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neasy dreams are a common problem among magic users.
There have been a lot of theories about this. The majority-accepted view is that sorcerers are more 'in tune' with the world around them, and thus are more receptive to premonitions and synchronous events in time and space. The resonation of these things project through the mind's eye, becoming the half-formed dream images of the magical mind.
The real reason for it is that all humans have uneasy dreams from time to time, but only magic users have the kind of egos that could see this as making them special.
Naturally, there are always exceptions to the generalization...
...like unedited reality, memory spools out in her mind...
The landscape has been torn to shreds. High powered magic, thrown from both sides, ultimately doing little except bashing each other around, but the world itself is feeling the deflected damage. Fires rage through the forest, ice slicks coat the ground. And all though the air, the stench of something that defies description.
But a spark launches in her, and a determination.
"Okay! I've got one last thing I'm going to try. And if that fails, I'll give up."
The dark lord rests on its haunches, wholly unimpressed. She grips the Sword of Light, she chants the spell... the powers merge...
The darkness burns like cold fire, her whole being wrestling it under control, maintaining a hairline grip on the channeling strength of the Lord of Nightmares. The incantation complete, the black lightning forks through the earth, towards Shaburanigdo--
Then smash-cut to later that day, as Zelgadis and Gourry smile, in a world with a blue sky and green grass and a future. Jokes are exchanged. Zelgadis parts amicably, and Atlass City is only a little ways away. Yes, a good rest is what's in--
Frozen smiles. The air stops.
And from somewhere, sarcastic clapping.
"Well done, well done," a jovial, mocking tone says. And he's there, where nothing else was before. Clapping, smiling. "Well done indeed. How lucky you are. How unlucky you are."
Lina asks the man, because she knows the man and the man knows her, what he means.
"Ah," the man says. "That is a secret." He studies her for a moment, and his enigmatically cheery expression changes -- then, smile, smile. "A clue."
And suddenly, the ground bulges and tears open at the seams, a mile high pillar of polished silver raising from the dirt below... and on it is inscribed
THOSE WHO
SEEK THE
POWER OF
THE MIRRO
R MUST ON
E DAY FAC
E THE WOR
ST WITHIN
She approaches the pillar, to read, and glinting off the surface is the hint of white, the scream, and a sharp shock--
Lina bounced out of her carriage trundle bed, her head cracking against the wooden wall with a sharp THUNK. Tossed awake, she mumbled various curses, and sat up, the entire vehicle rocking like it was being drawn by horses fleeing the fires of hell, which, in an analogic sense, it was.
"Sorrry!!!" Gourry screamed from his position in the driver's seat, on top of the horse-drawn coach. "BIG rock! Whoa, whoa, no, not that waaayyeeee OH GOD OH GOD--"
Lina braced herself as the coach rebounded against a tree. The frame lurched back to even ground, and there was a moment's respite.
She sat down on her poor excuse for a bed, and watched Naga snore like a saw through a log.
"Lucky," she mumbled.
Gourry was just getting the hang of this driving thing. It took about six hours and he was about ready to pass out from exhaustion, but he was quite proud of the accomplishment; they hadn't hit a tree or run over a large boulder in almost thirty minutes now, and he only ran off the road a few times.
The horses, which had a nearly inexhaustible supply of frenzy, kept the coach along at a fair clip that spelled instant death for any small woodland life that happened to be on the road. Generally, everything was ticking along like a clock, and Gourry figured they'd be in Evilania in... in.. well, not a very long time, judging from his limited sense of geography. He always felt he was a better navigator than a geoperson on account of his uncle, who was once bitten by a shark because he sailed into the Pentecostal Rhombus or whatever it was, but at least he got to keep a lot of shark's teeth as souvenirs once he pulled them out of his stomach, and although that really didn't mean Gourry had any navigational skills and probably wasn't a very good storyteller either, at least it meant he could keep a thought for as long as it takes to not really go anywhere in general which probably meant he'd be a very good navigator if given a chance, which, at the moment, he was.
Until the coach broke down.
It wasn't a very fun breakdown. There was a wooden snapping sound and the wheels seemed to lock in place, the coach now being literally dragged through the dirt as this panicked the horses, until the entire vehicle skidded sideways into a ditch, resting at a jaunty angle in the morning dew moistened grass. Gourry realized this had happened because he went from sitting on top of the coach to rolling to a halt thirty feet from it.
"Whoa," he commented, getting up and rubbing a bump on his head. He dashed dashingly back to the wreck, and used his sword to pry open the door, checking the passengers.
Naga was still snoring, nothing stopping her beauty rest.
Lina, on the other hand, was looking quite upset. "Wha?.. what happened?!"
"I dunno," Gourry said honestly. "We stopped."
"I can see that! Help me out of here!"
Gourry offered Lina a hand, and tugged with all his might. "Geez, Lina, you weigh a ton!"
"Thanks," Lina said dryly, sitting on top of the disaster. "There goes our insurance deposit... where are we?"
"Hmmmmm..." Gourry thought, scratching his chin and surveying the area. "We seem to be in a ditch on the side of the road. Yes sir, that's where we are."
"I don't suppose it'd help if I asked why we crashed?"
"I think the coach broke."
"You ARE a guy, right?" Lina asked. "I thought all guys knew how to ride horses and drive coaches and fix wagons and stuff."
"Oh, I know all about that stuff," Gourry said proudly. "My cousin had a coach once. A cherry red '34 Sairaag Coaster with a Clarksdale mare to draw it. We fixed it up and added fins and stuff to it one summer!"
"And what did you do when it broke down?"
"Uh... he sold it and decided to open a restaurant instead. Actually, I don't think I remember anything about coaches except how to add fins to one and paint really cool flames down the side. I don't think we have any paint, though..."
Lina contained her frustration. "Let me be direct. What.. do.. we.. do.. now?"
After waking Naga up by virtue of a pointed stick, the trio towed the wreck along the road with strong levitational spells. Fortunately for them, the nearest village was very near indeed; just a brisk six mile jog through a muddy road populated by a thousand tribes of psychotic armor-peircing mosquitoes. Since Naga and Lina were too busy trying to contain a large wooden vehicle and some really pissed off mares in a Raywing bubble, nobody was available to exterminate the hostile wildlife except Gourry.
Who was proving that you don't need to be a venerable monk with a pair of chopsticks to take out an insect, just really good with a sword.
Lina tried to contain disbelief as he managed to zero in on each annoying little bug and leave a long string of bisected insects in their wake. "How are you DOING that?"
"Oh, we used to have sword trick contests back home all the time," Gourry said cheerfully, the lack of sleep not putting a harsh edge to his personable personality one bit. "Split watermelons, split apples, split peanuts... I got as far as splitting insects. Supposedly my brother in law was capable of splitting Adams."
"Splitting what?"
"Well, my sister cheated on him with this guy named Adam, and--"
"That's enough down home storytelling, Gourry," Lina said, cutting him off. "Che! We're supposed to be riding in style and comfort, not hauling our ride with us!"
