Medieval Times Part One
Fanfiction by Aurous
Note: Slayers is copyrighted by Kadokawa Shoten/Marubeni/Hajime Kanzaka/TV TOKYO/Rui Araizumi/SOFTX as well as Central Park Media, Software Sculptures, and ADV. The manga Slayers is copyrighted by Shoko Yoshinaka.
Part One - The World of Royalty
Morning sunlight filtered through the billowing curtains in the open windows of the halls in Inverse Castle, located in Zefielia. In the rest of the castle, activity was already at a high; for servants, anytime before a meal meant incessant work, courtesy of the world-renowned appetites of the Inverse royal family.
In the halls next to the youngest princess' bedroom, one female servant boldly stepped apart from the bustling crowd and knocked loudly against the giant hand-crafted oak door.
"Princess Lina?" the middle-aged woman called. "It's already eight. Time to get up!"
When there was no reply, Mary sighed and opened the door, the hinges creaking as she did so. "Honestly, sleeping in again?"
Glancing about the room, she noted the rumpled feather bed at the top left corner of the stone room, the glittering of the candle chandelier above the bed, and the scattered books on the table and ground beside the bed.
"Up late reading again as well," the servant wryly commented as she made her way to the fireplace to the right, opposite the bed.
Winding around the beautifully carved table and two chairs in front of the stone edifice, she stepped onto the rug in front of the flickering flames and began tending to the dying embers of the fire. Then, once the crackling warmth lighted on her slightly wrinkled face, she straightened up and made her way to the bed.
"Princess Lina, it's time to get up!" she said cheerfully, throwing back the covers.
However, instead of the expected young lady, only a lumpy pillow lay in the bed. No one was there. Sweat-dropping, Mary rubbed her temples as she sank her head wearily.
"Not again . . ."
<><><>
Lina gazed straight ahead at the open field surrounding her, her white tunic and loose black leggings rippling in the breeze as her fiery red hair whipped around her face. Then, in a sudden movement, she back-flipped three times and landed in a fighting position. Where she had once been standing now was a medium-sized crater with a tall peasant-garbed old man standing in it.
"Flare arrow!" the man shouted, raising his hands to aim the crackling energy at Lina.
"Freeze arrow!" Lina countered, directing the icy coolness directly at the arrows of fire.
The two spells met each other and vanished in a trace of silvery light, canceling each other out.
From above, a large glowing orb descended on Lina, barely giving her time to duck out of the way. Rolling on the ground a few times, Lina quickly recovered enough to end up in a crouched position. A few feet in front of her, the old man landed and was already chanting the beginnings of another spell.
Thinking quickly, Lina gathered power in her hands and threw the first spell she could think of at the man.
"Gaav flare!"
The man was unfazed as he threw a crystal globe into the air.
"Boost bolt!" he cried, a thin beam of electricity shooting up from his held out right hand into the floating orb.
The arrow of energy Lina had shot hit the electrical shield that surrounded the man and disappeared.
"Hey! That's no fair!" Lina protested, stamping her feet in indignation.
"It's what will happen in a real fight!" the old man countered. "Now, flare lance!"
"ITAI!!!!" Lina shrieked as the spell hit her and burned her to a crisp.
The old man sighed in defeat.
"Why do I deal with an incompetent student like her?" he asked the clear morning sky.
"Hey . . ." Lina growled from the ground. "I heard that, gramps."
"On the other hand, you can't get up and do anything about it, can you?"
Lina narrowed her eyes and stubbornly tried to force her frizzled body up.
"Oh yes, I can!"
The next instant, she was on her feet and hurling every spell she could think of at the amused old man.
"Digu volt! Fireball! Flare arrow!"
Every single one of the spells hit the barrier around the old man and dissipated.
"Child, you need to do something about that temper of yours. At this rate, you'll never find a husband."
Lina turned beet red at hearing this.
"Wha . . . What do you mean, a husband?!?!" she half-screamed.
"Dug haut!"
Still a little out of it, Lina instinctively cast raywing which carried her safely above the giant spike of clay emerging from the ground.
"Why you sneaky little . . . !!!!"
"Gets you every time," Lina's teacher grinned, winking up at her.
"Now you've done it, old man!"
"Tsk, tsk, such disrespect!"
A safe distance away from the battling duo, Kutshurio sweat-dropped, his wife, Masami, following suit.
"Your father and Lina seem to be at it again," Kutshurio remarked as he observed the flashes of energy bursts around the battlefield.
