Zelgadis was awakened early that morning by his usual dream of Rezo about hitting him with his staff and turning him into the mess he was now. The Chimera sighed, getting to his feet and digging in his pack for his other set of clothes. Taking himself out of his room, he found that there weren't many people sitting at the tables. He was glad. He almost missed the sight of Lina and Gourry attacking each other for food.
A smile touched his lips when he thought of that, almost imagining them in the middle of the room surrounded by dirty plates. He paused before going down stairs to look at Yui as she stuck her nose out the door. "Don't cause trouble for me again. I really don't appreciate it." She folded her ears back.
Where are you going? she asked softly.
"To get a bath."
I think you smell perfectly fine. Zelgadis snorted to himself and made his way down the stairs.
Coming up to the person at the bar, he leaned against it. "Where's the bath house?"
"A-around back," replied the young man who was looking after the bar at that time.
"Thank you.. could you have a fresh pot of coffee ready?" he tossed a gold to the boy who caught it in shock but nodded. "Thank you again," Zelgadis made his way around to the bath house, his clothes and bag with wire cutters and steel scrub pad in hand. Walking in, he dropped his clean clothes on a bench away from the water and stripped down to his briefs and dipped his toes into the water.
"I hate cold baths," he muttered. "Fireball." He'd picked up that trick from Lina a while ago. Zelgadis smiled and stepped in, slipping his briefs off before he got them soaked as well, tossing them with the rest of his clothes. He pondered the crystal Yui had given him then decided to leave it on, wouldn't want to loose it, she would be mad and having to kill her would be such a bother.
Quickly, he got himself washed, muttering about being unable to use a scrub brush more then ten times. After he was clean, he worked on cleaning his clothes as well. Rinsing himself thoroughly, he got dressed and made his way back into the inn, feeling better, somewhat. Walking up to the bar he found the boy waiting with a cup of coffee.
"I- I didn't know what you liked in it-"
"Black's fine," Zelgadis said, taking the cup and having a sip before casually leaning against the bar, "Not a busy place here in the mornings," he observed.
"N-no sir," said the boy.
Zelgadis could tell the kid was curious, he sighed, "Go ahead, ask," he grumbled, taking a long swallow of his coffee.
"Are you really a forest spirit?" the boy asked, his eyes wide.
Zel blinked a few times, "Not the question I usually get. About the same level though. No, I'm not a forest spirit, whatever the hell that is."
"But they said you had a wolf last night."
"Oh, her, well, I'm helping her with something. Don't know why I'm doing it. I'm certainly not going to get paid and it's most likely not going to make me human again," Zelgadis had no clue why he was so open this morning, he supposed it was loneliness.
"You... were human?"
Zelgadis's hand clenched on the cup momentarily, he forced it to relax. Taking a long draught and setting the empty cup down, "Yes. Then I got cursed. Never trust family. They just get you into deeper shit then you're already in." He pushed his cup back for a refill, which the boy supplied him with.
"Yeah... my sister always got me into trouble, before she got married. Now she doesn't bother me. Must have been one evil sister to do that to you..."
"Wasn't my sister," Zelgadis grumped taking a sip of his new cup of coffee, looking over the tables.
"Who then?"
"None of your business," Zelgadis replied, his talkative mood flown with the returning of the old subject but he paused, "What are these supposed Forest Spirits?" he asked, turning back around after her was about to go upstairs.
"They're the spirits of people who died on the mountain come back to haunt. They usually travel with a living thing though, such as a wolf or rabbit. No one's seen one in a while though. They say that these spirits show up when something bad is about to happen. Its said that last time a forest spirit showed up there was a drought that lasted five years." The boy shrugged then, "My grand parents weren't even born then, so that's really all I know."
What ARE you doing down there? Zelgadis looked up to see Yui's head poking out of his door.
Zel frowned, "Get back in there," he said loud enough for the wolf to hear him. She pulled her head back in regretfully. He sighed softly, looking back at the boy. "Are there any legends about the wolves around here?" he asked. "It might be useful since that one's attached herself to me."
