Disclaimer: Yadda, yadda, yadda, Slayers copyright of Kadokawa Shoten and TV
Tokyo, blah, blah, blah, send comments to bkuhn@ucsd.edu yackity shmackity...
you get the drift
Only took me a month this time, and that was mostly due to some other chaos in my life.
Special thanks go out to my pre-readers: Masa, Sethra, and NJSilver
Lina: Well, things are certainly developing, aren't they? Last chapter Amelia got a surprise visit from the wild elf, Frenlea. Dancing in the forest to chase away Amelia's sorrows.
Amelia: (flushed, but smiling) Yeah. Meanwhile, the metal dragon turned out to be a train, which lead Lina's group to a strange carnival in the middle of the woods. Where they encounter the young inventor, Nigel Vandel!
Lina: Returning to the cabin, Amelia encounters Zelgadis's mother, Zahara. The two have a little heart-to-heart, where Zahara reveals she's known it was Zelgadis the entire time! However, when Amelia reflects on the treatment she's received from the two mothers, she begins to think about what she's missed on life, and is overcome by grief. She's led to bed by Xellos, of all people!
Amelia: Uh, yeah... anyway... Um... it turns out that there's some big conspiracy going on, and Nigel offers to tell Lina all about it if they take him with them. However, once they're out of the camp, things turn ugly. You see, Nigel's suffering from a curse placed on his grandfather, but he's managed to create a cure! Unfortunately, that cure is the Zero Essence Mist – the mist that blocks magic and killed eleven fairies!
Lina: (thinks) That's everything, isn't it?
Gourry: What about Delvier and me?
Lina: Be quiet! All that turned out to be was some stupid gag! The big mystery was a game show! It'll probably get resolved in the first scene, so why bother recapping it?
Gourry: (sighs) Let's just get on with the fic.
***
Slayers: GO!
Chapter 6: Darkness in the Forest
Delvier tossed up a large ruby, then caught it, and held it up for inspection. It caught rays of the morning sun and scattered red lines across Delvier's face. Laughing, he threw the ruby into the air again, before storing it in his saddlebag.
"I think we did pretty well," he said. "Don't you, Gourry?" Gourry was silent. "I mean, that Keitaro kid got the grand prize," Delvier went on, "but good for him! This ruby should suit our purposes just fine." Still Gourry said nothing. Delvier turned in his saddle to look back at his brother. The blond swordsman continued to glare at him as he had done since they left Trebec. "You're not still mad are you?"
"IT BIT MY ARM OFF!" Gourry yelled. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH THAT HURT!"
Delvier smiled nervously. "The healers were able to re-grow it, though."
Gourry examined his right arm. The healers had managed to mend it perfectly, although he noticed the the re-grown flesh was paler than the rest of his skin. "It still tingles," he complained.
"Just be glad you made it to the sixth tier," Delvier told him.
"I dunno," Gourry said. "The earlier chests were a lot smaller. I probably could have held them off."
"But we wouldn't have gotten a very good prize, now, would we? To be honest, I'm surprised the old dropping the sword trick worked at all."
Gourry blinked in surprise. "You mean I picked the chests you told me to open, and you weren't even sure about it!"
The paladin shrugged his armored shoulders. "I know the trick works for priests and priestesses. In theory, Cephied should show his favor to his holy knights as well, but I don't think anybody's ever tested it before."
Gourry resumed glaring at his brother. "I just hope we can save the world before you get me killed."
***
"Ah, Xellos," Zahara called out as the dark priest peeked into the kitchen. There appeared to be at least half a dozen dishes in various states of being prepared, yet Zahara paced the kitchen calmly, attending to each pot, pan, and bowl in turn. "Breakfast is just about ready. Could you go get your fiancé for me?" A corner of her mouth twitched in amusement as she bent over a frying pan..
"Actually, I think it would be best to let her sleep in," Xellos said, reaching to dip a finger into one of the pots. Without even looking, Zahara reached out behind her, slapping Xellos's hand with a wooden spoon.
"You can eat it when it's ready," she told him, not even slowing down as she made her rounds among the dishes, "and not a moment before. Is Amelia all right?"
"I think she will be," Xellos said. Truthfully, he didn't really understand what Amelia was going through. He knew she was sad, but he didn't know what had caused this breakdown, and his knowledge of sadness in general was rather limited. He was more familiar with other types of misery, such as anger, hopelessness, or his personal favorite, irritation. Amelia was a disgustingly cheerful person, though, so it stood to reason that given time, she should recover from this.
"What's wrong with Amelia?" said a cold voice from the doorway.
"Ah, Zel," Zahara said, giving him the briefest of glances before returning to the kitchen. "You should be taking it easy."
"Yes," Zelgadis said, sullenly. Zahara smiled at the situation and the implicit 'mother' that went unsaid. She was busy mixing the eggs, though, so neither Xellos nor Zelgadis saw it. "Come on, Xellos, let's leave Miss Zahara to her cooking." He grabbed the mazoku by the collar and dragged him out of the kitchen.
"Now," he said, turning on Xellos the moment the kitchen door had closed, "what's wrong with Amelia?"
Xellos thought about how to say this best. "She had a long night," he said simply.
"Because..." Zelgadis prompted.
"Well, I have a lot of stamina, and that girl just can't get enough of me!" Xellos grinned. His definition of 'best' was whatever way would give Zelgadis an ulcer quickest.
Zelgadis grabbed Xellos by the front of his cloak. "I wonder if strangling you to death would count as 'taking it easy.' I'm not in the mood for your enigmatic bullshit."
"Yare yare," Xellos said, pulling away from Zelgadis and adjusting his cloak. "For starters, she was rather upset last night. You really should be nicer to her." He smiled, watching Zelgadis bristle at being told to be nicer by a demon. "I was gone for most of the night, but I came back on the tail end of a little talk she was having with Miss Zahara. She told Amelia to get some rest before breakfast. The princess seemed happy enough, but then she broke down crying in front of our room. I really don't get that girl sometimes."
"Hey," Abram Tellah said, coming down the stairs, "what's with all the racket!"
"We're just having a conversation, Mr. Tellah," Xellos said.
"You." The doctor pointed a gnarled old finger at Zelgadis. "Come with me. I want to see how well you're recovering."
"All right," Zelgadis said, turning away from Xellos.
***
It was noon, and Lina and the others traveled in silence. They had made a quick stop for breakfast when the sun had rose, then continued on their journey. A very somber mood had fallen over the party, and no one felt like talking. Lina just wanted to get to the Fey Kingdom. It was an unpleasant situation, and one she intended to put behind her as quickly as possible.
