Zelgadis was already moving fast across the estate when he saw three candles lit in the kitchen suite window, a subtle but unambiguous emergency signal. He switched to a sprint to accommodate his sudden adrenaline. The other knights were absurd, but capable; if they really needed him at one in the morning, something was very wrong, and if something was very wrong, it had to be about-
He raised his leg to kick down the meat locker door and kicked hard into multiple layers of reinforced steel and fiberglass arranged for state-of-the-art insulation. But no amount of chagrin or ankle pain could stop him now. He grabbed the handle and stormed in with an aggressive flourish (and a bit of a limp).
"What's going on?!" Zelgadis shouted.
Franz and Eogre, surrounded by a small pile of dead rats, looked up at him with bewilderment. "What the hell?" Franz said, possibly in reference to at least three different things.
Eogre held up a mostly empty vial and shook it. "The bath salts. This is thallium."
"Rat poison!" Sylphiel cried, saving a certain someone the embarrassment of asking.
"Yeah. Mixed with some cheap-ass perfumed salt, but it's enough to clear a nest. You take a bath with this and you'll puke out your own liver. Do you know if she brought these with her or are they from Calliope?"
"Where-"
"Don't worry, Hans is with Amelia."
"We sent a messenger to Phil asking him to meet us in Ruvinagald," Franz said. "The ministers know. We set sail tomorrow night at sunset. We'll let the Coastal States take the lead with the rest of the summit."
"The summit's over," Zelgadis said.
"Huh?"
But he was already out the door, hobbling at top speed all the way to the main building with Amelia's bedroom, with Sylphiel calling after him. Zelgadis used his better leg to jump up from tree to tree, and finally to Amelia's window.
"Amelia!"
Amelia stood by her dresser rifling through clothes. "Zelgadis-san!"
Hans, posted in the entryway, just shook his head in disgust. "Totally open window, broken-down front door. Might as well put a bullseye on your pajamas while we're at it."
"Oh? But they told me it was fashionable," Amelia said, holding up a gown with a red and white ringed pattern.
Zelgadis jumped down into her room and only narrowly caught himself on a bedpost. "Amelia, are you okay?"
"Zelgadis-san, your foot! Let me-"
He grabbed her wrist and went through a quick vital scan. Her eyes were alert. She was breathing fine, if a little labored, but her skin was pallid and clammy, and she smelled of bile. His enhanced senses could feel her heartbeat quickening through her radial pulse. Not good. "You need to lie down."
"Zelgadis-san…I still don't know what's going on. Why is Hans-san here? I probably just had a bad canape."
Sylphiel, not one for leaping theatrically into windows, rushed into the room as Hans grumbled something about a bus stop. She stepped between Amelia and Zelgadis and took the princess by the shoulders. "Oh, oh, Amelia-san," she said, her voice like a loved one draping you with a fuzzy blanket, "you must be so tired. Why don't you let me take a look at you for a little bit, and then you can get some rest?"
Amelia's confusion was no match for Sylphiel, whose feminine charms could tame a troll. "But...o-okay," she said, as Zelgadis nodded.
Sylphiel looked over her shoulder with an unspoken command of begone, menfolk more powerful and incontrovertible than even Prince Phil's authority. The knights obediently retreated to the suite's anteroom.
"That's the priestess from Sairaag, right?" Hans said. "I'm glad. She was real sick when I got here. Anyway, I'm going to get the crews ready for our departure. You stay put," and he muttered under his breath on his way out, "for a change."
Zelgadis was left alone to wait. Waiting, useless, unable to do anything, against something he couldn't strike down with an Astral Vine, in a situation that he hadn't done enough to prevent. He sat down on a bench upholstered with fat pink cherubs and cast Recovery on his ankle, letting the spell draw strength from his mounting and futile anger.
I should have been here. There were a lot of things he should have done. He should have been more suspicious. He should have been more attentive. He should have known something was amiss as soon as he saw those bags under her eyes. Were there other signs he missed? How could he not have seen it?
