Quantum Scrambled Eggs
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Chapter 8
The next day, around midmorning, Gourry walked along the path with Lina as he half-listened to her complain about the scenery, or rather the lack thereof. It was something along the lines of "Trees, trees, trees! I'm sick of trees!", and it showed that, without a doubt, Lina couldn't see the forest for all the trees.
Gourry smiled at that little joke but decided to say nothing, either positive or negative, to Lina. A sort of 'wait it out' policy that seemed to be working.
"Gourry! I'm bored with all these trees!" Lina positively whined, "Isn't there a better, more interesting way to Atlas City?"
Well, it had been working until she'd actually asked a question. Gourry sighed as he turned to her and said, "I'm afraid not, the quickest way to Atlas is through these woods."
"The dreaded Boring Woods…" Lina mumbled, "Where travelers die of boredom and bandits before they can rob them… Hey, Gourry?" Lina asked, the question completely different in tone than the rest of her whining.
Gourry stopped, unsure what was happening with the change in her attitude. "What?"
"Remember when I said that I thought those guys would attack again?" Lina said, again changing her posturing and giving Gourry the impression that she was either speaking tangentially… or with more candor than she was used to.
"Yeah." Gourry replied, prompting her to go on.
"Um, look, I'm not going to have my powers for a few days." Lina said, almost timidly, and began blushing. "So, uh, I won't be sticking close to you if we get into a fight."
Gourry blinked, that was it? He wondered if maybe it had to do with the moon, which was a day from full… wasn't the moon important in magic? It was to sailors, which he remembered in a bar. Gourry shrugged, "Okay… I can handle it."
There was a moment of awkwardness, which Gourry finally broke, "Um, Lina, are you sure you can't you use your powers?"
"Look." Lina said, pointing to Gourry than toward a small tree, she chanted a spell. Gourry didn't know, but then when she snapped her fingers he expected to find out, it was probably something overly flashy…
And nothing happened.
"See?" Lina asked.
"So… you've completely lost your powers?" Gourry asked semi-rhetorically, he'd been expecting something big, like fire and brimstone, or something
Lina looked sad for a moment, then nodded, "I don't think I'll be able to cast anything more complex than a light-spell for the next two or three days."
Gourry nodded solemnly, "I see, I see… so… does this sort of thing happen often?"
Lina glared at him, "Every month…" she growled.
"Ah, then it's the monthlies." Gourry declared, nodding happily as if he'd just solved one of the great mysteries of the universe, or at least something that had been on his mind, and come up with a witty and amusing answer.
Lina was not amused. "And what does someone like you, with the brains of a jellyfish and the brawn of a troll, know about monthlies?"
"Don't you mean with the brains of a troll and the brawn of a jellyfish?" Gourry asked teasing her a little more. "And you did say it happened every month, so that makes it monthly."
Lina couldn't fault the logic… but she wasn't running on logic, she was running on emotion, and as such she was really irritated with Gourry. Brusquely she turned away from her companion and continued along the road.
• • • • • • • • • • •
The plus side, Gourry thought, of their little chat was that Lina wasn't grumbling about how boring the woods were, the bad side, however, was that she wasn't too pleased with him, and he felt like she was just waiting for her powers to return so she could blast him.
Gourry pulled himself out of his thoughts upon seeing Zelgadiss standing on the road before him, he wasn't too surprised as he'd felt eyes on him fot the past half-mile. Gourry threw up his hand and blocked Lina's forward progress as he proceeded to stare at the man in the road… it he was a man. It was the first time that Gourry had actually seen Zelgadiss's face, which was… interesting. The man had a strangely elfin shaped face, a light blue color, but the texture of the flesh was… wrong. Perhaps Rezo had been telling the truth, Gourry didn't know, and right now he didn't care, what was foremost on his mind was protecting Lina from any physical harm.
"You've decide to quit toying with us and show yourself…" Gourry said to the chimera, "Eh, Zegaldis?"
"Um, isn't his name Zeidigas?" Lina whispered, rather loudly, to Gourry.
"Is it?" Gourry asked turning to look at Lina, "I could have sworn that it was something like Zegaldis…"
The chimera twitched, then said in forced tones, "My. Name. Is Zelgadiss!"
"Oh, what he said." Lina remarked, pointing at Zelgadiss.
