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ideouts are, by tradition, foreboding places. Either they're built at the top of the Peak of Despair in the Cave of Gloom, or maybe they're buried in a radiation-shielded lead bunker underneath the desert, or at the very least in a wooden shack at the top of a tree with a sign like 'KEEP OUT - NO GIRLS ALLOWED!!!'. The hideout Lina picked for the gang to settle in and figure out Step One in their grand quest was, however, not foreboding at all. It was in fact an inn, restaurant and tavern in a small town on the outskirts of Sailoon. Not nearly as impressive as the Happy Traveler Inn, nor did they have shoe polishing and sword sharpening facilities while-u-wait, but it did have what Lina felt to be the most important strategic element in war council planning sessions.
Food.
"Keep it coming! Oh, and bring more slaw!" Lina suggested / demanded of the waitress, who had just brought out another seven plates of steak and butter sandwiches.
"Um, Lina-san, shouldn't we be out looking for the Legendary Lost Lore Tome of Silver Mirror Magic now?" Amelia asked, poking at her salad with a fork nervously.
"Thaff th' Leffendary Lofft Tomay of Murrur Lurr," Lina said, around a mouthful of beef that would choke a giraffe. She chewed it a few more times, and swallowed, the food landing in her stomach with a resounding plop. "And not yet. We still need to eat up and grow strong for the journey!"
"Oh! Planning and logistics!" Amelia read into that. "Okay, I see! That's really a good idea, Lina-san!"
"Pass the salt," Lina agreed.
Not one to ignore a good meal, Gourry was also busy chowing down. Although his stack of empty dishes was only 87% as tall as Lina's, it still reached high enough to make the waitress sweat and remember that she had to handle any broken plates. After polishing off another leg of lamb, he asked a question which at first appears to be kind of stupid, but will be cleared up momentarily. "What's my name again?"
"Zeke," Lina replied.
"Right, right.. and you're.. Beatrice?"
"Betty! BETTY! Beatrice sounds like some doddering old grandmother," Lina pouted.
"Do you think it's in the principles of justice to assume a false name to avoid trouble?" Amelia asked.
"Think of it as... undercover police work," Lina rationalized, tearing some cooked flesh off a leg of chicken. "MPpmhpmh. (gulp) Basically, if we don't take fake names, folks are going to know where we are. I think we can shake any maniacs from the Con who want to head us off at the pass and find the Tome of Mirror Lore if we keep a low profile for awhile."
"Oi, I'm confused," Gourry said, stating the obvious. "Why do we have to hide again?"
Lina sighed, and set down her fork reluctantly. "It's like this, Gourry. Me, you, and Amelia--"
"That's not good grammar," Amelia interrupted.
"--are all on this royal expedition," Lina continued regardless, launching into monologue. "There's a book, lost in time, which contains the spells of a form of magic involving mirrors that haven't been practiced in almost forever. We're trying to pick up clues, find the book, and repair the mirror I, um, broke in Sailoon so that I don't get my neck stretched. And I for one wouldn't mind knowing the spells anyway, considering how valuable they are -- but so would a lot of other magicians. And since you stupidly said you knew where the book was in front of all of them, we're probably going to be hunted down by any slightly off-kilter sorcerers who might want a piece of that book as well. So, while we load up on supplies, rest, food, fine drinks, entertainment, and various consumer goods here we'll work under assumed names so nobody knows where we are, and we'll start our investigation."
"I see," Gourry nodded.
"So, you got all that?"
"No. Could you start over from 'It's like this'?"
*THUD*
"Lina, why are you on the floor?" Gourry asked.
Grumbling, Lina peeled herself off the ground. "Look, Gourry, just... smile, and nod your head. Okay?"
Gourry smiled and nodded his head.
"Thaaaat's better," Lina smiled, nodding her head.
"So, when do we start looking?" Amelia asked, burbling over with enthusiasm. "Gourry, ne, you know where the book is, right?"
The blond haired swordsman stopped nodding his head and smiling. "Hai. It was on a little card, saying to go to 'Silver Lake' if the mirror broke."
"You're sure that's what it said, right?" Lina asked. "Your memory does rival an insect's sometimes, Gourry."
"Why, thanks, Lina!" Gourry grinned, assuming that to be a compliment. "Yeah, that's it. Silver Lake. I made a little rhyme so I could remember it : 'When the mirror breaks / and we have to leave / don't run around / go to Silver Lake to do what you have to do.'"
"Uh... that doesn't rhyme," Amelia pointed out. "Well, I guess 'breaks' and 'lake' kinda rhyme, but the meter is off between lines and it's really not that poetic at all..."
"It isn't?" Gourry asked, surprised. He looked up a bit, concentrating. "'When the mirror... uh... silver...' Well.. I know it's Silver Lake. Absolutely positively sure that's probably it. Possibly."
"We're doomed," Lina moped over her fried clams. "Okay... plan of action. We've got.. sort of a name. I'd say we should go to a magic shop and see if they know."
"Why a magic shop?" Gourry asked.
"Well, duh! It's a magic lake owned by a magic person. Must be some legendary legend about it," Lina pointed out. "Any magic shop owner worth his salt would know a few legends."
"I was actually thinking of the mapmaker's guild," Gourry said. "I mean, lakes are on maps, right? There's a guild in the town next to this which we could check at."
"But that's not In Cog Nee Toh," Amelia said, waving a no-no finger. "Why don't we sneak back into Sailoon and check with the Royal Astrologer? He's got tons of maps and knows a lot of stuff!"
"What, that moron.. whatsisname... Marvin?"
"Melvin Mallorean. He's a nice guy, even if he tends to trip over his shoes and stammer a lot," Amelia said. "And he has to eat food without salt and he tends to sweat a lot when a girl talks to him ... but he knows TONS of cool things!"
"He didn't even know the tome existed!" Lina exclaimed.
"Well.. just because he knows tons of cool things doesn't mean he knows ALL cool things, right? Right. My vote's for going back to Sailoon. When in trouble, your country and home are there to support you!"
"The mapmakers would be simpler," Gourry simply said.
"This isn't like finding a local four star resort!" Lina exclaimed. "We're looking for something no human being has ever found in the history of time!"
"A kind of food you haven't eaten?" Gourry asked, honestly curious.
"Okay. Fine! Fine! What-Ever," Lina folded, putting her hands up. "Let's do it this way. Amelia, you run along home and check with Marvin--"
"--Melvin--"
"--and Gourry, head on over to the mapmakers and see if they've ever heard of a lake that no living being has taken a dip in for hundreds of years."
