In Fortune's Hand
Alamanara Sasinak Pax K'Vik Deorum Foxfire
fourtuneshand@saisnak.iwarp.com

Okay, this is a rewrite.  Most of the stuff will not change, I'm just fixing 
small things.  Most everyone comes from Slayers.  Valterria for most of 
the story is on his third life and can actively remember nothing of the first 
two to begin with.  Sirris and Albatross are mine, as are most of the 
extra characters.

On to the story.

* * *
	
	Flight of dragons, soar in the purple light,
	In the sky or in my mind
	Flight of dragons, sail past reality
	Leave illusion behind
	Is it the past I've seen when I look up to the heavens 
	Believing in the magic that I know could never be
	I want to go where they are going 
	Into the world they've been
	Can I open up my mind enough to see

			-- Flight of Dragons

* * * 
Ten Years Before
* * * 

	Humming a tuneless song, a girl of about eight walked along the 
path.  She occasionally kicked a stone or two over the edge of the path 
and watched them tumble swiftly down the sharp incline into the 
forested river below.  Suddenly, she heard the sound of hooves 
pounding along the path and looked up.  Shouts and the baying of 
hounds filled the air.  There was some sort of hunt coming this way.  
With horses and hounds.  She walked a bit back the way she'd come to 
see them sooner.  
	Something large and dark rushed around the bend.  It was not a 
hound.  It was not a horse.  The thing's feet sent rocks flying as the 
wicked claws scrabbled for purchase.  The thing's bloody purple eyes 
locked with those of the young girl for but a second, to her it was an 
eternity.  Her mother's voice suddenly rang clearly in her head.  "If you 
don't do as you're told the Mazoku will get you."  She turned and ran as 
fast as she could away from the thing.  It leapt for her, thinking to trade 
her to the hunters for its life.  
	Claws flashed close to her arm.  She jumped away, stepping off 
the path and into the soft talus of the downward slope.  Suddenly 
realizing the danger, she tried to get back to the path, but the monster 
blocked her way.  The arm reached for her again.  Claws caught her 
arm.  The creature smiled, jagged and broken yellow teeth showing.  
	The ground exploded in the blast of a Dill Brand.  The Mazoku 
staggered, losing it's hold on the girl, and both tumbled down the rocky 
slope and vanished into the thick growth of trees by the river.  The 
hounds howled mournfully at the loss of their prey.  The riders arrived 
moments later.
	"Where's the beast?!?!" One of the them shouted.  The others 
shook their heads.
	"It looks like it might have gone over the edge there." One 
suggested.  The first looked and the ground and over the edge of the 
cliff.
	"If it did there's no following it.  Let's return." The first one 
grumbled, and the hunters turned back the way they had come, calling 
the reluctant hounds.  A person all in white, perched on a boulder 
above the path watched them go.  He smiled.  That had been an 
amusing diversion.  He hadn't been expecting to come across any other 
Mazoku in this region, but he always had time to erase one more 
servant of the other four.  Now to finish the job.

* * * 

	The girl lay on a shallow sand bar in the river, aching all over.  
She tried to get up but nothing worked.  Her vision kept fading in and 
out.  She tried to move again and again got no response.  A scream 
sounded nearby.  Her heart jumped and thudded erratically in her ears.  
Panic slithered over her; she tried to breath deeply, but each breath hurt 
like a thousand knives.  The Mazoku was nearby.  She focused on 
moving.  Nothing.  Except the pain intensified.  Her heart jumped again 
as foot steps sounded nearby.  A whimper of fear and pain escaped 
her.  Feet moved into her blurry vision.  
	"Poor child." Said a voice that did not belong to a Mazoku.  
The person knelt down next to her.  He was little more than a blur of 
greens and gold.
	"It hurts." The girl whispered.  The person did not reply 
immediately instead he placed a hand on her head.  The world began to 
fade away into a glowing white light.  The girl's eyes slowly closed; her 
breathing slowed.  The sleep spell complete, the person began to weave 
a healing spell around the child.  She was injured much worse than he'd 
thought from her outward appearance.  A wave of a hand.  Two soft 
words in a language only one human knows.  And the spell became a 
glowing web clinging to her skin.  Using such strong magic on someone 
so young might have unpredictable consequences, but without it she 
would surely die.  Any loss of human life was unacceptable to him.  
	Something splashed into the river from the bank.  He looked 
up, knowing what it was before he saw it.  The beast began to move 
forward, obviously injured, but stopped when it saw him.
	"Mazoku." The word was as much an insult as name.  The beast 
snarled and crouched, preparing to attack.  The person rose to his feet.  
"Don't you know when to run."  A ball of white fire coalescing in an 
outstretched hand.  It didn't.  The ball connected with it in mid leap and 
exploded with an incandescent flash.  He turned back to the girl and 
gathered her up in his arms.  Something scratched at the back of his 
mind, and he paused.  Mazoku sense but so faint.  Must be the remains 
of the brute he'd destroyed.  He took a step toward the bank.  Unless.  
A whispered word, and fine crystalline dust sifted down.  Another 
stood, leaning against a tree on the bank.  This Mazoku was not like the 
other.  This one wore human form and was dressed in loose white 
clothing, sandals, and a long white cloak with a wide band of black 
edging it.  His hair was a light tan and very short except for tassels 
hanging down before his ears.  This one was also much stronger.
	"What do you want?" He asked.  The Mazoku smiled and 
laughed, a sound very much like a sea bird.  The person holding the girl 
caught sight of the Mazoku's eyes and took a step back.  One was 
typical Mazoku purple, the other was the yellow eye of a bird of prey.  
Seeing his discomfort the Mazoku laughed again.
	"You haven't seen a hulking beast around here have you?" The 
Mazoku asked and looking around as if searching for the beast.
	"I put an end to it." 
	"Probably nice and quickly.  I doubt it even knew what hit it." 
Replied the Mazoku with a chuckle, his gaze shifting to the girl.
	"I do not take pleasure in causing pain like your craven kind 
does." The person holding the girl snapped back.  The Mazoku merely 
smiled.
	"It's a pity you got to her first.  She's got a lot of natural 
potential for magic."
	"I won't let you have her." The person in green said coldly and 
backed up.  The Mazoku's eyes narrowed.
	"As if you could stop me, Ryuzoku.  She's yours for now.  And 
thanks for blasting the beast.  I was going to do that anyway.  One less 
servant of the other four running around."  The Mazoku laughed and 
disappeared, leaving the person and the girl alone.  He carefully 
checked the area for more Mazoku but found none.  With a sigh of 
relief, he teleported them to a safer place.

* * * 
Present
* * *

	On the outskirts of a small, pleasant town stands a store where 
you can buy tea.  Lots of other places sell tea, but few of those are 
owned and run by a golden dragon who has a habit of pretending to be 
a human though sometimes her tail shows and the bad habit of 
clobbering people with the large mace she keeps under her frilly pink 
skirts.  Her name is Filia, and she is the reason there is a young boy with 
aqua hair walking home to that shop very, very slowly.  
	Valterria stood by a tree just outside of town and looked up the 
hill toward his home.  Filia was going to be mad.  He rubbed his nose 
with the back of his hand.  ~ At least it's not bleeding anymore. ~ He 
thought as he started walking again.  He could stop by the stream and 
wash the blood off of his face and hands, but he couldn't fix his torn 
clothes with water.  Filia didn't like him getting in fights, but with hair the 
color his was, it was unavoidable.  She just didn't understand.  Valterria 
groaned as he remembered the time he'd tried to turn his hair black with 
writing ink.  It had seemed like a good idea at the time but . . . . 
Valterria reached the stream and splashed the cold water on his face.  
He sat down on the bank and stared at the water.  At least, at fourteen, 
he was winning some of the fights now.  Since he was nearly as tall as 
most of the boys a several years older than himself all but the gang left 
him alone.  The gang, however, went out of their way to make him 
miserable.  Filia had sent him to town to deliver several packages 
several hours ago and he'd done that, but then the gang had spotted him 
and his day had gone down hill from there.  He'd lost the money from 
the deliveries and the vegetables Filia'd told him to buy for dinner.  
	He smirked and tossed a rock into the stream.  Not that he 
didn't mind not having the vegetables for dinner, but Filia would be 
upset.  With a sigh, he got to his feet and walked slowly up the hill.
	He walked around to the back door of the house.  ~ Maybe I 
can slip past Filia and change and say I forgot the vegetables. ~ He 
thought as he reached for the door knob.  It turned while his hand was 
still inches away.  ~ What the?  Oh, crud. ~  Filia opened the door and 
glared down at him.  Valterria looked up at her and after one look at 
her face, decided his feet were the most interesting things in the world.  
Filia didn't say anything, instead she grabbed his arm and hauled him 
into the shop.  Usually she would have yelled at him to go to his room 
and later given him a long lecture on not being violent.  He hated those 
lectures, but Filia was not dragging him towards his room.  She stopped 
in the main part of the store, and Valterria looked around, wondering.  
The moment he caught sight of the other woman he knew he was 
doomed.  She was the mother of one of the gang and never believed a 
bad word about her delinquent son.
	"Valterria," Filia said coldly.  "She says you attacked her son for 
no reason at all and because of you, he has a broken arm."  Valterria 
sifted his gaze back to his toes.  "Answer me, Valterria."
	"We got in a fight, but I didn't start it." He said quietly, knowing 
that against this particular mother anything was a losing battle.
	"He's lying."
	"Valterria, explain yourself."
	"They started bugging me and . . " He began, but the mother cut 
him off.
	"Filia, you should teach that brat some manners.  He should 
know better than to go around causing trouble and then try to lie about 
it.  The only thing he's good for is the Mazoku." She snapped.  Valterria 
looked up at Filia.  She was standing very, very still as if something the 
other woman had said had hit a very deep nerve.  The woman 
continued to prattle on, not noticing Filia's reaction.
	"Get out." Filia hissed.  The other woman blinked.
	"I beg your pardon?!" She was not used to having people order 
her to do anything.
	"Get out." Filia repeated, and her fingers twitched for her mace.
	"If you do not like hearing what is wrong with that Mazoku hell 
brat of yours, you shouldn't let him run wild."
	"GET OUT!!!!  GET OUT!!!  GET OUT!!!!!!!" Filia screamed 
and whipped out the mace.  Valterria backed up against the wall, more 
than a little frightened.  He'd never in his life seen Filia get this upset.  
The ink incident hadn't come a tenth this close.  The mother took one 
look at the mace, one look at Filia's face and decided that Filia defiantly 
was going to use it if she didn't leave.  With several remarks about self 
control and many about Mazoku, she walked out of the door, leaving 
Filia standing breathing heavily, mace in the air.  Filia suddenly realized 
what she'd done and dropped the mace.  It thunked to the floor 
cracking floor boards.  Valterria started edging toward the stairs.  Filia 
noticed him and spun around.
	"Get to your room!!" She yelled, and Valterria bolted up the 
stairs and slammed the door to his room shut.

* * * 

	Valterria lay on his bed, starring out of the window, thinking.  
Something had really gotten under Filia's skin earlier.  He tried to think 
of what it could be.  The only thing that he hadn't heard said to her 
before were the remarks about the Mazoku.  That had to be it.  By 
talking to the old man in the magic shop, it was really a book shop that 
sold some jewelry too, he'd learned quiet a bit.  The old man loved to 
tell long rambling stories and Valterria was usually content to sit and 
listen for hours.  Filia hadn't liked the idea of him hanging out in a magic 
shop until she'd seen it.  According to her there wasn't a single magical 
item in the whole store.  Filia also was dead set against the idea of him 
learning any magic.
	Valterria had managed to get several stories about the Mazoku 
and the Ryuzoku and how they were eternal enemies.  The dragons, the 
Ryuzoku, were creatures of light and protected humans from the 
demons, the Mazoku.  Several years ago, Valterria had asked the man 
if Filia was a dragon because sometimes she had a tail; after the old man 
had finished laughing, he'd patted Valterria on the head and told him not 
to be silly.  What would a dragon be doing in a tea shop, he'd asked.  
Valterria hadn't been able to find a decent answer to that and had given 
up.
	But then there was Xellos, the strange human with purple hair 
and eyes that dropped by sometimes.  Xellos's visits had become very 
infrequent, and it had been four years since Valterria had seen him last.  
Xellos liked showing up and bugging Filia until he left.  Most of the time 
Xellos brought something for Valterria to play with while he playfully 
tormented Filia.  Even though Filia took the things away after he left and 
muttered about the Mazoku under her breath for a few days, Xellos 
didn't seem like the Mazoku from all the stories Valterria had heard.  
	He sighed and closed his eyes.  The sounds of Filia stomping 
around below drifted up to him.  After a while and sometime after dark, 
everything became quiet.  He rolled off of his bed and without lighting a 
candle, lightly crept down into the kitchen.  As quietly as possible he 
made himself a snack.  He was heading back toward his room when 
several unexpected shadows moved on the floor of the stairwell.  The 
kitchen was separated from the main area of the store by a wall so 
Valterria could see the stairwell without being seen but he couldn't get 
out of the kitchen.  He heard some muffled foot steps and someone 
walked into the stairwell and looked up the stairs and looked into the 
kitchen, but didn't notice Valterria flattened against the wall.  ~ What's 
going on? ~ He wondered.  Muffled voices reached his ears.  He 
strained to hear what they were saying.
	"What are we going to do?"
	"Trash the place."
	"Huh?  Why?"
	"Green hair lives here."
	"So, why get ourselves in trouble."
	"My mother came up here and said that the lady who runs this 
shop threatened her with a mace."
	"You're kidding?  The one who wears the pink dresses."
	"Yeah.  My mother's convinced they are both Mazoku.  We 
won't get in trouble."
	Valterria groaned silently.  The gang was going to trash the 
house and he was the only one awake.  He edged up to the corner and 
peered out just as one of them picked up a club and smashed a set of 
china plates.  Valterria snarled.
	"Stop it!" He shouted and tackled one of the boys.  Things went 
from bad to worse.  Valterria kept trying to protect the shelves but 
there were too many of them.  They landed several good hits on 
Valterria with their clubs and it was very clear to him that he was 
loosing this fight.  One of them made the mistake of yelling a war whoop 
as he smashed a chair.  Everyone heard the door to Filia's room slam 
into the wall as she flung it open.  The gang panicked and fled leaving 
Valterria alone in the devastation.  Filia burst into the room and 
Valterria scrambled to his feet.
	"What the . . . " Filia trailed off as she saw the room.  Broken 
furniture, smashed china and shards of glass covered the floor along 
with tea leaves and packages.  Her shocked eyes locked on Valterria in 
the flickering candle light.
	"How could you?" She hissed.  Valterria looked at her in 
miserable shock and surprise.
	"I . . I  . I didn't do this." He stammered.
	"Who did?" She snapped back.  He opened his mouth to 
answer.  "Shut your mouth, I'm not going to listen to your pitiful 
excuses.  Get to your room."
	"Filia, please Filia, Listen to me."
	"GET TO YOUR ROOM!!" She roared.  Valterria backed up, 
blinking back tears.
	"Filia," He cried.  Her hands went for her mace.  Valterria 
scrambled away from her.
	"Why did you do this?!?!" She yelled at him.  He shook his 
head, his throat to tight to speak.  Several more steps away from Filia 
brought his back against the front door to the shop.
	"I didn't do this!" He cried.  Filia advanced on him.
	"You didn't.  Hmpf, I don't believe you.  This is just the sort of 
thing a Mazoku would do." She advanced with the mace.  Valterria 
leaned against the door, cringing, expecting to be hit with the mace any 
second.  Instead the door swung out behind him, and he tumbled to 
ground.  Without thinking he scrambled up and bolted for the road.  As 
soon as he cleared the fence around the yard, Valterria turned to the 
right and ran as fast as he could away from the town.  He slipped on a 
loose scree of dirt and pebble and crashed into the ground.  With tears 
streaming down his face he scrambled up and ignoring the pain of the 
cuts and the blood trickling from them, ran on.

