Slayers REVOLT: The Calm Before

By Elderdrake

* * * * * * * * *

Author's note: Just to make sure it's clear to everyone, this happens while Lina and Co. are on the road. Hmmm I wonder if I should start throwing dates in with the titles, like some Fantasy and Sci-Fi authors are wont to do anyhow, best way to look at it is Luna passed through Atlass a day or two before Lina, and it is now eight days or so beyond that. Now, read on and enjoy!

* * * * * * * * * *

CHAPTER SEVEN

Southbound

* * * * * * * * * *

Luna drifted towards wakefulness with great reluctance. In truth, she knew she really was awake, but was firmly wishing it weren't so. So she screwed her eyes closed, burrowed deeper under covers, and tried to tune out sounds of distant commotion.

Then her room creaked and juddered, only a little, but enough to persuade her belligerent stomach that she was, despite all evidence to the contrary, falling off a mile-high cliff.

That forced her completely awake and she dived for the bucket next to her bunk. Several dry heaves later, she flopped back to lie on her bed, muttering assorted obscenities. One arm was draped over her eyes, trying to block out the sunlight streaming in through the small porthole.

Luna absolutely HATED sea travel. Anytime she was on board a ship, in seas any stiffer than a sheltered harbour on a calm day, she was an absolute basket case. It was a ridiculous predicament: unbelievable, cosmic powers, and she could be defeated by mere waves on water. Talk about unfair especially when even cosmic power couldn't help. The underlying cause of seasickness wasn't something that could be healed with White Magic.

Luna reflected on little sister Lina, who took to water like a fish. The younger Inverse loved sailing and cruises, and had even learned to pilot sloops and windjammers in Zefeeria City's harbour as a kid. It was the only hobby Luna could remember Lina having, besides magic and eating. There was an evil irony there: according to fairy tales, wasn't it supposed to be Black witches who couldn't cross water? Why did the Inverses have to be so well, inverted?

Luna reveled in self-pity for a few more minutes before finally concluding she was unlikely to get back to sleep for a while. All she'd been doing for the week since leaving Atlass City, in fact, was sleep. Sleep seemed to be the only way to get around her seasickness, or at least be comfortable. But, too much sleep was just about the only thing that felt worse than too little. Luna knew she'd definitely had way, WAY too much. Her tongue felt thick, she had a headache, and every muscle of her body was protesting the forced inactivity. And it was doing her temper no good whatsoever.

She finally sat up on her bunk, her stomach still protesting but no longer so rebellious: when she thought of something else, it wasn't as bad. Luna tried to calm herself further by brushing out her awful bed-head. Maybe some time on deck, in the fresh air, and she'd at least be able to choke down some water or broth.

As her sleep-muzziness faded away and senses began reconnecting with coherent thought, she became aware of the commotion that had awakened her in the first place. Shouts. Thumping feet. The bosun whistling. Bellowed orders. Then the boat palpably swerved and jumped forward Luna winced and was forced to grit her teeth to keep herself from another exchange with the bucket. Had the ship had just turned sharply and put on full sail? What was up? Instinctively she glanced out her little porthole, trying to ascertain what might be happening, and immediately regretted it. The bouncing horizon outside was too much to handle, and her stomach rebelled again.

She was getting REALLY angry at this whole business.

A loud slam echoed outside her room as the deck hatchway crashed open. Someone lightweight but very hurried came running down the little hall outside Luna's cabin. Then someone thumped loudly on her door.

"Miss! Miss! Please! Are you awake?" Luna recognized the voice of Spiffin the Cabin Boy. Spiffin was the one who had brought her meals, or more usually took them back and returned with just water. He was also the only one of the crew who had bothered to check on her regularly. Most sailors have little time for landlubbers, it seemed.

Despite that debt of goodwill, Luna was unable to rein in her exceptionally grumpy mood.

"WHAT?!" Luna's blistering reply, in fact, carried enough acid to melt rock.

"Miss! It's it's pirates!" His voice broke on that last word, and there was halting pause. Luna could almost picture him swallowing, trying to gather courage. "The the Cap'n orders us to stay below I I'm to guard you! He said its men's work above, and bl- bl- bloody work at that." He sniffled a little at the end.

