Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Poison ❯ 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Title: Poison (2 of ??)
Author: Tsutsuji
Date written: June 16-20, 2005
Fandom: Slayers
Rating: PG13 - T (safe for teenagers, at least for now)
Pairings: Zelgadis/Xelloss
Original characters: no
Type: yaoi/slash, adventure
Warnings: hurt/comfort, angst
Status: in progress.
Spoilers: no
Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Summary: Zelgadis finds himself traveling alone with Xelloss, and trouble soon finds them when grinning warriors with surprisingly powerful weapons attack them. Who are these guys, and why won't they stop smiling?

Notes: EDITED 7/5/05. A few small changes made to the story, mainly the ending changed to make it fit better with chapter 3.


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Poison, chapter 2
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For the first week it was a peaceful journey. Xelloss was not as bad a traveling companion as Zelgadis had expected. Sometimes while they walked along he talked more than Zel would have liked, telling long tales that ended with a dark twist which he seemed to find amusing, or making rude jokes about dragons that made Zel blush and squirm inside. He hoped he would forget the images Xelloss' stories brought to his mind before he ever saw Filia again.

At other times, though, Xelloss was silent, staring ahead without expression as the trudged along the road. At those times he gripped his staff more tightly as he walked, and seemed to be deep in his own dark thoughts. Zel found that even more unsettling than the stories Xelloss told.

However, the worst thing about traveling alone with an unusually quiet Xelloss was that it gave Zelgadis far too many opportunities to simply notice the trickster priest in a way he'd always managed to avoid before. Without Lina and the others to provide a welcome distraction, he found himself terribly aware of Xelloss' presence at every moment. No matter how many times he reminded himself that Xelloss' human appearance was just a facade, he couldn't ignore the fact that the damn Mazoku was one of the most attractive men he'd ever met. And in spite of all he'd done to make Zel's life miserable in the past, he still managed to make himself likeable.

At times, he thought he felt Xelloss' eyes on him when his back was turned or his attention was elsewhere. But when he turned to face the priest, the most he would get was that familiar bland smile. More often he'd find that Xelloss seemed to be looking at something else, or at nothing in particular. Then Zel would feel annoyed, as if it bothered him more to realize Xelloss wasn't staring at him after all.

For the first couple of days, he and Xelloss passed woodcutters' cottages and the occasional small farm or craftsman's hut, and then civilization disappeared as the forest closed in around them. Each day after that the forest became darker and the road became more steep and winding. The ridge they had to cross had once been the boundary between two warring kingdoms, but all that remained of those times was a crumbling fortress near the top of the ridge, and this one good road that had been made for the swift travel of armies. Numerous gangs were said to roam down out of the hills to raid the villages in the valley, when they weren't too busy fighting amongst themselves. Zelgadis wasn't much concerned with them. In fact he'd rather face the roughest gang of bandits rather than any more "friendly" villagers. He could almost pity anyone who might attack him alone, to say nothing of those who were unfortunate enough to mistake a certain wandering priest for easy prey.

Xelloss picked their camp at the end of each day, simply by stopping in his tracks and declaring that this was the best spot. Before Zel could protest that they could still go many miles before it even grew fully dark, Xelloss would have the campfire going and food cooking. Zelgadis would have preferred to make better time, especially since neither of them needed as much rest as a normal human would, and he didn't mind walking in the dark for half the night.

Each night, Zelgadis found himself sitting down to eat (in spite of previous evidence, Xelloss proved to be an excellent cook). He always planned to get up and continue walking after his meal, but then he'd get caught up in whatever tale Xelloss chose to entertain him with. Unlike the stories he told while they were walking, Xelloss' tales told over the campfire were firsthand accounts of events Zel had only read of in books of lore. With his rich voice, Xelloss told stories of great mages of the ancient days, of elves and of human heroes of the past. Zel couldn't help but listen, especially when Xelloss seemed willing to answer his questions about ancient spells that were only rumors in the catalogs of the Sorcerer's Guild. By the time Xelloss ran out of stories, it was too late to travel on that night.

He began to think Xelloss was slowing down their journey on purpose. He said so one morning as they broke camp, and rolled his eyes at the innocent look Xelloss gave him.

"Zelgadis-san, I'm only trying to make our journey more pleasant, even though I'm quite as anxious to reach Shimeria as you are," he insisted.

