Zelgadis and Melfinius reappeared in a small room that looked for all the world like the inside of a crystal ball. The walls, floor and ceiling were glass, beyond which lay a sea of stars. Seven scrolls floated at the very center of the room and were the only other thing in the space, outside of the Elf and the chimera, who also floated. Zelgadis immediately tried to float himself over to the scrolls but couldn’t do it.
        Melfinius chuckled. "You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you, Mr. Greywers? Everything has a price—"
        "Name it."
        The Elf gave him a queer look. "I mean, nothing comes easy, I should think a man in your position would know that by now."
        Zelgadis clenched his fists. So the old guy wanted to play games. What did he have to do? Pick the right scroll? "Let me guess: Only one of those scrolls is the right one, and if I don’t pick the right one, too bad, so sad. Right?"
        Melfinius found that amusing. "Count the scrolls."
        Zel did. "Seven. Your point—" Suddenly his eyes went wide as he realized the significance of that number. Could it be? "Seven! Is that the whole spell?!"
        Grin. "Those are seven blank scrolls. As you find each piece of the puzzle, a part of the spell will appear on a scroll. When you’ve gathered all seven pieces, return to Marrigan, and I will instruct you in their use."
        Zelgadis frowned at his companion. "The Lord of Nightmares entrusted you with the spell? Is that what you’re telling me?"
       He shrugged. "There is no safer place to keep an important spell than Tudrac in Marrigan. She created this pocket in space to contain the scrolls and told me all that you will need to know to use them once you’ve gathered all of the pieces. Now," he cleared his throat and folded his legs underneath himself, "tell me what other clues you found in the tomb, Mr. Greywers."
        "You’ll help me!" Zelgadis gasped in disbelief. Where was this guy when they were studying that damn fresco and getting their asses kicked out of Seyruun?! And why didn’t L-Sama tell Jessica about him?! "Hang on. How do I know you’re on the level? Jessica talked to L-Sama, and she didn’t mention anything about you or this shop!"
        Melfinius gave him an irritated glare. "She also didn’t tell you to go to Marrigan, did she? She only said to find the clues in the fresco. Hmph! Kids these days! Never willing to work for anything, just want everything spoon fed to them!" He threw up his arms in disgust. "And it had better be a silver spoon, hadn’t it?!"
        Zel sighed heavily. Figured L-Sama would pick someone annoying to be the keeper of his spell. "So, if I tell you the clues we found, will you tell me which are right and which aren’t?"
        He thought about it a moment, then nodded. "I am allowed to do that. Proceed."
        "Well, I guess we’ve established that a clue lies in Marrigan—"
        "No," Melfinius interrupted firmly, "there is no clue in Marrigan. Marrigan is where the scrolls are, so it was of supreme importance that you come here first."
        Zel’s stomach bottomed out at that news. If Marrigan didn’t hold a piece of the spell, that meant they were one clue short! Great. They just left Seyruun and already had to go back for another look at the fresco. Maybe they should split up, send Princess Amelia or Lina back to Seyruun (or both of them; he figured he’d get more done without those two tagging along), while the rest of them checked out the next clue on the list. He figured he was stuck with Urlich and Jessica until he could figure out a way to ditch them, too, thanks to Prince Phil. Better see if the other clues held water before planning any further, he thought. "We thought the fire indicated Firedrake, Gourry’s new sword."
        Melfinius nodded. "Correct. Very good. Next."
        Gourry was right?! That was auspicious! Wait till he told Lina. Heh. "Ok, we saw a White Knight, which we took to mean a Knight of Seifeid, possibly Luna Inverse."
        "Spot on. Next."
        Heh. Luna Inverse. An encounter with her was enough incentive to keep Lina around, just for the fun of watching her reactions. "We thought the subject matter of the fresco was a clue, too, pointing to the ancient battleground of Seifeid and Shabranigdo."
        "Chuh-ching! Next."
        "There was a rune for L-Sama on one of the pieces of Shabranigdo, but we’re not sure why that’s important," Zel sighed. "I mean, are we supposed to go find the Lord of Nightmares and get a clue from her? Or do we visit one of her temples? I don’t get it—"
        Melfinius cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Her rune does not point you to a clue. She is the originator of the spell. Next."
        "What?!" Zelgadis’s jaw dropped. They were wrong about two of the clues?!
        "I said you’re wrong about that being a clue. Please continue."
        "But—that only leaves us with five—"
        "Less if you happen to be wrong about more of them," Melfinius shot back in annoyance, "but we won’t know until you tell me, now will we?"
        "But—"
        "Get on with it!"
