Carriages are a fine way to travel.  Some carriages have all the
amenities that one could possibly need--a small library of books, some
containers filled with drinks for those whose mouths need the
occasional touch of alcohol, cushioned seats--the list goes on and on.

And although she was traveling in one such carraige, Lady Erika had
not used anything in this carriage, with the noted exception of the
cushioned seats.  She had more pressing business to attend to.

Business which could be held off, apparently, as a figure appeared in
the seat across from her.  The crystal sphere it was holding began to
glow.

"I have not heard from you in a while."

Erika rolled her eyes.  "And you won't hear from me until I've found
what I need."

A pause, which Erika perceived correctly to be the silent version of
shaking one's head.  "Now, now, you shouldn't say such things.  How can
you be so sure that your precious treasure has not been found?"

"Because I haven't been told yet," she retorted.

"That means nothing," replied the voice.  "Just because your underlings
do not report back does not mean they have not found it."

Another pause, in which Erika briefly contemplated her previous
conversations with Torr.

"I digress," the voice continued.  "Now, on to matters which I was
hoping to discuss."

Damn, Erika thought to herself.  Their kind never forgets.

"Now, I have done many a favor for you; now is the time for you to repay
those favors."

"Your price?"

She could hear the mischevious grin.  "Merely a simple request, say I,
who simply seeks a butterfly.  I want the child."

"The child?"  Erika knew exactly which child; she merely wanted to make
sure.  "But--"

"Yes, the child.  And if you do not bring her to me, I will be very
unhappy.  With you."  The last two words, although in the same tone as
the rest of the dialogue, echoed much louder in Erika's ears than the
rest of the sentence did.

And with that, the glow faded.  The servant bowed its head and
disappeared.

Erika reconsidered the luxuries available to her in her carriage.  Maybe
she would have a drink, after all...

***

Slayers Glorious
Chapter 37: Rush! To Get to the Bell!

This chapter by Lawrence Chu
Additional scenes by Kate Malloy
Started by Todd Harper

***

The lost city of Levar.

Ages back, this was a crown jewel of architecture and aesthetics, the
toil of many a dragon over many a year, on a scale that previously many
thought impossible.  The sheer majesty of the city would cause a human's
heart to stop beating once they beheld the vision.

Now, it was merely a pile of rubble, a desolate wasteland, rumored to
be filled with spirits of all sorts or, even worse, the Mazoku who once
brought down the great city.

"So who's going in?" asked Korvadus from his hiding spot behind a piece
of marble which once resembled a column.

"You are!" Lilen hissed back.  "I'm not risking myself out there!  I
can't stand all those ghosts!"

"Why don't you do it?!" responded Korvadus.  "You could...I don't know,
do your change thing and pretend you're one of them!"

"They'll know I'm not a ghost!" she replied.  "You...just go out there
and die like a man!  At least you'll make it through okay!"

"I'M not going out there, YOU do it!"

"No, YOU do it!"

"Why me?"

"Because you!"

"ARRR--"

*SOCK* *WHAM*

"--RRRRRRrrrrrr*thud*"

The two agents looked at each other, the fists they were holding out,
and finally at the mangled pile that was the Captain, now fairly deep
within the arguable city limits.

Five minutes of observation later, the pair determined the safety of
the entrance and continued forward, in search of their prey...

***

Further amongst the ruins, Naga and the recently reunited party
continued scouring the area for the cave which would lead them to the
Bell.  This was proving more difficult than before; any landmarks
Mariposa had made note of were non-existent--whether it was because of
the scars of the previous battle or otherwise, they just weren't there
anymore.

Mariposa sat down with a small *plop* and sighed.  She didn't want to
betray the Praetor or Naga-sama, but at the same time, she felt she HAD
to destroy the Silent Bell.  Alone, if that's what she had to do.

Suddenly, a little voice somewhere urged her to look up and about.
Jerking her head up, she saw...

It was off in the distance, but there it was: the entrance to the cave,
embedded in the side of that mountain.  Now, all she had to do was to
get away from everyone...but how?

