Slayers is the property of Kadokawa Shoten. The author owns only
the writing. I'd like to thank Cav and WillZ for their help in
proofing this chapter. You guys are great. Please send your
comments to Davner at doscher009@hotmail.com.
Assassins!?
The Plot Thickens!
The chimera leaned against the door of Sylphiel's room and
watched the mayor walk toward him, grinning from ear to ear.
"I just wanted to drop by and give Lina my most heartfelt
thanks!" he told Zelgadis. "Is she in there?"
"She's resting," Zelgadis told him.
"Well, when she wakes up please tell her that the entire
town is having a day of thanksgiving in her honor."
"I will," Zelgadis told him, eager now to just be rid of the
man.
"Oh, one last thing..."
"Now what?" Zelgadis growled.
"The crater Lina's Dragon Slave created has begun to fill
up with water and form a lake. We've decided to name it 'Lake
Lina,' in her honor."
Zelgadis sighed. Yet another thing done in Lina's honor,
and she wasn't even here to have done anything for it. He thought
back on his earlier conversation with Sylphiel, and a thought
struck him. "Mr. Mayor, if I may, I think that Sy...er...Lina...
would prefer you name the lake something else."
"Like what?" the mayor asked.
"Sylphi chan?"
Sylphiel opened her eyes. "Papa?"
"How do you feel?" her father asked, looking down at her
worriedly.
"Bad," she said. She ached all over. "What happened?"
"Do you remember the fire?"
"Yes, Papa. The scrolls...did I save them?"
"One of them, Sylphi chan," her father told her. "Don't
worry about that now. Just rest."
She sat up in her bed. "What about the Shrine?" She looked
at her father and blinked. The expression on his face was one of
incredible concern. "Papa, what's wrong?"
"Sylphi chan, listen to me... There's something you don't know
yet..."
She got up and went to the window. She had a view of the
Shrine from her room. She looked out and saw her reflection in the
glass. Past that, she saw the burnt remains of the Sairaag Shrine...
She looked on in horror....
Then screamed.
"PAPA!"
Sylphiel shot bolt upright in her bed, and screamed for her
father again.
"Sylphiel! Sylphiel!" she heard, then felt as someone took
her by the shoulders. She looked up and saw Zelgadis kneeling next
to her bed, his face a mask of concern.
Her hand went to her face and sobbed as a tear ran down her
cheek.
"It was just a dream, Sylphiel," he whispered. "Relax."
She took a deep breath and nodded as she collected herself.
"How did we do?"
Zelgadis huffed. "So well that the mayor has made today a
day of thanksgiving and celebration." He went to the window.
"They've been partying down there in the streets for hours."
"How long have I been out?" she asked.
"Six hours," he told her.
"Have you been here all this time?" she asked.
He turned and nodded. "We didn't think it was a good idea for
you to be alone, and Naga wanted to enjoy the party."
"Oh," she remarked quietly. "Why aren't you at the party?"
"I don't do well in....social gatherings."
"I see."
He looked at her for a moment. It was easy to see that she
was rattled. More rattled than someone who's been sleeping for six
hours should be. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yes, thank you, Zelgadis."
He stared at her for a minute before straightening slightly
and clearing his throat. "Why don't you come downstairs with me.
The party they're having is in your honor, after all....Lina."
She laughed and thought on this. "Give me a few minutes to
clean up."
He nodded and walked out the bedroom door.
Sylphiel climbed out of bed and started to change. She had
just put on a new blouse when a sudden thought hit her. Something
Achi had said before they had arrived in town.
("I think he likes you...you know...like that.")
At the time she had dismissed it, but now...
Had he just asked her out?
Her face turned red at the thought.
(No, that's preposterous,) she thought. (Isn't it?) She
continued to dress...
But her face was still red.
Zelgadis closed the door behind him and started down the hall.
He didn't have to go far before seeing a smiling Naga walking towards
him carrying a McInverse menu in her hand.
"Look!" she implored him, opening the menu right in his face.
"I told you I wouldn't be denied! Naga's Golem Goulash!
OOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"
Zelgadis sweatdropped. "Er...I'm very happy for you..." He
started to walk by her.
"What's the hurry, stoney?" she asked, hopping into his path
again.
Zelgadis sighed. "No hurry. Have you seen Xellos or Achi
around lately?"
"No, but they'll turn up," Naga assured him.
"That's what I'm worried about," Zelgadis muttered. What
they needed was a council of war. He had to get this quest back
on track. "What about the ship?"
"The mayor says it'll be ready to leave tomorrow morning."
Zelgadis nodded. "Good. We leave early tomorrow. If you're
not ready, we'll leave you behind."
Naga grinned. "I've heard promises like that before."
"I'm sure you have," Zelgadis muttered.
"Zelgadis,"
He turned to the sound of the voice behind him and blinked in
surprise. Sylphiel stood there...
In a purple dress that went down to her ankles...
It wasn't anything particularly flashy or especially elegant,
but on Sylphiel it didn't have to be. It was simply your ordinary,
run of the mill, sun dress. It just happened to look less run of
the mill on Sylphiel...
Naga stared and blinked.
"What do you think?" Sylphiel asked with a slight blush.
"What happened to your other clothes?" he asked.
Sylphiel cleared her throat nervously. "They have to be
washed..." she said lamely.
Naga grimaced and slapped the back of Zelgadis' head. "OW!
DAMN!" she cried, blowing on her hand. Apparently, she had
forgotten that Zelgadis' head was made of stone.
Zelgadis ignored her.
"Well, I'm ready," Sylphiel said nervously. "Shall we go?"
"Very well," Zelgadis said simply, missing the point of
Sylphiel's dressing up. He turned and started down the stairs.
Naga and Sylphiel watched him go. Naga snorted. "Don't mind
him, child, he just has rocks in his head."
Sylphiel only blushed and followed after Zelgadis.
Achi watched these events from around a nearby corner.
(Finally! A break!) She knew the curtain surrounding Sylphiel's
mind could drop at the first sign of emotional distress. She just
had to be there to pick up the ball when it did. She darted around
the corner and after them.
"And just where are you going?" Naga asked, snagging the
young Shinzoku by the back of her dress.
"Eeep!" Achi cried out. "Hey! Lemme go! I just wanna go
downstairs and play with the Lina freaks!"
Naga grinned. "Is that so? Well then, run along and play."
She released Achi, who promptly fell down. She growled and threw a
glare at Naga, who blinked in surprise at the intensity of the stare.
Achi whispered a word.
"Itch."
"Well, go play," Naga told her. She turned and started down
the hall. Suddenly, she stopped and reached behind her. She suddenly
had the most annoying itch right in the middle of her back...
Achi grinned and ran down the hall.
It was approaching sunset in Inverse, but the parties were
just starting. Bonfires were being lit, street performers were
out in full force, including several dressed as Lina, Naga, and
Zelgadis, reenacting the battle with the dragon. Street vendors
were selling food or Inverse mementoes. It was a full, all out
celebration.
Through it all, Zelgadis and Sylphiel walked. Occasionally,
Sylphiel would look up at Zelgadis, who continued to stare straight
ahead. She looked back down at the ground, then back up at him
again, uncertain as to what he was thinking.
(Was Achi right? If he does have feelings for me, wouldn't it
be better to remind him that Gourry dear and I....but...No, he must
know by now that Gourry dear is in love with Lina. But I...well...
I mean...I don't know what to think...)
She looked back up at him as he walked.
(Yes,) she thought as she took in his profile, (His
appearance can be rather frightening at first...But I've also seen
what he's like beneath...)
Zelgadis looked down at her. "Something wrong?" he asked.
"Huh?!" she asked, caught off guard. "No...Just thinking."
"Oh. Well, the port is this way." He started down a side
street.
"Why the port?" she asked.
"There's something I think you'd like to see," he said
mysteriously.
She sighed. (He really was a mystery.) Gourry, as much as
she cared for him, was easy to read. He made no effort to hide
anything. Zelgadis...
Zelgadis was so many things. All at once a rock of strength
and an open wound. A man of mystery and a man of straightforwardness.
But if he *had* asked her to accompany him because he has
feelings for her, then why was he so distant?
And if she still believed that she had a chance to win back
Gourry from Lina...why was she so unsettled by that distance?
"Here we are," he announced. "Just in time."
Sylphiel looked out over the wall at the newly formed lake.
Down below, on one of the docks, the mayor of Inverse was already
ten minutes into a speech.
"That's where we fought the dragon today," she noted.
He nodded. "Just listen."
"And so," the mayor continued, "In the destruction of the
enemy that has destroyed so many, we have a new lake. One that
will remain a part of the city of Inverse for all time. In the
naming of this new feature, someone suggested the name, 'Lake Lina,'
after our savior and the hero of the day..."
"Zelgadis, I..."
"Shh," he replied. "Just listen."
"However, one very close to Lina told us that she had another
name in mind, and we have decided to respect her wishes. And so,"
the mayor said, "I hereby open to shipping and fishing, Inverse's
new lake...Lake Sairaag!"
The crowd applauded.
Sylphiel's mouth dropped. "Lake...Sairaag?" she whispered.
Zelgadis nodded. "Lina will probably never see this town,"
he told her quietly. "And you and I both know why you chose to
fight that dragon. If there's a better way to memorialize your
home, I can't think of one."
She wiped a tear away. "Th..Thank you, Zelgadis," she
whispered. "This is...This is wonderful."
"I thought it was...fitting," he said.
She smiled and laughed a little. (A heart of gold indeed,)
she thought. She quickly took his hand. "Let's go get something to
eat," she said suddenly. "I'm starving."
Zelgadis, a little shocked at Sylphiel's sudden change in
behavior, could only follow dumbly as she led him down the street.
Achi looked out from behind a Lina Inverse garbage can as the
two walked down the street. She smiled and followed.
Naga growled as she scratched her back, trying to dispell that
horrid itch that simply wouldn't leave. Meanwhile, her other hand
was reaching across the dessert bar towards the frozen yogurt.
She felt someone grab her hand.
"BRAM BL...Huh?!" she said, blinking.
Standing across the dessert bar from her was a man. Handsome....
muscular...chiseled features....a warm, inviting smile...
And wearing one of her outfits.
Naga's eyes went wide. "What the fu..."
"Are you Naga the White Serpent?!" the man asked excitedly.
For the first time in her life, Naga was at a loss for words.
He was wearing one of *her* skimpy, revealing outfits....
"GROSS!" she cried.
"You *are* her, aren't you?!" he cried. He took her other
hand in his. "I'm Agan. I'm your biggest fan!"
Naga shuddered. "Wonderful," she muttered.
"Ever since you created that golem and crushed that dragon for
Lina, I knew that you were the one! You were the real magic behind
the legend!"
"Um...Thanks," she said, trying to dislodge her hands from
his...
"No! Thank *you*!" Agan replied. He leaned forward. "You
have no idea what this means to me..."
She tried to laugh, but failed. "I have a pretty good idea..."
she said quickly, looking around. "Um...Security?"
He leaned closer to her, his pecs, barely hidden by the tight
Naga bikini top, were right over the dessert bar. "Miss Naga, will
you marry me?"
"DILL BRAND!!!" She cried.
The desert bar promptly exploded, showering nearby McInverse
patrons with ice cream, cake, yogurt, and pies! By the time the
smoke cleared, Agan was out cold on the other side of the room, half
submerged in a Lina fountain.
Naga blinked some sherbert out of her eyes and looked down to
find her breasts coated with whip cream. "Yuck!" she cried.
"Hey!" she heard to her right. She turned and found those
same twins who had been giving Zelgadis trouble earlier standing
there, pointing at her. "This family restauraunt! Floor shows have
to be PG!"
"Yeah!" the other one cried, adopting a combat stance. "Take
your whip cream stripping to club down street! And no horde in on
our action!"
Naga grinned and threw back her cake coated cape. Whip cream
covered a good portion of her body, and though she couldn't be sure,
it felt as if there was a piece of Xellos the Mysterious Pie on her
head.
"Now, now, little girls," she warned. "It's not nice to
threaten the famous."
"Get her!" one of the twins cried. The two rushed her.
"Uh...oh..." was all Naga had time for before the twins were
on her...
Achi followed the two down a dimly lit street and did another
scan. It was obvious that Sylphiel was being cautious with her
words and thoughts. That only led to more problems for Achi. She
listened in as Sylphiel made a few attempts to start a conversation
with the chimera.
"So where are you from?" she asked.
"Oh, Blessed Dragon, that's *so* cliche," Achi whispered to
herself in disgust.
"Perrenia," Zelgadis told her. "Near Atlas City."
"Oh. I hear it's nice there," Sylphiel told him lamely.
Achi growled. Getting into Sylphiel's head meant that the
curtain Xellos put up had to be dropped, and in order for *that*
to happen, Sylphiel had to experience a moment of emotional distress,
something strong enough for Achi to slip in undetected...
She smiled. Xellos' curtain may keep Achi from taking thoughts
*out* of Sylphiel's mind, but it couldn't keep her from putting
thoughts *in*.
She'd have to be careful, though. Manipulation on such a level
could be detectable. She thought carefully and made a mental send...
"Zelgadis, do you think I'm pretty?" Sylphiel asked suddenly.
Zelgadis looked at her and blinked in surprise.
Sylphiel was no less surprised than he was. She covered her
mouth with her hand in shock.
