28 Flight of the Hawk

Earlier that morning, while Zelgadis was still disentangling himself from the sheets and wishing he knew a spell to start his coffee brewing before he got out of bed, Druvilla had been rushing along the south shore road to meet her boss.

She always liked to leave her cave-like cottage early and meet Spearos on his way into the village, to keep him company on his way to the Temple - if she could catch up with him. Spearos-sama was always in such a hurry, with too much important work and knowledge occupying his mind to talk much. But she was quite certain he appreciated the company. Quite certain.

This morning had been a rare, mild morning for the time of year, and the bright sun made her sleepy, but she fought the drowsiness with every ounce of determination she could muster. She hummed a tune as she skipped along the shore road, more like a butterfly than a bat, as she often thought to herself - as her cousin Minerva often said, meaning it as an insult, but Druvilla secretly was pleased by the comparison. She twittered a loud "yoo-hoo" when she caught sight of Spearos-sama already far ahead on the path, just above the small rocky beach south of the Point. He didn't seem to hear her. Well, no doubt that was because the south wind blew her call away over the hillside.

She soon caught up to him, with plenty of time to share all news she had to cheer Spearos with this morning.

"Did you happen to see Dulcinia on your way down the hill?" she asked. "She left so early, such a conscientious girl, you know! She's doing so well in her jobs at the Temple, and helping out the Mala whenever she can, and he's so generous to employ her, so nice to her, well of course he is to everyone, such a fine young man, and so kind to open up his family home to our two esteemed visitors!"

Spearos made an odd sort of huffing noise at that moment. She couldn't see his face as he kept a pace or two ahead of her.

"Oh dear, Spearos-sama, I do hope you're not getting a cough!" she fretted. "The weather is so changeable at this time of year, it causes all kinds of problems, you now. You might do well to stop at the apothecary in town for a tincture, it will only take a moment. You surely wouldn't want to be ill so close to Festival time!"

She chattered on, reminding him of their preparations for the Festival, and pointing out how cheerful the village and Temple were starting to look, with all the shops decorated with corn stalks and fairy lights and all the wonderful gourds carved in so many clever ways, even the hideous ones, all reminding us all to honor all beings, no matter how strange they may be...

Spearos hurried on ahead down the narrow path, making no comment, which she knew meant that he was listening intently to every word she said. He was always so polite and attentive!

Druvilla was so busy cheering up Spearos that she didn't pay any attention to the clatter of stones down the steep bank beside their road, not until Spearos-sama suddenly stopped to listen. She nearly ran into his back, and then she hopped backward and stumbled against the cliff wall when he flung out one feathered arm. He turned and glanced back up the path with a gaze so sharp that it froze her in her tracks. She stood still, barely twitching a wing, hardly daring to look around.

There was no one else on the road. The hawk-man glanced around, alert to something she was now doing her best to ignore: a sense of an unseen presence and an immanent danger, like a horrifying gloom creeping up on them from behind - always from behind, no matter which way she turned her head.

No houses were visible from this bend in the road, only the high, steep hill overhung with dead trailing vines on their right, and below them on the left, a steep slope down to the shoreline below. She could see just a glimpse of the harbor up ahead through thin sunlight and a fine view of the hooked point looming up in the autumn seaside haze. The Bridge was just up ahead, several hundred feet down the slope from where they stood, glimpsed through a screen of straggling juniper bushes and the trailing vines of Blasted Shoreweed, with its dried seed pods rattling like old bones.

Druvilla shook herself, the small bat wings on her shoulders flapping indignantly, trying to defy the gloomy feeling that crept over her. It did not help that Spearos' customary scowl was replaced by a wide-eyed stare, pupils contracted to tiny spots in his yellow eyes.

Spearos turned this way and that and tipped his head, as if trying to determine the source of the threat that Druvilla insisted to herself was nothing, only their imaginations.

"Why, it's only the wind rattling the Shoreweed vines..." she said as she trotted the couple of steps to catch up to him.

Then she gasped, frozen in place, as a sense of utter dread gripped her heart.

She gasped again and drew back against the cliff when Spearos suddenly jumped, half flying, half stumbling back to land in front of her. He took a position of defense, shoving her back into the shelter of the overhanging cliff and the clinging vines, feathered arms spread as if to block the unseen horror that was surely following them up the road. There he crouched, eyes darting about, sharp beak open as if to scent prey or peril on the wind.

