The dark water lapped at the dock quietly showing no sign of the struggle for life taking place just below its surface. It was late and nobody had seen the plunge into the ocean. Even if there had been someone, they most likely would have looked the other way and quickened their pace a bit. This was Sairaag, after all.
There was an explosion of water as a figure surfaced. Zelgadis coughed and sputtered. They had hit the water dangerously fast and the impact had knocked the wind out of him. It was a wonder that he had been able to surface. As for the others… "Hey!" he yelled as he looked around for some other sign of life. Surely he hadn't been the only one to get free… There. He could hear splashing and coughing in the distance. "Hello?" he called out as he focused on the thrashing form.
"Someone 'elp me!" a familiar voice yelled. "I can't swim!"
"Oh god," Zelgadis muttered with a roll of his eyes. He quickly turned to swim away, hoping that the irritating little fox-man hadn't seen him. His hopes were crushed as he felt a pair of furry arms wrap around his neck. "Let go!" he growled.
"Ye 'ave te save me!" Jillas shrilly yipped into Zelgadis's ear.
"Need I remind you that you shot me?!" Zelgadis angrily retorted as he struggled to remove Jillas's arms from around his throat. "Why should I save you?!" He looked around for the others as he struggled. So far, nothing.
"'Elp me!" Jillas yelled in answer to Zelgadis's question.
That seemed to be the extent of Jillas's vocabulary at the moment, and Zelgadis winced every time that the little nuisance shrieked it into his ear. "All right!" he bellowed as he began to swim towards shore. "Just loosen up a bit! You're going to pull us both down!" Thankfully the fox seemed to have a bit of intelligence and wisely complied with his request.
Then it happened. Another splash followed by another gasp for air. "Mister Zelgadis?!" Amelia's voice called. "Where are you?"
Zelgadis sighed in relief, thankful that Amelia was okay. "I'm fine Amelia! Swim for shore!" He began to take his own advice and paddled pointedly towards the dock. Still no sign of Lina or Gourry, he thought with a frown. It had to have been at least a minute since they'd hit by now.
"Mister Zelgadis!" Amelia called out, sounding more insistent. "The dress is-" Her voice was momentarily drowned out by splashes and sputtering. "It's too heavy!" she finished a moment later.
"Let go," Zelgadis commanded. "Right now." He pointed to the dock, faintly illuminated in the moonlight. "It's five feet away. You can make it." When the fox tightened his grip on him, Zelgadis yelled, "Get off!" and flipped the smaller man forward. There was a splash and he briefly saw Jillas scrabbling out of the water onto the safety of the dock. "Good riddance," he muttered to himself as he turned to help Amelia.
Suddenly, twin lances of pain shot through Zelgadis's back. "Not now," he hissed through gritted teeth. If possible, the pain seemed to intensify and he arched his back in agony. This did little to aid his swimming ability and he briefly slipped beneath the black waves. In a way, this was a mercy as he was able to express his suffering without Amelia hearing. He screamed for what seemed like an eternity before the pain left him as it always did. He gasped for air as he surfaced again. "I'm coming, Amelia," he weakly muttered, more to give himself direction than to reassure her.
************************************************************************
Beneath the surface, Gourry frantically searched for Lina in the darkness. When they'd gone over he'd seen her hit her head on the side of the cart. When he'd surfaced a second later and he called her name fruitlessly, his fears had been confirmed. He'd immediately gone back under, just as Zelgadis had surfaced.
It was so far down. Twenty feet at least. There was a drop a few feet out from the dock and that damned horse had cleared it, dragging Lina into the depths.
Gourry didn't know how far down he'd gone, but when he looked up he couldn't see the moon anymore. Maybe it had gone behind a cloud, he thought. Or maybe the impact of the cart had stirred up a cloud of silt to block his vision. That would mean that he was near the bottom. Encouraged by that hopeful thought and ignoring the burning in his lungs, he pressed on. The feeling of wood under his hands rewarded his efforts. It was the cart.
Working quickly, Gourry found the side and ran his hand down until he found the ocean floor. It'd take too long to circumnavigate the cart. Every second wasted brought Lina closer to death. What he needed was some light. He glanced up again, fruitlessly hoping that the moon had decided to show its face. No such luck.
There was no time to waste and Gourry quickly began to crawl along the bottom, feeling for something, anything that might be Lina. His hands frantically grabbed anything within reach. What he thought was Lina's hair ended up being some seaweed, her breast painfully revealed to be a jellyfish, her leg a piece of driftwood. All false hopes that were quickly dashed. He needed light, damn it!
Then inspiration struck. Gourry would have smacked himself on the forehead if his hand weren't already busy at his belt. He spoke some words that were distorted by the water and then the black sea became blue. A school of brightly colored fish hurriedly scattered as the Sword of Light did its work.
There, Gourry saw with no small amount of relief. A mass of crimson hair peeked out from behind the far side of the cart. He never would have found her in time without the light. He quickly pulled himself across the bottom of the cart. As Lina came into view, he suddenly felt incredibly sick to his stomach.
Lina lay on the sea floor, pinned beneath the overturned cart at a point just above her waist. Her eyes were closed and her mouth hung open. She looked as pale as death in the light of the sword. The most horrible thing was how still she was. The only thing that moved her was the water current.
