[FFML] [Slayers]Slayers Bred 7-12

An Angel's Boredom

In the physical plane the high elves made ready for
war, gathering a
host such as had not been seen in ages. Gray elves,
humans and
half-elves faded out of sight, or simply disappeared,
as the tension
mounted. They could not openly face the power rising
now, and they
knew the source of elven military resurgance. An elf
lord walked the
world again, and, though his power was not yet great,
the high elves
flocked to this symbol of a resurgance of old glories.
Beyond them Sailoon watched and Zelgadis arraigned the
forces of his
late wife's country to prepare for the coming battle.
The elves had
made a declaration to put the mortals "in their place"
and not stop
until this world rested in the hands of its rightful
masters, the
house of Feanor. As such even Zelgadis had ridden from
the palace to
the borders, moving with as little visibility as he
could. So the
Prince Regent added his power and presence to the
borders of men and
elves.
Between both lay several small countries and
unaffilitated villages,
and most importantly, a large forest. Cut off from the
outside world
by her own choice, Lina never the less had some hint
of things
happening. Men and elves were moving through HER
forest, and not
bandits or in large groups. And she had other methods
of collecting
information. Foxes spoke of battle in the elf lands,
though what they
considered battle was probably only a murder or minor
raid or two.
Still, with what Lina knew of elven history, she was
not comforted.
And so Kitsune Forest was also preparing for war.
In the middle of this mess seven travelers were
wandering almost
unaware. Six of them were, together, about to discover
just how much
the realm of the elves had changed in the past year.
The seventh
wandered alone seeking to gain the favor of the man
who's sister she
had tried to kill by following what amounted to a
fool's quest.
In the shadows a man armed with silver blades stalked
the group of
six, waiting to be lead to the were-child's
lycanthrope parent. The
fledging elf lord sought abominations of varied forms,
half-mazoku,
upstart human peasants, chimera and a dragon. By the
reports of his
ally the five held a elf noblegirl in captivity. That
ally watched and
waited for a chance to tear a pair of half-breeds
apart and recover a
staff for his mistress. That mistress stood on the
astrally dead and
physically ravaged Wolf Pack Island and made other
preparations. She
needed no pure flow this time, not with the walls
between the worlds
so devestated in this place, she merely needed the
staff. Meanwhile,
the remnant of a dead man's spell was slowly and
silently killing a
girl that was human but shouldn't be.
In the north a storm was brewing. Dynast had lost
track of his
general, and in so doing his hand in the world. Frozen
by the power of
the water dragon king, he could only cast about
seeking the answers to
her severance from him. She was his eyes and ears,
without her he was
vulnerable. Granted Deep Sea Dolphin wasn't likely to
do much against
him at the moment, but still, it was a possibility.
And he was
producing a remedy for the situation, though it would
be a while yet
before it was ready.
In the gray world of restless dead, two spirits
hovered over their
children and watched. In this realm between, they were
no longer so
different, merely two dead souls holding off from the
Source and
reincarnation in order to watch over family. They
merely wondered what
the powers that be had in store for there blood. By
connection they
also wondered where their insistant host had vanished
too since
damning Roquen to the Waste.

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

"I have had enough of this," The Lord of Nightmares
growled. "Since
you have arrived my champion has been divested of the
power that is
her birthright, a mazoku that gets no power from me or
mine is walking
the world, the walls between the worlds have been
nearly shattered."
That had HURT, this world was made from her after all,
and when it was
damaged she felt it. If the world was to be destroyed
it would be
under her terms, not anybody else's. "And those
vagabond elves are
beginning to get above themselves again. How much of
this is your
doing."
The darkness that was her "guest" smiled. If smile it
could be called.
In their pure forms, neither being could truly be
viewed in human
terms. They were not even really male or female, it
was only the
dominant impression one received from dealing with
them.
"I have done nothing," The current Angel of Death
splayed out his
hands innocently. She had always been impatient,
though he had thought
that she wouldn't last past fifteen years. Now here it
was she had
lasted almost until it was over before demanding
explanation.
"As you did 'nothing' when Osano-Wo toppled the
Morningstar," she
sneered back, she was one of the few that had seen the
whole battle.
She knew that the prowess of Osano-Wo had not been the
cause of the
victory. The Morningstar's defeat had been ordained in
Gabriel Lycanus
Kord's mind since the destruction of his people
millenia before. "You
toss about mention of the Old Ones casually, and yet I
have seen
nothing of there presence. I don't know where this
Martina received
her transformation, but it was not those abominations
that gave it to
her."
"Of course not, even one of us would have been
destroyed by trying
that bargain," he mused. "They are coming though, and
they are coming
soon. Someone has grown bored and broken my seals, the
barriers are
down and only doors remain to be opened."
"I would trust Arien's word above yours," the Lord of
Nightmares
growled. Her guest did not smile. Wolves and ravens
across countless
worlds ceased what they were doing for a moment while
the Angel of
Death considered the statement.
He merely quietly gestured and opened a window on the
Waste scanning
through the warped and debased spirits it settled on
one body, perfect
and peaceful and dead. The Lord of Nightmares saw the
dead child of
Sif, and long-time mate of her guest. She really had
been isolated
from her former colleagues to have not heard of this.
"The opening of the seals required sibling blood," the
Angel of Death
indicated. "Among other things of course. She's been
dead since before
this world of yours experienced the Kouma War. Every
so often I can
catch sight of her spirit flitting about the Waste.
But sight is all
it is."
"Sibling blood? Osano-Wo? Why?" She was angry, she
hated not knowing
what was going on, though it had never been a problem
while the other
powers kept out of her realms.
"Before you joined the ranks of the Creators, you were
a War Goddess,"
Lycanus noted. "We have had peace since the
Morningstar was trapped in
his lake of ice. The Angel of War seeks a new glory,
and has taken up
where his former opponent left off. He does not have a
world to play
with to keep him occupied, Morrigan." The Lord of
Nightmares glared,
she no longer used the name long ago given to her upon
the day of her
creation.
"He never did like his sister taking up with a
creature of darkness
such as you," The Lord of Nightmares noted. "Have all
the Powers of
Change been destroyed?"
"Aside from Nightmare and Death?" he asked
salaciously. "Yes, which
brings us to the children of your champion." A window
opened on a
pouting Xina and exasperated looking Xalan. The Lord
of Nightmares
looked closely and realized something.
"Selene's essence, she channels the primal force of
all Moons," the
Power noted. "You think that by replacing
Imagination's place with
this snip of a mortal that you can stop the Archangel?
Osano-Wo would
not even notice her to swat."
"We were all 'snips of a mortal' at one time," Lycanus
noted wryly.

