Chapter Fourteen
The Final Fight Approaches
Delphine sighed blissfully as she sank deeper into the hot water. "You know, when I first heard about this spell I thought it was the silliest thing I'd ever heard of."
Zelas smiled as she also relaxed in the hotspring. "And now?"
"It has its uses. I have to admit it, this spell has its uses."
Dynast had quite roundly insisted that they stay out of villages for a while. Lina had protested, at least until he'd brought out the wanted poster. She'd quite suddenly been turned around.
As such, they were currently camped out in the middle of the woods, living quite comfortably despite a lack of any real civilized amenities. Well, not so few as you might think. Food wasn't a problem; Trent actually WAS a good archer, and between that and Kashura's mind-numbing accuracy with her throwing knives, they had managed to hunt successfully enough to keep everyone from complaining TOO much. Add to that Lina's fishing spell and it wasn't bad at all.
Lina turned to regard the two female mazoku lords quizzically. "So let me make sure I understand this. Our group has all five of the darkstar weapons, right? Not to mention those sword thingies Trent has. We also have managed to pick up an Ancient Dragon, a half Ancient Dragon half dark elf, and the last of the three remaining mazoku lords. Is that the way I understand it?"
Delphine nodded amicably. "Yep. Those are the basics."
Lina tried to come up with a retort of some kind about them being to relaxed, but the hotspring was making her feel all drowsy and content. "So, any idea what our next move is?"
Scherra shrugged. "As yet, we've decided that we're going to have to deal with Valred. Even if he wasn't trying to kill us or oppose us, he's interfering with our world, and that's intolerable." She sighed as she leaned back. "Unfortunately, we have no idea where to start looking. And even if we did, there's the small matter of the bounty on your head."
Lina sighed. The obvious approach had been to assume that this Valred had put the bounty on her head. As such, the easiest way to find him would have been to just go and hunt down whoever was paying the bounty.
It didn't pan out. The bounty money was being held by several money- lending houses; any number of places could pay and had the equipment to hold Lina if it came to that. And she'd flat out refused to be 'caught' so they could use her as bait to track down Valred, as Xellos had suggested.
She sighed again. So about all that was left was to lie here and wait until the magic fueling the hotspring wore off in another two days and try to come up with something.
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Across the clearing was a second hotspring. Zelas and Delphine only looked female; they had little real problems with their appearance. Scherra was a bit of an ice queen, and could likewise have cared less. The human and dragon contingent however had been quite firm about their modesty. The end result being that Trent had made two pools, one for the guys and one for the girls. Zelgadis had apparently made spells of his own; it was the only way Trent could come up with for the sudden thicket of bamboo springing up one morning between the two and serving effectively as a wall.
He shuddered briefly despite the heat. Zelas and Delphine had made it uncomfortably clear that they wouldn't have minded company in the least. Though Kashura's insistence that she wash Valgaav's back was funny, if nothing else.
He turned back to Gourry and Zelgadis. "So after that debacle in Femille, what happened?"
Zelgadis rolled his eyes. "I don't want to talk about it."
Gourry snorted in disdain. "You're lucky, you only had to do it once. And at least YOU never had idiots trying to marry you." He shuddered at the memory of the 'Great Baloo.'
Dynast watched the conversations continue for a while, then turned to regard Xellos. "As I understand, you've known Trent the longest. What can you tell me about him?"
Xellos's smile didn't waver. "I'm afraid there's not much I can tell you. A great deal of what I know only came up within the past month or so; apparently he's the descendant of the Ancient Dragons from another world, he's self-trained in magic by reading through the library of Rei Magnus, he has Galfeira, a bastard sword that contains the soul of a demon king, and two swords that were bathed in the essences of gods." He paused for a moment. "That's the first time I've really thought about it. You know, I never realized just how ridiculous that all sounds; THAT much power, THAT many coincidences, THAT many artifacts of high power."
Dynast nodded. "That's what worries me, Xellos. Lina is a dangerous young woman because of her two spells; the Giga Slave and the Ragna Blade. Either one is a threat to monsters of even the highest level. She also holds Boregarz now, and that only makes her more dangerous. This Shadowlight however is far worse. His magic is not the equal to hers, but he's fairly close. Perhaps on par with that priestess Amelia, with a few extra spells like that Dragon's Lance." He continued to measure the elf with his eyes. "If that were all, I'd just consider him a man to be cautious around. After all, it's not terribly hard to circumvent powerful spells by making sure they can't complete their incantations. His dragon power is also worrisome; again, not enough to be a danger to you or me, but he's still powerful enough that he can be a danger to the monster race."
Xellos regarded him seriously. "None of that worries you though. It's his arsenal, so to speak."
Dynast raised himself up in the water, sitting straighter. "That is precisely what worries me. Galfeira could possibly kill even you with nothing but the most elementary spells amplifying it. And then those swords." He continued to look without staring at Trent. "He claims that the two swords Spritus Falis and Soul Crusher gave him enough power to kill a goddess. Apparently he was wrong, but he still completely overpowered one, if my reading of the facts is correct."
"He did say that she was hardly at her best during that fight," Xellos felt compelled to add.
Dynast nodded. "Completely true. However, with that new sword Sanguis Falaris, he probably COULD kill a god. And while I am the strongest Mazoku in this world, I doubt that I could stand against that." He shook his head. "Trent Shadowlight is a threat to us, one way or another."Xellos was silent a moment, then opened his eyes as he spoke in dead seriousness. "Lord Dynast, I think it important you remember something.""What's that?"
"Lina considers herself to be a heroine at heart. Trent most decidedly does NOT. He was raised an assassin; he's told me that repeatedly, and I recognize enough of his fighting style to consider that to be true. Whereas Lina might feel compelled to fight the monster race on general principle, Trent respects our right to exist. I don't believe him to be a threat. Not unless we do something to make him desire our extinction."
Dynast continued to watch as Trent chuckled dryly over Zelgadis's description of their fight against Gaav's mazoku in Seyruun; how they had screamed at the top of their lungs not to try and be Lina's ally. "I hope so, Trickster Priest. For all our sakes."
Further talk ceased as out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning sliced down to hit no more than thirty feet away, in the women's bath area.
Out of a cloudless sky, and without the defeaning report of thunder that should have resulted from such a close strike.
Xellos, Trent, and Zelgadis were out of the pool mere instants later, charging into the area. "Are you alright?" Zelgadis bellowed as they cleared the stand of bamboo.
Filia coughed uncomfortably. The bolt hadn't made noise, but it had stirred up a lot of dust. "No one's been hit," she grated out as the smoke cleared. "We're all..."
Trent quirked an eyebrow as her voice faded away. "We're all what? If you're not hit, are you still okay?"
Amelia was staring, beet-red in their direction as the smoke cleared completely.
It was at this point that Trent realized that he'd grabbed his katana to come check on them. Turning smartly around, he marched back to through the bamboo. "Mental note. Invent a spell for creating towels out of thin air." Forcing himself to ignore the suggestive cat-calls from Eris and Delphine, he marched straight back into the men's bath.
