No Rest for the Weary

No Rest for the Weary

“Lighting!” Zelgadiss boomed.

Under the blazing globe of light Zel created, my shadow disappeared. I took advantage of my newly freed movements and rushed over to join him.

Zelgadiss and I had been through some scrapes together. He was a chimera: part sorcerer, part rock golem, and part blow demon. To the best of my knowledge—and judging from the fact that his skin was still rocky—he hadn’t finished his search for a way to regain his human form.

“Thanks,” I panted as I reached him. “It’s been awhile, Zel. What are you doing here?”

“I ought to be asking you the same thing,” Zelgadiss replied, gesturing to my disguise and the amplification talismans. “What are you—um—wearing? And where’s Gourry?”

I shook my head. “Long story,” I muttered. “Let’s talk about the details later.”

“Right.”

“My,” giggled Gilfa’s disembodied voice. “It’s been awhile, Zelgadiss.”

I blinked at Zelgadiss. “You know that guy?”

“Sort of,” Zelgadiss murmured, keeping his eyes locked on Vedur.

“Coming after me all the way out here, in the middle of nowhere.” Gilfa’s voice cackled disdainfully. “So you’re one of those ‘Battle Between Light and Dark’ types, hm? Let me give you some advice: your skin might be tough as rock, but one slice from Vedur’s sword and you’ll be nothing but rubble.”

“Thanks,” Zelgadiss snapped, “but I already knew that.”

Zelgadiss, I noticed, was eyeing his sword across the hall. Since Vedur did the same, I figured my pal needed backup.

“Give me a sec,” I whispered, then quickly chanted a spell. I threw up my arms.

“Lighting!”

I targeted the spell at Vedur’s eyes. No matter how high his magic resistance, it didn’t change the fact that bright light hurts your peepers.

Zelgadiss took off for his sword at a run. Vedur flinched and threw an arm over his face, but the light didn’t stop him long. He squinted his eyes against my spell and charged right for Zelgadiss, closing the distance between the two of them before Zel could reach his sword.

“Zel!” I cried as Vedur swung with a roar.

“Lighting!”

This time, it was Zelgadiss casting the spell. He twisted himself away from Vedur and thrust his own light straight into the beast-man’s exposed eyes.

“GAAAAH!” Vedur cried, staggering back.

With the light blinding him, Vedur swung his sword but hit nothing but floor. Zelgadiss rolled, recovered his sword, and jumped back to his feet. Without sparing another second, he dove sword-first for Vedur.

“Vedur!” Gilfa screamed. “Look—”

But it was too late. Zelgadiss thrust his sword hilt-deep into Vedur’s throat, splattering blood in all directions.

The beast-man twitched and trembled, then slowly tilted forward. As he did, I noticed him raise his great sword again and hoist it high over his head so he could bring it down on Zelgadiss.

“Hey!” I cried, shocked that Vedur was still conscious enough to move.

Without any time to withdraw his sword, Zelgadiss leapt backward, his sword lodged in Vedur’s throat.

Shakily, Vedur’s fingers gripped the hilt of Zel’s sword. He slowly extracted the blade from his neck, then let it fall to the floor with a clang. His body shook as he awkwardly backed away.

Unreal!

Zelgadiss and I stared at each other, awestruck. The blade had impaled Vedur right through the throat—that’s one of the most fatal strikes you can launch, and even the biggest, baddest creatures in the world can’t survive without a neck. But Vedur had just pulled the sword out and stalked away to shake it off, like he’d yanked a splinter from his foot. It was completely impossible! Was Vedur just spasming in his final death throes or something?

Still, there was something strange about the way Vedur moved. He strode forward in an unusually erratic fashion, like he was possessed by another power.

It was more than a little creepy. Zel and I watched Vedur disappear into the corridor.

“What the hell was that all about?” Zelgadiss mumbled slowly.

“Um, he’s got more spunk than I thought?” I ventured. “But otherworldly spunk or not, I’m going after him. Enemies should have the decency to die when they’re killed.”

Zelgadiss looked at me like I was insane. “And just what are you planning to do?”

“Good question.” I thought about that for a second. Vedur had vanished deeper into the building, so my hunch was that he’d gone off to…

“Follow him with me?” I asked. “My friend Amelia’s been captured, so he may lead us straight to her.”

Zelgadiss mulled that one over. “Was she the one who caused the explosion earlier? The one that blew a hole in the side of the building?”

“Probably.” If indiscriminate blowing-up was the goal, Amelia was your girl.

I went over how things might’ve gone down. Assuming Xelloss was right and Mazenda had sealed Amelia’s magic, Amelia—discovering that Mazenda’s magic seal on her was finally broken—had probably destroyed the wall to try and escape but had then bumped into Krotz and his people. Being conveniently in the vicinity, Zelgadiss must’ve seen the explosion and come over to investigate. He’d probably arrived right after me.

“Fine.” Zelgadiss nodded. “Let’s go.”

The two of us dashed off, hot-footing it after Vedur.

* * *

For someone supposed to be dead, Vedur could walk pretty fast. At least we found a very clear trail to follow—blood, buckets of it, spattering the floor and walls of the corridor—so seeing where he’d gone was easy enough.

The trail took us up the stairway to a narrow corridor that went deeper into the building. Vedur took a right at the entrance and turned his head to glance back at us.

He didn’t look good, to say the least. I had no idea how he’d gone so long after losing all that blood. And speaking of blood, it seemed to have stopped gushing from the gash at his throat. Nothing about him seemed alive, yet there he was, his eyes glazed over and his mouth half open.

Chills ran up my spine when I looked into his inanimate eyes. Although his footing was all over the place and he didn’t have the best coordination, he somehow still managed to lift his sword and angle it in our direction. I had the urge to ask him about Amelia’s whereabouts, but who was I kidding? He wasn’t up for conversation.

“You don’t look too good, Vedur,” Zelgadiss said flatly. He closed in on the snake man as he spoke, his own blade lowered. “Don’t worry; you’ll be out of your misery shortly.”

As if in response to Zelgadiss’ comment, a low voice began chanting a spell from somewhere I couldn’t place. Great, I thought, Gilfa again!

Zelgadiss had picked up on Gilfa, too. “I don’t think so!” he snapped as he sprinted for Vedur. Gilfa took the opportunity to spring one of his old tricks.

“Zel!” I cried. “Look out!”

The beast-man’s shadow distorted, transforming into dozens of black blades that launched themselves at Zelgadiss. Zel leapt backward, ducking his head low and narrowly avoiding the lances.

“Damn!” he grunted as he retreated back to my side of the corridor. Zelgadiss’ skin was like armor, and I sincerely doubted the blades could penetrate it, but there was no sense in testing that theory at the moment.

We had to get rid of Gilfa. Stupid, smarmy, wanting-a-fist-in-the-mouth Gilfa.

“So,” I heard Zelgadiss murmur after a moment. “That’s it.”

I stared at him. What’s it? Whatever it was, it made my somber rock buddy crack a dark little smile.

He turned to me. “Can your spells do something about that shadow?”

I frowned. “Well, Lighting can probably handle a simple Shadow Snap, but the Shadow Master spell’s not that easy to deal with.”

Zelgadiss paused. “Fine,” he muttered, assuming an attack stance. “Then I’ll just have to manage.”

