Ameria whirled to see two large creatures with what appeared to be some type of lizard head with the body of an ape. The creatures eyes glinted evilly.
"Princesssss...weeees going to killsss you-sss!" They hissed.
"Down." Zelgadis repeated calmly.
Ameria dove. A fireball whizzed over her head and torched the two creatures, blowing them backwards into the night out the door. She scrambled up quickly. "Why would Sawpht want to kill me!"
Zelgadis raised an eyebrow. "You ran out on him."
"But I said I would be back!" She complained.
Zelgadis merely replied. "They're back." He readied a flare arrow and flung it at them.
"But to kill me!"
"Actually, the Bounty Notice I read said it wanted you alive. Unfortunately, I don't think these two, or most bounty hunters, can read."
Three more creatures appeared kicking in the windows. They were different ones, this time with bird heads and long black and white bushy tails. They swarmed towards Ameria.
Ameria winced. ‘Visa Frank" She called, as huge boxing gloves covered her hands. One bop and the creatures went flying.
"Ameria, that probably wasn't wise." Zelgadis said as he darted forward. grabbing her wrist. He began to pull her through the door.
"Why?!" Ameria said. "I knocked them out!"
"They're part skunk."
Even as they stood seconds later on a hill overlooking the village, Ameria had to hold her nose. "Its awful." She complained. "I hate being bounty hunted!"
Zelgadis didn't reply. He merely just turned and started walking.
"Zelgadis!? Where are you going?"
"I've been distracted long enough. You'll be fine now."
"But we've just been reunited! How have you been! Where have you been!? Did you find a cure? Did you see--"
"Ameria, do I look cured to you?" He said over his shoulder.
"Uh, no, but--" She ran after him. "I thought maybe you'd rather stay a Chimera."
He stopped walking and tugged down the cowl completely. He turned towards her, so she could get the full effect of his deformity. He waited for her to flinch, but she didn't. "Why would I want that?" He said in a low voice.
"Because, its cool looking.." She said a bit startled at his gruffness. Wasn't he happy to see her?
"You haven't changed, have you?" He said, eyeing her form.
She frowned. "What do you mean by that? I grew a foot and a half and I'm five years older!!"
"Inside, Ameria. You haven't changed inside." He said quietly.
"Oh." She said disappointedly. "I didn't know I needed to do that."
"Everyone does." Zelgadis said flatly. "Go back to your Kingdom."
"No. I can't." She said.
"Fine, then don't. Just stop following me." He turned and vanished into the mist rising.
Ameria sighed. He hadn't changed that much either, she thought, but he had a point. Inside, she had not changed much, especially about how she felt for him. No, she paused, something had changed. She no longer wanted to feel this way anymore. She just didn't know how to stop.
Zelgadis looked back through the mist he'd created. He couldn't see Ameria. He wasn't sure why he did look back. He had never thought about her that much, and when he had thought of her, he hadn't thought that much of her. They'd fought together, because the circumstances required that he do so. When he thought she'd been kidnapped he'd felt a certain twinge for a minute that had led him to interrogate that thief. Yet he shouldn't have bothered. He had his mission to complete. And for once, he was perhaps close to something. He turned his hands over the drawn and charred piece of paper. The design could barely be made out, but he could tell from the writings that a master magician had created this plan. Surely any magician that could do this was the one he needed to see.
Ameria stood in the middle of a poor looking village. The huts were more patched than thatched with the thin straw strewn across the roofs. The people were no more prosperous in appearance, threadbare and thin-faced.
"So you say your village is being terrorized by beasts?" Ameria asked the spindly legged man in front of her. Actually, she was holding him off the ground by his shirt sleeves.
"Yes. You must help us miss!" The villager pleaded, his knees knocking like death on doors in a famine. "I'm sorry for pelting you with tomatoes, but at first I thought you were one of the creatures. We're terrorized by them...all manner of them..."
"They raid our crops, flatten our fields! We don't know where they come from--" A woman cried. "Oh, its so horrible." She broke into tears.
