Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Coach Theif ❯ Chapter 1

Cosmos: Heh…. Ok I hope everyone out there likes this! Please send me feedback! I need feedback!! I don't know if I should continue writing it…

Coach Thief

The sun was shining brightly as the royal coach turned down a path as it continued its journey through the forest. The birds we're out and the wind was whistling. All the action of the forest was being watched from the coach as a head stuck out the window.

Its owner took a deep breath of the fresh air and sighed. He looked around the surroundings of this magnificent forest. The trees grew big here; they almost seemed 50 feet high. Animals ran freely through the forest, playing with each other while silently keeping an eye on the coach as it rolled past them. It was nearly 3 years since the passenger in the coach had traveled this way.

The journey he was on was going to take a couple days but it was worth it to him. The trip wasn't business related; no this was for personal time. He brought his head back inside the coach and rested it on the back of the seat.

The man was on his way to a far away kingdom, one ruled under the sword of a powerful King, his distant cousin. Affairs have kept the two men from seeing each other often and they were often glad to get a moment or two when they had the time to see each other.

Suddenly the man blinked in surprise. A bird like creature flew right in one of the windows, past his head and out the other window. Or at least what looked like a bird. Indeed the thing did have the shape of a bird, but it was much more elegant… and beautiful. It was a bright red-orange colour and the wings seemed to be on fire. On fire? He knew at the moment, the creature was a phoenix.

`If a phoenix lived in these woods, then a magical force must guard it,' the man thought. Of course he expected never to find out what protected the forest, magic beings were hard to find since magic had been outlawed some 100 years ago. Result in being accused and found guilty of magic was instant death. Everyone was afraid of what they didn't understand.

There are clans and groups of people, who still hold the tradition of magic alive today, but those clans and groups were soon growing thinner and magic seemed to be inexistent. To be traveling through a forest where a known magic guardian was present is a rare thing but to see one of their creatures was even more unique.

There was however no point in mentioning this to anyone, either they wouldn't believe him or they would and come to destroy this being… and probably the whole forest while they're at it. It was just better to keep it a secret. Besides, he had nothing against those who used magic; in fact he thought it was a very moronic law to be in place. If it weren't for his Uncle ruling over most of the kingdom and his cousins actions too, he was sure the law wouldn't be there.

Before his own Father had died, he was on the verge of disposing of the law, but after his Fathers death, his Uncle took over the two kingdoms under his Fathers command. His Father had originally been ruling over one of his kingdoms while his most trusted friend and master of guard was ruling over the other one, under the Kings command. The kingdoms were beautiful places back then. There was freedom, rights and love. The citizens weren't afraid of what was outside of the kingdom's boundaries nor were they afraid of the inside. Everyone was treated with equal rights and they lived there happily. But upon the fall of their king, the King's brother Dermil took over and his reign of terror commenced.

First there was issued a tax, for anyone who lived within the kingdoms boundaries. Most of the people had the hardest time coming up with that money and when they did, there wasn't much left over for their families. Fields became unused for farmers didn't have enough money to buy any equipment that they may have needed. Shops were being broken into and were often stolen from. The once peaceful kingdom had turned into an uproar of violence and hate. No one wanted to go anywhere, they were too afraid to leave their homes.

Things at the other kingdom were no better. King Dermil had charged the late King's trusted friend with murder and treason, accusing him of working with one of the outside enemy kingdoms. The man fearing, for his life and the life of his growing family, took his wife and child and fled, they were never heard of and the death of the King went as a mystery to everyone.

King Dermil put his son in charge of the other kingdom, but he was never really in charge. King Dermil kept a watchful eye over his son and nothing ever happened without him knowing.

The only thing that didn't seem to fall into the gloom state that the rest of the kingdom had was the Palaces. They stood big and proud. The gardens were kept nice and clean, the windows washed and the inhabitants always appeared happy and gleeful. It was set up as one big play. Everyone was an actor and they did their part to make their director, in this case King Dermil, happy.

