Chapter Four: Pinocchio
Sylphiel cooks for all of them using the materials left from the previous food deliver, but the priestess quickly realizes that with Pokota, Lina and Gourry's appetite they will barely have enough food for dinner and breakfast the next day. As they gather around the meal table in an elegant dining room Lina attempts to piece together what little information she has collected thus far. The table is in the center of the room with two large fire places on either side. On the outside wall, long narrow windows reach two stories up with a hallway leading to various studies that overlook the exquisite table. In a couple of minutes time Lina is ready to share her thoughts with the rest of her companions.
"Alright, thanks to last night's attack I was able to glean some new information." Lina says between mouthfuls of delicious food. Everyone is accounted for, with the exception of Zelgadis. He takes his meals in his room apparently and Lina only vaguely hears Filia mention his request that no one goes to the room. "The seven beast men were in charge of protecting 'a key'. I am almost positive that this key is Sylphiel. Whoever this person is that Chezem and Ditle are fighting, wants to use Sylphiel. Who knows maybe she can unlock something. Am I right so far Pokota."
The green young man toy only glares at Lina and continues to eat his meal.
"He isn't allowed to tell anyone the truth, didn't mother tell you lady?" Val says as he glares at Lina. For some reason he enjoys toying with Lina in his child like manner. "He can only lie." Val says in a way that makes Lina look like the stupid one.
Cute kid, Lina thinks as she sighs, "Well, I can live with that I guess which brings me to my next point. . ."
"You like to talk a lot," Val says interrupting Lina and offering her a slight glare.
"Val, please be polite," Filia says calmly to her son. "You shouldn't talk to Lina Inverse like that."
In shock Val begins to study Lina intently. "She's Lina Inverse?" Val says nearly standing from his seat. "But you said that she was a monster!"
Everyone at the table sucks in their breath and glances inconspicuously in Lina's direction. Meanwhile Lina has successfully bent her fork over at a ninety degree angle.
"I'm a what now Filia?" Lina asks through clenched teeth.
Before Filia can answer Val continues. "Mother says that if I do something bad the monster beast 'Lina Inverse' will punish me."
Everyone's face, except for Lina's, dawns in realization at what Filia is doing in order to raise her son. Apparently, in order to discipline her son, Filia will sometimes use the threat of 'Lina Inverse' to make Val behave.
Lina is not thrilled.
"Lina, please try to understand," Filia says as she stands from her seat. "You can be . . . dangerous at times and I'm sure that if Val ever does something naughty you would do the right thing and be strict with him. Not hurting him of course but . . ."
"But mother, she's no monster," Val says placing his hands on his hips. "She just a little girl whose really annoying."
At this point Lina has had enough and proceeds to scare the child out of his mind as she pulls him by the ear threatening to spank him. No one comes to Val's defense. They don't need to, Lina doesn't do anything extreme to the child. It is a little known fact that Lina has a soft spot for kids, even the annoying ones.
When the punishment is over Lina makes her way to her seat as Val attempts to remain composed. "Val you must be polite," Filia says softly to her son offering him a hug.
"Yeah, okay," he says softly.
Clearing her throat Lina attempts to start where she left, before she was so rudely interrupted.
"Now where was I," Lina says. "Oh right, Pokota's little curse is proof of this theory. The monsters have put serious limitations on us. Forcing us to do what they want including doing the heinous crime of taking my magic away from me." This is one of the points that is frustrating Lina the most. Her freedom is gone, but as long as Lina is helping her friends she can bare it. Nonetheless, the fact that someone is purposefully screwing with their strengths and weaknesses is crossing the line. She wants to put a face to the cause of her pain so she can hit them.
"But they are also protecting Sylphiel, so they can't be all bad." Gourry says.
"But they're monsters!" Amelia says. She is desperately trying to finish all of the food placed before her before someone takes it from her. While she may be small, her magical pool hasn't changed at all. Lina takes this opportunity to bring up her next point.
"I'm pretty sure this is a battle between two different sects of Mazuko, it would explain the strange regulations they are placing on us. Monsters have a horrible sense of humor sometimes." Lina says. The sorceress is nearly positive that she is right on this matter, but other than that she is at a loss. "I hate to say it, but I wish Xellos would show up with that stupid grin of his." The room goes nearly silent if not for Filia.
The dragon maiden nearly jumps in her seat at hearing Xellos's name; she begins to fiddle her hands together under the table in discomfort playing with the loose threads on the table clothes embroidered rim. In defeat she nods her head and proceeds to leave the table.