"Well...Yes, I suppose so," Zelgadis told her. "Why do you
ask?" (What the hell is she doing?) he asked himself.
"I've seen you looking at me," Sylphiel said quickly. (WHAT?!)
she asked herself in total confusion. (WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!)
Zelgadis' eyes narrowed. "Looking at you?"
"On the way here," she said. Sylphiel, meanwhile, was blinking
in confusion.
"Sylphiel, are you feeling okay?" Zelgadis asked. (Perhaps
she needs more rest...)
"I've been looking at you, Zelgadis," she said. (WHAT?!)
(WHAT?!) Zelgadis asked himself.
Meanwhile, Achi was ducked behind another waste basket,
giggling to herself as she mouthed a few more words.
"You've been so kind towards me," Sylphiel said. (STOP IT!)
she ordered her brain. "So brave..." she whispered. She found
herself moving towards him.
Zelgadis took a step back, confusion all over his stone face.
"Sylphiel, what's the matter with you?"
(STOP IT!) she begged her mind. What was happening to her?!
Achi smiled. Any second now...
She felt something touch her shoulder.
"EEP!"
She turned and found Xellos there. "Hello," he said simply.
In front of them, Sylphiel lost her step and fell forward...
Right into Zelgadis' arms.
She turned a bright crimson and quickly stood up. "I'm sorry,
Mister Zelgadis! Excuse me!" She ran into an alley and disappeared.
Zelgadis only stood there in utter confusion.
"Playing with human minds is dangerous business, Achi chan,"
Xellos told her. "Especially in this case."
"Buzz off, Mazoku!" Achi hissed back. "I'm working here!"
Before Achi could protest, Xellos had her by the scruff of
the neck. He quickly vanished with her, reappearing on a nearby
rooftop.
Achi began to power up. "Don't interfere, Mazoku," she
warned.
Xellos leveled his staff at her. "I'm giving you a friendly
warning, that's all," he told her. "You don't want these humans
angry with you. I know from experience."
"Hmmph! They're just humans!" she snapped.
"Phibrizzo said something very similar," Xellos said with a
grin. "He's not saying much now, is he?"
"My job is to find the location of Zarak Tor," Achi hissed.
"And I will do that job in whatever manner I see fit. And if you...
or these humans...get in my way," she whispered dangerously, "I'll
implant a nightmare in their minds so terrifying, they'll spend the
rest of their lives *screaming* and trying to claw their eyes out to
get away from it!"
Xellos regarded her for a moment.
"Don't think I can?" she asked with a smile. "Don't test me,
Xellos. You're powerful, but your mind is just like any other. Try
me, and I'll turn it into freak modern art."
With that last threat, she disappeared.
Xellos took a breath. He had to be extremely careful. He knew
that of all the Shinzoku, Achi was one of the most dangerous. If she
made a threat, nine times out of ten she was capable of following
through on it.
"Yareyare," he whispered with a frown, then vanished himself.
Naga, bruised, dirty, and still covered with pastry,
walked/limped down the road, growling in anger at what had transpired
at McInverse.
And that damn itch in her back was only getting worse!
It was agonizing! She just couldn't reach it! She growled
again and rubbed her back against a stone colum nearby. Dammit.
Too smooth...
She looked up and found Zelgadis walking up the road towards
her, a disconcerted look on his face.
"Thank God!" she cried, and ran towards him. Zelgadis looked
up at the sound of her voice. "Stand still!" she cried.
"Wha..." he tried to get out, but before he could, Naga was
turned around and rubbing her back against him! "NAGA!!"
"Dammit! I have this itch I can't reach! Just stand still!"
Zelgadis sighed. "First an anchor and now a scratching post,"
he muttered.
Sylphiel sighed as she turned a corner. She had been wrong
to run out like that. If nothing else, she owed Mister Zelgadis
an apology.
She still had no idea why she had acted that way. For some
reason, the words had just popped out of her mouth.
(Maybe it was my subconscious,) she thought. (Maybe it's
trying to tell me something.)
That she had feelings for Zelgadis?
She stopped and blinked.
Could that be it?
Zelgadis was a kind...brave man...And like her...he was alone
in the world.
She started walking again. She'd apologize to him for her
behavior...
And maybe ask him if he'd still like to have dinner.
She smiled and started walking just a little faster.
(I'll start over,) she thought. (Everyone is allowed a second
chance. I'll apologize and offer to make it up to him with dinner...
home made...Yes...That's what I'll do.)
Maybe she *did* have feelings for Zelgadis. It was possible.
And perhaps Achi was right, and Zelgadis had feelings for her. After
all, he had been kind to her throughout this journey. He had shown
*some* interest...
She turned a corner and stopped suddenly.
Zelgadis was at the end of the road...
With Naga...
Who was rubbing herself against him in a *very* suggestive
manner...
She felt her heart plunge into her stomach. (I see now,) she
whispered in her mind. (It wasn't me.) She remembered now how
Zelgadis and Naga had taken an interest in debating with one another.
And right before she had blacked out during the attack on the dragon,
she had seen him place a hand on the sorceress' shoulder.
She had made a mistake.
An error.
She turned and darted back around the corner.
A second later, Achi appeared right where the shrine maiden
had been standing. She blinked and took a sniff of the air.
Reaching down, she placed a hand on the ground where Sylphiel had
been standing, feeling the woman's mental essence there and reading
her state of mind. She smiled.
"Score!"
She disappeared again in pursuit of the white sorceress.
Xellos appeared on another roof top and took a look around. He
had decided that the best way to keep Zarak Tor out of Shinzoku hands
was to keep Achi from finding its location before he could. That
meant keeping a watch on Sylphiel.
He disappeared and reappeared again a block down. He was just
about to fade out and try another block when he caught a flash of
purple down near the docks. He faded out and reappeared closer.
Sure enough, it was Sylphiel, standing on the end of one of the
fishing piers, looking out over the newly formed lake.
He floated down to the pier and started walking. Of all the
members of their party, Sylphiel was the only one so far to give
him any trust at all. Although he was, by his very nature, prone
to take that trust and use it to his own advantage, he was by no
means incapable of appreciating it.
Sylphiel turned to him as he approached. "Mister Xellos,"
she said quietly in greeting.
"Ah, Miss Sylphiel," he called out, making this seem like a
purely chance encounter. "How are you feeling this evening? You
worried us when you collapsed this morning."
"I'm all right," she said quietly. "And you?"
"Just taking in the cheesy retro-ambience," he told her with
a smile. She didn't reply. "Is there something wrong, Miss
Sylphiel?" he asked.
She sighed. "I've made a very embarrassing mistake," she
whispered.
"Oh?" he asked.
She nodded. "Mister Xellos, I realize you are a Mazoku. That
you're...incapable...of feeling things like love." Xellos said
nothing. "I envy you."
He smiled evilly. "Do you now?"
She nodded. "One thing that's become clear to me in the past
year is that with love comes pain. If you can't feel love...you
can't feel the pain associated with it."
He stepped closer until he was standing next to her. "It's
not like a shrine maiden of Sairaag to make assumptions, Miss
Sylphiel," he said quietly. "We Mazoku do not experience love in
the same way that you humans do, but we do have emotions that, to
us, mean things very similar."
Sylphiel blinked at him. "Mister Xellos...are you trying to
say you've suffered a broken heart?"
He smiled at her. "Me?! Certainly not! I have no heart to
break, remember?" She smiled at this little joke, but said nothing.
"No," he whispered, "But as I said, something similar. You are
correct, Miss Sylphiel, we do not experience what you might call
the more positive emotions, but there is a fine line between anger...
and passion."
She looked at him again and blinked.
"I knew a woman," he whispered conspiritorially, "who fought me
at every turn, every decision. She made every effort to insult me,
anger me, incur my wrath, and she did it with the knowledge that I
could crush her any time I felt like it."
Sylphiel took in a quick in drawn gasp of breath. (Lina?!)
"And yet, I enjoyed it," he continued. "I loved sparring with
her like that. Before long, I wasn't experience wrath with her. I
no longer *hated* her...But I *did* feel passion."
"I see," she said.
He smiled. "And even I must admit...she had a wonderful
tail..."
Sylphiel blushed a deep crimson at hearing a man who called
himself a priest speak so. "I guess it's not simple no matter who
you are." He only nodded. "I wish sometimes I knew what other
people were thinking," she said. "It would make things so much
easier. And mistakes far less frequent."
"Do you now?" Xellos asked. "Shall I tell you another story?"
She nodded.
"Among the ranks of the Shinzoku, there is a woman with the
very powers you want. She mastered the elements of the mind when
she realized that she would never have the same amount of raw power
that the other Shinzoku had."
"So instead, she concentrated somewhere where power wasn't
the greatest factor?" Sylphie asked.
"Yes, exactly," Xellos told her with a smile. "She went from
being a low level goddess that the other Shinzoku found...having no
other appropriate word, 'cute,'...to a woman feared not only by the
Mazoku but by her comrades in the Shinzoku as well."
"Why feared?"
"Because, Miss Sylphiel, suddenly, she knew it all. All of
their secrets, all of their desires and ambitions were laid bare
before her." Sylphiel listened intently. "She became the Shinzoku's
chief spy as well as a watchdog on the others for the Wind Dragon
King. She became a personal threat to most Shinzoku and all Mazoku.
She ended up alone, her friends too frightened of her to be near
her voluntarily. All because she wanted to know what they were
thinking."
"That's so sad," Sylphiel remarked. "Is it a true story?"
Xellos grinned. "As true as any other story I tell."
She started to giggle...then laugh. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Life is a hundred times more interesting, when you *don't* know
the answers," he told her.
She smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Mister Xellos."
Sitting on a rock under the pier they were standing on, a young
girl wiped a tear from her eye.
"Screw you too, Xellos," she whispered, then vanished.
At the other end of town, two horsemen entered the city of
Inverse. Blonde hair and youthful features could be seen beneath
their black hoods, but not much else. Steel broadswords rode their
hips beneath their dark cloaks.
One of the horses snorted as the rider checked him to a stop.
The gate guard of Inverse stepped forward and held a torch up.
"Who you be?" he asked.
"Travelers," one of them said. "Travelers who have heard that
a sorceress is here looking for passage to the Sirian Sea."
The guard smiled. "Ah! You mean Miss Lina! Yeah, whole
town's talking about it!"
The two made no sign either approval or disapproval of this.
They started forward again.
"Whoa!" the gate guard called out. "It's after sundown, I
can't let you two in."
The two horsemen paused a moment. Looking up, they saw three
more guards start walking towards them to assist the gate guard.
"Very well," the one on the right said. "We'll come back
tomorrow." With that, the two turned their horses and started
riding back down the road.
"Ah, the life of a sailor!" Naga cried, taking a deep breath
of the morning air on the river while absently scratching her back.
The ship the mayor of Inverse had granted them was a small
clipper with a shallow draft, making it ideal for traveling up
and down the river. It had only two masts, but no rowers. Even
so, it was more than adequate for the small group of adventurers.
Sylphiel joined Naga at the deck rail and looked out over the
river with her.
"So," Sylphiel began, "How did your date with Zelgadis go?"
Naga gave her a puzzled look. "Isn't that my line?"
"Well," Sylphiel said nervously, "I just meant that you two
seemed very friendly last night in the street....I just assumed
that...Well...I guess I..."
"OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOOHO!!!!"
Sylphiel blinked at her.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, child, but I don't date statuary.
By the way," she said with a grimace and turning her back to the
shrine maiden, "Could you scratch my back? This thing is killing
me! I must have slept on some poison ivy or something..."
Sylphiel blinked in confusion and began to dumbly scratch Naga's
back. (So...They *aren't* together...)
The gate guard opened the gate of Inverse to the public promptly
at sunrise. He whistled as he performed his daily duty. He looked
up at the sound of horses coming his way and was barely able to jump
back fast enough to avoid being trampled by the two horsemen he had
seen last night.
"Hey!" he called after them. "Not so fast!"
By then,however, it was too late.
They were in the town.
"Ah, young love," Naga said with a grin.
Sylphiel blushed. "It's nothing like that at all!" she cried.
"My heart belongs to Gourry dear! I just thought that Mister Zelgadis
might appreciate a home cooked meal...to thank him for watching out
for me yesterday..."
"Of course you did," Naga said with a grin. "And then, of
course, there's dessert." She leered at the shrine maiden.
"D...dessert?" Sylphiel asked.
Naga's grin widened. "You've never had dessert with a man,
child?"
"Well, I've prepared desserts in the past...Um..."
Naga rested a hand on Sylphiel's shoulder. "No, no, no,
child," she whispered. "I mean the *good* kind of dessert."
Sylphiel turned bright red at Naga's implication.
"You see, child," Naga whispered with a grin, leaning closer
to Sylphiel, "When a young woman such as yourself, makes dessert for
a young man such as Zelgadis, there's one key ingredient that *must*
be included..."
Sylphiel gulped.
"Strawberries?"
Both women shrieked at the sudden interruption. They turned
to see Xellos standing right next to them, unnoticed until now.
"Not strawberries?" he asked with a shrug.
Naga went toe to toe with him. "Hmmph! Figures that a
lecherous old priest would want to know the secret ingredient!
Shoo!" she cried, waving him away with her hand. "Go on! Shoo!"
