Chapter 6 - Cannibals... Wait, CANNIBALS!?!

Once more, the group went onwards through the thick forest. And again, Aleinas was the one leading. It was amazing, however, that he could continue throughout all of Jeffrisce's chitter-chatter and questioning.

"I am telling you! Any of these dreams of these darn Mazoku could keep you awake through even one night here, without help from me nor anybody else!"

He kept on and on like this, getting on everybody but Xelloss and Aleinas's nerves. It was like he had so much stored in his head that he needed to throw out. If you could see sound, you'd swear that the words coming from his mouth were all just one blurred line that would be impossible to read.

Through all this, Aleinas was watching Xelloss through the corner of her eye. He was angering the Golden Dragon while getting upset and then more upset himself. Such an interesting and amusing sight to the readers that can imagine the scene. But for once, he wasn't teleporting away, even at this extremely long string of insults...He couldn't, actually. He had to keep track of what Aleinas does. And he couldn't just watch from the Astral Plane...This forest was hidden away from all watching eyes in the Astral Plane...

"Aleinas?"

"Hm? Hai?"

"Hahaha, I thought you were mindless for a second there."

"Huh?"

"Never mind, hehe. Anyway, it's nearing nightfall. Are you going to sleep or would you like me to keep you awake?"

"...I have to sleep. My..past must be unlocked..."

"So...your present troubles now have to do with your past..."

'Quiet about that now, dear Jeffrisce. Xelloss is here and I do not plan to reveal myself to him...'

'Why?'

'...He thinks...that I...'

"Get down!"

Everybody fell to the ground immediately at Lina's warning as a flurry of arrows came their way. Soon after, a tribe of barbaric looking men making shrill battle cries came out. Jeffrisce looked up and was the first to identify them.

"Cannibals! Aleinas, they're Dynast's cannibals!"

Aleinas was the nest to shout. "Get up from the ground! Xelloss, Greywords, stay with me! Jeffrisce, take the others and run away from here, get them out! Now!"

Without a word, Jeffrisce helped Lina & Co. up on their feet and push them away into the thicker parts of the woods...the dragged Lina being an exception.

"WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT THESE GUYS!? LEMME AT 'EM! HOW DARE THEY AIM THOSE ARROWS AT ME! LET! ME! G-" Even the so-called cannibals stopped their battle cries to sweatdrop for a moment. But once the red-head and her voice were gone, their voices were as loud as ever.

"We're outnumbered!"

"Don't worry! Just follow my instructions, Greywords." A few cannibals leaped out at Aleinas, whom struck them down with his sword. Some of the others were enraged at him for killing their tribe members, others were dragging the bodies back for...well, I'm sure the reader can guess what. And if not, then it's better if they don't know anyway.

"Kill as many as you can! The more dead, the better. Stay out of range of their hands, and try not to get bitten. You may have stone skin, but if they're given enough time, they can pierce that. And no using direct ma- ugh!" Aleinas sound disgusted as he struck down some more. By the sound of his voice, he was apparantly annoyed at being the only one being attacked. Well...he was the frontmost person, so that would be obvious. "Magic! They're magic-proof. Xelloss, you are a Mazoku, right? I'm sure you know what to do." More dead bodies fell before her. "Brace yourselves, they'll all be attacking soon." As if on cue, the shrill cries suddenly boomed and they charged.

"Astral Vine!"

Aleinas fought her opponents easily, killing each and every one with one blow. He seemed a bit distracted by the way Zelgadiss was fighting, and nearly got pushed over.

"I said KILL! Do not let pity take over your sword!" He kept on with his killing. "These are soulless servants of Grausherra, not humans!"