        Zelgadis fought the urge to hit the Elf and took a deep breath to calm himself. Melfinius was being helpful, though not as helpful as Zel would’ve liked. Specifically, he would’ve like Melfinius to special order the pieces of his spell and wrap them up in a nice package, complete with a how-to book, then pack him off to Seyruun to cast the damn thing! Hey…never hurt to ask. "Sure you can’t special order the pieces for me?"
        "Positive. Clue number five, please?"
        Zel grumbled for a few moments, then carried on. "One of the pieces looks like a snake, so Lina thought that might mean her old traveling buddy Naga the Serpent. I understand she’s in Marrigan right now."
        Melfinius nodded. "Yes, yes, quite right. Next clue."
        Pause. "Naga is a clue?"
        "I said as much! Now get on with it!"
        Impatient little son of a bitch, Zelgadis thought sourly. "But you said there wasn't a clue in Marrigan. If Naga's a clue and she's in Marrigan, then there is a clue in Marrigan!"
        Melfinius frowned for a moment, then shrugged. "Sorry. Forgot. Please continue."
       Zelgadis glared. "You forgot? How can you forget Naga the Serpent? Lina said that woman has a laugh that--"
       The Elf paled and waved his hands in Zel's face to cut him off. "Don't remind me! I was trying to block out the memory!" He shuddered. "Dreadful creature...just the sort I'd wish on that horrible Lina Inverse!"
       Zel grinned. "First Naga, then Luna. Too bad you won't be around to see what Lina does at the mere mention of her sister. Last time, she buried herself under a pyramid."
       "Hm, yes...pity I won't get to see it. Serves her right for hitting me, the little ingrate! Now, about the rest of your clues?" He raised a meaningful eyebrow to make his point.        "We were a little shaky on clue number seven. Lina thought it was either the sarcophagus or the hieroglyphics in the tomb. Jessica thought it might be Seifeid, indicating dragons. I don’t know if that would mean the Dragon Gods, the last remaining Gold and Ancient Dragons—there are only one of each—"
        "Unless you count Zhara and Urlich, who are of mixed blood, but I get your point. It’s not dragons, anyway. Or the tomb paintings, or the sarcophagus." The wizard scratched his beard and observed thoughtfully: "That knocks out three of your clues. Tch! I’d hoped for better." He sighed, then shrugged. "Ah, well. I’m sure you’re clever enough to remember other things you saw in the fresco—or to find more clues by looking at it again."
        "I’ve been expelled from Seyruun," Zelgadis told him dryly. "They won’t let me go back until I have all of the pieces of the spell."
        "Which, naturally, won’t preclude you from sneaking back into the cemetery," Melfinius coughed under his breath. He turned to find Zelgadis looking at him in surprise and shrugged. "Well, it’s what I would do. It was horribly unfair of Prince Phileonel to ban you from the very thing you need to gather all of the pieces of the spell. You must have done something terrible to anger Pacifist Phil that much." He winked and asked in a conspiratorial voice: "So, what did you do? Sneak into the Royal Treasury? Make a pass at her Royal Highness?"
        Zelgadis rubbed his temples. He really didn’t want to talk about it. "Tell you what, Mel," he offered with a cruel smirk, "I’ll give you the gossip, if you’ll give me a clue. Just one, little clue, that’s all I ask."
        Melfinius shook his head. "No can do. I have the strictest orders from the Lord of Nightmares, and disobeying her has the direst consequences. I’ll just have to do without the gossip. I can find out by other means."
        "Can you answer questions that aren’t about clues?" Zelgadis asked him tightly.
        He thought about it a little while, then nodded slowly. "It would depend upon the question."
        Zelgadis reached over to smack him on the back. "One way to find out, Mel old boy! Did you notice the blonde that was with me when I came in?"
        The Elf shook off Zelgadis’ hand and brushed off his robes where it had been. "Don’t call me ‘Mel’, and yes I noticed her. Sorez, I believe is her name. I thought she was dead."
        "Maybe…"
        "I had also heard," Melfinius added with a thoughtful tug on his beard, "from disreputable sources, that she had copied herself a few times. I heard she wanted lab assistants. I also heard she feared someone wanted to kill her."
        "I’ve heard that, too," Zelgadis agreed. "See, yesterday morning, that woman said she was Lita Sorez, copy of Lara, and that Lara had sic’d a monster on her when she refused to help with her research anymore. Then she looks at the fresco, faints, and when she wakes up, she’s Lara Sorez, who says she made copies so they’d get killed instead of her."
        "How cold," Melfinius observed with a slight shudder. "So, you want to know which Sorez is traveling with you?"
