------------------------------
Slayers Inverse
Ch1: Little Red Riding Hood
and the Three Mercenaries
------------------------------
Zelgadis waited patiently in the empty clearing, leaning
nonchalantly against a tree.
Patience was something he had had to learn since... the
incident. Waiting gave him time to reflect on his arrogance and
the problems it had brought him. It also gave him time to plan
his vengeance. He already had enough alternatives that a tome
entitled 'The Death of Rezo' would be comprised of several
lengthy volumes.
It was growing late. By this late hour, Zelgadis was
working in the 'S's. Scalding. Scalpel. Scissors. After
'Skinning', Zelgadis paused, hearing a slight rustling in the
dense underbrush around the clearing.
The dark wizard, Zolf, stepped into the clearing. He was
followed by a tall, blonde swordsman dressed in blue. Zolf was
injured. One of his arms was in a sling, obviously broken, and
there were several scratches on his face. One eye was covered in
a white gauze patch. Bandages elsewhere on his body attested to
several long lacerations.
"Did you get it?" Zelgadis asked from behind his mask.
Zolf nodded and tossed a small pouch to Zelgadis with
his good arm. Zelgadis pulled out a small orihalcon statue and
gripped it firmly.
Dropping the statue down the front of his tunic,
Zelgadis shook his head and turned back to the wizard. "You're
injured."
"The Dragon-Fangs found me out," Zolf noted. "It wasn't
pleasant."
"I don't imagine. This is the man you spoke of in your
message, I assume?"
The swordsman stepped forward, holding out a hand to
shake. "Gourry Gabriev."
Zel checked to see if he had remembered his gloves and
gently shook the man's hand. "Thank you for saving Zolf. He is a
good friend and most valuable to my goals." He reached inside
his pocket and pulled out a small cloth sack. "I'd like to thank
you for--"
Gourry waved his hand and cut him off. "Nah. He was in
trouble. I was just being a good Sumerian."
"Samaritan," Zolf corrected, coughing politely.
"Yeah, One of those!" Gourry
Zelgadis sweat dropped.
"Actually, Zolf said that you were about to have a big
battle," Gourry inquired, "And I was wondering if you needed a
swordsman."
Zelgadis rubbed his chin in thought as Zolf began to
whisper in his ear. "He's good, Zel. I was a goner for sure, and
he came in and tore the Dragon-Fangs to bits with that sword.
One man against forty! It was amazing."
His attention wandering, Gourry unsheathed his sword and
began to pare motes of dust as they filtered down through the
clearing.
"He's dumb as a rock," Zolf continued, "but he's a good
man. You remember those stories we heard when we were little
about swordsmen who could slay dragons?"
Zelgadis nodded, considering the young mercenary before
him.
"After he had gotten most of the guards, the leader of
the Dragon-fangs sicced his pet dragon on Gourry. You don't see
a broken arm on him, do you?"
"Zolf speaks highly of you," Zelgadis said, trying to
catch the young man's attention.
"Huh?" Gourry turned back to the pair.
"Zolf says that you're a good swordsman."
"Yup. I'm okay, but I've seen better."
"I bet there aren't too damn many," Zolf commented.
"I can't pay you much now," Zelgadis offered. "Food.
Shelter. A fifth of what we take off of the bandits we come
across. There will be much more after we achieve our goals."
"Okay," Gourry accepted. "I won't pillage, though. I'd
rather work for some one else if that's what you have in mind.
Or hurt women. I don't like that either."
Zelgadis shook his head but held up one gloved finger.
"Because of what we're planning, we do have to work with some
elements that some might consider unsavory. Trolls and ogres."
"What are you planning on?" Gourry asked innocently.
Zelgadis swallowed. He knew that both Zolf and Rodimus
knew his ultimate goals, but could he trust an outsider when he
couldn't even trust Dilgear?
"I'm going to kill a man that many look up to as a
savior. He's an incredibly evil person, however."
The innocent expression never left Gourry's face. "What
makes him so evil?"
Zelgadis pulled down his mask, exposing his rocky skin.
Gourry didn't bat an eye. "He did this to me," Zelgadis
explained. "You may have heard of him. His name is Rezo. He is
known to some as 'The Red Priest'."
"Never heard of him," Gourry admitted.
"You'll do just fine if you can keep your mouth shut,"
Zelgadis said, pulling his mask back up. "Don't speak of our
goals to anyone, not even Zolf or myself."
