I never thought I'd actually enjoy the sight of grass... Zelgadis thought, as she looked around herself in amazement. The terrain had changed radically since earlier that day, from dusty and barren to startlingly verdant. The four travellers walked through ankle-deep vegetation, much of it grass, or at least grass-like. Around them were small hills and boulders, absolutely covered by choking vines and roots. The occasional trees which, back in the wastelands, had been tiny and scrawny, were now bursting with robust vitality. It's a nice change from the neverending dust and stone, anyway.
When Zelgadis had first seen the fingers of vegetation clawing their way into the rocky wastelands, she had been amazed. It seemed unbelievable that plants could spring up so quickly, seemingly out of nowhere. Though she was impressed by their vitality, she still couldn't shake a slight feeling of uneasiness. The vegetation seemed unnatural somehow, different from what real plants should be like.
She could tell that the others felt the same way about Therilon's plant life. Amelia did her level best to avoid stepping on anything green, which was becoming harder and harder the further they went. Gourry shuddered whenever a frond or tree branch brushed past him. And Lina kept a close watch on their surroundings, whipping around at the slightest noise of wind on leaf. Their paranoia was infectious; Zelgadis sometimes couldn't help feeling that she was surrounded on all sides by some huge green menace.
During the day's travels, the four had encountered few plants that were even vaguely recognizable. Most seemed to be odd hybrids of some type, but a few -- well, no one had ever seen their like before. Some even seemed to be more like animals than vegetation.
A snaking tendril tried to curl itself around Zelgadis's leg as she walked through a thick patch of creeping plants. Grimacing, she shook it away, and sped up to avoid the other creepers' grasps. That was... unnerving, she thought, mildly shaken. But she was getting used to such things remarkably quickly. They were, after all, a regular occurence.
In a place as wild and dangerous as Therilon, it was easy to imagine incredible dangers, such as huge man-eating plants, driven by hunger to relentlessly follow their animal prey. The four travellers hadn't yet encountered anything of the sort, thankfully, but they'd found enough to keep them well occupied. There was no shortage of monsters in these lush green spaces, just as there had been no shortage of monsters in the barren expanses of shattered rock that they'd been travelling through for far too long. And other dangers of the forests had quickly presented themselves, too. The ground underneath the plants was just as shattered and twisted as it had been in the wastelands, only here large and dangerous cracks in the ground disappeared under a layer of greenery. All too often they were discovered only when someone stepped through a thin mat of plants onto nothing more than air.
Suddenly, Lina motioned everyone to a halt. "I think..." she said quietly. "I think this is it." After a long searching glance at the surrounding moss-covered boulders, and at the small grove of flourishing trees nearby, she gave a relieved sigh. "Yup, this is it."
"This?" muttered Zelgadis incredulously.
"Lina?" asked Amelia suspiciously. "This morning, you said you'd be taking us to an inn, right? Well, where is it?"
Lina smiled, the first sign of happiness anyone had seen for a very long time. "You're standing on it!"
Gourry immediately checked under the soles of his shoes. "But..." he tried to say.
Lina rolled her eyes and cut him off. "Here, between these boulders." She led the way, jumping down through a good-sized hole whose opening was surrounded by the large rocks, and partially hidden by the nearby trees.
Gourry and Amelia shrugged and followed suit promptly, trusting Lina's recollection. Zelgadis was the last to follow. She took a long final look at the strange land around her before jumping down to rejoin her friends.
Zelgadis landed and found herself at the end of a dark tunnel, walled in stone and with a floor of hard-packed dirt. The others had already moved on, attracted by the light shining up ahead, as well as the appetizing smells wafting in from the other end of the tunnel. Zelgadis followed, and ended up in a small underground room hewn out of the surrounding rock. Flickering lamps lit it almost as brightly as day. The violet-haired girl joined her friends, who were waiting by a large doorway, halted by a makeshift sign that read, 'Pleas Wait to bee Seeted.'
