"When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of
things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought"
-Sonnet 30
Gypsy Moon
Chapter 15: The Dead with the Dead
The three girls glared at Tybolt in bewilderment. Melendil was able to sputter out a question for moment. "Mikau's dead?"
"That can't be," Amelia choked, wiping a tear from her eye. "He's here."
"Yeah, that's what I'm trying to figure out," said Tybolt, scratching the back of his head. "You're a bad corpse, get back in your grave!"
The assassin scoffed and spit on the ground. "What are you talking about," he hissed. "Idiot."
"I said get back in your grave!" In a flash, the spade of the shovel smacked the back of Mikau's head sending his to kiss the dirt. Tybolt spun his shovel over his shoulder and hovered with pride over the body on the ground. "Everyone I bury will stayed buried! Do you understand that, corpse?"
"Ow, you bastard!" Mikau grumbled, slowly pushing his face from the itching earth with his weakening arms.
"I... am so confused," Melendil stated in shock. "Tybolt, I can officially say you have gone mad... Scratch that, you're insane. Sasheem already has the title of 'mad'."
"Shut up!" Sasheem shoved Melendil out of her way and pushed her way past Amelia and the sarcastic Elf. "Mikau is letting Tybolt push him around too easily." She began to make her way to the grounded assassin. A foot from his body, she quickly was greeted by his sword horizontally out and ready to slash. Sasheem stopped and froze without expression. "Tybolt, are you sure you buried him?"
"Absolutely!" said Tybolt.
"So... he's dead." said Amelia.
"No, now he's the undead."
"How can you be undead?" Melendil asked.
Sasheem bent down on her knees and looked at Mikau in his blank face. 'He's not running,' she thought. "What do you need from us?"
Mikau quickly got up and sheathed his sword. No one moved from their place except Melendil who shielded Amelia. The Princess pushed herself up on her toes and whispered in Melendil's sensitive ears. "What about Zelgadiss- san?"
"That's right," Melendil mumbled.
'I'm running out of time,' Mikau told himself. The assassin turned on his feet and began to walk in Tybolt's direction. "Move."
The gravedigger sighed and bent his arm to scratch his back. "Look, if you're unhappy with your grave I can always..."
"I don't care about my grave, now get out of my way!"
"You mean you are dead?!" Melendil shrieked. "Well then what are you doing out of your grave!"
"Shit." Mikau looked past Tybolt at the Chimera's fallen body on the ground. He began to move but a shovel quickly blocked his path. His eyes moved to his left and met the stern eyes of the gravedigger.
"The dead with the dead, the living with the living. It's rather clear. Now... get back to your grave."
Mikau would have spoke first, but his next action was blocking a spell coming from behind his back. He sliced the white streak of light with his blade and kept in his place. He spoke to the Gravedigger who still held out his shovel. "Why is this so important to you?"
"Because," Tybolt began. "Whenever a person has come back from the dead it has never been for a good reason."
"I see." Mikau made a lightning fast reflex of punching the gravedigger in his gut and letting his body fall. He strolled past Tybolt's unconscious body to Zelgadiss'.
Sasheem grinded her teeth and brought back her hands. Wind burst up from the ground around her and a gold pentagram formed between her hands. "You can go to hell and burn for eternity!"
"Elemekia Lance!" Melendil slid from blocking Amelia and let the Princess cast her spell at the assassin.
Mikau moved and sliced through Amelia's spell and blocked his body with his sword. "Don't toy with me!" He moved the try and pick up Zelgadiss but figured that he should 'dispose' of these people first when he heard the Gypsy chanting.
The pentagram between her hands began to glow and form a shining orb. "Circle of power, by the Eastern Winds I release thee!" A shaking, loud, gust started to get sucked in to the shining orb. Sasheem got ready to call out the spell's name when she noticed someone new enter the scene.
Amelia had taken this opportunity to begin chanting the Ra-tilt when she noticed the Gypsy had stopped.
"What is it?" Melendil asked. "Get him!"
Sasheem blinked mindlessly. "Xellos?"
"What?!" Melendil looked past Mikau and saw the Mazoku hovering over Zelgadiss. He waved at the three girls and blew them a kiss from his smile.
Melendil shook with rage at, what to her, was an insult. "Auta miqula orqu!"
"Xellos?" Mikau spun around and looked at the Mazoku float down to the Chimera's side. The assassin's eyes went wide and he leapt out at Xellos with his sword. "Get away! He's mine!"
"Zelgadiss-san!" Amelia tried her best to concentrate on her spell. "Ra- tilt!" She focused all of her mind on the energy she shot from her hand and aimed for the two men going at Zelgadiss. Amelia held respect for Xellos, and they had their ups and downs in their many adventures, but she didn't care what he was doing now and if her spell hit him. All Amelia could think about what getting Zelgadiss back to himself and if Xellos was a problem in her way to accomplishing her goal she would do her best to fix it.
Xellos opened a single violet eye and pointed one finger at Mikau. His one finger stopped the assassin in mid air and caught him off guard. "Behind you."
"What?" Mikau turned around in time to see Amelia's spell go off. Fast reflexes saved him as he flipped out of the way and ran back several feet after he was released from the air.
Xellos smirked as the spell hit him and he became engulfed in a mess of destruction.
"Amelia, what about Zelgadiss?" Melendil reminded.
"The spell was supposed to hit Mikau-san!" Amelia quickly came to a halt and backed up next to the Elf and Gypsy.
