Rescue



"This is my father's palace," Amelia reminded the man
before her. "I have the right to enter any room or
chamber here." She tapped her feet angrily.
"I'm sorry Princess, but your father commanded that no
one should invade Lady R'Lyeh's privacy," the guard
answered, he and his partner stood firm yet nervous
against their princess.
"I see, well I'm going find out who this person is
eventually," Amelia promised. "Then we'll see if she
really serves the cause of Justice." Amelia stomped
off in the direction of the Library, Zelgadis would be
there. Zelgadis and Lina always gravitated toward
books. She had know idea where Gourry was, she hadn't
seen him since the day before. It didn't worry her the
swordsman was probably wandering around the palace at
random.
"I think me and Zelgadis should investigate this
'temple,'" Amelia thought to herself.

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

Gourry knew he couldn't really help Zelgadis and
Amelia in their investigations. He had taken the
opportunity to get a little hunting in. It had been a
short ride out of the city's bounds and now he was
stalking the woods with a bow in hand.
His friends would have been surprised by just how good
he was at sneaking through the underbrush, even more
surprised that he could get his horse to travel so
silently. He had managed a fairly lucky start,
happening upon a fairly frequently populated section
of the forest fringe. Of course as he got deeper into
the woods the tracks became denser, about what one
would expect for a healthy woodland. The signs were
everywhere, you just couldn't see the animals.
Gourry didn't think anything of camping when the sun
set, it wasn't like Zelgadis or Amelia would miss him.
They were going to be far to busy digging into the
story of this Lady R'Lyeh. It was half an hour after
dark, cooking the quail he had managed to catch over a
small fire, that he first noticed that he was being
watched.
He looked about and saw a circle of yellowish eyes
about his campfire. His horse was shifting from foot
to foot nervously.
"Wolves," he said. "Sorry not enough food for all of
you." Looking around again, unconcerned, he could
handle a pack of wolves if it came to that, he found
the eyes gone again. Except for one pair that moved
into the light.
"Hmm, your eyes aren't even yellow, are they," Gourry
asked as he started digging through his pack for
rations. In fact the eyes were a sort of copperish
color, though it might have been the reflection of the
fire. Gourry tossed the remains of his quail to the
wolf. 
"Might as well be a good host." He shrugged, the wolf
sniffed the quail and then swallowed it down. "Wow,
you eat like Lina and me," the wolf shook its head
back and forth as it prepared to sit down. For a
moment the sleek black down covering the wolf puffed
up making him look twice as big, then they settled
down again.
"Boy you look like you're moulting," Gourry said as he
noticed some of the feathers floating slowly to the
ground. "Wait a minute since when do wolves have
feathers?" Then the wolf was gone, pouncing into the
night time woods.
Gourry took up his sword, not as good as the light
blade, but still effective in his hands, and bounded
up to his horse's back. He was fairly certain that the
wolf would have out run him if he went on foot, and
there was something funny about this. The animal
stayed in his sight periodically glancing back to
check if the human was still following him. Zelgadis
would have recognized the expression on the wolf's
face, but Gourry had left before the Zelgadis's raven
made its appearance.
Gourry's chase lasted a good deal longer than
Zelgadis's, a continual game of tag with the swordsman
unable to keep up. He finally lost the wolf as the
Eastern sky began to glow. The wolf didn't just
vanish, something else had attracted Gourry's
attention and he let it go.
"Bandits," he muttered sagely. Beneath him in a bowl
with a clearing towards the bottom was a rather large
camp of armed men. He tied up his horse and began
creeping down towards the camp. He found it pretty
easy to sneak up on them, what they considered alert
sentries were almost laughable. He found the largest
tent and sat down outside it listening to the
conversation with in.
"...what is she doing here? We have enough trouble
with that snooping priestess."
"You can tolerate her for a few days," a second voice
said. "The master doesn't want her cover blown just
yet."
"Why must we go through with this charade? She's
always blabbing about how she's a princess anyway."
"We need a queen, now just humor her and keep her away
from the prisoner. What's her name?"
"Syphiel. I'll be glad when they're both dead."
"Be patient, their time will come when the stars are
right, until then no one hurts them and keep your eyes
open. We still haven't found who was living in that
cave."
"They're going to kill Syphiel and someone else!"
Gourry blinked, and moved away from the tent, falling
back into the fading shadows. "Now where would they
keep prisoners." He scanned the area quickly, and
moved to another shadow to change his view. Eventually
he found a tent that was actually effectively
protected.
Gourry smiled and snuck around to the back of the tent
in question. He was using a mix of caution and
urgency, the sun was quickly rising. There would be
virtually no shadows soon. Fortunately Gourry was part
elf, and had spent much of his life growing up with
elves and woodsmen. He came around the right and
tossed a stone straight up.
The stone landed a few feet in front of him and the
guards glanced in that direction, rolled their eyes
and started in the other direction. Gourry rushed out
behind them slashed once and twice and then dragged
the two bodies into the tent with him.
"Gourry?" he turned to see Shyfiel looking at him with
a shocked expression on her face. "How did you find
this place?" He stopped and thought about it for a
moment.
"I don't remember, oh well, not important," he said.
"Come on we have to get one more person and then get
out before anybody notices us."
"One more person? Who?" Gourry took a heavy cloak from
one of the bodies and obscurred his face and form, he
gave the other to Syphiel.
"I don't know, some princess or something," he glanced
outside. "Its clear, act natural." They walked
outside, Syphiel trying not to look like she was
scared.
"I demand you bring me better fare!" the shout carried
across the camp in a shrill wind.
"I'm guessing that's her," Syphiel said.
"That voice sounds familiar," Gourry pondered. "Oh
well. Umm, don't attract attention, but go get a pair
of horses."
"You're leaving me alone?" she tried to shout and
whisper at the same time.
"Well do you want to be around when I try to get her
out of there?" Syphiel considered the question.
"I'll go get two horses, don't be long." Gourry
watched her until she disappeared between two tents.
The sun was definitely up now, but there still wasn't
much life in the camp. Gourry shook his head annoyed,
these people didn't know anything about life in the
woods. He approached the other tent and waited for the
bandit to exit it, then he went in.
"Well that was quite a bit too-*" Gourry didn't take
the time to let her turn around, or see what she
looked like. He simple knocked her out and picked her
up. Usually he was more than a little chivalrous, but
well, trying to explain matters would get them all
killed right now. 
Now getting out was going to be a little more
difficult, people were certainly going to notice him
carrying an unconcious woman over his shoulder. He
exited the back of the tent and worked his way to the
edge of the camp and around to their horses. He found
Syphiel quickly and came up behind her.
"Just two horses, I have one up there," Syphiel almost
screamed when he started speaking. "Come on let's go."

