Amelia felt very, very tired. Her body hurt all over and she kept stumbling over every pebble or twig on the path. She hadn't felt good in days. The constant rain was wearing down both her body and spirit. She stumbled again. Everything felt slightly unreal.
Everything became completely unreal when Zelgadis turned around and grabbed her by the shoulders. Frowning, he stared into her face for a long moment and then pressed his lips against her forehead.
"You have a fever," he told her in annoyance. Without warning, he scooped her up in his arms. "You were slowing me down," he explained in response to her protests.
Amelia subsided. She was too tired to fight about this right now. A few minutes later, she was asleep. Zelgadis trudged on into the night.
He finally came upon an isolated temple. Temples meant healing. He could leave Amelia here while she recovered. He knocked on the gate.
"Who knocks?" came a wary voice from the other side.
"Travelers," Zelgadis replied. "My friend is sick."
The door cautiously opened. The grey-robed priest on the other side smiled broadly and waved Zelgadis into the temple when he saw that they were exactly what Zelgadis had claimed.
"Let's get her into a warm bed at once," he cried, leading Zelgadis to an inner part of the temple. "Forgive my earlier mistrust. We were attacked by bandits a week ago. They stole or broke almost everything valuable in the temple. That's why it looks so awful right now."
Zelgadis looked around. The temple was tidy enough, although it was indeed barer than he would have expected.
The priest opened a door. "This cell is empty now that Ben is dead. Put your friend in here. We'll take care of her." Zelgadis put Amelia down on the bed. He pulled off her sodden cloak and boots but otherwise left her fully dressed.
"Now I'll show you to your cell," the priest said.
"No, I'll continue my journey. Take this gold as thanks for taking care of Amelia." Zelgadis handed the priest a handful of gold coins.
"Stay the night at least. You must be tired too, and you'll want to know if your friend is better in the morning."
Zelgadis considered. He was tired. He would have to stop for the night soon anyway. "I'll stay," he decided.
The priest smiled and opened the door of another small, plainly furnished room. "You can have Dom's room."
Zelgadis nodded and walked in. As the priest turned to go, Zel couldn't stop himself from asking, "Amelia will be alright, won't she?"
The priest hesitated. "It's too early to tell. I hope so."
Zelgadis closed the door and sat down thoughtfully on the bed. Amelia was like a ray of sunshine in his life. Sometimes she was like the sunbeam that stabbed him in the eye on mornings when he just wanted to sleep in, or like the sunny afternoons that mocked his fits of black despair. Still, she was a light in his life, and the world would be a darker, bleaker place if that light was ever extinguished. If she died because of him he would never forgive himself.
Fevers weren't serious enough to kill someone, right?
He slept uneasily that night.
Amelia woke up with no idea where she was. It was a small, stark room containing only a bed, a small table, a stool, and a mat woven from rags. The floor and unadorned walls were made of stone. It didn't look like an inn room, but it seemed safe and pleasant.
She relaxed back into the mattress. She still felt very weak.
She had almost drifted off to sleep again when the door opened. Her visitor was a gentle-looking man in grey priest's robes. "Good morning," he smiled.
Amelia smiled uncertainly back. "Good morning. Where am I?"
The man pulled the stool over beside the bed and sat down. "This is a small, isolated temple devoted to the Earth Dragon King. We priests here have devoted our lives to quiet contemplation and healing the occasional sick traveler like you. We used to also guard a large collection of holy texts and relics but they were stolen ten days ago."
"How awful! Who would be depraved enough to rob a peaceful temple?"
"I believe it was a group of bandits who recently established themselves near here. They call themselves the 'Tiger Claws.'"
"Don't worry. Zelgadis-san and I will get your possessions back, and wipe those evildoers from the face of the earth!" Her passion burned even hotter than her fever.
"You are very kind to say that, but please lie down again. You need to rest quietly."
Amelia obediently abandoned her dramatic stance and crawled back under the blankets.
"I'll go get you some breakfast." The priest left before Amelia could tell him that she wasn't hungry.
Amelia closed her eyes again. She did not see Zelgadis hesitantly peer in the door. She did, however, feel his cool lips press against her hot forehead.
She opened listless eyes. "What are you doing?"
Zel sprang back, waving his hands. "Nothing! I was just checking to see if your fever has gone down. My mouth is the only part of my body that's still temperature-sensitive enough to, um, sense temperatures."
