"What will this do?" Zelgadis asked.
"The circle is for protection, and....a barrier." Aoife looked at Zelgadis eye to eye, perfectly honest. "The procedure may cause problems. Ya may snap. I don't want ya rampaging around, so the circle will hold you in, nullify your magic, and generally piss you off." She grinned at the last bit. "I'll be seeing what sort of spell was used on ya. I know the basics that Rezo taught me Master, and the whole of the enchantment used on me, so it canna be too hard to figure you out."
Lina stood on the side of the room fidgeting. She recognized some of the runes written into the circle. Some others she didn't, and she wondered about them. But mostly, she worried about Zel. The strain was visible on his face. The more he hoped, the harder it became for him to remain as human as he was.
"Aoife, let me help. I want to help Zel."
Aoife winked at Zelgadis. "Herself seems to think she can do anything." Turning to Lina she said, "What you don't recognize is the elven magic."
"Elven?"
"Aye. Me Master is tylwydd teg, half-elf. Diancecht the Gold."
"Diancecht the gold! The great mage? Master of Divination and Shamanism?" Zelgadis exclaimed.
"Aye, the very one. Master of all that, plus some other things. Not so long after he enchanted me, word came form Mipross that the elven race had returned. He went to get more learning from the full-blood elves."
"Does that mean he'll be back?" Lina asked.
Aoife shrugged. "Someday. Being part elf, he didna age so fast as we. When he's ready, aye, he'll be back. But, he's not handy to consult, so yer stuck with me. Can ya trust me?" she asked Zelgadis.
"I have to. I can't last much longer like this without...."
"I'll do as I can." Aoife finished the preparations, then stretched. Certainly Diancecht had been more circumspect with her, for if one overlooked the patterning of pebbles across her face and around her limbs, one would almost think she was a fully human priestess, standing there in her white shift. Zel noticed for the first time that she was barefoot.
Seeing the direction of her gaze, Aoife asked "What?"
"How.... how can you be so comfortable? So at ease with your form?" Zel asked in a quiet, but wondering, tone.
Aoife's eyes narrowed. "Lina, ya must leave us now."
Lina jumped. "Why?"
"If we get to talking, I'm gonna start the procedure, and I don't want ya here to see. Zelgadis, ya will not want her to see. Give me yer sword." Obediently, he handed it over, and Aoife passed it to Lina. "Take it and leave. Now."
Lina thought to protest again, but when she looked at Zelgadis, she could see he had made up his mind to trust Aoife, and he silently reinforced the request. Lina frowned and climbed the stairs to the main floor. She left the sword on the table, and went outside to where Gourry was polishing his own sword. Grumpy, Lina flopped down on hte grass beside him.
"Lina?"
"They're starting. All we can do is wait."
Hours passed. Sometimes Lina felt a wash of power flow by, as if strong magic were being cast. As the sun crept up and high towards noon, they could hear sounds coming from the basement lab. Eventually, those sounds crescendoed into screams, wild howling screams of one possessed. Lina couldn't take it anymore. "Come on, Gourry!" she yelled as she ran into the house and down the stairs.
As they reached the bottom, they heard Aoife's voice crying out a sleep spell. The screams cut off, but Aoife's voice went on, changing into a white magic spell for healing the mind. Lina began pounding on the door.
"Aoife? Aoife! You let us in right now! What's wrong with Zelgadis? Zel?"
Suddenly, between pounds, the door was flung open. Aoife stood, looking exhausted. She wavered on her feet as she gestured for them to enter. The magic circle was fading, revealing Zelgadis lying on the floor in the middle. His blue skin was darkened as if wet, and his hands showed signs of recent healing. The gouge marks and blood streaks on the floor revealed the reason.
"Aoife, what happened?" asked Gourry.
Aoife looked like she was about to cry, but furious at the same time. "That damned priest! That fecking, Mazoku-possessed bastard! He'd placed barriers around Zelgadis so tight, I had to pry them open to get at the core of the enchantment. At first, things went well. Zelgadis helped me as he could, but he became more difficult and incoherent as I went on. Finally, he went into a rage. I couldna stop, we were so close, and he tried to dig, DIG, outta the circle. He cast spells wildly, and howled like a beast. Finally, I got me hands on the core of the spell, read it out, and held it, but he was insane. He tried, oh, he tried to kill himself before I could learn everything!" Tears of fatigue and horror ran down her face, and she knelt beside Zelgadis's unconscious form, brushing his hair from his eyes. "Tis all the Red Bastard's doing. Oh, Master, would that ye were here to help his poor man!"
Lina knelt beside her and felt for a pulse. Zelgadis lived, but he seemed in such a deep unconsciousness that she was still worried. "Can you do anything? Aoife?"
Aoife sighed heavily. "Aye. The whole of his curse -- aye, it IS a curse! -- is held in the crystals. I can analyse it, see where it might be turned. I ken that I myust do something. But, I gotta rest first." She reached her arms around Zelgadis, and with a grunt, lifted him up.
Gourry stepped forward, "Here, let me."
"No, you canna carry him. Though he'd not so big as you, the golem makes him heavy. I'm the same." She carried Zel up the stairs and to a bedroom. Lina followed, helping to remove Zel's belts and boots. They left him on the bed, sleeping.
"When he wakes up, will he still be Zelgadis?" Lina asked as she trailed after Aoife.
"Hmmm? Oh, aye. Worse for wear, probably a bit ashamed of himself, but still the same stubborn amadan as before. Which is good. I'll need his smarts, and yers, to make sence of this. Now, please, I have to sleep." She went into another bedroom and shut the door.
Lina and Gourry both napped themselves that long afternoon. Gourry found a bow and quiver, and hunted a few rabbits for dinner. They were cooking them on a spit outside when Zelgadis woke that evening.
"Zel!" Lina cried, and nearly flew across the yard to pin him to the wall with a hug. Gourry came and grasped Zel's arm in the handshake of a comrade in arms relieved to find a friend unhurt. Zelgadis smiled weakly and pried Lina off him.
"I'm alright. I'm ok." Lina grinned up at him, and he allowed himself a wry smile. "You look like you've seen someone come back from the dead."
"How do you feel?" Gourry asked.
"Like I've been hit with a thousand cannon balls, then run over by the wagon. Is that dinner?"
"Yep! Come and eat."
As they ate, Lina hissed when she reached for some food. "Lina, are you OK?" Zel asked worriedly.
"I'm bruised from hugging you, you big stone idiot!"
Aoife's voice came from behind them. "Aye, well, what d'ye expect, running at a stone wall?" Her cocky grin covered the three warmly.
Zelgadis stood and reached his hand out to her. "I'm....sorry, for whatever I did."
"Dinna worry yerself," Aoife waved off the apology as unnecessary. "Pass me some rabbit."
They ate quickly, then gathered around a table in the laboratory. On the table were two groups of crystals, one group glimmering gold, the other blue, plus a sheaf of notes. Aoife brought out a bottle of brown liquid and served each a small glass of it. "Uisce beatha. A dram of whiskey. Just a bit, and sip only. Me Master found it a great help to intuition. Now," she drawled. "let's see what we can ken from this day's work."
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