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Dear me. It's actually done.
Now, this one took a long time, and it's also very lengthy in itself. So's
I'm just going to send this first portion over the FFML, and anyone
interested may follow the link and bestow upon themselves the rest of the
damn thing. A'ight.
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: EpSix.txt
Slayers PERSIST
Episode Six.
"Triumph and Tragedy. Blood Shed For The Buried."
By Zach Grafton. HTML version at www.angelfire.com/ca3/slayerspersist
The Kingdom of Panifess has a unique quality about it.
It lingers in the air, touching the forms and spirits of those
within its boundaries. It represents itself in many forms; the taste of the
air inhaled, the sparkle of the sun off the water, the gentle creaking
sound the shutters make when they sway in the breeze. All of it suggested
it wished to be the epitome of quaintness.
Lina, however, just thought it was really damn small.
"How can a Kingdom consist of one city?" she snapped at no one in
particular, gazing about its orderly and decaying crop of buildings from
the archway that served grandiosely as the town's entrance. "And why
doesn't anybody live here?"
Amelia felt she might be the one from whom input was expected.
"Ano, I don't know. We didn't keep very close tabs on this area. It used to
belong to Zoana, but there was some confusing goings-on." She swallowed,
feeling Lina's dark eyed glare. "We just didn't think it was all that
important!"
"It's pretty, though," Raleic observed. She rubbed her chin as she
did so; she thought it made her look speculative.
"Pretty and dead." Zelgadiss was gazing about with solemn
indifference. "You didn't even know this place was abandoned?"
Amelia felt very, very red. "Well..."
"Nevermind," Lina cut in. "Amelia's got nothing to do with this
place, and if we really need to figure it out, we'll have plenty of time
for that later. Unless-" she turned, slowly, "-you want to tell us
anything?"
All eyes fell to Xelloss. He'd joined the traveling team somewhere
in their few days' trek from Biatz, but for all the help he'd given he
might as well have stayed in subspace.
"Um." He gave a nervous smile. "What would I know about a bunch of
ruins in the middle of nowhere?"
"More than we do," Zel responded flatly.
"Which isn't saying much," Xelloss pointed out, then raised a
finger to point. "Oh, look at that pretty butterfly."
No one fell for it, but he teleported off anyway.
"Che." The chimera turned his head away, gazing over the ruined
city. "Well, at least we don't have to put up with that smile of his
anymore." He leapt down from the arch to where Gourry, being
not-so-magically-gifted, and Selena, being
not-so-crazy-about-standing-on-highly-placed-crumbling-edifices, were
waiting. Also safely on the ground was their giant bag of supplies.
Lina looked to Raleic, arms folded. "You are going to be in charge
of watching that thing when we get into the city." It wasn't really a
question, nor a statement. More of a Lina Inverse style assurance.
"Hmph," she sniffed in response, but hopped down to look after it
obediently enough. That left Lina and Amelia, surveying a city whose time
had come and gone, and apparently more than once.
"There's an awful lot of grave markers on the western side," Lina
observed morosely. "Why is it whenever a Mazoku lures us to a city, there's
always a bunch of dead people or ghosts or both?"
Amelia didn't have an answer for that. Her brow knit, she began
wondering aloud. "Do you think we'll find Princess Sara here? Or Fairn, or
whatever her names is?"
"I'm sure," the sorceress responded. "Fairn, and Ralov, and maybe
even Halgon. And the Mazoku who tried to kill your father."
The Princess left with that to ponder on, leaping to the ground to
join the others. Lina watched her a moment before following, her thoughts
on homicidal chefs and the elven henchmen who work for them. And the goofy
little axbearing men the elven henchmen like to kidnap.
"So," Raleic asked, arms folded primly. "We're here. What now?"
"We'll need to search," Lina mused. "The best place to start would
be the castle up there."
"You think?" the postal worker grunted. The sorceress kicked her in
the stomach.
"You're the one who asked!" she shouted, watching her opponent
crumple.
"I meant whether or not we're going to wait until morning," Raleic
sputtered from the ground. "It's almost night."
"I opt to wait," Zel murmured speculatively. "Our friends might
find the night a good time to pay us a visit."
