[FFML] [fic][slayers] Kitsune Lina 7-12

Fourth Aspect

News spread fast, Lina Inverse was dead. The dra matta
was no more. Innkeepers and bandits across the
continent rejoiced. Lots of people were surprised, a
few were saddened, and one person was quite annoyed.
"How dare she die before I could gloat over her
predicament face to face," Martina whined. "Its not
fair, she'd do anything to take my revenge from me."
"Perhaps this is a good thing, miss Martina," the
staid little man next to her suggested. "Now there is
no chance of her interferring with you ever again.
Magic or no magic, she was still a threat."
"You're right of course, Reginald," Martina agreed.
"It still would have been very gratifying to see her
squirming without her spells."
"Indeed mistress," the little man bowed low as Martina
began to leave the room.
"Remind me to have a bounty placed on foxes after I
marry the prince."
"Indeed, Mistress. We should take no chances, but
before you make such plans..."
"In the name of the monster Zomalgustar," Martina
shouted. "The world shall be mine!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"
"...." Reginald glared at her for a moment. "As I was
saying, perhaps we should wait to make such plans
until after you have caught the prince's attention."
Martina, paused in her laughing.
"You have a point."

******************

"This must be the place," Gourry yawned as he cast his
eyes about. They were in front of a moderate sized
cabin deep in the woods. It was a fairly comfortable
affair, a large chicken coop, well-kept work shed.
"This doesn't look like the kind of place a master
magician would reside," Amelia noted.
"Really, I've lived in one or two places like this,"
Zelgadis countered.
"I didn't mean..."
"Don't worry, we're here to find a path not a cure.
Protoss?" Zelgadis called out. "I'm Zelgadis
Greywyrds, I sent word I'd be coming."
"In the back," called an old voice from behind the
cabin. The three remaining slayers looked at each
other for a moment beforing following the sound of the
voice around back. They found a man who looked about
fifty and was dressed in a loose robe. The odd thing
was that he had apparently locked himself into a large
cage with a very frightened deer.
"I had planned to be here earlier," Zelgadis said.
"But...something happened."
"I just got back home myself," the man laughed.
"Somebody snared me half a month ago and I almost
ended up this crazy green-haired girl's dinner."
"Crazy, green-haired girl?" Zelgadis and Amelia
repeated, and then looked at each other.
"That sounds like that...Mary, Marie, Maria...uh..."
"Martina," Amelia and Zelgadis snapped.
"That's right."
"You know this person," Protoss asked curiously.
"Did she have a weird laugh," Amelia asked.
"Well, I was a fox at the moment so I was more
concerned with running than listening to her, but I
think so."
"That's what you were hiding," Zelgadis turned on
Amelia.
"What are you talking about?" Amelia stammered. "What
does he mean that he was a fox?"
"I don't believe that its coincidence that a lunatic
with a grudge against Lina was having captive
lycanthropes brought to her around the same time Lina
lost her magic."
"He's a...a...a werefox?" Amelia stammered. Protoss
laughed.
"Sixty years now," he saw Amelia and Gourry's
surprised expressions. "Regeneration does wonders for
the aging process."
"Yes, that's why I came here," Zelgadis told her.
"Lina was infected wasn't she."
"Yes," Amelia nodded sheepishly.
"You mean somebody used me to infect somebody else
with lycanthropy," he was no longer amused. He took in
Zelgadis chimera form, "No offense, but I could
probably help her more than I could you."
"She's dead," Zelgadis told him.
"Maybe not then," the man looked to the horizon.
"We'll have to continue this tomorrow. The moon is
rising, and I'm really not prepared to keep the fourth
aspect down tonight." The deer began to grow very
skittish now, backing away from the old man.
"Agreed," Zelgadis said. "We'll leave you to dinner
then." Amelia smiled at the old man nervously before
chasing after Gourry and Zelgadis.
"Zelgadis, he's a monster," Amelia whispered, as they
settled in the cabin.
"Who's a monster?" Gourry asked.
"That's why you weren't so anxious to find Lina,"
Zelgadis said. "You don't think I'm a monster, but
Lina becomes a were-fox and she's instantly a threat."
"But werecreatures on the full-moon..."
"Expect threats," Zelgadis told her. "If you show
fear, or hostility toward them they decide you're a
threat, but they are no more monsters than a person
is."
"I thought Lina was dead," Gourry said.
"She is, but if we hadn't been such assholes,"
Zelgadis yelled. "She wouldn't have decided to go off
on her own, and she'd be alive." The sound of Protoss
transforming outside ended the arguement and most
conversation.

