This in no way takes place during the Slayers world. It's based upon a romantic poem by Alfred Noyes, which was adapted into song form by Loreena McKennitt (the lyrics will follow this story). I've always wanted to retell the poem in such a way that the emotions and desires of the characters were more evident, but I feel as if this rendition does a poor job of that. Basically, I pulled the Slayers characters out of their usual environment, and stuck them here, using one of my favorite couples as the Highwayman and his lover, Bess. I hope you enjoy, and if you've never heard this song or read the poem (the poem has more lines which had to be cut out for it to fit into song form), I strongly urge you to do so. You can find the song on Loreena McKennett's CD; The Book of Secrets.
A storm was blowing in from the west, and Zelgadis cursed lightly as he smelled rain upon the air, and felt the wind play with his light brown hair. Ordinarily, the way the wind was sweeping through the trees along the road would have discouraged or even made him a tad nervous, but he was on an important mission, and couldn't be stayed by superstitions.
He carefully maneuvered his horse through the pitfalls along this particular stretch of the Moor, and he grinned to himself as he thought about the person who was waiting for him ahead, and his blue eyes twinkled with pleasure. He always made sure that his pistol and rapier were especially shiny on nights like this, so that the gleaming silver caught and reflected the moonlight that shone down upon his head. He felt his heart quicken as he saw the outline of an old building ahead, and he spurred his horse to a faster gate, passing a sign that read, "Saillune Inn" on his way through the old gates. His horses hooves made gentle ringing sounds upon the cobblestones, but at the moment he didn't care much about the noise.
He rode directly underneath a particular window, and tapped upon it's shutters with his whip. However, there was no movement, and everything appeared to be locked up for the night. Undaunted, he whistled a little tune from his childhood towards the window, and was rewarded by a familiar and beloved face as Amelia appeared in the window to gaze down upon him. Her slender fingers moved through her hair, and Zel could make out the red ribbon that she was twisting into a love knot through the long, ebony colored locks.
"Zelgadis!" she exclaimed, her deep blue eyes nearly black in the darkness. "I wasn't expecting you tonight."
Zel felt a thrill of pleasure at the sound of Amelia's gentle voice, and he felt as if his heart would burst as he gazed up at her lovely face.
"I can only stay long enough for one kiss tonight, Amelia. I'm after a fat prize tonight. But I promise that I'll be back with the treasure before morning. However, if they really press me through the day, I'll come back to you tomorrow night, when the moon is shining over the road and the stars are twinkling in your eyes," Zel responded, before raising up in his stirrups, his hand out stretched towards Amelia, only to fall a hairs breath short of touching her.
Amelia withdrew her hand, and unbound her hair, allowing it to cascade down over Zel's face and chest, and Zel smiled up at her as he gently kissed the waves that seemed to be alive with her heat. He then gave a tug on his horse, turned to the west, and gently touched the spur to the horse's flank. The horse leapt forward, and they galloped away and out of site.
Amelia sighed as she bound her hair up once again, knowing that Zel wouldn't be back tonight, because the law keepers were getting wiser to his ways and tricks, and despite what he said, she knew that they would be after him much earlier tonight than normal. The only thing that really comforted her on nights like this was the thought that the money Zel was stealing was going towards their future together, and she was more than happy to wait for him.
With a happy, contented smile, Amelia blew out her candle, and went to bed.
The next day dawned like any other, with Amelia rising up out of bed to do her chores, and keep her eye out for Zelgadis. He didn't show by breakfast time, and lunch eventually rolled around without him making an appearance, and Amelia had to suppress small spurts of worry over his safety. She kept telling herself that Zel could take care of himself, and that he was just fine.
She was wiping down a table when the front door banged open, and about half a dozen city guards came trooping into the dining area. Amelia's father bustled over to their captain, asking questions and offering them the best table in the area. Without a word, the guardsmen took a seat and began drinking the ale that Phil set in front of them. Amelia continued with the rest of her chores, but she could feel the guardsmen speculative gazes against her back, and she shivered slightly.
