Heero stepped through a patch of undergrowth, trying to expand his senses enough to tell where the feeling was coming from. It seemed that someone was calling to him in his mind, not the gentle, distant calling of the woman in his dream, but a closer call, more urgent and frightened….

"Heero, where are you leading us?" asked Duo, catching up to him. "What are you looking for? Do you hear something?"

Heero put out a hand to silence Duo and strained his ears. Now he was hearing an actual cry, someone in distress….

"I hear it, too!" said Quatre, moving forward. "It sounds like she needs help!"

"’She’?" said Duo. "What would a woman be doing out here in the middle of the woods?"

"A fairy," said Heero, and dashed off towards the sound.

When Heero emerged from the trees, he found himself in a small clearing, covered in moss, through which ran a trickling brook. On the bank of the stream was a girl, with short dark hair and slender arms and legs. She was dressed in a dress of silky red material, and appeared to be human, except that Heero could see two gossamer wings, pink and almost transparent, protruding from her back, and a small pink stone, shaped like a teardrop, in the center of her forehead. She was half-lying, half-sitting by the water, and her wings were wet and dripping, useless. Across the water, standing dangerously still with muscles rippling, was a giant gray wolf.

Duo and the others emerged from the woods behind Heero and took in the scene quickly. "It’s– it’s huge!" stammered Quatre when he saw the wolf, and started to draw his bow.

"No," said Heero, motioning for him to stop. The fairy by the stream looked up, her face tear-stained and terror-stricken. She did not speak, and did not move for fear that the wolf would attack. Now the wolf turned to see the intruders, and it’s long muzzle was bristling, its hackles raised and rows of dagger-like fangs lining its mouth. Its eyes were glowing with a black light.

"It’s possessed!" said Duo.

Suddenly the wolf’s head turned sharply to look back at the fairy girl. She had climbed to her feet and was halfway to the trees.

The wolf snarled, lowered its chest to the ground, and leapt.

The fairy cried out as the huge beast bore down upon her, flying through the air like some great demon… and then the animal was thrown to the side, landing on its back and rolling over. It leapt to its feet and spun around, searching for its assailant.

A shimmer of light flickered in front of the fairy, and Duo appeared with his back to her. "You all right?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes."

"I’m Duo. I’m an–"

"I know who you are."

Duo half turned to her, startled, but the wolf had spotted him, and was about to leap.

"Stay back," called Duo, addressing both the fairy and his companions, as he disappeared again.

The wolf looked confused, snapped its jaw, and lowered its head, sniffing the air. It suddenly growled and spun around to snap at Duo, but the magician appeared for a split second several feet out of the wolf’s reach, arms outstretched; the next instant he had disappeared again, and a ball of light flashed out of the air and hit the wolf in the side.

The great animal jumped back and yowled in pain, but seemed able to ignore the great bleeding gash in its side. It hunkered down, folded like a coil, ready to spring. Then a twig snapped at the wolf’s side; it turned and lashed out with one huge paw, claws glinting.

Duo appeared, crouched on the ground. He was gripping his arm; blood seeped from between his fingers. The fairy cried out in dismay and as the wolf moved in to attack again, she launched a glittering blast of light at the wolf’s back, hitting it at the base of the neck. The next instant one of Quatre’s arrows thudded into its side. It howled and turned as the rest of Duo’s companions ran forward. He had gotten to his feet again and was preparing to launch another attack with his remaining good arm.

But the fairy dashed forward to stand between the wolf and its attackers. "No!" she cried. "Stop!"

Duo looked at her. "Get out of the way!" he called. "Are you crazy? That thing is trying to kill us!"

She had turned to the great beast, however, and did not seem to hear him. The animal tried to turn its head and snap at her, but it was growing weak, and sank to the ground, panting.

The fairy moved to the wolf’s side and slowly pulled the arrow from its body. It whimpered and tried to move, but was losing blood quickly, and laid its head on the ground. The fairy stood, surveying the creature’s wounds for a minute, then moved to the wolf’s head, where she knelt and placed her hands on either side of its great jaws. As she did this, the black light left the creature’s eyes. It let out a great shuddering breath, and was still.

Duo came up beside her. "Did you just kill it?" he asked her.

