"Could always start with dinner," Gourry answered.
"Nah, I think I'll start a little before dinner," Lina replied, and began . . . .
-------------------------
"I'm hungry!" Lina whined,
dragging her feet a bit.
"Come on, Lina, it's not
that much further to the nearest town," Gourry answered her, looking back
over his shoulder at the wilting red head.
"But I wanna eat NOW!" Lina
cried, stopping and planting her feet.
Gourry got a wicked look
on his face, and teased, "Well, if you don't feel like walking, I could
always carry you to the next town."
"No thanks! I'll walk!"
Lina said, picking up her feet and moving out, while Gourry chuckled to
himself. Worked every time.
They reached the town a few moments
later, and Lina instantly headed towards the nearest tavern, her nose leading
the way. Gourry followed a little behind her, but stopped when he
reached the door. Making sure that Lina was occupied at the moment,
he reached into one of his pockets, searching for something. When
he found it, he grinned, and entered the tavern. He motioned for
one of the waitresses to come over and when she reached him, he pulled
something out of his pocket and handed it to her with some whispered instructions.
The waitress nodded, grinned, and disappeared into the kitchen, while Gourry
joined Lina at the table she had staked out.
"Oooo! They have chocolate
cake for dessert!" Lina cried, her eyes getting starry.
"Sure does look good," Gourry
replied, as the waitress returned to their table to take their orders.
"I'll have everything with
double portions!" Lina said, while Gourry ordered five items, triple portions,
of course. The waitress left, and returned a few seconds later with
a tray that literally groaned underneath the weight of all the food.
Lina and Gourry didn't waste any time; with weapons at the ready, they
attacked the mountain of food while cries of, "That's mine! Gimme!"
rang throughout the dining area.
After a short but fierce
battle, both Lina and Gourry leaned back in their chairs with happy sighs
of satisfaction. Gourry caught the eye of their waitress, and she
quickly came over with a large selection of
desserts. Gourry chose a key lime pie, and Lina chose a whole
chocolate cake, just as he knew she would. Once the desserts arrived,
they began to dig in, with Gourry watching Lina closely.
"What is it, Gourry?" Lina
asked around a mouthful of chocolate.
"Nothing, I just . . . ,"
Gourry broke off when he noticed a glint of gold in the forkful that Lina
was now aiming towards her mouth. "Lina, don't!" he cried, and grabbed
her wrist just as she was about to put the fork into her mouth.
"What do you think you're
doing?!" Lina angrily demanded, while trying to wrench her wrist out of
Gourry's strong grip.
"Don't eat that piece of
cake," Gourry said by way of explanation.
"Gourry, you're not making
any sense," Lina replied, starting to get impatient.
"Just look at that piece, all
right?" Gourry almost begged, releasing her wrist.
Lina gave him a funny look,
but did as he asked, and blinked when she saw the same dull glint of gold
that Gourry had picked up on.
"What the...?" she wondered,
as she carefully cleared the chocolate off a delicate gold band.
Upon closer examination, Lina could make out a faint pattern in the gold
that made the ring look like it was an everlasting ring of fire.
She felt Gourry's hand touch hers, and she looked up, her eyes wide.
"I know this probably isn't
the best place, but, well, I love you, Lina. Will you marry me?"
Gourry asked, his blue eyes filled with both hope and fear.
Lina stared at Gourry, her
thoughts in complete chaos. Gourry has asked her to marry him;
Gourry said he loved her, but how did she feel about Gourry? She
tried to organize her line of thinking and found
herself remembering instead...remembering a pair of innocent blue eyes
that she knew as well as her own...remembering a sweet smile that had always
seemed to brighten up her day. She remembered how empty she had felt
when Hellmaster Phibritzo had kidnapped Gourry and she thought she would
never see him again and, very faintly, she could remember his voice calling
out to her as The Lord of Nightmares had directed her body into the Realm
of Chaos. She grabbed onto that faint memory and more followed.
Memories of Gourry chasing after her as she was drawn further and further
into Chaos, of him grabbing her like he would never let her go, and of
her disappearing from his arms, leaving him alone in a world that was composed
of Nothingness. She remembered the joy she had felt as her body had
merged and become one with The Lord of Nightmares, of that absolute power
that had flown for a brief moment through her veins. He was the reason
she had come back. The joy she had felt upon seeing his face had
mirrored the same joy she had felt when she had been one with L-sama.
That joy welled up inside of her now, causing her eyes to shine and her
face to light up with an inner beauty.
