"We're almost there," said Lina, peering ahead at the distant castle's tall turrets and towers, barely visible through the thick vegetation that surrounded her and her friends. "There's only another half-day's walk before us, I'd say." She tried to sound nonchalant, as if it didn't really matter to her what their destination was, but the sorceress couldn't prevent a tiny quavering note of fear from entering her voice. I'm not afraid. Really I'm not. It's just that... that I'm a little nervous. Yeah. That's it. Just a little nervous...
Next to her, Zelgadis absently "Flare Arrow!"ed a tentacled, carnivorous tree into submission. Lina couldn't tell much of anything from the former chimaera's expression. I wonder how she's adjusting to her new form? The violet-haired girl wasn't particularly known for her willingness to talk openly about her problems. I think she's starting to accept it, just a little, thought Lina tentatively, but I'm really not sure. It's hard to tell, with Zel.
As she walked, Lina's mind drifted along that train of thought. I wonder how I'd react if I woke up one day and discovered I was a guy? A ten-foot-tall slimy creature, glowing faintly in a radioactive haze, suddenly lurched out of the undergrowth. Its gaping maw was wide open, and slobbering in anticipation of a tasty meal. One "Gaav Flare!" later, it was nothing more than a steaming puddle of goo. Gourry'd probably be making wise-ass remarks all the time about how flat my chest was.... She shook her head in disgust. Forget that! I have more important things to be thinking about.
Up in front, Gourry was hacking through vines and shrubs with his sword, clearing a path for everyone to follow. He was concentrating fiercely on his job, and trusting the three magic-users walking behind him to take care of any creatures that came crawling out of the underbrush with murder in their eyes. Lina herself was constantly keeping an eye on him, just to make sure he was safe.
The blond swordsman hacked violently away at a thick mat of leaves and vines that completely blocked the pathway. Once it was clear, he stumbled out, to everyone's surprise, into a wide clearing. Instantly, he was on his guard, but as the others filed their way into the clearing and nothing untoward happened, he relaxed visibly.
Lina frowned as she looked around herself. "This is kinda funny," she said. "The plants and stuff around here have all been cut short or something. By who? And why?"
"Let's rest. Please?" begged Amelia. The young princess was undeniably tired. She'd been the one most affected by the unflagging pace, as well as by the wearying atmosphere of the Fallen Kingdom. Lina herself had almost stopped noticing the everpresent feeling of horror and darkness, a fact for which she was exceedingly thankful. "Just for a few minutes?" pleaded the princess, her wide eyes even now scanning nervously back and forth for any hint of danger.
"Just a few minutes," Lina agreed reluctantly. "I guess we can keep a lookout for any monsters - hey, what's that?" At the very centre of the clearing, she saw something completely unexpected. "A goat?"
Sure enough, about twenty metres away, there was a tall wooden post with a large goat tied to it. The animal was grazing peacefully, not even noticing the four intruders in its clearing.
"That's weird," muttered Lina, taking a step towards the animal.
"Forget the goat," said Zelgadis, standing behind her. "Do you see someone up there?"
Startled, Lina looked in the direction Zelgadis was pointing. At the top of an extraordinarily tall tree, a few hundred metres away, someone was waving frantically.
Everyone simply stood there and stared at the distant figure as it waved. As the seconds ticked by, the person in the tree got fed up and started travelling downwards.
"Are they falling?" wondered Gourry, as he watched the tiny figure descending the tree rapidly.
"No, it looks more like they're jumping down from branch to branch," noted Amelia, having more experience with that kind of thing. Unsuccessful experience, true, but experience nonetheless.
Lina stared fixedly at the descending figure. "Who on Earth would..."
Since everyone's attention was fixed on the person in the distance, it was understandable that at first they didn't notice the rather large black dragon descending from the sky. As the enormous creature crashed to the ground, however, they all leaped back out of the way.
"A dragon!" Lina yelled frantically. What's the matter with us? We should've seen it coming a mile away! Luckily for the four travelers, however, the massive, scaly creature ignored them in favour of the tasty-looking goat. Its huge, slobbering jaws opened wide to gobble up the much smaller creature.