Gourry nodded and smiled. "Okay. I've already forgotten
about this Reboot guy, so you don't have to worry about it."
For the first time in months, Zelgadis chuckled. "He's
perfect, Zolf! Come on. Rodimus has an abandoned fortress
scouted out nearby. We can stay there until I've got the stone
figured out," he said, patting the bulge in his tunic. As an
afterthought, he pitched the sack he had pulled out earlier to
Gourry. "Twenty gold. Think of it as a signing bonus."
Gourry nodded and happily pocketed the pouch.
The three walked through the forest, taking frequent
breaks to allow the wounded Zolf to rest. Zelgadis was a
Shamanist sorcerer as well as a swordsman himself, so he did
what he could to aid Zolf's healing spells during these breaks.
While they traveled, Zelgadis explained their immediate plans
without mentioning Rezo's name.
"Right now, we're supposed to be looking for several
items of magical power and gathering fighting forces for an
impending battle. Zolf's job was to buy or steal the statue from
the Dragon-fangs. There are a few other items we wanted, but
this one was the most important."
"Okay."
"The fighting forces are going to be comprised mostly of
trolls, ogres and were-beasts. One of our companions is a were-
wolf, and he's leading those. There's a lot of instability right
now, so only take orders directly from me or Zolf," Zel said,
worrying that he was going over the swordsman's head. Gourry was
an incredibly simple man, but the calm expression of confidence
and control did a lot to ease the chimera's fears. Gourry also
seemed to have quite a bit of moral fiber for a mercenary, which
would put him in the same camp with Rodimus, who used to be
knight. Zelgadis thought that the two mercenaries could probably
get along rather well.
* * *
"Ah, the gang's all here. Are you ready?"
"I was *born* ready! All I have to do is flutter my
eyelashes and flash some leg and I'll have a clear path to the
stone."
"Oh, I don't know about that. You do remember what I
told you about overconfidence, don't you?"
"I also remember what you said about the natural order
of things. The plan may not work. It may fail miserably. All
that means is that we pick up and try again. If it comes down to
the worst case, even *I'm* expendable, Nii-san!"
There was a rustling sound as a small figure darted
through the brush.
"Not nearly as much as you may believe, my dear," a
whispering voice called out.
* * *
It was almost nightfall when the three warriors heard
the rustling sound. They froze, hands on weapons. Zolf went so
far as to begin charging a fireball spell.
The rustling grew louder. After a few seconds, a young
girl ran out onto the road and collapsed.
"Miss?" Gourry called out. "Miss?"
Cautiously, the group approached her. It was apparent as
they came closer that the girl was sobbing.
"Are you okay?" Zelgadis asked, carefully kneeling down
next to the girl in the dim light.
"Oh, p-p-lease, sir... it's horrible... They're after
me."
"Who's after you, little girl?"
The girl sat up, crying into her hands. It was hard to
see in the darkening twighlight, but the girl's figure belied
her apparent age. She was *very* petite, Zelgadis thought, but
well proportioned. She was almost elfin, but lacked the
curvaceousness female elves usually had. While she wore a short
skirt and a tight, clingy top, there were definitely bony places
under the girl's red cape and hood. Most disturbingly, Zelgadis
thought, were her hair and eyes. Her red hair, almost the same
shade as her cloak, was shot through with apparently natural
golden-blonde streaks and her eyes were a shade of reddish-pink,
also shot through with golden specks.
There was also the matter of the girl's pointed ears,
just barely visible inside the hood. She didn't *look* like an
elf, but there were some other races our there that tended
toward pointed ears. Zelgadis had suspected for some time that
his enemy may have been in contact with one or two of those
races.
"What's the matter, little girl?" Gourry asked, kneeling
down next to Zelgadis. "Did somebody hurt you?"
"It was horrible!" the young woman exclaimed bitterly.
"I didn't know that the cottage was occupied, I promise! The
bandits inside did awful things to me!"
"What's your name, little girl?" Gourry asked.
"It's Lily, kind sir. Please, you must help me."
"There's a town nearby," Zolf mused, leering a little
bit at the girl's short skirt. "We can drop you off there so you
can contact your family."
"Oh, please, I beg you! They still have my little
sister," the girl protested.
"Uhh..." Zelgadis smelled a rat.
"Well if your sister is still there, we should probably
go save her!" Gourry offered.
"Uh, Gourry," Zelgadis began.
Gourry took a few steps away from the girl, and motioned
Zelgadis and Zolf to follow him.