****************

"Xellos?" Lina called quietly. She sat curled into a
ball on the grass waiting for the sun to go down. She
didn't really want to go through this alone the first
time. The normal transformations were bad enough, she
didn't want to imagine what tonight was going to feel.
"Xellos can you hear me you fruitcake?"
"Why Lina, I didn't know you were into this kind of
thing," she couldn't turn around to see the trickster,
but she could smell him. She smiled quietly, the
silver in her hair was easy to spot now. The mazoku
sat behind the chained woman circling his arm around
her shoulders while stroking her long hair in an
attempt to comfort her. "Don't fight it."
"What?" Lina asked surprised.
"You know it doesn't hurt you when you're asleep," he
told her. "Don't fight the change and it will be
easier." The sun was starting to sink he didn't have
much time before the transformation started.
"How do I not fight it," she asked, feeling the
itching start.
"Want it," Xellos whispered. "Don't fear it."
"Want it?" Lina repeated. "Wan...*" Xellos had to
strengthen his grip as she began changing. Lina hadn't
cried out yet, but he could feel the pain wafting off
of her.
"Calm down!" he felt ridiculuous shouting that,
especially as Lina's transformation progressed. Lina
held out screaming another couple of seconds, and by
then her voice was already more bestial than he had
yet heard it.
This transformation was different from the onset. The
fur was thicker, the tail was longer and the changes
to her body were much more severe. Her face was
already stretching into a thin triangular muzzle, and
she was growing, significantly. As it progressed he
smelled adrenalin and felt an increase in such
emotions as anger and suscpicion rose.
The mazoku heard the manacles stretch and creak, and
looked to her bound ankles and wrists. The mazoku's
eyes widened as he saw a thin trail of smoke drifting
from the too-small manacles. He reached forward and
broke the bonds tossing the silver threaded chains
away. This made his attempts to hold Lina very
difficult. The transformation ceased as Lina's
strength surpassed the mazoku's.
Lina stopped thrashing as the pain of silver and
change passed. She sniffed the air, instinctually
looking for the threat. Lina was confused, all she
smelled was her mate. There was nothing else but prey
and trees. She growled inquisitively.
"Lina?" The were-fox cocked her head, trying to turn
towards the voice. There was no threat, why was she
like this? Something about the moon?
"Grr?" Lina tried to shrug off the mazoku, and found
she couldn't just break his grip. She cocked her head
around again, and licked his face. Surprised the
mazoku let go of her. Then the were-fox was off into
the forest.
"Lina, wait!" Xellos followed. If someone saw Lina,
the word would spread and soon there would be one less
werefox in the world. As she was Lina would consider
anybody she didn't know a potential threat to be
destroyed, which meant she wouldn't try to avoid
sight. "Damn it."
He heard a scuffle and the sound of a predator tearing
into something, passing through the bushes he was
relieved to see Lina feasting on a fallen deer. Of
course, she was hungry, he sighed in relief. Sitting
down to keep an eye on her.
She cocked her head at him inquisitively. Why did he
feal so tense until a moment ago? She bent down to her
meal again, still confused. Maybe he was in trouble,
yes that was it. She'd stay around him until she was
sure otherwise.
Xellos sighed in relief as the were-fox padded over to
him and sat down. She was protecting him, he thought
it was mildly amusing considering that's what he was
trying to do. The mazoku looked over to the devoured
deer and turned back to Lina.
"Going on a diet Lina?" she whuffed a question.

