"I can't believe they let her escape them," he growled. "Your men are incompetent, Nick."
"You forget. She's most likely dead. The fall itself probably killed her," Nick replied, trying to keep his voice calm in the face of Ryo's anger.
Ryo took in a deep breath, and let it out again. Whether she was dead or not was of no help; the princess was out of his reach for the moment, so it would be best to ignore his feelings and go forward with the plan he and Nick had created.
"This is true, I had forgotten how steep the walls of The Canyon are. Now, did your men get some of her hair?" Ryo asked, turning a cold gaze upon the Diolon Prince.
"They did indeed," Nick answered, and handed a small bag that contained a hunk of Amelia's hair to the Mazoku.
"Excellent. We shall proceed immediately."
Ryo turned and walked out of the library, with Nick following closely behind. They passed through many doors and hallways until they came to a small door that was set apart from the rest of the castle by how far underground it was situated. Nick pulled a large, iron key from his pocket, and unlocked the door.
Once inside, he made sure to lock it again before turning to Ryo.
"Can we have some light in here?" he asked, sounding a little testy.
"What's the matter, Your Highness? Afraid of the dark?" Ryo sneered.
"Not hardly," Nick scoffed. "In order for me to do my part, I have to be able to see."
"Sure sure, whatever you say," Ryo answered, but quickly tossed up a light spell that illuminated the entire room and its contents.
"Ahhh, there it is," Nick grinned, and walked over to the large copying machine that took up three-fourths of the tiny space. "Just how long did you say this process would take?"
"Not as long as it would if you were going for a perfect copy," Ryo answered, moving to fiddle with some of the dials on the machine. "This machine is purely Mazoku built, so it's a great deal faster than anything the current batch of copying freaks can come up with. Not only that, but in order to create a perfect copy, you have to copy everything from memories to hair count. Since we're only going for what is essentially an empty shell, it should only take about an hour until it's finished."
"Well then, let's get started," Nick said, and dropped the hunk of hair into the copying machine, while Ryo added the growth culture and set some of the dials.
"Now, we wait," Ryo said, and settled back to do just that.
"I hate waiting," Nick complained.
"Get used to waiting, Your Highness. Most of life is spent that way," Ryo said smoothly.
"Well, while you keep an eye on the copy machine, I'm going to go grab something to eat," Nick shot back, and quickly unlocked the door, slamming it as he left before hastily locking it again.
He returned an hour later just as Ryo turned off the power to the machine.
"Well?" he asked, gazing into the tiny window on the door of the monstrosity.
"Let's open the door and find out. Are you ready?" Ryo asked, reaching for the lever that lifted the door.
Nick nodded and moved to stand a little to the right of the slowly opening door, a feral grin on his face. Ryo eyed the copy that emerged, and nodded. It was perfect; an exact replica of Princess Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune stood before him, and he couldn't help but smirk at the sight of his handiwork.
She was aware of only two things. One, she was cold, and two, she couldn't see a thing. It probably had something to do with the fact that she had her eyes closed. She had just started to lift her eyelids,
revealing mismatched eyes when a knife flashed out of the darkness and buried itself to the hilt between her ribs. With a soft sigh, she collapsed onto the ground in a lifeless heap, as her short life came to an end.
"That was efficient," Ryo remarked, while staring at the pool of blood forming beneath the copy's body.
"No need to get upset because I didn't let you kill her your way. If I had, there would be too many unanswered questions from Saillune, and they're questions we don't want asked."
Ryo snarled silently to himself yet again. This just wasn't his night. First the Princess is lost, and then her copy is killed before he even got a chance to play with it. He was beginning to regret ever agreeing to work with the Prince of Diolon, but it was too late to back out now.
"The transportation is ready, and if they don't make any unscheduled stops along the way, they should reach Saillune with our present in four days," Ryo said, making sure to keep his disgust out of his voice.
"Excellent. I want to know, though, how it is that our men will arrive there in four days, when it took the princess over a month to even reach our borders," Nick remarked.
"You forget, Your Highness," Ryo sneered, "Princess Amelia was traveling with a fully armed escort and was expected to make diplomatic stops along the way to reinforce Saillune's ties with their northern
allies. Your men will be making a straight trip to Saillune the fastest way possible."
"Oh? And what way is that?"
"They'll be flying," Ryo answered with a grin, and vanished, leaving Nick with the body of the copy.
"Stupid Mazoku," Nick mumbled while he summoned help to come and clean up the body and the blood. He wished that he could go with his men to Saillune when they dropped off the body. Seeing the Crown Prince Philionel's face when presented with his dead daughter would be a sight worth seeing.
------------------------------
The sun had just started
peeking over the horizon when Jonathan Coddle and his twin brother Daniel
made their way down to the bank of the river that bordered their family's
farm.
"I tell you, Jon, I'm worried
about Mom," Daniel said, brushing a lock of sandy brown hair out of his
eyes.
"I know. She hasn't
seemed like herself since Ashly left for the city. Still, I think
she'll get better once planting season starts up," Jonathan replied.
