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The Lyrebird War. Chapter five.
~ By Sweetdeily.
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“Trieze! Zechs! Help!” I stumble back from the sharp sword and glance toward my Dread Knight and the wild blonde solider fighting back to back. Quatre is also fighting viciously with his curved blades.
Me? Duo? I’m trying really hard to not be hit with the sharp pointy thing slicing at me.
Trieze growls, my power curling through his body. My needs override his mind until his speed begins to increase to its true undead potential.
Zechs swears and skips back, sword lashing out at my attacker and gutting him.
“Warn me when you do the Dread Knight thing to him, Duo! He almost hit me with that sword.”
I fall to my knees, breathing heavily, my cheeks flushed under the cloak I wear. Too much running.
I glance back at Trieze, true enough; the black armor of my Dread Knight was beginning to cover his body.
I shake my head, “It’s quicker this way.”
“Duo! I need a little help here!” Quatre calls. Three of the mercenary soldiers have ganged up on him. Zechs puffs and runs to lend him a hand. I analyze our situation.
The analysis isn’t good. If we had of known that the
soldiers would be here, we wouldn’t have been here ourselves. Such is the
nature of surprise attacks. They had initially outnumbered us,
Quatre ducks a fatal blow and twists, curved blade whistling through the air to slice almost clean through its target. The soldier drops soundlessly. Zechs cuts down the Prince’s second attacker with ease and the silence from my right tells me that the Dread Knight has done his job. The two blonde’s finish the last soldier off and we are alone.
We all stand panting, although I have not been involved directly in the battle, the use of my power over Trieze has tired me, my earlier expenditures this day have cost me.
“Can you animate any of them? I think that was only the first attack.” Zechs says, coming closer to me with Quatre in tow.
I shake my head. “I don’t have enough juice left in me Zechs. I need to rest. Damnit! Why are they so hostile in this area, what’s around here that require ambush guards?”
“We’re near my capital city, Rasen.” The long haired blonde supplies.
I shake my head. “Damnit! This has all come too soon! How long has this godforsaken war been going on? It can’t have been nine years yet!”
“Duo tomorrow is your birthday.” Quatre adds.
I clench my hands. I knew it would happen soon, but tomorrow? “I won’t be ready by then! Damned if I could have gone without a birthday!”
The Dread Knight stirs and the time for my frustration is over, more soldiers approach. “Let’s go. I’ll be a bird’s uncle before I let the pompous shit get me tomorrow! He should have to work for this!”
“He has worked… six years he’s worked.” Quatre mutters back. The four of us turn and begin to run back the way we came.
“Well it hasn’t felt that long to me!” I pant to him, easily taking the lead of our group. Trieze’s armor disappears and he stumbles along behind us, tired from the supernatural speed I forced upon him.
“Duo… it’s not like the rest of us aren’t looking forward to a break as well…” Zechs shoots back.
“What is this? Two against one?”
“Make… that… three!” Trieze calls.
I roll my eyes, after four years of being submitted to the close ‘bonding’ between Zechs and Trieze; I should expect them to agree on everything. Trieze may be a dead man, but damned if he couldn’t argue and organize things. He’d taught Quatre how to uses his sai’s, Zechs to gain ungodly reaction speed and me to lead a group of people all over the land without any of us dying or starving. He’s still a pain in the ass though. He won’t tell me why I am his master, why I have control over the dead and where my powers come from. He insists I’m being silly and I ‘do’ know, but I decided I wanted to forget in this life. Can you tell he was an aristocrat before he died? I can.
For a man of 17, 18 tomorrow, I think I look good. Okay, unearthly beauty aside, I think I look nice. I’m a little more filled out, and damn, if I can’t pass for a girl, I don’t know who can! Maybe Quatre… he’s what, 15 now? he’s got the big doey eyes of most girls, and he’s a bit on the supple side, Zechs is lucky he has Trieze to keep his sexual appetite away from Quatre, the last one who tried came out asexual. He’s a bit touchy about anything but me and Trieze touching his body. He knows me, and we’re a best friend, that’s why I can see him naked or hug him. Trieze’s dead, none of us care if he sees us naked. Quatre knows that when, and if, we are caught by the Rasen that the one he loves will be there and he will let him touch him… but after all this time, I don’t think Quatre or myself really believe it will be tomorrow that my prophecies come true. It’s scary, to be honest.
