Chapter 8 xxxxxxxxx

Three men were standing there, swathed in black outfits leaving only their eyes, and their weapons, showing. But more ominous, behind them stood what was without a doubt the most butt ugly Mazoku Lina had ever seen. Still, they might catch the world's best and most beautiful sorceress on the hop, but that would not mean they had an advantage over her! To prove it she managed to get the first insult in. "Well, a Mazoku. And here I was waiting for a real threat. Yeah, I know, you are as ugly as anything from a child's story, but having dealt with the likes of such pretty boys as Shabradnigdo, Hellmaster Phibrizzo, and even the ever so cute Xellos, I can tell you are a lot less scary than they are!"

"Big talk," sneered the Mazoku in his turn. "But of course, Lina Inverse is known for her big mouth. In fact, it's the only thing on her otherwise stunted body that IS big!" The monster gave a wicked laugh. Lina saw red, but forced her fingernails into her flesh. It was one thing to go berserk when people who could take care of themselves were around, it was another thing to lose it when there was a baby and a helpless mother beside her. Instead she responded, "I talk big? Ha, everyone knows that ugly Mazoku are so weak and powerless that they can't take a proper human shape! I bet from the looks of you that this baby here could put you in your place! Do your shy friends here realise they've hooked up with a really bottom of the barrel Mazoku? A real Mazoku-wannabe? Oh, no wait! Silly me! I get it now! They are busy taking their PET Mazoku out for a walk! Well, don't let us interrupt you!"

The Mazoku's eyes flashed red and Lina knew her barbs had gone home. "Good!" she thought. Now, if only they will attack me and leave Grace alone." The Mazoku barked something in an unknown tongue and the three men dashed forwards, towards Grace. Lina moved to protect her when the Mazoku yelled "Fire Ball!" and sent a massive wad of flame straight at Lina. Lina gave a scream and threw up a ward in the nick of time. "Flare Arrow!" she yelled back sending a speeding shaft of fire into the Mazoku who dodged rapidly. "Fire Ball, Fire Ball, Fire Ball!" it screamed, rapidly sending three red hot torpedoes at a rapidly twisting Lina. Lina roared in frustration, she was so busy with this damned creature she couldn't even see how Grace was doing. Time to change tactics. Alas there was no time to call up her trademark Dragon Slave, just when it would be really, really useful too.

"Elemikian Lance!" she said, launching a powerful beam of energy at her adversary. It twisted and spun and the attack missed. "Damn!" thought Lina, "The way this fight is going, who ever gets the first blow in wins!" "Flare Arrow, Flare Arrow, Flare Arrow!" she chanted sending a spread of fire bolts of her own off. One of them actually hit the Mazoku a glancing blow causing it to roar in pain and anger. But it hadn't lost it's head, for what it roared was "Bomb de Wind!" A sudden almost tornado like burst of wind caught Lina as she tried to twist away and tossed her to the ground. She rolled with the fall and came up in a crouch, but the Mazoku was already leaping on her. With a twist she avoided a big blade it was swinging at her, by a mere fraction. As she continued to roll the beast taunted her. "Low level eh? Well, Miss "I blew up Lord Shabradnigdo" you seem to be losing to me! You know what this "low life" Mazoku says to you about that?" "You surrender?" asked a rapidly twisting and turning Lina trying to buy time to get a spell ready before exhaustion set in. "Jolly joker!" laughed the Mazoku slicing the air and shaving a few of Lina's red lock free of her body. "What I say to you, Lina Inverse is this!"

"RA TILT!"

Lina was shoved to one side by the shockwave of an explosion that lifted the Mazoku off it's feet and threw it into the air over the trees that were lining the road, and off towards the horizon. Lina landed with a loud "OOOF!" and was breathless for a few seconds. With a gasp she got her breath back and rolled over to see... "ZEL! Where the hell have you been! Oh, er, and thanks, by the way." "Pleased to see you again too, Lina." replied Zelgadiss in a bland voice. He was staring down at a pile of body parts that looked like they had at one point been men swathed in black. Even their swords were shattered. "It's like when Gourry uses the Blast Blade!" said Lina, referring to the magical sword Gourry had carried since he surrendered the Sword of Light back to it's original owners from the Overworld when Darkstar was defeated. Suddenly Lina and Zel looked up at each other and said "Where is...?"

