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invoking_uraniaTitle: The Sun, Half Covered (Chapter 3)
Fandom: Slayers
Rating: PG
Genre: Mystery/Action
Words: 23,000 total (6,200 this chapter)
Notes/Warnings: Oh, boy. I started this ages ago. It might be older than my grad school career. I finally finished it for this year's![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
casestory. Art is by sholio. Beta work done by ![[insanejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/ij-userinfo.gif)
yuuo Story may have a Zel/Amelia bias, but I think it can be read as friendship.
Summary: Zelgadis's attempts to settle down are not working well. When Amelia asks him to accompany him to the southern frontier of Saillune to investigate reports of sabotage, it certainly sounds like a breath of fresh air. What he finds is a mess of politics and bigotry, and Amelia's attempts to help are hit or miss... and starting to drive Zel nuts. The two of them must work together to find the saboteur, and hope the discovery doesn't touch off a riot in a town divided.
Disclaimer: Slayers copyright Hajime Kanzaka/Rui Araizumi/Kadokawa/TV Tokyo/Medianet and this derivative work was created without permission.
Index
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Amelia and Zelgadis had discussed the matter over breakfast, and decided to walk out of town, then double back in the air to get to the location Urice described to them. The roundabout path and use of flying spells meant they wouldn't be followed or leave traces at the meeting place, and checking it out in daylight would mean they would be able to make better plans for that night.
Once they were in the air, Zelgadis looked for the mill stream. The location Urice had given them was on the river the stream flowed into, so all they needed to do was follow it downstream to where it joined the river. As they flew, the ground grew hillier, until they reached the river bluffs, covered in red stones. Further upstream, the river wound into a series of canyons. The plants were sparser around here, despite the water -- the ground was too rough for anything but the most tenacious scrub.
Amelia angled towards a cairn of rocks, and Zelgadis followed her. "We can't land there," he shouted. "We'll leave footprints. Over there -- there's a hill over there." The two of them landed. "This could make a good observation spot. It's away from the direction of approach."
Amelia nodded. "Good visibility too."
Zelgadis looked down, over their clothing. "Of us and them. Make sure to wear black tonight. Or something that's not white," he added, realizing Amelia still might object to the color of villains. "We'd stand out more if we have light colored clothing." He'd have to change as well.
"I'll see what I can find." Amelia nodded. "We're very close to the edge of the canyon. If we fly through that, it will prevent someone spotting us against the sky."
"Sounds good." Zelgadis said. "Hopefully, between the two of us, we can cut off any retreat."
It looked like everything was coming together. Which, of course meant that everything would come apart before tonight, but that was just how the world worked.
"Why are we eating dinner with the Galateis again? Shouldn't we be preparing for tonight?" Zelgadis asked. Not for the first time -- he had asked the previous night, but Amelia had asked that he bring it up tomorrow, since she was tired, and he had reluctantly agreed. But, now it was tomorrow, and they were out and about, and so now he wanted answers.
"And what do you call this?" Amelia asked.
"Well, yes. But we really don't need to be having some social occasion when we should be setting up. We'll have to be there well before the meeting, so our saboteur doesn't see us coming and bolt."
"And I think we should go. You heard Miss Halimeda last night -- only two people in the area look enough like her to fool Urice, and one of them is Mister Galatei's wife. We haven't really spoken to her much, and I want to get a sense of who we're dealing with."
"You know, if you want to be in charge, just say so." Zelgadis turned to look at Amelia. "I don't mind taking orders. I certainly do it enough when we travel with Lina. This is your trip anyway -- I'm just here because you asked me to be. Why did you put me in charge, anyway? You aren't trying to be all political about this, are you?"
"Well..." Amelia paused, looking away. "Kind of. I didn't realize people would care so much about this. When I announced it, I didn't expect so many people to be opposed to it -- I mean, no one was really using the land. Why should it matter who lives on it once its settled, as long as everyone has a fair chance to get it, and they all are peaceful people who obey the laws? I don't understand it -- I know it's unjust, but some people I thought were good people were saying things. Mister Galatei's father was one of them -- if you had asked me before this started whether he was a good man, I would have said 'of course."
"This is really bothering you, isn't it?" Zelgadis asked, already knowing the answer, but wanting to break up the flow of Amelia's words before he got overwhelmed.
"Yes, it is. Which is why I wanted someone else along, someone I trusted. Because I thought I had a handle on how to figure out motivations, but I don't think I do."
"You'd be better off with someone else. I just think the worst of people." Zelgadis said.
"And I think the best of people. Between us, then, we might have some sort of good judgement." Amelia smiled, and Zelgadis felt her take hold of his arm. Something in his face must have shown his surprise, since she stepped back. "I'm sorry, Mister Zelgadis, I-"
"It's fine, Amelia." He had forgotten about her crush on him, or had assumed it had changed into a strong friendship. All of the times they had spoken in the last six months hadn't shown any of that awkwardness, nor had he picked up anything on the trip down. They had mostly just talked. And now she's blushing. Great. "I just didn't expect- oh, never mind."
"If you say so, Mister Zelgadis." But she had stepped back and Zelgadis wondered if he had accidentally offended her, or something. Which would be my luck. Well, between us, we can show no social ability whatsoever.
"Why didn't you just make me your deputy then?" Zelgadis asked, trying to change the subject.
"Because I thought your outlook would be better than mine, so you should be in charge." Amelia answered. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you, Mister Zelgadis. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision."
She really needs to work on that. "Just don't do it again. I don't like surprises." He paused, considering for a moment what to say next. "Amelia, can I give you some advice? If I'm in charge, you can't keep stepping on my toes. It makes it look like you don't trust my judgement, which doesn't help either of us."
"I don't mean to, Mister Zelgadis. I just don't want either of us to overlook anything."
Zelgadis nodded. "I know, I know. Just... maybe we can try to split up. Tackle things from different angles, then talk it over and try to put the pieces together. I know you wanted to spend more time with me, but it could help us wrap this up quickly."
"As long as you don't try to leave me out of the important stuff, all right?" Amelia said.
"Of course not," Zelgadis said. "I've learned something about teamwork since you met me." More like remembered -- he'd learned it first with Zolf and Rodimus, and the shock of their deaths had pushed it away. After all these years with Lina, Gourry and Amelia, it was finally coming back to him.
"Let's finish looking things over," Amelia said. "I think we can hop over to that hill on the other side, and get a different view of the site. Then we better head back to town if we want to find something to wear for tonight, unless you brought anything."
Zelgadis thought about it, then sighed. "No, I don't have anything like that." Hopefully they wouldn't be talking Galatei out of spare pants for him -- if he wanted a way to make the man dislike him even more, that would probably be it.
* * *
Amelia spotted the storm clouds on the horizon, dark against the orange sky. Between scouting the site and some errands in town, they had been out all day, and it might well be a late night. A late, wet, night. At least dinner would give her a chance to sit down and have something substantial to eat. "Maybe we shouldn't bother going out tonight. Our suspect might just decide to stay in."
"And if we stay in, I'll bet she'll be out there." Zelgadis said. "But I can go alone, if you're worried about the storm."
"No, it's fine. If you think we should head out, we can." Amelia said, glancing at the clouds again. She had heard stories about flash floods out here, but she wasn't really sure about what one would look like. Being on a hill would help, wouldn't it?
Galatei was heading out as they arrived at the door of his house, a frown creasing his face. "Princess, I don't suppose you've seen my wife? She went out this afternoon to look at some of the fences in the back country, and hasn't been back yet."
