"How is she, Mom?" Daniel asked, poking his head into the guestroom.
"She's sleeping," Sarah replied with a small smile.
"Great! Jon's gonna want to know," Daniel grinned, and disappeared.
Sarah's smile dropped back into a frown as she turned again to the dark haired girl. She knew that her sons didn't think that she was dangerous, but the blood that had covered the dress Amelia had arrived in worried her. If Amelia had committed a crime, then people would be looking for her, and that could create problems for her family. She had almost hoped that the young woman would die of the fever that had wracked her body, but every time her thoughts would go down that path she would bring them back. It wasn't her place to judge someone who couldn't defend themselves. Besides, if what Jon and Dan told her was true, then this child-woman had been provoked into committing the crime in the first place. Even Sarah had seen the deep scratches on her legs, and the dark bruising along her jaw line that had told of being hit several times. Sarah sighed as she wished, not for the first time, that her husband had not been killed fighting off land raiders and leaving her with two fifteen year old sons and one thirteen year old daughter.
"W-where am I?" a weak voice croaked from the bed, and Sarah moved closer to the edge so that she could get a better look at its occupant.
"You're in my home," Sarah answered, and found herself under the scrutiny of a pair of blue eyes.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Sarah Coddle. I believe you met my sons, Jonathan and Daniel."
"Oh, so that's where they get those brilliant green eyes," Amelia mumbled. "How did I get here?"
"My sons and I brought you here when you passed out. You've been here for five days."
Amelia's eyes widened, and she squeaked, "Five days?!" She then proceeded to try to sit up, but collapsed when her muscles trembled from exhaustion. "What's wrong with me?"
"You've had an extremely high fever," Sarah explained, while moving to help Amelia to sit up, and piled pillows behind her to help support her. "We thought that we were going to lose you at one time."
Sarah wasn't able to say any more, because just then Daniel and Jonathan both came barreling through the doorway, Jonathan in the lead.
"Hi, Amelia! How are you feeling?" Jonathan asked, while moving to peer into her eyes and feel her forehead.
"Um, very tired and weak," Amelia answered, blinking at him.
"That's understandable, considering the fever you just shook off. If you could tilt your head forward, I want to see if I can get a look at that bump you had," he said, and parted the hair on the back of her head when she complied. "Excellent! The swelling is almost gone, and the cut has healed over nicely. Okay. Next question, do you remember anything?"
"I, uh, remember waking up on the river bank," Amelia replied, confused at how fast Jonathan was jumping from subject to subject.
"Do you remember anything before that?"
Amelia furrowed her brow, but all she got were fuzzy images that made no sense. "No. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. It's not uncommon for someone to lose some, if not all, of their memory after a blow to the head. We'll just have to wait and see if your memory comes back. Hopefully, something will help you to remember something. Sometimes all it takes is a little prod in the right place," Jonathan explained.
"You've been studying, haven't you?" Daniel teased.
"Of course I have! This is what I want to be, you know."
"What, an interrogator?" Amelia quipped with a weak smile.
"No, a doctor," Jon answered.
"I was teasing. I have a question, though, and I want you to answer honestly," Amelia said.
The Coddle's exchanged looks before returning their attention to her.
"Do you -" Amelia swallowed nervously, then continued. "Do you think that I did something horrible that I don't want to remember?"
"What gives you that idea?" Daniel asked gently.
"I'm not blind. I saw the blood stains on my dress when I first met you, and I'm fairly certain they weren't mine."
"It is possible that something happened that you don't want to remember, and that could be hindering the natural recovery rate now that the swelling on your head is down; however, I don't think that you did anything without being provoked. Your other injuries go against the thought that you meant to cause anyone or anything harm."
Amelia smiled, and opened her mouth to say more, but Sarah stopped her. "Boys, I think you've been talking to Amelia enough when she should be resting. Shoo! shoo!"
The twins grinned at each other, told Amelia they would see her the next day, and exited the guestroom.
"I don't mean to be a bother," Amelia said when Sarah returned to her bedside.
"You're not," Sarah reassured her. "It's just that those two can talk the ears off a mule and question a person until they want to strangle them. And what you need more than anything at this moment is your rest."