For all her speeches about the power of love and open hearts, Amelia had her own impenetrable walls. She had never cried in front of her friends, not real, raw tears. In all the years he'd known her he could count the times she'd mentioned her sister on one hand. And she never, ever admitted anything like weakness or pain. He remembered how, even as Phibrizzo cut her life out and she lay wrenching with spasms, she'd used her very last words to tell him she was fine.
I missed it because she wanted to keep it from me. Even now, after everything they'd been through together, their relationship hadn't reached the level of "letting the other person know you might be dying". Great. But he could probably still be there to help, even if she wouldn't tell him-because she wouldn't tell him, he ought to be there. If she was going to be that stubborn, that careless, no, reckless, then she clearly needed help looking after herself.
Of course, it wasn't as though he could just hang around all the time, not when there were potential cures to investigate. Besides, she has all those soldiers here to protect her.
But if I'd been here...
He remembered how many times he'd run away, from the days when he first sought the Claire Bible to the revelation from the Hellmaster's Jar, and all the repercussions of his own selfish decisions. Maybe Hans was right: he wasn't the best at sticking around, just in general.
Phil trusted me to do this, and I left, and now this happened.
I had one job.
But I'm not really her bodyguard. I'm a spy who plays one.
...the fireworks might have been nice, anyway.
He was processing these ideas about as well as an anvil in a meat grinder when Sylphiel approached, cutting off the milky moonlight from the north window. Her lack of a reassuring smile was unacceptable.
"Sylphiel," he said, as if he could wring good news out of her by sheer force of will. She flinched.
"Amelia-san is okay for now. She let me cast Sleeping, but I had to quadruple pinky swear to cast Counter-Sleeping in a few hours. Recovery can come later, when she's had a chance to rest and is feeling better."
" 'Okay for now'?!"
"I cast Dicleary. There were three different poisons in her." She paused, giving him time to consider the implications of this, or maybe she'd heard his stomach drop. "They're out of her system, but unless you find the source she could get sick again. That one poison moved fast."
Zelgadis immediately shut down any non-rational circuits and began outlining a plan. It came together, as these things did for him, from the top down: an overall goal that could be subdivided into parts, tasks, processes. Things he could measure. Things he could control.
"Right," he said. "Is there anything else I need to know?"
"W-well, I told her all about your cool moves with the basilisk."
He stared at her. Sylphiel clasped her hands under her chin.
"I don't know about 'cool'..." he trailed off.
"Zelgadis-san, they were very cool."
Getting hit with Counter-Sleeping was a metaphorical bucket of ice water to the nervous system, a complete shock to the senses. After so long without proper sleep it was more akin to torment. Amelia jolted awake like a fish being yanked out of the ocean. "No, no! A little longer, please!" she cried.
"As you wish."
"Wait, no!"
Amelia blinked into the warm and waiting dawn. Sylphiel and Zelgadis were seated on either side of her bed, looking as weary as she was. Zelgadis had his hands raised, a spell pulsing in his palms. Memories of the night before came back in bits and snatches: fireworks, peacocks, a long and lonely bath, hours of retching. And then Sylphiel had told her the incredible story of an epic fight with a basilisk and a brass demon creating gold deep beneath the sewers. Had that been real? It seemed too fantastical to be true, but on the other hand, her room certainly smelled like rotten eggs.
But there was something else Sylphiel had mentioned about toxins. No, poisons. She'd talked about poisons, asked if she'd ingested anything that tasted strange, cast Dicleary just as a precaution. It was nothing to worry about, she'd said, maybe an accident. But the Dicleary had worked, hadn't it? She remembered the way her head stopped pounding, the way the soreness in her jaw disappeared. Even though she was tired beyond words, the lack of pain made her want to sing.
Was I really being poisoned? Is there a dastardly villain lurking in my midst?!
Poisons, brass demons, knotty conspiracies: there was simply no way she could sleep right now. "Hold on," Amelia repeated. She flicked away the Sleep spell in Zelgadis's hand, tempting though it was, and it popped into a shower of ether. "I still have to report to parliament for the summit today."
"It's canceled. If you'd like to sleep for another twelve hours-"
"No, thank you, Zelgadis-san." Amelia managed a spry roll out of bed and discovered her legs felt completely fine for the first time in ages. "Calliope is in crisis!" she cried. "They need strong, stable governance more than ever! I have a mission!"
