It was nearly dawn and she still hadn't stirred. Zelgadiss was beginning to wonder if he hadn't put a bit too much in the Mono Volt. It was a simple matter after dispatching with the rock golems that conveniently cornered her away from the other people who were also hunting for the compass it seemed. It was not so simple of a matter to carry her away from there, not in his current condition.
Barely fit to travel himself and he had to carry an unconscious girl along with him. It was a good thing that one of his many hideaways scattered around the country was within walking distance though the chimera was quite ready to go with Death by the time he arrived with the girl.
If I only knew a healing spell he thought sourly as he carefully rechecked the bloody bandages that covered him. I must almost look like Zolf now.
Lina groaned. She most definitely did not feel well. In fact, she felt rather fried. Cute that. Fried, Mono Volt, yes Lina was definitely in a stable state of mind. And she was tied, hands and feet, thankfully not gagged, but laying face down on a chilly stone floor without her cape or shoulderguards.
"It's no use pretending," said the cool voice which she used to think was really handsome. Well, she still thought it was handsome, it was the voice's owner she was iffy about.
"I'm not pretending," Lina grumbled, opening her eyes. "I was trying to wake up. No thanks to someone."
She glared at her captor sitting across the smokeless fire in some sort of cave. Zelgadiss looked coldly back at her, schooling his face to keep himself from showing any signs of pain from his injuries. As proven in the marketplace, she was not as innocent and naive as her appearance belied. No sense in giving her the idea that she could escape from him.
Lina studied Zelgadiss whose hood and mask were off, most likely because he was resting and not expecting her to wake up soon. He really did have stone-like skin, even if it was blue, and his silver hair looked about as hard. Aside from that, his pointed ears were the only odd thing, pointing to a possible humanoid origin. So put it all together and...
"You're just a chimera."
Zelgadiss felt a mental arrow hit him in the head. What did she mean 'just a chimera'? He hadn't realized until he noticed her staring that he wasn't wearing his hood or mask. Naturally she should be repulsed by his appearance, the fear probably would have made the following interrogation easier. Now however, he was feeling a bit defensive about being 'just a chimera'.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" he asked icily.
"Calm down. I was expecting some hideous monster or something."
And wasn't he that?
"So sorry to disappoint you."
Lina shrugged as she rolled over to her side. She snorted as the chimera reached for his blade. "I'm just trying to sit up. I'll get a crick in my neck laying there looking up at you."
Zelgadiss watched her warily, the tension in his muscles doing nothing for his injuries, as the girl rolled herself up and sort of wriggled her way back to lean against the wall. He didn't worry about her cutting her bonds loose on a sharp stone or something, he had already removed such things away.
"Put your feet where I can see them," he said sharply. Untying her bonds was a totally different matter.
Lina scowled but shifted so her bound feet were clearly visible and nowhere near her hands tied behind her back. Figures that the guy would be paranoid enough. After all, he tied her securely with shrunken rawhide and he had tied her fingers individually. This Zelgadiss was used to dealing with captive spellcasters. Not that she could cast any magic right now but he didn't know that.
"Where are the items I paid for?"
Couldn't someone at least once slip up and just tell her what all the bloody trouble was about?! Lina just glared at him.
"I know it isn't on you. And neither is the compass. Where are they?"
Well of course they weren't on her. Wait a minute.
"You strip-searched me?!" Lina screeched. "Pervert! Ecchi! Hentai!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Zelgadiss yelled back, blushing. Of course he hadn't strip-searched her. He did pat her down for hidden weapons but he wasn't going to admit to that. "Exactly where on you would you hide it?!"
Lina put a clamp on her mouth before she started to say things that would really get her in trouble. So stone boy, she decided he didn't rate 'man' after that outburst, carries principles. She shouldn't have been too surprised given their previous meeting.
"As unlikely as it is, you must have handed them over to the blond carrying the Sword of Light." Zelgadiss sat back, arms crossed, his stony expression back in place.
