"You didn't finish the story last night!"
Zelgadiss looked up from the records he was poring over. Princess stuck her face right up to his, blue eyes matching blue eyes.
"As I recall, you fell asleep."
"That's because you actually played out Prince Phil's entire speech of pacifism!" Princess huffed, crossing her arms. "So now you have to continue."
"I have work to do, Princess," Zel looked pointedly at the pile of transaction records and trade scripts on his oak desk. "Why don't you ask your mother for a story tonight?"
"I like your stories better." Princess was the very image of stubborn.
Zelgadiss sighed. Ever since Princess was born, he developed a weakness for children. "Okay, okay. I'll continue the story."
"Goody!" Princess scrambled into his lap. "Begin."
Zel couldn't help but smile at her imperious tone.
Zel scowled at the mirror but it wasn't at his reflection.
"Gourry."
"Yes?" asked the prince turning around from admiring his reflection.
"Do you...have to wear that to the ball tonight?"
"What's wrong with my costume?" Gourry asked looking at the light blue and white outfit.
"...you're a jellyfish..." Zelgadiss replied, swatting away one of the costume's twenty odd tentacles. The scary thing was that they all worked.
Gourry looked back in the mirror. "What's wrong with that? I think it's quite a unique costume. I bet no one else will have one like this." Gourry winked at Zel. "And I'll bet no one will expect a prince to be wearing it either."
It was times like these that Zel wondered if Gourry was really as simple as he often appeared.
"Do you have any idea how many things I can do at one time in this costume? I can hold a glass of champagne, several plates of food, and dance all at once."
And other times Zel wondered if it was possible for his liege to be any dumber.
"But you aren't really going in that getup are you?" Gourry asked in turn, using several of his tentacles to point at what his friend and retainer was wearing.
Zelgadiss looked down at the faded beige bandages completely covering his body. Not a single bit of skin or hair visible anywhere. He was dressed as a mummy. If Zel hadn't needed to go along to make sure Gourry didn't commit some act of war during the ball, he would have stayed in his room. It was a fact, one of very few, that Gourry knew well.
"Come on," Gourry's tentacles began to pull at the wrappings here and there. "It's a COSTUME ball. You for one won't be needing a disguise."
Zel batted away a nosy tentacle. "You're saying I should go as I am?"
"Of course. Why else do you think I suggested a costume ball to Phil in the acceptance of his invitation?" Gourry said good-naturedly. "Aha! Found a loose end."
Gourry gave the bandage end a good yank and Zel spun like a top as the bandages unwound. He kept spinning even after the bandages ran out until he tripped over a footstool and fell into the bed.
"You mean to tell me," Zelgadiss managed to say once he was seeing one world instead of two. "That this whole thing is YOUR idea?"
"Mure."
Zelgadiss got up on one elbow to look at his liege. Gourry the Jellyfish and his twenty some tentacles were tangled in what used to be Zel's mummy wrappings. That would explain the muffled reply.
"You know I HATE social gatherings."
"But you always go because of me," Gourry said freeing his mouth. "To keep me from starting a ten year war just because I said or did the wrong thing. Hey, I do notice some things."
The idiot savant strikes again.
"So I thought it would be nice if you could walk around without hiding yourself. No one will notice. They'll just think it's a really great costume."
Zel fell back on the bed as Gourry continued playing in his jellyfish costume. He looked over at Torl who was grooming his feathers.
"Why me?"
A pile of clothing landed on his face. Zelgadiss pulled his court garments off of his face and looked at Gourry.
"Get dressed now. We don't want to be late. Or...do you need me to dress you myself?" Gourry grinned, his tentacles waved meaningfully.
"I'm changing, I'm changing," Zel grumbled.
Lina sat back in a chair, occasionally pinching herself to keep awake. Ceiphied knew how long she had sat here watching Gracia and Amelia choose and get fitted for their costumes for the night ball. She had seen them in some of the most outrageous outfits. Gracia as a ballerina, Amelia as a starfish, just to name two.
"A masquerade ball..." Lina muttered. "That's going to give security detail a headache."
It was going to give her a headache. Bad enough she had to watch over two princesses who didn't act very much like princesses but now they were going to be costumed and masked with hundreds of other costumed and masked people. And when a person wore a mask, it often changed how the person would act. A mask could remove fear, remove inhibitions, make someone act as someone else.
To put it simply, a masquerade ball was a perfect brewing pot for deception.
And lucky Lina got to sift through it all. She groaned.
"Miss Lina! How's this costume?" Amelia chirped. She twirled on her toes in the black leather halter top and hot pants. In addition she wore black leather boots that reached halfway up her thigh and gloves that came up past her elbows. Her brow was crowed with a golden star.
"Isn't that a little...old for you?" Lina asked.
Amelia pouted. "I'm sixteen!"
"Sorry. Forgot. Sure if you like it you can wear it," Lina dismissed with a wave of her hand. Looking at these two with their fully developed figures was depressing.
