"Amelia, stay here. I'll be back in a few hours," Zelgadis said.
"Zelgadis-san, in the name of friendship I cannot allow you to go in there alone!"
"The man said that this forest is a haven for beastmen, chimeras and other monsters. I'll fit right in. You would be in danger. So stay here. Good bye."
Zelgadis walked into the Chimera Forest. Amelia stared after him with a worried, defiant look.
Zelgadis caught his first chimera before he even reached the forest. It was a very simple one, a winged pig. This was the perfect opportunity to finally test one of his chimera unmaking spells. If it worked, it would separate this chimera into the original component animals. If it failed...well, he doubted anyone would miss the creature.
He chanted the improvised words of the spell and pulled on the feeling of border inside the creature. The pig screamed in agony as a ghostly duck with opaque wings rose out of its back. Zelgadis made a mental note to put his test subject to sleep first the next time he tried this. The pig collapsed. The duck landed on the ground. Suddenly its body vanished, leaving two unattached wings flapping in weak death throes. Zelgadis calmly noted that separated pieces would not survive independently if they did not contain enough of the original creature.
Now, the next question was how much of the original creature was necessary for survival. He checked the pig for a pulse. Good, it was still alive. It had just passed out from the pain. This spell wouldn't be much use if it killed even such a complete specimen. He cast a healing spell on the pig to fix any internal damage the separation might have caused. He would have to work components of a healing spell into his chimera spell in the future.
He left the pig sleeping and walked on into the forest.
A sentry intercepted him before he was a minute past the first tree. It looked like an extremely ugly humanoid boar. "Halt!" it shouted. It looked Zelgadis over appraisingly. "I haven't seen you before."
"I haven't been here before."
The beastman immediately threw his arms open as if to embrace Zelgadis. "Then welcome to our company, brother! Would you like me to guide you to our leaders?"
"No, I'll find my own way."
"They tend to be at the center. Just keep going straight. I hope we'll meet again, brother."
Zelgadis nodded curtly and walked on.
He soon came upon a very strange creature. It had originally been an inoffensive-looking human but now it had the legs of a deer (just two, attached like human legs), a long rat's tail, fluffy white chicken wings, and, as a crowning indignity, large, grey rabbit ears. All-in-all, it looked like the idea of 'prey' personified.
The creature startled violently as Zelgadis stepped soundlessly into its field of view. "I'm sorry, sir! Please don't hurt me, sir!" it cried.
It's face was elongated into a small muzzle with buck teeth. Its human arms ended in thumbless paws, which clutched a half-eaten apple nervously.
"I'm not going to hurt you, unless you give me a reason to," Zelgadis reassured it, disconcerted.
"Oh thank you, sir! I can see you are a kind person," the creature fawned.
"I'm looking for information. Perhaps you can help me." Hopefully it wasn't as useless as it looked.
"Oh certainly, sir! If there is anything I can do for you, just ask."
"I'm looking for a way to become human again. Do you know anything that might help me?"
"If I knew how to become human again, do you think I would still look like this?" the chimera replied bitterly, sounding completely sincere for the first time in the conversation.
"Your knowledge may prove more useful than you realize. Start by telling me about how you became a chimera."
The grotesque little creature collected its thoughts and straightened out of its habitual cringe. "I was a delivery boy," it said, "but there was this one weird guy who lived up on a mountain cliff who was always getting these weird, squishy packages - like raw meat but stranger smelling. I used to complain about the smelly packages and the climb. One day I must have complained once too often because he turned me into this in revenge."
"Tell me, in detail, everything you can remember about being transformed into a chimera."
"I don't remember any of it. Diol - the old weirdo on the mountain - said, 'You're perfect for my next project,' and he put me to sleep. When I woke up, I was like this and Diol was laughing gleefully. I ran away from him but I couldn't run away from my own body. Everywhere I went people either screamed and ran away at the sight of me or tormented me because I was helpless. I couldn't find companionship or acceptance of any kind until I came here."
Zelgadis listened silently as words tumbled out of the creature, "This place is great. Here nobody treats you like a freak just because you're a chimera. Everybody's a chimera or beastman or other sort of monster so they know what it's like. Do you know the story of this place?"
"No."