"Okay!" Gourry smiled, sarcasm whooshing over his head like double-headed throwing axe.
"I, myself, will go to the magic shop in town," Lina proclaimed. "We'll all meet back here tonight. Got it?"
"What a great plan!" Amelia said. "I'm excited!"
"I'm not surprised," Lina dryly said.
Outside of town, death stalked.
A black form, in a flowing black cloak. It lied in wait. It prepared. It was patient.
It had incredibly large breasts.
Death was, to be specific, a tall sorceress with an amazing figure and a Less Is More theory of armor. Judging by her costume, which consisted of a bare minimum of black leather, big spiky shoulderpads and a cute l'il skull for a brooch, Less Is More theory calculated that she had nine foot thick titanium battleship armor plating in a figurative sense. If she was shopping for food and held up two melons, it would look like she had four. If curves were roads, these would be littered with signs like INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS and TURN BACK NOW. If long, luxurious hair was...
After the narrator ran off for a quick cold shower, Naga the White Serpent continued to stalk.
She was getting good at this stalking thing. Through the entire convention, she had stalked Lina Inverse -- well, except for the hour when she had to host the MagiCon Costume Discussion Panel. But other than that, stalk stalk stalk, like celery. Lina was a face Naga the White Serpent hadn't seen in awhile, but it was a face that hadn't changed much from the three years after they parted ways. Naga, being Lina's most powerful rival and occasional travelling companion on a number of slightly outlandish journeys, would never forget the underdeveloped little weakling.
Actually, Lina was about five times more powerful than Naga and much less annoying, but this is a fact that all weak annoying people are blind to. So we'll just let her enjoy her little fantasy.
In this fantasy, she saw Lina as HER sidekick, as Naga the great blazed a trail of glory. When they parted after Naga refused to pay her part of a room service bill, Naga assumed her faithful sidekick would return to her. After the first seven months, she began to wonder if that was the case. After a year and a half she was pretty certain that Lina was gone for good, but after THREE YEARS, here she was again!! So, she was right after all. As always.
Then she saw that Lina had taken a sidekick of her own.
She was going on interesting trips without her true rival and companion, Naga! She wanted to keep the fun to herself!
This will not do.
So, she stalked along and waited for her new sidekick to leave the inn they were staying at, and planned to annihilate him out of spite then reclaim Lina for her own road buddy. Seemed as logical a plan as any. And what's more, here he was coming, and alone! Almost too easy!
Naga, perched high in a tree for maximum 'leap out and get them' potential, watched the big blond-haired oaf lumber along the road between these two towns. When the time was dramatically right, she leapt down to get him.
"Beware, fool!!" Naga shouted. "Now, you face NAGA THE WHITE SERPENT! OOOOOHHOOOHOHOHOHOHHOOHOHthud."
The 'thud', of course, being when she slammed headfirst into the ground due to inadequate knowledge of physics and too much attention allocated to her evil laugh.
Gourry, who only registered Naga's existence when his boot bumped into her crumpled form, looked down in confusion. Strange person lying in road. Course of action pending, please wait.
After a few moments, he knelt down, and rolled Naga onto her back. Fortunately for her, she had a thick head and ample padding up front to cushion the impact, or she'd have been a Nagacake.
"Hey, are you okay, miss?" Gourry asked, his chivalry instincts kicking in. He batted her cheeks lightly to wake her.
Naga slowly roused. "ooh.. hohohoo.. hoooh... ow." She looked up at her benefactor, and jumped from the ground to her feet almost instantaneously in surprise.
"YOU!"
"Me?" Gourry asked, making sure she didn't mean some other you.
"OOOHOHOOHHOOO!!" Naga laughed, into the back of her leather glove clad hand. "So, you think you can defeat me? You're so naive, Companion of Lina Inverse's! I am not such easy prey!"
"I wasn't trying to defeat you, I thought you might be hurt," Gourry explained in small words.
"What?"
"Well, you were in the middle of the road, and--"
"OHO! Do not think you can fool me with your false sincerity!" Naga snapped. "Now, face your doom, so I may reclaim Lina as my sidekick in her journeys!"
"Oh, we're going on one of those right now," Gourry said. "Hey, do you know where Silver Lake is?"
This threw Naga momentarily. "Huh?"
"You know, it's really not safe on this road. Someone could jump down on you from those trees without you knowing," he said, indicating the evil, vindictive flora. "How about if I accompany you to the next city? I'm looking for a mapmaker so Lina can find Silver Lake."
"What's this Silver Lake thing?"
"Oh, it's got some magical comic book or something. Really legendary."
"Legendary, you say...?" Naga asked. Her overactive imagination gland was already secreting liters of Curiosity.
"Really legendary."
"And it's hard to find, is it? Probably going to be wandering the lands, defeating enemies and so on to find it?"
"Probably."
"Lina doesn't have a clue where to go, does she?"
"Well, no, that's why I--"
"OOOOHHOOHOHOHHOOHO!!!!!!" Naga laughed. Gourry's brain rattled from the treble. "Now I see the picture. Lina IS in need of me! Very well, we shall proceed to the next city and obtain this map! Follow me."
"Anooo..." Gourry started, but the strange sorceress was already on her way. Gourry shrugged, and jogged along after her.
ometimes magic shops hang out signs reading 'THISE ISE AYE MAGICK SHOPPE' and sometimes you just sort of have to infer it.
Lina had spotted the magic shop in this town easily. You usually can; in the window you'll see display items that don't quite seem to belong together. A stick with a star on the end, a pair of shoes, a couple scrolls, maybe a dagger. Odder items, like a calendar with 16 months or a glow in the dark pinwheel with handy carrying strap. This one even had a stuffed frog with six legs and a label 'GOING FAST - RESERVE ONE NOW'. It was upside down.
Any place that weird had to be a magic shop of some kind. So, Lina strolled in. The bell hanging over the door chimed soundlessly, announcing her appearance.
The elderly wizard sitting behind the counter sat up in surprise, ending a pleasant afternoon nap. His pointy hat poked at the ceiling as he nodded to Lina. "Mm, welcome. How can I, mm, help you, miss...?"
"Betty," Lina strategically lied. "Betty Davis. I'm looking for a map, or a locator or something..."
"Oh, mm, plenty of those," the man said, getting up with the creaking of protesting bones, and shuffling in bunny slippers under his robe over to a rack of maps. "Got a map to the end of the rainbow, or, mm... mmm... sort of a map thingy that says 'here be dragons'... one for a sunken treasure... what you be wanting, miss?"
"Silver Lake," Lina said, confidently. "Surely you've heard of it?"
"Oh, yes, mm. Quite legendary, that," the wizard nodded.
