Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Cynehelme ❯ Chapter 18 ( Chapter 18 )

Cynehelme

by kmf

Rating: PG13

Warnings: AU

Disclaimer: I do not own GW or any of its original characters. However, I do own this plot ^^

Chapter Eighteen

Relena saw surprise and fear appear simultaneously on the faces of Sally and Noin when she told them what she wanted to do. She smiled a little; who could blame them for thinking that she was mad. Sally had only just escaped from Treize's camp and here Relena was expressing a desire to go to it and offer herself to Treize.

Sally was the first to recover. "What on God's earth are you thinking?" she demanded, reaching out and shaking Relena by the arms. Relena made no effort to resist the nun's protests, even though her fingers pressed tightly and she knew that she would have a bruise to show from it. She knew that Sally was reacting out of concern for her wellbeing and would never normally hurt her.

Dorothy had thrown herself across Heero's bed, her arms stretched out either side of herself, her eyes closed in the bliss of feeling a comfortable bed beneath her body once again. "She is thinking that she might prevent this war," Dorothy said, cracking open one eye to peer at Relena. "Am I correct?"

Relena sighed and nodded, gently touching Sally's hands to remind her that she had not relinquished her grip. Sally flushed a little and let her go, instead she began to pace in her agitation.

"You are mad!" she said, "King Odin will not let you go, not after he has gone to all this effort of gaining you."

"Hence her needing my help," Dorothy smirked, closing her eyes once again. In doing so, she missed the icy glare that Sally tossed her way.

Relena held her hands up trying to placate Sally. "He might not wish me to go to Treize, but he has already told me he will do what benefits Mercia the most. If I go to Treize then Treize will no longer have the need to attack Mercia. There will be no war, no needless loss of life. Lindsay will benefit and Mercia will benefit," she paused seeing that Sally was not moved by her reasoning. Relena bowed her head, "Sally, I cannot live with the thought that people died because of me. I cannot stand to think of the loss of life, the women who will lose husbands, brothers and sons, the children who will lose fathers. The families who will starve because they no longer have a man to provide for them," she felt tears well up in her eyes and she furiously tried to blink them away, "I cannot allow that to happen."

She looked up to see that Sally had stopped pacing and was staring at her with a look of resignation on her face. Noin, however, was looking at her with an expression of horror.

"You cant give yourself to Treize!" the maid exclaimed, holding her son close to her, "He killed your father!"

Dorothy pushed herself up off the bed and stared at Noin suspiciously, her hand travelling down to the hilt of her sword. "And who are you to stop her?" she asked threateningly.

Noin ignored the blatant threat and instead continued to plead with Relena, rocking her son as the baby began to cry at the raised harsh voice his mother was using.

"Do you think that this is what your father would want? And what of your brother? Do you think that he would tolerate you prostituting yourself to Treize? To his killer?"

Relena felt her face go white at the words the maid was throwing at her. She shook her head. "It is difficult for me to know what my father and brother would have wished, I never really knew them," she said sadly. "But, I believe that both of them would prefer that there was a peaceful ending to this rather than a war." Noin shook her head, seemingly on the verge of saying something else, but Relena walked to her and put a comforting arm around her. "My choices are limited. Stay here and marry Mercia and watch as the Mercian people are thrown into war, or go to Treize and give him the stability that he needs to take over the High King's throne with no more bloodshed," she sighed and shook her head, "There really is no choice. I must take the opportunity that Dorothy gives me."

"It would have been much easier if you had come with me in the first place," Dorothy said, relaxing once again and stretching her hands high above her head, "but I suppose you had to get over your little infatuation with Heero."

Relena could not help but flush at her words. If she had agreed to go with Dorothy, it was true she would not have placed the Mercian people in the situation that they were now facing. But she had been confused and frightened. And she had, did, feel an attraction to Heero. But since meeting Odin just minutes before she had felt her confusion melt away. His parting words had struck a cord with her.

"I will do what is best for Mercia," he had said. Those were the words of a man who cared for his people. The words of a man who would put his own desires, needs and wants aside to do what was right for the population who called him King.

Exactly what Relena had to do for her people. It was what her father would have expected her to do and what felt right.

She wondered absently if Heero would understand. He, unlike her, had been groomed for Kingship from his birthing day. He had already shown her that he was willing to sacrifice everything for his King and country, and that included her.

She turned to Dorothy once again. "Can you take me to Treize?" she asked

Dorothy made a show of considering before answering. "It will be difficult to get you out, but not impossible. It is just a matter of choosing the time when the gates will be least guarded," she nodded pointedly towards Noin and Sally. "But I will not say more until I am sure we will not be betrayed."