"Have you even gone looking for her?" Zelgadis asked sharply. "We aren't-"
"What kind of a man do you think I am?" Galatei demanded. "I rode out and didn't see her. She couldn't have gotten far; there were fences that still needed mending. Which was why I was going to town to get more sets of eyes."
"Mister Zelgadis and I can see if we can spot her from the air. It looks like we'll be skipping dinner again, though." Amelia sighed. She'd really like to get a better handle on their hosts. Especially if Erica yas Galatei was a suspect.
"Thank you, Princess. I'll get some people from the town to help out on the ground." With a final glare at Zelgadis, Galatei took off at a brisk walk.
"We better stop at the house, to get you something for the rain," Zelgadis said. "We might not have a chance to head back before the stakeout."
Amelia shook her head. "Missus Galatei could be hurt. Let's just go."
"She's already been out there for a while, and it won't take long. I left my cloak in our room, anyway."
Even if it took an extra couple of minutes, once they got into the air, Amelia was glad they had stopped. She was really getting sick of flying. Mister Zelgadis's spare cloak did help with the wind, once she wrapped it around her. But it was more the fatigue of casting the same spell over and over. Ray Wing wasn't a horribly draining spell, but it never was meant to be used for long-distance travel. And they still might have to use it to get out to the stakeout site after they helped find Erica. It would be harder to spot two figures from the air than coming in over land.
She and Mister Zelgadis had spread out to search better. She could see him if she turned her head, and hear him if he shouted, but they were out of conversation range. Not that she could hear much over the rushing of the wind. She looked down, watching the cropland fly past her. The boundary of the property approached -- the Galateis had put a pasture between their crops and a section of rocky badlands that bordered their property. Amelia could see why someone would want to fence that in. A cow or a sheep or whatever they kept could easily break a leg if it got into the rocks, especially in the dark.
They were almost at the rocks now, and Amelia spotted a glint of white against the dark ground. "Over there!" she shouted, and angled down to land, aiming for a flat spot outside of the rough terrain. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zelgadis following suit.
"Let's approach on foot," she said once they were on the ground. She looked at the fence that had been there -- it had collapsed about ten feet away from where they stood, falling about five feet into a ravine. Which was about where she had seen the white spot from the air. Interesting.
Zelgadis nodded. "Fair enough." He cocked his head. "Someone's calling for help."
Amelia paused, trying not to even breathe. She couldn't hear anything, besides the wind picking up. But she trusted Zelgadis's ears. "Let's check it out." She quickly threw up a light spell, moving it behind their heads to cut down the glare. She saw Zelgadis turn her head towards her. "What?"
"Never mind," he said.
"No, really. What?"
"Well, if we wanted to sneak up on someone, that light spell killed any chance of it." Zelgadis started walking, at a pace that caused her to half run to keep up.
Amelia kept her eyes on the ground. Enough falls and you started to learn to be very careful about balance. She wanted to cross her arms and glare. "And get ourselves hurt trying to walk in the dark. Which would make it hard to do anything later tonight. Recovery spells can only do so much on a broken bone. You remember how long I was in that sling after Shabranigdo. Since right now we don't expect trouble, I didn't think it would be worth it."
"It's not that dark. I could see just fine."
"You have better eyes than me, then. It's getting too dark for me to see where I put my feet."
She heard his footsteps pause for only a moment, then resume, quicker. "Let's just get this over with," he said, his voice nearly a growl.
Amelia sighed. Zelgadis could be a bit high-strung. Probably more so since their discussion earlier. Her light let her spot a safe way down and she bounded across the rocks, not checking if Zelgadis was going to follow. So she came upon the woman first. It was Erica, for sure. Her face was drawn in pain, and coming closer, Amelia could see her leg was trapped beneath some rocks. "Oh, thank heavens," she said. "Princess, I hate to be a bother, but-"
"It's no bother, Missus Galatei. What happened?" She crouched near the woman, trying to get a better look at what happened. She saw Zelgadis, who had followed her down, take up a position on the other side of her.
"I was out here to check out the fences. Astin said he heard about one of our cows near his place, so I thought there might be a hole. But I don't see how a cow could get out of this. It was only a small hole when I found it. Bigger now."
"You fell?" Her foot could well be broken, but Amelia was more worried about her spine. If that was the case, she better at least cast a recovery spell before moving her, and take precautions. She remembered enough to know that moving back and neck injuries was dangerous. "Can you feel your legs?"
Erica nodded. "It hurts, a lot."
That was bad, but not the wort, but Amelia decided she better put a recovery spell on her back just to be safe. Nothing looked to be broken, and the spell should mend her enough to be safe to move. Neither she nor Zelgadis had the materials for a stretcher, and they couldn't leave her here all night. "Mister Zelgadis, can you move the rocks off her leg? Carefully?"
"I'd have to use magic, or take a lot longer. The area's still not stable." Zelgadis stared at the wall. "I don't want to bring more rocks down on all of our heads."
"Magic, then. After that, we better start looking for Mister Galatei and the search party. They won't see us from down here, so could you go back up and wave at anyone you see?" Amelia busied herself casting her recovery spell. She felt Erica tense up beneath her hands increase at the same time she felt Zelgadis's earth spell start shifting the ground. Amelia leaned forward to see the damage.
There was a lot of blood, and Erica's ankle had to be broken from the angle it was bent at. Amelia let her recovery spell expand to stop the bleeding. They would have to get someone -- Claire Sholei? -- to set the leg. Amelia might know the basics of white magic, but she wasn't going to set a bone when they could wait for someone who did it for a living. "Feeling better?"
"A little." Erica looked a little less pale, though it was hard to tell in the wan, bluish light from the light spell.
"Good." Amelia tried to smile reassuringly. "Your husband was going to get a search party together. Mister Zelgadis is up keeping an eye out for them. I'm sure they'll see us soon, then we can get you home and finish things up."
Erica nodded. "Thank you, by the way. And tell Mister Graywords thank you."
"You can tell him yourself when we get you out of here."
She felt a drop of rain run down her cheek, and remembered that gullies like this tended to channel rainwater. Her earlier fears of flash flooding came back to her with the raindrops. "Mister Zelgadis? I think we're going to have to move Missus Galatei if the rain picks up."
"There's someone coming," he said. "How urgent is it?"
"Depends on the weather," she answered. "I've heard places like this are prone to flooding."
She heard the sound of horses, and Zelgadis leaned over from above. "We've got a rescue party here. They have a stretcher."
"Oh, thank goodness." Amelia craned her neck, trying to spot her rescuers. She didn't have to; someone dismounted so quickly that she heard the thump.
"Erica?" Galatei looked like he was about to try to jump down into the ravine. Zelgadis motioned towards the path down they had used. If it had supported Zelgadis, after all, it was probably safe for most people. Galatei scrambled down it, and straight to his wife's side. "What happened? How bad is it?"
erica smiled at him. "Hello, Rian. I love you, but can we talk about this later, honey? I'm starting to get wet."
"Mister Galatei, can someone hand you down the stretcher?" Amelia asked. "We need to get Missus Galatei out of here before the rain really starts."
"Oh. Right. Yes, Your Highness."
One of the men Galatei had brought with him, a human man who seemed like one of the dozens of people she'd seen around the town but who she hadn't gotten a name for, handed him the bundle. Amelia helped Galatei spread spread it out next to his wife. "Could you two come down and help us here?" Amelia asked. "We could use another set of arms."
