"I thought you were dead." Lina stated.
"Yes," the knight said, a hint of satisfaction underlying her voice, "I managed to leak that story right before I went to ground. By then the situation was completely out of control, unfortunately. Raltaak and Rashatt had pulled off an amazing campaign of misinformation that I didn't untangle it until it was too late.
"Still, I managed to salvage the situation by swiftly rounding up every powerful sorcerer and sorceress I could track down. Course I had to leave our folks to tough it out, but I knew they'd survive. Looks like we made it just in the nick of time, too."
"And you couldn't tell your own sister?" Lina snapped.
Luna shrugged, "You work best when I leave you alone. I knew you could get your butt here on your own steam, and there were some big players I wanted on our side that likely wouldn't have, so I focused on finding them. Considering the significant disadvantage we started out at, things really started working in our favor towards the end."
Lina was glad that Amelia was not here to say something trite about justice always prevailing as she stared at Luna warily for a moment before reaching forward and hugging her. When they let go Lina said. "Still doesn't change the fact that the vast amount of humanity is dead."
Luna cocked her head, and Lina suddenly had the strange feeling that she knew she was pregnant. "But with the Cult of Shabranigdo vanquished we can rebuild. Anyway, I think introductions are in order. You know Luka and Milina?" She said, indicating the white blond haired woman who was helping Zelgadis up and the man with black hair.
"We've met." Lina confirmed.
"I'm Luna Inverse, this one's sister." She said, pointing at Lina as she stared at Gourry and Zel.
Gourry smiled in his friendly manner while Zel's eyes widened. "So you're the Ceiphied Knight."
"The what?" Gourry asked.
"Never mind," Lina said, waving her hand dismissively, "This is Zelgadis, a friend. And that's Gourry, my…"
Lina choked on her words. What was Gourry to her now? They were far more than the companions that she had described themselves as for so long. Though he'd styled himself her protector, he was far more than that. But lover didn't seem right, neither did boyfriend. Neither could convey all that they were to the other. And given her current condition it also seemed rather illicit. "My husband." Lina wrapped up confidently.
Gourry's head snapped in her direction as his eyes widened in shock while Zel started to say, "When did…" only to be interrupted when Lina stepped on his foot.
Gourry recovered quickly, though, and put an arm around her and beamed brightly at Luna. "Nice to meet you."
"Hm." Luna said as she nodded and seemed to look Lina over with piercing eyes, "Well I knew about the bun in the over, but not your change in marital status. Interesting, my sources must be behind."
Lina reddened. "Sources?" she repeated, "Who do you have keeping tabs on me?"
"Well enough about that." Luna said briskly, "We need to find our parents."
"And Sylphiel." Lina said quietly as they headed out the door. Figuring that if her sister's sources of information were as good as she claimed they were then she ought to know everything that Lina knew, "Unless you have any idea what spell they're using to activate the potion."
"Unfortunately, no. And not for lack of trying. The Priest and General put extensive measures into keeping that a secret." Luna replied, "But I have a feeling you have a solution in mind."
"I do." Lina said as she followed her into the hallway, "But if Sylphiel didn't survive, then we're sunk. She's the only person left alive who knows the spell."
"That we know of." Luna said. "I've already tasked some of the other sorcerers that I rounded up with tracking down any books or manuscripts that might be here."
"Once I learned what was happening I tried to listen outside their room, but it looks like they enchanted it with a silencing spell." Lina continued as she followed her sister through the hallways. "If Daris had only trusted me enough to come to me for help."
Luna shook her head, "Between the rumors they poisoned his village with and how the Cult of Shabranigdo terrorized him when they captured him he was too scared to have ever risked it. The General was communicating with him via an amulet Daris kept, and every so often he would make ominous statements that he knew what he did and make threats with his son in the room. He wasn't going to risk it."
They entered a room with a double bed in it. Lina felt a weight lift from her shoulders as she saw that Sylphiel lay within, breathing steadily, asleep but alive. Around the bed stood Amelia and her parents. "Thank goodness."
"You're okay!" Amelia said as she ran into Zel's arms.