Xellos stood still, unchanged, and Zelgadiss had not moved an inch. The horse had run off from the loud explosion but the wagon remained unharmed. Sasheem quickly darted her look about to see where Tybolt was. The gravedigger had managed to crawl out of the way to a nearby tree. The Mazoku brought his staff down and a shield faded.
"Well," the Mazoku began. "I think I have gotten what I need."
Mikau turned back to look at Xellos bend down to Zelgadiss. "What?" Before he could run over to the Mazoku, Xellos vanished along with Zelgadiss and the two were gone.
Melendil's jaw dropped open and she yelled. "What's going on?!"
"Where are they taking him?" Amelia's eyes were filling with water again. She quickly wiped the tears away and opened her eyes hoping that this was all an illusion. To her disappointment it was not, and the truth hurt.
Mikau felt like he had just gotten a hard slap in the face. "No." He dropped to his knees and kept staring at the one place where Xellos had taken the Chimera away. 'How did Xellos know I was here? How did he know?' Mikau didn't move. He was in too much shock to speak, too bewildered to stand up and was oblivious to everything around him. "Why?" he finally muttered. "Why would-"
Movement.
The assassin pulled out his sword and slashed behind him while he turned around. He was back on his feet and alert.
Amelia placed her hand over the gash Mikau made on her leg. She felt an intense sting travel up her leg and force her to stop, falling to the ground.
"Raywing," Mikau whispered. He was in the air and gone in a flash before anyone could react.
Amelia began to cast a Recovery spell on her leg to heal the wound as Melendil ran to her side. Sasheem dashed over to her brother and knelt down.
Tybolt gave his sister a weak smile and slowly moved his hand from his stomach. "Mikau's good. I didn't even know he cut me."
Sasheem placed a glowing Recovery spell over a gash on Tybolt's stomach. She concentrated on putting her energy in the spell as her brother continued talking.
"I'm sorry," he began. "I shouldn't have ignored you. Or gotten mad and-"
"It's fine, really," the Gypsy interrupted. "You're only human. People get. You had every right to act that way. You should really not hold it in lik-"
"No, I shouldn't have gotten mad at you."
Sasheem didn't say anything. She pulled back and looked at his stomach. "There." The gash was healed and Tybolt didn't feel any more pain in his stomach.
Amelia and Melendil kneelt by Tybolt and his sister. "We have some things we really need to talk about," Melendil spoke up.
"Yeah," Tybolt answered. "First I want to say sorry to Amelia."
"Huh?" The Princess perked up and saw the gravedigger was staring straight at her. She looked down at the ground and began to fidget. "It's okay, Tybolt-san."
"No, Amelia! I was really over-reacting, you didn't do anything and-"
Melendil jumped in between the conversation. "Amelia, Tybolt! You're both sorry, okay? I can tell this conversation is only going to go back and forth, so hurry up and make up! We gotta' figure some stuff out here!"
Amelia looked up at Tybolt and he looked at her. "I'm sorry, Amelia. Really. I didn't mean. Well, I'm just sorry."
Amelia secretly smiled and nodded her head. "Okay."
"Thank you!" The Elf cried.
"Melendil, you have no compassion," Sasheem stated.
"We have no time for compassion!"
"Tybolt is apologizing to Amelia and you won't let them-"
"You two are both dragging it on now," Amelia interrupted.
Melendil cleared her throat and eyed the gravedigger. "Okay, I'm asking the obvious. What do you mean Mikau Coda is dead?"
"What I mean," Tybolt snorted. "Is that he is dead."
"But we just saw him. He was after Zelgadiss-san!" Amelia yelled. Everyone eyed her and she clamped her skirt as warm tears trickled from her eyes.
"He can't be dead," Melendil whispered. "Zel, that is. I mean. He was just here."
Sasheem took the wine bottle at her side and examined it.
"He can't be dead!" Amelia began to sob once more in her hands. Melendil wrapped her arms around the Princess and pulled her in to cry.
"I mean. It's logical." Melendil raised her eyes along with Amelia and they looked at the Gypsy who had her eyes on the bottle. She continued. "Why would they kill him, but still take his body? To dissect him?"
"Well once I did have to give up a few corpses to some mad-"
"But it can't be the same, Tybolt." Sasheem got up and walked in to the wagon. She returned only seconds later with a few sacks and sat back on the ground by the bottle.
Melendil grunted and let go of Amelia. "Sasheem, what are you doing?"
"Making a potion." She snapped her head to the Princess. "Amelia, do you know anything about plants?"
"Um." Amelia wiped her eyes and nodded. "My Mother taught me a few things."
"Okay. Could you come over here? You're gong to learn a little Gypsy magic." Sasheem began to struggle opening the leathers sacks and dumping the contents on the grounds. Herbs fell out of the sacks and their scents filled the air.
"What is all of this for?" Amelia asked.
"I'm checking for poison. I can't imagine how else he would fall like that."
"Even if he was poisoned he could still be dead!" Melendil added.
Sasheem ignored her friend and picked up an object wrapped in silk. Amelia gasped and covered her ears, she knew what Sasheem was about to unwrap.
"What's wrong?" Tybolt asked.
Sasheem untied the string around the silk covered object.
"It's a Mandrake root, cover you ears!" Amelia cringed.
"EEEK!" Melendil leapt out at Sasheem and tackled the Gypsy on the ground, grabbing her hands. "What the hell are you doing with a Mandrake root?!"
"Don't do the Melendil! And don't worry, the root was harvest at night beneath a gallow tree, then washed in wine! And I wrapped it in silk and velvet, now will you get off?"
