Disclaimer: I do not own the Slayers. I wish I did, and then I would have
Gourry at my beck and call. I'm just borrowing them for a while and I
promise to return them in reasonably good shape. I hope everyone is
enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it. I would like to thank
IanTyger for help with military jargon. ^_^
* * * * *
Captain Gourry Gabriev let out a soft sigh as he left the command tent of the Elmekian Army. After having spent the morning and most of the afternoon ensconced with General Mauriton he was ready to get some food and take a much-needed break. Unfortunately, he had far too much work still ahead of him today. Most of that work would be arranging to follow out the orders that the General had given him, direct from the Emperor himself. It didn't help that he was not happy with the orders and believed it to be a fool's mission.
He returned to his encampment deep in thought. Jillas, the companies' resident diversion expert, met him with a wave and hurried over to get a report from his commander.
"Welcome back, Captain! How did the meeting go? You must be starving you've been gone so long," the short fox-man nattered as he ladled Gourry a large bowl of stew out of the communal pot. The large blonde gratefully accepted the bowl and looked around the camp.
"Jillas, do you happen to know where Leon is? I need to speak with him immediately," Gourry asked as he shoveled stew into his mouth.
"I think he's down at the supply depot straightening out the problems with us getting our provisions. You want me to go get him, Captain?"
"Yeah, I would appreciate that. Thanks. I'll be in my tent when he gets here."
"If you don't mind me saying so, but from the look on your face I don't think that we're going to like whatever they've got planned for us, Captain," Jillas stated matter-of-factly as they reached the companies command tent.
"I don't think you will, Jillas. We'll give the orders after I've spoken with Leon, so the sooner you get him here, the sooner you can hear the bad news," Gourry said, dismissing Jillas with a nod and entering his tent.
It wasn't terribly long before Leon announced himself and came into the command tent. Gourry put down the papers he was looking over and motioned for his long-time friend to take a seat. He frowned and tried to get his thoughts in order as Leon looked at him expectantly. "Leon, we're supposed to kidnap the Saillune princess. She is reported to have the Sorceress, Lina Inverse, as her personal guard. How the hell did we get into this mess?"
* * * * *
Gourry Gabriev was captain of one of the best mercenary companies to come out of Elmekia. That in and of itself wasn't the reason for becoming attached to the hordes that were set to invade Saillune and Zefilia. He had even fulfilled his obligation and spent three of the most miserable years of his life in the ranks of said army when he was a green soldier. He thought he was done with them when the former Emperor had disbanded and discharged the soldiers attached to his late regiment, but that was not to be. He was firmly attached to the Elmekian Army again because of the most recent political uprising. Emperor Koshai, in a grand double-cross, set himself on the Elmekian Throne after orchestrating a coup that left a majority of the high-ranking nobles as dead as the former emperor. To quell the dissent that was whispered throughout the Empire, Emperor Koshai had decided that an expansion of lands was needed to bring more money into the coffers, as well as unite the people under a banner of war.
There had been no point in laying claim to the great waste of a desert that bordered the Empire to the East and South. The nomadic tribesmen were too busy warring with themselves to bring much to the Empire. No, the emperor's eyes had fallen upon the White Magic Capitol of Saillune and the rich vineyards of Zefilia. It was even said that the Emperor had swayed the Duke of Kal-Maart to join him. As the drums of war began to beat an ascending staccato, the call had gone out to all former soldiers of the army. The drum became a death knell to those who refused, and so to spare himself and the lives of his men, Gourry had to say yes when he was approached and given orders to report to General Mauriton. Captain Gourry and his company were extolled as true patriots, despite how they really felt. This predicament had led them to this moment, where they would finally be put to use.
* * * * *
"So, what your saying, Gourry, is that the we've been ordered to take out Lina Inverse, kidnap Princess Amelia, then drag her back to Elmekian lands so that she can be ransomed? Please tell me that you're kidding me, old friend! This is sheer lunacy! How the hell do we take out the sorceress bitch without getting our whole company killed? I doubt the whole army could take that Dragon Spooker out."