"But I'm genuinely interested!" the Mazoku said with a grin.
"What is the secret ingredient that Miss Sylphiel simply *must* add
to her dessert with Zelgadis?"
Sylphiel turned an even deeper crimson. "There is no dessert!
I was just going to make dinner!"
"And this dinner has nothing to do with the conversation we had
last night?" he asked.
Naga turned to Sylphiel, her hands on her hips. "You went to
some lecher priest for advice about sex before coming to me!?"
"Oh! So it *IS* about sex!" Xellos cried, clapping his hands
in delight.
"IT'S NOT ABOUT SEX!" Sylphiel cried. Every Inversian sailor
on the deck turned her way. Sylphiel was the color of a ripe tomato
by now.
Down on the pier, a checklist in his hands, Zelgadis shook his
head at the sound of the arguing going on aboard the ship. He checked
a barrel one of the sailors was carrying and nodded, ushering the man
aboard. He wanted to get this ship loaded and underway.
Back on course...
"Welcome to McInverse! How can I help you today?!" the cheery
Lina waitress asked.
One of the two cloaked men stood at the counter...
"Whipped cream?" Xellos asked.
"Nope," Naga said with a smile, her arms folded over her chest.
"I just wanna die," Sylphiel cried into her hands in complete
and utter humiliation.
"Bananas?"
"Close," Naga said with a nod.
"Then what?"
Naga grinned and wagged her finger in his face. "That's a
secret."
Xellos clutched at his chest and posed dramatically. "Slain
by my own wit!" His eyes caught Naga again. "Honey?"
Zelgadis checked off the last thing on the list. "Done," he
said to himself with a smile. "Time to go." He stopped when he
realized they were forgetting a passenger. Achi was playing with
some seagulls not far away. "Achi! Come on! We're leaving."
"Okay, Mister Zelgadis."
Zelgadis turned and started for the loading ramp. He turned
back to make sure Achi was following. He knew Sylphiel would throw
a fit if the little girl got left behind.
Achi was running toward him. Zelgadis blinked as he saw a
rider come from around a building and start galloping toward them
at full speed.
(Perhaps the mayor has a final message before we go,) he
thought.
This idea vanished a moment later when the rider pulled a
broadsword...
Zelgadis pulled his own sword. "ACHI! DOWN!"
Achi didn't become the Wind Dragon King's top agent by asking
questions. She hit the dirt and was amazed when she felt a breeze
blow past her. She looked up and saw a horse running by her, a man
in a dark cloak and holding a broadsword sitting atop it.
(What the hell!?) she asked herself. She hadn't sensed
anyone behind her...
Zelgadis watched as the rider leapt off his horse and landed
right in front of him, his face hidden by the black cowl.
"Achi! Get on the ship!" he yelled. He saw the purple-haired
girl run for the ramp. Zelgadis smiled. It had been a long time
since he'd killed a man with his sword...
And it *was* thirsty for blood...
He darted toward the man and made a short jab at his face.
The dark man spun and turned the blow expertly, parrying each of
the chimera's attacks and make a few of his own. Zelgadis frowned
as he realized he was being pushed back...
They turned as Achi came clambering up the ramp.
"Achi chan?" Sylphiel asked.
"It's Mister Zelgadis!" she cried.
The three rushed to the other side of the ship and looked down.
Sylphiel gasped in shock at what they saw. Zelgadis was being hard
pressed by a strange man in black.
Naga brought her hands up. "FREEEEEZE!" she began the spell
and aimed along the fire shaft. "ARROW!"
The bolt of frost flew from her hands right on target. It
struck the man dead in the back...
And dissipated into nothingness.
Naga gasped.
Zelgadis' eyes went wide when he saw the freeze arrow simply
disappear into the man's back. The attacker didn't seem to care
one bit. He darted forward and made another slash at Zelgadis.
The chimera brought his sword up and blocked the blow barely inches
from his face.
He hadn't counted on his opponent being so skilled. Zelgadis
hadn't had this much trouble with a swordsman since he fought Gourry.
And since it seemed that magic wouldn't work, he was stuck.
He pushed forward with a cry and brought his sword around in a
two-handed slash. The attacker leaped away and brought his sword up
to counterattack.
"Hmmm...An interesting quandry," Xellos noted, his finger on
his chin.
"Miss Naga," Sylphiel began, readying a spell. "Go up to the
aft deck and get us moving."
Naga blinked as Sylphiel began to concentrate. "I just tried
that!" Naga bit out. "Magic won't work!"
"Hurry, Miss Naga!" Sylphiel cried. Naga growled and ran up to
the aft deck.
The captain blinked at her in confusion.
"Hold onto the wheel, Gramps," Naga said with a grin. She
held her hands to her midsection as if cradling something. Then,
with one quick movement, thrust them towards the sail.
"BOMB DE WIND!!"
A shot of compressed air struck the sail, instantly filling it.
The ship lurched forward and began to move. Naga prepared another
one and looked down at Sylphiel.
The shrine maiden took a breath. She had never tried this
spell before. "Floating spirit on the water..." she began.
Xellos smiled as he saw what she was going to do. "Mister
Zelgadis," he shouted down at the chimera, who was still fighting for
his life. "I suggest you get ready to fly..."
If Zelgadis heard him, he gave no sign. He was too busy
blocking the latest flurry of slashes from his opponent.
"As thy words of pledge," Sylphiel continued, holding her
hands up in the same way Naga had earlier. A cold mist began to
form. "Obey me and be my power..."
The mist coalesced into a thin shaft of ice. Sylphiel licked
her dry lips and aimed carefully at the two fighting men below. The
ship was moving already. She had to do this now.
"FREEZE ARROW!!" she cried, and let the ice shaft loose! The
icicle shard sped down to the pier...
And hit the ground right behind the assailant.
"You missed!" Achi cried in despair.
"No she didn't," Xellos said with a smug smile.
The man in black took a step back, under attack from Zelgadis,
and placed his foot on the patch of ice formed by Sylphiel's spell.
The man cried out as he slipped and landed hard on his back.
"Zelgadis!" Sylphiel cried.
"LEVITATION!" they heard him cry out. He began to float
upward.
"BOMB DE WIND!" They heard as Naga gave the sails another
boost.
Zelgadis landed nimbly on the deck as the ship left port and
began to speed away down the river.
The man in black climbed to his feet and watched as the ship
moved further away. He sheathed his sword in disgust and started
to walk away. It was up to his brother now.
Zelgadis crouched down on one knee, his hand going to his side.
"Damn," he swore under his breath. One of his assailant's swings had
gotten through, and if it hadn't been for his chimera body, it would
probably have gone right through him.
"Are you all right?" Sylphiel asked, crouching next to him.
"I'm fine," he growled painfully.
She reached out and lifted his shirt. Zelgadis raised an
eyebrow at this but said nothing. She bit her lip as she found the
wound, a four inch chip in his side. "Will a healing spell work on
you?" she asked seriously.
"Yes," he told her. "Rezo's curse seems to take into account
the possibility that I might be injured.
"Lie down," she ordered.
"It's not *that* bad," he told her.
"This will be easier if you're at rest," she told him, putting
her hands on his chest and pushing him down to the deck. Zelgadis
obeyed and layed down on his back.
Sylphiel seemed to realize where her hands were and pulled back
as if scalded, blushing.
Zelgadis seemed to take her haste as disgust, and grimaced.
"Get to it," he growled.
Sylphiel's face fell. She bit her lip and began chanting a
recovery spell, her hands on Zelgadis' side.
Naga came down from the aft deck. "Well, we're on the move,"
she announced.
No one bothered to reply.
"Don't everyone thank me at once," the White Serpent growled.
Xellos was deep in thought at the rail of the ship, watching
the scenery go by. They weren't past the town yet, so he could still
see some activity, shoppers mostly. "We appear to have a new problem,"
he mused.
"Miss Naga's magic didn't work against him," Achi threw in,
too concerned to worry about agreeing with Xellos.
"And he nearly killed Mister Zelgadis," Xellos added.
"Heh," was all Zelgadis would say.
"Maybe Miss Naga's magic has stopped working," Achi sugggested.
"Nonsense!" Naga cried. "My magic is as good as it ever was!"
"NAAAAAGAAAAA!!!" someone cried from the shore. Naga gasped
at the voice and turned to see Agan running along the shore, waving.
"COME BACK, NAAAAGAAAAA!!!"
"Watch," Naga growled. "I'll prove it." She raised her arms
and aimed at Agan. "FLAAAAARE ARROW!!"
Just as Naga was releasing the fire bolt, Xellos reached out
with his staff and gave her a slight push. It was enough, and the
fire bolt missed Agan, striking the ground next to him in a large
explosion, throwing sand and dirt into the air. Agan was thrown to
the ground.
Naga turned on Xellos, glaring hatefully. "It's an abomination,
and it HAS-TO-*DIE*!" she hissed.
Xellos only arched an eyebrow. "Yareyare..." he muttered.
Meanwhile, Sylphiel had completed her spell, and Zelgadis
climbed to his feet. "One thing is for sure," he said, "We have an
enemy out there. We have nothing worth stealing. He was out to kill
me, period."
"We'll have to be more cautious," Sylphiel commented.
"Well, it doesn't really matter now!" Naga told them. "We're
on the move, he's stuck back there."
"I certainly hope you're right, Miss Naga," Sylphiel commented,
looking out at the shore. "I do hope you're right."
Belowdecks, in the ship's hold, a barrel fell over and rolled
to the bulkhead. It jumped on its own twice before the lid flew off
the end. Booted feet emerged followed by the rest of a man...
A man in black.
"You didn't sense him, did you?" Xellos asked Achi in a
straightforward manner.
"No," she said, once again forgetting that she was conversing
with 'the enemy.' "I didn't even know he was there until Zelgadis
said something."
Xellos looked out over the river. "Someone from Zarak Tor?"
"That would imply that there's someone left alive on Zarak Tor,"
she hissed quietly.
"Then how do you explain it?" he asked with an annoying smile.
"Coincidence," she huffed.
"'Coincidence?'" He asked. "The exact thing the Wind Dragon
King *and* Phibrizzo once feared showing up out of nowhere...
coincidence?"
Achi turned and faced him. "No one survived, Xellos," she
growled.
Xellos wagged a finger in front of her face. "I guess we'll
just see. If there *were* survivors, then that means your boss made
an even bigger mistake than even he thought." He smiled, turned, and
walked away.
Achi stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to the river.
(Survivors...)
Impossible! She was there! She saw it! The Wind Dragon King
himself delivered the final blow...
But if Zarak Tor survived...couldn't its inhabitants survive as
well?
She sighed.
"Dammit," she muttered.
Sylphiel looked at herself in the mirror and admired the
blue-violet strands of hair there. Finally, she felt like herself
again. It had taken hours to rinse the dye out of her hair, but it was
worth it. She stood up and looked out the porthole in the room she
was sharing with Achi and Naga. The shore of the river wasn't too far
away. She found herself searching for men in black.
"Who was it?" she whispered to herself. "Unless..."
Her eyes widened.
(No! Surely it couldn't be...)
But if it was....
She rushed out of the cabin. She had to talk to Zelgadis.
"How long until we reach the Sirian Sea?" Zelgadis asked the
captain.
At the wheel, the captain of their ship, the Mariposa, thought
for a moment. "We got a good wind, going down river...three more
hours, maybe."
Zelgadis smiled. "Good."
"But, Mister Zelgadis, sir," the captain began, "What happens
after that?"
Zelgadis blinked. The captain was right. He had no idea
where the island was, and the Sirian Sea was a rather large body
of water...
"Zelgadis!"
He turned and looked down to see Sylphiel, her hair back to
normal, looking up at him from the main deck.
"What is it?"
"I think we should talk."
Zelgadis nodded and hopped down to the main deck.
"I think I know who attacked you," she said seriously.
"Who?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.
"The elves of Zarak Tor."
"This doesn't make any sense at all!" Naga complained, walking
around the captain's cabin, absently scratching her back. "There
*are* no more elves...at least not on this continent! There's that
one island Lina and I went to once, but that's on the other side of
the continent! The rest left a thousand years ago, after the War of
the Monster's Fall!"
Xellos made a small noise.
"What?" Naga asked.
"Nothing," he said, "Just remembering something."
"I'm telling you," Sylphiel said quietly, "They're here."
Zelgadis said nothing and mulled it over. They had been
debating for three hours now. "Sylphiel, *how* do you know this?"
he asked.
Sylphiel took a breath. "I guess it's time I told you the story.
Zelgadis, may I see the map, please?"
Zelgadis retrieved the map and handed it to Sylphiel.
"This map," she said, was drawn by my great great grandfather
many years ago," she said, spreading it out onto the table. "It's a
map to the Sirian Sea, but that's all it is."
"Then what good is it?" Naga asked.
"Because," she said, removing a scroll from a satchel she had
been carrying. "It was prompted by the discovery of this." She
laid it out before them. It was very old, the edges appeared burned.
On this sheet were numbers, a few illustrations, grids...
"What is it?" Naga asked, clueless.
"It's a rudder," Zelgadis said.
"A what?" Naga asked.
"It's a pilot or navigator's personal log," Zelgadis explained.
"As his ship travels, he marks off navigational points, hazards, things
like that. The question is, whose is it?"