"That's true, but it can wait. Sylphiel and I have agreed on some short-term changes to the household that need your support."
"Changes?"
There wasn't time to really explain, but Amelia trusted both of her friends with her whole heart, so she brought everyone together in the parlor again for another speech even before the first pot of coffee was finished brewing. She offered an effusive introduction and endorsement to the hungry, sleepy, pre-caffeine audience (I've got to teach Zelgadis-san about the importance of timing) and stepped back to let him talk.
Zelgadis cleared his throat awkwardly. This was, Amelia supposed, not how he'd imagined giving orders when he became a knight. "The summit is canceled. We have been informed of a targeted attack that caused significant casualties in parts of Calliope's government. The king of Calliope has declared a period of mourning beginning tonight after sundown. So, we'll depart this evening for Ruvinagald."
This was met with less surprise than one might expect. Then again, it was still very early in the morning, and anyone who worked for Seyruun's royalty started with a handy fold-out guide titled Explosions and You: Staying Calm on the Job! They were no strangers to sudden violence in the halls of power.
"More importantly, among us...the crown has reason to believe there are poisonous substances circulating in the royal household." Something about the way he said the crown gave Amelia a little warmth that almost made her forget about the whole poison thing. "Now, we have no reason to believe any of this is deliberate. It may be completely unintentional."
It was clear from the expressions of staff that they were skeptical at best; Amelia could tell he didn't believe it either. For her part Amelia couldn't bring herself to imagine any of the wonderful royal staff would ever hurt her. She looked out into the audience with a practiced calm that obscured her inner distress. Not Harold-san, he used to read to me when I was little...not Maris-san! We paint each other's nails!... They would never try to do anything wicked, surely. Their household was built on trust and collaboration and shared purpose. It must be an accident, or a terrible person taking advantage of their kindness!
"We've already begun an investigation and are in the process of assessing our findings. If you have any information to contribute, please speak to Sylphiel at once. To ensure we eliminate any other potentially toxic materials, we're throwing out all perishables and purchasing new ones before we set sail tonight. Sylphiel will take over in the kitchen while we're on the ship. And we're temporarily increasing security around the princess.
"To that end, Princess Amelia doesn't leave my sight until further notice."
Amelia blinked. She felt the familiar sensation of curious eyes on her, particularly from the chambermaids, and turned her face so that no one could see her cheeks take on the color of a chioggia beet. What did he say?!
"...and when it is not, uh, suitable for me to be there, she'll be accompanied by Sylphiel. Any food, drink, soap, or organic material for the princess goes through my approval at least until we arrive in Ruvinagald.
"That's all." He paused, evidently at a loss for how to close. "Um...dismissed."
The crowd dispersed amidst mumbles about the safety of the coffee. Amelia was still unsure whether she'd heard him correctly, and tested her theory by leaving the room. Sure enough, Zelgadis immediately followed, with a cheery Sylphiel in tow.
"What do you mean, I don't leave your sight?" Amelia asked.
"Was it unclear?"
Her beet cheeks ripened. "Is it...really necessary?"
Zelgadis looked at a point several inches above her head, a tendency that drove Amelia crazy; it made her feel like there was always something more interesting going on above her. "Until we can be sure the poisons are stopped, yes."
"Well, I hope you can keep up with princess business, then!"
But Zelgadis was plenty busy too. In their secluded room, behind multiple magical and defensive barriers, he briefed Seyruun's diplomats and foreign ministers about what had happened in the sewers. Amelia listened with morbid curiosity to the story of the brass demon and its horrible enchanted gold. Destroying the demon was truly a great victory for justice, but it didn't feel like it. Now they had to go about the real work of bringing justice back to Calliope, with humble hearts and stacks of paperwork that repeatedly cited "extenuating circumstances".
When the diplomatic corps asked for her recommendation, Amelia thought it was all fairly straightforward. She proposed an emergency meeting of the Alliance of Coastal States, to be held in Ruvinagald upon their arrival. Some of their spies should stay behind to observe what was happening in Calliope. In the meantime, the brass demon, the murdered sorcerers, and the attempts on her life should be kept strictly confidential. To her surprise the corps agreed with her recommendations. Even the exacting foreign minister praised her judgment.