"Well since there seems to now be no harm." Melendil backed up and released Sasheem's hand.
"Thank you," Sasheem spat sarcastically. She sighed and reached behind her back, pulling out a small dagger. "Okay, I know we are gong to need Mandrake root." She looked at Amelia and motioned to one of the leather sacks. "I have a small mortar and pestle in there, do you think you could find it?"
"Sure." Amelia reached in and pulled out mortar and pestle, placing it on the ground.
Sasheem used the dagger to slice the Mandrake. Placing the small slices in the mortar, she began to turn the root to a powder. "Amelia this is where I need your help. We need to make a potion to reveal any poison. Maybe something along the lines of 'Yurlashy'. Do you know that potion?"
"Yes, I do. Um." Amelia tried to shake off her depression and think about how to now cure the situation. "No Hawthorn, that kills the unwanted and banishes." Sasheem continued grinding the mandrake as Melendil and Tybolt watched the two talk back and forth.
"I. Am so confused right now," Melendil stated.
"Yep, me too," added Tybolt.
"Oh wait! There was Rue in that potion!" Amelia spoke up.
"Okay, find some in one of the bags." Sasheem stopped grinding and went through the bags with Amelia. "If you find Deadly Nightshade or Belladonna get that."
"Found both of them, which do you think is better?"
"Lets go with. Well, which do you think is better for revealing?"
"I would say the Belladonna. It's said to reveal pain and spasms."
"Just what I was thinking, then lets take that. And did you find the Rue?"
"Right here," Amelia said holding up the Rue.
"Here then." Sasheem slid a dagger across the ground to Amelia. "Chop that Rue and grind it in with the Mandrake."
"Sasheem, there is probably Monkshood in here. We should put something to counter it."
"Good thinking. What do you think of Vervain?"
"Sounds good."
"What the hell are they talking about?" Melendil stared blankly at the girls work back and forth. Amelia chopped and put the herbs in the mortar as Sasheem questioned her and cut her own herbs, the grind them in to a powder.
"I really don't know, " said Tybolt. ". Wanna' drink some Ale?"
"Always," said Melendil, as she reached out and pulled over a small barrel of Ale.
"And.that. should do it." Sasheem finished making the powder and looked at Amelia. "Okay, we made Yurlashy. Now we need the bottle."
"Right here." Amelia put the bottle in front of her and Sasheem. "Okay, three pinches."
Sasheem reached in the powder and sprinkled three pinches into the bottle. Amelia took the bottle and swirled the powder around as Sasheem reached for a canteen of water. "Okay, hold the bottle out." Amelia put the bottle out and Sasheem slowly poured a small amount of water over the powder in the bottle. "Swish that around."
Amelia did so and watched the water slowly turn to a purple color. The two cringed and looked at the bottle.
"Purple. Well, he was poisoned. I guess they wanted to bring him to a state of death." Sasheem whispered.
"What now?" Amelia asked.
"Pour it slowly on the ground. Depending on what sign comes up we can tell what they used."
Amelia nodded and gathered he wits. Slowly tipping the bottle, she poured the liquid on to the earth and listened to it hiss. From the liquid hitting the earth, a purple steam rose and began to form a sign. It twisted in to a spiral while other parts of the steam broke free and made little dots to boarder the spiral. The image soon faded and nothing was left.
"What does that mean?" Amelia asked.
The Gypsy gave her a small smile and sighed. "It means that Zelgadiss is not dead. He was poisoned to look like he was dead, but in reality he is quite alive. He should come to his senses in a few hours."
Amelia smiled and looked down at the ground. Her eyes had brightened but at the same time she wanted to cry. 'This is so great!' she told herself. But it still didn't change the fact that Zelgadiss was gone.
"Now we work to get him back," Sasheem continued. She put her hand out to help Amelia up.
Tybolt looked over form drinking his pint of Ale and watched his sister and Amelia stand up. "So what's the news?"
"Zelgadiss-san is alive," Amelia managed to get out.
"Wuz-zat'?" Melendil slurred out. She turned her head back and looked at the two with lazy eyes. "Whu? Zel's got hives? HA!" She took a large gulp of Ale and swallowed. "Probably cauzee' bllluuuushes e-ve-ry time 'e sees- hic- oh man why doza' world spin so much?" Melendil fell backwards on the ground and began to sleep.
"She gets drunk really fast," Tybolt commented. "And she only got down four mugs of Ale."
"She got four mugs down that fast?!" Amelia yelped.
Tybolt nodded. "I couldn't believe it myself. One of the freakiest things I know I've ever seen."
"We have to get to Lestophel," said Sasheem, cutting off the topic.
"Maybe this will help." Tybolt stood up and pulled out a scroll he had tucked in his belt. "Mikau dropped this. Guess he didn't realize I got it."
Sasheem and Amelia exchanged looks. The Gypsy motioned to Amelia that she could look at it first. The Princess reached her hand out and took the scroll. She unrolled it and quickly looked over the writing.
"What does it say?" Tybolt tried leaning over to see the script.
Amelia let out a sigh and slowly drew the script down from her eye level. "It's in Elvish, I can't read it."
Everyone's eyes moved to the drunken Elf on the ground and groaned.
"Amelia, can you use a Decleary spell?" Sasheem asked.
"Sure." Amelia moved over to Melendil and began to cast the spell.
~)*(~
The woods had become thicker as Lina and Gourry followed the Elves. Lina couldn't help but feel like a lost child, even though she was right next to Gourry, her protector. She looked up at the blond man and felt a wave of questions come to her mind.