"Got anything to help me find it?"
"Nope, not a thing."
"Great! I'll-- what?" Lina asked.
"Just a legend, miss. I mean, mm.. everybody knows that," the wizard said, shuffling on back to his seat. "Nice place, mm. Talking mushrooms and fish and whatnot. Good fairy tale, that."
"Nothing at all?" Lina asked. "Come on, surely--"
"Not a thing, afraid."
Lina sighed. "Rats..."
"You hear about the, mm, stealings?" the wizard asked. "All the news in the magic community. Mm."
"I'm not up on the latest gossip," Lina shrugged.
"Weirdest thing, that. The Artifact Display Room at the, mm, convention all those nice young people went to. Someone looted it."
"Really?" Lina asked. "Ah... what got stolen?"
"Everything, sounds like, sounds like. All those lovely inventions. Mm. Had a man in here a week ago, going to sell some stick that threw lead balls. I figured, mm, be nice for a lovely game of marbles, but... mm.. where was I?"
"Err, balls? Stealing?" Lina hazarded.
"Stealing, yes. Funny thing. Even stole that big mirror folks were talking about," the wizard said. "I mean, it broke because that little maniac Lina Inverse shattered it--"
"Hey!"
"--but the frame, mm, they took that. Weird. Funny, that. Witness said the guy had white hair, or a white coat, or something. Mm.. mm. Yes, weird. Took the frame. That'll be five gold pieces, miss."
Lina twitched. "What? For what??"
"Gossip, of course. Going rate and all."
"I didn't ASK for it!"
"Well, I offered, you took..."
With much protest, Lina rummaged around in her bag, and dragged out five gold coins. She put them down on the counter almost hard enough to snap the ancient wood in twain. "Don't spend it all in one place, okay, pops?"
"Thankee kindely, miss," the wizard said, making the money disappear via the ancient capitalistic magical trick of putting it in a cash register.
The forest made generic foresty sounds, as Naga and Gourry strolled along. One could probably go into the splendor of nature, the way the sun shines through the leafy branches above like decanted pureness, or even go into high detail about the mossy log with an unusual knot nearby. But a forest is a forest is a forest.
"So, how long have you been Lina's flunky?" Naga plainly asked.
"Welll... I wouldn't call myself a flunky, exactly," Gourry said. "More like a guardian. Or a guard. Hmmm... what's the best word..."
"Sidekick."
"Sorta. Sorta not, though. She tends to get into a lot of trouble which I bail her out of. But I don't mind, really," Gourry added. "I get into trouble too sometimes. And Amelia gets into trouble and Zel sometimes helps us when we get in trouble, and... um. We get into a lot of trouble, basically."
"I can't believe Lina's been having this much fun for the last three years without me! She could have at least written a postcard, or something..." Naga said. "'Dear Naga, am at the Gate of Dark Star, fighting one of the evil lords, wish you were here.' It would at LEAST be polite."
"You guys did a lot of that sort of stuff before I met her, right?"
"OHOOHO! Plenty! Why, I've saved the world and so on many times, with Lina providing minimal assistance, of course," Naga pointed out. "Then one morning, we have a disagreement over the breakfast bill, and that's that."
"So what've you been doing since then?"
"Odd jobs. Random tasks. Eclectic economic opportunities," Naga synonymed. "Nothing even remotely interesting compared to the interesting times you've had."
"I wouldn't call fighting Shaburadingo and coming this close to the destruction of the world 'interesting'. More like 'harrowing.'"
"Gourry, Gourry! You're so naive! OOOOHOHOHOO!" Naga laughed. Little needles of agony went up Gourry's spine as he was forced to listen to that laugh again. "Harrowing escapes and feats of daring are what being a heroine is all about!"
"I'm not a heroine."
"Whatever. The point is, there is so much FUN STUFF on the horizon! Embrace it and enjoy! Bring it on!" Naga smiled. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Usually, after a bold statement like Naga's, the worst happens shortly after. But that's just the mentality of an Instant Gratification culture. Actually, the worst would be happening a little later on. Life doesn't always follow dramatic timekeeping schedules.
At the moment, something just sort of neutral was going on a few miles away in the kingdom of Sailoon. Amelia, being In Cog Nee To, was trying to break into her own country.
She had experienced a lot of adventures in her time, and plenty of times to expound a little justice onto the wrongdoers of the world. But now she was having a few doubts. After all, this was Sailoon; her home, her cradle of life, soon to be her papa's kingdom. Should she really be trying to climb the wall and sneak in? It didn't feel... proper. But Lina-san had been going on about How Not to be Seen, and Amelia took good notes. So here she was, zipping from bush to bush, behind rocks, and finally scaling the wall. She didn't even use magic, so as not to alarm any magicians in the area. Silent was her method; untraceable her goal.
At the top of the wall she stepped on a loose brick and fell ten feet to the ground on the other side with a resounding WHAM.
Immediately, the six guards who were on duty at the gate not a stone's throw away leapt to her aid, metal armor clanking enough to sound like a kitchen stove rolling down a mountain.
"Princess Amelia! Are you alright?!" they asked simultaneously.
A small procession ferried the injured princess through town, to the Royal Castle. 41% of the population of Sailoon saw. Within the hour, 78% knew through various channels of gossip, royal paparazzi tabloid scrolls and scribblings on bathroom walls.
Once safely away behind castle doors, Amelia had plenty of time to grump, and something new to grump about in the form of a cast on her left leg. Already it had been signed by most of the guards and kitchen staff, which served her a nice bowl of chicken soup and sympathy. Her father had even put a little doodle of himself on it stepping on evildoers.
"What an awful In Cog Nee To," she whined. "Lina-san's not going to like this."
"Silver Lake, Silver Lake..." Melvin mumbled to himself repeatedly, so he wouldn't forget it. The royal astrologer had to be waken from one of the many naps he takes to calm his nerves, and once they peeled him off the ceiling, he had come right away to Amelia with every map he could carry (3). Servants carried the rest (129). Now it was just a matter of searching them, a slow process both of them were participating in.
"I kinda was hoping you'd just, um, know," Amelia said, sifting through the pile of maps she could reach while still remaining upright on the makeshift crutches fashioned for her. "You are daddy's wiseman, after all."
"Ah. Well. Um," Melvin falsely started, pushing up his glasses. "You see, ah, there are things that are known throughout, um, all the ages, and stuff that isn't. This isn't. Um. Right. So, um, it's called Silver Lake, right?"
"Uh-huh."