Amelia huffed and stomped back behind the changing curtain. "You know, Miss Lina, you should be choosing your costume right now."
"I'm not wearing a costume, Amelia."
Amelia stuck her head out from behind the curtain. "But Miss Lina it's a MASQUERADE ball. You have to be dressed up."
"I'll be sitting in the rafters watching over you two," Lina replied. Maybe she should mark the two with a tracer visible only to her to make it easier to follow them. She was sure she learned a spell like that sometime ago. "No one is going to see me."
"Father said you're our governess not our bodyguard," Amelia answered back, looking at the newest costume she tried on. "You have to be in the ball and THAT means you have to be wearing a costume."
"Fine. I'll be a traveling sorceress," Lina snorted. "And just what are you supposed to be now?"
Amelia struck a justice pose in the white, half-armored short dress she was wearing. "I am the Shooting Star Peaceman White!" Amelia giggled in delight. "This is going to be my costume for tonight!"
"Oh brother," Lina muttered, rolling her eyes. "And has Gracia chosen her costume yet?"
"O-HOHOHOHO!" Gracia laughed, bouncing into the room from the neighboring soundproof chamber. Clamping her hands over her ears, Lina could see that all of Gracia's servants were wearing earplugs. A good, if not necessary, precaution. "Tonight the world will tremble at the power of the great Naga the White Serpent!"
Amelia and Lina fell to the floor. Gracia was wearing the same black bikini and cape.
"Gracia-nee-sama," Amelia whined. "Can't you choose something less..."
"Showy? Trampy? Revealing?" Lina suggested.
"Trampy? O-HOHOHOHO! Everyone is jealous of blinding beauty such as mine!" Naga laughed.
Someone was blinded and it wasn't by beauty, Lina thought sourly.
"However, such insolence cannot be tolerated! Freeze Arrow!"
The arrow of ice hit and melted away on Lina's magic shield.
"Please stop fighting," Amelia pleaded at the two. "And Miss Lina you have to wear something other than what you usually wear."
"And what's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
"It's not a costume," Amelia explained patiently, digging through the costumes thrown all around her chamber. "How about this?"
"What is it?" Lina asked as Amelia turned around to show a glittering white dress with layers of transparent film and feathers. In addition there were matching hair clips of feathers and ribbons along with a mask of sequins and feathers. Lina's throat went dry. "Where did you get that?"
"Isn't it lovely?" Amelia beamed holding up the delicate dress. "It's the costume of the Swan Princess. I've always loved that story. A beautiful princess is turned to a swan by the evil sorceress that loved a prince who loved the swan princess. Even after the prince broke the spell, the evil sorceress wouldn't leave them in peace so the prince and princess committed lovers' suicide. I hope I find a love like that someday."
Lina could only stare at that dress. She hadn't seen one like that ever since...well, the first and up until now last time she ever went to a masked ball.
"Where...did that come from?" Lina asked again, her voice shaking slightly.
Amelia shrugged and dug around some more until she found the box it was kept in. "Hey, actually this was addressed to you, Miss Lina, from your sister. This is amazing. How did your sister know there was going to be a masquerade tonight?"
Lina buried her face in her hands. What didn't Nee-chan know? Gods, that meant that this costume wasn't similar to the one she wore before, it was probably the very same one.
"Amelia, look at the time!" Gracia snapped, becoming serious for once. "We're supposed to be downstairs at the great hall to greet the guests with father!"
"Oh no. Miss Lina, we'll see you at the ball later then!" Amelia waved good-bye as she was hauled off by her older sister.
Lina went over and picked up the white dress. A single tear slid down her cheek.
"Are you trying to tell me something? Nee-chan."
"Why Gourry that's an absolutely amazing costume!" Prince Phil boomed, shaking as many of the prince's tentacles as possible. His daughters were shaking the ones left over.
"I'm glad you accepted my idea," Gourry smiled back and bowed to the princesses. "Would it be too forward of me to ask a dance with each of these two lovely princesses?"
Amelia blushed and nodded.
Gracia laughed. "O-HOHOHO! Who would not wish to dance with the great Naga? But I will promise that you may claim the first dance with me."
Zelgadiss hid his wincing when he bowed to the crown prince and his daughters. That laughing was hard on his sensitive ears.
"And yet another outstanding costume. What are you supposed to be?" Prince Phil shook Zel's hand.
"A chimera," Zel smiled ironically. This was no costume.
"And so realistic," Amelia added. "Your skin really does look like stone."
"That's because it is - itai!" Gourry rubbed the tentacle Zel had stepped on.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Forgive me for asking but your voice sounds familiar but I can't just place where..." Prince Phil turned his head this way and that as he looked at Zel.
"I am Prince Gourry's retainer," Zel informed Phil coolly.
"The one in the silver cloak and the falcon," Phil hit his fist into his hand. "So that's why you didn't remove your hood. You spent so long on that costume that you didn't want to ruin it before the ball!"
