Lina groaned as she wiped her forehead, it was warm as hell! With yet another groan she moved to look at the rest of the group. Zelgadiss seemed to be deep in thoughts, and obviously not paying much attention as Amelia babbled on about the injustice that had taken place as they had been thrown out of the inn because of Lina and Martina's bickering, and the two mentioned were giving eachother warning glares all the time, which seemed to amuse Xelloss, who was walking a little behind the others. He sure got well-fed this morning, first the anger from the chimera, and now those two. So far so good, indeed!
They had been walking for some hours now, and the sun was high on the sky when Xelloss stopped.
"Stop," he said quietly, annoyance crossing his features for a moment as he looked around, and the others stopped as well and turned towards him.
"What?" Amelia asked, and Lina arched an eyebrow.
"Hey, if we're gonna reach the next down before nightfall we have to walk all day, you said that yourself!"
"We have to hide," warned Xelloss, a determined look on his face.
"Why?" Zelgadiss demanded.
"Because we're being followed."
"Get that elbow out of my face!" hissed Lina and pushed at Martina, who toppled over Amelia, who got pushed into Zelgadiss, who bumped into Xelloss, who simply grinned.
"My my Zelly boy, I didn't know you cared! But I'm afraid we'll have to wait..." he grinned and slammed a hand over the chimera's mouth just as he was about to protest.
"Lina Inverse, you pushed first!" Martina half-shrieked, but Amelia silenced her.
"Shhh, someone is coming!"
Xelloss' face went from cheery to serious, and even Zelgadiss, who didn't like the way Xelloss was holding him still, stopped wriggling and listened. Not too long after the group had gone silent they heard someone coming, allright. Everybody held their breath as some sinister looking figures wearing hooded capes came down the road, looking around.
"You fool, we lost them!" one of them said, and the other hissed back.
"It was your fault, what are we going to report now?" Then, to the relief of the bush-inspectors nearby, the two teleported away and to L-sama knows where.
After a few minues Lina was the first one to crawl out, brushing herself off from leaves.
"Dammit Xelloss, who were they?!" the sorceress demanded. With a big grin the Trickster teleported out from the bushes to stand next to her and shrugged.
"Well, I guess they're among Phibrizzo-sama's newly recruited horde of Mazoku."
"HORDE?!" the rest of the group face-faulted.
"Yes, they are looking for Juuou-sama's ring after all, and they know it's in your possession, Lina-chan!" Lina grumbled, and she was about to hit Xelloss over the head when Zelgadiss pointed at the sky.
"It's getting dark soon, we have to continue if we're going to reach that town you were talking of, Amelia."
The gang brushed off their clothes, then continued on their journey, dreaming of the soft beds and hot food which surely were awaitening them in the next town.
Gourry blinked. What if he turned it to the left, no! That didn't work right! Right? Yes, to the right maybe? Oh dang, he was back to where he had started.
Leaning against a tree at the crossroad where he had stopped, the blonde swordsman was doing his best to read the roadmap Lina had given him. The food he had been ordered to buy was now long gone due to a rather overhealthy appetite and the brains of a jellyfish that haunted him, so he had constantly taken wrong turns. With a heavy sigh he decided to toss to the map, and looked up at the sky.
"It looks like it's going to be dark soon," he said to no one in particular, then sighed again and looked around. To his great surprise and luck, he could see a town not to far away down the road, he could easily get there before nightfall. So with that Gourry Gabriev, self-proclaimed protector of the sorcery genious Lina Inverse and the swordsman of light, started marching down the road again, wondering where he, and Lina of course, had gotten to.
It was a rather quaint little town they had arrived in, Zelgadiss noted. Even if it was rather small, Ysibri was wellknown in the area. On both sides of the busy streets there were inns, taverns and shops, people running to and fro with their usual errands, and it was a cheery atmosphere where people seemingly didn't know about the dangers outside the forests.
Just because that THEY were here, the chimera thought bitterly. Lina stopped outside a small inn, then looked over at the others.
"This one seems like a nice one, I say we spend the night here," stated the redhead sorceress. Amelia walked up to stand next at her, looking at the sign.
"'The rabiat bunny'...?" she ventured, and that earned a chuckle from Xelloss.
"How cute... I've heard that this is a nice inn indeed, Lina-chan..."
"Of course it is, look!"
Everybody looked over to where Lina pointed, at a sign that said: Buffet restaurant -- everything you can eat for 10 silver pieces Amelia immediately got stars in her eyes, Zelgadiss sweatdropped, Martina rolled her eyes and Xelloss... well, smiled as usual.
"Come on, let's hurry before all the good food is gone!" exclaimed Lina as she ran in, followed suit by the justice princess who was dragging a rather loudmouthed chimera with her.
Chapter 7 | Fanfiction