[FFML] [slayers]Slayers Born 8-14

To Sailoon

"At least that makes this somewhat easier," Lina
muttered. "Okay, you,"
she pointed at Xalan. "Go with them to Sailoon.."
"Huh? You want me to..." he saw the look on her face.
Lina had never
hit her kids, but she could, at times, develope some
nasty punishments.
"Fine."
"And these guys," she gestured at the guardsmen. "Will
escort your
friends to the nearest Sailoon magistrate."
"You expect us to leave the princess unguarded in the
hands of
these...strangers."
"They're not strangers!" Amethyst protested. "That's
my par...my
mother's friend, and I know my she would never have
trusted anybody that
would betray her or her daughter."
"I'm not comfortable with this, your father gave
specific commands...."
"Listen you!" Lina snapped striding forward and
leaning up on her feet to
poke her finger at the outspoken guardsman. "You're
supposed to protect
Amethyst, right?"
"The PRINCESS Amethyst yes..."
"So you want them," she jabbed a clawed finger at the
unconscious
assassins. "Travelling anywhere NEAR her? I sure don't
want them travelling
around MY son." Xalan thought about protesting the
implication this had for
his abilities, but decided against it.
"I see your point," he admitted.
"Good, because I was about to hurt you."
"errr." He sweat dropped.
"Couldn't Filia get us there faster?" Xalan asked.
"Me and Filia are going to have a talk about that son
of hers," Lina
grumbled. "Then we're going to wait in case Xina and
Val show up back here."
Something glittered behind Lina's eyes, and suddenly
Xalan felt very sorry
for his sister.
"So you just want us to turn around and leave again?"
Amethyst sounded
dismayed.
"Xina is flying dragon back, and you...should talk to
your father."
Amethyst nodded quietly. "Okay now that's decided I
guess we
should...hey!!!" they had turned around to find the
deer that Xalan had
carried to the camp was gone. Jolrael licked the
remainder of the juices off
his lips and sighed contentedly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want some?" he asked politely.
"Wow, his appetite matches yours and Xina's," Xalan
said, impressed. His
mother fumed and gnashed her fangs for a few moments
before opening her
mouth, her ears laid totally back.
"You you you...GABRIEV!!!"
"What?"

**********

It was almost three days, or nights rather, that Val
touched down beyond
the reach of the city's line of site. Xina slid down
his side and landed
lightly on the ground. She raced quietly to the edge
of the small rise and
looked down on Sailoon, marvelling at the size of the
city, even shrouded by
darkness.
"I could go with you if you hadn't 'lost' my clothes
yesterday," Val
complained.
"I said I was sorry," she returned cheerfully. "I fell
asleep, okay."
"Right, just....go see the tomb and get back here," he
admonished.
"We're in plenty of trouble as it is."
"Oh, don't be such a wimp, they'll never know I was
here, and I can deal
with mom."
"You don't get both of them jumping on you," the
dragon muttered quietly.
Which was amazing considering his bulk. Xina stuck her
tongue out at him
and giggled, obviously not concerned with the parental
consequences.
"I'll be right back," she started running toward town.
She ran at a
blur, slowing down only as she came to more populated
areas and had to start
slipping from shadow to shadow in order to remain
unseen. This was easy if
annoying, and it still left finding the Tomb.
Xina knew from the few times she had convinced her mom
to talk about her
dad's death that Tomb of Heros was past some huge
building called a
cathedral. Still, she had been raised in a cave. I
well-furnished, rather
large cave, but a cave nonetheless. Most of the
buildings toward the center
of the town looked huge to her. They were like
man-made hills, and she made
use of their heights to further improve her efforts at
stealth.
It didn't take her long to find the palace, it was the
biggest building
of all. A mountain of metal, wood and brick with a
host of soldiers
patrolling the walls. Even in the dark it was
impressive, and Xina stood a
moment before its walls, staring in awe. As her mind
began to clear the
kage-kitsune felt a tug in her mind. Suddenly she was
certain of where she
was going, and she began to quietly scale the wall.
The guards were good, if you were expecting an army to
be approaching,
but they didn't seem to be paying much attention to
the walls right in front
of their posts. At least they weren't paying attention
as she considered it.
There weren't many deep shadows along the wall, but
still they didn't notice
her, Xalan and mom would have picked her up minutes
ago.
Xina overtopped the wall and leaped down off of it
before the two guards
could turn to face where she crossed. Lina's daughter
landed quietly on the
ground beneath the high wall, and backed into the
wall's shadow becoming
undetectable. Then she just followed that tug in her
mind.
Xina slipped from shadow to shadow, staring up in
wonder at the high
ceilings of the Tomb's cathedral. This is where her
father's funeral had
been held. Her mom had told her that she and Xalan had
been there, but she
couldn't remember anything about it, unless that was
what had led her here.
Some vague half-formed memory of the days immediately
after her birth. Some
instinct telling her that this is where her father
was, she didn't care.
She noted, irritably, the sound of her foot falls
echoing lightly through
the still dark halls as she passed the great
cathedral. The Tombs' ceiling
was much lower though that was still higher than her
home, and the echoes
still carried further than she expected or liked. What
really shocked her
were the rows upon rows of tombs, and now, in the
edifice itself, that tug on
her mind had vanished.
Xina was growing dismayed until she saw it, nestled
near the royal tombs.
A sheet of solid, gleaming black among all the white.
The discovery of what
had to be her father's tomb made her freeze in place
for a moment. As she
stopped moving, Xina almost thought she heard an off
pace echo somewhere else
in the Tombs, but she dismissed it. She was at the
grave marker in an
instant and reaching out...
Don't touch!
She jerked her hand back and looked about nervously.
There was no one,
she couldn't even smell anybody. Though the stale air
wouldn't carry a scent
far anyway. After a moment she reached out again.
Don't touch it!
"But this is my father's tomb," she protested, feeling
silly about it.
She reached outward again.
Don't touch it, child!
"Be quiet!" she snapped, getting gritting her teeth in
a stubborn
grimace. "This is what I came here for!" she brushed
her fingers against
the black stone reverentially, if irritably.
There was a flash of blue light as one of the priest's
wards was
triggered. A wave electricity reached out and
surrounded her. Xina
swallowed and closed her eyes, waiting for the shock
to come. It didn't, the
energy gathered in the armor she was wearing and
dissipated harmlessly into a
light show.
"Is that all you were warning me about?" she laughed
at the unnamed
voice. "That wasn't any..." she leaned against the
stone, and barely caught
the sudden glow from the numerous wards she had just
triggered. Her eyes
widened just before she was thrown back against a wall
by a blast of mixed
fire, force and assorted magics. She noticed a shadowy
figure near the
entrance before she full back unconscious.