With Zelgadis, and the farmer that had handed Galatei the stretcher down on the ground, Amelia thought they could manage. "All right, now could you three gather around? I'm nearly certain her back wasn't hurt, but if I'm wrong, you need to keep it as still as possible when you move her. Ready? One... two... three!"
With a grunt of pain from Erica, the three men carefully rolled her onto the stretcher. Amelia motioned Mister Zelgadis to take the foot, while she grabbed the head. "It'll be safer for us to levitate her out. I don't know if we can get this up the path we used, and we don't have anything to anchor a rope."
"Fine. Do it." Galatei looked much graver than he had so far. Not surprising, with his wife lying injured in a ravine.
Amelia was thankful she had had a lot of practice coordinating spells with Zelgadis. She could almost cast the levitation spell without watching to match him. Almost, but she wasn't going to take a risk like that. It was only a short spell, and by the time they rose to the top and then slightly over to solid ground again, she was already tired from concentrating. I've been using too much magic today. It was amazing how much the little spells could build up.
Galatei had brought a small wagon, and they set Erica down on the bed of the wagon. "When you get back, send for Miss Sholei," Amelia told both of them. "It'd be better to have that set before you put any more healing spells on it. Sometimes magic can be funny about broken limbs."
"Aren't you coming back with us, Your Highness?" Galatei asked. "The storms around here don't happen terribly often, but they can be grueling if you're caught out in one."
Amelia looked to Zelgadis. "I can manage by myself if you're too tired, Amelia," he said.
"I'm not tired," she said quickly. "If you need a second person, I'm fine." She really didn't want to be left out of this. Anyway, they had done much more tiring things in their travels, when there wasn't an option of going back to a warm, dry house.
Zelgadis shrugged. "Your decision. Let's go then. If someone's crazy enough to be out in this weather, that is."
"Right."
This time, the two of them flew nearly on top of one another, letting the combined Ray Wing spell shield them from the rain and wind. There was no lightning yet, though the clouds had looked like thunderheads coming in. Once the lightning got going, it most certainly wouldn't be safe to fly without an additional spell to neutralize the lightning, a spell taking magical energy she suspected she didn't have. Maybe she should have just stayed back and let Zelgadis handle things. Then again, he probably was as tired as she was. He hadn't cast the recovery spells, but he had used some earth shamanism she hadn't.
Amelia nearly didn't recognize their hillside in the rain. She did see the river, filled with rushing, pale water, but all the land around it looked to be the same slick, black terrain. "Here it is," Zelgadis said, his voice nearly lost to the wind, despite the shielding effect of the spell. "There's the cairn."
"I don't see anyone," Amelia said.
"Maybe she's not here yet." Zelgadis said. "Or maybe she's not coming."
"I really hope not," Amelia drew her borrowed cloak around her as they landed and lost the protection of the spell, quickly feeling the effect of the rain. "I don't like the rain. Especially outside in the rain."
"Crouch down a bit. You'll make less of a target that way -- for both the rain and our saboteur."
Amelia did as he suggested, crouching next to him. She stared into a growing storm, hearing thunder in the distance. I don't think this is going to work. And we're far from town. This is all getting rather dangerous. No one who traveled with Lina Inverse for long could afford an intense fear of danger. But getting killed by lightning, or a flash flood when she had survived the attempts of half of the high-powered mazoku in the world to kill Lina and her friends, seemed kind of... well, silly. She suspected Zelgadis felt the same way.
"I see a light coming." Mister Zelgadis said. Amelia squinted into the storm, looking carefully until spotted the flicker as well. It bobbed, not just due to the reflections off the rain. Someone was walking towards them.
She could barely make hints of a person out; a light cloak, an arm holding a lantern, a spell against the rain. The newcomer, the saboteur, showed no pause in walking up to the meeting spot.
Amelia glanced at Zelgadis, despite barely able to to see him. "Now?"
"Now."
The two of them took off running down the slope, towards their suspect, who turned her light towards them and then bolted. Amelia felt her boots slip in the mud, and, quickly, she turned this into a controlled slide down the hill. "Stop right there!" she shouted. Now, this was more like it. They had a suspect, clearly marked out, and only had to run her down. This she could do.
Their suspect was slightly slower than Amelia, thanks to Amelia's slide. Whatever it was, Amelia closed with her, and as she felt the end of the hill coming up, she leapt, trying to grab a hold of the suspect.
Success! She had gotten a hold of the woman's cloak! "Don't move! You'll just choke yourself!" Amelia yelled as she felt the fabric go taut in her hand. Sure, she had nearly lost her balance trying to grab the suspect, but she was all right now. She moved to put a hand on the suspect herself, just to make sure she didn't get away.
The woman turned, quickly, striking Amelia in the gut, hard. Amelia gave a gasp as the wind was knocked out of her. She hit the ground hard and she heard the sound of tearing fabric. She saw Zelgadis go tearing past her, and quickly stood up to follow him, careful not to fall over from the slick ground. She very nearly fell down a second time when he stopped suddenly. He put his arm out, catching her. "Careful. The cliff ends here. You don't want to fall into the river."
"What about the villain?" Amelia asked. How... well, how unfair for her to get away finally when they had a suspect.
"She went over the cliff," Zelgadis said.
Amelia paused, considering this. "On purpose?"
"I would suppose so. She jumped. Either she really didn't want to be captured-"
"-Or she cast a flight spell on her way down and hid." Amelia finished. "I don't think we can find her in this weather. We were lucky to see her at all."
"Yeah. Lucky. Amelia, you still have her cloak, did you know that?"
"What?" Amelia looked at her arm, which still was clutching a long strip of fabric. "Oh, yeah. Look like it tore when she got away." She held it up. "Looks pretty simple. Wait a second, there's something on the clasp. Lighting."
She didn't put much energy in the light spell; she didn't have much energy to put in it. But it was enough to show a coat of arms on the crest. "That looks familiar," Zelgadis said.
"It almost looks like the Galatei family crest," Amelia said.
"Does it now?" Mister Zelgadis said. "There's no way Missus Galatei was out here tonight, and that was too short for her husband. Could it be a fake?"
"A forgery?" Amelia asked. "Maybe. I can't tell in this light. That means Missus Galatei's accident might not be an accident, if someone wanted to be sure she'd have no alibi tonight."
Zelgadis looked grim. "Things are getting a lot more complicated."
* * *
The Galatei house was dark when Amelia and Zelgadis approached it, soaked and covered in mud. "You don't suppose we'll be able to get a bath?" Amelia asked. "I thought this part of the country was supposed to be dry."
"Maybe whatever it was that your mages did is working," Zelgadis suggested. "It's just our luck we had to arrive here the one time it decides to storm. Anyway, I'd settle for towels and dry clothing." It was going to take forever for his cloak to dry. And his spare was just as wet, since he loaned it to Amelia.
"Maybe. Hopefully." Amelia smiled, pushing her bangs out of her face. She knocked on the door politely.
"Everyone's asleep," Zelgadis said. "Let's just go inside before they wake up." He put a hand on the door, fumbling for the latch in the darkness.
"It's not latched," a voice came from inside. Zelgadis pushed the door open. He heard someone strike a match, and saw the person, seated on the floor, or close to it, light a lamp. it was Missus Galatei. Someone, probably her husband, had brought down bedding and a mattress and had laid them in the front room. Erica herself sounded a bit better than when Zel last heard her, which wasn't saying much. "Once you two get inside and take off your cloaks and shoes, could one of you take the lamp from me?"
