The Slayers: Lina Zelgadiss Xelloss Gourry Amelia Val Filia Sylphiel

~*~ Seyruun Summer High Jinx Special! ~*~

Part Eleven

From the corner of his eye, DARKSTAR saw a flash of light, sun glittering off a lustrous metal surface, the spiky-blue-haired man taking aim.

"Errrrrrrrraaaaaaahhh!" Erulogos growled as he fired his gun aimed at DARKSTAR.

In the same instant, or nearly so, Xelloss and Val moved. Xelloss struck out with his staff to knock Val free and away from the path of the bullet. Val elbowed his assailant and kicked back, trying to knock DARKSTAR off balance.


DARKSTAR trained his shadowed eyes along the sight of his revolver. He fired smoothly. Another blast of a firearm resounded off the stony walls, and one man fell to the ground dead.

"Erulogos!" his brother cried in distress.

"MOVE…any of you…and you will be lying there beside him, just as dead, just as useless," DARKSTAR promised.

Xelloss gritted his teeth. Things were not working out well. This opponent was too good, clever, intelligent, in excellent physical shape and with inhuman reflexes. Hurry Zelgadiss, Lina… get that code…

~*~

Gravos led his scratched and tattered party upwards out of the dark, dankness to the temple opening, near the overlook.

Blam! Boom! Kapow! Crash!

"Gunfire!" Luna shouted.

"That's what I heard," McGywn gasped. He was not used to the climbing and was tired, sore, and out of breath.

"G-gun f-fire? Who could be shooting people up here?" Julian asked, totally confused.

"Shhhhh!" Luna warned the others. "Look and listen!"

~*~

"Got it!" Zel applauded himself silently. "They fit together like this. See? It makes a series of one's and zero's."

"Uh, huh…and?" Lina wondered. She was trying to put the sounds of what must have been gunfire out of her mind.

"Code! Machine language code!"

"Ah, Zel? None of us know how to program a computer, just use one," Lina reminded him.

"I do!" Zel smiled. "I need a paper and pencil to write this down."

"I'll write, you dictate!" Amelia said with enthusiasm.

"Ah, thanks…ready? All right… one, one, zero, zero…"

A few minutes later, Zel rubbed his temples. "Well, that's it. Everything on that side. There's more on the other side that we can get later. So, now what? How do we find a computer around here?"

"Helicopter! If Luna and McGywn got here, there must be a helicopter nearby. We have what we need, so lets see if we can find their helicopter and…" Lina said.

"I'm not leaving without Val!" Filia announced. "Go on, if you need to, but I'm going to find him!"

Lina thought a moment. "We stick together. Let's go back and see if we can save him…and Xelloss…and get outta here, okay?"

"Yes!" Amelia cheerfully, taking Filia by the arm. "We'll save him and get home, all of us!"

In a few minutes, the five friends and Jillas stood in the opening to the temple as the sun began its descent.

~~~There standing in the glow of the setting sun it was clear.~~~

DARKSTAR gripped Val who was half-delirious with pain and the return of his fever now that the medications Xelloss had given him were wearing off. He heard the sounds of people and turned his attention toward the archway by the overlook as Luna peeked out. "What?" he muttered under his breath.

The distraction was enough, Xelloss hoped, as he crept up behind him.

~~~In that an instant, it was clear.~~~

Val mustered his remaining strength and contorted his body around, arching backwards and ramming his head and shoulders into the man retaining him. He roared with pain and effort, "Argh!"

In the blink of an eye, Xelloss had DARKSTAR in a headlock and was a hairsbreadth away from breaking the man's neck. His gun soared overhead after Xelloss swung his arm into the rock wall with all his and Val's combined weight. The sleek silver metal caught a ray of sunlight and shone like gold before clattering to the hard floor near Val's feet.

"Let. Him. Go. Now!" Xelloss demanded.

~~~Clear as pure mountain water from an alpine spring.~~~

Silence reigned. DARKSTAR tensed. Perhaps he had another move? Xelloss felt him relax his fists, letting Val drop to his feet. Now what?

"Now, back off…slowly, with me," Xelloss commanded, pulling the man along one step at a time away from Val. He was having difficulty speaking; he was clenching his jaw tightly in order to stifle the shaking.