* * * 

	Twisted moon, gather up the cries
	that my inner feelings have raised..
	How can I escape from
	The sins of my past?
	Leaving my sins behind
	I want to fall asleep
	Noisy, Noisy, Silent Night

			-- Waru Bad Blood

* * * 

	The moon had risen not long after Valterria had run out of the 
house; its silvery light had made it much easier to see the road.  Running 
then was no problem.  But as the night wore on, the moon had set 
leaving nothing but stars for light, the road became rough and uneven.  
After each fall it took Valterria longer to get up, his knees and hands 
sore and bloody.  Valterria was exhausted.  He slowed down to a fast 
walk but still refused to let himself stop and rest.  Silent tears of pain 
and anger ran down his cheeks as his mind ran the day over and over 
again inside his head, replaying the fights with the gang and how Filia 
had yelled at him.  He was painfully hungry, not having had anything to 
eat since before noon.  Too bad he hadn't thought to bring any of his 
midnight snack with him.  
	~ Stop it. ~ He told himself.  ~ You're only making things 
worse by repeating them in your head. ~ He took several deep breaths 
and tried to clear his mind of the loud clutter.  ~ I'll walk until I can't see 
the lights in town anymore. ~ He thought as he walked into a 
crossroads and paused.  The three paths looked the same to him, but 
there was not much he could tell about them in the dark.  After a minute 
he picked the road that led to the top of a small hill.  At the top he 
paused and looked back, nothing.  Just blackness.  Valterria sighed and 
rubbed his eyes as he started down the other side of the hill.  He was so 
tired, he doubted he could get much further before he dropped of 
exhaustion.  Loose rocks clattered down the slope, dislodged by his 
feet.  He stepped on a large one and it slipped out like the rest of them.  
Valterria couldn't regain his balance and hit the ground hard and half 
rolled, half slid to the bottom of the hill.
	With a groan, he slowly climbed to his feet.  His hands and 
knees ached from the shards of rock this and other falls had driven into 
them.  As he limped to the shelter of the trees by the side of the road he 
could feel blood running down from the abrasions on his knees.  He 
collapsed underneath a tree and curled up on the ground.  It was cold 
and lumpy, but he was so tired he could sleep anywhere at the moment.  
Breathing a deep sigh, he closed his eyes and surrendered to 
exhaustion.

* * * 

	The sun shining in his face woke Valterria.  He blinked and 
slowly moved to rubbed the sleep from his tear blurred eyes.  He lay 
there for a few moments before deciding that there were nicer places to 
be than laying on cold hard ground and tried to sit up.  Every muscle in 
his body howled in agony.  He made it into a sitting position and stared 
out at the sun low in the sky.  At first he thought is was morning, but as 
the sun sank lower in the reddening sky, he realized that he'd slept all 
day.  
	~ What a night. ~ He thought distastefully as he examined his 
hands and pulled the rocks from them.  He could still move all of his 
fingers but the heels of his hands were bloody and gouged by sharp 
rocks.  His knees were even worse and had colored what was left of 
his pants below the knee a dark red shade.  After removing the rest of 
the rocks and binding makeshift bandages around his knees, Valterria 
slowly got to his feet and limped down the road.  ~ No sense in 
spending another night there.  I might be able to find a town not to far 
from here, besides if I stay still much longer I'll be too stiff and sore to 
move tomorrow. ~ He thought and scanned the hills ahead for lights.  
None were to be found. 
	Several hours of something between a walk and a limp saw 
nothing but a thick bank of clouds driven by a cold wind rolling in to 
cover the moon and make the night black as ink.  Valterria stood, the 
wind whipping his hair, and stared up at the featureless sky as the last 
light began to drain away with a feeling of despair.  He would find no 
town tonight.  Several minutes later he found a cluster of trees that 
would shelter him from the wind.  In the interior of the cluster he found 
an abandoned campsite with a fairly soft place to lay and a blackened 
fire ring not to far away.  Valterria wished he had something to start a 
fire with or at least a simple spell to keep him warm as he lay down 
shivering.  Sleep came as quickly as it had the night before, but this time 
it brought dreams with it.

* * * 

	Valterria disliked dreams.  The ones that made no sense were 
the best.  They just made no sense.  The ones where he was someone 
else were the worst.  It was like he was living another person's life over 
and over again in his dreams.  He had tried to talk to Filia about it once 
but she had gone white as a sheet and dropped the plate she'd been 
drying.  Then she had demanded to know everything about his dreams.  
Valterria hadn't liked being interrogated like that and had never 
mentioned his dreams again.  They didn't come often, or else they did 
and he just never remembered them.  When he did remember them . . . 
they just didn't make sense.  Filia was in them, and Xellos.  Sometimes 
there was a red headed sorceress and a blond swordsman.  Most often 
there was a man in a trench coat with long red hair and a cruel smile.  
This man asked questions and laughed at Valterria's responses and then 
did something that Valterria always woke up in a panic from.  Valterria 
could never hear any words in his dreams; he knew the people spoke 
and could hear them but never understand them.
	And there were the dreams where he was a dragon.  Flying.  
Basking in the desert.  A dragon.  Not the golden dragons that the old 
man in the magic shop had told him about, but one with black feathered 
wings and black scales shimmering in the sun like mirrors of obsidian.  
A dragon.  Those dreams weren't that bad, but they were always brief 
fleeting instants.  Other dreams he could be in for ages, but it was as if 
the dragon's life that he was dreaming had been shattered into tiny 
shards.  Just a flash of being a dragon.  
	The red headed sorceress was yelling at him.  He laughed back 
at her.  He threw a fireball at her.  The swordsman attacked him with a 
glowing sword.  He'd dreamt this one many times before.  The red head 
tried to blast him.  He avoided it.  The blond yelled at him and Valterria 
heard him.  That was not right.
	"What should we do with him?" The blond asked.  Valterria 
stared at him.
	"Dunno.  He's too skinny to be much good, and he's pretty beat 
up" Replied the red head.  Someone kicked him hard in the ribs.  
Valterria blinked and realized he'd only half been dreaming.  The voices 
he'd heard had been from the couple of men standing over him now.  
He sat up with a yawn.  
	"What do you want?" He asked.  The men looked uncertain 
and considered it for a moment.
	"Come with us." The larger one said and turned away walking 
back toward the road.  The other man moved to follow but when 
Valterria didn't, the thug caught Valterria's arm and hauled him along.  
Valterria's sleep muddled brain knew enough to see that this was a bad 
situation to be caught in but couldn't come up with any answers.  The 
first man had reached a cart stopped on the road and rummaged around 
for something.  He found it just as the second man arrived with Valterria 
in tow.  A length of light chain.  Valterria struggled and tried to pull his 
arms loose from the man's grip.
	"Oh no, you don't scamp.  You'll make us a bit of profit yet."  
Valterria panicked and redoubled his efforts to get away but the first 
man looped several passes of the chain around Valterria's wrists and 
yanked them tight.  Valterria yelped in pain.  As the man locked the 
chains in place with a small lock, Valterria lashed out with a foot and 
caught the man in the chest and knocked him backwards.  The man 
only staggered and didn't fall.
	"Feisty little bugger." Said the second.  The first man only 
snarled and lashed out at Valterria's head with a heavy fist.  The blow 
caught Valterria's left temple, and the world spun out of focus, fading 
quickly to black.  He groaned as they heaved him into the back of their 
cart and started off, carrying him even farther away from his home.

* * * 

	Valterria grimaced as the chains bit into his wrists.  He braced 
himself and leaned back.  With a gasp of pain, he let up.  He was never 
going to break either the chain or the wooden slat it was wrapped 
around.  He rubbed his wrist as best he could as they throbbed.  ~ I'd 
have better luck pulling my hands off. ~ He thought miserably as a bout 
of shouting started up from the nearby thieves shack.  Someone didn't 
like losing.  Valterria shivered as the wind picked up and wished he 
hadn't been so stupid as to fall asleep in plain sight three days ago.  The 
low class thieves who'd caught him had given him some water, a few 
heels of petrified bread, and chained him in the wagon.  He yanked on 
the chain once more.  It was too secure.
	"What did I do to deserve this?!" He hissed, a tear running 
down his cheek from the corner of his eye.  He remembered his warm 
room back at the house and thought of Filia worrying about him.  More 
tears trickled.  He doubted he could even find his way home; he'd been 
unconscious for a long stretch of time.  The door to the shack slammed 
open, and his two captors stumped toward him, trailed by a third he'd 
never seen before.  The third person walked over to the wagon slowly 
and examined Valterria.  He was much better dressed than other two, 
Valterria noticed, and he carried a long sword.  Valterria figured that he 
must be some sort of upper-class thief, both from his clothes and the 
way the other two were being 'nice' to him.  
	"So this is all you've got?" Asked the stranger, taking Valterria's 
lower jaw in his hand and turning his head from side to side like one 
would do to a dog.  Valterria glared at him, but the effect was 
diminished by the fact that Valterria was sniffling and trying to keep his 
nose from running.  The stranger poked him in the ribs and Valterria 
would have hit him if one of others hadn't thought to get a grip on the 
chain around his hands.  Thwarted Valterria snarled at him.  The man 
merely laughed.
	"Feisty, I like him.  He should just about cover all of your debts 
tonight." The man smiled.  The other two fumed.
	"Just about?!?!  We could get three times as much for him 
where we are going!"
	"As if anyone else would give you anything for this skinny little 
rat." The man replied.  "The boy or your lives and the boy.  You are the 
ones in debt to me, remember."  They grumbled and one produced the 
keys and unlocked Valterria's wrists.  The stranger firmly took hold of 
Valterria's arm and walked around the shed into the stable where a 
finely decked out horse was in one of the stalls.  The man then 
rummaged around in one of his saddle bags and produced a collar and 
leash made of fine chain.  
	"I'm not a dog." Valterria snapped as the man advanced with 
the collar.  
	"*You* don't have any say.  You're mine now and you will 
obey me.  Don't try to run away and the collar comes off.  I can't trust 
you now." The man hauled him closer and quickly snapped the collar 
around Valterria's neck.  He looped the chain around a hook tightly and 
walked back to the card game.  Valterria heard the door rattle shut and 
immediately began to examine the collar with his fingers.  There wasn't 
any clasp.  He slipped his fingers between his neck and the chain and 
pulled on it.  The chain bit deeply into the back of his neck.  He then 
tried pull it from the hook.  Nothing.  Tears streamed down Valterria's 
face as he realized that the chain was bound by magic around both his 
neck and the hook.  It was impossible for him to remove.  He hauled on 
the chain, trying to break the hook out of the wall, but the fine chain 
slipped through his fingers, digging into his skin like a knife.  
Demoralized, Valterria collapsed on to the nearest pile of hay and cried 
himself to sleep.

* * * 

	     My sentence is for open war.
	     Which, if not victory, is yet revenge.

				-- Milton

* * * 

	A man with shoulder length purple hair dressed in a black cape 
bordered with a band of yellow with red squares in it walked up to the 
door of Filia's shop.  He tried the door and found it locked.  This was 
unusual.  The smile on his face faded a bit.  He rapped on the door with 
his red jeweled staff and waited.  Nobody came.  He knocked louder.  
Still nobody came.
	"My, my." He muttered looking at the door and just now 
noticing the closed sign hanging a bit kitty-cornered in the window to his 
left.  ~ Okay, granted I haven't been by for quite some time, but Filia's 
not one to just pack up and move.  Besides she really loves this shop. ~ 
Xellos thought as he stood on the porch.  He shrugged and dismissing 
human manners, teleported into the middle of the store and stared.
	The shop was a disaster area.  Shelves and furniture smashed.  
China shattered.  The vase Filia always put fresh flowers in was 
cracked into several pieces, and flowers, several days dead, were 
scattered on the floor.  Xellos was astounded.  This had happened 
several days ago, and Filia hadn't cleaned it up *yet*.  Something was 
wrong.  Filia never left messes like this around.  He walked down the 
hall to Filia's room and knocked on the door.
	"GO AWAY!" Came a muffled order from inside.  Filia, and 
she'd been crying.  Xellos pushed open the door slowly, not wanting a 
mace to the head just at that moment.
	"Filia, I . . . *urk*"  Xellos tired to back out the door when he 
saw a sudden movement to his left from behind the door, but a twin 
pronged lance pinned him to the wall, one prong on either side of his 
neck.  He grabbed it and tried to pull it free of the wall, but its owner 
leaned on it, preventing him.
	"Spill it, Xellos." She said.  Xellos's attention snapped to her.  
He glanced around the room and spotted Filia sitting on her bed glaring 
teary eyed at him.  She looked the worst he'd ever seen her.  He 
opened his mouth to reply, but the owner of the lance cut him off.
	"And if you even think of *sore wa-ing* me . . ." She left the 
threat unfinished.  He smiled, trying to defuse the tension in the room.
	"I wouldn't dream of it." He said.  The lance slid another inch 
into the wall.  Xellos dropped the act.  One does not toy with the 
Knight of Cefied when she is in a bad mood.
	"I just came by for a visit.  I'm not on orders to come here, 
though I do have a standing order to keep an eye on Valterria.  I was 
just in the area and decided to drop by for a visit and see how he's 
grown." Xellos said quickly.  The person in waitress's clothing before 
him said nothing.  He searched her face for some sign of emotion, and 
not for the first time wished he could see her eyes, but her straight 
purple bangs covered them completely.  
	"Where is he."  It was not a question.
	"Who?" Asked Xellos not liking the direction this was leading.
	"Valterria." The knight replied in her typical terse manner.
	"I don't know." He answered truthfully.  Filia exploded.
	"You do to know where he is, Mazoku!  You're the one that 
poisoned his mind.  You're the one that corrupted him.  You're . . . " 
Filia's throat closed up on her as she advanced on him, her mace held 
high, tears streaming down here face.  Xellos pressed back against the 
wall wishing he could just disappear, but that would only make things 
worse and besides the lance was covered with all sorts of spells to 
prevent that.  The waitress held a hand in front of Filia.  Filia stopped 
and looked at the knight who shook her head.  Filia glared at Xellos but 
retreated to the bed.  
	"Can you track him."
	"No." Xellos shook his head as best he could.  "I tried when he 
was younger and we played hide-n-seek.  He is magically untraceable 
even if he's carrying a beacon of some sort."  The knight nodded as if 
she'd expected that answer.  "What's going on?" He asked.  "The Beast 
Master hasn't notified me of anything lately, and you two usually work 
together on things."  The knight smiled.  Xellos felt a growing sense of 
dread.
	"It doesn't concern her."
	"Why?"
	"Valterria's a dragon."
	"He's also Mazoku, Gaav saw to that."
	"He's the last."
	"The golden dragons saw . . to . . that . . . " Xellos trailed off, 
remembering a very old prophecy having the blood of an ancient dragon 
as the key ingredient.  One he'd dismissed as totally impossible after a 
certain string of massacres.  One that dealt with . . . .  His mouth went 
dry.
	"You aren't serious." He said.  Her face remained impassive.  
"Are you?"  One corner of the knight's mouth quirked up in a smile he'd 
often seen on her sister right before bandits got fried.  ~ Oh, crud. ~ 
Xellos thought and started trying in earnest to get away.
	"Not so fast, Xellos.  I can't have you running off to tell your 
master, no matter how good a friend of mine she is." Luna Inverse, 
Knight of Cefied said and hit Xellos with a sleep spell.  Xellos howled 
inwardly at his terrible fortune as the spell took hold.  The only thing 
Luna would *not* share with the Beast Master would have something 
to do with the awakening of Cefied.  If he remembered right, all she 
really needed was every drop of blood from a certain aqua haired boy.  
And if she succeeded, every Mazoku was doomed.