        "And if there’s a monster after her," Zelgadis added.
        Melfinius shrugged. "I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to either question. I deal in magic, not information. For that, you must go to Zhara. She has people who do that sort of thing for the right price."
        Sigh. Of course she did. She was a mercenary. Zelgadis lay back on his invisible cushion of air to have a good think. So, Melfinius didn’t know what was up with the Sorez woman, either. And now they were down three clues, too. Oh well, it wasn’t like he’d ever imagined this would be easy, or anything, but he really thought they’d score more clues than just four. Boy was Lina gonna be pissed. Heh. Good. He could use the energy. Hmmm…speaking of monster food, he should speak to Amelia about going back to Seyruun to look for more clues. She was the perfect candidate, since no one would question her. He could get Lina to go with her, just in case Xellos showed up (yeah, that’s what he’d say; she’d buy that). And if Xellos showed up looking for him, Zelgadis decided to use the visit as an opportunity to gather information. Annoying as he was, Xellos knew a lot of things and worked for someone who also knew a lot of things. He’d probably be willing to trade for information about the contents of Lara’s tomb. Of course, he could also take Melfinius’ advice and hire one of Zhara’s fact finders, but that would cost actual money. At least he knew he had something Xellos wanted and could trade. He just couldn’t do it around any of his companions, since they’d stop him. Therefore, he must ditch his companions at the earliest possible opportunity. But how? If he could send Amelia off on a mission, that would take care of his biggest headache, since nobody else could work up quite the happy-feel-good rant that she could. Sending Lina with Amelia would solve his second biggest headache but also deprive him of a mighty fine food source. Hm. Maybe Gourry should go with Amelia… Or Jessica, perhaps. Certainly not Lara. He wanted her where he could see her. Something about her was important to his quest, and Zel figured he’d be in a better position to find out what it was if he hung around with her a lot. Threatening her had gotten him nowhere, so Zel decided a different tactic was in order. He would be her new best friend, taking her side against those who would give her a hard time about her identity.
        Sounded like a plan to him.
        "So, Melfinius," Zelgadis asked after a while, "any other information you can offer me? Or would I just be wasting my breath, asking you?"
        The Elf gave him an irritated look. "I told you it depended upon your question."
        Well, he couldn’t think of any more questions off the top of his head, so Zel just shrugged. "If I think of something, can I call you by crystal ball?"
        "I think that is allowable, yes."
        Well, that was better than nothing, Zel supposed. He also supposed he’d keep that helpful little piece of information to himself as a sort of ace in the hole. Oh boy, he could annoy people by telling them things are a secret. He should even waggle his finger at them and wink when he did it, just to be a jerk. Maybe he should do it to Xellos to see if the Trickster would find it as annoying as everyone else did whenever he did it. Oh, what fun!
        Zelgadis sat up and clapped his hands together with finality. "Alrighty then! Guess I’ll go shopping!"

        Meanwhile, back in the shop, Gourry was getting into trouble. More specifically, Firedrake had found an old friend and refused to let Gourry leave the room without it. He couldn’t hear the sword speaking as a person might speak to him, using words, but Gourry was quite certain he knew exactly what his sword was trying to communicate to him. What Firedrake told him was he better buy that other sword, or leave Firedrake behind. Period. No argument would be tolerated. The problem was, Gourry didn’t have enough money to cover the asking price for that other sword. Furthermore, he was a one-sword man. He’d never even tried to use two swords, nor had any desire to do so. However, it seemed if he wanted to keep Firedrake, he’d better learn. So he called for Melfinius, which was what Jessica had told him to do if he had a question about something. Melfinius was still busy with Zelgadis, so he didn’t show up right away.
        However, someone else did.
        "Oh, hi, Naga."
        She smiled at him and pointed at her throat.
        "Zhara put a gag spell on you again?"
        She shook her head and mimed bushy hair and a long beard.
        "Melfinius did it?"
        Naga nodded emphatically.
        "That’s not a very nice thing to do to a customer," Gourry told her sympathetically, then he remembered something Lina had told him and asked: "You didn’t laugh for him, did you?"
        She tossed her head, then blushed and nodded sheepishly.
        "Well, I’m trying to get him down here to ask him about this sword," he pointed to it, and Naga came over for a closer look, "so if you stay here, I’ll ask him to take the gag off, ok?"
        Naga hugged him to show her appreciation, and Gourry almost fainted from the sensation of huge breasts pressing his chest armor against his body. He remembered Lina, though, and peeled Naga off of him. "Lina and I are an item, so you shouldn’t do that, ok?"
