Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Slayers: Knightfall ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: tom the mighty 
Anime/Manga: Slayers Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Horror / Fantasy / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 04.18.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.8K | Visits: 269 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Slayers Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Horror / Fantasy / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 04.18.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.8K | Visits: 269 | Status: Work In Progress
Slayers: Knightfall
Assassins and Shadows
Chapter Five
I stared at the fire I had set. Sitting next to Gourry (after the night’s activities, I could barely stand), I felt his comforting and steadying hand on my shoulder. The others respectfully kept their distance. My childhood home, along with the remains of my family, was soon completely engulfed in the soaring flames. The adjacent homes were protected with magic barriers, though to tell the truth I felt like torching the entire town just to burn it out of my memory.
Cremation has been accepted in Zephillia for millennia and we didn’t have time to dig graves in the hard, rocky soil. I just said a quick eulogy in my head and launched a few flare arrows.
We weren’t too worried about causing a commotion, as everyone in the castle was probably in an uproar over the king’s death and not too concerned about a single house fire at the moment. Zel said he, Gourry and Amelia had sneaked into the castle unseen when they came to retrieve me, so nobody from the castle would be looking for us specifically.
Soon the fire began to die down, and the morning sun told me that it was close to breakfast time. My stomach rumbled in anticipation but I really didn’t much feel like eating anything. Not many people would I guess, though. I hate giving in to emotions like this. I guess I felt like I wouldn’t be grieving properly if I cut loose and destroyed a few breakfast buffet tables like my tummy was demanding.
We soon left the smoldering ruins and headed to the nearest still-open inn. I wanted nothing more than to leave this town as soon as possible.
Just before I started the funeral pyre, I had searched the house for anything I knew my family wouldn’t want destroyed, a family portrait, heirloom jewelry, my dad’s fishing pole. All were in my pack, next to my feet on the cobblestone road.
And the letter from my sister – the one she told me about just before she died.
I won’t open it yet … it’s just too soon. I know that first I have to go find that place on the map, where I can learn to control my new powers. Tonight drove that point home and I had the cracked ribs to prove it. At least I did before Amelia healed me, but that’s beside the point. I can’t use these new abilities without severely exhausting myself in a very short time. While none of the abilities have proven to be as powerful or effective as the Giga Slave or Ragna Blade, they had caused terrible strain when used one after the other.
We came upon a restaurant that still looked open and took our seats in a booth next to the kitchen. In case we needed to make a run for it, we could use the building’s back door instead of fighting our way out the front. A tired-looking waitress soon appeared and took our orders.
"So, what do you want to do now, Lina?" Gourry said.
"The same thing we were planning on doing since we met up," I said, smiling for effect. "Help Zel and Amelia." I’m not going to lose them, I won’t!
"You know we’d understand if you don’t want to come," Zel said, "And that we wouldn’t abandon you like this."
Amelia put in, "And what about your sister’s map?"
I stood up, pulled out the map and laid it out on the table. "The location of the Veil of Shadows is one hundred fifty miles northwest of here," I said, following the trail with my index finger. "Note that the cities and villages become less and less dense the farther north we go. We are going to be headed into the untamed regions of Zephillia, arguably the most dangerous part of the world this side of the Desert of Destruction!"
I sat back down with map in hand. "Trust me when I say we are going to run into your beasties, and then some."
"Still, are you up to it?" Zel asked, eyeing me like I was going to fall apart again.
Zel, don’t make me use the pot and kettle analogy.
"Of course she’s up to it," Gourry said. "I’ve never met anyone as strong as Lina, even when I was a mercenary in the war."
"Thanks, Gourry!"
"She has bigger balls than an elephant!"
"Um … OK, I think that’s enough compliments from you for a while."
We finally got our food and I forced myself to dig into my steak. Yes, steak. For breakfast. I needed to carve into something. Get over it.
"Let’s say we head on over to the sorcerers’ guild after we eat," I suggested, around half a mouthful of meat.
