Heart of Darkness

Chapter 50

Zelgadis ignored Gourry. Oh, he could have answered the challenge, could have stepped back from Lina and let his magic continue working without him, but if anything stopped his magic, he knew that he’d lose Lina, and he just couldn’t risk it. It was Jedah who had called him here, so let it be Jedah who explained it to the blonde swordsman. Zelgadis had a life in his hands, her life. He couldn’t fail her now. Not after failing her the way that he had.

Jedah could feel the intense blue gaze, could feel the pulsating righteous fury of the Sword of Light. He had no illusions about what that particular weapon could do to himself, Xellos or Zelgadis, if Gourry took half the mind to do something recklessly stupid. It wouldn’t be remotely comfortable, but compared to the spell that Xellos was suffering through at the moment, it might be a bit more comforting. There would, at the very least, be an end to the Sword of Light’s affect, be it death or something else.

“Gourry, stop.” It wasn’t Jedah or Zelgadis who spoke, but Xellos. “He’s… saving her life.” One hand lifted, pale and shaking fingers touching Jedah’s hand in his hair. The slight motion of affection made Gourry blink and falter. With the rush of adrenaline gone, he took a moment to take stock of the situation.

Xellos was collapsed in a chair at the foot of Lina’s bed, half of him missing, possibly blown away by some unknown spell. He was pale, most of the color still gone from his eyes. Gourry wondered what could have done so much damage to the Trickster Priest, but didn’t lower the Sword, largely because of Jedah.

Jedah. Mazoku Jedah. He stood by the chair, tall and adult. Long black hair was loose, some longer bangs playing in his face while the rest of his hair flowed smoothly down his back. Those crystal blue eyes watched Gourry carefully as his fingers remained entwined in Xellos’ hair. Part of the blonde swordsman recognized the protective nature of Jedah’s leaning over Xellos, but the other part of him firmly reminded himself that Jedah and Xellos were both Mazoku, and therefore couldn’t love, no matter what appearances showed. Everything with them, after all, was a game.

“Why should I believe you, Xellos?” Gourry growled, shifting his grip on the sword-hilt. “You’re a Mazoku.” Some things just weren’t worth trying to explain to the swordsman. Nine times out of ten, the facts only confused him further.

Sylphiel stood behind Gourry, blue eyes wide. She didn’t understand any of this. Jedah looked older than Zelgadis... who looked perfectly normal, if not a bit seriously focused on Lina. She should go help him with Lina… she took a step around her husband, and he moved to block her movement. “Stay there, Sylphiel.”

“But Gourry dear, Lina needs help. Mister Zelgadis can’t do everything on his own.” Not without being what they’d seen earlier. Sylphiel still didn’t truly understand what was going on, but she knew the way Zelgadis normally looked to Lina, knew the softness in his eyes. She saw that now, coupled with sheer desperation in his eyes as he looked up and met her gaze for a moment before he looked back to Lina.

“I caused this, I’ll fix it,” Zelgadis spoke quietly through gritted teeth. If Gourry was so bent on damning him, then he may as well damn him for the whole of it. “I set a trap for Jedah and Lina got caught in it. By the looks of it, Xellos was caught up as well.” He hadn’t looked up to Gourry yet, hadn’t allowed the swordsman to see the emotion tearing him apart, the guilt, the grief, the desperate hope that he could undo what he’d done to the woman who was his wife.

If the blonde swordsman had needed a reason to move, that was it. Without Lina to temper the moment, his own temper was high and hot. Two strides brought him to Zelgadis, the Sword of Light menacing in his hand. “You. I saw you in the caves, I know you’re a Mazoku, just like them. And you say that you caused this…” the Sword moved closer to Zelgadis, Gourry’s anger feeding the brilliant flame. He’d promised Lina that he’d protect her. He still meant it, even if it meant protecting Lina from the monster that she’d married.

Jedah couldn’t catch his breath. Something was building in the room, something bigger and deeper and scarier than he wanted it to be. He moved his hand, reaching down to try to grip Xellos by his remaining shoulder, with every intention of getting them both out of the room. If Gourry was going to let loose the full wrath of Golunova, there was no sense in the two mostly innocent Mazoku getting hurt in the aftermath. Lina wouldn’t be harmed by the release of the magic, in fact, it would probably do her a few worlds of good. He’d come back and check in after the disaster passed.

Before Jedah or Gourry could get much farther, however, Zelgadis moved. Sylphiel screamed as his hand shot up from Lina’s shoulder, grabbed Gourry’s sword-hand and held him fast. Gourry’s eyes widened as he realized he was trapped, and that Zelgadis was far, far stronger than anyone might have thought.

With a grim smile, Zelgadis released Lina’s hand, and Sylphiel saw the pale fingers fall limp to the bed. She cried out Lina’s name, trying to push past Gourry to reach the sorceress, but at that moment, Zelgadis grabbed the Sword of Light, using Sylphiel’s distraction of the swordsman to pull the Sword away from Gourry with both hands.

There was a moment, as if everything had paused and then there was a sudden percussion of power as Zelgadis took Golunova away from Gourry. It washed over the room, powerful and undeniable. It knocked Jedah backwards and away from Xellos, pushing him onto the floor, extinguishing the Sword’s brilliant white blade and plunging the room into a magical darkness.