Chapter 1
It was the plaintive whimpers that woke her up. After all their time traveling together, Amelia had grown used to the fact that Lina was neither a quiet nor gentle sleeper, and as long as her friend stayed on her side of the room, Amelia had somehow learned to sleep through the various outbursts, thumps, and snores that were a fact of life when one shared accommodations with the Sorceress Supreme (or Dra-Mata, depending on if you were talking to Lina herself or someone else).
Whimpering, though . . . that was not a typical part of Lina's nighttime repertoire, and although the sound was not loud, it was enough to jerk Amelia out of a deep sleep.
"Miss Lina?" she asked tentatively, listening for some alteration in Lina's breathing that might indicate that her friend was awake.
The whimpers continued unabated, although they were interspersed with an occasional moan or grunt. Amelia felt her face flush as she wondered if Lina was having one of those dreams.
Until Lina sat bolt-upright in bed and screamed "NO!" in a voice of panic and utter agony.
Instantly, Amelia was out of her bed and on the other side of the room, a faint light spell blossoming automatically behind her. Lina was shaking, staring at something only she could see, and her breath came in gasps.
"Miss Lina?" Amelia asked again, stretching her hand out to lay it on Lina's shoulder, hoping to comfort her friend.
Just before she made contact, two things happened simultaneously. The door to their room burst open, and Gourry and Zelgadis rushed in, their weapons drawn, just as Lina screamed again, her hands clenching the blanket in which she was tangled, and ripping it in two.
Amelia tried to grab Lina by the shoulders to shake her out of whatever nightmare was gripping her, but to her horror, Lina turned on her. Her hands formed into claws and reached up to gouge Amelia's face. Gourry and Zelgadis were there just before she made contact. Zel grabbed the back of Amelia's nightshirt, dragging her out of Lina's range, while Gourry caught Lina's hands in his own. At his touch, Lina's body crumpled like a rag doll, and she started quietly weeping, the tears streaming down her cheeks.
Without a word, Gourry gathered Lina onto his lap and held her, stroking her hair and her back. Lina allowed him to hold her, but she seemed oblivious to everything around her, as if she were still asleep.
The rather loud murmuring behind her made Amelia realize that they had attracted quite a bit of attention. As she turned to deal with the crowd of onlookers Lina's scream had brought, she just barely caught the look that passed between Gourry and Zelgadis.
"What's going on here?" a gruff and sleepy male voice demanded.
Amelia quickly pulled on a robe and moved to block the doorway. She was aware that Zelgadis was standing behind her, still holding his double-edged sword. "I'm terribly sorry," Amelia said, using her most soothing diplomatic voice. "I think my friend had a nightmare."
The crowd started murmuring incoherently, and a couple of the people at the front craned their necks, trying for some view of what was going on in the room.
"There's nothing to see here," Zelgadis rumbled menacingly from behind her. "We apologize for waking you, but this is really none of your business."
The crowd of onlookers thinned remarkably quickly at that point. She had to admit, with that stony exterior, Zelgadis was really effective at scaring people off. Not that she approved of such methods. As she watched the people disperse, she was barely aware of Zelgadis's hand on her elbow, gently urging her forward as well. The last person disappeared around the corner, and she was just about to turn back into the room she shared with Lina when the door snicked shut behind her. She looked up at Zelgadis in confusion.
"Shouldn't we—"
"Gourry will take care of her," Zelgadis said abruptly, interrupting her. His grip on her elbow was not painful, but it was firm and inexorably guided her toward the stairs that led down into the common room.
"But—" Amelia tried again as she craned her neck to look over her shoulder.
"No, Amelia," Zelgadis replied firmly.
And that was that.
Down in the common room, Zelgadis steered her toward a table by the fireplace. The fire had been banked for the night, but the coals still glowed cheerily, providing faint illumination, and turning Zelgadis's normally silver hair to a burnished copper. He sat with his arms crossed, and stared into the embers.
An awkward silence stretched out. At least it felt like an awkward silence to her. If Zelgadis felt any discomfort about sitting there in silence in the semi-gloom, he hid it well. Amelia glared at him a few times, feeling that it was unjust of him to prevent her from helping Lina, but if he noticed that, he ignored it as well.
Out of all the people close to her, Zelgadis was the one who kept her most on edge. Part of it was his general attitude. He was typically very quiet and cautious. Almost secretive. 'Heartless mystical swordsman' described him pretty well, and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that his sense of right and wrong, of just actions and unjust actions was distinctly underdeveloped. Not that he was evil—he was definitely not evil. He was driven, though, and she was not fully convinced that he would make proper choices if faced with the possibility of his cure. He was friend and companion, and there were moments when she thought there was more to their relationship, but . . . Amelia firmly squelched that line of thought. He cared for her, she knew he did. For some reason, though, he had a hard time expressing anything besides doom, gloom, and angst. No wonder Xellos seemed to thrive whenever he was near Zelgadis. Her mission was clear. It was not necessary to turn him into a bubbly personality—she was bubbly enough for the two of them—just to make him less the type of person who was always a monster's feast.
She stared into the fire. After their last adventure with Lina and Gourry, he had accompanied her back to Seyruun, although he had not stayed long. Not that she blamed him. She had been thrust into the responsibilities of the kingdom, and he had very little to do while she spent her days surrounded by paperwork and meetings. So he had left, promising to return eventually. A month or so later, he returned for a longer visit, establishing a pattern that had been repeated several times since. He would stay for a while, but would grow increasingly restless and discontent, and then he would leave. Sometimes just for a day or so. Sometimes for months at a time. Then he would come back, and the cycle started over. She had asked Daddy to give him an official position, hoping it would calm the restlessness, maybe give him some sense of purpose. She remembered how thrilled she had been when Zelgadis had accepted the position as her official escort and bodyguard. There had even been a formal ceremony where he had pledged his loyalty to her in front of Daddy and the other nobles of Seyruun. But it had not been enough to curb his restlessness. He came back when she needed him, although she had not quite figured out how he knew to time his travels. Out of all the people she knew, he was the hardest for her to read, but she had learned to recognize certain patterns, and she had slowly realized that his restlessness always became much worse if there had been any hint of heightened physical intimacy between them, regardless of how innocuous . . .
Her musings were interrupted when Gourry came down the stairs, looking very tired and worn out.
"Everything okay?" Zelgadis asked at the same time that she said, "Is Miss Lina okay?"
Gourry gave both of them a very tired looking smile. "She's back asleep," he said as he raked his hair out of his eyes.
Amelia sighed in relief. "Thank goodness!"
Zelgadis gave her a sharp look, but he averted his eyes quickly enough when she looked at him questioningly. She was used to his façade of aloofness, that mask of indifference he wore to keep the world at a distance. She knew he meant nothing by it—it was his natural expression, after all. So why did seeing him assume it now suddenly make her so sad?
No sooner had she identified the feeling than it was gone. Maybe she was just tired. It had been a very busy day, after all.
"Sleepy?" Gourry asked as he reached out and ruffled her hair.
"Mmm, yeah. A bit," she confessed. "I think I'll go back to bed."
"Sleep well, Amelia," Gourry replied with a casual smile.
Amelia smiled back and bid the two men good night before returning to the room she shared with Lina, who was actually sleeping peacefully for once. As Amelia slipped between the covers, she wondered if part of Zelgadis's grumpy attitude came from being woken up in the middle of the night, which led her to wonder why a chimera who was mostly rock golem and brow demon needed to sleep. Her last conscious thought was to hope that he would be in a better mood in the morning.
"You sure it's safe?" Zelgadis asked very quietly as he watched Amelia head up the stairs.
Gourry shrugged casually. "As long as she doesn't slip into Lina's bed, she'll be fine, right?"
"That's not what I meant," Zelgadis growled softly. Then he paused, examining the other man carefully. "And I think you know exactly what I meant, too."
Gourry gave him a very direct look. "The answer's still the same, though," he replied evenly, "so does it really matter?"
"Of course it matters!" Zel struggled to keep his voice low and not pound his fists on the table in front of him. "You saw Lina! She was attacking Amelia!"
"I saw," Gourry acknowledged.
Zelgadis sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He tried to control his breathing, and wished that his heart would stop thumping so dramatically. He had seen Amelia in danger several times before, but only one other time had made him react like this: the time they had been fighting Gaav outside the temple containing the Claire Bible. He had been prepared for Gourry to tell him that he had just been imagining things, and dismiss the entire situation as if it had been nothing. And maybe he was hoping that he had just imagined that look of pure hatred on Lina's face as she reached up to gouge out Amelia's eyes . . .
"You saw," Zelgadis echoed. "Still going to tell me that Amelia's safe up there in the same room with her?"
"She put herself to sleep."
"She did what?" Zel exclaimed, hoping he was misunderstanding. After all this was Gourry, the man who was clueless about magic and the various subtle dangers of using particular spells on the self, especially the sleep spell.
When Gourry caught his eyes, Zelgadis realized that he was actually not entirely clueless about how dangerous it was for Lina to cast a sleep spell on herself. And just for a moment, he saw how worried the other man was. He acknowledged the worry and waited for the explanation.
"She told me to ask you to wake her up in the morning. But don't let Amelia know—she doesn't want to worry her." Gourry paused, and took a deep breath. "She said to tell you the normal counter probably wouldn't work, that you'd have to—" He broke off, and closed his eyes. His face took on a look of concentration and intensity that it normally only wore during swordplay. "You'd probably have to use the break spell to disrupt it—"
"Flow Break?" Zelgadis interrupted incredulously. "Are you sure about that? Flow Break doesn't usually work against a sleeping spell—"
Gourry sighed. "Don't ask me to explain it, okay? She said to tell you that her variant doesn't work the same way as a typical spell—"
"Of course not," Zel snorted. "How foolish of me," he continued sarcastically. "Lina can't do anything the way everyone else does, can she?"
"Look," Gourry said with a hint of frustration. "Do you want to help or not? 'Cause all these interruptions aren't really helping."
He bit back an acid reply and gestured at Gourry to continue.
"The next part was confusing," Gourry confessed, looking worried. "She said that if the break spell didn't work, you should try it with a fire spirit. If that didn't work, you'd have to use a different kind of breaking spell . . . but she really hoped that wouldn't be necessary since it would make a mess of the floor."
"A Rune Breaker?" Zelgadis asked, pretty sure that was what Lina would have meant.
"Yeah . . . yeah, I think that's what she said," Gourry replied hesitantly.
Zelgadis closed his eyes, and leaned his head against his hand, rubbing at his forehead while he tried to process what Gourry had told him. From what he could tell, Lina's sleep variant created an artificial sleep, rather than enhancing the body's natural process, which is why a Counter Sleeping would not work but a Flow Break could. It seemed like she somehow had created a shamanistic variant using the forces of water or ice—at least that was the only thing he could think of that would make combining a fire spirit with Flow Break make sense. He really hoped that a simple Flow Break was enough, because he was not really sure he could develop a spell variant on the fly. Trust Lina to come up with something so complicated—
Like a nice complicated distraction. Something to keep him occupied and keep him from asking the real question—the one he actually had already asked and Gourry had neatly evaded, not just once, but twice now.
"I'll help," he said slowly. "But I want some answers. What exactly is going on with Lina?"
Gourry shrugged, a deliberately casual move. "Most of it you already know," he said easily enough. "She had a nightmare that scared her, and she wanted to make sure she didn't wake up again until morning."
"There must be more to it than that," he insisted. "Lina does not strike me as the type to wake up screaming in terror." He paused and considered. "In fact," he said slowly, "I don't think I've ever heard Lina scream in terror. Not like that."
"You've obviously never been around her when she sees slugs, then," Gourry replied, sounding amused.
Zel's eyes narrowed. That was the third time Gourry had evaded a direct question. "You're protecting her, aren't you?" he accused. It was the only logical explanation, since Gourry normally was not so evasive. Lina must have put him up to it.
Gourry met his eyes, all hint of laughter gone. "Yes, I am," he replied, deadly serious.
The first thing she was aware of was heat. Not uncomfortable sticky heat, but the kind of heat that sank through the skin into chilled muscles and joints. It was like sitting by a sunny window on a spring day after a long winter. The feeling was intense, but also comforting. At least, it was comforting at first. Within moments, Lina started to feel as if she were roasting in front of roaring oven. She could practically hear the flames burning out of control.
With a tremendous effort, she forced her eyes open, half expecting to see a raging inferno. Instead, she saw nothing aside from the wooden ceiling of the room she was sharing with Amelia. Feeling incredibly groggy, she pushed herself up on one elbow, wondering why she was on the floor instead of in bed. Almost instantly, the intense heat faded.
"Took you long enough," Zelgadis grumped from behind her.
The memories of the previous night came flooding back at that point. Lina rubbed a finger through one of the sooty gray lines that patterned the floor while she tried to prepare for the inquisition she was pretty sure would be coming rather shortly. How was she supposed to think straight when she was this groggy? "What time is it?" she asked, trying to buy herself some time.
"Mid-morning," he replied as he moved to her side and held out a hand to help her up. Even for a guy with skin of rock he looked pretty haggard. "Do me a favor, will you?" he asked as he pulled her up off the floor. "Next time you want me to do something, please don't relay your instructions through Gourry," he complained, sounding rather aggrieved. "A note in that scrawl you call writing would be preferable—"
"What are you complaining about?" Lina interrupted with a yawn. "It looks like you figured it out okay."
Zel started muttering under his breath. Since he was just complaining about the fact that her spells had to be crazy variants instead of the normal versions that normal people used, she tuned him out. She had more important things to deal with at the moment, anyways. Like trying to decide if she should stagger down to the common room for breakfast, since her stomach felt like an aching cavern, or if she should tumble back into bed, since keeping her eyes open seemed virtually impossible.
"Zel?" she asked through another huge yawn. The bed was looking more and more appealing by the moment.
"Yeah?" he replied cautiously.
"Do me a favor and have someone send up some food?" she asked plaintively as she fell into her bed. The pillow was so soft next to her cheek . . .
Amelia found Zelgadis sitting by himself behind the inn. She felt as though he had been avoiding her, and she suspected it had something to do with the fact that Lina was still in bed, even though two meals had gone by.
He gave her a very wary glance as she rounded the corner of the inn, and she was surprised at how haggard he looked, but when he returned his attention to the piece of wood he was carving, she wondered if she had imagined it. He was, after all, a heartless mystical swordsman—haggard was not really a part of his repertoire. Carving, however . . . apparently that was. The wide range of his talents never ceased to amaze her. But she had not sought him out to admire his many talents.
"What did you do to Miss Lina?" she asked without preamble.
"What makes you think I did anything to her?" he replied coolly in a tone calculated to make her back off, not even deigning to look up at her.
"Because you've been hiding from me all day, and every time I ask Mr. Gourry about Miss Lina he gets all funny on me."
"Funny?" he repeated, sounding slightly strangled. Amelia could not tell if he was trying not to laugh or really angry.
"Well," Amelia hesitated briefly knowing how strange this was going to sound. "It's almost like he's evading my questions. On the one hand, it seems like typical air-headed Mr. Gourry, but . . ." she trailed off, not certain exactly how to explain it.
"But like he's doing it on purpose," Zelgadis said coolly.
That pretty much described it exactly.
"Do you think he really is," Amelia asked cautiously.
"He's protecting her. He said as much last night," Zelgadis replied brusquely.
"By keeping things from us?" Amelia asked indignantly. "But we're her friends!"
Zelgadis said nothing for a few moments as he shaved the knife against the wood in his hand in long confident strokes, adding small yellow curls to the piles at his feet. "To be honest," he said at last, "I don't think Gourry really knows what's going on either. He's just following Lina's lead." He looked her in the eye then, the first time he had truly looked at her this entire conversation. "What happened last night?" he asked.
"I think Miss Lina was having a nightmare—"
"I figured that much already," Zelgadis interrupted. "I want to know why she attacked you," he said fiercely.
Amelia's brain tried valiantly to process two very different pieces of information at the same time. One was immediate shock and denial that Lina had been trying to attack her, coupled with the realization that 'attack' actually summed it up quite nicely. The other was the fierce tone of his voice that spoke of worry and protectiveness—feelings she had suspected he felt, but had never really seen him express. She watched his hands moving confidently over the piece of wood, shaving a long curl here, a chunk there in an effort to keep herself focused and not climbing the highest available edifice to proclaim her giddy joy to the world.
"Amelia?" Zelgadis prompted with a hint of annoyance.
With an effort, she pulled her attention back to the current conversation. "I'm not sure," she replied, more to buy herself time than out of any real uncertainty. "I don't think she knew it was me," she finally offered.
"She knew it was Gourry, though, didn't she?"
Amelia thought about that a moment. "She did, didn't she?" she replied happily with a beatific smile. "Do you think they're finally together?" she asked hopefully.
Zelgadis looked up from his carving, his expression somewhere between annoyance and indifference. "First of all, we've already had this conversation, remember? They seem the same as always, so unless they tell us differently, or we actually catch them in the middle of something, I doubt we'll know one way or the other. Secondly, I thought that we agreed that it was none of our business. Finally, I don't see how that is relevant to the current conversation," he said coolly.
