Hello all! As per usual, I don't own anything- I'm just a fan writing some fiction! Please enjoy!
10- Market Price
"Please, sir... we seek information about the Key of the Aqualord."
The high priest was quiet for a moment, staring at Pestis. "...and who are you?"
"O-oh! My apologies!" Pestis jumped to his feet again. "I am Professor Alexandre Nisery, scholar of Black Magic and Mazoku!
The high priest regarded him for a moment. "An ally of the Mazoku? What are you doing here?"
"Just because I study them does not necessarily make me their ally." Pestis quickly responded. "I am here because there is a Mazoku searching for the Key of the Aqualord, who seeks to destroy it. I want to protect it, but for that I need your help." The professor bowed again. "Please."
His plea seemed to intrigue the high priest. "You ask me for information about this Key of the Aqualord, yet you seem to already know what it is."
"W-well, I only know that it is a legendary magical vessel that contains the power that Aqualord Ragradia used in sealing away the Demon King of the North. As long as the Key stays safe, the barrier is secure, but if someone were to destroy the Key, then they would also destroy the barrier, releasing the Demon King and wreaking havoc on the world."
"I see. So you seek to get your hands on this vessel?"
"Not necessarily. We just want to know where it is so that we can protect it from Azarel."
"These are the people who helped us with the Mazoku attack years ago." Shizuri spoke up. "You remember them, don't you?"
"You'd better remember us after all we did!" Lina growled.
The high priest silenced the group with a wave of his hand. "Of course I remember you. It was the four of you and the Knight of the Aqualord, yes?"
"That's right." Amelia nodded.
"The Knight of the Aqualord?" Pestis asked. "Is that... the one who possesses the Key of the Aqualord?!"
"No, he's a human who has been born with the ability to call upon the Aqualord's power. He is the emissary of Aqualord Ragradia in our world." Shizuri replied. "His name is Lyos, and he lives just outside the city of Ti Toh."
"Have you kept in touch with Lyos?" Lina inquired, moving to sit down in one of the chairs.
"Only on occasion. He comes here to the temple for the New Year's festival like everyone else, so I see him then. I've also encountered him sometimes in the marketplace. He at least says hello to me in passing."
"Gee, way to be friendly." Lina muttered. "You guys saved the world together once, didn't you?"
"What about you? You haven't even spoken to him in years!" Shizuri defended. "The two of you were the ones who used the gods' power to stand up to the Mazoku in the end, right?"
"H-hey! I've been busy, alright?!"
"Well, I can see that."
Lina blushed. "N-not that! I mean I was busy saving the world! Since our adventures here in the outer world, I've defeated two pieces of the Demon King Shabranigdo, one ghost of a piece of Shabranigdo, a Demon King from the overworld, an evil Mazoku Lord that I'd already defeated several years before, an annoying-as-hell Mazoku Lord who'd been sealed away for thousands of years, and a whole lot of other nefarious creatures with vendettas against humanity! That's what I've been doing with my time, okay?"
Shizuri just stared at Lina. "Is... all that true...? You've got to be exaggerating."
"Yep. I was there for all of it." Gourry raised his hand.
"All that, and... how old is your son? His name is Zara, right?"
"Zara is eight years old now. We adopted him when he was three." Lina replied.
"Oh, so he's adopted?"
"Yes, but that doesn't make any difference!" Gourry interrupted. "Now are we going to find out about this key so that we can rescue him or not?"
"Just be patient, Gourry." Pestis tried to comfort his friend. "Don't get so worked up-"
"Hey; I don't want to hear anyone picking on Gourry." Zelgadis snapped. "I'd like to see you be patient if your son were in danger."
"I don't have a son." Pestis replied. "Gourry has one, and while he's not here, he's still alive and assumed to be well. I can only wish I had a son, okay?!"
"Oh, poor you." Zelgadis deadpanned. "You know, there are also people who-"
"Boys! Let's not fight here! Everything will be alright!" Amelia was quick to jump in, grabbing Zelgadis' arm.