"Getting tired yet, Lina?" Naga smirked. "Why, I could levitate this thing all day! All day and all night, if need be. Are those dark circles under your eyes?"
Lina grumbled a thousand and two curses quickly. "I could really, really use a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee and some toast. Coffee, toast, and some eggs. Coffee, toast, eggs, and a whole roast pig with an apple in its mouth! When are we gonna get there?!"
Noh Wheir was a small town away from every major city, trading post, travel stop, river, mountain, tribe of ogres, or important feature whatsoever. Even inside the town, nothing was particularly interesting. There were six houses, one restaurant, two shoe shops for some reason, and a smithy; all arranged in an almost random dispersal of architecture.
Depositing the coach with a resounding boom in front of the smithy's shop, Lina slumped against a nearby wall to catch her breath. Today had been the seventeenth worst day of her life, and if she didn't get some breakfast soon, she might not live to see the eighteenth.
The smithy himself was very punctual, after making them wait an hour to finish shoeing a sheep. He wiped off his hands, and stepped out to take a look at the wreck.
Twenty minutes passed as he climbed under the carriage, propped up a ladder to examine the roof, peered into the dilated eyes of the horses and wiped some foam away from their mouths. Finally, he announced the prognosis.
"One of your crossbeams' gone askew on the treddle," he said in Jargon, a dialect favored by sorcerers and mechanics everywhere. "Plus your mares got adrenaline backwash reverberation in their glands, probably from some steroids the renter was giving 'em, and are gonna need some real help if they'll last long. I figger the whole job's gonna cost you, umm... well, there's the new transaxle and the wheel calibration and some sedatives for your horses.... say, thirty gold."
"THIRTY!?" Lina gagged. "That's robbery!"
"No, robbery would be the Sinister Icy Black Hand of Death Gang showing up right around now," the techie said. "Although I offer a ten percent discount to anybody they mug."
"The what?" Gourry asked.
"Sinister Icy Black Hand of Death Gang," he repeated. "They showed up yesterday. Biggest thing to happen in this town since the fatal outbreak of sheep gonheria in '23. I think they're camped out in the wood somewhere. My missus brought 'em a cake last night in thanks for not sacking our house."
Naga perked up. "Bandits! Horrible bandits plaguing this poor village! Shall we, Lina?"
"Eh?" Lina asked.
"Go stomp them royally and take all their ill-gotten gain?" Naga added.
Lina considered this, the idea of it tugging at her. She shook her head after two seconds of contemplation. "I'm getting breakfast. Just fix the coach and we'll get going."
"Ne, Lina, can I take a nap now?" Gourry asked. "It's been a long night, and if you don't need me for awhile..."
"Huh? Sure, Gourry, go right ahead."
Gourry smiled, and collapsed on the spot.
After hauling Gourry to a cot politely provided by the smithy, Lina slumped her way across all ten feet of town square, making a direct course for the restaurant. Naga tagged along, having a seat opposite her.
"I'm almost concerned," Naga said. "You don't want to go smite robbers?"
"I'm tired," Lina said. She picked up the menu, selected the twenty most interesting items on it, and rattled them off to the nearest waitress. Coffee was provided. Lina drank.
Naga tapped her chin, in a poise of thinking. "Too tired to go hunt well-funded bad guys. Lina, you're losing what edge you had! How can you hope to keep up with Naga the White Serpent, your most powerful companion, ally and enemy at this rate?"
"I don't care to keep up," Lina stated. "I want food, I want a bed, I want this quest to be over and done with. You've got no idea how moody it's been making me."
"Oh, I have some idea! Very little gets by me," Naga said. "You've been quite the gloomy gus. What's wrong?"
"It all SMELLS," Lina muttered. "Everything. Those maps we found. The splitting up. How Melvin's acting funny. That girl I saw, the dreams I'm having, everything."
"Uneasy dreams are a common problem among magic users. Our brains are highly receptive to premonitions and synchronous events in time and space," Naga rhetorically said. "In fact, I myself find uneasy dreams quite often, probably due to my incredible powers attracting them like a magnet."
"I'm not talking about normal weird dreams," Lina corrected. "I'm talking about specifically weird dreams. You know I took out Shaburanigdo, right? A part of him, at least. Rezo the Red Priest had some of the great dark lord sealed in his body, and when it manifested, it took everything I had and then some to destroy him."
"The Dragon Slave, yes?" Naga smiled.
"No."
"But that's your most powerful spell."
"No, it's not. My most powerful spell is the one I've almost never used," Lina said. "The Giga Slave. A mixture of the Dragon Slave and.. something else. It was on an ancient manuscript I found in my sister's room one day when I was little. I tried casting it outside my home town when I was a kid. You heard of Mount Erectus?"
"Can't say I have..."
"It sort of went away."
"Ooooooh," Naga said, little stars in her eyes. "Lina, you've GOT to teach me this Giga Slave! It sounds so--"
"NO!" Lina objected, slamming her palm down on the table. The coffee cup rattled. "Look, if you get it even slightly wrong, it... bad stuff happens, okay? I know this for a fact. I was so amazingly lucky to get it cast in the first place, much less against Shaburanigdo! No. No. Final word, no."
"Party pooper," Naga scoffed. "What does this have to do with your dreams, anyway?"
"I was remembering the fight with the dark lord in my dream," Lina continued. "I cast the Giga Slave, it destroyed him, everything was fine. More like memory than a dream, I mean, that's what happened. Then the memory stopped and..."
"And? And?"
"Someone I know showed up. In my dream," Lina said. "I never got around to telling you about.. Xelloss, right?"
"Name doesn't ring a bell," Naga said. "Is he a bandit?"
"This has nothing to do with bandits! Xelloss is.. okay, he's... he's weird. He's a priest, but more of a trickster, and he's a really powerful sorcerer, and he smiles a lot and is a Mazoku. He's a Mazoku trickster priest sorcerer who smiles a lot."
Naga looked surprised. "Lina! You've been hanging around with the wrong crowd since leaving me. Associating with an evil being like that! For shame."
"He wasn't exactly EVIL, he was just.. well, he.. it's complicated. He traveled with us for a long time on our quests, and sometimes helped us and sometimes was a serious pain in the ass, and always liked to play jokes or withhold information, and yes admittedly he said he was going to turn us over to one of the Dark Lord's generals once but he didn't really, and..." Lina trailed off. "I'm getting sidetracked. Point is, he was in my dream. And he gave me a clue."
"And high time you got a clue, too," Naga smiled. "OOHOHOHOHOOOHOOHHOHOOO!"
"Naga, cut it out!" Lina barked. "Look, normally I'd sooner discuss my personal feelings with a dead chipmunk, but seeing as how one isn't available and Gourry's out of commission and you're the only person I know here, I'm trying to tell you something important I'm concerned about, dammit, SO LISTEN UP AND QUIT KIDDING AROUND!!!!"
Naga sat in stunned silence for some time.
Lina drained her coffee in one gulp, and held it out to the waitress for a refill. Naga snatched the mug away.
"That's enough coffee for you," Naga said. "Now, be a good girl and let's talk calmly, okay?"