Not wasting another instant, Gourry swung the Sword of Light time and again, hewing through the wood and freeing the Slayer. He felt a sharp stab of pain in his lungs as he used up oxygen that he didn't have in his efforts. It didn't really matter though. Either he was taking Lina with him when he surfaced, or he wasn't going to surface at all.
Extinguishing the Sword of Light, Gourry was plunged into darkness again. He reached out with trembling hands and carefully gathered the limp woman into his arms. Then, he kicked for the surface and life itself.
************************************************************************
"Get the dress off!" Zelgadis yelled as he began to insistently tug the fabric off of Amelia.
"What?!" Amelia yelled in return. Had she heard Zelgadis right?
Zelgadis shook his head angrily and explained, "I can't carry you and two hundred pounds of wet cloth! Get it off!" A quick pull and a couple rips later the dress sank into the darkness. They were free. He was quickly tiring though. He'd already made a trip to shore and back and his agonizing ordeal had sapped the last of his strength. He quickly realized that if Amelia didn't know how to swim, they were both going to drown.
"'Ey!" Jillas's voice called.
Looking up wearily, Zelgadis saw the fox at the end of the dock extending a long wooden pole towards him.
"Go on! Grab a hold!" Jillas yipped, waving the stick in Zelgadis's direction. He managed to hit Zelgadis in the eye, eliciting a string of profanity from his hapless savior. "Sorry 'bout that, boss!" he called out sheepishly as he fished them out of the ocean.
"M-M-Miss Lina?" Amelia called out, her teeth chattering as she hugged herself. The water around Sairaag wasn't even warm in the summer and it was now early autumn. Her undergarments did little to protect her from the cold. A cool breeze blew across her bare skin causing her to shiver all the more. She glanced up at the feeling of wet cloth on her back. Zelgadis had removed his tattered cape and draped it over her. "Thanks, Mister Zelgadis," she said with a grateful smile. Clutching the makeshift blanket more closely around her, she asked, "Do you think that they're going to make it?"
Before Zelgadis could shake his head, Gourry flopped out of the water onto the dock, dragging Lina behind him. Ignoring the others, he quickly turned Lina on her back and shook her. "Lina?" he almost whispered at first. Getting no response, he yelled her name and quickly and loudly slapped her across the face, first forehand and then backhand. That brought a bit of color to her cheeks, but accomplished nothing else.
"L-Lina?" Gourry whispered, his voice quavering with emotion. Hot tears spilled down his cheeks as he held her close. "Don't go, Lina. I can't protect you if you leave," he sobbed into her chest. Then he paused. He'd heard something. Pressing his ear against her breast, he listened intently.
"What's he doing?" Amelia whispered to Zelgadis as she watched Gourry lay Lina out on the dock.
A heartbeat. It had been a heartbeat, Gourry thought as he took a deep breath and leaned down to force it into Lina's lungs. Her chest swelled briefly and then she coughed. It was quite possibly the most beautiful sound that he'd ever heard.
Lina's eyes flew open and she quickly shoved Gourry away, not so much out of embarrassment as sheer necessity. She rolled onto her side and coughed up what felt like a gallon of seawater. "Oh god," she groaned miserably. It felt as if the interior of her mouth was coated with salt, her eyes were pink from irritation, and it hurt to breathe. On top of all that, she had a splitting headache. She glared at Jillas and was about to say something quite rude, but decided at the last moment that she wasn't quite done being sick.
Gourry sympathetically patted Lina on the back as she continued to cough and sputter. He squeezed her shoulder in a concerned manner and asked, "You okay, Lina? You look terrible."
It was an accurate assessment, if a little bit tactless. Lina's crimson hair hung about her face in a sopping mass. She looked incredibly green in the face and her soaked clothes clung to her trembling form, making her look incredibly spindly and pathetic. All in all, she looked like a drowned rat that Gourry had dredged out of the ocean.
Looking up at Gourry incredulously, Lina briefly considered telling him that no, she was definitely not okay. Then she saw the worry in his face and decided that she'd better say that she was fine. Otherwise, who knew what kind of humiliation he'd put her through in an attempt to "help" her? She gave him a tired thumbs-up and forced a grin. "Never better," she managed to croak between coughs. "Okay, you little weasel," she snarled at Jillas a moment later. "You're in trouble now!"
Jillas growled and tried to look menacing. It was hard to do, considering that he was trying to hide behind Zelgadis at the same time. "Fox. 'M a fox. No' te weasel!" he protested indignantly.
A wicked grin crossed Lina's face as she picked a bit of seaweed out of her hair. "I still can't understand you, but it's too late to beg for mercy!"
************************************************************************
Rezo reached under his seat and produced a bloodstained sword. A mirthless smile upon his face, he held it up for inspection. Quite pretentious, he mused as he eyed the image of Lina standing over a fallen demon. He ran his finger down the edge of the blade. "Sharp," he muttered thoughtfully as it opened a small gash on his fingertip. A moment later he casually tossed the blade on the seat beside him, uncaring that drying blood stained the expensive leather. "A very deadly tool, wouldn't you agree?"
"Where did you get that, my love?" Eris asked, eyeing the sword distastefully. Even without reading the inscription she recognized it as Lina's.
"Do you think she is a fool, Eris?" Rezo asked, ignoring Eris's question. "You fought with her. Tell me, am I worrying needlessly over a witless little girl?"