Nigel's bonds had been tied to the back of Ketra's saddle, and he stumbled along behind Safiya. Ketra didn't slacken her pace at all for him. Lina noted that she had shown a lot of kindness towards Nigel – helping him apply his formula and inquiring about his curse. The revelation of the Zero Essence Mist must have left her feeling somewhat betrayed.
Nigel had initially professed ignorance, claiming not to understand what Maia was talking about. But nobody answered him. Maia was furious and Ketra wouldn't even look at him. Lina herself couldn't help but remember how helpless she felt in Jenso's grip, stripped of her magic. Tensado hadn't said anything either. Lina looked at him, but aside from the absence of his usual smile, he gave no clues as to what he thought of the situation.
"This is the border of the Fey Kingdom," Maia said. The venom she had shown earlier had faded, and now she spoke with a falsely emotionless tone. She pointed to a tree. A large black vine wrapped around it, with blood red flowers growing wherever the vine circled a branch. "The Sentinel Vines will tell the guard of our arrival. We'll probably meet an escort halfway there, and then you can go on your way. If you're willing to take the time to come with me to the castle, I'm sure my mother will reward you for your services." Lina nodded, but nobody said anything, and they continued into the forest.
"Something's wrong," Ketra said, suddenly. She looked around from tree to tree, not as if she was searching for something, but rather that she could see something that didn't make sense to her. Lina couldn't see anything but trees. The forest seemed incredibly still and quiet, like time itself was holding its breath.
The fairy princess stopped and turned to Ketra. "What do you mean?"
Ketra frowned. "I'm not sure. It's just that something... isn't right. The trees are... sad. Something terrible has happened."
Tensado knelt low to the ground. He crawled forward, taking large sniffs at the air. "The scents are odd. I can smell death..." He paused, then swallowed and continued. "And I can smell fog."
"Y-you can't..." Maia said, her voice trembling. "It... it can't be the... Zero Essence Mist." The last three words were barely a whisper, as if she feared saying the name would make it true. "We... we need to hurry!" She looked to each of them, panic in her eyes. "Maybe we can help!"
Lina nodded. She doubted there was much left they COULD do, but they had to try, for Maia's sanity if nothing else. "Then let's hurry," she said, raising her hand for Maia to land. As soon as the fairy had settled, Lina leapt forward. "RAYWING!"
"Tensado," Ketra said, "get on." The young assassin nodded, and vaulted onto Safiya's back. Without even waiting for a command, Safiya took off into a gallop. Nigel tried vainly to keep up, but he quickly lost his footing, and was dragged across the forest floor.
Maia directed them down a forest path, Lina flying ahead with Ketra and Tensado right behind her. It wasn't long before they saw it: wisps of fog lingered amongst the trees. It was faint, dissipating under the noon sun. However, when Lina flew through a barely perceptible patch, she suddenly dipped dangerously close to the ground, and Maia began coughing uncontrollably. It was only the briefest of seconds before they were out the other side, but it left them with no doubts. This was in fact the Zero Essence Mist.
Following the fairies directions, Lina flew deeper into the forest. Maia lead them down numerous paths which made a giant woodland maze. Some were giant aisles arched by trees, some were hardly more than game trails. Maia pointed, and Lina turned around a giant oak tree.
And nearly crashed into someone. She pulled up sharply, but smashed into a branch. Losing control of the spell, she fell to the ground in a heap. In her daze, she heard Safiya neigh, and guessed that the horse had barely stopped in time to avoid trampling the figure at the base of the tree.
"Look," Lina said. She turned around, fully intending to chew out whoever was sitting there, but he words caught in her throat. It was a little girl, no more than seven years old. She was crying uncontrollably. A tear lingered at the tip of her chin, before falling onto the face of a boy her age that she was cradling in her lap.
"Allera?" Maia asked, flying over to the girl. "Are you okay? What happened?"
"Kaol won't wake up," the girl sobbed. Her words were punctuated by large sniffs. "I pinched him, and... and I slapped him... and I pinched his nose shut, 'cause he hates that... but he won't wake up!!! Why won't he wake up, Maia?"
Lina took a deep breath. This wouldn't be easy. "Look – Allera, is it? We need to know what happened. Can you tell us what happened?"
Allera looked back down at Kaol's perfectly still face. "Kaol said there were men in the forest... I didn't believe him, though... Kaol... Kaol's always makin' up stuff like that... But he insisted that it was true, so I went along with him..."
"And what did you see?" Lina said, forcing her voice to be friendly and encouraging. It wasn't an easy thing to do, when she was barely fighting back tears as it was. "What did he show you?"
"There... there WERE men. Kaol wasn't lyin' this time. They had a strange thing... It was metal... and then it started pouring out the fog... an' we got real frightened... an' Kaol pushed me into the bush... an' when I woke up... he was... he was..." She trailed off as her tears made further speech impossible.
"You poor thing," Ketra said. She had slid off of Safiya, and she knelt down to wrap her arms around the girl. "Don't worry. Everything will be okay."
Allera pushed Ketra away with surprising force. "No it won't!" she screamed. There was something dark in that scream, something that promised suffering and torment. Lina shivered at the sound of it. "You promised me!" Allera said angrily, turning to Maia. "You promised! You said that if I came with you, there'd be no pain. There'd be no sadness! But I AM sad! Kaol won't wake up! Make him wake up, Maia!"
Tensado crept up behind Maia. "What's she talking about?"
"Don't you see?" Maia said, her voice heavy with tears of her own. "Allera and Kaol are changelings, human children taken by fairies and turned into Fey." Lina looked, and sure enough, while Allera looked human, her ears were slightly pointed, like that of an elf's. "Kaol was a runaway," Maia continued, "and Allera... Allera's father beat her. A changeling is the result of a promise between a fairy and a child. They join us in the forest, and we let them forget all their troubles, to live and play happily forever."
"It hurts," Allera cried, her anger giving way to sorrow once more. She bent over Kaol's body. "I want to play with Kaol again, Maia. I want the hurt to go away."
"Don't worry, Allera," Maia said, soothingly. "I will send you to where Kaol is. I will make the hurt go away." She drew the saber from her side. The tiny silver blade flashed in the sunlight, but it was not the only thing that reflected the light. Hanging in the air in front of Maia, was another sword. It was the size of a human's sword and made of pure silver. It seemed impossibly solid, and yet, somehow, not real at the same time. "I promise you," Maia went on, "this time, you will never be sad again." She lifted her sword, and the phantom sword mirrored the motion exactly, bringing the curve of the blade to rest on the back of Allera's exposed neck.
"You can't," someone mumbled. Everyone turned to see Nigel struggling to get to his feet. He was bruised and bloody from being dragged across the ground for so long. "She's just a child."
