Zelgadiss leaned against the tree, letting his leg dangle against the tree trunk. From where he sat he could see where Amelia's cubby-tent was hidden in the middle of a bramble patch. She'd found a spacious hollow where a deer had made its home once. It was well camouflaged and offered ready protection. Sylphiel's tent was hidden, carefully masked by the branches of a low-hanging oak, its patched-together appearance further hiding it from scrutiny. Zelgadiss knew that Gourry lay nearby, sleeping lightly, partially hidden under a blanket of leaves. Milgazia had constructed a larger tent out of his still whole one and the remains of Lina's broken one, building it under a fallen tree. He moved Lina into this burrow, and appointed himself to watch over her. The only time he had left the redheaded sorceress' side was to allow Sylphiel the privacy to bathe Lina while he himself ignored his ragged condition and took Filia to task for her carelessness.
Zelgadiss leaned back against the tree trunk, smiling at the memory. Never, as long as I will live, will I forget this night...
The first thing that made them all want to run and hide was the expression on the Elder's face. Milgazia habitually wore a stern expression on his face, or a carefully schooled mask of emotionlessness. He rarely changed expression, and often it was either Lina or Gourry who would make him visibly react. It took some time for the companions to adjust themselves to Milgazia's body-language; and when they did, they realized that the expression he normally wore was fairly pleasant in comparison to the one he'd worn when they'd first met him in Dragon's Peak so long ago. He was as composed as Filia could be hysterical, and emotional extremes seemed to be a state that Milgazia would not be associated with.
Therefore, the expression of towering fury that lit his golden eyes made all of them pale. That, and the Ryuzoku's ragged and shredded appearance. He looked like he'd dug himself out of a cave in -- a cave that had been full of stalactites. Obviously, the Dragon Elder had been seriously wounded, and had taken a few moments to heal his wounds. He limped, favoring his left leg, which had begun to bleed. His trousers, once white, were now brightly and liberally splashed with varying shades of red and brown, and streaked with grime and soot. His hair, which was once an impossible shade of sunlight and wheat that seemed unique only to him, was snarled and filthy. Entangled in it were various twigs and leaves, and what looked like a thorny branch had worked itself into a snarl and scraped against his muscular neck as he hobbled. Several long, thin scratches, red upon his pale and dusty skin showed that the branch had been there for quite some time.
Despite his ills, Milgazia carried Lina in his arms with all the care of a mother cradling a sleeping infant. Tightly bundled in her black cloak, the ashen-faced sorceress looked frail and childlike in the Ryuzoku's protective embrace. Dried blood crusted her cheek, almost black against the pallor of her skin. Zelgadiss' heart had nearly stopped, thinking her dead, until he noticed the slight, uncontrollable shivering that wracked her slender body.
Daring to glance at the Elder's glittering eyes, the chimera realized that Milgazia's gaze had not once wavered, and that someone was receiving the full blast of his tightly controlled anger. Zelgadiss didn't have to turn around to see who it was, and breathed an unconscious prayer of thanks that he was not the one Milgazia was angry at. He even noticed that Xelloss was uncharacteristically silent, with a nearly blank, somewhat wary expression that would have done Milgazia himself proud.
Never taking his spear-like gaze from Filia, who stood frozen like a deer faced with a predator, the Dragon Elder shrugged off the packs he was carrying, letting them drop to the ground with a too-loud thump. He spoke softly, but his voice hinted steeliness, carrying a hidden note of command. Amelia, Gourry and Sylphiel scrambled at once to do his bidding, as though afraid to anger him further. They piled more wood onto the fire and created a cushioned bed for Lina using pine boughs for the bed and covered it with a blanket pulled from one of the bags. With infinite care, Milgazia knelt and laid Lina down on the bed, then stripped off his own bloodied cloak and tucked it around her neck, bundling her as he would a babe. While Amelia and Sylphiel went to fetch more water for boiling, Gourry and Zelgadiss constructed a hasty lean-to, to protect Lina from the chill wind of the night.
Milgazia had not once changed expression. He stared down at Lina's unmoving form as Amelia prepared a pot for boiling water, and Sylphiel dug out washcloths and bandages from their packs, dropping them all in surprise when the items, freed from Milgazia's sorcery, reverted to full size with loud popping sounds. It was only when Sylphiel moved to unclasp Lina's cloak from around her throat that Milgazia turned back to Filia.
