Ruins Raiders: Book Two

Chapter Six, Hello Again

By Relm

Usually when Lina worked on assignment her attention was completely undivided. She was after all a very dedicated person and always gave projects her all. It was one of the reasons why Lina was one of the best. But on this particular case Lina found herself looking off into the horizon every so often as she worked.

Unless the jeep had completely broken down on him then Zelgadis or whomever was driving the jeep would eventually end up coming to where Lina was looking. It was silly for her to keep scanning the desert expecting to see the jeep. No doubt she would have heard it first before spotting it anyway but still she looked.

Though Lina really did expect that it was Zelgadis that was driving that jeep there was still the possibility that it could be someone else driving. And even though she was in the middle of the dessert this country wasn't the most friendliest to travellers especially to female travelers. The person in the jeep could be following Lina with intentions of either hurting her or stealing whatever she has. That in itself didn't seem that plausible as it was a long way to tail someone for just one victim. If Lina were part of a bigger group she might have been worried that the person or persons in the jeep were intending to hurt her. As it was sure was sure that whomever was in the jeep was after the same thing she was, the lost city of Velnqxbos.

Even though Lina wasn't in any immediate danger she knew that there was still always potential for it travelling abroad. This is why Lina trained so hard. She was proficient in hand to hand combat situations and in using a variety of weapons. Often though Lina couldn't bring said weapons with her on the plane with her when she travelled so she had to either improvise or buy whatever she could to arm herself when she landed.

Despite getting weapons usually when faced with a dangerous situation Lina tended to just grab whatever was handy. In most cases it was her excavation tools. They were always a hassle to get on and off a plane (many permits and questions required) but they were worth the headache. Lina had never killed anyone with her tools yet but she had used them to knock people out.

Lina had confidence using her tools when it came to fighting someone who was also armed with a bladed or blunt weapon. Guns on the other hand were another story. As the saying goes never bring a knife to a gun fight well Lina wasn't about to actively fight someone with one of her tools or a knife if they had a gun on her. It was always best to just do whatever the gunned person initially wanted. This was one of the reasons why Lina tried to keep up on her physical training. For these type of situations Lina would give in to the gunman's demands and wait for her chance. And when the time was right she would get the gun out of her captors' hands or run away depending on the situation. It didn't seem like a very smart thing to do as Lina could easily mess up and get herself killed but Lina was a daredevil after all. And after going toe-to-toe with a revived homicidal god months ago Lina was feeling pretty invincible.

Mind you no matter how 'powerful' Lina felt she wasn't a stupid one. There were always risks and it was always best to be prepared. So attached to her belt resting on her left hip was a nice big sharp combat knife she had bought when she got the rest of her supplies. Lina would have preferred it to be a gun but guns were always hard to get a hold off even in the less law restrictive countries. Looking for one often had you ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time. And even if one were to chance it the guns you ended up with were problematic. They could end up being old and/or broken leading you to having it lock up when you really needed it.

Sometimes Lina would get herself a crossbow to use as a means to defend herself but it was always a hassle to arm quickly. More often than naught Lina would just get a whole whack load of small throwing knives.

Petunia grunted out of boredom. He wasn't impressed by Lina's digging and dusting off rocks. To him there wasn't anything interesting to look at out here.

"Keep grunting all you want Petunia, it's not going to make me go faster." Lina warned her humped traveling companion with a laugh. 'He's almost as bad as Gourry. And here I thought I'd have the chance to work without someone moaning about how bored they were.' She thought to herself as she continued digging.

...

Zelgadis kept eying his engine temperature gauge as he drove. He was getting very tired of his jeep continuously crapping out on him. Though there wasn't much he could do. There was the quick fix of turning on the heater to draw out some of the heat from the engine but it wasn't like Zelgadis could stand driving with it on all the time.

A quick look at his compass told Zelgadis that he was still heading in the direction he wanted to be going. He had no idea how long it would be until he finally caught up to the mysterious person riding the camel. He was going at a pretty constant speed now so he figured that maybe he would catch up in an hour or so.

'No. No.' Zelgadis shook his head. 'Focus on the job at hand and not the person riding the camel who most likely isn't Lina!' He scolded himself. 'Now pay attention because the lost city could be anywhere coming up. You need to be able to spot any potential spot.'

This wasn't the first time Zelgadis mentally berated himself. Nor was it the first time he had done so when the subject at hand involved Professor Lina Inverse. That woman did have a way of getting under his skin both irritatingly and delightfully so.

Instead of the usual dunes of sand there were new things to look at outside Zelgadis' jeep. The terrain had sections of medium to large rocks. This in itself wasn't really enough to grab Zelgadis' attention but it did make him slow down as he looked around more closely.

Up ahead on his course was a big pile up of jagged rocks that looked very promising to Zelgadis. Geographically the area did make sense to where the lost city could be and the rock formations would make it harder to spot anything from an aerial view. It wasn't until Zelgadis was pulling over that he saw the bored looking camel staring at him.

"A camel?" Zelgadis said to himself as he got out of the jeep.

"Well, I wondered and I was correct." A rather smug voice sounded confusing Zelgadis more.

