Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

Birth Rite	By : tsutsuji Category: +S to Z > Slayers Views: 6413 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Slayers, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 23
- 24
- 25
Birth Rite Chapter 24: Secrets of the Asmalaths
Author: tsustuji

Chapter Summary: Surprising secrets lurking in the mansion of the Asmalaths are revealed as Zelgadis continues his days (and nights) of magical study.

______________________________________________________________________

That evening, dusk came on fast under approaching storm clouds. A rising wind blew dust and flurries of dead leaves through the village streets and carried the scent of the sea up from the harbor. Xelloss and Zelgadis walked Myona home, and got his promise that he would not go out on the point in the storm before they left him with his sister.
Xelloss sniffed the air appreciatively. The wild scents of autumn were a delight after a stuffy day in the Mala's mansion, and as they passed through the village, the peculiar restless melancholy that he sensed from so many humans at this time of year was refreshing, especially compared to Melly's blandness and Shuno's single-minded obsession with learning.
When they passed through the main gate, the aura of the Temple teased at his senses with its own strange, restless energy. Even more intriguing than that, the emotions from Zelgadis flickered like wind-fed coals, delicious with barely-suppressed anticipation.
"Let's walk back," Zelgadis said, starting up the first long flight of stairs. "I feel stiff and stuffy after sitting all day!"
As much as he looked forward to getting the chimera alone, Xelloss couldn't object, especially when Zelgadis leaped up the stairs, taking the steps two and three at a time.
"Are your studies going well, then?" he asked, half trotting and half levitating to keep up. "It appears you've found quite an abundance of reading material already!"
"With Myona's help, yes," Zelgadis said, grinning. "It's going... well enough," he added, with a sly glance aside at Xelloss. "But I'm certainly ready for a review of our more practical lessons."
"Ah," Xelloss said, "a teacher's day is never done! Not that I mind - as long as our lessons don't involve grammar and vocabulary!"
From the smirk Zelgadis flashed at him, he was reasonably sure they would not.
Halfway up the first flight of stairs, they heard Kervan and Marcus coming down, still out of sight around a bend in the stairway. More precisely, they heard two sets of boots clumping down the steps and Marcus complaining loudly about being out in the darkening evening.
Xelloss could not help noticing that the former Shrinekeeper of Shimer was even more on edge than usual. The early dark and the sense of impending storm seemed to have settled into his nerves.
"You didn't need to leave the cottage" Kervan pointed out as they came around the corner and into sight. "It doesn't need both of us to return the book to Kemara. You were the one who didn't want to be left alone at home!"
"I know, I know, but we didn't have to bring it back tonight - could've waited until daylight, couldn't we?"
"Not with this storm coming," Kervan said, "and you wouldn't have liked staying home alone in a storm any better - so you should thank me for dragging you out here tonight in the dark; at least it's not raining and lightning!"
"Oh yes, thanks a lot."
"I did warn you that the ending might affect your delicate nerves," Kervan said.
"Can't help it if I....Ahh!"
He jumped backward, startled when he saw Zelgadis and Xelloss coming toward them, then relaxed for a second when he recognized them. Then he jerked backward again. Nervousness spiked up into horror. With another yelp, he dove behind Kervan.
"Ah," Xelloss said, happily amused by this display. "I take it you've finished the story of the Princess of Fate! Didn't you enjoy the ending, Marcus-san? Although I believe Kervan-san was not surprised by the plot twist at the end!"
Kervan paused on the landing, eyes narrowing for a moment before he managed a smile and nodded to greet them.
"Only partially," he admitted. "I guessed what Hellmaster intended, but I didn't realize She would actually manifest Herself through the Sorcerer. Although the description is somewhat muddled - that is what happened, isn't it?"
Zelgadis gave Xelloss a questioning glance. Even though he'd been present for the reality behind the story, he didn't know how Martina had described the scene. For that matter, Xelloss guessed, the chimera's own memory of the event might well be a bit muddled.
"That is indeed what happened - basically!" Xelloss answered.
The scholar's eyebrow arched. He regarded Xelloss thoughtfully, a hint of a smile on his lips, as if he knew there was something more to it than that. He didn't ask for details.
"Remarkable," he said instead. "I must say, I'm a good deal more impressed with the infamous Lina Inverse than I was before. The rumors don't really do her justice."
"Lina Inverse!" Marcus exclaimed.
He was so agitated at the mention of the sorcerer's name that he stepped back out of hiding and aimed a glare at Xelloss and Zelgadis as if he blamed them for the existence of the sorceress.
