Here we go. The first half of the second episode of Slayers PERSIST. Again, I 
just want to thank those of you that took the time to write back to me; means 
a lot. ^_^ This one's dedicated to all of you. Hope you like it. I haven't 
even reviewed this one myself, so there's bound to be more than a few 
corrections just waiting to be made. Ah yes, and because not all of it will 
fit in this here letter... I'll select the main stuff (read: non-Zel stuff), 
and if you guys want, I can post those two sections of the 'fic to the board 
later. ^_~ Or you can visit the website when I get it all together.

...I'm talking to much. I'm sorry. Once again, arigatou gozaimasu.

-------

        Lina rubbed at the side of her face, staring down the hillside at the 
unending field that unfurled majestically below them. The 
meadow held a kind of peaceful serenity to it; the way the breeze blew over 
the tops of the blades of grass made a soothing song of 
melodic harmony with one's spirit. It held you in sway, while in the faint 
distance, if you looked ever so carefully, you could see the 
faint outline of the city of Seiruun... proclaiming its holiness to be within 
only a day or two's traveling through this luscious field of 
happiness.
        "God damn, that's a long way to walk."
        "Ano, I kind of think it'll be fun," Gourry commented. "Look at how 
pretty everything is."
        "I'm looking," Lina replied rakishly. "And I'm not seeing anything 
that looks even remotely like a path. How the hell did we get 
so far off the main road?"
        Gourry pointed to Raleic, blissfully ignorant of the terrible fate he 
may have just passed on to the not so humble postal worker.
        "Oh yeah," Lina grumbled. "The idiot who left her carriage behind."
        "You are the one that destroyed that village," Raleic reminded. "We 
didn't have time to go back and catch the driver or the mob 
would have been all over us."
        "Mmf." Lina didn't feel the need to reply any further than that, and 
gestured outward across the plains. "All I know is, if I have to 
walk through that thigh high grass for two days, Amelia had better have a 
damn good reason for summoning us."
        "It wouldn't be thigh high if you weren't so short," Gourry said, and 
was saved an inevitable death by strangling when Raleic 
haumphed loudly.
        "You are not one to question the royal summons on Seiruun, you 
flat-chested little brat."
        Time slowed. Lina's head swiveled around.
        "Ex...cuse me?"
        Raleic shrugged and cast a quick Ray Wing on herself. "I'll scout 
ahead and make sure there's nothing you three won't be able 
to handle."
        "Like HELL you're leaving!" Lina was ready for blood.
        Gourry managed to grab his partner by the wrist and hold her back as 
Raleic flew off in a smug flapping of her cloak. "Oi, Lina! 
Calm down!"
        A fist found its way to Gourry's jaw, knocking him a few feet 
backwards in an awkward somersault.
        "Well, it is her time of the month," Halgon supplied in a failed 
attempt to console the fallen swordsman (but a very successful 
attempt at getting his own jaw smashed). His body sunk to the ground beside 
the swordsman's.
        "Idiot men," Lina sniffed, and started her way down the hillside.

        Raleic zipped lackadaisically over the countryside, cloak blowing out 
behind her dramatically, which felt right at home to her. 
Drama was her forte. Raleic Deontri was all about drama.
        An undisclosed distance up ahead there was a building poking out from 
behind a small hill. Assuming there was a small town 
or burg in that direction, she made straight for it--there was certainly no 
reason to go back and tell that pissy Lina about it until she'd 
checked it out. There could easily be marauding bugmen in that town, and 
where would those other three be if she didn't pop in and 
clean them out first?
        It was with these self delusional thoughts that Raleic landed on top 
of the little hill and looked down to see that same building... 
and to see that it was completely alone save for a bunching of comically 
wide-eyed sheep along its plains. Raleic breathed a sigh of 
disappointment.
        She was about to take back to the air when the idea that these might 
be young children changed into sheep by an evil witch hit 
her, and she strode purposefully down the hill.
        The sheep looked up with grass filled mouths at that the woman with 
the general look all woolly creatures have when looking at 
a person; that is, one of mild disinterest tinged with a fear she might 
suddenly break stride and run at them with a giant pair of 
sheers. The worst she ended up doing, thankfully, is rapping her knuckles 
against the door at the base of the hill. The sheep went 
back to their grazing with eased hearts.
