Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ To Be Human ❯ Zelgadis's Choice ( Chapter 4 )

Zelgadis's Choice

"Zel!" Long time no see!" Lina greeted me. She still looked the same, right down to the body that suited a 12-year-old boy more than a woman of nearly 20.

"Hi, Zel!" Gourry added. He had changed even less than Lina, though he was sporting a new sword, replacing the Sword of Light he had returned. "Where's Amelia?"

"She had business in a neighboring town," I explained. "She'll be back tonight."

"So... Zel... what brings you to Sailoon?" Lina asked slyly.

"Looking for my cure," I said quickly. A lie, but I didn't want to explain the truth to Lina and Gourry. Besides, it was the answer they'd probably expect from me.

"Same as usual, Zel?" Lina smiled. Gourry looked less than happy, though. He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a few coins, which he handed to Lina. "Pleasure doing business with you, Jellyfish Brains," Lina pocketed the coins.

"You two bet on me?" I feigned insult. "What did Gourry bet I was here for?"

"He thought you came to see Amelia," Lina said.

"Speaking of things that should have been resolved a long time ago, how are you and Gourry doing, Lina? Sleeping together yet?" I asked, knowing it would distract Lina.

"Zel, don't be a pervert," Lina told me. "And you, Jellyfish Brains, say anything and I'll fireball you."

"But Lina..." Whatever Gourry wanted to say that would inevitably get him hurt was stopped by the arrival of Prince Phil and the court sorcerer.

"What's going on?" I asked, seeing the worried look on their faces.

The court sorcerer straightened nervously. "Well, Mr. Graywords, we just received a message from Reinard. Princess Amelia hasn't arrived yet. They were asking if she was still coming."

I frowned. Even if she had run into a few problems on the road, she still should have been there by now. Even in a worst-case scenario, she could have cast a light spell as a flare. Something must have happened.

Lina seemed to share my suspicions. "There's no reports of bandit activity on that road."

"Certainly not," Prince Phil boomed. "This is Sailoon." Despite his confidence, he was beginning to look pensive. "I hope she's alright. Not that my baby girl can't take care of herself, but the unjust are known for being underhanded, and they might have caught her and her guard by surprise."

"Maybe we could look for her, Phil?" Gourry suggested.

"And how would we do that, Gourry?" I asked. "It's one thing to search the road, but if this really is foul play and not an accident, only a really stupid bandit would stay near the road."

"Well..." Gourry looked like he was trying to remember something. "Do you remember that one time when you were chasing us because the guy with the big shoulder pads wanted something Lina stole to resurrect Sha... Shabra-whats-his-face?"

Lina stared at him in shock. "Shabranigdo... and Rezo, Gourry," she corrected absently. "I don't believe it... he has a point. Zel, don't you have tracking spells? Like the one you used to track us when we had the Philosopher's Stone?"

I shook my head. "They won't work on people. They work on the Astral Plane, and even a human who knows magic has a presence there that's too small for magic to detect. They can only home in on magical items... items that I'm familiar with." "I knew that!" Lina yelled. "Does Amelia keep any talismans on her person?"

"What about her bracelets?" Gourry asked.

"You're on a roll, Gourry," Lina smiled at the swordsman. "There are some low-level protection spells on those."

"It doesn't matter if her bracelets are Demon's Blood Talismans," I commented. "I can't cast the spell unless I know what kind of spell I'm looking for. And I'm not some kind of crazy stalker who memorizes every detail about a girl, down to the spells on her jewelry."

"Well, you could always use the one around your canteen," Gourry pointed out.

Suddenly I found four pairs of eyes staring at me. "What?" I said defensively. "She gave it to me! To remember her by! Anyway, if I'm going to cast this spell, I'll need a map of the area, ruler and compass." The sorcerer ran off to fill my request. "Now, everyone, be quiet and let me concentrate." I pulled out my canteen and removed Amelia's bracelet from its usual place. I held it in my hands, closing my eyes, and focusing on the spell on the amulet.

The spell felt familiar... it was your average low-level protection spell. I tried to get a sense of the maker. It wasn't Amelia or Lina -- it felt unfamiliar, but it had a few elements that reminded me of Amelia's spells. I remembered that Amelia's mother had studied magic, as had her older sister. Perhaps one of them had made it for her before her mother's death... what possessed her to give me something that must be so important to her?

