A/N: Ahh, Winter Break. Gotta love it eh? Well, if things go as planned, this'll be my last chapter before I go on vacation. Only for a week though, so you won't even think I've been gone. Bah, here we go!

Winged Knight: Thanks for your insight. - Won't tell ya if you're right or not though. evil gleam I love surprising people though, so lower your guard XP Hope you continue reading!

Disclaimer: Yada yada yada I dun own Slayers yada yada…

Ch. 4: With Tomorrow's Dawn…

"Who are you?"

Eldwin grinned innocently. Extending a hand towards the former chimera, he greeted, "You must be Sylphiel-san's companion. Mmm… Zelgadis-san, correct?"

Both travelers were balked by this surprisingly accurate "guess." How had he known? Apparently, Eldwin foresaw their unspoken question and placed his free hand over his mouth, a gesture suggesting he let something spill he wasn't supposed to. Then, he got over it, and smiled gingerly at them. "Oh come now, the grandson of Rezo the Red Priest, the most recent vessel for a piece of Shabrinigdo in a thousand years, who was cursed by his own grandfather? I don't need pebbles (think chimera skin) to know who you are. And Sylphiel-sama," he paused to give her a flashing smile of endearment, "You are my hero- erm…heroine. One of the few shrine maidens who can say they've successfully hit Hellmaster Phibrizzo with a very near perfected Dragon Slave. And yet, you are still the kindest of kind, the sweetest of sweets, the-"

Zelgadis interrupted. "All right already, you've made your point. You know a lot about us, while we know nothing about you. Who are you and what do you want with us?"

Eldwin turned back to face Zelgadis, but he still grinned. "Truthfully, I want nothing to do with you. I would, however, appreciate greatly the presence of Sylphiel-sama at a campfire. The forest harbors quite unpleasant dangers, especially at night." He took the time to bow before adding, "I am Eldwin, a simple wanderer traveling through this forest. One of my specialties is the ability to gather information. So if you would tolerate me for the night, I would be most grateful indeed."

At that moment, Sylphiel seemed very much the smitten kitten, ready to defend this possible new companion. After studying Eldwin a bit more, she turned to Zelgadis. "Oh, Zelgadis-san, what could it hurt? Maybe he even knows how to defeat umm… the trouble plaguing our friend."

In the darkness, Zelgadis clenched his human fist, and immediately loosened it upon feeling the small, temporary hurt that came along with it. He'd never felt any pain from something as simple as that before. He eventually ground out, turning in the process, "Fine. Do what you like."

Sylphiel produced a bright smile, and now turned to Eldwin. "Come on, I'll lead you to our campsite."

Eldwin made a small bow as he graciously thanked her. She waved it off, saying it was her pleasure to.

Upon arriving, they found the fire already crackling pleasantly, and a few rabbits cooking from a wooden spit. They seated themselves as Zel had, around the fire. As they waited for their dinner to cook, Zel studied Eldwin from underneath leaden eyelids. Sylphiel could sense the tension, but chose not to be the one to break it. Instead, Eldwin took up the position. "Well now, this level of suspicion must be very hard to deal with. I can tell you're expecting me to suddenly turn on you, and perhaps kill you in your sleep, right Zelgadis-san?"

From the startled look in the receiver's eyes, Sylphiel could tell he was right. But how? Was he a mind reader? Eldwin grinned, as if sensing her thoughts. He waggled his finger and winked in a way that was amazingly like a purple-oriented friend of theirs, with the same trademark answer to their unvoiced question. "It's a secret. The nature of my power anyway. Well, I suppose you'll learn it in your own time, but it isn't the type of thing I can disclose on our first meeting, now is it?"

This seemed to make Zelgadis twice more suspicious. He eventually voiced his most obvious theory. "If you're Xellos-"

Eldwin suddenly laughed. "Xellos Now how could I ever be someone like that? From what I know, he's recently been bounded to Wolf Pack Island for a long intermission. A grounding, from the looks of it."

In this day and age, a grounding referred to a punishment dealt to children by their parents or guardians when they misbehaved. The kinder counterparts only took something unnecessarily bad, such as candy from a baby, but the harsher the guardian, the harsher the punishment. Given Lina's fear of her guardian sister… there was a very large range of available punishments to be devised. And so, to think of Xellos being punished by his "guardian" Greater Beast Zelas… Unconsciously, a sympathetic smile emerged from both Zelgadis and Sylphiel.

Sylphiel changed the subject to a slightly lighter aired one, hopefully. "Well, powers aside, where are you headed, Eldwin-san?"

