A Small Piece of Heaven

Heaven 11





Thanks to all of those rewieving my story.
A Small Piece of Heaven - Part 11
Early October –AC194

Treize and Milliardo had been outdoors most of the day, inspecting the fencing of the
pasture in the north of the estate that the ex-colonel was planning on using next.
"You are becoming quite the ranch-hand," the ginger-blond
man teased his young slave.
"As long as you don’t make me clean the stables, I have no
problem with that," the blond answered.
Once again the two men spurred their horses on to check the next
section of the fence, when Milliardo’s mount suddenly bucked, almost throwing its
rider out of the saddle. Something, probably a wild animal, must have startled the steed.
"What was that?"
The longhaired blond dismounted, handing his reins to his master, as
he went to investigate.
"Careful, Milliardo," Treize warned, reaching for the
rifle. He knew that occasionally, usually during the wintertime, lynxes and even lone
wolfs made their way down from the mount in in search for easy prey.
The younger man nodded in acknowledgement as he carefully approached
the brush. Suddenly his eyes widened in surprise, a gasp escaping his lips.
"Master, take a look at this."
The ex-colonel dismounted tethering their horses to a tree before he
stepped closer to see what the blond had discovered. He wasn’t prepared to find
something human. A young man, no a boy – he could be barely older than 14 or maybe 15
years at the most. His features were distinctively oriental; his skin had a golden tan to
it. Dark, slightly slanted eyes were wide and filled with a mixture of fear and defiance.
Despite the low temperatures the boy was dressed only in a pair of thin trousers and a
shirt. On his right upper arm the sleeve was soaked with dried blood. His teeth were
chattering as his body trembled from cold, blood loss and exhaustion. He was defiantly in
bad shape.
Treize’s eyes caught the red, metal collar around the
boy&#s nes neck and he frowned in disbelieve.
A war slave? But how? The war has been over for nearly 2 years.
He was only a child then. – For heaven’s sake, he still is only a child.
Milliardo tried to move closer and the boy jerked away, his eyes
darted about, looking for a way of escape, but realizing that he had nowhere to go.
"Easy," Treize told him softly. "You are in no
condition to go anywhere."