A quick scan showed a lone figure far down the road walking with a stiff stride. Running at top speed they soon caught up. "Grace!" cried Lina. "Your Majesty!" called Zelgadiss. "Lina, help me, I can't stop moving!" said a panicky Grace. Lina ran around and threw a big hug on the taller woman. She was shaking like a leaf. Little Arthur was also crying, having been upset by the violence. "It's okay Grace, we won! It's over! And look, Lord Zelgadiss is here, we're safe now." "Hey?" said Grace. "Good, good, it..., it's the blood, I, I can't stand the sight of it. Oh, someone, please take the dagger out of my right hand? I don't seem to be able to let go..." Zelgadiss gently pried the weapon loose. As he did so he cut himself on the blade. "What?" he said in amazement. "Lina, look, I'm bleeding..." "Hey?" said Lina in response. "Oh so you are..."

Zel shook his head. "No, no, knives don't usually cut me, this is a special blade!" "Star metal!" said Grace as Lina helped her sit on a log and settle Arthur, as well as her own rapid breathing. "It's made from metal that a falling star brought to earth in Westhold. Magic metal. Properly treated it made a blade so sharp it will cut through anything unless kept in a special sheath that dulls it while it is inside. It is called the "Blade of Heaven" since that's where it came from." Lina gasped. "That sounds like the Blast Blade!" "But..." Grace went on "The story goes that a bigger piece was seen streaking towards the west when it fell. The dagger has been the property of the Royal Sorcerer or Sorceress since."

"Is that you Grace?" asked Lina boldly. Grace looked up sharply, fear still in her eyes, but with her old composure coming back with Lina's challenge. "I am the Queen! And Mother of the Heir Apparent!" she said in a low dangerous voice still vibrating with the emotion of the fight. Lina looked into her eyes, and saw the fear. For a second their eyes locked. Then Lina backed down and said "Forgive me Your Majesty. I meant no offence, I just forgot myself." Grace gulped. "Me too," she said, rocking back and forth on the log, partly to settle the baby, but partly to settle herself too. "I am sorry Lina, it was a logical question. I was lent it for this mission. Um, distract me, tell me about this Blast Blade you say is like the Blade of Heaven?"

"As for that," said Lina "My Gourry used to carry the Sword of Light which he had by right of decent being a Gabriev from the island of Mispross, though the family now lives in the kingdom of Elemikia, and direct descendant of a famous son of the island named Rowdy Gabriev." Grace gave Lina a surprised look. Lina went on "After we fought and repelled the invasion of Darkstar, the Overworld's equivalent of our Shabradnigdo, it was revealed that the Sword of Light had originally come from the Overworld where it was needed to fight Dark Star. Gourry gave it back. For a while he carried ordinary blades, until one day, he broke one of the swords he had, and hidden in the middle of it was the Blast Blade, put there to hide and protect it until the worthy one should find it. Gourry was that one. Fortunately the blade it was hidden in had been encased in a magical sheath, and the magic runes on the Blast Blade react to the magic symbols of the sheath and the blade dulls so it won't cut the sheath."

"Mispross..." whispered Grace, shaking her head in wonder. Lina gave her a hard look. "You do know more than you are letting on, don't you, Grace?" "Yes..." said Grace softly. She looked up at Lina with pleading in her eyes. "Please Lina, just wait till we get there, I'll answer all your questions in Seirune..."

"Of course she will wait!" said Zelgadiss coming up suddenly. "Listen up! The reason I didn't meet you earlier is that I was attacked by a bunch of those hooded men. I think this area is full of them. You only had three to deal with, because they must have thought the Mazoku made them strong. I don't think they will make that mistake again. We have to go, and quickly. Here's the plan, best one I can come up with on such short notice. They drove off the horses so we have to walk anyway, but because we have no horses we can go where the horses could not have gone, across country through the forest to our left, making for the old path to Seirune. It isn't perfect but it might throw them off our trail."

Zel went on "Your Majesty..." "Call her Grace, it's what she wants" interjected Lina. "Uh, okay, Grace" said Zel picking up his thoughts again, "who are those masked men?" "I know little about them." Grace replied, the fear in her voice obvious. "They are called Shadow Warriors by our people, what they call themselves I don't know. It is said they are taught the way of the warrior from the womb, and that it is all they know." "Great, commandos!" said Zel. "Okay, we won't out fight them in a group unless we want to use enough magic to bring every Mazoku that might be within a hundred miles down on our heads. The forest is our only hope. Everybody rested? Nobody hurt? No? Then we need to go, now!" "Wait!" said Lina. "What do we have for provisions? Water?" "Won't need either if we are dead." responded Zel. "Come now, both of you, we can talk later. Keep your ears open!" ordered Zel. With reluctance the two women followed the Chimera into the forest.

