The sound of shattering glass pierced the silence which normally blanketed the dead city of Sairaag. Lashing out in pain and blind rage, Vrumugun knocked over another table of expensive glassware with one arm. His other hand clutched frantically at his forehead. The pains had started earlier than normal today and a single word hammered itself mercilessly and unrelentingly through his brain.
Failure.
Vrumugun screamed and flung himself against a wall. Any physical pain was better than the horrible gnawing pain in his mind.
“I am NOT a FAILURE!!!” he screamed, his cry echoing through the empty halls of Vrumugun’s partially reconstructed mansion. But no matter how hard he cried out against it, the dreaded word continued to lash through his mind as it had done every day since his awakening.
“I am not a FAILURE!” he cried again desperately. “I will prove it! I will bring them to Sairaag!”
Failure.
Vrumugun bashed his head against the wall, desperate to drive the terror from his mind, and at length staggered across his ruined laboratory to sag limply into a chair.
“I will prove myself to you, Master…” Vrumugun said weakly, as blood oozed through the cracks in the gem set in his forehead. “I will bring your enemies to Sairaag, as you commanded. I will succeed where my brothers failed. I have obtained greater power than any of them ever had. I WILL prove myself! I am not a failure!”
And after I have brought them to Sairaag… after that…
The pain intensified. Vrumugun had no choice but to succumb to it.

Light…
Zelgadis held his hand over his eyes to shield them from the sudden assault of sunlight through a nearby window. Couldn’t someone have had the decency to put curtains in… he thought, and then suddenly stopped when he realized he had no idea where he was. Slowly, he sat up and looked around. He was now sitting shirtless on an old mattress, bandages wrapped around his back., in a small otherwise unfurnished wooden room. Where am I? Zelgadis wondered, pushing aside the sheets draped over him and rising slowly to his feet. He nearly made it before he collapsed again. He felt strangely weak and light-headed. And really, really hungry. Pulling himself back onto the mattress, Zelgadis tried to recall what had happened to him that had led to his present condition. Let’s see… I remember… being in Seyruun, and… Vrumugun appeared, and…
Zelgadis’ hand moved unconsciously to his bandaged back as he remembered what had happened. Pain lanced through his back as his hand met a wide mass of rocky scar tissue. Zelgadis grimaced. With a wound like that, I’m probably lucky to be alive, he thought. But… How did I get here? And what happened to everyone else?
As Zelgadis prepared to try standing up again, the door to the room creaked open. Amelia stepped into the room, holding a cloth and a bowl of water. When she saw that Zelgadis was awake, the bowl clattered to the floor.
“Zelgadis-san!” she exclaimed in a mixture of surprise and joy, and took a few cautious steps towards him as though uncertain whether what she was seeing was real. “Zelgadis-san!” she exclaimed again, and suddenly ran forwards and embraced the chimera. Zelgadis blushed and started to push Amelia away, unaccustomed to such intrusion into his personal space, but stopped himself. He was actually enjoying Amelia’s closeness, and it surprised him.
“Zelgadis-san… I thought you were never going to wake up…” Amelia said breathlessly.
The two stayed like that for a few minutes, neither one of them willing to move. Unfortunately, the moment was abruptly cut short by a long, low rumbling noise which they realized was coming from Zelgadis’ stomach. Zelgadis blushed more furiously in embarrassment
. Amelia let go of the chimera and laughed. “Oh yeah, I suppose you haven’t eaten in a while, have you?”
“How… How long was I out for?” Zelgadis asked.
“It’s been four days now. Lina and Gourry were beginning to lose hope, but I knew you’d recover.” Amelia replied.
“And… where are we?” Zelgadis asked, remembering the question that had been bothering him earlier.
“After we left Seyruun, we needed somewhere to wait until you were healed. Lina found this old abandoned cabin by the coast, and we decided to stay here.” Amelia told him. “But now that you’re awake, we can start heading for Sairaag!”
“Sairaag?”
“Save your questions for after you’ve eaten, Zelgadis-san. Right now what you need is a good meal to bring back your strength.”
Helping Zelgadis to his feet, Amelia led the wounded chimera out of the room.

