Forgotten King: Chapter 7
Sorry if there are some spelling/grammatical errors in this. I AM NOT AN ENGLISH MAJOR!!!!
* Italics mean a person's thoughts
Lina sighed as she put down another book. It had been about a week and a half since she had taken up residence in this castle. All ready she had read all the interesting books in the library and was left with, in her mind, boring fiction. Man, that didn't last long. I was hoping that a castle like this would have more in the ways of arcane lore, not false stories.
Lina was about to leave when she heard the flipping of pages. She followed it until she ended up on the opposite side of the room, with nothing in sight. She looked all around but still couldn't see anyone or any book that the sound was coming from. She listened carefully, she heard it clearer this time, it was above her?!? Lina backed up a step and looked up to be greeted by the masked Mazuko levitating in mid-air. Lina cocked an eye at the Mazuko as he flipped through a book, looking for something, with such determination that he hadn't noticed her. Lina placed her hands on her hips and spoke, "Ahem, need some help there?"
The Mazuko stopped his search and looked down at the petite sorceress. "No, this doesn't concern you."
Lina pouted, somewhat cutely, at the Mazuko and said, "Come on, its not like we are enemies or anything, well at least not anymore."
The Mazuko looked at her and almost blanched, indeed he wasn't meaning to, but he was still a Mazuko on all most all terms. "That little cutie act might work on Zelgadis, but not me little girl."
LITTLE GIRL!!!!!! Lina's light up with flames of rage as the somewhat insult processed through her brain. "Listen pal, call me that again and I will Dragon Slave your as back to the Sea of Chaos."
The Mazuko slightly chuckled at her threat, she had no idea he could absorb a Dragon Slave with little to no effort. Yes, this position in the Mazuko hierarchy did have its advantages, even at the cost of acquiring it. As he was contemplating this odd girl he noticed that see was beginning to blush. Must of finally processed all of what I said, he mused as he spoke his retort. "Now, now I don't think Zelgadis would like you blowing up his library. Especially if you want a chance at getting closer to him."
Lina's blush deepened about three shades as the last sentence came from his mouth. Damn Mazuko, insulting me then using that against me, oh he is going to get it one day. Lina started to gain control back over her face, she scowled at the Mazuko, who she was pretty sure was smiling down at her. She pushed back her hair, in that oh so Lina Inverse way, and retorted, "Better watch it buddy, I can still cause some damage to you without blowing anything up."
The Mazuko looked down at the book he was holding, there it was, he saw what he was looking for. He quickly tore out a strip of paper from the page and set it ablaze with a small, controlled fireball. He phased out after completing his mission, letting the book fall to the floor in front of Lina.
Lina looked at the book for a second then quickly grabbed it up. What is this? Why was he looking at this. and what did he just destroy? Lina looked at the names of her family written on the page. It went from her father and mother, the torn spot on the page, and then Luna and her. The Mazuko had torn out something pertaining to her family, but what, all the family was there and accounted for. What ever he is up to it has to do with my family. Its like he is trying to hide something. But what? Nothing is missing. Unless their is something that I don't know about my family that he is trying to cover up. But why would he even care, I tell you this is just getting weirder and weirder each day. Lina then took off down the hall in search of Zel, "If anyone can answer my questions it is Zel."
Vladimir watched Lina run down the hall from the astral plane. "Hmm....She has spirit I'll give her that. No matter, Zelgadiss won't know what I destroyed, I bet he has never looked at the city records before in his life."
"Last time I checked Matchmaking wasn't on the Kinght of Shabarnigdo's resume."
Vladimir turned sharply to meet the gaze of a petite lady that had snuck in behind him. The young lady stood at five feet, a head and a fourth shorter than Vladimir, with sliver hair falling down to the small of her back. She had emerald green eyes that seemed to pierce through anyone they looked at. She was dressed in long, flowing robes of purples and greens. She adjusted her stance to lean more of her weight onto her right side and placed her hand on her left hip, never taking her eyes off of Vladimir. "I wonder what the dark lord would say if he knew what his second in command was doing," she asked rhetorically as she smirked at Vladimir.
"Probably the same thing if he found out about another of my little secrets, my dear."