"You could be . . . hey,
someone's lying on the beach," Daniel broke off, and pointed, where the
unmistakable shape of a person could be seen lying on their back in the
sand.
"Come on, they might need
help," Jonathan said.
As the two young men came
closer, the human form slowly took on the shape of a young woman who was
just barely covered with scraps of cloth that had once been a very expensive
silk dress...a silk dress that was covered with blood.
"Do you think that's hers?"
Daniel asked.
"I don't know, but we better
make sure that she's still alive and in one piece," Jonathan answered.
"Then we can try to figure out if the blood is hers or not."
The twins knelt next to
the woman, and breathed sighs of relief when they saw her chest rise and
fall with deep, even breathing. Daniel pulled off his shirt, and
draped it over her front, offering the unconscious woman a small measure
of modesty, then sat back on his heels. Jonathan took a closer look
at her limbs, moving them and checking them over to make sure that she
hadn't broken anything.
Daniel frowned when he noticed
a small puddle of blood that was spreading out from underneath her head,
and moved for a closer look, calling Jonathan over. Being careful
not to jar her, Daniel lifted up her head, and Jonathan parted her hair.
He gave a low whistle when he saw the large bump that was forming on the
back of her head.
"We need to stop the bleeding,"
Jonathan stated.
"Well, duh," Daniel replied,
and took his brother's shirt when he offered it to him. He quickly
formed a pad under Jonathan's instructions, and gently pressed it against
the woman's head, only letting up when Jonathan told him to. He breathed
a small sigh of relief when he saw that the bleeding had stopped.
The two men gently placed the woman's head back onto the ground, and sat
back to survey their find. The woman was beautiful, to say the least.
Her face was peaceful, her features even and refined. Her black hair
was long and silky looking, despite the snarls and brambles that were caught
in it.
"So, what do you think?"
Jonathan asked, looking to his brother.
"What do you mean, what
do I think?" Daniel asked.
"You're the one that's studying
to become a detective, you know. Now is a good chance to put your
skills to the test," Jonathan replied.
Daniel turned his gaze to
the young woman, and began to try to put his so-called skills to work.
"I don't think the blood
on her dress is hers, even though she was bleeding from the head," he began.
"You mean we may have a
murderer on our banks?" Jonathan asked, startled.
"I'm not sure. We'll
have to ask her when she wakes up. However, I think if she is responsible
for someone's death, then it was because she was provoked. Look here,"
Daniel said, pointing to several long, deep slashes that were on her legs.
"These are indications that she was running from someone or something through
some dense underbrush. Not only that, but there's a light scratch
on her neck that I want you to look at."
"Me?" Jonathan asked, looking
startled.
"If I'm studying to be a
detective, you're studying to be a doctor, right?" Daniel snorted, giving
his brother a look.
"Oh, yeah," Jonathan replied,
flushing. He bent over the young woman and gazed at the wound on
her neck.
"It's superficial, that's
for sure. And it wasn't made the same way that the slashes on her
legs were. See how even and smooth it is? Now, compare that
with the slashes on her legs, which are jagged and uneven. This cut
was made by a knife," Jonathan concluded.
Their discussion was cut
short by a low moan, and the woman's eyelashes fluttered for a brief
moment before lifting, revealing deep, clear blue eyes. She blinked,
confused, and tried to sit up, only to fall back down when the world decided
it wanted to do the hokey-pokey.
"Take it easy! You have
a nasty bump on your head and shouldn't move," a pleasant male voice said,
and she rolled her eyes in that direction, meeting a pair of gentle green
eyes.
"Can you tell us what happened?"
another voice asked, and her eyes turned to again meet gentle green eyes.
She blinked, wondering why she was seeing double.
"I . . . I think I was .
. . chased," she croaked, and furrowed her brow when her memories suddenly
went fuzzy.
"Where are you from?" one
of the voices asked.
"I . . . I don't know,"
she answered, looking and sounding confused.
"Can you tell us who you
are?"
"N... wait.... I think.....
I think my name is Amelia," the woman replied, but then her eyes filled
with tears. "But I can't remember anything else!"
"Take it easy," Jonathan
said when Amelia began to become agitated. She stared at him for a few
moments, her blue eyes searching, before slowly relaxing.
"Who are you?" Amelia asked,
trying desperately to ignore her pounding headache and missing memories.
"Sorry, that was rather
rude of us. I'm Jonathan Coddle, and this is my brother, Daniel,"
Jonathan replied, pointing to Daniel.
"Oh, you're twins," Amelia
smiled weakly. "I wasn't sure if I were seeing double or not."
Daniel grinned down at her,
and said, "A lot of people feel that way."
Jonathan looked thoughtful
for a moment, then pulled Daniel aside when Amelia closed her eye, signaling
that the little talking she had done had tired her out.
"I want you to get Mom and
the cart. I don't think we can risk carrying her back home with that
head wound," he whispered.