"I dunno, what if somebody fingers you for the all the ruckus last night?" Gourry said dubiously.
"Don’t worry." I gulped down some orange juice. "I know a few secret ways I discovered when I was a girl."
"You still are a gir–!" He abruptly sat upright when I stabbed his shin with my fork. He then glared at me while masticating his eggs in what I assume he thought was a threatening manner.
Anyway, the Sorcerers’ Guild’s Zephillian branch was built, like most other guild halls, as a gigantic tower. It has 33 levels, making it the tallest structure, aside from the castle, in all of Zephillia. Built with granite but magically made to look like a solid piece of emerald, it had balconies jutting from everywhere so students can enjoy the fresh air even in class. It was as beautiful a building as could be found in this untamed area of the world.
"Sounds good," Zelgadis said, "but don’t take this the wrong way Lina …" (Uh oh, here it comes) “… If you show yourself to be a liability because of your new … abilities, then I am afraid we may have to call this whole party off until you learn to control yourself better."
Leave it to Zel to give up trying to be tactful halfway through his sentence.
"Yeah, no kidding. You know, Lina? You really scared the hell out of us last night." Gourry said, worry edging his voice.
"Did I?" I forced a little laugh.
"Yes. You did." Gourry leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his head. He looked oddly pensive for Gourry. "I had no idea what was wrong with you. Your eyes had that weird, scary glow to them. It just didn’t seem like you anymore. You looked like you were possessed by the Lord of Nightmares again."
"Since when do you remember important stuff like that?" I said, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"How could I not? We almost lost you that day, Lina!"
"We" not “I," huh?
"It wasn’t that bad, now was it Amelia?"
"Zzzzz."
"Amelia?"
Amelia was holding her cup of coffee halfway to her mouth as if getting ready to take a sip. Problem was, she fell asleep along the way.
"Well, we did stay up all night." Zelgadis mused. True. I myself felt like my head was shoulder deep in pudding.
"I thought you guys stayed up late lots of times?" Gourry said.
"Well, you know … sometimes." he blushed.
I groaned. "Dammit, Zel. are we ever going to have an innuendo-free breakfast with you two?"
"I wasn’t the one who brought it up."
"True," I said in mock-deep thought. "That honor goes to Gourry "the Perv" Gabriev!" I stood up and pointed with overzealous dramatics.
"Huh? What?" He nearly snorted some of his eggs up his nose.
"What say you, knave?"
"About what?"
"Oh never mind. Party pooper." So much for a little amusement on this fine and dreary day.
"Pancakes!" Amelia abruptly shouted.
We all turned our startled eyes in her direction, only to find that she was still asleep. Zel looked oddly worried.
"Pancakes are incredibly kinky, Mr. Zelgadis…" Amelia trailed off.
"Ciephied! Should we expect regular installments of this nonsense!" I groused. This was getting waaaay too weird. "Pancakes?" I looked at Zel.
"Well …"
"Never mind, I really don’t want to know." With that, I grabbed Gourry’s arm and yanked him out of his chair. He started choking on something but I ignored him. Something felt wrong. Walking past Amelia, I rapped her upside the head, dragging her away from dreamland.
"Time to move people." I looked out the windows, searching for anything obviously out of the ordinary. Of course there was nothing. So I focused my tired senses, hoping to at least get a feel for who or what was causing my danger sense to tingle. A moment later, the only thing I could sense was the strange presence that had been hounding us for a while now. It wasn’t getting any stronger, but it was getting pretty annoying.
With Gourry right behind me, I ventured a step out the back door… and immediately felt myself hurled back into the restaurant, thanks to Gourry, as a fireball detonated right where I had been standing. Luckily, Gourry slammed the door in the nick of time, with only singed hairs on his arms for damage.
I picked myself up and cracked the door open. It was burning a little on the outside so I had to be careful. Seeing nothing again, I risked a half step out … and jerked back inside again as another energy blast shrieked towards me. The force cracked the thick oak door a little as it exploded against it.