As the goat merrily continued its meal of grass, thick steel jaws exploded from the ground around it, where they'd been buried. They snapped shut around the black dragon's neck. It howled in pain, and began flailing about, trying to escape.
Lina was stunned. A trap? For a dragon? Who would try to trap a dragon? Who would WANT to trap a dragon? She didn't have time to think about it, though, since the dark, frenzied creature was whipping its limber tail, claws, and wings around in all directions, screaming in agony, digging up the ground, and coming just a little too close to the four travellers as it tried to twist itself out of the trap. The goat, still eating, just sidestepped out of its way.
In fear for everyone's lives, Lina concentrated hard, mentally saying the words that had become familiar to her over many years of practice. Damn the consequences. As the creature's powerful tail tore up the ground, coming within an inch of Gourry's boots, the young sorceress burst forth with a hasty "Dragu Slave!"
The panicked dragon perished in flames.
"Wow, Lina," said Gourry in amazement. "You really got that one."
Where before there'd been a large black dragon, now there was only a smoking crater. A rather large smoking crater. Gourry noted sadly that even the goat was long gone. Only the twisted, bent remains of the enormous steel trap had survived Lina's spell.
"Just in time, too," she said matter-of-factly, dusting herself off. She would have said more, except a guy with short, dark red hair, wearing forest-green woodsman's clothes, burst out of the surrounding jungle. Gourry, momentarily alarmed, got into a defensive position.
"What did you do that for?" the guy shouted angrily. "We were trying to trap that dragon for food! You just annihilated our lunch!"
Everyone was stunned speechless. Gourry's mind couldn't even begin to comprehend the implications of that statement. He simply stared blankly at the furious redheaded guy, then said the first thing that came to mind. "Why not just eat the goat?"
His statement burst the floodgates of silence.
"That thing could've killed us!" cried Lina.
"Whose bright idea was it to...," began Zelgadis.
Amelia, full of self-righteous fury, snapped, "How dare you go about, endangering simple travellers!"
"Hey!" was the guy's indignant response. "It's not my fault you guys walked into the middle of...."
"And just how," snarled Lina, turning on him, "were we supposed to know that it was a trap?"
Uh oh, thought Gourry apprehensively. She's starting to get mad....
"What ELSE could it've been?" the redheaded guy snarled right back. "People don't just leave goats lying around everywhere! And that reminds me. You killed the goat too! That was a valuable creature! Goats don't just grow on trees, you know."
"If the goat was so valuable," growled Lina menacingly, "then why'd you use it as dragon bait?"
At this, the irate newcomer took a step back and glared coldly at Lina. "If our plan had worked, we'd have been rolling in grade-A dragon meat, and we wouldn't NEED the goat. But no, some two-bit, third-rate sorceress had to come along and...."
"WHAAAAAT?"
Lina's face was starting to turn the same colour as her hair. That can't be healthy, thought Gourry, vaguely alarmed.
Furious, she began advancing on the hapless newcomer. "Third-rate sorceress?" she spat. "THIRD-RATE? You obviously have no idea who you're talking to! I'm the world-reknowned sorcery genius, Lina Inverse!"
Unfazed, the newcomer cocked an eyebrow. "Never heard of you, so you can't be all that great."
Okay, it's not quite the colour of her hair anymore, mused Gourry thoughtfully. The colour's too deep, too red... almost purple....
"I'll have you know," began Lina in a low, dangerous tone of voice, but was blithely interrupted.
"A fifth-rate sorceress with delusions of grandeur...."
At this point, Gourry, quite sensibly, got the hell out of the way, with Zelgadis and Amelia not far behind.
"FIRE BALL!"
As he hastily ducked under the crackling sheet of flame, the tall swordsman thought with a sigh, Why don't people ever learn? It just doesn't pay to piss off Lina.
Soon, the flames died down. Her desire for wholesale devastation momentarily assuaged, Gourry's fiery traveling companion resolutely ignored the charred mess her antagonizer had become. Stepping over him, she rejoined her friends. "So, let's get going!" she said cheerfully.
