Ruins Raiders: Book Two
Chapter Three, Stars, Fire and Tents
By Relm
The desert was a strange place at night. During the day it was hot and unforgiving but at night it was a whole different world. Gone away was the hot blistering sun to be replaced by the dark coldness of night. It was such a stark contrast that it would make anyone shiver.
Lina was aware of what she was going into so she knew what she'd need to do to camp out in the desert. As soon as it started to get dark Lina stopped to set up camp. She pulled out her pop up tent from her luggage and started up a fire.
The darkening sky turned pitch black but lit up with billions of stars. It was the kind of sight you could never see in a busy city. With no artificial lights to obstruct the stars light they were free to twinkle to their brightest bright. It was beautiful and awe inspiring. If Lina were a spiritual person she might have laid back and stared into the diamond crusted heavens and pondered life and all its mysteries.
But this wasn't the first time Lina had camped out in a remote place nor was she a particularly spiritual person. So the beauty was completely lost on Lina. Stars, you've seen them once you've seen them all that was Lina's attitude.
However one thing that never got old for Lina was fire. There was nothing that relaxed Lina more when camping out than staring into a roaring fire. The way the flames danced and licked the wood as it burned. Lina could spend hours staring into a campfire without even realizing how time had passed.
Even as interesting as the fire was it didn't completely capture Lina's attention this time. Lina was used to making several trips abroad a year searching for relics. And even when she was looking for relics she would often be studying the relics she had previously brought home. Since the whole business with the three eyes of Trinibee Lina had been doing neither. She got to work on teaching paperwork but nothing relicwise.
Being on this current adventure made Lina think about the days when she was first starting out except without all the nervous excitement. Lina had gotten used to having someone there with her as she traveled. She recalled the many times she just wanted to get lost staring into the dancing flames only to have annoyingly stupid questions thrown at her by Gourry.
Sitting in the sand staring at the fire Lina only had Petunia as her company and a camel wasn't a good conversationalist. It was funny because at the start of this journey Lina had been thinking how it would be good not to have Gourry along to mess things up.
Scratch that she wasn't missing Gourry; she was just missing having company. Any person would do. Like perhaps a man with short bluish lavender hair and steel blue eyes?
That thought cause a naughty little smirk to creep up Lina's face. She had to wonder what the East Rixx professor was up to. Was he still stuck in legal hell or had he finally been released from his sentence for good behavior? And if he was free was he searching for the same thing she was?
The odds didn't seem likely as it was too soon. But then again the same could be said about Lina. Headmaster Sailune was just as overzealous as Headmaster Gaberieve so Zelgadis could be on the hunt just like her.
That sly little smile on Lina's face broadened. She always did her best work when she had competition and Zelgadis was probably going to be her only worthwhile adversary.
Knowing what she knew about the translation Lina figured that most of those chasing the lost city would be heading in the wrong direction. If there was anyone who would realize the error and be going the right way it would be Zelgadis Greywars.
...
In another part of the desert not too far away a jeep was parked in the middle of the sand just behind a dune. This jeep wasn't parked because it had broken down (though it had already done that earlier in the day) but rather because the driver had decided to stop for the night. The driver had a tent amongst his belongings but hadn't bothered to set it up.
Zelgadis wasn't one to be adverse to sleeping in tents but since he had wasted all that money and time on the jeep he was going get some use out of it and sleep in it for the night. But that didn't mean that Zelgadis wasn't going to build a fire so the art of camping wasn't completely lost on him.
The fire crackled and hissed demanding the attention of all those near it though Zelgadis' mind was a thousand miles away. He was grateful to be back to going on adventures again but somehow things felt off. He was used to travelling alone. Sometimes he would have Xellos with him on these trips but those ones were never enjoyable. Xellos was extremely annoying when he wanted to be and it seemed that Xellos always want to be. So if there was a chance that Zelgadis could go alone on any of his relic hunts he jumped at the chance.
That was before all this business with the three eyes of Trinibee. Sure he did go and find the second eye on his own but after that it was a whirlwind of activity that had him thrown together with North Rixx's head history professor, Lina Inverse.
He had never spent that much time with anyone ever in his life and it had been a real eye opener. Zelgadis always pegged himself to be a loner that didn't really need anyone. Sure it could be lonely but Zelgadis had come to terms with that a long time ago. As much as he had tried with relationships in the past they had never really worked. He had just assumed that he'd never find anyone that would work.
As it turned out Zelgadis wasn't as much of a loner as he thought. Lina Inverse was the complete opposite of the kind of respectable woman he'd ever imagine himself with. She was brash, loud and in your face. She didn't take crap from anyone and she didn't care if she was rude doing it. Lina was also smart, beautiful, funny and spontaneous. She was delightful chaos wrapped in a pretty petite package.
Spending all the time with a woman like Lina should have made Zelgadis insane and want to kill himself but it was strange that he didn't. At first she was annoying but he found himself not only getting used to her annoying habits but actually starting to like them. He found her quirky little traits enduring even when she was purposely teasing him.
