Hellmaster's orders

[moonshadows]

            ::XELLOSS METALLIUM!::

            The name comes as the final phrase in what is not quite a summoning spell, but demands my obedience anyway. I could probably resist it - My Lord Beastmaster gave me certain abilities, after all - But I don’t bother. Lord Hellmaster is calling, and it’s always best to show him what he wants to see. I allow myself to be pulled through the Astral Plane to his palace, falling limply into the giant claws of his astral body. They close around me, holding me in a cage of talons the size of a man. A few of them dig into my bound form, and I allow myself to be intimidated.

            ::You summoned me, Lord Hellmaster?::

            ::I will kill you if you don’t answer my questions.:: He starts out with a threat, talons digging deeper into my substance to emphasize his point. He’s had enough dealings with me to know that I never give away an answer if I can possibly help it.

            In a way, Lord Hellmaster and the Flare Dragon’s Knight are the same. Both of them rely on sheer, overwhelming strength to convince an opponent to obey them. Terrorize your enemy, and he won’t think of betraying you. It’s a good strategy, but unfortunately for them, it doesn’t work on someone whose loyalties belong entirely to someone else.

            ::What is it you wish to know, Lord Hellmaster?::

            The claws retract a bit as my subservience mollifies the most powerful of the five Mazoku Lords. ::The fragment of Lord Shabranigdo that was in the Red Priest. What happened to it?::

            ::It was unsealed, Lord Hellmaster.:: I deliberately sidestep the intent and answer only the literal question. Lord Hellmaster has two main flaws: he’s arrogant, and he’s lazy. Why find out anything for himself, when he can just summon me and squeeze out what he wants to know?

            ::I know that much, dog of the Beastmaster!:: The claws tighten, and my scream isn’t entirely for show. ::Why isn’t the fragment of Lord Shabranigdo seeking out the other pieces?::

            He doesn’t know? He didn’t recognize the feel of L-----‘s power?

            ::It was destroyed, Lord Hellmaster.:: If the claws tighten, we’ll know he knows what did it. If they don’t, we’ll know he’s unaware of Lina’s little trick.

            The claws loosen in shock, then tighten again. While infinitely preferable to the Flare Dragon’s claws, it still hurts. I scream again to stroke his arrogance.

            ::Who did this, and how?!:: The talons dig deeper, as though he could physically pry the answer out of me.

            ::Auhhh! A girl! Her name is Lina. Please, Lord Hellmaster-!:: I writhe a bit to make him believe he’s wringing the entire truth out of me, and the claws loosen their grip slightly in satisfaction. ::She cast a spell – something that doesn’t draw from Lord Ruby Eye.::

            ::What sort of spell?::

            ::It was something like the Dragon Slave.:: I can almost hear the wheels turning as he realizes the possibilities. ::Lord Hellmaster?::

            ::What is it?:: He snaps, irritated at having his train of thought be interrupted.

            ::I think . . . if that spell were to be cast improperly, it could destroy this world.::

            The claws jerk in shock. He doesn’t question the statement, believing that he’s intimidated me to the point that I’m volunteering information in hopes of appeasing him. He brings his giant hands up to his enormous face, red eyes gleaming at me between his claws in a lesser imitation of Lord Ruby Eye’s form.

            ::Return to your master, dog.:: The red eyes narrow into slits, elation and arrogance coming off of him in waves. ::Tell her that you answer to me, now. Then find this ‘Lina’ and watch her carefully. I want to know more about her.::

            ::As you wish, Lord Hellmaster.:: I hesitate uncertainly, my aura flickering.

            ::What is it, dog?::

            ::What about the Chaos Dragon? He’s sure to try something.:: I dangle the possibility of Chaos Dragon Gaav in front of Lord Hellmaster, leading him in the direction My Lord Beastmaster wishes him to go.

            ::Then make very sure you keep her safe.:: The claws dig into me again, threatening messy destruction if I fail to carry out his orders.

            ::It shall be as you say, Lord Hellmaster.:: My astral form practically oozes subservience and obedience, and the cage of claws opens up.

