Once Upon a Time
A Slayers Fic
by Hotaru

Disclaimer...
To whom it may concern, Slayers is not mine. All circumstances are fictional. Any similarity to one of your lives is purely accidental, and should not even be expected due to the fact that I'm writing about magic, mazokus and all sorts of things like that...*grin*

Thank you to all of you who reviewed! You are awsome!

Chapter 7

Xellos cursed silently as he landed. He had started a day and a half ago and he was lost already. How stupid was that! And the forest was so thick! And there were no trails or nice little signs telling you where you were. Oh well, nothing more to it, he'd have to cheat. He cast Levitation and floated up, careful to go around the tree branches that might snag his coat or scratch his face or something. He didn't want to. It'd be so great to be able to look back and say, "Yup! I navigated the forest with out getting lost and without cheating by levitating to see where in the world I was." Oh well, perhaps next time. He still had to get to Merlina. Once he reached up, he checked his surroundings and saw that he was travelling in the opposite direction.

"Merlina never taught me how to cross forests..." he grumbled to himself as he turned direction and began to fly in the right way. Of course, they hadn't travelled much, and Merlina probably didn't expect him to follow her. Speaking of which...

Why was he following her? She had made it obvious that she didn't want him following. She had said so in the note. But then again, if she didn't want him to follow, then she wouldn't have even given him a note, right? Besides, he wanted to stick by her. That's what friends were for anyway.

Friends.... that's the way he saw themselves. It hadn't fully struck him until the other day. He never really had a reason to think about it either. But now, he knew that they were. He wondered if Merlina saw them that way. Or did she still see him as a slight annoyance that he was about a year ago? Well, whether she was his friend or not, he was her friend. So, he'd follow her and help her in whatever it was she had to do. Besides, she was planning on doing something almost suicidal, summoning a Mazoku. Who cares if he was her father? Mazoku shouldn't be trusted. He skipped over the small fact that Merlina herself was half. But then again, such superficial differences didn't matter once you were friends.

*****

Merlina had set up a small camp beside the pond. Over to the east there was a small city. She forgot it's name. But the pond was called the Pond of Gold. Probably named that way because when the people who first populated the area had made a pretty good living here as fishermen. It was a huge pond, basically a lake. But now there were no more fish. It was said that there used to be a delicious fish, called the Gold Tailed Rood that could be fished here. The fish had died off due to everyone fishing them. And now, it was a simple pond, albeit a big one, with almost no fish.

She sighed. She had two more days before casting the spell. Already, she was getting impatient. It was an important time of her life, and she was forced to wait patiently. How stinkingly boring. As she rested against a tree, she thought.

How was her father like? Did he have red hair like her? Maybe he had red eyes also. After all, she had to get hers from somewhere, and although she had inherited certain features from her mom, there probably was some thing she got from him. Would he appear like a human like he had appeared to mom? Or maybe, would he appear as some monster? Would they recognize each other? Would he try to convert her into a full Mazoku? Or maybe try to get the staff and sword? Well, too bad for him. She had been training and reading up on various magics. If he wanted them, he'd have to fight for them. But, it'd be nice if he answered her questions.

She thought some more. Her mom had been dead for over a year now. There was a slight pain in her heart, but she had pushed it down so often that she didn't always register its existance. She had to make herself immune to that hurt. Mazoku thrived on negative emotions. He might use that against her.

She rested. If she slept, then the time would travel faster. Tomorrow she might go to the city and get something to eat. Or something like that. She yawned.

*****

Xellos sighed. He finally made it. There was the pond/lake thing... the Pond of Gold. He scanned the area and noticed many things at once. Merlina had drawn out her sigils already and was in the middle, beginning the incantation already. Already the winds were stirring around her as she concentrated. He could see the five pointed star, drawn with expertise and a drop of dragon's blood in each of the intersections and corners. The drops were easy to see. They twinkled like rubys as the magic began to be concentrated in each one. Another thing he noticed were two figures coming from the city at the east. With a gasp, he saw that they were golden dragons, and were making a headline for Merlina.

He quickly flew closer to Merlina and shouted to her in the middle of the wind storm she was conjuring up.

"Merlina! Watch out!" he shouted. Merlina's eyes widened with shock and looked up.