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

Scouting the Situation

"Why aren't we going into the city," Amethyst asked.
"Shouldn't we be
reporting those 'knights' or whatever to the
magistrate?" Jol looked
at Amethyst as if she had just asked whether they were
going to fall
of the edge of the world. The chimera princess blinked
and looked
around for the source of his amazement. "What?"
"How can we possibly do that?" Xina demanded.
"What's wrong with that idea?" Amethyst demanded.
"Elves don't have magistrates," Xina rolled her eyes
as she picked out
one of the few pieces of elvish history that had
managed to stick in
her head from listening to Filia and her mother.
Sitting behind her
Val slapped his forhead, Xalan facefaulted out of the
tree he was
keeping a look out from, and Jolrael rolled his eyes
heavenward asking
for patience.
"But if we don't go into the city we'll never figure
out whether the
knights are supported by the House of Feanor or not!"
Tinuviel whined.
Everybody looked at Tinuviel and sweatdropped.
"We're being hunted," Xalan said irritably, he looked
back into the
forest. Several times he had almost caught a scent
following them, and
it wasn't an elf. "We can't sit forever."
"I'm heading to the Gabriev lands as soon as it is
dark," Jol said, he
turned to Tinuviel. "Are you coming Tinuviel?" The elf
looked from her
notebook and blinked.
"Hmm, go where?" she asked, blinking. Jolrael sighed
and was about to
clarify when Xalan called for attention from his
recovered lookout
position. Amethyst and Xina heard what had caught his
attention only
moments later and creeped to the edge of the campsight
to watch for
other signs.
"What is it?" Val asked, staying back for fear that
his rather
irritating outfit would stand out too much.
"Lots of people moving," Xalan said. "We need a closer
look." Next to
Amethyst, Xina nodded. In the next instant Jol felt an
absence, and
looking about saw that the twins had virtually
vanished.
"I hope they know what they're doing," Jolrael said.
Any large group
of people in this area were likely to be elves, and
that meant they'd
be harder to sneak up on the humans.
"Xalan-san would certainly take no risks," Amethyst
noted. "Xina-san,
on the other hand." Amethyst and Jol sweatdropped.
"Ooo, Val-kun I'm scared!" the swordsman and chimera
turned to see a
nervous dragon being glomped by a not even close to
nervous elf.
"Maybe its a good thing that Xina-san left after all,"
Amethyst
sighed. Then Amethyst shook her head and decided to
ask a question
that had been plaguing her for some time. "Excuse me,
Jolrael-san, why
do you like her?" Jolrael turned from his jealous
glare to attend to
the question.
"Well..." Jolrael, paused in confusion, glanced at
Tinuviel flushed,
and then gathered his normal attitude. "Uh...I can't
answer that right
now."
"As you say, Jolrael-san," Amethyst sighed.
Val, meanwhile, teleported out of Tinuviel's glomp
into the higher
branches of the tree Xalan had been in. Tinuviel
blinked in confusion,
and then whipped out her notebook before going into a
running
commentary on how exactly her "Val-kun" had vanished
like that.
"What is with her?" he asked himself, sweatdropping.

