Garabe finished his business and fixed his pants. He noticed that he couldn't hear any birds, they had silenced. He held his breath and rotated to get a nice three hundred and sixty degree view of his general area.
    The growl returned. It was almost right in front of him...or was it right behind him? Garabe breathed out and sucked in another deep breath.
    A twig snapped to his right, so left he turned and leapt. Unfortunately, his foot was snagged by a root and down he went, "Damn!" he struggled to get his foot free, to no avail. Looking up, he felt a hot exhale. It wasn't his. Frozen with fear, Garabe forgot to breathe as the stabbing golden eyes penetrated his skin, his skull, his soul...another low growl and the baring of canines nearly sent him into shock.
    Opening its mouth, the sleek, black creature pinned Garabe to the ground, knocking him out. Partially due to the actual impact, and partially due to his own fear. The huge panther sniffed through the boy's garments, then retreated. It hadn't found what it was looking for.
    Zelgadiss was getting bored. He had definitely waited long enough. He pocketed the item Garabe had given him, then returned back onto the road. Obviously Garabe had run off, so there was no use in waiting any longer.
    In the distance, Zelgadiss saw a vague outline of a gate, possibly to a town. Maybe Garabe didn't want to keep the deal any more and took off for Medina himself. It didn't look too much farther. It was getting rather hot. The afternoon sun was traveling its course across the sky and was ready to melt into night. He knew he could easily make it to the town by sunset, so he set forth, taking plenty of time.
 

    Lina wandered casually through the marketplace looking for thieves to turn in. Of course there were none. What's a town without criminals? It seemed so unnatural. Kagemi was lost in trying on pieces of jewelry and was glued to a street vendor's stall. It was a normal town in every way except for the abnormal crime rate. OO. She looked up from the scanning of the ground just in time to see a wisp of familiar beige scooting through the gate. "Could it be?" Lina doubted her own eyes.
    "What?" Kagemi had rejoined Lina but had bought nothing.
    Lina ignored her and started to run toward the gate. The bounty hunter just stood there, confused before finally cueing in and jogging after Lina, "Lina?"
    "I can't believe it! It can't be!" Lina repeated to herself, but somehow she hoped it was. She crashed through some more cloaked figures, spilling their groceries, but she didn't stop. She needed to know for sure. The villagers didn't say a word as they gathered their spilled goods, as if they weren't even slightly offended. Lina shot sight everywhere but couldn't relocate the target.
    Kagemi was delayed when she stopped to help the civilians pick up their dropped cargo and lost track of Lina, "Fuu!"
    She apologized for Lina to the villagers and dashed in the general direction that she had seen the sorceress last.
    Lina paused, looking around again. It had to be him! But how could it be? Lina was beginning to panic. She walked in a random direction and spotted the cape and hood again. Running once more, she pondered what she thought she saw. There was a whole town of cloaked people. How could she think that this one, the common color beige was who she thought it was? A flash of shiny blue hair erased any further doubts. It was him!
    Lina practically jumped at the man and wrapped her arms around him, "Save me!"
    The man looked down, "...Lina..." he noticed that her embrace was ever so slowly tightening around his torso.
    "Save me from this BOREDOM!!" Lina squealed. She snapped in sudden realization at what she was doing and instantly released him. Blushing, she placed her right hand behind her head and gave and innocent laugh.
    "What are you doing here?" Zelgadiss was down right surprised, but took care not to show it.
    "Well...um...actually..." Lina wasn't sure how to answer.
    "Never mind," Zelgadiss didn't really care anymore, "by any chance have you seen a little brown-haired boy come through?"
    Lina thought about it, "No...I haven't seen any kids...why?"
    Zelgadiss sighed in agitation, "Stupid kid," he grumbled and at the same time his stomach growled loudly.
    Lina paused, "Was that your stomach?"

To Be Continued...