"She's a madwoman! She could've destroyed us all! Nearly did!" he squawked. "And for what? One lousy swordsman who can't even remember your name? Swordsmen are a dime a dozen, you know. She could've gone out and found a replacement easily enough!"
Zelgadis gripped his sword hilt and took a step toward the jabbering little man, a flash of indignant rage in his eyes. Kervan stepped forward at the same moment, one arm slightly lifted in front of his companion. Marcus ducked behind it without a hint of pride, but he still stared across at Zelgadis defiantly.
"Don't be so hysterical, idiot," Kervan said through his teeth, his mouth clenched in a grim sort of smile. He didn't look at Marcus, though, and didn't even glance at Zelgadis; he was watching Xelloss warily.
"Lina fought to save all of us," Zelgadis growled. "She did the only thing anyone could have done!"
"Of course she did," Kervan agreed grimly. "Hellmaster didn't leave her any other options, did he. She had one chance to save her companions and she took it..."
Marcus opened his mouth to retort to that, but closed it again with a glare at Kervan before he backed down, emotions seething.
Kervan kept watching Xelloss, who had said nothing since Marcus began to rant, only stood silently with his head bowed. The wind that heralded the oncoming storm flapped his cloak around his legs, rattled branches overhead, and tossed a spray of dead, dry pine needles down on them. The gust carried less force than the emotions swirling between the three humans - fear and outrage from Marcus, indignation from Zelgadis, but the strongest emotion he sensed radiating from Kervan was intense curiosity.
That was intriguing, but he was not inclined to justify either Hellmaster's foolish choices or Lina's desperate ones to anyone, and he was certainly not about to presume to explain the actions of the Golden Lord of all - nor even his own at that moment.
He lifted his head slowly. Zelgadis watched him from the corner of his eye, warily expectant. Raising his eyes to meet Kervan's gaze, Xelloss smiled.
"It is not really for us to argue the wisdom of Lina-san's actions, I think," he said quietly. "Or to question the outcome of her choice, here on the doorstep of the Temple of the Mother of All, hm?"
Kervan's smile spread across his face, and for once, even to his eyes.
"No, of course not. The fact of the matter is, we are all still here, aren't we? All except for Hellmaster, that is."
"As you say," Xelloss agreed, smiling back.
Zelgadis blinked, puzzled now as he watched the two of them, but he lightened the grip on his sword hilt. Marcus drew back, now watching Kervan almost as warily as Kervan had watched Xelloss a moment ago.
"You still think you know more about it than anyone else, don't you?" he accused Kervan. "As usual! "
Surprisingly, Kervan relaxed and turned to Marcus with an indulgent grin
"I would be a fool to claim I understand it at all," he said. "But, evidently, that is exactly the kind of fool I am. Come on, Marcus; let's get this book back and pay our respects to the High Priestess, and get home before the storm hits or you'll really have something to whine about!"
He slipped past Zelgadis and started down the stairs without waiting for his companion. Firing a brief glare of exasperation at his back, Marcus followed, but he stopped a couple of steps down. He ignored both Xelloss and Kervan now and turned to Zelgadis.
"All that business at the end, when the Swordsman finally saved the Sorcerer, all that stuff the Princess wrote about him being swept away by his feelings for her, and about her being protected and saved by the power of love - it didn't really happen like that, did it?"
Zelgadis opened his mouth to reply, but he didn't have an answer. Of course, Xelloss thought, he hadn't read Martina-sans flowery, romantic version of Lina's survival, or revival as the case may actually have been. Zelgadis had no more idea than the rest of them did of how the sorceress and the swordsman. He only knew they'd miraculously reappeared after being sucked into the whirlpool of destruction the Golden Lord left behind when She withdrew from their world.
It hardly seemed likely that the Mother of All, the Being known to both humans and mazoku as the Lord of Nightmares, was secretly a matchmaker, but who could say?
Forefinger raised, Xelloss answered for him.
"One should never underestimate the power of human emotions!"
"Spoken like a true mazoku," Kervan said over his shoulder, his voice dry with sarcasm.
Marcus pursed his lips and shook his head, and then gave up and trotted off to catch up with him.
"Wait up, Kervan, it's dark out here! Why didn't you bring a torch!"

"What was that all about?" Zelgadis wondered after the other two men had passed through the Gate and out of sight.
Xelloss shrugged. "It seems that Kervan-san has taken the teachings of the Temple to heart, in his own way," he said. "Kemara-sama must have guessed he would find the end of the story intriguing when she gave him the book before sharing it with the Loremasters," he added thoughtfully.
