They Sure Pop Back Up Quick...

They Sure Pop Back Up Quick…

I was being followed. That much I knew.

It wasn’t hard for me to figure it out—I’ve been known to be perceptive, in addition to being slick. I made sure to keep walking, and make-believe everything was hunky-dory, as I followed the path that led out of town. Ever since leaving the inn someone was on my tail, but I pretended not to notice so I could lull my stalker into a false sense of security.

The edge of the forest loomed ahead in the growing darkness. If I wanted, I could still turn around and head back to the inn.

Nah! I slipped my thumbs into my belt. That would be lame. Bring it on, whoever you are!

I quickened my pace down the path, out of town, and into the wild. The evening sky turned a dark violet; the hubbub from the taverns grew fainter behind me and small, lonely houses on the town’s edge served as an unenthusiastic goodbye.

But that sneaky little presence still followed. I wrinkled my nose, more than a little annoyed. Persistent little bastard, I thought. It’s either somebody out to kill me, or a creep who’s found true love.

Not that I would blame him for falling in love, mind you. I’m sexier than a buffet table after a thirty-day starvation diet.

By the time I began cutting through the forest, the only light that broke through the overhanging branches was that from the cloud-shrouded full moon. I camouflaged my presence as much as I could, trying to stay in the shadows. I still couldn’t fool whoever was following me, though—he only got closer. I clenched my fists and took a breath.

Better deal with this, Lina.

I whipped around just as the clouds parted. Silvery light spilled through the foliage overhang, lighting up the shadows behind me.

My jaw dropped. “Amelia?!” I blurted.

Amelia squealed from behind a tree. “Miss Lina!” she cried, jumping out from her hiding place. She gripped the area over her heart. “You surprised me!”

“I surprised you?” I stared at her incredulously. “Amelia, you were the one sneaking after me! I was ready to blast you into next week!”

Amelia gave me her best but-you’re-leaving-me-out frown. “I’m sorry, but I noticed you sneak out of the inn. You’re planning on some bandit extermination, aren’t you?” That made me stop. I hadn’t expected her to completely nail the bull’s eye.

“A-and?” I stuttered after a moment. “So what? Is there any other reason a girl would sneak out of her room in the middle of the night?”

If Zel or Gourry had found me out there, they would’ve said I was up to something kinky. They have absolutely no understanding of a pure lady’s heart.

I huffed angrily and crossed my arms. “Amelia,” I snapped, “you better not have come all the way out here to stop me.”

Amelia shook her head and emphatically clenched her fists. A clap of thunder suddenly resounded in the night sky. “No!” she cried. “I’m here to come with you!”

Uh-oh.

“You’re… what?” I croaked.

“Heinous conspirators band together into bandit groups with the sole aim of stealing to satisfy their own greed. Whatever their other motivations, I cannot allow such evil to pass through this world unpunished!” She raised one of her fists into the air. “We must kick their butts! At once!”

And with that, Amelia spun around and marched deeper into the forest with her head held high.

“W-wait a sec!” was all I managed to splutter. For a second, I wished I’d taken the option to head back to town—how was I supposed to get anything done with Little Miss Morality hanging on my heels?!

Amelia halted in her tracks and glanced back. “You’re not going to tell me not to come, are you?” she asked in almost a whimper.

She was going to make things very difficult, I could tell.

“It’s not that,” I said. Her puppy-dog eyes bore into me, and I shifted uncomfortably. It’s not that her puppy-dog eyes work on me, but they’re usually the prelude to a dozen loud speeches.

Dammit! I thought. Fine. She can tag along… as long as she agrees to one small detail. I pointed at her. “I want lots of magic out of you,” I warned. “And you’re not getting more than fifty percent of the loot, no matter how many bandits you fry.”

Amelia smiled brightly. I took that smile to mean, “Frying bandits is its own reward.”

* * *

After finding a bandit hideout, shooting off a bunch of attack spells, and leaving a pile of steaming brigands, I was ready for my share of the loot. I rubbed my hands and started sorting through the sacks.

“Hmm,” I murmured as I inspected the spoils. “It’s not as much as I expected.” I frowned in disappointment. How many bandits did a girl have to explode for a decent day’s wage?

I stuffed my knapsack with an armload of trinkets. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s so rural up here that these guys probably couldn’t find many innocents to steal from.”

Geographically speaking, we were well up in the north of the already-northern Duchy of Kalmatt. We were pretty far removed from the world’s larger cities and any well-traveled roads.

Of course, bandit groups may be rare out in the hinterlands, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my travels, it’s that the supply of evil is inexhaustible. I’ve exterminated a lot of bandits in my time, but it never seems to make a dent in the overall bandit population. They’re like weeds—filthy weeds with bad teeth.

I wasn’t worried about our low bandit-count that night; I knew we’d be busting plenty of brigand head another evening. I’m sure the concept didn’t even dawn on Amelia, since our work had put her in a particularly good mood.

“Don’t think about this work in terms of money, “ she admonished with a wag of her finger. “You did your part tonight to purge the woods of evil! Even if we’re uncertain about the future, we can be assured that we’ve taken a step forward in the name of justice!”

Yawn.

“Amelia,” I murmured, “do you realize how much we’ve spent on travel expenses lately?”

She opened her mouth to speak again, then stopped. She stared at me like I’d just sprouted horns. “What?” was her brilliant reply.

I sighed heavily. Figures, I thought. I often felt like the only one with brains in our outfit. I mean, I had Gourry, who never used his head for anything beyond eating and wondering where to next stick the pointy end of his sword; there was Amelia, whose mind was perpetually wrapped up in thoughts of justice and order and all that crap; and then there was Zelgadiss, who was too busy being a mysterious loner (whilst trying to wash the stink of evil off his hands) to get his head in the game. That left only me to address the question of how die hell we were gonna pay our way along our travels.

If we weren’t in such a hurry, and if we’d been traveling along busier highways or through big cities, it would have been a different story altogether: odd jobs as bodyguards or transporters are always good for a little extra cash. But as it stood, our expenses were piling higher and higher, so I had no choice but to slip out of the inn and go bandit hunting for the good of the team.

Of course, I always made sure to skim a little off the top for my troubles. I may have my group’s survival in mind, but I’m not beyond rewarding myself to keep motivated. And no, that doesn’t count as greedy!

Amelia suddenly touched my arm. “Miss Lina,” she whispered. “Wait.”

I glanced up from buckling my knapsack. “What, Amelia? Toilet break?”

Amelia clicked her tongue and looked at me like I’d just embarrassed her in front of all her friends. She shook her head. “Something’s here,” she hissed.