Gourry swung up into the saddle of the black mare
Syphiel had chosen, a little ungracefully because he
had to count for the weight of the unconscious girl.
Syphiel took a moment to get control over her heart
rate again and took the saddle of her dappled gelding.
They had reached his horse and were in the process of
securing the princess in her saddle when the alarm was
raised below.
"Well they found out that you both are gone, let's not
be here." He remembered for a moment chasing a wolf
over a smattering of granite rocks rising out of the
Earth. He then promptly forgot the wolf again, it
wasn't important, but the rocks were. "They'll track
us here, anybody could do that, but I think I know
where we can lose them." Gourry kicked off his horse,
leading the unconscious girls, and Syphiel followed.
As he predicted the bandits followed and lost their
trail in the rocks.
"The master is not going to be pleased," the second
grumbled glaring at his superior.

***********

"Zelgadis?" Amelia called out. "Are you here?"
"In the back Amelia," she heard him call, the sound
echoing through the great hall of the Library. Amelia
walked back and found Zelgadis pouring over an old
book.
"I never liked this one," Zelgadis grumbled. "I know
what R'Lyeh is."
"Sure, she's a gold-digging opportunist." Zelgadis
turned to face her.
"Not Lady R'Lyeh, R'Lyeh. Its a city, sort of, the
resting place of one of the old ones."
"Old ones? I thought they were just frightening bed
time stories," Amelia moved around to examine the tome
with Zelgadis. She didn't notice how close she was
when she leaned over to look at the pages, otherwise
she might have fainted. Nor did she notice Zelgadis
blushing as she brushed his shoulder.
"They're down here somewheer," someone said. They both
recognized Reginald's voice. "Find them, get rid of
them quietly, I'll tell his highness they left to find
their blonde friend." Amelia and Zelgadis quietly
faded into the shadows and Amelia started leading them
around to a hidden exit she new of.
"Master, could the swordsman be responsible for Lady
R'Lyeh's abduction from the north woods." They heard a
body hit the ground.
"Keep your mouth closed," Reginald's deadpan voice
warned. Zelgadis and Amelia were out of the room
before they even glimpsed the open copy of the
Necronomican. "They were here, they've been
researching us."

***********

"Why are we running," Amelia demanded suddenly. "This
is my home!"
"Yes, but we don't want to fight them just yet, we
don't know how many they are or how powerful, we could
kill these and whoever is left could still be a
threat. We should find Gourry first, and then continue
to look for Lina."
"Why?"
"They need 'Lady R'Lyeh', apparently Gourry might have
her, and well, Lina will know more about this than I
do."
"So its to the north woods from here?"
"By way of the stables yes."

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

Zelgadis and Amelia had no trouble with the regular
servants of the palace or the guardsmen in the city.
And soon they were making a bee line for the north
woods as planned. Half a day into the ride they heard
a familar, screeching voice.
"Damn you, let me go!"
"You don't want to go back there."
"Those are my followers you fool, followers of the
monster Zomalgustar!"
"Where do I know that name from." Zelgadis and Amelia
topped a rise and saw Gourry approaching down the road
with Syphiel and Martina, her hair dyed black. "Oh, hi
guys. Look what I found."
"Martina," Zelgadis nodded at the insane princess,
glaring at her dangerously. "Lina's going to love to
see you again."
"Why am I not surprised?" Amelia asked flatly. 

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

Meeting of Mazoku



"Lina Inverse is alive?" Sylphiel 
"Don't be ridiculuous, the bitch" Martina sneered at
the last word, after all, she knew just how it could
fit Lina now. "has been dead for more than a year."
"What, when did Lina die?" Gourry asked. "I thought we
were looking for her."
"We are looking for her," Amelia answered him, rolling
her eyes. "She's not dead."
"But no one has heard from her in all that time,"
Sylphiel noted. "There were the rumors about how she
lost her power, and then her death in a bandit ambush
or something. Are you saying they aren't true? She's
been hiding all this time?"
"They're half-right," Zelgadis said. He dismounted and
walked over to Martina's horse.
"What do you want?" the girl asked him snidely. Her
green roots were just now starting to show.
"Lina lost her magic," he reached up and grabbed a
hold of the dress Martina was wearing, a rather
conservative one compared to other things she had
worn. "And this one knows how!" He pulled her off the
horse and threw her to the side of the road.
"She deserved it," Martina snarled, standing up and
watching chimera warily. "She took my kingdom from me,
made me a destitute wanderer. I merely repaid the
favor."
"What did you do?" Sylphiel asked quietly.
"The bitch really is a bitch now.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Zelgadis reared back his hand
and was surprised to find it restrained, he looked to
see Gourry holding his arm. The swordsman could never
hope to actually hold the chimera, but the gesture
stopped him well enough.
"You shouldn't hit women." Gourry lectured.
"You didn't show much..." Martina's comment was
interrupted by Amelia's punch. The purple-black haired
princess flexed her hand and shook it. Martina was
unconscious again.
"That hurts," Amelia whispered. "I don't see how you
people can keep doing that."
"What does she mean by that?" Sylphiel asked.
"Lina's a werefox," Gourry said as he let go of
Zelgadis's hand.
"She's a what?"
"A werefox," Amelia confirmed. "I've seen
her...change. But none of us have seen her since
shortly after it happened."
"B..but why would you want to find her," Sylphiel
asked.
"We had to go through this with Amelia already,"
Zelgadis grumbled. "She's still Lina. We've left her
behind one too many times already." Amelia blushed and
looked away, though neither of the men said anything
blaming her.
"Lina's been hunting bounties, and we haven't heard
anything about rampaging werecreatures along her
path," Amelia said. "But aside from waiting another
month or so for her to collect her armor, I don't see
how we're going to find her."
"Find Xellos and we'll find Lina," Zelgadis said.
"Then why not pay Filia a visit?" Gourry asked. "Who's
always fairly close to her and umm....uh...that dragon
guy who's a baby now?"
"Val Garv."
"That's him."
"Lets get off the road. Now." Zelgadis said.
"Who's this Filia person again?" Sylphiel asked. "Do I
know her?"
"I think you left before we met her. She's a gold
dragon."
"Oh."