**********

"YOU!!!" The graying woman turned to the sound and
found an
angry-looking blue-haired girl standing behind her and
pointing. She
seemed vaguely familiar somehow, she also looked like
she hadn't been
eating well of late. "I've been trying to find you
everywhere!! How
can a damn MORTAL move so FAST?!!"
~Sherra, you're mortal right now, you don't want
people getting any
other ideas.~ Sherra sweatdropped at the sword's
comment.
"Oh, I remember you, you're the one that suggested
speaking to my
sister in order to find Lina Inverse," the older woman
said. Sherra
blinked in confusion for a moment.
"I suggested the Prince Regent Zelgadis, who's your
sister?" The older
woman laughed and Sherra covered her ears to keep the
painful sound
out.
~I can't do that you know,~ Duofolger whined. ~This
hurts.~
"Oh don't be silly," she waved her hand in dismission
of the comment.
"There is no Zelgadis in the lines of inheritance, so
it must be my
sister Amelia on the throne." Sherra smirked.
~Time for a little lunch,~ she thought eagerly. "Oh,
but Zelgadis was
her husband. Amelia Wil Tesla Sailoon died in
childbirth."
"WHAT!!?!" The woman shrieked. "When did that happen?"
~Shouldn't I be...oh...I'm still human, that's right,~
Sherra
shrugged, and proceeded to break the news. "Seventeen
years ago now,
wait if she's your sister.."
"Yes, I am Gracia wil Naga Sailoon," the woman
declared arrogantly.
"The rightful ruler of Sailoon." She held a dignified
pose, completely
ruined by the fact that she was a older woman in a
battle bikini, for
a few seconds, before relaxing. "Assuming I ever
bother with the whole
mess that is."
~'Naga'? Great, just great, I'm stuck following one of
the great
loonies of the age,~ Sherra nearly screamed, somebody
else beat her
too it.
"These lands have encroached on our realms for long
enough!" a voice
shouted. "Hear now that the House of Feanor lays claim
to this
village."
"What insolence is this?" Naga demanded turning to the
shout to see
nearly twenty elven spearman with a mail-clad knight
at the head.
"Feanor," Sherra spit the house name.
~Fighting twenty elves as you are wouldn't be your
smartest move.~
Sherra, of course, ignored the comment.
"This village is on neutral ground belonging to no
Kingdom!" Naga
declared, stepping forward. "You know as well as I
that these villages
are left as an intentional buffer between Beleriand
and Sailoon, do
you WANT war?"
"Of course they want war," Sherra said. "What is the
House of Feanor
good for." She smiled darkly at the thought, that was
part of the
reason that the elves had been allowed into the world.
Of course the
majority of it was that there were several elf-lords
at the time they
arrived who were capable of fighting mazoku on even
footing.
"This land belongs to the elves now," the elf-knight
declared. "Who
are you and what do you hope to do to stop us?" The
spearmen
arrogantly shoved the various villagers out of the way
as they circled
the two female "humans."
"I am Naga the White Serpent! Sorceress supreme, Lina
Inverse's
Greatest and Closest rivals" Naga broke into her laugh
and the
collected people cringed.
"Oh, one of those annoying lunatics with the crazy
laugh, this makes
three I've met before," the elf-knight said irritably.
"And who's the
sick-looking girl?" Sherra smirked, and wiped her brow
non-chalantly.
"I am Sherra Grausherra," she answered simply. The
elf-knighted
started scrambling to get away.
"Kill them!"
"Wind, crimson flame. Grant the power of thunder to my
hand! DIGU
VOLT!"
"You who crosses between sky and earth, gently flowing
water, gather
in my hand and give me power: DEMONA CRYSTAL!"
The resulting battle was short.
"Well, that was irritating," Naga snorted. "Imagine
mistaking me for
one of those cheap imitations!" She turned to Sherra,
in time to see
the exhausted girl slump to her knees. "Excuse me, are
you feeling
okay?"
"I'm just a little hungry," Sherra snapped.
~It seems you're always just a little hungry
recently.~ Duofolger
noted seriously. ~And always eating.~
"Shut up, sword." Sherra whispered it under her
breath.
"Well, for your aid, Miss...Grausherra, I believe you
said your name
was," Naga suggested. "I believe that I can treat you
to a meal."
Sherra blinked and arched an eyebrow, wondering if a
meal with this
woman was safe.
"Then I suppose we can return to looking for the late
Lina Inverse?"
"After I talk with this Zelgadis fellow," the graying
woman growled,
stomping off.
"But I thought you were dead set on finding the Dra
Matta!!"
~You're pathetic,~ Duofolger sounded tired.

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

Xina and Xalan watched the passing host carefully.
There were hundreds
of elves passing through the trees and heading towards
Sailoon.
Sailoon by way of THEIR forest, they assumed.
"This puts a new light on things," Xalan muttered.
"I'm getting really annoyed with elves," Xina agreed.
The kage-kitsune
faded back away from the passing elves, and returned
to the others.
"We can't stay..." Xalan cut off as he saw that there
was someone new
sitting at camp.
"Xina-san, we have news," Amethyst declared cheerfully
as the visitor
stood up to face them.
"Why, you must be Lina's children," the woman said
pleasantly. "It is
good to see you after so many years."
"Who are you?" Xina demanded of the tall, dark-haired
woman sitting
comfortably on the ground across from Jolrael.
Suddenly the small
campsite was suddenly crowded with green-clad elves
and a few
woodsman.
"How did...?" Xalan decided to ignore the comment this
made on his
alertness.
"Did you think wood elves would be as easy to fool as
high elves?" one
of them asked.
"Xina and Xalan Metallium," Jol said. "Meet my mother,
Sylphiel
Gabriev." Xina and Xalan blinked as the woman bowed
with quiet smile
on her face.