"But... you just...," said Amelia, transfixed by the sight of the crispy fried dragon-trapper. "We can't just...." Gourry, too, was a little disturbed by the way the young man was twitching.
Another guy suddenly emerged from the jungle, jogging into the clearing. He took in the alarming scene that presented itself, startled at the massive destruction that now surrounded him.
This latest newcomer, Gourry noted carefully, was fairly tall and well-muscled, with long, straight black hair. In contrast to the crispy guy's sturdy woodlands clothes, he wore what seemed to be an adaptation of a fighters' costume, though he was weaponless. But I guess in Therilon, if you manage to survive long enough, you ARE a weapon, Gourry noted, displaying a momentary flash of intelligence. He prepared himself, ready for any reaction from this potentially dangerous stranger.
But where the previous guy had radiated hostility and aggression, this young man was a study in calmness. He stopped jogging, looked down at his smoking friend, and sighed. "Rohandon, you idiot," he muttered good-naturedly, then sheepishly addressed the four travellers. "I saw you guys from my lookout post in the tree back there, and tried to warn you, but...." He shrugged. "Sorry about all this."
"What are you apologizing for, Jay?" croaked the rather charred redhead. "THEY were the ones who...."
Ignoring his singed friend, the black-haired young man continued. "Next time we should put up signs or something, so we don't end up dropping dragons on peoples' heads. Is everyone okay?" he asked, with genuine concern.
Amid general nods of agreement, Gourry relaxed slightly. This guy seemed to be completely non-threatening, which was a welcome change. Also, no more monsters were suddenly springing from the bushes (or masquerading as bushes) every minute or so. That's strange, a little. But he reasoned that they'd been scared off by the way Lina had annihilated that dragon, and thought no more of it.
Amelia peered quizzically at the tall newcomer. "You were really trying to trap a dragon here?" she asked.
He nodded eagerly in response. "There's good eating on one of those creatures. Lasts for days. Just one dragon feeds our whole village!"
"Oh," said the princess, caught slightly off-guard by the cheerful reply. "Imagine that."
Gourry, himself, after having tasted dragon steak a short while ago, couldn't particularly understand anyone who'd want to pursue the experience. Well, I guess if they have nothing else to eat.... I still think they should've just eaten the goat, though.
"So," said Lina, glancing at the massive metal jaws lying half-melted in the nearby blast crater, "you just use that big steel trap when you catch your dragons, right? Why not use magic?"
"There aren't really any sorcerors in this area," the helpful young man replied. "Our village is too close to the castle," he said, indicating the far-off turrets barely visible through the surrounding greenery. "That really bothers any magic-users, especially at night."
"At night?" asked Lina, suddenly interested. "Why's that?"
"I'm not really sure," he said, looking thoughtful. "Something about headaches...? Or maybe just the fact that the... the feeling of darkness, you know what I mean, is a lot stronger there."
As he spoke, his still-smoking friend rose, wincing, to his feet; he began dusting the soot from his clothes, and coughed sporadically. "Man... you expect to get a little charred around the edges in this line of work, but to not even have a dragon carcass to show for it...!" the redhead moaned.
Gourry watched him with interest. "It's a dangerous job, trapping dragons?" he asked.
Lina elbowed him in the stomach, muttering, "That's a stupid question."
The black-haired one grinned. "Very dangerous, yeah. But not when I'm on the job," he said, with some pride. "I have a... a knack with animals. Sort of. I can lead 'em straight to the trap, and keep 'em from snacking on bystanders. Well, most of the time."
Amelia shuddered. "That's... reassuring."
"About the castle," said Lina, who'd been thinking quietly. "You seem to know something about it. We're planning on visiting the castle, and...."
"You crazy!?" yelled the mostly-recovered redhead. "No one goes to the castle!"
His calmer friend, looking a bit troubled, added, "Our village is probably the closest anyone ever gets. And even then, some say it's too close. You really should reconsider...."
"We have to go to the castle," said Lina, dead serious. "There's no way you can talk us out of that." Gourry, standing beside her, tried to look forthright, as though he were in perfect agreement; as though every mention of Therilon's castle didn't give him the willies. "And we'll most likely need a guide."