Ameria gracefully slid the tomato off her cheek and released the man who'd attacked. "Do not worry! I am an Ally of Justice. I will, in the name of justice, stop this terror that destroys your crops, raids your fields, and creates a racket of noise that haunts your sleep and muddies your village!! What is the problem,for I will solve it"
The crowd that gathered cheered, but a few voices whisper. "Its really uncanny, that she looks the latest beasts."
"But she doesn't sound like them." The other replied with relief. "And she sounds like she means to help us!"
"Oh please Miss, they're somewhere up in those mountains...near those caves we think...."
Ameria straightened her cloak and walked off into the fields.
As she walked away the villagers looked at each other. "Say, did we warn her about the Castle Road?"
An old woman pressed her hands together. "Oh, such a poor brave girl! I hope she'll be OK!"
Ameria speeded up the hill, her mind keeping pace with her feet. She would just allow reason to convince the beasts that they should leave the village alone. When she showed them the error of their ways, they would bow before her reason, her royal presence, and listen. It always worked for her father, why not her? A beautiful simple plan, and one without any violence. Perfect, she thought.
Ten figures sat around a fire, eating in perfect synchronization, their bodies cloaked by dark cloaks. They each looked up as Ameria approached. As one they stood, and laughed, their hoods falling back.
Ameria winced at the sound. Not just because it was irritation made tangible and shoved through her ears, but because it was familiar.
"Gracia?" She said somewhat stunned. She had been looking for her sister, not ten of her sister.
They laughed again.
They certainly laughed and looked like her, but there was something odd about them.
She frowned as they returned to their previous positions ignoring her.
Around them were piles of gold, and food. "You cannot do this." She said.
They looked at her.
"Go return this stuff to the villagers."
They laughed and stood as one and began to pick the gold up.
She smiled. This was going to be easier than she thought.
"STOP." A voice ordered. A short bald man who's skin looked lumps of mud appeared. "Why are you listening to her? You listen to me."
The women nodded.
"Who is the one that saved you when your creator deserted you in a village?"
They hung their heads.
"Now, be bad women, and ATTACK HER!"
As one they turned towards Ameria, and began to laugh.
Ameria sighed. "Is that all they can do?"
"NOW." The man yelled jumping up and down.
As one the women ran towards her, their bodies bouncing in their skimpy costumes. Ameria stood firm. She wouldn't be intimidated by them. "I feel bad, since they do look like Gracia, but....WIND BOMB."
The huge gust of wind exploded and slammed the women into the cave. Their capes flopped forward in all directions, as did their limbs.
"You...now you've done it...You'll have to fight me!"
"You are the one that will pay! Justice demands it." Ameria said as the Mud-man raised a sword and charged at her. She nimbly jumped out of the way. However she was a second slow, and the sword ripped her supposedly enchanted shirt. She gasped as she pulled her shirt closed across her chest.
The Mud-man leered and laughed. "Its just such a shame to kill a girl as beautiful as you. Why don't you join me? You're not as developed as my other women but a change is nice once in a while--
"You pervert! How dare you!!" She shouted. With her hands clutching her shirt like this she really couldn't launch a spell. What would she do? Stall, she thought. "How dare you copy my sister!"
"I didn't. I just got lucky...10 times...actually, I get lucky every day--" He snickered insinuatingly as he charged again. "You could get lucky with me!" He leered.
"You've got a dirty mind!" Ameria chastised as she flipped into the air and landed on the rocks. She was flushing a bright red. She needed to launch a spell.
The mud-man laughed. "Oh, poor innocent thing, let me enlighten you--"
Ameria frowned. Well, he'd already seen what she was hiding. She let go of her shirt with one hand and shouted "Wind, crimson flame. Come to my hand and grant me the power o thunder! Digger Bolt!" The lightening flashed and struck the Mud-Man head on.
He split into pieces. Ameria sighed in relief as she slowly felt her heart beat return to normal. She turned and began to search for something to bind her shirt with.
Suddenly she felt muddy arms around her. She was taller, so she could feel his breath sneak in between the gap of her shirt and pants.
