Disclaimer: I don't own slayers

Lucky us!

A summer festival

The town was a bustle. All sorts of small stands had been set up in the main street and the town square. Taki was running around between the different stands. "This is wonderful!" she was beaming. Eruk wasn't as exited as she was, it still bothered him that he actually had hit Sylphiel. True, it had never been his intention, but he had just been to angry to think. "Eruk come over here for a second" Taki was dragging him along to a nearby stand "just look at that dress. Isn't it wonderful?". He looked at it, not really caring "yeah, it's great" he said in a plain voice. She gave him an evil stare "you are not paying any attention! What I meant was, that it would be nice if SOMEBODY would buy it for me". She sent him a dreamy stare "please? Pretty please? Pretty pretty pleaseee?".

He couldn't help but be amused by the way she acted "I understand, but I'm afraid I can't buy you anything before I sell some of these". He showed her a handful of gems, he had kept hidden in his pocket. She eyed them carefully "where did you get those? They look expensive" she asked. He had meant it to be a secret, but knowing how persistent she could be, he decided to tell her "you know how Lina gets money, stealing from bandits? Last time she burned down a hideout, I went after her without her knowing it. That way I could get some of their treasure for myself". His smile faded at bit "but I didn't want to spend it paying for some damage I wasn't even sure I was responsible for. Oh well…".

Taki was mentally waving goodbye to the dress, but was determined not to let it ruin her day. They walked on, looking at the different things going on at the fair. They heard shouting from a nearby tent, and Taki ran over to see what was going on. Lina and Gourry was inside, engaged in yet another feeding frenzy. The tent was obviously an "all-you-can-eat-restaurant". Taki was staring with open mouth, even though she had seen them eat before, it never ceased to amaze her how much the two of them could eat. Suddenly Gourry grabbed a piece of meat from Lina's plate. As usual Lina responded with a fireball, only this time Gourry actually managed to dodge.

The fireball was now on a collision course with Taki. She didn't have time to react before the world around her erupted in flames. "Taki!" Eruk was running toward the crater the fireball had left. Because of the smoke he couldn't see anything, but knowing how powerful Lina's magic was, he feared the worst.

He was standing in the middle of the crater, but there was no trace of Taki, not even after the smoke had started to clear. "Taki!" he shouted. He heard a moan coming from behind him. He spun around and found Taki laying up against a wall. He rushed to her "are you ok? How did you get over here?". Apparently she wasn't hurt by the fireball, the only visible damage was a small wound in the back of her head, caused by the impact with the wall. "We'd better get you back to the inn" Eruk offered his hand to help her up. As she reached for it, she felt a burning pain on her chest. She fell back, screaming in pain.

Eruk could only watch as she feverly tried to avoid any contact with the amulet around her neck. "It burns!!" She kept screaming. Eruk regained his senses and held the amulet away from her "that's funny, it don't fell hot to me" he wondered out loud. Taki was still covering the spot where the amulet had touched her skin. She looked at him, fighting to keep the tears at bay "Does this look like nothing to you?" she removed her hands and shoved him the burn the amulet had caused.

It was a really bad wound, it looked like a full strength fireball had made an impact with that part of her body. He grabbed her hands by the wrists with one hand, and used his free hand to focus a healing spell. Her pain was now more easy to handle, but the burn was to serious for him to heal. They started walking back to the inn, at a slow pace. Eruk was holding the amulet all the way.

"Back already?" the trickster priest asked them as they entered the inn "I though you were going to stay out all night". He was smiling at them as usual, but unlike some times, his smile was genuine. He was secretly savoring the pain that radiated from Taki. Eruk gave him an evil look "just leave us alone. She's hurt, in case you missed it". Xellos rose from his chair and went closer to them "that's a nasty burn" he concluded in his usual joyful manner, "how did you manage to get hurt like that?". Eruk was about to explain, when Xellos opened his eyes and stared at the amulet in his hand.

