"Now, Mr. Greywers," began the psychiatrist in a soothing, contralto voice, "let’s start by telling me a little about your childhood. What is your fondest childhood memory?"
        Zelgadis shifted in the big, overstuffed chair, uncrossed his legs, then crossed them again, drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. "One Solstice—I think I was four years old—my mother gave me an old book of astrology that had been in her family for many years. It has beautiful illustrations in it and fancy calligraphy. There are handwritten notes in the margins that generations of sorceresses in my family have written, all in very precise handwriting, obviously meant to be read by future users of the book. Since I have no sisters and my brother had no interest in magic, she passed the book to me. I’ve kept it with me ever since."
        The psychiatrist nodded and pushed her round, wire-rimmed glasses farther up her small nose as she took notes. "Do you hope to pass it to one of your children someday?"
        Zelgadis sighed, not really liking the direction of that question but he’d resolved to go through with therapy, whatever it involved. Even the most personal of questions. "If I have children, yes. I’m not married, as you know."
        The psychiatrist smiled thoughtfully, her dark green eyes glinting interest. "Any prospects?"
        "That depends on how you define ‘prospects’," Zelgadis hedged, thinking of Amelia. "The Princess of Seyruun says she’s in love with me, but I don’t feel the same way. She’s just not what I’m looking for. Frankly, I think it’s just a crush. She’s really very young."
        "What are you looking for in a mate?"
        He thought about it, letting his eyes rove about the tiny office. The walls were oak-paneled and hung with worn tapestries. Old, well-used carpets in exotic designs were strewn about the floor, under furnishings that were obviously antique and a mix of styles and eras. There were bookshelves lining the wall behind her, crammed with books and little statuettes of gods. Fragrant, woody incense burned in a small, brass brazier on the windowsill, in front of a statue of a dancing goddess. The little table to the psychiatrist’s right, was draped with a brightly-colored, fringed silk scarf. On the table were a crystal ball, tarot deck and a collection of rainbow-hued candles, which provided light for the sitting area. All-in-all a very soothing atmosphere.
        Zelgadis watched the smoke curl up from the incense burner as he spoke. "I’d like someone intelligent and mature. Someone I can have a decent conversation with. It would be nice if she was a magic user, since that’s such an important part of my life." His gaze wandered from the incense burner to the spines of the books, absently noting the titles, some familiar, some not, all along the order of classics in magic, science and literature. "I travel quite a bit in my quest for a cure for my curse," he dragged a finger down his cheek, as if she needed to be reminded that he had stone skin, "and if she isn’t willing to travel with me—it would be ideal if she was—she should at least be able to spend long periods of time without my company."
        The psychiatrist nodded and made more notes. A lock of blonde hair fell into her eyes for the dozenth time and with a frustrated noise she yanked the silver comb out of her hair and shook her golden locks onto her shoulders in a tangle of curls. She glared at the strands that blocked her view, then blew them out of her face and grinned at him mischievously. When he only just barely smiled, she cleared her throat and asked another question. "Have you met anyone like that in your travels?"
        "One, but she turned out to be a man."
        She quickly stifled a giggle, since he was so serious. "A man? That had to be disappointing."
        "Very." He rubbed a finger on the arm of his chair, moving the nap of the crimson velvet back and forth. There was a cigarette burn near the end of the velvet, and Zelgadis thought how angry that would have made him and that he would have replaced the upholstry immediately. His therapist was obviously a much less particular person.
        "You said you have a brother," she asked, abruptly shifting gears, "do you spend much time with him?"
        Zel shook his head. "No. He’s a mercenary. I lost track of him a long time ago."
        "And your parents?"
        "Dead."
        She waited for him to elaborate, considered asking a probing question, but the look on his face convinced her to save it for another session. She re-crossed her legs, adjusted her long skirt and pushed her glasses up again. Zelgadis thought to himself that she should get those glasses adjusted soon, preferably before her shoving them up the bridge of her nose every two minutes drove him crazy. Much to his relief, she got fed up with her glasses, too, and lay them on the table beside her. "Tell me about Rezo, the man you studied magic with for several years. I understand he died under rather dramatic circumstances."
