SLAYERS INHERITANCE

"In the Clutches of Evil! Welcome to Wolfpack Island!"

by Michael Hopcroft

"Anya Inverse here! Not that I'm exactly sure where 'here' is; last thing I knew we were fighting demon wolves then Xellos pops up out of nowhere and suddenly I'm – well, I'm wherever I am frankly I have no idea. Those wolves have better not have gotten Valgaav, or there'll be hell to pay!"

' RAH TILT!" cried Prince Cardanis as one of the wolves leapt at him. The wolf dissipated and vanished. He looked back at Valgaav. "OK, two of them, two of us. We need to get rid of these wolves. I'll hit the one on the left, you hit the one on the right!"

"Got it, Your Highness." Said Valgaav, who slew a wolf with his breath weapon. Cardanis let fly with another Rah Tilt, slaying the other one. They then looked around in dismay. The common room of the inn was in ruins, and worst of all Anya and Titania were not there.

"This is not good at all," said Cardanis. "I feel like I've failed them. Who knows where Xellos could have taken them?"

"You've never faced adversity, have you, Cardanis?" Valgaav asked.

"Not like this."

"I can tell because you're letting your panic interfere with your memory. Remember Anya and Titania's dreams? They both had a dream in which Xellos summoned them to Wolfpack Island, and then Xellos appears and whisks them away. Whenever I put two and two together I invariably get four."

Cardanis grabbed Valgaav by the shoulder. "Wolfpack Island! That's when Beastmaster Xellas Mentallium, Xellos' mistress, lives! The place is crawling with Mazoku! And it's thousands of miles away!"

"Yes, I know it's a very bad place for the girls to be. Which is why we're going there to get them." Valgaav smirked. "Are you up to a suicide mission, Your Highness?"

Cardanis shrugged. "If we go in expecting to die, we'll fail. My father says that was the most important lesson Lina Inverse taught him. We're going to go there and get our girls out!"

Valgaav blanched. "Wait just a minute here! Who said Anya was my girl? Certainly not Anya!"

"You'll never know unless you get her back. So do you have any idea how we can get there?"

A man in gold priest robes suddenly appeared in front of them. "Maybe I can help answer that question. I've been watching from your mother's house, Valgaav."

"Milgasia! Then you know what happened?"

"I know that Lina is ready to roast Xellos over an open spit. Your teleportation won't get you far enough unless I boost it. Besides, you don't even know where Wolfpack Island is, and I do."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Cardanis asked. "Or can you not send both of us?"

"Oh I can send both of you, but you won't arrive in exactly the same place. And once you're there we won't be able to watch over you. You're going to be on your own, in the middle of the enemy. The odds will be very much not in your favor."

Valgaav grabbed Milgasia's hand.  "Right now I don't give a flying damn about the odds! Just do it! Tell Mother I'm coming back WITH Anya!"

Cardanis took Milgasia's other hand and Milgasia recited a spell. In an instant the two were teleported away. Milgasia teleported away himself, and was soon back in Filia's inn.

"Well," asked Lina, "what's going to happen to my daughter?"

"Valgaav is charging to the rescue. I've got to give you credit, Filia dear, you raised the boy with guts."

Filia frowned grimly. "I just hope those guts don't get splattered the length and breadth of Wolfpack Island."

Lina was visibly shaking. In all her travels, not even she had dared take on the horrors of Wolfpack Island. Gourry took her shoulders in his calloused hands. "Darling, please calm down. Anya's going to come out of this. I promise."

"I shouldn't have let her go out alone!"

"And if you hadn't gone out alone all those years ago, none of us would be here. Have faith in our daughter – we owe her that much."

Lina kissed one of Gourry's hands and clutched it in her own for dear life. "I know, I'm just scared. I've never been this scared."

"You're a mother, whose beloved child is going into battle. Millions of people have experience what you're going through. All we can do now is hope and pray. L-sama willing, that will be enough."

***

Anya woke up alone in an ornate bedchamber. She looked at herself in the dim candlelight and saw that she was fully clothed and appeared unmolested. That, she thought, was the only good thing about her situation.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw that there was no visible door out of the room. On the walls were frescoes of numerous things too revolting to mention. The situation was getting worse. She grabbed one of the bedposts and chanted a light spell, which illuminated the room much more brightly. More importantly, to Anya, it proved her magic still worked.