"Oh, don't resist..." The Mudd-Man said as he slid his muddy hands upwards. "Come on baby, you know you like this!"
She screeched. "Get your filthy hands off me!"
"Oh no. I like them where they are. Give me a kiss!"
"Visafrank!" She screamed and punted him away. He slammed into the mountain, and splattered. Seconds later, he reformed.
"I'm part Troll." He said laughingly. "You can't kill me."
Ameria shivered. What was she going to do!
"Don't worry, fair maiden, we will, like, totally defend you!" a melodic voice sang, seconds before the most disgusting stench hit her.
She clutched her stomach, fighting the urge to retch.
The strawberry blonde thief from the other day sprang into action, brandishing a guitar. He began to play a wild riff which resonated into the air. The sound began to rival the smell, and Ameria desperately tried to cover her ears and her nose.
The Mudd-Man faired no better. He fell to the ground, just as a man with short wavy pure gold blonde hair jumped forward and sliced through the Mudd-Man with a sword she couldn't see, but she heard whip through the air. "SONIC SWORD SLICE" The man yelled as he divided the Mudd smaller and smaller until it was just a patch of nice clean earth.
"That takes care of that dirt-bag." He said stashing his sword. He turned towards Ameria.
"Are you all right, fair maiden?"
"Gowhee?" She asked confused. She actually tried to say Gourry, but she was holding her nose.
"Timbre, go stand somewhere downwind. The battle is over, and I have no need of your guitar at present."
"Yes, of course, Boss."
"Dat man is a Deef, Gowee!" She complained, releasing her nose as the stench faded. " Why are you with him, and why is your hair so short!?"
"Gowee??" The man said surprised. " I always wear my hair short." He muttered as Ameria blushed. "Allow me to introduce myself and my associate. I'm Rory Gabriev, founder of No-Escape. That is Timbre, my associate and back-up We are pleased to make your acquaintance, Princess Ameria. We are here to bring you back."
"But I don't want to go back." She protested.
"That is unfortunate. After my associate robbed you, we were sure you would return willingly and without further intervention on our part. However, you pressed on. Be assured, Princess, we will use whatever means are necessary to ensure your safe return."
"I will return, but just not for a year." She said. "I need some time...to --"
"To what?"
"To change inside." She said softly.
"That is unacceptable. I have strict orders." The young man replied. "I am honor bound to--"
"Honor? Your associate is a thief! Look at him!"
They turned to see the man greedily loading the gold into his guitar.
"TIMBRE! Did I not redeem you? Did I not teach you the value of an honest life?"
"But..., it's like gold. Dude, its just lying here!" Timbre responded
"TIMBRE." Rory said forcefully and the man dropped the gold. "Your speech is reverting! Speak proper grammar, man."
"Du--I'm like, er, I'm sorry." Timbre tugged a red-gold forelock.
Rory sighed. "He gets carried away. However, I find his particular talent necessary."
"He tried to rob a friend of mine too." Ameria pointed out.
"The Chimera in the Bar? Ah, yes. He had stolen a particular item from another client of mine. A most interesting proposal for a magic project...and my other client wants this back. She is most unhappy with his present possession of said item."
"Oh." Ameria was confused. If Zelgadis stole from someone else first, was the "thief" really bad then as she'd thought?
"Nevertheless, I am quite positive that you will accompany me, Princess."
They were distracted by the sound of ten women laughing. Bruised, bumped, but still hungry, in unison the copies stood.
"Amazing. They look just like Nah-" Timbre started.
Rory tossed a knife and pinned Timbre to the wall. "We never reveal our client's names." "But you just did!" Timbre said confused.
"Prince Sawhpt asked me to do so." Rory explained. "He wants the Princess to know he is anxiously awaiting her return."
Ameria blushed. "That is sweet of him, really, but I--" Something struck her.
"These women look just like who?!"
"No one." Rory said smoothly.
"That's not what he was going to say." She said.
He shrugged. "It is unimportant. As I said, Princess, Prince Sawpht hired me to ensure you return to him willingly. He does not want you harmed or unwilling to marry him. I am here to ensure that you will decide to return soon."