"Bad guys like the dark," Gourry agreed. "They like anything that
makes them look more intimidating."
Lina thought that one over before picking out a nice little
worn-out building on the outskirts of the town that would serve as shelter
well enough for the night, at the least. One hour later they were moved in,
cozied up, and their traveling bag was a lot lighter.
"I told you this stuff would come in handy," Raleic sniffed primly,
stirring the golden kettle full of stew with her gilded spatula.
"As long as I don't have to deal with it, there's no problem here."
Lina worked on a porcelain cup of tea, gilded with little ivory roses. "I'd
have to say this is pretty extreme for adventuring, though."
"Adventuring is no excuse to resort to decivilization." The postal
worker tasted the soup, paused, continued stirring. "I didn't want to say
anything back at that country town, but they could really have called in
better maid service."
"Maid service?" Selena echoed blankly.
"Not everywhere's as well-off as Seiruun," Lina sighed. "You really
don't get out much, do you?"
"I travel constantly," Raleic put in defensively. "My job demands
it."
"Then you must be really thick," the sorceress responded, a gleam
in her eye. Gourry, watching from a fluffy unfoldable chair, was suddenly
afraid they were going to lose their makeshift little hovel.
"Why don't we go over everything again?" he said quickly.
"Zelgadiss and Amelia weren't here from the beginning, and Selena just
joined us, so..."
"I have informed the Princess of all our exploits," Raleic snapped.
"Might as well, though." Lina cricked her neck, thought back to the
beginning...
"I guess things started when we met Halgon in the inn," she said,
neglecting to mention the part where she and Gourry killed the stocky man's
god-daughter. "Raleic showed up with Amelia's letter, and then Xelloss and
a giant Mazoku attacked us."
"That's a very opportune time to show up," Zelgadiss said,
apparently to the air above Lina's head.
"They were lucky," Xelloss agreed. Apparently he'd reappeared; Our
Heroine was no longer surprised by this behavioral pattern of his. "That
most likely would have been the death of all of them."
"I had the situation well in hand," Raleic returned.
"Yeah, you were a big help." Lina glowered over her teacup.
"Keep explaining!" Gourry shouted, waving his hands and knocking
over a vase of orange daisies the postal worker claimed gave her good luck.
"We killed the Mazoku and then what?"
Lina sighed, ticked the events off on her fingers. "We met the new
head of Atlas City's magic guild, helped an elderly couple by searching for
the Legend of Twilight, searched the insides of the Kouwara Mountains,
fought a shepherd who turned out to be Xelloss, wound up in Seiruun where
Prince Phil was attacked, watched Zel and Xel dance together, fought off
the chef Mazoku and her elven cronies, searched the two elven sanctuaries
in Seiruun, and ended up in Biatz." She paused, thinking a moment. "Did I
leave anything out?"
"Sort of," Zelgadiss said. "Selena, how much do you know of
Shaburanigdo and his five Generals?"
The girl mulled on that for a moment. "The Mazoku legends, you
mean? Only what I've heard as stories. Galef-san liked to tell his daughter
about them around the campfire--"
"That explains a bit," the chimera agreed drily, reluctantly
recalling his initial reception by that particular little girl. "Do you
want to handle this, Lina?"
"What, not in the mood to hear yourself talk?" The sorceress
grinned wryly. "That's a new one for you, Zel-chan."
"What's--er--stop calling me that!" The chimera set his jaw firm.
"Oh, calm down. No one likes a spoil sport."
"Che," was all Zel had to say to that.
"I could field this explanation, if you'd like," Xelloss chimed in
from the nether shadows. "I know the most on the subject, after all."
"I think we'd like to keep this brief," Lina cut in, and turned to
Selena. "Basically, they're really bad evil monsters."
"Then the stories are true!" The budding warrior turned a narrow
gaze to Xel.
The really bad evil monster in attendance beamed. "Well, we don't
like to brag..."
"Let's get back to the subject," Zelgadiss interjected. "I want to
try and get some rest before we head out tomorrow. Whatever it is we're
going to be doing, it's going to be big."
"I thought you weren't sleeping well lately," Gourry pointed out.