Luna sighed in irritation. Whoever these pirates were, the Captain obviously didn't expect to survive their onslaught. His first instinct was to hide the women and children. Very chivalrous of him, unless one understood that being sunk with the ship, or being captured after the fight was over, was probably a fate far worse than whatever could happen in a battle on deck.

Or else he simply hoped to keep a useless boy and supposedly hysterical woman out of the way. Luna definitely had no intention of accepting that. Nor of putting up with a pirate attack when she was both in a hurry and a very bad mood.

"So, it's all these pirates' fault I was awakened, all these pirates' fault my stomach is lurching, and all these pirates' fault we're zooming and pitching across choppy water, making my stomach worse?" The last bit wasn't really true anymore, as the cold fury that had settled in her chest was also numbing her stomach.

Spiffin had prepared himself for many responses, but the one Luna was giving him had never made his list. Taken rather aback by her tone, his voice was tremulous. "Uhh Yes?"

"Fine!" There was a lethal edge to Luna's single word.

She quickly dressed, threw on a few pieces of her armour, and then snatched up her greatsword in its scabbard with one hand while yanking open her door with the other.

"Right, let's go, kid. Tag along if you must, but I doubt you'll need to protect me today." Poor kid, she thought, I'm being rotten to him. Oh well, kids are resilient.

The boy's eyes were wide, though the fear in them was rapidly succumbing to confused surprise. Luna's behaviour was just about the exact opposite of anything he been taught to expect from women.

"G-go? Where, Miss?"

"To obliterate stupid pirates."

"B Miss, what" Then he registered the greatsword she was slinging across her back. "You you mean that's YOURS?"

That actually took Luna aback. "Well, of course it's mine! Why in the name of Cepheed would anybody lug around some other twit's weapon?"

Spiffin just looked puzzled. "The the crew, they all said it was probably a dowry payment, or or sommat" Then his eyes somehow managed to widen even more. The cutlasses he was familiar with were terribly puny things by comparison. "You you're actually gonna hit PEOPLE with THAT?" There was a boyish mix of horror and anticipation in his words as he eyed the five-foot length of the sheathed blade.

Luna resisted rolling her eyes. "Sorry to disappoint you, kid, but I doubt I'll have to." She stepped past the boy and strode purposefully toward the deck hatch.

Spiffin, not knowing what else to do, trailed along behind her, wondering what this crazy girl would do. He hoped the Cap'n wouldn't be too angry with him not keeping her out of the way. He took heart, though: if anything, the crazy lady was at least as scary as the pirates and that had to be a good thing under the circumstances.

* * * * * * * * *

Luna slammed open the door to the deck. The large, burly and cutlass-armed sailor who had been guarding it stepped immediately across her path. He expected having to tackle a terror-crazed woman, or having to swat a disobedient boy, and opened his mouth to shout a loud reprimand.

Luna's searing glower silenced him before he ever drew breath, and he almost tripped over himself getting out of her way. Luna briefly scanned the deck, then, spotting the Captain, drove past the speechless brawny-boy without sparing him a second glance. Spiffin, reassured by Luna's purposeful intensity and now boyishly determined to at least stick to the 'defend her' part of Cap'n's orders, followed close in her wake, pausing briefly to offer the big sailor an apologetic shrug.

The Captain of their ship, the Juniper Bough, was occupied with watching the three pirate ships and frantically issuing orders, and so didn't notice Luna until she stepped between him and his view of the enemy. He blinked once and his florid face darkened by several shades of purple. As if he didn't have enough troubles

"MISS! What are you doing on deck! Get back below where it's safe. There's no place for women in sea battles!"

He withered just a little under Luna's scathing glance. "They're the ones who should be worrying about 'safe'! I was asleep, and comfortable, and not wrestling with my bucket before they showed up. Punishment is in order."

"Miss! That is the squadron of Alrick the Sea-Garm!"

She turned to survey the three low-slung, fast brigs hot on the 'Bough's tail. "So what? Never heard of him. Is he supposed to be famous or something?"