"It smells so good..." said Gourry, eyes closed, breathing in the alluring scents of the nearby dining hall. "All that food..."
"Especially after all those days of disgusting travel rations!" added a near-drooling Lina. "I'm so hungry..." She involuntarily took a step towards the dining hall, almost knocking over Amelia. The young princess of Saillune had pressed herself right up against the doorway, gazing longingly at the food being served and eaten there.
Zelgadis herself was starting to feel quite hungry, faced with her surroundings. She was looking forward to a good meal, too, just not as obviously as her friends were.
They didn't have to wait long at all to be Seeted. Just seconds after their arrival, a rotund, jovial giant of a woman noticed them and barrelled through the dining hall in their direction. Rosy-faced, she flourished a welcoming smile, and called out in a rich, joyful voice, "Lina! Lina Inverse, is it? How could I ever forget!" Turning, she yelled back towards the kitchens, "Marvin! It's that nice little red-haired girl from out of town!"
Instantly, everyone's eyes were on Lina. She cringed under the combined force of their shocked stares, acutely embarrassed. Lina? Nice? thought Zelgadis in disbelief. If I ever needed confirmation that Therilon is a bloody nasty place...
A nasal voice shouted back from the bowels of the kitchens. "Really?"
"Yeah!" yelled the woman. "She came back!" Smiling beautifully, she said, "My, my, Miss Lina Inverse... I never thought I'd see your sweet face around here again."
"Neither did I, to tell the truth," Lina admitted sheepishly.
"So what have you been doing with yourself all this time? It's been... oh, ages, since your last stay here."
"Oh, the usual... Saving the world, that kind of thing," said Lina.
"Ha, ha! Such a kidder," chortled the woman.
"How's business been, since I left?" asked Lina, seeming genuinely interested.
"Oh, flourishing beautifully. Marvin's been working his fingers to the bone in the kitchens, just to keep up." Changing the subject abruptly, the rotund lady asked, "And what brings you back to our country, may I ask? You seemed awfully eager to leave, if I do remember correctly..."
"Er... business," said Lina awkwardly, glancing covertly at Zelgadis.
"Business! How nice! But I see you've brought your friends too, and I've been neglecting them shamelessly." Addressing the three newcomers, she joyfully said, "We don't often get visitors from outside Therilon here. Welcome, welcome, to this country of ours!"
In a flurry of hospitality, the large woman continued. "I'm simply fascinated by people who've come from elsewhere; they always have so many interesting stories to tell! I hope to get to know all of you as well as I got to know Miss Lina here, all that long while ago," she said convivially, and introduced herself promptly. "They call me Dame Thornar. This little inn is owned by me and my husband Marvin, the one in the kitchens. He's the chef, and a very fine one if I do say so myself! This inn is our pride and joy, the product of all our years of hard work - and it's paid off splendidly. I'm very glad to see all of you, especially if you all prove to have such good appetites as Miss Lina here!" Her good-natured laughter proved to be infectious; everyone found themselves smiling easily.
After her mirth died down, Dame Thornar said, "Let's continue with the introductions, shall we? ... May I ask your name, young man?"
"Er... Gourry Gabriev," stuttered the swordsman, taken off guard.
"And you, my dear?" asked Dame Thornar sweetly of the princess of Saillune.
"My name's Amelia..."
She never had a chance to finish. Dame Thornar cut in, saying, "Ooh, what a lovely name. My maternal grandmother's second cousin was an Amelia. She was the one who was always arm-wrestling with trolls, if I do remember correctly..." The jovial woman turned towards Zelgadis, seeing her for the first time. Taken aback, as if she hadn't been expecting to see the likes of this young woman here, Dame Thornar simply stared at her. After a second or two, she quickly returned to her senses. "My pardon, miss. Your name?"
"I'm Zelgadis," said the violet-haired girl, slightly put off. I don't get it... I'm not an ugly freak anymore, so why am I still getting stared at?
