither," the other was quick to answer, licking his lips after another look at Heero and the others. His hand had drifted off to his belt, fingers twitching slightly. Heero showed him a predatory smirk. So he finally met Nichol in person, after hearing so much about him, after overhearing his voice, talking about how he had captured Sylvia Noventa. He almost wished for the man to pull out his knife, or dagger...Trowa was at least ten times faster than him. None of these two posed any threat; it was rather strange that they were present here in the first place.
"Otto," Merquise said, this time turning his head to the elder man. "I appreciate it. Please, I beseech you. Leave."
Otto shook his head. "I have always served you."
"You can't send us away," Nichol insisted. "Zechs, you..." He swallowed when the Fire mage snapped his head back to him, and despite a large part of his facial features being covered by the silver mask, it wasn't hard to deduct from his body language that he was mad at the younger man.
"I can make it easier for you," Duo spoke up. "Leave now, the three of you, and end this puppet-show, why don't we?"
Merquise immediately turned to Duo, opening his mouth to retort, when someone suddenly clapped. The sound was muted, as if one was clapping with gloves on. Merquise stepped to the side, as well as Otto and Nichol, revealing Khushrenada sitting on a rather plain throne -- it looked more like a luxurious chair than a veritable throne.
He had dressed up in his finest attire: the same pristine white pants with the knee-high black boots as he used to wear at their first encounter, but his jacket was a deep purple with only a few golden buttons, as well as golden bands emblazed on the sleeves and collar. He wore a sash in a matching blue-purplish color, the borders also a bright gold, held together by a large brooch, encrusted with gemstones. The white gloves were new, as well as the heavy signet-ring on his finger and a broad, golden crown on his head.
"I always wanted to be King," he said and grinned widely. "It's like a dream coming true."
"You're not the one to rule this Kingdom," Duo immediately retorted.
Khushrenada shrugged. "I like the place. A little too quiet for my taste, but I can change that. I already noticed that it has good, nutritious soil, ideal for agriculture. A lot of natural resources and a vacant castle for me to move into, right now."
"We have defeated your army, we have defeated your hordes of vicious beasts," Duo said. "There's nothing left between you and me, Khushrenada. It ends here, and you know it."
Calmly crossing one leg over the other, Khushrenada didn't seem bothered in the least by Duo's words. He moved up his hand, and now they saw what was dangling from his fingers: a slim, intricate crown made of a pearly material that glittered whenever the imbued gemstones caught a flicker of sunlight. Definitely a woman's crown and Duo's eyes widened -- as did Relena's.
"How long have you studied on the lecture you're going to give me? Or is it a sermon? You're a priest, aren't you?"
"I'm in the service of a God," Duo answered.
"As far as you can call the God of Death a 'God'," Khushrenada snorted. "What kind of God are you, if you are only bringing death? Aren't you supposed to bring salvation, light, comfort?"
"Some find salvation in death," Duo snapped.
"Nonsense!" Khushrenada smashed his hand down on the armrest -- fortunately, not the one holding the crown. "I brought death to these countries in my quest to conquer them -- does that make me a God as well, Duo of Maxwell Church? I have conquered, I have been victorious..."
"At the price of many lives, and anger, hate, and fear ruling free," Quatre said. "Is that what you call a victory?"
Khushrenada looked at him, disdain dripping from his voice. "I hope you have been careful with my Lady, mage."
"She's doing fine," Quatre shot back. "And one day, she'll come to her senses and see what horror she has allowed herself to follow, instead of finding glory and honor."
"Ha!" Khushrenada reclined into the throne. "Just as your precious Duo, I have ensured myself of the absolute loyalty of those who follow me."
"I didn't force them."
"Really?" He looked about ready to yawn. His eyes darted over the rest of the group, suddenly breaking out in a smile when he saw Wufei.
"Looking for a rematch, Wufei?"
The Nataku warrior growled. His hand was on his katana, already a few inches unsheathed. Anyone approaching him the wrong way would be cleaved by the razor sharp blade.
"I am ready," he simply answered.
Khushrenada shook his head. "If it really ends here, I prefer it to be spectacular, not a boring swordfight which outcome is already known."
