Runaway Part 8
Heero smiled at Duo. The youth was sound asleep between Wufei and himself. They had suggested this setup for two reasons. The first being to get Duo accustomed to sleeping with the two of them touching him. The second, and most important, was to keep Duo warm. Duo was used to sleeping in a warm wagon. The nights were slowly getting colder and snow would be falling not long after they reached the Sanq fortress. Duo had agreed enthusiastically and had cuddled up to Wufei as quickly as he could. Duo's explanation had been that he liked cuddling.
Neither Heero, nor Wufei, were going to complain. Duo was adorable beyond words when he was peacefully asleep. Heero caressed Duo's cheek and smiled as Duo's eyes fluttered open.
Duo smiled back. "Time to leave?"
Heero shook his head. "No. Go on back to sleep."
"Mm-kay. It's a bit chilly. You gonna cuddle in here where it's warm?"
Heero chuckled softly and complied. He wrapped his arms around Duo as soon as he'd tucked the blanket around them. "How are you feeling?"
Duo rested his head on Wufei's warm chest and pondered his answer. "I guess I feel all right. Why?" He gasped and shuddered as a strong hand started rubbing a sore muscle in his back.
"It's only going to get worse, Duo. Just warning you that we can't stop for longer than a night until we reach the safehouse. Wufei and I will do what we can to ease the strain." He caressed Duo's face. "We could construct a litter and carry you, if you want."
Duo shook his head. "I'll be okay. I've had sore muscles before. If it gets too much for me to handle, believe me I'll let you know."
"Sounds fair to me. Go back to sleep. I'm an early riser unless I'm worn out at night." Heero stroked Duo's arm in a soothing motion... glad to have been given this precious opportunity. Wufei and he had despaired that the two of them were way too alike to be able to have a long-term relationship regardless of how much they loved each other. They both lived with predictability. They needed the bright chatterbox as much as Duo needed something steady.
Wufei opened his eyes as soon as Duo was breathing deeply. Unable to stop himself, he pressed a gentle kiss to Duo's forehead. He smiled as Duo cuddled closer to him. He let that smile widen as Heero kissed him. He met Heero's eyes and nodded before pulling Duo close and falling back to sleep.
*****
The second day of travelling proved to be more miserable than the first. Shortly after they broke camp, clouds started to darken the sky. When they would have taken their midday break, an icy rain started falling.
Heero pulled Duo close and shouted. "We have to get out of this rain! How far do we have to go before we reach a storm hut?" While talking, he rubbed Duo's arms as briskly as he could. Duo's hair, being as long as it was, made a bad situation worse.
Wufei shouted back and helped Heero try to warm Duo. "About a mile! One of us will have to carry him! We'll make better time that way!"
Heero nodded and swept Duo up into his arms and bolted in the direction Wufei had pointed. He tried to keep Duo as warm as possible, but it was no use. When Wufei passed him, he knew they were close, so he slowed a little. He shook Duo and smiled when the youth blinked his eyes open. "Duo! You're going to HAVE to stay awake for a few minutes and hang onto me. Can you do that?"
Duo nodded his head and latched his arms around Heero's neck. He held on as tightly as he could as Heero started climbing, but his fingers were numb. He squeezed his eyes shut.
Heero could feel Duo slipping, little by little. "Come on, Duo. Just a little more. It's all right. We're almost there."
Duo whimpered in fear. "I can't... I can't!!"
Wufei started stripping off his soaked clothes as soon as he entered the tiny hut. It was about the size of their tent, with a small room set aside with several long dry wool shirts and plenty of towels and something on which they could hang their wet clothes.
Heero climbed up and let out a sigh of relief as he closed the trap door. "Okay... it's okay, Duo." He gently disengaged Duo's arms and pulled the sobbing boy against him. "Shhh! You did good. You're safe now, Duo. Come on... let's get you dry."
Both Heero and Wufei got Duo out of his sodden clothing. Wufei wrapped a long towel around Duo and Heero was wringing out some of the water in Duo's hair.
Heero only left his work to get out of his own wet clothing. He pulled on a nightshirt and took two more out. One for Wufei and one for Duo. "Get a fire started in the pit. I'll close the windows."
Wufei started the fire and cradled Duo near its warmth. He continued to hold Duo until the shivers died away.
"How is he?" Heero sat down next to Wufei and wrapped a blanket around the three of them. He smiled as Duo whimpered before opening his eyes. "You okay?"
Duo felt dazed and very disoriented. His head was swimming a little. "I feel sick."
Heero caressed Duo's face, not liking the warmth there. "You've just had a scare. Try to rest. We'll probably camp here and continue when the storm ends."
Duo nodded and closed his eyes.
Wufei sighed. "If he's sick... we take the underground route. It's dark and closed in, but it's dry. We can blindfold him so he doesn't get claustrophobic."
"Let's wait until the storm ends." With that, Heero placed a cool rag on Duo's head.
*****
Wufei frowned. As the rain eased, Duo's breathing started to sound wheezy.
"The hard part is going to be getting him down... unless you tie his wrists together as you climb down." Heero pushed Duo's bangs away from his overheated forehead. "You know what did it? I'll put money down that it was a combination of all the shocks and the two thorough soakings he's gotten."
Wufei nodded in agreement. "We'll have to tie his wrists together."
Heero opened the door. "I'll construct a litter for him." With that, he hopped through the opening and scurried down to the ground. A part of him was glad they were using the underground route. Treize would have no way of following them. It started at a cave and there was a maze of caves that changed almost daily. Only the mercenaries from the Sanq fortress had lodestones that would always point to Sanq. Even if an enemy of Sanq had one of Zechs' mercenaries, the group would get lost.