Naga-sama was keeping a close eye on her, sneaking glances when she
thought Mariposa wasn't looking.  The one time she looked back, Naga-
sama had blushed a bit and looked the other way.

Actinaea was doing the same, but she made it much more known.  Every
time their eyes met, she would give a mildly disapproving look.

Luanni was busy looking around and frowning, as if she could feel the
cave being around but wasn't sure exactly where.  She'd move one way one
moment, another way the next, and finally stop and huff very softly.

Getehl was--

"You okay, Mari-chan?" Getehl asked as he plopped down next to the
little girl, eliciting a small "eep!" from said girl.  "You look a
little uneasy..." he tilted his hat a little down and to the right,
causing his general expression to look a bit more relaxed.

"I'm fine, Getehl-san," responded Mariposa.  "And you?"

"Yeah," Luanni added.  "What have you and Naga been doing since we left
you guys?"  She sat down and casually wrapped one of her arms around
his, in a mostly-casual-just-friends-really sort of way.

As Getehl started recounting everything that had happened since the
incident in Kalmaart, Actinaea turned her back and harumphed in an I-
really-don't-care-about-how-they're-acting-towards-each-other sort of
way, although neither of the two people she was harumphing about
noticed.

"OOOOOHOHOHOHO!" Naga laughed in an I-see-exactly-what's-going-on sort
of way.  "I see EXACTLY what's going on!  Do you feel yourself above
emotions, Acti-chan?"  She continued her tirade, practically waltzing
about the Praetor.  "But if you DID have emotions, you wouldn't have a
chance anyway!  Not with such a flat--"

"I have had ENOUGH happen to me since we were separated," Actinaea
growled.  "And I will NOT stand for a low-born balloonlike brute of a
woman to add further insult to my injury."  She drew herself up further,
frosting her eyes as they looked directly into Naga's.

"A low-born brute, am I?" Naga drew herself up and in an even haughtier
position than before, matching the intensity of Actinaea's glare.  "I
have more class in a lock of hair than you would in three of your
extremely lacking bodies!"

"Well, aren't YOU the little princess, then!" the Praetor snapped.

She regretted it when Naga's glare intensified exponentially.

"Mono. VOLT."

The resulting display of light and sound jarred Getehl and Luanni out of
the storytelling trance they were locked in, and they rushed to keep the
two from hurting each other badly.

Mariposa looked up, confused as to what was happening, when the little
voice from before whispered to her:

Now's your chance.

And so the girl sprinted out of sight of the others.

***

A discrete distance behind, Torr noted everything in the events previous
and idly wondered what the Praetor said that insulted Naga so.  Then he
saw the girl running from the rest of the group...departing towards that
mountain--

--The Bell.  The girl was going after the Silent Bell again, was she?
This could be either a nuisance or entertainment--

His train of thought was interrupted as the crystal sphere in his pocket
warmed up in temperature.  Taking it out, the brightly glowing device
cleared up to reveal...

"Yes, Erika?"  Torr whispered; no matter what distractions were about,
there was no need to be discovered.

"Do you have the Bell?"

"I'm on the way to acquiring it now," he reported.

"Very well.  In addition to that, I need you to do one more thing..."

"That is...?"

"Get the girl."

The light from the crystal faded, and Torr placed it back in his pocket.
A smirk on his face, he silently followed the girl's trail.  This would
be entertainment.

***

Deep within the mountain, a Mazoku General smiled.  Everything was going
exactly as planned.

***

"Honestly, what has gotten *into* you two?" Luanni asked exasperatedly
as she and Getehl finally managed to get Naga and Actinaea listening to
reason.

"She started it!" the two chorused, each pointing at the other.  Both of
them blinked simultaneously.

"Well, if you weren't so opposed to admitting your feelings-" Naga
began, before Actinaea glared at her.

"Just leave me *alone*!" Actinaea screamed.

Getehl and Luanni were both a bit taken aback by the sudden display of
anger from the normally cool Actinaea.  The members of the group simply
stared at each other for a few moments.

"Look, this isn't getting us anywhere," Getehl finally said.  "I'm not
sure what you two are arguing about, but the more important thing is
finding the Bell and getting out of here.  So, Mariposa, if you
would..."  His voice trailed off as he realized the girl was nowhere to
be seen.