Filia took an involuntary step backward as Milgazia's glare fixed upon her again. He crossed his arms across his chest, standing tall and firm, ignoring the fact his leg had begun to bleed in earnest. Filia noticed however, and moved forward, hands outstretched. "Milgazia-sama, your leg..."
Milgazia raised his hand, stopping her as surely as a cliff wall would have. "I wish to know why you were not amongst the captured baggage that was taken from our encampment, Filia Ul Copt."
Everyone stared at him, recognizing Milgazia's chosen phrasing as insulting. Xelloss opened his eyes in interest, wondering what else the Elder might say. Filia paled, flushed, then paled again, stammered, then spoke.
"I was preparing the tea after you and the others left, Milgazia-sama...and then that namagomi Xelloss walked into camp, without a care in the world or even noticing that he had been derelict in his responsibility in helping fix the camp!
"He then made fun of my duty in being left to guard the camp, and I told him it was far better than his not having done anything at all. That namagomi then belittled my abilities to defend the camp in the occurrence of an attack, saying I would be able to fight off squirrels with the greatest of difficulty because I was nuts to begin with!" Filia's voice rose in indignation.
Unfortunately, her rage only resulted in a guffaw from Gourry, who naturally found the description funny. Hissing in frustration, she turned to him, fists balled in anger. "Gourry, how could you -- "
"You haven't finished telling me why you were not taken along with our belongings, Filia." Milgazia interjected, his soft voice cutting her shrill one short as surely as a knife blade. "Please do continue your fascinating tale."
Filia took a few moments to recall where she was in her story, then continued to speak. "I told him that if anyone was nuts and had anything to worry about from squirrels, he had every reason to worry, because he was the biggest nutcase in the entire lot of us! Then I added that if they wanted to poison themselves with a namagomi Mazoku nut like him, then the poor squirrels had no taste whatsoever." She turned her nose up in satisfaction at what she deemed a well turned insult. "Then Xelloss had the gall to say that he tasted better than I did!" She turned pink with anger again at the thought.
Zelgadiss sweatdropped. I wonder if she has any idea what she's talking about.
Filia's fists clenched at her sides as she relived her humiliation once more. "Then he laughed! He laughed this annoying and mocking laugh and I just couldn't take it any more! I had to defend my pride! So I attacked him, and he only laughed harder, accusing me of having a holier-than-thou attitude! He didn't even have the decency of sitting still and letting me vent my wrath, and to make things worse, he began to sing!"
Milgazia raised one eyebrow. "Sing?"
Filia stomped her foot, her tail popping out of her skirt, causing Milgazia to blink once in surprise. "Yes, Milgazia-sama, he sang! Sang the most insulting song ever composed! Nothing I did would make him shut up! So I decided to chase him out of the camp and have him leave me in peace!"
Milgazia's eyebrows both raised, disappearing into his bangs. "You decided to leave the camp."
"Yes! Xelloss was being insufferable -- "
"What you have done was insufferable!"
Milgazia's voice cracked like a whip, startling them all. Filia stared at the Elder in shock, the realization that he far from approved of her actions hitting her like water from the arctic north.
Milgazia loomed over her, though he had not moved from where he had risen in front of Lina's makeshift cot. His fists were clenched at his sides, and his eyes flashed with rage, his fangs bared and showing. Filia shrank back from him, sensing his fury, seething and dangerous. "You have completely disregarded your responsibility to the camp and the group! You were bid to stay here and guard the encampment! Yet, at the most minor, most childish of reasons, you abandon your post and seek retribution for your injured pride!"
Filia paled, her eyes glittering with tears. "But Xelloss -- "
"I care not about his part in this." Milgazia cut her off. "His actions are his to claim. Yours are your own. You have your own will your own decisions to make. You could have chosen to ignore everything that Xelloss said, and acted as is befitting a Priestess of the First Order. But no, you did not behave as a Priestess, you chose to act like a child, irresponsibly and irrationally! You chased after Xelloss, to drive him out of camp, to leave you in peace, you claim. Why did you not return?! We were all gone a goodly while, long enough for bandits to have stolen nearly all our belongings and ravage our shelters for the night!
"They stole everything -- our packs, our bedding, even the food that Sylphiel had begun to prepare! And worst of all, they stole Val, helpless in his egg!"