Lina smirked. "And that Sword of Light is what you're afraid of," she taunted.
"It makes matters more difficult. However, given his admirable intellect - "
"If that's admirable, I'd hate to see what you consider low."
"He'll probably hand them over given the appropriate persuasion."
"You're going to use me as a hostage," Lina said flatly.
"Brilliant deduction."
"I'm flattered."
They fell into silence, the only topic of interest exhausted. Well topic of interest for him anyway. Lina personally had a whole barrage of questions that demanded answers. She might as well cut straight to the chase.
"Why do you want to resurrect Shabrinigdo?"
The look of shock on his face was priceless. And completely sincere. Then it disappeared under his stone mask again. Didn't he ever get tired of that?
"Let me guess, that's what the oh so holy and great Red Priest Rezo told you wasn't it?"
The bitterness and sarcasm were dripping off like melted butter on corn. At least the animosity between the two wasn't faked, Lina thought.
She shrugged. "It's what I've been told. I haven't heard any different."
"Like you'd believe me?"
"That depends entirely on what you say."
For Lina, that wasn't just a saying or a way of mouthing off. Actually, she had a knack for figuring people out if she talked with them for awhile. Rezo, or that person who claimed to be Rezo, had rubbed her the wrong way immediately. Plus there were other little things that led her to distrust him. That didn't automatically make her trust this Zelgadiss either.
"And what would you say if I said I was collecting the items to keep him from getting them?"
For crying out loud, what was the first key?! The statue or the knife?
"Why would Rezo want them? I'll take a chance and assume it isn't for the good of the world."
"What else but for what the keys were designed for."
"You want me to believe that Rezo wants to resurrect the Ruby Eye?"
"Like I said, you wouldn't believe me."
"Are we talking about the same Rezo here?"
"If you mean the Rezo who is one of the five great holy men of the age."
"Blind from birth, therefore studied White magic in order to cure it, wandered the land, dropped from sight ten years ago, and apparently has picked up some Shaman magic as well, that Rezo?"
"You certainly know a lot."
Lina shrugged. She was a researcher, of course she knew about all of the leading mages of the last millennia.
"But you don't know that aside from White and Shaman, he's learned Black as well."
Whoa, whoa, whoa. And he can still cast White?
"He's made several unique high level spells with that combination."
Oh that is so not good.
"So then, why would he be doing this?"
Zelgadiss looked into the dancing flames of the fire between them. "I wasn't very sure myself how this had anything to do with what he wanted. But I'm pretty sure now that he's made some sort of deal with the Mazoku."
"EH?!"
Mazoku, the spawn of the Ruby Eye Lord and ultimately his loyal, if not chaotic and independent, servants who were known by everyone two years old and up as demons that feasted on human fear. Lina's mind was spiraling as she processed that a holy man would make a pact with the Mazoku. Talk about opposing parties.
"How did you learn that?" Lina blurted out. Actually, it was only supposed to be a thought.
Zelgadiss continued to stare at the fire. "Because he appeared with one to eliminate me and my men."
Lina cringed, he sounded very sad. Wait, that mummy man isn't here. So then...
"How..." Lina's question caught in her throat, unsure of how to ask.
"The Mazoku was led to where I was staying by Rezo. He paralyzed my two men and myself before using a Blast Bomb to explode the building."
"Blast Bomb?! The most powerful Fire Shaman spell created by and only castable by Lei Magnus, Blast Bomb?!"
"You certainly seem to know a lot."
"You were attacked by Lei Magnus?"
Zelgadiss almost fell over. "If I was attacked by Lei Magnus who is also the Demon King of the North would I be here right now?"
Lina laughed weakly. "Well, he is the only person capable of casting that." Lina knew that quite well, heck even she couldn't cast it.
"That Mazoku seemed to have some magical talismans. Perhaps amplifiers."
Well, that would work too.
"But how did you survive then?"