"Of course it is!" Amelia gushed enthusiastically. "She attacked me because she didn't recognize me because we're just friends. We're not close enough for her to recognize me instinctively. But she knew it was Mr. Gourry even though she was in the middle of a nightmare! Don't you see? This is wonderful!"
"Wonderful?" Zelgadis echoed, jumping to his feet, in obvious agitation. "You're sharing a room with a woman who is having nightmares and she can't distinguish between friend and foe! Last night she almost gouged your eyes out! What will it be next time?"
"It was just one nightmare," Amelia said calmly, trying to placate him while her stomach did backflips in nervous exultation. She knew Lina's nightmare must have been bad to cause her friend to react the way she had, but so much good was happening as a result . . . It just proved that good things always came out of bad!
Zelgadis sat back down, turning his attention back to his carving, running his fingers over the torso. It startled her when she realized that the figure looked like a young maiden with short hair. After a moment he looked up at her, considering. Finally he let out his breath in a silent sigh. "You asked me what I did to Lina? Well, I woke her up," he said finally.
"Woke her up?" Amelia echoed, shaking her head slightly. A terrible suspicion started to bloom in her mind. "You don't mean," she said hesitantly, "she didn't . . ." She glanced up for confirmation, and sighed when he nodded slightly. "She put herself to sleep, didn't she." It was no longer a question.
"Still think it was just one nightmare?" Zelgadis asked. "Because it's pretty clear that Lina thinks it's something more. It's also obvious that she's worried enough to take steps to avoid a repeat performance."
Amelia chewed on her lip, the wisp of an idea wafting at the edge of her mind. When she grasped it, she suppressed a wicked grin. "It seems to me that it would be better if I didn't share a room with Miss Lina until we figure out what's going on."
Zelgadis looked visibly relieved before he masked his expression. "That might be for the best," he said indifferently.
"And," Amelia continued, "since Mr. Gourry seems to be able to calm her down, I think he should share a room with her instead."
"Amelia," Zelgadis growled warningly. "What exactly are you trying to accomplish, here?"
"Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia replied innocently, "I'm just thinking about what's best for our friends. If Mr. Gourry is the one who can calm Miss Lina when she's having a nightmare, doesn't it make sense to have him in the same room with her?"
Zelgadis looked at her warily, his eyes narrowed to slits. "And where are you going to sleep?" he asked suspiciously.
Amelia suppressed a sigh, knowing what a stickler he was for proper protocols concerning acceptable behavior for the escort of a princess. "This is a large inn," she pointed out reasonably. "I'm sure there are other rooms."
When he turned his attention back to the figure in his hands, Amelia thought the matter was closed. But then he looked up at her. "No," he said abruptly. "If Gourry is going to be with Lina, I want you with me."
Amelia felt her heart in her throat. "Mr. Zelgadis?" she asked slowly, wondering what happened to protocol.
"Until we know exactly what's going on here," he said intently, meeting her gaze, "I want you where I know I can keep you safe."
When Lina next woke, the room was empty, and judging by the quality of the light, it was somewhere around early evening. She was so hungry she almost felt nauseous, which was a distinctly unpleasant feeling. Fortunately, there was a tray sitting on the table next to her bed. She eagerly reached for it, but at the sight of sausages sitting in congealed grease and scrambled eggs starting to shrivel and harden, nausea won out. Lina barely had enough time to dump the water pitcher out of the basin before what was left of last night's dinner made a hasty and unpleasant exit.
Once the spasm passed, Lina cleaned herself up and collapsed onto the bed, curling into a ball. First the nightmare, now this.
She was running out of time.
Gourry watched Lina come down the stairs to the common room and take the last empty seat at their table.
"Did you guys order yet?" she asked, sounding mostly like her normal self. "I'm starving!" she declared emphatically as she opened the menu.
He knew it was a façade, but a quick glance at Zelgadis and Amelia told him that they were not quite sure if it was or not. Amelia was clearly worried. Zel was mostly just annoyed. They both had tons of questions, and he had very few answers he could give them. The strain of hiding his own concern while putting the two of them off was pushing even his limits.
Lina tossed the menu down on the table and gestured to the waiter. "Hey, Pops!" she called out, "I'll have the chicken dinner for two!"
Zel sipped at his coffee. Amelia toyed with her water glass. Gourry saw them exchange a glance before the waiter swooped down on their table to take their orders. Once their orders were placed, Lina leaned forward, propping herself up on her elbows. After one glance at Amelia, she turned on Zel. "You told her, didn't you?" She sounded pretty annoyed. Gourry wondered how long it would take for her to turn on him.
"She's not a child," Zel returned with a flinty gaze.
It was enough to shock Lina out of annoyance and into surprise. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"You don't have to—" Zel started.
"Will the two of you please stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Amelia asked, sounding like she had caught Lina's annoyance.
Gourry stopped following the conversation at that point, letting the cadences and tones of his companions' voices blend into the rest of the sounds in the room. He knew it drove Lina up the wall, but old mercenary habits died hard. For too long, his survival had depended on his ability to accurately gauge the tenor of his surroundings. From Gourry's perspective, keeping track of the swirling and shifting currents around them was far more important than following the specifics of a conversation.
"You decided what?!" Lina's sudden spike of temper brought his attention quickly back to said conversation.
"You heard me," Zel growled.
"If you're not going to tell us what's going on, Miss Lina, it's really for the best," Amelia said soothingly. "After all, it's really not a good idea for you to keep putting yourself to sleep."
Gourry struggled to pick up the thread of the conversation.
"Why not separate rooms, then?" Lina asked from between clenched teeth.
Ah, so that was what was going on.
"Two reasons," Zel replied implacably. "First, the inn doesn't have other singles in our price range. And second, which is related to the first, our travel funds are running low."
"Fine," Lina said slowly from between clenched teeth. "We just pick up a merc job, then, or go raid some bandits."
"Wait, what?" Gourry asked, interrupting the flow of the conversation.
Lina turned and glared at him. "Zelgadis and Amelia," she said, slowly enunciating each word, "think we should change sleeping arrangements."
At least she did not chew him out for not paying attention to the conversation. Gourry looked across the table at Zelgadis. "You want to share a room with Amelia that badly?" he asked, going on the offensive.
It was Zelgadis's turn to glare, while Amelia immediately started protesting something about only thinking about Lina's well-being.
Lina, on the other hand, calmed down dramatically. "Is that what this is all about?" she asked, sounding both surprised and pleased. "All you guys had to do was say so, you know," she continued.
Their food arrived at that point, ending the conversation. However, it seemed that everyone considered the matter settled, since after dinner, Amelia commented that she was going to move her things and Lina just smiled at her and waved her off. She did smirk knowingly at Zelgadis after Amelia disappeared up the stairs, but he just stared at her in stony silence. Finally, she stood up. "You better not hurt her, Zelgadis Greywords," she said seriously; there was absolutely nothing teasing about her demeanor. After holding his eyes for a few moments, she went upstairs as well.
"That was really low," Zelgadis said angrily to Gourry as soon as Lina was out of hearing.
Gourry shrugged. "Did you really want to argue with her all night about it?" he asked calmly. "I just gave her a good reason to give up gracefully." He looked archly at Zelgadis. "Our funds aren't really that low, are they?"
"They're not that great," Zelgadis responded. "We'll need to be careful to make it back to Seyruun, or take another merc job, like Lina suggested." He sighed then. "I'd really rather not, though. I want to get Amelia back home as soon as possible." He stared off into space, lost in his own thoughts.
Gourry left him there, pretty sure that he would brood for the rest of the evening. After sharing a room with Zelgadis off and on for the past few years, he had a good idea what was bothering him: the more he admitted to his feelings for Amelia, the more desperate he was to find a way to return his body back to its purely human form. Unfortunately, there was very little Gourry could do to help. Lina had looked into the situation a bit, but her specialty was not chimeras. He knew she was keeping her eyes open for anything that might help, but that she also did not take Zelgadis's desire all that seriously. If Zel was not going to explain why he wanted to be cured so badly, it certainly was not Gourry's place to do so.
After spending some time on the practice field, Gourry went upstairs to move his things out of the room he had been sharing with Zelgadis. Amelia was already there, sitting at the small table under the window and writing something. She looked up when he came in and watched him as he gathered up his belongings for a few moments before speaking. "That was really mean, Mr. Gourry," she finally said reprovingly.
"Why?" he asked guilelessly, as he suppressed a sigh.
"Because—" Amelia broke off and bit her lip, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. "Never mind," she muttered.
"Sleep well, Amelia," he said simply as he gathered the last of his things and left the room.
When he entered Lina's room, he saw her perched on her bed, leaning against the wall amidst scattered scraps of parchment. A good-sized book rested on her bent knees, and she was absently nibbling on one of those damned pens, her eyes staring at nothing. Not exactly what he expected to see, but it was not exactly surprising, either. What did surprise him was the fact that she was wearing a dark silk nightgown. "Is that what you're wearing to bed these days?" he asked as he tossed his gear on the other bed.
"Mmm," she replied absently, the kind of non-committal reply he typically got from her when she was focused on books and words and research. She looked back down at her book, rifled through a couple pages, and then started sifting through the parchment scattered around her. When she found the one she was looking for, she made a couple of quick notes, placed the parchment in the book, and closed it with a loud thunk. Then she looked up at Gourry.
"Is that the book you took from Lord Margstrom's?" he asked, his interest piqued. Most books looked pretty much the same to him, but this one held special memories.
"Yeah," she replied. The Menagerie. She gathered up the other scraps of parchment, stacked them on the book, and then put the whole pile under her bed.
"Just looking up one thing?" he asked, trying to gauge her mood.
"Yeah," she repeated slowly, her eyes taking a faraway look. "But not the 'just one thing' you're thinking of," she said with a knowing smile, finally focusing all her attention on him. She slid off the bed to stand in front of him.
"So, does Amelia know that you have this," Gourry asked in a low voice, stroking a finger along the edge of the silk.
"Of course not!" she retorted. "Kinda defeats the purpose, don't you think?" Her eyes took that faraway look again. With an effort, she shook herself and refocused on him. A wicked look bloomed in her eyes as she closed the distance between them and snaked a hand around his neck, drawing him down for a kiss. "Come to my bed," she whispered against his mouth.
It was the first opportunity they had had since the evening Gourry had ambushed her in the middle of a forest glade. Clearly, Lina wanted to take full advantage of the situation. Not that he had any intention of stopping her . . . except for one minor detail.
"Zel and Amelia are next door, you know," he reminded her gently. "And the walls really aren't all that thick."
"Already taken care of," she murmured as she tugged him toward her bed. "Do you want the full explanation or—"
He could feel her lips curve into a grin as he kissed her to interrupt her explanation. Apparently, that was the right answer.
With an inaudible sigh, Amelia skimmed over the report she had just finished writing describing her meetings with the Lord of Lim. She really should have taken care of this the day before, when the details were still fresh, but she had hoped that a bit of distance would provide some clarity. Unfortunately, now that she was struggling to record her impressions, the situation seemed more tangled than she had first thought. The report was a rather bare-bones recitation that seemed to mock her perceptions. With another sigh, Amelia started to read the report again, taking time to scratch impressions and thoughts in the spaces between lines.
She was halfway through when Zelgadis came in. He nodded at her before sitting down on a bed, his arms loosely gripping one of his knees, and staring out the window into the night.
Half-formed suspicions and concerns about Lim slipped away as she studied him. It was pretty obvious he was trying to act as if she were not in the room, and she wondered if that was his idea of maintaining some sort of proper protocol. She smiled fondly at him while her thoughts whirled furiously. She could afford the time it would take to lull him into a sense of complacency before she attacked. Even if it meant he fled as soon as they reached Seyruun, there was no way she was letting a golden opportunity like this slip through her fingers. Let him maintain the illusion that he was a disinterested bodyguard. Not even a naked sword on the floor between their beds—potent symbol of chastity that it was—would stop her.
As if he had heard her thoughts, Zelgadis got up, pulled his sword from its sheath and began examining the edges for nicks. He sat with the blade resting on his knees, while he methodically worked a whetstone over the edges. It was an unfamiliar sound, but not unpleasant. In fact, she was surprised to find that there was something soothing about the repetitive steely rasp of whetstone over blade.
She shook her head deliberately and turned her attention back to the report. Only half way through, and she had so many cross-outs and interlinear notes, she wondered if it might be a better idea to just start all over. In spite of the thought, she found herself scratching out another line and squeezing text into the scant margins. Then she huffed in annoyance, realizing that she had just edited one of her earlier edits.
"Am I bothering you?" Zelgadis asked quietly without looking up from his sword.
"No," she answered honestly. "It's this report."
"You never did tell me how your meetings with Lord Gottwald went."
Amelia did not answer right away, as she quickly skimmed over the mess of her report. It just seemed to be getting worse. "Honestly?" she said finally. "I think I'm in over my head with Jeremiah."
Zelgadis raised an eyebrow and looked at her quizzically. "'Jeremiah'?" he repeated.
For some strange reason, Amelia realized that she was blushing even as she clamped down on the sudden inexplicable urge to squirm. "He insisted that I call him by his given name," she said, the explanation sounding lame in her own ears. And there was no real reason it should, since it was the truth.
Zelgadis studied her for a moment before seeming to accept her explanation and returning his attention to his sword. "In over your head, how?" he asked in the tone of someone making polite conversation, but she could hear the undertone beneath his words.
"I'm not sure," Amelia admitted slowly. "He seemed interested in an alliance during our initial meetings, but later, it was different. Suddenly the terms weren't good enough. He wanted further negotiations." She fished around her notes until she found the sealed message Jeremiah had asked her to carry to her father. At the time, his request had seemed perfectly normal, but ever since she had left Jeremiah's residence, she could not help but feel like she had been insulted in some subtle way.
"Do you have any idea what he wants," Zel asked curiously, looking back up at her.
Amelia shook her head. "No, not really," she answered slowly as she stared at the bright orange seal of the Lord of Lim. "But I'm not sure that I really trust him." Even that was not fully accurate. She both trusted and did not at the same time. It was as if all her senses and intuitions that usually guided her so well in other situations had gone haywire.
That statement earned her Zelgadis's full attention. "You mean to tell me that you're comfortable calling him by his first name, but you don't trust him?" he asked incredulously.
"I know it sounds strange," she admitted as she toyed with the envelope, and wondered what kind of man scented his stationary. It was not unpleasant: kind of fruity and spicy. "It's like when I think about him, there are all of these layers."
"Layers?" Zelgadis echoed slowly, as his eyes bored into her as if he were trying to see into her mind.
"I don't know how else to explain it," Amelia admitted. Hence the problem writing her report. "The top layer feels genuinely friendly. It's something under that that makes me feel like I can't trust him."
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Zelgadis demanded. "I wouldn't have let you continue meeting him alone if I had known."
"That's why I didn't tell you," she said firmly. "I didn't think he'd meet with you there to glower at him."
Zelgadis folded his arms over his chest and glowered at her. "I'm your bodyguard," he said tightly. "And your official escort. I have every right to be there."
"Yes, but you hate escort duties, don't you?" she challenged archly.
He recoiled, the glower replaced by sudden surprise. "What makes you think that?" he demanded.
Suddenly, instead of feeling playful, she was annoyed. "Because every time you have to serve as my escort, you do it, but then you find some excuse to run off. There's always something you suddenly remembered to do on the other side of the kingdoms. Every single time." Amelia was surprised at how bitter she sounded. Had she always been this bothered by his behavior?
"Is that why—" he cut himself off abruptly, shaking his head. "Amelia, listen to me," he said intently, moving quickly to kneel by her chair. "Phil gave me the choice. I didn't have to take both positions," he continued, sounding both gentle and decisive. "I chose to be your escort in addition to your bodyguard."
The tone of his voice made the statement a declaration he was almost daring her to contradict. His eyes seemed to beg her to understand. And she could feel the layers of him. It confused her, because in that moment, she felt the same urge to both trust and not trust that she had already associated with the Lord of Lim. She pressed the heel of one hand against her eye, wondering if something was wrong with her.
"Amelia?" Zelgadis asked, his voice tinted with concern. For some reason, it made her feel better.
She pushed decisively away from the table, leaving the report for some later time. That too, made her feel better, and she gave him a genuine smile. "I must be more tired than I thought," she said. "I guess I'm not really thinking straight."
His eyes searched hers for a few more moments. "Well, if you need to meet with Lord Gottwald again—or anyone else you don't exactly trust for that matter—you're taking me with you," he announced decisively. "I didn't become your bodyguard just for the sake of an empty title, you know."
This time Amelia's smile seemed to come forth from the depths of her heart, making Zelgadis's lips quirk in response. She stood up and pulled her night clothes from her pack, while he returned to his bed and started wiping down his sword. It was one part curiosity and one part pure mischievousness that prompted her to take off her belt and hang it over the chair.