"He's one of the most terrible pirate captains ever known, and from well before that Barrier came down! For your own safety, please return below deck! You cannot know what he does to women!" Though obviously infuriated, he was managing to maintain a veneer of gentlemanliness to his paying passenger.

But Luna's blood was already up. "I can guess what he does to women, and don't see how cowering in my cabin or dying would change that IF I were the sort of woman he could do those 'things' to! Now IF you don't MIND"

With that, she turned back to face the enemy. Not out of any real need for anything other than a dramatic gesture, she drew her massive sword and pointed it at the pirate ships. They had drawn nearly within bowshot, and a few arrows were already flying, gauging the distance. She paused in concentration.

The Captain's face had turned purple with fury, and he was waving over two crewmen.

"Madam! Go below or I will have you forcefully rem ulp?" He never finished, because events suddenly outpaced orders. Whatever he meant to say, his words were forced back down his throat by the stunning blast that rolled across his ship.

Spiffin had quietly hung close to Luna. Since the Captain was too busy yelling and threatening, the boy was the only person who actually heard the three short phrases Luna muttered, pointing her sword at each ship in succession: "Sea Blast Sea Blast Seno, hmmm." There was a momentary pause as she reconsidered. Then: "Udai WIND!"

Two of the pirate ships disappeared inside massive eruptions of the ocean surface, accompanied by the screeching of tortured, splintering wood and a stunning 'KARRUMP!'

The third pirate ship, after Luna's pause, was quite suddenly thrown a hundred yards sideways, thoroughly dismasted, and then capsized by a two-second hurricane blast.

Spiffin said: "Whoa!"

The Captain said: "Wha?"

Luna, almost instantly flipping from a cold fury to ebullient satisfaction, grinned maniacally. "Oh! I feel so much better now! That's what you get for messing with my nap!" She waved a fist defiantly in the direction of the wreckage. Then she turned to the Captain, sheathing her blade as she did so, just as the falling spray from her Sea Blasts reached their ship and hit like a cloudburst.

"No place for a woman in sea battles, eh? Now what was it were you going to have done to me URK! BLEAAAGH!" Her voice had been smug to start with, coming clearly through the blinding, rushing, hair-flattening torrent of falling water. Then the rings of rolling, frothing backwash, the natural consequence of any large explosion at sea, hit their boat. All Luna's smugness evaporated as her landlubber stomach, no longer smothered by fury, fully reasserted itself. Luna had no choice but to dive for the ship's railing as the vessel pitched and bucked wildly in the surging seas.

* * * * * * * * *

Although it seemed much longer, it was really not much more than a quarter of an hour later before the Juniper Bough was back in fairly normal order. The off-duty crew had gone back to quarters and the ship was back on course. The Captain, in something of a huff, had returned to his cabin just as soon as he could.

One patch of the deck was conspicuously empty of activity. At its middle was the damp, spent, and bedraggled form of Luna. Tuckered out and miserable from her most recent bout of seasickness, she was slumped down with her back to the sea and arms draped along the railing for support. Not a single crewman was going any nearer to her than absolutely necessary. Most, in fact, were circling wide, to the opposite side of the deck, when they had to pass by.

Typical sailors, Luna griped silently to herself. You save their silly superstitious hides with a little magic and instead of gratitude you get signs to ward off the evil eye It probably didn't help, she reflected, that the ship and its crew were all Outside-Worlders. They had probably never seen much magic, let alone sorcery on the scale she had used - at least a dozen times more powerful than just about any normal human sorcerer could ever accomplish. In her cranky, self-righteous fury she had, she ruefully admitted, tapped rather more of her special Ryozoku reserves than she needed to. Not that Cepheed would mind; pirates stood for just about everything Cepheed opposed

"Umm, Miss?" A tentative voice interrupted her musing, and two shadows fell across her patch of sunlight. She managed to find enough energy to glance up. Then she blinked several times, reflecting on her earlier words. Yep - kids really ARE resilient

For of all the crew, none other than the lad Spiffin was the first to check on her, though an older man whom Luna had seen around deck once or twice before, stood behind him. Then she saw Spiffin was offering her both sympathy and a glass of water. The older fellow nodded encouragingly. "Best to have a spot of water after a bout like that, Lady."