************************************************************************

Origin of the Species

"I hope I didn't..."
"Yipe!" Amelia woke up with startled yell at the old
man's voice.
"...umm...scare you too much last night." Zelgadis
yawned and stretched as he sat up from the floor. He
rolled his eyes at Amelia. Gourry's snores carried
through the small building, unconcerned with the going
ons around him.
"Don't mind her, she's not used to werecreatures."
"I'll make us some breakfast," the man said, gesturing
for them to sit at the small table in the center of
the room. "Its been awhile since I had anything
cooked, but I think I remember how its done."
"Breakfast?" Gourry snapped awake and was at the table
before anyone else.
"So that's what it takes," Zelgadis mumbled. "I'll be
fine with just some coffee." As he sat down he began
piecing together his portable coffee set along with
some beans and a cup.
"Why are we still here?" Amelia asked.
"At the very least you are going to learn a little bit
about lycanthropes," Zelgadis said, he was heating his
skin of water with a minor spell.
"What does this have to do with your cure?" Gourry
asked, looking anxiously in the direction of the
chicken coop Protoss had headed off for. The old man
turned back into the cabin as he asked.
"Mr. Greywyrds is probably hoping that I ran across
something that could help him in my researches,"
Protoss answered.
"That is correct."
"I have to say no, I stick pretty much to looking for
stories on werecreatures."
"Then I'll settle for that," Zelgadis said. He knew
some little bit about it himself, having studied
curses in general, but he suspected that his knowledge
was still fairly limited.
"I thought you might know a little already," the old
man said from the fireplace. "It certainly explains
why you were so calm last night."
"Do you want me to do that?" Zelgadis asked, watching
the water slowly filter through the crushed beans and
the cloth to come out coffee and drop into his cup.
This process took forever. "This is mostly for her
benefit anyway." He indicated Amelia.
"Perhaps that would be better," Protoss agreed. "Like
I said, I haven't felt the need to cook for a while."
He walked over, smoothly like some one much younger,
and sat across from Amelia, who fidgetted nervously
and stared at him.
"First, lycanthropy was not always a disease," he
explained. "A very long time ago it was known as
variously as the shaping magic, the beast arts, and a
few other things I have heard."
"I've heard of those," Amelia piped up. "But there
isn't any record of a connection with lycanthropes."
"Most humans these days think of us as you do,
rampaging monsters that need to be put out of their
own misery. I was like that myself before I was
infected. Most of our history is still word of mouth
and trickles of information."
"Where's a monster, and how long on those chickens?"
Gourry asked.
"No monster, and be patient," Zelgadis grumbled.
"Their coming."
"Anyway, lycanthropy was taught, like any other form
of magic, for generations. Then someone came up with
the bright idea to permanently take on some of the
more common spells. To assimilate the magic into his
body."
"How long ago was this," Zelgadis asked, glancing
irritably at his dripping coffee filter while trying
to cook the chickens.
"Several generations before the Kouma war, the
lycanthropes of the time felt the war coming and
wanted more power for the conflict."
"So what happened?" Gourry asked.
"They botched it up somehow," Protoss said, stating
the obvious. "I'm not exactly certain how, it involved
calling on the power of the moon somehow. The
lycanthrope magic as a whole went wild. Within an
unknown every beast mage, from apprentice to master,
had assimilated the magic into their bodies, and the
process burned out access to the more common magics.
The schools of beast magic became species of
werecreature."
"And that is how the changes came to be tied to the
moon?" Amelia asked. Protoss nodded.
"This is how it was told to me," he answered. "How
much is true I cannot accurately say, but it sounds
right."
"Someone should write this down," Amelia said.
"People have," Zelgadis said from where he was putting
the final touches on the chickens. "But most of the
books have been destroyed. I've seen one or two pages
from the time period that support the story though."
"But to keep such histories from people is..."
"...unjust? Like keeping us waiting for the food!"
Gourry interjected. Zelgadis plopped a chicken
irritably in front of the swordsman and another in
front of Amelia. He offered one to Protoss, but the
old man refused. Zelgadis himself sat down to watch
his cup of coffee finally finish.
"I imagine that the greater scholars found this
nothing more than an inconvience, compared to the real
increase in power. But I believe the apprentices and
initiates were unprepared for the fourth aspect."
"What do you mean, unprepared," Amelia asked.
"I said something of that last night," Zelgadis said,
sipping at his coffee as contentedly as he could.
Gourry had finished with his chicken and was working
on the one Zelgadis had made for Protoss. "That form
was designed for battle, it is meant to be entered and
left for brief periods of time. I do know more about
curses in general than most of you here put together."
Zelgadis added the last to respond to the stares he
was getting.
"Yes, well you see, all the beast mages had every
possible spell and effect from their specific school
ingrained in their bodies. So when the full moon came
they were overwhelmed by the fourth aspect's instincts
and hunger, that transformation requires a lot of
energy which needs to be replaced."
"So they expected a battle and without one they went
to look for one, and then something to eat too" Gourry
said between bites. "Makes sense to me, doing nothing
can get kind of boring."
"So only young werecreatures get out of control,"
Amelia asked. "Wait, what about your cage?"
"That," Protoss laughed. "That cage couldn't stop me
even at my age."
"Then why even use it?" Zelgadis asked.
"It keeps the food in," he said simply. "Much easier
than hunting, though that's fun at times." Amelia
shifted uncomfortably now that information got across.
"Anyway back to the story, please," the princess
suggested.
"Of course," he smiled, recognizing her discomfort.
"Well after the discovery that changes were more
difficult to start or stop at the lycanthropes
choosing, came the next shock. On the full moon, a
werecreature that is in fourth aspect leaks a little
of the magic. This can take hold in someone injured by
the creature, and suddenly you have another
werecreature."
"But Lina was never bitten by anything," Amelia
countered. "She just woke up under the bed one day
after the new moon."
"No, in her case my blood was given to her in
someway," he answered angrily. "The magic is always in
the blood, no matter what the phase of the moon.
Someone should find this Martina girl and stop her
from doing such a thing again."
"We'll take care of her," Gourry promised.
"What is this about a 'real increase in power?'
Zelgadis asked.
"It is my understanding that the old beast mages could
be killed just like normal animals and people. They
healed fast, but skewering them through the heart
still killed them, no matter what the material. Now,
though, the magic binds our life together. We can
survive anything short of immolation, decapitation and
silver." The three slayers sat up and looked to each
other.
"You could survive then, if you were ambushed in human
form and cut to ribbons?" Zelgadis asked.
"As long as the weapons weren't silver, and your head
didn't leave your body, yes," Protoss answered. "I've
been cut in half before, very unpleasant experience.
And all the time you're healing you can't fall
unconscious because the stuff healing you keeps you
awake. Then you sleep for a couple of days and wake up
famished. Not something you want to happen."
"Do you think," Amelia started.
"Yes, I do, I think Lina's still alive," Zelgadis
answered.

**************************************************************************

Complications

Lina leaned down to investigate the trampled ground,
she didn't have to
take the scent to know that her prey had been here.
Her hair was cut shorter
now, just above shoulder length. She hoped that and
her mode of dress made
it difficult to identify her. The rumor of her death
had been everywhere for
a while, but everybody knew that rumors sometimes
weren't true.
"I must have really hurt it last night," Lina thought,
then she flexed
her right arm. "Then again I wasn't so hot earlier
either."
It hadn't taken her and Xellos long to decide that the
full moon form
would be happy if it was given a good, tough battle to
fight. Lacking that,
some decent hunting for food seemed to keep the battle
instincts down enough
that she wouldn't fly off the handle the first instant
she smelled a human
being in the area.
Added to this was the fact that she was still trying
to trace Martina.
The lunatic was somewhat difficult to follow.
Apparently she had learned to
stay underground during her time stalking the slayers.
This, on both
accounts, is where bounty hunting came in, using the
name Rannaur. It would
be somewhat obvious if someone translated, but the
theme was common enough so
anybody that did might not make the connection.
"Maybe I should have asked Xellos along on this one,"
that was another
developement. Lina didn't like the idea that she would
only be able to spend
time with Xellos on half-remembered nights and
fatigue-filled days. She had
appreciated the company on those nights, but it was
about the same as not
seeing him at all.
"I need to talk to him soon, but," Lina looked up to
where the faded moon
hung in the darkening blue sky. Until the sun finished
setting it wouldn't
matter, but until them it was an uncomfortable
reminder. "Now's not a good
time for that anyway."
"Last night of the full moon, if I don't kill it this
time..." she left
the rest unsaid. She wasn't about to let a prize like
a behir get away from
her, but it would be a lot more difficult after this.
"Damn legged snake."
Lina looked to the sun low in the horizon and began
preparing for the
change. Stripping down to her skin and setting her
clothes and gear in a
neat pile off to the side, keeping only the amulet
Xellos had given her. She
spent the last minute of daylight memorizing the scent
of the place. The
changes were getting easier, she wasn't certain if
they actually hurt less or
if she was just getting used to the pain. Whichever it
was, she welcomed it
as the change overtook her.