My thoughts take away my valuable reaction time and it’s too late by the time the trap is sprung. I trip over a coarse wire and hit the ground hard; the air is knocked out of me.
A red dressed form springs from behind the trees and pins me. Quatre shouts and I know more soldiers have got the others surrounded.
I growl, trying to struggle but the pressure on my back increases in warning and I slump.
“Damnit! Fine! Just fine! Just great! Don’t worry, Zechs, Trieze… it’s not like they’re going to kill us.”
“Damnit Duo! I thought you had better attention than this. It was a trip-wire. A fucking trip-wire! Even I saw it!” Quatre yells back, voice annoyed, but not as tense as usual.
“I was too busy thinking, you-ow, hey, stop that, He’s going to kill you for damaging the merchandise.” I address the soldier pinning me down.
“Shut up and cooperate and you will be treated fairly. Resist us and-”
“We’re shutting up, we’re relaxed, what more do you want?” I butt in.
The soldier growls and I feel something hard hit my head before I black out.
Sometimes I don’t know when to shut the hell up.
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I wake in a cold, grey stoned room.
“Quatre?” I croak out.
“Are you awake?” Trieze asks me.
I groan and sit up, I have a headache, and I’m so hungry I could feast on a town, but otherwise I’m fine.
“Damn. Where are the blondes?”
My gaze reveals neither Zechs nor Quatre to me and it’s troubling because I don’t know where we are. The air is musty and stale and the only light comes from between the thick iron bars of what I assume is our cell.
“If you’re referring to Zechs and Quatre, they were taken away for questioning by some high ranking general.”
“High ranking… as in the Trowa guy I keep hearing about in the taverns?”
“None other.”
“Shit. Did he know Zechs?”
“No… well he didn’t right up until one of the soldiers exclaimed ‘Commander Zechs! You’re alive’ and I got tossed in here and he got dragged off and Quatre was taken for private questioning, he didn’t know… right up to about then.” Trieze says unhappily, he’s probably worried too.
“Great. Where are we?”
“Hn. You’re not going to like it.” Trieze says.
I fear he knows me to well.
“Just tell me.”
“We’re in the dungeons of the Rasen palace.”
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW BAD THIS IS???” I erupt, screaming at the top of my lungs because I am suddenly cold with panic and fear.
“I’m sure he’ll like you. Just relax and wait. They haven’t sent for questioning you yet.”
I am standing and I don’t even remember getting up, I stamp my foot, it doesn’t impress the Dread Knight, but it makes me feel better so I do it again for emphasis.
“For all I know, he’ll come in here and I’ll be half-starved! Do you think I look nice when I’m starved? None of the meals did and-”
“A nice big crowd of people have come down here to feed you, master.” Trieze interrupts.
“A nice big crowd?! DOES IT LOOK LIKE I NEED THAT RIGHT NOW?
RIGHT NOW I NEED TO DIE! I NEED TO SHRIVEL UP AND DIE IN A CORNER! BUT CAN I?
HAS ANYONE FIGURED
“What’s all this ruckus in here?” A stern voice demands. I look up at the guard of our little cell, staring at him through the bars with my purple eyes.
“The ruckus? The ruckus!” I start up, but Trieze kicks me discreetly, leveling me with a frown. Right. I have to pull it together. “What ever could you mean, ruckus? I haven’t heard a thing.” I finish lamely.
“Why is it always the pretty ones that are right off insane?” The guard mutters to no one in particular and turns back to his duty.
I open my mouth to yell a retort- probably one that would end painfully for me- when the sound of many foot-falls halts me. Damn Trieze and his ability to hear things from a long way off.
We don’t have to wait long before finding out what the commotion outside is; Quatre’s yells overrule it all.
“GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME NOW!!! GET OFF ME!!!”
I rush to the edge of the cell, peering through the bars to make out the shape of many soldiers surrounding a struggling Quatre.
“Quatre!!!” I yell, fear rising in my stomach for his safety.
