Title: Taking a Bite Out of Crime
E-mail: Glamourcat@lycos.com
Part: 1/1
Warnings: PG13, some innuendo, not much, basic cartoon violence-biting of butts-none of them bishounen.
Disclaimer: The Slayers characters aren't mine. In fact they belong to Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, Kadokawa Shoten, TV TOKYO, SOFTX and Marubeni. Zelwingy and the race of Dragats are mine.
Summary: Zelgadis is captured by an evil wizard for a mysterious blood rite and its up to Gourry and Zelwingy to save the day!
Distribution: LN can have it, anyone else, ask first.
Notes: Look! It's my next Zelwingy fic! I finally got off my ass and wrote something! Look! It was actually inspired by LN's Plotbunny Grab Bag! Look! I wrote Look! 4 Times already. Can't you just TELL that it's 1:30am?
"Master?" The boy approached the old man with some trepidation.
Rallac, his master, was a powerful wizard and though he seemed torpid and mildly tempered the boy had seen too many of the others die at his hand. He never disturbed him unless it was really important.
"Yes?" Rallac asked of his servant, not bothering to look up from the tomb he was engrossed in.
This book had proven useful, much more so than any other in his vast collection upstairs. He'd been doing everything right-except one vital part. No wonder all his experiments had failed. He'd been missing the most important ingredient. Rallac sighed, there'd be no way of finding this material though. It was too rare, might not even exist at all.
He fingered the gemstone around his neck, the current source of his power and wondered how long it would last when he realized that the serving boy was still prattling at him.
"So they're on their way to the town." The boy finished his story.
Rallac cursed to himself. He hadn't been paying any attention. "Who's on their way to the town?"
That blasted little town below his mountain. He tolerated its presence only for the source of spirit life in it.
"Two strangers and a beast. One of the strangers has shamanic power. You told me to let you know if anyone with power was in the area. Have I done wrong Master?"
"No, boy." Once Rallac would have roused himself from his torpor to investigate a new person with anything resembling magic power. Often they feed him and his energy better then a normal human, but lately it had seemed less important then deciphering this strange book that he'd just come to possess.
It had practically fallen into his hands. A priest, wandering through the mountain-some pilgrimage no doubt- had dropped it, frightened at running into one of the ghouls that guarded Rallac's mansion.
"The gypsy man I spoke to said they were strange, or that one was. Called him a Chimera!" The boy offered, emboldened by his Master's words.
"A what?" Rallac sat straight up, dropping the precious book from his lap. He turned to the boy and grabbed him by both arms in an unnaturally strong grip. "Say that again!"
"A Chimera! The one who seems to be a shaman, he's a Chimera!" The boy cried out, desperate to know what he'd done wrong. "Master please! I didn't know it would upset you."
"Upset me! This pleases me! Pleases me greatly." The possibilities ran through Rallac's mind almost faster then he could grasp them.
He heard something rattle and felt the boy go limp in his hands.
The noise and weight distracted him and he glanced down. In his excitement he'd shaken the boy to hard. Snapped his neck. Damn, and that was the last one of his human servants too. He'd have to go out and take more from the town.then again, if this worked. If the book were correct, he'd never need another human servant again.
But for now.the old wizard looked down at the young lad in his hands. For now, he'd take what power he could. Reaching into the boy's chest Rallac's hand passed through the flesh and grabbed the heart. White energy, the essence of the boy flowed up his arm and into the stone around his neck. Rallac closed his eyes, tipping his head back, tasting the boy. Too soon.over to soon. He'd been young, there wasn't much to feed him. Certainly not as much as he'd been used to.
Rallac dropped the body and let it lie where it fell.
Walking right towards him was the last piece of the puzzle he'd been working on for so long. He bent to pick up the book, marked his page, and left it on the table.
A Chimera, walking right towards him. And all that was missing from his spell, a chimera's blood.
~TAG!~
"AH!" Zelgadis fell over, face first in the dirt as he was pounded on from behind by a twenty-pound dragat.
~You're it!~ Zelwingy bounced away; completely oblivious to the damage he'd just done to his adopted parent.
"Doesn't. He. EVER. Stop?" Zel asked through a mouthful of dirt.
"I don't think so. He's bouncier then Amelia." Gourry laughed helping Zel up.
"Ugh. Again with that name, I thought I told you that name was not allowed around me." Zel said, standing up and brushing himself off.
~You tagged Mommy?~ Zelwingy tipped his head to one side, ears pricked up. ~Mommy's it?~
"Yes, Zelwingy, Mommy's it." Zelgadis said, "SO RUN!"
Zel took off running down the road leaving a stunned Gourry staring after him.
~FUN!~ Zelwingy bounded after his Daddy, wings partially out for balance.
"HEY!" Gourry shouted, taking off after them.
Zelgadis veered off the path into the underbrush on the side, hoping to find a hiding spot.
The last thing he remembered as he crouched under the boughs of a pine tree waiting to see if either Gourry or Zelwingy found him was how odd it was that a pine tree could smell so much like something rotting.
"I can't find him." Gourry admitted. "Looks like you're IT or we'll never get to town and eat."
Gourry looked up at the cat, who predictably had scrambled up a tree so that his Mommy couldn't tag him.
The dragat actually snorted. ~You ALWAYS want to eat.~
Nevertheless, he glided down from his branch and started to nose about the road. Trotting back and forth he scanned the area with his nose- the one reason his parents could never beat him at hide and seek.
Gleefully merowing when he found Zelgadis's trail he bounded into the brush.
Gourry sighed as he followed. "Don't you EVER walk?"