            ::Go, dog. I will call you when I want you.::

            It’s so easy to make those of slower wit believe they’ve outsmarted you. To cement the lie, I bind my astral body into my usual form and bow deeply to those glowing red eyes as I stand on the palm of Lord Hellmaster’s hand. The eyes narrow in satisfaction, and I dart off in the direction of My Lord Beastmaster’s lair. Her will flickers deep in the core of my substance; in accordance with it, I actually complete the journey. Lord Hellmaster’s movements on the board will almost completely mask My Lord Beastmaster’s, forming an ideal shield and preventing the other two players from realizing that there is a third contestant in this game of chess. If I can carry out this deception, Lord Hellmaster and the Chaos Dragon will be so busy tearing at each other’s throats that they won’t see My Lord Beastmaster’s movements until it’s too late – if then. After all, it’s common knowledge that I have almost no contact with My Lord Beastmaster, rarely returning to her lair and never receiving orders from her. She may as well have forgotten that she has a Priest-General; I may as well be a free agent.

            Mazoku reproduce by splitting off a part of their substance; the 'parent' shapes its offspring, imbues it with intelligence, and cuts the connection to their new offspring. The resulting mazoku owes its existance to its parent and could be un-made by said parent, but is a separate being. However, as with Rezo and the chimera he created, My Lord Beastmaster never severed the connection. Through this connection, I can hear her chuckling. Her amusement and affection trail through my aura like slender fingers through a wolf’s pelt. I kneel before her on the physical plane, and she rests one hand on my head.

            “Be sure you obey your new master, my pup.” The facetiousness in her rich voice makes her aura ripple.

            “It shall be as you command, My Lord Beastmaster.” I am every bit as amused as she is, and my aura unbinds before her touch in a show of adoration and vulnerability much like a wolf baring its neck to the Alpha. Through her seed, she can taste my unconditional loyalty.

            It is not coincidence that my name is so similar to hers.

            A pity for Lord Hellmaster that he never realized the implications of this.

            *******************************************************

            Lord Hellmaster did not give me specific directions for interacting with Lina. He prefers to simply command arrogantly and leave it up to his minions’ discretion to find a way to obey. He tells himself that such petty concerns are beneath him, but the reality is that he lacks the creativity for such planning – and if his plots crumble, it’s a convenient excuse to blame the minion. Thus, I have carte blanche with Lina and her little friends. Lord Hellmaster considers them no better than Pawns, but it’s been so long since he had decent minions of his own that he’s forgotten what it’s like to have them. To him, any lesser creature is a Pawn. My Lord Beastmaster, on the other hand, makes a point of evaluating everyone and everything and using them to the best possible advantage. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of both your enemies and your allies takes you halfway to being able to manipulate them perfectly; careful planning is the other half, and I drift along behind Queen and her Pawns for a while to consider my options.

            The chimera is searching for Claire Bible manuscripts, hoping to be able to undo Rezo’s spell. His single-mindedness in plowing straight for his goal will make him easier to manipulate; he shall be a Rook for My Lord Beastmaster’s side of the board. Lina is following and helping out of friendship, but also because she wishes the power of the Claire Bible for herself. What an excellent mazoku she would make! Gourry follows her like a lost puppy. He is a strange dichotomy of blinding obliviousness and startling insight, making him a more difficult target. Combined with the Sword of Light, he’s more a Knight than a Pawn. Very well, a Knight for the Queen. That just leaves the white-magic princess, whose impulsiveness and inability to plan relegate her to Pawn status.

            As a test, I bind my aura to the extent I would around normal humans, and move through the Astral Plane to within arm’s reach of each of the group in turn. Amelia shudders slightly and looks into the corners of the inn, but sees nothing and dismisses the sensation. Gourry and the chimera are oblivious; surprising on Zelgadis’s part, but it looks like his distaste for all things associated with Rezo is keeping him from honing his astral senses. Granted, those are dull to begin with due to the part of him that’s rock golem, but being partially mazoku would make up for it if he ever embraced that side of himself. When I come within arm’s reach of Lina’s aura, she stiffens slightly and casually sketches a warding diagram in a puddle of spilled ale. Slowly, I bind my aura tighter by minute degrees until she relaxes again, no longer able to feel my presence. This, then, is how tight I’ll have to keep my aura if I don’t want Lina to guess at my true nature. I retire to a comfortable corner of the Astral Plane to plan.

