Li gradually became aware of the face hovering over his. Blinking several times he slowly forced his blurry eyes to focus. 'Dancer watched him with concern, and pat his forehead with a damp rag. Li blinked again, then hoarsely asked,
"Am I dead, are you a goddess?" A quirky smiled touched her lips briefly.
"No, and I suspect death doesn't hurt this much." Li tried to sit up, and 'Dancer held him down.
"Sst, don't move, you took a rather hard knock to the head." Li made a face, and tried to sit up anyway.
"It's okay, my head is harder than a baker's heart-ooo... maybe I'll just lie here for a moment." 'Dancer didn't say anything, her eyes betraying worry. "Hand me my sword and I'll take care of it... what's wrong?" 'Dancer placed his sheathed sword in his outstretched hand.
"This room is magic dead." Li grabbed Dimitri's pommel reflexively as his mind shouted his sword's name. In that place where he was accustomed to feel Dimitri's presence all he sensed was emptiness.
"Wha', how - ?" 'Dancer pulled down one sleeve, reveling a bronze bracer.
"I can't sense Fledge either." Panic gripped Li's heart. Without his bondsword he was effectively crippled. 'Dancer must have seen his fear because she gently brushed a few strands out of his face and told him that she didn't think it was permanent. Because she seemed sincere, he allowed her to soothe him. She dabbed the side of his face with her cloth again and he titled his head to see what she was using for a cloth. It was the collar of her outer tunic, he realized, and it was wet with his blood.
"How bad is it?" 'Dancer pressed her lips together for a moment.
"The cuts are superficial, but I'm worried about concussion. Head wounds bleed a lot, even though they're not that bad." She added seeing his dubious look. "And try not to move, I don't know if there was any spinal damage."
"Is that bad?" 'Dancer gave him an incredulous look before she remembered where she was.
"It could be. So don't move your neck." She wiped her hands clean on the rag and rinsed with a little water from his canteen. She then looked at something just beyond his range of vision.
"I'm going to try to get us out of here. Don't move your head!" 'Dancer admonished, standing.
"Where are you going?" Li asked meekly.
"There's a door here, I'm going to see if I can't jimmy it open." She sighed. "My kingdom for my sais."
"You're a queen?"
"No, it's just a saying. Do you have a dagger or small knife?"
"Yeah, it's in my left boot..." He started to reach for it when she grabbed his wrist and gave him a admonishing look.
"Don't move. I'll get it." Her hand slipped under the soft rim of the boot, and Li entertained the fantasy that her hand was doing something other than seeking out his dagger. She pulled out the copper bladed knife, and held it up for inspection in the poorly lit room.
"It'll have to do."
"Okay, I'll just take a nap then."
"NO!" 'Dancer was practically on top of him, her sea grey eyes wide in alarm. "You mustn't sleep!"
"W-why, not?" Li blinked, surprised at her vehemence.
"Because you could go into a coma." Li blinked again, and decided whatever that was, it wasn't a healthy state to be in.
"Why did you cover me with your cloak then?" 'Dancer gave him an exasperated sigh.
"To keep you from going into shock. Don't you know anything about first aid?"
"Um... doesn't that mean the first spell caster to arrive at the scene of an accident is suppose to heal everyone hurt?" 'Dancer buried her face in her hand. Why do I even bother?
"Just lay still. And talk to me."
"About what?"
"Anything. Everything. Just don't fall asleep." She knelt down next to the door and began chipping away at the wood around the lock.
"Um, okay." Li tried to think about something interesting...
"Hey! You're awake. When did you snap out of it?"
"I assume you mean the enchantment that was controlling me? Right about the same time that Zel was handing me off to you." 'Dancer pried the blade a little deeper.
"Oh, so you missed most of the fight then."
"Yes."
"Want to know what happened?"
"Sure. But start at the part where you woke up. I don't know what happened to you after I left." 'Dancer worried the wood away at the top of the lock.
"You know that you cast sleep on us, right?"
"Yeah."
Li outlined his and Zelgadis's journey as 'Dancer painstakingly separated the metal from the wood. Li described several well-laid traps and the trickery of the doppleganger, clutching his useless sword as much from habit as for comfort. He described with surprising accuracy the battle that ensued after they had caught up with her, how single handedly Zelgadis took out the army of creatures which had snuck around from behind, with only on hand free, and when reinforcements continued to pour out of the front gate, his unhappy decision to split the group up.