"I will not." She repeated.
"You will too!" Timbre shouted.
"I will not!" She shouted back at the shorter man.
Rory shook his head. "This is ridiculous. Fine, Princess, I will allow you one more day of freedom. As it happens, another client of mine has asked that I find his ten sons ten brides. A rather interesting problem really. Each wants a wife as obedient and beautiful as the next. I believe I have just solved that problem." He bent gallantly over her hand and kissed it, his fingers lightly pressing her wrist. "I'm sure you will come Prince Sawpht is quite anxious you return to him. "
Ameria blushed. "I..." She said inelegantly.
"Come Timbre. My stars man, you do need a bath." Rory said as he led the slighter man away. "Preferably soon. Come, women." He ordered.
The group rose and followed, after uttering another series of laughs.
Zelgadis frowned from his vantage point watching as Rory kissed Ameria's hand. He watched them walk away, leaving her standing with a puzzled expression on her face. Before she could notice him, Zelgadis disappeared as well, heading on his original path. He'd been distracted by the sounds of fighting. Ten copies of that woman? Who else but an evil sorcerer would do that? Surely this was a sign he was closer to his goal. Somewhere close by, the master of Chimera magic waited, and perhaps, so did the cure which Zelgadis sought. He studied the charred fragment again.
This was his only clue, he thought, tracing the name. Diol.
The rain came down harder and Ameria walked soggily along. She'd been so confused after Rory and Timbre had left that she'd wandered off in the wrong direction. Then the rain had intensified and she'd gotten lost. She almost wished to be back in her dry room in the castle, she thought. No, she couldn't go back. Surely finding ten copies of her sister was a sign that her sister had passed through here. Yet how long ago? The clues were so few and far between, and her feet hurt as they squished through the soggy ground.
Up ahead in the dark lightning flashed to reveal the outlines of a castle. "Shelter!" She said happily. Of course they would let her in. On such a dark and stormy night such castles were perfect havens for travelers and they would never refuse a poor drenched princess such as herself. At least, Ameria thought that was standard treatment.
She knocked.
The door slid back an upright, Giant frog in a well-worn dark black suit, lightened only by the white silk cravat answered. Actually, the creature was a Grog, which means it was really a combination of creatures, but mostly, the predominant ingredient was Frog. "Yes?" He inquired slowly.
"Please, may I shelter inside?"
"Inside here? You want to shelter inside here?" The Grog said quietly. "This is for your own good, miss." The Grog flipped backwards onto its front leg/arms, and then used its thicker bottom legs to slam-kick her so hard she went hurling back down the mountain.
Angrily she got back up. "RAY WING." She said gliding back to the door. "LET ME IN."
"SH...not so loud." The Grog said. "He'll hear you!"
"I don't care! Its wet out there, and you're being very--"
"Rude." A man's voice cut in. Ameria shifted her gaze into the hall where a tall man waltzed down the steps. He was elegantly attired in a red-velvet robe, a pipe tilting out of his mouth. "Come, Graster, let the guest in. We so rarely have guests."
The Grog, almost sadly stepped aside. "Please, the Master bids you enter."
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kristan Diol." The man said. He was handsome in a striking sense. Dark eyebrows hid under craggy brows, a strong nose shadowed the slightly thin lips, and lastly a strong chin jutted forward, its surface carpeted by a thick goatee. "Perhaps you have heard of me? The very best in designer beasts?"
Ameria shook her head. "Should I have?."
He seemed upset as he threw his arms wide and jumped the last few steps with a stomp. "I am a master designer of creatures! I am famous....look at my latest creations!" He threw back a huge curtain to reveal a series of tubes filled with a pinkish liquid. Inside all manners of atrocities floated--giant eyeballs on top of a feathered snake-body, giant jaws inside a cute looking bird, some familiar looking giant skunk-tailed pigeon headed creatures.
The Grog whispered "Act pleased....please miss..."
Ameria blinked.
"What do you think!" The man said whirling around.
"Its...." She fought the urge to scream "Icky." "Its...unbelievable."