"Oh, ok." Gourry replied, nodding a he absorbed the information. Strange guy, off-white clothes, Zelgadiss.
"Enough of this!" Zelgadiss shouted, "I want that item! You can give it to me, or…" Zelgadiss readied his sword in it's sheath, "If you object, I will take it by force. Which would you prefer? Choose now."
"I'd think carefully before answering." A rough voice said from behind them, yet off the road on the other side.
Gourry looked and spotted some sort of wolf-man… though the fur was green and brown, well blended to the colors of this forest, which is why it was difficult to spot him leaning up against a tree.
"Probably a werewolf…" Lina commented, though Gourry didn't know if she was informing him or just thinking aloud. "Looks like you've got wolf and troll blood in you."
"Heh heh heh." the wolfman chuckled as he walked past them to Zelgadiss, nodding to Lina as he passed, "You have sharp eyes kid…" staying on the far side of the road and making no sudden moves.
Lina mumbled something, probably a curse on his ancestry, and then she retorted, "I'm not even going to ask about that ridiculous leather armor." Lina pointed to the brown and green leather the wolfman wore, reminiscent of a tank-top.
"So," The wolfman growled as he took his place at Zelgadiss's side, "All we hafta do is get that Orihalcon statue from her… right master Zelgadiss?"
"Dilgear!" The chimera scolded the wolfman for letting on to which item he wanted, then sighed. Well, the two would have known anyway when they'd taken them… if he had the goodwill to leave them their lives.
"Oh, right, you said not to tell them anything… sorry." The wolfman apologized rather sheepishly, which was rather funny because he was a wolfman.
Zelgadiss didn't say anything to his minion, who just nodded and continued his apology. "But it doesn't matter because they both die here!"
"Ha! You're one to talk!" Lina said defiantly, "I don't know how tough you are exactly… but you don't want to get on my bad side."
"Oh, yeah, I see you've got spunk, Little Lady." Dilgear said in a way that was either appreciatively amused or irritated by her lack of courtesy in not being frightened or intimidated by him. "Let's see what you got."
"Alright," Lina countered confidently, "but you're not going to like it. Especially after I win… I'll even take you both on, myself!"
The two inhuman monsters, a chimera and a wolfman, blinked at her. 'Spunk' didn't cover it… insanity might though.
Lina took a big breath and loosened up her arms as if about to cast a long spell, and then suddenly thrust her finger at Zelgadiss, pointing at the chimera and his henchman.
"Go get em Gourry!" she yelled.
All three of the others, Gourry included, did a double-take at the girl. That was certainly… unexpected.
"Now hold on here!" Gourry protested, sure he wanted to keep Lina safe, but it would be two-to-one odds, against beings whose powers, abilities, and skills he hadn't a clue about. He might be a good swordsman, but they might be better, or maybe they could spit fireballs from their mouth like the dragon could. It wasn't a situation that Gourry wanted to be in.
"Hold it you two!" another voice said, old and gravely, yet still strong and forceful. "You've nothing to worry about… I'm here now."
Gourry looked at the man who was gripping a halberd, one who he recognized from the fight that 'Rezo' had intervened with. The words sounded like they could be a reassurance, considering Lina had said it was a mind-control spell, but something didn't quite add up… it was the way he moved so he was standing in line alongside Zelgadiss facing them.
"The guy from last night…" Lina said, staring at him, then she pushed Gourry into action, "Three against one isn't fair!"
"I don't know what you did to me last night…" the old man said with a set determination, "but today's gonna be different."
"Are you ready yet?" Zelgadiss asked, though Gourry wasn't sure if he was talking to his compatriots or to him.
Nobody answered, not the wolfman, not the old man, not Gourry, and not Lina.
Zelgadiss snorted and nodded before saying, "Let's go then… Flare Arrow!" he yelled the spell out as he opened the sortie.
Gourry and Lina dodged to opposite sides of the magical attack, rolling to their feet as Dilgear and the old man rushed them.
Gourry met the rush with speedy bound that they weren't expecting, cutting through the haft of the old man's halberd as he bounded past. He'd meant to try for a penetrating blow to the gut, but the angle where his sword met was wrong and it didn't do any damage save adding another scratch to the armor that had obviously been used before.