Druvilla peered out under his outstretched wings. She couldn't tell which direction the threat was coming from, and clearly, he couldn't either. It seemed to be all around them.

Spirits? she wondered. But, she insisted with chattering teeth, "Th-there's no reason to assume they would be unfriendly spirits; p-perhaps we only need to g-greet them..."

Spearos glared at her over his shoulder, his eyes so fierce in a warning that it shut her up instantly. For a moment, that look on his face frightened her more than anything else.

Then suddenly, Spearos' feet seemed to go out from under him. He jerked and flailed as he toppled, leaning backwards yet falling toward the cliff-but then, next moment, he flipped upside down and shot up into the air.

Druvilla squeaked in horror as he zoomed upward, feet first, up and out into the empty air beside and above the road. He let out a squawk that quickly rose up into a wavering, high-pitched screech, and then was cut off.

Druvilla watched from the shelter of the overhanging cliff, unable to move. Spearos jerked about in mid-air in a cloud of feathers, flapping and struggling to gain control and right himself. All his efforts only seemed to send him spinning more wildly in all directions.

Suddenly he came hurtling through the air toward her, so fast that she was certain he'd crash them both into the cliff. At the last second he dropped down below the cliff instead, spinning right side up but falling so fast that Druvilla gasped. She felt as if her heart had stopped. He skimmed the side of the cliff below the road, feathers catching in the Shoreweed vines, flopping in the air like a fish on a line. Then suddenly, inexplicably, jerked straight upward, feet first again, feathers flying loose and drifting away behind him.

She screamed his name, not knowing how she had enough breath to scream. Her little bat wings fluttered madly and uselessly, one hand clutching at her cloak and the other half covering her face, hardly able to watch but not able to look away. Spearos was only a blur in her vision as he swung back in toward the cliff again, higher up this time, streaming right past her with a shriek, and heading for the rocky cliff above her, before once again dropping towards her like a stone.

The cloud of dread surrounded her, gripped her limbs and choked her voice. She saw his face fly past her, so close it suddenly came into focus through her blurry daytime vision, upside down, yellow eyes wide and beak chattering. Thin, bright red lines appeared, streaked across his face and seared through the feathers covering his neck and arms, spreading even as he flew past her, as if tearing themselves open before her eyes. Tiny droplets of blood spattered onto her face, as fine as the sea mist in the air.

Druvilla huddled back against the cliff again, clutching her chest, tangled in the curtain of dead vines. Spearos became a blur again, sailing upward, spinning head over heels now, scraping the side of the cliff above her head. For a second, Druvilla crouched there, sobbing and trembling, the shoreweed rattling all around her like evil laughter.

Then suddenly, somehow, her feet were free. She ran, blindly, scrabbling along among the rocks and vines, down the hill toward the village, screaming and screaming and screaming until she had no breath left to make a sound.

By the time Xelloss and Zelgadis got to the village, Druvilla's tale was already whispering its way through the village streets. Xelloss caught intriguing fragments of it as they passed the shops and the village fountain. "Said he was flung about like a fish on a line, she did," he heard in a horrified wheeze from the badger-woman at the bake shop. "All cut up and banged about," said another merchant as they dashed by. "Flying by his feet, whoever seen such a thing!" "Never saw such a panic on a person before," "Ghosts and demons in the streets!" and other hushed words he didn't quite catch in passing.

He hoped to hear more from the rescuers who'd met Druvilla and brought Spearos in, but all voices hushed as soon as they entered the parlor of Kemara's house.

They'd left Melly still pondering his story - or perhaps already moving on to some new endeavor - even before Geki had fully caught his breath. Myona had followed along behind them, his face down and his thoughts well hidden, stumbling along behind them silently all the way back to the village. Now he huddled again in his corner of the parlor near the window, staring out into the glare of sunlit haze over the bay. Amidst all the excitement, fear, and curiosity that Xelloss sensed sparkling off the rescuers and others gathered at the house, Myona's spirit was nearly blank, like a smooth glass reflecting nothing at all, only sparks of raw emotion like lightning briefly arcing across the still surface.