*********

Zangulus saw the girl fly back away from the warded
tomb and frowned.
The priests would be alerted now, as would Zelgadis.
He didn't have much
time, he drew out the black blade and slashed through
the dark stone, bracing
himself for a magical discharge. Apparently the girl
had triggered them all
onto herself, and he did not know about the power that
had repelled Martina
before. As such he could not wonder at its lack now.
The bounty hunter looked in past the shattered stone
and saw the mazoku's
corpse, well skeleton. The black blade crackled as it
passed near the dried
bones of Xellos's human body. They were indeed charged
with power. He
opened a bag and started scooping the bones into it.
He considered the metal
staff and then let it clatter to the ground. Martina
hadn't asked for the
staff, she wanted the body.
Zangulus turned to leave when something occured to
him. That girl had
been here for Xellos's tomb. He walked over to look at
her prone form and
noted the purple hair and purple-furred tail. The
bounty hunter had heard
that a beast-woman of some sort had attended the
mazoku's funeral. People
like him tended to file such information away. This
girl might be related to
the fallen demon, his daughter perhaps.
He set down the bag and turned his raised up his sword
and prepared to
let it fall. Then he hesitated, he was about to kill a
defenseless girl.
"This isn't right," his arms lowered for a moment, his
expression
confused. Then his eyes flickered and hardened. She
was half-mazoku, she
was related to the mazoku who's tomb he was defiling.
This girl would be
trouble, the sword came up again.

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

Battle in the Tomb

Wake up, Xina! The voice had a sense of urgency to it.
Xina didn't want to wake up. Mom let her sleep in most
of the time, why did she have to wake up.
You have to wake up now!
It had to be Xalan, her brother always seemed to like
getting up early. She wrinkled her nose in annoyance.
Couldn't he tell she wanted to sleep, why did he
always have to cut in on her rest and fun.
Xina! WAKE! UP!!!
That wasn't Xalan. Xalan didn't yell like that, she
was the one that yelled. Her and mom anyway. Xina's
eyes popped open and she saw the sword hanging over
her. She panickly let the darkness grow around her,
encompassing them both, and rolled away from the
strange swordman. The man's blade scraped along her
back, cutting and burning. She cried out in pain, but
could already tell that it wasn't bad, not on its own.
The fact that her body was still recovering from that
magical assault made this something more than an
annoyance.
Xina shifted around in the darkness and quieted down,
watching the the sword man. Darkness didn't bother her
at all, didn't impede her vision. Unfortunately it
didn't appear to matter too much to the sword man
either.
"I can't see you, but there are other ways to target a
person," he said. His sword swung out, and she only
barely dodged. Its metal fading against her darkness.
"That was good, but you won't be able to dodge
forever," he nodded before swiping his blade low
across the floor. Xina leaped, looking as the blade
passed under her. She failed to notice the man's other
hand reaching out to grab her, gaining a firm grip on
her arm.
"You haven't been doing this long, have you?" he
asked.
"Let go of me!"
"And let you track me down later?" he asked. "I don't
think so, you're too much a potential threat." He
reared back his sword. Xina ducked her head and sank
sharp teeth into his wrist. His hand spasmed and she
was free again, Xina cast a glance across the room and
saw a staff. It was outside her darkness, but that
wasn't helping her much anyway.
An outside observer would have said that she was
moving with amazing grace and speed, but Xina felt
slow. She rolled to the ground and snatched up the
staff, finally noticing the cracked and empty tomb, as
well as the bag that stood a little ways to the side.
She narrowed her eyes and raised the staff
determinedly.
The man strolled cautiously out of the darkness.
"That's my father," she snarled.
"I thought so." Xina prepared to pounce, feeling
steady even with the injuries she already had.
Stay.
Xina blinked and hesitated. The swordsman charged
forward, Xina lifted the staff in defensively,
preparing to dodge. What she needed desperately was a
wall between her and this man. She screamed as he
closed and lifted the staff to block the down coming
strike. The staff and sword never met, as Zangulus
strike met a transparent wall of force hanging in
space before the kage-kitsune.
"What is this?" He smashed the shield again and Xina
winced as if she He noted the reaction and smiled.
"This won't last you long, girl."
Hold it.
"I can't!" She could half hear the sound of running
footsteps, but whatever she was doing, it was tiring.
The black sword struck her shield again and this time
cracks appeared.
Not much longer.
"I can't hold it!" the patch of darkness dissipated.
It was usually a very easy thing to hold, and that was
the surest sign that she was fading. The swordsman
swung down again and the shield shattered, showering
Xina in the fast fading remnants of its existence. She
slammed against the wall, the cut on her back scraping
against the edge of her father's cracked tomb. Xina
cried out in pain and collapsed to the floor, laying
on her stomach and breathing hard.
The swordsman reared his sword back and then he also
noticed the rushing foot steps. He turned, recognized
the owner and dropped his blade in different manner.
Xina yelped in pain, but thankfully passed out moments
later.
"FLARE ARROW!!" He was forced to dodge the spell as
the source of the footsteps appeared. "Zangulus?" The
bounty hunter snatched up his bag and circled around
the chimera.
"I don't have time for these games," he responded.
Zelgadis looked over to where Xina lay unconcious and
arched an eyebrow, of course she was easy to
recognize.
"You have time to beat up on an inexperienced child
though," he noted coldly, drawing his own sword.
Neither of the two noticed a slender form reach down
and slip the metal staff from Xina's hands and then
slip back away from the destroyed tomb.
"She's no less a child than we were," the bounty
hunter noted. "But I seriously must go."
"I don't think Martina is going to get what ever she
sent you for," Zelgadis promised him.
"Well you can either fight me or you can help that
girl," he pointed to Xina, where Zelgadis could see
the start of a growing blood pool. "This blade can
kill full-mazoku, I'm sure it would work for her."
Zelgadis snarled. "Perhaps we'll see you all very
soon." The chimera lowered his sword and let the
bounty hunter leave. When he was certain that they
were both safe he turned to see to Xina.
"Can you hear me?" he asked. "Open your eyes if you
can?" There was no reaction. He couldn't be sure, but
he thought that meant that she wasn't very badly hurt
yet. Lina and Xellos became hyper alert whenever they
neared death. Still Xina wasn't a full mazoku, and she
wasn't a were-creature, Zelgadis had no idea what was
a good sign. These thoughts would happen later, right
now he didn't have the time to worry about it.
Xina didn't wake up as he healed her, but slept on. He
had almost finished when the lesser casters and guards
finally appeared. He turned to glare at them, they had
been slow. There was no excuse for it, the wards had
apparently made them lax.
"There is a swordsman, wide-brimmed hat, graying
hair," Zelgadis instructed them. "Find him and bring
him here."
"What about her?" one of the guards asked.
"Take her up to one of the guest rooms," Zelgadis
commanded. "And be gentle."
"Yes, my lord," the guardsman bowed and strode forward
to follow the command.
"They took the body and the staff," Zelgadis grumbled.
"There's no telling what they're going to do with it."

