"Told you they wouldn't suspect us!" Lina whispered to Zelgadis. She happily skipped along.
Zelgadis scowled. Since his face was covered, no one could tell anyway. "Now dear," he spoke in a high voice, "don't go too far, you might get lost."
Lina turned back and grinned, then resumed skipping, singing a nonsense song as she went.
"Mind your mother, Lia." Gourry spoke in a gruff voice.
Lina slowed down, looking around the marketplace. So far, so good. Some people looked at the 'happy family' and smiled, some frowned, but most ignored them. Lina grinned, then caught a whiff of something delicious.
Lina dashed to Gourry's side and tugged on his arm. "Papa, can we get something to eat?" she asked cutely.
"Food? I thought you'd never ask!" Gourry responded all too eagerly.
Lina and Zelgadis shot a look at Gourry not to blow their cover.
Zelgadis cut in. "Yes dear, but we can't stop for long. We've got a ways to go."
The group went to a small stand selling various foodstuffs on a stick. Taking a large portion from the owner (who was very happy to oblige!) the three took a moment to fill their stomachs.
Amelia smelled the food and let out a small cry. She was hungry too! Lina put a small piece of food in front of her face, Amelia quickly tearing into it.
"Aw, good puppy." Lina smiled and pat the pup's head, lulling her to sleep.
Everyone content (at least for the moment), the group continued on their way to the palace.
As they approached the outer gates, they were stopped by the guards.
"What business have you here?"
Gourry stepped forward. "We've information on the whereabouts of the princess."
"We need to speak to her father, the prince, immediately." Zelgadis added.
The guards looked at each other, then relented. "Do enter, the prince will be glad of your news." They ushered the small group in.
"That was easier than I expected." Zelgadis stated, after they were well out of earshot.
"Sometimes it pays to do things the legitimate way, instead of using force." Lina winked.
"But we lied! Not to mention disguising ourselves." Gourry tugged at his shirt.
"You know what I meant." Lina grumbled.
They grew silent as they approached the palace. The guards, already having been informed, waved them through the entrance. They quickly found themselves inside the throne room where none other than Prince Phil resided.
"Well there's a good sign." Lina breathed a sigh of relief.
Prince Phil rose to great his guests. "My guards tell me you know of my daughter's whereabouts."
"Yes, but we must speak to you in private." Gourry replied.
Prince Phil studied them a moment, then dismissed the guards in the room. "Now, what do you have to tell me?"
"Well, first off," Lina dropped the cutesy little girl act, "it's us, Phil."
Prince Phil blinked in confusion.
"You know, Lina Inverse, and my followers Gourry and Zelgadis?" Lina pointed to her companions.
Gourry and Zelgadis glared at Lina.
"Oh, of course! I was hoping you'd come." Phil replied.
"It would have been easier for us to if you didn't have those posters everywhere!" Gourry responded. He didn't enjoy sneaking into a city, especially Seyruun!
Phil bowed a bit sheepishly. "I am terribly sorry about that, but it was the only way to trace you! You are a hard one to find, Lina."
As Lina and Phil got reacquainted, Amelia woke from her nap. Upon hearing the familiar voice, Amelia squirmed to be let down.
Lina struggled to keep her grip. "Anyway Phil, what I really came for..." Lina set down the wiggly pup. "Deactivate."
Again Amelia was enveloped by a ball of light, but when it faded she had regained her normal size. She made a mad dash and lept into Phil's lap!
"Oof! Quite the...energetic...pup you've got here." Phil spoke as best he could between all of the 'kisses' Amelia gave him.
"Actually, that's Amelia." Zelgadis stated.
Prince Phil looked at them. "What?"
Lina glanced away, somewhat ashamed. "We ran into a bit of trouble, then finally decided to come here for help."
"Excellent." Prince Phil smiled a malicious grin, then grabbed Amelia by the throat!
Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis gasped in horror.
"Phil, what are you doing?" Lina couldn't believe her eyes!
"You've escaped me for the last time. It's time to end this!" Phil ignored the three and continued to strangle Amelia.
For all of her life, Amelia's father had been nothing but loving. Never had he raised a finger to harm her. So this came as a nasty shock! As she began to black out, Amelia kicked at Phil to get away.
Phil staggered from the blow to his gut, but didn't let go.
"Burst Rondo!" Lina cast a spell at Phil, hoping to distract him.
"Windy Shield!"
The shield protected the prince from Lina's spell, which bounced off harmlessly.
"Who did that?" Lina yelled in anger.