"I don't know why Father persists in teaching Lina magic and fighting," Masami sighed. "Even after we told him we didn't want Lina to be that violent, too!"
Mary walked up and joined in the commentary. "To think that Luna's the High Priestess to Ceipheed, too! I don't know how both of the princesses can be this interested in magic and fighting . . ."
"On the bright side, Lina's more into black magic while Luna's more focused on white," Masami said optimistically. Then, hearing the string of curses followed by blasts of fire shooting up into the sky, she sweat-dropped again and muttered, "Then again, maybe not . . . I really need to talk to Father about teaching Lina curses sometime . . ."
Meanwhile, Lina was panting in exhaustion, sweat running down her face and smirches of dirt on her body and clothes.
"Take . . . that . . . old . . . man," she declared, her voice tinged with triumph.
"Was that all? You'll never beat Shitsuro Inverse like that," a familiar cheerful voice chirped from within the cloud of dust.
It couldn't be . . .
"Diem wind!"
Gasping, Lina flew back onto her back as the dust finally cleared to reveal her grandfather without a scratch on his face.
"ARGH!!!!!!" Lina screamed in frustration, just about at the end of her line.
Smiling, the old man teased, "Not too bad, granddaughter, although your fireballs need a little bit more control."
"DRAGON SLAVE!!!!!!"
"And there goes another field," Kutshurio muttered.
<><><>
In the dining hall of the stone castle, the windows were wide open to let in the fresh cool air and the table was laden with generous portions of food. Kutshurio sat at the head of the table with Masami to his left. Lina sat on the bench portion to his right while Shitsuro sat across from her. However, Lina was not eating like an elephant today; instead, she glared down at her food, her mouth set into a frown.
"Really, Lina, you mustn't keep sneaking out of the castle in the morning to practice magic and fighting with your grandpa. Plus, you must learn to control your temper," her father chided reprovingly. "We don't have an endless supply of fields, you know."
"It's all grandpa's fault," Lina muttered angrily.
"Now, now, don't go blaming me for your troubles," the grey-haired man scolded as he picked up his plate of bacon. "After all, you've always had a temper."
A fairly distinct stress mark appeared on Lina's forehead.
"Father, must you continue baiting Lina?" Masami worriedly asked.
"Ofh cowhrse," came the reply.
Luna came in from the main entranceway at this point and sat down beside Lina, her long white gown flowing gracefully behind her. "Don't talk with your mouth full, gramps."
Then, looking at Lina's scowl, she sweetly said, "Lina . . ."
"Y . . . Yes!" Lina quickly answered, her frown disappearing to be replaced by a bright smile.
"What did I tell you about blowing up fields?"
Lina paled in fear.
"SORRY!!!!" she apologized furiously, scrambling to bow down to her sister. "I'll never do it again, I promise!!"
Luna nodded, then proceeded to pound her younger sister to a pulp.
"Luna . . ." Masami began in concern. "Shouldn't you be nicer to Lina?"
"It's just to teach her a lesson, Mother," Luna replied, still engaged in her role as "teacher."
The other servants in the room tactfully chose to stay in the far reaches of the dining hall in order to avoid being dragged into the fight. By now, violence was a daily occurrence in the Inverse Castle and, unfortunately, the violence wasn't always contained to the few people actually involved in it.
In a few moments, it was all over. Luna stood up, brushed her dress, and began eating breakfast daintily while Lina staggered to the staircase behind her father's chair.
Kutshurio frowned, then called back, "Lina, don't you want anymore food?"
Gritting her teeth, Lina replied, "No, I'm not very hungry."
"She has a horde of food upstairs," Shitsuro whispered to his daughter.
Lina felt a stress mark appear on her forehead.
Seeing this, Kutshurio quickly tried to mollify her by saying, "Er, well, I suppose that this could count as preparation for that ball we're having the day after tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, yeah," Lina growled forcing herself to walk up the stairs. "You've been telling me about it for a month now. I know when it is and I promised that I wouldn't skip that one already!"
Once the fading echoes of Lina's tired footsteps faded away, Luna placed her fork down on the table with a clatter and rose from her seat.
"I have a lot of things I need to do today," she excused, heading for the open doors at the foot of the long table. "If you don't mind, I'll be leaving now."
Once Luna's footsteps had also faded away, Shitsuro innocently asked, "So, I take it that neither of you have told them about that new prince guy coming tomorrow evening?"
