Hey ya'll, here's chap. Eight, finally done. Sorry it took me so long. I
had to go somewhere, can't call it a vacation, and I didn't have ANY time
to work on my story.
Lacey started to get up, hungry for the yummy food she knew she smelled, but froze when she heard the words whispered in her ear. An undistinguishable voice grumbled at her. "Now is not a convenient time for you to wake up. Go back to sleep." Lacey made a face and continued to get up. The voice growled. "I warned you. Sleep!" Lacey fell back to the ground, basically unconscious.
"Bloody hell! What am I doing here, Kevin?" Lina spluttered at her little brother.
"You're looking for the mountains, Li-chan!" Kevin chirped.
"How can you be so cheerful?" Lina groaned and stepped over another root. The forest was hot, damp, and had WAY too many mosquitoes. "I thought mosquitoes only bit people who were sweet." Lina grumbled and swatted another one away.
"Apparently not, Li-chan!"
"You know what? When you're this cheerful and the weather is like this? I can't help but think of Xellos at his fruitiest." Lina grimaced. "You had better not be some purple haired mazoku in disguise, or-"
"You know XELLOS?"
"Yeah, sure."
"What do you mean, 'Yeah, sure.'?! Xellos is one of the top mazoku! He could easily kill you or me!" Kevin goggled at her and tripped over a root.
"Serves you right. Xellos couldn't beat me in a million years. Okay, so that might be a little bit exaggerated. He's really strong, but if I truly needed to I could beat him." She shrugged and brushed away some branches.
Kevin rolled his eyes and spoke up again. "So what else are you hiding from me, Lina? Lemme guess, you've probably met the LoN... Or, or I know, you're the LoN in disguise? Are you sure you're not a mazoku?"
Lina whirled around and looked him in the eye. "I am NOT, and I repeat, NOT a mazoku. You can tell if someone is by his or her eyes, and these are most definitely not a mazoku's eyes! So deal with it! And yes, I have met the LoN and I was once the LoN and I really don't want to get into that, okay?"
Kevin blinked and tried to shrink into the ground. He must have hit some sort of chord; he had never seen Lina react that way to something. 'I wonder why....' He shrugged it off and the duo continued on their way.
"Lina, do you hear that?" Kevin's brow creased and his face assumed a worried position.
"Hear what, I don't hear anything." She stopped to listen for anything suspicious. "Just some chanting."
"Right, that's what I hear. What do you think it is?"
"Don't know, don't really care." She stated but curiosity won her over and she walked through some bushes. A young priestess looked up at the sudden noise and blinked, she hadn't thought that someone would actually be here.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" the young girl asked.
"Lina."
"Kevin."
"Are you two married?" She questioned naively.
"NO, he's my BROTHER! And what business is it of yours, anyway." Lina shouted.
"Just wondering..."
Kevin shook his head and looked around. They were in a small clearing, surrounded by a group of dense trees. Compacted dirt served as a firm foundation and it was clean of litter. Only a blanket on the ground, with another girl on it, stood out. He studied the two females and one eyebrow rose.
"What?" The priestess asked.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Lindsey." She responded proudly.
"Who's she?" Lina asked suspiciously, pointing to the tanned girl on the blanket.
"Dunno."
"Whaddaya MEAN, you don't know?" Lina rolled her eyes expressively.
"A demon possessed her, so I tried to take care of it. I healed her body, it was badly hurt, but I couldn't get rid of the demon."
"You're a priestess, right?"
"Yes."
"You can rid the body of demons, am I correct?"
"Yes."
"So why didn't you?" Kevin rubbed his temples, trying to sooth a headache that was forming.
"Well, I can get it out of her body, but once it's gone, I can't destroy it. That would let a demon loose and that is something I, as a priestess, could not bear to do." Her eyes went slightly shiny and Lina winced.
"Is it just me, or does she seem like Amelia and her justice-loving-ness?" she groaned.
"Could you do me a favor, Miss Lina?" Lindsey asked tentatively.
"What?" she eyed the brown-haired brown-skinned youth warily.
"Can you use magic? If you can, would you kill the demon for me?"
"...What?" Lina looked at her in surprise. "I meant to ask you this before, but it kinda slipped my mind. Have you never heard of me?"
"No. Should I have?"
