Part 4.


Filia slowly opened her eyes, blinking them a couple of times at the harsh lighting. She was outside this time, lying face down in the grass. She haizily sneezed a couple of times to get the dew away from her nose. She yawned and tried to stretch, but felt a strange pain in her wrists. Turning to glance down, she noticed a strong pressure on her back as well. She turned her neck with difficulty and was confronted by a large object. As she discovered the reason, she gasped and bit down on her lip to stifle a scream. The man, from the dream, was holding her hands to her back with his feet. Glancing down at her, he grinned and said, "So sleeping beauty has chosen to grace us with her presence after all." She glared at him, somewhat perplexed. "What...who...who are you?," she managed. He grinned again, an even bigger grin. "My lady, but you do act a bit perplexed. But of course, silly me. Allow me to introduce myself..."

The mountain air was cool and crisp and the dew covered grass glowed in the soft morning light. The birds overhead were calling out to each other in shrill musical notes. However, Zelgadis wanted to have nothing to do with this gaiety. His eyes were rivited on the road, occasionally scanning the nearbye forest for any sign of a person. This was the road to town and Filia must have walked this same road this morning. Hopefully he would find a clue to her disapearance on this very road. Looking forward, his pulse quickened. Somebody was on the road up ahead. An old man, in a black robe holding a strangley covered bundle. Perhaps he could have some news for her. Nearing up to this man, Zelgadis opened his mouth to speak, but seeing something glimmer behind the man, he shut it again. It was a camp site, a campsite with a sheild hanging above it, the sheild one that all of the people in the mountains knew and dreaded. As he made the reconization, the old man silently pulled a dagger out of his belt and pressed it against Zelgadis's ribs saying softly, "Now be a good boy son and come with me without any trouble, the master might take intrest in you."**

Hot, tired and exausted, Amelia's caravan rolled into the mountain town. It made a sad sight, not unlike the sight a young dragon had made in that very town just a few days ago. Coughing and wheezing, they made their way to the nearest inn. After booking enough rooms for the entire group for a week, they unloaded and set out. This was the town which had sent a complaint to her father on the account of a certain bandit, Xavier; a powerful gang leader who, by lore, had actually confronted a mazoku in an attempt to rob her. After sending her attendents out to all the various stops in a means of questioning around to any news of this bandit, Amelia set out on her own task. She had remembered, from keeping a sharp record of their travels, that Filia and Zelgadis had settled down in a little cottage close to this town. After asking directions from a kindly old man in a black robe* on the path to this cottage, she hoisted her bundle and turned with purpose twards it, anxious to see her old friends, especially Zelgadis.

Xellos sat by himself in the dark room at the end of the corridor. This had been his bedroom when he had lived here, before going off to watch over Lina and her gang and he subconciously went here whenever he was upset. Well, upset was not really the right word, he mused. Uncertain wasn't quite it either. He was more...well, confused. But it wasn't confusion, no mazoku is ever confused; that was simply the only word he could find. He leaned his head against the violet pillow behind him and closed his eyes. *** There she was, there she always will be; dancing, playing in the sun. The suns rays strike her golden blonde hair and she looks up at him and laughes; bright laughter, illuminating his dark presence like a torch. She giggles up at his stern complextion and, taking his hand, drags him over to a bed of flowers. The flowers were beautiful, all the colors of the rainbow, each with it's own separate rainbow on each petal. She looks around before spotting the flower she was looking for. It is violet with traces of gold that shimmer in the sun. She holds it up to her face and breaths it in before handing it to him. *** He sighs, and the image fades to black in his mind. Slowly he opens his eyes and focuses them on the cabinet across from him. There, on the top row, hidden so no eyes would find it except his own, was a violet golden crystal, illuminated and carved into the shape of a flower. A morning glory.

Zelas moved throught the swiftly and silently. She moved from tree to tree, moving in their shadows; her self simply another darkness among darkness. She crossed over the land much the same way. Weaving back and forth in between santuaries of colorless voids, she reached a cave, high in a mountain. In the cave she perceived several men hudling around a fire place. One man, however, wraped thickly in the fur of ermins, was deeply engrossed in a strange book; one with a jet black binding and silver edges. Softly, as not to disturbe them, she seperated herself from the dark. Instantly, the band became alert. However, with a wave of his finger, the older man set them at ease again. Smiling outwardly, Zelas approached him carring with her, a small bag which she grasped tightly within her fingers. Noticing his tenseness, she chuckled and let the bag fall to the ground. After establishing that motion of peace, he beckoned her twards him saying softly, "What is it you want from me, because I know this is no sociable call you're making." She laughed brightly, delighting in his directness, before returning with, "Why my dear, it appears to me that you're having a bit of a trick with that book your reading, slightly abover you're reading level is it not?; after all, it is mine, or was at the very least. But don't dispare, I have a proposition to make. I have a little chore I want you to do for me, a small one which I think you will enjoy. My squire will be meeting with you shortly, this is what I want you to do when he arrives..."

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* beware the old men in black robes, bwahahaha! ::laughes demonicly:: ^^"''

**not that kind of intrest you perverts!

Note: anyone who has actually been following the story may have discovered some strange similarites in the characters paragraphs, and do you know what that means?! ^-^ yup! I'm almost done! ::pats herself on the back:: look for an ending any day now folks!

Wanderer