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

"Well, something is going on here," Xellos mused as he
watched the excited state of affairs down in the camp.
The mazoku stayed close to them, teleporting from
concealing shadow to concealing shadow. He had always
loved the forest, the deep forest where the shadows
were almost as thick as the night. He assumed that
might be the infulence of his master, but at the very
least the forest was a good deal cleaner and more
dignified than a dungeon.
He had already been to Lina's cave, it was in
shambles, the few items of monetary value looted. That
had been more than a little upsetting, on the other
hand he was glad that Lina had called when she did. A
couple days' delay would have been devestating. 
Xellos's head lifted at the sound of an approaching
horse, he watched the rider stop in front of the two
commanders. The man's dismount was more like a tumble.
The fear wafting off of him was delicious, in fact
Xellos doubted that he could form much in the way of
coherent thought.
"What is it? Stand up and give your report," the man
stumbled to his feet.
"Red....blood....blood....torn to pieces."
"They found him," Xellos smiled, remembering the one
bandit that had still been in the cave when he showed
up. There was now a small clearing near Lina's cave
that was seemingly painted red and strung with guts
and body pieces of that unfortunate man. 
"See what he's babbling about," the obvious leader
told his second. "If it's Lady R'Lyeh we'll wish it
had been us."
"Lady R'Lyeh?" Xellos mumbled, the frowned. He was
pondering this when the portal opened and a quite
ordinary man stepped out. Xellos's eyes widened and
then narrowed. 
A little more than a thousand years ago a small group
of medium level ryuzoku, mazoku, and a single human
that had stumbled upon the gathering by accident, had
taken it upon themselves to take a break from the
building conflict and put down a rogue mazoku. It
hadn't been a clear victory, the mazoku in question
had managed to seal himself away before they could
finish him off. Only one of the group survived, and by
the time it was over, Xellos wasn't human anymore.
"What was it he was babbling," Xellos asked himself.
"The first of five? What was shall be."
"Do you have any useful news," the man, mazoku, asked
flatly.
"We found the thief's trail and lost it again when
they hit the road," he seemed about to say more when
there was a flash of black light and the man's body
fell to the ground seperate of its head.
"You are now in command," the mazoku informed the
second. "But do see what this poor fellow here was
jabbering about."
"Yes," the mazoku fixed him with a glare. "Master."
The bandit left half running, leaving the broken
minded bandit behind to stare up at their master. The
other mazoku paused and started casting his eyes about
the camp. Xellos sweated and tried to pull his aura
into himself. He did not want to be seen by this one
quite yet.
"Don't get in my way, Xellos," he whispered, the sound
still carrying to Xellos's ears. "You can't win
without all five, and Inverse is dead."
"That was your doing then?" Xellos stepped out into
light the bandit must have been sensitive, seeing
Xellos immediately called to mind the carnage he had
just seen. He began jabbering incessantly until he
erupted into flames with a gesture from Xellos. Nobody
came running at his cries, they knew their master was
there after all.
"Such anger, she was a good friend then, maybe more?"
"That is of no concern to you."
"True, it doesn't matter any more does it. I'm giving
you one chance, the other three have already proved
themselves too much of a nuisance. Consider it
professional courtesy."
"When last we met, Regin, I was the greater."
"But things have changed again, haven't they?" Xellos
shifted uncertainly. "You don't have destiny on your
side any more."
"Perhaps I'll give you time to consider how I'm going
to kill you later," Xellos smiled as he faded away.
Regin frowned.
"He was afraid for someone else," the mazoku frowned.
"How very human of him, he'll be trouble." 

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

Lina Found



"It seems clear to me, your highness," Reginald began.
"Your daughter and her friends disappeared at the same
time Lady R'Lyeh and another member of the temple were
abducted."
"You're not implying that my daughter had anything to
do with this act of injustice," Philoniel demanded
angrily.
"Perhaps not your daughter, but Gourry Gabriev and
Zelgadis Greywyrds do not have the best of
reputations, and there was another man I saw. A
priest, he seemed, with purple hair."
"Xellos!!" Philoniel shouted in realization.
"Do you know of this man?"
"He isn't a man, he's a mazoku."
"Mazoku? Then perhaps this is all his doing, such an
evil being as a mazoku would not appreciate our
temple, but I would not yet discount the part your
daughter's companions have in this."
"Look for them then, but I would speak to them before
you decide anything," Philoniel agreed.
"Yes, your highness," Reginald bowed and walked out of
the small study. Philoniel watched him go and called
over his captain of the guard near the door.
"Take measures to investigate this seperately,"
Philoniel commanded. He then turned to face the window
and contemplate recent happenings.
"Yes, your highness."

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

They were relaxing their guard, Martina could see
that. Reaching the Sailloon border had taken a lot
longer considering they were dragging her around and
avoiding prying eyes. Martina had recently been
causing very little trouble, just enough so that they
wouldn't suspect her of planning something. Pretty
soon they would give her the opportunity she needed.
"Can we move more openly now that we're outside of
Sailoon," Sylphiel asked.
"I hate this sneaking about my own land," Amelia
whined.
"They haven't declared us outlaws," Gourry noted. "Why
are we hiding?"
"Because Reginald's people wouldn't let us get
anywhere if they could help it," Zelgadis reminded
him. "Fortunately for us, Phil is almost rock headed
in his beliefs about people. It will take a lot for
him to believe that we're outlaws."
"Like what, pray tell," Sylphiel asked nervously.
"I'd say it would take either Martina's or Amelia's
ravaged corpse," Zelgadis answered without turning to
face the priestess. "Which is one of the reasons that
Martina is still alive "
"What's the other reason, stone boy?"
"Miss Martina, such behavior is not very lady-like."
"And why should I bother to listen to you, pray tell?"
Sylphiel hmphed and let her horse catch up to Gourry's
at the head of the group. "Now what were those other
reasons."
"Well, Lina deserves a chance to talk to you,"
Zelgadis started.
"My father seems intent on marrying you for another,"
Amelia grumbled. "Though I hope that doesn't last
long. And you don't seem to understand what your
involved in."
"I'm involved in conquering the world in the name of
the monster Zomalgustar!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"
"Sounds to me like she knows exactly what she's
involved with," Gourry commented.
"That is a disturbing thought," Zelgadis said to
himself from behind their captive where he and Amelia
had some how ended up taking the rear. He didn't think
Martina would be interested in being a sacrifice.
Amelia pulled up short for a moment and looked quickly
from behind them to somewhere ahead, she trotted her
horse forward and stopped at the front of the halted
party. 
"What is it?" Zelgadis asked as he moved forward to
join her.
"The armor just moved, a lot."
"That behir hide? Where is it?"
"How can armor move?" Gourry asked.
"Just what are you talking about?"
"That way," she pointed towards the horizon. It was a
slight deviation from their current path, at least
here it was. "Not very far from us, half a day maybe."
"Not to agree with the psychopath, no offense."
Sylphiel turned her head toward Martina for a moment.
The princess didn't answer. "But what are you talking
about?"
"There was this suit of armor being made, we think it
was for Lina."
"So I put a trace spell on it," Amelia finished. "Its
not that far from where we were going, but how did
it..."
"Xellos," Amelia and Zelgadis said at once. The
chimera turned to face the rest of the party and
immediately noticed an absence.
"Where's Martina?" he snapped, indicating the
riderless horse. "Damn it!"
"She was just here a minute ago," Gourry noted. The
chimera dismounted and started looking back over the
way they had come. Unfortunately there wasn't much
horizon, but rather lots of woods and small hills,
they had come this way to more easily avoid being
seen. It was working in Martina's favor now.
"We should catch up with Lina before she moves again,"
Amelia suggested. "If it is Lina."
"I can't see her anywhere," he scanned the ground,
looking for tracks in ground already hard packed with
their previous passage.
"She went that way," Gourry told the chimera, pointing
down a game trail.
"There aren't any tracks there, dear," Sylphiel said.
"Even I can see that."
"There should be a lot," the blonde explained. "She
must have dragged her cloak behind her."
"Gourry, Sylphiel, you two find Martina, we'll meet up
with you later," Zelgadis ndded in agreement as Amelia
dismounted and picked up a rock. After a few moments
of her mumbling to herself she handed it to the
priestess. "Keep that with you, it has a trace spell
on it."
"But why do you two go on ahead?"
"Because we owe Lina some apologies," Zelgadis said.
"And I might kill Martina if I found her right now."
"Good luck," Amelia offered as Gourry turned his horse
down the game trail.
"I hope you find some luck as well," Sylphiel returned
cheerfully.