"I know! The beauty of my designs! The sheer unexpectedness of my lines..." He whirled--pointing to a long stage. "Come...Come..."
Music started up, and the lights dimmed, as a series of creatures each more bizarre than the last began to stroll down the cat walk.
"Breathtaking, isn't it?" Diol said.
Ameria blinked. "I find it hard to breathe." She said honestly.
"I'm so happy. Now then, which one will you buy?" Diol said.
"Uh, I just..." Ameria frowned.
Diol looked angry. "Do not tell me you don't like them!?"
Ameria backed up. "I really only came in to get out the rain..."
Diol frowned. "There is something familiar about you....wait! I know." "YES...you look like...." The designer frowned.
"SEIZE HER!" He shouted.
Ameria frowned. All she'd wanted was a decent meal, a warm bed, and to get dry. She'd already seen enough deformities and icky creatures for one day and to deal with another..this was too much.
The Grog frowned. "Sorry, Miss, I did warn you." It said as it jumped closer to her, and before she could think, she felt herself dangling uselessly between the giant webbed paws of the Grog.
"Now I will have my revenge for my Uncle." Diol said.
"Excuse me, but why do you need revenge against *me*?"Ameria asked confused.
"Because you and your friend were the ones that destroyed my uncle--the greatest creature designer until his spirit was smashed by the evil sorceress Lina Inverse and her companion. YOU helped her. It was you that rescued the evil sorceress, who, my Uncle managed to capture! It was you that destroyed his sponsor's castle! And it was you that kept him from accomplishing his greatest design of his life! It is my goal in life to complete that task...And now that I have you, I know I can use you to find Lina Inverse!"
"I have no idea what you are talking about. I haven't' seen Lina for Five years." Ameria said "But you have the wrong person. I haven't done anything like that with Lina." His accusations were probably true, since Lina did tend to smash people's lives like that.
"Don't deny it. I have a copy of her! And you look exactly like her."
He flung back a table where a lifeless woman lay.
She didn't look exactly like Ameria, but she did look exactly like Gracia.
"Gracia!" Ameria said surprised. "Let her go!"
"She is just a copy....a lifeless one, of you."
"I don't look like that!" Ameria protested.
His eyes scanned her. " I suppose my uncle augmented certain things. Your measurements are smaller."
Ameria blushed. "I don't care. You are evil, with these twisted creatures, and justice requires that I shut down your shop of horrible designs!"
Diol laughed. "Now that is funny. I hardly think you are in a position to say anything about it."
Ameria raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?" She steadied her hands, held by the Grog. "Fireball! Ray Wing" She shouted as the fireball burned the poor Grog's throat/mouth bottom and she gently floated down to the ground. In pain, the Grog crumbled to the ground.
"Oh, so you want to do this the hard way?" Diol smiled, revealing a row of crooked brown teeth..
"I don't want to do this at all." She said. "Surrender now and Justice will be swift."
"Ah, but I'm swifter!" He laughed as he flipped a switch. She fell into a huge hole, landing splat on her rear. She stood up ignoring the soreness she felt on her backside. She couldn't concentrate on that now. Justice needed to be done, and she needed to get out of here and do it. "You villain! Your tricks will not stop me!! I'm not afraid of a dark pit" She prepared to fly out, but suddenly felt something slither across her foot, just as Diol threw on spotlights above her. "Even if there are snakes down here!"
"Oh, there aren't snakes down there." Diol cackled. For an instant she felt relief. She didn't like snakes. Then she heard a bark, and all relief vanished. She felt something sniff her. She slowly looked down at the snakes which had the heads of pit-bulls.
"It's my Snake-Pit-Bulls!" Diol laughed. "Go boys--GET HER! Just think what I can do with her pieces!"
They immediately swarmed towards her so fast she could not think. She didn't have to think though, for immediately something hard gripped her waist and hauled her out of the pit in a blue blur.
She stopped moving and noticed she was behind dumped on the ground by Zelgadis.
"Zel!?" She said looking up.
