All Disclaimers can be found in part 1

Title: Golden Spheres and Silver Snow
Author: Simone of the Zordiak
Part: 3/?
E-mail: burning_night@hotmail.com

"Checkmate." Dynast frowned at the chessboard in front of him, but it was
useless, he had walked into a trap he hadn't seen before. With a small
ironic smile he toppled his king, then he looked up and blinked a little
in surprise. He didn't know how long they had played, but to see that the
moon had already risen, when they had started this particular game in the
early afternoon, was a bit disconnecting. But still it had been fun. He
loved to play chess, war symbolized in the figures and moves. Of course
he needed a good adversary to enjoy a game and among Lina's little group
he had found several types of chess players.

Xellos of course was a cheater, always trying to distract him while resetting
the board in his favor... a move that never worked with him, but still the
Trickster tried it every time. Amelia was enthusiastic, but not a very good
player, he beat her everytime she asked him to play and she always made the
same mistakes. Gourry, to his surprise, was a very good player, strong and
good enough to beat him from time to time. Maybe he should have expected this,
the man was a merc and one of the best, it was only logical, that he exelled
at a battle game. Lina herself was a chaotic player, never following a real
strategy and sometimes she came close to fireballing him and the chessboard
when she lost. Filia, like Amelia, was not a very concentrated player, but
unlike Amelia, she did learn from her mistakes and slowly got better.
Zelgadis, his style was unique. He never played after the same methods twice
and he always managed to surprise him with his moves.

He leaned back in his chair, concentrating on the board. The trap had been
a work of art, he had to admit, worthy of any general's brain and so sneaky
that he hadn't suspected anything... until it had been too late. He rubbed
the bridge of his nose. It had been a good game. Someone placed a cup of
tea next to him. He looked up to find the dragonmaiden smiling shyly at him.
He murmured his thanks and Filia blushed and left the room quickly.

"Looks like someone has a little crush at you," Zelgadis smiled his half-smile
as he rearranged the figures for a new game. "It seems so." He replied
shortly, yet he did nothing to hide his answering smile. It was irony at
its best, a mazoku-hating golden dragon, having a crush at a Mazoku Lord.
Sure, she didn't know what and who he really was, but still... He took the
cup and started to sip. The hot liquid burned his tongue, sorching his
tastebuds and then his throat. It was good. So hot. The sharp note of his
own pain adding to the barely noticed taste of the tea in a refreshing and
pleasurable way. He sighed as the pain subsided, leaving him with tingling
aftershocks of pleasure.

The smell of blood stirred his mind, and when he looked up, he found that
Zelgadis had almost bitten through his lip. Obviously he had projected his
emotions quite loudly and now Zelgadis was trying to regain control over
himself. Hmmm.... Dynast let his eyes wander over his chesspartner, scanning
him, not as a fellow mazoku, but as a possible lover. He would be lying if
he said that he wasn't attracted to him. The Mei-ou was a real attractive
creature, beautiful, strong and intelligent. What could one want more?
Yet, he didn't dare to make his move now, the time wasn't right and there
was the matter of L-Sama watching over her adopted "son". He swallowed, as
her watched him licking the blood from his lips, looked down and then up
again just in time to see the sly grin. That sneak! He was doing it on
purpose! Wait! If he did it on purpose, didn't that mean.... A secretive
smile hushed over his lips as he readied his pawns for battle. This time
he would win.

From a corner of the room, Xellos watched the chessplayers, his usual smile
nowhere in sight. Shortly after the two had started their new game, Mashiro
had slipped out of his shoes and was now playing footsie with Zelgadis. And
Zelgadis was replying the favor. That wasn't good, that was absolutely not
good at all. If the Mei-ou was interested in the halfelf, then he couldn't
recruit him into Xellas-sama's ranks. His frown deepened. Mashiro was
perfect to become a strong mazoku and he was really nice to look at. He
wouldn't mind sharing a bed with him once or twice, but with him playing
footsie with the Lord of the Dead, he could forget all his carefully crafted
plans to win him over. No, no he wouldn't give up. He could use the fact
that the halfelf had no idea, who Zel really was. Wouldn't it crush Mashiro,
to hear that his loveinterest had lied to him? That he had kept his real
identity a secret? It would. And when he was at his lowest, he would come
and offer him a way to get even, a way to get revenge.