************

Filia saw Xellos tense and fix a stare off towards the
night. Until now,
she had thought it was just her imagination, but here
was definite proof.
She paused a moment in reading Valgarv a story to
regard the oblivious mazoku.
"Wha' nex? Wha' nex?" Valgarv demanded. Filia shushed
him and watched as
Xellos finally relaxed releasing a held breath. He
noticed her watching him
and actually seemed embarrassed, she arched an
eyebrow. "Wha' nex mommy?"
"Oh, I'm sorry Val," she said, surprised, and looked
at the book again.
She muttered under her breath before looking down
again at the lime green
dragon carving on the cover. "Silly human children's
book."
"Yes, they really give you dragons a bad name don't
they," Xellos
cheerfully asked, Filia knew that he was soaking in
the irritation from her.
She glared at him, and noticed again that his
attention was away from her.
For the last couple of nights he had been extremely
distracted. She wasn't
certain, but thought it had something to do with his
amulet that had
disappeared about a year ago.
Valgarv finally settled down and it was just Filia and
a fidgety Xellos.
"Is something wrong?" He turned to her with his usual
annoying grin.
"What makes you ask that?"
"You keep looking off to the north and fidgetting."
"Just bored I guess," he looked away, north again, and
frowned briefly
before his expression returned to normal.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you have a lover,"
Filia sipped her
coffee, the caffeine was a necessity for dealing with
the hyperactive dragon
child. He glanced at her and flashed a scowl.
"Don't be silly," then he stood up and walked to
house's wall.
"So if you're so worried about her," she ignored his
not quite denial.
"Why not go check on her. Its not like you can't be
there and back in
virtually no time." Xellos sighed and shook his head.
Filia hoped she was
right, recently the mazoku had been treating her like
a child. She almost
thought he felt remorse for killing all those golds
ages before and intended
to make her his redemption, but considering he was
mazoku it was probably
just to annoy her. It was working.
"She doesn't like help."
"But what if she needs it?" Xellos looked at her a
moment.
"I might not be back for couple of days," he warned
her before vanishing.
"Yes!" Filia declared quietly, but excitedly. "Xellos
is out, Valgarv is
asleep. I can get a little rela.." she started to
raise the cup to her lips
when.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Filia's human head fell forward onto
the table and she
sobbed in frustration twice before standing up and
putting a pleasant
expression on her face.
"I'm coming Val, just a moment," she called sweetly.

***********

"A green-haired young woman with a strange laugh?" The
mercenary
repeated nervously, looking at Gourry's sword to his
throat. "Why is
everybody so interested in her?"
"You've had other inquiries along this line?" Zelgadis
asked as the
bandit lair burned around him and the other two
Slayers.
"A bounty hunter first...that new one....small," he
stammered, trying to
remember more details. "cloak....couldn't see the
face, got in and out of my
lair without anybody but me knowing."
"When was this?"
"A..a..bout seven months ago."
"Was this bounty hunter a woman or man?" Amelia asked.
"I couldn't tell," Gourry pushed the sword in a little
further. "I
couldn't...the bounty hunter talked in a
whisper...kept to the shadows."
"Who was next?" Gourry asked, Amelia and Zelgadis
blinked, then nodded.
"Right, if the hunter was first, who was next?"
There was a trickling sound and the slayers looked to
the growing wet
spot on the front of the man's breeches and as one
arched a single eyebrow
each.
"That's disgusting," Amelia pinched her nose and
averted her eyes.
"Don't ask me about him?"
"Gourry," the swordsman reared his arm back.
"All right! All right! The lady said someone might
look for her so we
were supposed to send them to a trap, so I did..."
"And?"
"A couple of weeks later this purple-haired psychopath
shows up,"
Zelgadis and Amelia looked at each other. "Takes my
second in command apart,
in small pieces. Demands to know where the lady is and
if there are any more
traps."
"And where did you send him?"
"South! She went south, towards Sairuun." Amelia and
Zelgadis traded
another look.
"Let's go." Zelgadis walked past the frozen man cooly,
Amelia made a wide
path wafting the air in front of her nose. Gourry
smiled and pulled back his
sword, letting the bandit collapse to his knees.
"Try to be a good boy, now," Gourry waved as he
followed the other two
slayers away.
"That's the first we've heard of Xellos looking for
Martina," Zelgadis
grumbled.
"But that sure sounded like that 'Rannaur' person
again, sounds like
they're working together," Amelia yawned as they
finally passed up the
battle's leftover flames. "Pretty persistant for such
a small bounty as
Martina's. Hmm."
"Most elves don't go in for bounty hunting," Gourry
added. Amelia and
Zelgadis stopped, looked at each other and turned to
face Gourry.
"What makes you say its an elf?" Zelgadis asked.
"Oh, don't you two speak elven?"
"No, that was always Lina," Amelia stated. "And you I
guess."
"My family's had elven friends for a while." He
started walking again.
"Well?"
"What?"
"What does Rannaur mean?!?"
"Oh, 'wandering fire,'" Gourry yawned walking on.
Zelgadis and Amelia
smiled at each other.
"Lina!" they shouted.