Zel sweatdropped.
"So after the ball, we'll get to see what you really look like?" Amelia asked politely. She still had eyes for Prince Gourry but his retainer was pretty handsome as well.
"O-HOHOHO! That's a magical disguise if I don't miss my guess," Gracia poked Zel's stiff hair. "He probably was testing it early and got stuck in it."
"Well then," Prince Phil slapped a heavy hand on Zel's shoulder. "I'll grant you full access to the kingdom's magic lore to help you break that magical costume of yours. But tonight, it's time for fun!"
Zel wasn't sure what to think about the assumptions the trio just made up but it suited him quite well if they continued to think that way. Less questions would be asked later.
"I don't see your governess here," Zel noted.
"Miss Lina is still getting dressed," Amelia smiled. "She'll be down soon. I'll make sure she knows you were asking for her."
Zel was about to protest but just dropped it. It would be just as well if she came to him. There were quite a few things he wanted to ask her.
"Achoo!" Lina sneezed. "Someone must be talking about me."
She looked at the costume spread over her bed in the room given to her by Prince Phil. Since Nee-chan sent it, she wanted Lina to wear it. Lina however had her own reasons to not want to wear it. Long buried painful memories were one reason.
"I could just go as I am," Lina thought aloud. "Nee-chan will probably not be here."
"Absolutely not!"
"Who's there?!" Lina snapped, a fireball already in her hand.
A head of long blonde hair poked out of the mirror on Lina's dresser. "You absolutely cannot go to a ball dressed like that!"
Lina's fireball died in her hands as she stared at the super-deformed blonde girl in a pink dress with white cloak and cap pulled herself out of Lina's mirror.
"And just what are you?" Lina asked, poking to see if the girl was real.
"Hey! Don't touch me there! I'm ticklish!" laughed the SD girl. She turned around to show off a pair of fairy wings. "I'm a fairy. Or more precisely, I'm your fairy godmother. My name is Filia."
"And since when, Filia, did I ever have a fairy godmother?" Lina looked at the fairy. "You certainly don't look old enough."
"She's right," spoke up a deep voice with seductive hints. "You're way too young for this assignment."
"Xelloss!" Filia shrieked a gold tail popping out from under her dress.
Lina suddenly felt a small weight on her shoulder. Standing there was a super-deformed man with short purple hair holding a wooden staff. On his back were also a pair of fairy wings.
"And what are you supposed to be? My fairy godfather?" Lina asked dryly.
"Only if you want me." Xelloss cuddled Lina's head.
"Leech!" Lina punched the fairy into the floor. "Why do I all of a sudden have fairy guardians popping out of the woodwork?"
"Sore wa himitsu desu," Xelloss grinned as he re-inflated parts of his body.
"Namagomi," Filia grumbled. "But unfortunately, he's right. I'm here to help you but you don't need to know why. So butt out Xelloss. I'm handling this."
"I don't think so. You're one thousand years too young to deal with a cherub like Lina-chan here."
"And since when does the High Fairy assign a male fairy to a female client, you old geezer?" Filia blew a raspberry at Xelloss.
"Seniority has its advantages," Xelloss replied in kind.
"Are you some kind of pervert?"
Xelloss smiled.
"You dirty old namagomi!!" Filia whipped out a mace from under her pink dress and began chasing Xelloss with it. "Stay still so I can hit you!"
Lina rolled her eyes to the ceiling and counted to ten as the two chased each other around her. "That's enough!"
The two fairies stopped.
"What are you doing here?" Lina glared at the two of them.
"To get you presentable for the ball," Xelloss murmured. "I would think that much was obvious."
"I don't need any help."
Xelloss and Filia looked at Lina's tunic and pants attire. "Doesn't need help she says."
"What you need is a full ballgown with lots of lace and ruffles," Filia advised, causing her blue amulet to glow as she cast her spell.
Lina found herself in a multi-layered wide hoop pink ballgown with lots of lace and ruffles along the bodice and skirt. Her long hair was clean and glossy, pinned up with diamond clips and a gold tiara. In one satin gloved hand, she was holding an ivory fan.
Xelloss rolled in the air laughing. "You call THAT a costume? She looks like she stepped out of a fashion plate...two centuries back or something! What is she supposed to be?"
"A princess," Filia huffed.
"In a masquerade ball half-filled with royalty and you have her dress as a princess? How about something that will really stand out?" Xelloss grinned evilly and pointed his staff at Lina.
No smoke, no lights, no fireworks but Lina found her clothes had changed again. Now she was wearing a slinky strapless tight black dress and spiked heels. Instead of being pinned up, her long red hair now hung free but she could feel it all the way down her back. Whirling to look in the mirror, Lina realized that not only did the back of the dress drop way down, there was also a slit almost up to her hip on the side. Seen through the slit was a black and white lace garter that matched the choker around her neck.
"There is NO WAY I'm going down like this!" Lina snarled.
"But it's soooo sexy," Xelloss crooned.
