"Will you continue the story tonight?" Princess asked, latched on to Zelgadiss's leg.
Zelgadiss walked slowly to her room because of the extra weight. "You're too old now to be hanging on to my leg, Princess."
"But I like it," she pouted. "I won't let go until you promise to finish the story."
Zel rolled his eyes as he opened the large white gold encrusted doors to Princess's bedroom. "I sincerely doubt I can finish the story in one night. However, since it is early there isn't any reason for me not to start."
"Yeah!" Princess cheered and she ran over to plop on the wolf skin rug on her floor.
Zelgadiss frowned at her unruly behavior and pulled up a chair. "Now where was I?"
"Amelia just fell off of the roof in front of the envoy of Prince Gourry. And Lina doesn't know what to do!" Princess rolled over, hugging a stuffed wolf toy. "And where is Princess Gracia? You just mention her and she never even appears!"
"One thing at a time," Zel said calmly, leaning back into this chair. "Now then..."
Lina looked down at the mess below. Terrific. The incognito second princess of Saillune was being accused of being an assassin of the second prince of Emaar. Things weren't going to get any better.
"There's another on the roof!"
Lina hated being right.
"Miss Lina!" Amelia whined with several spearpoints at her neck.
Oh yes, thank you ever so much for telling the world her name.
"Look, this is all a big mistake," Lina tried to explain. "We aren't assassins."
"That might be a little more convincing if you weren't on the roof," remarked the prince's falconer who moved his steed between the potential threats and his liege.
Well, he was right.
"Just make sure that one of your guards doesn't accidentally have a spearpoint where I land," Lina replied wryly.
Zelgadiss smiled under his hood and motioned for the entourage to leave room for the sorceress to land. Assassin or not, this one had spunk. She would have a nasty surprise if she thought they had no defense against magic.
The sorceress landed gracefully on the cobbled streets without the slightest use of magic. The girl in white whined again but the sorceress only rolled her eyes. They were together that much was obvious. As obvious as the fact that this sorceress was quite self-confident and not at all intimidated by the royal presence.
Zelgadiss just hoped the prince would for once keep quiet.
"Why, you're just a little girl," Gourry remarked.
No such luck.
Lina bit down hard on her lip. Getting into a fight with visiting royalty while under the employ of the hometown royalty would not result in friendly inter-country relations. She counted to ten, just like her sister told her to do.
"Please forgive us," Lina gritted, bowing to the prince. "She simply wanted to have a good view of your passage through the city."
Zel looked narrowly at the two girls. Just because they didn't look dangerous didn't mean they weren't dangerous. There would be many factions that would love to ignite a war between Saillune and Emaar.
"So that's why you were on the roof," Gourry smiled. "Let her go," he ordered the guards.
"Your highness," Zelgadiss said in the most civil hiss he could manage. Gourry was so gullible. "We have no idea who these people are."
"Just two girls right?"
Zelgadiss pulled his hood down lower to hide his exasperation. Sometimes he wondered why he kept this stressful position.
Amelia immediately scrambled to Lina's side when the guards released her.
"I'm very sorry about that," Amelia whispered to her appointed bodyguard. "But the prince is so nice."
Lina sweatdropped. She should be more concerned about them getting out of this with their hides intact.
"Well, no harm done," Lina laughed. "We'll just be on our way then." Lina turned around to leave with Amelia on her heels. Two guards blocked their path.
"Not so fast," Zelgadiss said coolly.
"Zel - " Gourry started to say but Zel continued.
"Since you're so eager to see the prince, surely you wouldn't object to traveling with us to the palace."
Lina could see where this was going. If they really were assassins, they wouldn't want to be anywhere near the royal palace. After all, what normal person wouldn't jump at a chance to go to the palace? However, there would be complications, like say finding out the princess running around as a commoner. Lina glanced at Amelia whose eyes were frantically shouting 'no'. This was going to take some thought to get of.
"Unless," Zelgadiss hinted slyly. "There is some reason you don't want to go..."
Gourry just followed the one-sided conversation blankly.
Lina scratched her head. "Well..."
