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Fool's Gold	By : Zarafla_Kirtan-Pherrin Category: zMisplaced Stories [ADMIN use only] > Road to El Dorado, The Views: 1492 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to The Road To El Dorado, nor do I profit from this. Enjoy this lovely fanfic! If not, crawl in a ditch for all I care! ;P

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
-Fool's Gold

Paired Couple: MiguelXTulio/SLASH!/Lime

A/N: Miguel, Chel and Tulio do not belong to me, they belong to Dreamworks. Enjoy what is in store in this new update!

It felt like ages to watch the mad priest fall over the cliff. Tulio didn't rush toward him to pull him back to safety, but neither did he look over the precipice to witness Tzekel-Kan's demise. He wasn't glad that he was dead, but neither did he regret it. Tulio figured that he deserved what he brought upon himself.

After a moment, Tulio walked back through the clearing and rushed over to Chel, only to see her stumble to her feet unsteadily.

"Are you okay?"

Chel held her head a moment, brushing aside a trickle of blood that had started to race down her left temple. "I'm fine, Tulio. I was just knocked out for a little bit. What happened?"

"He's gone." Tulio replied, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "He fell over the cliff back there."

"That's a relief." She sighed.

They both turned back and walked over to where Miguel laid, almost peacefully, on the ground about fifty feet away. Tulio laid a slightly shaking hand over the blond's, his stomach plummeting at the cold sensation of his lover's skin.

"Are you sure he's not…" The Spaniard couldn't finish the sentence.

"I'm positive, Tulio. All we have to do is get him the cure before morning."

"…But how?! Tzekel-Kan went over the cliff, so even if he had the cure, there's no way we could get down there, find his body, and get it all before the sun comes up."

"I guess the most we could do is to keep moving." Chel sighed, feeling the pain emanate off of Tulio's very being. She knew that the uncertainty about Miguel's fate was killing him inside. She despaired deep down, wishing there was something she could do to alleviate the pain.

Tulio nodded, unable to think of anything else to do. "Do you think the cure could be somewhere out here?" He indicated to the surrounding forest.

"I don't know, Tulio. All we can do is hope. We'll have to walk all night if we are to find it."

"Will you be able to identify it?"

"If it's out here, yes. I've seen Tzekel-Kan administer the cure to his sacrifices plenty of times; I'm sure I can recognize the plant."

Tulio lifted Miguel in his arms, surprised and worried at how light the blond Spaniard was. Usually, Miguel weighed more than this. He figured the poison was doing a number on him internally… His muscles would no doubt be atrophying under the effects of the dart.

Pushing back a lock of golden hair from his beloved's sweaty brow, he looked down at him and fought the urge to release a torrential rain of tears. His heart clenched in his chest as he watched Miguel, unconscious and unknowing of his surroundings, flinch in his grasp and mutter with pain in his poison-induced sleep.

~/~/~/~/~/

"… Tulio… please… help… me…"

It had been two hours since they left the clearing when Tulio heard the soft murmuring coming from the man that he had tied to his back like some living pack. His wrists and ankles had been tied around his middle and neck to prevent Miguel from sliding from his back.

"Miguel?" Tulio watched his lover move over his shoulder, whimpering while his eyes flickered under their lids. "Miguel, I'm here! Do you hear me?" He stopped in his tracks, untied Miguel from his neck and hips and gently slid him down onto the ground.

"… So… cold… please… Tuls…"

"Miguel! I'm here!"

Chel settled a hand on his shoulder. "He can't hear you. He's in a deep sleep that is more than likely filled with hallucinations and horrible visions. All you can do is keep him close while we find the cure. We should be going, Tulio. We don't have much time and the hallucinations are only going to get worse from here."

It was when Tulio stood up and turned to look at her that Chel saw the depth of his fear, his pain, and his helplessness within his dark eyes. Tears-hot, yet restrained-glittered from his eyes while he tried to keep a steady baritone in his voice.

"Isn't there anything we can do? I just can't watch Miguel…" His voice cracked and he covered his face in his hands, unable to continue that sentence.

Suddenly, gone was the clever, opportunistic con-man from Spain, to be reduced to a broken shell that couldn't hold back the tears that carved scorching trails down his face; the man that was about to lose the very thing that meant everything to him.