She was thinking about this when Xellos suddenly teleported into the room. "How do you like your new quarters?" he said. "I trust the bed is comfortable and the décor not too excessive."

"I'd be happier with the décor if it u\included an exit." Anya replied. "What right do you have to bring me here, anyway? And where's Titania?"

"Safe. And frankly you don't want to leave this room. It's very dangerous to mortals inside. Some of the residents might think you're an intruder, and they don't like intruders. Trust me, you're safer here."

"All right, you might as well tell me what's going on. I know about Titania being your daughter and all, but what the hell do you want with me?"

Xellos sat down on the bed, and offered the spot next to him to Anya. She shook her head. "You see, Anya dearest, it's all about power. You have inherited from your mother great power, power too dangerous to my kind to be allowed to go unchecked. But that power could also be of great use to us if exercised properly. Did your mother ever tell you the goal of the Mazoku?"

"To destroy the world, and return it to a sea of Chaos.'

"OH, more than that. You see, once this world is destroyed we can reshape it – rebuild it into something more to our liking. You must admit the world outside is a cold, frightening place. With all this free will business running around, people keep making mistakes, falling into pits of their own devising, Greed, lust, hatred – so many traps that make people's lives miserable. We can change all that. We can build a world in which there is no lust, no greed, and no envy."

Anya shook her head. "But there would also be no hope, no joy, and no love. None of the things that make life worthwhile. Sorry to disappoint you, Xellos, but I won't be turned. I AM going to get out of here. I AM going to find Titania. The world may indeed go back to the Sea of Chaos – but not today."

"Odd," said Xellos, "you're talking as though I were YOUR prisoner and not the other way around.  The chamber pot is under the bed. I'll send you food and a new one every day until you see reason." With that, Xellos vanished.

Anya began to think. "Now what would be the best way to make a door?"

***

Titania had been trying every wall in her room. None of them budged. "Do they teleport everywhere around here?" she thought out loud.

"Now, now, Titania" said a voice behind her that Titania instantly recognized as Xellos. "Exercises in futility will get you nowhere."

Titania turned around. "You! Where am I? What have you done to Anya? Where's Cardanis?"

"Was that the young chimera's name? It's wouldn't surprise me if the Hounds had made short work of him. Princes belong in palaces, not in battles with monsters."

Titania looked him square in the eye. "You're lying. Cardanis is alive. Do you know how I know that? I know because there's something inside me that would tell me if he were dead."

"You're starting to sense the world around you. That's good. You are proving quite worthy, daughter. Now you must master the arts of subtlety and discretion. So far you've been able to exhibit flashes of raw destructive power, but to truly serve our mistress you're going to have to learn to control yourself, to use your powers when it is to your best advantage."

Titania walked up to Xellos and whispered in his ear. "Yes, discretion. Discretion tells me you know the way out of here, so it would be unwise to do what I really want to do right now – and kill you."

"Is that so? Well, let me let you in on a little secret, darling daughter of mine. If you did kill me, you would probably be doing my Mistress a favor. I sense she's growing tired of me, of my tricks and experiments. Pleasing such a demanding mistress is so wearing."

"Is that why you brought us here? So I could kill Xellas Mentallium for you?"

"No. You see, I love my mistress in spite of everything and would hate to see her come to harm. Aside from which, you couldn't hurt her anyway."

"Then why did you bring us here?'

"That is a secret." And with that Xellos vanished.

***

Valgaav appeared in the middle of a darkened hallway. He took out a stick from his belt ouch and cast a Light spell on it. The area thus illuminated did not make him feel very comfortable at all. "Cardanis!" he called out. "Are you there?" he got no answer, which led him to believe they must be farther apart than he had thought.

At that moment he heard a noise behind him. Valgaav turned and saw a great ravening beast, with huge, dripping jaws, bearing down on him. Apparently the thing thought lunch had been served unexpectedly.

As he tucked the lighted stick into the headband behind him so he wouldn't drop it, Valgaav came to the conclusion that this simply wasn't his day….

TO BE CONTINUED…