"Why'd they make the tunnel so long? I'll be worn out before we reach the end." Gourry sighed as he plodded along.
"They make these tunnels as a safety precaution. Should a royal's life be threatened, they can escape into the maze. Even if they were followed, the pursuer has a good chance of getting lost in here." Zelgadis replied.
"I sure hope we aren't lost." Gourry looked down the winding tunnel.
"I doubt Amelia would lead us astray." Lina looked back at the two.
"Not to mention she played down here as a child." Zelgadis commented.
"Who told you that?" Lina asked.
Zelgadis began to fidget nervously. "Ah, she did, actually."
Lina stopped walking so she could nudge Zelgadis in the side. "When did you two get so chatty with each other?" she grinned.
"Just about any time you and Gourry broke off into a couple." Zelgadis countered.
"But we're always walking together." Gourry replied. "Oh."
Lina turned back to where she had been walking, hiding the light blush in her cheeks. She nearly tripped over Amelia when the wolf suddenly froze in her steps.
Amelia growled at the darkness.
Lina reacted by shushing Zelgadis and Gourry, then put out her light.
Lina and Gourry strained to hear anything, but Zelgadis could easily hear a male voice from farther down the tunnel.
Amelia grew silent, then stalked off toward the voice. Lina motioned for them to follow.
"Well this is just lovely. After all I've done for this plan to succeed, they leave me down here to rot! Lousy, stinking j-AAAH!"
Amelia had lept at the man, knocking him to the ground.
"No! Please! I don't want to die!"
"Give it a rest, scum." Lina recast a Light spell, revealing Marcus laying flat on his face, Amelia pinning him to the ground.
"Oh, so you got away, eh?" Marcus grinned sheepishly (from what the could see of his face.)
"It takes much more than that to defeat Lina Inverse!" Lina glared down at Marcus. "Make sure he can't get away, Gourry."
"Right." Gourry nudged Amelia out of the way, then hoisted Marcus up off of the ground, pinning his arms behind his back.
"You think you're tough, ordering your lackeys around!" Marcus spat out at Lina, flailing his legs uselessly.
"You should talk! You can't even fight your own battles unless you have the advantage! Unlike me." Lina grinned as she cast a Fire Ball.
Marcus cried out in fear, trying to break free from Gourry's grip.
"Absolutely pathetic." Zelgadis turned away in disgust.
"I wouldn't move if I were you, or I'll have to use this on you." Lina grinned evilly.
Marcus' eyes bugged out, but he stopped flailing.
Lina cut off the spell. "That's better. Now then, I've got some questions for you. First, I saw your handiwork back there. Were you the one that infected Amelia?"
"I had nothing to do with that!" Marcus refused to meet Lina's gaze.
Amelia snarled at Marcus as she approached him, sniffing about him. Something in his jacket caught her interest, but Marcus kicked at her as she moved in to investigate.
"Stay out of there!"
Marcus realized what a bad move that was as Gourry tightened his grip, and Zelgadis struck out at him. Lina managed to hold Zelgadis back.
"At ease, Zel!" Lina looked to Amelia, who had easily avoided Marcus' attack. "Is our friend hiding something from us, Amelia?"
Amelia woofed back at Lina, then tugged on Marcus' jacket.
"Er, she must be smelling the treats I fed my animals with." Marcus laughed nervously.
Lina looked at Zelgadis, motioning for him to check it out. Zelgadis also approached Marcus. and as he glared at the man, searched his jacket. He found an inner pocket, and in there...
Zelgadis pulled out a small case. He studied it briefly, then opened it, revealing many small vials. "I didn't think many animals could live on just a liquid diet." The sarcasm wasn't lost on anyone in the room.
"What's in them?" Gourry peered over Marcus' shoulder.
Zelgadis picked up a vial and studied it for a moment. "Lina, come look at this."
Lina stepped over to where Zelgadis stood and looked at the vial he held out to her. "W. Bear." She looked through the other vials, seeing similar labels. "So tell me Mr. "It wasn't me", did your creations survive off of Essence of Were?"