"Missus Galatei? What are you doing down here?" Amelia asked, stepping inside and removing her boots and cloak. Zelgadis stepped out of her way, and began undoing the laces on his own shoes. Hanging his cloak up, he immediately felt lighter. He hadn't realized exactly how much water the thing had soaked up. He also felt rather strange not wearing it, like he was half-naked. Given how much stuff he carried in it, a habit he had developed well before he and Lina had started exchanging tips on the subject, it probably wasn't surprising. Except for the fact he was going to head to bed as soon as he could; maybe the unsettled feeling was from still being wound up from their night out.
"We weren't able to find the priestess in town," Erica said, once Amelia set the lamp on a nearby table. "Or Miss Halimeda. Her assistant and one of the farmers managed to bind up my leg as best they could. He said all it needed now was a bit of magic."
"I can do a bit now for the pain," Amelia said, "but we'll have to wait until the morning to heal it fully. I'm sorry, Missus Galatei, but I'm just too exhausted to manage a spell like that."
"Don't trouble yourself, Your Highness. Mister Astin gave me some tea that helped some," Erica said.
"Mister Astin? Isn't he the miller's assistant?" Zelgadis said. He was also decidedly not human, if Zelgadis remembered correctly.
"He also farms in the area," Erica said. "Actually, he was the one who spotted the cow I was looking for. He and Miss Halimeda's assistant are friends."
Zelgadis nodded. Perhaps Erica wasn't as much of a jerk as her husband about chimera. Or maybe a broken leg was the great equalizer, and she was willing to take tea from Ruby Eye Shabranigdo himself if it would lessen the pain.
A bit more troubling was the news about Miss Halimeda and Priestess Sholei. Both were on Zelgadis's lists as people who could have been out by the river. They still didn't have anything better to go on than Urice's description, and either woman fit the description and had enough magic to cast as many spells as they wanted.
There was just the matter of neither of them having an actual motive for sabotage, or trying to frame the Galateis, unless you count Leigh's evident dislike of Rian yas Galatei. Which probably meant that he needed to actually talk to them both some more. Or ask Amelia to follow up on her own conversations. Probably they'd have to both be there, since two sets of eyes were better than one.
He nearly missed what Amelia and Erica were talking about. "Excuse me?" he said.
"I was just asking Missus Galatei if she was missing her cloak," Amelia said. "She said she left it somewhere about a week ago, and hasn't be able to track it down."
"Oh. No clue where?"
"Somewhere in town when I was off running errands. It was cool in the morning, but it warmed up quickly. I must have left it one of the places I stopped."
"I don't suppose you were visiting Leigh Halimeda or Claire Sholei?" Zelgadis asked. Amelia gave him a quizzical look.
"Both of them, in fact. I had some of Miss Halimeda's water stones to pick up, and ran into Miss Sholei getting the mail, and she invited me back for tea. Why do you ask?"
"Just something I was thinking about," Zelgadis said.
"We probably should leave you to your rest, Missus Galatei. Let's go, Mister Zelgadis." Amelia took his arm, leading him away.
As they quietly headed up the stairs, Amelia asked, "What was that about? Surely you don't suspect..."
"Yes, I do suspect Leigh and the priestess," Zelgadis said. "Though at this point, I'm pretty much grasping at straws here until we get a motive, so I'm suspecting everyone who doesn't have an alibi. They're at the top of the list only because I want to rule out the known sorceresses first." He opened the door to their room. "I'll wait outside until you change."
"Thank you Mister Zelgadis," Amelia said as she entered. "I won't take long. You look like you need to dry off as well. You'll get sick if you stay in wet clothing for long."
Zelgadis nodded. His clothing was already doing that unpleasant thing where it started to cling and get caught on the various stones jutting out of his skin. Not to mention that it was damp and clammy, and he was starting to feel very cold.
Amelia was thankfully quick with her changing. "Your turn," she said, taking a position outside. Amelia had changed into her pajamas -- a not-so-subtle sign that she wasn't going out again tonight.
Zelgadis managed to find his own pajamas, folded at the foot of his bed, and a spare set of clothing. He quickly stripped, hanging his wet clothing over the line they had strung up.
He reached for his pajamas, then hesitated. Unlike Amelia, he wanted to keep working and find out who was behind this. They'd finally gotten a couple of leads, even if they were tenuous ones. Someone had wanted to pin this on the Galateis, just like someone had tried to set up Leigh Halimeda. Whoever it was, she was covering her tracks well enough that half the town could be a suspect if Zelgadis didn't find the real culprit quickly.
You're getting far too involved in this, Zelgadis. He was surprised how much the problem had drawn him in. It was becoming a matter of pride, not just a favor for Amelia. Which reminded him, Amelia was still waiting outside while he was standing around thinking in his underwear. He looked at both bundles of clothing, and chose the pajamas. No one would be up at this hour anyway, and he didn't want to head out into the rain again. Especially without his cloak.
Once he was finished dressing, and had wiped down his hair and skin with a towel, he called to Amelia, "You can come back in now."
He was seated on his bed, and had left the curtain between their sides of the room open. They needed the line for drying clothing, anyway. The used towels went below it, soaking up the dripping water before it made puddles on the floor. Are you heading to bed?" Amelia asked, looking at the lit candle on the nightstand.
"Not quite yet. I think we should talk to Miss Halimedia and Priestess Sholei tomorrow. Ask for alibis."
"You really do think one of them did it, don't you, Mister Zelgadis?" Amelia asked, sitting on her bed, facing him.
He didn't add 'or both'. "Unless there's someone else in the town that looks enough like them that a wig would fool Urice, and is hiding her magic."
"But why?" Amelia asked. "I know Miss Halimeda, and she's been one of the strongest supporters of this project. And Miss Sholei's a priestess. How could she condone this kind of slander and injustice?"
"I've met plenty of sorcerers and priests who say one thing and do another," Zelgadis said. "But, honestly, I don't know why. And maybe it is someone else, and we're back to the beginning with nothing to show for it."
Amelia sighed. "I suppose so. I just wish things were simpler. Life would be a lot easier if it was like it was in the storybooks and plays. The heroes could just ride into town on their white horses and find the bad guys, and bring them to justice. Or the clever detective can just look at the scene and put the clues together that everyone missed."
"If it was that simple, most of the people probably wouldn't be here. A lot of them probably did some nasty things to make a living. You can't be too choosy when you're not human, and those stories aren't too kind to the villain's minions," Zelgadis said, glancing at Amelia out of the corner of his eye. He was slightly curious how Amelia would react to that.
"I... I suppose not." Amelia said. "I never thought what the bad guys' armies thought, you know? It makes a lot of those old war stories a bit more depressing. That's awfully thoughtful of you, Mister Zelgadis."
He shrugged. "Not especially. I've done mercenary work myself, and worked with a lot of beastmen when I was short of money looking for my cure. Not so many other chimera. I tried to avoid working for sorcerers after Rezo, and most chimera don't survive the deaths of their creators. You get to know a few decent sorts, and a few jerks, and a lot of people that just blur together. Like all people, really."
"It's still a very decent thing to say," Amelia said.
Zelgadis didn't say anything. I really wish she wouldn't give me those noble motives. But, he wasn't sure what to do about it, besides suddenly start acting like a jerk just to disabuse Amelia of the notion that he was secretly a nice guy. Which wasn't that helpful.
Amelia yawned. "I'm going to go to bed now, Mister Zelgadis. Blow out the candle when you go to bed."
"I probably should get some sleep as well. Good night, Amelia."