"Zelgadis...?" repeated the portly woman, again looking strangely at the former chimaera. "An odd name for a woman..." she muttered. "But no matter," she said, her former joyfulness returning in spades. "If prior experience is any judge, keeping Miss Lina here from her food any longer could prove to be hazardous! So, everyone, this way, please."
Dame Thornar led the grateful travellers to an empty table in the middle of the small dining hall, where they sat down promptly. "A waitress will be with you momentarily," she said, handing out menus. "And I'm assuming you'll all be wanting rooms for the night?" One look at the four friends' travel-weary expressions told her all she needed to know. "Very good! It just so happens that we have a number of rooms free. They'll be readied for you while you eat. Hot baths and all," Dame Thornar said, noting how grimy the travellers were. She left promptly, moving on to make the neccessary arrangements.
Lina pounced on her menu and hungrily scanned through the available entrees. However, she curtailed her hunger enough to quietly warn her friends, "You don't want to eat some of the foods here. I found that out the hard way. Anything with 'scuthy' in it wouldn't be a good choice. And the casserole... just don't eat it."
"What is 'scuthy'?" wondered Amelia. "It's in a lot of the dishes..."
"As far as I could tell, it's a kind of poisonous spider," said Lina, making a face. "It wouldn't be so bad except they leave the venom glands in when they cook it. Improves the flavour, so they say."
"Oh. Okay," said the dark-haired princess, her curiosity amply satisfied.
A bright, perky waitress sprang towards their table. Notepad in hand, she chirped, "Hi! The special today is grilled black dragon steaks, with fresh seasonal vegetables..."
"Hold it!" interrupted Zelgadis, alarmed. "You actually eat black dragons?"
"Of course!" exclaimed the waitress, perplexed.
"It's actually not half-bad," offered Lina helpfully.
"But still... Black dragon?" Zelgadis was finding the idea mighty hard to accept. She was used to thinking of such dragons as dangerous creatures to be fought or avoided at all costs, not as food.
Dame Thornar reappeared, bustling her way through the dining hall. "Dragon meat is a delicacy in some parts of Therilon," she said knowledgeably, coming to the waitress's rescue. "The beasts are raised and killed especially for their meat. Here though," she said confidentially, "we just kill and eat them because they're general nuisances. They get into the gardens and make all kinds of messes, almost as bad as the squirrels..."
Gourry stared at his menu, aghast. "I'd rather eat a squirrel," he mumbled.
"Oh, no," said the waitress hurriedly. "We don't eat the squirrels around here."
"We never eat the squirrels!" snapped Dame Thornar. "Never."
Alarmed glances were traded between the four friends. We've been surrounded by those rodents almost since we got here, thought Zelgadis, starting to be scared. What kind of horrors are the squirrels of this awful place capable of, if even the Therilonians won't eat them? Even Lina looked a little queasy at the prospect of a great danger that she hadn't even known about.
"They're way too tough and stringy," continued the portly matron, oblivious to the travellers' alarm. "You get these horrid little stringy... bits... stuck between your teeth!" She pantomimed trying to yank a piece of squirrel from between her teeth. "Nasty stuff... no, we never eat squirrel around here."
Her explanation provoked a strained sigh of relief from the four travellers. So the squirrels are harmless after all. Who'd have thought? Zelgadis slowly shook her head. We're all so jumpy... The mere idea of another danger to be faced is enough to paralyze us with fear. It's sad, really, that we who've saved the world so many times would end up being frightened to death of squirrels...
"I still don't want to eat a dragon," muttered Gourry.
"C'mon!" urged Lina mischievously. "Try it! I'm having the special myself. Three orders, please," she told the waitress. "Plus a couple servings of the scalloped fern, a pot of your noodle soup, a side order of the house salad (no dressing), and... Wait! You have stuffed tomatoes? Gimme a bunch of those too! That'll be enough for starters."