Gourry shot a leg out and absorbed his forward momentum, after having gotten behind their charge on that last attack, and whirled about while springing, sword first, into Dilgear's back.
It would have worked if Dilgear had been a moment slower in swinging around to block the strike, but having blocked it he absorbed an impressive amount of the force with his obviously effective upper-body strength.
Having engaged only Dilgear and the old man, Gourry knew that Lina and Zelgadiss would be facing off. Especially if she didn't try to escape, and with her current state that might be the best answer… Gourry didn't have time to worry now though, all he could do now was to stay alive and try to defeat these two.
Gourry blocked a swing of Dilgear's sword, but the wolfman pushed in trying to force Gourry over. It was actually pretty impressive as Gourry was bigger, both in height and muscle-mass, than virtually everyone he'd met.
While he was locked in place by Dilgear, the old man attacked from the side, Gourry's left, with a sword he'd had found somewhere to replace the halberd. It was then that the old man made a mistake, he was a bit too eager to repay Gourry for the damage he'd done to the halberd and rushed in at the end.
Gourry let the resistance against Dilgear drop to nothing, keeping his sword locked with the wolfman's blade, and fell backward, dropping Dilgear right into the old man's way.
Losing one's balance in a fight is a good way to get knocked on your ass, both literally and figuratively. However, Gourry was gambling on tripping everyone up and hoping that he could get to his feet quick enough to gain the upper hand.
Scrambling to his feet, he found that he wasn't quite quick enough to get a decisive advantage, but his little maneuver had caused Dilgear's companion to cut the wolfman's side deeply leaving a gash that was bleeding profusely.
'One to one odds, that's better.' Gourry thought as he readied himself to meet the old man who, almost instantly, had calmed down considerably. He wasn't going to be able to get him to attack recklessly again, Gourry knew.
The two suddenly moved, simultaneously, into their attacks against the other. Attack were redirected and returned, only to be blocked. Gourry and the old man, each quite skilled, each trying to get an opening.
Then, at last, Gourry saw it! And he started his swing to the opening, only to change it into a deflection of Dilgear's attack, which he saw out of the corner of his eye at the last moment.
The wolfman was up. Not dead or out of commission like Gourry had hoped. This made his odds of winning this fight extremely small. Not that the two-to-one odds had been all that great to begin with.
"You're pretty good, to be holding us both off!" The old man said, stepping behind Dilgear to catch his breath.
Gourry hadn't noticed how winded the older man had become, but that was probably because he was getting winded himself. He honestly didn't know how long he'd been fighting them. It felt, mentally, like only mere minuted, but physically he was beginning to ache like only hours of practicing would do.
"Thanks a lot!" Gourry said cheerfully as he could, trying to regulate his breathing and not become fully out of breath.
Dilgear laughed, not an unpleasing laugh either, but one with some real appreciation in it. "Look, we're just after the girl. Stay out of our way and you won't get hurt."
Gourry made a derisive sound and stepped back tying to keep the old man and Dilgear from getting in a good position to attack from. It was getting difficult to keep the two from getting to both sides of him.
"Right now our leader, Zelgadiss, is probably…" Dilgear continued, finishing the sentence by pulling his thumb across his neck and making a sound like krrrsshhhht.
"Lina…" Gourry said, hoping that she had gotten away to safety and had not, indeed, been taken care of like a snared rabbit.
'Damnit! I'm not going to be able to take these two much longer…' Gourry thought, 'I can make one final attack, through them both, pushing past them and then trying to retreat successfully… I wish the plan was better than this.'
Just as Gourry fell into position, ready to make a break for it, the sky lit up with some sort of powerfully bright magical light. A signal, Gourry thought instantly, one of three possibilities crossed his mind: one, Lina had been captured or killed and thus they needn't engage him anymore, two, Lina had gotten away and so they needn't fight anymore… or three, Lina was holed up somewhere that her pursuer couldn't get to and he was calling for reinforcements.
"Looks like he did it…" Dilgear said, confirming that it was a signal for them… and significantly dropping the odds that Lina had gotten away. "We don't have to worry about this guy anymore… come on Rodimus, let's go."
The old man, Rodimus, nodded in agreement. "You really did quite well, holding us both off like that… Get going, and forget about this, before we're ordered to kill you."