Luna accepted the glass wordlessly and took a few tentative sips. When it became apparent she was going to be able to keep it down, she ventured some larger sips, rinsed her mouth and spat overboard, then downed the rest slowly but gratefully. As she drank, she swept a questioning gaze over her unexpected company.

Feeling restored, Luna nodded in gratitude. "Thanks."

The boy broke into a smile, then asked. "Can I get you something else?"

Luna tried to wave him off. Though she didn't mind being a waitress herself, she was quite uncomfortable with being waited upon. "No, thanks, it's OK"

"It's no trouble! Really." The boy was firm.

Luna stared blankly, then decided to accept the offer. It was less work than persuading the boy otherwise. "Well tea, maybe?" Tea seemed like a good idea, anyway. Warm and soothing.

The older man interjected. "Get Cook to add a goodly amount of ginger."

Spiffin's smile widened. "With ginger. Of course! Crew likes ginger in their grog when it's stormy!" He scooted in the direction of Cook's Galley.

Luna wanted to smack her brow. Why, oh why hadn't she thought of ginger eight days ago? Perfect for upset stomachs!

Then Spiffin quickly turned around. "Miss? Sorry, may I ask one thing before I go get your tea?"

"I guess. What?"

"Why did you just knock over the last pirate boat, and not blow it up like the others?"

Luna shrugged. "I dunno. Mostly, I think I wanted to leave'em someplace to think about their fates. Not to mention forcing someone to drown is not my favourite thing to do."

"But they were pirates!"

"So? If they don't all kill each other, maybe a few will learn something after drifting for a few days, or swimming to shore, and do something positive with the rest of their lives."

The old man coughed. "Swim to shore? Here? That could be a fate worse than drowning." He swept a hand at the line of rusty-orange cliffs slipping by portside of the southbound ship. For, of course, this far south of Atlass City, the cliffs were none other than the edge of the monster-and-demon-infested Great Desert of Destruction.

Luna blinked several times, scratched her head, and shrugged. "Ooops! Oh well. Their own stupid faults, picking a sea battle where they wouldn't survive losing" She shook her head. "Idiots! Did they honestly believe they could only win?" Then she loosed a nasty, cat-just-ate-the-mouse sort of grin and dark chuckle. "And if any do survive, they'll have learned their lesson, that's for sure! Painfully, but permanently. They'll behave for the rest of their days."

Spiffin's eyes lit with agreement. Twelve-year-old boys have a definite streak of innocent viciousness. "That's for sure! Heh, I'll go get your tea now, Miss!" And he scampered off for real this time.

The older man and Luna both watched the boy go, then turned to face each other. Luna's expression asked what her voice didn't.

A twinkle reached the old man's eyes. "Ahem! Don't be surprised if he waits on you hand and foot whenever he can the next couple of days, Miss. He's wanted to see 'real magic' since the first rumours of the Great Barrier's fall and fantastic sorceries reached his ears. You gave him quite a show. And saved his hide to boot and he's at that sort of age" He paused, suddenly. "Oh, sorry. My manners! Ahem, Oldster Nevin, Ship's Navigator." He extended a hand. "Permit me to belatedly offer the thanks both the crew and our fuming Captain owe you?"

Luna decided she could clamber to nearly standing. Still leaning somewhat against the railing for support, she accepted his hand gravely. "Luna Inverse and, your welcome, I guess. It was my hide on the line too, after all." A pause, as she surveyed the fellow. "So, are you and my new hero-worshipper somehow related?"

"Not in the family sense. Spiffin is my apprentice in the art of Navigation. He pulls his weight by serving as Cabin Boy on any ship that hires me." He chuckled. "Bright lad, already knows more about the job than I did at twice his age. And to be honest, I shared his curiosity about magic, which is why I took the job on this ship's first risky run to the Inside."

"Childhood wonder overcoming superstition I can believe, but what's with you?"