He suddenly broke into a charge toward Vedur, whose shadow, by the way, rose in preparation for another attack. This time it morphed into an inky black net that quickly spread across Zel’s path.

Zelgadiss growled. But rather than halt in his tracks (as I half expected him to do), he just launched himself forward with even more fervor. The net suddenly transformed into a black, mountain-like shape barbed with long, tapered needles

No, no, no—don’t hit that!

Zelgadiss was charging too fast to even think about putting on the brakes. I froze, sure he was a goner… until a voice suddenly rang out.

“Flow Break!”

I whipped around. “Amelia!”

Light flooded the corridor, blinking out the shadow under Gilfa’s control. Sensing his opportunity, Zelgadiss lunged.

Vedur hoisted his sword up to meet him. He and Zelgadiss slammed hard into each other then went crashing to the floor. After a few seconds, only one of them got up again: Zelgadiss.

“That was close,” he panted, breathing hard. He turned to the figure clad in white, standing deeper in the corridor. “Thank you.”

I waved to her. “Amelia!” I called. “Long time no see!”

Amelia bounded over, an adrenaline smile plastered across her face. “Glad you made it here, Miss Lina!” she chirped. “How are things with you?”

“Pretty good. Oh, this is Zelgadiss. He’s a friend.”

I paused. Daaaa! What the hell am I doing?!

I stopped my blathering. There was no time for small talk considering the danger we were in.

With a wary stance, I threw my gaze around the room. “Gilfa’s gotta be around here somewhere,” I said quickly. “Zel, did you see him?”

Zelgadiss shook his head. “He’s already dead.”

“Yeah, so we’d better—huh?” I turned to him. “What do you mean he’s dead?”

“Take a look.” Zelgadiss turned Vedur’s body over with his foot and gave it a little kick for good measure. Then he reached down and slowly withdrew his sword from where he’d lodged it—in the hump on Vedur’s back.

“He was hiding in there,” Zelgadiss said as he pointed to the slashed and bloodied hump.

“Wha—?” Either Zelgadiss was nuts, or I was in for a hell of an explanation.

I kneeled down. On closer inspection, it looked like Vedur was an artificially created being, probably developed by Krotz himself. And Krotz, it looked like, had grafted a second brain onto the beast-man’s back. Though Vedur’s own brain had clearly been in command of his body at first, Gilfa’s brain had probably taken over motor control after Vedur’s mortal stabbing. It certainly explained the postmortem jerky walk.

To my disgust, I also noticed a small but visible seam that crossed the hump’s wrinkly surface. Gilfa’s mouth, I thought, which explained why we’d never located the origin of his voice. I guessed that Gilfa probably had “eyes” somewhere, too, but I didn’t want to go snooping around for those. “If Krotz created this… thing,” I finally muttered, choking down my nausea, “he is one real sicko.”

“Miss Lina,” Amelia chimed in, “we don’t have time for this right now. The enemy could be here any second!” “Enemy? How many enemies, roughly?”

“I’m not sure.” Worry dampened the usual cheeriness in her voice. “I was running too fast from them to get a good look.” She took a deep breath, then added, “But there’s one we really have to watch out for.”

“Who?” I asked, but regretted it immediately. I probably didn’t want to know.

“Well…” Amelia squinted in puzzlement. “It’s hard to say. While I was spying on the cult members, I heard one of them say, ‘More intruders have arrived!’ and then another say, ‘Let’s use the weapon of last resort! Let’s unleash him!’“

“‘Unleash’?” Anything on a leash could only be bad, bad news.

“Hold on,” Zelgadiss interjected. His rocky face went even ashier with dread. “They said they’d unleash him?”

“Um, yeah.”

Zelgadiss exhaled a long, labored breath, then glared at Amelia and me.

“Run.”

“Huh?” I replied.

“Run!” Zelgadiss repeated. “And hurry up about it!”

As he spoke, he gripped his sword and broke into a sprint back toward the stairway.

“Hey!” I shouted. “Not so fast!”

“We should run, too,” Amelia noted. “I feel that might be for the best.”

Amelia took off at Zelgadiss’ heels. Since Zelgadiss knew the extent of my powers and Amelia was usually on when it came to sensing danger—and since neither of them had bothered waiting for my opinion on the matter—I figured, yeah, sure, retreating was the way to go.

“Hey!” I yelled as I hurried to follow. “Wait for me!”

The three of us fled the building and ran into the darkness of the surrounding woods. By the time we’d reached the trees, we were out of breath and delirious from panic; at least, Zelgadiss and Amelia were. I was just out of breath, since

I didn’t know enough about whatever was after us to start panicking just yet.

“You know,” I panted, slumping against a tree, “I could let loose a Dragon Slave or something and blow that mansion to kingdom come.”

“We should just get out of here,” Zelgadiss insisted. “Without our star player, we can’t do anything!”

Star player? Maybe the lack of oxygen’s turning Zelgadiss nutty. , He didn’t explain himself, so I just rolled my eyes and dropped the subject.

* * *

We didn’t rest long. A minute or two later we continued speeding down the mountain path, tripping and stumbling in the waning light of the moon. It was dangerous, obviously, like any situation where you could both fall and crack your skull and run into some horrible rampaging Monster of Death, so I decided to help our feet along: I chanted an amplified Ray Wing.

Ray Wing is a spell for high-speed flight, where the rate of travel and weight of passage are directly proportional to the ability of the spell-caster. Without amplification, hauling two additional people keeps Ray Wing from reaching a normal running speed, so the amplification was what saved the day. Er, night.

I grabbed onto Amelia and Zel. “Ray Wing!”

We lifted into the air. Just then, something shot out from behind us.

FWOOSH!

A silver light incinerated the ground directly below. The Ray Wing had barely saved us from becoming charcoal.

“What the hell?!” I cried. Amelia gripped me tightly, suddenly freaked, and Zelgadiss cursed creatively.

It had almost looked like… a Dragon Lord’s Laser Breath. I certainly hoped I was seeing things.

In the darkness, I couldn’t clearly make out where the beam had come from, but I could see the swath of trees ripped apart in its wake. The best I could tell, the light had originated from the direction of the cult’s stronghold. I whipped my head around.

The area around the building’s entrance was lit by a dull patch of moonlight. There, standing alone, a single figure watched us.

“Yikes,” I muttered, trying to keep the panic from my voice. “I think that’s our cue to go.” With that, I raised our flight speed and got us out of there in a hurry.

* * *

“So what happened to you, Amelia? You never explained that part.”

Amelia, Zelgadiss, and I had returned to Mane Village. We’d arrived at the hay barn on the outskirts of town where I’d stowed my things before venturing up into the mountains. The three of us had a lot of catching up to do.

“Well, nothing interesting,” Amelia replied, shrugging her shoulders. “After the enemy captured me, that Mazenda woman sealed my magic and they locked me up in a room. Every once in a while, I’d test out my magic powers to see if they were, well, unsealed, but for the longest time they never were. Then all of a sudden they were, you know, unsealed, so I blew a hole in the wall. But before I could make a break for it, I bumped into a bunch of those guys, so…” Amelia trailed off into silence.

“So you fought your way back into the building and hid inside?”

“Right.”

“Wait a second,” Zelgadiss interjected. He was getting worked up again, like when he’d insisted we run like headless chickens. “Are you saying the enemy has someone with the power to seal spells?!”