"Four hundred years ago," Sylphiel began, "A healer priest at
the town that is now Inverse, was summoned in the middle of the night
to a fisherman's home on the edge of town. When he got there, the
fisherman explained that he had found a man floating near some flotsam
in the water of the Sirian Sea while he was out fishing." She looked
up at them. "The man had long, pointed ears."
"Lots of people have long, pointed ears, child," Naga said,
pulling on one of Zelgadis' ears with a smile.
"There's more," the shrine maiden continued. "The man was
injured. Afraid that he might die before waking up, the healer
priest tried a recovery spell on him....It didn't work."
"You mean it was too late?" Xellos asked.
"I mean the spell had no effect," Sylphiel elaborated. "None.
The man died soon afterward. When they tried to cremate the body...
they had to use pitch and torches because the flames of a fireball
spell wouldn't touch him."
"He was immune to magic," Zelgadis muttered.
"But how?" Naga asked.
"The healer priest wondered that same question and asked for
help from a visiting cleric from Sairaag. They investigated for
several months. The only thing they could come up with was that it
was a natural immunity. That for some reason, the..." she faultered
and thought for a moment. "How did they word it?" she whispered to
herself. "That the magical field simply didn't exist for them."
"That's not possible," Zelgadis told her straight out. "The
field that creates magic is generated by everything. Rezo looked
for ways to disrupt it, but couldn't do it."
"The elves could," Sylphiel argued. "That's why the island
was lost."
"Okay," Naga said, "Excuse me, but I'm throwing the 'Huh?!'
flag right now! Could someone explain this island to me?"
"During the War of Monster's Fall, the elves allied themselves
with the Golden Dragons and the Shinzoku." They all turned as Xellos
continued. "To combat the Mazoku, the elves built weapons they felt
would neutralize our abilities."
"Ugh!" Naga cried. "No need to remind me! I nearly got
killed by one of those damn orihalcon turtle things!"
"One of their creations was a weapon that totally negated the
magical field." He smiled, "However, before it could be used, the
Shinzoku intervened."
"I thought you said the elves and the Shinzoku were allies,"
Zelgadis said.
"They were, but the elves had a bad habit of acting without
thinking first."
"No joke," Naga muttered.
"They created this weapon without realizing that it affected
the Shinzoku in the exact same manner that it did the Mazoku. The
Shinzoku would be powerless against it."
"So they struck first," Naga concluded.
"The Wind Dragon King lead his forces against the peninsula of
Zarak Tor near the Algalagath Sea..."
"Then why are we in the Sirian Sea?!"
"During the attack, the Wind Dragon King cast a final spell,
hoping to banish the entire area from this world, to erase all
knowledge of what had transpired there. However, the weapon was
already activated. During the spell, something went wrong. The
peninsula disappeared completely."
Sylphiel nodded. "When the priests went through the elf's
belongings they found two things. This rudder, and a coin. The
inscription on the coin read, 'Entredes Pyrannus Zarak.'"
"Zarak Tor," Xellos concluded. "The Wind Dragon King's spell
succeeded in moving the island...but only two thousand miles, not to
the next world as he had hoped."
"Meaning it's somewhere out there," Zelgadis concluded,
looking out the porthole into the fog of the Sirian Sea.
"And this rudder will tell us where," Sylphiel told them.
"Well?" Zelgadis asked the captain.
"We're on the right course according to the rudder you gave
us," the captain said. "Though it's rather vague. I *think* we're
on the right track."
Zelgadis sighed and walked forward, toward the bowsprit. "I
guess it's better than nothing." He stopped when he saw Sylphiel
standing on the bow, looking out at the ocean. He stepped forward
again. "Sylphiel?"
She turned. "Hello, Zelgadis. Is there anything wrong?"
"No. The captain says we're on course."
She nodded.
"One thing I've always hated about ocean travel," he remarked,
"It's so boring."
"I know," she replied. "The ocean's very pretty, but after
awhile, it gets redundant."
He turned to her as an idea occurred to him. "Have you been
practicing looking into the astral plane?"
She nodded.
"Think you're ready to try a spell?"
She nodded again. "I guess." She remembered the nature of
astral magic and balked slightly. "Surely you don't want me to try
it out on something alive?!"
"Why not?"
She faultered for a moment. "Zelgadis, I can't attack
something's living essence just to see if I can do it!"
Zelgadis gave this some thought. "Alright. I have an idea."
Timor, just another sailor on the Mariposa, whistled as he
coiled a length of rope on the main deck. He looked up at the sky
for a moment and checked the sun. It was midafternoon now, and the
sailor was casting a long shadow on the deck.
He finished coiling the rope and turned to bring it belowdecks.
That's when he heard it. A faint whizzing noise and a thud.
He looked back to find that someone had thrown one of the darts
from the crew's dartboard and struck the deck in the middle of his
shadow. He shrugged, turned, and started to walk away...
Then he tripped.
He hit the deck with a thud and stood up. He tried walking away
again, but found he couldn't. He was trapped!
"Witchcraft!" he breathed. "Mates! Mates! Help! I'm
bewitched!"
Hiding behind the main mast, Zelgadis smiled. "That's all
there is to it," he told the woman standing next to him.
"A shadowsnap," Sylphiel mused.
"It's nonlethal," he told her. "And it has several uses."
They watched as several more sailors rushed to Timor's aid and
tried to move him from the spot where his shadow had trapped him.
"Since it also makes use of the skills needed to perform just
about any basic Shamanistic spell, it's a good place to start."
Sylphiel nodded. "Alright."
Zelgadis handed her one of the darts he had filched from the
back room.
Sylphiel took the dart and stared at it, doing as Zelgadis
taught her and charging it with her own astral energy. The dart
glowed faintly.
"That one," Zelgadis said, pointing at one of the sailors
trying to help Timor. The sailor's shadow fell on the deck a good
bit away from them, so there was little danger of Sylphiel missing
and striking one of them.
Sylphiel licked her lips and threw the dart.
The throw was hasty and it was obvious she was inexperienced,
but the dart struck the man's shadow regardless.
The target realized he couldn't move and began to wail.
"IT'S GOT ME! IT'S GOT ME! MOMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!"
"Zelgadis, perhaps we should let them go now," Sylphiel
suggested sheepishly. She didn't want to hurt anyone, but she hadn't
wanted to frighten them either.
"Very well," Zelgadis relented. "LIGHTING!"
He generated a ball of light and tossed it towards the sailors.
The light dissipated the shadows, and suddenly, Timor and the other
sailor fell forward, instantly freed. The men got up and scampered
as far from that part of the ship as they could.
Achi put on a broad smile and skipped up to the captain.
"Hello, Captain Sir!" she said prettily, batting her eyes at him in
a way that would make anyone melt and hug her.
The aging seaman smiled. "Hello, there, little girl," he said,
leaning down to her. "What are you doing up here on this part of the
ship?"
"Nooooothing," Achi said and giggled. She gazed into his eyes
and readied herself to take what he knew of Zarak Tor from his mind.
Xellos had managed to keep her out of that war conference they had
had, but she knew about the rudder now. If she could...
"Achi chan!"
(DAMMIT!) She tried to enter the captain's mind before the
Mazoku caught up to her.
"Achi chan! What are you doing up here?! You shouldn't play
here..."
She grimaced as Xellos interposed himself between her and the
captain. "I just wanted to watch Mister Captain steer the ship,"
she pouted.
Xellos smiled. "You shouldn't bother Mister Captain," he noted.
His eyes went wide as he felt a pain in his head.
(And you, Mazoku, should've listened to my advice,) he heard in
his mind. (I'm going to warn you one...last....time. Stay out of my
way.) He gasped slightly as the pain left.
"Mr. Xellos?" Achi asked innocently. "Are you okay? You
look sick. You should go below and go to sleep. Dream a little."
She smiled cruelly and rested her hand on the ship's compass.
Xellos regained his composure and smiled. He waved his hand
and watched the compass under Achi's hand break.
Achi blinked at the broken piece of equipment. "Wha?"
"AUGH!" the captain cried. "Do you know how expensive a
ship's compass can be?!"
"Um...I..." Achi began.
"Get down to the main deck!" the captain roared. "The
bridge is no place for a child! Now go!"
Achi glared. "Don't talk to me like that!" she yelled.
"Ack!"
She yelped this last part as Xellos grabbed her ear.
"Achi chan! How dare you break Mister Captain's compass and then
mouth off to him!? You, young lady, are getting a spanking! Right
here! Right now!"
"WHAT?!"
Xellos sat down on a nearby bench and tossed the child-like
Shinzoku over his knee. Achi's eyes went wide as she realized that
there was nothing she could do! As long as she was in sight of so
many people, she couldn't blow her cover!
Achi wasn't known among the Shinzoku for just her powers over
the mind, she was also known for thinking on her feet. Among the
Mazoku, Xellos was the great manipulator. Among the Shinzoku, it
was her.
In a second, she had a plan.
She sniffled.
Xellos brought his hand up.
She took a deep breath and...
"ONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAN!!!!!"
Xellos' eyes went wide as he realized he was in trouble.
"MISTER XELLOS!!!"
He turned and saw Sylphiel standing on the bridge, Zelgadis
right behind her and trying desperately to keep out of the way.
Sylphiel's expression was enough to melt a solid lead brick as she
glared at the trickster priest.
The captain and other officers on the deck quickly turned
back to their duties and whistled nonchalantly.
Xellos chuckled as he tried to think of what to do now.
Achi acted. She jumped off Xellos' lap and ran to Sylphiel.
"ONEECHAN!!" she cried, hugging Sylphiel and crying into her
tunic. "He...he...*sniff*...he was going to beat me..eee..eeeee!"
Sylphiel's glare increased a few thousand degrees.
Xellos stood up and started to back away.
"If there was ever a time for you to disappear," Zelgadis
said, "It's now."
The shrine maiden began to advance on the trickster priest.
She actually began to roll her sleeves up! Hiding behind her, Achi
stuck her tongue out at Xellos.
"I don't care what kind of priest you are," Sylphiel began
dangerously. "But don't ever let me catch you laying a hand on that
little girl again!"
"But..." Xellos started.
*CRACK!*
He felt a strange sensation on the side of his face as his
cheek began to grow hot. Sylphiel was standing before him, her eyes
shut, her face a mask of anger, and her hand at the finishing end of
the slap that had just struck him.
He blinked.
So did Zelgadis. He knew from experience that getting a shot
in at Xellos was near impossible. Filia had spent a good portion
of their journey trying to do it, and had failed, and she was a
*golden dragon*!
Xellos was speechless. (Passion, indeed,) he thought. He
looked up for a moment, then pointed. "Look! A cloaked man is
cutting the rigging on the main mast!"
"If you think I'm going to fall for th..." Sylphiel began.
"He's not kidding!" the captain cried, pointing. "Look!"
They turned and found a man in black standing high up on the
mast, cutting lines one by one.
"It's him," Zelgadis growled. "LEVITATION!" The chimera
began to float upwards toward the yard arm of the main mast. He drew
his sword as he landed on the yard arm. He was now standing between
the man and the mast, cutting off his escape.
Zelgadis smiled. "We never got a chance to finish," he
commented, starting toward the man.
The man in black drew his sword and prepared for battle. The
wind whipped at his cloak and Zelgadis' as they moved towards one
another.
Down on the aft deck, the rest watched as the two began to
fight. Naga stepped out of her cabin and yawned. "Hey, what's
going on? I was taking a nap!"
They all pointed up at the yard arm where Zelgadis and the
unknown man were fighting furiously now.
"Again?!" Naga asked in disbelief. "Well, that's no problem."
She pointed her hands upward.
"Naga? What are you doing?!" Sylphiel asked quickly.
"The same thing you did," the sorceress replied.
"FREEEEEZE...."
"No, wait! Don't!" the captain yelled.
"ARROW!!"
The ice arrow flew up towards the yard arm and struck it dead
on. A coat of ice began to spread along the length towards the mast.
The man in black tried to back away, but the ice gained on him.
His foot slipped and he fell, landing in the water with a splash.
"MAN OVERBOARD!" someone yelled.
"That's the least of our problems," the captain sighed.
"LEVI.." Zelgadis began, but it was too late. He slipped on
the ice and fell towards the deck, smashing through the floor of
the ship.
The yardarm, frozen brittle by Naga's blast and the supporting
lines cut by the mystery man, broke off near the mast and swung
downward. At the end of its swing it broke off completely and fell
toward the deck like a flachette, spearing right through the decks
and into the sea, leaving a gaping hole in the bottom of the ship.
"GET THE CARPENTER!" the captain yelled. "THE CARPENTER!"
The ship began to fill rapidly and lurched to one side.
"We're going down!" Naga yelled.
Xellos hmm'd. "So we are. Well, it's not the way I would
have *preferred* to get off the hook, but any distraction's better
than none!" With that, he disappeared.
"Xellos, you jerk!" Achi cried, latching onto Sylphiel.
Naga straightened. "RAYW..."
Suddenly some loose rigging fell, swinging from the mizzenmast
and striking the sorceress in the head, knocking her into the sea,
unconscious.
"Achi, hold onto me!" Sylphiel cried.
She ship turned onto its side as sailors and officers rushed
about trying to prevent the ship's death. Sylphiel and Achi were
thrown overboard by a sudden lurch to the left. She felt herself
strike the cold water...
