Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ The Slayers: Legacy of Darkness ❯ Prelude 04 ( Chapter 4 )

“You're heavy.”

He had said it as a joke, but Lina took it to offense and slapped him upside the head for cracking an insult like that, particularly when she was not in the best of moods. Though it didn't necessarily hurt him, being a mazoku and all, he made a mental note to keep his mouth shut if he didn't want his head rotated one-hundred-eighty degrees by the end of the day. And that was only if she was feeling merciful. It must be a pain to be a human female - he thought with dry humor.

Lina tried to refrain from falling asleep on Xelloss's broad, warm back, but the illusion of sleep was becoming annoyingly persistent, and Lina could hardly resist shutting her eyelids for a little rest. Besides, her reflexes were always top-notch, for better or for worse depending on what unfortunate soul was near her at the moment of awakening. And Xelloss was a revered mazoku with a lot of pride, so he wouldn't break a pact with her and toss her out for the vultures to feed on her corpse. Although, since this was Xelloss, she shouldn't be trying to figure out what he was going to do, but rather what no one would ever imagine him doing. But that kind of thinking would also be in vain because he always managed to do the unpredictable…since it was part of his nature as the master of deception and chicanery…

All that thinking eventually knocked Lina out. Xelloss let out a long breath, loosening the tension that had collected inside of him. He was always upsetting her - something that needed to be fixed if he was going to receive any sort of cooperation from this uncontrollable wildfire of a human being. And with that kind of thinking, he would be forced to watch the words that rolled ever so freely off the tip of his tongue, for slips of the tongue happened too often to be healthy. It was okay, though, since his job as a mazoku was to annoy and incite feelings of anger within a being.

He suddenly became aware that, unless Lina rested properly, her health and mood would remain beneath the surface and he would be forced to endure long grueling hours of her griping and complaining throughout the day. He found a nice shadowed area, concealed from above by a thick mesh of tree leaves, along his path and put her down on top of his flattened cloak to sleep. He could keep watch until morning, since he didn't require sleep to keep his sanity (or lack thereof) and energy levels high, so she could rest here peacefully and, at the same time, he would be given time to enjoy his own company.

Or that would have been the ideal situation, but Lina would not let go of her source of warmth and clung tightly to Xelloss. Her face pressed up against his stomach, her arms around his waist, and the rest of her body lay out in front of him between his propped legs. Her pleasure was driving him insane, but he couldn't do anything about it, so he gave up and tossed the cloak over her back, pinning the top in place by resting his hand on her shoulder. His other hand provided support for keeping his torso upright, but his elbow was loose enough to keep his arm from going numb. It was gong to be a long night, but at least the next day would be much easier to bear…or at least he hoped it would have that general effect.

But of course, an unexpected and unwanted visitor had to appear to ruin a calm night. As the person approached, she snapped a twig, alerting both human and mazoku to her presence. Lina bolted up quickly, hand on the hilt of her sword and ready to draw it at any given moment, but as her mind adjusted to being awake again, she realized that Xelloss stood in front of her, arm extended, blocking her from any danger this stranger could possibly launch at then. And then she realized how incredibly awkward it was to be able to rely on The Xelloss to protect her, and she wondered what an incredibly strange situation she was suddenly experiencing.

The mysterious visitor was unveiled to be Fayle, the young golden dragon Lina had met only once before, but this time, her eyes were cold as ice, particularly towards Xelloss. When she was within reasonable talking distance, she ordered the two men who had accompanied her to leave them alone to “converse,” and as son as they were out of sight, she began by asking, “So you have decided to join those mazoku?”

“Not necessarily,” Lina replied, making Xelloss wonder if she had betrayed her already, but Lina went on to say, “But I am going to aid them, since their goal is similar to my own.”

“You mean you want world destruction and the obliteration of all other races?” Fayle asked, disgusted by her foolish decision.

Lina shook her head. “No, I'm just going to help them stop you.”

The dragon girl stared at her for a moment or two, then spontaneously burst out laughing. The sudden rancor started both Lina and Xelloss, neither of whom expected such a carefree disposition from someone who commanded so much respect. When she had finally regained her composure, which included wiping the stray tears from her eyes, she said, “I like you. You're an interesting person.”

Lina was somewhat ticked off that she hadn't been taken seriously, and the dragon caught her mistake but did nothing to fix it. Instead, she ran a hand through her silky golden hair and said, “It was a compliment.”

“Why are you here?” Xelloss asked, cutting straight to the point since the dragon was beginning to annoy him as well. “I could kill you on the spot if I wanted to, you know.” Though with Lina there, that course of action would probably prove to not be worthwhile.

Fayle smiled. “But I know you won't because you'd be disobeying orders,” she said, as though it were a statement when it really was only a presumption. But it was true, Xelloss had been given strict orders to avoid initiating any sort of conflict with one of the five ryuuzoku. If encountered, he was ordered to evade combat and flee immediately. This dragon, however, apparently had no intention of leaving or letting him leave.