Zelgadis's response was a bit less dignified. Come to think of it, how do you get out of that kind of situation with any dignity left? Anyway, his response had been a furious blush of his own as he covered himself and tried to sidle out of the area. Xellos just scratched his head and grinned until Filia threw a boulder at him.
Delphine turned to Zelas curiously. "You know, I've never seen anything like that before; most mazoku in human form stay fully clothed at all times. Still, it was kind of impressive, wasn't it?"
Zelas shrugged. "I think so." She turned towards Amelia and Lina. "Was it?" Taking their still-furious blushes for affirmatives, she giggled somewhat and sank further into the pool, and began to consider the implications of that combined with some of the stories she knew about human behavior.
Scherra turned to regard the Greater Beast, and shook her head disapprovingly. Blushing? Positively disgraceful.
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An hour later, they reassembled in front of the site of the lightning bolt. Despite all of them being fully clothed, several were still blushing. Namely Amelia and Filia; both were priestesses, and weren't supposed to think about that kind of thing. Valgaav was steadfastly ignorig Kashura's protestations about him not coming to their rescue (not particularly veiled complaints about not getting to see him naked), Xellos was trying to see JUST how far he could push Filia about staring before she resorted to violence, and Trent was wondering Why the Hell Zelas kept darting those side-long glances at him. They were getting kind of disquieting; sure she was a demon, but a guy could get the wrong idea WAY too easily.
Dynast was (predictably enough) the only one in any real control. He shook his head. "Lightning bolts that write messages in foreign languages." He turned to Trent, pausing just long enough to glare disapprovingly at Zelas. "I assume you can read this?"
Trent sighed as he nodded. "It's elvish, from Lodoss." Zelgadis shook his head. "You must have the single most meddlesome god in all existence as your patron or something."
Trent shrugged helplessly. "Honestly, this hasn't happened before. At least it didn't used to happen before last year." He bent to read it, but felt constrained to add, "and actually, the most meddlesome gods are the gods of mischeif and chaos; they LOVE butting in for their own amusement."
Scherra leaned forward curiously. "What does it say?"
Trent leaned back into a comfortable squat. "It's a location. 'From where the borders of Zefelia, Elmekia, and the Desert of Destruction meet, head south and east.'" He shook his head, then stared upward. "I appreciate the info, but is this sort of thing strictly allowed?" Getting no answer, he shrugged again. "Just a guess, but I get the feeling this is where Valred is."
Dynast sighed, shaking his head. "Your god gives you general information; why not the exact location?"
Trent shrugged. "I accept what He tells me, and don't ask questions. That He helped at all is something we should be grateful for." He brought out a map, tracing the point where the three countries met. "That's not far; only about thirty miles or so. Then we just start heading south-east, and try to get luckytry to get lucky "Works for me."
Valgaav knelt beside him. "The real problem is going to be Lina. Valred's offering over five hundred thousand gold pieces for her; a LOT of people are going to be looking. We'll need some kind of disguise."
He regretted it instantly as the females of their party simultaneously developed cat-in-the-cream smiles. Lina smirked happily as she broke out the traveling pack from the astral plane she kept for just these occasions. "Well, they might not recognize me if I'm just part of a LARGER group of females." Out came the dresses and the make-up.
Trent stared at her with a dead expression on his face. Then he turned to Xellos, then Zelgadis, then Gourry, and finally Valgaav. The five of them nodded simultaneously.
All five grabbed the left shoulders of their clothes, and yanked them off in a single fluid gesture. The rustling cloth distracted what exactly happened there; all that Lina and the others knew was that in an instant, Trent, Gourry, and Zelgadis were kneeling, wearing formal Japanese kimonos, the top halves around their waists. Xellos and Valgaav each sported similar kimonos, though fully clothed. The three with their chests bared each had a tanto at the left side of their stomachs, while Xellos and Valgaav each held a katana at the ready.
Lina sweat-dropped. "Uh...what's going on?"
Dynast smiled. He had a SLIGHT sense of humor, it was just a rather cold and a rather dark one. "Trent mentioned this; in his travels, he apparently met a society where men who were either disgraced or were facing disgrace would commit ritual suicide to avoid this disgrace. Specifically, I think that those three are going to shove daggers intheir stomachs, twirl them around a little bit, and then try to act all stoic while Valgaav and Xellos cut off their heads so they don't die horrifyingly painful deaths by slow bleeding.
Amelia stared. "You wouldn't."
Trent looked up, his face dead serious. "Among my people, to be forced into the garb of a woman is disgrace. It implies a lack of strength, that the man is of no consequence. I would gladly die before such a travesty, and my brothers in combat," he indicated Gourry and Zelgadis, "would not hesitate to follow me." The two other swordsmen nodded solemnly.
Lina shot forward. "OKAY OKAY! You don't have to go in drag!"
The scene shattered like glass as Trent carelessly flung his knife over his shoulder and started getting dressed in his normal clothing (having used swightflange to generate enough mist to cover himself.) "Okay."
Scherra shook her head. "That was a lie, wasn't it?"
Trent looked up from strapping on his bracers. "Huh?"
"The ritual suicide."
Trent chuckled tiredly. "Actually, no. There ARE tribes who've come up with something like that. They call it Seppuku, or Hari-Kari sometimes." Finished with his knife-holders, he pulled on his coat and began rolling the sleeves up. "Although dark elves don't have any kind of disgrace attached to women's clothing." Ignoring the outraged glares, he asked, "so if we're going to stay as men, what DO you reccomend we do?"
Xellos grinned. "Actually, if we're headed into the desert east of Elmekia, I think I have the perfect idea. You see, certain groups of people are given tacit leave to come and go as they please; groups who don't harm anyone and who fill some kind of rare purpose."
"What kind of groups?" Zelas asked. "You never mentioned it before."
Xellos shrugged. "Never really any need. Mostly though, groups that they don't get a lot of among the desert people; peddlers and mercenaries are some, but there's one last group that I think has promise."
"What group?" Amelia asked.
Xellos's grin never wavered. Not even as he opened his eyes.
Cue the ominous thunder.
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"I swear," Filia said, biting each word of precisely, "by Cephied, and Volfied, and Bahamut, and all other spirits and gods of that which is good and holy, that I am going to slowly murder you."
Xellos smiled. "I can't seem to recall any kind of objections from you when I proposed this."
Filia stabbed a hand down towards her current outfit. "Yes, that was before I knew WHAT I'd be doing. And before I knew that I'd be wearing THIS!"
She had some reason for complaint. She was currently wearing little more than a string bikini, though the parts that should have been strings had been replaced by fine golden chain, the scraps of cloth keeping her within the realms of decency replaced by curved pieces of metal. At least on the top; the bottom half of her outfit was a tiny leather loincloth, the flaps approximately six inches wide and maybe a foot long over the otherwise normal bikini bottom. She was also wearing a large amount of tawdry gold jewelry, but you didn't really notice that, not at first.
Xellos help up his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "Sorry, but you were perfect for the role. Who else could we have as 'the strongest woman in the universe?'"
Apparently, the third group of people that were considered off-limits in this region were entertainers. Not THAT kind of entertainment (well, yes, that kind of entertainment wasn't harmed, but this group wasn't doing that), but rather the kinds of things you'd expect from a traveling carnival or circus.
