Heart of Darkness

Chapter 26

When Sylphiel, Lina and Gourry heard Amelia’s screams, Lina’s tears were put aside. Truth be told, Lina could only handle one disaster at a time, and it was easier to push her feelings out of the way than deal with them. It was how she worked, how she lived. She’d left Amelia in danger once, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if she did it again.

“Damn!” Jedah spat, throwing up a brilliant wall of light that obscured himself from view and made both Naga and Amelia shield their eyes from the flare that they could feel tingle against their skin as something physical. It felt strange, as if it was more than just light.

When the light had vanished, Jedah was still there, but all signs of power, all appearances of Mazoku were gone. He was, once again, the youthful and over exuberant younger sibling of Zelgadis Greywords, bright eyed and full of mischief and mirth.

To Naga’s point of view, a great many things happened almost all at once. Jedah vanished in a brilliant light as Amelia screamed, only to reappear at nearly the same time that Lina, Gourry and Sylphiel burst into the room. Within seconds of that, Lina was across the room, fury lit within her scarlet eyes as she stared down Jedah, stopping just short of pushing him backwards… not that she needed to. He’d backed up involuntarily at her stalking.

“What did you do to Amelia, you sorry son of a Mazoku?” Lina growled, voice pitched low and edged with her barely withheld desire to beat someone into the dirt for any little thing that she could think of. Innocent boy, son of the Greater Beast, it didn’t much matter to her, Lina would do whatever she had to do to take him down if needed.

Jedah knew that Lina was an emotional time bomb with the power of Chaos to back up her threats, and he couldn’t take the chance that she’d call down the Lord of Nightmares on him in her upset hysteria. “Lina, calm down. I didn’t do anything to her,” he said quietly and calmly. If he got in her face in return, it would only end up in a contest of wills… and while Lina had power to back up her will, he had far, far more power than she, and he didn’t want to use his power if he didn’t have to. It would do more harm than good, especially with the rest of the group watching the way they were. This was truly a discussion for a more… private venue.

Amelia was in shock, her thoughts flying wildly as she tried to make some sense of what she’d seen. That had been Jedah, that achingly beautiful Mazoku she’d seen… right? She hadn’t imagined it; he had been right there in front of Naga, reeking of power.

Gradually, the shell-shocked Princess of Saillune became aware of Sylphiel and Gourry, became aware that Naga was watching Lina threaten Jedah within an inch of his existence if he’d done anything to harm Amelia.

What if Lina didn’t know?

What if none of them knew?

In that moment, a decision was made and the future Queen pulled herself to her feet and opened her mouth. “Lina, it’s okay. Jedah didn’t do anything to me. I was simply surprised and allowed my irrational fears to run away with me.” Her voice rang so clear with conviction that Amelia surprised even herself, but did her best to hide it. After all she’d been through, somehow taking this in stride seemed… natural.

Naga was the first to turn and stare at Amelia, largely because she knew better… and she knew that her sister knew better after that shriek. Jedah looked owlishly over Lina’s shoulder, and Sylphiel and Gourry, both blithely oblivious to the undercurrent of emotion in the room, simply looked to Amelia.

The only one who truly looked surprised was Lina. “A… Amelia?” Lina asked as she turned away from Jedah to see Amelia lift both hands, palms up. At this point, Jedah was completely clueless, a state that he didn’t generally enjoy. The footing here was suddenly very uneven, and he wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. At least with Lina, he could expect a certain level of reaction from, a fireball here, a sarcastic comment there. Amelia was an unexpected completely random element.

“I’m fine, Lina. I think I surprised Jedah as much as he surprised me,” Amelia said with a vague sort of smile. That part was completely true. She’d stood next to Jedah while they’d both made Xellos ill… or had he? A few more things, random comments, fortuitous happenstances… they all fell into mental place with a click and Amelia shook her head slowly, though more at herself than the current situation. “We should keep looking for Zelgadis.”

Oh yes, that one minor detail.

That chilling little trifle.

Amelia didn’t know.

“Um… Amelia… there’s a small problem with that,” Jedah started out quietly, looking to Lina as he did so. “You see… my brother…” He hated to have to be the one to voice it, hated himself for being willing to voice it, for the small part of him that would take that perverse little thrill of pleasure from the distress that it would cause.

He was a pathetic Mazoku at times.

“Amelia, Zelgadis has fallen into the darker aspect of his own power, and I have to find him. One way or the other, I have to stop him.”

Lina’s words were quiet, the depth of what she said and did not say chilling the group and leaving an uneasy silence echoing in the cavern.