"What I do - look at stars, and figure out to within a few miles exactly where we are - is serious magic to most of this crew. The math I use might as well be demonic incantations, too. I guess I see magic as just another art that's inexplicable to most." His eyes were twinkling again. "And a very useful art, at that. A few more like you, and pirates would become an extinct breed I think."

Luna shook her head. "Only until a pirate captain hits upon employing a willing sorcerer of his own. It's happened before."

Nevin paled. "Gods forbid!"

"The Gods do, let me assure you. So do the Guilds. But, there are always some who refuse to listen."

Oldster Nevin missed the deep irony in her tone.

The Juniper Bough was now sailing quite smoothly. She had fled close enough to the coastline while being chased that headlands were sheltering the boat from the sea's worst chop. Luna was able to survey the empty, slightly bobbing, rust-orange cliffs a few hundred yards to port with only minor twinges. It was an uninviting sort of place, and she briefly wondered where the pirates could base themselves.

She turned back to Nevin. "What was a whole pirate squadron doing along this barren coast anyway? You're right, it's not like they could land up there"

"You don't know? These waters are the richest pickings in the world, now. That's why I said 'risky run' earlier. One successful pirating, and Poof! You have the fortune of a lifetime."

"No kidding?"

"Not at all. A few months ago, a King traded his Crown Jewels for just one of what we're carrying."

That didn't sound so good "NOT magic weapons, I should hope."

She really didn't like the thought of a smuggling trade in military-grade chimeras, or something like Zenafa Armor, to the Outside. The mess that would create! There was a concerted effort by Inside kings, and the Sorcery Guilds (initiated by Philionel of Saillune, who else?) to prevent such a catastrophe. Had it been enough?

Nevin hesitated. "I'm not sure the Captain would be pleased if I told you."

"Ohhh?" Her eyes narrowed. Evasiveness irritated her, especially on potentially important subjects. "What if I told you, that I won't be pleased if you don't?"

That was a convincing argument, coming from a woman who annihilated pirate squadrons for stress relief. Nevin still tried a last hedge, though. "Er Not planning on going into business for yourself, are you?"

One of Luna's eyebrows twitched and she now spoke through clenched teeth. "No. I've actually got bigger things to worry about I think. Convince me."

The old man abruptly caved in. "Freezers."

Luna couldn't believe she had heard right. "Huh?"

"You must know. Boxes, with some sort of ice magic? Spiffin got something called ice cream? Yes that was it! From a man with one on a cart in Atlass"

She felt like tearing her hair out after strangling the man. "I know what a freezer is! I can't believe you had me worrying about what I was worrying about. What's the big deal with freezers anyway! Why'd you have to be so evasive!"

Just then, the Captain returned on deck, shouting for his navigator, and Spiffin returned with her ginger tea and a heavy barrage of questions about her spells and magic in general. Nevin made his escape, eyes twinkling in merriment, something that Luna fortunately - for him - did not see.

* * * * * * * * * *

A day and a half later, Luna was feeling rather more chipper. Oldster Nevin's suggestion of ginger had worked miracles, at least so long as the weather held fine. That had improved her outlook enough that she had even tolerated Spiffin's constant company and questions whenever the boy wasn't attending to duties with the Captain, Cook, or Nevin.

Spiffin was currently busy with the Captain, so Luna stood on deck, her ginger tea in hand, enjoying a moment's peace. She was waiting for the Juniper Bough to round the last headland before the town of Saltastre - more of a city really, except compared to Saillune or Elmikia. It was supposed to be something of a sight for sore eyes, so she was waiting with some impatience as a last high, brick-colored headland, sporting a new-looking lighthouse, reluctantly swept aside to reveal what lay beyond.

She was not disappointed. Saltastre WAS beautiful, in every sense of the word: brilliant white buildings and spires roofed in bright red tile, flooding up a steep hillside, set over a richly turquoise bay. The backdrop was a perfect contrast, rusty and ruddy orange desert, touched here and there by oases of lush green. The sky, free of clouds, was clearer and even more deeply blue than the water. Blue and orange, despite being complimentary colours, rarely worked well together. But somehow, here, the rules seemed suspended and the tones and textures were perfect for each other.