Wufei pulled a thong of leather out of his pack and gently started binding Duo's wrists together.
"Hmmnn? Wufei? Wha?" Duo squinted at the leather.
"It's time to leave. I don't know if you have the strength to hang on, and I don't want you falling. I'll untie you as soon as we get to the ground, but I'll be blindfolding you. We're taking the underground route."
Duo whimpered as Wufei lifted him. "Don' blindfol' me. I c'n handle it if I c'n see you."
Wufei secured Duo and smiled. "All right. But if you start hyperventilating, you get blindfolded... you can barely breathe as it is. You don't need the added stress on your lungs."
Duo nodded weakly as Wufei started climbing down. There was a slight ache in his wrists, but Wufei had promised to untie him. He blinked as somethng tickled his nose and opened his eyes to see Heero holding a handful of leaves. "Wha?"
Heero smiled. "Chew on them. They'll help with the fever. I didn't know they grew in this part of the world."
Duo opened his mouth as Wufei untied his wrists and obediently chewed on the sour-tasting leaves. He sighed in resignation. Catherine would have made the leaves into a tea and added plenty of honey.
Heero chuckled at the look on Duo's face and kissed the tip of his nose. "I know... I've had to chew them straight as well once or twice." He pulled Duo over to the litter that had been quickly, but efficiently, put together. "Duo... I'm so sorry, but you're going to have to be tied to the litter while we're moving. I don't want you falling off. We'll stop whenever you need to. Okay?"
Duo nodded, glad that something was going to keep him on, and was grateful when he saw that Heero had made sure the litter would be soft and warm and off the ground. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he let himself fall asleep.
Heero used the second blanket to cover Duo and then quickly bound the youth in such a way that wouldn't harm him, but it would prevent him from falling off.
Wufei gathered more of the bitter tasting herbs to help Duo fight his fever. "Are we ready?"
Heero nodded. "Let's move. Get that end." He grabbed his handholds. "On three! One... two... three!"
In one smooth move, Heero and Wufei lifted the litter without jarring Duo. With a nod, they headed to the nearest entrance to their underground tunnels.
*****
Duo awoke to the sound of echoing footsteps. His head hurt terribly, and he couldn't move at all. He felt as if he were going backwards and opened his eyes. He smiled weakly at Wufei.
Wufei smiled back at Duo. Rather than let him see where they were going, he and Heero had agreed to carry the stretcher so Duo would be able to hold a conversation with one of them. "How are you feeling?"
Duo started to say that he felt awful when he frowned. Something was wrong with his voice. His eyes widened. He couldn't speak or call for help if something happened.
Wufei saw that Duo was starting to panic. "Heero... stop a moment!" As soon as the stretcher was on the ground, Wufei quickly untied Duo and pulled him into his arms. "Shhh... calm down, Duo."
"Relax. Take a few deep breaths. We're right here, and we won't let anything happen to you." Heero ran a soothing hand down Duo's back before taking him from Wufei. "Don't be afraid. Your voice will come back. It's a side effect of the herbs we gave you. When taken at full potency, they cause you to lose your voice." He smiled comfortingly into Duo's tear-streaked face. "We won't let anything harm you. Okay?"
Duo nodded and rested his head against Heero's shoulder.
Wufei brushed the backs of his fingers against Duo's cheek. "Let's get moving." With that, he helped Heero settle Duo onto the litter.
*****
About an hour later, Heero and Wufei were scowling at a lake in the middle of their path.
"The tunnel must have flooded during the rainfall." Heero sighed. "I will see how deep it is." With that, he gathered some of their supplies and started wading across. He noted, with no small measure of relief, that the water did not go past his chest. After putting their supplies down, he swam back to Wufei. "We're in luck. The water isn't that deep. We can carry Duo above our shoulders. We'd best wake him up and let him know what we're going to do."
Wufei nodded and gently shook Duo. He hated seeing the pain in Duo's eyes, but did his best to quell the urge to just cuddle him close. "Feel any better?" He watched Duo wince and shake his head. "Feel worse?" When Duo nodded, Wufei sighed. He was worried about the youth, no question about that. "Listen... Heero and I are going to have to carry you on our shoulders for a bit. One of the tunnels is flooded, and we don't want you to get worse. Do you understand?" He smiled as Duo nodded before closing his eyes. "Yes... you rest. We should be there soon." He scowled as he watched Duo's pale face. He was so glad that Sanq had healers of the magical sort. They'd be able to help Duo. He snorted at himself. Of course Sanq had healers... half of the inhabitants were priests or priestesses.
Sanq fortress protected a peaceful temple. The Mercenaries and the guards of the fortress were there to protect and to be protected. Wufei had gone there to be protected from the enemies that had slaughtered his clan and the wife he had loved as a sister... Heero had gone there to shake off his emotionless life. And now Duo would go there to escape from some being hunted. True they were so far south that the seasons were opposite of those in the north, but Treize was still at it.
Heero nodded to Wufei as they lifted Duo onto their shoulders. He was so glad that the caves were of a moderate temperature. They would be of no use in a fight if they should get ill. He hated the snail's pace they had to set by carrying Duo, but the litter was not constructed to float. They didn't want the youth to drown.
Wufei wondered how Duo got so sick so fast. The only thing that made sense was that one of the scratches he'd gotten had been poisoned in some way. It was possible that the lead wolf of that pack had been sick. If that were the case, Duo was too weak to fight off the added stress of being ill.
TBC...
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