Chapter 6

"I'll Save You!"

While Zelgadis was dealing with his predicament, Amelia was sight seeing. The town was not nearly as big as Seyrune, but it seemed to be a pleasant place. She spent most of her time peeking into windows of the stores and wandering around.

Just as Amelia was admiring a pair of shoes in a window, Rocky suddenly appeared, gallopping toward her.

"Rocky?"

The horse slowed down once he was close to her but anxiously hoofed the ground. Amelia grabbed onto his reins.

"Rocky calm down!" She storked his neck to calm him down. "What are you..." She paused as a thought came to her. "Where's Mr. Zelgadis? Is he in trouble?"

Rocky seemed to nod and gestured to a direction that led outside the town. Needing no further explanation, Amelia climbed onto his back. "Take me to him!"

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"I keep telling you, I didn't kidnap Amelia Seyrune!" Zelgadis yelled loud enough that his lungs hurt. The cry echoed endlessly down the mine.

"That's not what we heard!" Lina screamed back at him.

The hermit snarled. This was insane! One second he was strolling down the street, minding his own business. Before he knew it, he had been tackled, knocked out and woke up tied to a support beam in a mine with a crazy loud girl claiming HE kidnaped Amelia!

Gourry yawned. "Lina, how long is this going to take?"

"It depends on when our 'friend' here decides to confess."

"I have nothing to confess!" Zelgadis' roar was so loud, the support beam shook.

Lina locked her gaze onto him. "Look, pal! Either you tell us where Amelia is, or I'm going to get violent!"

Gourry leaned towards Zelgadis's ear. "Take my word for it, you don't want to get her mad. She's worse then a mad bull."

"I heard that Gourry!"

"(sigh) except with better hearing"

Zelgadis refused to let go of his icy expression. "I'm not telling you anything, because I didn't kidnap her."

"Then why not tell us where she is?" Gourry asked.

"Why! I don't trust you two!"

Lina placed a hand on her hip. "Meaning?"

"For all I know, you were the ones who arranged for Amelia to be kidnapped in the first place."

Lina stumbled backward. What did that creep just say!

"Lina you didn't tell me we were murderers!" Gourry cried.

"We're not Jelly-fish brain!" Lina grabbed Zelgadis by his shirt collar. "Alright smarty, I've had enough of this! In fact, I think that you're just saying that to make yourself look innocent!"

Zelgadis eyes narrowed. "Well perhaps I know that you know, that I know!"

"Well! I know that you know that I know, that you know!"

"And I know, that you know that I know that you know that I know!"

From the sidelines, Gourry's eyes were spinning. "I'm getting dizzy."

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"Is Mr. Zelgadis in there Rocky?"

The horse nodded as Amelia pointed to the old mine shaft. She sighed. What was he doing down there? It looked so dark and spooky and obviously dangerous. But she had no choice! She told Rocky to stay as she ventured inside.

Amelia kept her hand on the dirt wall and made sure to be extra quiet. She could only imagine who she might meet in the dark. Then she heard voices. Truthfully, it was more like yelling. There was a light coming around the corner, and shadows of figures danced on the far wall.

Amelia tiptoed into the room and ducked behind a mine cart. She saw that Zelgadis was tied up. A girl, who seemed not much older than herself, was yelling at him with a whip in hand. There was also a tall man with the longest hair Amelia had ever seen.

Suddenly, the girl slapped her forehead. "This is getting us nowhere!"

"I agree." Zelgadis replied.

"Then tell us what we want to know and we'll let you go." said the tall man.

Zelgadis glared. "How many times do I have to say 'No!'? Or perhaps you can't understand basic English!"

The girl growled. Amelia bit her lip. "I have to rescue Mr. Zelgadis." She thought. However, she knew it was impossible to take on both the girl and the man by herself. There were two choices; either wait until they fell asleep, or distract them somehow while she untied Zelgadis. Plan A was out since it would be hours before nightfall, which meant she would have to chose the other plan. What could she use?

Amelia stared at the mine cart. "That could work, but I'm going to have to act fast." Getting to her feet, Amelia tightly gripped the cart. She quietly pulled it back and then gave a hard push.

The cart flew down the track.

The girl and man spun around.

The cart raced forward.

BANG!

The girl jumped off the track, but the man found himself slammed against a beam as the cart crashed into him.

Zelgadis blinked and appeared stunned as Amelia raced to him and began to untie the rope. "What are you..."

"I'm getting you out of here!"

"Not on my watch!" the girl cried as she pounced onto Amelia. Both of them tumbled and rolled in the dirt. It soon became an all girl's wrestling match.

Amelia tossed the girl onto her back. "In the name of justice let Mr. Zelgadis go!"

The girl threw Amelia off and pulled her into a headlock. "He's not going anywhere!"

Amelia bit the girl's hand. The girl yelped, which gave Amelia a chance to escape the headlock. "You can't beat justice!"