"Uh, Amelia?" Zelgadis asked, not quite masking the quaver in his voice.
"Hmm?" she responded, looking over her shoulder while gripping the hem of her tunic. It took all her self-control to keep her voice uninterested. She had suspected he was looking at her, even when it seemed like his attention was elsewhere.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Getting ready for bed, of course!" she announced even as she started pulling her tunic up.
Quicker than she would have thought possible, he was hustling her out of the room with firm instructions to change in the garderobe at the end of the hall. When she came back, ready for bed, she was not surprised to find his naked sword lying on the floor exactly between the two beds, which had been shoved as far apart as possible. She climbed into the empty bed, hiding her grin. She wondered just how much she would succeed in cracking that stony exterior by the time they reached Seyruun.
Lina awoke slowly and stretched luxuriantly. She felt more relaxed than she had in days. Having Gourry in her bed had kept the nightmares at bay, among other things. Unfortunately, she probably was a bit too relaxed. If she went down looking like this, Amelia and Zel would start in, trying to figure out if they were really together or not.
Oh, who was she kidding? They were going to do that regardless. She wished there was some way to put them off. Zel's eyes saw way too much, and of course, Amelia was so convinced they belonged together that she analyzed and interpreted every single touch or interaction. Lina sighed to herself. That was probably another reason she was so relaxed, since she did not have to maintain the illusion in front of Amelia last night.
Dressing quickly, Lina stuffed her belongings into her pack, noticing that Gourry had already cleared out his gear. She tossed her pack over her shoulder and headed down to the common room.
She saw Zelgadis and Amelia sitting at a table. Zel was sitting with his back to her, and from the set of his shoulders, something was bothering him—not that there was anything peculiar about that. Amelia, on the other hand, looked like she was trying really hard not to cry. After descending a couple more steps, Lina realized the probable reason for Amelia's distress: Gourry had his arms around a waitress, gripping her hands around a serving spoon and nudging her body into the proper stance for holding a sword. As she watched, Gourry pulled her closer to his body and whispered something in her ear that made her blush like crazy.
Lina felt the simultaneous urge to kiss him for his brilliance and to smack him into next week for touching another woman.
"Hey, there, Gourry!" she called with only half-feigned cheerfulness. "Did you order breakfast yet?"
"Lina!" he returned her greeting with his typical sunny smile and then returned his attention to the waitress, giving her a few more comments and refining her stance a bit.
As Lina slid into one of the empty seats, she fumbled in one of her pockets, looking for one of the scraps of parchment she had scribbled notes on the previous night. It gave her a few more minutes to compose herself and an excuse not to stare at Amelia, whose eyes were as large as saucers. She found it just as Gourry sat down. "I hope you remembered to charge her for the pointers," Lina said as if this were a normal occurrence.
In reply, Gourry slid a copper across the table. "I told them you wouldn't mind as long as I charged," he said, sounding smug.
Amelia started making choking sounds. "Are you okay, Amelia?" Lina asked, turning toward the other girl in concern.
Amelia met her eyes and stared at her in disbelief for quite a few moments before dropping her gaze and muttering under her breath.
Lina shrugged and pushed the scrap across the table at Zelgadis. "What do you make of this?" she asked, hoping it was enough to push off comments and questions about Gourry indefinitely.
Zel also studied her hard for a moment before his eyes flicked down to the parchment. With a sigh, he picked it up and squinted at her handwriting. "Sounds like gibberish," he said shortly, pushing it over to Amelia.
"'All creatures are composed of black and gold, order and chaos,'" Amelia read slowly. "'Creation itself requires a balance . . .'" she trailed off. "This can't be right," she protested. "Everyone knows that the balance of our world is determined through the struggle between the gods and the demons, and that all creatures are composed of the four elements."
Lina nodded. "That's what we've been taught," she agreed. Then she looked closer at Zel. "Have you ever come across anything like this in any of your research?"
Zelgadis thought for a moment, and then he shook his head. "Not that I can recall," he said decisively. "Why?"
Lina responded with another question, one that had struck her forcefully when she had re-read this passage the night before. "Have you ever read anything about how our world was created?"
Both Amelia and Zelgadis stared at her. Zelgadis grasped the meaning of her question first. "No," he said slowly. "It's like Amelia said: everyone knows the story—"
"Exactly," Lina interrupted. "Everyone—except for Gourry, of course," she said derisively.
"Wha . . .?" Gourry put in, upon hearing his name.
"Nothing, bait-for-brains," she said acerbically, but not quite hiding her affection. "As I was saying, everyone knows the story, but I've never actually read anything that says what everyone knows. How do you suppose we all know it?"
"Maybe," Amelia said slowly, "it's something passed down to the priests . . . ?"
"You're a shrine maiden," Lina pointed out, "you tell me."
Amelia shook her head. "I'm not really a high-ranking shrine maiden, though," she pointed out. "Someone like Sylphiel or Filia might be able to better answer—"
"What about the Claire Bible," Zel interrupted. "Did that say anything . . ." he trailed off when Lina shook her head.
"The Claire Bible only answered my direct questions, and the thing I needed to know most was how to destroy a high ranking demon," she explained with a sigh. "I wasn't really thinking of more esoteric questions at the time," she said regretfully. "Or even more practical questions," she continued apologetically. She knew Zelgadis had been hoping to find his cure in the Claire Bible, but he never even got close to looking at it.
He nodded, accepting her tacit apology.
"I was thinking," Lina continued. "What if this description, about all creatures being a balance of black and gold, order and chaos, is correct?" She looked at Zelgadis. "You've been trying to return your body back to normal, but nothing in the shamanistic or white schools has helped, right?" She did not wait for his acknowledgement, since she already knew the answer. "Maybe it isn't working because what everyone knows isn't really the truth," she suggested.
Zelgadis's eyes narrowed, and he held out his hand to Amelia in a silent request for the scrap of parchment. He stared at the words for several moments before he looked up at Lina. "Where did you find this?" he asked intently.
"It was just a bestiary," Lina replied, hoping she did not sound like she was trying to be evasive. She swore inwardly when Zelgadis pinned her with a glare, and then she struggled to not put on her best innocent look, knowing that would make him more suspicious, so she just shrugged instead.
"So if you think there's some truth to this," Zel finally said, indicating the words on the parchment, "what do you think it means?"
Lina was glad that he seemed willing to let her evade his question, but something in his eyes made her certain that it was only a matter of time before he started to push her. "I'm not sure yet," she admitted. "That's why I wanted to ask you about it." She definitely had ideas, though.
"But Miss Lina," Amelia said, sounding puzzled, "if this idea were true, wouldn't it mean that chimeras as we know them wouldn't be possible?"
"Not necessarily," Lina objected reasonably. "First of all, most of what we know about chimeras focuses on the 'how,' not the 'why.'" She looked at Zelgadis, who nodded in confirmation. "Chimeras are more the result of trial and error, rather than any understanding of underpinning theories. Secondly," she continued, "both theories are based on the idea of four aspects: earth, fire, water, and wind—the basic elements of shamanism; or black, gold, chaos and order. It's possible that the reason we think chimeras work is not the reason that they do."
"So did this bestiary give you any clue as to what black, gold, order, and chaos are supposed to mean?" Zel asked.
"No," Lina replied in disgust. "The author seemed to assume that the reader would automatically understand." She stared off into space for a moment. "Either he was pulling on an idea that was really common at some point, or he was just a wacko."
Zelgadis snorted in response.
Lina ignored it. "Still," she continued, "Even if the author was just a wacko, aren't you curious about where our current ideas come from?"
"Not particularly," Zel shrugged.
Lina resisted the urge to scream at him in frustration for being so dense. This was really important, not just to her, but potentially to him as well. With effort, she forced herself to calm down. "Even if it has the potential to lead to your cure?" she asked incredulously, pleased that her own inner frustration was not fully evident in her tone.
"You know I'd do anything for my cure," Zel said with equanimity. "I'm just not all that interested in creation stories."
Lina stared at him, flabbergasted. "If you're not interested in understanding, how do you know if you've already missed the clue you need for your cure?"
Zelgadis followed his companions, deep in thought. Lina would probably say he was brooding, and he was honest enough with himself at least to admit that she if she were to say so, she would be right. At the moment, however, she was chatting happily with Amelia about something.
Her comment at breakfast had bothered him more than he cared to admit. Even to himself. His cure. He knew he was close to being obsessed with it. Aside from the time he spent serving as Amelia's bodyguard and escort, he devoted every waking moment to trying to figure out how to turn his body back to his fully human self. The more time he spent with Amelia, the more desperately he wanted it, so much so that it drowned out any other consideration, even Amelia's feelings.
He wanted to give Amelia his feelings. Unfortunately, there was very little to give. Oh, the emotions were there, certainly. But the physical feelings . . . he knew that he should feel at the very minimum, burning lust to have a beautiful and desirable woman sharing a room with him. At best, he felt something muted and far away: like an afterthought so easily dismissed. Hunger, sleepiness, lust . . . none of them seemed to impact him the way they should. He so desperately wanted to feel the needs of the body again!
Had he been so focused on any particular method to undo Rezo's transformation to his body that he had missed the larger framework that might have offered a clue? He had studied medical treatises, bestiaries, notes and notes on research devoted to developing chimeras, hoping for a clue to his condition. Unfortunately, nothing had even come close. His initial reaction to the scrap of parchment Lina had shown him was dismissal. The words did not fit his conception of the universe, so he had dismissed them as unhelpful. Had he dismissed other potential leads without giving them due consideration? After listening to Lina this morning, he almost felt like he was his own worst enemy in his quest for a cure. He half considered asking for her help.
But he did not.
And there was a very good reason he did not.
He was pretty sure that Gourry had guessed it. In spite of his seemingly vacuous memory, very little got past Gourry's steady gaze. If Gourry did know, he never mentioned it, even obliquely, for which Zelgadis was eternally grateful. Asking Lina for help would mean revealing everything to her. Not an option.
Would it be worth sacrificing pride and dignity if it meant his cure?
Zelgadis tried not to cringe inside. If he had asked himself that question a year ago, the answer would have been a definitive 'no.' Now, he was not sure. Still, it would do no harm to help Lina research her current theory. It was not like he had any stronger leads to follow at the moment anyways. If she seemed close to something useful, then he could decide how much—if anything—to tell her.
Watching her chat with Amelia and ignore Gourry, who seemed oblivious to the fact that he was being ignored . . . he wondered what their game was. He may not have Gourry's powers of observations, but he still saw plenty. Their meals were about three quarters normal food fight, and one quarter excuses to touch and even feed each other. Something about Gourry flirting with the waitress had made Lina pretty happy, although there was an undercurrent of something else that he had not quite been able to identify. That whole scene had upset Amelia a great deal, and most of his attention had been on her. He was not sure exactly why, but she really wanted Lina and Gourry to be together.
"So, Miss Lina," Amelia suddenly asked, "how did you sleep last night?"
Instantly, Gourry went from oblivious to focused.
Without any hesitation, Lina stretched her arms over her head. "Pretty good," she said with a smile, "considering that Gourry snores like you wouldn't believe."
"I can't believe anyone could snore worse than you, Miss Lina," Amelia responded pertly.
"What was that?" Lina growled with mock ferocity.
Amelia threw her hands up in surrender. "I didn't mean it!" she protested with feigned innocence. The two of them looked at each other for a moment, and then they both started laughing. Amelia hooked her arm in Lina's. "I'm so glad you're coming with us all the way back to Seyruun," she said with a happy smile.
Lina returned the smile. "Can't pass up the opportunity to poke around in the Seyruun Royal Library," she replied. "Plus there's all those perks of being friends with the royal—" she broke off suddenly, staring at the road in front of her.
They all stared.
Just ahead of them, the road split into a fork. One branch followed the Cylte River toward the southern side of the demesne of Lim. The other branch led to the bridge that crossed the Cylte and led toward Seyruun.
Except that the bridge was no longer there. They had crossed that bridge on the way out. It had been high quality stone craftsmanship, with graceful arches spanning the river, resting on pylons that had been driven deep into the riverbed to keep the bridge stable even when the river ran violently due to spring time run-off. Now, there was nothing to indicate that there had ever been a bridge there, save the shadow of pylons, just barely visible under the rushing water of the Cylte.
The missing bridge was nothing compared to the carnage.
Amelia rushed forward, searching for survivors or anyone who might be in need of help, as unlikely as that seemed. Zelgadis was marginally aware that Lina was still staring in shock. Both he and Gourry drew their swords, alert to any potential danger.
His first thought was that it had been a merchant caravan. There were smashed bits of wagons scattered along the road at the embankment. As Zelgadis ran to catch up with Amelia, he noticed small fragments of scorched wool everywhere: it floated through the air and coated the ground. Unfortunately, it did not hide the bodies.
They were also in fragments. Scattered limbs of all sizes: hands, fingers there. Half of a foot over there. Shattered bone fragments peeked through gore. Skulls that had been torn open, revealing the brains within. And everywhere, flocks of carrion gorged: large ravens with vicious beaks hopped leisurely from morsel to morsel, ignoring their appearance. For a moment, Zelgadis was thankful that the physical feelings of the body were so muted. Otherwise, he would probably be puking up his guts right now, instead of feeling mildly nauseous. Amelia suddenly bolted to the edge of the clearing, her shoulders heaving. Gourry looked very grim, as if he were keeping himself under control by dint of sheer will alone. Lina's face was as white as chalk, and she was staring at the ground by her feet.
Amelia stood up slowly and wiped her mouth. "Who would do something like this to merchants?" she asked, her voice sounding sick.
"No," Lina said so softly it was barely audible. "Not merchants." Her eyes did not waver from the spot of the ground she was staring at. "Not merchants," she repeated a bit louder. "A family."
Zelgadis finally realized what she was staring at. It was the severed arm of an infant. A few feet away lay the crushed upper torso of a woman. He could see shattered ribs and pulpy spongy flesh that could only be lungs. Amelia fell to her hands and knees and immediately started heaving uncontrollably. Zelgadis quickly went to her side and knelt next to her. Since she had already emptied the contents of her stomach at the edge of the clearing, nothing came up except for a frothy bile. She coughed weakly between spasms, but seemed unable to bring herself under control. He felt the edges of panic and was wondering what to do when she suddenly turned toward him, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest to muffle her sobs. Zelgadis did the only thing he could think of: he held her and stroked her hair.
He was vaguely aware that Gourry went over to Lina and that they had a short conversation, although he had no idea what they said. Gourry headed down the embankment toward the river, and Lina stayed where she was a bit longer before she started moving around. Most of his attention was focused on Amelia. He knew there was very little he could do for her, aside from just holding her, but it seemed to be enough. Amelia's sobs had transformed to sniffles and the occasional hitch of her shoulders before Zelgadis realized that his other companions had begun the gruesome work of gathering the bodies for burial. Lina had pulled out one of the groundsheets they used when they camped out. It seemed like she was planning to use it as a communal shroud. After a few moments, he nudged Amelia gently. She looked up at him, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen, but brimming with anger and purpose. "We should help," he suggested softly.
Amelia took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before nodding.
By the time they had finished gathering the fragments of the bodies together, they were all feeling sick at heart. Altogether, there were six bodies: an elderly woman; an adult male and female; two young children, and the infant. Lina's initial appraisal seemed to be spot on. He wanted to ask her how she had known so quickly, but the few times he had started, Gourry had interrupted him. It was nothing obvious: a question about the best place to bury the family; a comment about the height of the river. Each time, Zel had caught the way Gourry's eyes had flicked between him and Lina. She was still chalk-white, and there was something in the way her eyes were unfocused as she went about the task of sorting fragments of bodies to make them recognizable as distinct people . . . he hoped that she was just in shock. The alternative scared him a great deal.
Once they finished burying the family, Gourry led them downstream a bit until he found a point where the river had formed a small inlet where the current was not as strong. He led Lina into the water. Almost mechanically, she started stripping out of her clothes. Zelgadis averted his eyes and considered looking for another inlet, but Amelia had already plunged into the water and was vigorously scrubbing at the blood and gore that stained her skin and clothing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lina toss her clothes onto the grassy bank before she moved out into the stronger current. He tensed up, until he noticed that Gourry was watching her very closely. Knowing that the other man would keep her safe or let them know if he needed help, Zelgadis focused on his own ablutions.
The water was bitter cold: it was something he could recognize, but like all physical sensation, it was something that seemed so distant, almost like it had nothing quite to do with him. Amelia's teeth were chattering, and he could see that her arms were covered in gooseflesh. As soon as she was out of the water, she used Lina's trick with a low-powered fireball to dry herself off and warm up.
In spite of the temperature, Lina showed no sign of discomfort as she stood in the rapid current. Given how much she tended to whine—not to mention burn down forests, or melt frozen lakes in an effort to use her magic to stay warm—any time the weather took a turn for the colder, her seeming obliviousness was just as troubling as the unfocused look in her eyes.
"Do you think Miss Lina is okay," Amelia asked very softly. She was also studying their friend closely.