"If you have any idea of preventing me from finding a cure..." Zelgadis began, but Xelloss cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"No, no! I never meant to keep you from finding what you seek! It just happened that we were at cross-purposes on those previous occasions. However, I have to admit, I don't know why you are so anxious to be nothing but human. I much prefer you as the chimera you are! As a matter of fact, the only reason I could have for delaying our journey is to spend more time in your company."

Zelgadis gritted his teeth. Trust Xelloss to confuse the issue with something that sounded like a compliment. He wanted to say that he never enjoyed Xelloss' company, but that would be a lie he didn't want to get caught in. He simply gave Xelloss a black glare before he turned away and started down the road again.

They walked much further that day, climbing far up into the hills. Not long after the sun set they reached a clearing, and Zel saw that beyond it, the road suddenly began to climb up a steep, rocky hillside through tangled trees. There wasn't likely to be a better place to camp between here and the top of the ridge, and it was impossible to tell how much further that would be. Xelloss merely paused, looking to Zelgadis to make the decision. Zel shrugged. A few minutes later, the campfire was lit and supper was cooking.

After they'd eaten, they sat opposite each other across the campfire in silence. Zelgadis realized that Xelloss had barely said a word all day. The silence was unnerving, even for one who preferred quiet as Zel did. He didn't care to sit there any longer with nothing to do but watch the firelight flicker on Xelloss' shadowed face and wonder what the trickster was up to.

"Have you ever been to Shimeria?" he asked, just for something to say. "I've never been across the Plain of Shimeria before."

"Neither have I," Xelloss said. "This is the closest I've ever come to the birthplace of the great mage, Shimer. It's not a very popular tourist attraction for Mazoku, you know."

"Ah, yes," Zelgadis said, smiling. "How could I have forgotten? Shimer, the master sorcerer who is said to have killed more Mazoku than any other human of his time."

"So the stories tell," Xelloss agreed mildly.

Zelgadis smiled across the campfire. "I've only been interested in Shimer's reputation as a healer, but there's another shrine dedicated to him in honor of his unceasing war against your kind, isn't there? I wonder, do you think Lina Inverse has surpassed him yet in the number of Mazoku she's destroyed?

Xelloss' smile didn't falter. "The answer to that is both yes and no," he said.

"Meaning what, exactly?" Zel asked, knowing he was only rising to the bait.

"It's true that Shimer himself managed to destroy a large number of Mazoku during his lifetime, as the tales say. However, most were of low rank. At the time, less than a hundred years ago, troops of Mazoku soldiers roamed in the land. It is said that he wiped out many squadrons of them. However," he added cheerfully, "Lina Inverse has the distinction of killing off more of our higher-ranking Mazoku than any other person I know of, as well as a fair number of lesser monsters. So you could say, her score is higher than Shimer's, in a way."

"I see. Shimer never faced a reborn segment of Shabrinigdo himself, and only Lina is responsible for the destruction of at least one of the five great Mazoku lords."

Xelloss didn't seem to take offense at the reminders of his race's recent defeats, but only beamed back at Xelloss across the fire.

"I suppose you have also forgotten who finally killed Shimer, according to the legends?" Xelloss went on in the same cheerful voice.

Zelgadis thought about it. For a moment he couldn't remember, except that the name of the Mazoku lord who'd defeated Shimer was never written down in the books that told of his deeds. He looked up in surprise as the name fell into place.

"I've heard it was Gaav. Is that true?"

"It's what I've heard as well. Even we Mazoku don't know for certain, however. No one ever asked Gaav if he did it. Well, we weren't really on speaking terms with him at the time, you see! We only cared that Shimer was indeed dead."

His voice dropped suddenly into a colder tone with the last words. Zel glanced at him curiously. It had never occurred to him before that Shimer might be a sore spot for Mazoku.

"Was there any doubt about his death?" Zelgadis asked. If no one knew for sure who or what had killed him, was there some chance that the powerful mage was still alive? Could that be why Xelloss was going to visit his shrine city?

"No doubt at all. Some who witnessed his death are still alive, although it was over eighty years ago now. His bones and effects are displayed for all to see at his southern shrine, at Demonend. I saw them for myself just recently, in fact. They are quite well preserved, and guarded day and night by his followers."

All hint of humor had left Xelloss' voice. The fire had burned low, so Zel could hardly see his face, shadowed as it was by his dark hair. But for a moment, he thought he saw the glint of Xelloss' eyes in the darkness.

