And, last but not least.
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: EpTwo3.txt
Slayers Persist Episode Two: "Secrets of Twilight. Memories of Past
Mazoku."
By Zach Grafton, 1999.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was nothing particularly surprising about the inside of the
mountain's cavern, but because details are important when appearing in new
and strange places, we'll take the time to describe them a bit anyhow.
It was mainly stifling. Not only the closeness of the walls but a
feeling of being pressed upon by some otherworldly power (or a lot of
humidity) gave Lina a slightly claustrophobic feel. This compounded with
her already established bad mood and made the going very difficult for
Gourry.
"Watch it!" she snapped, running into his back.
"Ano?" Gourry looked at her. "You're the one that walked into m--
Itai!"
"Lina, put down that stalagmite! The noise you're making might cave
this whole place in on us!"
And so on.
Also present, although not quite as painful for our shaggy blond
headed swordsman, was a creepy feeling of being watched. This affected
Raleic more than anyone else, to the extent that she huddled herself tight
into her cloak and refused to show anyone the radiant righteousness of her
godly persona.
The little hallway they were following slanted upwards from time to
time, as if it were trying to nudge them just a bit higher to correct some
slight miscalculation concerning where it had allowed them to enter. That
thought gave the place a personified feel, which quite thoroughly creeped
Halgon out.
From a more observant perspective, Varince thought the walls were
awfully smooth for such a long abandoned place, but wasn't able to think
much about it due to his continued role as mediator between Lina and her
hapless sidekick.
"You two really need to stop fighting," he was heard to say about
twelve times before Lina finally conceded, folded her arms and trudged
along in moping silence. That was an odd mood to see her in, but Gourry was
the only one who knew her well enough to notice.
Eventually their narrow cave became even narrower and tilted
steeply upwards, and they were forced to travel single file and at such a
steep angle everyone soon pretty much forgot all about everything that
didn't directly concern trying to catch their breath and not fall behind
the person in front of them enough to stumble into the person behind them.
Lina mopped sweat off her brow, shaking her head. "This is one
steep passageway," she grunted.
"Yeah," Gourry said from behind her. "Whose fault is it that we're
here, anyway?"
"It's not like I beat you with sticks," Varince answered, from
behind him.
"But maybe if you could advertise better," rasped Halgon, next in
line, "we wouldn't be doing all this work ourselves!"
"Yeah," Raleic agreed, bringing up the rear. "And I was the one who
killed the shepherd, why do I have to follow you idiots around?"
"Oi, oi," Lina tossed over her shoulder, shaking her head. "Shut
up, you're not making this any easier."
A short silence followed, and Lina gave a soft chuckle. "For once
I'm the calm one, ne Gourry?"
The blonde grunted a little to indicate he was not in much of a
"people" mood.
Jer rapped a fist rapped against the doorway. "Ah, hello?"
He waited a moment, and finally his daughter�s pretty face was
poking out between the crack of the door and frame. "Hello, Otou-sama."
"I�ve got those documents for Zelgadiss-kun," he said, holding up a
thick folder. "Ah, am I allowed in?"
Selena shook her head and slid her thin body out onto the street.
She took care to close the door behind her. "No. Zelgadiss-san is
sleeping."
"San, eh?" Jer�s careworn face lifted into a grin. "So what do you
want to do with these?"
"We can look at them ourselves," she offered. "But not in there.
Zel-kun has been having bad dreams lately. I think he�s finally resting
well."
A loud, gut-wrending scream sent Selena pitching slightly forward.
"You were saying?" Jer asked mildly, pushing the door open and
moving inside.
Zelgadiss was sitting up in bed, his arms tight about himself. His
mouth was open, his eyes were wide, sweat trickled down his face and matted
up his spiky hair.
"Zel-san!" Selena cried, rushing toward him. She placed a hand
against his cheek, and another on his shoulder. He didn�t bat an eye.
"Zel!" she cried again, and this time Jer grabbed the chimera by
the chin and jerked his face towards them and issues a healthy smack
against the side of his face. Finally he seemed to come out of it, although
the two of them had no idea what "it" was.
"Zel...?" Selena asked timidly. "Are you alright?"
"Ha..." he wheezed, then jerked his head away from the mayor's hand
as his senses came back to him. "Hai."
"What happened?" Jer asked, pulling a chair over to the bedside and
sitting in it.