***********

Now, you can sleep. The voice had lost its sense of
urgency, but it was fading now.
"Is he going to kill me?"
He's gone... The voice answered, sounding further away
again.
"Did you make that wall?"
....You did....
"Who are you?"
....Sore wa himitsu desu....the voice then faded
completely away with an implied smile.
Xina felt a urge to follow, but that seemed to be a
bad idea. Instead she just let herself fall away from
whereever it was she had found herself, and then let a
thick, dreamless sleep pass over her.

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

Awakenings

Xalan snapped awake and stood up looking down their
intended path. His back and side burned with slightly,
as if he he'd been cut. He stretched and found that
his joints were stiff and sore beyond what he would
expect upon waking up as well. The feeling faded fast,
but that didn't help him.
"Something wrong?" He looked over at the swordsman, it
wasn't really a question.
"How much faster can you travel," he asked.
"Oh can cover at least twice the distance we have been
covering each day." Xalan face faulted. There was a
muffled "ouch" as he fell, but he missed it in his
surprise.
"Why didn't you mention this before," he asked.
"You can match that pace?" he asked surprised.
"Ano..." Xalan blinked and looked down to see
Amethyst. "What are you doing?" Xalan blushed
furiously and backpedaled quickly off the chimera.
"I'm uh sorry...I didn't uh mean to..." he stammered.
"Umm how much faster can you travel?"
"Brilliant save," Jol noted with arched eyebrow.
"Uh I don't know, I'm pretty fast," she muttered,
obviously glad for even the hastily made subject
change.
"Well what's a comfortable pace for..." there was a
blur and Amethyst was suddenly standing about twenty
yards away. "....you?" Jol and Xal blinked.
"Is that a good pace?" she asked as when she blurred
back.
"err...yeah," Xal answered. "Why have we been
traveling so slow then?"
"We could have been travelling faster?"
"I suppose you believe that your sister is in
trouble," Jol noted. Xalan nodded.
"Something hurt her," he answered, looking toward
Sailoon.

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

Val clicked his claws together nervously, it was
nearing dawn and Xina hadn't come back yet. Soon Val
was going to have to back away from the town or be
discovered. He certainly couldn't take human form
without any clothes.
"What's taking her so long?" he wondered.

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

"Hmm, so this is Xellos's staff," the thief master
looked over it with a sort of bored curiousity. "All
in all it isn't quite what I expected."
"But you'll pay me for it, won't you?"
"Oh certainly I'll pay you," he said. "This gem alone
is worth a fortune." The palace worker was aghast.
"You're going to remove the gem from the staff?"
"Of course," he sounded surprised. "They'll track it
down quite easily if it is still in its original form.
We can't have that."
"If its all the same to you," the worked swallowed
hard. "I'd just like to get my money and leave."
"Certainly," he gestured and one of his lieutenants
nodded. "Donneson, please show our friend to the
vault." The dark clothed man nodded obeidantly.
"Fall-oh me, ser."
"And you don't have to worry about me talking, I can
keep my mouth shut." They disappeared somewhere into
the further depths of the thieves guild.
"I'm certainly not worried about you talking to
anybody," the thief master chuckled to himself. There
was a strangled cry from where the two had disappeared
then Donneson returned. "Now who would be interested
in this little praise?"
He pried at the gem stone with a dagger grinning. The
grin vanished after the gem refused to budge from its
setting. In fact he failed to even scratch the surface
of either object. The thief master stuck his dagger
into the fork and used it as a lever, succeeding only
in snapping his own blade.
"Damn piece of crap!" he shouted and tossed the staff
across his underground throne room. "We'll have to
find a way to smuggle it out of here." The staff lay
where he had tossed it, the red gem seeming to laugh
at him.