As the sun began to set, Amelia began to feel real fear, for the guards had yet to leave the inn, and as time went on, their stares became more and more obvious. No longer able to stand their cold looks, and wanting to find a way to warn Zel, Amelia made a move to leave the dinning room, only to be brought up short by a hand on her arm.
"Where do ye think ye're goin?" a gruff voice asked, before she suddenly found herself surrounded by the guardsmen, who were all leering at her.
"What do you think you're doing?" Phil demanded, only to be silenced by a barking command from the leader, General Xelloss.
"Your pretty daughter," Xelloss said, "Is going to be used as bait."
Before Amelia could begin to protest, the guards had wrapped ropes around her, and tied an old neck scarf over her mouth, effectively gagging her. They then proceeded to drag her to her room, where two of the guards went over to her window and knelt down to where they were just out of sight of whomever should pass by outside. Amelia's eyes widened in horror as they began to clean and prime their muskets, testing their sites and making sure that they were ready and loaded. She could barely make out the road through the haze of tears that filled her eyes, but she knew without a doubt that it was the one that Zel would be riding along that night.
The men moved her over to her bed, and tied her in such a way that she was kept standing. She had to endure the snickers and crude jokes of the men as they speculated about how long it had taken Zel to get her in bed, and whether or not the money he was stealing was to go for the care of their illegitimate child. Each one of them were lies, and it was only that knowledge that kept her from nearly losing her sanity at the moment that the men tied a musket up beside her, with the barrel up under her breast and resting near her heart. One of the men leaned in and kissed her, while the others told her to be sure to keep watch for tonight. As if he were standing in the room with her, Amelia heard Zel say, "I'll come back to you tomorrow night, when the moon is shining over the road and the stars are twinkling in your eyes".
She began to twist her hands around, trying desperately to loosen the ropes a little just so she could get her hands free, but to no avail, the knots were tied extremely well, and didn't give away a single inch. She wouldn't give up, however, and continued to twist and move her fingers, ignoring the ropes that cut into her skin and the blood that began to wetten the ropes. She continued to stretch her fingers as the hours appeared to creep by, ignoring the cramps that tried to twist her fingers into ill usable knots. Tears of pain had filled her eyes as she felt muscle and tendons strain to the breaking the point when, just as the clock out in the hallway struck the midnight hour, she felt her index finger brush against the cold metal of the trigger. Amelia let out a sobbing breath, and relaxed her body slightly, closing her eyes while keeping her finger firmly on the trigger.
A few more moments passed, when suddenly she heard the unmistakable sound of horse hooves ringing against stone, and her eyes jerked up as her body tensed. She looked at the guardsmen, but they showed no signs of having heard, and she wondered for a brief moment if they were all deaf. Again, she heard the sound of hoof striking stone, and only then did the guardsmen begin to move, the two at the window primed their muskets, while the others stood and watched. Amelia could clearly make out the sounds now, signaling that Zel was drawing closer and closer to the inn, and she made sure to keep herself very still, so that the guardsmen couldn't guess her intentions. Her eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of Zel's distant figure through the window, and she drew in a deep breath to fortify her courage, before pressing down firmly with her finger upon the trigger. The musket exploded with a deafening sound, and she was aware of a brief moment of pain as the musket ball passed through her heart, before she became aware of nothing more. Her head slumped down to her chin, as her blood darkened her clothing and began to mat her hair.
Zel jerked his horse around in a tight circle, and spurred him to a fast pace away from the inn. He knew now that there was an ambush set for him, and he could only pray that Amelia was all right, and bless whatever deity was looking down upon him for causing a musket to back fire. He continued to ride as if all of Hell's dogs were after him, and only after his horse began to falter from exhaustion did he pull up and continue is flight at a fast walk. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon when a slow moving farmer's cart trundled up beside him, with a wan faced man sitting at the reins.
"'Good morning," Zel hailed the farmer, who turned sad eyes upon him.
"'Morning, though it ain't a good un," the farmer replied.
"What makes you say that?" Zel asked, curious.
"Tragedy at the Saillune Inn. They say that Amelia, the landlord's daughter, was in love with a highwayman here abouts. Well, the guardsmen had set up a trap for him in the inn, but the girl warned him off when she shot and killed herself with a musket," the man said.
