Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Shadow Lands ❯ Chapter Eleven ( Chapter 11 )

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Chapter Eleven

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"How many are there?" Milliardo asked as two of his men came in sight. They had been traveling for over five days since the River Guardian incident. They had finally come to a stop at two forks in the road and had spent the last two hours finally resting. They had stopped some, only for a hour before they had to make haste again.

One of the men dismounted, his name was Yale.

"Nine men, one woman," he said. Sweat caused his short blonde bangs to stick to his forehead.

"Jia…" Lily whispered to Solo as they watched the conversation grow. Yale approached them, pulling them up to their feet.

"We'll divide into two," Milliardo told them. "One group will take the right fork, the other left." Yale cut Lily's bindings, throwing the rope to the ground, the same as Solo's.

"Both path's leave to the mountains. The right is more typical, while the left, no man has ever come out alive, but it would be more dangerous," Milliardo said as he took of Lily's cloak and Yale took off Solo's. Two lithe men that were known as Kale and Jof put the cloaks on as their hands were rebound.

"That's suicide," Solo began, "That path leads strait towards the caves."

"That," Milliardo replied, "must be a risk we take."

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"They're just ahead," Duo said as he and Heero had returned. They had caught up with Milliardo and his men. "We'll have to ambush them, there's only six men and then Lillian and Solo."

"You three," Heero said to Jia, Jin, and Akeem. "Stay here, it'd be too dangerous and we don't know if they have others hidden." They nodded.

Heero, Quatre, Trowa, Duo, Rasid, and two of the Maganacs drew their swords as they crept over the hills and into the forests of surrounding Milliardo's campsite.

"Kill none," Heero mouthed to them. He held up three fingers…two…one…

The men of the campsite were ready. The minute Heero and the others had charged out from the grove of trees, they had their weapons drawn, prepared to fight.

Heero dodged a blade as it came clashing down on his right side, thrusting his own sword at the man's thigh. The man fell with a scream, clutching his side as it bleed. Another man charged, their blades met. Heero disconnected his blade, quickly slashing the man's arm off as the man charged again.

"Heero," Duo called. Heero turned, the rest of Milliardo's men were on the ground, bleeding from their injuries. Duo pulled the hood back of the wearer. Heero had expected to see Lily, but instead a black haired man smiled back at him. Duo held his dagger up to the man's throat, Rasid did the same to the man that wore Solo's cloak.

"Where are they?" Heero asked. The man smiled more.

"Fee Fi Fo Fum," the man taunted. Heero's eyes widened.

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"Where's that sound coming from?" Lily heard one man ask. An odd, high pitched noise floated through the air. It continued, coming closer and closer. Solo recognized the sound as coming from a pan pipe.

Milliardo and a few of his men had began to dismount from their horses. The horses reared back, bucking Lily, Solo, and a few others off of their horses. The ground began to shake as the horses galloped away. A great shadow began to fall upon the ground. Lily looked up and was about to scream before Solo covered her mouth quickly.

Standing at least thirty feet high was a small boy. Small wouldn't be the word often described for he stood taller than the cave's mouth. He appeared to be at least eight years old. His gray skin looked rough and rocky. Moss green hair fell in front of his chubby face, his eyebrows furrowed in concretion as he peered down at the company.

"Wha 'ave we gots 'ere?" The giant asked as he jabbed a fat finger at Milliardo. Milliardo dodged him as he drew his sword and slashed at the finger. A small gash appeared on his finger, red blood oozing. The giant gave a low rumbling howl as he clenched his finger.

He began to stomp his feet. The company began to scatter as his boulder like feet shook the ground as he brought his right foot down. Big tears began to fall from his eyes, splashing the company. After much dodging, the giant had finally calmed down.

His large brown eyes peered at the company as they sought shelter between rocks. Soon a stubby hand grabbed on of Milliardo's men. The man gave a terrified shriek as he was lifted high into the air. The giant opened his mouth to reveal yellowing fangs. The giant sniffed the man. After much consideration, the giant opened his mouth again and dropped the man in. The sounds of bones being crushed were heard. The hand shot out again, this time grabbing three of the men. Once again the giant boy ate them, smiling at each satisfying crunch and whipping the blood that spilt from his mouth with a treelike hand.

The hand came sweeping down upon them, grabbing them all in one sweep.

"Me like," the boy's husky like voice rang as he dropped the rest of them into a buttoned pocket in the side of his brown trousers. The company, now consisting of Milliardo, Lily, Solo, and three others knocked into each other as the giant took long strides into the mouth of the cave.

"Mommy! Mommy!" they heard the boy call from the pocket.

"What is it, dear?" an equally husky, but clearly female voice said. The gray hand was stuck back inside his pocket, pulling the six of them out and dropping them on top of a large round table.

"Look!" the boy said. They got a glimpse of 'Mommy'. She stood much taller than her son. She had murky green skin that clashed against her gray hair that was tied high in a bun. She had yellowing fangs that had been chipped in various places. Her brown eyes widened as she looked at them.

"Where did you find them, Sunbow?" She asked.

"Outside the cave's door. They all waitin' there fer me," Sunbow smiled showing his fangs. "Can me keep 'em?"

