Medieval Times Part Two
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 Two - First Meeting
Lina sighed in contentment as she walked through the corridors of the castle, the bright light of the early afternoon sun highlighting her flowing hair through the open windows. After a long rest sleeping in bed and recovering from the bruises Sylphiel had missed the day before, she definitely felt much better walking around as opposed to lying on her back reading up on the origins of white magic, which she had done earlier on in the day.
"Hmm . . . where should I go?" Lina mused aloud as she walked. "There's the kitchen, the temple, the city, the courtyard, the forest . . ."
Pausing to look outside an open window in the bustling corridor, Lina took a deep breath of the fragrant fresh air wafting through the opening and closed her eyes briefly, enjoying the warm gentle rays of the golden sun. "Alright, outside it is," she grinned, opening up her eyes. "Levitation!"
"Wait, Princess Lina!" a passing servant cried. "Your parents wanted you to stay inside the castle today . . ."
The servant's words drifted off when he realized that Lina was no longer in the hall. "Oh no . . . the king and queen aren't going to like this at all . . ."
<><><>
"She WHAT?!?!"
" . . . left the castle, your majesty."
"WHEN?!?!"
The head cook began to sweat profusely under his clothes and unconsciously fidgeted nervously under the furious gaze of King Kutshurio. It was just his luck that the servant who'd seen Princess Lina leave was one of his subordinates, meaning that he got the undesirable task of informing the king and queen of the bad news.
"About ten minutes ago, your majesty."
"Dear, please be calm!" Masami soothed, laying a hand on her husband's shoulder in an attempt to keep him from exploding. "This is Lina we're talking about, after all."
Kutshurio frowned. "No daughter of mine should be romping around in the countryside day after day," he grumbled menacingly, "especially when the guests are expected to arrive in three hours!"
"If you must blame it on someone, blame it on Father," Masami replied, shooting Shitsuro a death glare.
Shitsuro hummed cheerfully and turned to look outside the window. "My, isn't the weather nice today?" he commented benignly.
Kutshurio grew even more angry. "Well someone had better get her back before the people from Kal-maart arrive or there's going to be hell to pay!"
"Ah, what a violent son-in-law I have," Shitsuro sighed.
"FATHER!"
<><><>
Lina smiled as she observed the busy entrance of the city from her high perch on top of the trees just outside the main gate. It was nice sometimes to just sit high up in the tree branches and watch the activity of the world without participating in it yourself. With all the things she'd been doing recently, she hadn't had a chance to come to this place in quite a while. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, Lina leaned back against the tree and settled herself into a comfortable sleeping position. Then, crossing her arms in front of her, she closed her eyes in contentment and slowly fell asleep, the murmur of the city in her ears.
<><><>
"So that's Zefielia City, huh?" Zelgadiss commented, staring ahead at the silhouetted city in the shadow of a giant mountain range as his horse plodded along the dusty road leading toward the main gates.
"That's right," Hiroshi answered from his position a few feet behind his son. "We'll be staying at Inverse Castle tonight."
"You'll love the Inverse family," Kira said, bringing her white horse next to Zelgadiss'. "Especially their two lovely daughters. One of them is your age and the other's just a little bit younger."
"Are you trying to set me up?" Zelgadiss asked suspiciously.
"Um . . ."
Zelgadiss shook his head. "You never give up, do you."
Kira pouted. "All I want are some grandchildren. Is that so much to ask?"
"Don't you mean legitimate grandchildren?" Hiroshi said teasingly, causing Zelgadiss to blush bright red.
"Well, illegitimate would be fine too, as long as I get to meet them," Kira grinned.
Hiroshi also smiled and cheered, "That's our son! The wild animal set loose to prey on the female species!"
" . . . Are you really my parents?" Zelgadiss managed to say, his head dropping lower in embarrassment even as the surrounding people within hearing range started laughing.
Hiroshi winked. "Of course."
By this time, the giant party had reached the main gates of the city and the rumbling of wheels as well as the clip-clop of horses stopped. After a moment, Zelgadiss sighed and pulled out of the line.
"Where are you going?" Kira questioned.
"To get my horse a drink," Zelgadiss called back, already making his way toward a small stream near the gate where several lush trees and plants grew. "Checking everything in will take a while, remember?"
"Oh, that's a good idea! Hiroshi, let's go too!" Kira beckoned.
"All right," Hiroshi agreed, swinging his horse in Zelgadiss' direction lazily.