"Surely you haven't forgotten me already?" The sorcerer from before stepped out into view behind Prince Phil.
"Who're you?" Gourry asked, clearly bewildered.
The sorcerer fell over in shock. "I'm Cedric, the Green mage!"
"Who?" Zelgadis asked.
"He's the one that nearly drowned you." Lina replied.
"You!" Zelgadis made a dash at Cedric, but was knocked to the ground by a large beast.
"Don't forget about me!" Marcus grinned as he sicked his 4 beasts, large hulking figures that somewhat resembled a bear, on the group.
Gourry went in for the kill, but gasped in shock as his sword bounced off the beasts' hide, leaving them unfazed. "What are they?"
Marcus grinned gleefully. "They're my own creation. After seeing that golem of yours," Marcus looked at Zelgadis, "I began to do a bit of experimenting. Then I ran into a chimera maker, and there you go. So, what do you think?"
"You're sick!" Line yelled.
Zelgadis glanced across the room as was horrified to see Amelia finally go limp. He made to cast a spell at Phil, but was hit by a Freeze Arrow.
"You forgot about me again!" Cedric grinned.
Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis tried to get to Amelia, but were cut off by the chimeras.
"You cowards!" Zelgadis roared.
Amelia was in serious trouble! As her life ebbed away, she gathered her remaining strength and struck out at Phil again.
Phil grunted in pain, Amelia having hit him where it hurts most! He lost his grip and crumpled to the ground, clutching his crotch in pain.
Amelia fell to the ground, sucking in the sweet, life-sustaining air! As her vision cleared, she got back up to her feet - nearly being slammed by Phil's fist! Amelia dodged it and lept out of the way.
"What's wrong with Daddy? He's never acted this way before!" As Amelia avoided Phil's onslaught of attacks, a gleam of red caught her eye. "That circlet...that's not Daddy's!"
Amelia dodged another attack, then lept onto Phil, knocking him to the ground. As he grabbed her in a bear hug (not the good kind!), she bit onto the head ornament and ripped it off.
Phil immediately loosened his grip, his eyes staring off into space. He then shook his head and glanced about in confusion. "What's going on? Who are all of you?"
Cedric and Marcus looked back in horror.
"Marcus!" Cedric yelled.
"I'm on it!" Marcus snapped his fingers.
Immediately his chimeras stopped 'toying' with Lina and Co. and knocked them all to the ground, pinning them under their massive weight.
"What are you doing here? What is all of this? And who's dog is this?!" Phil was indignant.
"So, someone figured out my secret."
"Boss!" Marcus and Cedric cried out happily.
A man of short stature came out of the shadows, grinning at the group. "So good to see you again, Phil. But what happened to that lovely circlet I gave you?" He spotted Amelia with said circlet in her mouth.
"Marcus?" 'The Boss' sounded bored.
"Of course, Boss!" Marcus directed a chimera at Amelia.
Amelia lept away from Phil, but was swatted mid-air by the chimera's massive paw. She smacked into the wall and crumpled to the floor.
"Amelia!" Zelgadis struggled to get free, to no avail.
"Why are you doing this?" Lina spat.
The man walked over to Amelia and took the circlet from her. "I do believe you dropped this, your majesty." He bowed, then placed the circlet back onto Phil's forehead.
"Isn't it obvious?" Phil said, although it was easy to see he had no control over his actions. "In this way Alexander can rule without causing an uprising against him."
"What is with you people?! What ever happened to marrying into a kingdom?" Lina kicked at her captor, getting a growl in response.
"Already tried that, but our beloved princess didn't think I was good enough!" Alexander replied. "So I decided to do it another way."
"You were going to marry Amelia? Aren't you related?" Gourry stuck his tongue out in disgust.
"No way, Gourry, don't even say that! They can't be!" Lina also grimaced.
The man, now known as Alexander, smiled, as if amused with himself. "Actually, we are, she's my second cousin, thrice removed."
"That's more information than I ever wanted to know." Lina looked like she was going to be sick.
"So now that you have us, what do you intend to do?" Zelgadis glared.
"Well, I had intended on the princess dying, but that keeps failing." Alexander glared at his henchmen. "Aside from that, if I were to successfully do her in, you no doubt would come after me and kill me in revenge. I think I'd rather kill you all and let her live forever, trapped in a wolf's body. She deserves it for turning me down."
"Are you done yet?" Lina yawned in boredom.
"Yes, and now I shall kill you!" Alexander laughed evilly.
"I hate to spoil your fun, but there's something you don't know." Lina smirked.