For several hours Zel kept pushing them south into the trees. It was tough going and they were all sore and scratched by the time they reached a little dell in the forest. He finally called a rest. Maybe because Lina was finding ways, although technically silent, of making her mounting displeasure quite known. Worse, Grace had found her own ways to do the same thing, and the baby was fussing again, far from silent. As they hunkered down Lina hissed "This is going to kill us Zel!" "Peace Lina." was Zel's reply.

"Listen carefully. What I said about the old road was a ruse, I didn't know if we were being observed or not. I wanted them to think we were heading for the old road. Here is the real plan. I'm going down a mile till I hit a small river then I will come back doing my best to leave no trail. Let them think we went into the river. We'd have to cross it to reach to old path anyway. You two will take that deer path there" he pointed at a barely visible track, "and keep going up and to the south west. Make for the cliffs of Arbour." "What? How is that any better!" snapped Lina. Zel went on "Go with no noise and no marks. When you get there, rest. I will try to join you as soon as I can. The plan is simple, Lina. When you are strong enough, take Grace and fly around the mountains of the Cauldron range. Seirune is on the other side."

Lina looked at him dumbfounded. Finally she found her voice. "You are mad!" she announced in a pleasant tone, belying the seriousness of her words. Grace buried her face in her hands. "Yeah, maybe." said Zel. "But I am also open to other ideas..." "Strike for Zefielia!" said Lina. "When we get there I will do what ever it takes, kiss whatever I have to, to get my sister Luna to go with us. She is a Knight of Ceiphied! She once did in a bloody swamp dragon with a kitchen knife, she can even use a sword to cut a Dragon Slave apart, and I'm not joking! We can make it safely and alive with her. And we can still give them the slip, they are thinking we are going south when we will be going west! We can do it Zel!"

"You still have to climb the highlands to get there." said Zel. "Not easy, the land due west is even steeper than the route I suggested. Impossible I think for someone with a baby. To get her over you still have to Levitate. And anyone in the area who can sense magic will be on to you. Then when you land, you'll be tracked. And I bet the first thing they did was man the roads and towns. You walk into Zefielia and you will be marked! All they have to do is kill Grace and they win. You might not make it to your sister's place to ask her anything. One arrow, that's all it takes." Lina still wanted to argue but Grace put out her hand and touched her gently on the shoulder. She turned to face the other woman, and Grace said in a quiet, pleading voice "He's right Lina, one shot and it's over. His plan, as impossible as it seems is our best chance, I'm sorry. I believe in you Lina, we can fly..."

Lina looked at Grace a long time, her hard features softening. She took the other woman's hand and hugged it to her cheek. "Okay Grace..." she said softly. "We will fly." She looked over to Zel and said "I guess you win..." "It's the lesser of many great evils Lina, I'm sorry. Here take this." He handed her his pack. "It has all my water and food that didn't run off with the horses. When you get to the hills eat, you'll need your strength. And sleep. Flying at night might be safer, or riskier, you decide, but be gone by sunrise at the latest. I will go mark a path like I said, and catch up with you if I can, but do not delay. If I don't come I may just be slow, or I may just be captured or dead. Get Grace to Seirune." "Yes." said Lina. She then picked up the packs and said "Let's go, and may the Golden Lord of Nighmares allow us to meet again." Zel did a double take, Lina was not noted for her religious sentiment. He stood up. "You start up the hill first." he said. "I'll wait a bit and start going in with more noise, let them think I'm us." Lina nodded. Grace bowed and said "Thank you Lord Zelgadiss." "Go, go!" said Zel.

Now they pushed themselves. Upwards and onwards, carefully and slowly, no marks. They hoped. They heard a distant Zel say "Let's go!" and then stomp off down the hill towards the river. They kept on with their silent climb. The sun was starting to set and Lina hoped they wouldn't miss anything important when it got to be the gathering gloom. The path seemed to become steeper as they went on, and up. At times it seemed rather ridiculous and Lina was wondering if they would have to levitate from here. Miraculously the baby seemed to stay asleep. Finally things seemed to level out, even the trees seemed thinner. However, it was only a small relief. Just as they reached the top the afternoon deepened with a vengeance, and the bugs started to come out. "Oh great, mosquito city..." muttered Lina. Surprisingly Grace had the answer.

"Here" she whispered handing Lina a small jar of ointment with a strange but not unpleasant flowery smell. "Huh?" asked Lina. "Insect repellent. They hate the smell." Grace explained. "There really are gods!" exclaimed Lina as she started to spread the stuff on. "Hey! It really works too!" she giggled happily, grateful for small mercies. After a few minutes to get their breath they went on, insects whining in their ears in the oppressive heat.