***

Wufei knew that the man was right and silently he cursed himself for
his own weakness.
He had been without food since the day he had managed to escape from his master? How long
ago was that, four days, five? He wasn’t even sure anymore. And it wasn’t that
he had been well fed before that either. His body didn’t have any reserves it could
use. Earlier this morning he had come across a small stream that looked relatively clean
and a batch of wild berries. Famished as he was he drunk and ate as much as he could,
which proofed to be a mistake. Wufei wasn’t sure if it had been the water, the
berries or the fact that he had eaten too many of them that had made him violently ill.
After his stomach had finally settled down, in spite of fatigue, fever and chills he had
forced himself to his feet, knowing that he had to keep moving if he didn’t wanted to
be tracked down.
When he saw the two riders he had thought they were those that were
after him and he tried to hide the best he could. Not good enough it appeared.
He didn’t know the two men, but that didn’t mean he had
nothing to fear from them. He was a runaway slave and there was probably a price on his
head. Whoever found and captured him was most likely to turn him over to his owner. When
one of the men reached out to touch him Wufei panicked, once again cursing the fact that
he was too weak to fight. He could barely move his right arm, which he had injured during
his escape.
The young Chinese boy momentarily closed his eyes in frustration and
defeat. When he opened them again he looked straight into a pair of crystal blue orbs, a
handsome face framed by long, platinum blond hair. His gaze wandered deeper falling onto a
thin gold colored, metal band wrapping around the stranger’s neck and Wufei felt a
sting of sympathy. The collar identified the young man as a slave just like him, but its
golden color indicated that unlike Wufei he had been born into slavery.
Brought into this world only to serve others. Where is the
justice in that?
"It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you." a soft voice assured him, as
the blond crouched down and gently laid his hand onto Wufei’s forehead.
***
"He has a fever." Milliardo announced as he rose to his
feet. He slipped out of the jacket he was wearing and wrapped it around the boy. The young
slave instinctively huddled into the warm fabric.
"Is there still some tea left," the blond asked.
Treize shrugged. "There might be. I’ll check." He walked over to the
horses, retrieved the thermos from his saddlebag and returned.
"Let me, Master." Milliardo suggested.
The ginger-blond man nodded as he handed him the bottle. The boy had
been watching every move they made suspiciously. But when the blond slave crouched down
next to him again he didn’t recoil.
"Drink this. It’s warm tea."
The young Chinese drank thirstily, holding on to the thermos with
his left hand, struggling when Milliardo tried to pull it away.
"Easy," the blond told him. "You are going to get
sick if you drink too much at once."
Realizing the truth in that the boy finally let go off the bottle.
"You can have more in a couple minutes." Milliardo assured
him as he screwed the top back on.
"Do you have a name?"
The boy’s head turned toward the ginger-blond but he
didn’t answer.
"I’m Treize Khushrenada," the ex-colonel introduced
himself. "And that’s Milliardo."
"My name is Chang Wufei,&quthe the boy answered, putting
special emphasis in his last name.
Only free men used two names. Generally slaves were given one name when they were born and
those captured in war or sentenced to slave labor lost the privilegea usa using their
family name along with all the other rights and privileges a free person had.
They haven’t been able to break your spirit yet, have they?
Treize thought with a certain amount of respect.
He is probably not going to like this, but we will have to take
him with us and turn him over to the S.A.U. He needs medical attention.
The ginger-blond man exchanged a gaze with Milliardo. He could tell
the blond knew what he was thinking.
The younger man gave him a questioning look and he shook his head.
There is not way in hell that I can turn my back and just leave
him here to die.
***
When the boy suddenly tensed, staring at something behind Treize,
the ginger-blond man turned to see two riders, accompanied by a bloodhound, heading down
the dusty trail toward them. As men stopped their horses next to the small group the dog
immediately toward the boy and started to bark. Wufei brought his arm up to protect
himself.
"Control your hound," Treize snapped.
The men dismounted. One of them leashed the dog and led it aside.
"I’m sorry, your Excellency. I suppose Rosco is just as
frustrated as we are. This little bastard has been eluding us for nearly 5 days."
The ex-colonel frowned. "You seemed to know who I am,
that gives me some kind of a disadvantage I suppose.."
"My name is Muller, my partner is Alex. We are working for Duke
Dermail," the man with short cropped brown hair replied.
"Is that so? Then what are you doing on my land?"
"Trying to re-capture one of the Duke’s slaves." Muller explained with a
nod in Wufei’s direction. &qu sup suppose we have to thank you for your help. If you
don’t mind, we will take it from here."
Milliardo gave his master a pleading look, but Treize only shrugged
and gestured him to step aside. There wasn’t really anything he could do, if he liked
the thought of turning the boy over to those two men or not.
The blond complied; watching with clenched teeth as Muller trained
his rifle on the boy while Alex pulled a stun-collar from his saddlebag and walked over to
Wufei.
"Get on your feet," he ordered.
Obviously the boy didn’t move fast enough, probably
couldn’t even move faster, and the man kicked him viciously. His boot connected first
with Wufei’s stomach, and then as the boy doubled over, with his head.
From there things were happening so fast that Treize was barely able
to follow them. Milliardo could do nothing against those first two blows, but before Alex
could kick the young slave again he charged the man with an angry growl.
"Bastard."
A hard fist to his chin sent Alex stumbling backward. Muller jumped
in to help his partner, slamming the butt of his weapon into Milliardo’s abdomen.
The blond slave doubled over and slumped to his knees groaning.
"That’s enough!" Treize snapped. His voice as sharp
as a razorblade made everybody stop in his track. Directed toward the two headhunters he
continued. "Leave my property now."
The taller of the two men moved toward the young slave, who was
lying motionless at the spot where he had collapsed.
"The boy stays." The ex-colonel ded.ded.
"You can’t do that," the man with the short cropped
brown hair growled.
"Watch me," Treize replied calmly, tightening the grip on
his rifle. "Give my regards to the Duke and him him know that if he wishes to pick up
his slave he can do so at my house."
The two men mounted their horses, but before they rode off one of
them turned toward the ex-colonel.
"You have no right…"
"This is my land." The ginger-blond man pointed out.
"I even have the right to shoot trespassers in order to protect my property."
As Alex and Miller rode off Treize turned toward his slave who was
still on his knees, panting
"Are you okay, Milliardo?"
The blond nodded and he staggered to his feet. "Yes,
Master." With an apologetic look in the ex-colonels direction he added. "I
probably shouldn’t have done this, but beating the boy was absolutely uncalled for.
He didn’t resist in any way. I just couldn’t let…"
Treize cut him of with a dismissing gesture. "You don’t
have to explain yourself, Milliardo. I don’t blame you. – Now let us get him
back home. He needs a doctor."
The younger man knelt down next to the black-haired slave. Wincing
in sympathy as he saw blood trickling from a wound at the side of the boy’s face.
"He’s lost consciousness," he informed his master.
Treize nodded in acknowledgement as he mounted his horse. Milliardo
scooped the boy up from the, handing him off to the other man before getting up on his own
steed.
The ex-colonel was shocked how little the boy weighed. For his size
and his age he should have been a lot heavier.
***
Evans watched in surprise as his master and Milliardo rode their
mounts all the way to the entrance stair the the mansion. It wasn’t until they halted
that he noticed the ex-colonel was carrying something that look like a young boy.
Treize turned the child over to Milliardo long enough that he could
dismount, than took him again. He headed up the stairs while the younger man left to take
the horses to the stable.
"Dear god, what happened?" the grey-haired man, holding
open the door for the ex-colonel, exclaimed.
"I’ll explain later Evans." Treize answered as he
rushed by him into the house. "Right now I need a basin with hot water, some cold
compresses and a first aid kid. – Bring it up into Milliardo’s room."
"At once, your Excellency." The butler nodded.

Take a look at my little "Small Piece of Heaven" companion
website. Click
Here to see what I mean. I've got to warn you about small spoilers
for upcoming chapters in the photoalbum though.
Author's Note:  Feedback is greatly appreciated,
constructive criticism is welcome :-)