And then nothing...
To Be Continued...
the writing. I'd like to thank Cav and WillZ for their help in
proofing this chapter. You guys are great. Please send your
comments to Davner at doscher009@hotmail.com.
Assassins!?
The Plot Thickens!
The chimera leaned against the door of Sylphiel's room and
watched the mayor walk toward him, grinning from ear to ear.
"I just wanted to drop by and give Lina my most heartfelt
thanks!" he told Zelgadis. "Is she in there?"
"She's resting," Zelgadis told him.
"Well, when she wakes up please tell her that the entire
town is having a day of thanksgiving in her honor."
"I will," Zelgadis told him, eager now to just be rid of the
man.
"Oh, one last thing..."
"Now what?" Zelgadis growled.
"The crater Lina's Dragon Slave created has begun to fill
up with water and form a lake. We've decided to name it 'Lake
Lina,' in her honor."
Zelgadis sighed. Yet another thing done in Lina's honor,
and she wasn't even here to have done anything for it. He thought
back on his earlier conversation with Sylphiel, and a thought
struck him. "Mr. Mayor, if I may, I think that Sy...er...Lina...
would prefer you name the lake something else."
"Like what?" the mayor asked.
"Sylphi chan?"
Sylphiel opened her eyes. "Papa?"
"How do you feel?" her father asked, looking down at her
worriedly.
"Bad," she said. She ached all over. "What happened?"
"Do you remember the fire?"
"Yes, Papa. The scrolls...did I save them?"
"One of them, Sylphi chan," her father told her. "Don't
worry about that now. Just rest."
She sat up in her bed. "What about the Shrine?" She looked
at her father and blinked. The expression on his face was one of
incredible concern. "Papa, what's wrong?"
"Sylphi chan, listen to me... There's something you don't know
yet..."
She got up and went to the window. She had a view of the
Shrine from her room. She looked out and saw her reflection in the
glass. Past that, she saw the burnt remains of the Sairaag Shrine...
She looked on in horror....
Then screamed.
"PAPA!"
Sylphiel shot bolt upright in her bed, and screamed for her
father again.
"Sylphiel! Sylphiel!" she heard, then felt as someone took
her by the shoulders. She looked up and saw Zelgadis kneeling next
to her bed, his face a mask of concern.
Her hand went to her face and sobbed as a tear ran down her
cheek.
"It was just a dream, Sylphiel," he whispered. "Relax."
She took a deep breath and nodded as she collected herself.
"How did we do?"
Zelgadis huffed. "So well that the mayor has made today a
day of thanksgiving and celebration." He went to the window.
"They've been partying down there in the streets for hours."
"How long have I been out?" she asked.
"Six hours," he told her.
"Have you been here all this time?" she asked.
He turned and nodded. "We didn't think it was a good idea for
you to be alone, and Naga wanted to enjoy the party."
"Oh," she remarked quietly. "Why aren't you at the party?"
"I don't do well in....social gatherings."
"I see."
He looked at her for a moment. It was easy to see that she
was rattled. More rattled than someone who's been sleeping for six
hours should be. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yes, thank you, Zelgadis."
He stared at her for a minute before straightening slightly
and clearing his throat. "Why don't you come downstairs with me.
The party they're having is in your honor, after all....Lina."
She laughed and thought on this. "Give me a few minutes to
clean up."
He nodded and walked out the bedroom door.
Sylphiel climbed out of bed and started to change. She had
just put on a new blouse when a sudden thought hit her. Something
Achi had said before they had arrived in town.
("I think he likes you...you know...like that.")
At the time she had dismissed it, but now...
Had he just asked her out?
Her face turned red at the thought.
(No, that's preposterous,) she thought. (Isn't it?) She
continued to dress...
But her face was still red.
Zelgadis closed the door behind him and started down the hall.
He didn't have to go far before seeing a smiling Naga walking towards
him carrying a McInverse menu in her hand.
"Look!" she implored him, opening the menu right in his face.
"I told you I wouldn't be denied! Naga's Golem Goulash!
OOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"
Zelgadis sweatdropped. "Er...I'm very happy for you..." He
started to walk by her.
"What's the hurry, stoney?" she asked, hopping into his path
again.
Zelgadis sighed. "No hurry. Have you seen Xellos or Achi
around lately?"
"No, but they'll turn up," Naga assured him.
"That's what I'm worried about," Zelgadis muttered. What
they needed was a council of war. He had to get this quest back
on track. "What about the ship?"
"The mayor says it'll be ready to leave tomorrow morning."
Zelgadis nodded. "Good. We leave early tomorrow. If you're
not ready, we'll leave you behind."
Naga grinned. "I've heard promises like that before."
"I'm sure you have," Zelgadis muttered.
"Zelgadis,"
He turned to the sound of the voice behind him and blinked in
surprise. Sylphiel stood there...
In a purple dress that went down to her ankles...
It wasn't anything particularly flashy or especially elegant,
but on Sylphiel it didn't have to be. It was simply your ordinary,
run of the mill, sun dress. It just happened to look less run of
the mill on Sylphiel...
Naga stared and blinked.
"What do you think?" Sylphiel asked with a slight blush.
"What happened to your other clothes?" he asked.
Sylphiel cleared her throat nervously. "They have to be
washed..." she said lamely.
Naga grimaced and slapped the back of Zelgadis' head. "OW!
DAMN!" she cried, blowing on her hand. Apparently, she had
forgotten that Zelgadis' head was made of stone.
Zelgadis ignored her.
"Well, I'm ready," Sylphiel said nervously. "Shall we go?"
"Very well," Zelgadis said simply, missing the point of
Sylphiel's dressing up. He turned and started down the stairs.
Naga and Sylphiel watched him go. Naga snorted. "Don't mind
him, child, he just has rocks in his head."
Sylphiel only blushed and followed after Zelgadis.
Achi watched these events from around a nearby corner.
(Finally! A break!) She knew the curtain surrounding Sylphiel's
mind could drop at the first sign of emotional distress. She just
had to be there to pick up the ball when it did. She darted around
the corner and after them.
"And just where are you going?" Naga asked, snagging the
young Shinzoku by the back of her dress.
"Eeep!" Achi cried out. "Hey! Lemme go! I just wanna go
downstairs and play with the Lina freaks!"
Naga grinned. "Is that so? Well then, run along and play."
She released Achi, who promptly fell down. She growled and threw a
glare at Naga, who blinked in surprise at the intensity of the stare.
Achi whispered a word.
"Itch."
"Well, go play," Naga told her. She turned and started down
the hall. Suddenly, she stopped and reached behind her. She suddenly
had the most annoying itch right in the middle of her back...
Achi grinned and ran down the hall.
It was approaching sunset in Inverse, but the parties were
just starting. Bonfires were being lit, street performers were
out in full force, including several dressed as Lina, Naga, and
Zelgadis, reenacting the battle with the dragon. Street vendors
were selling food or Inverse mementoes. It was a full, all out
celebration.
Through it all, Zelgadis and Sylphiel walked. Occasionally,
Sylphiel would look up at Zelgadis, who continued to stare straight
ahead. She looked back down at the ground, then back up at him
again, uncertain as to what he was thinking.
(Was Achi right? If he does have feelings for me, wouldn't it
be better to remind him that Gourry dear and I....but...No, he must
know by now that Gourry dear is in love with Lina. But I...well...
I mean...I don't know what to think...)
She looked back up at him as he walked.
(Yes,) she thought as she took in his profile, (His
appearance can be rather frightening at first...But I've also seen
what he's like beneath...)
Zelgadis looked down at her. "Something wrong?" he asked.
"Huh?!" she asked, caught off guard. "No...Just thinking."
"Oh. Well, the port is this way." He started down a side
street.
"Why the port?" she asked.
"There's something I think you'd like to see," he said
mysteriously.
She sighed. (He really was a mystery.) Gourry, as much as
she cared for him, was easy to read. He made no effort to hide
anything. Zelgadis...
Zelgadis was so many things. All at once a rock of strength
and an open wound. A man of mystery and a man of straightforwardness.
But if he *had* asked her to accompany him because he has
feelings for her, then why was he so distant?
And if she still believed that she had a chance to win back
Gourry from Lina...why was she so unsettled by that distance?
"Here we are," he announced. "Just in time."
Sylphiel looked out over the wall at the newly formed lake.
Down below, on one of the docks, the mayor of Inverse was already
ten minutes into a speech.
"That's where we fought the dragon today," she noted.
He nodded. "Just listen."
"And so," the mayor continued, "In the destruction of the
enemy that has destroyed so many, we have a new lake. One that
will remain a part of the city of Inverse for all time. In the
naming of this new feature, someone suggested the name, 'Lake Lina,'
after our savior and the hero of the day..."
"Zelgadis, I..."
"Shh," he replied. "Just listen."
"However, one very close to Lina told us that she had another
name in mind, and we have decided to respect her wishes. And so,"
the mayor said, "I hereby open to shipping and fishing, Inverse's
new lake...Lake Sairaag!"
The crowd applauded.
Sylphiel's mouth dropped. "Lake...Sairaag?" she whispered.
Zelgadis nodded. "Lina will probably never see this town,"
he told her quietly. "And you and I both know why you chose to
fight that dragon. If there's a better way to memorialize your
home, I can't think of one."
She wiped a tear away. "Th..Thank you, Zelgadis," she
whispered. "This is...This is wonderful."
"I thought it was...fitting," he said.
She smiled and laughed a little. (A heart of gold indeed,)
she thought. She quickly took his hand. "Let's go get something to
eat," she said suddenly. "I'm starving."
Zelgadis, a little shocked at Sylphiel's sudden change in
behavior, could only follow dumbly as she led him down the street.
Achi looked out from behind a Lina Inverse garbage can as the
two walked down the street. She smiled and followed.
Naga growled as she scratched her back, trying to dispell that
horrid itch that simply wouldn't leave. Meanwhile, her other hand
was reaching across the dessert bar towards the frozen yogurt.
She felt someone grab her hand.
"BRAM BL...Huh?!" she said, blinking.
Standing across the dessert bar from her was a man. Handsome....
muscular...chiseled features....a warm, inviting smile...
And wearing one of her outfits.
Naga's eyes went wide. "What the fu..."
"Are you Naga the White Serpent?!" the man asked excitedly.
For the first time in her life, Naga was at a loss for words.
He was wearing one of *her* skimpy, revealing outfits....
"GROSS!" she cried.
"You *are* her, aren't you?!" he cried. He took her other
hand in his. "I'm Agan. I'm your biggest fan!"
Naga shuddered. "Wonderful," she muttered.
"Ever since you created that golem and crushed that dragon for
Lina, I knew that you were the one! You were the real magic behind
the legend!"
"Um...Thanks," she said, trying to dislodge her hands from
his...
"No! Thank *you*!" Agan replied. He leaned forward. "You
have no idea what this means to me..."
She tried to laugh, but failed. "I have a pretty good idea..."
she said quickly, looking around. "Um...Security?"
He leaned closer to her, his pecs, barely hidden by the tight
Naga bikini top, were right over the dessert bar. "Miss Naga, will
you marry me?"
"DILL BRAND!!!" She cried.
The desert bar promptly exploded, showering nearby McInverse
patrons with ice cream, cake, yogurt, and pies! By the time the
smoke cleared, Agan was out cold on the other side of the room, half
submerged in a Lina fountain.
Naga blinked some sherbert out of her eyes and looked down to
find her breasts coated with whip cream. "Yuck!" she cried.
"Hey!" she heard to her right. She turned and found those
same twins who had been giving Zelgadis trouble earlier standing
there, pointing at her. "This family restauraunt! Floor shows have
to be PG!"
"Yeah!" the other one cried, adopting a combat stance. "Take
your whip cream stripping to club down street! And no horde in on
our action!"
Naga grinned and threw back her cake coated cape. Whip cream
covered a good portion of her body, and though she couldn't be sure,
it felt as if there was a piece of Xellos the Mysterious Pie on her
head.
"Now, now, little girls," she warned. "It's not nice to
threaten the famous."
"Get her!" one of the twins cried. The two rushed her.
"Uh...oh..." was all Naga had time for before the twins were
on her...
Achi followed the two down a dimly lit street and did another
scan. It was obvious that Sylphiel was being cautious with her
words and thoughts. That only led to more problems for Achi. She
listened in as Sylphiel made a few attempts to start a conversation
with the chimera.
"So where are you from?" she asked.
"Oh, Blessed Dragon, that's *so* cliche," Achi whispered to
herself in disgust.
"Perrenia," Zelgadis told her. "Near Atlas City."
"Oh. I hear it's nice there," Sylphiel told him lamely.
Achi growled. Getting into Sylphiel's head meant that the
curtain Xellos put up had to be dropped, and in order for *that*
to happen, Sylphiel had to experience a moment of emotional distress,
something strong enough for Achi to slip in undetected...
She smiled. Xellos' curtain may keep Achi from taking thoughts
*out* of Sylphiel's mind, but it couldn't keep her from putting
thoughts *in*.
She'd have to be careful, though. Manipulation on such a level
could be detectable. She thought carefully and made a mental send...
"Zelgadis, do you think I'm pretty?" Sylphiel asked suddenly.
Zelgadis looked at her and blinked in surprise.
Sylphiel was no less surprised than he was. She covered her
mouth with her hand in shock.