"There was a group of assorted beastmen working in an army and they noticed that they always got the dirtiest, most dangerous and most menial jobs and the lowest pay so they decided to form their own society where beastmen and monsters wouldn't have to fear persecution by humans. It took them years to make it happen, but they finally found this forest and moved in, and chimeras and beastmen have been pouring in ever since."
It sounded too good to be true, so it probably was. "You didn't seem so free from persecution when you first saw me," Zelgadis remarked suspiciously.
The creature's ears drooped forlornly. "Um, that's because I'm weak. Status here is based on strength. The powerful ones are always fighting duels over it, but I...It's still better than outside. Oh sir, I hope you succeed in your quest. I would give anything to be human again, and just knowing that you're looking gives me hope."
Zelgadis hesitated. This was not the best time or place and the chimera was much too complicated to make a good test subject. It was an unnecessary distraction. Damn his sense of pity!
"Would you really do anything to become human again?" Zelgadis asked, "Would you risk death or crippling?"
"You know a way I can be cured? Yes, yes, I would do anything, risk anything, to get my old body back!"
"I don't know if this will work - it probably won't - but I might be able to make you a little more human."
"Do it."
Zelgadis raised his hands. This time he started with the most powerful sleep spell he could cast. Then he removed the wings and tail the way he had unmade the winged pig. If he used that technique on other parts of the chimera, however, he would leave the man crippled. He would have to try anti-chimera technique number two: localized transformation.
Zelgadis started with the ears. He forced them to shrink down, lose their hair and assume human curves. They were still rabbit ears under the spell but they looked human now. Something about the feel of the spell prompted him to try something different on the paws. The body remembered what it should look like. Zelgadis drew that memory of humanity down the arms and molded the hands to fit it. Then he did the same to the face and finally the long legs. Then, because he was a neat and thorough person, he hunted out the last traces of inhumanity in the rest of the body. He considered redoing the ears as well, but he was getting very tired. Unusually keen hearing wouldn't hurt the man and hopefully the transformation would hold for a few months at least. He collapsed on a log and removed the sleep spell.
The young man who had once been a pathetic-looking chimera slowly uncurled with a yawn. He startled and stared at his now-human hands. He wiggled the thumbs. He patted his face. He stared at his legs. He tried to look over his own shoulder to confirm that the wings and tail were gone. He laughed, hysterical with delight. "Oh thank you! How can I ever thank you?"
"Will you be able to get out of the forest safely now that you're human?"
"The sentry looks like a warthog, right?"
Zelgadis nodded.
"I can get by that guy, no problem."
The young man vanished into the bushes. Zelgadis wondered how the inhabitants of the town would react to a nearly-naked young man wandering into town out of nowhere. A faint smile curved his lips. His anti-chimera spells had worked even better than he could have hoped.
The former chimera did escape the forest without being seen, but only because of the short, black-haired girl distracting the sentry.
"Halt!"
Amelia looked around until she spotted the boarman. In her experience anything that ugly was usually evil, but it would be unjust to judge by appearance alone. She decided to be tactful. "Hello, Mr. Pig."
"No humans allowed in this forest. Go home, little girl. I'm just warning you this time, but if I ever see you again, I'll kill you."
Amelia gasped in shock. "You would kill me just because I'm human? That's evil! Fireball!"
Amelia left the beastman smoking and went straight on into the forest, well satisfied that justice had been done.
Zelgadis spotted a herd of pinkish-orange and green things with purple spines. Something about them struck him as familiar so he caught one for further study.
It launched its spines at him, but they bounced off. Now defenseless, it was reduced to ineffectually trying to bite him as he tucked it under his arm. The rest of the herd scattered in all directions, chittering in terror.
Now where had he seen that magical style before? The answer finally came to Zelgadis after much searching of his memories. The style reminded him of a sorcery-guild mage he had briefly worked for in Atlas City a year or so ago, Demia the Blue. Now that Zelgadis thought about it, Demia's specialty had been chimeras. Fortunately, he did not use humans in his experiments. If he had, Zelgadis would never have agreed to work as his bodyguard. Demia was actually quite a skilled craftsman despite being on the wrong side of the brink of sanity. His work with brass demons had been especially impressive.
Zelgadis looked the garish little animal over again. It was beautifully put together but it was definitely the product of an unhealthy mind.
It snarled at him. His curiosity now satisfied, he let it go.
A very small beastman cub was curled up on the ground crying. Amelia immediately hurried over to give him a hug. "What's wrong?" she asked.