"Zolf used a spell to break the floor at the last moment, I was already falling when the the first orbs exploded and I suppose it was only luck after that that I survived."
Luck nothing. He had to have a deal with death. Each orb from a Blast Bomb was enough to completely vaporize even a person's bones.
"So then the other two you mentioned...I should have kept my mouth shut."
"Probably."
"Hey," Lina's eyebrow twitched. Still, he couldn't have been attacked too long ago. "You're looking remarkably healthy for someone whose had a near brush with death."
"I'm well enough to deal with you."
Lina was about to retort but her stomach made a loud call for attention. The two sweatdropped.
"Guess I'm a little hungry," Lina laughed nervously.
"I don't believe this."
"What's so unbelievable about being hungry?" she snapped. "I missed dinner because of you."
"Thirsty too?" he asked sarcastically.
"Naturally."
"Hmph."
Zelgadiss stood up, belting on his sword and taking Lina's as well.
"Hey! Where are you going with that?"
"To look for your partner," Zelgadiss replied shortly, stamping out the fire. "Be a good girl and just stay here. You can't break those bonds and you certainly won't be able to escape far otherwise."
"You're going to just leave me here!?"
"You'll only be a burden since I don't trust you not to attack me and of course you probably don't have any magic so to speak of because, based on your performance against those golems, it's apparently that time of month." Zelgadiss turned to hide his blush.
"Does every single guy in the world know about that?" Lina screamed.
"And don't bother screaming for help either," Zelgadiss warned her as he stepped out. "Rezo probably had spies on you and they'll come searching. You're in no condition to deal with them."
Knowing how dumb Gourry could be, Lina sincerely doubted he would suddenly appear now to rescue her. And of course, following that train of thought, she didn't think Zelgadiss would find Gourry either. At least, not within one day.
Well worrying about Gourry was pointless. She needed to worry more about how she was going to get out of this. It was nearing late afternoon and she still hadn't managed to work a hand or foot out of the ties yet. There wasn't anything sharp against which she could cut the rawhide strips and nothing to burn them with either.
If only Zelgadiss had been careless enough to perhaps overlook the knife in her boot or maybe leave her cape on the ground so she could take out one of the many things stashed in it, she could be free as a bird now. But noooo, he had to put them all up on a high ledge that she couldn't reach. Damn it, was there anything he didn't think of?
Lina wriggled her way near the entrance, not to escape but to bask in the warm afternoon sun. That cave was chilly.
She sighed glumly. As long as Zelgadiss didn't have the compass and whatever the hell the first key is, then he wouldn't kill her. And as long as she was magicless, or nearly so, she didn't have a chance against either him or Rezo. Caught between them and whatever personal grudges they held, she'd have to side with someone sooner or later.
The resurrection of Ruby Eye was a bad thing, mildly speaking. If nee-chan ever found out that Lina had let that happen, now that was a very bad thing. Right off, Lina knew she didn't trust Rezo, whether or not what Zelgadiss accused him of was true. Now whether to trust Zelgadiss and how far so.
Though he tried to hide it, Lina could tell that he was pretty badly hurt from the way he tried not to move and the way his clothes bulged oddly because of the bandages underneath. That and his real sorrow gave credence to him and his men being attacked. Seeing as how Rezo wanted to have Gourry kill Zelgadiss at the market, she wasn't stretching her imagination to see Rezo attempting to finish that task later.
And Rezo certainly knew a lot of things that perhaps he shouldn't have. For example, how to cut Zelgadiss and that Gourry was carrying the Sword of Light. And Zelgadiss seemed to know a lot about Rezo's plan. Perhaps he had some way of spying on him. There was some history between the two.
"Just more questions to ask," Lina sighed. That was all she had to show for today.
Something blocked the sunlight streaming through the cave entrance.
"Well it's about time," she grumbled, ready to give that boy a piece of her mind. "Do you have any idea..."
Lina's voice trailed off as she looked up to not see the white cloaked Zelgadiss.