        Naga wiggled her eyebrows at him suggestively, then held her hands out in front of her and rocked her hips.
        Gourry turned bright red. "That’s none of your business!"
        Naga grinned and wiggled her eyebrows some more, then bent to examine Firedrake’s friend. It was the same size and design as Firedrake, only where Firedrake had gold, this blade had silver. Both bore drakes on their scabbards, but the other sword’s drake was made of lapis lazuli, where Firedrake’s was made of carnelian. Firedrake’s scabbard was white, the other sword’s was black. Naga whistled her appreciation of the craftsmanship.
        Gourry patted Firedrake on his hip. "It looks like Firedrake, only in different colors. See?"
        Naga turned to examine Firedrake, then looked at Gourry and nodded. She pointed to each sword, then made that lewd rocking motion with her hips again. Gourry started to be offended, then got the message.
        "You mean, you think they’re mates?"
        Firedrake confirmed her observation very firmly in Gourry’s brain.
        He picked up the other sword and pulled it from its sheath. "I guess I’m buying it. I’ll just have to borrow money form Lina, I guess."
        Naga laughed a soundless but hearty laugh at that.
        Gourry sighed. "I guess you’re right: There’s no way Lina will loan me money. Maybe I should talk to Zhara about it…"
        That’s when Melfinius showed up. He plucked the sword out of Gourry’s hand and declared: "That won’t be necessary, my boy! I see you carry Firedrake. I’m sure Dolgen Feitt won’t let you leave the shop without Icedrake. Just give me a moment to remove the tracking spell," he waved his hand over the sword, sprinkling magical gold dust over its length, then proudly handed the sword back to Gourry. "Use it in good health, Mr. Gabriev! That will be one hundred fifty gold pieces!"
        "But I don’t have that much—"
        "How much have you got?"
        Gourry fingered his money pouch and hesitated. He knew this trick. Whatever he told Melfinius he had was how much he’d be charged for the sword. "I think I should talk to Zhara about it first, since she let me have Firedrake. Maybe she wants me to have both."
        Melfinius didn’t seem happy with that notion. "Nonsense. Icedrake was made for another mage, entirely!"
        "By Zhara, I’ll bet," Gourry interrupted.
        The Elf tugged at his beard and looked nervously away. "Well, yes, that would be true…"
        "So Zhara can decide if I have to pay for it," Gourry told him smugly. "Just call her on your crystal ball, and I’m sure she can clear this up right away. Oh, and take the gag spell off of Naga, please. That’s a really mean thing to do to a customer."
        Melfinius sputtered in mock outrage for a few moments, started to deny having anything to do with Naga’s predicament, then gave up with a dramatic flap of his voluminous sleeves. "Oh, very well. But don’t come crying to me when she starts cackling at you!" He snapped his fingers, and Naga’s voice was restored.
        She lifted her hand to her mouth and let go with a really loud cackle, just to punish Melfinius for gagging her. The displays in the room rattled, and Gourry and Melfinius looked like they were going to be sick.
        "Young lady, if you do that again, I will expel you from this shop!" Melfinius snapped with an imperious stomp of his foot. "Is that understood?"
        Naga flipped her hair at him and nodded with a twinkle in her eyes. "That was a horrible thing to do to a customer! I might have to tell Zhara—"
        "Zhara gagged you, too!" Melfinius argued.
        Naga pouted but nodded her agreement to his terms.
        Melfinius then turned his attention to Gourry with an impatient sigh. "Fine. I will ask Zhara about Icedrake and get back to you."
        "You have a crystal ball," Gourry insisted with a distrustful glare. "I saw you put it in your robes before you went off with Zelgadis. Say, where is Zelgadis?"
        "Shopping," Melfinius replied tersely. He held out his hand, and the crystal ball materialized in his palm. "Have you any idea how valuable that sword is?"
        "I’m a very good judge of swords," Gourry told him. "I was the Swordsman of Light for most of my life, you know."
        Melfinius snorted his opinion of that. "And where is the Sword of Light now, hm?"
        Gourry folded his arms across his chest and smirked. "I returned it to its rightful owners after using it to destroy Darkstar. It came from the other world, so it didn’t belong here." He bent down to give the little Elf a dark stare and added meaningfully: "Some people are honest."
        Melfinius’ brows shot up, and it was all he could do to keep from bonking Gourry over the head with the crystal ball. "How dare you insult me in my own shop?! I am a very honest businessman!" He jabbed a finger at Icedrake and added sharply: "And if you were honest, you wouldn’t try to get out paying for that sword!"