            Now then, how shall I proceed?  The plans we have for Miss Inverse require an exacting attention to detail and the utmost skill of manipulation. I won't be able to pull this off by watching from the sidelines, as I have been; the time has come for her to meet me face to assumed face. She’s clever enough to see through a simple deception, as well as being paranoid and wary enough to look for the smallest crack in the act at the first hint of suspicious activity. She’s also greedy and power-hungry, and these blind her somewhat for brief periods of time. If she figures out she’s being manipulated, she’ll do her best to shatter the plans of the one manipulating her. She detests being manipulated as much as the threat of danger to innocents, and she’s smart enough to know that any mazoku interested in her is trying to use her. I lay these facts out like pieces of a puzzle, and look at the empty spaces between them. If we are to protect the Queen and guide her to the back row to take out one or both of the other two Kings without turning her against My Lord Beastmaster, I will have to tread carefully indeed.

            First, she must not know that I am a mazoku, and she mustn’t find out until after I have established myself. There must be no threats to her or her friends – in fact, best to be as nonthreatening as possible. We want her to eventually trust that I won’t harm her or her friends. Ideally, we went her to eventually trust me, but that’s not happening. We’d settle for her not fighting us when we . . . urge her along certain paths, and this will require a significant level of helpfulness as well as demonstrations that our goals and hers coincide. Finally, if I employ several layers of deception, I should be able to use her suspicious nature as a shield. Keep her busy reacting to the blatantly shady things I do, and she won’t notice if I slip slightly. In fact, if she believes me to not be mazoku, she’ll be looking for cracks that aren’t there, leading to a truth that doesn’t exist. She won’t notice the clues pointing to my true nature if I overwhelm her with red herrings. Still, best to take precautions.

            Well, no time like the present to get started, right? Our Queen is currently in the middle of enjoying a small rampage through a bandit gang’s den, with the other three running up to investigate the chaos. Guiltily, she admits she was looking for information about the Claire Bible, praising bandits as a source of information as well as stolen goods.

            “My, my! That was a fine deduction.” All eyes are drawn to me where I perch on a tall bit of rubble, wearing my usual form. After all, we want Lina to be able to recognize me when I pop up again. “I’m quite impressed! I should have expected no less from the famous bandit-killer Lina Inverse.” An admiring look to hide the smugness as I stroke her ego, and I leap down from my perch. Lina nearly falls over backwards as I land directly in front of her, and I smoothly take her hands in an adoring gesture that saves her physical balance but knocks her mental balance off. My eyes are carefully glamoured to look human, and they bore deeply into her eyes from kissing distance. “So, it was worth my while to secretly follow you all.” First layer of deception: act really suspicious. “I have a reason – I, too, am looking for the Claire Bible.” Second layer of deception: a phony cover story. “If you don’t mind, I was wondering if you might retrieve a manuscript of it from a gang of bandits I’ve been following . . . ?” Stroke the ego, awaken the greed.

            The chimera is interested, as I knew he would be. Lina’s debating, weighing the possibility of treasure versus my dubious nature.

            “Hey, you.” Lina’s using her ‘you’re not fooling me, now tell me the truth’ voice. “Who are you?”

            “Ah, don’t worry, I’m not a stalker,” I answer in a tone half-smug and half-creepy. “I’m the Trickster Priest, Danas.” Third layer of deception: a rather uncommon title of mine, and a name that will make her think of Lord Cold Mountain, the Mazoku Lord Dynast. Lina knows the names of all the Dark Lords and their Priests and Generals - if I’d used my true name, she would know who I am in a heartbeat. This way, if she suspects my nature, she’ll think I’m one of Lord Cold Mountain’s minions.

            “Danas . . .” She chews the name thoughtfully, taking the misdirecting bait.

