Slayers TIME
Chapter 4- Downpour
A great stage was set up in the outer bailey of the castle for Prince Phil to address the assembly. While rescue team sounded like the right thing to call them they were more like bounty hunters. It is dubious how many standing there would be offering to help if no cash was involved- our lovely sorceress supreme as dubious figure number one.
It was a pretty well varied crew, indicative of the fact that a lot of bounty hunters hadn't been participating in the games. The standard fare was all represented. There were the obligatory big, hairy men with large swords and ugly armor, sometimes accompanied by shadowy, robe-clad magicians with sour demeanors. There were the pretty-boy groups of self-proclaimed heroes sporting the latest trends in Atlas City armor. There were the hardened veterans that weren't too big but had those ugly scowls that said "I'll cut you down before you lift your weapon if you look at me the wrong way." Said veterans were covered with the kind of scars you'd expect them to be covered with: just enough to increase their fearsome appearance. Finally, there was Lina Inverse and her traveling sideshow of misfits; the ones that could probably beat the crap out of any of the others present (or we'd be following around the obligatory, generic goons around, instead).
The illustrious Prince Phil was stood on a makeshift wooden podium emblazoned with the Seyruun Crest. Looking to his side, Lina noted his brother Alfred and wondered how the kingdom had gone a whole four months without having another fight over the throne, the result being the death of one of them. Lina had to jump up and down to see over the other bodies, another reminder of her unfortunate lack of height.
"Good citizens," Phil addressed the crowd. "I'm sure you're all aware by now that tragedy struck the kingdom last night when my daughter Amelia was kidnapped from her bedroom by heinous criminals. Seventeen guards were killed in the fighting in the name of justice as a small group of intruders subdued the princess, making off with her in what we think was a northward direction.
"As can be expected, this kind of action will not be tolerated by the Kingdom of Seyruun. While we have not yet received any indication of a ransom, I, Crown Prince Philionel de Seyruun, am placing a reward of one million gold pieces for the safe return of the Princess."
Muttering ran through the crowd. One million gold. That was enough to keep anyone living comfortably for years. Even Lina would be able to eat well for a few months on that much.
"It is my assumption that such villains that, while so blatantly ignoring the principles of justice, are more than simple bandits," Phil continued. "So I would urge you all to be cautious in your search. The tournament will be indefinitely postponed until the return of the princess."
More mutterings. Would the tournament be cancelled completely if Amelia was never returned? More importantly to those present, however, was what kind of warriors were they dealing with to kill seventeen guards, escape with the princess, and not lose any of their own men?
Gourry looked down to Lina.
"This is serious isn't it?" he asked.
"Yeah, Gourry. This is serious."
"Then when do you want to set out?" he asked her somberly.
"Soon," Lina said. "We want to get a jump on the rest of these clowns. Waiting till tomorrow morning would just be foolish."
"Agreed," Kreutz interjected, hand on the large two handed war hammer that was hoisted effortlessly over his shoulder. "I would like attend to some purchases before we depart. There are certain herbs which I am in low supply of."
"And I need to buy some new arrows," Greven mentioned. "How long do you think you need, Kreutz?"
"About an hour?" he suggested.
"All right," Lina said, taking command. "On the bright side, it looks like we'll be leaving Seyruun this time without being chased out by the army! We'll meet at our inn in an hour, then we set off and win that rewa-...errescue Amelia!" she corrected herself.
"Lina, don't tell me you're only doing this for the money," Gourry
pleaded.
"Oh, no, of course not!" she exclaimed, eyes shut and hands waving
in protestation. "It just happens to be a nicebonus. Now, I'll take
care of buying the rations. Gourry, you should probably come with me, because
I don't know what I can feasible expect you to take responsibility for getting."
"Sounds about right to me," Gourry agreed.
"So an hour at the inn," Greven confirmed. Lina nodded. "All right. We'll see you fellows there." Swinging his golden bow back over his shoulder, Greven disappeared into the crowd. Kreutz followed him, though his height made it hard for him to disappear anywhere. Lina looked up at her tall blonde companion.