"I'll be right back." Filia quietly says. When she returns Filia is carrying a fist sized crystal ball. Carefully she places it on the table and it miraculously doesn't roll away. Like a small bead of water the ball remains glued to the cream colored table cloth glistening in the afternoon sun.
"This is Xellos," Filia simply says. Everyone glances at the orb, then at Filia, and back to the orb again. It does not compute.
No seat remains upright as everyone jumps up, screaming "What!" Even Sylphiel reacts with the same disbelief.
"That can't be Xellos," Lina says as she points to the small orb in front of them. When pigs fly and cows jump over moons, that's when Xellos would turn into a fortuneteller's crystal ball. The world really has gone insane.
"It's true," Filia says. "I don't know how it happened, but Xellos has somehow been sealed inside this glass orb."
"He has promised me three wishes," Val says as he carefully picks the crystal item up. "Unfortunately I already used one of my wishes, so I only have two left." He can't help but look at the situation as if his glass is already half empty, it's just in his nature. And he's still recovering from his bout with Lina.
"Right," Lina says, this just keeps getting better and better. "So what was your first wish then?" Lina crosses her arms. She isn't sure whether to take this seriously or not, but after living like this for a week she is just about ready to believe most anything. After all she can't simply write this all off as a dream.
It isn't a dream.
"I asked him to show anything and everything to anyone who asked," Val replies with a mischievous grin dancing on his lips.
"Alright than," Lina tries to gently take the orb from Val, but the boy stubbornly refuses to let go. It's only after Filia gives Val a quick nudge and a glare from Lina that he reluctantly relinquish the item.
Lina clears her throat and proceeds to put Val's story to the test. "Xellos show me the cute cottage we just came from," Lina asks.
On command the orb shows Lina what once was Sylphiel's cottage. The mangled bodies of beast men now smolder in front of the black ashes of the house. Sylphiel and Amelia gasp and try to look away, but they don't because it is so shocking. Sylphiel's lower lip trembles, she cared about the seven beast men. They treated her with kindness and respect. "Show me who is responsible," Lina continues; she doesn't want to force Sylphiel to watch the gruesome image.
The next image displays Rezo the Red priest. At this moment the priest appears to be searching the forest for something. The priest's search is methodical and keen, but the most sticking thing about him is the fact that his eyes are open instead of closed. Lina knows instantly that this can't be the real Rezo, most likely he is just a ghost like Gioconda and the others. The only difference is that Rezo actually did some damage. Perhaps their enemy is getting stronger, which is not a comforting thought.
"Show me our enemy," Lina asks.
The orb remains clear and shows nothing.
"Show me your enemy," Lina clarifies.
Still the orb keeps quiet at first but then begins to show moving words dancing around the surface of the glass. They are black words that seem to drip into a pool at the bottom of the orb, collecting in a miry soup. Lina attempts to read the words, but she cannot make out the letters clearly. Eventually the black words completely cover the inside, making it impossible to see anything.
Lina can imagine that this may be Xellos's new method of saying "that is a secret."
Nearly chucking the stupid Xellos onto the floor, Lina is only stopped by Filia as Val carefully plucks the orb back from Lina's right hand. The truth is that Xellos can't be broken by sheer force, but no one at this table knows this. For now he appears to be a defenseless and fragile crystal, but things are never as they appear in this story.
"He may not know who the enemy is," Filia says, for once she actually feels sorry for the Mazoku priest. In her mind Xellos fate has been cruelly altered, even more so than her own. At least she has Val and all of her magic is still intact. Xellos might as well be jell-o when compared to what he once was.
"You're actually defending him?" Lina says.
Filia says nothing at first, but her face soon turns a deep shade of red as her tail pops out from underneath her. "I am not defending him!" Filia says through clenched teeth. "I was just . . ." She pauses as she tries to figure out a plausible excuse for Lina and herself. "I was merely stating another possibility." Filia convinces herself that this is the real reason for her concern.
"Sure, whatever you say," Lina says. She settles back into her seat and places her arms behind her head. "Who am I to argue with a hot headed dragon who thinks I'm a monster?"
Filia scrunches her face at Lina, but decides to not honor Lina with meaningless bickering. She stands and proceeds to clear the dishes from the table, Val and Sylphiel begin to help her. Lina ignores Filia and continues to think about Xellos's new crystal form.