"Why don't you just try to stay up for a while?"
The chimera's eyes narrowed into catty little slits. "I've been
having nightmares lately. That doesn't mean I can't--"
"Whoah!" Lina broke in. "You must be tired, Zel. You should be the
last one to take offense in something this idiot says."
"I've been having nightmares too," Amelia agreed quietly. "Let's
just try to stay focused, ne?"
"I agree." This from Selena. "We need to figure out what we're
going to be up against."
Another "che" and the subject was dropped. The group turned back to
face each other, in a more or less nonviolent fashion. A few moments passed
before Lina opened the conversation up again. These things take exquisite
timing, after all.
"One thing's for sure," she said, slowly as to properly convey the
magnitude of it all. "Zel's right. Whatever's going to happen here, it's
going to be a hell of a thing."
"Hopefully it'll all return to normal," Gourry agreed. "I kind of
wanted to get back to the carefree bandit-chasing life."
"I feel tense enough for a climactic battle, anyway," Zel said,
flexing his sword hand. "I'd give a lot for a good night's sleep again."
"Then we should lay it all out on the table," Xelloss told them.
"Perhaps you can figure out some of these mysteries here, and be prepared
for whatever the lowly souls waiting for you have been planning."
"Sure," Lina agreed readily enough. "So the first one of these
would be--"
"Why do you keep disappearing all the time?" the entire room
shouted at him. (With the exception of Selena. Selena, as a rule, does not
shout. She just sort of asked... very intensely.)
A sweatdrop appeared. "Wh-what do you mean?"
"You showed up right with that first skeleton Mazoku." Lina.
"You pretended to be Branhof to lead us to that mountain." Gourry.
"You didn't help at all when my father was attacked." Amelia.
"You made sure we didn't leave for the techno club without you."
Raleic.
"You left me right in the middle of my fight with those elves."
Zelgadiss.
"And you didn't help at all in Biatz." Selena.
A light breeze rushed in through the window with its new satin pink
curtains, ruffling Xelloss's hair and filling a very long, uncomfortable
silence. For a second Lina was sure he was going to teleport off once
again, but to her surprise, he did not.
"I had things to do," he finally explained.
"Our enemies said they're out for revenge on one of the people
we've met," Zel said, patient with anger. "With the way you've been acting,
I wouldn't be surprised to find out it's you."
"What would I ever do to cause such hatred in another?" Xelloss
asked innocently. Before they could answer, he raised a hand. "Besides, I
was with you in the techno club. They would have recognized me."
"That's true," Zel conceded bitterly. "And that chef woman wasn't
weak enough to fall for your masking spells, either."
"They could be after anyone, anyway," Xelloss pointed out. "You've
met hundreds of people on your adventures."
Gourry smacked a fist into his palm. "I always knew that Rossburg
guy was up to no good."
Raleic shrieked as Lina smashed the vase into her sidekick's
forehead.
"Look." The sorceress straightened up. "If we can't figure out who
it is, maybe we're going about it the wrong way. What do we know about our
enemies?"
"I'd assume Fairn and Ralov come from here," Zel opined after a
second's thought. "And Gregory, too. Although it doesn't look like it's
been lived in recently."
"This used to be an elven community," Xelloss informed.
It took them a moment to sort this one out.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?" His smile began to
waver.
"You sounded totally different," Amelia breathed.
"Really?" The Mazoku beamed.
"Really," Lina agreed, nodding solemnly. "We barely recognized you,
seeing as that's the first time you've given us any useful information."
Xel sulked. "That's mean, Lina-san. If that's how you treat
valuable members of your group, maybe I won't tell you about this place's
history."
"Alright, alright, we're sorry." The sorceress rolled her eyes.
"Please continue."
"Well then." The Mazoku stood up, donned a professor's cap and a
pair of spectacles. "As I said, this was once an elven community, the last
known to exist on the mainland. Within the Barrier, of course."
"Of course," Lina agreed sourly.
"Long after the elves in different cities had isolated themselves,
like the ones in Seiruun, this city continued to live until around two
hundred years ago." Xelloss produced an apple and took a large bite out of
it.