"I'd like to talk to Phil before we go," she said. Gourry gave her an agreeing nod as they pushed their way through the crowd up towards the dais where Phil was standing, causing a general ruckus. When Lina made it to the stage, the large pacifist was speaking with Alfred and some of his other advisors. Aghast with the possibility that she might be ignored, though, Lina announced her presence with cheer.
"Phil old buddy, old pal!" she said, arms in the air. "How ya doing?!" Phil looked over and a smile filed his face.
"Miss Lina! Mr. Gourry!" Phil said, welcoming the two with open arms. "How are you! How have you been! It seems like its been so long since you've been in Seyruun!"
"Oh, we've been fine," Lina said. "We were here for the tournament untilthis happened."
"It is truly a crime that one so young as herself should have to face such horrors," Phil said soberly. "If the bastards could have only taken me instead, then the injustice would not be so grand, but fate has seemed to deal our kingdom a different card."
"We'll get her back, Phil," Lina said. "Now that Lina Inverse is on the job, there's no need to worry!"
"I'm happy to have good people like you two helping us," Phil said. "I myself will be joining the search in a day or so when I finish sorting out matters here. Even such a staunch pacifist as myself can't help but feel the fires of justice at my back in a situation such as this."
"Take care of yourself, Phil," Lina said, extending her hand. "And we'll see you soon with Amelia in our custody."
"She is truly blessed to have friends such as you," Phil said.
"Yeah," Gourry said sarcastically. "Some friend. She didn't even want to do it until she found out about the-" he was cut off by Lina's elbow smashing in the ribs, knocking the wind out of him.
"Until I found out about the terrible thing that happened here!" Lina said, blushing as she covered her tracks. She grabbed Gourry by the ear and began to pull him away. "Well, time's a-wastin' Phil, old boy! I'm off to save the princess!" She waved with her free hand as she dragged Gourry back into the crowd.
"Such an odd girl" Phil mused when Lina was out of ear shot. It was probably a good move on his part. In the midst of the crowd, Lina let go of Gourry and a smile came over her face.
"Okay, Gourry. Now that that's out of the way, it's fun time."
"Food shopping?" Gourry asked excitedly.
"You got it! Are you ready?"
"Oh yeah, Lina! Let's do it." They gave each other excited nods then pushed their way through the crowd and bolted back to the market. A tell-tale trail of smoke followed behind them as they went, presumably off to buy anything edible in sight. It might be a long journey, after all, Lina reasoned, and the last thing you wanted to have on a long journey was a food shortage.
The hour went by quickly, fighting against other parties for supplies, buying what they needed as fast as possible. Weapon and item stores (all marked conveniently with signs showing either a sword or a jar, respectively, no matter what town you went to) overflowed with wannabe heroes kitting themselves out for their impending quest. For Lina, though it was at times like these that being small and bony had its advantages. Able to sneak through crowds with ease, she had no problem picking out a few new things to bring along with her.
Food shopping, however, was the part of the preparation she enjoyed the most. It took some skill, as you had to know what would hold over however long you were traveling, but a ravenous appetite forced Lina to become good at this rather quickly. Almost needless to say, time went by even faster in the food purchasing process and soon enough, the hour was up and Lina had to settle for what she had managed to get a hold of in limited time. Gourry and her made their way to the meeting point, possibly already considering what they would eat first.
"This is what you bought?!" Greven said, amazed at ridiculous load of food that Gourry had strapped to his back. The foursome stood outside of the inn, having just checked out. Gourry stood next to Lina, hunched over by the enormous load of fruits, vegetables, dried meats and breads that they had just purchased.
"Yeah," Lina said. "It'll get us through till the next town, I think. I kinda ran out of time.."
"But Lina," Kreutz said. "We don't even know where we're going."
"Phil said they made out north," Lina said. "That means we nail the nearest bandit gang on the way and pump them for information. Then we pit stop at the next town and reformulate our next plan of attackalong with getting a nice fluffy bed and warm bath andoh, I just can't wait!" Her eyes doubled in size and became four times as shiny (a common side effect of good thoughts of food and amenities on Lina) as she sighed.
"Lina, we haven't even left yet," Gourry reminded her, his voice strained.