Filia whacked him with her mace. "It's INDECENT!" And she changed Lina back into the pink ballgown.
"Don't be such a prude," Xelloss laughed, switching Lina back into the black dress.
"Prude?!" Filia shot out a laser breath, searing part of the wall. She aimed her mace, glowing with magic, at Lina.
"Not that this time!" Xelloss threw a bolt of magic at the same time.
Lina looked at the resulting pink slinky gown with black ruffles along the slit. "You two are crazy."
"No, just her," Xelloss said gleefully, sitting on Filia's head.
"NAMAGOMI!" Filia flew after her fellow fairy, swinging her mace and shouting obscenities.
"Great." Lina threw up her hands. Those two had changed her clothes into the pink dress and she didn't have any other clothes with her. Looking at the two bickering fairies, Lina decided now would not be a good time to ask for them to change her back.
And the masquerade had already begun.
"I'd better get down there before Gracia attacks another royal dignitary or Amelia trips one into the punch bowl." Picking up the white feathery dress, Lina stepped behind a changing screen and peeled off the pink and black dress. "I suppose those fairies were good for one thing. All that changing saved me the trouble of taking a bath."
She easily slipped into the white glittering dress with this transparent layers and feathers. Running her hand through her loose hair, she pinned a feather and ribbon hair clip behind each ear. Her sister had thought of everything, even the low winged white boots and fingerless gloves. Adding the diamond choker and matching earrings, Lina walked out from behind the screen, avoiding stray magic blasts from the dueling fairies.
"Can't leave through the door," Lina murmured. "Not with the fairies right in front of it. I don't want them playing with this outfit."
Holding her mask, she walked out to the balcony. The strains of music from the hall drifted through the early night sky. The ball was being held in the next building over. Several balconies lined the wall of the hall.
"Good, I can probably get in without being noticed." Lina glanced back at the fairies. Silently, she cast Ray Wing and flew away from her room and its mayhem to the masquerade ball.
"Isn't this great, Zelgadiss?" Gourry asked, simultaneously juggling six different plates of food as he danced by with some giant centipede.
Zelgadiss rolled his eyes, never moving from the wall on which he leaned. Too many people, too many masks, made his job of keeping an eye on Gourry even harder than usual. How long had he been doing this kind of thing?
"There aren't enough dance partners tonight?"
Zel looked at the person who addressed him. The person, male by his voice, was completely cloaked in black. All that was visible of his face was a beige stone mask of geometric design in which one eye slot glowed red. The stranger held out a glass of wine to Zel in a bandage wrapped hand.
"Drink?"
Zel accepted the glass politely. "Thank you."
"As I asked before, you do not dance?" the stranger asked, waving at the whirling merry-go-round of masks.
"I am not here for revelry."
"No, I suppose not. It must be a very exhausting and thankless job being the assistant and caretaker of the prince," the stranger nodded toward Gourry who was now trying to see how many cat's cradles he could manage at once with an audience of adoring girls. "Especially when you can't show your face."
Zel swirled the wine in his glass. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Not all of us are wearing masks tonight. Are we, Zelgadiss Metallium Graywords."
The wine glass in Zel's hand cracked slightly. "Poor glasswork," Zel said flatly, putting the glass on the tray of a passing servant who was dressed as a salamander. "It is rather stuffy in here. Perhaps you would like to join me on one of the balconies?"
The stranger inclined his head. "A lovely suggestion."
Zelgadiss let the stranger lead the way. He didn't trust this man at all, if he was even really human. Outside of his family, only Gourry knew that Zel's mother was a Mazoku and that Zel was a chimera. This person knew more about Zel than everyone else present other than his prince.
Outside, the clear starry sky was a welcome relief from the noisy busy dance hall. Zel breathed in the fresh air deeply. Out here, his companion seemed to melt into the night.
"What do you want?" Zel asked bluntly.
"Me? Why I only came to talk. Most of those people in there couldn't hold an intelligent conversation even in their best states."
"Or when they learn that they're dealing with a Mazoku." Zel had no scruples about laying some more cards on the table.
"So you figured it out?" the Mazoku bowed. "Zeigram of the Mazoku."
"As I asked before, what do you want from me?" Zel demanded.
"Simply small talk with an interesting person. After all, it's not every day that you meet a half-mazoku who is also a chimera and serves as the advisor of the second prince of one of the most powerful human kingdoms on this continent. Or would it be more accurate to say that you take care of all of the prince's duties?"
Zel clenched his fist. What was this Mazoku after? The alliance? Him, to get at his renegade mother? To get a foot in the royal household of Emaar? Zeigram knew too much about him. Blackmail would be easy to do. Hell, the Mazoku could kill him even easier.
Zeigram clasped his hands behind him and looked up at the sky. "I just think it is a shame that someone with your abilities should be stuck as a servant, a lowly menial retainer, when you could be so much more...with the right support."
Zel glared at Zeigram. Was he suggesting that Zel seize the Emaar throne for himself?
