"At least that makes this somewhat easier," Lina muttered. "Okay, you," she pointed at Xalan. "Go with them to Sailoon.."
"Huh? You want me to..." he saw the look on her face. Lina had never hit her kids, but she could, at times, develope some nasty punishments. "Fine."
"And these guys," she gestured at the guardsmen. "Will escort your friends to the nearest Sailoon magistrate."
"You expect us to leave the princess unguarded in the hands of these...strangers."
"They're not strangers!" Amethyst protested. "That's my par...my mother's friend, and I know my she would never have trusted anybody that would betray her or her daughter."
"I'm not comfortable with this, your father gave specific commands...."
"Listen you!" Lina snapped striding forward and leaning up on her feet to poke her finger at the outspoken guardsman. "You're supposed to protect Amethyst, right?"
"The PRINCESS Amethyst yes..."
"So you want them," she jabbed a clawed finger at the unconscious assassins. "Travelling anywhere NEAR her? I sure don't want them travelling around MY son." Xalan thought about protesting the implication this had for his abilities, but decided against it.
"I see your point," he admitted.
"Good, because I was about to hurt you."
"errr." He sweat dropped.
"Couldn't Filia get us there faster?" Xalan asked.
"Me and Filia are going to have a talk about that son of hers," Lina grumbled. "Then we're going to wait in case Xina and Val show up back here." Something glittered behind Lina's eyes, and suddenly Xalan felt very sorry for his sister.
"So you just want us to turn around and leave again?" Amethyst sounded dismayed.
"Xina is flying dragon back, and you...should talk to your father." Amethyst nodded quietly. "Okay now that's decided I guess we should...hey!!!" they had turned around to find the deer that Xalan had carried to the camp was gone. Jolrael licked the remainder of the juices off his lips and sighed contentedly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want some?" he asked politely.
"Wow, his appetite matches yours and Xina's," Xalan said, impressed. His mother fumed and gnashed her fangs for a few moments before opening her mouth, her ears laid totally back.
"You you you...GABRIEV!!!"
"What?"
It was almost three days, or nights rather, that Val touched down beyond the reach of the city's line of site. Xina slid down his side and landed lightly on the ground. She raced quietly to the edge of the small rise and looked down on Sailoon, marvelling at the size of the city, even shrouded by darkness.
"I could go with you if you hadn't 'lost' my clothes yesterday," Val complained.
"I said I was sorry," she returned cheerfully. "I fell asleep, okay."
"Right, just....go see the tomb and get back here," he admonished. "We're in plenty of trouble as it is."
"Oh, don't be such a wimp, they'll never know I was here, and I can deal with mom."
"You don't get both of them jumping on you," the dragon muttered quietly. Which was amazing considering his bulk. Xina stuck her tongue out at him and giggled, obviously not concerned with the parental consequences.
"I'll be right back," she started running toward town. She ran at a blur, slowing down only as she came to more populated areas and had to start slipping from shadow to shadow in order to remain unseen. This was easy if annoying, and it still left finding the Tomb.
Xina knew from the few times she had convinced her mom to talk about her dad's death that Tomb of Heros was past some huge building called a cathedral. Still, she had been raised in a cave. I well-furnished, rather large cave, but a cave nonetheless. Most of the buildings toward the center of the town looked huge to her. They were like man-made hills, and she made use of their heights to further improve her efforts at stealth.
It didn't take her long to find the palace, it was the biggest building of all. A mountain of metal, wood and brick with a host of soldiers patrolling the walls. Even in the dark it was impressive, and Xina stood a moment before its walls, staring in awe. As her mind began to clear the kage-kitsune felt a tug in her mind. Suddenly she was certain of where she was going, and she began to quietly scale the wall.
The guards were good, if you were expecting an army to be approaching, but they didn't seem to be paying much attention to the walls right in front of their posts. At least they weren't paying attention as she considered it. There weren't many deep shadows along the wall, but still they didn't notice her, Xalan and mom would have picked her up minutes ago.
Xina overtopped the wall and leaped down off of it before the two guards could turn to face where she crossed. Lina's daughter landed quietly on the ground beneath the high wall, and backed into the wall's shadow becoming undetectable. Then she just followed that tug in her mind.
Xina slipped from shadow to shadow, staring up in wonder at the high ceilings of the Tomb's cathedral. This is where her father's funeral had been held. Her mom had told her that she and Xalan had been there, but she couldn't remember anything about it, unless that was what had led her here. Some vague half-formed memory of the days immediately after her birth. Some instinct telling her that this is where her father was, she didn't care.
She noted, irritably, the sound of her foot falls echoing lightly through the still dark halls as she passed the great cathedral. The Tombs' ceiling was much lower though that was still higher than her home, and the echoes still carried further than she expected or liked. What really shocked her were the rows upon rows of tombs, and now, in the edifice itself, that tug on her mind had vanished.
Xina was growing dismayed until she saw it, nestled near the royal tombs. A sheet of solid, gleaming black among all the white. The discovery of what had to be her father's tomb made her freeze in place for a moment. As she stopped moving, Xina almost thought she heard an off pace echo somewhere else in the Tombs, but she dismissed it. She was at the grave marker in an instant and reaching out...
Don't touch!
She jerked her hand back and looked about nervously. There was no one, she couldn't even smell anybody. Though the stale air wouldn't carry a scent far anyway. After a moment she reached out again.
Don't touch it!
"But this is my father's tomb," she protested, feeling silly about it. She reached outward again.
Don't touch it, child!
"Be quiet!" she snapped, getting gritting her teeth in a stubborn grimace. "This is what I came here for!" she brushed her fingers against the black stone reverentially, if irritably.
There was a flash of blue light as one of the priest's wards was triggered. A wave electricity reached out and surrounded her. Xina swallowed and closed her eyes, waiting for the shock to come. It didn't, the energy gathered in the armor she was wearing and dissipated harmlessly into a light show.
"Is that all you were warning me about?" she laughed at the unnamed voice. "That wasn't any..." she leaned against the stone, and barely caught the sudden glow from the numerous wards she had just triggered. Her eyes widened just before she was thrown back against a wall by a blast of mixed fire, force and assorted magics. She noticed a shadowy figure near the entrance before she full back unconscious.
Zangulus saw the girl fly back away from the warded tomb and frowned. The priests would be alerted now, as would Zelgadis. He didn't have much time, he drew out the black blade and slashed through the dark stone, bracing himself for a magical discharge. Apparently the girl had triggered them all onto herself, and he did not know about the power that had repelled Martina before. As such he could not wonder at its lack now.
The bounty hunter looked in past the shattered stone and saw the mazoku's corpse, well skeleton. The black blade crackled as it passed near the dried bones of Xellos's human body. They were indeed charged with power. He opened a bag and started scooping the bones into it. He considered the metal staff and then let it clatter to the ground. Martina hadn't asked for the staff, she wanted the body.
Zangulus turned to leave when something occured to him. That girl had been here for Xellos's tomb. He walked over to look at her prone form and noted the purple hair and purple-furred tail. The bounty hunter had heard that a beast-woman of some sort had attended the mazoku's funeral. People like him tended to file such information away. This girl might be related to the fallen demon, his daughter perhaps.
He set down the bag and turned his raised up his sword and prepared to let it fall. Then he hesitated, he was about to kill a defenseless girl.
"This isn't right," his arms lowered for a moment, his expression confused. Then his eyes flickered and hardened. She was half-mazoku, she was related to the mazoku who's tomb he was defiling. This girl would be trouble, the sword came up again.