        Zel nodded, glad that the subject had turned from him to the man he most loved to hate. "He was consumed by the Dark Lord Shabranigdo, who was sealed in his blind eyes. Lina Inverse killed the Dark Lord, and Rezo died with him. However, Rezo had made a copy of himself, which I encountered in the course of one of my journeys. Lina Inverse killed him, as well. Now it turns out the copy made a copy of himself, but version 3.0 is so weak, he’s little better than a novice sorcerer." Zel smirked. "I like the irony of that."
        She raised an eyebrow. "Copies? Are they blind, as Rezo was?"
        "No."
        "No Dark Lords hiding within?"
        Zelgadis sensed he was being mocked. "You don’t believe me."
        Or maybe not. She blinked at him in mild confusion. "Why do you say that?"
        Zelgadis stared at the toe of his boot. "Forgive me. I thought you were making a joke. And, no, there wasn’t a Dark Lord hiding within the first copy Rezo, but he raised the Dark Lord Zanaffar, which had the same effect. The second one, as I’ve said, probably does’t have the power to raise a Dark Lord. "
        She leaned back in her chair and gnawed on her pen. "Did you like the copy?"
        "No."
        "Are the copies very different from the original Rezo?"
        Zelgadis rearranged himself in the chair, still not meeting her eyes. "The first copy was crueler. And more talkative, though he never had anything particularly engaging to say. I haven’t met the second one."
        Scribble-scribble. The candlelight sparked in her dark eyes as she wrote, and Zelgadis watched it in distracted fascination until she looked up at him again. He quickly looked elsewhere. She no doubt made a mental note of that behavior, he thought to himself sourly and wondered what meaning she would read into it.
        "Why did Rezo do this to you?" She asked. "Was he angry with you?"
        Zel shook his head. "I don’t think so." He weighed other answers in his mind, deciding what he should tell her and what he should’t. With a heavy sigh, he settled on honesty. "I was greedy. I wanted the same sort of power he had but I din’t want to work for it. He told me he would give me everything I wanted if I would help him search for the Philosopher’s Stone. He told me I’d be completely transformed, but all I heard was the part about giving me the power I wanted. The next thing I knew, I was like this, and he refused to change me back."
        Her next question threw him completely. "Zelgadis, why are you here?"
        "What?" He blinked and looked into her face for the first time since he’d sat down in her office nearly a half an hour ago. Pretty. "What do you mean?"
        She rested her chin in her hand and her elbow on the arm of her chair and asked the question again. "What do you hope to achieve through these sessions with me? What’s your goal? Why are you here?"
        Zelgadis played with the burn hole on his chair for a few moments while he thought about that one. The incense had filled the room with a sweet-smelling, smoky haze in which the little candle flames flickered and bobbed on the table and reflected in the psychiatrist’s discarded glasses and the crystal ball. He wondered if she knew how to use the crystal ball, or if, like so many people, she only kept it for decoration. The tarot cards looked well-worn, though, and the spines of the magic books looked like they’d seen frequent bending. Perhaps she did know how to use the ball after all. His sword and dagger leaned against the wall by the door, just out of the pool of candlelight and were little more than shadows, even to his keen eyes. His cloak hung on a brass hook on the wall nearby, hers on the hook next to it. His gaze seemed to float all by itself from those objects to her beat up brown leather boots, up her long, black silk and velvet skirt, her loose, black, silk blouse, her messy hair and finally to her sharp eyes. She had the look of someone who could and would wait for him to answer her and not waver in her resolve till he did.
        Better to get it over with, he thought. "I don’t want to feel this way anymore. I’m tired of living in an oppressive cloud of depression and rage and loneliness. I have good friends who care about me very much—and I care about them in return—but, still, I feel alone. I was hoping to work through those emotions with professional help."
        "Was it your own idea to seek professional help?" She asked evenly, her voice indicated she suspected otherwise.
        She would be correct. "No. I—" he hesitated and stopped playing with the hole in the chair’s arm, suddenly thinking she might not want someone making the hole any worse than it already was, and began smoothing the velvet instead. Smart woman, seating her patients in chairs with tactile fabric; good for nervous gestures. He had to force himself to hold her steady gaze. "My friends thought this might help me." He clenched his hands into fists. "I’ve searched for the counterspell to this curse for more than three years and haven’t even come up with any viable leads. It’s possible there is no cure, which is an eventuality I must learn to deal with. Being unable to do this on my own, or with the help of my friends, Princess Amelia suggested I try therapy. With a professional, like yourself."