"Oh."
At that moment the priest returned carrying a breakfast tray. "Oh good, I hoped I would catch you before you left. As you can see, your friend is much better. In a week or so she should be completely recovered."
"Zelgadis-san, you aren't leaving?"
"Yes, I am. You heard what he said. You won't be ready to travel again for at least a week."
"But I have to help you on your quest! A true friend does not abandon a friend in need." Zelgadis idly wondered which of them was which in that last sentence. "And we have to punish the bandits who attacked this monastery."
"Why do we have to do that?"
Anger flared up in Amelia's eyes. "Because they are bandits, of course. And because this temple has helped us. Only someone completely lacking in morality would refuse to punish the bandits and return the stolen artifacts to the temple!"
In general, Zelgadis took the description 'completely lacking in morality' as a compliment, but not from Amelia. He wavered.
During her last speech, Amelia had leapt to her feet again. That had not been a good idea. Her sudden transition from limply horizontal to rigidly vertical had left all her blood somewhere below her neckline. Her vision turned to blackness punctuated by flashes of light and her knees slowly caved in.
Zel awkwardly caught Amelia as she collapsed. "Amelia!"
"I'm...okay." Amelia clutched at her friend's shirt as he lowered her back onto the bed. Zelgadis experienced a terrible sense of deja-vu.
"Zelgadis-san, promise me that you will stay here until I'm well again."
"I..."
"Promise!"
Zelgadis sighed in defeat. "I promise."
"Good." Amelia relaxed wearily.
"Um...would you like some oatmeal, miss?" the priest hesitantly asked.
True to the priest's words, it was a week before Amelia was ready to travel again. Zelgadis spent most of that time wandering impatiently around the surrounding woods like a chained wolf on a short tether, but he kept his promise. He didn't rush Amelia's recovery either. On the contrary, he told her sternly to stay in bed every time she tried to convince him that she was well enough to go slaughter bandits now. "If you relapse, I'm not going to wait for you to recover."
Finally, the priests declared Amelia cured after she kept up her spunk for an entire day. The sorceress and the swordsman set out early the next morning for the bandit camp. Amelia rode most of the way on the temple's donkey. The kind-hearted priests had insisted that she take it so that she wouldn't wear herself out.
Amelia and Zelgadis lay on their bellies on a hill overlooking the Tiger Claws' camp.
"It's small but well guarded," Zelgadis commented.
"Let's Raywing into the camp and blast everyone in sight."
"Hmm...a simple plan, but it might work."
"It always does for Lina-san."
Zelgadis nodded. " I'll attack from the front. You wait until the fighting starts and then surprise them from behind. Try not to damage the buildings. The books and relics are in one of them."
"Okay!"
Zelgadis gave Amelia a minute to get into position before he summoned the bubble of wind that served him as both transportation and shield. He floated down into the camp, arms menacingly crossed. Bandits stared up at him in surprise.
Zelgadis couldn't resist making at least a token attempt at negotiation. "I heard that you recently acquired some valuable holy artifacts. I am interested in them."
"Yeah? What are you offering?" one of the bandits queried bluntly.
"How about your lives?" A ball of glowing energy appeared in Zelgadis' right hand.
The bandits drew weapons and rushed at him. Many fell under his first wave of flare arrows but many more continued their attack undeterred.
Just as Zelgadis reached for his sword in preparation for hand-to-hand combat, a freeze arrow took out two of his attackers. Amelia was standing on the roof of a nearby building, already launching a second freeze arrow.
"Halt!" she cried.
The fighting did not exactly cease, but it slowed enough that the fighters could eye her warily while still keeping their guard up against each other.
"You attacked a temple full of peaceful priests. That is pure evil. The heavens will not forgive you for harming such holy men, and neither will I! Fireball!"
Charred bandits flew away from the explosion in all directions. The ones who were still left standing divided their attention between the two attackers.
"Maybe they'll kill each other off and leave us in peace," one bandit muttered to his friend hopefully. Then he realized that, despite their different agendas, the invaders were apparently working together.
"Burst Rondo!" "Emekia Lance!" Amelia and Zelgadis shouted simultaneously.
As always, once the fighting started all their stylistic differences vanished. For some inexplicable reason, Zelgadis and Amelia's attacks had always meshed well, and their many adventures had turned that natural compatibility into unstoppable teamwork. The bandits fought well but they stood no chance against the combined might of the two shamanists.