"I knew that much," the sorceress-student sighed. "And then
something happened, and they all died out. Right?"
"Close," Xel conceded. "In fact, two elves survived whatever it was
that had caused their own personal cataclysm. I have no idea how they came
to know Gregory or Halgon, but--"
"Fairn and Ralov," Zel muttered. "The two lone survivors of a lost
city."
Xelloss nodded. "Sometime after that, Lyle de Panifess arrived and
claimed the empty city for him and his people. I'm afraid my knowledge of
the area ends there."
"Wait," Selena mumbled, trying to grasp all of this. Crises on a
civilization scale are generally difficult for sweet country girls to grasp
on the first try. "What happened to Lyle and his subjects?"
"I don't know, as I said. Perhaps the same thing that befell the
elves."
"And the same thing that took the elven priests in Seiruun." Lina
shifted uncomfortably. "This is starting to make sense, I think."
"So we've got a sort of hold on the elves," Zel said, "except for
why they kidnapped your companion."
"I guess that's a mystery that will have to wait," Lina agreed,
with a shrug. "Now. What do we know about the chef?"
"Cairi?" Amelia asked, startled. "He was just a nice man who made
dinners for Daddy and I..."
"Not him," Lina snapped, "the Mazoku that took his form. What do we
know about her?"
"Nothing, as far as I can tell," Zelgadiss mused. From the sound of
his voice, he was getting tired. The sorceress couldn't blame him, they'd
been traveling a lot lately... and he hadn't exactly been sleeping like a
rock. "Except that she's in charge of the elves, and wants to kill us
because we know someone she doesn't like."
"Hmph. I guess there's nothing to pursue there, then, and I'm too
sleepy to try and solve anything else." Lina got to her feet, searching out
a comfortable place to take tonight's snooze. "Gourry, get out of that
chair."
"Nani? But--"
"Lina," Amelia spoke up glumly. "I... I might know something about
her."
The redheaded spellcaster turned to face her, all wide-eyed and
blinking.
"It's nothing, really, but..." Her voice trailed, and her fatigue
was obvious.
"But what?" Lina prompted as gently as she knew how. This didn't
save her from a scolding by Raleic, but at least she'd tried.
"Her Highness is getting to it! Be patient, she's been getting
almost no sleep this entire trip! Why don't you--" It went on, but Lina had
shoved her palms against her ears to keep from Fireballing her back to
Seiruun. When she saw Amelia's mouth form the words, "Raleic, please
don't," she dropped her arms back to her sides and waited.
The Princess raised her eyes slightly. "Remember, in Biatz? The
sword she used instead of an arm?" Lina nodded; so did Zel, Selena, and
even Gourry, which was a feat all in itself. Amelia continued. "It's just
that... that style of sword, the real kind, I mean..."
"Keep going," she meant to say, but almost jumped when she heard
Zel say it first. This was not all that surprising, but the fact that he'd
managed to say it in a much more considerate tone than she made her feel a
little guilty.
Amelia's eyes wavered, then at the sound of Zel's voice, focused.
"That style of sword was used in Lyle's time," she said. "The same time
Philionel was assassinated by Gregory."
"Which the Mazoku tried to recreate." The group's eyes left the
Princess, with the exception of Zel's.
"I don't think that's a very big deal," she said. "I just remember
it from training, and history classes."
The chimera's eyes sought out Lina's, and she smiled.
"Thanks, Amelia. Let's go to sleep. We've got a big day coming up."
Awe-inspiring. Overwhelming. Grandiose.
None of these words described the castle of Panifess, sitting at
the northern end of town among a forgotten row of wealthy homes. "Moss
covered" would fit, though, as well as "bland," "dark," and, for the more
vocabular amongst us, "decrepit." But certainly not anything that invoked
any sense of respect.
At all.
Luckily, it is not the focus of this portion of our story to detail
this castle. What's happening of interest is happening inside it, and when
things are afoot in shadowy corridors and twisting hallways, who really
cares about the decor?
Quiet now, and we can hear two voices bantering...
"They're here, then."
"Hai. They're sleeping in an old house, on the north side of town.
Our enemy is not with them."
"Feh. That coward would never show himself unless all the chips
were completely in his favor."