"Oh yeah," the redhead corrected herself, her eyes returning to normal as she slowed down her runaway train of thoughts. Greven and Kreutz face-faulted.
"How do we know that's reliably information, though," Greven pointed out, climbing back to his feet.
"Greven, you've been in this game long enough to know that you've got to go with what you have, right?" Lina asked. Greven nodded in agreement. "Then let's stop wasting time! We're off on a new journey and we've gotta be ready to go wherever it takes us. That's rule number one of traveling with Lina Inverse, after all. Now, if you guys want to come along, you've gotta play by my rules, get it?"
"So I guess you're in charge like usual?" Greven asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'm the heroine in the series, after all," Lina said with a wink.
"I keep forgetting," Greven said sarcastically.
"Guys, we should get going," Kreutz reminded. "It's already well past noon."
"Good point," Lina said. "Okay, everyone. Follow me!" Lina waved the group onward. And so, making their way towards the northern gates of the city, the four unlikely companions (as an unlikely fellowship is a literary necessity) headed off to begin their quest, find some bandits, get rich quick, inevitably stumble into deeper trouble and possibly rescue a princess along the way.
.
Several hours of traveling from Seyruun greeted the party a mountain range that marked the border between Seyruun and Kalmaart, the Dukedom to the north. While still a few days journey away, the snow capped crests were beginning to show over the horizon, climbing majestically above a verdant forest. At about ten o'clock, the party decided to halt for the night.
The group made camp in what was surprisingly not a forest clearing. Rather, knowing from years of experience that bandits roam forests even while heroes sleep, the group picked an area a few miles away from the forest full of impending ambushes (why heroes for ages before never picked up on this can be likened to why bad guys always seem to want to fight the heroes one-on-one, even when they hold a shear numerical advantage: it doesn't always work great for plot). Showing some common sense, our heroes pitched tents a few yards off of the beaten dirt road, about an hours travel past the camp sites of most of the other "rescuers." It was late and already dark by the time they set their belongings down, but since they're the protagonists in the story, we can neglect that fact that they might have tired sooner.
Used to traveling in pairs, the group set up two tents: one for Greven and Kreutz, the other for Lina and Gourry. Some sparse foliage surrounded their site, providing enough firewood for the one night that they would be camping. Off to the right of their site, the ground sloped gradually down towards a river basin about half a mile away. The grass on the ground was just beginning to grow green again. Within a half hour of halting their travel, Lina had a fire burning between the two tents. She and Gourry were also quite pleased to find that Kreutz actually happened to be a skilled chef (unfortunately for his headache, though, Gourry once again pointed out the similarity between him and Sylphiel). He quickly set up the latest craze in camping equipment and beginning to cook the party dinner with some of meat that tended not to keep as long.
Sorcery is a pretty amazing thing when it comes to food and cooking. In addition to always having control over the heat of the flame you're using, it's also relatively easy to freeze things for later use. While it took a little control to cast a freeze arrow good for refrigeration (to prevent the medieval equivalent of freezer burn), Greven had iced over some ground beef before they had left. Defrosting it with a little fire magic, Kreutz was able to whip up some tasty hamburgers. What Greven didn't see coming, though, was that all the meat he refrigerated would be gone in ten minutes and Lina and Gourry would be asking for fourths.
Moving on to the immense satchel of food that the two over-eaters had brought, Kreutz went on to continue cooking, watching in awe/horror as Gourry and Lina consumed everything that came off the fire before he could cook up the next course. It wasn't long before they went through almost all of the meat and Greven pulled the plug on the feast, proclaiming that unless they wanted to take some time away from traveling to hunt, they'd have to stop eating all the supplies.
"You know, you're never serious on things that really matter," Lina said with a pout, chewing on some of the dried meat Greven had given her.
"Just on the things that'll leave me hungry," Greven pointed out. "In which case, you can bet your ass I'll be serious."
"You two did just eat about half of our supplies," Kreutz pointed out. "Well, between dinner and all the munching you did through the afternoon, anyway."
"A girl's gotta eat," Lina said with a smile.
