Chapter Four
In Which the fight on Zangulus' ship actually happens, Zel and company
arrive at the mysterious islands, Amelia annoys Zel into almost
Keelhauling her, and Gourry points out something Obvious (sigh Tch,
Germans. –Referring to Kurt of X-men)
Amelia and Nahga both looked out over the railing next to the figure head – a woman with long hair which became the railing at either side of the ship and bangs that obscured her eyes (now you know where I got the name.) – and watched the horizon for the islands that Zelgadiss said he had spotted. Very different thoughts were going through the two young ladies' minds:
'I wonder if he'll leave us stranded...or perhaps they'll get drunk at a local bar and rough it up and then have to make some amazing escape! Or perhaps it's the ancestral home of some great prince who owes Mister Zelgadiss his life and in return will let us stay in an amazing gold palace!' Amelia thought, having read way to many romance on the high seas novels. Nahga's thoughts, however, were far closer to the truth:
'Judging by the way we're heading towards this island so quickly, they must have been searching for quite a while.....Perhaps this is a resting place for some pirate treasure! OHOHOHOHOHOHO!!' – (Gee, even when she's thinking, she's creepy...) – Then again, perhaps not....
Zelgadiss peered out over the ocean towards the island he had spotted earlier that day. 'Perhaps this is finally it! We've made it to the islands Madame Zellas told us about!' His thoughts stayed on that course for the rest of the day and far into the night. So much so that when, the next morning, Lina and Raven came to relieve Gourry and Mur, he was still up in his nest, watching the horizon. "He been up there all night?" Lina asked Gourry, sleepily. "Yeah. He didn't come down at all, not even when Me 'n' Mur came to relieve Kiyone and him he didn't come down, just said that he would be fine.....Mein Gott! I just realized that he heard us, even though we were whispering!" Gourry was astonished for a minute before seeming to remember something. "Oh yeah......" "Oh yeah what?" "Uh.......nothing....." Not for the first time, the thought tumbled through Lina's mind that perhaps the Blond German wasn't as dumb as he looked and acted....
Zangulus looked out over the empty sea. 'I could swear that there was a ship out there just the other day. There is no way in heaven they could have lost us that easily.....' Grumbling, he headed onto the deck to see how his crew was faring.
"Captain Zangulus, sir?" A voice came timidly from the wheel.
"Yes, Mr. Smith?" Zangulus growled.
"Well, sir, a couple of the guys 'n' me were wonderin' if the stories were true?"
"Which stories, Mr. Smith?"
The young man swallowed. "Well, sir, word 'round the port was that we're after Captain Zel and the L-Sama, sir, and, well, word is that that ship's never been caught, not even when it were in port and the crew was inland a fair way, and the guard weren't looking at it for one minute – One minute, I tell you, sir! – and the next it were gone, and the crew as well. Rumor is that the ship's got a spell on it and that the Captain is ages older than the earth itself!"
"Tell me, young man, what do the stories say he looks like?"
"Well sir, people say he's got eyes the same color as the sea and only ever wears blue and grey."
"Anything else?"
"Oh! Yeah, his hair sir! They say his hair is as white as Heaven is Pure, sir."
"White? Dammit, I knew there was something suspicious about that sailor!!"
"Eh?"
"VRUMAGEN!!"
A man appeared at Zangulus' elbow, as though he had been there the entire time. "Yes, captain?"
"Do you remember that Sailor I told you about, the one I met at the Dove?"
"I do remember you mentioning him, yes."
"Do you remember the description I gave you?"
"Yes."
"And. Vrumagen, did you know that this man was Zelgadiss?"
"I – I did, sir."
"AND WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME?????"
Even Vrumagen shrunk away from their yelling captain, afraid of what he, himself was about to say: He didn't have an answer.
----
Two days later L-Sama finally arrived at her destination. Zel was the first off the ship, not even waiting for the crew to drop anchor before he had dived overboard into the warm waters and had begun the swim to shore.
