"See? This is why I try to avoid the mountains! They're nothing but trouble!" Lina shouted. She was currently wading in waist-deep snow.
"You have it better than most." Zelgadis grumbled. He was having a harder time since every step he took buried his leg deep in the snow. (It just didn't pay to be made of stone around water; frozen or not!)
Amelia also barked out a response. She couldn't walk in the snow, so she bounded forward in the tracks the others left.
"Forget I said anything." Lina sighed, before trudging on.
Meanwhile, higher up on the mountain a lone figure watched the group.
"She got away with her life once, but not again! Just got to wait for the right moment...okay, that's good enough!"
The man lit a few bombs, then lobbed them down the mountainside, then watched with satisfaction as they detonated.
This did not go unnoticed down below. Hearing the loud noise, Lina's group looked back.
"What was that?" Lina asked.
"Avalanche!!" Gourry yelled.
Everybody ran to get away from the oncoming wave of snow, but the deep snow they were already wading through hindered them. The wave caught up to them in seconds!
When Amelia came to, she was overjoyed to find that she hadn't been buried! True her hind legs and tail were immersed in snow, but after a bit of squirming she broke free. She looked about to find the others, but saw nothing.
Amelia frantically dashed about, hoping to pick on her friends' scent. She finally found where Lina was buried and began digging.
Lina wasn't too far down, and had been entombed in a pocket of air as well, but she was unconscious. Amelia barked at her, hoping to wake Lina, but she failed. She left Lina to find Gourry and Zelgadis.
Gourry wasn't too far off, but he was also buried and unconscious. Two down, one to go.
After dashing madly about, Amelia finally picked up on Zelgadis' scent. She dug as fast as she could, realizing that he was buried much deeper than the other two. Just as she reached him, she felt a sharp tug on her collar.
Amelia pulled her head out of the snow and looked around.
"It's time we ended this, don't you think?" The man cracked his club over her head.
All went black...
As Lina came to, she realized that she was very cold and wet. When she opened her eyes, she was shocked to see all white. "No! I can't have died!" As she wailed, she noticed a 'hole' in the white, and saw the cloudy sky above. She pulled herself out of her snowy tomb and looked around.
"Where is everybody? Gourry? Zelgadis? Amelia?" Lina was answered by a soft moan nearby.
She saw a hole in the snow and looked in. "Gourry, thank goodness! Are you okay?"
Gourry blinked open his eyes. "Lina? Yeah, I just never want to do that again!" Gourry also pulled himself out of the snow. "Where are Zelgadis and Amelia?"
"I don't know."
Gourry looked down into the snow. "Hey, look! Wolf tracks, and I bet they belong to Amelia."
Lina and Gourry followed the tracks until they found Zelgadis. They quickly pulled him out of the snow as well.
"Zelgadis, do you know what happened to Amelia?" Lina shook his shoulder.
Zelgadis rubbed his head, somewhat dazed. "No, I don't. You don't think she's still buried?"
Lina shook her head. "No, we followed her tracks to you."
While Lina interrogated Zelgadis, Gourry glanced around. Something in the snow caused him to gasp. "Lina, look at this!" Gourry pointed to more tracks, but these were obviously human. There was also a wolf-shaped impression in the snow, and to top it all off, muddled dog tracks.
"Why don't these people give up?!" Lina yelled at the sky in anger.
"Come on, we have to find her before it's too late!" Zelgadis saw something buried in the snow, and reached down to pick it up. It was Amelia's leash. Zelgadis gripped it tightly.
"I should have done this in the first place. Gourry, Zel, come here." Lina motioned for the two to stand next to her.
Gourry and Zelgadis complied.
Lina gripped Gourry and Zelgadis' hands as she called out, "Raywing!" and took to the air. They then followed the tracks, hoping to find their companion before it was too late!
"Am I good! The boss will be pleased when I give him the good news!" Amelia's abductor praised himself as he rode on his dog sled. He looked down at his captive. "As for you, you'd better do what's expected of you as well!"
Amelia didn't answer as she was still unconscious.
"We made the mistake of getting those others involved, but no way will they find you now!" The man grinned as he cracked a whip at his dogs. "Mush! Gee up there!"
The cold air hitting her helped to awaken Amelia, but her head throbbed so much that she remained still and tried to get her bearings. She was definitely on something that was moving rather fast, and she also discovered that her legs were all bound so she couldn't move very easily. Amelia pondered her options for escape.
"Yes sir, once I drop you off, I can head back to Seyruun and finally get my pay! Maybe the boss'll even give me another job, with my recent success and all." The man puffed out his chest proudly.
