'...' thoughts
/.../ telepathy

Daystar's Prophecy Part 4

The only sounds heard in the clearing where the rustle of leafs and the crackle of the fire. The storm from earlier had blown itself out by this time, leaving behind a chilly but gentle breeze, that when it was able to penetrate the dense forest canopy, caused the fire to dance wildly. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but could not have been more than a few minutes, Duo began to fidget. He had known that revealing his truth nature was a risk, but he had been so angry with Wufei and his attitude and had desperately wanted to make him see the truth that he had acted without thinking. And given the intense stares he was receiving right then, he had accomplished just that. Of course, whether it did any good or not still remained to be seen. When it appeared that the others were either to shocked or horrified to do or say anything, he stooped down and picked up his cloak with the intention of putting it back on.

"Oh Allah." Quatre finally whispered, Duo's movements snapping him out of his stupefied stare. "Are they real?"

"Of course they're real!" Duo stated emphatically, and then more shyly he added, "You can touch 'em if you want, just be careful, they're really sensitive."

Approaching the braided boy, Quatre studied the wings closely. They had the shape of a dragonfly's wings, but with four, distinct sections on each side, two pointing up and two pointing down, giving him eight sections total. Each section was approximately two and a half feet long and they were translucent with a silvery sheen that shifted through the different colors of the rainbow as the firelight reflected off them. When completely folded against his back, as they were now, they fell straight down from his shoulder blades to just below his knees and from their appearance, Quatre imagined that they would feel thin and frail but instead his hands met something more akin to suede. They were soft and almost silky, yet he could tell they were more than strong enough to be functional. Slowly, he stroked his fingers down one of them, being careful not to apply to much pressure.

"Hey!" Duo giggled. "That tickles."

"Sorry Duo. They're very beautiful."

"Thanks, Quat." Duo said, blushing lightly.

"Duo, this may be a silly question, but how do you sit down? Don't they get in the way?"

"Not really. See," Duo reached behind him and grasped one of his wings; lifting it up. Instead of sticking out straight as it had done when extended, it simply lay limp in his hand. "they're only rigid when I spread them out."

"And you really can fly with them?"

"Uh huh." Duo said while slipping his cloak back on.

"Then why didn't you use them to escape instead of coming into the forest?" Trowa asked softly.

"Well, I couldn't just leave you guys there, not with Gaison. Besides, I used all my energy in the fight with big and stupid so I wouldn't have gotten very far before I had to land. Flying is a lot more work than walking." Duo said and shrugged lightly. "It's not a big deal, really."

"Hai, it is." Heero said softly. "Even if you were tired, you could've made it far enough to escape and not had to enter this forest to do so."

"Yeah, maybe, but that's not what happened. And as my mother always tells me, there's no use crying over the past because it can't be changed. Now let's see, I have some dried fruit and stuff here somewhere..." Duo said as he searched inside of his cloak; finally finding a small pouch tied with twine. Sitting back down beside the fire, he untied the twine and carefully opened the pouch to lay flat on the ground. Seeing what he had to offer, he looked sheepishly at the other boys. "I didn't exactly plan on roughing it tonight so this is all I have with me. But as long as we're careful, it should last us until we can reach the nearest village."

Methodically, Duo divided the meager offering into equal portions, placing each one on a separate leaf he retrieved from a low tree branch. Then he handed each one out, making sure to leave Wufei's share where he would be able to find it when he woke. Once again, they settled into silence as they ate their dinner, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Duo could not stand the silence any more.

"So, I can pretty much guess that you don't have any fairies where you come from, right?" Duo asked.

"We don't have anyone other than humans, Duo." Quatre answered.

"Oh, well, I guess that pretty much answers all my questions then."

"How do you mean?" Heero asked.

"Um, well," Duo started, ducking his head and looking at the other boys through his bangs. "to be honest, I haven't really met that many humans and those I have met were mages, which don't really count as humans as far as I'm concerned. Anyways, unless you have mages in your world, then everyone is a normal human and I know that normal humans don't have magic and, well, without magic, life must be pretty dull. No offense."

"None taken." Trowa said, a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"Thanks." Duo smiled. "But that also means that this world is completely opposite from the one you came from because everything is controlled by magic here and there's just no way for me to explain it to you; it's just too different. Besides, you'll have to see most of the stuff to believe it if what just happened is any indication." Duo finished and shook his head wryly. "All of this totally amazes me. I mean, I just don't see how you guys can get along without magic. I would go absolutely crazy."

"Actually, we've adapted just fine without magic. We've developed science instead." Quatre explained

"Science?" Duo asked, his brow furrowed in confusion. "What's science?"

"Well, I guess you could say that science is to us what magic to you."

"I get it." Duo smiled happily, then, "I think."

"Duo, you said you'd try to explain what has happened to us?" Trowa asked, steering the conversation back on course.

"Oh, right. Well, like I said, I don't really know all that much about it but I've heard and read about people from different worlds who've just suddenly appeared here in this world. They've almost all been human and we call them Visitor's, although where they are right now, I don't know. They could've been sent back for all I know."

"You can send us back?" Quatre asked hopefully.

"I really don't know Quat. This whole inter-world travel thing is a bit too complicated for me, so I don't know if it's possible or not. But I can promise you that I'll do everything I can to make sure that you at least get a shot."

"Thanks Duo." Quatre smiled.

"Not a problem. Now, since that's pretty much all I can tell you guy right now, I think I'm gonna turn in for the night. I really need some sleep if I'm gonna make it to the village tomorrow."

"Of course, Duo. We should all probably get some rest as well." Quatre said.

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. It'll take at least until about noontime to reach the village from here. Luckily, most of the time will be spent in the open fields since we'll be leaving the forest pretty quickly."