I opened my eyes. The court sorcerer had returned. I took the map he had brought and laid it out on the flagstones. I crouched down next to it, running through the divination spell in my mind.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten the spell," Lina said.

"No... Just making sure I have it," I started casting the spell, subvocalizing it. I reached for compass and ruler, making a few marks on the map, culminating in a circled X some distance from the city.

"That's nowhere near Reinard," Phil pointed out.

I nodded and stood up, checking to make sure my cloak was straight and my sword was sheathed at my hip.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lina asked pointedly.

"To find Amelia," I countered bluntly.

"Not without us!" she yelled. Gourry nodded, looking resolute.

"You couldn't keep up with me," I told her. "I have longer legs and better endurance, and I can fly faster than you can, encumbered by Gourry. If you want to help, get the Sailoon Royal Guard and follow me."

"I see..." Lina gave me a knowing look. "Want to play knight in shining armor for your damsel in distress, eh, Zel?"

"That was to get back at me for that crack about you and Gourry, wasn't it? Just follow, okay." I was running possibilities of what happened to Amelia through my mind. None of them were good. Damn it, I should have insisted on coming along. I turned to leave. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lina, Gourry, and Prince Phil talking. They would follow, and quickly -- I knew it.

I had memorized the location on the map, leaving the map itself with Lina. I tried to travel as the dragon flied -- taking the road when they ran the way I wanted to go to save magical energy, flying when I had to travel over rough country. I once heard an old Zepheillian legend about a messenger who ran over eighty kilometers to deliver news of a victorious battle to the capital. I'm not sure of the validity of that legend, but I estimate I was going at least as fast as that runner, and probably on the same fuel source -- adrenaline and a cup of coffee I had bought before leaving Sailoon.

After some time -- I really wasn't paying attention to time -- I stopped and cast the divination spell again, to get a better fix on Amelia's location. The signal came very strongly from a couple hundred meters away... I jogged over there, trying to move both quickly and quietly.

The signal was coming from an old abandoned manor house, buried in forest. There were signs of recent visitors -- several fresh sets of tracks were visible in the leaf litter. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the background noise from the forest to try and find the sound of human voices. Nothing in the front. I'll check the back... if there's nothing there, I'll just have to go inside. Using the forest as cover, I crept around to the back of the house. My ears twitched -- I heard voices coming from a second floor room. I dove for cover -- into a rather nasty thorn bush, as it turned out. The thorns weren't enough to scratch my skin, but they did tear at my clothing a bit. I held very still, both to keep my clothing in one piece and to avoid the people in the house hearing me.

"You're an incompetent moron, you know, Blake?" The first voice was female, a rich alto.

"How was I supposed to tell those knives apart?" the second one, presumably Blake, complained in a whiny tenor.

"You're a weapons dealer! You should know a Xoanan knife from an Elemekian knife!"

"I'm a guard for a weapons dealer. I'm paid to look intimidating and hurt people."

"If you lost the knife, I'm sending you back to Xoana... let them deal with you."

"You kidding, Boss?" Blake sounded worried, nearly pleading. "You wouldn't send me back to that psycho queen. She knew I stole that knife -- she'll kill me in the name of that mad god of hers."

"Good riddance to bad garbage, I say."

A pause, then, "Hey! I found the knife!"

"About time. Let's get going, then. Sailoon's probably already up in arms, though I doubt they've made it this far from the Princess's route."

So they do have Amelia... And a knife... this is bad. But I shouldn't go rushing into things, like Lina always does. I need a plan.

"Lady Orianna, ma'am!" I heard a third voice -- male and somewhat familiar, though I couldn't place where I had heard it before. "The Princess is waking up!"

"Aren't you supposed to be guarding her, Benedick?" the first voice, presumably Lady Orianna, asked.

Benedick... wasn't that Amelia's guard... that's how I knew the voice!

No! I'm not going in without a plan -- that will just get people hurt. Start thinking, Zelgadis.

"I left Faye with her," Benedick reported.

"Secure her and bring her here. We're ready to leave and finish this unpleasant business."

Another pause. Then I heard Amelia's voice. "Let me go, you traitors and bandits!"

"We should have left her asleep," Benedick commented. "Blake! Get over here and help me hold her! Damn it! Why did I leave my grieves at the castle?"

"Lina Inverse..." Amelia began.