* * * 

	A seagull in the yard behind the shop cocked its head as the 
Knight of Cefied walked right by it for the third time.  He was taking 
quite a chance by being this close, but his disguise was holding.  It had 
better be holding.  He'd perfected it for three thousand years at least.  
The knight walked into the house and returned dragging the unconscious 
body of the Beast Master's priest and general.  He laughed inwardly at 
the resemblance between them.  The rumors that the Beast Master had 
remade her sole servant in the image of the Knight of Cefied must be 
true.  
	Luna dropped Xellos in the middle of the yard and cast a quick 
spell over him, muttering in dragon.  A six pointed star flashed under 
him and he disappeared, presumably to the most fortified cell the golden 
dragons had available.  The seagull didn't envy Xellos's position.  The 
knight walked back into the house and closed the door.  The seagull 
waited a moment considering what it had learned and shuddered. 
	The knight was really planning on waking the old worm from his 
sleep.  With Cefied on their side, the dragons would be unbeatable and 
there would defiantly be another war.  He sighed, the Mazoku knowing 
they would eventually lose would fight dirty.  Major battles over the 
largest human cities.  Destroy as much human life as possible, cause the 
humans to suffer as much as possible.  They might even destroy Sailune 
this time around.  And all they needed was the blood of an ancient 
dragon, specifically Valterria.  The ritual would probably kill the kid.  
The seagull remembered his brief encounter with Valgarv not long after 
Gaav had made him a Mazoku.  The ancient dragon had hardly 
remembered he'd been a dragon.  Considering how much Val's memory 
had degraded that time, the seagull was doubtful whether the kid 
remembered anything from his previous two lives.  
	It really wouldn't matter though.  His magic was still working.  
Ancient dragons are impossible to track, locate or target with long 
range spells.  They are innately invisible.  You can see them just fine 
with eyes, but woe to the person that tries to see them otherwise.  The 
seagull flipped its wings out and flapped into the air.  He caught an 
updraft and spiraled skyward.  Far from the spot where the Knight of 
Cefied sat consoling a crying golden dragon, the seagull's wings 
lengthened, became more slender.  Its body and beak changed slowly 
back to the way if preferred.  The coloring changed.  White body.  
Black wings with a seven foot span.  The wings tilted slightly, catching 
the wind, and the albatross glided away.

* * * 

	I can see you wonder, just like always you do.
	I know you get under your aching sad fire.
	"Everybody's in vain", you're whispering yourself.
	You're in trap again that's, no, you don't wanna be.

				-- Brave Souls

* * * 

	Valterria walked along besides his captor's horse staring at the 
dusty road.  Two weeks had passed since he'd been *won* in a card 
game.  His injuries had been treated, and his food had gotten better, but 
he was still a prisoner.  The collar was still around his neck even if the 
leash wasn't attached.  He glanced up at the man riding the horse and 
then returned his gaze to the ground with a silent sigh.  The man was too 
large for him to beat in a fight and there was the sword to think about.  
His position was at the moment hopeless.  
	Something crackled in the air.  Valterria looked up.  Neither the 
man or the horse had noticed.  The hairs on Valterria's arms and the 
back of his neck quivered.  He'd felt this way once when Xellos had 
tried to show him a light spell.  Filia had gone berserk, and Xellos never 
tried it again.  Valterria had reasoned at the time that he was allergic to 
magic and that was why Filia kept it away from him.  Now, however, 
after wearing a collar definitely magical in origin, he wasn't so sure.  It 
seemed he could detect changes in the level of magic around him.  The 
day the collar had been put on him, he'd felt like this.  There was a 
surge and a sudden very audible explosion hidden from view by a rise in 
the land.  The man cursed as his horse spooked and side stepped.  
	Another man bolted over the rise and raced toward them.  He 
was dressed like a bandit but looked like he'd recently been in a fight.  
Which, Valterria reasoned, was not very unlikely judging by another 
explosion.  The man on the horse caught the other's arm and demanded 
to know what was going on.
	"That sorceress is killing us!  Let go of me!" The thief snapped.
	"We had a deal." Snarled the other.
	"Deal's off.  I ain't getten killed!" He yelled and spat at the rider 
before tearing his arm lose and running.
	"Pitiful." He snorted.  "They'd run from a half rate magician."  
Several more bandits ran by followed by a girl only a few years older 
than he was.  She was fairly tall with a rather wild pony tail of dark blue 
hair tied back with a thick ribbon the ends of which hung to the same 
length as her hair.  Her clothing was simple: pants, boots, tunic and long 
vest, all a few shades lighter than her hair.  
	"Yaah!  Cowards!!  Run for it!!!!" She shouted at the retreating 
bandits.  Valterria's *owner* kicked his horse forward and shouted a 
loud insult.  The girl's attention refocused on him.  He shouted a long 
string of insults and drew his sword.  The girl laughed and made a face 
at him.  More insults.  The horse trotted a little faster toward her.
	"Where were you when they handed out the brains?" She called 
back and flicked another spell into life with a swift movement of her 
hands.  Air rushed into a spinning ball before her, whipping her hair as it 
grew.  
	"Diem Wind!!" She cried and let the spell loose.  The air rushed 
forward at hurricane force with a roar.  The horse and rider, who stood 
directly in its path, disappeared.  Valterria stared in awe forgetting to 
check if he was in the path of the wind but when it reached him, the 
blast became no more than a strong breeze.  The girl leapt in the air and 
cheered.  And then she noticed him.  She looked down at him from the 
hill, her head tilted to the side considering and then walked down the hill 
toward him.
	"I'm not a bandit." Valterria called as she came closer.  She 
smiled and replied.
	"I figured you weren't, either that or you were a really stupid 
bandit." She laughed.  Valterria smiled and hoped his luck was 
changing.
	"Since you know magic, could you get rid of this?" He asked, 
pointing at the collar.
	"Sure.  Let me have a look." She peered at the collar and 
tugged on it.  Several minutes later the chain snapped and slithered to 
the ground.  Valterria rubbed his neck, glad to have it off.  "Just a 
minute, let me put a general healing spell on you.  You look like you 
need it."  A small ball of white light formed in one hand.  The ball pulsed 
and floated into his chest.  The aches from his injuries faded partly.
	"Thanks," He said in an astonished voice as he watched the 
abrasions slowly fade away.
	"Never seen magic before?" She asked.
	"No." He answered with a shake of his head.  "Filia was afraid 
of it for some reason."
	"Why?"
	"I have absolutely no clue." He said with a smile.  "Would you 
teach me some?"
	"Sure.  My name's Sirris." She held out a hand.
	"Valterria."
	"Neat name.  So which way do you want to head?" She asked 
pointing to the cross roads not to far along the road.  Valterria 
shrugged.
	"I don't care."
	"Won't Filia be worried about you?  You don't look like you left 
with much notice."
	"I . . I . want to go back, but . . Filia may not let me come 
back." Valterria looked down at his well torn clothes.
	"Why not?"
	"We got in a fight; she got really angry, and I ended up falling 
out the front door and running away.  I ran for most of that night and 
then kept going the next, after that bandits got me and I lost track of 
how to get home."
	"Then we'll wander around until we find your home." Sirris said 
and leaned on Valterria's shoulder.  "It'll be fun."
	"You'd do that." Valterria asked, rather amazed.  People back 
in the town had avoided him as much as possible.
	"Sure, Val.  I've got nothing else to do and you're the most 
interesting person I've met in a while." She paused.  "Let me rephrase 
that.  You are the *nicest,* interesting person I've met in a while.  I ran 
into this really bizarre person a few weeks ago.  Dressed all in white 
with a cloak that had a black band along the bottom.  He just walked 
over to me and told me how much I'd grown.  Treated me like a 
grandchild for a while and then one time when I turned around, he was 
gone.  I have no clue who he was, just that standing next to him was like 
standing next to a very strong magic spell.  He was hiding it pretty good 
but I could still sense it.  Strange, isn't it.  I'd never seen him before."
	"That is strange.  Which way do we go?" He asked as they 
reached the crossroads.  Sirris dug in a pocket and pulled out a coin.
	"Heads left, tails straight." She flipped the coin in the air and 
tried to catch it.  She missed and the coin dropped to the ground where 
it rolled into a crack in the ground.  Sirris knelt down and pried it out.
	"How about going right because of that?" She asked.  Val 
laughed and nodded.

* * * 
	
	   Tell me what you please
               this place is a squeeze
               your guess is as good as mine
               sell me other dreams, oh! the summer's here
               you know we're going down the line
               you know we're going down the line	

				--  In Fortune's Hand, Clannad

* * * 

	"Okay, the spell goes like this: source of all power."
	"Source of all power." Val repeated.  
	"Hold your hand out like this." Sirris took his hand and held it 
palm up.
	"Wind which blows to the West."
	"Wind which blows to the West."
	"Lightning!"
	"Lightning."  Val jumped as a glowing ball of light flared to life in 
his hand.  He stared at it for several seconds, stunned that he'd pulled it 
off.  Sirris giggled.
	"You look like you've never seen magic."
	"I haven't really.  Filia didn't like it."  
	"That's too bad.  You've got a lot of potential for magic, and it 
looks like lots of talent.  You got it on the first try." She said and split 
her ball of light into several, made them turn colors and spiral around.  
	"How do you do that?" Val asked looking from his inert ball to 
Sirris's.
	"Just clear you mind and concentrate."  Val closed his eyes and 
willed the ball to split in two.  Sirris poked him in the ribs.  He yelped.
	"Doing magic with your eyes closed is rather dangerous."  Val 
blinked and looked around, the clearing where they sat was full of tiny 
balls of light, apparently divided bits of his.  Soon, however, he was 
weaving them into as complex patterns as Sirris.
	"You're good.  If you didn't swear up and down that you'd 
never done magic before I wouldn't believe you." She said.  Val smiled.  
"This kind of thing is good for getting coins at fairs and taverns or just 
lighting your way.  Now that you got the hang of it, I think we will move 
on to some of the tactical magic."
	"Like what?"
	"Fireballs are fun."

* * * 

	Val rolled on to his back and stared up at the dark night sky.  
Dreams had woken him.  He'd woken panting in terror, but now was 
having troubles remembering what had been so terrifying.  He glanced 
toward Sirris.  She was sleeping soundly despite the uncomfortable 
ground.  Val sighed and tried to get comfortable, but several new rocks 
found their way underneath him.  He brushed the rocks away and laid 
down again.  Sleep still wouldn't come so he began running the spells 
he'd learned through his head.  
	On the third run through a loud crack distracted him.  He held 
his breath waiting for another noise.  Blood pounded in his ears as what 
seemed like several minutes passed.  Nothing.  He let out his breath and 
slid a little closer to Sirris's back.  Another sound.  A footstep, he was 
sure of it.  Val poked Sirris in the back.  No response.  He poked 
harder.  Several footsteps and the rattle of blades.
	"Sirris." He hissed shaking her shoulder as quietly as possible.  
There was suddenly a tingle of magic in the air and a hound exploded in 
to a frenzy of barking.  Sirris snapped awake and was on her feet 
instantly.  Her hands flashed as she whispered a spell.  A greenish light 
suddenly shimmered on the trees around them.  
	It also outlined two humans with short swords.  The bandits 
seems momentarily stunned by the foxfire spell.  To his horror Val 
recognized them as his former captors.  He scrambled to his feet not 
wanting to be captured again.  The bandits took a few steps forward.  
	"Get back." Sirris hissed pushing him behind her.  "I'll give you a 
chance to turn around and leave unharmed." She told them.  They 
laughed.
	"And leave you out here alone and cold?" One barked 
confirming Val's suspicions.  Sirris ignored them and began to chant.
	"Wind, crimson flame. Grant the power of thunder to my hand! 
DIGGER VOLT!"  The bandits just stood there.  Suddenly a barrier of 
black energy crackled before them negating Sirris's spell.
	"What the. . . " Both Sirris and Val glanced around.  The hairs 
of Val's neck prickled.
	"Incoming!" He yelled.  Sirris blinked and cast another spell.
	"Windy Shield!" 
	Someone laughed.  Val looked up.  A person in dark wizard 
robes levitated down to the ground.
	"Pitiful!  This is the upstart sorcerer child.  I was expecting 
more." He said disdainfully and looked down his nose at them.  
	"Val, when I say go I want you to start running."
	"But. . "
	"No buts," Sirris snapped sharply.  "The best thing you can do 
is get yourself out of the way so I don't have to worry about you.  Got 
it?!" He mumbled a 'yes' and took a small step back.  
	"What's this little planning you're doing?" The wizard asked 
snidely.  
	"You who cross between sky and earth, raging water gather in 
my hand and give me strength.  Go Val."  He hesitated.  "GO!"  He 
turned and ran as Sirris shouted the command words of the spell.  
	"Demona Crystal!!"

* * *

	Val stumbled on a clump of grass and flailed for his balance.  
Someone caught his arm and pulled him along. He snatched a quick 
look without tripping.  Sirris.  He opened his mouth.
	"Shhh, not a sound.  No magic either.  He's a terrible tracker 
without a magic trail, but I'm not sure about the others."  Val nodded as 
best he could and kept running.  Sirris pulled him toward a nearby 
stream back the way they had come before sunset.  They splashed into 
it, and Sirris turned downstream heading into the cover of the over 
hanging willow trees.  Something snarled behind them.  Without thinking 
Val called up a fireball spell and managed to maintain it even as Sirris 
shoved him aside into the deeper part of the stream.  With a yell he 
threw the spell, the beast snarled and leapt into it for him.  He 
scrambled, soaking, back to his feet and helped Sirris back to her feet.  
As silently as possible they walked through the stream.

* * * 

	"I still can't believe you pulled off that fireball like that.  Ten 
thousand times better than when I had to fight for my life the first time 
with magic.  You are unbelievable, Val." Sirris said as they walking into 
a town later that day.  Val just nodded, still shaken and more than a bit 
tired.  
	"You hungry?"  He nodded, and she towed him toward a street 
vendor.  A person dressed in white watched them pass from one purple 
eye.  He smiled as he tugged at the cloth wrapped around his head 
obscuring vision from his other eye.  A very interesting development.  
He hadn't expected to find Valterria in the company of Sirris.  That had 
the potential to change plans quite a bit.  Sirris introduced a large chaos 
factor into equations.  He briefly considered ending the game right then, 
but then caught sight of Valterria laughing with Sirris.  
	But what fun is playing a game that ends so soon.  He smirked.  
Sirris was easy enough to track by the usual means.  Just as long as the 
others didn't catch up, it wouldn't hurt to leave them alive.  He turned 
away; his black edged cloak fluttering behind him.

* * * 

	The Difference between a good man and a bad one is the 
choice of cause.

				-- William James

* * * 

	The report was due at any moment.  She waited.  She could 
always wait.  Things happened when they did.  As it should be.  The air 
before her shimmered.  He bowed, overplaying his role as usual.  The 
report was nothing unexpected.  Everything was as it should have been.  
When he was finished, he knelt waiting for orders.
	"What of Xellos?" She asked.  The dragons have him, was the 
reply.  Interesting.  Why, she wondered, but she dismissed him, and he 
vanished.  Why?  She stretched her legs and stared into nothingness.  
Ancient, dark eyes glimmered dangerously in the half light of the throne 
room.  She would wait.  After all, what good is immortality if you 
cannot wait a little.