            Amelia complains of the cold; we adjourn to a shack left unharmed by the devastation Lina brought upon the rest of the bandit lair. I sit cheerfully in one corner while they hold a whispered discussion about me in the opposite corner, staring at the fire while eavesdropping through my anchor in Lina’s aura. When they reach the point of stagnant debate – I seem friendly, but they don’t know if they can trust me – I blur out of their awareness and slip over to them, appearing in the middle of their huddle and startling them horribly. I spin a pretty tale for them about a temple who watched over the Clair Bible, and throw in a touch of shame and soiled honor to bring out their compasionate natures Sounding wistful and helpless just sweetens the pot; helping others is all well and good, but helping others because they grovel before your might and beg you - that's something few can resist. Wait for it, let them take the bait and decide to help me, then...

            "So, telling you a story like that will make you believe me?" It's true what they say about first impressions. Despite my inherently suspicious actions, deep down they now believe that I need them - that I'm weaker than they are. Gourry is the first to recover.

            "Did you just make all of that up, just now?"

            "Look, Danas, we're serious! Quit fooling around!" Lina dismisses everything in her anger.

            "I don't mean to fool around with anyone." Except that I do. "That IS the truth, basically." Well, yes, if we're talking about the dragonkin who have been watching the Clair Bible... "And I really do need you all to help me with this." ...if I'm going to be able to manipulate you properly.

            "Well, then, what's the reason?" Lina asks, jaded.

            It's a beautiful thing that even someone who dismisses the first tale as a lie generally won't question the second, if they think the liar didn't expect to get caught in his first lie. I let the moment stretch out, the anticipation building deliciously, then-

            "That's a secret."

            I've got them, now. They don't know my reasons, and that makes me interesting. It makes me potentially dangerous. And with these four, anything interesting and potentially dangerous is irresistible. They question my motives; they question my trustworthiness. They don't believe a word I'm saying. They'll do it. Or, at least, Lina and her Knight and Pawn will. The chimera, predictably, storms out. He'll come back later; I've got him hooked more firmly than he'd believe.

            Lina takes charge of the plot to raid the bandit's den, and I let her. Why not? She's doing exactly what I want. Her plan works flawlessly, right up until it runs against my plan. After all, we can't actually let her get her hands on a Clair Bible manuscript just yet. The fight with the bandits puts everything into motion - the chimera is drawn in like a stone moth to a fireball, the head of the bandits unintentionally leads Lina right to the manuscript, and I get the opportunity to sow even more confusion. In any other situation, having been manipulated like that would rouse her wrath and end any chance of working with her. However, I dangle the manuscript before her like a carrot on a stick and establish precedence for allowing herself to be maneuvered by me as long as it furthers her own goals - which this does, very neatly. That's not to say that she's not upset - it wouldn't be Lina if she weren't - but behind the temper, she's secretly admiring my cunning. I know what I'm doing, and she knows it. Her accusation of me using them as pawns is close enough to the truth to be amusing.

            "Pawns? I suppose so. To fool your enemies, you must first be able to fool your friends." There- throw the f-word around, establish that I trust her, and she reflexively trusts me just a little bit. Baby steps...

            I can't resist giving her an indirect kiss, just to see her aura flare.

            Zelgadis makes his expected entrance at the most opportune time, snatching the manuscript and distracting Lina. I slip into the Astral Plane to follow him - if I don't establish dominance now, I'll have him fruitlessly struggling against me until he gets it through that thick head of his that he can't beat me. That, and I feel like showing off. I don't so much run at him as I fly through the Astral Plane, my usual form trailing me as a sort of echo or shadow into the physical realm. The manuscript is plucked neatly from his hand, and when he turns to look for me, I'm in a window a good sixty feet above him. The Flare Arrow he throws at me does nothing, of course, but he's too distrustful to mention it to anyone else. He's already established that he doesn't trust me, and he's tried to distance himself from Lina and the others. He won't sway their opinions no matter what he says, so he'll say nothing.