“Easy,” I said soothingly, hoping to calm Zelgadiss down. “I’m not entirely sure about that.”

“You’re not sure?”

“Well, alter Amelia got captured, a priest named Xelloss showed up—”

“Xelloss?!” Zelgadiss shrieked, jumping up. I half expected his head to explode. “Xelloss is here?! Here?!”

“You know him?”

“All right, that’s enough!” Amelia strode up and wedged herself between us. “We’re stepping on each other’s toes here. 1 think what we need to do is get the straight story from… er… Mister Zedilgass.”

Zelgadiss rolled his eyes and sighed. “It’s Zelgadiss,” he and I said in unison.

The guy was pretty exhausted, and I couldn’t blame him. He’d been on a grueling journey to try and find a way to get back his original human form after a certain nasty Red Priest—you probably know whom I’m talking about—turned Zel into a human-golem-blow-demon chimera. And according to the brief update Zelgadiss had given me on our flight into Mane, he wasn’t much closer to reaching his goal.

He slowly sat down on a bale of hay and lowered his face into his hands. After a minute, he glanced up at Amelia.

“You’ve heard about my quest, right?”

She nodded. “You want your human body back.”

“Right. I’m still not even sure that’s possible, but I’ve tried talking to countless apothecaries, sorcerers, and alchemists all over the place. The closest thing I ever got to an answer came from a chimerical researcher I once met in a tavern.

“I was trying to, well…” He trailed off for a second. “I was trying to soften my troubles with some wine when he dumped his juice into my cup. He showed me how easy it was to mix the two, but then he asked me to try and separate the drinks again.” He sighed. “He told me it was theoretically possible, but not easy. I appreciated the metaphor and all, but he still ruined my drink and spilled half his juice in my lap—I’m pretty sure it was the first nonalcoholic substance he’d had all day.

“Anyway, he told me that each life form has certain characteristics unique to itself. Birds, for instance, are born with wings and beaks, a specific body temperature, that sort of thing. Chimera manufacturing is a process that involves identifying common characteristics between two or more life forms and then melding them together using an intermediary.

“But with all the research going on, they’re still having trouble finding technology that can separate a hybrid form into its individual parts again. He said it could take centuries to discover it—and that’s assuming they can discover it at all.” He rubbed his temples and sighed. “Needless to say, it was really bad news at the time. After waking up in the gutter the next morning, I went off in search of a more sober information source and heard a rumor about the Claire Bible.”

I perked up at that. “The Claire Bible?”

“Well, a certain part of it, anyway. I heard it contained information on manufacturing a completely different sort of chimera, so I tracked down the family that owned it.” His eyes darkened. “That’s when I met Xelloss. I found out he was after the manuscript, too, as was Krotz and his cult. Krotz, obviously, got to the manuscript before us, killed the guy who owned it, and disappeared.” Zelgadiss shook his head. “Now I have to beat the cult and Xelloss to get my hands on the thing.”

“Beat Xelloss?” I repeated. “Were you planning to do that before hell froze over, or after?”

“That’s not funny.” He glared at me. “Xelloss and I formed a temporary alliance because of the whole Krotz thing. Technically he’s my ally right now, but only until we beat the cult.” Zelgadiss’ tone was unwavering, almost businesslike. “I’ll figure out what to do about Xelloss later.”

I didn’t want to burst his bubble, but it had to be said. “Zel,” I said carefully, “even if you get your hands on the manuscript, there’s no guarantee it’ll solve your problems.”

“I know that. I have no idea if the contents will tell me how to make myself human again, but that’s a risk—”

“No,” I cut in. Obviously, he wasn’t catching my drift. “What I mean is that even if you or Xelloss manage to snag the manuscript, we have no confirmation that it’s the real deal.

There are so many fraudulent manuscripts floating around; it could easily be one of those.”

Zelgadiss blinked at me. “You mean Xelloss didn’t tell you?” Here we go again. More surprises!

“The caretaker of that manuscript was a direct descendant of the high priest who served in the court of Letidius.” He rolled his eyes. “Xelloss is such a bastard.”

Letidius, if you recall, was the king who ruled over that area some five centuries ago. He destroyed himself and his kingdom in his zealous quest for immortality, but legend has it that he gathered together a vast library full of knowledge pertaining to sorcery during his rule. Supposedly the collection was destroyed and its contents lost. I’d thought that the location of the lost Letidius capital was a little farther north.

“Supposedly,” Zelgadiss explained, “this ancestor had the manuscript with him when he fled the dying kingdom.”

If what Zelgadiss said was true, there was reason to believe the manuscript stolen by Krotz was indeed real. But there was still that margin of error.

“There’s a fair chance,” I countered, “that the manuscript was stolen or corrupted over time. The family might’ve thought they had the authentic manuscript when, in fact, it was plundered, right under their noses, generations ago and replaced with a fake.”

Zelgadiss, however, wasn’t fazed by my comments. “Om hundred and twenty years ago, the caretaker had the same doubts. Verification was simple: he did as the manuscript said and then observed the results.” He stared meaningfully at me “The result was a complete success. But, for reasons unknown, the chimera he created began to run amok. I’m sure you heard about the thing—Zanaffar, the Demon Beast of Sairaag?”

I froze. Zanaffar?! I thought in shock. The legendary creature responsible for the destruction of Sairaag City? He’d just been a magic experiment gone wrong?!

As far as I knew, no record of explaining who the Demon Beast really was ever existed. Of course, it would come as no surprise if the original keepers of the manuscript had destroyed the proof to keep blame away from them. You’d have to be nuts to admit that it was you or one of your ancestors who accidentally destroyed the hometown of the Sorcerers’ Guild.

“Is that stuff really true?” Amelia asked in a faint voice.

Zelgadiss shrugged his shoulders.

“If the owner wasn’t bluffing,” I said, reasoning it all out, “and creating such a creature is actually possible, then Krotz and his cult…” It was too stomach-churning a thought to say out loud.

“They’ve already completed it.” Zelgadiss took the liberty. “Zanaffar Number Two.”

My stomach… well, churned.

“I didn’t think they’d complete the task so quickly,” he added, “but there you have it.”

“So the ‘star player’ you referred to earlier is Gourry, right?” I asked.

“Yeah. If the legends are true, then only the warrior of the Sword of Light can defeat Zanaffar.” Zelgadiss crossed his arms and frowned. “But he’s not around, is he?”

“It’s too early to give up!” Amelia suddenly exclaimed, rising from her bale of hay. Half a second later, she successfully surprised no one by starting up her fist-clenching and shouting routine.

“Even without Mister Gourry,” she declared, “if we combine our strength, then—”

“Get over it!” I interrupted. “You really think we’ve got a shot? Get serious!”

Sorry, but I’m really not in the mood.

That sure shut her up. A cold look channeled into her eyes and she sat back down on the hay.

“Not really,” she muttered gloomily, fiddling with a piece of straw.

The truth was out and even Amelia had to admit it. She looked up at me, her forehead wrinkled, and asked, “Exactly how powerful is this chimera going to be?”

I let out a breath and thought for a moment. “There are a few things we can guess,” I replied at last. “We know that his predecessor was the one who destroyed Sairaag, right? So it’s safe to assume that the new Zanaffar will have an insane amount of offensive power, too. If he’s allowed to attack, he could destroy an entire city. We have to try and keep him from doing that.” I bowed my head and scowled, trying to think of some method for fighting a creature like that.