"Well, well. What do we have here?" growled the wolfman.
Zelgadiss repressed a tired sigh as he approached the cave entrance. He was tired, he was hurt, he would love nothing better to just lie down, relax, and go to sleep. Unfortunately, that little minx probably wouldn't let him.
Plus he needed to change his bandages which he couldn't do in front of her and he needed some help to tend to some of the injuries. But asking for her help would be more like asking for a knife in the back.
And he hadn't found that dumb swordsman even though he staked out the nearest town where anyone in their right mind would have gone to if they were in the area. Of course, Zel reflected, many people would argue that the blond swordsman was never in his right mind.
Zelgadiss braced himself for a night-long staring contest and a barrage of swearing the instant he appeared in the entrance. Much to his surprise, there was none. And no one.
The chimera quickly scanned the ground for a trail. He hadn't thought she would be dumb enough to actually try escaping as she was. Besides not getting very far, she'd be defenseless against anything she came across. In the dying light, Zel could make out some bootmarks that weren't his. And from the size of them, it was someone much larger than him.
A pang of guilt struck him, he hadn't thought anyone would actually find her here. Of course, it could have been that blond swordsman but if so, her bonds would have been cut and she would have grabbed her things as well. But her cape, shoulderguards, and other hidden items he had found on her were still on the ledge he retrieved them from.
This cave was already compromised, no use in leaving anything behind. With her things under one arm, Zel began to follow the trail of whoever took the girl. Whoever it was, he hadn't bothered to hide his trail. So either he was very confident, or he was very dumb because he didn't realize he needed to hide his tracks.
Zelgadiss was very thankful that he paid attention to his mother's lessons on tracking, even if it was over twelve years ago. When the overgrowth was too thick to leave a bootmark, a broken twig or maybe a crushed weed pointed the way for him. It got even harder as night fell, even with his night vision.
When was she taken? That didn't matter as much as who took her. If it had been any type of good samaritan, she'd be free and gone with her things. That left someone who didn't want her running free and loose, someone she didn't bother to inform about her things being in the cave. Come to think of it, some of those trail markings were probably her doing. So she wanted him to know that she was taken and where to.
Zelgadiss smirked at the thought of being able to hold this rather embarrassing situation over her head. He held no such fanciful notions that she'd be pleased or grateful to him for rescuing her. If anything, it was likely to be the opposite.
Which brought up the very good question as to why he was going off to save her. He was certainly not in the best of health and by not having the vixen here, Zel could at the very least get a good night's sleep. That was good. On the other hand, there was the chance that she was captured by any one of the groups hired under Rezo and that she might tell them something she didn't tell him. That was not good.
This girl was getting way too entangled in this mess, if she wasn't already working for Rezo. Imagine, it all started when she took something that didn't belong to her from some bandits. Now if fate had worked the way it was supposed to, Zelgadiss would already have that item in hand. He would not be trudging through a forest to rescue the only person he could use to get his hands on both of the keys. Joy.
The trees began to thin and Zelgadiss slowed down. The full moon illuminated a clearing occupied by a large long-forgotten cathedral. Torchlight filtered through broken stained-glass windows and his sensitive ears picked up voices. Including one very defiant and very loud voice he was becoming very familiar with swearing about someone's biological ancestors.
Lina took a deep breath after cursing Dilgear's lineage up to his great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. Oh, and for those who just joined, Dilgear was that wolfman who took her from Zel's little cave. Turns out he was the leader of a group of beastmen who were using this old church for a hideout. Lina, who had not enjoyed being hauled like a sack of potatoes through the woods, was giving Dilgear a piece of her mind, and colorful vocabulary, after he finally took out that disgusting gag.
"Are you quite finished?" Dilgear snorted, not at all ruffled by Lina's commentary.
"No," she snapped, getting a second wind. "Did I mention exactly how tacky that leather armor is?"
