Wolf Moon Part 39
Wufei, in his true form, nuzzled Zechs' hand.
The Temple Keeper stroked the Beast's head. "Be careful." he urged his comrade to be prudent in his search for Septum.
Wufei nodded then padded off into the shadows where his black coat blended perfectly with the night.
Quatre and Trowa squatted side by side, the bag holding the Thunder Powder globes sat by the Manipulator's boots.
"We'll place the globes where they'll do the most harm then wait for your signal." Trowa stated matter-of-factly.
"How will ya know when to set the things off?" Duo wondered.
Quatre offered a smile that oozed maliciousness. "I'll know."
"Good hunting." Heero wished his fellow warriors just before he, Duo and Zechs slunk off to invade the Dark Lord's inner sanctum.
Likewise, Quatre and Trowa copied Wufei's route and were just as quickly were swallowed up by the shadows.
*********
It wasn't difficult for the Cleric and the Manipulator to followed Wufei's trail. Four guards, bloody faces contorted in death masks of terror and their throats torn out, pointed the way.
Quatre voiced his disapproval, not at the Beast's carnage but at his failure to hide the bodies. "We might as well have sent an engraved invitation to announce our arrival."
Trowa shrugged. "I thought you found Wufei's resolve to complete his assigned tasks admirable?"
"I do," Quatre admitted, "but he could be... ah..." he searched for the correct word, "neater." he stated as he dragged the last limp corpse inside a storage hut.
The gory evidence tucked away, Trowa and Quatre paused to wedge the first globe in Hellgate's foundation where the mortar had decayed and several stones broken loose.
The second clay ball was secured between two support columns beneath the north parapet. Each globe in turn was, with due consideration, placed where its explosive potential would best be utilized.
It was a game. Duck out of sight as sentries passed by ignorant of their impending doom.
Sidestepping the Soulless Slaves was effortless. Repeated snaps of Quatre's fingers sent sparks wafting on the breeze and in their childlike fascination the Slaves were easily distracted from their aimless wandering.
"Poor devils." Quatre hissed, appalled by the rape of Slave's minds and souls.
*********
Heero eased up to peer over a wagon weighed down with firewood. A sideboard creaked, he frowned. "We'll have to go around." he informed his husband and the Temple Keeper.
Duo took his turn observing several guards milling about the castle's main entrance. He crouched with a snort. "This is takin' forever. I say we plow through and don't stop til we're face to face with the devil himself."
"Patience has its rewards." Zechs countered the Duet Spirit's eagerness for battle.
Duo appeared ready to argue the finer points of forbearance when Heero touched his arm. "This way." he inclined his head toward a narrow alleyway leading to a smaller rear courtyard.
Zechs' sky blue eyes followed the Hunter's line of sight. "When one door closes another opens." he quoted the wise adage.
"And he who hesitates gets the scraps." Duo metered out some wisdom of his own.
*********
Wufei curled back his lips in a vicious snarl, canine fangs frothy and angry eyes gleaming in the moonlight. His challenger was not human or not quite human but an animal of similar lineage.
The elkhound returned the sneer. His dark brown eyes fixed on the four-legged intruder with pure malice. "No further." he warned telepathically.
"I have no desire to fight with you." Wufei replied by the same extrasensory means. "Shall we share our hatred of evil men who prevent you from running free." he asked upon seeing the spiked collar encircling the hound's neck.
"What do you know of freedom?" the hound retorted, sensing the contradictive instincts of wild and tame within the Beast's spirit. "You live in limbo between the worlds of nature and man."
"I still have the self-determination to chart my course while you do tricks on command or suffered the sting of the rod."
"And your humans, how are they different?"
"I am respected in both forms as a warrior and a friend." Wufei asserted with certainty.
The hound tilted his shaggy head. "What proof do you have of your humans' high regard?"
Wufei allowed a faint image of his unveiled form to shine through for the canine's sake. "My comrades would lay down their lives for me, can you say as much of your masters?"
*********
Sword held at the ready, Heero took the point forging a zigzag route between water barrels and grain bins.
