A new twist to the story.....

****

SLAYERS INHERITANCE
"The Hounds Unleashed! Xellos Strikes!"
by Michael Hopcroft

"Anya Inverse here, and let me tell you I'm one confused girl. We were 
on our way to
Seyruun when who should we run into but my old friend Prince Cardanis, 
fourth-in-lien
for Seyruun's throne. Yeah, I know he's a chimera, but he's also a 
prince and a gorgeous
hunk. So he goes and kisses - TITANIA? I mean, Titania's a nice girl and 
all, but at the
first meeting? I didn't think he was that kind of guy. I'm gonna have to 
watch that pair."

On the road again, the four were keeping a constant lookout. "You never 
know when
bounty hunters or worse will strike," Anya had explained as they set 
out, "so we'll have
to be extra careful."

Originally Anya had wanted to keep the four in a group, but Cardanis and 
Titania had
sort of fallen back, as if it was deliberate so that Anya could not hear 
their conversation.
And every time she looked back, she saw that they were deep in 
conversation behind her
back.

"They're not paying attention!" Anya fumed. "Dammit, I need them to be 
alert!"

Valgaav, who was still waling beside Anya smiled enigmatically at her. 
"I think you can
leave them be for a while, Anya. Really, have you ever seen Titania 
calmer or more
engrossed?"

"Well.... Now that you mention it, they do seem to be pretty happy with 
each other back
there. I wonder what they're talking about."

"Maybe the same things we should talk about," Valgaav answered.

"If you're insinuating what I think you're insinuating,' Anya said, 
"you're going to be
one crispy dragon before I'm though with you! "

"Five hundred and seventy-two." Valgaav smiled. "that's the number of 
times your
mother punched, body-slammed, fireballed or otherwise assaulted your 
father for saying
something stupid before she realized what was really going on. I'm not 
trying to goad
you or get under your skin, Anya. Do you want the truth?"

Anya's anger was replaced by a deepening blush. "The truth?"

"The truth. The truth is that ever since I met you, your happiness and 
welfare is all I've
been thinking about."

"Valgaav...."

"I've never had that happen before, so I can't express it very well. 
It's just that, well,
you're important to me, Anya. If anything happened to you I don't know 
what I'd do."

Anya was now blushing a furious crimson. "Valgaav , I - hell, I don't 
know WHAT to
say. Nobody's ever told me I'm important except my parents."

"I think," said Valgaav, "that you have become the most important thing 
in my life."

Anya decided the best thing to do was to shut up, so she did.

Meanwhile, behind them, Titania and Cardanis were talking in a much more 
amiable way.
But Titania was very serious. "It's very dangerous to be around me, 
Cardanis. You
haven't seen my power out of control. I can understand you seeming to 
like me and all,
but I could just as easily kill you as anyone else if I went out of 
control, and I don't want
that."

Cardanis shook his head sadly. "Titania, Titania, you don't understand. 
In my family,
we're used to taking risks like that. And let me tell you something else 
- to fall in love
always means risking pain. Rejection, doubt and anxiety hurt as much as 
fireballs, if not
more."

Titania wanly smiled. "Fall in love? Is that what's happening to us?"

"I think so," Cardanis replied. "Now that we've had a chance to travel 
and talk together, I
can see that if we can get those powers of yours sealed away that you 
would be a great
companion for me. You're practical, down-to-earth, intelligent, and 
gorgeous to boot."

"I don't know. I don't think I'd take to being a princess of a throne."

"Oh, I'm a long way from a throne. I have three brothers and sisters 
ahead of me in the
line of succession, and I have no intention of doing any leap-frogging. 
I'll probably take a
ministyr somewhere in the palace if I ever settle down there and advise 
my mother, and
my brother once he ascends. It takes a lot more to run a kingdom than a 
Queen. Besides,
my borther says he doesn't want to inherit for many, many years. You 
know what he told
me one. He told me 'the problem with being heir to a throne is that, if 
you're going to
inherit, the mother you love has to die.' He doesn't want that."

"The temptation must be strong."

"Not really. Mother and father work 16-hour days running the kingdom, 
and my brother
the Crown Prince works and trains nearly as long.  I hear Mother and 
Father get about
three hours of sleep every night."

"Wow. That's what I call dedication."

"Dedication is the essence of royalty. If you let ambition get in the 
way, you can't do
what's right by your people."

***

The next town was reached surprisingly without incident. There was only 
one inn, and
Anya promptly proceeded to eat it out of house and home. Cardanis ate a 
somewhat less
hearty meal, Titania picked at her food all the while starting at 
Cardanis, and Valgaav
occupied himself with a leg of lamb.

The innkeeper walked in and presented the very large tab, which Cardanis 
paid. "And
how many rooms will you be needing tonight?" the innkeeper asked.

"Four!" cried Anya.

"Is that a wise use of our money?" Valgaav asked.

