The stunned silence that swept over the room broke with the sudden clapping of hands and the sound of air moving around motionless people "AH!! That is a pity, but I daresay Ameria would want the party to continue, no?"
"OF COURSE NOT!" Timbre roared - which was unusual for him. Everyone looked at the suddenly serious man, who blushed slightly. "Dude - we've like so got to rescue her! How could this happen, when we were right here!"
Zelgadis shrugged. "Frankly, I expected something like this to happen sooner or later, and Ameria can take care of herself.
Timbre managed to show his contempt for that remark by a hoarsely whispered "Dude" imbued with a heavieness of disapproval so strong that the tone could have easily accompanied a more traditional rebuke. "But like in the middle of your party!?"
Zelgadis shrugged again. "That was the most likely time. Any other time, if we were on guard, this wouldn't have happened. So the logical time to strike was now."
"Dude, then by throwing YOU a party, Ameria risked herself." Timbre took another step towards Zel, shook his fist and then turned and exited out the door.
"Zelgadis - are you coming?" Rory asked turning back towards Zelgadis who was still staring pensively down at his wine glass.
Zelgadis looked up surprised. Ordinarily his thoughts flew by with the same speed that characterized the rest of his movements. Of course, he should have realized, that now that he was human in body he was also human in mind again. He simply couldn't think as fast.
He nodded.
"Well, then, DO SO!!" Rory shouted.
This would take some getting used to, Zelgadis sighed as he ran to catch up.
"OH, HO HO HO" A voice trumpeted with hideous laughter thankfully covering the sound of bouncing overexposed flesh. "If you think I will let you dash to the rescue without me, the Great White Snake, then you are so, so so, naive!"
Unfortunately, for Nahga, that is exactly what the heroes thought, and they weren't very naive at all. Since she had paused to laugh for so long, it was not hard to lose her as they scuttled after the thin trail of the magic tracking device Rory had placed on Ameria.
Ameria steadied her mind and concentrated as hard as she could on pointing her finger at her abductor. This was not easy, as her hands were manacled together with some kind of odd metal to prevent any magic gesturing. "YOU - ARE THE HANDMAIDEN OF EVIL AND JUSTICE SHALL TRIUMPH OVER YOU!" She announced.
"You don't need to shout." The woman said rolling her eyes at the speech. "My hearing is exceptional, just like every other part of me. And I am not the Handmaiden of Evil - I've met her, and she's no match. No, I'm just like your friend Rory Gabriev, actually." She began to lick the edge of a dagger.
"Rory is NOT evil!"Ameria sputtered. "He's nothing like you!"
"I didn't say he was evil, and if he's not like me, well..who else would he be like?." The woman shrugged.
"Who are you!!" Ameria asked.
"Ah, that is traditional, isn't it? Once I am sure you are well and fairly captured, that I tell you who I am? Of course, that's usually where you stall and get your friends to rescue you, so let's just skip that part, ok?" The woman winked behind her mask and waved. "Bye Bye."
Ameria looked around the dark cell. "WHAT - you're just going to leave me in this creepy place?!"
The woman nodded and walked around the wall of the rounded cell. "Absolutely. What is wrong with it? It's just a cave!"
"But aren't you supposed to take me back to Sairune?!" Ameria asked. "Why am I in a cave!?"
The woman laughed. "Exactly - who would look for you here? I am bringing you safely to Sawpht by bringing him here. Don't worry, he won't risk losing you, so he'll come, and you'll be safe here."
The woman slid through a small hole in the rounded ceiling, and then inserted a few bricks behind her. The wall glowed brightly and then turned transparent, leaving a small skylight into the otherwise dark cell.
Ameria sighed. Yet again, she had found herself in a situation so tight it pinched.
Rory, Timbre and Zelgadis sat around a fire, their faces longer than the evening shadows sliding around them.
"WE LOST HER." Rory said, his head in his hands. "AND TO HER! Of all people."
Zel frowned. "I meant to ask that before - do you know the woman who abducted Ameria?"
"yeah, Dude...she was something else!" Timbre commented.
Rory didn't answer.