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

Joining the Resistance

"Your Jol's mom?" Xina asked surprised. She looked
from the arrogant
younger boy to the sweetly smiling woman and scratched
her head. The
hair was the same, but even at sixteen Jolrael was
much bigger.
"Yes, would you mind sitting down, I was just making
some tea."
"Tea? Where'd you get..."
"Don't ask," Jol said. "She just produces tea
anywhere, anytime, no
one else has figured it out yet."
"Really?" Val said, turning to Sylphiel. "Do you know
my mother?"
"Why yes I do," Sylphiel nodded. "Now please sit down,
my husband
should be back with the rest of the scouts."
"I get the feeling that you are assuming that we'll be
travelling with
you," Xalan said, still irritated that someone had
gotten the better
of him in wood craft. He wondered if travelling by
shadow hopping had
been how he had missed the scents.
"I think that makes the most sense, Xalan-san,"
Amethyst said, she
sounded shocked. "The High Elves are marching on
Sailloon."
"We knew that," Xina said.
"So you were there!" a number of wood elves turned
irritated glances
at the speaker. Xalan smirked, perhaps he hadn't been
as out done as
he thought.
"No they were just as surprised about you as you were
about them,"
Jolrael informed him.
"Would you please..."
"Stop what?" Jol interuppted the kage-kitsune, as if
he didn't know
what Xalan meant.
"Jolrael Gabriev," everybody blinked in surprise at
the sudden serious
tone in the priestess's voice. "What have I told you
about reading
peoples' minds with out asking first."
"Sorry, mom," Jol sighed.
"Jolrael-san apologized," Amethyst blinked. "I didn't
think anybody
but Luna-sama could make him do that."
"Hey, he's never done that to me," Xina noted.
"Remember that day I had the really bad head ache?"
Jol asked
suddenly.
"Oh, that was when it only cost me about a two hundred
gold for your
lunch right?" Amethyst asked. Sylphiel and various
wood elves familiar
with Gabriev appetites sweatdropped.
"What does that have to do with reading my mind?" Xina
asked.
"The headache was from reading your mind."
"JOLRAEL!!" Everybody stared wide-eyed at Sylphiel in
mild shock.
"What do you mean by that?!!" Xina demanded.
"Never mind," Jol sighed. "Sorry about that."
"He apologized again," Amethyst said. "Can you teach
me how you do
that?" Jolrael rolled his eyes.
"Certainly, Amethyst-chan," Sylphiel smiled. "I'd be
glad to." And now
Jolrael looked very nervous.
"Wow, you went into Xina's mind and came out sane,"
Val gave an
impressed whistle.
"HEY!!!" Everybody ignored Xina throwing a rock at the
dragon.
Xalan looked over and noticed the little blonde girl
sitting with
Tinuviel. The girl was repeatedly pointing at a
picture and asking
what it was, and Tinuviel was repeatedly giving very
technical
explanations. Explanations he couldn't follow, but
suspected they were
all about different things. Probably ink, the style of
the drawing,
the book, everything but whatever the picture itself
was.
"Is this the right place for a child of that age?"
Xalan asked. He
didn't say it, but he knew who's child it was, there
was only one
human woman around after all.
"No it is not," Sylphiel answered, giving him a look
at the
implications against her parenting. "That is why
Tinuviel and Kyrie
will be escorted to join the other refugees."
"Excuse me, but why would Tinuviel-chan have to
leave," Amethyst
asked. "She has been travelling with us without
getting into much
trouble."
"Except the time she got taken prisoner," Val noted.
"Or when she set off the booby traps in the dwarf
hold," Xalan added.
"Or shaved my head after SOMEONE hit me with FIVE
Megido Flares," Xina
snapped. "My lovely hair's been recovering ever
since." She ran her
hands through her purple hair and pouted.
"You're a lot like your mother," Sylphiel noted, after
the long
silence that followed that statement.
"Not to mention we did first find her as a prisoner of
bandits,"
Amethyst added trying to change the topic away from
Xina's comment.
"And there was the incident with Jolrael-san's sword."
"She's been useful," Jol said in her defense.
Everybody looked at him.
"Once or twice."
"Please, you might hurt her feelings," Sylphiel
lectured them. They
all looked to Tinuviel who was hurriedly and excitedly
taking down
notes.
"Don't stop now! It was just getting....oooo....I
never thought I'd
see one of those this time of year," Tinuviel started
following a
butterfly.
"Never mind," Sylphiel sighed. "But you see Tinuviel
is barely eighty
years old, and has none of the training that you
others do. You had no
choice before, I understand, but now, she needs to be
taken somewhere
safe. That is what you were planning on anyway, is it
not?"
"Gomen nasai, Sylphiel-sama," Amethyst said. "You are
correct."
"Dad's coming," Jol said about half a second before
the ears began
twitching among all the hyper-sensitive hearing races
present. A
blonde human swordsman just sauntered into the
campsite coming from
downwind and casually walking with almost no noise.
"Hey Jol, how's your day been?" he asked, as if he had
last seen his
son the day before. Jol and Sylphiel wondered if
perhaps that was
about what his memory said. Gourry Gabriev turned
toward Val and
blinked. "Hey...aren't you the guy that tried to..."
"Gourry-dear," Sylphiel cut him off. "Lina-san's and
Zelgadis-san's
children are here as well." He blinked and turned to
Amethyst and the
Twins.
"Oh Hi! Hey, do any of you know a guy with lots of
silver knives?"
"That psychopath is STILL following us?" Xina snapped.
"Can you people keep quite please?" one of the circle
of elves asked.
"Oh, sorry about that," Xina said.
"He tried to kill Xina," Val said levely with narrowed
eyes.
"Oh, well I sort of got him lost," Gourry shrugged.
"Good," Xalan muttered. "Too bad you didn't kill him."
"What about the High Elves?" it was another wood elf.
"Well, I didn't look very high," Gourry said
scratching his head. "But
I saw some elves yeah." The younger Slayers looked
from Gourry Gabriev
to Jolrael Gabriev, and back, and then back again.
"Yes, he IS my father," Jol admitted.
"No wonder Father and Lina-sama were so surprised,"
Amethyst said.
"Gourry-dear, where were the elves?"
"The last of them will pass us in about an hour," he
said. "They
aren't coming up this way, they think all the wood
elves and humans
are cowering to the North, sent someone that way."
"How do you know that?" Xalan asked. "The commanders
were talking
strategy so I listened."
"Hey, I can speak elven you know." Everybody stared in
open amazement,
apparently Gourry had gotten close enough to overhear
the heads of
this force and got out again undetected. The
impressive part was that
he didn't seem impressed by this himself.
"Are you sure he's human?" one of the elves asked his
nearest comrade.
"Well, I suppose we'll have to wait until they passed
before our
various parties leave."
"So what's going to happen?" Xina asked.
"Well, Tinuviel and Kyrie, will, as I said, leave with
the last of the
non-combatants for Zephilia and safety," Sylphiel
noted.
"The rest of us are going to follow the high elves and
hit them from
behind as soon as they enter battle," Jol said.