"I need to be alone for a while, OK? What's wrong with that?"

"We have four rooms," the innkeeper said, "which I will be happy to rent 
to you four
travelers. It's not often we have a Prince of Seyruun here."

***

Anya went to sleep right away as soon as she got into her room She began 
to dream.

In the dream, she saw Valgaav's smiling face. He was approaching her, 
and she noticed
he was nor wearing a shirt. "Anya," he said.

"Yes, Val darling?"

"I love you. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes I know." Anya started to approach him, only to see him disappear. 
In his place,
equally shirtless, stood Xellos.

"Looks like I've found the weakness I've been looking for." Xellos said. 
"You belong
with me, girl.  Your power, the call of your blood, belongs on our side. 
I could call you
daughter too, you know. Or perhaps lover, if that is the way you wanted 
to play it. Come
to me, Anya. Come to Wolfpack Island."

"No! We're going to Seyruun!"

"Ah, Seyruun. We can't have that, can we? Imagine how a holy city would 
react to a girl
like Titania. They'd kill her on the spot. You know that. You know her 
only safety is with
me. Yours, too. What can you do to stop me, really?"

Anya smiled enigmatically. "I can wake up. I know when I'm dreaming and 
when I'm
awake."

"This isn't an ordinary dream, you know." Xellos said. "You can't wake 
up from it until I
let you." At that moment a burning pain  struck her in the forehead. "I 
know what you're
thinking - you can't feel pain in a dream. Well, this is different. I'll 
be expecting you at
Wolfpack Island." With that eh disappeared.

"You bastard!" Anya cried. "Come back here!" And witht aht she woke up, 
buty
somehow her forehead still hurt.

Anya picked up a mirror and held it up to look at her face. To her 
horror, she saw a burn
in the shape on a fingerprint right in the middle of her forehead!

"Then it wasn't a dream." Anya said. "Wolfpack Island? If I'm going 
there, it'll be
against my will."

***

In the morning, Anya walked out of her room. Valgaav walked out at about 
the same time,
and noticed the burn. "What happened to you?" he asked, concern in his 
voice.

"I had a visitor last night. Can you heal this burn?"

Valgaav placed his hand on her forehead and chanted a spell. When he 
took off his hand,
the burn was gone. "Your forehead was hot," he said. "And I don't think 
it was all from
the burn."

"Of course it was!"

At that moment, Cardanis and Titania exited their rooms. At least they 
weren't leaving
the same room, Anya thought. Cardanis was being a gentleman.

"I had the most horrible dream," Titania said. "Xellos was summoning me 
to Wolfpack
Island, wherever that is."

"Xellos is attaching us through our dreams," Anya said. "He's trying to 
ruin our morale."

"We'll just have be tougher than he is," Valgaav said. "We should make 
for a port and
hire a ship. That'll get us to Seyruun faster. Xellos will have a harder 
time reaching us
there."

Cardanis nodded. "I'll have no trouble hiring a ship. And the nearest 
port is a day's walk
away."

Anya nodded. "At least that would get us past the bounty hunters. Now 
let's get
something to eat."

The four walked down into the common room, only to see nobody was there.

Cardanis frowned grimly."Something's not right - the innkeeper said this 
was when
breakfast would be served. And the other guests are gone too."

Titania blanched. "You don't think Xellos...."

Anya drew her sword and ran downstairs. "Come down here," she said, 
"there's nobody
here - nobody at all."

"That's what worries me", said Valgaav as the three remaining travelers 
walked slowly
down the stairs.

Suddenly a massive wolf leapt at Anya! She ducked under it and slashed 
it with her
sword. It landed on the floor, got up slowly, and growled.

"That blow should have killed it.", Anya said. "It must be a Mazoku wolf!"

At that moment another wolf appeared at the corner of each room. Valgaav 
opened his
mouth and blasted one with his breath weapon; it reeled and dissipated. 
Cardanis reached
for his sword, but Titania, grabbed his arm. "Normal weapons won't hurt 
them<' Titania
said. "I've learned at least that much about Mazoku."

"Try to get them all in one place!" cried Anya. "I'll hit them with a 
Dragon Slave!"

The wolves seemed to understand it, and began to form in a triangle 
around the four
travelers. The travelers, in turn, had formed a defensive circle in the 
center, with Anya
and Titian standing back to back with Valgaav and Cardanis to either side.

"Why do I have a feeling they have us right where they want us?" Titania 
asked.

A voice came from above. "You don't know how right you are." It said 
calmly. Anya
recognized it instantly.

"Xellos! What's your game this time?"

Xellos alighted in the middle of the circle. 'Just wanted to take my 
daughter home." With
that, Xellos set one hand on Any's shoulder and another on Titania's. 
And instant later,
all three had vanished.

"Anya!" cried Valgaav.

"Titania!" cried Cardinas.

"ROAR!" cried the wolves, who chose that moment to leap.

TO BE CONTINUED....






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