Trapped in Subspace! Who is the Real Enemy?

Dedicated to Thomas Riley

October 17, 2002

In front of the party was Ara, who was quite fine by the looks of it. She was arguing with a man dressed in black and gold robes; a medallion with the Lord of Nightmares’ sigil was hung around his neck. He could be only one person: Zoragath.

Zoragath was yelling at the young priestess. “I can’t reconstruct the pieces. There's some sort of enchantment preventing me.” Then he grabbed her and shook her violently. “Tell me what you did!” he demanded.

Ara smiled calmly in reply as she shrugged nonchalantly. “I merely dropped it when I picked it up. It just…slipped out of my hands.” Then she looked at Leigh, Rofellos, and Ueiko. “Looks like we have company,” she warned the Mazoku.

Zoragath snorted derisively. “Never mind them; it’s you I-” His eyes widened in shock as he perceived something totally unexpected. “What kind of company do you keep?” He was as close to panic as a Mazoku could get.

The priestess smiled evilly. “Now that is-” Ara stared at the party in surprise and a little dread. “Not good,” she finished. She used some sort of magic to assist her as she kicked out of Zoragath’s grip; to Rofellos’ surprise, he sensed that the source of the magic was coming from her and not from an outside source, as with most magic. She joined the party.

Suddenly, the majority of the party felt magically repressed. The only one who had been spared was Rofellos, for reasons he knew not; however, he perceived that the other party members were now sealed.

Then Zoragath grinned as he held out his hand and leveled it at the party. Ara smiled in anticipation as a ball of red energy left his hand and struck Ueiko’s imp, completely destroying it.

“Well, that was rude,” Ueiko said as he drew his sword.

The Mazoku shrugged. “Your problem.”

Drawing his sword, Leigh composed himself, making sure he was still in one piece, and slide into a defensive posture. Crainte Vomir, however, did nothing; the claymore did not even draw in light calmly, as it had before. Sensing that something was wrong, Leigh whispered to Crainte Vomir and asked it what the problem was. After it replied that it wasn’t sure, Leigh looked up at his opponent.

By this time, Rofellos had drawn his sword as well, and Zoragath finished his assessment of the party. The Mazoku created a powerful shockwave and hurled it at his opponents.

Ara stepped in front of the party and raised her staff; the wave of compressed air struck an invisible barrier just inches from the priestess. Then she pointed her staff at the surprised Zoragath, who was sure he had sealed away the mysterious priestess’ magic, and chanted something silently. In response to her summons, a black, spear-like shockwave – a variation of the spell Dolph Strash – shot toward the renegade Mazoku; Zoragath teleported out of harm’s way seconds before it struck him.

Rofellos sat and watched the fight; he’d suspected Ara had more power than she let on, as had most of the party, and he was sure she’d make short work of the Mazoku herself. “At least stand,” Ueiko, who was passively watching the battle himself, berated the young man. Meanwhile, Leigh started chanting Boost.

“You should be talking,” Ara hissed at Ueiko. “Fight, stupid.” In response, Rofellos stood up again and lazily prepared himself for the fight.

Ueiko, on the other hand, ignored her. “Oh, this again. Watch him closely,” he said sarcastically, commenting on Leigh’s spell.

Zoragath reappeared behind them just as Leigh finished his incantation. “Disfang!” Leigh shouted as he faced Zoragath; nothing happened. Leigh looked at his hands in surprise. “Umm…”

Ara smiled secretively. “What do you think he just did?”

“Uh, oh…” Leigh uttered. “Raywing?” he said tentatively, trying to use the elementary wind spell.

“Well, that was productive of you,” Ueiko remarked sardonically as if he was one to talk; his own physical attack had missed the Mazoku completely.

Suddenly, a white circle surrounded the group and light shone brightly as the ground beneath them exploded, sending everyone into the air. Ara and Rofellos, making good use of flying spells, landed safely on their feet, but Ueiko and Leigh landed harder. “Ow,” Leigh muttered.

“At least Leigh’s doing something,” Ara chided Ueiko.

“Dark Claw,” Ueiko muttered disinterestedly; as with Leigh, nothing happened. Still not taking this fight seriously, he casually swung at the Mazoku.

Zoragath laughed in derision since the physical attack wouldn’t affect him. “You never should have messed with me,” he told the party. He disappeared and reappeared, hovering high above them. “You should make you little friend fix the Claire Bible manuscript,” he warned them.