"You bastard!" Wufei lunged forward, katana fully unsheathed in less than a second, and it was only because of Heero's quick reflexes that he could pull him back and avoid the first draw of blood.
"No more!" Relena cried out. "This Kingdom has already been tainted by fighting! I won't tolerate any of this anymore, not here! If you want to fight, go elsewhere and leave this country. That goes for every one of you!"
"I'm not taking any orders from you," Khushrenada snorted, dissolving into a short laugh as he looked again at Duo. "You have managed to gather a nice bunch of idiots around you, though. You are the instigator of all of this, didn't you know? If you had not been so persistent in searching all over the world for them to fulfill those damn Legends of the Five... and I never knew that Darlian's daughter could be so persistent."
"They're my friends," Relena shot back. "If you insist on calling anyone a bunch of idiots, look around you -- the only idiots around here are you and your men, violating everything in this peaceful country, and for what? For nothing!"
"For power, 'Princess'," Khushrenada immediately answered. "The Kingdom of Sanq was going to be my ultimate victory -- at least, I thought so, until I saw what kind of dump it actually is."
"It's not a dump," Relena said sharply. "It's the symbol of hope and peace, and now that it's recovered, it will shine brightly to restore faith and the longing for peace in the people's hearts!"
"Princess," Duo said.
"There is not a single part you can play in this fairytale, Relena Darlian, Peacecraft, whatever your name is." Khushrenada's mocking voice was filled with disdain. "Whatever beautiful story Duo whispered in your ear, it is just not true. A handful of papers, a few half-decayed books, and no one really remembering who the Five were, or how the story goes in the first place. I came here for the power, but as soon as I realized that there was nothing to gain here, I came for the riches."
Relena shook her head sharply and slipped past Duo and Trowa who had been standing in front of her. She forced herself to look at Khushrenada, who was slightly surprised by her coming forward. He spun the crown around his finger, but his eyes never left her.
"Legends may have been forgotten, myths have been allowed to grow from unverified stories, but we are standing in a room in a palace, confirming that some of those legends have been true -- this Kingdom is destined to exist again, and every nation will look up at this castle and see hope and peace, not destruction and death!"
"Princess," Duo said again, this time more urgently.
Khushrenada barked a short laugh. "Girl talk," he said, "dumb, illiterate country folk talk. You should have stayed on your farm, or preferably, have died together with your parents."
All the blood seemed to drain from her face. Duo moved up his arm, ready to catch her if she should faint. Relena swallowed thickly, but didn't show any sign of anger.
"Whatever you will say to me will not affect me. Whatever you think you have, will not stay with you. It's not real power. You're building your Kingdom on nothing -- on fear, on hatred, on disgust. That will never hold, Treize Khushrenada."
"I have the power and the men to make my Kingdom stand," the man said and snapped with his fingers. "And no girl will stand before me to lecture me!"
Merquise stepped forward, his silver mask shimmering menacingly. He had barely moved, when Duo's voice rang out: "Quatre! Embrace!"
"I..." Quatre was going to say "I'm too late", despite his hands already moving to conjure the embrace, exhausted from the earlier fight and the encounter with Lady Une. Flames burst out from Merquise, engulfing both Duo and Relena, while the others were in time to jump away -- Trowa dragging Quatre with him, Wufei and Heero moving to the side. Their weapons were of no use against magic. Heero wanted to scream both Duo's and Relena's name, as he panicked -- the heat was sizzling, thickening the air, burning out everything that had stand in its path, the scorched carpet a silent witness.
"Duo! Relena!"
The flames were extinguished as fast they had exploded; Relena and Duo standing next to each other, completely unscathed. A light surrounded the girl, deflecting the flames, extinguishing them as they tried to reach her body. Heero thought it was Quatre's embrace at first, mentally thanking the mage for conjuring so fast, when he saw that it wasn't exactly an embrace as he knew it.
She looked rather quizzical herself, eyes wide in surprise. There was no visible source of the light, it just surrounded her, shining brightly, a tender white, not blinding or hard on the eyes. Duo had a comical expression on his face, but it was pure disbelief -- she had to be dead, consumed by the flames. The fire hadn't hurt Duo because he was a Fire mage himself, canceling out Merquise's spell. Relena, someone without any magical powers, shouldn't have survived this.