"As you say." A pause, and then a breath of a rustle, as of cloth
on cloth. "I will go, then?"
"I suppose. But don't kill them yet. Our Lord would have it done
with, but trusts us to do so in our own time. The two he's already
reached... just make sure they don't get much rest tonight."
"Of course."
Footsteps, then...
...And somewhere else, beyond the myriad portals and whatnot of
this old fortress, a long-lost laboratory glowed with sullen life.
For Zel, sleep was like a long forgotten goal. As soon as he'd make
a go for it, half of it would dance away, and the other half would only
serve to tease. He eventually stopped trying, resting his head on his arms
from beneath the empty traveling bag which he'd turned into a makeshift
blanket. The thing carried completely useless good luck charms and
exquisite dinnerware, but he was the only one to get stuck without a
mattress.
The wooden hovel was lit by the rosy glow of the fire in the
fireplace, but even without that, Zel would have been able to make out the
shapes of his comrades individually. One of the perks to being a magically
mutated freak.
Selena was curled up in one corner, a hand on the sheath of her
sword. Lina and Gourry were sleeping against the far wall, enough distance
between them in case anyone called them on it. Xelloss was propped up in
the folding chair, snoring loudly, but obviously that was a fake out. And
next to him...
Raleic was sitting up, her back to the fireplace, having fallen
asleep while attempting guard duty over her Princess. Amelia was huddled up
against herself girlishly, one hand balled into a fist and tucked up under
her mouth. She's still a child, Zel thought to himself, but just then she
flopped onto her back and the covers gave way enough to allow him a good
view of her youthful curves.
The chimera at changed his mind at once. Without realizing it, of
course.
At least she doesn't seem to be having any nightmares, he thought,
but knew that they'd come for her, given time. They always came for him.
"Hsst."
Zel blinked, his eyes racing back to Xelloss. The Mazoku was
holding a finger to his lips, and somewhere beyond that closed-eyed, blank
mouthed facade, Zel sensed his alertness.
"What is it?" he hissed, crawling out from under his sack. He had
just enough time to look towards the door as it blasted inward, flames
crackling along its edges, a slim elfin figure standing the space it had
vacated.
"That," Xelloss said, amiably enough.
"The hell?" Not surprisingly, Lina was already to her feet. "Who is
it?"
Gourry attempted to sound threatening, despite being half asleep.
"Mmrgh!"
Moments later the entire house was gone in shrapnels of flaming
wood. The flicker of fire had an almost beautiful effect over Fairn's face.
Amelia heaved a sigh as her protection spell wove around them, fending off
the blast.
"Her again," Lina growled, stalking forward even as the rubble
continued to fall. "Why don't we lower our enemy roster by one?"
"Stop!" Amelia cried, grabbing her by the arm. The redhead seemed a
moment away from giving her a good throttling, but the Princess managed to
divert it with a very alarming cry of, "Look!"
She did, but reluctantly; Lina was really been in the mood to
throttle someone. But surprise took the lead position in the race of her
emotions as she watched Fairn stalk forward, one hand raised in a
spell-caster's position... and the other wielding a sword.
Selena gasped. "Her arm..."
"That's some pretty impressive power of regeneration there," Lina
called out, as the elf grew near. "Not even a Resurrection spell can do
that."
Fairn slashed her sword through the air, heated ash darting every
which way. "Only a human would use such base White Magic," she snarled, but
it seemed to be a very half-hearted snarl. Her attention went quickly to
Selena, as did the point of her sword. "You're the one who wounded me," she
told her, in case she'd forgotten.
"You seem to have healed well enough," Selena managed.
"So I guess this means you're really in with the Mazoku," Lina
observed, and from the flinch of her slanted eye she knew she'd hit that
one dead-on. "Not just one of their henchmen now, are you?"
"I'm only half-Mazoku," Fairn confirmed. "Once I've taken care of
all this..."
"You'll become a true devil, through and through." Zelgadiss's was
deadpan. "That's just what the world needs."
Xelloss didn't react to this jape. He stood, placidly, hand on
staff, face nice and emotionless. Zel's eyes found Lina's for the briefest
of seconds, and Lina returned her attention to the adversary at hand.