"He didn't like sending you into uncertain danger, you know." Li casually remarked, straining to hear her response.
"That doesn't surprise me." 'Dancer remarked, digging the blade deeper into the dark wood of the door. "People don't normally enjoy entertaining the possibility of having to lose a sibling." She pulled at little too hard down on the blade and it snapped. "Shi - Li, keep talking to me." 'Dancer examined the broken knife with a critical eye.
"Zelgadis is your brother?" Li didn't disguise his surprise.
"In a manner. Remind me to buy you a new dagger when this is all over. And one made of steel at that."
"In what manner?" Li wanted to know, not about to be put off. 'Dancer grimaced, not liking to lie.
"Different fathers." And mothers...
"Oh. Sorry." Me too...
'Dancer turned back to the immediate problem of the lock, the knife still useful, if only half it's original size. Crouching back down she worked away the last strip of wood from the lock and pushed on the door.
Nothing happened. 'Dancer stared with growing despair at the door, then slammed her shoulder against the door. It held fast.
"Open damn it." She hissed, and threw herself at the door again. Again the same results. Biting back a sob she slid to the floor, her shoulder throbbing.
"I'm sorry Li." She whispered. The blademaster didn't respond and miserably she looked up.
"Li?" She painfully stood and walked over to him. "Li?"
His face was ashen, and his breathing shallow. 'Dancer felt the last of her courage desert her, the broken dagger dropping from her other hand. She wanted to sit down and cry out of sheer frustration. Zelgadis and Fledge were lost to her, with Li fast becoming so... she blinked back the tears that stung her eyes and looked back over at the door.
And blinked at second time. Then rubbed her eyes as if she couldn't believe what she saw.
"I'm such a moron."
Her one saving grace, she supposed, as she pulled open the door, was that Li hadn't seen her screw up.
'Dancer dragged Li out of the room by the tunic at the shoulders so as not to cause further spinal damage. Once she was far enough down the hall that she could feel her bracers kicking in she took his sword out of his vice-like grip. She spared a moment to marvel at the strength of his will even in his comatose state. She drew the blade and rested its tip on cobblestone floor in front of her, easing into a sitting position on the floor, feeling suddenly weary. She rested her forehead against the cross-piece of the hilt.
"Sword, help me."
Dimitri was roused from a slumber so deeply it could have been mistaken for death. He was annoyed by the feminine voice that called him back for the warm embrace of oblivion. Surely, after all this time, he surely deserved his rest after all these years. At least she could call him by his proper name...
'Dancer sensed something stir on the edge of her mind somewhere between the waking and dreaming realms. It was grumpy, as if it had just woken from a too short nap, and regarded 'Dancer with ill concealed irritation.
"Please Sword, Li's dying." It seemed unreal to her to be saying that, even as his breathing slowed. Dimitri woke up in a hurry, feeling Li's life force ebbing like the evening tide.
"Please, he needs a healing spell and I don't know Recovery." How she regretted not demanding that Zelgadis teach her that spell first! Self-disappointment mixed with surreal grief as a tear escaped. Words formed in her mind.
"From within/the power which hides/clean the wound/bind the hurt/heal the pride," She took a deep breath. "Regeneration." Something tugged at her, flowed out of her, raw and torrential into the blade. Dimitri glowed softly, pale green light which infused both Li and 'Dancer with warmth. The dull aches which pricked at her, the damaged ribs, the bleeding shoulder, vanished, and the absence of pain hit her like a wave of cold water. 'Dancer jerked, sitting up straight, then relaxed. I mustn't sleep... And told herself she wouldn't, even as she lowered her head to Li's chest, need to check his pulse... and sleep.
Li came around slowly, acutely aware of 'Dancer leaning against him, pinning his right arm under her, which was something he rapidly came to regret, when he noticed that they were surrounded by many feet. As he moved to protest something caught him in the back of his head and the world went black.
Li woke up in a stuffy, softly lit room. Something cold and wet lay on his neck were the worst of the throbbing radiated from, and despite knowing he would only make it worst, Li looked up from the straw pallet he laid on.
