"Sylphiel."
"Yes, Zelgadiss-san?"
"Why are you coming along?"
"Someone has to watch over Lin while you're working with Lina-san and Gourry-sama."
"I know that." Zelgadiss tried to push away his discomfort at being in another carnival. Or maybe that was the remaining disagreements between his stomach and some of those jam tarts Lin made this morning. "But...I don't like this."
The 'this' Zelgadiss was referring to was the four of them being at the carnival together. Sylphiel, Lin, Furball, and himself. It looked like some kind of happy family and those were comments of that thread that his sharp hearing picked up from the other funseekers. To say Zelgadiss was uncomfortable with that idea was an understatement.
"Nii-chan! Do that! Do that!" Lin hopped up and down excitedly, dragging Zel to a booth around which were a crowd of similarly eager children. The sign above it had 'Collar the Beast' written in bright letters between the toothy jaws of a dragon.
"Come on, pleeeeeeeeaaaase!"
Zel rolled his eyes, berated himself for letting Lin have his way again, and studied the game. For a copper, you could get three rings. Several rows of monster statues stood at the back of the booth and the aim was to collar a statue with a ring. Simple enough. Of course, that was the idea. If it looked impossible or at least difficult, no one would play.
"Come up, come up, and try to collar the beast!" called the boothman. "See if the Goddess of Luck is smiling on you today!"
"What do you want, Lin?"
"The box of candy!"
Zel sweatdropped. Lin had a huge sweet tooth. Well, if it would keep the little boy quiet for an hour or two, it would be a bargain. He placed four coppers down on the counter.
"So sir, going to win a prize for your son?" grinned the boothman, handing Zel the twelve rings.
"He isn't my son," Zel replied shortly, tossing three rings and collaring three statues.
"Uh, little brother then?"
"No." Another three rings, another three statues.
"Whoa, luck is on your side today," laughed the boothman, secretly hitting a button to tilt the board under the statues a bit.
Zelgadiss noticed the slight shift but he could adjust for it. To tease the con man a bit, he purposely missed two of the next three throws. Knowing his smile was hidden behind his mask, Zelgadiss collared three more statues with his last set of rings.
"Congratulations, you've collared ten beasts! What will be your prize?"
"The box of imported candy," Zel pointed out from the assortment of prizes for ten catches. The con man's smile was on the point of breaking, something only another person experienced in tricking people could pick out. And Zel had some experience that from his shadowy past. Taking the box, Zel handed it to Lin who immediately popped it open and began to eat. Zel figured the carnival people would be watching him a bit more closely to make sure they either didn't lose more money by him or that they could make some money by pickpocketing him.
"Wasn't that nice of Zelgadiss-san?" Sylphiel asked Lin who nodded while happily stuffing his mouth.
"I'm not here for fun and games. You promised that if you came, you wouldn't bother me, remember Lin?"
"Hai," Lin replied with a sticky mouth in a voice that everyone uses to just agree and end the conversation.
Shaking his head, Zel walked further into the carnival with Lin holding on to his cloak and Furball running in circles around them, yipping excitedly. Sylphiel followed with an amused smile. The carnival had only arrived several days ago at the insistence of its owner who was a very religious man. Once at Neo Sairaag, the boomtown welcomed the entertainment with open arms.
There were more than just games of chance where only enough people won to make it seem worthwhile to play the game. There were the traditional attractions like a funhouse and the merry-go-round plus some other things like what appeared to be a water ride that Zelgadiss didn't quite see as being either portable or easily constructed or managed. For example, where did they get all of that running water? There were only two really short and stout men running it.
"Wai, Nii-chan! Look at that!!" Lin squealed, pointing up into the sky.
Zel figured it must have been some kind of bird or odd-shaped cloud. But when he looked up, he had to clamp his mouth shut to keep it from dropping. Flying above the fairgrounds was some kind of sleek wooden ship with a triangular sail. He could make out that there were people on it waving down and shouting something.
"Can I ride on that?" Lin pleaded.
"Where did that come from?" Zel muttered. "And how did they get something that big to fly? Even using some customized Air spell, it must take at least a Master to maintain it for any period of time."
"I must admit I've never seen a carnival like this one." Sylphiel held back some of her flying hair with one hand. "They have so many things that are magical, even to a magic-user like myself." Turning her head as if to avoid the wind, she whispered to Zelgadiss in a lower voice. "They don't allow any mages, and there are many of them here, to cast spells or look into the workings of anything."