"So this is it, ne? Tomorrow you three will face off against us,
and we'll end this for good." Lina raised a brow, and then requested, "Just
tell me one thing." Fairn's almond eyes faltered, but she nodded
nonetheless.
"Why did you kidnap Halgon?" she asked, simply.
There are times when silence speaks eras of information, and this
was one of them. When the silence was broken, it wasn't by the sound of a
voice, but rather the swirl of cloth as she spun about.
"That's not a concern of yours," she answered. "On my mistress's
orders, I'm letting you live until tomorrow. Come to the castle and, as you
say, we'll end this once and for all. But you two--" and she spun, pointing
her sword at Zel, and then Amelia, "--had best keep your dreams fresh in
your minds. You're going to be needing them."
Zel's hand drew up against his chest, the words of Bomb Di Wind
forming in his spirit... before he realized Lina was way ahead of him.
"We'll be sure," the sorceress said pleasantly, "to give your
master your regards."
"What," was all Fairn had the time for.
"DRAGU SLAVE!"
Bright shades of black covered the town, sonic blasts echoing as
buildings collapsed, magic ran wild, and elves, presumably, met their
demise.
"Did you get her?" Gourry asked, wide-eyed, once everything was
quiet.
"That was amazing!" Amelia cheered. "I didn't even see that one
coming!"
"Nice," Raleic admitted grumpily.
Lina's arms were tight across her chest. "Save your accolades. I
missed her."
Gourry blinked, looked out over the destroyed city. "Then she's the
only thing you missed."
"She teleported," the redhead grumbled. "Damn. I forgot about
that."
"Well." Zel had to smile, regardless. "You succeeded in blowing
away half of this useless bundle of ruins, at least."
Lina brightened. "You're right! I bet I can collect demolition fees
from Zoana!" She patted Zel on the back. "Never let it be said that you're
a spoil sport."
"Er," Zel replied, took a look at her face, and wisely shut up.
"That went well," Ralov sighed, chin in palm. "Fairn, you're going
to get yourself killed one of these days."
The elven woman glowered at him, but gave no response. Maybe there
was too much on her mind to think up a proper one. More likely, she was
simply employing the age-old power held by women of every race, time, and
universe: the cold shoulder.
A minute passed. He drummed his fingers on the tabletop.
Two.
Three.
"Fairn," he began again.
"Shut up," she hissed through her teeth. He jerked in wonder,
reclaimed his cool, and reached a hand out for her. She turned away from
it, but he placed it on her shoulder anyway.
"Fairn," he said, one more time. "Listen to me. Back then, we--"
She was on her feet in a flash, and the room temperature dropped
five degrees from her glare. "I know you don't like this, Ralov. Leave me
be."
"I can't," he said, and it was such a simple and honest statement
that she felt all the strength leave her and fell weeping into his arms.
They stood there like that for awhile. However long it was neither
could say, but as anyone who has ever been in that sort of position will
tell you, it didn't matter.
"We can leave," Ralov whispered, long slender fingers stroking her
hair. "You can retract your Pledge from the Mazoku and we can run off.
We'll finally leave this place..."
She felt a tingling sensation along her arm, the fake one, restored
with the shape-binding magic of their mistress. Gregory had already died,
and what would happen to Halgon? She could take him, and most importantly,
be with Ralov. She could do without the arm, she knew... she could do
without Frosteffa, she could do without revenge, she could do without any
of it...
"I only pushed you cuz I like you," a voice whispered in her ear.
"Daddy!" came an echo, her own voice, long past, a whisper in
time...
"Mother! Father!" Terror filled, Ralov's voice, squeaky with
youth...
"Might as well leave with a bang," was the final echo, spoken dry
and matter-of-fact, and then came the searing heat of flames and the
splashed mud on her dress and the faces of Tild and her father and her
uncle and Danin and Wylla, and Jinne, burning alive, dozens others, ancient
facades, all dead...
"I can't," she told him quietly, and the tears ran all over again.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many characters are copyright of Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, Kadokawa
Shoten, TV TOKYO, SOFTX, and Marubeni. Story by Zach Grafton.