Something? I quickly scanned the area for presences. All I saw around me were the silhouettes of trees. Darkness enveloped everything outside the reach of the dimly glowing lighting spell above my head. Some crickets chirped.

“You’re kidding, right?” I asked her quietly. “There’s nothing here.”

“No,” she snapped. “There’s something here.” Her voice was firm, and even in the darkness I could tell her face had gone grim.

Maybe I couldn’t sense anything, but I’m not a priestess like Amelia. Priestesses have an uncanny intuition for sensing things most other people can’t, so Amelia’s abilities, theo­retically, could trump my own. And if she was right, whoever was in our proximity had to be incredibly smooth—someone sneaky enough to make himself barely detectable.

I turned my back to Amelia’s and slowly drew my short sword.

At that instant, the chirping of the crickets suddenly stopped. The forest fell dead silent just as the darkness went heavier.

And then I sensed it—a raging bloodlust surging toward us.

“It’s coming!” Amelia warned, bracing herself. From the darkness, in the direction Amelia faced, a lone shadow rushed out of the trees.

What the hell is that?!

I quickly chanted a spell, knowing I wouldn’t be able to get it off in time. The shadowy figure sprinted toward me. I lashed out with my sword, but my attacker was all over it—he easily snapped my blade in half with his hands.

“Crap!” I grunted as I leapt backward.

One of the shadow’s feet swung in my direction, aimed for the pit of my stomach. It was too fast and I was too late!

“Nngh!”

Luckily, the shadow was suddenly thrown backward. Amelia had managed to launch her own kick in the nick of time.

The shadow silently regained its balance as its evil little eyes focused squarely on me.

“Who are you?” Amelia demanded, keeping her battle pose. The shadow didn’t have to answer; I knew exactly who it was.

“An old friend,” I told her. “I remember these moves.” Turning my full attention to the shadow, I gave it a disgusted glare. “I was hoping I’d never have to run into you again, Zuuma.”

“Zuuma?!” Amelia’s eyes went wide as saucers. “That’s him?!”

Zuuma looked just like I remembered him—completely covered from head to toe in black garb. All I could see were his eyes, two penetrating points of light within his hooded face. Amelia probably hadn’t recognized him right away because, at first glance, Zuuma looked like any other assassin.

But I didn’t have trouble telling him apart from the average scum-of-the-week. It’s hard to forget a guy who came ridiculously close to killing you.

My last memory of Zuuma was of his retreat after Gourry had hacked off both his arms. He decidedly had arms again, which sucked, but wasn’t hard to believe— high-ranking priests are known to regenerate lost limbs. I mentally kicked myself for having not finished Zuuma off when I’d had the chance.

“What are you doing here?” I called flatly. “Don’t you remember? The guy who hired you to come after me died a pretty spectacular death!”

Zuuma shot down my subtle threat almost instantly. “I was paid in full,” he intoned. “And I do not rest until my job is finished.”

You can say a lot about Zuuma, but you can’t say he isn’t professional.

“You’re wasting your breath trying to persuade him.” Amelia straightened her back and pointed fiercely at Zuuma.

Oh, and a speech is gonna show him the error of his ways?

“Ye who walks the path of darkness!” she cried. “You hire yourself out to take the lives of others. If you do not repent the blood on your hands, you cannot be saved! If the law does not punish you, then I shall—in Heaven’s name!”

I didn’t know why she couldn’t just say, “Prepare thyself to get thy ass kicked.” It was direct and had a nice hint of menace to it. But telling Amelia to keep it short is like trying to teach a grizzly bear to waltz—a lesson in complete and painful futility.

“If there is no human heart left within you,” Amelia boomed, “then—”

“Flare Arrow!”

The ten flaming arrows I’d chanted for during her speech sped for their mark—right in the middle of Zuuma’s stupid face.

“Dam Eon,” Zuuma muttered.

That very instant, the arrows—the ones that were supposed to nail Zuuma between the eyes—scattered in all directions.

“What?!” Amelia and I both gasped. He’d been a split- second from visage flambé!

Zuuma, apparently, had anticipated my attack and managed to chant his own counter-spell. What really bothered me was that I’d never even heard of his spell.

Suddenly Zuuma took off at a sprint right for me.

I tried to come up with my next spell, but Zuuma was closing in fast. Amelia jumped in to help.

“Oh, no you don’t!” she shouted as she tried to head him off. Unfortunately, Zuuma took that moment to suddenly change course—and head for her.

His sudden undivided attention caught Amelia off­guard. She flinched, and he kicked.

THUD!

With a high-pitched cry, Amelia hurtled across the forest clearing before slamming into a tree.

Amelia!

Zuuma’s kick had been so smooth that I wondered if he’d always intended to attack Amelia first. She slumped to the forest floor, groaning as she curled; Zuuma wasted no time in resuming his mad dash for my neck.

But thanks to Amelia’s painful diversion, I’d managed to finish my spell. “Dark Mist!” I shouted.

Zuuma skidded on his heels to a stop, his eyes wide with shock. A dark cloud abruptly appeared in Zuuma’s path and engulfed him in its inky, vaporous web.

Consider it payback. See, in our first encounter, Zuuma had used Dark Mist in my bedroom and had nearly succeeded in killing me. I’m a sucker for irony—especially the revenge kind.

I couldn’t see Zuuma anymore under the veil of the Dark Mist, but, more importantly, Zuuma couldn’t see me. It was time to make a break for it.

As I backed away, I began chanting a lighting spell under my breath. I figured I’d hit him with it as soon as he stumbled his way out of Dark Mist, then—while he was still staggering from the light—I’d nail him with a final attack spell to finish him off. Lord, I’m clever… and lethal, too!

But Zuuma completely ruined my plans to kick his ass.

“Miss Lina!” Amelia suddenly shouted. “Above you!”

Dammit! I didn’t even bother looking up—I just unleashed my spell upward.

“Lighting!”

I shut my eyes and threw my body out of the way. My maximum brightness, zero duration lighting spell burst over my head, a dazzling light that felt freakishly bright even against my closed eyelids.

The air rippled with a presence just above me. I prayed the spell had at least singed Zuuma’s eyes.

“Miss Lina!” Amelia yelled from somewhere.

Something touched my shoulder guard. Then, in a low voice, Zuuma whispered two words into my ear: “Blast Wave.”

CRACK!

I barely managed to twist my neck before my shoulder guard shattered to pieces. If Amelia hadn’t called to me, it would’ve been my splintered skull tinkling to the ground.

It was clear that Zuuma could strategize ridiculously fast in a fight. I didn’t know when or how he’d done it, but the bastard had escaped from Dark Mist and chanted a new attack spell right under my nose!