Marcus cowered, but didn't respond.
"So that's solved. But how did he infect Amelia in the first place? Lina, did she ever indicate she had been attacked or had this injected in any way?" Zelgadis asked, holding up a vial labeled "W. Wolf".
Lina shook her head. "No, she was perfectly normal until the moon came out."
Amelia cocked her head in thought. What they said sounded familiar, but she could only remember vague images.
"Wait, what's this?" Lina pulled out another vial from the case, but unlike the others, this one didn't contain liquid. "...a mosquito?"
Marcus began to sweat profusely.
Amelia, meanwhile, realized the importance of the mosquito and began to bark out at Lina.
"What good is a mosquito? All they do is suck blood." Gourry made a face.
"Idiot! Only the females do that!" Marcus replied.
The hall grew deathly silent as everyone eyed Marcus suspiciously.
"Oh-ho, so you feel like sharing now?" Lina shot Marcus an unimpressed look.
"Er, I don't know how that got in there!" Marcus replied lamely.
"Oh. So you won't mind if I kill it then. Here ya go, Zel." Lina handed the vial to Zelgadis.
Marcus watched her in horror. "You wouldn't."
"Actually, he would. You've made him very upset." Gourry replied.
Zelgadis grinned at Marcus as he squeezed the vial until it started to crack.
"No! Stop! Don't kill Harvey!" Marcus cried.
"Harvey?" Everyone gave him a quizzical look.
"Uh, yeah. He's mine, ya see..." Marcus whimpered in admittance.
Amelia began to move about in agitation, trying to get everyone's attention.
"What's gotten into you, Amelia?" Lina asked.
"Quick, this way! I can see light up ahead!"
Everyone froze.
Amelia whined frantically as she tugged at Lina's skirt, trying to pull her further down the tunnel.
"Come on, let's get out of here!" Lina dimmed her Light spell until it was nearly too dark to see, then turned to follow after Amelia.
"But what about him?" Gourry indicated Marcus.
"Bring him. And Zelgadis, keep a hold of that case. I'll keep an eye on this little guy." Lina took the vial back from Zelgadis and pocketed it.
They ran quickly (but quietly) through the tunnels, until finally they reached a dead end.
"Amelia, I thought you knew where you were going?" Lina scolded, fearing the guards weren't far off.
Amelia was unfazed as she pushed into a part of the wall, revealing another secret door.
"You were saying?" Zelgadis gave Lina a cool look.
"Well sorry, but we're kind of being pursued here!" Lina replied.
Amelia gave a small warning growl to silent the two, then walked through the door out of the palace.
"Hey, this is kind of neat. There aren't any guards patrolling here." Gourry smiled as he looked about the empty grounds.
"Most likely because they rushed inside with the commotion we caused." Zelgadis replied.
"What do we do now, Lina?" Gourry looked to Lina.
"It's too dangerous to hang around here so we'd better retreat." Lina surveyed the situation.
"How do we get out? Someone is sure to spot us." Zelgadis was getting nervous.
"We can't exactly go strolling down the street... How well can you all sneak through alleys?" Lina asked.
"Not a problem." Zelgadis replied.
"Uh, I guess I can do okay." Gourry said.
"It's not me they're after." Marcus smirked.
"Not yet they aren't, and if you don't cooperate, you won't live long enough for them to." Lina snapped back.
Marcus gulped. "Yeah, I can be real quiet."
Lina smirked at the easily cowed man, then knelt down in front of Amelia. "No offense, but sneaking was never one of your better skills; and to avoid making an even bigger scene.." Lina placed her hand on the amulet, making sure it was still attached. "Activate."
Amelia let out a cry of surprise and protest as she shrank down to a tiny pup.
Lina picked the pup up and cradled her in one arm. "Okay, let's go before they catch us."
The group spent much of the evening sneaking out of Seyruun, trying to act casual all the while. Finally, as the sun disappeared from view, they made it to the outer gate.
Gourry halted in his tracks as he saw two guards standing outside the gate. "Lina, what do we do about the guards?"