~No.~
They'd wandered through the overgrowth for a while. Long enough for Gourry to start thinking that Zelwingy'd lost the trail when the cat suddenly arched his back and hissed.
The dragon/cat half-breed hissed so hard he spat a small mouthful of fire.
"What is it?" Gourry was instantly on the guard, half drawing his sword.
~BAD SMELL! BAD BAD BAD WRONG SMELL!~
If Zelwingy was upset enough to breath fire and shout at the top of his mental voice Gourry had good reason to worry. He drew his sword and started scanning the area around them for the cause of the little one's distress.
~Bad smell.Bad Man. Bad Man with Daddy's smell! Spell Smell!~
Zelwingy danced around the spot he scented, with his claws out and his wings spread all the way out.
"Someone's taken Zelgadis? Why? How.Nevermind. Can you track them? We HAVE to get Zel back!" Gourry wasn't going to worry about the why when the recovery was much more important.
~Oh yes. I can track them.~ Zelwingy narrowed his eyes and growled deep in his throat.
Nose to the ground, wings in the air, Zelwingy trotted off determinedly leaving Gourry to pace after him.
Zelgadis's head was POUNDING! Like a thousand gnomes setting off explosions in his brain. What the hell happened to him? And why couldn't he move?
"No, no. You can't wake now, I'm not ready!" He heard a voice say with surprise. "Sleep a while longer friend, sleep for Rallac, hm?"
Zel felt his brain get stabbed one more time and then everything was dark again.
"Stronger then I thought." Rallac mused to himself. "Well, so much the better then. Perhaps that will lend strength to his spell. Everything was in preparation, except the tools needed for the extraction of the final ingredient. It had been ridiculously easy to snare this one. Ridiculously.
What grown Shaman place tag with his bodyguard? Absurd! Still, it had made it much easier for his ghosts to swarm in and take him. Must be grateful for the little gifts life gives you, oh yes. Grateful.
Gourry crouched at the basement-level window. It'd taken Zelwingy two hours to trace the "bad wrong smell." He'd lost the scent twice and to the dragat's own surprise had only reclaimed it when he'd taken to the air. That did not bode well. Zel wasn't just being carried over land. Something was lifting him up-fifteen feet in one spot- into the air. Gourry didn't like what that implied.
The trail had lead to this old manor house. More of a fortified castle then a home, the whole place gave Gourry the creeps. There was absolutely no one around. The bushes he'd crawled through to get to this lookout spot had left any of his exposed skin scratched and irritated. The big man ignored it. Small hurts were unimportant to the task at hand. Zelwingy sat on his shoulder, purring into his ear. It was an oddly comforting sound.
The madman had Zelgadis strapped to a slanted table with welded iron bars. Those were going to be a pain in the ass to get off. Ah well, nothing Gorn Nova couldn't handle. The wizard didn't appear to have any defenses. So far this had almost been too easy. No guards, beasts, or traps magic or otherwise. That made the hair on the back of his neck crawl.
Who was this guy that he can kidnap someone in broad daylight-in front of witnesses- and be so unconcerned about retaliation? That either bespoke someone truly insane-or truly powerful and confident in that power.
~Get Daddy now?~ Zelwingy chirped in his mind.
~No, not yet. I have to study this a bit.~ Gourry thought back. Over the past couple of months, traveling away from the Temple of Horses, Gourry and Zelgadis had found that as long as they were in physical contact with Zelwingy they could talk back to him in mind-speech. Useful at times like this.
~Study? Mommy doesn't study. Mommy swordfights!~
Gourry allowed himself a small smile for the pride he heard in his adopted son's voice.
~What's to study? I go in, go open door for you. Bad man will *never* see me.~ Zelwingy asserted.
~I don't know, I don't like risking you like that. What if the door's booby-trapped?~ Gourry hesitated.
~Piff.~
Where HAD he picked up that? He said it an awful lot lately.
~I'm not my Purrmommy's Eldest Child for nothing you know.~
Gourry looked at the little kitten, belatedly reminding himself that his son wasn't the small two month old kit he'd found all that time ago. Nearly a full year in age, Zelwingy was a little larger then a normal housecat but smaller then a Bobcat. Full grown he would be the size of a small pony, like his mother Amayanice The Night-Bringer. Though his body showed his growth he really only had the mind equivalent to a 9 or 10 year old human child. Sometimes Gourry wondered about that, moments like this made him wonder what was REALLY going on inside Zelwingy's mind.
~Are you certain you can get past him without being detected?~ Gourry decided to trust the dragat. If Zelwingy believed he could do something, he could. Belief was nine-tenths of doing.
~Yes! Oh Yes! Let me go Mommy! I wanna help.~
~All right, go then, before I change my mind.~
Before Gourry could caution him further Zelwingy dropped to the ground, folding his red wings in tight across his back.
He didn't have to worry, young he might be, but Zelwingy is still half cat and cats know how to slink. That means he'd better get back to the front of the castle-like building so he'd be there when Zelwingy opened the door.
Zelgadis watched Rallac out of the corner of his eye. No point in letting the lunatic know he was awake yet.
"You can stop faking, your breathing changed I know you're awake."
Well so much for that.
Seeing no point to feign unconsciousness any longer, Zel opened his eyes and studied this wizard openly. Having no chance to gather covert information Zel decided to go about it more directly.
"So why did you decide my company was necessary for you?"
"Trying to get me to talk huh? Won't work." Rallac said.
Zel blinked. Aren't all evil villains supposed to spill their guts so that the handsome hero could use them against the villain in a dashing, daring escape? Zel shook his head. What the hell was he thinking? He was starting to sound like Amelia. Involuntarily he shuddered.
