Complications
Lina leaned down to investigate the trampled
ground, she didn't have to take the scent to know that
her prey had been here. Her hair was cut shorter
now, just above shoulder length. She hoped that and
her mode of dress made it difficult to identify her.
The rumor of her death had been everywhere for
a while, but everybody knew that rumors sometimes
weren't true.
"I must have really hurt it last night," Lina
thought, then she flexed her right arm. "Then again I
wasn't so hot earlier either."
It hadn't taken her and Xellos long to decide that
the full moon form would be happy if it was given a
good, tough battle to fight. Lacking that, some decent
hunting for food seemed to keep the battle instincts
down enough that she wouldn't fly off the handle the
first instant she smelled a human being in the area.
Added to this was the fact that she was still trying
to trace Martina.
The lunatic was somewhat difficult to follow.
Apparently she had learned to stay underground during
her time stalking the slayers. This, on both accounts,
is where bounty hunting came in, using the name
Rannaur. It would be somewhat obvious if someone
translated, but the theme was common enough so
anybody that did might not make the connection.
"Maybe I should have asked Xellos along on this
one," that was another developement. Lina didn't like
the idea that she would only be able to spend
time with Xellos on half-remembered nights and
fatigue-filled days. She had appreciated the company
on those nights, but it was about the same as not
seeing him at all.
"I need to talk to him soon, but," Lina looked up
to where the faded moon hung in the darkening blue
sky. Until the sun finished setting it wouldn't
matter, but until them it was an uncomfortable
reminder. "Now's not a good time for that anyway."
"Last night of the full moon, if I don't kill it
this time..." she left the rest unsaid. She wasn't
about to let a prize like a behir get away from
her, but it would be a lot more difficult after this.
"Damn legged snake."
Lina looked to the sun low in the horizon and began
preparing for the change. Stripping down to her skin
and setting her clothes and gear in a neat pile off to
the side, keeping only the amulet Xellos had given
her. She spent the last minute of daylight memorizing
the scent of the place. The changes were getting
easier, she wasn't certain if they actually hurt less
or if she was just getting used to the pain. Whichever
it was, she welcomed it as the change overtook her.
Filia saw Xellos tense and fix a stare off towards
the night. Until now, she had thought it was just her
imagination, but here was definite proof. She paused a
moment in reading Valgarv a story to regard the
oblivious mazoku.
"Wha' nex? Wha' nex?" Valgarv demanded. Filia
shushed him and watched as Xellos finally relaxed
releasing a held breath. He noticed her watching him
and actually seemed embarrassed, she arched an
eyebrow. "Wha' nex mommy?"
"Oh, I'm sorry Val," she said, surprised, and
looked at the book again. She muttered under her
breath before looking down again at the lime green
dragon carving on the cover. "Silly human children's
book."
"Yes, they really give you dragons a bad name don't
they," Xellos cheerfully asked, Filia knew that he was
soaking in the irritation from her. She glared at
him, and noticed again that his attention was away
from her. For the last couple of nights he had been
extremely distracted. She wasn't certain, but thought
it had something to do with his amulet that had
disappeared about a year ago.
Valgarv finally settled down and it was just Filia
and a fidgety Xellos.
"Is something wrong?" He turned to her with his
usual annoying grin.
"What makes you ask that?"
"You keep looking off to the north and fidgetting."
"Just bored I guess," he looked away, north again,
and frowned briefly before his expression returned to
normal.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you have a
lover," Filia sipped her coffee, the caffeine was a
necessity for dealing with the hyperactive dragon
child. He glanced at her and flashed a scowl.
"Don't be silly," then he stood up and walked to
house's wall.
"So if you're so worried about her," she ignored
his not quite denial.
"Why not go check on her. Its not like you can't be
there and back in virtually no time." Xellos sighed
and shook his head. Filia hoped she was right,
recently the mazoku had been treating her like a
child. She almost thought he felt remorse for killing
all those golds ages before and intended to make her
his redemption, but considering he was mazoku it was
probably just to annoy her. It was working.
"She doesn't like help."
"But what if she needs it?" Xellos looked at her a
moment.
"I might not be back for couple of days," he warned
her before vanishing.
"Yes!" Filia declared quietly, but excitedly.
"Xellos is out, Valgarv is asleep. I can get a little
rela.." she started to raise the cup to her lips when.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Filia's human head fell forward
onto the table and she sobbed in frustration twice
before standing up and putting a pleasant expression
on her face.
"I'm coming Val, just a moment," she called
sweetly.
"A green-haired young woman with a strange laugh?"
The mercenary repeated nervously, looking at Gourry's
sword to his throat. "Why is everybody so interested
in her?"
"You've had other inquiries along this line?"
Zelgadis asked as the bandit lair burned around him
and the other two Slayers.
"A bounty hunter first...that new one....small," he
stammered, trying to remember more details.
"cloak....couldn't see the face, got in and out of my
lair without anybody but me knowing."
"When was this?"
"A..a..bout seven months ago."
"Was this bounty hunter a woman or man?" Amelia
asked.
"I couldn't tell," Gourry pushed the sword in a
little further. "I couldn't...the bounty hunter talked
in a whisper...kept to the shadows."
"Who was next?" Gourry asked, Amelia and Zelgadis
blinked, then nodded.
