The second time she awoke the man was still there. Now he was the one asking if she was okay. Lina thought she was, she was just fine, it was the man who obviously needed help, his face was blue, poor guy, he must be cold. And someone had embedded stones in his face, they just had to hurt. But Lina was fine, and to prove it, she went to sleep again.
On the third try, Lina finally broke the surface. She looked at the man, and knew him. He asked if she was okay, and Lina suddenly hugged him like a frightened little girl might hug her father when he shows up to make everything all right. "Zelgadiss..." she whispered. "Thank Ceiphied and the Golden Lord it's you!" Then she started to quietly cry.
After hugging her till the sobbing slowed down Zel looked at her again and said, with a smile, "So, does this mean the rumours of your death are greatly exaggerated?" "I don't know..." she replied, apparently in all seriousness. "Oh Zel, I have made a total mess of my life, and I didn't even know it until a short time ago when I made a discovery. Xellos helped, against Beastmaster's wish apparently, and now he's going to die, and I never thought I'd feel guilty, but it seems to be all my fault! Oh help me Zel. I need to see you and Amilia and explain! Can I go to her now? I realise she must be busy as Queen, I did hear of Phil's passing, but this is that important!"
Zel looked at his old friend for a long time without saying a word. Finally he helped Lina sit up and said "Come with me Lina, a lot has happened and I need to catch you up. Then we will see the Queen." Lina blinked, but got up and went with Zelgadiss. At the door he spoke quietly to a guard "Please tell Her Majesty that Lord Greywords bids her receive a very special visitor who claims she has an important message." The guard nodded and left up the hall as Zel turned and took Lina down it in the other direction.
Lina tried to figure out where they were going. The layout of the palace hadn't changed much in the decades since she had seen it last, but of course, it was heavy stone and you didn't rearrange stone very easily. Still, they went to a little known part of the grounds and finally decended some stairs. As Zel unlocked the gated and they stepped in Lina was shocked to see where they were.
"Zel?" she asked, feeling scarred of what he was about to show her, "This is the royal crypt isn't it? Why are we here?" Zel said nothing, but took Lina down a long line of stone sarcophagi, each with the effigy of a dead king or queen lying on top. Finally they reached the end of the line. Lina looked down and saw the stone vissage of her old friend Prince Phillionel. He was decked out in state but on his head was no crown, he had never accepted his father's disappearance and had refused all his life to be crowned king. "Zel?" asked Lina. "Not him." Zel replied and pointed to the very last grave. Lina gasped in horror. The effigy was clearly Amilia.
"H-h-how...?" she managed to get out. "It was almost six years ago now." said a sad Zel. "We aren't sure what actually happened, but you remember she liked heights? Well one day she was playing with Rubia, that's our daughter, and they were flying around the tops of the castle towers. They were laughing, carrying on, striking "Justice poses" and even giving those ridiculous speeches. Well, long story short, Amilia missed her footing and she fell, Lina. Can you imagine? Well, but she didn't scream or anything on the way down, so I don't know if something didn't happen when she was in the air. But if she wasn't dead when she fell, she was when she landed. At least it was quick."
Lina stared at Amilia for a long time then, rather strangely, or perhaps not, she went over and began to cuddle and caress the effigy of her friend, even kissing the stone lips. With tears streaming down her face she spoke to the statue and said "Amilia! I know where you are and I swear that I will find a way to release you from that horror, if I have to take your place to do it!" She turned back and said to Zel "Who is the queen then? I thought Amilia was to succeed?"
Zel replied "As for that, well, ten years ago Phil had his first heart attack and went from robust to very ill and weak. Amilia did what she could and took over rule of the country. She did a good job, but secretly she had always hated it, though I was probably the only one she told. We were married by then and I had chosen the role of consort rather than King for myself. Yes, made it a bit harder on her, but it let me be able to support her more effectively, and I was free to watch the children, since she couldn't. And she agreed with me before she let me take on the role. Anyway, word of Phil's illness and impending doom went around the world, and one day, several months into Phil's illness, who walks out of the blue and back into the royal courts but the missing and presumed dead crowned princess Gracia!"
He went on "Amilia's older sister had heard of her father's illness, and come home from wherever she had been wandering. And she brought a lot of strange ideas, and a wealth of different magic, a lot of which she had discovered herself. Anyway, after a period of adjustment, she settled down to court life and actually took her place, which didn't bother Amilia in the least. And, in a move that further cemented the two sisters together, she even appointed our oldest son, named Phillionel for his grandpa, as her heir and successor. She then apparently settled down to be Queen when Phil died. I think Phil was so happy she was back he lived a year longer than he might have otherwise, but about eight years ago they found he had passed quietly in the night, presumably from another heart attack, and that was that."