“First of all, if this chimera’s really that powerful, there’s no way the Sword of Light could wound him, regardless of the legend. The Sword is definitely powerful, but it’s still an imprecise weapon; the wielder would never even get close enough to take a swing at the damn thing.

“Second,” I continued, “this isn’t the same Zanaffar. It’s a new one, maybe a better one. And there’s a real possibility that this new one will go berserk like the first Zanaffar did.” I smacked my palm on a nearby pile of hay. “If they make a dozen or two dozen Zanaffars to see if the magic in the manuscript is for real, then we’ve got one ugly situation on our hands. It could make the attack on Sairaag look like a picnic.

“Third…” I paused, not wanting to say it. “Third, it’s clear that offensive spells have no effect on Zanaffar.

“Let’s not forget, Sairaag was the City of Sorcery. There were probably plenty of sorcerers capable of using Dragon

Slave-level spells against Zanaffar, but since the Demon Beast still managed to raze the city, we can only conclude that Zanaffar had nearly flawless magic resistance.”

Amelia’s jaw dropped. “What do you mean magic won’t work?!”

“To find the answer to that, you must first ponder the true nature of magic.”

Look who’s back.

Zelgadiss’ face twitched with displeasure as Amelia turned toward the new speaker in surprise. I didn’t even bother glancing at the door.

“How long have you been standing there, Xelloss?” I asked tiredly.

“Ever since the young lady’s line about using the power of conviction to defeat the Demon Beast.” Xelloss entered the barn, his staff making small taps on the ground as he walked, and crouched casually beside me on the straw-covered floor. He smiled at Amelia. Unused to the man, she cringed uncomfortably.

“Don’t worry, Amelia,” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. “He’s not an enemy—not right now, anyway.”

“A rather accurate assessment,” Xelloss agreed.

I nodded my head at him. “I owe you one, Xelloss. Thanks for getting me my spells back.”

He shrugged. “You’re welcome.”

I paused. “So what happened to Mazenda?” I asked carefully. I wondered if he could sense how anxious I was to hear the answer to that one.

But Xelloss didn’t miss a beat. “She was destroyed,” he responded simply, that steady, somewhat absent-minded smile never leaving his face.

Amelia gasped. “How?!”

Xelloss touched his forefinger to his lips. “It’s a secret.”

Amelia screwed up her face. Welcome to our world, I wanted to tell her.

“H-how’d you even know we were here?”

“Ah.” Xelloss’ tone remained calm, almost sagelike, as if he could anticipate any question and serve up the correct answer piping hot. “I simply traced the magic energy given off by the talismans I sold Miss Lina.”

I’d forgotten about that. Using sorcery to scry for a specific kind of magic energy is a common strategy among sorcerers, but it’s only useful if the one doing the scrying knows the magic’s specific energy pattern. My talismans were basically tracking devices for Xelloss; I told myself to remember that.

“So,” Xelloss went on, joining his palms as he organized his thoughts, “back to the ‘why-won’t-magic-work’ question. In the first place, magic—” He broke off there and paused. “Rather, let’s backtrack a bit. What is mana?”

“A force that originated before the creation of this world,” Amelia recited as though she’d memorized the response long ago.

“Precisely. Because magic originates from a place of nothingness, it is capable of altering the fate of this world either through producing power or through other means.”

I took a seat next to Amelia, and Zelgadiss leaned against a stack of hay. We weren’t about to ignore the man.

“When we invoke magic here in the physical world, the spell acts as a medium to draw power from the astral side. Think of the astral side as the backside of the world; the boundary separating it and us is paper-thin.

“Elemental spells—earth, water, fire, and air—are manifestations of physical forces. These spells maybe extremely powerful, but because they are embodiments of physical concepts, physical defenses can protect against them.

“However,” Xelloss raised his forefinger again to make his point, “mind-affecting sorcery and half of the offensive spells in Black Magic attack the opponent’s astral self directly from the astral side.”

“Teacher,” I piped in, raising a hand only half-jokingly. “I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“Gaav Flare has a visible trail of flame, and Dragon Slave can directly destroy a castle or even a mountain. The last time I checked, mountains and castles weren’t astral phenomena.”

Yeah, I can be a little snotty, but that’s how I keep people on their toes.

“Mmm,” Xelloss hummed. “I’m glad you brought that up. With the Dragon Slave, you can see a faint red beam as the spell makes for and converges with its target. Gaav Flare’s flames and Dragon Slave’s red beam can all be thought of as the spells’ fuses, so to speak.”

“Fuses?”

“Indeed. The resulting reaction causes attack power from the astral side to converge at the target and manifest itself in this world. If the target is not alive, the power simply comes through, but if the target does live, its mental component is torn asunder and any remaining energy breaks through into our world.

“Of course,” Xelloss added, “there are also spells like Elmekia Lance that solely affect the astral, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that difference before.”

Damn! The guy was smart—nerd smart. I wished I had some way to jot all that information down.

If Gourry were here, I’m sure he’d be snoring in back of the barn by now.

“Another question?” It was Amelia asking this time.

“Yes?”

“Where’d you learn all this? Even the Sorcerers’ Guild doesn’t know that much about the true nature of sorcery.” Xelloss smiled. He arched his eyebrows and touched his lips. “Let me guess,” I muttered.

“The only answer I can give,” he said, “is that the prevailing opinions of the Sorcerers’ Guild are not the most refined theories on sorcery.”

“I have a question,” Zelgadiss snapped.

“You? Oh, anything.”

“Are you going to get to the point some time today?” Xelloss smiled. “Ah. Well, the reason offensive magic can’t affect Zanaffar is because Zanaffar’s mind is completely sealed off from the astral side.”

My eyebrows furrowed. Sealed off?

“Zanaffar has a kind of wall between his physical side and his astral side. For that reason, the offensive astral power of Black Magic will never actually penetrate Zanaffar’s mind or body. Such spells cannot damage him.”

The barn grew quiet. It was extremely bad news for all of us. Xelloss was quick to add, “The silver lining here is that the full offensive and physical power of Shamanic Magic can be utilized.”

Amelia sucked in a breath happily.

“On the other hand,” Xelloss admitted, “Zanaffar’s hide is at least as resilient as an Arc Dragon’s, possibly as tough as a Dimos Dragon’s or a Dragon Lord’s. His hide alone can easily deflect human-level Shamanic Magic.”

Amelia released that breath, sad.

I didn’t know if what Xelloss said was based on fact or was simply hypothesis, but it certainly made sense.

“So it’s true,” I said at last. “Zanaffar can only really be challenged by the Sword of Light or something like it.”

“It also means we can’t even hope to counterattack so long as we don’t have Gourry.” Zelgadiss sounded cranky and tired, like he’d lost the battle before it had even begun.

“Gourry?” Xelloss asked.

“He’s got the Sword of Light.”

For the first time since his arrival, Xelloss actually looked surprised at something. “Surely you’re joking.”

“The hell I am,” I snapped. “I wouldn’t be putzing around in the dark, hiding out in reeking barns and waiting around like a jackass for any other reason.” I sighed with resignation.

It occurred to me that if I knew the Sword of Light’s magical energy pattern, I could scry for it from the astral side. But I didn’t know it, so I couldn’t, and that left me back at square one.