Duo, his braid swinging from side to side, and Zechs, bearing the Staff of the Rose, trailed close behind. One by one the stealthy gatecrashers jumped over a drainage trench that reeked of raw sewage then maneuvered through a maze of equally pungent horse dung plopped in haphazard patterns on the grassless, stone-strewn courtyard.
Finally the scenic tour of the castle's barren grounds concluded twenty yards from the trio's objective.
"Dammit, more guards." Duo declared with a huff.
"I'd be suspicious if there weren't any sentries." Heero answered, taking a mental count of the last assemblage of soldiers to either outsmart or overcome.
Zechs was doing some figuring of his own. "See that window, just up there." he indicated with the ringed top of the staff. The moon glinted off the center stone and for an instant it blazed crimson.
Duo played devil's advocate. "Yeah, it's halfway up the front. How's that goin' help?"
A grin tugged at Zechs' lips. "Look," he pointed, "a rope and pulley mounted on the wall."
"We'd have to bypass four men to get there." Heero stated.
"I could fly." Duo added an option.
Heero shook his head. "We're already outnumbered, no, that won't do."
"But if we.."
Zechs was growing weary with the endless debate. "Come on." he ordered gruffly as he started off before either of his comrades could protest.
Heero and Duo exchanged glances then scurried off after the Temple Keeper.
The trespassing trio gathered in the shadows. Hastily a plan of action was put together. With no further discussion, Heero clutched his sword, Zechs angled his staff and Duo, armed with keen wits and his husband's dagger, moved out to cover the last few yards to the inner wall.
Alas the warriors' swift dash was short-lived.
Six soldiers rounded the corner. Six sets of eyes locked on three men who definitely should not be there. And to make matters worse, the quartet of sentries watching the door had taken notice and joined their buddies shifting the odds from maybe or perhaps to one hellva a quandary.
Any element of surprise, any hope of an undetected entrance into Hellgate Castle deserted Zechs, Heero and Duo faster than a mistress fleeting a jealous wife.
Zechs skidded to a halt. Duo bumped Zechs. Heero bumped Duo in a domino effect that would have been comical in less hazardous circumstances.
At first no one moved; both sides taken aback in astonishment.
This was not the first time Heero stared trouble in the face. There was a recent incident at the Swan and Fox Tavern in Brook Glen when he'd been accused of cheating at darts. Then his temper had overruled his better judgment and he threatened to pummel two burly men with arms the size of tree trunks, but that was another time, another place.
Likewise, Duo had had his share of scuffles or fending off street thugs or narrow escapes from sheriffs when he was caught with his hand in someone else's pocket.
And Zechs hadn't always been an example of exemplar behavior. In fact before the silver-haired rebel's redeeming days at Twilight and his duties in Deep World, he had kept company with scallywags and sailed the seas with pirates aboard the good ship, Sea Witch.
However, one lesson the Warriors of the Rose had learned from their varied life experiences was the best defense was often a convincing bluff.
Act like you're crazy enough to take on anything and people will reckon you are daft. If you can create enough doubt, an uncertainty about your next actions, you can usually wangle out of any situation with your bones intact, at least most of them anyway.
Heero set a determined expression on his face, straightened to maximize his height and fixed the foes' quizzical sight.
"I was wondering when we'd encounter some paltry challenge." He rested the sword on his shoulder. "I was just telling my comrades it has been too long since my blade tasted blood."
Slightly behind Heero, Zechs sensed bewilderment beginning to seep into the sentries' simple minds. It didn't take a genus to figure the men had been hired for their brawn not their brains and without someone to give them orders they'd be hard pressed to act on their own.
"Keep talking." Zechs advised lowly. "Focus on their confusion."
"Now if you'd be so kind as to direct us to the Dark Lord of Aragon," Heero continued the mind games, "we might consider sparing your lives."
A swarthy fellow with oily hair and dirt smudged on his face tiled his head at an inquiring angle. "You ain't got no business here." he stated with an air of supposed authority before cutting his eyes at a lanky man missing three front teeth. "Ain't that right, Johnny?"
Johnny offered a lopsided grin. "Yeah no business." he parroted.
