Trowa, Wufei, and Heero watched Duo writhing in the grasp of the vines. The three warriors were torn between conflicting emotions. They wanted to free their comrade from the nymph's clutches, but were unsure what would happen if they interfered with its feeding. Duo could be killed. Unacceptable. The other thing tearing at their minds was their own arousal. The sight of Duo's sweat covered body thrashing in ecstasy, being caressed by the vines, and the sounds he made caused the other men to have some problems with their lower regions.
As Wufei and Trowa decided to ease their suffering, Heero closed his eyes. Perhaps if he thought about the report he was going to make to Queen Relena he could get Duo out of his mind. Focusing, the Asian fighter sent his mind back one year. So much had happened since then.
Relena ruled a peaceful country that had little in the way of defenses; it was surrounded by mountains and they provided most of the protection. However, a frightening rumor had reached her court. According to legend, there had been a time when humans were little more than slaves to the elder races. The story went that humans prayed daily for an ability that would allow them to free themselves. People wanted magic or extra strength. Anything. Finally, the prayers were granted.
People became able to wield magic, but something truly special occurred in a small mountain village. The people there could wield magic more powerful than anything the elder races could come up with and when one villager died, all that he or she knew, all their powers and abilities were passed on to the rest of the surviving members. Those people had become incredibly powerful.
Fortunately for the world, after humans were free, all the villagers returned to their homes; they had no interest in ruling the world or fighting for others, living peacefully was the center of their lives. Over a thousand years passed before anyone heard about them again and then it was only to talk about their death. Dermail, the ruler of a country near Relena's, had teamed up with the elder races and wiped out the village; down to the last child.
Once this was done, Dermail turned his attention to his neighbors. For the first ten years, he moved slowly, conquering one country about every two years; then suddenly, about six years ago, everything changed. Someone with unbelievable magical powers allied with Dermail and kingdom after kingdom fell to him. Now he eyed Relena's throne and her. He actually asked for her hand in marriage. Wisely, the young woman asked for time to think the proposal over. While trying plan, a spy came to he court reporting the whispered rumor that started everything. The rumor stated that Dermail's ally was the last of the legendary people and the evil King sought to force the young Queen to bear his heir.
She summoned her advisors and came up with a plan: Wufei, Trowa, and Heero. The three men would infiltrate Dermail's castle and find his secret weapon. Destroy the person if necessary, bring them back if possible. So it began. Wufei joined the castle guard. A month later, one of the Queen's closest friends, Lord Treize, visited the castle as a merchant; Heero came along as the bodyguard. Three weeks later, Trowa's sister Catherine brought her circus for an extended stay and her brother with it.
What they discovered was nothing like what they expected. It seemed that Dermail had indeed not killed all the villagers. He had spared a single two-year-old child. The elves sealed the boy's power and bound him with a ward that forced him to obey whoever wore a certain talisman; he could not use his powers without a direct order. Worse yet, the child had to obey every order given to him. The boy, Duo, had all the knowledge and power of his people and Dermail forced him to use it to conquer and kill.
The three men found that monstrous enough, but the King's debauchery stretched even farther as Heero discovered. Dermail wanted Heero to work for him and one night the fighter had come back to his room to find a completely naked Duo in his bed. Stunned, the man couldn't react until the naked beauty moved to remove his armor; it was then Heero saw those violet eyes. The eyes were dull like glass.
Breaking away from the slender man, Heero demanded an explanation. In a toneless voice, Duo told him that Dermail wanted the Asian fighter to join his personal guard and thought Duo would make a nice bribe. Anger boiled in the bodyguard's veins and he pushed his 'lover' away, disgusted by Duo and Dermail, which was when he learned why the young man obeyed when commanded.
Duo's face contorted into a mask of agony and he collapsed into a shivering heap. Shocked, Heero had quickly moved to his side. The longhaired man grabbed his would be rescuer in an iron grip and begged to be taken; the frantic prisoner promised anything if Heero'd just end the pain. Unable to think of another way to ease the terrible suffering he saw, he agreed. The reaction was immediate.
Duo's body relaxed and a true smile graced his eyes and lips. Without hesitation, he rose gracefully and moved to the bed, stretching out and waiting to be joined. Thinking fast, Heero walked slowly over to him, asking questions all the way. Everything was answered in that same toneless voice.
If Duo did not do exactly as ordered, he would experience every death wound his people had ever felt; the agony was beyond understanding. He had been ordered to seduce Heero and answer any questions honestly. Over the course of the night, the entire story of Duo's life was revealed and even the details of his life at court.
The King had taken Duo first when he was just seven years old and since that night the young man's bed had never been empty. Dermail passed the young man around to anyone he wanted to bring to his side or impress. The tragedy of Duo's life touched the hardened fighter's heart. Unwilling to let him suffer again, Heero gave in and he turned out to be the most talented lover Heero knew.
Wufei was the next to be visited. Dermail rewarded him for catching a supposed traitor. The former scholar discovered the same things as Heero. Dermail even sent Duo to visit Treize, before the merchant left; maybe to ease the loss of his bodyguard. The advisor reacted by finding the undercover men and ordering them to get the slender beauty out of "this nightmare" by "any means necessary." More than happy to comply, the men went to work.
As if fate conspired to help them, not long after Trowa attracted the King's attention through his performances in the circus and was "invited" to spend a night in "His Majesty's bedchamber." While there, the tall man noticed the talisman around Dermail's neck. It hadn't taken long for the plan to be finalized.
In the end, it had been so very easy to get what they needed. The King tended to get drunk and bodyguard Heero and Captain of the Guard Wufei took him to his chambers and relieved him of certain necklace on the way. Then they killed Duo's guard and met Trowa at the gates. The tall man had already killed the guards there and made sure all the circus people were long gone. With nothing left at the castle, the men took their prize and made for their home.
In retrospect, Heero knew he should have killed Dermail when the opportunity arose, but that went against everything Relena stood for and she would never have forgiven him. The man had sent everything he had to capture them. Day after day became a fight for survival. None of them knew how to activate the talisman and that left the best weapon unusable. Finally, they had been cornered outside a well known haunted forest. People went in, but did not come out. Ever.
With soldiers breathing down their necks, the four men tried to lose them in the forest. This was where they'd run into the nymph. It had taken their clothes, weapons, and most importantly, the talisman. There was no telling if they could find it again.
A soft sound caused Heero to open his eyes and return to the present. The vines were lowering an unconscious Duo to the ground. Wufei and Trowa quickly surrounded the still figure as the blond creature turned to its captives. It smiled sweetly and spread its arms wide.
Thousands of vines suddenly sprang from the ground. Before anyone could react, Duo was torn away from the fighters and they were wrapped in a quivering mass of green. In seconds, they vines were so tight none of the three men could move. With grim expressions, they waited to see what was going to happen next.
End Part 6
Poor Duo. To have such an unhappy childhood and yet still grow up to be such a giving person. He must be quite remarkable, as we will find out on the next tour.
Phoenix
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