        "You sound dubious."
        Zel frowned. "I suppose I am. I don’t like to talk about myself, as you may have noticed."
        She put aside her notebook and pen, giving him her absolutely undivided attention. "I need to know about you, your life and your feelings if I’m to be of any help to you, Zelgadis. I think you’ve been very open with me so far. I just want to be sure you’re here because it’s what you want and because you feel I can help you, not because your friends talked you into it against your own judgement."
        Zelgadis didn’t reply. He’d have to give that some serious thought. She was right, of course: If he was here because others thought he should be, there was nothing she could do for him. He had to work with her because that’s what he wanted for himself. "I feel uncomfortable in this setting," he told her at last, then hastened to add: "Not that this looks like an office, but it is an office. There are things here to put me at ease: Magical items and books, which are obviously part of your taste. I suppose that’s why Amelia recommended you so highly…your interest in magic."
        She raised an eyebrow. "I’m flattered. She is a friend of mine; does that bother you?"
        "No, not at all," Zelgadis told her quickly. He liked talking about Rezo better. "I just wondered if—if we could meet somewhere else. That’s not an office."
        It took him a moment to realize how what he’d just said must have sounded to her. When he did, he turned bright red. "I didn’t mean…" he stammered. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply anything improper. Perhaps instead of me coming here, to you, we could meet—" He started to suggest meeting in his home, then remembered sheepishly that he didn’t have one, though Amelia insisted her door was always open to him. Of course, the idea of bringing an attractive woman with him to Amelia’s "open door" was rather appealing for the psychological effect it would have on the Princess. But Zelgadis tossed out that idea. Amelia might think he wanted her involved in the therapeutic process if it took place under her roof. Anyway, the Princess and his therapist were friends. No, that simply wouldn’t do.
        "In places where you stop in your travels?" She suggested. "I think that can be arranged."
        "It can?"
        "Unless you don’t want to."
        Zelgadis’ face brightened slightly. "No—I mean, yes! Yes, that would be perfect. I’m sure I’d feel much more comfortable." He hesitated. "Unless, that would be inconvenient for you?"
        "Not at all," she assured him cheerfully. "I love to travel."
        Thumpa-thumpa. "Do you? Really? Do you travel often?"
        She shrugged and ran a hand through her hair. It caught on a snarl, which she worked out with her fingers. "Not as often as I’d like. Where and when shall we meet next?"
        That was easy. So easy, in fact, that Zelgadis had to corral his thoughts and run them down the chute wherein lay his itinerary. He wasn’t used to being so organized about his destinations, usually allowing tips about possible cures to guide his course. So, he spit out the name of the first town that came to mind, which, to his embarrassment, turned out to be the one they were in now. He groped around for the name of another town and this time came up with one that was a decent distance away.
        She agreed immediately, and they decided to start with dinner, then have the "official" session in his room (or hers, whichever) afterwards. "Well, then: I’ll see you in a week."
        With a smile, Zelgadis rose and lay a gold piece on the table next to her glasses. "In a week, then. Thank you, Doctor Sorez. You’ve been very understanding."
        She smiled and winked. "That’s what they pay me for."
        Zelgadis collected his belongings and, with a final wave, left her office, shutting the door behind him.
        She waited until she could no longer hear his footfalls in the hallway, then picked up the crystal ball. It glowed at her touch, bathing her face in pale, golden light. "I think that went rather well," she said to the ball.
        The light flashed and when it faded, a tall, red-haired man with mismatched eyes and a priest’s staff sat in the chair Zelgadis had recently vacated. He was dressed all in red: Pants tucked into red boots, tunic and long robe. He lay the staff across his lap and smiled. "How long do you think you can prolong his troubles?" Kopii Rezo asked smoothly.
        She put the ball back on its stand. "As long as we like. I’ll need more of that incense, but in several scents. I wouldn’t want him to notice a pattern." As she returned to her chair, her hair changed from blonde to black and her eyes from green to lavender. In a few moments, she was "he". With a clever grin, Xellos laced his hands behind his head, stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankles. "I think he likes her."
        Kopii smirked. "All the better. Make him fall in love with her, then reveal the truth. It’ll destroy him."