She slid into bed. "'Night, Mister Zelgadis."
Index
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Fandom: Slayers
Rating: PG
Genre: Mystery/Action
Words: 23,000 total (6,200 this chapter)
Notes/Warnings: Oh, boy. I started this ages ago. It might be older than my grad school career. I finally finished it for this year's
casestory. Art is by sholio. Beta work done by yuuo Story may have a Zel/Amelia bias, but I think it can be read as friendship. Summary: Zelgadis's attempts to settle down are not working well. When Amelia asks him to accompany him to the southern frontier of Saillune to investigate reports of sabotage, it certainly sounds like a breath of fresh air. What he finds is a mess of politics and bigotry, and Amelia's attempts to help are hit or miss... and starting to drive Zel nuts. The two of them must work together to find the saboteur, and hope the discovery doesn't touch off a riot in a town divided.
Disclaimer: Slayers copyright Hajime Kanzaka/Rui Araizumi/Kadokawa/TV Tokyo/Medianet and this derivative work was created without permission.
Index
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Amelia and Zelgadis had discussed the matter over breakfast, and decided to walk out of town, then double back in the air to get to the location Urice described to them. The roundabout path and use of flying spells meant they wouldn't be followed or leave traces at the meeting place, and checking it out in daylight would mean they would be able to make better plans for that night.
Once they were in the air, Zelgadis looked for the mill stream. The location Urice had given them was on the river the stream flowed into, so all they needed to do was follow it downstream to where it joined the river. As they flew, the ground grew hillier, until they reached the river bluffs, covered in red stones. Further upstream, the river wound into a series of canyons. The plants were sparser around here, despite the water -- the ground was too rough for anything but the most tenacious scrub.
Amelia angled towards a cairn of rocks, and Zelgadis followed her. "We can't land there," he shouted. "We'll leave footprints. Over there -- there's a hill over there." The two of them landed. "This could make a good observation spot. It's away from the direction of approach."
Amelia nodded. "Good visibility too."
Zelgadis looked down, over their clothing. "Of us and them. Make sure to wear black tonight. Or something that's not white," he added, realizing Amelia still might object to the color of villains. "We'd stand out more if we have light colored clothing." He'd have to change as well.
"I'll see what I can find." Amelia nodded. "We're very close to the edge of the canyon. If we fly through that, it will prevent someone spotting us against the sky."
"Sounds good." Zelgadis said. "Hopefully, between the two of us, we can cut off any retreat."
It looked like everything was coming together. Which, of course meant that everything would come apart before tonight, but that was just how the world worked.
"Why are we eating dinner with the Galateis again? Shouldn't we be preparing for tonight?" Zelgadis asked. Not for the first time -- he had asked the previous night, but Amelia had asked that he bring it up tomorrow, since she was tired, and he had reluctantly agreed. But, now it was tomorrow, and they were out and about, and so now he wanted answers.
"And what do you call this?" Amelia asked.
"Well, yes. But we really don't need to be having some social occasion when we should be setting up. We'll have to be there well before the meeting, so our saboteur doesn't see us coming and bolt."
"And I think we should go. You heard Miss Halimeda last night -- only two people in the area look enough like her to fool Urice, and one of them is Mister Galatei's wife. We haven't really spoken to her much, and I want to get a sense of who we're dealing with."
"You know, if you want to be in charge, just say so." Zelgadis turned to look at Amelia. "I don't mind taking orders. I certainly do it enough when we travel with Lina. This is your trip anyway -- I'm just here because you asked me to be. Why did you put me in charge, anyway? You aren't trying to be all political about this, are you?"
"Well..." Amelia paused, looking away. "Kind of. I didn't realize people would care so much about this. When I announced it, I didn't expect so many people to be opposed to it -- I mean, no one was really using the land. Why should it matter who lives on it once its settled, as long as everyone has a fair chance to get it, and they all are peaceful people who obey the laws? I don't understand it -- I know it's unjust, but some people I thought were good people were saying things. Mister Galatei's father was one of them -- if you had asked me before this started whether he was a good man, I would have said 'of course."
"This is really bothering you, isn't it?" Zelgadis asked, already knowing the answer, but wanting to break up the flow of Amelia's words before he got overwhelmed.
"Yes, it is. Which is why I wanted someone else along, someone I trusted. Because I thought I had a handle on how to figure out motivations, but I don't think I do."
"You'd be better off with someone else. I just think the worst of people." Zelgadis said.
"And I think the best of people. Between us, then, we might have some sort of good judgement." Amelia smiled, and Zelgadis felt her take hold of his arm. Something in his face must have shown his surprise, since she stepped back. "I'm sorry, Mister Zelgadis, I-"
"It's fine, Amelia." He had forgotten about her crush on him, or had assumed it had changed into a strong friendship. All of the times they had spoken in the last six months hadn't shown any of that awkwardness, nor had he picked up anything on the trip down. They had mostly just talked. And now she's blushing. Great. "I just didn't expect- oh, never mind."
"If you say so, Mister Zelgadis." But she had stepped back and Zelgadis wondered if he had accidentally offended her, or something. Which would be my luck. Well, between us, we can show no social ability whatsoever.
"Why didn't you just make me your deputy then?" Zelgadis asked, trying to change the subject.
"Because I thought your outlook would be better than mine, so you should be in charge." Amelia answered. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you, Mister Zelgadis. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision."
She really needs to work on that. "Just don't do it again. I don't like surprises." He paused, considering for a moment what to say next. "Amelia, can I give you some advice? If I'm in charge, you can't keep stepping on my toes. It makes it look like you don't trust my judgement, which doesn't help either of us."
"I don't mean to, Mister Zelgadis. I just don't want either of us to overlook anything."
Zelgadis nodded. "I know, I know. Just... maybe we can try to split up. Tackle things from different angles, then talk it over and try to put the pieces together. I know you wanted to spend more time with me, but it could help us wrap this up quickly."
"As long as you don't try to leave me out of the important stuff, all right?" Amelia said.
"Of course not," Zelgadis said. "I've learned something about teamwork since you met me." More like remembered -- he'd learned it first with Zolf and Rodimus, and the shock of their deaths had pushed it away. After all these years with Lina, Gourry and Amelia, it was finally coming back to him.
"Let's finish looking things over," Amelia said. "I think we can hop over to that hill on the other side, and get a different view of the site. Then we better head back to town if we want to find something to wear for tonight, unless you brought anything."
Zelgadis thought about it, then sighed. "No, I don't have anything like that." Hopefully they wouldn't be talking Galatei out of spare pants for him -- if he wanted a way to make the man dislike him even more, that would probably be it.
* * *
Amelia spotted the storm clouds on the horizon, dark against the orange sky. Between scouting the site and some errands in town, they had been out all day, and it might well be a late night. A late, wet, night. At least dinner would give her a chance to sit down and have something substantial to eat. "Maybe we shouldn't bother going out tonight. Our suspect might just decide to stay in."
"And if we stay in, I'll bet she'll be out there." Zelgadis said. "But I can go alone, if you're worried about the storm."
"No, it's fine. If you think we should head out, we can." Amelia said, glancing at the clouds again. She had heard stories about flash floods out here, but she wasn't really sure about what one would look like. Being on a hill would help, wouldn't it?
Galatei was heading out as they arrived at the door of his house, a frown creasing his face. "Princess, I don't suppose you've seen my wife? She went out this afternoon to look at some of the fences in the back country, and hasn't been back yet."