Amelia smiled at the older woman, and snuggled back down underneath her covers. She was asleep within moments.
Sarah gazed at Amelia's sleeping face, and thought to herself, "No, I don't think you committed a crime. I'm a pretty good judge of character, and you're just too sweet and innocent to have planned on whatever it is you did. Sleep well, Amelia."
She exited the room, and closed the door softly behind her. Looking up, she saw Jon and Dan standing at the end of the hallway, and motioned for them to go downstairs to the kitchen.
"She's sleeping again," Sarah said once they all had sat down at the kitchen table.
"So what do you think, Mom? Are Daniel and I right about her, or are we wrong?" Jonathan asked, knowing that the last obstacle to be passed was their mother's feelings about Amelia.
"I think she's sincere, and that you two are right about her. She can stay until she gets her memory back, or until someone comes looking for her," Sarah said, and smiled as the boys exchanged grins.
"It's almost like having Ashly home again. They're about the same age, don't you think?" Daniel asked.
"They certainly look it," Jonathan replied.
"Wonder if she'll get into as much trouble as Ashly did," Daniel mused.
"Oh L-sama, I hope not!" Sarah laughed. "Your father had his hands full with your sister. I'm just glad that you two were well behaved young men."
"Not always though, huh, Mom?" Jonathan teased.
"No, you two could get into trouble with the best of them," Sarah agreed with a smile. "Well, if you two will excuse me, I'm going to return to the guestroom and do some mending. You two should head to bed, you've got an early morning coming up."
"Yes, Mother," the twins chorused, and kissed Sarah good night before heading back upstairs to their rooms. Sarah shook her head, and gathered up a basket that was full of clothing that needed mending. She made her way back up the stairs, and quietly entered the guestroom.
She had just started on a pair of pants, when a voice asked from the bed, "Would you like some help?"
"I didn't mean to wake you," Sarah said, startled.
"You didn't. I was awake before you came in," Amelia answered, watching Sarah from the bed.
"Well, do you know how to sew?" Sarah asked, moving her chair again so that she was near the bed.
"I don't know. Only one way to find out," Amelia answered, and maneuvered into a sitting position with Sarah's help.
"You really should be resting," Sarah said.
"I know, but my mind won't let me sleep. It keeps running around with so many questions," Amelia explained.
"What type of questions?" Sarah asked.
"Well, where do I come from, who I was, and how can I find out the truth?"
"No wonder you can't sleep," Sarah replied, handing Amelia a pair of socks and a needle and thread, "Those are some pretty tough questions."
Amelia nodded her head, then stared at the needle and thread she was holding and gave the socks a blank look.
"Um, Mrs. Coddle?"
"Please, call me Sarah."
"Um, Sarah? What do I do with this?" Amelia asked, blushing.
Sarah smiled at Amelia, and began to teach her the art of mending.
------------------------------
"FINALLY!!!" Lina cried as
the city of Saillune came into sight. "I thought we'd never get here."
"You can say that again.
It looks like it's going to storm," Gourry remarked, pointing to some black
clouds. "I had forgotten how far away Saillune was."
"You'd forget your own head
if it weren't screwed on tight," Lina teased, causing the blond to blush.
"Maybe now we can get some
answers," Zel said as they approached the city gates. Even though
he was sure they were worrying over nothing, a small ball of fear kept
twisting his stomach into knots. Judging from the way Lina and Gourry
kept looking around, the same thing was happening to them.
As they came within sight
of the palace, everyone visibly relaxed when they saw that the flags weren't
flying at half mast, the way they would have been if something bad had
happened. However, they tensed up once again when they noticed the
increased amount of guards that were lining the palace entrances.
"What do you think is going
on?" Gourry whispered to Lina.
"I'm not sure. Maybe
Phil is just planning some kind of party and wants to make sure that no
one interrupts," Lina replied, not sounding like she believed a word of
what she just said.
They had just reached the
front steps of the palace when two swords crossed their pathway.
"Halt! State your
names and your business," a stern faced guard ordered.