"Welcome back to the land of the living." A tired voice greeted him. Li blinked, then recognized the speaker.
"Ramius! Wha - where are we?" He sat up and looked around. "Where's 'Dancer?" The room was filled with curiously garbed people. It took Li a moment before he recognized them as magic-users."
"She wasn't brought in with you." Ramius said, carefully keeping his voice neutral. It must have worked because Li turned his attention instead to the other inmates. "Um, why are all these sorcerers here?"
"We're here to be used in some ritual to take place during the dark moon." Rasped one mage, almost completely hidden away in a dimmed corner. Li turned back to Ramius.
"Is this true?" Ramius held his shackled hands up helplessly. "It may be his insanity talking, but he's the only one who seems to know anything about this place. The guards are certainly no help." He nodded in the direction of the crystal statues standing on either side of the doorway.
"Is that why you haven't left?" Li asked, picking up the fallen compress and holding it against his aching head. Ramius shook his head.
"For the same reason I didn't heal you. I can't. These shackles absorb any magical energies I summon - what are you looking at?" At the mention of magic Li remembered Dimitri and stared down at his empty belt.
"Dimitri." He answered in a hushed tone. "I had him before I was captured..." Ramius gave his childhood friend a sympathizing look.
"He'll show up."
'Dancer was roughly set on her feet, her hands bound tightly behind her, Li's sword, sheathed, hanging from her side. She swallowed a cry as the forcefulness of the guards sent a painful jolt through her.
'Dancer, snap out of it! 'Dancer stiffened as a voice screamed in her head. Li? She asked fuzzily. How did you get into my head?
I'm not Li and if you don't throw off the enchantment on you, you won't live to know who I am.
'Dancer swayed, barely aware of the waiting soldiers flanking her. She tried to clear her mind, and chose to focus on the voice to do so. What would have Li's voice that wasn't Li...? Realization dawned on her and cleared the fog from her head. You're Li's sword. How is it that you're able to talk to me? Her senses sharpened even as she asked, although approaching footfalls caused her to miss Dimitri's answer.
"What have we here?" Something grabbed her by the front of her tunic and lifted her off the floor. 'Dancer was forced to look into pupiless yellow eyes, golden pools of pure malice. Evil. She realized. Pure, unadulterated evil. She shuddered inadvertently, and dropped her gaze. Dimitri screamed at her to do anything, just get away from the Mazoku. 'Dancer furrowed her brow, not understanding the blade's hysteria.
"Mazoku?" She asked in a bare whisper, not even realizing that she had spoken aloud until she heard her voice. The creature smiled nastily, exposing cruel fangs.
"Yes little slayer, I am that." Almost gently she was put back down, and confused, 'Dancer took a step back, backing into the guards behind her. The creature laughed mockingly, giving 'Dancer her first really good look at it. It was tall, nearly three meters in height, with alabaster skin, curiously patterned like scales or feathers. A mane of tarnished silver tumbled down it's neck and flowed liquid like along it's shoulders. Her head began to ache from looking at it too long. 'Dancer stared at the grotesquely proportioned parody of a human, and felt, remarkably, only curiosity.
Sword, what exactly is a Mazoku? She asked, silencing the hysterical voice in her head.
You don't even know what a Mazoku is? We're doomed. Dimitri wailed. The creature studied the silent human standing before him.
"Why aren't you prostrating before me, begging for your life?" He asked softly, like a predator stalking his prey. "Don't you fear me? Aren't you afraid of what I can do to you?"
"Only when I look you in the eyes." 'Dancer answered truthfully, and wondered what possessed her to speak so. Dimitri wondered also, and demanded that she run for her life while she still owned it.
And exactly where would I go? She demanded archly of the sword, noting that she was completely surrounded by bestial soldiers. That silenced the sword. The Mazoku was silent for a moment more, then bade the guards to leave. He circled her once, walking with serpentine grace, pausing when he saw the blade hanging from her belt.
"Not just any slayer, are you?" He mused, then thrust his face close to hers. 'Dancer stood her ground, but refused to meet his gaze, staring instead at a point beyond him. There was something dangerous about his stare that unsettled her, leaving her exposed in ways she did not understand, nor could defend against. It earned her a dry chuckle.
"Yes, I shall enjoy supping on your soul..."