The girl was silent. Her hand was resting on its head, and her fingers moved slowly through its fur. Then she said, without looking up, "There was nothing I could do for him." Then she stood and turned to face Duo, glaring angrily into his face. "Why did you attack it? It couldn’t help what it was doing."

Duo spread his hands, then winced and held his injured arm again. "It was trying to kill you!" he said. "What did you want us to do?"

She sighed and looked away. "I’m sorry. Thank you for saving me." She turned to the dead creature. "The spells have been affecting the animals in strange ways."

"Spells?" said Heero, coming up beside Duo. "What spells?"

Duo looked at him. "Could I get some help here first, please?" he said, holding out a bloody hand.

"Sorry," said Quatre, moving towards him. "Here, let me see it."

Duo turned so his arm was facing Quatre, but the fairy moved in front of him. "Let me," she said, smiling.

She placed her hands over the place where the wolf’s claws had left their mark. The soft healing light surrounded the wound, and when she removed her hands. It was gone, and the blood had been cleansed away. Then she took his other hand and washed away the blood in the same way.

"Thanks," said Duo, looking at his arm. "That’s a pretty powerful healing spell," and she blushed.

He asked, "What’s your name?"

"Hilde," she replied.

Heero moved to stand beside her. "Now what about those spells?"

"There is powerful dark magic here," she told him. "Something is being done to the people, but we don’t know what it is. We don’t want to go near their settlements; it’s dangerous there." She looked again at the dead wolf. "Animals who stray too near get… changed." She was silent as she looked at the creature for another moment, then said, "I was getting a drink at the brook when he appeared, and I fell into the water in my hurry to escape." She shook her wet wings. "So I couldn’t fly away."

Duo put a hand on her shoulder. "It’s okay." She looked away, blushing at his touch.

"It’s getting late," said Trowa to the others. "And this is a good spot. Should we make camp?"

"Sure," said Quatre, turning away from Duo and Hilde. "But let’s leave them alone for now."

The fire was dying low, but no one moved to get more wood. A deep sense of satisfaction filled the air. They had eaten well of the roots and strange plants that Hilde brought them, and the apprentices were tired from days of hard travel.

"I don’t think I ever thanked you properly for your help today," said Hilde, breaking the silence. "You saved my life. I wish there were something I could do to help you in return."

"Don’t worry about it," said Duo, lying back on his elbows. "It was–"

"Wait." Hilde’s voice cut across his suddenly, sharply. "There is a pass through the mountains. A shortcut." Her voice had become softer.

There was a black light shimmering behind her eyes, but the magicians did not see it in the dying fire’s light.

Quatre leaned forward. "A shortcut?"

"Yes," she said, and drew lines in the dirt with her finger. "You are here. The forest continues northwest like this–" She traced her finger slowly through the dirt. "Then a finger of the mountains comes down like this and there is a small river that flows down out of the mountains. Follow this and you will find the entrance to the spirit world."

Then she stood. "I must go."

Duo looked up at her, surprised. "Go? Just like that?"

She looked at him. "My sisters will be worried for me if I do not return." She turned away from the light. "Safe journey to you." Then she flexed her now-dried wings and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

"Gee," said Duo, looking disappointed. "I thought she liked me."

"It played its part well, I thought."

Noin looked at the fairy girl, bound to a dry old tree, then back at the man who had spoken. Soldiers of her Elite Guard stood around them, holding torches to light the night.

"The ropes look like they’re cutting her, Quinze," Noin said.

Quinze, Zechs’ weaselly assistant, said, "Well, we can’t very well have her thrashing about, now, can we?"

Noin looked at the fairy; her eyes were wide, watching them both closely. Noin said quietly, "But she’s not even struggling."

"The plan went perfectly," Quinze said, as if he hadn’t heard her. He walked over to the fairy to study her, as if she were an interesting sculpture. "The wolf was weak enough to be subdued, and the fairy was able to gain the magicians’ trust and hand off the information seamlessly. It even went the whole day without us having to assert our control over it! Except," he said, and leaned closer to the fairy, "When it told that braided one that it knew who he was." He turned back to Noin. "But a minor mistake. The apprentices will fall directly into Zechs’ waiting arms." Quinze then nodded to one of the soldiers holding a torch. The man moved towards the dry tree, the fire reflected in his obedient eyes, and Quinze moved off towards his horse.

"Wait!" said Noin. "What are you doing?"