Zelgadis looked to the source of the voice and was shocked. She stood wearing a green robe and a head scarf to match. Most of her face was covered by the scarf leaving only her eyes and few stray locks of her hair to be seen. Despite being so covered up this sight was very exotically alluring. And even though he couldn't see her face too well he knew exactly who was standing before him. "Lina?" His voice almost cracked in betrayal as he spoke her name.

There was an impish smile tugging on Lina's lips as she moved the part of scarf covering her face away. He was dressed in clothing similar to hers but his was in shades of gray. It suited him of course like as if he was always meant to be wearing those colours. "Hi Zel. I was wondering when you'd show up."

"So it was you riding the camel ahead of me." Zelgadis mused.

"And it was you riding that jeep that kept crapping out. Seriously Zel? Why would you get a jeep for?"

"It's faster than a camel." Zelgadis countered.

"Camel's can last longer."

"Jeeps don't need food and water."

"Gas and other fluids can count for that." Lina ribbed him. "So that means I win."

Zelgadis let out a dark chuckle. "Have you found anything yet?"

"Whether I have or haven't is my business not yours. Now toddle off and let me get back to my work." Lina waved her hands at him in a shushing fashion knowing damned well that Zelgadis wasn't about to go away.

"Why should I leave for? I just got here."

"Because I got her first so this area is mine." Lina stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh? So you don't want to share?"

Lina rolled her eyes. "No I do not want to share. You think Headmaster Gaberieve would be happy if I came back to Greater Rixx with the knowledge that our school was going to have to share credit with yours? He'd kill me."

"Yeah Headmaster Sailune wouldn't be too happy either." Zelgadis agreed.

"At least your Headmaster is agreeable. If you pointed the positives of our two schools working together at least he'd be able to see it."

"That is true... still I don't really feel right about leaving you here all alone..." Zelgadis stated in mock concern.

"Yeah right. You just don't want to leave because you know that this is where the lost city is. And if you did leave you'd miss it all together." Lina taunted him.

"How can you be sure this is the area? That would imply that you've already found something that suggests this is the place but I'm sure you haven't. I think you're just guessing."

"Think what you want. In the end it's going to be me that's going to find the lost city of Velnqxbos!" Lina declared.

"Well just so you know I'm not the only person in the area that is looking for the lost city." Zelgadis warned her.

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"I know you've seen my jeep break down quite a few times. And thank you so much for stopping to see if I was okay." Zelgadis stated sarcastically.

"You're welcome." Lina grinned like a naughty cat.

"Yeah yeah. Anyway one of those times that the jeep stopped on me I happen to catch sight of two people riding camels going the same direction that you and I were going."

Lina frowned. Right away she went through all the possible people that could be smart enough to figure out the translation error though she wasn't coming up with much. "Are you sure? Maybe the heat was just making you see things." She suggested.

"What a mirage? Please. No I know what I saw. It was two people. At first I thought it was you actually." Zelgadis admitted.

"Excuse me? You actually thought that you were ahead of me on something?! Yeah right! Like as if that would happen." Lina snorted.

"The only reason I thought it could have you was because there was two of them. And usually you're traveling around with your assistant Gourry. Which reminds me where is your assistant? Shouldn't he be with you?"

"Yeah... he broke his leg so I'm flying solo this time around."

"How did he break his leg? Was it on a relic hunt?"

"Nope. He broke it ice skating with his girlfriend."

Zelgadis frowned in confusion. "Girlfriend? Did he finally ask Sylphiel out?"

"No. She asked him and they've been together ever since."

"Hmm... good for them. Still doesn't help the mystery of who is trailing up behind us though. You know Lina even though you're a strong and resourceful woman there is a chance that those two people or anyone else around could be dangerous. It would be better if you weren't out here all alone." Zelgadis suggested.

Lina went back to rolling her eyes. "Oh shut up. You know damned well I'm fine on my own. Those two people are obviously other researchers and not dangerous people."

"Okay if that's the case then who the heck are they?" He dared her.

"I don't know! There are tones of universities all around the world looking for the lost city right now. It could be anyone." Lina exclaimed.

"So you don't know either then." Zelgadis chuckled.

"Doesn't matter. I know how to handle myself."

"Even still I'm not going to leave you here all by yourself." Zelgadis declared.

"I'm not going to share credit with you." She warned him.

"Doesn't matter. I'd hate myself forever if I left you alone and something happened to you." Zelgadis admitted.

Lina knew the second Zelgadis finished that sentence that she was blushing. They hadn't left things on a bad note the last time they had seen each other but things were unfinished. Zelgadis was supposed to take her out of a date and hadn't yet. Both of them had been far too busy. But that didn't mean that Lina didn't think about him constantly. "Well don't get all macho on my account. I'm not made of glass you know." She lowered her head avoiding Zelgadis' face.

"I know. You're the strongest person I know." Zelgadis brought hand to her face and gently tilted it so he was looking straight into her ruby red eyes. "And the most beautiful..."

Lina's heart was beating wildly and her breath was caught in her throat as Zelgadis leaned his face forward till it was only inches from hers. She could feel his warm breath dance across her face as his lips got ever so close to hers...

"OHOHOHOHOHO! What do we have here?!" A very loud annoying voice boomed forever ruining this magical moment.