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ZELGADISS TORN

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And that was a problem, the problem. He had had enough difficulty bonding the creature to him as it was. There was something odd about that too. The Zelgadiss and Greyzel must have retained a link of some kind, somehow, somewhere… Zelgadiss must know. He must be aware of it and he must break it. He had promised. He had promised Xelloss to hand over Greyzel in return for his life. This would not do. No. One never double-crossed a Mazouku Lord. Not Xelloss. Not never. Well, not for long.

Much to the dragon-lady's credit, Filia was a most gracious, if not surprised hostess. "You say you sent a messenger?"

"Yeah, but something must have got to him," Lina said as she munched down on a piece of toast leaving someone else to do the explaining.

"We thought we ran into him on his way back to the inn the next day, but it was just a trick. So unjust! A bunch of evil, unethical trolls tried to catch us unawares! Oh, Miss Filia, this potato pie is delicious!"

"Thank you, Amelia. It's a favorite of little Val's." Filia tried to smile politely while rolling over images of tricky, nasty trolls in her head.

Zelgadiss perked up. "That reminds me…I'd better check on them. It's been very quiet in there." He rose from the table and sprinted down the hall to Val's playroom where Gravos the huge Beastman, Greyzel the wiry Mazouku, and Val the young Ancient Dragon were all sitting on the floor playing cards.

"Go fisssssssh," Greyzel hissed to the little boy.

"You do so have a two! I saw it! Now gimme!" Val demanded.

"You sssneeked and peeked; you cheated. You don't get any twos. Go Fissssh." Greyzel was adamant.

"Uh, Zel?" Gravos was confused as to who this demon was, but he knew the rules to the game. "Ya gotta cover yer cards. If yer give him a look at 'em, that's not cheatin'. Now, ya gotta give him what all two cards ya got. That's the rules."

Val sneered. Greyzel grinned (?) baring his fangs, then licked his lips. Zelgadiss thought it was time for him to intercede, before blood loss.

"Ah…" he began.

Greyzel, however, beat him to the trick and forked over a pair of deuces saying, "Ssssstill your turn."

"You betcher!" Val whooped. "That makes four of them dudes!" He flung down his four-of-a-kind and studied his cards again. "Do. You. Have…"

Greyzel's eyes narrowed.

"Any tens?" piped the youthful voice.

Greyzel carefully flicked through his hand, remembering to hold the cards closer to his chest. "No!" he smiled, kind of. "Go fissssh!"

Zelgadiss slowly backed out of the room, making a clean getaway while the gettin' was easy. "They seem to be getting along perfectly well," he told Filia and friends around the dinner table. "Whoever said that demons and dragons couldn't learn to get along?"

Amelia smiled meaningfully up at his face, pleased that he enjoyed her own brand of seemly behavior encouraging friendly interactions from all parties…

"Arrrrgh!"

Another growl following shortly by a combination of wild thrashing sounds and virulent hissing noises magnetized all the folks at the table in the direction of the commotion. Val's room. Zelgadiss was the first to reach the door. Heaving it open he stormed inside, ready to take on whatever angry mess he would find.

The little dragon boy was hovering mid-air, held in place by a spell launched from Greyzel. He was unharmed, but spitting and glaring alternatively at the relatively calm blue demon.

"What's going on in here?" Zel demanded. He looked at Gravos who merely shrugged his shoulders, unable to explain.

"The little draaaa-gon," Greyzel interposed. "Doesss not like to loooooz at his little gamesssssss."

Gasping between sputters, Val yelled, "He's poison! He's not like you! gack!"

Zel raised an eyebrow. "You tried to bite your guest?"

"He did!" Greyzel offered up his right arm for examination. "Baaad dragon."

"I'm NOT bad! Mommy says so!" Val wailed in defense.

"But," Filia said at the doorway. "Sometimes you do bad things—like biting. Biting is wrong. You mustn't bite anyone, guests, family, anyone. Do you understand?"

Val looked away and nodded.

"Greyzel, release him now…gently!" Zel added as a precaution, although Val appeared tough enough to fall off the roof unharmed. Filia, however, might not see it that way and he knew better than to irritate the dragon-lady before requesting her aid and close company for a mission of dubious worth extending over an unknown duration of time.

Filia nodded her approval of Greyzel's gentle use of non-forceful confinement of her naughty son, and swept the child off to give him a bath. Zel guessed that that would be punishment enough for the little boy.

Later that evening, Lina explained all she could about the nature of their journey. "So we're going to settle some kind of a dispute, well actually Zel and Amelia are. I'm just along for backup in case things aren't as negotiable as they seem. Oh, and Gourry too."

"And you want me to just up and leave my home and business…for what reason?" Filia asked.

"Because my father believes both the Green Dragons and the Black Dragons may be involved!" Amelia piped up.

"Green Dragons? They are hardly sentient!" Filia snapped, not attempting to hide her disgust with her lower 'relations'. "But the Black ones… I have not heard of them in a long while."

"Anything you can tell us would help, Miss Filia. All we know is that they have been seen moving around. Some say they have encroached on other peoples lands, but I know nothing first hand, I'm afraid." Amelia leaned closer to Filia. "What do they look like? Can they appear human, like you can?"

Filia paused to consider her next words. "They look like the Ancients, but smaller and weaker, of course. No other dragons were ever the size or strength of the Ancients. And, yes, they can transform into a human form. Rather handsome, some think."

Zelgadiss smiled, thinking that she must have known at least one of them rather well at one time in her long life.

Filia continued, "…Perhaps not as strong as my people, but equally fierce—more aggressive…"

Zel's smile broadened as he wondered what had happened to that young male black dragon in Filia's past!