Filia's eyes widened, realizing that Val could have been eaten, or worse. "I-I...I didn't think -- "
"That," Milgazia grated, "is exactly the problem. You did not think. You didn't stop to consider the consequences of your actions. Did Lina not say that this land was filled with bandits? If we had believed that we were safe, why did we post you as a guard? I realize too late as well, what a grievous mistake that decision was.
"I realize too, that perhaps we were wrong in believing that you could be entrusted with such a responsibility. I had believed, because you are a Priestess of Karyu-oh Valbazaard, you could be entrusted to do your duty, as you were trained to do. Perhaps your abilities as priestess and as a Ryuzoku are not what we thought, if you could not handle such a simple deed. What if more momentous decisions were needed to be made by you? As it is, your decision has landed us in disaster!
"I chased after the bandits, fearing that you and Val were in the gravest of danger, Lina joining me in that fear. I feared that I had failed my duty to you and Val, feared that you were imprisoned, injured, or worse, dead. She aided me in tracking, and I was fortunate that she did, for if she had not been with me, if she who hunted bandits so well was not with me, it was likely that the bandit sentries would have caught me unawares and perhaps killed me with a lucky strike from behind. Immortal we might be, Filia, but we can be slain!
"It was sheer luck that we were able to find all our belongings deep within the bandit fortress -- "
"Wait a sec, did you say bandit fortress, Milgazia?!" Gourry blurted, interrupting the Elder in his shock and alarm.
"Yes, I did." Milgazia gestured at himself. "They were unlike any bandits Lina had seen, she said. They were skilled, disciplined...unified and more than able to work in a group with military precision. Their fortress was very well controlled, and a labyrinth of corridors and rooms. It was deep within their domain that we found our belongings -- it seemed that they intended to divide the spoils after they'd had eaten. But now I wonder if they had let us into the labyrinth and allowed us to find our things, to see what we were after. They did not attack us in earnest until after we'd retrieved our packs." Milgazia's eyebrows knit in thought, then they suddenly flashed in anger.
"They shot at us with poisoned arrows. Lina was struck first; she had been leading the way. I would have helped her but she commanded me to defeat the bandits who barred our way first. Then too I was struck, by the venomous darts. I managed to cast a powerful fire spell that emptied the corridor and caused any other bandits to retreat. Lina refused to let me heal her poisoned wound, or remove the poison from her blood, saying that her elder sister had trained her body to develop immunity to poison, and to heal her of it would only worsen the reaction of her body to the venom. Weakened by her own immune system, she could barely stand, and urged me to leave her behind and seek Val and Filia within the depths of the labyrinth.
"Yes, Filia," Milgazia hissed, hearing Filia's gasp of surprise and horror. "Lina told me to abandon her to her fate and rescue you and Val. I would not. How could I have done such a thing? It was logical, and her reasoning true, that she would have hindered me. But I am not human, and am not limited by the things that limit humans. How could I abandon a comrade to seek those who were captured? I did no such thing in the Kouma War, and I would not start now. I carried her as you saw me carrying her, balancing her atop my arms when I needed to cast a spell. In return, she were the eyes in the back of my head. I protected her as best as I could, taking whatever was shot at us, when we were ambushed. We discovered that we'd been lured into a trap, one meant to destroy the Bandit Killer, Lina Inverse.
"In her rage, Lina cast a too-powerful fireball and collapsed the ceiling upon us. It brought down nearly half the fortress, and it was fortune that kept us from being buried alive as well. Whatever deity was watching over us favored us still, for the room we found ourselves in was the kitchens. While I healed myself of various wounds -- Lina had to remove two arrows from my shoulder and one from my side -- she found Val's egg, toasting in the oven with some bread.
"So you see, Filia, you nearly lost the child you swore to protect with your life. He who you would raise in atonement for the sins of your clan, you nearly lost through the sin of your hubris." Milgazia dropped the accusation upon her like a mountain from the heavens.
"Because of your pride, you nearly cost us all three lives. Mine, Lina's and Val's. Val's death would have been all the more tragic, to be slain before he was born, he who was given a chance most of us have not the blessing to have, to live his life once more, starting anew as an innocent! He is the last of his race, the last of his people, who were slain by your kinsmen in their wounded pride and fear!
"You came very close to finishing what your clan has done."
With a cry of anguish, Filia sank to her knees, trembling with the weight of the consequence of her actions. She clutched her head, and let out a wail of denial and horror.