Rallac caught the movement from Zel and mistook it for fear.
"Well, at least you have the good sense to be afraid of this." Rallac held up a slim metal tool with a small wheel at the end of it.
"You want me to be afraid of a pizza cutter?" Zel asked puzzled.
"No fool, a diamond cutter, dipped in diamond dust to strengthen it. This should be enough to cut through that thick hide of yours to give me what I need."
Zel raised an eyebrow, "Just what of mine do you need that you're willing to go through the expense of using a diamond cutter and diamond dust?"
"Well, since screaming is likely the only conversation I'll get out of you in a little while I might as well let you talk now." Rallac turned on the hydraulic pump that ran the cutter. The blade whirled to life with a high- pitched buzzing that defiantly worried the chimera.
"From you my friend will come the blood I need to create my life's work."
"A coffee-table book?"
"No flippant one, a sorcerer's stone."
"You're mad."
"Quite possibly." Rallac agreed readily. "But soon I will be mad and immortal. Your golem and demon blood will insure that."
"A sorcerer's stone? It's a myth!" Zelgadis shook his head to clear it
A white, gray and red form slipped between the bars on the window. Zelwingy? No! He'll be caught!
"There is absolutely no truth that a stone can make you immortal. No magical amulet or gazing crystal could do such things." Zelgadis kept Rallac's attention on him.
"A year ago I would have agreed with you. Six months ago I would have, but two weeks ago I came into the possession of a Grimorium written by one of the greatest Sorcerer Priests ever. And he had figured out what all the other's had lacked in their spells."
Rallac came closer to Zel with his spinning diamond drill.
"The Blood of a Chimera. An immortal's blood to feed the power infused in the gemstone."
Zelwingy crept along the wall and out of the room without Rallac ever noticing him.
Zell however, had more serious things to worry about then why his son had crawled down the wall and out of the room. Things like a saw dipped in diamond dust.
~I'm on a mission. I'm on a mission. Bah, bah, bah-da bump.~ Zelwingy sang to himself as he trotted through the halls towards the front of the mansion.
Zelwingy knew that his Daddy had seen him when he came in, and distracted the Bad Man so that he could get out of the room. He knew his Daddy would. His Daddy was smart. With any luck, his Mommy would be at the front door so Zelwingy could open it. His Mommy would beat the ever-loving tar out of the Bad Man and rescue Daddy. Then they'd do that mushy cooing stuff that's BORING and he'd go hunt a rabbit or something much more fun.
Yep, Zelwingy had it all planned out. Right up until he saw the heavy oak bar spanning the door, four feet above his height. Zelwingy looked around. No guards, not a single scent of anyone else in this place besides Daddy and the Bad Man.
~I guess it's safe.~ Zelwingy thought, sitting down.
Flaring his wings to their full span, his yellow eyes glowed with an unnatural light. The dragat grew and grew, expanding to what would be his full adult height. Eyes still glowing with a golden yellow aura, the dragat stood, took the bar in his now Saber-like teeth and lifted it easily. Padding softly to one side he laid the heavy bar down. Turning back to the heavy wooden door, Zelwingy carefully took the latch in his mouth and pulled, backing up as he opened the door so that he stood behind it.
His Mommy cautiously walked in.
"Zelwingy?" He whispered.
A flash of yellow light behind the door caught Gourry's attention. Taking the door in one hand he began to shut it behind him.
Behind the door sat Zelwingy, wings flared and eyes bright.
~Hi Mommy! I told you I could open the door!~ Zelwingy flapped his wings, launching his small body into the air and down the hall. ~This way!~
Gourry looked at the latch on the door. It was cast from weighted wrought iron. The thing looked heavy enough for him to move it, how on earth did that little cat?
~Mommy! Come On!~ Zelwingy sent back.
"Coming." Gourry whispered, just as he caught sight of the oak bar on the floor to one side.
Zelwingy had moved that? No.not possible, it must have already been there. Must have. He trotted after the dragat.
"AHHHH!"
The saw cut into his chest, spraying little chips of granite into the air.
It was the first incision, it hurt but it didn't make him bleed.
"Why? Why from there? The skin's thicker there, why not from a finger or something?" Not that Zelgadis wanted to give Rallac ideas, but as long as he was talking and explaining the wizard wasn't drilling!
"Heart's Blood, idiot. You call yourself a Shaman? I can't believe you don't know the value of Heart's Blood." Rallac said pausing.
Zelgadis's eyes flew wide open. Gourry was right behind the wizard! He was saved!
Gourry moved to bring his sword down on the old man and was stopped.
CLANG!
Metal on metal, that's what it sounded like. The swordsman was thrown backwards and into Rallac's worktable.
"Gourry!" Zelgadis screamed. He struggled futilely against the iron bands that held him in place on the bench.
Rallac sighed. "You really shouldn't have done that. Now I reckon you've made them mad."
"Them? Who's them? This whole place is empty old man! Your magic shield can't keep me out forever. Wizards get tired, all I have to do is outlast you." Gourry said, wiping a small trail of blood off his mouth. He stood and braced himself with his sword up in front.
"My servants of course. You don't think an old man like me could possibly keep a big house like this one in good shape without help?" Rallac laughed, his mild manner becoming demonic as he raised his hands into the air.
Wisps they were. Thin puffs of smoke. Smoke that grew darker and more solid with every second. They were everywhere! Taking on the shape of people, Gourry realized, the ghosts of people this man's killed.
He couldn't fight ghosts with a normal sword. Thankfully though, he didn't have one.
Moving himself away from the wreckage of the worktable he'd landed on, Gourry sheathed his sword, loosening the bolt that held the steel blade onto the scabbard.