The fuzzy little creature sniffled. "I'm lost," he wailed. "Momma told me not to wander off on my own, but I was chasing a bunny, and it went real far, and it got away, and now I can't find my way back."
"I'll help you find your way home," Amelia volunteered immediately. "Now dry your tears. I'm sure your momma must be very worried about you."
"'kay." The cub wiped his eyes on his grimy sleeve.
Then he got a good look at Amelia for the first time. His eyes became as round as saucers. "You're a human, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"AAAAAAAHH!" he screamed, running away as fast as his little legs could carry him.
"Wait! Don't you want me to help you find your way home?" Amelia called, chasing after him in vain. By the time she got through the bushes he had scrambled under, the cub was long out of sight.
The next chimera Zelgadis spoke to could have passed for human at first glance, but only at first glance. A second glance would reveal golden, slit-pupiled eyes, pointed, tufted ears and joints that didn't bend in quite the way human joints did. He smiled menacingly at Zelgadis, revealing the pointed teeth and sharp fangs of a carnivore.
"Stone, eh? I don't think I've ever seen anyone made of living stone before. Your creator must be quite an artist. Oops." He covered his mouth in a gesture of fake contrition. "I forgot that it's not polite to talk about creators."
"I'm looking for a way to turn myself human again. Do you have any information that might help me?"
"Why would you want to be human? Chimeras are so much more powerful. Look at me; I've got the strength of a bull, the sight of a hawk and the speed of a cat. I wouldn't give up my enhancements for a million gold. It cost me nearly that much to get them."
"You paid to become a chimera? You want to be one?"
"Sure."
"You voluntarily gave up your humanity?" Zel's voice quivered with abhorrence.
"Humanity's overrated, pal. The only thing I regret is that I didn't get the guy to make me part dragon. If I was part dragon, I could challenge any monster in the forest. As it is, I have dozens of weaklings cowering in terror of me. This is my idea of a just society.
"Say," he continued, "you look about my strength. Want to test it in the ring?"
Zelgadis stared at the monster in disgust. He knew that he should try to get more information from him, but he couldn't stand to be near him a moment longer. Zel turned his back and walked away.
Amelia was doing quite well at slipping through the forest unobserved until she spotted a pack of wolfmen tormenting a pair of sheeplike creatures.
She stepped into a beam of sunlight and struck a dramatic pose. "Picking on people smaller than you is the mark of a bully. I will have to level the scales."
All the creatures attacked her, including the ones she was trying to save. "DIE, HUMAN!" they shouted with one voice.
"I'm looking for information. Perhaps you can help me?"
The beautiful woman sunning herself on a rock folded her wings and turned to look at Zelgadis, pinkish-red eyes narrowed in displeasure.
"How dare you speak to Keika the Dragon Princess in such an impudent manner?" she roared. "Bow down before me, weakling!"
"Now wait a minute!"
He was cut off by her flame breath.
"Freeze Arrow!" he retaliated.
She dodged and swiped at him with her razor-sharp talons. They made an unpleasant screeching noise as they grazed his stone skin, but did no damage.
"Digger Volt." A bolt of lightning shot from his hands into his opponent's body.
She shook it off and flew upwards, blasting him with her breath attack again.
"Dynast Brass!"
She crashed to the ground. Zelgadis slipped away quickly before she could recover.
"Flare Arrow!" Amelia finished off the last of the beastmen. She wiped a sleeve over her forehead with a sigh. Now she could start looking for Zelgadis again.
A leonine man stepped out of the trees. "You defeated an entire pack of wolfmen by yourself? Impressive. Grab her!"
Amelia saw a huge assortment of monsters enter the clearing from all sides as strong arms grabbed her from behind.
"Hey, let me go! Flare..."
Someone stuffed a gag in her mouth. The forest dwellers tied ropes around her wrists and ankles despite her kicking. She kept on struggling until she made the mistake of looking into a pair of hypnotic black eyes. She became very, very sleepy and the world faded away.
When she woke up, she was wrapped in anti-magic chains and a green wolf was laughing at her.
The sound of a bell rang through the trees. Zelgadis looked up in surprise, then decided to ignore it.
A little boy with puppy dog eyes and ears ran past him. "C'mon! Aren't you going to Assembly? It's sure to be a lot of fun!"
"Assembly?"
"New here, huh? Follow me."