A third soldier with thick scars crisscrossing both cheeks seemed a bit more perceptive. "There's more of us so don't get no notions of startin' anything."
The remaining soldiers who made up the group of ten nodded in agreement.
Heero projected a causal attitude but relaxed muscles didn't imply he wasn't ready to fight. "I'll admit you have us outnumbered but don't underestimate our quickness or skill. Now let us pass and we'll have no reason to argue."
Johnny leered at Duo then leaned closer to the swarthy fellow and whispered in his ear. "We'll strike a deal." Johnny's colleague proposed. "Leave the pretty boy here and there won't be no trouble."
"You son of a bitch!" Duo growled.
Zechs clamped a hand on Duo's shoulder just as he started forward. "Not now."
"Piss and fire." was Johnny's licentious reply to Duo's abbreviated charge.
For a moment it appeared the incensed Irishman would ignore Zechs' order. Fuming, eyes ablaze with violet flames, Duo sucked in a deep breath then allowed the expelled air to ease his anger to a manageable level but he didn't reduced the fire in his glare.
Heero raised his free hand. "Now gentlemen," he used the term loosely, "permit me to propose another deal. Pick your champion and I'll take him on, man to man. If he wins you get the braided boy but if I'm victorious, well, we won't interfere while you dig his grave."
A murmur among the enemy faction gave Heero cause to expect a competitor. The swarthy fellow and scar face joined the discussion as Johnny ogled his pretty prize.
Meanwhile, Duo and Heero were having their own tête-à-tête. "Just what do ya think you're doin'?" Duo questioned if his husband had lost his senses.
The Demon Hunter glanced back at Johnny who was licking his lips in anticipation. "You know I can best any of these dim-witted bastards. Do you trust me?"
"Tis not a matter of trust." Duo declared. "Winning won't save us 'cause they won't keep their part of the bargain."
"Then they'll pay a high price for crossing us." Zechs promised.
*********
Trowa stretched and watched the moon dip closer to the distant mountain peaks. "Only a few hours until dawn."
Quatre leaned against his lover's shoulder and followed Trowa's gaze. "What's taking so long? You don't suppose.."
Trowa stood up, offer his hand and pulled Quatre to his feet. "Positive thoughts will go a long way, my love, but they must be tempered with action. Let's see if we can hurry our friends along."
*********
Dressed in wrinkled trousers and a sweat-stained shirt, Treize Khushrenada lay atop the rumpled bedcovers with his forearm over his eyes. It has been quite awhile since the cold permeating the dank chamber was so keenly felt. There was no wine in his belly to dull the chill or fog his mind or keep his psychosis at bay.
Odin crept in and stood at the footboard. "Sire?" He waited for a response. When none was forthcoming he repeated with more volume. "Sire." then asked, "Are you awake?"
"What do you want?" was mumbled through a dingy sleeve.
"I have a report from Captain Matthews."
"Why the hell should I care?"
"I think." Odin hesitated, "the Twilight rebels are here. A man with silver hair, a man with a braid and a third man who may be a Demon Hunter are in the inner courtyard."
The arm slid away to reveal ice blue eyes that had lost their sparkle. "Zechs." was said so softly Odin wasn't sure if Treize had spoken the name or merely sighed.
"I'll have them brought here." Odin announced as he turned to leave.
"Wait."
"But sire, I thought."
Treize swung his legs off the bed and sat up. "Don't presume to think. Dammit where's my boots?" he hissed as he searched for the missing footwear. At last one was extracted from the under the bed, its partner was found nearby.
"Get Septum," the Dark Lord ordered as he fumbled with the laces on his trousers, "then come to the courtyard."
*********
Now a dozen or so Slaves peered around the sentries. Even in their mindless state they sensed the apprehension that inundated the courtyard like a raging flood.
"Quit messin' around." Johnny insisted that a challenger be chosen.
Zechs stepped up behind Heero. "What happens if your plan doesn't work?"
Heero shrugged. "It will work because fighting is the only thing these men understand."
Suddenly the bantering stopped. The cluster of soldiers parted like the sea in a Bible story Duo's mother had taught him in childhood.