"Did you see who it was?" I asked Gourry.
"No," Gourry said, and he unsheathed his blast blade.
Zelgadis drew his weapon as well. "Here’s the plan, Amelia and I will go around the front. After a minute, step outside and we’ll try to see who is attacking us."
I nodded my assent and he and Amelia sneaked away. I waited a moment, then cracked the rapidly deteriorating door open. Gourry stopped me from stepping out and handed me a broom. I got the idea and rigged my cloak around the broom.
Not the greatest of decoys, but it should work from a distance if whoever was assailing us was indeed far away. I stuck the broom out the door and sure enough, it was quickly blasted apart, leaving only a broken stick and my annoyance at having to buy a new cloak.
A split second later I saw some flare arrows being launched from the direction where I assumed Amelia and Zel to be. The flaming projectiles soared high through the air, then disappeared. A moment later a small pinprick of light heralding an explosion marred the near-perfect cloud cover. It was a long way off, and I couldn’t believe that Zel could pull a shot off like that. Flare arrows are not exactly known for their accuracy. Maybe it was a spell variation, or maybe Zel was just that good …
…and maybe we should move to better cover before this place drops on our heads!
Something was pounding spells onto the building now. Small pieces of ceiling were coming loose and furniture and utensils were falling to the floor.
OK, so the attackers obviously had given up on sniping at us from afar and were now either trying to collapse the building around us or flush us out into the open. This homecoming is just getting better and better.
"Got any ideas?" Gourry asked, sounding more than a little worried.
I knew that if we just ran out through one of the doors we’d be set upon immediately, and they were probably covering the windows as well.
"Yeah," I said, injecting my voice with bravado. "We go through the door."
Gourry dodged a large chunk of ceiling and said, "They’ll be waiting for us!"
"Well yeah, if we go through any doors they know about!" I then started to chant a spell, but I quickly felt my reserves coming up on empty. Dammit, this had better not turn out to be a slugging match!
I was dead tired. I barely pulled off the dam bras (IS THIS CORRECT?) that punched a new door into the wall leading to a back alley. I stumbled through the jagged hole, and Gourry took my arm and wrapped it around his shoulder. He obviously saw how weak I was getting. It made me sick to my stomach.
If only I hadn’t had overdone it last night! I am only encumbering him like this!
One block down, we met up with Zel and Amelia and saw that they already had company.
Demons! They had to be. They must’ve been hiding their presences before, because a nauseating wave of miasma permeated the air around the three mazoku. One was literally rail thin and all black with single scythe-like claws at the end of each of his arms. The one next to him looked like a man at first glance, an overly large man, but human nonetheless. Until one looked closer that is: the demon had grossly protruding veins and arteries that quivered and squirmed as if trying to escape. The last one was the freakiest. It was of average height and build and was covered head to toe in an all-black robe. It wore a pewter mask over its face with what looked like a thick bar jutting out from both temples. The mask’s lips were twisted upwards in a faint smile and its eye holes were darkness itself, except for the dim red specks in their centers. He reminded me of Seigram, only a thousand times creepier.
They all radiated power while we were exhausted.
"Lina?" Gourry beckoned, nearly all the confidence lost from his voice.
Not that I blamed him. Just the three by themselves might have been survivable. But there was one problem.
They were all wearing Zanassfar Armor.
Tom the Mighty’s Mighty Notes
FireStorm - You see though, that is the great thing about rough drafts. They do not have to be perfect. Plus it is great to have reviewers like you to point out any flaws and mistakes I missed. Keep it up!
Dar’Sel’La - What part indeed? Xellos’ role may not be as obvious as one might think. . . .
MCLBLUE - Thank you for the enthusiastic review!
Oh shit! Lina and Co. are royally screwed! Here’s a cool link courtesy of Firestorm,
http://www.deviantart.com/view/28416960/
Anywho, what will happen to the Slayers now!? Who could possibly save them? Xellos? Martina? No, wait. Martina isn’t in the book continuity! Oh God! They ARE screwed!