Obviously, the complaints had been many, but in the end no one else had been willing to come up with some other idea. They could have tried peddling, but it was just too foreign to Lina to SELL her things like that. Plus Amelia kept insisting that they feed the hungry on the way, and unfortunately samaritans and priests were considered fair game. Mercenaries would have been simple; a troupe of warriors and mages combined was no small thing to sneeze at. The main problem was that they'd attract work after awhile, and mercenaries who didn't accept or set terms so outrageous that they'd stay unemployed would be remarked on.
That left carnies.
Surprisingly, it worked fairly well so far; each had skills they were willing to use for entertainment. Zelgadis had originally been resigned to being part of a 'freak show' tent, but had been pleasantly surprised by Trent's suggestion that he peddle not only his appearance, but his skills elsewhere. Namely, he was putting on nightly shows along with Trent (the flutist) and oddly enough Dynast (he played a dulcimer, of all things). Valgaav and Scherra were working with Gourry as 'bouncers.' The sight of the two having their casual warm-up fights served not only as one extra attraction, but as a warning as well. Watching Gourry filet boulders in one swing was NOT something anyone would want to go up against.
Kashura had teamed up with Eris for a knife-throwing act, Eris either throwing targets in midair for Kashura to spear blind-folded or serving as the target itself while Kashura tried to keep her instincts under control and MISS her target just slightly. Trent was actually working as a contortionist and acrobat; as he'd explained it, assassins needed to be able to hide anywhere and then be able to run away VERY fast.
The biggest draw (at least for the male crowd) was actually Zelas and Delphine. It was also something that Trent was forcing himself to stay very far away from for his own safety. What they'd chosen to do was dance; mind-numbingly evocative dancing. They stayed fully clothed the whole time, they didn't so much as touch the customers, but by the end of each show they'd usually managed to cause no less than five watchers to pass out from nosebleeds.
Filia's act however, was the one we actually started with. She'd originally supposed that she'd be the barker for their little shows. It was bad enough for Xellos to get the job instead. For her to end up parading herself around in this...this...this set of coins, was even worse. But worst of all, rather than having a chance to do something even remotely sophisticated, she was stuck throwing boulders around and shattering things with her mace.
It was humiliating. What was still worse was that the people LOVED it. Children would come running to each show, and stare at her with those wide, innocent eyes full of wonder. She winced as she remembered three little girls who'd come up to her and promised that they would grow up someday to be just as strong as her.
She couldn't decide if she wanted to cry or go and hurt something else.
Aware of the trend her mind was taking, Xellos just grinned. "Now come on, Miss Filia. Your shows are wonderful, and everyone else is satisfied with their role. Even Miss Lina doesn't mind." She was currently serving in ticket sales and keeping the accounts; she was surprisingly good at it.
Filia just glared, and stomped off. Her show was in fifteen minutes, and if nothing else reducing those giant boulders to powder was therapeutic.
Xellos just smiled and sighed blissfully. He hadn't had this much fun since the war of monster's fall.
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Zelas took a deep breath, composing herself. By necessity, their carnival was moving rather slowly; ox-drawn carts could only handle maybe twenty miles a day non-stop, and they were only traveling every other day if that often. As such, they'd been on the road for close to a week now with no sign of Valred's forces.
Delphine flat out refused to feed on the positive emotions that their carnival generated, and instead was beating the living tar out of the men who tried to preposition her in the bars she frequented now. Xellos was getting by on the emotions he got from driving Filia insane. Dynast and Scherra were hunting bandits for information as well as negative emotions. Kashura and Eris were joining Delphine in slime-ball hunting in all the taverns in the area, as well as the energies from the guys who hit on them after the shows. Zelas? She was actually getting by on the less-powerful neutral and positive emotions. And just as she'd anticipated, complications had arisen.
During the past week, she'd taken to watching Trent's shows. He'd started out with just simple flips and ground exercises. Over time, he'd started putting together a kind of obstacle course for him to run; mostly balance exercises. He'd added to that trick shooting with a longbow. It was quite something to see him put an arrow through a flying wooden plate at fifty yards while he was balancing on bamboo poles on one foot.
More than that however, she'd started watching his nightly performances with Zelgadis and Dynast. She had to admit that she was impressed with all three (she'd never imagined that Dynast would have ever unbent enough to have a HOBBY), but it was the dragon/elf she watched. It was the one and only time she could see him when he wasn't, as he put it, The Assassin, capital letters. He relaxed when he was playing the flute, finally just enjoying his life, letting down the barriers that kept him safely neutral from the rest of the world.
She was beginning to like what she saw under those barriers.
She'd also begun to notice that while he flat out refused to watch her dance (he'd said something about knowing his limitations), but in other times, when she was just relaxing, she'd noticed him always being a little bit closer than he had to be. Watching her when she thought she couldn't sense those threads of power he didn't fully shield.
She was going to very quietly go insane. Hence her current decision. "Trent?"
The dark elf was sitting on a log, staring into the night sky, waiting for the last act of the day. Jilis had found them shortly after they'd started, and he'd begun using his alchemical skills to put on firework displays. He turned at the sound of her voice, somewhat surprised at the source. "Oh, hi Zelas. Did you need something."
Zelas stared at him for a moment. "We need to talk," she finally said.
Trent winced. "That doesn't sound good." Scootching to one side, he patted the side of the log next to him. "What's on your mind?"
Zelas paused a second longer, then slowly took her own seat beside him. "You know how monsters feed, right?"
Trent looked at her curiously, but nodded. "Sure. You're empathivores; you feed on the by-products of other creatures' emotions, primarily negative ones. Powerful enough monsters can also feed on positive ones, but you generally don't."
Zelas silently thanked any gods who might be listening for this almost- perfect opening for the subject at hand. "That's correct; most monsters avoid feeding on positive emotions if they can. Some, like Xellos, have so eschewed positive emotion that they become physically ill in the presence of happy people. Do you know WHY mazoku avoid positive emotions when they can?"
Trent shrugged unconcernedly. She wasn't trying anything odd, so he'd stay calm. "Not really. I always just assumed it was because it's a lot easier to inspire the bad stuff in humans, or that negative emotions are more powerful."
Zelas nodded. "In a way; it IS easier to inspire hate than love, fear than resolve. And while negative emotions aren't more powerful per se, most people FEEL them more strongly than they would a corresponding positive emotion." She mentally braced herself. "That's not why they don't feed on positive emotions though."Trent looked at her as she remained silent. "Okay, I'll bite. Why do mazoku avoid positive emotions."
He almost jumped as Zelas turned a smouldering gaze on him. "We don't because we quite literally are what we eat. Feeding on positive emotions is somewhat dangerous, because we begin to change somewhat. We begin to lose our affiliation with negative emotion and instead grow towards positive emotion. We BECOME our prey."
Trent swallowed nervously as she leaned forward. "What...what are you doing?"
Zelas' gaze never wavered. "Trent, I feel your emotions when I feed on you; I feel what you feel. I can feel your honor, your convictions, your pride in being different...your love."