"And so are you!" Lina's mother said as she ran up and grabbed both of her daughters.
Lina closed her eyes and clung to her mother. "They told me you were dead." Lina stated.
"They kept us alive, and well kept." Her father stated bitterly, "Like pigs for the slaughter."
"You're okay." Lina said as she broke free from her mother and went to hug her father, not wanting to think about how long they would stay okay, "We made it this far."
"Do you have a plan, Lina?" Gourry asked quietly.
Her mother's eyes brightened as she noticed him, while her father stared at him, his expression unreadable. "Lina, who's this?" she asked.
"Her husband." Luna said deviously.
"You got married without telling me!" Lina's mom shrieked with Amelia in unison.
Lina shrugged, "We thought you were dead. Besides, with humanity mostly gone it wasn't as if we had a big celebration with a long table. Anyway," Lina said, getting down to business, "I do have an idea. Granted, it's probably a long shot, but there's a chance it could work, so here it goes."
Lina explained about casting a full powered Giga Slave, which really wasn't news to anyone, not even her parents, and about how she recently started seeing other people's nightmares and realized she now had the power to control them. "So I figure if I have that power, I can go to sleep and find my way into Sylphiel's dream and coax the spell out of her that way."
Everyone in the room stared at her for a minute. "It sounds crazy, I know." Lina added lamely as Amelia shifted nervously.
"Sounds like the best plan we have." Luna said.
"Sounds like the only plan we have." Zel added.
"It's just," Amelia said nervously, "When we tried to get more information out of Sylphiel, she nearly died."
"Which is where you come in, Amelia." Lina said, "We'll need you on hand with a Resurrection spell if needed."
"What about you?" Gourry asked, looking down at Lina, "Could something bad happen to you?"
"That's what I'm worried about." Amelia continued, "When we tried to get information about who the spell derived power from, the spell attacked me as well."
The image of the staff spinning out of control and hitting Amelia in the stomach rose in Lina's mind. "Luckily it won't have a staff to attack with." Lina said.
"Lina," Gourry said softly.
"I'm not saying it's not without risk, but considering that so many lives are on the line I'm willing to do it!" Lina snapped. "Humanity's future lies in getting this spell!"
Lina's mother stared at Lina, Gourry and Amelia, confusion and fear etched on her features. "Is it more dangerous than facing down a high ranking Mazoku?"
Amelia avoided Lina's mother's gaze while Lina glared warningly at Amelia and Gourry, "No, it's not. I'm going in."
Amelia looked up at Lina contemplatively and then shook her head, "We need to get another healer, someone who can use Resurrection."
Lina nodded in agreement. "I know someone." Luna said, "Luke, get Releah."
"Why do I have to be the errand boy?" Luke snapped.
"Shut up and do it you arrogant little prick!" Luna barked.
Luke sent her a mutinous look but left all the same. Amelia looked at Sylphiel, "I guess I should wake her and run this by her."
Lina shifted her footing. She was fairly sure that Sylphiel would give her consent. She had been willing to risk it back by the stream. As Amelia chanted the counter sleeping spell Gourry grabbed her shoulder, "Can we talk for a moment? Alone?"
Lina shrugged, "Sure."
They walked out of the room and went to the adjoining one. Lina braced herself for what she believed would be his inevitable protests. She was pregnant. She couldn't possibly risk something so dangerous! Instead once she closed the door behind them he grinned dopily, "Husband?" he sang.
"Huh?" Lina said, taken off guard, "Um, you don't mind, do you?"
He hugged her tightly, "Off course I don't! I just don't remember making it official."
Lina smiled, "We didn't, idiot. But do we really need to? What does a piece of paper or a ceremony really matter anyway? It won't change what you mean to me."
He kissed her enthusiastically. When he pulled away he grinned, "Fine by me, wife."
He wrapped an arm around her and they made to go back into the other room. "So, you're not worried about me trying to invade Sylphiel's dreams?"
"Of course I'm worried." He said, "I always worry about you. But you've never failed yet, have you?" He squeezed her gently, "I believe in you."
