Marked for Death Part 18
The groups departed early the next morning, just as the sun was rising. All knew that sleep would be a good thing but that travelling and getting back to the castle was an even better thing. There was precious little time for well wishes and good-byes before the two groups went their separate ways.
For the small group assigned to help Wufei regain his castle and kingdom the trip moved quickly, much quicker then it had travelling to the Marked Ones' home. Partially this was due to the fact that travelling through the caves had actually placed them closer to the castle by a day or two. Still, the journey took them the good part of a week. It was made in silence, all of them hiking together while two scouted out ahead and behind to make sure no one followed them. They rotated shifts at night and those who stayed awake spent the time learning more about the castle.
It wasn't long before each of the travelers had a detailed mental map of the castle and was as ready as they could be in such a situation. Five days and nights passed without incident and soon they found themselves at the edge of the town, just as the sun was setting on the horizon. Trowa led them to a place off the main road where they could watch the traffic moving in and out heading for the palace and wait for the sun to completely set.
"We're going to need better clothes." Wufei said quietly. One problem of travelling quickly left them dirty and mud covered. While it worked to their advantage in the woods, it would only hinder them in the town... what little amount of time they expected to spend in it.
"We just need something to cover ourselves, right?" Hijiri asked, pulling his blade out into view.
The others followed his nod to see a worn cover sitting across a wagon not too far from their current location. Wufei frowned, he didn't like the idea of stealing, but he understood it was quite needed, and he could always visit them after this was over with repayment. He nodded his approval to the young Marked One.
Hijiri grinned and took off across the path, moving quickly from shadow to shadow to avoid being seen. With his blade he made quick work of the ropes tying down the cloth and quickly brought it back to them. They worked to cut it into smaller pieces and eventually came up with enough to serve as cloaks to cover their markings and Wufei's head so no one would recognize him. That taken care of they melted in behind a wagon and made their way toward the castle.
~*~
The group stood near the castle walls, staring up as the thick stone reached high above them. Vines and moss covered the old and worn stones, but never enough to help one climb them; servants made sure of that every month. In any case the wall was so high that only the desperate ones would dare climb it, especially since falling would mean one's death. And this group wasn't that desperate... yet.
"It should be that one."
Everyone followed Duo's pointed finger to a small opening several feet above them... and small was an understatement. Hijiri frowned.
"Are you sure I can fit in that?"
"Positive," Duo said with a nod. "It just looks a lot smaller from this angle. But the problem is getting up there."
Hijiri grinned at that. "Simple enough." Stepping a bit back he pulled the bladed staff from his skin and held it out in front of them. Reaching for the center the young Marked One twisted the pole so that it actually screwed apart, and became two shorter poles with a curved blade on one end. He grinned at them and walked over to the wall.
"I just need to scout the place out right? And get them away from your entrance?"
"Exactly." Wufei said.
"Here goes then. See you a bit." With those words the boy took a running start and raced for the wall, jumping at the last moment. Raising his hands, each wrapped tightly around his split weapon, he hit them hard against the wall. The force of the impact on his weapon caused him to wince but otherwise he didn't show any reaction and was able to catch the blades in cracks so that they could support him. Working quickly and efficiently he began to climb the wall toward the small opening, while the rest of the group wished him good luck and moved on to their entrance point.
The remaining eight moved quickly around the wall, racing for the place where they planned to enter. The main gates were out of the question, even if they could have snuck in with a caravan or something along those lines it would have been too easy for them to have been seen, at least by someone. As a result they'd chosen a much less dramatic way to enter the castle... one that seemed perhaps more desperate then attempting to scale the tall walls.
A toilet chute to be exact.
Wufei visibly winced as they came into view of the tunnel.
Quatre reached up and clamped his hand over his nose. "Oh yuck."
Trowa frowned. "Well, you are correct about it being large enough for us to fit through, if not a bit steep."
Duo made a face. "I am well open to other options, just as I'm sure everyone else here is."
The prince walked to the area under the opening and tried not to grimace as he noticed the ground was soft under his leather boots. Best not to think of that. "This is the only way in where we know we won't get caught. It's not the... cleanest route, but we don't have the luxury of being picky right now."
"Right," Annah agreed. "As much as I hate to admit it."
Yuki moved forward and handed Trowa the rope they stolen off a wagon on the way to the castle and he slipped it over one arm. Then, reaching up, he closed his eyes and concentrated. The entire group watched in silence as the vines on Trowa's skin danced across his body and into the air. Moving like shifting and living snakes the vines moved toward the wall and slithered up the side until they reached the opening. The vines danced over the edges of the opening for a moment then darted in between the cracks until they'd sunk in enough to get a firm hold. That's when Trowa opened his eyes.