Eris bit her lip thoughtfully as she recalled her clash with Lina from two nights past. "No…" she said hesitantly. "I wouldn't risk dismissing her as a mere fool. She's impulsive, but dangerously clever." She scowled as she reluctantly added, "It pains me to admit it, but she seems just as intelligent as her sister and she's quite possibly even more dangerous. She's unpredictable and not under your control."
Rezo nodded thoughtfully. "That is true. Luna's downfall was her lack of imagination. A very talented woman, but woefully predictable," Rezo said with a rueful shake of his head. "It was a sad day for the church when we lost her services."
"She betrayed you, my lord," Eris said with a hateful glare. "Or have you forgotten?"
"I'll thank you not to take that tone with me, Eris." Hate clouded Rezo's face for an instant before he got himself back under some semblance of control. He sighed shakily and said, "I'm sorry, my dear. The stress, you understand."
"I know." Eris moved across the coach and sat next to Rezo. She rested her head on his shoulder and took his cold hands in her own. "I'm sorry, my love. I worry about you. You try to do too much and now you have these new troubles crop up all at once…"
"Ripples in the water, my dear," Rezo said thoughtfully.
"My lord?"
"The empire is akin to a pool of water. Beautiful and tranquil," Rezo explained. "Drop a pebble into it, however…"
Eris nodded, understanding where the analogy was going. "…and you get disturbances. The ripples. What happened tonight was one of them, correct? I'd wager that it was all Inverse's fault. The entire family should have been wiped out after Luna's betrayal."
Rezo chuckled. "Your single minded devotion is quite endearing, but you mustn't let it keep you from seeing the truth. Earlier tonight, young Inverse was honestly surprised that I knew her. Even more surprised than I was to see her again. No, she's just another ripple in the water. Along with my son, and that Amelia girl."
Her brow furrowed in confusion, Eris asked, "If you're correct in that assumption, then I have to wonder, who's throwing the stones?"
"I have my suspicions," Rezo whispered.
"Love?" Eris muttered as she looked up at the High Priest's face. There was something there. An emotion so alien to Rezo's face that it took her a moment to recognize it. It was fear. He was afraid. Swallowing nervously, she said, "If you have a suspicion, share it with me. Perhaps I can show your tormentor the error of his ways."
Rezo's arms snaked around Eris's shoulders and he hugged her possessively. He leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on the side of her neck, savoring the warmth of her flesh. "I know that you would try. I could ask you for the world and you would attempt to deliver it, wouldn't you?"
Eris reached up to lovingly caress Rezo's face. "I would do so or die in the attempt. Give me the name of your enemy."
"You would die," Rezo stated with such surety that Eris was momentarily taken aback. "And I will not throw your life away in such a frivolous manner." He shook his head and sighed tiredly. "No, I fear my suspicions must remain mine alone for the moment. However, this doesn't mean that he'll go unchallenged. I can still work to counteract him in a less direct manner."
"By removing the ripples."
"A temporary fix at best, but there is little else that can be done at the moment." Rezo cupped Eris's chin in his hand and lifted it until they were eye to eye. "Listen carefully, beloved. This is what must be done…"
************************************************************************
"Uncle! Uncle!" Jillas yelped. He pounded on the dock helplessly as Lina sat on his back, cruelly tugging on his leg. She briefly wondered if she could make his heel touch the back of his head and decided that there was really only one way to find out.
"Miss Lina, don't you think that he's had enough?" Amelia winced sympathetically as Lina snarled at Jillas.
"Are you sure that's the whole story?!" Lina demanded as she put more pressure on the helpless fox-man. There was a painful sounding pop as she managed to move his leg back another half inch. A long agonizing howl convinced her that she'd gotten all the information she was going to out of Jillas, and almost reluctantly, she released her hold on him.
In the blink of an eye, Jillas scrabbled over to where Zelgadis was standing and wrapped his arms around the minister's leg in an iron grip. He ignored Zelgadis's glare in favor of quietly growling at Lina. She'd made it painfully obvious that she was totally insane.
Luckily for Jillas, Lina was lost in thought and totally missed his little act of defiance. "Rezo…" she whispered to herself. If Jillas's story was to be believed, Rezo wasn't the kind man that she'd always been led to believe he was. A worried frown crossed her face as she began to walk.
Amelia watched Lina walk away with a confused expression on her face. "Miss Lina, what are we supposed to do now?"
Lina waved dismissively. "How am I supposed to know? Go home. Go have a couple drinks. Go jump off a cliff for all I care. I'm not your keeper." She sighed quietly. There were so many questions now. She needed time to figure things out.
"Well, what are you going to do?" Zelgadis asked as he surreptitiously tried to place Amelia between Jillas and himself. The fox was incredibly clingy and it was a little weird.
"I'm going to church. It's Sunday, you know." Lina glanced up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Gourry. What, do you want me to tell you where to go too?"
Gourry smiled. "Nah. I know where I'm going. Wherever you go." He draped his arm around Lina's shoulders as they walked together. "So, I guess this is bad, right?"
Lina chuckled dryly and nodded. "Yeah, 'bad' sums the situation up pretty well." Bad was an understatement. Jillas had pretty much painted Rezo as a heartless murderer in his story. He'd claimed that the priest had ordered his entire tribe wiped out. That was bad enough, but the really upsetting thing was that her own experience with the High Priest gave her little reason to doubt the story.