Sally huffed a little and put her hands on her hips. "I don't trust you Dorothy Catalonia. I will not allow Relena to go alone with you," she turned to Relena, her annoyance still plain on her face. "However, I will travel with you if you are sure this is what you want."

Relena nodded and turned to Noin, who looked at her sternly. "If King Odin had relinquished his claim on you in favour of Heero; would you feel the same?"

Again, Noin asked her difficult questions. Relena felt her cheeks flush as she considered the answer. If she admitted the truth to herself, then the answer would probably be no. She could not deny that she found Heero attractive, mesmerising and strong. She could imagine herself happily marrying him whilst the idea of a union with Odin filled her with an uncomfortable dread.

But no, even if the idea was extremely tempting and brought a glow to her cheeks, she knew that she would still choose to try and end this war rather than be with him. Relena shook her head. She looked up and caught Noin's eyes and nodded firmly. "Yes," she answered

Noin stared at her for a moment, then sighed in resignation. "I will not stop you," she whispered. "But I wish to go with you too."

Dorothy snorted. "Out of the question," she answered, "We will need to travel hard and fast, the child would slow us down."

Noin glanced down at her child. "We will keep up and if we don't you can leave us behind," she declared before looking stonily back at Dorothy. "If you attempt to leave this stronghold without us, I will go directly to the King and tell him what you are doing."

She stood determined and Relena could not help but feel surprise at the maid's sudden change of demeanour. She looked tall and regal and even Dorothy blinked in surprise and reluctantly nodded.

"You have my word," Dorothy said before moving to the door and peeking out. Seeing that the corridor was empty, she slipped through murmuring as she went. "Be ready to move. I will not be able to give you much notice."

And then she was gone.

Relena watched Noin close the door behind Dorothy and sat down abruptly on the floor feeling overwhelmed by the decision she had made. Sally knelt beside her and put her arm around her in a quick gesture of comfort before pulling away.

"We will talk later," she promised, "but for now I feel the need to pray. I suspect that we are going to need all the help that we can get."

Relena watched her leave the room feeling gratitude and love towards the nun. Sensing eyes still upon her she turned to see that Noin was looking at her, determination still etched across her face.

"Why would you put yourself and your child at risk?" Relena asked, watching the maid closely.

Noin half smiled and looked down at her child, her face wistful. "Because of a promise," she whispered, then she looked up at Relena and smiled broadly. "Do not worry. My son is strong enough to endure this undertaking. After all, he does take after his father."

* * * * *

Heero stood outside the door to his chamber and felt his anger rise to new levels. In frustration he slammed his fist into the wall causing little cracks to appear in the plaster. He pulled his fist away and ignored the blood that welled up from his knuckles.

"Temper..."

Heero turned to Duo and glared at him. His foster brother was not helping his mood at all. His overwhelming cheerfulness at having placated Hilde made Heero's situation seem worse.

It had been days since Heero had been allowed to see Relena. And to his surprise, he missed her. A lot. Odin had been firm when they bathed together after he had found Heero and Relena together alone in Heero's chamber; Heero was not to have contact with her alone again until after the outcome of the war was decided.

Nor was Odin prepared to say whether he or Heero would marry her. That too would be decided after the war. Odin had been particularly serious about this; if Relena wed either of them and Mercia lost to Treize, then any child's life that Relena happened to conceive would be forfeit. Treize would kill it on its birthing day and then force Relena to have his children.

Heero had to agree with his father on this point; he would not risk Relena having something as horrible as that happen to her. And so, in effect, Relena's marriage was still open. Heero had been both pleased and disappointed by this. Odin had not said that he would not have her and Heero could not go against his King and his father even if he wanted too.

But it seemed that Odin considered Heero a rival for the girl's hand and Heero was sure he was working hard to push Relena away from Heero. Whilst Odin visited Relena frequently and was seemingly happily received, Heero's visits were politely refused. Every time. And Odin seemed to take great pleasure in the fact, questioning Heero every day as to whether he had managed to see the fair princess and laughing loudly when the answer was negative.

There was no doubt that Odin was treating this as a competition and that Heero was losing.

Badly.

Duo grinned at Heero and slapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, Heero," he said moving away from the door. "Standing here all day is not going to change her mind about seeing you, nor is attacking solid walls with your bare hands."

Heero glanced down at his knuckles that had begun to sting. He nodded and followed Duo to the feasting hall and out into the courtyard beyond.

A thaw had set in, the snow melting away to reveal early spring blooms; snowdrops, narcissi and primroses together with the first signs of bluebells showed that warmer weather was on its way. Normally Heero would welcome this sign, but this year it filled him with foreboding. Treize was certain to take advantage of the weather and make his first moves towards them.