"This could be a trap," Zelgadis said, protesting
Gourry's offer.
"And that's no little girl!" Zolf noted, chuckling to
himself. "I wish I wasn't so beat up. She's scrawny, but--"
"Of course it's a trap," Gourry cut off the wizard. "But
the girl may be innocent. Also, the bandits may really be
holding her little sister hostage to make her lead us to them.
My grandfather said that you should never leave traps unsprung
behind you. If we're cautious, maybe we can get some information
about your enemies."
Zelgadis rubbed his stony chin. A man who would single
handedly wade through an entire bandit gang probably didn't have
much compunction when it came to springing enemy traps. Zelgadis
was usually more reserved, but he did have the extra sword arm
now and Gourry could apparently take care of himself.
"There's one more thing to consider," Zelgadis said in
the same whispering tone. "That girl has pointed ears. She's not
human. Not completely, at any rate."
"I bet she's got all the right parts, though," Zolf
disagreed.
"It's been a while, hasn't it, Zolf?" Zelgadis said.
"Yeah..."
"Miss," Zelgadis turned and addressed the girl. "We'll
help you, but you'll have to lead us to the bandits' hideout.
We'll walk behind you, okay?"
The girl dried her tears on one sleeve. As she began to
lead the group into the woods, Zelgadis noticed that she was
wearing an inordinate amount of jewelry for a girl who had just
escaped from rapacious bandits. There were gold or brass bangles
on either wrist, a bangle around her left ankle and a large
crystal amulet hanging around her neck. Zelgadis couldn't see it
in the dark, but he suspected that it was actually a small
magical device of some kind. Also, the tiny ankle-high boots the
girl wore were obviously made of very fine leather. An
experienced bandit would have taken those as well as the
jewelry.
Expecting trouble, Zelgadis loosened his sword in his
scabbard. Gourry had as well, and Zolf had drawn his dagger with
his good hand.
Hearing the sounds of anxious metal quietly scraping
behind her, Lily couldn't help but smirk behind the crocodile
tears.
When they finally arrived at the cottage, Gourry,
Zelgadis and Zolf were taken aback.
"Uhmm... Bandits live here?" Zel asked, incredulously.
"I bet they like candy, too," Zolf mused.
The house would have been built, if sugar, starch, and
dried egg-white were rugged enough to be used as construction
materials in deep woodland, completely of candy and gingerbread.
As it was, the brick that made the house was laid in patterns of
red and white so that the house resembled a candy cane or a
peppermint. The wood trim had been intricately scrolled and
painted so that it resembled butter frosting, and the windows
had been etched so that they appeared to be made from candy-
rock. There was just a tiny fraction of glass left clear enough
to actually see out of.
"Mmm... I'm hungry!" Gourry volunteered.
"This is it," Lily said, apparently shaking with fear.
"Well?" Zelgadis asked, drawing his sword. "Where are
the bandits? You would have thought they'd be able to see us
coming."
Favoring his arm, Zolf stood well back from the cottage
and readied a flare arrow spell.
Gourry made the expedient of walking up and knocking on
the door.
"Hello? Is anyone home? I'm looking for a little girl.
What's her name again?" he turned to ask Lily.
Zelgadis knew it would happen as soon as the swordsman's
head was turned.
Before Lily could answer, a giant furred paw burst
through the door and dragged Gourry through the broken wood.
Zelgadis was already leaping into the fray, his sword drawn in
one hand and a Demona Crystal spell ready in the other. Zolf
rushed forth as well.
By the time the both of them got inside the cottage,
Gourry was parrying the furious claws of three giant bears.
"DEMONA CRYSTAL!" Zelgadis yelled, loosing his spell at
the largest of the three. A small patch of ice on the beast's
side was the only effect of the spell.
Zelgadis grimaced and drew his sword as the beast howled
in fury, spittle and foam dripping off of its razor-sharp fangs.
"We won't be that easy to defeat!" Zolf taunted, letting
go his flare arrow at the smallest of the two bears that was
still attacking Gourry. Like the other beast, the spell had
little effect, simply singing the monster's fur a little.
It was now a three on three fight, but Zolf was being
easily backed up due to his injuries. The smallest bear was
still a good seven feet tall on its hindquarters. Rather than be
knocked senseless and risk re-breaking his arm, Zolf did his
best to stay away from the beast and pelt it with minor, yet
painful spells. "DIGGER VOLT!" he shouted, singing just a little
more fur off the animal.