"Haaai," Lina said, deflating slightly. "Sorry. Look, you never met Xelloss, but he never gives clues unless they help him out or steer you somewhere dangerous or both. But... it didn't feel like that this time. First he joked around saying everything's a big secret, like he always does, then he changed his mind and said he'd give me a clue. But it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. Then I woke up."
"What, that's it? That's your entire dream?"
"More or less."
"I don't get it. Sounds like a perfectly ordinary strange dream. Unless..."
"Unless he was projecting it into my mind for a reason," Lina finished. "Magically."
"He was? I was going to say unless it was some kind of subconscious sexual attraction you had for him! OHOHOOHHOOO!"
Lina gave up, and bonked Naga with her rolled up menu. "Never mind! Forget I ever brought this up."
"Eef," Naga squeaked, as the flimsy paper hit her perfectly styled hair. "See? You're so touchy. You used to be so relaxed and care free! You should look up to me as a role model, you know. I'm not the least little bit worried about what lies ahead, because I don't know what lies ahead! Makes life so much easier. And besides... bandits, Lina! Bandits!"
"I don't care about the bandits..."
"Ah.. ah!" Naga said, pointing to Lina's face. "Your expression betrays you! You're curious!"
"Am not.."
"Are too are too are too."
"You can't just say 'are too' to an 'am not'! It's childish!"
"Can too."
"Can NOT!"
"Can too can too can too!"
"Aaaaaaa!!" Lina yelled, standing up, leaning over to get in Naga's face. "You are SO ANNOYING! Why do you think I left you in the first place?! You're always getting on my nerves at just the wrong times!!"
Naga leaned back, surprised and slightly hurt. But then that faded into a smile. "I understand now. Ah, Lina, Lina, you're so naive!"
"...eh?!!"
"If you didn't have someone around to tease you, why, you'd be incomplete! A yin without a yang. A pea without a pod. How easy it is to see! Before you were all mopey, and here you are, full of energy and life!"
"Yes!! Because I want to rip your head off, Naga!"
"Exactly! Don't worry. I'll stay by your side for your own sake whether you like it or not! OOOHHOOHOHOHO!!"
Lina immediately changed subjects. "Where the heck is my breakfast? How hard can it be to cook twenty orders??"
"But I still say you need to cut down on coffee," Naga added.
Lina turned red. "Look! I'll make you a deal, Naga. Let me have my food, and a brief nap, and if you stay very very quiet for the next, oh, two hours, we'll go hunt the damn bandits, kick their asses, take their money and be back in time to head off in our freshly repaired coach. How's that day plan sound to you?"
"Quite perfect," Naga smiled.
ina twirled in her pretty dress on the crystal balcony of the castle overlooking an entire country she owned. She smiled at the gleaming golden restaurants, which took up 90% of the city's land, each offering a wide variety of yummy treats for her to eat.
"There's a bandit gang roaming the eastern quarter," her assistant, which looked suspiciously like Naga except shorter with a smaller chest whereas Lina had a figure that most men would, and had for the last few years, died for. "They're carrying several billion gold and will be a challenge for you."
"Ah, all in a day's work, for Lina, Warrior Princess!" Lina smiled. She nodded to an attendant that looked like Gourry in a loincloth who was fanning her with a very large leaf. "This is the life."
"If you don't mind me saying this for the seventy fourth time today, Lina-sama, your breasts are very large," the Gourry-attendant commented.
"Much appreciated," Lina smiled.
Fifty silver carts were wheeled into her reception room, each filled with food. Lina had a light snack of them and then blew up a nearby mountain for fun from the balcony.
A set of judges that also looked vaguely like Amelia, Zelgadis and Xelloss held up scores : 10, 10, 10.
"Another perfect score," Naga said. "I'm so impressed. I'm unworthy to be near you, you're so beautiful and powerful."
"Ahhhh... Gourry, if this is a dream, let me never wake up," Lina dreamily said, falling backwards; Gourry was there with a pile of silken pillows of absolute comfort to catch her.
"Actually, if you don't wake up soon, you WILL never wake up," Xelloss smiled. "Your room's being sacked."
Lina sat up in bed with a start.
The two bandits that were trying to sneak up on her with a large sack and a bottle of knockout medicine paused, embarrassed, not quite sure what to do next. Turns out the next thing to do was to jump out the window screaming and on fire, which Lina assisted them with accomplishing.
She grabbed her armor and sword from the bedpost, hastily tying it on, as the next two bandits charged into the room. Bandits were a remarkably similar bunch, all with facial scars and armored uniforms and fake eyepatches, evil sneers and big swords. These two went out the window like the last two, as Lina made her way into the inn's upstairs hallway. Which was LOADED with identical bandits.
This wouldn't be a problem, since one big spell would probably annihilate everything in the hallway and first floor and leave her relatively unscathed, except there were other people in here who probably didn't want to be blown up, and Lina picked exactly the wrong moment to have her newly formed consideration for such things rear its head. The bandits pounced.
She cast fire and wind, knocking them aside and filling the air with careening faceless minions, but they had the advantage of packing 'em in like sardines before she had even woken up. There were entirely too many sharp things pointed at her for comfort. Things looked grim.
Then someone who didn't really care about property damage emerged from the end of the hallway, the door around her exploding like so much paper mache.
Naga the White Serpent posed in her Less is More armor, laughing into the back of her hand. "OOOHOHOOHOHO! Such simple minded fools! You think that you can dare accost my number one sidekick and rival, Lina Inverse, without penalty? For you face--"
While all the bandits were distractedly staring at Naga's breasts, Lina cast a spell and blasted the entire group down the hall and through the side of the building, Naga included. There were a dozen meaty thumps as bandits hit the dirt below.
Darting back through her room and flying out the window, Lina surveyed the damage. The bandits, smoking slightly, were unconscious. Naga was on top, with a puzzled expression and several first degree burns.
"You know, Naga, you were right," Lina smiled, stretching out in her midair observation position. "Stomping bandits does get the 'ol juices flowing!"
"My spine hurts," Naga mumbled, dazed.
Lina touched down on one foot, and stepped over to the smoldering pile 'o thugs. "Now, to pick the most gullible looking one and interrogate him. We--"
A bright flash filled the air, and a silent explosion. Lina threw up her hands to block, and when she lowered them, the bandits were there -- upright, unharmed, and extremely angry.
Naga flipped backwards, landing next to Lina. She was perfectly fine as well. "What was that?!"
"Who cares? Just blast them again!" Lina replied, whipping her hands into a casting position. "DILL BRAND!!"
The earth beneath the bandits bulged, and exploded upwards in a shower of enraged earth. Minions sprawled over a fifty foot radius, again unconscious.
"As I was saying..." Lina continued. "Let's grab one and--"
And the bandits were back on their feet again.
"Persistent fellows, aren't they?" Naga said. "DEMONA CRYSTAL!!"
Ice flows locked a few bandits in place.
"FIREBALL!!" Lina cast.
A ball of glowing brilliance punched several bandits through a nearby house.
"FREEZE ARROW!"