Melvin went into Deep Thought for a moment. "And, um... okay. Silverquick lives there, or.. something... sooo... he probably left behind a map to get there," he stated logically. "So Sailoon could contact him. He did a lot of contract work for us. Um. So, it's just in this pile somewhere."
"Who was this Silverquick guy, anyway? He's got a cool name."
"Oh... um. One second," Melvin said, fetching the book of notes that replaced his memory a few years ago from his back pocket. He flipped through it a few times before landing on S. "Silverquick... Sorcerer, see Legendary. One of the few living people ever to practice mirror magic, originated the form and invented all relevant spells. Very secretive about the spells and only taught certain people the Lore, always authenticated his work with a hidden seal. As a craftsman, made many magical items for various countries... um... worked from 467 to 489, then sealed himself into a world he created called Silver Lake, saying that his magic was too dangerous for anyone to use again."
"Woooow!" Amelia wooed, impressed. "Cool! I bet he was incredibly powerful!"
"Um, hai," Melvin agreed. "One of the most powerful. Anybody who, uh, used the Legendary Lost Lores was. Because they were legendary. And they're, um, lost now. Right."
"So if we go to Silver Lake, wherever it is... we might meet this guy?"
"Could be. Might be interesting."
"Great! Wanna come?!"
Melvin's heart stopped beating. "Wh--wha? I c-couldn't... I mean... leave the castle and, um, go and... and.." He pounded on his chest a few times, then pulled a small bag of pills from his belt and swallowed one.
"Ano?" Amelia asked, confused.
"I'm allergic to excitement," Melvin said sheepishly. "Sorry."
"YATTA! Found it!" Amelia cheered, waving around a yellowing ancient document which probably would crumble to nothingness if Amelia kept waving it around like that. "'Directions of Silver Lake, by Silverquick, Aye Wizzard'. Looks like some sort of... ano?"
Amelia held out the map. Melvin examined it. Amelia puzzled over it.
"Is that a map?" Melvin asked. "It looks like... huh?"
"Let's get this to Lina-san!" Amelia suggested. "She'll know what to do! Come on, Melvin, let's go!"
"Bah, bah, bah--"
"We might need your reservoir of Sailoon knowledge!"
"Muh, muh, muh, m--"
"Pleeeeeeeeease?" Amelia asked, clasping her hands pleadingly and letting her eyes grow in size and shine to intolerable cuteness levels.
No living being can resist that, so... "Alright," Melvin sighed. "But I just know this is going to be disastrous. Um. Amelia?"
"Hai?"
"Why are you wearing a cast when you could, um, heal yourself with white magic?" Melvin asked.
"..." was her reply.
The Other Village, home to many fine forms of carpeting, a clock maker or two and the fifth largest mapmaker's guild in the country, was a very busy place.
It was approaching holiday season, and already orders for travelogues and maps were pouring in. The Mipross Islands, the Healthy Mud Pits of Slepnir, a guided tour of the Incredibly Hazardous Training Grounds of Juh Sen Kayo... folks wanted to know what was where and they wanted to know now. Scribes and apprentices scurried around, carrying tall stacks of maps, and every now and then a bell would ring and orders like 'One Sheaf Loose Guiding Quadrant Six Alpha, Stat!' would be barked.
Gourry watched the ebb and flow of business with the look a caveman might reserve for quantum mechanics. "How're we gonna find someone to get us a map in this mess?"
"Ah!" Naga realized, snapping her fingers. What a perfect opportunity to prove her superiority to the sidekick character! "That is a simple matter. Follow my lead."
With that, she grabbed the nearest cartographical neophyte by the shirt and jerked him off his feet. "We seek a map to Silver Lake, little man! Deliver one quite promptly, or face my wrath!" she announced.
The boy didn't pass out from fright. He passed out because Naga had raised his face right to her cleavage level and the whole of his world view suddenly was filled with ample female flesh. Blood dripped from the boy's nose as he sank into gleeful sleep.
Gourry scratched his head. "But if you knock them all out, how will we find the map?"
"Trust me. You try it next," Naga said, trying to think of a backup plan.
Nodding, Gourry selected a passing geographical otaku and grabbed him by the lapels as well. "We seek a map to Silver Lake!" he stated, trying to mimic Naga's voice. Well, not its pitch or femininity, but aggressiveness, at least.
"We don't have one!" the mapmaker said. "It's not a real place! Don't kill me, I have a wife and six kids to feed!"
"Oh," Gourry flatly said, setting the map down. "Sorry to bother you. Off you go."
Naga tapped her chin. "This could be a problem. Well! Let's just burn the place down until they cooperate! OOOHHOOHOHOHHOOHO!!"
"But they don't have a map for it!"
"They should make one rather quickly, then!"
"Psst."
"Did you just go 'psst' at me?" Naga asked.
"Nope," Gourry denied.
"Psst," pssted the voice.
Both turned, to spot someone through the open door to the guildhall.
It was a shady looking character, alright. Walking in full robes, which hid his face, he was beckoning to them with a gloved hand. "'Psst' means 'Come this way for secret purposes', you know," the figure reminded them. "Most sapient lifeforms are aware of this fact."
Naga followed, of course, seeing a lead; Gourry followed because Naga did.
The figure led them into a dark alley, where all such deals must take place. Away from the normal patterns of business, stolen sundials and various entertainment-based medicenes could be obtained. But what was under the man's cloak when he opened it to Naga and Gourry to show his wares were paper-based.
"Maps?" Gourry asked, in surprise.
"Many fine maps," the figure smiled, from the shadows under his cowl. "The likes of which you aren't to find anywhere else. Such quality, such workmanship! I have a map to the Legendary Lost Treasure of Meelee Island, if you want it. I also have a map to the End of the Rainbow, a map to the Seven Cities of Aluminum, and so on..."
"Amazing..." Naga said, eyes glossy. "Such treasures! I'll take them all!"
"Wait," Gourry said. "We're just looking for one map, a map to Silver Lake. Do you have it?"
"Ah!" the illegal map dealer smiled. "That is indeed a treasure. And I just so happen to have one left." With that, he pulled a rolled-up scroll from the depths of his cloak; although Gourry didn't spot a pocket there to pull it from. "This has been in my family for generations. It was found in an archeological dig, but I'm afraid we can't make use of it. Preexisting conditions, and all... but I'd be willing to sell it to you for a modest sum. Maybe you could get some mileage out of it."
"And the price?" Naga asked. "Money is no object for the great Naga the White Serpent!!"
"Fifty gold pieces."
"Right. Gourry! Pay the man."
"Ehhh??" Gourry asked. "But.. but that's all I have on me!"