**************

Xellos appeared in the woods to the sounds of a battle
of beasts, a flash
of lightning lit the area briefly over a hill. This
section of wilderness
had already seen two nights of battle and three days
of mutual stalking. The
place looked it, paths of fallen trees uprooted by a
great beast and here and
there lightning scores. Xellos didn't hang around long
enough to notice much
of this or even to soak the leftover emotions of anger
and fear about the
place. It didn't take him long to find the battle.
The beast extended almost thirty serpentine feet,
which made it not quite
an adult. It should have been moving with amazing
fluidity and speed for its
size, crawling or half slithering with its dozen feet.
It wasn't though, the
previous two night's battles had warn it down. The
behir did not possess
Lina's enhanced rate of healing, and the site of it
calmed Xellos extremely.
The dragon-like head was half-torn apart, the eye torn
out and preening
horns ripped off. It limped along on only nine legs
and was bleeding
somewhat severely from the various wounds that had
lost the legs. It might
survive, if it didn't still have Lina to deal with.
Not to mention Xellos,
of course, now that he was here.
The half-blind reptile cast about the darkness looking
for his opponent,
sniffing the air. It was really a pathetic site, then
Lina's full moon form
appeared, breezing in from the remaining tree line
along the thing's
blindside.
The sleek red-furred form landed at the base of the
creatures neck and
began climbing up. The behir twisted about to bring
its face next to the
pesky werecreature climbing up its neck. Xellos lashed
out with his hand as
the beast's mouth opened and released a breath of
lightning. The blast
ricochetted off the shield Xellos had erected,
bouncing back towards the
behir's head. This didn't affect it much, immune to
the electricity as it
was, but it did give Lina time to rip into the soft
scales under the beasts
chin.
That was the death blow, the blood flowed out in what
seemed a torrent as
the beast toppled over on its side. Lina leaped off
and crouched a safe
distance from the creature's death throes. Xellos
teleported next to her and
sat down. The were-fox looked at him curiously.
Xellos looked at her, smiled and shrugged. Lina
sniffed at him a moment
and then licked his face a couple of times before
moving towards finally
motionless behir. Then the were-fox started eating.
Xellos wondered if the
beast had enough meat on its bones for Lina's normal
meal.

*************

"Xellos?" Lina asked. The mazoku yawned and blinked
the sleep out of his
eyes. "What are you doing here?" He looked over at
Lina and smiled.
"And good morning to you," he said. "Did I ever tell
you how beautiful
you look with blood smeared all over you?" Lina rolled
her eyes as she
reached for one of her waterskins
"So why are you here?" she asked, starting to rinse
herself off from last
night's battle.
"Filia figured me out," Lina snapped a look at him.
"Only partially, she
doesn't know its you." Lina went back to rinsing off,
Xellos leaned his head
on his arm and watched as she scrubbed the blood away.
She did look
beautiful with the blood, the morning after a kill. It
was the same look she
used to get while casting a dragon slave. He wasn't
about to tell her that,
the loss of magic was still painful to her.
"That doesn't say why you're here."
"Sore wa himitsu desu," they both chorused.
"Well, it's good you're here anyway," she said. "I
might have to find
some place to lay low for a time. There's going to be
a....complication."
"A complication?"
"I...uh...missed my period." Xellos stared at her
blankly. Then
sheepishly she added. "Twice."
"And you're still bounty hunting?"

**************************************************************************

Trails

"So, what's next?" Gourry asked as they walked away
from the town hall.
"The blacksmith," Zelgadis suggested. "Then after
that..."
"The inn probably," Amelia yawned. "We won't find
either of them if we drop from exhaustion." Martina's
trail had completely vanished and the last thing they
heard about "Rannaur" was her fighting a monster
around this town. Zelgadis took a moment to remember
what the magistrate had said.

**************

"I don't know how she did it," the man had said. "But
for three nights there was a war in the wilds, then
she comes walking back into town with what was left of
the creature."
"When was that?"
"The full moon before last," he answered. "That woman
must be a powerful warrior. It was well worth the
reward we gave her. Why are you looking for her?"
"We think she might be an old friend of ours," Gourry
had said as they left.

*****************

"This is more like an armorer's shop than a
blacksmith," Amelia noted as they stopped into the
small building in front of the forge. Amelia turned to
look towards the wall and caught Zelgadis's attention.
"This is going to be a nice suit of armor," Gourry
appraised, whistling. The interlocking blue scales
that made up the tunic hung like cloth over the dummy.
It looked relatively lightweight for most armor, but
the warrior thought it would prove just as effective,
if not more so, as other types of scale mail.
"There's a touch of magic to it," Amelia noted,
squinting at it. Zelgadis nodded.
"Behir scales, hard to get," Zelgadis noted. "Perhaps
that's what's left of the monster that was terrorizing
the town."
"The armor is spoken for," the slayers turned to face
the blacksmith, a large bearded man like almost any
other village blacksmith. "I have plenty of material
left to make more. That is, if you have the money for
it."
"I have more effective means of protection," Zelgadis
noted cooly. The blacksmith who couldn't see under
Zelgadis' hood and cloak hpmhed doubtfully at that
statement.
"Who's armor is it?" Amelia asked, burshing over the
hard scales and humming to herself.
"A bounty hunter," the shopkeeper said. "It was an
even trade, she brought the scales, I made the armor,
leaving me with more than enough for several more
suits."
"Sounds like a good deal for you," Zelgadis said.
"When are you going to be finished with the armor?" He
examined what was already done, the man was taking his
time and doing it right.
"I'm doing it right, two months at least, why do you
want to know?"
"Well you see..."
"Curiousity," Amelia cut off Gourry. "Its not often
you see armor like this."
"I see, well what did you need here?" Zelgadis
unsheathed his sword and handed it hilt-first to the
blacksmith.
"I need a sharpening stone," Zelgadis told him. "And
while I'm here I might as well have a professional
sharpen the blade." The blacksmith nodded, and
accepted the weapon reverently noting the fine
construction of the blade.
"I'll have it done in about an hour," he said.
"We'll be back then," Amelia said, turning to leave
and dragging Gourry along with her.
"I think we may have found her," Zelgadis said. "Now
the question is, do we hang around here until she
comes to pick up that armor, or do we go and look for
where Martina might be."
"Yeah, Sairuun's borders are only a couple of days
ride from here," Gourry said.
"We don't have to stay," Amelia said confidently.
"If you're going back to the idea that we
shouldn't..."
"No, no, I put a trace spell on the armor," Amelia
told him. "Should last for another year or so."
"Why didn't I think of that?"