************************************************************************
Diol angrily flung the door to his home open and began to pull off his restrictive dress robes before he'd even set foot in the room. "Of all the damned annoyances! Who had the bright idea to stage a fire drill in the middle of the reception?" Slamming the door behind him, he tossed the bloodstained robe on the floor in favor of donning his work clothes. He'd never seen such a poorly run event before. Fires, screaming, stampeding guests, it was all terribly irritating. Why had they interrupted his work if they were just going to evacuate everyone anyway?
A smile returned to Diol's face as he entered his workroom. No matter. He was back where he belonged with his valuable creation. It was dark in the room and he squinted at indistinct shapes in the gloom. Something was amiss. There was a breeze for one thing and he hadn't left a window open. Frowning, he quickly lit a candle. Had there been a break in? That'd be a nuisance. He'd have to call the guards and of course they'd have to be nosy and ask why he had all the bodies, opening an annoying can of worms that he didn't want to deal with.
"Anyone there?" Diol held the flickering candle over his head as he cautiously entered the room. He made a quick mental checklist of everything in the room. There was that girl he'd exhumed last week. Far too rotten to be used on her own, of course, but he'd incorporated a few bits and pieces into that Vrumugun fellow and… he was gone.
Diol's gore spattered workbench was bare. "My creation!" he cried out as he hurried over to investigate. He set the candle down on the bench and knelt down to look around the floor underneath. Maybe the cadaver had rolled off or something, he stupidly hoped. He carelessly flung tools and spare parts aside in his search for his pet project.
A particularly large and jagged looking bone saw came to rest in the corner of the room. It lay there for a moment, glistening dangerously in the shadows before something moved. A hand reached out of the darkness and quietly picked up the tool. The shadowy figure cocked its head thoughtfully as it regarded its new acquisition.
Diol paused in his search as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. He had a sudden feeling that he wasn't alone in the dark room anymore. "Hello?" he called out without much hope of an answer. Whatever was in there wasn't friendly. "I don't have any money despite what you might think. I invest every silver I own in books." His hand slowly reached for the candle as he spoke. He caught a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye, and real or imagined, it caused him to jerk his hand back in surprise, knocking over the candle.
The flame guttered for a moment, desperately clinging to the wick before it was doused with hot wax and extinguished. The room was instantly plunged into blackness. The next few seconds were punctuated by the rapid breathing of a frightened old man and the quiet rustling of papers in the breeze.
He should have called the guards, Diol thought as he carefully crawled across the floor on hands and knees. Explaining the bodies be damned. He was a minister of Ceiphied and exempt from the laws of the common man. As soon as he'd seen that there had been a break in, he should have turned right around and- His train of thought was interrupted as his hand came to rest on what felt like a human foot. Normally it wouldn't have been cause for alarm, but this one was standing up. Cautiously, he ran his hand upwards, feeling the bare skin of a leg.
Suddenly, viselike fingers clamped down upon Diol's throat, eliciting a gasp of pain from the old man. They squeezed harder, easily breaking skin and imbedding themselves within the soft meat of his neck.
Unable to do anything but gurgle helplessly, Diol looked up, struggling to see the face of his attacker. He was suddenly snatched from the floor and lifted until he couldn't even feel the floor beneath his feet. He fancied that he caught the merest glimpse of moonlight reflected on metal and then he heard a whistle just before his own saw was violently imbedded in his face.
************************************************************************
Dawn broke over the city illuminating the gristly results of the night of chaos.
Within an alley a mere block away from the capital building, a woman lay in death, her throat cut from ear to ear. Strangely enough, despite the gaping wound she had received, there wasn't a single drop of blood to be found. Also missing were Lina's sword and clothes, stolen by the night.
In the apartment of Diol, minister of Sairaag, the old man lay on the floor, ragged finger holes in his throat and a look of terror etched on his face. The front of his skull was split down the middle by one of his own tools. His murderer had disappeared with the coming of the dawn.
Perhaps most tragically of all, the gaunt body of a noble steed, old Gunpowder lay in the street, brought down by some heartless fiend. Never again would he gallop like the wind through the streets of Sairaag. Well… he'd never really 'galloped' to begin with, but now he definitely wasn't going to get the chance to.
At the front gate of the capital building, an unmarked carriage came to a stop. Within the privacy of its interior, Rezo and Eris shared a tender kiss before parting ways to do what had to be done.
Eris remained in the coach as it sped off towards her objective. She contemplated three simple words that Rezo had hurriedly scrawled on a scrap of paper. "Seyruun Family Circus," she whispered.
Before the coach had gone ten feet, Rezo had already hurried through the gate and quickly dropped to one knee before the grand statue of Ceiphied. He muttered a quick prayer for guidance before standing and ascending the front steps to meet the captain of the guard. He and the crimson haired monster of a man shared a few quick words before he swept past him to enter the building.
Gaav looked after him for a moment, a bewildered expression on his face. It lasted for only an instant as he realized what the priest had asked of him. Cracking his knuckles menacingly he grinned and muttered, "Heretics."
