Militat Omnis Amans (Every Lover is a Warrior)

By Kevin Beckett

----------------------------------

A priori:

Willow and Buffy have given birth to two beautiful girls, whom they have named Faith and Kendra. Grael was finally able to interrogate the demon Hugh, and Willow’s force has received troubling news about slayers, the hell mouths and the demon’s intentions for not only this world, but also for Buffy and Willow’s.

Synopsis for part XIII:

Things begin to heat up as Willow finally develops a potential solution for closing the hell mouths. She sends out Sonya and the other new slayers for additional help in her task. Meanwhile, the demon lord, who has been hiding the existence of the slayer from his superiors, has begun to close in on the village that has been sheltering Willow’s strike force.

----------------------------------

Part XIII - Alea Iacta Est (The Die is Cast)

The time I like is the rush hour
'Cause I like the rush
The pushing of the people
I like it all so much
Such a mass of motion
I do not know where it goes
I move with the movement and I have the touch

I'm waiting for ignition
I'm looking for a spark
Any chance collision and I light up in the dark
There you stand before me
All that fur and all that hair
Oh, do I dare
I have the touch

I Have The Touch

Peter Gabriel, Gabriel 4 (Security)

leeping peacefully, breathing evenly, little fists clenched in dreams. Two little girls lay entwined together under down comforters that were embroidered with pictures of kittens and bunnies. Watching over them from the foot of the crib was a grey and black cat, pleased with her human’s kittens.

“Purr,” said Shadow-Cat thinking, “my human has done well. Her kittens are safe with me.”

----------------------------------

“Pay attention, damn it,” yelled Willow, as she swept Buffy’s legs out from underneath her for the third time that morning, “get your mind back here.”

Buffy collapsed to the ground before rolling into a ball and springing back up to her feet.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I just finding that it’s hard.”

“I know it’s hard,” replied her spouse, “but they’ve been fed, they’re sleeping, Bridie and Aiofe are in the room with them and Shadow-Cat is watching them and I can see them through her eyes.”

“Ok,” said Buffy, “I’ll stay sharp. Let’s get back to it.”

It was just after dawn and Buffy and Willow were in the training area, with Daithi and some of the new slayers, trying to work off their baby flab and to get back into fighting form.

Buffy moved into an Aikido stance, matched by Willow. They slowly circled each other for a few moments before Buffy moved forward quickly, directing a punch towards Willow’s chest. Willow timed her response perfectly and moved around Buffy’s punch, before grabbing her outstretched arm and then pivoting around it. She planted her feet, swung Buffy towards her, and rolled the slayer over her back and onto the dirt floor.

“Ooof,” said Buffy as she fell to the ground.

“You still aren’t here, lover,” said Willow, as she returned to a ready stance, “let’s get back at it.”

Buffy regained her place, and the two young women continued sparing. After a few minutes in which neither woman made any attacks, Willow leaped and directed an attack down towards Buffy’s head. Buffy reached forward, grabbed Willow’s descending arm and pulled it down and away from her body. Buffy then used the momentum generated to roll Willow over and onto her back.

Willow continued the roll, jumped to her feet, and said, “better, now you are into it.”

They continued to spar for another hour, both women now fully focused. Finally, Willow turned to her lover and said, “Buffy, time to finish. I’m bushed.”

“Okay with me. Let’s cool down and head for the baths.”

Willow and Buffy began their end of workout stretching routine. When they were about halfway through the routine, Willow said, “so what do we want to do tonight?”

It was the third day after the solstice, Christmas Eve back home. The entire community had been celebrating, feasting, gift giving and relaxing since the solstice, and would continue to do so for another nine days, but Buffy and Willow wanted to make this evening special.

“Don’t know,” said Buffy, “we could get a tree and stuff I suppose.”

“And eggnog, carols and stuff. We could make decorations and stuff too.”

“Will, girl, you are way into this for a good Jewish Wiccan, aren’t you?”