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

Xina was first conscious of the incredibly soft and
comfortable bed she was laying in. The thick and warm
blanket over her was next. She was very comfortable,
for a moment she considered just letting herself fall
back asleep and curl up in the soft bed and blankets.
Then she remembered the last time she had been
"asleep" and snapped awake.
"Where am I?" she asked no one in particular. She rose
up and stretched, grimacing at the left over pain.
Still there was not nearly the amount of pain there
should have been. She had healed, and unlike her
mother, that should have taken a while. "How long have
I been asleep?"
She glanced around the room and saw that nobody was in
it with here, she was relatively safe. Some one must
have interrupted that maniac before he could finish
her off. Someone must have found her, maybe healed
her. She glanced at the tunic and breeches on the desk
across the room, and then at her burnt and torn
doeskins. They were even tailored for to allow for her
tail. The breeches were a shimmering black, and the
tunic was a red almost dark enough to be black, also a
shimmering material. Xina assumed it was silk, but she
had never seen silk before so she wasn't certain.
"Hey, are you still there?" but no voice answered
back. "I guess I'm on my own then." She started as
someone knocked on the thick wooden door that was the
only apparent entrance to the room. She watched the
door anxiously waiting for an attack, and wishing she
had paid more attention to her mother and brother's
attempts to teach her something about defending
herself.
"Do you need anything, miss," the voice on the other
side of the door asked.
"Umm, not really," she answered, confused. "How long
have I been asleep?"
"The Regent-Prince healed you last night," the unseen
guard answered. "I think you've been here for almost
half a day now." Xina winced, Val would be getting
more than annoyed by now. She sighed and picked up the
breeches, might as well put them on. Her own clothes
were more or less finished with.
"Okay, uh thanks," she called back.
"The Regent-Prince wanted to speak to you when you
woke up," the guard said. "Whenever you're ready."
"Zelgadis Greywyrds?" she asked suspiciously.
"Of course." She growled irritably.
"I suppose that I should talk to him," she slipped off
her ruined tunic and slipped on the one that had been
provided her. "He DID save my life. But I'm NOT
staying!"
"Are you ready then?" he asked. Xina looked down at
her mocassins and grimaced at the way they appeared
when next to the fine clothes. She looked about to see
if they had provided any other clothes, but couldn't
see any.
"Alright, let's get this over with," she grumbled
stretching out the remaining kinks in her joints. Then
she opened the door and looked up at her guard, tail
swishing irritably. She had to look pretty far up and
this didn't put her in a much better mood.
"Its right this way," the man said, leading Xina
along. Soon the man opened a door and moved out of her
way. Xina growled quietly as she walked into the room
and saw the second chimera of her life.
Zelgadis stood with his back to her in the great
study. Whether the turned back was a sign of trust or
contempt, Xina couldn't tell. He smelled of parchment,
steel and dry stone, mixed in was an older smell,
faded. That was the smell of blood, sweat and fear.
Later Xina would recognize it as the smell of battle.
Beyond the man's scent, his mood seemed to fill the
room. Her own irritation faded in the presence of his
bone-deep regret.
"I believe your name is Xina" he said without turning
around.

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

Protective Custody

"And just how did you know that?" she demanded.
Zelgadis turned around and laughed once. "What's so
funny, stone-man?"
"You remind me of your mother," he admitted. "I assume
Amethyst found where ever it is you three are living.
If not, this is an incredible coincidence."
"Yeah, yeah, she found us," Xina grumbled. "Did you
catch that bandit?"
"Zangulus escaped."
"He got away!" she restrained herself from leaping
forward, her attacker had run from this man. "Did you
hate my father that much?"
"Don't presume," he reproached and Xina flinched. This
man was like her mom, she had the same huge presence.
Xina had grown up with that, that forest was filled
with it. She had never thought to meet some one else
like that though. She had a sense that if the castle
didn't have its own presence that his would be just
easily felt as her mother's.
"You let him die," she noted defiantly. "Didn't you?"
Zelgadis ignored the question.
"I had a choice," Zelgadis said.
"Hmph, what choice was that?" If she could face her
mother, she could face this jerk. Zelgadis turned
fully around to face her.
"Xellos's staff and bones," he said, lifting one hand.
"His and Lina's daughter." He lifted the other and
arched an eyebrow. "Would you rather I made the other
choice?"
"Thanks," she said begrudgingly. "and thanks for the
clothes, but I'm gone." She turned around to walk out
the door.
"Sit. Down." Zelgadis didn't yell like her mom, but
the tone was basically the same. Xina stopped and
sullenly sat down in a chair she was passing. "I let
your father 'sore wa himitsu desu' himself to death,
I'm not going to let..."
"What did you say?" she snapped.
"I'm not going to let you get yourself killed..."
"No, the other thing, sore wa himitsu desu." Zelgadis
looked at her curiously.
"Your mother never told you about that?"
"What about it?"
"It was your father's standard response to any
question," he answered. Xina snapped to her feet and
turned back to the door. "Stop."
"He can beat me, but can he beat a dragon?" she
snapped.
"Val's here too," he laughed. "Are you intent on
bringing Lina AND Filia down on me?"
"Its not FUNNY!" she shouted. She rounded on him and
reached up to his face with her nails. Zelgadis caught
her by the wrists easily and held her away, she kicked
at his legs. Xina couldn't reach anything to bite
either, so she was just basically just flailing about
ineffectually.
"Do you need help my lord?" Zelgadis shook his head at
the guard. "Are you sure." Zelgadis leveled a glare at
the guard and the man swallowed before walking out.
"As you wish."
"Let go of me!" she shouted. "He has my father!"
"Your father's dead, you're alive." He pushed her away
gently, letting go of her hands. Xina rubbed her
wrists but didn't try anything further.
"I HEARD him. While I was fighting that bastard, I
HEARD him."
"Heard who?"
"Sore wa himitsu desu! Who do you think?" Zelgadis was
silent for a long moment while Xina sat back down and
sulked.
"I see," Zelgadis said. "This is an interesting
developement." He fixed her with a glare. "But you are
still waiting for your family to get here. I suppose
Lina is already on her way here."
"I'll bet she's bringing a herring," Xina grumbled.
"What?"