* * * 

	Filia sniffed as she arranged the items she'd brought from her 
'human' home.  She wouldn't be going back there.  There was no 
reason to.  A few treasured tea cups went on a safe shelf out of the 
reach of small hands.  She turned away and then remembered that there 
would be no small hands to pull things of the shelves.  With trembling 
hands she placed the cups on a lower shelf and arranged them with 
minute adjustments and readjustments.  She went back over to her 
basket and took out the next cup and stared at it.  Why had she packed 
such and ugly, battered, broken and cracked cup.  Then she 
remembered; it was Valterria's.  She'd given it to him after putting some 
protection spells on it so he would stop breaking her other cups.  He 
hadn't used it in years.  She turned it over in her hands, biting her lip so 
she wouldn't cry, and wondered where Valterria was.  Luna had been 
very concerned about finding him.
	"FILIA!!!!!!!" Someone cried in a delighted voice from the 
doorway.  Filia jumped and the cup tumbled from her fingers to the 
ground and shattered.
	"Oh, I'm sorry, Filia!  I didn't mean to startle you." A miko that 
Filia had worked with a lot before adventure with Lina waltzed into the 
room.  She picked up a large shard of the cup.  "What a sad looking 
thing.  Why on earth were you keeping this piece of junk?" She said and 
tossed the shard over her shoulder where it hit the ground and shattered 
into even smaller bits.  She embraced Filia with the dragon equivalent of 
a bear hug.
	"Everyone's so glad to have you back.  We were all beginning 
to wonder why you hadn't returned from that mission you were sent on.  
Ugh, and you had to tolerate the company of a Mazoku.  Those things 
are rotten to the core." She released Filia and stepped back.  Filia just 
stared at her.  "Poor dear you must be tired.  Get some rest and we'll 
catch up tomorrow.  Bye, Filia." The other miko turned and walked 
away.  Filia stared at her back until it disappeared and then down at the 
shattered cup.  She knelt and carefully gathered the pieces.  ~ I'll put 
them back together, and it will be fine. ~ She thought but soon gave up 
the idea.  There were too many bits missing.  She sniffled as she put the 
shards in a larger cup she'd brought and searched her stuff for other 
things of Valterria's.
	Nothing.
	She stared at her stuff in disbelief.  Nothing.  How could she 
have nothing left of him.  She sat down on the edge of her bed and 
stared at her hands.  Why had this happened?  Why?  Because he got 
in a fight, she answered herself, and you yelled at him for it, you 
accused him.  Tears trickled down her cheeks.  She'd even threatened 
to hit him with her mace.  
	"Valterria, I'm sorry.  I've failed you." She whispered through 
her tears.  "I meant to show you that I wasn't a murderer, that I wasn't 
like those that killed your kind, and I failed.  I failed."  Filia curled up 
into a ball on the bed and cried herself to sleep.

* * * 

	She woke later with a start in the unfamiliar surrounding of her 
old room.  In moments, she remembered where she was and what had 
happened.  She walked out into the hall and stood there in the 
darkness.  She needed to talk to someone.  Someone she knew.  She 
started walking, relying on her instinct to lead her to the dungeons.  To 
Xellos.

* * * 

	"Xellos?  Xellos." She reached through the bars and shook his 
shoulder.  He didn't respond.  She shook harder.  "Xellos!!  Wake up." 
She commanded in a hushed voice.  No telling when they would find 
her here.  Xellos's cloak and staff were gone, and his shirt was ripped 
and blackened in several places.  She got a better grip on his shoulder, 
her hand covering part of one of the darkest spots and shook him.  No 
response.  With a sigh she leaned her head against the bars, and stared 
at Xellos.  Then she looked down at the ground trying to think of 
something to do.  To her puzzlement she caught sight of a dark stain on 
the fingers of one hand.  She looked at it closer.   ~ Blood?  How did 
blood . . . ~ Her thought trailed off as she looked at Xellos.  He'd been 
tortured and badly too.
	She slid down the bars to the ground in shock.  Her people 
were savages, she'd thought them above this, but . . .   A tear ran down 
her face.  Someone laughed softly.
	"I don't believe it." A voice said so quietly Filia as most didn't 
hear it.  "She's crying over me.  Who would have ever guessed she'd 
cry for me."  Xellos giggled.  Filia scrambled to her feet.
	"Xellos!!  What did they do to you?"
	"That is . .  a secret." He said and opened one eye to look at 
her.  He grinned and closed his eye.
	"Xellos!"
	"Where's Valgarv?"
	"His name is Valterria, he's not Mazoku anymore."
	"What ever.  Where is he?!!" Xellos hissed sharply.  Filia's old 
bitterness came flooding back.
	"Why should I tell you, Namagomi!" She snapped and turned to 
leave.
	"Because he'll die if you don't tell me."  Filia stopped cold.
	"What." She said flatly, shaken by the horrible thought of 
Valterria dying again.
	"There is a prophecy that tells how to awaken Cefied."
	"What?!"
	"Hush, they'll hear." Xellos snapped, sitting up with a grimace of 
pain.  Filia stared at him.  "Where is he.  I need to know."  
	"I . .I ." Filia swallowed, "I don't know.  We got in a fight, I 
threatened to hit him with the mace, and he backed up fell out the front 
door and ran away.  It's been over a week since I saw him."  She 
finished.  Xellos just stared at her both eyes wide open.
	"You threatened to hit him with your mace." He breathed 
unbelieving.  Filia sat down on the ground.  Xellos repeated that line 
again and giggled.  It was unbelievable.
	"What about the prophecy and Valterria?" 
	"It's very old and not many people know about it, but Luna 
does so that doesn't matter anymore.  With some special ingredients in 
a special spot, someone strong enough can awaken Cefied.  One of the 
major ingredients is a large quantity of dragon blood, but it must be 
from an ancient dragon.  A real dragon could lose that much blood and 
not be bothered, but that much would kill Valterria."
	Filia stared at him in disbelief.
	"No, it can't be.  The Knight of Cefied wouldn't do that.  She 
wouldn't kill Valterria."
	"You don't know her very well.  Anything that gets her away 
from her job as a waitress is really big.  She'd gladly trade one little 
Dragon/Mazoku half breed for even the ghost of a chance to awaken 
Cefied.  As would most dragons." Xellos said.  Filia shook her head, 
tears rolling down her face.  
	"If he hadn't run, he'd be dead now.  You don't get away from 
Luna any other way."
	"How do you know?" Filia asked.  Xellos smirked.
	"I tried to fight her."
	"Tried?"
	"If you haven't noticed we look rather similar.  The hair is 
exactly the same.  I can pull off a perfect impression of her."  Filia just 
stared at him.  "I met her before she was a Knight of Cefied.  She 
seemed like a very strong sorceress so I hung around a bit.  Then she 
started going after Mazoku.  She sort of trusted me by then even though 
she knew I wasn't fully human.  I lured her into a trap that was 
supposed to kill her, but she got out and hunted me for three years 
before I was stupid enough to try to face her."  Xellos trailed off.
	"What happened?"
	"I died.  She killed me.  Very easily too.  I made one little 
mistake and hesitated to close to her.  Then I was dead.  She hauled my 
body back to the Beast Master and dumped it right in front of her.  
Anyone else would have died on the spot, but they . . . became . . 
friends.  Luna and Zelas share everything.  Secrets.  Habits.  Clothes.  I 
think they even shared a lover, but he didn't last very long.  One of them 
killed him.  Zelas got tired of not having me around so she brought me 
back with some minor adjustments.  I didn't exactly like waking up and 
finding that I looked just like someone who was now in the running for 
the position of Knight of Cefied."
	"So you are saying that if Luna finds Valterria, he's going to 
die."  Xellos nodded.
	"Even at the height of his power, Luna would have killed him 
easily.  Lina hit him directly with a Dragon Slave and he wasn't even 
scratched, but Luna would have killed him then.  And there's no way 
he'd stand up against her now."
	"Valterria, Valterria." Filia closed her eyes and rocked back 
and forth gently.  "I've failed you."
	"No, you haven't."
	"Why?" She glared at him with tear filled eyes.  "All she has to 
do is find him and he's dead."
	"Exactly, all she has to do is find him.  It's harder than you think.  
You can't track him with magic or by magic.  He's almost invisible to 
searches.  Believe me I've tried to find a way.  Nothing works."
	"So he has a chance?" Filia asked.  Xellos looked at the 
ground.
	"Yes, of a sort."

* * * 

	  The piercing dreams can be hidden from sight
              Yet the dreams will never disappear
              Strength is the proof that we all come to gaze upon
              Gentleness at these times is foolishness that will become a 
burden
              Tonight... Tonight...
              Towards the blazing flames against the
              Midnight blue

			-- Midnight Blue, Slayers The Motion Picture

* * * 

	"My lord." The girl said as she knelt in the snow at her master's 
feet.  He ignored her.  His mind was focused on seeing far past the 
snow covered peaks and trees.  To where, the girl could only guess.  
She stared at her master's booted toes.  The cold seeped into her 
knees, but she didn't shiver.  Warmth was a weakness of humans . . . 
and the Ryuzoku.  She closed her eyes.  The cold was a harsh master, 
but those who could tolerate it were made stronger by it.  Something 
brought her back to reality.  What had it been?  A sound?  A . . .   Her 
master's boot caught her in the thigh.
	"I'm sorry, forgive me.  Forgive me, my lord." She bowed 
lower.  He hmpfed and turned away, his boots crunching in the thick 
snow.
	"Sherra, I have a task for you if you are through day dreaming."
	"Yes, my lord."
	"Find me the boy that the dragon knight is after."
	"Yes, my lord." She paused weighing her questions, "Who, my 
lord?"  He looked back at her with cold silver blue eyes.  She trembled 
expecting a blow.  He merely smirked and turned away.
	"Do you remember Valgarv, Sherra?" He asked as if changing 
the subject.  Sherra snarled.
	"Yes, how could I forget that arrogant bastard of Gaav's.  That 
. . .that . . " She clenched her teeth remembering the time Valgarv had 
lured her into a trap and nearly killed her in that horrid desert of rock 
where both he and his renegade master, the Demon Dragon Gaav, hid 
from the world.  How could she forget.  "But he's dead."
	"And you believed Xellos's report?"
	"As I recall, you did to." She snapped and then realized her 
mistake.  She dropped to her knees in the snow.  "Forgive me, my 
lord."  He merely laughed.
	"Xellos lied.  Valgarv is still alive, but he is nowhere near as 
strong as he was.  He is a mere child, and for some reason the Knight 
of Cefied wants him.  I want you to find him and bring him here."
	"My lord?  Bring him here?" Sherra asked afraid for his life.  
The knight's sister made a habit of killing Mazoku Lords, the knight was 
rumored to be even stronger.  Her master smiled at her, showing sharp 
teeth.
	"I do not think the Knight of Cefied would be such a fool to 
attack me in my stronghold, the place where my power is the most 
concentrated."  Sherra bowed.
	"You are right, my lord.  She would be a fool to do such a 
thing.  Where shall I start looking, my lord."
	"The mountain range that borders the Destroyed Desert to the 
east.  My spies have reported that he and a human are moving through 
the crack in the mountains towards the south.  Go now."
	"Yes, My Lord!" Sherra saluted and vanished with a swirl of 
snow.  He watched her go with a smile.  She was so loyal, so devoted.  
Normal Mazoku weren't so devoted, or for that part as ingenious.  
Loyalty and devotion eluded most Mazoku minds like slippery fish.  He 
sighed.  Human minds had those features almost hard wired into them.  
Humans also learned from their mistakes.  Most Mazoku would fall for 
the same trick over and over until it killed them.  Humans, however, 
wouldn't.  He chuckled, perhaps that was why most Mazoku Lords 
chose humans and made them Mazoku to fill the vital posts of Priest 
and General.  The Beast Master done it first, and they'd all laughed at 
her.  They thought she'd been such a fool to take a human and give him 
such power as befitted the posts of both General and Priest.  They'd 
laughed even during the war.  He had found a way to resurrect 
Shabranigdo from Lei Magnus's blind eyes, but the dragons had found 
out too soon.  The Golden Dragons weren't the best warriors but their 
numbers gave them an advantage.  
	Then the Beast Master had sent her human against a legion of 
Golden Dragons.  He and Phibrizio had laughed and taken bets on how 
long he would last.  The Beast Master sat and watched them like the 
wolf she was until her servant returned.  He was battered and bleeding 
heavily, but he still smiled.  He had announced that the legion was dead.  
Phibrizio hadn't believed and went to the battle ground to see for 
himself.  Minutes later, he'd returned, his face several shades too pale.  
Xellos had single handedly killed much more than just an entire legion of 
Golden Dragons, and everyone took the Beast Master seriously 
afterwards.  No one wanted to find out just how much of her power 
Xellos actually had.  
	But they had tried her idea.  During the war, he had lost his 
general in a particularly bloody battle in which Gaav turned traitor and 
destroyed hundreds of Mazoku legions.  He'd hunted Gaav to one of 
the northern cites near his own realm of snow before the Maryu-ou had 
disappeared back to the south and what was left of his servants.  
Disgusted and tired of being tricked, he had wandered the streets of the 
city while the winter snow fell all around.  In a back ally somewhere, 
he'd found a young girl, no more than 15, fighting tooth and nail for 
food.  She surprised him although she lost the fight.  He'd followed her 
and found her near death from the cold and her injuries.  She seemed 
unafraid of him when everyone else in the city turned away.  If only 
she'd kept that quality a bit more.  He'd made her an offer: become a 
Mazoku.  She'd accepted without a second thought.
	He kept her appearance, but gave her part of his name: Sherra.  
She took longer to train than a created servant but in the end surpassed 
his expectations.  The Beast Master had come up with a very good 
idea, for once.  And then Gaav had the audacity to try it on a dragon.  
The idiot turned the ancient dragon Valterria into a Mazoku.  He'd 
caught Gaav not long after and would have killed him had Valgarv not 
been there.  Valgarv's dragon devotion to light had twisted into a loyalty 
to Gaav so strong that it gave him the strength to stand against even the 
worst attacks Dynast had to offer.  But due to his nature, both dragon 
and Mazoku, Valgarv had proved to be very unstable.  In another 
encounter, Valgarv had turned on Gaav and severely injured him.  Gaav 
managed to incapacitate Valgarv but was forced to flee from his other 
attackers.  He'd taken Valgarv with him, much to Dynast's surprise.  He 
laughed sharply, breaking his reverie.  Gaav had always been a fool, 
and it finally got him killed.  Even if Valgarv really was the boy he'd 
seen, he wouldn't be a match for Sherra.  
	"Dynast Gausherra." Said a voice from somewhere.  Dynast 
looked around with mild interest.
	"What?" He said in a bored tone.  Something moved in a large 
tree near by.  An eagle, no a lamergier.  The largest bird of prey in any 
mountain range.  It's feathers were unusually dark black and shimmered 
in the weak sunlight.  Lamergiers couldn't talk, however.
	"What are you looking at, Dynast?" The voice asked.  Dynast 
swept the area with his Mazoku senses.  There was someone standing 
slightly behind him.  He turned.
	"A black lamergier.  What brings you here?" Dynast didn't 
recognize him.  The Mazoku was dressed in white robes with a cloak 
edged by a wide black band.  He carried a staff with a tangle of sinew 
and feathers and things at the top in a spot where the wood looped 
over.  
	"A lamergier?  It's just a bird."
	"What brings you here?" Dynast asked narrowing his eyes.  The 
other smirked.
	"You like living dangerously don't you."
	"Why's that?"
	"If Sherra brings a certain boy here, the Knight of Cefied will 
follow, and *you* will die.  That would leave the Mazoku in a really 
bad spot, don't you think?"
	"Hmpf.  She wouldn't come here.  I am the strongest one left 
and she'd be a fool to fight me in my stronghold."
	"Perhaps the title of fool would fit, but she would fight you.  
Even there."
	"I don't like you attitude, minion." Dynast took several steps 
toward the stranger who just stood there.
	"Don't kill the messenger." He said with a smirk opening one 
purple eye.
	"What's your message then?"
	"What will you give me?"
	"Haha!  Nothing.  I care not for your messages.  Be gone." He 
turned away and began walking toward his citadel.
	"I'm sure Cefied will make this his first stop after that stunt you 
pulled with Lei Magnus."
	Dynast whirled around.
	"What?!!?"
	The other smirked.
	"That's why she's after the boy, you know, to wake up the old 
worm."
	Dynast felt a creeping chill run through him, even colder than the 
coldest of his snows.
	"Awaken Cefied." He said, his voice unusually hushed.
	"Mmhhmmm.  But you don't you don't have to worry about 
Luna coming here.  Sherra's not going to get the boy."  Dynast grabbed 
the other by his throat.
	"Why not." It was not a question.  The other didn't reply but 
smiled instead.
	"Sherra has nearly a thousand years of experience.  She will get 
the boy."
	"So does Val, but since he can't remember much of anything 
right now, you don't have to worry about *him*."
	"So why is there a problem."
	"Sore wa . . . " Dynast's fingers snapped a neck that had 
vanished moments before.  Dynast Gausherra, Mazoku Lord of Snow 
and Ice, stood there for a long moment considering the goals of the 
Knight of Cefied, before returning slowly to his citadel.  That Mazoku 
had been pure Mazoku and very strong, but he'd never seen him 
before.  He didn't think that the Beast Master would abandon Xellos for 
another and Phibrizio's and Gaav's servants were all dead with the 
exception of Valgarv.  That left one alternative that Dynast didn't like at 
all.  Not in the least.
	And despite being the Lord of the North, Dynast shivered.