"What were you doing at Demonend?" he couldn't help asking.

Xelloss glanced up raised a finger in front of his lips.

"Stop! Never mind," Zel said quickly. "Just forget I even asked."

Xelloss smiled. That was the end of conversation for a while.


The attack came in the middle of the night. Zel's sharp senses made him a light sleeper, and his stone skin made him a poor choice for a bandit's attempt at a little midnight murder. He woke up a few seconds before the blade fell, alerted by whispers he must have heard in his sleep. He didn't even bother to move, seeing the blade catch a glint of starlight as it swung down toward his neck. It merely bounced off his skin. His attacker grunted in surprise.

He sat up quickly and took advantage of the bandit's shock to reach out and grab the blade. Showing his pointed teeth bared in an angry grin, he twisted it out of the startled man's grasp.

"Demon!" the man gasped, jumping back. Then, to Zel's surprise, his face twisted in a snarling grin and he dove forward to grab Zel by the throat with both hands. Growling like an animal, he squeezed with surprising strength.

Even so, it took little effort for Zel to pry his fingers loose, bending them backward until they snapped. That hardly slowed his assailant down. The man butted his head into Zel's chest, which broke Zel's hold on him. Rather than scream in pain and retreat, the man snarled again, foam flying from the corner of his mouth, as he took a swing at Zel's face with his broken hand. Zel jerked his head back, and the man grunted when his fist grazed Zel's stone chin, but he was still grinning. He raised his arm and got ready to strike again.

Zel had had enough of him. Sparing no force this time, he grabbed the man by the tunic and yanked him back so fast his neck might have snapped. Zel didn't care to find out. He simply tossed the bandit off of him into the air.

As he climbed out of his blankets and came fully awake, he realized two things simultaneously: the man who had attacked him had not been dressed as a bandit but wore a grey tunic and cloak, and there were several others like him in the camp. Their grey robes were lighter shadows in the darkness, and he could make out at least three of them in the clearing under the thin trees. One was just turning toward him, his attention caught by Zel's movement. The other two were facing off against a very angry-looking Xelloss.

There was something odd about that, but Zel didn't have time to ponder the question. The man who'd spotted him drew a long, gleaming sword from the folds of his robe and started toward him. He may have been dressed like a sorcerer or even a cleric, but he was poised to strike like a skilled swordsman. Zel didn't have time to wonder about that, either. He stooped down quickly to picked up his own sword, and spun around with it just in time to block the other's blow.

Face to face, sword blades locked, he finally got a good look at his new attacker. The man had a thin face, short-cropped hair, and a wide, toothy smile. Bracelets jangled on both his arms, and several talismans of silver and bone hung around his neck. The clasp of his grey cloak was a single white stone, shaped like a teardrop. His eyes gleamed with a touch of madness.

"Die, Mazoku!" he hissed, lunging forward until his face was so close Zel could feel the heat of his breath. Then he sprang backward, disengaging his sword. Zel recovered just as quickly and blocked his next blow, but he was surprised to find this man's was as unusually strong as the first one had been.

He needed to get clear enough to use a spell, but the swordsman seemed to sense his intent and kept him busy defending himself. Try as he might, he couldn't get under the man's guard or knock him away with leaving himself open for a few seconds. The sword seemed ordinary enough, though, so he decided it was worth the risk of letting his guard down in order to cast his spell.

As he did so, he was startled by the look of wild glee in the man's eyes. The man stabbed his blade at Zel's abdomen. Not an elegant attack but direct and possibly effective - against a normal man, anyway. In Zel's case, it only had the effect of knocking a bit of wind out of him as it poked him hard, just under his ribs. It did not break the skin, of course, and he swatted it aside with the back of his hand.

The crazed-looking smile faltered for a second, but then it returned quickly. The fighter's blade whipped through the air with a singing sound as he stepped back a couple of paces, and then he stood there with sword raised, ready for Zel's next move.

Zel feinted to draw his blade aside, then stepped back and began a quick chant under his breath. It took the man a second to realize what he was doing. His eyes widened and he started to rush Zel to interrupt the chant. But by then it was too late. A second later he was flat on his back, staring rigidly at the stars above. A second after that, Xelloss was at Zel's elbow, grinning cheerily.

"Nicely done, Zelgadis! He certainly was asking for it, wasn't he!"