"Well...Yes, I suppose so," Zelgadis told her. "Why do you
ask?" (What the hell is she doing?) he asked himself.
"I've seen you looking at me," Sylphiel said quickly. (WHAT?!)
she asked herself in total confusion. (WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!)
Zelgadis' eyes narrowed. "Looking at you?"
"On the way here," she said. Sylphiel, meanwhile, was blinking
in confusion.
"Sylphiel, are you feeling okay?" Zelgadis asked. (Perhaps
she needs more rest...)
"I've been looking at you, Zelgadis," she said. (WHAT?!)
(WHAT?!) Zelgadis asked himself.
Meanwhile, Achi was ducked behind another waste basket,
giggling to herself as she mouthed a few more words.
"You've been so kind towards me," Sylphiel said. (STOP IT!)
she ordered her brain. "So brave..." she whispered. She found
herself moving towards him.
Zelgadis took a step back, confusion all over his stone face.
"Sylphiel, what's the matter with you?"
(STOP IT!) she begged her mind. What was happening to her?!
Achi smiled. Any second now...
She felt something touch her shoulder.
"EEP!"
She turned and found Xellos there. "Hello," he said simply.
In front of them, Sylphiel lost her step and fell forward...
Right into Zelgadis' arms.
She turned a bright crimson and quickly stood up. "I'm sorry,
Mister Zelgadis! Excuse me!" She ran into an alley and disappeared.
Zelgadis only stood there in utter confusion.
"Playing with human minds is dangerous business, Achi chan,"
Xellos told her. "Especially in this case."
"Buzz off, Mazoku!" Achi hissed back. "I'm working here!"
Before Achi could protest, Xellos had her by the scruff of
the neck. He quickly vanished with her, reappearing on a nearby
rooftop.
Achi began to power up. "Don't interfere, Mazoku," she
warned.
Xellos leveled his staff at her. "I'm giving you a friendly
warning, that's all," he told her. "You don't want these humans
angry with you. I know from experience."
"Hmmph! They're just humans!" she snapped.
"Phibrizzo said something very similar," Xellos said with a
grin. "He's not saying much now, is he?"
"My job is to find the location of Zarak Tor," Achi hissed.
"And I will do that job in whatever manner I see fit. And if you...
or these humans...get in my way," she whispered dangerously, "I'll
implant a nightmare in their minds so terrifying, they'll spend the
rest of their lives *screaming* and trying to claw their eyes out to
get away from it!"
Xellos regarded her for a moment.
"Don't think I can?" she asked with a smile. "Don't test me,
Xellos. You're powerful, but your mind is just like any other. Try
me, and I'll turn it into freak modern art."
With that last threat, she disappeared.
Xellos took a breath. He had to be extremely careful. He knew
that of all the Shinzoku, Achi was one of the most dangerous. If she
made a threat, nine times out of ten she was capable of following
through on it.
"Yareyare," he whispered with a frown, then vanished himself.
Naga, bruised, dirty, and still covered with pastry,
walked/limped down the road, growling in anger at what had transpired
at McInverse.
And that damn itch in her back was only getting worse!
It was agonizing! She just couldn't reach it! She growled
again and rubbed her back against a stone colum nearby. Dammit.
Too smooth...
She looked up and found Zelgadis walking up the road towards
her, a disconcerted look on his face.
"Thank God!" she cried, and ran towards him. Zelgadis looked
up at the sound of her voice. "Stand still!" she cried.
"Wha..." he tried to get out, but before he could, Naga was
turned around and rubbing her back against him! "NAGA!!"
"Dammit! I have this itch I can't reach! Just stand still!"
Zelgadis sighed. "First an anchor and now a scratching post,"
he muttered.
Sylphiel sighed as she turned a corner. She had been wrong
to run out like that. If nothing else, she owed Mister Zelgadis
an apology.
She still had no idea why she had acted that way. For some
reason, the words had just popped out of her mouth.
(Maybe it was my subconscious,) she thought. (Maybe it's
trying to tell me something.)
That she had feelings for Zelgadis?
She stopped and blinked.
Could that be it?
Zelgadis was a kind...brave man...And like her...he was alone
in the world.
She started walking again. She'd apologize to him for her
behavior...
And maybe ask him if he'd still like to have dinner.
She smiled and started walking just a little faster.
(I'll start over,) she thought. (Everyone is allowed a second
chance. I'll apologize and offer to make it up to him with dinner...
home made...Yes...That's what I'll do.)
Maybe she *did* have feelings for Zelgadis. It was possible.
And perhaps Achi was right, and Zelgadis had feelings for her. After
all, he had been kind to her throughout this journey. He had shown
*some* interest...
She turned a corner and stopped suddenly.
Zelgadis was at the end of the road...
With Naga...
Who was rubbing herself against him in a *very* suggestive
manner...
She felt her heart plunge into her stomach. (I see now,) she
whispered in her mind. (It wasn't me.) She remembered now how
Zelgadis and Naga had taken an interest in debating with one another.
And right before she had blacked out during the attack on the dragon,
she had seen him place a hand on the sorceress' shoulder.
She had made a mistake.
An error.
She turned and darted back around the corner.
A second later, Achi appeared right where the shrine maiden
had been standing. She blinked and took a sniff of the air.
Reaching down, she placed a hand on the ground where Sylphiel had
been standing, feeling the woman's mental essence there and reading
her state of mind. She smiled.
"Score!"
She disappeared again in pursuit of the white sorceress.
Xellos appeared on another roof top and took a look around. He
had decided that the best way to keep Zarak Tor out of Shinzoku hands
was to keep Achi from finding its location before he could. That
meant keeping a watch on Sylphiel.
He disappeared and reappeared again a block down. He was just
about to fade out and try another block when he caught a flash of
purple down near the docks. He faded out and reappeared closer.
Sure enough, it was Sylphiel, standing on the end of one of the
fishing piers, looking out over the newly formed lake.
He floated down to the pier and started walking. Of all the
members of their party, Sylphiel was the only one so far to give
him any trust at all. Although he was, by his very nature, prone
to take that trust and use it to his own advantage, he was by no
means incapable of appreciating it.
Sylphiel turned to him as he approached. "Mister Xellos,"
she said quietly in greeting.
"Ah, Miss Sylphiel," he called out, making this seem like a
purely chance encounter. "How are you feeling this evening? You
worried us when you collapsed this morning."
"I'm all right," she said quietly. "And you?"
"Just taking in the cheesy retro-ambience," he told her with
a smile. She didn't reply. "Is there something wrong, Miss
Sylphiel?" he asked.
She sighed. "I've made a very embarrassing mistake," she
whispered.
"Oh?" he asked.
She nodded. "Mister Xellos, I realize you are a Mazoku. That
you're...incapable...of feeling things like love." Xellos said
nothing. "I envy you."
He smiled evilly. "Do you now?"
She nodded. "One thing that's become clear to me in the past
year is that with love comes pain. If you can't feel love...you
can't feel the pain associated with it."
He stepped closer until he was standing next to her. "It's
not like a shrine maiden of Sairaag to make assumptions, Miss
Sylphiel," he said quietly. "We Mazoku do not experience love in
the same way that you humans do, but we do have emotions that, to
us, mean things very similar."
Sylphiel blinked at him. "Mister Xellos...are you trying to
say you've suffered a broken heart?"
He smiled at her. "Me?! Certainly not! I have no heart to
break, remember?" She smiled at this little joke, but said nothing.
"No," he whispered, "But as I said, something similar. You are
correct, Miss Sylphiel, we do not experience what you might call
the more positive emotions, but there is a fine line between anger...
and passion."
She looked at him again and blinked.
"I knew a woman," he whispered conspiritorially, "who fought me
at every turn, every decision. She made every effort to insult me,
anger me, incur my wrath, and she did it with the knowledge that I
could crush her any time I felt like it."
Sylphiel took in a quick in drawn gasp of breath. (Lina?!)
"And yet, I enjoyed it," he continued. "I loved sparring with
her like that. Before long, I wasn't experience wrath with her. I
no longer *hated* her...But I *did* feel passion."
"I see," she said.
He smiled. "And even I must admit...she had a wonderful
tail..."
Sylphiel blushed a deep crimson at hearing a man who called
himself a priest speak so. "I guess it's not simple no matter who
you are." He only nodded. "I wish sometimes I knew what other
people were thinking," she said. "It would make things so much
easier. And mistakes far less frequent."
"Do you now?" Xellos asked. "Shall I tell you another story?"
She nodded.
"Among the ranks of the Shinzoku, there is a woman with the
very powers you want. She mastered the elements of the mind when
she realized that she would never have the same amount of raw power
that the other Shinzoku had."
"So instead, she concentrated somewhere where power wasn't
the greatest factor?" Sylphie asked.
"Yes, exactly," Xellos told her with a smile. "She went from
being a low level goddess that the other Shinzoku found...having no
other appropriate word, 'cute,'...to a woman feared not only by the
Mazoku but by her comrades in the Shinzoku as well."
"Why feared?"
"Because, Miss Sylphiel, suddenly, she knew it all. All of
their secrets, all of their desires and ambitions were laid bare
before her." Sylphiel listened intently. "She became the Shinzoku's
chief spy as well as a watchdog on the others for the Wind Dragon
King. She became a personal threat to most Shinzoku and all Mazoku.
She ended up alone, her friends too frightened of her to be near
her voluntarily. All because she wanted to know what they were
thinking."
"That's so sad," Sylphiel remarked. "Is it a true story?"
Xellos grinned. "As true as any other story I tell."
She started to giggle...then laugh. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Life is a hundred times more interesting, when you *don't* know
the answers," he told her.
She smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Mister Xellos."
Sitting on a rock under the pier they were standing on, a young
girl wiped a tear from her eye.
"Screw you too, Xellos," she whispered, then vanished.
At the other end of town, two horsemen entered the city of
Inverse. Blonde hair and youthful features could be seen beneath
their black hoods, but not much else. Steel broadswords rode their
hips beneath their dark cloaks.
One of the horses snorted as the rider checked him to a stop.
The gate guard of Inverse stepped forward and held a torch up.
"Who you be?" he asked.
"Travelers," one of them said. "Travelers who have heard that
a sorceress is here looking for passage to the Sirian Sea."
The guard smiled. "Ah! You mean Miss Lina! Yeah, whole
town's talking about it!"
The two made no sign either approval or disapproval of this.
They started forward again.
"Whoa!" the gate guard called out. "It's after sundown, I
can't let you two in."
The two horsemen paused a moment. Looking up, they saw three
more guards start walking towards them to assist the gate guard.
"Very well," the one on the right said. "We'll come back
tomorrow." With that, the two turned their horses and started
riding back down the road.
"Ah, the life of a sailor!" Naga cried, taking a deep breath
of the morning air on the river while absently scratching her back.
The ship the mayor of Inverse had granted them was a small
clipper with a shallow draft, making it ideal for traveling up
and down the river. It had only two masts, but no rowers. Even
so, it was more than adequate for the small group of adventurers.
Sylphiel joined Naga at the deck rail and looked out over the
river with her.
"So," Sylphiel began, "How did your date with Zelgadis go?"
Naga gave her a puzzled look. "Isn't that my line?"
"Well," Sylphiel said nervously, "I just meant that you two
seemed very friendly last night in the street....I just assumed
that...Well...I guess I..."
"OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOOHO!!!!"
Sylphiel blinked at her.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, child, but I don't date statuary.
By the way," she said with a grimace and turning her back to the
shrine maiden, "Could you scratch my back? This thing is killing
me! I must have slept on some poison ivy or something..."
Sylphiel blinked in confusion and began to dumbly scratch Naga's
back. (So...They *aren't* together...)
The gate guard opened the gate of Inverse to the public promptly
at sunrise. He whistled as he performed his daily duty. He looked
up at the sound of horses coming his way and was barely able to jump
back fast enough to avoid being trampled by the two horsemen he had
seen last night.
"Hey!" he called after them. "Not so fast!"
By then,however, it was too late.
They were in the town.
"Ah, young love," Naga said with a grin.
Sylphiel blushed. "It's nothing like that at all!" she cried.
"My heart belongs to Gourry dear! I just thought that Mister Zelgadis
might appreciate a home cooked meal...to thank him for watching out
for me yesterday..."
"Of course you did," Naga said with a grin. "And then, of
course, there's dessert." She leered at the shrine maiden.
"D...dessert?" Sylphiel asked.
Naga's grin widened. "You've never had dessert with a man,
child?"
"Well, I've prepared desserts in the past...Um..."
Naga rested a hand on Sylphiel's shoulder. "No, no, no,
child," she whispered. "I mean the *good* kind of dessert."
Sylphiel turned bright red at Naga's implication.
"You see, child," Naga whispered with a grin, leaning closer
to Sylphiel, "When a young woman such as yourself, makes dessert for
a young man such as Zelgadis, there's one key ingredient that *must*
be included..."
Sylphiel gulped.
"Strawberries?"
Both women shrieked at the sudden interruption. They turned
to see Xellos standing right next to them, unnoticed until now.
"Not strawberries?" he asked with a shrug.
Naga went toe to toe with him. "Hmmph! Figures that a
lecherous old priest would want to know the secret ingredient!
Shoo!" she cried, waving him away with her hand. "Go on! Shoo!"
"But I'm genuinely interested!" the Mazoku said with a grin.