It continued to darken and with the darkness came the slow cooling that brought relief. "I hope there's water up here." said Lina. "I'm so thirsty..." "Yeah, me too" said Grace. "I think I'm so dehydrated my milk isn't coming in like it should. I hope I can satisfy Arthur, he won't sleep much more, he's already starting to stir." They went on but no water appeared to solace the weary travellers and they didn't dare strike off from their route, lest they get lost or miss Zelgadiss. Finally, after the sun had set, and the twilight was darkening they came out of the forest. "Yikes!" cried Lina as she almost stepped off the edge of the cliff. "Cliffs of Arbour indeed!" she said looking down at the dark drop. "Let's find a safe place to camp. Fire and light are out of the question tonight." After some hunting around they found a large boulder with a hollow under it. "Might keep the wind out." said Lina. "I hope it doesn't rain." Grace had already curled up under the rock. Lina lay beside her too exhausted to care about much else except rest right now. But she shook herself up.

"Oh great, we need to set a watch tonight. I'll go first, and I'll call you when I can't stay awake any more." "I'm afraid I must accept that offer, Lina." said a weary Grace. Then she rolled over and rummaged in the packs and crawled over to Lina. "Here." she said handing some packages to Lina. "And here." she said handing over something squishy. "What's this?" asked Lina, puzzled. "The last of our food, and the food and a full water bottle in Zel's pack I didn't know we had. Take them and eat and drink please." "Huh? No, you have some too." said Lina. "No Lina, you take it." replied Grace. "You see, it won't be nice, but I can do without food or water for a day and make up the short fall in Seirune. What I can't do is survive the long fall if you are too weak with hunger or thirst to carry us and levitate properly tomorrow." Lina gulped. "Good point. I'll eat the food, but at least share the water, Grace." "No Lina, you will need it, please take it all." With that the exhausted Queen crawled under the rock again and in a few minutes the slow regular breath of sleep was heard.

Lina shook her head, and started to eat. She was so tired it was hard to do, she was actually not hungry, but she knew it took time for food to become energy for the body and that tomorrow morning would be too late, so, pacing herself so as not to get sick, she ate the food. And drank the water. "I wish I could use magic to find some more." she thought. With that she kept her lonely watch. She wanted to watch as long as she could, but realised she'd have to wake Grace sometime, she couldn't Levitate without sleep either. She looked over to the sky and took in the beauty of the waning half moon, already due south in the deep evening sky.

Suddenly, the sky was dark! And the bright face of the moon was replaced by a shadow that might have been a mockery of a face! "Ahhhh?" gasped Lina standing up in a flash. "FIRE-" "BY THE GODS LINA! IT'S ME" came a hoarse half shout, half whisper from... "Zel? Is that you?" Where did you come from? What happened to the sky? I was looking at the moon as the twilight deepened, now it's gone and the sky is dark, where did the light go?" replied Lina, confused. "It's okay Lina." replied Zel, still crouching down from dodging Lina's fireball, which fortunately never actually was cast. "The sun and moon have set a long time ago, and it is the dark before the dawn we are entering now." "Oh, no, no, no." sobbed Lina quietly. "I was on watch! I fell asleep! Thank the gods only you found us." she went on, feeling guilty. "How could I do this? I broke my trust!" "You are as human as the rest of us, is all, Lina" said Grace's quiet voice. "Anyway, Lord Zelgadiss..." "Please, Grace, just Zel." interjected Zelgadiss. "Okay, okay, anyway, Zel was here maybe an hour, hour and a half after us. We made good time coming up that ridge, that's one reason you are tired. And none of us have rested well since the trip started, plus you had to make the trip out in the first place." "Thanks Grace," said Lina glumly. "But I've been tired and sore and what not before, and still forced myself to do what I had to. This is..., is...,"

Grace came over and hugged her as she sniffled. "Lina, it happened, we survived, it's okay. Beat up on yourself if it gives you any pleasure, but do it when we get to safety, it isn't over yet. But, you are a human after all, as are we all, even Zel, though I get the impression he doesn't think so." "Was a human..." said Zel, glum in his turn. "No, you are a human, you just won't accept it Zel." said Lina starting to sound better. "You're right Grace, thank you. I have to accept that even if I am the greatest sorceress this world has ever seen, even I am not perfect, he, he." She hugged the bigger woman back and whispered "You could be my sister too..." Grace gave quiet gulp and replied "There is an old saying that says that there is a friend that can be closer than a brother. I think that works for sisters too..."