"Woah.....He must really be exited to get here...." Gourry stated as he, the rest of the crew and the two stow-aways watched the shore for the figure of the captain to appear. Xelloss noted to himself that, in all the blue his captain was wearing it was nigh impossible to see him as he swam through the water. Finally they saw a white-haired figure stand up and wave at them from the shore, or very near there.
After the ceremony of getting themselves anchored in the small inlet they had found and getting the crew – most of it anyways, two people had to stay aboard to guard it. Those two turned out to be Kiyone and Nahga – and one of the stowaways onto the island itself. By the time they got there, Zel had already found himself a new perch in a palm tree and had already cracked open one of the coconuts that grew there. As Lina and Raven set foot on the beach, the later carrying Amelia as she had proved herself incapable of swimming, he grinned and waved jauntily from his perch.
"What took you all so long?"
To say the least, Lina was slightly stunned. She had never seen her captain act so.....casual. He had even rolled up his pants and sleeves and pulled his hair back in a loose tail at the nape of his neck. Needless to say, as soon as he arrived ashore Xelloss mimicked the white-haired man and scurried up a tree and tried to break himself open a coconut. He failed at this last task. While everybody else was looking for a good place to set up a make-shift camp to spend the night, Amelia was busy trying to copy the two long-haired men sitting in the trees laughing as Lina tried to set up a tent, all the while giving hints to good places for such a thing that only they could see from their perches. To translate that last sentence: Amelia was trying to climb a tree. After all, a chef could do it, why couldn't she? It goes without saying that she...fell.
"Ouf!"
At the sound of the young woman landing on the soft sand, Xelloss looked over to see her trying to climb a tree of her own. As he started to laugh, the rest of the crew turned to watch the young girl's progress, wondering what she would do when she realized that she couldn't climb in a skirt. They found out soon enough.
"Mister Zelllgaaaadissss!"
Zel abruptly stopped laughing, his eyes flashing in anger. No one, no one had called him that since.....he stopped that train of thought, not wishing to go into his past and memories.[1] "Miss Amelia. I do not know why you would call to me for aid in such a situation. God granted you with an intellect, I should hope, anyways, and so you should use it, not rely on others to help you. Do you realize what it is that made you fall, Miss Amelia?"
"Uhm...No?"
"Lords and Ladies above!! That I shoul be cursed with such an ignorant young lady hounding my every footstep on this planet, what have I done to anger you?" He cried, throwing out his arms and looking to the sky. Amelia started to giggle, thinking he was joking but stopped when she saw all the serious faces around her.
Lina had begun to get nervous when the little rich brat had called Zel 'Mister' and used his whole name. It seemed to her, as Zel started talking, that it was not without reason. When the little girl proved her ignorance causing Zel to turn to the gods of his native Ireland, Lina knew that he was riled. Zel rarely ever even turned to the Christian god. And when the girl had the audacity to laugh....Lina knew that she was in for a rather unpleasant surprise.
Xelloss shivered. He was perhaps the only one who saw how cold Zel's eyes got when the little princess showed her stupidity, and he was sure he never wanted those eyes turned on himself in anger.
Zelgadiss suddenly jumped down from the tree, land on his feet, despite the 25 foot drop, and walked towards Amelia, who was suddenly nervous about this whole pirate adventure thing.
"You....laughed. You thought that was a jest on my part, young one?"
She nodded muteley.
He stepped closer to her. "Yet now...You're afraid. Why?"
"Beaause.......uhm....."
"Brilliant. You don't even have a reason for your fear of me. You said, when we frist met, that pirates were cold hearted. Over the past few months, my crew and I have proven you wrong, yes?" Without waiting for an answer he continued, "Now, you see whay my crew always hav it in their best intrest not to anger me, nor insult my faith. I am sorely tempted to keelhaul you, maim, torture and otherwise hurt you until you give up your romantic ideas about myself. But I promised my mother...land that I would never hurt another human being out of spite or cold blood. I warn you now. If you try to come to me for aid in trivial matters again, or if you call me by Mister, Master or Lord before my proper name, I will dump you at the next port that does not hold strong with Britannia and leave you there."