* * * 

	 The cackle of startled crows made Val stop walking and turn 
around.  The birds started up from their trees and flapped in angry 
black circles.  A cold breeze rippled the grass.  Val waited but nothing 
more happened.  Sirris turned around and walked back to him.
	"What's wrong?"  He shook his head.
	"Something startled the birds, could be anything." He said and 
started walking again.  Sirris followed him.
	"You're the magic detector here.  I trust you." She looked down 
the road and caught sight of a lone figure walking toward them.  "I 
wonder where that person's going.  They won't get to a town before 
midnight going that way."
	"We don't know if *we* are going to get to a town before 
midnight." Val retorted.
	"Aw, poor little Valterria's hungry." Sirris said in a cute voice 
and captured Val in a hug.  He tried to squirm away.
	"Stop it, Sirris, stop it!" He dashed out of reach when she 
loosened her hold on him.  He glared back at her and straightened his 
clothes.  She smiled back at him and laughed softly.
	"I don't blame you.  In a town we can at least wash dishes for 
food, but there's nothing to catch out here unless you like tiny lizards." 
She made a face.  The lizards she'd caught the night before last had led 
to stomach aches and a sleepless night for both of them.  "Come on 
perhaps they can tell us where the next town is." She started down the 
road again.  Val started to follow but looked back over his shoulder just 
to make sure.  A huge black bird was sitting in one of the dead trees a 
ways away.  He'd never seen anything like it before, and it was almost 
like it was looking right at him.  The bird moved its head and locked its 
hooded eyes with Val's.
	-- Your friend is in grave danger. --
	"Wha. . . ?" Val felt the beginning of a spell start to form.  
"Sirris!!!!" He shouted and dashed toward her.  She paused and half 
turned toward him.  The person beyond her lifted a hand to cast the 
spell and let the power in it build.  Val tackled Sirris, wrapping his arms 
about her waist, hitting with enough force to send them both heavily to 
the ground.  
	"Val, what the . . ." Sirris snapped and started to sit up.  Val 
looked up and yelled at her to stay down just as the spell roared 
passed.  Sirris's eyes widened seeing the trail of ice and the furrow in 
the ground that the spell had left behind.  
	"Get up!!" Their attacker commanded.  "At least put a fight for 
all the trouble you've been in the past, Valgarv!!"  Sirris saw the puzzled 
look on Val's face.
	"Val . .garv?"
	"Yeah.  It doesn't make sense." 
	"Get up.  No sense in letting her shoot us on the ground." Sirris 
whispered and rolled to her feet.  Val stood up behind and slightly to 
the right of her.  Their attacker was a girl who looked to be somewhere 
between their ages, 14 and 18.  She wore a purplish blue tight fitting 
jacket that flared out at her waist.  Her pants and the lining of the jacket 
were a light green.  She walked toward them and stopped ten feet 
away.  At that distance even a miss could kill with the right spell.  She 
totally ignored Sirris and glared at Val with a look of pure contempt.  
She made a disgusted noise.
	"After all the trouble you've caused, you're just a pitiful child.  I 
should kill you where you stand and save Dynast the trouble."  Sherra 
started to walk around to get a direct view of Val but Sirris matched her 
movements keeping her own body between Sherra and Val.  Sherra's 
eyes narrowed as her gaze shifted to Sirris.  "If you want to live, human, 
you'd better start running now."
	"Why don't you take your own advice?" Sirris retorted in a 
sharp voice.  Val took a step closer to her back and peering around 
her, laid a hand on the back of her shoulder.  Sherra laughed like a 
crow and took a step forward raising a hand, ready to call a spell.
	"You don't know who you're dealing with, human." Sherra 
made the word human sound like the foulest thing possible.  Sirris 
smiled.
	"I've got a pretty good idea, Mazoku." Sirris almost laughed 
back, but she trembled under Val's touch.  Sherra's eyes narrow even 
further; she was not happy.
	"Step away from that contemptible excuse for a Mazoku behind 
you and leave with your life."  Sherra demanded.  Sirris didn't reply but 
instead, Val could tell, began to marshal her magical powers.
	"Stupid idiot." Sherra snorted and walked off to a distance 
suitable for target practice.  Val started to back up but Sirris caught his 
shoulder.
	"Val, listen quickly.  Whatever you do keep me between you 
and her.  She far too powerful for anything you can cast to affect her, 
but throw some things to distract her.  I can maintain a barrier for some 
time and as long as I'm facing her, it will work.  She's a Mazoku called 
Sherra, and she is Dynast Gausherra's general.  You've heard of him 
probably from that old man in the magic store.  And Mazoku can move 
very fast, so I'm going to need your eyes wide open.  Got it." 
	"Yeah." He said, his voice trembling.
	"Good. Valis Wall!" Sirris cried and a shimmering wall of white 
light snapped into place between them and Sherra.  Sherra was 
unimpressed.  With a flick of her hand a barrage of ice and lightning 
lashed against the wall.  She was a bit surprised when it held.  Sherra 
shrugged and began chanting a very powerful spell.  A flickering ball of 
blue and white gathered in Sherra's hands.
	"Oh, crud." Sirris muttered and removed her support from the 
wall.  Val stared at her.
	"What are you doing?!" He hissed.  The wall would stand with 
out support but not against any really strong attack like Sherra was 
brewing.  Sirris ignored him, calling up another spell.
	"Soyokaze, everlasting gale. Grant the power of the wind that 
blows between the worlds to my hand!" Air whipped into a disk before 
Sirris, howling like a hurricane.  Sherra didn't bother to look up.  Sirris 
smiled and adjusted her aim. "Diem Wind!!!!!!"  The air blasted toward 
Sherra like a runaway train.  She looked up ready to cast her spell just 
as it hit.  The torrent blasted her into the trees fifty feet behind her and 
still snapped branches off of them.  Sirris grabbed Val's hand and 
dashed down the road.  
	Behind them, Sherra jumped to her feet, her eyes glowing like 
lightning.  ~ That girl will pay for this . . humiliation!!! ~ Sherra snarled 
and teleported to mid air above the top of a near by hill.  It didn't take 
but a moment to spot two fleeing figures.  ~ They will pay! ~ She 
thought and let loose a blast of ice toward them.
	
* * *

	Fortunately Sherra's aim was off due to her anger and the blast 
shattered into the ground ten feet behind them, coving them with fine 
slivers of ice.  Val stumbled but Sirris hauled him back up and kept 
running.  Behind them, he heard a howl of indignation and another 
attack exploded in front of them.  Sherra appeared before them and 
started to cast something.  Sirris didn't wait to find out what it was.
	"Scatter-Bleed!" She yelled and a multitude of small spinning 
explosives few from her hand.  The attack didn't hurt Sherra but it did 
startle her enough for Sirris to drag Val toward a copse of trees that 
might provide a little bit of cover.  Sherra snarled.
	"You've had it, human." Her voice was freezing cold.  Sirris 
dived to the ground, just barely missing another attack.  She scrambled 
up, blood trickling from a gash in her leg.  
	"Run, Val.  She'll go after me now if we split up."
	"But . . " He stammered, but she shoved him away and dashed 
away.  Sherra watched her run, chanting a spell.
	"Shadow Beast of the north, let your cry destroy my enemy.  
Dynast Brass"  A pentagram traced itself in glowing lines under Sirris 
and exploded upwards with a fierce electric wind.  Sirris turned and 
threw up a shield but it had little effect.  The howl of the electrical wind 
grew and tendrils of electricity wrapped around her.  Sirris screamed 
but couldn't move much more than that.  Sherra smiled and laughed.
	"Ha haha, thought you could get away, human?!" Her eyes 
glittered as the spell dispersed.  Sirris collapsed to her hands and knees 
with a low moan, her breathing ragged.  Sherra cackled again and 
turned toward Val who was frozen to the spot staring at Sirris.
	"Time to die, Valgarv!" Sherra giggled. Val shook his head as a 
tear trickled down his cheek.
	"No . . Sirris. . . SIRRIS!!!!!" He screamed.  He turned on 
Sherra.  "You monster!!"
	Sherra laughed.  
	"You are pitiful.  No magic.  Even less sense.  Only that stupid 
temper.  I could snap your neck and you wouldn't even notice." She 
walked closer and ran a cold finger down his nose and then along his 
jaw.  Val felt his mind start to freeze at her touch and acted on reflex.  
He grabbed her hand and bit down as hard as he could.  Biting in a fight 
always got him in more trouble than it was worth, but he'd make an 
exception this time.  Sherra howled and snatched her hand back.  She 
backed up several steps cradling it.  Val started to gag.  Her blood 
tasted terrible, like tar and molasses mixed together.  Sherra glared at 
her hand, her good mood ruined, black blood welled up slowly from the 
rents in her hand.
	"You always did have sharp teeth." She sneered and started to 
cast something, but a noise made her turn partly around.  Val started as 
well as Sirris struggled to her feet.
	"Impossible!" Sherra hissed.  Sirris staggered but remained 
standing, a strange flickering blue aura surrounded her.  Blood trickled 
from her temple down the one side of her face.  She started to chant.
	"Anak rakim surak." 
	Sherra managed a step back.  Val shivered and realized he 
understood the words to the spell.
	" . . . brightest flame of light to burn away the darkness before 
me.  Karyu-ou, fire dragon, grant me your power."  Sirris closed her 
eyes repeating the spell.  The aura around her suddenly flashed and 
Sirris cried out as a pair of white feathered wings grew from her back.  
Val's body unfroze and decided that somewhere behind Sirris was a 
much safer place to be.  Sherra just stood there.
	"Impossible." She repeated.  Sirris opened her eyes, now a 
strange silver blue and looked at Sherra.
	"Really?"  She asked with a half smile.  "Grave breath!!!!" She 
cried, completing the spell.  Light streaked toward Sherra and engulfed 
her.  The Mazoku didn't make a sound as the spell danced around her.  
Val felt a surge of darkness and Sherra disappeared.  Sirris staggered 
and Val rushed to her side and helped her to the ground.
	"Sirris?  What happened?" He asked and shook her gently.  
She groaned and curled up, her wings twitching.  The last of the aura 
faded away and Sirris started to cough.  
	"Sirris  . . .  Sirris. . . " Val felt for a pulse in her neck after the 
coughing stopped.  There was one but very fast and faint.  Val didn't 
know what to do.  There was nothing he could do.  He didn't know any 
healing spells.  Sirris hadn't taught him any of those yet.  He sniffed 
miserably and smoothed the feathers of Sirris's wings back into place.
	Why in the world did she have feathered wings?  The feathers 
were long and almost sharp on the edges, and not pure white but more 
ice white.  Little flecks of blues and grays covered them like impurities 
in ice.  Wings.  Sometimes in his dreams he had wings.  Large black 
feathered ones.  He shuddered.  Awaking form those dreams he always 
felt terrible.  His back ached as did his head.  A long time ago, he'd 
awoken from one of those dreams and been so lonely.  He'd tried to 
creep into Filia's room just to be near someone but he'd fallen down the 
stairs instead.  Filia had come running and found him curled up at the 
bottom holding a broken wrist.  Something nagged at his memory.  
She'd done something that made his wrist better without bandages.  He 
wracked his memory.  
	Recovery?  Did Filia know magic?  Sirris had said that most 
people could pull off a few spells farther to the north where she was 
from.  Perhaps recovery was a healing spell.  It wouldn't hurt to try.  

* * * 

	Valgarv brushed Sirris's hair away from where the cut on her 
temple had been and was relived to see that the cut was no longer 
there.  His attempt had worked for the most part.  The drying blood 
was still there, but the cuts and gashes were healed.  And Sirris 
appeared to be only sleeping instead of unconscious now.  Only now 
Val needed a Recovery spell used on him.  He sighed and laid down 
next to Sirris and laid an arm over her, so if she woke up he'd probably 
do the same.  As he closed his eyes he realized just how tired he really 
was.  He was asleep not moments later.

* * * 

	Dynast Gausherra walked out of Sherra's room with a grim 
look on his face.  Something had gone very wrong.  How hard was it to 
take out essentially two humans?  Yet, Sherra was nearly put 
permanently out of commission.  He'd almost not gotten her out in time.  
Something had blocked him.
	No, he thought, not blocked, just distracted him.  Kept him 
from seeing, like ripples in water keep you from seeing the bottom.  
And Valgarv had a dragon helping him.  Sherra had been hit by not a 
high level dragon spell, but a low level one with lots of power poured 
into it.  Dynast snarled.
	"I'll show them."