"No," Zelgadis answered honestly, but just as softly.
Amelia was just taking a deep breath to respond, when Lina started wading toward the shore. The moment she saw her bloodstained clothes sitting on the grassy bank, something snapped in her eyes. Survival instincts kicked in immediately, and Zelgadis had no sooner pulled Amelia and himself out of the way before the inferno hit, turning her clothes and the surrounding embankment—including the spot where they had just been standing—into fine gritty ash.
He wished he could say with confidence that the attack had been typical Lina short-sightedness: that she had been targeting her clothes and uncaring about any collateral damage. Unfortunately he had caught the look in her eyes. As her gaze slid quickly over him and Amelia, she had focused on them with a look a pure hatred, and then she launched her spell. No matter that her clothes had been in the center of the blast. He was certain that in that brief moment, she had been hoping to hit the two of them as well.
Gourry took her by the elbow then, and guided her out of the water and up the bank. Somehow, he got her to sit while he dug through her pack for some spare clothes. Then he knelt in front of her and snapped his fingers so that she focused on his hand. Slowly he raised his hand, bringing it up so that her eyes rose to meet his. "Lina." He spoke softly, but in an otherwise normal tone of voice. "We need to get to the other side of the river."
Lina shuddered, but she nodded and started pulling her spare clothes on over her still soaking shift. Then she stood up and looked over at Zel and Amelia. Her face wore a slightly confused expression, but other than that, she looked mostly normal—at least in expression. Her complexion had improved moderately: now instead of looking chalk-white, she was only pasty. "C'mon," she said to them, sounding subdued. "I want to check out the pylons." Without waiting for an answer, she took Gourry's hand, pulled him effortlessly into the air, and headed back upstream.
Amelia started to follow, but he grabbed her elbow before she could lift off the ground. She looked at him quizzically.
Zelgadis tried to pull his thoughts into some semblance of order. He was still reeling with anger and shock over Lina's latest attack. He was also trying to tell himself that that hollow pounding of his heart had nothing to do with being afraid of one of his closest friends and for another. "Do you think," he suggested slowly, "we should split up from them?"
Amelia looked at him for a long time before answering. "You don't trust Mr. Gourry?" she finally asked.
"Gourry?!" he spluttered in shocked surprise. "He's not the—"
"The dangerous one?" she interrupted, sounding angry.
Zelgadis nodded curtly, his face composing itself into the cool mask that had been less and less effective with her the more time they spent together. "This is the second time in as many days that Lina," he paused slightly for emphasis after pronouncing Lina's name before he continued, "has tried to attack you."
"I still don't think she knew it was me," Amelia insisted stubbornly, but her eyes were snapping with righteous indignation. "Our friend is in trouble, and you want to leave?" She shook her head emphatically. "That's wrong, Mr. Zelgadis."
"You know how dangerous she can be, even under normal circumstances," Zel bit out in frustration. "This isn't about a friend in trouble, this is about trying to keep you safe."
"No," Amelia responded firmly. "You can't tell me that Miss Lina is more dangerous than Zanaffar or Gaav or Hellmaster." She paused for a moment, silently daring him to contradict her. "She's our friend," she continued, "and something is bothering her. And I think she needs our help. That stuff she was talking about this morning . . . I got the feeling that was as much for her as it was for you." She paused again. "Besides, I trust Mr. Gourry to keep her under control." Then she smiled at him, "and I trust our reflexes to keep us safe."
Zelgadis suppressed a sigh, knowing that he had already lost this particular argument.
"C'mon," Amelia took his hand in hers. "Let's go see what has Miss Lina so interested in the bridge pylons."
Gourry quietly led Lina up to their room. He knew that Zelgadis was dying to take him aside and grill him about Lina's behavior. He felt he owed both Amelia and Zelgadis some sort of explanation . . . even if he was not exactly sure he could give them the answers they wanted, for a variety of reasons. But. Almost all of his attention was focused on Lina, assessing her mood and trying to get them all through the day in one piece, to get them to a point where she could let go of the barriers and defenses she had been putting up since they found the family by the river. There was no way he was going to let her out of sight and hearing, something that would be necessary to satisfy Zelgadis. Not even for an instant.
With a sigh, he closed the door, wishing they had enough money to afford an inn with attached baths. Lina was so clenched up, a soak in hot water would help her—in many different ways. Unfortunately, they had arrived in the village well after dark, and they had been lucky to find an inn that was still accepting custom, let alone one that had two available rooms for the four of them. He tossed their gear onto the bed closest to the door, and then started tugging Lina to the other bed.
She resisted for a moment, pulling herself free. First she went to the door and whispered the spell that he assumed was locking it. Then she turned around, leaned against the door, and folded her arms across her chest. She was trying to look relaxed, but Gourry could see the way her hands clenched around her elbows, even in the dim light.
"Lina," he said softly.
Something flickered across her face too quickly to identify. He closed the distance between them and pulled her into his embrace. This time, she did not resist. But she did not relax, either. In fact, she felt like a lute string that had been tightened to the point of snapping. Instinctively, he knew that she had clenched herself up so much, the only thing she could do was clench herself up even more. Even as he stroked her back, he felt her tension increase and her muscles start to quiver from the strain.
Trusting to his instincts—the only thing he could do when it came to Lina—he briskly stripped her out of her clothes and gently pushed her face down on the bed. He rummaged around in his pack until he found a bottle of liniment. As he poured some into his hands, the aroma of camphor and rosemary filled the tiny room. He let his body heat warm the thick liquid for a moment before smoothing it onto Lina's back, his fingers identifying the worst points of tension.
It took longer than he thought it would, and he had used up at least a good third of the bottle before the muscles in Lina's back finally started to relax. Then he moved on to her legs. As he worked his fingers into the knotted muscles of her thighs, Lina suddenly let out a deep shuddering sigh. And then another one.
"I'm scared, Gourry," she admitted, whispering against the sheets.
Unsure of how to respond to that, he settled for saying nothing as he continued to work along her legs. He had felt a lot of the tension fade with her sighs and her admission. Not all of it, but at least it no longer felt like she was about to snap from strain. As his fingers massaged the tension out of her flesh, he considered her words. Considered what had brought her so close to snapping in the first place. And sighed as he reached a possible conclusion. "Are you pregnant," he asked softly, struggling to keep his tone neutral.
It was her turn for silence. Then she answered just as quietly and neutrally, "It's possible. I'm more than a week late." She craned her neck to see his reaction.
Gourry tried to figure out what he was feeling. Was it possible to be ecstatic and terrified at the same time?
"I'm not sure yet," she cautioned, holding his eyes. "I might just be late."
All his instincts screamed that he should be terrified at the prospect of Lina being pregnant. She had made it clear why she wanted to hide the fact that they were sleeping together; a child would not only make it impossible to hide, but also created another weakness for any who hoped to use her powers for their own ends. In spite of that, giddiness was winning out, and he knew he was grinning like a loon. He pulled her onto his lap and rested a hand low on her belly while he kissed her, needing an outlet for the happiness surging through him. Otherwise, he would start swinging her around the room and shouting. Not the best way to keep a secret.
He could feel her relaxing even more under his kiss. But again, not completely.
"Gourry," she said slowly after pushing him away a bit. He could hear the hesitation in her voice.
"Lina," he responded, hugging her to him. "I know it's just a possibility. I know you're scared—I am, too. I know there's a lot you're going to have to think about, a lot of things we're going to have to do to protect our child. I know there are problems." He released her slightly and tilted her head so that he could look into her eyes. "Tonight, be happy with me," he urged.
She returned his look for several moments. Then she smiled affectionately. "I think I can manage that," she murmured as she pulled his head down for another kiss.
It was much later when the need to sleep started to outstrip their desire to celebrate. As Lina cuddled up in his arms, she suddenly snorted. "You're gonna have to up your flirting with the maids tomorrow to hide this," she commented. She twisted around to look at him. "That was absolutely brilliant, you know," she said in an annoyed tone. "I so wanted to kill you for it, but it was brilliant nonetheless."
Gourry allowed himself a rare predatory grin. "I'm glad you appreciate the efforts and sacrifices I make for you," he teased.
Lina snorted again. "'Sacrifice,' my ass. I saw the look in your eyes. I know that look. You were enjoying every moment," she accused.
"Jealous?" he asked, feeling surprised and flattered.
"A real gentleman would deny it," she sniffed, neatly avoiding his question.
He resisted the urge to sigh at the tangle of emotions he could sense in her: admiration, practicality, jealousy, resentment, possessiveness . . . they were all there, swirling around in her eyes. "I'm a guy," he pointed out the obvious. "Of course I'm going to get that look after having female flesh pressed up against me. If I didn't, it would probably mean that I'm dead." She took a deep breath to answer, but he cut her off by placing a finger over her lips. "And if I didn't, Zel and Amelia would really wonder what the hell we were up to."
Lina chewed on her lip, only marginally mollified. Once again, he knew they were not the words she had been hoping for. He pushed an errant strand of hair out of her face. "It doesn't matter how my body reacts to other women," he said intently, "because you're the one I want. The only one I want." There was more he wanted to say, but apparently, those were the right words: the ones she wanted to hear.
"You can keep flirting with the maids," she said lightly, "to keep Zel and Amelia off our backs. But just you remember," her tone shifted, became fierce, as she pushed herself up onto her elbow, "you're mine. You got that, Gourry? Mine."
"Shall I have 'Property of Lina Inverse' tattooed somewhere on my body to make you happy?" he teased, trying to deflect the intensity of what he saw in her eyes, because there was no way he was going to be able to perform that way again tonight.
"I'll figure something out," Lina said in a sultry voice as her hand slipped down along his torso.
"Uh . . . Lina . . . ?" he captured her questing hand in his.
She smiled beatifically at him then. "You're the one who taught me that the sex is just a bonus," she reminded him.
With fingers, lips, and tongue, she gave him a thorough demonstration of what she had learned, leaving him awash in sensual pleasure that came from the touch of a lover.
Amelia eased herself into the hot water with a sigh, feeling her muscles relax almost against their will. With any luck, a good long soak would rinse away the memories of the previous day and would provide enough rest to give the illusion that she had not spent a mostly sleepless night sharing a room with . . . Zelgadis. She shivered happily and hugged her knees. Last night, he had insisted that she drop the polite designation. He said it made her sound like a little girl, and his tone of voice indicated that he saw her as anything but.
And then he had rolled himself into his bed with his face resolutely toward the wall.
After placing his sword on the floor again.
On any other day, she might have taken it as a challenge. Not when her thoughts whirled chaotically between images of brutal slaughter and the burning desire to bring to justice the miscreants who had dared perpetrate such villainy on the borders of Seyruun.
After spending much of the night tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable position, and at best falling into a half doze, Zelgadis had asked her if she wanted to talk about it.
They had spent the rest of the night exchanging impressions and arguing about interpretations. He wanted to know what was going on with Lina. She did too, but she was more interested in piecing together scattered clues to figure out the identities of victims and villains. He thought she was wasting her time.
By dawn, they had exhausted most conversational angles, but she was still too keyed up to sleep, in spite of the deep ache in her legs that she always got when physically tired. It did feel good to scrub away the residue of the day before. Their ablutions in the cold water had been sufficient to remove bloodstains and worse from their clothes, but it did not leave her feeling truly cleansed. She knew she should have sought out the cavernous bathing area in the basement of the inn the night before, but it had been so late, and she had thought she was too tired to move.
Amelia allowed herself to semi-float in the water. With an effort, she forced herself to let go of conscious thought and focus on the now: the soft lap of water against the edge of the bathing pool; the almost ethereal wisps of steam that occasionally wafted along the surface of the water; the warmth of the water supporting her body; the humidity of the air; the flickering of a scant few oil lamps that barely penetrated the darkness.
Once she had successfully quieted her conscious mind, she slipped naturally into the calm meditative state taught to all shrine maidens. She floated in the eternal now, open to all possibilities without expectation of any.
The creak of a door opening and the soft slap of bare feet against the floor brought her back to herself. Following the tenets of her training, she grounded herself by focusing on the sensations that surrounded her for a few moments. With a smile and a happy sigh, she let go of conscious control, allowing her thoughts to wander where they may. In marked contrast to the chaotic whirling that had dominated the night, she felt relaxed and refreshed—if not exactly rested. At least she felt like she had some sense of direction.
The first order of business was to get back to the capital as soon as possible. Her father needed to be informed so that reconstruction on the destroyed bridge could start as soon as possible, and so she could pass on the message from Jeremiah. If things went well, she hoped to be placed in charge of the reconstruction efforts. No more innocent families would be needlessly slaughtered on her watch! It would have been better to conduct a thorough investigation yesterday, but given Lina's obvious distress, her well-being was more important. And, as Zelgadis had pointed out to her, the best clues had likely already been disposed of by the carrion.
Amelia felt torn between the desire to help Lina and the need to protect the people of her kingdom. She wished she knew what had pushed Lina so off-balance. Gourry had pretty much kept both her and Zelgadis away from Lina, although now that she thought about it, she was not exactly sure how he had managed to do it. In spite of the seriousness of their situation, watching the single-minded devotion he had shown to Lina the day before had made her hope that they would finally be honest about their feelings. If she ever caught Gourry flirting with random waitresses again, she was going to give him a thorough speech about the injustice of his acts. And she would give Lina one as well, for not kicking sense into him for pulling a stunt like that.
No sooner had she come to that conclusion when Lina entered the room. She stopped, surprised to see another person, but she seemed to recover quickly. "Oh, 'morning, Amelia," she said as she slipped into the hot water. She sounded really tired.
"You're up early," Amelia commented. She looked closely at her friend in the dim flickering light. Lina seemed to be avoiding eye contact, and there was a rather grim set to her lips. "Did you have another nightmare," she asked gently.
Lina shrugged noncommittally, hugging her knees and resting her forehead on them. She sat quietly for several moments. Amelia could tell that she was debating something, and knew from experience that it would be best to wait her out. Finally, Lina sighed softly. "Amelia," she asked, sounding very subdued, "have you ever had a prescient dream?"
"Do you mean a dream where you see the future, or a dream that is a message from the gods?" Amelia asked in a neutral tone.
Lina shrugged again. "Both," she said. "Either."
Actually, her question served little purpose, except to clarify Lina's question. The answer was the same, either way. "No," she answered easily. "Some of the higher ranked shrine maidens have received prophecy, though."
"Prophecy isn't usually a dream, though," Lina pointed out. "And from what I understand, prophecy is generally so randomly specific as to be useless."
"I wouldn't go that far," Amelia objected. "Not all prophecy is useless." Then she sighed. "But you're right. Prophecy is random, and usually it takes the form of a waking vision, rather than a dream."
"But they do exist," Lina pressed. "Prescient dreams. At least, so the old legends tell us."
"They do," Amelia agreed. "They're pretty rare, though. There hasn't been a true Dreamer in several generations, at least that I know of."
"True," it was Lina's turn to agree. "But . . ." she trailed off and focused on the tiny whirls she was forming in the water with her fingers. "Would you know how to recognize a prescient dream?" she finally asked.
"Depends," Amelia answered. Something about Lina's question threatened to shatter the equanimity she had just achieved moments earlier. "If it's just a vision of the future, the only way to know is to wait and see if—and exactly how—it comes true. Most people don't believe that dreams can really predict the future. They're more about our wishes and fears than anything else. We dream about what we desire—or fear—and our actions and choices bring such things into reality."
Lina nodded slowly, as she stared into space. Amelia unconsciously held her breath, wondering if that would be enough to satisfy her friend. It was not that the rest was exactly secret, she just had the strangest feeling . . .
Abruptly Lina turned and looked Amelia in the eyes with a very serious expression. "Have you been trained in Dream Walking?"
"Not fully," Amelia admitted with a slight frown. If Lina knew about Dream Walking, she already had the answers to her questions. It was possible that she was just seeking confirmation of what she knew, but Amelia doubted it. Amelia wondered where she got her information. The knowledge and training was typically reserved for those shrine maidens who had fully dedicated their life to a particular shrine, but she had been given some tutoring in the basic methods and theoretical understanding of more advanced techniques—rank did have its privileges.
"Can you train me," Lina asked intently, confirming Amelia's fears.
"How much do you know?" Amelia countered, trying to buy time while she figured out how to diplomatically refuse the request.
"Dream Walking is a technique that ranges from simple self-awareness—the ability to recall one's dreams, for example," Lina replied promptly. It sounded like she was reciting from a textbook. "At more advanced levels, the Dream Walker learns to control and manipulate first their own dreams, and then the dreams of others. At the final stages, the Dream Walker is able to manipulate reality on the Astral side."
"No," Amelia answered resolutely, rejecting diplomacy. Lina seemed a little too interested in the final stages, and that made her request dangerous.
"Why not?" Lina asked. At least she sounded genuinely curious, instead of upset.
"For two reasons," Amelia responded in the same firm tone. "First, you already know pretty much what I know, so there's not much I can teach you. Second, you know too much about the advanced levels for it to be safe for someone with my limited skills to be able to train you." She took a deep breath. "Dream Walking alters the connection between your physical and astral body. If it's not done exactly right, it's easy to damage that connection." She felt she owed her friend at least that much of an explanation.
