NOTHING APART
2 - Defeat
The next morning Gourry left the Inn early, but as he started walking down the road he had the strangest feeling he was going in the wrong direction. He stopped and with a confused look he stared at the road infront of him and the road behind him.
"Hm, now just from which direction did I come?" he asked himself and frowned. Gourry knew that he didn't recognized the houses further down the street which suggested that he'd come from the other direction and yet his intuition told him to go the other way. Now he may be dumb but usually he could at least remember which way he was headed. But it was that gut-feeling that made the blonde man turn around and walk up the road instead of down. The further he got the more sure he was that this was the right way. Maybe there was something important waiting for him out there. Soon he had left the city behind him and was surrounded by trees. Gourry walked briskly with his hands behind his head, lost in thoughts. But when the sound of people moving through the woods toward the road reached him he reacted at once. With one hand on his sword he watched the edge of the woods. Moments later he found himself in a wide circle of men with their swords drawn. They looked like run-downed mercenaries.
"Don't be stupid," one of them said when Gourry drew his own sword. "There's seven of us and only one of you." Gourry grinned and faced the man.
"Yes I'll admit it isn't really fair but if there aren't any more of you I can't really level the odds, can I?" Gourry answered still grining. This remark made the men nervous.
"You sure seem to be quite full of yourself but I assure you that I, Fix, will mend that pretty soon," the man answered and then got pulled aside by one of his companions. Gourry stared at him without really grasping what that sentence meant.
"Your name's Fix?" the blonde swordsman finally had to ask.
"No it's Mend," he answered with an embarressed look. "Never you mind what my name is, you won't be talking long enough to use it anyways!" Gourry raised an eyebrow and grinned again.
"We'll see about that." With caution he approached Mend with his sword in both hands. When Mend struck he struck hard. Gourry was deaf to everything except the one he fought with and the six other men that surrounded them. Because of that he had no trouble avoiding the first attack to his left side. It was nothing odd that Gourry used careless comments to undermine his opponents selfasteem when he was outnumbred. But he soon realized that this fight would be hard to win. All seven of these men were good swordfighters and as they took turns on attacking him, letting each other rest, he only had himself to rely on and he was getting tired. Soon sweat was running down his face and his blonde hair was glued to his forehead. Since Gourry didn't have any choice he had to start backing up, he couldn't hold them off anymore. What he needed was a chance to run, even if that ment taking the easy way out. But they were on him constantly, he didn't have an opening anywhere. Mend was the first one of them to get a direct hit on Gourry. That hit left him with one shoulder slashed and with blood on the handle of his sword. He knew that this wasn't going to go well for him, he could only use one hand and that hand was slipping on the sword's handle.
"Ready to give up yet?" Mend purred at him as his men moved closer and closer.
"Not just yet," Gourry answered panting for air. "I don't know what you want but I won't give up that easy." Mend laughed and struck Gourry's sword hard with his own. Gourry meet the struck but the hit sent shivers up his arm and pained his tired muscels.
"Oh did I forget to tell you? All we want is all you have," Mend grined at him. The tall blonde man stared at Mend.
"You're thieves?"
"You sound like it isn't an honest living. Maybe it isn't but it sure pays alot better than being a mercenary," Mend laughed and crashed his sword down on Gourry's again. "I think this has gone on long enough, lets finish him off before we contract any unwanted attention. And boys no swords against a wounded, helpless man." All seven of them sheathed their swords. That made Gourry furious. With his last strength he charged Mend. He didn't get far before the six other men had jumped him and struck him down to the ground.
It had been two days since Lina got the company of Xellos' and even though she wasn't comfortable with him around it was better than nothing. And right now she probably could use his help.
"Hey Xellos' just what sort of powers do you still got left?" she asked him as they were walking along the dusty road. Xellos' looked at her with one eye.
"Sore wa . . ."
"If you so much as breathe "himitsu" your future life will be very, very short!" Lina cut him off. The Priest swallowed and broke a sweat.
"I, hmm, really don't know," he sighed.
