Evasions
"Mommy," Filia turned to look at Val Garv. "Who are
those people, and why are they fighting with
Rannaur-san?" Filia reached down and picked up the
little dragon.
"They're old friends of mine and Xellos'," Filia
told him. "They just got a bad start with each other.
They're going to stop fighting now, aren't they?" She
leveled each of them with a glare.
"Its our fault," Amelia said rising out of her
chair. "We should go I guess, find Gourry and collect
Martina."
"No, no," Lina protested, the anger left her voice.
"I'm glad to see you, really."
"Is there room for us here?" Zelgadis asked. "Plus
three more?"
"It'll be cramped, but I think so. The women can
stay in my room, and you and Gourry can stay in the
front room. I'll stay in Val Garv's room, and Xellos
and Ra...Lina can keep their room."
"I think she may have dropped the rock," Amelia
said.
"Sylphiel?" Zelgadis asked.
"Either that or they haven't moved for the past
thirty minutes," Amelia said. Lina felt Xellos's grip
on her hand tighten.
"Can you give me the trace?" Xellos asked. "I'll
find them." Amelia looked at him for a moment before
casting the spell to reveal the trace to all the
magicians in the room.
Lina shifted to let him up and watched him
cautiously, he flashed one of his closed eye smiles at
her, but she could tell he was nervous. He had been
talking about prophecies and destiny off and on since
he had discovered who was behind Lina's predicament.
"Hurry back," she whispered as the mazoku faded
away. "I think that I'm going to take a nap." She
stood up and waddled towards her room.
"Come on Val Garv," Filia said walking out of the
front room with the boy. "Let's go prepare those
rooms."
"Do I have to mommy?"
"Yes, it is important to learn about honest labor."
"Not this a-gain, we've possed this 'ere tree six
times," one of the men whined.
"All we've managed to find is a pair of bleeding
horses," the second added.
"Qwa-it, the Lawdy ohdered us to find them 'eros
and we's gonna do it." the third asked. The four
bandits stopped in the clearing to scan about for some
legible tracks.
" 'Ow we gonna do it wit'ou' dem dawgs?"
"The lawdy sayid dat the fawks is 'ere."
"Dat's wot de siver is fo'," the apparent leader of
this party shouted. "Ah cant fond any tracks 'ere."
"I wouldn't worry about it," they turned to look at
a slim tall man with a staff and purple hair who was
apparently investigating a rock. He looked like some
sort of priest. "You have a larger problem on your
hands."
"'Ere now, wot's you then?" The priest waggled a
finger at them, smiling behind, completely unconcerned
with there presence.
"Sore wa himitsu desu," he told them playfully.
"Did I hear you say something about silver?"
"If'n you noh wot's good for you, you'd leave."
"Oh staying is going to be VERY good few me, I can
guarentee you that. You four might not like it much
though."
Gourry and Sylphiel stopped as the sound of human
screams pierced the forest. They continued for nearly
a two full minutes before ceasing with a long
strangled cry.
"What was that?" Sylphiel asked. "Did they catch
some poor hiker and mistake them for us?"
"I hope not," Gourry whispered, perched on a rock
overhang. He was setting up some sort of trap. After
their initial retreat from their position over the
bandit camp, Gourry had turned about and resumed his
attempts to find and recapture Martina. Sylphiel had
confidence in his abilities, but she still would have
preferred to rejoin Zelgadis and Amelia.
"So where do we go from here?"
"Well I was going by the circle, but that seems
like a bad idea now." The circle was a series of
deliberately laid tracks and scents that had the one
ill-fated patrol wandering in circles for the last
hour or so. It was amazing how many similar tricks and
traps Gourry had laid without seeming to try at all.
The thing was that he didn't really set traps, he laid
tracks leading to hazardous or confusing situations.
This he could do on the run, and Sylphiel doubted that
she had caught even half his gambits.
"We're heading back to the camp again, aren't we?"
"With a fair amount of their men looking for us,
yes." She let herself be picked up off the ground and
held in the tall swordman's arms.
"At least there's something good about all this,"
she sighed with mock resignation, happy that her lack
of experience in counter-tracking made this a
necessary burden.
"What?" Gourry asked, Sylphiel rolled her eyes as
the forest moved past them.
Amelia and Zelgadis sat in a fairly uncomfortable
silence, unsure of what to do at the moment. They
could hear Filia and Val Garv bumping around in the
bedrooms, the child mildly complaining about the work.
