Seven months ago...
Their encounter had been brief, composed of sweat and bit lips to keep the sounds of their melding a secret from the sharp ears of the stable hands below.
Soon, and too soon it was over, and they lay there in each other's arms, seeing each other as a sensation in the inky blackness.
"Xelloss?" She said.
"Yes?"
"We can't do this anymore." She sat up, pulling the shirt that had been taken half off back over her head. "I need time. This is all too fast for me."
The ruby on his staff glowed, filling the hayloft with its soft red light.
"So its over? Wham Bam Thank You Xelloss?"
"Not permanently..." Amelia started. "My father is ill, the physician thinks it may be Skylers. It'll take me nearly two, three months to get back."
"And you'll go alone?"
"Zelgadis will go with me." Amelia said, as she found her pants and began to pull them on. "
"Zelgadis." There was a note in the Mazoku's voice. Jealously?
"I have nothing to fear from Zelgadis." Ameila said. "His quest for a cure dominates him above all else and he's too proper a gentleman to try anything." Even if I laid awake at nights wishing he'd try. She added silently.
"Come back with me." Xelloss said, sitting up. "Zelas can make you like me, we could be immortal."
"Become a Mazoku?" Amelia asked, pausing in the act of tying her boot strings. "Are you crazy?"
"I'm perfectly serious." Xelloss said. "Listen to me Amelia." He said, sitting up and meeting her eyes. "I can't tell you why, but you are the most important person in all of Creation. Even Lina pales beside you."
"Me." Amelia repeated dryly.
"You. Regardless of how you feel personally, Lina, Gourry, Zelgadis, even me are secondary in importance to what you must do. Abandon your father Amelia. Come with..." He trailed off as Amelia drew herself up to full height, cold fury in her eyes.
"What?" She asked softly. Xelloss rapidly ran through the conversation and realized the blunder he had made.
"Uh...That is." He gave her his most charming smile. "I didn't mean that personally." Idiot! He berated himself. You know better then to use that word! Especially after what her sister did! "Poor choice of words perhaps."
"Very poor." She said and left the loft.
The present...
It had been several weeks since they left Daer. Conrad and his group had insisted on coming along, as had a contingent of Seyrun Knights under the command of Sir Edmund and a small band of members of the Sailoon City Gaurd who had arrived at the Motherhouse just before they left. Surprisingly, two of its members were the Sargent Major and the Private who had been at Koume's trial.
The news from home hadn't been good. The rebels had set up a strict theocracy. Prayers five times a day, a diet of vegetables only, women in thick, heavy gowns. Anyone even suspected of using magic was immediately burned at the stake.
Amelia's face had iced over more and more with each new report. But she had a duty to her friend and the preceptor had sworn to lay seige to the city.
"The city will be yours when you get back." He had promised. There was another reason for Amelia's flight as well. The line of succession must be protected. It was her first priority.
She had a cousin in the Kingdom of Koro on the east coast. She could leave her child there and then return to Sailoon and send for the babe when she was sure it was safe.
Lina rode in silence, her thoughts her own. She had been forced to unleash her Dragon Slave several days ago on a Dragon that had been terrorizing a village and that always seemed to take something out of her.
Conrad rode next to Gourry. He was thinking things over when he noticed a glint in the trees. Swearing, he yanked Gourry from the saddle as a sharp bang rang out.
"Damon!" He yelled. But Damon was already out of his saddle and transforming as he ran into the trees, followed closely by the Seyrun Knights as the Guards formed up around Amelia.
It was five minutes later, when they returned escorting a group of disreputable looking individuals wearing strange clothes with metal objects strapped to them.
Conrad, his face coldly angry, marched up to one who seemed to be the leader.
"Get that stuff off of them." He ordered. Edmund looked at Amelia, who nodded. Edmund and his men began to strip the bandits. Only when they were shivering in their underclothes did Conrad examine their clothes. Suddenly, he began swearing sulferlously as he examined the sleeve. Then he grabbed one of the belts and checked each pouch, swearing louder when he found something.
"Where did you get this?" He demanded, holding the object in the leader's face. The bandit sneered and spat in his face.
"Damon." Conrad said, wiping the spit off of his face. "Take our friend here and teach him that its bad manners to spit in people's faces." The bandit turned pale as the reptilian creature laid its hands on his shoulders.
"Wait! I'll tell you!"
Conrad crossed his arms and waited.
"Three days ride south. Its some kind of building built into a mountain! Some kind of voice taught us to use these things."
"Run." Conrad said. "Take your boots and run and if I ever see you again, I'll make you wish that it was the Mazoku who got their hands on you instead of me."
The terrified men fled, some still pulling on their boots.
"We go south." Conrad said.
"Why?" Lina said.
"It has to be done." He said. So they turned South. Most out of curiosity. Conrad and his group out of nesscessity.
They rode slightly apart from the others, talking in hushed voices and examining the items they had taken from the bandits.
Curious, Lina, Zelgadis and Amelia had drifted close to listen.
"Maybe its only a research facility." Lita was saying. "Just because there's the Radiation sign on their clothes doesn't mean its a silo."
"We still have to destroy it." Conrad said. "That Dragon Slave is bad enough, can you imagine what might happen if they got their hands on a missile and learned to duplicate it? That kind of knowledge doesn't belong here."
"I'm more interested in where it came from." Damon said.
"I know. Its giving rise to some very ugly possibilities." Conrad said.
"What about Radiation?" Put in the woman in blue and white armor.
"Probably not a real problem." Conrad said. "They got to the armory and showed no signs of Radiation sickness."
"What's Radiation?" Amelia asked. Lina and Zelgadis shrugged.
It was on the second night that Lina had had enough.
"Alright! Lina burst out, standing up. "I've been hearing you guys mutter about 'Atomic Energy', 'Nuclear Bombs' and 'Radiation' ever since those bandits we encountered the other day! Now I want to know, just what in the name of the L-Sama are you talking about?!" Conrad stood up and looked at them, his face oddly lit by the fire.
"Imagine," Conrad said, his voice almost a whisper. "if you will, a machine designed to ride a plume of fire to its target, even if the Target is thousands of miles away. And when it gets there, it explodes with more then three times the force of the Dragon Slave." Lina and Ameila both paled, Gourry blinked in shock, and Zelgadis's eyes widened.
"I'm not done yet." Conrad said. "When it explodes, there is a bright light. A light so bright, and so hot, that curtains in a house ten, fifteen miles away, burst into flames."
"Uh, right, I think I get the idea."
"Oh, but there's more. Long after the explosion, there lingers a form of energy known as radiation. Those nearby will grow sick, children in the womb would be deformed, or stillborn. These effects, though lessening with the march of time, will remain for many years."
Lina audibly swallowed. Hard.
"Somewhere in these mountains," Conrad said, indicating the dark shadows in the distance behind him. "Are anywhere from six to twelve of these machines. Perhaps even more. They must be found and dealt with. You may continue on to Zefilia, but we must take the time to put them out of action."