The beastmen behind Dilgear roared with laughter. He proceeded to beat the hell out of them.
"Why did you bring me here?"
She was still bound but was currently being suspended from a rope from the ceiling which was tied over her pre-existing bonds. It was becoming redundant.
"Rezo-sama wants the goods from you girlie."
Lina hadn't expected Rezo to play his bad side this soon. Either he was getting desperate, he didn't care anymore now that she had the two keys, or this was a very dumb henchman. She was leaning toward the third choice.
"What are you blathering about?"
"Don't play around. Tell me where the compass and statue are and we won't get rough with ya."
Finally!
Watching the proceedings from a open window high above the floor, Zelgadiss shook his head. That wolfman was stupid enough to just blurt out what the first key was. Still, it didn't look like she was in any danger. Zel settled into the window frame to watch the entertainment.
"I don't have them." Which was true, Lina didn't have them on or with her.
"Is that any way to talk to the guy who saved you?"
"Excuse me? Exactly who did you save me from?"
"That berserker of course."
Question marks popped up around Lina's head. Berserker? Did he mean Zelgadiss? That stone-faced boy?
"Unless you already gave it to him."
"Tell me how I can give something I don't have to him," Lina snorted.
"So tell me where they are already!"
"Hmph." Lina refused to meet Dilgear's eyes, instead looking over the cathedral's vaulted ceiling and broken windows. Wait. Was that?
"Zelgadiss you jerk! What are you doing just sitting there? Get me out of here!" Lina yelled.
Dilgear, and all of his various beastmen troops, quickly looked in the direction Lina was yelling. But there was no one there.
"Heh, you almost got me there, girlie."
Lina gritted her teeth. Just what the hell was that guy doing? Abandoning a poor, innocent maiden such as herself among these vulgar beastmen? When she got her hands on him...
"Any of you have suggestions on making her talk?" Dilgear turned to ask his beastmen.
"We can tickle her."
And exactly what would that accomplish?
"How about filling the room with snakes and other creepy slimy things?"
Actually, snakes aren't slimy. And there was only one slimy thing that Lina was scared of and you wouldn't need a roomful of them to scare her silly.
"That's a great idea!" Dilgear grinned toothily.
"And who among you is going to collect enough to completely fill this room?" Lina remarked, quirking an eyebrow.
They all looked around the high vaulted room.
"She's got a point."
"Stop laughing and get down here Zel!"
"Will you stop that already? We're not going to fall for it."
Dilgear and his men went back to discussing how to make her talk. Lina alternated between yelling at Zelgadiss who was enjoying himself at her expense and criticizing whatever crazy scheme those beastmen came up with.
"Okay, we've got it."
"What, a brain?"
"You'll regret not cooperating with us," Dilgear snarled. "You're going to regret it in a very...personal way."
Lina did not like that look in his face and tried to move away. Not very easy when one's hands and legs were tied. Dilgear pulled out his blade and licked it.
"That is sick!"
"You think?"
"Of course! Do you have any idea where that blade has been? When was the last time it was even sterilized?!"
Everyone sprouted sweatdrops. Lina couldn't help it, mouthing off. It usually threw her opponents off guard.
"Funny. But this blade doesn't need to be sterilized to do this!"
Dilgear swung the blade at her. Lina shut her eyes and braced for the pain. Which never came.
"Huh?" Lina opened her eyes. Dilgear stood before her smirking. "What the hell was that about?"
"Just a little preparation."
Lina looked at him oddly. He had cut...the bonds around her feet? What was he up to?
"I'd cut more," leered the wolfman. "But I'd probably get disgusted. So I'll let Noonsa do it."
"Noonsa? Do what?"
"Noonsa is a prince of his tribe."
Lina reminded herself that everyone here was a beastman. So this Noonsa, prince or not, probably was one as well.
"And he's going to rape you."
"WHAT?!?!" Lina shrieked.
Zelgadiss almost fell out of the window he was sitting in.
