The gentle cadences of Gourry's voice woke Lina. When she opened her eyes she saw that he was resting with his head on her stomach as he talked to her belly, "Today I'm going to have bacon for breakfast. Just wait till you get to try it! It's so yummy, you're going to love it."
"What are you doing?" Lina asked groggily.
"Talking to Dimmy." He said.
"Why?" Lina asked as she rubbed her eyes. "It's not like he's going to talk back."
"So he can get used to the sound of my voice so he'll know who I am when he comes out." Gourry explained.
Lina smiled affectionately, "Idiot. I don't think he can hear you."
Gourry gently caressed her stomach and then started singing a morning ditty, and Lina felt a warmth run through her as she thought again about what a good father he was going to be. The fears that Prasutagus had possessed her child were slowly dissipating with time and she was starting to grow more excited as the life within grew more noticeable. Speaking of, "Well, what do you know? I think he's dancing. He is definitely moving at least."
"Really?" Gourry asked as he pressed more firmly on her stomach. "I still can't feel anything."
"I definitely am." Lina said as he sat up and then moved to kiss her.
Lina wrapped her arms around him and deepened the kiss even as an annoying pressure built within her. She could ignore it! Or so she hoped! But as he started to press against her, she realized she was about to have an embarrassing accident if things proceeded to their natural conclusion, so she hurriedly pushed him off her as she jumped out of the bed and said. "Hold that thought."
"Where are you going?" Gourry asked.
"Bathroom." Lina said as her cheeks flushed, "I swear he's dancing right on my bladder!"
"Okay." Gourry said, and then he grinned as he rolled over to the nightstand and opened a drawer pulled out a piece of paper and put another tally mark on it.
It was with relief that Lina noted that the manor was not destroyed as she came downstairs for breakfast with Gourry. Finally, they had exorcised the manor of troublesome ghosts and shadows! As they walked by they saw Peter moping, but he was definitely in the minority. Most of the students were talking excitedly about the camping trip in the following week, followed quickly by summer break.
As they got into the dining room Amelia was asking Leia, "Are you sure you two will be fine with all of those kids all on your own?"
"Positive." Leia said, "Besides, we want them to have as much self-sufficiency as possible. Having too many adults around would undermine that. Han and I have it all worked out."
"And then, when school goes on break, Leia and I will be off on our second honeymoon!" Han announced as he wrapped an arm around his wife.
"The benefits of this new job!" Leia gushed, "Before we could never afford to take a vacation together, one of us always had to stay behind to manage the store."
"Where will you go?" Lina asked as she sat down with Gourry.
"Ishta City." Han said.
"That sounds romantic." Amelia said as Jeeves came up to her.
"A message, your highness."
"Thank you." She said as she took it and opened it, and then she exclaimed in delight.
"What is it?" Lina asked.
"My daddy! My daddy says he'll be here at the end of summer!" Amelia announced, and Lina felt her stomach twist. "His wife will be staying in Saillune, she doesn't want to travel given her condition, but he'll be able to stay until the end of fall! The baby should be here by then and he'll have a few good weeks with her before he has to go home. It will all be so much fun!"
"Delightful." Lina said expressionlessly.
Leia sighed, "It will be so exciting to have the Crown Prince of Saillune staying here!"
"Wait till you see him!" Lina said, and Gourry and Zelgadis nearly choked.
"Well, if Amelia got her looks from him, then…"
"She resembles her mother!" Lina cut in, "Or so I've been told."
"Lina, aren't you happy my daddy will be here?" Amelia asked.
"Oh, I'm happy he was able to take time out of his busy schedule for this." Lina said, "It's also just intimidating. Nice as this place is, your palace is Saillune is better, and it's a lot of stress hosting someone so important."
"Oh, don't worry about that!" Amelia beamed, "We're practically family!"
Lina felt her stomach turn at the thought of being related to Phil and pushed her plate away. "You okay?" Leia asked.
"Baby is being particular today." Lina said, "I'm going to go ahead and get some assignments graded."
As they did every night at eight, Lina and Gourry walked into Lina's office. She sat at her desk while Gourry sat on a couch, and she glanced at the clock. "We are cutting it tight today." Gourry commented.
"They're usually late anyway." Lina said as the downstairs neighbor started kicking and she stroked her stomach in response. "Oh, I hope they wrap things up soon so they can get back and enjoy their summer break."
"Nerys doesn't have a home to go back to, and things are troubled at Owen's home. I really think they'd be happier here." Gourry said.
"Wow, that would be sad." Lina said, "Least we could do, given what they are doing. On that note, I was thinking, that we need to start setting some minimum standards for when we can send students on missions. Certain classes they have to take, a level of proficiency, minimum age requirements."