"That's a little suspicious in itself." Zelgadiss folded his arms and watched that airship glide overhead and toward the city. "They must be making a fortune among the religiously devout who want a close glimpse at the tree."
"You can see why the Baron might be more suspicious of this carnival even without the kidnapping. I'm not sure exactly where Lina-san and Gourry-sama are but..."
"They're likely to be feeding their faces with cotton candy," Zel finished, looking back to ground level. There were a lot of people and that always made him uncomfortable. Despite the large rides reaching into the sky, the Big Top tent stood prominently in the center of the lively, noisy crowd with its bright red flags flapping in the wind.
Abruptly, Zel looked to the left. There was a distinct feeling that someone was watching him. But with so many people going to and fro, he couldn't see who it might be. It wasn't a hostile feeling, just curious. And faintly familiar.
"Is that the one you mentioned?" asked the veiled young lady, partially hidden by the gaily decorated booths.
The boothman running the Collar the Beast game nodded. "I swear he's a con man too. Didn't blink an eye when I tipped the board, he just played with me. And the way he covers up like that? He's a Baron man for sure!"
"Hmmmm. Currently the other two are separated but if he's working for the Baron, he'll find them. Get back to your work. I'll have my friends keep on eye on them and if necessary, herd them to my tent for some 'discussion'." After one last look at the hooded person with a dark blue cloak, the veiled young lady left, moving quietly despite the many bangles and bells of her costume.
"Keep an eye on them. I want to know what they're looking for," she spoke quietly into the air. "You. Find out some more about the cloaked one. He seems familiar."
The boothman shook his head at her one-sided conversations. Whether or not she was really talking with spirits or just plain crazy, she always got her job done.
"Ara? Those people look familiar. Hmmmm. That's it! Oi! Sylphiel! Zel!"
Zelgadiss and Sylphiel turned at hearing their names called. They were greeted by a huge bear.
"What the?!"
"A bear??"
"Wai! What a big teddy bear!" Lin jumped up and down clapping.
"Didn't expect to see you to here." The teddy bear managed to look sheepish.
"A talking teddy bear??"
Lin bent down to see a pair of black boots behind the bear. "There's someone else behind it."
The bear abruptly lifted to reveal Gourry holding the big toy over his head. "Hey there! Who's the kid?"
"Gourry-sama, where did you get that?"
The beige furry teddy bear with a large red ribbon around its neck was at least as big as Lina when put on the ground. On the ribbon was written in gold letters 'Strongest Man in the World'.
"There was a game where you hit a see-saw with a hammer and win a prize. I hit the bell and they gave me this," Gourry smiled, leaning on the bear's head. "Haven't seen you in awhile, Zelgadiss. Where have you been?"
The two adults sweatdropped.
"Do you remember a crazy elf who wanted to create a goddess?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember what happened after we got the baby from him?"
"We all rode off on that big yellow dragon. Oh, that's right. You weren't on it. So how did you get out?"
Zel wished he knew. "We'll talk about it later. Where's Lina?"
"Lina? Hmmmm, I could have sworn she was with me a minute ago..."
Knowing Gourry, 'a minute' could be used for a space of time up to several hours, or in extreme cases, days. And if Lina had told Gourry to wait for her somewhere, he probably had forgotten. The carnival wasn't sprawling but searching for Lina in the middle of a string of missing people cases in a highly suspect place was sure to draw attention.
"Nii-chan! That flying ship is coming back! Can we go on it?"
"You have a younger brother Zel?" Gourry kneeled down and looked eye-to-eye with Lin. "You two really don't look alike."
"He just calls me that. I'm only watching over for him for a while." Zelgadiss did want a closer look at that odd ship but this wasn't the time to indulge idle curiosity. The carnival was making him nervous and he wanted to leave as soon as they found Lina.
"Flying ship? Ah, flying ship!" Gourry hit his fist in his hand as he figured something out.
"What is it, Gourry-sama?"
"Lina said something about a flying ship and how there shouldn't be one or something. She was also complaining about the price to ride."
"I suppose the price for a ride was the reason she left you groundside?" Zelgadiss shrugged. "It's as good of a place as any to start looking for her."
"Say hello to the tall man with the teddy bear, Furball," Lin coaxed the wolf pup in his arms.
"That's a cute name for a puppy." Gourry scratched behind the furry gray ears of the pup. "Is he yours or Zel's?"
"Zelgadiss-san is a very nice person isn't he? Lin," Sylphiel asked, leaning over the two.