"GAAV FLARE!"
"DIGGER VOLT!"
"IT'S NOT WORKING!"
"WHAT?!" Naga yelled back.
"You don't have to yell! And it's not working!" Lina repeated, looking left, looking right. Everywhere, bandits surrounded her. How could they possibly have this many disposable bad guys?
The bandits smiled, mockingly. They knew something she didn't. Until she figured it out.
"Naga! Go find the sorcerer!" Lina said.
"Eh? FLARE ARROW!" More bandits went up in flame, only to get back up again a moment later.
"Someone's pumping massive amounts of white magic into the area to heal these guys," Lina said. "You go, I'll cover you."
Naga laughed. "OOHHOOHOHOO! A clever ruse! But not clever enough to fool Naga the White Serpent!" She threw a levitational spell around her, and took off, rising over the trees to search.
Although she had an ego that rivaled most celestial bodies, and a body that also rivaled most celestial bodies, Naga was not stupid. Dense, perhaps, but she had enough of a rational mind to realize that the only way white magic could heal that fast is if a highly skilled caster had a good overview of the battle, and little obstructions. That meant rooftops and nearby trees.
So, while increasingly destructive magic was lobbed around below, Naga skulked around the buildings, and looked for the source of this mess.
There.
A figure in a white manteau, focusing tightly on the battle, and perched on a rooftop. Next to him was a grizzled looking mercenary with plenty of scars, and a uniform similar to the bandit's, only slightly more polished. And their backs were to her!
How easily the prey fell into her trap! Naga smiled. She floated silently behind them, getting the best angle for a well placed fireball, silently charging the spell--
The warrior glanced backwards, on some random chance, and spotted Naga.
"Sorceress!" he exclaimed, drawing his sword. Naga turned, and decided to fling the fireball at him instead, for having the gall to spoil her perfectly good sneak attack. The flaming orb shot through the air, and--
The other sorceress, the one that was apparently in the white cloak, dove in front of the mercenary to block the attack. The fireball slammed her full force in the chest, as the goon jumped back to avoid. He growled.
"We're not here for you, bitch," he scoffed. "Don't mess with us! We're some bad dudes!"
Naga casually blasted him off the roof with a flick of her wrist, then landed next to the sorceress. A very, very weak freeze arrow put the fires out in her cloak.
"I'm going to interrogate you now," she said. "Who are you and who are these bandits?!"
"P-please don't hurt me," the girl begged. Then immediately burst into sobbing.
Naga wasn't exactly sure how to respond to this.
"I don't mean you any harm, I just.. I have to go," the girl said, wiping her eyes. The crying stopped just as quickly as it started. "I have a job to do."
"Oh, no you don't. You're the prisoner of Naga the White Serpent!" Naga warned. "Don't even think about trying to es--"
"Sleep," the white sorceress chanted, touching a finger to Naga's head. Naga yawned and curled up on the spot, taking five.
The other girl stood carefully, and floated off the roof, to land by the mercenary. She quickly applied a restorative spell to him, and he stood up, sharp and alert.
"How could you let her get to us like that??" the man said. "You clumsy, useless girl!"
"I'm sorry," she said, quietly.
"Now come on. This distraction won't hold that brat much longer."
Lina gave up on using a wide variety of really impressive attacks a few minutes into the one-against-four-dozen battle, and resorted to just lobbing fireballs around like they were going out of style.
For a moment, the goons had stopped popping back from the dead and near-dead left and right. But this didn't last more than a minute, likely the sorcerer that was casting all this healing magic having gotten back on task. Lina wished Naga would hurry up and take care of whoever was doing this. Even a spunky, can-do sorceress like her had some limits. Not in terms of power, of course, but definitely in terms of patience.
Just shy of abandoning all care for the town (which was mostly a flaming wreckage by this point) and casting a Dragon Slave, two sharp whistles cut over the battle scene, and the entire bandit gang blended into the forest. They scattered randomly, no indication of which direction, fading into the trees quickly.
Lina chased a few down on foot, but it was ultimately a useless tactic; they had split.
It made no sense. They weren't sacking the town, no loot was stolen. They had approached her initially to capture her, she realized that in afterthought, and then resorted to attacks. But they obviously couldn't WIN that fight, and even needed strong magic to keep from being wiped out. So why fight at all? Why fight then when a signal was sounded, head for the hills, like all along it was one big joke, a distraction...
Oh.
Well, THAT made sense.
Lina scanned the town for damage. Most of it was totaled. The restaurant got by with only a few fires, which the workers were trying to put out. The dinky inn where she was staying had lost its top floor. Two houses were okay, the others were craters. On the edge of the city, the smithy's works were unharmed, by virtue of being far from ground zero.
Flying up to survey better, Lina spotted Naga sucking on her thumb in the throes of a really swell nap and landed to disenchant her.
"--caping me! OOHOHooo.. ho... ano?" Naga continued, springing awake. "Where did she go?"
"A sorceress?" Lina asked. "She got away, then. The entire gang split. I think they were distracting us from something."
"Curses," Naga cursed. "What would some shy white sorceress be doing hanging out with these fools, anyway?"
"Come on. I've got a bad feeling," Lina said, dashing off for the smithy's.
"They just came bursting in here," the mechanic explained. "I couldn't exactly stop them. I mean, what was I holding, a three eights gripley? If I tried, I'd be skewered!"
Lina stared at the empty bedframe, in amazement.
"I mean, the short one didn't look so tough, although he was carrying this weird stick. Looked mechanical. But the toughs with him were hard cases, you know? Swords. BIG swords. So they just bundled the blonde-haired guy up in his mattress, gave him some medicine or something and hauled out to the forest," the mechanic continued. "Look, I'm real sorry about it, but you couldn't have expected me to... uh.."
Lina kept staring.
Naga took over. "Of course, this MUST mean that our repairs are free, yes? A small compensation."
"Yeah, sure, anything. It's okay."
Prowling around the room, Lina studied the cheap furnishings. There was a mirror, shattered by the door, probably knocked over when the bandits charged in. A hat rack was also overturned, leaning against a heavy oaken dresser. The dresser had a small knotho... a hole, in the door's surface.
"There was this really sharp cracking sound in here," the smithy said. "Sorta metallic. Like, 'Pang!' or 'Tang!'."
Lina fingered the hole, nudging a small lead marble out of it. She threw open the door so hard the wood splintered.
A note pinned to the dresser wall greeted her with large, printed letters. Like children's handwriting..
COME ALONE TO THE HILLTOP TO THE SOUTH
OF TOWN AT MIDNIGHT OR GOURRY WILL DIE
Evil things were afoot in the forests surrounding Noh Wheir.
Specifically, they were afoot in the large, easy to defend cave that the Sinister Icy Black Hand of Death Gang had picked out for their current hideout. The Gang had been doing very well, in fact, under new leadership, although they weren't entirely sure why they had hiked as fast as humanly possible out to the middle of Noh Wheir to set up camp when Sailoon had plenty for the picking. The bossman said that their client was paying big money for the operation, and since big is a word bandits liked to have associated with money, they went along without question.