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

"Oo its beautiful," Lina crooned as she looked over a
behir scale greave. "Its so beautiful, *sniff* and I
won't be able to wear it for more than a month yet.
WAA!!!" Her ears drooped as she cried, cradling the
greave like some kind of security blanket. The rest of
the armor lay draped about a chair across from her.
"But you won't be needing it either," Xellos suggested
quickly.
"That's not the point, I look like I've been eating
almost non-stop all this time," Lina sniffed. Filia
passing by arched an eyebrow as she heard "Rannaur",
said nothing, but mentally ran a list of food items
that just about proved Lina's statement.
"You look wonderful," Xellos assured her.
"*sniff* Really?" her ears perked up.
"Really."
"Are you just saying this to make me feel better?"
"Sore wa himitsu desu." She hit his smiling face with
a pillow and gave an exasperated sigh.
"Xellos, do you know what ice cream is?" she asked
suddenly.
"I don't know, first I've heard of it, why do you
ask."
"Just something that's been bugging me," Lina
explained. "I keep having this urge to ask you to get
me ice cream and pickles." She shrugged.
"Val, dear, its not polite to play with other people's
things," Filia appeared in the room and collected Val
Garv from where he was playing with the other greave
from Lina's armor. Then all three of the adults froze
as they registered the muffled sound of hoof beats.
"In there?" someone asked faintly, though it was clear
to the hyper advanced senses of the house's
inhabitants.
"It's there," a girl's voice confirmed. "Whether she
is, I don't know."
"It can't be," she whispered and exchanged a worried
glance with Xellos. Then somebody knocked on the door.
"Stay here," Filia said. "I'll handle this." She
walked into the next room, leaving a confused Val
behind, and opened the door smiling.
"Filia?" Amelia asked. "This must be the right place."
"Oh I didn't know it was you," Filia gasped surprised.
"Its all right Xellos! Its just Zelgadis and Amelia!"
"Then Xellos is here?" Zelgadis asked.
"Yes, he's here with his mate," she stepped to the
side and waved them in. "Don't just stand there come
in! Were you looking for Xellos?" Amelia entered first
with Zelgadis following.
"Actually we were looking for.."
"Miss Lina!" Amelia gasped as the were-fox sheepishly
entered the room, Xellos was standing protectively
behind her. Zelgadis narrowed his eyes dangerously as
he recognized Lina's condition.
"Lina?" Filia repeated then she looked at the
embarrassed were-fox as well. "It is you!"
"What did you do to her, bastard?" Zelgadis demanded
of Xellos dangerously. 

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

Reunion



Amelia looked from Lina to Zelgadis and sweatdropped.
"I think that it's fairly obvious what he did,
Zelgadis-san," she said, blushing.
"That's not what he meant," Xellos said tightly.
"What did he do?" Zelgadis repeated, glaring at Xellos
but not addressing him.
"What makes you think he had to do anything?" Lina
asked. The chimera's glare slackened a bit and he
arched an eyebrow at her for a moment.
"But, Lina what are you doing with a m..."
"Mazoku," Lina suggested, her ears were laid back and
the bushy tail swished irritably.
"Monster," Amelia corrected.
"Isn't that just perfect then?" Amelia looked away.
"Last time I saw you, you were pretty certain I was a
monster."
"I was wrong."
"Ran...uh...Lina, perhaps you should sit down,"
Filia's comment was accompanied by the supporting
touch of Xellos's hand on her shoulder. She reached
up and grabbed the hand in her own and looked up at
the trickster.
"I'm fine," she said reassuringly, eyes fixxed on
Xellos's. Zelgadis didn't miss the volumes that passed
within that look.
"This is your choice then?" Zelgadis asked.
"If anybody was seducing anybody, I seduced him," Lina
said still smiling up at Xellos. The mazoku laughed,
but Zelgadis merely hmphed, he didn't believe
that it would have taken much seducing to get together
with Xellos.
"But how did this happen?" Amelia asked. Lina smile
turned impish, one of her sharp canines peaking out
over her lip. She half turned to face Amelia.
"Sore wa himitsu desu," she said, before meeting
Xellos in a series of small kisses on the lips. "I
think I will sit down now." That phrase had clenched
it for Zelgadis, she certainly loved the mazoku, but
that proved nothing about Xellos.
"To think that I thought you were dead, and here you
were under my nose the entire time," Filia said as
Lina sat down in couch and leaned back against Xellos.
"When did you get a tail?"
"How are you like this, now?" Amelia asked. "During
the day."
"I like this form," Lina said, ears twitching happily.
"This form?"
"Lina's a were-fox," Amelia explained. "And she's
apparently already learned some control."
"A what?"
"Already? It took me more than a year to figure it
out."
"Yes, well enough the small talk," Zelgadis commented,
finding his own chair to sit down. "We have problems,
Gourry and Sylphiel are tracking part of it right
now."
"What problem would that be?" Xellos asked.
"Martina." Xellos and Lina both turned silent and
adopted similar anger filled expressions.
"Where is she?" Lina demanded.