It all went very smoothly minus the person at her side who adamantly insisted on getting water and tea from outside the estate and taking distrustful sips from her cup with every refill. Every hour on the hour he asked "how are you feeling?" and put a hand to her forehead before she could answer. By the time they finished Amelia had had enough. Melodramatic stories always made these types of contrivances seem adorable. She hadn't expected the reality would be so irritating.
"Zelgadis-san, I'm trying to do my job," Amelia said.
"And I'm trying to do mine," he retorted.
Something about the way he said it rankled her. "So I'm a job to you?"
"Well, yes." Behind him, Sylphiel drew a sharp breath. Zelgadis shot her a quizzical look.
Oooh. Amelia couldn't resist a little stamp of her foot. "Well, your job is going to find some lunch."
"That's fortunate, because my job is to find Lina and Gourry."
They stood, glaring, at an impasse. With no reconciliation in sight, they set out for downtown Calliope, an icy prickle between them.
The announcement of a mourning period in Calliope had created a shock even more intense and widespread than the earthquake that leveled a universally despised office for building permits. No one knew what would happen when the mourning period went into effect. Gone was the everpresent air of carefree revelry, leaving only apprehensive crowds hoping to get one last magnum of champagne with their meals.
They found Lina and Gourry at an unsuspecting pastry shop, where they gorged themselves so exuberantly that flecks of crumbs and jam seemed to hover in the air around them like a delicious tornado. The pair listened with only vague attention to Zelgadis's explanation and request as they dueled for donuts.
"Wow, three poisons? That's bad luck!" Gourry said.
Lina whacked him with the backside of her spoon. "Nobody gets poisoned by accident three times, you dimwit! Somebody's really got it out for her!"
"Maybe not," Amelia said. Frustrated and famished after a long night of sickness, she had ordered an extra-large plate of qatayef stuffed with pistachios and raisins. But Zelgadis took the first bite just to be sure-and the second, too. "I didn't bring the bath salts from Seyruun, but I was sick before we left. And Zelgadis-san said there were poisons going around the whole household. Maybe only the ones in the bath were on purpose."
"At any rate, we're probably looking at multiple poisoners," Zelgadis said. "Whoever was behind the ceiling collapse was probably behind the bath salts, someone trying to take Amelia out of commission here and now. But if the other poisoner is in the household, we can't trust anything they have access to, which is why we need you to buy the provisions."
"And what's in it for us?" Lina asked.
"Free passage for two on the Seyruun royal ship to Ruvinagald, no IDs required. Plus, Sylphiel will be cooking while we're at sea."
"We're in!" Gourry declared, with a confidence that made the cook in question blush profusely.
It was obvious Lina didn't like someone else making the call. "Yeah, I guess. This was kind of a bummer trip, what with all the death and stuff. Maybe we can spend some time relaxing in Ruvinagald, eh, Gourry? No work, no chaos, no demons or mazoku?"
"Wow, Lina, that sounds great!"
Mazoku… Something clicked in Amelia's newly fresh and pain-free brain. "I don't know if it's in Ruvinagald exactly, but…Xellos-san told me he had been very busy around the Coastal States."
There was a ragged chorus of Xellos!es as everyone expressed how pleasant it was to remember he existed, which was to say absolutely not at all.
"When did you see Xellos?" Zelgadis demanded.
"Back on the coast, the morning we left for Calliope. He was in my room." She pointedly refused to look at him, but she did hear a messy, protracted choking that left Lina wiping hot coffee off her nose. The icy prickle transformed into a full-blown Ly Briem.
"That morning? But we left at five-thirty!"
Amelia had a choice, and with the blase well, yes still ringing in her ears, she chose violence. "He helped me get dressed." Her only reaction to the leaden thud of approximately two hundred pounds of stone hitting the floor was to turn to a startled Sylphiel and say "Corsets with spiral lacing are such trouble!"