***

Lina stood at the railing, watching over the seemingly endless expanse of
water. She was bored. Bored, bored, bored, really bored. She punched the
railing, then flopped down and groaned. There had to be something she could
do, but noo, there were no sea serpents, not even gay ones, no pirates,
no monster, not even a single bandit. She groaned again. That wasn't
happening! She was bored out of her skull, she, Lina Inverse! "What's wrong?"
A voice next to her asked, startling her badly. With a squeak she jumped
to her feet and without much thought she hit the person that had startled
her. "Oww!" Not a smart move when said person was Zel, she winced as she
massaged her hand. "And what was that for?" "For sneaking up on me." She
replied angrily. "I didn't sneak up on you, Lina, and you know that." He
stated flatly while pulling out his astrolabe from somewhere under his
cloak. She waited, watching him handling the nautic instrument, already
knowing that it would be useless to talk to him until he was finished.

"So, care to tell me what is wrong now, Lina?" She sighed. "I'm bored. There
is nothing to do and only Ceipheid knows when this ship will reach the new
world." He couldn't hide a smile as he watched her pummel the poor railing
with her fists. "And just WHAT are you smiling at?" She glared at him and
he knew he was very close to being fireballed. Maybe he should let her
fireball him, a bit of pain would be nice and she would release some of
her pent up anger. Better than roasting the crew anyway. "You." He replied.
"You look kind of cute like that." "Cute?!?!" He grinned as he felt her
anger bubbling to the surface. One last nudge and it would explode at him.
"Yeah, like a three year old who didn't have things running her way."
"Ahhhrrrggg!!!" She screamed. "Fireball!" Just as he had expected it, she
threw the ball of magic at him. The damage was none-existent, but the pain
was delicious. For her sake he mimicked the irritated spell-victim, grumbling
under his breath as he dusted the soot from his clothes. He glanced at
her out of the corner of his eyes. She was ranting about guys who couldn't
appreciate the true beauty of women. He rolled his eyes and went back under
deck. He had done his part, now the ship would be save from fireballs
for a few days more, but he didn't have to stay and listen to her rant.

***

The new world was a puzzling place. Barely no magic, but science has
advanced beyond the knowledge of the old world. Cannons and pistols, two
non-magic long distant weapons, deadlier than any bolt or arrow, yet nothing
in comparison to attack spells. When Lina helped the citizens of the
port-town of Grubmah against a brunch of pirates by blowing them into orbit
via her Dragon Slave, the people looked at them almost like gods! Well, if
he was honest, if the people of the old world knew who he really was, they
would probably behave the same way. Zelgadis interrupted his musings. Musings
were useless and wouldn't help him reaching his goal. Why did Valbazard have
to speak in riddles? He wanted to get over with this prophecy and return to
his home. Staying away from hell for so long was making him uncomfortable.
So much could happen in his absence. So many things that could go wrong.
"Hey Zel," Lina smiled quite self satisfied, "We've found a nice inn for
tonight." She waved at one of the buildings at the plaza. He turned around
and looked at it. 'All you can eat for one silver' the sign said. He should
have known it.

***

Amelia had went and gotten the last three rooms for them. Two of them were
single rooms, the last one was a double room. The girls would share the double
room, while Gourry would share a room with Xellos and he would share his room
with Dynast. He barely hid a smile at that arrangement. During the last weeks
he and Dynast had slowly gotten closer, but they were always interrupted by
one of their group in the worst possible moments. But tonight they would be
alone, sharing a room. Perfect.

***

He smiled as he watched him barricade the door. Both of them wanted tonight
to be perfect and the thought of any of them bawling into their room wasn't
part of their plan. True, they wouldn't stay in this room tonight, but anyone
entering the room would know that they weren't there and that could raise some
unwanted questions. He frowned a little as he watched Zel seal the door with
a personalized lock-spell. That would keep the mortals and the dragon out of
their room, but not the servant of Juu-ou. He concentrated and with a small
gesture he raised a barrier around their room, a barrier that only another dark
lord or somebody stronger could break. "Good idea," Zel said as he noticed what
Dynast had done, "But how do we explain it to the others, when they notice
the barrier?" Dynast thought about it for a moment, then summoned his magic.
In his hand, a beautiful moonstone pendant appeared. "I placed the spell into
the moonstone. When you touch it like this," he demonstrated, "the spell is
deactivated and touched like this, the barrier is raised again. You can say
them it is a present from me." Zelgadis embraced his lover and gave him a soft
kiss. Dynast shimmered in his real form, to be closer to him. "So," Zelgadis
panted as they broke the kiss, "there is only one thing left to ask."
"Hmmm...?" "Your place or mine?" Zel managed to say with a straight face.
Dynast chuckled. "I think we should go to my place this time. I already
have been to your place and the aurora borealis is quite beautiful this time
of the year." He nuzzled into Zelgadis neck. "Then let's go," Zel whispered
and they phased away.