"Xellos!?" she asked herself. The magic around her faltered slightly. She was about to turn back to it when she saw that one of the dragons was flying straight for Xellos... wait! Dragons? They must have felt her try to do a Demon summoning and were obviously were going to stop her. And they probably thought Xellos was helping her. "Watch out, Xellos!" She screamed. She dropped her summon in mid incantation and quickly formulated a shield about Xellos. "Dragon's Shield!!!"

Xellos turned around and saw the one Dragon throwing a blast of fire at him. He covered his face knowing full well that it would be useless, but he couldn't just stand there looking surprised. But he did end up looking surprised when nothing hit him. Appearing before him was a silvery looking shield that had taken the blast and bounced it back to the Dragon. The dragon himself had barely escaped his own blast and looked astounded. Xellos turned around to yell his thanks. But saw Merlina on her fours, panting, looking as if she had spent all her energy. Which she had.

"Merlina!" said Xellos as he flew to her aid. But the other Dragon had reached her already. He roughly grabbed her by the arm, nodded at the other Dragon and then vanished, taking Merlina with him.

"Where did he take her?" he asked furiously to the other Dragon. He just looked at him taking in his angry eyes and wild, purple hair. He didn't answer back. He reared its head back and once more threw a burning fireball, although this time, it wasn't aimed at Xellos, but at the star Merlina had drawn.

"Doesn't matter." he said to Xellos. "She won't be casting summons to Mazoku anymore. I'm letting you go this time, because you weren't the one casting that. But if we ever see you again or feel you do what she tried to do, we'll take care of you also." With that, he too vanished.

Xellos suddenly felt weak. He floated down to where the star used to be. He felt a small trace of Mazoku, but that soon vanished. He looked around and found her stuff. It was over to the side, protected by being under a brush. The blast hadn't destroyed her materials, which was good. Also, with her bag was her sword and her staff. He carefully slung her bag over his shoulder and held her staff and sword.

It was the first time he had touched them. Merlina was always very careful with them. He could see why. Up close, now that he could touch it, he recognized the sword. Who wouldn't? It was the legendary Sword of Light. What Merlina was doing with it was beyond him, but she had always seemed to have it. The staff, though was completely unknown to him. It was a beautiful staff, with a pronged end holding a round and perfectly clear crystal. He'd put her things in the city and then figure out where the Dragons had taken Merlina. She had cancelled her summoning to throw that shield on him to keep him from being friend. Well, he'd pay kindness back. There was no way he'd leave a friend stranded.

"Don't worry, Merlina." he told himself. "I'll save you, just like you saved me."

*****

Merlina woke up and found herself in a dungeon, with manacles clasped to her wrists and ankles and those were connected via an iron chain to the wall behind her. She struggled briefly against them seeing if there was a weak link. Her back hurt, her face hurt, her arms hurt, her legs hurt, and her hair was a mess. She was definately extremely angry. How dare those dragons butt in? Since she was half Mazoku, she concentrated on her anger and channeled it into her magic to try to bust out of the chains. To her surprise, she saw that they were being absorbed. She heard someone laughing.

"Good morning. I see you're awake." said the voice. Merlina looked up and glared at the man in the white robe and long blond hair.

"Good morning to you also." she sai while glaring. She ran a hand through her tangled hair. "What do you want? Cause if you're here to bother, you can crawl back under the rock you came from."

"Feisty lady. Of course, I should have guessed that just by seeing your hair." said the man. "Well, my name is Minzal, and I'm to take you to the Council of Dragons so that they can judge you."

"Well, by all means, lead on." said Merlina sarcastically. "Who am I to keep the Council waiting?" Minzal smirked once more and then snapped his fingers and she was suddenly before the Council of Dragons.

'Why, that little...' thought Merlina to herself. 'He could at least have told me that I'd be teleported...' She caught his eyes and sent him a smoldering glare. He smiled and brusher her off. How she wished for a chance to break that jaw of his. It'd be entertaining to see how well he'd smile after that. Speaking of which... she hoped Xellos was allright. And that he'd take care of her things. So that when she escaped, she'd know where her things were.

"Name?" asked one of the elders on the Council. There were only three of them and were of various ages that could be simply catagorized as old and ancient. They all wore white robes and had golden hair although the eldes had white hair. Well, she thought he was the oldest one.