Leigh hissed in anger while Ueiko hoped he could melt into the shadows, even though there weren’t any. Rofellos, on the other hand, stood determinedly and shouted, “Astral Vine!” A lightning-like energy struck his longsword, held up high, and baptized the weapon with the red enchantment.

Zoragath contemptuously raised an eyebrow. “And what do you expect to do with that?” he asked.

“This!” Rofellos shouted and cast Levitation. At the same time, Leigh tried to cast Blade Haut as he swung his sword, but again, nothing happened.

“Interesting,” Zoragath commented as Rofellos flew at him, sword raised high.

Ueiko jumped and swung at the priest, but he could not cover the distance. “Stop that,” Ara hissed at him in irritation. “Useless,” she added scornfully.

Rofellos swung at Zoragath, managing to cut the Mazoku with his enchanted blade. Silently, Zoragath’s form dissipated as he teleported. Rofellos scanned the area carefully for his opponent.

“You guys aren’t very fun without your spells,” Ara said.

“Yeah, well,” Leigh began.

“Especially him,” the priestess added, indicating Ueiko with obvious disdain.

“But it can’t hurt to try them, can it?” Ueiko asked, ignoring her.

Rofellos, still at attention, held his longsword in the guard position while he searched their subspace pocket again. “Don’t worry; he’s gone,” Ara assured him. He relaxed, landed, and willed the flying spell away. “Rofellos got lucky,” the priestess added.

Ueiko sheathed his sword as he went to spot where the remains of his imp might be found. “He’s not dead,” he said, almost in denial.

Rofellos sheathed his sword, too. “Obviously,” he replied, thinking the larger man was talking about the Mazoku priest.

“Zoragath or your little friend?” Ara asked, trying to get clarification.

“Either,” he replied. When he saw what was left of his imp – nothing – he said, “Well, maybe the little one died…”

“Just slightly,” Ara quipped; it was her turn to annoy.

Leigh threw Crainte Vomir to the ground; it squeaked, as if in pain. He kneeled beside the sword and whispered an apology before asking it how much of its power had been sealed.

“All of it, stupid!” Crainte Vomir snapped; no love was lost between the reluctant sword and its wielder. Leigh glared at the sword, and then slapped it. Rofellos, who was standing beside him, looked at Crainte Vomir and its wielder a strangely as he had not heard the exchange. Ara also looked at the swordsman and laughed as if she knew something the others didn’t.

Meanwhile, Ueiko was lamenting his pet’s death. “Why did he have to die so…” He trailed off. “Whatever he was.” On the off-chance that it might work, he tried to cast Necro Vuud – a spell that might resurrect the imp, if only as a zombie – on the remains of his imp; as with Leigh, nothing happened. “Well, it was worth a try,” he said with a shrug.

Ara turned to Ueiko. “You’re sealed. Give it up.”

Noticing the strange scene with Leigh and Crainte Vomir, Ueiko advised, “Leave the blade alone before you cut your hand off.”

Leigh did not hear him; he was too busy studying his reflection in his sword. His eyes were both blue, which they hadn’t been for years.

“So, do you want to sit here all day or what?” Ara asked. Then she sat and yawned, looking quite bored.

At the same time, Ueiko said, “Well, to find a new pet…” It might have been that he was putting off his pain. Then he answered Ara. “No.”

Leigh was still staring at his reflection. His eye suddenly turned to molten lava red again. He jumped up, alarmed, but still kept a hold of Crainte Vomir.

Meanwhile, Ueiko walked to where he supposed the door had been. “Ueiko, you can’t get out that way,” Ara told him. “In fact, I’m surprised we’re still here at all.” She turned to Rofellos. “Can you cast any summoning spells?” she queried at the same time Leigh asked her the same question.

Leigh blinked in surprise as Ara shook her head in reply. “How odd we think of the same thing,” he said, lost in thought, and then shrugged. He sheathed his sword.

“Heh, I can’t summon anything,” Rofellos replied sheepishly.

“Fine,” Ara snapped as she rolled her eyes.

“Aqua Create?” Leigh pointed at the ground as he tried the simplest water shamanist spell. When nothing happened, he kicked the ground in frustration and stubbed his toe. “Ow!” he cried and glared at the ground.