In a few moments, Zelgadiss had reached the stream and swung off his horse wearily. Stretching his arms upwards now, he inhaled the cool air in this moist environment and smiled slightly. Then he took the reins of his tan horse and began leading it toward the sparkling water.
Above him, Lina was just waking from her afternoon nap. Yawning once as she rubbed her eyes sleepily, she dimly noted that the sun seemed a lot darker than usual. Almost immediately after making that observation, she froze. "Oh no! They're going to kill me!" she gasped. "I'm not supposed to stay out this late!"
And so saying, she jumped from the tree branch she was sitting on, expecting to land safely on the ground below. That's when she realized that there was someone right where she was expecting to land. Her eyes widened.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Halting in his path entirely, Zelgadiss winced at the pitch of the shriek and looked up to see a body falling from above. Stunned, he was only given a half second warning before the girl crashed into him.
When the dust had cleared, a fairly interesting scene had developed. Lina was currently sprawled on top of Zelgadiss, her legs on either side of him and her head to the side of his. Her hands were pressed down against his chest, but she was still too dazed to push herself up. Meanwhile, Zelgadiss was blinking as though unable to comprehend that this was real and not some crazy dream; it certainly was absurd enough to be ranked as a dream, but the girl on top of him felt very real and . . . blushing furiously, Zelgadiss hurriedly began to push the girl off of him.
"My, my, my, looks like our son has already ruined another girl," Hiroshi sighed from his position on top of his horse.
"I-It's not what it looks like!" Zelgadiss stuttered, but being distracted, his right hand accidentally brushed the girl's breast.
Instantly, Lina came out of her stupor. "AAAAAAHHHHH!!!! PERVERT!!!" she screamed, slapping Zelgadiss, who lost his grip on her shoulders and caused her to drop down against him again. Another pounding began.
"Hmmm . . . she seems quite lively," Kira commented, dismounting her mare. "But dear, don't you think that she looks familiar?"
"I don't know how, the only people we know in Zelfielia are the king and queen," Hiroshi replied, also dismounting.
By now, Lina had calmed down enough that she was able to back away from Zelgadiss without feeling an urge to beat him up again. Breathing heavily, she looked up to see the two adults. For a moment, she regarded them in interest. Then she spoke. "Are you merchants?"
"Um, not exactly," Kira sweat-dropped. "Actually, we're from Kal-maart."
"Oh, so you're travelers?"
"Well, not that either . . ." Kira said haltingly.
"Then what?"
"Actually, we're the king and queen of Kal-maart. I'm Hiroshi and my wife here is Kira," Hiroshi explained. "And that male you just landed on is Zelgadiss, the crown prince."
Lina raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "They're all crazy," she muttered under her breath. "My parents would have told me about this if it were true. But it's probably better to humor them for now."
"You're the one who's crazy, jumping down from trees," Zelgadiss muttered at Lina, brushing his pants as he stood up.
A stress mark appeared on Lina's forehead. "You want another beating, is that it?" she growled, rolling up the sleeves of her tunic. "First you touch me there and now you're insulting me! What kind of a prince does that?!"
"You'll have to excuse my son," Hiroshi interjected, bopping said son on the head. "He seems to have problems in the category of social interaction."
"I'm sure!" Lina snorted, glaring daggers at Zelgadiss, who was also doing the same to her.
"Now, now, please behave, Zelgadiss," Kira soothed. Then, looking up, she noticed that most of the party had already gone inside the city. "Oh, we should be going soon," she said, mounting her dappled mare once more. "But it's getting late, so would you like to have us accompany you to your house?"
Lina sweat-dropped, thinking of how she would explain this one to her father. Oh yes, she'd been outside the castle much longer than she should have and now she was bringing back three utterly insane people. That would certainly bring up her family's goodwill. Laughing weakly, Lina shook her head and grinned. "Uh, no, that's ok! I'll be fine, don't worry!"
"Well, if you say so . . ." Kira said reluctantly.
"Of course! Be seeing you then!" Lina waved, running toward the city gates. "And don't let your son turn out to be more perverted than he already is!"
"Why you!"
"Son, do calm down," Hiroshi stated, hitting his son on the head once more.
"She certainly was a nice girl, wasn't she?" Kira smiled, gazing after the darkened figure of the girl quickly disappearing into the city.