"That sounds…"
Suddenly Owen appeared in Lina's office. "Good evening."
"Evening!" Lina said, "How are things going?"
"The people following us are getting more daring. The Ceiphied Knights stepped in a bit today. And…"
Suddenly they could hear yelling and screaming from Owen's end. Owen appeared to walk over to check a window and his eyes widened. "Nerys! It's here. Garm is here, we gotta go!"
"Owen, wait!" Lina said.
But the transmission ended, and Lina and Gourry looked at each other in a panic. And then Lina stood up, "Let's track down Zel or Amelia."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Zelgadis asked. "We're supposed to let Nerys and Owen have the glory. You also don't want to undermine your confidence in them."
"I'm doing nothing of the sort! It's not as though we'll even be able to do much but watch." Lina shot back, "But I can't sit on my ass knowing they're being attacked and wait for news of them! So hurry!"
Zelgadis and Amelia exchanged a look, and then they chanted a vision spell. And soon Lina was projected with Gourry where Owen and Nerys had been, in what was now an empty hotel room. From outside they could the sounds of screaming and people barking orders. Then a creature howled a primitive guttural rasp, and more screaming followed. Lina and Gourry raced to the window and looked out. Fortunately someone had cast plenty of light spells, so Garm was well illuminated. If Lina had to guess she would say he had been a badger once. A white miasma surrounded him, giving him more visibility than his black fur would have otherwise provided. But his vulnerabilities ended there.
Getrude had not been exaggerating when she said that Garm was small but fierce. He put his weight back on his hind legs and then he launched himself at the swordsmen before him, taking three of them down with one strike. While Lina was sure she had seen several of them land blows that should have been lethal at him, Garm was unharmed. Lina looked at the pile of dead bodies and felt queasy. What if Owen or Nerys were among them?
But then Lina could hear Nerys cry, "Laphas Seed!"
Blue ropes wrapped themselves around Garm, and Nerys started to reign him in like a wild horse as his head thrashed back and forth uselessly. Lina worried that the spell wouldn't be enough to hold Garm, but it appeared to be doing its job as he became still. "Will that spell stop it from releasing that energy Trudy talked about?" Gourry mused out loud.
As if on cue, Garm's eyes glowed red and he opened his mouth, and Owen finally appeared, sword drawn as he raced towards Garm, obviously aiming to cut his head off. But then Owen stumbled and fell face forward. At first Lina wondered if it was deliberate, because a man behind him disintegrated into white ash as the invisible energy Gertude had warned about hit him. But when Nerys also fell forward, Lina sensed something was amiss. "What the…" Lina said.
And then a group of men rushed to both students and picked them up and more surrounded Garm. One even got out a muzzle and put it over the beast's head. Just when Lina thought that her alarm couldn't get any higher, she heard one of the men ask, "Should we just kill them?"
"What if we need the girl to cast that spell that's containing him again?" another said in response.
"Good thinking, for once." A third said, "Keep them alive. We'll threaten the boy if she won't cooperate. Get them secured, the sooner I can drop this off with Emperor Gregory the better."
"What are we going to do?" Lina asked Gourry, "We're projections! We can't do anything, and soon they'll be out of view!"
He put a hand on her arm, and pointed at a figure in the shadows, "Is that Dava?"
Lina squinted but all she could see was a figure in the shadows. Still, Gourry's eyesight was legendary. Even a golden dragon was impressed with his visual acuity! Try though she might, she could not tell if the figure was the Ceiphied Knight they had met briefly during their honeymoon. "I can't tell."
"I think it is." He said as they watched as they gathered Nerys and Owen and tied them up, while another grabbed the ropes holding Garm.
"They have about an hour before that spell will need to be recast." Lina mused as the men started to huddle as they talked about how best to transport Garm, while they ignored Owen and Nerys. Lina hoped that was an indication of their competency.
"What are you doing?" Nerys, who must have woken up, yelled, and Lina wanted to slap her. She should have stayed quiet and worked to get the advantage!
"We're bringing Garm to Emperor Gregory. You're going to help us!"
"That spell that's containing him isn't going to last for much longer!" Nerys protested.
"Then you'll just have to recast it."
"And if I don't?" Nerys asked.
"Then we'll kill your friend."
"He's not my friend. Go ahead and kill him."
"What?" her captor yelled.
"Exactly, what?" Owen, who apparently had also woken up, yelled, and if the situation wasn't so dire Lina would have laughed.
"Really, he's a pain in the ass! You'd be doing me a favor."
"B-but…" the captor stuttered.