Lina groaned and gestured for Kevin to explain as she examined the young girl on the ground. "Lina is one of the best sorceresses that the world has ever seen. She's got a rep. for being violent and uncaring, sometimes her nicknames ranging from the dragon spooker," Lindsey giggled and Lina glared. "To the abominable Lina Inverse."
"I'm not abominable..." Lina pouted.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Well," Lindsey broke in, "That answers my question, but would you please get rid of the demon?"
"No way!"
"But it won't take very long..."
"I don't care about time, I've got all the time in the world."
"I'll pay you..."
"Thirty gold coins and you got a deal!" Lina turned happily towards her.
"I'm a traveling priestess, what do you expect me to have?! Three gold coins. I don't even know the girls name."
"I'm not stupid. How about twenty-seven?" she smirked.
"Five."
"Twenty-five."
"Seven."
"Twenty-three!"
"You drive a hard bargain, Miss Inverse." Lindsey grimaced. "Unfortunately. I'll make you a deal within a deal, how about that?" Lina's eyebrows rose. Then sky was beginning to darken and the girl was going to prolong this discussion. She nodded anyway, either way it didn't matter. "I do not have very much time and therefore am unable to give a good bargain. Forgive me. But here is what I can offer. Let the girl and me travel with you for a short time with your protection. When we get out of this forest I'll pay you twenty gold coins and a meal."
"Hmmm." Lina pretended to consider. She already had her mind made up, why not make the girl squirm... "I don't know, how big of a meal are we talking here?"
"As much as you can eat." Lindsey quickly replied. Kevin opened his mouth in a warning, but Lina cut him off.
"Deal." Both females smiled, but Kevin looked uncomfortable.
"Now, let's get started, shall we Miss Lina?" Lina blinked and pretended surprise. "Getting this demon out of her..."
"But I never agreed to do that, only to let you tag along with us." Lina smiled, satisfied.
"But, but-" She stuttered.
"Oh, Lina quit teasing her, she doesn't deserve it." Kevin interrupted, glaring at Lina.
Lina pouted. "That was mean, I was only playing." She quickly brightened. "Easy money, easy money." Lina crowed, rubbing her hands together. Lindsey rolled her eyes and knelt in front of the other tanned youth.
"Suzuni makara yashime ku." The words slid from her tongue, in the language of the long dead. Lina narrowed her eyes. 'How did she learn that language?' Kevin looked to her, puzzled.
She shook her head at him, signaling that she might explain later, and readied a fireball. A few more slithery words later and the unconscious girl rose into the air. A sense of foreboding gripped Lina's stomach and she frowned, trying to clear it away.
Slowly a dark mist emitted from her body and surrounded her obscuring her from view. A scream of pain ripped throughout the clearing and Lina's eyes widened. Kevin readied a freeze arrow and dropped into a fighters crouch. Suddenly the mist around her face vanished and you could see her head, but her eye's and mouth fell open. An eerie white light shone from within and poured out of her. Then it stopped. The light disappeared, the mist evaporated and the girl's body dropped to the ground. Lina blinked and looked around the clearing. No demon.
"What the hell?"
"Over there!" Lindsey screeched, pointing towards a tree. A dark figure walked from the brush and pointed a very long finger and fingernail at Lina. It shot out at her and Lina jumped to the side, narrowly missing the attack.
"I see that you are as good as the legends proclaim, Lina Inverse. But it is of no matter, you could never beat me." His finger shot out at her again and again Lina narrowly dodged the attack.
"You, a mere monster, could never defeat the great Lina Inverse!" She boasted, dodging yet another finger.
"Now is NOT the time to be full of yourself, Lina!" Kevin warned her, letting go of his freeze arrow.
"You, little boy, are not whom I seek. There is nothing you could do to harm me." The monster sent Kevin's arrow back at him, freezing Lina's little brother in place. It crackled and surrounded him completely, encasing the boy in a barrier of pure ice. He turned to Lindsey and the girl still on the ground.
Lindsey shuddered in fear. She was not trained in the art of fighting. It had never been needful. It was needful now. Lindsey grabbed up the girl and, despite her small size, quickly ran from the clearing, chanting all the way. The two disappeared into the trees and a chant filled the air. "Guumueon!"