[1]- Yes, I know, technically Xelloss calls him that all the time, but it's used in jest.
arrive at the mysterious islands, Amelia annoys Zel into almost
Keelhauling her, and Gourry points out something Obvious (sigh Tch,
Germans. –Referring to Kurt of X-men)
Amelia and Nahga both looked out over the railing next to the figure head – a woman with long hair which became the railing at either side of the ship and bangs that obscured her eyes (now you know where I got the name.) – and watched the horizon for the islands that Zelgadiss said he had spotted. Very different thoughts were going through the two young ladies' minds:
'I wonder if he'll leave us stranded...or perhaps they'll get drunk at a local bar and rough it up and then have to make some amazing escape! Or perhaps it's the ancestral home of some great prince who owes Mister Zelgadiss his life and in return will let us stay in an amazing gold palace!' Amelia thought, having read way to many romance on the high seas novels. Nahga's thoughts, however, were far closer to the truth:
'Judging by the way we're heading towards this island so quickly, they must have been searching for quite a while.....Perhaps this is a resting place for some pirate treasure! OHOHOHOHOHOHO!!' – (Gee, even when she's thinking, she's creepy...) – Then again, perhaps not....
Zelgadiss peered out over the ocean towards the island he had spotted earlier that day. 'Perhaps this is finally it! We've made it to the islands Madame Zellas told us about!' His thoughts stayed on that course for the rest of the day and far into the night. So much so that when, the next morning, Lina and Raven came to relieve Gourry and Mur, he was still up in his nest, watching the horizon. "He been up there all night?" Lina asked Gourry, sleepily. "Yeah. He didn't come down at all, not even when Me 'n' Mur came to relieve Kiyone and him he didn't come down, just said that he would be fine.....Mein Gott! I just realized that he heard us, even though we were whispering!" Gourry was astonished for a minute before seeming to remember something. "Oh yeah......" "Oh yeah what?" "Uh.......nothing....." Not for the first time, the thought tumbled through Lina's mind that perhaps the Blond German wasn't as dumb as he looked and acted....
Zangulus looked out over the empty sea. 'I could swear that there was a ship out there just the other day. There is no way in heaven they could have lost us that easily.....' Grumbling, he headed onto the deck to see how his crew was faring.
"Captain Zangulus, sir?" A voice came timidly from the wheel.
"Yes, Mr. Smith?" Zangulus growled.
"Well, sir, a couple of the guys 'n' me were wonderin' if the stories were true?"
"Which stories, Mr. Smith?"
The young man swallowed. "Well, sir, word 'round the port was that we're after Captain Zel and the L-Sama, sir, and, well, word is that that ship's never been caught, not even when it were in port and the crew was inland a fair way, and the guard weren't looking at it for one minute – One minute, I tell you, sir! – and the next it were gone, and the crew as well. Rumor is that the ship's got a spell on it and that the Captain is ages older than the earth itself!"
"Tell me, young man, what do the stories say he looks like?"
"Well sir, people say he's got eyes the same color as the sea and only ever wears blue and grey."
"Anything else?"
"Oh! Yeah, his hair sir! They say his hair is as white as Heaven is Pure, sir."
"White? Dammit, I knew there was something suspicious about that sailor!!"
"Eh?"
"VRUMAGEN!!"
A man appeared at Zangulus' elbow, as though he had been there the entire time. "Yes, captain?"
"Do you remember that Sailor I told you about, the one I met at the Dove?"
"I do remember you mentioning him, yes."
"Do you remember the description I gave you?"
"Yes."
"And. Vrumagen, did you know that this man was Zelgadiss?"
"I – I did, sir."
"AND WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME?????"
Even Vrumagen shrunk away from their yelling captain, afraid of what he, himself was about to say: He didn't have an answer.
----
Two days later L-Sama finally arrived at her destination. Zel was the first off the ship, not even waiting for the crew to drop anchor before he had dived overboard into the warm waters and had begun the swim to shore.