'What am I missing about him?' she kept thinking.
"Lina?"
"Hm?" Lina blinked and realized Gourry was looking right back at her.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine." The sorceress turned away and continued looking at the ground as they walked on.
"Okay," Gourry replied, as her gave her one of his childish carefree smiles.
"We are here," Said an Elf. Lina and Gourry both looked forward as the Elves parted and led them into their village.
The first word the came to Lina's mind was 'beautiful.' The large wooden and stone houses were set up high in the thick trees that held them. Bridges crossed from tree to tree, guiding Elves to different houses as they walked up high above the ground. Spiral staircases twisted around the large tree trunks and led up to the houses above them. There was one fancy house in the middle of the village much bigger then the others, and that looked more like an elegant castle to Lina.
Rays of light broke through the thick tree branches that covered all of the woods and let sparkling rays of light into the shaded village. Many of the Elves stopped their work or play and turned to the entering group, giving kind smiles to welcome them in.
"This is the village?" Lina asked.
"Yes," replied one of the Elves.
Lina looked up at Gourry who looked back at her. "Isn't it pretty?" He asked.
"It's beautiful," Lina replied. "Gourry, you said the Elves won't."
"They wouldn't do a thing to harm us."
"Quiet," An Elf ordered the two. "Arien is coming."
"Arien?" Gourry looked away from Lina and out to the village, watching Elves part as a woman seemed to be coming forth.
Lina leaned in close to the Elf in front of her and whispered in his sensitive ear. "Who is Arien?"
The Elf turned and watched Lina with his kind face and blue eyes. "Arien is the protector of our village. You humans might refer to that position as a Queen, but to us she is the ruler and protector."
"I see." Lina moved back and watched the woman approach.
The sorceress could see she was tall and slender as she took graceful steps towards the group that had come. Her white robes swayed in a passing breeze and flowed behind her. Arien had the gentle blue eyes of a child and long flowing blond hair that was so light, one could say it was almost white. But she looked young and beautiful as she came closer.
The Elves got on one knee and bowed. "Arien," said the leader. "We come back with news abo-"
"HIII MOM!" Lina's jaw dropped as she saw Gourry throw his hand in the air and wave it vigorously.
"GOURRY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
_______________________________________________________________________
Notes from the Fairy Rouge: Wow, I finally got this chapter up! Yes! Things are picking up fast! Sorry I didn't get anything up earlier, my life has been consumed by so many things lately. But I do hope to get the next chapter up sooner, because I love writing this story. I know what I want to happen and will do it, so who knows there could be a crazy sequel. Anyway, here it is! Finally! The wait is over! I think..
Now for an announcement:
Me and my dear Donut Bird friend, Raven Summersong (you might now her as the talented author of Bird).Well.Okay, she is not a Donut Bird and I don't even know what Donut Bird is, but her name is Raven, a Raven is a bird and Raven just her job at a Dunkin Donuts so thus the conclusion: Donut Bird. But I think that sounds odd, so I'll call her my dear friend raven. I wonder what Donut Bird would look like? I should draw one. Donut Bird. A donut.. with wings.maybe a beak. Some feathers made of frosting. Donut Bird. Moving right along:
From the idea of several of my friends and an interesting idea from an e- mail got form a reviewer, me and Raven are turning the fanfic 'Gypsy Moon' in to an RPG. We are very excited about this and want to do it so much.
What would happen would not at all have to be the same plot line as the fanfic. We would just get the characters moving along to Cymbalien and from their WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN! That's what an RPG is all about, making a story! So it will have the whole thing about the Gypsies and all, but why not screw it up when they get to Cymbalien and make a whole new thing!
Now the reason I am putting this announcement up is because we need players! The characters of Amelia, Zelgadiss and Lina have already been taken, but still have room fro everyone else. And yes, even though Filia, Martina, Zangulus, Valgaav and everyone else is not in here you can still bring them right in! And yes, Xellos is not taken. We also will have the RPG featuring the original characters of Sasheem and Tori Aiko (the priestess from Bird.) If you wish to play Melendil or Tybolt, then feel free to ask me.
So we need more people to play and that is why I am putting this here! If you wish to join the RPG, just send me or Raven a e-mail with what character you want to play and a sample of how you role play, in other words a post. Like this example:
Mab woke up the next day in her warm and comfy bed. The sunlight had hit eyes and sent a sting in her head.
"WAKE UP, LOSER!" An old woman shouted, and smacked the fairy rouge out her bed with the large Tuna fish. "IT'S TIME TO HARVEST THE DONUT BIRDS!"
"Fine, fine! Keep your skirt on!" The fairy shouted. Mab trudged out of her room and made her way to the barn. She grabbed the soup ladle and banged it against the golden gong on her left. "WAKE UP, DONUT BIRDS! I'M HAVING A CRAPPY MORNING, AND I AM NOT IN THE MODD TO HAVE YOU SPITTING COFFEE AT ME TODAY!"
Naturally the Donut Birds opened their beaks and spit coffee all over the small Fairy. Mab blinked and stood frozen for a moment. Of course she wasn't frozen, the coffee was burning hot and had made her quite warm. But the warmth turned to a burning sting and sent the fairy running out to lake of wine to cool off.
That is what Raven and I call a post. Your part of the story, basically. What you write for your character. So send us that, the character you wish to play, and example and we will see what we think. We are sorry that we can not pick all of you, but please send us your e-mails and what you think! We want to have many people and have so many spaces open!