Lina breathed a sigh of relief. Short though their acquaintance had been, Lina had some respect for the girl ability in haggling. It would have been fun if she hadn't been in such a rush.
Turning her attention back to the problem at hand, Lina assessed the monster. It was tall and shrouded in mist. As if he wore a dark coat, all you could see of the monster was his hands and his head. He had dark, droopy hair and an aura around him that said, 'Stay out of my way, I will not hesitate to kill.'
"And what is your name, Mr. Scary." Lina taunted, mind frantically racing for a solution.
Miffed, the monster shot out five fingers at once, actually making them easier to dodge. "You, pitiful human, may call me Master Gar." A dark ball of energy grew in his hands and shot at Lina far too quickly for her taste.
"Well, Gar, just know that I pity you." Lina smirked.
"And I you." He shot back. Lina rolled her eyes. He acted tough, was a medium fighter, but he was an idiot. She had been silently chanting throughout their entire conversation; he had not noticed a thing. She gave a small smile, for even Amelia would have known that she was casting a spell.
"Gark Ruhaad!" Lina shouted and a blast of air emitted from her hands, throwing the demon back. "Fireball!" was heard in the sudden silence. A flaming ball flew toward Gar and he burst into flames. The crackles and hisses of a happy fire slowly died, leaving behind a charred lump.
"Guess he won't be bothering us anymore." Lina grinned and held out a victory sign.
"Mph-mm-hmph!" came from behind Lina; she turned around and grinned sheepishly.
"Heh, forgot you were there, Kev." He grunted in a tone that managed to say, 'I noticed.' She stuck her tongue out at him and grinned. Kevin's eyes got wide at the evil looking smile on her face and he paused. Maybe he should just wait for the ice to melt.
"Too late! Fireball!" she held out her hand and started to throw it, but stopped. "Ya know, this might be the perfect time to try out a new variation I came up with." Kevin whimpered. "Oh, quit your whining, do ya really think that I'm going to hurt you?" not waiting for an answer Lina pressed her hands together, forcing the ball to become flat. She spread it, then flattened it, then repeated the process. Soon she had a sheet of flame.
Lina walked towards the ice, smiling, and said, "I'm so happy that it works!" then she proceeded to melt the ice away.
"I still can't believe you were going to try out a new spell on me." Kevin glared at her.
"Well, I normally would have done it on Amelia, but she isn't here, now is she..." Lina smirked. "So you have to be my guinea pig." Kevin's eyes narrowed and you could tell that the incident was practically forgotten in his mind.
"Li-chan, I've been wondering," He paused wondering how to frame the words. You never wanted to say something the wrong way when it came to Lina.
"What?" she prompted.
"That spell you did before," he stopped again.
"Gark Ruhaad?" she prompted again. Lindsey had come out of the tree's whole and unharmed. The girl was still unconscious, but Lindsey had placed her on the ground again. Lina nodded to the priestess and continued to listen to Kevin.
Lindsey stared at Lina with a newfound respect. "Remind me never to get on her bad side." She quietly remarked to herself. Another figure, in the top of the trees, rolled its eyes and whole-heartedly agreed with her.
"Okay, Kevin, would you get on with it all ready?" she glared at him, her patience spent.
He flinched and continued. "I thought I knew most of the black magic spell, but that..." he trailed off and Lina finished it for him.
"That was not a black magic spell, you dolt. It was a Shamanistic spell. Spirit to be exact."
"I thought you specialized in Black."
"I do." She sighed.
"Then, why?" his face was as confused as Gourry's usually was when Lina tried to explain things to him.
"You young idiot." She shook her head in disgust. "It's like you say, I specialize in it, but that sure doesn't mean that I can't learn anything else, like white or shaman." Lina rubbed her head and sat down on a rock.
"Oh."
"Is that all you have to say? Wait a minute," She got back up again and shook him, his head snapping back and forth. "Are you trying to tell me that you can't cast ANYTHING but black?"
"Y-yeah..." he cringed. Lina was scary like this. She dropped him and rubbed her eyes.
"I'm really beginning to think that headaches are a constant plague these days." She muttered and sat down again. "Listen," Lina started, once more looking up at him, "Well, first sit down, then listen. I don't know how you've gotten this far without knowing a single healing spell and such, but it's time you learned."
"But why?"