"Food is good!" Gourry pointed out enthusiastically. "And if I didn't eat a lot, too, Lina would just eat everything before me!" Kreutz mused over that for awhile.
"An interesting point," he said. "I wonder how Greven and I never acquired her appetite"
"I believe we were trying to stay thin, ironically enough," Greven said, drawing a brown glass pipe out of his pack and beginning to pack it. Lina shot a glance, though Greven ignored it, holding his hand over the bowl of the pipe and sparking the contents with a small flame from his palm.
"And when did you start smoking?" Lina asked him
"Probably when I started drinking, so like a year ago, I guess," Greven said, taking a draw. "It calms me down. Kinda like you and blowing stuff up," he said with a grin.
"Hmmokay," she said. "Valid point."
"We all have our flaws, Lina," Kreutz said, defending his friend. "And I don't think we need to harp on yours."
"You're treading on thin ice, Kruetz," Lina said, tearing off another piece of meat. "Dangerous for a big guy like yourself, I'd say." The sorceress grinned. While she never liked being picked on, it was amusing to deal with people who could keep up with her in a verbal sparring contest again. Good 'ole Zefielians, all right. It made her miss Zelgadis. He at least kept her honest with probing jibes occasionally. Gourry just took all the crap she gave him with a smile. He meant well, of course, but there was always something missing. Sometimes, Lina liked resistance.
Not that she didn't appreciate Gourry. Far from it. There's something to be
said for having your own pet swordsman/bodyguard who basically will let you
turn him into a punching bag. Sometimes she even thought shewell, yeah,
maybe she loved him for it. There was a scary word, though. Love. It had all
sorts of things Lina Inverse didn't want to deal with. Relationships. Emotions.
Sensitivity. No way. She knew she didn't want that. Yet, did she just not want
that or did she not want him?
"So, do you know of the gang that hangs out north of here?" Greven
asked Lina, snapping her out of her thought process. The redhead nodded.
"Yeah, unless they moved," she said. "I blew a good deal of them up a few months ago, but they were far from wiped out. They were the Red Dragons or Black Gryphons, or some other stupid combination of a color and an animal. I really can't keep absolute track of all the bandits that I punish, after all."
"What makes you think they'll have a clue about Amelia?" Gourry asked.
"They probably have nothing to do with it," Lina admitted. "But it's all about the information, Gourry. It's like this: when people travel through a bandit gang's territory, the bandits know. If the bandits think they can win the fight, they'll pick it. If the trespassers look tough, then they sometimes lay off."
"I get it," Kruetz said. "So you want to find out if they've either noticed some tough guys wandering through their woods last night or if they've had any recent additions to the big bandit house in the sky."
"If these guys we're after can plow through Seyruun castle guards like they did, I don't expect a bunch of bandits to beat them in a fight," Lina said. "And if the kidnappers were traveling north, it's almost a given that they'd hit this forest, which I believe is the domain of the Red-Black Dragon-Gryphons, or whatever they were."
"So we'll up and out early tomorrow and-" Greven said, cutting himself off at the end and perking up. He took a whiff of the air. Lina narrowed her eyes.
"What?" Gourry asked.
"I smell it, too," she said.
"Smell what?" Gourry asked.
"Trouble," Greven and Lina said in unison.
"Can you really smell trouble?" Kreutz questioned. Greven nodded, his gaze slowly moving around the area, trying to discern just what it was that was bugging his senses. He couldn't see anything, but
"Kreutz, illusions!" he shouted, springing up and snatching his bow from the ground. Lina and Gourry were up in an instant, too, as Kreutz nodded curtly.
"Flow Break!" he shouted sending out a pulse of white magic. A distortion began around him and rippled outward. As the magic in the area was dispelled, eight figures in black were suddenly visible, surrounding the party. Cover blown, the figures attacked.
The fight only lasted a few seconds. Before the one closest to him knew what was happening, Gourry had already cut him down, moving quickly on to the second one in a catlike pounce. Opposite him, Kreutz's great war hammer arced through the air, effortless smashing the skull of a nearby attacker as a brilliant lance of flame flew from Lina's palm, incinerating another.
