To Sailoon
"At least that makes this somewhat easier," Lina muttered. "Okay, you,"
she pointed at Xalan. "Go with them to Sailoon.."
"Huh? You want me to..." he saw the look on her face. Lina had never
hit her kids, but she could, at times, develope some nasty punishments.
"Fine."
"And these guys," she gestured at the guardsmen. "Will escort your
friends to the nearest Sailoon magistrate."
"You expect us to leave the princess unguarded in the hands of
these...strangers."
"They're not strangers!" Amethyst protested. "That's my par...my
mother's friend, and I know my she would never have trusted anybody that
would betray her or her daughter."
"I'm not comfortable with this, your father gave specific commands...."
"Listen you!" Lina snapped striding forward and leaning up on her feet to
poke her finger at the outspoken guardsman. "You're supposed to protect
Amethyst, right?"
"The PRINCESS Amethyst yes..."
"So you want them," she jabbed a clawed finger at the unconscious
assassins. "Travelling anywhere NEAR her? I sure don't want them travelling
around MY son." Xalan thought about protesting the implication this had for
his abilities, but decided against it.
"I see your point," he admitted.
"Good, because I was about to hurt you."
"errr." He sweat dropped.
"Couldn't Filia get us there faster?" Xalan asked.
"Me and Filia are going to have a talk about that son of hers," Lina
grumbled. "Then we're going to wait in case Xina and Val show up back here."
Something glittered behind Lina's eyes, and suddenly Xalan felt very sorry
for his sister.
"So you just want us to turn around and leave again?" Amethyst sounded
dismayed.
"Xina is flying dragon back, and you...should talk to your father."
Amethyst nodded quietly. "Okay now that's decided I guess we
should...hey!!!" they had turned around to find the deer that Xalan had
carried to the camp was gone. Jolrael licked the remainder of the juices off
his lips and sighed contentedly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want some?" he asked politely.
"Wow, his appetite matches yours and Xina's," Xalan said, impressed. His
mother fumed and gnashed her fangs for a few moments before opening her
mouth, her ears laid totally back.
"You you you...GABRIEV!!!"
"What?"
It was almost three days, or nights rather, that Val touched down beyond
the reach of the city's line of site. Xina slid down his side and landed
lightly on the ground. She raced quietly to the edge of the small rise and
looked down on Sailoon, marvelling at the size of the city, even shrouded by
darkness.
"I could go with you if you hadn't 'lost' my clothes yesterday," Val
complained.
"I said I was sorry," she returned cheerfully. "I fell asleep, okay."
"Right, just....go see the tomb and get back here," he admonished.
"We're in plenty of trouble as it is."
"Oh, don't be such a wimp, they'll never know I was here, and I can deal
with mom."
"You don't get both of them jumping on you," the dragon muttered quietly.
Which was amazing considering his bulk. Xina stuck her tongue out at him
and giggled, obviously not concerned with the parental consequences.
"I'll be right back," she started running toward town. She ran at a
blur, slowing down only as she came to more populated areas and had to start
slipping from shadow to shadow in order to remain unseen. This was easy if
annoying, and it still left finding the Tomb.
Xina knew from the few times she had convinced her mom to talk about her
dad's death that Tomb of Heros was past some huge building called a
cathedral. Still, she had been raised in a cave. I well-furnished, rather
large cave, but a cave nonetheless. Most of the buildings toward the center
of the town looked huge to her. They were like man-made hills, and she made
use of their heights to further improve her efforts at stealth.
It didn't take her long to find the palace, it was the biggest building
of all. A mountain of metal, wood and brick with a host of soldiers
patrolling the walls. Even in the dark it was impressive, and Xina stood a
moment before its walls, staring in awe. As her mind began to clear the
kage-kitsune felt a tug in her mind. Suddenly she was certain of where she
was going, and she began to quietly scale the wall.
The guards were good, if you were expecting an army to be approaching,
but they didn't seem to be paying much attention to the walls right in front
of their posts. At least they weren't paying attention as she considered it.