"Look, if you're too chicken shit to do it, untie me and I'll do it myself!" Nerys continued to taunt.
One of the men laughed, "She's just trying to escape."
"You're going to have to untie me anyway if you want me to recast the spell." Nerys pointed out.
There was silence as the men started to realize that they were backed up against the wall. "If you don't help us that thing will get loose and kill us!"
"Well, that's why we need to kill him now while we have the chance."
"But we were ordered to bring him back alive!"
"Serves you right for capturing and not killing it!" Nerys shot back.
"Look, do you want money? Treasure? I'm sure we can work something out. What are the people who sent you paying you?"
"Shit." Lina said, "Well, I guess we're about to see how mercenary our students are."
"It's not a matter of money!" Nerys shot back, "The Emperor wants it alive so it can be unleashed against my country! There's no price you could pay that would convince me to work with you!"
Lina relaxed a little, but not fully, as the man asked, "How about if we rough your friend up?"
"She's a cold-hearted bitch who hates me." Owen said, "She wouldn't bat an eye!"
"You may think that now, but wait until you're screaming in pain!"
"Do that, and there may be consequences you don't anticipate."
From beside her, Gourry whispered, "She's chanting, very softly."
"What consequences!" the captor laughed, "You're just collateral!"
"Excuse me, but I am the son of a duke!" Owen yelled indignantly, "I am very important, how dare you reduce me to mere collateral!"
Several of the men laughed as one said sardonically, "Well, so sorry. How should we address you?"
"Ray Freeze!" Nerys yelled, and a golden glow encompassed their captures, as well as Garm.
"What!" Several of the men exclaimed, and one said, "But we tied you up!"
"Idiots." Nerys said, "All sorcerers know a spell that cuts through ropes. You're way out of your league here!"
Owen stood up and walked to Nerys. "Any chance you can cut my ropes?"
"Unfortunately, unlike Laphas Seed, this spell takes a bit of effort to maintain." Nerys explained.
"I will help." A woman said, and Lina decided that Gourry was right. She sounded like Dava. She walked forward and undid Owen's ropes, and he quickly found his sword.
Owen looked at Garm, who was hissing at him. "It seems a shame to kill him when he can't fight back."
"Given all the lives he's taken, kill him and be done with it!" one of the townspeople cried.
"What do you know about Owen's sword?" Lina asked Gourry as Owen assumed a fighting stance as he approached Garm.
"It's not as sharp as the Blast Sword, but it's sharper than a non-magic sword." He replied.
"But will it be enough?" Lina mused as Owen approached Garm, whose red eyes flashed as he suddenly opened his mouth as he broke through the muzzle that had been place on his head.
Fortunately Owen managed to grab one of his former captors, now captee, and threw him before him, just in time to catch the full blast of invisible energy that Garm released from his mouth! The captee turned to dust, and Owen ducked. "Damn, the Ray Freeze didn't stop him from doing that!" Lina said, but then her stomach flipped as Garm turned to face Nerys, his red eyes flashing once more.
From the ground, Owen rolled to Garm, and then raised his sword up. While the sword didn't puncture him, it did force him up and off the ground and altered his aim so he missed Nerys, even as he hit several others. They watched as Owen grabbed a ragged rock and brought it down on Garm's head. Garm cried out again, and then his eyes flashed as Owen brought it down again. Lina heard a sickening crack even as he released another volley of energy their way, though it was hard to tell for sure. Either way, Lina was grateful that they were protected from the energy by virtue of being projections.
Until the inn started to collapse around them as it was hit by the blast, and as it did they found themselves back in Lina's office with Zel and Amelia.
"No!" Lina said, "No, we need to see how this ends!"
"Can we, though?" Gourry asked, and Lina's stomach sank. With the inn destroyed and the set up that Nerys and Owen had used to contact them gone with it, it would be impossible until Nerys and Owen managed to contact them again. If they managed to contact them again.
"No." Lina said, her voice small as she explained to him. "Nerys would have had to make a magical circle to contact us. We could reverse the call because the magic circle was still there, but if the inn was destroyed, then the circle would also be wrecked."
"So what do you do now?" he asked.
Lina looked at the couch and sat down. "We wait right here until they contact us."
If they contact us.
Gourry sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her, and Zel and Amelia sat down as well, and as the butterflies zoomed through her stomach Lina wondered how long they would have to wait. Zelgadis asked, "Would you mind filling us in on what happened?"
Lina smiled wryly, "Well, it will kill some time I guess. Let's see…"
AN: Yes, I am back with this one. A Normal Girl is giving me fits, but I am back with this one, and know where I'm going for the next few chapters at least. Enjoy!