        "Or really screw him up, at the very least." Xellos chuckled. "He hates me almost as much as he hates you. He doesn’t even feel threatened by you. That will make your part of this easier to execute."
        Kopii mimicked Xellos’ relaxed posture and yawned. "Lucky me. This is almost too easy. Why couldn’t I have spawned a more amusing grandchild? Can you make him more neurotic than he already is?"
        "Hmm…that sounds like fun. Shall I make him suicidal?"
        "Go for broke."
        Xellos snapped his fingers and a bottle of wine and a pair of goblets appeared and floated in the air between them. The wine poured itself and the glasses floated into the men’s waiting hands. The bottle put itself down on the antique table in the corner until it was wanted again. The sorcerers toasted their evil genius and Zelgadis’ impending neurosis and downed their wine in a single gulp.
        "You know, Kopii," Xellos said with a wink, as the bottle magically poured more wine, "I think there could be a place for a man like you in Beast Master’s organization."
        Kopii inclined his head humbly. "I’m flattered. What did you have in mind?"

       Meanwhile, in Princess Amelia’s chambers in the Seyruun royal palace, Amelia and Lina Inverse were gazing into a crystal ball of their own and getting very, very angry.
        "Those bastards!" Lina roared and shook her fists at the crystal ball and the two sorcerers plotting the downfall of one of her best friends. Through clenched teeth, she growled: "How many damn Rezo copies do I have to kill?!"
        The Princess sniffled. They’d discovered the existence of this second Rezo copy (Rezo 3.0 as Zelgadis dubbed him) about three months before but further investigation had shown his power to be less than impressive. Having better things to do, they’d decided he was mostly harmless and logged him in the Jerks Lina Needs To Kill Later file. "Why didn’t you kill him, Miss Lina?!"
        Lina’s eyes bugged. "Me kill him?! Why do I always have to kill him? I’m really sick of fighting Rezo all the time! Let Zel kill him this time!"
        "But he doesn’t know it’s Kopii and Xellos!" Amelia was close to tears. "How could I be so stupid?! I recommended Dr. Sorez to Zelgadis! I thought she was my friend! We have to warn him, Lina!"
        But Lina was already heading for the exit. Amelia grabbed the ball, tucked it into a pouch at her belt and hurried to catch up. "Damn right, we have to warn him," Lina was snarling as they galloped down the spiraling stairs on the way to the palace’s main entry hall. "And then we have to kill Rezo again! And Xellos! I never trusted that little creep! ‘It’s a secret’! Like hell it is! I just blew your secret out of the water, demon-boy! Your ass is mine! Just wait till I get my hands on his scrawny, monster-loving, perverted little neck!"
        Lina kept up a similar line of chatter as she collected Gourry (physically) from his bed, where he was having a nice post-dinner nap, and led the way out of the palace and in the direction of the town in which Zelgadis was scheduled to meet his therapist next. Her plan was catch up to him before he reached the appointed meeting place and clue him in on what was going on. The fact that he’d probably be furious at her and Amelia for watching his therapy session didn’t occur to her, and if it had, she probably wouldn’t have cared. The treachery she’d uncovered was far more important than his wounded pride.
        "Will somebody please tell me what’s going on?" Gourry demanded hopelessly, as he bumped along behind Lina, his right ankle firmly in her grasp, Amelia striding purposefully beside him, On A Mission. Lina dropped Gourry’s foot and let him walk on his own, his long-legged strides easily keeping up with the women’s smaller ones. "Where are we going? Lina, talk to me!"
        Without stopping, Lina told him the whole, sordid tale.
        "Why were you guys spying on him, anyway?" Gourry asked. "That wasn’t very nice."
        Lina turned around, smacked him and resumed walking, all in one, fluid motion. "You moron! Who cares about that now? It was lucky we were spying on him! What if we hadn’t been, huh? He’d never know Xellos and Kopii had this plan to screw up his emotions worse that they already are! He’s gonna fall in love with his 'perfect woman', then he’ll find out she’s really Xellos in disguise! He’ll be devastated!"
        "Hey!" Amelia protested. "I’m his perfect woman! And I’m not Xellos!"
