Heart of Darkness

Chapter 60

 

            Lina would have fallen to her knees, but for the strong arms of Gourry catching her. For a moment, there wasn’t a thought of who was married to whom and what feelings were for anyone. For a moment, Lina just clung to Gourry and shook like she hadn’t shaken since he’d caught her years ago. For a moment, he wasn’t sure that she was going to let go of him and stand on her own two feet.

            But moments pass, as they must, and Lina gathered herself slowly, putting her weight first on one foot, then the other, finally pulling away from Gourry with a shaky little murmur of thanks.

            And then, Jedah made a mistake: he moved towards Lina.

 

            Gourry spun, the Sword of Light brilliant in his hands, a fiercely protective glare in his blue eyes. “Leave her alone, Jedah. Don’t you think that you’ve done enough damage here? Get out of here, go find Xellos and cause chaos and havoc somewhere else. Before I change my mind again and finish what I didn’t do.”

            The threat was clear: Gourry wouldn’t hold back from destroying Jedah again.

 

            Jedah was hurt; Lina could see it in his eyes. She didn’t understand the antipathy she felt from everyone, the protective reaction from Gourry, Sylphiel’s hand on her arm holding her back. Even Amelia looked as if she didn’t care for Jedah, and Lina clearly recalled the younger princess kissing the youth at one time.

            The only one who looked sorry for Jedah was Naga. And Lina didn’t understand. “What’s going on Jedah?” As she watched, Jedah’s appearance changed, he looked older, his power feeling so very much deeper and darker than she’d thought possible. He waved a dismissive hand, giving Gourry a glance.

            “That isn’t going to be necessary, Gourry.” Even Jedah’s voice had changed. It was silken, as deep as his power, the voice of a Mazoku capable of things beyond human conceptualization. It was the same voice that Cassandra had heard before he’d used her own power to turn against her and destroy her. “Lina, there is one last thing that all of you need to know. There is one last detail, one last thing that I didn’t tell any of you, but will finally have to, though I regret both that it is, and that I have to tell it.”

            Gourry snorted, for he didn’t believe that Mazoku could feel, could regret.

            Jedah’s winter blue eyes settled not on Gourry, but Lina, offering the faintest of apologetic smiles so very much like the one Zelgadis sometimes wore. “I am Jedah Greywords Metallium, son of Juuou. I am he who holds sway over life and death, Lord of the Underworld, Jedaikun. Hellmaster.”

            Silence fell in the room, and Lina stared at the breathtakingly stunning Mazoku Lord before her. Hellmaster. How in the Hell had she missed it? “Jedaikun,” she echoed, looking at the truth, the full truth in front of her, and at length, shaking her head. “Fine, Hellmaster. So you replaced Phibby. I can deal with that.” The change in her was instantaneous as she clenched her fist and glared at him. “What I can’t deal with is the thought that you’re using us as pawns in a game.”

            Jedah blinked, ice blue eyes suddenly wide and surprised as he stepped backwards from Lina and focused a very startled gaze on her. “I’m not! Lina… this is anything but me playing games!” He paused, sighing, his shoulders drooping and looking down and away from her, closing his eyes and speaking quietly. “I swore myself to you, Lina. The command of Hellmaster is but yours to speak it. What you will, I will do.”

            Silence fell in the room, a long and heavy silence that reminded Amelia of the silence that had fallen when Gourry had held the Sword of Light over Jedah’s head and considered ending it all right there. He hadn’t, and she hadn’t figured out why, but for some reason it had pleased her. She tried not to think about that kiss, tried not to think about the lazy days spent laughing at Jedah’s side… because all the while, he’d been Hellmaster. He’d hidden his true nature, seemed nothing more than a rambunctious youth who was in love with life. And there he was, standing there, a being of such great power, such immense evil…

            But there in his shadow was the youth he’d been. Amelia could suddenly see it, finally understood the dichotomy of Mazoku. She couldn’t say that it made everything good, couldn’t remotely accept carte blanche what he purported as truth. But the pain that she saw in his stance mirrored the pain that she had seen in Zelgadis, the pain that she had seen in the copy of the man that had brought them all together in Sairaag. “I believe him, Lina.”

            Amelia’s voice shattered the silence, caused Naga to look over to her sister with abject amazement, brought Sylphiel’s world crashing down around her head, and left Gourry wondering if his own brand of insanity had finally taken another victim. Only Lina and Jedah seemed unaffected, and that was because Lina had stepped forwards, a strangely calm figure with sharp resolution etched into her eyes. “Take me to him, Jedah. I don’t care how, I don’t care what may happen. Take me to Zelgadis.”

            Jedah lifted his head, looked to her for a moment, and then nodded slightly, lifting a hand to offer it to Lina. “As you will it, Lina.” His fingers touched hers, and there was a buildup, a swell of magical power that crested into a furious brilliance, making everyone in the room shield their eyes and look away. It swept Lina into Jedah’s embrace, pulled them both out of the Palace, out of Saillune, out off almost as far as the Sea of Chaos, and then drew them back to the world, back into the reality of the cold ruins of a stone tower lost in a battle that Lina recalled all too well.

            It all came back to Ambervale.

            And Rezo’s Tower.