By the time they'd arrived, the new patient, like the first, was already deep in sleep. Plover had been awakened by Druvilla's screams, Kemara explained when they found her. Whether he heard Druvilla's hysterical description of the strange attack or was simply disturbed by the commotion, he had been aroused from his usual state of blankly staring at the walls, and began to shake and moan.

This time, the High Priestess had not wasted time or energy trying to draw Spearos out of the waking nightmare. She had quickly be-spelled him into a healing sleep, and then soothed her first patient back to sleep before he could lose what progress he'd made.

The High Priestess was resting after healing Spearos and calming Plover. Kemara let them look in on Spearos, only for a moment. She told them quietly that the cuts had begun to fade, although they were still clearly visible, like thin claws had raked across his face, arms and chest. The rest of his physical injuries had been healed with relative ease.

Even beneath the veil of sleep, Xelloss could sense the terror and turmoil in the hawkman's spirit. The Sleeping spell kept his limbs limp and his breathing steady, but it seemed his mind still raced in dreams, trying to escape from whatever terrible thing had attacked him.

Zelgadis stared hard at the the new patient, scowling darkly, his emotions intense and unsettled. He seemed more disturbed by the hawk man's condition than Xelloss had expected, intent and wary, almost as if he took some aspect of the attack personally.

"I wish ... " Zelgadis began, then seemed to catch himself, shaking his head. "Well no, I suppose it wouldn't have done any good. We probably couldn't have learned anything more from seeing his injuries before he was healed," he finished, with a shamefaced glance at Kemara.

She didn't seem to take offense at the suggestion that they should have let Spearos suffer longer just so Zelgadis could observe him, as if he were one of Shuno's magical experiments.

"All of his injuries, aside from the strange lines, fit perfectly with what Druvilla-san described," she said.

"So we already know what happened this time?"

Kemara shook her head as she closed the door to Spearos' room and led them down the hall.

"Druvilla saw it all, yes, but that doesn't mean we can explain it. I'll take you to her. Perhaps you can find some meaning in her tale that the rest of us have not discovered."

Druvilla was sitting up in another one of the infirmary rooms, this one as dark and close as a cave, with heavy curtains drawn over the windows. Dulcinia was already there, to Xelloss' surprise, holding her mother's hand. Or rather, she allowed Druvilla to wring one of her own hands tightly in bat-like claws. Dulcinia's other arm curled protectively around her mother's shaking shoulders.

The elder bat woman had slightly larger wings than the little pair that sprouted from Dulcy's shoulders, and retained more obviously bat-like features, her nose more snub and her hands more clawed than her human-hybrid daughter. She was nearly a head shorter than Dulcy. Her feet, bare and furred with long, curling toes, swung above the floor in the chair, agile toes twisting together in the same way she curled her claw-fingers around Dulcy's hand.

"It's okay, Mama, you're okay," Dulcy murmured, ignoring what had to be a painful grip on her hand. "The old guy'll be okay too. They'll take the best care of him here, you know that."

Druvilla didn't seem to hear the words, but she nodded in between sniffles and sobs and shudders. She jumped in her chair when the door opened, and shrank back when she sensed that Kemara had brought others into the room. Her small, orange eyes squinted up at them in alarm, until she could make out who they were.

Dulcy scowled, but Druvilla managed to give them a shaky smile and greet them. Then she fell back into to her previous agitated state. Her gaze darted nervously about the room, not even pretending to focus on the visitors.

Kemara went over and patted the bat woman's shoulder.

"Druvilla-san," she said, "You remember Xelloss-sama and Zelgadis-san, don't you? They helped when Professor Plover was brought here, so I thought they might be able to help Spearos-sama as well. Okay? Please tell them whatever you can remember about what happened."

Druvilla nodded, again attempting a smile that faltered at the edges. Dulcy raised an eyebrow. Zelgadis gave her a smile in return, no doubt meant to be reassuring, but Dulcy did not look reassured. In fact, she scowled even harder when Kemara turned back toward the door.

"I'm going to check on Mother," she said hurriedly. "We'll be in the next room if you need me."

There was a moment of awkward silence after she left, broken by occasional sniffles from Druvilla. Dulcy shifted a little closer to her mother as she turned to them again.

"What kind of help?" she asked. She sounded more suspicious than hopeful.