"No . . ." Kutshurio admitted reluctantly. "Um, I'm rather dreading their reactions."
Shitsuro shook his head in disbelief. "What with Lina's reaction at my even suggesting a husband this morning, I'll be surprised if she doesn't blow up the palace when she finds out about your hopes for marriage. And as for Luna, I won't even begin to comment on how violent she might get when she hears about this."
"Well, it would be nice to have our kingdom joined up with the empire of Kal-maart," Masumi sighed. "It's just a question of the agreement of our children. This ball would be the perfect thing to set them up."
"And has your prospective son-in-law agreed to this?" Shitsuro inquired, sipping some of his tea.
"Er . . . he doesn't really know," Kutshurio forced out.
Shitsuro fell backwards off the bench.
"And just how do you plan to make this work if neither side knows?!" he sputtered, picking his face off from the ground.
Kutshurio scratched his head sheepishly and hopefully suggested, "Love at first sight?"
"By Ceipheed, just how do you plan that?!"
<><><>
"Yoo-hoo, Filia!" Lina yelled at the top of her lungs, cupping her hands together for an even louder effect.
"Namagomi, namagomi, namagomi," Filia muttered, stomping through the open courtyard beneath Lina's room in a very unladylike manner.
Furrowing her brow briefly, Lina cast levitation and leapt from her room to land a little behind her friend. "Hey, Filia!"
"Namagomi, namagomi," Filia continued to mutter, stalking onwards.
Running forward to catch up, Lina slapped the oblivious blond-haired girl on the shoulder and yelled in her ear, "YO! FILIA!"
"WAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Filia cried in surprise, nearly tripping over her long pink dress.
"Hi!" Lina greeted cheerfully, even as Filia fought to recover her balance.
Turning around, a stress mark appeared on Filia's forehead as she angrily stated her friends name.
"LINA . . ."
Scratching her head in embarrassment, Lina weakly laughed, "Whoops, did I disturb you at a bad time?"
"No, she was just annoyed about Xelloss insulting her pottery skills," a passing noble called out.
"Oh, figures."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘FIGURES'?!"
"Heh, heh . . . calm down Filia!" Lina cajoled as tactfully as she could. "I mean, not many females do pottery. Plus, he insults you about a lot of other things besides that."
A second later, Lina was flattened into the ground courtesy of one large mace.
"Some friend," Filia muttered, stalking off in a huff.
Lina croaked out a groan even though her face was smashed against the white stone pavement. "Well, that wasn't the right thing to say. Tch, this is gonna hurt a bit."
And so saying, she attempted to pry herself off the ground, wincing at each movement she made.
"Someone should take Filia's mace away," the stiff princess grumbled, bending her body to get accustomed to a normal position.
Then, checking her body for bruises, Lina sighed and reluctantly came to the conclusion that she needed to see a healer. What with the fight that morning and getting pounded by a mace, her body felt like one big mass of cuts and bruises.
"I wonder if Sylphiel's busy in the temple," Lina mused as she brushed off her white tunic and black leggings, grimacing at the tears and stains on her attire.
Then, sighing, she laced her fingers behind her head and walked off in the direction of the white marble temple in the middle of the city, absently nodding a hello to various courtiers that she knew while walking through the courtyard. As she passed through the well-guarded iron gates at the entrance to the main streets, she carefully avoided the path of the horse-pulled wagon of a palace merchant and gave a cheerful wave to the guards, who just nodded familiarly. They'd learned not to interfere with the unruly princess: generally the result was to be burnt to a crisp.
Once out in the city, Lina grinned happily and strolled along the busy streets of Zelfielia, pausing to gaze in awe at the talking parrots from the west, laughing at the puppet show in the main street, buying some ice cream to eat on the way to the temple, and throwing flare arrows at people who dared to comment on her less than full figure, not to mention her unusual clothing. All in all, it was a pretty normal outing except for one occurrence.
Once she was almost at the temple, two men stepped in front of her path and jostled her so that she lost her balance and fell onto the ground, dropping her ice cream so that it splattered onto the wall in the process. Grumbling, Lina forced herself to get up, frowning when she noticed that her clothes were even more dirty. Then, looking around, she spotted the ruined ice cream.
"My food!" Lina cried, feeling tears well up in her eyes at seeing the wonderful food spoiled.