“NOOOOO!”
Gourry’s sudden scream snapped Zelgadis and Amelia to full alertness, and they quickly made their way to the room where it had come from.
“Don’t come near me with that thing!” Gourry shouted, back pressed against a wall. As Amelia and Zelgadis leaned through the doorframe to see what was going on, they saw Lina advancing on Gourry a huge grin on her face and a mischievous gleam in her eye. And in her hands…
“Gourry, don’t be such a wimp! Someone needs to go into the nearest town to get us more food, and you’ll need a disguise. Now come here and put this on!” Lina commanded, continuing her advance on Gourry.
“Lina, I swear, if you force me to wear that dress again, I’m going to throw myself out this window! I’m not kidding!”
“So what? We’re on the ground floor. It’ll do you no good. You can’t escape, Gourry. Or should I say, Lala?” Lina replied, suppressing a giggle.
“Alright, that’s it, I’m jumping!” Gourry yelled. “I don’t care if any bounty hunters find me, I’m better off with them than I am here!” Gourry levered open the window and put one leg through it.
“Shadow Snap.”
A dagger flew through the air and stabbed into Gourry’s shadow.
“Alright, Zel! Thanks!” Lina said, smiling at Zelgadis and then continuing her advance on Gourry. She stopped suddenly and looked back. “Zel?! Hey, you’re awake!” Lina exclaimed in surprise.
“Hey, whose side are you on, anyway?” Gourry moaned as he struggled to escape Zelgadis’ spell.
“Sorry about doing this to you, Gourry, but we do need the food.” Zelgadis said, a slight smile on his lips. “Lina, could you explain our situation to me?”
“Sure, Zel.” Lina said cheerfully. “Just hang on a minute.” Lina leapt at Gourry with the pink dress.
“I can’t watch,” muttered Zelgadis. He turned his head.
Even still, Gourry’s screams were bad enough.

“So Lina,” Zelgadis asked as he ravenously chewed on a chicken leg, “One thing you haven’t explained yet is, why did you have to, um, disguise Gourry for him to go into town for food?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that part,” Lina said, gulping down some water. “Seems that Vrumugun’s been putting out wanted posters for me, you, and Gourry ever since we escaped from Seyruun. If we went to a town, we wouldn’t be there five minutes before some bounty hunters found us.”
“What about Amelia?”
“Nope, there aren’t any posters up for her… Come to think of it, that is strange. Why would there be wanted posters for all of us but Amelia?” Lina pondered.
“And why didn’t you send HER into town for food?” Gourry interjected.
“Um, well, she was so concerned about Zelgadis that, well, I didn’t want to disturb her with anything else.” Lina replied innocently.
“I think you just like putting me in a dress,” grumbled Gourry.
“You THINK? Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything…”
“Hmm… This seems a bit strange…” Zelgadis mused as he gnawed on another chicken leg, “Last time we ran into Vrumugun, he was also trying to bring us to Sairaag, and there were wanted posters for the three of us, but not for Amelia. Now, Vrumugun’s after us again, he wants us to go to Sairaag again even though there isn’t a city there anymore, and again there are wanted posters up for three of us. Why is he leaving out Amelia this time? Come to think of it, Amelia is also the only one of us that Vrumugun actively attacked. He only attacked me when I got in his way. And…” A nagging thought that had been brewing in the back of his brain suddenly came to his attention.
“Where’s Garland?” Zelgadis asked.
The room was silent for a moment after Zelgadis asked the question. Finally, Amelia broke the silence. “Garland is…” Amelia said sorrowfully, her voice trailing off as she reached the end of the sentence.
“Garland… didn’t make it,” Lina said. “That bastard got him when he tried to cover our escape.”
Zelgadis bowed his head. Although he and Garland had met under somewhat trying circumstances, to say the least, Zelgadis had taken a bit of a liking to the old wizard after they had settled their differences. And Garland had died to save him…
“We can’t let this go unpunished.” Zelgadis stated, an underlying tone of anger in his voice.
“Right,” agreed Lina. “Now that you’re back with us, we can head to Sairaag and find out just what it is this Vrumugun wants with us. But that can wait until tomorrow. For today, let’s relax and prepare ourselves for the journey to Sairaag. After all,” Lina added, grabbing some more chicken, “We aren’t likely to get many more meals like this after today.”