Zel turned his face to the wall, shaking his head. "Nothing."
"Zel-san..." Selena said, softly.
"A nightmare," he informed stiffly, and pushed himself out of bed.
Selena retracted her fingers, which had remained on his cheek. She
bobbed her head slightly and stood. "Are you going to be all right?"
"It was just a nightmare," he repeated, and strode to the table.
Sulkily, he dropped himself into a chair.
Jer dragged his own perch over. "Well, it�s just as good that
you�re awake. I�ve got the documents here."
"Let�s have a look at them." Zel, the sultan of playing it cool,
was already brushing his spiky mane back to its original position.
Selena forced herself to look as unworried as possible and slunk
into a seat beside her father. The father in question produced a sharp
looking manilla folder, almost as thick as one would expect a detailed
account of Seiruun�s history to be long and boring, and with a foreboding,
circular sticker on the cover. The tab had "History of the Founding Family"
sketched on it in red ink. The sticker was blue, and sported the visage of
a skull with a forked tongue and snake-like eyes, the words "Do not open
this folder, anyone!" written around it in dripping red letters. This
sticker was repeated on a slightly more oval-ish surface which was stuck to
the lips of the folder to prevent anyone from opening it, a surefire to
keep the documents safe unless the would-be readers did not have access to
such technological weapons known as butter knives and pencils.
Jer was, luckily, skilled in the art of sticker breaking. He placed
one finger beneath it, gave a good tug, and the lips were held together no
more.
He took a deep breath, as if he was about to delve into the Abyss,
or some other freakyass place, and swung open the front cover of the
folder.
Selena gasped, and grabbed onto her father�s sleeve. He, too, was
shocked, the telltale sign of this being that his eyes actually opened and
the straw in his mouth fell to a lifeless standstill on the tabletop.
"No way," he breathed, and Selena edged closer to him, both pairs
of eyes transfixed on what they saw.
"Nani?" Zel asked, calmly getting to his feet and leaning over the
table to get a better look at whatever it was which so captured them. "What
is it?"
"It�s..." Jer shook his head, closing his eyes again.
"What?" Zel repeated.
"...construction bills." Jer cast his face away.
Zel almost toppled. "Can�t you shift through that?"
"Wow, how did our forefathers pay for all this?"
"Where did it all go, that�s what I want to know. I can�t believe
all this stuff was lost over the years."
"Perhaps the elven community helped pay for it," Selena said,
reflecting. "As a sign of good faith for watching over their Golem King."
"That still doesn�t tell me where all this stuff went," Jer said,
fumbling through some papers full of numbers and figures and other
mathematical things generally ignored in this era of magic.
"Hold a moment," Zel said, glancing over the elder's shoulder. His
eyes scanned the parchment, past the equations and the whatnot, narrowing
intensely as he read.
"What is it, Zel-san?" Selena asked, trying to follow his gaze, but
finding it too rapidly changing.
"All this. It seems..."
"Hai?"
He looked up, at the two of them. "You say you have no idea what
all this was used to build? All this stone, mortar..." He gestured to the
long list of materials, not deeming it needed to be finished orally.
"I�ve got no idea," Jer said with a shrug. He resumed flipping
through the pages as he talked. "Maybe this document got switched with
another city�s somehow."
Zelgadiss shook his head. "I don�t think it did."
"Look at all this," Jer said, tossing a few pages of the bill aside
to reveal something entirely different. Zel looked closely, an eyebrow
cocked.
"Construction plans? Blueprints?"
"Yeah, looks that way." Jer glanced over at his daughter, as could
be seen by the way his head shifted a small small fraction. "Selena-chan,
could you get me some sake?"
"Hai," she agreed, and made her way out.
Jer watched her go. Zel didn�t look up. He had grabbed the folder
and was now busily looking through the blueprints himself. He had the
expression someone might expect to see on a man who�d just realized that
the most obvious solution to the most obvious puzzle had been right under
his thumb for the past year.
"Well?" the cannon-haired mayor asked.
Zel looked up calmly, tossing the folder back to old man.
Apparently he�d seen enough.
"Any ideas?" Jer pressed, catching the folder rather deftly for a
guy who never opened his eyes. "Did you figure out who are founding fathers
were, so early?"
He shook his head, and resumed a seat. He shrugged. "No. But now it
really doesn�t matter."