        Gourry and Lina paused to give her withering looks. "Get a clue, Amelia," Lina snarled. "You’re his friend, but he isn’t in love with you or anything. Get over him! And don’t start crying, either!"
        Amelia obediently stifled a sniffle. "But—"
        "No! No ‘but’s !" Lina fired back. "We have to catch Zelgadis before he meets that witch in Grenich! We have to warn him! So shut up and run!"
        "Um, Lina?" Amelia asked timidly.
        "WHAT?!"
        "I could’ve gotten us some horses…"
        SCREEEEEEECH. Amelia and Gourry crashed into Lina’s back. "Horses?" Lina smacked her forehead. "What a great idea!" She spun around and headed back to the palace at a dead run, trampling her companions on the way.
        Amelia and Gourry rolled their eyes at each other and followed her. "And she says I’m dense!" Gourry muttered under his breath.
        "Oh, yeah," Amelia snorted, "like you thought to get horses!"
        "WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!"
        Amelia and Gourry blinked at each other in astonishment. "How does she do that?" Amelia marveled. Gourry whistled his admiration: "Scary."

       "You’re quite certain this plan will work, Xellos?" Beast Master asked in a silky voice as she lit a cigarette from a tongue of flame at the tip of her thumb. It was a cheesy parlor trick, but it amused her. She took a drag and blew smoke out of her nose.
        Xellos lounged in a chair across from her, warming his toes by the fire in a large, circular pit in the floor between them. He had his boots and cloak off and the collar of his shirt loosened and was nursing a silver goblet of honeyed wine. "I’ve created the woman of Zelgadis’ dreams, Master. He’s sure to fall in love with her, then, just when he finds the courage to make his move, I’ll reveal her to really be me. He’s neurotic enough already; that will surely break him."
        She tapped ash off the end of her cigarette and took another drag. Through smoke, she asked: "Then what? What do we do with him once we’ve torn his mind apart?"
        Xellos closed his eyes and smiled. "We kill him."
        Zellas Metallium licked her lips thoughtfully. "How dull."
        "Eh?" Xellos’ eyes snapped open and he sat up straighter, her flat condemnation of his plan being somewhat unexpected. "What would you suggest, Master?"
        "Use him," she purred. "Make him our servant. Surely the controlling spells Rezo wove into Zelgadis’ stone body are still there and available for use to one who knows how. Like Kopii, for instance…"
        "Hmmm…Go on." He sat back and poured himself some more wine.
        Zellas tossed the cigarette butt into the fire and lit up another. She always smoked faster when hatching a plan. "A chimera is a powerful creature, and this particular chimera is a skilled shamanist sorcerer, as well. He is also part demon, which could make turning him to the dark side easier. He’s a friend of Lina Inverse and as such might have some influence over her. He’s also popular in the royal court of Seyruun, one of the mightiest cities in this part of the world."
        Xellos smirked. "The Princess is in love with him, he tells me."
        "Useful information." She blew smoke out her nose again, enjoying the tingling-burning sensation. "Seduce him, Xellos, maybe even sleep with him once or twice, then destroy his mind and make him our servant. See what knowledge Kopii has of the controlling spells and what use we can make of that knowledge. And if Zelgadis can’t be turned, then you may kill him."
        Xellos frowned. "Must I sleep with him, Master? He’s really not my type." The look his master seared him with then was all the answer he needed. Xellos sighed unhappily. "I obey, Master."

        Zelgadis paused beneath an oak tree a few yards off the road to rest a few minutes. He’d been walking without rest since sunrise and it was now just past noon. Zel uncorked his water skin and chugged down several gulps of water, wiped his mouth and replaced the cork. Leaning his back against the oak’s broad trunk, he closed his eyes and found his thoughts wandering back to the previous evening and Dr. Sorez. She seemed almost too good to be true, especially considering she was a friend of the obnoxious (if well-meaning) Princess Amelia: A magic-user with classical, intelligent tastes, who loved to travel. And she was pretty, too. It occurred to him then that he had no idea what her first name was; she’d introduced herself as Dr. Sorez, which was all that Amelia had called her in convincing him to get therapy. He made a mental note to ask her for her name when he saw her again in Grenich. A whole week…Zelgadis didn’t think he could wait that long. He wanted to ask her about herself (under the auspices of an exchange of personal information), about her studies, how old was she, where was she born? Who had she studied with? Furthermore, how did she come to be friends with Amelia, who didn’t seem to have anything in common with the doctor. Maybe Amelia knew Dr. Sorez was such a good therapist from personal experience. Well, Amelia did seem to be very confident most of the time.