************************************************************************
Lina raised her hand to knock on the door of the church when it was suddenly yanked open by a certain purple haired priest. Scared out of her wits, she yelped and leapt up into Gourry's arms. She began to tremble in anger and her face reddened a bit. Somehow, she'd known that Xellos would do something like this.
"Why hello, young lady! And you, Mister Gourry!" Xellos exclaimed with a huge grin on his face. "What a coincidence meeting you here! Oh?" He raised a questioning eyebrow at the sight before him. He immediately glossed over the fact that they both looked as if they'd had a rough night. Gourry's legs bore a thousand small scratches and Lina still had seaweed in her hair. All he saw was that Gourry was carrying a blushing and trembling Lina in his arms. Why, it could only mean… "Come in, come in!" he called out excitedly, flinging the doors wide to admit them. Without even waiting to see if the swordsman obeyed, he hurried up to the front of the chapel. "I wasn't expecting you quite this soon, but I'm incredibly pleased that you've decided to come to me!"
Gourry and Lina exchanged nervous glances as the swordsman hesitantly carried her down the aisle into the interior of the church.
Xellos busied himself at his desk for a moment. "Now where did I put that book?" he muttered to himself as he rifled through drawers and sheaves of paper. He turned to see Gourry cautiously approaching the desk, still carrying a shell-shocked Lina. "Come on, don't be shy! This is a joyous day!" His face lit up as he found the tome he was looking for. "Wonderful!" He turned to face the pair and cleared his throat. "Gourry, set her down there and take her hand. That's the way." He flipped through the book, searching for a particular passage.
"Xellos, I've got questions and I didn't know where else to go for answers." Lina glanced down at her hand, which was clasped tightly within Gourry's and her cheeks burned even hotter than before. "It's about the High Priest…" she muttered, struggling to remember exactly why she'd come here.
"Nonsense!" Xellos replied with a dismissive wave. "You don't need to worry about the High Priest!" His face lit up as he found his place in the book. "Ah, here we go!"
"We don't?" Lina felt a wave of relief wash over her. Xellos was right. Rezo wasn't her problem, assuming he was a problem at all, of course. The best thing to do would be to walk away before…
"Marriage," Xellos intoned solemnly, bringing Lina's thought process to a screeching halt with that single word. "Marriage is a solemn bond made between lovers and tempered by the fire of Ceiphied's heart. Standing before me today are two such lovers, ready to pledge their lives to one another. Is there any soul that can give reason that this union should not be blessed? How about you Ashford?" He looked to the back of the chapel where the homeless chef was sleeping in a corner.
Ashford snored loudly, scratched his side, rolled over, and continued to sleep, oblivious to the fact that Xellos had even asked him a question.
"Excellent!" Xellos said happily. "A good man, Ashford. Almost froze to death in the alley last night so I invited him to sleep in here. I thought that we'd probably need a witness this morning."
"How'd you know that?" Gourry asked curiously.
Xellos waved dismissively and grinned. "Oh, listen to me, babbling on when you two are eagerly waiting to be wed." He clapped Gourry on the shoulder amicably and said, "Without further ado, Gourry Gabriev, do you swear to cherish and care for your beautiful bride for as long as you both shall live?"
"Huh?"
Xellos quickly rephrased the question before Lina could interject. "Do you promise to take care of Lina forever?"
"Uh, sure. Why not?" Gourry replied with a shrug. He'd already promised to protect Lina and that sounded like what the priest was asking him.
"Bravo, Gourry! A more enthusiastic response, I've not heard," Xellos replied with a grin. He turned to face Lina and cleared his throat. "Now young lady, those brought together by Ceiphied may never be separated, not even by death itself. The bond of your love will be eternal, unto the end of time. Do you, Lina Inverse, take Gourry Gabriev to be your husband? To love and to cherish for all eternity?"
Lina, who's face had gone from beet red to ghost white sometime in the last two minutes, stammered, "I… I… I…"
Xellos nodded eagerly. "Yes? I need an answer, young lady."
"I… I… I can't believe you just tried to do that!" Lina sprung forward and tackled the elderly priest. "What are you, some kind of psycho?! I'm not ready to get married yet! What in the hell's the matter with you?!"
An infuriating grin on his face, Xellos looked up at the furious redhead straddling his chest and nodded knowingly. "Ah, I understand perfectly. You're getting cold feet, aren't you? It's quite all-right Lina. Everyone has second thoughts about these things."
Lina's eyes were slits as she hissed, "I never even had first thoughts about it, you crackpot! What kind of priest tries to swindle people into getting married? Can you be serious for one second? I've got a question about Rezo."
The mirth drained out of Xellos's face immediately. "I see," he muttered darkly. Before Lina could react, he'd sat up and gently lifted her into the air as if she weighed no more than a small child. "What did you find out?" he asked as he easily carried her a few feet before depositing her on a pew. "Start at the beginning, if you will."
************************************************************************
"Are you sure that you're alright?" Amelia asked for what had to be the hundredth time on their trip back to the circus.
"I'm fine, Amelia. The shot just grazed me." Zelgadis winced as he looked down at the blackened hole in his shirt. It was situated in the center of his right shoulder.
Amelia was also examining the tattered hole and shook her head sadly. "But, I saw you fall. Why won't you tell me what happened?"