Lina's eyes took on a far-off unfocused quality. The she asked, "Do you think that you could arrange for me to be trained?" Although she did not allow it to color her tone, Amelia could see the desperation in her eyes.
"Because of your nightmares?" Amelia asked gently.
Lina shuddered at the question, and even in the dim light, Amelia could see the blood drain out of her face. "Among other things," she answered softly.
"Miss Lina, can't you—"
"Not yet," Lina interrupted harshly. Then she took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "I know I haven't told anyone much of anything." She paused, and then sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure of anything right now. The dreams might be just like you said: echoes of my hopes and fears, and nothing more."
"But you don't think so," Amelia noted what she thought was the obvious.
Lina shrugged in response, the move oddly self-deprecating. "I don't even know if I can trust myself anymore," she said with a snort. "All I know is that if it is all just in my head, the worst that can happen by me keeping it to myself is that you guys get annoyed at me for keeping secrets."
"And if it's not?" Amelia pressed.
Lina looked directly at her. "What's the worst you can imagine?" she asked, her tone deathly serious.
The inn they had chosen the night before boasted a nice-sized courtyard. There was a small patio with tables and chairs where guests could enjoy refreshments or a meal, and a larger area surrounded with a hip-level wall and filled with sand and wood mulch. Whatever the owners had intended for the space, it currently was serving as a sparring field. Zelgadis could see a couple pairs working on their techniques with wooden practice dowels, including—much to his surprise—Lina and Gourry. He made his way over to the table where Amelia sat toying with the remains of her breakfast. He ordered a coffee from a passing waitress as he seated himself and then turned his attention back to the pair on the sparring field.
"How long has that been going on?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.
Amelia pushed fragments of melon rinds around on her plate, swirling them in the remains of syrup. "They've been at it for about an hour. Looks like they've done this before," she said, sounding rather distracted.
A waitress placed a steaming mug of coffee in front of Zel. He sipped at the brew, luxuriating in the sensation of heat sliding down into his body. It was one of the few ways his body could feel, and he tended to take every available opportunity to remind himself that he could still feel. Unfortunately, taste was something also denied him, but given the raw odor of the coffee, he was not really missing much.
The thwack of wood against wood was constant. Zel watched Lina parry a couple of Gourry's attacks, her face a mask of intense concentration. Then Gourry launched a rapid series of blows. Lina reacted initially well, turning aside his 'blade,' but as the attack continued, unrelenting, it was clear she was being pushed out of her rhythm. A couple of moves later, Gourry neatly disarmed her, catching her practice sword in his hand. Much to Zel's surprise, instead of getting angry or frustrated, Lina held her hand out to Gourry for her sword with a self-deprecating smile, as she asked him something that did not carry far enough for him to hear. Gourry returned her smile and her sword, and then stood behind her to position her body, much the way he had with their waitress the day before.
"What the—" Zel burst out before he could stop himself.
Amelia looked up and followed his gaze. "That," she said dismissively. "They've been doing that all morning. You should've seen what happened when Mr. Gourry put Miss Lina in the dirt. After disarming her, he lay down on top of her, pinning her arms and looked for all the world like he was going to—" Amelia broke off and bit her lip.
"Lina let him get away with that?" Zelgadis asked incredulously.
"They stayed in that position for a bit, just talking, and then Mr. Gourry jumped up and then they started sparring again like nothing had happened," Amelia returned her focus to her breakfast plate and covered the melon rinds with a large leaf of garnish. "All this after Mr. Gourry was practically sucking face with a maid he had pinned to the wall," she said angrily.
Zel found himself spitting coffee across the table. Amelia handed him a napkin. "You caught him kissing a maid?" he asked hesitantly. 'Sucking face' was definitely not a part of Amelia's typical vocabulary, although it was hard to imagine any other intended meaning.
"I said 'practically,'" she corrected. "He said he was helping her get something out of her eye. It sounded so fake, but if he was lying, he was doing a really good job. Miss Lina didn't seem to question it, but . . ." she trailed off, sounding annoyed again.
Zelgadis tried to process all the information he was receiving, wondering what the hell was going on. His eyes drifted back over to the sparring field, and he studied the way Lina and Gourry were interacting. Even knowing them as well as he did, they seemed the same as always. Ever since he had known them, they had always worked well together, and they seemed to have some type of connection that allowed them to communicate without words. All he could see were two good friends—who paradoxically seemed to be oblivious to the sexual tension they were generating—going through sparring routines. Lina had always been decently skilled with a sword, but her form seemed to have markedly improved since the last time he had seen her in action. It was true that she would never be in Gourry's league—not that his level of skill was necessary for most situations, particularly since Lina had other options available to her.
As he watched, they finished sparring. Gourry put a companionable arm around Lina as they headed toward the table. Lina flagged a waitress and asked her for a menu before collapsing into the chair next to Zelgadis. Without asking, she grabbed his water glass and drained it in a single draught, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and sighing lustily.
"So," Zelgadis started to say coolly. He was interrupted, however, by the waitress appearing with a couple of menus, and Lina's gleeful rapid-fire ordering of her breakfast. Once he was sure he could hold her attention—at least until the food started arriving—he tried again. "How long have you been practicing sword-play with Gourry?"
Lina looked over at Gourry affectionately. "It's been a couple months now, or so," she said easily. "Gourry said it would be good for me to improve my form."
Zel filed away the information that Lina's seemingly new interest in sword-play was actually Gourry's idea.
"Besides," Lina continued. "Since the Ragna Blade is my strongest spell, improving my form with a blade is probably a good idea."
Any comment he might have made in response was eclipsed by the arrival of breakfast. At least the ensuing food fight was mostly confined to their side of the table. Being spattered with scrambled eggs and other assorted breakfast foods had never been his favorite way to start the day.
He was debating on whether or not to order another cup of coffee when Gourry suddenly yelled, "Lina, you almost bit off my finger!"
"'Almost' doesn't count for anything," she replied cheekily, but her eyes were smoldering.
The moment passed so quickly, Zelgadis half wondered if he had just imagined the look she had been giving Gourry. A quick glance across the table, however, indicated that Amelia had also seen it. Her face was slightly flushed and she looked dazed. Suddenly, she jumped to her feet. "Are you two together or not?" she demanded, her eyes flicking between Lina and Gourry.
"Awuh . . . ?" Lina asked around a mouthful of pancakes, her fork stalled halfway between her plate and her lips.
Gourry took advantage of her lapse in attention and helped himself to some of her sausages. Predictably, the food fight resumed its course. Amelia stared at the two of them for a few moments. A couple of times, she took a deep breath as if to start saying something, but she appeared to change her mind each time. Finally, she shot him a look that mingled frustration and worry. "I'm going to pack," she announced to no one in particular, although she held his gaze until he acknowledged her with a slight nod.
He watched her pick her way across the patio, weaving among the small tables until she disappeared inside the inn. Part of him wanted to chase after her. The other part of him pointed out that such an activity would be worse than futile. With a ragged sigh, he flagged the waitress for another cup of coffee. Just as it arrived, Lina pushed back her now-empty plate and studied him carefully.
Zel raised an eyebrow in a silent question as he sipped his coffee.
"How much would you be willing to give up to get your body back to normal?" she asked without preamble.
For the second time that morning, he found himself spitting his coffee across the table. "Excuse me?" he asked, not sure if he had reacted out of shock or resentment.
"What would you give up?" she repeated.
He could tell it was no idle question. "Why should I have to give up anything?" he asked coolly.
Lina leaned back in her chair, obviously considering his answer very carefully. Finally she nodded. "That's what I thought," she said cryptically.
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" he demanded.
She studied him a few moments more before answering. "How much of your current abilities are tied to that body?" she asked. "Normal humans don't have your kind of speed or stamina, for starters," she pointed out. "And I'd be willing to bet that your capacity for magic is also greatly enhanced in that form. What was your experience of 'normal' before Rezo turned you into a chimera?"
Zelgadis took another sip of coffee in an attempt to cover his dismay.
"Leave him alone, Lina," Gourry said absently as he picked at his teeth with a toothpick.
Lina shot Gourry an annoyed glance and stood up. "You're never going to get what you want if you don't know what you want," she said intently. Then she shoved her chair in and stalked off.
"I want to get Lina a sword," Gourry commented as she disappeared into the inn.
It was such a non sequitur that Zelgadis could only gape at the other man. "What are you two playing at?" he asked as soon as he could gather his wits.
"I wouldn't let what she said worry you," Gourry responded with a sunny smile. "I think she's using you as a guinea pig."
"And I'm supposed to find that reassuring?" Zel demanded, feeling anything but.
Gourry shrugged. "I think she'll do better with something custom made to her size."
Zelgadis mentally counted to ten. Then he took a deep breath and counted to ten again. "So, are you two together or not?" he asked, echoing Amelia's earlier question.
Gourry shrugged again. "We've been together for years," he said calmly. "I don't see any reason to change anything now."
Zelgadis ground his teeth in frustration. "I know how long you've been traveling together," he said slowly through clenched teeth. He was really tired of the deflections and the run-around. Gourry knew damn well what the question was really asking. But fine, if Gourry wanted to play it literally, Zelgadis would phrase it in no uncertain terms. "I meant are you fucking her?"
Instantly, Gourry transitioned from slightly amused and distracted to completely focused. "No," he snarled softly as he stood up abruptly, radiating a quiet fury. No, it was more than that. It was animosity fueled by a prodigious will: the will that had controlled the Sword of Light and turned it into a weapon that sliced through high-ranking monsters with ease. "I don't ever want to hear crap like that again," Gourry finally bit out after the silence had dragged out uncomfortably long. Without waiting for a reply, he stalked off toward the inn.
Zelgadis sat immobile for several moments more, playing and replaying the encounter over in his mind. Damn. He was so used to Gourry's typical easy-going nature, he had forgotten how fiercely he protected Lina. Even after watching him deflect and cover for her for the past few days, and watching him handle her so carefully to keep her from breaking after the affair at the bridge, Zelgadis had still underestimated him.
He just wished he understood what exactly it was about his question that had provoked Gourry to such an unprecedented degree.
Chapter 2
"I want to see that book," Zelgadis suddenly announced after dinner. They were only a week or so out from Seyruun. As much as Amelia usually enjoyed being with her friends, she found she could not wait to end this particular journey.
It had been about three days since they had crossed the Cylte. Three normal uneventful days. Amelia sighed to herself. Normal. Who was she kidding? Gourry continued to flirt with the waitresses and maids. At least it was pretty clear that the maids and waitresses saw it as flirting. She had caught one of them inviting Gourry to her room that evening, but he had politely declined, looking a bit puzzled. It was the exact same look he had worn when Amelia confronted him about the injustice of flirting when he had someone like Lina. She knew he was clueless sometimes, but . . .
"Which book?" Lina asked nonchalantly.
Lina seemed to be cheerfully oblivious, like she neither noticed nor cared that Gourry was flirting with everything in sight, even when he seemed to be flirting with her. And yet on more than one occasion, Amelia had caught something in her friend's eyes that suggested Lina was anything but oblivious. The look she directed at Gourry in those moments seemed to cause the temperature in the room to shoot up by several degrees and made Amelia incredibly antsy. Those moments were mercifully brief and rare.
"You know damn well which book," Zelgadis growled, placing his hands flat on the edge of the table as if to keep them from throttling Lina.
She had made Amelia promise to talk to the High Priest of Ceiphied in Seyruun to see if he would be willing to train her in Dream Walking. Amelia had warned her that the training would require a considerable time commitment. For the life of her, she could not imagine Lina staying in place for more than a few days, let alone the months that proper training would require. And what did she expect Gourry to do while she was training?
The silence stretched out as Zelgadis glared at Lina while she looked at him speculatively, clearly thinking. "Tomorrow," she finally said. "I'll show it to you in the morning."
And then there were the times when Lina went dangerous. She did nothing quite so dramatic as try to flash fry or otherwise maim her friends, but only because Gourry handled her with such finesse and expertise. He also made sure that any questions she or Zelgadis might have—and they had plenty—were not asked in Lina's hearing. Unfortunately, asking them of Gourry was a fruitless endeavor. Sometimes it was clear he had no answers. Other times, he became ingenuously evasive. It was driving Zelgadis crazy.
"Tomorrow?" Zelgadis echoed incredulously. "Why tomorrow?"
Sharing a room with Zelgadis was about the only good thing about their trip so far, although he still insisted on laying his sword on the floor between them. In spite of the physical gulf—something he scrupulously maintained—they often spent much of the night in conversation, talking about everything and anything: about what was bothering Lina and Gourry's evasiveness; about their favorite foods; childhood memories. Granted, she did most of the talking. His forays into the conversation, especially when it veered into the personal and inconsequential, were always tentative. It was almost as if he was learning how to truly be himself with a friend. As much as she hated seeing that sword on the floor (especially after seeing Lina shoot one of those looks at Gourry), she would take the emotional intimacy for now. Unfortunately, the lengthy nighttime conversations meant that she was going on a lot less sleep than she was accustomed to having, and she knew she was uncharacteristically moody as a result.
"Look." Lina sounded like she was struggling to maintain an even tone. "I said I'd show it to you tomorrow. Be happy I'm showing it to you at all."
Amelia was pretty sure Lina was still having nightmares, just from the haunted look she caught in her friend's eyes every so often. Amelia sympathized, but she was having enough trouble dealing with her own dreams. They were oscillating back and forth between fantasies about Zelgadis that were quickly growing less and less innocent and fragmented memories of what they had found at the banks of the Cylte.
"Why not now," Zelgadis pressed, undaunted. "It's not like we're doing anything important right now."
And that was the other reason she was eager to get back to the capital: she needed to let her father know what had happened. The bridge needed to be rebuilt as soon as possible. The road from Lim to Seyruun was not one of the major highways, but it was still an important artery for both communication and commerce. She knew her father would also want to start the investigations to determine if the brutal slaughter of that family was an isolated incident or something more sinister. Lina had been very unwilling to talk about that incident the few times she or Zelgadis had brought it up. She had even left the table in the middle of a meal once, claiming to be tired.
It was Lina's turn to glare. "What's your rush?" she asked belligerently. "Now or tomorrow, it's not going to make a difference."
"If that's true," Zelgadis responded coolly, "it shouldn't matter whether you show it to me now or later, then."
"Not to you," Lina shot back with a stubborn set to her jaw. "But I've got my reasons!"
"I'm getting really tired of all the secrets, Lina," Zelgadis's tone passed cool and was edging closer to frosty.
"Today, tomorrow, what does it matter?" Gourry put in casually.
"Don't you start in," Lina turned her ire on Gourry. "I'm perfectly capable of—"
"Oh, stop it. All of you," Amelia said in disgust as she stood up. "You're all bickering like a bunch of little kids." She had the brief satisfaction of seeing Lina and Zelgadis gape at her. Then she felt a bit ashamed for her outburst. Not enough to apologize, though. Without another word, she left the table and went outside.
The chill mountain air had a surprising bite to it that was exacerbated by the breeze. She considered going back inside for her cloak. Instead, she hugged her arms around her body for warmth. A thin waning crescent moon was approaching the horizon. Amelia watched the gold sliver descend in the night sky as dirty smoke-gray clouds scudded across its surface with the increasing frequency that presaged a coming storm.
She was not a person who normally sought solitude, but there was something calming about standing in the dark night and watching a storm gathering from the north. It was going to make traveling tomorrow difficult at best, but at the moment, she allowed herself to be comforted by the fact that everything was part of the flow of creation.
Creation.
Amelia ran back into the dining room where she had left her companions. Apparently, they were still arguing. "Miss Lina!" she called breathlessly, interrupting them. "You've got to come see this! Hurry!"
"Amelia . . . What—" she broke off when Amelia grabbed her arm and started tugging on her.
"You've got to come see," Amelia repeated excitedly.
Lina allowed herself to be pulled along. "What is it?" she asked, starting to catch some of Amelia's excitement.
"Just come outside," Amelia urged. "You have to see this for yourself!"
All three of her companions followed her outside. Lina started shivering immediately. Almost as if it were a reflex, Gourry placed his arm around her and pulled her close, sheltering her from the worst bite of the thin breeze.
"What is it?" Lina repeated through teeth clenched to keep them from chattering.
"Look!" Amelia pointed up at the moon. "It's just like that verse you showed us the other day: black and gold, order and chaos!"
Gourry looked confused, no surprise there. Zelgadis seemed annoyed, which also was to be expected. But Lina . . .
She stepped away from Gourry and from the protection offered by the inn to stare intently at the vista of the night sky. After several moments, she looked speculatively at Amelia. "I think you might be on to something," she said slowly. "But let's get back inside, it's freezing out here!"
"Smells like snow," Gourry commented to no one in particular.
"Wonderful," Zelgadis replied sourly as Lina pushed past him, eager to get back to the warmth inside.