For a few long seconds, the young man and Lina stood there, looking each other in the eye. Her gaze was challenging, while his seemed to search for any hint of hesitation or uncertainty. Finally, he spoke. "I won't be your guide."
"Nothing would make me go near that place, either!" announced his friend loudly. "Okay, that's enough of this; we've got to...."
"But we know someone who will."
"Wha... we do?!"
"I'm sure Melody'd be glad to show you around the place," said the young, black-haired fighter, smiling faintly.
"Oh. Right," muttered the redhead. "Her."
At this news, Lina brightened. "That's great! This... Melody...? She knows the castle well?"
"We'll take you to meet her," he said, motioning everyone to follow him off into the jungle. "You'll see. By the way, I should probably introduce myself. I'm Jadis, but everyone calls me Jay. And my friend here is Rohandon." The redhead, still a little worse for wear, grinned and waved.
With that, the four travellers began following the two Therilon natives towards, presumably, their village. Zelgadis, who had throughout the entire previous exchange been standing back, almost hiding behind her friends, wordlessly moved forward. She glanced now and again towards the distant castle. Gourry absently wondered what she thought of all this.
Jay, turning to check on his charges, caught sight of Zelgadis. His eyes widened. She noticed him staring, and grimaced, looking away. Oh, great... Why does everyone have to stare at Zel? thought Gourry mournfully. I'm pretty sure she'd be a whole lot happier if people weren't looking at her wherever we go.
Rohandon halted in place, also staring at the violet-haired lady; the redheaded young man looked faintly puzzled. "Have I ever met you before?" he asked her.
"I... seriously doubt it," she replied, her voice tense. "Now, can we get going?"
"Are you sure you want to go off to the castle, along with these friends of yours? I'd hate to see a lovely lady like you get... er... cruelly slaughtered, or whatever. Why don't you stay over at my place instead?" He topped off his little speech with a dashing grin.
"Uh...," she said nervously.
Jay groaned and turned away, unable to watch. Everyone else just stared at Rohandon in horror.
"What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this, anyway? And where have you been all my life?" He started moving towards her. "If I told you that you had a great body, would you hold it against me?"
Zelgadis, horrorstruck, began trembling in fear.
The first person to recover from the shock of hearing such awful lines directed towards Zelgadis, of all people, was Amelia. The young princess stomped over and planted herself protectively between the former chimaera and Rohandon. "You leave Amethyst alone!" she snapped.
"Amethyst?" The red-headed woodsman recoiled, as if he'd been struck in the face. "As in Princess Amethyst?"
"Of course!" was Amelia's incensed reply.
Rohandon rolled his eyes. "Another pretender, eh?" he said haughtily, turning away.
"Lasted longer than most," Jay mused. His voice, oddly enough, held a touch of sadness.
"She really is Princess Amethyst!" was Amelia's indignant reply.
Rohandon snorted. "That's what they all say! Usually just before they're eaten by a troll or something. The last thing we need is another pathetic wanna-be traipsing around the countryside...."
Lina seemed to be firing herself up for a really explosive reply in Zelgadis's defense. Gourry, who had taken to keeping a nervous eye out for her little bursts of rage, started scouting around rapidly for something large to hide behind.
Before he had even begun to move, however, a tremendous voice full of terrible rage rocked the world, with an earth-shattering, sickening roar. In its full-voiced fury was a destructive madness, a crazed anger that put to shame the rumblings of any mere dragon.
The world trembled in fear.
Lina's eyes snapped wide open in terror. Her head whipped up towards the source of the hideous noise. Gourry knew in the depths of his soul that he didn't want to see whatever it was that had produced such an awful sound, but his eyes felt drawn upwards. He couldn't stop himself from imitating Lina. He couldn't stop himself from turning to face this threat.
He saw a monster high in the sky, a terrible monster that was winging its way towards where they were standing. As it flew, it roared again. Gourry hadn't thought it possible for a sound to be more terrifying than the one he'd just heard, but this agonizing sound seemed to shatter his very soul. The will to fight was wrenched out of him, and his only thoughts were of panic. Somehow, he found himself unable to move.