Ueiko started dancing to ease his boredom, but Ara decided to do something more helpful to ease hers. She whispered some spell, and the party found themselves back in the Temple of Nightmares’ vault.

The party looked around confusedly, and Ueiko stopped dancing. “That works,” Rofellos said.

“Yup, it does,” Leigh agreed.

Ara, ignoring the others, sashayed up the stairs and entered the foyer, where Horus and the other priests were waiting for them; Rofellos and Leigh quickly followed her. “What happened?” Horus asked them. “Ara!” he cried in surprise when he recognized her.

“Well, you had to do that after I found something to do,” Ueiko grumbled. Instead of following the rest of the party, Ueiko stayed in the vault and admired the relics. He also sang. Badly. Very badly, in fact. And quite loudly.

Upstairs, Leigh replied to Horus’ question. “We had our power sealed, I believe…”

“By who? What for?” the Head Priest asked.

“By Zoragath,” Leigh replied. “But I don’t know why.”

“And…what just happened?” Horus asked again, trying to get more information out of them.

“Seems you had a Mazoku leading this temple,” Rofellos replied. “Or a very powerful sorcerer.”

“Zoragath is a traitor to the Mazoku. He just attacked us. He’s quite pissed, in fact,” Ara explained simply. She looked Horus in the eye. “Looks like you just got a promotion.”

Ueiko stopped singing and yelled from downstairs. “So you are all Mazoku?”

“No,” Horus replied loud enough for Ueiko to hear. He turned back to Ara. “What are you talking about?”

“Promotion?” Sera repeated. “What?”

“Just checking!” Ueiko shouted and then went back to his painful singing. Leigh looked down the stairs and shook his head.

“Since no one else will explain, I will,” Ara said. “Zoragath just attacked us. He wanted the Claire Bible manuscript, the relic I ‘stole,’ for some reason. Now he’s run away, which is why you, Horus, get a promotion.” Ueiko’s singing hit a particularly horrible note; Ara winced before continuing. “Zoragath sealed their powers and destroyed his-” She motioned in the general direction of Ueiko, who, unbeknownst to her, had begun adding some rather atrocious dancing to his singing. “-little pet, which is why I believe he’s acting so stupid.”

“Sealed?” Horus asked. “I can fix that pretty easily.”

“Oh, cool. I don’t need it,” Rofellos said. “I don’t believe…”

“No, you’re fine,” Ara replied after she quickly assessed him.

“Now, who’s got a problem?” Horus asked the party.

Leigh raised his hand as Ueiko shouted from downstairs. “Oh! Oh! I do!”

The swordsman paused suspiciously. “How are you going to ‘fix’ that?”

“You’re first,” Horus told Leigh. Meanwhile, Ueiko picked his singing back up.

“Oh, okay…”

Horus looked confused at Leigh’s distrust. “I’m not going to hurt you; it’s just a spell,” he assured the swordsman. “It’s a reverse-time spell, in fact,” he added as Ueiko came back upstairs; fortunately for Horus’ concentration, Ueiko had decided that the unsealing might be interesting.

The Head Priest squeezed his medallion in his fist as he placed his remaining hand on Leigh. Horus started chanting quietly in the temple’s strange tongue, and in response, the area under his hand started glowing with white light.

Leigh was noticeably getting younger as the lines of age faded away and his muscled body became even more toned and lean. The white hair that sprouted from his temples receded and darkened into sea foam green, matching the rest of his long hair.

Ueiko yawned as he watched the awe-inspiring transformation, but Rofellos appreciated the spell; he stared in shock, his eyes shifting between the priest and the swordsman.

Leigh’s eyes, which were half-open, became their original color once more – ice blue. His body now looked to be, at the most, in the mid-twenties as Horus reached the end of his spell; the Head Priest collapsed from the effort. Rofellos quickly ran and caught Horus before he hit the ground.

“Interesting,” Ara commented with a smile.

“Way to go, you,” Ueiko said to Leigh. “Well, isn’t that nice? You killed the poor man.” As was custom by now, the rest of the party ignored him.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Horus said slowly; he barely had enough energy to talk.

Leigh’s eyes opened wider in shock. Quickly, he cast Recovery on the drained priest.

“Really? Gasp! I never would have guessed!” Ueiko sarcastically said to the priest.

“You were only supposed to be reversed an hour,” Horus told Leigh. “No, that won’t work. This is magical drain. I need time to recover,” he explained in regards to Leigh’s Recovery spell.