<><><>
Racing through the city streets, Lina gasped for breath, forcing herself to push her limits of speed. Damn, I was late enough as it was, she angrily thought. Then I had to go falling on that stupid pervert! Now I'm even more late! In her mind, the picture of the teenager she'd fallen on appeared. He was actually quite handsome, with a slim body, soft lavender hair, and piercing blue eyes. And his voice, oh gods, what a voice! It was smooth velvet with that rough undertone of a man and —
Lina blushed bright red, realizing what she'd just been thinking and mentally shook herself. What am I thinking? He's utterly rude, inconsiderate, crazy besides, and . . . wait a minute, why am I still thinking of him?! Turning into the main entrance of the castle, she raced through the open courtyard and cast levitation, carrying her to her room's balcony in a matter of seconds. Flinging open the elegant glass doors, she rushed into the room . . . only to discover that her entire family was there waiting.
"Well, where were you?" Kutshurio growled menacingly, his foot tapping against the floor at a rather alarming pace.
"Um . . ."
"Did you not remember that I wanted you at home today?"
Lina looked surprised for a moment, then furrowed her brow in thought. "Hmmm . . . Oh yeah, you did say that, didn't you!" she exclaimed, a light bulb flashing over her head.
Kutshurio now loomed furiously in front of Lina. "SO JUST WHERE WERE YOU?!?!"
"Looking for a husband," Shitsuro quipped from the side.
"Father . . ." Masami groaned.
"No, look, Lina's blushing!" Shitsuro pointed out wickedly. "So you really were looking for one?"
"Shut up!" Lina shouted, cursing the memory of the so-called prince to hell. "I fell asleep and lost track of time, that's all!"
"Oh, is that it?" Luna said in a deadly voice, her arms crossed threateningly. "And do you remember what I did to you the last time you overslept?"
"Luna, please, not now," Masami sighed, rubbing her temple stressfully. "We have guests to prepare for."
Lina and Luna both looked surprised. "Guests?"
"Oh, yes, some friends of ours are coming to visit today," Masami said, walking toward the door. "So please be sure to make a good impression."
"That means a dress, Lina," Kutshurio growled, realizing that he couldn't spare the time to lecture his daughter. "And you'd better get this one right!"
"I'd suggest that you do what he says," Shitsuro winked. "You might get off without a lecture."
"Yeah, yeah," Lina agreed sullenly.
"Oh, and Lina?" Luna began.
"Y-Yes!" Lina replied fearfully.
"I'll be the one to dress you today."
Lina began to look very scared, knowing that this meant a full-out dressing up. "Um, are you sure you'll have time to do this, Luna?" she laughed weakly, praying fervently in her head that she'd find a way to get out of it.
"Is there a problem?" Luna asked sweetly, a burning aura beginning to surround her figure.
Dropping her head in defeat, Lina sighed. "No, not at all, sis."
<><><>
"Hiroshi, how nice to see you!" Kutshurio greeted, exchanging hugs with his long-time friend at the bottom of the elegant stairway in the main foyer of the Inverse castle. "And Kira, too. Oh, and is that your son, Zelgadiss?"
"Yes, it is," Kira smiled. Prodding her son with her right elbow, she hissed, "Say something!"
"H-Hello," Zelgadiss said hesitantly. "It's nice to meet you."
There was silence for a minute, then the parents went into a little excited huddle.
"He's so grown up!" Masami squealed excitedly, her eyes shining brightly.
"Oh, isn't he?" Kira grinned in pleasure. "Looks just like his father."
"Now, dear, don't flatter me," Hiroshi said, though obviously pleased. "Sometimes I wonder how we could have had such a handsome son."
"He'll make a wonderful husband for some lucky girl!" Kutshurio winked. Then, in a whisper, he added to Masami, "Won't he go well with one of our daughters?"
"Oh, but he looks so delicate," Masami said worriedly. "And our daughters . . ."
There was a collective sigh from both Masami and Kutshurio.
"Eh? What's wrong?" Kira inquired, puzzled as to what the sigh meant.
"You'll see later," Kutshurio stated. Then, getting up, he clapped the sweat-dropping Zelgadiss on the shoulder and laughed. "Now then, we should show you all to your rooms, eh? Dinner will be in 30 minutes, so please don't be late!"
"Dinner?" Zelgadiss uttered unintelligibly.
"Why yes! You'll get to meet Kutshurio and Masami's wonderful daughters!" Hiroshi laughed heartily, already walking up the stairs. "I hear that they're very well educated in magic, just like you."
"It's not just magic that they're educated in," Masami muttered depressingly, thinking of Lina's temper and cursing habits.
"You're educated in magic as well, Zelgadiss?" Kutshurio inquired in interest as the group of five walked down a brightly lit corridor with beautiful paintings and glimmering chandeliers, servants carrying the family's baggage right behind them.