Fayle took a seat on a tree stub and crossed her legs. She stretched and yawned, muttered something about the effects of idleness, then began the conversation. “To be honest, I'm here for you, Xelloss. I've come to request information about how prepared the mazoku are for initiative attacks.”

The mazoku had only just begun preparing their forces, but he wasn't about to tell Her that. “Why do you wish to know?”

“I don't like to stage a full-fledged war without having the opposing party ready…” she mumbled. “It's like killing helpless children…”

Lina noticed that she had said that last sentence with a strangely large amount of remorse, given this was the same dragon who had laughed only yesterday about throwing baby Valgarv into the ocean. She seemed to almost be an entirely different person.

Seeing that Xelloss had absolutely no intention of telling her anything, she shrugged and said, “Well, whatever you want to do is your own business. I'm just here to talk today.” Her eyes fell on this left shoulder. “I hear someone planted purified dragon's blood in you?”

He stiffened. “How did you know that?”

“And who did it?” Lina butted in, pushing by Xelloss's extended arm and ignoring the nonverbal advice he had given her. He had silenced her long enough; she was tired of standing and waiting.

“Because it was one of my own men who did it,” she answered. “I must admit it is a good strategy, but it does not present itself honorably, so I never issued the order. He's been given…responsibilities back at base for his actions, but more dragons will be after you now that you've been removed of an extensive use of your powers.”

Xelloss didn't quite believe her, but he let her go on anyway.

“Either way, you shouldn't have too much trouble sneaking into the Katart Mountain valley. A lot of dragons have left, contrary to popular opinion, due to the recent outbreak of werewolves…”

“Werewolves?” Lina and Xelloss exclaimed almost simultaneously. No one liked to deal with them, beings of rash and uncontrollable behavior. Not to mention the horrid stench they carried around, along with their spontaneity. Easy to dispose of if you have the means to, but if they caught you off-guard or in numbers, they could pose a decent threat. There's also the teeth to avoid, if you wanted to stay human.

Fayle nodded. “It's unexplained, but they suddenly multiplied in numbers around here. A couple of our kind have already been wounded by them, and they make it incredibly difficult to forge weapons when they continue to break them, so many of our kind have left already.”

“Why are you telling us this?” Lina asked. This dragon was harder to read than Xelloss was, and that in itself was a commendable accomplishment. “Almost like his counterpart,” she mused, “equally as annoying and just as hard to trust.”

Fayle shrugged and stood up. “To give you a fair chance, I suppose. It's no fun otherwise.” She walked towards her awaiting men and left without a word more.

 

“Hey Xelloss,” Lina said. They had rested up for the rest of the night and were following a path up the side of the mountain, Lina still riding on Xelloss's back. His arm was gradually getting worse with time, and now he couldn't feel anything through his fingertips anymore. Unfortunately for Lina, her powers were still nullified and her leg remained broken for the time being. But, luckily, since Fayle had left this area for the time being with her dragon squad, they had few things to worry about. At least, during the day they didn't.

Lina glanced over her shoulder at the vast expanse of wilderness that stretched out below them. If they maintained this pace, they might reach the mountain Cliffside where Lei Magnus resided before nightfall the next day. Hopefully Xelloss would hold out until then…

“Lina-san?”

She blushed when she realized she had actually been worrying about the mazoku. Now that was something special indeed. “Oh…it's nothing.”

He wondered about her peculiar behavior, but assumed it most likely had something to do with Gourry. He wasn't in the mood for a conversation about love (he never was, in fact, since he was a mazoku), but apparently Lina had other ideas.

But to his surprise, her question had absolutely nothing to do with Gourry. “Xelloss, have you ever been in love? …I mean, I know you're a mazoku and all but…just maybe…” she asked, realizing how stupid she must have sounded asking a mazoku that kind of question.

He paused briefly. “What would you define love as?” he asked.

Lina paused briefly, searching for an appropriate definition of the word. With a bit of difficulty, she began slowly, “It's when you…feel a strong attraction towards someone who makes you happy…”

Xelloss cocked an eyebrow. “When you feel pleasure being around someone?”

Lina frowned in frustration. “Not pleasure per say…but has there ever been anyone you just feel like…you'd be happy just being able to stay by their side…?”

Xelloss stayed quiet for a long time, and Lina wasn't sure whether or not he was trying to think of an answer or if he was ignoring her question. But he answered her question with, “I don't think I can understand what you're saying.”

Lina sighed, realizing it was a stupid idea to attempt to strike conversation on a topic like love with Xelloss, a feeling mazoku never felt nor had the capability of feeling. She played with a lock of her own hair in silence with no intention of talking anymore, but Xelloss interrupted her thinking process this time.

“I think you would have best described it as a long lasting source of pleasure because I can vaguely imagine what it might be like. However, mazoku tend to keep away from having those kinds of relationships because it's too dangerous…”

“Why?” Lina wondered.

He turned his face upward to the sky, watching as the clouds passed by above them. “Because it's like our drug…we'll take too much and eventually die from it.”