-Mab
-Sonnet 30
Gypsy Moon
Chapter 15: The Dead with the Dead
The three girls glared at Tybolt in bewilderment. Melendil was able to sputter out a question for moment. "Mikau's dead?"
"That can't be," Amelia choked, wiping a tear from her eye. "He's here."
"Yeah, that's what I'm trying to figure out," said Tybolt, scratching the back of his head. "You're a bad corpse, get back in your grave!"
The assassin scoffed and spit on the ground. "What are you talking about," he hissed. "Idiot."
"I said get back in your grave!" In a flash, the spade of the shovel smacked the back of Mikau's head sending his to kiss the dirt. Tybolt spun his shovel over his shoulder and hovered with pride over the body on the ground. "Everyone I bury will stayed buried! Do you understand that, corpse?"
"Ow, you bastard!" Mikau grumbled, slowly pushing his face from the itching earth with his weakening arms.
"I... am so confused," Melendil stated in shock. "Tybolt, I can officially say you have gone mad... Scratch that, you're insane. Sasheem already has the title of 'mad'."
"Shut up!" Sasheem shoved Melendil out of her way and pushed her way past Amelia and the sarcastic Elf. "Mikau is letting Tybolt push him around too easily." She began to make her way to the grounded assassin. A foot from his body, she quickly was greeted by his sword horizontally out and ready to slash. Sasheem stopped and froze without expression. "Tybolt, are you sure you buried him?"
"Absolutely!" said Tybolt.
"So... he's dead." said Amelia.
"No, now he's the undead."
"How can you be undead?" Melendil asked.
Sasheem bent down on her knees and looked at Mikau in his blank face. 'He's not running,' she thought. "What do you need from us?"
Mikau quickly got up and sheathed his sword. No one moved from their place except Melendil who shielded Amelia. The Princess pushed herself up on her toes and whispered in Melendil's sensitive ears. "What about Zelgadiss- san?"
"That's right," Melendil mumbled.
'I'm running out of time,' Mikau told himself. The assassin turned on his feet and began to walk in Tybolt's direction. "Move."
The gravedigger sighed and bent his arm to scratch his back. "Look, if you're unhappy with your grave I can always..."
"I don't care about my grave, now get out of my way!"
"You mean you are dead?!" Melendil shrieked. "Well then what are you doing out of your grave!"
"Shit." Mikau looked past Tybolt at the Chimera's fallen body on the ground. He began to move but a shovel quickly blocked his path. His eyes moved to his left and met the stern eyes of the gravedigger.
"The dead with the dead, the living with the living. It's rather clear. Now... get back to your grave."
Mikau would have spoke first, but his next action was blocking a spell coming from behind his back. He sliced the white streak of light with his blade and kept in his place. He spoke to the Gravedigger who still held out his shovel. "Why is this so important to you?"
"Because," Tybolt began. "Whenever a person has come back from the dead it has never been for a good reason."
"I see." Mikau made a lightning fast reflex of punching the gravedigger in his gut and letting his body fall. He strolled past Tybolt's unconscious body to Zelgadiss'.
Sasheem grinded her teeth and brought back her hands. Wind burst up from the ground around her and a gold pentagram formed between her hands. "You can go to hell and burn for eternity!"
"Elemekia Lance!" Melendil slid from blocking Amelia and let the Princess cast her spell at the assassin.
Mikau moved and sliced through Amelia's spell and blocked his body with his sword. "Don't toy with me!" He moved the try and pick up Zelgadiss but figured that he should 'dispose' of these people first when he heard the Gypsy chanting.
The pentagram between her hands began to glow and form a shining orb. "Circle of power, by the Eastern Winds I release thee!" A shaking, loud, gust started to get sucked in to the shining orb. Sasheem got ready to call out the spell's name when she noticed someone new enter the scene.
Amelia had taken this opportunity to begin chanting the Ra-tilt when she noticed the Gypsy had stopped.
"What is it?" Melendil asked. "Get him!"
Sasheem blinked mindlessly. "Xellos?"
"What?!" Melendil looked past Mikau and saw the Mazoku hovering over Zelgadiss. He waved at the three girls and blew them a kiss from his smile.
Melendil shook with rage at, what to her, was an insult. "Auta miqula orqu!"
"Xellos?" Mikau spun around and looked at the Mazoku float down to the Chimera's side. The assassin's eyes went wide and he leapt out at Xellos with his sword. "Get away! He's mine!"
"Zelgadiss-san!" Amelia tried her best to concentrate on her spell. "Ra- tilt!" She focused all of her mind on the energy she shot from her hand and aimed for the two men going at Zelgadiss. Amelia held respect for Xellos, and they had their ups and downs in their many adventures, but she didn't care what he was doing now and if her spell hit him. All Amelia could think about what getting Zelgadiss back to himself and if Xellos was a problem in her way to accomplishing her goal she would do her best to fix it.
Xellos opened a single violet eye and pointed one finger at Mikau. His one finger stopped the assassin in mid air and caught him off guard. "Behind you."
"What?" Mikau turned around in time to see Amelia's spell go off. Fast reflexes saved him as he flipped out of the way and ran back several feet after he was released from the air.
Xellos smirked as the spell hit him and he became engulfed in a mess of destruction.
"Amelia, what about Zelgadiss?" Melendil reminded.
"The spell was supposed to hit Mikau-san!" Amelia quickly came to a halt and backed up next to the Elf and Gypsy.