"Why did you go and say something like that Miss Lina," Amelia asks, interrupting Lina's thoughts. "You are being awfully rude to someone we haven't seen in such a long time."
"I can't help it Amelia, it was just too easy," Lina says. "I haven't felt this good in days!"
"Maybe Lina is actually a monster who feeds off of negative emotions," Pokota laughs. While Lina begins to hit at Pokota like he's her personal punching bag, she cools her head and then realizes how much fun she is having. She hasn't had the opportunity to banter and hit people in a long time, all in the same day too, which is an add bonus. "Hey Filia, while we're having fun in here, who's outside guarding this place?" Lina asks as she stops mid blow with Pokota.
"Zelgadis is still guarding," Filia says as she leaves the room with a handful of dishes. She is trying her best to give Lina the cold shoulder. Of course Lina doesn't let it bother her.
"Wow, he must be tired," Amelia says as Gourry nods in agreement.
"That means we better be prepared to help out, so we should get plenty of rest," Gourry says.
"I suppose your right," Amelia says sadly. She is hoping to see Zelgadis again, but it looks like she won't have such luck today.
"I'm sure you'll get to see him soon, Amelia," Gourry says as he tries to comfort his tiny companion. The two have been though a lot over the last week fighting ghosts together and he knows how much Amelia cares about Zelgadis. "If you want we could go out and look for him." Gourry suggests.
"No, that's alright Mister Gourry. I can wait," Amelia says, as she tries to convince herself that she can in fact wait.
That evening, after everyone settles down for the night, Lina goes off to find Xellos again. Lina isn't about to go to sleep when all of her questions are so close to being answered. Through evil dictator's domination, rain, draught and world destruction, nothing can stop Lina when she has her mind set. Even Shabranigdo can't stop Lina, the only thing that can ever hold her back is herself.
Meanwhile Lina amuses herself with Xellos's little predicament. She finds it hilarious that Xellos is trapped inside a glass ball. In glee she imagines all of the torment she can cause him in his new pathetic form. Searching high and low Lina scours every floor of the palace. The halls are full of elegant paintings and tapestries. Each image tells a story, a fairy tale to be exact. If Lina wants to glimpse the future she can find it in these mysterious drawings. But Lina is focused on finding Xellos and is not interested in analyzing and critiquing art work. The rooms and halls are also very drafty, which makes Lina move briskly from one room to the next. She is glad that she still has her red cloak with her to help suppress the cold's bite. In her exploration Lina finds Val's room, but is disappointed when she realizes that the crystal ball isn't in the young dragon's possession.
The little red head is about to call it a night when she stumbles into a master suit. There is a master bed in one corner with heavy drapes pulled around it. Along the corner of the room is an elaborate set of tall glass windows, stretching out with a balcony, hugging them and looking out into the night sky. The most noticeable feature to the room though is a large magical circle carved into the wood floor. It isn't a simple painting, but actually engraved into the timber planks beneath her. Scattered around on tables are piles of book, papers, and other such research material. Lina ignores the paper work and begins to follow the embroidered design with her finger, as she does the image begins to glow around her. It takes her breath away, but before she can fully appreciate it's wonder, beams of light shoot out between the cracks in the drawing and grab at her hands and feet.
The beautiful circle seems to come alive.
"Hey! What's going on!" Lina screams as her body begins to sink into the magic circle. "Fireball!" Lina cries, but only realizes too late that she is a normal human girl, with no way to magically protect herself. But Lina doesn't give up and she doesn't scream. Lina only screams when she absolutely feels the need to. The stubborn sorceress begins to punch, jab, and kick at the tentacles of light targeting her. With only her left arm remaining above the wood floor she attempts to grab at something, anything, that can possibly lift her out of this blinding light. Abruptly a rough hand grabs her wrist just in time and yanks her out of the cursed floor, nearly ripping her arm from its socket.
Lina lets out a gasp of pain as she tumbles to the ground as another hard form tumbles with her.
"You idiot!" A rough voice hoarsely says as it kneels at her side turning to face the circle of light. He gathers his strength and recites a spell to calm the magic erupting from the floor. "Time which has passed, be called back once more." He says and the room returns to normal with the engraved magic circle slumbering once again. "What are you doing in my room! Didn't Filia tell you not to come here?" The man says as his glowing blue cat like eyes glare down at Lina.
"Zel? Is that you?" Lina asks as she rubs her throbbing shoulder. It sounds like Zelgadis and she only hazily remembers Filia warning about entering Zelgadis's room. Lina tries to study the form next to her, but it's too dark. Is it really Zelgadis?