Gourry shifted a bit, unsure
of what to make of Lina's silence and the strange way she was staring at
him. Suddenly, she smacked him over the head with her plate.
"Ow! Lina, what?" Gourry
managed to ask, only to be cut off.
"Gourry, do you have any
idea how long I've been waiting to hear those words from you?" Lina demanded.
"Ummm," Gourry answered,
now throughly confused.
"Try...ever since we first
met, though I only now realized it," Lina said, more to herself than to
him.
"Is that a . . . no?" Gourry
asked, his face dropping a bit.
"NO, YOU IDIOT! IT'S
A YES!" Lina screamed, losing her temper.
"R-really?" Gourry stammered,
afraid to believe his ears.
"Yes, Gourry. I love
you, too, and I would be honored to become your wife."
Gourry didn't hesitate after
that. He jumped up, grabbed Lina around the waist, and swung her
above his head while she laughed, her heart filled with joy. He then
dropped her down into his arms, and said, "I love you, Lina Inverse."
He gently brushed some of Lina's red hair out of her face before cupping
her chin and lowering his mouth to hers. They both jumped apart when
the entire dinning area erupted into applause, with the women sighing over
the romance of the moment, and the men whistling and shouting their approval.
Coughing to hide their embarrassment,
Lina and Gourry sat back down at their table and studied their desserts.
Gourry blinked, realized something, and picked the ring up off the table.
He held it out to her with a question in his eyes, and without a word,
Lina removed her left glove and held her hand out to the swordsman, who
gravely slipped the ring onto her finger. Lina then replaced her
glove.
"Pity we have to cover it
up like that," Gourry remarked.
"Until I can get some gloves
that have an open area where the ring can be seen, this'll have to do.
I don't want to wear it outside of the glove because I don't want to lose
it," Lina answered, finding that the
weight of the ring was the most comforting thing she had felt in a
long time. "I can safely eat the rest of my cake now, right?"
"Yeah," Gourry answered,
laughing, and the two dug back into their desserts, occasionally stopping
to glance at each other, blush, and then smile; each knowing that the other's
heart was singing.
-------------------------------------------
". . . and that's how it happened,"
Lina finished up, taking her glove off and showing her fire ring to Zel.
"If Gourry hadn't been watching
you, you probably would have wound up eating your ring without knowing
it," the chimera responded, finding the imagery that went along with his
statement pretty funny.
"I know that's the last
time I try to surprise Lina by putting something into her food," Gourry
grinned.
"I'm surprised you tried
it at all," Zel replied, well acquainted with Lina's formidable eating
habits.
"Well, I thought she would
see it before she wound up eating it," Gourry said, then glanced at the
fire which was starting to die down a bit. "I'm going to go grab
some more firewood."
So saying, Gourry stood
up and moved off into the shadows of the forest that surrounded them.
Zel gazed into the fire for a few moments, seemingly lost in thought, and
Lina was content to leave it like that.
"Lina, are you happy?" the
chimera suddenly asked, moving his gaze from the fire to the red head.
"Um, yes, I am. Very
happy. Why do you ask?" Lina asked, perplexed.
"I was just wondering,"
Zel replied. "It took you two long enough to realize your feelings
for each other, that's all."
"Well, Gourry realized them
before I did. However, you sound as if you knew something like this
was going to eventually happen," Lina said, giving Zel a funny look.
Zel grinned at her, and
said, "You could say that. I've known for a long time how you and
Gourry felt, and I wondered exactly how long it would take until one of
you popped the question."
"Just how long are we talking?"
Lina asked.
"Ever since the fight with
Shabranigdo."
Lina fell over in shock,
and sputtered, "But that . . . so long . . . "
"It was four years ago,
to be exact, and you had just defeated the Dark Lord. We were walking
down a road and Gourry had his arm around your shoulders, while you were
denying that you were the most powerful sorceress around. That
was when I realized that there was something between you two, if you want
an exact time frame," Zel answered calmly.
Lina stared at him for a
moment, then said, "What's on your mind, Zel?"
"What are you talking about?"
Zel asked, startled.
"You have this look on your
face that says that you're thinking about something, but that you're confused
about what you're thinking about. It might help if you try to talk it out,"
Lina answered.
Zel stared at Lina thoughtfully
for a few moments and sighed.
"I guess you really should
know, seeing as how you're heading towards Saillune, but Amelia may be
in danger," Zel began, and told Lina of Amelia's letters and her latest
mission to the Kingdom of Diolon.
