Amelia felt an immense sense of relief when the cool night air against washed over her. She took a few deep breaths to help calm her nerves, then looked up at her rescuer.
Zelgadis continued to walk in a slow and determined pace, his gaze straight ahead. If not for how carefully he held her, Amelia would have thought he didn't even know she was there.
"S-stop them!" a voice suddenly broke the still night, "Don't let them get away!"
Amelia craned her neck to see over Zelgadis' shoulder, feeling her heart stop to see the cult had finally come to its senses, and a great mass of people were charging right at them! "We need to get out of here!" Amelia urged Zelgadis.
Zelgadis didn't respond, still walking at his steady pace.
The cult was getting closer, Amelia feeling panic rise as they neared. "Mister Zelgadis, please!"
Zelgadis still didn't respond, continuing on as if he'd not heard her.
The cult was less than ten feet away now, causing Amelia to scream, "Mister Zelgadis, RUN!! Amelia suddenly found her face embedded in Zelgadis' shoulder, the silent man having suddenly taken off like a shot! His speed was such that she wasn't easily able to remove her head from Zelgadis' shoulder, so Amelia could only rely on her hearing to tell her that the cult was quickly being left behind.
Amelia held her breath, finding it especially easy to do with her face embedded so well into Zelgadis' clothing. When all she could hear were Zelgadis' footfalls through the forest, she finally lifted her head enough to see where they were going, thankful that in his mad dash, Zelgadis was doing a very good job avoiding trees, fallen logs, thick brush...
She again glanced up into his face, still not seeing any sign he was aware of her presence. He still had a completely blank expression on his face, despite his current speed. "I think we can stop now, Mister Zelgadis. We traveled really far."
Zelgadis gave no indication he had heard Amelia.
The panic she'd felt earlier was quickly being replaced by a horrible feeling in her gut. Amelia tried to think back over the past hour, to what had gone so wrong, and why Zelgadis was so unresponsive. The man kept referring to him as a golem...
Amelia's breath caught in her throat, the horrible feeling becoming full-fledged dread. She looked up to him, took a deep breath, and then in a quiet whisper said, "Mister Zelgadis, stop."
If she'd not been held so firmly in his grasp, Amelia was sure she would have tumbled to the ground from how suddenly Zelgadis came to a halt. Amelia wouldn't have minded, hoping it could have woken her from this unfolding nightmare.
"Mister Zelgadis," Amelia stopped herself, the wrongness from what was becoming her reality almost too much to bear. Still, she had to know if what she thought what was happening were truly happening, so, "set me down." she finished at last.
Zelgadis responded by stooping forward and lowering his arms, allowing Amelia to slide out of his grasp. She'd nearly done so when she felt a tug at her cloak, seeing that Zelgadis still held it in his hands. ...or did he? Upon closer inspection she realized his hands were in fact open, but worse, that there was a red stain on her cloak.
Amelia gasped at the sight, quickly reaching for Zelgadis' canteen, loosing some of its contents on her cloak to soften the blood keeping the fabric of her cloak stuck to Zelgadis' palms. "Don't move, Mister Zelgadis. I don't want to hurt you."
Zelgadis didn't reply, but Amelia slowly pulled at the trapped cloak anyway, gradually freeing the fabric. She then poured more water from Zelgadis' canteen on his bloodied palms. Zelgadis gave no reaction, no wincing, frowning, anything. Amelia continued about her work, trying not to think about Zelgadis' current predicament, more intent on first healing his hands before sorting out what to do next. She finally placed her hands over his, a healing spell on her lips. When the wounds had closed, Amelia took her hands away.
Amelia was silent a moment, unsure what next to do. She finally looked back up into Zelgadis' eyes, thankful to see that at least they'd settled to a soft white glow, the red from before completely gone. She reached a hand out to cradle one side of his face, still not getting any reaction. She could feel tears starting to well up, as she realized that what stood before her was now not the man she loved. Whether that man still existed, Amelia had no way of knowing.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, tears finally freeing themselves to course down her face.
Through it all, Zelgadis gave no response, no indication he even knew what was going on. He just continued to stand where he had stopped, awaiting his next command.
To Be Continued…
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Author's notes: So here it is, many weeks after I said I'd be home from school and able to write. Ha! Didn't happen… I've actually been playing this scene through my head a lot, so I wasn't completely ignoring it. Then again, I fell back into playing World of Warcraft now that it's not blocked, and I'm attending an anime convention next month, so I've been busy sewing a costume. (Second time in eight years. Just shows how many conventions I go to!)
Anyway, I think I ought to stop writing fanfics, it just kills me to get into someone's head, then attempt to put into words what I'm feeling for the character. Writing is strange like that. (And no, I won't stop writing. I just need this bad feeling Amelia was having to leave me to continue to have a good day.)
Do you all understand what's going on yet? If not, Amelia's bound to keep dealing with it, so all will come to light eventually. In the meantime, I need to think about what comes next, get some more sewing done…and perhaps play some more WoW. AND! Get ready for Slayers Revolution! This is turning out to be a good year for Slayers fans!