Zel sighed and knocked on Rory's head and asked the question again. "She knew you. Who is she?"
"I heard you the first time." Rory complained. "I was thinking how to explain this story."
"Is it that complicated? I just asked you who she was, or don't you know?" Zel said somewhat frustrated.
Rory grimaced. Zel began to concentrate on his soup realizing an answer was not forthcoming.
"Dude, just say it." Timbre said getting a bit frustrated. "How bad could it be? I mean, I've met your ex-girlfriend and she's scarier - " He paused slightly, knowing that mentioning Rory's ex-girlfriend usually had the intended effect of making Rory spit things out, usually food, but sometimes words as well.
"She's my mother." Rory spat.
Zel spit out the soup he'd been sipping. "Your mother?" He looked from Rory to Timbre.
"NO WAY!?" Timbre said. "That babe is your MOTHER!?"
Rory grabbed Timbre by the throat. "YES. AND DON'T CALL HER A BABE!!!"
"Sorry man, but come on, its hard to believe!" Timbre said in between his mouth hanging open with shock.
"She did have a mask on." Zelgadis added thoughtfully, recalling the woman. "Of course, that outfit - "
Zel gurgled to a halt as Rory's hand closed around his throat.
"What about that outfit?" Rory asked in a dangerous gruff whisper.
"nothing...nothing..."Zel managed. Another disadvantage of humanity, he realized, was that he actually felt pain a lot quicker when people did things like this.
Rory sighed and then let the other two go. "I don't want to talk about this. I know you're wondering how she looks so young, and perhaps why she is so weird. I can't tell you. What man understands his mother? All I know is that she dissappeared into the land of the elves for several years and emerged the way she is now. I don't know why she is competing with me."
"Dude, that's no competition - she's way..." Timbre blinked, some sense somehow trickling into his head not to say what he had been about to say. "Uh, never mind."
Rory pushed a lock of hair back. "So, that's how she knew me. Why she is intefereing, I don't know."
"Dude, that's ...that's....heavy." Timbre said.
"It's irrelevant though." Zelgadis said, his voice still raspy from his throat being injured. "We've got to save Ameria."
"I'm working on a plan." Rory said.
"Well?" Zelgadis prompted.
Rory grabbed his sword and sliced through the dirt with a series of sharp blows. A pattern emerged depicting the mountains where they were in Las Bay Gaws.
"Just over that ridge is a series of Mountains, the Lower Ridges, which are said to have a type of rock impervious to magic. Since my tracking spell is being blocked, I surmise that is where Mother took her."
"Dude, if she's your Mother, couldn't you just like, ask her?..." Timbre said.
"Shut up." Rory replied. He thumped the ground with the blade. "Its not been that long, and she couldn't have gotten that far. So this is the only logical place."
Zelgadis agreed. "So, if that is where she is, how do we find her?"
"Obviously, Mom's realized that if she starts to move Ameria back to Sairune, we'd find her. So she's..."
"Bringing Sawpht here." Zelgadis said. "Perfect."
Timbre blinked. "Dude...what's perfect, I don't get it?"
The other two looked at each other and then back at Timbre. "Do you mind?" Rory said.
Timbre shrugged. "Sorry."
"Now then, the best plan of attack would be.." Rory began.
"I DON'T GET IT." Timbre yelled.
Zelgadis sighed. "At some point, Sawpht is going to come over these mountains, and head straight towards where Ameria is being kept. We'll just attack Sawpht before then, and trade him for Ameria. Simple."
"Actually, I thought we would substitute you for Sawpht, and trick Mother into leading us to Ameria."
Zelgadis nodded. "That could work as well - but what does Sawpht look like."
"Actually, he looks a lot like you." Rory said. He studied Zelgadis critically.
Timbre frowned. "Yeah, you're right, I thought you looked like someone I knew. You also look like this blue guy I know."
"Idiot. He was that blue guy." Rory said.
"oh yeah." Timbre said. "Anyway, if you had eye-glasses, well, you'd be just like him. And a beard."
"A beard?" Zelgadis said thoughtfully.
"Not a whole, one, just a goatee." Timbre said.
"This might work." Zelgadis said stroking his chin.