~~~Clear as day turns into the night, and contrariwise.~~~

The two men moved like dancers in a tight embrace, swaying right…then left, moving one foot…then the next, progressing backwards. Val's chest heaved with ragged breaths, but he made no attempt to sit up.

~~~So clear that even a blind man could see it.~~~

DARKSTAR, with his dark hair shot with gray, looked back at his attacker, glasses off. The glasses having fallen in the fracas, were lying delicately, so fragile and unsubstantial, unbroken. Val caught the glimmer of reflected light off the tinted lenses, golden from the setting sun, and saw them.

SMASH!

His fist pounded the eyewear into the slate, destroying the dainty form in a satisfying moment of violence. Then he picked up the gun. Damn! The impact against the hard wall must have jammed it. Useless, like the glasses now.

DARKSTAR winced undetectably, except to Xelloss. "Oh, no! You will die first before you have one look at me or say one more word," Xelloss said in a hollow tone of voice.

Then, out of the shadows, coming up the rugged path, came one more person. "Oh, my dear, I think not," Zelas Metallium assured him calmly.

"Zelas?!" gasped tens of voices in unison.

"What took you so long?" said Xelloss, the irritation obvious in his voice. He was weakening, and he felt that he had to ensure the death of this man before his strength gave out entirely. He didn't wait for an answer, though, "Don't stop me from this…"

"Darling, I'll handle this from here on out. You have the relics to deal with," she smiled deviously.

"No! I-I mean, they won't be turned over to the syndicate. They are not mine, or yours!" Xelloss hissed, maintaining his death-grip on DARKSTAR.

"They hold the secrets to invaluable treasure, my dear," she cajoled.

"Of the Ancient's…Val's! Not mine, not yours, and certainly NOT this…monster's," Xelloss returned.

"Well…you are right, of course," she sighed. "Have it your way then, it's your inheritance, your loss. But, now, leave him to me. Now," Zelas said gravely.

"Him?! Why him? Let me kill him now and get this over with! He can destroy you, the syndicate, and the entire worldwide alliance with the clans! What?" Xelloss asked. He was frustrated and scared. He had never killed another person, but for some reason he felt ruthless toward this inhuman he had at his mercy. Ruthless. Mercy. He felt merciless.

"Oh, well, I think he won't. Not now. Not…any more. Not now, that I am here," she smiled evilly.

"What are you talking around?" Xelloss asked. Did he want to know?

~~~Clear as glass, clear as air, clear as the truth face to face.~~~

"I'll take care of him, darling. I'll leave Seyruun as promised and take him with me. I have been planning to return permanently to Europe and now is as good a time as any, don't you agree? Besides…you couldn't kill me and you really shouldn't kill your father. Now, just let him go and you'll never have to bother with us again."

~~~Clear as life, clear as death, clear as the nose on your face!~~~

Xelloss nearly fainted as the blood rushed from his head in a shock response. His grip slackened. The two men turned slowly and looked at one another. They had the same height and build and the same grace of movement, an accident of birth, apparently. Through the gray, the faded purple hair of the older man was visible, but the truth was in the eyes, those unusual purple eyes glittering back at one another. The intensity of their stares burned into one another's minds. Two pairs. A match.

"No…" Xelloss muttered.

"Yes," was the man's reply, soft with a faint accent. "Though I can hardly accept that it is true. My name is Yamino Hoshi (Dark Star) Metallium and I died when… you were a child. Nearly. I traveled to Europe to use an experimental drug, my last chance for a cure. It worked, but it cost me my life. I can't believe it's you, my son, Xelloss, that little boy. I didn't know you worked… for her."

Xelloss wiped the perspiration off his forehead with his sleeve. This could not be happening. He could not be so cursed as this, could he? He felt so much shame he wanted to melt and disappear. But he couldn't. And there were all his friends, standing there. Looking at him. They had heard. Heard it all. He dropped his eyes to the ground forcing the tears back. Then he found his voice.

"I don't. I am a priest in the White Shrine of Seyruun and the drummer in a band called the Slayers. Those…are my friends, over there, the Slayers. They are the most important, wonderful people in this rotten world I live in.

"I have one father, Rezo Greywords and his son Zelgadiss, is my brother. I have another brother, Val Gaav. My mother died in a car accident on the way to a recording studio with the band.

"Who are you? Someone who is dead and gone? So, die and go." Xelloss turned his back on both his mother and father and walked away, stopping to help Val to his feet.

"Come on, dear," Zelas said coercively and pushed the older man ahead of her toward the helicopter. "Time to go. Oh, don't worry, about him. He's always been over-dramatic. He'll come around in no time, just wait and see that I'm right. I always am, you know. I just know that I'm leaving Seyruun in good hands!"

The two syndicate lords climbed into the helicopter and in a minute, it took off, blowing up a dust storm and deafening the onlookers.

~*~ End, Seyruun Summer High Jinx Special, Part Eleven. ~*~