It didn't matter if he had all the gold in the world anymore… Everything else was fool's gold; trinkets that held no value when Miguel possessed his heart…

Forcefully wiping his face from his pain, Tulio went back to where Miguel laid and picked him up in his arms, this time holding him there when he realized the rope burns that the blond had around his wrists and ankles. Even if it would take more of his strength to hold him this way, Tulio wouldn't complain. When Chel had offered to hold Miguel for him, Tulio had refused, not because he didn't want her help, but because she had to find the plant that would cure Miguel; a task that would be greatly hindered if she also had to carry Miguel.

No, the task of carrying his lover was up to him alone. It was his fault that Miguel had wandered off, only to have been shot with the poisoned dart by Tzekel-Kan. If only he hadn't ignored Miguel earlier in the day, none of this would have happened. Miguel wouldn't be in a race for his life.

It would be his fault if Miguel didn't make it… and he would never forgive or could live with himself for as long as he lived… already, he loathed himself for what had happened thus far…

The only ultimate question that hung around Tulio and Chel the entire night was this: Would they make it in time to save Miguel?

~/~/~/~/~/~/

His eyes drooped low from fatigue as he fought with every step to stay awake. The only thing that kept him going was holding Miguel tight in his arms and looking down at him every minute or so. Even when he couldn't see him in the darkest part of the forest, Tulio still looked down to see his outline. It held fast his resolve.

But now, the sky was becoming lighter and lighter. The ability to see everything in a faint, misty blue light of pre-dawn quickened his blood and almost paralyzed his mind in terror. It would be about an hour or so before the sun was high in the sky.

Chel had gone up ahead to search the forest for the plant that would save Miguel's life, certain that she remembered what it looked like, while Tulio continued to carry the blond towards a possibility of a village, perhaps not far off.

The native woman had left three hours ago to search for it. Her elongated absence was grimly noted and only helped along the growth of bubbling panic inside of the dark haired Spaniard's heart. Every minute, he expected to stop feeling Miguel's shaky breaths on his chest. Already, however, he noticed that the slight figure in his hold was steadily becoming colder and trembling, as if overcome by a freezing downpour, despite the hot and humid air of the forest surrounding them.

Then again, Tulio had the strangest feeling that Miguel wasn't the only one shaking. His fatigue was the precursor, he concluded, to an onset of sickness. He had once experienced this similar type of illness when he was ten, but he could hardly recall the memory.

He looked down once again at Miguel's insipid frame, anxiety pulling at his heartstrings. He wished he could do something about that expression on his beloved's face; take away the pain.

He jerked with a start when he realized he could see the other man's features almost perfectly.

Light was cascading down from the skies, bringing about the inevitable!

Suddenly, he broke out in a run. "Help! Someone, please help us!" Tulio's throat burned raw like a freshly opened wound as he continued to shout. "HELP!"

Dizzyingly and uncoordinated, he stumbled over rocks and roots, his clothes catching on thorns and snagging branches as he passed. Just as quickly as he had started, his shoe slipped from a knot of wood sticking up from out of the ground, causing him to fall to earth with a dull, aching thud.

Miguel had fallen from his lover's hold, to lie sprawling on the forest floor two feet away.

"Please… Help us…" Tulio whispered, uncharacteristic tears free-falling from his eyes as he shivered violently.

Suddenly, he glimpsed four strangers approaching him. In the back of the procession, he recognized a worried Chel, who seemed to have lead them there, before falling behind to let them pass her to get to him. In that moment, aside from any real reason, Tulio experimentally clenched his right hand. He was surprised-yet not surprised at all-to find that he was gripping the blond Spaniard's hand in his.

Without warning, the world dimmed and everything went dark.

~/~/~/~/~/

The first sensation he was aware of was a throbbing, aching feeling, as if his entire body resembled a single, widespread, and massive bruise. His eyes remained shut, blocking out the light that he instinctively knew would send a searing headache to his temples. That was the last thing he needed. Instead, he surveyed his surroundings slowly, dependent on sensation of the area around him and hearing.

He felt the animal pelt beneath him-some kind of soft wool that he didn't recognize-and heavily stuffed pillows under his head. He listened intently, seeking out any tell-tale voices or sounds so that he could gauge whether or not he was alone. Too softly, to the point that he almost didn't catch it, he heard the gentle deep breathing of someone sleeping not too far off. Birds chirped as if from a great distance, so he concluded that he was probably in a small village or far away from the forest.