"Love?" Again, the nervous swallow.
Zelas smiled. The expression shocked Trent; it wasn't the fox-like smile he saw all the time on Xellos, nor was it the evil grin he'd come to expect from Eris. It was a sad smile, something he'd never seen on a demon's face before. It frightened him in ways that the raw bloodlust he'd once seen on Xellos' face could have never managed. "Zelas..."
She chuckled quietly. "I'm not sure who you love, Trent. I only get these vague impressions; short, slender, willowy...pale-haired." She looked at him frankly. "Attributes I myself possess. What's a girl to think?"
For the third time, Trent swallowed. If Delphine or Scherra or even Naga had just arbitrarily hit on him, it wouldn't have been a problem; he'd just ignore them. Zelas was a bit more of a problem because of one thing she possessed that the other three did not.
He DID like her. He was well aware of the changes that had taken place in her over the past month or so of knowing her. He LIKED what he saw in her. The fact that she was so attractive was not lost on him, but he didn't really pay any attention there. That she was the closest to what he remembered having loved in Lodoss was.
If she hadn't resembled the woman (or as he feared, women), he might not have cared, but he doubted it. He genuinely liked her. She was a demonic being, responsible for thousands if not millions of deaths. Deep down she was some kind of winged werewolf that thrived on the fear and hatred of her victims. He didn't particularly care; as he'd said to her on Mipross, he had little room to be judgemental. He was the spawn of a night-worshipping elf and a bitterly persecuted dragon, trained as an assassin, who had the blood of perhaps hundreds on his own hands from nothing save his own murders.
Who was he to judge?
Zelas took a deep breath, faintly pleased by the way Trent's eyes traced what it did to her brief robe. "Trent...please. Just tell me you aren't interested, and I'll leave. But if you are...I...I deserve to know."
Trent stared into her rose quartz eyes, and saw nothing there that he could lie to. Still, telling outright truth was not his way. "I...I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested, Lord Beastmaster."
Zelas smiled smokily as she drew closer, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Whatever happened to Zelas," she asked, thrilling in the feel of his lean body; sculpted steel under warm leather; thrilling in the way he didn't shy away.
Trent allowed his normally distant smile to warm up as Jilis's fireworks began showering the night in crocuses and daylilies of crimson and gold fire. "We'll see."
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"L-l-lord Beastmaster?!"
Zelas groaned quietly as she woke up. Raising herself onto an elbow, she brought up her other arm to shade herself from the sun. "Oh, good morning Xellos. Something the matter?" She frowned as she looked over her general- priest. Something odd about his expression; looked like a new one. What did those humans call it? Oh yes; shock.
The rest of the camp came charging up. After all, something capable of rattling Xellos was NOT something they didn't want to be caught by flat- footed.
Zelas sighed impatiently as they one and all began staring at her. "Well? Would you mind explaining what you're staring at?"
Filia was gibbering quietly. "Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you..."
Trent yawned quietly as he woke up. "What's the matter?" He paused as he recognized a source of warmth at his side. Turning slightly to regard his apparent bedmate, he blink-blinked sleepily. "Well I'll be damned. That wasn't a dream." He stretched, ignoring the gapes. Turning to look around, he shrugged. "What? We slept in the same bed; that's it. We didn't even get into our underthings; I spent the whole night wearing my trench coat." Pausing long enough to give Zelas a quick peck on the cheek (triggering further stares and eeps), he climbed off his futon. He paused to push Xellos's jaw back into place. "Get ahold of yourself; do you really want to give Filia this kind of ammo?" Still ignoring the stares, he strolled off.
Zelas rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I'm almost six thousand years old. What makes you think that YOU have the right to criticize me?" Shaking her head, she walked away on her own.
Delphine shook her head. "I warned her; feeding on positive emotions does weird things to mazoku. But no, she had to be lazy about her meals." She sighed and walked away.
Gourry turned in confusion to Dynast. "What IS the big deal? I mean, you guys are just like, really solid ghosts right? What could have happened?"
Dynast turned to the swordsman and placed a hand on his chest, pushing firmly. Not a shove, just a steady pressure capable of forcing him back. "We're quite solid, as you said. Solid enough to do ANYthing a human can, and quite a few you can't."
Gourry paused to turn that over in his head, and very slowly began to blush. "You mean they..."
Scherra smiled faintly. "Unlikely. Not even a mazoku lord can do that with her clothing on, especially not to a male similarly clothed." She shook her head, amazement open on her face. "They probably just cuddled all night long."
Lina managed to regain a sense of coherence. "You make that sound worse than if they'd had sex."
"To monsters, it is," was the general's reply.
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The following weeks went smoothly, or at least as smoothly as one could expect something involving this crew. The shows went on simply enough, the crowds were regular, and they continued in the general direction they needed to go.
There were changes, obviously. Xellos was still walking on eggshells as to the whole Trent/Zelas pairing. While they still hadn't done anything to warrant even an R-rating, the thought of his ruthless and cunning Lord Beastmaster spending her nights snuggling up to the equally ruthless elven assassin was enough to give him a bad case of nerves. Ironically enough, Filia wasn't having as much fun with teasing him as they'd originally expected; she seemed in a state of pretty bad shock herself from the concept of a 'noble and just' dragon of Valgaav's race lowering himself to chosing a mazoku for his girlfriend.
Even odder, it was Valgaav who approved most strongly. As he'd put it, "It's not as though we need to worry about breeding more dragons; there aren't any females of our race anyway. Besides, from what I understand of your normal life, you've EARNED the right to some happiness."
As things were, it was actually kind of boring.
Which made the arrival of their target actually quite rewarding.
--------
Dynast smiled grimly. "So, we're finally ready to begin?"
Trent nodded, echoing his smile. "We finally found out where Valred's been hiding." Two nights ago, there had been a commotion in the tents. It had turned out to be another kidnapping attempt on Lina, this time from one of the bounty hunters in Valred's employ. They'd found him lying on the ground in her tent, Lina panting over him with Boregarz fully ignited.
The interrogation had been...odd, to say the least. They weren't quite sure WHAT Eris told him, but it had been enough. Not only had he told them everything he knew about Valred's whereabouts and fortress, he'd given them tips and pointers from what he knew about the fortress's design.
They had immediately closed the carnival for the day to prepare for their assault on his fortress. The place was some kind of castle in the middle of the desert of Elmekia. It hadn't been built or designed by Valred himself; the hunter had made it quite clear that Valred was powerful and dangerous, but no tactician. Rather, he'd relied on Larth and Tios to decide what would work best.
As such, the place had been carefully designed to withstand virtually any form of attack. The castle itself covered an area about the size of a football field, but that itself was nothing compared to the grounds surrounding and defending it; the entire complex covered probably a square kilometer.
It wouldn't be easy to break into the place, but it was doable if you were crazy and skilled enough.
Perfect for present company.
To be continued...
Author's Note: Well, I finally got around to admitting it. Yes, there will be a budding relationship between our sarcastic dragon/elf and the woman who created Xellos Metallium. As for Deed and Pirotess? Well, let's just say that I'm not going to completely resolve this character's romantic life for quite a while. So there.