"Not now, Ameria. FREEZE ARROW" He shouted as he just missed pinning the edge of Diol's ridiculous smoking jacket.
"SHADOW STOP." Ameria cried throwing her small knife through Diol's cape and into his shadow so that he couldn't move his legs.
"MY CAPE!" He wailed.
"Very nice, Ameria." Zelgadis said and then calmly walked over to Diol.
"Who are you? You're not one of mine..." Diol said confusedly. "An intriguing design... what are you, part troll, part demon, part...yes, human. Ingenious! What a work...Who's design is this?!"
"Rezo." Zelgadis shook his head.
"Rezo? The great red priest?" Diol asked confused. "Wasn't he one the evil Lina Inverse killed?"
Zel sighed. Poor Lina, he thought. Well, it was true but not the way people thought. Lina had probably done plenty of things that were wrong, but killing the Red Priest was not one of them. She'd saved the world. He deserved to die. She was perhaps as misunderstood as Zel himself, he thought. "I helped." He said dryly.
"WHAT!?" Diol frowned. "To turn on your designer! What utter horror when he's given you those powers! I didn't even see you come in! You blend right into the castle walls! Its amazing. You look so cool!"
Ameria nodded. Zel did look pretty cool.
"I didn't ask for this grotesque form. If you value these forms so much why do you look relatively normal?"
Diol blanched sheet white. "Well, the designer never wears his spells."
"Right. So, here are your choices. One, you help transform me to normal, and I let you go, or I kill you."
"ZELGADIS!" Ameria said shocked, waving her arms frantically. "You cannot do that! It's not ethical!"
Zelgadis ignored her except to say "I'm not ethical."
Diol frowned. "You may be strong, but can you really defeat my whole fashion show!!! EVERYONE--RUNWAY ATTACK!" Suddenly the curtains lining the huge castle room swung back to reveal thousands of cages of deformed creatures. The cage doors swung open and a flurry of creatures swarmed forward.
"Zel, I think we are out-powered." Ameria whispered as she backed against him so that they stood back to back.
"Ameria, I am aware of that.." Zel said as he launched a fireball. It hit one bat-bear, but still too many creatures were about to close in on them.
The sound of a guitar riff ripped through the air with the intense pain produced by an A flat just a little to close to a B sharp. The notes wailed a bit, and suddenly there was the crack of a sonic boom, so loud that Zel and Ameria were stunned for a second. The creatures, most of which had hearing more sensitive than humans or Zel's chimera mix, fell down whining, and were cut to pieces by what appeared to be the perfectly ordinary sword of Rory Gabriev.
Rory turned and sheathed the sword. "I'm afraid, Master Diol, that your creatures were about to harm the Princess Ameria of Sairune, which, I could not permit. I regret destroying your important work, but you must understand my position. She is to be married to my client, and he would not be happy if she died or were turned into a monster first. Surely, you can agree that would be bad?!"
Diol snarled. "No...she deserves to die!"
"Don't be difficult Old man." Rory said. "I can of course allow the Chimera here to kill you."
Zelgadis eyed Rory. "Who are you?"
"Rory Gabriev. The founder of No Escape, and you, are Zelgadis Greywars. I believe you have something that belongs to a client of mine."
"Perhaps." Zelgadis said calmly.
"Then perhaps if I help you with what you want, you will allow me to obtain that item?" Rory asked.
"There is only one thing I want." Zelgadis said.
"A cure, I believe? Diol, do you have any idea how to cure Zelgadis?"
"Cure! What a waste...no, I wish I knew how to create something like this!" Diol said.
"Then, Diol, if you knew how to create it, you could help him reverse it." Rory suggested.
Diol frowned. "I suppose."
"If you possessed that kind of knowledge, no one would deny you were the greatest designer in the world, or history."
Diol's eyes lighted. "The greatest!?! In history? "
Rory produced a small book. "These are, I believe, Rezo's original notes."
Zelgadis choked. "Where did you get that!?"
Rory shrugged. "A Mazokou owed me a favor. Nothing I can discuss."
Diol rapidly flipped through the book. "What a design! Oh..so ingenious! Incredible!"