"Merlina." she answered curtly.

"Last name?"

"None." She grinned. They frowned. Merlina had to work hard to not stick her tongue out at them.

"Ms. Merlina. You were seen by the Pond of Gold about an hour ago trying to summon up a Mazoku. Do you refute this claim?" asked the guy with white hair.

"Nope." she said. She looked at them, putting on her most innocent face. "Why, was that wrong?"

"It most certainly was!" exclaimed the one on the right. "Young lady, do you even know what Mazoku are?"

"Now, now, no need to go about insulting the younger generation." said Merlina airily. "Of course I knew. I'm not an idiot. And I can even tell you what type of magic I was calling up on and what the repercussions would have been had I not been able to control him."

"And yet, you tried to do a summoning?" asked the one on the left. "How were you expecting to control him? How can one so young actually do it?"

"Of course I can!" said Merlina. "I'm not stupid. And if you guys can't do it, then I wouldn't be calling myself a high and mighty dragon."

"Why, the impertinence!" said the one with white hair. "Seal her in the dungeans and forbid her food or drink for three days. We will see how she acts then. Dismissed!"

"Why thank you so much. I was starting to get bored of the company." she said. She felt herself transported to her dungeon and mercilessly dumped on the floor.

"Ouch." she exclaimed as she got off and dusted her clothes. At least she wasn't chained to the wall anymore. She found a small bunk and sat on it and then took off one of her boots to massage her foot. "Maybe I shouldn't have been so rude." She thought a little more. "Nah... they deserved it... Dragons... who needs them! Noisy little bags of hot air...."

*****

Once in the city, Xellos began to get some information. He had rented a room to stow his things but he had hidden Merlina's staff and sword on himself. If he were to loose them... he didn't even want to know what Merlina would do. She certainly seemed much stronger than what he had thought.

The first place where he went was the tavern. People talked when they were drunk. He knew that from his relations to the other guys in Zephyria. And he bought a small cup of tea (he had the tea leaves with him and had payed the man to bring him some hot water so that he could brew his tea in) and silently heard them talk.

After fifteen minutes of useless information floating about him, he was about to give up. But just then, a man entered the tavern. He looked to be in his mid 30s and had a powerful build. He made a beeline for Xellos.

"Is the seat occupied?" he asked Xellos. Xellos shook his head. "Thanks." He sat down. Xellos couldn't see the man's eyes because his black bangs covered them. "What are you drinking?"

"Tea." said Xellos curtly.

"They serve tea here?" asked the man, sounding very surprised.

"I paid for a cup of hot water. The tea leaves are my own." said Xellos.

"How smart. Perhaps if I bring my coffee mix, they might serve me a cup of water to drink coffee?" wondered the man. Xellos shrugged. What a weird person. "Anyway, you're probably wondering why I'm talking to you."

"Yes, sort of." said Xellos.

"I am a chef." said the man. "My name is Nihl."

"And?" asked Xellos.

"I especialize in Dragon Cuisine." said Nihl. At this, Xellos's attention was captured.

"Really?" he asked.

"As a chef, I've been to many Dragon holds, you know. My knowledge is quite extensive." said Nihl. "I was by the Pond of Gold this morning, seeing if there was anything I could fish, when this young redhead comes. Seeing how serious she looked, I hid but I must admit, my attention was grabbed. It's not everyday one gets to see young adventurer ladies, especially with such brilliant red hair."

"So, I take it you saw everything?" asked Xellos.

"Yes." said Nihl. "That Merlina girl, she must be formidably strong to try a summon. Are you two friends?"

"Yes." said Xellos. "I'm trying to find out where she might be. Perhaps you could help me?"

"That's why I'm here." said the man. He smiled, his white teeth seeming to gleam in the semi darkness of the tavern.

"So, how much do you want?" asked Xellos. He had some money with him. Perhaps he could pay him.

"Nothing much." said Nihl. "I'm looking for an apprentice, or cook's helper when I prepare a feast for the Dragons in two days. And I have a new recipe to try out."

"And, how would that help Merlina?" asked Xellos. He was starting to get confused. Nihl leaned closer to him and spoke in hushed tones.