"We're supposed to have a powerful sorcerer join with us. It will be his job to keep Lina Inverse busy while we take care of the royal escorts and round up the princess. Leon," Gourry lamented, running his hands through his long hair in frustration, "This is wrong. We can't be doing this! There is no honor in this! We're supposed to be hiring ourselves out to minor lords in petty land disputes, not kidnapping royalty."
"There's nothing we can do. We can only hope that the Emperor wins this power play so we can be done with this and get back to petty land disputes. Do we have information to where we can find our Royal target?"
Gourry nodded and reached into his tunic. He pulled out papers that gave the information on the princess' route and handed them over to his right hand man. He watched as Leon read the information and whistle at the detail involved.
"We've got one hell of a spy in the Saillune court to be able to get all this information. Am I reading this right? The princess left this morning?"
"Yeah, we've supposedly got a spy on the council that's been giving us information. He supposedly talked Phillionel into sending the princess, which is how we got this information."
"I'm impressed, Gourry. We need to decide how we're going to overtake them. One hundred Elmekian soldiers on horseback isn't exactly subtle, and we will be going into Saillune. Did the general give us orders to how many soldiers to take?"
"Twenty men. I was thinking of leaving Ramos in charge on this end while we fulfill orders. I think we should bring Kanros and Gorves for sure. They're the best scouts we've got. Perhaps Evras, Jordes, and Milod. The rest should probably be Weos' archers. They're good at a distance as well as up close. I want Jillas to come, too"
"L-Sama, you must be joking! If we bring that little nut he'll blow something up and give away our position in record time. Remember Lyzeille? He almost brought a mountain down on us!"
"He's gotten much better since then. There hasn't been a single incident that I can recall since then."
"That doesn't help, Captain. You can't remember what you had for lunch yesterday."
"Stew. Roast chicken. Parsnips. I say he's coming, Leon. He may come in handy if we're going to deal with that sorceress lady. Whatever he name was."
"Sure. Whatever you say. Let's get this ball rolling so we can get back to our petty land wars. One kidnapped princess, coming right up."
* * * * *
Captain Gourry Gabriev let out a soft sigh as he left the command tent of the Elmekian Army. After having spent the morning and most of the afternoon ensconced with General Mauriton he was ready to get some food and take a much-needed break. Unfortunately, he had far too much work still ahead of him today. Most of that work would be arranging to follow out the orders that the General had given him, direct from the Emperor himself. It didn't help that he was not happy with the orders and believed it to be a fool's mission.
He returned to his encampment deep in thought. Jillas, the companies' resident diversion expert, met him with a wave and hurried over to get a report from his commander.
"Welcome back, Captain! How did the meeting go? You must be starving you've been gone so long," the short fox-man nattered as he ladled Gourry a large bowl of stew out of the communal pot. The large blonde gratefully accepted the bowl and looked around the camp.
"Jillas, do you happen to know where Leon is? I need to speak with him immediately," Gourry asked as he shoveled stew into his mouth.
"I think he's down at the supply depot straightening out the problems with us getting our provisions. You want me to go get him, Captain?"
"Yeah, I would appreciate that. Thanks. I'll be in my tent when he gets here."
"If you don't mind me saying so, but from the look on your face I don't think that we're going to like whatever they've got planned for us, Captain," Jillas stated matter-of-factly as they reached the companies command tent.
"I don't think you will, Jillas. We'll give the orders after I've spoken with Leon, so the sooner you get him here, the sooner you can hear the bad news," Gourry said, dismissing Jillas with a nod and entering his tent.
It wasn't terribly long before Leon announced himself and came into the command tent. Gourry put down the papers he was looking over and motioned for his long-time friend to take a seat. He frowned and tried to get his thoughts in order as Leon looked at him expectantly. "Leon, we're supposed to kidnap the Saillune princess. She is reported to have the Sorceress, Lina Inverse, as her personal guard. How the hell did we get into this mess?"