The boy ran off. Intrigued, Zelgadis followed.
They arrived at a large, wooden stadium which was rapidly filling up with monsters. "This is where we hold all our formal duels and group meetings," the boy explained importantly. "I hope it's a duel, not boring announcements. It must be something big for Ranu to summon us without any warning like this."
"Ranu?"
"Oh, there're some of my friends! See ya!" The boy scampered off to join a bunch of other young chimeras.
Zel found his own way to an empty seat on a middle tier of the stadium.
Zelgadis sighed with impatience. He had already decided that this place was useless and all of its inhabitants were people he wanted nothing to do with. Why had he come this stupid assembly? Then the monsters in front of him sat down and he saw the reason for the gathering.
Three trolls stood on the edge of the stadium floor. The center one held Amelia in its arms. She was singed and bruised and wrapped from neck to knees in chains but she was still struggling. Zelgadis sighed again. He was not surprised to see Amelia here. Disgusted, yes. Surprised, no.
As the last few monsters settled in their seats, a figure strode to the center of the stadium. Zel stiffened. The figure looked just like his old minion/enemy Dilgear. The associations were not pleasant.
The troll-wolfman crossbreed bellowed, "Silence!"
In the ensuing stillness Amelia could be heard shouting, "Let me go! I, the sorceress and princess Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, will punish you for this!"
The wolf-troll laughed so loudly and maliciously that he managed to silence Amelia, who stared at him wide-eyed.
"Brothers and sisters, the wolf-troll called, "I, Ranu, your leader, have brought you a trespasser for your amusement. I was going to just let you kill her, but seeing as she's a princess," He laughed again. "I have a much more amusing idea."
"Only someone evil like you," Amelia broke in, "would kill someone just for walking into your territory! I..."
The troll holding her clamped a hand over her mouth. She tried to bite it. The troll didn't seem to notice but Amelia gagged at the taste.
"Would you like to hear my idea?" Ranu continued.
Laughs and hoots and roars of encouragement answered him.
"There's a custom some far-off, foreign people somewhere have that when they condemn a man to die any woman of their tribe can save him by agreeing to marry him. So, gentlemen, anyone want a princess for a wife?"
Above the troll's hand Amelia's eyes widened in horror. Lightning flickered over her chains as she attempted to cast a spell with neither words nor gestures and nearly succeeded. She moaned in pain and lay still.
Behind Zelgadis one wolfman remarked to another, "She is kind of cute."
"But who could put up with that ranting?" his friend replied.
"She looks tender and juicy," a tentacled Thing murmured.
"Princesssss," a small dragon hissed.
A confused creature that was too strange to be anything other than a chimera just produced a monotonous, high-pitched laugh from its two throats.
"Here are the conditions," Ranu called, having just made them up, "Whoever takes her must keep her. He cannot kill, eat or abandon her. We wouldn't want him to get out of it that easily! Of course, her husband is free to do anything else he wants to her." Ranu laughed his malicious laugh again, "Does everyone agree to these conditions?"
Judging by the ensuing hoots, hisses, roars and shouts, the general consensus was approval.
Zelgadis shook his head. This guy should be checked for mazoku blood; he took way too much pleasure in the thought of suffering.
Amelia made another attempt at spell casting, this time almost causing the troll to drop her as the lightning crawled up his arm.
This was intolerable. Zelgadis could not sit and watch any girl being treated like this, let alone Amelia. He ground his teeth and mentally prepared for battle.
"Alright, we're agreed!" Ranu shouted, "So, who wants to be the lucky man? Anyone?"
"What's the point in keeping a girl you can't eat?" the tentacled Thing muttered. The dragon hissed in agreement.
"I still say she's cute," the first wolfman said to his friend, "but you're right. She would probably be more trouble than she's worth. Besides, what would the pack say?"
Zelgadis stood up. Pretending to go along with this farce might get him close to Amelia. Being able to free her would be too much to ask, but he should at least be able to include her in his shield spell when the entire stadium attacked them.
Amelia saw him. Her eyes lit up with a look of such intense gratitude and relief that Zelgadis had to look away. He didn't see the stars form in her eyes as she realized the full drama of their situation. Surrounded by monsters, the hero must choose between confessing his love or loosing the heroine forever. How romantic! Especially since she had disobeyed his orders by coming here. Actually, this was Zelgadis, so he was more likely planning a cunning ruse to foil the evil monster's plans and rescue the captive princess. Still, that was almost as good!
