To Become a Monster
Chapter 2
Dark Clouds Close
Next chapter up and the plot thickens
Lina looked outside her carriage as it made it's way towards the border of Cantir. The king was only too happy to rush her out to the front and hopefully resolve the situation. Of course they probably thought that she would resolve it in her own way. 'I haven't had to use magic in quite a while now. I hope that Lesia will see it our way and back down,' Lina thought as they moved close to the front. At close to sundown she reached the front and where she was to meet with the Nazairian diplomats. She marched up to the tent where the diplomats where waiting and sat down at the table. The young man at the other end then said, "Miss Inverse welcome. I hope you enjoyed you're trip."
"Just get to the point," Lina began, "On behave of the kingdom of Cantir I request that you remove your build-up of troops from the border."
The man shook his head and replied, "I'm sorry but we cannot comply with that request. Zedres, head advisor to the crown, under the power of the Queen Lesia has annexed the kingdom of Cantir as a new part of the kingdom of Nazair."
Lina glared at the man, hoping that since he knew of her he also knew of her reputation, and countered, "If you continue with this action then you will also be declaring war with Sailoon and all of it's allies."
The man shook his head and said, "Yes, it is regrettable but I have my orders. If that is all then I suggest you leave...the battlefield is no place for a diplomat."
Lina smirked at his reply and then said, "How wrong you are," as she walked towards the rest of the army.
The next morning held two armies staring at one another from across the field. At the head of the army of Sailoon stood Lina Inverse in her old get-up she wore back in her traveling days. As soon as the sun crested the ridge to the east the two armies began to march towards one another. While marching Lina issued instructions to the mage units she commanded, "Okay, once we're in range open up with a fireball. These armies of the new continent don't know high powered magics and will take heavy damage from such an attack."
Lina marched until she got in range and shouted, "Fireball," along with her units.
The multiple fireballs shot out across the plains at the front line of the troops. To Lina's surprise the line stopped moving and lowered their shields. Then some of them thrust forward their arms and shouted, "Shield."
The fireballs collided with the shields that protected the front lines and then disappeared. Lina's eyes widened and said, "How is this possible. We've been watching their campaign since it began and they've never shown this much potential."
It was about that time that a secondary shout came from the back ranks of the Nazairian army, "Rune Flare."
Lina was barely able to raise a shield against the many high powered flares that came towards her. The rest of the army however wasn't as quick. Lina looked behind her as she heard the screams of agony the dying men released when the flares hit there mark. 'How is this possible? How can an army become this powerful in such a short period of time,' Lina thought as she lowered her shield. She then cast, "Levitation."
Lina flew up into the air and began to chant, "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows..."
"Bring her down," came a shout from the front of the Nazairian army.
As Lina continued the spell a blue ball of light landed next to the Nazairian general and turned into a translucence image of a robbed and hooded man. The image then said, "Throw this at her and then have someone cast a shield bubble around the two," as the image handed the general a small ball.
The general nodded and moved to his archer units. He then commanded an archer to fire the ball at the sorceress while a mage cast a shield. The soldiers followed orders and the ball was launched followed by a shout, "Shield."
Lina was almost finished with the spell when she saw an arrow with something attached to the head. She was too far into the spell to dodge so she decided to take the arrow hit and keep going. It was about this time that the arrow was right next to her and let loose a small explosion. At the same time a shield came up around her. When the smoke cleared Lina found herself covered in slugs. "I hate SLUGSSSS!," Lina yelled as she dropped the spell and tried to get as far away from the offending animals.
While she was busy screaming and trying to move away the mage slowly lowered the bubble towards the ground. When the bubble hit the ground and popped they found a passed out Lina Inverse. A few soldiers stepped forward and said, "I say we slit her throat."
"Nah, that's a waste. Even if she is underdeveloped she's still a woman," another said with a lecherous grin.
As they were moving forward the general called out saying, "Halt! No one touches her. She is a diplomat and is immunity of execution. Likewise, by the power of head advisor Zedres, she is now a prisoner of the kingdom of Nazair."
The soldiers backed off. One, they didn't want to take on the old general. He was old but could still quite a tough dog. That and the soldiers were very loyal to him. The second was if Tirane, the old general, didn't make them sorry then Zedres would. If one name shook all those in the empire that heard it it was Zedres the queen's high counselor. "Pick her up and place her in the carriage. My bodyguard and I shall escort Miss Inverse back to the capital."
Lina became aware that she was moving and that it was a rather bumpy ride. She moaned slightly as she felt something pressed against her lips and a voice saying, "Here. You've been out for quite sometime and some water will do you some good."
Lina took a drink of the water and opened her eyes to be met with that of an aged man in the armor of the Nazairian army. She moved quickly to her sword to find it was missing. The man chuckled slightly and said, "I'm sorry Miss Inverse but your weapons have been confiscated. Now, if you treat me with respect I will return the same to you."
"So I was capture...I'm surprised you just didn't kill me," Lina said as she sighed and looked out the carriage window.
"There's no use in killing you Miss Inverse. You were doing your job just as we were doing ours. And, besides when Zedres gives an order no one dares disobey," replied Tirane.
Lina looked at the old man and asked, "Zedres? Who the hell is this Zedres that I keep hearing about?"
Tirane sighed and said, "He is the high counselor to the crown. His word is pretty much law."
"Does the queen not have any say in this," Lina asked somewhat surprised by the power Zedres seemed to hold.
"She does but she trust Zedres to make the correct decisions. Zedres holds the power over all decisions of war," Tirane replied.
"Why? You wouldn't think an advisor wouldn't know that much about war," Lina asked.
"I thought the same before he showed up. Zedres was once a soldier who rose quickly in the ranks of the army. He soon became my second in command," Tirane continued to answer the young sorceress' questions.
"How did he gain rank that fast...I mean I know of no one but military geniuses go through the army that quick," Lina said somewhat stunned.
"Yes, Zedres was very skilled in tactics. But, it was his mastery of the magics of the demon peninsula that ensured him a place in the palace," Tirane replied.
Lina's eyes widened and then said, "So that's how you guys learned the more powerful magics. Someone from my home joined your army."
"It would seem that way," Tirane sighed before saying, "It's really hard to say. He show no signs of different speech and no one know what he looks like so we are not sure ourselves."
Lina arched a brow and asked, "No one's seen him before?"
"He keeps his whole body covered in clothes and his face covered by a mask. So far as we can explain he has some kind of disfigurement of condition that he prefers to hide."
Lina sighed as memories came to her of someone she knew that acted close to the same way. 'Zel,' she thought as the castle came into view.
Disclaimer: Any characters or ideas from The Slayers do not belong to me. I am not selling this material, just writing for the heck of it as I go.
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