The Dragon Elder stepped forward until she was cowering at his feet, watching her with eyes that burned with the coldest of fires: contempt. "You told us in Council you wished to atone, that you wished to be the retribution for the sins of your people. You told us that you desired, above nothing else, to raise Val in peace and amongst the mortal races, to raise him so that he would grow up without the predjudice of the deathless for those with short lives. You claimed that you wished to end within you the predjuce and the hate that blinded your people, the elders of your Clan, that blindness that slew them all. You said that from those who die can you learn the true value of living.
"You have learned nothing, in these past months of journeying. I cannot understand why you have not. I had admired you for your wish, for such a desire, the desire to change, comes rarely and often incomplete, to anyone of any race. I wonder truly if my admiration for you was misplaced.
"I had believed that you could change, as you have the chance still to change, young as you are. But now I wonder if you are too young, still too much a child to bear the burdens of those who are adult. You will bear the responsibility not only for yourself, but for a child, who will rely on you to shape him, to care for him, to protect him. It will be how you raise Val after all, that we will see you atone, to see your dream fulfilled through the Last Ancient Dragon.
"How can you care for a child when you yourself act as a child? I wonder how you attained the rank of your priestesshood, if you cannot control your temper, if you cannot put your pride in its proper place, if you cannot set your priorities straight.
"It pains me to say this, but I must agree with Xelloss, in that you do indeed have a holier-than-thou attitude. It would do you well to behoove his words, to learn from them. You despise him so much, for something that was not done to you, but because of history. If you should hate him, it is because of something he has done that affects you personally. The destruction of my kith and kin should not affect you so deeply, so personally, yet it does. Are they truly your feelings, I wonder, or the intolerance that was hammered into you as doctrine and truth?
"You act as though you believe you were right, without thought or pause, for the consequences, or how they would affect other people. By what criteria do you set, by what measure do you recognize what you do is right?
"You complain about Xelloss' irresponsibility! I would say he acquitted himself in rescuing Lina from certain death!"
Sylphiel looked up from washing Lina's body with a washcloth and warm water, sponging gently the crusted blood from the sorceress' ashen skin. Amelia, who was holding up her cloak in front of the two as a screen, looked at the Elder's shredded cloak and trouser leg. "What happened to you, Milgazia-san?" Sylphiel whispered, distinctly unnerved by the sight of Milgazia's widening wounds.
"I was trying to lead them away from Lina. And I stepped into a bear trap." Milgazia's growl of remembered rage rumbled from deep within his throat. He gestured impatiently at his leg, with its reopening wounds. "It took Xelloss to pull me out of the trap as quickly as he did. If I had to do it, we might have been there till dawn."
Filia looked at the Dragon Lord's bitten leg. Only the fact his bones were so much harder than any human's, had saved it from being torn into two. The muscles were much stronger, tougher, and thicker than a human's but it was only sheer willpower and rage that kept Milgazia on his feet. He was ignoring the pain, and ignoring the blood that flowed from his body. Filia pictured him, lying helpless and in agony, the trap firmly capturing his leg, large, horrible teeth tearing into sinew... she whimpered.
Milgazia gazed down at her, his eyes glittering with their mirrored blankness. "Do you remember that day, after the Council? Do you remember how I chastised those young Ryuzoku, for speaking so rashly to you? I sent them into isolated meditation, to reflect upon what they had done -- judged you as pretentious and unworthy. Perhaps they were right after all.
"Filia Ul Copt, because of your behavior, I, Milgazia, Eldest of the Clan of Rugradia Seiryu-oh, have sincere doubts about your ability to raise and care for Val, the Last of the Ancient Race. Until you have proven to me that you are capable of responsibility and conduct as is befitting a Ryuzoku Priestess of the First Order, and as a person who is about to become a parent, I will take custody of Val."
Filia's breath hissed out of her as though he'd struck her a mortal blow. "No...!"
"Yes." Milgazia stated with finality. "I am Elder, and it is my responsibility, as Elder to see to the welfare of the young of my people. Val is Ryuzoku unborn, and you are not a suitable guardian for him after all."
Filia grabbed his leg in desperation, seeing in his eyes the same sad disappointment and sorrow that had dulled them when he had scolded the young Ryuzoku back in Dragon's Peak. It cut her deeply, salt in the wounds of her humiliation and shame, to be rebuked so publicly and harshly. "No, Elder Milgazia, please! You must give me another chance!"