"No excuses! We are on a quest, after all. Sacrifices must be made!" Naga smiled. "OOHOHOOHOHO!!! Pay up, now. Good boy."
Gourry sighed, and counted out the coins.
The map dealer handed them the scroll, his smile shining even from the darkness of his cloak. "An excellent buy, sir. One you'll likely not regret anytime soon. It has a money back guarantee; come see me if anything goes wrong, by all means." With that, he turned and stalked on out of the alley.
"Who are you, so we know where to get my money back?" Gourry asked.
"Ah," the man replied, pausing. "That is a secret."
s the sun started to set, Lina trudged back 'home', unsuccessful.
She decided to poke around a few other possible magic shops, having no luck at the first one. While she managed to collect a lot of interesting gossip, and broke down to buy one of those stuffed frogs with six legs that were being displayed so prominently here, she had zero leads on Silver Lake.
So, down for the count but not defeated, Lina Inverse settled into her inn room with three carts of room service to enjoy the evening with her other companions who would be equally less successful.
Except one problem. They weren't here.
That didn't immediately mean anything. They could just be less successful in more length ways, thus delaying them. It didn't exactly mean that where she, Lina Inverse, sorceress supreme had failed in recovering magical knowledge that Amelia or Gourry who wouldn't know a legendary lost lore if it bit them in the buttocks had succeeded. So, confident in that knowledge, she enjoyed a nice steak and salad when Amelia charged into the room waving a map.
"Look, look! We found it!" the younger girl cheered. "The map to Silver Lake! Ano, Lina-san, you're choking."
"Gleeeeh," Lina explained. "Pfeh! What?! You found it?"
"Un! Melvin had-- ano, he was right behind me..." Amelia said, looking here and there. She ducked back out into the hallway, and grabbed the protesting sage by a sleeve, dragging him in.
"Um, hi," Melvin greeted. "She made me come along. This isn't going to be exciting, is it?"
"Map! Gimmie!" Lina politely requested, snatching the map from them. She read over it once, twice.
Long pause.
"Amelia, this isn't a map," Lina groaned. "It looks like--"
"I know, I know. But it's yellow and crinkly! That means it's really old and authentic and stuff!"
Lina fetched a sheet of complementary parchment from the inn room desk, and poured some of the lemonade from her dinner on it. "Look! Yellow paper! And when it dries, it'll probably be crinkly. You've been had."
Melvin pushed up the lenses on his nose. "Uh, if I could...?" he said, taking the map back carefully. "There's an easy way to tell. Um. From what I read, Silverquick always puts a hidden signature in a silvery water on his work. So, if we hold it up to light..."
With that, he opened the window and the drapes, and used the setting sunlight to illuminate the paper. The last solar rays of the day gleamed through the document, highlighting a squiggly doodle that might be a signature from a doctor prescribing medication. But it was silver.
"See?" Melvin said. "It works."
"Whoa, neat!" Lina exclaimed, snatching the map back. "I wonder if this is a spell of some kind of Mirror Lore? It's really shiny. Although I don't get what the red dot is for. X marks the spot? Or rather, dot?"
Amelia pikued. "What red dot?"
"The one on the paper there..." Lina said, moving it for Amelia to examine; but the dot didn't move. When she lowered the paper, it was projected on her hand; when she lowered that, it was gone.
"Hey, you're right!" Amelia said. "There's a red dot on the map! How'd that get there?"
Ptang!
"And now there's a hole in the map where the red dot was," Amelia observed. "What a strange map. Is it magic?"
Lina looked at the hole in the paper where the dot was. She wondered why she had just felt a breeze. She turned around, and noticed a similar hole in the wall, with a tiny lead marble stuck an inch into the plaster. She drew a few quick, and ultimately life-saving conclusions.
"You know," Lina mused, "Now that I think about it, if a marble can actually be thrown fast enough to jam itself that far into the wall, it could really hurt anybody who was in the way..."
There was a long pause. Lina dove under the bed.
"Um, excuse me, but what exactly is going on?" Melvin asked before the next marble parted his hair.
Allergies in full swing, Melvin fell down and immediately broke out into hives and sneezing fits, a few more lead balls slamming into the wall behind where he was. Ptang ptang ptang ptang ptang, making a number of quite cute little deadly noises, five shots total, then silence.
Lina peeked out from her hidey hole, curiousity overwhelming self preservation.
Across the street, poised on the rooftop of a nearby doorstop factory, a cloaked figure was clumsily loading a sticklike weapon and cursing. Giving up, he dashed away,
"Amelia! There he goes!" Lina pointed out. She whipped her hands into a spellcasting poise. "RAYWING!" she burst with, light enveloping her and lifting her out the window, in flying pursuit. Amelia wasn't far behind, and the chase was on!!
Silence.
"Hello?... help?..." Melvin weakly coughed, still on the floor. "I seem to have dropped my, um, pills... Amelia? Anyone? Second time this has happened this week..."
Meanwhile, in much quieter climes, Naga and Gourry were busy trying to make sense of the map they had received.
Step one on the map made some directional sense; seek the nearest forest, and go at least twenty feet away from any man-made road. Perfectly understandable for a magical map. But the rest...
"Now now," Naga warned. "Us sorceresses--"
"Isn't Silverquick a guy?"
"--and sorcerers are a very mysterious bunch. We must follow his instructions PRECISELY!"
"I guess so..." Gourry said. "Okay. Step one. Right hand forward."
Naga extended a black leather-clad arm. "Check."
"...Left hand forward."
Both arms went out.
"Right hand on left arm," Gourry continued. "Left hand on right arm. Now, right hand on head."
Naga followed, en suite. "I can feel the magical powers gathering already! OOHOHOHOO!"
Gourry, who wasn't feeling a thing except embarrassment, read on. "Right hand on your rear... left hand on your rear... sway three times, jump to the left..."
Naga picked up the pace a little, her movements graceful, swaying in ways that would make men other than Gourry have sudden nosebleeds. "And the final step?"
"Shout 'HEY, MACARENA.'"
"HEY, MAC--" Naga sang, but was stopped in mid word by an explosion of silver light.
When Gourry dared to look again, there was a thin wisp of smoke where Naga was standing.
Okay, assess. Lina's friend Naga just vaporized after completing a very intricate magical spell. She didn't seem too bad a person in life... maybe a bit pushy and egotistical, but Gourry was used to that. He had only known her for a few hours, but it was a generally okay few hours, and...
Fortunately, the idea occurred to Gourry that Naga wasn't burned into ashes, but possibly transported somewhere. Since that made more sense to him, he decided to try the spell himself.