As the four feasted on Gourry’s hard-earned chicken within the run-down cabin, eyes filled with hatred gazed down at them from the treetops outside. Soon, it will be time to strike, the watcher thought, idly running his finger along the razor edge of his scimitar. Heh… They won’t even know what’s going on until it’s too late. A pair of leathery black wings unfurled from the figure’s back, causing birds to scatter in terror from the nearby trees. As he prepared to swoop down on the cabin, the watcher’s gaze suddenly fell upon another man approaching the cabin. Hmm… Perhaps I should wait and see what happens next. They do say patience is a virtue, after all… The dark wings folded themselves once more across his back, and the figure in the treetops resumed his long wait.

The sound of the door creaking open instantly caused Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis to abruptly cut off their feast.
“Looks like we’ve got a guest,” Zelgadis said, drawing his sword silently.
“Could it be one of Vruma-whatsis’ bounty hunters? “ Gourry asked.
“Don’t know. Either way, we should try and find out who they are before they find out who we are.”
“Well then, let’s prepare a welcome wagon for our guest,” said Lina.
Silently, the four of them took up positions around the room.

Laurence the smuggler muttered to himself as he took off his heavy coat and slung it carelessly into a corner of the cabin’s front hall. His last smuggling run to Mosquita hadn’t brought him in half as much money as he had expected, and he had been gone for a week longer than he had planned. But, despite his disappointment at the profits of his latest venture, he wasn’t too upset. He was certain his next run would bring him the wealth he dreamed of.
As Laurence rounded the corner into his living room, lost in thought and also puzzled by the strange chickeny odor permeating the house, he suddenly heard a female voice say “Lighting”, and a brilliant flash blinded him. As he raised his arm to shield his eyes, a sack was thrown over his head.
“Mmph! What’s going-“ Laurence managed to say, before something heavy hit him from behind and he collapsed to the ground unconscious.
“Do you think we overdid it?” Amelia asked, looking at the besacked intruder lying before her.
“Of course not!” Lina responded. “If he’s a bounty hunter, he wouldn’t have been so nice to us.”
“Umm, Lina…” Gourry said, lifting the sack. “This guy doesn’t look like a bounty hunter. Maybe we were wrong?”
“We can find out who he is when he wakes up.” Lina said. “For now, let’s just see if he’s got anything valuable on him.” Lina prepared to root through the man’s pockets.
“Hey, Lina! You can’t do that!” Gourry protested.
“Why not? He jumped in at us unannounced. The least he could do is repay us for it. Now, Let’s see what he’s got here… Ooh! Money!” Lina pulled Laurence’s wallet from his pocket.
“I’m afraid that I have to agree with Gourry here, Lina…” Amelia added. “We can’t just steal from this poor man while he’s unconscious.”
“Oh, alright…” Lina grumbled. “I’ll just have to wait till he wakes up, then. Let’s move him out of the dining room.”

