"Next time I see that punk I'm gonna fireball him to the other side of the continent!" Amelia rolled her eyes. It had been an hour since they'd left the inn and the incident. Yet, Lina was still ranting on about it. "The nerve of him to threaten me and then just run away!"
"Um...Miss Lina, he threatened us too." Hearing Amelia's voice made Lina turn for a split second before she continued ranting.
"That doesn't matter...he threatened me!" Lina shook her fist angrily. "I swear, I'll see him again and I'll make him pay." and here she fell relatively silent, before stopping suddenly and doubling on Gourry. Raising her fist as high as she could, she planted it on the top of his skull.
"OW! What was that for????" Gourry whimpered, rubbing the now tender spot on his cranium.
Lina huffed and continued walking. "That was for stealing my sausage this morning when I wasn't looking." She wasn't blind ya know.
Finally they came across the crossroads that split into the cardinal directions: North, South, East and West. Turning North, Zel couldn't help but smile the tiniest bit under his veil. Maybe this would be it. Maybe this would finally be it. He didn't noticed that Lina had stopped; none of them did until about ten feet onto the road.
"Hey Lina, why'd you stop?" Gourry had first noticed Lina's presence missing and had turned around. His question made both Amelia and Zel stop and turn too. Sorceress in question had one foot on the road north, and the rest of her turned around, gazing south. Walking up to her, Gourry waved a hand in from of Lina's face. "Lina? Anyone home?"
Lina's "trance" was finally disrupted and she jumped a little, turning. "Huh?"
"You were just standing there, staring south." Lina blinked at the princess's remark.
"Weird." With a shrug, Lina continued walking north with the rest. However, after a few more feet, she began to slow down and once again started staring south.
"Miss Lina, you're doing it again." Amelia muttered, mostly to herself. Lina probably couldn't hear her anyways...
"I know."
Lina's voice made Amelia jump. "You heard me?"
"Of course, I'm not deaf." Lina answered snippish-like, however destractedly.
"Can we get going now?" Zel crossed his arms impatiently. This was why he sometimes disliked traveling with Lina. They always got where they were going slower then if he went by himself.
"....we have to go south." Lina's answer shocked everyone. It then got mixed reactions.
"Why?" Amelia's reaction.
"My cure is North!" was Zelgadiss's.
"Um...okay." was Gourry's.
"Because I said so; I don't care; great!" was Lina's response to each, pointing a finger at each person she was referring to.
"I don't care what you say, I'm heading north." Finality rang in Zel's tone as he turned around and starting walking his way.
"You can't."
Lina's determination made Zel curious, but he was getting angry...and annoyed. "Why not?"
"I don't know..it's just a feeling I have..."
"Phah..." At Lina's flimpsy response, Zel turned and started once again to walk away.
"I'm serious Zel! None of us can go north, especially you!"
"Sorry Lina, but I'm goin - " Zel was cut off by instant-slumber. While he was talking, Lina had run up behind him with a powerful sleep spell.
"No, I'm sorry Zel. But you can't go." Lina huffed and then started walking south. "Gourry, carry Zel."
Gourry looked unsure at first and then went over and hefted Zelgadiss onto his shoulders. "He's...heavy!"
"Deal with it." Was Lina's response and she started heading south. Amelia and Gourry exchanged glances for a moment, and then started after her.
"$#^@! I thought you said they were coming this way, Dinenda." Satumo was quickly losing his patience. It had been at least an hour over the time that they were supposed to have come into view.
The elder of the two camped in the trees next to the road glared at the younger. "Silence. If you hadn't been a fool and threatened them back at the inn, they probably would still be heading this way."
"Well, which way are they going now?" the younger asked irritated, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"Patience, Satumo; give me a moment." Sweeping his long hair out of the way, Dinenda tilted his chin and sniffed at the air like a wolf on the hunt. After a few moments, he opened his eyes once more and smiled ferally.
"They're heading south. Most likely towards the first gate."
This worried Satumo, a great deal. "Do you think Anatole has awoken yet?"
"No, I do not sense her presence but she surely will if the key is allowed to reach the gate." Pulling his cloak tighter around himself, Dinenda pursed his lips and gazed as far south as he could; however, he could not see much past the crossroads. "Report to the Empress. Tell her about the change of plans."
Nodding, the younger of the two stood and stared off into space, silver eyes growing vacant for a time. Dinenda stood silent and perfectly still until the other was fully concious once more.
"Ranule says the the Empress wants us to proceed. We are to keep them from reaching the gate by all means...even if we have to cut her head off to take the key." Satumo blinked a few times to clear his vision before awaiting his mentor's reaction.
"Perfect. I haven't done a good decapitation in some time." Stepping off of the branch he was balancing on, Dinenda landed lightly on the ground and waited for his companion.
"The Empress said she preferred that she was brought in alive." Satumo hopped off the branch and landed next to Dinenda, flicking back the ponytail that had fallen over his shoulder.
Dinenda's smile faded. "Oh she would want to spoil my fun now, wouldn't she." Shaking his head, the elder took a step forward. "Come Satumo. They are not far. We should reach them soon." And at that, Dinenda phased out quickly, with Satumo not too far behind.
