The Faithful and the Brave Part 7
After seeing Hilde to the Machinists' headquarters, they took off on their own to explore the sights of Goug. She had offered to take them on a tour, but she had clearly only done so out of a sense of politeness and obligation. Her thoughts had already gone over to worry about her uncle. As such, they had declined and said their farewells.
Several hours later, they came to rest in a side road, where they could enjoy an afternoon break in relative peace. Goug was a sprawling place, with workshops and a nearby port to fill the main thoroughfares of the city with both cart and pedestrian traffic.
"This place is neat, but I really didn't think it'd be so touristy," Duo mentioned, waving his gear-shaped pastry in example. Perhaps the daily denizens of Goug did not regularly eat gear-shaped foods, but he had to admit, the pastry was fairly tasty and worth the extra cost.
"Maybe you can come back another day and beg Hilde for a proper tour," Quatre suggested. They had concluded that Goug showed visitors only what it wanted to, goods for sale with a splash of mystery and a good dash of spectacle, with the rest of it tucked away to conduct its business without the annoyance of gawkers. The ancient city itself was buffered against the rest of Goug by a sector of guilds and other trade halls. "She must have access to the ruins below."
"Hopefully we can meet her uncle then." Duo went pensive for a moment. "I hope he's okay. I wish there was something more we could have done to help her."
"If Kurt wants what she's got, then she should just hand it over," Trowa advised. "No guarantee that they would return her uncle unharmed in that case, but they've got more than enough resources to throw at this problem, and she... not so much."
"All the more reason I feel like we should have helped her out somehow!"
"Kurt just pissing you off has nothing to do with it, of course."
Duo scowled. "Of course they piss me off. 'Trading Company' my ass. They only do enough legit business these days to front for their criminal activities. The rest of their time, they're just shaking down honest businesspeople, paying off inspectors, and--"
"And perhaps you should refrain from announcing your distaste for them quite so loudly," Wufei finished for him.
He leveled an impressive glower in Wufei's direction, but modulated his tone. "I'm just saying what everyone is thinking. Everyone knows someone who's been hurt by their activities. At least, down on the streets here. Maybe you in your ivory towers know something else."
"I know more than enough about their questionable trading activities," Quatre reminded him mildly. "My family's business interests collide with theirs not infrequently. And I, too, wish we could do more to help Hilde. But it isn't our place. Not unless she asks for our aid."
"Preferrably pays for our aid," Trowa murmured.
"She has, however, asked for the Cardinal's aid, and he has far more power than we do in this matter."
"Yeah, speaking of..." Duo trailed off for a moment. "Did anyone else think that guy was, I dunno, 'off'? He was too helpful, too knowing, too... 'I'll take care of this, trust me!'"
Heero made a small sound of amusement. "You don't like the church. You don't like nobility. You don't like people in positions of power. In what world would you actually trust Cardinal Tsuberov's intentions?"
Duo scratched the side of his nose. "Um. Huh. Well, you may have a point, there..." As he mulled over the possibilities, he cocked his head to the side. "Did anyone hear that?"
"Hear what?" Wufei asked.
He didn't answer immediately. There was plenty of noise coming from the busy streets, but Duo had grown up in bustling urban environments like this. He was well attuned to the proper sights and sounds of a city, and something didn't belong. He walked a few meters farther down the alley, absently shoving the last of his pastry into his mouth to free up his hands. The others drifted after him, but stopped following once he veered toward a narrow alley between buildings and began nimbly taking advantage of the nooks, crannies, ledges, and a conveniently placed knotted rope to scamper upwards.
"Thieves' highway," Wufei muttered irritably.
"You're just annoyed because you can't follow," Trowa smirked.
And then they heard what Duo heard: a woman's voice crying out, men's voices raised threateningly. Just as Duo was pulling himself up to the rooftop, Trowa gathered his dragon spirit and launched himself skyward, landing opposite the rooftop in question.
"Dragoons," Wufei muttered with equal irritability.
Heero wasted no time and followed in Duo's wake, examining the narrow space for a moment before selecting his first handhold and making his way upward. He was by no means as swift or smooth as Duo, but he was going to get the job done.
Wufei resigned himself to following and cast a float spell on the three of them. It wasn't going to get them to the top any more quickly, but it would at least save them from killing themselves if they fell.
~*~
"Hilde!"
"Duo!" Her voice was filled with her concern. She didn't want anyone else getting involved in this, least of all the people she had already involved perhaps more than was healthy for them.
"Let her go!" Duo shouted at the man that had a tight grip around Hilde's arm. Then he noticed the old man a short distance from them, hands tied and held by another hard-looking man. He guessed this was Hilde's uncle. The workman-quality trousers were similar to the ones many of the men of this city wore, but his brightly colored shirt implied that he no longer worked the ruins. The man looked a bit roughed up and exhausted, but Duo was glad to see he was still in one piece. "Actually, let them both go!"
On the rooftop across the way, Trowa helpfully brandished his polearm in a way that made it impossible to ignore him. Even so, they were outnumbered by the additional three opponents scattered across the roofs, but Trowa faced it with his typical nonchalance.