Zelgadiss did a little more defense as he thought about that and then soon started killing the barbarians. There must have been some kind of 'resist killing barrier' because he was now relaxing slightly more and killing almost as many as Aleinas. Although there was a look of disgust on his face, both at himself and at all the blood around him...

~~~

Jeffrisce kept going as he lead Gourry(with a dragging Lina), Amelia, and Filia. Apparantly, Jeffrisce was -still- trying to explain the situation to her even after having to bind her in magically summoned and enforced vines and silencing her with a spell.

"Aye... Do you not get the point, yet?? Big, sharp, teeth, long, grabby, arms, with strong, stiff, and not to mention boney, hands that can rip any person's heart out. Even that chimera friend of yours, and he has stone skin!!"

And continuous mumbling is heard.

"Baka... Don't blame me for this later."

Jeffrisce stopped and snapped his fingers. The vines tying Lina up seemed to grow longer to close around Lina's neck, also. And then they tightened so that Lina had only enough space in her throat to breathe.

"Okay, now listen to me, sorceress. These cannibals are dangerous. They could bite your head off quick and clean. And with a grip like theirs, you'd have to cut off their fingers to get them off you, even -after- they're dead. Some have jaws in the palms of their hands!! And they work for that cold Mazoku Lord, Dynast Grausherra, the reason for their monster- like abnormalities. And direct magic doesn't work on them, they're magic proof. So you're at a very big disadvantage here, Miss Inverse."

Seeing that Lina calmed down a little, he snapped his fingers again and the vines disappeared.

"Now come on, let's go."

They continued on while Lina rubbed her sore throat, and as she thought about Jeffrisce's words. He was right...she really was at a disadvantage. They kept on running and were making fine progress when they heard wild shouts. Jeffrisce stopped the group and pulled them together with him in front.

"They've found us, we can't run now. Don't seperate from each other, and Lina, if I'm surrounded by too many of them, use Dug Haut. Don't worry, I'll be fine, trust me."

Lina nodded to show she understood and Jeffrisce readied into a waiting stance with staff out in front as the cannibals started to appear. When they attacked, so did he.

The Slayers watched in both amazement and worry. Jeffrisce moved twice the speed of the cannibals. They went flying here and there, blood spilling on the ground.

~~~

Zelgadiss looked around him in dusgust at all the dead cannibals lying on the ground. It was such a pity that this forest floor had to be flooded with all this blood...

'Jeffrisce, where are you?'

Aleinas waited for an answer, as he did, he looked around to check the state of his companions, as did Zelgadiss. He was fine. He seemed tired, half disgusted, half solemn, but fine. Xelloss...well, Xelloss was fine, considering he had been covered by a big group of cannibals before. He could've teleported out if it wasn't for all the pain and...whatever he was in at that time. Cannibals...Dynast's cannibals had that sort of effect on Mazoku when they're bitten too much. If it wasn't for Aleinas, Xelloss would have lost maybe half of his physical form before losing sense and blasting up a big chunk of this forest. Right now he only needed his arm and shoulder back. Regenerating would be quick though, because it was just these cannibals...

Just how much had Dynast transformed these once human cannibals, though? Just what was he planning...What has he been planning all this time...? Was he planning on fighting with other Mazoku? Was that why he made these cannibals? Was it he who gave them the ability to...scare...Mazoku..? Nobody would know...not yet...

"You should go leave and rest up, Mazoku. Who knows, we might have more attackers later on."

"No thank you, I'm fine. I think I'll stay."

Aleinas shook his head. Xelloss was still concerned about him.

'Help!'

Aleinas abruptly sat up and faced the direction of which the mind message had come from.

'Don't worry! I have a lock on your location, I'll be there soon.'

Zelgadiss looked up in suprise as he heard Aleinas yell out Jeffrisce's name, but he was already off in through the woods. "Hey! Aleinas, wait!" He chased after him, and so did Xelloss.

~~~

'Help!'

Jeffrisce was starting to tire. There were more cannibals than he had thought there would be. Almost as many as had been with Aleinas. Yet he was alone in this... He was given help by Lina every now and then, though.

"Dug Haut!"

Spikes sprang up from the ground around Jeffrisce. This was his ground, his trees, his creation and friend...he had no need to fear the spell...Wait, that's right, this was his, all -his-. And these cannibals had no business to be here! He would do this, he would fight, even without help... His eyes went wide. One of the cannibals up in a tree had thrown a spear...right, into, his, chest.

"...Se...Seliana..."

Jeffrisce dropped to his knees, his staff lying upong the ground and five pairs of eyes staring upon him in worry and horror...five???