* * * * *
Gourry Gabriev was captain of one of the best mercenary companies to come out of Elmekia. That in and of itself wasn't the reason for becoming attached to the hordes that were set to invade Saillune and Zefilia. He had even fulfilled his obligation and spent three of the most miserable years of his life in the ranks of said army when he was a green soldier. He thought he was done with them when the former Emperor had disbanded and discharged the soldiers attached to his late regiment, but that was not to be. He was firmly attached to the Elmekian Army again because of the most recent political uprising. Emperor Koshai, in a grand double-cross, set himself on the Elmekian Throne after orchestrating a coup that left a majority of the high-ranking nobles as dead as the former emperor. To quell the dissent that was whispered throughout the Empire, Emperor Koshai had decided that an expansion of lands was needed to bring more money into the coffers, as well as unite the people under a banner of war.
There had been no point in laying claim to the great waste of a desert that bordered the Empire to the East and South. The nomadic tribesmen were too busy warring with themselves to bring much to the Empire. No, the emperor's eyes had fallen upon the White Magic Capitol of Saillune and the rich vineyards of Zefilia. It was even said that the Emperor had swayed the Duke of Kal-Maart to join him. As the drums of war began to beat an ascending staccato, the call had gone out to all former soldiers of the army. The drum became a death knell to those who refused, and so to spare himself and the lives of his men, Gourry had to say yes when he was approached and given orders to report to General Mauriton. Captain Gourry and his company were extolled as true patriots, despite how they really felt. This predicament had led them to this moment, where they would finally be put to use.
* * * * *
"So, what your saying, Gourry, is that the we've been ordered to take out Lina Inverse, kidnap Princess Amelia, then drag her back to Elmekian lands so that she can be ransomed? Please tell me that you're kidding me, old friend! This is sheer lunacy! How the hell do we take out the sorceress bitch without getting our whole company killed? I doubt the whole army could take that Dragon Spooker out."
"We're supposed to have a powerful sorcerer join with us. It will be his job to keep Lina Inverse busy while we take care of the royal escorts and round up the princess. Leon," Gourry lamented, running his hands through his long hair in frustration, "This is wrong. We can't be doing this! There is no honor in this! We're supposed to be hiring ourselves out to minor lords in petty land disputes, not kidnapping royalty."
"There's nothing we can do. We can only hope that the Emperor wins this power play so we can be done with this and get back to petty land disputes. Do we have information to where we can find our Royal target?"
Gourry nodded and reached into his tunic. He pulled out papers that gave the information on the princess' route and handed them over to his right hand man. He watched as Leon read the information and whistle at the detail involved.
"We've got one hell of a spy in the Saillune court to be able to get all this information. Am I reading this right? The princess left this morning?"
"Yeah, we've supposedly got a spy on the council that's been giving us information. He supposedly talked Phillionel into sending the princess, which is how we got this information."
"I'm impressed, Gourry. We need to decide how we're going to overtake them. One hundred Elmekian soldiers on horseback isn't exactly subtle, and we will be going into Saillune. Did the general give us orders to how many soldiers to take?"
"Twenty men. I was thinking of leaving Ramos in charge on this end while we fulfill orders. I think we should bring Kanros and Gorves for sure. They're the best scouts we've got. Perhaps Evras, Jordes, and Milod. The rest should probably be Weos' archers. They're good at a distance as well as up close. I want Jillas to come, too"
"L-Sama, you must be joking! If we bring that little nut he'll blow something up and give away our position in record time. Remember Lyzeille? He almost brought a mountain down on us!"
"He's gotten much better since then. There hasn't been a single incident that I can recall since then."
"That doesn't help, Captain. You can't remember what you had for lunch yesterday."
"Stew. Roast chicken. Parsnips. I say he's coming, Leon. He may come in handy if we're going to deal with that sorceress lady. Whatever he name was."
"Sure. Whatever you say. Let's get this ball rolling so we can get back to our petty land wars. One kidnapped princess, coming right up."