"BECAUSE, L-sama I never knew that you could be so dense, what are you going to do if no healer is around to fix you when you get hurt?"
"Well, that's simple." Lina looked hopeful. "I just won't get hurt!" Lina went silent and stood up, she turned around, he head in her hands, and walked over to Lindsey.
"Hey, priestess, do you think you could talk some sense into him? My head feels like it's splitting in half, I just can't deal with it. I'll take second watch, wake me up."
"I take it that means I have first watch?" Lindsey asked dryly.
"You took it right." Lindsey smiled and walked over to Kevin as Lina crawled into her bedroll, muttering a small healing spell.
"I'm glad she went to sleep." Kevin murmured. "She would have taken first watch if she hadn't gone to bed now."
"You did that on purpose?" Lindsey said, startled.
"Yes. I don't know any healing spells, but I do know that I will have to learn some."
Lindsey shook her head. The Inverse family was one of the strangest she had ever heard of. "All right, this is the major healing spell, called Recovery. Follow?" the two talked for over an hour, Kevin astutely learning all he could learn. Soon he had the short spell mastered, and he went to bed.
Lindsey watched the two siblings sleep. They were unusual, these two. They could cast spell of the highest degree; it was obvious once you had seen them fight. It had been a while since she had seen someone wielding his or her powers with such dexterity. She froze. Was it just her or was that a sound. It didn't happen again and she relaxed. Lindsey looked down at her clothing and frowned. All of these stupid robes seemed absolutely useless. Yes, they proclaimed, loudly, who you were. Yes, they slightly enhanced her ability to cast her spells. And yes, her masters had always worn them, insisting that their students wore them also, but it just seemed like an encumbrance rather than something helpful. But she was still in training, or that's what they said. Lindsey sighed. She already knew nearly all of the White magic spells, could use them faster than some of the masters, but they still would not let her proclaim herself as a master. It was stupid, really. She sighed. Stupid, but it was the rules and there was nothing she could do about it. A master, any master, but only a master could proclaim here fit to be one.
It wasn't going to happen. She froze again. That time she was certain there was something out there. Or maybe in here. It sounded like a groan. A thought occurred to her and she turned. Sure enough, the girl was up and staring about her, confused as confused could get.
Lacey started to get up, hungry for the yummy food she knew she smelled, but froze when she heard the words whispered in her ear. An undistinguishable voice grumbled at her. "Now is not a convenient time for you to wake up. Go back to sleep." Lacey made a face and continued to get up. The voice growled. "I warned you. Sleep!" Lacey fell back to the ground, basically unconscious.
"Bloody hell! What am I doing here, Kevin?" Lina spluttered at her little brother.
"You're looking for the mountains, Li-chan!" Kevin chirped.
"How can you be so cheerful?" Lina groaned and stepped over another root. The forest was hot, damp, and had WAY too many mosquitoes. "I thought mosquitoes only bit people who were sweet." Lina grumbled and swatted another one away.
"Apparently not, Li-chan!"
"You know what? When you're this cheerful and the weather is like this? I can't help but think of Xellos at his fruitiest." Lina grimaced. "You had better not be some purple haired mazoku in disguise, or-"
"You know XELLOS?"
"Yeah, sure."
"What do you mean, 'Yeah, sure.'?! Xellos is one of the top mazoku! He could easily kill you or me!" Kevin goggled at her and tripped over a root.
"Serves you right. Xellos couldn't beat me in a million years. Okay, so that might be a little bit exaggerated. He's really strong, but if I truly needed to I could beat him." She shrugged and brushed away some branches.
Kevin rolled his eyes and spoke up again. "So what else are you hiding from me, Lina? Lemme guess, you've probably met the LoN... Or, or I know, you're the LoN in disguise? Are you sure you're not a mazoku?"
Lina whirled around and looked him in the eye. "I am NOT, and I repeat, NOT a mazoku. You can tell if someone is by his or her eyes, and these are most definitely not a mazoku's eyes! So deal with it! And yes, I have met the LoN and I was once the LoN and I really don't want to get into that, okay?"
Kevin blinked and tried to shrink into the ground. He must have hit some sort of chord; he had never seen Lina react that way to something. 'I wonder why....' He shrugged it off and the duo continued on their way.