The rest of them followed her in as she headed straight for the fireplace in the common room, holding her hands out toward the flames. "Snow tomorrow?" she asked Gourry, sounding disgusted.
Gourry shrugged. "Probably."
"But you're not sure," Lina prodded, as she turned to look at him, her eyes thoughtful.
Gourry shrugged again. "It's the weather," he said as if that were explanation enough.
"Exactly!" Amelia exclaimed.
Lina nodded. "I really do think you're on to something, here, Amelia," she said thoughtfully. Then her gaze slid over Zelgadis. Her face lost all expression, but shadows lurked in her eyes.
Zelgadis took a deep breath to say something, but Lina spoke before he could. "I'm going up to bed," she announced firmly with fake cheerfulness. "See you in the morning!"
"Lina!" Zelgadis called after her, but she gave no indication that she had heard, so he turned on Amelia. "You think the weather stands for chaos?" he asked, nodding at Gourry as he turned to follow Lina upstairs.
"No," she replied slowly, surprised that he did not quite understand. "The weather isn't pure chaos," she pointed out. "It's a blend, right? Order and chaos. That's why we can sometimes predict the weather, but not always."
"And the moon?" he pressed.
"Also a blend," she explained. She had to use all her diplomatic training to keep her surprise from showing in her voice. Zelgadis was the one who was supposed to be strong in theory, not her. "Gold and order. The moon is predictable in its path, in its phases. It's also a source of light in the darkness. 'Creation requires a balance,'" she quoted at him.
Zelgadis shook his head slowly, not in rejection, but in an attempt to process what she was saying. "It does work," he said slowly. "It's just so different from everything I've ever been taught . . ." He shook his head again. "And I'm not quite sure how it can help," he said so softly, she was not sure if he was aware that she had heard.
"I'm sure we—" she started to say, but something in his expression stopped her mid-sentence. With a start of shock, she realized that he had never asked for her help in his quest for his cure. The injustice of it all was suddenly overwhelming. It felt as if years of traveling together, of seeing him as companion, friend, and even something more had been erased and she was looking at a strange and creepy . . . She shook her head forcefully in an unsuccessful attempt to shake the ugly feeling that seemed to ooze through her, blotting out everything else. "You don't trust anyone, do you?" she accused. "That's why you never ask me to come with you."
He stared at her quietly, his face once again assuming that cool mask. But she could see the flickers of panic in his eyes. "Amelia—"
She did not wait for him to finish, for him to once again offer her thin excuses. "You're not the only one tired of all the secrets," she said flatly as she turned to walk away.
Lina glanced up as Gourry entered the room, and then returned her attention to The Menagerie, flipping through the pages with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was going take her forever to deal with all of them.
"How come you don't want Zel to read it?" Gourry asked, nodding at the book as he sat on the bed they had tossed all their gear on and pulled off his boots.
"Oh, I'm fine with him reading the text," she said quickly enough. "It's just the margins . . ." she trailed off, knowing that she was blushing.
"What's wrong with the margins?" Gourry asked with his best clueless look.
Lina almost threw the book at him. She would have, if it had not been a book. "You read one of the stories in the margins," she pointed out, striving to maintain an even tone, which was very difficult to do through clenched teeth.
Gourry shrugged and pulled out his sword, bringing it closer to the light and inspecting it carefully. Lina felt a bit of her annoyance melt away as she watched him go through his nightly ritual. After the visual inspection, he reached for a piece of chamois and ran it lightly over the edge of the blade, feeling for any snags. She doubted he would find one tonight, since he had not used his sword recently, but he always checked. Whenever he found a snag, the whetstone came out immediately to smooth the offending area. Although, he would pull the whetstone out regardless . . .
"Why are you doing that?" she asked suddenly, as she finally made the connection between what she was seeing and what she knew. "Isn't it kind of stupid to spend so much time sharpening the Blast Blade?"
If he heard her question, he gave no indication. He just continued to slide the whetstone over the edge of the blade in long practiced strokes.
"I mean," Lina continued undaunted, "you're trying to sharpen a sword that's magically sharp already; a sword that had to be magically dulled to even become useful!"
Gourry pulled out a small jar of clove oil and started wiping down the blade. "And what makes it magically sharp?" he asked.
"We've been over this," she replied, the coals of her annoyance flaring into renewed life. "The sword absorbs magical energies and transforms them into sharpness," she recited.
Gourry met her gaze. She was surprised to see his own annoyance lurking in his eyes. "And when's the last time I absorbed magical energy with the sword?" he asked, with just a hint of tightness in his voice.
Lina opened her mouth. Closed it. She considered how she would feel if someone said her magical research was stupid. And knew that she owed Gourry an apology.
With a shrug of his shoulders, he both acknowledged her unspoken chagrin and dismissed the entire exchange. Lina watched him a few moments longer, grateful that he chose drop the issue, rather than rub her nose in the fact that she had said something so patently stupid. Unfortunately, watching Gourry tend to his sword was not going to make her task with the book any easier. With a sigh, Lina flipped through the pages again. Not only was this going to take forever, it was going to use up a ton of parchment, even using a merchant hand. Everyone complained about her script, but the simple fact was that a cursive script was faster and made it easier to squeeze more text on a page. And parchment was expensive!
Lina sighed again, and moved to the tiny little table underneath the single window in the room. It was more comfortable to work on the bed when she was just reading and taking notes, but serious writing required sitting at a table. She considered her supplies again, and wondered if she might be able to get away with a modified palimpsest . . .
One thing was certain: the sooner she got started, the sooner she would finish. She picked up her pen and opened The Menagerie to the first page with marked-up margins. Then she closed her eyes and cast the spell that would allow her to transfer the text from the margins onto her spare parchment.
Except nothing happened.
Lina leaned back a bit in her chair, wondering if she had forgotten something. It had been several months since she had used this spell, and that had been when she had originally developed it. She tried again, this time paying closer attention to the words she was reciting under her breath.
Again, nothing.
She blew her bangs out of her eyes in frustration, and then took a deep breath, concentrating intently. Unfortunately, no matter what she seemed to do, the spell refused to work properly. The last time she had used it, she had not even needed to be close to her source, and the spell went off without a hitch. After struggling to no avail for several moments, she started tugging violently on her hair in frustration. She wanted to scream or maybe fireball something into oblivion. Instead, she glared at the book on the table for having the temerity to defy her.
"Problem?" Gourry asked with his typical air-headed gift for colossal understatement.
Lina turned her glare on him. "Yes," she bit out acidly, "there's a problem. I need to get all these stories out of the margins, and not a single one I've targeted will so much as budge," she said in disgust.
"Why?"
"Why?" she echoed, her voice climbing registers and approaching a shriek.
"Yeah, why?" he repeated, looking puzzled.
"So help me, Gourry," she grated out, "if you are messing with me, I'll—"
"You'll what?" he interrupted. Despite his bland expression, it was clearly a challenge.
Ordinarily, she would have responding with something suitably scathing: some threat of bodily harm that stopped just short of maiming. Before she could select the appropriate threat, a very vivid image flashed before her mind's eye. She knew she was seeing Gourry, although there was nothing about him that was recognizable. His long blond hair had been scorched to the roots, revealing wicked burns that were blistered and oozing. His eyes had been ripped out; nose and ears torn off, leaving gaping holes . . .
Lina swallowed hard, willing herself to not see the rest of the nightmare image, but it was there, nonetheless: the maimed hands with bloody hacked off stumps where fingers used to be . . . and lower still . . . his genitals had been hacked off with a jagged blade, all because she—
The loud snap of fingers demanded her attention, and she desperately seized upon the distraction. Instead of a nightmare vision, she saw hands that were whole. Almost of their own accord, her fingers rose to his face: to trace the line of his brow, his nose, his lips. As if she needed both the tactile and the visual reassurance that what she was seeing was real.
"Lina?" he asked softly.
So many questions left unspoken. So many questions she was not sure how to answer, or even if she could.
"What's wrong with Zel seeing the margins?" he asked as he tugged her away from the table and onto his lap.
It was not the question he wanted to ask. She allowed herself the luxury of feeling safe and reassured in his arms, and deliberately pushed away her fears to focus on the distraction he had offered. She sighed as she tried to sort out all the tangled feelings and thoughts that swirled inside of her. "Do you remember what you read in the margins of that book?" she finally asked.
"Of course," he replied, his words a verbal caress. "That was the night I finally seduced you," he continued in the same tone that sent shivers down her spine. "Nothing could make me forget that."
"Well, that's why I don't want him to see," she said, striving for an even tone while burying her face in his chest.
Gourry tilted her chin up so that he could look in her eyes. "You know they already suspect," he pointed out in a reasonable tone. "I doubt seeing smut in the margins of a random book is going to give them proof positive."
Lina knew she was blushing. "It's just . . ." she trailed off, unsure how to articulate the tangled swirl of her feelings. Embarrassment that Zel might think she was reading smut; the overpowering need to keep their friends from knowing the truth about the exact nature of her current relationship with Gourry; a surge of possessiveness because the book was tied up with something so personal, so powerful . . .
"So that's why," Gourry murmured softly, as if he understood everything she could not say. Somehow, Lina was certain that he did. "If it's any help," he said in a normal tone, "I really don't think Zel will be interested in the margins."
"Why not?" Lina asked, sensing there was something more under his words.
Gourry shrugged, deliberately nonchalant. "He just doesn't seem all that interested in sex," he replied.
"You tried to talk to him about sex?" Lina pressed, her interest piqued.
"No," he responded quickly—too quickly in Lina's opinion. "It's just . . ." he trailed off.
"It's just . . ." she prompted.
The silence stretched out. Gourry's eyes burned into her, and she could actually see him considering and choosing his words carefully, although she had no idea why he felt the need. "He's never taken matters into hand," he finally offered.
For the briefest of moments, she considered asking him how he could be so sure. It definitely explained some of Amelia's early morning behavior of late. She filed that information away to deal with later. There was something she found much more interesting at the moment. "And you have?" she asked archly.
"I'm a guy," he pointed out, as if that explained everything. She decided not to point out that Zelgadis was also a guy.
"I'm very aware of that," she said huskily, with slight emphasis on the 'very.' "What I want to know," she continued slowly as her hand snaked around his neck, "is if you thought about me."
She expected him to blush. She wanted to see him blush. Instead, the burn of his blue eyes became even more intense, and a wicked smile bloomed on his lips. "Do you want me to describe them?" he challenged.
It was not what she expected, but curiosity burgeoned. For years, he had managed to fully convince her that he thought of her as some kid sister. The fact that yogurt-for-brains Gourry had been able to do that still rankled. She wanted to know what he had been hiding. "Yes," she said simply, issuing her own challenge.
Something shifted in his eyes. Again, she could see him considering. She almost held her breath, half wondering if she was going to hear some tasteless broken rendition.
Then he started speaking. Although his words were simple, they were neither halting nor tasteless. And although it was brief, there was nothing gentle about the fantasy of seduction he shared with her. His eyes held her while his voice surrounded her, evoking images and sensations that made her breathing quicken and her flesh yearn for the translation of his words into reality. When he finished, he brushed her hair out of her eyes. "You seem flushed," he said softly through a predatory grin. "Was it something I said?"
She struggled to pull herself into some semblance of control, while her body screamed at her, demanding some sort of outlet for release. All that just from listening to him.
"Want to hear another?" he asked, as his predatory grin transformed into something more feral. Something dangerous.
Against her will, she gasped in panic, unsure what another one of those would do to her in her current state. She pushed against him, trying to get some space, some air, anything to help her come to terms with the surprising degree of power he had over her—to give her the time to turn that power to her own advantage. Gourry's arms tightened around her, a clear sign that he had no intention of showing any mercy.
"How 'bout tomorrow, then?" he asked. "Give us something to do on the road."
She had not thought it was possible to feel any more turned on than she already was. The thought of Gourry's voice spinning a fantasy as they walked along a gravel road . . . the added spice of danger if Zel or Amelia happened to hear . . . She struggled in his arms, this time not in an attempt to increase space, but to grind herself against his body, even as she glared at him. "You wouldn't," she hissed.
Something flared in his eyes, and she knew she had made a terrible mistake. "Tell you what," he said calmly enough while all her instincts screamed at her that it was a trap. "I won't tell you another on the road, tomorrow," he continued, "but I want something in return."
There it was: the bait. She could see it clear enough, although not the full trap. Not yet. "What do you want?" she asked cautiously.
He shrugged casually, but there was nothing casual about the look in his eyes. "Oh, I don't know," he said guilelessly. "How 'bout a future request?"
"What kind of 'future request'?"
"Oh, no," he said with a hint of laughter. "That's not part of the terms."
Damn him. The last time he had decided to play guessing games, she had spent the good part of one day driven to distraction. "I'll agree," she said slowly, trying to buy time and leverage, "if you promise not to ever tell me one on the road."
"No deal," he responded firmly.
"But, Gourry—" she protested.
"Nope," he insisted. "My terms or none."
She glared at him while she swore internally. If she refused to agree, he would attack her tomorrow. He may seem like he had the retentive powers of a sieve, but she knew this was one of those stupid things he was going to remember. Was it worth promising a future request? What could Gourry possibly want from her at this point that he did not already have? It would probably be some minor little thing, like a promise to not levitate him or something . . . so she should just go ahead and make the deal, since she obviously had the advantage . . .
She looked into his eyes, and the words of assent died in the back of her throat. "No deal," she said with finality.
He shrugged in response. "Suit yourself," he said nonchalantly. Instead of looking disappointed, he looked . . . eager. Like she had thrown down the gauntlet, and he was now enthusiastically planning his response.
Lina swore under her breath and extricated herself from his arms. This time he let her go easily enough. She glanced at The Menagerie and swore again, trying to resign herself to the fact that she was going to have to let Zel read it as is. She closed the book with a loud thump and then snatched up her cloak.
"Where are you going?" Gourry asked curiously when she opened the door.
"Bandit hunting," Lina responded shortly. She had the overpowering urge to fireball something into oblivion.
"Now?" he asked incredulously. "You realize it's freezing out there," he pointed out.
"You don't have to come," she purred over her shoulder as she stepped out into the hallway.
"Like hell," she heard him growl as she closed the door and ran for the stairs.
A grin split her face as she raced out into the frigid night. Finally. It was about time she got the upper hand with him!
With a practiced twist of his wrist, Gourry flicked most of the blood off his sword before sheathing it. As long as he had been with Lina, it never ceased to amaze him how easily she always seemed to find bandit gangs to beat up. It was like she had some special bandit sense or something. Tonight had been no exception. As far as bandit gangs went, this one was pretty third rate. The only thing that made them a bit unique was the fact that they had an interesting underground cave complex as their lair. The walls were still radiating heat from Lina's many fireballs, making it quite comfortable inside.
Which made the fact that his arms were prickled in gooseflesh that much weirder.
"How deep do you suppose it goes?" Lina asked. She held a ball of light in one hand and peered down the corridor. It was hard to say which Lina enjoyed more: looting bandits or frying them to a crisp; it was definitely a toss-up.
Gourry shrugged. "Probably quite a ways. We didn't see any backlash from your fireballs."
Lina gave him a very direct look, her eyes narrowing. "That's rather astute of you, Gourry," she said in a tone that was halfway between frank disbelief and grudging respect.
"Give me some credit, will ya?" he shot back sharply. Then he flashed her a grin, hoping that would take some of the sting out of his words. He had not intended that to come out so harshly. He moved closer to the heat radiating from the walls, hoping that would solve the problem. Maybe he was just coming down with something. The gods knew he had been running short on sleep and heavy on adrenaline the past few days.
With a shrug of her own, Lina dismissed the exchange and headed down the corridor. Gourry followed along, all his senses straining to try to perceive what was bothering him about this cave. It was almost like they were being watched by an enemy; it had the same intensity he associated with an imminent attack, but the sense of animosity was distinctly missing. The feeling of one without the other was distinctly disturbing. Most of the opponents they encountered either lacked the skill to mask their presence, or were skilled enough to mask it entirely. It meant that he lacked the proper cues to size up whoever it was, and that was rather unsettling.
After walking for a while, they turned a corner and the narrow passageway expanded out into a medium-sized chamber. Lina launched her ball of light to the ceiling to illuminate the entire room, and suddenly, the sense of being watched was gone entirely.
They seemed to be in some kind of multi-purpose room. A side of beef hung from a hook fastened to the cavern wall, next to a random assortment of pots and pans. Nearby were crates that appeared to hold various foodstuffs. On the opposite side, there was a collection of weapons and armor that looked like it had been quickly pawed through—probably when the bandits armed themselves to face the two of them. The center of the room contained random piles of stuff interspersed with highly polished lacquer cabinets. The range of items in the random piles was rather impressive for a third-rate band. There were rolls of rugs, sacks of grain, bales of wool, silk, and fur, stacks of copper ingots, and a couple of smaller piles of jade and amber. There was actually quite a bit of wealth in the room, but it was not the high-value compact-type of treasure Lina typically preferred.