Zel shook him off irritably, and looked around wildly for the other two men. He didn't see them, but before he could wonder what Xelloss had done to them, he heard voices shouting in the trees all around them.

"Now, we've done it," Xelloss said in tones of mild distress. "We've got their attention, I'm afraid."

"It sounds like a whole squadron of them," Zel said, in surprise. He could make out voices from at least a dozen different directions, and saw movement under the trees. Some of them carried torches, and others, it seemed, had activated light spells. That made them visible as well, of course. It was the ones he still couldn't see that worried him.

"Yes, I'd say there's at least twenty of them nearby, and possibly more," Xelloss said, as if he was observing the weather. "And if I'm not mistaken, we're surrounded as well."

Zel could tell he was right. His sensed at least twenty, and several of them were about to break into their tiny clearing from either side.

"Damn! Who are they, anyway?"

"You might as well ask them," Xelloss said, as the first of many grey-robed warriors burst through the trees. Two were on his side, of the clearing, three more on the other, and many more close behind. Each one wielded a sword, mace, or spear, and they were all smiling with horrible glee.

"Die, Mazoku!" one of them shouted as they surged forward. Several others echoed the cry.

Without thinking, Zelgadis turned so he was back to back in a defensive stance with Xelloss. He began to chant another spell as Xelloss raised his staff.

They were quicker than he expected, and they knew what they were facing. The lead man tossed a spear which flashed like a shooting star as it arced through the air toward them. It was aimed to drive them apart, and it worked. Instinctively, they leapt away from each other. Zel continued to work his spell, however, and a second later the spearman fell under his blast, along with the man behind him.

Another man appeared as if out of nowhere, leaping over the campfire with a long, curved knife in his hand and a second blade in his teeth. The curved blade flashed with unnatural brightness. Zel suspected it was enchanted, and while it probably couldn't kill him, it might be able to pierce his chimera body and slow him down. He remembered all to well the bite of the enchanted sword in that last village. He feinted toward the man, making him pause long enough so he could spin and dash back a step, and begin another spell. It was time to take out this whole group in one blow.

His eye was caught by movement to his side. Xelloss spun around in place, pointing the tip of his staff right at him. Zel's eyes widened as power flashed from the jewel at the top of the priest's staff and shot toward him. He froze in place. The beam of power slashed past him, grazing his arm. Something lit the air with a red glow behind him, and he heard several bodies fall to the ground. A heavy steel-plated mace, glowing with enchantment, rolled forward to land next to his foot. For the second time in less than a week, it appeared that Xelloss had saved his stone skin.

He glanced back at Xelloss in time to see him dodge another warrior who had come up behind him while he was casting the spell at Zel's attackers. The tip of a spear gleamed like molten silver before it disappeared, caught in Xelloss' cloak. At that moment, just as Xelloss spun to face his attacker, the man with the curved blade leapt in front of Zelgadis and slashed toward his face.

"Die, Mazoku!" he spat as he grabbed his second blade from between his teeth.

Zel snarled, but it was useless to point out that he wasn't Mazoku. Instead he simply continued his interrupted spell as he danced away from the man's swinging blades. There were too many more fighters gathering behind him, coming in from the other side of the clearing. Xelloss was busy with half a dozen more of them already, and the rest seemed unconcerned when he swung his staff at the one in the lead and knocked the man's head off like a golf ball off a tee.

Zelgadis let his spell loose at last. The blast of wind flattened the men closest to him and tossed other back into the trees. He quickly followed with another attack spell. Sizzling arrows shot flew from his hands. One shot under Xelloss' upraised arm to burn a hole in the chest of his nearest attacker. Another took out the man with the curved blades. With a flutter of horror, Zelgadis saw that the crazed smile never left the man's face as he fell.

He'd cleared the space around the two of them, but more were still coming. Xelloss sprinted over to him.

"This way," he said, sounding a little breathless. He tugged Zelgadis by the arm toward the one side of the clearing that was empty of warriors.

Before he had time to think about it, Zel found himself running up the rocky hillside with Xelloss dashing along beside him. They were both unnaturally fast and they could see in the dark. Whatever insane strength their attackers had, they were still only human - as far as Zelgadis could tell. At any rate, they quickly lost sight of their attackers, but they kept running on, up the hillside, in the direction they'd started in. Zelgadis had no idea where they were going.