Laurence groggily opened his eyes. “Wha’ happened…” he mumbled. His head felt like someone had hit it with a hammer.
“I think he’s awake,” a voice said. Laurence looked around, trying to see who was talking. He was apparently lying on his mattress, and four people were standing over him talking amongst themselves.
“Well, what do we do now?” said one of them, some blond-haired muscular woman in black armor and a blue shirt. No, not a woman, Laurence realized as he took another look. Just a long-haired man. To the man’s question, a young boy with long red hair wearing some sort of sorceror’s outfit replied. “I’ve already told you that! Now we have to find out if he’s a bounty hunter and who hired him.”
“No, not a boy…” Laurence muttered to himself. “Just a flat-chested girl. Who are these people, anyway?”
Lina’s ear perked up. Another of the people standing around them, this one a strangely blue-skinned man in white, leaned over to Laurence’s ear and whispered, “I wouldn’t advise that you say things like that around Lina. Unless, that is, you have a death wish.”
“I’ll… pretend I didn’t hear anything. You’ve obviously been rendered incoherent by being hit on the head, anyway.” Lina said, barely controlling her anger.
“Why’re you in my house, anyways?” Laurence asked, slowly sitting up and clutching his battered head. “And why’d you hit me on the head?”
Everyone in the room looked surprised.
“This is… your house?” the fourth person asked, this one a young black-haired girl who was also wearing white.
“’Course it’s my house. Why else would I have been here? And how’d you get in, anyway?” Laurence asked, his eyes narrowing.
“Um… well… that is… I… The door was locked, so, um…. Gourry here kicked in a window.” Lina replied, slightly embarrassed.
“What? Lina, I didn’t kick in the window! It was yo-oof!”
“Don’t mind Gourry, he’s just a bit absent minded. He can hardly remember what he’s done half the time.” Lina told Laurence, while grinding her heel down on Gourry’s foot.
“Anyhow, it doesn’t matter why you’re all here. I want you out of my house.” Laurence said gruffly.
“I’m afraid we can’t leave,” interjected the blue-skinned man. “There are bounty hunters after us. If we leave, they’ll be sure to catch up with us. I’m sure you understand that we can’t leave until we can find a safe route to Sairaag.”
“A safe route to Sairaag… Why d'you want to go there? That city’s been dead for years.”
“I can’t tell you our reasons right now. Suffice to say that it’s of the utmost importance that we get there.”
“Hmmm…” Laurence looked thoughtful for a moment. “Alright. If it’ll get you out of my house, I guess I can show you…”
“Show us what?” Lina asked curiously.
“Well… I guess it can’t hurt showing you, anyways. Follow me.”

“How far does it go?”
Lina pulled aside the last piece of bush that had been camouflaging the tunnel a short walk away from the cabin.
“That tunnel goes all the way to the port of Sayth. Won’t get you all the way to Sairaag, but I’m sure you can find a ship to take you there once you get to Sayth.”
“Wow, that’s a long tunnel!” Amelia said, amazed. “How did you find a tunnel like this, Laurence-san?”
Laurence laughed. “Built it myself! Was a lot of work, but it sure helps with the smuggling trade.”
Amelia looked shocked for a moment. “You’re a smuggler?” She drew herself up to her full height, and pointed a finger at Laurence.
“Have a roll, Amelia.” Lina said, pulling one from her backpack and stuffing it into Amelia’s mouth as it opened.
“Mmph!” Amelia grunted, her speech about the evils of smuggling having been cut short.
“We’d best get going,” Zelgadis said, and started to head down the tunnel.
“Thank’s for your help, Laurence!” Lina said, following Zelgadis down the tunnel.
“No problem, just don’t break into my house again, okay?” Laurence replied, laughing, as Amelia and Gourry followed Lina and Zelgadis.
In the treetops, unnoticed, the dark-winged observer smiled. Perfect. They won’t be able to escape me now.

“I’m tired! I’m hungry! Can’t we stop soon?” Lina complained as they trudged down the tunnel.
“We have to keep moving,” Zelgadis said wearily. “The sooner we can get to Sairaag, the better, and there’s no guarantee that Vrumugun won’t find us in these tunnels.”
Despite what he said, Zelgadis didn’t really want to continue on. He had only just regained his strength, and his determination to reach Sairaag was no match for his waning energy.
Gourry, who had been scouting ahead, came running back down the tunnel.
“Hey, guys, there’s a huge cavern up ahead!” he shouted.
“Finally, an end to these tunnels! Lina said happily.
“Hmm…” Zelgadis thought for a moment. “Alright, as much as I’d like to keep going, that sounds like a good place to camp for the night. Let’s rest while we can.”
“Ah, I was hoping you’d say that!” Lina said, and ran down the tunnel with Gourry.
“We’d best hurry and get to the cavern before those two eat all our rations,” Zelgadis said to Amelia. Amelia nodded, and the two hurried towards the cavern ahead.

