Chapter 12: Capture!

It was a dark and stormy night. In the clearing it was so dark and the rain was coming down so hard, you couldn't see anything except a few vague outlines. Then there was a clap of thunder, and a large spooky looking mansion was illuminated for a brief moment. There was another flash of lightning, and for a short moment one could see two small figures emerging- Whoops, wrong Slayers fic. Let me start over. Ahem.

It was dark (but not stormy). The skies were clear, and the moon was out. Four animals- two cats, a wolf, and a dog- sat crouched in the under brush at the edge of the forest, surveying the cluster of buildings a little ways in front of them. The buildings were lit from behind by an orangey light, indicating a bonfire of some kind behind them

"Are you sure Lina?" Gourry whispered.

She nodded. "Positive. There're no other bandit camps for several miles. This has to be where Morris and his cronies keep their base of operations."

Amelia glanced at her. "So what do we do now?"

Lina looked thoughtful. "Well, we need to find a counterspell or something to reverse whatever it is that sorcerer did to us."

"And our best bet of finding one is in that evil sorcerer guy's hideout, right?" Gourry finished. Lina nodded.

"Getting past the guards shouldn't be too hard. None of them saw us after we transformed, so they won't be able to recognize us."

"Right then," Zelgadis said, "I think we should split up once we're inside. We'll be able to search faster that way."

"Good idea Zel," Lina nodded. "Me and Gourry cover those buildings on the left, while you and Amelia search the ones on the right. We'll meet back here when we're done. Any questions?" They all shook their heads. "Right then, let's go."

Amelia and Zelgadis crept up behind one of the buildings at the edge of the cluster. On the back wall was a small, low-down window. Zelgadis reared up onto his hind legs, putting his forepaws on the window sill so he could look in.

"Do you see anything?" Amelia whispered, watching him intently.

"There are a few beds," he answered quietly, "And a table. This looks like living quarters to me."

Amelia glanced around. Most of the nearby buildings looked about the same as this one. "I'd guess that's most of these buildings are." Somewhere behind them a twig snapped. Both whirled around, coming face-to-face with-

"Morris," Amelia hissed. Zelgadis growled softly. Right in front of them stood the bandit sorcerer himself. Dressed in a flowery pink nightgown. If the situation hadn't been so serious, they would have found that funny.

The tall sorcerer stared back at them, blinking sleep from his eyes, plainly confused. Then an expression of sudden understanding dawned on his face.

"Of course," he breathed. "Inverse's companions." He muttered something under his breath.

Zelgadis was suddenly filled with an intense feeling of foreboding. "Amelia run!" Without waiting to see what the sorcerer would do next, he took off as fast as he could. Still running, he glanced back to make sure Amelia was following him. To his dismay, he saw she was falling behind, being half as big as him and not able to keep up.

Skidding to a halt, Zelgadis turned to go back and help her, when- "Sleeping!" the ball of light hit her squarely in the back of the head. She fell to the ground unmoving. Although fearful, Zelgadis didn't stop. Quickly but gently, he picked up her limp form by the scruff of the neck using his mouth, before turning once again to flee. Carrying her as he ran was the last thing he remembered before another sleep spell claimed his consciousness.

A/N: -Hangs head in shame- My cliffhangar addiction continues... If you're wondering what the deal was with the opening of this chapter, go back and look at the beginning of one of my other Slayers fics. If you just want to know what the heck I was thinking when I did that, well... -nervous laugh- I'm honestly not sure myself.

-Does cheesey annoucer voice- What will happen to Amelia and Zelgadis? How did Morris know it was them? Where are Lina and Gourry? And has the authoress finally gone crazy?! FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON SLAYERS JOURNEYS!

(Except for the last question- the answer's no. I went crazy a veeeeeeeery long time ago)