Maia turned, bringing the sword to point at Nigel. "Don't you DARE speak to me!" she said through her tears. "As soon as I'm done with her, you're next. I was going to bring you to stand trial at the courts, but after this... I'll just bring them your head. It'll be more than enough for them."
"I hate to side with Nigel," Lina said, "but he does have a point. She's just a child. Does it need to end like this?"
"You don't understand!" Maia cried, waving the sword. "My sister changed Kaol, but I'm the one who changed Allera. I promised her relief from all the pain she had suffered... but I couldn't keep my promise... and bad things happen to a changeling, when their promise is broken."
"Bad things?" Tensado asked, tentatively. Maia didn't answer immediately. The woods were silent, save for Allera's muted sobs.
"When the promised happiness turns to sadness," Maia said, her voice calm, but wavering, "it fills them up completely, leaving no room for happiness. The sadness turns to bitterness and malice, and the changeling becomes something dark and evil, a thrice. Betrayed three times: once by their own kind, once by their fairy, and finally by their own heart. They eat fairies, and pull cruel, often deadly, tricks on travelers... and worse of all, they attack and kill other changelings. I can't let that happen to Allera! Better to have her dead, with her blood on my hands, then to let her desecrate everything she used to be!" She brought her sword back, it's double following her precise movements.
"Wait!" Nigel cried out again. "What if I can save him?"
"Kaol is dead!" Ketra snapped, then looked shocked at herself for that outburst. "I... I'm sorry..."
But Allera didn't seem to have heard what Ketra had said. She turned to Nigel. "You... you can save him? You can make Kaol wake up?"
Maia flew to Nigel, stopping inches from his face. "How dare you!" she said. Her voice, indeed, her entire body, was shaking with rage. "Haven't you done enough to her? Do you even HAVE a heart? I will not stand by and let you give her false hope in some pathetic attempt to save your own worthless hide!"
Nigel's head sank. He could not bring himself to look at the fairy.
"I can't deny it," he said. "This tragedy is my fault. I created the Zero Essence Mist, which caused all of this. But it wasn't supposed to be this way. You probably won't believe me, but the Zero Essence Mist was supposed to heal."
"Heal!?" Lina shouted. "What part of this looks like healing? How on earth could your goddamn mist heal anybody."
The young inventor turned to Lina. She gasped at what she saw in his eyes. They were empty. They were the eyes of a man who had lost all belief, the eyes of one who is dead.
"Lina," he said, "I believe you have often travelled with a man named Zelgadis Grey-" He was cut off as Ketra struck his face with her hand.
"Never speak that name again, you @#$% piece of @#$%!"
"It would cure him." Lina said.
"What?" Ketra asked, tearing her eyes from Nigel.
"It's not worth it, though," Nigel said, more to himself than anyone else. "Nothing could be worth this. My father, and his father before him... They spent their entire lives working on this. Decades and decades of blood and sweat, and in an instant I desecrated all of it."
"You're lying," Allera said, suddenly. She had stopped crying. Again, darkness had crept into her voice. Again, Lina shuddered at the mere sound of it. "Everybody's lying. You can't make him wake up! Everybody lies to me! Momma said things would get better someday! That she'd take me far away from dad! But she never did! I hated her! And you!" She turned to Maia. "You said you'd make everything better, and I believed you!" The darkness in her voice swelled. "I hate you! I hate you all! Kaol lied to me, too!" She looked down at Kaol's body, and Lina knew that once she said what came next, there was no turning back; she'd become a thrice.
"Hate me!" Nigel said, desparately. "It's all my fault. I'm the one who put Kaol to sleep. Maia just wanted to help you. I'm the one who betrayed you, not Maia. Hate me! Loathe me! Despise me! It's no less than I deserve. Just don't blame Maia. She doesn't deserve what I did to her."
"You said you could save him," she said. The darkness had subsided, but in no way had it left her voice.
Nigel swallowed hard. "I'm not going to lie to you, Allera. I don't know if I can save him. The mist... the mist did bad things to him. It was never supposed to be breathed by a changeling, and I don't know if I can fix it. The truth, Allera, is that I think it's too late. I think that Kaol is gone forever. I'd like to try, though." Allera looked at him, then, almost imperceptibly, she nodded. He looked towards Maia.
Maia returned the look. "If you can't save him..." she said threateningly.
"If I can't save him, then I'll at least spare your hands of Allera's blood. And I'll follow her to the hands of Cephied to make sure she's with Kaol again."
Maia nodded. Sheathing her sword, she clapped twice, and the vines that help Nigel withered into dust. Nigel rushed to Allera's side, and took Kaol from her. He held his fingers against his wrist, then pried the boy's eyes open to examine them.
"Maybe..." he whispered. "It's a long shot, but just maybe... I'll need my supplies," he said in the general direction of Ketra. He couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes. Ketra glared at him, but she grabbed the wooden box from Safiya's saddlebags. Muttering countless swears under her breath, she shoved it into Nigel's hands, and turned her back on him.
"Where is it..." he mumbled, searching through the contents. "Dammit! Where is it!" He threw out various bags in disgust. "No, quicksilver won't work... too dangerous... I know I had a... found it!" He pulled out a small cloth sack. Satisfied with that, he started pulling out other things.
"Tensado," he said, not looking up from his box. He held up two vials, one was empty but the other held his formula. "Take this. Put it on a string, and spin it around your head as fast as you can. Don't stop until the top half is completely clear. Once you're done, pour the clear half into the other vial. Get as much as you can, but do NOT let a single drop of the red half into the second vial."
Tensado looked at the others, then shrugged and took the vials from Nigel.
Nigel was busy mixing up something in another one of the glass vials. He threw away the bag he had been searching for, it's contents emptied into his new concoction, along with a smaller vial that shattered when it hit the ground.
"Rowan sap," Lina said, reading the label on the vial. She looked at the bag. "And mithril powder? What are you planning Nigel?"
Nigel kneaded his forehead, as if trying to force thoughts to come together with his hands. "The mist polarizes astral and elemental energy... For humans, it's not a big deal, we don't need that kind of energy except to cast magic. It looks like changelings, though, use that energy for simpler purposes. Simply put Kaol doesn't have enough energy to make his heart beat or to breathe." He stopped, trying to figure out exactly where he was going with this train of thought. "It's not that different from my seizures, it's just opposite. My body collects the energy until it has too much, and it gets in the way of my muscles. That's what causes the twitching you saw this morning."
Tensado held up the clear vial. "I don't see how this is going to help, though. Doesn't the formula get rid of that extra energy?"
"Normally, yes, but that's with iron and lead and salt mixed in. The clear liquid you have there depolarizes cells, allowing energy to flow through them, bringing it to equilibrium faster."
