Quest!

The Search for the Wolf of Mount Leikaku!

Episode 11

"So this is Mount Leikaku?" wondered Tamahome several days later as he shielded his eyes from the sun. "It sure doesn't look like much."

"Well, this is the place," said Nuriko, consulting his map. "I wonder where the bandits are?"

Lina tapped her chin. "If they're typical bandits, they'd already be surrounding us, hiding in the shrubbery and the trees. Actually, we should probably run into one of their traps right about -"

Crash! A pitfall opened in front of them.

"- now," Lina finished.

"Aiyah, na no da! How did you know that, no da?"

"I made a living hunting down bandits. I'm pretty used to what they do. You see, after they realize we realize they're surrounding us, they'll probably come in for a show of arms."

Almost instantly, the bushes were alive with a bunch of rough men bristling with weapons.

Lina shrugged. "This stuff is like clockwork. One of them will make a challenge, and we'll throw it back at them, and then the battle begins."

True to her word, the leader began jawing about trespassing on the Leikaku bandits' territory and penalties and suchlike and so forth.

"What's the best way to beat them?" wondered Nuriko, ignoring him.

"Excessive brute force," winked Lina over the bandit's speech. "Of course, now that my magic doesn't work, I'm going to have to leave that part up to you three, but at least you know what to do."

Tamahome flexed his fists. "Sounds good to me."

Nuriko moved so he was standing next to a large rock. "Me too."

"Aiyah, na no da!" said Chichiri. "Here they come, no da!"

The bandit leader had finally noticed that no one was paying attention to his speech (the bandits because they'd heard it all before and Lina's gang because Lina had heard it all before) and had cut it short. As a group, the bandits charged.

The skirmish was over swiftly. Thanks to Nuriko's rock throwing, Tamahome's bandit punching, and Chichiri's ki magic, the bandits were defeated with no casualties to Lina's side.

"Wow," commented Lina. "You guys are better than me and Gourry."

Somewhere in Rand McNally, Gourry read Lina's words. He yelled, "Just what are you trying to say by that?!"

"JuST whAt aRE yoU trYINg to SaY bY ThAt?!" yelled a voice.

Everyone turned. "Gourry?" gasped Lina.

Somewhere in Rand McNally, Gourry blinked a few times.

"LINa?!"

"Gourry!" Lina paused, "Where are you?"

"I'm iN RaND McNALLy, at tHe DanciNG FiSh INn! WheRE aRe yOu At?"

"I'm inside the bloody book, you idiot, where else do you think I am? Are you just being more dense than usual today?"

"UmM... I'lL haVE TO geT bAcK to YOu oN ThaT oNe..."

Lina got a sweatdrop.

"sO wHAt arE You doInG In tHERe?"

A few fume marks puffed out from Lina's hair. "I don't know! Why don't you read ahead and tell me what happens?"

"IsN'T thAT aGainSt tHE rULEs?" wondered Gourry's voice. "ANd hOw CoME wE CAn suDDEnlY taLK lIkE ThiS?"

"Stop asking me, I don't know!" yelled Lina. "Just flip ahead a few pages and tell me if we find the fifth Suzaku no Shichi Seishi, okay?"

"OKAy, OkaY... yEEsh... tEMpeR... Um, lEt'S sEE. 'As tHe gIRl anD hER bODYGUarD' - heY! I'm a bODyguARD nOW??"

"Hurry UP, Gourry! What happens?"

"SOrRY... 'As ThE GIrl anD hEr BodyGuArd WEre tALkiNg beTwEEn tHE wORLdS, anOtHEr grOUp oF baNDitS CAmE uP AnD aTTaCKed thEM. TheY -"

True to form, another group of bandits came up and attacked them. Too distracted by Gourry's sudden vocal appearance, none of Lina's group was aware until too late.

"MaYBe i shoULdn'T havE sAiD tHat..." observed Gourry rather a bit too late.

She woke up with a bad headache, a very, very, extremely excruciating headache. Her temples pounded, her skull felt too tight, and there was a roaring between her ears. Groaning, Lina blinked open her eyes and tried to rub them.

Only to find her hands bound behind her.

She went from having a bad headache to full battle mode in one second flat. Testing the bonds proved them to be secure.

"What happened?" mumbled Nuriko painfully.

Lina wriggled her wrists, trying to slip the ropes off of them. "I think that while Gourry was talking with us, another group of bandits showed up and knocked us all out. At least we're all here and in one piece."

"Speak for yourself," grumbled Tamahome. "I feel like my head's going to split open."

"Daaaa..." sighed Chichiri. "I suppose one of those bandits is also a Suzaku no Shichi Seishi?"

Lina nodded, "Probably. But I doubt they'll be very forthcoming if we just ask them. Bandits are not very trustworthy." She finally managed to slip out of her bonds. "Looks like we'll have to find out for ourselves. She set about untying the others.

Together, all four snuck out of the room. Hearing footsteps, they hid in an alcove and watched as several of the bandits paused in front of a door near them.

One of them, who had a scar on his left cheek, knocked on the door and said, "I'm sorry. 'Who is it?' It's Kouji, here to report to you on the people we captured today. 'Ah, why didn't you say so?' Ah, but I just did! 'Very well, come in.' Thank you."

Lina, Tamahome, and Nuriko got sweatdrops. So did a few of the bandits. Chichiri raised an eyebrow.