"My my, that explains everything" he exclaimed. Eruk stared at him dumbfounded, as did Taki, despite of her pain. "You know something about this?" they asked in unison. Xellos had closed his eyes once again "This is a very rare thing indeed" he started explaining. "A long time ago these amulets were crafted to keep renegade sorcerers under control. When worn they not only blocks all of the sorcerers own power, but also shields him from the effect of any shamanism or black magic".

They both stared at him in silence as he went on "of course the brilliant part about them was that, even though the wearer is shielded from any outside spell, he is NOT shielded from any pain they may cause".

Eruk was the first to understand what Xellos was talking about "So basically, the pain Taki is feeling right now, is how a fireball would feel?" Xellos nodded "bingo! Exactly right!". Taki decided to try her luck "so do you know of a way to remove this stupid thing, mister Xellos?" she asked hopefully. Xellos rubbed his chin, while pretending to think "now what was that word again? Oh yes!" he leaned in close and whispered something. The amulet fell to the ground with a small clank. Taki's face lit up in a big smile "Thank you mister Xellos!!" she exclaimed, and hugged him. After holding on to him a few seconds she jumped away, clutching her burn "ow that hurts!".

Xellos too was looking a little pale. Probably from to many positive emotions Eruk thought to himself, and couldn't help but to smile a little. "What was that word you whispered?" Taki asked curiously. Xellos smile grew, as he waved a finger in front of them "that, of course, is a secret". He laughed and teleported out of the room. "One time a joker, always a joker, I guess…" Eruk thought out loud, "now if I only could figure out why he helped us…" He shook his head, as to escape his thoughts "well, no need to worry about it now. Let's get you up to your room". He picked up the amulet and put it into his pocket, before he followed Taki to her room.

He only stayed as long as he needed in order to cast another healing spell. Once outside he took a deep breath, and prepared to think of an excuse for why his room looked as it did. Much to his surprise the innkeeper wasn't as upset about the damage as he had expected. Eruk only had to pay half of what he had feared. He figured it had something to do with him being a friend of the infamous Lina Inverse.

After paying for the damage he left the inn, I wonder where Sylphiel went? I haven't seen her since she ran away. Maybe I should go looking for her. He decided on his next move. He walked around on the marked, hoping he would run into Sylphiel. The town wasn't that big, and he figured that the best place for her to hide was in a crowd. While he was looking, he found the time to enjoy himself. He hadn't been to a marked like this before, and he felt more and more intrigued with all of the different goods people was selling at the different stands.

Unwillingly he found himself spending more time shopping and less time searching. She's a big girl he kept reminding himself hell, most likely she's better to take care of herself that I am.

He was standing at a small stand, looking at some wicked looking maces. He held one of them up to examine it closer. It was heavy, really heavy. He wouldn't characterize himself as weak anymore, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't picture himself using one of them in battle. "Ya like that?" he heard someone asking, he looked around, but couldn't see anyone.

He felt someone tucking his cape. Looking down he saw a small fox-like man with a ridiculously large hat, smiling at him. "I don't think so, it's way too heavy" he smiled back to the fox. "You have to buy sumthin' mister" the fox pleaded " you are me first customer". Eruk shook his head and started to leave. The fox threw himself at Eruk's leg, and prevented him from leaving "please sir, I hafe 'to sell sumthin' or the boss won't have enough money to pay the rent for this stand!".

Eruk couldn't help but smile a little, he had met many persistent shopkeepers before, but this guy took the first price. "Look I'm sorry" he started " but I'm trained in using light weapons, not something like this". The fox was still clinging to his leg, as if it was some kind of link to his own life "light weapons? I have light weapons! The boss won't be pleased when I sell sumthin' other than her weapons, but we need the money, see?" He's gotta do a lot better than that to sell me something, but at least he's good entertainment, Eruk thought with a chuckle "ok ok, you win! Show me some of you other stuff then" he told the pleading fox.

The fox moved at incredible speed to make room for more goods on the rugs, he used as a stand. The only ones Eruk had ever seen that could possibly match that speed, was Lina and Gourry heading for the dinner table. A good part of the rug was now empty, but it wouldn't stay that long from the looks of it. The fox was already emptying his cape and pockets for both usable and unusable items. "That's a lot of stuff alright Mr. Fox" Eruk said, a bit impressed that a person that small could possible hide that much gear. "Jillas" the fox corrected him "me name is Jillas".