The job was done now, however, and there was a lot of wining and wenching going on. Primarily wining, since wenches were hard to find out in this neck of the woods. There was one wench in the gang, but she was the bossman's, so hands off unless you'd like to have your hands taken off.
She was sitting at the head of the makeshift table, in fact, next to the bossman, just as prim and proper as could be and a little bit mousy compared to the fifty men waving around large containers of beer and singing songs that would make a Sailooner blush. Instead, she simply poured some drink in silence for the leader.
"You guys did a good job today!" the boss said, raising his mug. "And you're gonna get rewarded. Now stay on your toes. Some idiot might try to break in here to get that guy we snagged, and we gotta be alert."
Vigorous nodding spread down the table like a disease.
"Remember, WHAT ARE WE?" the boss shouted, getting the boys into their war chant.
"THE SINISTER ICY BLACK HAND OF DEATH!" they replied.
"And WHO ARE WE?"
"SOME BAD DUDES!"
"And WHAT DO WE DO?"
"PILLAGE AND STEAL AND LOWER PROPERTY VALUES!"
"Damn right!" the boss spat. "We're hot and going places! Ditched that last witch who had us doing petty loitering and got ourselves a client with the big money!"
"BIG MONEY!" the minions repeated.
"We're gonna be the most feared bandit gang in the world!"
"IN THE WORLD!"
"Now if you bad-ass bastards don't mind, I'll be heading in the back there with my girl," he smirked, putting an arm around the shoulders of the woman next to him.
"MY GIRL!" the bandits repeated, stuck in a groove.
"Mine, dogs, mine," the boss warned. "Now, keep celebrating! And put someone on the door as guard."
The caves towards the rear of the mini-maze that was the Sinister Icy Black Hand of Death Gang's Current Hideout were poorly lit. The boss scoffed at this. "Light it," he ordered.
The girl nodded, and a glowing ball of pure light floated from her hands, hovering around the ceiling. It threw sharp shadows over the treasure chests 'o booty the gang had acquired, a few weapon racks, and the blonde-haired swordsman they had recently obtained.
Smiling, the bandit king checked up on Gourry. "Sleepin' like a baby. Good man." He dropped the smile and turned to the white sorceress. "Revive him."
The sorceress nodded, and chanted quietly, reversing the sleep spell she had kept on him. Gourry blinked once or twice, then sat up, looking very confused.
"Hey, man," the boss said. "Good to see you again."
"Who? What? When? Where?" Gourry asked, running down the checklist. He focused on the boss. "Anooo... do I know you?"
"Do you know me? Of course you do! I..." he trailed off, glancing at the sorceress. "Take a hike, toots."
"Hai," she said quietly, and faded into the background, soft footsteps as she walked away.
"That's funny, this doesn't look like the smithy's shop," Gourry said. "Where am I?"
"You're with my boys. It's me, Gourry! You know, the trained goon from MagiCon!" the Goon said, giving Gourry a Manly Hug (gripping tight enough to crush a rib while vigorously patting/hitting him on the back). "You're free, dude!"
"Grrrk," Gourry said. He pushed away. "Free? What do you mean?"
"Free from that little hussy who's always pushing you around!" the Goon explained. "From Lina. We're with my gang now and safe. Man! It's good to know I got you out of that situation. You wanna beer? I could get Lily to bring us some. We got some REALLY good beer from a town on the way here."
"Lina? Where is she?" Gourry asked, getting lost a few sentences back. "Is everything okay?"
"Heyyy, don't worry. Everything's cool now," the Goon said, having a seat on a nearby chair. "You hungry? I've got some roast mutton from the local sheep ranch. Anything you want, just name it."
"Uhh.. I could use a drink."
"You got it," the Goon nodded. He whistled sharply, and the white sorceress came back to his side without hesitation. "Two beers, hustle," he said, and the girl whisked away quickly, returning with the mugs before Gourry could blink.
Gourry scratched his head. "Who're you, miss?"
"Oh, this is Lilly," the Goon said for her. "She works for me. Best damn white sorceress in the world! Keeps the boys up and running. Very loyal, too, unlike some money-grubbing bastards. C'mere, Lilly."
Lilly stepped over, and sat on the Goon's lap instinctively.
"Um.. hi, miss," Gourry greeted. "Look, if it's all the same, I really need to get back to town. Lina'll probably be looking for me."
"What'd I say? Forget Lina!" the Goon laughed. "I could use a man like you in my outfit. What's your Trick Level?"
This took Gourry back. "Insects," he supplied.
"Knew it!" the other man smiled, twirling a bit of Lilly's blonde hair in his fingers. "See? What'd I tell you, Lil? He's a good country boy, back from the same part of Testabourne where I grew up. I'm an insect man myself. We make hard strapping lads there, I tell you. Strongest warriors this side of Sailoon!"
"Hai," Lilly agreed, voice flat and quiet.
"What village you from?" he asked Gourry.
Gourry had a sip of his beer, then set the mug down. "Oh, I'm from New Piper's Cove. Sea town on the other side of the country."
"I had an uncle from New Piper's," the Goon said. "He was a navigator, worked on the SS Hindentanic. Got killed by some natives when he and his partner tried to sell a lousy song--"
"Really??" Gourry gasped. "My uncle.. wow! Your uncle must've been partners with mine!"
"HA! See? We're practically family!" the Goon laughed. "This is gonna be great! This troupe needs more Testabourners. The guys, they have the spirit, but not the pride, you know? Don't know how to treat people right."
"Huh? How do you mean?" Gourry asked.
"I caught one of the guys trying to skimp on looting in a village a few miles back," the Goon frowned. "Said they were too poor to steal from. If you're going to be a bandit, I say, you gotta have that Testabourne integrity. You agree to do a job, you do your job and you do it as best you can, no skimping out."
"Well... that's true," Gourry said. "My dad always said stuff like that. But bandits, I mean--"
"And one of the boys left to get married. Married!! The nerve! And what was his reason? She didn't have any money or any land, and wasn't even very good looking. Said he LOVED her," the Goon spat. "Ridiculous damn reason to leave your job. Testabourners don't go all fluffy-wuffy over just any whore who flashes her eyelashes at him, you know!"
"Uh... well, I mean..." Gourry tried to say, feeling uncomfortable. "I know back home girls are, well.. I mean, it's very traditional, yes, but--"
"Very traditional! Good traditions. Take Lilly for example," Goon said, gesturing to the woman in his lap. "Damn good woman. She knows what her job's supposed to be. Does what she's told, none of that stupid backtalk foreign girls give you. And she's good at her job and won't skimp, and ain't never going to leave me like those bastards who ran out. Isn't that right, girl? You're mine, after all."
"Hai," Lilly said, in the same even tone as before. She stared at the wall.
Gourry glanced around nervously. "Well, it's good to meet someone from home, I think, but... I really have to go. I have to."
"Okay, that's cool," the Goon said. He patted Lilly's rear, a signal she knew to mean 'get up', and did so quickly. "But not just yet. We got a client, some short kid with a ridiculous amount of petty cash, who can say no to money, right? She wants to talk to you, or something. Pushy little thing, but whatever. Wait here for her, okay?"