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

Kalus growled as he came across the same tree for
perhaps the fifth
time in that day. Whoever it was that he had fought
had taken him in
so many false trails that he had no idea where he was
any more. He
certainly had no hope of finding the half-were's trail
again. Excpet
perhaps by luck. He tossed a dagger into a tree in
frustration and
growled.
The slight chink of metal was the only warning he had
before the
mail-clad elves appeared, wielding enchanted spears
and ready to
fight.
"Human scum," one of the elves spat. "You were all
told to leave our
bounds!"
"I'm.." he didn't get to finish the statement as
someone slammed a
hard piece of metal against the back of his head.
"Shall we look for others?"
"No, he's not a Beleriand native," the first speaker
said
disdainfully. "We'll question him later when he wakes
up."

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

The Laugh she thought was Gone Forever

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!" Sherra paused in eating long
enough to wince.
"Your appetite seems to rival my one-time side-kick!!"
~Why are we travelling with this....creature?~
"She pays for the food," Sherra snapped.
"What was that, child? Did you say something?" Sherra
glowered at the
"child" remark.
"Hmm, we're not the only strangers in town," Sherra
noted, glancing at
a small group of assorted men and women as they
entered the inn. The
six of them looked like travelers. They were all
human, at least they
looked that way. Sherra noted a second small group
already seated look
up and nod in recognition.
"Well, of course not. Simple child," Naga tsked
impatiently. "The
villages we've already passed must be fleeing the
oncoming armies."
"Those," Sherra pointed to a whipped looking bunch of
farmer types.
"Are refugees, those people are something else." She
squinted her eyes
and concentrated on the hushed conversation coming
from the now decent
sized group.
"...protect...safe haven"
"...few....those..."
"....many...coming?"
"Quiet...watc..." They all turned to face Sherra who
returned to her
eating, watching them out of the corner of her eye.
~Something is coming,~ Duofolger noted suddenly.
"I need to check something, err, Naga..." Sherra
snapped, jumping to
her feet.
"What's the hurry," Naga asked. "You children, always
running
everywhere." Naga tsked again as Sherra rushed out of
the inn, the
strangers watching her.
"RAYWING!!" Sherra was getting much better at this
human magic, she
lifted into the air without so much as a flutter in
her flight.
~Careful not to strain yourself too much.~
"Now who sounds like a mortal," Sherra asked snidely
as she directed
herself away from the village in the direction she had
first come
from. If she didn't know better she'd say the sealed
mazoku was
concerned for her. Well, since his release was
dependent on her, he
had a right to be. "From this direction right?"
~Yes, lots of anger and hatred,~ the sword confirmed.
~Lovely meal,
but probably not healthy for you right now.~ Sherra
growled enviously.
"There! Its a whole damn army!" Sherra pointed out the
movement at the
edge of her vision. "Five hours maybe, let's get back
and evacuate
that town."
~Why not just leave ourselves?~
"I'd rather be a target among many," Sherra noted as
she turned back.
Duofolger responded with a mental nod. A short time
later she landed
in the village again, sauntered into the inn and
started shouting.
"HEY!! The elves are on their way here, everybody
should get going!"
As the news started spreading like wild fire, Sherra
considered
whether or not to get anything else to eat. She didn't
feel THAT
hungry though, and there were more immediate concerns.
"How do we get to Sailoon with all these elves cutting
us off," Naga
asked of her "younger" companion. Apparently she was
treating the war
like some kind of personal affront.
"We'll just go through that forest," Sherra shrugged.
"The forest!! But that's Kitsune Forest!" a villager
shouted. "There
are monsters in there! We can't go there."
"Please try not to act so foolishly," Sherra turned to
face the voice
and face faulted. The tall blonde woman turned to face
her and walked
forward. "Sherra Grausherra."
"Filia," Sherra awknowledged as she stood up. Filia
narrowed her eyes
suscipiciously and then blinked.
"One of your eyes is human," the dragon noted.
"Only one!!" Sherra declared cheerfully.
"Why does everyone react to this urchin and not to
me?" Naga demanded.
"I am Naga the White Serpent, sorceress supreme!!"
"Filia-san, you know these people," Sherra turned to
see one of the
eight strangers.
"I've met Sherra," Filia admitted. "It seems there are
more of you
than I can remember as well."
"There aren't many places safe for us," the first
speaker said,
shrugging. "Word spread that she had called for
assistance."
"I see, well how many elves are coming?" Filia's voice
in talking to
Sherra was beyond cold, but Sherra was used to that.
~No magicians, lots of infantry, an exploratory
force.~
"An exploratory force," Sherra said. "No magic, about
five hours out
maybe."
"We should have an easy time routing them!" Naga
declared suddenly.
Then perhaps there will be time to reach Sailoon
before the rest of
the army follows. I want to meet my brother-in-law.
OHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"
"Please wait here," Filia said. Sherra had no doubt
that it was a
command. Then she turned to a villager. "You people
should flee into
the forest, you will have no problem reaching
Sailoon."
"H-h-hai Filia-sama!" the villager declared spreading
the news.
"Who are you to give ME orders," Naga demanded as
civilians cleared
the room.
"She's a dragon priestess," Sherra informed her,
irritably.
"And what is that to Naga!" Filia merely rolled her
eyes and took
flight by Raywing, not wanting to reveal her dragon
nature to the
locals just yet.
"And who are you, girl?" one of the strangers demanded
of Sherra.
"Can I borrow a knife first?" Sherra demanded. "I want
to check
something." Oddly enough the man shrugged and handed
her a slim
dagger.
The blue-haired girl surprised everyone by using it to
slash a line
across her palm. Though what really surprised them was
dark color of
her blood, and how it almost seemed to be bleeding as
a mist.
~This is good,~ Duofolger noted. ~Its still blood, and
its still red,
but you're healing.~
"A mazoku," Sherra said sweetly. "Why do you ask?"
~Sherra, please stop being an idiot and trying to get
yourself
killed.~
"Oh, as if you care," Sherra snapped.
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!! You must forgive my delusional
friend," Naga
demanded. "We are both sorceresses in search of my old
travelling
companion, Li..."
"Lina Inverse?" the man asked.
"How did you know that?" Sherra asked.
"Because we're here to help her as well," he said.
"Wow, I didn't think that little message would get
that much of
a....oh bloody hell!! That can't be who I think it is.
You!!
You...you....almost smell human," Lina said, rage
changing to
confusion.
"Long story," Sherra muttered. The graying sorceress
blinked and
looked over the fox woman.
"You seem familiar," Lina turned the voice and paled.
"Oh...no...not YOU!!" Much to everyone's surprise Lina
fainted.
"Obviously she is overwhelmed by my awesome and
gorgeous presence,"
Naga declared. Leaving certain cosmic forces to try
and trace her
bloodline for signs of the family known as "Kuno."
"But she still
seems very familiar."
"Hey Inverse! Wake up you guy-stealing..." Sherra
suddenly remembered
she wanted to be on Lina's good side. "Brilliant,
beautiful...uh...former sorceress."
"What is that about?" Filia asked...the still nameless
travelers
shrugged..confused.
"I must not be sleeping enough..." Lina said as she
came to. "I could
have sworn I just saw!"
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!! Lina Inverse is that you!?" Naga
gasped.
"AAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! NAGA!!!" Lina snapped to
standing and regarded
Naga with outright shock. "First my sister and now
NAGA!? Does the
universe bear me a grudge!?"
"Should we kill her?"
"No no...she might be useful," Lina said,
reluctantly...very
reluctantly.
"My, my, you grew breasts eventually after all.
Somewhat at least,"
Naga noted condescendingly
"Gee...thanks, Naga," Lina growled, glancing back at
Filia.
"I didn't know who she was," Filia said, glaring at
Sherra.
"What are you doing here?"
"Well I was...well..." Sherra stammered.
~YOUR SIX HUNDRED YEARS OLD!!! STOP ACTING LIKE A
TEENAGER!!~
"Quiet you!" Sherra thumped her sword. "Well you see I
met your son,
and..." Lina cut her off before she could get any
further.
"Nevermind, its time for some serious business." Lina
looked in the
direction of Beleriand.
"Like sticking it to the House of Feanor?" Sherra said
hopefully.
~How'd I get stuck with an adolescent for six hundred
years?"

