Part 7.

Having reached the man, her two captors released Filia, bowed towards him, and return to their posts. The man, slowly leaning forward in his chair opened his mouth as to speak, but was interrupted by the entrance of one of what she had been led to believe, lesser guards dragging a young man with him. As the man came closer to the man in the chair, the young captive came more into her view and she gave a start before gasping lightly. There was no mistaking him, the clothes, the stature, the unmistakable face. Breaking free of the man in the chair, she rushed towards the figure crying, "…

Filia!!!!!" Cried Zelgadis recognizing her as the young woman figure he had noticed earlier. In a second, he was engulfed by her arms as guards that had sprung up from their posts tried to drag her away. Wrestling off his guard with newfound energy, he knocked away some of her captors before grabbing her and pulling her towards him out of the guards reach. Holding her close to him, shielding her from the guards who had grabbed their daggers from their armor, he looked down at her. How close he had been to loosing her forever that day! Either of them could have died in this prison, they may still die, but for now they were safe and together. As soon as Filia had gotten over the initial shock, he once again felt her arms encircling his stomach and a slight pressure on his chest as she lay her head onto it, just seconds before being torn away from him again. As she was being dragged back to the seated figure he cried out to her again and she called back, her tear stained face enough to move his heart of stone. Fighting like the ahem(^^"")…rock hard wrestler…he was, he broke from his captors and rushed towards her, only to be hit over the head and once again fall senseless to the ground.

Having done her daily service of justice, Amelia once again looked around the empty house. Having finally decided that, after all, neither Filia nor Zelgadis was simply hiding in the seemingly forgotten house, she headed back to town. It was apparent that Filia and Mr. Zelgadis weren't there and she had probably wasted enough time already. Her captain would be anxious waiting for her. They had to go and scout out the bandits camp before dark, and after all, she had promised the guards to a meal that day as a reward for their coming so far in the name of justice. Heading back out on the road, she began to whistle and hum to herself while thinking of fun things Lina's gang had done; funny stories that she could remember as if they were yesterday. Like the time Mr. Zelgadis had been dressed up as a bunny…she giggled to herself as she remembered his face when he saw his costume. The miles passed quickly and pretty soon she had neared the town. Reaching the Inn door, she signaled to her solider, the captain of the guards and told him to ready his men because they would set out immediately.

Xellos cursed silently to himself as his foot banged against a rock sending it rolling down the hallway making a terrific noise. So much for a surprise entrance, he thought to himself. As he neared the entrance to the cavern, he almost turned and walked away despite his knowledge of what beastmaster might do to him. Suppressing the urge he took a deep breath and stepped into the cavern. Aw…s*** he thought to himself. Looks like I walked into a fricken party. Lining the walls were at least a hundred soldiers (he was expecting about 20 from beastmaster's description of the weakness of the bandit king.) Following the cavern down, he could see more soldiers, some of the elite guard wrestling with a couple prisoners; one of which, a woman who's features he could not make out from the poor lighting, was fighting like a tigress to reach the other captive. Xellos felt pity for the poor captives, so involuntarily drawn into his torture; they would soon be feeling his pain along with him though in less magnitude. Finally, at the end of the cave, stood the bandit king, surrounded by his piles of books. Xellos noticed with a growl that his lord beastmaster's book was on the top of the pile closest to the chair. He WOULD get that book back, no matter what the pain. But not yet. The bandit king looked as if he were trying to say something to the female captive. He had better wait till he had finished. Besides, it would be good to move back to the shadows of the hall. Already, the soldiers close to him had noticed him and begun to giggle. He growled at them too and made mental note so he would be sure to kill them when this was all done before returning to the safety of the shadows.