"After all, at this rate, you'll never surpass your father..." Zeigram vanished as a dagger flew right where he was standing. He reappeared sitting on the balcony rail. "Hit a sore spot haven't I?"
"If you've said all you've come to say, then leave before I call the palace mages and priests down on you," Zel hissed.
Zeigram shrugged. "Yes that was about all. Of course, if I was you, I'd be more worried about when people realize the mask is not a mask. Still, think about. I am always keeping an eye and ear open for new talent. It shouldn't be hard for you to contact me should you begin to see things my way."
Zeigram bowed to Zel. "Such a lovely bird. A swan's wings should be clipped though." And he vanished.
Zel frowned. What was that about?
"Impossible..."
Zel whipped his head around to look at the speaker.
It turned out that finding a vacant balcony was bit harder than she initially thought. Almost everyone was occupied with either some couple telling each other sweet nothings or a clandestine meeting of politics. Lina was approaching the last balcony where there seemed to be two people talking but from the body movements, the conversation was wrapping up. Good, Lina was getting tired of flying around.
Flying closer, Lina stifled a gasp as one of the two, the one all in black, bowed and a voice echoed in her mind.
"Such a lovely bird. A swan's wings should be clipped though."
An image flashed before her eyes, only a week old. Sairaag in its final moments when she and Sylphiel fought desperately against a Mazoku while her sister went against Zanaffar the Demon Beast, rumored to have power enough to rival a piece of Shaburadingo. Lina wasn't sure about that but the beast was definitely strong enough to fight toe-to-toe with her sister. In a last ditch effort, Lina had cast Laguna Blade to try and defeat the Mazoku. At the very last minute, it began to phase out but stopped. Then she hadn't questioned what happened. But as the Mazoku disintegrated, she caught sight of another figure, cloaked in black. However, it was gone in the next moment that she wondered if she had imagined it all.
The black cloaked figure vanished.
"Impossible..." Lina murmured. The same person, then in Sairaag and now here in Saillune. And the person could teleport, meaning that he wasn't even human. Mazoku? Ryuzoku? Maybe even one of the lost races such as elves.
"You're that sorceress."
Lina snapped out of her thoughts. Bad thing that, getting so distracted that a troll horde could walk up and sing and she wouldn't even notice. She looked at the remaining occupant of the balcony. And almost lost control of her flight spell.
Outlined by the soft moonlight stood a young man with silvery hair wearing a silver embroidered black tunic and pants. A flowing silver cloak was clasped over his heart by a red jewel.
"Re-Reilin?" Lina whispered, slowly flying closer.
Zel took a step back as the sorceress drew near. He almost didn't recognize her, dressed as she was in the glittering white dress. She was absolutely stunning, but that wasn't what was at the top of his mind at the moment. It was her eyes that caught him and held him tight. There was so much sorrow and loneliness there.
Lina timidly reached out a hand to touch the ghost and felt smooth stone. That broke the vision. She blinked at the person before her. No, this wasn't Reilin. She jerked back.
Zelgadiss hid a scowl underneath a mask of indifference. People always reacted the same when they saw him. The pain was still there, he was just more used to it now.
"Good evening," he said coldly, perhaps more coldly than he intended.
Lina floated over the railing and landed, all the while studying this person that reminded her of Reilin. Closer to him, she saw that other than the general coloring of the clothes and the silver hair, he didn't look like Reilin at all. It must have been the fault of this dress and the memories it brought back.
"Good evening yourself," Lina replied. By the light of the ball, she could see the shiny smooth blue skin and dark gray blotches of what appeared to be stone. "That's what you look like under that cloak of yours. How did you become a chimera, falconer?"
"So you can see right through my disguise."
"What disguise?" Lina asked, somewhat distracted.
The earlier self-assurance and arrogance were gone. Something, whatever that 'reilin' thing was that she had seen in him, had shaken her badly.
"Everyone here seems to think I am wearing a magical costume," Zel nodded toward the costumed dancers.
"And it's a rumor you're going to encourage, later blaming faulty casting as the reason it won't come off," Lina finished.
"Of course."
Silence fell between them. Zel watched as the sorceress studied him, that look of loneliness sometimes resurfacing. What was she thinking?
"Who was that you were talking with?" she asked suddenly.
"Zeigram?" Zel was too startled to answer anyway other than truthfully.
"Zeigram..." Lina couldn't place the name. "Who was he? What were you two talking about?"
Zel turned away, quickly walking back to the hall. "That's none of your business."
The doors slammed close in front of him.
"You misunderstand," Lina said flatly, crossing her arms. "That wasn't a request."
"I hardly think this is the kind of hospitality that the Crown Prince would want to show to a guest," Zel said stiffly.
"And I don't think Prince Phil would take too kindly to knowing one of his guests was consorting with a Mazoku."
Lina watched his body movement. She was right, this Zeigram was a Mazoku and he was also in Sairaag, probably even the mastermind behind Sairaag's fall. And if Lina didn't find out what he was up to quickly, Saillune could be next.