Don t get me wrong. It wasn’t like I hadn’t tried to do research on the Sword. But every time I’d ask Gourry to lend it to me for even a minute, he’d look at me like I was insane. “What?” he’d say to me. “So you can run off with it?”

Do I look like the type of girl who’d try to run off with something like that?

Don’t answer that.

Xelloss, meanwhile, was in his own little world. He seemed to be working something out in his head, and kept vocalizing little bits of what he was thinking.

“You mean he… um, wait… no, wait… that would mean…” He went on and on like that for a while, until he finally seemed to come to a conclusion. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the three of us.

“Be that as it may, I’m afraid I can’t spare any more time here. I only came by to observe your progress; I must be off.” He’d just turned to leave when Amelia grabbed hold of his robe and halted him mid-step. He paused.

“Um,” he intoned, “would you mind letting go of my robe?” “I don’t think so.” Amelia shook her head resolutely. “I don’t know who you are, but there’s an evil Demon Beast out there! If you make a wrong move, not only are you done for, but you’ll put our mission in great jeopardy. My intuition tells me loud and clear not to let you go. Not by yourself.”

Xelloss turned toward me. I couldn’t tell if he was puzzled or ticked off; probably both.

“Can’t you,” he asked, “do something about her?” He pointed to Amelia like she was a dog that had peed on his shoe.

“Sorry,” I said, baring my teeth in a mock-smile. “Can’t do a thing. She’s like that, totally hell-bent on risking her life for Truth, Love, and Justice.”

Amelia, all fired up now, nodded resolutely at Xelloss.

“A strange one,” Xelloss remarked.

“Yup.”

Xelloss sighed. “I see,” he murmured. “Quite a gay and merry bunch we have here, it would seem.”

I scoffed and pointed a finger right back him. “You’re the only one who’s gay.”

“N-not at all!” Xelloss stammered. “I’m perfectly straight! Perfectly straight!”

His protests weren’t convincing, to say the least.

Zelgadiss had had enough of our shenanigans. He turned away, and I got the feeling that he thought we were a squabbling bunch of cretins. He had this I’m-gonna-keep-my-distance-from-these-cretins sort of look about him.

“A-anyway, I’ve had enough,” Xelloss blustered. “I’m leaving!” With that, he stomped out of the barn.

Amelia squeaked.

“Amelia!” I snapped, furrowing my eyebrows disapprov­ingly. “Why’d you let him go?”

Amelia looked at her hand, its fingers still in a clasping position, then looked at me with wide eyes. “But I didn’t! I swear!” “Look, we can’t just let him leave.” I rushed out of the barn after Xelloss. “Xelloss, wait up!”

Outside, the morning sun had brightened the sky and warmed the air. To the east spanned the mountains, their peaks crowned with snow. They glowed peach and pink against the bright blue sky.

Since Xelloss didn’t seem to want to talk to us, we just trailed him for a while. After a good half hour, he finally spun around on his heels and sighed disapprovingly.

“All right,” he murmured. “Why are you all following me?” “The more the merrier,” I replied, flashing him a smile. “Two’s better than one and four’s better than two, don’t you think? You can’t deny that there’s strength in numbers.”

“No, I can’t.” He pursed his lips in resignation. “All right, have it your way. I shall go forward as I please, and you’re free to follow as you please. Is that acceptable?”

I nodded eagerly. “Sure!”

Before you point it out, I was quite aware that I was making decisions without letting Amelia and Zelgadiss contribute, but I figured I was doing what was best for the group. Still, I had to get something out of the way before we finalized our four- person party.

“If your plan was to go off on your own,” I asked Xelloss, “then why did you bother coming all this way only to look in on us?”

Xelloss waved a hand. “Because,” he said simply, “didn’t I promise you we’d reconvene in this village?”

The moment he finished his sentence, we all heard a KA-BOOM.

Our heads jerked in the direction of the sound. Partway up the mountain, where we knew the cult’s stronghold stood, a thick cloud of dust hovered menacingly in the sky.

“I assume that’s bad,” Xelloss commented vaguely.

After the initial surprise, we hurried up the mountain path to get a closer look at what had happened. The cult’s abandoned mansion hideout had been turned into an enormous crater, a wasteland of smoke and rubble. From the looks of it, the explosion had been caused by a Dragon Slave or something similar.

“W-who did this?” I wondered aloud.

“Evil shall always be destroyed!” Amelia proclaimed.

Just more nonsense. Ignore her.

Xelloss shrugged. “Master Krotz and his people, I suspect.”

I whipped around to face him. “Them?” I asked incredulously. “But why?”

“Probably to avoid complaints. They can claim their headquarters was hit with a Dragon Slave and thus save face rather than admit your infiltration occurred because of poor security.”

“Wait a minute,” Zelgadiss interjected suspiciously. “How did you know we attacked this place last night?”

“Simple.” He counted off on his fingers. “One: Miss Lina informed me earlier that Miss Amelia had been captured by the enemy. Two: you’ve been discussing Zanaffar. And three: as I entered the village last night, I noticed a flash go off in the mountains at precisely this location.”

Zelgadiss thought for a minute. “I still don’t see why they’d destroy their own headquarters and move on,” he muttered. “With Zanaffar here, couldn’t they just use him to fight us if we returned to attack?”

That sparked something in my brain. “Amelia,” I said abruptly. “You said you heard them call Zanaffar a last resort, right? And if he was the one who shot that giant beam at us as we flew away from the headquarters, he never even tried to pursue. Krotz hasn’t had the manuscript very long; maybe that means…”

“Ah!” Amelia slapped a fist against her palm. “Zanaffar probably isn’t complete yet!” Her eyes were alight with the fire of conviction.

“Let’s follow them!” she cried. “While Zanaffar, Demon Beast of the darkness, is not yet complete, we can use our power to smash the cult’s evil ambitions!”

“I don’t mind the smashing part,” Zelgadiss remarked, “but do you have any idea where they ran off to, Justice Girl?” Amelia was visibly deflated by the insult. “Uh…” Unable to come up with anything, she shot Xelloss a desperate look. “Don’t you know? You must know!” She gripped his sleeve. “TELL ME!”

“I do not,” Xelloss replied shortly. “All I can say is if Zanaffar truly is incomplete, then I imagine they’re moving their base to another location as we speak.” He paused. “In retrospect,” he said more quietly, “I should have asked Mazenda about the cult’s backup hideouts before I finished her off.”

As our plans hit more and more dead ends, I realized that I hadn’t shared a vital piece of information. I took a deep breath.

“I’m not sure where the hideout is,” I said at last, tentatively pointing eastward, “but I think they’re headed that way.”

“What makes you say that?” Zelgadiss asked.

Before answering, I looked over at Amelia. It didn’t seem like a good time to spring such crappy news on her, but I doubted a better one would come along.

Here goes nothing…

“Last night,” I began, “I sneaked into the coliseum again. Krotz was giving a speech about the cult’s future plans, and… well…” I struggled for a softer, easier way to put it, but there really wasn’t one.

“They’re gonna destroy Saillune.”

“Whaaaaaaat?!”

Amelia reacted pretty much as I’d expected.

“W-why would they destroy Saillune?!” she cried. “How could they do such a thing?! And if Zanaffar’s complete, they’ll be able to do it!”