The boy thought for a moment. "Well... there's supposedly some sort of stone called the 'Wolves Stone', but no one's really sure what all it does. Legend says that someone who has such a stone can talk with wolves..." he looked at Zelgadis, his eyes wide, curious.
With a sigh, Zelgadis reached under his shirt and pulled out the glimmering blue stone that seemed more like a crystal then anything. "Wow," the boy said, not daring to touch it, he watched as Zelgadis stuffed it back into his shirt. "Its also said that its bad luck to tell a wolf your name. It gives them power or something."
"What if they give you their name first?" Zelgadis asked.
The boy blinked, "I... maybe it gives you power over the wolf?" the boy watched as Zelgadis turned his head to eye the door to his room.
"Going to have a talk with her..." he muttered and dropped another gold coin on the counter, going up to his room with his still wet clothes in hand as well as his third cup of coffee.
"For starters, Yui, what's so important about names?" he asked, closing his door and putting his coffee cup on the table to take up his travel blanket and shake it out.
Yui hung her head, A name is the key to a soul. You have my stone and my name. I respect you greatly. I...was not expecting you to give me your name in return.
"Ah. So that makes you respect me more because I trust you with my name?" Zelgadis asked, looking at Yui carefully. She flicked her ears in ascent. "And these Forest Spirits?"
They are simply restless spirits caught on the mountain.- Yui caught sight of Zelgadis staring at her and folded her tail under her. Yes, they exist. They come when someone is close to getting the Heart Stone that lies in the center of the Mountain.
"And the drought?"
Yui cringed down on her stomach. Caused by temporary removal of the Heart Stone. She closed her eyes to keep from seeing his cold expression, seeing his slit demon eyes boring into her. She felt the heat of his gaze anyway.
"You want me to get the stone so that the people here will die or move away. Yui, that's really not....." Zelgadis stopped himself, he was about to say 'Just'. "Not kind of you."
Don't you want revenge for the indignities you've suffered?! she got to her feet looking at him, her hair bristling, growling low in her throat. They have persecuted you! Called you a monster! Don't you want revenge?!
"No, Yui, actually, I don't."
They're destroying our home! Yui whimpered softly, pleading with him.
"No, taking the Heart Stone would kill your home as well as run the humans off. Taking it isn't going to solve anything," Zel watched as she sank to her belly again, curling up in the corner, trying to escape his gaze. Reaching under his shirt, he took the Wolf Stone off and set it on the table, working on getting his things packed except for his wet clothes which he hung over the back of the chair. "I'm going downstairs to have breakfast," he said, exiting the room, leaving the Wolf Stone on the table.
Trotting down the stairs, he saw one of the men who'd accused him of being a forest spirit the night before. Heaving a sigh, Zel went to the bar and ordered a light breakfast, getting a refill of coffee while he was there. Retreating to a table under the balcony that overhung the first floor, he sat in the corner, chair leaned back against the wall. Sipping his coffee, he pondered what to do now. That little job with Yui had just fallen through. He wasn't so cruel as to completely destroy an entire area by taking the thing that controlled the weather or something like that.
Zelgadis watched the man talking to other men who had started to filter in, gesturing toward Zel. The Chimera had the feeling he was going to be in some trouble, soon, possibly. Finally, the boy behind the bar came up and started talking to the men. It wasn't long before he was intimidated and backed off. Zelgadis heard the boy say, "Well whatever you do, don't do it in here!"
A hint of a smile touched Zel's lips as he recalled Lina. She would have blown the place up before now for taking so long with breakfast. Zelgadis got to his feet, going over to the bar, "Put my breakfast on hold, oh..." Zel sized up the men, "Twenty minutes should be long enough," he said then breezed over to the men. "You boys looking for trouble?" he asked with a smile, his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Forest spirit or cursed- whatever you are, we ain't gonna put up with freaks coming into our forest and stealing our treasure!" the five men arranged behind the speaker nodded, cracking their knuckles, looking menacing. Zelgadis would have been impressed, if he hadn't seen the fear in their eyes.
"I don't take kindly to people calling me that," Zelgadis replied calmly, hiding behind his stony mask. He swept past them to the door and turned, "Well? Are you going to come fight me or not?" The men looked at each other and gained confidence when they saw they outnumbered the far shorter Chimera man six to one. They filed out of the tavern and into the street.