"So if we give it to him, he'll pull in more energy?" Tensado asked.
"Yes, but not enough. That's not enough to dispel the energy that builds up in my system, and getting energy back into his is a much more daunting task. The other half, substances that repel magical energy, drastically lower that equilibrium point, causing the energy to leave my body much, much faster."
"That's why you're using the rowan sap and mithril," Lina said. "They're heavy in magic, so they'll increase his equilibrium instead of lowering it."
Nigel held the vial of the thick silvery liquid up. "I don't sure it's enough. If only I had more mithril! I need something else to increase the flowpoint."
"Blood," Maia said. "Fairy blood will do it."
"Not enough," Nigel said. "If we were to use all the blood in your body, it would barely be enough."
Maia didn't hesitate. "If it'll save them, I'm willing to make that sacrifice."
Ketra gasped. "You can't."
"Why not? It'll save Kaol AND Allera. Two lives in exchange for one."
"You don't know it will work!" Ketra responded. "Enough people have died at this @#$%'s hands without adding you to the @#$%ing list!"
"You don't understand!" Maia shrieked back. "I have to! I made a promise to Allera, and I'll do everything I can to keep that promise!"
"Even if it means your own @#$%ing death?!"
"Done," Nigel said, holding up a much thinner liquid. It was still silver, but red swirls flowed through it. Tensado was wrapping a piece of cloth around his arm.
"Done?" Maia and Ketra said in unison.
"Werewolf blood," Tensado said with his cheerful smile. "It's good for you, puts hair on your chest."
"Will it work?" Maia asked.
Nigel paused. "There might be some... side effects from using werewolf blood, but I think this should do the trick."
Allera had been staring at Nigel the entire time. "So if he drinks that, he'll wake up?" That indescribable darkness was still there, but it couldn't hide that glimmer of hope in her voice.
"Well," Nigel said, drawing the new formula into one of his needles, "he won't drink it, we're going to put it in his blood with this. Don't worry, in his current state, he won't feel anything."
"I don't care if he screams his head off," Allera said, the darkness swelling at the end, before fading almost completely away, "as long as he wakes up."
"Now, Allera," Nigel said, in the steady tones of one who must make a child understand something difficult. "I haven't lied to you yet, have I? I want you to know, this might not make him wake up. I believe it will work, but I might be wrong. I need you to know, however, that I am trying my best."
He tapped the needle. "Time to see what happens." He pulled up Kaol's tunic, and positioned the needle just above the child's heart. Lina could hear Ketra muttering a prayer to Cephied, and oddly enough, Tensado started echoing her words. Nigel took a deep breath, and drove the needle into Kaol's chest.
For a moment that seemed to last an eternity, nothing happened.
Then Kaol coughed.
***
Amelia jumped as Dr. Tellah placed the stethoscope on her chest. Dr. Tellah said nothing, but glared at her over the rims of his glasses. Zelgadis had recovered faster than expected, and Dr. Tellah said he could leave after lunch, as long as he took it easy over the next few days. Zelgadis, however, had insisted that while they were here, Amelia should get a checkup.
"Sorry," Amelia said, blushing. "It's cold."
"Take a deep breath and hold it," the grizzled doctor instructed. Amelia did as she was told and Dr. Tellah listened to her heart. "Breathe out... Good. All right, you can get dressed now."
Amelia nodded, and pulled her shirt back on while Dr. Tellah rummaged around in his cupboards.
"Here it is," he said, pulling out a small jar. "There's nothing wrong with your body. You're just suffering some stress." He handed her the jar, which contained brown leaves. "Use these to make tea. Drink a cup of it before you go to sleep each night. It'll help."
"Thanks, Dr. Tellah," Amelia said. She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
"Bah!" Dr. Tellah said. "Someone's got to keep an eye on you kids." And he hobbled out of the room, still muttering. Amelia giggled. Some people had such odd ways of showing they cared.
Lunch was a quiet affair. Solto excused himself after breakfast. He had slowly taken over the role of the village's doctor as his father got too old to make house calls, and there were several patients he needed to look in on. Not soon after Solto had left, a child came by calling for Mrs. Tellah. His sister had gone into labor, and needed a midwife. Xellos disappeared at some point as well, so it was just the four of them.
"That stew was great, Miss Zahara," Amelia said once they were done. "I wish I could cook like that."
Zahara smiled. "It's really nothing that special. I'll give you the recipe." She turned to look at Zelgadis.
"We should be going, soon," Zelgadis said, looking out the window. "We can still make some good progress before sunset." He looked at Dr. Tellah. "How much do we owe you?"
Dr. Tellah waved his hand as if chasing away a fly, not even bothering to look up from his stew. "Bah, I'm not gonna charge you. The missus'd never let me hear the end of it if I did."
"I can't accept that," Zelgadis insisted. "We've taken up your time and supplies. You cooked for us and gave us beds for the night."
Dr. Tellah lifted his bowl to his lips and drained it before he responded. "Well what did you expect? You're practically my grandson. Hey, Zahara," he said, turning and holding up his now empty bowl, "any more of that soup left?" Zelgadis stared, dumbstruck, at the old man, and Amelia found it hard to keep herself from laughing out loud.
"Oh, Abram," Zahara said with a false exasperated sigh. "You ruined their little game."
"Game?" he asked, bewildered.
"Yes," Zahara said. "They were trying to keep Zelgadis's identity hidden. Remember how Amelia introduced him as her brother?"
Tellah merely grunted. "I'm too old to try to keep up with this kind of stuff. Now, is there any soup left or not?"
This was too much, and Amelia and Zahara both began to laugh. Even Zelgadis joined in.
They left a good deal later than originally planned, but they were in high spirits when they did. Xellos was still absent, but this only increased Zelgadis's good mood. Amelia felt more refreshed and alive than she had in a while.
There was a path heading through the woods in the same general direction that the Crystal Beacon spell pointed, and they made good time. The sun was just starting to stain the western sky when they came upon a large clearing. A man sat upon a stone in the middle, sharpening an arrow head.
His hair and beard were dark black, and both were perfectly trimmed. His armor had been polished until it shone, a stark contrast to the large patchwork sack next to him. Amelia recognized him at once. He was the one who had been watching her at the inn.
"Who are you?" Amelia blurted out. The man looked up, but his focus was on Zelgadis, not her.
"Took you long enough," he said. He put the arrow aside and stood up. "I would have been very disappointed in you if you fell to the first trap, Zelgadis."
"You sick bastard," Zelgadis growled. "Just who the hell are you, and what do you want from me?"
The stranger bowed. "I am Eric Levandale," he said. "And what I want is the pleasure of hunting you, Zelgadis Greywords!"