Leigh, being in the middle of the incantation, finished it before replying to Horus with shock. “An hour? How long did you reverse me?!!” he demanded; Horus sweatdropped in reply.

“A decade, I’d say.” Ara’s guess was nearly on the money.

“Whaaa…?” Leigh’s jaw was on the floor.

“About right,” Ueiko agreed and continued his shadow dueling.

Ara shrugged in indifference as Leigh searched desperately for a reflective surface to see the transformation. When he found a mirror substitute, he blinked for a moment as he took it in, and then fell to the floor in shock.

Meanwhile, Rofellos helped Horus up. “Thank you,” he said as he stood. Then he turned to Ueiko and said, “I can’t help you until tomorrow.”

Ueiko shrugged. “Okay.”

Leigh recovered somewhat and made it to a wall. He leaned against it. Rofellos watched him with concern.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Horus,” Ara refuted.

Ueiko swung faster. “Why not, Missy?” he demanded.

“He’s too young for you to try that time-reverse spell on him,” she continued. Then she laughed. “You might make him a baby!” She turned to Ueiko and smirked. “You’re only five years old.”

“Yeah…” Leigh said in a far-off voice. He repeated, “Baby…” He shook his head.

“Five years old,” Rofellos repeated and considered the words’ meaning.

“Yes, five,” Ara confirmed.

Ueiko couldn’t resist. “I just started getting weaned, so can you help me, Ara?” He smiled suggestively at her.

Ara smiled evilly. “You might not want to do that…”

“You may be surprised,” he replied and winked.

Ara shrugged again and then ignored Ueiko. She took Crainte Vomir easily out of Leigh’s shocked grasp and said, “You won’t need this anymore, Leigh.”

“Okay,” he agreed distantly.

She looked at all of them. “I suggest you go to a tavern for the night; it’s getting quite late.” Then she teleported, taking Crainte Vomir with her; again, the odd, ear-irritating noise of air filling a void heralded her departure.

“I guess we should find some place to stay,” Rofellos said.

Leigh jumped up. “How about the tavern from lunch?” He paused. “No, wait; we got thrown out…”

“How about not?” Rofellos replied. He walked toward the entrance.

“You can stay here,” Sera offered. She looked at Horus for permission; he nodded.

“That works,” Ueiko replied between practice thrusts.

Rofellos stopped. “We can?”

Leigh looked over. “Please, show me to a room?”

Ueiko stopped shadow dueling and leaned over to Sera. “Where is your room?” he asked seductively.

Sera looked at him and simply replied, “I’m celibate.”

“I can help you,” Ueiko replied, apparently not knowing the definition of “celibate,” and started playing with his sword again; Sera ignored him.

Meanwhile, Horus replied to Rofellos. “Of course.” He turned and called, “Eliz? Noub?” Immediately, the priest and general representatives of Phibrizzo were at his side.

Hearing Sera’s reply to Ueiko’s affections, Leigh laughed lightly and then followed Eliz up the stairs. Rofellos followed too, but slowly. “Is it alright if I look around? I am not really tired,” Rofellos asked.

Eliz, the priestess, took Rofellos and Leigh while Noub, the general, took Ueiko.

“Hey,” Ueiko protested when he saw that he’d been stuck with the man. “Let me sheath my sword first,” he said and did it; no one knew how to take that comment, so they sweatdropped.

“Guess that’s a ‘no,’” Rofellos muttered to himself when no one replied.

“Of course you can,” Horus replied a moment later.

“Let me just show you to your room first,” Eliz said and winked at Rofellos; he sweatdropped as he followed Eliz. Beside him, Leigh was lost in his thoughts as the party went their separate ways for the night.

***

Leigh’s benefactor suddenly appeared in the swordsman’s room. “Hello,” Leigh greeted.

“I see you’ve changed,” the man replied and smiled evilly His hand rested on his sword.

“Yes, some time spell the priest cast to give me back my power after Zoragath sealed it,” Leigh explained.

“I’d say he went back a little too far. You’re no longer Mazoku.”

” I realized that.”

Leigh’s benefactor smiled appreciatively. “Good,” he said.

“Why’s that good?”

“You’re not stupid,” he replied simply.

Leigh didn’t know what to say; instead, he changed the subject. “Ara took Crainte Vomir.”