"Giving up? Wise of you. My servants won't hurt you unless you try to hurt me, or rescue your friend here." Rallac, thinking him easily cowed and defeated turned back to his grisly work.
"Giving up? Nah, that's not me. I rarely ever do anything wise!" Gourry drew his sword once more shouting the phrase that would transform it. "LIGHT COME FORTH!"
Gorn Nova blazed with white energy as Gourry leapt towards the first ghost. No point in waiting to be attacked.
Rallac was stunned, this.dumb idiot wielded a weapon like that?!? Impossible!
The wizard dropped his cutter and threw his hands up into the air. They glowed white with power as he feed more strength into his ghouls.
Zelgadis watched helplessly as Gourry sliced through one creature, burning it into nothingness only to have Rallac replace it. Where was he getting all these spirits? How many did he have?
Zel watched Rallac repeal another direct attack by Gourry, but his shielding flickered. The gemstone hanging around the old man's chest flicked with it.
That stone.that's the key to his power. He's a lich. He eats the spirits of people, stores their essence inside that stone so he can feed whenever he needs the strength. He must have been around for centuries to have so many of his victim's ghosts to command.
"Gourry! The stone on his neck! Get rid of it and you get rid of the ghosts! It'll cut his power!" Zelgadis shouted.
Gourry made no motion that he'd heard, concentrating on not being swarmed over by the wraiths screaming in his ears and pulling his hair and clothing.
Zelgadis lost sight of the big man entirely as he went under the hoard.
Fixing his eyes back on Rallac he realized that the wizard didn't have his shield up. He must only be putting it up when directly confronted. Wise way to save magical power, the shaman had to admit.
Zel cast his eyes back and forth from the now black cloud of spirits surrounding Gourry to Rallac. It looked hopeless, it looked.like a small gray and white body with red wings was sneaking up behind the old man! Zel tried hard not to choke or cry out to give Zelwingy away.
The dragat poised, wiggled his rear end and pounced! Claws digging into the man, and teeth sunk well into the fleshy part of Rallac's bottom, Zelwingy held on as the wizard lost his concentration and danced around, trying to shake him off.
"YE-OW!" Rallac howled in pain.
Zel thought that this was likely the first time in years anything has actually physically hurt the lich. To show his support, he started to cheer on his son.
"All right, Zelwingy! Get him! That's it! Show no mercy!"
Zel heard a roar from the cloud of spirits and drew his worried eye back to it.
Gourry burst forth in a conflagration of white light.
Zelwingy let go of Rallac's bottom and dropped to the floor, out of kicking range as the wizard focused his attention back on the swordsman.
~MINE!~ Zelwingy shouted into everyone's mind. The dragat had taken a flying leap into the air, snatching the gemstone from around the lich's neck. Madly pumping his red wings, he flew clear out of the room with it. ~Bah, bada, bum, bada, bump.~
Zel looked after Zelwingy puzzled. What the hell was he singing?
"That makes my life easier." Gourry said.
Rallac never knew what hit him.
Gorn Nova slid through the man like a warm knife through butter. Withdrawing the sword, Gourry paused long enough to watch Rallac die, crumbling to dust as he should have centuries ago.
Leaving the Sword of Light unsheathed, Gourry made his weary way over to Zelgadis.
~Over?~ The little piping voice asked.
"It's over." Gourry told him.
~Good.~ Zelwingy flapped back into the room, carrying the gemstone in his mouth. Landing on top of the table Zelgadis was bolted down to, the dragat dropped the stone. ~That man tasted bad.~
"He was a lich-a dead thing that ate the souls of people to seem alive.~ Zelgadis explained.
"What did he want with you? Besides carving his initials into your chest?" Gourry asked.
"He didn't!" Zel looked down only to realize Gourry was teasing him. Shooting the blond an irritated glance he answered, "He thought he found a spell to create a sorcerer's stone. And that it needed Chimera blood."
~This a sorcerer's stone.~ Zelwingy pawed the stone he'd stolen from Rallac's neck.
"That is? Then why?" Gourry was cut off before he could finish his question.
~Failed, failed. Not immortal, not all the way. Has a shelf life. Failed, like all those others.~ The dragat flicked an ear toward a metal bookcase with piles of similar rocks on them.
"He's been trying to make these things for dragons only know how long. He said he came into the possession of a book that told him how to do it correctly only two weeks ago. Our bad luck for being in the area." Zelgadis said. "Now, are you going to get me down or not? My arms are getting stiff like this!"
"Really? Is that all?" Gourry asked, leaning over Zel on the table.
"Cute, Gourry, real cute, now cut me loose." Zel said.
"Don't I get a reward for saving you?" Gourry teased.
"Gourry!"
Zelwingy sighed. There they go again with the mushy BORING stuff! The cat jumped off the table and trotted out of the room. They'd be at that for a while might as well go and find some water or a nice rabbit or ANYTHING to wash out the taste of the dead guy from his mouth. UGH! That was the last rear end he'd be biting for a long while!
He paused long enough on his way out of the room to examine the table his Mommy had crushed. Something on it smelled familiar. Like.hmmm.
He nosed around till he found it, half tucked under a board. A book. This must be the book his Daddy said the Bad Man had. Zelwingy sniffed it deeper. Yep, he knew this scent. The Bad Man must have stolen it. Well, he could return it while his parents were being mushy.
Picking the book up gently in his mouth, the dragat trotted from the room, ignoring the noises his folks were making. Unky Xelly would be happy to have his book back. He'd give Zelwingy ear scratches for returning the book the Bad Man stole.