The view of the city - from the harbour mouth, at least - was dominated by a massive seawall, no doubt to shield it from massive fall storms rolling in from the Daemon's Ocean. These were subtropical latitudes, subject to typhoons, after all, and the bay faced exactly the right - wrong, rather? - direction to catch the worst they could dish out.

Typhoon season was still a few months away, however, and the harbour was cluttered with ships. Luna counted eight standing at anchor, awaiting berths, while another dozen were moored at the docks. Launches ferried men and goods everywhere. Vessels of all sizes - dinghies, pleasure boats, fishing boats, merchantmen, even an armed ship lined with the cannon they so loved to use in the Outside - crisscrossed her field of view. Many were quite a bit bigger than what she had become familiar with. In the formerly limited waters of the Inside, big long-distance haulers weren't needed.

As the Juniper Bough sailed into the bay, she was passed by another vessel heading the opposite direction. Luna followed the outbound ship with her eyes as it slid by, some of its crew waving at their lone female audience, and so she caught a glimpse of yet another ship, inbound from the south, manoeuvering to follow the Juniper Bough in. Beyond it, just crossing the southern horizon, yet another inbound set of sails was on its way.

Her gaze returned to Saltastre. The shoreline under the massive seawall was a beehive of activity. The working part of the port stretched along the middle of the wall. It was the usual riot of seamen coming and going, cargoes being shifted, officials and bureaucrats and tariff collectors skittering helter-skelter. To either side, however was as much or more activity: acres of new quays, piers, wharves, warehouses and offices were all under construction.

Luna didn't know, but there had been a time when the seawall had presented a blank face to the sea. Now, it was pierced by no less than three massive gates. The largest and most ornate was dead center. Nor could Luna know that largest gate plugged a gap where, a little more than two years earlier, a ship had crashed through the wall and, in so doing, trumpeted to the Outside World that the Inside was no longer sealed away.

As they got closer and more details could be made out, Luna's survey dropped from the grand sweep of the walls to the humdrum items that were at the root of all this activity: rows and rows and rows of crates. They were being transferred from the ships that dared the desolate coast and lurking pirates between Saltastre and Atlass, to the ships that would carry them on through safer waters and into the markets of the Outside World.

Freezers.

It was bizarre. Freezers were so commonplace on the Inside. Only the poorest of the poor didn't own one. Just about every crossroads village had someone who sold ice cream out of a freezer on a cart to travelling passersby.

But Outside, without advanced magic, the freezers were a wonder A way to easily preserve food, especially meat and dairy. A safe way to prepare dishes in advance, and store them until needed. Ice cubes. Cold drinks. Cold or iced desserts and ice cream! A safe way to ship all these things, as well as fruits and vegetables, any distance at all.

To be able to suavely offer iced drinks - or ice cream, or snazzy imported perishables - to guests would become a matter of pride. A status symbol, even.

And it would be worth a LOT of money to be the first to have one in your town, your kingdom, or just your general region. Proof of your wealth, or far-reaching and worldly business or political contacts. The ability to suggest familiarity with the mysterious and powerful Inside Kingdoms.

Not all of it was good. Luna, the day before, had cornered Nevin to ask him more. He told, laughingly, of the ruler of a distant city-state. A year previously, this ruler had wanted to buy from one of the earliest shipments of freeze-boxes, wishing to be able to impress neighbouring rulers and nobility when they visited. He had nearly bankrupted his citizens with the new taxes he imposed to meet the importer's asking price. That had eventually resulted in rioting, protests and an attempted assassination by angry merchants.

Nevin had sounded quite amused, but Luna saw a bigger picture. If simple freezers could cause that kind of trouble, what about the first shipment of advanced magic weapons to make it past vigilant Saillune and Sorcery Guild inspectors? What about magical medicines and potions? There were no laws about letting those out. Saillune, in fact, had fixed prices for those items at almost reasonable levels what more Just and Worthy than making magical cures as affordable as possible to the Outside?