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

"Which way?" Sylphiel asked as Gourry examined the
ground, he followed the fleeing princess's tracks a
little ways and then stopped.
"She turned off here," Gourry said, ignoring the
tracks that continued on around a nearby bend. He
stood up and looked around rubbing a piece of bark
between his fingers. The blonde yawned, this princess
knew a lot of the basics very well. She could compete
with some of the kids back home. 
"Up that oak and down over there." Gourry pointed
somewhat absently while Sylphiel tried to figure out
how he knew all this. She half wondered if they were
actually on the crazy girl's trail or not.
Gourry usually seemed quite out of touch with things
around him, until now Sylphiel thought his only real
skill lay in sword-fighting. She'd never thought of
him as a master woodsman before. He walked quietly
over to the indicated spot and turned about in a
circle and then looked off to left.
"How do you know she went this way?"
"The tracks going around that bend are deeper than the
rest, she walked back on them. There was some oak bark
in some of the tracks, which means they got there
after the tracks were made. There's only the one oak
and the grass over here is fairly well crushed, after
that she got fairly careless and just walked that
way." He sounded like he was treating the question as
a test of some sort.
"Oh," she suddenly felt very much out of her depth. It
was about an hour later without any more tracking
acrobatics that Gourry stopped and looked at a section
of crushed grass.
"Uh oh," he scratched his head.
"What's, 'uh oh'," Sylphiel asked.
"Are you sure you want to go on?" Gourry asked.
"There's a lot of people here."
"Gourry, dear, I couldn't find my way back if I wanted
to."
"Did you just call me dear?" he asked confused.
"Uh, uh," the priestess blushed. "Yes, I guess I did."
"Do you like me or something?" Sylphiel's blush
deepened.
"Why...do you ask?" Gourry shrugged and started
following the trail of crushed grass.
"Well I always thought you were nice too."
"Really?"
"Yeah, your the best cook I know." Sylphiel face
faulted and then climbed back to her feet.
"Thank you, I think." They topped a hill and suddenly
it wasn't necessary to follow the trail any more.
"Hey look, its those bandits again," Gourry noted
non-chalantly.
"Perhaps now would be the best time to go back and get
everybody else," Sylphiel suggested.
"You know, if Lina were here we could just fireball
them from here I bet," Gourry said. "Though she's
never really liked sitting back and playing it safe."
"I thought Zelgadis-san said that Lina was a
were-fox," Sylphiel said. "She couldn't still cast
magic then could she?"
"Oh yeah, forgot about that," Gourry said. Suddenly
the sound of barking dogs ranged from the camp below.
"Hmmm, let's run now." He turned around picked up
Sylphiel in a swift motion and turned back down the
forest.

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

"You were bringing Martina here and you let her
escape?" it seemed to be Xellos's turn for righteous
anger. "She knows Lina's alive! And she can lead that
bastard right too us!"
"You know about Master Reginald?" Amelia asked.
"From a long time ago," Xellos confirmed.
"He's mazoku? How powerful?" Xellos and Lina looked at
each nervously, the were-fox nodded.
"Stronger than me." Xellos admitted. "We should get
out of here."
"Even if this Reginald is mazoku, Martina isn't,"
Filia said. "You have some time, and Lina's getting
close to her time."
"I'm staying," Lina declared. "They're almost ready."
"They?" Zelgadis asked.
"Two heart beats," Lina said, she rubbed one of her
ears then. "I can hear better than you now."
"Are you sure?"
"I trust you," she looked at Zelgadis and Amelia then,
questioningly. "I think I can trust them." The other
two shifted uncomfortably, Zelgadis knew they deserved
that. They had virtually dropped her like a piece of
junk when she lost her magic.
"We are standing right here," Amelia commented. Lina
fixxed her gaze on Zelgadis.
"So, what's your point?" she looked to Amelia. "Is
that side of the room comfortable?" 
"Lina you don't think..." Zelgadis laid a stone hand
on Amelia's shoulder and shook his head when Amelia
looked back at him.
"What else would she think?" the chimera asked her.

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

Evasions



"Mommy," Filia turned to look at Val Garv. "Who are
those people, and why are they fighting with
Rannaur-san?" Filia reached down and picked up the
little dragon.
"They're old friends of mine and Xellos'," Filia told
him. "They just got a bad start with each other.
They're going to stop fighting now, aren't they?" She
leveled each of them with a glare.
"Its our fault," Amelia said rising out of her chair.
"We should go I guess, find Gourry and collect
Martina."
"No, no," Lina protested, the anger left her voice.
"I'm glad to see you, really."
"Is there room for us here?" Zelgadis asked. "Plus
three more?"
"It'll be cramped, but I think so. The women can stay
in my room, and you and Gourry can stay in the front
room. I'll stay in Val Garv's room, and Xellos and
Ra...Lina can keep their room."
"I think she may have dropped the rock," Amelia said.
"Sylphiel?" Zelgadis asked.
"Either that or they haven't moved for the past thirty
minutes," Amelia said. Lina felt Xellos's grip on her
hand tighten.
"Can you give me the trace?" Xellos asked. "I'll find
them." Amelia looked at him for a moment before
casting the spell to reveal the trace to all the
magicians in the room. 
Lina shifted to let him up and watched him cautiously,
he flashed one of his closed eye smiles at her, but
she could tell he was nervous. He had been talking
about prophecies and destiny off and on since he had
discovered who was behind Lina's predicament.
"Hurry back," she whispered as the mazoku faded away.
"I think that I'm going to take a nap." She stood up
and waddled towards her room.
"Come on Val Garv," Filia said walking out of the
front room with the boy. "Let's go prepare those
rooms."
"Do I have to mommy?"
"Yes, it is important to learn about honest labor."

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

"Not this a-gain, we've possed this 'ere tree six
times," one of the men whined.
"All we've managed to find is a pair of bleeding
horses," the second added.
"Qwa-it, the Lawdy ohdered us to find them 'eros and
we's gonna do it." the third asked. The four bandits
stopped in the clearing to scan about for some legible
tracks.
" 'Ow we gonna do it wit'ou' dem dawgs?"
"The lawdy sayid dat the fawks is 'ere."
"Dat's wot de siver is fo'," the apparent leader of
this party shouted. "Ah cant fond any tracks 'ere."
"I wouldn't worry about it," they turned to look at a
slim tall man with a staff and purple hair who was
apparently investigating a rock. He looked like some
sort of priest. "You have a larger problem on your
hands."
"'Ere now, wot's you then?" The priest waggled a
finger at them, smiling behind, completely unconcerned
with there presence.
"Sore wa himitsu desu," he told them playfully. "Did I
hear you say something about silver?"
"If'n you noh wot's good for you, you'd leave."
"Oh staying is going to be VERY good for me, I can
guarentee you that. You four might not like it much
though."