"I was just defending Gourry." Zelgadis huffed. "I was trying to make a point-"
"Please just drop it, Zelgadis. We have much more important things to discuss."
"I know that, Amelia! But I didn't want Pestis to think that-"
"Drop it, Zelgadis."
"I will if you will, Amelia."
Lina inched her chair a little closer to Gourry. "...and to think that they've been doing so well, too..."
Gourry sighed and placed a hand on Lina's shoulder, though he turned back to the high priest. "I apologize for getting so worked up. Please, for my son's sake, help us find this Key... okay?"
"I would readily..." The high priest began. "...but..."
"But what?" Lina demanded. "I want to know! Is it because it's precious a secret for us to be trusted with? You think we're untrustworthy people?! Don't be a coward- say it to our faces!"
"I would tell you," the high priest began again. "but the unfortunate fact is that no literature I have ever consulted has ever had any information regarding the vessel you seek. I've never heard anything about this so-called 'Key of the Aqualord.' I'm sorry, but I just don't know."
The room was deathly quiet for a moment.
"Y-you.." Pestis spluttered, unable to fully comprehend what he's just heard. "You don't know anything about the Key of the Aqualord?!"
The high priest shook his head.
"I apologise for disappointing you after you've come all this way, but... there is no information here for you."
Lina and Gourry were finishing scarfing down breakfast as the party began to regroup. They had been more than shocked to find that the Temple of the Aqualord knew nothing about the Key, and were trying to brainstorm options for further action.
"Azarel may not know that the Temple doesn't have the information." Pestis murmured.
"But what if she already knows? What then?" Zelgadis asked. "If Azarel had already visited the temple, then..."
"But we haven't had any visitors in the past few days." Shizuri interrupted. "You guys are the first."
"Azarel is stealthy. It's possible that you wouldn't have known about a sneak-entrance-"
"Do you really think we're dumb enough to let some kid break into our temple without us even knowing-?!"
"Calm down, Shizuri." The high priest cut her off. "We are dealing with a very powerful demon here. I've gone back and checked the literature- I knew that I'd read the name 'Azarel' somewhere before. She is described by Aqualord Ragradia as being the killer of many dragons during the Great War. In fact, by the number of recorded dragon casualties caused, this Azarel is listed as the second highest."
"Next to Xellos, right?" Lina twirled a fork in her fingers,
"Yes; how did you-?"
"Just a hunch." Lina responded.
"It was purportedly some sort of morbid contest between the two to see which one could kill more dragons. Death was merely a game to them, and each individual life only one more point on a scoreboard." The high priest's voice was grave. "You mustn't let yourselves become the victims of this cold-blooded killer."
"And Xellos beat Azarel in the end, huh? Ouch. I guess that stung her just a little." Lina commented.
"She probably didn't have the time to mourn her loss. Pestis told us that she had been sealed away with Pathosmaster right at the end of the war, correct?" Zelgadis mused.
"That's right." Pestis nodded.
"Wait, wait, wait! Who is this Pathosmaster person all of a sudden?" Shizuri demanded.
"Dead now. Not important." Lina stated curtly with a wave of her hand. "Don't mention him again. Now, about whether or not Azarel knows about the temple and the information..."
"Yes; it seems likely that Azarel might have another plan, if an appearance hasn't been made at the temple." Pestis replied. "There must be something else in Ti Toh that Azarel is after."
"She did mention to us that she and Enrique were going to meet a particular person in Ti Toh... I'm not sure who it might be, but it might be someone who knows more about this Key than we do." Amelia suggested.
"Who was that guy you mentioned earlier? The 'Knight of the Aqualord'- do you think it could be him?" Zelgadis asked.
Shizuri gasped. "Lyos? But he wouldn't know anything about the Key of the Aqualord! ...would he?"
"He has something none of us have, though." Lina responded, still twirling her fork around. "He has the power of the Aqualord himself. Maybe Azarel plans to use that power as some sort of homing device..."