After about five seconds of panic, she set her jaw and stamped her foot. “We can’t allow this!” she proclaimed. “We have to follow them. There’s not a moment to lose!”

With that, she spun around and marched purposefully back toward the village. The rest of us scrambled to follow—at least, until she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

“Amelia?” I asked. I ran up and looked over her shoulder, then froze.

Before us, blocking our path, stood a small army of villagers. I could hear their hateful grumbling and see the sneers on their faces; they were out for blood, no doubt about it.

Xelloss caught up to us and looked out at the arrayed ranks. “Ah,” he said, as nonchalantly as ever. “These must be Master Krotz’s followers here to kill us.”

“You!” a grizzled, middle-aged farmer yelled. He was obviously itching for a fight, and he didn’t look like he would take no for an answer. “What the hell did you do with Master Krotz?!”

“It’s them!” another man’s voice rose up. “They’re the ones who crashed the meeting the other day!”

The bloodlust I sensed from the group was off the charts. If I’d been alone with my powers still sealed, I would’ve been as good as dead.

My mind returned to the newly destroyed stronghold. Of course! I thought. By blowing up his own headquarters in such a spectacular way, Krotz had not only annihilated all evidence that he was “building” Zanaffar, but he’d incited his followers to rise against us. A hundred ordinary villagers were no match for us, but the mob still acted as a barricade; it would slow our progress, buying Krotz time as he went about putting the pieces of his plan into place.

That magnificent bastard—I couldn’t wait to kill him!

“I suppose we have no choice,” Xelloss commented casually. “We must dispose of them in one blow.” He began to walk forward.

Uh oh.

“H-hold on!” I called. “Wait a sec, Xelloss!”

Xelloss stopped in mid-step and glanced back, perplexed.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Surely you’re not going to try and sell me on their good points.”

“No one in the world would mistake them for saints,” I agreed. “But what good will it do if you kill the lot of them? Don’t you realize the village needs these men? If you wipe them out, you’ll be wiping out Mane!”

“I am aware,” Xelloss answered simply.

For a second, I was stumped. I had no idea how to reason with the guy; he was dead-set on a massacre that morning.

“If you do,” I told him, “you’ll make mass murderers of us all. These are ordinary villagers who haven’t committed any crimes.” I stepped in between him and the crowd and, staring dead into his eyes, shook my head. “I can’t let you do it.”

As I spoke, I felt the villagers’ bloodlust levels surge even higher behind me. They hadn’t yet worked up the guts to attack us, but, as their rage grew by the second, I knew it was just a matter of time before something really nasty happened.

“All we need is to create a break through their center line,” I argued, trying to offer a more humane solution. “Something that’ll scatter them and give us room to hurry through.”

Xelloss closed his eyes for a moment. “All right,” he said at last. “I shall proceed with due gentleness.” He then walked calmly toward the mob and began chanting a spell.

“Hey!” one of the men cried out. “What’s that one doing?!”

Xelloss slowly arced his right hand through the air. He finished his chanting, then spoke the Power Words. I couldn’t hear what he said, but it was impossible not to notice what happened next.

FWOOOSH!

A gust of wind swelled up out of nowhere and ripped through the crowd, parting it and forming a wide pathway for us. Under the violent whoosh of the wind, we heard the screams of the villagers as they were tossed aside like toys.

I gathered that Xelloss’ spell had been a Diem Wing bumped up in power level—several times over, by the looks of it.

The villagers that had called for our deaths mere moments before now lay scattered and moaning. Some were caught high up in the trees; others lay tangled up in bushes or passed out in the dirt.

“Now,” Xelloss announced, “let’s be off.” He started down the path, stopping briefly to address a few villagers who’d rolled back into the way.

“Would you mind moving?” he asked. “I’d rather not have to clear the path again.”

The stragglers let out small screams and scurried into the bushes on either side of the mountain path.

So that was due gentleness.

* * *

Our progress sucked. Four days out of Mane, we still hadn’t caught up with Krotz and his gang nor did we have any idea how far ahead they might be. Since we didn’t have the slightest clue as to where their new hideout was, the best we could do was stop at a new village each day and keep our ears to the ground for any rumors. What nagged at me constantly—not unlike the rocks that kept shimmying their way into my boots—was the worry that we’d already passed Krotz’s hideout without realizing it.

We also couldn’t find out how close Krotz was to completing Zanaffar. A quick experiment proved that the Demon Beast’s mind was protected against astral-side scrying, so that didn’t help us. For all we knew, Zanaffar was done and ready to wreak havoc; it was a less than heartening thought.

There was something I did, though, that I knew would help: spell research. I couldn’t very well go into battle without fully understanding how the talismans amplified my powers, but even more important, I wanted to look into a group of spells that I liked to call, “Spells that Should Work but Don’t.”

You see, some spells in the world of sorcery don’t activate from the mere act of chanting them, even if you pull off the chant perfectly. For those spells, you have to go further and determine each one’s specific parameters—some need special tools, some need ceremonies, and some have to be cast at very particular times. It’s possible that all that special pain-in-the-neck detail is simply because the caster needs extra magic capacity; Xelloss’ Blast Bomb, an obvious doozy, is just such a spell.

And yes, I had my own stock of “special need” spells. And yes, since I was in a position to amplify the hell out of my magic, I felt the need to experiment with those spells. So, while we kept on in our pursuit of Krotz and his gang, I spent every extra minute I could spare on spell research.

It was in the interest of science, I tell you. Science!

* * *

Amelia badgered me about my research every morning as we left our village-of-the-day. The fourth day out of Mane was no exception to that rule.

“I bet I can guess the spell you tried last night,” Amelia muttered as we walked.

“Oh yeah?” was my response. That, and sticking my tongue out at her.

“Don’t get cute,” Zelgadiss snapped. His tone was cross, but his expression was more tired than angry. “The next time you ‘experiment’ in the middle of the night, pick a forest farther away from our inn.”

Xelloss chimed in with that same indecipherable smile on his face. “That was quite the light show you put on last night,” he commented. “You had the whole village in an uproar, Miss Lina. What exactly were you practicing?”

“Oh,” I said with a wave of my hand, trying to downplay everyone’s alarm. “A little of this, a little of that. But an amplified Dragon Slave sure makes a lot of noise, huh? Who’d’a thunk?”

I admit I should’ve known better, but seriously, I hadn’t thought I’d take down the whole forest in a blazing inferno. You live, you learn.

“Hey,” I added, assuming a more serious tone, “notching up my spell power a little each day and testing it out means my magic’s gonna deliver when it counts. When I consider the future benefits of my experiments, I can overlook a little wide- scale destruction, can’t you?”

The group walked on in dead silence.

Guess not.

“We don’t want to impede your research,” Xelloss said at last, “but if you drop the ball ‘when it counts,’ Master Krotz and his followers aren’t going to be as forgiving as those villagers.”

And with that, Xelloss halted. The rest of us followed suit a half second later. We all stared into the thicket beside the path.

“You can quit hiding in the bushes,” I called out. “We know you’re in there.”

Something snorted. “Not bad,” it muttered, “Nothing gets past you.”

A moment later, the bushes stirred and two beast-men emerged from behind them. One looked like your run-of-the- mill wolf-man, but the other was more exotic. I guessed he was a brass demon chimera, one of Krotz’s truly twisted creations.