Since I’d gotten the lighting spell off, I figured he was at least temporarily blinded; he couldn’t be seeing straight after a light that intense. I blinked my eyes, trying desperately to regain my balance as I started in with my next spell.

“Elmekia Lance!” Amelia cried.

She’s a trooper—slammed into a tree one minute, back on her feet and ready to go, the next.

Zuuma grunted and pulled back on his heels. Amelia’s spell shot right past his eyes, missing him by barely a hair.

What the hell?! I thought. Was he really blind or not? Unless he could sense movement through wind currents or sounds or something…?

“Fireball!” I shouted.

Flames roared through the night as their super­heated winds swirled and howled. It was a perfect shot: the fireball struck the assassin smack-dab at his feet and exploded.

Against any other opponent, that fireball would’ve done the trick—well-done the trick, actually. But before the smoke had even cleared, a perfectly fine Zuuma leapt out of the flames.

Stupid… ARGH!

It wasn’t just stressful, it was downright annoying. While I considered what to do next, Amelia released another spell.

“Freeze Arrow!”

It was a good idea—if Zuuma was deflecting our attacks by sensing ripples in the wind, the gusts from my fireball would’ve thrown his senses off. There was no way he could evade all ten ice arrows!

Right.

With a sharp breath, Zuuma easily took to the air, leaping high enough to evade the entire volley of arrows. I was starting to rethink the whole “he’s blind” theory.

Zuuma landed on his feet and charged for me again. As I braced myself to defend, I suddenly noticed Zuuma’s eyes… or rather, his shut eyelids.

A chill ran up my spine. He was fighting blind—and he was still running circles around us. Zuuma was a true badass.

I fumbled for a strategy, but time was running out. In a desperate moment, I flung the hilt of my broken short sword straight at Zuuma’s eyes. I didn’t expect it to work, but it wasn’t like I had a better plan.

As soon as the sword clunked ineffectually on the ground, Zuuma stopped cold in his tracks. He paused a moment, then leapt high into the air, arcing back toward the far side of the clearing.

I panted and backed up a few steps. I prepared for another one of his crazy Death Sprints, but it never came. He only stood there, his silhouette barely visible in the nighttime forest, and uttered something.

“Come,” he said. “Come to Vezendi.”

His voice was low and menacing, but I detected a hint of regret in it. He sounded like a hunter sadly relinquishing his cornered prey.

“Come to Vezendi,” Zuuma repeated. “If you disobey me… someone shall die.”

And with that, the assassin whipped around and vanished into the forest. Stunned by the fact that he was gone and I still had my vital organs intact, I stared stupidly at the trees for a minute.

“Damn,” I finally managed to mutter. “What was that all about?”

“Perhaps it was the reinforcements?”

I knew that voice. That horrifically pleasant voice. I spun around on my heels. There, on a low ridge, stood a solitary figure whose black robes melted into the shadows.

“Xelloss!”

The mysterious and decidedly disturbing priest himself. After our previous adventure with the guy, I was surprised to see him show.

“Miss Lina,” he cooed in his disgustingly cheerful manner. “Miss Amelia. It’s been awhile. I was beginning to lose hope regarding your ability to defeat that character.”

Prick! I marched up to him and grabbed him by the collar.

“Cut the Little Miss Manners act!” I snarled. I wanted to wipe the grin off his smug little face. He’d actually watched us get our butts whipped without making so much as a peep!

“W-wait a moment,” Xelloss protested. “Come now, Miss Lina.”

“What the hell are you doing sneaking around?!” I demanded. “Couldn’t you see Amelia and I were trying our damnedest to not end up as blood spatters?! And Zelgadiss is gonna be pissed when he finds out you’re following us!”

Xelloss fought to clear his throat. “Indeed,” he choked through his clenched collar. “How very… constricting.”

I grumbled and released him. My fingers were beginning to ache, anyway. “So?” I asked, crossing my arms. “What’s your great big objective this time? Don’t tell me you were just in the neighborhood.”

Xelloss smiled. “I’m afraid I can’t say,” he explained. “You see…”

“It’s a secret?” Amelia tiredly walked up. Xelloss smiled at her and raised a forefinger.

“Indeed,” he agreed.

I sighed. Prying a secret from Xelloss is like wrestling a ham from Gourry, so I knew better than to try. “Fine, “ I snapped. “Then what do you want with us?”

“Ah, that’s an easy one.” Xelloss tucked some hair behind his ear. “I’d like to travel with you, Miss Lina.”

Come again?!

“You can’t be serious!” Amelia squealed. Her eyes were wide as dinner plates.

“Huh?” was all I could manage.

“Mister Zelgadiss and I are totally against it!” Amelia clenched her fists. “And as for Mister Gourry, well… if we use flash cards to explain, I’m sure he’ll be just as mad!”

Admittedly, I thought she was a little quick to judge. “Easy,” I told her. I wanted to at least give Xelloss’ idea a fair shake.

Amelia whipped to me. “If you want to completely sever the group and throw away your life, Miss Lina, then by all means let him join!”

“Hey!” I shot back. “I don’t remember you complaining about Xelloss before.”

Amelia sent me a cold stare—an unusual and creepy thing for her. “Then let me ask you this, Miss Lina,” she said lowly. “Do you fancy a quiet life, or should I say afterlife? You’re aware that’s what we’ll get if Xelloss tags along.” That one took me a second to recover from. Damn, that girl could be morbid.

“I don’t have a death wish,” I retorted, glancing at Xelloss. “I just think it doesn’t matter if we tell him no deal. You’ll still follow us, won’t you, Xelloss?”

Xelloss smiled. “Indeed,” he answered without so much as batting an eye.

Amelia visibly wilted. She knew as well as I did that dissuading Xelloss was impossible, time-consuming, and possibly death-defying.

“Just remember,” I warned the priest. “Your real problem’s going to be Zelgadiss.”

“Mister Zelgadiss will be really angry,” Amelia agreed with a little sneer, jabbing a finger in Xelloss’ direction.

Xelloss paused. “Really?” he asked. “Hm.” He rocked back on his heels. “That’s certainly a shame. Humans should be more… magnanimous.”

He didn’t just say that!

“Hey!” I snapped. “After screwing over Zel’s quest, you’ve got the gall to insult the guy with a dictionary word?!” Xelloss smiled at me. “I’m sorry. Never mind.” He gave an easy little laugh, which did nothing to calm my frustrations. “At any rate,” he went on, “there wasn’t anything on Mister Zelgadiss’ precious manuscript page that would have helped him change back to his original form. All I burned was a simple recipe.”