* * * 

	A cold wind rattled the branches and the grass, but neither 
Sirris or Val noticed, both still lost in dream land.  Dynast walked over 
to them and shook his head.  It would be so easy to just eliminate them 
right here, right now.  To hell with what the Dragon Knight wants.  The 
boy was definitely Valgarv, the hair was a dead give away.  The girl 
was just human.  With wings?  
	Yes, and she smelled of dragon too.  Dynast stood there 
looking at the girl.  He was certain she wasn't fully dragon, but how . . .  
He shook his head.  Dragons must be able to turn humans into part 
dragons just as the Mazoku could make humans their servants.  Hmfp, 
but they had caused enough trouble.  A thought conjured up a ball of 
white flame in his hand.
	There was the sound of a splash and the ball flickered out as if it 
had been extinguished by a strong gust.  Dynast turned to the person 
who now sat on a large rock behind him and favored her with a cold 
glare.
	"What are *you* doing here?" He snapped.  The person didn't 
look at him.  She just sat there.  Sat there holding a fishing pole with a 
line that dangled into a small bucket of water.  
	"WELL!!!" Dynast roared and marched over to her.  "Why are 
you interfering in my business?"  She sat there and fished.  Dynast 
grabbed the fishing line.  "STOP THAT!!  YOU'LL NEVER CATCH 
ANYTHING!!"  Dynast noticed the pole jerk up and looked down at 
his hand.
	"I caught you, brother." She said looking up at Dynast.  He 
hissed and pulled the barbed hook out of his hand and threw it at her.
	"What are you doing here?" He snapped.  She shrugged.
	"Oh, protecting my interests." She said lazily.
	"Your interests?  Ha!!  Since when are *YOU* interested in 
anything but the ocean?!"
	"This is my business, brother, bug out."
	Dynast stepped back.  She usually didn't use such a sharp tone 
of voice.  Actually, she usually didn't speak at all.  This was by far the 
longest, and sanest, conversation he'd had in a while with her.  A while 
being seven centuries, at least.  Zelas proudly claimed responsibility for 
driving the Mazoku Lord of the Demon Sea insane, but Dynast wasn't 
so sure that it was all Zelas's fault.  Dolphin had always been strange.  
She had the same sort of bizarre idea that Gaav had that the humans 
were actually worth something.  He turned to the side and was about to 
make another remark when he noticed the broadsword slung across her 
back.  Dynast blinked, his train of thought derailed.  Why had she 
hauled out that!?  The Sword of the Deep Ocean.  Unless. . . unless. . . 
she was very serious about *protecting her interests.*  One on one they 
could tear each other apart and Dynast would eventually win, but with 
that sword. . .  the odds were in her favor.  She'd sliced one of 
Hellmaster's old generals in half with that sword with one blow, and 
Phibrizio hadn't been able to resurrect him.  Totally gone.  And Dynast 
was in no hurry to find out exactly how that sword worked close up.
	"Your interests?  Fine, fine, you do what you want, sister." He 
snapped turning away and disappeared.  She smiled and looked over at 
where Sirris and Val slept obliviously and knelt down beside them.  
	"Well, my little darlings, you are starting to surprise even me." 
She laughed quietly and stroked Sirris's cheek.  "Especially you, my 
little dragon.  Especially you."  Deep Sea Dolphin started to get up but 
pause a moment longer to pull three long white feathers out of Sirris's 
wings.  She stood up, twirling the feathers between her fingers and then 
laughing like a gull and vanished as well.

* * * 

	Val started and woke up.  With a bleary yawn he sat up and 
looked around.  Nothing had changed.  He rubbed the sleep out of his 
eyes and blinked several times.  His vision cleared a bit more but was 
still blurry.  ~ Ugh, that spell took a lot more out of me than I thought. ~ 
He shook his head and then checked on Sirris.  She was still sleeping 
soundly.  He put a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently.  
Nothing.  He shook harder.  After about a minute she slowly came 
around.
	"What happened?" She muttered still only half awake.  
	"You cast some sort of spell that really fried that Mazoku who 
was after us." Val said.  Sirris blinked.
	"I did?"
	"Yes!" He said and pulled one of her wings to were she could 
see it.  She blinked some more and took a hold of it.  She looked at it 
like she'd never seen it before.  Val started to get worried, maybe she'd 
hit her head really hard during the fight.  
	"Why do you have wings?" He asked.  Sirris let go of her wing 
and sat there with her eyes closed for a moment. Her wings twitched 
and then stretched out to the sides and then up to the sky.  She opened 
and closed them a few times and then folded them close to her back.  
She smiled slightly.
	"When I was little I was in some sort of accident that required a 
lot of healing magic.  The person that healed me turned out to be a 
dragon, and I ended up part dragon afterwards because the healing 
spell required me to be infused with so much dragon magic.  I can't 
totally turn into a dragon, I've just got dragon wings and a talent for 
wind and spirit magic and a few fire spells.  It's been a few years since I 
was able to call them up, but they usually just appear when I get really 
angry or when I am putting a lot of power into a spell.  Everybody's 
heard tale after tale about dragons and how powerful they are but my 
powers can't come close to matching a real dragon's." She finished.  
Valterria just stared at her.  
	"You mean dragons are real? And that person you fought was a 
Mazoku?" He asked.  Sirris nodded.  Val shook his head.  "The old 
man in the book store always told me stories about them but I never 
imagined that they were real.  They were just. . . " He trailed off.
	"Just stories?" Asked Sirris as she got to her feet and stretched.  
He nodded and stood up too.  "Sometimes the truth is a lot stranger 
than we think it is."

* * *

	Of course, you're assuming the shadows are evil sui generis.  
May not be that simple.

		 -- jms

* * *

	"Oh, you have no idea, my child." Deep Sea Dolphin said as 
she twirled a feather in her fingers.  Her servant watched awaiting her 
dismissal.  It was just a formality.  He waited patiently, starting 
somewhat at the flash behind him but not turning to see who had come 
to see his mistress.  Still she sat with one leg thrown over the arm of her 
throne twirling the feather.  To his annoyance, the intruder stopped 
directly behind him and stayed silent.  Dolphin looked over at the 
intruder and smiled.  The feather stopped twirling and Dolphin held it 
straight up.
	"She's the one.  I'm certain of it now." She told the person.  Her 
servant yearned to look behind him but he didn't know the 
consequences if he did.  It wasn't Dynast.  If it had been the Lord of the 
North would have had him by the neck again.  Phibrizio and Gaav were 
dead.  And Zelas wouldn't set foot inside Dolphin's domain if it were the 
last refuge of Mazoku in the universe.  Then who.  There was a whisper 
of mental communication that he couldn't understand.  It sounded like 
the winter wind through the trees.  Dolphin laughed.
	"Things have never been so black and white, you know that." 
She said with a chuckle.  "When the wind dies upon the height,  doom 
forecast shall come.  But when it begins to blow again." A cruel grin 
spread across Dolphin's face.  Her servant stared in wonder.  ~ What 
the hell is going on! ~ He thought.  
	"But when it begins to blow again, the light and dark shall be as 
one, and chaos its court will keep." Said the stranger.  "I believe that is 
the rest of it."  Dolphin laughed; echoed and rebounded sounding truly 
insane.  Dolphin dissolved into giggles.
	"You have a good memory for a stupid old worm."
	"As do you, for being a smelly fish."  Dolphin chuckled at that.  
Her servant started to look over his shoulder, but Dolphin cleared her 
throat and he didn't.  Then she gazed again at the feather.
	"It's almost a pity.  She's so young. . . "
	"But we need her." Said the person.  Dolphin sighed and leaned 
her head on her hand, staring at the feather.
	"Yeah, I suppose so."

* * * 

	We'll see how brave you are
	we'll see how fast you'll be running
	we'll see how brave you are

			-- Yes, Anastasia

* * *

	They walked along the road slowly, both still hurting from the 
fight with Sherra.  Sirris stumbled and grabbed Val's shoulder to keep 
from falling down.  She groaned and continued to lean on him.
	"Still hurts?"
	"Yeah," She nodded.  "Mazoku wounds are really hard to heal.  
I really owe you my life now."  He shook his head.
	"No, if it weren't for me, Sherra wouldn't have attacked you."
	"True but . . ." Sirris didn't finish.  Val looked at her face and 
then turned quickly to follow her gaze skyward.  Five large flying things 
were landing not too far away.  Sirris looked worried.
	"Damn, they must be coming to investigate our fight with 
Sherra." She said bitterly and started walking again.  "Come on, let's get 
moving."
	"Why?  I thought you were part dragon, won't they . . . "
	"They think I'm an abomination and go out to their way to point 
it out." She cut him off.  He jogged up to her and matched her fast pace, 
though in her condition she wouldn't be able to keep it up very long.  
Several minutes passed and Sirris started to drop back to a normal 
pace, thinking that the dragons might have not been after them at all 
when a tall handsome young man stepped into the road from behind a 
tree.  He smiled, and Val immediately disliked him.
	"Well, well, if it isn't the half breed." He said leisurely and his 
four companions, still in their dragon forms joined him.
	"Get out of our way, Jarlath." Sirris said coldly.  Jarlath laughed.
	"Oh, look now she's giving me orders.  Give us the kid and we 
will get out of your way, your highness." Jarlath said, he said the last bit 
in the most mocking tone of voice he could manage.  Sirris hissed and 
spread her wings out in an unconscious attempt to make herself look 
more dangerous.  Jarlath laughed and with a flick of his hand sent her 
flying back to crash into the trunk of a large tree.  Sirris's eyes rolled up, 
and she slipped into unconsciousness.  
	Jarlath actually looked surprised.  He really hadn't expected 
Sirris to give up that easily.  
	"Oh well, that makes my job easier." He said with a smirk 
turning to Valterria.  "Now I wonder what the Dragon Knight wants 
with this scrawny brat."  Val backed up several steps and put himself 
between the dragons and Sirris.  Jarlath advanced on him.
	"What do you want?" Val asked.  Jarlath stood before him and 
looked down.
	"You, but I can't imagine why.  We were told you'd be in this 
area and now you will come with us."  Jarlath grabbed for Val's arm but 
Val jumped back.  The other dragons chuckled a bit, but a sour look 
from Jarlath silenced them.
	"Go away." Valterria hissed at them.
	"Stupid child.  Don't you know what we are?  Who we are?"
	"You are to stupid even to recognize real dragons instead of half 
breeds."  The dragons began to laugh.  Val shut his eyes trying to ignore 
their cruel remarks.  And was suddenly somewhere else.  The snow 
was falling.  There were dragons laughing just like these.  One of 
Jarlath's cohorts pushed him.  He staggered back and suddenly it was a 
different dragon holding a deadly looking lance.  The dragon laughed as 
it drove the lance through a large egg.  Another one of those worthless 
monsters gone, it said.  He got pushed again and saw cold dead eyes 
staring back at him from a pile of bodies.  The bodies were dragons but 
with black scales and dark eyes.  But there were golden dragons driving 
lances through those that still survived.  
	"murderers," He whispered as a cold tear trickled down his 
face.  
	"What was that you little . . ."
	"Murderers!!  MURDERERS!!!!!!!!" Valterria screamed at 
them.  They laughed.  Jarlath did glance over at Sirris and saw her chest 
rising and falling.  She was still alive so he had no clue what the kid was 
screaming about.
	"Hey kid. . . " He started.  One of the others cute him off.
	"Baka!  Baka!! We really will kill that half breed if you don't 
shut up." And the dragon hit Val across the face knocking him down.  
Val wiped the blood running from the corner of his mouth away and 
glared at the dragon who had hit him.  Jarlath took several steps back.  
Val's whole demeanor had changed including the magic scent 
surrounding him.  It was defiantly Mazoku now.  He started to tell the 
others but they continued their taunts.
	"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!  Demon 
dragon who sleeps in the inferno, let thy roar burn my enemy to ashes.  
GAAV FLARE!!!" Val screamed and a ball of fire flared to life in his 
hands.  Jarlath watched as the spell flared and the boy cast it at the 
dragon.  The target reeled back as the spell exploded and surrounded 
him in a raging inferno that spread to the others.  What ever it had been, 
it was not a regular fire spell.  He'd thought he had heard an incantation 
but hadn't been able to make it out.  He called up a blast of dragon 
magic and flung it at the boy.  It hit some sort of screen before him and 
dissipated.  He'd been told that Mazoku naturally had that happen.  The 
boy looked at him and caught his eyes.  Jarlath suddenly felt really cold.  
The boy's eyes weren't human eyes by any means.  They were golden 
and filled with hate and, though it puzzled Jarlath, great sadness.  Then 
he vanished in a swirl of mist.
	Jarlath staggered and sat down.  He looked around.  Four dead 
dragons and one unconscious half breed.  He got unsteadily to his feet 
and walked over to Sirris.  A quick healing spell reversed a great deal 
of the damage he'd done but the sleep spell he cast right after it sent her 
into an even deeper sleep.  She was going to have an awful lot of 
questions to answer.

* * *

	Valterria sat on the bank and stared at his slightly rippled 
reflection.  His hair was a mess.  His face was covered in blood.  And 
tears.  No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember what had 
happened to Sirris.  He remembered Jarlath flicking her into a tree but 
nothing after that until he had awoken laying in the grass near the 
stream.  As more tears ran down his face he flicked a small pebble into 
the stream causing a few small ripples in the water.  But they were 
swept away.  He sighed.
	"Why!!" He accused the stream.  "Why can't I have a normal 
life!!!  Why is my hair green!!!  Why are people after me all of the 
sudden!!!"  Nothing answered him.  The anger slowly seeped out with 
the tears that rolled down his cheeks.  He buried his face in his arms as 
sobs shook his body.  
	"why . . . why . . . why . . . " He repeated the word as if it alone 
could bring him the answers he sought.  
	In the tree that he sat beneath, a shadow stirred.  Sharp golden 
eyes regarded him with a softness seemingly foreign to their nature.  The 
lamergier rustled its wings and hopped to a lower branch.  It hissed at 
him to get his attention.  Val didn't notice.  The bird looked at him some 
more and then jumped down to the ground.  Val still didn't notice.  The 
bird sighed sort of and tugged on Val's shirt.  Val looked up hoping to 
find Sirris sitting next to him but finding a great dark eagle sitting next to 
him.  He yelped and scrambled away from the bird.  It looked at him 
sadly, like it wanted to say something to him.  Val sniffed and wiped his 
nose.  
	"What do you want?" He asked softly.  The lamergier spread 
it's wings and slowly flapped them.  Val just stared.
	"You are crazy, I can't fly." He snapped.  The bird hissed at 
him.
	"I don't even have wings!!  How can I fly without wings!!" It 
cocked it's head.
	"I've only had wings in my dreams and it always hurts!!" He 
yelled at the bird which suddenly looked rather smug.  Wings in his 
dreams.  Val stared at the bird and realized that its wings looked a lot 
like the ones in his dreams.  
	"That's stupid." He said when he snapped back to reality.  The 
lamergier sighed and flapped back into the highest branches of the tree 
and sat there watching him.  He glanced up at it a few times but it sat 
like a statue except for the eyes which were glued to him.  Val sighed.  
~ Stupid bird, ~ He thought.  ~ Wants me to fly.  Hmpf. ~
	He reached into the stream and splashed water on to his face 
and scrubbed the blood and grime off.  And then he stared at his 
reflection.  It was the same as it had always been except for the stripes 
on his cheeks.  Two on each side.  And they looked like long healed 
scars.  He ran his fingers down them still staring.  It could possibly be a 
trick of the dragons they'd run into but . . . .  He shook his head.  No 
sense in wondering, they were there to stay it looked like.  With a sigh 
and a last glance in the river Val got up and started walking.  He didn't 
care were he ended up, just that he was somewhere else.

* * * 

	A moment of kindness like that in a dream.
	You innocent eyes have yet no idea
	Of the path your destiny will follow.
	But someday you'll become aware of
	Everything that you've got behind you.
	Your wings are for seeking out a new
	Future that only you can search for.