"Why is that?" Jer asked, sticking the straw back into his mouth
again. He had no idea what was going on, but wanted to act like he did.
"It�s unimportant who built this," Zel said. He calmly spun the
papers around for all, namely Jer Dyne, to see. "The only thing that
matters is that it�s there now."
"What is it?" the older of them asked, looking over the pale white
outlines against the dark blue background.
"An underground magic laboratory," Zel said, characteristically
with no flourish.
"And is that good?" Jer perked a brow.
"For me..." Zel smiled. "Maybe."
"Three doors," Lina observed. "Too bad Shilfiel isn't here."
"Since when did you ever want her around?" Gourry asked, a bit
reproachfully to Lina's thinking.
"She's handy in situations like this," she said.
"She's too clingy," Gourry grumbled, with a light sniff.
"Hey, now." Lina poked his side. "That's cuz she likes you."
"Are we going to split up or what?" Halgon grumped, folding his
arms. "I'm tired of standing around like a useless widget."
"That's not far from the truth," Varince scoffed.
"Oh, and like you were a big help defeating the shepherd?"
When it looked like words were about to turn to blows, Lina
interceded. "Okay, okay. Varince, Raleic, you two go down the right. Gourry
and Halgon can take the center. I'll go left." She paused, glanced at them
with a grimace. "And try not to fight."
"Like you're one to talk," one of them muttered as they split into
their suggested teams and wandered off.
"I believe in you guys!" she called after them, and headed down the
third hallway, oblivious to the sudden altering of all their personalities.
The only thing Lina was currently aware of was how light-headed and perky
she felt, and how those menstrual pains seemed a million light years away.
She almost felt like skipping, but didn't on the basis that there wasn't
very much light down here, and she'd probably fracture a leg joint or
something if she did. Meanwhile, the other two teams were getting crankier
by the second, every footfall taking them one step closer to thinking that
maybe Armageddon wouldn't be too bad an idea after all.
Gourry and Halgon stopped making any progress when they began
arguing whether axes or swords make better attacking weapons, and Raleic
and Varince were no better, an innocent conversation about color-assignment
somehow deteriorating into a giant argument concerning the political
branches of the Sorcerer's Guild. Raleic was adamant that more sorcerers be
allowed to aspire to the highest rank of "God of Magic," while Varince
persisted to point out that there was no "God of Magic" rank... and outside
of the color assignments, no ranks at all. Raleic from there demanded that
ranks be installed to weed out the lesser mages wandering around, to which
Varince quipped something concerning her cloak and a pack of goats. The
debate didn't get any more sophisticated from there on.
So Lina trotted along as the sole progress-maker in her dissembled
entourage. Luckily the tunnel was by this point evening out, allowing her
to plod along it with much less difficulty and cover better ground.
Interesting thoughts concerning frogs capering about a pond were flitting
through her mind when she slammed into something in front of her and fell
onto her back.
"Nani?" she grunted, sitting up. Peering ahead, she could make out
a big wall of absolutely nothing blocking her way.
Extending a finger, she tapped it against where she'd hit and met
with resistance. Not able to kept down, she bounced perkily onto her feet
and knocked on the solid nothing. "Moshi moshi? Can I get through,
perhaps?" She put on her most pleasant little smile.
There was a moment where nothing seemed to happen. This was because
nothing was happening in that moment, and not because the moment happened
to be a skilled impressionist.
"You've been able to withstand your inner demons thus far," intoned
a soft voice, and there came the sound of rocks being slid to one side.
"You may continue on your path to find the Legend of the Lord of
Nightmares."
It took Lina a moment to orient herself as the scenery in front of
her changed, as if they big wall of nothing were rolling away and revealing
a hidden room behind it. This room, as it were, was actually a vast, round
little cavern, complete with what looked like mechanical little
contraptions that brought back images of the monorail she'd ridden (and
destroyed) with her old gang on their way to the Golden Dragon sanctuary.
As she stood there, she realized the wall of thin air was closing itself in
front of her, and she gave a quick hop inside.
As soon as her feet touched the floor, that lightheadedness
evaporated and left her with a sudden powerful feeling that she'd been
acting like a huge idiot, and so she proceeded to smack herself in the
forehead. With a lead pipe.
"I hate it when I let my guard down," she growled, shaking her
head. "But I guess that explains the whole Let's-Be-Pissed-Off game the
other four were playing. Must have affected me different somehow."