Wrapping his arms around the vines he let them seep back into his skin, pulling him up as they moved back to where they belonged. The effect gave him the look of floating upward in the dark moonlight but everyone know it was a simple trick thanks to the type of tattoos the Marked Ones' leader wore on his body. He reached the opening soon enough and disappeared into the darkness, only to appear seconds later and drop one end of the rope down to everyone else.
They found a small blue headband of cloth tied to that end, Hijiri's sign that the coast was clear.
Duo took the end of the rope and glanced at Heero, with an amused smirk on his face. "After you."
Heero took the end and tugged on it once, then began to climb, soon followed by everyone else.
~*~
Once at the top of the chute the group split off into their pre-decided groups. Luckily for them, as Duo and Wufei had said, the chute had been surprisingly clean. Only the ground below had held a horrible stench and since they didn't roll in the mud they didn't manage to drag it up with them. There were definite advantages to entering through a chute at a side of the castle that wasn't used often. One of the bigger advantages was that they came out about as dirty as they'd entered and mercifully they didn't smell like a dung heap.
As soon as they were out in the hallway of the castle, Heero, Duo and Hijiri shed their cloaks and took off down the hall in separate directions. Their rather simple job was the race around the castle creating as much confusion as they could. In the confusion they created and the distractions the hope was that no one would notice the advisors missing and that Darrin would flee to a place where he'd be easy to find.
Brei and Yuki took off another hallway to find said advisors, while the rest of the group headed for the throne room, where they were pretty sure Darrin would be.
~*~
Brei and Yuki turned around a corner and ducked into the shadows as two forms moved toward them down the hallway. Shedding her cloak Yuki pulled one of the blades from her arm while Brei undid her bladed whip. As soon as the two servant women came into sight the two jumped out and dropped the women to the floor without a sound, then pulled them into a storage room not too far down the hall.
Seconds later the two emerged dressed in the clothing of the servants, skirts and all. Brei made a face as lifted the skirt in disgust. "I hate skirts," she muttered.
"Least we found them quickly, let's get out of here before they wake up and realize what's happened." Yuki began moving down the hallway; hiding two of her blades in the folds of her skirt while two smaller ones remained clutched in her hands.
"Why couldn't we have run into some guards or something? I'd much prefer a tunic and armor to this hideous piece." Brei grumbled, following after her.
Yuki just chuckled lightly. "The quicker we find the advisors the quicker you can get out of that skirt, I promise."
"Then lets go!" Brei grinned at her and took the lead down the hall.
~*~
Hijiri raced down the hallway, a bright smirk on his face as he saw a cluster of female servants in front of him. Swinging his blades through the air gleefully he let out a loud 'whee!' and raced past them, spinning around to face them for a second then running on his way. The women reacted with loud and high cries of surprise followed by comments that made it obviously they'd recognized him as a Marked One. Hijiri grinned, mission accomplished.
Following the hall around a corner his eyes widened as he found himself faced with about three armed guards who seemed to be on a nightly patrol. In a second the three had pulled their swords and raced at him, but Hijiri merely dove to the ground and slid between their legs, jumping to his feet to race faster down the hallway, the guards now in pursuit.
Well... he'd certainly gotten their attention...
~*~
The kitchen's large doors swung open and the Shadow stepped into plain view of all the servants bustling back and forth. A few heads turned in his direction but they all immediately ignored him and turned back to their work. Nearly fifteen years of habit of ignoring him wasn't broken that easily, and frankly Duo felt a little offended. But only a little.
Walking over to a table near the head cook he gathered a few apples in his arms and grinned broadly at her, just daring her to respond to him and try and take them back. Whistling cheerfully he sauntered through the kitchen out into the main dining hall which was now being cleaned from the evening meal. A scattered few groups of servants, guards and various other castle personal stood talking amongst themselves.
Duo jumped up onto the main table and smirked. Taking one of the apples he let it fly through the air, perfectly hitting the man in charge of the castle's gardens in the back of the head. The man whirled around angrily and just stared.
"Hi!" Duo said, waving cheerfully. Turning he used two more apples to peg two guards. "Ignore me at your own risk, fellas. I'm just gonna keep throwing these apples at you... unless of course you want to catch me and take me to Darrin, because I'm sure he'd love to whip the heck out of me for this one."
At first everyone just kind of looked at him and attempted to ignore him. Duo groaned loudly and threw his remaining apples at the guards, then jumped off the table and, in a quick movement, snatched one of their swords from its sheath. This was apparently too much to ignore and the guards turned on him. Laughing nervously Duo turned on his heels and raced out of the room, running as fast as he could, clutching the sword in his hands.