Lina hugged her for a second or two longer then said "Well, I am awake now I suppose, so I better take this watch." "Are you sure?" asked Grace. "I can sleep, or at least rest, maybe, tomorrow, when we are in flight. I have had some sleep, and Zel and I have traded a watch already. In fact, we were just changing again, we probably woke you up." "You let me sleep so long?" said Lina a bit flabbergasted. "Why?" "Well, you needed it, and, well, I need you well rested for tomorrow" responded Grace. "Ah, an ulterior motive, I should have guessed" said Lina with a chuckle. "No, I'm awake. You sleep. You need to be able to hold Arthur all the way." "Right..." said Grace, with a worried tone in her voice. "Well, goodnight then."

Lina turned to Zel and asked "So, what's your story? Where were you?" "I went down to the river and filled some water bags, oh that reminds me, here" he said, and handed one over to Lina. "Oohh, water..., thanks!" she said enthusiastically as she opened the bottle and drank. "Ahhhhh, that's better! Go on please, Zel" "Well, I then doubled back quietly and without leaving a track, as well as I could. I didn't come right back along the same path, which was lucky. I was able to look over the path I had followed, and suddenly two shadow warriors were slinking along the track. That was close! I made it back to the path I sent you up without seeing them return. I set down in an ambush position and waited, but no one came up the path and after awhile I moved on.

I went quietly and with great stealth, pausing every now and again to see or hear if anyone was following. Eventually I made it here, and found you asleep. So I kept watch, and eventually Grace woke up and we spelled each other off, and nothing has happened. So here we are. Now, if you are truly awake, I could use more sleep, I'm afraid. Hope you don't mind." "No, it's okay." said Lina. With that Zel turned in and soon was snoring lightly under his cloak. Lina walked around and tried to slap some warmth into her limbs. She would have loved a fire, but it was too dangerous. She looked up at the sky and marvelled at the clear hard stars. What were they really, she wondered. Oh well, some day she might know. She listened to the hushed night noises as the earth herself seemed to sleep, resting on the uncertain bed of the Golden Lord. She used the time to think about all that had happened, starting with the strange journey she was on, and ultimately wandering back into her past, wondering how to undo certain things, how to strengthen others.

More than just running away from Luna, Lina had left home on a quest to find herself, so far it was the one thing that had truely eluded her. All she had done, all she had seen, and she still didn't know who she was. Oh well. That too was something she might know one day. As she thought the last of the night wore on. Seeing the morning light start to glow on the horizon she turned her attention to the up coming flight. Flying with Levitation was not new for her. It was similar to her more usual Ray-Wing spell, but, whereas Ray-Wing was meant for covering short distances very quickly, Levitation was meant for going over long distance, often under load. The trade off was the speed. Levitation was much slower than Ray Wing. Still, Levitation was the only spell likely to carry them the distance. But, oh, what a trip! Never had she flown so far. She really didn't know how she was going to do it, and carrying Grace and Arthur at the same time! Well, Zel could fly too, he'd have to help, that's all there was to that!

Soon enough, Lina was rousing the still tired sleepers. "Awake, awake!" she said in a low but commanding voice as she shook the sleeping form of Zel. Zel got up groggily and looked around. Surprisingly he even muttered the opening lines from an old poem as he looked to the east at the growing light. "Awake, for the Hunter in the Bowl of Night, has loosed the stone that puts the stars to flight!" "Right..." said Lina, then she went on "I've been thinking Zel, and we need a bit of a plan. It's going to take all day to clear the mountains, the distance is too great. We will have to stop at least once, I don't think we will be able to fly on without resting."

Zel yawned, the big yawns of someone who is sleepy still, not the little ones of someone waking up, and looked up to Lina. "First order of business, lighten our load, we take with us only what we must." he said, sounding a bit groggy. "We won't need our blankets again, one way or the other. And we can finish off what's left of the water now. There is no food, thanks to the horses being driven off, and no time to hunt for any more. I guess we had better all, er, use the bushes before we go, he, he." Lina chuckled. It wasn't much of a joke, but under their circumstances it was good to laugh at anything. "Yes, that's one load we can definitely, um, dump! Hey Grace, sorry, it's time to wake up!" she said.

