The gray-haired, crimson-eyed martial-artist called Etoyoc fell to the ground at Zelgadis' feet... in three pieces. The shaman kicked the mercenary's decapitated head a short distance away, then toasted it. His recent experience with a certain troll-wolf had taught him that it was best to completely destroy the body to make it as inconvenient as possible for your enemy, should they be revived. He proceeded to hack and burn the corpse, for the most part ignoring what went on around him.
Ignoring, that is, until Lina was noisily sick behind him.
He sighed, and turned to the sorceress, whom he had been unable to shake since Isa had devoured her Burst Flare.
"Zel..." She winced. "Is that really necessary?" The pyro-happy magic user looked positively green. He stared expressionlessly at her for a moment.
"Yes." He nodded, and then returned to his gruesome activity. Lina was ill all over again.
"Hey, Zel...." She asked, much later, as they walked alongside the road.
"... what" he seemed to be reluctant to hold conversation.
"Where are we going?"
"... south."
"South?"
"Yes."
"What's your interest in the south? Find a new lead?"
"... no... just feel like it."
"We're following your whim?"
"Yes."
"Oh brother."
"You're the one following me, so stop complaining."
"..."
"Much better."
Not so far away, Kwah observed their interaction silently. The blonde man behind her paced not-so-silently.
"Arbez was expendable. That fat bastard should never had been one of us in the first place." His scarlet eyes flashed angrily as he ranted. "T'nepres was more valuable. He could maintain Ruby-Eye Blade for an extended period of time. But Etoyoc!" Grief crossed his face. The raven-hared swords-woman glanced back at him and raised her eyebrow.
"What about Etoyoc?" she deadpanned, knowing he would have told her anyway.
"Etoyoc was such a great fighter!" The man's aura oozed hero-worship. "He should have been undefeatable! I'll bet that Runecaster fought dirty. No one could beat Etoyoc in fair combat!"
Kwah sighed and shook her head.
"Drapoel, it was a fair fight." She fixed him with an Anti-Hero-Worship-Stare. "If anyone was fighting dirty, it was Etoyoc."
"No way!" Drapoel argued vehemently. "Etoyoc would never do something like that!"
"Maybe if you had watched the fight instead of setting up a victory part, you'd understand what I'm talking about." She sweat-dropped.
Drapoel huffed indignantly and sharpened the two-foot long claws that attached to his gloves.
"Zel... I'm hungry..." Lina whined for the third time in the last two minutes. Zelgadis debated on snapping back that it wasn't his problem, but remembered that Lina would make it his problem.
"Unless you feel like hunting down enough small game to fill you up, you'll have to wait until we get to a town." He scowled as he glanced back at her. "We're a week's walk away from Mt. Suivusev; no animal large enough to feed you is dumb enough to live on the outskirts of a wasteland-to-be. They seem to realize that it isn't smart to live in the same neighborhood as volcanoes."
"So now we're off to see Suivusev?" Lina countered with her skeptical glance.
"If you have a problem with my itinerary, you're free to leave." His frown deepened. "No one's forcing you to come."
"Ha!" she snorted. "If I left now, you'd probably take the opportunity to jump in!"
"I'm depressing, not suicidal." He glared at her.
"Right."
"Lina..."
"Die, Runecaster!" Their argument was interrupted by a flaxen-haired, ruby-eyed, claw-toting warrior who attempted to slash out Zelgadis' face. The stunned chimera swiftly slipped into an 'X' block, hoping the metal of the claws wasn't enchanted. It was, and the angle of the attack left three bloody trails across the top of his left hand.
"FIREBALL!" Lina shot flame at the attacker, but it dissipated against some kind of shield.
"This is between the Runecaster and me, so stay out!" The blonde lashed out at her, but the chimera used his inhuman speed and intercepted.
There was a clash of metal against metal, and all three gazed in shock as the gold symbol of Isa raced up the shaman's bracers. Crimson eyes filled with rage, and the blonde roared in anger.
"Revenge for the Lamina clan!" Zelgadis winced, and ducked under another attack. He twisted around, grabbed Lina by the waist, and hauled his stone ass out of there.
"Damn you, Runecaster..." Drapoel snarled, running after them. "I'll see that you pay for this! Etoyoc shall be avenged!"
The fact that the shaman was employing demonic speed made Drapoel eat his dust.