The End.
E-mail: Glamourcat@lycos.com
Part: 1/1
Warnings: PG13, some innuendo, not much, basic cartoon violence-biting of butts-none of them bishounen.
Disclaimer: The Slayers characters aren't mine. In fact they belong to Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, Kadokawa Shoten, TV TOKYO, SOFTX and Marubeni. Zelwingy and the race of Dragats are mine.
Summary: Zelgadis is captured by an evil wizard for a mysterious blood rite and its up to Gourry and Zelwingy to save the day!
Distribution: LN can have it, anyone else, ask first.
Notes: Look! It's my next Zelwingy fic! I finally got off my ass and wrote something! Look! It was actually inspired by LN's Plotbunny Grab Bag! Look! I wrote Look! 4 Times already. Can't you just TELL that it's 1:30am?
"Master?" The boy approached the old man with some trepidation.
Rallac, his master, was a powerful wizard and though he seemed torpid and mildly tempered the boy had seen too many of the others die at his hand. He never disturbed him unless it was really important.
"Yes?" Rallac asked of his servant, not bothering to look up from the tomb he was engrossed in.
This book had proven useful, much more so than any other in his vast collection upstairs. He'd been doing everything right-except one vital part. No wonder all his experiments had failed. He'd been missing the most important ingredient. Rallac sighed, there'd be no way of finding this material though. It was too rare, might not even exist at all.
He fingered the gemstone around his neck, the current source of his power and wondered how long it would last when he realized that the serving boy was still prattling at him.
"So they're on their way to the town." The boy finished his story.
Rallac cursed to himself. He hadn't been paying any attention. "Who's on their way to the town?"
That blasted little town below his mountain. He tolerated its presence only for the source of spirit life in it.
"Two strangers and a beast. One of the strangers has shamanic power. You told me to let you know if anyone with power was in the area. Have I done wrong Master?"
"No, boy." Once Rallac would have roused himself from his torpor to investigate a new person with anything resembling magic power. Often they feed him and his energy better then a normal human, but lately it had seemed less important then deciphering this strange book that he'd just come to possess.
It had practically fallen into his hands. A priest, wandering through the mountain-some pilgrimage no doubt- had dropped it, frightened at running into one of the ghouls that guarded Rallac's mansion.
"The gypsy man I spoke to said they were strange, or that one was. Called him a Chimera!" The boy offered, emboldened by his Master's words.
"A what?" Rallac sat straight up, dropping the precious book from his lap. He turned to the boy and grabbed him by both arms in an unnaturally strong grip. "Say that again!"
"A Chimera! The one who seems to be a shaman, he's a Chimera!" The boy cried out, desperate to know what he'd done wrong. "Master please! I didn't know it would upset you."
"Upset me! This pleases me! Pleases me greatly." The possibilities ran through Rallac's mind almost faster then he could grasp them.
He heard something rattle and felt the boy go limp in his hands.
The noise and weight distracted him and he glanced down. In his excitement he'd shaken the boy to hard. Snapped his neck. Damn, and that was the last one of his human servants too. He'd have to go out and take more from the town.then again, if this worked. If the book were correct, he'd never need another human servant again.
But for now.the old wizard looked down at the young lad in his hands. For now, he'd take what power he could. Reaching into the boy's chest Rallac's hand passed through the flesh and grabbed the heart. White energy, the essence of the boy flowed up his arm and into the stone around his neck. Rallac closed his eyes, tipping his head back, tasting the boy. Too soon.over to soon. He'd been young, there wasn't much to feed him. Certainly not as much as he'd been used to.
Rallac dropped the body and let it lie where it fell.
Walking right towards him was the last piece of the puzzle he'd been working on for so long. He bent to pick up the book, marked his page, and left it on the table.
A Chimera, walking right towards him. And all that was missing from his spell, a chimera's blood.
~TAG!~
"AH!" Zelgadis fell over, face first in the dirt as he was pounded on from behind by a twenty-pound dragat.
~You're it!~ Zelwingy bounced away; completely oblivious to the damage he'd just done to his adopted parent.
"Doesn't. He. EVER. Stop?" Zel asked through a mouthful of dirt.
"I don't think so. He's bouncier then Amelia." Gourry laughed helping Zel up.
"Ugh. Again with that name, I thought I told you that name was not allowed around me." Zel said, standing up and brushing himself off.
~You tagged Mommy?~ Zelwingy tipped his head to one side, ears pricked up. ~Mommy's it?~
"Yes, Zelwingy, Mommy's it." Zelgadis said, "SO RUN!"
Zel took off running down the road leaving a stunned Gourry staring after him.
~FUN!~ Zelwingy bounded after his Daddy, wings partially out for balance.
"HEY!" Gourry shouted, taking off after them.
Zelgadis veered off the path into the underbrush on the side, hoping to find a hiding spot.
The last thing he remembered as he crouched under the boughs of a pine tree waiting to see if either Gourry or Zelwingy found him was how odd it was that a pine tree could smell so much like something rotting.
"I can't find him." Gourry admitted. "Looks like you're IT or we'll never get to town and eat."
Gourry looked up at the cat, who predictably had scrambled up a tree so that his Mommy couldn't tag him.
The dragat actually snorted. ~You ALWAYS want to eat.~
Nevertheless, he glided down from his branch and started to nose about the road. Trotting back and forth he scanned the area with his nose- the one reason his parents could never beat him at hide and seek.
Gleefully merowing when he found Zelgadis's trail he bounded into the brush.
Gourry sighed as he followed. "Don't you EVER walk?"