Zelgadis winced at that reminder. "Now they're all going to be asking the same kinds of questions, I suppose," he grumbled. He pulled his collar up around his chin and started up the next flight of stairs.
Xelloss frowned, not any more pleased at the impending storm of curiosity than the chimera was. It might be better if they did not all presume to understand so much. In fact, with no disrespect to the Mother of All, he would personally enjoy the atmosphere much more if they all reacted like Marcus instead.
"My, my," he said, grinning at the memory of the former Shimerian's horrified expression. "Shimeria
was a much more congenial environment for Marcus-san, wasn't it? He was so much calmer there!"
"He's a whiny little coward," Zelgadis grumbled as he stomped up the stairs, his cloak snapping like a flag in the wind. He had lost the knife-bright edge of anger that had risen in him defense of Lina's reputation (such as it was), but he was still delightfully disgruntled.
"True! But perhaps he'll enjoy reading Myona's story when you're done writing it down, too," Xelloss suggested.
Zelgadis winced, probably because the pages on which he'd started to write Myona's story had been shuffled to the bottom of a pile of notes on his magical research.
"I will finish that," he insisted to himself. Then he glanced at Xelloss and grinned. "I suppose you'd like to be around when Marcus reads it, though, wouldn't you? Heh. Come to think of it, so would I!"
"Of course! Perhaps when it's all done, you and Myona-kun can present a 'recitation' of it for the benefit of all - well, mostly me!"
"Greedy mazoku," Zelgadis muttered, but the corner of his lips twitched.
"I do try!" Xelloss said cheerfully as they clomped across a covered walkway and started up another stairway.
However, at the moment, his only craving was for the dark emotions, the taste of heated stone skin and the desperate sounds he looked forward to enticing from his studious chimera.

_______________________________________
In the following days, Zelgadis found life in Wyndcliff settling into a familiar/comfortable pattern. The days usually began with him waking up to some kind of teasing from Xelloss, which would be interrupted by Myona's soft knock on the door just when Zelgadis was about ready to either Elmekia-Lance the mazoku through the wall or pin him to the mattress. In fact, Xelloss became so predictable in this game that Zelgadis could tell exactly when Myona raised his hand to knock on their door.
Then they would all walk to Melly's mansion, during which there would be a report of the lack of change in Plover's condition and a chat about stories and lore. Storms blew in every few days, each one a little wilder than the last, and in between them the weather would clear, a little colder than before.
On the clear days, it seemed the entire population of the village would spring out of doors to bustle about, cleaning up and battening down for the worst of winter yet to come. For some, Zelgadis noticed, all the cleaning and touching up even progressed to decorating. Sprays of dried corn stocks, chrysanthemum wreaths, pumpkins and gourds adorned doorsteps and windowsills. He wondered if the village was preparing for some kind of harvest feast, just as many of the inland countries did at this time of year before winter's full grip closed on them.
The day would be spent with Shuno hanging onto Xelloss for every new word of the ancient language, Melianthus simply hanging onto Xelloss with his face falling increasingly vacant as the lessons left him behind, and Zelgadis losing himself in the timeless, dusty bliss of having a whole magical library to explore at his leisure.
Myona wandered about the library or curled up in a corner to read, as happy as a proverbial clam with his new-found treasures. He sometimes took a book out of the library to perch in a windowsill or curl up in some more comfortable corner of the mansion, or even sat outside in the garden, where he could feel the wind in his hair on a dry day. Xelloss and Zelgadis only made sure he wasn't sneaking off to his favorite place, but Zelgadis had a feeling the library had become a second favorite now that he'd discovered the magic of books.
They ended most of these days by dodging curious Loremasters and villagers while Zelgadis tried not to think about the embarrassing nonsense they were all reading and discussing about him. And after he and Xelloss sent Myona home or walked him to his sister's house, their nights were taken up with their own ongoing private magical studies, which were sometimes practical lessons, and often times not very practical at all.

Every few days, Marcus showed up at the library to return books Kervan had borrowed and pick up a couple more. He was not quite as unnoticeable as Melly - that would be difficult for anyone to achieve - but he sometimes managed to shuffle in and out so quietly that Zelgadis was barely aware of him.
One afternoon, however, Zelgadis' senses tingled when Marcus slipped past his table. It took him a moment to figure out what had caught his attention, and then his eyes fell on one book among the armful Marcus held against his chest. It looked newer than the others, with gold filigree on a shiny red cover, but that was not what raised the hair on the back of Zelgadis' neck.