“Yes, I know,” the man replied as if Leigh should’ve known that. He paused thoughtfully, and then said, “Tell me, would you still like to be my servant?”

“That depends. I am no longer dying,” Leigh replied. “Perhaps I could take the pledge instead.” He paused. “That reminds me... Ueiko seems a bit young to have killed my family,” he pointed out and tried not to sound too suspicious.

“Ah yes, Crovaar,” the man said as he considered Leigh’s former target. “He’s not the one.”

Leigh continued his thought, seemingly not hearing his benefactor. “He would have been around ten at that time by my guess…” He blinked, and then muttered, “And Ara said he was only five.”

“A lot younger than that actually.”

“Then why tell me he was the one?” Leigh demanded warily.

“I did not know at the time; I’m working on it,” his benefactor told him. “But I have a gift for you,” he said as he held out a beautiful crystalline sword.

“Ah, I see,” Leigh said. “Really?” he asked when he saw the fine sword. “Wow, that looks astonishing,” he said as he touched the strange blade.

“This is Azurewrath,” the man said and proceeded to tell him how to use it. “But only if you continue to serve me,” he added as he handed the sword over to Leigh.

“Interesting name,” Leigh murmured. “Well, what about the pledge? Or would you rather I become part Mazoku again?” He winced at the thought of dying again.

“Ah, neither,” the man replied with regret. “Not right now, I’m afraid.”

“Then how would I serve you?”

“I will tell you,” the man said. “Listen to Ara, I suppose, but me first of all. I must go now,” he said and teleported away as mysteriously as he appeared.

***

The night passed without event. The next morning, Ara was waiting for the men on the conch shell-like stairs; she smiled pleasantly at them. Rofellos waved at her.

Leigh quickly ran a hand through his hair, which didn’t need to be brushed like most anime hair. “Good morning, Ara,” he said.

“How good of you to arrive,” Ueiko greeted the others and bowed; he had arrived only a few minutes earlier.

Ara smiled even more charismatically. “’Morning,” she said.

Leigh, the others noticed, mysteriously had a new sword strapped across his back. The crystalline sword had a golden hilt and guard, which was shaped like an eagle’s talons. Held within the eagle’s talons was a large blood ruby. The blade itself resembled an ice crystal with a streak of blood frozen in the center of the ice.

“I like the new sword, Leigh,” Rofellos complimented when he saw it.

“Yes, me too,” Ara agreed. She smiled sweetly as she added, “Where’d you get it?”

“Why, thank you,” Leigh replied. “I found it in the magic shop last evening when I could not sleep.”

“Of course you did,” Ueiko muttered.

“Aha,” Ara commented in a tone that revealed her skepticism.

“What does it do?” Rofellos asked.

“I’m not sure yet,” Leigh replied.

“You didn’t ask?” Rofellos asked in surprise.

“The shop keeper just said to beware saying ‘flare’ or ‘freeze’ around it…” Leigh shrugged.

“You just did,” Ueiko pointed out.

“Well, it didn’t seem to do anything,” Rofellos agreed.

“At least it doesn’t destroy the world,” Ueiko commented.

“I know; that’s the problem,” Leigh said, replying to Rofellos and not Ueiko. “I was trying it out earlier.”

Ara decided to change the subject to something a little more important. “Well, now that we’ve let Zoragath get away…what are we going to do?” For Ueiko’s benefit, she added, “You know, in order to get your powers unsealed, you’ll have to kill him.”

“Do we have any way of knowing where to find him?” Rofellos asked.

“Well, we have to find him now. He has run off,” Leigh said.

“Where is he, my lovely?” Ueiko bowed and winked flirtatiously at Ara. He replied to Rofellos, “And the answer is anywhere.”

Ara ignored Ueiko in favor of getting the party up to date. “Oh, remember that little seal in the middle of Seyruun’s capital? Guess where Zoragath is.” While the others pondered that, she turned to Ueiko and told him, “You’re much too young for me, Ueiko.”

“I am more mature than my age portrays,” Ueiko refuted and gave her a seductive look; she ignored him.

“In a temple there?” Leigh asked, making sure the conversation stayed on track this time.

“Remember our conversation earlier?” Ara asked. “The one about him trying to break the seal? I think he’s going to try it.”

“Well, let’s go find him,” Rofellos suggested.

Ueiko had a much simpler solution. “Level the city and he will be the one standing in the pile of ash.”

Ara laughed. “I’d like to see you try that!”