"Lina, do you hear that?" Kevin's brow creased and his face assumed a worried position.
"Hear what, I don't hear anything." She stopped to listen for anything suspicious. "Just some chanting."
"Right, that's what I hear. What do you think it is?"
"Don't know, don't really care." She stated but curiosity won her over and she walked through some bushes. A young priestess looked up at the sudden noise and blinked, she hadn't thought that someone would actually be here.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" the young girl asked.
"Lina."
"Kevin."
"Are you two married?" She questioned naively.
"NO, he's my BROTHER! And what business is it of yours, anyway." Lina shouted.
"Just wondering..."
Kevin shook his head and looked around. They were in a small clearing, surrounded by a group of dense trees. Compacted dirt served as a firm foundation and it was clean of litter. Only a blanket on the ground, with another girl on it, stood out. He studied the two females and one eyebrow rose.
"What?" The priestess asked.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Lindsey." She responded proudly.
"Who's she?" Lina asked suspiciously, pointing to the tanned girl on the blanket.
"Dunno."
"Whaddaya MEAN, you don't know?" Lina rolled her eyes expressively.
"A demon possessed her, so I tried to take care of it. I healed her body, it was badly hurt, but I couldn't get rid of the demon."
"You're a priestess, right?"
"Yes."
"You can rid the body of demons, am I correct?"
"Yes."
"So why didn't you?" Kevin rubbed his temples, trying to sooth a headache that was forming.
"Well, I can get it out of her body, but once it's gone, I can't destroy it. That would let a demon loose and that is something I, as a priestess, could not bear to do." Her eyes went slightly shiny and Lina winced.
"Is it just me, or does she seem like Amelia and her justice-loving-ness?" she groaned.
"Could you do me a favor, Miss Lina?" Lindsey asked tentatively.
"What?" she eyed the brown-haired brown-skinned youth warily.
"Can you use magic? If you can, would you kill the demon for me?"
"...What?" Lina looked at her in surprise. "I meant to ask you this before, but it kinda slipped my mind. Have you never heard of me?"
"No. Should I have?"
Lina groaned and gestured for Kevin to explain as she examined the young girl on the ground. "Lina is one of the best sorceresses that the world has ever seen. She's got a rep. for being violent and uncaring, sometimes her nicknames ranging from the dragon spooker," Lindsey giggled and Lina glared. "To the abominable Lina Inverse."
"I'm not abominable..." Lina pouted.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Well," Lindsey broke in, "That answers my question, but would you please get rid of the demon?"
"No way!"
"But it won't take very long..."
"I don't care about time, I've got all the time in the world."
"I'll pay you..."
"Thirty gold coins and you got a deal!" Lina turned happily towards her.
"I'm a traveling priestess, what do you expect me to have?! Three gold coins. I don't even know the girls name."
"I'm not stupid. How about twenty-seven?" she smirked.
"Five."
"Twenty-five."
"Seven."
"Twenty-three!"
"You drive a hard bargain, Miss Inverse." Lindsey grimaced. "Unfortunately. I'll make you a deal within a deal, how about that?" Lina's eyebrows rose. Then sky was beginning to darken and the girl was going to prolong this discussion. She nodded anyway, either way it didn't matter. "I do not have very much time and therefore am unable to give a good bargain. Forgive me. But here is what I can offer. Let the girl and me travel with you for a short time with your protection. When we get out of this forest I'll pay you twenty gold coins and a meal."
"Hmmm." Lina pretended to consider. She already had her mind made up, why not make the girl squirm... "I don't know, how big of a meal are we talking here?"
"As much as you can eat." Lindsey quickly replied. Kevin opened his mouth in a warning, but Lina cut him off.
"Deal." Both females smiled, but Kevin looked uncomfortable.
"Now, let's get started, shall we Miss Lina?" Lina blinked and pretended surprise. "Getting this demon out of her..."
"But I never agreed to do that, only to let you tag along with us." Lina smiled, satisfied.
"But, but-" She stuttered.
"Oh, Lina quit teasing her, she doesn't deserve it." Kevin interrupted, glaring at Lina.
Lina pouted. "That was mean, I was only playing." She quickly brightened. "Easy money, easy money." Lina crowed, rubbing her hands together. Lindsey rolled her eyes and knelt in front of the other tanned youth.