"I have a new recipe that I'd like to serve the Dragon's. If you don't want to partake in it, it's OK. But, the place where they are having the feast is probably where Merlina will be. After all, she's a pretty important person, considering how strong she is. The Dragon's will prefer it if she were nearby, to boast and to keep her under careful scrutiny." whispered Nihl.

"And this dish, what is it called?" asked Xellos, a hint showing in his eyes. Could it be that the man meant....

"Two names, it has." said Nihl. "To them, it's fried chicken, roast duck, pasta, dessert... I call it, Dragon's Bane." He smiled wickedly. "Are you in?"

*****

Merlina bit back a curse as she tried to flood her manacles with magic so that they'd break and let her go. But try as she might, she couldn't. She needed more power if she wanted to get out. She was lucky. It was only absorbing her magic. It could be so much worse...

She sat with a huff on her bed and stared at the opposite wall. The lack of food was surprisingly not killing her. But then, she had heard of Mazoku feeding of anger and other such negative emotions. She nver expected herself to go through that also. Of course, she had never had a chance to try it out since she always had enough food to eat. But now... well, it was sort of nice to know that she could sustain herself even during serious droughts and famines. Oh yeah... and imprisonments by Dragons were food and water were not allowed to the prisoner.

Today was the second day. One more day, and then she'd have to talk to them again. She had better escape before then. Well, truth be told... it was nice to antagonize them. That was probably her Mazoku side starting to come out. How annoying. But then, her other, calmer and nicer side probably wouldn't help in this situation. Given the choice, she'd go for the Mazoku side. After all, the Mazoku in her fought like crazy and was brave and strong. It was the curse of being a Mazoku. Even though she did not agree to all the actions of the Mazoku, she liked a bit. And it was growing more and more each time. And the worse part was that she needed to use this side to stay alive. And that side caused her joy, especially when she got to exercise her power, like she did with those two dragons when she had casted that spell on Xellos. She would have been able to do more, but she was worn out from concentrating so long on her summoning. She had no power left after casting such a complex and high level shield. Merlina resolved to get even more magical endurance so she could be ready next time.

*****

Xellos staid quiet as Nihl moved about the kitchen. They were in a Dragon Hall two hours from the city before. After much deliberation, Xellos had accepted. He had felt no trace of Dragon in the man, so he probably wasn't a spy. And there was something oddly comforting about his magical aura. He could tell that Nihl knew magic but that he preffered to use his hands, especially with cooking.

He looked at himself in the reflection of one of the shinnier pots. His hair had been dyed black and cut shorter so that the Dragons wouldn't recognize him. He had also gotten new clothes so that he didn't look like a priest anymore.

"Xellos, come here!" said Nihl, who stood on top of a chair to stir the boiling concoction in the huge pot.

"Yes, sir?" he asked, like any apprentice would.

"Stir the soup. And mind you don't get any of your hairs falling into it!" said Nihl. Then he whispered. "I'm going to get the pie started." Xellos nodded and got up on the chair to stir the soup.

Nihl had explained the plan to him. The only dish that was actually treated with Nihl's special talents was the dessert, from which most of the Dragon's would eat. It would take some time for it to take effect so that noone would feel bad during the actual feast. It would be in all the pies that Nihl would make. There was apple, pear, peach, strawberry and a bunch of others. And the Dragon's would enjoy it.

"Remember, don't put too much cream on them." said Xellos. He didn't actually want the Dragon's to die. So Nihl had promised him that it wouldn't be as strong. He had said it would be enough to knock them out and send them all sleeping like a bunch of babies...

For the umpteenth time, Xellos wondered at Nihl's interest in killing the Dragon's off. When asked, Nihl had said it was for personal reasons, and for his family. So it was probably revenge. But he couldn't imagine a gold dragon doing harm to anyone. Well,... they tried to fry him but that was because they thought he was with Merlina. And they kidnapped Merlina because she was making a summon. But Nihl gave no more details, and Xellos was left to trust him. Well, he didn't care much. He just had to break Merlina out of there. It was amazing seeing that Merlina was probably in the dungeons right under him. He wished there was an excuse for him to go down...

*****

Merlina sniffed the air. Then she sighed, a heavenly look adorning her features. It smelled delicious! She could feel her mouth watering.

"Um...." she said as she smelled it more. It was pies! There was strawberry and apple pie, her favorite! And there, off to the side was the smell of roast duck and fried chicken. Why, the greedy little.... the Council had probably ordered the feast to be made to tempt her with the delicious smells.