The group exchanged looks,
then Lina stepped forward and said, "I'm Lina Inverse, and we're friends
of the Princess Amelia. We're here to visit her."
The two guards had exchanged
looks when Lina had given her name, then stepped aside, allowing them to
enter into the palace. The group was standing in the main foyer when
a royal servant walked up to them.
"If you will follow me.
Prince Philionel wants to see you," the servant said with a bow, then led
the way through the many halls of the palace until he stopped before large,
double doors.
"Prince Philionel is in
the library, just through these doors," he said, and bowed once again before
walking down the hallway.
Lina blinked, shrugged,
and pushed open the doors, followed closely by Zel and Gourry as she entered
the darkened library.
"Hello? Phil?" Lina
called, looking around.
"Miss Lina?" Phil's voice
came from the vicinity of the large picture windows that lined one side
of the library.
Lina suppressed a shudder
when she realized that they were the same windows Amelia had stood in front
of when she had thought that her father had been assassinated three years
ago. She prayed to whatever deity might be listening that Phil's
position wouldn't prove to be prophetic.
"Yeah, it's Lina, Gourry,
and Zel," Lina said as they moved closer to the Crown Prince of Saillune.
Phil turned to face them,
and everyone took a step back. His face was haggard, his eyes were
deeply sunken in their sockets, and his skin was stretched so tightly across
his bones that they could see the veins beneath the skin. His eyes
were bloodshot, and there were dark bruises underneath them that suggested
he had been crying for quite a while. There was only one thing that
could put Phil into such a state.
Lina was vaguely aware of
Zel's choked off, "No," as she reached out, blinded by tears that she tried
to hold back. Gourry was there, pulling her to him and wrapping his
arms about her as if he were trying to protect her from the hurt.
"Amelia's dead, Amelia's dead," kept echoing through her mind as she clutched
at Gourry, trying to absorb his strength.
"Maybe....maybe you're not
too late," Phil said.
"What?" Lina managed to
gasp, not too sure she had heard him correctly and, if she had, she wasn't
too sure Phil was sane at this moment.
"Please, sit down," the
Prince said, and sat down himself once the three had complied, with Lina
and Gourry taking up the love seat, and Zel taking the seat across from
Phil.
"Explain what you mean,
'maybe you're not too late,'" Zel said, his logic telling his feelings
to keep quiet.
Lina leaned on Gourry, content
for the moment to let Zel take the lead. She was still trying to
get her own emotions under control, and didn't think she would be very
coherent for the next few minutes.
"I don't know quite how
to say this. I don't think the body they brought in is Amelia," Phil
said, his voice choking a bit when he said his daughter's name. "but
I want you to verify my belief, so that I'm not just a parent who doesn't
want to believe that his daughter is dead."
"What makes you think it's
not Amelia?" Lina asked, hope and curiosity helping her to regain control.
"The people who brought
her in said that her entire guard had been slaughtered, but from the way
the bodies were laying, they had put up a fight. She was found a
few yards away, almost as if she had run from her attackers. She
was . . . killed. . . by a single knife thrust to the chest. I had
my most trusted medical examiner go over her, and there are no signs of
a struggle. There's not another scratch on her other than the knife wound.
It's almost as if she just stood there and let them kill her, and that
doesn't fit my daughter. We all know that Amelia would have gone
down fighting, which means she would have had more wounds and bruising
on her body."
"So you think this body
is a fake?" Zel asked.
"I'm hoping that it is.
Only a few of the palace guards and my medical examiner know of the body.
The public hasn't been informed yet."
"Which explains why the
flags aren't flying at half-mast," Lina mused.
"Lina Inverse, is there
a way you can tell if the person that is lying in the royal chapel is my
daughter or not?" Phil asked, his eyes begging Lina to tell him that she
could.
Lina thought for a few moments,
then hit on an idea that just might work. "I don't know if it'll
work or not, but it's worth a try," she said out loud. "Please, take
us to the body."
Phil nodded and stood, and
lead them through the palace down to the royal chapel, the same place where
his coffin had stood three years ago. Zel stood next to his two friends,
and gazed at the white coffin that was resting on a pedestal, while flashes
of lightning could been seen through the large chapel windows.