“Tell that to Zel. He’s the one who’s gonna have to buy that line. And believe me when I tell you that you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

Xelloss gave me what he probably thought were puppy-dog eyes. “You mean you’re not going to help me?” “Gimme a break! How am I supposed to help you if I can barely follow your logic, much less believe a word you say?”

“It’s just… shouldn’t birds of a feather flock together?” Xelloss entreated. “You and I are like fish and water, no?”

“You just proved my point! And are you hitting on me?!”

Amelia slowly nodded. “I get it,” she declared.

“There.” Xelloss swept an arm in Amelia’s direction. “See?”

“What I understand,” she clarified, “is that arguing out here isn’t doing us any good. Why don’t we take this back to Mister Zelgadiss?”

I replied with a deep sigh. It was getting late, and the thought of hitting the sack clouded my thought processes. Xelloss is not a man to talk to without a fully- functioning brain.

“Fine,” I said. “Let’s head back to the inn. We’ll talk it over in the morning.”

“Good,” Amelia said as she rubbed her eyes.

“Good,” Xelloss concurred as he brushed out his robe.

The three of us dropped all conversation and began our trek back into town. Despite the hour and my exhaustion, I couldn’t help but worry. My thoughts ran back to Zuuma’s parting words:

“Come to Vezendi. “

Zuuma was the absolute last person I wanted to see again, but it seemed like he was hot for a rematch. Amelia and Xelloss had to have heard Zuuma’s sinister words, no matter how focused they’d been on the battle.

He’d threatened that someone would die if we didn’t show. But who was that someone? I doubted it was one of us; he’d probably meant one of the citizens of Vezendi City. If we didn’t accept his invitation, he’d kill an innocent bystander.

Ugh, I thought as I yawned. This could get ugly.

But as we proceeded along the dark road, my concerns started to fade. I just needed some sleep—there would be plenty of time to hate my life in the morning.

* * *

It’s weird for me to say this, but breakfast came just a little too quickly the next day. And no, it’s not that I wasn’t looking forward to the good eats—I’d just hoped for more sleep after, y’know, nearly getting mauled.

Amelia, Xelloss, and I sat in the restaurant on the ground floor of the inn, mulling things over. Gourry shuffled in and gave a loud yawn.

“Yo,” he greeted, sleepily scratching his head. “Good morning.”

Gourry is, without a doubt, a phenomenal swordsman. The problem is that his talents begin and end right there; if you watch him try to think, you can practically hear the soup sloshing around where his brain should be. Amelia and I waved Gourry over while Xelloss calmly sipped some tea.

“Mmm,” Gourry hummed as he walked up. “I slept like a log last night. Now I wanna eat!”

I groaned, wearing my why-are-you-such-an-idiot? face. Gourry actually noticed for once. I think he’s getting used to seeing that one.

“What is it, Lina?” he asked as he sat down.

“What do you think it is, genius?” I gestured to Xelloss. “You’re putting on a pretty good show here, pretending like you don’t recognize this guy.”

Gourry looked over at Xelloss, obviously confused. After a moment his face lit up. He wagged a finger at me.

“Now, now, Lina, it wouldn’t be nice of me to blurt out things like ‘What the hell are you doing here?!’ or ‘You’ve got a lotta guts showing your face around here!’ to somebody first thing in the morning. Don’t you agree?”

So Gourry’s Mister Genteel all of sudden?

Xelloss smiled. “How terribly polite.”

“Right.” Gourry turned back to me. “Now, can you straighten something out for me?”

I winced, severely afraid of what he could ask. “What?”

Gourry narrowed his eyes and took another glance at Xelloss. “Who is that guy, and why’s he sit­ting with us?”

Xelloss was so stunned he practically fell out of his chair. He stared at me in disbelief. “He isn’t… serious, is he?” he breathed.

Amelia unenthusiastically stirred her oatmeal. “Mister Gourry is always serious.”

I slammed both palms on the table. “Gourry!” I yelled. “Don’t tell me you really don’t know who he is!”

Amelia cleared her throat. “Mister Gourry?” she began, speaking very slowly and clearly in the hopes that some tiny bit of logic might get through his thick skull. “Remember the battle with the evil cult near Maine Village? The manuscript we’re trying to find?” Gourry’s face held a look of intense concentration for a few seconds, then he suddenly brightened. “Oh, yeah!” he exclaimed. “Right, right! I remember now!” Liar!

“Uh…” Gourry furrowed his brow in thought. “What was his name again?”

This time, Xelloss actually did hit the floor. He got up and brushed himself off, ignoring the strange looks he received from the other diners.

“This is so like you, Gourry! You could be on fire and you’d be too busy picking your ear to notice!”

“Urn… well…” He picked his ear and inspected the results on his finger. “No one ever introduced us.”

Oh.

Once I thought about it, Gourry had a point. He and Xelloss had barely met during our previous adventure with the Demon Lord cult. In fact, the two had seen each other only twice, and we’d all been so preoccupied at the time that there hadn’t been any proper introductions.

Xelloss knew a lot about Gourry second-hand from hearing the rest of us talk, but I hadn’t bothered going into great detail with Gourry about our time with Xelloss. Considering Gourry’s track record with understanding and remembering important details, I’d figured it would be a waste of my precious time.

Xelloss still looked taken aback, but he carefully extended a hand. “Um,” he said, “my name is Xelloss. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Gourry took Xelloss’ hand and shook. “Pleased to meet you,” he replied with a smile. “I’m Gourry.”

The stupidity of the entire thing made my head hurt. I irritably reached for the bread. If Xelloss could barely handle Gourry’s idiocy, I wondered how he was going to weather his meeting with Zelgadiss.

Speak of the devil.

“YOU!” Zelgadiss’ voice boomed through the restaurant. “What the hell are YOU doing here?!”

Zelgadiss stood at the restaurant entrance, dressed from head to toe in white. He wore a hood and gloves and kept a scarf wrapped around his face so that only his eyes were visible. Zelgadiss disliked people looking at him these days.

Awhile back, a despicable sorcerer had transformed Zelgadiss into a chimera—a magical hybrid creature. In his case, his original body was combined with that of a golem and a blow demon, leaving him extremely powerful but also fairly hideous. Ever since his transformation, he’d wandered the world in search of a way to regain his original human form. It was during his wanderings that Zelgadiss had met and teamed up with us.

Zelgadiss’ eyes locked on Xelloss. He began storming toward his prey.

“Zel!” I called out to him nervously. “Just, uh, calm down!”

Amelia rose from her chair. “Mister Zelgadiss, you mustn’t be rash!”