Zelgadis moved over to perch on the corner of the neatly-made bed. Xelloss hung back, leaning on a carved wardrobe just inside the door.

"We were here when Professor Plover was found," Zelgadis began, speaking to Druvilla. "We...that is, Kemara asked us to help find out what had happened to him."

He didn't mention that they'd come up empty handed so far, Xelloss thought, but he said nothing.

"We saw the condition Plover was in when he was brought here," Zelgadis went on, "but no one saw what happened to him - as far as we could tell, that is. We couldn't explain some of the injuries he had. What can you tell us about those cuts that Spearos - er, Spearos-sama," he corrected himself quickly, "had on his face?"

Druvilla shuddered and nodded, eyes squinted shut. She freed one hand from Dulcy's to press it to her face.

"Oh, it was awful," she squeaked. Tears started to trickle from the corners of her tight-shut eyes. "It was like some horrible thing had hold of him and it just ... just.. took him and dragged him, flung him all about! and ooh oh it was horrible, horrible...oh no Spearos-sama, no!"

Her voice rose up into a high-pitched screech that made Zelgadis' sensitive ears twitch; even Dulcy winced. Druvilla had gone stiff in her chair, eyes wide open now as if staring sightlessly at the memory. Xelloss felt the sharp thread of terror curling around her, as bright to his senses as those red marks on the victim's face. The memory choked off her words. Zelgadis stared at her in horror.

Dulcy finally yanked her hand out of her mother's grasp and caught the bat woman's fluttering claws in her own hands instead.

"Mama, no, don't," she pleaded. "It's okay, you don't have to think about it now!"

Then she turned on Zelgadis, tiny fangs showing as she snapped at him.

"Leave her alone! Can't you see how upset she is? I just barely got her calmed down. You're not helping," she said, while Druvilla melted into sobs. "Go listen to all the rumors, why don't you, like everyone else whose ears and noses are too big for them. Leave my mother alone! She's been through enough."

Zelgadis sat there for a moment with his mouth hanging open. He finally snapped it shut, then ducked his head and murmured an apology.

"My, my," Xelloss said softly, smiling to himself a little.

He'd never seen or heard of Dulcy caring about anyone else's misery before. C learly, she seemed to delight in Myona's. She heard him, though, and turned her glare on him. He attempted his own version of a sympathetic smile.

She was not placated. Instead, her mouth twisted in a grim sort of leer at him.

"Well, I guess it's nice to know that someone finds all this tasty and amusing, isn't it! I suppose that's a mazoku's idea of 'helping,' hm?"

Xelloss felt her accusation like a slap in the face. His mouth dropped open in surprise, but before he could sputter a word in his own defense, Zelgadis stood up and stepped in between them.

"I'm sorry, Dulcy-san," Zelgadis said, unusually diplomatic. "We didn't mean to upset anyone. We should go."

He slipped past Xelloss to the door, then paused to look back at Druvilla. Druvilla had huddled up in her chair with Dulcy's protective arm around her, but she raised her head in his direction when he spoke again.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Druvilla-san," he said, his voice low and calm. "We... we'll try to help find out what did this to Spearos-sama, if we can," he added.

Dulcy's mouth twitched, and Xelloss thought he sensed a spike of indignation from her. Then she snorted and rolled her eyes, and turned her attention back to her mother, clearly dismissing the two of them.

"Come on," Zelgadis said, and pulled Xelloss out with a glare and tug on his cloak.

"It wasn't any fun for me, either," he protested as they hurried back down the corridor.

"Oh, really," Zelgadis said.

Well, it certainly hadn't been his doing, Xelloss thought, but he could hardly help taking some pleasure in the result. He was a Mazoku, after all.

He supposed Zelgadis would not see it that way.

"I'm just as interested in finding out what happened as you are," Xelloss insisted, which was also perfectly true. "But I suppose we'll have to get the whole story secondhand, as Dulcinea-san said."

That did not turn out to be difficult. Though reluctant to talk at first, the villagers gathered in Kemara's parlor were all Wyndcliffians above all, storytellers at heart, ready to weave a story at a moment's notice. Already the tale was growing, gaining embellishments as it was told. Geki and an old cat man named Argobhast, who had been two of the first to hear Druvilla's tale, took turns relaying their personal account, and the somber fisherman and friendly young werewolf who had helped bring Spearos to the house all added their threads to the net.