After much prodding, Gourry was finally persuaded to try the dragon steak, several hefty orders' worth of course. Amelia couldn't make up her mind, and ended up ordering the soup and salad combo. Zelgadis finally settled on something sandwich-related that didn't sound too deadly.
The waitress took their orders and went back to the kitchen. Satisfied that food was on the way, Lina leaned back in her chair, relaxing in anticipation of the good meal - well, the full meal, anyway - ahead of her. "It's a pretty cozy place, isn't it?" she asked rhetorically, gazing around the little inn's dining hall. It had been roughly hewn out of the rocky ground, and its floor was pretty chipped and uneven, but cheerful tapestries had been hung everywhere. They added a splash of much-needed colour to the large grey room. As well, the numerous lamps and torches, both magical and mundane in nature, beautifully abated the cavelike gloom that would have normally pervaded the entire underground hall. "It's kind of a shame that everyone here has to live under the surface. It's just too dangerous up there," mused Lina.
Raucous laughter disturbed the dining hall's cozy atmosphere. Zelgadis turned and stared at the source of the noise, a good-sized group of people in long saffron-yellow robes. They sat closely packed together at their table, speaking loudly and rapidly. Apparently, one of their number had just made a particularly funny joke, and their combined mirth had echoed through the entire hall. It only figures that Therilon's people are just as weird as their land, the violet-haired girl thought, before pointedly ignoring the strange robed ones and their disturbing laughter.
Lina wasn't anywhere near as subtle, choosing instead to chuck a nearby oil-burning lantern at them, shouting, "Keep it down already! I'm trying to think over here!"
Aside from one of the yellow-robes frantically trying to put his now flaming clothes out with a pitcher of beer, Lina's protest went unacknowledged. The mirthful group remained as noisy as ever. The sorceress pouted, but realized it'd be futile to push the issue any farther. She started bugging Gourry instead, to pass the time before her food arrived.
"Hey Gourry, I just realized! I haven't hit you once all week!"
"Er..." replied the hapless swordsman. "That's okay, Lina, I didn't miss it that much..."
Zelgadis suppressed a chuckle. In the safety of this inn, her friends were starting to lose some of the edginess that had marked them for days. Here, in the warm, sheltered from a continuous stream of monsters, and with the promise of something marginally edible coming soon, everyone could almost forget that they were in the middle of the most dangerous place in the world. Amelia was so relaxed now, she had even fallen asleep, head resting on the wooden table...
Bemused, Zelgadis debated whether or not to wake the young princess. In the end, she chose to let her rest. If she can sleep through those noisy yellow-robes and their interminable laugh-fest, as well as whatever Lina and Gourry are up to, she really needs the rest. She's deserved it, I guess. We all have.
Ignoring the raucous robed people as well as Lina and Gourry's pathetic excuse for a conversation as best she could, Zelgadis took to watching the inn's other patrons as surreptitiously as possible. She was a little curious, after all; these were the first people she'd ever seen who had actually chosen to live in Therilon, despite its dangers. She wanted to see how they differed from more normal people, like herself or Lina or... Okay, maybe me and my friends aren't the best basis for comparison...
Aside from the party animals in yellow, everyone else in the inn's dining hall seemed to be halfway normal. Eating more-or-less peacefully, they almost filled the dining hall of this mid-sized inn, which prompted Zelgadis to wonder where they'd all come from. She hadn't seen any sign of human habitation at all during the past few days of travel. Well, if all homes here are concealed as well as this inn was, she realized, we could've passed an entire city and never known.
All in all, the patrons of this inn didn't strike Zelgadis as being much different from any average inn-goers back home. Except...
"Oww! Mommy, it bit me!!"
"Now, now, dear. If you hadn't played with your food like I told you not to, it wouldn't have bit back, now would it?"
Zelgadis decided then and there to while away the rest of the time by staring intently at the grain of the wooden table in front of her.