********************

Lina yawned and stretched. Her mouth snapped closed
with a click and she stared up at the night sky. The
hunting around here was good, more than enough for her
needs. The cave, she had complained before about this
being the only forest without an abandoned cabin, was
well supplied and perfectly comfortable, almost not
like a cave. She was more than two days ride from the
nearest settlement, so she was safe from eyes that
would likely respond to her with silver arrows.
The last created a very distinct problem that was
eating on her at the moment. There was virtually
nothing to keep her mind occupied out here. She could
run over the information she had collected on
Martina's movements only so many different ways.
Hunting normal animals only gave her so much
challenge, even when she got it into her head to go
looking for specific animals rather than just whatever
she could find. At least most of the morning sickness
seemed to be done with.
Xellos was around more often, now that Filia knew why
he was disappearing. In fact he was around several
times a week, probably pushing the bounds of what was
safe to be away from his post watching Valgarv. Still,
there was quite a bit of time when there was nobody
but her and nothing to do.
"Speaking of cravings," the owl she had been watching
prepared to swoop down on a mouse. The mouse was
perfectly aware of the situation, Lina could smell the
pheromones wafting off of it, but it was already
frozen. The owl dropped from its branch, flashed down
and through the tall grass and then was stopped by
Lina's hand. The owl protested for all of three
seconds before Lina started eating.
Lina was really beginning to like this body. She
didn't merely accept it now, she actually preferred
it. She rarely even noticed the pain of transformation
anymore, and when dawn came there was a moment of
regret as she took her completely human form again.
Lina yawned as she picked the remains of the owl out
of her teeth and tossing them to the side with the
rest of the night's refuse. She rubbed her rounded
belly before standing up and walking back to the cave
and the thick blankets and feather mattress inside.

***********

The border guards of Sairuun immediately recognized
their princess.
"Princess Amelia!"
"Yes," Amelia said cautiously. "What is it?"
"Your father has sent seekers for you, there is great
news."
"Really, what news is that?" Amelia asked calmly.
"The Prince is getting married!"
"What?!?"

***********************************************************************

Shadow Plays

"This is bad," Lina muttered from her vantage point on
the cliff. Below her men were setting up a base camp.
For the first time in months she actively missed her
magic. Pregnant or not she could have handled this as
a sorceress. Lina grimaced as she began to slink back
to her cave.
"I feel like a damn pig in a dress," the word dress
was the most emphasized, Xellos had brought for her as
her travelling clothes began to be ill-fitting. At
least the dress was loose enough that she didn't worry
about ripping it come nightfall. It more than a little
worse for the wear now, though. Blood from past meals,
tears from thorns from catching branches, it was in
pretty bad shape.
Their were further problems that she saw with this
group. Most people thought that every bandit looked
alike, if you saw one thug, you'd seen them all. That
was pretty much true, but it was still easy for
someone like Lina to tell the difference between the
various groups. This was a branch of the people that
had been at that trap Martina had set for her.
She hated feeling helpless like this, but it wasn't
like she had much of a choice. She didn't even have
the full moon to fall back on, both the more severe
transformations had ceased as she started to show.
Lina sat back in the soft chair, a recent addition of
Xellos's, as soon as she returned to her cave. Here
was Martina again, ruining her life. Never mind, of
course, that she had been looking for the sick twisted
little green-haired trollop.
"I'm not far enough away from them," she grumbled.
"And I have more important things to worry about."
Looking about the cave that was becoming something
more like a home she sighed. Lina gripped the amulet
and reached out toward Xellos. It didn't take him long
to show up.
"What's wrong?" the mazoku asked anxiously as soon as
he appeared in the cave. Lina was almost as depressed
as she had been when Xellos had first found her in
that inn. He'd been about to decide to pop over
anyway, so the call made him jump. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Xellos breathed a sigh of relief. "There
are some bandits forming a camp a few miles away."
"There's more to it than that," Xellos guessed.
"They're the same group from Martina's trap," Lina
told him. "If I could still cast magic...." She
sniffed once and then wiped her eyes. "Do you
think Filia would freak out much if I stayed with you
two?"
"Do you think that's safe?" Xellos asked, feeling
moderately guilty that he was feeding off her
emotions. Not that he could stop himself, soaking it
in like a flower with sunlight.
"Its safer than here," Lina sighed, brushing red hair,
grown long again, out of her face. "There's not enough
hunting that I could avoid them noticing me." She
blinked and then looked up. "And maybe she won't
recognize me."
"What, do you plan on only being there at night?" Lina
had already closed her eyes and seemed to be
concentrating. Xellos blinked as he watched Lina
transform to her humanoid form despite the sun being
high outside. She examined the change, laughed and
then hugged Xellos. "How?"
"I've been studying the change," Lina told him, tail
swishing happily. "I thought that I almost had it last
time, guess I was right. Shall we go?" Xellos wondered
at the sudden good mood, but shrugged. Lina was right,
she couldn't stay here.