In addition to their own various observations, Druvilla had indeed sputtered out the entire scene in great detail as she'd come screaming back into the village. They soon heard so many details of the incident that Zelgadis started taking notes.

An hour or more later, Xelloss and Zelgadis finally had gathered most of the threads of Druvilla's tale, entangled with plenty of lines drawn in from local lore and legend. All the while, Myona hovered near the bay window in the parlor and said nothing.

When they finally left the house, Kemara was waiting for them on the porch.

"Good. Yes. I'd like to come with you this time, if I may!" she said.

Xelloss looked to Zelgadis, who blinked a couple of times and looked back at him with equal confusion. While they were still wondering what she meant, she started off, marching with stiff back and fists clenched at her side, not toward the temple but south along the village streets.

"Ah. We're going to the scene of the crime to look for clues, I take it?" Xelloss guessed at last, as Zelgadis followed along after her with a shrug.

"I hadn't though of it," Zelgadis admitted, too quietly for Kemara to hear, "but it makes sense."

The mild morning had turned into a sultry, late autumn day. This, as they now knew, only meant a raging storm would soon follow. Taking advantage of the weather, the villagers were out and about, busy with normal business as well as preparations for the Festival. But already, the preparations had slowed to a crawl as small knots of people paused to talk. Some glanced toward them as they passed, and away again as quickly.

Kemara greeted everyone who happened to even accidentally make eye contact, though, and every villager returned her greeting respectfully and cheerfully enough. If she noticed the villagers making the old sign against evil behind their backs as the three of them passed by, she didn't mention it.

Just as Zelgadis had heard from Kemara a few days ago, a young werewolf with golden eyes and a fluffy gray tail stood on guard near the Bridge. She nodded curtly as Kemara greeted her, with only a furtive glance of curiosity at Zelgadis and himself.

"I've been on duty since just before Dawn, mistress," she reported calmly, before Kemara even could ask. "There was nothing to see or hear, and nothing reported by Kage-Bou on the night shift, either. There was not even a soul out at that hour! Not until Mistress Druvilla came pelting up the road, screaming her lungs out, wild as a frightened hare. I was up the Bridge a ways then," she gestured up the narrow ridge that connected the point to the mainland. "She ran past me like she didn't see me."

She shook her head sadly. "I took a quick look around, but there was nothing following her, and no scent on the wind except her fear. I'm sorry to say I didn't search much beyond what I can see from my post, here, thinking it was my duty to stay on guard, though I wondered if I should, until the search party came along down the road a few shakes of a lamb's tail later. I've seen others scare themselves silly on a dare around here," she added. "Though I should've known Mistress Druvilla would never do such a thing. So I've hardly left this spot the whole time, but I never saw or caught a scent of anyone else nearby, neither man nor beast nor monster."

"Thank you, Fonn," Kemara said with a bow that the wolf woman returned soberly. "You did well. Please stay alert. Though I doubt any more disturbance will follow, now," she said with a sigh as she led them on down the path.

"This is where we found him," Kemara said a few minutes later.

She'd stopped at a point just beyond the south end of the same rocky beach where they'd been caught practicing several days before, and pointed to a jumbled mass of old driftwood, overgrown with blasted shoreweed, all pushed aside and trampled now. Beyond that, a tangled thicket of cedar and and vines grew on a rocky ridge, blocking the way to the south.

The sea was rolling in slowly; the place where they stood was at the high tide line, marked by a long, thin mound of seaweed, driftwood, and broken shells. "The tide must have just turned shortly before he was left here," Kemara said.

They were not far south of the hooked point, and the location reminded Xelloss of the place where Plover had been found, a rocky bit of shoreline that would be covered by a high tide. Other than that, there were no obvious similarities. Even the warm, late autumn afternoon was the opposite of that icy day, so pleasant it would be fine for a picnic on this little beach - or even up on the Bridge, if they didn't know better. The ruins loomed dark and shadowy above them, even in the warm daylight.

Kemara pointed up to the spot where the incident began, according to Druvilla's story. The craned their necks to look up at the road cutting across the hillside above, the very same track where an audience had suddenly appeared to watch Xelloss' battle practice with Zelgadis.

