Chapter
19
Zelgadis carried the slender
sorceress into the hotel, bracing himself for the cries of dismay from Amelia…
but the girl only nodded quietly as she looked up from the table where she was
sitting, setting down her cup of after-dinner tea, and rising to her feet.
“Let’s go to her room… it should
be…” Amelia paused for a moment, searching for an appropriate word. “Safer.”
Zelgadis didn’t miss the princess’
reference to the events of earlier that evening, but said nothing. Instead, he
turned towards the rooms, and Amelia noticed how carefully Zelgadis was
carrying Lina. He’s not just holding her,
she thought. He’s cradling him to her
almost as if… It’s so clear they like each other… why can’t they just come out
and say it?
Wisely, Amelia chose to leave the bedroom door open as she and Zelgadis entered the room. Watching as Zelgadis gently settled Lina on the as yet unslept in bed, she ventured to ask. “What happened this time, Mister Zelgadis?”
He sighed softly, brushing a strand
of hair out of Lina’s face while seeming to be unaware that he was doing so.
“She walked up to me, and the spell was trying to take her. She wasn’t strong
enough to stop it.” He didn’t tell her that the only reason she fell to it was
because she had tried to apologize to him. He’d known it the second he’d seen
her. The apology was there in a spell for any magician born to see. And he’d
been unable to do anything but forgive her as he’d caught her.
Amelia nodded slowly. “There’s
really nothing we can do here, Mister Zelgadis. Gourry and I looked for a magic
items store… but they said that there weren’t any here. Something about an old
law about magic… which is probably related to the City of Stone…”
Zelgadis looked over to Amelia.
“There isn’t anything we could do anyway. This isn’t a standard spell. It’s one
of Rezo’s, and I imagine that it will be near impossible to unravel.”
“On the contrary, Zel… I just did,”
Lina said quietly, eyes open and head turned so that she could look to both the
surprised chimera and the princess. She gave a half-smile and sighed,
expression saddening. “You have to come back with me, Zel… there’s some things
you have to see and choose.”
He nodded, unsurprised, then reached
out for the chair by the bed. No way he was going to get in trouble all over
again. Even though he knew better. In a way, he hoped it would come across as a
slight tease… but he could tell by glancing back, that she genuinely regretted
it.
She laughed softly, shame tingeing
her cheeks a soft red. “About that… I’m sorry. I’m not…” Her gaze fell on
Amelia. “Used to waking up beside anyone…”
Amelia smiled a secret little smile
at Lina, recalling the conversation that took place after his departure. Maybe there is hope for these two after all,
she decided. “Well, then Mister Zelgadis…?”
He looked to Lina, then nodded. The
sorceress closed her eyes and the magic snapped both Lina and Zelgadis out of
the room… and Amelia gently caught the suddenly insensate form of the chimera
and let him gently down onto the bed. Be
careful, you two… she thought, chills creeping up her arms.
Zelgadis and Lina both heard
Amelia’s thought echo through the ether of the Astral Plane as they landed in
the Great Hall of Rezo’s tower.
“She’s worried for us…” Zelgadis
said quietly.
Lina sighed. “She ought to be. I may
be in control of the spell that translates us into the Astral… but I’m not in
control of a few of the elements here… elements that you have to meet and take
control of.”
He frowned, looking at her, but she
continued. “Everything here but myself and the three you’re going to meet is
figurative… a way for you all to relate in a singular fashion. This whole place
is the whole of the parts, as it were. And one of them is right over there…”
She pointed to the old door that had led to his room.
He approached the door warily,
opening it to come face-to-face with a mirror that was standing just inside the
door. No, wait. It wasn’t a mirror, but a reflection of himself. It /was/
himself.
“Zelgadis… meet… Zelgadis,” Lina
said. “This is my friend… the one I was talking about,” she said to the other
who was inside the room.
The two eyed each other, then ‘her’
Zelgadis frowned as the other nodded, catching on. “You are starting to make
sense, Sorceress Inverse. Very well, I accept that which is to be,” he held out
his hand to the Zelgadis in front of him.
Only after she had nudged him did he
lift his own hand and clasp that of his ‘reflection.’ And when he did, he felt
a part of a spell snap… and the other was suddenly gone and he was grasping
air. He turned in confusion to look at her.
She smiled, nodding. “Good, I was
right. Come on… there’s someone outside,” she said, actually reaching out to
take his hand and walk with him to the door.
He looked down at the slender gloved
hand holding his, and found it didn’t bother him at all. In fact… it was oddly…
pleasing.
They were at the foot of his
favorite tree, and Lina was busy hollering up at someone. “Okay, come on down…
it’s time.”
Zelgadis watched in astonishment as
a perfectly human counterpart dropped out of the tree to land before him.
“You’re…” he said in amazement. The eyes were the same, but the hard
crystalline edge was gone, the delicateness of a human face looking somehow…
alien. He was too used to the angular relative sharpness of his now-stone face.
“You, human. It’s all part of Rezo’s
spell. So let’s do it already. It’s going to take both of us to defeat him,”
the human Zelgadis said.
“Him…?” The confused chimera
replied, tearing his mind away from the contemplation of the differences from
chimera to human.
In answer, the human grabbed his
hand, and suddenly not only was he gone as well, but Zelgadis had a nasty
feeling that he knew what came next.
Lina was afraid. This was the
crucial element, the troubled issue. The Mazoku stood before them, eyes
blazing, teeth bared. Here it was that the carefully laid pattern would take
form… or break into a million pieces. And she didn’t know what would happen
either way.
There were no words between the two
standing faced each other. Instead, they stood, hating the other that was a
part of both. Opposite natures conflicted in the glares passed between them, a
silent war of wills continuing before her eyes.
Suddenly, they both looked away, at
her. She paled, taking a step backwards. “What? Don’t look at me! None of this
is my fault!”
The voice was ragged from disuse,
grating, but his. “You. You bind me, capture me,” there was no malice in the
voice, nor in the words. Instead…
She stared. The Mazoku was speaking
for perhaps the first time ever. And it…he was speaking to her. “Me…?” She
squeaked.
“You,” he stepped forwards. “You
haunt me, burning through me like fire incarnate.”
Lina gasped, stepping backwards,
shooting a desperate look to her Zelgadis… who was only standing there behind
the Mazoku, quiet and scarlet-cheeked.
The Mazoku lifted his hand up,
kneeling before her. “For you, I breathe. For you, I die…”
Zelgadis quietly placed his hand on
the Mazoku’s shoulder, and a powerful wave of magic flared for a moment, then a
brilliant white light enveloped all.
When the glare faded, she was
standing in a stone chamber that she recognized as the foyer to Rezo’s room.
Turning, she saw Zelgadis there as well, regarding the door in dispassionate
silence. “Zel… I can’t go any farther. It’s yours from here on out… everything
is now completely up to you. I don’t know what’s in there… and only you can
pass through that door.”
He nodded, not even looking at her.
She turned away. “Go on… this is
what you’ve wanted…” She hadn’t expected that from the Mazoku… hadn’t realized
that the source of his emotions… his rage, his passion…
His hand touched her shoulder, then
slipped off as she heard the door open, then close. She felt her control over
the spell fading, slipping away from her, and she too was fading out of the
Astral Plane, falling back towards her body. But for a moment, she saw the Red
Priest’s smile, felt the gentle touch of his thought: Well done, Lina Inverse.
And then, there was black.