        He saw Dr. Sorez’s hair scatter over her shoulders again as she’d pulled out the comb that had held it in a bun at the nape of her neck. The candlelight had made it more golden, shimmery, as if with its own light. And her eyes were such an unusual shade of green, like the dark, shady spaces in a forest. He heard her voice in his mind, soft and low like a purr. Zelgadis shook himself out of his reverie abruptly, scolding himself for getting his hopes up. She probably felt more sorry for him than attracted to him—and how could a woman like that be attracted to a freak like him, he wondered bitterly. He only seemed to attract weirdoes like Amelia, or women who were actually men. What if Dr. Sorez was another cross-dresser? But, no, she’d thought that situation would be "disappointing" to him. She certainly had a woman’s figure. Hmmm…
        "Stop it!" Zelgadis growled at himself furiously. "It’s just professional. It’s not personal, it won’t be personal. How can it?" He sulked, falling down a deep, dark, spiraling well into the iciest depths of gloom. What woman would want a man made of stone? Zelgadis thought about that for a second, had a moment of Xellos-like perversion, felt a glimmer of hope, then sunk back into depression. A second later, he chuckled, finally getting one of Martina’s sick jokes he’d overhead her make to Lina: "’Always hard’…huh. Pervert." No wonder Lina had smacked her. Marginally cheered up by that little joke, Zelgadis rose and returned to the road to continue his journey. "Heh. ‘Always hard’…"

        Kopii Rezo (KR 3.0) tapped a thoughtful finger against his chin as he contemplated the problem his crystal ball had just revealed to  him. He hadn’t counted on Zelgadis’ friends (even Lina Inverse) being quite so nosey. So, the cat was out of the bag, as it were. Hmm…well, all was not lost. Accidents happened to travelers all the time, especially travelers who were in too much of a hurry and had too much on their minds to notice certain…  pitfalls…along their route. Like Trolls or Berserkers or ferocious wild animals. Or tricky clone-sorcerers.
        He conjured a ball of light and told it what was happening and how he planned to deal with it, then sent the ball to Xellos. Kopii waited. He yawned and stretched, twirled his finger along the top of his crystal ball in boredom. Sighed.
        "They were spying on our session?!"
        "What took you so long?" Kopii asked casually.
        Xellos crossed his arms in irritation, still cranky from his Master’s insistence that he actually have sex with Zelgadis. Sometimes he wondered if she didn’t vicariously live out her twisted little fantasies through him. "I knew Lina was nosey, but this is too much, even for her."
        Kopii raised an eyebrow at him and frowned. "Who peed in your oatmeal?"
        Xellos shot him a dangerous look, and Kopii put up his hands defensively. "Hey, just a little joke. Relax."
        "So you want to put obstacles in their path?" Xellos asked crossly. "Fine. Whatever. Just don’t kill Lina; she’s still valuable to L-Sama, and we don’t want her involved with this. Just keep Lina and her pet morons out of my hair until our plan is complete. Which reminds me: There’s been a bit of a change to the master plan."
        When Xellos finished relating the details, Kopii burst out laughing. "You have to do what?! What did you do to so offend your master that she’d make you sleep with Zelgadis?" He continued to snicker as he dodged lightning bolts from the irate demon, who failed to see what was so damn funny. "Hoo boy! Hey, he should be a good ride, Xel—after all, he’s *giggle* always hard! BWA-HA-HA-HA--*GASP*!"
        Xellos withdrew his fist and watched with satisfaction as Kopii doubled over and collapsed to the floor, gripping his manhood with both hands and squealing in supreme pain. The demon brushed off his hands with a smug grin and kicked Kopii in the pants for good measure. "Do not mock me, Human! I don’t need you for this operation, I’m allowing you to participate out of the generosity of my black, little heart. That can easily change."
        Kopii rolled over, still holding onto himself, and squinted, cross-eyed at Xellos. "You…bastard," he manage to croak.