"What are you two planning?" Lina said coldly, matching the falconer's earlier tone. "To kill the Saillune royal family? To kill Prince Gourry?"
"I would never betray my liege," Zel snapped in spite of himself.
"Then what were you doing with Zeigram?"
"...talking."
"About what?"
"I do not know."
Lina sweatdropped. How can you be talking and not know about what? She said as much to the falconer.
Zel shrugged, reflecting over the conversation with the Mazoku.
"Tell me what was said."
"And what good would that do you?" Zel looked at the sorceress. She changed so easily from arrogant to lonely to...what was the word...ruthless? Yes, that was what he saw in her eyes now. A cold, sharp ruthlessness that he has seen before in himself. "You're a more powerful mage than me but even you can't go up against a Mazoku."
Lina shrugged. "I have my reasons. Perhaps it might loosen your tongue if you knew that Zeigram was present in Sairaag over a week ago."
"So what of it? Mazoku can travel great distances by cutting through their own world," Zel replied.
Lina's head dipped, casting her face in darkness. "He was there shortly before the entire city was destroyed."
Zel paled. "What? How can that be possible? The holy tree Flagon has protected the city for centuries."
"It was a very precise attack," Lina continued, looking out over the castle grounds. "The Zanaffar - "
"Who is Zanaffar?" Zel interrupted.
"What is Zanaffar," Lina corrected absently. "Zanaffar the Demon Beast is the final form of the Zanaffar armor. The armor absorbs magic and will absorb its bearer if he becomes too weak-willed. It is a variant of the chimera process described in the Clair Bible."
"So you suspect me."
"No, actually the connection between you and Zanaffar never occurred to me. The Flagon had been poisoned slowly over the years and its protection to the city nonexistent. Zanaffar razed Sairaag with one breath."
Zel's mouth went dry. "Where is the Zanaffar now?"
"Destroyed," Lina said shortly. "However, the attack was coordinated by the Mazoku. Do you see why I am concerned about Zeigram's presence here?"
"..." Zel looked up at stars but they offered no advice. "I think...he wants to disrupt the treaty proceedings."
Lina rolled her eyes. "I could have guessed that. I was looking for something more concrete."
Zel debated on whether to tell her that Zeigram was trying to recruit him.
"Zelgadiss!"
The balcony door slammed into the back of Zelgadiss. Lina's eyes went wide at the sight.
"Oops, sorry about that," Gourry apologized waving several tentacles. "Things were just getting too serious so I had to jump in. You won't believe who I met."
"Zelgadiss?" asked the shepherdess, kneeling next to the chimera. "Are you alright?"
Zel rubbed the back of his head ruefully. "No thanks to a certain someone. Long time no see, Sylphiel. What are you doing...here..." Zelgadiss could have just kicked himself. Her home was in Sairaag which no longer existed.
Sylphiel smiled sadly. "I've only recently arrived here. But I see you've met Lina." Sylphiel turned to her friend. "Why that's a lovely costume Lina."
"Thanks Sylphiel," Lina said stepping forward. "But actually we haven't been introduced yet."
Sylphiel's hand fluttered to her cheek. "You haven't? Gourry, Zel, this is Lina Inverse."
"Pleased to know your name now," Gourry smiled, waving several tentacles. "You already know me but not him." A tentacle wrapped around Zelgadiss's arm to help him stand. "This is my falconer, sorcerer, all around helper Zelgadiss Graywords."
"Well now I have a name to use other than falconer," Lina remarked. "How do you know them Sylphiel?"
Sylphiel blushed and fiddled with her shepherdess's staff. "Well...Gourry saved me from a pack of brigands. Afterwards he insisted on escorting me back to the city. He was very nice and polite. Not at all like..."
The four turned to look at Prince Phil dressed in dark blue with a big red X across his chest, proclaiming himself to be Bandit X.
"Well, it's nice to know that there is one prince that seems to fit the mold," Lina sighed scratching her head.
"I've been meaning to ask," Sylphiel turned to Gourry. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here for...for..." Gourry turned to Zel. "What are we here for again?"
Zel sighed. "For the alliance between our kingdom and Saillune."
"Right."
"So you're part of the guards escorting the Emaar prince?" Sylphiel asked.
"Sylphiel," Lina sweatdropped. "Gourry IS the prince."
"What?" Sylphiel looked between Lina and Gourry.
"You mean you didn't know?" Lina stared at the white priestess.
"We were traveling as mercenaries at the time, incognito," Zel explained. "Not unlike two princesses who were running around town earlier today."
"Is this some secret hobby royalty likes to indulge in?" Lina asked no one in particular.
"The next round of dances are starting," Gourry said, claiming Sylphiel's hand with one of his tentacles. "Will you two join our set?"
Lina was about to demur until she saw Sylphiel's smiling face. The white priestess hadn't smiled since her father died. "I suppose if there aren't any objections."
