"I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which,
when you looked at it the right way, did not become still more complicated."
~Poul Anderson
Chapter 10. Complicated.
Sometimes words are not enough.
They both knew what he meant by going to her and what she meant by allowing it. There wasn't any pretense for them being together; there was no lie. Nothing was defined or confessed or decided.
Someday we're going to have to talk about this.
…But not tonight. Tonight I'd only say all the wrong things.
The moon had passed Filia's window by. It was hovering somewhere above the trees on the other side of the castle and giving some serious thought as to finding out what the other hemisphere was up to.
Xellos dressed in silence. Dawn hadn't yet made its lazy was into the sky, so it was still quite dark. There was the barest hint, however, that daylight might lie somewhere beyond the blackness. He picked up his cloak beside him on the bed and began to walk away.
…Or at least he tried to.
He turned around. Filia was sitting up on the bed. Her hand was outstretched and holding on to the other end of the cloak. Her expression was apologetic and defiant at the same time.
Filia, Filia.
"You know you don't want them to find me here," he said.
Filia looked as if she was struggling to find the right words to express what she wanted to say. Finally she said: "If you go then it'll all get complicated again."
Xellos let out a little laugh. "You mean to say this isn't complicated?"
Filia looked down thoughtfully for a moment, and then got out of the bed. She walked over to him, not loosening her grasp on the cloak for a moment. Xellos watched her with interest. The newly fading stars cast their meager light on her as she reached him. File the way her nightgown hung off of her under the category of 'intriguing'.
"Not now," she said, and kissed him in a rather enthusiastic way.
Well… there was still a little bit of time.
He'd just barely been able to escape. That woman had a remarkably strong grip. He'd only managed to disentangle himself from her arms minutes ago when she'd fallen asleep. Dawn had awoken the castle and he was taking pains to avoid meeting anyone on the way back from her room.
It's funny how things change, isn't it? Xellos thought with a small smile. His smile turned into a frown. And then change back.
That's right. Soon Lina would arrive and, without having to worry about being ambushed by enemies all the time, they'd finally be able to concentrate on actually fixing the situation. Everything would be sorted out then. It was almost a shame; things had just been getting good.
They'd get a divorce. Rules would have to be looked up and ministers would have to be summoned, but it would be done. He would return to the monster race, waving his hands in earnest and explaining how this marriage thing had all been a big hilarious mistake and how they would 'laugh, honestly' when they heard about it. No trouble though. It would all be done and dusted.
And it would probably work for him too. The powerful are able to get away with a lot more than the weak. As long as he reversed the situation, the higher-ups would have to be stubborn and foolish to the extreme to continue their campaign against him. They were neither, he knew. If they really left him with no way out and forced him to fight, he would lose eventually. Xellos was well aware of his own strength, but didn't quite like his odds against the entire monster race. He'd take significant numbers down though. They wouldn't take that loss over a mistaken marriage that had already ended.
They'd probably shake their fingers at him and tell him not to do it again, but he'd come out of this alright. He always did.
…But what would happen to Filia?
Well, she was basically doomed. He doubted very much that a divorce would make a significant amount of difference to the dragons. She'd attacked Eudor. She'd betrayed her race, and worse yet, she'd done it for him. They would never stop chasing her, and she'd never be able to stop running from them. She would lose her friends, her shop, her son, and any hope for the future: all because of a decision she probably didn't even think about before making.
It was going to happen. There was nothing he could do to stop it. If he made any move at all to assist her then it'd be like stabbing himself in the back. He couldn't very well say, "Whoops! Sorry about the marriage thing. Total accident. Don't worry, of course I still hate dragons!" and then shelter her. The monster race was, above all things, not stupid. If he stepped across that line again, he'd be right back on the most wanted list.
And no, it was not his fault that she was in this mess in the first place. She'd gone ahead and made that choice all on her own. He wouldn't even have considered blaming himself if they hadn't…
Well, anyway, he would have to go out on a limb to even have a chance of helping her. And it wouldn't even do either of them any good! Filia would be in just as much danger. The only difference would be that they'd be back in danger together.
He stopped and leaned against one of the palace walls, out of sight as a guard passed. He wasn't used to guilt and he already hated it; but if he thought that was bad then he wasn't at all prepared for the thought that dropped into his head like an ice cube down the back of a swimsuit.
If your story is really true then you won't mind killing the dragon woman just to set our minds at ease. Then we will call off our treason claims. It should be easy for you, shouldn't it? After all, she doesn't mean anything to you.
He smiled a pained smile. That would be very like them.
Well, well. That presents a completely different set of circumstances now doesn't it?
He scratched his cheek thoughtfully. There was a definite need for some contingency plans here. The problem is that when your plan A is abysmal, it's hard to count on plans B and C being any better. It would help if he had some idea what Filia was thinking. She probably didn't know either though. Complicated she'd said…
But he was starting to believe that he'd been looking at this whole thing the wrong way from the beginning. Well… we'll see what happens. And, if the time comes for action, we'll just roll the dice and hope like hell for sixes.