        The door to the little house creaked open on hinges that had never 
known the great suppressant that is grease, and a small 
man with smooth white hair peered out at her. When he made no attempt to 
initiate conversation, Raleic began for him.
        "What have you done with these children, witch?"
        The old man blinked at her. "Come again?"
        "Your innocence will not save you from the justice of Raleic Deontri! 
Now tell me the truth, you most vile of evil men!"
        "Ano." The old man took his glasses off, and went over them with the 
hem of his shirt. "I'm sorry, I guess I've been losing my 
hearing in my old age; it sounded like you called me a witch." He popped his 
glasses back on his head, smiled a charming smile, 
and offered a wizened old hand for her to shake. "My name is Albreus."
        Raleic blinked down at it, then resumed her suspiciousness. "So what 
are you doing out here all by yourself, Ojiisan?"
        "I'm a shepherd, of course. Oh, but where are my manners? Come in, 
sit down! I can't believe I'm been letting you stand out 
there all by yourself."
        Again, Raleic blinked. This guy was damn good at denying his evil 
deeds. "Now look here! You can't buy the Mistress Deontri 
with offers of sitting in a worn out little hovel..."
        "Oh, yes, and I have some soup on its way. Do come try some, my wife 
makes the absolute best in the country."
        She took a minute, watching his retreating form, and tried to process 
whether or not he was a child eating witch or a nice little 
old shepherd with a wife who was quite good with the cookware.
        Well, she figured, there's no point in being heroic on an empty 
stomach. She went inside, not knowing that as she did so, a 
figure of dark malice and intent was watching her do so through slit eyes and 
a hooded grin.

        "Linaaaa," Gourry whined, "I'm hungry!"
        "So am I," Lina grumbled, tossing him The Look over her shoulder. "So 
is Halgon! But we can't freaking eat until we find Raleic, 
can we?"
        "Actually, I'm not all that..." Halgon trailed off when he was made 
another recipient of The Look and made a practice out of 
trotting along submissively.
        "I can't believe we can't find her," Lina growled. "It's been two 
hours since she took off!"
        "Maybe she ran into trouble." Gourry took the moment to look intense, 
and Lina clubbed him over the head with a branch of 
bamboo.
        "She's probably left us here," she continued, folding her arms. 
"While she travels on to Seiruun, we're left wandering about an 
open plain with nothing in sight."
        "Oh, look. There's a building over there." Halgon prodded the air 
before him with a finger. "And a lot of sheep."
        Lina shook her head frantically, and glanced mildly over in that 
direction. "Yeah, okay. Maybe we can get something to eat from 
them, at the least."
        "It doesn't look like they have much," Gourry observed, running an 
eye over the state of natural decrepidity of the little house.
        "They'll probably have lamb chops, at least." The thought of mood did 
a bit to distract Lina from her menstruational pains, and 
she marched off toward that building with a gait that commanded a sort of 
Dear-L-sama-she's-crazy respect.
        Halgon sighed, rifling a hand through his head of thick, plain hair. 
"Is she always this bad?"
        Gourry took a moment to get the answer to that one. "Only when she 
doesn't have anything to do," he answered finally, 
glancing at the stockier man with his usual bright demeanor. "If it's her 
time of the month and we're saving the world or something, 
she has other people to take her anger out on."
        "Oi, oi! Are you two going to keep lagging back all day?" Lina called 
from up ahead, perky as ever.
        "And when there's food. Food pacifies her." Gourry smiled.
        Halgon, although by no definitions a fire-powder scientist, was 
momentarily given pause by hearing the word "pacifies" come 
from this particular man. And being so mentally involved, he missed the first 
of the sheep and went tumbling over it, landing face-first 
in a pile of mud. When he pulled himself back to his feet, he was subjected 
to a sight that really, no one's ever quite prepared for.