~No.~
They'd wandered through the overgrowth for a while. Long enough for Gourry to start thinking that Zelwingy'd lost the trail when the cat suddenly arched his back and hissed.
The dragon/cat half-breed hissed so hard he spat a small mouthful of fire.
"What is it?" Gourry was instantly on the guard, half drawing his sword.
~BAD SMELL! BAD BAD BAD WRONG SMELL!~
If Zelwingy was upset enough to breath fire and shout at the top of his mental voice Gourry had good reason to worry. He drew his sword and started scanning the area around them for the cause of the little one's distress.
~Bad smell.Bad Man. Bad Man with Daddy's smell! Spell Smell!~
Zelwingy danced around the spot he scented, with his claws out and his wings spread all the way out.
"Someone's taken Zelgadis? Why? How.Nevermind. Can you track them? We HAVE to get Zel back!" Gourry wasn't going to worry about the why when the recovery was much more important.
~Oh yes. I can track them.~ Zelwingy narrowed his eyes and growled deep in his throat.
Nose to the ground, wings in the air, Zelwingy trotted off determinedly leaving Gourry to pace after him.
Zelgadis's head was POUNDING! Like a thousand gnomes setting off explosions in his brain. What the hell happened to him? And why couldn't he move?
"No, no. You can't wake now, I'm not ready!" He heard a voice say with surprise. "Sleep a while longer friend, sleep for Rallac, hm?"
Zel felt his brain get stabbed one more time and then everything was dark again.
"Stronger then I thought." Rallac mused to himself. "Well, so much the better then. Perhaps that will lend strength to his spell. Everything was in preparation, except the tools needed for the extraction of the final ingredient. It had been ridiculously easy to snare this one. Ridiculously.
What grown Shaman place tag with his bodyguard? Absurd! Still, it had made it much easier for his ghosts to swarm in and take him. Must be grateful for the little gifts life gives you, oh yes. Grateful.
Gourry crouched at the basement-level window. It'd taken Zelwingy two hours to trace the "bad wrong smell." He'd lost the scent twice and to the dragat's own surprise had only reclaimed it when he'd taken to the air. That did not bode well. Zel wasn't just being carried over land. Something was lifting him up-fifteen feet in one spot- into the air. Gourry didn't like what that implied.
The trail had lead to this old manor house. More of a fortified castle then a home, the whole place gave Gourry the creeps. There was absolutely no one around. The bushes he'd crawled through to get to this lookout spot had left any of his exposed skin scratched and irritated. The big man ignored it. Small hurts were unimportant to the task at hand. Zelwingy sat on his shoulder, purring into his ear. It was an oddly comforting sound.
The madman had Zelgadis strapped to a slanted table with welded iron bars. Those were going to be a pain in the ass to get off. Ah well, nothing Gorn Nova couldn't handle. The wizard didn't appear to have any defenses. So far this had almost been too easy. No guards, beasts, or traps magic or otherwise. That made the hair on the back of his neck crawl.
Who was this guy that he can kidnap someone in broad daylight-in front of witnesses- and be so unconcerned about retaliation? That either bespoke someone truly insane-or truly powerful and confident in that power.
~Get Daddy now?~ Zelwingy chirped in his mind.
~No, not yet. I have to study this a bit.~ Gourry thought back. Over the past couple of months, traveling away from the Temple of Horses, Gourry and Zelgadis had found that as long as they were in physical contact with Zelwingy they could talk back to him in mind-speech. Useful at times like this.
~Study? Mommy doesn't study. Mommy swordfights!~
Gourry allowed himself a small smile for the pride he heard in his adopted son's voice.
~What's to study? I go in, go open door for you. Bad man will *never* see me.~ Zelwingy asserted.
~I don't know, I don't like risking you like that. What if the door's booby-trapped?~ Gourry hesitated.
~Piff.~
Where HAD he picked up that? He said it an awful lot lately.
~I'm not my Purrmommy's Eldest Child for nothing you know.~
Gourry looked at the little kitten, belatedly reminding himself that his son wasn't the small two month old kit he'd found all that time ago. Nearly a full year in age, Zelwingy was a little larger then a normal housecat but smaller then a Bobcat. Full grown he would be the size of a small pony, like his mother Amayanice The Night-Bringer. Though his body showed his growth he really only had the mind equivalent to a 9 or 10 year old human child. Sometimes Gourry wondered about that, moments like this made him wonder what was REALLY going on inside Zelwingy's mind.
~Are you certain you can get past him without being detected?~ Gourry decided to trust the dragat. If Zelwingy believed he could do something, he could. Belief was nine-tenths of doing.
~Yes! Oh Yes! Let me go Mommy! I wanna help.~
~All right, go then, before I change my mind.~
Before Gourry could caution him further Zelwingy dropped to the ground, folding his red wings in tight across his back.
He didn't have to worry, young he might be, but Zelwingy is still half cat and cats know how to slink. That means he'd better get back to the front of the castle-like building so he'd be there when Zelwingy opened the door.
Zelgadis watched Rallac out of the corner of his eye. No point in letting the lunatic know he was awake yet.
"You can stop faking, your breathing changed I know you're awake."
Well so much for that.
Seeing no point to feign unconsciousness any longer, Zel opened his eyes and studied this wizard openly. Having no chance to gather covert information Zel decided to go about it more directly.
"So why did you decide my company was necessary for you?"
"Trying to get me to talk huh? Won't work." Rallac said.
Zel blinked. Aren't all evil villains supposed to spill their guts so that the handsome hero could use them against the villain in a dashing, daring escape? Zel shook his head. What the hell was he thinking? He was starting to sound like Amelia. Involuntarily he shuddered.