Unable to get at his quiver, Greven hurled his bow through the air like a javelin, the razor tips he had attached on the top tearing into a throat. Turning around, he caught an incoming sword hand by its wrist and spun it around, locking it behind the offender's back. As he saw Gourry land on top of his next target, Greven reached behind his back and drew out a wicked looking knife, pressing it against his new captive's throat and holding him at bay. It wasn't until a second latter when the three men noticed that Lina was being held in a similar situation, looking pissed off to no end.
"Don't move or she gets it," her captor said. Gourry pulled his sword out of the newly felled body and brought it forward into a fighting stance.
"Lina!" he screamed, starting to move forward.
"Listen to him, Gourry," she said an uncharacteristic hint of defeat in her voice.
"I say you let her go or I relieve your friend here of his ability to breath," Greven said menacingly, twisting his captive's wrist backwards for additional effect. The cloaked man squirmed in pain but did not call out.
"No more death," Lina's captor said, reaching with her free hand to remove her hood. To everyone's surprise, it was a woman. She had mid-length dark hair and Lina's heart immediately skipped a beat.
"You?!" Lina exclaimed. "I got snuck up on by you?!"
"I told you I was looking forward to meeting you in person, Lina Inverse," Rani said.
"You know her?" Kreutz asked.
"I'll explain latter," Lina said.
"Okay, babe, I don't know who you are, but I suggest you let my friend go, now." Greven shot.
"Oh, please. I hold your leader and you hold a minion," Rani said. "If I had actually had intentions of killing Lina, that wouldn't be a very good trade." With that, Rani released her grip on the sorceress, who quickly sprung back and began to rant.
"Oh, you're gonna wish you had killed me!" Lina screamed, gathering energy.
"Lina!" Greven barked, letting his captive go as well. The black cloaked man ran over to stand by Rani. "Let her talk before we mess her up."
"Talk quick then, and get ready to fry," Lina said, cracking her knuckles. "And start with why you wanted us to go after Amelia! Did you just want to lure us out here?"
"Not entirely," Rani admitted, placing her hands on her hips. "But that was an important part of it. You see, we have Amelia, and you will continue to comply if you wish her life to be preserved."
"Bastards!" Gourry shouted, raising his blade.
"Easy, Mr. Gabriev," Rani taunted. "Any harm coming to me would certainly seal the doom of your Princess." Gourry looked at Lina for direction. The sorceress let out a discouraged sigh.
"Screw it, Gourry. She's right."
"How do we know she's telling the truth?" Kreutz asked.
"Because she predicted this," Lina growled. "She told me in a dream that Amelia would be captured. The only way she could have known that was if she was involved in masterminding it"
"So what do you want with us?" Greven asked.
"Not you all," Rani corrected. "Just Lina here."
"Well, what could you possibly want with lil' 'ole me?" Lina asked sarcastically.
"You will be tested," Rani said straightforwardly. "And you will follow directions."
"What if I don't fell like it?" Lina demanded.
"Then we kill the hostage."
"Well, of all the dirty, low-down, rotten" Lina began, but quickly found Gourry's hand on her shoulder, calming her.
"It's okay, Lina," Gourry said. He turned to Rani. "What do you want her to do?" he asked.
"Travel towards Atlas City," Rani said simply. "I'll bein contact with you to deliver further instructions, Lina."
"Fine," Lina said, eyes narrowed to slits. Rani let out an arrogant smirk.
"Well, I'm glad that was so painless for most of you all. To be honest, I was expecting you to kill all of the minions." She grinned. "At any rate, I'm late for an appointment. I'll be seeing you" she said. Then: "Raywing!" A bubble of air encased her and the remaining minion, lifting them up into the air and carrying them off into the distance. A feeling of hopelessness came over the group. The campfire flickered out in the wind from the Raywing and a lighting spell quickly came into being above Lina's palm, illuminating four very sullen faces.
"So what do we do?" Gourry asked.
"We don't have much of a choice," Lina admitted, shaking her head and clenching her fist. "Oh, man when we get Amelia back the things I'm gonna do that Rani girl"
"Change of direction, then, I suppose," Kreutz asked.
"Something like that, Kreutz," Lina said. "Something like that."