"After all, none of us want to do it with a scrawny human. Now if it was a gorgeous goblin or petite cyclops, that'd be different!"
So he's saying she was less attractive than a goblin or cyclops? But if she objected to that, he just might decide to do the deed himself and Lina was definitely against that!
Zelgadiss nodded. Of course, the beastmen would have a different ideal of beauty than humans. Not that that would soothe the girl's ego any. She looked like she was going to explode.
"Hey, Noonsa! Come here!" Dilgear called.
"You have need of me?" asked a nasally thick voice. Lina and Zelgadiss watched the door that was opening, the former with trepidation, the latter with curiosity. A gray fishman walked out.
A fishman?!?! There was no way in hell Lina wanted to have anything to do with a fishman, much less do it with it. It was just a big fish with spindly arms and legs. And the smell!
"Zelgadiss! You get me out of here right now!!"
Dilgear and his beastmen ignored her outburst again as they backed away to give Noonsa room. Gods, they were going to stay here and watch as well?! What was this? Pay-per-view?
"Stay away from me!!" Lina screamed as Noonsa waddled closer. "Don't touch me! Don't even breath the same air with me!"
"What is wrong?" wheezed the fishman. "You should feel honored that I, the most handsome in my tribe, will be dealing with you."
"Handsome?! Who the hell told you that!!"
"What do you want me to do?"
Dilgear smirked. "Rape her."
Noonsa processed that order. Lina hoped that she'd be as disgusting to him as he was to her and he'd refuse.
"You mean...procreate?"
Dilgear scratched his head. "I guess that's the same thing."
"Alright."
WHAT?!?
"Hey,hey,hey,hey,hey!! We're not even the same species!" Lina freaked out as the fishman came closer.
"You are very lucky. Many are the ones in my tribe who would love to have my children."
"That's nice. So go do it with one of them! I'd rather kiss the first person, human person, I meet after this than even shake hands with you!!"
Lina would rather die than...than do it...with this...this... Why doesn't that Zelgadiss do something?!? Noonsa came to a stop right in front of her and Dilgear and his beastmen were leering like no tomorrow. Lina was so terrified she couldn't move.
"Now..." Noonsa looked over her. "Lay eggs."
Long silence.
Longer silence.
Very long silence.
Zelgadiss shook his head and smiled at the ceiling. Oh that had been priceless.
Lina let out a deep sigh of relief. It all made sense now. It didn't make her feel any better about being put in this kind of situation but at least she didn't have to worry about being raped by this thing.
"Uh, Noonsa? What are you talking about?"
Noonsa looked to his leader. "What are you talking about?"
"This egg thing."
"Without eggs, there cannot be procreation."
Dilgear and his goons still didn't understand so Lina explained it for them.
"They reproduce like fish, idiots."
Dilgear and his men(?) facefaulted. Lina hoped that this would be the end of it. That hope was dashed on the rocks when the beastmen fell into a huddle, furiously whispering to each other.
Hanging from the rope, Lina could only grit her teeth, since recent experience proved that yelling wasn't going to help, and glare at the smug Zelgadiss as he sat in the very high open window, simply watching as the beastmen tried to decide what to do now since the rape idea fell through.
"We have it this time."
She could see that blasted Zel smirking. Oooooh, when she got her magic back...
"We'll have Noonsa kiss you. It's been effective before."
"WHAT? How dare you try to steal a maiden's first kiss?!?" Lina shrieked. Looking up, she saw Zelgadiss turning away, his shoulders shaking from repressed mirth. A Dragu Slabu would be too good for him.
"Even if we can't have children, at least we will have this," Noonsa puckered his lips.
Lina sputtered and screamed incoherently as the fishman came obscenely close. Her feet scrambled against the floor to move her away.
"Nonononononononono-umph!"
Dilgear and company watched wide-eyed. Zelgadiss was similarly shocked.
"Deep kiss."
