NOTHING APART
7 - The followers
Xelas Metallium, the Beastmaster, paced the floor. There weren't a lot of things that she'd done that she regretted. It wasn't like a Mazoku to regret things. But at the moment she knew that she had done something wrong and she wanted it undone. With a frown she lit another cigarette. It was her temper's fault she decided. She always got so mad when something didn't go her way. It had made her furious when Xellos' refused to carry out her orders. For over a thousand years her General Priest had been by her side. He had fought for her in the war against the dragons without losing his life, unlike most others. Never once had he questioned her orders until now. Xelas knew that sometimes he didn't agree with her way of dealing with things but he had never said anything about his own thoughts. Her Trickster Priest hadn't even objected when she told him to kill Lina if it would bring Valgaav to their side. But she knew that he hadn't liked it at all, not that neither one of them had thought that Lina were in any real danger. Valgaav hadn't been one to jump sides like that. Xellos' had never been like any other Mazoku she'd ever meet. He wasn't mean or cruel in the same way like the others. No, an appropriate word for her servant was a Teaser not a Killer. He loved to tease and annoy everybody, not really intrested in hurting anyone seriously. The Beastmaster knew that her last orders to him had been outrageous and stupid but still, Xellos' was suppose to do as he was told. But that time he had simply told her that he wouldn't do that. A part of her had wanted to rip his head off for those words but her anger had caused her to scream like a child instead. And what had she screamed? Xelas slapped herself over the forehead.
"If you're so fond of humans and their pathetic lives perhaps you should go live with them for a while." Yeah I will never forget those words, she thought to herself after saying them out loud. "You silly, hot-tempered Mazoku," she growled at herself. Her temper was one of the reasons other Darklords didn't trust her. Of the five Darklords Shabranigdo had made she was the youngest and the one least trusted. Not that that had ever bothered her. She was what she was and if someone didn't like it, tough for them. It annoyed her that she in the last couple of years knew that she had made two mistakes. The first one was lending Xellos' to Hellmaster Phibrizzo and the second one was punishing her General Priest by turning him into a human. A long long time ago Phibrizzo had made that same mistake with Maryo Gaav. And as it turned out it was impossible to tear the human part out of Gaav. In other words, Hellmaster hadn't been able to return Gaav into a pure breed Mazoku again. All that troubled her for she really didn't want to lose her General Priest. But what she had done was done and now she wasn't sure she could fix it again. Beastemaster-sama had seen what Xellos' had been up to since he became human but she didn't understand any of it. Why was he working so hard to keep that redhead happy? Not that she'd ever understood humans. The feelings they had was not for any Mazoku to understand. Still pacing the floor she damned humans, their feelings and her own temper.
Xellos' walked behind Lina in silence. He was scared. The Roguish Priest didn't like this feeling at all. He had been scared or rather, worried before. But never had he feelt the cold hand of fear gripping at his heart for the sake of someone elses life. He wasn't sure it was Lina's life that was in danger just that it had something to do with her. Fear wasn't the only thing ripping away at his body, there was also the unpleasent feeling of hunger. Xellos' sighed. How did humans stand this? Not only did they get tired pretty fast they also got hungry. Time and time again he found himself drooling at the thought of food.
"Lina-san, I'm hungry," he whined. Lina stopped and turned around to face him.
"You're right it's been hours since we ate last," she nodded and started digging in her pockets. "Eat this for now, I don't wanna stop yet." With those words she threw a piece of bread to him, took one for herself and started walking again. Xellos' shoved the bread in his mouth and hurried after her. The pace she kept was starting to become difficult for him to keep up with. It was strange to him that even though humans were so weak and vulnerable they still fought so hard. He had himself put his own life on the line but it wasn't the same thing. If he got wounded he could always repair himself but most humans couldn't. Xellos' remembered when he had fought Maryo Gaav. His body had been pretty messed up that time but he had disappeared and when he came back he was as good as new. When they had found Gourry he had barely been alive and his wounds hadn't been half as bad as those Xellos' had had. But then a Mazoku didn't get infections. No, he thought to himself, the fragile human body is a mystery to me. How did they dare to put themselves up to be butchered when they knew it only took so little to finish them off? Since the Preist was so lost in his thoughts he didn't notice that Lina had stopped and therefor crashed into her back.
"Hey watch were you're going," she growled at him.
"Why did you stop, Lina-san?" he asked and looked around. The main road was still infront of them but to their left a small path lead into the woods.