Soon enough a thoroughly dishevelled Grace crawled out of the rock. "I was dreaming, of all things, of a bath. Not my husband, or my baby or of anything else more important, just a bath." She shook her head and gave a giggle. "Oooo, but my skin crawls. If I get any riper, I might be able to float on my own..." Lina smiled and nodded her head. "I know exactly what you mean!" she said. "Well, nothing to it but to get on with it. We are lightening our load by discarding what we can." "Oh, well, I need some of my baby supplies, a few diapers at least, my dagger, and please, can I take this?" she asked as she rummaged in her bag. "It's a white dress I've been hauling around to dress up a bit more formally when I meet Prince Phil. Everything else, except what I'm wearing now, can stay behind. Um, I will guess we need one sack to carry anything we don't leave behind?" "Well," spoke up Zel. I guess you better use your diaper bag then." said Zel. "And we will each take one small water bottle, empty for now. One weapon each, the clothes on our backs, and that's about it." "Oh! This is going to be so hard!" said Lina suddenly, holding up the small but heavy little bag of gold, silver, and jewels she had been given from King Alfred.

Zel took the bag and quickly fished out a handful of rubies and emeralds. "I have a bit of gold in Seirune currency on my person, it will be enough, along with my supposedly royal person, to get us anything we may desire in Seirune. We are not stopping until we are at least in her boarders." He gave the stones to Lina, who smiled gratefully, and tossed the rest aside with the other things on the discard pile. Lina looked at the little sack for a few seconds then wrenched herself away and said, more to herself than any one else, "If you can't let something valuable go in greatest need, you are already enslaved, or worse..." Zel nodded. A few minutes later, the little band stood at the edge of the cliff, gathering courage for the flight. After a bit of debate, they had rigged a rope harness to Grace and agreed to try taking it by turns to carry her, so one of the magic users would always have their hands free to give battle if needed while the other flew their "cargo" to the ground. "Gee, thanks..." said Grace at being described as such.

Soon, although it seemed like forever, they were ready. Lina looked out at the rising sun and said, "Gee, and we left Westhold only three days ago. What have we come, about fifty miles?" More like sixty." said Zel. Lina replied "Well, now I understand why I fell asleep. Better than forty miles in two days, better than twenty miles the third, the last through rough terrain, trying to be quiet, and now we fly. I'm going to sleep for a week, I know it. And it's going to start tonight, no matter where we are." Zel nodded. "Yes, this is a pace we can't sustain, let us hope it is enough to put our enemies off the track." "I wish I could help..." said Grace with a note of regret in her voice. "It's okay Grace, this is our job anyway, we are the magic users here." said Lina lightly. Grace said nothing.

Zel, who was carrying her first, moved behind her and took up the ropes. Lina realised that Grace was taller than Zel even, and shook her head. People were so different! After a final check of the harness, and a double check by Lina, Zel gathered himself together and muttered a spell. "Levitation." he suddenly commanded and he floated into the air, taking Grace and her son with him. Lina also did her thing and was floating beside him. A last quick check of their bearings, and they were off. Pacing themselves they still managed to put on speeds of ten miles an hour or better, crossing in a couple of hours as much distance as most people could cover in a day of hard marching. More actually, because they were going in a straight line, and the ground, a thousand or so feet below, was decidedly not straight.

For a while it went up and down and around trees, eventually clearing to farmland rolling on beneath them. To their left were the mountains of the Cauldron range, a vast circle of low mountains with a lone central peak in the middle and a depressed lowland plain running between the central spike and the mountains. It sort of resembled a shallow cauldron, hence the name. It had been a high range in most people's sight for a long time, but now, from the air, it looked low, especially compared to the jagged peaks of Westhold. "Wow," said Lina softly, "It looks like someone blew up something really big there and shoved all the soil out in a ring, scraping it down to the bare rock." "Yeah, I know," replied Zel. "It's kind of like the craters you leave after a good Dragon Slave, Lina, only more so. I wonder, did some ancient cast a Giga Slave here once?" "That's scary." said Grace.

They lapsed back into silence, for they had agreed to keep talk to a minimum to save energy. As the morning progressed, a long and silent one, the strain started to show on Zelgadiss, but he said nothing, for a long time. Finally however, the task was taking it's toll and they had to stop. They came down onto a deserted wooded hill near a stream. Zel almost immediately threw himself down on the ground exhausted and panting for air. Lina too was winded, flying was hard work. Grace, who had rested, immediately gathered their water bottles and set off for the stream. She was soon back with the water which was gratefully downed. She disappeared again, and just as Zel and Lina were getting their wind back and starting to worry, she reappeared with a couple of handfuls of wild strawberries and a large mushroom! "Eat." she said. "It isn't much, but I hope it helps. The snack was accepted too, and Grace was even persuaded to at least taste one. "Mmmmm, but no more, or I'm going to want back what I just gave you. I'm so hungry, but, I suppose it keeps me lighter this way. How far did we come?" she asked.