Zelgadis studied the acrobat's face for a long moment before nodding. "Alright. Will you promise not to share this with anyone?" When she nodded, he sighed in relief. It would be nice to get this off his chest. "I'm not exactly normal, Amelia. I'm a lot faster and stronger than a normal person. I'm also incredibly hard to hurt." He shot Jillas a scathing look and said, "When he shot me, it should have killed me. I should have died several times before as well. But I don't, because I'm a monster."
Amelia stared at Zelgadis, looking for something in his eyes. She sighed and whispered, "I thought you said you were going to tell me the truth?"
"It is the truth!" Zelgadis protested.
"No it isn't. I don't know what you are, but you're not a monster, Mister Zelgadis." Amelia impulsively wrapped her arms around her companion in a bear hug. She smiled when she felt his arms encircle her a moment later. "Monsters aren't kindhearted like you."
"I'm not kind, Amelia." Zelgadis looked down at the alley floor guiltily, thinking about how he was using Lina to draw Rezo's attention away from himself.
"Yes you are," Amelia insisted. "I see the way you smile at me and there's nothing wicked in it. Why did you buy me this bracelet?" she asked, holding up her wrist for Zelgadis's inspection. "Why did you pay so much to have Miss Lina's sword fixed? And her home? Why did you save me when we were in Hellmaster's lair? It's because you're a kindhearted person and you love your friends."
"My friends?" Zelgadis mused aloud. They were his friends, weren't they? All this time he'd been thinking of how best to use them and they'd done nothing but care for him. Lina had been given multiple opportunities to kill him, but hadn't. Amelia had stuck with him through the whole Hellmaster situation. And Gourry… well, it was impossible not to like Gourry, wasn't it?
Amelia saw the realization dawn on Zelgadis's face and smiled. "You see? You're not a bad person, Mister Zelgadis. I mean, you even saved Mister Jillas after he shot you."
Jillas chuckled nervously at the mention of his name. "Uh, right… Sorry 'bout that, boss!" he said with an apologetic wave.
"Well, I didn't really 'save' him," Zelgadis explained. "And on top of that, I-wait a second, did you just call me boss again?"
"Uh huh!" Jillas said with a cheerful nod. "Ye saved m' life! I'll follow ye t' th' ends o' the earth!"
"I think I'm going to be sick," Zelgadis muttered miserably. "Do you know what people are going to say when they see me walking down the street with the guy who tried to kill the High Priest following me?"
"Yeah! I'll bet, they'll say, 'Ey, look at th' lucky guy wit' th' loyal servant!"
Zelgadis rolled his eyes and barely managed to suppress a sigh of frustration. "Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what they'll say."
Amelia clapped a hand over her mouth to suppress her giggles. "You're so lucky, Mister Zelgadis!"
"Yeah, lucky." Zelgadis put an arm around Amelia's shoulders and led her a little ways away from Jillas. "I have a few things that I have to check into, but I'll be back before the day is over. Will you be ready to leave by then?"
"Leave? Why are we leaving?"
"Something about you upset Rezo," Zelgadis patiently explained. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in Jillas's general direction and added, "On top of that, he thinks that I had something to do with that idiot's attempt to kill him. We have to leave Sairaag and the sooner we do so, the better. Now, go get your things together. Don't tell anyone where you're going, either."
After seeing that Amelia made it into the fairgrounds safely, Zelgadis turned to his new companion. "Jillas, you're my servant, right?"
"Tha's right! 'Cause ye saved m' life!" Jillas said with an eager nod.
Zelgadis forced a smile and said, "That's right. I did." He glanced around as if making sure that nobody else was in earshot before conspiratorially whispering, "Now don't let it go to your head, but I think that you're a damned fine servant. Possibly the best I've ever had." His grin was quickly replaced with a scowl as he said, "I've got a problem though."
"A problem? 'M good wit' problems! Let me fix it!" Jillas practically hopped from foot to foot in anticipation of hearing Zelgadis's woes.
"You? Why, I never even considered that!" Zelgadis said, struggling not to laugh. "That's incredibly generous of you. Okay, here's the deal. I need someone to look after Amelia while I'm gone."
"Right! Got t' look afta' Amelia!" Jillas started to run off but was quickly restrained by Zelgadis's hand on his shoulder.
Taking a deep breath and quietly counting to ten, Zelgadis tersely said, "I wasn't finished, Jillas. Seeing as you're a wanted criminal and you'll be killed on sight, I need you to be subtle. Don't let anyone see you. If anything goes wrong, I want you to make sure that Amelia gets away safely. Can you do that for me?"
Jillas nodded, practically foaming at the mouth in his eagerness to carry out his task. When Zelgadis nodded at him a moment later, he took off, darting out into the street without even bothering to look for guards.
Zelgadis watched in horror as Jillas made a spectacle of himself in his attempt to get into the fairgrounds. "Now, what did I just tell him?" he muttered to himself as the fox-man darted right past a pair of soldiers without giving them so much as a second look.
************************************************************************
"I just don't understand," Lina said, a cup of tea clutched in her trembling hands. "Sis told me how kind and just Rezo was. That's not what I saw last night, though. He was so mean and... and it was just wrong! On top of that, Jillas said that Rezo ordered his entire race wiped out. I don't know what to think anymore." She thought again of how Luna had told her of Rezo's benevolence. Her sister, perfect in every way, had been wrong. That had upset her even more than the fact that Rezo wasn't compassionate. She felt as if the High Priest hadn't just let her down, but instead had sullied Luna's memory as well.