But trust some evil bastard somewhere to sow a plague for which he had bought magical cures, but his enemies hadn't

Or try the other way around. The Sorcery Guilds, Inside, were strictly neutral. They were very forceful about keeping magic out of petty warfare. There wasn't an Inside kingdom that didn't shudder in horror at the very idea of using a Dragon Slave in battle, or on a besieged city. Any king, or sorcerer willing to try was very quickly dealt with. As a result, the only magic used in warfare was White, for healing the wounded. But - and with this, she glanced at the large cannon-armed boat drifting silently to Saltastre's docks - what if some Inside kingdom ordered cannons, or handguns, from Outside? Lone rogue sorcerers could be tracked down and punished. Ten thousand muskets would be a lot more difficult to deal with.

Or, heaven forbid, the first talented, power-mad sorcerer from Inside deciding to set up a private kingdom dedicated to his own self-gratification Outside, where he would be nearly unstoppable. If something like the Gold Dragons - despite all their flaws - were still around, such wouldn't happen, or last very long if it did. But, of course, they were gone.

Luna was getting a headache. Probably an ulcer, too, she griped silently. The fall of the Monster Races' Barrier, she was coming to realize, was as much catastrophe as miracle. Damn Phibby for forcing the situation. Damn Xelloss and the Greater Beast, who must still be giggling uncontrollably at the likely consequences of all this and probably knew, damn well, what chaos they were 'helping' bring about. Damn Lina for making it all possible though, Luna had to grudgingly admit, little sister had had little choice in the matter. Damn the Golds for so stringently quashing magic development in the Outside, creating the disparity in the first place and damn Phibby again, for inventing the Barrier

Damn! And all this on top of what Miss Gleyzia has me worrying about. "And no one left but ME, and her, and maybe one other to try and keep it all from going completely haywire!"

"Eh? What was that Miss?"

Luna startled. Apparently she'd muttered her last thought aloud, while Spiffin had approached undetected from behind.

"Oh! Ah, um nothing" She thought fast, glanced at her now-cold tea, tossed its dregs overboard. "Just thinking a fresh cup of tea would be nice! Would you mind? I'll tell you a bit more about the kinds of magic when you get back."

"OK!" The boy grabbed her cup and ran off to do as bid.

If only she could so easily redirect her own thoughts. Maybe She turned to a nearby sailor. "You!"

He jumped out of his skin, turned to face her, sweating, and offered a very forced smile while gesturing minutely with his left hand to ward off evil magic.

"Oh for the sake of Holy Cepheed! I don't bite Well, granted, maybe I do. But pirates, not you, OK? I just want to know how soon can I get off this hulk."

That was something the sailor was very glad to answer. "Och, Leddy. Noo moor'n 'n ooer, surely. Sune as the tariffsmin an'arburmaster are dune wit'us. Likes to coont crets'n'passengers befure any get oof, they du."

Luna parsed her way through his heavy accent, then nodded. "An hour at most. Thanks."

She turned back to her leaning survey of the port, soon spotting the harbour authority vessel already scooting its way to her boat. Good. The speedier the better. The Sun was already dropping.

Maybe starting her actual quest would allow her to shove some of her newest worries to a back burner. She was suddenly quite glad Miss Filia hadn't included a return address in any of her letters. The business of finding her might be a welcome distraction, not the nuisance it had seemed at the start.

* * * * * * * * *

The rowboat ride across the harbour had been uncomfortable. The sailors had all crowded as far to one end of the boat from her as they could and still make the boat function. She had been too preoccupied to give even small thought to putting them more at ease.

Luna now strode along the docks in full gear, her sword strapped to her back, travel pack slung over one shoulder. It was so pleasant to be back on blessedly stable land, and she was looking forward to her first serious meal in a week. And a bath! Ships, especially ones sailing along a desert coast, did not allow their freshwater supply to be used for baths. And even though Luna had alternative means - Aqua Create plus a low-grade fireball worked just fine - there had been no space on board to take advantage of those alternatives without becoming the peep show for a dozen sailors.