The lady walked up to Vladimir, coming within inches, and threw her arms around his neck in an embrace. "That's what I love about you. Your will isn't reduce to that of a mindless drone like the rest of the Mazuko."
Vladimir wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her closer to him. At the same time he began to whisper in her ear, "The same goes for you, my dear Illianna."
Illianna turned her head to see a petite redhead round the corner, see looked back up to see Vladimir watching the redhead as she disappeared. She whispered to Vladimir playfully, "Your not cheating on me now are you?"
"Of course not, I'm just taking care of some business, that's all."
"Who is that girl then? She must be important to catch your attentions."
"Lina Inverse, and I think that pretty much explains the situation."
"It does indeed. Why do you wear that mask here? No one can see us now," with that she lifted the mask off his face and kissed him passionately.
Lina sat under a tree in the courtyard, trying to think of where the hell Zel could be. I've checked all over this damn pile of rocks and I haven't even gotten a glimpse of him. I tell you that guy is too sneaky for his own damn good. At that moment she heard a thunk from above and looked to see a leg dangling from a branch. The ivory color of the pants gave away who it was, so that's were his been hiding, time for some pay back, Lina mused as she quietly made her way up the tree. Lina positioned herself behind Zel, a bit surprised that his sensitive hearing didn't pick her up, when she noticed he was staring off into space. He was deep in thought, that was just perfect, Lina plastered a wicked smile on her face as she inched closer. Lina got within a few inches of Zel, took in a deep breathe, and yelled, "HEY ZEL!!!"
Zelgadiss was quickly snapped into reality by Lina's painfully loud scream. As he attempted to cover his ears, he lost balance and fell head first into the ground. Zel hit the ground and laid there for a few minutes as his ears rang for the crash with mother earth. Lina jumped down from the tree branch, flashed a victory sign, and sat down under the tree next to Zel's motionless body. A few moments later Zel began to sit up, rubbing his head, and moaning in displeasure. His attentions soon turned to the person who caused him to fall with her yelling. "Why did you do that? You could have just tapped me on the shoulder you know."
"You got what you deserved, making a lady like me look all over this castle for you," Lina pouted cutely at Zel
Zel shivered slightly at the look he was getting, just one of those looks was enough to shatter his barriers and he knew it. She is going to drive me crazy if she keeps that up. He sat down, trying to cover up his discomfort from Lina. He failed, Lina had seen his reaction to her cutesy look and filed it away for future use and study. "What do you want now that you have my undivided attention," Zel asked wryly.
Lina gave Zel the cutest look she could muster while asking, "Zelly, could you tell me what should be here?" She brought out the book and pointed to the torn spot on the page containing her family.
Zel gulped as he looked at the book, if he couldn't answer then she might really do something drastic. He looked at the page, there was Lina's name, with her whole family on it. The torn spot made him wander who had gotten to the town record and done this. "Do you know who did that," Zel asked pointing at the tear.
"Yeah, your masked bodyguard, that's who." Lina huffed at the remembrance of their conversation.
Zel took Lina's, somewhat overzealous, huff into account. Great, Vladimir must've said something to piss her off. "I not sure, is there anyone you can think of, an aunt or sibling, that would go here?"
Lina thought for a second. We have no other family anywhere close to here. No one else should be there but someone was. "Nope, everyone that I could think of lives in one of the neighboring countries."
"Well, I haven't really studied the countries records, so I really don't know who is suppose to be listed there. Looks like Vladimir is the only one who knows that.......," Zel trailed off when he had turned to notice Lina was closer, and giving him another cute face.
Lina leaned close to Zel, putting on her cute puppy eyes as she asked, "Zelly could you get the information for me? I will do anything to pay you back." To emphasize her point she scooted right next to Zel, and placed a hand on his cheek.
Zel inhaled quickly as she touched his face, SHE'S TOUCHING ME!!!, his mind shouted but his body didn't react. His mind told him that he should be wary, but at the same time said it liked it as well. Lina was delighted at the effect she was having over Zel, she could have anything she wanted from him if she played her cards right. Lina threw a knee over Zel's lap, pinning him in between her and the tree, she wasn't letting him get away just yet. "Come on Zel, do it for me," Lina said as she brought her other hand behind his head.