And she loved ice cream, too! True, she seemed to love almost anything that was edible, but the point was that she loved ice cream! Rolling up her sleeves, she was just about ready to let the men have it when, to her utter disbelief, they started laughing.
"Hey, look at the flat-chested girl!" the brown-bearded man crowed, pointing at said chest. "How old do you think she is, anyway?"
"I don't know, maybe twelve?" mused his friend, tapping his right index finger at his chin thoughtfully.
The first man snorted, then began to laugh. "No way, she looks like she's ten!"
A stress mark appeared on Lina's forehead.
"I'd say less!" another blond-haired lackey commented, coming up behind the two to join in the sport. "Maybe nine?"
Lina felt her anger rise to new levels.
"And look at those clothes!" the bearded man guffawed. "What is she, a cross-dresser?"
Standing with clenched teeth and fists, Lina dangerously growled out, "If you think you men can get away with insulting an innocent woman like that . . . then you'd better rethink your logic! FIREBALL!"
Needless to say, a large explosion followed.
"By Ceipheed, why is it that no one accepts women wearing something other than a demure dress?" Lina growled, stomping away from a burnt heap to walk the last few steps to the temple. "And to think that they commented on my figure as well!"
Behind her, three fairly repentant males croaked out burnt smoke puffs even as a passing servant commented, "Met up with Princess Lina, huh? Although, I must admit, you must have insulted her pretty badly for her to burn you up this much. Usually it's only a casual flare arrow."
The last thought of the one unfortunate male still able to register voices was, That was the princess?! Then he fainted into blissful unconsciousness.
"Hello, Princess Lina!" a priestess called out as Lina walked up the twenty marble steps leading to the main temple entrance, the sprinkling of fresh water from the square's center fountain tinkling lightly behind.
"Hello!" Lina replied cheerfully, passing between the beautifully crafted pillars and under the awe-inspiring main archway into the airy indoor courtyard.
Humming cutely to herself, Lina's mood quickly improved just by looking at her surroundings. She loved to go to the temple and visit her childhood friend Sylphiel, a long purple-haired priestess whose gentle ways made her the epitome of faithfulness. Sylphiel was trust-worthy, a characteristic that was all too often missing in an untrustworthy world. People like her were few and hard to find, so Lina was glad that she'd met her.
Another thing that was improving her mood was looking at the temple, a temple that was a masterpiece within itself. Thousands of master architects had slaved for decades building the magnificent temple to Ceipheed, a temple that drew thousands of people to Zelfiela each year to admire the craftsmanship while worshiping the dragon lord. Well, having the knight of Ceipheed, otherwise known as Princess Luna, as head priestess helped a lot, too.
Halting in front of two giant cedar doors, Lina glanced around quickly, then grabbed the gold knocker on the right door to pull it open. With a creak, the heavy wooden door swung outwards enough to allow Lina to peek through. And, of course, she did.
Inside the dome-like main hall, colored beams of light shone down in dancing playfulness, each sunbeam capturing the exquisite beauty of the vibrant glass windows. Several people seemed to be praying on the barren marble floor of the hall while a few priestesses walked gracefully about, their white flowing attire billowing elegantly behind them like ghosts. Among these priestesses was Sylphiel, her left side facing the door just a few paces away.
"Psst! Sylphiel!" Lina whispered, waving her arms wildly in the air in an attempt to get her friend's attention.
When that didn't work, Lina frowned, then resorted to a louder whisper. "Hey! Sylphiel!"
The purple-haired priestess looked up in surprise at hearing her name. Quickly, she scanned her surroundings, then noticed the frantically beckoning Lina at the main door. Sighing, Sylphiel quietly made her way towards the door.
"So, what is it?" she asked softly, closing the oak door behind her in order to prevent disturbing the worshipers.
"Do you think you could cast a healing spell on me?" Lina asked, gesturing to the obvious cuts and bruises on her exposed skin.
Frowning, Sylphiel examined the worst ones, then placed her right hand over one particularly large cut, closed her eyes briefly, and began chanting the spell to heal. A faint blue glow emerged from her hand and slowly, the cut healed. For a few moments, she concentrated on that area, then moved on to another section when she judged it sufficiently healthy. After a few moments, she was done.
Looking down at Lina, Sylphiel curiously asked, "Lina, how did you get all of those cuts and bruises?"
"That stupid old man beat me up in the morning, then nee-chan beat me up at breakfast," Lina responded wryly, examining her arm. "But, that wasn't the main reason why I came here. Sylphiel, I was wondering . . ." Lina began, innocently blinking her eyes.
