"I found him!" Zolf hollered to his comrades, and Zelgadis shot straight up out of his hiding place and tackled him. He cast Raywing again and tucked Zolf under his arm as the other two mages closed in. Three was too many, but two he could handle just fine, with a bit of fancy flying.

"You mean to take me hostage?" Zolf assumed, only half-struggling for fear of falling. "They'll have no mercy on you for my sake!"

"All the better," Zelgadis responded absently, making a daring pass between them in the old friendly-fire maneuver. When it did not have the hoped-for effect, he simply took advantage of his proximity to take one of them out with a giga-bolt. Two down, one to go. He retreated to the rocks again, and tucked Zolf into a cleft with a sleeping spell.

"Come out and face me, hellspawn!" the remaining sorcerer yelled as he hovered overhead. "Your cowardly tricks won't work twice!"

Zelgadis returned to the air. Ironically, the final mage had his back turned towards him.

"'Hellspawn?'" he repeated. "'Cowardly?' I believe it was you who ambushed me," Zelgadis assessed. And in greater numbers, and after I had been wounded. The sorcerer simply attacked.

Damn, I haven't recovered enough to fight this guy effectively, Zelgadis realized, neatly dodging a volley of fireballs. --If only the sun would come out--

And, as proof of the gods, the sun slipped out into the gap between the clouds and horizon, and bright red light fell over all.

Yes!

Too quickly to think about it, Zelgadis put himself exactly between his assailant and the sun, judging by his shadow, and went into a straight horizontal dive. The sorcerer cursed and threw spells desperately into the light. Zelgadis struck fists-first, knocking the wind out of him and nearly crumbling the the boulder that absorbed the momentum of the blow.

Suddenly it seemed very quiet, except for his own breathing. The mage was unconscious, and slid bonelessly to the ground when he was released. Zelgadis found blood on his knuckles--the man's ribs were shattered. One small thought kept him from abandoning his opponent.

What would the girls do, if they were here? he considered, and knelt down on the stone. Amelia would say, 'Don't kill him, it's not his fault--he was under orders,' but Lina would say 'Teach him a lesson he'll never forget!'

He eyed his foe, and smiled to himself before starting up a healing spell. I think I can manage both....

Zolf struggled awake to find himself nestled in a deep granite crevice, surprisingly unharmed. He was about to count himself lucky, when he looked up at the mouth of the cavity and froze perfectly still. The chimera was there--not blocking the exit, but certainly making it impossible to sneak out.

Or, Zolf realized, I could just hit him with a spell before he notices me--

"You're awake," his captor observed, without even looking (what was he doing?).

"Wh-what do you want with me?" Zolf demanded, trying to stand in the nearly cave-like enclosure.

"Just some information," he was answered in the same mild tone. "-Ahhh--" There was a click, and a creak, and a clatter of metal as he cast off the wrist manacles. Flexing his wrists, he turned to glance sideways at Zolf. "I don't suppose you know how to pick locks, do you?"

"No, I don't," Zolf answered, trying to creep toward the other end of the exit.

"I thought not. It's going to be a bitch, picking a lock I can't see," the chimera sighed, tapping the steel collar around his neck. "Why don't you sit down?"

"Why do you think?" Zolf answered, sounding rather more panicked than he intended. A golem that looked and moved and spoke like a human--it was the most unnerving thing he'd ever seen. It just paused and looked at him.

"Suit yourself," it said, finally.

"What . . . are you?" Zolf inquired, after composing himself a bit.

"I am exactly what Amelia thought--part demon, part golem, part human." He faced into the sunset with his eyes closed, trying to pick the lock through touch, and Zolf inched a little further toward egress. "I was born as human as you are. . . ." he added absently.

Zolf seized the moment--however, he had not run four steps before he tripped and fell flat on his face. A manacle was snared around his ankle by the chain between the cuffs.

"Never very bright, were you, Zolf," his captor commented, hauling him in.

"What do you want? What are you going to do with me?" Zolf cried when he was pinned with his back against the sun-warmed stone.

"It will be the most horrifying experience of your life," he was told.

"Wh-what?"

"I'm going to . . . ask you questions!"

"Questions!!" . . . . Wait, questions?" Zolf realized, and then he saw the little smile on the chimera's face. "Stop toying with me! How do you know my name?"

"Ah, I'm sorry; I'm just glad to see you alive. I know a lot of things about you, Zolf . . . it's a long story." His grip loosened.

"But--"

"Sit," he was commanded, and immediately Zolf sat. "Now, tell me what you know about Lina Inverse," the man instructed. "She died at the fall of Sailloon, didn't she?"

Zolf nodded, slightly less terrified than before.

"Tell me everything you know--what happened?"

"Well . . . when Shabranigdo was reborn, the very first things he did were to summon the Dark Lords to resurrect his other pieces, and to begin the destruction of all the temples and strongholds of the gods," Zolf began.

"I see. . . ."

"Her Majesty was out of the country with Sir Gourry and Lina Inverse when Ruby-Eye began to move against Sailloon, but by the time they arrived he was still about this far from the city," Zolf continued.

"What do you mean, 'about this far?'"

"I mean . . right here. Maybe a little further up, overlooking the valley."

His captor did not seem to like this. He stood up, looked around, and sat again, holding his brow and cursing softly for a moment.

"What happened after that?" he asked, when he was done fidgeting.

"Well, I wasn't there the moment it happened, but after the high priests of Sailloon were exhausted, Lina Inverse came to the front and cast this spell--it was like pure chaos--"

"Nightmare magic."

"What?"

"From the Lord of Nightmares. It was pure chaos," the chimera clarified. "Go on; what happened?"

"Well . . . there was this . . . shaft of chaos--I did see that--I think it came down right where she was standing. Ruby-Eye was almost on the city then, I think. And then . . he went."

"And by 'went,' you mean--?"

Zolf held his head. "I don't know how else to explain it. If it was pure chaos, like you said, it was like . . . like he saw chaos . . or it touched him, somehow . . . and then he became chaos--"

"What? How--"

"I don't know! He just stopped being there!" Zolf nearly shouted, and sobered immediately. "And then the same thing happened to Sailloon. Fwshh," he gestured. The chimera sighed.

"Her Majesty found Sir Gourry in the aftermath--this was when he got that cut on his face, and quite a few others--and she saved his life, and he's been her champion ever since," Zolf finished. The other man nodded wearily.

There was quite a pause, as the sun set.

"What was your name?" Zolf thought to ask, and the golem-man regarded him over folded hands.

"Not paying attention in court, were you," he chided. "I'm Zelgadis," he added before Zolf could speak.

"Zelgadis? My god, that's right; you're a Greywords--"

"Nice to meet you, too," he answered bitterly.

"Oh, sorry; I'm--but you already know me--" Zolf faltered, and the awkward moment was cut short by the distant sound of a sorcerer coming to, on the far side of the rock formation:

"My pants! Where are my pants!?"

"Better go get your friend," Zelgadis advised.

"What did you do to him?"

He shrugged. "I stole his pants."

Zolf left, and the twilight faded, and Zelgadis grew increasingly frustrated with the steel collar. It was too thick to break with his hands, and too heavy to finesse with his picks.

Well, I'm almost up to full-power again, he ruminated. Maybe I can blow it off with a spell--

"Well, there you are; I wondered what had gotten the humans so excited, earlier today."

He whirled to face Xellos, perched behind him on a spell-blasted boulder--but it was not the priest he expected.

"My god--you're the wrong Xellos!" he blurted foolishly.