"Diolon?!" Lina nearly shouted.
"I've heard some pretty nasty rumors about that place. The most disturbing
is that the royal family is somehow involved with a Mazoku. What
was Phil thinking, sending Amelia up there?"
"What's going on?" Gourry
asked, stepping into the firelight with an armful of wood. While
he added more branches to the fire, Lina told him what Zel had told her.
Gourry listened in thoughtful silence while he tried to absorb and understand
all that Lina and Zel were telling him about royal families and how it
was a really bad thing when they mixed with Mazoku.
"Basically, what you're
trying to say is that Amelia could be in serious danger, and that we should
be prepared for the worst when we reach Saillune," Gourry said, making
it sound more like a statement then a question.
"I don't like to think that
way, but you're right, and since we don't know the route that Amelia and
the guards took, we can't find her in time to warn her of the danger she
could be in. Not to mention how visible of a target she'll be if
they decide to do anything while she's riding. It figures that Phil
would insist on his daughter, a 'true warrior of justice', riding a solid
white horse," Lina snorted with disgust.
"Actually, Amelia got a
new horse recently that's pitch black, not white. She said Phil pitched
a fit when she told him that was the horse she wanted, but she didn't back
down, and has been training it for the past year. I think she said
it's name was Safir," Zel commented. "Either way, that should help
conceal her a bit if they're riding and attacked at night, but in the daytime
it won't make much of a difference."
Lina sighed, then yawned.
"As much as I hate to admit it, we can't do anything at the moment.
It would be best if we all got some sleep, and set out for Saillune first
thing in the morning. You are coming with us, aren't you Zel?
The shortest way to the Mountain of Tears is through Saillune, you know,"
Lina added, looking at the chimera.
Zelgadis thought for a few
moments, running over options and plans in his mind. In a gesture
that had become a habit, his right hand reached to his water bottle, and
touched the bracelet that was hanging off the
lip. An image of dark black hair and unfathomable blue eyes rose
in his mind, and he made his decision. He wanted to see her again,
to make sure she was safe and happy. Only then would this unnecessary
worry leave him, and he could continue on with his quest for a cure without
any more annoyances. At least, that's what he told himself.
He wasn't about to look into other reasons for going to see Amelia.
"Yeah, Lina, I'll come with
you. If anything, Amelia could probably tell me exactly where the
shrines are that I'm looking for," Zel answered.
"Good," Lina grinned, the
stretched. "Well, I'm headed to bed. Gourry already said he would take
first watch, so feel free to use his tent, Zel," and with that, Lina stood
up, gave Gourry a goodnight kiss, and disappeared into her tent.
"You can pick your jaw up,
Zelgadis. We are engaged, you know," Gourry said, his voice laced
with amusement.
"Sorry. I'm just not used
to seeing Lina being affectionate," Zel explained.
"I know. It took her
several weeks to get used to the idea of being engaged to me. You
know how she is," Gourry grinned.
"Boy do I," Zelgadis laughed.
"Well, if you don't mind loaning me your tent, I'll try to get some sleep.
I'll take second watch, too."
"Thanks, Zel. Sleep
well," Gourry said as Zel disappeared into the other tent, then settled
down and decided to pass the time by sharpening and cleaning the blade
of his sword. Gourry pulled his blade out and eyed it. It wasn't
the Sword of Light, but it had proven to be a reliable blade the times
Gourry had had to use it. Gourry pulled out a cleaning cloth, and
set to his self-appointed task, the sounds of fire crackling and the night
animals keeping him company.
--------------------------------------
Amelia was jerked awake by a hand over her mouth and a knife at
her throat.
"If you value your life,
you'll do as I say," a harsh voice whispered in her ear, and a rough hand
grabbed her hair and jerked her into a sitting position, alerting Amelia
to the fact that there was more than one person with her. The hand
in her hair suddenly gave a jerk, yanking out a small clump of her hair.
Tears of pain rushed to her eyes, but she blinked them back, determined
not to show any weakness in front of her attackers. After all, she
was accompanied by over a dozen Saillune Royal Guards, and if she could
just get her mouth free . . .
"I wouldn't do that if I
were you," the voice growled as she made a move to bite the hand that was
over her mouth, and the knife pressed a little harder against her throat,
pricking the skin. She froze when she felt a tiny drop of blood slide
down her throat.