To be continued...
Please read and review
Tokyo, blah, blah, blah, send comments to bkuhn@ucsd.edu yackity shmackity...
you get the drift
Only took me a month this time, and that was mostly due to some other chaos in my life.
Special thanks go out to my pre-readers: Masa, Sethra, and NJSilver
Lina: Well, things are certainly developing, aren't they? Last chapter Amelia got a surprise visit from the wild elf, Frenlea. Dancing in the forest to chase away Amelia's sorrows.
Amelia: (flushed, but smiling) Yeah. Meanwhile, the metal dragon turned out to be a train, which lead Lina's group to a strange carnival in the middle of the woods. Where they encounter the young inventor, Nigel Vandel!
Lina: Returning to the cabin, Amelia encounters Zelgadis's mother, Zahara. The two have a little heart-to-heart, where Zahara reveals she's known it was Zelgadis the entire time! However, when Amelia reflects on the treatment she's received from the two mothers, she begins to think about what she's missed on life, and is overcome by grief. She's led to bed by Xellos, of all people!
Amelia: Uh, yeah... anyway... Um... it turns out that there's some big conspiracy going on, and Nigel offers to tell Lina all about it if they take him with them. However, once they're out of the camp, things turn ugly. You see, Nigel's suffering from a curse placed on his grandfather, but he's managed to create a cure! Unfortunately, that cure is the Zero Essence Mist – the mist that blocks magic and killed eleven fairies!
Lina: (thinks) That's everything, isn't it?
Gourry: What about Delvier and me?
Lina: Be quiet! All that turned out to be was some stupid gag! The big mystery was a game show! It'll probably get resolved in the first scene, so why bother recapping it?
Gourry: (sighs) Let's just get on with the fic.
***
Slayers: GO!
Chapter 6: Darkness in the Forest
Delvier tossed up a large ruby, then caught it, and held it up for inspection. It caught rays of the morning sun and scattered red lines across Delvier's face. Laughing, he threw the ruby into the air again, before storing it in his saddlebag.
"I think we did pretty well," he said. "Don't you, Gourry?" Gourry was silent. "I mean, that Keitaro kid got the grand prize," Delvier went on, "but good for him! This ruby should suit our purposes just fine." Still Gourry said nothing. Delvier turned in his saddle to look back at his brother. The blond swordsman continued to glare at him as he had done since they left Trebec. "You're not still mad are you?"
"IT BIT MY ARM OFF!" Gourry yelled. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH THAT HURT!"
Delvier smiled nervously. "The healers were able to re-grow it, though."
Gourry examined his right arm. The healers had managed to mend it perfectly, although he noticed the the re-grown flesh was paler than the rest of his skin. "It still tingles," he complained.
"Just be glad you made it to the sixth tier," Delvier told him.
"I dunno," Gourry said. "The earlier chests were a lot smaller. I probably could have held them off."
"But we wouldn't have gotten a very good prize, now, would we? To be honest, I'm surprised the old dropping the sword trick worked at all."
Gourry blinked in surprise. "You mean I picked the chests you told me to open, and you weren't even sure about it!"
The paladin shrugged his armored shoulders. "I know the trick works for priests and priestesses. In theory, Cephied should show his favor to his holy knights as well, but I don't think anybody's ever tested it before."
Gourry resumed glaring at his brother. "I just hope we can save the world before you get me killed."
***
"Ah, Xellos," Zahara called out as the dark priest peeked into the kitchen. There appeared to be at least half a dozen dishes in various states of being prepared, yet Zahara paced the kitchen calmly, attending to each pot, pan, and bowl in turn. "Breakfast is just about ready. Could you go get your fiancé for me?" A corner of her mouth twitched in amusement as she bent over a frying pan..
"Actually, I think it would be best to let her sleep in," Xellos said, reaching to dip a finger into one of the pots. Without even looking, Zahara reached out behind her, slapping Xellos's hand with a wooden spoon.
"You can eat it when it's ready," she told him, not even slowing down as she made her rounds among the dishes, "and not a moment before. Is Amelia all right?"
"I think she will be," Xellos said. Truthfully, he didn't really understand what Amelia was going through. He knew she was sad, but he didn't know what had caused this breakdown, and his knowledge of sadness in general was rather limited. He was more familiar with other types of misery, such as anger, hopelessness, or his personal favorite, irritation. Amelia was a disgustingly cheerful person, though, so it stood to reason that given time, she should recover from this.
"What's wrong with Amelia?" said a cold voice from the doorway.
"Ah, Zel," Zahara said, giving him the briefest of glances before returning to the kitchen. "You should be taking it easy."
"Yes," Zelgadis said, sullenly. Zahara smiled at the situation and the implicit 'mother' that went unsaid. She was busy mixing the eggs, though, so neither Xellos nor Zelgadis saw it. "Come on, Xellos, let's leave Miss Zahara to her cooking." He grabbed the mazoku by the collar and dragged him out of the kitchen.
"Now," he said, turning on Xellos the moment the kitchen door had closed, "what's wrong with Amelia?"
Xellos thought about how to say this best. "She had a long night," he said simply.
"Because..." Zelgadis prompted.
"Well, I have a lot of stamina, and that girl just can't get enough of me!" Xellos grinned. His definition of 'best' was whatever way would give Zelgadis an ulcer quickest.
Zelgadis grabbed Xellos by the front of his cloak. "I wonder if strangling you to death would count as 'taking it easy.' I'm not in the mood for your enigmatic bullshit."
"Yare yare," Xellos said, pulling away from Zelgadis and adjusting his cloak. "For starters, she was rather upset last night. You really should be nicer to her." He smiled, watching Zelgadis bristle at being told to be nicer by a demon. "I was gone for most of the night, but I came back on the tail end of a little talk she was having with Miss Zahara. She told Amelia to get some rest before breakfast. The princess seemed happy enough, but then she broke down crying in front of our room. I really don't get that girl sometimes."
"Hey," Abram Tellah said, coming down the stairs, "what's with all the racket!"
"We're just having a conversation, Mr. Tellah," Xellos said.
"You." The doctor pointed a gnarled old finger at Zelgadis. "Come with me. I want to see how well you're recovering."
"All right," Zelgadis said, turning away from Xellos.
***
It was noon, and Lina and the others traveled in silence. They had made a quick stop for breakfast when the sun had rose, then continued on their journey. A very somber mood had fallen over the party, and no one felt like talking. Lina just wanted to get to the Fey Kingdom. It was an unpleasant situation, and one she intended to put behind her as quickly as possible.