Every few moments the quiet was punctuated with the
sound of Lina snoring.
"This is a nice place," Zelgadis said suddenly.
"Its certainly better than those cabins we always
end up getting stuck in," Amelia agreed.
"Nice distance from the town, too," he added.
"I'd like to be closer to town actually," Amelia
noted.
"That's expected." The silence descended again,
filling the few feet between them and making it seem a
few leagues.
"I was wondering something," Zelgadis broke the
silence again.
"What was that?"
"Something Gourry said when this all started, its
been on my mind off and on since then."
"What was it?"
"He said that you were attracted to me," he stared
at each other blankly for a moment. "I knew it was..."
"I am," Amelia said, cutting him off. There was
another long pause.
"That's not possible," Zelgadis protested.
"Why not," Amelia asked.
"Why do you think?" Zelgadis snapped. "Just look at
me."
"Actually you're very good-looking too, but that
isn't what I was talking about."
"Okay, then what, praytell, were you talking
about?"
"You're a loyal, determined man who's main problem
is that you're a little moody sometimes, but you're
cute when you're moping so I don't mind."
"I'm cute when I'm...?" he blushed slightly, a
surprising feat considering his stone skin. "You can't
possibly be in love with a freak like me."
"Why can't I?"
"Because...." he couldn't think of any practical
reason just off the top of his head. "Just because."
"Do you love me at all," Amelia asked, deciding to
get all her cards on the table now that she was ahead.
"You deserve better than me."
"I don't want better than you. And that isn't what
I asked"
"I might never find my cure."
"Zelgadis-san, that doesn't matter. If a mazoku and
a werefox can get together, why not me and you."
"Do you really think Lina is happy with...him?"
"You're avoiding the question, but yes they seem
quite happy to me, as much as I fail to understand
it."
"Okay, yes I do have some feelings for you,"
Zelgadis admitted.
"Would you marry me?" Amelia asked. Zelgadis's eyes
widened and the chair fell out from beneath him. The
shocked chimera tumbled to the floor and then looked
back up at her.
"What did you say?"
"I asked if you would marry me, after we settle
this latest problem, of course." Zelgadis righted his
chair and considered the question for a moment,
looking into Amelia's hopeful eyes.
"This is a reverse," Zelgadis grumbled. "You really
want me, you can't find anybody else?"
"Yes, who else would I want?"
"If we survive this, I'll marry you," he agreed
finally. Amelia virtually squealed in joy and
enveloped the golem in a tight hug which he was
fortunate not to feel through his skin. "One thing
Amelia, about Xellos and Lina."
"You're going on about that again?"
"Bare me out, even if he does love Lina, his soul
isn't his own, what could Xelas force Xellos into
doing." Amelia considered the problem carefully and
shivered, what did Xelas think about her priest's
activities recently?
Floating along and picking out the swordsman's
emotions from the crowd of passing bandits was easy.
There he was full of optimism and confidence, moving
right along side him was a bundle of worry, tension
and love that had to be Sylphiel.
Then he looked towards the the approximate
direction of the bandit camp and his eyes blasted
open. Regin was here, and it wouldn't be long before
he noticed Xellos. This time Xellos would have to
fight, and he didn't want that to happen yet.
The mazoku teleported behind the two humans and
then teleported back to Filia's home. Sylphiel
screamed and Gourry let out a simple, "what" as the
tree vanished.
"What happened," Gourry asked. Next to him Sylphiel
turned around and saw Zelgadis and Amelia. "I was
close, I could see them.
"Zelgadis-san, Amelia-san, how did we get here. The
couple pointed absently above the priestesses head,
looking up Sylphiel saw Xellos floating above her. She
screeched out the trickster's name. "Xellos!"
The priestess skittered towards Gourry as Xellos
landed, smiling as usual.
"Could you be quiet in there?" a muffled voice
called from Lina's room. Xellos put a finger to his
mouth calling for silence and then snuck cartoonishly
into his and Liina's room. The next thing they heard
was a brief spurt of surprised giggles followed by
shortly by silence and then snoring. Filia entered the
room shaking her head irritably.
"Okay, let's get you all settled in her for
awhile." Zelgadis and Amelia kept quiet on the subject
of their conversation. Distractions would not be a
good thing at the moment.
=====
"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
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com/