"Yes," came the reply. "I've been studying Shamanism with my grandfather, Rezo, since I was five."
"Oh, so you're like Lina then," Masami smiled genially. "My daughter Lina has been studying Black magic and various bits of the other disciplines with her grandfather, Shitsuro, since she was four."
"And what of your other daughter?" Kira asked.
"Luna has been a priestess of Ceipheed since she was six. She learned her white magic from the head priestess there," Kutshurio answered, stopping in front of an elegant oak door. "Well, here we are. This will be Zelgadiss' room." Swinging open the door, he revealed a cozy room with a closet, a comfortable bed, a flickering fireplace, and various other furniture scattered throughout the room.
"Make yourself at home!" Kutshurio waved, leaving Zelgadiss standing in front of the open door.
"So you put him across from Luna's room and next to Lina's?" Hiroshi whispered to Kutshurio as the parents hurried off.
Kutshurio nodded, a glint in his eyes. "Of course. He's bound to come into contact with both of them often now since their rooms are so close to each other."
"Now let's just hope that our girls won't be as wild as usual, dear," Masami added fretfully.
"What was it that you wanted to tell us about your daughters anyway?" Kira asked inquisitively.
Kutshurio and Masami exchanged glances. "It's a long story."
Staring after his parents' quickly disappearing backs, Zelgadiss sighed, then brushed his bangs back. Turning to the waiting servant at his right, he adopted an emotionless face expression and stated, "Just bring in the bags and I'll be fine from there."
Bowing once in obedience, the servant efficiently complied, then left again, leaving Zelgadiss alone in his spacious room. Glancing briefly at the crackling fire in the fireplace to the left, the prince walked over to his bed and sat down heavily. For a moment, he sat still, his gaze drawn back to the fire again. It glowed red and yellow, with flames leaping higher and higher, only to drop back down again in a frenzied display of light. Unconsciously, his thoughts were drawn back to the girl who'd fallen on him earlier on in the day. Closing his eyes, he let himself fall backwards onto the bed. That girl . . . she had the most amazing eyes, ruby red with the blaze of a fire beneath them, a fire of defiance and spirit. And she certainly had spirit, what with that show of temper the displayed earlier on. Smiling, Zelgadiss opened his eyes and stared up at the white ceiling above. He still remembered the smell of her hair, what little whiff he had when she'd been pummeling him, and the . . . Abruptly, Zelgadiss sat up again. What am I thinking, that girl was like a devil! She beat me up — no girl has done that before — and furthermore, she called me a pervert when she was the one who fell on me! What was she thinking, jumping out of a tree like that anyway? . . . Wait a minute, why am I still thinking about her?
Making a frustrated sound, Zelgadiss promptly stood up and made his way to his baggage. "Dinner, huh? Well, guess that I should change into something more formal."
Looking at himself in the full-length mirror at the side of the bed, he winced a little at his reflection. Covered with dirt and dust as well as wearing one of his everyday country-like clothes complete with a sword at his waist, it was no wonder that girl had thought his family was crazy to say they were royalty. It was because they couldn't exactly wear their most formal of clothes while on the road, so —
" . . . Not again," he groaned, sinking his head. Desperately, he walked over to his baggage, rummaged around for one of his nicer outfits, and immediately headed toward the bathroom. "Maybe a shower will help."
<><><>
In the brightly lit room next door, Lina stood sullenly in front of her full-length mirror as her sister put her hair half up with a beautiful flowery clip. Silence reigned in the room with an occasional rustling from Lina's dress until a clap from Luna indicated that she was done.
"Well, you certainly look nice," the purple-haired girl stated in a pleased voice, stepping back to observe her work. "What do you think?"
Lina raised an eyebrow as she stared at herself in the mirror. She was wearing an off the shoulder dark red evening gown with silk frills lacing the bottom and pearls decorating the throat line. For a final affect, her sister had added a pearl necklace and two dangling earrings as well as long white gloves. "It's . . . nice," Lina admitted grudgingly.
"Of course. After all, I'm trained in fashion," Luna replied, smugly tossing her hair back.
"But how are you going to dress up now?" Lina commented, turning toward her sister.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Luna waved cheerfully. "Come with me to my room and wait a few minutes for me, ok? Then we can go down together."
Smiling, Lina nodded and followed her sister out of the room. Sometimes it's really nice having a sister, Lina thought as she stared at the back of the eighteen year old. Sometimes.