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

Avoid the Forest

"Why are they stopped?" the wood elf demanded of no
one in particular.
"They haven't," the human next to him noted. "At least
not all of
them, various small units have been breaking off and
moving south all
day."
"Why would they scout only south?" The elf tried to
cover his surprise
of the human next to him.
"My dad said they're not scouts," Jolrael said.
"Besides there are too
many for just scouts."
"They're going through home," the elf whirled to face
the new voice
and swallowed nervously at the sight of the two
half-mazoku.
"They're going to be ripped to pieces if they keep
going in two and
threes like that." The purple-haired fox girl smiled
viciously.
"You'd think they'd be more aware of what lays that
way," Jolrael
sighed. "I can't do too much without getting noticed
by whoever has
stepped forward to claim the dubious honor of Lord of
the House of
Feanor, but they seem to be massing shortly into the
forest beyond."
"What does lie in that direction?" The elf asked,
suddenly nervous.
"Home," the red-haired fox-man noted.
"What does that mean?"
"Mom doesn't like uninvited guests."

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

"I don't like the feel of this forest," one of the
elven warriors
noted. "It doesn't feel like a normal forest, nor like
the woods of
Beleriand."
"Yes, there's something...wild about it," the warrior
next to him
noted. "Why are we going this way anyway?"
"Isn't that obvious, Sailloon has massed its forces
along its Northern
border," the first speaker said. "We are supposed to
get in behind
them." The elf paused for a moment and stared into the
forest. "I've
never seen so many foxes in so little space."
"We're being watched."
The rumor passed through the ranks as they marched for
the next
several minutes, until finally the collected army of
elves came to the
edge of a clearing in the forest to see a deserted
human village.
"They heard we were coming," one of the elves
reasoned. "But what
human could get close enough to..." There was a sudden
outcry from the
ranks behind them. They turned back to see several
skirmishes in
progress, though they couldn't tell quite what the
enemy was yet.
Somehow they had appeared in the middle of the ranks
and they were
tearing through the ranks at an alarming rate.
It soon became obvious that they were facing at least
six lycanthropes
with enough control to take whichever aspect they
wanted. Nobody had
any silver weapons to use, but most of the elves
decided that they
could probably do enough damage that it would be
possible to take a
head and kill the weres. This was a rather futile
thought actually,
and a fair number of elves decided to turn and run
rather than face
the risk of death.
Three more figures appeared floating in midair behind
the elves' ranks
shortly before a series of explosions and icy blasts
tore through the
back ranks. The five thousand or so elves might have
stood a chance if
they had maybe a hundred or so magicians with them. As
it was only one
bedraggled elf who managed to slip throught the storm
of claws and
magic.
"Well, that was easy," Sherra said.
"What idiots," Lina hmphed. "What kind of idiot sends
on army that
size and doesn't send any magicians."
"Lina-san," Filia noted. "Not everybody comes from a
country or race
where almost everybody knows magic."
"But these are ELVES," Lina protested. "They should
know better."
"Are there any stragglers," one of the visiting
lycanthropes, in human
form again, asked.
"Flee you fool!! Flee before the tremendous might of
Naga the White
Serpent!! HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!" This was followed by
a large number
of explosions as Naga flew by chasing one of the few
remaining elves.
"I think laughing girl has got them," Sherra noted.
"Can we get
something to eat? I'm feeling a litt..." Sherra fell
forward to the
ground. Filia and Lina looked at each in confusion,
then at the
fainted mazoku.
"Okay, Sherra, I don't get the joke, but could you
quit it now?" Lina
scowled as the mazoku didn't respond. She walked over
and turned over
the girl. Now that she was looking, Lina could tell
that Sherra seemed
thin. Which was odd since, from listening to Naga
talk, she had been
eating to rival Lina since they met. Which was even
more odd, since
mazoku feed on negative emotions which were usually
easy to find.
"I suppose its too much to hope that she's dead,"
Filia sighed. Some
of the werecreatures stared at her in surprise. "She's
tried to kill
us on occaision."
"Then why did you let her join us?"
"A mazoku general was willing to help," Lina said. "I
wasn't going to
complain, after all an elf lord is just as much a
problem for them as
for us." At the words "mazoku general" Lina's peers
stared at the
unconscious blue-haired girl. Lina kicked the girl
slightly.
"She doesn't smell like a mazoku," one of them noted.
"Yeah weird, isn't it," Lina shrugged and started to
turn away.
~You owe her.~
"I was wondering when you'd speak up," Lina growled.
"What do you mean
I 'owe' her?" Filia glanced at her curiously, and Lina
pointed at the
sword and the dragon nodded.
~The spell that did this to her was meant for your
son,~ Duofolger
informed her. Lina narrowed her eyes. ~She got in the
way.~
"And why did she do that?" Lina asked.
~She gets these...crushes...from time to time.~ Lina
slapped her hand
to her forehead.
"Great, my daughter is dating someone who tried to
destroy the world,
and a mazoku general has a crush on my son," she
sighed.
"Lina-san, you are not being entirely fair to my son,"
Filia hmphed.
"He is not the same person that summoned Darkstar."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Lina sighed. "We'll have to
do something to
help her I guess, but not here. Let's bring her to my
place."