The hideous creature arrived with incredible swiftness and hovered over the clearing, shadowing all who were there. It was akin to a dragon in form, but no dragon could have ever grown to be that size, and no dragon alive had ever been such a mass of twisted scars and raspy, mottled flesh. As it beat its massive, gnarled wings to stay aloft, it shrieked two words in a harsh, grating voice. "Kill! AMETHYST!"
With nerveless fingers, Gourry fumbled with his sword in a last-ditch effort, only managing to drop it. It was sheer folly to think that any swordsman would be able to get the better of this horror. The two Therilonians, Rohandon and Jay, were also paralyzed with fear. Amelia looked ready to faint. Even Lina was pale with fright. As she stared wild-eyed at this creature, she began to hurriedly recite a spell. Her usually-confident voice quavered badly, and her hands shook violently.
The monster beat its enormous wings and paused for a moment, blotting out the sun. Suddenly, it began diving straight for the clearing, again crying out in a rage-filled voice, "AMETHYST!"
Of all the people gathered in the clearing, only Zelgadis wasn't petrified by fear. The shock at Rohandon's advances momentarily forgotten, her expression was one of white-hot anger.
"Not again!" she cried, defying the monstrous creature that was attacking her. As its gnarled body rushed towards her, with one smooth gesture and a sharp cry of "Ra Tilt!" she sent forth a blazing ball of energy that smashed it away.
The force of the incredibly powerful Shamanist spell was more than enough to repulse the vile monster, knocking it back just before its glistening, immense claws could rake the ground. But with a furious cry, the beast dove towards her once more.
"Why won't you leave me alone?" she howled, and cast the Ra Tilt again and again, pushing the very limits of her abilities in her sheer fury. Gourry could only watch, frozen by his fear.
With each shot, the monster shrieked in pain, sustaining damage and growing ever more frantic. But still it kept coming. Time and time again, it attacked, only to be battered away with incredible force. Its steaming blood began spattering the ground as its gruesome scales wore down and its flesh tore away.
No creature, no matter how powerful, could hope to stand against Zelgadis's relentless onslaught. After minutes on end of this assault, the massive creature, grievously wounded, gave one final keening cry. As it hovered high above the jungle, in preparation for one final strike, its half-shredded wings gave way. It crashed to the ground, crushing innumerable trees beneath it.
The shock of landing was the final blow. Gourry felt the ground shudder through the soles of his boots. The monster, now damaged inside, choked on its own blood. Soon its thrashings ended; soon the light in its furious eyes was forever extinguished.
And the forests were still once more.
The threat eliminated, Zelgadis turned towards Rohandon, still full of anger. "A pretender?" she spat defiantly. "I wish!"
Lina stared, uncomprehending, at her friend. She... she... how did she....
Everyone's eyes were on Zelgadis. The violet-haired girl turned away abruptly, unable to bear the sight of everyone staring at her. With a moan, she suddenly collapsed to her knees, shaking intensely.
Amelia dashed towards her, all else forgotten. "Amethyst! Are you all right?" The princess of Saillune tended to her friend, who was worn out from shock and from spellcasting.
"That... that was a Wyrm," whispered black-haired Jay, looking stunned.
"She killed a Wyrm!" repeated Rohandon, his amazement plain to see. The woodsman took a good long look at the huge carcass that had flattened a large section of nearby forest, and announced brightly, "That's enough food for weeks!" That earned him a thwack on the head from his friend.
Lina, too, sank to the ground. The aftereffects of the Wyrm's unshakeable Fear spell were steadily wearing off, but her heart still pounded, and her legs still felt rubbery, unable to support her weight. I feel rotten... just like the last time I faced one of those monsters....
Gourry, over to the side, looked much as he always did: the big, dumb warrior, unfazed by anything. But his sword was lying on the ground in front of him, and he avoided looking anywhere near the monstrous carcass. Slowly, he bent to pick up his weapon, and returned to a necessary state of battle-readiness. Lina hoped that the memory of this encounter wouldn't affect him too badly. She knew she'd be having nightmares - even more so than usual - for the next little while.
