"Zel!" Lina shouted, sitting bolt upright in bed as his pain burned through their link, throbbing white-hot in her veins for a few agonizing moments before it abruptly cut off, leaving her clutching her sheets and sweating profusely. Zel, talk to me! she screamed desperately. Zel!
She threw on her clothes as fast as possible and ran to his room. The door was still locked, much to her surprise. How'd they get in...? She shook her head to clear it of the stray thought and focused on the offending door. Damn it, I don't have time to deal with this! Barely pausing, she chanted, "Flare Arrow!" An arrow made of pure flames formed in her hands, and shot from a magical, shimmering bow at the door. The target exploded and burned up simultaneously, fizzling out magically when it met the stone.
She ran inside and saw an open window and rumpled sheets, but no trace of Zelgadis himself besides his clothes on a nearby chair. She unclasped his linking jewel and tenderly placed it inside one of her pouches, correctly guessing he wouldn't want it lying around.
Zel? she tried again, hoping against hope he had woken up.
Nothing.
This isn't good... she thought worriedly.
She ran to the open window and jumped onto the sill. "Ray Wing!" Lina chanted hurriedly. Her body became lighter, as if she were no heavier than a feather, and her cape floated up into the air behind her, as did her red hair. That was all the encouragement she needed; she flew into the night sky, desperately searching the grounds for anything that appeared to be moving.
To her surprise, she didn't find a single clue; Aristos and Zelgadis weren' t to be seen anywhere, and they hadn't left any noticeable evidence of their passing. Frowning heavily, she circled the castle, keeping track of all possible ways Aristos might have used to escape and searching them thoroughly. But there were no clues, not even mangled grass.
"This definitely isn't good..." she mumbled to herself as she alighted back in his room. No clues, no prints to follow, and I can't contact Zelgadis, she thought, tapping her fingers on her arm as she considered her options. He'll have to wake up eventually, and -– hopefully –- he'll be able to give me some hints. She frowned darkly as questions popped up in her mind. How did Aristos manage to sneak up on Zelgadis? For that matter, how did Aristos get into the kingdom?! And when did Aristos become such a good planner? Last time I saw him, he rarely thought very far in advance. The Aristos I knew would have bumbled noisily into the castle grounds and blown up rooms till he found Zel and I, but this time... this time, Aristos was...organized. She walked silently over to the window and leaned heavily against it, staring out into the night sky in search of answers. He must have had help...
"Time to try and wake up Sleeping Beauty again," she murmured softly to the sky. Lina took a deep, unnecessary breath, and shouted loudly into Zelgadis's head, ZELGADIS!! ANSWER ME!! It was the equivalent of screaming straight into his ears, and hoped it would have a similar effect. If this doesn't wake him up, nothing will... ZEL!!
To her disappointment, nothing happened; there wasn't even a hint of his answering voice echoing in her mind.
They must have really knocked him out, she grumbled. Am I going to have to wait for him to wake up?
Lina plopped down on the bed and glared murderously at the mirrors, wishing they could tell her the answers she needed. I hate waiting. But, she crossed her arms and prepared to do just that. With no clues to help her find Zelgadis, it was all she could do, much as she hated to admit it.
In the back of her mind, a little voice spoke fearfully, I hope he's alright. She ignored it in favor of glaring evilly at nothing in particular, but couldn't quite keep her pulse from racing as bloody scenes were splattered across her mind's eye by her imagination...
"Wakey, wakey, Zelgadis..."
Seconds later, a burning pain exploded on his right shoulder, forcefully wrenching him from his unnatural sleep. What...happened? Zelgadis thought hazily as he struggled back to consciousness, prodded by his throbbing shoulder. He forced his two-ton eyelids open...and barely kept himself from wincing at the ugly sight as his memory came back in a rush.
Aristos was towering over him, sneering evilly. He held something in his hand, and Zelgadis forced his swirling eyes to focus on that object. It was a circular diamond about the same size as his red linking jewel. Strange...
As his eyes began working again, he was able to make out the presence of ten other men, all tall and heavily muscled. They wore the uniform of the castle guards, but those uniforms were torn, dirty and threadbare. They look remarkably like those ten ex-guards from Yume I beat up... Uh oh...
Belatedly, Zelgadis tried moving, but found his arms bound securely behind his back and his feet tied together. He realized he was sitting in a hard, uncomfortable, wooden chair. The filthy taste of the cloth stuffed in his mouth finally registered, and he barely kept from gagging in repulsion.
Zel!! a voice shouted anxiously into his head. Zel, are you awake?!
Yes, he returned, unable to mask his apprehension.
It's about time! I've been sitting here, waiting for you to wake up for hours! Lina lectured angrily.
Sorry. I had trouble waking up, he replied dryly.
She snorted and responded just as dryly, Gee, I wonder why. Never mind Aristos hit you with a Mono Bolt...and you were just hurt in the shoulder, too... That would wake anyone up...