Stay tuned next time for Slayers: Knightfall!
Assassins and Shadows
Chapter Five
I stared at the fire I had set. Sitting next to Gourry (after the night’s activities, I could barely stand), I felt his comforting and steadying hand on my shoulder. The others respectfully kept their distance. My childhood home, along with the remains of my family, was soon completely engulfed in the soaring flames. The adjacent homes were protected with magic barriers, though to tell the truth I felt like torching the entire town just to burn it out of my memory.
Cremation has been accepted in Zephillia for millennia and we didn’t have time to dig graves in the hard, rocky soil. I just said a quick eulogy in my head and launched a few flare arrows.
We weren’t too worried about causing a commotion, as everyone in the castle was probably in an uproar over the king’s death and not too concerned about a single house fire at the moment. Zel said he, Gourry and Amelia had sneaked into the castle unseen when they came to retrieve me, so nobody from the castle would be looking for us specifically.
Soon the fire began to die down, and the morning sun told me that it was close to breakfast time. My stomach rumbled in anticipation but I really didn’t much feel like eating anything. Not many people would I guess, though. I hate giving in to emotions like this. I guess I felt like I wouldn’t be grieving properly if I cut loose and destroyed a few breakfast buffet tables like my tummy was demanding.
We soon left the smoldering ruins and headed to the nearest still-open inn. I wanted nothing more than to leave this town as soon as possible.
Just before I started the funeral pyre, I had searched the house for anything I knew my family wouldn’t want destroyed, a family portrait, heirloom jewelry, my dad’s fishing pole. All were in my pack, next to my feet on the cobblestone road.
And the letter from my sister – the one she told me about just before she died.
I won’t open it yet … it’s just too soon. I know that first I have to go find that place on the map, where I can learn to control my new powers. Tonight drove that point home and I had the cracked ribs to prove it. At least I did before Amelia healed me, but that’s beside the point. I can’t use these new abilities without severely exhausting myself in a very short time. While none of the abilities have proven to be as powerful or effective as the Giga Slave or Ragna Blade, they had caused terrible strain when used one after the other.
We came upon a restaurant that still looked open and took our seats in a booth next to the kitchen. In case we needed to make a run for it, we could use the building’s back door instead of fighting our way out the front. A tired-looking waitress soon appeared and took our orders.
"So, what do you want to do now, Lina?" Gourry said.
"The same thing we were planning on doing since we met up," I said, smiling for effect. "Help Zel and Amelia." I’m not going to lose them, I won’t!
"You know we’d understand if you don’t want to come," Zel said, "And that we wouldn’t abandon you like this."
Amelia put in, "And what about your sister’s map?"
I stood up, pulled out the map and laid it out on the table. "The location of the Veil of Shadows is one hundred fifty miles northwest of here," I said, following the trail with my index finger. "Note that the cities and villages become less and less dense the farther north we go. We are going to be headed into the untamed regions of Zephillia, arguably the most dangerous part of the world this side of the Desert of Destruction!"
I sat back down with map in hand. "Trust me when I say we are going to run into your beasties, and then some."
"Still, are you up to it?" Zel asked, eyeing me like I was going to fall apart again.
Zel, don’t make me use the pot and kettle analogy.
"Of course she’s up to it," Gourry said. "I’ve never met anyone as strong as Lina, even when I was a mercenary in the war."
"Thanks, Gourry!"
"She has bigger balls than an elephant!"
"Um … OK, I think that’s enough compliments from you for a while."
We finally got our food and I forced myself to dig into my steak. Yes, steak. For breakfast. I needed to carve into something. Get over it.
"Let’s say we head on over to the sorcerers’ guild after we eat," I suggested, around half a mouthful of meat.
"I dunno, what if somebody fingers you for the all the ruckus last night?" Gourry said dubiously.