        "Actually, no," Xellos drawled, "I was created and therefore have no parents at all." He waved a dismissing hand at Kopii. "Do what you will about Lina and her friends—but don’t kill Lina. If she dies, I’ll make sure the Lord of Nightmares knows it was your fault." With that, he disappeared.
        "I hate that guy!"

       "Lina, you’re gonna kill the horses if we don’t let them rest soon!" Gourry shouted, following his own advice and reigning his mount in as they approached a stream. The poor, lathered beast gratefully dipped its muzzle into the cool water and slurped with enthusiasm.
        Amelia pulled up beside him and let her own horse rest and drink. "He’s right, Lina! Let’s take a break! We’ve been running the horses for most of the day! They can’t take any more. We have to stop."
        Lina’s horse stumbled, as if to add its own emphasis to Amelia’s and Gourry’s pleas. Finally, Lina reluctantly turned the horse around and brought it back to the stream to let it drink. "How long do you think they need to rest this time, before we can get going again?" She asked Amelia impatiently.
        The Princess had dismounted and was patting her horse’s sweat-soaked neck. "At least an hour, Lina. We can still catch Zelgadis, especially since we’re on horseback, and he’s on foot."
        Lina slid out of the saddle and flopped down on the grass near her horse. "Unless he’s so excited about seeing her again, he runs the whole way."
        "It won’t matter," Gourry interjected as he collapsed next to Lina. "He’s not supposed to meet her for a whole week, so even if he gets to Grenich ahead of us, we can still get there before she does and tell him what’s going on." He lay back in the grass and watched clouds cross the sky. They’d ridden hard all night from Seyruun, pausing only long enough to eat and rest the horses. On foot, it would have taken them a week to reach Grenich, coming at it from the east, whereas Zelgadis was coming from Timeron, which lay about the same distance to the south. On horseback, they had a chance of beating him there. That is, if Lina didn’t kill the horses in her enthusiasm to warn Zel.
        Lina lay back with a sigh. "I’m just so worried about him," she confessed quietly. "I mean, he’s getting desperate, and Xellos really has come up with a woman that meets all of Zelgadis’ criteria for his perfect girl—not a word, Amelia!"
        "I wasn’t going to say anything," Amelia whimpered as she joined them on the grass. She wished they’d quit reminding her that Zelgadis wasn’t interested; it hurt. He wouldn’t even tell her what it was about her that fell short of what he wanted! And she certainly didn’t trust Lina or Gourry to come up with the truth! Sometimes she thought Lina would say anything to keep her and Zelgadis apart. If it wasn’t for Lina’s obvious affection for Gourry, Amelia would think she wanted Zel for herself.
        Lina continued: "And what if Xellos goes to Grenich before the appointed date?"
        "Then we kick his butt!" Gourry told her.
        "We can still tell Zelgadis the truth!" Amelia said at the same time. "He’ll believe us!"
        Lina propped herself up on her elbows so she could glare at Amelia over Gourry’s chest. "Do you want to fight Xellos? His power’s nothing to sneeze at!"
        "But you can use the power of the Lord of Nightmares!" Amelia shot back. "She’s lots more powerful than Xellos—and she likes you!"
        Lina frowned. "Where did you get that she likes me? She possessed me once so she could zap Phibrizio and Garv, then almost just let me dissolve into nothing! If Gourry hadn’t come after me, I’d probably be dead." As she spoke, she squeezed Gourry’s hand where Amelia couldn’t see her do it; she felt a little better when he squeezed back. "I can’t just summon her power any time I want to, Amelia; it’s too dangerous."
        "But it’s Zelgadis!" Amelia sat up so she could meet Lina’s eyes.
        Lina sighed sadly. "He’s my friend, and I’d die for him if I had to—but I don’t have to this time! You’re right: Zelgadis will believe us. I’m just really worried about him. He’s been so unhappy lately—I mean, more than usual. I’m afraid he’ll do something stupid."
        "Zelgadis?!" Amelia and Gourry exclaimed at once. "No way!" Gourry added. "He never does stupid stuff!"
        Amelia ducked her head sheepishly. "Except for asking Rezo to give him power…"
        "How could he know his own grandfather or whatever would turn him into a chimera?" Lina retorted, then relented. "But I guess being that greedy and unwilling to put in the years of study the rest of us magic users have to is pretty stupid. Nothing’s free, especially with magic; there’s always a price to be paid, even for the smallest spell. The universe demands balance."
