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Somewhere, in the middle of the green forest two young people were searching for an aged sorcerer’s place with a hand drawn map. It was middle of the summer time and the sun was heating mercilessly, so they were very sweaty even among the trees.
„Lina, do you think, the old man was right? He sounded a little bit insane to me.” Asked Gourry looking on his companion. „We are wandering here since breakfast. And soon it will rain.” He added, waiting for a response from the girl.
„I’m close to solving the riddle with this freaking scribbles of his.” She said not looking away from the piece of paper and Gourry knows better to stop disturbing her. After some time came a sudden thunderstorm with pouring rain as Gourry predicted. Both, soaked to the bone found a cave at the foot of the hill, but unfortunately it was occupied by a bandits and their treasure, so Lina and Gourry had to fight first. After the very short battle, when the thugs left without their loot, they set a small fire near the cave entrance to dry themselves. Out of habit Gourry started to check their surrounding. The interior wasn’t large, but he saw a corridor in the far end of the cave. Nothing more unusual than that. Unexpectedly Lina stood so fast, that she almost fell into the campfire. Gourry was grateful for his quick reactions and managed to catch her before that.
„I think we’re here!” Her voice was full of hope as she started to look around.
„Great…” Gourry muttered to himself. „She even didn’t noticed she was in danger. I’m wondering how she managed to survive before I found her years ago.” He thought.
„Oh, come on, Gourry! There has to be something!” Lina looked in the direction of the darkest part of the small cave. „Lightning!” She called and the bright ball of light formed above her palm and floated forward. It wasn’t a long way, but it was muddy and ended with two different ways. Their map was useless after the entrance to the cave, so they needed to choose one way. The right corridor ended with the small pond. The sorcerer and the swordsman went back and took the left way, which lead them straight to the dead end. „I don’t understand. There has to be an entrance or…” She didn’t finish, because Gourry hushed her.
„I can feel moving fresh air above us.” He pointed at the wall in front of them. Lina lifted the lightning ball to the ceiling and they noticed a small narrow space. The wall was too smooth to climb, and the entrance too high to reach, even for Gourry. Lina used a levitation spell to lift them up and they found themselves in a narrow corridor. There wasn’t much space, so they need to move one by one with Lina in the front. After a few minutes of walking in the nearly dark space Lina stumbled on a small rock lying on the floor, so instinctively her hands went to the stone walls to stabilize herself. Almost immediately she felt something, which she was sure she didn’t want to feel ever in her life. Lina made ball of light bigger and the view froze the blood in her veins. On both walls were stuck a dozens or even a hundreds of big, slimy and disgusting slugs. The sorcerer stopped in the middle of the step, which caused Gourry to bump into her. She felt goosebumps crawling all over her body and incoming nausea.
„I can’t.” She whispered and then added with hoarsed voice. „We need to go back.” Gourry felt a weak push in the opposite direction and put his hands on her shoulders to stop her.
„Wait, Lina calm down. We already made more than half way actually. I can see end of the corridor already, so it’s no point to turn back now.” Gourry tried to tranquilize her. He knew about the slugs from the beginning and rembered about Lina’s phobia, but he hoped that she could walk past the slugs without even noticing them. The swordsman realized, that she hold close onto him and his heart skipped a beat. Lina’s face was buried into his chest so tight, that there was no more space between them. By instinct, he embraced the petite girl. „Hold it together, you idiot! She needs you.” He reminded himself in his mind. „Hey, hey, Lina. Stay calm, you’re safe.” He used a soothing voice and pet her hair in a calming manner. After a few minutes the quiet, sobbing voice he heard went dead. „If you want I can go first and you can keep close to me. You can even close your eyes, I’ll be there for you.” Lina didn’t trust her voice to say anything, so she just nodded in agreement. Gourry turned them around trying to keep her as far from the stone walls as possible. She embraced him from behind, shut her eyes and desperately tried to think about something more enjoyable, than that slimy nightmare on the walls. Lina wished she could savour that closeness with Gourry, she dreamed about, but with that terrifying situation she wasn’t able to do so. The sorcerer was so focused on her thoughts, that she didn’t noticed, that they stopped. Gourry took her hands off him just enough to turn around and let her to hug him once more time. He embraced her with one hand and gently stroked her hair with his second one. „You did it, Lina. You can open your eyes now.” She took a deep breath and slowly lifted her damp eyelids. Lina blinked a few times to sharpen her eyesight and looked at him stepping away. She missed his warm body despite, the high temperature outside.
„Thanks for that.” Lina managed to say after clearing her throat. She started to looking around.
„Not a problem at all, but I wanted to apologize to you.” Said Gourry with hesistation looking on his feet.
„To apologize? Me? What for?” She asked confused focusing on him all her attention.
„I should have warned you about those slugs, but you looked so brave and full of confidence, that I thought, that you knew about them. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that I my senses are sharper than yours. So I’m so sorry for that.”