Breakfast was served at six a.m. on the dot. Some aristocrats like to take advantage of their rank to sleep in, but not Prince Phil. He believed in clean, healthy living; which basically meant getting up early and spending a lot of time outside. May he be forgiven for this attitude.
Knowing that they had guests, the cooks had made some extra pains to craft a splendid meal. These days, Seyruun's residents did their best to leave good impressions on everyone that passed through. The city got a lot of revenue out of tourism. Their efforts were wasted though, Amelia noted as she watched her guests. Xellos definitely looked somewhat agitated, his usual composure showing cracks around the edges. Filia was picking at her food in a groggy and discontented way. Amelia didn't know that these were sure signs that things were, once again, complicated, so she tried to cheer them up.
"Don't worry you guys," she said. "I'm sure Miss Lina will be along in a day or two. In the meantime, I've got some assistants looking in the library for books on Gruddi customs, so we can get this fixed as quickly as possible."
The glum cloud hanging around the room completely failed to dissipate, but Amelia was used to talking to Zelgadis so she was untroubled by this fact.
"And if any monsters or dragons try to attack before Miss Lina gets here," she put on a fierce expression, "I'm sure we can hold them off!"
Because Amelia had unintentionally invoked the inexorable law of poorly judged statements, it was at that exact moment that the east wall of the banquet hall blew up in a heavy shower of mortar dust and brick fragments. Out of the gaping hole in the architecture scores of lower-class monsters poured in, over their heads half a dozen dragons flew in, air currents billowing as they flapped their wings.
"Well, look who's decided to cooperate," Xellos commented impassively as the horde made their way through the wreckage. Screaming diners ran around flailing their hands in the air, this being the prescribed course of action for the situation at hand.
"What?" Filia said, scrambling out of her chair and getting out her mace.
"Before, they were having some trouble getting to us because they were fighting amongst themselves. It appears that at least for the moment they've put their differences aside to perform the shared goal of killing us." Xellos gave a bitter little smile. "It's almost inspiring, don't you think?"
What Filia answered back was overpowered by Amelia's shouts at the retreating diners. She'd gotten out a speaking trumpet that she might have made herself as it was poorly constructed out of papier-mâché. But with her naturally loud voice and the slight assistance from the megaphone she was getting the job of directing innocent bystanders out of the danger zone done.
Prince Phil stood up at his seat and slammed his mighty fists against the table, sending cutlery flying in various directions. "Invade my own castle?! I'm sorry, but even a man as devoted to peace as I am must defend his home and people when such an atrocity has been committed!"
Phil barreled his way into the melee, winding up his mighty villain-punching fist and roaring as he went. Zelgadis threw the first spell, an Elmekia Lance, at the demon at the head of the pack. Amelia was climbing up a column that had been damaged in the blast, so they'd probably end up hearing from her before too long. The battle had begun.
Xellos turned to Filia and said, "Leave the dragons to me," before abruptly disappearing.
That's right, Filia thought. They've obviously found us now and we're not planning on leaving, so there's no need for him not to use the astral side now. She braced herself. She and the others would have to take care of the monsters. She was glad not to be fighting alone.
Phil was punching out monsters left and right. As a normal human with no magic behind his attacks, he really shouldn't have been having any effect. But even still, the demons were edging away from him. It probably had something to do with the power of optimism. Zelgadis was keeping the monsters at bay with his magically-infused broadsword.
It was time she did her part too. She focused on a large group of demons heading her way. She chanted: "Anaku, Sarumu, Nataku, Sakumu," a weak flare arrow disintegrated against the spell shield, "Chaotic Disintegrate!"
Fwoom. A blue explosion of energy shot out from the center of the group and out.
Now that's how we do it.
The demons were scattered and obviously frustrated. Their true target was up in the air fighting dragons and therefore out of reach. The initial strategy employed here, as often was the case with the monster race, was to overwhelm with lesser opponents in large numbers and then send out the stronger foes when the marks get tired. The pawns made ready to fire a barrage of flare arrows…
…But had to stop because the girl had reached the top of the column and was pointing at them with her cape billowing in the wind in a posture reminiscent of a hero about to make a speech. There were certain guidelines that had to be followed after all.
"The dragons may serve the gods and the monsters may serve the dark lord," Amelia boomed, hopefully intending to go somewhere with this. "But today all I can see is that you're both on the side of evil! For what could possibly be more evil than interfering with the love between two people?"
Even from this distance Filia could see that Xellos was twitching madly. She simultaneously gritted her teeth and blushed. "Miss Amelia," she said sharply. "We are not—"
"I know," Amelia said, somewhat wistfully from her podium. "But it counts because for all they know you—"
A dragon sent a rebuking laser blast at her almost lazily, crumpling the column out from under her. Amelia screamed as she plummeted downward.
Filia heard Zelgadis say: "Goddamnit, not again," as he raced to outrun gravity. He had to dive, but he caught her.
"Are you alright, Amelia?" Phil shouted with an unfortunate imp in a full-nelson.