Seyruun?! Amelia's ears perked up at this. She had to get back home as soon as possible! Her father's life could already be in danger...
Amelia opened her eyes to have her suspicions confirmed. She was hog-tied and sitting atop a sled being pulled by a team of dogs. Even so, she had to escape! She struggled to the edge of the sled...
"Hey! When did you wake up? If you don't behave I'll have to konk you again!"
Closer...closer...
The man cracked his club over Amelia's head again, sending her into oblivion once more. "Good thing I planned ahead. Sure is a stubborn one though."
"Can't...go...on!" Lina collapsed into the snow.
Zelgadis stood over Lina. "It's no wonder. You wore yourself holding onto that Raywing spell for as long as you did."
"Lina, we can't stop now!" Gourry exclaimed. They had gotten so far, and yet were nowhere near catching up.
"I know, just give me a bit." Lina sighed.
"We don't have time to stop. It's starting to snow again, so the longer we wait, the more snow will fill in the tracks." Gourry gazes to the horizon.
"They were smart to bring a dog sled. Wish I thought of that." Lina continued to lay in the snow.
"I'm serious, Lina." Gourry knelt next to Lina.
"Lina, we need to continue if we're going to have any chance of catching up!" Zelgadis sounded exasperated, watching the ever disappearing tracks.
Lina continued to stare at the sky in a daze.
"Here, you moved me, now let me move you." Gourry reached out for Lina.
"Gourry, what are you...?"
Gourry easily picked up Lina and hoisted her onto his back.
"Are you ever going to stop treating me like a kid?" Lina scowled.
"Who's treating you like a kid? This is the best way to carry you." Having said so, Gourry set off again.
"Oh well, at least it's a nice view. Faster Gourry, we need to catch up!" Lina urged on Gourry as if he were a horse.
"I'm doing the best I can!"
Zelgadis ignored the two as he followed the trail. Already it was beginning to disappear under the falling snow. "This doesn't bode well, indeed."
It was evening time before Amelia regained her senses. The man had stopped traveling for the night and had already set up camp, his team of dogs not far away. Even now Amelia could hear them growling at her in distrust. (Thankfully they were chained up so they couldn't get to her, much as they wanted to.)
"Quiet, all of you!"
Amelia looked over to see the man (whom she growled at lightly despite herself) sitting by a small fire cooking his meal. Other than yelling at his dogs, he took no notice of her, more intent to have a decent meal. Amelia wished she could have one too, but at the moment she was unable to move more than her head, so she kept watch over the area, ever hopeful to hear her friends come at any moment.
They never came.
Instead, the man got up from his fire and took some of the food he prepared to his dogs.
"Here, now I don't want to hear another peep out of you tonight! You need to save your energy for the trail tomorrow."
His dogs just barked and wagged their tails happily, then tore into each other as they fought to get a portion of their dinner.
Amelia watched on, somewhat in disgust, but also because it reminded her of Lina and Gourry's eating matches.
"As for you, Missy." The man tossed a small piece of steak at Amelia's side, thankfully within reach.
Amelia gazed back at him in wonder.
"Don't give me that look. I just don't like seeing animals in distress." The man chuckled at his own comment. "This wasn't quite what I had in mind when I took this job, but the pay's too good to pass up. Nothin' personal, Princess." He gave a slight bow as if in jest before returning to the fire.
Amelia continued to watch the man, confused by his actions, but the meat smelled too good to be ignored. Not smelling anything off about it, she quickly gulped it down before something else came along to snatch it.
Eventually the man, through with dinner for the night, took out a small box, opened it, and pulled out a small capsule. Amelia watched on in interest.
"How you holding up, Harvey?" The man was silent for a moment.
"Cold? Well you're the one that didn't listen to me! Let this be a lesson to you." Again he was silent, as if taking to someone and waiting for a response.
"Here, this ought to make you feel better." The man slipped the small capsule inside his jacket, then put the box away.
Amelia was even more perplexed. The man had to be insane, or very near it! She continued to wait and watch, until the man had gone into his shelter for the night. Only then did Amelia curl up and fall asleep herself.
Just how was she going to get herself out of this one?
I live! After being slave to the sewing machine for the past week, I am back! (My friends get to run around Acen all pretty like, while I get to stay at home. Sometimes it stinks living on the coast.) In any case, my boredom got me back on track with writing my story, so here you go! I didn't like how short this chapter was (and I actually just wrote up the last part), but I didn't want to start on the next part because it's going to be long! You've been warned. ^_-