"Mari-chan?" Luanni called.

"Mariposa Manin Fehlmeier, you come out here right this instant!"
Actinaea ordered.

Silence.

"She didn't..." Naga began worriedly.  "She wouldn't have gone back on
her own, would she?  Not after what you said happened last time...
Mari-chan?  Mari-chan!"

"This is not amusing, Mariposa!" Actinaea said in frustration.  "Come
back here right now or you'll-"

"She's not here," Getehl interrupted.  "While you two were arguing, she
must have run off to find the Bell on her own."

Actinaea bit back an angry retort.

"Well, we're not going to find her just standing here!" Naga continued,
a hint of worry creeping into her voice.  "We must start looking for
her!"

"Should we split up?" Luanni asked.  "We might be able to find her
faster that way, but, then again, we might get into even more trouble."

"Stay together," Actinaea said.  "We don't want anyone else getting lost,
and this place is an absolute maze."

"Yes, well, I suppose I could tolerate your company a bit longer for the
sake of finding Mari-chan," Naga replied haughtily.

Getehl put a hand to his forehead, while Luanni sighed.

"So which way are we going?" Luanni asked.

"Left," Actinaea said, at the same time Naga declared, "Right."

"How about we take the center passage?" Getehl quickly proposed before
yet another round of verbal sniping could break out.

"Fine," Actinaea answered, stalking towards the passage in question.

With a shrug, Getehl followed her with Luanni right behind him, leaving
Naga to bring up the rear.

Naga took one quick glance around the room before entering the passage.
"Mari-chan... we'll find you... I promise."

***

Mari advanced through the cave, the lichens on the wall seemingly
glowing brighter than before.  She didn't know exactly how she would
destroy it, but she'd figure it out sooner or later.  If she didn't
get to the Bell first, would it matter if she knew how to destroy it?

No.  This was it, her only chance.  She couldn't fail now--

--what was that?

She looked around, looking for the source of the noise, but couldn't
figure out what it was for the love of her.  She tried forming a
Fireball, but something kept on putting out her magic.  After a few
moments' hesitation, she continued forward, but not before picking up a
rock from the ground and clutching it firmly into her hand.

After a few more minutes' worth of walking, she finally rounded the
corner and walked into the Bell Chamber.  And there it was, the Bell,
very much the same as it was the last time she saw it.

And now, once again, she had to figure out a way of destroying it
without magic.

Looking down at the rock clutched in her hand, light of the lichens
reflecting off the surface, she considered hurling it at the Bell.
Would that do anything?

Only one way to find out, she decided.  Winding up, she prepared to
launch the rock at the Bell--

*thud*

--when the world turned black.  The rock fell, silently, to her side,
and the last thing she saw was the ground rushing at her.

***

Author's notes:

...

...

...

It's been eighteen parts, and how life has changed in those eighteen
parts.  Jamie wanted to write for SG again sometime; I felt a need to
help him do that.  If I had passed this up, if I had skipped or not
bothered to ask to be in the final queue for SG, I don't know what I
would have done with myself.

Lots of things conspired against me in writing this chapter; taking
place during finals week was one of them.  I'm sorry to say this, Ryun,
but Chapter 35 was indirectly another--the long line of skips after it
addled my mind about the continuity.  Yet other RL obligations and some
on-line ones suddenly asked to be fulfilled.  And then other on-line
things happened that I won't even begin to talk about.

And yet, through it all, you helped me pull it together.

Not 'you' in a singular sense, I mean that in a plural.  You who with
me knocked heads together to come up with some semblance of a story; you
who encouraged me not to stop; you who preread everything and gave
generous feedback; you who gave ideas and scenes when I couldn't do it
on my own.

And, of course, you who read this chapter in the end.

I thank you all for helping me do all this, to achieve another one of
Jamie's ambitions, no matter how small or minor it was.  Much of a pain
in the ass as it was, I loved writing for this.  Both chapters.  Can't
be denied.

This one's for you, 'niichan.  I hope you enjoyed it.

--Lawrence Pei-Jong Chu