Gourry watched as Lina regressed from the strong willed woman he knew to a sad little girl over the course of her story. She'd lost something intangible but incredibly important when she'd discovered that Luna had been wrong about Rezo. She'd lost her infallible hero. He put a comforting arm around her shoulders as she got to the part about Luna's grave being empty.
Lina smiled at Gourry gratefully and laid her cheek on his hand. "They took her Xellos," she said, her voice full of hurt. "Someone took Sis's body for who knows what reason. After all she did for the church, why'd they do that to her? How could Ceiphied allow something like this to happen?"
Xellos nodded as he sipped his tea. Finally, Lina had gotten around to the question that she'd really wanted to ask the entire time. "Those are grave charges, young lady. Grave robbing and genocide. By law, I should report you to the guards for heresy."
"But, you won't," Lina said hopefully. "I know that you won't. That's why I came to you. You understand me. You always knew what to say to make things better when I was a little girl. Back before Luna died."
"You don't need my answers, Lina. You're strong enough to stand on your own. My work was done when you defeated the Hellmaster, but I refused to believe it. I thought you still needed me. I wanted you to need me." Xellos chuckled sadly. "It was the foolish hope of an old man."
"Xellos, are you okay?" Lina asked. The priest wasn't making any sense. "Do you need to lie down or something?"
Xellos favored Lina with a crooked grin. "Oh, I'm quite fine, young lady. I know what has to be done now." He cocked his head as if listening to something and frowned. "You know, now that I think about it, I do have some advice for you. I think perhaps that you may want to run."
"What?" Lina mumbled quizzically.
Just then, Gaav's voice echoed through the cathedral. "Xellos! We know that you're harboring heretics in direct violation of the church's decree!" The doors exploded inwards and the crimson haired warrior strode down the aisle with a dozen torch bearing guards behind him.
Gourry leapt to his feet and put a hand on the Sword of Light. He scanned the room pessimistically. A dozen men, half of whom he knew were skilled swordsmen. And he wasn't even including the captain, a warrior whose skill may have surpassed his own. He smiled grimly and prepared to defend Lina with his life. "Light come-"
Xellos rapped the swordsman on the shoulder with his staff to get his attention and shook his head. "Your death would accomplish nothing, young man. Listen carefully because there isn't much time. Take Lina out the back and through the cemetery. You'll come to a tomb near the back of the churchyard. It leads to a series of tunnels underneath Sairaag. These will take you out of the city."
"Take Lina through the tunnels. Got it," Gourry said with a quick nod.
"I haven't been down there in, oh, about two hundred and forty three years, so I'm not quite sure it's still safe, but it's the only choice you have." His voice took on an ominous tone as he added, "Just watch out for the Fallen."
Gaav stopped a few feet away and held up a hand indicating that his troops should wait for further commands. "Gabriev," he spat distastefully. "I never thought you capable of treason. I should have suspected something when you abandoned your post without so much as a word of explanation." He nodded at Lina and growled, "I assume this little whore addled your brain with her feminine wiles. A shame. I had high hopes for you."
Growling angrily, Gourry stepped forward and yelled, "She's not a whore! She's a waitress!"
Nobody really knew what to make of that statement and awkward silence filled the air for a few moments. Finally, Lina cleared her throat and said, "Wow, um, thanks a lot, Gourry. I think."
Xellos turned to Lina and smiled apologetically. "I'm afraid this is where our time together ends, young lady." He embraced her lovingly and tried to find a clean spot on her forehead to kiss. "Just like when you first came back. A dirty face and in trouble way over your head."
"Xellos? What are you talking about?" Lina swallowed nervously. He didn't really mean that he was leaving, did he? Where would he go? What would she do without him?
Seeing the fear on Lina's face, Xellos whispered in her ear, "I'll give you some advice. My last bit of advice. Do what you think is right with the brief time that you have left." Before Lina could ask him what that meant, he sighed and regretfully muttered, "I had hoped to see the children, but it seems that Ceiphied has chosen different roads for us both to tread."
"See the children…?" Lina repeated curiously before turning a bright shade of red at Xellos's implication.
Smiling at Lina's discomfort, Xellos turned and put a hand on Gourry's shoulder. He nodded at Lina and said, "It's time, Gourry. That young lady is quite dear to me and I trust that you'll keep your promise. Let nothing happen to her. Now, do as I instructed and I expect things will turn out for the best."
Gourry nodded and turned to grab Lina. In doing so, he exposed his back to Gaav, who leapt forward, his broadsword raised over his head.
Scowling angrily, Xellos leapt forward to parry the killing blow with his staff. Sharp steel struck wood and didn't so much as scratch it. "Attacking your foe from behind? Hardly fair, Mister Gaav. Besides, your fight is with me." He leapt back and assumed a defensive stance.
Gaav sneered at the elderly priest standing before him. "You willingly shelter these heretics, old man? For your treason, I sentence you to death."
"Oh my! Treason, you say?" Xellos said with a laugh. "My sins are grave, but I do not count treason among them." He smirked and asked, "What about you, Mister Gaav? Since we're discussing treason, let's speak of your sins. How many defenseless women and children did you kill in the war?"