Gourry had a nasty looking claw mark across his
breastplate, but appeared to be uninjured. Indeed, he was
tearing into the animal with unmatched skill, parrying blade to
claw and inflicting deep, painful wounds on the animal.
Zelgadis was holding even with his opponent. A few of
its awesome, ripping blows got through, but Zelgadis's stone
skin was more than proof against the deadly claws. By the same
token, he couldn't get many blows of his own in and spells were
almost useless against the behemoth. It wouldn't take many more
blows before he started getting knocked senseless.
Eventually, the bear attacking Gourry raised both its
arms in order to grab him in a crushing bear hug. That was all
the opening the swordsman needed in order cleanly decapitate the
beast and sever both its paws in the same stroke.
What fell to the ground, however, was not a bloody bear
carcass. A tree branch, chopped in half clattered on a hardwood
floor in front of Gourry's blade.
"Illusions?!" Zolf yelled, tossing another ineffectual
fireball at his opponent.
Gourry turned and leapt and split the smallest bear
cleanly down the middle. Before the log fell to the floor, he
swiveled and thrust, impaling the largest. His sword came back
stuck in the middle of another piece of firewood.
"That was nasty," Zelgadis commented. "Where did Lily
go?"
"AAHHH! Help me!!!" Lilly screamed as she was dragged
through a door on landing above the room where the fight had
just taken place. Another bear-illusion galloped through the
door after her.
"There she is," Gourry noted absently, kicking the log
off the end of his sword. "Hey, this place is a lot bigger
inside than it looks from outside."
Zelgadis stared around at the hardwood floor and the
immense arched-beam ceiling. From outside, the building had
appeared no larger than one or two rooms. It was the size of a
small keep from the inside.
"Someone here is playing games with illusion magic.
There's no telling how much of this is real and how much isn't.
For all we know, Lily is just another figment."
"I thought she was an elf," Gourry admitted.
Zelgadis just blinked at the comment and went on. "Don't
trust the stairs. RAYWING!"
"RAYWING!" Zolf shouted in unison. Both sorcerers rose
in their protective bubbles and hefted Gourry aloft to the
landing. Gourry led the charge through the door, but nothing was
inside but a long hallway with hundreds of doors on either side.
There was no evidence of Lily, the imaginary ursines, or any
other dark forces lying in wait for them.
"We should split up and check each room!" Zolf declared.
Zelgadis shook his head. "That's what they want. I think
I know what's going on here."
"Let's check one door at a time," Gourry suggested.
"Cover me with your magic, and I'll keep the bad guys back with
my sword."
"There's not much else in there but battle tactics, is
there?" Zel asked.
"Nope!" Gourry replied happily. "Mother always said I
was special that way."
It was at the first door he kicked in that Gourry felt
the odd shape slide down one of his boots. Gourry guessed that
it was the statue that Zolf had been carrying around earlier.
"Don't say anything," Zel whispered.
Gourry nodded and probed into the dark room with his
sword. There was nothing inside. The walls, floor and ceiling
were bare wood, unadorned even with lights or torch hooks.
"Next one," Zel prompted, ready to cast a tightly
controlled flare arrow around Gourry's side.
They went through several doors like that, until a sharp
gust buffeted them all inside one and slammed the door shut
behind them. Gourry rolled upright immediately in the darkness,
his sword pointing toward the scrabbling sound behind him.
"Lighting," Zelgadis called out laconically.
The sharp flare above him revealed Lily, her arms deep
inside his tunic.
"Eeep!" she called out, jerking back in apparent shock.
"Uh huh," Zelgadis deadpanned.
"S-sir!" Lily stammered. "If you wanted a sexual favor
in return for saving my little sister, all you had to do was ask
politely and--"
"There is no little sister, is there? There are also no
bandits, if I'm not mistaken," Zel accused, backing up to Gourry
who had his sword trained steadily on the girl.
"B-bandits? Did I say bandits? I meant *bears*! Evil,
demonic terror bears from--"
"Can the act, *Lily*," Zolf said, readying a flare
arrow. "Now why don't you tell us the truth before... eh..
heh... I have to do some bad things to you!"
"Yahright. I can see subtlety isn't gonna work on you
guys," Lily said, grimacing. "Hand over the statue before I have
to get rough with you."
"What statue?" Gourry asked in an honest tone.
Zel really didn't want to know if the boy had already
forgotten about it or not. "I don't know anything about a
statue. Zolf?"