"I don't have time," Gourry said quickly. He got up, and moved to the door -- the Goon blocked him.
"You can't," he said. "Sorry, man, but that's the way. Just stay long enough for us to get paid and you can join us, no problems. The boss lady hasn't said what she wanted you for, but I'm sure it's no big deal. We're tight, right? Brothers?"
"Look, I don't want to offend you or anything," Gourry said, trying to be polite. "But I absolutely can't stay. I'm on an important quest and Lina needs me."
"She doesn't need you! Jeez, man, open your eyes! She's just another one of those pushy broads who wants guys like us under her thumb!" the Goon groaned. "I was hoping you'd see that after the last time we talked, back at the Con... but don't worry. I'll help you out of this. Just trust me. Lilly?"
"I don't want 'out of this', I want--"
"Sleep," Lilly chanted, touching a finger to Gourry's forehead.
idnight soaked Noh Wheir like the dew that had soaked its morning. The stars were out, but did very little to illuminate, hanging in the sky like unimportant little white dots. Forest sounds were tempered and dampened out by the chill of evening. There was no raging thunderstorm, no dark aria to be played, but either way, Lina felt the most foreboding presence in the air that she had felt in months.
"At least let me hide in a tree and cover you," Naga requested.
"No."
"How about if I skulk across the rooftops like a raven waiting to strike and--"
"No."
"But it's silly to go into a hazardous encounter without some kind of support!"
"I'll handle it," Lina said, unbuckling her sword belt and setting it aside.
"You realize that if you go and get killed because you wouldn't accept help from your strongest enemy and ally, Naga the White Serpent, that I'm going to be very bored without you around, yes?" Naga said, translating 'I'm concerned for your well being' into a highly warped dramatic speech.
"Naga, this is very important," Lina said, tone calm but fear present. "I've got to face this person. The last few days have been building up to this; I can feel it. It's very important."
Naga pouted, but offered no further protest.
"Wait right here, and in a little while, I'll be back with Gourry," Lina said. "It won't take long. Wait right here."
"You're repeating yourself a lot, you know."
"Just wait here," Lina repeated.
Lina refused herself the luxury of fear.
She knew exactly who she was going to meet, the person who planted that note and likely arranged for the bandits to haul Gourry away. It was the same person who'd tried to kill her back in Other Village, the girl with white hair who looked so much like herself that it sent chills down Lina's spine. The same girl she had talked to Zelgadis about. She wished Zel was here now, not that she had anything specific to ask him. She wished Gourry was here, too. She almost wished Naga was here.
But she had decided she was going to take this on herself. Lina had to know what was going on here, and didn't need any random elements like Naga thrown into the mix that could mess everything up. Although Naga would have been a good distraction while she tried to get Gourry back... but no. She'd handle this. It was her task to do, after all.
The hilltop was near the road into Noh Wheir, the road where they had originally crashed. How would things have been different if they hadn't plowed directly into the dirt there, and had just breezed through this backwater town? Lina tried to imagine another her, which was many miles down the road at a nice inn, where she got a warm bath and cotton sheets to sleep on. That other Lina was probably having a considerably better life than she was at the moment.
Lina approached the hilltop carefully. Nobody was there. She stood at the apex, looking back at the village, looking down the road she was supposed to be on right now. Patience was the game now.
A few minutes later, she heard a twig snap, and whirled around -- to a figure in the shadows, at the bottom of the hill. Pointing a stick Lina knew could punch a lead ball through her faster than she could cast a spell. The white of the girl's hair was visible in the low light, but not much else. No face, no form. Just her white hair and the glint off the metal in the stick.
"That's probably the most cowardly weapon I've ever seen," Lina commented, resisting the urge to play this plaintively and meekly. She needed an edge over this person, something to work with. Defiance.
"It works for me," he own voice said, drifting up from the base of the hill. "It's funny. Lately, I've been rethinking things, since I got here. About erasing you like you should be erased. I don't think that alone will put everything back to normal."
"Fine by me," Lina said, not the least bit relieved. "Hand over Gourry and we'll get out of your hair."
"Gourry... that's another situation," the other girl said. "Gourry's supposed to be dead. But he's not. I saw him die and he died, and here he is walking around. That isn't the way it was supposed to go."
Was supposed to, supposed to be dead. A puzzle piece locked into Lina's mind. "You came through the mirror, didn't you? From the Oracle Mirror in Sailoon."
"I think I did," the other girl said. A little giggle faded up in the winds, a mad giggle of delight, then stopped sharply. "I've had a lot of time to think about what to do, and I know what to do now. I just wanted you to know that it's all for you, all of it. I'm doing this for you. Because I hate you, Lina Inverse." The stick wavered, then locked on target. The red dot activated.
"Whoa, wait... why? What'd I ever do to you?!" Lina said. She looked left, looked right, but was in the open; she couldn't dodge the fire from that blasted thing.
"You went on," the girl said, voice dropping low and angry. "You went on happy and carefree when I was left to burn... you got to be with G-Gourry and I lost them all... you exist! You're not supposed to exist this way, I'm not supposed to!"
"What was it?" Lina asked. "What's the difference between your side of that mirror and mine? I know I knew it, but I can't remember--"
"This whole world is wrong," the girl continued. The muzzle of the stick wobbled, her body trembling with fear and loathing. "Everything. It's destroyed, burned out, annihilated, everybody's gone and the Mazoku are the new lords, we're all their toys and it's all my fault and this is all YOUR FAULT! You were able to control the Giga Slave, and mine ended the world as we knew it!!"
Lina froze like nitrogen had been poured into her veins.
The other Lina, having gotten that out, calmed slightly. Only slightly. "Sure... I destroyed Shaburanigdo. The world was saved. But the darkness got wild, the chaos.. the Lord of Nightmares burned Gourry, Zelgadis, everybody. The entire world was tainted from that day on. My magic burned itself out from the spell's power, drained from me. The Mazoku were overbalanced, they took over, feeding on the negative emotions they craved... I-I-I... I suffered their... for years and years, and running to hide without being able to, and.."
The stick locked back onto her target.
"And here you are," the white-haired Lina said. "Prancing around with Naga and Gourry. Not a care in the world, running off on some jolly little quest to get some mirror lores. And why? I know you, I know why. Because it seems like a good idea, because it might be fun, because it'd make you more powerful. Because you CAN. Let me explain just how much I hate you. There are thousands of blades of grass on this hill. If the word hate was printed on every single one of them in letters so small you needed a magnifying glass to see them, it'd only be a tiny percentage of how much I hate you. Do you understand now, Lina? Smile, and nod your head."
Lina Inverse nodded her head, but could not smile.
"I'm going to kill Gourry in a little while," the girl below her said. "He wasn't supposed to live. This whole world was supposed to burn, him along with it. I've got to put things right. I just felt... I just felt you'd want to know this, know what you should have been. Of course, I'm going to have to stop you so I can get my work done. Goodbye, Lina."