"What is the secret ingredient that Miss Sylphiel simply *must* add
to her dessert with Zelgadis?"
Sylphiel turned an even deeper crimson. "There is no dessert!
I was just going to make dinner!"
"And this dinner has nothing to do with the conversation we had
last night?" he asked.
Naga turned to Sylphiel, her hands on her hips. "You went to
some lecher priest for advice about sex before coming to me!?"
"Oh! So it *IS* about sex!" Xellos cried, clapping his hands
in delight.
"IT'S NOT ABOUT SEX!" Sylphiel cried. Every Inversian sailor
on the deck turned her way. Sylphiel was the color of a ripe tomato
by now.
Down on the pier, a checklist in his hands, Zelgadis shook his
head at the sound of the arguing going on aboard the ship. He checked
a barrel one of the sailors was carrying and nodded, ushering the man
aboard. He wanted to get this ship loaded and underway.
Back on course...
"Welcome to McInverse! How can I help you today?!" the cheery
Lina waitress asked.
One of the two cloaked men stood at the counter...
"Whipped cream?" Xellos asked.
"Nope," Naga said with a smile, her arms folded over her chest.
"I just wanna die," Sylphiel cried into her hands in complete
and utter humiliation.
"Bananas?"
"Close," Naga said with a nod.
"Then what?"
Naga grinned and wagged her finger in his face. "That's a
secret."
Xellos clutched at his chest and posed dramatically. "Slain
by my own wit!" His eyes caught Naga again. "Honey?"
Zelgadis checked off the last thing on the list. "Done," he
said to himself with a smile. "Time to go." He stopped when he
realized they were forgetting a passenger. Achi was playing with
some seagulls not far away. "Achi! Come on! We're leaving."
"Okay, Mister Zelgadis."
Zelgadis turned and started for the loading ramp. He turned
back to make sure Achi was following. He knew Sylphiel would throw
a fit if the little girl got left behind.
Achi was running toward him. Zelgadis blinked as he saw a
rider come from around a building and start galloping toward them
at full speed.
(Perhaps the mayor has a final message before we go,) he
thought.
This idea vanished a moment later when the rider pulled a
broadsword...
Zelgadis pulled his own sword. "ACHI! DOWN!"
Achi didn't become the Wind Dragon King's top agent by asking
questions. She hit the dirt and was amazed when she felt a breeze
blow past her. She looked up and saw a horse running by her, a man
in a dark cloak and holding a broadsword sitting atop it.
(What the hell!?) she asked herself. She hadn't sensed
anyone behind her...
Zelgadis watched as the rider leapt off his horse and landed
right in front of him, his face hidden by the black cowl.
"Achi! Get on the ship!" he yelled. He saw the purple-haired
girl run for the ramp. Zelgadis smiled. It had been a long time
since he'd killed a man with his sword...
And it *was* thirsty for blood...
He darted toward the man and made a short jab at his face.
The dark man spun and turned the blow expertly, parrying each of
the chimera's attacks and make a few of his own. Zelgadis frowned
as he realized he was being pushed back...
They turned as Achi came clambering up the ramp.
"Achi chan?" Sylphiel asked.
"It's Mister Zelgadis!" she cried.
The three rushed to the other side of the ship and looked down.
Sylphiel gasped in shock at what they saw. Zelgadis was being hard
pressed by a strange man in black.
Naga brought her hands up. "FREEEEEZE!" she began the spell
and aimed along the fire shaft. "ARROW!"
The bolt of frost flew from her hands right on target. It
struck the man dead in the back...
And dissipated into nothingness.
Naga gasped.
Zelgadis' eyes went wide when he saw the freeze arrow simply
disappear into the man's back. The attacker didn't seem to care
one bit. He darted forward and made another slash at Zelgadis.
The chimera brought his sword up and blocked the blow barely inches
from his face.
He hadn't counted on his opponent being so skilled. Zelgadis
hadn't had this much trouble with a swordsman since he fought Gourry.
And since it seemed that magic wouldn't work, he was stuck.
He pushed forward with a cry and brought his sword around in a
two-handed slash. The attacker leaped away and brought his sword up
to counterattack.
"Hmmm...An interesting quandry," Xellos noted, his finger on
his chin.
"Miss Naga," Sylphiel began, readying a spell. "Go up to the
aft deck and get us moving."
Naga blinked as Sylphiel began to concentrate. "I just tried
that!" Naga bit out. "Magic won't work!"
"Hurry, Miss Naga!" Sylphiel cried. Naga growled and ran up to
the aft deck.
The captain blinked at her in confusion.
"Hold onto the wheel, Gramps," Naga said with a grin. She
held her hands to her midsection as if cradling something. Then,
with one quick movement, thrust them towards the sail.
"BOMB DE WIND!!"
A shot of compressed air struck the sail, instantly filling it.
The ship lurched forward and began to move. Naga prepared another
one and looked down at Sylphiel.
The shrine maiden took a breath. She had never tried this
spell before. "Floating spirit on the water..." she began.
Xellos smiled as he saw what she was going to do. "Mister
Zelgadis," he shouted down at the chimera, who was still fighting for
his life. "I suggest you get ready to fly..."
If Zelgadis heard him, he gave no sign. He was too busy
blocking the latest flurry of slashes from his opponent.
"As thy words of pledge," Sylphiel continued, holding her
hands up in the same way Naga had earlier. A cold mist began to
form. "Obey me and be my power..."
The mist coalesced into a thin shaft of ice. Sylphiel licked
her dry lips and aimed carefully at the two fighting men below. The
ship was moving already. She had to do this now.
"FREEZE ARROW!!" she cried, and let the ice shaft loose! The
icicle shard sped down to the pier...
And hit the ground right behind the assailant.
"You missed!" Achi cried in despair.
"No she didn't," Xellos said with a smug smile.
The man in black took a step back, under attack from Zelgadis,
and placed his foot on the patch of ice formed by Sylphiel's spell.
The man cried out as he slipped and landed hard on his back.
"Zelgadis!" Sylphiel cried.
"LEVITATION!" they heard him cry out. He began to float
upward.
"BOMB DE WIND!" They heard as Naga gave the sails another
boost.
Zelgadis landed nimbly on the deck as the ship left port and
began to speed away down the river.
The man in black climbed to his feet and watched as the ship
moved further away. He sheathed his sword in disgust and started
to walk away. It was up to his brother now.
Zelgadis crouched down on one knee, his hand going to his side.
"Damn," he swore under his breath. One of his assailant's swings had
gotten through, and if it hadn't been for his chimera body, it would
probably have gone right through him.
"Are you all right?" Sylphiel asked, crouching next to him.
"I'm fine," he growled painfully.
She reached out and lifted his shirt. Zelgadis raised an
eyebrow at this but said nothing. She bit her lip as she found the
wound, a four inch chip in his side. "Will a healing spell work on
you?" she asked seriously.
"Yes," he told her. "Rezo's curse seems to take into account
the possibility that I might be injured.
"Lie down," she ordered.
"It's not *that* bad," he told her.
"This will be easier if you're at rest," she told him, putting
her hands on his chest and pushing him down to the deck. Zelgadis
obeyed and layed down on his back.
Sylphiel seemed to realize where her hands were and pulled back
as if scalded, blushing.
Zelgadis seemed to take her haste as disgust, and grimaced.
"Get to it," he growled.
Sylphiel's face fell. She bit her lip and began chanting a
recovery spell, her hands on Zelgadis' side.
Naga came down from the aft deck. "Well, we're on the move,"
she announced.
No one bothered to reply.
"Don't everyone thank me at once," the White Serpent growled.
Xellos was deep in thought at the rail of the ship, watching
the scenery go by. They weren't past the town yet, so he could still
see some activity, shoppers mostly. "We appear to have a new problem,"
he mused.
"Miss Naga's magic didn't work against him," Achi threw in,
too concerned to worry about agreeing with Xellos.
"And he nearly killed Mister Zelgadis," Xellos added.
"Heh," was all Zelgadis would say.
"Maybe Miss Naga's magic has stopped working," Achi sugggested.
"Nonsense!" Naga cried. "My magic is as good as it ever was!"
"NAAAAAGAAAAA!!!" someone cried from the shore. Naga gasped
at the voice and turned to see Agan running along the shore, waving.
"COME BACK, NAAAAGAAAAA!!!"
"Watch," Naga growled. "I'll prove it." She raised her arms
and aimed at Agan. "FLAAAAARE ARROW!!"
Just as Naga was releasing the fire bolt, Xellos reached out
with his staff and gave her a slight push. It was enough, and the
fire bolt missed Agan, striking the ground next to him in a large
explosion, throwing sand and dirt into the air. Agan was thrown to
the ground.
Naga turned on Xellos, glaring hatefully. "It's an abomination,
and it HAS-TO-*DIE*!" she hissed.
Xellos only arched an eyebrow. "Yareyare..." he muttered.
Meanwhile, Sylphiel had completed her spell, and Zelgadis
climbed to his feet. "One thing is for sure," he said, "We have an
enemy out there. We have nothing worth stealing. He was out to kill
me, period."
"We'll have to be more cautious," Sylphiel commented.
"Well, it doesn't really matter now!" Naga told them. "We're
on the move, he's stuck back there."
"I certainly hope you're right, Miss Naga," Sylphiel commented,
looking out at the shore. "I do hope you're right."
Belowdecks, in the ship's hold, a barrel fell over and rolled
to the bulkhead. It jumped on its own twice before the lid flew off
the end. Booted feet emerged followed by the rest of a man...
A man in black.
"You didn't sense him, did you?" Xellos asked Achi in a
straightforward manner.
"No," she said, once again forgetting that she was conversing
with 'the enemy.' "I didn't even know he was there until Zelgadis
said something."
Xellos looked out over the river. "Someone from Zarak Tor?"
"That would imply that there's someone left alive on Zarak Tor,"
she hissed quietly.
"Then how do you explain it?" he asked with an annoying smile.
"Coincidence," she huffed.
"'Coincidence?'" He asked. "The exact thing the Wind Dragon
King *and* Phibrizzo once feared showing up out of nowhere...
coincidence?"
Achi turned and faced him. "No one survived, Xellos," she
growled.
Xellos wagged a finger in front of her face. "I guess we'll
just see. If there *were* survivors, then that means your boss made
an even bigger mistake than even he thought." He smiled, turned, and
walked away.
Achi stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to the river.
(Survivors...)
Impossible! She was there! She saw it! The Wind Dragon King
himself delivered the final blow...
But if Zarak Tor survived...couldn't its inhabitants survive as
well?
She sighed.
"Dammit," she muttered.
Sylphiel looked at herself in the mirror and admired the
blue-violet strands of hair there. Finally, she felt like herself
again. It had taken hours to rinse the dye out of her hair, but it was
worth it. She stood up and looked out the porthole in the room she
was sharing with Achi and Naga. The shore of the river wasn't too far
away. She found herself searching for men in black.
"Who was it?" she whispered to herself. "Unless..."
Her eyes widened.
(No! Surely it couldn't be...)
But if it was....
She rushed out of the cabin. She had to talk to Zelgadis.
"How long until we reach the Sirian Sea?" Zelgadis asked the
captain.
At the wheel, the captain of their ship, the Mariposa, thought
for a moment. "We got a good wind, going down river...three more
hours, maybe."
Zelgadis smiled. "Good."
"But, Mister Zelgadis, sir," the captain began, "What happens
after that?"
Zelgadis blinked. The captain was right. He had no idea
where the island was, and the Sirian Sea was a rather large body
of water...
"Zelgadis!"
He turned and looked down to see Sylphiel, her hair back to
normal, looking up at him from the main deck.
"What is it?"
"I think we should talk."
Zelgadis nodded and hopped down to the main deck.
"I think I know who attacked you," she said seriously.
"Who?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.
"The elves of Zarak Tor."
"This doesn't make any sense at all!" Naga complained, walking
around the captain's cabin, absently scratching her back. "There
*are* no more elves...at least not on this continent! There's that
one island Lina and I went to once, but that's on the other side of
the continent! The rest left a thousand years ago, after the War of
the Monster's Fall!"
Xellos made a small noise.
"What?" Naga asked.
"Nothing," he said, "Just remembering something."
"I'm telling you," Sylphiel said quietly, "They're here."
Zelgadis said nothing and mulled it over. They had been
debating for three hours now. "Sylphiel, *how* do you know this?"
he asked.
Sylphiel took a breath. "I guess it's time I told you the story.
Zelgadis, may I see the map, please?"
Zelgadis retrieved the map and handed it to Sylphiel.
"This map," she said, was drawn by my great great grandfather
many years ago," she said, spreading it out onto the table. "It's a
map to the Sirian Sea, but that's all it is."
"Then what good is it?" Naga asked.
"Because," she said, removing a scroll from a satchel she had
been carrying. "It was prompted by the discovery of this." She
laid it out before them. It was very old, the edges appeared burned.
On this sheet were numbers, a few illustrations, grids...
"What is it?" Naga asked, clueless.
"It's a rudder," Zelgadis said.
"A what?" Naga asked.
"It's a pilot or navigator's personal log," Zelgadis explained.
"As his ship travels, he marks off navigational points, hazards, things
like that. The question is, whose is it?"