“Zoragath can’t be powerful enough to do it alone,” Leigh denied with fearful reserve. “Can he?” Ara smiled secretively in response, which could be taken as an affirmative.

In the meantime, Ueiko left the temple. “And where are you going, Ueiko?” Ara demanded.

“To the tempy thing,” he replied and turned away.

The priestess mentally rolled her eyes, and then said, “You weren’t listening. He’s in Seyruun!”

“So, let’s go,” Rofellos suggested, voicing the obvious course of action.

“Let’s,” Ara agreed and walked toward the door. The other two men followed.

Ueiko stopped for a moment to say, “So we should start walking soon.”

“How do you propose we get there?” Leigh asked.

“Skip,” Ueiko quietly interjected.

“It’s a rather long walk.”

“Not if you’re dead,” Ueiko interrupted again.

“It’s only thirty miles,” Ara told Leigh.

“Really?” he asked. “I thought it was longer.”

“We can fly,” Rofellos suggested, becoming the party’s primary idea generator. “Right?”

“So you can debate.” Ueiko sighed. “I am going.” He turned toward Seyruun, which was northward, and broke into a run. Unfortunately, he was only running toward the north wall of Hajime since the city only had one gate, which was in the south.

“I can try,” Leigh replied to Rofellos. “It didn’t work for me in subspace…” He shrugged.

“And how are you going to fly with sealed companions?” Ara demanded, referring to both Ueiko and Leigh.

“Ah,” Rofellos replied. “I thought Leigh was unsealed.”

“If he is or isn’t sealed is his secret,” Ara replied with a knowing smile. “And mine.”

Leigh made up his mind. “Aw, heck. I’ll give it a try,” he said. “Raywing!” he called; wind blew for a moment and then nothing. Leigh sighed. “I guess not…”

At the same time as Leigh’s trial, Rofellos said, “Then let’s fly. If he wants to use his magic, he can, and if not, then too bad for him. Raywing!” A bubble of air surrounded the young shaman as Leigh tried out his own spell and failed. Rofellos floated lower. “Want to hop in, Leigh?” he offered.

“Into what?!!”

“Into my Raywing,” he replied.

“Why don’t we just walk?” Ara suggested, again thinking of her other two companions.

“Or we could walk,” Leigh agreed and then sighed in disappointment.

“I don’t know how much I can carry, but we might as well try,” Rofellos said, referring to his Raywing capacity; he didn’t particularly like walking.

“What if Zoragath attacks us?” Ara asked, revealing the reason she wanted to walk.

Rofellos sighed and landed. “I guess we can walk,” he conceded.

“Good,” she replied and started walking toward Hajime’s gate.

“I guess we had better be off,” Leigh commented as he and Rofellos followed her.

Ueiko stopped just in sight of the temple and drew his sword. He swung light practice arcs as he waited for the party, which he mistakenly thought was following him.

Ara stopped when she realized Ueiko hadn’t followed her. “Coming, Ueiko?” she called.

“On my way,” he replied. “I’m taking the scenic route.” Then he continued his sword practice.

The priestess paused and then smiled. “I’ll be seeing you then,” she shouted at Ueiko. Then she turned the corner and walked down the main street. Always playing with his sword, she thought as she and the others left Hajime. She rolled her eyes as she muttered to herself. “Why, brother, do I get stuck with such idiots?”

“Idiots?” Leigh queried, surprised and a little angry.

“Him, in particular,” Ara replied and pointed in the general direction of Ueiko. She turned and followed Hajime’s wall northward.

“Can I blow a hole through the wall?” Rofellos asked eagerly. “No one will know...for a while.” He smiled.

Leigh shook his head in disgust, but Ara replied nonchalantly with a shrug. “Go right ahead,” she said.

Rofellos decided not to. They followed Ara down a well-traveled road through the forest to Seyruun. “By the way,” she added, “if we meet a bitchy redhead, an idiot swordsman, a justice princess, a chimera, or a mysterious priest, be quiet about where we're going, okay?” Rofellos laughed, but Leigh just shook his head again.

***

On a different road to Seyruun, Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis, and Xelloss sneezed collectively. “Must be allergies,” Xelloss suggested.

“Then why did you sneeze?” Zelgadis demanded.

Xelloss smiled. “Now that’s a secret!”