Xellos stood still, unchanged, and Zelgadiss had not moved an inch. The horse had run off from the loud explosion but the wagon remained unharmed. Sasheem quickly darted her look about to see where Tybolt was. The gravedigger had managed to crawl out of the way to a nearby tree. The Mazoku brought his staff down and a shield faded.
"Well," the Mazoku began. "I think I have gotten what I need."
Mikau turned back to look at Xellos bend down to Zelgadiss. "What?" Before he could run over to the Mazoku, Xellos vanished along with Zelgadiss and the two were gone.
Melendil's jaw dropped open and she yelled. "What's going on?!"
"Where are they taking him?" Amelia's eyes were filling with water again. She quickly wiped the tears away and opened her eyes hoping that this was all an illusion. To her disappointment it was not, and the truth hurt.
Mikau felt like he had just gotten a hard slap in the face. "No." He dropped to his knees and kept staring at the one place where Xellos had taken the Chimera away. 'How did Xellos know I was here? How did he know?' Mikau didn't move. He was in too much shock to speak, too bewildered to stand up and was oblivious to everything around him. "Why?" he finally muttered. "Why would-"
Movement.
The assassin pulled out his sword and slashed behind him while he turned around. He was back on his feet and alert.
Amelia placed her hand over the gash Mikau made on her leg. She felt an intense sting travel up her leg and force her to stop, falling to the ground.
"Raywing," Mikau whispered. He was in the air and gone in a flash before anyone could react.
Amelia began to cast a Recovery spell on her leg to heal the wound as Melendil ran to her side. Sasheem dashed over to her brother and knelt down.
Tybolt gave his sister a weak smile and slowly moved his hand from his stomach. "Mikau's good. I didn't even know he cut me."
Sasheem placed a glowing Recovery spell over a gash on Tybolt's stomach. She concentrated on putting her energy in the spell as her brother continued talking.
"I'm sorry," he began. "I shouldn't have ignored you. Or gotten mad and-"
"It's fine, really," the Gypsy interrupted. "You're only human. People get. You had every right to act that way. You should really not hold it in lik-"
"No, I shouldn't have gotten mad at you."
Sasheem didn't say anything. She pulled back and looked at his stomach. "There." The gash was healed and Tybolt didn't feel any more pain in his stomach.
Amelia and Melendil kneelt by Tybolt and his sister. "We have some things we really need to talk about," Melendil spoke up.
"Yeah," Tybolt answered. "First I want to say sorry to Amelia."
"Huh?" The Princess perked up and saw the gravedigger was staring straight at her. She looked down at the ground and began to fidget. "It's okay, Tybolt-san."
"No, Amelia! I was really over-reacting, you didn't do anything and-"
Melendil jumped in between the conversation. "Amelia, Tybolt! You're both sorry, okay? I can tell this conversation is only going to go back and forth, so hurry up and make up! We gotta' figure some stuff out here!"
Amelia looked up at Tybolt and he looked at her. "I'm sorry, Amelia. Really. I didn't mean. Well, I'm just sorry."
Amelia secretly smiled and nodded her head. "Okay."
"Thank you!" The Elf cried.
"Melendil, you have no compassion," Sasheem stated.
"We have no time for compassion!"
"Tybolt is apologizing to Amelia and you won't let them-"
"You two are both dragging it on now," Amelia interrupted.
Melendil cleared her throat and eyed the gravedigger. "Okay, I'm asking the obvious. What do you mean Mikau Coda is dead?"
"What I mean," Tybolt snorted. "Is that he is dead."
"But we just saw him. He was after Zelgadiss-san!" Amelia yelled. Everyone eyed her and she clamped her skirt as warm tears trickled from her eyes.
"He can't be dead," Melendil whispered. "Zel, that is. I mean. He was just here."
Sasheem took the wine bottle at her side and examined it.
"He can't be dead!" Amelia began to sob once more in her hands. Melendil wrapped her arms around the Princess and pulled her in to cry.
"I mean. It's logical." Melendil raised her eyes along with Amelia and they looked at the Gypsy who had her eyes on the bottle. She continued. "Why would they kill him, but still take his body? To dissect him?"
"Well once I did have to give up a few corpses to some mad-"
"But it can't be the same, Tybolt." Sasheem got up and walked in to the wagon. She returned only seconds later with a few sacks and sat back on the ground by the bottle.
Melendil grunted and let go of Amelia. "Sasheem, what are you doing?"
"Making a potion." She snapped her head to the Princess. "Amelia, do you know anything about plants?"
"Um." Amelia wiped her eyes and nodded. "My Mother taught me a few things."
"Okay. Could you come over here? You're gong to learn a little Gypsy magic." Sasheem began to struggle opening the leathers sacks and dumping the contents on the grounds. Herbs fell out of the sacks and their scents filled the air.
"What is all of this for?" Amelia asked.
"I'm checking for poison. I can't imagine how else he would fall like that."
"Even if he was poisoned he could still be dead!" Melendil added.
Sasheem ignored her friend and picked up an object wrapped in silk. Amelia gasped and covered her ears, she knew what Sasheem was about to unwrap.
"What's wrong?" Tybolt asked.
Sasheem untied the string around the silk covered object.
"It's a Mandrake root, cover you ears!" Amelia cringed.
"EEEK!" Melendil leapt out at Sasheem and tackled the Gypsy on the ground, grabbing her hands. "What the hell are you doing with a Mandrake root?!"
"Don't do the Melendil! And don't worry, the root was harvest at night beneath a gallow tree, then washed in wine! And I wrapped it in silk and velvet, now will you get off?"