Quinze mounted and then answered her. "Zechs needs me back as soon as possible to help prepare for the apprentices’ arrival."

Noin’s stomach tightened. "But the torch?" she said.

Quinze looked at her. "Why, that is the only way to kill a fairy. You should know that, Lieutenant." When he saw the stunned look on her face, he added, "Lieutenant, honestly, we can’t have her running all over the forest, spreading word of our plan and alerting the apprentices, can we?"

Noin looked at the flaming torch, at the fairy’s face, eyes wide and limbs straining against her bonds in terror. Noin turned back to Quinze.

"I suppose," she hesitated.

"Good," Quinze said. "I certainly wouldn’t want there to be a problem here." His voice carried a dangerous warning in it. Then he tugged on his reigns and rode off into the trees, his own personal guard of soldiers surrounding him.

Noin watched as the soldier with the torch moved closer to the fairy, who had now gone slack, hanging against the tree in numb despair.

"Heero, you okay? You’ve been acting weird all day." Duo paused, then grinned. "And that’s saying something, with you."

Heero nodded abstractedly to dismiss his companion. He had had the dream again the night before, but still hadn’t been able to figure out its meaning. Though he did have a distinct suspicion as to who was trying to contact him….

They had been traveling northwest through the forest all day, looking for some moving body of water that would lead them to the river that flowed out of the mountains. Around midday, they had come across a small brook, barely worth considering, but it had been their best clue so far, and so now they were following it upstream in the hope that at its mouth would be the river, and past that, the mountains, and the entrance to the spirit world. Now the water was gradually widening until it was several feet across, and they seemed to be getting closer to their goal.

Now Quatre, walking slightly in front of the others, stopped, squinted, and pointed ahead to something that Heero surely would have noticed if he hadn’t been so preoccupied. "Look!" he said, and the others saw it, too. Several hundred yards ahead through the thick woods the sunlight seemed to get brighter: there was an open space ahead.

"Come on!" Quatre called, dashing ahead. The others followed, and several minutes later, they all emerged from the woods, blinking, on the bank of a great lake that stretched at least a mile to the hazy finger of mountain in the distance.

"We’ve found it!" Quatre said, and the others looked with satisfaction on the great body of water before them.

Looking along the bank of the lake, Heero saw a cluster of buildings clumped on the edge of the water, like algae growing on the edge of a huge rock.

"It’s wharves," he said, and the others followed his gaze to see the small cluster jutting out into the water. The trees behind it were cleared.

"It must be the edge of a town," said Quatre.

As he studied the faraway buildings, Heero noticed a group of tiny figures emerge from the town and move along the shoreline towards them. They were at least half a mile away, but as they moved closer, Heero saw that they were on horseback.

"It looks like they were expecting us," he said, and loosened the Ironblood in its hilt at his waist, watching the approaching figures grow larger as they galloped towards them.

It became apparent that there were about a dozen of them, and soon Heero could see that two were riding slightly ahead of the others. Finally they drew up in front of the travelers. There were indeed a dozen of them. One of the two leaders was small and weaselly, and his robes were almost certainly that of a magician.

The other of the two leaders was old, though he seemed strong, large and broad chested. He looked down at the magicians, and spoke. "I am Lord Dermail," he said, "and you have entered the kingdom of Romefeller."

Looking past him to the other men, soldiers, it seemed, Heero caught his breath. All of their eyes were glowing with a clear black light.

"It’s black magic!" he shouted, and ripped the Ironblood from its sheath, rushing forward to face the men. But the weaselly magician seemed ready for this attack, and raising his hands in front of him, he showed the apprentices a small black stone. Rippling cords of dark energy spread like a flood from this stone, enveloping Heero and the others before they could even dodge the spell.

Heero was strapped to the ground, and felt the burning of the energy all around him. He began to sink into darkness. He heard Duo, a few feet away, mumbling, "A Spell Stone…. No fair…."

Turning his gaze slightly, he could see Quatre, motionless, already unconscious in the dark spell’s power.

Then the blackness surrounded him suddenly, and he tumbled into silence, alone, and knew no more.

Stay tuned for part 4 of Ironblood

Next Time: The apprentices are surrounded by inescapable danger and doomed to a certain death. Their mission seems certain to fail, but when help comes from an unlikely source, Heero accidentally makes himself a worse enemy….