The girl replied by kicking Amelia off her feet. She loomed over her in triumph. "Give up!"

Amelia threw a fist in the air. "No! Amelia Seyrune never gives up!"

The girl's smile vanished. She nearly choked. ""You're...Amelia?"

Surprised by the change in moods, Amelia paused. "...Yes?"

The girl nervously laughed. "Well...this is a little embarrassing..."

"And confusing." Both girls turned to the man who was now shaking his head along with Zelgadis.

"Gourry, weren't you unconscious?" The girl asked.

"Only for about a minute Lina."

"Then why didn't you help me out?"

Gourry stared at them in a serious manner. "Because only an idiot would get involved in a fight between girls. At least, that's what my dad always told me."

Lina grumbled something unpleasant under her breath.

Amelia blinked confused. "Um...I really don't understand..."

"Join the club!" Zelgadis yelled.

Lina sheepishly twiddled her thumbs. "We're...here to rescue you..."

Gourry took a seat. This was going to take awhile.

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"So Alfred sent you to rescue me?" Amelia asked, as she untied Zelgadis.

Lina nodded. "And we heroically tracked you down and were ready to fight the men that held you prisoner!"

"And tying me up is considered heroic?" Zelgadis questioned with his eyes twitching.

"I said I was sorry!" Lina snapped. "It was an honest mistake!"

Gourry yawned. It hadn't taken as long as he thought it would to explain things to Amelia. However, Lina wasn't too thrilled when she realized they had grabbed the wrong guy. At least now they...

CRACK!

The gunman frowned. There was that stupid sound again! He'd been hearing it over and over again since they'd entered the mine.

CRACK!

Suddenly, bits of dirt and wood shavings fell on top of this hat. Gourry glanced up. A support was dangerously close to splitting into two at any given moment. Worse yet, the other beams didn't look so great either.

Gourry gulped. He wasn't an expert on mine shafts, but even he could tell this wasn't a safe place to be. "Uh...Lina..."

No one heard him over the shouting.

"If you had the common sense to at least double check your information, I wouldn't have been tied up in the first place!"

"Hey Buddy, don't act all high and mighty! You look WAY more like an outlaw than an innocent bystander!"

"Oh! And I suppose you don't look like you're going to shoot someone! What kind of a girl carries a whip anyway!"

"You got a problem with my whip!"

"LINA!" All eyes turned to Gourry.

"Lina, what would happen if a mine shaft's support beam broke?"

"The mine shaft would probably collapse. Why are you asking?"

CRACK!

Dirt dropped from the ceiling and covered Gourry from head to toe.

The gunman wiped his face with his glove and pointed upward. "Does that answer your question!"

The ceiling moaned. The beam was just begging to let go.

"RUN!" Lina cried.

The group instantly began their escape. Dust filled the air as more beams began to crack. Zelgadis was finding it hard to breathe. He wheezed and was falling behind.

"Stupid lungs!" he cursed. Dammit! He could barely breathe.

Amelia noticed this and pulled him forward. "Keep going! We're almost out!"

Zelgadis coughed, but let Amelia pull him. Then sunlight came.

The cracking grew louder.

"It's going down!" Gourry cired.

Everyone raced out and took a leap as they got outside and plummeted to the dirt.

Rocky gave a surprised snort.

A loud crash came from behind them like the world had just broken in half. They all turned and saw that the whole mine had collapsed. Dust floated in the air around them.

Lina spit out the dirt from her mouth. "It's official. I now hate mines!"

Gourry groaned. "Let's never do that again."

"Agreed." Lina grumbled.

Amelia shook the dirt from her hair and stared at Zelgadis. The hermit was still coughing and looked a bit pale. "Mr. Zelgadis, are you all right?"

"I'm...(cough)...fine..(cough)...I just need a moment..."

Lina stood up. "And once you're okay, Amelia, Gourry and I are off."

Amelia blinked. "We are?"

"Yeah, I want to get the rest of my money as soon as possible."

"Oh..." Amelia couldn't deny that she was disappointed. She should be happy to go home, but it meant leaving Zelgadis. It was so sudden. They were just beginning to get to know one another.

Zelgadis finally felt clear air in his lungs again. "Then I'm going, too."

All three heads turned. "Huh? You're coming too?" Gourry asked.

Zelgadis firmly nodded. "Amelia may trust you, but I still don't."

"Oh come on! I said I was sorry already!" Lina yelled.

"Even so, I'm going. I won't feel comfortable unless I escort Amelia all the way home."

Amelia beamed. She and Zelgadis didn't have to say goodbye yet, but why did that make her so happy?

Lina sighed. "Fine, but I'm not sharing the reward!"

Zelgadis gave a nod. Rocky snorted. Just what he needed. More crazy humans!


Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update! I've been busy with school assignments. I'm hoping once summer starts I'll be able to update more often.