"Suzuni makara yashime ku." The words slid from her tongue, in the language of the long dead. Lina narrowed her eyes. 'How did she learn that language?' Kevin looked to her, puzzled.
She shook her head at him, signaling that she might explain later, and readied a fireball. A few more slithery words later and the unconscious girl rose into the air. A sense of foreboding gripped Lina's stomach and she frowned, trying to clear it away.
Slowly a dark mist emitted from her body and surrounded her obscuring her from view. A scream of pain ripped throughout the clearing and Lina's eyes widened. Kevin readied a freeze arrow and dropped into a fighters crouch. Suddenly the mist around her face vanished and you could see her head, but her eye's and mouth fell open. An eerie white light shone from within and poured out of her. Then it stopped. The light disappeared, the mist evaporated and the girl's body dropped to the ground. Lina blinked and looked around the clearing. No demon.
"What the hell?"
"Over there!" Lindsey screeched, pointing towards a tree. A dark figure walked from the brush and pointed a very long finger and fingernail at Lina. It shot out at her and Lina jumped to the side, narrowly missing the attack.
"I see that you are as good as the legends proclaim, Lina Inverse. But it is of no matter, you could never beat me." His finger shot out at her again and again Lina narrowly dodged the attack.
"You, a mere monster, could never defeat the great Lina Inverse!" She boasted, dodging yet another finger.
"Now is NOT the time to be full of yourself, Lina!" Kevin warned her, letting go of his freeze arrow.
"You, little boy, are not whom I seek. There is nothing you could do to harm me." The monster sent Kevin's arrow back at him, freezing Lina's little brother in place. It crackled and surrounded him completely, encasing the boy in a barrier of pure ice. He turned to Lindsey and the girl still on the ground.
Lindsey shuddered in fear. She was not trained in the art of fighting. It had never been needful. It was needful now. Lindsey grabbed up the girl and, despite her small size, quickly ran from the clearing, chanting all the way. The two disappeared into the trees and a chant filled the air. "Guumueon!"
Lina breathed a sigh of relief. Short though their acquaintance had been, Lina had some respect for the girl ability in haggling. It would have been fun if she hadn't been in such a rush.
Turning her attention back to the problem at hand, Lina assessed the monster. It was tall and shrouded in mist. As if he wore a dark coat, all you could see of the monster was his hands and his head. He had dark, droopy hair and an aura around him that said, 'Stay out of my way, I will not hesitate to kill.'
"And what is your name, Mr. Scary." Lina taunted, mind frantically racing for a solution.
Miffed, the monster shot out five fingers at once, actually making them easier to dodge. "You, pitiful human, may call me Master Gar." A dark ball of energy grew in his hands and shot at Lina far too quickly for her taste.
"Well, Gar, just know that I pity you." Lina smirked.
"And I you." He shot back. Lina rolled her eyes. He acted tough, was a medium fighter, but he was an idiot. She had been silently chanting throughout their entire conversation; he had not noticed a thing. She gave a small smile, for even Amelia would have known that she was casting a spell.
"Gark Ruhaad!" Lina shouted and a blast of air emitted from her hands, throwing the demon back. "Fireball!" was heard in the sudden silence. A flaming ball flew toward Gar and he burst into flames. The crackles and hisses of a happy fire slowly died, leaving behind a charred lump.
"Guess he won't be bothering us anymore." Lina grinned and held out a victory sign.
"Mph-mm-hmph!" came from behind Lina; she turned around and grinned sheepishly.
"Heh, forgot you were there, Kev." He grunted in a tone that managed to say, 'I noticed.' She stuck her tongue out at him and grinned. Kevin's eyes got wide at the evil looking smile on her face and he paused. Maybe he should just wait for the ice to melt.
"Too late! Fireball!" she held out her hand and started to throw it, but stopped. "Ya know, this might be the perfect time to try out a new variation I came up with." Kevin whimpered. "Oh, quit your whining, do ya really think that I'm going to hurt you?" not waiting for an answer Lina pressed her hands together, forcing the ball to become flat. She spread it, then flattened it, then repeated the process. Soon she had a sheet of flame.
Lina walked towards the ice, smiling, and said, "I'm so happy that it works!" then she proceeded to melt the ice away.