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

Gourry and Sylphiel stopped as the sound of human
screams pierced the forest. They continued for nearly
a two full minutes before ceasing with a long
strangled cry.
"What was that?" Sylphiel asked. "Did they catch some
poor hiker and mistake them for us?"
"I hope not," Gourry whispered, perched on a rock
overhang. He was setting up some sort of trap. After
their initial retreat from their position over the
bandit camp, Gourry had turned about and resumed his
attempts to find and recapture Martina. Sylphiel had
confidence in his abilities, but she still would have
preferred to rejoin Zelgadis and Amelia.
"So where do we go from here?"
"Well I was going by the circle, but that seems like a
bad idea now." The circle was a series of deliberately
laid tracks and scents that had the one ill-fated
patrol wandering in circles for the last hour or so.
It was amazing how many similar tricks and traps
Gourry had laid without seeming to try at all. The
thing was that he didn't really set traps, he laid
tracks leading to hazardous or confusing situations.
This he could do on the run, and Sylphiel doubted that
she had caught even half his gambits.
"We're heading back to the camp again, aren't we?"
"With a fair amount of their men looking for us, yes."
She let herself be picked up off the ground and held
in the tall swordman's arms.
"At least there's something good about all this," she
sighed with mock resignation, happy that her lack of
experience in counter-tracking made this a necessary
burden.
"What?" Gourry asked, Sylphiel rolled her eyes as the
forest moved past them.

**********

Amelia and Zelgadis sat in a fairly uncomfortable
silence, unsure of what to do at the moment. They
could hear Filia and Val Garv bumping around in the
bedrooms, the child mildly complaining about the work.
Every few moments the quiet was punctuated with the
sound of Lina snoring.
"This is a nice place," Zelgadis said suddenly.
"Its certainly better than those cabins we always end
up getting stuck in," Amelia agreed.
"Nice distance from the town, too," he added.
"I'd like to be closer to town actually," Amelia
noted.
"That's expected." The silence descended again,
filling the few feet between them and making it seem a
few leagues.
"I was wondering something," Zelgadis broke the
silence again.
"What was that?"
"Something Gourry said when this all started, its been
on my mind off and on since then."
"What was it?"
"He said that you were attracted to me," he stared at
each other blankly for a moment. "I knew it was..."
"I am," Amelia said, cutting him off. There was
another long pause.
"That's not possible," Zelgadis protested.
"Why not," Amelia asked.
"Why do you think?" Zelgadis snapped. "Just look at
me."
"Actually you're very good-looking too, but that isn't
what I was talking about."
"Okay, then what, praytell, were you talking about?"
"You're a loyal, determined man who's main problem is
that you're a little moody sometimes, but you're cute
when you're moping so I don't mind."
"I'm cute when I'm...?" he blushed slightly, a
surprising feat considering his stone skin. "You can't
possibly be in love with a freak like me."
"Why can't I?"
"Because...." he couldn't think of any practical
reason just off the top of his head. "Just because."
"Do you love me at all," Amelia asked, deciding to get
all her cards on the table now that she was ahead.
"You deserve better than me."
"I don't want better than you. And that isn't what I
asked"
"I might never find my cure."
"Zelgadis-san, that doesn't matter. If a mazoku and a
werefox can get together, why not me and you."
"Do you really think Lina is happy with...him?"
"You're avoiding the question, but yes they seem quite
happy to me, as much as I fail to understand it."
"Okay, yes I do have some feelings for you," Zelgadis
admitted.
"Would you marry me?" Amelia asked. Zelgadis's eyes
widened and the chair fell out from beneath him. The
shocked chimera tumbled to the floor and then looked
back up at her.
"What did you say?"
"I asked if you would marry me, after we settle this
latest problem, of course." Zelgadis righted his chair
and considered the question for a moment, looking into
Amelia's hopeful eyes.
"This is a reverse," Zelgadis grumbled. "You really
want me, you can't find anybody else?"
"Yes, who else would I want?"
"If we survive this, I'll marry you," he agreed
finally. Amelia virtually squealed in joy and
enveloped the golem in a tight hug which he was
fortunate not to feel through his skin. "One thing
Amelia, about Xellos and Lina."
"You're going on about that again?"
"Bare me out, even if he does love Lina, his soul
isn't his own, what could Xelas force Xellos into
doing." Amelia considered the problem carefully and
shivered, what did Xelas think about her priest's
activities recently?

********

Floating along and picking out the swordsman's
emotions from the crowd of passing bandits was easy.
There he was full of optimism and confidence, moving
right along side him was a bundle of worry, tension
and love that had to be Sylphiel.
Then he looked towards the the approximate direction
of the bandit camp and his eyes blasted open. Regin
was here, and it wouldn't be long before he noticed
Xellos. This time Xellos would have to fight, and he
didn't want that to happen yet.
The mazoku teleported behind the two humans and then
teleported back to Filia's home. Sylphiel screamed and
Gourry let out a simple, "what" as the tree vanished.
"What happened," Gourry asked. Next to him Sylphiel
turned around and saw Zelgadis and Amelia. "I was
close, I could see them.
"Zelgadis-san, Amelia-san, how did we get here. The
couple pointed absently above the priestesses head,
looking up Sylphiel saw Xellos floating above her. She
screeched out the trickster's name. "Xellos!"
The priestess skittered towards Gourry as Xellos
landed, smiling as usual.
"Could you be quiet in there?" a muffled voice called
from Lina's room. Xellos put a finger to his mouth
calling for silence and then snuck cartoonishly into
his and Liina's room. The next thing they heard was a
brief spurt of surprised giggles followed by shortly
by silence and then snoring. Filia entered the room
shaking her head irritably.
"Okay, let's get you all settled in her for awhile."
Zelgadis and Amelia kept quiet on the subject of their
conversation. Distractions would not be a good thing
at the moment. 

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

The Twins



Lina yawned and stretched, blinking herself awake. She
could feel Xellos behind her and wiggled back against
him, crooning quietly as the still sleeping mazoku
instinctively curled his arms around her protectively.
It was quiet out in the house, it smelled to Lina like
it was still fairly early morning, most everybody was
probably still asleep.
Somebody was awake, the last guard duty probably,
tapping a steady but quiet rhythm as they paced the
front room. Bored, Lina took the time to sort out the
various scents and pegged the watcher as Amelia. Right
now that essence of tense watchfulness was mostly
emanating from the justice-loving princess.
Lina hadn't fully forgotten that the slayers had left
her behind once, but she trusted them with her life.
They had reasons for what they did, reasons that she
could understand. That didn't change the fact that
they had left her behind when they thought she might
become a burden. She was anxious to get this buisness
finally over with, then she could find some spot with
good hunting and settle down to raising her children
with Xellos.
Lina gasped when the pain flashed by, and she felt
Xellos waking up.
"Lina-chan?"
She'd been having small pains off and on over the past
couple of months, once or twice in the very recent
past she thought that labor had started. This felt
different, definitely more painful. She realized that
this was it, even before she felt the wetness between
her legs.
"Its starting," she said.
"You're sure," Xellos asked.
"This time definitely."