***

The breakfast the next morning went like many similar breakfasts before,
Lina, Gourry and Amelia stuffing their faces, Xellos annoying Filia. Only
Zel and Mashiro where nowhere to be seen. "Hey, has anybody seen Zel or
Shiro?" Lina asked, after she had finished of her meal. Gourry shrugged his
head no and all the others hasn't seen them either. They waited another thirty
minutes then Lina growled and stood up. "That's it. I'm going to pull their
lazy asses out of the inn and then...," she cracked her knuckles, "I dragon
slave them into the next century." She stormed out of the restaurant, up the
stairs and started to hammer at the door of Zel's and Mashiro's room. No one
answered. "Wake up you lazy bums!" She tried to rip open the door, but the
door wouldn't give. "Open the door!!" Her voice grew louder and louder as she
hit the door again and again.

"Miss Lina?" asked a hesitant voice. She turned around and saw the others
standing there, looking at her worriedly. "I can't open the damn door!" She
almost shouted. "There is a strong locking spell that I can't break!" "Let
me try." Xellos said, happily that he had found a good reason to phase in
their room, a good reason to see Mashiro in a state of undress. He phased
out, only to reappear again, angry and confused. "I can phase in there.
Something very strong is blocking me and I can't break the spell." They looked
at him in disbelieve. "You can't break the spell? But who could cast a spell
like this?" "Someone stronger than me," he replied annoyed. The Mei-ou, he
thought angrily, only that the spell-signature didn't feel like one of Mei-ou's
spells.

"I can't believe it!" Lina shouted furious. They others, wisely, stayed
silent. In the silence sounded the noise of a key, turned in its lock. The door
to the room opened slowly. "Who's making all that racket out there?" A really
annoyed Zel asked. The others gawked, stunned into silence, looking at Zelgadis
and his state of dress.. or rather undress, for he was only wearing his briefs,
a chain with a moonstone pendant around his neck and nothing else. Lina stared
at him, wide-eyed. Who would have guessed that he had hidden *that* body under
all his clothes? She was trying really hard not to drool at the sight of him.
Behind her, she heard a gasp for air from Filia and a soft noise, as Amelia
fainted. The sight had been to much for the lovestuck princess.
"Well," Zel looked at them, impatient, "is anybody going to answer me?" Lina
opened her mouth to tell him a piece of her mind, when the next shocking thing
happened. Mashiro appeared, similar dressed/undressed as Zelgadis, wrapping his
arms around the chimera and started nuzzling his ear. "Ulp." Lina swallowed.
She had seen a lot during her travels, had learned to expect the unexpected at
any time, but never in a million years she had expected this! Zel was leaning
against Mashiro now, who's hands were busily mapping his chest. Oh God it
looked like... looked like they were going to do *it* here and now! There was
only one thing she could do now. "Aqua create!" Viola, instant drenched Zel and
Shiro. True, they looked a bit angry right now, but at least they now wouldn't
make a spectacle out of themselves.
"Lina! What do you think you are doing?" Zel's voice was close to screaming.
"Stopping you from giving us a free show, that's what I'm doing," she replied
dryly. "Oh." Zel blushed as he seemingly realized only now, what kind of
picture he and Mashiro presented to their friends. "Maybe we should get
dressed," Mashiro suggested, "It looks like we're making them uncomfortable."
Zelgadis nodded and then simply closed the door.

Shortly afterwards a thankfully clothed Zelgadis sat next to an equally as
clothed Mashiro, drinking tea. The others, sharing their table, were trying
their hardest not to stare to openly at them. Finally Lina took the initiative.
"So," she said as Mashiro drained the last of his tea, "are you two lovebirds
up for some questions?" "As long as they are not too personal, ask." Mashiro
replied. Lina blushed rather violently. Xellos, of course, was the first to
ask a question. A rather unusual question for the Trickster. "Who cast the
barrier around your room last night?" It was something that irked Xellos
rather greatly. It hadn't been the Mei-ou-sama, for he knew Zelgadis'
spell-signature quite well and the barrier hadn't emitted this signature. So
who had cast it? Zelgadis smirked. For a moment he was tempted to answer with
Xellos oh-so-loved phrase about it being a secret, but he knew that Lina
wouldn't let him get away with it. So he pulled out the moonstone pendant from
under his tunic. Like a snake, Lina pulled it out of his hands to examine it,
before he could even start to explain its use and origin.