There was a nice happy atmosphere around the three smiling people. Which only made Zelgadiss, who had been walking away to the landing mat of the airship, shake his head and sigh. Happiness was such a fragile thing and everything about the carnival reminded him of that. He couldn't wait to get out of here.
"I never thought Zelgadiss would be settling down this soon," Gourry joked.
"He has a little family right here," Sylphiel agreed. "I wonder if this will get in the way of finding a girlfriend."
"We aren't here for a discussion on my social life!" Zel whipped around to snap at them. "Now let's go find Lina and - "
Someone bumped into Zel's back.
"Itaai. Ceiphied's scales, what are you made of? Stone?" grumbled a girl rubbing her head. "What's with people, just standing in the middle of the road."
"Lina?"
"Oi, Lina!" Gourry waved. "Zel was just looking for you!"
Lina blinked and looked up. She was quite sure she walked into someone wearing a dark blue cloak, not a beige. Then she yanked off the hood, not to help her see better but because she always found it annoying.
"Zel?! Where the hell have you been?!" That last part was yelled into Zel's ear after he was grabbed in one of Lina's headlocks. "And I told you not to pull that noble sacrifice crap!!"
"If you don't stop that, you'll hurt Nii-chan!" Lin protested, trying to pull off Lina's arm. Furball was also making an effort to help by futilely biting onto Lina's cape.
"Nii-chan?" Lina, not letting go, looked down at the little boy. "Who's this kid?"
"Either Zel's little brother or his son," Gourry suggested helpfully, rather enjoying watching someone else bear the brunt of Lina's displeasure.
"SON?!?" Lina squeezed extra hard in surprise.
Zel choked.
"Ah, gomen." She dropped him.
"Was that special treatment because I'm a freak or do you treat everyone that way?" Zel scowled.
"Nii-chan, are you alright?" Lin and Furball looked up at Zel with big watery eyes. Before Zel could answer, they both bowled him over, crying and whining out their worries.
Lina looked from them over to Gourry and Sylphiel and back. "Would someone explain just what is going on here?"
Over dinner at Sylphiel's temporary home, which had a few less prying eyes than the carnival, Zel went over again how he acquired a young boy and a wolf pup. And after all of that, Lina's only final comment was...
"I see you're finally wearing something else other than a burlap sack! What did it take? A new fortune from some rich, never-heard-of uncle? Or perhaps a girlfriend?"
Zel raised an eyebrow and looked briefly at Lin.
"I see," Lina chuckled. "Of everyone, I thought it would be Sylphiel or Amelia to settle down with a family first."
"I am NOT settled down."
"Sure, whatever you say," snorted the sorceress as Zel ordered Lin to not lick his fingers. From what Zel said, Lin had been with him for nearly two weeks and she could tell that Zel was opening up and not as focused as before. She picked up a jam tart from an untouched plate on the table. "Anyway, so somehow you survived and because of that, you're worried that Loht might be as well."
"Exactly," Zel nodded, returning to the conversation. He recognized the tart Lina was about to eat. "I wouldn't - "
Too late. Lina had chewed and swallowed it.
"Hey, that looks good." Gourry also took one and ate it whole.
Zelgadiss just sighed and watched the events unfold.
"Those were my tarts," Lin announced. "How are they?"
Lina and Gourry were speechless. They were too busy dying over the horrible cooking. It looked okay on the outside but inside... Zel wondered if Lin's mother ever tried her son's cooking. After some recovery time which included Lina and Gourry swearing off food all together, a vow Zel knew they would never keep, the conversation returned to Loht.
"Loht may have been able to deal a lot of damage to Xelloss..."
"And Vice," Zel reminded.
"And Mr. Vampire with an attitude," Lina added, rolling her eyes. "But he's still an elf and therefore mortal and not some thick-skulled, stone-skinned, self-centered, stubborn chimera with an obsessive streak. Taking the unlikely scenario that you were thrown up into the air when the tree suddenly grew, you might have survived the impact of landing. I don't think Loht would. Besides which, he also had your sword impaled in his stomach."
"I believe Myria mentioned that Loht had died before and Milgazia confirmed it. Whose to say that he was really alive when we met him?" Zel countered.
"He certainly wasn't any undead that I've ever heard of," Lina retorted. "Besides, undead elves tend to go really off the edge and that isn't something I want to deal with."
"Creating a goddess to rule over human and demihuman races isn't what you consider going over the edge?"
"Elves revere life. Undead ones hate it with such a passion that their presence alone will kill the land. I didn't see that happening in those few occasions we did see Loht."