Deep wasn't the right word to describe it. Neither was kiss for that matter since somehow or other, Lina's head ended up inside Noonsa's mouth. She planted both feet on the fish and pushed hard. Fishman went flying into a bunch of his fellow beastmen. Lina was an unflattering shade of green.
"Oh gods the smell..." she groaned.
Her arms were sore from being strung up like a piece of meat. Her wrists were raw from being bound for over a day. Her stomach had reduced its growling to a low rumble but she was still starving, not to mention thirsty. Her body was cold because of all of the open windows. Lina was quite sick of the situation.
How anyone managed to sleep in that kind of position used to be a mystery to her. Now she realized the key was exhaustion. She was just nodding off when the rustle of cloth caught her ear. Lina looked up with a scowl at the fashionably late Zelgadiss.
"If you yell, you'll wake up all of them and I'll leave you here."
A knife appeared in his hand, its blade catching the moonlight streaming through one of the windows. He flicked it through the rope tying her up but, as Lina noted when she hit the ground, not through his rawhide bonds.
"Let's go."
Eh? Lina scrambled onto her feet and tried to keep up with him as he left through the front door. There wasn't even a guard there. Talk about stupid. She tried to keep from shivering as the night air outside was even colder than in the church.
"Cold?"
"I'm just running around without my cape. Why would I be?" she hissed as they ducked into the forest.
"Well if that's all you want." Zelgadiss reached up into the tree where he had stashed Lina's things. He shook out her cape and handed it to her with the shoulderguards.
Lina looked at them and then her bound wrists and fingers. "And how pray tell am I supposed to put them on?"
"If you're thinking of getting me to cut those loose as well," Zelgadiss warned.
"You'll have to do it sooner or later. I need to go."
"Go?" Zelgadiss looked at her blankly.
"Go as in call of nature? I have been captured for over a day without a toilet break. I don't know about you but I do have normal bodily functions."
She couldn't make out his expression in the shadows but decided to push things a bit further.
"Unless of course, you're going to help me go."
Zelgadiss sputtered incoherently.
"So untie me already."
Silence. Lina wondered if he was going to untie her or not. She really did need to relieve herself. And she really hoped he wasn't going to take her up on her suggestion that he assist her do so.
The rawhide strips fell from her wrists and fingers. Lina rubbed the chafed and probably very red wrists tenderly. Zelgadiss tossed her cape to her.
"You can put these on now and...do what you have to behind those trees," he said gruffly, trying to cover his embarrassment.
"Thanks for the privacy," Lina snapped.
Zelgadiss tried not to pay attention to what she was doing as he kept an eye and ear out for possible trouble. They were still too close to Dilgear for his liking plus once the girl was found missing, Dilgear would raise an alarm and probably alert Rezo. In that case, he wanted to be out of here and as far away as possible.
"I don't suppose you're in a good enough mood to let me have my sword back," Lina asked sarcastically coming out from behind the trees. "It isn't like I'd be able to cut you with it."
That was true.
"Fine. And you can have your boot knife back as well."
"Thank you ever so much." She slipped the knife back in its sheath and belted on the sword. "So is this a rescue or a capture?"
"What?"
"You captured me first. Then Dilgear captured me from you. Then you came back and got me. So does it count as a rescue if the person who caught you and got you into this mess in the first place was the one doing the rescuing? Or is it still being captured again? Or is that re-captured?"
"If you're done, we'd best hurry."
"Lead the way."
Zelgadiss immediately began running through the forest with Lina following. He must have known these woods pretty well considering the speed he was running. And was it just her imagination or was he speeding up? Probably just her.
"Hey. Where are we going?"
"As far away as possible."
Did he sound sort of desperate? She couldn't read his body movement when it was taking all she could just to keep him in sight. There was no way she was going to admit that she couldn't keep up.
Of course, he does seem to have superhuman speed. Maybe you should ask him to slow down.
Having him save her was bad enough.
Like you purposely didn't leave him a trail to follow.