Spearos lived another mile south along that road, Kemara explained, and Druvilla had come down from a bat-folk settlement in the hills above to meet him, as was their usual routine. Spearos had been found a fair distance from where the attack began.

They found a few feathers scattered around, blown by the wind here and there, and the rocks and seaweed disturbed by the rescuers, but no obvious evidence of anyone or anything else. Zelgadis, with the skill of a seasoned tracker, found signs on the rocky ground where he thought poor Spearos might have been bounced once or twice. He pointed out the exact spot the hawkman had first landed after his fall or flight from the cliff above, and another place where it looked like he'd been dragged for a short distance. But there was no sign of anyone else stepping across the stones near those places, nor any other tracks at all except the rescuers, and no aura of any other presence.

Xelloss could only add that he could sense nothing of interest here now. No dark aura clung to the place, no lingering sign of an evil deed.

Zelgadis Levitated up and down the steep hillside, and then flew further up to the cliff above the road where Druvilla said Spearos had been flung into the rocks and vines. He reported spotting some signs that corroborated her story, but nothing that explained it.

"The cliff is fairly steep," Zelgadis said as he landed next to them again, "but not an overhang. I don't see how anyone could have somehow lassoed Spearos from above and flung him around on some invisible string, not the way Druvilla described - at least, not without being seen. No human, anyway," he added grimly. "I don't know of any spell that could do this," he admitted. "That doesn't mean there isn't one, of course."

"Nor do I," Xelloss offered, "But then again, I don't really keep close track of human magic! I suppose it could be sorcery, but if so, it doesn't leave any trace, except those mysterious marks on the victim."

"Yes, there's that," Zelgadis said thoughtfully.

He seemed to be about to add something else, but held his tongue. Xelloss watched him curiously as they started back toward the village. Kemara sighed, shoulders slumped, and said nothing.

They had passed the place where Plover had been found, near the mainland end of The Bridge, when Zelgadis slowed his steps.

"Kemara-san," he said, and then hesitated on the verge of some question. He paused and eyed the village ahead of them, as if wary that it might be listening.

Kemara stopped as well and turned to him, head tipped to the side.

"If this is sorcery, it's fairly high level magic," Zelgadis said. "Who in the village could do such a thing?"

Kemara bit her lip and gazed ahead, staring at the village and at the Temple looming behind its dark wall of evergreen trees on the hillside. Then she turned back to them, looking each of them in the eye in turn before answering.

"Well, to be honest, hardly anyone. That is, I don't know of anyone who both can and would. There are several residents in the village at this time who can use some level of magic, but the only people I know to be capable of the sorcerer-level magic you describe are myself, and my mother - and you, and Xelloss-sama."

She pursed her lips before adding, reluctantly, "Possibly Myona has the capacity, though we've not seen sign of it so far. In fact, we hoped he'd be the next great healer in the family, but he's not shown any interest in learning much magic at all."

Zelgadis nodded. Xelloss remembered Myona easily casting a shield spell, to their surprise. Even then, he hadn't detected any great magical aura from the boy, though it might well remain hidden until it was used, especially if Myona himself was reluctant to acknowledge such power.

Zelgadis seemed about to press further, but his next question concerned another matter entirely.

"Can you tell me, then, what kind of material is in the secret temple library?"

Kemara seemed taken aback, and Xelloss looked at him in surprise as well. But then Kemara raised an eyebrow and nodded.

"I won't ask how you heard of this," she said, pointedly. "I hope it will soothe your curiosity to hear that most of the tales stored there in written form are already in Recitation. The rest of the writings are merely records of Temple business, and the like. The manuscripts are kept only as artifacts, much against Spearos-sama's wishes, as you might guess. Your gift of the last book of the Princess of Fate will be stored there, soon," she added, with a slight grin as she nodded toward Xelloss. "If your patience can bear it, Zelgadis-san, we can find the scribes that can Recite any passages you wish to hear. Some, in fact, are those traditional tales told only during the Festival of the Golden Lord, as I told you before."

"Thank you," Zelgadis said. "But that's not why I asked. Well, not entirely."

Quickly and quietly, Zelgadis relayed the argument he'd overheard between Spearos and Kervan over this ever more intriguing secret library. Xelloss listened with growing interest. Kemara's scowl grew more puzzled.