A tiny red dot raised itself, to Lina's forehead.
"W-wait, wait--" Lina started.
The roar of the weapon filled the air, and Lina closed her eyes. A whoosh, a smell of burned grass and a scream of pain...
Opening her eyes, she saw Naga facing down her mirror self, smirking defiantly. The stick lying on the grass. The white-haired Lina glared up at Naga with eyes of rage, nursing her shoulder, which had been burned by a pinpoint Flare Arrow.
"Lina, Lina!" Naga laughed. "No matter what world you're from... you're so naive! Do you think you can so easily kill my number one companion, Lina Inverse, while Naga the White Serpent is present? OOOHOHOOHHOOOO!! Now, I'll--"
The other Lina grabbed her stick from the ground and dashed with surprising speed into the safety of the forest, ignoring Naga.
"Naga! Follow!" Lina shouted. "She's going to kill Gourry!"
Naga took off like a gazelle, weaving in and out of the forest trees, using her longer legs for a speed advantage. Lina gathered her wits as fast as she could, pushing the nightmare experience down to be dealt with after this was over, and sprang into the chase as well.
Gourry ran along the street with his friends, laughing and playing. His blonde hair tossed back in a ponytail, as was the fashion in New Piper's Cove. They were brought up on good home traditions, saying what sorts of jobs were good honest labor, what sort of roles people should play, how everybody should get along. And they did get along, really, quite well; the neighborhood was a young boy's paradise, with friends to play with, things to do, no crime, no disease, no problems.
The group came to the abandoned field, where they began to play. They were all determined to be swordsmen, this little group, and were given practice swords for Year's Birthday; simple things, they could cut, but not very well. It was more than enough for them to start up the ladder of the Tricks, from watermelons to apples.
Gourry wanted to try insects. His friends thought he was daft to attempt it, since only the big kids could do insects, but Gourry was always the sort of boy who could smile and try something good instead of listening to others saying it was impossible. He liked the challenge.
They found a honey bee and caught it in a jar, then when Gourry was ready, they unscrewed the lid. The bee buzzed out, and Gourry rose, his feet like coiled muscle, his arms bringing the sword around, adjusting it a little, bit by bit, until it neatly cleaved the bee in half.
His friends were so impressed that they weren't able to make a sound. Gourry smiled, happy with himself.
Quiet clapping cut through the air like a snap, as everybody turned to see who was applauding.
"It's that tomboy Angie!" his friends laughed.
The girl, in her overalls dusty from a day's exploring and crawling through fences, turned red a moment out of embarrassment.
"Whoever heard of a girl that fights and climbs?" one of Gourry's friends said. "It's so stupid! And I hear she wants to be a swordsWOMAN!"
More laugher.
"Aww, come on, guys," Gourry said, trying to calm them all down a bit. "She's not all that bad. Angie-san, ne, want to try my sword?"
The boys looked at Gourry like had grown a second head.
"Why're you always sticking up for her? That's like the second time this week," one boy said.
"Maybe they're KISSING!" another said, grossed out.
"No boy that kissy kissy could do Insects," the new ringleader declared. "He must've conspired with that tomboy to fake us out!"
"Huh? No, I'd never tell a lie," Gourry said, backing off. "Guys, come on. Let's be nice here, okay? And--"
"Know what the Testabourne punishment is for liars, right?" the ringleader grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Dip 'em in mud so everybody knows they told a lie! Get 'em both!"
Angie, who was curiously waiting by the sidelines, looked alarmed. Gourry was quick to act, though, running away from what were at least five minutes ago sort of his friends, and quickly leading Angie towards safety from the raging mob. The posse followed the two of them for several streets, until he made it to a hiding place he knew he hadn't shared with anybody else; a crawlspace under Mrs. Radinov's front porch.
"Quick, get in!" Gourry said. "It's dirty, but--"
Without hesitation, the young girl slipped between the cracked boards, and disappeared into the dark. Gourry followed. The mob stampeded on by, without noticing.
"Sorry about that," Gourry whispered. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble."
"It's okay," Angie said, her breathing fast. "Just was scary a minute. I was worried you might.. well, agree with them."
"Naw. You want to be a swordswoman, right?"
"Uh... yeah. Although I haven't told anybody other than my mom."
"I'm going to be one too," Gourry whispered. "I'm going to be one of the best swordspeople that ever lived. And daddy always says that when you agree to do a job, you gotta do it right and do it well. You're gonna do that too, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"Then it's okay," he smiled. "You wanna train sometime? I--"
Memory shifted, askew by an angle. Gourry felt something odd; this wasn't how he remembered things. The boards of the porch were noisily pried up, torn plank by plank. Angie scooted backwards, surprised, as a hand reached in to grab her.
The Goon smiled into the dark space where the two children hid. But it wasn't exactly the Goon; the hair wasn't a fiery red, it was a light blonde, long and wild in a dashing sort of way. "She knows what her job's SUPPOSED to be," he laughed. "C'mere, girl..."
Angie turned to Gourry, and smiled. Her face shifted, one with a sly grin, with purple hair.
"As much fun as this is, if you don't wake up soon, you'll never wake up," Xelloss said. He raised his ruby-tipped staff, and--
Gourry's eyes snapped open, his body rising from the cheap cot stuffed into the back of the Sinister Icy Black Hand of Death's Current Hideout. Commotion filled the cave, the sounds of a battle. Swords clashed, spells were being cast; he could hear voices shouting the spell incantations, voices shouting back.
Through the dim light, he could see Lina and Naga, trying to stave off every single one of the bandits at once, who were being knocked around like leaves by magical spells only to rise again. The Goon directed the charge, Lily hovering over the room to watch over the battle, radiating a soft white light for some reason. Fifty two to two was not good odds.
Gourry sprang to his feet, grabbing the Sword of Light from the floor, and drawing it. No lying down on the job. Lina needed help.
The girls were able to hold back the bandits and their sorceress, but only barely. Having that many bits of sharp metal and destructive spells waved at you in a confined space was more than two people could handle, no matter how strong, and they were trapped in the back of the cave with him; one of the disadvantages of having a hideout with only one entrance/exit. This was going to be a tough escape.
"Lina!" Gourry called.
Lina threw a quick glance at him. "Gourry? How'd you wake out of a Sleep spell??"
"I'll cut through," Gourry said, gesturing to the crowd. "Follow in after behind me! Let's go!"
Gourry ran past Lina, into the fray, slashing and spiraling into the battle with honed skill. He wasn't a bright man, he knew, but he was an Insect-level swordsman, and this is what he did. Bandits went down only to come back up again, but he kept them away from himself, trying to clear a path through the sea for Lina and Naga to follow. A spare look backwards showed them able to keep up with his frenzy of attacks, his sword gliding from form to form, using whatever technique would work best to make the person in front of him be somewhere else.
He made it to the mouth of the cave, only to be stopped by the Goon, sword clashing on sword as he was halted in his tracks.
"Gourry? What gives??" the Goon asked, incredulous. "I thought we were tight! Now you're helping these bitches mow down my boys?!"