"I still can't believe you were going to try out a new spell on me." Kevin glared at her.
"Well, I normally would have done it on Amelia, but she isn't here, now is she..." Lina smirked. "So you have to be my guinea pig." Kevin's eyes narrowed and you could tell that the incident was practically forgotten in his mind.
"Li-chan, I've been wondering," He paused wondering how to frame the words. You never wanted to say something the wrong way when it came to Lina.
"What?" she prompted.
"That spell you did before," he stopped again.
"Gark Ruhaad?" she prompted again. Lindsey had come out of the tree's whole and unharmed. The girl was still unconscious, but Lindsey had placed her on the ground again. Lina nodded to the priestess and continued to listen to Kevin.
Lindsey stared at Lina with a newfound respect. "Remind me never to get on her bad side." She quietly remarked to herself. Another figure, in the top of the trees, rolled its eyes and whole-heartedly agreed with her.
"Okay, Kevin, would you get on with it all ready?" she glared at him, her patience spent.
He flinched and continued. "I thought I knew most of the black magic spell, but that..." he trailed off and Lina finished it for him.
"That was not a black magic spell, you dolt. It was a Shamanistic spell. Spirit to be exact."
"I thought you specialized in Black."
"I do." She sighed.
"Then, why?" his face was as confused as Gourry's usually was when Lina tried to explain things to him.
"You young idiot." She shook her head in disgust. "It's like you say, I specialize in it, but that sure doesn't mean that I can't learn anything else, like white or shaman." Lina rubbed her head and sat down on a rock.
"Oh."
"Is that all you have to say? Wait a minute," She got back up again and shook him, his head snapping back and forth. "Are you trying to tell me that you can't cast ANYTHING but black?"
"Y-yeah..." he cringed. Lina was scary like this. She dropped him and rubbed her eyes.
"I'm really beginning to think that headaches are a constant plague these days." She muttered and sat down again. "Listen," Lina started, once more looking up at him, "Well, first sit down, then listen. I don't know how you've gotten this far without knowing a single healing spell and such, but it's time you learned."
"But why?"
"BECAUSE, L-sama I never knew that you could be so dense, what are you going to do if no healer is around to fix you when you get hurt?"
"Well, that's simple." Lina looked hopeful. "I just won't get hurt!" Lina went silent and stood up, she turned around, he head in her hands, and walked over to Lindsey.
"Hey, priestess, do you think you could talk some sense into him? My head feels like it's splitting in half, I just can't deal with it. I'll take second watch, wake me up."
"I take it that means I have first watch?" Lindsey asked dryly.
"You took it right." Lindsey smiled and walked over to Kevin as Lina crawled into her bedroll, muttering a small healing spell.
"I'm glad she went to sleep." Kevin murmured. "She would have taken first watch if she hadn't gone to bed now."
"You did that on purpose?" Lindsey said, startled.
"Yes. I don't know any healing spells, but I do know that I will have to learn some."
Lindsey shook her head. The Inverse family was one of the strangest she had ever heard of. "All right, this is the major healing spell, called Recovery. Follow?" the two talked for over an hour, Kevin astutely learning all he could learn. Soon he had the short spell mastered, and he went to bed.
Lindsey watched the two siblings sleep. They were unusual, these two. They could cast spell of the highest degree; it was obvious once you had seen them fight. It had been a while since she had seen someone wielding his or her powers with such dexterity. She froze. Was it just her or was that a sound. It didn't happen again and she relaxed. Lindsey looked down at her clothing and frowned. All of these stupid robes seemed absolutely useless. Yes, they proclaimed, loudly, who you were. Yes, they slightly enhanced her ability to cast her spells. And yes, her masters had always worn them, insisting that their students wore them also, but it just seemed like an encumbrance rather than something helpful. But she was still in training, or that's what they said. Lindsey sighed. She already knew nearly all of the White magic spells, could use them faster than some of the masters, but they still would not let her proclaim herself as a master. It was stupid, really. She sighed. Stupid, but it was the rules and there was nothing she could do about it. A master, any master, but only a master could proclaim here fit to be one.
It wasn't going to happen. She froze again. That time she was certain there was something out there. Or maybe in here. It sounded like a groan. A thought occurred to her and she turned. Sure enough, the girl was up and staring about her, confused as confused could get.
