Wake up, Xina! The voice had a sense of urgency to it.
Xina didn't want to wake up. Mom let her sleep in most of the time, why did she have to wake up.
You have to wake up now!
It had to be Xalan, her brother always seemed to like getting up early. She wrinkled her nose in annoyance. Couldn't he tell she wanted to sleep, why did he always have to cut in on her rest and fun.
Xina! WAKE! UP!!!
That wasn't Xalan. Xalan didn't yell like that, she was the one that yelled. Her and mom anyway. Xina's eyes popped open and she saw the sword hanging over her. She panickly let the darkness grow around her, encompassing them both, and rolled away from the strange swordman. The man's blade scraped along her back, cutting and burning. She cried out in pain, but could already tell that it wasn't bad, not on its own. The fact that her body was still recovering from that magical assault made this something more than an annoyance.
Xina shifted around in the darkness and quieted down, watching the the sword man. Darkness didn't bother her at all, didn't impede her vision. Unfortunately it didn't appear to matter too much to the sword man either.
"I can't see you, but there are other ways to target a person," he said. His sword swung out, and she only barely dodged. Its metal fading against her darkness.
"That was good, but you won't be able to dodge forever," he nodded before swiping his blade low across the floor. Xina leaped, looking as the blade passed under her. She failed to notice the man's other hand reaching out to grab her, gaining a firm grip on her arm.
"You haven't been doing this long, have you?" he asked.
"Let go of me!"
"And let you track me down later?" he asked. "I don't think so, you're too much a potential threat." He reared back his sword. Xina ducked her head and sank sharp teeth into his wrist. His hand spasmed and she was free again, Xina cast a glance across the room and saw a staff. It was outside her darkness, but that wasn't helping her much anyway.
An outside observer would have said that she was moving with amazing grace and speed, but Xina felt slow. She rolled to the ground and snatched up the staff, finally noticing the cracked and empty tomb, as well as the bag that stood a little ways to the side. She narrowed her eyes and raised the staff determinedly.
The man strolled cautiously out of the darkness.
"That's my father," she snarled.
"I thought so." Xina prepared to pounce, feeling steady even with the injuries she already had.
Stay.
Xina blinked and hesitated. The swordsman charged forward, Xina lifted the staff in defensively, preparing to dodge. What she needed desperately was a wall between her and this man. She screamed as he closed and lifted the staff to block the down coming strike. The staff and sword never met, as Zangulus strike met a transparent wall of force hanging in space before the kage-kitsune.
"What is this?" He smashed the shield again and Xina winced as if she He noted the reaction and smiled. "This won't last you long, girl."
Hold it.
"I can't!" She could half hear the sound of running footsteps, but whatever she was doing, it was tiring. The black sword struck her shield again and this time cracks appeared.
Not much longer.
"I can't hold it!" the patch of darkness dissipated. It was usually a very easy thing to hold, and that was the surest sign that she was fading. The swordsman swung down again and the shield shattered, showering Xina in the fast fading remnants of its existence. She slammed against the wall, the cut on her back scraping against the edge of her father's cracked tomb. Xina cried out in pain and collapsed to the floor, laying on her stomach and breathing hard.
The swordsman reared his sword back and then he also noticed the rushing foot steps. He turned, recognized the owner and dropped his blade in different manner. Xina yelped in pain, but thankfully passed out moments later.
"FLARE ARROW!!" He was forced to dodge the spell as the source of the footsteps appeared. "Zangulus?" The bounty hunter snatched up his bag and circled around the chimera.
"I don't have time for these games," he responded. Zelgadis looked over to where Xina lay unconcious and arched an eyebrow, of course she was easy to recognize.
"You have time to beat up on an inexperienced child though," he noted coldly, drawing his own sword. Neither of the two noticed a slender form reach down and slip the metal staff from Xina's hands and then slip back away from the destroyed tomb.
"She's no less a child than we were," the bounty hunter noted. "But I seriously must go."
"I don't think Martina is going to get what ever she sent you for," Zelgadis promised him.
"Well you can either fight me or you can help that girl," he pointed to Xina, where Zelgadis could see the start of a growing blood pool. "This blade can kill full-mazoku, I'm sure it would work for her." Zelgadis snarled. "Perhaps we'll see you all very soon." The chimera lowered his sword and let the bounty hunter leave. When he was certain that they were both safe he turned to see to Xina.
"Can you hear me?" he asked. "Open your eyes if you can?" There was no reaction. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that meant that she wasn't very badly hurt yet. Lina and Xellos became hyper alert whenever they neared death. Still Xina wasn't a full mazoku, and she wasn't a were-creature, Zelgadis had no idea what was a good sign. These thoughts would happen later, right now he didn't have the time to worry about it.
Xina didn't wake up as he healed her, but slept on. He had almost finished when the lesser casters and guards finally appeared. He turned to glare at them, they had been slow. There was no excuse for it, the wards had apparently made them lax.
"There is a swordsman, wide-brimmed hat, graying hair," Zelgadis instructed them. "Find him and bring him here."
"What about her?" one of the guards asked.
"Take her up to one of the guest rooms," Zelgadis commanded. "And be gentle."
"Yes, my lord," the guardsman bowed and strode forward to follow the command.
"They took the body and the staff," Zelgadis grumbled. "There's no telling what they're going to do with it."
Now, you can sleep. The voice had lost its sense of urgency, but it was fading now.
"Is he going to kill me?"
He's gone... The voice answered, sounding further away again.
"Did you make that wall?"
....You did....
"Who are you?"
....Sore wa himitsu desu....the voice then faded completely away with an implied smile.
Xina felt a urge to follow, but that seemed to be a bad idea. Instead she just let herself fall away from whereever it was she had found herself, and then let a thick, dreamless sleep pass over her.