		-- A THESIS OF THE CRUEL ANGEL

* * * 

	Luna paced back and forth in the hall of Karyu-ou, the fire 
dragon king.  Her measured steps rang out in the silent hall.  The hall 
was empty save for her, and there was good reason for it.  Luna was 
mad.  Correction Luna was furious.  Jarlath should have been back 
hours ago with Valterria bound hand and foot like she had instructed 
him to.  And he wasn't.
	Valterria was the only reason Sherra would leave the snow 
bound north, alone or on Dynast's orders it made no difference.  Dynast 
hadn't shown any interest what so ever in anything that didn't have snow 
covering it year round in the past several decades.  He'd probably 
gotten wind of her interest in the boy and sent Sherra to get him first.  
Where was Jarlath!!  Perhaps Sherra had run into them and put them 
out of Luna's misery.  Luna laughed aloud.  It was an unkind sound to 
say the least.  That would serve that saucy brat right, to be beaten easily 
by a Mazoku.  Luna sighed and looked around for something to break.  
	The door to the hall creaked open a few inches and someone 
peered around the edge.  Luna turned around and glared at the 
doorway and tapped her foot.  She couldn't tell who it was by just 
looking and she was to frustrated to try to identify them by their magic 
scent.  The person hesitated and then crept the rest of the way in.  
Jarlath.  And he had something draped over his shoulder.  He hesitated 
again then walked resolutely toward her.  Luna smiled and laughed to 
herself.  ~ Now we'll see. ~ She thought, but the person Jarlath half 
dropped to the ground wasn't Valgarv.  It was a girl with wings.  Luna 
favored Jarlath with a sour glare and looked at the girl.
	She'd seen her before she was certain of it but her name eluded 
Luna.  She rolled the girl on to her back and looked at her face.  At 
least Jarlath had a good sleep spell on her.  Her wings were feathered 
and white with little flecks of blue and silver.  Luna stood up and 
noticed the slash in the girls shirt and what looked like a newly healed 
wound through it.  She knelt again and pull the shirt away to look at the 
wound.  If it hadn't been healed she would have died rather quickly.  
The edges were dark and looked bruised which puzzled her for a 
moment.  ~ Mazoku. ~ She remembered.  ~ That's what a healed 
Mazoku wound looks like. ~  Must have tangled with Sherra but . . .
	"What happened." She demanded.  Jarlath gulped.
	"We found him, she was traveling with him.  I knocked her into 
a tree and the others started calling him names and  . . ." Jarlath trailed 
off.  "He freaked out.  Hit the with some sort of fire spell that got all of 
them and then he disappeared."  Luna looked down at the girl.
	"Who is she."
	"That's Sirris.  One of the old gold dragons found and raised 
her.  She's sort of a half breed because of all the magic he used to heal 
her." Jarlath said and then saw Luna looking at him and stopped.
	"You let him get away." She said coldly.  "Not only get away, 
you let him kill the other dragons with you and *then* let him get away!" 
She snarled.  Jarlath hung his head and retreated a few steps.  
	"I . . I. . . "
	"Get out of my sight you pitiful excuse for a dragon." Luna 
snapped and turned her back to him.  Jarlath turned and ran for the 
door before Luna decided to do something else to him.

* * * 

	"Where is he." Luna demanded of Sirris.  
	"I don't know."
	"Where!"
	"How many times do I have to say I don't know.  I don't 
know!! I DON'T KNOW!!!!!!" Sirris screamed back at the dragon 
knight.  Luna hit her.  Sirris staggered and had to sit back down in her 
chair.  If her hands hadn't been tied behind her back she would have hit 
the dragon knight right back.  
	"What do you remember."
	"Sherra showed up looking for Val and she used us for target 
practice for a little bit until I hit her with a dragon magic spell when she 
was not expecting it and she left.  After we both could travel again we 
started walking and ran into Jarlath and his dragons.  Jarlath threw me 
into a tree and knocked me out.  I don't remember anything else until I 
woke up here." Sirris said through clenched teeth.  Luna hissed and 
started pacing.  This was getting her nowhere.  That was the *same* 
story the girl had started with!  Nothing had changed!  She really didn't 
know.  Luna sighed.  
	"Why do you want him?" Asked Sirris.  Luna whirled on her.
	"Why do you care!?!  What is he to you!!" Luna snapped.  
Sirris looked up defiantly.
	"He is my friend." Sirris said calmly, a thin rivulet of blood 
running out of the corner of her mouth as a result of Luna's earlier blow.  
	"Your friend. HA!  You don't even know what he IS!" Luna 
yelled in Sirris's face.  "He's a Mazoku and a ancient dragon traitor!"  
	"That doesn't answer my question." Sirris said quietly.  Luna 
glared at her.
	"I need the blood of an ancient dragon to bring back Cefied.  
There, is that what you wanted?!"
	"If he's a Mazoku, won't using his blood bring back both Cefied 
and Shabranigdo?" Sirris asked.  Luna hit her hard across the side of 
her face.
	"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!" Luna screamed at her.  
Sirris's eyes unfocused and she slipped into unconsciousness again.  
Luna stood there fuming and then spun on her heel and marched out of 
the room.

* * * 

	Luna grabbed the first dragon miko she ran into and 
commanded her to go heal the stupid human in the room and then 
marched off to go use something as target practice.  As luck would 
have it, she grabbed Filia and shoved her into the room.  Filia blinked, 
the dragon knight had never spoken to her like that before.  No wonder 
Lina was afraid of her sister.  Then she spotted the girl slumped over in 
the chair and ran over to her.  Not too much damage, just a large bluish 
bruise over one side of her face.  The healing spells were no problem, 
they were finished in about half a minute, but then Filia just sat there 
looking at the sleeping girl.  
	The dragon knight was looking for Valgarv but the dragons she 
had sent out had brought back this girl.  Maybe she knew something 
about Valterria.  She took the girl's shoulder and gently shook her 
awake.  The girl blinked her eyes and looked around.  After seeing that 
Luna wasn't in the room, she sighed in relief.
	"Thank you." She said.  Filia looked sadly at her and then untied 
her hands.  "What . . She'll be furious with you."
	"I don't care." Filia said.  "What do you know about Valterria?" 
She asked, her voice catching in her throat as she said his name.  Tears 
welled up in her eyes.  Sirris became defensive.
	"I've already told her everything I know." She said coldly 
rubbing her wrists.  Filia sniffled and looking down at Sirris's hands saw 
the marks the ropes had left on her wrists.  Filia knelt down before 
Sirris and taking the girls wrists in her hands cast another healing spell 
on them.  She then looked into Sirris's gray eyes.
	"Please, I . . . I have to know if he's alright." Filia said.  Her 
voice barely above a whisper.  Sirris looked at her for a long time and 
then asked:
	"What is you name?"
	"Filia."
	"Val's Filia, the one that raised him? And wouldn't teach him 
magic?" Sirris asked.  Filia nodded, biting her lower lip to keep it from 
trembling.  
	"I'll tell you only if you answer my question in return." Filia 
nodded.  "He was in pretty good shape when I got knocked out and 
since he definitely isn't here, it's a good bet that he's fairly safe right 
now.  Probably feeling lonely as hell, but alive and with Sherra out of 
the picture safe for the moment.  I ran into him after getting rid of some 
bandits and we have been traveling together for about two weeks now."  
Sirris said.  Filia sniffed and tears trickled down her face.  Sirris 
watched her for a moment and then added in a quiet voice, "He really 
misses you.  He won't admit it but he does."  Filia sobbed as large tears 
started to run down her cheeks.  Valterria was alive!  She embraced 
Sirris in a bear hug and held her for a long time rocking slightly.  Sirris 
sniffled a bit and started to cry as well.
	"He was afraid you might not let him come back.  We were 
trying too but neither of us knew the way."  Sirris said quietly.  Filia 
sobbed some more and held Sirris tighter.  Sirris sighed and hugged 
Filia back.  After a long time, Filia released Sirris and sat back.
	"Thank you," She said drying her eyes.  "I needed to know."  
Sirris nodded.
	"Now answer my question please and tell me the truth.  What is 
Valterria?"  Sirris asked.  Filia caught her breath and looked away.
	"Please?" Filia wiped new tears from her eyes and swallowed.
	"He's an ancient dragon," Filia said.  Sirris nodded, the dragon 
knight had said that.  "But Maryu-ou Gaav turned him into a Mazoku by 
killing him and resurrecting him with Mazoku magic.  After Gaav died, 
he tried to kill all those responsible but ended up getting himself killed.  
His spirit was saved and he was reborn and I have raised him ever 
since.  He's only as old as he looks right now in this life, but in reality 
he's well over a thousand.  I refused to teach him magic because . . . 
because I wanted him to have a normal life.  But everyone always 
picked on him and tormented him . . . I couldn't do anything for him." 
Filia said tears running down her face again.  Sirris came and sat next to 
her.
	"He never blamed you." She said.  "Mazoku and dragon.  That 
explains a lot, especially his talent for magic.  Thank you."  Filia sobbed 
again and Sirris leaned against her, wishing Val was really somewhere 
safe.

* * * 
	
	Luna sighed and leaned her head against the wall, her back 
toward Sirris and the room's one window.  Jarlath stood there looking 
between Luna and Sirris who was sitting in a chair in the middle of the 
room looking at her hands folded in her lap.  Luna softly banged her 
head against the wall and sighed.
	"We were so close.  Sooo close.  And he got away." She 
sighed again.  Jarlath fidgeted.
	"If we used the girl as bait he might show up." Jarlath suggested.  
Luna turned around and gave him a look that said in a nutshell "you are 
such an idiot, if that would work I would have suggested it already."  
Jarlath cringed.
	"Sure use the girl as bait.  Where will we put her?  In the 
courtyard?  Here in the tower?" She walked over and grabbed his shirt 
collar.  "How do you think that little half breed runt is going to get here, 
huh?  He's not supposed to know any magic, but from your account he 
is starting to remember it.  So what if he can transport like a Mazoku.  
They can't jump long distances.  And even if he knew *how* to get 
here he's smarter than that, you fool!" Luna hissed at him.  Jarlath 
gulped and backed up several steps.
	"I'm sorry, Dragon Knight.  I didn't think - " He started.
	"Didn't think?!  That's why you lost him in the first place!  I told 
you to be careful, but did you listen?! No!" Luna turned her back on 
him and started balefully at the door tapping her foot mechanically.  
Jarlath cringed away from her and moved toward Sirris's chair which he 
suddenly realized was empty.  The cold clutch of panic touched him as 
he glanced around the room, but Sirris was just standing a short way 
from the chair staring off into space.  He sighed and felt his heart 
recover from the skipped beat. ~ Stupid little feather brain, causing me 
so much trouble. ~ He thought as he watched her wander over towards 
the window.  Her movements seemed a bit uneven almost like she was 
a puppet.  Jarlath shook his head.  That was stupid.  Sirris walked 
around in what seemed like dazes a lot.  She used to spend hours just 
walking back and forth on a path in the middle of the night.  But he still 
watched her as she wandered over to the window and looked out.  
Besides, he assured himself, a Mazoku couldn't control her through the 
walls of this place.  The magic was too strong for even Xellos to breach 
back during the Kouma war and Xellos had tried.  Jarlath hadn't been 
there *personally* but he'd heard a few of the elders tell it over a 
thousand times.  He smirked for an instant, ~ You'd think after living 
well over a thousand years they'd have more than a *handful* of stories 
to tell hatchlings. ~  Something white flapped on to the ledge outside.  A 
bird of some kind.  Jarlath looked at it, a seagull of some sort with a 
feather in it's beak.  Big deal.  Sirris tapped on the glass.  The bird 
tapped back and cocked it's head.  Sirris smiled.  The bird tapped 
again.  Luna looked over her shoulder and saw Sirris reach up and 
closer her hand on the latch to open the window.  The bird looked up at 
the latch as if it wanted in.  Sirris pulled on the latch but it didn't give 
easily as it probably hadn't been opened since the Kouma war.
	"SIRRIS!!!" Luna yelled and Sirris looked up at her like a 
startled deer.  Then her arm yanked on the latch like someone had 
pulled a string attached to it.  The window cracked open not more than 
an inch.  Luna cursed.  Jarlath was puzzled by the sudden outburst and 
looked at Luna and then back at Sirris.  The seagull jumped up from the 
window sill and became a black mist that flowed through the crack in 
the window and immediately took on a human form directly behind 
Sirris.
	"Mazoku!!" Luna hissed, and Jarlath felt the sudden dark chill in 
the room.  The Mazoku smirked and laid an arm around Sirris's neck 
pulling her back against him.  In that hand he held a long white feather, 
in the other a long staff with darker feathers and shells tied to it.  Jarlath 
stared, he'd never seen a Mazoku besides Xellos in human form.  He'd 
killed quiet a few lesser demons but nothing high level.  The Mazoku 
had short hair except for the tassels that hung down before his ears and 
he was dressed in white except for the black band edging his cloak.
	"As much as I hate to rush the game and interfere, I'll have to 
make an exception this time." He said and reached with the staff the 
push the window open farther.  Luna snarled and called her Lightning 
Lance out of thin air and sent a blast toward him.  The Mazoku jumped 
back dragging Sirris with him.  Luna advanced lance at the ready.
	"Jarlath shut the window and lock it." She commanded.  Jarlath 
blinked and then jumped toward the window.  The Mazoku leapt 
forward parrying the lance with his staff, but Jarlath slammed the 
window shut and yanked down on the latch which snapped off in his 
hand.  At that the Mazoku backed up several paces.  
	"Well, well, you are ineffective at catching a Mazoku who 
doesn't know he's Mazoku but you can catch me.  There seems to be a 
serious discrepancy in that.  If you would care to tell me the reason I'd 
love to know."  Luna cast something else at him.  
	"I'll take that as a no." He said side stepping effortlessly.  
	"Who are you?" Luna hissed.  The Mazoku smiled, his face 
looking very much like Xellos's.
	"WHO ARE YOU!!!" Luna yelled.  The Mazoku smirked and 
opened his eyes, one purple and one yellow.  Darkness swirled around 
the staff and Jarlath braced himself for an attack . . . that never came.  
Luna laughed harshly.
	"Calling for help?  Coward." She snapped.  The Mazoku 
laughed and dodged yet another attack.
	"Not a coward, I'd just like to leave but since your friend broke 
the window latch. . . well," He shrugged.  
	"What do you want with the girl?"
	"What did you want with her?  It seemed her usefulness to you 
was over, so why not just pass her along to the next person." The 
Mazoku said.
	"I'm not a thing to be bartered with." Sirris yelled snapping out 
of the trance she'd been in and tried to squirm out of the Mazoku's hold.  
She almost made it too, with the Mazoku dodging Luna's attacks and 
trying to drag her along.  For a breath she got away, but Jarlath saw the 
long feather move suddenly and Sirris froze.  He jumped for her but the 
Mazoku reached her first and scooped her up in his arms.  Sirris didn't 
even resist.  Jarlath caught a look of terror in her eyes as the Mazoku 
jumped back only half avoiding Luna's last spell.  He staggered but 
caught his footing.  Just then the window cracked and the air inside 
suddenly smelled of salt and seaweed.
	"Hehe, thank you for the dancing lessons, Dragon Knight.  I 
hope we have a chance to practice again." The Mazoku laughed and 
vanished.  Luna flung the lance at him but it sailed through thin air to 
land quivering in the far wall.  She cursed and went to retrieve it.  Jarlath 
caught his breath and stared at the window.  It was cracked yes, but 
not broken.  
	"How?" He wondered running his fingers over the lines made by 
the cracks.  Luna came over, breathing heavily, and sealed the window 
with magic.
	"His master pulled him out.  With the window open he could get 
in but he couldn't get the girl out for some reason the same way.  With 
the window open farther he could have but. . . " She trailed off.
	"Who is his master?" Jarlath asked.  Luna shook her head.
	"It's not Zelas, that's for sure.  Her only servant is Xellos and 
the one we just faced feels just as powerful if not more so than Xellos."
	"More powerful than Xellos?" Jarlath gulped, Xellos was 
another of the topics that the old dragons were always talking about.
	"The way things stand with Gaav, and Phibrizio dead for the 
moment and the fact that he's not Zelas's.  I've met Dynast a few times 
and that's not his style of servant.  So that leaves Deep Sea Dolphin." 
Luna sighed and rubbed her forehead.
	"But, . . . but she's insane, isn't she?" Asked Jarlath.  Luna 
nodded.
	"With Mazoku it doesn't matter."

