Disclaimer: I own neither Slayers nor Brothers Grimm's tale, "Fowler's Fowl." Just this whacky cross over. Please Read & Review. Enjoy. –Love Mya G. .
Chapter Two: Horror of the Forbidden Chamber
"Phew! This one's heavy!" Lina exclaimed. When she finally reached her home, she unceremoniously threw her cargo onto the floor just as the sac started to move.
As the spell wore off, the movement became more and more frantic. "Hey! What's going on!? Hey, let me out! It's dark in here!!" Gourry exclaimed, panicking.
"Hold on already," Lina grumbled exasperatedly as she untied the bag.
When he was free, Gourry looked around wide-eyed, taking in his new surroundings. The walls around him certainly didn't belong to his small, old cottage home. They were made from large grey blocks of brick, and the building was fabulously decorated with rugs, wall scrolls, and fine furniture. Before him, stood Lina, undisguised and wearing her sorceress robes.
"Who the heck are you? Where am I?" he asked. The blond man gasped suddenly, as if remembering something, and jumped up. "Where did the old lady go!?!"
Lina face faulted and slowly got up. "You idiot… I'm the old lay, ME!! I was in disguise!!!"
Gourry blinked at Lina with a blank expression. "Disguise? Why were you in disguise?" Gourry asked.
Lina sweat dropped and could have sworn a huge drawing of a jellyfish appeared over the young man's head in bright, neon lights.
"I was in disguise because I was kidnapping you!!!" Lina screeched. She took a deep, calming breath to steady herself and rubbed her temples, straightening herself up off the floor. "I've brought you here because I've chosen you to be my fiancé."
"Fiancé?" Gourry blinked. "That some kind of pickle?"
Again, Lina face faulted onto the floor but slowly drew herself up back on her feet. "A pickle…. No, you idiot! A fiancé's not a pickle!!!"
Gourry took this in slowly and closed his eyes in deep concentration. Lina narrowed her eyes at the young man, waiting for his next response. Finally, Gourry opened his eyes, and in the sapphire-colored orbs, one could sense the power of true seriousness.
"Then… what kind of food is it?" he asked, smiling.
'What have I done?' Lina thought. Her ruby irises shrunk down to mere pinpoints. Her dragon scale shoulder guards fell off of her shoulders and laid halfway down her arms. 'How could I have grabbed such a Jellyfish Head?' Slowly recovering from shock, she planted her face into the palm of her gloved hand. 'I've gotta find a way out of this one. Maybe… I should just put him to the test now. If he passes, then at least, he has some common sense,' Lina concluded mentally, looking up with a wicked smile and glint in her eyes.
"Gourry? Isn't it?" Lina asked, remembering what the unseen brother had called him.
"Yes?" Gourry nodded.
Lina dug into her cloak. "I have to leave the house for a while to do some errands. I should only be gone for a few hours, but I need you to watch the place."
"Okay…" Gourry drawled out, a bit confused. "Is there anything else?"
"Actually, there is." Smiling, she pulled out a huge key ring that looked like it held a dozen keys, and then, she pulled out a white egg. "While I'm gone, take care of this egg. Take it wherever you go and make sure no harm comes to it. While I'm gone, go explore around the house and make yourself at home. However…"
"However?" Gourry raised an eyebrow.
Frowning, Lina pointed out a small, bronze key on the ring and spoke with a serious, malicious aura around her. "This key opens the door of the far chamber in the east corridor. That chamber is forbidden to you. If you should go against my wishes, the consequences will be horrible. Understand, Gourry?"
Gourry gulped nervously, feeling the ominous aura surrounding them at the warning. Slowly, but also following his instincts, he nodded. The sorceress smiled brightly then, making the young man sweat drop.
"Alright then. I'll be back before nightfall so make yourself at home," Lina said cheerily. Clasping her mantle back onto her shoulder guards, she headed for the large, oak door. Before opening it, she looked over her shoulder and grimaced at Gourry. "Remember, Gourry, the east chamber is not to be entered."
Nervous sweat drops jumped out of Gourry's head as he nodded. "I got it! I got it!"
With a grave nod, Lina went out the door, and Gourry could distinctly hear her locking the front door. With his kidnapper gone, the oldest of the Red Priest's grandsons took in his surroundings again and breathed out a low whistle.
"So…" he thought out loud, pocketing the key ring in his tunic pocket. "…this is what it's like to be kidnapped. I guess it could be worse."
He sat down on an overstuffed chair in the front hall and listened to the silence of the house that could be almost described as eerie. Remembering his duty, he looked down at the white egg in his hands. There wasn't a single speck of dirt or crack on it that blemished the fragile shell. Despite that, there didn't seem to be anything extraordinary about the mysterious sorceress' egg. No matter how long Gourry stared at it he couldn't find a single thing about the egg that would prompt Lina to be so protective over it.