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

"Why are we giving up now," Martina whined. "Seriously
Master Reginald, they said she was close by. You
haven't even thoroughly searched the area."
"It doesn't matter," the staid mazoku answered.
"They'll come to us, otherwise they are of no
concern."
"That is not what I wish, they've humiliated me!"
"Do you wish to conquer the world or not?" Martina did
not answer. "Because in one week's time you'll be
married to Prince Philoniel, and with that title you
can conquer the world."
"Hmmm, yes, I must keep a check on my priorities,"
Martina agreed. "The world it is then, and after that.
After that I shall finally pay back all them for their
treatment of me. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!! But
why in a week? Could you not just pop us over there?"
"I could but that would arouse suspicion," Reginald
answered. "And the prince has been snooping around
enough already. Remember, he will not believe that his
daughter is anything but an innocent victim in all
this."
"Don't worry about that, I'll have Philly ready to
crack that freak stone-boy's flesh."
"That is just what we want." Reginald smiled at the
haughty princess, her hair dyed all black again.

***********

Amelia winced as Lina cried out again, she almost
tripped and spilled the hot water Sylphiel kept asking
for. Fortunately she had become much less clumsy over
the years and pulled out of the stumble without losing
a drop.
"Here's the water," Amelia averted her eyes from the
sight before her, embarrassed. She caught a brief
glance at Xellos sitting behind Lina. The mazoku was
supporting her physically and emotionally, a look of
deep concern and concentration was fitted over his
face. The princess was suddenly certain that despite
Zelgadis's misgivings that the mazoku did love the
small were-fox whose claws were now drawing rivelets
of blood in his bare arms.
"Just set it down there," Sylphiel said. Of them all
Sylphiel proved to be the only one with any experience
in childbirth, though until now that had been limited
to aiding senior priestesses in the process. "I'm
going to need some more clean towels by the time this
is over, and tell them to keep the water coming."
"Hai Sylphiel-san," Amelia said and hurried away.
Filia was keeping Val Garv out of the way, and with
the exception of Xellos, who refused to leave,
Sylphiel had forbidden the men entry. Besides they had
their own tasks to perform. The end result was that
Amelia was doing all the running.
Lina was handling the pain better than Sylphiel had
expected, much better. Maybe after it was over she'd
have to ask Lina about it. The priestess washed her
hands in the most recent batch of hot water and
quickly went back to the task at hand.
In the front room Amelia was collecting a pile of
clean cloths to carry back to Sylphiel. She nodded to
Gourry as she passed. The blonde swordsman was moving
between cleaning the used bowls that Amelia brought
back, keeping the fireplace blazing and filling the
clean bowls with hot water out of a large pot on the
fire. Amelia looked up at the ceiling, knowing that
Zelgadis was sitting on top of the house and watching
all the approaches to the house. 
The chimera was worried, this was outside his
experiences and there was plenty to worry about.
Lina's kids were half-mazoku, and he had heard stories
about the difficulty of such births. There were
several logical falicies with this worry that he had
repeated to himself several time. This didn't help, he
might love Amelia, and Lina might not completely trust
him ever again, but she was still a friend.

**********

"What's wrong with Rannaur-san?" Val had never gotten
into the habit of calling Lina by anything other than
the name she had been using when Xellos had first
brought her in the buggy.
"There's nothing wrong with her," Filia answered. He
had been paying a great deal of attention to that part
of the house the cries were coming from. Actually,
Filia was surprised that he had held off asking
anything until this point. "She's having a baby."
"Will I ever have a baby?" he asked, he sounded
terrified of the possibility. Filia laughed.
"No, only females have babies, and besides that you're
a dragon," noticing his confused look she clarified.
"Dragon women, like me, lay eggs, much less painful I
gather."
"Mommy," he looked up at her, ignoring the sounds of
childbirth across the house.
"What is it Val?"
"Are you ever going to lay an egg?" Filia blushed and
almost lost control of her form.
"Well, I don't know about that," Filia said, she
hadn't expected that question.
"Why not?"
"Well....I'll explain it when you're older," she said.
Then added under her breath. "Or else Xellos will."

**********

The day was almost past when the first baby cried out,
it was another fifteen minutes before its cries were
joined by a second infant.
"You name her," Lina said to Xellos as she cradled
both babies as well as she could. Swaddled in some of
the cloth that Amelia had gathered up, there were two
babies with black furred fox's ears. Lina knew that
they both had tails as well, the girl with a thin
covering of purple fur, and the boy's with Lina's own
red coloring. Both were tipped with a little puff of
silver, and sprinkled with strands of the other's
coloring. The shock of hair on their heads was
similarly colored, and Lina knew that both would fill
out over time.
Lina looked up to see Xellos and her brow crinkled a
little. The blood and other scents were doing a lot to
overpower her senses, but when she tried she could
detect a touch of fear in the mazoku's scent.
"Anything wrong?"
"No," he said, too quickly. "Everything's fine, I was
just thinking about Regin, that's all." Amelia and
Gourry were sitting a little to the side, now that
Sylphiel had relaxed her command. The priestess was
somewhere getting rid of the used cloths and the
afterbirth, and probably cleaning herself up as well.
Zelgadis was still on guard and Filia was still
keeping Val away from the scene. Amelia and Gourry had
set up a crib that had held Val until he outgrew it.
"Well, we'll take care of him," she declared
confidantly, that explanation did make sense. "We
always do, now name her."
"Only if you name him," he responded playfully.
"Deal. Now stop wasting time."
"I'll name her," he thought for a moment. "Xina."
"That's familiar some how," Gourry looked up to the
ceiling and tapped his jaw in thought.
"I think its a cute name," Amelia said.
"Thank you for your support, your turn," Xellos said
to Lina, smiling.
"Well, this little one is," she thought about it for
moment. "Xalan. Is that too silly, naming them both
X's?"
"They're wonderful names," Sylphirl assured her as she
returned. "But now, all three of you need to get some
rest. So let's let them have some quiet now." And with
that, Sylphiel was back in command, gently ushering
everybody out of the room. She then transferred the
already sleeping twins, one at a time, over to the
crib. By the time she was done, Lina had also curled
into an exhausted slumber.