The door opened and Kouji was admitted. Lina and Tamahome pressed their ears against the wall, trying to eavesdrop.

Muffled voices could be heard talking. "What do you mean they're gone?"

"Eiken, when we returned to bring them here to you, we found they had escaped. They left nothing behind but the ropes."

"Kouji, do you know what this means?"

"Boss...?"

"We have people running loose in our stronghold! Hurry up and find them!"

"Hai!"

Nuriko pressed his ear to the wall, too, trying to hear what was being discussed.

Crack! A large fissure opened in the wall. Nuriko had pressed a little bit too hard.

"Sssssh!" hissed Lina.

Smash! The rest of the wall came tumbling down, revealing their position to the bandits.

"Oops," said Nuriko. "Sometimes I don't know my own strength."

Tamahome got a sweatdrop.

"Get them!" ordered Eiken.

They were quickly surrounded by a variety of Mount Leikaku bandits. Nuriko and Tamahome just as quickly took care of most of them. Lina was able to land a few punches herself, although Chichiri merely waited on the sidelines.

"Uwah!" cried Eiken, frightened as Lina and the others marched up to him.

"You're the leader, right?" demanded the sorceress. "Then tell me, which one of your men is the Suzaku no Shichi Seishi? With a red character on their body?"

Eiken's response was to yell, "Kouji, get them!"

"You shouldn't be giving out orders," challenged another person who had suddenly arrived at the window.

"Gen... Genrou!" gasped Kouji in recognition.

"Taking over Hakurou's job when I was obviously next in line for leader..." Genrou shook his head sadly, "Especially when I was temporarily away. And then not following the Mount Leikaku way! I heard you even tried capturing people..."

Eiken's gaze hardened; he was not giving up without a fight. He glared at the newcomer bandit. "Genrou... so you finally returned."

"Returned to take back the Mount Leikaku bandits from you," agreed Genrou. "After all, better late than never."

Realizing he was standing alone (as Kouji had unobtrusively sidled away), Eiken pulled out a metal fan from under his chair and pointed it threateningly at Genrou. "I know how to use this," he warned.

Genrou looked at the tessen and was not impressed. In fact, he snickered a few times and asked, "You stole that from the boss, too, ne? Looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson." He fanned out several sheets of paper and threw them at Eiken, yelling, "Wolves, attack!"

"Lekka Shinen!" yelled Eiken as the papers transformed into wolves and started attacking him. Flames spurted out from the metal fan, destroying several of them, but Genrou summoned plenty more.

Wolves.

"Lekka Shinen!"

Fire fan.

One of them was the fifth Suzaku no Shichi Seishi, Lina realized, but which one? She pulled on Nuriko's shirt, whispering, "One of them is the Suzaku no Shichi Seishi! But I don't know which one!"

"Let's get out of here!" said Tamahome as more flames and more wolves flew past.

"Good idea," agreed Nuriko. "We'll figure out who's a Shichi Seishi later, when it's safer."

They hid again in some bushes surrounding the stronghold.

"Hey!" asked Tamahome. "Where's Lina-chan?"

They looked at each other.

"Uh-oh," said Nuriko.

Lina slipped through the shadows of the stronghold. One of the two bandits was the Suzaku no Shichi Seishi and she was determined to find out which. She wanted to summon Suzaku and get the whole story over and done with as soon as possible. She tiptoed back to the room, taking refuge in the rubble of the wall Nuriko had broken, and observed.

Genrou had run out of his paper wolves, and Eiken and a large contingent of bandits had him and Kouji backed into a corner.

Eiken taunted them. "Mysterious Wolf, huh? The Boss gave you that name, didn't he?"

"You're not the leader and you know it," Genrou spat. "Everything you have is stolen. Leadership, power, Hakurou's tessen and the knowledge to wield it..."

"Yeah. But who's got the upper hand?"

Lina couldn't figure out who the Suzaku no Shichi Seishi was, but she was sure of one thing - she sure hoped it wasn't Eiken. She gathered her power and cried, "Digger Bolt!"

In the following confusion, Genrou and Kouji attacked Eiken jointly, taking hold of the metal fan in the process.

"Listen up," ordered Genrou. "We may be bandits, but we're Mount Leikaku bandits. We follow a certain order, just like Hakurou taught us. You've overstepped your bounds, Eiken."

Satisfied, Lina collapsed on the pile of rubble, spent after using her magic.

"Lina-chan? Lina-chan, wake up!"

Lina woke up grumpily, rubbing her eyes. She looked up at Tamahome, Nuriko, and Chichiri.

"All better, ne?" was Nuriko's comment.

"Umph, what happened? Where did the fifth Suzaku no Shichi Seishi go?"

Tamahome paused. "I'm sorry, Lina... We found you with Genrou and the bandits. We asked them, but Genrou said that the fifth Suzaku no Shichi Seishi, Tasuki, was dead. He was very sorry..."

"Yeah," Nuriko nodded, "He said that Tasuki was their leader who just passed away recently. But what do we do now?"

Lina shook her head, "That's not right! The book said stuff about bandits and fire fans and wolves! It has to be one of them!"

"It was one of them. That one has died, however, no da."

There was a pause. "Well..." said Lina, taking a deep breath, "I suppose it's time to go searching for the sixth one. Maybe we can think of something later, but right now, let's find the others, okay?"

"Hai!" they agreed.

Continue: Episode 13: Cure! Can This Woman Resurrect the Dead?