Delphine sighed blissfully as she sank deeper into the hot water. "You know, when I first heard about this spell I thought it was the silliest thing I'd ever heard of."
Zelas smiled as she also relaxed in the hotspring. "And now?"
"It has its uses. I have to admit it, this spell has its uses."
Dynast had quite roundly insisted that they stay out of villages for a while. Lina had protested, at least until he'd brought out the wanted poster. She'd quite suddenly been turned around.
As such, they were currently camped out in the middle of the woods, living quite comfortably despite a lack of any real civilized amenities. Well, not so few as you might think. Food wasn't a problem; Trent actually WAS a good archer, and between that and Kashura's mind-numbing accuracy with her throwing knives, they had managed to hunt successfully enough to keep everyone from complaining TOO much. Add to that Lina's fishing spell and it wasn't bad at all.
Lina turned to regard the two female mazoku lords quizzically. "So let me make sure I understand this. Our group has all five of the darkstar weapons, right? Not to mention those sword thingies Trent has. We also have managed to pick up an Ancient Dragon, a half Ancient Dragon half dark elf, and the last of the three remaining mazoku lords. Is that the way I understand it?"
Delphine nodded amicably. "Yep. Those are the basics."
Lina tried to come up with a retort of some kind about them being to relaxed, but the hotspring was making her feel all drowsy and content. "So, any idea what our next move is?"
Scherra shrugged. "As yet, we've decided that we're going to have to deal with Valred. Even if he wasn't trying to kill us or oppose us, he's interfering with our world, and that's intolerable." She sighed as she leaned back. "Unfortunately, we have no idea where to start looking. And even if we did, there's the small matter of the bounty on your head."
Lina sighed. The obvious approach had been to assume that this Valred had put the bounty on her head. As such, the easiest way to find him would have been to just go and hunt down whoever was paying the bounty.
It didn't pan out. The bounty money was being held by several money- lending houses; any number of places could pay and had the equipment to hold Lina if it came to that. And she'd flat out refused to be 'caught' so they could use her as bait to track down Valred, as Xellos had suggested.
She sighed again. So about all that was left was to lie here and wait until the magic fueling the hotspring wore off in another two days and try to come up with something.
--------
Across the clearing was a second hotspring. Zelas and Delphine only looked female; they had little real problems with their appearance. Scherra was a bit of an ice queen, and could likewise have cared less. The human and dragon contingent however had been quite firm about their modesty. The end result being that Trent had made two pools, one for the guys and one for the girls. Zelgadis had apparently made spells of his own; it was the only way Trent could come up with for the sudden thicket of bamboo springing up one morning between the two and serving effectively as a wall.
He shuddered briefly despite the heat. Zelas and Delphine had made it uncomfortably clear that they wouldn't have minded company in the least. Though Kashura's insistence that she wash Valgaav's back was funny, if nothing else.
He turned back to Gourry and Zelgadis. "So after that debacle in Femille, what happened?"
Zelgadis rolled his eyes. "I don't want to talk about it."
Gourry snorted in disdain. "You're lucky, you only had to do it once. And at least YOU never had idiots trying to marry you." He shuddered at the memory of the 'Great Baloo.'
Dynast watched the conversations continue for a while, then turned to regard Xellos. "As I understand, you've known Trent the longest. What can you tell me about him?"
Xellos's smile didn't waver. "I'm afraid there's not much I can tell you. A great deal of what I know only came up within the past month or so; apparently he's the descendant of the Ancient Dragons from another world, he's self-trained in magic by reading through the library of Rei Magnus, he has Galfeira, a bastard sword that contains the soul of a demon king, and two swords that were bathed in the essences of gods." He paused for a moment. "That's the first time I've really thought about it. You know, I never realized just how ridiculous that all sounds; THAT much power, THAT many coincidences, THAT many artifacts of high power."
Dynast nodded. "That's what worries me, Xellos. Lina is a dangerous young woman because of her two spells; the Giga Slave and the Ragna Blade. Either one is a threat to monsters of even the highest level. She also holds Boregarz now, and that only makes her more dangerous. This Shadowlight however is far worse. His magic is not the equal to hers, but he's fairly close. Perhaps on par with that priestess Amelia, with a few extra spells like that Dragon's Lance." He continued to measure the elf with his eyes. "If that were all, I'd just consider him a man to be cautious around. After all, it's not terribly hard to circumvent powerful spells by making sure they can't complete their incantations. His dragon power is also worrisome; again, not enough to be a danger to you or me, but he's still powerful enough that he can be a danger to the monster race."
Xellos regarded him seriously. "None of that worries you though. It's his arsenal, so to speak."
Dynast raised himself up in the water, sitting straighter. "That is precisely what worries me. Galfeira could possibly kill even you with nothing but the most elementary spells amplifying it. And then those swords." He continued to look without staring at Trent. "He claims that the two swords Spritus Falis and Soul Crusher gave him enough power to kill a goddess. Apparently he was wrong, but he still completely overpowered one, if my reading of the facts is correct."
"He did say that she was hardly at her best during that fight," Xellos felt compelled to add.
Dynast nodded. "Completely true. However, with that new sword Sanguis Falaris, he probably COULD kill a god. And while I am the strongest Mazoku in this world, I doubt that I could stand against that." He shook his head. "Trent Shadowlight is a threat to us, one way or another."Xellos was silent a moment, then opened his eyes as he spoke in dead seriousness. "Lord Dynast, I think it important you remember something.""What's that?"
"Lina considers herself to be a heroine at heart. Trent most decidedly does NOT. He was raised an assassin; he's told me that repeatedly, and I recognize enough of his fighting style to consider that to be true. Whereas Lina might feel compelled to fight the monster race on general principle, Trent respects our right to exist. I don't believe him to be a threat. Not unless we do something to make him desire our extinction."
Dynast continued to watch as Trent chuckled dryly over Zelgadis's description of their fight against Gaav's mazoku in Seyruun; how they had screamed at the top of their lungs not to try and be Lina's ally. "I hope so, Trickster Priest. For all our sakes."
Further talk ceased as out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning sliced down to hit no more than thirty feet away, in the women's bath area.
Out of a cloudless sky, and without the defeaning report of thunder that should have resulted from such a close strike.
Xellos, Trent, and Zelgadis were out of the pool mere instants later, charging into the area. "Are you alright?" Zelgadis bellowed as they cleared the stand of bamboo.
Filia coughed uncomfortably. The bolt hadn't made noise, but it had stirred up a lot of dust. "No one's been hit," she grated out as the smoke cleared. "We're all..."
Trent quirked an eyebrow as her voice faded away. "We're all what? If you're not hit, are you still okay?"
Amelia was staring, beet-red in their direction as the smoke cleared completely.
It was at this point that Trent realized that he'd grabbed his katana to come check on them. Turning smartly around, he marched back to through the bamboo. "Mental note. Invent a spell for creating towels out of thin air." Forcing himself to ignore the suggestive cat-calls from Eris and Delphine, he marched straight back into the men's bath.