"Can you cure it?" Ameria asked eagerly.
"Well...no. Its' irreversible. Most Chimeras are you realize. They're made up of parts of other creatures fused together, but this one here, he is made up of a series of spell transformations into other states. No pieces, but a continuous simultaneous transformation spell! The best he could do is hope to break that spell into its parts and try to find a way to make his permanent form human. But what a spell! I never thought of using this style of magic!"
"So, dude, can you like, break him down?" Timbre asked. Rory shot Timbre a glare.
"My assistant is ineptly asking if you can reverse Mr. Greywars' condition?"
"I am not sure. Human, Troll...Demon...but there is something else. Something not alive. I can almost see it....but then, I'm no expert on those spells. You'd need to find someone who is to undo each one, and undo them simultaneously."
"Who is an expert on Troll or Demon spells?" Ameria asked confused.
"Probably a troll or a demon would know that." Diol answered. "I've got it! The last piece is a Golem! You're part golem."
"Golem?" Zelgadis asked "As in magical dolls?".
"And I do know a golem expert." Rory said. "So then, Zelgadis your problem is solved. You can follow Diol's advice, return the item to me, and we can be on our way with Princess Ameria."
Ameria frowned. "What about this man Diol--you're not going to punish him!?"
Rory raised an eyebrow. "Whatever for? You invaded his showroom, Ameria. You destroyed his whole collection. That's probably punishment enough."
"Uh, Boss, it was your sonic sword that like, toasted those dudes." Timbre added.
"Timbre, please, remember not to speak unless I tell you what to say."
"Like when you told me what to say to the Princess when I faked being stuck? Dude, that totally rocked! She was like, charmed by me!" He grinned. "Next time I'm in a tavern, I'm so going to try that on the waitresses...Man, I almost got to score with a Prin...urghh" He stopped talking because Rory struck his throat with the sword.
Rory ground his teeth. "I told you not to speak."
Ameria turned crimson. No wonder Timbre had seemed more suave that day. He'd been acting, but she never would have kissed him. "I am not going with you! I still have to find my sister, and I'm going to help Zelgadis get cured."
"I do not need your help Ameria." Zel cautioned her. She looked deflated but she didn't say anything. "Or yours." He said to Rory.
Rory held up a hand. "Zelgadis, I'm not offering my help, I'm offering you a trade. It is a bargain that benefits us both." Rory asked.
"When I don't know what strings are attached to that bargain, I'm better off refusing." He indicated his body " This was what happened the last time I took someone's "bargain". to cut corners to what I want. I don't know you, nor trust you."
Rory nodded. "I understand. I understand. Fair enough. Just consider this: Maybe someone else needs your help. " He slipped a card to Zelgadis. "That is where my friend is that makes golems. Go and see him. I won't ask for anything in return yet. If things are as I say, you yourself will see that you do not need that paper."
Ameria frowned as Rory started to walk away. "You aren't going to make me come with you?" She asked surprised. She'd been preparing her arguments to deal with the swords/businessman.
Rory shook his head. "No, I believe you are not yet willing to come. I'm only beginning to see why. Go see the Golem maker, return that paper, and maybe by then, you'll be willing to return to Prince Sawpht. I have some other client's to help, but I'll be around if you get in trouble."
Rory jumped smoothly out the window, followed by Timbre who turned and yelled "Later!" seconds before the sound of a large crash resonated back to them. Rory's voice floated back as he yelled "YOU IDIOT! I told you to jump!!!" over Timbre's groans of "Dude, this like totally hurts"
Ameria stifled a giggle, until she remembered that Zelgadis didn't want her help. She knew she shouldn't let it bother her, but it did. "I suppose I should get going."
Zelgadis looked at Ameria, who didn't meet his eyes. He hesitated briefly and then said "I suppose if you're going to follow me, then we might as well travel together. It would be safer for you."
Ameria smiled all traces of the depression gone. "Oh, Zelgadis, that is so wonderful! I'm so glad you changed your mind!"
Zelgadis sighed. He didn't have a choice considering what Rory had written on the card.