Shut up.
The trees were clearing so they were nearing the edge of the forest. Lina breathed a sigh of relief and added a burst of speed even as Zelgadiss was slowing down. She broke out of the woods.
And came to a screeching halt.
Not because it wasn't a road as she was hoping. Not because there was some rabid slobbering wild animal there waiting for her. Not because by some twist of fate, Gourry was there roasting a bear.
But because...
"Rezo!" Zelgadiss spat as he entered the clearing.
Rezo only smiled.
Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Lina looked from one to the other, imagining huge battle auras emanating from them. Zelgadiss looked at Rezo with anger, hatred, fear, and some other things she wasn't sure about. Rezo just looked at them, as much as a blind man can look at anyone.
If Lina had just happened to stumble on this scene, completely out of the blue, she would have pegged Zelgadiss as the stereotypical bad guy. Rezo was oozing self-confidence while Zelgadiss appeared to become more demonic each passing moment. That must be some grudge Zelgadiss was carrying.
"Why Zelgadiss, you're alive."
Rezo opens with a statement of the obvious.
"No thanks to you."
Zelgadiss counters with bitter sentiments.
"If you never turned away from me, that wouldn't have happened."
Here it comes, some big revelation about their past history.
"I never agreed to work with you."
Come on, come on. Why was everyone so set on dragging everything out?
Rezo pointed his staff at Zelgadiss. "I would think the contract was quite...obvious."
Eh?
"And now you've convinced this girl to also turn against me."
Actually, 'this girl' was already doing that quite well by herself, thank you very much.
"You're not getting your hands on any of those keys."
More stock dialogue. Would they just get to the point already?
"And how do you propose to stop me?"
Good question. If this was the real, honest-to-goodness, great holy man of the age Red Priest Rezo, then Lina figured even she might have trouble. Not like you were ever going to get her to admit it though.
Lina cracked a yawn.
"Just hand the girl over to me and you'll get to live."
Not for very long if Ruby Eye is resurrected. Besides, why did Rezo want her? Unless he figured out her little secret.
"I'm not handing over anything."
Hey, doesn't she even qualify as a person? If that was going to be his attitude then...
"I'll see myself out if you don't mind. Hate to be a bother," Lina excused herself turning back to the forest.
"You're not going anywhere." Zelgadiss grabbed her arm and jerked her toward him.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Lina yelled at him as his other arm grabbed her from behind. "Watch that hand!"
Said arm had grabbed hold of her chest but politely found another handhold. Not that that was cooling her down any. When she got her magic back she was going to Dragu Slabu him to the moon!
"Yes, what are you doing?" smirked Rezo. "There is nowhere to escape to."
"That's what you think."
What was Zelgadiss thinking? Oh no. He couldn't. He wouldn't. He picked her up, one hand mind you, and threw her straight at Rezo. Rezo quickly moved aside. Maybe if she wasn't screaming she would have hit him. But since she did scream and he did move aside, Lina instead slammed into a tree.
"...koala," she joked, trying to get her mind off of the pain. Then the tree began to tip. What?
"This isn't the time for jokes!" Zelgadiss snapped, grabbing her from the tree as he ran by. "Fireball!"
That must have been for Rezo. However, Lina figured they had bigger problems on their hands right now than an irate Red Priest. You see, there was a reason that tree was tipping. It wasn't because it was very old, or that it couldn't take the impact of her hitting it. There was this small matter of it being on the edge of a very high cliff.
She could tell because she had a very good view of the drop as Zelgadiss ran alongside the edge of it.
"Watch what you're doing!"
"I'll listen to your complaints later!"
"You should really listen to me right now!"
Rezo pointed his staff at them. "Dimilar Wind."
The blast of wind blew both Zel and Lina off of the cliff.
"Damn it I thought you wanted me alive!" Lina screamed as they fell.
Rezo smirked at the top of the cliff. His right eye opened and peered into the night.