***

Ueiko was bored with sword practice. He was sure that he’d reach Seyruun before the others, even though they had a head start, because he had greater speed. He would take care of this Zoragath matter before Ara and the others even got to Seyruun’s gates. Nevertheless, he should get a start now.

Earlier, he had discovered that Hajime’s gate was at the south of the city. He left the gates and ran through the forest.

Minutes later, he was going around in circles, though he hadn’t realized it yet.

***

A few days later, the party was nearing Seyruun’s capital. “Levitation!” Rofellos shouted as he flew above the party to scout the remaining distance; he also kept an eye out for Ueiko, whom they hadn’t seen since they left Hajime.

Suddenly, a gang of ten bandits – the only ones stupid enough to be anywhere near Seyruun’s city limits – jumped out from the forest and surrounded them. “Give us your money!” the leader ordered as Rofellos floated upward again.

Leigh drew his sword, Azurewrath. “Or what? You’ll spank us?” He smiled.

The bandits looked confused; no one had ever challenged them before. “Yes?” one of them replied.

Rofellos took advantage of the bandits’ confusion and cast Scatter-Bleed at them. Nearly a hundred spheres of lightning struck the poor bandits, but the spell was more annoying than damaging.

Meanwhile, Leigh was recovering from his face-fault. His eye twitched as he repeated, “Yes?” Ara just laughed.

“Fireball!” another bandit shouted, aiming it at Rofellos.

“Fireball!” the air shaman replied as he flew higher. The bandit’s fireball flew under him and harmlessly impacted with the ground. Rofellos’ spell, however, struck the bandit and exploded, killing him and injuring two of his companions.

Meanwhile, Leigh was trying to get his sword to work. Flare! he thought. He stared at the sword in shock and annoyance before shouting, “Gah!”

Rofellos floated lower so he could whisper into Leigh’s ear; however, he made sure he was loud enough for the bandits to hear. “Cast Dragon Slave.”

Leigh whispered back, though not as loudly. “I can’t do Raywing and you want me to do Dragon Slave?!!” he demanded. “Azure flare!” he said to the sword.

Rofellos sighed and whispered, “You really are an idiot.”

Azurewrath decided to react at that moment. The “ice” on it melted as fire blazed from within, causing Rofellos to float away in surprise.

Three of the bandits were already frozen in fear when the two turned their attention back to them; they may have heard Rofellos’ bluff or were scared by Azurewrath’s new form, or maybe even both. “Hey!” Leigh shouted. “Ninnies!”

“Bomb di Wind!” Rofellos shouted as he cast the spell at the bandits. One bandit responded by casting Windy Shield, which neutralized the other air spell; he smiled confidently.

Leigh looked at Rofellos. “Or you could do that…”

Rofellos smirked in reply. Then he landed and drew his sword.

“Oh, source of all power, light which burns beyond crimson,” Leigh began.

“Not again…” Ara sighed; she hoped he wasn’t going to try to scare the bandits off by pulling his Lighting prank again. Then Rofellos joined in with his incantation.

Some of the bandits, thinking like Ara, laughed since hardly anyone used the incantation for Fireball. The smarter ones, however, ran like hell in case these were some of the few who still chanted; if the spell was just Lighting, they’d live with it.

“Fireball!” Leigh and Rofellos shouted in succession, and the bandits stopped laughing. The powerful fire spell exploded, killing some and charring the others beyond recognition.

“That was fun,” Ara commented.

Leigh walked over to the leader, who was miraculously still alive, albeit blackened. “Now what was that about money?” he asked.

Rofellos, who had charged at the bandits in case some of them still could fight, skidded to a stop when he realized they couldn’t do much.

“You wanted to give us some?” Leigh continued; the surviving bandits nodded in agreement. “Ah, good. Let’s see…” He paused for a moment to think; the survivors took that time to pass out. Rofellos grinned in an evil sort of way as Leigh made his next demand to his dazed audience. “I spent a good three hundred thousand on this sword. I want it back. For all of us.” He grinned.

“Good luck getting it,” Ara quipped.

Meanwhile, Rofellos sheathed his sword and checked the bodies of the dead and comatose. He found a few gems and trinkets and some gold, but nothing particularly great. He stuffed the gems and gold into his pockets.

“That’s not nearly nine hundred thousand,” Leigh chided the bandits.

“Nine hundred thousand?” Rofellos asked in surprise.

“I wanted three hundred thousand for each of us.” Leigh grinned.