Zelgadis came to the middle of the single road that ran through the town and stopped once again, turning to face the men. "Now, sword or fists?" he asked, putting his hand on his hip. The other men were far taller then the seventeen year old, they also were older, nearing their thirties.
"Fists," said the leader.
"Alright then. Zelgadis calmly untied his sword from his hip and set it off to the side. "Just remember, if I end up killing any of you, you started it," he stated.
The men snorted, "A little freak like you?!" Zel narrowed his eyes, once again hiding behind his stony mask. If Amelia had heard that, she would spout endlessly about how you shouldn't judge people by what they look like. He charged at the Chimera and ran past as Zelgadis stepped out of the way with his Mazoku speed. "Hey! How the hell did you do that?!"
"Sore wa, himitsu desu," Zelgadis replied, lifting a finger and winking. That phrase DID come in handy sometimes.
The other five men were upon him then and Zelgadis pondered using spells. He decided against it unless one of them pulled something. Easily, he threw one attacker after the other off him, not even breaking a sweat, of course, he couldn't do that in the first place.
Zelgadis dodged to the side when something glimmered out of the corner of his eye. His hand snapped out, catching the man's hand and crushing his fingers easily, "NO ONE touches my sword, but ME," he said firmly. Turning the leader of the group's fist, making him bash himself in the face a few times before heartlessly sweeping the sword from the man's bloody grip and slicing his stomach open. Zelgadis paused, his sword at the man's throat, "Run now, before I lose my patience with you and end your miserable life." His comrades had fled, he was standing holding his guts. He spit at Zelgadis. "That...was a mistake," Zel told him softly and swept his sword around in a fancy arc, splitting the man's skull before he could even scream.
Crouching, Zelgadis wiped his blade off, then found up the scabbard and knocked the dust out of it before sheathing his sword and tying it back on his belt. Calmly, he walked into the inn.
He smiled grimly at the boy, "No one calls me a freak and gets away with it," he said with satisfaction.
"Your breakfast is ready sir," the boy said softly, pushing a plate of bacon, eggs and toast as well as a new cup of coffee toward the Chimera, refusing to look the man in the eyes. Zelgadis dropped another two gold coins on the bar and took his food back to the table he'd vacated only twenty minutes before.
Zel chewed on his bacon absently, he didn't feel all that hungry after the adrenaline rush of battle, he forced himself to eat anyway. Someone came rushing in at that moment, "Who's the bastard who killed Bert?!" the boy at the bar cowered, refusing to answer direct questions. Zelgadis smirked slightly, he could handle being called 'bastard' or 'heartless dark swordsman', but NO ONE got away with calling him a freak.
Finishing his breakfast, he swept the crumbs back onto his empty plate and put it on the bar with his empty coffee cup. The man who looked to be some sort of law enforcement was busy trying to get an answer out of the boy who stammered that he hadn't seen anything.
Zelgadis went back upstairs, opening the door to his room and found a woman sitting on his bed across the room from Yui. "Who the hell are you?"
"I- I-" she stammered, "I'm Rei," she got herself under control and stood, holding her hand out, her eyes wide. "I'm a traveling minstrel!"
"Well travel yourself out of my sight," he snapped, grabbing up his pack and rolling his still wet clothes up before stuffing them in.
Rei sputtered, "That's no way to treat a lady!"
"No one ever said I was nice. Ask the wolf," Zel noticed that her Wolf Stone was still on the table.
The minstrel blinked a few times, "I- can't speak to animals, sir," she said, "But I wouldn't mind talking to you!" Zelgadis felt a headache coming on.
He tied his cloak firmly and pulled the mask over the lower portion of his face. "No." He turned to leave but found Yui standing between him and the door, holding the string of leather with the Wolf Stone tied to it in her mouth, she sat back and lifted her front feet off the floor, begging him to take it. "No," he said firmly to her as well. "Damn females," he muttered and brushed past Yui, headed down the stairs.