        A man stood before them, holding in his hand the classic staff of the 
shepherd profession, and his robes were the pale gray 
color preferred by shepherds of all regions. What made it odd, though, was 
the fact that this particular shepherd's hood cast his face 
in dark shadow, and that the eyes that peered forth from those shadows were 
slitted, slanted, and ominous. That, and the fact he 
was flying.
        "N...Nani?" Lina stammered, halting abruptly in her stride as she 
caught sight of this apparition. Gourry reflexively put his hand 
on the hilt of his sword, ready in case this shepherd decided to get 
medieval. (An odd choice of words, but that's Gourry for you.)
        Halgon gained his feet too, but his battle reflexes were slower than 
Gourry's, so his self-defense plan currently consisted of little 
more than staring like a dullard. Then he felt a sheep prod against his 
backside, jumped clear into the air, and drew his ax. The man 
in the shepherd outfit continued to watch them with those same hooded, 
slitted, evil eyes.
        Lina became aware of the light sound of a creaking door swinging 
open, and glanced in the direction of the house to see Raleic 
and two little old folks peering out into the daylight. Before she could 
throw the nearest sheep at her unwilling companion, however, 
Lina was interrupted by the sudden squawking of the two old folks. They 
scurried off the house's crickety porch and flailed their arms 
at the Evil Shepherd Man.
        "Branhof!" the old man shouted, who is as we know, named Albreus. "I 
thought we told you these sheep were not for sale!"
        "You have no rights here!" supplied the old woman, who is named Rosa.
        "Ano?" Raleic asked, holding a bowl of soup and following them 
outside. "Oh, Lina. You should try this, is wonderful."
        "Shut up!" Lina screamed, forgetting the flying guy and the old 
couple. "What's the idea, leaving us out here like this?"
        "Oh, gomen," Raleic cooed, "but this soup was so good I couldn't 
bring myself to leave."
        "Lina," Gourry said lightly, nudging her concentration away from the 
postal worker and towards the old couple, who obviously 
had more plot significance. She gave in and watched, being the smart young 
girl she is.
        "I have more than enough rights here," the flying shepherd responded, 
waving an arm out towards the grassy sheep-filled 
meadow. "I've spoken to the owner of this countryside, in fact."
        "You haven't!" Albreus shouted up. "He's not been accepting visitors 
for years!"
        "He has granted me this deed," the one dubbed Branhof announced, 
producing a sheet of parchment. "I, Branhof, am entitled to 
this land as befits my status as the Best Shepherd In The Land!"
        Lina face-faulted. "All dramatic build up for a feud between 
sheep-herders?"
        "I sympathize with them," Halgon murmured, and Lina did another 
face-fault. "How would you like it if someone came saying he 
was the real owner of your sheep?"
        Lina took a second to consider any circumstances during which she 
would somehow come into the ownership of such a 
useless thing, then shook her head. "That's not the point. We don't have time 
for this. We need to eat and get to Seiruun as soon as 
possible."
        "You liar!" Rosa was screaming. "The owner wouldn't have betrayed us 
that way!"
        "He merely looked after the interests of his own," Branhof 
admonished, raising a finger. "But I'm not a merciless man. If you can 
pay me the rent by this time, two days from now, I'll allow you to keep your 
herd."
        "Bastard!" Albreus fumed, but Branhof had disappeared.
        "Whoah," Lina mumbled. "That shepherd really knows his magic."
        "Yeah," Gourry agreed. "Pretty impressive stuff. You don't even know 
teleportation, do you, Lina?"
        She bapped him over the head. "That's not even in the standard 
categories of magic! Only a really powerful mage could use 
something like that." She paused to collect her thoughts, and scratched her 
head. "But why would anyone that good want to herd 
sheep?"
        "Sheep herding is an ancient and time-honored occupation, young 
lady!" Albreus had rounded up on her, now, as he had been 
suddenly robbed of his original anger outlet. "We shepherds have nobly kept 
warm wool clothing coming and coming for you 
ungrateful youngsters!"
        "Oya, oya, Ojiisan." Raleic put a hand to his shoulder, sipping the 
rest of the soup out of her bowl. "Lina didn't mean any harm. 
She's just naturally pissy."
        "Hmph," Albreus responded.