In the courtyard his warband practised with swords, paring off with one another and fighting in earnest. The only thing that kept a warrior from a swift death in war was practice and lots of it. None of the men held back, thrusting swords and parrying, their faces sweating with effort and grunts filling the air.

"I would ask you to fight me, but I think that given the mood you have been in lately you would like as not kill me before you realised it," Duo chuckled a little at Heero's deepening scowl.

"Why won't she see me?" Heero asked, his eyes on Trowa who was fighting with two short swords, one in each hand, using them crossed over one another to block a vicious downward sweep on his opponents blade.

Duo shrugged. "The way I see it is that the refusing is a good thing," he said.

Heero raised an eyebrow at this. "A good thing..." he repeated, "I would hate to know what in your opinion a bad thing is."

Duo smirked, "Relena is obviously trying to stay away from you because you are a temptation to her," he nodded as if agreeing with himself, "She is an innocent thing, raised in a convent. What she feels probably confuses her when she is in your presence. And she is probably comfortable around the King because she doesn't feel any attraction," again he nodded. "That is a good thing."

Heero frowned, not so sure. Relena had been happy enough in his company prior to Odin arriving. But then again Odin's arrival had coincided with Heero holding her all night in his bed and being a little more open in his regard of her. Heero's frown deepened. Perhaps he had scared her off by being so bold, but she had seemed happy enough about it at the time.

"Heero.."

Quatre touched him on his shoulder stirring him from his thoughts and he blinked a couple of times trying to clear the image of Relena lying vulnerable on his bed.

"The King bids me tell you that you and your men need to get ready for a foray," Quatre spoke softly, his eyes serious. "A scout has returned with word of a raiding party near by."

Heero became alert and nodded to Duo, who went down into the courtyard holding his hands up to signal the end of practice. Heero watched for a moment as Duo started to tell them of the news and was satisfied to see the spark of excitement and anticipation run through his men as they sheathed their weapons and listened to Duo.

Quatre had already turned and was heading up the steps to the hall, and Heero quickly followed. They walked swiftly into the hall where Odin waited standing by the open fire. Quatre bowed to his King, then stood by his side facing Heero who also bowed in a show of respect. Around the hall small groups of servants stood in huddles whispering amongst themselves. Already the news was spreading among the people.

Odin looked grim. "It has started," he announced loudly, "Treize has made his first move against us, testing our scouting capabilities and our defences. However, he will soon learn that Mercia is populated by brave warriors and strong people and he will rue the day he ever marched into our lands."

The people in the hall murmured at the King's words, buoyed by his positiveness. Odin seeing that his small pretty speech to reassure the people had been successful walked forward and put his arm around Heero, leading him into a quiet corner where he spoke in quieter tones that could be heard by only Heero and Quatre.

"How large is the force?" Heero questioned.

"According to the scout, only about fifty men. Their flags declare them to be Treize's men, but the scout could see no sign of Treize himself." Odin replied.

"A distraction?" Quatre asked frowning, "Is he planning to attack on a different front when we go after this force?"

Odin shook his head. "It is possible, but unlikely. No other signs of troops have been sighted. I believe he is just testing the water. Seeing how we fight, how quickly we respond," he turned to Heero. "Win this first battle swiftly and it will give the men courage for what is to come."

Heero nodded his agreement as Odin pointed out on the map where the invaders had been sighted. As he turned to go, Odin grasped him by the shoulders.

"Be safe, my son," he said, pulling him into a stiff embrace.

* * * * *

Quatre watched Heero bow towards his father, before he swiftly left the hall to check on the progress the men were making towards getting ready. Heero had exuded discomfort at his father's embrace; neither man was usually demonstrative towards each other.

Although battle had been expected, its abruptness had startled them all. Quatre knew that not all who left the stronghold this morning would return; it was inevitable that there would be some fatalities. Such were the demands of war. It would be Quatre's job to help the bereaved through the coming days and it was not a job that he looked forward to. The emotions that flowed from a bereaved person were often so overwhelming that it made Quatre nearly ill from the sensation. His gift of sensing emotions could be a heavy burden at times; although at other times it gave him great joy.

Catherine bustled through the hall, sparing a glance and a smile at the druid. She had, like all the others, heard the news and was busy watching over her staff. Her face hid her pulsating worry very well, if Quatre had not had his gift he would never have known just how much she was fretting.

Moving towards her, he placed a hand on her shoulder as she worked and poured in comfort and reassurance to calm her mind. She paused in her work, then raised a hand to his and patted it gently. "I am fine, Druid," she assured him, gently pulling his hand away, "Go help those in greater need."