Treize Khushrenada strolled along the cleared path, his cloak rippling about his shoulders and his surprisingly lucid eyes centered solely on Zechs.
"Ah, I see you've finally come to your senses," he addressed his former paramour. "but why bring these ruffians along?"
Zechs moved around Heero, the Staff of the Rose tapped the ground with each step. "I had hoped we could talk in private."
Treize took a moment to examine Zechs, to study how the moonlight danced on his hair. Zechs' face also seemed to glow and his eyes, those twin pools of liquid sky, were as bewitching as the last time a lover's look had passed between them.
The Dark Lord unclasped his cloak and let it flutter to the ground. He rested his hand on the hilt of his sword hanging by his side.
"Zechs, you believe yourself to be virtuous so you spew out hypocritical judgment. You fancy yourself a priest so you claim you cannot dwell in my darkness but I know your true nature. You whispered sweet words, pledged your fidelity then betrayed my heart and raped my mind.
"You hide behind the priesthood but there's as much blood on your hands, as much loathing in your heart. You don't fool me, never have. All your facades were stripped away each time we made love. Each layer was exposed and your soul laid bare for my scrutiny. I remember how aroused you were after a battle, how you begged for release and screamed my name with every climax.
"So, come on lover, let's have one more campaign of foreplay. What do you say? Let's taste passion and steel and blood once more."
The ex-soldier who, no matter how hard he scrubbed his hands, couldn't eradicate the bloody stains, the Temple Keeper who, no matter how many times he prayed, couldn't exorcise the demons of guilt or stifle the agonizing shrieks of dying men, took one final step.
"I am neither pure enough to cleanse your tainted soul nor strong enough to mend your broken heart. I am on better, no worse. I cry and bleed and detest myself for what I've done to you. I will dare to beg your forgiveness but I will not fight you, not because I'm a coward but because this strife has to end for everyone's sake."
As if to hide its face, the celestial "Eye of Heaven" slunk behind the clouds. The wind also retreated into a dead stillness as if it held its breath in terror of what was about to happen.
Heero tightened his grip on his sword, ready to come to Zechs defense. Duo, too, took up a protective position, prepared to fight at his husband's and his comrade's side.
A prolonged silence, as deafening as a hundred cannon reports, flowed between the Dark Lord and the Priest of Twilight. Neither man twitched nor did they lessen the tension arcing between them like a thousand slivers of lightning.
Finally Zechs put his faith to the ultimate test. He handed Duo the Staff of the Rose and stood defenseless before the only man he would ever yield to. He spread his arms wide and offered empty hands in complete and unconditional capitulation.
"Do what you have to." Zechs said before closing his eyes and resigning to fate's whims.
Duo clutched the Staff so tight his knuckles were white and every breath hitched in his chest. Heero lowered his blade. Zechs had chosen his path, had surrendered to a higher power and while the Lone Hunter had sworn an oath of protection, he could not go against his friend's possibility fatal decision.
*********
From the narrow passage linking the front and rear courtyards, General Septum and Odin observed the edgy interaction between the Zechs and Treize.
Odin strained to hear the exchange, strained to see as clouds swallowed up the moonlight. "Treize said to join him." he repeated the orders.
"This is close enough." Septum decided as he loaded a barbed arrow into his crossbow. Three additional arrows were lined up across a window sill, ready to be rapidly loaded and fired.
Odin divided his attention between Septum and the scene unfolding before him. "Killing the Priest will plunge Treize into irreversible madness then we'll have full control over the self-proclaimed Lord of Aragon."
Septum pressed the crossbow to his shoulder, flexed his arms and sighted down the shaft. "Kill both of them and no one stands in our way."
"But that wasn't the plan." Odin replied, stunned by the dire consequences should the power-hungry General follow through with his lethal intentions. "We were only supposed to use Treize as bait to lurk the warriors to Hellgate then lock them away so they couldn't interfere with our crusade for victory and," he added to his persuasion, "we can't discount the Hunter's and Duel Spirit's vengeance."