He ignored both of us, the light of fury glimmering in his eyes. He stopped directly in front of Xelloss; the two of them stared unblinkingly at each other.

“You’ve got a lotta guts showing your face around here,” Zelgadiss snarled.

Okay, I guess that beats taking a swing at his head. Then, to our shock and surprise, Zelgadiss took a seat at our table like nothing had happened. He pulled the scarf away from his mouth. “Now, then,” he said. “What’s for breakfast? I’m starving.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “Uh… Zel?”

He smiled faintly at my confusion. “I decided to try the ‘not polite’ strategy,” he explained. “It’s not bad.”

“You overheard me and Gourry talking?”

“Yeah—I was standing there awhile.”

I wanted nothing more than to bury my head in the cottage cheese. Since when did Zel think messing with me was funny? He was supposed to be the straight man! “You’re not angry?” Amelia asked tentatively.

“I don’t hold a grudge during mealtimes.” Zelgadiss poured himself some tea. “All it does is upset my stomach.”

“Huh,” Amelia grunted indignantly. Oddly enough, she sounded disappointed.

What does she want? A smackdown? Like we don’t get in enough fights as it is.

Xelloss pursed his lips. “I get the feeling I’m not exactly a welcome presence here.”

“Bingo,” I replied flatly.

Xelloss started at my blunt reply. He actually looked hurt as he dug his spoon into his soup.

“Actually,” Zelgadiss said, “I’m not really surprised to find Xelloss here.”

“What? Why?”

“I’ve had much better luck finding new leads while traveling with you than I ever did on my own.” He looked over at Xelloss. “I guess he’s figured that out, too.”

Heh. Lina Inverse—always where the action is.

Zelgadiss’ expression went grave. “That said,” he said darkly, “I want a straight answer from you, Xelloss. What was on the manuscript page you burned? Was it useless, or did it have the info I needed?”

The two men locked gazes. The friction between them was so intense that if anything had dangled between their heads, it probably would’ve caught fire. Depending on what Xelloss said next, we would either continue our breakfast peacefully or find ourselves in the midst of a raging, inn-destroying brawl.

Xelloss’ expression lightened. “Oh, it was definitely useless.”

When Zelgadiss continued to stare, Xelloss added, “I can put it in a metaphor for you.” He pointed to our pitcher of fruit juice. “Even if you have a recipe to make fruit punch, you can’t simply remove the orange juice from it and leave in the apple, am I right?”

Apparently nobody thought comparing Zelgadiss’ life-shattering chimera problem to mixing and unmixing drinks was rude.

Zelgadiss remained motionless for another moment, then visibly relaxed. “Fine,” he said. “I guess that means you’re off the hook.”

All of us onlookers let out a collective breath. I was pretty sure I even saw a nearby waiter do it.

Zelgadiss reached for the juice. “So what are you doing here, anyway?”

“It’s a secret,” Xelloss replied, raising his forefinger. Any bets on how many more times he says that today?

“He wants to travel with us,” Amelia clarified. “Or with Miss Lina, to be more specific.”

Zelgadiss dropped his fork. He stared at me incredulously. “You want him with us?” he repeated. “Breakfast is one thing, but the guy’s trouble, Lina. Do we really need extra trouble right now?”

“You think I don’t know that? I don’t have a lot of choices—either we travel together, or Xelloss trails me from the shadows.” I sighed and pushed my plate away.

Gourry noticed the unprecedented event. “Lina? Something wrong?”

I paused. “There’s something I need to discuss with all of you,” I told the table.

They must’ve caught my serious tone, because everyone looked up. Gourry even stopped chewing. “After supper last night, I stepped out for a bit.”

“I figured,” Gourry said, spitting bits of mushroom into the air. “You were out hunting bandits, weren’t you?” Zelgadiss looked at me skeptically. “Is beating up on pathetic thieves really that much fun?”

“Hell, yeah!” I cleared my throat. “Anyway, back to the point. When I was out busting bandit heads with Amelia last night, we ran into someone.”

“Xelloss!” Gourry guessed.

“Fine. He was there.” Then, in a darker tone, I added, “But so was Zuuma.”

“WHAT?!” Gourry and Zelgadiss both yelled out at once.

I was startled—not by their reactions, but by the fact that Gourry actually remembered Zuuma. From the freaked look on Zel’s face, he’d also heard of the assassin.

“Zuuma?” Gourry repeated, crumbs dropping from his lips. “You mean that Zuuma?”

“That Zuuma.”

“Gotta ask. Did he have arms?”

“Yup,” I said with a nod. “Both of them, good as new.” Gourry sunk lower into his chair. He scratched his face absently.

I took the liberty of explaining the previous night to Zelgadiss and Gourry. The worst part of the story was, of course, the nasty warning Zuuma had made just before departing.

Everyone sat in silence when I was done. Like me, they were all probably thinking—but Amelia loudly broke the silence by scraping back her chair.

“We’ve got no choice!” she declared, jumping to her feet. “We’ve got to go!” She brought a fist down on the table, upsetting a couple of plates and a glass of milk. “If we don’t, he’ll probably kill someone in Vezendi just to show us what a true villain he is!”

“Amelia,” I hissed at her as I glanced around the restaurant. “Don’t go yelling about murder. You’ll scare the other customers.”

I doubt she even heard me—she was already deep into Savior of Justice mode.

“And for that very reason we cannot allow this to pass!” she boomed. “We must rise up and stop him, for we are the only ones in this wide world able to do so!”

A nearby couple took one look at us and signaled their waiter for the check. A middle-aged man made a beeline for the door, and a toddler at another table burst into tears.

I buried my face in my hands. Why couldn’t we ever do anything quietly?

* * *

Vezendi is a decently large city on the western border of the Duchy of Kalmatt. Situated at the point where the highway branches off toward Raltig and Dilse, Vezendi’s long prospered from being at the crux of a major trade route. It also has a hill right outside its borders; after following the highway up that hill, we paused at the top to look down and catch our breaths.

Zelgadiss rubbed a fist. “I’m not thrilled about this,” he murmured.

I turned to him in surprise. Not because he was being a downer—that’s sorta his thing—but because Zelgadiss hadn’t badmouthed the Vezendi mission before that moment.

“What’s the matter?” I asked him. “And why are you bringing this up now?”

Zelgadiss didn’t respond right away. He just kept his attention, like the rest of us, on the city sprawled out below. Merchants and farmers passed by on the highway to our side, traveling to the city on foot or in rumbling horse- drawn carts.

“I’ve said it before,” Zelgadiss explained at last. “I don’t like going into large cities. I’ve had bad luck with them in the past.”