        Gourry straightened up with a wave of his hand. "Yeah, yeah. Are you gonna call Zhara, or what?"
        Melfinius growled. Gourry growled. Naga wound up for a cackle, but a glare from the old Elf changed her mind and she decided to check out the weapons in the room instead. Melfinius summoned Zhara on the crystal, this time forgoing the flashy gold dust and just cutting directly to the chase.
        The first thing Zhara noticed when she appeared in the crystal ball was Icedrake in Gourry’s hand. She grinned. "Ah! Wonderful! I was hoping Firedrake would lead you to its mate! I made them to work together but I left it to Dolgen Feitt to decide if you were worthy of Icedrake. I see he led you to it, at least."
        "He won’t let me leave the room without it," Gourry told her with a smug look for Melfinius. "Melfinius wants me to pay for it!"
        Zhara chuckled. "Let him have it, Mel. It’s my sword, I can do with it as I please. It’s not like Url and I don’t shovel enough money into your pockets already."
        The Elf grumbled but let Gourry have the sword. "Don’t disgrace it, Mr. I Gave Away the Sword of Light!"
        "I told you—"
        "Yes, yes, you gave it back to its rightful owners," Melfinius cut him off impatiently. "So you said. You should’ve sold it to them, then you’d have enough money to buy Icedrake,"
        Zhara cleared her throat, and Melfinius changed his tune real fast.
        "That is, if you had to pay for it, of course."
        Gourry shook his head. "Why should I sell it to its rightful owners? That wouldn’t be right, Melfinius. You know, honesty’s a good thing. You should try it sometime."
        "He’s insulting me again, Zhara," Melfinius muttered to the crystal ball. "You know I’m only enduring this sort of treatment for your sake!"
        Zhara smiled. "I know, and you’re such a noble, long-suffering sod, aren’t you?"
        The Elf was less than amused. "I bring plenty of business to this city, Miss Metallium! What would happen if I left it, hm?"
        "You’d lose your ten thousand gold piece a year stipend from Urlich, your pan-dimensional showroom from me…"
        Melfinius drooped. "Oh, yes, well, you do have a point."
        "Anything else I can do for you, Mel?" Zhara asked with a smirk.
        He shook his head, then collected his dignity and wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Not at this time, Miss Metallium. Thank you for assistance once again."
        "Give him the owner’s manual, too, Mel."
        Droop.
        "You were gonna try to make me pay for it, weren’t you?!" Gourry accused in shock. "I can’t believe you’re that greedy!"
        Naga cackled very quietly. "You travel with Lina and you can’t believe someone can be that greedy? How naïve! OH-HO…er…teehee-haha-hoho…"
        Zhara found that very amusing. "Poor Naga. Let ‘er rip when you leave the shop, and I promise not to stop you. How’s that?"
        Naga’s face lit up and stars sparkled in her eyes as she nodded enthusiastically. "I don’t understand why none of you appreciates my beautiful laughter! Don’t you know that laughter is like good medicine?"
        "Yeah, but medicine usually tastes pretty bad, no matter how good it is," Gourry snorted. He looked Naga over and blushed in spite of himself. "Do you always dress like this?"
        Naga struck a pose with one hand behind her head and the other on her hip and fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Would you hide such a magnificent figure?"
        "Magnificent" wasn’t the word that immediately popped into Gourry’s mind to describe Naga’s curves. He actually couldn’t think of a suitable adjective while she was standing there in next to nothing, looking at him with a seductive expression. Man, if Lina had knockers like that…
        "Ah-ha! You see? You’re dazzled by my beauty!"
        It wasn’t her beauty that had him dazzled. "Um, I think I’ll go find Lina now. Nice seeing you again, Naga." He saluted Melfinius with Icedrake then turned to go, only to find Naga hanging on his arm. "Stop that! If Lina sees you doing that, she’s beat us both senseless!"
        Melfinius grinned mischievously. "Well, in that case, she absolutely must see you!" He waved his hand and in a dazzle of gold glitter, Gourry and Naga were gone. "Well! I did my good deed for the day! Teehee!"
        "No, wait! The owner’s manual!" Gourry’s disembodied voice cried.
        "Make sure he has that book when he leaves the shop, Mel," Zhara reminded the giggling Elf. "I mean it. I’ll know if he doesn’t have it. And don’t even dream of trying to sell it to any of his friends, or it’ll come out of your pocket!"
        Melfinius huffed. "I wouldn’t dream of trying."
        "Sure you wouldn’t…"

        In the Black Magic Library…
        "GOURRRRYYYY!"
        "It’s not what it looks like! I swear!"