Feeling cheered and invincible, they re-entered the room to find that Sylphiel was sitting up in the bed, looking tired but determined. Luke had returned, a woman dressed in white healer's robes by his side. Lina's mother glared at her as she returned, "You're having a ceremony when we get home because I want to see it!"
Lina waved her hand dismissively, "Not now. Sylphiel, you understand what's what?"
Sylphiel nodded resolutely and laid back down on her side and closed her eyes. Lina kicked off her boots and took off her mantle, "It's a bit crowded in here."
Luke and Milina left, along with Zel and Luna. Her parents agreed to wait in the hallway, leaving Gourry, Amelia and Releah to take seats by the bed. Lina lied down and got into a comfortable position, thanking her lucky stars that in this case at least pregnancy was helping her. She was so tired she felt she could fall asleep in the middle of a busy town square.
She closed her eyes, and felt herself pulled effortlessly into sleep.
It was dark. The void before her stretched infinitely. Lina groaned. Why, of all nights, did she have to find herself in her own nightmare? And how was she supposed to get to Sylphiel's? Lina stared at the void, her frustration rising at the endless blackness. It didn't take her too long to realize that stewing in her frustration was not going to help her join minds with Sylphiel.
Lina concentrated, focusing with all of her might on Sylphiel. Sylphiel. Sylphiel!
Lina started to see faint images against the back drop of the void. Encouraged Lina continued to chant Sylphiel's name in her mind. The images grew starker as Lina could hear the sounds of someone yelling. A man! Daris? Could it really be that easy?
A worrying thought broke through Lina's mind. What if this wasn't Sylphiel's dream? What if she was just projecting what she wanted to see into her own unconscious mind? The images started to fade, and Lina cursed herself. Stay focused!
She started chanting Sylphiel's name again, and once more the images became more distinct, the voice that was yelling more clear. Only it wasn't Daris. "How could you?" the man yelled, and Lina could hear a young girl sobbing, "How could you? Don't you realize what you've done? It can never be replaced! Never!"
"Father, please!" Sylphiel whimpered, as the image of Sylphiel as a child crystallized before Lina.
"Don't!" Uruk shouted, his image becoming clearer, "After all I've done for you, you go and steal the Blessed Blade and lost it!"
"I didn't mean…"
"No of course you didn't mean," he said sardonically, "You and your pranks! I've had it up to here with them! You've been nothing but an embarrassment to this temple! And I've had enough of you, I'm sending you away!"
Fairly sure that this was Sylphiel's dream Lina started to change it, first by morphing Uruk into Daris. Sylphiel cried and pleaded as Uruk's hair turned darker until it was black and his hat disappeared. His fine priestly robes became roughhewn. He continued to berate Sylphiel as Lina started to work on changing the background from what appeared to be Sylphiel's room in Sairaag into a generic room.
Suddenly a translucent figure in blue entered the room. "What?" Lina whispered as she stared at it. There was something eerily familiar about it. And she was certain she had not willed it into existence. But it didn't seem to be part of the nightmare. Was it some random figment of Sylphiel's conscious?
There was something comforting about the presence that caused the room to glow with peace and tranquility. The dream started to fade, and Lina swore. When the dream turned pleasant Lina lost her ability to control it.
Lina thought about the line of dead plague victims, standing erect even as the flesh rotted off their bones. The figure in blue became more distinct, and Lina was stunned to realize it was Gourry! He didn't look quite right, though. His face was distorted, but his calming presence was strong.
"Master Gourry!" Sylphiel cried as she ran and clung to him.
Lina felt jealousy rise hotly through her as she wondered yet again just whose nightmare this was as Gourry's image, as fuzzy as a watercolor, held Sylphiel. Frustration rushed through Lina like a wave as she thought of the potentially wasted effort and wondered why she could not link to Sylphiel's mind.
But then the dream started to fade again, which confused Lina further. If it was her nightmare it should keep on going, but if it was Sylphiel's then it would make sense that it would fade. As a test, Lina willed Gourry's form to morph monstrously, his eyes glowing like red embers as his mouth sprouted fangs. The dream became more distinct as Sylphiel screamed and ran from him.