"The usual." Lina winked. "Here Zelgadis, hold her."
"What?" Zelgadis was shocked to see Lina holding Amelia out to him.
"I need to concentrate on getting you all over, and I'll need my arms free. Now hold her, and be careful."
Zelgadis took the squirming pup, but was unsure how to hold her. He held her to his chest awkwardly.
"Good, now everyone stand together. Keep a hold of our friend, Gourry, and Zel, think you can handle her?" Lina prepped herself.
Zelgadis just looked at Lina, as Amelia had already snuggled up against him and had fallen asleep.
"You're a natural." Lina smiled. "Now then..." Lina began to do a series of hand gestures. "Raywing!" She grabbed onto Gourry and Zelgadis as she floated up from the ground, pulling the group up and over the outer wall.
Gourry shut his eyes tight and held Marcus in a death grip. Zelgadis kept an eye on the ground below, continuously making sure Amelia was secure. As they were descending the other side, Lina began to falter.
"Tell me when it's over!" Gourry whimpered, still keeping his eyes shut.
Zelgadis gasped in horror as he realized they were practically plummeting to the earth below. "Lina..?"
Lina was straining to keep control of her spell, managing to slow their descent down before they landed. She then released her grip on Gourry and Zelgadis. "You all okay?" she gasped.
Feeling ground beneath his feet, Gourry opened an eye to look around before releasing his breath. "I never want to do that again!"
"That was too close, Lina." Zelgadis agreed with Gourry.
"You're telling me. You're all heavy!" Lina shook the cramps out of her muscles.
"Never was a big f-fan of m-m-magic." Marcus shook in fright.
"Deal with it. Now let's go, we need to get as far from here before sunrise as possible!"
With that, Lina took off away from the city and into the wilderness.
"Lina, how far are we going to run? We just spent the past week getting to Seyruun." Gourry sighed with fatigue, as the group hadn't stopped all night.
"We've got to make sure nobody followed us. We'll go back when we've figured out a plan." Lina replied.
"Don't forget we don't have all of the time in the world, Lina." Zelgadis spoke up, also fatigued from the march, but also not wanting to get caught.
Marcus kept quiet, concentrating on staying awake.
"Can we get our stuff at least?" Gourry asked.
"Yes! I don't want to run around in this dress forever!" Lina tugged at the offending skirt.
Zelgadis flushed, having just remembered he was still in a dress.
"The question is, which hill did we come from?" Lina looked about as she pondered before deciding on a direction.
When they finally reached the top of the hill, Lina ran to some underbrush and began digging around.
"Ta-da!" She pulled out the clothing and armor they'd stashed.
Lina and Gourry quickly got out of their disguises and back into their normal clothing.
"What's the matter, Zel? Aren't you going to change? Or do you like the dress that much?" Lina winked.
Zelgadis ignored her implication. "Yes, I'm going to change, but I wanted you to hold her." Zelgadis handed the sleeping pup over to Lina.
"Wow, she's really konked out." Gourry noted.
"Er, excuse me Miss, but when do we get to do the same?" Marcus yawned.
Lina ignored the man's plea and looked down into the city. It looked like things had settled down at the palace, at least. Lina pet Amelia absentmindedly as she made a decision.
"Okay, I think we've got a good head start on them, and even if they do send out search parties it'll take them some time to find us."
"Meaning?" Gourry asked.
"That we'll camp here for the night. But before that..." Lina dug around in her pocket and pulled out the leash. "...we've got to make sure our prisoner doesn't get away. Tie him up, Gourry." Lina tossed the leash to Gourry, who quickly complied.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Marcus struggled in vain.
Lina got up in Marcus' face. "Don't you talk to me about fair after all you've put us through!"
"Be glad you're even alive." Zelgadis glowered.
Gourry tied Marcus' hands and feet together to prevent the man's escape.
"Good. Now if you're quiet I won't have to gag you." Lina yawned. "As for me, I'm getting some sleep."
Lina found a comfortable spot in the ground and quickly fell asleep, leaving the others to figure out watches for the night.