"Why did Spearos-sama not inform me of this?" she murmured. "I suppose he considered it a private matter. And now that will be a problem," she sighed, rubbing her forehead, "because only he knows the second password. It will take me some time to reset the spell again. Well, I must only hope that Spearos-sama will recover sooner than anything there is needed."

"I hope he will," Zelgadis said graciously. "But why is Kervan so interested in this Library? And all the research he does at the Mala's library as well... Is he a sorcerer?"

Kemara's eyes went wide, and for a moment she seemed frozen in place. Xelloss hummed softly. Suddenly he remembered Kervan's surprising familiarity with the Miasma Shockwave, the rarely seen, high-level Mazoku attack spell he'd cast against Zelgadis that first morning on the cottage green.

He decided not to mention that just now, and was glad of it a moment later. When Kemara turned back to face them, it was with hands on hips and the full force of her Acting High Priestess authority aimed at Zelgadis like a Freeze Arrow.

"Zelgadis-san," she said sternly. "If you are suggesting that Kervan-san is the one who attacked both Spearos-sama and Professor Plover, I might well remind you that the same question could be asked even more logically of you! Your own use of high level magic has been observed by many, as you well know! As is your quest for every bit of lore and legend you can find, I must add."

Zelgadis went red in the face, as flustered as if he had been caught stealing from a sacred shrine. Chaos knew he'd done it in the past, or tried. For a moment, Xelloss wondered if he had in fact found his way into the locked library after all. But his flustered indignation was much more like that of a frequently guilty person who has been accused of lying when he has, for once, told the truth.

Kemara saw this as well. Before Zelgadis could find his voice to protest, she shook her head and waved her hand to calm him.

"You needn't take offense, Zelgadis-san," she said. "I only mean to say that, if anyone else were to ask similar questions of you, I can only give my trust in both of you as assurance that you were not the cause of these fearsome incidents."

She turned to Xelloss with a grim smile.

"The same is true for you, Xelloss-sama! Even the Princess of Fate knew of your particular interest in hidden lore, though the reasons remain obscure. And I must also warn you, though you may not have heard it yet, there are whispers around the village that will come to your ears sooner or later. Some are saying that a Mazoku would surely have both the power and the motive to create such fear and suffering as these strange attacks result in. Mother and I have made it clear to all that such groundless accusations toward our honored guests will not be tolerated.

"And now, I say the same to you of Kervan-san. He and Marcus-san are also honored guests under protection of the Temple. I can assure you that he could not have done this. And besides that, he would have nothing to gain by these attacks, whereas some would say that others might."

Meaning, Xelloss realized, that she could be more certain Kervan and Marcus were not involved than she was of the two of them, if it came down to just the evidence they were giving her. She had a point. Even Zelgadis saw it, judging by his silence and the shift of his eyes.

She turned away and began walking on toward the village, leaving them to follow in chastised silence.

"Kervan's story is his own to tell," she said, over her shoulder. "As is your own. He most certainly could not have done this sorcery, if sorcery it is. And," she added, glancing back at them with one last Acting High Priestess glare at both of them, "I must ask you to take my word for this, and to not pursue this line of inquiry any further."

He and Zelgadis exchanged a glance, and Zelgadis nodded.

"As you say, Kemara-sama," he said.

Xelloss better understood the sudden silences, the quickly averted glances and the furtive signs against evil when they passed through the village now. It made perfect sense, now that he thought about it, that their use of magic was enough to cause suspicion here, where sorcery was nearly as rarely displayed as it was in the Outer Lands. Zelgadis muttered something under his breath, and pulled his hood up to hide his face for the first time since they'd arrived.

They said nothing more until they left Kemara at her doorstep with polite goodbyes a few minutes later.

"Thank you for your assistance in investigating these incidents," she said, bowing to them briefly. "I appreciate all you've done for us here, and for Myona, especially. Please let me know if anyone troubles you about this matter," she added.

"We're glad to help, if we can," Zelgadis answered, with a glance at Xelloss, who nodded quickly in agreement.

In spite of this, Zelgadis' mood was still dark as they headed back toward their cottage. Afternoon sunlight slanted across the hillside; deep, pointed shadows from the evergreen wall stretched halfway up the hillside. It was too late to go back to the Mala's library now.