"For what it's worth, I wouldn't mind asking Xellos about this thing." Lina plucked the brass demon's round white stone from her pockets. It still had a bright and fractured glow, amplifying a fire from deep within. "We've gone to five different gemologists already and nobody knows what it is. One of them told me it was a manufactured opal. Some other yahoo said it was from the moon. I know it's hard to believe with an angelic face like mine, but I didn't drop out of heaven yesterday."
"I can believe nobody would let you in heaven," Gourry said, and for this uncontroversial opinion took a boot to the face.
"Why bother? He'll only tell you as much as he wants you to know." Zelgadis rose as though nothing had happened and helped himself to several retaliatory bites of qatayef. The ice wall between them was too strong for Amelia to even utter a protesting "Zelgadis-san", and so she could only watch unhappily as her dumplings disappeared. "You should lie low, at any rate. There will be a lot of kings and leaders from around the world in Ruvinagald, so it's in your own best interest not to blow anything up."
"Yeah, yeah. I don't actually like getting arrested, you know."
"Then you'd better get moving," he said, gesturing at a few men outside the shop wearing the traditional blue and gold of constabulary forces. Lina jumped up.
"Wow, would you look at the time? It's Amelia-picks-up-the-tab-o-clock!"
"Lina-san…" Amelia sighed as her friends disappeared in a colorful blur. "Why is it always that time when we go out to eat?"
Half a mortgage payment later they were out and on their way for some last-minute princessing. Amelia, her two shadows, and a phalanx of soldiers departed to the castle for an audience with the king and a few senior ministers. Zelgadis had been reluctant to allow it, but she knew better. This was a desperate attempt to save face and beg for mercy before the terrible events they had set in motion consumed all of Calliope.
"Forgive us, Your Royal Highness," the king said. Instead of callous slights there were deep bows and grave expressions. Everything in the majestic castle had an unmistakable pall of darkness that seemed to weigh directly on the restless, distracted king. "We've suffered a terrible loss. We're still in shock."
"The kingdom of Seyruun will do all we can to help. We encourage you to send envoys to Ruvinagald so that we can assist as an international community. We must work together to ensure mutual peace and stability in every land, for the good of all people in the world!"
"The audit…"
"...is, I know, the least of your worries right now," Amelia said. "Never fear. Our only goal is to bring justice and peace to Calliope." She left it at that. Be the dove. The dove doesn't get mad. It flies away from conflict. And its song is deceptively soothing.
Calliope had been betrayed by its leaders, who were without a doubt enemies of all righteousness and order, maybe even parties to murder, but Amelia couldn't bring herself to lecture them any more at the moment. After all, she still wasn't sure who in the kingdom was responsible for what parts of such an evil scheme. But she did know how it felt to love a place so much that you see its meadows and valleys in the brightest parts of your memories, to feel your heart beat along with the thrum of its cities and villages. She knew that love could outweigh her better judgment; after all, she had prayed to Shabranigdu himself when she saw Seyruun at the brink of catastrophe. If the people of Seyruun were starving, what wouldn't she do to feed them?
One of the most important things she'd learned from traveling with Lina was that evil didn't come just from dark lords, or mazoku, or people wearing black. Evil wasn't a thing you were so much as a thing you did, from little choices to big ones, from causing great harm to not offering help.
What transpired in that cell deep in the sewers was evil. To let it continue would have been evil, too. And there was no guarantee that whatever solution devised in Ruvinagald would be enough to make things better in a lasting way. But they had an obligation to do something, for all the people whose future had been gambled away by greedy and shortsighted leaders, leaders who still may have loved Calliope in their own desperate way. And Amelia could work with that. True justice needed her to try.
Back at the estate, the whole household was busy loading their belongings onto the Gracia Eternal, proceeding in lines up and down the streets like marching ants. Eogre supervised the process of dumping all suspect teas and spices and donating other perishables. The most effort involved transporting massive crates of food, spices, and wine onto the ship, at such volumes that someone tried to notify the agricultural minister (who was unavailable on account of his regrettable membership in the sorcerers' guild).