"Uh, Marcus," he warned, "I don't think you want to...."
It was too late. The former Shrinekeeper only moved faster toward the door, trying to duck out of sight without speaking to anyone. Before he could set foot across the threshold, he stopped, jumped back a pace and yelped as the shiny red book burst into flames.
Marcus dumped the whole armload of books to the floor and leapt around them, flapped his arms and brushed at imagined flames licking his sleeves. A shower of sparks burst from the red book when it hit the floor, then it disappeared in a puff of green smoke.
Marcus froze. All eyes were on him and the singed books at his feet, including Xelloss' purple gaze, wide open and staring. For several heartbeats, nobody spoke.
"Oh, dear," Melly said.
Hands aflutter, Xelloss shook his head and finally whipped around toward Zelgadis.
"Th- that wasn't me!" he sputtered.
The look on his face was so desperately distressed that Zelgadis broke down and laughed.
"Oh no, dear me no, of course it wasn't, Xelloss-sama!" Melly exclaimed mildly, waving off his concern along with the smoke that wafted across their table. "Marcus-san simply forgot that one can't just take any old book from the library!"
"Eh?" Xelloss said.
Marcus finally deflated. He rolled his eyes and wiped his forehead with relief.
"Oh, right! The binding spell. Forgot all about it."
Zelgadis glanced back over his shoulder at the stacks where Marcus had chosen the books for Kervan.
"I assume it's back on the shelf where it belongs?" he said. It would be rather counterproductive if a book really did go up in flames just to prevent it being stolen from the library.
"Mm, yes," Melly said, with another vague wave of his hand back toward the shelves. "Probably. Clever spell, though, don't you think?"
"Certainly," Zelgadis agreed. "Any common thief would be unlikely to go looking for it again after that!"
"Binding spell," Xelloss said wonderingly. He turned and tipped his head, no doubt sensing the magic that clung to so many of the books.
"Hadn't you noticed?" Zelgadis asked, amused.
Marcus, once he had his breath back, bristled at Melly for a moment as if he wanted to say something quite indignant about it all, but he abruptly changed his mind. He scooped up the remaining books, cautiously stepped through the door with them, and then charged off down the corridor without another look back.
"So that's why you never bring interesting homework back to the cottage," Xelloss said as they were walking home later.
"You really didn't notice the protection spells before now?" Zelgadis asked, amused. "You must have plundered nearly as many libraries as I have, Xelloss, not to mention the times you've amused yourself watching me do it. I should think you'd be well familiar with book-binding spells!"
"I've never paid much attention to little human spells like that," Xelloss shrugged. He eyed Zelgadis sidelong. "Nor have you!"
Zelgadis didn't acknowledge that, even when he saw Myona's mouth twitch. No doubt Martina had written some colorful version of their various misadventures with certain manuscripts.
"Little spells like that wouldn't cling to something as powerful as a Claire Bible manuscript," Zelgadis said. "Not that it would matter to you, since you'd just as soon destroy one before bothering to remove it from of a library, anyway."
Xelloss chose not to directly address that comment.
"Let's just say, even if they did, I would not find it difficult to counter such spells. Neither would a heartless sorcerer-swordsman, I should think!"
"Perhaps," Zelgadis admitted. "I doubt Melly would notice if I broke a few of those spells, especially since he doesn't even seem to be aware of the rare treasures his library contains. But in this case, I'd rather not take the chance of offending the Mala over one or two books and lose all access to the rest."
He patted Xelloss on the shoulder sympathetically.
"For now, Xelloss-sensei, I'm afraid we're both stuck with the dubious pleasure of the Mala's company every day. Sorry!"
Xelloss sighed dramatically and waved his hand in the air. "Never mind!" he sighed again, "It's hard, but Xelloss-sensei will willingly continue to suffer Shuno-kun and Melianthus-sama as long as it takes you to find what you need here!"
Myona, walking ahead of them, peered back at Zelgadis over his shoulder.
"Have you found anything yet?" he asked.
Zelgadis bit his lip for a second.
"The books you've been bringing me are certainly fascinating!" he assured Myona quickly. "Some of the deepest, most complex magical theory I've ever seen in writing is in those books. I'm almost certain to find a spell I can use against the Followers of Shimer, with enough study."
That was enough to bring a smile and a touch of color to Myona's pale face before he turned away again.