A snigger trembled over Septum's lips. "You're as foolish as those traitorous vipers." he stated as his finger tightened on the trigger. "I'll bury an arrow in their hearts before they can flinch." then added, "Perhaps you should watch your back."
Despite the shape pangs of regret stabbing into Odin's gut, his fear of Septum's reprisal held him frozen in place. He could live with his conscience's constant nagging. He would eventfully forget his part in driving Khushrenada into absolute insanity. He could, he squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears so he wouldn't hear the zip when the arrow was set on its deadly course.
*********
Treize drew his sword in a double-handed grip then raised it over his left shoulder. The broad blade reflected a brief glint of moonlight, the finely honed tip quivered as it was primed to send his unrepentant lover to heaven or hell or wherever the fates deemed a proper reward.
When Zechs lay lifeless on the blood-soaked ground, his sightless eyes beseeching the angels or the devils to bear him away, Treize would fall on his sword then he and his lover would be bound forever where no earthly being could rent them apart.
"This is my defining moment." Septum whispered, "Nothing will stand in my way."
A blur of motion, the crossbow was wrenched from Septum's hands. There was no time to respond, no time to think, no time to scream.
Gurgling noises like a whiskey cask being tapped caused Odin to open his eyes. "Merciful saints. " he gasped in horror.
All that was visible of Septum were flailing arms and legs. The only sounds Odin could hear were snarling and a garbled sucking of air.
Septum's writhing body was straddled by four muscular legs which supported an elongated body covered with black hair.
In a heartbeat the convulsions stopped. One moment more legs went limp. Arms stuck the ground with a thud then the vile General's head settled at an odd angle.
Odin's shock was multiplied as he realized Septum's windpipe had been severed and thin strings of skin were all that saved him from decapitation.
As scarlet rivulets seeped from Septum's gaping throat to pool around his shoulders, the dreadful beast lifted his head. Enlarged pupils mirrored a trace of moonlight that shimmered across the ebony orbs like quick silver. His slender muzzle was drenched in blood and whiskers leached a rain of ruby droplets.
Odin staggered backwards, away from the macabre sight of the grotesquely contorted body. A growl at his back slithered up his spine. A cautious half-turn brought him face to face with an elkhound in a spiked collar, its lips curled back in a vicious grin.
"Please, by all that's holy, please spare me."
"You will suffer for your sins but justice will not be metered out by us." a voice declared.
When Odin looked around the wolf was gone and a man with slanted eyes and heavy black hair curtaining high cheekbones stood in its place.
Odin dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands. "There is no atonement for my transgressions. " he proclaimed through muffled sobs, "but I do know the secret to restore the Slaves' minds and souls."
*********
Treize's sword quivered. "Do it." echoed inside his head. He gritted his teeth, narrowed his eyes and focused his aim at the center of Zechs' chest.
Zechs was remarkably calm. His breathing even, his posture relaxed as if he was ready to drift into a dreamless sleep.
"DO IT NOW!"
A whoosh of air feathered Zech's bangs just before the sword hit the stony ground with a hollow clang.
The Priest's sight centered on Treize tucked into a fetal curl at his feet. Tears of compassion tracking down his face, Zechs knelt beside his soul mate and cradled him in his arms.
"It's all right." he reassured as he rocked back and forth like a father comforting his child. "I promise together in Deep World we'll vanquish the madness."
"Well, it seems there's no reason to fire off the Thunder Powder." Trowa stated with a hint of disappointment.
Quatre, his face damp with tears of joy, nodded. "There'll be another time, my love."
*********
A new day dawned and with it came a renewal of light and a rebirth of hope.
"It's finally over?" Duo stated as he and Heero cuddled under an oak tree and watched the moon bid farewell to the night.
Heero gazed eastward. "A wise man once said: "The past is finished and the future is beyond our control therefore the present is all we have and each moment should be cherished. Will you share each day with me?"
There was no hesitation in Duo's reply. "Whatever your path I will follow. I will lie down with you and rise with you. I'll be your friend and lover and we will grow together." he pledged to his husband then sealed the heartfelt promise with a kiss.
TBC...
Back to Karen, The Huntress's Fanfictions Page