The trees here were scraggly, growing reluctantly on rocky soil, and they leapt over boulders and roots as they continued to climb up the ever-steeper hillside. Zel's sharp ears heard their own footfalls, his own ragged breath, and a few cries and shouts behind them in the trees. The sounds of pursuit had fallen far behind them. Just when he began to wonder why they were still running, and what was wrong with this picture, Xelloss stumbled and fell.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zelgadis saw Xelloss skid to his knees in the dirt. Surprised, he nearly lost his footing himself on the tumbled stones. He spun around, instinctively looking to help a fallen companion, but then stopped. He narrowed his eyes at Xelloss, wondering suddenly why he had been running alongside him in the first place. Why hadn't he already disappeared, as he usually did when trouble started?

He caught a glimpse of Xelloss' face, pale in the dim starlight, before the priest fell forward onto his hands and knees. When he didn't move again for several seconds, Zelgadis took the few steps back to stand in front of him.

"Xelloss?" he hissed, instinctively whispering. Sound would travel well through the trees, and he could still sense their pursuers following. "What the hell are you doing?"

Slowly, Xelloss raised his head enough that Zel could see the lower part of his face. His mouth was twisted in what seemed to be a smile. His eyes were hidden.

"Nothing at all," he hissed back. For once, it seemed to be the literal truth.

With a shock, Zelgadis realized that what he thought was a smile was a grimace of pain. He dropped to his knees in front of the priest.

"What kind of trick is this?" he whispered angrily. "Why are you acting like you're hurt? Get up, or I'm leaving you here!"

"Go ahead," Xelloss said without raising his head.

Something cold climbed his spine as he tried to convince himself that Xelloss was just faking it, playing some trick of his own. He suddenly remembered the silver-tipped spear. Could it have carried some astral spell that was capable of wounding Mazoku?

"Damn it, Xelloss! Are you hurt?"

Xelloss didn't answer. Zelgadis realized he was trembling. His shoulders shook with the effort of even staying up on his hands and knees, and his head drooped again. Impossible as it seemed, Xelloss did indeed appear to be wounded.

Voices called to others in the trees directly below them. They might have found the trail already. Zelgadis didn't relish the idea of taking all of them on by himself, in a battle among the trees, where they appeared to know these woods better than he did - and especially not if they had enchanted weapons powerful enough to injure a Mazoku as strong as Xelloss. It made more sense to outrun them. But if they caught up to Xelloss while he was down like this....

It flashed into Zel's mind that whatever fate befell Xelloss at their hands was richly deserved. But it didn't seem to matter if that was true. He couldn't leave him behind.

"Can you stand?" he whispered.

"Not at the moment, I'm afraid," Xelloss answered, his voice full of regret.

The voices and footsteps pounding up the hillside made Zelgadis' mind up for him. He grabbed Xelloss' arm and yanked it around his shoulder, ignoring the hiss of pain that escaped the priest's lips as he hauled him upright. Hooking his other arm around Xelloss' waist, he started to run again. Xelloss did his best to help, but he could only stumble along with Zelgadis bearing most of his weight. Surprisingly, he wasn't very heavy, even though he felt solid in Zel's grasp.

Zel ran in a zigzagging line up the hillside, senses alert for any movement behind them. Or above them: at least some of their pursuers appeared to be sorcerers, so they might well be able to levitate. Still, they hadn't used any attack spells in the clearing, so maybe they were only capable of small spells like lighting. He hoped that was the case, because they were running out of trees to hide under.

However, instead of the trees, stone walls rose around them, tumbled in places but still mostly intact in others. Wary of becoming trapped in the maze of the old fortress, he decided it was better than staying out in the open.

He found he had crested the hill and was now running on the level as the stone walls rose on either side. He ducked into one of the tumbled doorways that led off the main passage.
More corridors opened off of this one, leading deeper into the fortress. Boulders twice his height were strewn about like discarded toys, leaning against each other where they'd fallen. He crouched by one of these and let Xelloss drop gently to the floor, propping him up to sit against one of the fallen stones. As they'd entered the fortress, Xelloss had started to get his feet under him a little, but now he sat there limply and didn't seem ready to rise any time soon. His chin sank onto his chest and his hands rested unmoving in his lap.

Zel considered checking him to find the wound or injury that had weakened him, as he would have done with any normal companion. But even if he found it, he doubted he could do anything about it, and Xelloss seemed to be recovering, if slowly. Wondering once again why the Mazoku didn't just disappear, he stood there looking down on him for a moment, trying to decide what to do.