"Well since there seems to now be no harm." Melendil backed up and released Sasheem's hand.
"Thank you," Sasheem spat sarcastically. She sighed and reached behind her back, pulling out a small dagger. "Okay, I know we are gong to need Mandrake root." She looked at Amelia and motioned to one of the leather sacks. "I have a small mortar and pestle in there, do you think you could find it?"
"Sure." Amelia reached in and pulled out mortar and pestle, placing it on the ground.
Sasheem used the dagger to slice the Mandrake. Placing the small slices in the mortar, she began to turn the root to a powder. "Amelia this is where I need your help. We need to make a potion to reveal any poison. Maybe something along the lines of 'Yurlashy'. Do you know that potion?"
"Yes, I do. Um." Amelia tried to shake off her depression and think about how to now cure the situation. "No Hawthorn, that kills the unwanted and banishes." Sasheem continued grinding the mandrake as Melendil and Tybolt watched the two talk back and forth.
"I. Am so confused right now," Melendil stated.
"Yep, me too," added Tybolt.
"Oh wait! There was Rue in that potion!" Amelia spoke up.
"Okay, find some in one of the bags." Sasheem stopped grinding and went through the bags with Amelia. "If you find Deadly Nightshade or Belladonna get that."
"Found both of them, which do you think is better?"
"Lets go with. Well, which do you think is better for revealing?"
"I would say the Belladonna. It's said to reveal pain and spasms."
"Just what I was thinking, then lets take that. And did you find the Rue?"
"Right here," Amelia said holding up the Rue.
"Here then." Sasheem slid a dagger across the ground to Amelia. "Chop that Rue and grind it in with the Mandrake."
"Sasheem, there is probably Monkshood in here. We should put something to counter it."
"Good thinking. What do you think of Vervain?"
"Sounds good."
"What the hell are they talking about?" Melendil stared blankly at the girls work back and forth. Amelia chopped and put the herbs in the mortar as Sasheem questioned her and cut her own herbs, the grind them in to a powder.
"I really don't know, " said Tybolt. ". Wanna' drink some Ale?"
"Always," said Melendil, as she reached out and pulled over a small barrel of Ale.
"And.that. should do it." Sasheem finished making the powder and looked at Amelia. "Okay, we made Yurlashy. Now we need the bottle."
"Right here." Amelia put the bottle in front of her and Sasheem. "Okay, three pinches."
Sasheem reached in the powder and sprinkled three pinches into the bottle. Amelia took the bottle and swirled the powder around as Sasheem reached for a canteen of water. "Okay, hold the bottle out." Amelia put the bottle out and Sasheem slowly poured a small amount of water over the powder in the bottle. "Swish that around."
Amelia did so and watched the water slowly turn to a purple color. The two cringed and looked at the bottle.
"Purple. Well, he was poisoned. I guess they wanted to bring him to a state of death." Sasheem whispered.
"What now?" Amelia asked.
"Pour it slowly on the ground. Depending on what sign comes up we can tell what they used."
Amelia nodded and gathered he wits. Slowly tipping the bottle, she poured the liquid on to the earth and listened to it hiss. From the liquid hitting the earth, a purple steam rose and began to form a sign. It twisted in to a spiral while other parts of the steam broke free and made little dots to boarder the spiral. The image soon faded and nothing was left.
"What does that mean?" Amelia asked.
The Gypsy gave her a small smile and sighed. "It means that Zelgadiss is not dead. He was poisoned to look like he was dead, but in reality he is quite alive. He should come to his senses in a few hours."
Amelia smiled and looked down at the ground. Her eyes had brightened but at the same time she wanted to cry. 'This is so great!' she told herself. But it still didn't change the fact that Zelgadiss was gone.
"Now we work to get him back," Sasheem continued. She put her hand out to help Amelia up.
Tybolt looked over form drinking his pint of Ale and watched his sister and Amelia stand up. "So what's the news?"
"Zelgadiss-san is alive," Amelia managed to get out.
"Wuz-zat'?" Melendil slurred out. She turned her head back and looked at the two with lazy eyes. "Whu? Zel's got hives? HA!" She took a large gulp of Ale and swallowed. "Probably cauzee' bllluuuushes e-ve-ry time 'e sees- hic- oh man why doza' world spin so much?" Melendil fell backwards on the ground and began to sleep.
"She gets drunk really fast," Tybolt commented. "And she only got down four mugs of Ale."
"She got four mugs down that fast?!" Amelia yelped.
Tybolt nodded. "I couldn't believe it myself. One of the freakiest things I know I've ever seen."
"We have to get to Lestophel," said Sasheem, cutting off the topic.
"Maybe this will help." Tybolt stood up and pulled out a scroll he had tucked in his belt. "Mikau dropped this. Guess he didn't realize I got it."
Sasheem and Amelia exchanged looks. The Gypsy motioned to Amelia that she could look at it first. The Princess reached her hand out and took the scroll. She unrolled it and quickly looked over the writing.
"What does it say?" Tybolt tried leaning over to see the script.
Amelia let out a sigh and slowly drew the script down from her eye level. "It's in Elvish, I can't read it."
Everyone's eyes moved to the drunken Elf on the ground and groaned.
"Amelia, can you use a Decleary spell?" Sasheem asked.
"Sure." Amelia moved over to Melendil and began to cast the spell.
~)*(~
The woods had become thicker as Lina and Gourry followed the Elves. Lina couldn't help but feel like a lost child, even though she was right next to Gourry, her protector. She looked up at the blond man and felt a wave of questions come to her mind.