"Four hundred years ago," Sylphiel began, "A healer priest at
the town that is now Inverse, was summoned in the middle of the night
to a fisherman's home on the edge of town. When he got there, the
fisherman explained that he had found a man floating near some flotsam
in the water of the Sirian Sea while he was out fishing." She looked
up at them. "The man had long, pointed ears."
"Lots of people have long, pointed ears, child," Naga said,
pulling on one of Zelgadis' ears with a smile.
"There's more," the shrine maiden continued. "The man was
injured. Afraid that he might die before waking up, the healer
priest tried a recovery spell on him....It didn't work."
"You mean it was too late?" Xellos asked.
"I mean the spell had no effect," Sylphiel elaborated. "None.
The man died soon afterward. When they tried to cremate the body...
they had to use pitch and torches because the flames of a fireball
spell wouldn't touch him."
"He was immune to magic," Zelgadis muttered.
"But how?" Naga asked.
"The healer priest wondered that same question and asked for
help from a visiting cleric from Sairaag. They investigated for
several months. The only thing they could come up with was that it
was a natural immunity. That for some reason, the..." she faultered
and thought for a moment. "How did they word it?" she whispered to
herself. "That the magical field simply didn't exist for them."
"That's not possible," Zelgadis told her straight out. "The
field that creates magic is generated by everything. Rezo looked
for ways to disrupt it, but couldn't do it."
"The elves could," Sylphiel argued. "That's why the island
was lost."
"Okay," Naga said, "Excuse me, but I'm throwing the 'Huh?!'
flag right now! Could someone explain this island to me?"
"During the War of Monster's Fall, the elves allied themselves
with the Golden Dragons and the Shinzoku." They all turned as Xellos
continued. "To combat the Mazoku, the elves built weapons they felt
would neutralize our abilities."
"Ugh!" Naga cried. "No need to remind me! I nearly got
killed by one of those damn orihalcon turtle things!"
"One of their creations was a weapon that totally negated the
magical field." He smiled, "However, before it could be used, the
Shinzoku intervened."
"I thought you said the elves and the Shinzoku were allies,"
Zelgadis said.
"They were, but the elves had a bad habit of acting without
thinking first."
"No joke," Naga muttered.
"They created this weapon without realizing that it affected
the Shinzoku in the exact same manner that it did the Mazoku. The
Shinzoku would be powerless against it."
"So they struck first," Naga concluded.
"The Wind Dragon King lead his forces against the peninsula of
Zarak Tor near the Algalagath Sea..."
"Then why are we in the Sirian Sea?!"
"During the attack, the Wind Dragon King cast a final spell,
hoping to banish the entire area from this world, to erase all
knowledge of what had transpired there. However, the weapon was
already activated. During the spell, something went wrong. The
peninsula disappeared completely."
Sylphiel nodded. "When the priests went through the elf's
belongings they found two things. This rudder, and a coin. The
inscription on the coin read, 'Entredes Pyrannus Zarak.'"
"Zarak Tor," Xellos concluded. "The Wind Dragon King's spell
succeeded in moving the island...but only two thousand miles, not to
the next world as he had hoped."
"Meaning it's somewhere out there," Zelgadis concluded,
looking out the porthole into the fog of the Sirian Sea.
"And this rudder will tell us where," Sylphiel told them.
"Well?" Zelgadis asked the captain.
"We're on the right course according to the rudder you gave
us," the captain said. "Though it's rather vague. I *think* we're
on the right track."
Zelgadis sighed and walked forward, toward the bowsprit. "I
guess it's better than nothing." He stopped when he saw Sylphiel
standing on the bow, looking out at the ocean. He stepped forward
again. "Sylphiel?"
She turned. "Hello, Zelgadis. Is there anything wrong?"
"No. The captain says we're on course."
She nodded.
"One thing I've always hated about ocean travel," he remarked,
"It's so boring."
"I know," she replied. "The ocean's very pretty, but after
awhile, it gets redundant."
He turned to her as an idea occurred to him. "Have you been
practicing looking into the astral plane?"
She nodded.
"Think you're ready to try a spell?"
She nodded again. "I guess." She remembered the nature of
astral magic and balked slightly. "Surely you don't want me to try
it out on something alive?!"
"Why not?"
She faultered for a moment. "Zelgadis, I can't attack
something's living essence just to see if I can do it!"
Zelgadis gave this some thought. "Alright. I have an idea."
Timor, just another sailor on the Mariposa, whistled as he
coiled a length of rope on the main deck. He looked up at the sky
for a moment and checked the sun. It was midafternoon now, and the
sailor was casting a long shadow on the deck.
He finished coiling the rope and turned to bring it belowdecks.
That's when he heard it. A faint whizzing noise and a thud.
He looked back to find that someone had thrown one of the darts
from the crew's dartboard and struck the deck in the middle of his
shadow. He shrugged, turned, and started to walk away...
Then he tripped.
He hit the deck with a thud and stood up. He tried walking away
again, but found he couldn't. He was trapped!
"Witchcraft!" he breathed. "Mates! Mates! Help! I'm
bewitched!"
Hiding behind the main mast, Zelgadis smiled. "That's all
there is to it," he told the woman standing next to him.
"A shadowsnap," Sylphiel mused.
"It's nonlethal," he told her. "And it has several uses."
They watched as several more sailors rushed to Timor's aid and
tried to move him from the spot where his shadow had trapped him.
"Since it also makes use of the skills needed to perform just
about any basic Shamanistic spell, it's a good place to start."
Sylphiel nodded. "Alright."
Zelgadis handed her one of the darts he had filched from the
back room.
Sylphiel took the dart and stared at it, doing as Zelgadis
taught her and charging it with her own astral energy. The dart
glowed faintly.
"That one," Zelgadis said, pointing at one of the sailors
trying to help Timor. The sailor's shadow fell on the deck a good
bit away from them, so there was little danger of Sylphiel missing
and striking one of them.
Sylphiel licked her lips and threw the dart.
The throw was hasty and it was obvious she was inexperienced,
but the dart struck the man's shadow regardless.
The target realized he couldn't move and began to wail.
"IT'S GOT ME! IT'S GOT ME! MOMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!"
"Zelgadis, perhaps we should let them go now," Sylphiel
suggested sheepishly. She didn't want to hurt anyone, but she hadn't
wanted to frighten them either.
"Very well," Zelgadis relented. "LIGHTING!"
He generated a ball of light and tossed it towards the sailors.
The light dissipated the shadows, and suddenly, Timor and the other
sailor fell forward, instantly freed. The men got up and scampered
as far from that part of the ship as they could.
Achi put on a broad smile and skipped up to the captain.
"Hello, Captain Sir!" she said prettily, batting her eyes at him in
a way that would make anyone melt and hug her.
The aging seaman smiled. "Hello, there, little girl," he said,
leaning down to her. "What are you doing up here on this part of the
ship?"
"Nooooothing," Achi said and giggled. She gazed into his eyes
and readied herself to take what he knew of Zarak Tor from his mind.
Xellos had managed to keep her out of that war conference they had
had, but she knew about the rudder now. If she could...
"Achi chan!"
(DAMMIT!) She tried to enter the captain's mind before the
Mazoku caught up to her.
"Achi chan! What are you doing up here?! You shouldn't play
here..."
She grimaced as Xellos interposed himself between her and the
captain. "I just wanted to watch Mister Captain steer the ship,"
she pouted.
Xellos smiled. "You shouldn't bother Mister Captain," he noted.
His eyes went wide as he felt a pain in his head.
(And you, Mazoku, should've listened to my advice,) he heard in
his mind. (I'm going to warn you one...last....time. Stay out of my
way.) He gasped slightly as the pain left.
"Mr. Xellos?" Achi asked innocently. "Are you okay? You
look sick. You should go below and go to sleep. Dream a little."
She smiled cruelly and rested her hand on the ship's compass.
Xellos regained his composure and smiled. He waved his hand
and watched the compass under Achi's hand break.
Achi blinked at the broken piece of equipment. "Wha?"
"AUGH!" the captain cried. "Do you know how expensive a
ship's compass can be?!"
"Um...I..." Achi began.
"Get down to the main deck!" the captain roared. "The
bridge is no place for a child! Now go!"
Achi glared. "Don't talk to me like that!" she yelled.
"Ack!"
She yelped this last part as Xellos grabbed her ear.
"Achi chan! How dare you break Mister Captain's compass and then
mouth off to him!? You, young lady, are getting a spanking! Right
here! Right now!"
"WHAT?!"
Xellos sat down on a nearby bench and tossed the child-like
Shinzoku over his knee. Achi's eyes went wide as she realized that
there was nothing she could do! As long as she was in sight of so
many people, she couldn't blow her cover!
Achi wasn't known among the Shinzoku for just her powers over
the mind, she was also known for thinking on her feet. Among the
Mazoku, Xellos was the great manipulator. Among the Shinzoku, it
was her.
In a second, she had a plan.
She sniffled.
Xellos brought his hand up.
She took a deep breath and...
"ONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAN!!!!!"
Xellos' eyes went wide as he realized he was in trouble.
"MISTER XELLOS!!!"
He turned and saw Sylphiel standing on the bridge, Zelgadis
right behind her and trying desperately to keep out of the way.
Sylphiel's expression was enough to melt a solid lead brick as she
glared at the trickster priest.
The captain and other officers on the deck quickly turned
back to their duties and whistled nonchalantly.
Xellos chuckled as he tried to think of what to do now.
Achi acted. She jumped off Xellos' lap and ran to Sylphiel.
"ONEECHAN!!" she cried, hugging Sylphiel and crying into her
tunic. "He...he...*sniff*...he was going to beat me..eee..eeeee!"
Sylphiel's glare increased a few thousand degrees.
Xellos stood up and started to back away.
"If there was ever a time for you to disappear," Zelgadis
said, "It's now."
The shrine maiden began to advance on the trickster priest.
She actually began to roll her sleeves up! Hiding behind her, Achi
stuck her tongue out at Xellos.
"I don't care what kind of priest you are," Sylphiel began
dangerously. "But don't ever let me catch you laying a hand on that
little girl again!"
"But..." Xellos started.
*CRACK!*
He felt a strange sensation on the side of his face as his
cheek began to grow hot. Sylphiel was standing before him, her eyes
shut, her face a mask of anger, and her hand at the finishing end of
the slap that had just struck him.
He blinked.
So did Zelgadis. He knew from experience that getting a shot
in at Xellos was near impossible. Filia had spent a good portion
of their journey trying to do it, and had failed, and she was a
*golden dragon*!
Xellos was speechless. (Passion, indeed,) he thought. He
looked up for a moment, then pointed. "Look! A cloaked man is
cutting the rigging on the main mast!"
"If you think I'm going to fall for th..." Sylphiel began.
"He's not kidding!" the captain cried, pointing. "Look!"
They turned and found a man in black standing high up on the
mast, cutting lines one by one.
"It's him," Zelgadis growled. "LEVITATION!" The chimera
began to float upwards toward the yard arm of the main mast. He drew
his sword as he landed on the yard arm. He was now standing between
the man and the mast, cutting off his escape.
Zelgadis smiled. "We never got a chance to finish," he
commented, starting toward the man.
The man in black drew his sword and prepared for battle. The
wind whipped at his cloak and Zelgadis' as they moved towards one
another.
Down on the aft deck, the rest watched as the two began to
fight. Naga stepped out of her cabin and yawned. "Hey, what's
going on? I was taking a nap!"
They all pointed up at the yard arm where Zelgadis and the
unknown man were fighting furiously now.
"Again?!" Naga asked in disbelief. "Well, that's no problem."
She pointed her hands upward.
"Naga? What are you doing?!" Sylphiel asked quickly.
"The same thing you did," the sorceress replied.
"FREEEEEZE...."
"No, wait! Don't!" the captain yelled.
"ARROW!!"
The ice arrow flew up towards the yard arm and struck it dead
on. A coat of ice began to spread along the length towards the mast.
The man in black tried to back away, but the ice gained on him.
His foot slipped and he fell, landing in the water with a splash.
"MAN OVERBOARD!" someone yelled.
"That's the least of our problems," the captain sighed.
"LEVI.." Zelgadis began, but it was too late. He slipped on
the ice and fell towards the deck, smashing through the floor of
the ship.
The yardarm, frozen brittle by Naga's blast and the supporting
lines cut by the mystery man, broke off near the mast and swung
downward. At the end of its swing it broke off completely and fell
toward the deck like a flachette, spearing right through the decks
and into the sea, leaving a gaping hole in the bottom of the ship.
"GET THE CARPENTER!" the captain yelled. "THE CARPENTER!"
The ship began to fill rapidly and lurched to one side.
"We're going down!" Naga yelled.
Xellos hmm'd. "So we are. Well, it's not the way I would
have *preferred* to get off the hook, but any distraction's better
than none!" With that, he disappeared.
"Xellos, you jerk!" Achi cried, latching onto Sylphiel.
Naga straightened. "RAYW..."
Suddenly some loose rigging fell, swinging from the mizzenmast
and striking the sorceress in the head, knocking her into the sea,
unconscious.
"Achi, hold onto me!" Sylphiel cried.
She ship turned onto its side as sailors and officers rushed
about trying to prevent the ship's death. Sylphiel and Achi were
thrown overboard by a sudden lurch to the left. She felt herself
strike the cold water...
And then nothing...
To Be Continued...