Lina felt herself calm down again and she figured that the odds that this was Sylphiel's dream were strong. She hoped. Telling herself to focus on the mission and ignore the oddness of the dream, she set back to creating an image of Daris.
A big ball of orange rose, and misty white orbs started to dot the sky. "Oh, come on!" Lina cried, "Where did you come from?"
A thought struck her that it could be part of the curse, creating random bits of dream flotsam to distract her. Lina resolved to be more focused as she worked to create an image of Daris in a dreary inn. But she was having a hard time bringing the inn into focus. Lina saw the blue figure return, lying beside a figure in red staring up at the white orbs as the image of Daris she conjured yelled at Sylphiel. Lina knew better than to be distracted by the figures in blue and red, but she couldn't help it. There was something familiar about the scene.
And then it snapped into place!
Cloud watching on a sunny day with Gourry by her side. Something she found soothing and comforting. An image she often projected when she was trying to fill the void she saw with happy images in her recurring nightmare.
Only she realized it wasn't her recurring nightmare. It was her unborn son's! Now that she looked for it she could sense the third mind there. A mind, not a conscious. It was strange. There was no purpose, no feeling, no sense of curiosity from it or even purpose. Its ability to project images seemed more reflexive than anything else.
Lina was torn between fascination and annoyance. If what she was doing wasn't so damn important she would have loved nothing better than to probe the mind! But it was important. Lives were on the line.
Deciding that she really needed something big to distract her, Lina brought forth a vision of the palace at Seyruun, just outside the garden, overgrown and untamed in the wake of the plague. A skeletal man rode on a wagon as he left the palace and waved at Sylphiel, "You're back."
Lina felt Sylphiel's frustration bubble. She wanted to say something, but couldn't. Daris started talking to the man, "Lina Inverse is here now, with her companion. He's dying."
The man riding the wagon disappeared into the mist that surrounded the palace as Sylphiel's sense of fear swelled. "We're in luck. But do anything to jeopardize my son or you'll pay!" Daris sneered, but his lips weren't moving.
Behind Daris a shadow rose and took a monstrous form as a red mask covered his face. The indistinct forms of red flowers started to float through the dream, and though Lina laughed, she had to admit that her son's attempt to project an image she had projected to him once added to the eerie affect. Lina could feel Sylphiel's terror ricochet up, the flowers surrounding her like circles of blood.
A circle of black hooded figures surrounded Sylphiel, hissing at her to keep her silence. Lina focused and brought forth the figure of a woman, ill with the plague lying on a pallet on the floor. "Time to prepare the potion!" Lina made an ominous sounding voice command.
Daris stepped forward, but just as he did the dream started to collapse. It was different from the fade that had happened before when Sylphiel felt soothed. She could feel Sylphiel's conscious slip away and tearing pain welling through her own body. The dream was starting to lose form and cohesion, and with a start she realized she could no longer feel the mind of her unborn child.
Panic charged through her, and the dream stabilized but this time they were by a grave. Daris was gone. Sylphiel's father was standing beside her. "You had a cure with you this whole time, but you did nothing to save them!"
Sylphiel shook her head as she sobbed while her father continued to berate her. "You could have tried harder! You let so many die!"
Uruk continued berating her as Lina gathered her bearings, struggling to feel the third mind. Nothing. Lina felt torn as her panic rose. She wanted to wake up and ask Amelia if he was okay. But she also needed to get this information from Sylphiel! Reasoning that if he was gone there was nothing more she could do for him, but a lot more she do for the survivors by continuing, she took a deep breath. She knew the risks before she started this. And if she had lost the baby, she'd better make it count for something.
"Tell me the chant!" Uruk ordered as Lina channeled her will through him, his voice deep and thunderous.
Sylphiel opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Only a horrible croaking as the dream started to tremble. "Enough!" Lina willed Uruk to say, "You are stronger than this curse!"
"Let the poor body…" Sylphiel began weakly.
"Now, now," a familiarly aggravating voice that seemed to resound from everywhere mocked as Lina repeated the first four words over and over in her mind so that she could remember them, "That's not allowed now, is it?"