"Yes?" Sylphiel prompted, a trifle warily.
"Well, you're not busy the day after tomorrow, are you?" Lina inquired. "So you can accompany me to the ball?"
Sylphiel looked excited for a moment, then frowned. "Oh, but are you sure I can?"
"Sure you can!" Lina countered brightly. "If I say you can, then you can!"
"Lina, is this just because you've actually promised to go to this ball?"
Lina spun around and laughed innocently as she rubbed the back of her head. "Er . . . Well, that is, uh . . ."
Sylphiel shook her head in disbelief, then smiled. It would be alright if she went to keep her friend company, she reasoned. After all, Lina went to about two balls per year so this was definitely a major occasion.
With that in mind, she faced her still stuttering friend and replied, "Of course I'll go."
"And I'll make sure that you'll have a partner for every dance," Lina continued babbling, sure that she'd have to work to convince her friend, "that you won't be bothered by anyone you don't want, that — wait, what did you say?"
Sylphiel laughed as she repeated, "I said that I would go to keep you company."
"All right!" Lina cheered, pumping her right fist in the air.
Giggling, Sylphiel looked on as her friend flashed her a victory sign next. However, just then, the bell signaling the end of the morning session rang, its echo resounding throughout the halls of Ceipheed's temple.
"Oh!" Sylphiel gasped, her hand at her mouth in surprise. "I hadn't realized it was so late!" Turning to Lina, she apologized, "I'm sorry, but I need to get my job assignment for the afternoon now."
"Don't mind me!" Lina responded cheerfully. "I'll see you later, alright, Sylphiel?"
"Of course, Lina!" the purple-haired priestess smiled, already opening the doors to the main. "Come by again soon!"
Lina waved a farewell, then turned back towards the entrance to the temple.
"I think that I'll go get some lunch now," she grinned, her stomach anticipating the soon to be served food. "After all, food is made to be eaten!"
<><><>
Above the train of nobles and wagons, a hawk soared freely in the wide expanse of air, cawing out a cry of freedom. Then, it flapped its wings once and flew off to fade into the sunset, its silhouette growing smaller as it approached the mountains where the sun was sinking.
"Still looking at everything around you instead of paying attention to where you're going, huh, Zelgadiss?" a wry voice interjected into the prince's thoughts. "You're just lucky that your horse understands you, otherwise you'd have been thrown off long before."
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Zelgadiss sighed once, then turned his head to the right to gaze into the twinkling eyes of his father, King Hiroshi.
"It's getting rather late. We should be stopping soon," Zelgadiss remarked in a monotone voice.
"There's an inn large enough to shelter all of us just a little bit further," Hiroshi replied cheerfully. "And then the next day we'll be arriving at Inverse Castle."
"Remind me again why we're going through all this bother," Zelgadiss grumbled discontentedly as he urged his white horse onwards. "And I still don't understand why I had to come along. Don't you and Mother usually handle treaties?"
"Er . . . yes . . ." Hiroshi stammered, a little flustered at being asked the hated question once again. "But, uh, this is a really important treaty so you, uh, need to be present to help out. It will, um, affect the future of the kingdom . . ."
"Yes," Zelgadiss' mother, Kira, interjected, drawing alongside the two. "After all, you always were interested in official documents. Your knowledge in that area should help out now and you'd like to be able to test out what you've learned so far, right?"
"Mmm . . ." Zelgadiss reluctantly agreed. Then, after a moment of silence, he shook his head and urged his horse on, calling over his shoulder, "I'm going up front to talk to Gourry. Meet you at the inn."
After the sounds of the horse's hoof-beats had faded away, Kira sighed in exasperation. "You're lucky I was there to cover for you that time, Hiroshi!" she scolded. "You'd think that after all those questions our son asked of you, you'd slip up by now as to why we're going to Zefielia!"
"Er . . . sorry," Hiroshi apologized in embarrassment. "Still, I do wonder if it's better to break the news to him now or later."
"Well, if you want to tell him about his impending marriage, I think that you should tell him tomorrow," Kira advised. "But . . ."
Hiroshi scowled. "Yes, I know, there's always the chance he'll run away the instant he learns about it and it'll be harder to catch him in this forest land. It'll be better to wait until we actually get to the castle."
"I hope you're right," Kira remarked frankly, lifting her head to gaze at the setting sun in the distance. "I hope you're right . . ."
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