Torr was in a unique predicament. Unique in his recent experience, anyway. He was on the verge of being able to accomplish both of the tasks set before him by the Lady Erika. Once he was finished with these tasks, Erika would pay him and leave him alone for a while, and he could go have a vacation on some pretty little beach where people would bring him alcoholic drinks with little umbrellas in them, which would make him happy. So all he had to do was bring the Silent Bell and Mariposa ouside of the ruins of Levar, tie them to the horses he had outside, and make for Sailune before anyone could catch up. Unfortunately, he could only carry one of these at a time without weighing himself down too much to fight or flee in case someone confronted him on the way out. He eventually decided to carry Mariposa out first. The Bell was less likely to run off to rejoin it's friends, after all. So, picking the girl up and slinging her over his left shoulder, he exited the Bell's chamber and began jogging back towards the exit. ----------------------------------------------------------- Slayers Glorious Chapter 38: Chase! He's Getting Away! This chapter by Robin Strickland, may he rest in peace. Started by Todd Harper ----------------------------------------------------------- "ARRRR." The Captain arrrred. Lilen sighed, and turned to Korvadus, whispering "Can't we ditch him somewhere in here? I'm getting really tired of his arrrring." Korvadus nodded. "I think that'd be a good idea, actually. He isn't in this for the same reasons we are, and in the long run he'll only hold us back. Lemme know if you find a good place to get rid of him, and we can--" And then a large, ancient musical device of some sort fell from a rooftop high above and landed on top of the Captain. "Or, we could just wait for a piano to fall on him," ammended Korvadus. "Is that what that is?" "Yup." "Huh. I thought they were all built upright?" She resumed walking int he direction they had already been going. "Well, the ones you sometimes see in inns are, yes. This was apparently made for some fancier establishment, and so..." The two wondered off, not looking back. ----------------------------------------------------------- Naga, Actinaea, Getehl and Luanni had been searching for Mariposa for only a short while, but they were already beginning to worry about not finding her. There was, after all, the distinct possibility that she did not wish to be found, which would make finding her in this strange place that much more difficult. "Mari-chan!" called Getehl. "She's probably gone off to try and find the Bell before us," muttered Actinaea. "Fine," replied Naga. "Then all we have to do is find the Bell before she does." "My, Naga, you make it sound so simple," came Actinaea's dry retort. Naga didn't dignify her with an answer, and soom everyone got back to the important buisness of wandering around aimlessly and calling out verious renditions of Mariposa's name. ----------------------------------------------------------- After a while of walking and talking, Lilen and Korvadus had become quite enamored in their discussion of modern music. "You have to admit that Gemey Hen Drekks is good with a lute, tho," said Korvadus. "Well, yeah," responded Lilen. "But I still say Arwen of Glennspoint is the best Lutist around." "Hey, you two," said Torr. The others turned to the new arrival and blinked. "Hello, Torr," greeted Lilen. "Hello," returned Torr. "I need you two to do something for me. And for Erika. And for Erika's money." "Sounds good," said Korvadus. "What do you need?" Torr took Mariposa off of his shoulder and handed her to Korvadus. "I need you to take her outside and tie her to a horse, and I need you to get that horse and one other prepared to leave, and I need you to make sure she doesn't get harmed in any way." "Oh," said Lilen, "Not too much, then?" "Look, just do it, okay?" Torr said with a bit of a growl. "Naga and the others are around here somewhere, so we have to be quick if we hope to succeed." "Yeah, yeah, sure. We'll get her out. Good luck in there." Torr set of towards the Bell chamber at a run. ----------------------------------------------------------- Torr had made it back to the Bell chamber, and was now setting out for the exit at a brisk walk. So far, everything had gone off without a hitch, and it seemed to Torr as though it would continue that way right up until he was spotted. "Oi!" shouted Naga, "It's Torr! And he has a bell that isn't making much noise!" "Uhm, this isn't the bell you're looking for?" asked Torr hopefully. "He must know where Mari is!" said Actinaea in a fit of sudden insight, since the author was in too big a rush to wait for her to figure it out on her own. She followed this up with "Wind Brid!" Torr, knowing what was best for his health, turned and ran into an old building. His hope was to keep Naga and Actinaea from being able to hit him with any of their spells, while keeping far enough ahead to keep Getehl and whoever the other woman was (who, luckily, did not look like a sorcerer) from engaging him directly. He was already fairly close to the city's exit, which was good, for him. If he could only keep ahead of the others long enough to make it outside alive, he could probably order Lilen and Korvadus to hold his pursuers off until he was safely away. He continued through the abondoned buildings of the ancient and proud city of the dragons, clutching the Silent Bell close to his side, and soon the exit was in sight. ----------------------------------------------------------- Author's Notes: Here, let me say this and save y'all the trouble; "Dear GOD, this part sucked!" I really hate to leave a mess like this with you all, but between having two writing classes with essays due this week, and the fact that I lost my first try at this chapter when my computer crashed this morning, I'm afraid there was just no way for me to put out quality work. But I really, really, really hate the notion of skipping, so... Anyway, I still hope against hope that you all enjoyed this, despite it's faults. ^^; --Robin Strickland