Zelgadis's response was a bit less dignified. Come to think of it, how do you get out of that kind of situation with any dignity left? Anyway, his response had been a furious blush of his own as he covered himself and tried to sidle out of the area. Xellos just scratched his head and grinned until Filia threw a boulder at him.
Delphine turned to Zelas curiously. "You know, I've never seen anything like that before; most mazoku in human form stay fully clothed at all times. Still, it was kind of impressive, wasn't it?"
Zelas shrugged. "I think so." She turned towards Amelia and Lina. "Was it?" Taking their still-furious blushes for affirmatives, she giggled somewhat and sank further into the pool, and began to consider the implications of that combined with some of the stories she knew about human behavior.
Scherra turned to regard the Greater Beast, and shook her head disapprovingly. Blushing? Positively disgraceful.
--------
An hour later, they reassembled in front of the site of the lightning bolt. Despite all of them being fully clothed, several were still blushing. Namely Amelia and Filia; both were priestesses, and weren't supposed to think about that kind of thing. Valgaav was steadfastly ignorig Kashura's protestations about him not coming to their rescue (not particularly veiled complaints about not getting to see him naked), Xellos was trying to see JUST how far he could push Filia about staring before she resorted to violence, and Trent was wondering Why the Hell Zelas kept darting those side-long glances at him. They were getting kind of disquieting; sure she was a demon, but a guy could get the wrong idea WAY too easily.
Dynast was (predictably enough) the only one in any real control. He shook his head. "Lightning bolts that write messages in foreign languages." He turned to Trent, pausing just long enough to glare disapprovingly at Zelas. "I assume you can read this?"
Trent sighed as he nodded. "It's elvish, from Lodoss." Zelgadis shook his head. "You must have the single most meddlesome god in all existence as your patron or something."
Trent shrugged helplessly. "Honestly, this hasn't happened before. At least it didn't used to happen before last year." He bent to read it, but felt constrained to add, "and actually, the most meddlesome gods are the gods of mischeif and chaos; they LOVE butting in for their own amusement."
Scherra leaned forward curiously. "What does it say?"
Trent leaned back into a comfortable squat. "It's a location. 'From where the borders of Zefelia, Elmekia, and the Desert of Destruction meet, head south and east.'" He shook his head, then stared upward. "I appreciate the info, but is this sort of thing strictly allowed?" Getting no answer, he shrugged again. "Just a guess, but I get the feeling this is where Valred is."
Dynast sighed, shaking his head. "Your god gives you general information; why not the exact location?"
Trent shrugged. "I accept what He tells me, and don't ask questions. That He helped at all is something we should be grateful for." He brought out a map, tracing the point where the three countries met. "That's not far; only about thirty miles or so. Then we just start heading south-east, and try to get luckytry to get lucky "Works for me."
Valgaav knelt beside him. "The real problem is going to be Lina. Valred's offering over five hundred thousand gold pieces for her; a LOT of people are going to be looking. We'll need some kind of disguise."
He regretted it instantly as the females of their party simultaneously developed cat-in-the-cream smiles. Lina smirked happily as she broke out the traveling pack from the astral plane she kept for just these occasions. "Well, they might not recognize me if I'm just part of a LARGER group of females." Out came the dresses and the make-up.
Trent stared at her with a dead expression on his face. Then he turned to Xellos, then Zelgadis, then Gourry, and finally Valgaav. The five of them nodded simultaneously.
All five grabbed the left shoulders of their clothes, and yanked them off in a single fluid gesture. The rustling cloth distracted what exactly happened there; all that Lina and the others knew was that in an instant, Trent, Gourry, and Zelgadis were kneeling, wearing formal Japanese kimonos, the top halves around their waists. Xellos and Valgaav each sported similar kimonos, though fully clothed. The three with their chests bared each had a tanto at the left side of their stomachs, while Xellos and Valgaav each held a katana at the ready.
Lina sweat-dropped. "Uh...what's going on?"
Dynast smiled. He had a SLIGHT sense of humor, it was just a rather cold and a rather dark one. "Trent mentioned this; in his travels, he apparently met a society where men who were either disgraced or were facing disgrace would commit ritual suicide to avoid this disgrace. Specifically, I think that those three are going to shove daggers intheir stomachs, twirl them around a little bit, and then try to act all stoic while Valgaav and Xellos cut off their heads so they don't die horrifyingly painful deaths by slow bleeding.
Amelia stared. "You wouldn't."
Trent looked up, his face dead serious. "Among my people, to be forced into the garb of a woman is disgrace. It implies a lack of strength, that the man is of no consequence. I would gladly die before such a travesty, and my brothers in combat," he indicated Gourry and Zelgadis, "would not hesitate to follow me." The two other swordsmen nodded solemnly.
Lina shot forward. "OKAY OKAY! You don't have to go in drag!"
The scene shattered like glass as Trent carelessly flung his knife over his shoulder and started getting dressed in his normal clothing (having used swightflange to generate enough mist to cover himself.) "Okay."
Scherra shook her head. "That was a lie, wasn't it?"
Trent looked up from strapping on his bracers. "Huh?"
"The ritual suicide."
Trent chuckled tiredly. "Actually, no. There ARE tribes who've come up with something like that. They call it Seppuku, or Hari-Kari sometimes." Finished with his knife-holders, he pulled on his coat and began rolling the sleeves up. "Although dark elves don't have any kind of disgrace attached to women's clothing." Ignoring the outraged glares, he asked, "so if we're going to stay as men, what DO you reccomend we do?"
Xellos grinned. "Actually, if we're headed into the desert east of Elmekia, I think I have the perfect idea. You see, certain groups of people are given tacit leave to come and go as they please; groups who don't harm anyone and who fill some kind of rare purpose."
"What kind of groups?" Zelas asked. "You never mentioned it before."
Xellos shrugged. "Never really any need. Mostly though, groups that they don't get a lot of among the desert people; peddlers and mercenaries are some, but there's one last group that I think has promise."
"What group?" Amelia asked.
Xellos's grin never wavered. Not even as he opened his eyes.
Cue the ominous thunder.
--------
"I swear," Filia said, biting each word of precisely, "by Cephied, and Volfied, and Bahamut, and all other spirits and gods of that which is good and holy, that I am going to slowly murder you."
Xellos smiled. "I can't seem to recall any kind of objections from you when I proposed this."
Filia stabbed a hand down towards her current outfit. "Yes, that was before I knew WHAT I'd be doing. And before I knew that I'd be wearing THIS!"
She had some reason for complaint. She was currently wearing little more than a string bikini, though the parts that should have been strings had been replaced by fine golden chain, the scraps of cloth keeping her within the realms of decency replaced by curved pieces of metal. At least on the top; the bottom half of her outfit was a tiny leather loincloth, the flaps approximately six inches wide and maybe a foot long over the otherwise normal bikini bottom. She was also wearing a large amount of tawdry gold jewelry, but you didn't really notice that, not at first.
Xellos help up his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "Sorry, but you were perfect for the role. Who else could we have as 'the strongest woman in the universe?'"
Apparently, the third group of people that were considered off-limits in this region were entertainers. Not THAT kind of entertainment (well, yes, that kind of entertainment wasn't harmed, but this group wasn't doing that), but rather the kinds of things you'd expect from a traveling carnival or circus.
