The warm campfire crackles as the last of the sun sets into the horizon. In front of it sit a small group of adventurers and mercenaries, all feasting on some well-cooked rabbit meat or waiting for more to be done as it hangs above the flames.
It is two days after the events at Ralcyon's house occured. Some time has passed as our group of 'heroes' traverse the lands, hunting for treasure, villains to conquer, and the possibility of magical artifacts. What they choose to do remains to be seen, baring intervention from the fates themselves.
Lina summons a whip of flame at her command, making a few practice swings with it. Learning to command fire better seemed like a good idea, after that vampire got a few lucky hits in on Amelia.
Gourry burps contentedly, having finished the last of his rabbit. "Hey, Lina," he says to the sorceress, "where are we headed now?"
Zelgadis lies back and stares at the heavens while pointing out various constellations to both Amelia and Gourry.
"You see that bright blue star. That's the nose of the Deep Sea Dolphin. Then over to the left, you can see the Great Jellyfish. And below that, the Great Sea Cucumber, locked in their eternal battle. And that big cluster of bright white stars, that's the Jewels of the Dragon. Legend says that a few fell from the sky and landed somewhere on this earth..."
"Let's go visit Xellos!" Lina announces. "We haven't thanked him properly yet for returning your sword, have we? And I know we haven't even begun to thank him for lying to us and leading us around as his pawns...."
"Yeah!" Gourry says enthusiastically, before deflating. "But... we don't know where he lives, do we?"
"We'll find out!" Lina exclaims. "He worked for Hellmaster, right? We could lo-- check Phibrizzo's place and see whether there are any clues."
Gourry shrugs amiably. "Okay. So where is Hellmaster's place?"
"The Desert of Destruction, which lies to the east of the Kataart Mountains," Lina answers immediately, giving Gourry a look. "Really, don't you know anything?"
"Why do I need to know anything, Lina. You always tell me anyway," Gourry replies as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
Lina sighs, covering her eyes with a hand. "Of course you don't need to know anything about the demon lords of our world. How stupid of me to expect that."
The next morning, Lina decides to head for the Desert of Destruction!
Zelgadis decides to follow Lina and go to the Desert of Destruction too.
Lina and the others quickly move on their journey to the Desert of Destruction, for clues on Xellos' whereabouts. Setting a quick pace south-west, Lina hellbent on giving Xellos some 'thanks' called payback, they find themselves nearing the border of Elmekia and the beginning of the Desert of Destruction sooner than expected.
However, entering a place such as the Desert of Destruction, where nothing good can live for long and food is a precious commodity, is ill advised even for a group such as theirs.
As such, the small band of adventurers end up stopping at a village some distance from the border. Here, the land is already beginning to look somewhat parched and dry, but at least still relatively safe and comfortable. A good place to spend the night to recover from the strenous pace and stock up on supplies before continuing. They do so, and the next morning finds them at the local store, stocking up on supplies.
Lina buys enough food to last her for two weeks, before asking the others if they want anything.
"Food is a good idea, Lina, expecially where we're going." Zelgadis buys 2 weeks worth of food, plus several waterbags. Fortunatly, Zelgadis doesn't need sunscreen. "Hmmm, now to find a horse to carry all this stuff."
Zelgadis goes to the local horse dealer, and sees if he can get a good price on a gentle-tempered horse.
"Uh... if you get a horse, won't it need food, too?" Gourry asks dumbly, also considering mentioning that horses don't fare all that well in the desert... but hey, what does he know? Zelgadis is a smart guy, he obviously has it all figured out, right?
Asking the storekeeper, Gourry tries to find out what supplies he'd need in the desert of destruction.
"On the contrary," Lina tells Gourry, smiling. "It's extra food. I bet that's why Zel wants one, the sneak!"
The shopkeeper hears Lina's statement, and snorts. Sorcerers were all weirdos. Like that other sorceress that passed by a few weeks ago. Great figure, but the personality that seemed to go with it left something to be desired.
Ah well, a sale was a sale, as his father had taught him. He forces himself to stop listening to them and waits at his counter boredly for them to finish.
Meanwhile, Zelgadis finds himself having difficulty with the local horse dealer, much to his aggravation. While most of the horses there seem gentle-tempered, their owner did not. He apparently was not taught the same lesson the shopkeeper had.
"Look, I can refuse sale to any one I want," the bearded man in front of the chimera sneers, looking down at him with his arms crossed. "And I'm refusing to sell to anybody non-human, even if they act civilized or what not. I may sell horses for a living, but I don't want 'em to be savagely mauled and eaten by monstrous freaks like you."
Zelgadis crosses his arms. "Bah. You have no idea what it's like. You try living with a curse, then maybe you'd understand. And I don't eat horses, I ride them. But apparently, you don't need the business." Zelgadis jangles his gold pouch.
Zelgadis walks out, waiting to see if the shopkeeper is interested in the gold.
'Next on the agenda is finding out more about the Desert of Destruction. Maybe ask a few of the locals about it.', Zelgadis ponders to himself.
The man snorts. "Talk of curses indeed. All I see is a monster trying to act like a man," he mutters under his breath.
The gold however was somewhat enticing, even over his... ahem, 'principles', and he adds to his muttering, "Ah well, he acts well enough..." before calling for the chimera.
"It'll take quite a bit of that to convince me, mons...traveller," he calls out.
After sometime, the shopkeeper finds himself amazed as Lina walks away from his store, Gourry following while carrying a very large and bulging pack of items on his back. He wondered where they were going that they needed three to four months of food. He got past his amazement and moved onto pleased grinning. That sale would have him comfortably living for a while.
The two head back to the inn where they can meet with Amelia.
"Did you find us a guide, Amelia?" Lina asks, entering the inn and spotting the princess.
Amelia points to a scruffy-looking man at the counter, never pausing in her attack on her food.
Lina gleefully joins the assault on the food!
Zelgadis walks out of the horse dealer's place. As he does so, he fires a parting shot, "You should have treated your customers with respect, then you would have made a fine deal."
'Hmmm, seems this town is a little unfriendly. Better cover myself up some.' Zelgadis puts on his hood and lower mask, leaving just his eyes uncovered.
After stocking up on supplies and such, Zelgadis begins to ask a few locals about the Desert of Destruction, perhaps loosening their lips with a few gold pieces.
Amelia fights off the attack on her food!
"Miss Lina, get your own!"
"Never!" Lina exclaims between bites.
Seeing nothing better to do, Gourry joins the two girls in devouring every item of food in the inn.
And really, how many things in life are better than eating?