"In the flesh, more or less," Zelgadis says as he begins to cast a healing spell on Lina's shoulder. Even with the faint light emitting from Zelgadis's healing spell Lina can only make out the outline of his rocky chin and a monstrous form beyond it. Now Filia's words about Zelgadis begin to click in her mind. Apparently Chezem, or some other Mazoku, tampered with his appearance again.
"What was that!" Lina says as she points her good hand at the magic circle, ignoring Zelgadis's skin condition. She figures that it is best not to bring his appearance up right now, besides she is more concerned about the floor that almost swallowed her whole.
"It's what I'm here to protect." Zelgadis calmly says. "I could sense that something was wrong."
"I see," Lina says quietly as she sits cross legged in front of Zelgadis. He finishes up the healing spell and makes his way towards the balcony. "So you don't need Filia's hair to leave this place do you?"
At first it looks as if Zelgadis isn't going to answer, but he quietly says, "yes" stopping in the middle of the room
"And what's your story?" Lina says as she begins to pry Zelgadis for answers.
Zelgadis sighs and curses under his breath, he isn't going to get out of this. Lina is prepared to leap onto Zelgadis back if she has to in order to make him answer. Hasn't Lina bothered enough people today? The answer is no.
"The ghost of Rezo did this to me three weeks ago, I was charged by the monster Klide to guard and study the magic circle you see on this floor. As long as I stay in or near this castle my mind is free from insanity. But if I get too far, I turn into a mindless beast." He stops as Lina takes in his short story. "Satisfied?" Zelgadis asks.
"When am I ever satisfied, eh Zel?" Lina jokes as she gets to her feet. "I take it Klide is the name of the third monster that is working with Chezem and Ditle." Up to this point his name has been strangely absent from all of her clue hunting, it can't be just coincidence.
"Yes," Zelgadis says and makes his way towards the open window once again. "I need to get back to my watch; the ghosts have been quite restless today."
"Wait, before you go, do you know how we get out of this mess?" Lina says. She almost takes a step onto the magic circle, but hastily steps back.
"Don't worry, just don't touch the center and you'll be fine. Unfortunately I don't know much more than you. I've been able to piece some of the puzzle together with the help of Pokota. We were able to come up with a . . . system to help one another. But when it is all said and done, I don't know how to get out of this mess." Zelgadis says. Hastily he climbs over the balcony railing and falls down into the forest below.
Lina tries to get a look at him before he vanishes completely, but he is little more than a dark speck by the time she gets to the veranda. Instead of going straight to bed, Lina lights a candle, putting on her reading glasses and begins to look over some of Zelgadis's research. Maybe she will be able to catch something that Zelgadis missed. It is unlikely, but she tries anyway.
Apparently the magic circle has a trap spell of some kind protecting it. Anyone who tampers with it, risks becoming ensnared by the circle and trapped within its magical seal. From what Lina can figure out in Zelgadis's notes, the circle is holding something back, and that something isn't treasure. Most likely the seal is hiding a monster or other powerful being behind its bars. Whoever is sending the ghosts after Sylphiel and her other companions must want this circle. Somehow Chezem and his monster friends were able to round up the Slayers into this mess, but why? What do they have to do with this nonsense?
"Thought I might find you here, Zelgadis must be thrilled." Pokota says as he walks into the room with a light spell floating above his head. As long as Pokota keeps his phrases loose or sarcastic, he doesn't have to worry about his little truth curse.
"Hmmm," Lina get's an idea and turns towards Pokota. "Alright Pokota feel free to lie to me, I don't mind. Got it." Lina gives Pokota a wink.
He nervously shifts his eyes, but nods his head at her instructions. "Um, alright, sure." He was hoping to do some more research tonight, but now those plans are shot with Lina in the room. Without a doubt she will take up all of his time with needless questions.
"Do you know who our enemy it?" Lina asks.
"No," Pokota says.
"Who is it?"
Pokota bites his lip as he tries to figure out a way to lie about someone's identity while being clear. "Well, it isn't the ghost of Rezo, Phibrizzo, Gioconda, or Garv."
Dilgear is not mentioned among their enemies.
Lina smiles at Pokota's cleverness, time to let lose. "Alright who are they taking orders from, in other words who is the person that created them," Lina asks.