"Quatre, did you...?" It was a stupid question, because Duo knew very well how an embrace worked. He looked up, and his jaw dropped.
The same light also enveloped Merquise.
"What is going on?" Khushrenada yelled. He leaned forward, ready to jump out of the chair. "Merquise! What's with the light?"
"Oh, but I understand now," Duo said, and his lips turned into a wide grin. "Now I know why you were able to enter Sanq. You had the key with you all the time just like me, and you never saw it."
Khushrenada looked annoyed. "What do you mean? I had the disk sooner than you had yours, and Sanq was open to me when I found out how to activate the portal!"
"Merquise must have been in the room with you for the portal to have activated," Duo snarled in return. "Well?"
Khushrenada glared at Merquise, clearly not understanding. The man with the silver mask looked rather confused himself; he was moving his arms up and down as if he wanted to shake the strange light off.
Duo lifted his hands, the palms glowing red. Khushrenada hissed, but Duo didn't prepare an attack; he pointed at Merquise's mask. The Fire mage started to cry out in horrendous pain when the metal was overheated. Strange light forgotten, he clawed at the burning mask, glowing red from the immense temperature, yelling in pain. Quatre quickly stepped up, guiding icy wind, cooling off the skin to prevent it from being burned. The mask started to expand, a harsh crack resonating through the room.
"What are you doing? Stop this! Merquise, fight it! Fight them! Unleash your fire!" Khushrenada spoke up, leaving his throne to grab the Fire mage at the shoulder. Merquise didn't pay any attention to him, his hands still clawing at the mask, showing more and more cracks. It was going to break, and Khushrenada quickly ducked when it did -- with a loud pang, shards of the silver material blasted away, the larger pieces crumbling and dropping to the floor. Quatre continued with his ice spell as Merquise covered his face with his hands; he had stopped hollering in pain, but he was panting, breathing erratic.
There was a long moment of silence. It took a while before Merquise straightened himself, ice water dripping between his fingers. He stood amidst the remains of his mask; large, thick strands of platinum blond hair flowing free, bangs framing his face. Very gently, he removed his hands, eyes closed -- squeezed shut. His face wasn't burned, on the contrary: he looked pale, paler than Quatre even, and the Nature mage recalled his spell, leaving Merquise to stare at his wet fingers, opening his eyes like a newborn baby.
"I should have known," Duo said, almost cheerful. "There was no way for the lot of you to even be able to open that portal unless you had a Peacecraft with you -- hello there, Prince."
"Prince?" Relena repeated, in unison with the rest. Even Wufei's eyes were as large as saucers, the Nataku warrior unable to keep his face as neutral as always.
Khushrenada pursed his lips, and he glared daggers at Duo. If he was shocked by the news, he was a master at hiding it, but he took a few steps back.
"I knew it," Otto said, his warm voice brimming with joy. "You have always been a true King to me."
"What's going on?" Merquise asked, blinking, dropping his hands next to his sides, but he acknowledged Otto by nodding at him, a watery smile showing on his face.
"I take it Khushrenada has something to explain," Duo lowered his voice ominously, "not only to you, but to us as well. To me, it seems that the Kingdom of Sanq protects all of its children, and certainly its rightful heirs."
The usurper straightened himself, his fingers touching the brooch on his sash. One thing could be said about Khushrenada; he didn't lose his composure fast.
"I do not owe you any explanation," he said, voice flat. "You are painfully mistaken with every word. Only one command, Duo of Maxwell Church -- it will take only one command, to ruin this whole world, to kill everyone, and to bring this all to an end, indeed... your end, and that of everyone who was as foolish as to follow you!"
He snapped his fingers and the row of soldiers on both sides of the throne room immediately stepped forward, rising their weapons.
"No," Relena said. "Please, don't! Hasn't there been drawn enough blood? Stop tainting this castle, this paradise, stop tainting hope and peace!"
"I do not care," Khushrenada said. "No one will ever take this away from me, no one! Attack!" he hollered, and the Treize Faction attacked.
Chapter 12 | Chapter 14 |