"O-HOHOHOHO! O-HOHOHOHO!"
"Oh no," Amelia groaned, burying her head in Lina's cape.
All of the townspeople screamed and fled, barricading themselves into the nearest building, anything to escape the hideous laughter. Soon there was only Lina, Amelia, and the Emaar envoy in the formerly busy streets.
"O-HOHOHOHO! O-HOHOHOHO!"
"Who is there?!" Zel demanded, looking for the new threat.
Everyone looked up to see the tall laughing woman standing on a chimney. Her black cape and long black hair fluttered in the wind, amply showering off the barely decent black bikini outfit she wore.
"Isn't there any sense of modesty?" Lina winced.
"O-HOHOHOHO! One has no need for modesty when one is the great Naga the White Serpent!"
"Naga?" Lina repeated.
"White Serpent?" Zel asked.
"A naga is a large snake with a human's head," Lina squinted at the stranger. "Exactly how does that fit you?"
"Furthermore," Zelgadiss added. "Where's the white?"
"Silence!" Naga pointed a finger at the people on the ground. "Do you think you can question the great Naga, the greatest rival of Lina Inverse?"
Lina quirked an eyebrow. Last time she checked, she didn't have a greatest rival. Nee-chan, the closest person who could fit the position, already held the title of being Lina's bane.
Zelgadiss studied the newcomer. He had heard tales of Lina Inverse, a black magic user who often left a trail of destroyed towns and bandit lairs behind her. Of course, those tales were about a century old and were mainly told to scare children away from careers as bandits.
"Do you think you can just waltz into this city and do whatever you wish?" Naga tossed her hair back. "Then you will have to deal with the great Naga!"
Amelia pulled on Lina's cape frantically.
"What is it?" Lina hissed.
Amelia motioned Lina to bend over and whispered into her ear. "That's my sister."
"What?!" Lina screamed, drawing everyone's attention. She looked at Amelia, then to Naga, and then back to Amelia. "Are you serious?"
Amelia nodded sheepishly.
"Oh give me a break," Lina moaned, covering her face with her hands.
"You know something about this person?" Zel asked coldly.
"I wish I didn't," Lina muttered. Great. Now how was she going to get out of this without starting a war?
"Watch the power of Lina Inverse's greatest rival!" Naga cried, magic swirling around her hands.
"You didn't tell me she could cast magic!" Lina grabbed Amelia by the collar.
"We both can," Amelia winced at Lina's volume.
"What?!"
"Protect the prince!" Zelgadiss ordered, throwing up a defense shield.
"Amelia, fly!" Lina ordered, casting Ray Wing herself.
"Freeze Rain!" Naga shouted, a sphere of ice flying from her hands down into the street. Icicles shot out in all directions, encasing whatever it hit in ice.
"Did she create that spell?" Lina asked the second princess. After a century, she thought she knew every spell there was, even if she couldn't cast all of them. "Amelia?"
Lina was floating in the air by herself, her magic shield deflecting the icicles. She looked down at Amelia encased in a block of ice and sighed.
"Iced by her own sister," Lina muttered.
"I heard winter comes quicker in the north but I didn't think it came this quick," Gourry said, looking at the ice covered street.
Zelgadiss didn't feel like explaining. The entire street looked like a winter wonderland. All of the guards were now popsicles along with that girl in white who hadn't gotten out of the way fast enough. The sorceress though was floating in the air protected by the same spell that he was using to cover himself and the prince. Unfortunately, that meant that neither of them could do anything. To cast a spell at Naga would mean dropping the shield and risk getting hit by one of those icicles.
"Gra-er, Naga!" Lina yelled. "End your spell now!"
"O-HOHOHOHO! Now do you see my great - "
Naga's feet got hit by an icicle and froze her to the roof. Sweatdrops sprouted. She couldn't even avoid her own spell?
"No one can escape!" Naga laughed on. "There is no way to end this spell. O-HOHOHOHOHO!"
Lina slapped her hands over her ears. "What is with the royal family?" But the glittering ice gave her an idea.
"Why are we just standing here?" Gourry asked his friend.