"You mean we're going to
be taking her home?!" Daniel squeaked.
"What other option do we
have until she regains her memory? We can't just leave her out here,"
Jonathan answered, and Daniel slowly nodded his head.
"All right. You stay
here with her until I come back," he said, and Jonathan moved to sit near
Amelia, who opened her eyes and smiled weakly at him.
"Dan's gone to get our mother
and our cart," Jonathan said.
"How come?" Amelia asked
softly.
"What, you want to stay
on the bank of the river?" he teased.
"No, not really," Amelia
answered, and closed her eyes again.
"Hurry, Daniel," Jonathan
whispered, checking Amelia's pulse and finding it thready. "We need
to get her into a warm bed with someone who can watch over her and keep
her awake. I don't like the way she keeps dropping off like this."
-----------------------------------
"Morning Zel!" Lina called
as she moved around the campsite, putting away utensils while Gourry packed
up the tents.
Zel muttered something under
his breath, and went back to sucking on his coffee, resigning Lina and
the rest of the world to hell until his brain cleared of its sleep-deprived
fog. Lina clucked at him and said something, but he ignored
her while he waited for the caffeine to kick in.
It had just started to work
when Lina came over and sat down next to him, a serious look in her eyes
that told Zel she had something she wanted to say, but wasn't quite sure
how to say it
"Just spit it out, Lina,"
Zel said shortly.
"You're pleasant in the
morning," Lina tried to tease, then sighed. "Sorry, just trying to cheer
you up."
"Well, you look like you're
wanting to say something to me, but you don't know how to go about
it. I was advising you to spit it out because that's usually the
best way to say it," Zel replied.
"Fine, I'll do it that way.
I think there is a connection between you and Amelia that you're not allowing
yourself to acknowledge," Lina said, giving Zel a very direct look.
"Huh?" Zel asked, puzzled.
"Remember how I said something
about the dream you had sounded familiar?" Lina asked, and continued when
Zel nodded his head. "Well, this morning when I first woke
up, I happened to remember where I had heard about something similar.
There was this old book that my older sister had when I was younger,
and I used to enjoy hearing stories read from it before I went to bed.
Well, there was this one story about a Shamanist sorcerer and sorceress
who traveled the land together. In fact, they were the creators of
the Ra Tilt, now that I think about it. But back then, the Ra Tilt
could only be successful when cast simultaneously by two Shamanists, similar
to the way you and Amelia cast it when we fought Kopii Rezo. Anyway,
after a period of time, the two discovered that whenever one was in any
kind of danger, the other would have a dream similar to the one you told
me about. After they managed to perfect the Ra Tilt enough to where
it was successful when only one Shamanist cast it, they did some background
research into Astral-based magic, figuring that this connection had something
to do with the fact that when the spell is cast it forms a heart-shaped
blast. What they found surprised them. Apparently, when a new
Astral spell is created by two individuals who cast it simultaneously,
it forms a connection between the two spell casters that allows them to
sense when the other is in danger. This connection is only created,
however, when the spell cast forms a heart, and I have a feeling that that's
what happened between you and Amelia."
"So you're telling me I
have some connection with Amelia that allows me to sense when she's in
danger?" Zel snorted.
"Well, if I'm wrong, what
other explanation do you have for your dream?" Lina asked sarcastically.
"Your cooking," Zel quipped,
causing Lina to bash him on the head.
"If you two are finished,"
Gourry said while gazing at the heap of camp gear he had packed up, "We
need to get this stowed away so we can head out."
"Right," Lina said, stood
up, and closed her eyes. Zel watched her as he sensed the rising
spell power around her, and wondered just what spell she was preparing
to cast.
"You who loan us power from
beyond this world," Lina began to chant, "Open yourself up to me.
ASTRAL RIFT!"
Zel stared, as an area in
front of Lina seemed to open up, forming a black void. He stared
even harder when Lina began to pitch the tents and backpacks into what
appeared to be nothing.
"What are you doing, Lina?"
he asked.
"I'm stowing away our traveling
gear in Astral Space," Lina answered as she and Gourry dumped the last
of the bulky gear. "It's a new spell that I created. You know
how hard it is to travel when you're lugging around over twenty pounds
of gear, right? Well, this new spell opens up a small area inside
the Astral Plane, and allows us to store it there. Whenever I need to retrieve
something, I cast the spell again and pull it out. It's always there,
no matter where we go, and it makes for easier traveling."
"Yeah, because you're not
weighed down with all the treasure you steal from bandit gangs," Gourry
teased, as the Astral Rift closed in on itself.
"I don't hear you complaining,"
Lina teased back. "Shall we go?"
"Yes, let's go," Zel answered
with a smile.
"On to Saillune!" Gourry
cheered, and the three friends set out.
------------------------------
Next episode: It's been five days on the road, and Lina, Gourry,
and Zel finally reach the kingdom of Saillune, only to find a rather nasty
shock awaiting them. Amelia wakes up from a rather severe fever,
still unable to remember anything other than her name.