"Are you sure that that's the seal of the unicorn?" Filia demanded as she leaned over Xelloss's shoulder.
He had brought the map to the desk in the living room and was using the oil lamp on desk to see if he could make it out better.
"Well it certainly isn't a Tweety bird..."
"A Tweety what?"
"Never mind...to ahead of your time"
"Come on Xelloss be serious! If this is what you say it is..."
"...then that means something is up...something that might change the world.." he finished for her
"Well we might as well take a good look at the map...I wonder where it leads.."
"Hmmm...Toban Inn..."
"Huh?"
"Toban Inn" the mazoku repeated pointing to the map " In Trojan Town.That's where the trail ends"
"But why...?"
"It's a magic map, can't you tell?" he said bluntly
"Wh-I.. well.." she spuddered in embarrassment
"It will probly change after we get there. You know..show us the rest of the journey"
"We! What do you mean we? I can't leave to go on a journey! I have a child to take care of!"
"An egg, Filia. One that can be taken care of by it's servants"
"But..."
She stepped away and looked up at the stairs.
"But he might hatch.."
"Whatever" Xelloss said lightly, getting up from the desk "I'll just go my self. Afterall this might be very important for the monster race"
"Now just hold on a second!" the she-dragon gasped in anger "I'm not going to let you take that! It's mine! And I'm not going to let you help the monster race with it!"
"And you have say in this..why..?" he raised an eyebrow in amusment.
He raise the map over head and out of her reach "If you want it...come and get it"
"Why you dirty!" she jumped for it but he swung it out of her reach cause her to fall flat on the floor
"Tsk tsk..dragons. They just never learn"
"H..hey! Come back here!" she yelled in fury as he began to walk away
"Oh Fi-chan, I'll come back. Just as soon as I find-"
He stopped dead in his tracks as he looked at the map. He was only a few inches away from the front door and when he glanced at the map he discovered...
"It's blank.."
He frown uncontrolably. What was going on? There was a trail a few seconds ago! He looked back at the angery dragon sitting on the ground and then back at the door.
"Hmm.. I wonder..."
He took at slow step back towards Filia and watched the map carefully. Just as he as suspected the trail slowly reappeared as he approched her.
"It's connected to you" he said with a sigh and through the map back at her.
She caught it, obviously confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Meaning that I can't go the Inn alone...not if I want to know where the rest of the map leads."
"Well I'm NOT going to the Inn!" she got up and stomped her foot as if that signaled her final answer.
"Oh..yes you are"
"Am not!"
"Are too"
"Am NOT NOT NOT!"
"Fi-chan..."he chuckled coming towards her "Who said that you ever had a choice?"
And with that he grabbed her and flickered out before she could even scream...leaving a short note behind on the desk...
Dear Jiras and Grabos,
I'm going on a little trip. Don't worry I'll be back soon.
Just take care of little Val while I'm gone. And keep the
shop going.
Ja ne
Sincerly Filia
"FIRE BALL!"
The magical ball of blazing fire cast from Lina Inverse's hand exploded fiersely on to the pile wood.
"Gosh Lina!" her friend Gourry exclaimed as he jumped out of the way. "I want to get warm, not burnt to a crisped!"
"Sorry Gourry!" she laughed " I guess I don't know my own strenght!"
"Sure..." he said looking at her warily "So what are we going to now? We can't camp out here-it's too cold. And it's probably going to snow again too"
Lina and her partner Gourry had been travelign for months through the snow covered country of Askata. It was wintertime, so snow was to be expected. But having nowhere to stay for the night...well wasn't.
"Hmm..I don't know. I have no idea where the next town is. SOMEBODY used the map while doing their personal busness"
"Umm...well how was I suppose to know that it wasn't the toilet paper?"
"Gourry...I would hit you but it's too cold.." she gave him an heated glare for good measure "Anyway we'll just have to ask for directions. That's IF somebody comes our way. We're on a public road (at least I think we are) so somebody should be coming by..."
"How about that guy?" Gourry said pointing out into the distance
"Huh?"
Lina stared out into the distance as the lone figure walking towards them. As he got closer, the two could see that it was a thin old man.
"Alright! We're in luck!" Lina cried happily "Hey! Over here! Uh..Mister?"
"Why hello childern" the elder said with a smile
"Hello sir" Lina smiled back "We were wondering if you could help us. You see we kinda lost our way and we're looking fo the next town. Could you tell us where the next town is? Or perhaps let us borrow a map?"
The elder thought to himself as he strocked his long beard "I can do better than that. I'm heading for the next town myself, I have some people to meet. Why don't you join me? Afterall you young ones shouldn't be left out here in the cold by yourselves"
"Uh..well thanks" the red-head sweatdropped "But, you know, sir we're really not that young-"
" And when we get to a inn in Trojin Town, I'll buy you two kids some icecream sundays with cherries on top. Wouldn't that be nice?"
Lina and Gourry's eyes got bigger as their mouths started to water profoundly at the sound of free food.
"Sure sir!" Lina said, wiping the access drool from her chin "That will be be great"
"Mhh! This stuff is great, sir!" Lina exclaimed as she stuffed her face with more icecream
"Yeah!" Gourry agreed "After a great meal like that, icecream is the perfect thing to eat afterwards! Um...even though it's really cold outside.."
"Well your welcome" the old man smiled as he sipped his hot coco "And you can call me Gramps"
Gramps had led the two travelers to an inn call the Togan were the fireplace was warm and blazing and the food was amazingly fantanstic! Lina could hardly believe their luck! And the best part was this guy was picking up the tab! And he was nice company too!
Suddenly two travelers entered the inn. They weren't hard to miss-especailly since they were arguing like crazy!
"What do you mean it's MY fault we got lost?"
"Well if you hadn't stop to bother that poor merchant-"
"Hey! He was ASKING for it! That hat! Who wouldn't have laughed at such a stupid hat as that?"
"Xelloss!" Lina said in suprise
"Filia!" Gourry followed suit
"What are you two doing here" All four of them yelled in unison
"Ahh..Well it seems like our party is finally arriving" Gramps said with a satified smile
"And only two more to go..."
"