***********

"The prince's daughter and her friends are here,"
Reginald informed his mistress.
"What?!" Martina, her green-hair dyed black. "What are
they doing here? It's too early!"
"Do not worry," her servant spoke monotonously. "Lady
R'lyeh will be called away on temple business, you can
lay low with the forces we have in the forest."
"Hmm, very good," Martina thought about it. "But how
are you going to get them to leave, they've heard
about the marriage by now."
"I shall take care of that, mistress, now the
important thing is to stall for time." Reginald
reached to his side and opened a fold in space leading
to the spoken of camp.
"Yes, well, carry on," Martina yawned as she walked
through the portal. As the portal shut behind her the
staid, unimportant looking man smiled.

"Lady R'lyeh?" Zelgadis repeated. That name brought
uncomfortable thoughts, but he couldn't put his finger
on the details. The discomfort was all he needed to
decide that there was certainly nothing good here.
"Yes, her temple has been doing great things for the
poor of the kingdom," Phil told them all. "And she is
really a wonderful person, great sense of humor."
"But isn't marriage just a little rash?" Amelia asked.
"Come, come, as soon as you meet her, you'll change
your mind," Phil repeated as they walked down the
hall. Ahead of them the chambers of Lady R'lyeh closed
behind a particularly indistinctive man. "Aww, Master
Reginald, I've come to introduce my daughter to my
love."
"I am afraid that Lady R'lyeh has been called away on
temple business," the man said in a monotone. "She had
wanted to give her farewells, but the circumstances
really were quite unexpected."
"I'll bet they were," Zelgadis muttered.
"What temple does she serve?" Gourry asked.
"The Temple of She with a Thousand Young," the man
responded in his one voice.
"I've never heard of them before," Amelia noted,
suscipiciously.
"It is a relatively young group, you may not have
heard of it."
"They do excellent work with the poor," Phil told them
again. "They really make sure that justice is given to
those for whom it has long been denied. The lady is
such a sweet and charming woman." Reginald dared a
questioning glance at Phil. "But how will she now meet
my daughter and her friends?"
"She was away before news of their arrival reached my
ears," Reginald sighed apologetically. "But I will
have word sent, perhaps she will finish her business
with a little more speed in order to meet her future
family."
"That would be wonderful," Phil shouted. "And until
then we must celebrate the happy occaision!
Bwuahahahahahhahahahahhahhahahhahahah!!!!!"
"Hey, Zelgadis are you coming?" Gourry called back as
they followed the laughing prince, who happened to be
king, back down the hall. The chimera looked up at the
swordsman away from his appraisal of "Reginald."