Nigel's bonds had been tied to the back of Ketra's saddle, and he stumbled along behind Safiya. Ketra didn't slacken her pace at all for him. Lina noted that she had shown a lot of kindness towards Nigel – helping him apply his formula and inquiring about his curse. The revelation of the Zero Essence Mist must have left her feeling somewhat betrayed.
Nigel had initially professed ignorance, claiming not to understand what Maia was talking about. But nobody answered him. Maia was furious and Ketra wouldn't even look at him. Lina herself couldn't help but remember how helpless she felt in Jenso's grip, stripped of her magic. Tensado hadn't said anything either. Lina looked at him, but aside from the absence of his usual smile, he gave no clues as to what he thought of the situation.
"This is the border of the Fey Kingdom," Maia said. The venom she had shown earlier had faded, and now she spoke with a falsely emotionless tone. She pointed to a tree. A large black vine wrapped around it, with blood red flowers growing wherever the vine circled a branch. "The Sentinel Vines will tell the guard of our arrival. We'll probably meet an escort halfway there, and then you can go on your way. If you're willing to take the time to come with me to the castle, I'm sure my mother will reward you for your services." Lina nodded, but nobody said anything, and they continued into the forest.
"Something's wrong," Ketra said, suddenly. She looked around from tree to tree, not as if she was searching for something, but rather that she could see something that didn't make sense to her. Lina couldn't see anything but trees. The forest seemed incredibly still and quiet, like time itself was holding its breath.
The fairy princess stopped and turned to Ketra. "What do you mean?"
Ketra frowned. "I'm not sure. It's just that something... isn't right. The trees are... sad. Something terrible has happened."
Tensado knelt low to the ground. He crawled forward, taking large sniffs at the air. "The scents are odd. I can smell death..." He paused, then swallowed and continued. "And I can smell fog."
"Y-you can't..." Maia said, her voice trembling. "It... it can't be the... Zero Essence Mist." The last three words were barely a whisper, as if she feared saying the name would make it true. "We... we need to hurry!" She looked to each of them, panic in her eyes. "Maybe we can help!"
Lina nodded. She doubted there was much left they COULD do, but they had to try, for Maia's sanity if nothing else. "Then let's hurry," she said, raising her hand for Maia to land. As soon as the fairy had settled, Lina leapt forward. "RAYWING!"
"Tensado," Ketra said, "get on." The young assassin nodded, and vaulted onto Safiya's back. Without even waiting for a command, Safiya took off into a gallop. Nigel tried vainly to keep up, but he quickly lost his footing, and was dragged across the forest floor.
Maia directed them down a forest path, Lina flying ahead with Ketra and Tensado right behind her. It wasn't long before they saw it: wisps of fog lingered amongst the trees. It was faint, dissipating under the noon sun. However, when Lina flew through a barely perceptible patch, she suddenly dipped dangerously close to the ground, and Maia began coughing uncontrollably. It was only the briefest of seconds before they were out the other side, but it left them with no doubts. This was in fact the Zero Essence Mist.
Following the fairies directions, Lina flew deeper into the forest. Maia lead them down numerous paths which made a giant woodland maze. Some were giant aisles arched by trees, some were hardly more than game trails. Maia pointed, and Lina turned around a giant oak tree.
And nearly crashed into someone. She pulled up sharply, but smashed into a branch. Losing control of the spell, she fell to the ground in a heap. In her daze, she heard Safiya neigh, and guessed that the horse had barely stopped in time to avoid trampling the figure at the base of the tree.
"Look," Lina said. She turned around, fully intending to chew out whoever was sitting there, but he words caught in her throat. It was a little girl, no more than seven years old. She was crying uncontrollably. A tear lingered at the tip of her chin, before falling onto the face of a boy her age that she was cradling in her lap.
"Allera?" Maia asked, flying over to the girl. "Are you okay? What happened?"
"Kaol won't wake up," the girl sobbed. Her words were punctuated by large sniffs. "I pinched him, and... and I slapped him... and I pinched his nose shut, 'cause he hates that... but he won't wake up!!! Why won't he wake up, Maia?"
Lina took a deep breath. This wouldn't be easy. "Look – Allera, is it? We need to know what happened. Can you tell us what happened?"
Allera looked back down at Kaol's perfectly still face. "Kaol said there were men in the forest... I didn't believe him, though... Kaol... Kaol's always makin' up stuff like that... But he insisted that it was true, so I went along with him..."
"And what did you see?" Lina said, forcing her voice to be friendly and encouraging. It wasn't an easy thing to do, when she was barely fighting back tears as it was. "What did he show you?"
"There... there WERE men. Kaol wasn't lyin' this time. They had a strange thing... It was metal... and then it started pouring out the fog... an' we got real frightened... an' Kaol pushed me into the bush... an' when I woke up... he was... he was..." She trailed off as her tears made further speech impossible.
"You poor thing," Ketra said. She had slid off of Safiya, and she knelt down to wrap her arms around the girl. "Don't worry. Everything will be okay."
Allera pushed Ketra away with surprising force. "No it won't!" she screamed. There was something dark in that scream, something that promised suffering and torment. Lina shivered at the sound of it. "You promised me!" Allera said angrily, turning to Maia. "You promised! You said that if I came with you, there'd be no pain. There'd be no sadness! But I AM sad! Kaol won't wake up! Make him wake up, Maia!"
Tensado crept up behind Maia. "What's she talking about?"
"Don't you see?" Maia said, her voice heavy with tears of her own. "Allera and Kaol are changelings, human children taken by fairies and turned into Fey." Lina looked, and sure enough, while Allera looked human, her ears were slightly pointed, like that of an elf's. "Kaol was a runaway," Maia continued, "and Allera... Allera's father beat her. A changeling is the result of a promise between a fairy and a child. They join us in the forest, and we let them forget all their troubles, to live and play happily forever."
"It hurts," Allera cried, her anger giving way to sorrow once more. She bent over Kaol's body. "I want to play with Kaol again, Maia. I want the hurt to go away."
"Don't worry, Allera," Maia said, soothingly. "I will send you to where Kaol is. I will make the hurt go away." She drew the saber from her side. The tiny silver blade flashed in the sunlight, but it was not the only thing that reflected the light. Hanging in the air in front of Maia, was another sword. It was the size of a human's sword and made of pure silver. It seemed impossibly solid, and yet, somehow, not real at the same time. "I promise you," Maia went on, "this time, you will never be sad again." She lifted her sword, and the phantom sword mirrored the motion exactly, bringing the curve of the blade to rest on the back of Allera's exposed neck.
"You can't," someone mumbled. Everyone turned to see Nigel struggling to get to his feet. He was bruised and bloody from being dragged across the ground for so long. "She's just a child."