Eldwin scratched his head and looked for the answer in the stars shining above. "Well… to tell you the truth… I don't really know anymore. I was looking for something when I left my home but… I think I've lost my reason for searching for it any longer."

Tentatively, Sylphiel inquired, "What… was it?"

In the blink of an eye, Eldwin changed the subject. "Hey! The rabbits look just about done. Shall we eat? No sense in turning them to charcoal after all!"

Both Zelgadis and Sylphiel warily agreed, somewhat troubled by Eldwin's brief "period of soberness". Dinner was eaten in silence. Afterwards, Eldwin offered to stand guard first, though Zelgadis was still distrusting. When Sylphiel agreed to share his shift, Zelgadis complied to cut the night in half. And so, reluctantly, Zelgadis departed to his tent, while Sylphiel and Eldwin stayed across the fire from each other.

As an owl hooted in the distance, and the wind rustled some fallen leaves, Sylphiel tried to strike up a conversation. "So where are you from, Eldwin-san?"

"Hm? Oh, a village in the Kataart Mountains. Nothing special, really. You're from Sairaag, correct? Is all the rebuilding completed?"

Sylphiel smiled as she nodded, beginning to adapt to Eldwin's almost automatic knowledge of most aspects. "Yes, fortunately, the last attack was almost twenty-eight years ago- we've actually added a strong wall around our city, and a militant, just in case."

Eldwin leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees as his clasped hands cradled his chin. "Do you think that will be enough? The last time it was attacked, really attacked, it was a one-shot wonder. Somehow, I believe its more quality than quantity that you require. Of course, I mean no offense to your people, but you understand, like should defeat, or battle, like. Magic against magic. You know?"

With a soft sigh, Sylphiel nodded. "I know. Hopefully, we won't have to deal with anymore of that, now that Phibrizzo is gone. Wait- you said you're from the Kataart Mountains? You've seen the dragons there, haven't you?"

To this, Eldwin nodded. "Indeed I have. They're very cultured folk, even in their children."

"You don't suppose…" Sylphiel paused, a new notion coming to her.

Eldwin knew her question before she asked. "The nature of the Kataart Dragons allows them to grant favors now and again, but generally, they tend to be rather self-centered, uncaring for the human race. Cultured, but self-centered. They would most likely not find reason to assist your cause, especially when it is a time of peace."

Sylphiel could understand that judgment, from what she had heard from Lina's adventures. "What about you? You don't seem self-centered at all to me, but only dragons, strong ones at that, inhabit the Kataart Mountains."

"Oh, I wouldn't say I'm a dragon, but I take care of myself fairly well when I need to. My… tribe has a special agreement with the dragons there so we can live in peace."

In reply, she hummed with faint interest. She would have persisted in attempting to riddle out Eldwin's origin, had he not suddenly clasped a firm hand over her mouth. His lurking gaze and serious expression told her silence was needed. Though, she would think the fire alone would be reason enough, with or without her voice.

Then she heard it. A crackling of branches as they were snapped underfoot- the blunder of a creature that cared not about stealth. Slowly, Eldwin enunciated a single-worded explanation, "bandits". With the ease of a trained stalker, or perhaps assassin would be more precise, Eldwin released Sylphiel and nearly tiptoed towards the source of the cracked branches. As he disappeared into the surrounding forest, Sylphiel wondered if she should wake Zelgadis. Just as that thought hit her, all grew quiet accompanied with a sole eerie wind. The silence kept Sylphiel at the edge of her seat, tersely waiting for a signal of some sort, for better or worse.

Briefly, she wondered why she had not gone with him, for support if nothing else. He had said he could protect himself if necessary, but at what cost? Sylphiel gingerly moved to stand before going after him, but suddenly found that she could not. She tugged harder to attempt to pull herself away from the log, but she was fastened quite securely. Like an insect on a spider's web, she was stuck and helpless.

Well, not exactly. She found that she could still move her upper body, and her legs from the knees down, but her posterior refused to budge. Thus so, she acquiesced to the circumstances and now contemplated the reasoning for this entrapment. She had not moved since they returned to camp, so it could have been done by anybody. However, only Eldwin had made contact with her, though she hadn't seen him move across the fire either. This was proving to be quite a bizarre situation indeed.

All right, Sylphiel told herself, determined to figure it out. Say Eldwin was the one who did it. Why did he do it? To protect her from the bandits? That hardly seemed likely, as if any bandits got past him, or had circled around, she would be defenseless. Defenseless? No, she could probably use her spells still- though how any of her arsenal would prove valiant against her human foes (considering what she knew the last time we saw her) still made her wary.

