Breaking News
Zelgadis sipped his coffee and stared out the door,
waiting for Amelia and Lina to walk through the door.
He thought back to the scene from the previous day and
worried a little more.
Upon entering town they had quickly discovered a
large gathering of people around a particular wall. A
number of the crowd appeared to be bandits and other
ne'erdowells. Intrigued, Zelgadis had approached
cautiously to see what the excitement was about.
"Ha, look at that," somebody laughed.
"Do you think we can believe it?"
"Either its true and banditry is safe again or its
a hoax and we're no better off than before."
"Yeah, life should get easier without the bandit
killer to stomp us into the ground." That caught
Zelgadis's ear, he heard somebody stop behind him and
turned to see Gourry standing there.
"I don't like the way they're talking about Lina."
The swordsman commented. Zelgadis moved forward a few
feet and looked at the paper tacked to the wall that
was causing such a fuss.
"Lina Inverse has lost her magic."
"Damn it," Zelgadis muttered as he worked his way
out of the crowd. "Somebody is playing with Lina
again."
"Should we go back to find Amelia and Lina?" Gourry
asked.
"How would we find them?" Zelgadis asked. "We'll
meet them as we planned and work from there."
Zelgadis watched the growing light outside and
continued waiting. Amelia hadn't said at what time in
the morning the girls would get there, just that they
would be there in the morning.
Amelia yawned and stretched, she'd had the last
watch of the night, and now it was time to gather the
camp together and leave for town. Zelgadis and Gourry
would be waiting for them.
"Come on, Miss Lina," Amelia said, yawning. "We
have to get going." She kicked the bedroll lightly and
frowned. "Miss Lina?" Amelia sat down to more
thoroughly shake the...ex-sorceress. Her first attempt
proved that whatever was in the bedroll, wasn't Lina.
Amelia opened the roll and found a collection of
leaves and twigs.
It didn't take much more looking for Amelia to
discover that the rest of Lina's gear had been taken,
including the manacles and their key. Pinned to
Amelia's bag was a short note.
"Zel's right I shouldn't travel with you, don't
tell them anything, I'd rather they think I just lost
my power than let them know this. - Lina." Amelia
sighed and realized that Lina was probably hours gone
by now.
"I didn't act very tolerant last night," Amelia
thought to herself. "I'd better go meet Zelgadis. Lina
knows how to take care of herself." She scanned about
the campsite one more time before packing up and
heading for the next town.
"There was a woman selling lake dragon cuisine here
two days ago, do you know where I can find her?" Lina
asked the shop-owner in front of her. He squinted at
her, but with the hood of her new cloak up, couldn't
recognize the sorceress that had caused so much havoc
on the day Lina mentioned. The armor and weaponry also
helped conceal the sorceress's identity.
"Yeah, an obvious fraud," he answered. Lina tried
to avoid growling in irritation. "Left after she got
one customer, some sorceress with an attitude."
"Do you know where she went?"
"Yeah, I think she had a room in that inn over
there," the shopkeeper pointed across the street.
"Quite a shame, good cook going by her product,
shouldn't have to defraud people."
"Thanks," Lina said reluctantly. She looked up to
the sky and saw that it wasn't yet afternoon, she had
plenty of time. The transformation back to completely
human form hadn't been much less painful than the
transformation to a fox girl. She was trying to figure
out why the first night went by without her noticing
it still. This line of thought ended as she approached
the innkeeper.
"Someone selling food across the street?" the
innkeeper repeated. "Oh yeah, I remember her, that
crazy green-haired girl with the weird laugh. Lina's
eyes narrowed.
"Where can I find her?"
"She left town yesterday I think," the innkeeper
answered. "She said something about needing to pass
some news along. Something about the bandit killer
losing all her power." Lina restrained herself from
attacking the man and left the building.
"Martina, of course its Martina," Lina muttered.
"Amelia?" Zelgadis addressed her as she entered the
Dragon Ball Inn. "Where's Lina?"
"She left on her own last night, I don't think she
wanted to be a burden to us," Amelia didn't like to
lie, but it wasn't her secret to let out.
"What is wrong with her Amelia?" Zelgadis asked.
"I've decided that it is some kind of curse, the fact
that someone is running around telling everybody that
Lina has lost her bagic proves that." Amelia had seen
the signs and crowds, and didn't like the look of
them. Lina could be in quite a bit of trouble.
"You'll have to ask her when you next see her,"
Amelia told him. "Where's Gourry?"
"He's still asleep. You think we will see her
again?"
"I hope so," Amelia admitted. "I'd like to
apologize, I don't think I treated her well last
night. Our behaviour might have something to do with
why she left."
"Perhaps I was a bit callous," Zelgadis admitted.
"Where is this next cure anyway?" Zelgadis rolled
his eyes at her.
"I want to talk to a certain hermit that lives
north of here," Zelgadis answered. "He apparently
knows something about beating ones own curses."
Xellos rubbed his head and grumbled a little
underneath the smile. That woman got to him far too
easily. Why the world did he put up with that when it
didn't involve something his master had asked him to
do. Too make matters worse, as far as he was
concerned, he was actually now considering how to get
back into the dragon maid's good graces. Or at least
as close as he could get to being in her good graces.
Xellos's planning stopped when he saw the poster.
"Lina Inverse has lost her magic." The mazoku's
eyes widened and he glared at the sign angrily.
"That is an ugly rumor," he muttered. "Usually I
like ugly rumors, but I'd prefer they weren't about my
friends." The purple haired mazoku appeared in front
of the gathered men and women and glared at them.
"Would someone mind telling me who put this up?"
Xellos's smooth voice ran chills down the spines of
the gathered citizens and bandits. "Well?"
"It was some green-haired girl, strange laugh" one
of them told him, frightened. Xellos teleported away
and frowned.
"That Martina girl again," Xellos snapped. He was
angry, and not all because of the situation he
imagined Lina to be in. He wasn't about to admit it,
but he was looking to get back a little at Filia. Let
her be ignored for a couple of days and then
consider...what...consider that he seemed to accept
things from her that would get other people killed.
No, this was nothing to do with his personal affairs.
This was him going off to help a friend pure and
simple. Now he had to find Lina and the others.
=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
Signed
He of Too Many Names (Thrythlind/Thryth/Luke/Hyperbole/Pika/Pooka)
http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send online invitations with Yahoo! Invites.
http://invites.yahoo.com