Because they were beast-men spawned from Krotz’s magic, I assumed that both were pretty much immune to offensive spells. I quickly searched my mind for a more roundabout strategy.

“It-it can’t be!” I eventually cried, feigning extreme surprise. “Heh!” the half demon chortled. “Looks like we surprised the girl.”

“You can’t possibly think that you two stand a chance against us, do you?!” I exclaimed. “Say it ain’t so!” I clapped my hands over my mouth as the beast-men stared at each other, dumbfounded.

“H-hey!” the half demon sputtered But he had a trick (well, two) up his sleeve, because just then he drew two blades from sheaths slung across his back: one long sword and one short.

The wolf-man didn’t draw his own blade. He seemed content to simply watch the half demon face off with me.

“Didn’t you hear me, bozo?” I drawled darkly. “You’re seriously underestimating our power. But…” I shook my head and clicked my tongue. “Now that you’re here, it’s too late to repent. Prepare to die—and be a dear and do it quietly?”

Damn, I’m witty. Someone write that down.

“Huh!” the half demon growled. “You’re quite the tough talker, ain’t you?” He leered over at Xelloss and pointed a claw- tipped finger at him. “Master Balgumon said to watch out for that one. He’s a real punk, I hear.”

The wolf-man nodded. “Right,” he said in a grating, snarling tone. “But no one said the others were weak. They may be crafty little buggers.”

“W-well,” the half demon stuttered, his cockiness quickly draining, “maybe.” He stood there for a moment, his hands gripping his blades, but then his shoulders slumped, and his resolve visibly left him.

“Y’know,” he muttered, “I don’t think it’s such a good idea to square off with the punk while the others are here. They’re wily, I can tell.”

Typical cannon fodder for you. Trash-talking one minute and whining the next.

The hall demon smiled at me nervously. “I don’t suppose you’d let us retreat now, would ya?”

“I might,” I mused, “if you tell us where your new hideout is.”

“Hmm,” the half demon grunted. “Well, maybe just this—”

Seizing the moment, the wolf-man pounced, going straight for me. He still hadn’t touched his sword—he was attacking with his claw!

“Hey!” I cried. They’d almost had me fooled.

Since there was no time for me to dodge the wolf-man’s slash, I did the opposite: I rammed my shoulder into his abdomen to throw his attack off. The wolf-man’s claw still swiped at me, but it only ripped through the mantle over my back. Unfortunately, he still managed to kick me in the gut.

“Nngh!” I grunted as I was sent hurtling across the path. When I finally stopped rolling, I looked up to see the wolf-man squaring off with Zel and Zel’s broadsword.

The wolf-man growled. Stepping back to put some distance between the two of them, he finally reached behind him and drew out his own sword.

“Damn!” roared the half demon. He followed his partner’s lead and charged abruptly, aiming for Amelia.

“Fireball!” she shouted.

Handy with magic as she is, her fireball hit the half demon right in the chest. The explosion sent him soaring through the air and thudding into a nearby tree.

“H-heh heh,” he chuckled as he slowly picked himself up. “Fireball isn’t gonna work, girlie. Not against my body.”

Amelia ignored him. “Fireball!” she cried again, launching another.

KA-BOOM!

Again, the half demon crashed into a tree, nearly toppling it. The collision made the ground shudder. But, as before, he picked himself up off the dirt and slowly wiped the dust off his body.

“IT told you,” he panted, impatience creeping into his tone.

“Fireball!”

This time, I saw the half demon shake his head the instant before the fireball slammed him into a boulder farther away.

“Uhh,” he moaned, shakily getting to his feet. “Y-you’re wastin’ your… nngh.”

I stopped worrying about Amelia’s well-being. Even if fireballs couldn’t burn the half demon’s impervious skin, constantly smashing him into nearby scenery was knocking him into a stupor.

I pushed myself up from the ground and looked over at the wolf-man. With Amelia pounding his buddy, he was left toface Zelgadiss, Xelloss, and me alone. It was a pretty lopsided match, and I almost felt sorry for the hairy jerk.

Ah, but what’re you gonna do?

At the moment, the wolf-man had his hands—er, claws—tied, locking swords with Zelgadiss. Of course, not being the type of girl to sit on the sidelines while there’s a rip-roaring battle underway, I licked my lips and chanted a spell. Zelgadiss must’ve heard me, because he took that moment to leap clear.

“Elmekia Lance!” I shouted.

The wolf-man, stuck in the path of my spell, could only blurt out a curse before diving out of the way. Lucky for him, he managed to evade my Lance.

“Stupid kids are stronger ‘n they look!” he cried as he scrambled to his feet. “Retreat!” he called back to his friend as he ran into the forest. “We’ll die like dogs out here!”

The half demon, suddenly panicking, ducked under Amelia’s newest fireball and sprinted after his partner. “I’m too pretty to die!” he sniveled as he scurried away. I noticed that the half demon ran with a limp, obviously a result of Amelia’s pummeling. I knew he wouldn’t be able to escape with a bad leg if we pursued immediately.

Zelgadiss obviously realized the same thing. “Follow them!” he shouted before plunging into the forest.

Amelia, Xelloss, and I looked at each other. Xelloss shrugged, then the three of us ran after.

There wasn’t a path in the woods, so we had the pleasure of tripping over every rock, root, and bush that paths are made to avoid. On the plus side, the half demon couldn’t keep very far ahead with his injury, but the brush and branches slowed us down. The beast-men were lucky they’d run into the forest; had they decided to flee across open ground, we could’ve flown and attacked them from above.

The pursuit dragged on and on. Even Xelloss, sporting his usual grin, began to show signs of fatigue; you could see it in his dimming eyes.

This is definitely the most annoying fight we’ve had in a while, I thought. And considering some of the gems we’ve fought, that’s saying a lot.

“Finally,” Zel whispered harshly as we reached the edge of the forest. Ahead we could see the outskirts of a small, godforsaken village. Our two favorite beast-men were busy making a beeline for the center of town.

An ugly farmer with a bunch of unwashed kids in tow pulled a stupid-looking cow along. Seeing the beast-men tearing toward them, the farmer and his kids screamed and scattered. The startled cow, meanwhile, mooed frantically and started to poop all over the place in fear.

“Crap,” I muttered. Those beast-men were proving to be pretty crafty. Not only could they get hostages if they wanted, but we couldn’t fight them all-out in a village full of innocents. I just hoped their ugly mugs would be enough to scare the locals into hiding.

Things took an odd turn when the beast-men suddenly halted in the middle of the street that ran through the village. Alarmed and not far behind, the four of us stopped in our tracks.

The beast-men stood their ground and turned to face us. I certainly hoped they didn’t want to turn the main street into a battleground.

“So you’ve finally come to your senses!” Amelia exclaimed, pointing a finger at our foes. “Perhaps now you realize there’s no honor in evil—not now and not ever!”

“Bah!” the half demon growled, gnashing his teeth. “Where’s the justice in four against two? That’s cheating.”

Amelia’s hair bristled and her nostrils flared in response to the rather snide comeback. “No!” she shot back. “This is the Power of Friendship! The Power of Unity!”

Zelgadiss, Xelloss, and I simultaneously averted our eyes. Right.

“Whatever,” the half demon muttered. “Look, we’ve had enough running around. Why don’t we just settle this right here?” Something was wrong. A chill ran up my spine.