Mentally, she knew she didn't have to eat... well, at least not yet. Part of her wondered how long her body would be able to hang on. She was only half a Mazoku. She'd have to eat sooner or latter. Besides... real food actually tasted and smelled better than the smell of vengance or anger. They were probably trying to drive her crazy with that heavenly smell. Well, she'd show them that Merlina Quertwen wasn't that easy to tame! But! It still did smell wonderful. Delicious. Scrumptious.... she had to stop, lest she truly go mad. Then she chuckled as she imagined a mad version of herself. She'd probably have little fangs and there'd be a maniac gleam everytime she got near food. She'd travel throught out the world, looking for the best in fine cuisine. And she'd destroy everything that got in the way of her and her precious edibles... actually, that would be quite fun!*

*****

The feast was a success. The Dragons certainly enjoyed it and they all dug into their food eagerly. Nihl stood off to the side with his cheff's hat and with Xellos by his side.

"The reason this works so well, Xellos, is because Dragons aren't too great of cooks. They are always far from each other, keeping an eye on things, and fighting, guarding the whole time. There is not much priority in learning how to cook. Sure, they have their cooks, but they can't waste money on good food the whole time. So they save up for special occasions. I imagine capturing your Merlina would be one of them." Xellos reddened.

"She's not... I mean.. We're...." he stuttered. Nihl laughed.

"Just kidding, son. You have got to learn to lighten up." said Nihl. "I can see you two are friends. At least, in the small time I saw you. It's nice to see such honest men about." Xellos turned red.

"Anyway." he said, trying to turn the conversation to something that wouldn't embarass him. "Are we supposed to stay the night here?"

"Yeah." said Nihl. "Sounds perfect, huh? Besides, it's their way of showing hospitality. Thank you, by the way, for helping me with the pies. I didn't know if you would dare help me or not."

"You have done your part, I do mine also. Besides, I learned something." said Xellos.

"I'm sure learning how to poison them is bound to help sometime in the future." said Nihl with a smile.

"No!" said Xellos. "I mean, I didn't mean it like that... I'm into herbs and medicinal plants."

"Ah... that's a nice cover... that way, you can learn about Nature's poisons. You're pretty crafty." said Nihl. Xellos sighed.

"No... it's not like that..." said Xellos desperately. If anyone heard them talking like this... they might even kick them out! And then he couldn't save Merlina.

"Calm down... relax." said Nihl. "I understand you perfectly. Herbology is a good thing to learn. One never knows when they'll get hurt and need to make a poultice against poisons or infections."

"Yeah." said Xellos, glad that the man understood.

They watched the Dragons eat with a smile on their faces. Nihl thought to himself. It was nice to do good things every once in a while. He'd kill the Dragons tomorrow at breakfast. Perhaps some sweet poison in the syrup or pancakes?

*****

It was night. Xellos paced back and forth in his room. Nihl was in the next room sleeping soundly. He helped Xellos get in but the rescuing was up to him. He was to get Merlina and then escape immediately. He had a few more things to tend to and would stay until the next day. So he took a deep breath and opened the door a hint. He listened for guard's footsteps and on hearing none, walked out silently. He almost tripped on the fallen spear of one of the Dragon men guarding his door. It had fallen when the guard had gone to sleep. He steadied himself and then concentrated to find Merlina's aura. Once he found her aura, it was easier work to go down the stairs and around guards. The pies had worked well. All the guards were sleeping. He smirked when he saw a half finished slice on a plate in one of the guard's hand. It was so funny! And better yet, it didn't even kill them. They were just asleep. Well, that's how they seemed. He felt the pulse of one of them and was satisfied that they were just sleeping. With that, he sprinted lightly to make it to where they held Merlina. He went down several flights of stairs and finally made it to the dungeons. There, to the right, was Merlina. She was sleeping on her cot looking quite relaxed.