Filia wary of Zel's new human countenance, the smiling one, hesitated a moment before continuing. "A-At one time, oh a very long time ago, they were…servants and workers to the Ancients—and to the Golden's too, I suppose. But they are now independent and run their own kingdom," she noted quickly.

Zelgadiss' smile dropped and he looked at her askance, his eyes narrowing. He wondered about that 'kingdom' of theirs and how difficult a time the Black Dragons must have had freeing themselves from their overlords to get it. Could they be emboldened at last to take on other being's territories? Were these Black Dragons looking to expand, relying on their ferocity to achieve their goals? Filia did not appear to know much more. She had been out of touch for some time, sequestering her small family far away from curious dragon eyes.

"I wouldn't worry too much about them" Filia was continuing. "It's those nasty, conniving little Green ones you have to watch out for."

Again, Zelgadiss wondered if in fact Filia had had an errant Green Dragon friend at one time. The 'one that got away' or 'done her wrong.'

"But you can communicate with them, can't you?" Amelia asked.

"Yes," Filia sighed, then added, "barely."

"Can't you see how you could help our just and noble cause? Without you along, you who knows best the ins and outs of the Dragon realm…" Amelia went on, "We might commit a gigantic faux pas and run things ugly or…deadly."

Zelgadiss hid his face. Amelia could sure lay it on thick when the necessity arose.

"Oh… okay," Filia said resignedly. "I see your point." She looked deliberately at Lina as she said this. "You need someone with good arbitration skills …"

"And who can drive a hard bargain in our favor, don't forget that!" Lina pointed out. "It is Prince Phil who's footing the bill for all this and the Atlas City-State is his firm ally."

"Of course," Filia said. "I'll go speak to Jillas. He and Gravos will have to cover the shop while I'm gone, although how I'll replace my pottery while I'm out is a problem."

"Oh, we can all help you make more before we go, right everyone?" Amelia beamed.

"Miss Lina?" Amelia questioned her particularly.

"Yeah, sure. Why not? Break a pot, make a pot…sure like making mud pies, right Filia? Heh, heh…" Lina chuckled and gave Filia a good-natured smack on the arm. "So what about the little nuisance, Val? You're not thinking about bringing him along are you?"

"I most certainly am! Where would the last remaining Ancient Dragon be safer, than with me?" Filia was becoming a bit huffy.

"And with you, Miss Lina, the best sorceress in the entire universe!" Amelia added gaily.

"Yes, that's certainly true…" Lina replied. "Okay, then Val can come, but his expenses…"

"I'm sure my father will be most accommodating," Amelia inter-spliced.

Zelgadiss had to turn his head to hide his grin. Amelia was very manipulative! Good thing he was immune!

So for a week, Filia instructed her friends how prepare pottery to sell. She demonstrated how to knead clay to her specifications—Gourry's big hands were especially gifted—and oversaw the progress of those with painting skills. Amelia had spent hours in training as a girl of the court where painting was greatly admired so her skills were the best of the company. Together, the company of fighter's and magic users resolutely toiled to produce a comfortable backlog of pottery for sales in her absence. The second week was much the same, except Lina was getting ready to resume their travels. By the third week even Amelia was getting nervous about the delay.

"Filia! Time to go. The problem won't solve itself out there!" Lina announced.

"Fine," Filia relented reluctantly. "Then this will have to do. It gives Jillas plenty, I hope, to sell and material for me to complete immediately when I return. I just hope this doesn't take too long."

"Me, too…" Zelgadiss couldn't have agreed more, digging his hands deeper into a lump of softening clay. In the relaxed setting of friends, comfortable with one another and busy at some not to strenuous tasks, he had had time to grow into his new self a little. He liked being fully human again. Never once, well…maybe just once, did he look wistfully at Greyzel wishing he had some of those powers back. Mostly, though he noticed that Amelia was just trying to be sincere and friendly; she wasn't trying to put a move on him, pressure him, or anything. Zel could tell that she was happy just to spend time with him, and he felt the same. It was amazing to feel himself grow closer to someone else; Zel just had to smile to himself—It had been so very long since he had experienced anything even remotely like that feeling before. He also reveled in the warm feeling growing in the center of his chest that he had not felt for a very long time. It seemed to fill a hole, which had been inside him for so long that he hadn't even noticed it was there before now.

On one hand, a loud voice in his head was constantly shouting danger signals to him: don't get too involved; don't expose your feelings too quickly, because you will surely regret it! Another equally strong voice just kept pointing out what was plainly in front of him: she was just so cute, so nice, and she made him feel that wonderfully strange feeling inside his chest. He just didn't know to which voice to listen.

"I'm still confused," he thought to himself with a frown. "Even looking normal, I'm still unsure of myself."

"What was that Mr. Zelgadiss?"

As Zel came back to the present moment, he noticed that Amelia's rambling conversation with him had stopped, and Amelia was looking at him again with a strange expression on her face.

Uncomfortably, he adjusted his hands, which were still buried in a pile of clay. "I…" He looked over, watching her move closer to him, then raised his eyes up to her meet hers. "…think you are beautiful…" he said in a near whisper.

That won him a dazzling bright smile. "Really? Even with all this paint splattered all over my face?" she giggled gaily.

He blushed but continued to stare, "I-I hadn't noticed it."

"Oh…wow…" she gushed and blushed to match his face. A quick glance reassured her that his hands were occupied and unable to fend her off. In an instant, she leaned in and upwards, kissing him solidly on the lips. "I don't get compliments like that every day!"

The look of shock in his eyes and the realization of how forward she just had been, unseemly for a princess, suddenly occurred to her. She curbed her desire to kiss him again, held the rest of her emotions in check, and backed off.

"Wow, indeed…" Zel gasped.

The End. Zelgadiss Torn, Part 7.