One of the closer devices jittered, lights flashed around it in a
funny-type dance. Lina paused, staring at it. Something about it was
pricking at the base of her memory, jabbing at her brain with little pins
and shouting "See that thing over there? Remember it!"
She gave her head a groggy shake to clear it of memory-prickers and
started over for the device. When she got closer, the recognition she saw
in it wasn't anything profound, mainly because she had already made the
connection to the monorail. Standing in front of her was a basic jumbling
of the same kind of... what was it? Technology. The same kind of technology
that she'd seen during her adventures away from the mainland in the voyage
to stop Valgarv and his lackeys Jiras and Grabos. She shook her head again.
The whole thing gave her a bad feeling, though, in a way that was
completely unrelated to the entire season of TRY. Damned if she could
figure out why that was, though.
"State your name," the machine requested, and jittered again.
"Ano. Lina Inverse." She was too surprised to say anything else.
More jittering.
"State your purpose."
She paused, looked around the room again. There didn't seem to be
any other little devices functional, so she might as well stick to it.
After all, you never quite knew what these hi-tech things were going to do.
"Trying to find the Gem of Twilight," she told it, making sure to
enunciate as clearly as possible.
"Gem of Twilight," the machine repeated. "Please hold."
Frowning, Lina waited through three/fourths of "More Than Words"
before the device came back online.
"Found items matching the Gem of Twilight. Please choose."
Wow, Lina thought. For an artifact powerful enough to manipulate
worlds, the security here is pretty slack.
Suddenly another device to the left came to life, looking kind of
like a birdbath without the crowds of flapping wings. Above it appeared a
list as if someone were holding an invisible parchment before her. Had Lina
been born into her counterpart Canal's universe, she would have recognized
it as a hologram.
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to see any of this stuff again," she
grumbled to herself, eyes skimming down the options.
Location of Gem, was one.
Legend of Gem, was another.
Log of past seekers, was a third.
And the fourth, which halted her breath inside her throat, Message to
Phibrizo.
"Phibrizo," she whispered before she could continue down the list, and
instantly said list was gone. In its place was a face looking at her
balefully, its texture obscured a bit as if it was peering up from a haze
of rippling water. The image was still for a moment before kickstarting to
life.
"Phibrizo-sama!" the person said, and she saw with a start that it
was the face of a comely young man with blonde hair, and despite his
apparent allegiance, there was nothing about him that would have indicated
the slightest hints of anything evil. "Phibrizo-sama," the young man
repeated, "the Gorun Nova has proved insufficient to obtain her power. I
don't feel Febriza and I will be able to make it from here alive. I suppose
we'll have to atone for this sacrilege." His eyes cast themselves downward
for a moment, and came back up with a look of ferocity. "But we think it an
honor to die for such a sake. Ralshart and Raltark have attempted to
dislodge our faith in you while we were down here, playing on our minds
through this place's magical instabilities, but to no avail, of course. We
know you'll return to find us, and know that you'll learn from our mistakes
and take hold of the Gorun Nova yourself."
A sudden rumbling shook the screen of the hologram, and the face of
the young man was hidden behind another screen of those violent ripples,
and this time a high-pitched whining, grating sound drowned out anything he
might have been trying to say. When the picture and sound came back into
focus, Lina could see something had happened to him. There was a large gash
across his forehead, and where blood should have been flowing was the black
chaotic substance that was lifeflow to the Mazoku. "--Febriza and I have
faith--" he repeated, his eyes seeming to shine in the ripples that
threatened to swallow his image--and he himself, Lina thought for some wild
reason. "And continue where we left off."
The image flickered, fizzled, and cut out a second after Lina
caught a glimpse of the chaotic blood on the youth's forehead extend and
overflow over his body, and for the briefest moment she could have sworn it
was closing over him like a fist. Then he was gone, and the only companion
Lina had then was the silence of the cavern and her own shaky breath. Then
the device's voice cut through the silence.
"Message delivered, after one thousand twelve years. Will be
erased, unless otherwise instructed."
It was not otherwise instructed, and so there was a sound like silk
rubbing against itself, and the machine confirmed, "Message erased."
Lina stood a moment, reflecting. Febriza and I, he had said. Mazoku
General and Priest to the Hellmaster himself.
And the little bastard hadn't even bothered to visit their place of
death. The place they'd traveled to do his own work in his own name, and
died for it. She clenched her hands, and allowed the darkness of the room
to settle upon her.