“It’ll be all right,” Amelia asserted. “If there is a love for justice in your heart, nothing can stand in your way!” Zelgadiss turned to her coolly. “There isn’t.”

Amelia’s brows knitted and her mouth puckered. She probably wanted to say something, but I think his reply had struck her too dumb to do so.

“Hey,” Gourry offered to Zel. “Don’t worry about it. No one’s gonna recognize you with your face all covered up like that. I mean, hey—if you walked up to me dressed the way you are, I wouldn’t be able to recognize you.”

This coming from a guy not known for being the sharpest arrow in the quiver.

Xelloss tried another approach. “Perhaps it would be better,” he commented, “if Mister Zelgadiss didn’t enter the city at all.”

I turned to Xelloss abruptly. “Hey,” I barked. “What’re you trying to pull?”

“Having said that,” Xelloss went on calmly, “if you believe that staying close to Miss Lina is more useful for your purposes, then entering the city is your best bet.” Zelgadiss glared at him.

“Although I’m not familiar with whatever happened to you in the past, you can be assured that any inn in any city will let you lodge with them, provided you have the money.” Xelloss smiled. “Of course, in the end, it’s most certainly your choice, Mister Zelgadiss.”

Zelgadiss turned irritably away. “Whatever,” he muttered. “I guess you’ve got a point. Let’s get going.” “I’m glad you feel better!” Amelia said with a satisfied nod.

Yeah, I thought. And thanks for all your help, missy!

Not long after we’d passed through Vezendi’s gates, I could tell something was wrong. The citizens were buzzing in low, urgent tones, and everyone gave us suspicious glances as we passed. I mean, even the farmers on their carts and the shopping women and children threw weird little glares and gave me the creeps.

“We’re kind of standing out here, aren’t we?” Amelia ventured in a timid voice.

Zelgadiss kept his eyes locked forward. “Definitely,” he muttered. He was already nervous enough about entering the city; I’m sure the unwanted attention was a total picnic for the guy.

At least Gourry and Xelloss seemed unbothered. I assumed Gourry was lost, as usual, in that vast cavern known as his head.

We halted in our tracks and waited for one of the onlookers to make a move. It didn’t take long for a boy around twelve or thirteen years old to sprint toward us and shout, “Hey!”

The boy—whose voice hadn’t even broken yet— sounded annoyingly cocky. He seemed to be the streetwise type who’d seen his fair share of scrapes.

I decided to try and make him piss his pants. “What the hell do you want?” I snapped.

The boy looked us all up and down, then stared straight at me.

“L’il miss?” he asked. “Is your name Lina Inverse, by any chance?”

I resisted the urge to sock him for calling me “l’il.” Kids these days, I thought sourly.

The chatter among the citizens grew more agitated with his question. I felt my stomach sink a little; someone with a grudge had put a price on my head once, leading to all sorts of not fun. The situation I stood in reminded me a little too much of that.

I took a very deep breath. “Yeah,” I told the boy evenly. “I’m Lina. What about it?”

The people around us suddenly burst into cheers. Laughter and joy filled the air as hugs were exchanged. I was very confused.

Uh, will someone tell me if I’m about to die or not? “I thought so!” the boy exclaimed happily as he slapped a fist into his palm. “Sorry, but there’re more of you than we were told. Didn’t mean to stare so much.” The crowd began pressing toward us just as the boy flashed his crooked teeth.

“Anyway,” he said, “I’d like to ask you—”

“Hold on, kid!” The voice belonged to a full-grown man who stepped out of the crowd. He was a shabbily dressed, seasoned-looking sort, but he didn’t seem very threatening. He bent down to address the boy.

“Look,” he growled. “I saw the missy and her friends here first.”

“Back off, buddy!” cried an old lady. She waddled out of the crowd, her toad-like body wrapped in a gaudy pink dress that she was fifty years too old to wear. “I was here first!” The man glared at her. “You’re as blind as a bat,” he snapped. “Who do you think’s gonna listen to you?”

“I’m telling you!” she snapped back. “It was me, you ugly pig!”

The man snarled at her. “Me!” he yelled with all the maturity of a toddler.

Other people in the crowd began to join in. The situation was threatening to get very bad very fast.

“Wait!” I shouted. “Wait! What the hell is this all about?!” Of course, no one paid any attention to me—the bickering just got worse.

“Wait!” another woman cried. “Which one of us counts, then?”

“Me!” Granny shouted without explanation.

“ME!” yelled the shabby-looking man.

“But I was right there when they came in,” a different man insisted, pointing to a spot near me.

“Garbage!” Granny snapped. “I was at the city entrance!”

I’d had it with their crap. I raised my hands into the air. “Burst Rondo!” I called.

KA-CRAKA-BOOM!

A great silence fell over the crowd.

That’s more like it, I thought. It’s a lesson I’ve picked up over the years: if you can’t put order into a situation, there’s nothing like a fancy-looking Burst Rondo to shut everybody up without causing massive property damage. Fortunately or unfortunately, I’d accidentally hit the shabby guy with the blast and reduced him to a blackened, twitching mass—but sometimes you’ve gotta break a few eggs if you’re gonna control a crowd. He’d be fine after a long nap.

“Okay!” I said loud and clear as I put my hands on my hips. The crowd had taken a few collective steps back, and I was glad to get the breathing room. “What’s this all about?”

Nobody responded. I heard confused murmurs ripple through the mob, but that was about it. Finally, the boy who had started the ruckus stepped forward.

“A-actually,” he stammered, a lot less cocky this time around, “Mister Radok said he’d give a reward to whoever found Lina Inverse and brought her to him.” He pulled a folded-up sheet of paper from his pocket and shakily held it out to me.

I snatched it up and looked it over. Sure enough, it was a notice offering a reward to whoever delivered Lina Inverse and her party to a particular residential address in the city. The reward wasn’t that big, but it was substantial enough if you were a working stiff. Under the announcement were generic descriptions of each of us:

Zelgadiss, Amelia, Gourry, and myself, but nothing for Xelloss (probably because he’d just joined up). I glanced at my description.

Short, it said. Loud. A tendency to get into trouble, an unimpressive chest—

I crumpled the paper and gritted my teeth. That’s enough of that. I looked up at the boy. “Can you bring us to where this Radok guy lives?”

The boy jerked his head up and down. Scaring the hell out of the citizenry had made things a lot more convenient.

“Let’s go,” I said, turning to face Gourry and the others. But my loyal party had already retreated halfway across the street, perfectly content to just watch me solve their problems from a distance. Amelia was actually checking her fingernails.