Milgazia's breath whistled out between clenched teeth and fangs. "Release my injured leg, Filia, if you would please." Horrified, the Ryuzoku maiden released him as though she'd gripped a hot iron, staring blankly at her bloodied hands.
Drawing a shuddering breath, Milgazia averted his gaze; to him it seemed as if it were not his blood staining her hands, it was Lina's. "You have until Val's birth to prove to me and change my judgement upon you, to learn not to harm others so carelessly by your frivolous decisions. If I find by then that you have not changed for the better and enough to placate my standard, I shall return to Dragon's Peak with Val as my fosterling. You may choose to go where you see fit, or return with me to the Valley, and I shall find a suitable matron to foster you. Have I made these conditions perfectly clear?"
Filia nodded dumbly, the light having gone out of her eyes. She gazed without seeing at her blood-covered hands. Milgazia turned his back on her, seating himself near Amelia and Sylphiel, gritting his teeth.
"Amelia, I'm nearly done with Lina... please help Milgazia-san with his wound." Sylphiel asked the little princess. Obediently, the younger woman dropped her outspread cloak to the ground and knelt beside the tall Elder.
"We need to wash it, Milgazia-san. I think that's why it reopened," Amelia said after giving him a quick examination. Gourry stood up and strode over to Zelgadiss, sparing Filia a pitying glance as he passed the crumpled Dragon Maiden by.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Zelgadiss nodded grimly. "Yes, I am, if you are thinking that those bandits will come hunting for us."
The blond swordsman looked appraisingly at their surroundings. "We're too open out here. We'll have to sleep and stay put -- I don't think we can move Lina much if we want her to get better faster."
Zelgadiss thought, frowning as he did. "We can hide them," he said, remembering Amelia's cubby tent. "We can rebuild the tents and camouflage them into the surroundings."
"And we'll stand guard." Gourry finished. "Sounds like a good plan."
"We'll start, shall we? With Sylphiel's tent. You scout out for a suitable spot, and I'll see what traps I can build in a hurry." Zelgadiss told him, nodding decisively.
Gourry returned the gesture. "I'll let the girls know what we're up to."
Like a shade slipping from the darkness, Xelloss moved to join the three. "I think I could help you with the setting of the traps, Zelgadiss... I can easily steal the traps the bandits themselves laid for unwary travelers or adventurers like ourselves..."
Gourry smiled, almost evilly. "That puts them to good use, right? Good idea, Xelloss." He turned around and walked away, sheathing his sword as he went to Sylphiel. The raven-haired shrine maiden was dressing Lina in new clothes, and Milgazia was healing his wounds again. Amelia had been asked to keep Val's egg warm, and she had made a small furrow by the fire to put him in, and was taking inventory.
Zelgadiss eyed Xelloss, then nodded. "It is a very good idea, Xelloss. Let's start, shall we?" Without waiting for an answer, the Chimera turned and walked back out into the woods.
Remembering that, Zelgadiss frowned. He wondered what Xelloss was really up to. He rarely helped them so openly, often abandoning them all to watch from afar how they dealt with matters just when they needed help. Perhaps he merely wanted to cause as much pain as he could, but Zel seriously doubted it was as simple as that. Xelloss had gone, and not returned, and in truth, Zel could not begrudge him that. Xelloss will always do things his way.
Zelgadiss swept his eyes over the camp, finding the tree where Filia had huddled. She did not rebuild her tent, only taken her blanket, wrapped it around herself, and settled into the roots of a large ash. Only the top of her cap showed, and it blended against the white tree trunk. I wonder if she will also keep doing things the way she has always done.
Zelgadiss shrugged philosophically. I think Milgazia would make a better father for Val anyway.
The shadow settled more solidly against the tree trunk, satisfied that the Prey was safe. It closed its eyes, grateful for a well earned sleep.
UWAAAAAAAAAH! Finished! With an hour and a bit to spare. I am a page short of my normal 8 page quota, but the thing is, the chapter is pat. I can't add anything to it without it being destroyed.
Next chapter: The bandits descend upon our heros... will Filia do something stupid to try redeem herself in Milgazia's eyes? What about Lina? What happened to Lina?!
Chapter 12 | Story Index | Fanfiction