Chapter 14: BOOM BOOM
Night had fallen again. Lina was struck with a sense of déja-vu as she and Gourry crouched in the bushes, surveying the bandit camp once more. After several hours of fruitless searching, both had been forced to admit that Zelgadis and Amelia had probably been captured by the bandits.
As if the situation couldn't get any worse, Lina thought, disgruntled.
"Plan, Lina?" Gourry whispered.
"Same as last time. But no splitting up. I don't want to have to look for you if you get lost," she replied. Gourry knew what she meant.
As quietly as they could, the pair dashed towards the edge of the camp and slipped into the gap between buildings.
"Almost… got it…" With a grunt, a snap, and a cry, Amelia and Zelgadis tumbled backwards, the mangled remains of Amelia's collar in Zelgadis' mouth.
"Yes!" Amelia squealed with joy. She tucked her head in to give her neck a massaging lick. "Now let me do yours Mr. Zelgadis."
After testing the limits of their prison, they had discovered that if they pulled their leashes as tight as possible towards each other, Zelgadis could just barely get his jaws on Amelia's collar.
After a few minutes of chewing, they were both free. Amelia spat out the mangled piece of leather. "Let's get out of this horrible place Mr. Zelgadis."
"Agreed. But how?" There was no door of any kind that he could see on any of the walls, nor were there windows.
"Up there Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia gestured with her tail. "There's a trap door in the ceiling."
Zelgadis squinted in the direction she'd indicated. In the darkness, he couldn't see anything, but than again, her eyes were better designed for seeing in the dark. "I'll take your word for it. But now the question is, how do we reach it?"
Morris groaned and rubbed his temples. He was really getting to hate working with bandits. They had no knack or appreciation for complex plots! Not to mention about ninety per cent of them were complete buffoons.
"For the last time Bailard, you may not kill them. We need them to lure Inverse here."
The bandit boss gave him a death glare. "Bull. Inverse won't know they's dead 'til it's too late."
Morris sighed again. "Duclis, you explain it to him." He got up and left the room.
Duclis was an odd one. Morris had earned both the respect and loyalty of the young bandit leader by helping him out of a tight spot a few months earlier. Then, Morris had quickly discovered that he had a remarkable talent for speech-making, although he mostly made corny-villain speeches.
Regardless, Morris knew that, not counting the bandits' hatred of Lina Inverse, it had mostly been Duclis' good speaking skills that had persuaded so many brigands to join them.
An explosion shattered the quiet of the night. Loud oaths were made all over the camp. Swearing himself, Morris ran to investigate.
With a loud yowl, Amelia lost her balance and tumbled down in a heap on top of Zelgadis (she'd been stand on his head while trying to reach the trap door).
"What was that?" she screeched.
Zelgadis said something unintelligible.
"Could you repeat that Mr. Zelgadis?"
"I said you're standing on my face."
"Oh." If cats could blush, she would have.
"To answer your question, I have no idea," Zelgadis added.
Amelia frowned. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was Miss Lina, except she can't cast spells right now."
They both glanced at each other, wondering who else it could possibly be.
"What the-?!" Gourry instinctively ducked for cover while Lina jumped about a foot in the air as a building just a couple yards away exploded.
Bandits ran around the camp, some panicking, some looking startled, and others shouting words that would increase the rating of this story considerably if printed.
At least we know Zelgadis and Amelia weren't in there, Lina thought (They had already searched that building and found it empty). She didn't enjoy the prospect of having to explain to Prince Phil why there was nothing left of his daughter except a few singed cat hairs.
Boom! Another one rang through the camp, only this time it wasn't the sound of an explosion.
"Something big's coming," Gourry stated. "Something really big and heavy." BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Lina's mind raced through the possibilities of what would fit that description, when suddenly…
"OOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Lina's blood froze. It was the laugh she still had nightmares about. The laugh she had hoped never to hear again. Although, considering the circumstances…
"I don't know if I should laugh or cry," Lina muttered. A giant golem appeared in the bandit camp, and on the golem's shoulder was a tall, extremely well-endowed woman wearing a black leather bikini and cape. The woman threw back her head and laughed again. Everyone in the vicinity cringed.
"I never expected Amelia's sister would show up," Gourry commented, wincing as the woman continued laughing.
Lina fell over in shock. "Wh- wha- what the heck?!" she sputtered. "Amelia's sister?! How'd 'ya figure that?!"
"Well, Amelia said her sister is tall and scary," Gourry explained, cocking his head to one side. "This woman fits that description, and she kind of looks like Amelia too."
Lina didn't quite follow his logic, but decided not to pursue it. "We can ask Amelia when we find her. But if you're right, I'll treat you to dinner."
Gourry grinned. "I'm gonna hold you to that Lina."
Amelia froze as the familiar laughter rang through the clearing. "It's Gracia!" she cried, her eyes lighting up joyfully.
Zelgadis looked at her quizzically. "You mean your sister?"
Amelia nodded vigorously. "Uh huh. I'd recognized that laugh anywhere."
"And speaking of her laugh-" He didn't get a chance to finish. The ceiling suddenly crashed down on top of them, a large chunk of plaster missing them by inches.
"What the heck was that?" Zelgadis said, coughing. As the dust began to clear, he saw from the moonlight shining in that the collapse had formed a hole in the ceiling. Not only that, one of the collapsed support beams led from the ground the hole, providing them a convenient way out. Freedom at last!
A/N: And now Naga appears. Dundundun.
About Gourry figuring out that Naga is Gracia: It just made sense that way. Especially since he figured out that Xellos was a Mazoku long before anyone else.
Also, please go look back at chapter 13 because I've edited it to include a minor (but still fairly important) detail I forgot to put in originally. And no, I couldn't have just written it into this chapter, cuz it doesn't work well here. (There'll be a more detailed explanation in that chapter's author's note). The change is shortly after Xellos appears and Zelgadis says "Dammit Xellos." (so you don't have to go looking through the entire thing).
A bientot. R&R s'il vous plait!