Maia turned, bringing the sword to point at Nigel. "Don't you DARE speak to me!" she said through her tears. "As soon as I'm done with her, you're next. I was going to bring you to stand trial at the courts, but after this... I'll just bring them your head. It'll be more than enough for them."
"I hate to side with Nigel," Lina said, "but he does have a point. She's just a child. Does it need to end like this?"
"You don't understand!" Maia cried, waving the sword. "My sister changed Kaol, but I'm the one who changed Allera. I promised her relief from all the pain she had suffered... but I couldn't keep my promise... and bad things happen to a changeling, when their promise is broken."
"Bad things?" Tensado asked, tentatively. Maia didn't answer immediately. The woods were silent, save for Allera's muted sobs.
"When the promised happiness turns to sadness," Maia said, her voice calm, but wavering, "it fills them up completely, leaving no room for happiness. The sadness turns to bitterness and malice, and the changeling becomes something dark and evil, a thrice. Betrayed three times: once by their own kind, once by their fairy, and finally by their own heart. They eat fairies, and pull cruel, often deadly, tricks on travelers... and worse of all, they attack and kill other changelings. I can't let that happen to Allera! Better to have her dead, with her blood on my hands, then to let her desecrate everything she used to be!" She brought her sword back, it's double following her precise movements.
"Wait!" Nigel cried out again. "What if I can save him?"
"Kaol is dead!" Ketra snapped, then looked shocked at herself for that outburst. "I... I'm sorry..."
But Allera didn't seem to have heard what Ketra had said. She turned to Nigel. "You... you can save him? You can make Kaol wake up?"
Maia flew to Nigel, stopping inches from his face. "How dare you!" she said. Her voice, indeed, her entire body, was shaking with rage. "Haven't you done enough to her? Do you even HAVE a heart? I will not stand by and let you give her false hope in some pathetic attempt to save your own worthless hide!"
Nigel's head sank. He could not bring himself to look at the fairy.
"I can't deny it," he said. "This tragedy is my fault. I created the Zero Essence Mist, which caused all of this. But it wasn't supposed to be this way. You probably won't believe me, but the Zero Essence Mist was supposed to heal."
"Heal!?" Lina shouted. "What part of this looks like healing? How on earth could your goddamn mist heal anybody."
The young inventor turned to Lina. She gasped at what she saw in his eyes. They were empty. They were the eyes of a man who had lost all belief, the eyes of one who is dead.
"Lina," he said, "I believe you have often travelled with a man named Zelgadis Grey-" He was cut off as Ketra struck his face with her hand.
"Never speak that name again, you @#$% piece of @#$%!"
"It would cure him." Lina said.
"What?" Ketra asked, tearing her eyes from Nigel.
"It's not worth it, though," Nigel said, more to himself than anyone else. "Nothing could be worth this. My father, and his father before him... They spent their entire lives working on this. Decades and decades of blood and sweat, and in an instant I desecrated all of it."
"You're lying," Allera said, suddenly. She had stopped crying. Again, darkness had crept into her voice. Again, Lina shuddered at the mere sound of it. "Everybody's lying. You can't make him wake up! Everybody lies to me! Momma said things would get better someday! That she'd take me far away from dad! But she never did! I hated her! And you!" She turned to Maia. "You said you'd make everything better, and I believed you!" The darkness in her voice swelled. "I hate you! I hate you all! Kaol lied to me, too!" She looked down at Kaol's body, and Lina knew that once she said what came next, there was no turning back; she'd become a thrice.
"Hate me!" Nigel said, desparately. "It's all my fault. I'm the one who put Kaol to sleep. Maia just wanted to help you. I'm the one who betrayed you, not Maia. Hate me! Loathe me! Despise me! It's no less than I deserve. Just don't blame Maia. She doesn't deserve what I did to her."
"You said you could save him," she said. The darkness had subsided, but in no way had it left her voice.
Nigel swallowed hard. "I'm not going to lie to you, Allera. I don't know if I can save him. The mist... the mist did bad things to him. It was never supposed to be breathed by a changeling, and I don't know if I can fix it. The truth, Allera, is that I think it's too late. I think that Kaol is gone forever. I'd like to try, though." Allera looked at him, then, almost imperceptibly, she nodded. He looked towards Maia.
Maia returned the look. "If you can't save him..." she said threateningly.
"If I can't save him, then I'll at least spare your hands of Allera's blood. And I'll follow her to the hands of Cephied to make sure she's with Kaol again."
Maia nodded. Sheathing her sword, she clapped twice, and the vines that help Nigel withered into dust. Nigel rushed to Allera's side, and took Kaol from her. He held his fingers against his wrist, then pried the boy's eyes open to examine them.
"Maybe..." he whispered. "It's a long shot, but just maybe... I'll need my supplies," he said in the general direction of Ketra. He couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes. Ketra glared at him, but she grabbed the wooden box from Safiya's saddlebags. Muttering countless swears under her breath, she shoved it into Nigel's hands, and turned her back on him.
"Where is it..." he mumbled, searching through the contents. "Dammit! Where is it!" He threw out various bags in disgust. "No, quicksilver won't work... too dangerous... I know I had a... found it!" He pulled out a small cloth sack. Satisfied with that, he started pulling out other things.
"Tensado," he said, not looking up from his box. He held up two vials, one was empty but the other held his formula. "Take this. Put it on a string, and spin it around your head as fast as you can. Don't stop until the top half is completely clear. Once you're done, pour the clear half into the other vial. Get as much as you can, but do NOT let a single drop of the red half into the second vial."
Tensado looked at the others, then shrugged and took the vials from Nigel.
Nigel was busy mixing up something in another one of the glass vials. He threw away the bag he had been searching for, it's contents emptied into his new concoction, along with a smaller vial that shattered when it hit the ground.
"Rowan sap," Lina said, reading the label on the vial. She looked at the bag. "And mithril powder? What are you planning Nigel?"
Nigel kneaded his forehead, as if trying to force thoughts to come together with his hands. "The mist polarizes astral and elemental energy... For humans, it's not a big deal, we don't need that kind of energy except to cast magic. It looks like changelings, though, use that energy for simpler purposes. Simply put Kaol doesn't have enough energy to make his heart beat or to breathe." He stopped, trying to figure out exactly where he was going with this train of thought. "It's not that different from my seizures, it's just opposite. My body collects the energy until it has too much, and it gets in the way of my muscles. That's what causes the twitching you saw this morning."
Tensado held up the clear vial. "I don't see how this is going to help, though. Doesn't the formula get rid of that extra energy?"
"Normally, yes, but that's with iron and lead and salt mixed in. The clear liquid you have there depolarizes cells, allowing energy to flow through them, bringing it to equilibrium faster."