"Don’t worry." I gulped down some orange juice. "I know a few secret ways I discovered when I was a girl."
"You still are a gir–!" He abruptly sat upright when I stabbed his shin with my fork. He then glared at me while masticating his eggs in what I assume he thought was a threatening manner.
Anyway, the Sorcerers’ Guild’s Zephillian branch was built, like most other guild halls, as a gigantic tower. It has 33 levels, making it the tallest structure, aside from the castle, in all of Zephillia. Built with granite but magically made to look like a solid piece of emerald, it had balconies jutting from everywhere so students can enjoy the fresh air even in class. It was as beautiful a building as could be found in this untamed area of the world.
"Sounds good," Zelgadis said, "but don’t take this the wrong way Lina …" (Uh oh, here it comes) “… If you show yourself to be a liability because of your new … abilities, then I am afraid we may have to call this whole party off until you learn to control yourself better."
Leave it to Zel to give up trying to be tactful halfway through his sentence.
"Yeah, no kidding. You know, Lina? You really scared the hell out of us last night." Gourry said, worry edging his voice.
"Did I?" I forced a little laugh.
"Yes. You did." Gourry leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his head. He looked oddly pensive for Gourry. "I had no idea what was wrong with you. Your eyes had that weird, scary glow to them. It just didn’t seem like you anymore. You looked like you were possessed by the Lord of Nightmares again."
"Since when do you remember important stuff like that?" I said, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"How could I not? We almost lost you that day, Lina!"
"We" not “I," huh?
"It wasn’t that bad, now was it Amelia?"
"Zzzzz."
"Amelia?"
Amelia was holding her cup of coffee halfway to her mouth as if getting ready to take a sip. Problem was, she fell asleep along the way.
"Well, we did stay up all night." Zelgadis mused. True. I myself felt like my head was shoulder deep in pudding.
"I thought you guys stayed up late lots of times?" Gourry said.
"Well, you know … sometimes." he blushed.
I groaned. "Dammit, Zel. are we ever going to have an innuendo-free breakfast with you two?"
"I wasn’t the one who brought it up."
"True," I said in mock-deep thought. "That honor goes to Gourry "the Perv" Gabriev!" I stood up and pointed with overzealous dramatics.
"Huh? What?" He nearly snorted some of his eggs up his nose.
"What say you, knave?"
"About what?"
"Oh never mind. Party pooper." So much for a little amusement on this fine and dreary day.
"Pancakes!" Amelia abruptly shouted.
We all turned our startled eyes in her direction, only to find that she was still asleep. Zel looked oddly worried.
"Pancakes are incredibly kinky, Mr. Zelgadis…" Amelia trailed off.
"Ciephied! Should we expect regular installments of this nonsense!" I groused. This was getting waaaay too weird. "Pancakes?" I looked at Zel.
"Well …"
"Never mind, I really don’t want to know." With that, I grabbed Gourry’s arm and yanked him out of his chair. He started choking on something but I ignored him. Something felt wrong. Walking past Amelia, I rapped her upside the head, dragging her away from dreamland.
"Time to move people." I looked out the windows, searching for anything obviously out of the ordinary. Of course there was nothing. So I focused my tired senses, hoping to at least get a feel for who or what was causing my danger sense to tingle. A moment later, the only thing I could sense was the strange presence that had been hounding us for a while now. It wasn’t getting any stronger, but it was getting pretty annoying.
With Gourry right behind me, I ventured a step out the back door… and immediately felt myself hurled back into the restaurant, thanks to Gourry, as a fireball detonated right where I had been standing. Luckily, Gourry slammed the door in the nick of time, with only singed hairs on his arms for damage.
I picked myself up and cracked the door open. It was burning a little on the outside so I had to be careful. Seeing nothing again, I risked a half step out … and jerked back inside again as another energy blast shrieked towards me. The force cracked the thick oak door a little as it exploded against it.
"Did you see who it was?" I asked Gourry.
"No," Gourry said, and he unsheathed his blast blade.