"I don't think Mr. Zelgadiss is going to be very happy when he wakes up." Amelia commented from her side of the fire.
Lina glanced over at the sleeping chimera and then looked up at the moon risen in the sky. "Especially with the migraine he's going to have when he does wake...which should be right about now."
As if on cue, a groan was heard from the lump named Zelgadiss. Amelia looked surprised. "How did you know that he would wake up now Miss Lina?"
"I put a timer on it." Lina answered cheerfully, walking over to Zel and squatting next to him.
After stirring a few moments, Zel slowly sat up, a hand clutching his forehead. "What the - "
Zel's question was cut off by a mug of coffee thrust in front of his face. "Here you go. It might help your headache too. Sorry about that...it's an unexpected side effect of an instant sleep spell."
He couldn't help but glare at Lina as he took the mug and took a long sip. It did help his headache a little, but not his disposition towards the sorceress. "I should kill you for what you've done."
"Oh get over it Zel." Lina waved the comment away with her hand. "Your cure wasn't that way anyways." Finding that Zel was all right and in one peice, Lina stood up and sat at her section of the fire.
Zel grumped. He wasn't exactly in the best of moods right now. "How can you be so sure?"
"Stop sulking Zel, it doesn't suit you. It's just a feeling I have and if you even blow it off like you did earlier I'll slap another sleep spell on you and we'll keep travelling like we have been." Lina accented her comment by tossing a peice of wood onto the fire, making it spark up hotly.
Zel personally didn't like that idea very much, considering his head was bad enough as it was. However, he wasn't going to give up a lead in his cure that easily. "So what is so important in the south?"
"Dunno really. I have a feeling that the answers to some very important questions of mine will be answered there...and possibly your cure." Lina poked at the fire with a stick as she spoke; the flames reflected in her crimson eyes and glinted oddly off the circlet peice on her forehead. Zel wouldn't have believed her normally, but something in her face told him that she truly believed what she was saying.
"What kind of questions?" Gourry had returned from nearby with a string of fish just in time to catch the last part of their conversation.
"None of your business!" Lina snapped...and then saw the fish. Jumping up, she ran over and grabbed the fish from him. "Foodfoodfoodfoodfood!!" Hurrying over, she began to put the fishes on sticks by the fire.
The normality of the whoele scene wasn't meant to last too long however. Everyone was interrupted by a soft "meow" that came from the nearby bushes. Turning, they were all greeted by a thin and rather hungry looking calico cat. Lina blinked a few times, almost dropping the fish-on-a-stick that she hadn't been able to stick in the ground just yet. Eyeing the fish hungrily, the cat stayed along the very outer-edges of the campsite, pacing ever so slightly. Lina had to admit...it was rather cute...in it's own way.
Walking over slowly, Lina held out the fish in front of her and sat down. Not too long after, she had managed to coax it onto her lap, where it finished off the last bit of fish. By then, the rest of the fish had finished cooking. Scooping the cat up in her arms, Lina walked over and sta in her previous spot; there she fed the cat little bits while she ate.
"The world's going to end...Lina's sharing her food." The corner of Zel's lip twitched up ever so slightly at his comment, hiding it behind a fish of his own.
"The world's going to end...Zel made a joke." Lina countered playfully. Zel raised a brow; Touche'. "Besides, I love cats."
"I never knew you liked cats, Miss Lina." Amelia spoke as she rolled out her bedroll. She had finished her fish and everyone else wasn't too far after. Lina scooped up the cat who soon snuggled up to her chest and made itself comfortable. "You never asked." Flopping on her back on her bedrool, Lina held the cat above her and stared at it a few moments. "I think...I'll call you Fluffy." At that, the cat seemed to look extremely disgusted. Or, as much as a cat could look digusted. Lina couldn't help but laugh. "I'm just kidding. How about Neero?" The cat instantly started purring and rubbing his head against Lina's hand, which in turn caused her to giggle a little. She never figured out why, but cats always made her feel like a little girl again. "Neero it is."
After the final name was decided, Neero crawled into Lina's bedroll with her and nestled in her arms. Amelia, Gourry and Zel had all crawled into their respective beds, but Zel glanced over at Lina and Neero once more before falling asleep. In all his life, he never thought that he, Zelgadiss Graywords, would ever be jealous of a cat.
Dinenda couldn't hide his smirk no matter how hard he tried. Watching the goings on below was the most fun he had had in the longest while; he couldn't tell whether Satumo was grimacing or grinning when he was being held against the sorceress's chest. He couldn't wait to inform him later that he was snuggling up with the dramatta. Wouldn't Satumo be surprised. Getting himself settled the best he could in a tree overlooking the camp, Dinenda thought about the net day. First they would try to take the key from the girl by force. If it wouldn't come off then he'd just take her as a whole. If then she wouldn't come peacefully, which seemed the most likely case from what he saw below, then...well, one quick swipe and his load would be lighter. A body lighter that is. All the better for him.