Zel looked up at the sky and gave a low whistle. "Wow, we did better than I thought, it's almost noon and we left shortly after the dawn. Okay, we have been five or maybe even six hours in the air. No wonder I feel like I just added a large weight of lead to my chimera make up. We rest now until the sun is past noon, that's for sure. I reckon we have come fifty miles as the crow flies. Let's see, that puts us on the south-eastern slopes of the mountains, and another fifty or sixty miles flying to Seirune city. Or about forty miles to our favourite inn, eh Lina?" Zel and Lina laughed at that, leaving Grace to puzzle out what the joke was. They then gave her a description of what happened and Grace rolled on the ground with laughter, biting her finger to stop from laughing out loud. "Oops!" said Zel. "She's right though. We better keep quiet, even here!"

Lina nodded her head, still smiling, then a thought struck her. "Hey Zel, for what it's worth, there is a loop of the main road that runs from the inn, to that crossroads where we decided not to pass through Zefielia that might be even closer, and puts us down only a few miles from the inn. What do you think? Might be safer to set down somewhere that has no actual identifiable land mark?" "Might be" said Zel. "Hmm, but it will be afternoon, and we will still have, what, twelve miles to walk? We'd get in at evening. Make it harder for danger to spot us, but also harder for us to spot danger. And there will be a lot of people around, crowds can be good and bad too. Tell you what, let's nap on it and decide before we leave." "Uh, sure" said Lina, suddenly yawning at the thought of a nap. "Go ahead." said Grace. "I am awake and will stand watch." "Done!" said the other two at the same time. In a few minutes they were asleep.

Lina was sure it was a cruel trick of Grace's to wake her up the instant she had dozed off, but after grumbling about too many early starts, and looking at the sun, she had to admit it was sometime between two and three, and they really did nap. Zel also had some ideas of his own regarding what made for a nap, but he was too reserved to grumble anywhere near as long as Lina did. "Okay," he said with a yawn. Decision time..."

"It'll be evening no matter where we go to." said Lina. "I just don't know if the road is safer or not." "I vote the hotel." said Zel. "We'll get there at dark and may be able to sneak in to town. If I can get a secure place and a messenger we can have a guard by morning at the latest. And maybe get a sleep before then." "Hmmm," said Lina. "I guess so, as long as no one looks up. It's the height of summer now and the light lasts a long time." "Well, let's come in high and see what things are like. We may have to land out of town and sneak in, but it will be better than the long road I think. Grace?" The woman thought for a minute then said "I think the hotel is the best balance of the three plans too. I don't know fully what to make of it, but if we are caught on the road there will be no help, and I'm willing to bet we can't make Seirune City in a flight, we will need to land somewhere, so it may as well be where people are. But if we can sneak in it would be better."

"Okay, we have a plan." said Lina. But if our strength fails, I think the road is our alternate, or as close as we can get." "Pretty rough country for a forced landing but I think you are right Lina." said Zel. With that it was decided. Lina took the ropes this time. Grace just shook her head. "Sorry, I guess I don't inspire much confidence do I Grace?" she asked. Grace chuckled. "No, Lina, I have every confidence in you! I was just thinking what this must look like if anyone should see us. A regular flying circus act!" She gave a chuckle and the others laughed too. "Well, that lightened our spirits if nothing else." said Lina. "Speaking of lightening, everyone drink up, then we ditch the water bottles, I'm afraid. Just one full one, to save on weight." put in Zel. Soon all was done. Zel gave a last look and said "Let's go." The chants were chanted, the commands given and they were off again.

At first it was okay, rather like the morning, but they were more tired and as the flight wore on they could feel their energy slipping away faster. If they had been able to eat, but no, they just had to keep going. Grace swung under Lina and observed that Arthur seemed to like the motion. At any rate he slept through most of the flight, although there were some daring diaper changes along the way. "I wonder what the farmer who's field that will land on will think?" joked Grace as she let one of the soiled cloths go. Likewise, sometime in the middle of the flight, the last of the water was drunk, and the watter bottle too was let go. As before, there wasn't much talking. Zel and Grace looked around a lot, scanning for trouble, and Lina resolutely kept going straight forward.