* * * 

	Until we return, paradise interred.
	Spread your golden wings, let the
	sails unfurl.

			-- A Passage in Time, Dead Can Dance

* * * 

	The moment Albatross appeared in Deep Sea Dolphin's hall, his 
hold over Sirris broke again.  She squirmed and slipped free of his hold 
and dashed off across the floor snatching the long white feather he had 
been holding as she did so.  She stopped panting, realizing there was no 
where to run.  Albatross took a step toward her but she backed up 
trying to concentrate enough to call up the same spell she'd used against 
Sherra.  Then she looked at the feather and blinked.
	"This is one of *my* feathers!" She panted and held it up.  
"How did you get this?!?! HOW!!"  Sirris yelled and snapped the 
feather in half.  She felt a small twinge as the spell on it that had allowed 
him to control her broke.
	"I got it for him." Said a voice from behind her.  Sirris tried to 
turn around but found that she couldn't.  ~ There's another feather and 
there is a powerful spell on it that allows the person holding it to control 
me. ~  She felt her body turn around on it's own and, though she fought 
it, could do nothing.  On the dais before her was a figure in simple blue 
clothes of a Chinese cut sitting in a throne with one leg thrown over one 
arm of the chair.  One hand twirled a long white feather.  The woman 
smirked and waved the feather at Sirris.
	"What do you want?" Sirris asked.  Deep Sea Dolphin just 
stared at her for a long time.
	"I didn't think you'd really be so much younger. . . " She trailed 
off.  "But you are what you are and nothing can change that."  Sirris 
glared at the Mazoku lord.
	"What do you want?" She repeated.  Dolphin laughed.
	"To wake you up." Said the demon lord of the sea with a 
chuckle.  She brought the feather to her lips and kissed it.  Sirris's vision 
blurred and the warmth seemed to drain from her body.  She fought it 
but darkness began eating away at her vision.
	"I am awake." She hissed.  Dolphin just laughed and snapped 
the feather in half.
	"If you only knew." She said stepping down of the dais and 
walking over to Sirris who watched through clouded eyes.  Deep Sea 
Dolphin ran a finger along Sirris's jaw and down her throat.  "I'm afraid 
there is no other way, my dear dragon," Dolphin said, calling a small ball 
of blue fire into her hand.  Sirris backed up shaking her head, trying to 
clear it.
	"Leave me alone."
	"That's it.  Fight me."
	"Why?" Sirris tried to take another step back but the fog in her 
mind only intensified.  She staggered and sat down on the floor.  
Dolphin leaned over before her, a small smile playing on her lips.
	"You have hidden part of yourself from yourself.  That is the 
part which needs awakening.  Fight me." She said and touched Sirris's 
shoulder with the hand that held the blue fire.  It soaked through Sirris's 
skin, and she screamed.

* * * 

	The ice is thin come on dive in 
	underneath my lucid skin 
	the cold is lost, forgotten. 
	Hours pass days pass time stands still 
	light gets dark and darkness fills my secret heart 
	forbidden...

		-- Sarah McLachlan, Ice

* * * 

	Val tried to scream as Sirris was thrown against the tree, but he 
couldn't make a sound.  All he could do was stare at the red streak 
marring the uniform brown of the tree bark.  The other dragons laughed.  
He turned and screamed at them but again his voice was silent.  The 
dragons pointed at him and laughed harder.  And harder.  Tears started 
to run from their eyes as the laughed and laughed.  The sound roared 
like thunder above him as the tears started falling around him.  The 
dragons towered above him and only laughed harder at his silent 
screaming.  One of them leaned way over and laughed in his face.  The 
sound left his ears ringing.  Suddenly he was drenched and extremely 
cold.  The sound came again this time seeming to been right on top of 
him accompanied by the stench of ozone.  Something cracked and tore 
above him, the sounds amplified a hundred fold.
	He started awake as the branches crashed down on top of him.  
The thunder came right on the heals of the lightning, roaring like a beast 
trying to devour the world.  He slowly uncurled and crawled out from 
under the branches panting.  The dragons had only been a dream and 
the storm had become their laughter.  He stood there in the pouring rain 
letting the cold water slow his heart from its panicked racing.  Only a 
dream.  Only . . . 
	But they had Sirris.  
	He hung his head.  The one person in the world who had 
understood him was gone.  A prisoner of dragons.  But the dragons 
were always the good guys in the stories.  He reached up and touched 
his cheek.  The scars smoldered slightly even under the freezing deluge.  
Something whispered in the back of his mind.  A distant cry of pain.  He 
looked up eyes wide.  
	"sirris," He whispered.  Something touched him for but a 
second, but he was sure it was her.  The cry echoed in his ears as he 
started at the sky searching the black clouds for some sign.  Nothing.  
And it did not come again.  Tears welled up in his eyes and ran 
unnoticed down his face as he sank to the ground, feeling more along 
than ever now.  The lightning flashed again and the thunder roared right 
behind it.  And again.  Val sat by the shattered tree, knees pulled up to 
his chest and his head pillowed in his arms.  And again, becoming one 
sound.  An echo of a battle cry.  The wind howled about him ruffling his 
aqua hair, tugging at his cloths.  It devoured his sobs and blended his 
tears with the cold rain.  He stopped shivering after a while the cold 
sinking into his bones whispering to him.  But he didn't feel cold.  The 
wind was suddenly still all around him and he started up, knowing 
somewhere that he knew the presence around him.  It wavered 
uncertain.  Searching.  He stood there as it prowled around him.  Its 
touch cold as the wind and warm as flesh.  He reached out, fingers 
spread wide, the feel of magical all around him.  It touched his fingers 
and his face.  A soft caress if a cold one.  The fear that had been rising 
faded like a candle blow out by the wind.  Something in the back of his 
mind trusted this thing.  Loved it.  Would do anything for it.  Ancient 
loyalties die hard.  He reached out again and touch it.  Smooth scales 
harder than diamonds.  Even though it appeared to his eyes that his 
hand rested against nothing but air his mind found a memory of it, 
somewhere.  The scales were cobalt blue and shimmered in the 
moonlight as if lit from within.  Two slender horns arched back from the 
head and a sail of pure white arched from the ridge of the neck and ran 
the entire length of the serpentine body.  The wings great white sails of 
feathers flecked with every color of blue as if adorned with shards of 
jewels.  The eyes were a dazzle of blue and white, shimmering, 
reflecting.  His hand slid up the long, narrow face to rest for but a 
moment on the clear radiant jewel in the forehead.  
	All the barriers in his mind dissolved in that instant.  His 
memories became a whirl of lights and colors.  Everything blurred.  
Anger and fire flared and dissolved, leaving an aching pain behind which 
tore at his heart but which too melted away.  He trembled in fear 
wanting to tear away from it as it burrowed through his mind, yet . . .yet 
. . . something inside him kept him from running.  Darkness swirled 
before his vision as a single image resolved itself to clarity.  
	A domed temple.  Somewhere, somewhere where it was 
snowing.  Snow falling gently around it.  Silently covering it.  Making it 
one with the sharp snow covered peaks rising all around it.  He felt a 
longing for the place from within himself.  And then, it was gone.  
Vanished in a breath of wind.  Val gasped and collapsed to the ground 
shaking.  The chill in his bones burned as he panted to catch his breath.  
The image of the temple hung behind his eyes, beckoning.

* * * 

	"You have our thanks, Lad.  You're welcome to have some 
breakfast in the morning before you leave." Val nodded, and the farmer 
shut the door and tromped off to bed.  Val sighed and fell on to the soft 
bed.  He wanted to crawl into it, pull the covers over his head and sleep 
till next week.  
	"I earned it today." He said to the air while pulling his clothes off 
and crawled into bed.  He'd stopped in the late afternoon to ask for 
directions and a drink of water.  The farmer had told him that nothing 
but another night on the cold ground was the way he was headed and 
offered to not only let him stay but feed him as well if he helped with a 
few things.  To Val a few things had never meant so many sore muscles 
before, but he wasn't hungry and the house was warm.  He realized as 
he curled up in the bed that the cold hadn't been bothering him nearly as 
much lately.  That was odd but he was too weary to think about it now.  
He yawned and closed his eyes.  Sleep came quickly.
	The dreams, however, took their time and arrived in the hour of 
the wolf.  And she brought her pups. 

* * * 

	The tall man with red hair walked out of the sandstorm toward 
him.  The man wore a brown trench coat and carried a broadsword.  
Val sat on the ground before him.  
	"Have the Mazoku come to kill me too?" Val asked the man.  
The man smiled.
	"Do you want revenge?" Said the man.  Val laughed despite his 
condition.
	"Why should I join you?"
	"Sometimes it's just staying alive that is the best revenge."  The 
desert sun flashed on the blade.  

* * * 

	~ This is wrong. ~ Val thought.  ~ I shouldn't be able to hear 
him. ~ The dream shifted as he closed his eyes.  He was somewhere 
strange.  It looked like a gigantic machine with glowing grooves running 
though the floor.  ~ The colors are brighter as well.  It's never been so 
real before. ~  He heard someone behind him and turned.  It was Filia . 
. .  and she looked distraught.  He wanted to ask her what was wrong 
but it was like he was an observer in his own body, unable to move on 
his own.
	"Please tell me.  I beg you.  What did my people do?  I have to 
know." Filia pleaded with him.  He looked at her for a moment and then 
turned away.
	"Go home, lady."

* * * 

	He was in a large dark room lit partly by soft glows.  Someone 
was sitting in a throne-like chair behind him.  
	"Have you found it yet?" The person asked in a deep wavering 
voice.
	"Nearly so.  I knew who had all along." He replied.
	"Once you retrieve it there is no longer a need for them."

* * * 
	
	Darkness howled about him.  Furry and pain were everywhere.  
It was whispering to him.  No, two voices were whispering to him from 
the darkness which he saw now was shot through with light.  He 
couldn't understand them, couldn't hear them.  ~ What do you want?!? 
~ He asked.  A second.  An eternity.  A reply.  
	Forgotten.  Purpose.  Cleanse.  World.  
	Strands of darkness reached for him, wrapping about his arms.  
He struggled against the forces pulling him down.  ~ No!! ~ He cried 
out.  ~ I *have* a purpose! ~ He shouted.
	No.  You.  Desire.  This.
	~ NO!!  I have to find Sirris.  I have to get to that temple.  ~
	No.  No.
	Valgarv struggled against the sticky darkness wrapped around 
his arms trying to pull him into the wall of darkness.  He screamed and 
tore one arm free and then the other.  He scrambled back and then 
glanced over his shoulder and stopped.  It was as if a shadow of himself 
was still back there.  He watched as the darkness devoured it.

* * *

	~ What is going on? ~ He wondered as the scene changed 
again.  It was snowing, thick flakes drifting down.  He looked about 
seeing nothing but dark mounds slowly being covered with snow.  And 
then someone was crying.  He turned and saw the boy.  The child was 
dressed only in loose white pants but the dark feathered wings the child 
had fascinated Val.  The dragon wings from his old dreams.  He walked 
over to the boy and knelt before him.  He then noticed that the child had 
the same color of hair as he did.  
	~ Don't cry. ~ He said and the child looked up at him and 
reached for him wanting to be held.  Val picked the child up and stood, 
it occurred to him that he was taller than he usually was.  The child 
wrapped his arms around Val's neck and sobbed into it.  Val smoothed 
the dark wings and rocked the child gently as he looked around.  
Nothing but snow and darkness.  His gaze wandered onto one of the 
dark mounds and met the dull dead eye of the creature it had been.  His 
heart froze, and he staggered back a step.  Now seeing other eyes in 
the darkness.  Dead tangles of heads and scales and dark feathered 
wings.  His head reeled.  Filia's question echoed back to him.
	"Please tell me.  I beg you.  What did my people do?  I have to 
know."
	It echoed off in to the dark.  Know.  Know . . . know  . . . . 
know.  He felt sick surrounded by the death and the echoes of their 
deaths that were just now reaching him.  He sank to his knees in the 
snow staring at the dark sluggish pools of blood just now forming.
	
* * *

	~ No.  No. ~ His voice was horse as if from screaming.  He sat 
up panting in the bed, tangled in the sheets.  He lay back with an 
exhausted sigh, over at last.  He drew a deep breath and sighed deeply.  
But, but something was wrong.  The air lacked the earthy smell of the 
farmer's cabin, instead the air was dry and bitter, and the ceiling was 
too far above as he stared at it.  He sat up again only now noticing the 
cloth wrapped around his right arm.  He swung his legs of the bed and 
tried to stand up but the sudden movement caused him to almost black 
out as he sank to the floor with a groan.  His left side ached terribly.  
After a minute he had gotten enough breath back to sit up against the 
side of the bed.  He gingerly pulled the thin white shirt he'd been 
wearing off over his head and looked at his left side.
	Two deep gashes were just starting to heal.  The area around 
them was terribly black and blue as well.  He folded the shirt up and 
pressed it to the wound.  The pain eased little.  Someone scuttled into 
the room with a tray.  A red fox by the look of him with only one eye, 
an eye patch covering the other.  The fox set the tray on the table and 
turned to the bed where he started at seeing Val.
	"Valgarv-sama, you shouldn't be up!" Said the fox.  Val took a 
deep breath and struggled to his feet.  The pain pounded in his head.
	"Who are you?!" He hissed mostly from the pain.  The fox 
stepped back.
	"Uh, it's me, Jiras, Valgarv-sama."
	"I don't know you."
	"But, but, you saved be from dying in that village five years ago.  
I've been by your side ever since." The fox said taking another step 
back.  Val shook his head and saw behind his closed eyes a burning 
village and a young fox pinned to the side of a building with an arrow.
	"Jiras."
	"Yes, Valgarv-sama?"
	"Take me to a mirror.  I want to see a mirror." Val said the pain 
ebbing away as he forced himself to focus on other things.  Jiras 
obediently led him to a mirror.  He stared at his reflection in the cold 
glass.  He was older, defiantly not 14, at least twice that.  Taller too, 
probably several inches taller than Sirris who was fairly tall.  The two 
scars on each cheek were still there.  A black head band held some of 
his hair in pointed spikes above his head.  He slipped his fingers under it 
and pulled it off revealing another scar across his forehead.  He shook 
his head causing his hair to fall normally and then noticed the horn 
protruding from his forehead.  He stared at his reflection for a long time 
and then leaned his head against the mirror.
	"What am I?" He asked in a whisper and closed his eyes.

* * * 

	He was standing in the snow again.  He blinked and shook his 
head clearing it of the lingering remnants of pain.  Val opened his eyes 
again and found himself standing in front of the temple.  The clean gray 
stone, snow scoured, rose in a smooth arch above him.  He didn't walk 
forward, he stopped himself from doing that.  The inside looked 
strangely blank as if he had a memory of the outside of the building but 
not the inside.  He made himself turn around and look out at the 
mountains far below him.  The wind howled mournfully and tugged at 
his hair.  He saw now that he had a long way to walk, but now he knew 
the way.  He glanced over his shoulder at the silent temple and caught a 
glimpse of a lamergier gliding above.  ~ I'll be here soon. ~ He 
promised and closed his eyes, willing himself awake.

* * * 

To be continued . . .