 

They had just reached the outer area of the Katart Mountains when the red sun began to set. As Lina busied herself re-wrapping her broken leg, Xelloss ventured further to check on the presence of golden dragons, not trusting his fuzzy sense for them that detected none of the species in the area. He told Lina to call out for his help if anything happened, but she was less than pleased by the idea and didn't agree to it. He shrugged and left her alone, sure he would return before They came out, anyway.

But it was more than her leg that bothered her - she had begun to ache in certain places again because of a certain something, and there was nothing she could do here to counter the agony. “At least my powers will begin to return tomorrow, she thought.

The fact that it was cold this high up in the mountains didn't really help. Rather than just being hungry and in pain, she was cold, hungry, and in pain. She hoped Xelloss would remember to grab something on the way back, since she couldn't exactly conduct a hunt on her own.

She rested her back against a tree as she sat down, hand resting across her stomach as she stared off into the sunset. If she could focus on other, calming things, she wouldn't be able to think of her physical pain, so she closed her eyes and focused on the sweet melody of the forest as it prepared for a night of temperance and serenity. She focused on the lingering rays of sunshine as they disappeared behind the horizon, a place she had once hoped to reach one day when she was still a child because there she would find the answer to why the light sometimes gave way for darkness. But as her life progressed, the answer would unveil itself with time.

As the moon rose in the eastern sky, Lina could hear the faint howls of wolves in the forest as they broke out of their human shells and scouted the land for living flesh. Lina was practically a sitting duck, with nothing left to defend herself with aside from her sword…and Xelloss. But as if she would ask for his help when she could take care of herself on her own. She had done so for countless years of her life…

A rustle in the bushes behind her sprung her to her feet. Though she seemed even more vulnerable standing on wobbly legs, she would at least be able to dodge a head-front attack. However, she hadn't quite figured out what she would do when the creature launched a second attack, and she was even less prepared for the mob that was approaching her.

She stood her ground, sword ready, and watched carefully as the beast approached her on all fours. It was a small wolverine in comparison to some she had seen before, which meant both good and bad - it lacked the necessary strength to take her down in one hit but it would be exceedingly agile, so she would be taking many small hits instead.

Thankfully, the young werewolf's patterns were easy to predict. Lina recognized the usually pause before an attack and was easily able to deflect the fangs with her sword. As the little predator circled around for another attack, Lina braced herself and managed to wound it just behind its neck as it leapt at her. She had only realized the magnitude of her mistake when the werewolf crawled away and howls filled the stalid night air, chilling her to her bones. She sheathed her sword and practically carried her broken leg in her hands as she limped in the opposite direction of the howling, hoping for some area in which she could take refuge.

But alas, luck never quite works out so well and she found herself cornered against the edge of a cliff, faced by three snarling werewolves. These were larger in size and much more fearsome, most likely the adult males of the pack judging by the bulk of their body. The situation seemed deathly grim as Lina frantically looked around for a solution, but she was not given enough time as a werewolf launched itself at her. She barely pulled her sword out in time to catch its teeth, but the sheer force of its tackle force her off her feet and sent them both into the air, plummeting down the steep cliff side.

Lina tried to escape from the beast's clutches, but human strength waned in comparison to the strength of the beast, and her efforts were in vain. The beast turned its face to her, ready to bite off her head. Her eyes widened in panic and she cursed - “Shit!”

But the head of the werewolf suddenly flew clear off its shoulders in one nice, clean cut. A gloved hand reached out to pulled the sword effortlessly from its place situated between its fangs, and suddenly the body, a bloody mess, was stabbed right through the middle and flung off to the side. Lina was mute as her savior took her by her waist and stopped their fall by catching a protruding edge in the cliff. She stared at him in silence, unable to speak a word.

“I thought I told you to call for me if something came up,” he stated sternly. Rather unhappy with the circumstances.

Lina flushed and looked away in embarrassment, but he demanded to know why she hadn't called for his help. Taking a second glance at him, she noticed that he was splattered from head to toe in crimson blood, and Lina realized that the reason why only three werewolves had caught up to her was the fact that Xelloss had killed off the rest of them on his way back. She owed him another, again. Swallowing her pride for the moment, she muttered, “Sorry.”

Xelloss was quickly losing his grip on the mountainside and barely gave Lina enough of a warning before pushing away from the rocky cliff, sending them soaring through the air and into the forest below. Lina's voice was caught too deeply in her throat to scream properly, and she only managed to wail in jagged segments as they fell. But apparently Xelloss had everything under control, for they landed safely and silently on the ground.

Or at least, Lina did. Xelloss was beginning to show signs of pain. Apparently he had overstrained his abilities.

Lina shook her head. “Xelloss and Zelgadiss are so similar sometimes that it's almost scary,” she thought. Not only was this cliff jump the same action Zelgadiss had performed when Lina first met him, but they both had that trait of overexerting themselves sometimes.

The bushes near them moved, and Lina sprung to her feet, sword in hand, since Xelloss was still reeling from the pain. She had prepared herself for another werewolf, so she was shocked to find that the source of the movement was human.

She was even more shocked to see who it was, for it was someone she knew well. “You…!”