What thick heads? Didn't they know a threat when they saw one?
In the hallway ahead of him he saw Heero come into view, also being chased. Raising the sword he charged forward and rammed right into one of them, successfully plowing a path he and Heero could take back down that hallway.
"Jeez, these guys are so dense, they wouldn't know an invasion if it hit them on the head!"
Heero smirked lightly and grabbed Duo's arm, pulling him to the side as a sharp blade from one of the armed men flew past their heads.
"Perhaps, that works in our favor."
Duo just grinned and the two picked up their speed... the rest was up to the prince now. Hopefully they were right about Darrin being in the throne room.
~*~
"I don't like this situation, not at all."
"I agree, Darrin has overstepped his bounds. How dare he assume control when the prince and the king are still missing?"
"He is the king's chief advisor and it is within his right to assume command, but something about this whole situation... it's too convenient."
The other advisors nodded their agreement. At that moment the door opened behind them and all heads turned to see two servant girls standing in the doorway, one of them had a hand up, covering part of her face.
"Yes?" One of the taller men asked.
"If you please come with us, the Prince wishes to speak with you in his throne room."
Eyebrows shot up and the men's expressions shifted to ones of surprise. "The Prince? That's preposterous!"
The darker haired of the servant girls dropped the hand from her face to reveal a small tattoo under her eye. The advisors took a step back in surprise at the sight.
"I assure you we are not joking. If you will please quietly come with us."
Brei showed them a flash of her bladed whip and the men seemed to get the point. Silently they fell in between the two girls and headed for the throne room, not saying a single word. Brei led them, while Yuki brought up the rear, always watchful of their movements or any sign that they planned to do something stupid. Luckily, though, unlike Darrin none of these advisors were trained for battle and all seemed to deem it wise to keep their mouths shut and follow instructions, which just made everything so much easier.
~*~
Wufei, Annah, Quatre and Trowa paused in front of the large ornate doors which marked the throne room. Wufei nodded at the Marked leader and the younger blond boy, signaling for them to wait out of sight, then turned and slowly pushed the doors open.
He was greeted with a room almost as dark as it had been outside. The prince clutched the handle of the sword at his side and cautiously entered the room, his eyes flickering around for any sign of movement. He found scattered few candles still burning from the candelabras that lined the room, casting shifting shadows all around him. The large painted banners of the pervious kings stared down at him from the walls, as if watching to see what would happen. But there was no one else in the room. The throne room was empty.
Wufei stopped in the middle of the room and cursed. He'd been wrong, Darrin wasn't here, but then where would he be? The man should have been able to guess how long it would take them to get to the castle and he wouldn't be stupid enough to be hiding in his bedroom would he? He certainly wasn't stupid enough to hide himself some where in the castle so that Wufei and the others would have to hunt him down. So that left the throne room. But since he wasn't here, then where...?
"Wufei!"
Annah's voice shattered the silence around him and he felt a force slam into him from behind, knocking them both to the ground, followed by a cry of pain. Rolling over with his eyes wide he turned to find Annah lying against him, a large dagger sticking out from her shoulder, blood already soaking the surrounding fabric. His eyes widened in fear as he wrapped his arms around her protectively and his eyes scanned the room for sign of movement.
"Annah? Annah, say something!" He shook her lightly, not being able to look at her face for any sign that she was okay. His mind flying in a panic he quickly looked around the room, but he still didn't see anyone... where had the dagger come from!?
In his arms she moved just slightly, taking one of the lightning shaped blades from her arm and flung it into the shadows behind him. Wufei twisted around to see it disappear into the darkness, only to see it return seconds later, straight for his neck.
Once again he was shoved out of the way and the movement was followed again by Annah crying out as her own lightning blade embedded itself in her throwing arm, preventing her from interfering any more. Darrin had thrown the weapon back at her to make sure she didn't interfere anymore. But the movement had served its purpose and she flashed a weak smile up at Wufei, because now he knew where the man was hiding.
"There," she whispered softly.
Wufei nodded and set her down gently on the floor, standing to his feet. His eyes narrowed to angry slits as he pulled out his own sword and advanced on the dark figure he could now see standing in the shadows.
"Get out here, you bastard, and face me. I'll make sure you pay for what you've done!"
The tall blond advisor only stepped out of the shadows, blade in hand and smirk painted across his face. His eyes were lit with amusement at the prince's anger. And Wufei wanted nothing more then to slice that confident smile from the man's face. This had gone on long enough and it ended now!
With that thought and a loud yell, he raised his sword and charged forward.
TBC...
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