"HEY, MACA--"
Whammo. Magic smacked Gourry upside the head, spinning him off his feet and dropping his component atoms somewhere six million miles sideways from where he was, landing in a.. rather soft patch of flowers.
"OOOOOOOOOOHOOHOHOHOOHHOOHOHOHHOOOO!!!!" Naga laughed. "Behold, the wonder that I have found on my very own... SILVER LAKE!"
Gourry rubbed his head, and sat up...
Well, there was a lake. It didn't look like silver, which Gourry always translated with his limited knowledge of art to mean 'Gray'. It was more of a crystal blue, a solid, uniform shade of sky blue that matched... the sky. The sky itself was loaded with puffy white clouds, which Gourry could swear were smiling at him in the same way the happy dancing flowers were smiling at him. Everything was decked out in bold colors -- happy green grass, happy green trees, happy yellow flowers and a pretty, multihued rainbow.
"Wow," he said. "I wonder what the rent's like around here?"
"Perhaps if we asked?" Naga asked, gesturing to a nearby gingerbread house like a model indicating these fabulous prizes.
Gourry's hunger piped in, saying that it looked like dessert was served. Pushing that aside, he looked over the house... it seemed to be all frosting and gingerbread and candy canes. There was even chocolate spackle to plug some holes in the wall, and graham cracker shingles nailed ineffectively by a poor carpenter with vanilla nails.
"You know..." Gourry started, about to say something very profound.
"Hai?" Naga asked.
"I don't think we're in Sailoon anymore, Naga."
Night started to descend on the village, and they were running out of rooftops.
Lina was focused. Whenever danger reared its ugly head, she generally had two ways of dealing with it; mock danger relentlessly and make fun of its choice in shoes, or get serious and do something about the situation. Someone had just tried to tiddlywink her to death, and that tended to keep your mind in sharp relief.
The assailant, some figure in a white cloak, was leaping from roof to roof effectively, but without magic. Lina knew the stick thing, which was obviously stolen from the Hall of Artifacts, wasn't magic either, meaning this wasn't some rival sorcerer and likely just some stinking bandit. Lina had a Standard Operating Procedure for bandits -- charge up, throw a fireball, take the money. She started the fireball chant under her breath, gathering the magic...
Then the whitecloaked bandit turned on her, and did something weird; he raised a stick, lining it up with his eye and pointing it at Lina. Definitely a stupid bandit; Raywing had a shield component as well that could deflect some stupid --
Ptang! and something skimmed through her spell's shield, through her glove and grazed her skin. Lina's Raywing spun slightly out of control, the powers disturbed, and the cloak jumped to the road, making a break for it.
"Lina-san!!" Amelia called, finally catching up in flight. "Are you okay?"
Without responding, Lina's anger gave her a boost of speed -- she made a beeline for the figure, no spells at hand, no sword drawn, and simply let gravity and flight help her body tackle, coincidentally inventing the world's first smart missile in the process.
The two smashed together in a grunting, painful collision, the inertia rolling them both along the street. Finally, they crashed into the side of a candlesmith's shop, Lina pinning the hunter to the wall. She pulled the hood away --
A girl with white hair stared into Lina's eyes, and laughed madly.
Lina froze.
The girl, gripping her stick weapon, laughed even louder at Lina's reaction.
Then stopped laughing.
"I hate you," she said, simply, and connected her fist with Lina's jaw.
Lina, who was too surprised to do anything, flopped sideways and took a nap. The girl gathered her stick, loaded two more lead balls into it, and sank into the shadows for a clean getaway.
"OHOHOHOO!" Naga laughed, into the back of her hand, as was her wont. "The quest is complete. Let us loot that house for the Mirror Lores!"
"Shouldn't we go back and get Lina and the others?" Gourry asked. "They're going to want to know we found this place."
"Gourry, Gourry! You'll never make a name for yourself if you just waddle along after Lina Inverse," Naga smiled. "Here, follow me. We're going in!"
With that, Naga took three steps forward and stepped on a twig. It snapped.
With a deafening roar, the waters of the lake parted -- and a giant sea-dragon's head rose above the waters, glaring down at Naga and Gourry with shining blue eyes of sheer hatred. Gleaming reptilian scales adorned its neck and head, extending down into the water, and judging from the scale of things, probably for a good fifty feet beyond that.
"HOLD, THIEVES!!!" the dragon boomed. Gourry stumbled on his feet from the minor earthquake caused by the animal's voice. Naga gainaxed. "I AM THE GUARDIAN OF THE SILVER LAKE. WHAT BUSINESS HAVE YE HERE?!"
"Uh, we're looking for--" Gourry started.
"We come to pillage the secrets of this house!" Naga declared. "Ours, by right of many hours of questing and challenges met! Try to strike me down if you dare, but I warn you, I am Naga the Serpent, all-powerful and stylish sorceress!! OOOHHOOHOHOOHHOOO!"
The dragon roared in anger. "THEN MEET YOUR DOOM, KNAVES!"
Naga looked at Gourry. "Don't just stand there, boy. Go slay the dragon."
"What?!" Gourry yelped. "Why me??"
"I'm much too important to be eaten," Naga said, adjusting her hair a bit to look 1% more beautiful.
The dragon's gaping jaws opened, and clamped over Gourry, tearing up the dirt he was standing on. The great beast looked satisfied with this, chewing on his easily bought meal, then yelped in pain and spat a slightly slimy Gourry out; who had drawn his sword and begun doing things that only dentists had dreamed of in their darkest nightmares.
"Bleah!" Gourry shouted as a war cry. "That thing's got lousy breath!"
The dragon reached down and bit the blade of Gourry's sword in half.
It took a moment or two for this to register with him, but once it did, Gourry took a good look at the stubby end of his former sword. His long, hard freudian weapon neatly castrated, he wasn't quite sure what to do next.
Fortunately for the both of them, right before the dragon started to charge up it's Ice Breath (+4 against fire elementals, 50 MP), a voice called out from the house.
"KLAATU! XYZZY!"
The dragon's ears perked up, and at the sound of the words, noiselessly sank back beneath the surface of the water.
Surprised, Naga turned to look towards the house. "Is that... Silverquick?" she asked.
"Not at last check," Zelgadis almost grinned, leaning against the doorframe of the house. "I was expecting you, Gourry. How are you? Where's Lina and who's that?"
"ZEL?!" Gourry gaped. "But... but how did you..."
"Oh, there's a secret password printed on the bottom of this map I got," Zelgadis said, pulling an identical set of dancing instructions from his cloak.
"Then why didn't you help earlier...?"
"Well, I didn't want you to feel inadequate."
The night was quiet, as Amelia hauled Lina back to their inn.