Zel's mind went wild as he tried to figure out a means of escape, but Lina had just blocked off his last hope for one. Zel started to panic mentally as Lina's hand started pulling his head forward, right towards hers.
Lina pulled Zel towards her as she keep her little seduction going. Why are you doing this? Can't you see he is uncomfortable, the emotional driven side of Lina's mind screamed. Yes, I know what I'm doing, I want the information and this is a way to get him to look for it. As Lina was having her mental battle her brain shot that thought down with one simple pharse. Your in love aren't you? Lina stopped, she now realized that she was forcing him to be near her, she didn't want that. She wanted Zel to show how he felt about her, and not showing something he was forced into.
Zel sighed in relief as Lina stopped pulling him forward. He began to relax a little, it was nice to be close to her, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!!! Zel mentally chided himself again for letting a thought like that come up. He was a hideous freak, there was not way Lina could love him, so it was better to just not think about it.
Lina frowned slightly when Zel somewhat pulled away from her. His face was that of neutrality, but underneath she could see what she thought was a scowl. Did he hate being around her, did he just put up with her to keep his secret living area under wraps? Lina couldn't stand that feel, she had to know how he felt, and she mustered up all the courage she could. "Zel.....what do you think of me, as a person?"
Zel looked up at the soceress, quite shocked at her question, and tried to come up with a tactful answer. "You are a caring, friendly person, and a friend in my book," Zel smiled weakly with his answer, knowing how lame it must have sounded to her.
Lina looked at him, somewhat disappointed, but all around happy that he saw her as at least a friend. Sure, she would have like to have heard something more affectionate, but she could work on that later. All that mattered was that Zel actually enjoyed her company. Well, she was one step closer to having all her problems solved, she was a friend of the prince that could bode well if her decided to take the throne. The only backdrop to that is that a lot of princesses would be courting Zel for position as queen, and his love, which would totally crush Lina's chances with him. Well, she would work on a few problems, all she need to do was stay on good terms with Zel and drop a few hints of how she felt. "You sure there is nothing else you want to tell me," Lina asked as she started moving closer to Zel.
Zel began to sweat somewhat, he needed to escape, he had to get away for a bit to at least think things through. His saving, yet embarrassing, grace came when they both heard, "Well, I leave you two alone for a bit and look what happens," from behind them.
Both Lina and Zelgadis turned beat red as they realized Vladimir had seen them in this, somewhat incriminating, position. Lina stood up, fist clenched in rage, and turned to face the mazuko that had so blatantly interrupted their discussion. "There you are, I was asking Zel where I could find you so I could blow you ass through the nine hells," Lina spat at Vladimir.
Vladimir slightly chuckled and said, "Looks to me like you were giving the boy an eye-full of something other than your face."
Lina blushed two more shades of red as Zel matched and surpassed that by about four. Lina clenched her fist even tighter, her knuckle would have been white to anyone's eyes if it wasn't for her gloves. She glared daggers at Vladimir and yelled, "That's it!!"
It was at this moment that Zel flew the scene, Vladamir phased out, and any other life forms ran for the hills as the castle courtyard became nothing but ash.
Illianna watched all the commotion from the astral plane and couldn't help but chuckle. My that girl has a temper, of course Vladimir was making an ass of himself somewhat. She turned and met Vladimir's gaze as he shifted in to avoid Lina's blast. "That was entertaining but I must ask, why did you break them up? Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Yes and no."
"Well, what is the no part about, Lina is practically enamored with Zel."
"Yes indeed, but Zel doesn't see that, we need to make him see his true feelings as well as Lina's."
"How do we go about doing this," Illianna smiled wickedly, knowing Vladimir already had a plan in motion.
"I know how I just need to call in a little bit of assistance," Vladimir phased out, going to get a helper in his full plot.
Illianna looked at the spot where Vladimir was and thought for a second. Vladimir, if Lina only knew who you were this might go much easier. After shaking the thought off she disappeared into the astral plane until it was time to put the plan into action.
Disclaimer: Any characters or ideas from The Slayers do not belong to me. I am not selling this material, just writing for the heck of it as I go.
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