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

"My Lord Fimore," the elf dropped to his knees in
front of the awesome
presence of the new heir to the house of Feanor. "A
survivor has
returned from the Forests to our South."
"A survivor?" The young elf lord was incredulous. "A
survivor as in
they were defeated? A survivor as in there's only
one?!!"
"He was raving about beasts that blades would not cut
and fire, my
lord," the elf said. "And being watched by foxes.
Maybe the villagers
are all sorcerers my lord." There was a low laughter
from a corner of
the tent, and a quiet rattling of chains.
"You have something to add to this, human?"
"You're fools," Kalus said quietly. "I know what is in
the forest to
the south of us. I've spent most of my life hunting
such things."
"Are you going to tell us what it is?"
"No you're going to go let me kill it," the human said
arrogantly. "I
don't care about anything else, exterminate all the
humans if you want
to. In some way these things are human so I'll be
helping you. Kill me
if you want after that." The elf lord smiled.
"This has merit," he said. "But don't think that you
can go alone.
You'll have watchers."
"As long as I get to draw the blood," Kalus smiled in
return.

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

Another Change

He stood in the wreckage of the caravan and looked
about with
satisfaction. Despair and pain wafted across the
battlefield, and
there were no other mazoku in the area to steal any of
it away from
him. His power was growing, and as his power grew, so
would his
mistresses. He glanced down at two of the unconscious
refugees and
smirked.
"These two will prove useful," he smiled picked them
up and vanished.

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

The elf stopped on his patrol and glanced back for a
moment. He could
have sworn that he'd heard something, but there was
nothing there but
some shadows. He shrugged and went back on patrol.
There was no way
anybody could get past the outer patrols anyway. He
glanced up at the
overcast night sky and sighed, wondering if it was
going to rain.
As soon as he passed three people seemed to appear.
Jolrael just
stepped forward, as if he had been there the entire
time, just nobody
noticed him. Xina and Xalan seemed to rise out of the
shadow cast by
the clouds overhead.
"They're lazy," a voice whispered deprecatingly.
"Almost as bad as you
Xina."
"Hey!" Xina's voice came in whispered gasp.
"I don't suppose it would do much good if I asked you
to be quiet,"
Jol sighed. Xalan shrugged and Xina fumed. "Good,
let's get this over
with then." The twins vanished into the shadow at
Jolrael's feet
again, and again dropped away from all his senses. It
was as if they
didn't even exist in this world when they did that,
sometimes it
disturbed him.
Jolrael idly wondered how long Amethyst would be able
to keep up the
cloud cover before someone noticed that it was magical
in nature. The
swordsman strode absently through the tents, ignoring
the people
around him. Finding the Lord's tent was an easy
undertaking, it was
the largest in all the camp.
Jolrael stopped short of approaching it though. A
patch of shadow
thickened at his feet and Xina's head stuck out.
"What's the hold..." she sniffed the air, Xalan's head
appeared along
the otherside of Jolrael. He sniffed the air as well
and sighed
irritably.
"Mazoku," the three of them said at once. The
kage-kitsune glanced
around nervously for a moment before stepping out of
the cloud's
shadow again. Jolrael yawned and walked forward as the
twins swept
from shadow to shadow closer to the Lord Fimore's
tent.
"...have been destroyed," a voice was saying.
"You can count on that," Jolrael, Xina and Xalan
blinked as they
recognized the voice. Xina cringed a little, thinking
of various
unsatisfactory encounters with the owner of that
voice. "Have you
found the ones I seek?"
"I am not your errand boy, dark one," the elf lord
growled. "When the
humans are gone you and I will meet over the field and
I shall tear
you asunder." Zangulus smirked.
"Until that time...we have a bargain," he smiled. "Now
when you DO
locate those half-breeds you might want to tell them a
certain
blue-haired nuissance might want to see them soon."
Jol nearly charged
forward then, but Xalan stopped him.
"You sound as if you don't trust my ability to hold
them," the Elf
Lord noted.
"I don't," Zangulus said simply. "I'll be doing some
sentimental
travelling now, I'm sure one of them will know the
sight I first
joined my mistress." The presence of the mazoku
vanished then.
"He's got Tinuviel," Jolrael grabbed. "My sister was
with her."
"Let's get back," Xalan whispered. "Maybe your parents
know what he
was talking about." Jolrael nodded and walked out of
their concealing
shadow passing in front of two guards that didn't seem
to notice him.
"That is REALLY nerve-wracking." Xalan added as he
melded into the
cloud's shadow.
"Why do I suddenly feel sorry for Zangulus?" Xina
asked herself before
joining her brother in the shadows.