What was wrong with these people? When things get hairy, let Lina sort it out?! I was overworked and underappreciated! As my party casually came over to join me, I ground my teeth together to keep myself from throttling the lot of them.

* * *

The boy led us up Vezendi’s maze of cobbled streets and into a decent-looking neighborhood. He suddenly stopped, glancing back at us, and pointed up at a particular house. “There,” he said. “That’s the one.”

The house was actually pretty impressive—not quite a mansion, but definitely no shack. And it didn’t have that tackiness you usually find in nouveau riche homes. Having money and taste is a good thing, I thought.

I wondered if Mister Radok was one of those wealthy, nefarious types who hired scum to do his dirty work. The boy had told us that Radok Ranzaad was one of Vezendi’s leading merchants.

“This is where I split off,” Zelgadiss said once we’d reached the gate.

I blinked at him. “What? Why?”

“Think about it.” He averted his eyes. “If I go in, they’ll probably give us tea or something and I’ll have to pull my scarf down. The last thing I want is to scare everybody around me.”

The chimera’s got a point.

“Well, then rent a room at an inn somewhere nearby. After we’re done here, we’ll meet up with you.”

Zelgadiss pondered that for a second. “Fine,” he said, then turned his back on us and left.

Our little guide cupped a hand around his mouth. “I’ve brought Lina Inverse!” he called to the house’s gatekeeper, who let us in without hesitation. He handed the boy his reward, which sent the kid bolting down the street in a frantic combination of happy-to-be-rich and happy-to-be-not-dead.

Once inside the house, we were led into a fancy reception hall. We sat there and waited, staring at the decor and sipping decent tea, until a door in one corner of the hall opened and an elderly butler stepped in.

“Master Radok shall arrive shortly,” he announced, effectively wasting more of our time.

Amelia, Gourry, Xelloss, and I all traded glances. Did that guy think we had all week? I studied the butler positioned at the corner door; he looked pretty disinterested.

“Look,” I said flatly. “We’re busy people. Maybe you can jerk around guests who don’t have access to massive firepower, but we—”

“Master Radok has arrived,” the butler interjected evenly. He opened the door to an elegant-looking gentleman, a man of about forty with a streak of white in his black hair.

Mister Radok pretty much stomped into the room. “You’re Lina Inverse?!” he bellowed as he shook a fist at me.

Guess there won’t be any small talk.

The guy was decently handsome and had a slim build. He clenched a single piece of paper in his right hand. I was about to ask him about the paper when a much younger man, probably twenty or so, walked in behind him. The younger guy was dark and handsome— and probably Radok Ranzaad’s son, judging from the ‘ resemblance.

Radok took a few steps forward and slammed the paper onto a glass table before us. “I am Radok Ranzaad!” he yelled. He strode to the empty chair across from me, angrily sat down, and glared daggers upon daggers in my general direction.

Okay, the fact that I wasn’t entirely welcome was more than a little obvious. But he was the guy who sent a whole town after me, so why the hell was he treating me like I’d interfered in his life?!

“Mister Radok,” I snapped, “what the hell is going on?”

He glared at me a little more. “Oh?” he fumed, leaning forward to push the paper closer to me. “What’s the meaning of this?!”

My patience wearing thin, I snatched up the paper and studied it.

* * *

Radok Ranzaad,
I shall kill you.
If you do not wish to die,
hire Line Inverse.
—Zuuma

* * *

Below the message were descriptions of the four of us, the same ones I’d read in the notice earlier. The whole thing made me pause. Oh.

“I have heard of this assassin.” Radok took a deep, angry breath before adding, “Am I to infer from the content of this message that I’m being used to lure you here for some purpose? Someone had better explain to me what is going on!”

I wanted to tell him to calm down, but I figured he had a right to be upset. The situation sucked royally.

“We’ve fought him before,” I told Radok as I tossed the paper back onto the table. I glanced at Gourry. “He was hired to kill me once, but he obviously couldn’t get the job done. Now he’s back to finish his business.”

“Which has suddenly become my business!” Radok boomed, pounding on his table. “It’s not your life he’s after here! Why is he suddenly out for my blood?!”

Needless to say, I didn’t like the guy screaming at me like I’d slept with his wife and killed his dog, but I decided to play it cool; I nonchalantly rose to my feet and rested a hand on one hip.

“Fine,” I said. “If that’s your attitude, then I’m not sticking around for it.” I turned to the others. “Let’s get outta here.”

“Whaaaaaat?!” Radok shouted, jumping to his feet as his face turned red.

Gourry and Amelia both looked at me with wide, horrified eyes. I resisted the urge to slam their heads together.

Haven’t you ever seen a bluff, people?!

“Miss Lina!” Amelia squeaked. “Um, are you sure we should—”

“You can’t do this!” Radok roared right over her. “You absolutely cannot do this!”

I spun back around to Radok and took my turn at glaring. “Then think a little,” I snapped. “Why do you think Zuuma really sent you that letter?”

Radok scoffed. “I assume he thought I had the means to find you.”

“Try again, pops.”

Radok turned even redder, which I figured was a prelude to his imminent heart attack. “What are you proposing?!” he practically screamed.

“Sure,” I replied, “as one of the city’s leading merchants, you have the means of finding us—and you did, by offering a reward to whoever spotted us and brought us in.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “But if all he wanted was to get us here, why didn’t he send a threatening letter to Vezendi’s most successful merchant, the real head honcho?”

“How should I know the inner workings of an assassin’s mind?!”

I glanced at the note. “What I’m thinking,” I said flatly, “is that he’s also after you. “

Radok’s face went ashen. “Y-you what?”

“Zuuma is one merciless, murderous, giant pain in the ass. But he’s a pro’s pro; I don’t think holding irrelevant people hostage is his style. I could be wrong…” I paused, something I like to do before dropping a bomb. “But I’m thinking someone else hired Zuuma to kill you, and Zuuma’s using the opportunity to take care of both of us at the same time.”

Radok could only stare at me for a second, his mouth agape. Call me a jerk, but seeing him humbled like that did wonders for my mood.

“Wait a minute!” Radok cried. “Are you saying that even if I hire you, he’ll still come to kill me?”

I shrugged. “Well, if I’m with you, I’m sure Zuuma will try to kill me first. It wouldn’t do him much good if he offed you right away—I’d disappear as soon as that happened, right? So you’ll be fine as long as I’m alive.”

Not the best of consolations, but there it is.

“Of course,” and here’s where I got down to business, “this is all assuming I want to work for you. I’m guessing you want me as a bodyguard.”

Radok’s eyes filled with horror. “Y-you’re not going to abandon me to my fate, are you?” he asked in a near squeak.