Her resolve didn't last very long. Startled by a loud 'bonk' and a pained protest from Gourry, Zelgadis's attention was turned back to the strange people seated around her own table.
Nursing a bruised head, the blond swordsman was desperately trying to avoid another blow from an enraged Lina. What did he do this time? wondered Zelgadis, faintly amused. Accidentally called her 'flat-chested' or something like that, no doubt... Luckily for Gourry, Lina's revenge was forestalled by the arrival of dinner. A heavily laden waitress staggered to their table, almost collapsing under the weight of all their food. She unceremoniously dropped the plates in front of each person, even nudging Amelia until the young princess woke and lifted her head sleepily from the table, so her soup and salad could be set there.
Lina whipped out a fork and started eating almost before her food hit the table. When she was most of the way through one of her dragon steaks, she looked up and noticed that she was the only one at the table who was eating. "Hey, what's wrong with you guys?" she mumbled through a mouthful of steak, before continuing with her meal.
With the utmost reluctance, Gourry picked up his cutlery and started attacking one of his own steaks. He speared a bite-sized chunk on his fork and lifted it to eye level, studying it apprehensively. It looked fairly normal, a bit greasy but otherwise perfectly edible, so he took the plunge and ate it. Looking pensive, he chewed carefully. For the longest time, he kept on chewing, steadily and persistently, until he finally swallowed. "It tastes..." he said, his expression indescribable. "It tastes like... Mud."
"Yup," commented Lina, still shoveling food into her mouth with gusto. "What else didja expect?"
Gourry shrugged, and, now that he'd tried the steak and found it to be edible, tucked into his dinner with almost as much enthusiasm as Lina.
His newfound enthusiasm was by no means shared by Zelgadis or Amelia. "Lina?" asked the dark-haired Saillese princess, staring at her salad. "What are those... things?"
"What things?"
"Kind of pale-coloured... er... crunchy-looking...?"
"Croutons, I think," replied the sorceress, after taking a close look at her own half-eaten salad.
"But I'm sure I saw one moving a minute ago!"
"It's probably just your imagination! Don't worry about it." Lina finished off her own plate of salad to prove it was safe.
Amelia, however, took no chances. "I think I'll start with the soup instead..."
Zelgadis couldn't help staring at her own food, distinctly unimpressed. A brown lump, vaguely breadlike, sat in the middle of the plate, surrounded by what she hoped were the 'seasonal vegetables' the waitress had been talking about. The overall effect was uninspiring, to say the least. But she was truly hungry, so in resignation, she lifted a forkful of the vegetables to her mouth. After the first bite, she grimaced and quickly swallowed before shoving the rest of the odd vegetables to one side, and started in on the bready mass instead. No matter what it is, it can't be as bad as those vegetables. Talk about your acquired tastes...
With knife and fork she carved out a chunk of the bread, revealing the filling that had been baked inside. It didn't look too awful, so she ate a small piece, ready to spit it out if neccessary. To her surprise, it wasn't bad at all. Hmm... there must be tomatoes in there, and some kind of ground meat I think... and cheese. Lots of cheese. It's actually pretty good... Relieved that she wouldn't be starving tonight, she ate happily.
Despite their hunger, no one could keep up with Lina's appetite. She polished off all her food and started flagging down the waitress once more, when suddenly a troll shambled into the dining hall. Grey-green and hideous, it shuffled forward, stopping by a table where a small family was peacefully eating. Everyone at Zelgadis's table stopped eating and watched the troll with some concern, but the violet-haired girl was surprised to see that no one else seemed to notice the beast's presence at all. All the other diners simply kept shoving food in their mouths, as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
The troll finally made its move, snatching a plate away from one of the children at the table, who started wailing. Amelia half-rose from her seat, intent on doing justice. Interference turned out to be unneccessary, however, as the wailing child's father took matters into his own hands. As the troll tried to run off with its prize, he shouted, "Hey! Give that back, you filthy beast!" He grabbed a walking stick away from an elderly patron and began bashing the troll over the head repeatedly.
