Capriones 8/12/2006
Disclaimer: We shall make use of several of the characters from The Slayers, none of whom belongs to us.
Chapter Eighteen -- Crossover Magic
Filia and Valgaav departed while the wedding party was in full swing. As far as Zelas knew they were the only ones leaving the settlement, and that with her grudging permission. Filia ran her hand over her horses' flanks, pleased at the animal's condition and quality. People who cared well for their animals couldn't be all bad. She swung up into the saddle with familiarity and ease. There was an acute pleasure in feeling the strength of a good animal beneath her. Valgaav led them single file out of the settlement until they hit the main road, at which point Filia spirited her horse alongside of his.
"Do you know where we are going?" she asked, doubting that he did.
The autumn night chilled her to the bones. She pulled her delicate-looking white and pink-edged cloak more tightly to cover her arms, hoping that added insulation from the elements would gain her more warmth. From the saddle hung the sword Xelloss had given to her, another tool in her arsenal, but one she preferred not to touch, and her bag of clothes purchased from the Capriones.
She had been traveling light when she, Sylphiel, and Lina took the job from Prince Phil, delivering the ransom for Princess Amelia. There was a bag with a few personal items and changes of clothes back in Seyruun, which she now doubted she would ever see again. These last few days had developed totally unexpectedly. Filia was certain that even Lina had been unprepared for what had happened. She hadn't thought to mention to Lina to collect their belongings while she and Gourry were at the palace. Would Lina remember? More importantly, was Lina going to be okay or was riding into a trap? Or was she?
"This route will take us most the way," Valgaav told her. "There's a village of beast men at the foot of the mountains. They're friendly to Capriones, mostly. We can stay there tonight."
"Beast men?" Her lip curled with distaste, but not alarm. She could be poised, when she tried. "Well, I could use a cup of tea."
Filia was particularly thankful not to be climbing mountains on horseback in the dark. "Do they know you?"
"No. I've never been there before, but Xelloss has."
"I see," she huffed, nodding as she came to terms with their situation. "So this is all secondhand knowledge from Xelloss. Well, at least I can be satisfied that I had been correct assuming you were not a seasoned traveler."
She could see his back stiffen against the darker shadows of the hills and knew she was correct. "You don't get out much, do you? Is it Zelas who restricts your movements, or Xelloss?"
"Not Xelloss," he said with a touch of contempt. "I've done some traveling with him, mostly."
"But never alone because Zelas doesn't trust you."
"Would you?"
His expression in the darkness was mostly lost on her, but she guessed he was leering at her.
"I am now, aren't I? But not if I were relying on you to do something against your will, then I'd be stupid not to take precautions."
"You've got that mace of yours hidden somewhere on you, I'll bet."
"Yes, that's one kind of precaution."
"Where?" he said, his voice softening. "Under your dress?"
"Well . . . yes, strapped to my thigh," her voice cracked, giving away her discomfort.
She found Valgaav physically attractive. He was nice and tall, lean, strong, but the arrogant look in his eyes, his expression of contempt, and his unmasked aspect of resentment put her off.
"Shouldn't we be putting some distance between us and the settlement?" she asked starchily.
"Yeah, we'll ride two hours then rest."
"I'm not a lightweight," Filia sniffed. "I may ride side-saddle, but I can ride. The road is good, so let's get to our destination."
"All right. If you change your mind, just shout."
They rode fast-paced into the night and never stopped until they reached the outskirts of the village of Madiran. Filia rode well and appreciated a man who did also, which Valgaav did, expertly. Filia bridled her horse when she heard the hoof beats of the other horse slow suddenly. Valgaav checked his horse and pointed off to the right.
"Do you see a campfire?" he asked in a hushed tone.
Filia hadn't noticed one before, but she saw it now. "Who lives out here?" she asked, keeping her voice low.
"We're close to Madiran, the beast men's village. Could be folks from there."
"Or ruffians," Filia said. "Wait. Smell that?"
He drew closer. "Your perfume."
"Incense!" she hissed. "Those are Rezo's cleansers! Valgaav we must do something!"
Valgaav hadn't had his courage tested in a fight, Filia suspected, not a life-threatening one, and he didn't appear eager to have it tested now.
"If we ride fast, we'll get to the village without being seen," he said, looking into the dark.
"What if they are on their way to scourge the village? Or on their way to your settlement? We can't let them get the chance. They don't know about us, so we can catch them unawares."
"Well sure, if Lina were here she could pull off one of those Dragon Slave spells and wipe them all out."
"I know magic and so do you–"
"But so do they, right? That's what everyone says. They use magic to get rid of the lesser magic users, and that would be us."
"Not all of them can use magic, you naive boy! There's only maybe fifteen men moving around out there. Of them there may be one or two magic users and not especially great ones. My guess is they have just what they think they need to attack that little village, and we have something they don't."
He was peering out into the night, a curious look on his face. Filia smiled knowing how he must be wondering how she could have counted the black smudges moving around, and adding to that how much more she knew about everything, Filia knew his manhood was taking a beating.
Seemingly, he gave up his attempt to count the moving figures around the camp, and asked, "You gonna tell me what that is?"
"Certainly. We have crossover magic." Filia smiled at his puzzled look. "You know black magic--"
"And you practice white. So what?"
"Wrong again. I don't cast white magic. Don't you pay attention to anything? Amelia and Sylphiel do. I practice holy magic."
"I pay plenty of attention," he said, sulkily. "So, when have you ever done that? Not out on the practice field."