"I don't know which way we should take," she answered and scratched her head. Xellos' closed one of his eyes and sighed.
"If I was Gourry-san I'd stick to the main road thinking you'd think I'd taken the path," he nodded. "But we both know Gourry-san isn't very bright so he probably figured you think he thought that you thought he'd taken the road so I think he took the path." Lina stared at him.
"What?" she asked and looked very confused.
"Hm, I dunno. I can't even remember what I just said," the Trickster Priest mumbled and closed his other eye too. "Bottom line is that I think he took the path."
"You're really weird sometimes, do you know that Xellos'?" she frowned and turned off the road onto the path. Xellos' shrugged and followed her.
They had been walking for almost an hour on the path when they met a man. Lina stopped him with a smile.
"Excuse me but have you seen our friend?" she asked the man who was looking at them like they were about to rob him of everything he had.
"I've only seen one person all day today," the man said and looked around. "It was about an hour ago. A young, tall blonde man," he continued and nodded at the path behind him.
"Yeah that sounds like our friend alright," Lina smiled.
"Don't you know this path is dangerous?" There's a gang of bandits who rob everybody that take this path."
"Oh don't worry about us I can take care of them," Lina grinned.
"If you say so," the man frowned, "how about your friend? You should be able to catch up with him if you hurry, he was walking pretty slow, too slow to be safe on this god forsaken path," he mumbled and started walking again.
"Hey, Lina-san?" Xellos' asked when the man had disappeared behind the trees.
"Yes?"
"You don't think those bandits might be the same as those who attacked Gourry-san?" Lina frowned and narrowed her eyes.
"If they are I'm gonna send them all to hell," she growled and turned around.
Gourry sat down against a tree and closed his eyes. He was so tired from walking that he barely could stand up any more. The sun warmed his body and the birds singing was relaxing. All night he had been walking in that slow pace. Hopefully Lina and Xellos' had been sleeping in so that it took them a while to find out that he was gone. And if they started following him he hoped that they took their time. It wouldn't be hard to catch up to him since he couldn't move all that fast. Gourry put his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. The sounds of nature gently rocked him to sleep. But his dreams were scary and confusing. Over and over again he saw himself being killed. It was confusing since he was killed by magic and because Xellos' was next to him. Gourry frowned in his sleep. He tried to turn around to see who was killing him but the dream wouldn't let him see behind him. A loud noise penetrated his sleep and shook him awake. Carefully he looked up to the road and sighed. He didn't know how long he'd been asleep but it had been long enough for two people to catch up with him.
"I can't believe you're hungry again!" he heard Lina yell at the Trickster Priest. "You're even worse than I am!"
"Lina-san," Xellos' complained, "nobody is worse than you are when it comes to food."
"Won't you two just go away and leave me alone!" Gourry sighed as he walked over to them. Lina turned around and smiled at him. But her smile faded when she saw his face.
"I'm sorry, but no I can't Gourry," she answered and crossed her arms. "I don't care what you want I will be on you like a tick from now on."
"Fine! I'm not going anywhere I'm gonna stay right here," he snapped at her and sat down again. With her face white from anger she started yelling at him.
"Shut up!" Xellos' interrupted them harshly. Lina turned around to yell at him too but something stopped her.
"There's people approaching," Gourry whispered and got up. Lina nodded and moved closer to him.
"What should we do?" the Priest asked with a worried look.
"Fight them of course, if that's what they want," Lina replyed with a grin. Gourry drew his sword and they waited for someone to appear between the trees. When Gourry saw the group of bandits that came onto the road he started sweating.
"Lina, those are the same guys that attacked me before," he mumbled. Lina got a dangerous look in her red eyes.
"Well they'll pay for that this time," she grinned at him and turned to Xellos'. "And you stay out of this okay? I don't want you in the middle of this!"
"Not much I can do against them as it is anyways," he sighed and backed away.
Note: The whole thing with Gaav and Phibrizzo is not what really happened. It was the Water Dragon dude who reborn Gaav as a human but this version fits the story so um deal with it *hehe* It's a pity they don't really explain all that stuff in the anime though. *nods* BTW I was asked in a mail if I have watched the anime so I might as well answer it here. I've watched Slayers, Slayers Next and Slayers Try more times than I can remember. Those poor tapes are almost worn out *sniffles* Um sorr for my babbling *blushes* Let's get on with the story, ne?
Chapter8