“Hey,” said Willow, “growing up in Southern Cal. What do you expect?”

They finished their cool down and headed for the baths. Just as they were reaching the bath complex Willow said, “hey, let’s get Aiofe and Bridie in on this. It’ll be a blast.”

They met with several of the inn’s inhabitants in the baths, all of them trying to sweat off the excesses of the last few days. Buffy looked around and said, “lets finish up quickly and head back to our room. So we can relax.”

“Relax you call it,” said Aiofe, as she entered the change room behind Willow and Buffy.

“Yep,” said Buffy, “relax.”

“What’s up,” said Willow, as she began to strip off her sweat stained clothing.

“Not too much,” said Aiofe, “Bridie and the girls are still sleeping, so I decided to grab a quick bath, and something to eat.”

The three women headed for the warm bath, to rinse off the dirt from their bodies before they washed their bodies and hair. Once they had finished bathing, they retired to their change room.

“Oh, before I forget,” said Aiofe, “I ran into Amana on the way over here.”

“Yes,” said Willow, pulling a thick wool shift over her head, “what did she want, and can it wait until this morning’s briefing?”

“Yeah. What’s come up since she saw us this morning when we were feeding the bottomless pits,” added Buffy. She had finished dressing with a heavy linen and wool dress over her shift and was sitting down, pulling up long wool stockings.

“She just wanted to sit with the two of you to go over your plan, Willow,” said Aiofe, “she has a few more questions.”

“Relaxation waits,” said Willow, <sorry lover.>

<It’s ok. I’ll get you later.>

The three young women headed back to the inn, and reconvened with Amana and Grael in Willow’s workroom. The workroom had undergone some additional renovations, and now more fully reflected Willow’s character. It had been painted in bright cheery colours, and had had several linen prints plastered onto the walls, creating the effect of large textured paintings or murals. One corner of the room had been converted into a nursery for the two babies, and that section had bright cartoon animals painted onto the walls, near to the floor. They arranged for breakfast to be brought for them, and began the daily briefing session once it had arrived. Willow had opted to start the briefing with only the five of them, and would continue later with the full group.

“Ok,” said Willow, “I understand that you want to go over things a bit more.”

“That’s right,” said Amana, “I have a few questions.”

“No problem,” said the arch-mage, as she spread jam onto a buttered scone, “I’d rather we have all the angles covered rather than forget something important later.”

“Why don’t we go over everything,” said Buffy, “just to make sure everyone is comfortable.”

“Yes, why don’t we,” said Bridie, as she entered the room carrying two little girls, who were awake and looking for their parents.

“What’s up sweetie,” said Buffy, taking Faith from Bridie’s arms, “are you still hungry?”

Faith looked up at her mother and smiled, her cobalt-blue eyes dancing with reflected light, and curiosity.

“Don’t think they’re hungry,” said Bridie, sitting down at the table and pouring herself a glass of milk, after passing Kendra to her mother, “I think that they are just awake and want to be where the action is.”

“Well, that’s good,” said Willow, cuddling her daughter and walking over to the nursery area, “why don’t we put you two in your crib here and you can watch your mommies, while they eat.”

Minutes later everyone reconvened around the table. Willow waited until they were all settled, with food and drink before them, and then said, “ok, to continue. After the solstice I finally put together all the bits and pieces that have been running through my mind for the last six months or so, and I think that I have a permanent solution to the hell-mouth problem, at least on this world.”

“So much you have already told us,” said Grael, “however, you have been a little sparse on the details.”

“Except for the part about sending out the new slayers on a search mission,” added Amana.

“I need them to find as many mages as possible,” said Willow, “preferably second or third degree, but I’ll make due with anyone who has power, and some training.”

“Why’s that,” asked Aiofe.

“I got the idea, and the need for the additional mages,” said Willow, “based on what we have found out about the hell-mouths. First, they are used both as a transportation network, and as a method for transmitting energy. Second, they have been created, or are being exploited, by demons many realities removed from this one. Third, the demons have to maintain this network. And, fourth, the demons are directly affected when one of them are closed.”