Obviously, the complaints had been many, but in the end no one else had been willing to come up with some other idea. They could have tried peddling, but it was just too foreign to Lina to SELL her things like that. Plus Amelia kept insisting that they feed the hungry on the way, and unfortunately samaritans and priests were considered fair game. Mercenaries would have been simple; a troupe of warriors and mages combined was no small thing to sneeze at. The main problem was that they'd attract work after awhile, and mercenaries who didn't accept or set terms so outrageous that they'd stay unemployed would be remarked on.
That left carnies.
Surprisingly, it worked fairly well so far; each had skills they were willing to use for entertainment. Zelgadis had originally been resigned to being part of a 'freak show' tent, but had been pleasantly surprised by Trent's suggestion that he peddle not only his appearance, but his skills elsewhere. Namely, he was putting on nightly shows along with Trent (the flutist) and oddly enough Dynast (he played a dulcimer, of all things). Valgaav and Scherra were working with Gourry as 'bouncers.' The sight of the two having their casual warm-up fights served not only as one extra attraction, but as a warning as well. Watching Gourry filet boulders in one swing was NOT something anyone would want to go up against.
Kashura had teamed up with Eris for a knife-throwing act, Eris either throwing targets in midair for Kashura to spear blind-folded or serving as the target itself while Kashura tried to keep her instincts under control and MISS her target just slightly. Trent was actually working as a contortionist and acrobat; as he'd explained it, assassins needed to be able to hide anywhere and then be able to run away VERY fast.
The biggest draw (at least for the male crowd) was actually Zelas and Delphine. It was also something that Trent was forcing himself to stay very far away from for his own safety. What they'd chosen to do was dance; mind-numbingly evocative dancing. They stayed fully clothed the whole time, they didn't so much as touch the customers, but by the end of each show they'd usually managed to cause no less than five watchers to pass out from nosebleeds.
Filia's act however, was the one we actually started with. She'd originally supposed that she'd be the barker for their little shows. It was bad enough for Xellos to get the job instead. For her to end up parading herself around in this...this...this set of coins, was even worse. But worst of all, rather than having a chance to do something even remotely sophisticated, she was stuck throwing boulders around and shattering things with her mace.
It was humiliating. What was still worse was that the people LOVED it. Children would come running to each show, and stare at her with those wide, innocent eyes full of wonder. She winced as she remembered three little girls who'd come up to her and promised that they would grow up someday to be just as strong as her.
She couldn't decide if she wanted to cry or go and hurt something else.
Aware of the trend her mind was taking, Xellos just grinned. "Now come on, Miss Filia. Your shows are wonderful, and everyone else is satisfied with their role. Even Miss Lina doesn't mind." She was currently serving in ticket sales and keeping the accounts; she was surprisingly good at it.
Filia just glared, and stomped off. Her show was in fifteen minutes, and if nothing else reducing those giant boulders to powder was therapeutic.
Xellos just smiled and sighed blissfully. He hadn't had this much fun since the war of monster's fall.
--------
Zelas took a deep breath, composing herself. By necessity, their carnival was moving rather slowly; ox-drawn carts could only handle maybe twenty miles a day non-stop, and they were only traveling every other day if that often. As such, they'd been on the road for close to a week now with no sign of Valred's forces.
Delphine flat out refused to feed on the positive emotions that their carnival generated, and instead was beating the living tar out of the men who tried to preposition her in the bars she frequented now. Xellos was getting by on the emotions he got from driving Filia insane. Dynast and Scherra were hunting bandits for information as well as negative emotions. Kashura and Eris were joining Delphine in slime-ball hunting in all the taverns in the area, as well as the energies from the guys who hit on them after the shows. Zelas? She was actually getting by on the less-powerful neutral and positive emotions. And just as she'd anticipated, complications had arisen.
During the past week, she'd taken to watching Trent's shows. He'd started out with just simple flips and ground exercises. Over time, he'd started putting together a kind of obstacle course for him to run; mostly balance exercises. He'd added to that trick shooting with a longbow. It was quite something to see him put an arrow through a flying wooden plate at fifty yards while he was balancing on bamboo poles on one foot.
More than that however, she'd started watching his nightly performances with Zelgadis and Dynast. She had to admit that she was impressed with all three (she'd never imagined that Dynast would have ever unbent enough to have a HOBBY), but it was the dragon/elf she watched. It was the one and only time she could see him when he wasn't, as he put it, The Assassin, capital letters. He relaxed when he was playing the flute, finally just enjoying his life, letting down the barriers that kept him safely neutral from the rest of the world.
She was beginning to like what she saw under those barriers.
She'd also begun to notice that while he flat out refused to watch her dance (he'd said something about knowing his limitations), but in other times, when she was just relaxing, she'd noticed him always being a little bit closer than he had to be. Watching her when she thought she couldn't sense those threads of power he didn't fully shield.
She was going to very quietly go insane. Hence her current decision. "Trent?"
The dark elf was sitting on a log, staring into the night sky, waiting for the last act of the day. Jilis had found them shortly after they'd started, and he'd begun using his alchemical skills to put on firework displays. He turned at the sound of her voice, somewhat surprised at the source. "Oh, hi Zelas. Did you need something."
Zelas stared at him for a moment. "We need to talk," she finally said.
Trent winced. "That doesn't sound good." Scootching to one side, he patted the side of the log next to him. "What's on your mind?"
Zelas paused a second longer, then slowly took her own seat beside him. "You know how monsters feed, right?"
Trent looked at her curiously, but nodded. "Sure. You're empathivores; you feed on the by-products of other creatures' emotions, primarily negative ones. Powerful enough monsters can also feed on positive ones, but you generally don't."
Zelas silently thanked any gods who might be listening for this almost- perfect opening for the subject at hand. "That's correct; most monsters avoid feeding on positive emotions if they can. Some, like Xellos, have so eschewed positive emotion that they become physically ill in the presence of happy people. Do you know WHY mazoku avoid positive emotions when they can?"
Trent shrugged unconcernedly. She wasn't trying anything odd, so he'd stay calm. "Not really. I always just assumed it was because it's a lot easier to inspire the bad stuff in humans, or that negative emotions are more powerful."
Zelas nodded. "In a way; it IS easier to inspire hate than love, fear than resolve. And while negative emotions aren't more powerful per se, most people FEEL them more strongly than they would a corresponding positive emotion." She mentally braced herself. "That's not why they don't feed on positive emotions though."Trent looked at her as she remained silent. "Okay, I'll bite. Why do mazoku avoid positive emotions."
He almost jumped as Zelas turned a smouldering gaze on him. "We don't because we quite literally are what we eat. Feeding on positive emotions is somewhat dangerous, because we begin to change somewhat. We begin to lose our affiliation with negative emotion and instead grow towards positive emotion. We BECOME our prey."
Trent swallowed nervously as she leaned forward. "What...what are you doing?"
Zelas' gaze never wavered. "Trent, I feel your emotions when I feed on you; I feel what you feel. I can feel your honor, your convictions, your pride in being different...your love."