Alexander stopped cackling and gave her an amused look. "And what might that be?"
"I'm not ready to die, especially by your hand!" Lina shoved the chimera off of her and stood up.
"What? But how?" Marcus gaped.
"You may have made them invulnerable to weapons, but they can't resist a simple Sleep spell." Lina poked the chimera, causing it to fall to the floor, snoring loudly.
"No fair!" Marcus pouted.
While everyone was distracted, Zelgadis silently chanted to himself. He then touched his hand to the ground and yelled "Dug Haut!"
Stone spikes shot up from under the floor, knocking the remaining chimeras to the ground. Zelgadis and Gourry quickly lept to their feet.
"There's something else you forgot." Gourry grinned as he pulled out his sword, striking at the fallen chimeras. He brought back a bloody blade. "Their hides may be invulnerable to my sword, but their eyes aren't!"
Sure enough, the now blind chimeras staggered about, unsure of where to go.
"My babies!" Marcus cried.
"You should worry about your own skin!" Zelgadis slashed at the man, only managing to nick Marcus' arm as he fled in terror.
"Cedric, do something!" Alexander yelled. He hadn't expected for the tide to turn so suddenly!
Cedric quickly responded with, "Dark Mist!"
The room was enveloped in darkness. When the mist finally cleared, Alexander, Phil, Marcus, and Cedric were gone.
"No, they got away!" Lina kicked at a loose rock in anger.
"They forgot Amelia, though." Gourry pointed to where Amelia lay, Zelgadis already by her side.
They knelt next to Zelgadis, who was busy casting Recovery on Amelia. Lina joined in to help. As Gourry looked on, he heard banging on the outside door.
"Uh oh, I think the guards heard us." Gourry said.
"Go barricade the door before they get in!" Lina commanded, then resumed healing her fallen friend.
Gourry quickly dashed to the other end of the room. Luckily the door had thick wooden boards for such purposes, so he slid them into place. Satisfied, he rejoined the others.
"C'mon, Amelia, we don't have time for this. Wake up!" Lina shook the still wolf. "You've got to!"
The guards began to attack the doors.
Spent, Zelgadis had to stop his spell. He studied Amelia for a moment. "She's still breathing. She should wake up soon."
"She needs to wake up now! If the guards get in here before we find a way out.." Lina looked around the room for possible means to escape.
Lina was interrupted by Amelia shaking her head. She winced in pain as she looked at her comrades.
"Just in time. Amelia, we need your help. Are there any secret exits out of here?" Lina asked (breathing a small sigh of relief!)
Amelia got up and limped behind the throne. She got close to the wall, then reared up and placed her paws against the wall. She growled in irritation, unable to reach high enough.
The others followed behind, trying to figure out what Amelia was doing.
Amelia woofed and pointed her nose to a higher point on the wall, pawing to get higher.
Gourry noticed an odd looking panel in the wall and pressed it, revealing a secret door.
Amelia limped in, barking for the others to follow as she led them through the maze-like tunnels. After they had all entered through the door, it closed shut.
Lina cast a Light spell to ward off the darkness, following after Amelia.
Zelgadis followed behind Gourry, lost in thought. "Gourry, what you said earlier is bothering me."
Gourry glanced back. "What's that, Zelgadis?"
"When did you figure out that those chimeras could still be blinded by a sword?" Zelgadis asked.
"Oh, when I first fought against you, of course." Gourry smiled.
"You weren't going to...?" Zelgadis paused.
"What, blind you? I was tempted after you kidnapped Lina. If she hadn't stopped me when I saw you again, yes, I would have. Why?" Gourry answered truthfully.
Zelgadis' eyes bugged out in horror. "Is that the only reason you didn't?"
"Hmm..." Gourry pondered this for a moment. "Nah, that's not my style." Gourry clapped Zelgadis on the back and smiled. "Besides, you turned out okay."
Zelgadis could only laugh nervously in response.
This has got to be the longest chapter I've written yet! (If not, it's the longest scene at least!) I'm going to cut this short, as my darn wrists are complaining again. (Never take a job where all you do is work on computers all day. It'll haunt you years after the fact!) So were you all surprised with how things turned out? As for characters, Alexander is totally made up, but I wouldn't be surprised if Amelia has an extended family. Hopefully they're all nice, well adjusted people, and not power hungry though! I'm going to try and have the next chapter up soon, but it's the part that's giving me...Writer's Block! o_O I know where I want to go, I'm just having trouble making it happen. Please forgive me if it takes me a bit longer to get the next part out!