        "Do excuse my husband." Rosa hurried to polish off the bad first 
impressions. "He's just upset. Sheep are his life, you know."
        "Ano... yeah." Lina tried her damnedest to keep from cracking a smile.
        "But where are we going to find a whole month's rent in the next two 
days?" Albreus groaned, and suddenly a piece of 
parchment fluttered into his hands.
        Everyone blinked a minute.
        Albreus took that minute to refocus his eyes (you know how hard that 
is on for old people), and gave a shout of something like 
amazement. "This, this! It's the will of L-sama!"
        "What is it?" Rosa cried, coming to read over his shoulder. Gourry 
and Halgon joined her, while Lina was busy extracting her 
cape from the mouth of a farsighted lamb.
        "An expedition not far from here," the old man said, smiling 
brightly. "They're paying more than the price of two months' rent for 
any volunteers!"
        "But we can't go to work trying to find treasure like that," Rosa 
sighed, turning away with defeat.
        "No, but they can." Albreus's eyes glinted dangerously on Lina 
Inverse.
        "Oh, no, we can't," Lina said, shaking her head and turning quickly 
away to give the impression she was about to walk off. 
"We're not about to waste our time on something like that."
        "Ano, but Lina," Gourry said. "They need our help."
        "I agree with the flat imp," Raleic was forced to admit. "We must 
return to Seiruun. Princess Amelia is expecting us."
        "To hell with that," Lina growled. "I'm hungry!"
        "You can, of course," Albreus said, "keep the sum of money we don't 
need."
        "And we have a carriage you could use to take yourselves to Seiruun, 
if you need." Rosemary smiled with the gentle good 
grace of all sweet old ladies.
        "And we'd be happy to feed you before you go," Albreus added.
        Gourry scratched his cheek. "Well, Lina? That seems pretty generous 
to me."
        "Hai, hai. We'll do it." She couldn't quite repress a smile.
        "Wonderful!" the elderly couple cheered. "Wonderful!"
        "Oya, oya," Lina chuckled, waving a hand. "Don't make such a fuss 
about it."
        "See, Lina-san?" Gourry beamed. "You really can be a kind person when 
you want."
        "And what," she returned with a scathing look, "is that supposed to 
mean?"
       There certainly would have been more to this exchange of dialogue had 
the charming old folks not taken them by the hand and 
led them into their little house for soup and ouka.

        The interior of the place had the nice, homey feel that permeate all 
elderly couple's houses, with nice pretty trinkets from 
across the countryside propped up on tables and interesting tapestries 
hanging on the walls. Sunshine flowed uninhibited through the 
drapeless window to cast a cheerful glow on all those gathered. The soup was 
delicious and the ouka was hot, making it one of the 
more enjoyable little havens any of them could remember in recent memory.
        It was not, Lina reflected, an appropriate place to be relating such 
a dark story.
        "Branhof arrived two days ago," Albreus was saying, eyeing them all 
over the soft steam that issued from his bowl of soup. "He 
came to us with a mountain of Orihalcon and tried to buy our flock."
        "A mountain of Orihalcon?" Lina repeated. "For some stupid sheep?!"
        "We would never let someone try to bribe us away from our duty to our 
woolly brethren!" Albreus asserted, pounding a fist onto 
the table. "That would be like selling our souls!"
        "Now, dear," Rosa calmed. "You have to remember these are outsiders. 
Where did you say you were from?"
        "Zefielia," Lina said, slurping down a spoonful of soup.
        "See?" Rosa said flatly, as if that explained it all.
        "Ah, you're right. I'm sorry." Albreus mopped sweat from his 
forehead. "It's just that we here in Shepherd Country take our 
shepherding very seriously."
        "I can imagine."
        "Regardless!" Albreus called out, to get everyone's attention back on 
him. "Regardless, we sent him and his evil Orihalcon 
away, but it looks like he's returned." He shook his head and sighed. "I 
don't know how he got that deed, but the owner would never 
sell us out like that."
        "Yeah, okay. What I'm wondering about, though, is this." Lina pointed 
to the sheet of parchment that had fallen into Albreus's 
hands with such perfect timing.
