Chapter Seventeen
For the first time in a very
long time, Zelgadis slept as a human. The recurrent nightmare was gone.
Instead, in its place was something that had been buried, lost in the overlaid
past. The past that was truly his.
He had wanted to be strong.
He'd wanted to protect his older sister from the bullies. He didn't care
about himself, just protect her. So that she'd stop coming home in tears.
She'd come home in tears that very day, pushing past him and running for
the relative sanctity of her own room. He'd followed, but she wouldn't
open the door.
He'd headed out into the
woods, grabbing up his sword and his leather strips that he used as bracers.
He'd wrapped his arms clumsily, and had to stop several times until he
got them wrapped well enough to stand the stress of him whipping his sword
around.
Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic.
It was the chant in his
mind as he swung the blade over and over, forgetting all of the meager
training he'd had in his anger against whoever had made Eris cry.
He was all of sixteen. Anger
preceded reason.
His sword was stuck in a
log when Rezo found him, and the youth was surprised by the question. Did
he want to be strong? Of course he wanted to be strong. But… had he been
vocalizing his wish?
The transformation didn't
take place in the forest. They'd walked back to the house, entering the
network of caverns below. Rezo had taken him deep into the caverns, into
a room where he could hardly see.
He was told where to stand,
and did so before he even thought better of it. He wanted to be strong.
He wanted to put those fools who picked on his sister in their place.
He didn't think of the consequences.
A strange sensation had overcome him, and when he'd awoken, he'd had the memory of the forest, the changing of his body. And the anger that had been at the villagers was doubled and directed at Rezo.
He sat up with a start, opening
his eyes to the knowledge that Eris had been right, and jumped when her
face moved into his field of vision. "Eris…?"
Her voice was low, and the
back of his mind registered the dangerous edge in her tone. "I want to
know if you truly are my little brother."
His blue eyes looked to
hers, and with yet another shock, he realized that she thought he was fake.
"I'm me, Eris. Really. You taught me to swim because you said that I needed
to learn. You'd heard a rumor that some of the kids were going to try to
drown me. So you came home from the middle of your class and showed me
how to swim. You missed a test and I caught a cold."
Eris' eyes softened, and
she threw herself into him, hugging him close. "Oh… Zelgadis… forgive me
for doubting you."
He brought his arms around
his sister, hugging her like he used to as a small boy who had nothing
in the world but her. And when she returned the embrace, for a moment he
was that small boy again.
But a cleared throat made
them both look over to the redhead who was on watch and had walked over.
"You two should be asleep."
Zelgadis felt his cheeks
flush, and he looked at Lina with a rather forlorn expression that caught
the sorceress completely off guard. "But… she's my sister. We were…" he
glanced at a similarly blushing Eris. "Catching up."
Lina looked at the two of
them for a moment, and then just shook her head. Getting along with ones
sibling was an alien concept to her, and she turned and started walking
back to her watch post. "Just get enough rest, okay? You haven't been human
for a long time, Zel…"
Clear blue eyes watched
the redhead as Zelgadis considered her words. She really was worried, wasn't
she? He looked to Eris, whispering softly so as not to wake the others.
"She's right, you know. I won't be of any use if I'm tired." He pointed
to the chimera that was sitting quietly to the side. "Granted, there's
always him…" It felt strange to say that, but Eris nodded.
"I know. You'd rather not
have to. I understand. We'll talk more in the morning. Good night, Zel…"
She gave him that crushing hug of hers once more, and moved off towards
her makeshift sleeping roll.
Zelgadis lay back down,
looking up at the ceiling above him, and wondered what he'd do now. He
was human again. He'd privately doubted he'd ever find a cure… and hadn't
really given much thought past that. Well, he decided as he closed his
eyes. I'll do what Lina and the others do: take it one day at a time.
And with that thought, he
was sound asleep once more.