"You only saw him once and that was on the platform above the ruins of Sairaag."
"Well, you saw him twice, once at the platform and once before that. Tell me, did you see the land literally dying because of his presence?" Lina challenged.
"No, I didn't but I don't see why you're suddenly the expert on undead elves," Zel retorted coldly.
"Lina-san seems to be more lively with Zelgadiss-san."
"Probably because she has someone to argue with now," Gourry shrugged, digging into a pie Sylphiel just brought out.
"They do get along well don't they."
Gourry nodded.
Lin, who was following Zel and Lina's discussion like a tennis match, looked quite confused. He pulled on Zel's sleeve. "Why are you arguing with the older lady?"
If Lin wasn't such a cute little boy than any other female would have exploded at being called 'older lady'. Of course, Lin was a cute little boy but unfortunately, Lina wasn't 'any other female'.
"What did you call me??" Lina slammed her hands on the table, looming over the brat that dared to call her...to call her a...
"Hey, hey. Calm down Lina," Gourry pleaded, holding back his longtime adventuring partner. "He's only a kid."
"A kid with a really big mouth," Lina retorted, straining to grab Lin. "I'll show him an 'older lady'!"
"Aren't you overreacting just a tad?" Zel asked calmly, sitting back with his arms crossed.
"Overreacting? A tad?? Are you saying you agree with him, Zel!!" Lina grabbed the offender by the collar since he was closer than his ward and shook him. "Huh? Answer me! Do you think I'm some 'older lady'??"
"I'm saying you're overreacting over an innocent remark. He's a kid. Everyone is older than him," Zel answered without really answering Lina's direct question. "Besides, we were discussing more important things than other people's impressions of you which is something I thought you probably didn't care about."
"Excuse me, Mr. Insensitive," Lina hissed. She shrugged Gourry off and sat back down in a huff. "Fine. We're back on topic. Happy?"
"Ecstatic," Zel replied, sounding the exact opposite. "We were on the point of verifying your claims about undead elves."
"Oh yes. You don't think I know my stuff on elves?"
"What you're referring to isn't anything I've ever heard."
"There are probably a lot of things you haven't heard," Lina retorted. "It doesn't make them automatically false."
"It doesn't make them automatically true either."
"Excuse me," Gourry called a time-out. "But what are we talking about again?"
"About Loht of course!" Lina snapped.
"I see his point. We were going off on a tangent. It doesn't matter what Loht was except that he was dead and then he was resurrected as either alive or undead," Zel held up his hand to cut off Lina's explanation about why Loht couldn't be undead. "The important point is that someone brought him back and exacted a price that Loht willingly paid. A thousand souls was something someone was interested in."
"A thousand souls?? When did you learn that?"
"Don't you remember? Loht told Myria who in turn told me and...humph, I guess I didn't tell everyone that part."
"I can't believe you left that out!"
"Why? Do you know something?"
"No, but it certainly cuts down the suspects. Whoever brought Loht back must have known what he was doing. So either he supported Loht or he was using Loht as a distraction."
"Probably," Zelgadiss agreed. "But who would be powerful enough? Myria already said that the Mazoku weren't involved. We should probably warn her as well about Loht. If he's alive, he'll come after the baby."
"She may already know," Lina muttered, wondering exactly what powers being a Magi entailed. Well, she'd have to ask next time she happened by Zefilia. Hah. Not as long as Nee-chan was there. "Anyway, with all said and done, we really don't know if Loht is alive and planning horrible vengeance and as he isn't making my life miserable right now, I say worrying is a moot point. I have more important things to think about."
"Like the missing persons investigation."
"Ara, you know about that? Sylphiel probably told you didn't she. And now you've come to humbly ask to get a cut in on the action?" Lina asked archly.
"I thought it might be an interesting way to spend my time here," he shrugged uncommittedly, not rising to her barb. "Besides, it wouldn't do for this new town to get destroyed by a Dragu Slave so soon."
"Hey, I wouldn't - "
"That Baron must have been desperate to need to turn to you. Doesn't he know that you're likely to roast the people you're supposed to save?"
"Zelgadiss," Lina growled, looking more like a flaming demon than a human.
"I heard from Sylphiel that you were investigating the carnival." Zel kept the conversation going his way, locking eyes with Lina in a staring contest that he always won. "It looked more like you were enjoying the carnival."
"I have a special way of investigating," Lina defended sullenly, studying the interesting way melted wax drips down a candle.
"Didn't it occur to you to find what the disappearances had in common before the carnival arrived?"