But where..?

He sat up from his crude bedding and slowly opened his eyes, a damp rag falling from his forehead and into his lap. He supposed it was used to cool him down throughout his sleep-however long that had been.

The walls were woven sticks and a single hole in the ceiling let in the sunlight to light up the hut. A ring of stones, with charred logs sitting in the middle of them, sat underneath the hole for ventilation. His makeshift bed of pelt and pillows sat on the stone floor, surrounded by other pelts and stone pottery.

As he continued to look around, he noticed a diminutive-framed woman in cool shadow alongside one wall about five feet away, her head nodding in sleep as she sat. She had dark raven hair pulled back by a blue ribbon and wore a simple yellow and red dress. In her hands, she held knitting needles made of bone and a half-finished garment that looked like it was being knitted from the same type of wool that made up his pillows and blanket. The sunlight coming in from the ceiling laid a gentle ray on her swollen abdomen.

He tried to stand up from his bed, confused of his whereabouts, but managed to knock over a jug of water in the process. He clutched the sides of his head from the clattering sound; it caused his head to pound mercilessly.

The clatter jerked the woman awake. For a moment, their eyes locked on one another in surprise.

She got to her feet unsteadily, the weight of her abdomen seeming almost too much to lift. She smiled. "Oh good, you're awake! We weren't sure if you were ever going to be able to shift your fever any time soon."

"I suppose that's good." He nodded, uncertain of this woman. "Who are you?"

"I am Chicha. I've been watching over you while you recovered from your fever. You should be careful not to overexert yourself when you're exhausted and haven't eaten in several days. Your friend told us as much when the guards found you."

"My friend..?"

"Chel! And of course, you would be Tulio. It's nice to finally meet you." She held out a hand, which he shook in turn.

Hearing Chel's name brought back some of Tulio's memory of the last time he was awake. He had been in the jungle, desperately searching and holding onto-

Suddenly, his head felt like it was ready to crack in two. The Spaniard fell to his knees, holding onto his head and grimacing in pain.

Chicha picked up a bowl from the ground and pushed him back onto the makeshift bed he had found himself in. "Lay back, nice and easy. That's it." She proffered the bowl in her hands. "Now drink this, it'll help."

After taking a generous swallow of broth, Tulio spoke again. "How long was I asleep?"

"Five days."

"Five days?" He replied with dread, feeling sick. "But that means-where's Miguel?! Please, you must tell me!"

"He should be in the other hut next door with Chel. Doctor Almaris had been working on him nonstop since you both arrived here. I had been overseeing your health so that the doctor could concentrate on helping your friend. It's a good thing that the men that found you happened to carry the plant that your friend needed to counteract the poison; they always carry it in case one of them gets poisoned on hunting expeditions outside of the city."

"So Miguel is..?"

"Alive, yes. Actually, the last I heard, he was up and sightseeing the city about two hours ago, before I had my nap here-"

Tulio sat up and tried to get out of bed. "He's awake?!" He was shoved back down.

"You can't go see him right now, you have to rest. You're still weakened."

"But I-"

"But I see you're persistent. Very well." She smiled again. "If you can finish this milk here, you can go see him." Chicha handed him another bowl, filled to the brim.

Tulio put the bowl to his lips, figuring he'd down the milk in one long drink.

He almost gagged on the oddly rancid taste. "This isn't milk!" He protested.

"It's llama's milk. Drink up, it's good for you."

"Llama? What the heck is that? Don't you have cows here?"

The woman cocked her head. "What's a cow?"

"…Never mind. Do I have to drink this, though?"

"Yes. It helps bring down your fever." She laughed.

Before he could take another drink of the thick milk, a shout outside the pelt door of the hut caught his attention. Both Tulio and Chicha looked over at the entrance, confused.

Suddenly, Tulio was tackled by a figure that ran into the hut. "TULIO! YOU'RE AWAKE!"

A/N: Sorry for the long-awaited update. Been agonizing over what I should put as an ending for this. But now that I've figured out the ending… I think you'll like the results! :D Stay tuned; R&R like always!
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Fool's Gold