'What am I missing about him?' she kept thinking.
"Lina?"
"Hm?" Lina blinked and realized Gourry was looking right back at her.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine." The sorceress turned away and continued looking at the ground as they walked on.
"Okay," Gourry replied, as her gave her one of his childish carefree smiles.
"We are here," Said an Elf. Lina and Gourry both looked forward as the Elves parted and led them into their village.
The first word the came to Lina's mind was 'beautiful.' The large wooden and stone houses were set up high in the thick trees that held them. Bridges crossed from tree to tree, guiding Elves to different houses as they walked up high above the ground. Spiral staircases twisted around the large tree trunks and led up to the houses above them. There was one fancy house in the middle of the village much bigger then the others, and that looked more like an elegant castle to Lina.
Rays of light broke through the thick tree branches that covered all of the woods and let sparkling rays of light into the shaded village. Many of the Elves stopped their work or play and turned to the entering group, giving kind smiles to welcome them in.
"This is the village?" Lina asked.
"Yes," replied one of the Elves.
Lina looked up at Gourry who looked back at her. "Isn't it pretty?" He asked.
"It's beautiful," Lina replied. "Gourry, you said the Elves won't."
"They wouldn't do a thing to harm us."
"Quiet," An Elf ordered the two. "Arien is coming."
"Arien?" Gourry looked away from Lina and out to the village, watching Elves part as a woman seemed to be coming forth.
Lina leaned in close to the Elf in front of her and whispered in his sensitive ear. "Who is Arien?"
The Elf turned and watched Lina with his kind face and blue eyes. "Arien is the protector of our village. You humans might refer to that position as a Queen, but to us she is the ruler and protector."
"I see." Lina moved back and watched the woman approach.
The sorceress could see she was tall and slender as she took graceful steps towards the group that had come. Her white robes swayed in a passing breeze and flowed behind her. Arien had the gentle blue eyes of a child and long flowing blond hair that was so light, one could say it was almost white. But she looked young and beautiful as she came closer.
The Elves got on one knee and bowed. "Arien," said the leader. "We come back with news abo-"
"HIII MOM!" Lina's jaw dropped as she saw Gourry throw his hand in the air and wave it vigorously.
"GOURRY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
_______________________________________________________________________
Notes from the Fairy Rouge: Wow, I finally got this chapter up! Yes! Things are picking up fast! Sorry I didn't get anything up earlier, my life has been consumed by so many things lately. But I do hope to get the next chapter up sooner, because I love writing this story. I know what I want to happen and will do it, so who knows there could be a crazy sequel. Anyway, here it is! Finally! The wait is over! I think..
Now for an announcement:
Me and my dear Donut Bird friend, Raven Summersong (you might now her as the talented author of Bird).Well.Okay, she is not a Donut Bird and I don't even know what Donut Bird is, but her name is Raven, a Raven is a bird and Raven just her job at a Dunkin Donuts so thus the conclusion: Donut Bird. But I think that sounds odd, so I'll call her my dear friend raven. I wonder what Donut Bird would look like? I should draw one. Donut Bird. A donut.. with wings.maybe a beak. Some feathers made of frosting. Donut Bird. Moving right along:
From the idea of several of my friends and an interesting idea from an e- mail got form a reviewer, me and Raven are turning the fanfic 'Gypsy Moon' in to an RPG. We are very excited about this and want to do it so much.
What would happen would not at all have to be the same plot line as the fanfic. We would just get the characters moving along to Cymbalien and from their WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN! That's what an RPG is all about, making a story! So it will have the whole thing about the Gypsies and all, but why not screw it up when they get to Cymbalien and make a whole new thing!
Now the reason I am putting this announcement up is because we need players! The characters of Amelia, Zelgadiss and Lina have already been taken, but still have room fro everyone else. And yes, even though Filia, Martina, Zangulus, Valgaav and everyone else is not in here you can still bring them right in! And yes, Xellos is not taken. We also will have the RPG featuring the original characters of Sasheem and Tori Aiko (the priestess from Bird.) If you wish to play Melendil or Tybolt, then feel free to ask me.
So we need more people to play and that is why I am putting this here! If you wish to join the RPG, just send me or Raven a e-mail with what character you want to play and a sample of how you role play, in other words a post. Like this example:
Mab woke up the next day in her warm and comfy bed. The sunlight had hit eyes and sent a sting in her head.
"WAKE UP, LOSER!" An old woman shouted, and smacked the fairy rouge out her bed with the large Tuna fish. "IT'S TIME TO HARVEST THE DONUT BIRDS!"
"Fine, fine! Keep your skirt on!" The fairy shouted. Mab trudged out of her room and made her way to the barn. She grabbed the soup ladle and banged it against the golden gong on her left. "WAKE UP, DONUT BIRDS! I'M HAVING A CRAPPY MORNING, AND I AM NOT IN THE MODD TO HAVE YOU SPITTING COFFEE AT ME TODAY!"
Naturally the Donut Birds opened their beaks and spit coffee all over the small Fairy. Mab blinked and stood frozen for a moment. Of course she wasn't frozen, the coffee was burning hot and had made her quite warm. But the warmth turned to a burning sting and sent the fairy running out to lake of wine to cool off.
That is what Raven and I call a post. Your part of the story, basically. What you write for your character. So send us that, the character you wish to play, and example and we will see what we think. We are sorry that we can not pick all of you, but please send us your e-mails and what you think! We want to have many people and have so many spaces open!
-Mab