"Oy... Merlina!" he whispered to her. She didn't wake up. "Merlina!" He didn't want to yell loudly lest the guards wake up. But Merlina didn't even stir. He felt around on the floor and found a small stone. He judged the distance and threw the stone at her making a beeline to her cheek. It never hit her. Her hand had immediately snatched it out of the air and had thrown it back at him. He barely missed the stone. It was obvious he'd have to go to a few more drastic measures. It was beyond his understanding how she seemed to be sleeping so deeply yet so alert at the same time. Alert enough to throw back the stone. He reached into his clothes and brought out his staff. That was something great about magic. He had a place where he could put his things, like the staff. Then it hit him... he should get the keys to unlock the cell... right? Gosh, what an idiot he was. He tiptoed out and found the key on the belt of one of the guards. He slid it out and hurriedly unlocked the door to the cell. He slapped her face gently and after some time, she woke up.

"OK, buster... this is..." she started to say angrily, but a hand clamped over her mouth.

"Hush, Merlina!" whispered Xellos. "We're getting out."

"Oh... it's you..." said Merlina. She got up and stretched. "I had the most wonderful dream, you know."

"Merlina... let's get out of here!" said Xellos as he dragged her out. He then locked the door once more, put the key back, and the two hurriedly ran out of the room into the passage way. As the ran, Merlina looked about her.

"Xellos... all these guards... are they... dead?" she asked hesitantly as she slowed down to a stop before one of the men. Xellos looked at her and grinned.

"Now, that... is a secret!" he said cheerily. Merlina bopped him on the head. "Ouch... Merlina-san,.. that hurt!"

"Serves you right... now... are they?" she asked once more as she took the pulse of one.

"No, they're not." said Xellos. "They're asleep."

"You cast a sleep spell on everyone here?" asked Merlina, aghast. That would have taken lots of talent and power and stamina, considering that everyone here was a magic user.

"Nah..." said Xellos. "I took the easy way out and drugged them. Guess why I'm dressed differently." Merlina looked at him. There was a small beam of moonlight coming from one of the windows so she could see some colors. She reached out to touch Xellos's hair.

"You.. dyed it..." she said. "It looks better purple, thought. It matches your eyes better." She got red and immediately let go. "Anyway... we should get out of here soon!" So the two ran with Xellos leading the way. He took her to his room and then bolted the door. Opening the window, the stepped out and floated.

"Come on." he said. "I don't know how strong the drug was." Merlina hesitated.

"I can't." she said.

"Huh?" asked Xellos. "Whyever not?" He thought outloud, trying to figure out the reason. "I mean... let's see... today is the 5th... which means... so... you're time of the month isn't due for another week and a half or so." Merlina reddened.

"How do you know about that?" she asked, her eyebrow raised. Xellos laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"Uh...jaja...jaja." he said. "I.. um... I mean... it's a bit obvious when you don't do magic... and after living together one year... one tends to notice when you get more.. um... sensitive... and..." He trailed off, not knowing what to say. Merlina sighed. She counted to ten and took deep breaths.

'Relax', she thought. 'He doesn't mean to be rude... he's always been chivalrous and polite and never complains... treat him better... he's trying to save me... he's trying to help...'

"Don't worry about it," said Merlina. "But, don't ever mention it like that. It's rude!" Xellos bit back the comment that he didn't see how stating the truth was rude... but orders were orders.

"Sorry." he said. "I'll be more... quiet next time..." There was a brief pause. "Well... I guess I could carry you." He had no other brilliant idea how to get Merlina to safety.

"I guess..." she answered. Inwardly... she didn't want to. It was undignified of her, made her seem weak and impressionable.. and she was proud... But she really needed a ride to get out of here. "Can't wait till I get these manacles off."

"Magic absorbers?" asked Xellos. Merlina sighed and nodded. "Aren't they so polite?"

He picked her up softly and then, the two flew off into the night.



End of Chapter



*note.... does that seem like anyone you know? *grin* Could it be? Maybe it is a small bit of... premonition...


Author's notes

Well? What did you think? Did you enjoy it? I hope you did. This chapter came out a bit quicker since I had a three day vacation to work on it. Yeah! Anyway... how do you like it so much? This is Xellos's experience with Dragons. It's my little explanation on where he learned to cook toxic food. At least, the beginning of when he learns. And my latest new character.... Nihl. I like that name, don't you? Sounds like zero, wonder why....*grin* So, who is he? Don't worry. Some of you smarter people might have figured who is already....right? Well, that's it for now. Hope you guys truly enjoyed this chapter.

Please read and review, it encourages me so much!

Arigato!


Hotaru