I sneered at him. “If you think I’m gonna risk my life to protect someone as rude as you, you don’t know Lina Inverse. You get me?”

So sue me—it feels good to twist the knife now and then.

Radok slowly sat back in his chair, his gaze focusing on a random spot on the floor. He was quiet for a moment.

“Understood,” he finally murmured. He looked up, his expression actually sincere. “Then I formally ask you to protect me. I’ll pay you a handsome commission, of course. Agreed?”

I smiled. “Sure,” I said lightly, giving him a thumbs-up. I’m such a pushover when it comes to money.

If he hadn’t been such a jerk about the whole thing, and if he hadn’t distributed leaflets with a crack about my chest being “unimpressive” (which it’s not), I would’ve accepted the well-paying gig without much fuss.

I glanced at the butler, who still stood in the corner. He didn’t look particularly thrilled. The young man leaned against a wall nearby, his arms folded and his gaze directed at us—he was pretty intense.

“Incidentally,” I asked Radok, “who are they?”

Radok sighed and pointed the two out in turn. “This is Raltaak, my butler, and Abel, my son.” He looked my party over. “Come to think of it, isn’t one member of your group missing?”

“He had somewhere else to be.” I waved at Xelloss. “This is Xelloss, a suspicious priest. He’s tagging along.” Xelloss bowed politely.

Radok furrowed his eyebrows, probably a little bothered by my introduction of Xelloss. But hey, can you blame me? I was trying to be honest.

“Anyway,” Radok said before clearing his throat.

“I would like you to remain here and guard me from this moment on. Is that acceptable?”

I nodded. Amelia let out a breath, Gourry watched a fly buzzing around the room, and Xelloss gave Radok one of his little smiles. Radok took one look at Xelloss and sank deeper into his chair.

* * *

After settling things with Radok, we took our leave. Xelloss stayed behind to keep watch over Radok’s residence while ) Amelia, Gourry, and I met up with Zelgadiss. Zel had rented a room at a local inn, so we headed there to bring him up to speed.

The room he’d gotten was a disgusting rat hole, but at least it was cheap. Since Zelgadiss wasn’t eager to risk ordinary townspeople seeing his face, we were pretty much stuck hiding out in one of Vezendi’s lousier neighborhoods. I sat gingerly on a bed, trying not to touch anything.

Zelgadiss listened impassively while I explained the Radok situation. After I finished, he spoke up.

“So… is it safe, us leaving this Radok guy alone? We’re supposed to be guarding him, aren’t we?”

I waved away his concern. “It’ll be fine,” I assured him. “I’m sure Zuuma’s gonna come after me first. Besides, I left Xelloss behind to guard the house. I figured getting in contact with you was more important.”

I got up from the rock-hard bed. “All the same, we should be getting back. I get the feeling that if we stay away too long, Radok’s gonna wet himself.”

“Okay.” Gourry straightened up from leaning against the wall. “Besides, it’s almost time to eat.”

“Don’t expect too much,” I warned him as I opened the door. “He didn’t seem to like us much the first time around. Even if he does treat us, he’ll probably only give us the crappiest stuff in his pantry.”

As we crossed the threshold into the hallway, a strange feeling halted me in my tracks. Wait… what was that? “Something wrong, Miss Lina?” Amelia asked.

I pondered a second. “Something doesn’t feel right,” I murmured. The feeling had only lasted a moment—maybe it was my tired, hungry brain playing tricks? I shrugged it off and let out a breath.

“Never mind.” I continued on with Gourry and Amelia. Zelgadiss followed, his face covered again. “Seeing us off?” I asked him.

“Nah,” he replied. “Just heading downstairs for a bite to eat.”

Like the earlier inn, this place had a tavern occupy-ing the ground floor. I hoped the quality of the food was better than the quality of the rooms, for Zelgadiss’ sake.

“I’m gonna miss having you and your extra fire­power around, Zel,” I remarked as we made our way to the stairs. I glanced back at him. “Do you have a whistle by any chance?”

“Whistle?” Zelgadiss furrowed his eyebrows. “For what?”

“Y’know, a whistle I can blow to call you when we get into trouble.”

“I’m not one of your magic spells,” Zelgadiss snapped. “I don’t always answer to polite requests, much less whistles.”

Man, couldn’t he take a joke?

“But think of the convenience,” I said with a playful raise of my eyebrows.

Zelgadiss sighed and placed a hand on Gourry’s shoulder. “Traveling with her can’t be easy on you,” he muttered.

“It isn’t.” Gourry smiled nervously. “But I’m good at toughing things out.”

I scowled at them. And traveling with Mister Angsty and Mush-For-Brains has been a real treat, but you don’t see me whining!

When we finally finished the stairs and stepped into the tavern, the lot of us froze. Something was… wrong.

The tavern was dark and actually looked fairly clean, with its neat rows of simple wooden tables. But on a night like that, when the inn was full of guests and travelers, the tavern should’ve been crowded with people—not dark and empty. Judging from the neatly arranged tables, no one had been there in a while.

“What the… ?” Gourry trailed off.

“It’s our warding field,” an unfamiliar female voice

I quickly scanned the room to find the source of the voice. It seemed to come from the center of the tavern, from a strange patch of… thicker darkness? The patch was about the size of an adult human, with white motes of dust floating at its edges.

Eerily, the darkness began to shift and move, and I realized it for what it was: a mane of long, raven-black hair. The figure turned, revealing a hunchbacked female body shrouded in a black robe. As the woman took a step toward us, her hair shifted to reveal her face—if you could call it that. Where her face should have been was a pale, featureless orb with no eyes, no ears, and a blood-red mark in the shape of a grotesque smile in place of her mouth.

EW!

“Is she a Mazoku?!” Amelia cried in shock.

From the hideous crone herself came an answer. “I am called Gduza,” she cackled. “The one standing behind you is Dugld.”

I whipped around to face the stairs. Sure enough, another shadowy figure stood there. Whoever the guy was, he obviously didn’t have much fashion sense, since he was dressed in an oddly shaped black mantle and a wide- brimmed hat. When he noticed my stare, he tipped his hat at me. The head under the hat was hairless, jet-black, and completely lacking in facial features.

I had a feeling things were about to get very, very bad.

“What the hell do you want with us?!” I demanded, carefully shifting my feet. I had to be ready for anything.

“That’s no way to talk to my companions,” said a new but painfully familiar voice from the tavern’s entrance. “This is, after all, a reunion of old friends.”

The door creaked open. A figure in a black mantle and turban stood in the doorway, his face covered by a demonic mask. Although a few of the details were different, I recognized him immediately.

Seigram.