“If that’s what you want,” Amelia declared, “then that’s what you’ll get!”

The half demon’s lips curled into an evil grin. “Hey!” he called. “Did ya hear that, boys?”

They came crawling out of the shadows, from out of alleyways and darkened doorways, from behind horse carts and underneath wagons. By my rough count, we’d been surrounded by twenty beast-men, who all looked very ready for a fight.

Crap!

Xelloss let slip a little yelp and I turned to him abruptly. Wasn’t he the relaxed one with the unnerving perma-smile? Exactly how much trouble were we in?!

“Dammit,” Zelgadiss hissed. “A trap.”

“Ya got that right, Rocky.” The half demon cackled. “Master Krotz told us all about how strong you guys are. Even I’d have to go all out to slay Vedur and Gilfa. We knew there was no way two of us could stand up to the four of you.”

It began to dawn on me as the half demon spoke: he and the wolf-man had only been decoys! They’d lured us into the middle of a village in the middle of nowhere, with the woods at our back and civilians cramping our style. We were trapped in every sense of the word.

I thought about trying something big. Since the enemy was amassed quite a ways down the street, I wondered if I had enough room to get off a Dragon Slave without destroying the town. Then again, the enemy was dearly aware of our abilities, so maybe a Dragon Slave was exactly what they wanted me to try. I decided to hold off for the moment.

If it came down to hand-to-hand combat, Zelgadiss and I were pretty smooth with our blades, but I worried about the others. Xelloss was stuck with a staff and Amelia only had her fists—not exactly a power combo.

“Sorry,” came a familiar voice, “but it’s probably best you don’t put up a fight.”

I blinked. I heard that voice hack in the mountains, I thought as I turned to its source. A tall beast-man stood half a head over the rest, his physique a hybrid of man and white tiger. His eyes glittered with the same silver radiance as the fur that lined his face. A strangely designed suit of plate armor hugged his body, and in his hands rested a massive battleaxe.

“Um… Duclis?” I asked uneasily.

He gave a start. Silver eyes peered at me carefully.

“Wait,” he murmured, “that’s not… the lost little boy, is it?” He lightly grazed his cheek with the blade of his battleaxe, his face perplexed.

“You were a girl?” he asked after another moment of thinking. “Well, I suppose that makes sense. You must’ve been in disguise. You certainly fooled me.”

I wasn’t thrilled at the concept of being such a convincing boy, but this wasn’t the time to argue.

“Are you all right, Mister Duclis?” the half demon asked nervously. He eyed the white tiger with skepticism.

At that, Duclis made a shooing gesture. “I’m fine,” he assured his group. “No need to worry. It’s just…” He brought his battleaxe up to his cheek again and began lightly scratching at his whiskers. “How unfortunate, you know? I’m not fond of fighting those I’ve become acquainted with.”

Amelia leaned over to me. “Miss Lina,” she whispered. “Do you know that guy?”

“I’ll explain later,” I replied out of the corner of my mouth. I turned my attention back to Duclis.

“Excuse me,” I called. “I do have one question.”

Silver eyes met mine. “Hmm?”

“Why are you guys following Krotz?” I took a breath. “The guy took away your human bodies. He worships a Demon Lord and he’s trying to revive a Demon Beast as we speak. He might end up destroying the world for all we know!”

Duclis frowned. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand, miss,” he said gravely. “Almost all of us here,” he gestured to the other beast-men, “were nearly dead when Master Krotz found us. I was a mercenary used as a sacrificial pawn by my own comrades; Master Krotz saved me from my wounds by transforming me into a chimera.”

“Ah,” Xelloss commented. “So now you’re his pawn.”

I winced at Xelloss’ words. There was no beating around the bush with him.

“I understand that,” Duclis replied calmly. “But I have nothing left to live for as a human, and no home to go back to. I imagine it’s the same for most of these men.”

Zelgadiss glared. “That puts us back to where we started,” he muttered. “A fight.” He slowly drew his sword.

I could tell things were about to get ugly. Hoping to avoid any extra problems, I leaned over and whispered to Xelloss, “Keep your flash to a minimum.”

He smiled at me. “Fine,” he whispered back. “I’ll keep my strategy nice and simple.”

I wasn’t satisfied. Xelloss was still trying to squirm his way into doing extreme damage.

“Just don’t use anything more lethal than we need, you get me?”

Xelloss shrugged.

With a deep sigh, Duclis proclaimed, “It’s time to begin. Our conversation is wasting time.”

“FIGHT!” roared the half demon, clearly ready to make the first move. He charged straight for Amelia.

Zelgadiss, however, moved in to cover her. Amelia was already chanting a spell, and I could hear what it was: Ra Tilt.

Ra Tilt only affects one foe at a time, but it’s immensely lethal, even against brass demons. She wasn’t wasting any time. I noticed several other beast-men suddenly advance on Amelia. Following her lead, I began chanting my own spell as I drew my short sword.

Fine. Bring it on!

Duclis slowly concealed his face with a silver-colored helm. Peering at us through the slit in his visor, he hoisted his battleaxe in one hand.

Clang!

Sparks jumped from the half demon’s long sword as it clashed with Zelgadiss’ blade. “You’re mine!” the half demon snarled as he brandished his short sword with his other hand. He tried to slash low with the short blade, but Zel blocked it with his palm.

“What?!” the half demon cried out in surprise.

“Elmekia Lance!” 1 shouted.

My first target was Duclis himself. If I could eliminate him with a spell, that would make squaring off against the lesser beast-men—who I figured were under his leadership—a heck of a lot easier. With or without high magic resistance, I doubted he could sustain the full impact of Elmekia Lance.

But to my surprise, Duclis didn’t falter a step in his oncoming charge. And to my horror, he took the Lance to the chest and didn’t miss a beat.

What the hell?! I thought. Something was very wrong.

“Amelia!” I yelled. “Zel! Fall back!” With all my strength, I leapt as far away as I could.

“What?!” Zelgadiss shouted back. He pushed off the half demon and jumped out of the fray.

But Amelia just stood there. She kept chanting her spell, even as a beast-man reached her and raised his sword above his head.

“AMELIA!” I screamed.

In the blink of an eye, Amelia slipped out of her position and zipped behind her attacker. Without losing another moment, she slammed a vicious kick into the beast-man’s back.

“Huh?” the beast-man blurted as he staggered.

I blinked. Since when could Amelia move that fast?!

Since beast-men are tough, meaty bastards, her kick hadn’t done more than knock the thing off balance. But the move was lucky—the beast-man crashed into Duclis, who deflected him with his free hand. “Ugh!” Duclis grunted at him. “I told you to be careful!”

That was the moment Amelia finished her spell. “Ra Tilt!” she shouted, and a pillar of roaring blue flames enveloped Duclis.

But when the pillar vanished, Duclis was still standing there. Amelia and I gasped.

“I see,” Duclis murmured. “It’s true—you are talented.” “W-wha—?” The word caught in my throat. How the hell had that guy survived Ra Tilt?!

“Don’t tell me my immunity to your magic surprises you.” Duclis tapped his plate mail with a hairy knuckle. “It’s the armor, girls. The armor Master Krotz gave me.”

My heart dropped to my toes. Duclis’ silver eyes glittered.

“Zanaffar’s sealed inside it.”