When she had finally caught up, Lina was out cold, the strange assassin had gotten away, and everything was over and done with. Amelia wished she was as fast at flying as Lina; the villain got away! Justice wasn't done! But then again, usually in quests like this, justice is EVENTUALLY done and Amelia would be there to see to it.
When had caught up and saw that Lina was down, she managed to pull herself together and plan an action. She expanded her Raywing bubble to carry Lina along, and floated them back to the inn. She could probably heal Melvin's allergy for a moment, then revive Lina. It was a good plan. Lina would be proud of her for really taking the initiative. She was perking up already, realizing how great things would be once--
Except Melvin was missing.
This tossed her plan into disarray, but it wasn't a bad disarray. Being a natural optimist, Amelia decided Melvin must have run back to the castle, since he wasn't very good with excitement anyway. Probably for the best.
Step two was to revive Lina, and get on with things. Amelia, being a natural expert in white magic -- she was learning shamanism, but white was still her primary calling in life -- arranged a combination anti-sleep and healing spell, just in case Lina would need it. The effect was like six cups of really strong black coffee with a No-Doz chaser.
Lina sat bolt upright in bed. "Whoaohaa?" she asked.
"Lina-san! You're awake!" Amelia said, not really surprised, just fulfilling the need to state the obvious. "How do you feel?"
"More alert than I have in years," Lina said, eyes quite wide. "Red is very vibrant at the moment."
"Oh. I think maybe I overdid it a little... heh," Amelia giggled quietly. "Um, Melvin left."
"He what? He was having a nervous breakdown!"
"Apparently he got better."
Lina rubbed her forehead. "Whatever. He's not the journeying sort, anyway."
"How come the assassin got you?" Amelia asked. "He wasn't even a sorc--"
"She."
"She?"
"She," Lina confirmed. "She's gone now. That's that. Where's that map? It must actually be important, if we could get into that kind of a mess over it."
"Right here," Amelia said, taking the unharmed map from the floor. "Should we try it?"
"It's a bit embarrassing, but it's our only lead. Let's go for it."
"Lina-san, shouldn't we go after that--"
"We were trying to find Silver Lake, right?" Lina interrupted. "It's found. Come on."
he inside of Silverquick's house was actually quite cozy. While the outside was made entirely of candy, pastries, foodstuffs and so on,the furnishings were fine wood and brass construction. Very elegant. But the surreal bit was the sheer number of mirrors in the small one room house. Round ones, rectangular ones, ornate ones, simple ones. One was just a jagged bit of glass nailed to the wall. Each was set at a slightly different angle; no two mirrors had the same view on things. It hurt your eyes to try to look at too many of them at once.
"Legendary lost lorespeople sure were weird," Gourry commented, checking out his chin in the mirror. He was a good country lad, and had been raised to believe that mirrors were for shaving and little else, making it more of a reflex action than a conscious decision. "Huh. Hey, when'd you get here, Zelgadis?"
"Yesterday," Zel said. "When I heard about Lina being railroaded onto a quest to fix the Oracle Mirror, I figured that it couldn't hurt to start looking myself. I bumped into a strange guy selling maps in the Other Town, and he suggested I find a place called Silver Lake. Seemed a little too convenient. But I haven't found anything yet."
"Why do you have rocky skin?" Naga asked, bluntly.
"It's a long story I don't care to go into," Zelgadis replied, having a seat at the large table in the center of the room. "You can stop searching the room, by the way. The book isn't here."
Naga looked up from her supposedly subtle frisking of the room. "Oh? And how would you know, stony? OOHOHOHHOO! The eyes of Naga the White Serpent see all!"
"Waste your time, have it your way," Zel shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "I've had a long time here to look. There's really only one thing of interest here, and it's not in the house. I found--"
"Wait, I don't get it," Gourry interrupted what was probably a very important thing with, having a seat with Zel. "You got a map, we got a map. How could two different mapmakers have the same map?"
"Same mapmaker," Zelgadis said. "It's obviously a set up of some kind, and Lina definitely has a third copy of that ridiculous map. I figure either it's part of a latent spell set by Silverquick, or a dark force is gathering us in one location to be ambushed and killed once everybody's here that's meant to be here."
"Ehhh?!"
"It's only logical. You came to the same conclusion, ri..." Zel trailed off, realizing who he was talking to. "Oh. Well, just make sure you trust no one, stay alert and keep your sword handy. There's just one thing which I don't understand."
"We're going to be attacked!" Gourry exclaimed, having gotten stuck a few sentences ago on one notion.
"I've explored extensively," Zelgadis casually stated. "And for some reason, someone's addressed a--"
The door opened, interrupting Zel once more. Then pandemonium came out to play.
"Wha-- Zel?!" Lina gaped.
"Lina!" Gourry cheered.
"OOOHHOOHOHO!! At last you show yourself, Lina Inverse!" Naga laughed.
"Naga?!!?!" Lina exclaimed, in shock.
"Sis!" Amelia smiled. "Wow, it's been years! How are you?"
"Naga, what're you-- SIS?!" Lina gaped.
"Amelia-chan?" Naga blinked. "What are you doing here?"
"Glad to know we're all familiar. Now, about the out--"
"Naga? Zel? Gourry? SISTER? Wha? Who?!" Lina babbled.
"Nevermind," Zel sighed. "I'll try again later."
"I'm confused," Gourry admitted.
"I'm going to have a nice lie down now," Lina smiled, before passing into blissful unconsciousness.
Wham.
When Lina awoke, the first thing she saw was Naga, so she went back to sleep.
The second time Lina awoke, Zel had enough sense to suggest that Amelia and Naga have a family reunion somewhere far away for awhile, so she was able to maintain some grip on her sanity.
"Wha... I had the most horrible nightmare," Lina chuckled to herself, rising. "I dreamt that I went to this mysterious land somewhere over the rainbow, and Naga the Wicked White Serpent of the West had found me, and you were there, and you were there, and..."
"It wasn't a dream," Zelgadis stated flatly. "She's here. I don't like her very much."
"Aww, she's okay, once you get used to her laugh," Gourry said, smiling.
"And you've managed that?" Zel asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Ummm..."
"She's going to do it again," Lina bemoaned. "She'll keep following me around, and following me around... ugh. I think I'll worry about this much later. Getting back to the ORIGINAL reason I came here, please tell me this silly quest is over, and we've found the Book of Mirror Lores here?"
"We haven't found the Book of Mirror Lores here," Zel denied.
"Ah. An end to a perfect day," Lina sighed. She made a face. "Does this place have any facilities?"