Ultimately disgruntled, Sylphiel decided to wait until he came back and then ask him directly what his motives were. Until then, she would set about trying to figure out how to literally "unseat" herself. She knew she had to be careful though, to not speak too loudly and to not somehow fall into the fire in front of her. Sylphiel's first attempt came in the form of an identification spell- one she had learned courtesy of her period of adventures with Gourry and the others after the Hellmaster incident. Her hand glowed her own pure white and remained thus so up until she had extended it to the near vicinity of the objective spell's magic. There, it nullified, disappearing completely.

Sylphiel stared at her hand in surprise. This had never happened before. Usually, it would change into a different color, thus indicating the nature of the spell. Worried that her magic wasn't working, Sylphiel reinitiated the spell and held it carefully towards the fire. Her hand glowed red, as it was supposed to, an indication of fire shamanism magic. She puzzled over it for a few moments before she came to a feasible conclusion- the spell that held her was simply stronger than her own magic.

A stray gust blew past the clearing, effectively wiping out the last of the fire. Sylphiel shivered. As a wolf howled in the distance, she suddenly realized how intimidating the forest could be when alone. Alone? No, she had Zelgadis still… in human form. She had seen the demonstration herself- his power, both physical and magical, had made a steep decline. Naturally, she would still support her friend, but… the odds seemed against them. Perhaps she should ask if Eldwin wanted to join them, if not for companionship, then an extra fighter against bandits or some such enemy. Ever since Lina had started to really rub off on her- again after the deal with Hellmaster- Sylphiel had felt a growing sensation of hating to be looked after. After all, what use was the Dragon Slave if her friends crowded around her? At that thought, Sylphiel let out a soft giggle. Who would have imagined- the shrine maiden of Sairaag using the Dragon Slave!

"Eh? Sylphiel? What happened to Eldwin?"

The sudden voice jolted Sylphiel into awareness. She directed her gaze towards it, and found Zelgadis looking at her with a raised eyebrow. With a sigh, Sylphiel summarized, "I'm not sure. One moment we were talking, and the next he covered my mouth so I'd be quiet… then- AH! It's morning already?! But, it didn't seem that long ago!"

Sure enough, as her gaze caught it, the sky began to lighten with the new day. Zelgadis let out a small sigh of disgust as he scratched the back of his head. "My body must not be used to camping out again yet, if I overslept this much. Come on- you rested right? After breakfast, let's start again. We should get this little snail infestation ordeal over with as soon as possible."

"But I can't-" At that moment, Sylphiel instinctively got to her feet in her act of protesting…and succeeded. The surprise of mobility shocked her mentally and physically in such a way that she fell over- thankfully, the fire had long since been extinguished. Puzzled, she glanced back at the log that had served as her motionless manacle. What had changed? Could it be… Sylphiel looked up just in time to see the sun peek over the tree tops. The sun broke the spell? Well, Sylphiel gingerly got back on her feet and dusted herself off. I suppose it's possible- some spells do work like that after all.

"Sylphiel? What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Sylphiel gave him a curious glance before smiling. No sense in getting him worked up, especially in the morning. "No, no, it's nothing Zelgadis-san. Do you mind starting on breakfast this morning? I'm afraid I need to work out a few cramps from sleeping in a sitting position."

Zelgadis caught her offguard by smiling back. "Yeah, don't worry about it; it's really my fault for oversleeping. Though, why didn't you wake me up for my shift?"

"I must have fallen asleep early; it was so quiet out here."

Accepting this answer, Zelgadis nodded and set about putting the first meal of the day together. Afterwards, they decided to devote a few minutes looking for Eldwin, just to see where he went, before starting off. Just as Zelgadis decided to throw in the towel for the search, he heard a loud squeal of warning, before something dropped onto his back. As it caught him unawares added to its initial weight, it forced him to fall flat on his face. Before long though however, the weight was removed and a female voice asked, flighty with worry, "Oh my! I'm so sorry! Are you all right, sir?"

Gingerly, he braced himself and sat up, looking at the person next to him. It was a buxom woman, with waist length jade waves of tresses, perhaps in her mid-20's. She wore a simple dress that flowed gracefully with her curves, ending at her knees.

Silently, Zelgadis stood and dusted himself off, keeping a steady gaze on her emerald irises. Eventually, he uttered, "Who are you?"

A/N: Ah, sorry I'm late! My word processor wasn't working very reliably, so it allowed me to slack off a bit much. Well, you've read it now, so please review it! Any comments, especially constructive criticism, will be most appreciated! Thanks for your time! - Oh, and Happy Holidays!Happy Holidays!