"Have you even gone looking for her?" Zelgadis asked sharply. "We aren't-"
"What kind of a man do you think I am?" Galatei demanded. "I rode out and didn't see her. She couldn't have gotten far; there were fences that still needed mending. Which was why I was going to town to get more sets of eyes."
"Mister Zelgadis and I can see if we can spot her from the air. It looks like we'll be skipping dinner again, though." Amelia sighed. She'd really like to get a better handle on their hosts. Especially if Erica yas Galatei was a suspect.
"Thank you, Princess. I'll get some people from the town to help out on the ground." With a final glare at Zelgadis, Galatei took off at a brisk walk.
"We better stop at the house, to get you something for the rain," Zelgadis said. "We might not have a chance to head back before the stakeout."
Amelia shook her head. "Missus Galatei could be hurt. Let's just go."
"She's already been out there for a while, and it won't take long. I left my cloak in our room, anyway."
Even if it took an extra couple of minutes, once they got into the air, Amelia was glad they had stopped. She was really getting sick of flying. Mister Zelgadis's spare cloak did help with the wind, once she wrapped it around her. But it was more the fatigue of casting the same spell over and over. Ray Wing wasn't a horribly draining spell, but it never was meant to be used for long-distance travel. And they still might have to use it to get out to the stakeout site after they helped find Erica. It would be harder to spot two figures from the air than coming in over land.
She and Mister Zelgadis had spread out to search better. She could see him if she turned her head, and hear him if he shouted, but they were out of conversation range. Not that she could hear much over the rushing of the wind. She looked down, watching the cropland fly past her. The boundary of the property approached -- the Galateis had put a pasture between their crops and a section of rocky badlands that bordered their property. Amelia could see why someone would want to fence that in. A cow or a sheep or whatever they kept could easily break a leg if it got into the rocks, especially in the dark.
They were almost at the rocks now, and Amelia spotted a glint of white against the dark ground. "Over there!" she shouted, and angled down to land, aiming for a flat spot outside of the rough terrain. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zelgadis following suit.
"Let's approach on foot," she said once they were on the ground. She looked at the fence that had been there -- it had collapsed about ten feet away from where they stood, falling about five feet into a ravine. Which was about where she had seen the white spot from the air. Interesting.
Zelgadis nodded. "Fair enough." He cocked his head. "Someone's calling for help."
Amelia paused, trying not to even breathe. She couldn't hear anything, besides the wind picking up. But she trusted Zelgadis's ears. "Let's check it out." She quickly threw up a light spell, moving it behind their heads to cut down the glare. She saw Zelgadis turn her head towards her. "What?"
"Never mind," he said.
"No, really. What?"
"Well, if we wanted to sneak up on someone, that light spell killed any chance of it." Zelgadis started walking, at a pace that caused her to half run to keep up.
Amelia kept her eyes on the ground. Enough falls and you started to learn to be very careful about balance. She wanted to cross her arms and glare. "And get ourselves hurt trying to walk in the dark. Which would make it hard to do anything later tonight. Recovery spells can only do so much on a broken bone. You remember how long I was in that sling after Shabranigdo. Since right now we don't expect trouble, I didn't think it would be worth it."
"It's not that dark. I could see just fine."
"You have better eyes than me, then. It's getting too dark for me to see where I put my feet."
She heard his footsteps pause for only a moment, then resume, quicker. "Let's just get this over with," he said, his voice nearly a growl.
Amelia sighed. Zelgadis could be a bit high-strung. Probably more so since their discussion earlier. Her light let her spot a safe way down and she bounded across the rocks, not checking if Zelgadis was going to follow. So she came upon the woman first. It was Erica, for sure. Her face was drawn in pain, and coming closer, Amelia could see her leg was trapped beneath some rocks. "Oh, thank heavens," she said. "Princess, I hate to be a bother, but-"
"It's no bother, Missus Galatei. What happened?" She crouched near the woman, trying to get a better look at what happened. She saw Zelgadis, who had followed her down, take up a position on the other side of her.
"I was out here to check out the fences. Astin said he heard about one of our cows near his place, so I thought there might be a hole. But I don't see how a cow could get out of this. It was only a small hole when I found it. Bigger now."
"You fell?" Her foot could well be broken, but Amelia was more worried about her spine. If that was the case, she better at least cast a recovery spell before moving her, and take precautions. She remembered enough to know that moving back and neck injuries was dangerous. "Can you feel your legs?"
Erica nodded. "It hurts, a lot."
That was bad, but not the wort, but Amelia decided she better put a recovery spell on her back just to be safe. Nothing looked to be broken, and the spell should mend her enough to be safe to move. Neither she nor Zelgadis had the materials for a stretcher, and they couldn't leave her here all night. "Mister Zelgadis, can you move the rocks off her leg? Carefully?"
"I'd have to use magic, or take a lot longer. The area's still not stable." Zelgadis stared at the wall. "I don't want to bring more rocks down on all of our heads."
"Magic, then. After that, we better start looking for Mister Galatei and the search party. They won't see us from down here, so could you go back up and wave at anyone you see?" Amelia busied herself casting her recovery spell. She felt Erica tense up beneath her hands increase at the same time she felt Zelgadis's earth spell start shifting the ground. Amelia leaned forward to see the damage.
There was a lot of blood, and Erica's ankle had to be broken from the angle it was bent at. Amelia let her recovery spell expand to stop the bleeding. They would have to get someone -- Claire Sholei? -- to set the leg. Amelia might know the basics of white magic, but she wasn't going to set a bone when they could wait for someone who did it for a living. "Feeling better?"
"A little." Erica looked a little less pale, though it was hard to tell in the wan, bluish light from the light spell.
"Good." Amelia tried to smile reassuringly. "Your husband was going to get a search party together. Mister Zelgadis is up keeping an eye out for them. I'm sure they'll see us soon, then we can get you home and finish things up."
Erica nodded. "Thank you, by the way. And tell Mister Graywords thank you."
"You can tell him yourself when we get you out of here."
She felt a drop of rain run down her cheek, and remembered that gullies like this tended to channel rainwater. Her earlier fears of flash flooding came back to her with the raindrops. "Mister Zelgadis? I think we're going to have to move Missus Galatei if the rain picks up."
"There's someone coming," he said. "How urgent is it?"
"Depends on the weather," she answered. "I've heard places like this are prone to flooding."
She heard the sound of horses, and Zelgadis leaned over from above. "We've got a rescue party here. They have a stretcher."
"Oh, thank goodness." Amelia craned her neck, trying to spot her rescuers. She didn't have to; someone dismounted so quickly that she heard the thump.
"Erica?" Galatei looked like he was about to try to jump down into the ravine. Zelgadis motioned towards the path down they had used. If it had supported Zelgadis, after all, it was probably safe for most people. Galatei scrambled down it, and straight to his wife's side. "What happened? How bad is it?"
erica smiled at him. "Hello, Rian. I love you, but can we talk about this later, honey? I'm starting to get wet."
"Mister Galatei, can someone hand you down the stretcher?" Amelia asked. "We need to get Missus Galatei out of here before the rain really starts."
"Oh. Right. Yes, Your Highness."
One of the men Galatei had brought with him, a human man who seemed like one of the dozens of people she'd seen around the town but who she hadn't gotten a name for, handed him the bundle. Amelia helped Galatei spread spread it out next to his wife. "Could you two come down and help us here?" Amelia asked. "We could use another set of arms."
