'Dancer screamed in rage, as Li grabbed her and tried to restrain her until she calmed down. Zelgadis wanted to scream as well, to throw a Lina-like tantrum, to slap some sense into the frenzied latina, but just as quickly as that impulse came to him, he quashed it. Instead he glared silently at the struggling girl, noting the alien look in her eyes. 'Dancer shrieked furiously in a foreign tongue, then grabbed Li's restraining arms from her waist and threw the unfortunate blademaster into the far corner. Li hit the wall as Zelgadis grabbed her arm and hissed "Sleep!"
Overwhelmed by pain and magic 'Dancer dropped like a stone. Zelgadis gently lowered her to the floor, then looked over at Li.
"I'm okay." He winced, rubbing his shoulder as he stood. "What got into her?"
"Possession rage. Seeing Fledge being kidnapped must have triggered it." Zelgadis didn't see any reason to tell him that she had been screaming in an old spell casting language. Li walked over to 'Dancer and picked her up gingerly, then glanced at the chimera uncertainly.
"What do we do now?" Zelgadis picked up 'Dancer's things, then followed Li out into the hallway.
"Rest and heal. We can't do much else until 'Dancer wakes up."
WAKE UP! Li sat up with a start, Dimitri's voice making his head throb. Quickly he glanced around for danger, and not finding any, turned to his sword for an answer.
"Wha - ?"
She's gone you idiot!
"Who?"
'Dancer!
"Huh? But Zelgadis enspe - " His protest died as he noticed the couch she had been laying on was empty.
"H-how?"
Magic, how else? Wake up her stony friend, you've got to make up for lost time.
"How much time?" He asked, getting to his feet.
Close to four hours. Li swore under his breath, then stopped and gave his sword a funny look.
"Why are you so interested in helping her? You could care less about my friends."
Because she's the best lead we've had in years. Snapped Dimitri. Do you want to find the Wrent or not? Li didn't answer, shaking Zelgadis awake.
Zelgadis called 'Dancer all manner of foul names in his mind as he plodded through the thick mud. If he could track at his demon speed he would, for he found the blademaster's cheerful demeanor both annoying and distracting. As it was, he was tempted to do the blademaster bodily harm.
" - So I told him that he could quantum physics for all I cared and you're not paying an attention to anything I'm saying and I could probably insult your choice in clothing and you'd never even notice because you're not listening to me." Li finished in the same tone.
"Actually I am and if you choose to insult my fashion sense there's not much I can do to stop you." Zelgadis responded without so much as looking up from 'Dancer's tracks.
"You're no fun." Zelgadis scowled at that remark, as it reminded him too much of 'Dancer. Except 'Dancer would have know better than to antagonize him in his present state of mind. He turned over the events of the morning in his mind again, returning as always to the wild look on 'Dancer's face. Zelgadis smiled sourly to himself, standing and heading deeper into the underbrush. He hadn't expected 'Dancer to throw the spell so quickly, or (in an action more like something he would have done, he admitted privately) turned around and slapped her 'captors' with the same spell used on her.
"Turn about is fair play." Li said, almost causing Zelgadis to trip. He straightened up and stared at the blademaster.
"You couldn't possibly have - "
"No, but you've got that same pissed expression you had when you saw her weapons were gone. It doesn't take a master sage to guess who or what you're thinking about." Li gave the younger man a searching look. Zelgadis's opinion of the blademaster went up a few notches, although it didn't improve his temper any. He crossed his arms and scowled at the tanned man.
"Why are you even helping me?"
"I'm not." Li responded candidly. "I'm helping 'Dancer. Since you are headed in the same direction, it only makes sense to travel with you." Li didn't see any reason to bother him with his ulterior motives.
"Do you think she knows where she's going?" Li asked, changing the subject. Zelgadis nodded, then continued to follow 'Dancer's path.
"Her bracers will lead her directly to Fledge." He frowned as he pushed through some low growth vegetation. He hadn't mentioned it, but he was disturbed by what 'Dancer hadn't taken with her. Her art supplies and a change of clothes were left where he had place them on a stool beside the couch. For her not to take anything other than her swordbreakers and the clothes on her back was more than unlike her, simply it wasn't something she would do, unless - he pushed that thought away, almost stricken by that possibility.
Li meanwhile worried about another aspect. 'Dancer had left the torn and bloodied cardigan in a pile on the floor, along with cut off ends of bandages. If Zelgadis's spell had had enough time to run it's course, 'Dancer wouldn't have needed bandages. He had meant to mention it to Zelgadis, but the forbidding look on the spell caster's face had stopped him. He stared at Zelgadis's beige back and wondered about his relationship to 'Dancer. He certainly didn't seem overly fond of her, although he had been remarkable gentle when covering her with a blanket.
He probably didn't want to risk waking her. Dimitri said with a mental yawn. Li smiled down at his sword with evident relief. Dimitri had been awake the entire night following the attack, and had needed some rest.
Did you sleep well? Li thought to his metallic companion.
No worst than normal. Dimitri responded, and Li entertained the suspicion that the sword was stretching.
Where are we heading?
The middle of nowhere, by the looks of it. Can you sense anything out here?
There was a moment of relative quiet as Dimitri concentrated.
Nothing big, but - Li yelped as he was suddenly yanked off the ground by his feet. - you're walking through a patch of slither vine
"How about a little more warning?" Growled Li, reaching for his knife.
"How was I suppose to know they were dangerous?" Zelgadis's soft voice, not a scant meter from his ear, made Li jump. The blademaster twisted around to see Zelgadis floating next to him in a raywing bubble. He made a face and began cutting away at the thick vines twining around his legs.
"There are easier ways." Zelgadis remarked as Li grunted, falling into the bubble. The swordsman sat up and smiled.