"Well I suggest you find out 'cause it looks like my powers will be gone for a few days," she said and turned her back at him. Xellos' watched her for a moment.
"Gone, what do you mean gone?" Lina forced out a bothered laugh and blushed.
"Oh it's," she gestured in his direction and blushed even more, "you know?"
"No I …" he started saying but stopped himself. "Oh I see it's, hmm that time of the month," he nodded and actually blushed a little himself. Lina rolled her eyes.
"Figures a Mazoku would know about that!" Xellos' gave her a hurt look.
"Lina-san could you stop sounding like I'm some sort of living plauge?" he pleaded.
"We'll see," she answered not very convincing. "Now can you try to find out what powers you might have left?" The Trickster Priest growled a little and took a few steps away from Lina.
"I feel lost without my rod," he whined and closed both his eyes. Lina watched the road infront of him to which he was pointing. Suddenly the air just over the road started to vibrate.
"Looks like you have some. . ." Lina never finished the sentence when she saw what the result of the Priests effords was. Infront of his feet a small black cone appeared, blinked once and was gone again. She moaned inside and sighed.
"Oh my," Xellos' commented when he realized what had happened, "guess I'm not of much use Lina-san." Lina rolled her eyes.
"Oh well if any bad guys show up you can always annoy them to death," she said and started walking again.
"Now you're being mean again," Xellos' complained and hurried after her.
"If you don't like it you can always go bother someone else you know."
"But, but, but. . ."
"But, what?" she growled at him. "Why are you following me around Xellos'?" she asked and turned around to stare at him.
"Well there aren't that many people to choose from," he answered with a frown. "For some reason you humans don't seem to like me alot." Lina raised an eyebrow.
"Nah? How could that be possible? When you're such a sweet and sympathic guy." The Priest tried to smile and swallowed.
"I think we can drop this subject now," he said and started walking. Lina moaned inside.
"Why me?" she asked with rolling eyes and followed Xellos'.
It was afternoon when Lina and Xellos' entered a small town. Lina was reluctant to stop so early but she realized that it probably was wise not to sleep outdoors when neither one of them had any powers to use. They had just had dinner and were making their way upstairs to go to bed when Lina suddently felt a sharp pain in her guts, it multiplyed through her body and hit her head like a piano. With a painfull moan Lina dropped to her knees in the middle of the stairs.
"No!" she cried out and fell backwards down the stairs. Xellos' turned around and even though he moved as fast as he could he didn't manage to catch her. With a worried look he ran down the stairs after her.
"Lina-san," he whispered to her as he gently lifted her up from the floor. He was worried, and that was a very strange feeling for him to feel about someone else. She didn't answer or move, she just hung there in his arms. The helpless feeling of not being able to do anything choked the Roguish Priest. For a moment he wondered why he felt like this. Why hadn't he felt any joy from the fear in her scream? What had Beastmaster-sama done to him? Xellos' shook his head and concentrated on the red-haired girl in his arms. He didn't know what had happened to her. Was she sick or had she been attacked by some spell? No it didn't seem very likely that someone would go after her like this. Which only left the possiblity that she was sick. But she had seemed okay when they had dinner.
"Lina-san?" he tried again and shook her gently. With fluttering eyelids Lina opened her eyes and looked at him.
"Xellos', what happened?"
"I don't know, Lina-san. You fell down the stairs after you screamed. Are you okay?" he asked with a concerned look.
"I think so," she answered slowly, "my back hurts and my head too." Xellos' carefully put her down but held her in a firm grip as she tried to stand up.
"Thank you," she said as her knees folded underneath her weight.
"It's okay I'll carry you upstairs." Without waiting for her to say anything he picked her up and started climbing the stairs. With a worried look on her face Lina clinged on to him.