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

Val was on the verge of flying back away home and
facing his mother. Of course he'd have to avoid Lina.
Lina didn't really like him much any way, if he came
back saying that he lost her daughter. Well, he didn't
want to face her with that information.
"Is there a Val Garv out here?" the dragon twisted his
head about to peak through a gap in the trees. There
was a human there, a herald or messenger of some sort.
"I'm bring word from Xina Metallium."
"I'm here," Val said. In dragon form pretty much
everything he said would sound angry and hostile to a
human. This herald was apparently no exception, he
swallowed hard at the sound of the booming voice.
"Where is she?"
"She is in the palace a guest of the Regent-Prince
Zelgadis Greywyrds."
"Guest or prisoner?"
"Guest, the Regent-Prince was hoping you'd take word
back to her family. Though I don't know how you could
take the message better than a trained herald."
"Can you fly?"
"No."
"They didn't tell you what I was, did they?"
"No, umm there is one more thing," the sound of
groaning wood had accompanied Val's preparations to
take flight, but they paused as the herald spoke
again. "He wishes the girl's mother to know that
Martina has been here, and that Zangulus has stolen
Xellos Metallium's body and staff." The names were
vaguely familiar, but he assumed his mother and Lina
would know them better.
"Just get out of the damn way," before the herald
could respond he leaped out of his cover into the air
with spread wings. The poor man was too busy dodging a
falling tree to properly register the dragon, all he
knew was that whatever he had been talking to was big.
Val winged back with no hesistation, at least he knew
where Xina was. In another three days he could tell
Lina that Xina was in Sailoon. Less, actually, he
wouldn't take any breaks on this trip, they probably
already furious with him and Xina. This was better
than he'd lost her, not much better, but better. He
thought about trying to go to the palace and get Xina
away from there, but something told him that might
have been a bad idea.
Sometime on the second day, more than half-way home,
he passed three people moving quickly below. He
recognized one of them and blinked. The dragon tucked
his wings and swooped down towards them.
"L-Sama, its a dragon!!" one of them, a female
smelling of ivory and steel, shouted. She started to
raise her hands and gather power.
"Amethyst, wait," Xalan shouted. "That's a friend,
sort of." Xalan didn't know all the history his mother
did, but he shared her hesitance over Xina's
friendship with the dragon.
"You know a dragon?" the third humanoid asked as the
dragon settled.
"Two," he sniffed and looked about, eyes narrowed.
"Where's Xina, Val?"
"Sailoon palace," the dragon rumbled. "I was on my way
to tell Lina."
"More like tell your mother, and ask her to tell Lina,
care to hold off and give us a lift back to Sailoon."
"I'm not a beast of burden," Val protested.
"Something hurt my sister," he noted. "I felt it." The
dragon lookrf at him.
"The herald didn't mention that," Val growled.
"Excuse me, Val-san," the dragon appraised the chimera
curiously. "Please could you take us to my home, it
would be a great honor to be escorted by such a
wonderous being as you." Xal and Jol watched as the
young dragon preened under the flattery.
"Of course I'll be your escort, at least somebody
gives me the respect I deserve." Xalan looked at
Amethyst for a moment.
"If you and Xina ever pool talents..."
"What?" Amethyst asked unaware of what she had done.
"Sounds like we're in for a real adventure now," Jol
smiled.