“Duo! Duo help!” He screams back desperately.
I look at Trieze and he shrugs. “They only took him down the hall to question him. Obviously there’s something else.” The dread knight offers, all calm.
“Damnit Trieze! I have to help him!”
“What do you propose we do? I can’t be a Dread Knight without your magic!” He says, beginning to get agitated in reflection of my own agitation.
I clench my fist. I have to help Quatre… but I can’t hurt Rasen guards in this place… it would destroy the visions.
“DUO!!!” I can see him being hoisted off the ground and all that holds him in place is his death grip on the edge of the wall.
“TRIEZE! Can’t you fight them without killing them?”
“… I can try.”
“Fine!” I pull power from inside, knowing it is my last command before I will be completely drained, the sleep has helped restore a little power, but I must feed before I have enough juice to do anything with.
Trieze is smashing through the cell door before I even crumple to my knees. I hear more screaming and Quatre’s frantic screams but it all seems so distant. I stay where I am for a while, breathing heavily and blinking black spots from my vision. The black spots are very, very persistant.
A cool piece of metal presses itself under my chin and forces my head to look up.
“And you must be the one I could hear from the observatory tower ranting on about death. Call off the knight or I’ll kill you.” A cold voice commands me.
I stare into icy cobalt eyes, my mouth opens but no sound comes out.
Trieze calls for more power because he cannot maintain his Dread Knight form and I have nothing left to give him.
I couldn’t even if I did… I stare at the Rasen King and if I weren’t on my hands and knees already I would be. My knees are weak at the joints and I want to cry and laugh at the same time.
I hear Quatre scream ‘no’ before I slump, blacking out. Trieze just collapses in the middle of the stairs, an unmoving corpse.
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A cool breeze plays over my skin and I slowly open my eyes. I feel horrible. Very, very horrible.
My eyes focus on a wooden backed chair and red satin pillows.
“Ahh, de’ little Lyrebird is waking.” An old voice out of my line of sight says.
I roll my head to see the speaker and I lick my lips. The man is so old he may as well be decaying, his soul is fluttery and torn around the edges and his clothing is morbid, and loose. He shuffles forward and places a hand on my forehead.
I moan, taking his essence and freeing his spirit to the after life. Lifeless, the old man slumps, eyes wide and surprised.
I pull myself up and my headache recedes, power fills my body once more and my skin becomes a more healthy shade of white. I sigh and push the old man off the beautiful bed I am in, and, as I go to move to the door, I realize with a sudden horror that I am chained to the bed.
One of my ankles has a big bulky iron clasp around it.
Damn.
I settle for pushing the old man’s body into the chair and close his eyes. There was no way to dispose of the body… but he was old enough that his death could have been at any time within the next few days. I slip back onto the bed and hug the silk robe that is wrapped around me closer.
The room is nice, devoid of personality, but nice. The walls are stone, and the window’s ornamental shutters were closed. Drapes closed off the view of what I assumed was a balcony and there was a large wardrobe against one wall and a heavy chest at the end of the bed. No tapestries, no paintings, nothing but the red and blue colored cloth.
What kind of man is the King? I wonder… that his life is devoid of simple pleasures. But then, he is at war, I remind myself. This doesn’t seem like a good excuse to me. I sigh and lay against the covers, stretching my sense of the dead outward.
I find Trieze, he is in a coffin underground, and the earth is still fresh.
“Why are you in a coffin Trieze?” I ask aloud, there is no answer. And I realize it is because he does not have any of my power in him to animate him.
I close my eyes and send the coolness of my magic to him, pushing it into his soul, binding him back to his body with my will alone.
Trieze sighs as he opens his eyes and speaks aloud, although I hear him through our connection, rather then his spoken words; he is a fair ways away from me.
“I had hoped you would let me pass on.”
“Sorry Trieze, I still need you.”
“I know…. Am I buried underground?”
I smile despite myself. “Yes. You’re in a cemetery.”
“Great. I hate clawing my way up through tons of dirt.”
“That’s okay. It’s still soft and unstettled.”
“Yay.”
“I’m going to nap now. I just got some food, but I couldn’t dispose of the corpse.”
“Why not?”