All was quiet for a few
moments, and then heavy footsteps approached the glowing embers of the
camp fire and sparks flew into the air as a fresh log was tossed on top
of them. After a few seconds, the log caught on fire, and flickering
flames illuminated the campsite enough for Amelia to be able to see around
her. Her eyes widened in horror and she made a faint whimpering sound
when she saw the bodies of her guards strewn about the campsite like garbage.
Most had been downed by arrows, but a few had been slashed to pieces with
swords. Amelia could only reason that the arrows had taken down most
of the guards while they were sleeping, and those that were on watch had
been dealt with by the sword, most likely when they weren't looking, which
explained why she hadn't been awakened by any sounds of combat. There
hadn't been a fight in the first place.
As she gazed about her,
Amelia felt her fear turn to anger, and she made a growling sound low in
her throat. How dare they treat her people like this! If only
her mouth were free she'd show them the folly of their evil ways!
"Ah-ah, Princess," her captor
said, amusement evident in his voice. "I won't be letting you go
anytime soon, so you might as well settle down. We don't really have
the patience to listen to one of your justice speeches right now, seeing
as how we're running on a rather tight schedule."
Amelia ground her teeth
together, not caring that the creep who held her silent could feel the
grinding motion of her jaw. She tried to grab the knife to force
it away from her throat, but the man that had jerked her upright grabbed
her hands and held her still. Her captor suddenly barked an order,
and one man came towards them with a length of rope. He jerked her arms
behind her and bound her wrists, barely leaving enough room for the circulation
to make it to her fingers. He carefully cut off the excess
rope, and handed it to her silencer, who removed his hand from her mouth.
She was surprised by his move, but didn't waste time in opening her mouth
to demand what this was all about. What she got was a rag shoved
into her mouth with the rope passing over it, keeping it in place.
Amelia kicked out in frustration, but her captor merely laughed as he removed
the knife from her throat, and moved to where she could finally see his
face in the firelight. Amelia shuddered when she found herself meeting
a pair of gleaming, yellow eyes that were set in a face that resembled
a weasel's face.
"Now, don't think that we've
tied you up because we're afraid you'll use magic on us, because that's
not the case," the weasel man said, and the six men that were with him
snickered in a way that made Amelia's skin crawl. "Oh no, that's
not the case at all. You see, we have it on very good authority that
you're unable to use your power at this time of the month, and will be
unable to use it for several more days."
Amelia's eyes widened as
she was dragged out of her sleeping bag and over to an old fallen log that
one of her guardsman had dragged near the fire. Her eyes filled with
tears when she saw Jake's body laying in front of the log, an arrow protruding
from his chest. She bit her lip as she was unceremoniously dumped
in front of his body while her captors turned their attentions to the business
of gathering together loot and rounding up the horses. Amelia closed
her eyes briefly when she saw Safir among the other horses, which told
her just how fast these men had acted. She had trained Safir to take
flight and head home at the first sign of trouble, but the black horse
was so young and had been raised in such a secure environment that he had
waited to long before figuring out that they were in real danger.
Now, he stood amongst the tan horses of her guardsmen, ears twitching and
eyes wide and confused. It would take a direct command from her for
him to even act against the men that were handling him, and that was impossible
at the moment.
"No time to worry about
Safir now," Amelia thought desperately. "I've got to find a way to
get out of these ropes! I might have a chance if I can escape these
villains and make a run for it. I know I have no
chance of fighting them. Dammit! If only I had a knife
on me, then I could cut these ropes! Scratch that, they would have
taken the knife first thing. I wonder who they're working for and
why."
Amelia's whirling thoughts
were cut off by a soft, sticky touch against one of her bound hands.
Being careful to not draw too much attention to herself, she turned her
head to the left, and glanced down. If she hadn't been gagged, she
would have screamed, because Jake's glazed eyes gazed back up at her.
The touch against her hand came again, and her eyes widened when she saw
Jake blink.
"I-I'm dying, Princess,"
Jake's voice whispered, causing Amelia to strain her hearing in order to
make out his next words. "I have . . . a knife. Cut you . .
. free. . . then . . . run . . . " Jake's voice trailed off as the mortally
wounded young man brought his belt knife up to the rope that tied Amelia's
wrists together, and he gathered his strength and began to cut. Amelia
felt tears well up in her eyes and slide down her cheeks, and she bowed
her head, hoping that her captors would think she was weeping with fright.