Zelgadis drew his weapon as well. "Here’s the plan, Amelia and I will go around the front. After a minute, step outside and we’ll try to see who is attacking us."
I nodded my assent and he and Amelia sneaked away. I waited a moment, then cracked the rapidly deteriorating door open. Gourry stopped me from stepping out and handed me a broom. I got the idea and rigged my cloak around the broom.
Not the greatest of decoys, but it should work from a distance if whoever was assailing us was indeed far away. I stuck the broom out the door and sure enough, it was quickly blasted apart, leaving only a broken stick and my annoyance at having to buy a new cloak.
A split second later I saw some flare arrows being launched from the direction where I assumed Amelia and Zel to be. The flaming projectiles soared high through the air, then disappeared. A moment later a small pinprick of light heralding an explosion marred the near-perfect cloud cover. It was a long way off, and I couldn’t believe that Zel could pull a shot off like that. Flare arrows are not exactly known for their accuracy. Maybe it was a spell variation, or maybe Zel was just that good …
…and maybe we should move to better cover before this place drops on our heads!
Something was pounding spells onto the building now. Small pieces of ceiling were coming loose and furniture and utensils were falling to the floor.
OK, so the attackers obviously had given up on sniping at us from afar and were now either trying to collapse the building around us or flush us out into the open. This homecoming is just getting better and better.
"Got any ideas?" Gourry asked, sounding more than a little worried.
I knew that if we just ran out through one of the doors we’d be set upon immediately, and they were probably covering the windows as well.
"Yeah," I said, injecting my voice with bravado. "We go through the door."
Gourry dodged a large chunk of ceiling and said, "They’ll be waiting for us!"
"Well yeah, if we go through any doors they know about!" I then started to chant a spell, but I quickly felt my reserves coming up on empty. Dammit, this had better not turn out to be a slugging match!
I was dead tired. I barely pulled off the dam bras (IS THIS CORRECT?) that punched a new door into the wall leading to a back alley. I stumbled through the jagged hole, and Gourry took my arm and wrapped it around his shoulder. He obviously saw how weak I was getting. It made me sick to my stomach.
If only I hadn’t had overdone it last night! I am only encumbering him like this!
One block down, we met up with Zel and Amelia and saw that they already had company.
Demons! They had to be. They must’ve been hiding their presences before, because a nauseating wave of miasma permeated the air around the three mazoku. One was literally rail thin and all black with single scythe-like claws at the end of each of his arms. The one next to him looked like a man at first glance, an overly large man, but human nonetheless. Until one looked closer that is: the demon had grossly protruding veins and arteries that quivered and squirmed as if trying to escape. The last one was the freakiest. It was of average height and build and was covered head to toe in an all-black robe. It wore a pewter mask over its face with what looked like a thick bar jutting out from both temples. The mask’s lips were twisted upwards in a faint smile and its eye holes were darkness itself, except for the dim red specks in their centers. He reminded me of Seigram, only a thousand times creepier.
They all radiated power while we were exhausted.
"Lina?" Gourry beckoned, nearly all the confidence lost from his voice.
Not that I blamed him. Just the three by themselves might have been survivable. But there was one problem.
They were all wearing Zanassfar Armor.
Tom the Mighty’s Mighty Notes
FireStorm - You see though, that is the great thing about rough drafts. They do not have to be perfect. Plus it is great to have reviewers like you to point out any flaws and mistakes I missed. Keep it up!
Dar’Sel’La - What part indeed? Xellos’ role may not be as obvious as one might think. . . .
MCLBLUE - Thank you for the enthusiastic review!
Oh shit! Lina and Co. are royally screwed! Here’s a cool link courtesy of Firestorm,
http://www.deviantart.com/view/28416960/
Anywho, what will happen to the Slayers now!? Who could possibly save them? Xellos? Martina? No, wait. Martina isn’t in the book continuity! Oh God! They ARE screwed!
Stay tuned next time for Slayers: Knightfall!