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

Homecoming

"Oh goody!" Zangulus turned to look at where his lady
love had just suddenly appeared. He marveled at the
child-like and innocent sound of her voice. "You
brought him to me."
"We can be together now?" he asked desperately.
Martina turned to look at him and traced a finger down
his jawline.
"We are together my love," she said sweetly. "But
before I make you as eternal as our love, I have to be
sure what I need is here. I might still need a mortal
to help me."
She reached for the bag gingerly, and when no black
light assaulted her she set about greedily digging
through the bones of the fallen mazoku. Like the
mazoku on Wolf Pack Island, Xellos's power had not
dissipated immediately after his death. Instead it
soldified, appearing as a normal body, and decayed as
a normal body. She snatched each bone and drew the
power it contained within her, causing the bone itself
to crumble into dust. Zangulus noted with concern as
her expression darkened with each shattered bone.
"It has to be here!" she screeched. "It has to be."
Finally she drew out the grinning skull. Watching it
collapse into dust taking that damn endless smile with
it did her mood no good. The key was Xellos's essence,
the power his departed spirit left behind, and yet his
body was no different than the bodies of all the other
mazoku she had dredged up and absorbed.
"There was a staff," Zangulus noted. Martina whirled
on him.
"His staff! His staff was intact!" Martina screeched
furiously. "Why didn't you bring that to me?" she
restrained herself from actually attacking him, but
was on the edge.
"Zelgadis showed up," Zangulus explained to her. "I
took the body and ran, since that is what you sent me
for. Xellos's daughter has it."
"Xellos had a daughter?" Martina asked curiously.
"That is what the girl claimed."
"Could you describe her too me, dear?" Martina asked
sweetly.
"Purple hair and tail, fox ears," Martina howled and
slammed her fist into a tree, knocking it down.
"The bastard and the bitch had a little brat!" Martina
whispered viciously to herself. Then she faced
Zangulus with a sweet expression on her face. "Get the
staff from her, my love. The staff has what I need. Do
that and then we can be together, forever."
"As you wish, Martina," he bowed over her hand as she
smiled over him.

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

"This is the staff?" the sorcerer asked.
"Xellos Metallium's staff," the thief assured him,
eyeing the staff anxiously. "It will prove itself."
"If this is a scam, you will pay," the sorcerer
assured him. Somehow he was certain that it wasn't a
scam, the man was too eager to be rid of the staff.
"This is no scam," the thief assured him. "Now can I
have the payment?" The sorcerer handed over the bag of
platinum unconcerned. There were spells on the coins
that he could trigger at any time if the product still
proved to be a fake. The sorcerer didn't no for
certain what he could do with the staff, but an item
with such a master must be great indeed.
The mage stepped up into his carriage and commanded
the magical construct to carry him down the alley.
Soon he would be far away from this distasteful city.
There was a startled rustle among the crowds, mixed
awe and terror. The sorcerer looked out and his jaw
dropped as he saw a dragon winging down for a landing
beyond the city walls.

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

"I know your faster than that," Zelgadis admonished,
lifting his practice blade away from her neck.
"Why are you making me do this?" Xina asked leaning
over her practice sword.
"Haven't had a sparring partner since Amethyst went
travelling," Zelgadis answered. "Now come again."
"Can't you teach me how to use something else?"
"Not as well as I can teach you this, now come again."
She stood up and gritted her teeth.
Xina snapped forward with stab, which he blocked, she
let the sword bounce away from the block and added
power to the back spin as she slashed around with
blinding speed coming in the other direction. He
blocked again, and Xina pushed forward with her
shoulders in a body block. The girl bounced off
Zelgadis and landed on the ground.
"Damn it," Xina growled as she stood back up again,
Zelgadis had never helped her up in any of these
practice sessions.
"At least you managed the spin this time," he
commented. "But you shouldn't try to shove someone
stronger than you unless they are far off balance.
Come again."
"Just give me a moment," she asked, panting and
leaning on her sword again. Zelgadis's eyebrow arched
and his stance lowered. It was what she had been
waiting for. Xina whipped forward with her blade a
triumphant grin on her face, until the sword flew from
numbed fingers and landed a few feet away.
"I'm not human," he reminded her. "I won't fall for
the false fatigue trick from a half-mazoku." A herald
appeared in the sparring room, breathing heavily,
Zelgadis saw hm and walked away from the dueling area.
"Not much of a spar."
"Sir a..a...a...dra..dra..."
"A dragon?" Xina asked excited. Zelgadis turned to
face her.
"Yes, its a dragon," the herald gasped. "Landing,
beyond the walls."
"You said it took you three days to get here?"
Zelgadis asked Xina.
"Yes," she answered grumpily. Zelgadis turned back to
the herald and arched an eyebrow.
"That is all I know, Lord." Moments later another
herald appeared.
"Lord, your daughter, she's back."
"Amethyst? Who's with her?"
"How did you...of course you know. I think its her
brother and some swordsman dressed in an elven
manner."
"Her guards?"
"No sign, Lord," Zelgadis nodded.
"Send out an escort," he instructed, the man nodded
and started to leave. "An HONOR guard, these are not
enemies. The dragon as well."
"Umm," they looked at Xina. "You might want to bring
Val some clothes, I sort of lost his on the way here."
"Very well," Zelgadis sighed. "Is this all
understood?"
"Yes, my lord," heralds bowed and left at a near run.
"You lost his clothes?" he asked. Xina made a
non-commital sound and looked about nervously. "Isn't
that a little obvious?"
"The stupider the story the more they....hey!"
Zelgadis smirked
It wasn't much longer before Amethyst stood again
before her father. Xina watched in amazement as the
man actually displayed some emotion and hugged his
daughter.
"Dad?" Zelgadis released her and stood back nervous.
"Why didn't you tell me about mom?" Zelgadis frowned
and turned his face away from her.