She began straining against the ropes, pulling them taut and making it
easier for Jake's knife to cut through her bindings. She felt her
bonds loosen, then give completely as Jake's knife sliced through the last
little bit. She made sure to keep her hands held behind her as if
she were still bound as she turned her head once again to the left, looking
for all the world like she was gazing at the group of horses, when she
was really looking down at her guardsman and friend. Jake's eyes
gazed back up at her, and she felt him press his knife into her right hand.
"Might . . . need it . .
. luck . . . Pri . . . Am . .," Jake's voice trailed off as his eyes closed
and his body slumped down.
Tears freely poured down
Amelia's cheeks and she swore silently that if she were given the chance,
she would avenge the deaths of all her guardsmen, who had paid for her
safety with their lives.
"What's the matter, Princess?
Scared?" a deep voice bellowed across the campsite. "Well, don't
worry. Pretty soon I'll be making you feel much better."
Amelia went cold at the
implication of his words, and knew that she would have to make a break
for freedom the first chance she got. Before anyone could make a move,
however, the weasel faced little man, who was apparently the leader, drew
his sword and had it pressed against the mid-section of the man that had
threatened her.
"I will have none of that,
is that clearly understood? We're to deliver her to the castle unharmed,
got it?" the man said, pressing more and more firmly against the sword,
while the larger man began to sweat.
"Understood!" all the men
said, and the large man breathed a visible sigh of relief as the weasel
faced man pulled the sword away from his midriff.
Seeing her chance, Amelia
yanked her hands in front of her, ripped the gag over her head, jumped
to her feet and ran into the forest. She heard the men curse behind
her and, praying that her horse would be able to hear her command, screamed
over her shoulder, "HOME SAFIR!" There came the sound of a frightened
whinny, and then the ground shook as several dozen horses took off in the
opposite direction that Amelia took, telling her that Safir had heard her
command. Now all she could do was pray that he would make it home
safely.
As she barreled her way
through the forest, she cursed the long skirt she was wearing, because
it seemed as if it got tangled with her legs every few steps she took.
It also got caught on tree branches,
making her imagination run wild with thoughts that the forest itself
were trying to stop her.
A hand suddenly shot out
of the darkness and grabbed her, whirling her around and dealing a stinging
blow to her cheek, sending her crashing to her knees. The hand reached
out again and hauled her roughly to her feet, and she found herself staring
up at the man that had threatened her across the campsite earlier.
He slapped her again, causing her head to rock to the side, but his other
hand prevented her from falling.
"You think you're going
to get away?" the man hissed, bringing his face so close to Amelia's that
their noses seemed to touch.
"I don't think I'm going
to get away, I know I am. Justice is on my side," Amelia snarled
back, trying to bite him, but he only moved his head away from hers and
laughed.
"I don't think so," he said,
and placed one hand against the small of her back, dragging her until her
body was flush with his. Amelia's eyes widened when she realized
what he was going to do, and jerked her
right hand up and in between their bodies. The man gave an odd
gurgling sound, and a warm fluid splashed against her dress. Amelia's
hands flew up to her mouth in horror as the man stumbled away from her,
the knife Jake had given her sticking obscenely out of his rib cage area.
The man looked down at the knife in surprise, then up at Amelia as he slowly
collapsed to the ground, and the gurgling sound stopped. Amelia remained
frozen with fear and horror until she heard the voices of the other men
closing in and, with a strangled half sob, she plunged back into the undergrowth
of the forest, the man's blood slowly drying on her dress. Behind
her, she heard the men give a shout as they came across the body of the
man who had attacked her, and terror leant speed to her feet, but she could
still hear her pursuers as they closed in, and her heart lodged somewhere
in the vicinity of her throat. She ignored the sounds of ripping
fabric and tearing seams as she raced through the dense underbrush of the
forest. Her once expensive silk dress had now been reduced to a state
of rags by the thick underbrush, but she didn't care because now she could
run without her skirts getting tangled up with her legs and slowing her
down.
Looking ahead, she could
barely make out the moonlight through an area of extremely thick bushes.
Amelia sobbed as she felt her legs tire, and she just knew that she was
going to get caught. If only she could use her magic! She stifled
a scream as the harsh voices grew closer, and with a panicked burst of
speed, she barreled through the row of bushes blocking her from open ground,
only to have the ground drop out from underneath her as she ran off the
edge of a steep canyon, and plunged into the river below.
At the top of the cliff,
Amelia's pursuers stood near the edge and peered down at the swirling waters
of the river below.