"I figured Lina and Gourry would only buy enough food for themselves, which should be close to enough food for everyone else," Zelgadis said. Their ice wall was gone, leaving only a familiar sore spot she'd nursed for years. Oh well. After a while being mad was a waste of energy anyway. "But it looks like they bought food assuming everyone on the boat eats as much as they do."
"We might sink," Amelia said.
"The people of Calliope will starve."
"Yes…"
A few maids wanted to speak privately with Sylphiel, so Amelia and Zelgadis were left alone on the estate grounds. As the household of Seyruun left, it seemed their hosts had left too; even the guards had disappeared from their posts. The only remaining residents were the peacocks, walking around with a defiant stride. When Amelia approached they darted off into the walled gardens, honking and strutting on their skinny legs.
Amelia, having had quite enough weighty matters for one day, went after them. The birds were none too pleased to have their dalliances interrupted and stayed obstinately out of her reach. They fled over small bridges and around delicate topiaries shaped like hearts and moons.
"Wait, peacocks…" Big poofy hoop skirts weren't meant for crawling around, but Amelia was undaunted. She crouched down on one knee and held out her hand towards a small, trembling peahen. "It's okay, Peacock-san. You can trust me, see?" It rewarded her trust with a ferocious jab at her palm. "Ouch! That's rude!" Her squeal of pain must have signaled her as wounded prey, because swift and cerulean reinforcements came in for the kill. Amelia struggled to free herself from a barrage of talons, beaks, and tail feathers wielded with gusto. "Ow, ow!"
Zelgadis took a seat on a nearby bench and folded his arms, intending to stay his usual safe distance from the shenanigans. But his mere presence was enough to excite some of the peahens, which sidled up to him in a sultry fashion and headbutted his shoes.
"What are they-ugh."
"They think you're shiny and handsome, just like they are," Amelia said brightly.
"I am not a peacock."
"Be positive, Zelgadis-san! You can be anything you want!"
Close to her foot, a large peacock was pursuing a comparatively tiny peahen. The male chased the female in a swooping semicircle before stepping back to reveal his enormous train, which unfurled piece by piece into a majestic wave of marvelous rich hues. The bird rattled its tail and the whole train quivered, its eye spots iridescent and gleaming like meteorites. Amelia took in this miracle of nature with happiness and starstruck awe. After a few seconds of cries and a bit more chasing, it turned into another miracle of nature altogether, and she quickly scooted around to give them their privacy.
"This is..." Zelgadis glanced down at a peahen rubbing suggestively at his leg. "Intolerable."
"You can go. I'm sure I'm safe in a garden. Besides, I think even the bad guys in Calliope have bigger concerns right now."
"I suppose."
That was a perfect opening for him to leave. Amelia turned back to the peacocks, watching and sometimes falling victim to their powerful passions. Every so often a couple would come close to her and lunge with their whole necks like a feathered Visfarank, and the collective force knocked her flat on her back. She stared up into the cloudless afternoon sky, bright and blue and free of metaphors.
I wonder if I'll have more nightmares, she thought. Or was that the poison too?
Xellos-san said it was just because I'm an organic life form…But poisons affect organic life forms. Maybe that's what he meant. Xellos didn't lie, but he could tell the truth in a way that was worse than useless.
How am I supposed to sleep if I can't even trust the people who helped raise me?
What if we can't help the people of Calliope? What if we don't do enough?
Maybe I'll just never sleep without magic ever again...
She got a sorely needed distraction from a new round of birds pecking at her necklace. As she sat up she saw Zelgadis was still on the bench, shooing away various would-be paramours and jealous rivals. She caught his eye for a fraction of a second and he jerked his head away fast enough she could almost hear it. Amelia knew she had to be a sorry sight, what with the muddy skirts and the simultaneously defensive and aroused birds tearing into her hair. But Amelia was still too grateful just to be healthy again that she didn't care much about her appearance.
"Zelgadis-san?"
His noise of annoyance meant she wasn't supposed to call attention to his staying there. Oops. "I said until Ruvinagald...and besides, you've put me through worse."
"Is that a challenge, Zelgadis-san?"
"No."
A peacock hollered directly in her ear and she winced. Amelia had a feeling that the next few days would be a challenge whether he liked it or not.