Rallac caught the movement from Zel and mistook it for fear.
"Well, at least you have the good sense to be afraid of this." Rallac held up a slim metal tool with a small wheel at the end of it.
"You want me to be afraid of a pizza cutter?" Zel asked puzzled.
"No fool, a diamond cutter, dipped in diamond dust to strengthen it. This should be enough to cut through that thick hide of yours to give me what I need."
Zel raised an eyebrow, "Just what of mine do you need that you're willing to go through the expense of using a diamond cutter and diamond dust?"
"Well, since screaming is likely the only conversation I'll get out of you in a little while I might as well let you talk now." Rallac turned on the hydraulic pump that ran the cutter. The blade whirled to life with a high- pitched buzzing that defiantly worried the chimera.
"From you my friend will come the blood I need to create my life's work."
"A coffee-table book?"
"No flippant one, a sorcerer's stone."
"You're mad."
"Quite possibly." Rallac agreed readily. "But soon I will be mad and immortal. Your golem and demon blood will insure that."
"A sorcerer's stone? It's a myth!" Zelgadis shook his head to clear it
A white, gray and red form slipped between the bars on the window. Zelwingy? No! He'll be caught!
"There is absolutely no truth that a stone can make you immortal. No magical amulet or gazing crystal could do such things." Zelgadis kept Rallac's attention on him.
"A year ago I would have agreed with you. Six months ago I would have, but two weeks ago I came into the possession of a Grimorium written by one of the greatest Sorcerer Priests ever. And he had figured out what all the other's had lacked in their spells."
Rallac came closer to Zel with his spinning diamond drill.
"The Blood of a Chimera. An immortal's blood to feed the power infused in the gemstone."
Zelwingy crept along the wall and out of the room without Rallac ever noticing him.
Zell however, had more serious things to worry about then why his son had crawled down the wall and out of the room. Things like a saw dipped in diamond dust.
~I'm on a mission. I'm on a mission. Bah, bah, bah-da bump.~ Zelwingy sang to himself as he trotted through the halls towards the front of the mansion.
Zelwingy knew that his Daddy had seen him when he came in, and distracted the Bad Man so that he could get out of the room. He knew his Daddy would. His Daddy was smart. With any luck, his Mommy would be at the front door so Zelwingy could open it. His Mommy would beat the ever-loving tar out of the Bad Man and rescue Daddy. Then they'd do that mushy cooing stuff that's BORING and he'd go hunt a rabbit or something much more fun.
Yep, Zelwingy had it all planned out. Right up until he saw the heavy oak bar spanning the door, four feet above his height. Zelwingy looked around. No guards, not a single scent of anyone else in this place besides Daddy and the Bad Man.
~I guess it's safe.~ Zelwingy thought, sitting down.
Flaring his wings to their full span, his yellow eyes glowed with an unnatural light. The dragat grew and grew, expanding to what would be his full adult height. Eyes still glowing with a golden yellow aura, the dragat stood, took the bar in his now Saber-like teeth and lifted it easily. Padding softly to one side he laid the heavy bar down. Turning back to the heavy wooden door, Zelwingy carefully took the latch in his mouth and pulled, backing up as he opened the door so that he stood behind it.
His Mommy cautiously walked in.
"Zelwingy?" He whispered.
A flash of yellow light behind the door caught Gourry's attention. Taking the door in one hand he began to shut it behind him.
Behind the door sat Zelwingy, wings flared and eyes bright.
~Hi Mommy! I told you I could open the door!~ Zelwingy flapped his wings, launching his small body into the air and down the hall. ~This way!~
Gourry looked at the latch on the door. It was cast from weighted wrought iron. The thing looked heavy enough for him to move it, how on earth did that little cat?
~Mommy! Come On!~ Zelwingy sent back.
"Coming." Gourry whispered, just as he caught sight of the oak bar on the floor to one side.
Zelwingy had moved that? No.not possible, it must have already been there. Must have. He trotted after the dragat.
"AHHHH!"
The saw cut into his chest, spraying little chips of granite into the air.
It was the first incision, it hurt but it didn't make him bleed.
"Why? Why from there? The skin's thicker there, why not from a finger or something?" Not that Zelgadis wanted to give Rallac ideas, but as long as he was talking and explaining the wizard wasn't drilling!
"Heart's Blood, idiot. You call yourself a Shaman? I can't believe you don't know the value of Heart's Blood." Rallac said pausing.
Zelgadis's eyes flew wide open. Gourry was right behind the wizard! He was saved!
Gourry moved to bring his sword down on the old man and was stopped.
CLANG!
Metal on metal, that's what it sounded like. The swordsman was thrown backwards and into Rallac's worktable.
"Gourry!" Zelgadis screamed. He struggled futilely against the iron bands that held him in place on the bench.
Rallac sighed. "You really shouldn't have done that. Now I reckon you've made them mad."
"Them? Who's them? This whole place is empty old man! Your magic shield can't keep me out forever. Wizards get tired, all I have to do is outlast you." Gourry said, wiping a small trail of blood off his mouth. He stood and braced himself with his sword up in front.
"My servants of course. You don't think an old man like me could possibly keep a big house like this one in good shape without help?" Rallac laughed, his mild manner becoming demonic as he raised his hands into the air.
Wisps they were. Thin puffs of smoke. Smoke that grew darker and more solid with every second. They were everywhere! Taking on the shape of people, Gourry realized, the ghosts of people this man's killed.
He couldn't fight ghosts with a normal sword. Thankfully though, he didn't have one.
Moving himself away from the wreckage of the worktable he'd landed on, Gourry sheathed his sword, loosening the bolt that held the steel blade onto the scabbard.