"I don't know dear," the Mother said, eyeing their weapons. The son sat down at in a chair and began prodding them with his finger.

"Please, ma'am," Milliardo called to the Mother, avoiding another prodding finger. "We ask for passage through your lovely home." The mother looked at him with her large eyes.

"And what will ye do fer us?" the mother asked. A small thumping noise came from the right of them. A girl, probably not older than Sunbow came strolling through the doors. She looked a lot like the mother, expect that her long hair was brown. She walked closer to the table, eyeing them with her soft brown eyes. Her eyes fell upon Lily as Solo helped her stand after she had fallen from being prodded by Sunbow's offending finger.

"A pixie!" she squealed with delight as she grabbed Lily off the table. Lily felt like her head was about to snap off her shoulders as the girl shook her. Finally the girl had stopped shaking Lily and placed her in the palm of her hand. Lily stood no bigger than her middle finger.

"Do some magic!" The girl commanded. The mother clapped excitedly.

"Oh, yes! Let us see it," the mother said as she sat down.

"Milady, what about our passage?" Milliardo asked as he stood. Sundown had finally stopped fingering them and was glaring at the girl.

"Let us see some magic and we'll let yer through," the mother replied. "Go on Sunflower, make the pixie do some magic."

The girl, Sunflower, smiled at Lily.

"Come on pixie, do something."

"I'm not a pixie," Lily replied as she braced herself to prevent from falling as the girl moved her hand.

"Of course you are!" The girl seemed excited as she held Lily too her face. "You look jus like 'em."

"To your eyes," Milliardo explained, "We look just like them. But we're much taller than them." Sunflower glared at Milliardo.

"She is too a pixie! She looks jus like 'em!"

"I think she's purdy ugly," Sunbow grumbled. Sunflower turned her glare to him.

"Who asked yeah Bow?" Sunflower replied.

"Look at it! Its gots no meat!" He jabbed his finger at Lily, knocking her over. Sunflower held Lily close to her chest offensively as she and Sunbow bickered.

"Children! Children!" The mother cried. "If yer two ain't quite I'm takin' the pixie and her friends and hidin' 'em." The fighting stopped. "No let the pixie do her magic."

Eight pairs of eyes fell upon Lily as she stood on Sunflower's open palm. Lily looked at the three giants, wondering what they could possibly enjoy. Thinking quick, Lily produced a small glowing orb between her fingers. She allowed the magic to grow brighter and brighter before releasing it. The blue orb began to shift lights soon growing into a monarch butterfly that flew around Sunflower. The butterfly began to shift shapes as it moved from Sunflower to flutter around the mother. The butterfly now was a floating pink rose as it drifted around the mother's head and began to shift its shape for the Sunbow. The rose was soon replaced by a bat and began to flutter around Sunbow's head, avoiding the boy's grabbing hands. Soon the bat began to glow into the eerie blue orb it was before and came back into Lily's waiting hands, dissolving with a small pop.

"Now that milady has seen magic," Milliardo called to the clapping mother. "Will ye grant us passage?" The mother peered at Milliardo with a look of wonder, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"Oh, no," the Mother began, "I have other plans that require magic." With a great sweeping hand, she had gathered the five men and Lily into her hands and dropped them in a bucket. The small light shone through the top of the bucket as the three giants looked at down at them, each of their yellowing fangs showing.

"Good night me dears," the mother called as she and her children disappeared.

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Hours had passed by as they waited for the giants to return, but none ever did. The cave had been quiet for quite some time now. The dim flickering of candles hanging from the walls provided just enough light to see each other. Milliardo had taken a hook from his belt and had attached it to a rope hanging from one man's belt, creating a grappling hook. Milliardo through the hook over the edge of the bucket, testing the rope when the hook had got caught on something and began to scale the side of the bucket.

Soon all six of them had made it outside the bucket. Walking to the edge of the table they could see that the craftsman had designed the table's legs to spiral downward…creating the perfect slide. One-by-one they had slid down the table leg. The cavern loomed over their heads as they walked silently through the cavern, weaving in and out of cracks in the wall.

The continued down a dark passage where the faint glow of the dawning light could be seen, lighting up the oozing walls. Milliardo instructed one man to go through the opening first. The other two men followed, then Solo, and Milliardo. As Lily crawled up the rocky steps and came out into the dawning sky, Milliardo hastily grabbed her, a dagger to her throat.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't manhandle my daughter," Heero replied calmly. Arrows from seven different people were aimed at Milliardo and his company. The nine horses were gathered around on a steep cliff. Rocky steps led downwards from the right to the plains below, while on the left was a steep drop off with nothing but dense less forests to shelter you from a nasty fall.

"You're surrounded Zechs," Duo began as he dismounted. "Give it up."

Milliardo smiled, "I think not. Say goodbye, Heero." It was faster than anyone could process: Milliardo threw Lily over the left side of the cliff, grabbing Solo in the process. A bright flash of light and smoke soon cleared to see Milliardo and Solo gone, leaving his men there. In an act of bravery, Duo quickly jumped over the edge of the cliff, bat like wings sprouting from his back…