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

"Well?" Zelgadis asked as Amelia touched down on the
roof beside him. "How did it go?"
"She had twins, just like she said," Amelia answered.
"A girl Xina, and a boy, Xalan." Amelia shivered.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Hmm, oh I'm fine," she said. "I was just thinking
about what it will be like when I have to go through
that."
"You'll do fine," Zelgadis assured her, they leaned
against each other and watched the setting sun.
"You've survived the slayers haven't you?"
"You're right, I could handle anything after that,"
she giggles kissed his stone lips, surprising him. "We
are engaged now."
"True," he agreed, and slipped his arm around her
shoulders.
"What's Xellos doing?" Amelia pointed out the priest
on the ground below them. As they watched he vanished
away.
"That's a good question," Zelgadis said. The odd
behaivor ruined the romantic mood for both of them,
and they settled for just watching the sun go down in
silence and close to each other.

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

"You called, Master?"
"Don't be smart, Xellos. You cut me off." 

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

Problems at Work



"It would have been a mistake for me to leave at the
moment you called," Xellos explained. Xelas, in her
human form, stood up languidly and approached her
general. She exhaled a cloud of smoke into his face
and arched an eyebrow.
"You have been behaving erratically over the past year
and a half," Xelas noted. "Disappearing at odd times,
interferring with matters that have nothing to do with
me or you. And now, now I call and you don't only
refuse to answer, you actually close the link."
"I was not aware..." Xellos started.
"You did not even know you closed the connection," she
snapped, circling him.
"I have not failed you, Master," Xellos offered.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You assigned me to watch over the gold dragon and her
adopted child," Xellos said. "I have not failed in my
assignment."
"I've been having you watched," Xelas said abruptly,
walking to her throne and sitting down.
"What?" he asked levely, insulted.
"Be careful how you speak," she warned him.
"How can you think that I.."
"I warned you to take more care with your speech." For
a moment the Beastmaster's human form melted away
leaving a giant wolf roaring in anger. Xellos went to
his knees and examined the floor as she calmed down
and returned to human form. "I do not need to have a
reason to watch you. I can do whatever I wish with
you, and there was a time that you knew that."
"I still know that," Xellos answered.
"Do you?" she asked. "Perhaps you are having
thoughts."
"I don't know what you mean by that."
"Do not insult my intelligence." She exhaled another
cloud of smoke that floated to the top of her chamber
and joined the growing cloud above. "Perhaps you can
explain why you've been spending so much time hiding
and protecting Lina. The sorcer...oh I'm sorry, she
can't cast magic any more...can she?" Xellos frowned
at the floor.
"Regin is back," Xelas blinked and lost her
momentarily amused expression. Xellos restrained his
amusment at her disturbed expression, it would not
help matters if she picked up on that. "I believe you
said that he should be stopped as soon as he showed
his face again."
"I know my own decrees," she snapped. "If that is so,
then why is the rogue not put down already?"
"He is....greater than before," Xellos admitted from
his kneeling position.
"I see, and you think Lina is another of the five from
that ridiculous prophecy of his."
"He believes so, it was him that arranged her current
condition." Xelas arched an eyebrow and Xellos hoped
that his general anger at the moment had hidden the
rage towards Regin.
"And that is the only reason that you are leading her
along?" she sounded doubtful.
"Well, there are some other perks," he smiled lustily.
"So I understand," Xelas returned the smile. Then her
face turned hard again. "We'll have to do something
about her after Regin is dealt with."
"Why waste the effort?" Xellos asked, looking up.
"Without her magic she'll grow old quickly, even as a
were-fox."
"And of course the children will prove useful," Xelas
mused, ignoring Xellos. The priest's face remained
impassive, but there was another spark of rage.
"It would be simpler just to let them be," Xellos
suggested, a little louder. Xelas extended a hand
outward and Xellos was thrown back against a wall.
Xellos climbed to his feet with the aid of his staff,
then he was struck into the wall again. This time he
didn't try to stand.
"You will remember not to question my decisions,"
Xelas growled.
"I only meant to save you some trouble, Master,"
Xellos gasped. The small crater in the wall grew again
as he was struck again.
"It really is too bad that you weren't born mazoku,"
Xelas' voice had a mock mourning quality. "I wouldn't
have to periodically remind you how things work around
here." Xellos laughed.
"If I hadn't been born human," he coughed. "I wouldn't
understand them, and I wouldn't be as capable as I
am."
"Understanding the walking meals is fine," Xelas
agreed. "Just don't act like them. The very idea is
disgusting." Xellos did not speak as he rose to a
kneeling position. "We'll discuss the fox later, if
she really is all that good, perhaps I'll find a place
for her here." She leaned back and grabbed a gobblet
of wine sipping it as she pondered that idea. Xellos
regarded her calmly, he was already healing and his
normal cheerful expression had returned to his face.
"We shall discuss Lina again," he promised, the
Beastmaster, having already mentally dismissed her
general, failed to notice the threatening intonation
behind the statement. Xellos vanished away from the
island.

***********

"You can find out nothing about Lady R'Lyeh's temple,"
Philoniel asked.
"Yes, your highness," the captain responded.
"And this lack of information is why you don't trust
them?"
"Your highness, I could find nothing on them beyond
what they themselves claim," he said. "There is no
information on them, no leads, no rumors, nothing."
"That is suscpicious," Philoniel agreed. "Perhaps my
daughter discovered something about them and she and
her friends endeavoured to save R'Lyeh from their vile
clutches."
"As you say sir," the captain said enthusiastically.

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

The mazoku stumbled towards Filia's house and sat down
outside. He had mostly healed Xelas's beating, but he
didn't want to walk in there even as he was. He leaned
back against the wall and rested. Ten minutes later he
vanished again and stood by the bed as Lina snored on.
"I promised you that I wouldn't let anyone hurt you
again," he whispered, brushing one ear which twitched
at the slight touch. "That includes her." 
He kissed Lina's forehead and laid down on the empty
side of the bed. Lina rolled over and reached her arms
around him, Xellos worried for a moment that she was
awake and had heard him. Then the were-fox snored
again and clutched closer to him, and he relaxed.

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

"Well, it isn't what I expected," Zelgadis admitted.
"What did you hear?" Amelia asked.
"From the sounds of things Xelas is threatening Lina,"
Zelgadis said. "And Xellos seems set on getting in her
way."
"He does love her then," Amelia whispered wonderingly.
"Let's hope the beastmaster waits until after we deal
with the current problem," Zelgadis said, not
commenting on Amelia's comment.
"Don't worry about it Zelgadis," she wasn't calling
him Zelgadis-san anymore, but that was as informal she
got at the moment. "We had no reason to trust him."
"I've misjudged situations too much for my liking
recently, what if I'm wrong about?"
"I hope you're not doubting me," Amelia gasped.
"No I don't doubt you," he said, confidently. Amelia
smiled then.
"Well, good night," she gave him a quick kiss and
walked off towards the girls' room. 


=====
"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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