"Lina Inverse is not here, Princess," this Orianna person said. "Nor will she be -- at least, while you're alive. The next time she'll see you is as a corpse in a 'magic circle' dedicated to Maijin Zoalmegustar. So stop struggling, and we'll try to make your death painless and quick."

To hell with discretion and planning... "Levitation!" I launched myself into the air. Sighting through the window, I let a Flare Arrow fly at the nearest figure inside that was not Amelia.

"Freeze Arrow!" Someone from inside countered my spell. "Lady Orianna..."

"I know..." I heard a struggle and a cry from Amelia, then a blonde woman stuck her head out the window. One arm was wrapped around Amelia and the other was holding a knife to her throat, so close it was nearly drawing blood. Amelia was holding very still, a look of terror on her face.

"Sailoon sorcerer," Orianna called out the window. "Throw down your weapons and come out where we can see you. And do so in a prompt manner, or you will be the one to explain to Crown Prince Philionel how you let his daughter die."

My mind rushed through all of the spells I knew. Most of them would hurt Amelia as well as her captor or would give her captor enough time to slit her throat. None of them would help. "Well, it doesn't look like I have much of a choice." Sighing, I wedged my sword and dagger in the crook of a tree branch, where I could retrieve them later, and flew over to the window. I raised my hands, showing I was unarmed.

"Remove your cloak and come inside," Orianna ordered me. Not seeing much choice in the manner, I unclasped my cloak, draping it over my arm, and landed on the window still, letting my eyes adjust before stepping inside.

"Check for weapons," Orianna ordered. Benedick and Blake came forward and I let myself get patted down by those two.

"Nothing," Benedick reported. "Should we do a strip search?"

"It shouldn't be necessary," Orianna said. "Faye, keep a spell ready just in case, though."

"Yes, ma'am."

I regarded the other woman in the room. She wore sorceress's garb -- the more utilitarian version favored by Lina and Amelia, rather than the black leather look. Her face looked familiar. Wait a minute... she was one of the palace servants, the one who had given Amelia the letter yesterday.

"I'm surprised you managed to infiltrate so many of your people into the palace staff," I commented. "But, you do seem to be professionals. Weapons merchants, correct? Is business so slow that you need to start a war between Sailoon and Xoana by framing Xoana's state religion for Amelia's murder?"

Orianna laughed. "You're smart, chimera. A credit to your creator. I'd offer you a job, except I don't think I could trust you. But tell me this. I wasn't aware Sailoon made chimeras..."

"They don't. It showed up one day, and has been following the princess around ever since, like a puppy or something," Faye commented

"Don't you dare call Mister Zelgadis 'it'!" Amelia yelled. "He's a person, not a thing!"

Her captors ignored her. Faye started circling me, an appraising look in her eyes. "Whoever made it did a superb job. No seams or anything... though that's just a guess. I can't really tell while it's wearing clothing. Its creator is probably dead -- why else would it be wandering?" I gave her a look of disgust, but said nothing.

"You can indulge in your hobbies later, Faye," Orianna told her. "Right now we have a war to start. As for the chimera... it would be difficult to dispose of it and still keep up the facade -- Xoana has few sorcerers and I'm guessing it would take magic to kill it. Perhaps a long sea voyage to the Outer World will do it good."

"No," I told her. "You're killing Amelia over my dead body."

"How sweet," Orianna laughed derisively. "Feel lucky we're not, chimera."

"Seems a shame to get rid of it," Faye mused. "I know, given a few hours in my lab, I could reverse-engineer it. It's pretty easy with chimeras, since magic can circumvent the laws of biology only so much."

"Reverse-engineer... hmm... you really think you can?" Orianna looked thoughtful.

"How hard can it be?" Faye said confidently. "There are only so many ways you can alter a human base using magic."

"I see..." Orianna turned back towards me. "Very well, chimera, I give you a choice: We can go ahead with our previous plan, or we can let Faye dissect you. We won't need the princess then -- we'll just hold her until Faye is finished with your body, then leave her somewhere where Sailoon will find her."

"You won't get away with that!" Amelia yelled, probably almost instinctively -- she reads a lot of books. "Sailoon will hunt you down for this and bring you to Justice. Besides, why are you so interested in Mister Zelgadis?"

"Many kingdoms have armies of peasants as foot soldiers, Princess. Mostly for cannon fodder -- who cares about peasants? They would be the perfect base for a chimera division to any kingdom's army. For that, a kingdom would be willing to protect us from Sailoon's wrath."