"Y-you mean using Lyos as a guide to help her find the Key?!" Gourry stammered.
"Bingo." Lina nodded.
"If that's the case, then Mister Lyos is in danger!" Amelia jumped up from her chair.
"Sit down." Zelgadis tugged on her coat. "He's in the same danger that Zara is in- Azarel wants him, but needs him alive for her purposes. She's not going to kill him."
"But, even so, we need to make sure that Azarel doesn't get to Lyos in the first place, right?" Pestis asked.
"Unless it's already too late for that." Zelgadis shrugged.
"There's never such a thing as too late!" Amelia jumped up again. "We must go out and search for Mister Lyos before he ends up in Miss Azarel's clutches!"
"You guys can do that." Lina said, placing her fork down and leaning back in her chair. "I'm not in the mood to climb that hill again. I'm staying here."
"There are beds in the temple's infirmary." Shizuri mentioned. "If you'd like to rest, you're welcome to."
"A nice warm bed sounds perfect right about now; thank you." Lina leaned on Gourry's shoulder.
"And you getting some extra rest sounds perfect too." Gourry responded, affectionately placing a hand on Lina's head.
"Lyos typically visits the marketplace in the mornings... perhaps not every day, but there's at least a good chance that he might be there now." Shizuri mentioned.
"And a busy marketplace would be the perfect location for Azarel to target him." Zelgadis added. "She's clearly fond of using trickery instead of force- in that case it wouldn't look like anything out of the ordinary was happening, and the commotion of the marketplace would hide what was going on."
"Then the market is where we need to go." Amelia declared in agreement. "Zelgadis and I can search the northern end, and Mister Gourry, Mister Pestis, and Miss Shizuri can take the southern end."
"Are you sure about that, Amelia?" Lina asked curiously.
"Sure about what?"
"N-nothing... I guess it's a fine plan..." The sorceress murmured quickly. "Good luck."
"Thanks." Zelgadis sighed. "We're going to need it."
Lyos was glad to see that, despite the days of strange weather, the crowd at the market had not at all diminished.
People were still coming and going through the streets- carts pulled by donkeys carried boxes of goods to be bought and sold. Fresh produce was still available; though the cold had killed off much of the growing plants. Bread and other baked goods were in high demand, and salted or pickled foods even moreso- since no one knew how long this strange weather might persist for.
Children ran through the streets with laughter and excitement, still in awe of the thin layer of snow covering the ground. Most of it was watery now; it turned to a dirty, slushy mixture by day and then froze again by night, but most of the city's inhabitants had never seen snow before. Kunan was a tropical country that never got snow- there was no winter, simply a dry and rainy season. This strange storm that had lasted for over a week now was the talk of the town... at least a hundred rumors had cropped up about the origins of the odd weather. Some were sensible, others bizarre and dangerous. Those couldn't be true, could they? There had to be a reasonable explanation, hadn't there...?
Lyos sighed to himself as he dodged children and carts. All he needed today was some bread- he had enough salted fish to last several months if the need arose- but he wanted something extra. Salted fish got very old, very fast. A certain fruit-seller also kept bees and sold the honey when he could get it, and Lyos was hoping to buy a jar of that, if it was available. Honey added to a warm cup of tea was just what was needed for a cold day like today.
"Lyos!" The man greeted him warmly, recognizing one of his repeat customers. "How are you today?"
"Tired of salted fish." Lyos shrugged. "But fine. D'you have any honey today?"
"I do, at least for now." the man sighed. "The bees don't appear to have been affected much by the weather, but the flowers certainly have. It'll only be a matter of time before there aren't any left, and then..."
"Damn." Lyos muttered under his breath. "I don't understand what could have caused this weather! It was sweltering just two weeks ago!"
"Hey- you're the only one who saw it coming. We should've listened to that magic-y sword of yours."