Gourry made his way over to the weapons, and started to rack the swords, testing the grip and balance of each one as a matter of course, while Lina floated over to one of the cabinets, absently tearing a large chunk off a loaf of brown bread on her way. Most of the swords seemed rather average: suitable for third-rate mercenaries who neither knew how nor cared to maintain their equipment. A couple of the axes were high quality—or would have been if someone had bothered to keep them rust free. Gourry shook his head in disgust. One of the swords was smaller, and looked like it might be a good size for Lina. Not that he would let her use such a decidedly inferior blade: the balance was closer to the tip of the blade instead of at the tang, which was also off-center in the hilt. He racked the sword anyways, even though it probably was more deserving of a slagheap. Lina was better off with the dagger she currently carried. Once they got to Seyruun, though, he fully intended to have something made for her.
"Find anything," she asked around a mouthful of something.
Gourry looked up and noticed that she was now munching on a thick wedge of cheese. "You mean in this pile of junk," he hooked a thumb in the direction of the weapons, "or in that hidden nook you're standing on?" he asked casually.
Her glare was so adorably murderous, he had a hard time maintaining his own bland expression. For so long, getting a rise out of her had been the only strong emotion he had been able to elicit . . . and annoying the hell out of her had kept him firmly in the safe big-brother-type category. As happy as he was to have shed that role, old habits died hard.
Suddenly, her expression shifted to blend pure annoyance with surprise and careful consideration. He had to admit, he loved reading Lina's expressions: there was always so much there to see and interpret. "Can you teach me that?" she asked as she dropped to her knees and ran her fingers over the floor. Within moments, she was digging her fingers into a crevasse that had been filled with grey dirt that generally matched the cavern floor.
"Teach you what?" he asked in confusion. As much as he enjoyed reading her expressions, they never gave him enough to follow along when she decided to shift the conversation. He had no idea what she was asking. It was not like she needed help annoying people . . .
Lina rocked back on her heels, her annoyance clearly back at full strength. "Why is it," she bit out from between clenched teeth, "that you have no problem seeing all the little details in a room," she gestured down at the hidden niche he had pointed out, "but you can't seem to follow a simple conversation?" Her frustration was almost a palpable thing.
"Oh, that," he replied, deliberately ignoring her outburst and picking up a mail hauberk to hang it on one of the armor pegs. Could he teach her something like that?
"Gourry!" she shouted his name sharply as she jumped to her feet, clearly goaded beyond all patience—not that she ever had much to begin with.
He held up a hand, "I don't know," he shot back, his own patience uncharacteristically snapping. How was he supposed to be able to think with her interrupting like that? "I'm trying to . . ." he trailed off trying to imagine not being able to notice all the little details that made up the whole. For some reason, it made him think of some of the games he had played with his brothers as a child . . . Then he smiled. Drawing his sword, he turned to face her, slipping easily into a stance. "What's my next move?" he asked her.
Her eyes narrowed. "What's that got—"
"What's my next move?" he interrupted.
She sighed. "Step left, upwards strike under the guard," she replied, sounding resigned.
He smiled at her, and subtly shifted his stance. "How about now?" he asked.
"Gourry—"
"How about now?" he repeated, cutting her off again.
Lina opened her mouth. Then closed it. Something flickered behind her eyes, and he could see her thinking, considering. "Parry to the right?" she finally offered.
"How do you know?" he asked, holding his stance.
"'Cause your weight is slightly more on your right side," she answered, "and you just showed me this move yesterday."
Gourry dropped out of his stance and easily sheathed his sword. "I'm already teaching you," he said. "It's the exact same idea, you just need to pull back your focus." There was more to it than that, but she had to start somewhere.
She chewed at her lip, studying him.
He shook his head. "Too focused," he said. "You need to see a lot more than me."
"I know," she said softly, her eyes going distant as they typically did when she turned inward.
Gourry felt her shift, back toward the more dangerous mood that had already come upon her once this evening. Once again, he forced himself not to ask the questions he wanted to ask. He knew she did not yet have the right answers. "If it'll help," he said, hoping it would be enough of a distraction, "we can work on your focus more deliberately next time we spar. In the meantime, you can just rely on me to see things."
"Yeah," she sourly, "and you'll tell me about them when you know it'll annoy me the most," she groused as she dropped back to her knees to work on the stone that covered the hidden niche. "I still can't decide if you do it on purpose or if your timing is just my rotten luck," she muttered.
Gourry decided to ignore that, too. He turned back to the unruly pile of armor and picked up another hauberk, half-wondering why he was bothering. But really, he knew. A mercenary's life depended on his gear. Even mediocre gear deserved better treatment that being left scattered on a dirty floor. As he picked up a brigandine, something round fell from it, disappearing into the pile. He tossed the brigandine onto a hook and rooted through the pile until he found the object. It was fairly thin and circular, and small enough to fit easily into the palm of his hand. From the weight, it seemed to be some type of metal that had been coated with black enamel. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was actually two pieces attached on a swivel. He pushed at one of the sides, revealing that it was some type of mirror inside. What surprised him was that as he swiveled the top open, the black enamel started to glow gold where it no longer overlapped with the bottom mirror piece. When it was fully open, the top piece glowed entirely gold. As he swiveled it shut, the gold receded, until it was completely closed and completely black.
He turned to show it to Lina. She was still struggling with the stone that covered the hidden niche. "Take a look at this," he said, handing her the mirror. While her attention was focused on it, he ran his fingers along the edges of the stone until he found the latch point. A slight pressure was all that was required, and he was able to easily pull the stone up.
It was hard to tell if she was more annoyed that he had opened the niche so easily or was more excited to see what was in it. She handed him the mirror and eagerly pulled a small crushed grey velvet bag out of the hole. It quickly became obvious that grey was not its natural color, but instead came from a thick coating of dirt. Lina upended the bag, and out slid a small statuette. She picked it up and held it to the light.
"Huh," she said in surprise. "Is it just me or doesn't it look a lot like—"
"Yeah," he interrupted. "It does look like her, doesn't it? They even got the pose right."
"I guess it's not too surprising," Lina said slowly. "After all, we are in Seyruun . . ."
They both studied the statuette that seemed a perfect replica of Amelia in one of her justice poses.
"Are you gonna give it to her?" Gourry asked after a few moments.
Lina gave him a sharp-toothed grin. "I'll show it to her," she said, "but as for giving . . . it's made of orihalcon," she pointed out.
"So?" he asked.
"So?!" she echoed, her voice going up an octave. "Orihalcon is incredibly rare, and incredibly valuable. You should know this by now!"
He reached over and ruffled her hair. "Unlike some people I know," he commented with a smile, "I don't have this urge to know everything. Besides, you know enough for the two of us."
Unexpectedly, it completely took the wind out of her burgeoning tirade. She slipped the statue back into the dirty velvet pouch and then gave him a look filled with exasperation and affection. "You are such a jellyfish, you know that?"
"C'mon," he said, standing up and holding a hand out to help her up. "Let's finish this so we can get back before dawn."
"Here," Lina said flatly, dropping a heavy leather-bound book on the table in front of him. He noticed that she kept one hand on it, a clear signal of possessiveness.
"Finally," he growled, ignoring her hand and reaching for the book.
Before he could claim it, she leaned her entire weight on the flat of her hand resting on the cover.
"I'll take good care of it," he said reproachfully, keeping his hand on the book and looking at her questioningly. He was really not in the mood for Lina and her antics this morning. He had come to enjoy the casual banter he shared with Amelia in the evenings, but last night . . . her accusation hung between them, and he was not sure how to make it go away without compromising himself. "I'll give it back as soon as I'm done with it," he added, hoping that would be enough of a sop to satisfy her.
"See that you do," she said intently, slowly pulling her hand away. "Have you seen Amelia?"
"I think she's still in the baths," he said vaguely as he flipped the cover of the book.
He was barely aware of the sharp look Lina gave him. "Gourry and I are going to spar for a bit before breakfast," she told him before leaving him alone with the book that claimed his attention.
At first glance it was exactly as Lina had described it: a simple bestiary. He flipped through the pages, noting the various types of creatures that were catalogued. It struck him as a bit odd that the author would title the work The Menagerie, but then have no discernable pattern . . . typically a menagerie was built around some type of organizing principle, whether it was exotic animals, or creatures who lived in water, or whatever. What sort of category could include ants, garter snakes, and whales, just to name a few of the more normal creatures described in the book. It also included golems, wer-creatures, and lesser dragons and demons, all jumbled in no discernable order. Zel wondered if the title was actually the author's or if it had been added later by some unknown copyist.
He flipped back to the beginning of the book, looking for some sort of introductory page or dedication that would provide some clue to the book's date and provenance. Unfortunately, there was nothing, not even a title page, and nothing in the back, either. The script was a perfectly legible book hand, although some of the letters were a bit wavy-looking. It looked a bit like the script favored by scribes in the southern part of Ralteague about seven hundred years ago, but not exactly. Even though the script looked old, the book itself was in really good condition, and the ink was still crisp.
The only other thing he noticed was that the book seemed to have a lot of marginalia, especially compared to other manuscripts he had looked at. Nearly every page was filled with text that obviously came from different hands.
Zel sighed to himself. He had hoped to find some sort of credentials to indicate whether or not the author was credible, but so far, there was nothing about the physical characteristics of the book to provide any clues whatsoever. The only thing left was to read through it, cover to cover. If only Lina had given him the book last night, he would likely be finished with it by now. As it was, he would probably only be able to read a few pages before they left.
He had just finished reading the first entry when Amelia joined him, looking very groggy. He knew that she had been feigning sleep most of the night. She ordered a double-black coffee and the breakfast special in a listless voice and then stared off into space. It was quite the contrast from her typical early morning cheerfulness. He found himself watching her instead of taking the opportunity to read. If she noticed his attention, she gave no sign. When her order arrived, she gulped at her coffee, grimacing at the bitter taste, and then proceeded to mechanically dump in several spoonfuls of sweetener.
"Are you okay, Amelia?" he asked, hoping he could get her to talk to him. It was so unlike her to hold a grudge.
She stared at the heaping mound of sweetener in her spoon for several seconds before dumping it into her cup and stirring. "Just tired," she finally offered. She took another swig of her coffee and grimaced again. "How you can manage to drink this stuff is beyond me," she grumbled.
"You don't have to drink it, you know," he pointed out.
Her head snapped up, and she looked at him for the first time since sitting down at the table. "Don't you dare patronize me," she declared angrily.
"Believe me," he said as evenly as he could, "that was not my intent." He felt like he had entered some sort of alternate reality. Amelia seemed to be channeling Lina in all her early-morning surliness. "I've just never seen you drink coffee," he continued mildly.
Amelia wrinkled her nose and then gave him a shadow of her normal sunny smile. "I thought the caffeine would help clear my head." She fell silent, picked up her fork and started poking absently at the eggs and sausages on her plate. "Did you know that Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry went bandit hunting last night?" she asked.
He shook his head, wondering at the change of topic.
"I'm not sure how she's doing it," Amelia continued as she pushed her food around. "It's not like Miss Lina to take early morning baths on a regular basis." She looked up again to meet his eyes. "I think she's still having nightmares."
"She's not the only one, is she?" he asked softly. He knew Amelia was having nightmares—although he suspected there were other dreams mixed in there as well—since he was sharing a room with her. Several times, she had awoken with a gasp, but she always rolled back over and seemed to fall asleep again almost immediately.
"I keep seeing them . . ." She swallowed convulsively and then pushed her plate decisively toward the center of the table. "Things like that aren't supposed to be able to happen in Seyruun," she declared angrily. "The blood of the innocent cries out for justice!"
Zelgadis stared at her plate and considered pointing out that the attack had not happened in Seyruun, but held his silence. Technically speaking, the bridge at least had been a part of Seyruun's territory. He wondered which was more significant: the violence against the family, or the destruction of the bridge. The former certainly had a much stronger emotional impact, but he could not shake the feeling that the remains of the family had been left to distract from what had been done to the bridge. He knew that Lina had certainly been interested in the bridge, but due to Gourry's vigilance, he had not yet had the opportunity to broach the subject with her.
Amelia stood up. "Do you know where Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry are?" she asked.
"Lina said something about sparring," he said absently.
"Well, I hope they hurry up," she declared. "We're not going to make very good progress today if we don't get moving soon."
As she headed toward the back of the inn, Zelgadis found himself wondering why he kept staring at Amelia's plate. She had poked and pushed at her food so much that the eggs and sausages had kind of blended together, leaving an unappealing hodgepodge of yellow and brown.
A slow smile spread over his face as the realization hit him. He was actually hungry! The need for food occurred so infrequently, it always took him a while to recognize the sensation. With a gesture, he signaled the waitress and ordered a meal that would have made Lina and Gourry proud.
His order arrived just as Lina and Gourry entered the common room, their faces rosy from exertion in the chill air. Lina's eyebrow rose at the sight of him enthusiastically tucking into his meal, but she gave no other indication that she was surprised to see him doing more than sipping coffee as was his wont.
"Did you finish the book already?" she asked after placing her own breakfast order.
Zel paused mid-bite. "I'm not that fast," he pointed out. "Although, if you'd given it to me last night, I could've had it back to you by now."
Lina shrugged dismissively. "I'm just surprised you're not reading," she said casually.
"Even I get hungry, sometimes," he replied.
"Sometimes?" Lina asked with a snort. "More like almost never." Something flickered in her eyes. "Why is that, do you suppose?" she asked curiously.
It was his turn to shrug. "I've never really thought about it," he replied casually. Quite frankly, he was so grateful when it did occur, he had never thought to question the why of it. When he felt this way, he could almost taste the food he ate. It was a luxury not to be wasted.
"I'd expect an answer like that out of Gourry," she said scathingly. "Not you, Zel."
"Huh?" Gourry asked, apparently pulled into the conversation by his name.
"Nothing, bait-for-brains," Lina responded acidly.
With a shrug, Gourry's attention wandered off. It never ceased to amaze Zelgadis how quickly Gourry could go from oblivious to intently focused and back again. Despite his size, it was easy to dismiss him as a threat—right up to the point where Gourry pulled out his sword. Then, every instinct screamed danger. He wondered if it was an attitude Gourry deliberately cultivated, or if it was something natural. Like camouflage.
"How do you expect to find your cure," Lina asked slowly, her tone still scathing, "if you don't even understand your condition? Are you just wandering the world, hoping that reading some random passage in some random book will miraculously provide you the information you need?"
Zelgadis swallowed with difficulty, remembering Amelia's accusation the night before. He had never questioned his methods before, but when phrased like that it was—
"Let the man eat in peace, Lina," Gourry interrupted. "If you keep harassing him like that, you won't be able to get him to talk to you for the rest of the day."
Unaccountably, Lina blanched. "Gourry," she said plaintively, "you promised!"
"I did no such thing, Lina," he answered equably. "You're the one who—"
"Look, our food!" Lina interrupted as a waitress struggled out of the kitchen bearing a heavily laden tray.
"Are you and Mr. Gourry fighting?" Amelia finally asked. She had not really noticed earlier, since most of her attention had been on maintaining the personal heating spell Lina had developed while slogging through the snow that had started soon after they had set out. Thankfully, the snow had been fairly light, and it had stopped by lunch time.
"No," Lina responded quickly, darting a nervous glance at Gourry, "what makes you think that?"
"Well, you've been avoiding him all day," Amelia pointed out. Lina had spent most of the afternoon flitting between her and Zelgadis.
"That's absurd," Lina replied confidently, but Amelia caught the fleeting panicked look she tossed in Gourry's direction.
"Is it?" Amelia pressed.
"You know, I've been thinking," Lina responded quickly. "How much do you think Zel understands about his current body?"
It was a patently obvious attempt to change the subject. Unfortunately, it was also a topic Amelia had been spending more and more time thinking about of late, although probably not the way Lina meant. "Well, we know that his body is a chimera combining human, stone golem, and brow demons."
Lina waved her hand impatiently. "I meant aside from the obvious stuff," she said dismissively. "He has heightened physical characteristics: enhanced speed, stamina and strength; he has heightened magical abilities; he can only be wounded by magic or demon-kind—" Lina broke off, and looked at Zelgadis speculatively. "How many of those characteristics do you think he's willing to give up?" she asked softly.
"What do you mean?" Amelia asked.
"Well," Lina responded slowly, "would you be willing to give up your ability to use magic?"
"Of course I would!" Amelia declared. "As long as it was in the cause of justice!"
Lina turned the speculative look on her then. "Maybe that was a bad example," she murmured. "But take Zel," she continued undaunted. "He prides himself as being a 'heartless mystical swordsman.' Do you think he would have any noteworthy skill without the speed and strength of his current body? Could he live with just being a mediocre human with no special skill?" She looked directly at Amelia, holding her eyes. "Do you really think he'd be willing to give up all of that, if it meant being human?"
"But he wants to be cured so badly," Amelia pointed out. "It's practically an obsession."