            About this time, Lina manages to catch up and tries briefly to hold me to my agreement. The chimera cuts her off, attempting to blow me up. It doesn't even touch me on the Astral Plane, although I allow the pages to drift down where he can collect them - only to incinerate them just as he starts to read. My truthful assertion that this wasn't the information he wants doesn't placate him at all, of course. True to his nature, he thinks I'm lying. I make my mysterious exit, promising them another 'job' when we meet again. Lina asks for the second time what I'm really after, and for the second time, she's told it's a secret.

            You know, I'm always telling the truth when I use that phrase - but no matter how much they demand the truth from me, no one's ever glad to hear it.

            *******************************************************

            I leave my little friends to their own devices for a few days, trailing them from a distance. Lord Hellmaster is bound to demand a progress report soon, so I deliver one to him personally before he becomes impatient. No news isn't always good news to Lord Hellmaster. However, throwing around phrases like 'still unaware of my presence' in relation to both Lina and the Chaos Dragon makes an absence of development sound like an ongoing victory, and Lord Hellmaster is pleased. Close to the end of my report, I sense the faint taint of a strange mazoku around Lina, and I wrap up with a vaguely helpless-sounding explanation of not wanting to leave Lina unguarded. Lord Hellmaster sends me back to protect his investment, unaware of what might be mazoku interference.

            As soon as I'm out of Lord Hellmaster's sight, I let the anchor in Lina's substance pull me to her. She's dodging a fireball - not very much of a challenge to her, but her opponent doesn't even flinch as her Flare Arrow strikes him dead-on. Something's very wrong, here, and it doesn't take much to find it. Binding my aura tightly, I slip unnoticed through the escalating battle and examine the human's astral form. It's not easy to see, with dangerous spells flying left and right - I didn't know the chimera could cast a Gaav Flare - but I can see the seed of mazoku substance planted firmly within him. A quick glance around the room, and there he is, in the corner: Saygram.

            Oh, this is not going to be fun. Guiding the Queen to where we want her without her knowing is going to be tricky enough; doing it under Lord Hellmaster's nose without him guessing is going to be even trickier. The last thing we need is the Chaos Dragon jumping into the game, but the second-to-last thing we need is some random mazoku and his pet human mucking with our chessboard. I don't fear for Lina - she can take care of herself - but I don't need her get suspicious about mazku right now, especially mazoku being interested in her. We need her to find and destroy the Pledge stone quickly, and we need to do it without Saygram giving my identity away. The question is, does Lina  know what she needs to do?

            The Pledged human winds up encased in a shamanistic ice spell, but even at Lina's strength, that will only hold him for a short time. Saygram had been keeping his aura tightly bound, but now he starts unbinding and reaches slowly for Lina. Ah, if only he'd kept out of it...now he'll have to die.

            I enter the physical plane just behind our little friends and prepare to give them the answer to the problem, only to have Lina upstage me with the answer. Saygram isn't fooled by my assumed name; he knows my usual form. Unfortunately, Lina manages to see him fade wholly into the Astral Plane. With any luck, I can keep her guessing and she won't come to the right conclusion. After all, I've just presented them with more evidence that I'm rather helpless - I can't even offer them something they didn't already know. Too bad the luck isn't good; at the end of her little summary, she points out that Saygram is scared of me. The melting ice of the Van Rail distracts everyone; Zelgadis demands that I not vanish on them, but does not take the time to obtain my promise before rushing off to engage in organized destruction with the others. His loss. I wander around the mansion while they play with the immortal human, keeping tabs on them via Lina. Why, by the Ruby Eye, does he have giant slugs in his basement?

            Saygram gives me no time to ponder; he abducts Queen and Knight for a dinner invitation. As much as his proposition makes my substance boil, I keep quiet. This is invaluable information: how will Lina react to the idea of working so intimately with a mazoku?

            With a rejection, a Flow Break, and a quick retreat. I should have guessed. Such style!

            And such good luck; she runs right into why the human Halcyform has been dabbling in things he ought not to. It's a sad story - if you ignore the horrible thing he was doing that caused her death - and a noble cause, but still undeniably evil. I'm curious to see if it would actually work, but My Lord Beastmaster points out silently that if we let Lina's friends die, she'll be a lot more uncooperative.