Shrugging, Gourry stood up and decided to take up Lina's offer to make himself at home. 'Might as well try to find the kitchen,' he thought. 'Maybe I can find some of those fiancés."
Two hours later, tears of dismay trailed down Gourry's cheeks. Gourry leaned against a wall, feeling exhausted from wandering around for hours without a bite to eat. "Where's the kitchen?" he wailed pitifully. "This place is so huge! I'm lost!"
Lost he was indeed, so lost that he didn't realize he had wandered off to the East corridor, which was exactly what he was trying to avoid. Lost and miserably hungry, Gourry soon found himself in front of the door of the forbidden chamber. Not realizing what he was doing, he started trying different keys to the lock. After many unsuccessful tries, Gourry finally held the small, bronze key, and tried the lock. Finding that it fit, Gourry smiled and turned just a bit, and the door sprung open, making Gourry jump back from shock.
Cautiously, he walked into the room and held the keys to his chest in a death grip. The room was pitch dark, but he could make out the light of a lit torch coming from the middle of the room that was dimmed by a ring of curtains that was surrounding the source of firelight. Drawn by his sudden curiosity, Gourry bravely stepped up to it and drew back the thin curtains.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Gourry screamed, horrified at the sight before him.
Hidden behind the curtains was a huge basin filled with blood, butcher block, and a huge cleaver. Gourry turned green at the gills when he saw human body parts of different young men drenched in the gory bath.
"AAAAHHHH!" Gourry screamed again when an eye floated up to the top. The white of the eye was now yellowed from air exposure and stained an orangey red from the blood. The hazel-colored eye sunk back into the bath and bobbed back up as if winking at the young man. In his horror, Gourry didn't realize the egg was slipping out of his pocket until he heard a plop as it fell into the blood. "No! No! NO!"
With trembling hands, Gourry reached into the bath and jerked the fragile egg out, keeping himself from throwing up. Still horrified, Gourry raced out of the room, locking the door tight behind him, and he ran as fast as his legs could stand. He found the front door and remembered it was locked.
Knowing he was stuck, he raced to the bathroom he had found earlier and washed every speck of blood off of his hands. Then, he cleaned off the handle of the front door to hide any evidence. The last thing he cleaned was the pure white egg, which was painted in blood. He ran the faucet over it and cleaned off the majority of the blood, but as much as he washed the egg, speckles of fresh blood still remained on the delicate shell.
Feeling sick to his stomach, Gourry promptly fainted from fright.
Gourry didn't come to until his sensitive hearing caught the sound of a door being unlocked. Realizing the sorceress/murderess had returned, he jumped up, hid the egg in his trouser pocket, and ran to the door, knowing in his gut that if he didn't meet her, Lina would be suspicious.
When he greeted her, he tried to smile calmly, but he was trembling all over. "Hey, L-Lina! How was town?"
Lina took in his physic, and she eyed him suspiciously. "Fine… How were things here?"
"Fine!" Gourry answered.
"Really? Did you go into the chamber in the Eastern Corridor?" Lina asked.
"Sure didn't!" Gourry smiled weakly.
Lina smiled strangely, putting down the bags. "Okay. So where's my egg?"
Gourry's eye twitched. "Your… egg?"
"That's right. You did keep it safe, right?" Lina asked, making her way to him.
Sweat started to form at his brow. Growing pale, Gourry tried to wave it off. "Hey, why don't we forget about that egg, and I can make scrambled eggs for supper?"
"Gourry…." He froze at the cold tone in her voice. "Give me the egg."
He looked back, scared out of his mind, at Lina's out stretched hand. Knowing he couldn't stall any longer, he took out the egg and revealed the speckled blood all over it. He threw it at her, and made a dash for the closed door but found it locked tight.
"I see…" He heard Lina drawl out. "I thought so."
Gourry didn't dare look back as he tried the door again, nearly tearing it off its hinges. He didn't know how close Lina was until he felt his long hair being pulled. He let out a scream and was dragged to the floor.
"I asked you nicely to not go into that chamber!" Lina reprimanded over his screams as she dragged him back towards the butcher room. "If only you had listened to me, then it wouldn't have to come to this. Oh well, now I know where to go to get two more suitors. I wonder if one of them will listen to me…."
"No! I won't tell a soul, I swear! Just leave my little brothers alone!" Gourry wailed as Lina pulled him into the chamber.
"Oh, no. You're a liability. I'm sure one of your brothers will be good to listen to my warning," Lina said, picking up the cleaver and raising over her head. "Sadly, Gourry, you weren't good enough."
It became unspeakable.