With Zelgadis, and the farmer that had handed Galatei the stretcher down on the ground, Amelia thought they could manage. "All right, now could you three gather around? I'm nearly certain her back wasn't hurt, but if I'm wrong, you need to keep it as still as possible when you move her. Ready? One... two... three!"
With a grunt of pain from Erica, the three men carefully rolled her onto the stretcher. Amelia motioned Mister Zelgadis to take the foot, while she grabbed the head. "It'll be safer for us to levitate her out. I don't know if we can get this up the path we used, and we don't have anything to anchor a rope."
"Fine. Do it." Galatei looked much graver than he had so far. Not surprising, with his wife lying injured in a ravine.
Amelia was thankful she had had a lot of practice coordinating spells with Zelgadis. She could almost cast the levitation spell without watching to match him. Almost, but she wasn't going to take a risk like that. It was only a short spell, and by the time they rose to the top and then slightly over to solid ground again, she was already tired from concentrating. I've been using too much magic today. It was amazing how much the little spells could build up.
Galatei had brought a small wagon, and they set Erica down on the bed of the wagon. "When you get back, send for Miss Sholei," Amelia told both of them. "It'd be better to have that set before you put any more healing spells on it. Sometimes magic can be funny about broken limbs."
"Aren't you coming back with us, Your Highness?" Galatei asked. "The storms around here don't happen terribly often, but they can be grueling if you're caught out in one."
Amelia looked to Zelgadis. "I can manage by myself if you're too tired, Amelia," he said.
"I'm not tired," she said quickly. "If you need a second person, I'm fine." She really didn't want to be left out of this. Anyway, they had done much more tiring things in their travels, when there wasn't an option of going back to a warm, dry house.
Zelgadis shrugged. "Your decision. Let's go then. If someone's crazy enough to be out in this weather, that is."
"Right."
This time, the two of them flew nearly on top of one another, letting the combined Ray Wing spell shield them from the rain and wind. There was no lightning yet, though the clouds had looked like thunderheads coming in. Once the lightning got going, it most certainly wouldn't be safe to fly without an additional spell to neutralize the lightning, a spell taking magical energy she suspected she didn't have. Maybe she should have just stayed back and let Zelgadis handle things. Then again, he probably was as tired as she was. He hadn't cast the recovery spells, but he had used some earth shamanism she hadn't.
Amelia nearly didn't recognize their hillside in the rain. She did see the river, filled with rushing, pale water, but all the land around it looked to be the same slick, black terrain. "Here it is," Zelgadis said, his voice nearly lost to the wind, despite the shielding effect of the spell. "There's the cairn."
"I don't see anyone," Amelia said.
"Maybe she's not here yet." Zelgadis said. "Or maybe she's not coming."
"I really hope not," Amelia drew her borrowed cloak around her as they landed and lost the protection of the spell, quickly feeling the effect of the rain. "I don't like the rain. Especially outside in the rain."
"Crouch down a bit. You'll make less of a target that way -- for both the rain and our saboteur."
Amelia did as he suggested, crouching next to him. She stared into a growing storm, hearing thunder in the distance. I don't think this is going to work. And we're far from town. This is all getting rather dangerous. No one who traveled with Lina Inverse for long could afford an intense fear of danger. But getting killed by lightning, or a flash flood when she had survived the attempts of half of the high-powered mazoku in the world to kill Lina and her friends, seemed kind of... well, silly. She suspected Zelgadis felt the same way.
"I see a light coming." Mister Zelgadis said. Amelia squinted into the storm, looking carefully until spotted the flicker as well. It bobbed, not just due to the reflections off the rain. Someone was walking towards them.
She could barely make hints of a person out; a light cloak, an arm holding a lantern, a spell against the rain. The newcomer, the saboteur, showed no pause in walking up to the meeting spot.
Amelia glanced at Zelgadis, despite barely able to to see him. "Now?"
"Now."
The two of them took off running down the slope, towards their suspect, who turned her light towards them and then bolted. Amelia felt her boots slip in the mud, and, quickly, she turned this into a controlled slide down the hill. "Stop right there!" she shouted. Now, this was more like it. They had a suspect, clearly marked out, and only had to run her down. This she could do.
Their suspect was slightly slower than Amelia, thanks to Amelia's slide. Whatever it was, Amelia closed with her, and as she felt the end of the hill coming up, she leapt, trying to grab a hold of the suspect.
Success! She had gotten a hold of the woman's cloak! "Don't move! You'll just choke yourself!" Amelia yelled as she felt the fabric go taut in her hand. Sure, she had nearly lost her balance trying to grab the suspect, but she was all right now. She moved to put a hand on the suspect herself, just to make sure she didn't get away.
The woman turned, quickly, striking Amelia in the gut, hard. Amelia gave a gasp as the wind was knocked out of her. She hit the ground hard and she heard the sound of tearing fabric. She saw Zelgadis go tearing past her, and quickly stood up to follow him, careful not to fall over from the slick ground. She very nearly fell down a second time when he stopped suddenly. He put his arm out, catching her. "Careful. The cliff ends here. You don't want to fall into the river."
"What about the villain?" Amelia asked. How... well, how unfair for her to get away finally when they had a suspect.
"She went over the cliff," Zelgadis said.
Amelia paused, considering this. "On purpose?"
"I would suppose so. She jumped. Either she really didn't want to be captured-"
"-Or she cast a flight spell on her way down and hid." Amelia finished. "I don't think we can find her in this weather. We were lucky to see her at all."
"Yeah. Lucky. Amelia, you still have her cloak, did you know that?"
"What?" Amelia looked at her arm, which still was clutching a long strip of fabric. "Oh, yeah. Look like it tore when she got away." She held it up. "Looks pretty simple. Wait a second, there's something on the clasp. Lighting."
She didn't put much energy in the light spell; she didn't have much energy to put in it. But it was enough to show a coat of arms on the crest. "That looks familiar," Zelgadis said.
"It almost looks like the Galatei family crest," Amelia said.
"Does it now?" Mister Zelgadis said. "There's no way Missus Galatei was out here tonight, and that was too short for her husband. Could it be a fake?"
"A forgery?" Amelia asked. "Maybe. I can't tell in this light. That means Missus Galatei's accident might not be an accident, if someone wanted to be sure she'd have no alibi tonight."
Zelgadis looked grim. "Things are getting a lot more complicated."
* * *
The Galatei house was dark when Amelia and Zelgadis approached it, soaked and covered in mud. "You don't suppose we'll be able to get a bath?" Amelia asked. "I thought this part of the country was supposed to be dry."
"Maybe whatever it was that your mages did is working," Zelgadis suggested. "It's just our luck we had to arrive here the one time it decides to storm. Anyway, I'd settle for towels and dry clothing." It was going to take forever for his cloak to dry. And his spare was just as wet, since he loaned it to Amelia.
"Maybe. Hopefully." Amelia smiled, pushing her bangs out of her face. She knocked on the door politely.
"Everyone's asleep," Zelgadis said. "Let's just go inside before they wake up." He put a hand on the door, fumbling for the latch in the darkness.
"It's not latched," a voice came from inside. Zelgadis pushed the door open. He heard someone strike a match, and saw the person, seated on the floor, or close to it, light a lamp. it was Missus Galatei. Someone, probably her husband, had brought down bedding and a mattress and had laid them in the front room. Erica herself sounded a bit better than when Zel last heard her, which wasn't saying much. "Once you two get inside and take off your cloaks and shoes, could one of you take the lamp from me?"