• • • • • • • • • • •
Gourry wondered into the town, not lost because he knew where he was, having passed through the small town awhile back. He felt almost like a big-brother to Lina… and he really hadn't kept her safe. Sure, he'd done the best he could, but if she had been seriously hurt…
Gourry shook his head and resolved to try to think positively. If she'd escaped then she would meet him somewhere in this town, that was the plan. Reaching down into a crevice of his armor Gourry retrieved the small Orihalcon statuette and dagger and looked at them. So much trouble for such small items, was it really worth the time and energy these guys under Zelgadiss spent… was it worth the lives that had been or would be lost?
Looking around the town square Gourry was surprised to see Lina, what incredible luck!
Gourry ran up and turned the girl around, intent on finding out if she was ok, then found himself face to face with a redheaded girl in glasses that definitely wasn't Lina.
"Oh, um, sorry… I t-thought y-you were someone e-else…" Gourry stammered an apology as best he could, feeling embarrassment at the mistake.
"What do you think you're doing?" The redhead demanded angrily.
"Looking for someone…" Gourry replied lamely with an audible gulp. This wasn't helping the embarrassment, but the attitude and hair matched.
"Well, you should be sure before touching someone!" The girl hauled back and slapped Gourry with enough force to send him to the ground. It wasn't all bad though, because it did clear out his sinuses.
After picking himself off the ground, and wondering around town looking for Lina, Gourry decided to try the places she'd probably go, the restaurants and inns… fortunately is was a small town and only had one inn, and it's one restaurant was also the bar.
'Fifty/fifty chance… I suppose I'll go to the bar first.' Gourry thought, 'If I don't find her there I can check the inn and, if worst comes to worst and she's not there, I can bed down for the night and resume searching for her tomorrow.'
With that decided Gourry made his way down the street and entered the bar, upon entering he looked around and… didn't see her. 'Hm, well, maybe the barkeep has seen her.' Gourry thought to himself before heading over to the bar.
"Bartender, get me a Sam Adams." Gourry said pulling a piece of paper out and attempting to draw a picture of Lina that he could use to make asking about her easier.
Gourry detailed the picture as best as he could, but it was still lacking, even to his own discerning eye. Fine art it was not, but reasonable facsimile… maybe.
'Ultra petite body? Check! Big eyes? Check! And finally, fiery temper and a trail of destruction? Check!' Gourry nodded to himself, it was exactly as Lina would describe herself - except for the temper and destruction - and it would have to do.
"Hey, barkeep!" Gourry called the bartender over and indicated his drawing of Lina, "Have you seen this girl around?"
"Nope, sure haven't…" The barkeeper sighed, "Look buddy, I don't think anyone in this here town associates with monsters."
"Monsters?" Gourry asked… wondering how the guy had gotten that out of the picture he'd handed over.
The barkeep shrugged, "What else would you call something that breaths fire and leaves destruction of this magnitude behind? What's with the body anyway?"
"Oh, that's just her temper…" Gourry said pointing to the fire-breath and destruction, next he pointed to a misshapen stick-figure with disturbingly large eyes, "And that's supposed to be a short, skinny, foul tempered, little redheaded girl."
"Oh!" The barkeep said, recognizing things now that they were pointed out. "Like I said, nobody around here would know Lina Inverse."
Gourry nodded and was about to get up and try the inn, having finished his beer, then turned to the barkeep asked, "I thought you said that nobody in this town knew monsters."
"Eh, same difference…" The barkeeper shrugged, "Potāto, potăto."
• • • • • • • • • • •
Gourry stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep because of the guilty feeling of leaving Lina to her captors overnight, and while he knew intellectually that he'd have a better chance to rescue her after sleeping he just couldn't reconcile it with his conscience.
Gourry sat up and growled to himself, it was stupid… but he wasn't going to be able to sleep without making a better search effort.
He hopped out of bed, pulled his boots on and pulled his boots, and quickly packed his travel pack. Then he quietly made his way out the inn and into the forest. It was too bad he'd already payed for the night's lodging, but oh well.
Several hours of travel led Gourry to the place he sought, the place Lina had bolted from and he'd fought Rodimus and Dilgear, he was fairly sure that he was there anyway. He could make out some smashed grass alongside the road by the full moon's light. Then he saw it, the haft of the halberd that Rodimus had discarded, so he was indeed where he wanted to be.