"I don't like - "
"Dancing, socializing, or much else it seems," Gourry finished Zel's words for him. "But for once you are going to have fun. That's an order."
Zel grumbled darkly for several moments before holding out an arm to Lina. "What is today? Pick on Zel Day?"
Lina smirked, some of her earlier humor returning. "Perhaps we can continue our conversation then."
"How about a trade? I'll answer one of your questions and you'll answer one of mine. Openly and honestly."
"Fine," Lina shrugged as the music began. "You still haven't answered my question."
"I believe that Zeigram was trying to persuade me to join him."
Lina's eyes narrowed. "Why you?"
"It's my turn to ask," Zel parried. He tried to pick a question from the number that swirled in his mind. "Are you any relation to the Lina Inverse in folklore?"
Lina suppressed a smile. "I AM that Lina Inverse."
Zel tripped and missed a step in the dance. "How in the - "
"Nope, my question. If we're getting into who's who, then I want to know how are you related to Terim Graywords."
Terim Graywords was known across the continent as a fighter without peer and drop dead handsome. Girls would either dream of marrying a prince or him. Still, Lina had been hearing stories of him for the last several decades and he may have gotten married by now.
Zelgadiss's face grew stony.
"Itai!" Lina winced as Zel's grip on her hand tightened to crushing.
"Oh sorry," Zel apologized, letting go.
Lina moved her fingers to make sure they weren't broken. "I'm waiting for your answer."
Zel smiled bitterly as he spun Lina away at arm's length. "He's my father."
Lina blinked as she spun back into Zelgadiss's arms. "You sure don't seem to like that idea."
"Really? What gave it away?" Zel asked, dripping with sarcasm.
"But to have someone that famous - "
"Exactly!" Zel said fiercely. "Do you have any idea what it's like to live up to something like that? To live in his shadow because no matter what I do, my father can do it better? That everywhere I go, people see me as Terim's son and nothing else?"
Oh, she had definitely touched a sore spot. However, Lina could understand how he felt. After all, she was the Knight of Ceiphied's younger sister.
"Actually, I do."
Zel gave Lina a look of disbelief.
"If you don't believe me, ask me then."
"And you'll answer truthfully?"
"That is what we agreed to," she reminded him.
"Fine. How is it that you can understand how I feel?"
"I'm the younger sister of Ceiphied's Knight."
Zel briefly came to a complete stop and stared at her. Then at the angry glares of other dancers, they continued to dance in silence for several minutes. "Really?"
"Hey wait your turn for a question," Lina teased Zel's withering look. "Yes, I really am. Just don't go telling the world and every Mazoku you meet."
"Unlikely," Zel remarked as the music came to a close. He lead her off to the side. If they were going to have any more shocking revelations, it had better be away from easily irritated dancers. "So whose turn is it now to ask?"
"That was a question," Lina pointed out. He glared at her and she laughed. Actually, it felt rather good. Lina couldn't remember the last time she laughed aloud. "But I'll give you the freebie question."
"What are you doing in Saillune?"
"Most likely the same reason as you. To make sure this alliance gets through. The Mazoku wouldn't like humans growing this strong. One of the main reasons the Mazoku haven't succeeded in overrunning this world is because they can't work together. Humanity's strength is that they can."
"The easiest way for the proceedings to fall through would be for one of the main parties to be missing," Zel pondered. "That would be either Gourry or Prince Phil. But a Mazoku could kill either of them easily."
"True, but the blame would need to fall on the other side. If a Mazoku was blamed, it would just unite the kingdoms even more," Lina pointed out.
"So you're thinking they'll manipulate a third party into committing an assassination."
"Assassination or kidnapping. For example, holding one of the princesses hostage unless their father fulfilled a demand, like say not sign the treaty. Though, given Prince Phil's attitude, he'd just as soon go galloping off to the rescue." Lina sighed.
"I can deal with whatever threat faces Gourry. But you've got the two princesses - "
"Who can't be harder to watch than if they tried to be," Lina interjected.
"And the Crown Prince doesn't seem worried at all." Zelgadiss looked at the loudly laughing person in question. And then Amelia and Gracia joined in whatever private joke there was, tripling the loudness and irritation factor. Zel winced and covered his ears.
"Pointed ears can be so sensitive," Lina teased.
Zel scowled and nodded.
Lina took a wine glass from a passing servant. "There are certainly a lot of salamander costumes tonight."
"It seems that all of the servants are dressed that way," Zel agreed, his sharp eyes roaming across the room.
Zel and Lina both looked at each other, the same thought both crossing their minds.
"Oh hell," they swore simultaneously.
"Gourry!" Zel called, searching for his liege.
"Phil! Gracia! Amelia!" Lina yelled, knocking dancers this way and that to plow her way to the royal family, desperation adding a tinge of hysteria to her voice. She felt like she was moving in a dream.
"No one move!!"