"Gracia was crowned, and took over from her father, and life seemed well enough, until Amilia fell. I have never been truely happy since, and I believe Her Majesty still mourns the loss of all her family in private, but life goes on. But we are all sad Lina, the children miss their mother, and with no children of her own, and no desire to have any, apparently, Queen Gracia is a good but distant aunt. Oh well, tragedy seems to be the lot of the house of Seruun. But, why do you mourn for Amilia as you do, Lina? You make it sound worse." "It is." replied Lina quietly. "Take me to the Queen now, Zel, and stay yourself, I'm way over my head in this, ans so is everyone else."
Zel looked worried, then nodded and led Lina out of the crypt and into the castle proper. Once there a servant directed them to a private chamber where they would be able to meet the Queen. The entered the room. A tall woman was there, her back to them as she was staring into the fire. her long, long hair, which must have been black once, but now was a salt and pepper colouring, tumbled freely down behind her, preventing Lina from getting a good look at the woman's form. Lina was a bit surprised, she had assumed that this Gracia would be shorter, like Amilia. She glanced at Zel, who nodded, and Lina dropped to one knee in greeting. And waited for the Queen to respond. There was brief pause, Lina, who was looking down deferentially, heard the woman shuffle around and then...
"OOOHOhohohohoho! Well, well, well, look who has finally decided to climb out of the woodwork and pay her respects!" said the Queen, with a voice, and a laugh, that Lina would never forget as long as she would live. Lina turned pale and started to sweat nervously. Unable to help herself, she looked up and said to the Queen, now standing and looking down on her, "Naga?" She was even so shocked by this that she went down on all fours, as if in an act of extreme supplication. This amused the Queen who treated her to another round of laughter.
Zel looked puzzled. "You know each other?" he asked quietly. "Oh yes." said Lina. She looked at the Queen and asked "Gracia?" "Gracia ul Naga Seruun, also known as Naga the White Serpent at your service Lina Inverse. By all the gods, how many decades has it been since we travelled together, or even saw each other? Well, no matter, I hear you are practically a sage now, sixth of the line and successor to Rezo himself!" "Dear Gods, NO!" said Lina in a hurry. Naga cocked her eye and said "Really? Well, at any rate, my life has taken me from magic, and now I suppose I must finally concede the title of "World's Greatest Sorceress" to you! But do get up Lina, I hear you have something important to say to me! I'm all ears!" Lina got up shakily and said "I need to sit down to say this, please, can we?" Naga raised an eyebrow. "That good eh? Well, come with me." She led them to another room with a table and some chairs. They sat down.
Lina got right to the point. "I have made a horrible discovery. I'm going to Hell!" Naga and Zel exchanged glances and Naga asked "And what is it you did to merit such an afterlife?" Lina looked up, naked fear in her eyes, and Naga shut up. This WAS serious. Lina explained. And the silence, when she finished, was profound and terrible. Zel spoke first. "I feel sick." he said, quietly. "Are you sure of this?" asked the Queen, barely above a whisper. It struck Lina that this was the first time she had ever seen Naga look so helpless and so scared. "If my source were anyone other than Xellos, and in a roundabout way, Beastmaster, I wouldn't believe this myself." replied Lina.
I wondered what she was doing there in the cell block with you." replied Zelgadiss. "That was me you stopped from throwing a Ra Tilt at her, by the way." Lina nodded and said "It would only have made her mad at you Zel, she was worked up over Xellos. I think it even caught her by surprise that she could feel pain in a bad way over what was about to happen. And it frightened her I could forgive even a mazoku like Xellos. But was it just me or did she really whisper to me just before she disappeared?" "I couldn't hear her, but I saw her say something to you." replied Zelgadiss. "What did she say?" Lina thought and said "She said there is a power we humans have forgotten about at the south pole of our world that has the answers, and that I should go there. She said Xellos would be there and if I was fast enough I might save him. If I did, she would forget her promise to kill me next time we met, but if I failed, she'd come for me herself. What do I do, Zel? Naga? What do I do?"
There was a silence then Naga said "It sounds like you are being sent to the South Pole..." "But to a cure or to a trap?" asked Zel. "That I don't know." replied the Queen. She went on "I will have the royal librarians scoure everything we have for information on this Pole. In the meantime Lina, start planning an expedition to go there, just in case that's the final decision." Lina nodded.