There weren't many deep shadows along the wall, but still they didn't notice
her, Xalan and mom would have picked her up minutes ago.
Xina overtopped the wall and leaped down off of it before the two guards
could turn to face where she crossed. Lina's daughter landed quietly on the
ground beneath the high wall, and backed into the wall's shadow becoming
undetectable. Then she just followed that tug in her mind.
Xina slipped from shadow to shadow, staring up in wonder at the high
ceilings of the Tomb's cathedral. This is where her father's funeral had
been held. Her mom had told her that she and Xalan had been there, but she
couldn't remember anything about it, unless that was what had led her here.
Some vague half-formed memory of the days immediately after her birth. Some
instinct telling her that this is where her father was, she didn't care.
She noted, irritably, the sound of her foot falls echoing lightly through
the still dark halls as she passed the great cathedral. The Tombs' ceiling
was much lower though that was still higher than her home, and the echoes
still carried further than she expected or liked. What really shocked her
were the rows upon rows of tombs, and now, in the edifice itself, that tug on
her mind had vanished.
Xina was growing dismayed until she saw it, nestled near the royal tombs.
A sheet of solid, gleaming black among all the white. The discovery of what
had to be her father's tomb made her freeze in place for a moment. As she
stopped moving, Xina almost thought she heard an off pace echo somewhere else
in the Tombs, but she dismissed it. She was at the grave marker in an
instant and reaching out...
Don't touch!
She jerked her hand back and looked about nervously. There was no one,
she couldn't even smell anybody. Though the stale air wouldn't carry a scent
far anyway. After a moment she reached out again.
Don't touch it!
"But this is my father's tomb," she protested, feeling silly about it.
She reached outward again.
Don't touch it, child!
"Be quiet!" she snapped, getting gritting her teeth in a stubborn
grimace. "This is what I came here for!" she brushed her fingers against
the black stone reverentially, if irritably.
There was a flash of blue light as one of the priest's wards was
triggered. A wave electricity reached out and surrounded her. Xina
swallowed and closed her eyes, waiting for the shock to come. It didn't, the
energy gathered in the armor she was wearing and dissipated harmlessly into a
light show.
"Is that all you were warning me about?" she laughed at the unnamed
voice. "That wasn't any..." she leaned against the stone, and barely caught
the sudden glow from the numerous wards she had just triggered. Her eyes
widened just before she was thrown back against a wall by a blast of mixed
fire, force and assorted magics. She noticed a shadowy figure near the
entrance before she full back unconscious.
Zangulus saw the girl fly back away from the warded tomb and frowned.
The priests would be alerted now, as would Zelgadis. He didn't have much
time, he drew out the black blade and slashed through the dark stone, bracing
himself for a magical discharge. Apparently the girl had triggered them all
onto herself, and he did not know about the power that had repelled Martina
before. As such he could not wonder at its lack now.
The bounty hunter looked in past the shattered stone and saw the mazoku's
corpse, well skeleton. The black blade crackled as it passed near the dried
bones of Xellos's human body. They were indeed charged with power. He
opened a bag and started scooping the bones into it. He considered the metal
staff and then let it clatter to the ground. Martina hadn't asked for the
staff, she wanted the body.
Zangulus turned to leave when something occured to him. That girl had
been here for Xellos's tomb. He walked over to look at her prone form and
noted the purple hair and purple-furred tail. The bounty hunter had heard
that a beast-woman of some sort had attended the mazoku's funeral. People
like him tended to file such information away. This girl might be related to
the fallen demon, his daughter perhaps.
He set down the bag and turned his raised up his sword and prepared to
let it fall. Then he hesitated, he was about to kill a defenseless girl.
"This isn't right," his arms lowered for a moment, his expression
confused. Then his eyes flickered and hardened. She was half-mazoku, she
was related to the mazoku who's tomb he was defiling. This girl would be
trouble, the sword came up again.
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