        Amelia nodded agreement and lay back down to await Gourry’s usual clueless question about magic, but it never came. She looked over at him curiously and found he was sound asleep, probably bored by the Lina lecture. This, too, was per usual for the big swordsman, and for once, Lina didn’t seem to mind. Amelia realized upon reflection that Lina was right: Using the power of the Lord of Nightmares wasn’t like casting a light spell. L-Sama was the most powerful of all the Dark Lords. The fact that she seemed to favor Lina probably wasn’t the blessing Amelia had originally thought it was. There was a price for using that kind of power, and Lina was probably not through paying for all those times she’d cast the Laguna Blade and the Giga Slave. No wonder she didn’t want to use the Lord of Nightmares’ power! Amelia couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was like to channel an evil power of that magnitude—and, quite frankly, she didn’t want to. She sighed and closed her eyes, thinking she’d just rest them for a few minutes but before she knew it she was sound asleep.

        Kopii Rezo grinned maniacally as he lured the horses away from the stream with a spell. When they reached him, he swung up onto the back of the big stallion Gourry had been riding and gathered up the other two horses’ reigns. Then he dug his heels into his mount’s sides and in minutes, he and the horses were gone. "Too easy," Kopii congratulated himself, "much too easy—WHAT?!" A blast of light and thunder crashed from the sky to the earth in front of him. With a terrified whinny, his horse reared up, yanking the reigns of the other two horses out of his hands and throwing him to the ground. "Who dares?!" Kopii snarled as he rolled to one knee and readied an attack spell.
        "Over here, stupid!"
        Kopii spun about, lost his balance and fell on his butt at Lina Inverse’s feet. "You?! But—how? I put a sleep spell on you!"
        Lina flipped her hair with a dismissing gesture. Gourry and Amelia trotted up behind her, the Princess looking way too smug and like a speech was in the offing. Lina spoke first. "Oh, puh-leeze! You don’t think I’d fall for something that lame, do you? I expected you to try something like this and was ready for it!" She dug her heels into the dirt and gave the prostrate clone a wicked grin. "Now, PREPARE TO DIE!"
        Lina threw a fireball at Kopii, but he tumbled out of its path and launched a return volley on the rebound. The sorceress jumped out of its way and responded with a succession of flare arrows that forced Kopii to roll over and over to avoid them. Then Amelia joined the attack, fireballing between Lina’s flare arrows.
        "You won’t get away with your evil plan to trick my beloved Zelgadis!" Amelia screeched. "And that goes for your wicked partner in crime Xellos the Trickster Priest! HA!"
        "Yeah!" Gourry roared, standing well out of the way of the fight, lest he get caught in the crossfire but ready with his sword should it be needed. "We’ll fry you, you red creep! Go get ‘im, girls!"
        At that moment, Kopii disappeared in a flash of red light.
        "Well crap." Lina humphed, blinking furiously.
        Amelia snarled: "Come back here and die like the evil worm that you are, you sicko! The hammer of my justice will destroy you, you pathetic copy of a copy--and your disgusting, perverted friend, too!" She struck a valiant pose, finger pointed dramatically at the sky. "We will not relent until Zelgadis knows the truth and his heart has been rescued from being crushed beneath the whore-like heels of Xellos’ false-woman!" She clutched her hands to her breast and wept. "Oh, false friend! How could I have been fooled by your clever deception? And now my beloved, the love of my life, will be caught in your evil web, as well!" She balled her hands into fists. "We won’t stop until we’ve foiled your plan and Zelgadis’ feelings are saved!"
        Lina and Gourry blinked at each other, jaws agape. Gourry almost dropped his sword. "What a drama queen…" Gourry muttered, to which Lina replied under her breath: "I wonder if she’s considered writing opera?" Both of them had to jump out of the way as Amelia crashed past them, weaving a summoning spell to gather the horses as she went. As soon as she had all three beasts before her, she mounted her own horse and glared at her companions expectantly. Gourry and Lina hurried to mount up, fearing another speech if they didn’t hop to it. Without another word, Amelia kicked her horse into a hard gallop, then a run. Lina exchanged a determined look with Gourry, then they urged their mounts to catch up with Amelia.