"It begins again," Phil
said under his breath, and only Zel, with his sensitive ears, heard him.
"What begins again?" Zel
asked, catching Gourry's and Lina's attention.
"This storm and I are old
friends," Phil said distantly. "You see, it's the anniversary of
my wife's death, and it has always stormed on this night."
"Just a coincidence," Lina
shrugged off Phil's words. "Come on, we've got to find out if that's
Amelia or not."
The three made their way
up to the coffin and then stopped. Zel took a deep breath, and lifted
the lid just as a crack of thunder shook the palace to its foundation.
"That was a bit melodramatic,
don't you think, Zel? Zel?" Lina asked, gazing at her paling friend.
Zel stared down at Amelia's
peaceful features, feeling as if his entire body had gone numb. She
was dressed in a long, white gown and her hands were folded across her
stomach. She looked like she was sleeping, and he half expected her to
open her eyes and smile at him. A small part of his mind was screaming
at him, telling him that he should be on his knees with grief, but the
logical part of his mind kept insisting that there was a small chance that
this might not be the real Amelia.
"All right, Lina.
How can we tell if this is Amelia?" he asked, his voice rough with held
back emotions.
Lina stepped up next to
him, and bit her lip. Gourry reached out and took her hand, giving
her a little squeeze of encouragement.
"Ok, Zel, you're the one
who's going to have to do this," Lina said.
"Why is that?" Gourry asked,
not willing to look into the coffin for fear he would break down, and Lina
didn't need for him to lose his composure.
"Because if my theory about
them being magically connected is true, then Amelia should have a magical
signature that is half hers, and half Zel's," Lina explained.
"What do you mean?" Gourry
asked, looking puzzled.
"What I mean is, since Zel
and Amelia mix their Shamanist powers a lot, especially the Ra Tilt, then
their magical signatures would have mixed together and formed a new signature.
And before you ask, a magical signature is like having your name spelled
out with your power. All magic users have one."
"So, taking your theory
into account, I'm to look for a signature that feels like it belongs to
me?" Zel asked, not taking his eyes from Amelia's face.
"Exactly," Lina answered,
knowing that Phil was hanging onto every word that passed between them.
"Ok," Zel said, and reached
out, holding his hands palm down an inch from Amelia's still body.
Everyone held their breath as he began to glow with magical energy, and
even the storm that was raging outside seemed to calm down. After
a few seconds, Zel's body relaxed as he let the magical energy go, and
he lowered his hands to his sides. "It's not there," he said.
"There is absolutely no magical signature whatsoever."
"That proves it. That's
not Amelia," Lina said, breathing out a sigh of relief.
"How does that prove that
that's not my daughter?" Phil asked, hope lighting up his eyes.
"Because, even if my theory
about Amelia and Zel had been wrong, Zel would have been able to pick up
on Amelia's original magic signature. It takes a long time for those
energies to be released from a body, even after the sorceress' death.
It's my guess that that Amelia is nothing more than a copy, and an empty
copy at that," Lina said, feeling a relieved smile tug at the corners of
her mouth.
"An empty copy?" Gourry
puzzled.
"Yes. Remember when
we fought Copy Rezo?" Lina asked, then sighed when Gourry gave her a confused
look. "Never mind. In order to make a perfect copy, you have
to copy everything, even the soul and the magic of the person you want
to copy. Since this body has no magical signature to speak of, then
whoever made the copy wasn't trying to make a perfect copy. They
just wanted the body. Check this out," Lina added, and opened the
eyes of the body, showing one blue eye, and one pale green eye. "This
copy doesn't even have matching eyes."
"But Copy Rezo had mismatched
eyes, and he was as close to a perfect copy as you can get," Zel mused.
"That's because when Copy
opened his eyes, he was already joined with the Demon Beast Zanafar.
If I'm remembering correctly, he had one dark green eye that looked normal,
and one golden, demon slitted eye," Lina answered.
"Makes sense. So,
what should be done with this body, Phil?" Zel asked, turning to the towering
Prince of Saillune, who wasn't paying any attention to them.