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

Zangulus appeared in the ruin of an old building out
in the middle of
a huge lake filled with rubble. He smirked as he
thought how his prey
would come running to him. He had felt them watching,
but there was no
way he was going to try and take the three of them
with the
possibility of an elven backstab to worry about.
He opened a rickety door and felt a sudden wave of
extreme
cheerfulness. It almost dropped him to his stomach.
Looking in on his
two captives he was treated to the sight of the
blue-haired elven girl
playing pattycake with the little blonde human girl.
"Oh hello," Tinuviel said as Zangulus entered. "Don't
I know you?"
"We met once before," Zangulus admitted, ignoring the
cheerful girl.
He strode to the circle of symbols he had drawn on the
ground earlier.
Funny he had thought that he had drawn them on the
otherside of the
building. "Your friends will be coming soon. When that
happens I'll
crush them totally and take the staff for my mistress.
Enjoy these
next few days girls, they'll be your last."
"Does this mean there will only be nights from now
on?" Kyrie asked
blinking. Zangulus stared.
"Oooo...How do you plan on blacking out the sun!?" The
mazoku
face-faulted.
"Nevermind," he sighed and got ready to enact the
spell to prepare the
trap. He gathered his mazoku power and....suddenly
felt as if he was
being torn into millions of pieces. As the miscast
spell subsided the
mazoku gasped for breath and glanced at the circle of
symbols in
confusion.
"Pink...flowers?"
"I guess I didn't quite get it right then," Tinuviel
suggested. "How
about this one?" Zangulus glanced up and watched in
horror as the
blue-haired elf traced out the mana pattern of a Ra
Tilt, and then
added a twist. When the resulting flash cleared all
three them lay in
the crater staring up swirlly eyed at the sky.

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

"What can you tell about her?" Lina asked Filia
irritably.
"She's becoming a mazoku again," Filia said simply.
"There's not much
human left of her actually."
"Okay, so why is she dying then?" Lina asked
shrugging. "Wait a
minute, didn't Naga say she was eating to rival me?"
"Yes, I do believe she said that," Filia admitted.
Neither of them
were too happy about helping a former enemy, but
former enemies had
become allies in the past.
"I think I know the problem," Lina sighed and sat down
on the ground
outside the vacant inn. "She can't feed, so she's
starving to death."
"But why wouldn't she be able to feed?" Filia asked,
confused. "She is
filled with mazoku power already, shouldn't she have
developed the
empathy."
"Hey, sword," Lina smacked Duofolger and growled.
~What is it?~
"Don't you usually have to destroy the mortal body to
transform
someone into a mazoku?"
~Yes..but I don't see..oh...you're saying this is an
unnatural
transformation.~
"Yeah, so why don't you finish her off, complete the
transformation,
and everything is back to normal."
~Can't do it,~ the sword noted reluctantly. ~Such
abilities were taken
from me long ago, even if I were released from this
form I wouldn't
have the ability.~
"Oh this is stupid," Lina growled. She walked over to
the unconscious
mazoku-human. "HEY WAKE UP!!" The girl didn't respond,
Lina sighed and
looked to Filia. "I have an idea, but..."
"But what? Lina-san," Filia repeated.
"Just how human is she?" Filia looked at her confused.
"Is her blood
still human?" Filia walked over and formed one of her
fingers into a
draconic claw. Slicing a straight line across the
girl's flesh,
releasing a thin stream of dark blood.
"Mostly, it would seem," Filia said. "Why, what is
your plan?" Lina
sighed and took one of her own claws to slash open
Sherra's arm, being
careful to miss any major blood vessels. After that
Lina slashed a cut
down her own arm and then matched the two cuts.
~What are you doing?~ Duofolger demanded. He could
feel the bond to
his mistress fading as her blood mixxed with Lina's.
With the bond's
fading the mazoku sword could feel himself being freed
somewhat, but
he wasn't certain if that was a good thing or not.
"Saving her life," Lina growled. "We can't complete
the
transformation, so we have to reverse it somehow."
"What do you mean reverse it Lina-san?" Filia asked,
watching as Lina
removed her arm and waited for it to heal. The dragon
blinked as she
looked at Sherra again and saw the traces of mazoku
energy fade away.
"She's..human? What did you do?"
"It'll be fairly obvious come nightfall," Lina said
quietly. She
glanced at the sword. "It was all I could do, and
she'll still need to
get something to eat soon. Sorry." The werefox walked
into the tavern
to go speak to the other were-creatures that had
arrived to help them.
Duofolger felt himself freed as the power in Lina's
blood completed
its work. The blade's form shimmered and grew into a
silver and white
clad warrior. Filia blinked in surprise.
"How did you...!?" Filia growled. She had thought the
sword was boound
in that form.
"This means that Sherra will never be mazoku again,"
the former sword
explained. He sighed and sat down next to her
unconscious form.
"I'm...free."
"I...see," Filia narrowed her eyes. "Try to behave, we
DO know how to
handle mazoku after all." Filia followed Lina's path
into the tavern
and sighed at the sight of Naga and Lina working to
eat all the food
the villagers had left behind.
"So what do I do now?" Duofolger asked the fainted
Sherra.

=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

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