"Right, if the hunter was first, who was next?"
There was a trickling sound and the slayers looked to
the growing wet spot on the front of the man's
breeches and as one arched a single eyebrow
each.
"That's disgusting," Amelia pinched her nose and
averted her eyes.
"Don't ask me about him?"
"Gourry," the swordsman reared his arm back.
"All right! All right! The lady said someone might
look for her so we were supposed to send them to a
trap, so I did..."
"And?"
"A couple of weeks later this purple-haired
psychopath shows up," Zelgadis and Amelia looked at
each other. "Takes my second in command apart,
in small pieces. Demands to know where the lady is and
if there are any more traps."
"And where did you send him?"
"South! She went south, towards Sairuun." Amelia
and Zelgadis traded another look.
"Let's go." Zelgadis walked past the frozen man
cooly, Amelia made a wide path wafting the air in
front of her nose. Gourry smiled and pulled back his
sword, letting the bandit collapse to his knees.
"Try to be a good boy, now," Gourry waved as he
followed the other two slayers away.
"That's the first we've heard of Xellos looking for
Martina," Zelgadis grumbled.
"But that sure sounded like that 'Rannaur' person
again, sounds like they're working together," Amelia
yawned as they finally passed up the battle's leftover
flames. "Pretty persistant for such a small bounty as
Martina's. Hmm."
"Most elves don't go in for bounty hunting," Gourry
added. Amelia and Zelgadis stopped, looked at each
other and turned to face Gourry.
"What makes you say its an elf?" Zelgadis asked.
"Oh, don't you two speak elven?"
"No, that was always Lina," Amelia stated. "And you
I guess."
"My family's had elven friends for a while." He
started walking again.
"Well?"
"What?"
"What does Rannaur mean?!?"
"Oh, 'wandering fire,'" Gourry yawned walking on.
Zelgadis and Amelia smiled at each other.
"Lina!" they shouted.
Xellos appeared in the woods to the sounds of a
battle of beasts, a flash of lightning lit the area
briefly over a hill. This section of wilderness
had already seen two nights of battle and three days
of mutual stalking. The place looked it, paths of
fallen trees uprooted by a great beast and here and
there lightning scores. Xellos didn't hang around long
enough to notice much of this or even to soak the
leftover emotions of anger and fear about the
place. It didn't take him long to find the battle.
The beast extended almost thirty serpentine feet,
which made it not quite an adult. It should have been
moving with amazing fluidity and speed for its
size, crawling or half slithering with its dozen feet.
It wasn't though, the previous two night's battles had
warn it down. The behir did not possess Lina's
enhanced rate of healing, and the site of it calmed
Xellos extremely.
The dragon-like head was half-torn apart, the eye
torn out and preening horns ripped off. It limped
along on only nine legs and was bleeding somewhat
severely from the various wounds that had lost the
legs. It might survive, if it didn't still have Lina
to deal with. Not to mention Xellos, of course, now
that he was here.
The half-blind reptile cast about the darkness
looking for his opponent, sniffing the air. It was
really a pathetic site, then Lina's full moon form
appeared, breezing in from the remaining tree line
along the thing's blindside.
The sleek red-furred form landed at the base of the
creatures neck and began climbing up. The behir
twisted about to bring its face next to the pesky
werecreature climbing up its neck. Xellos lashed out
with his hand as the beast's mouth opened and released
a breath of lightning. The blast ricochetted off the
shield Xellos had erected, bouncing back towards the
behir's head. This didn't affect it much, immune to
the electricity as it was, but it did give Lina time
to rip into the soft scales under the beasts chin.
That was the death blow, the blood flowed out in
what seemed a torrent as the beast toppled over on its
side. Lina leaped off and crouched a safe distance
from the creature's death throes. Xellos teleported
next to her and sat down. The were-fox looked at him
curiously.
Xellos looked at her, smiled and shrugged. Lina
sniffed at him a moment and then licked his face a
couple of times before moving towards finally
motionless behir. Then the were-fox started eating.
Xellos wondered if the beast had enough meat on its
bones for Lina's normal meal.
"Xellos?" Lina asked. The mazoku yawned and blinked
the sleep out of his eyes. "What are you doing here?"
He looked over at Lina and smiled.
"And good morning to you," he said. "Did I ever
tell you how beautiful you look with blood smeared all
over you?" Lina rolled her eyes as she reached for one
of her waterskins
"So why are you here?" she asked, starting to rinse
herself off from last night's battle.
"Filia figured me out," Lina snapped a look at him.
"Only partially, she doesn't know its you." Lina went
back to rinsing off, Xellos leaned his head
on his arm and watched as she scrubbed the blood away.
She did look beautiful with the blood, the morning
after a kill. It was the same look she used to get
while casting a dragon slave. He wasn't about to tell
her that, the loss of magic was still painful to her.
"That doesn't say why you're here."
"Sore wa himitsu desu," they both chorused.
"Well, it's good you're here anyway," she said. "I
might have to find some place to lay low for a time.
There's going to be a....complication."
"A complication?"
"I...uh...missed my period." Xellos stared at her
blankly. Then sheepishly she added. "Twice."
"And you're still bounty hunting?"
=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
Signed
He of Too Many Names (Thrythlind/Thryth/Luke/Hyperbole/Pika/Pooka)
http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html
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