The man holding Hilde immediately pulled a knife out and held it to her throat. "Now, now. Enough of that. Well, we're up here now, girl. Where is it? Now!" he added with a shake when she didn't answer immediately.
"By the chimney!" she gasped out. "There's a... a niche at its base. I hid it in there."
The man looked over to Duo. "You. Get it."
"Get what?" Duo asked angrily, though he knew damn well what it was they had probably threatened out of Hilde.
"Never you mind that. Just get it... or the girl gets it."
"Duo, please," Hilde pled. "It's in a box. Just get it and..."
"You'll let them go?" Duo demanded of the man, looking between him and the other one holding the uncle. "Let them both go? Unharmed?"
"Yes," the man answered impatiently. "All we want is what's in that box. Just hand it over and you can have your friends back."
Duo wasn't sure he trusted him, but fetching the box seemed to be the best option. He slowly made his way to the chimney and crouched down where indicated. A roofing tile was loose there. He pulled it up and found a box wrapped in an old grease rag. He took it out and straightened carefully, holding it for the man to see. "Okay, here's your box. Let her go."
"Bring it here," the man growled. "And no funny business."
Duo approached slowly, covering only half the distance before stopping again. "You gonna let her go or what?"
He signaled impatiently at his comrade, who pushed Hilde's uncle away. The old man fell with a loud grunt, but did not cry out. "There's your show of good faith. Now bring it here!"
Tired of waiting, the man formerly holding the old man came forward and held his hand out expectantly.
Duo backed off a reflexive step, but after one last confirmation glance at Hilde, he closed the distance and handed the box over.
The man opened it and confirmed its contents before pulling a knife and pointing it at Duo. "Back off."
"Whoa, nothing to worry about. Backing off." Duo stepped backwards with ostentatious harmlessness.
The two men backed up with Hilde in tow, and their three compatriots came forward. They were two bowmen and a mage, all pointing their offensive potential at Duo and Trowa.
"Hey now!" Duo protested.
"Don't worry, we'll let the girl go. We won't even kill you, so long as you mind your manners and stay put."
The man with the box jumped over the side of the building, landing on a balcony from the sound of it. The man holding Hilde waited a few seconds before shoving her in Duo's direction. The roof not being particularly flat, she stumbled, and Duo rushed forward to keep her safe while the man also disappeared over the edge of the building. And then the other three retreated to safety, one of them always keeping watch for the others.
Heero poked his head fully over the edge as they were doing so. "Duo! Hilde. Are you alright?" He pulled himself up onto the rooftop.
"Yeah. We're fine," Duo answered, though he cast a more questioning look at Hilde.
She nodded, then ran over to her uncle. "Howard! I'm so glad you're safe!"
The old man grumbled as she untied his hands. And meanwhile, Trowa made a lazy jump over to their rooftop, and their two mages joined them up top.
"I'm sorry," Heero apologized to Duo quietly. "I was monitoring the situation from over the side. We were ready to act if they attacked, but I felt that they were less likely to attack if we stayed hidden."
Duo blinked at him. "Yeah. No problem." He shrugged and went over to Hilde and her uncle.
Quatre got there first and, with a practiced smile, took away the sting of the ropes around Howard's wrists and gave him a small infusion of energy.
"You doing okay, old man?" Duo asked.
"Who are you calling 'old', brat?" the 'old' man responded, stretching lazily before accepting Hilde's hand to help him up.
"...I'll take that as a 'yes'."
Howard eyed them suspiciously. "Who the hell are you?"
Hilde smiled cheerfully. "These are some guys I ran into a few days ago. They've been helping me out. And it seems like they've helped me out again. Even though the situation was totally under control. Anyway. This guy here's Duo. Your healer of the day is Quatre."
Trowa and Heero came back from where they'd been peering over the side of the building. "They're gone," Heero reported. "There's no way of knowing which way they went."
"That's fine." Hilde hugged her uncle's arm. "I've got Howie back, and that's the most important thing to me. Besides, all they got in return was a fake."
"A fake!?" Duo choked out.
"That's my girl," Howard beamed.
"Yup! The guys in the workshop whipped one up while I was gone. I didn't think things would go quite this far quite this quickly, but, well, those Kurt guys move fast. I'll give them that much."
"Huh. Well. Now I kind of feel bad for nicking this off that guy. But not really." Duo pulled out a belt purse and tossed it lightly from hand to hand.
Wufei stared at him. "You picked his pocket?"
"Well, yeah? That's what I do, innit?"
"Even in the middle of a hostage situation?"
"Oh, come on! It was a total amateur mistake for him to even have taken the box off me personally! He shoulda had me put it down and then back off." He looked to Trowa, who nodded in agreement.
Wufei glanced to Hilde, expecting that perhaps she might be offended by the offhand way the thief was handling her life or death situation, but she was busy being starry-eyed. "No way! I was watching the whole time, and I didn't see anything!"
"Well, of course not," Duo said, affecting offense. Everyone's eyes had been on the box. When the moment called to his larcenous little instincts, he answered.
"I've heard that the best thieves can even steal a girl's heart in the middle of battle and convince her to fight on his side."
He winked at her. "It's been known to happen."
"We should get off this rooftop," Heero interrupted.
"Agreed," Howard harrumphed, giving Duo the evil eye.
TBC...
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