The sheer audacity... my own cursed fate shared by hundreds of people... "You monster..."

"Rather ironic, coming from you," Orianna said. "Hurry and decide, chimera."

"Zelgadis..." Amelia began. She didn't finish. She didn't need to. I knew she would tell to go warn her father, rat on these unjust people, don't worry about what will happen to her, and save myself. She probably even thought she meant it. But what would be the point of that? I was losing my humanity, my life, bit by bit. Better that she live than I exist, a mere shell of what I used to be. I reached for my canteen, removing her bracelet. The guards went for their swords before seeing what I had taken out. "Amelia..." I pressed it into her hands. Realizing this would be the last time I would ever see her, I leaned down and gave her a brief kiss on the cheek. "Don't cry. And, remember me, okay?" I stepped back, towards Faye. "I'm ready. Where's this lab of yours?"

Orianna nodded. "Very well... Blake, Benedick, take the princess somewhere secure until Faye is finished." The two guards grabbed Amelia by the arms. Amelia, once she was free from Orianna and her knife, started struggling and yelling, "I won't let you do this to Mister Zelgadis! Don't worry, Zelgadis! I'll find a way to save you." It took both men to get her out of the door.

"Follow me," Faye led me down the hall to a room that was equipped as a makeshift laboratory. Various chemicals and preserved bits of animals lined one wall. Books lined the other. A metal examination table large enough for a grown man stood in the center. Faye grabbed a notebook off of a desk in the corner and handed it to Orianna, who had followed us in. "Lady Orianna, would you record my observations? It would speed up the process."

"Very well," Orianna took the notebook and took a seat at the desk.

"Chimera," Faye addressed me.

"I have a name, you know," I snapped back.

"Chimera, remove your clothing."

"Why?"

"Failure to do as she says will null our contract," Orianna informed me from the corner. "That will force us to fall back on our other plan."

I sighed and started stripping, folding each item of clothing neatly and setting it on the examination table.

Faye looked at me after I had stopped. "Underclothing as well."

"You don't need to see that!" I protested.

Orianna stood up and started walking towards the door.

"Fine... I get the point," I removed the last bit of cloth on my body, then picked up the bundle of clothing, holding it in front of me to preserve what little modesty I had left.

"Note the subject shows a remarkable simulacrum of human emotions -- embarrassment at being exposed around those it regards at the opposite sex, anger, even a form of devotion to a person that the uneducated would mistake as love," Faye dictated. "Note also that the last one overrides its self-preservation instincts. New paragraph."

Faye pried the bundle of clothing from my hands, setting it aside, then started circling me again, looking me up and down. I shivered under her stare -- I hate being treated like a monster or a thing, and she was doing a damn good job of it -- even refusing to dignify me with the pronoun 'he' or my proper name.

Faye started dictating again. "Subject appears to be a seamless mix of rock golem, human, and some sort of demon. Its creator was obviously possessing both a great deal of knowledge of chimeras and a great deal of magical power." She paused. "Lie down." She gestured to the examining table. Not seeing much of a choice, I did so. I shivered again -- the table was cold and sterile, obviously not designed for the subject's comfort.

Faye walked over to the shelves of chemicals. She removed several vials and a complicated oilskin arrangement. It looked like a mask designed to fit over a person's nose and mouth, attached to a pouch of some sort. Straps were added to hold it to a person's face. She added the chemicals to the pouch, one by one. "Because I lack restraints strong enough to hold the subject for a live dissection, I will be forced to euthanize it prior to the dissection." She pinched the pouch shut, holding it away from her, then approached the table. "Raise your head."

So this is it... goodbye, cruel world. A part of me always figured I'd die like this -- alone and as a monster. Looking for a cure... how foolish when I was so quick to internalize my status as a freak. Maybe I was always a monster on the inside. Stupid of me to think I could change that.

Faye slipped the mask around my mouth and nose, tying the straps so tightly they dug into my skin. The acrid fumes of the chemicals burned the inside of my nose and mouth, causing me to cough and inhale more of the poison gas. I saw my vision start to blur and fade... it's probably better this way... my death frees Amelia from her silly crush on me. She'll find happiness with someone else.

Somehow that doesn't comfort me...

I thought I heard something in the hall... Lina and Gourry, with the guards... they'll take care of Amelia... she'll be safe. I couldn't fight it any longer... I slipped out of consciousness.