“Gourry, that’s MY roll! Put it back!”
“It’s your roll? Then how come it was in MY pack, Lina?”
“I must have just misplaced it! Now GIVE-IT-BACK!”
Zelgadis sighed as he nibbled on some dried fruit from his rations. No matter how long he traveled with Lina and Gourry, it never ceased to amaze him both how much food they could eat and how violent they were in defending their food. Not only that, but they were eating their remaining rations at an alarming rate, and it would probably be a few days before they could buy any more.
“Zelgadis-san?” Amelia said, approaching the chimera.
“What is it, Amelia?”
“Umm… Can I look at your back?” When she saw Zelgadis blush slightly, she hastily added, “I, uh, need to look at your wound. It may not be healed fully, that is.”
“Oh… Alright. Go ahead.” Zelgadis replied.
Amelia knelt behind Zelgadis and, feeling somewhat embarrased, lifted up his shirt. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “You must have exerted yourself too much today. The wound’s started to open again. I’ll heal it up again for you.”
Zelgadis nodded, and Amelia moved her hands over back, silently casting a recover spell. For a few minutes, the only sound in the cavern was the sound of Lina head-butting Gourry for possession of the roll.
“There! It’s all healed.” Amelia said triumphantly az Zelgadis’ wound closed again.
“Thanks, Amelia.” Zelgadis said, smiling slightly at her.
“Too bad. Now I’ll just have to open his wound over again,” a mocking voice boomed through the cavern. All four were on their feet in an instant, Lina’s roll forgotten.
“Who’s there?!” Zelgadis called out, drawing his sword. Lina and Gourry did the same.
As an answer, a fireball shot from a nearby tunnel towards them. The four scattered to avoid the blast. Through the cloud of dust formed by the fireball, a figure emerged. “Well done. You’re all as good as I’d heard. Most people wouldn’t have been able to avoid that. I’m glad you didn’t disappoint me!” Before any of them could get a clear look at their attacker, he leapt forward with inhuman speed, swinging a serrated, razor sharp scimitar at Gourry. Gourry only barely managed to bring his sword up in time, and the attacker leapt away and disappeared into the dust cloud after their swords met once.
“Did anyone get a good look at him?” Lina asked.
“This definitely isn’t a regular bounty hunter.” Zelgadis stated. “Don’t let him catch you off guard. If only we could see him through all this damned dust!”
“I’ll take care of that!” Amelia said. “DIEM WING”
The dust cloud dissipated as Amelia’s burst of wind blasted through the cavern, but they still couldn’t see any trace of their adversary.
“Damn, where’d he go?” Zelgadis cursed.
“Good idea,” the mocking voice called out, “But I’m afraid it won’t help. I still have the upper hand.”
“Amelia, above you!” Zelgadis cried out, spotting movement out of the corner of his eye.
Amelia looked up in time to see a black figure swooping downwards at her with amazing speed, sword outstretched. She started to leap out of the way, but the attack was too fast for her. Amelia cried out in pain and collapsed as the scimitar slammed into her stomach.
“A-AMELIA!” Zelgadis screamed as she slumped to the floor.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t killed her yet,” his opponent sneered, coming to a graceful alnding on the floor. “I only hit her with the back of the sword. It wouldn’t be nearly challenging enough to just end things like that.”
For the first time since he had attacked, Zelgadis was able to get a good look at his foe. The man standing before him was a tall, well muscled man in baggy black pants and a sleeveless tunic of the same color, which was open in the back. His skin was a dark shade of green, with patches of black scales scattered across it. An unruly mass of spiky black hair topped his head, and his eyes were solid red and filled with hatred. A pair of leathery black wings spread from his back, flapping slowly as he stood over the fallen Amelia. Zelgadis’ eyes widened in surprise.
“He’s a chimera!” Zelgadis shouted.
“How observant of you. Yes, I am a chimera, just like you. My name is Talzegon, and thanks to this new body I’m more than a match for any of you.”
“We’ll see about that!” Lina said angrily. “FIRE BALL!”
Lina’s fireball hurtled through the air and exploded, engulfing the spot where Talzegon had just been standing in flames. Talzegon floated over the explosion, smiling tauntingly at Lina.
“Watch where you throw those things, little girl. You might hurt someone.”