"Please sir-" Rei exclaimed, tripping and almost tumbling down the stairs if she hadn't fallen against Zelgadis, "I only ask-"
"No. Leave me alone," Zelgadis said firmly and stepped away from her once she was halfway steady.
"Please! Let me ask first!" Rei begged and Zelgadis growled under his breath as he found Yui sitting in front of him, begging again. "Damn it! No!" he told both of them firmly. "I don't need a tagalong, and I am NOT going to help you," he said the first to Rei and the second to Yui.
Zelgadis looked up to find at least fifteen men standing between him and the door. "Trying to skip out of town?" asked the man who'd been accosting the boy behind the counter. Zel glanced that way and found the boy had fled.
"You killed Bert didn't you!?" shouted one man.
"I saw him," shouted one of the posse who had tried to beat him up earlier.
"Damn it all," Zelgadis muttered.
"We don't take to people who just breeze in and kill good men."
"Well tell your 'good men' to stay out of my way... unless you want more 'good men' to bury," Zelgadis warned softly.
Some of the men looked frightened those who'd seen how easily Zelgadis had killed Bert. "Around here, I'm the law, and I say that you have to be punished for the murder of Bert Custer."
Zelgadis glanced off to the side then walked up to the man, muttering softly under his breath. Grabbing hold of the man's shoulder he said, "Mono Bolt," the electricity crackled through the man and he fell to his knees, passing out. Zel let him go and looked around. "Who's next? Got plenty of spells to go around, and if I get tired of that, I can always decorate the walls with your entrails." The men parted before him like the sea before Moses. Zelgadis was aware that Yui and Rei were following behind him. Once outside, he saw that there were other men who were gathered around the body, women off to the side whispering.
Zelgadis turned to head away from the forest and found Yui in his path, growling. "You can't hurt me and you know it. Now get out of my way." She shook her head, the leather strap and Wolf Stone waving as she did. "No. I'm not going to help you. Its one thing to kill someone in battle but entirely another thing to starve them to death."
Yui refused to move, shaking her head again, making the stone wave. Finally, he reached out and grabbed the stone. Something's happened! I've been trying to tell you for the past hour but you wouldn't listen!
Zelgadis sighed, "I don't CARE what's happened-"
You don't care that these people are going to die because the stone has been taken?
"What do you mean?" Zel narrowed his eyes, aware that everyone was staring at him once again. He hated people staring at him and pulled his hood over his face absently.
That leader human has gotten the Heart Stone somehow!
Zelgadis shivered, straightening and turning in a circle to look at the sky and what he could see of beyond the town. It looked perfectly fine, but something just wasn't right. He'd finally noticed. "Alright, so something's not right, and what do you expect ME to do about it?"
FIX it! I was wrong to think that having you take the stone was a good idea, but now that human leader has it! Yui growled when he was about to start walking away from her again. LISTEN to me! when he stopped, glaring at her. I invoke the power of your name, Zelgadis Graywords, you will save this place. It is in the legend! I thought it meant that you would save it for us from the humans, but I fear that there is something else going on.
"Damn it, that's how it always is," Zel snapped, "It ALWAYS turns out to be Mazoku attacking or making deals that go bad for the mortal or something like that. Why me?" he muttered the last under his breath. "FINE, you stupid bitch." Yui seemed to smirk at him as she watched him put the Wolf Stone back on and push it under his shirt. "And I assume that you know where to find this asshole?" he snapped at the wolf.
I do not, but I assume that your actions here will result in you being taken to him for punishment.
"I'm really starting to despise you," Zel kicked somewhat half-heartedly at her and she scampered out of his way. Turning, he stomped back up to the local law enforcement who had recovered from the mono bolt.
He stopped, turning to look at the wolf, "Well, in THAT case, I invoke the power of your name, Yui, you have to come with me." She sank to her stomach, putting her paws over her eyes.
Damn you!
"Same to you," he snapped and turned back to face the man, "You're going to take me to this leader or whatever the hell he is. King or whatnot."
The man stared in horror at the cloaked man before him. "I was going to take you any way for killing Bert," he said shakily.
Zelgadis narrowed his eyes. "I am not your prisoner," he said coldly. The Chimera was starting to feel his skin crawl because of the people staring at him.