"I wish I hadn't brought it up," he grumbled as they paused in the street by the Temple gate.

"Yes, I suppose it would be rather awkward if you were to break into the mysterious hidden library now, wouldn't it?" Xelloss mused, only half joking.

"If I can even find it - although I suppose Myona could take us there, if we asked. And I suppose you wouldn't consider going against the express orders of the Acting High Priestess, would you?" Zelgadis said with a sideways glance at Xelloss. "At least it sounds like there's nothing that would go up in flames when you're around, if what she says is true."

"Zel-san!" Xelloss pouted, as if highly offended. "You know I can't harm anything on Temple property!"

"Does that mean you can't remove anything from Temple property and destroy it elsewhere?" Zelgadis asked, arms folded, as reasonable as a Guild Scholar.

"Hmm," Xelloss thought about this, finger to his chin. "Now there's an interesting question! Are you suggesting that I should, after all?"

He was a little shocked, but then again, not entirely surprised that Zelgadis' feelings about this could be so conveniently flexible. "I suppose, if the spells shielding the place don't trigger any alarm that alerts the High Priestesses..."

"No, no," Zelgadis said quickly, waving a hand at him. "Never mind! Forget I mentioned it." He sighed. "There's no point in stirring up any more suspicion against us than there already is, I suppose."

"I agree, there doesn't seem to be a reason to do so, at the moment. As you said, there's likely nothing there worth reading, not to mention destroying!" he added cheerfully.

Zelgadis rolled his eyes and turned toward the gate with a wave of his hand, and stopped short.

Shuno stood there, blocking the way. There was no strange object in his hands this time, although the pouch at his side clattered when he shifted his feet.

"Ah, Shuno-kun!" Xelloss said, rubbing the back of his head and grinning awkwardly. He'd quite forgotten that he'd left his student waiting for him at the mansion for the entire day.

"Busy day," Shuno said sourly.

"Ah, then you heard about this latest attack," Xelloss said. "I'm afraid it did require our attention, on behalf of the High Priestess, you know! But I'll be ready to give our lessons my full attention again tomorrow, certainly!"

Shuno shook his head and flapped a hand at them, or at the village in general. "Not that. Tomorrow. I'll be too busy."

He glared at them. Zelgadis looked to Xelloss, but he was not sure what he should say to this unexpected declaration. They should have guessed that the news of another attack would mean nothing to Shuno.

"Is there a Recitation you need to attend?" Zelgadis asked. "Or perhaps, you'll be busy getting fitted for your costume for the Festival?"

Shuno rolled his eyes briefly, clearly finding Zelgadis not the least bit amusing.

"I'll be doing tests, naturally," Shuno said, as if they should already know this. "Making measurements. Science can't advance without practical application of theory, you know."

He peered at them owlishly, almost suspiciously, from the dusky shadows under the Gate. "Assuming conditions are right for it," he added, scowling at them as if they would be to blame if they weren't.

"Ah, of course!" Xelloss exclaimed. The wind was already shifting and rising, the promise of the next storm to come. Shuno seemed to require the worst possible weather for his experiments. "Well, we certainly hope for the best and wish you good luck!"

Zelgadis smirked, but Shuno nodded, as if a Mazoku's best wishes where exactly what he needed to continue his great work. He stomped away down the street. They stood and watched him go in silent wonder.

"You do realize," Zelgadis said softly, as he turned back toward the gate and the Temple grounds beyond, "this means we have an entire day to ourselves again?"

"Oh, so it does," Xelloss answered, following Zelgadis up the path. "My my, what shall we do with it? Continue your studies in the Mala's library? And find out if Melly-sama has made any progress on his wonderful book? Perhaps there's a Recitation we could attend! Or, of course, we could get fitted for our own costumes, Zel-san!"

The pointed blast of irritation he got for that made it fairly clear what Zelgadis intended for the day. Xelloss slipped up next to him on the narrow path, caught his eye, and then pointedly raised his gaze toward the Gulch, far up on the dark hillside above.

"Or, I suppose, we might spend the day in our own practical application of magical theory?"

"That," Zelgadis said, "is the only sensible thing I've heard all day."

* to be continued *