Chapter 23

Morning came, cheerfully dawning through the window of Amelia’s room. Only this morning, she rolled over and tried to forget that it was time to get up. The normally chipper, cheerful, and otherwise bubbly little Warrior of Justice – wasn’t.

Really, it wasn’t that she wasn’t happy for Miss Lina and Mister Zelgadis… but it was a lot of work. She knew that it was a passing crush on Mister Zelgadis… and that Miss Lina was a much better match for him… And Mister Gourry had Miss Sylphiel… who, in Amelia’s opinion was eminently perfect for the blonde swordsman. It just left Amelia… on her own. Again.

She kicked the covers off and dressed without her usual enthusiasm. Setting her hairbrush down, she opened the door to her room and headed out into the dining area.

Lina and Gourry were already arguing over the food on the table, Zelgadis watching quietly as he sipped his coffee. Yes, it was nothing more than your average breakfast. There was no indication that anything had happened the past few days.

“Gourry, if you’re that hungry, order another plate and leave mine alone!” Lina snapped, grabbing her sticky bun back from Gourry and putting it back on her plate as she returned what Amelia thought might be eggs.

“Well, if you aren’t going to eat it…” Zelgadis said and reached out to not only swipe the sticky bun off of her plate, but to take a bite out of it with a devilish glint in his eyes.

Lina dropped her fork. “I can’t win!”

Before Amelia could react, Lina sighed and looked to the girl. “Oh good… Amelia, we may as well get this over with early on… is there anything on my plate that you might want?”

Amelia shook her head as she walked up to the table. “No, Miss Lina… I think I just want a muffin and some tea…”

Lina nodded, looking at the waiter who had just returned with more food. “Add a muffin and tea to that… and another sticky bun,” she added the last with a look at Zelgadis as he finished the last mouthful of his pilfered breakfast.

He picked up his coffee mug as Amelia sat and took a drink from it before noting the obvious. “Amelia, you’re not as cheerful as you normally are. Are you well?”

The princess squirmed as she tried to think of an answer, but Lina came to her rescue. “She’s probably tired, Zel. She’s done a lot to help out lately. I wasn’t the only one working on Rezo’s spell, right Amelia?”

Amelia looked at Lina for a moment. “Right, Miss Lina…” Her muffin and tea arrived, and she ate it quietly and thoughtfully as she watched Lina eat her new sticky bun before anyone else could grab it.

An hour or so later, the little group was standing in the center of the city, Lina looking disgusted at the lack of magic shops. She’d been told that it was an old law that had originated with the building of the city many hundreds of years ago. The mayor couldn’t tell her anything else, so she’d left the City Hall, lost in thought. Most likely it has something to do with the City of Stone… and even though we aren’t looking for a cure anymore, there’s still some unfinished business down there. I know I won’t get Amelia in there… and I can’t cast enough white magic…

“We have to go back to the City of Stone,” Lina announced without preamble. Her cape had the dramatic sense of timing to flare out behind her, and for a moment, Amelia was struck with terror.

“No, Miss Lina! Whatever is down there should be left alone!” Amelia protested.

Lina turned to the Warrior of Justice. “Amelia, there’s a lot of stagnant black magic down there and I can’t just leave an evil spirit with the ability to one day be found by someone with the wrong idea. What if someone like Eris came along and found it? Or what if a child in this city cast a fireball and attracted its attentions? Could you live with yourself, knowing that by your inaction, you had allowed that to happen?”

When Amelia didn’t answer, Lina turned and started walking towards the road and the entrance to the underground city she had made. “Well, I can’t. One way or the other, I’m going to get rid of it. Even if I have to absorb it.”

“Lina, you can’t!” Zelgadis shouted as he started after her. “That much black magic… it would kill you!”

Amelia stood frozen as she heard Lina’s reply. “I’d rather it be me alone than an entire city, Zel… there’s too many people here to risk.”

Lina had flown down into the City of Stone, followed by Zelgadis before Amelia and Gourry could even catch up. Now, staring down into the depths of blackness, Amelia shivered. Her friends were down there… down in the city that was anathema to everything she knew.

Lina had ‘listened’ to the magic, opened her mind to the source of the evil, following it from the underground room to the source as best she could. To her abject shock, it had not emanated from the building that she thought it had. In a surprising twist through an existing lay line, it originated in the fountain beside the church.

The fountain… it’s the only thing still alive down here… and there was something in the old story… how the insane sorcerer had drowned himself in the fountain… Lina recalled. Wide-eyed and uneasy, she peered into the fountain for a body, but to her relief, there wasn’t one.

A hand was placed on her shoulder, and she hollered as she spun around to see Zelgadis standing there with one eyebrow raised. “Lina?”

She gasped for breath, waves of panic washing over her. “Don’t… don’t scare me like that, Zel! I thought you could have been the sorcerer who drowned himself in this fountain. It’s connected to the pool of magic down there… it may well be the source.”

“If that’s the case, then it’s easy.” He backed her up with him, pushed her aside slightly, put out his hands and began to cast. “Source of all souls which dwell in eternal and infinite. Everlasting flame of blue, let the power hidden in my soul be called forth from the Infinite…Ra-Tilt!”

The spell hit the fountain, the water rippling in the force of the blast. And undeniably, Lina felt something change. She took off, heading down into that room again, and when she got to the door, came to a terrified halt. The Ra-Tilt had separated the tortured soul from the fountain… and the pool of black magic had claimed it as its own, coming terrifyingly into life as she watched.

Zelgadis cursed under his breath beside her, and inwardly, she agreed. Guess there’s no way out of this… Taking positions beside each other, they both drew blades, throwing out their hands and simultaneously casting. “Elmekia Lance!”

The dual hits scored some success, and the two separated, becoming two targets now instead of one. Zelgadis wasted no time in casting the Astral Vine, and Lina considered her chances of learning that for a moment before throwing another Elmekia Lance at the creature.

Lina could see that this was going to be a long and drawn out battle. Bringing her hands into place, she called out a spell. “Lord of the Darkness and the Four Worlds, I call upon you, grant me all the power that you possess!” She sheathed her sword and was preparing to cast the Laguna Blade when a familiar voice caught her attention, and only out of reflex, she threw up a defense spell instead. It’s a good thing I called the boost…

“You pitiful twisted creature, not of this world... by the Light of Purity I possess, I bid thee, begone to the nexus of our two worlds!” Amelia appeared in the doorway; frightfully pale, but blue eyes set in her determination. “MEGIDO FLARE!”

A brilliant white spilled away from the raven-haired girl, swirling around the blackness and buffeting Lina through her defense shield. She closed her eyes against the brilliance, hoping that Zelgadis had managed to get his own defense spell cast in time.