And then the world seemed to crack in two as the dream again started to disintegrate. Lina felt her own grip on consciousness start to falter and focused all of her energy on keeping it together. Sylphiel's lips worked silently for a minute, but then she continued, her words slow and slurred, "Ravaged by disease…"
A tornado, black as tar, formed over Sylphiel, spearing her. The dream blacked out threateningly, and Lina felt panic grip her as she heard a woman chant frantically in the background. Suddenly the dream was back, faded and weak, but present. Sylphiel lay by the grave, her father yelling at her as the tornado whirled menacingly over her. Lina shrieked and drew forth a gust of wind to push the tornado away.
Wondering how she was even going to remember the chant even if she managed to get the rest of it Lina fought against the tornado, and it fought back. The dream remained weak, and Lina feared that Sylphiel didn't have much left in her. Lina kept the tornado at bay as she willed Uruk to yell, "Finish the chant!"
Blood poured out of Sylphiel's mouth. But it was a dream, she didn't really need it, did she? "Be cleansed and purified," She continued as the world around reverberated with her voice.
The tornado moved to strike at her again and Lina imagined it bursting into a million pieces, which it did. In a flash of realization, Lina knew she had the power to defeat the curse, in this battlefield at least. "I wield the power of the Lord of Nightmares, Xellos! You cannot beat me!" Lina snarled.
Sylphiel didn't waste any time. "Let the body be made strong and healthy."
The tornado reformed, bursting from Sylphiel's throat. Lina forced it to compact upon itself as the dream blacked out again warningly. No! Lina pleaded silently. Just a few more minutes!
The chanting in the background continued as the dream stabilized. Still, when Sylphiel spoke her voice was dangerously weak, "Let the body overpower the contagion. Activate!"
The dream dissolved around her as though Sylphiel simply had no more strength to hold on and Lina fell into her own body. She was tired and exhausted, but she fought to wake up. She focused on the distant sounds of chanting. At last she could hear Amelia and Releah chanting healing spells clearly. She became aware of something wet on her pillow. It smelled coppery, like blood. Nose bleed?
Lina's eyes slowly opened. Amelia was standing over her chanting while she could see Gourry and her parents in the distance looking nervous. "Let the poor body," she whispered.
Amelia stopped chanting, and Lina noticed a sheen of sweat on her brow, "Don't talk right now, rest."
"I have to tell you, before I forget!" Lina said as she reached out and gripped Amelia's arm. Amelia stopped chanting. "Someone, write it down."
Lina saw her mother grab a piece of parchment from wherever she kept all of the things she did and a quill. "Let the poor body ravaged by disease be cleansed and purified. Let the body be made strong and healthy. Let the body overpower the contagion. Activate!"
Lina leaned back against the pillows, thoroughly exhausted. Had she gotten it right? She couldn't even work up the energy to check on Sylphiel. "Read it back to me." Lina ordered.
Her mother did so. "Is that right?"
Was it? Lina wasn't sure. It sounded right, but what if it wasn't? What if she hadn't heard Sylphiel correctly? What if something got lost on the journey? Lina decided she couldn't worry about it now. She closed her eyes and nodded. She was so sleepy. Still, she had to tell Gourry something important. She forced her eyes open and looked at him, "I lost the baby." She confessed.
His eyes widened as her mother exclaimed, "Baby!?"
Amelia held her hand over her stomach and chanted, "You didn't, he's fine."
Lina shook her head as a tear ran down her face, "You're just saying that. I felt…"
"You don't know what you felt." Amelia shot back, "Rest."
She began chanting again and Lina closed her eyes. Dimly she was aware of her mother chewing Gourry out for not telling them she was pregnant, which would have been highly amusing under different circumstances. And Amelia's assurances to the contrary, Lina had felt the disappearance of the third mind. As she drifted into sleep, she fervently hoped she'd gotten the spell right, that her sacrifice had not been for nothing. The next few days would be hell what with waiting to see if the spell and potion kept the symptoms of the plague at bay. But for now Lina was depleted. Swiftly she settled into the oblivion of sleep.