The other marital candidates were a chimera with tiger stripes and bat wings, a fishman, an ogre with a missing arm, and a man who looked completely human but almost certainly wasn't.
"What a fine bunch of creatures," Ranu laughed, "How will I ever decide which one to pick?" He paused a moment in thought. "I know! I'll let the bride decide. Fellows, put her down."
The troll placed Amelia none-too-gently on her feet. She staggered under the weight of the chains but stood firm and tried to strike a pose. "Wolf-san, this is unforgivable. To turn the sacred institution of marriage into a joke like this and to force..."
"Shut up and choose a husband or I'll choose for you, and you wouldn't like my choice," Ranu snapped.
Amelia put aside her remonstrations for the moment. "I choose Zelgadis-san."
"Who?"
"The cool-looking chimera with stone skin." Amelia stared straight at her chosen fiancee, eyes shining with faith in him.
Ranu considered for a moment but decided to accept her choice when he saw the wary expression on Zelgadis' face. "Alright...Zelgadis-san...Come here."
Zelgadis pushed his way down the tiers to the floor of the stadium, blushing at the hoots and catcalls. He walked to Amelia's side and whispered, "Ready?"
She nodded decisively. He started a spell incantation under his breath.
Ranu raised his hands over their heads. "In the name of Beastmaster Zelas-Metellium, I pronounce you man and wife. Okay take her away. She's your problem now."
"What?" Zel exclaimed, "That's it?"
"Sure. We had the groom's agreement, the bride's agreement, and a blessing from a civic or religious official. It should be legally binding in most countries, including Seyruun," Ranu laughed so hard that he almost fell over.
"But..." Zelgadis protested.
"Zelgadis-san, would you..." Amelia began.
Zel snapped out of his shock. "Right," he said, "let's get out of here." He slung Amelia over his shoulder and ran out of the monster-packed stadium into the forest with chimeric speed, Ranu's laughter following him.
"Um, I was going to say, 'would you please get these chains off me?'" Amelia gasped, bouncing painfully on Zel's shoulder.
Zelgadis stopped and helped her wiggle out of the chains. He tried to keep his voice level despite his anger, "That was really stupid, Amelia. I told you not to follow me. If you had followed my advice, none of this would have happened."
"But, Zelgadis-san..."
"Do you enjoy being captured, beaten-up and humiliated?"
"No, but..."
"But what?"
"But what if they had attacked you?"
"Some did. I handled it."
"But what if there had been more than you could handle? I couldn't let you face danger alone."
"The greatest danger I was in all day was when I had to rescue you. We would both be much better off if you had just stayed in town as I told you to."
But she couldn't have let him go into such a dangerous place alone! On the other hand, if she had, he would still have been safe and she wouldn't have been captured. But she had been so sure that she was doing the right thing. Zelgadis often tried to do things on his own when he would be better off letting his friends help. But this time he had had a good reason. They wouldn't be in this awful situation now if she had stayed at the inn. But...but...
"Was I wrong?" Amelia asked herself, not really believing it, but not quite disbelieving it either.
"Yes," Zelgadis said.
Amelia stared up at him with huge, watery eyes. "I'm sorry."
That was the last thing Zelgadis expected her to say. The words, "I forgive you," stuck in his throat. "Let's go," he snapped instead.
He scooped her up in his arms and started running again. Having humiliated them with that ridiculous fake marriage, the inhabitants of the forest probably wouldn't hurt them further, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Amelia wrapped one arm around her friend's neck for support and used the other hand to cast Recovery on herself. She felt like crying. This was nothing like the wedding she had dreamed about.
Author's Note: The beastmen of Slayers really do get exploited. Just think of how many of them were slaughtered without mercy in the first season of Slayers. And I bet Rezo, Zangulus and Eris didn't even pay them much for it. Everywhere they go, they face hatred and prejudice based on their appearance. Well, those poor, mistreated people get their own home in this chapter, and see what a noble, just and tolerant society it is! They are an inspiration to us all.
The "far-off, foreign people somewhere" Ranu mentions are actually the gypsies in Hunchback of Notre Dame but I didn't find that out until after I wrote this section. The idea also occurs in Babes in Toyland (book, not movie). I guess it's just out in the general culture. I wonder if the custom has ever been used by a real people.