"Already did, smarty-pants. There isn't much though and we've been here the entire time," Lina snapped.
"Maybe it has something to do with the tree?" Gourry suggested.
"We are NOT getting into a discussion about the tree! I've had it up to here with those priests and priestesses gushing their religious nonsense! Er, no offense, Sylphiel."
Sylphiel waved away the apology. "But Gourry-sama does have a point. The disappearances have been happening ever since the town was built. Though that could only be because there are many people here now."
"It could be some sicko who moved in with the rest of the loonies," Lina dismissed. "But there is no pattern in the people kidnapped, not in age, appearance, occupation, anything. Most people were taken at night by best guess but that's only because the disappearances weren't noticed until the next day. And of course, there are no witnesses." Lina mimicked Zel's crossed arm, serious pose. "So, any bits of insight to bestow?"
"Depends on how much of a split I get?"
Lina stared at him.
"You didn't expect me to help for free did you." Zel's voice implied he did believe Lina expected that. Lina tried to look hurt.
"Just a little help for old time's sake?"
Zel looked at her.
"Because we're friends?"
"Lin, I think it's time for you to go to sleep," Zel addressed the drowsy boy who was laying on the floor with Furball as a reluctant pillow.
"Um, because I have a way to undo your chimera-ism?"
"You have no such thing."
"Damn." Lina grumbled. "Let's say I do agree to a split. Even. A third each."
"A third?" Zel raised an eyebrow. "Hmmmm. How about 25, 25, 50? The majority being mine of course. That sounds fair enough."
"50 percent?" Lina choked. "Hey, you're signing on late. What makes you think you can get the biggest cut!"
"Perhaps because this isn't a case where your normal blow'em-up-we're-done routine will solve anything. It takes some careful investigation and a calm, logical mind. Obviously, I'm more suited to the task than you."
"I am calm!" Lina yelled.
"Thank you for proving my point."
"I am NOT giving you the larger cut! I'll solve this case on my own!" Lina stormed upstairs swearing in such language that Zel was glad Lin was already sleeping deeply.
Lina knew Zel could be completely insensitive to other people's feelings or tempted by tendencies to live up to the name of 'demonic magic-using swordsman'. Those she could forgive. Trying to get some of her hard-earned money, ignoring the fact that it wasn't hers yet nor hard-earned, and that he was aiming for the majority of it was too far.
"Says I can't solve this," Lina muttered under her breath, crossing the sleeping city in the wake of the patrols. Those streetlamps were handy for seeing the occasional ditches or drops in the rough streets but they made sneaking all that much harder. Because she didn't want to get tagged as one of the zealous mages set on making Neo Sairaag a City of Magic once more, she had to dress down.
Hauling out her older adventuring clothes from a time where she wasn't as obsessed with being known as genius sorceress extraordinaire had brought back both fond and not-so-fond memories. Though her black cape would have been good for covering herself, she left it behind. Hopefully, just wearing a high collar shirt and pants with a short sword would convince people in the dark that she was just a swordling tavern-hopping.
Lina reached the outskirts of the built town after which the carnival began. At this late hour of course, everyone should be asleep. She could see reasonably well, thanks to that new holy tree. In truth, Lina thought the glowing was rather creepy, as if there was someone watching you. And if someone wanted to, they could do it very easily. With a grimace, Lina stuck as close to the shadows as she could, staying alert for alarms, magical or otherwise. It only made sense with those two wonders the carnival had: the airship and that water ride. Lina knew those two were magical in nature, but that kind of magic and its use had been lost for ages according to her magic teacher. Why it suddenly reappeared here in a carnival at Neo Sairaag she couldn't guess. Oh, and the disappearances were convenient as well.
Lina didn't really believe that the carnival was directly responsible but the noise and confusion were good cover for this mysterious kidnapper. This whole case had her pulling her hair in frustration. Like she told Zel, the criminal was not leaving a path of any sort to follow. No patterns, no follow-ups, no apparent motives. Gourry was little help, he tended to become even more brain-muddled whenever she tried to think out loud around him. Sometimes she wondered if Gourry was only pretending to be as simple as he appeared but after traveling with him for several years, she didn't care. Zel's arrival had almost been a godsend, until the talk of the split in commission came up.
"See if I ever help you again," Lina snorted softly, looking back in the general direction of Sylphiel's home. She blinked. Had she just seen a shadow move? Nah, it was probably just a trick of the light. Turning back around, she barely saw the dark figure appearing there before something slammed hard into the side of her head.
BOINK!