........"You're going to sacrifice me to a monster?!"
........"Yes. Zanrustan the Terrible must have a virgin sacrifice to be summoned." Martina looked critically at Amelia. "You are a virgin, right?"
........Amelia colored. "Of course I am!" As soon as she said it, she realized she could have lied, and been spared bloody death. Oh, well, she thought. It wouldn't be right to lie about something like this anyway.
........"But I don't want to be a sacrifice," she protested feebly instead.
........Martina cackled loudly, and the Seirun princess winced. This was giving her a headache. "You have no choice."
........This was obviously the time to queue the dramatic music, and it bothered Amelia, somehow, that she heard nothing.
........Lina and Gourry raced at top speed into the town, yelling, "FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD!"
........It had been days since they had eaten, and now they were practically starving to death. "Which way's the nearest food? " a slavering Lina demanded, lifting an innocent bystander by the shirt. He shakily pointed to the right, down the main street, and she plopped him down on his rump and raced off, Gourry close behind. The objective of the expedition was completely forgotten in their rush to fill their bottomless stomachs.
........Zelgadis had reached a seldom-used road out in the wild countryside, leading south. Martina's trail was harder to follow along the weedy, overgrown path, but still visible.
........As he walked, he thought. The dream had bothered him more than he would have been willing to admit. He pondered what it could mean.
........What disturbed him the most was his own reaction to the events in the dream scenario: his callous remark, his attraction to the beautiful girl, his desperate need for forgiveness, his smile and lighthearted feeling as the two girls giggled and hugged him, his unthinking acceptance of their confession of love and need. And over it all, the feeling of wrongness, of the absence of something key.
........And of these things, the most troubling by far was the attraction. He definitely didn't normally fall for beauty, but this girl had been breathtaking. More than that, her personality had intrigued him. So strong, and yet so—vulnerable. He found he liked the combination.
........Zelgadis shook his head, berating himself for thinking of this girl as a true person. She was a dream, a figment of his imagination, and he refused to let anything that wasn't real distract him from what was.
........So wrapped up in his thoughts was he that he nearly stumbled over a girl lying in the road.
........His first inclination was to just walk by, reasoning that it was none of his business and would only slow him down, but as he glanced disinterestedly down at her, he froze.
........Her.
........The girl with the dark hair. The girl from his dream.
........"What?!" he said disbelievingly. He dropped to his knees for a closer look, but it was unmistakably the same woman. "It can't possibly—" But it was.
........She was out cold, with a light gash on her forehead and a bruise on her left cheek. He tried to distance himself and tell his mind it was still none of his business, and would still slow him down, but his mind wasn't fooled.
........"Oh, hell," he sighed. "Might as well."
........A while later, Zelgadis sat by the small fire, watching his unconscious burden keenly, as he had been for the last hour. Her looks were still remarkable, but it was for a sign of consciousness that he watched. She had not yet stirred, and resolved to leave her if there was any possibility of his having to carry her again. It wasn't that she was heavy, just that she was bony and awkward to move.
........In the dream, he hadn't really noticed what she wore. She could have been nude, although he probably would have remembered that. She currently wore a red blouse with a muted pinkish tint, loosely cuffed halfway sleeves, and a collar. It buttoned down the front, and the top three buttons were undone. The bottom of the blouse was cut high and round over the hips to allow freedom of movement. The pants were of a curious, textured black cloth, rough and practical and very form-fitting.
........The longsword belted to her waist jarred with her odd attire, held firmly with a double-wrap belt much like Zelgadis's own.
........A sound jerked him alert and attentive. She stirred, moaned, and sat up, a hand over her eyes to blot out the light.
........"What the hell happened?" she asked, her musical voice slightly raspy and very cross.
........"So you're finally awake." She was on her feet and her sword was out almost before he finished. "And foul-mouthed." He studied her stance appraisingly. "And it looks as though you're well trained, too."
........
"Who are you?" she demanded harshly, "what the f*** am I doing here, and where is here?"
........
"Very foul," he said, ignoring her question. "How are you feeling, girl?"
........
She was taken aback by his lack of the proper response. "Uh, sore, but all right."
........
"Good. Then I can leave now." Zelgadis stretched his long legs and stood up, and began buckling his sword back on.
........
"Hey!" yelled the girl. "No one ignores me!" He smiled faintly.
........
"Then I'm about to set a new record." He began to walk.
........
"Wait!" she cried, her tone of voice completely different, cajoling and wheedling. "If you're just going to leave, then why did you help me?"
........
"I really don't know, so leave me alone." He actually wondered himself why his instincts were screaming at him to get away from this girl, but he dismissed it as the impending urgency of Amelia's possible danger took hold. "I don't have time for you anymore, girl."
........
"Stay anyway, and listen to me," she said, and the strangeness of this request gave him pause to turn around. She was standing there, a bandage across her brow, a sword belted at her waist, and a glint in her eye that suggested a tear, although it was not yet free of the orb. The insincerity of the scene struck him like a blow. He shook his head.
........
"I'm going. You do what you want to."
........
"Alright, I'll follow you then!"
........
He winced. "Except that."
........
"I would just love to see you try and stop me, Blue."
........
That stopped him in his tracks. "Blue?"
........
"I'm terrible with names, and since I'm going with you, I'll have to call you something." The perfectly fake innocence of this statement was like salt in an old, reopened wound. He fought to keep from yelling as he said, "Never, ever call me Blue, or anything else. You are not coming with me, and I never want to have anything to do with you ever again. Is that clear?"
........
And he left. She watched him go, a look of pure hatred on her face, and vanished with a small poof.