"Look," Gourry said, pointing a finger. "If you get in a fight with
a Blue Demon, a sword is a much more efficient weapon. Those things are
quick."
"Or so you hear," Halgon snapped. "I bet you've never even seen
one!"
"Maybe not," Gourry admitted, "but what were you doing last year? I
was out saving the world from Dark Star."
"Yeah, more like you let that partner of yours made you carry her
luggage while she did all the work!" the other sneered.
"A lot of good an ax did your god daughter, anyway!" Gourry shot
back, gritting his teeth in a manner that was very, very un-Gourry.
"Like you'd be able to make it into a high-ranking branch!" Varince
shouted, walking around a corner.
"At least I was able to kill a manic shepherd!"
"Yeah, with help from that dwarf guy!"
Halgon forgot about Gourry, and turned on the mage. "Where did you
guys come from? And who's a dwarf?"
"I guess these passages connect or something," Varince said. "And
you're a dwarf, you little no-magic muscle-bound--"
There came a jittering from beside them. They all cut off in their
brashness and turned to it.
"Password."
"Password?" Gourry asked, scratching his head. "For what?"
"For the Gem, obviously!" Varince said, patting his chest with a
fist.
"So do you have the password?" Raleic hissed. "On your map or
something?"
"No, but how hard could it be to guess?" Varince scoffed. "Okay,
magic voice! Password: Sea of Chaos."
A series of boops and jitters squeaked along.
"See?" the political member of the party said with a proud little
smile. "I didn't get to be Head of the Sorcerer's Guild for nothing."
The ground beneath them opened up and gave way.
"Lina Inverse."
Softly. "Hai?"
"Do you wish another transaction?"
She was silent another moment, and turned to give the machine a
deadly stare. "Give me the Gem of Twilight."
"You are not yet strong enough for an artifact of such power," the
machine responded dispassionately.
"Screw that!" Lina shouted. "What the hell kind of power do I need?
You already killed two Mazoku!"
"How ironic," the machine responded, and Lina started at hearing it
speak to her directly. "To find pity in one's deadliest enemies."
"I never fought that guy," Lina said, but her protest was weak and
uncertain.
"The Legacy of Twilight," the machine continued as if it hadn't heard,
"is one of the Legends of the Lord of Nightmares. Its power comes not from
the staff that holds up the world, but from the Sea of Chaos itself. Is the
chaos inside of you stilled enough to handle such an item, Lina Inverse?"
Struck silent, she simply stared at the the thing and its little
circular lights.
"And are you any different than what killed those two?" it asked then,
and she felt shivers run up her spine. There was just something about the
way it posed this question that she wanted more than anything to back away
from it, to not have to hear what she somehow knew was coming next.
"You, Lina Inverse," it went on, relentless, "who derives her power
directly from the Mazoku Lord she fights to defeat. Who calls on the powers
of evil and darkness in the name of betterment for the world. Do you truly
think such hypocrisy can be used to wield the Legacyof Twilight? Or any of
the Legends of the Lord of Nightmares?"
"But," Lina protested, her hands clenched into tight fists. "But I
do it for the good of the--"
"Of the world," the machine finished, and somehow she thought she
heard a note of mocking amusement in its monotone voice. "But this is not a
question of the ends. This is not a question of the means. This is a
question of yourself, Lina Inverse."
And with that, all light and sound left the room, and she was hit
with the sickening realization that she was falling.
"Errrm." Gourry sat up, rubbing the side of his head. "Where are
we?"
"Back at the foot of the mountain, it looks like," Halgon murmured,
rubbing sleep from his eyes. "What happened? I don't remember anything
after we went in there."
"Me neither," Varince grimaced. "Oi, and where's Lina?"
"Right here," announced a voice, and they looked up to see the
great Miss Inverse standing with her hands on her hips, smiling that soft,
cocky smile.
"Lina!" Gourry said, popping to his feet. "What happened in there?"
She chuckled, and patted him on the shoulder. "I don't remember,
either, Gourry. It's probably best you guys don't worry about it."
"And I suppose we didn't get that gem thing, did we?" Raleic
grumbled.
"That's alright," Varince said with a shrug. "I should have brought
this before the Sorcerer's Guild anyway. Going at it by myself was an idiot
idea."