There was silence as Zelgadis turned her comment over in her brain. Finally, he figured out what what wrong with her statement. ...I didn't tell you I was hit by a Mono Bolt, or that Aristos just hurt me. How'd you know? he pointed out, his surprise obvious.
A hesitant pause. ...I felt it through the link. Maybe because we were actively using the linking jewels the first time, your pain was sent to me, along with your thoughts. And since then, I've been almost constantly using the jewels, trying to contact you, so I've probably been receptive to any pain you're feeling over there...
Basically, whatever I feel, you feel too now ...It's a possibility... He was about to continue when Aristos began talking, recalling his attention back to the present.
"So, you're awake at last!" Aristos said mockingly.
He glared up at the smirking man in answer.
"Now, now Zelgadis... That's not a nice look..." Aristos sneered, eyes glittering maniacally as he raised the diamond threateningly and struck Zelgadis on his other shoulder with it.
The same burning pain that had exploded on his right shoulder and woken him up now entered his left shoulder. D-damn it, so that's what the diamond is for! When did he figure I could be hurt by large, hard, blunt objects? And he had to use a diamond, one of the hardest stones in the world...
"Felt that, did you?" Aristos laughed cruelly. "Good!" The ex-guards milled behind their new master, and barely contained snickers of glee.
With considerable effort, Zelgadis ignored his pain and opened up the link with Lina. Can you find me on your own? he ground out.
Hey, you got hurt again! she accused angrily to mask her fear. He was silent, waiting tensely for her answer. Sighing, she admitted after a moment, I don't know the kingdom well enough to search for you.
"I was told to kill you right away..." Aristos mussed to himself.
That means Aristos is taking orders from someone else... Zelgadis realized with a start. Hurriedly, he told Lina, I'll talk later. He barely heard her affirmative answer, for he was already concentrating much of his attention on Aristos.
"...but that's no fun. I've been waiting years for this moment... I want to make you pay for all that I've suffered at your hands!" he concluded grandly, waving the diamond around recklessly. Two of his minions ducked out of the way as he accidentally swung it at their faces.
Idiot, Zelgadis thought, sweatdropping despite the circumstances.
Aristos continued to ramble, as all mediocre villains do when they're close to their evil goal of killing the hero. "...I would have kidnapped Lina as well, but he told me not to. He said it would be dangerous to have both Zelgadis and her in one room; they'd be much more likely to escape." The twisted curl of Aristos's lips showed what he thought of his mysterious benefactor's advice, as did the hard glitter in his eyes.
Sighing dramatically, he said, "But I don't want to argue with him for now..." A malicious grin spread across his face. "Besides, Lina will come looking for you, and when she does, I'll kill her too!" Zelgadis was only able to keep his face neutral with effort after hearing such over-used, stock dialogue. Thankfully, Aristos didn't notice Zelgadis's struggle and continued, thrusting the hand with the diamond dramatically into the air in the process. "My revenge will be complete!" The sound of polite, but unimpressed, clapping came from the minions.
Mentally groaning, Zelgadis contemplated, Why didn't I kill him when I had the chance...?
As Aristos wound up for another long-winded speech, Zelgadis took the chance to contact Lina again...
Lina waited impatiently in Zelgadis's bedroom. She hated waiting, but because she wasn't sure what kind of situation he was in, she didn't want to potentially make things worse by screwing up his concentration. The minutes went by, and she ended up pacing the room from one end to the other, arms clasped agitatedly behind her back. Finally, he contacted her again.
Lina? Zelgadis inquired. Lina, can you get help from someone to find me?
She nodded at the bedroom, as if he were there instead of an unknown distance away, and responded, Sure, but I still don't know where you are.
Hurriedly, he explained, I'm in a run-down inn somewhere in the kingdom, from what I can tell. There's a restaurant across the street... "The Rat & Parrot."
She bit her lip as she considered the limited information. At least he's still in the kingdom. Okay, that helps somewhat.
Talk to Tannec and Wyna for help. One of them should know the general area I'm in, he suggested tensely, part of his concentration still on Aristos.
...Fine. I'll go find them, she answered fretfully. For you sake, Zel, I hope they're trustworthy. They haven't done much to make me think otherwise...
Good luck, he said wryly. I don't want to be tied up here when Aristos finally decides to kill me...
Anxiously, Lina asked, How long do you think he'll take?
...A few hours, at the rate he's going...
Good. More cheerfully, she added, I'll see you soon.
...I hope... was his morose answer.
The end!! ...Well, the end of another chapter, anyway...
Some small notes:
1) I said that Zelgadis could get hurt by a large, round diamond. I came to the conclusion awhile ago that large, blunt, hard objects would hurt Zelgadis...like dimaonds... (Not enough to kill Zelgadis; just enough to HURT.) This is based on observations from the television series. Fact one: It hurt him when Lina threw a rock at his head right before the fight with good ol' Shabby. Fact two: He fell down unconscious when he got hit in the head by a cannon ball during episode two of Slayers: Try. ::shrug:: Maybe I'm wrong, but those are my observations.