He was joined in his efforts by Dame Thornar. She launched herself across the dining hall and faced the troll furiously. "How many times do I have to tell you creatures!" she shrilled. "If you want food, you'll have to pay for it like everyone else! Now get out!" She kicked it hard in the shins. The beleaguered troll ended up dropping the food it had stolen, and lurched its way back out of the hall as fast as it could.
Dame Thornar apologized to the enraged family and promised the still-wailing child another dinner free of charge. As the inn's hefty proprietor strode forcefully back to the kitchens, she angrily yelled, "Marvin! I thought I told you to troll-proof that door!"
"Sorry, dear..."
The whole incident had been accompanied by gales of laughter from the yellow-robed crowd. "Maybe they're laughing at the troll?" offered Gourry.
"Maybe," replied a half-listening Lina, her attention still fixed on the door where the troll had exited so hastily. "If it could find the door, then so could..." she murmured, then shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. She looked searchingly around the dining hall. "Now where's that waitress again?"
A while later, after Lina had eaten enough food to satisfy even her monstrous appetite, she sighed happily and patted her stomach. "That was perfect! I'm stuffed... So, do you guys all feel ready to head out for the castle tomorrow?"
Gourry almost had a heart attack; either that, or he started choking on his last piece of dragon steak. Amelia spat out a mouthful of the salad she'd eventually started eating out of boredom, and yelled, "What?"
"The... castle...?" said Zelgadis uncertainly.
"Of course, the castle! Where else? If you really are this Princess Amethyst, you would've lived there, right? Maybe there's still someone there who remembers you, and remembers what really happened there fifteen years ago."
"The castle..." repeated Zelgadis, a faraway look in her eyes. "You're right, it does seem like the best place to start."
"Naturally! It's not as if I haven't been planning this trip..."
Amelia looked panicky. "You can't be serious about going to the castle!"
"Of course we are," replied Lina matter-of-factly.
"But... but... all the stories say how awful it is there, how much worse than the rest of Therilon! We all know how bad it's already been; how could we handle any more monsters and... and... nasty things that keep attacking us, and..."
"Simple," said Lina harshly. "We have no choice."
After a sidelong glance at Zelgadis, Amelia conceded the point. The former chimaera felt terrible about this, though. "No one's making you come, Amelia," she said, staring at the almost-empty plate in front of her. "If you want to wait here instead..."
"Of... of course I'm coming with you, Amethyst!" gasped Amelia.
Lina was equally adamant. "We all agreed to come. No one's going to abandon you now, Zel! Right, Gourry? ... Gourry?"
The swordsman sat stiffly, mouth open wide, deeply in shock. "Gourry?" asked Lina once again, and whacked him on the head. "You okay?"
This snapped Gourry out of it admirably. "Sure, sure, I'm fine!" he hastily said while he recovered. "I must've heard wrong... for a minute, I thought I heard you say we were going to the castle!"
"We are," said Lina simply. This time when he sat there in shock, she just ignored him. "Tomorrow morning, before we set out, I'll ask Dame Thornar about the best route to take. I'm not that familiar with the land near the castle; I didn't really spend that much time in Therilon when I travelled here before."
"Lina, I've been wondering..." said Amelia uncertainly. "Why did you come to Therilon in the first place?"
"Oh, the usual reasons," said the redheaded sorceress flippantly. "Finding treasure, building a reputation... But mostly, to see if I could."
Amelia nodded slowly. "Knowing you, that makes sense, I guess."
Hardly listening, Zelgadis pushed the last few vegetables on her plate around with her fork. Something was bothering her, and it wasn't just the prospect of visiting the castle and being faced with the truth about her past. She thought back to earlier that day, when they'd hidden from the troll pack. Lina had mentioned something called a Wyrm, and had refused to explain what it was. 'You don't want to know,' she'd said forcefully. 'You don't want to know.' But can I afford not to know? wondered the violet-haired girl.