"We're not tight," Gourry said, keeping his grip on the swordlock, keeping his ground against the Goon. "I don't care if we're from the same place, if we had the same uncles or whatever. We're not the same now. Nobody kills Lina while I'm on duty."
Goon's face contorted in anger. "You PRICK!" he shouted, having nothing more intelligent to say, and shoved against Gourry. The sword lockup was broken, but Gourry quickly recovered. He watched Lina and Naga fly over his head, taking refuge in the trees, finally having enough room to get away from the mob. The bandits weren't sure what to do, their bossman in a duel, their quarry having gone to higher ground. Lilly floated near the cave entrance, also looking pensive.
"All of you, back off!" the Goon shouted. "ALL OF YOU! This one's mine. Then his little girls are mine, too. Nobody make a move!"
"Lina, don't do anything," Gourry warned, looking at the two. "This won't take long."
The two Testabourners faced off, circling slowly.
"I'm Insect too," the Goon said. "Don't forget that. I'm more of a man than you've proven to be. If you give up, maybe I'll let your women go."
"Shut up and fight," Gourry said, with uncharacteristic acidity.
The Goon dashed forward, sword in the fifth stance Gourry was taught, yelling in anger. Parry, dodge. Evade. He slashed out in the V-curve form, which was blocked, and countered but counterparried.
Sparks flew as the two battled, two minutes of raw intensity. When it ended, the only way anybody knew the fight had finished was that one of them had stopped moving.
The Goon sank to his knees, looking surprised, and then collapsed.
Bandits are not a particularly loyal bunch, no matter where they come from. The minions in the group slipped away / ran away / fled in a panic when their boss was cut down like grass, blending back into the night. The fight was over in total. Lilly hovered in one place, a look of shock on her face.
Lina and Naga hopped down from the tree, curious. Naga poked the Goon with the toe of her boot.
"Who was that?" she asked.
"Doesn't matter," Gourry said, sheathing his sword. "We should probably get going. The smithy's done our coach by now."
"I lost track of her," Lina said. "We were following her here, but she got away in the battle..."
Naga peered up at the white sorceress, who was still hanging around. "He's toast now. You can do better than him, anyway. Considerably better. Want to travel with us instead?"
Lilly ignored Naga, landing beside the defeated Goon. Her glowing hands were placed on his body. A healing spell moved through his system, knitting the wounds like cloth before everyone's eyes. And the Goon woke.
"Not again," Lina grumbled. "Oooookay, we'll just--"
"I defeated him," Gourry said. "He won't attack us again."
The Goon looked incredulous at Gourry. "You did, yeah," he nodded. "Fine. You win this round, pansy."
"No more rounds. If you try this again, I'll defeat you again," Gourry said. "Leave us alone."
Lilly wrapped a bubble of energy around herself and the Goon, to provide them an exit. The Goon smiled down at Gourry. "We're not through with you yet, pal," he called out as the bubble shot away over the treetops.
"Um... should we go after them?" Lina asked.
Gourry watched the bubble vanish through the foliage.
"Let's just get out of here," he said. "It's late."
orning soaked Noh Wheir like a fine layer of dew; sparkling and cleansed. Except, of course, for the destroyed buildings left in the wake of the previous night's disasters. However, the people of Noh Wheir were a fine and polite folk, and told Lina and company that they could certainly spend the night and rest up after what happened, and as long as they were out of town by lunchtime, they would not be lynched.
That was good enough for Lina, who needed her sleep. The space behind the smithy's shop wasn't really enough for three people, but Naga, Gourry and herself managed it just fine. She dreamed of penguins and sealing wax and other random things with no meaning whatsoever and enjoyed it.
Breakfast was had at the local restaurant, which was more than happy to give them a free meal if they'd leave right after they ate it. Lina had eggs and toast and bacon and a tall glass of orange juice and a whole roasted pig. Fed, rested, and ready to go, she wandered back with her little group, talking about things to come and things that had past. Daylight helped illuminate things somewhat for them.
"At least we know who's been dogging us," Lina said. "I don't like it. Not in the slightest. But at least we know."
"I didn't know you had an evil twin sister, Lina," Gourry said. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"I don't HAVE an evil twin!" Lina groaned. "Like I said the last time, she's from a parallel timeline where my life developed after we killed Shaburanigdo in a different way and as a result she's heavily traumatized and definitely doesn't have the same mindset as me, and resents me for being able to get out of that one without a scrape. Do you understand?"
"Ummmmmmmmmmm... no. Not at all."
"Then she's my evil twin," Lina said, rolling her eyes.
"Ah, okay! I get it now."
"Those three are going to be a bother, aren't they?" Naga asked. "Bugging us all the way to Evilania. Should we have finished them off here and now and saved ourselves a great deal of hassle?"
Lina and Gourry shook their heads at the same time.
"She may be confused, and definitely psychotic, but she's still me in some way," Lina said. "She wanted me dead. I don't particularly want to want what she wants in the other direction, if that makes sense. I'll figure out what to do about her later, but getting rid of her is not an option. I think I've got a good grip on what's going on now, so there's not anything left unknown to dread over. Makes it easier to think about. Far more dangerous, but I'm okay with ordinary danger."
"And as for that guy, he may be a real jerk, but I don't like killing people," Gourry agreed. "I'd never have dueled that far, even if his girlfriend could heal him. But I knew he wouldn't give up unless I went all out. Insect rankers take that stuff seriously, or something."
"I'm not so sure about that sorceress as being his 'girlfriend'," Naga said. "Something about her worries me. I don't particularly like how that ruffian treats her, either. And naturally, as a heroine, I'll have to do something about it."
The three of them paused, each thinking deeply about something or other.
"Either way," Lina concluded, "I'm glad they're gone for now."
The smithy produced the coach, repaired and refinished. The horses were considerably calmer, and Gourry was given a bottle of pills and instructed to give them two pills every third day for five weeks, which he immediately forgot.
"Oh, by the way, someone dropped this off for you," the smithy said, handing Lina an envelope. "It was in the mailbag this morning."
"Eh?" Lina asked, pausing in hauling herself into the coach. "Who would know we'd be out in the sticks?"
"Perhaps it's a magic letter!" Gourry smiled.
"Get real, Gourry, there's no such thing as correspondence magic," Lina laughed, opening up the envelop. "'Dear Lina. I'm using this correspondence magic to get you a letter and let you know thaaaa...' What?!"
Gourry looked positively smug.
Lina gripped the letter tighter. "'...let you know that, as you've probably figured out through my less than subtle maneuverings to keep things lively, I'm following your progress in interesting ways. Entertaining as always. You're going to want to take the the road to your left when you reach a fork in the next three hours of travel. I'd say why, but that is a secret. Have fun. Signed, X.'"
"Gosh, who do we know with a name like 'X'?" Gourry asked, scratching his head.
"I met a nice person named Xena once," Naga said. "She had excellent fashion sense."
"Just drive, Gourry," Lina said, slumping into a seat. "Call me crazy, but I think our problems are definitely not over yet. And turn left in three hours."