Eruk was rummaging through the stuff on the ground "what's that?" he asked, holding up a small bottle. "Uh… you can't have that" Jillas snatched the bottle out of his hands. Apparently his attempt to hide the bottles content was in vain, as Eruk found that he was still holding a small sheet of paper with the word "flea shampoo" written on it. "Forget about that" Jillas laughed sheepishly "we were talking weapons right?" Eruk nodded, and started looking for the weapons Jillas was talking about.

There was a lot of weird looking stuff, that he wasn't able to identify. Eruk was instinctively looking for daggers and the like, but found nothing of the sort. "Um Mr. Jillas? I don't see any weapons here". Jillas was smiling his best merchant smile "you're from inside of the barrier, are you?". Eruk, who didn't know anything about any barrier, only nodded. "This is a bomb" Jillas was holding up a small spherical object. "It's a throwing weapon that explodes when you light it on fire" he smiled proudly " it's me own invention! I'm told they are similar to the fireball spells you people from inside the barrier uses". Eruk was impressed, but didn't show it. He had learned pretty fast, that the more exited he was to get a particular item, the higher the price went. "So it's basically a portable fireball?" he asked. Jillas was eagerly nodding. "It's a nice enough item" Eruk admitted, "but I'm in the middle of a journey, and I want to travel as light as possible".

For a few seconds Jillas looked disappointed, but quickly went on talking about another of his items. "This here is me special gun" he held up a small weird looking thing. It was obvious that he was very proud of this special item. "And that does what, exactly?" Eruk asked plainly, to him it was just another useless object, that he couldn't see any use to. "It's me finest work!" Jillas was holding the gun close into his chest "it uses gunpowder to shoot a small bullet at a target". Eruk took another look at the weapon. It did bear some resemblance to the small hand crossbows he had seen in New Sairaag.

Jillas went on with his sales speech "I bet me good eye that even a child could use this little baby…." Jillas was talking like a waterfall, but Eruk wasn't even paying attention anymore. If that "gun" is as easy to use as he claims, maybe I should buy it for Taki? Our journey could get dangerous, and I would fell more comfortable if I knew that she had some sort of weapon to defend herself with. His mind was racing. True, he didn't know if she wanted to go on, or go back to Seyruun. In any case she definitely needed a weapon. "Ok you win" he cut of Jillas, who was still talking about how wonderful his gun was, "how much?". Jillas was about to tell his price when he was cut of by an angry woman.

"Where is he? I know that filthy mazuko is around here somewhere" the woman shouted. Eruk didn't have more than a few seconds to adjust himself to the new situation, before he found himself dodging blows from the woman's mean looking mace. "DIE NAMAGOMI!!!" he dodged another blow. Jillas threw himself at the enraged blonde "BOSS! That's not him! He's a customer! A customer boss!"

he could just as well try to kill a dark lord with a toothpick, as he could stop the furious female. Another swing went right past his face. He took a step backwards, and tripped over some of the maces on the ground. From his place on the ground everything seemed like it went into a slow-motion. The mace was flying towards his face, leaving him with no chance of dodging. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable impact. He waited, and waited, and waited, but the strike never came. He finally dared to open one eye. Not believing what he saw he opened his other eye. He had been right after all. A giant lizard-man was standing next to him, and was apparently holding an antique looking teacup in front of his face, almost like a shield. The weirdest thing was that the mace really had stopped right in front of cup.

The before so angry woman, had completely changed her character. She was smiling, and blushing, a little "Oh, I'm so sorry about that. For some reason I just thought you were HIM for a second" she made the word "him" sound like it was some sort of curse. Eruk stood up with the help of the lizard-man "Well, I'm alive." He dusted himself off "but I must admit that I feel sorry for whoever you thought I was, miss…?". She hid her mace away "my name is Filia Ul Copt, owner of Filia's mace and pottery heaven, and you don't need to fell sorry for that THAT NAMAGOMI XELLOS!".