"Where do ye think she'll
turn up?" one man spat.
"Most likely she'll wind
up dead. No one could survive that river," the leader grinned.
"We can count this job finished. We got the clump of hair, and no
one is alive to tell the truth."
"What about those horses,
Comadreja?" a tall lanky man asked.
"Gather as many as you can
find, but the others will probably be caught before they can even cross
our borders. Now, let's head back to the castle." With that,
the men turned around, and melted back into the forest.
Amelia found herself in
a true battle for her life, as she fought her way again and again to the
surface of the river for a breath of life giving air. She was already
tired from her run through the forest, and it became harder and harder
to keep her head above water. She was tossed around through the water,
occasionally slamming against the bottom of the river as the water pressure
forced her down. As she clawed her way to the surface again, she
felt something large float by her. She reached out and caught one
of the branches of an old log that was making its way merrily down the
river and clung to it with her waning strength, coughing and struggling
to reach a more secure position amongst its branches as she vowed to never
give up in this battle.
That battle was lost, however, when the log suddenly bounced
off of a large rock that was protruding out of the water, causing Amelia's
perch to go spinning around in a dizzying circle. She was completely
unaware of the second bolder until the back of her head struck it as her
log spun by. With her last thought only of Zel, Amelia felt
the darkness claim her.
--------------------------------------
"AMELIA!" Zelgadis screamed,
jerking awake and sitting up, bathed in sweat.
"Zel? Zel, what's
wrong?" Gourry and Lina's concerned voices sounded outside of his tent,
and the flap opened to reveal their worried faces.
"It's . . . it's nothing,"
Zel answered, his voice shaking a little.
"Like hell it's nothing,"
Lina said, and grabbed Zel by the arm. He blinked as he found himself
dragged outside and made to sit next to the fire, while Gourry added more
wood to the blaze.
"What was that all about?"
Zel asked, confused.
"You wake me up by yelling
in your sleep, then cause both Gourry and myself to nearly jump out of
our skin when you screamed Amelia's name. Not only that, but you
looked like you had seen a ghost, or something else. Now, what was
all that screaming about?" Lina demanded, sitting down next to Gourry and
across from Zel.
"Just dreaming, that's all,"
Zel answered shortly.
"Look, Zelgadis, we can
tell that something is bothering you. Lina and I are your friends,
and when we see something is bothering you, we'll worry and want
to help. Now, tell us what kind of dream would cause you to wake
up screaming," Gourry said, his gentle blue eyes completely serious.
Zel stared at the tall swordsman
in shock. It had never occurred to him that his friends would be
concerned about him, and the swordsman's words and Lina's actions had quite
literally come as a surprise to him. He took a deep breath, and made
his decision.
"My dream started normal
enough. You know, the usual nightmares about Rezo turning me into
a chimera and all, but then the dream suddenly changed. Everything
went black, and then Amelia was suddenly standing in front of me.
She was looking at me over her shoulder, smiling, and she looked like she
wanted to say something to me. Suddenly, the ground disappeared from
underneath her, and she began to fall, calling my name. I was trying
to reach out to her when I woke up."
Lina looked thoughtful for
several seconds, while Gourry asked, "Do you think that your dream may
be trying to tell us that Amelia is in trouble?"
"We already know she could
be in trouble, Gourry," Lina answered, while Zel nodded his head.
"Especially if the rumors
are true about the Diolon Royal Family working with a Mazoku," Zel added.
"So what are we going to
do?" Gourry wondered.
"At the moment, nothing.
I want to think about this dream of yours for a little longer, Zel, because
something about it sounds familiar," Lina said.
"That's fine. Look,
if you guys want to go to bed, I'll take watch for the rest of the night,"
Zel offered.
"Are you sure, Zel?" Lina
asked.
"I'm sure. I don't
think I'll be wanting any sleep for a while."
"All right, then.
If I figure out why your dream sounds familiar, I'll let you know," Lina
said, and vanished back into her tent.
"Goodnight, Zelgadis.
Thanks for telling us," Gourry said, and vanished into his tent.
The chimera sat and gazed
into the fire, lost in thought. He tried to figure out what his dream
meant, and why he had been dreaming about Amelia in the first place, but
he came up blank. He hoped that Lina would be able to come up with
some ideas. He sighed, and settled himself in for a long night.
----------------------------
Next episode: It's off to Saillune! Ryo is not a happy Mazoku,
Lina gets some ideas, and something has washed up on the river bank.