Lina and Gourry had walked along the roadside pretty much throughout the whole night due mostly to Gourry's insistence that they kept moving. He was worried that if they didn't leave town quickly enough and make as big a distance as possible between them and the town, then they would be caught too quickly. He felt bad though because Lina hadn't got much sleep and so she was almost like the walking dead. He knew he had to do something soon but they couldn't rely on motels to support them. They would be seen and the police would be called to arrest them. So he knew he had to think of another way.
They walked through the small town and Gourry at that point noticed a camping shop.
"Perfect. Ok, Lina? I know you're tired but just pull your hood up for now and stay by this window. Make sure your face is well covered, ok?"
She nodded sleepily and did as she was told. Then Gourry went into the store and tried to get it over with as soon as possible. He looked about very quickly and found the best tent for them, and a couple of sleeping bags. He used the rest of the money he had and bought the items and before he could gain any more suspicious stares, he grabbed the items and left.
Without even saying anything he grabbed onto Lina's hand and dragged her along with him. Her feet dragged behind her and she nearly fell over but Gourry helped keep her balance.
"What's the rush Gourry?" She murmured sleepily.
"We just need to get out of this town soon; we've already stayed too long here. We need to get out into the countryside where it's quiet. If we stay here any longer, someone will spot us and we'll be in trouble."
Gourry then just kept walking with Lina, holding her a bit closer and more protectively because she seemed so fragile at that point and he didn't want anything bad to happen to her. At that point he was actually considering handing himself in and taking the blame just so Lina wouldn't be in trouble. But he wasn't sure what was worse, Lina being in jail alone, or out in the world alone. Either way there wasn't much he could do to protect her except do his best to keep them out of sight.
Finally they reached the countryside on the outskirts of the town and noticed a forest. That would be a good cover so they headed straight for the forest. Then once they entered they found a small clearing and set up a camp. Gourry built the tent pretty quickly and set up the sleeping bags inside and then let Lina get in and get some rest. Meanwhile he started a fire because it was getting pretty cold, with it being winter and all.
He placed his hands over the fire and rubbed them together, feeling his fingers tingle as warmth crept back into them. He looked to the tent and watched Lina sleeping. He felt that only she was going to be able to solve it. He wasn't smart enough to work things out, he just knew how to get by and survive. So it was his job to protect Lina to the best of his abilities and she would be the one to try and work out how to make the authorities believe they were innocent. However he knew enough that it would involve this other person who stole the stone.
He looked at the sword that he had taken and unsheathed it slowly, looking at the blade. It wasn't in very good condition but he didn't really want to use it, not to kill anyway. He looked at the pin in the handle and decided to test it. For some reason he knew he had to sheath the blade, he guessed because if the blade was going to be removed, it might as well stay in the sheath. He then pulled the pin and heard a click, and then he pulled on the handle.
The handle came away but the blade stayed in the sheath. He looked at it curiously and wondered why anyone would want to have a sword where you could remove the blade. The idea of being able to change the blades made sense, but he thought wouldn't it be easier to just have different swords.
"You'd still need to carry all the blades around to be able to change them." He mumbled to himself quietly. "If someone was going to carry all those blades around well then they might as well carry all the different swords."
Suddenly he heard a snap and he turned his head sharply towards the sound of the noise. He put the handle back down into the sheath, placed the pin in and removed the sword within split seconds. It surprised him how quickly he was able to do it considering it was the first time, but it felt like he had done it all the time.
He looked carefully and noticed a pack of wolves had started to surround the camp. He bit his lip and quickly stood up with the blade held out infront of him, ready to protect Lina and himself. He watched as a group of five carefully closed in and he started to think what would be the best thing to do. He looked to the fire and an idea popped in.
He knelt down quickly and grabbed a broken branch. He then gathered some dried grass and leaves and did his best to wrap them around the top of the branch. At which point he put the end into the fire and produced a torch. He turned back to the wolves and then swung the torch at them, causing a couple to back up. However they just continued back towards him.
He swung the torch once more but as a couple jumped back, the others all decided to attack. He took a step back immediately and swung out with the sword, cutting deeply into one of the wolves which let out a whimper. Another he managed to hold off with the torch but the third had got through and bit into his leg. He gritted his teeth in pain and swung his sword at the wolf and sliced into it.
The one he had attacked with the torch was burnt slightly and the two others who were initially scared all ran away after seeing what happened to the other two. He bit his lip and hobbled over carefully back to the campfire and sat back down. He cursed at himself slightly for being caught off so easily and now he was hurt, but now he knew he had to sort it out now because he had to keep protecting Lina. He grabbed some spare cloth from his bag and pulled his trouser leg up, revealing the bite wound. He cleaned it off with some water and wrapped the cloth around his leg, tying it off tight.
He looked back to Lina who was sleeping peacefully. He thought she might have woken up but she must have been so worn out that she slept through it all. He hoped that when she did wake up, she would be feeling better and be willing to look through that book. Maybe there was more to the book than she first realised. What was on his mind the most though, was why those wolves had attacked him. He'd never heard of a wild pack of wolves to just attack like that, and he knew they were normally shy around humans. But now they attacked once, maybe they would end up attacking again.