Wow… He’s good… Lina thought, alarmed at how easily he had dodged her fireball. She had no more time to think, however, because Talzegon was flying at top speed towards her, sword outstretched. But when he got there, he found a sword in his way.
“Don’t forget about me,” Gourry said, knocking the chimera away with his sword.
“Ah yes, the swordsman. I’ve heard stories of your skill. Let’s see if you measure up to them!” Talzegon raised his sword and charged at Gourry. Gourry set his sword and braced himself to receive Talzegon’s attack, but as the chimera was almost in striking range, he launched himself into the air and landed behind Gourry. “You may be a good swordsman, but good swordsmanship is not enough against me.” Talzegon sneered, and raised his blade.
“FLARE ARROW!”
The chimera leapt back, narrowly avoiding the spell, and quickly turned his head as another sound drew his attention.
“DIEM WING”
A blast of wind from Zelgadis knocked the chimera sprawling across the cavern into a wall.
“It doesn’t need to be enough,” Lina said. “You’re pretty good, but there’s no way you can beat all three of us at once.”
Talzegon picked himself up off the cavern floor, and smiled. “I see that I underestimated you. I admit, there’s no way I can take you all on at once. So, I’ll have to even the odds a little.” Talzegon’s scimitar was surrounded by a red aura, and a beam of red light lanced out at Gourry before he could react.
“Aaargh!” Gourry screamed as he was surrounded in red energy. “I… I can’t move!”
Talzegon laughed. “Did I forget to mention I have a magic sword? None of you can defend against the power f the Binding Blade!
Lina cursed. “Damn! I’ve got no choice! I’ll finish this in one shot. Darkness beyond darkness, crimson blood that-“
Another beam of light lanced out from Talzegon’s sword, immobilizing Lina in mid-spell.
“No fair!” Lina complained. “You were supposed to let me finish.”
“And now for you,” Talzegon said, glancing at Zelgadis. “Draw your sword. Let’s see how good you are with no one to support you.”
“You bastard!” Zelgadis exclaimed. “All right- if you want to settle this chimera-to-chimera, then I guess I don’t have a choice.”
“Good! I’ve been waiting for this!” Talzegon laughed, and charged at Zelgadis. He lashed out with his sword as he got within range. Zelgadis ducked under the attack and swept his sword upwards across Talzegon’s chest.
“I’ll admit you’ve got some skill with the sword- but, you didn’t step forward enough. Too bad.” Zelgadis sheathed his sword as Talzegon slumped to the ground, and quickly walked over to Amelia. Checking her pulse, Zelgadis smiled. Good… he really didn’t hurt her badly. If he had, then I wouldn’t have let him die so quickly. “Heh, heh, heh…”
Zelgadis whipped around to see Talzegon rising to his feet. There was no trace of a wound on his chest, merely a broad gash in his tunic.
“You should’ve found out what kind of chimera I was before being so overconfident. My wings come from one-third black dragon… And I’m also one-third troll.”
“You’re right,” Zelgadis said, drawing his sword again. “It was a foolish mistake on my part, and it won’t be repeated.”
“Unfortunately for you, I’m not going to give you a chance to repeat it. I had been planning to beat you in fair combat, but you’re too good for me.”
Talzegon’s sword took on a reddish aura once more. “Although it’s not very sportsmanlike to kill a helpless victim, it’s the only way that I can take Lord Vrumugun’s vengeance for him. Still, it was fun while it lasted.”
A beam of light lanced toward Zelgadis, but something interrupted the beam as it was almost to Zelgadis. “What?!” Talzegon screamed, enraged. The beam subsided, and Amelia’s thrown armband fell to the floor. Zelgadis glanced over at Amelia, who was now sitting up, a determined look in her eye.
"An enemy of justice such as you could never defeat us with such a cowardly attack!" she declared.
Zelgadis smiled at Amelia before turning his attention back to Talzegon. Grabbing his sword, Zelgadis lunged forward, his blade sweeping in a deadly arc.
Talzegon’s scimitar fell to the ground. Along with his hand.
Talzegon shrieked in fury and pain. “My- MY HAND!!!” Clutching frantically at his wrist, Talzegon stared with rage-filled eyes at Zelgadis. “Don’t think this is over!” he shouted manically “This is far from over! We will meet again!” Talzegon’s wings unfurled, and he flew screaming through a tunnel in the wall.
I swear it…. We WILL meet again! And next time… Lord Vrumugun shall have his revenge!
The rest of the journey was uneventful.

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