She wove her way among all the carts and crates and through the crowds that still swarmed all over the dockside area even though the sun had dropped far enough to be touching the western horizon. Her goal was that great big gate, a quality inn, a meal, a bath, and a soft feather bed

Perhaps it was the long shadows and the sunset light on the statue itself. Maybe it was the odd sight of a bent old woman patting at a flowerbed surrounding the statue amidst all the busy activity. Maybe it was the fact that the dockside was a strange place to find a flowerbed and benches and a small fountain. Maybe it was curiosity at what figure had deserved enough recognition to be placed, in a larger than life statue, right next to the city's main sea gate. Whatever it was, Luna was prompted to glance up as she passed by.

She stopped so abruptly one could almost hear her boots squeal as she skidded to a halt. Her travel sack dropped to the ground from fingers gone limp with astonishment.

"OH I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"

She slumped onto the bench behind her, eyes wide to stare up in mute disbelief at the countenance of the sibling she hadn't seen in several years.

Actually, four countenances, she registered after her initial shock wore off, three of which she'd never seen before. Her eyes dropped to the inscription on the large, square pediment arising from the fountain basin. Neatly chiseled letters spelled out "SAVIOURS OF OUR TOWN - HERALDS OF OUR PROSPERITY"

A part of her dying in mortification, Luna actually giggled, a little hysterically at first. She dropped her face into a hand, covering her eyes, as if to dispel the sight. She glanced up again, hand still covering her mouth. The giggle expanded into an incredulous laugh that quickly became unrestrained and genuine good humour.

The sheer ridiculousness of seeing her little sister, immortalized in stone and way larger than life, with THAT inscription, was just too much to react to with any other emotion. It went on for several minutes and every time she thought she had it under control she was foiled by a fresh glance at the marble image. It was only after the stares of passersby began to make her uncomfortable that Luna was able to rein in her out-of-control sense of the absurd.

Still, she sat there for some while. They had done a good job on Lina - Luna judged the sculptor had taken some artistic license with Lina's bust, although who knew for sure, since it had been six years since they last saw each other. Maybe sis had grown. But if they had done so well on Lina, then presumably they had also done the others up right. That was why Luna lingered. She had never met Lina's demented comrades, and welcomed the opportunity to commit their faces to memory.

The short girl, arms slightly spread and with a beatific expression on her face, must be the Princess of Saillune, Amelia. Apparently she had made an impression on the locals. Standing behind her was the strange countenance of a man with pebbles imbedded in his face, and a surly expression. It could only be the Chimera, Zelgadiss. Luna's eyes lingered longest on the tallest figure in the group, sword raised high in what the sculptor obviously believed a heroically inspirational pose. From what Luna had heard, she doubted Gourry had ever actually done something like that. The sculptor had given him an expression that was open and generous, maybe even ingenuous, but held something deeper too.

So that is the man Lina had risked casting the world into the Void to rescue, the man who then turned around and managed to snatch Lina back from the clutches of the Sea Of Chaos, when the Void took her, instead Luna chuckled, suddenly noticing something: the sculptor had arranged Gourry's features so that he seemed to be gazing protectively down at the top of Lina's head.

That sculptor must have interviewed every townsperson, worked through a hundred composites of their memories, to produce such accurate replicas of people who surely weren't here more than a few days. Although, maybe, he was a local who started sketching the 'Saviours of our Town' while they were still here. Was the subject of Gourry's gaze a result of artistic license or something real? It would be interesting to find out

Luna decided it was actually rather nice to at last be able to put faces to the other members of her little sister's infamous troupe. Luna studied them long enough to be sure she would recognize them. Then, with a last disbelieving shake of her head, she got up.

She needed to find her Inn. And start figuring out where local antique shops were, and if any of them knew of a specialist in vases and maces.

* * * * * * * * * *

NEXT CHAPTER: Let the main tale begin! Lina is OK?

* * * * * * * * * *

Slayers Characters © 1991-2002 Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, a whole lot of other people and not a few multinational corporations. I'm not looking for a piece of their action, just paying homage to it. Story and all other content © 2002 D. Robbins

Special thanks to Debbie for editing and Diane for pre-reading and commentaries!