The fact was, he was almost certain he already had found such a spell, or at least the theory of one, but he wasn't sure enough to tell Xelloss about it yet. Xelloss watched him expectantly for a moment as they walked along, but Zelgadis ignored him and said nothing more. He was just going to have to make an extra effort to distract the mazoku this evening to ward off any new curiosity. Even if that was exactly how most of their days ended lately, he looked forward to it just as much as ever.

___________________________________________________________________________
On one of the milder mornings a few days later, they arrived at the mansion to see Melly standing out on the lawn in front of the house. As they came across the garden toward him, he held up a large rattan hoop, the circle of it a couple of hand's-width wider than his slender shoulders. Solemnly, he drew this over his head and down until he held it at waist height, braced against the small of his back. He stood there with eyes closed, unmoving, for a moment.
They paused at the edge of the lawn, watching curiously.
"Oh, no," Myona moaned quietly, his tone more of disbelief than of horror. "He's not really going to try this, is he?"
"Try what?" Zelgadis asked. "I thought he couldn't do magic."
He glanced around for any other signs of some kind of ritual magic, but there were only a couple more identical hoops lying on the ground nearby and nothing else. Whatever act or spell Melly intended to try, the hoop was its only implement. Since he was totally without any magical capacity whatsoever, it hardly seemed to matter. Still, Zelgadis supposed it would be rude to interrupt.
Myona didn't answer his question, only shook his head, hand to his mouth as if to hold back impending laughter.
With a tiny crease above his brow - this qualified for a frown of deep concentration in his case - Melly swung the hoop to one side, and at the same time, jerked his hips in the opposite direction. The hoop rolled around his waist, flung by its own momentum and his movement, but after one wobbly circle, it canted lower on one side and then dropped even lower on the other. Within the next few seconds it spiraled all the way down his body to flop onto the grass at his feet.
Melly continued to jerk his hips around a few seconds longer, his whole body wiggling in a not quite circular motion - a movement which might have been suggestive for anyone more impressively built. The sight of it this skinny young man wiggling like a snake on a string only inspired a choked sound from Myona and the gurgle of a badly suppressed giggle from Xelloss.
Zelgadis couldn't even tell if the hoop rolling down around Melly's legs to the ground was the desired result or not, since Melly showed no sign of either satisfaction or distress. He simply picked it up, placed it once again at the small of his back, and, after another moment of concentration, swung it around and began the process again.
After this odd display had been repeated a couple more times, Shuno appeared beyond Melly in the doorway of the mansion. He squinted briefly at The Mala, gave a little dismissive twitch of his head, then looked past him to Xelloss. Eyebrows raised and hands on his hips, he jerked his head toward the library, impatiently as if he simply could not understand what was keeping Xelloss from their all-important lessons. He didn't seem at all concerned that Melianthus was doing something strange with large hoops between them and the door.
"Shouldn't we wait for Melly-sama to join us?" Xelloss wondered.
Shuno crossed his arms, tapped his foot a couple of times, then gave up with a huff and went back into the house. To Zelgadis' surprise, Myona started toward the door as well.
"He won't," Myona said. When they didn't follow immediately, he glanced back over his shoulder. "Really, he won't. He'll be busy with this for hours now. Days. Maybe even a week or two..."
He went on without them, making a wide arc across the lawn around The Mala and his hoops.
Since Melly didn't seem to notice, Xelloss and Zelgadis shrugged and followed. They caught up to Myona in the front hall. Shuno had gone on ahead, with a glare over his shoulder at them as if the ancient language would fade from the page if they didn't rush back to the library quickly enough. Myona's mouth twisted into a grin when he saw their puzzled expressions.
"He does that," Myona said as he led the way toward the library. "Melly does, I mean. Haven't you noticed?"
"Melianthus-sama plays with hoops?" Xelloss said, tipping his head curiously. "I can't say I have noticed that until now...."
Myona snorted and shook his head. Zelgadis remembered the oranges, and that Melly had much the same mindless look of concentration on his face that morning when he'd walked in with them.
"He juggles things?" he guessed, but that didn't seem quite the right answer either.
Myona shook his head and pointed toward a room they were passing by just then. Zelgadis glanced through the open door; it happened to be the room of abandoned musical instruments. All of them apparently dropped and never looked at again, just as the juggled oranges fell and were left where they landed on the floor.
"Like that," Myona said. "And the flowers. You know. Different things. He tries them and then...." he shrugged again. "He does them for a while, or tries to, and then just quits."
Zelgadis thought of the flowers that Melly so carefully and ineptly arranged the day they first visited, then left to wither until Dulcinia replaced them.