„Oh, don’t be sorry for that! We’re so far thanks to you, so don’t bother your handsome face and let’s find some luxury stuff!” When Lina realized what she had said, she felt her face get warmer, so she turned away to avoid Gourry’s reaction and as a result she didn’t noticed the satisfied smile on his face. At the ceiling were some holes, which let the sunlight and the fresh air fall inside, and thanks to strategically placed mirrors there should be bright enough to see without the lightning spell. Unfortunately due to weather conditions the room was dim, so they still need to use Lina’s ball of light. The place was adapted as a one person living space. It had every single needed essentials with a simple bed, place for a campfire, a cauldrons, some shelves, a table, chests and a large bookcase. Looking at the thick layer of dust they could tell, that since long time there was nobody here. Gourry was pacing around and Lina started to leaf through the books. She had to be cautious with them, since they look quite old and worn-out. „As far as I see, he has nothing valuable. I hope that old man was right and we will find something or I’ll go back and make him pay for all my stress! For now I’m not sure if even a fireball is enou…” Lina stopped in the middle of the word when she spotted a book, which looked way older than the rest.
„What do you have in there?” Asked Gourry, who became alarmed by the sudden silence in the room. She felt his presence dangerously close, his warm breath on her neck when he bent over her shoulder to look at what she found. Instantly memories of their closiness came flooding to her and she felt, that her face become crimson red. „When did he start to be that close?” she thought, taking a few deep breaths to compose herself. She didn't trust her voice, so she simply went to the table situated in the middle of the room, where were laying some documents and books.
„I'm not sure yet what it is, but I saw a similiar book once, and I found an incomplete incantation of Ragna Blade inside. If I'm right there might be something about magic amplificiers strong enough to cast such spell. Honestly I’m missing having such an ace up my sleeve, even if it’s extremely draining."
Gourry could hear a longing tone in her voice. He glanced on the very top shelf and said „Oh, that can be definitely useful. Hey, Lina! Do you think it is something valuable? I think you had something similiar to this.” Gourry said showing her some kind of jewellery, which looked almost the same as one of her lost Demon's Blood Talismans.
She nearly dropped book which she was holding.
„I can feel it's a magical item, but even if it's amplificier I still need to know an incantation. Do you see anything else? Some books that looks older than the rest?” She asked concentrating on the liquid gold inside of the jewel.
„Nope, nothing else.” She heard in response. They spent some more time exploring the room, but didn’t found anything valuable.
„I hope that there is another exit. No way I'm going back the same way we get there.” Lina said shivering. „Too bad I can't fireball the slugs. The explosion will burn down probably half this room as well.”
„Be quiet for a second, I hear something. It sounds like a water.” Gourry stood by the wall and noticed above them a very similiar entrance to the one they used before.
Lina joined him and with an eerily calm voice said „If there are more slugs I will turn this whole place into ashes.”
The swordsman suspected, that she was serious. „Lift me up, I’ll check it out.” He said full of hope, that the corridor will be clear of pests. Lina levitated Gourry up and sent ball of light after him waiting for a reconnaissance results. „It’s slug-safe! You can come here!” Gourry called standing on the ledge. The sorcerer packed the things, which looks most priceless and levitated herself next to Gourry. She took a deep, calming breath.
„How long is this corridor?” Lina asked sending the lightning ball forward.
„Much shorter than the previous one, but you need to be carefull. It ends abruptly a few meters just above the water. I think that is the pond we found earlier.” He noticed her distress, so he offered: „ I can go first If you want.”
„Sure, in that way you will be the one, who will fell into the water, not me.” Lina tried to cover her unease with a joke, but Gourry felt her discomfort. He looked back on the passage, this one was way wider than the first one, they could go next to each other. A daring plan formed in his mind. Gourry was conscious of the risks, but sometimes the ends justify the means, so he boldly put one hand over Lina’s shoulder and pulled her to start walking.
„Don’t worry, I promise you, that there is not a single slug in here. Better tell me what it is the thing I found earlier.” Gourry tried to take her up with some other matter, because he knows, that sometimes she becomes unaware of her surrounding, when she is trying to solve the issues.
„I know what you’re doing, you sneaky bastard!” She thought and tried not to smile in response. „There’s no freaking way I’ll loose that opportunity!” She encouraged herself deeply in her mind and started talking. „You did noticed, that this talisman is almost identical to the four I had. I think, that they were made by the same person. Do you remember our last battle with Shabranigdu-Luke? One of these talismans contained the Ruby Eye Shabranigdu’s power, second had part of the Dark Star Dugradigdu, third the Chaotic Blue and the last one the Death Fog. As for this one, I think it has part of the Lord of Nightmares. Whoever did it…”
It seems this was Gourry’s lucky day. Firstly he felt happy, when she started talking and relaxing, but her snuggling to him and putting her hand around his waist made him extremely blissful. As a result the swordsman did stop paying attention to what she was saying. Gourry wished, that the walkway was much longer, but too soon for his taste they stood on the way out. Lina used a levitation spell to put them down on a bank of the lake. They went straight to the way out, but stopped when they realized, that it is still raining cats and dogs. „I don’t think it will end soon.” Stated Gourry, putting a piece of wood into the nearly burned out campfire close to the cave entrance they left before. „Looks like we will stay here for longer, so why don’t we eat something? I’m already starving to be honest and probably we missed dinner time.” He added.