As the afternoon wore on she remarked to Zel "There really ought to be a different spell for this. I'll have to do some research after this is over." "I'll help." he replied. "Me too." said Grace. "At least, I'll make sure our resources are at your disposal for the research." "Well that would help." said Lina, beginning to sound winded. "How are you doing?" asked Zel. "Won't last much longer," replied Lina, "But look, I can make out the general lay of the land for the village! I'll make it! Gee, it is brighter up here, we're still in the sun, ha, ha. Zel, scoot ahead and scout out a landing spot so I can go straight to it." she said. "I'm on it." he replied, casting a Ray-Wing spell and speeding off to the village.

He did a few high passes and then, when he felt daring enough, he swooped low and looked around. No one noticed him in the air, but there were a lot of people around none the less. Finally he made his decision and flew back to Lina who was beginning to pant like a long distance runner needing the end of a marathon. He grabbed a rope and helped take a bit of the strain off of Lina and said "Our best bet is a silent landing on the roof of the inn." Lina managed a "You're crazy!" look but was too winded to argue. Zel explained "It isn't dark enough to risk a landing on the ground yet, and you aren't going to be able to hover for half an hour until it is. The inn is one of the highest roofs around and if we make no noise we have a good chance of not being seen. Then we can rest and when it's safe we float to the ground and get inside." "Okay" Lina puffed. She could see the roof now, still a ways off, and steeled herself to go the last of the distance. A short time later, although it seemed long enough to Lina, they drifted down to the roof and made a silent if precarious landing on the peak.

"Water..." was the first thing Lina said on touch down as she collapsed in a heap onto Grace. "Get off, you'll set the baby to crying!" was Grace's somewhat panicked response. Zel helped Lina down and said "Be careful and be quiet. We're on the peak of a steep roof about thirty feet off the ground! We don't want to fall, and we can be heard." "Water..." said Lina again, as she lay there panting. "In a few minutes." said Zel. "We can't go down until it is safe." "Water..." repeated Lina. Grace gave a quiet snigger and said "Someone's playing for attention." Zel shook his head and said "Yeah, I think so too." "Fireball..." panted Lina, although she didn't cast the spell. Still, it was enough to make the other two back off. "Don't do that Lina!" said Grace. "Yeah" added Zel. With our luck it'll go off." "Water..." said Lina one last time, and then she sat up, looking pathetic.

Zel peeked over the roof and said "I think it's dark enough, but we need to wait till everyone goes away. There aren't too many people still out, give it a minute more okay?" Lina just looked pathetic with her mouth open. Grace was obviously trying to settle Arthur, who, perhaps missing the motion of the flight, didn't want to be settled. She finally got him to sort of eat, although he wasn't really hungry and she said "Make it soon, or Arthur will give us away in the end I'm afraid. Damn this fate that makes me have to run like this. I don't mind so much for me, I need to get toughened up again, but he's a new baby, he should be living the soft life right now, as all new babies should!" "Next time, travel with guards." said Lina. "Wait till you hear all that I have to say then tell me what was right Lina. I did the best I could in a hurry, as did Alfred, but, who says we got it right..." replied Grace with a resigned tone. At that moment Zel walked over and grabbed the women by their respective belts and said "Let's go, it's clear, Levitate!"

With that he floated them up, over the end of the roof and down to the ground. He landed at the back of the inn and hustled the girls into the shadow of a wood pile. He then knocked on the back door. Someone answered and was sent scuttling for the landlord. There were some low words, a flash of gold as a coin was exchanged, and the ladies were brought over and hustled in to the house. They scooted up some back stairs and were shown to a small room. Once there Zel explained "The owner will feed us and put us up tonight. He will send a messenger to Seirune City as well. We aren't going to be able to go any farther without a guard, and we can have one here by morning, we just have to keep hidden until then. And baths. There is a small tub in that room, he will send up some clothing and hot water, we can change, get washed, and eat and sleep. And he and his assistant will keep quiet until tomorrow. It's the best I could do, sorry, but we need sleep. "Water..." said Lina. "Not again" said Zel rolling his eyes.

Fortunately Lina didn't have to wait long. Food and drink were soon brought up, and hot water set for the bath. "Here, you eat while I bathe!" said Grace as she downed a drink of water herself and headed to the bathing room with Arthur. Soon she could be heard splashing and playing with her son in the water. Lina drank like there was no tomorrow and Zel also raised several cups, all of them water. Then they set to on the food. Yet, for all her hunger Lina found she was so exhausted that she couldn't eat like she wanted to. She kept falling asleep over her meal and after only three courses, was vaguely aware of Zel tucking her into bed.