"I wonder, could the sword
be the cause of this?" Phil mused out loud.
"That's certainly a plausible
theory," a disembodied voice said, and Xelloss suddenly appeared, sitting
in mid air next to the coffin.
"XELLOSS!" the three friends
cried simultaneously, causing the Trickster to giggle.
"I'd say it's a pretty good
bet that the Saillune no Ken is involved with this little incident," Xelloss
said.
"How do you know about the
Saillune Sword?!" Phil roared.
"That's a secret," Xelloss
replied, winking and wiggling his finger.
"I knew it," Lina groaned.
"What are you doing here, Xelloss?"
Xelloss didn't answer.
Instead he floated over and peered down at the body, clucking his tongue.
"They did a nice job for an empty shell," he remarked, then floated over
and stood next to Lina.
"What is this 'Saillune
Sword'?" Gourry asked, trying to keep Lina from attacking the grinning
Mazoku general/priest.
"The Saillune Sword is the
protector of the kingdom. It is at the center of the magical barrier
that protects this great city from magical attacks," Phil said.
"Oh, my. That's close
to the truth, but not the whole truth," Xelloss said with a grin.
"Didn't Ailanthus tell you anything about the Sword's past?"
"The Guardians weren't allowed
to reveal all of the Sword's secrets. They could only tell everything to
their successor," Phil answered.
"What are you talking about?!
Who's Ailanthus?!" Lina nearly screamed, her hands pulling on her hair
in frustration.
"Ailanthus was my wife,
and Amelia's mother," Phil answered.
"Ok, so what does she have
to do with some sword?" Gourry asked.
"You must have really kept
the sword a secret, for Lina Inverse to not know a thing about it," Xelloss
quipped.
"What's that mean?" Lina
demanded.
Xelloss grinned at the group,
and said, "I think it's time for the Legend to be told. Why don't
we go somewhere a bit more pleasant?"
"I thought you liked stuff
like this," Lina said, indicating the coffin.
"Not for the story I'm about
to tell," Xelloss replied.
"Shall we head back to the
library?" Zel suggested while closing the coffin lid once again.
"Yes, let's. And I'll
have that body removed," Phil replied as everyone began to file out of
the chapel.
Once they were back in the
library, everyone took the same seats they had had before.
Xelloss, being observant as always, remarked, "You and Gourry seem to be
a little closer than usual, Lina."
"That's because we're engaged,"
Lina replied with a small smile.
"Well, well! Let me offer
you my congratulations!" Xelloss cried with a grin, then echoed Zel's earlier
words, "Certainly took you two long enough."
"Congratulations, Lina Inverse!"
Phil cried, and gave the petite redhead a bone crushing hug.
"GAK!" Lina cried as she
felt the air leave her lungs. Phil returned her to her seat next
to Gourry and proceeded to break every bone in Gourry's hand while trying
to force Gourry's spine through his back with some hefty back pounding
Once he had suceeded in congratulating the blonde swordsman, he sat back
down himself.
"Now, Mr. Xelloss," Phil
said, leaning back in his chair. "I think it is time for this Legend
to be told. Especially since my daughter is involved with it."
"One of the biggest questions
we have is where Amelia is at this moment. I honestly hope that she's
not a prisoner in Diolon, but since we have her copy, that is what's most
likely," Lina mused out loud.
"You're right," Phil said,
looking downcast.
"Why don't you ask Ailanthus
about the whereabouts of her daughter?" Xelloss suggested to Phil.
"Now there's an idea!" Phil
said, and jumped up, only to be stopped by Gourry remarking, "I thought
Amelia's mother was dead."
"Please, Your Highness,"
Xelloss said with a small sigh, "Sit down. In order for all of this
to make any sense, the Legend must be told. Otherwise, your daughter could
be in even greater danger than what she already is."
Phil sat back down with
a thump, and Xelloss took a deep breath.
----------------------
Next episode: It's Xelloss' turn to tell a story! What is the
legend of the Saillune Sword? How will the Slayers be able to talk
to a woman who's been dead for thirteen years?