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

Dreams

"I understand that Lina's son is with you as well,"
Zelgadis said, changing the subject. "I'm fairly
certain he wants to see his sister." The elder chimera
glanced at Xina who, rolled her eyes up to a corner of
the room and bit her lip. "Even if she is reluctant on
the issue."
"Oh Xina-san," Amethyst gasped in surprise, "I didn't
recognize you there." Zelgadis and Xina sweatdropped.
"Xalan-san thought you were hurt, he's really anxious
to see you." The younger chimera nodded her head
vigorously.
"I'd like to meet Xina's son as well," Zelgadis
suggested, obviously thinking to stall this discussion
with his daughter.
"We need the talk about mother," Amethyst protested,
she turned to Xina. "Xalan-san is waiting outside,
Xina-san." Xina glanced from Zelgadis to the door, the
elder chimera. She smiled viciously and waved at
Zelgadis.
"Shouldn't keep my brother waiting after all," she
said cheerfully, in the vulpine accent common to her
family. She greatly ennjoyed the annoyed glare that
the Regent-Prince was leveling her way. Then she
turned her face away from the two chimeras and
grimaced. Seeing Zelgadis squirm was pleasurable
enough to face her brother, but it only just
outweighed the chance to avoid him for a little while.
"Lina figured it out," he deduced after the fox-girl
left the room.
"Yes, but..."
"This was none of her affair," Zelgadis said quietly.
"She didn't tell me," Amethyst protested. Zelgadis
arched an eyebrow at her. "It was the guardsman that
tried to kill me that told me."
"One of your guards tried to kill you," he repeated
dangerously.
"Yes, Lina-sama told the rest of them to take him and
those bandits to the nearest Sailoon magistrate," she
paused. "The ones that lived anyway, but, that's not
the point. Why didn't you tell me?"
"What point would there be?"
"But you lied to me, how can that be just?" Zelgadis
snorted. "Doesn't justice require the truth?"
"What justice would there be in making some little
girl think she killed her mother?"
"But I did..."
"No you did not!" Zelgadis shouted. "Understand that,
you didn't do anything."
"But if I were human..." she let the supposition trail
away to silence, and then began to walk out of the
room.
"Ame, it's not your fault," she looked back at him
before leaving the room completely.

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

Of all the responses Xina was prepared for, relief and
joy were not one of them. Val, and a tall dark haired
swordsman somewhere around Amethyst's age, sat back
and watched. The swordsman seemed bored.
"Xina!" her cried out as he hugged her much smaller
form. "I thought you were hurt, or..."
"I'm fine! I'm fine! But you're going to crack my
ribs!" he released her.
"I don't understand it, but I'm glad you're not..."
She looked at him embarrassed. "You were hurt."
"I let someone steal...father," she said, clutching
her side where she remembered the sword plunging in.
"I'd be dead if it weren't for Zelgadis." She sounded
quite unlike her normal cheerful self.
"I know you did your best, we can hunt down the
bastard later," he told her.
"And I shall help you in this quest," Xalan turned to
face the reappeared Amethyst. The young chimera had
either put everything behind her, or buried it.
Whichever way it was, she did not at seem unhappy at
all.
"Me, Xal and Val are perfectly..."
"You will," Xina turned to look at her brother, who
hadn't even noticed that he'd cut her off.
"Sounds fun," Jol shrugged.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Jol."
"Err...Okay."
"I suppose that," Val started, Xina turned to face
him, already putting her pleading look on. Val gave up
before she started talking. "Go tell our parents
what's going on before joining you."
"You'd do that for us?" Xina leaned uncomfortably
close to the dragon, laughter sparkling in her eyes.
Val glanced nervously from the teasing kage-kitsune to
her brother's annoyed look.
"I might as well get started now, its faster this
way," he grumbled, turning to walk back down the hall.
There was a whispered stream of profanity that he
wouldn't have dared speak near his mother, and
scattered among it was the phrase "three bloody
times."
"I was going to suggest that myself," Zelgadis said,
appearing behind them. "But first, you are going to
get some rest, and I am going to see about outfitting
you properly."
"I'd really rather get this over..." Zelgadis leveled
a look at Xalan and he shut up. Amethyst and Xina
shared a smug expression, until Xina noticed and then
she hmphed.
"That was impressive," Jol noted. Zelgadis turned to
face him.
"Who are..."
"Jolrael Gabriev." Zelgadis narrowed his eyes, Jol
didn't appear to notice.
"As in..."
"Gourry and Syphiel's son." The chimera arched an
eyebrow, the swordsman yawned.
"But you're not..."
"Stupid?" Xina and Amethyst looked at Jol as if he
were insane.
"Would you..."
"I'm not doing anything." Zelgadis took a moment to
figure out if he was telling the truth or not.

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

Xalan saw Xina in the darkness beyond, she was the
first actual sight he had seen in this funny dream.
Having nothing better to do he walked towards her.
This didn't seem to be a dream, it felt more like what
he felt when he was fighting. As he approached Xina
saw him a waved dismissively.
"Oh good, this dream was getting boring," Xina
grumbled.
"This is my dream," Xalan insisted.
"Whatever, I'm not going to argue with a figment of my
imagination."
"You're the figment, not me."
"You can't share dreams so..." The darkness faded away
to show Zangulus stabbing down into Xina. Xalan looked
to the other image of his sister and noticed her wince
angrily.
"What is this?" Zangulus and Zelgadis started circling
each other, the chimera maneuvering the human away
from his sister. The image faded away before the drama
could come to a conclusion.

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

Xina woke up from the strange dream and growled. That
man had beaten her soundly, without much of an effort.
It had been so easy for him that he even had time to
mock her. She had never felt so humiliated as she had
lying at his feet and waiting for that sword to fall.
She clutched her side angrily.
Why was she dreaming about that, what was the point?
It was bad enough thinking about it without having to
see it when she fell asleep. And she was dreaming
about Xalan witnessing it to, as if it wasn't good
enough that she was cowed in front of Zelgadis
Greywyrds. She had to have her brother witness her on
the ground half-conscious and near weeping from the
pain in her back.
She lay back down, on the other side, and considered
the dream. There was something about it, something
important. Then she snapped to sitting up again in the
great soft bed.
"The staff was still in my hand!"