The dark wizard shrugged with his good arm. "I have no
clue."
"Bullshit! I saw you give it to him earlier."
"So," Zelgadis said, drawing his own sword. "You're not
just a thief, but a spy as well."
"You do have it!"
"No," Zelgadis said leveling his sword at the girl's
throat. "I'm afraid that I don't. Who are you? One of Rezo's pet
Mazoku?"
"Hey! No self-respecting Mazoku would work for that
scheming-- uhh..."
"Oh dear!" a voice called out as Lily stammered to a
halt.
There was a clapping sound as the room dissolved around
them. After the haze of the illusion magic cleared, the warriors
found themselves in a burned out house in the forest.
A man with dark clothes and a dark brown cloak walked up
through the rubble, clapping his hands. "Lovely, my dear! You've
managed to give away your identity *and* all your possible
strengths, even when you knew who our friends are."
"Ulp..."
"Who are you?" Zelgadis demanded of the man.
The priest in question stepped into a ray of moonlight
that was filtering down from the crushed roof. In the dim light,
the warriors could see that he had dark purple hair and a wide
smile. "Ah, I am but a simple priest," he said, gripping his
ruby tipped staff in one hand. "My student here was sent to
obtain the item she spoke of in any way possible. The plan of
deception and theft was her own ideas. I humbly request that you
don't go *too* roughly with her."
"Nii-san! I can toast these guys in nanoseconds!" Lily
protested.
Still smiling the priest raised a single finger at the
girl. She slumped in defeat.
"So what you do want with the statue?" Zelgadis
demanded.
"Ah, that is a secret!" The priest proclaimed. "What I
can tell you is this: I am prepared to pay quite handsomely for
the object."
"It's not for sale!" Zolf said, charging up another
fireball.
"Wasn't in the first disciple who said, 'My loyalty is
not for sale,' before betraying the first Knight of Ceipheed for
a single gold piece during the Mazoku war?" the priest asked.
"I'm *not* giving what's inside the statue to the
Mazoku," Zelgadis said quietly. "Not for any reason."
"Not even for a cure to your rather unique skin
condition, Mister Greywiers?"
Zelgadis jaw clenched shut. "No. You're a Mazoku, too!
I've already consulted with oracles that said that the Mazoku
don't have the power to cure me."
The mysterious priest shrugged. "Ah well. If you're not
willing to deal, there's nothing I can do. Come along, Lin-
chan."
The girl in the red cloak sighed and trudged after the
priest.
"I thought her name was Lily," Gourry said, thinking out
loud.
The angry girl turned, her body fairly glowing in anger.
She pointed at Gourry, electric sparks leaping off the tip of
her finger to her gold bangles. "My name is Linverse! Don't you
forget that! We'll see soon who would have won here if it came
down to real force!"
"Come along," the priest gestured, shaking out his
cloak.
Linverse scowled and sprinted off with the priest.
"Don't feel bad, Lin-chan. You'll do better next time."
The two *blurred* out of existence as if they'd never
been.
"Really! You simply *must* learn more about control and
restraint, my dear," the priests's ghostly words echoed out over
the forest.
If Zelgadis had hairs, every one of them would have been
standing on end. All of Zolf's certainly were.
"So... the girl wasn't really in trouble," Gourry
summarized.
"Something like that," Zel noted, sheathing his sword.
"This is not good. The Mazoku have taken an interest in us. It
may mean Rezo already knows what I'm planning."
"You have my allegiance," Zolf muttered. "Regardless of
that guy's crack about the first disciple."
"Me too," Gourry said absently, staring off in the
direction where the girl had vanished. "I'm in for the long
haul, I guess."
Zelgadis couldn't help but feel anxious despite his
allies' pledges.
* * *
To Be Continued... Maybe... ^_^
I'm not really sure how much I want to do with this or how much
effort I want to spend on it, especially since I get emails
daily prodding for new chapters of 'The Clan' and 'Ranma's
Apartment'.
Therefore, I'm going to make this an open thing. If your
interested in continuing this, feel free. Otherwise, you may have
to wait several months for new chapters. O_o
Slayers belongs to Hajime and Rui.
* * *
C.
* * *
C. Jones - guilty@furinkan.net
http://www.furinkan.net
* * *
I get full-motion streaming video and sound, I listen to
radio and steal, steal uh, you know, my music through MP3,
like everybody else does. I write the laws that say it's
illegal, and I do it anyway.
-Senator Bob Kerrey (D) Nebraska