"Woah.....He must really be exited to get here...." Gourry stated as he, the rest of the crew and the two stow-aways watched the shore for the figure of the captain to appear. Xelloss noted to himself that, in all the blue his captain was wearing it was nigh impossible to see him as he swam through the water. Finally they saw a white-haired figure stand up and wave at them from the shore, or very near there.
After the ceremony of getting themselves anchored in the small inlet they had found and getting the crew – most of it anyways, two people had to stay aboard to guard it. Those two turned out to be Kiyone and Nahga – and one of the stowaways onto the island itself. By the time they got there, Zel had already found himself a new perch in a palm tree and had already cracked open one of the coconuts that grew there. As Lina and Raven set foot on the beach, the later carrying Amelia as she had proved herself incapable of swimming, he grinned and waved jauntily from his perch.
"What took you all so long?"
To say the least, Lina was slightly stunned. She had never seen her captain act so.....casual. He had even rolled up his pants and sleeves and pulled his hair back in a loose tail at the nape of his neck. Needless to say, as soon as he arrived ashore Xelloss mimicked the white-haired man and scurried up a tree and tried to break himself open a coconut. He failed at this last task. While everybody else was looking for a good place to set up a make-shift camp to spend the night, Amelia was busy trying to copy the two long-haired men sitting in the trees laughing as Lina tried to set up a tent, all the while giving hints to good places for such a thing that only they could see from their perches. To translate that last sentence: Amelia was trying to climb a tree. After all, a chef could do it, why couldn't she? It goes without saying that she...fell.
"Ouf!"
At the sound of the young woman landing on the soft sand, Xelloss looked over to see her trying to climb a tree of her own. As he started to laugh, the rest of the crew turned to watch the young girl's progress, wondering what she would do when she realized that she couldn't climb in a skirt. They found out soon enough.
"Mister Zelllgaaaadissss!"
Zel abruptly stopped laughing, his eyes flashing in anger. No one, no one had called him that since.....he stopped that train of thought, not wishing to go into his past and memories.[1] "Miss Amelia. I do not know why you would call to me for aid in such a situation. God granted you with an intellect, I should hope, anyways, and so you should use it, not rely on others to help you. Do you realize what it is that made you fall, Miss Amelia?"
"Uhm...No?"
"Lords and Ladies above!! That I shoul be cursed with such an ignorant young lady hounding my every footstep on this planet, what have I done to anger you?" He cried, throwing out his arms and looking to the sky. Amelia started to giggle, thinking he was joking but stopped when she saw all the serious faces around her.
Lina had begun to get nervous when the little rich brat had called Zel 'Mister' and used his whole name. It seemed to her, as Zel started talking, that it was not without reason. When the little girl proved her ignorance causing Zel to turn to the gods of his native Ireland, Lina knew that he was riled. Zel rarely ever even turned to the Christian god. And when the girl had the audacity to laugh....Lina knew that she was in for a rather unpleasant surprise.
Xelloss shivered. He was perhaps the only one who saw how cold Zel's eyes got when the little princess showed her stupidity, and he was sure he never wanted those eyes turned on himself in anger.
Zelgadiss suddenly jumped down from the tree, land on his feet, despite the 25 foot drop, and walked towards Amelia, who was suddenly nervous about this whole pirate adventure thing.
"You....laughed. You thought that was a jest on my part, young one?"
She nodded muteley.
He stepped closer to her. "Yet now...You're afraid. Why?"
"Beaause.......uhm....."
"Brilliant. You don't even have a reason for your fear of me. You said, when we frist met, that pirates were cold hearted. Over the past few months, my crew and I have proven you wrong, yes?" Without waiting for an answer he continued, "Now, you see whay my crew always hav it in their best intrest not to anger me, nor insult my faith. I am sorely tempted to keelhaul you, maim, torture and otherwise hurt you until you give up your romantic ideas about myself. But I promised my mother...land that I would never hurt another human being out of spite or cold blood. I warn you now. If you try to come to me for aid in trivial matters again, or if you call me by Mister, Master or Lord before my proper name, I will dump you at the next port that does not hold strong with Britannia and leave you there."
[1]- Yes, I know, technically Xelloss calls him that all the time, but it's used in jest.