"Naturally not. I didn't need to practice what I do perfectly fine already. And I particularly didn't want Xelloss see what I can do."
"Uh, huh. Some priestess you are, not being able to heal people, or trust them."
"I certainly can heal people! How ignorant you are!"
She could feel his heat rise, his breathing deepen, as he took offense at her tone. And since her healing magic was mediocre and she didn't want him to think she was a braggart, she drew back and said more gently, "Which is to be expected, I guess, being brought up for so long in the company of . . . the Capriones. For your information, holy magic is part of my priestess training, although I concentrated my efforts on learning offensive castings, not healing. Lina knows, of course; we've been friends for quite awhile. That's how I know about the crossover magic. She and I have done it before."
"So, this crossover stuff is . . . ?" he asked, curiosity overcoming the sting to his pride.
"We combine a spell of yours with mine. Say, I enchant your sword then you cast a black magic spell on it." Her eyes glittered and she grinned diabolically. "It will blow your boots off."
"I hope you don't mean that literally," he said, chuckling at her intensity. "All right. So, we ought to hide the horses. Over there, those rocks. That would give us some height advantage, too. We could set off a fire over that way as a diversion then fire off . . . What?"
"You aren't bad as a strategist, but let's get moving while you tell me the rest."
They tied up the horses on the far side of the rock outcropping, then climbed partway up to a ledge, using muted light spells to keep their footing.
"A good thing they didn't think to put their own lookout on this. I would have," Valgaav said.
"Rezo's cleansers aren't picked for their intelligence, just for their ability to follow orders and for their cruelty. They seem to be assembling."
"Getting ready to mount an attack or go to bed? Hard to tell," Valgaav said.
"No, it isn't, look!" Filia uttered close to his ear. "They are going to sneak up on the village and burn it down. They are gathering up torches. We must act now."
"I'll set up a diversion . . ." he began.
"Can you hit them from here with one of your spells?"
"Yeah."
"So set up your diversion in the copse from the other side, but after we attack from here, that way they might think the assault is coming from the trees."
"Which was what I was gonna say," he said sharply. "Can you attach one of your spells to a Flare Arrow?"
"Yes, but won't that give away our position?"
"I gotta trick," Valgaav said as he created an enchanted arrow.
"Now," he whispered, adding additional spells.
He floated the charged 'arrow' into the shadow of the rocks while Filia added her casting to it.
"Done?" he asked.
Filia nodded without taking her eyes off the powerful casting. She gasped when it vanished.
"What did you do?"
Valgaav completed wide arm movements, and then hunkered down beside her.
"Black magic delay spell. It cloaks the spell in a miasma which will hold it for about . . . one more minute. I pushed it out over the camp."
Filia stared out into the darkness. "Invisible... and you didn't even use power words to set it off."
"Yeah," he smiled with pride. "I got my ways, plus it's night. Close your eyes, so the light doesn't blind you. I've got a smaller one to get going for the diversion."
Moments later, the explosion sent shockwaves through the earth. The horses whinnied in fright as the night sky lit up. Seconds later, a tree in the copse went up in flames.
"That's our cue to move in," he shouted over the din of screams and hollering voices. "Stay to my right."
Filia was about to argue his taking command that way, then realized that he needed the experience if he was going to convince Milgasia to entrust their people to him. With her mace in her hand, he followed Valgaav into the fray.
With a sickening crack, her mace smashed an invisible face, sending the man to the ground, leaving Filia time to cast a holy spell onto Valgaav's sword before her next swing.
Valgaav was excited by the additional power the holy magic pumped into his spells. His sword slashed though two men, excess energy spinning off into three others, frying them on the spot.
"Take that, you miserable scum of the earth!" Filia screamed at a man in wine-red, monks' robes, positively a member of the Red Guard, swinging her mace into his mid section.
Valgaav spun around, unsure whether or not she was yelling at him. He watched in horror and fascination as Filia kicked the man's head backwards, freeing her bloodied mace head from his internal organs.
"We haven't knocked off the sorcerers! Go, Go!" Filia yelled at him.
Valgaav grinned viciously and growled, running for the commander of the Red Guard force, sword upraised and blazing with black magic. Filia automatically covered his back, a duty she had always performed for Lina, contributing a holy magic shield in front as well as fending off attackers. She estimated they had killed two-thirds of the guard, but none of them had used a magic attack.
With sudden, breathtaking force, she was thrown to the ground as her shield repelled a powerful spell. Valgaav was still standing, teeth bared, trading parries with the Red Guard commander, who was stabbing back with an ensorcelled blade. Valgaav's strength wouldn't hold out much longer if she couldn't maintain the barrier, but in order to supplement his spell with one of her own, she would eventually have to drop the shielding.
"Crossover!" she screamed in hopes that he was intelligent enough to figure out what to do.
Remarkably, he was. The moment he felt the surge of power from her added spell, he brought up his weapon, and then lunged, adding all of his weight to the attack. The spells clashed in a terrific flash of light and roar and crackle of spent energy. Valgaav faltered only a fraction of a second, feeling the loss of Filia's protective barrier, but then returned his concentration to his own casting and cut through the sorcerer's shielding, past his breastplate, and embedded his blade deep into the commander's chest.
Filia heard a rise of shouts coming their way. More men? She was horrified at the thought. How could they have missed the additional forces? Where had they come from? She twisted around, staring bleakly at the stand of trees, where the fire continued to spread, hopping from one dry, cedar to the next. Of course, more men had been encamped in the copse. How could she have been so blind not to have noticed, or considered it?
End Capriones, Chapter Eighteen