He took a step back "you mean THAT Xellos?" Filia eyed him suspiciously "you know him?" she was getting angry again. He took another step back "not exactly know him, but he has been tagging along with me and my friends" he took another look at her reaction, from how she reacted before, he knew better than to make her mad. Judging from the way her eyebrows were twitching, he figured that now was a good time to change the subject. "Um anyway, can I assume you are Jillas boss?" he asked conversationally.

Filia turned her attention to the fox "are you still running around calling me boss?" she asked in an annoyed tone. Jillas swallowed hard "no boss, I'm not". Eruk walked over and picked up the gun "you never told me the price for this one Jillas". Filia quickly eyed the both of them quickly "oh you are a customer!" she exclaimed happily. In a matter of seconds she had sorted out all the mess caused by her outburst. "So what were you interested in Mr.?" she asked casually. Eruk held up the gun "this. It could prove rather useful". She looked at the weapon, then at Jillas, who at the moment was cowering behind the lizard-man. "I don't want to sell that little toy" she pouted "I sell maces and pots". The lizard-man leaned in and whispered something in her ear. "I know that, Gravos…. Oh alright, it's for little Val's future. 100 gold pieces". Eruk nodded "If you have it, I'll take two then".

Filia gave Jillas another look. The fox was backing away "but boss I can't sell me last gun!" he whined. A twitch from her eyebrows made him change his mind. Eruk handed over two hundred gold pieces and took the two guns "nice doing business with you" he turned to leave. "Jillas, Gravos take care of the shop, and Val" Filia ordered and followed Eruk. "Miss Filia, can I ask why you are following me?" he asked the blonde. "I find it my duty to warn both you and your friends, of the many dangers you could get into following that MAZUKO around". Eruk shrugged "whatever".

He headed for the all-you-can-eat tent, hoping that Lina and Gourry was still there. Already before they entered the tent, Eruk could hear Lina and Gourry fighting over the food. He also noticed that Filia looked more and more pale with each step. "Your friends wouldn't happen to be…" she asked nervously as they entered the tent. He gestured to the chaos in the middle of the room "If you are thinking of the infamous Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev, then you are right".

Gourry pushed his plate away and looked around the room "Say Lina that girl over there with Eruk isn't that…. Uh what's her name?". Lina leaned back and folded her hands behind her head, not even looking in the directions he was pointing, "her name is Sylphiel, jellyfishbrain, why can't you ever remember?". She turned around "hey Eruk, Sylphi… huh?". She was taken by surprise, when she discovered that the girl with Eruk really wasn't Sylphiel. "Filia?" the sorceress exclaimed and threw herself at the young dragon "why don't you come over here and buy me a dessert, for old times sake?". Lina was practically pushing Filia back towards the table. "Miss Lina…" Filia desperately tried to change her red-haired friends mind "I actually don't have any money". Her word didn't have much of an effect on Lina. "Don't be such a cheapskate Filia, the last time we heard from you, you had your own shop" Lina said, in a tone that left no room for discussion. "Well, about my shop…" Filia started turning red "actually, I'm broke" she laughed sheepishly. "But I thought you loved maces and pottery?" Gourry exclaimed. Both of the girls looked at him in a state of shock, not only did what he said make sense, he actually had a point.

"Yeah" Lina took over "with your expertise, how can you ever be broke?". Filia rubbed the back of her head nervously "it would seem that I loved my shop a little to much. You see, I couldn't bear to part with any of my wares…". Both Lina and Gourry banged their heads into the table. Eruk turned to leave, he had had enough of reunions.

Authors notes:

So Filia finally showed up. I also tried to keep some hints of the strange accent Jillas has in the dub. What can I say? I just prefer the dub.

So I got a review from Mortez2000, it wasn't exactly flattering, but coming from you, I'll take it as a compliment.

Also thanks for the scoop on the whole thanksgiving thing, Slayers otaku girl. But I'll bet the turkeys don't like it one bit J

In the next chapter, more hints will be given on Eruks true power. Stay tuned, please!