"Love?" Again, the nervous swallow.
Zelas smiled. The expression shocked Trent; it wasn't the fox-like smile he saw all the time on Xellos, nor was it the evil grin he'd come to expect from Eris. It was a sad smile, something he'd never seen on a demon's face before. It frightened him in ways that the raw bloodlust he'd once seen on Xellos' face could have never managed. "Zelas..."
She chuckled quietly. "I'm not sure who you love, Trent. I only get these vague impressions; short, slender, willowy...pale-haired." She looked at him frankly. "Attributes I myself possess. What's a girl to think?"
For the third time, Trent swallowed. If Delphine or Scherra or even Naga had just arbitrarily hit on him, it wouldn't have been a problem; he'd just ignore them. Zelas was a bit more of a problem because of one thing she possessed that the other three did not.
He DID like her. He was well aware of the changes that had taken place in her over the past month or so of knowing her. He LIKED what he saw in her. The fact that she was so attractive was not lost on him, but he didn't really pay any attention there. That she was the closest to what he remembered having loved in Lodoss was.
If she hadn't resembled the woman (or as he feared, women), he might not have cared, but he doubted it. He genuinely liked her. She was a demonic being, responsible for thousands if not millions of deaths. Deep down she was some kind of winged werewolf that thrived on the fear and hatred of her victims. He didn't particularly care; as he'd said to her on Mipross, he had little room to be judgemental. He was the spawn of a night-worshipping elf and a bitterly persecuted dragon, trained as an assassin, who had the blood of perhaps hundreds on his own hands from nothing save his own murders.
Who was he to judge?
Zelas took a deep breath, faintly pleased by the way Trent's eyes traced what it did to her brief robe. "Trent...please. Just tell me you aren't interested, and I'll leave. But if you are...I...I deserve to know."
Trent stared into her rose quartz eyes, and saw nothing there that he could lie to. Still, telling outright truth was not his way. "I...I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested, Lord Beastmaster."
Zelas smiled smokily as she drew closer, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Whatever happened to Zelas," she asked, thrilling in the feel of his lean body; sculpted steel under warm leather; thrilling in the way he didn't shy away.
Trent allowed his normally distant smile to warm up as Jilis's fireworks began showering the night in crocuses and daylilies of crimson and gold fire. "We'll see."
--------
"L-l-lord Beastmaster?!"
Zelas groaned quietly as she woke up. Raising herself onto an elbow, she brought up her other arm to shade herself from the sun. "Oh, good morning Xellos. Something the matter?" She frowned as she looked over her general- priest. Something odd about his expression; looked like a new one. What did those humans call it? Oh yes; shock.
The rest of the camp came charging up. After all, something capable of rattling Xellos was NOT something they didn't want to be caught by flat- footed.
Zelas sighed impatiently as they one and all began staring at her. "Well? Would you mind explaining what you're staring at?"
Filia was gibbering quietly. "Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you..."
Trent yawned quietly as he woke up. "What's the matter?" He paused as he recognized a source of warmth at his side. Turning slightly to regard his apparent bedmate, he blink-blinked sleepily. "Well I'll be damned. That wasn't a dream." He stretched, ignoring the gapes. Turning to look around, he shrugged. "What? We slept in the same bed; that's it. We didn't even get into our underthings; I spent the whole night wearing my trench coat." Pausing long enough to give Zelas a quick peck on the cheek (triggering further stares and eeps), he climbed off his futon. He paused to push Xellos's jaw back into place. "Get ahold of yourself; do you really want to give Filia this kind of ammo?" Still ignoring the stares, he strolled off.
Zelas rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I'm almost six thousand years old. What makes you think that YOU have the right to criticize me?" Shaking her head, she walked away on her own.
Delphine shook her head. "I warned her; feeding on positive emotions does weird things to mazoku. But no, she had to be lazy about her meals." She sighed and walked away.
Gourry turned in confusion to Dynast. "What IS the big deal? I mean, you guys are just like, really solid ghosts right? What could have happened?"
Dynast turned to the swordsman and placed a hand on his chest, pushing firmly. Not a shove, just a steady pressure capable of forcing him back. "We're quite solid, as you said. Solid enough to do ANYthing a human can, and quite a few you can't."
Gourry paused to turn that over in his head, and very slowly began to blush. "You mean they..."
Scherra smiled faintly. "Unlikely. Not even a mazoku lord can do that with her clothing on, especially not to a male similarly clothed." She shook her head, amazement open on her face. "They probably just cuddled all night long."
Lina managed to regain a sense of coherence. "You make that sound worse than if they'd had sex."
"To monsters, it is," was the general's reply.
--------
The following weeks went smoothly, or at least as smoothly as one could expect something involving this crew. The shows went on simply enough, the crowds were regular, and they continued in the general direction they needed to go.
There were changes, obviously. Xellos was still walking on eggshells as to the whole Trent/Zelas pairing. While they still hadn't done anything to warrant even an R-rating, the thought of his ruthless and cunning Lord Beastmaster spending her nights snuggling up to the equally ruthless elven assassin was enough to give him a bad case of nerves. Ironically enough, Filia wasn't having as much fun with teasing him as they'd originally expected; she seemed in a state of pretty bad shock herself from the concept of a 'noble and just' dragon of Valgaav's race lowering himself to chosing a mazoku for his girlfriend.
Even odder, it was Valgaav who approved most strongly. As he'd put it, "It's not as though we need to worry about breeding more dragons; there aren't any females of our race anyway. Besides, from what I understand of your normal life, you've EARNED the right to some happiness."
As things were, it was actually kind of boring.
Which made the arrival of their target actually quite rewarding.
--------
Dynast smiled grimly. "So, we're finally ready to begin?"
Trent nodded, echoing his smile. "We finally found out where Valred's been hiding." Two nights ago, there had been a commotion in the tents. It had turned out to be another kidnapping attempt on Lina, this time from one of the bounty hunters in Valred's employ. They'd found him lying on the ground in her tent, Lina panting over him with Boregarz fully ignited.
The interrogation had been...odd, to say the least. They weren't quite sure WHAT Eris told him, but it had been enough. Not only had he told them everything he knew about Valred's whereabouts and fortress, he'd given them tips and pointers from what he knew about the fortress's design.
They had immediately closed the carnival for the day to prepare for their assault on his fortress. The place was some kind of castle in the middle of the desert of Elmekia. It hadn't been built or designed by Valred himself; the hunter had made it quite clear that Valred was powerful and dangerous, but no tactician. Rather, he'd relied on Larth and Tios to decide what would work best.
As such, the place had been carefully designed to withstand virtually any form of attack. The castle itself covered an area about the size of a football field, but that itself was nothing compared to the grounds surrounding and defending it; the entire complex covered probably a square kilometer.
It wouldn't be easy to break into the place, but it was doable if you were crazy and skilled enough.
Perfect for present company.
To be continued...
Author's Note: Well, I finally got around to admitting it. Yes, there will be a budding relationship between our sarcastic dragon/elf and the woman who created Xellos Metallium. As for Deed and Pirotess? Well, let's just say that I'm not going to completely resolve this character's romantic life for quite a while. So there.