(It's never mentioned in tales of heroism and bravery, since bards are too busy detailing in poetic words how the warrior slew the dragon, but even heroes need to visit the smallest room. In what would eventually be titled The Ballad of Lina Inverse and the Journey of a Thousand Reflections, an experimental verse was inserted:
And lo, as she rose from deep slumbers,
She felt the rising need to purge her glorious system.
And thus with a calculating decision and righteous might,
She sought the John.
The verse would later be removed after a low rating with test audiences.)
"The outhouse is behind the cottage," Zelgadis smiled.
"Ah, good." Then she paused. Zel smiling wasn't a normal thing. "What's up with that grin?"
"Well, if anybody would've listened to me before..." he started.. then shook his head. "You'll see."
The outside was a simple affair; wooden shack, half moon cutout for perverts to peep through if they can find the right angle, lots of flies buzzing around. Lina had been in a castle once which had running water and indoor plumbing, but the art hadn't been perfected yet, and it just meant that EVERY room smelled bad with nasty brackish liquid passed from bathroom to bathroom.
There were some serious down sides to adventuring, and this was one of them.
But overall, things could be worse. Naga the White Serpent could be back. Of course, she was back, so it was worse. True, the two had gone on a number of highly interesting and life threatening trips together, but all the way she had to put up with put downs, deal with Naga's wallet-draining drinking hobbies, and constant taunts about how much more spherical Naga was. She handled it for a long time, until one morning when Naga had ordered pancakes for 20 people delivered by room service, and wanted Lina to pay for it.
Lina was a long standing fan of large meals. But when it comes to paying for others having them, she drew the line. Of course, others should be expected to pay for her food. That's normal and right in the universe, but the other way around, no way, no how. It was the final straw, after a variety of six thousand straws previous; she told Naga she'd 'just be out for a bit' and then ran for the hills until she felt she had reached minimum safe distance. A month or three down the road and Lina had met Gourry, who was.. well, he insulted her too, but it was.. she preferred it for some reason she preferred not going into.
All these thoughts and more as Lina took care of her business. She refocused on the present, and while hunting around for the roll of paper, when she noticed someone had hung a jaunty little mirror on the wall opposite her. Nice gilded golden frame, probably not real gold, but close enough. Similar to the Oracle Mirror. Except, of course, that the Oracle Mirror lacked a little yellow note stuck to the surface reading 'To: L. Inverse, F: S. Quick.'
Curious, she finished up the task at hand, then reached out to pluck the note off the mirror. The surface gleamed momentarily in the poor lighting, and
Lina
Saw
Things.
(Note: You'll find out what she saw in the side story.)
"Papa is doing well, then?" Naga asked.
"Oh, hai, very well! Ne, Gracia--"
"Oohohohoo! It's Naga, Amelia-chan," Naga smiled. "Naga the White Serpent, Lina Inverse's most feared nemesis and companion!"
"When're you coming home?" Amelia asked. "You took off so suddenly to go out adventuring, and we all were kind of worried... I mean, you were the sensible one."
"I find this hard to believe," Zelgadis commented from the peanut gallery. "I wonder if Lina got that mirror to work?"
"Ano? What mirror?" Gourry asked, looking up from sharpening his sword.
"The one I found in the outhouse which I tried to tell you about. Repeatedly," Zel said. "Looked like an ordinary mirror to me--"
The door opened. Lina entered quietly.
"S'matter," Zelgadis asked, since this joke has to be told to close off any section of cutting edge bathroom humor across any universe in existence, "You fall in?"
"No," Lina said, tones as pale as her skin at the moment. "But I found the Lores."
Those assembled leaned forward, in expectation. Waiting for the big answer.
"They aren't here," she said.
"We knew that," Naga noted.
"Silverquick told me where they were," Lina said. "But he said two other things. One... that there's supposed to be six of us total."
Lina looked at Gourry who looked at Naga who looked at Amelia who looked at Zelgadis who looked at nobody.
"Five," Zel stated for the record.
"And," Lina continued, "If we don't hurry up and get to the book... someone else will."
"Who?"
"He didn't say," Lina lied. "But it probably would not be a good thing. We need to get moving."
"But where are we going?" Amelia asked, enthusiastic. "Is it a quest? I'm all set!"
Lina's tone shifted up to levity. "Naturally, a quest! You don't think Silverquick would just leave a book like that lying around, would you? Gotta be a few trials to pass and challenges to meet or it's not a very LEGENDARY Lost Lore."
"Right!" Naga said, getting to her feet, chest wobbling slightly from the shift in posture. "I shall lead us onward towards glory and magical power! Naga the White Serpent always prevails! OOHOHHOOHOOHHOOOO!!!"
"Big Sis is a natural born leader," Amelia smiled in sibling authoritarian appealing affection.
"Hey.. HEY! I'm leading!" Lina said. "That's the way we do things."
"Actually, I thought Zelgadis was the one who lead us and we always just let Lina think she was--"
*BONK*
"Ow!"
"What I wouldn't give for more mature companions..." Zel grumbled under his voice.
Far away, a young man who had only seen trees in pictures was meeting them up close, trunk first.
Melvin stumbled through the forest, with one goal in mind; get back to the castle, and never venture outside its walls again. He ran out of allergy pills an hour ago, and having the navigational instincts of a lemming, was quite concerned that he wouldn't make it back.
He had absolutely no interest in getting involved with people who have other people try to kill them repeatedly. Some tea before bedtime and a cracker, and a light lunch before afternoon's thaumatological study was all he really sought in life. He definitely also did not want to meet mysterious cloaked strangers in the middle of the forest."
"Oho," the cloaked stranger smiled. "Hail and howdy. From whence do you hail?"
"Sa, Sailoon," Melvin said, staggering to a halt. "Please don't kill me."
"Kill you?" the stranger blinked. "Why, the very notion of the merest thought didn't cross my mind. In fact, I was going to offer you a nice, convenient ride home. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Yes!!" Melvin exclaimed. "Um. I mean, if that's not too much to ask--"
"One condition. You will not attempt to contact your previous companions again," the stranger stated.
"Uh.. why?"
"That," the man smiled, "Is a secret."
With that, the stranger whipped a red-ruby tipped staff from under his cloak, and in a blast of fire and light, Melvin was deposited seven feet over his bed in Sailoon Castle.
Back in the forest, the stranger allowed himself a little giggle. All he had to do now was to sit back, and wait for them to return from the lake with the maps he provided. And with them they would bring the knowledge he could not seek. After all, Mazoku were locked out of Silverquick's realm.
The day was turning out to be quite amusing. Tomorrow likely even more so.