Xelloss finally looked up at him. His face was pale, gleaming in the darkness between the stones with a strange light of its own. He smiled up at Zelgadis and began to speak in near his normal voice.

"This fortress had a very long history," he began, in the tone of a lecturer. "It was built here at the crest of the ridge at a most strategic location. In over two hundred years, no attack ever breached its walls while there was anyone within to defend it."

Zelgadis gaped at him. He couldn't believe even Xelloss was chattering away about local history like a tour guide, as if nothing was going on at all. Then suddenly he understood the point of the lecture. Without another word, he turned on his heel and sped out of the chamber.

At the crest of the hill where the passage began, he looked down into the trees below. The space had once been cleared of trees, he realized, and even now, there was only scaggly brush and stumps. When the first of the warriors appeared following his trail, they were plain to see in the midnight darkness with his part-demon eyes.

He waited just inside the walls, out of sight for the moment. They had tracked him like bloodhounds so there was little point in hiding, but he didn't want to make himself an easy target. When a dozen or so of them had climbed into clear view, he stepped out to face them. They barely paused when they saw him, but the leering grins on their faces widened as they raised their weapons and surged forward.

He tried to speak to them, asking what they wanted, who they were, and warning them to give up their attack. They kept coming up the hill, with more appearing every second. They gave no answer to him, but many of them murmured the same two words over and over.

"Die, Mazoku!"

When the first twenty or so were almost in spear's reach, he quickly cast a spell that sent a shockwave into the ground. Most of them tumbled backward. It didn't stop them for long, but he only needed to hold them off until the entire troop was within sight.

He counted nearly fifty all told when he finally sensed that there were no more coming up the hill. Their weapons glinted with the unnatural light of various enchantments, many of them with the quicksilver gleam of the spear that must have struck Xelloss. Every one of them smiled the same crazed-looking grin. They hardly seemed human, he thought, hardening his heart as he raised his hands and began to cast his final spell.

A few minutes later, he walked slowly back into the chamber, head bowed. He felt weary to the bone as he felt the demonic rage of battle drain away. Too tired to think, he walked over to where he'd left Xelloss. He could only shake his head in wonder as he looked down on the Mazoku. Xelloss was lying on his side with one arm curled around himself. As far as Zelgadis could tell, he was fast asleep.

He couldn't remember seeing Xelloss sleep before, at least not since he'd known the trickster priest wasn't human. He looked deceptively vulnerable. Zelgadis realized that this could be the opportunity he'd longed for, to take out his rage on the annoying trickster who had caused him so much frustration in the past. But his old anger seemed to have dulled its edge somehow. There was the fact that Xelloss had possibly saved his life twice, for one thing, although he surely had his own reasons for doing so. And there were some other reasons that Zelgadis didn't care to examine too closely as he gazed down at the sleeping priest.

He wondered what kind of trouble Xelloss was leading him into. Perhaps he'd expected to meet this squadron in the hills, and that was why he'd been holding up their progress. Had those men been under the control of some sorcery - or in thrall to another Mazoku? He hadn't considered that until now. It was too late to ask any of them.

He thought he should shake Xelloss awake and ask him what he knew - or just hit him with a nice little Ra Tilt first and ask questions afterward. Instead he knelt down next to him, searching his face and looking again for any sign of a wound. He found himself staring at the peaceful face that was half hidden by dark hair. He felt a sudden urge to lie down beside Xelloss and touch the soft-looking hair that lay on his cheek.

Zelgadis shook that thought off with a shudder, forcefully reminding himself that this was not Xelloss' true form. Annoyed at his own feelings, he prodded Xelloss' shoulder roughly. He half expected the trickster to jump up and reveal that he was only faking sleep and injury. Nothing happened except that he felt a tremor under his fingertips, and the hand Xelloss held around himself clenched slightly and relaxed.

Zelgadis stood and quickly turned away. Seeing Xelloss like this was disturbing for more reasons than he cared to think about. He told himself he was still on edge from being attacked. After all, for all he knew there could be more of those fighters out there in the forest - or something worse.

He walked away and sat in the doorway to the chamber. He could see out to the hillside from here, and he would hear and sense anyone approaching in the dark. Keeping watch on the still, black night, Zelgadis tried to forget that Xelloss was there at all.

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To be continued.