"But I didn't know what was going to happen! The fact that the Banisher stopped working a few weeks prior to this storm didn't make much difference. We could never've known what kinda trouble it was predicting anyhow."
"I suppose you're right..." The man sighed, and began rummaging through his wares. "How much honey did you want?"
The two exchanged money and goods with a bit of light conversation thrown in, and Lyos waved goodbye as he continued through the market. "Thanks! Good luck with your bees!"
"Thank you! Good luck with your sword!" The man waved again.
Lyos sighed. Just a few weeks before the strange storm had arrived, the Banisher had stopped responding to him- no matter what he tried, the weapon didn't work. He could no longer call forth the power of the Aqualord using his favoured weapon...
And, while he wouldn't admit it, he was a little scared.
He was so enveloped in his thoughts, he wasn't looking where he was going- a dangerous activity in such a crowded market. Without any warning, he collided with another person moving in the opposite direction. Both of them fell to the ground, the jars of honey rolling over the cobblestones of the street and settling in a pile of dark, slushy snow.
"H-hey! Watch where you're going, will ya?!" Lyos yelled, a bit hypocritical considering the fact that he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, but it was easier to save face that way.
"Oh my gosh; I am so sorry!"
The voice took Lyos off-guard, though not as much as who it belonged to. It was a beautiful feminine voice, and quite fitting for the young woman in possession of it. She was tall but petite, and had a small pair of glasses perched on the end of her thin nose. On top of that, her clothing was suspiciously immodest for the weather... though Lyos certainly wasn't going to complain!
"I-it's alright..." he stammered, his face reddening as he grabbed the jars he'd just purchased. "Really, don't worry about it. I should've been paying attention too. My apologies."
The young woman smiled a sweet, sincere-looking smile as she removed the pink flower barrette from her hair and began fixing the braid of dark curls.
"Say, haven't I seen your face around somewhere?"
"Huh?" Lyos was a little surprised by the question. He had never met this girl before, he was quite sure of it. "I don't think we've met before."
"Yes, but you..." She seemed to think it over for a moment before clapping her hands in realization. "Oh! That's it! You wouldn't happen to be... the Knight of the Aqualord, Lyos... would you?"
"H-how did you know that?!"
The girl's smile looked like one of amusement. "My brothers have heard of you." she replied. "I have two little brothers that are really into mythology, and they just go on and on... they've heard tales of your exploits and victories against Mazoku... Oh, what they wouldn't give to meet you! They're such big fans of yours!"
"...I have fans...?" Lyos stammered. "-I mean, of course! I understand; your brothers have good taste!"
The girl giggled. "They seem to; yes. The three of us are actually staying at a bed and breakfast a few blocks from here. If you'd like to meet them..." She stopped suddenly and turned away. "Oh, what am I saying? You're probably busy! Forget I said anything!"
"H-hey wait! No!" Lyos reached out and grabbed her by the arm. She turned back to look at him in surprise, and he let go of her arm quickly, his face growing red. "Where did you say this bed and breakfast is? I'm not doing anything in particular this morning... and a good celebrity should always have time for their fans, right?"
"You mean you'd really come and visit them? It's not too much trouble?" The young woman looked like she might faint. "Oh, you have no idea how much this would mean to them! Really!"
"Don't mention it." Lyos chuckled haughtily. "Consider it an apology for bumping into you just now."
The girl grinned. "Alright, I'll accept that. My name is Azarel- follow me!"
(A/N: The market scene… dear, oh dear… I'm surprised that I was able to write that in such a positive light. I remember writing that particular scene at night in my hotel room… just that afternoon I'd had an anxiety attack in the middle of a market in Cairo, Egypt, and wasn't in a very stable mental state. Writing helped me calm down, and somehow I think my experience got translated into the market scene. It was sort of an idealistic kind of writing I think- what I believe the marketplace might have been like without the honking of car and motorbike horns that triggered my attack. Perhaps, if not more peaceful, then at least less noisy. And maybe not as hot… ah…)