"Perhaps, but they aren't as satisfying." Both Zelgadis and Dimitri sighed.
'Dancer groaned as she pulled herself up over the lip of the small gorge. While it would have been easier to walk along the path at the bottom of the mini canyon, she had a disquieting feeling about walking along the bottom of the washout. She grimaced as her shoulder twanged, not completely healed. Thoughts no longer darted through her mind, rather, a dull need pressed her onward, forcing her to attend a punishing pace she would never have put herself to. There had been a battle of wills in the beginning, but in the end she gave into the invading force, finding it easier to hide within her unconscious then face the conflicting desires tearing at her heart. She disappeared into the forests.
Both Zelgadis and Li were surprised to see a familiar figure so soon, but neither realized their mistake until Zelgadis strode up and grabbed her shoulder.
'Dancer picked him up and tossed him into the ravine. Li let out an oath, then hastily drew Dimitri as the doppelganger leapt down slope at him, a long sword sprouting from either hand. He was just barely parrying the creature's attacks when a bolt of yellow energy slammed into the creature from the side, vaporizing it. Li nodded his thanks to a dripping wet Zelgadis.
"They're expecting us." Zelgadis grit his teeth at Li's proclamation, wringing out his cloak.
"So it would seem." Both wondered how 'Dancer faired.
'Dancer yanked her sai out of the dying naga's neck, wiping the weapon clean on the monster's scaly skin. Her ribs ached from the serpent-beast's rock slide ambush, but she didn't dare rest, knowing that she was being sought. She moved down a game path.
Zelgadis found the dead naga stuffed in between two boulders, but it was Li who spotted drops of blood. Since the blood was red, and the naga oozed bluish ocher they had a pretty good idea's of who's it was. They started to follow when Zelgadis stopped suddenly and pointed. High above them, through the canopy Li could see the harpy flying leisurely. Quickly they hide themselves until the harpy passed by.
"What are our chances that what we're looking for is near by?" Li mused aloud.
"Good. Are you sure there isn't anything out here?"
Li shook his head. "Unless it was recently built by someone who didn't want guests." Zelgadis snorted.
"If I was kidnapping people I wouldn't either." Li considered that.
"Why do you think they took Fledge?" Zelgadis shrugged.
"Ransom perhaps. Especially if the Br'zax are as powerful as Ramius suspects."
"Do you think 'Dancer would attack someone powerful enough to capture a Br'zaxl?"
"Yes." Zelgadis muttered curtly, standing and hurrying down the path, the sky empty again. Li followed, but at a slightly more leisurely pace.
"I wonder," he murmured aloud.
Don't wonder, move. I can sense something big nearby. Dimitri announced.
How big?
BIG. Li clambered up a tree and peered between the leaves. His eyes widened appreciatively.
"What is it?" Zelgadis's soft voice was in his ear, but Li saw him standing below, and chalked it up to another spell.
"You're not going to believe this..."
'Dancer stood at the base of the crystal bridge, her senses telling her that danger lurked nearby, but so did the one she sought. Her empty gaze surveyed the crystalline tower before her, and the foreign intelligence searched her memories for something to compare the present structure against. The entire structure hummed with magic, and the conscience which was not 'Dancer considered her choices. A stone skipped behind her.
Her sais flashed as the stone hard hands gripped her wrists and slammed them together. Numb fingers dropped her weapons as Zelgadis twisted her around, crossing her arms in front of her as he pulled her back against his front. For anyone else this would be an ineffective hold, but Zelgadis compensated with his strength, and 'Dancer found herself struggling ineffectually against a steely vice of his grasp.
"She's not snapping out of it." Li stated, watching the squirming latina. Zelgadis muttered an oath under his breath, and reviewed the spells he knew which might end the possession. Li did likewise, but was interrupted by Dimitri.
Nothing you or the chimera casts will break the possession, it's an integral part of the spell which binds her to the boy.
Perplexed, Li stared at 'Dancer. What will end it then?
Having the boy returned to her, I assume. It might be possible for her to throw the possession, but you'd have to get her attention to begin with.
Do you think she can throw the spell?
She broke the chimera's sleep spell, didn't she?
Zelgadis apparently realized the same thing, for he was whispering softly into her ear.
"Snap out of it 'Dancer, I know you can. Break the enchantment." She responded by setting her feet into the ground and trying to throw him over her head. Zelgadis felt desperation gnaw at him. He needed 'Dancer's cooperation, but more importantly, he needed reassurance that she was still 'Dancer, and not some empty shell reanimated to serve as a bodyguard. His voice dropped to a lower pitch in his anxiety.
"'Dancer, answer me please. Please, for the love of life, 'Dancer answer me!" Zelgadis hunted through his mind for something, some small, seemingly insignificant detail that might reach her where everything had failed - "Stormborn, please come back to me."
'Dancer seized up, and Zelgadis nearly tipped over as she unbalanced him. Li didn't see any of it, his sword drawn and humming loudly as strange ursine creatures poured across the bejeweled expanse.
"Zelgadis, get her out of here!" He ordered, raising his sword so that it pointed at the oncoming monsters.
"And where would you have me go?" Zelgadis asked, eyeing the narrow pass which they had come through, as it suddenly filled with more of the same monsters. Above, screeching (what they assumed were profanities) down at them, was the harpy, now adorned in silver armor neither magic user suspected was purely ornamental.
"Fight or surrender?" Li asked, easing into a defensive stance. Zelgadis shifted 'Dancer to his left arm, considering. He and Li had a good chance against the bear creatures, despite the deadweight 'Dancer proved to be. However, surrendering might get them inside much quicker, although it a distinctive disadvantage. And there was 'Dancer. His eyes briefly flicked back to her face, her eyes staring emptily ahead. Hang in there.
"Fight."