<><><>
Zelgadiss fidgeted nervously in his embroidered dress shirt, cloak, and slightly loose black pants feeling a little bit lost without his sword at his side. He'd had it for as long as he could remember and whenever he took it off, he felt incomplete. But tonight it was important to make a good impression; if he didn't, the powerful members of the Zelfielia court would never respect him and the treaty would fall flat.
"Son, you look a bit nervous," Hiroshi commented, twisting his head backwards to look at his soon. "Relax, we just need to wait a few more moments for Kutshurio and Masami to get their family together so they can give us the proper introduction with the traditional bowing, kissing the women's hands, and so on before dinner."
Zelgadiss began to look even more panicked. "I forgot all about the formalities!"
"And just what did you think our court was waiting outside the throne room for?" Kira asked in amusement.
"This is the throne room?"
"Son, you're beginning to sound like Gourry," Hiroshi sweat-dropped. "I know, it's that girl we met earlier isn't it?"
Zelgadiss immediately blushed. "N-No! W-Why would you think that?!" he stuttered.
"Let's see, you seemed to be dazed after the girl left, would you like me to name the incidents? You nearly collided into a priestess and do you know how much they stand out? Then there was that shop you nearly had your horse wreak, and then —"
" . . . Leave me alone," Zelgadiss muttered, turning away and hiding his face.
"This could be a problem, you know," Kira whispered to her husband while Zelgadiss was momentarily distracted. "What do we do if he doesn't get out of this infatuation soon? He's never been distracted by a girl before!"
"We'll deal with that when we get there," Hiroshi whispered back. Then, raising his head to look at the two guards posted on either side of the door, he frowned and wondered, "Just what is taking them so long?"
Meanwhile, inside the throne room, Kutshurio was tightly tapping his fingers against his throne's armrest, gnashing his teeth in impatience. "Just where are they?!" he hissed angrily, his hands now clenched into fists. "They're late!"
"Maybe we should start without them, dear, the nobles seem to be getting impatient and if they're impatient, imagine what the people from Kal-maart must be thinking!" Masami said worriedly, turning her head right to look at her husband.
Shitsuro, who stood to the couple's left, grinned cheerfully and stated, "Besides, our court is used to this kind of incident and the people from Kal-maart will get used to it eventually. Why not start now?"
A stress mark appeared on Kutshurio's forehead and his fists grew tighter. Then he took a deep breath to steady his nerves and forced himself to calm down. "All right," he groaned in defeat. Nodding at the guards in front of the main entranceway, he stood up and announced, "People of the court!"
Almost instantly, the buzzing died down. "I would like to introduce to you my good friends from the empire of Kal-maart, Hiroshi, Kira, and their son Zelgadiss. They are here for a brief visit with some of their court with them as well. Please welcome them!"
As he finished, the giant doors down from the throne slowly creaked open and heads turned to gaze in interest at the newcomers. Trumpets blared a welcome as Hiroshi and Kira stepped into the throne room with their court right behind them in an orderly march. As they paced down the aisle toward the king and queen of Zelfielia, they smiled to hear the murmurs of approval from the crowd. Zelgadiss, on the other hand, was inwardly cringing at the compliments he was getting. He hated standing out and every time he had to go through formalities, he definitely stood out since he was the prince, otherwise known as up for grabs in the minds of women in the court. Needless to say, he was not pleased to have the cycle repeat itself again.
By now, the group had reached the front of the room and his parents were starting the formalities of bowing. "I'm sorry that my daughters aren't here," Kutshurio was saying in embarrassment. "They seem to have a problem with . . . time."
"Oh, that's quite all right," Kira said reassuringly while Zelgadiss stared blankly ahead, not really caring whether or not the princesses showed up or not.
Just then, the left side door banged open and two girls rushed into the throne room frantically. "Sorry we took so long, Father," the purple-haired girl huffed, stopping a little bit away from his father and mother. "I took so long getting Lina's dress done that I ended up being late since I still had to dress myself up. And Lina's late because I asked her to wait for me, so please don't be angry!"
"This is what I meant by unruly girls," Kutshurio said in exasperation to Hiroshi and Kira. "Never mind, I don't have time to be angry. Allow me to introduce to you my daughters, Luna and Lina. Girls, say hello to my friends."
"Welcome to Zelfielia!" both girls said, curtsying to the royal family.
In an almost bored fashion, Zelgadiss turned to look at the two girls, only to have his breath catch in his throat as the second girl lifted her face up to reveal a very familiar visage. And apparently, she was very surprised as well. The two stared at each other, their eyes widening in recognition.
"YOU!"
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