        "What about it? Looks pretty straightforward to me." That was Gourry, 
who was leaning over to get a good look at it. 
"'Expedition led by Varince Daryl into the Caves of Chaos for an unknown 
magical artifact. Three hundred rubies to all who volunteer, 
plus any treasure you find.' Ne?"
        Lina snatched it from him and began looking it over herself. "But 
what the hell is this guy trying to find that he's willing to give up 
all others treasures for? That must be one hell of a magical artifact."
        "Well, we can't turn out a chance for quicker transportation back to 
Seiruun," Raleic chimed in.
        "And you've never been able to pass up a chance at some extra money, 
either," Gourry told her, in case by some lapse in 
memory she'd forget and thereby refuse the whole deal.
        "Hai, hai," she breathed. "Well, according to the map scribbled on 
here, we'll have to hurry to make it before the set out."
        "Arigatou, Lina Inverse," Albreus praised, clasping her hands within 
his own. "Arigatou gozaimasu!"
        "Jeez," Lina groaned, snatching her hands back. "Can you lend us that 
carriage of yours to take us here?"
        "Of course," Rosa said. "Hold on, it's in the shed on the side of the 
house."
        As she waddled out, Gourry mused, "That's funny, I didn't see any 
shed."
        "Some people keep theirs underground," Lina explained. "But only when 
there's something really dangerous in there. I guess 
these old guys are just weird."
        "You're so judgmental, little girl," Raleic admonished. "I found them 
to be extremely sweet and inviting. In fact, I felt their 
company was much more rewarding than yours!"
        "Well, what can you expect from someone who thinks she can take over 
the world from her position as royal postal worker?" 
Lina issued with a flat tone as she, too, went out the door, and immediately 
screamed at the top of her lungs.
        "It seems she finally realized how powerful I am," Raleic gloated, 
thrusting her chest forward. "She may be slow, but at least 
she respects power when she figures it out."
        Gourry and Halgon were already outside by this point, however, and 
missed that last paragraph of dialogue due to their surprise 
at seeing an eight foot long dragon latched onto the front of a typical horse 
carriage.
        "Na-nani?!" Gourry shouted, drawing his sword. "What the hell is 
that?!"
        "This is Danna-chan, our baby dragon." Rosa beamed, stroking a hand 
along the thing's silver neck. Danna looked over at 
them, bared its fangs, and gave a rough little scream.
        "Wow," Raleic said, popping her head out of the door. "That's a 
pretty impressive horse."
        "That thing looks like it wants to eat us," Halgon complained, 
rubbing his hands together nervously. "I don't trust things that are 
always hungry."
        "Except you, he means," Gourry hastened to amend, and was swatted 
across the face with a fist for his efforts.
        "I've handled dragons before," Lina said, glancing back over her 
shoulder. "It won't be a problem."
        "But you were the one that screamed!"
        "Yeah, well, I didn't expect to see something like this around a 
bunch of sheep!" If there was one thing Lina hated, it was having 
her moments of weakness vocalized.
        "Very understandable," Rosa said with a wrinkly smile. "Albreus keeps 
telling me how odd it is to keep her around, but I just 
couldn't stand to abandon her..."
        "That's why I love you, sweetheart," Albreus announced as he followed 
them outside. "Your kindness towards all those less 
fortunate."
        "Oh, how sweet," Raleic cooed with her fists bunched under her chin 
and her eyes wide and filled with unshed tears of romantic 
envy. "This just shows that there is no statute of limitations on true love!"
        "How much less fortunate could anyone get from a sheep-herder?" Lina 
grumbled, her reaction substantially different from her 
comrade-by-necessity, as she climbed up onto the carriage. "You guys ready?"
        As the other three scrambled up behind her and the team of them rode 
off at the brutally fast speed of baby dragons on a 
mission, the elder man turned to his wife and clasped her hands.
        "If they can pull this off," he said with his usual smile, wrinkled 
but charming, "we might still have some land for our children to 
inherit."
       "L-sama bless them," Rosa replied, without knowing that she could not 
have cast a more tragic curse on their would-be saviors.
------

~Zach