"Missus Galatei? What are you doing down here?" Amelia asked, stepping inside and removing her boots and cloak. Zelgadis stepped out of her way, and began undoing the laces on his own shoes. Hanging his cloak up, he immediately felt lighter. He hadn't realized exactly how much water the thing had soaked up. He also felt rather strange not wearing it, like he was half-naked. Given how much stuff he carried in it, a habit he had developed well before he and Lina had started exchanging tips on the subject, it probably wasn't surprising. Except for the fact he was going to head to bed as soon as he could; maybe the unsettled feeling was from still being wound up from their night out.
"We weren't able to find the priestess in town," Erica said, once Amelia set the lamp on a nearby table. "Or Miss Halimeda. Her assistant and one of the farmers managed to bind up my leg as best they could. He said all it needed now was a bit of magic."
"I can do a bit now for the pain," Amelia said, "but we'll have to wait until the morning to heal it fully. I'm sorry, Missus Galatei, but I'm just too exhausted to manage a spell like that."
"Don't trouble yourself, Your Highness. Mister Astin gave me some tea that helped some," Erica said.
"Mister Astin? Isn't he the miller's assistant?" Zelgadis said. He was also decidedly not human, if Zelgadis remembered correctly.
"He also farms in the area," Erica said. "Actually, he was the one who spotted the cow I was looking for. He and Miss Halimeda's assistant are friends."
Zelgadis nodded. Perhaps Erica wasn't as much of a jerk as her husband about chimera. Or maybe a broken leg was the great equalizer, and she was willing to take tea from Ruby Eye Shabranigdo himself if it would lessen the pain.
A bit more troubling was the news about Miss Halimeda and Priestess Sholei. Both were on Zelgadis's lists as people who could have been out by the river. They still didn't have anything better to go on than Urice's description, and either woman fit the description and had enough magic to cast as many spells as they wanted.
There was just the matter of neither of them having an actual motive for sabotage, or trying to frame the Galateis, unless you count Leigh's evident dislike of Rian yas Galatei. Which probably meant that he needed to actually talk to them both some more. Or ask Amelia to follow up on her own conversations. Probably they'd have to both be there, since two sets of eyes were better than one.
He nearly missed what Amelia and Erica were talking about. "Excuse me?" he said.
"I was just asking Missus Galatei if she was missing her cloak," Amelia said. "She said she left it somewhere about a week ago, and hasn't be able to track it down."
"Oh. No clue where?"
"Somewhere in town when I was off running errands. It was cool in the morning, but it warmed up quickly. I must have left it one of the places I stopped."
"I don't suppose you were visiting Leigh Halimeda or Claire Sholei?" Zelgadis asked. Amelia gave him a quizzical look.
"Both of them, in fact. I had some of Miss Halimeda's water stones to pick up, and ran into Miss Sholei getting the mail, and she invited me back for tea. Why do you ask?"
"Just something I was thinking about," Zelgadis said.
"We probably should leave you to your rest, Missus Galatei. Let's go, Mister Zelgadis." Amelia took his arm, leading him away.
As they quietly headed up the stairs, Amelia asked, "What was that about? Surely you don't suspect..."
"Yes, I do suspect Leigh and the priestess," Zelgadis said. "Though at this point, I'm pretty much grasping at straws here until we get a motive, so I'm suspecting everyone who doesn't have an alibi. They're at the top of the list only because I want to rule out the known sorceresses first." He opened the door to their room. "I'll wait outside until you change."
"Thank you Mister Zelgadis," Amelia said as she entered. "I won't take long. You look like you need to dry off as well. You'll get sick if you stay in wet clothing for long."
Zelgadis nodded. His clothing was already doing that unpleasant thing where it started to cling and get caught on the various stones jutting out of his skin. Not to mention that it was damp and clammy, and he was starting to feel very cold.
Amelia was thankfully quick with her changing. "Your turn," she said, taking a position outside. Amelia had changed into her pajamas -- a not-so-subtle sign that she wasn't going out again tonight.
Zelgadis managed to find his own pajamas, folded at the foot of his bed, and a spare set of clothing. He quickly stripped, hanging his wet clothing over the line they had strung up.
He reached for his pajamas, then hesitated. Unlike Amelia, he wanted to keep working and find out who was behind this. They'd finally gotten a couple of leads, even if they were tenuous ones. Someone had wanted to pin this on the Galateis, just like someone had tried to set up Leigh Halimeda. Whoever it was, she was covering her tracks well enough that half the town could be a suspect if Zelgadis didn't find the real culprit quickly.
You're getting far too involved in this, Zelgadis. He was surprised how much the problem had drawn him in. It was becoming a matter of pride, not just a favor for Amelia. Which reminded him, Amelia was still waiting outside while he was standing around thinking in his underwear. He looked at both bundles of clothing, and chose the pajamas. No one would be up at this hour anyway, and he didn't want to head out into the rain again. Especially without his cloak.
Once he was finished dressing, and had wiped down his hair and skin with a towel, he called to Amelia, "You can come back in now."
He was seated on his bed, and had left the curtain between their sides of the room open. They needed the line for drying clothing, anyway. The used towels went below it, soaking up the dripping water before it made puddles on the floor. Are you heading to bed?" Amelia asked, looking at the lit candle on the nightstand.
"Not quite yet. I think we should talk to Miss Halimedia and Priestess Sholei tomorrow. Ask for alibis."
"You really do think one of them did it, don't you, Mister Zelgadis?" Amelia asked, sitting on her bed, facing him.
He didn't add 'or both'. "Unless there's someone else in the town that looks enough like them that a wig would fool Urice, and is hiding her magic."
"But why?" Amelia asked. "I know Miss Halimeda, and she's been one of the strongest supporters of this project. And Miss Sholei's a priestess. How could she condone this kind of slander and injustice?"
"I've met plenty of sorcerers and priests who say one thing and do another," Zelgadis said. "But, honestly, I don't know why. And maybe it is someone else, and we're back to the beginning with nothing to show for it."
Amelia sighed. "I suppose so. I just wish things were simpler. Life would be a lot easier if it was like it was in the storybooks and plays. The heroes could just ride into town on their white horses and find the bad guys, and bring them to justice. Or the clever detective can just look at the scene and put the clues together that everyone missed."
"If it was that simple, most of the people probably wouldn't be here. A lot of them probably did some nasty things to make a living. You can't be too choosy when you're not human, and those stories aren't too kind to the villain's minions," Zelgadis said, glancing at Amelia out of the corner of his eye. He was slightly curious how Amelia would react to that.
"I... I suppose not." Amelia said. "I never thought what the bad guys' armies thought, you know? It makes a lot of those old war stories a bit more depressing. That's awfully thoughtful of you, Mister Zelgadis."
He shrugged. "Not especially. I've done mercenary work myself, and worked with a lot of beastmen when I was short of money looking for my cure. Not so many other chimera. I tried to avoid working for sorcerers after Rezo, and most chimera don't survive the deaths of their creators. You get to know a few decent sorts, and a few jerks, and a lot of people that just blur together. Like all people, really."
"It's still a very decent thing to say," Amelia said.
Zelgadis didn't say anything. I really wish she wouldn't give me those noble motives. But, he wasn't sure what to do about it, besides suddenly start acting like a jerk just to disabuse Amelia of the notion that he was secretly a nice guy. Which wasn't that helpful.
Amelia yawned. "I'm going to go to bed now, Mister Zelgadis. Blow out the candle when you go to bed."
"I probably should get some sleep as well. Good night, Amelia."
She slid into bed. "'Night, Mister Zelgadis."
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