“Forget it,” Ara said. “Let’s go. Zoragath needs to be taken care of first.” She started walking down the road again.

“You’d think we’d find that much on these idiots?” Rofellos asked. He sighed and then followed Ara.

“But?” Leigh protested.

“You’d need the Bandit Killer for that much, anyway,” Ara told them. Then she muttered, “And I hope we don’t run into her.”

Leigh looked sternly at the bandits as he said, “You got off easy!” The conscious bandits nodded in thanks and promptly collapsed again. Leigh glared at them once more before he wandered after the party.

After he’d caught up, Ara said, almost to herself, “It’s a shame about Ueiko. I was really hoping to use his talent. We’ll see if he reaches Seyruun before us.”

Instead of replying, Rofellos just kept walking in silence. Leigh, on the other hand, shrugged and said, “I wonder where he wandered off to.”

“Hopefully off a cliff,” she replied. “He’s quite useless sealed and without his imp, but less dangerous.” She paused and created a face of “I shouldn’t have said that.” Then she smiled deviously.

“Really?” Leigh asked in surprise. “How dangerous was he?”

“That is my little secret!” Ara replied as she smiled and winked cutely.

Rofellos smiled as he wrapped his arm around Ara’s shoulders. “Really now…”

“Yes, really,” she replied. Then she smiled at Rofellos as she asked, “Now, how come you weren’t sealed?”

Leigh looked at him, too, as he echoed Ara. “Yes, why weren’t you?”

Rofellos whispered his reply as he mimicked Ara. “That’s also my little secret.”

Ara nodded, acknowledging the jab, and then grinned knowingly. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Leigh poked Rofellos in the side as he light-heartedly said, “That’s no fair!”

“Mono Volt,” Rofellos whispered, his arm still wrapped around Ara. She fell over, paralyzed.

“I hate you,” she muttered, managing to make it one word. Rofellos laughed.

“That wasn’t nice!” Leigh chided and smacked him with a fish.

The next second, Ara stood up, perfectly fine. “No, it wasn’t,” she agreed.

Remembering that his sword was still out, Leigh commanded, “Azure freeze!” Thinking he was about to be attacked, Rofellos promptly dropped to the ground, but instead of some ominous attack, Azurewrath’s blade froze back into a crystal. Leigh sheathed the sword.

“That was interesting,” Rofellos commented as he got up and dusted himself off.

Ara mischievously leaned over to Rofellos and whispered, “You shouldn’t do that to me. I might just be a masochist.” Then she smiled and kissed Rofellos’ cheek.

Leigh’s eye twitched. Then with a wink, he demanded, “Hey! Where’s mine?”

“What? You want one, too?” Ara asked, causing Rofellos to laugh. “Later, perhaps,” she promised Leigh.

“Oh, I guess it can wait.” He smiled flirtatiously at her.

Rofellos, who obviously got depressed easily, sighed again. “Let’s get a move on.”

Leigh looked at the fish still in his hand and shrugged. “Sushi, anyone?” he offered. The fish yelped and then suddenly disappeared. “I guess not…”

Ara smiled; it was appreciative, yet secretive. “No thanks. I’m on a special diet.” She started walking again as she got back to more important matters. “Now, my brother says that Zoragath is somewhere in Seyruun. He spent considerable power sealing us and then killing the imp, so he’s probably hiding.”

“Hm,” Rofellos murmured. “It will be a bit harder to find him then.”

“Probably,” Leigh agreed.

“Most definitely,” Ara confirmed. “In the meantime, the Justice Princess has a visitor: Lina Inverse. I would prefer not to run into the Bandit Killer.”

Leigh leaned over and whispered into Ara’s ear. “So I get it later? Like the tavern? In my room?” He winked at her.

At the same time, Rofellos jokingly said, “Ah, we can handle her.”

Ara raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Someone favored by the Lord of Nightmares? I doubt it,” she replied, and Leigh nodded in agreement. Ara smiled sweetly for a moment and then slapped Leigh with all her might. “That is my little secret!” she told the swordsman.

“Ow!” he uttered from the ground.

Rofellos looked back and wondered what the commotion was about.

Then Leigh stood and replied, “That’s okay; the fish might visit you…” He grinned, prompting Ara to wonder if it was a threat.

A bit disturbed by the exchanged, Rofellos was glad to see that the gates of Seyruun were finally in sight.