Sadly Gourry's tracking skills were quite poor, almost nonexistent, but still Gourry tried to find some clue as to where Lina may have gone. That was how he'd become fairly lost, not in the sense of where he was, but where he was going.
After hours of wondering, when the moon had finally set, Gourry gave up his search. He wasn't going to be able to find her trail in the dark, and he might not find it in broad daylight.
Now that he had searched for Lina his conscience wouldn't bother him if he tried to sleep. So, he tried to sleep. It wasn't a very restful sleep but when he did get up, maybe an hour and a half after dawn, he felt marginally refreshed.
A quick fire, which had been even quicker with Lina around, and a rushed breakfast and Gourry was ready to start his search yet again.
"Where could she be?" Gourry asked himself, following what appeared to be a game trail that ultimately led nowhere. Gourry sighed, it was time to face the facts. Lina had been captured or killed, and when they didn't find what they were looking for they'd probably kill her… so by all probability, Lina was dead. Sure there was some small hope that Lina had gotten away, but not much, not much at all.
There was only one thing to do, and that was head to Atlas City and inform her family of Lina's death. He didn't want to do it, he told himself he had to, but he really didn't want to do it… but Lina's family had a right to know.
Atlas City was, as he reckoned it, only a day and a half away once he hit the main road. Add in another day and a half to try to find Lina's family, assuming that it'd be fairly difficult to find them, and in three days he was on his own again.
"Yeah, that's great…" Gourry said quietly to himself, "Alone again."
• • • • • • • • • • •
Gourry was feeling a bit down. Being the guy delivering the bad news, he figured, wouldn't be a fun job for anyone. Being upset as he was about delivering the news he decided to stop at the ghost-town about four hours from Atlas City.
Upon entering the city Gourry noticed something that was a bit out of place in a ghost town, activity, and that activity was in the form of a battle. Most of it seemed to be concentrated off to his right, so he headed left. Joining a battle needlessly would be very foolish, and if he was killed, collateral damage, then the Inverse family would never know what happened to Lina.
Walking quickly down several side-streets Gourry found himself getting close to the edge of the city when he sat something that made him do a double-take: Lina!
Gourry couldn't believe it! Lina was alive! But looking at the situation he saw that she was under attack by a being that he'd never seen before. Not a berserker, troll, or any other beast-man, and the way it re-formed its body at will… it must be a monster. Sure, it looked kinda like an old man, but the way it was swinging a flaming tentacle around… no mistake there.
It was then that Gourry saw the monster send a volley of glowing spine-things toward Lina. The small sorceress hadn't a chance of dodging but…
Gourry leaped out of the alleyway, drawing his sword and deflecting the spines before they could kill the little girl.
"It seems we meet again Lina Inverse…" Gourry said, bringing his sword into a ready position as the spines clattered to the ground.
"Gourry?" Lina said in disbelief. She'd probably never imagined that he'd be around to step to her defense like that… heck, he didn't believe it either.
"So, you have another ally here?" The monster asked rhetorically.
"Not an ally." Gourry said with a shake of his head, "For the moment, I am her guardian."
"What? Who's a guardian?" Lina squawked from behind Gourry, but he paid it no mind, focusing all his attention on the monster.
"Her guardian?" The monster laughed, "Then let me ask the girl one thing."
"Sure." Gourry said, never taking his eyes off the monster and ready to attack at the slightest motion from the monster. Gourry recalled what the book had said about monsters, and how to kill them using his Sword of Light.
"You know where the Philosopher's Stone is, don't you?" The monster said it in a slimy way, something that you didn't want to answer because you knew it was a trap.
"Philosopher's Stone?" Gourry parroted, he was completely unfamiliar with that, whatever it was, as he spoke he reached in his armor and pulled out two objects and tossed them on the ground. "What's that? I thought that you guys were after the statue or knife here… Right?"
"Don't show it to him!" Lina yelled as she hit him in the back of the head, "The stone's hidden in there!"
Gourry growled, there went his plan to cut off the thing's tentacle and use the Sword of Light to finish it off while it was reforming its physical body. "And how was I supposed to know that?"
"So, there it is." The monster chuckled, "Then you two are of no use to me… and you shall die!"