"Because we can't move or we'll be frozen in ice by that spell," Zel replied flatly.
"Why don't you just get rid of it?"
"Because I'm maintaining the magic shield to keep us from turning into popsicles."
"So how can she be flying and maintaining a shield?" Gourry pointed at the floating girl.
"Because she cast Ray Wing before the shield."
"So what's the diff - "
"It just is!" Zelgadiss snapped.
Lina looked around. There was just about enough ice now for her little scheme to work. It would take split-second spellcasting but if she did it right, she'd be able to grab Amelia and her loony older sister and get out of here before any more trouble started. Positioning herself right above the frozen princess, Lina dropped her shield.
"Fireball!" Lina cast, the sphere of flame larger than herself melting any icicles that flew her way. She threw it toward Naga's ball of ice, where fire enveloped ice and exploded. As Lina had hoped, the heat turned all of the ice instantly into a very thick steam. Perfect cover. Dropping down, Lina grabbed the woozy thawed Amelia with one arm and shot back up out of the steam.
"Cast Ray Wing, Amelia," Lina snapped.
"But..."
Lina grew longer fangs. "Do. It."
"Yes ma'am!" Amelia squeaked.
"Do you think this diversion will trick the great Naga? O-HOHOHO!"
Lina didn't need to remember where Naga was standing. All she needed to do was follow the voice. And she was just sick of hearing that laugh.
"Oh shut up," Lina growled, appearing suddenly in front of Naga and punching her in the midriff.
"That's...not fair..." Naga gasped before falling unconscious. Lina grabbed her. She was stronger than she looked but Naga wasn't exactly light.
"Life's not fair," she muttered, flying swiftly back to the palace carrying one unconscious princess and being followed by another princess. Both princesses somehow managing to get on the bad side of the second prince of Emaar's falconer. "A falconer who is also a pretty good mage. I'm not getting paid enough for this."
Back on the city street, the steam dissipated, leaving behind a rather damp set of soldiers who were going to really need to rub down their armors to keep them from rusting and a magic shield protected prince and his friend.
Gourry blinked. "And now it's summer again? Seasons sure change quick up here."
Zelgadiss shook his head as he dropped the shield. He had figured what the sorceress was trying to do when she threw that huge fireball at the ice sphere. She, her companion, and that Naga were gone.
"I'm going to have a long talk with the Crown Prince Philionel about security when we get to the palace," Zel muttered darkly, signalling the guards to fall into position.
"You were attacked you say?"
Zelgadiss kept a tight rein on his temper. "Yes your highness. In broad daylight, on the main road of your city, only several blocks from the palace itself."
"And what did these attackers look like?"
Zelgadiss did not like the look on the Crown Prince's face. Actually, he didn't like the Crown Prince's appearance period. He looked like a bandit boss dressed up in royal cloths.
"One was a sorceress with long red hair and black cape, the second was a young girl with short black hair in ivory, and the last was a tall woman in a black...bikini."
Zel was glad his deep hood covered the rising blush.
Prince Phil sprouted small sweatdrops as several courtiers whispered among themselves. There were still a few who remembered when his late wife would go running around town righting wrongs in a black bikini outfit.
Prince Phil coughed. "And they all attacked you?"
"No. Only the last one did. However, the other two could have been accomplices to lure us into an ambush." Zel didn't understand why the Crown Prince seemed to be taking this so calmly.
"Hmmmm. Would you like to discuss this in a more private chamber?" Prince Phil asked.
Zel elbowed Gourry to say something.
"Huh?"
"Accept the offer," Zelgadiss whispered.
"I uh accept."
"Well then, please follow me. Prince Gourry. And...what was your name?"
"I am simply a retainer," Zel replied coolly.
Prince Phil lead them away from the curious eyes and wagging tongues of court.
"Let me get this straight," Lina sighed, sitting back into her chair in one of the palace's many libraries. She looked at Amelia. "You're the second princess Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune. You're trained in white magic and some elementalism. You hate weapons, love justice, clumsier than if you had two left feet, and daily ingest enough sugar to make a dead mule go warp three."