“I’m chained to the bed.”
“You’re what?”
“Chained to the bed.”
“Wow…. They’re not underestimating you, are they?”
“No… I think the King is just kinky.”
“Right. Have you met him yet?”
“He threatened to kill me when I sent you to help Quatre.”
“See, love at first sight.”
“Shut up… speaking of which… where has Quatre been taken? What happened to him and Zechs?” I ask, suddenly remembering about the other two people of our party.
“I don’t know, I died again-as it were- when you blacked out.”
I shake my head and break the conversation, staring at the only door to the room. I can hear feet stomping outside of the doorway and the door swing open just as I close my eyes and even out my breathing to sleep.
“Grandpa Z?” A familiar cold voice questions. The voice sends a shiver down my spine and I track the booted footfalls across the room as the Rasen King draws near to the chair.
There is silence for a while before the King sighs. “Damn old fool. I told you, you were getting too old for this kind of thing.”
The boots move off again and the King calls for a guard to take the body away. Maybe it’s just me, but he hardly even seems concerned. He is like ice, through to the very core…
I want to stare at him and watch him react to my presence the way everyone does, just to have a reaction.
The guard leaves and shuts the door noisily. I take this as a good cue to begin ‘waking up’. I whimper just slightly and shift my legs a little. The King’s feet move across the floor again and stop next to the bed. I can practically feel his eyes boring holes into my head.
I yawn and slowly begin to open my eyes.
“Whu?” I murmur as drowsily as I can.
“Welcome to the realm of the living, Lyrebird.” The cold voice taunts me.
I roll over, trying not to show my anxiousness to see his face.
The Rasen King is ruggedly handsome. I’d heard as much in taverns, but to come face to face with a walking-talking wet dream is another thing altogether. His eyes are frozen cobalt pools; his hair is a messy chocolate and his muscles show through the clingy cotton tunic and breeches he wears.
I want to jump him, and it’s such an odd desire for me.
“Hi…” I drool out.
“What’s your name?”
“Name… me? Oh, Duo…” my brain is mush; I know it is, because that’s the most intelligent, most coherent sentence I can manage.
“Do you know who I am?”
“A walking dream?” Shit I said that aloud!
“A walkin- are you feeling drowsy?” Confusion riddles itself over his face and I what to kiss it all away.
Pull yourself together Duo! I scold, finally. I’ve never felt so stupid and helpless in my whole life. I don’t need to start now.
“You’re the Rasen King. You’re the one who succeeded your father, and you’ve triumphed where he failed. You’re the only one to catch me since the start of the war.” I word myself carefully, not telling anything of what I know to come.
His lips quirk, as if trying to smile, but his icy demeanor keeps the smile away. A pity. “So you are the prophet, are you? I had thought there was something familiar about you… unusual too, are you an Alasa or a Rasen? I’ve never seen someone with purple eyes.”
“I was the prophet… until he raped me. The thing with powers; they can only be kept under certain circumstances, foretelling the future requires a virgin body. I am neither Alasan nor Rasen. I am not even from this world… master, isn’t it?”
“Call me Heero, Duo.” He says reflexively. He reaches out and I flinch out of habit, but that doesn’t stop him from gently touching my cheek. “My father waged a war to possess you. And all he needed to do was ask, didn’t he?”
“Yes, when I had those powers, I would tell anyone who wanted to know.”
“Did you know your own future?”
“… I still do.”
“Will you tell me?”
“No.”
He looks taken aback and begins to withdraw his hand, I catch his fingers, holding his larger hand in mine, feeling his warmth.
“It’s nothing personal, Heero, but if I tell you… it won’t happen.”
His lips twitch again, and I see a ghost smile before he leans in closer. I think he is going to kiss me and I think I should let him.
“AHHHH!!!”
The scream rips through the air and I jerk back, recognizing the voice instantly. “Quatre!”
~To be continued…
Sweet notes: From now on, we don’t skip years. We’ve finally reached the thick of the plot. Yay! Reviews? Oh! And consider this a desperate cry for a Beta. I need a beta, and when I have someone to send stuff too, I write quicker… so please, if you beta, or know someone who will, By the Goddess, drop me a line!!!