Soon charred and frozen bandits covered most of the ground. "Diem Wing," Amelia dropped the last bandit headfirst down the well.
"Victory!" she sang, thrusting her arms joyfully skyward.
Zelgadis walked toward the building that the bandits had been protecting most fiercely. As he expected, there was a cleverly concealed trapdoor in the floor leading down into the treasure stash. It was locked, but his stone fists soon solved that problem.
"Amelia, get the donkey," he ordered absentmindedly.
By the time she got back, he had all the books and relics stacked neatly on the intact part of the floor. All the promising and obviously non-religious books and magical artifacts were already in his pockets. There had not been many of them.
When Zelgadis stepped out into the sunlight with the first armload of books, he discovered not just the donkey but a cart as well. "I found it by the gate," Amelia explained proudly.
Zelgadis wordlessly placed the books in the cart.
At first, still riding on the exhilaration of the fight, Amelia had fun sending the donkey trotting down the road at high speed while Zelgadis browsed through the books, but before long she was curled up fast asleep in the back while he drove. Her illness had taken more out of her than she would ever admit.
They arrived back at the temple just as the sun's last, thin edge sank below the horizon. The priests rushed out to greet them.
"Did you do it?"
"Did you get the relics back?"
"Did you kill the bandits?"
"Are you wounded?"
"Are you tired?"
Amelia triumphantly held up books in both hands. "Fear not! In the name of Justice, we destroyed the Tiger Claws and brought back your holy relics."
There were enthusiastic cheers. "Thank you! Thank you! How can we ever repay you?"
"There's no need to thank us. The knowledge that justice has been served is reward enough."
"Actually," Zelgadis interrupted. "I would like to study these books. They might provide a clue to my cure."
"Of course. We let all seekers of knowledge to look at our books. You are more than welcome to do so."
Unsurprisingly, the books proved to be completely useless. Zelgadis had already read most of them in the course of his search. The only exceptions were the two in languages he couldn't read.
"What are these?" he asked the abbot when the man came to check on him.
"Those? The red one is the Commandments of Ahab the Wise."
"Never heard of him."
"He was a holy man who lived six hundred years ago in the farthest south. Er...short of the Barrier, I mean. He believed that people should live in peace and brotherhood."
"So that one's useless." Zelgadis put it aside. "And this one?"
"I have no idea. None of us can read it and it's been here for so long that everyone has forgotten what it is. It does have a nice cover though, doesn't it?"
Zelgadis separated his face from the table with a faint twang. He flipped through the pages with an expression of frustration.
"I know I've seen this language somewhere before, but I can't remember where. And I can't read it."
"Take it with you."
"What?"
"Take the book with you. It's of no use to us, or rather, we're of no use to it. Maybe you can discover it's meaning."
"Do you mean that?"
"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't."
"Uh...thank you."
The priest smiled serenely and drifted away.
Sometime in the week of Amelia's illness, it had stopped raining. The sun was shining warmly in a blue, blue sky as the travelers turned their feet toward their destination again.
"What a beautiful day!" Amelia exclaimed, skipping up the road.
"Don't tire yourself out too fast," Zelgadis warned her. "We have a long way to go before we reach our inn tonight."
Author's Note: Religion in the Slayers world seems to be as eclectic and complicated as in ours. Sometimes it follows the hierarchy of gods and darklords that the main characters interact with. For example, the central temple of Seyruun is devoted to Ceipheed. Other times, it seems to follow some entirely different system. For example, Ashford the cook prays to the 'god of cookery'. There are also local holy objects like Flagoon which may receive as much worship as the gods themselves. It is impossible to say to what degree humans worship the dragon gods, but I think a temple to the Earth Dragon King like the one in this chapter is quite possible, if not necessarily normal.
A note on spelling: I use a free mix of American and Canadian spelling depending on my mood, which country I happen to be in at the time of writing, and how indulgent I feel toward my (American) spell checker. For Slayers names, I try to use the same spellings as the official subtitled version (ex. 'Seyruun' instead of 'Sairoon' or 'Sailloon'.) That's mostly for the sake of having a consistent rule, but I also tend to like those spellings. For instance, I really think that 'Amelia' should be spelled with an 'l' because 'Amelia', like 'Christopher' and 'Alfred', is a real, Western name. 'Ameria' isn't (although it is pretty).