"You mean, like, hobbies? Past-times?" he asked. "Are you saying Melly just takes up some new hobby every so often? Flower arranging one day, juggling the next?"
"Then hoop dancing the day after that." Myona nodded, then rolled his eyes. "Can't believe he'd try that one, though. It's sacred to the Eagle Folk, you know, sort of a storytelling ritual with them. They'd gouge his eyes out if they saw him making a joke of it like that."
Zelgadis did know, now that he thought of it, or at least he'd heard of such a ritual among some of the beast tribes of the mountains, but he'd never seen it done. He still hadn't seen it done properly, that was certain.
"He didn't appear to be joking," Xelloss said, clearly still puzzled by all of this. "Well, even I can't tell what Melianthus-sama is feeling, so perhaps he was?"
"Oh no, he's totally serious," Myona replied. "It's just that he's terrible at it. Like he is at everything."
He waved his hand in the direction of the maze of corridors Melly had led them through during their first visit. Zelgadis remembered wondering what sudden distraction or tragedy had caused past members of the Asmalath family to drop what they were doing and never go back, like a house where all the clocks are stopped when the master or mistress dies.
There was no dramatic story behind it after all. It was just... Melly.
"He really did paint all those pictures? And the fencing, and ...?" Zelgadis said, thinking back down the corridors.
"All of those things?" Xelloss mused. "Surely not even the sewing projects! Those adorable dresses?"
They passed the art studio. Zelgadis glanced in at the half-finished paintings with new eyes. It was only too easy to imagine him doing this and all the other things just as badly, every bit as clumsy and vague in his efforts as he was with the lost language or juggling oranges.
That also reminded him of Melly's threat - he could only call it that - to take up painting again and make him pose for it.
"Does he go back to things he's tried before?" he asked.
Myona thought about it a minute.
"I guess so, sometimes. Or, well, sort of; I mean, if he does, he usually takes it up like it's a whole new thing he's never done before, or he says he's going to do it differently this time."
"So if he does take up painting again, it might be cubism this time," Xelloss said, grinning.
Zelgadis snorted. "Maybe if he tries that, he'll get pictures that actually look like real things!"
Unfortunately, this inspired a mental image of Melly painting a portrait of him that came out looking like he was made of blocks of stone. He sighed. He really couldn't win with this.
"How many different things has he tried?" he wondered aloud. It was a large house, and they'd still only seen a small part of it. It was a little disturbing to think about what remnants of past hobbies might be lurking in all the other rooms.
Myona shook his head, grinning. "I don't think anyone knows. He's such a ..."
"Dork," Zelgadis finished quietly as they reached the library. "I guess he'll just have to catch up if he misses this morning's lesson - if he can."
Myona shook his head. "Whenever he starts a new thing, he usually quits the one he was doing before."
"Ah! Does that mean he won't be joining us for lessons any longer?" Xelloss said brightly.
"You've still got Shuno," Zelgadis reminded him with a wicked grin.
Sure enough, Xelloss' remaining student was already in his seat at the table, tapping his pen impatiently and glaring at the door as they entered.
"Ah yes," Xelloss said. "So I do! And you," he said, tipping his head to Zelgadis and Myona with a broad smile and his eyes hidden behind his bangs, "have your books."
"Ah yes," Zelgadis said, taking a deep breath of the familiar, enticing leather-and-ink scent of pure library air. He grinned as he settled back at his usual place.
Myona caught his eye with a twitch of his brow as he went by. He glanced meaningfully at the pile of books already waiting on Zelgadis' table, then wandered away into the stacks, chewing on his lip, his gaze slowly climbing up toward the higher levels.
Zelgadis had begun to think he should bring Myona along on any future travels; it might save him a great deal of time and frustration in the plunder - investigation, rather - of any new sources of magical information he came across. He wasn't sure if Myona would like that or not, and no doubt Kemara and Delora would need to give their permission.
They weren't going anywhere right away, anyway. There was plenty yet to plunder close at hand.
"Let's get back to work then, shall we?" he said.
He might as well have been talking to himself. Everyone else was already occupied. With a fond smile for all of them - even Melly, at that moment - Zelgadis opened The Warp and Weft of Spellweaving and settled in for another fine day of study.
________________________________________________
Coming up: Zelgadis and Xelloss take a break and get some exercise, and Zelgadis learns that a there's a terrible price to pay for staying in Wyndcliff at harvest time.
- 23
- 24
- 25
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Birth Rite