The saga continues....

***

SLAYERS INHERITANCE
"The Heart of the Beast! Battle at Wolfpack Island!"
by Michael Hopcroft

"I'm Anya Inverse, and nothing pisses me off more than being stuck in a 
room with no
door against my will be a creepy Mazoku priest! I can't believe this 
creep was ever one
of Mother's friends!  Oh, the words I'll have with her if I ever get out 
of this mess!"

The roaring beast glared at Valgaav. Valgaav was actually surprised he 
had not pounced
already.  Just as the monster leaped, Valgaav let loose with his breath 
weapon. The
monster shattered and dissipated in mid-leap. It was then that Valgaav 
realized the
teleport had left him completely disoriented. He had no idea where he was.

Still, it was no time to panic. Valgaav headed down the corridor, trying 
to stay alert and
focused and not thinking too hard about what Anya might be going through.

He gave up quickly on seeking our Cardanis. The chimera prince could be 
miles away by
now. But it was clear he needed directions of some sort. If he could 
find Xellos, he might
get some answers. All he had to do was find an intelligent Mazoku and 
hope it felt fear....

***

Anya mentally ran through her list of spells. Dragon Slave? It was 
designed to attack
beings, not walls, and would raise too much of alarm. Fireball? Probably 
ineffective.
Then something struck her - maybe if she could remember a spell that 
would get rid of
the wall with a minimum of bother... SHE HAD IT!

"DEMONA CRYSTAL!" shouted Anya, and an icy chill spread from her hands 
to the
wall she was touching, covering and penetrating it with a sheet of ice. 
With one good
kick, the wall shattered into a million pieces and Anya stepped through 
the opening.

Anya drew her sword and began to chant. "Spirits of air and darkness, 
spirits of twilight
and crimson, I call on you to lend your power to this blade. In the 
great name of the
Golden Queen of Chaos, I call you to my aid! GOLDEN BLADE!"     At the 
completion of
the spell, Anya's blade started to glow a mixture of gold and crimson. 
For the next three
hours, it would slay any Mazoku on whom she could land a solid blow. She 
noticed that
as she had cast the spell, a delightful feeling of power had spread 
through her body. Had
she really called upon the aid of the Lord of Nightmares? She began to 
wonder what
would happen to her when the spell ended, and set out to find someone to 
intimidate. She
wanted answers, she wanted to find Titania, and she wanted to spill 
Mazoku blood.

***

Cardanis drew his sword and cast a Lighting spell on it. He knew that on 
an island full of
Mazoku, a torch was about all the fine Seyruun-crafted blade would be 
good for. With
Valgaav nowhere to be seen, he realized he was completely on his own. 
Since he couldn't
really fight the Mazoku before running out of energy, he would have to 
find ways to
avoid them. Muttering a spell to silence his footsteps, Cardanis headed 
down the corridor.
He knew he was going north, but not knowing the layout of the complex it 
didn't help
him at all.

Behind him he heard the sounds of spiders - big spiders. He was hoping 
they hunted by
sound, but he wasn't going to count on it. He closed his eyes for a 
moment to try and
sense for Mazoku, but the whole island reeked of their presence so much 
it was
impossible to make out individuals. Quickly finding a cubbyhole in the 
corridor, he
ducked inside just as two enormous spiders passed him by.

None of this was helping him find Titania, visions of whom filled his 
mind. He would
need to take a more direct approach. There was a Shamanist spell that 
could be used to
locate a particular person over long distances. He wondered if the 
stench of black magic
about the place would interfere with it, but he decided it was worth a 
try. He began to
chant the incantation.

He was so wrapped up in the spell that when the club hit his head, 
knocking him
unconscious, he didn't even notice.

***

Half an hour later a large, husky Mazoku carrying a club dragged 
Cardanis into a throne
room. Beastmaster, with a wine glass in her hand and a cigarette in a 
holder handing from
her lips, seemed puzzled. "Did you bring me a corpse?"

"No corpse." Said the Mazoku. "He still breathes.  I don't understand it 
- why didn't he
die?"

Beastmaster stepped down for a closer look. "This is no ordinary man - 
he's a chimera.
Xellos!"

Xellos teleported to her side. "Yes, Mistress. I am here. What do you 
wish of me?"

"Explain THIS!" she said, pointing a long finger at Cardanis. Xellos 
examined the inert
but still-living body.

"This chimera was traveling with Titania," he said. "Apparently he is a 
member of the
Seyruun royal family."

"Did you bring him here?"

"Certainly not! He got here entirely on his own. If such devotion were 
not a human trait it
would be almost admirable. If eh is here, it is possibly the dragon boy 
is here too."

"Find and slay him!" Beastmaster commanded. "And slay this one too."

"Mistress, much as it pains me to question a direct order, perhaps this 
chimera can still be
of some use to us. He could be the very means by which to make Titania more
cooperative."

Beastmaster took a draw on her cigarette. "Intriguing. Go on."

"Titania seems to care about this man a great deal. Humans will 
sacrifice anything for
those they care about - even their own humanity."