"Well, I wouldn't say it like that," Amelia laughed nervously.
Lina sweatdropped and turned to the first princess of Saillune. Princess Gracia absolutely refused to change from that embarrassing outfit nor would she stop laughing. Amelia and Lina had been forced to tie her down and gag her.
"So why does your sister run around in that...outfit?" Lina was using the word 'outfit' very loosely.
"It belonged to our mother," Amelia said sadly. A cloud of depression descended. Lina scratched her nose. Wrong question to ask.
"Ah! Enough with this sad stuff!" Lina whipped out a fan and blew away the dark clouds. "So then what magic does she know?"
Amelia returned to cheerful perkiness faster than you could blink. "She sticks with water and earth shaman spells. She's also knows a few summoning spells."
"Are all of her spells like the one that iced the town?"
"Well..."
Lina sighed. "Can she cast anything right?"
"Before mother died, Gracia was extremely good at white," Amelia thought aloud. "But she hasn't cast any since then."
"Anything else I should know about her?" Lina rubbed her temples.
"Hmmmm...she'll faint at the sight of blood. She tends to drink a lot. She likes hot springs. She's greedier than a dragon," Amelia counted off her sister's characteristics.
Lina smacked a hand to her forehead. "What did I get myself into?"
Someone knocked on the door. Prince Phil stuck his head in.
"Do you mind if we come in?" Prince Phil smiled broadly stepping inside without waiting for an answer. Following him were Prince Gourry and his silver cloaked and still hooded falconer.
"Why, if it isn't the girls we met earlier," Gourry beamed. Amelia melted.
Zelgadiss came to a dead stop in the doorway. Was this some sort of conspiracy?
"Let me introduce you to my daughters," Prince Phil grinned. "Princess Gracia and Princess Amelia."
Amelia curtsied. Gracia, more commonly known as Naga to the present company, merely bobbed her head. She couldn't do much else being chained to a chair and gagged.
"A pleasure to meet you," Gourry bowed in return, bringing Amelia's hand to his lips.
"And the other...?" Zelgadiss tipped his head toward the sorceress.
"Is thankfully not related to them," Lina muttered.
Prince Phil patted her soundly on the back. "She's my daughters' governess! As you can see, you weren't really attacked. It was all a simple misunderstanding. If you had all talked about it, none of this mess would have happened. Pacifism is the key you see. With pacifism..."
Lina rolled her eyes as Prince Phil got carried away with his pacifism speech, with some justice thrown in for variety. She wasn't sure how Naga, er that is Gracia's attack on the Emaar envoy was going to affect the alliance proceedings. Nee-chan wouldn't like it if things went off track.
Zelgadiss looked narrowly at the red haired sorceress. He couldn't say anything about whether the first princess's behavior was normal or not. The second princess's fall in front of the envoy could just have been an accident. Or they could have been manipulated by this governess of theirs. He cast a quick mind-reading spell to see what lay on the surface of her thoughts.
Lina almost missed the cautious probing of her thoughts. It could only come from one person. Hiding a smile, she let the falconer/sorcerer read a thought she wanted him to read, something about wondering what was for dinner, while probing his mind in return. So, he was still suspicious about her.
It was an accident, pure and simple.
Zelgadiss took a step back when the mental probe he initiated became a telepathic channel. He glared at the sorceress who smirked at him.
I can't lie though telepathy. So stop your probing already. Lina shut down the link, putting an end to the inquiry.
Zelgadiss gritted his teeth. How was she able to override his spell? He was the most powerful Shamanist in their kingdom and unrivaled in the use of Astral spells. Who was this sorceress?
"...which is why this alliance between our countries is so vital," Prince Phil said finally, wrapping up his speech.
Gourry, who really didn't follow, just nodded.
"And we are going to celebrate the arrival of all of the kingdoms' envoys with a masquerade ball tonight!"
Zelgadiss paused, looking at the sleeping Princess. "Well, I guess that's the end of the story for tonight."
He picked her up and laid her in bed. Tucking her in, he briefly brushed back the girl's long hair which was the same color as her mother's.