Heart of Darkness

Chapter 35

“Oh,” Zelgadis said calmly, regarding Xellos with a cool gaze. “Are you part of this, then? I thought we had agreed to leave each other alone after the last run-in.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked pointedly at the Trickster Priest as if to remind him that they were nearly equal in ability. Granted, he wasn’t certain that he could pull off any serious fighting right now, but he’d give it a good, honest go if he needed to. Shabranigdo only knew what was going on in Zelgadis’ mind.

“Ah…” began Xellos, and then he decided to play things properly and dropped to one knee. “My Lord.” With luck, Zelgadis wouldn’t be offended, but bemused, and Xellos could avoid being forced to lead him back to the others. Or worse. When the silence had seemed to extend for a bit too long, Xellos risked a peek up to see what was happening.

Zelgadis hadn’t moved, was simply standing there looking at him with an eyebrow quirked. When he saw that Xellos was looking back at him, he tilted his head. “My Lord? Xellos, we’ve butted heads in the past, but I’m hardly a Mazoku Lord, let alone a higher rank than you. In fact, while I’m not entirely certain what I am, I know I’m not a Mazoku Lord,” he finished somewhat wearily.

Xellos’ mouth fell open in what could only be pure old fashioned astonishment. If there was a game afoot, then Xellos certainly wasn’t aware of it, let alone the rules. He did so hate not being in charge, but did he dare challenge Zelgadis? With what he knew? What he’d seen? He’d seen Zelgadis, been controlled by Zelgadis… who was now standing before him perfectly normal and professing to be just that. Come to point, Zelgadis looked perfectly normal, pink skin and all.

Before Xellos could say anything to the contrary, Zelgadis waved a dismissing hand at him. “Enough with the games, Xellos. If you’re here to badger, taunt or otherwise torture me, then you’d better leave now, before the woman from before comes back. Unless, of course, you’re with her... in which case, you may as well get started and stop wasting time.”

That was too much for even the Trickster Priest. “Woman?” He echoed lamely, purple eyes open with a wary glint within them. “What woman?” Realizing how strained and wary he sounded, he brought his staff out of hiding for something to do. “I’m not aware that there is a woman here, or nearby.” He saw a chance to take a shot at Zelgadis and test what he was currently made of. “Unless you mean that woman… the one you happen to be standing on.”

Zelgadis blanched, reflexively looking to his feet. There was nothing there, of course, but dirt. Glaring up, Zelgadis snarled, eyes flashing a sapphire warning. “You filthy cheat-”

Xellos was gone.

With a sigh, Zelgadis shook his head and moved to the remnants of a porch. He sat with a groan and looked around himself at the rubble. “Well, little brother, are you coming to meet me, or do I get to figure this one out on my own?” There was, of course, no-one to hear him ask, and equally, no-one to answer.

It wasn’t half-night yet, maybe he should just get some sleep. This corner was all that was left of the porch, but it seemed large enough and felt sturdy enough to support him. His energy was tapped, which was why he hadn’t just left, hadn’t tried to find Lina and just go home, but he managed to pull a black cloak out of the shadows and wrap it about himself to help ward off chill. Beggars weren’t choosers, so he stacked a few planks of wood together and called it a pillow of sorts. At least his hair wasn’t wire anymore and wouldn’t get stuck to it.

“Well,” he said to no-one in particular (thereby avoiding the realization that he was talking to himself.) “It’s not a feather bed with Lina, but it will just have to do.” With that, the weary figure allowed himself to curl onto the porch and relax slightly, his eyes closing as he drifted first into the wary half-sleep of one long used to travel alone. Within minutes, however, he had slipped into a deeper sleep that seemed to seep into his soul and begin to knit wounds he didn’t know he had.

They hovered in the distance, Jedah and Xellos both, watching Zelgadis as he made his pathetic bed, talked to himself about it, and ultimately lay down to sleep upon it. Jedah wasn’t certain, but he could have sworn Zelgadis wasn’t remotely the creature he’d faced in the caverns. By all sense, that was the same Zelgadis that had run off with Lina to the Outer World, the same Zelgadis that had told him so many years ago that Lina was to be respected. It didn’t make sense. None of it made any sense at all, If Zelgadis was switching between his selves, if he’d broken without knowing it… what had caused it?

At Jedah’s quiet voicing of that query, Xellos turned, his violet-black eyes open and steady. “He mentioned a woman torturing him. He asked me if I was working with her.” It didn’t take much to put the puzzle pieces together.

Zelgadis meant Cassandra.

Jedah went completely silent. Moments flew past, and then he shifted, the full aspect of who and what he was taking over his appearance and bearing. “Xellos, you are to return him to Saillune. Keep him there until I return, I don’t care how. Do what you have to do, but keep him away from Lina while I’m gone.”

Xellos bowed, knowing full well who had addressed him, and waited for Jedah to leave before he straightened to look to the sleeping Zelgadis. He had his orders. Keep Zelgadis in Saillune and away from Lina.

It wasn’t going to be easy.

Then again, it never was.