"Disgusting trait," Beastmaster muttered. "So you're suggesting we offer 
her his life in
exchange for her becoming a full Mazoku and entering our service?"

"Exactly, and then when she is purged of her human qualities we kill him 
anyway. After
we play with him a while. May I suggest we chain him to that wall? That 
way we can
keep a constant vigil over him until the time comes."

'Excellent! This way everyone gets what they want!" And Beastmaster's 
laughter filled
the room.

***

Anya had lost count of the number of Mazoku she had slain. It seemed 
that every time
she turned a corner another beats was charging at her. Unfortunately, 
none of them had
told her anything about what she really wanted to know.

Around the corner in front of her she heard a strange sound. She raised 
her sword, rapidly
turned around and saw - "Valgaav!"

"Don't hit me! I'm not that bad, I promise!"

"Valgaav, what the bloody hell are you doing here?"

"Do you think I'd leave you alone in a pit of monsters? I promised your 
mother that I
would bring you back in one piece, and that's what I'm going to do. Look 
out, there's one
behind you."

Anya wheeled around and slaughtered the charging beast. "Thanks. But 
this is getting us
nowhere. We need to run into something intelligent that will tell us 
where Xellos is."

"Why Xellos? Much as I'd like to take a few pieces out of his dirty 
Mazoku hide, is that
going to help us find Cardanis and Titania?

Anya frowned. "I think Xellos is the key to this whole puzzle. He knows 
where Titania is
being kept. He knows what happened to Cardanis. And he knows what his 
game is. If I
can find out what his game is...."

Valgaav appeared to sniff the air. "You may get your wish, Anya. I think 
he's coming."

"Prepare yourself. It may be us or him."

"I would rather it were him."

In between Anya and Valgaav, Xellos suddenly appeared. "So there you 
are." He said.
"Everyone's been looking all over for you. Breaking out of your room was 
not very wise,
Anya, but I suppose I should expect nothing less from the daughter of 
Lina Inverse."

"Leave my mother out of this! And tell us where Titania and Cardanis are 
or, I swear to
L-sama I'll kill you where you stand."

Xellos blanched. "You swear by the Lord of Nightmares? You must be 
especially brave,
given how she collects on her bargains."

Anya smiled grimly. "I never thought I'd see this - Xellos frightened. 
It's a wonderful
thing."

"Now, there's no need for threats here. If you kill me you'll never get 
out of here. But
have you considered that the game may be already lost? I am going to 
achieve my goal
very soon. And I will let you watch as Titania graduates and becomes an 
adult. Follow
me, please."

"I'll follow you," Anya said, "but if you harm anyone - so much as a 
hair, this enchanted
sword is going straight into your back, and I'll follow it up with some 
really nasty spells."

***

After what seemed like a long walk, Xellos emerged into the 
Beastmaster's throne
chamber. "You should be honored, Anya Inverse. Not even your fabled 
mother got to lay
eyes on Beastmaster Xellas Mentallium."

Beastmaster, who looked like a well-built young woman in a very skimpy 
outfit and
fishnet stockings, with a wineglass in one hand and a cigarette holder 
with a lit cigarette
in the other, appeared actually surprised. "Xellos, I did not instruct 
you to bring the boy
to me alive."

"It's more delicious this way," said Xellos. "Think of this as the 
graduation feast for
Titania. Their despair on realizing the thoroughness of their defeat 
will be a banquet for
all of us." At that moment Xellos teleported, just in time to get out of 
the way of a wicked
thrust from Anya's sword.

"How boring," said Beastmaster. "We can't have our audience playing 
around with
weapons, can we?" With a wave of her hand, Anya's sword was ripped out 
of her hand
and flew to the ground at the Beastmaster's feet.  "Incidentally, I have 
also sealed off
your formidable magic powers, young lady. And as for your, young dragon, 
you will find
that both your breath weapons and your transformative abilities will not 
work here, so
don't even try."

Xellos reappeared beside the Beastmaster. "Allow me to call your 
attention to the far
wall.", and he pointed his staff to where a familiar figure was chained 
spread-eagles to
the wall.

"Cardanis!" Anya cried. "What have you done to him?"

"That is a secret. Aside from which, your places await." Suddenly hands 
of invisible
force lifted Anya and Valgaav and lifted them to the wall on either side 
of Cardanis.
Chains appeared from the wall and clasped around their wrists and ankles.

"XELLOS!" cried Anya. "You son of a bitch!"

Xellos turned to Beastmaster and smiled gleefully. "And now, the final 
player in our
drama - the guest of honor, if you will."

Suddenly Titania appeared in the middle of the room. The very first 
thing she noticed was
her three friends chained to the wall. "Cardanis! Anya! Valgaav!" She 
turned to Xellos.
"Why? Why have you done this?"

"That's not important," said Xellos. "What do mere humans matter to the 
likes of you?
Besides, I wanted you to meet your grandmother."

Beastmaster stood from her throne, walked up to Titania, and took her 
hand. "I am
charmed to meet my granddaughter. You've been dreaming all this time 
that you were a
mortal girl. It's time we woke you up."

TO BE CONTINUED...









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