As a response they heard rumbling in Lina’s stomach. „You’re right, I didn’t notice how hungry I’m until now.” She sat next to Gourry and started to unpack their food rations. They predicted, that their trip would be longer than just afternoon trip, so they took all their belongings with them, rather that leave them at the inn and pay for not sleeping in their rooms. During the meal Lina was unusually quiet, so Gourry tried to distract her, by stealing her a piece of a dry meat and starting their typical battle of food. He succed, because she become her normal self in an instant. When they were nearly satisfied with their late dinner, Lina unpacked one of the books, she borrowed and tried to read, but the feeling of being dirty was distracting enough to give it up. She looked at her companion, who already was peacefully sleeping on his bedroll on the opposite side of the campfire, and smiled at that sight. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. „Let’s see… The rain is not going to stop soon, and there is that pond, which I can use to clean myself, but there’s no freaking way I’ll put my foot back there. I’m sure, that there is more of these gross, slimy slugs.” Lina considered all the options she had. Her eyes widened a little as she got an idea. The girl looked at the rain, then briefly at her muddy clothes and finally at the sleeping Gourry. The night and the heavy rainfall made it impossible to see further than a few steps ahead, so nobody would see her. Without a second thought, Lina as quiet as she can, took off her mantle and the shoulder guards, unfastened the belt with her short sword attached and took off her boots. The sorcerer hesistated a while, but finally she took off her yellow top and the red pants. Lina clad merely in her underwear tiptoed to the cave’s entrance. Despite the rain and the lack of the sun, the air was pretty warm. When heavy drops contacted with her skin, she started shivering a little, but after first shock she enjoyed her shower. Lina used her soap to clean herself and was waiting until the rain will wash away the remainings. The sorceress desperately wanted to forget her rendezvous with the slugs, so she focused on something different, or rather someone else. „Gourry… When did that guy become so close? When did this thing grow into such a natural behaviour for us, that I did’d even noticed?” She directed her thoughts so hard on trying to understand their relationship, that she became completely unaware of her surrounding.
„May I join you?” Gourry’s voice from behind startled her and brought her back to the reality.
„Are you insane?!” Lina yelled covering herself with her hands. „Why the hell are you sneaking like some freaking thief?”She glanced at him and noticed, that he was shirtless.
„I wasn’t. I’ve tried to be loud enough, but you seemed to fly away with your thoughts.” He explained putting hands on his hips and trying not to think, that she is almost naked in front of him. „What’s wrong? Are you okay? ” Gourry asked alarmed, when she didn’t said a word.
„I’m fine.” Lina didn’t even tried to be convincing.
„Let me try something.” Gourry had hope, that his lucky day wasn’t finished yet, and not waiting for Lina’s response, he put his palms on her shoulders and started doing circles with his thumbs. They felt some kind of spark between them. The swordsman felt her tense shoulder muscles relax almost immedietely, so he took her wet hair aside and expanded the massage on her neck and back near the spine.
„Don’t even think about stopping right now…” She sighed and tilted her head back. Gourry tried not to chuckle at her threat, but he realized, that she gave him a perfect chance to admire her breasts. A minute or two later Lina leaned on him, so he couldn’t carry on with the massage. His left hand went to her hip and flat stomach and the second to her jawline. A sensual moan escaped from her lips, but she didn’t mind.
„Are you feeling better now?” Gourry asked lowering himself to make sure his lips brushed her ear.
„A little bit…” Lina answered, turning her face into his voice direction. The sorceress’s hands were no longer covering her, she grasped his hand laying on her hip, her back firmly pressed to his chest.
„I’m perfectly sure I know some more ways to relax.” He declared hoarsely, moving his long fingers along her jawline. Lina turned around to, stand on her toes and kissed him. After the first shock, Gourry eagerly returned her kiss and picked her up. Her legs went around his hips by instinct and her hands grasped his head. Their kiss become more wild and passionate, but it was finished too soon by a series of extremely loud thunders.
„Better hide inside.” Suggested Gourry lowering Lina to being able to stand on her own legs, then grabbed her hand and start pulling her into direction of the cave entrance. Once they were safe in the warm interior, the swordsman sat near the fire and pulled her on his knees to resume where they were interrupted before.
„We need to take a proper bath next time.” Lina stated between the kisses.
„I’m in.”