Grinning evilly, Gaav motioned the guards forward, intending for them to catch fleeing Gourry and Lina. "I'm going to enjoy killing you," he growled at Xellos.
Eyeing the approaching guards distastefully, Xellos quietly said, "You'll not pass. Not while I draw breath." He held up a hand and a violent gale swept through the church, flinging the guards away from the fleeing pair.
Only Gaav stood his ground in the face of Xellos's assault. His crimson hair whipped about his face in the wind as he muttered, "Cute." He turned to his scattered lackeys and said, "Burn it." The guards leapt to obey his command, setting torch to anything that would burn. Just as the building caught, the Demon Dragon King stepped forward and raised his sword overhead. "You say that I won't pass while you draw breath? I'll remedy that presently."
Strangely enough, Xellos didn't even bother to defend himself. An enigmatic smile upon his face, he nonchalantly cast his staff aside and opened his arms, almost as if he was welcoming Gaav's blow. He glanced over his shoulder at Gourry and Lina. The swordsman had his arms around the redhead's waist almost as if he was hugging her lovingly. In truth, she was struggling to get away and help the priest, but it was a beautiful image nonetheless. It'd be a good memory to take home with him.
Gourry gasped in surprise as he watched. Xellos seemed to change just before the sword fell. In a way, it looked as if the priest grew to fill the entire church. The swordsman stared at this for a moment, finally realizing something incredibly important about Xellos. Then he shook his head and turned away, tears flowing down his face. He couldn't bear to watch what was about to happen. "Come on, Lina. We can't help him anymore."
Then, it happened. Gaav's blade fell, violently hewing Xellos through his left shoulder. So fierce was the blow that the blade traveled all the way through the old priest until it erupted from a point just above his right hip.
After the captain's cruel stroke fell, intense white light that seemed to emanate from Xellos's body. The priest seemed to hover there for a moment, suspended between life and death. Even after taking Gaav's grievous wound, his smile didn't waver. He continued to watch Lina as he slowly dropped to his knees. His eyes finally slid closed and he whispered, "So beautiful," when he saw what awaited him on the other side of death. Then, the spell was broken and his body dropped unceremoniously to the ground, neatly sliced in two.
Lina shrieked Xellos's name as she watched him die. Had Gourry not been holding her, she would have rushed over to attack Gaav with her bare hands. Luckily, acrid smoke obscured the scene and she saw no more. This seemed to calm her down a bit. "Xellos!" she sobbed, reluctantly allowing Gourry to pull her from the scene.
Gaav stood in the rapidly burning church, a look of confusion upon his face. There had been something, hadn't there? Something odd, when the old man died. He put a foot on Xellos's shoulder and rolled the bisected priest over onto his back. "God," he whispered, recoiling instinctively from what he'd seen.
Xellos's amethyst eyes stared at Gaav accusingly. Even though the priest was dead, his eyes seemed to follow the captain, boring into him intensely.
Finding himself unable to move, Gaav might have stayed there staring at the priest until he was consumed in the inferno as well. The feeling of lieutenant's hand on his arm startled him back to reality. "What?!" he demanded.
"Begging your pardon, sir, but the heretics are getting away."
Gaav shook his head angrily and glared at the doorway. It was true. They were gone. He glanced back down at the priest to find Xellos's eyes shut and an infuriating smile upon his face. The priest's last trick had given Lina and Gourry a head start in their flight from Sairaag.
************************************************************************
Next Chapter: Mysteries in the dark
Notes: Well, we've finally sorted out all that Xellos nonsense, right? So, there's no need to ask any more questions about him as he won't even be mentioned in the rest of the story. Just kidding, of course. There will be a few revelations about him in the next chapter.
The opening scene in this chapter was originally going to be Lina saving Gourry. However, I couldn't think of a way for her to do it. The thing that bugged me most was trying to rationalize how Lina the toothpick was supposed to carry the guy that's twice her weight.
Reviewer Response:
Blue Lady, I can't tell you how pleased I am that you've taken an interest in the story. I love "Ascend" (although I have gotten a little behind in my reading). If you have any particular questions, feel free to ask them. I might have addressed them in an earlier chapter.
Otaku Girl, you're actually racing to be the first to review? Well, you usually are, so here. *offers trophy* Hmm, Seyruunian. Seems weird that Rezo would react like that, doesn't it?
Miss Gabriev, you should know by now how hard it is to offend me. If you truly hate Naga with all your heart (and poor sweet Sylphiel as well), more power to you. You know what? I take it back. How dare you dislike kindhearted Sylphiel? All she ever does is try to help people! Just kidding! Thanks for the review.
Pogo, the scene in the alley did explain something. Someone in white got Lina's sword and then Rezo had it later. Now, it would have been really odd if I hadn't put that scene in wouldn't it? Still got the giggles over that line? Cool. Not talking about the tray… Not talking about the tray… Thanks for betaing! *hands over chocolate covered cherries*
Thanks for the advice Dragonet. I've been trying to write the story how it's supposed to be written instead of keeping it dark for dark's sake. As for answering the question with a question, do you really want to know exactly when a plot point is going to be revealed?
???, how is it unfortunate that I write well? I was a college student, yes. As for my age… well, let's just say that I'm a good deal older than the average 14-16 old on ff.net, but I'm not over the hill yet. "Old but young" sums it up pretty well, I suppose.
Until next time!