'Uh oh,' Dynast thought, as she turned it around. He had forgotten about that
little detail: on the underside, engraved into the gem, was his sigil, the
sign of the Ha-ou. Lina gasped when she saw the sigil and she wasn't the only
one. Except for Gourry, who was blissfully clueless, all of them recognized
the sigil. "Zel, where did you get this?" "Why? Where do you think I get it?"
Zel shot back, his mind racing to construct a good story. "Because that is the
personal sign of the Ha-ou, that's why!" He leaned back with a slight smile,
having decided that it would be easier to stay close to the truth. "You just
answered your own question." Lina shut her mouth abruptly, then she exploded.
"WHAT?!?!" "You don't need to scream that loud," Zelgadis murmured as he tried
to revive his suddenly deafened ears. Lina grabbed him at his collar. "Why
didn't you tell us that you've met with Dynast Grausherra? How long are you
keeping secrets from us? Do you even know how rare it is, that someone has
even heard from him?! He's the strongest of the remaining Mazoku Lords and you
just happen to meet him! What happened, did you have tea and cookies?"
Dynast leaned back in his chair, watching with a mental smirk as his fellow
Mazoku Lord and strongest of the five generals of Shabranighdo was shaken and
berated by the tiny sorceress like a unruly child. If only she knew.
"Care to let me tell the story?" Zel managed to get out. She dropped him rather
abruptly. "Ok. Tell!"

"After I split from the group last time, I went north, towards the land of
eternal ice. I had been on my own for two months, when I had a little run-in
with Norst." "Who's Norst?" Gourry asked confused. "Norst is the second
general," - 'Ex-General' Dynast corrected mentally, - "of Dynast," Lina beat
the knowledge into Gourrys skull, the hard way, with a bunny slipper.
"Anyway," Zel continued, "Norst attacked me and I beat him up. That seemed to
wake Dynast's interests." - 'That and the lecture you gave me afterwards' -
"I met him after I had just finished off a bandit hideout. We had a nice
long chat." "A chat?" "Yeah, you think that just because Gaav tried to kill us
on sight and Phibrizo tried to destroy the world, that all mazoku are like
this?" He pointed at Xellos. "How long did we travel with him before we found
out that he is a mazoku? And during that time he was a pest but didn't try
to kill us. The Ha-ou-sama is highly intelligent," - 'You flatter me' - "he's
lived for quite along time and he plays very good chess...." "Wait a minute!
You.played.CHESS.with.Dynast.Grausherra?!?" - 'Actually, you all did' Dynast
thought, 'but except Zelgadis, only Gourry is a worth player' -

Lina was breathing very very hard. She couldn't believe it. Zelgadis Greywers,
chimera swordsman and shaman, playing chess with a dangerous Mazoku Lord?! And
the way he spoke about the Ha-ou... it sounded a lot like... "You befriended a
Mazoku Lord? Soulless Dynast??" 'Soulless? Where did that come from?' Dynast
was a bit miffed. True, he was logical and appeared cold to those that didn't
knew him better, but he wasn't soulless. Zelgadis had the orb to prove it.
"He's not soulless," Zel protested, "Mazokus have souls too and if he is
soulless, then I should be called soulless as well. Remember the first times we
met?" Lina nodded. Zelgadis had been very cold during those times, repressing
his emotions mostly and acting cold and logical. "And I don't know if friend is
the right word," Zelgadis continued. 'I think lover is more fitting,' Dynast
thought and smiled, remembering the last night fondly.

Xellos followed the conversation silently. He was worried. The Mei-ou had
befriended Dynast, something Xellas-sama hadn't been able to do in thousand
years. That was bad, really bad. Zelgadis alone was a force to reckon with, but
Zelgadis in an alliance with Dynast.... those two would be unstoppable! He had
to tell Juu-ou-sama. Xellos swallowed. She wouldn't take the news very well
and probably take it out on his hide. He whimpered soundlessly. The last time
she had been pissed like that, she had forced him to be a shadow-wolf for
hundred years. Substanceless... almost completely powerless. Not something he
wanted to repeat, but she needed to know about this. Fearing for the worst,
Xellos phased out to meet his master.


tbc
-----------------------

Grubmah : Umm I needed a name for a port-town, so I took my the name of my
hometown and reversed it. (Hamburg rules !!)

Aurora borealis : also known as northern lights or polar lights