"I'm fine, daddy!" Amelia shouted back as Zelgadis helped her to her feet. She looked up at the dragons flying overhead and shook her fist. "Is that any way for the supposedly holy to behave?"
"Leave them to Xellos," Filia said before Amelia could launch a reprisal attack. She was worried. Sure, there were a lot of dragons outside, but there were certainly less of them than the monsters. Just by dint of size, only a certain amount of dragons could fit in the hall at one time. But the monsters didn't have that problem. They seemed to be replenishing their numbers with much more speed than she, Amelia, Zelgadis, and Phil could hack them down.
Amelia shot one more unpleasant look upward but nodded, beginning to chant another spell. "Elmekia Lance!" she shouted.
Filia groaned. They'd never beat all these monsters if they kept taking them on on a one-to-one level.
"Break!" Amelia finished, sending the lance splintering off toward multiple foes.
Yes. But Filia's celebration was short lived. The numbers kept pouring into the building. Sure, they were mostly lesser demons, or at least pretty darn low class, but they would eventually be able to overwhelm them by exhausting magical reserves alone. They needed something big to make a definitive strike…
Perhaps it was because Filia was concentrating so hard on the encroaching horde of demons that she failed to notice the dragon that had broken off of the pack focused on Xellos until the gust of its flapping wings nearly knocked her off her feet. She turned around. It was a very familiar dragon.
"I'm surprised to see you down here fighting the monsters," Eudor rumbled. "Aren't they your new friends now?"
Filia was quaking in fear, but there was something lurking beyond the fear, rising above it and overpowering it. It was rage – and it was growing.
"You don't know anything!" she shouted back. "If you'd just listened to me, if you'd made the slightest effort to understand what was going on, then we could've avoided all this bloodshed!" She glared at him, gripping her mace shakily. Blaming Eudor certainly had its perks.
Eudor surveyed her state with a condescending and thoroughly disgusted eye. "The only thing I don't understand is why you're not joining your lover in his murdering of our race. It's so clearly all you're cut out for, …Reichbelishk." He twisted the word in like a knife.
Before Filia could even open her mouth to respond, Xellos materialized into the air just a foot away from the dragon.
"You?!" the dragon shouted, backtracking automatically.
"You know," Xellos said, almost obscenely cheerfully, "technically, that is my wife you're talking about."
And that's when Eudor was impaled by a black spike, rocketing out from the astral plane. He didn't even have a chance to scream before he was gone. He fell to the ground with a thud that lifted clouds of dust into the air all around him.
Xellos watched Filia unfeelingly through the chalky haze. "If you feel the need to cry for him then you really are a little fool."
"I'm not crying for him," Filia growled back as she wiped a tear.
"Because you should know by this point that this is not a game," Xellos went on, not quite believing her.
"I know," she shot back. And she did now. She really did. "So stop wasting time down here with me."
Xellos watched her for a moment. Then, apparently satisfied, nodded curtly to her and vanished once more – back to fight the rest of the dragons.
Filia allowed herself a brief moment to look at the corpse of Eudor the Elder as Zelgadis and Amelia dazzled the demons with spells and Phil knocked heads together causing amusing coconut-based sound-effects. She hadn't lied to Xellos. She hadn't cried for Eudor. She wasn't sure when she'd realized that this wasn't… that it wasn't a situation that she could act only on her ideals. Xellos was right. It wasn't a game; it was war. And if, gods forbid, she had to run from her own people forever, the sooner she realized that the better.
She cried because it was horrible, but more because it was so unnecessary. There was an anger and a frustration behind that sadness that begged to be put to use. The dragons and the monsters. If only they hadn't been so… so… stubborn about this whole thing then none of this would've had to happen. If they'd only asked for an explanation in the beginning instead of barreling in with no plans but to kill, then it could've all been different. She wouldn't have been marked a traitor; she wouldn't have had to run; she wouldn't have started wishfully seeing things in Xellos that either weren't there or shouldn't be there; she wouldn't have attacked her own; she wouldn't have slept with Xellos; she wouldn't be struggling with the notion of life without him; Eudor wouldn't be dead.
She thumped a lesser demon that had been sneaking up on her on the head with her mace sending him sprawling to the ground. She felt a powerful urge to curse the monsters and the dragons. In a rare moment of insight she thought savagely that they deserved one another.
Well, I'm not going to run, she decided fiercely as the lesser demons closed in. I don't know what I'm going to do, she thought as Zelgadis shouted something about them figuring out an escape plan, but something's going to come along. Something's got to.
"Rune Flare!" someone shouted from behind her.
Fireworks whistled through the air in all directions, wounding the lesser-demons where they hit and scattering the few dragons left. The dramatic effect of the spell was greater than the actual firepower. It made a statement.
Filia turned around. There, silhouetted against the daylight of the west door was Lina Inverse, striking a spellcasting pose, Gourry at her side with a sword (a lesser sword than the sword of light, but still a sword) swung over his shoulder.
"All you dragons and monsters have thirty seconds to get out of here," she announced, pure confidence. "Or I will Dragon Slave this entire castle."