Amazing! Amelia's quest; the Heart of Iris

The bile was rising up in her throat as she ran, turning every so often to dodge a rock or worse; a spell. Her hands gripped the hem of her dress, lifting it above her knees so she could run unhindered. Why oh why hadn't she worn her riding dress?

Oh yeah, that had been destroyed in Xoana –also Lina's fault.

Amelia ducked behind a large rock to recover and saw the sorceress in question doing similar behind another. Seeing the princess, Lina made several complicated hand gestures indicating her plan, Amelia got the gist of it and nodded her agreement. After a silent count of three both girls leapt up, spells formed in hand.

"Lighting!"

With their opponents blinded they took off running towards the nearby forest as fast as they could.

"H-hey Amelia, be-en a while h-huh…? Nic-e dress." Lina panted out as they ran together.

"L-Lina-san, h-how could you?" Amelia admonished -even as she ran she was prepared to go into full justice mode if she had to.

"If I'd Kn-known you were in there" she paused for a moment to dodge behind a tree, pulling her friend with her "I wouldn't have blown it up!"

Amelia readied a retort but Lina placed a finger over her mouth to silence her as she looked back for their pursuers. Fortunately they seemed to have given up after the lighting spells. Lina sighed and pushed the younger girl away a bit sooner than Amelia was prepared for and she stumbled back on her high-heeled shoes, only to be caught by a pair of strong arms.

"Hello Gourry-san." She greeted, without needing to look to see who it was.

"Hi Amelia, what're you doing out here?"

"I was going to ask the same thing." She replied, looking at Lina who giggled a little, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

"W--ell, we'd heard about this new magic library in Lyzeille so I came to ask about it. And when they wouldn't let me in I kinda lost my patience."

"And so you dragon-slaved the town?" Amelia sighed and buried her face in her hands "Negotiations were going so well too. Ooooh, now what am I going to do?"

"Well you could tell me what's going on for starters." Lina suggested "I gave you my story."

Amelia sighed, nodded and sat down on a nearby tree stump, not caring that her dress quickly became covered in moss and cut by splinters.

"Relationships with Lyzeille have been shaky for sometime now, since the Copy Rezo incident. Recently we heard about an …artefact…that interests Saillune greatly, but it's in Lyzeillian soil. I was here to propose we work together to find it. A way to strengthen bonds I guess… We were just drawing up a contract when the roof collapsed! Lina-san couldn't you see the flags on the embassy?"

"Didn't stop to look" Lina replied nonchalantly shrugging the princess's concern off while Gourry stuck a hand in the air

"Um, I've a question."

"Yes Gourry-san?"

"Why would they work with you? I mean if it's in their land?"

"Technically it's not their land, is it Amelia?" Lina asked and the princess nodded.

"Maybe you had better explain this then Lina-san, I think you understand it. I'll go see if I can find my bags in the rubble…"

Amelia got up and headed (cautiously –as not to get caught) back towards what used to be a fairly prosperous town and Lina got a map out of her cloak and spread it out for Gourry to see.

"Okay! This is the Lyzeille Empire." She said, pointing to the spot on the map "and this, this is the outerworld. This is where the mazoku barrier used to be, notice anything?"

"They're right next to each other?"

"Bingo! Now, the mazoku barrier isn't there anymore so Lyzeille could take over that space."

"Right…"

"However Lyzeille can't officially own the land unless it announces it's expanding borders to the rest of the barrier kingdoms and some of them might want it too."

"So they'd fight for it?"

"Exactly. I'm not really sure about the politics of it but I don't think Lyzeille's in any position to fight a war at the moment- particularly if they can't defend against little old me!" "Even Martina managed to put up a fight with that orichalcon golem" Lina admitted to herself "And they probably need to expand after all that fuss in Sairaag and Atlas City… a lot of people need new homes. So, Amelia came to announce her plans in person so they wouldn't feel threatened by Saillune while she searches there."

"Then what's Amelia looking for?"

Lina opened her mouth to explain before realising Amelia hadn't actually told them what it was she was after. Fortunately she returned then, changed into her usual travelling gear (minus one bracelet -Lina made a mental note to ask about that later).

"I'm looking for an ancient artefact, known as the Heart of Iris."

"The Heart of Iris…?" Lina repeated, her eyes suddenly sparkling as she recalled all the myths she'd ever heard about the gem. It was an amplification stone, pretty powerful although nothing like what the philosopher's stone had been. Its value came from its other attributes. Lina jumped up and grabbed the princess by her shoulders looking her straight in the eye

"Are you sure? The Heart of Iris? For real?"

"Y-yes Lina-san."

"Lucky! Imagine what I could do with that! Alright, it's settled! We're coming with you to find the Heart of Iris –just like old times!"

"Yeah!" Gourry called raising a fist into the air, happy to be travelling with one of his friends again.

Amelia didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she did both.

"L-Lina-san, Gourry-san… Are you sure? Not that I don't appreciate the company but…"

She glanced back towards the dust and smoke that could still be seen rising from above the treetops. She was going to add 'but I'd rather you didn't blow up any towns along the way' before she realised Lina was giving her a look that stated quite clearly 'If you end that sentence the way I think you're going to I'll blow YOU up instead' so she amended herself.

"But I'd hate to interrupt if the two of you were travelling together."

From the look on Lina's face the young princess guessed she hadn't chosen a much safer topic, Gourry seemed oblivious though.

"What do you mean? We're always together."

"N-never mind, It's nothing." Amelia stammered out, backing away from Lina who was advancing threateningly.

Lina stuck a finger out and poked Amelia sharply in the ribs, bending down to be at eye-level (Not that she had to move far, the girls were more or less the same height now)

"Listen, we're coming along whether you like it or not and there's nothing for you to 'interrupt' either, understood?"

"Yes! Absolutely."

Gourry watched the exchange curiously before another question occurred to him and he decided to ask before Lina poked a hole right through Amelia.

"Um, girls?" They both looked over as an indication for him to continue, "What does this head of Ipsis thing do anyway?"

Neither bothered to correct him, instead they both turned identical shades of crimson.

"Umm, that is…"

"Well you see…"

"There they are!"

The explanation was cut short as the gang turned to see a mob of angry village people, sporting the usual pitchforks and torches.

"Gods, how clichéd." Lina commented and Amelia ducked behind her for cover.

"Lina-san! What do we do?"

"The only thing we can do in a situation like this." She replied, and Gourry nodded, hand going for his sword hilt. "RUN!"

Lina turned quickly, catching Amelia's hand and dragging her along too, Gourry behind them and the mob followed after, yelling curses enough to make a sailor blush. Lina let out a triumphant giggle as they ran; she was back in action with a whole new quest!

And like that we've been brought together again! Must be fate, is it just me though or is something, someone, missing…?

Next time on Slayers HEART: Books Galore! Meeting in the library!