~~~

'No!! Jeffrisce!!!'

Aleinas stopped right in front of him, the already jumping in mid-air cannibals crashing into him instead of landing on the one behind. But Aleinas still stood, and he pulled them off himself.

"Gomen!" He growled and slashed away at the oncoming monsters. "But this has to happen sooner or later." More slashing and growling."And it's better sooner!" With another growl, he quickly pulled out the spear in the still live Jeffrisce, whom elled out in pain and then bent over.

Using the spear and sword, he beat the cannibals away. Then he threw the spear, which killed its original owner. Then he noticed that the cannibals changed direction. The others had caught up with him, and now he could tend to his friend.

"You shouldn't have gone off without us, Aleinas!" Graywords...

"Gomen!...Hey, cover me!"

"Sure.Ugh!"

Aleinas kept up his strength until Zelgadiss had managed to come over. Then he kept on fighting as Aleinas got down on her knees by Jeffrisce.

"Jeffrisce! Jeffrisce?"

"Still here, ma'am." He coughed. Aleinas looked at his chest...he was bleeding silver blood...a whole lot of it too...

"Baka dragon... Baka... why didn't you call earlier..?"

He pulled Jeffrisce's cloak closer around him and hid his hands inside it, pressing gently on the wound.

"Life Spare..."

The silver glow of the spell cast was hidden from the others inside of the cloak. A few minutes later, Jeffrisce was asleep and half healed.

"You're lucky I came here so quickly... You're like family to me, I'd go berserk if you died...." He sighed. "Ah, there. All healed up, now all that's left is some rest."

He picked Jeffrisce up and looked aroun dhim. Zelgadiss was still fighting to keep cannibals away from him. Filia was swinging away with her now detached and chain-linked mace. Xelloss was almost fully healed and was protecting the rest of the group.

Aleinas lifted Jeffrisce's body from his arms to his shoulder. Holding him with one arm and his sword with the other, he called out to the others.

"Come on, let's go! We're almost out of the forest."

They left quickly. The cannibals continued to follow, but Xelloss and Zelgadiss were taking care of them as they ran.

"How much longer do we have to run? I'm getting sleepy."

Aleinas heard Gourry and looked up. It wasn't even nightfall yet... Oh, right... It was because of Jeffrisce. Once the forest sleeps, he'll be able to regenerate faster...but it was turning out to be a bit of a problem for him and his clients...damn..

"Filia, take Gourry and Amelia and teleport to the edge of the forest that way, then keep running along the road there until you're all out of range of any spears or arrows. Now!" He wished he could've done this sooner...but there were too many, they would follow. Out in open space too, and that was worse. And they were too far away from the edge of the forest anyway, it would've been hard......

The group stopped and Xelloss and Zelgadiss had to fight while Filia teleported away with Gourry and Amelia.

"Next, Xelloss, take Inverse and Graywords."

"What about you and Jeffrisce?"

"Graywords...I'm not human, remember?"

Xelloss raised an eyebrow at the two. Zelgadiss nodded and soon Aleinas was left alone with Jeffrisce's body over his shoulder, and cannibals everywhere. He growled, and spoke to the barbarians in a...female...voice...?

"Who sent you?"

"No your business! No your business!"

He rolled his eyes. Still the primitive barbarians they were over 1,000 years ago.

"You want to loose your lives? Painfully?"

A number of cannibals were starting to think. That was good. That meant there were still some alive from long ago...and could remember his voice..eh...his?

"Tell me, who sent you, and why?"

"I say no your business!"

Aleinas smirked behind his, er, her? No, his? Oh...for the sake of the reader, and so that they have no need to be confused...yet...I'll just use his....so on with the story...his mask.

"I'm guessing you're the chief... Why don't you come over here..."