"Don't be silly!" Gourry said in a confident tone he didn't feel, though if he could hold off the old-man monster for just long enough… "We can't have people dying when it's not their turn, right?"
Gourry raised his sword ready to strike, but before he could Lina was pulling on his hair telling him to wait. "Huh, what is it Lina? Can't you see I'm in the middle of a fight?"
"Gourry, just listen, ok?" Lina said as she released his hair, "RUN FOR IT!" and grabbed his wrist and pulled him along at a rate that surprised Gourry.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Gourry demanded as he was being pulled along by the smaller girl.
"Shut up and run, idiot! RUN!" Was Lina's reply.
The monster smiled and stood still, "By all means, run… it just makes it that much more fun."
Minutes later Gourry and Lina sat panting in a stable. It was definitely not a smell you enjoyed, a stable abandoned for ten years, with the dead horses in the stalls and manure… on second thought, maybe this was used by bandits or something, some of the hay and manure looked fairly fresh.
"Oh God, the smell…" Gourry sure didn't like it… it made him want to empty his stomach, even though his stomach was already empty. "Why did you drag us here?"
"Well, you were going to fight him, right?" Lina asked.
"Yeah, so…" Gourry admitted, wondering what her point was.
"Listen, that guy's a monster, a purebred monster." Lina explained. "You can't even scratch him with that sword… Understand?"
"Really?" Gourry eyed his sword, it was a good blade, and the book had said that they needed some time to reform their bodies after a wound. True, he didn't know how much damage the 'wound' was, and he didn't know how much time they needed. Maybe the book was vague on purpose and it had something to do with that 'purebred' stuff Lina mentioned.
"Don't just say 'Really?', Gourry!" Lina growled, "A pure monster like that has a spirit-body, like… a high density ghost or something. You just can't beat someone like that with ordinary magic or melee weapons."
Lina sighed, that had probably gone over his head, "All that means is you can't touch him with your sword, got that?"
Gourry nodded, he got what she was saying, or tying to say. "But why would they send someone like that to get the statuette or knife?"
"It's the statue." Lina said, looking down at it, she had picked it up before pulling Gourry off that massacre-waiting-to-happen of a fight.
"For crying out loud! It's because the Philosopher's Stone is hidden inside it and they want to be sure that they get it!" Lina yelled loud enough to interrupt a calvary charge. "And before you ask the Philosopher's Stone is a fragment of the Staff of the Gods that holds the world up and it works like a super amplifier for magic! Anyone who could use magic could use it to take over the world or something!"
"Okay, Lina, okay!" Gourry said backing away from her, "I think I understand one thing."
"Whatisthat?" Lina asked through grated teeth.
"That yelling like that is only going to reveal our hiding place." Gourry pointed out.
"Oh. Right." Lina looked at her feet sheepishly.
"Boo!" The monster said as it ducked in from the front.
"Gah!" Was Lina's reply as she ran out the back, followed closely by Gourry.
"You know, you might be good at skipping rope… but you're lousy at hide-and-seek." The monster said as it followed them into the open area behind the stable, "I am glad for one thing, and that is that the first thing Master Rezo will see when he gains his sight will be your corpses."
And with that the monster sent two fireballs flying at them, and as Gourry dodged he yelled for Lina to distract the monster for a minute.
"Distract him?" Lina said after bounding up to a rooftop and away from where the monster could easily throw a fireball.
"YES!" Gourry excitedly yelled as he dodged another fireball, this one scorching his left sleeve.
"You don't listen to anybody, do you?" Lina muttered as she prepared to distract the damn monster. She let loose one of her attack spells, "FLARE ARROW!"
Reaching in a pouch Gourry pilled out his pin and quickly undid the latch that kept the blade attached to the hilt while the monster absorbed Lina's attacks.
"Heh. The girl can cast spells with no small skill it seems, but I think I'm through playing around." The monster said, glares forming in its five eyes and a dark mist blurred its form until it was no longer human in shape, but something like a spider monster.
"Forgive the delay." The monster said, then proceeded to launch snake-like fires from its palms.
Again Gourry and Lina dodged, both in opposite directions, and both found dome sort of cover for the moment.
"Lina, I'm going in!" Gourry said, whatever Lina was talking about back there, he bet that the Sword of Light wasn't going to 'not leave a scratch'.