"Hn, can't say I'm sorry to hear that." Heero commented quietly.

"Tell me about it!" Duo laughed. "Of course, once we reach Shantari you might find that there are places a lot worse than this forest."

"Shantari?"

"It's our capitol city. I know some people there who know a lot more about what's going on with you guys and they should be able to help."

"How far away is it?"

"It's about three days ride on horseback and we should be able to get some horses at the village tomorrow."

"Hn, get some sleep then, I'll take first watch."

"But you don't have to..." Duo started but the glare Heero shot him caused him to stop. "Fine, have it your way. Oh, you might want to check on Fei, I think he might've hit his head or something."

A quick check of the Chinese boy showed that he was only sleeping so they chose not to disturb him. Afterward, the other three boys settled down around the fire to try and get what rest they could. Trowa and Quatre cuddled up together on the side of the fire near Wufei, wrapping themselves securely in each other's arms. Duo watched them with mild curiosity, but deciding that sleep was more important at the moment; he curled up into a ball on the opposite side and wrapped his cloak tightly around himself before immediately falling into a deep sleep.

Listening to the natural sounds of the forest and the soft, even breathing of the other four boys, Heero thought back over the events of the day now that he finally had a quiet moment to do so. Everything within him was screaming that this was some elaborate Oz trap and the boy sleeping quietly only a few feet away was to be dealt with immediately, and with extreme prejudice. Yet, there also was a small part of his mind that was telling him to wait, to see what happened next and give Duo a chance to prove himself; and for the first time in his life, Heero found himself wanting to listen to that small part of his mind instead of his training. It was a feeling that both exhilarated and frightened him at the same time.

"You don't trust him, at least not completely." came Trowa's softly spoken statement, startling him out of his contemplation.

"Hn."

"Do you really think Oz would be able to pull off everything we've seen today?"

"I don't know. I don't even know what we've seen today and I can't let my guard down all the way, not yet."

"And if he telling the truth?"

"We'll know soon enough, one way or another. If he's telling the truth, then we'll figure something out, but if he's not..." Heero left the rest unsaid but both boys knew what would have to be done if that was the case.

*************************

The next morning Duo slowly awoke as the sun was beginning to crest over the mountains to the east. Even though the light had yet to filter down through the forest canopy completely, he was so used to getting up at dawn; his body could tell the time without actually seeing the light. Looking around in the near gloom of the early morning, he could see the others were still sleeping as they had been the night before. Even Heero was now curled up beside the cooling fire, although it looked like he had fallen asleep while still sitting up rather then lying down voluntarily.

Duo sat up and stretched before making his way over to the small hole, which he had dug the night before, and repeating the water spell. Splashing his face with the cold water caused the chill in the air to be much more noticeable; making him shiver slightly. Quickly he dried his face and hands with the hem of his cloak before returning to the fire. Once there he place what firewood was left on the embers before raising his right hand over it and chanted softly until the fire was once again burning brightly. Soon after, the others began to stir with Wufei being the first to wake. When he saw that Duo was the only other one up he scowled at him before moving over to make use the water. Duo simply rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the fire.

Before long, the others were all up and they sat around the warm fire eating the remainder of the rations from the night before. Breakfast was finished as quickly as possible and with little fuss because it was agreed that they wanted to begin the walk toward the village as soon as possible. When they were finished eating, the others helped Duo gather enough firewood to leave for the next traveler who came to the clearing then they once again set off into the forest.

At first, they walk in silence as the four visitors kept a close watch for any dangerous creatures that might be lurking within the forest. Heero and Wufei had taken point as soon as they had left the clearing, leaving Quatre and Trowa to cover the rear. Duo, deciding that it would probably be best to avoid Wufei for the time being, walked with Quatre and Trowa. They had been walking for quite some time in quiet when Quatre's curiosity finally got the better of him.

"Duo, yesterday you talked like we should know about this forest. Why is that?"

"That's because everyone knows about this forest, Quat." Duo chuckled. "Well everyone from this world does anyways. It's called the Dark Forest and it's the largest and nastiest forest there is. Nothing good grows here and nothing nice lives here. Hell, even the water is poisonous. And as for the direwolves, well they are only one of the nasty creatures that live here. They are also one of the smallest and gentlest, if you can believe that."

"Gentlest?" Quatre squeaked, his eyes getting impossibly large.

"Yeah, the Gratchen puts them to shame when it comes to big, mean, and ugly."

"What's a Gratchen?" Trowa asked, looking skeptical that anything could be worse than the direwolf they had seen last night.

"Well, a Gratchen is kind of hard to explain." Duo said, scratching his head. "They look something like small tree saplings, all growing out of this sorta blackish-green sludge stuff that spreads out over the forest floor, in between and around the trees. And even though it looks like a plant, it's actually an animal. They don't move very fast but they make up for it with their amazing camouflage and they can grow until they take up as much as twenty to thirty square feet of the forest floor. You wouldn't know you were about to walk past or through one until it had you. Then it uses these giant needle like limbs to suck you dry. Not a good way to go."

Quatre, looking somewhat paler, began scouring the forest even closer for any sign of the creature. Beside him, Duo chucked softly and clapped him on the shoulder, causing him to start violently.

"Don't worry Quat, the Gratchen live at the center of the forest in order to avoid the elven wards placed at the outer borders. And besides, you're way too small to be considered a decent meal."

"What does a Gratchen consider a decent meal." he asked quietly.

"Why, direwolves of course." Duo chirped and skipped ahead.

Trowa put his arm around the smaller boy's shoulders and squeezed gently as Quatre whimpered softly.

TBC...

 

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