A dull roaring filled Zel's ears, and his vision began to become clouded with a haze of red as a cold sweat broke out over his skin. Without another word he savagely hauled on his horse's reins, and dug his spurs into it's side so hard that he broke the skin and embedded them in the muscle. The horse screamed with pain, and shot off down the road, while Zel jerked his spurs free and began to pound them into his horse, over and over, seeing nothing ahead of him but a dull, red haze.
"DAMN YOU!!!" he screamed at the sky, unaware that he had pulled his rapier from it's sheath and was swinging it over his head. "DAMN YOU!!!!!!"
As he continued to pound down the road, he failed to see the guardsmen who were waiting for him, with General Xelloss at the command. The marksmen drew a bead on Zel's approaching, screaming figure, and fired. Zel's body jerked backwards as the musket ball found his chest, and his rapier flew out of his hand as he tumbled over backwards off his horse's back, landing heavily in the dirt and dust of the highway. He rolled over onto his back, feeling his blood pour out of the wound in his chest, and he gazed up at the sky.
Amelia's face flashed before his eyes, and with his last breath he whispered, "I love you."
"Are you sure about this, Lina?" Gourry asked his girlfriend as they stood in the middle of an old dirt road near the beginning of winter. A storm was blowing in from the west, and Gourry watched as the clouds chased each other across the face of the moon, shivering at the sound the wind made as it whispered through the trees.
"I'm positive, Gourry," Lina replied, holding tightly onto Gourry's hand as she was spooked by the sound of the wind, as well.
Gourry opened his mouth, but a sound in the distance made him look up, and whisper, "Did you hear that?"
Lina strained her hearing, and just barely made out the sound of hoof striking stone, before whispering back, "Yes."
At that moment, the unmistakable figure of a man on horseback crested the hill in front of them, before riding further down the road and past the startled college students. They managed to make out his light brown hair, gentle blue eyes, and the weapons that twinkled at his side, before the man and horse passed them to ride up into an old abandoned inn yard. They watched, fascinated, as the man reached up and tapped upon the shutters with his whip, then settle back to whistle a strange and haunting tune up to the window. A moment later, they could make out the image of a young woman standing at the window, gazing down at the man on the horse while she wove a dark red ribbon into an intricate love knot through her long, black hair. A few seconds later, and all three of the beings vanished, as if they had never been there in the first place. Lina and Gourry exchanged terrified looks, before high tailing it back to their parked car, and out of the general vicinity.
The Highwayman
Music: Loreena McKennitt
Lyrics: Alfred Noyes
Abridged by: Loreena McKennitt
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon the cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the Highwayman came riding, riding, riding,
The Highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.
He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle; his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle, his pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapir hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutteres, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there,
But the landlord's black eyed daughter, Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
"One kiss my bonny sweetheard, I'm after a prize tonight,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by the moonlight, watch for me by the moonlight,
I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though Hell should bar the way."
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand
But she loosened her hair 'i the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black casecade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed it's waves in the moonlight, (Oh, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the mooonlight, and galloped away to the west.
He did not come at the dawning; he did not come atnoon,
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching, marching, marching,
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
They said not word the the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at the casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window, and Hell at one dark window,
For Bess could see through the casement, the road that he would ride.
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, with the beneath her breasts!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her, she heard the dead man say,
"Look for me by the moonlight, watch for me by the moonlight,
I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though Hell should bar the way!"
She twisted her hands behind her, but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years!
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
Tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs were ringing clear.
Tlot-tlot, in the distance! Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The Highwayman came riding, riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up straight and still!
Tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment! She drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight, her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight, and warned him with her death.
He turned; he spurred to the west; He did not know she stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it; his face grew grey to hear
How Bess the landlord's daughter, the landlord's black eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
Back, her spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky
With the white road smoking behind him, and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were the spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
When they shot him down on the highway, down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throat.
Still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon, tossed upon the cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight, over the purple moor,
The Highwayman comes riding, riding, riding,
A Highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
Cheesy, I know, and not my best, but, well, the idea wouldn't leave, and I just had to write it. ^^