Finally, Zelgadis's curiosity got the better of her. In a voice loud enough that Lina couldn't pretend she hadn't heard, she said, "Lina, I still want to know what a Wyrm is."
As soon as she spoke those words, all noise in the entire inn stopped abruptly. The clink of cutlery, the low murmur of people talking, the sounds of dishes being washed, even the rowdy laughter of the yellow-robed people; all were gone. An apprehensive silence filled the room.
Zelgadis looked up slowly, and her face reddened with embarrasment as she saw everyone in the inn staring at her. Their faces were pale with fright. She laughed nervously. "Did I say something wrong?" she whispered, each word sinking through the silence like a leaden weight.
A child began wailing, his cry filling the hall. As his parents tried desperately to calm him down, the normal dining-hall hubbub returned, albeit slowly. Zelgadis's face burned in embarrasment, but she couldn't suppress a growing feeling of concern. What kind of creature could make Therilonians deathly afraid at the mere mention of its name? Just how dangerous are these Wyrms? I have to know!
Zelgadis tried to get Lina's attention, but the sorceress wouldn't meet her gaze. She seemed to be fascinated by the piles of empty dishes in front of her. "Lina," said the former chimaera quietly. "I still want to know."
Amelia, speechless, watched Lina to see how she'd respond. Gourry, who seemed to have recovered from his earlier shock, simply looked lost. He ended up watching Lina too, in hopes of figuring out what was going on.
The young sorceress sighed. "I guess you have a right to know. Therilon is, as far as we know, your country. So you'll have to deal with the Wyrms sooner or later." She was careful to say the dreaded word softly enough to escape the notice of everyone else in the room.
"They're a little like dragons," Lina continued reluctantly, "but they're much... much... worse. Bigger, faster, meaner - and a lot more powerful. They eat dragons, and just about anything else unlucky enough to get noticed by them. That's mostly because they hate everything, with no exceptions. They live to kill and destroy... That's why the people here have to live underground, have to disguise their homes. If a passing Wyrm suspected there was anyone living around here, it'd rip up the ground just to have the pleasure of killing them."
"I hope we never see one..." said Amelia, shivering.
"We probably won't," reassured Lina. "There aren't that many of them; they hate each other as much as they hate everything else. When I was here for the first time, I only ever saw one." Her expression darkened. "It noticed me in the distance, and it dived out of the sky, straight at me. I'll never forget the way it screamed, in rage and in joy. I'll never forget the coldness in its eyes..." She shuddered at the memory, but kept speaking. "I tried to Dragu Slave it, but it was barely hurt at all. The spell just seemed to bounce off its scales. It came after me again and again; I cast the spell again and again, and it was just barely enough to keep the monster from getting me. But I knew I couldn't keep it up for long enough. In the end I had no choice. I used my most powerful spell, my best-kept secret of secrets..."
"The Giga Slave," realized Zelgadis in shock.
"Yeah. It was the first time I'd ever used it. It was the first time I'd ever had to. But not the last..."
"But what about the consequences...?" asked the violet-haired girl, concerned.
"This being Therilon, I don't think anyone noticed."
Zelgadis thought about Lina's response for a while, then nodded in agreement. Considering what she'd seen so far of this breathtakingly awful land, that didn't really surprise her.
The meal ended in silence. The four friends were taken to their rooms, which were the height of luxury compared to the conditions they'd endured in the wastelands, but for some reason no one could enjoy them. Even the sight of a hot bath wasn't enough to lift Zelgadis's spirits.
No one could forget Lina's description of a Wyrm's attack, least of all Lina herself. No one could forget the fact that tomorrow, they would begin a long and arduous journey towards Therilon's castle, described in story and song as being by far the most dangerous place in a land that was already far too dangerous itself.