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

On the Road

Xina was back in the tomb within fifteen minutes, and
walking tentatively through the marble hall slipping
from shadow to shadow cautiously. If she were lucky
the scent would still be here even after a week had
passed. No air carried through the tomb, and rain
never fell there. It was a stagnant collection of air
that only moved at the insistence of a pair of lungs.
She stepped tentatively out of the shadows in front of
the shattered tomb and concentrated on collecting
scents. The servants had cleaned the debris, but she
could still smell a slight taint of blood and
recoiled. She should have been thankful that these
humans had no sense of smell to speak of, but she
wished they had cleaned better anyway.
The worst of it was that she could pick out her,
Zelgadis and Zangulus's scents, but beyond that there
were dozens of scents and she didn't know who they
belonged to. This had done her no good at all.
"This isn't fair," she grumbled. Xina picked up a new
scent, he had to be right behind her if she could
smell him at all.
"Did you have a dream?" Xalan asked.
"I remembered something," she shrugged non-commitally.
He arched an eyebrow and bent down to sniff out the
ground. "What do you think you're doing, it's just a
jumble of scents."
"Why does one of those scents go that way?" he asked,
pointing deeper into the tombs. Xina glared at him.
"Maybe if you ever actually hunted yourself, instead
of just leaving everything to me and mom." She stuck
her tongue out at him.
"I hunt!!"
"I wouldn't call what you do hunting."
"Hmph!"

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

It wasn't much longer before they traced the scent to
a cubby hole filled with a number of things probably
pillaged from the various tombs. They certainly
smelled like it anyway. Of course the staff wasn't
among those items.
"Great, I'll bet its miles away by now."
"It'll turn up," Xalan shrugged non-commitally. "Let's
worry about this bounty hunter first."
"No, we have to get the staff!" Xina snapped.
"Why? I'll bet its full of power and it was our
father's, but still...."
"There was a voice," she continued hesitantly.
Surprisingly it was actually more difficult to explain
her theory to her brother than it was to Zelgadis.
"While I was fighting, I think it was our father's
voice."
"If this is one of your tricks..." he warned.
"Why would I lie about THAT?"
"Okay, I'll buy it for now, so let's get Jol and
Ame..."
"You me and Val can handle this fine, now let's
get..." she started walking back down the tomb until
her brother grabbed her tail. "Ouch! Hey! What's the
deal?"
"Where, out curiousity, do we start?"
"We just go to the uh..." and Xina exhausted her
knowledge of urban crime and cities in general. "Oh
kay, we'll get everybody else. Now will you let go of
my tail?"

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

Unsurprisingly, Amethyst didn't know much more about
the underside of the city than Xina and Xalan did.
Surprisngly enough Jolrael did.
"Wait a minute, how can you know about this coming
from an elven city? Aren't elves the embodiment of all
that is joyful and good in nature and magic?" Jolrael
regarded Amethyst blankly for a moment and then
blinked.
"As I was saying..."
It took them a little more than a day to track down
the thief could place them on the staff's trail. They
were on the road not long afterwards, traveling near
the pace of a sprinting horse.
"So what are those things in the cloths there?" Xina
asked Amethyst as Sailoon shrank behind them.
"Oh, I almost forgot?" Amethyst flushed scarlet for a
moment from the embarrassment and handed one of the
cloth bundles to Xina. "My father wanted me to give
those too you. I brought mine too, this time."
"What are these?" Xina asked as she unwrapped the
cloth. She grimaced when she finally unwrapped the
items. A fine long sword and a heavy, dull practice
blade.
"Dad said to be your sparring partner!" Amethyst
declared cheerfully. Xina heard her brother snicker.
Jolrael glanced at the expressions of the two
Kage-Kitsune and smirked.
"Maybe I can join your spars every once in awhile," he
suggested. Xina winced, and then Jol turned toward
Xalan. "How about you?"
"Oh, I never miss a chance to practice with my
sister," he assured them.
"Won't this be fun?" Xina managed to plaster a fake
grin on her face and laughed with Amethyst.
"Sure fun, why not?"

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

"Zangulus? What was he doing there?"
"He sort of robbed Xellos..."
"He robbed my Xellos's grrave?!!"
"What would that bounty hunter want from a dead
mazoku?" Filia asked, only moderately calmer. Val knew
he was in trouble.
"How did he get in there anyway, aren't there guards?"
"Well Xina tried to stop..."
"What did he do to Xina?"
"No she's fine, Zelgadis stopped...."
"SHE'S WITH ZELGADIS!!?"
"Last I heard they were going on the road to chase..."
"WHAT?!?"
"Shi--* Ouch!" he looked up to his irate mother.
"Sorry, mo--*" and was dragged down to Lina's eye
level. The human form dragon sweatdropped.
"Where were YOU during all of this?"
"Well I had to stay in dragon form because Xina lost
my...." he noticed Lina looking over his new outfit
and re-ran his last statement in his head.
"Oh...shoot." he said as Lina's eyes widened.
"What were you doing with my daughter that SHE had
your clothes?" She shook him vigorously.
"Lina, please unhand my son," Filia said. The were-fox
looked in the dragon's direction and let go of Val
testily. He breathed a sigh of relief and then winced
as his mother's mace smashed into his head. "I thought
I taught you better than that."
"I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything!"
"Listen, you deliquent dragon..."
"I'd say its your daughter that's deliquent, no
offense."
"None taken," Lina said tightly. "But ANYWAY, you are
coming with us back to Sailoon, got iit?"
"Go BACK to..." the younger dragon fainted. Lina and
Filia looked at each other confused.
"Oh didn't think I hit him that hard!" Filia declared
dismayed, trying to wake him up.
"What was that about?" Lina wondered.

=====
"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

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

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