He smiled watching her move away heading with purpose to the courtyard where she was, no doubt, seeking out her brother so recently returned and so soon to be off again. Quatre sighed and said a little silent prayer to keep Trowa safe for Catherine's sake before turning and looking around the hall again.

Quatre had looked for Dorothy several times since their meeting in the kitchen a few nights before, but she had gone to ground and he had not been able to find any sign of her. He felt slight guilt that he had still not disclosed to Heero that she was about but felt that Relena was well protected within the stronghold; Dorothy had little chance of removing someone who was unwilling.

Pausing, Quatre felt an element of disquiet wash over him and he frowned, his eyes peering around the gloominess of the hall trying to pin down the elusive oppression that had suddenly overtaken him. A hand on his shoulder bought him back with a start. Rashid looked at him with concern.

"Master, the warband is waiting for your blessing," Rashid's deep voice said in his peculiarly calming manner.

Quatre nodded, allowing himself one final search for a fair-haired boy hiding within the hall, before following his servant out into the bright courtyard.

* * * * *

Dorothy moved swiftly towards Heero's chamber, her hair greased with tallow so that it was dark and stuck to her scalp in a manner that made her shudder with disgust. The lengths to which she had to go to achieve her goal were trying even her resolve; much more and she would seriously have to consider renegotiating the reward that Treize had promised her. When she had agreed to terms she had never considered that she would have to pretend to be a servant or debase herself by smearing old fat in her once glorious hair.

It was the Druids fault. She had been finding it increasingly difficult of late to evade the Druid's keen eyes, he seemed to have a sixth sense of when she was near and would always stop what he was doing and peer around trying to seek her out. She was certain that he had an inkling as to who she was and was more than a little curious as to why he had not raised the alarm with Heero. And now that the first day of battle had arrived she certainly did not want Quatre seeing her and taking the precaution of restraining her; a tactic that if their positions were reversed she would have done immediately.

Her disguise appeared to work today for the druid had not spotted her as she casually walked from one end of the hall to the other, blending in with the other servants and appearing to be part of the organised chaos. Which was just as well, for if he had detected her and raised an alarm she was not sure that she would have been able to evade capture. That would have been a tragedy for she would have missed witnessing the first stages of the war between Mercia and Lindsey.

Dorothy grinned and she jogged along. War. What a beautiful word!

Arriving at Heero's door, she knocked once lightly before entering, her eyes darting around to make sure that there were no strangers within the room. Relena sat at one end, her face pale as she stared at Dorothy. She stood slowly her fists catching the material of her dress. Dorothy grinned as she observed Sally come to stand protectively beside her charge, while the servant Noin remained by the fire holding her baby to her breast.

"Are you ready to leave?" Dorothy asked casually, leaning against the door, her arms crossed.

"Now?" Sally asked, "Already?"

Dorothy nodded, impatient at the nun. The only person who was important in the room was Relena, but she seemed to be willing to let the nun talk for her. "The time is right now. The warband is leaving to answer an attack from Treize, most of the fighting men will be gone. We will leave under the pretext of servants being sent to find medicinal herbs, a common enough practice in times of war."

Sally frowned and turned to Relena. "Are you sure that this is what you wish to do?" she asked, grasping hold of her hands and shaking them a little.

Relena's eyes closed and for a moment Dorothy thought that she was going to faint, her face was so pale. But when she opened her eyes her expression was one of sadness mixed with determination. "I wanted there to be no battles," she said clearly.

Dorothy raised an eyebrow. "And just how did you think you would get out of the stronghold with Heero here?" her mouth twitched with irritation, "That man seems to have an inherent sense as to your location, it would be impossible to remove you without him knowing. But with him gone, we should be able to leave easily."

As she said the words, Dorothy felt jealousy well up within her wondering how it would feel to be regarded by Heero as he regarded Relena. As soon as she thought it, Dorothy frowned. Heero was her enemy and she had no greater wish other than to see him grovel at her feet for what he did to herself and to her grandfather. She turned back to the door.

"I will secure a plain cloak for Relena. You other two; if you are coming will have to fend for yourselves. We will leave as soon as the warband has departed. I suggest that you dress yourselves in several layers of clothes; it is cold outside and we will be unable to take much with us lest we raise suspicions."

Dorothy paused by the door waiting for any objection or comments, but none came. She turned to glance over her shoulder at Relena who still stood perfectly still and straight.

"And if we are lucky, Miss Relena, we might even catch site of the battle itself. I would love to instruct you in the joys of an honourable fight," she said, pulling her mouth into a grin.

TBC