But everyone did move, at least enough to see who was yelling. A fox beastman with a patch over one eye stood at the doors of the great hall backed by a group of salamanders brandishing weapons.
"I am Jiras. Now hand over the prince if you all want to come out alive." The fox glared over the masses.
"And what makes you think you have any power here?" sneered a pirate, or at least a man dressed as a pirate.
Jiras smiled and snapped his fingers. People screamed and cowered as all of the servants and waiters leaped high into the air to land along the walls of the room, pointing their weapons at the costumed guests.
"Guns?!" Zelgadiss stared in disbelief. Not just one or two of those rare weapons based on 'science' rather than magic but maybe up to fifty. The bullets could pierce any magic shield, making them great weapons to use against mages, and faster than any human could dodge.
Lina studied the strange weapons the salamanders were wielding. She had never seen them before but the salamanders seemed to handle them with ease. The ball guests probably outnumbered the intruders five to one but try getting a group of knock-kneed spineless nobles to do anything physical.
"Why don't I just Mega Brando the entire hall?" Lina muttered.
"Cease and desist your evil actions!" Amelia cried out, leaping high into the air.
"A-me-li-a!" Lina screamed. "This is NOT one of your games!"
"You who would bring evil to this joyous occasion will - "
CLANG!
Amelia's head collided with a low hanging chandelier and she fell back to the ground on her face. Gourry, with one of his many tentacles, poked her.
"Hey. Hey."
"This isn't over yet!" Amelia leaped up and began flipping away from the jellyfish but slipped on the smooth marble floor and fell flat on her face before Jiras. Even the walls grew sweatdrops. The chandelier, being very old, couldn't take the stress and fell on the second princess of Saillune.
"Oh my god, she's dead!" rang across the hall.
"I think that's a bit premature," Lina mumbled as the chandelier rose, lifted by Amelia.
She heaved it at the salamanders behind Jiras who went wide-eyed and tried to run away but failed. "That is the punishment for those who would sneak into a costume ball without a costume!"
"Amelia, I don't think that's the issue here," Lina sighed.
"And now evil-doer, I will...will..." Amelia collapsed.
"All of those lumps on the head had to take effect sometime," Zelgadiss shrugged.
Jiras sweatdropped but decided not to question Lady Luck. "Take the princess!" he ordered.
"Now wait just a minute," Lina snarled, fire forming in her hands.
"Hold it!" Phil suddenly was standing in front of Lina. "We can settle this all peacefully without - "
"Fire!" Jiras commanded.
A salamander fired his gun at the Crown Prince, hitting him right in the head.
"Father!"
"Your highness!"
"Phil!"
"Aaaaahhhh!" screamed the guests.
Prince Phil lay there on the floor, not dead but out cold with a growing lump on his forehead.
"What was that?" Lina asked as Sylphiel applied a Recovery.
"Guns, but the bullets aren't piercing," Zel noted. "Which means - "
"They won't pierce your stony hide. Good so you can lead the charge."
Zel glared at Lina. "Who died and made you queen?"
"Retreat!"
Jiras and his salamanders with the unconscious Amelia ran out the door as all of the others leaped out of the windows and balconies.
Lina jumped to her feet. "You're not getting away that easily!"
"Try this!" Jiras opened his tattered cape to reveal nearly twenty bombs which he flung back into the great hall.
"Whoa whoa whoa." Gourry caught every one with his tentacles. He looked at one of the round black balls and held another one out to Zel. "What are these? They look like really big burned dumplings."
And saying that he swallowed one.
"Those are bombs you numbskull!" Zel yelled, completely dropping protocol.
A slightly muffled explosion was heard and Gourry burped. "Excuse me."
"What are you made out of?" Lina asked, inspecting the seemingly fine prince.
"Those other bombs are still going to blow. Gourry throw-"
"Aqua Create!" Lina sighed.
A column of water burst up from underneath the second prince of Emaar, completely enveloping the prince and the bombs. Zel's jaw dropped.
"You-you just blasted a prince?!"
"Hey, it was the quickest way to save everyone right?" Of course, it probably wouldn't endear her to the prince, Lina thought. Well, Sylphiel seemed attached to Gourry and...
"Is there something swimming in the water?" Prince Phil asked, rubbing his head after Sylphiel's spell.
Everyone in the hall had a very good view of a blue and white jellyfish swimming happily in the water column with a goofy smile. Gourry waved to Zelgadiss.
"Want to join me?"
"If it's too good to be true than it is," Lina groaned, the fantasy of a charming prince on a white horse shattering again.
"The stories only said a prince had to be handsome and charming," Zel counted off the qualities on his fingers. "There was never anything about being smart."
"Ahem."
Princess jumped and looked sheepish. "Um, good evening mother."
"I though I told you not to bother him when he was working," her mother chided.
"It's alright," Zelgadiss assured, letting Princess down from his lap. "I didn't mind."
Her mother shooed Princess down the hall. "I only heard the last part but it sounds to be a very interesting story. And very familiar."
"You think so?"