"I know," Lina said softly, her eyes staring off into space. "I think he wants to have it all," she finally murmured after a significant pause. "He's not the only one," she added a moment later in a hushed whisper.
Out of the corner of her eye, Amelia saw Gourry suddenly focus his attention on them, a sure sign that Lina's mood had shifted closer to something dangerous. Amelia nudged Lina to get her attention. "Did you know that Mr. Gourry is always watching over you?" she asked, hoping it would be enough to distract her friend.
Much to her surprise, it seemed to work. "Well, he is my protector, after all," Lina replied easily enough.
"Are you really going to let him follow you around like this for the rest of his life?" Amelia asked.
"'Let'?" she echoed.
"You know what I mean," Amelia responded, ignoring the warning. "It's not just to keep him following—"
"Gourry and I are perfectly content with the way things are between us right now," Lina replied. The warning was even more explicit.
"But he loves you!" Amelia declared.
"You think I don't know that?" Lina demanded in a low undertone.
"Why can't you just admit—"
"Not everything works out the way it does in the stories, Amelia."
"But if you accept the love in your heart, justice is sure to prevail!" Amelia declared. Just that simple statement made her feel happier than she had in days. Unfortunately, the feeling faded as quickly as the sound of her words.
"Didn't work that way for Luke and Milina," Lina countered softly.
"Who?"
"You never met them, I think," Lina replied. "Gourry and I traveled with them for a few months after the incident with Hellmaster."
"Is that when Mr. Gourry got his new sword?" Amelia asked.
"Yup!" Lina declared with a cheerfulness that was at striking odds with her earlier brooding. "So how are things going with you and Zel?"
Amelia stared at the leafless trees that lined their path, and then swallowed hard. The bare branches reaching to the heavens made her think of skeletal fingers stripped of flesh by carrion. "Okay, I guess," she finally offered, shaking her head. She had seen death before. Why was she having such a hard time dealing with the memory this time?
Lina stopped suddenly, grabbing Amelia's elbow and turning her forcefully to look her in the eye. "Is he hurting you?" she asked intently.
Amelia gaped at her, and then struggled to suppress a shudder. In the gray overcast, Lina's eyes looked almost black. Amelia shook her head slowly, willing herself to give no indication of the fear that had suddenly spiked through her. "Miss Lina—"
Lina's grip on her elbow tightened, and her eyes seemed to turn even darker. "I love you like a sister, Amelia, and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. Not even him."
"Miss Lina—" Amelia repeated, trying to figure out how to respond. She had the strongest feeling that the wrong answer would not only make Lina turn on Zelgadis, but her as well. "It's not—"
"Mind if I talk with Lina for a moment," Gourry asked, startling them both. Neither woman had heard him approach.
"Sure—" Amelia started to say, grateful for the interruption.
"I'm gonna scout ahead," Lina announced, cutting her off mid-sentence. Without waiting for a reply, she rose from the ground and sped off before them.
"Are you okay?" Gourry asked, although most of his attention was on Lina's rapidly receding figure.
"What's wrong with her?" Amelia asked softly. "Why's she avoiding you? Are you fighting?" Suddenly, Zelgadis's concerns about traveling with Lina felt like they had significantly more substance.
Gourry smiled easily enough, although there was something in his eyes she was not used to seeing, something she could not exactly interpret. "No, we're not fighting," he replied casually. "It's just a game."
"A game?" Amelia echoed, unconvinced. There was something rather desperate about the way Lina had just fled. "Like 'Tag'? Or something else?"
"'Tag'?" he echoed, sounding distracted as he looked down the path. Then he turned to look directly at Amelia. "Yeah, something like that," he agreed.
Amelia finally recognized the look in his eyes. It was the look of a hunter who was chasing after challenging and dangerous quarry. Her fears evaporated immediately, and she felt a bit chagrinned that she had doubted him, even for a moment.
"She's got enough of a head start, don't you think?" he asked. Without waiting for a response, he starting running in the direction Lina had gone.
"Good luck, Mr. Gourry!" Amelia shouted after him, feeling much better than she had in days. He raised a hand to acknowledge her and then he picked up speed and disappeared around a bend.
"What was that all about," Zelgadis asked, looking up from the book he was reading, the one Lina had given him that morning. He had pulled it out as soon as the snow had stopped.
"Apparently they're playing some sort of game," Amelia offered.
"Not that," Zelgadis replied impatiently, "I meant when Lina grabbed you."
Amelia gave him a very direct look, considering her words. "She asked me if you were hurting me," she finally said, keeping her tone matter-of-fact.
It was almost imperceptible, but she caught his slight wince.
"I didn't tell her that I'm the one who hurt you," Amelia continued. She had accused him of keeping secrets, an accusation that had hung uncomfortably between them—that she had allowed to hang between them since the previous evening. Her advice to Lina applied just as much to her own situation. "I don't like the fact that you haven't asked me for help, but I should have found a more constructive way to communicate that to you."
Zelgadis was silent for a long moment, his expression inscrutable. Then he closed his book and put it in his pack before facing her. "No," he finally said, "I'm the one who should apologize. I've been railing about Lina keeping secrets, while holding tight to my own." He sighed inaudibly. "I'm a selfish bastard, Amelia." He held up his hand to forestall her when she opened her mouth to interrupt. "I want what I want when I want it." He laughed then, a short bark of sound with no mirth. "And I pretty much always got what I wanted, too."
Amelia held her breath, not daring to interrupt at this point, and schooled her features so that they would not betray the giddy feeling burgeoning in her heart. He was finally taking that first step, beyond the inconsequential personal, to actually open himself up to her, to show her a bit of his soul. She wanted to leap to the top of the nearest tree and sing to share her jubilation. Instead, she waited for him to continue.
"Did you know that I actually managed to piss Gourry off the other day?" he asked softly.
Amelia shook her head, slightly, confused at the shift in the conversation. Had she missed something? It seemed like such a non sequitur.
Zelgadis winced. "I asked him pretty directly if he was sleeping with Lina." He paused, and then coughed slightly. "Actually, it was a bit more blunt than that."
"But, I thought you said—"
"I still want what I want, and I'll use any method to get what I want," he interrupted. "The thing is," he continued softly, as he tentatively reached for her hand, "at that moment, I wanted what you want. I wanted to get a straight answer about their relationship—not for me, but because you wanted it."
The giddy feeling transformed into exultation, and she blinked rapidly against the tears she could feel coming to her eyes. It was a baby step, to be sure. But he would not be Zelgadis if he suddenly proclaimed his feelings for her from the highest point. She offered him a watery smile and squeezed his hand.
There was just one thing that confused her. "Did you say Mr. Gourry was actually angry?" she asked incredulously.
Whatever response he was going to offer was interrupted by the faint sound of an explosion from up ahead.
Despite the chill in the air, Gourry felt a trickle of sweat run down his spine. He had easily hit his stride and was running effortlessly along the path, chasing after Lina. It was too good an opening to pass up, after she had willingly separated herself from Zel and Amelia. He had to admit, Lina was very good at running and eluding capture. The gods knew she had enough practice. He had lost count of the number of towns they had been chased out of over the years. It definitely felt good to be the one on the chase, instead of fleeing a mob of angry people bent on retribution. And he had a distinct advantage over all those mobs: he knew her patterns. If he had judged correctly, she should have turned off the path somewhere around here . . .
There! His eyes caught the unmistakable glint of a copper hair, caught on a tree-branch as she had pushed through the underbrush. He had to give her credit: it looked like she had made an effort to leave little evidence of her path. Only now that he knew what he was looking for could he see the indentation left by her boot there, the broken branch that had impeded her progress here. A grin split his face. She typically did not go to such lengths, counting on speed and stamina to evade her pursuers. But then again, speed and stamina were not going to help her much against him.
This time, he sacrificed stealth for speed. She knew he was chasing her, so there would be no surprising her. Besides, as he had told Amelia, the game this time was more in the nature of tag, rather than surprise assault. Speed was much more suitable for this type of game.
Once again, he found her in a tiny clearing, but that was the only similarity between this chase and the last time he had pursued her through a wilderness. This clearing was clearly artificial, with a smooth stone floor inhibiting the creep of the forest. And this time she was ready for him. "Stop right there," she growled as he rustled through the underbrush. Her hands were held at one side, and he could see the glowing sphere they cradled. "I've got a fireball here with your name on it, and I'm not afraid to use it," she declared.
It was a rather impressive-looking fireball, he had to admit. If she launched it, even if he managed to dodge it, it looked like it would turn the underbrush into a raging inferno. Fortunately, he had other options available to him. With a feral grin, Gourry drew his sword.
Lina blanched and then gave a panicked look to her right. Her eyes had not even flicked back toward him when she unerringly launched the fireball in his direction.
Still grinning, Gourry stepped into the fireball, slicing it cleanly apart with his sword. Instantly, the flames dissipated into nothing, but she had immediately followed up with another. He had not been expecting that, and he only just barely corrected his follow-through swing to intersect it just as it exploded in his face. Fortunately, his sword took in the majority of the energy, giving him just enough time to react to Lina's next volley. Her speed was impressive, because he could see a string of fireballs approaching him: with every flick of her wrist, another one launched at full speed. As he stepped closer to her, using his sword as a shield, she changed tactics. Instead of launching the next set directly at him, she started throwing erratically. He had to juke and dodge to hit them all before they reached the edge of the clearing.
As he turned to face her again, he realized that her tactic had been to distract him just long enough to get in another spell. She hovered off the ground, just out of his reach, surrounded by a shield of wind. Not only was she out of reach, the shield would prevent her from effectively hearing anything he might say, even if he shouted. He could see her smug grin as her eyes dared him to come up with an appropriate counter.
Gourry maintained his stance as he circled around her, assessing the twisting and writhing pattern of the wind. She rotated along with him, waiting for his next move, confident that she had the upper hand. But if he had guessed right, the tables were about to turn dramatically.
Before she realized what he was doing, he thrust his sword precisely into the swirling wind. There was a sudden loud whooshing sound, and then the barrier surrounding her disappeared. He could hear her quickly chant the spell for levitation, but she had been too close and too unprepared for his counter. He caught her by the ankle and was able to drag her down, pinning her to his side.
"Tag," he said smugly.
She glared at him, and then glared at his sword. "That was a dirty trick," she growled.
"You're only saying that because it worked," he replied. "Your feint was pretty good, there at the opening. And the second fireball definitely took me by surprise. Good strategy," he said approvingly.
"Not good enough," she groused.
"We'll just have to practice harder," he countered.
"Is that why you're here?" she asked with false cheeriness. "To practice sparring?"
Gourry gave her his best vacuous and clueless look, the one that drove her crazy.
To his surprise, her reaction was not to screech and flail at him. "If that's the case, put me down, Gourry, and let's get to it," she said, all business. "Practice makes perfect, right?"
"Oh, no, my lady," he said softly, almost in a croon. He knew that feral gleam was back in his eye, particularly when he saw the wary look in hers. "I'm here because I made you a promise." With a practiced flick of his wrist, he launched his sword at the ground. It sunk up to the hilt as if the stone were soft butter. He gave Lina an appraising look. "You were going all-out, weren't you?" He had expected the sword to only penetrate the ground about halfway up the blade, not all the way to the hilt.
A shrug was her only response.
He sat down tailor style next to his sword, and pulled Lina onto his lap. "Now, where was I?" he asked disingenuously.
"About to let me go?" Lina prompted, although she spoke in a husky tone that almost masked her annoyance.
Gourry took a deep breath. "How about—"
"I don't flippin' believe it!" a strange voice proclaimed from behind them. The voice was not loud, but it sounded like whoever was speaking was right on top of them. "The old bat was actually right!"
Lina launched herself to her feet. Gourry was right behind her, snatching up his sword, which released from the ground as easily as it had penetrated, leaving a deep fissure in the otherwise smooth rock.
They both scanned the forest for the source of the voice. Gourry nudged Lina when he noticed a strange distortion in the branches of the tree above them. As they both watched, the distortion resolved itself into the shape of a child of about eight or ten years. The clothing and hairstyle suggested that the child was a boy, but Gourry had the strongest feeling that the child was actually female.
Effortlessly, she dropped from the tree to the ground before them, and then sank into a low bow. "My lord Kušuh," she said reverently. "My lady Šauška."
Gourry and Lina stared at her, then at each other, and then back at her.
"I—I think you have us confused with someone else," Lina said cautiously.
The girl straightened at that point. "If you help us, we'll offer you free lodging and all the food you can eat."
"Deal!" Lina practically shouted.
"Then there is no mistake," the girl said with an impish grin. "If you'll follow me this way, my lord, my lady," she gestured toward the underbrush behind her.
Rustling from the direction of the main path caught all their attention, although Gourry noticed that the girl interspersed her body between the two of them and the sound, spreading her arms wide. There was a funny ripple in the air.
"How did you—" Lina started to ask.
"I could've sworn I just heard Miss Lina." Amelia's familiar voice was tinged with worry, even as she tried to sound encouraging.
"It's clear that someone passed this way recently," Zelgadis commented in response, "but I don't see any evidence of fire or scorch marks."
Zel and Amelia pushed into the clearing at that point. Gourry started to raise his hand to wave at them, but stopped in confusion. Based on their actions, it seemed that all Zel and Amelia saw was an empty clearing.
He glanced over at Lina, but most of her attention was focused on the girl. Slowly, she reached out her hand and touched her on the shoulder.
"Don't flippin' interrupt!" the girl burst out, and Gourry saw the funny ripple appear for a split second. "Squik," she said softly with a sigh.
"Who's there?" Zelgadis demanded, pulling his sword from its sheath with a steely hiss.
"It's okay," Lina said softly, "these are our friends."
The girl hesitated momentarily, and then lowered her arms. The air rippled yet again, and suddenly Zel and Amelia were gaping at the three of them.
"What the—" Zel burst out.
Lina ignored them, and focused all her attention on the girl. "These are our friends," she repeated. "Can they come too?"
The girl appraised Zelgadis and Amelia, her brow furrowing. "They weren't mentioned at all," she said slowly. "That means the flippin' hag wasn't completely right!" she exclaimed happily. "Your friends, you said?" she asked looking at Lina. "Of course they can come! All are welcome to the Arma Gimas!"
"Arma . . . Gimas . . .?" Lina echoed slowly.
The girl shook her head. "You'll have to talk to Tesha. She'll explain everything you need to know," she said apologetically. "Probably in more detail than you want," she added in an undertone.
"What exactly is going on here?" Zelgadis demanded.
"This girl asked for our help—" Lina began.
"Then it is our duty to help!" Amelia declared enthusiastically. Gourry noticed that she seemed happier than he had seen her look in days. "Lead onwards . . . um, what did you say your name was again?"
The girl looked slyly at Amelia. "I didn't, but you can call me Ishkallái," she said as she gestured them toward the underbrush. As Gourry watched, there was another ripple, and a path appeared. If the others noticed, they gave no indication. "You know," she said to Amelia as she gestured them down the path, "you should totally enter the look-alike contest. You're a flippin' dead ringer, you could win it easy!" she said enthusiastically. "And I'm so tired of flippin' Inara winning every year," she added in an undertone that Gourry just barely caught as he passed her.
"You sure this is okay?" he heard Zel ask Lina behind him. The girl had waited until they were all on the path before following them. "We heard the sounds of an attack—"
"It'll be fine," Lina cut in. "Besides, she offered us all the food we could eat in exchange for helping. And, do you want to be the one to convince Amelia we should walk away? I haven't seen her look this happy since before . . ." she trailed off.
"The Cylte," Zelgadis said softly.
Gourry swore softly to himself. It had been a few days since Zel had tried to get information out of Lina about what they had found at the Cylte, so he had hoped the other man had dropped the subject. Even without looking over his shoulder, he could feel Lina's mood darken. She had been doing better the past few days, but she still had a tendency to slip into the shadows, and when she did, everyone became a potential enemy in her eyes. "Where are we going, exactly?" he asked over his shoulder, directing his question at the girl.
"To my village, my lord," the girl answered simply as she pushed herself between Zel and Lina and took Lina's arm. Gourry saw Zel mouth 'my lord' in an obvious question, and he shrugged slightly in response. Most of his attention was focused on the girl. He had seen yet another one of those strange ripples appear just as she touched Lina.
"Will you walk with me, my lady?" the girl asked politely. "The path is shadowed, but perhaps I can help you see the light."
A hint of annoyance flickered across Lina's face. "I know where the light is," she muttered. "It's keeping it there that's the problem." She tensed almost imperceptibly and then her gaze flicked quickly at him. Whatever she saw seemed to reassure her. "Maybe you can't tell us about this Arma Gimas," she said with a small sigh, "but surely there must be some things you can share."
While Lina and the girl pushed past him towards Amelia, Gourry fell into step with Zelgadis. "Don't push her," he warned quietly before Zel could launch his own series of questions.
Zel grimaced, but at least he let the topic drop and they walked on in silence that was broken only by the sound of Amelia cheerfully humming and the low patter of conversation between Lina and the girl who had addressed them so strangely.
Updated February 19, 2011