Zel uncurled slowly, taking his time to stretch out. Getting up this way always hurt a little, but he was getting used to it. At least this time he hadn't dreamt of Rezo again--well, not that he could remember.

What was that dream, anyways? He shook his head, trying to recall the vague images. I was fighting... trolls, berserkers, a couple of things I don't even want to know the names of... but why?

Then the final piece swam into place, and the whole dream slid into a complete but fuzzy memory.

I was protecting Lina.

Huh. He got to his knees, shrugging off the cloak; as he reached upwards, stretching his long arms, he wondered whether she would actually appreciate that in real life. She'd probably laugh, or say it was just a dumb guy thing. And she'd be right; it does sound kind of macho.

He sighed and, with difficulty, managed to get back into his accustomed travelling clothes. All in all, a nice dream, but one he'd keep to himself.

When he emerged, Sylfiel and Amelia were busying themselves gathering firewood.

"Mr. Zelgadis!" Sylfiel spotted him immediately, and gave him a cheerful if mismanaged wave, spilling a few twigs from the small load of wood in her arms. Amelia seemed to be muttering something to herself; Zel caught the word "Justice" and promptly stopped listening.

"Did I miss anything important?" he asked.

"Well, somebody broke the compass, and Miss Lina's been in her tent since dawn trying to fix it."

"Sounds bad. Think I should go help?"

"I'm not sure. She's pretty worked up about it--"

"HEY GUYS! GUESS WHAT!"

Zel turned. Lina was trying to jump out of her tent, waving some small object around like a madwoman and grinning like there would be no tomorrow.

"It worked! I tried a new spell on it and now it looks like it's working again! Look, it’s not bent anymore, looklooklook!"

"That's great, Miss Lina." Sylfiel smiled encouragingly.

"Nice work," Zel added, tapping the compass lightly with one fingertip, "but will it hold?"

"It ought to. At least until we get to the next village. But we should stay here for a while, just to make sure."

"Make sure of what?" he asked, sarcastically. "Being cold and hungry for another night?"

"Hey, shut up, you big doof!" she shot back. "If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times, meals around here wait for no man."

"Gee, thanks for the tip. I'm really glad you're so very considerate."

"Knock it off. Look, next time, if you want a fish, you'll have to tear yourself away from your books."

"I would have if you'd given me some notice!"

"Well, sor-ry Sir Pout-a-lot."

"That's it." He took a step backwards, then turned and started off in the opposite direction. "I'm not going to put up with this today. I'm outta here."

"But Mr. Zelgadis--" Sylfiel began.

"I'll be back when somebody decides to quit being a pain in the neck!"

The two women watched him go, and then Lina remembered her earlier thought about going easy on him.

"Damn," she sighed, and started heading out of the campsite.

"Are you going to go apologize, Miss Lina?" Sylfiel asked, tentatively.

"No. I'm going to get breakfast, and then blow something up. That always makes me feel better."

As she trudged off, Sylfiel heard Amelia sigh. "Breakfast. I wish I had some breakfast right now... a great big breakfast, too, like we'd get at an inn."

"I know you do, but we should finish getting--"

*RUMBLE*

"--this load... done?"

Sylfiel heard Amelia gasp, and turned around slowly.

And very nearly fainted herself.



Back to the "Nothing" index