In such a short amount of time Zelgadis had gotten used to having company and now he was feeling very much alone. He found himself wondering what Lina was doing. Staring up at the night sky he wondered if she looking up too. That is until he thought about how cheesy that sounded and then he went back to staring at the fire.
'When did you get so pathetic?' Zelgadis mentally asked himself while shaking his head. The fire offered a nice distraction to completely void his mind of noisy thoughts. Just like looking at an aquarium a fire was relaxing to stare at as it made your mind clear. Naturally though if the person whom is occupying your mind happens to have hair that looks very much like fire this feat was harder to accomplish.
He didn't want to but the fire just made Zelgadis think about Lina's hair, eyes and face. It was annoying. Really annoying. Still he had to wonder what Lina was doing at that moment. Was she searching for the lost city too? Or was she stuck back at her university grading papers?
Given how competitive their two schools had to be Zelgadis assumed that if Headmaster Gaberieve wasn't sending Lina on this expedition then he would have sent someone else in her place. There was no way he was going to miss out on a potential discovery for his school. So it became a question of whom Headmaster Gaberieve would send.
If Zelgadis were to place a guess he'd assume that Headmaster Gaberieve would send his son Gourry and Lina's assistant Sylphiel. As Lina had already told Zelgadis, Sylphiel was a very smart and educated woman so she would make the best choice. But Zelgadis had to wonder if Sylphiel's researching and translating skills were as good as Lina's. Would Sylphiel see the error that was made in the initial translation?
'Probably not.' Zelgadis thought to himself. 'Meaning this one is all East Rixx this time. No glory for the north.'
That thought should have made Zelgadis smile but instead he just frowned. It wasn't like he lived for competition but he did like to have a little bit of a challenge. It took all the fun out of things of it if it was all too easy.
"Well here's hoping it's you Lina I'm running against." Zelgadis held his canteen up in the air to toast his fiery rival.
...
"I don't understand why we couldn't have gotten a car or motorcycle." Naga grumbled as she sat herself down in a protesting huff. "I don't like camels, they smell." She sneered at her camel whom actually appeared to sneer right back at her.
"Miss Naga I can assure you that in the middle of a desert a camel is more of a safer choice for long distance travel." Xellos tried to appease his charge for whom he was 'babysitting' during the duration of this adventure.
"I suppose. If we run out of food it's always good to have something with you that's living that you can kill and eat if needs be. OHOHOHOHOH!"
Xellos let out an evil chuckle of his own. "My Miss Naga, you can be quite wicked at times."
"Does that bother you?"
"No, not at all."
Naga gave him a dirty little smirk. "You know I could have easily been talking about eating you and not the camel you know."
"And wickeder still." Xellos laughed while shaking his head.
Though the pair had gotten off to a late start it didn't make much sense to travel all through the night just to potentially catch up to Zelgadis. So instead Xellos and Naga chose to stop and make camp. At present Xellos was putting up the tent while Naga was lounging around doing nothing. Usually that was Xellos' favourite past time when traveling with Zelgadis but he knew that he'd have to be proactive one this time.
Naga was as much of a princess as any princess living in a big fancy castle with hundreds of servants and a jewel encrusted tiara would be. The university was Naga's castle, the teaching staff and university workers bended to every whim and although she didn't have jewels Naga did have a big fat bank account that afforded her whatever she pleased. Naga was a spoiled girl used to having people do whatever she wanted for her.
"OHOHOHOH! I never thought a desert would be so cold. I'm positively freezing!" Naga shivered.
"I did warn you that your choice of wardrobe wasn't a good idea for traveling the desert. You should be wearing the clothing I bought you and not a low cut half top and short shorts." Xellos advised her.
Naga rolled her eyes. "Those clothes are boring and not worthy of being donned by the great Naga the Beautiful! Anything that covers up this stunning body is rags."
"Still it would help your current condition temporarily until I start making the fire." Xellos suggested.
"OHOHOHOH! I shall think not! You servant boy will make fire at once!" Naga commanded as though she was a regal queen.
"I still have to finish putting up the tent. Perhaps if you helped me with it I would finish faster?" Xellos wondered with a raised eyebrow.
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH! I shall think not! Finish the tent at once! Do not keep me waiting! OHOHOHOHOHOH!" Naga's laughs were loud and obnoxious which was exactly how she was acting. She liked acting like a powerful queen even though she was just the daughter of a university headmaster.
"Yes my queen." Xellos played along having just as much fun as Naga.
...
"What the hell is that annoying sound?" Val grumbled as he fought with the tent. "It sounds like... hell I don't know what the hell it sounds like but it's annoying!"
"I have no idea Val." Filia grumbled back as she tried to get a fire started. She and Val had bought all the supplies they needed for their trip but Filia was having as much fun trying to start a fire as Val was getting their tent up.
"You're supposed to be an expert that this sort of crap! What animal is that?!"
"I don't know! I'm not a wilderness expert Val! I study old ancient ruins, books and relics! Quit bothering me I'm trying to get this fire going.
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH!
"Damn there it is again! I hope I don't hear that thing all night." Val muttered as worked on the tent.