Author's Note: I know, I know...took me long enough. What can I say; I'm a procrastinator. N-E-Way, a lot of questions are going to be answered in this chapter soooo, hold onto your hats.
The Shifter Part 5
"What can I do for you child?" Quatre grimaced internally; he hated being called a child. "Actually, Lady, I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to the garden. His majesty has asked me to oversee the arrival of his new fey flowers and I thought you might be interested." Lady Une debated to herself silently before finally accepting the young guard's offer. Locking her door, she took the blonde's hand as he led her toward the castle gardens.
Duo blinked in confusion as he watched Lady Une and Quatre walk away. "I don't get it." He said, turning toward the others. "You'd think she would be suspicious of him. I mean, she knows he's your friend Heero." Trowa uttered a small sound that could be considered a chuckle. "The little one is...how would you put it...very disarming. He can talk just about anyone into doing just about anything. None of us are really sure how he does it." The tall guard informed him.
The four conspirators crept silently toward the castle mage's door. However, when the reached it, they found it locked. "Great, now how do we get in?" The fey youth asked in exasperation. Wufei turned to him and held up a large key ring. "The best thing about being the captain of the guards is, no matter who you are, I have a key to your room." He said with a smirk. Silently, the Chinese youth unlocked the portal and they entered.
Lady Une's room was as dark as Duo imagined it. Small amounts of light streamed in from high, narrow windows. The gray brick walls were covered in a disgusting layer of slime. Bookcases and ingredient selves lined the walls, and right in the center of the room was a large, black cauldron.
Suddenly, Duo chuckled. The others turned to him rather surprised by this reaction. "Sorry." He blushed. "You see, in my clan there are two storytellers. The Grim brothers, and this place looks like a scene right out of one of their children's fables. Ironically enough, it was about an evil witch who liked to eat children."[1] He explained, much to the amusement of the other three.
They began their search again, the guards and the prince using their eyes, and the forest shifter using his nose. Duo sniffed around, using his wolf's sense of smell. He already knew Lady Une's scent so he attempted to tune it out. Finally he came across a faint scent he had never smelled before. He followed it until he came to a large bookcase. [2]
Running his hand across the leather-bound tomes of knowledge, he attempted to find a clue to the whereabouts of the strange scent. As his fingers brushed past a small, blue architecture book, visions began to violently assault his mind.
*Flash* Pain, betrayal, blood, fear, darkness. *Flash*
The young seer gasped suddenly and fell backwards. Heero rushed towards him and caught his slim body a millisecond before it hit the ground. "Duo, what's wrong?" The prince asked worriedly. "The blue book... pull the blue book." The elfin boy chocked out. Heero looked up at the book the other boy had indicated. "This one?" He asked. At Duo's nod he reached for it and attempted to pull it out of place.
As the book left its spot, a low rumbling was heard. The bookcase suddenly began to slide to the left, revealing a large hidden doorway. Heero helped his fey love to stand and slowly began to lead the way up the flight of stairs they found. Upon reaching the top, they found an old, rotted wooden door. The prince pushed on it and it creaked on its old hinges as it edged its way open.
At the far back of the once hidden room, a man hung from ancient shackles. "Uncle Treize?" The man's ginger head jerked up suddenly. "Heero?" His voice was rough from disuse, but there was no doubting it. The true king stood bound before them. "Let's get you out of here." The prince said as he examined the shackles the restrained his uncle. "Do you know where the key is?" He asked. Treize shook his head. "Great. How do we get these off?"
"Leave that to me." Duo stepped forward and to everyone's amazement, pulled a long silver lock pick out of his impressive chestnut braid. He took one shackle in his hand and inserted the pick. After just a few moments, the lock released and a wrist that hadn't seen light in years was freed. Duo repeated this on the rest of the braces, then stepped back as the king fell into his nephew's arms.
Heero settled his uncle on the ground as Treize began to caress wrists that had long ago been rubbed raw. "Thank you my friends. As you can see, it's been quite some time since I've been able to stand on my own." The others nodded. "Come on, uncle, we have to get you to my room." Trowa and Heero supported Treize as the walked down the forgotten stairs.
Duo replaced the key book and the bookcase slid back into place. They left the room, Wufei locking the door behind them, and headed back to Heero's chambers. "I hope we didn't leave anything to tip off Une." Wufei stated as they shut the prince's door. A few minutes after they had the true king settled, a knock sounded at the door.
"Who goes?" Heero called. "It's just me." Quatre's voice floated through the wood. The blue-eyed prince quickly let him in and a collective sigh was heard throughout the room. "I can't believe it worked." The blonde guard admitted. "You should have more confidence in you plans." Trowa said looking rather relieved.
"Uncle, what was the purpose of your capture and replacement? Why would Une do such a thing?" Heero asked. "It's simple, my young heir. It all has to do with a very ancient prophecy."
TBC...
[1] The Brothers Grim, ya know, the 'Cinderella', 'Sleeping Beauty', and 'Beauty and the Beast', guys. Oh and that story Duo was talking about was a spin of 'Hansle and Gretle'. I don't know if I spelled her name right.
[2] Sorry I just couldn't resist. No good mystery is complete without the secret passage behind the bookcase.
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