The late King's son just had to get away. He decided that maybe a visit to his cousin might be a good idea. Though his cousin was his Father's son and under his control, they were two different people.

The man jolted as the coach halted suddenly. He heard the horses squeal in displeasure and he wondered what was going on. Making a quick glance outside, he soon realized that the coach was far off the road. In fact, the road was not even visible.

//What is going on here? // He thought to himself.

He listened intently to the sounds that were being made on the outside, there seemed to be a fight going on. He reached over and opened the window. He was just about to ask what the hold up was when he heard a scream pierce the air. He looked out in time to see a knife enter the chest of one of the two coach drivers. He lowered his eyebrows in annoyance.

//Not now // He thought. He silently stood up and headed for the door. He heard voices on the other side.

"Are they dead?" One voice whispered.

"Yes, ugh, why didn't they just give up?" A defiant female voice asked quietly.

"They're idiots, come on let's get this over with and head back to camp," Said the first voice.

The door handle started to squeak as someone on the other side turned it. The man inside the coach hid off to the side, waiting for whoever it was to open the door. The coach door came swinging open and in stepped a woman with short black hair.

"Hey Duo, I don't see nobody in here, maybe..." That was as far as she got as the man reached his arm forward grabbed the back of her shirt and threw her into the back of the coach. Her head hit the wall with a loud crash. Hilde stayed prone for a moment as an ache in her head started to pound. She didn't have a chance to regain her composure as a pair of rough hands yanked her back up into a standing position. The pain filled her head and she shut her eyes against the intruding headache. She didn't even notice as the man reached over her and took her dagger.

"Hilde!" The boy named Duo exclaimed as he came up to the coach's door, having heard the loud bang. He stepped inside the coach only to be roughly pushed back outside.

The man stepped out of the coach, with Hilde held tightly in his grasp. Dou snarled at the man and quickly lunged at him. Fortunately, the man was faster and moved out of the way. Duo made a couple more unsuccessful dodges until the man grew extremely bored. He pushed Hilde against the coach's side and held her there with his body he then took Hilde's dagger and held it to her throat.

Duo grew wide-eyed. It was impossible to catch this man and now he was about to kill Hilde. "No Hilde! STOP! Please don't kill her!" Duo shouted frantically as he dropped his fighting position and looked intensely at the man and his dragger.

"Hn" the man asked. "I don't see any reason why I shouldn't." The man's voice was calm and cold.

The man lightly sliced Hilde's throat, not enough to cause deadly harm but enough to draw blood. "What do you know about horses?" The man asked.

"A little, oh god, why?" Yelled Duo.

"You killed my horsemen, I need to get somewhere, I'll trade her, for you," The man said calmly.

Normally Duo would not take up such an offer, even if he was powerless against the other person but with Hilde's life at stake, he couldn't take any chances. "Ok, alright anything just let her go!" Duo whined.

"Do we have a deal?" Asked the man.

"YES!" Duo said. Heero let Hilde go, who fell to the ground, one hand grasping her neck.

Duo quickly ran to her side only to be grabbed by the man as he pulled Duo up to the front of the coach. The man reached to the side where there hung some chains, and placed one on Duo's right ankle.

Duo started to open his mouth but was cut off by the man.

"Go," Was the only word spoken as the man sat down. Duo gave one last look to make sure Hilde was all right then clicked the reins for the horses to go. The horses took off down the road in a gallop.

Hilde sat up holding her throat as she watched the coach drive away.

"Shit," She whispered followed by some more colourful swears. "Duo..." She stood up and placed her hood of her shirt over her head and headed towards the two dead bodies of the horsemen.

"Don't worry Duo, we'll get you back," She said as she found a map in one of the horsemen's pocket. Circled on it was the Barton Kingdom. She pocketed the map and the few gold coins they had and hurried off back to camp.



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