********************************************************************

Filia meets Rannaur

Filia had at first ignored the clattering sound of
hooves and rolling
wheels, it was a common enough sound out here on the
edges of the city. Of
course when it stopped in front of her current
residence, then she took
notice. She had set Val to playing and then approached
the front door with a
caution that was almost paranoid. Of course Xellos
choose that moment to
throw open the door and come waltzing inside. Whatever
the mazoku had been
going to say was cut off as Filia shrieked in surprise
and brought her mace
down on the now equally surprised Xellos. The smile
died on his face and he
actually opened his eyes to watch the mace connect.
"Owww," Xellos groaned as he got to his feet wobbly.
"Oh I'm sorry!" she dropped the mace in embarrassed
surprise, it fell on
Xellos's foot.
"Aahh!" Xellos grabbed his foot and, unbalanced, fell
backward and
smashed his head on the door frame.
"Xellos!" Filia heard a rough, but definitely feminine
voice call out
from the buggy.
"I thought somebody found out I was dragon or
something." Xellos
struggled to his feet again.
"All of you calm down," Xellos pointed randomly and
speaking drunkenly.
"Your tails are showing." Then he fell over on his
back again. Filia bent
down immediately to check him for any serious
injuries.
Filia dropped a groggy Xellos's head as she looked up
to see a face
covered in red fur and large black furred ears.
"What are you doing to him?" the fox girl demanded,
eyes narrowed. She
started to climb out of the buggy. Filia noticed
immediately that whoever
she was, though she looked somewhat familiar. she was
certainly pregnant.
Filia immediately rushed to help her down, accidently
kicking Xellos's head
as she did and nearly tripping.
The fox-girl, the tail proved it, whuffed in surprise
as Filia easily
lifted her away from the buggy and sat her down on the
ground. As the dragon
turned about to set her down gently her tail thwacked
into the again
recovering Xellos.
"You should be resting," Filia said politely and
cheerfully. "You're the
girl Xellos has been trying to hide, aren't you?"
"Look at what you did!" the fox girl pointed to where
Xellos was trying
to sit up and shake his head clear.
"I'll be fine," Xellos assured her, weaving a little
even sitting. Filia
blushed and giggled nervously as she looked back to
the shocked and a little
angry fox-girl. "She's just a little excited. Rannaur
should get inside
before..."
"Before someone sees her," she looked to her tail. "Or
me, of course.
Come on, dear we'll find somewhere where you can be
comfortable." Filia's
tail smashed Xellos to the ground again.
"You did it again!"
"I'm sorry," Filia said embarrassed. Then she
virtually carried Rannaur
into the house, much to the fox girl's surprise. She
was apparently too
surprised again to react at all and merely let herself
be carried into the
house and be set down in one of the oversoft chairs
that Xellos seemed to
collect. "Now I'll go get Xellos and be right back."
"No!" Filia stopped and turned back to look at
Rannaur. "I mean that's
fine, I think he'll do better on his own. Just sit
down and relax, get
control of your form. Deep breaths. One. Two. Three."
Rannaur reached
for anything else that she could remember people
telling her while she was
angry or otherwise upset.
"Don't be silly," Filia snapped angrily, but her tail
disappeared and she
dimurrely sat back in a chair. "Now, I'm sorry to be
so rude, but you and
Xellos scared me there."
"You call beating your roommate into the ground rude?"
Xellos asked as he
shuffled into the house. "I'd hate to see you being
offensive."
"I said I was sorry," Filia offered.
"Oh come over here," Rannaur waved him over and he
bent down to let her
examine his head. "Oh what did the mean dragon-lady do
to you?"
"I am not mean," Filia insisted futilely.
"Oh I'm allright, kind of fun actually," Xellos
answered giggling with
the fox-girl. "You know what masochist I am."
"Mommy, who's she?" Filia turned to look down at Val.
"So that's why like the claws while we..."
"Ahem!" Rannaur and Xellos turned to look at the
dragon maid with her
eyebrow arched and indicating the toddler next to her.
"Oh, sorry," it was the fox girl's turn to be
sheepish.
"What?" Xellos had no clue as to what the problem was,
both women rolled
their eyes at the amoral tendencies of mazoku.
"Who's she?" Val asked again.
"That's Uncle Xellos's..." She looked to the fox-girl
expectantly.
"Xellos's mate," the word flowed easily from her lips.
"Rannaur." Val
looked up at her and blinked.
"Fire," Rannaur's ears flicked in surprise at the
boy's single word.
Xellos tensed.
"He can't remember me from before, can he," she
thought to herself,
exchanging a quick glance with Xellos.
"Oh, I've been teaching him some elvish," Filia
explained. Rannaur did
her best to release her breath without showing her
relief. "Wandering Fire?
That reminds me of a friend of Xellos' and mine's."
"Really, who was that?"
"Lina Inverse," Filia sighed sadly.
"The Bandit Killer? You knew her?" Xellos looked at
the fox-girl with a
"what are you doing" expression.
"She was a brave woman, and a very powerful
sorceress," Filia continued.
Rannaur seemed shocked that the dragon was actually
crying about the Dra
Matta. "Some bandits killed her while she didn't have
her power. Didn't
Xellos tell you about this, he found the body after
all." Filia got back
control of herself.
"I just thought that was another of his stories,"
Rannaur rolled her eyes
back at the mazoku, who shrugged back an "I give up."
"Now are you here just to meet me, or are you here to
stay? And why did
you come by buggy rather than just teleporting." Filia
didn't bother to ask
what Rannaur was, she kept getting surprised by new
races all the time
anyway. Things she didn't really notice before living
with these "lower"
races.
"I didn't just want to pop in with her and startle
you," Xellos said,
then rubbed his head. "That's painful sometimes." He
did not miss the irony.
"I was hoping you wouldn't mind me staying for
awhile," Rannaur asked
quietly, trying to be as demure as possible and
overdoing it.
"She's getting to where she can't hunt for herself,"
the fox-girl hmped
at him indignantly.
"I'm not that far along yet," she insisted.
"Ronar?" Val tugged at the corners of the woman's
sleeve. She looked
down at him. "Why are you fat."
"Val! Seriously, how rude," Filia stood up and picked
the young dragon
up off the floor and sat down again with him in her
lap. "Now apologize to
the nice girl," then she looked between Xellos and
Rannaur. "How old are you
anyway?"
"Not as young as I look," the girl assured her. "I
heal fast and it
keeps me from aging."
"Oh...good," she looked down at the confused dragon
kid again. "Val
apologize."
"I'm sorry, I said you were fat, miss Ronar," he said
very formerly.
"It's all right," she said. Xellos was now sitting in
a chair he had
moved next to her. "I am fat, and I'll probably be fat
for the next few
months." Rannaur reached out and grabbed his head and
pulled him over so she
could nuzzle his face. "And its all because of my
mazoku here, isn't he
cute?" Filia's eyebrow arched, again.
"Well is she wrong, or am I cute?"
"I wouldn't go that far," Filia answered dead pan.
"How did uncle Xellos make her fat?" Filia turned beat
red.
"Well you see...hey!" Rannaur playfully smacked the
top of his head and
wagged a finger in front of his face. "What?" He
looked for answer from
Filia, who, for some reason unfathomable to Xellos,
was holding her hands
over Val's ears.
"Well, I guess you can stay here," Filia said. "But
you'll have to stay
under cover, or we could have some unwanted visitors."
"You can be sure of that," Xellos and Rannaur mumbled
at about the same
time.

********************

Zelgadis had found what he was looking for rather
quickly. He had come
down to Sairuun palace's library and was immediately
aware of a large raven
sitting on the vacant desk. There was something odd
about it, and he walked
forward to get a closer look. Usually he could move
swiftly and quietly
enough to sneak up even on animals, but this Raven
bolted almost as soon as
he started moving.
It stopped within his sight, and he moved toward it
again. It called and
took flight again. Fairly certain that it was leading
him somewhere he
followed it. Until it stopped at a certain row of
books and let him approach
closer than before. The raven pecked at a book and
then flashed into the air
when Zel tried to grab it again. The bird slipped
through his feathers
calling as it flew into the shadows of the high
ceiling, sounding as if it
were laughing. He looked at the book it had pecked and
read the title.
"I knew I recognized that name," he grumbled sourly
and gingerly, very
gingerly, picked up the indicated book. Lina would
know more about the
history of the tome, Zel had half-way delved through a
less complete version
once before. He stopped when it became obvious that
book was nothing but
exorcisms, summonings and discussions of various
demons.
"Necronomican. I hope they're just poseurs." He opened
the book to the
strip of paper stuck in the black bound tome. He found
words on the paper,
and wasn't too surprised.
"Stall them now, their end comes with the next
generation."
Zelgadis thought about the bird and the way it had
slipped out of his
hands, he looked and saw thin black strands caught on
his rock skin. "It had
black fur."

=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

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