"Killing a Wyrm...." Jay still seemed entranced. "Amazing. I've never heard of anyone who could do such a thing.... Well, once, about a year ago, but I thought it was just a tall tale...."
That was me, Lina almost said. Almost. But the memory of her last encounter with such a monster, so many months ago, loomed great and terrible in her mind; she couldn't force herself to speak.
Rohandon, at least, seemed to be pretty much recovered from the horrific experience. Say what you will about Therilonians, their resilience is legendary. He ran smudged fingers through his dark, almost burgundy-red hair, and gazed lovingly at the one who'd rescued them all. "Princess Amethyst...," he murmured happily, content to just stand there and observe her.
Princess Amethyst. I was skeptical at first, but now..., Lina thought, also watching her violet-haired friend, who was currently in the care of Amelia. There's almost no question about it. The only problem now is... How? Why? And what does Rezo have to do with it? For the first time, Lina felt as though the answers weren't worth the effort of finding them out.... No! I'm not a quitter. I have to go through with this. All the way. The sorceress felt thoroughly disgusted with herself. We'll find this Melody person, go off to the castle, and search for clues. All of that. Just as soon as I get up.... She tried to haul herself to a standing position, but only got a couple of inches off the ground before her legs gave out again. In just a few more minutes....
As she sat, her thoughts turned to Zelgadis's battle with the Wyrm. It was sickening. How could I just stand there? Me, Lina Inverse, the greatest sorceress of all time, just standing there watching someone else blast the danger to bits.... Her attempts at a spell had fizzled out the moment Zelgadis had jumped into the fray. Feeling frustrated, she sat back with a frown.
Well, there was reason for it all, I guess. I couldn't help remembering the last time I fought a Wyrm, when I almost died.... She had walked away from that particular fight with some knowledge that she'd thought would serve her well in future. Wyrms, she'd figured out, projected some kind of fear-enhancing spell, no doubt to paralyze their victims. She sighed. I thought I'd be able to handle that spell this time. But knowing that such a spell exists, and being able to deal with it, are two very different things, she realized. Hey, Zel must be immune to the Fear spell, just like she's immune to the dark atmosphere of Therilon.... That makes sense. I know if I wasn't crippled by fear, I'd have been able to take that monster out, just like she did.
But what doesn't make sense, is why that Wyrm was screaming for Amethyst.... She had heard a few things about the monsters on her earlier trip, and their legendary rage, according to all sources, was indiscriminate. Wyrms hated everything equally. Why would it seek out one person alone? What if it was.... She desperately didn't want to pursue this new and alarming train of thought, but had no choice. What if it was being controlled by someone; by the same person who's been sending monsters after Zel all this time? The very thought was enough to chill her. Who could control a Wyrm like that? How much sheer power would be needed to accomplish that? She was unable to stop herself from trembling once again.
There had been another thing that hadn't quite made sense, and, remembering it, Lina seized the opportunity to put her earlier musings out of her mind. Despite her overwhelming fear during the attack, the sorceress had noticed something a little strange about Zelgadis's magic. Nothing huge, just hints of something... different. A kind of shimmering, a fluttering sensation at the very edges of perception, underlaying her magic... I wonder what it means. It seemed vaguely familiar; she remembered something feeling a little odd, the other times Zelgadis had recently used magic. Was this... shimmering, or whatever, around then? She had a vague idea that it had been. Another mystery to be solved, oh joy....
Lina's empty stomach chose that inopportune moment to growl, letting out a loud rumble that echoed across the entire clearing.
Rohandon grinned hugely. "That sounded just like a trollish mating call! If Jay wasn't keeping the beasties away with that talent of his...."
Lina, mortified, would have pounded him, but she didn't feel quite ready to get up yet. I'll save it for later, she thought, fuming.
"Well, it's good to know I'm not the only one around here who's hungry," Rohandon said. He began to stride off eagerly towards the deceased Wyrm, taking out a hefty knife from some hitherto unknown pocket. "Anyone else for some lunch?"