Everything was black. The blackness that kept him from seeing anything scared him. He didn't know where he was and he couldn't get up. His entire body hurt. The pain in his head made him feel nauseas. Where was he? The next question scared him even more than the blackness. Who was he? He couldn't remember. He remembered that he had fought and that he had lost but that was all. The pain in his head seemed to punish him for thinking and drove lightnings of pain through his body. He moaned and closed his eyes. Maybe he was dead? No, death shouldn't hurt like this, should it? Slowly he rolled over onto his stomach and started crawling thowards a sound of purling water. When he reached the brook he dipped his head in the cool water. It relieved the headache a little and his thoughts became clearer. He could feel the sun warming his back. But if the sun was shining why couldn't he see anything? Because you're blind, a vioce inside of him said. If he was blind and couldn't walk he was completely helpless. Tears started falling from his unseeing blue eyes.
"Help me," he cried out. No one answered. The only sounds he could hear were birds singing, the purling from the brook and the wind in the trees. The headache came back and he carefully touched his head. His hair was covered in something sticky that had started to dry. Blood, he thought to himself. Again he put his head underneath the water and carefully rinsed out as much of the blood as he could. His left shoulder hurt like hell. With closed eyes he started feeling his body. His left shoulder and arm was also covered in blood and his shirt was torn. He had nothing on him except his clothes. A vague memory of armor came to him. Who had taken his armor of him? It had to be the same people who had hurt him.
"Please help me," he cried out again. Just as before no one answered him. Panic started to rise in his body. If he didn't get help he'd die here. Shivering with fear he turned away from the brook and started crawling. If he just could find the road, there had to be a road nearby, he could get help. With his hands he felt the grass infront of him and after a while the grass turned to sand and stones. This has to be the road, he thought to himself. Carefully he lifted his chest off the ground with his right arm. It was so hard and it hurt so much, but he pushed his weight back onto his knees. With his face wet from sweat he rested standing on all four, or rather all three. Slowly he lifted up his right hand and put one foot on the ground. It was shaky but he managed to stand up. It felt like the whole world was spinning. Now he didn't know what to do. He couldn't go anywhere since he had no idea what the surroundings looked like but than he couldn't just stand there all day either. With tiny, shaky steps he started walking towards the sunlight. He found he had to keep his eyes closed because the sunlight hurt his eyes although he couldn't see anything but a small change in the blackness. But it was hard to walk with closed eyes. It didn't feel natural and his body wanted his eyes to be opened so he finally stopped walking and ripped off a piece of his shirt to tie over his eyes. He had been walking for a while when he stumbled over something. He was thankfull he didn't fall 'cause he knew that would have hurt his already tormented body. A sudden idea made him squat down and feel around to see if he could find what he had tripped over. After a while he found it and felt it over. It was a tall branch of wood, not too thick. He put one end of it in the ground and pulled himself up. Not too bad, he thought to himself, I've found myself a cane. With the cane in his right hand he started walking again.
He didn't know how long he had been walking. The sun wasn't as warm anymore and the birds didn't sing as much. He stopped and tilted his head. Something was approaching him from behind. It sounded like a waggon of some sort. He stood very still since he had no idea of where he was on the road.
"Do you mind moving a little my son?" He heard a voice say.
"Not at all but I am blind and have no idea of where I am," he answered hoping this stranger would take pity on him. He could hear someone walking up to him.
"It's a good hours walk to the next town. You are welcome to ride with me if you want to."
"Yes, please," he nodded and felt someone grabbing his arm and gently leading him and then strong arms lifted him up and placed him in a pile of hay. He didn't know where he was headed and he didn't care, anywhere was better than that road. With closed eyes he let the waggon take him into the city. Somewhere along the way he fell asleep.
"Son?" He could hear someone talking to him and gently shaking his leg.
"Yes," he answered and sat up. The same strong arms that had helped him up now pulled him down.
"We're here now," the voice said. "This is where…" The man sighed. "This is where people like you usually stay." He didn't understand what the man meant at first. The smell in the air was filled with the odour of rutting garbage and the street under his feet was covered with something he was glad he couldn't see. It dawned on him what the man meant. He was one of the beggers now. One of them who had nothing, who had to beg for food.
"Thank you," he said to the man and carefully felt his way down the street with the help of his cane.
"What a waste," the man sighed as he watched the tall blonde man leave.
Chapter3