"I know that their creator is not a monster," Pokota is starting to get more comfortable with this game with Lina. He is finding it fun to lie on purpose, unlike a real lie, he doesn't feel guilty. This game also reminds him of the system Zelgadis came up with, but in that situation he used sarcasm to give the Chimera answers. In Pokota's humble opinion, being sarcastic is easier than cryptically lying.
"Doesn't he have a name?" Lina asks.
Pokota is once again forced to pause and think of a clear come back. "I- I do know the enemy's name, his name is . . ." Pokota just picks the first name that pop's into his head. "John, yeah his name is John."
Lina frowns, so Pokota doesn't know exactly who the villain is. But she doesn't give up. "Why are we involved," she asks instead.
"Chezem, Ditle, and Klide want to make their attack on the evil monster extremely obvious, so they are not using us to fight this enemy. They are not following orders from Xellos, and they most certain are not protecting us. Apparently we were not going to be involved with their interference against this enemy at all." Pokota gives Lina a crafty grin. He is on a roll and now it is Lina's turn to piece this nonsense together.
Lina figures that the three Mazoku companions are working undercover and don't want the unnamed enemy to know about them. Moreover Xellos is their leader and apparently Lina and the gang were going to be involved in this fiasco no matter what.
Such is destiny.
"Why did this enemy of the monsters choose us?" Lina asks as her heart tightens in a little knot. In any adventure Lina despises being used, destiny has no reign over her, she has a harness over her own destiny.
"It is not written down in these books," Pokota motions to the numerous books littered around the room. "Our names are not in them."
Eyes going wide Lina reaches for one of the books at random and skims through it. The name that happens to pop out in the story is Pokota's.
"What is this story about," Lina asks as she waves the book's cover in front of her green companions head.
Pokota crosses his arms slightly annoyed by Lina's reaction, her questions are starting to really get on his nerves and the bit of pleasure he has had purposefully lying to his rival is not enough to pacify him. Biting back all the distasteful remarks he can make at this moment Pokota stiffly answers her question.
"It is the story of a boy whose shrinks when he tells lies," Pokota says simply. "It is a true story."
"… you mean it's like a fairy tale," Lina says eyeing the books with renewed interest. Coming to the decision to read the story later, Lina tries to reach the point of all her questions.
"How do we get out of this mess," Lina finally asks.
"We hide and run away," Pokota says, with his short temper finally getting the best of him. The dark drapes slightly wave as a cold breeze flows into the room. This isn't enough information to Lina's liking and she makes her way to the window and closes it. The night air is much too cold tonight to allow for an open window. The castle is drafty enough as it is.
"Try to be a bit more specific." Lina says with little patience as she places her hand on her hip.
"Oh my, is the great Lina Inverse not at the top or her game tonight?" Pokota says as he mimics her stance and winks an eye. Lina glowers at the pipsqueak and tightens her hands into fists.
Pokota get's the picture and starts again.
"We don't fight, we don't defeat the leader of the ghosts, we don't destroy the magic circle, and we don't free Xellos. If we don't work together and don't use our curses we will not live." At this last statement he looks down at the ground, a grave expression threatens to work its way onto his face.
So the slayers have the task of actually helping the monster race for once, I guess it wouldn't be in a monsters nature to simply ask someone for help. After some thought Lina smiles and gives Pokota a thumbs up, "Thanks Pokota, you're a real help."
"Sure I am," Pokota says with sarcasm.
Lina smiles as she gently cradles the old book under her arm and leaves the room. She flashes the prince a victory sign, "Don't worry, I got this one in the bag." She makes her way to the other end of the castle to her room. Once there she skims through the story related in the musty book.
The book is a compilation of many shorter stories in which a living puppet endures many adventures. He is given a chance to become a real human boy if he does what is right. Every time the magical boy lies the puppet's nose grows, reminding him of what is wrong and right. As far as Lina can tell it is a simple fable, meant to teach a lesson and entertain people. But the simplicity dies when Lina reaches the ending. There are two endings that Lina finds. One relates how the puppet turns human after saving his adoptive father, but the other ending is much crueler. The puppet is hung on a tree and dies of suffocation. Rather than let the stories ending bother her she puts the book aside and forgets all about it.
After having a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast she is ready for anything and doesn't give the book much thought.
Now the only thing that would make her situation any better is to convince Val to use one of his wishes to restore her magic! Lina is in for a sharp disappointment. This fantasy only ends when a lesson is learned.
Authors Note: . . . sorry, I don't have anything to say really. I like the part with Zelgadis. Originally the part about Lina taking the book with her to bed wasn't included. I added it to help the plot along.