"Giving up? Wise of you. My servants won't hurt you unless you try to hurt me, or rescue your friend here." Rallac, thinking him easily cowed and defeated turned back to his grisly work.
"Giving up? Nah, that's not me. I rarely ever do anything wise!" Gourry drew his sword once more shouting the phrase that would transform it. "LIGHT COME FORTH!"
Gorn Nova blazed with white energy as Gourry leapt towards the first ghost. No point in waiting to be attacked.
Rallac was stunned, this.dumb idiot wielded a weapon like that?!? Impossible!
The wizard dropped his cutter and threw his hands up into the air. They glowed white with power as he feed more strength into his ghouls.
Zelgadis watched helplessly as Gourry sliced through one creature, burning it into nothingness only to have Rallac replace it. Where was he getting all these spirits? How many did he have?
Zel watched Rallac repeal another direct attack by Gourry, but his shielding flickered. The gemstone hanging around the old man's chest flicked with it.
That stone.that's the key to his power. He's a lich. He eats the spirits of people, stores their essence inside that stone so he can feed whenever he needs the strength. He must have been around for centuries to have so many of his victim's ghosts to command.
"Gourry! The stone on his neck! Get rid of it and you get rid of the ghosts! It'll cut his power!" Zelgadis shouted.
Gourry made no motion that he'd heard, concentrating on not being swarmed over by the wraiths screaming in his ears and pulling his hair and clothing.
Zelgadis lost sight of the big man entirely as he went under the hoard.
Fixing his eyes back on Rallac he realized that the wizard didn't have his shield up. He must only be putting it up when directly confronted. Wise way to save magical power, the shaman had to admit.
Zel cast his eyes back and forth from the now black cloud of spirits surrounding Gourry to Rallac. It looked hopeless, it looked.like a small gray and white body with red wings was sneaking up behind the old man! Zel tried hard not to choke or cry out to give Zelwingy away.
The dragat poised, wiggled his rear end and pounced! Claws digging into the man, and teeth sunk well into the fleshy part of Rallac's bottom, Zelwingy held on as the wizard lost his concentration and danced around, trying to shake him off.
"YE-OW!" Rallac howled in pain.
Zel thought that this was likely the first time in years anything has actually physically hurt the lich. To show his support, he started to cheer on his son.
"All right, Zelwingy! Get him! That's it! Show no mercy!"
Zel heard a roar from the cloud of spirits and drew his worried eye back to it.
Gourry burst forth in a conflagration of white light.
Zelwingy let go of Rallac's bottom and dropped to the floor, out of kicking range as the wizard focused his attention back on the swordsman.
~MINE!~ Zelwingy shouted into everyone's mind. The dragat had taken a flying leap into the air, snatching the gemstone from around the lich's neck. Madly pumping his red wings, he flew clear out of the room with it. ~Bah, bada, bum, bada, bump.~
Zel looked after Zelwingy puzzled. What the hell was he singing?
"That makes my life easier." Gourry said.
Rallac never knew what hit him.
Gorn Nova slid through the man like a warm knife through butter. Withdrawing the sword, Gourry paused long enough to watch Rallac die, crumbling to dust as he should have centuries ago.
Leaving the Sword of Light unsheathed, Gourry made his weary way over to Zelgadis.
~Over?~ The little piping voice asked.
"It's over." Gourry told him.
~Good.~ Zelwingy flapped back into the room, carrying the gemstone in his mouth. Landing on top of the table Zelgadis was bolted down to, the dragat dropped the stone. ~That man tasted bad.~
"He was a lich-a dead thing that ate the souls of people to seem alive.~ Zelgadis explained.
"What did he want with you? Besides carving his initials into your chest?" Gourry asked.
"He didn't!" Zel looked down only to realize Gourry was teasing him. Shooting the blond an irritated glance he answered, "He thought he found a spell to create a sorcerer's stone. And that it needed Chimera blood."
~This a sorcerer's stone.~ Zelwingy pawed the stone he'd stolen from Rallac's neck.
"That is? Then why?" Gourry was cut off before he could finish his question.
~Failed, failed. Not immortal, not all the way. Has a shelf life. Failed, like all those others.~ The dragat flicked an ear toward a metal bookcase with piles of similar rocks on them.
"He's been trying to make these things for dragons only know how long. He said he came into the possession of a book that told him how to do it correctly only two weeks ago. Our bad luck for being in the area." Zelgadis said. "Now, are you going to get me down or not? My arms are getting stiff like this!"
"Really? Is that all?" Gourry asked, leaning over Zel on the table.
"Cute, Gourry, real cute, now cut me loose." Zel said.
"Don't I get a reward for saving you?" Gourry teased.
"Gourry!"
Zelwingy sighed. There they go again with the mushy BORING stuff! The cat jumped off the table and trotted out of the room. They'd be at that for a while might as well go and find some water or a nice rabbit or ANYTHING to wash out the taste of the dead guy from his mouth. UGH! That was the last rear end he'd be biting for a long while!
He paused long enough on his way out of the room to examine the table his Mommy had crushed. Something on it smelled familiar. Like.hmmm.
He nosed around till he found it, half tucked under a board. A book. This must be the book his Daddy said the Bad Man had. Zelwingy sniffed it deeper. Yep, he knew this scent. The Bad Man must have stolen it. Well, he could return it while his parents were being mushy.
Picking the book up gently in his mouth, the dragat trotted from the room, ignoring the noises his folks were making. Unky Xelly would be happy to have his book back. He'd give Zelwingy ear scratches for returning the book the Bad Man stole.
The End.