"What? Don't you understand, that won't work!"
"Shut up and watch!" Gourry said rolling out from behind his rock and standing up. "Hey monster, before things get out of hand I have something to show you."
"What?" The monster asked, not weary in the slightest, after all it was a single swordsman…
"Look at this!" Gourry held up his pin for the monster to see.
"You don't think I can be defeated by a needle, do you?" the monster said indignantly, then wondered what was going on inside this one's head. "Feel free to explain yourself."
"Oh, well, I surely couldn't beat you with a needle… and this isn't a needle." Gourry replied.
"So, there is some reasoning in you after all… what are you going to do?"
"Well, this…"Gourry brought his pin down to the blade, where it met the hilt, and popped the blade loose, having already unlatched it. Then he held the bladeless hilt up for the monster to examine, "See?"
"Do you understand yet?" Gourry asked the monster with a big smile.
"Do you know what you're doing?" Lina shrieked from behind her pile of crates.
"Boy…" The monster growled in annoyance, partly because it didn't understand, and partly because there wasn't much fear coming from this one… "I don't understand a single thing you've said or done… all I see is a fool who's about to burn."
Gourry leapt into action swinging the hilt yelling "Light, come forth!"
Lina both Lina and the monster were shocked to see a blade of light spring from the hilt of the sword, and with no weight on the sword Gourry's speed was at least three times what it was before. The monster didn't have enough time to launch its fireballs before the glowing blade cut him in two.
There was a bright flare of light as the spirit that was generating the physical body was torn to shreds by the mystical weapon
Gourry heaved a sigh of relief, he hadn't been sure the monster would let him get in striking range. But he knew that the weapon, would do the job… or at least he had a good idea that it would from the book. He would definitely have to reread its sections on the Sword of Light and monsters again tonight.
"The Sword of Light… legendary sword that killed the great beast Zanaffar with one stroke…" Lina was saying to herself, still in shock it seemed… she shook her head and ran over to Gourry.
"Gourry!"Lina said with the most disgustingly cute smile that she could manage.
"Lina." Gourry said, turning around and looking at her after taking care of his sword.
"Gourry…" Lina said again, followed by an excited yell of, "Give me that sword!"
"What? How about saying 'thank you' or something?" Gourry asked.
"I can thank you later! Just give me the sword now!" Lina said, making a dive for the sword that Gourry dodged, "C'mon, don't hold out! I'll give you five-hundred silver pieces for it!"
"Five hundred?" Gourry questioned, obviously from Lina's reaction the sword was valuable, "That's only enough for a regular sword… what kind of idiot would sell the Sword of Light for that little?" Gourry asked, reversing the tables on Lina and, grinning to himself.
Lina's jaw dropped… apparently she thought he was that kind of an idiot.
"First of all," Gourry said folding his arms, "it's a family treasure, so I won't sell it for any price."
"So, so, so… give it to me and it'll be my family treasure, right?" Lina asked, pleading with her rescuer to hand over his prized heirloom. "Give me the sword, come on! Gourry! Please? Pretty please?"
"Lina…" Gourry said dryly, "What about 'no' do you not understand?"
Just then, when it looked like it could have been a peaceful evening, minus Lina's nagging, a familiar voice called out, "Well, it seems you made it through okay."
Gourry looked up to see Zelgadiss standing at the edge of a ruined house with his sorcerer, Zolf, and the old man, Rodimus, at his side.
"Zelgadiss!" Instantly Gourry's hand went to his hilt.
"Gourry, wait!" Lina cried jumping in front of him, "Zelgadiss is on our side now."
"He is?" Gourry asked in disbelief.
"I'll explain it later!" Lina said in her usual manner, hopefully she would stay that way and forget about nagging for his sword. "Just give me the sword, ok?"
Gourry sighed, so much for the hope of Lina forgetting about it… The thought crossed Gourry's mind, briefly, that he should sleep with his sword in his sleeping roll… definitely.
Author's Notes:
Yay, the Sword of Light! But will Lina quit nagging him about it? What of this strange and sudden alliance with Zelgadiss and his men? What about the Philosopher's Stone? There's so much gong on that Gourry doesn't know… I guess he'll just have to wait until the next chapter!