"Bringing it up with those guys would be any even dumber idea,"
Lina advised. "I suggest you continue to keep the whole thing forgotten,
politic-boy."
"Forget something that valuable?" He chuckled, turning. "Right.
Maybe in some other lifetime."
Lina sighed, but didn't argue. She really didn't feel like she had
much strength left to argue.
"Leaving already?" Gourry asked, blinking.
"Hai," he replied with a shrug. "I've got to get back to Atlas
City. There's a lot of work to be done."
A pause.
"Oh, and Lina. It was nice to meet you in person."
"I'll bet it was," she responded dryly, turning to see he had
already begun walking off.
"Well," Gourry announced, smiling, "that was sure an adventure, ne?
We fought a shepherd and had our memories erased!"
"Wait," Halgon said suddenly, eyes wide. "What about Albreus-san
and Rosa-san? We didn't get their money! They won't be able to pay their
rent!"
"Oh, that won't be a problem," said a mysteriously hooded figure
behind them.
Lina swiveled around. "Branhof!" he cried, gritting her teeth. "Why
won't you leave us alone?!"
"Do I have to kill you again, Shepherd-san?" Raleic said with her
flagrant grin.
"No, no, nothing like that," Branhof said, and removed his head.
Everyone stared.
"You see, I never really wanted to fight in the first place," he
said, his voice suddenly much more attractive and Ishida Akira-ish
sounding.
"Xelloss!" Lina screamed, jumping on him and twisting him into a
headlock. "You IDIOT!"
"Itaii, Lina-san!" he managed between throat-crushings. "I had a
very good reason for all this, if you'll hear me out!"
"So talk!" she snapped, not removing her arms.
"She's angry," Halgon said, with a soft whistle.
"Hai," Gourry agreed. "Xelloss does that to her a lot."
"It's very important that you'd gone in there, Lina." He twisted a
little in her grasp, but alas, found no escape. "I would have sent you
sooner, but I had to wait until this time of the month."
"Nani?" Lina growled.
"The extreme magical properties in there affect people's
dispositions," he explained. "You were already in such a bad mood that it
reversed that, and made you---ITAII!"
"So what the hell is with all this shepherd idiocy?" she screamed.
"Couldn't you have just told us to go there like a normal person?"
"But that wouldn't have been any fun at all!"
Lina sighed, and removed her grip on him. "And why'd you want me to
see those things, Xel?"
"That," he replied, "is a secret."
"Yeah," Lina said with a nod, "but what I'm about to do to you
isn't."
He sweatdropped and hastily disappeared.
"Baka Mazoku," she grumbled.
"Lina?"
"Hai, Gourry?"
"Was there something in there we missed?" Gourry asked, unusually
perceptive. "What kind of things did he want you to see?"
She looked at him and smiled. "Nothing worth dwelling over. Come
on, let's go to Seiruun."
"About time!" Raleic approved, hopping into their dragon-equipped
carriage. "My Princess awaits!"
Danna groaned a little, a little put out for having been neglected
for the past night. Halgon patted her muzzle and climbed up as well.
"You know, Lina," Gourry said, offering a smile. "There are some
things you shouldn't dwell over on your own. Ne?"
Lina blinked, stared at him.
"I mean," he continued, "if you need to say something, you should
say it to me. I won't tune out like I usually do."
"You usually tune out?" Lina asked, opting for the easy way out of
this awkwardly intimate moment.
"N-no! Not at all! I'm always listening to your stories!" He waved
his hands around as if doing so would prove his claim.
"Just for that, you get to drive the carriage," she said, tossing
him Danna's reins and popping into the back. "And make sure she doesn't hit
any rocks, I'm going to try for some sleep back here."
"Lina, that's cold," Raleic admonished.
"No, it's not a problem," Gourry said, happy-go-lucky as you
please. "That's how she shows her appreciation, ne, Lina?"
"Sure," Lina said, giving a shrug. "Now hurry it up, we need to
reach Seiruun by nightfall."
"Hai!" he answered, and gave the reins a snap. Danna took to flight
across the rolling prairie, and Gourry made good on his instructions not to
allow anything to disrupt his partner's nap.
Had he known what dreams were plaguing that nap, however, he would
not have been half so obedient.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Many characters are copyright of Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, Kadokawa
Shoten, TV TOKYO, SOFTX, and Marubeni. Story by Zach Grafton.