"So if we give it to him, he'll pull in more energy?" Tensado asked.
"Yes, but not enough. That's not enough to dispel the energy that builds up in my system, and getting energy back into his is a much more daunting task. The other half, substances that repel magical energy, drastically lower that equilibrium point, causing the energy to leave my body much, much faster."
"That's why you're using the rowan sap and mithril," Lina said. "They're heavy in magic, so they'll increase his equilibrium instead of lowering it."
Nigel held the vial of the thick silvery liquid up. "I don't sure it's enough. If only I had more mithril! I need something else to increase the flowpoint."
"Blood," Maia said. "Fairy blood will do it."
"Not enough," Nigel said. "If we were to use all the blood in your body, it would barely be enough."
Maia didn't hesitate. "If it'll save them, I'm willing to make that sacrifice."
Ketra gasped. "You can't."
"Why not? It'll save Kaol AND Allera. Two lives in exchange for one."
"You don't know it will work!" Ketra responded. "Enough people have died at this @#$%'s hands without adding you to the @#$%ing list!"
"You don't understand!" Maia shrieked back. "I have to! I made a promise to Allera, and I'll do everything I can to keep that promise!"
"Even if it means your own @#$%ing death?!"
"Done," Nigel said, holding up a much thinner liquid. It was still silver, but red swirls flowed through it. Tensado was wrapping a piece of cloth around his arm.
"Done?" Maia and Ketra said in unison.
"Werewolf blood," Tensado said with his cheerful smile. "It's good for you, puts hair on your chest."
"Will it work?" Maia asked.
Nigel paused. "There might be some... side effects from using werewolf blood, but I think this should do the trick."
Allera had been staring at Nigel the entire time. "So if he drinks that, he'll wake up?" That indescribable darkness was still there, but it couldn't hide that glimmer of hope in her voice.
"Well," Nigel said, drawing the new formula into one of his needles, "he won't drink it, we're going to put it in his blood with this. Don't worry, in his current state, he won't feel anything."
"I don't care if he screams his head off," Allera said, the darkness swelling at the end, before fading almost completely away, "as long as he wakes up."
"Now, Allera," Nigel said, in the steady tones of one who must make a child understand something difficult. "I haven't lied to you yet, have I? I want you to know, this might not make him wake up. I believe it will work, but I might be wrong. I need you to know, however, that I am trying my best."
He tapped the needle. "Time to see what happens." He pulled up Kaol's tunic, and positioned the needle just above the child's heart. Lina could hear Ketra muttering a prayer to Cephied, and oddly enough, Tensado started echoing her words. Nigel took a deep breath, and drove the needle into Kaol's chest.
For a moment that seemed to last an eternity, nothing happened.
Then Kaol coughed.
***
Amelia jumped as Dr. Tellah placed the stethoscope on her chest. Dr. Tellah said nothing, but glared at her over the rims of his glasses. Zelgadis had recovered faster than expected, and Dr. Tellah said he could leave after lunch, as long as he took it easy over the next few days. Zelgadis, however, had insisted that while they were here, Amelia should get a checkup.
"Sorry," Amelia said, blushing. "It's cold."
"Take a deep breath and hold it," the grizzled doctor instructed. Amelia did as she was told and Dr. Tellah listened to her heart. "Breathe out... Good. All right, you can get dressed now."
Amelia nodded, and pulled her shirt back on while Dr. Tellah rummaged around in his cupboards.
"Here it is," he said, pulling out a small jar. "There's nothing wrong with your body. You're just suffering some stress." He handed her the jar, which contained brown leaves. "Use these to make tea. Drink a cup of it before you go to sleep each night. It'll help."
"Thanks, Dr. Tellah," Amelia said. She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
"Bah!" Dr. Tellah said. "Someone's got to keep an eye on you kids." And he hobbled out of the room, still muttering. Amelia giggled. Some people had such odd ways of showing they cared.
Lunch was a quiet affair. Solto excused himself after breakfast. He had slowly taken over the role of the village's doctor as his father got too old to make house calls, and there were several patients he needed to look in on. Not soon after Solto had left, a child came by calling for Mrs. Tellah. His sister had gone into labor, and needed a midwife. Xellos disappeared at some point as well, so it was just the four of them.
"That stew was great, Miss Zahara," Amelia said once they were done. "I wish I could cook like that."
Zahara smiled. "It's really nothing that special. I'll give you the recipe." She turned to look at Zelgadis.
"We should be going, soon," Zelgadis said, looking out the window. "We can still make some good progress before sunset." He looked at Dr. Tellah. "How much do we owe you?"
Dr. Tellah waved his hand as if chasing away a fly, not even bothering to look up from his stew. "Bah, I'm not gonna charge you. The missus'd never let me hear the end of it if I did."
"I can't accept that," Zelgadis insisted. "We've taken up your time and supplies. You cooked for us and gave us beds for the night."
Dr. Tellah lifted his bowl to his lips and drained it before he responded. "Well what did you expect? You're practically my grandson. Hey, Zahara," he said, turning and holding up his now empty bowl, "any more of that soup left?" Zelgadis stared, dumbstruck, at the old man, and Amelia found it hard to keep herself from laughing out loud.
"Oh, Abram," Zahara said with a false exasperated sigh. "You ruined their little game."
"Game?" he asked, bewildered.
"Yes," Zahara said. "They were trying to keep Zelgadis's identity hidden. Remember how Amelia introduced him as her brother?"
Tellah merely grunted. "I'm too old to try to keep up with this kind of stuff. Now, is there any soup left or not?"
This was too much, and Amelia and Zahara both began to laugh. Even Zelgadis joined in.
They left a good deal later than originally planned, but they were in high spirits when they did. Xellos was still absent, but this only increased Zelgadis's good mood. Amelia felt more refreshed and alive than she had in a while.
There was a path heading through the woods in the same general direction that the Crystal Beacon spell pointed, and they made good time. The sun was just starting to stain the western sky when they came upon a large clearing. A man sat upon a stone in the middle, sharpening an arrow head.
His hair and beard were dark black, and both were perfectly trimmed. His armor had been polished until it shone, a stark contrast to the large patchwork sack next to him. Amelia recognized him at once. He was the one who had been watching her at the inn.
"Who are you?" Amelia blurted out. The man looked up, but his focus was on Zelgadis, not her.
"Took you long enough," he said. He put the arrow aside and stood up. "I would have been very disappointed in you if you fell to the first trap, Zelgadis."
"You sick bastard," Zelgadis growled. "Just who the hell are you, and what do you want from me?"
The stranger bowed. "I am Eric Levandale," he said. "And what I want is the pleasure of hunting you, Zelgadis Greywords!"
To be continued...
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