“Ok,” said Buffy, “I’ll bite. What is this leading to?”

“I think that I’ve figured out a way to short circuit the hell-mouths,” said Willow.

Her statement was met with incredulous looks from around the table.

“How,” whispered Amana, “and what do you mean by short-circuiting?”

“Well,” began Willow, “it has to do with overloading the circuit.” Seeing questioning looks from everyone except Buffy, Willow then said, “energy as it flows from one point to another, using a transportation medium, can be described as a circuit. Each circuit has a limit to how much it can carry, and to what type of energy it can carry. What I’m going to attempt to do is to is overload one section of the circuit, thereby, I hope, causing a feedback loop which should overload all of it.”

“Come again,” asked Aiofe, still not too clear on the details.

“The way I figure it, the actual hell-mouths are massive energy collectors in the magical realm, and to a lesser extent here in the physical world. Because of this, they will have been heavily shielded by the demon’s who created them, and therefore very difficult to overload, as demonstrated when I closed the hell-mouth last spring. However, because they are used as part of a transportation network, they must be linked to each other, using some form of energy conduit. The effort to shield those links would be prohibitive, both in effort and in energy, so what I’m going to do is hack into the network in the middle of one of these links, then funnel a huge amount of energy through the break. This should result in the whole network overloading as the power surge attacks each hell-mouth from within.”

“Cool,” said Buffy, who was aware of Willow’s prodigious abilities with hacking into computer networks, “sort of like a computer virus.”

“How? What,” asked Grael.

“That is where the additional mages come in,” replied the arch-mage, choosing to respond to Grael’s first question, “I am going to need them to help collect the energy, store it and then funnel it to me once I’ve breached the network. Some of them will also act as my anchors, and others I will use to maintain protections around what I will be doing, so that I don’t end up wiping out half the mountains when I start playing with that much energy, or for that matter wipe myself out in a feedback loop.”

“Hence your need for Sonya and the rest to find as many mages as possible,” said Bridie.

“Yep,” replied Willow, “The way I figure it, I’m going to need a full triple circle, with at least half of the members initiated mages.”

Just as Willow was finishing the remaining members of her command group came into the workroom to begin the morning briefing. After everyone had grabbed drinks and places around the table Willow began the meeting by saying, “Morning all. For those of you just joining, what you’ve missed is some additional explanations on why I’m sending out Sonya to find mages. If you want the details, I’ll be glad to fill you in later.”

Willow proceeded with the rest of the morning’s agenda. Finishing the meeting an hour later, she said, “ok, that’s it then. Daithi, would you insure that Sonya and the rest are properly outfitted and provisioned. I would like to see them on their way by lunch time.”

“No problem,” said Daithi, rising from the table and heading out of the room.

“One other thing.”

“Yes,” he replied, turning back from the door.

“Could you ask Sonya to come by in an hour or so. I’m going to feed Kendra and then I’d like to brief Sonya on a few last minute things before they leave.”

“Ok,” said Daithi as he left the room.

The remaining members of the command group also left to begin their day. Aiofe and Grael to help get the search group organized, Frankel to continue his work writing an essay on slayers and slaying. Aiofe and Bridie remained seated at the table; their main job continued to be insuring that neither Buffy nor Willow over exerted themselves.

Buffy remained sitting at the table, across from her friend and lover, and said, “this going to work?”

“Have faith.”

“Had Faith,” replied Buffy with a smile.

“Buffy,” said Aiofe.

“Yes?”

“Would you mind answering a question for me?”

“Ask, and I’ll tell you if I mind.”

“It’s just that we,” said Aiofe indicating herself and her lover, “were wondering how you decided on the names for your daughters.”

Buffy looked across the table at Willow and asked, <do you want to handle this?>

<Nope, you can field this one.>

Buffy stood up from the table and walked over to the crib where her daughters were lying, staring through the bars. She picked up the children, and holding one in each arm retuned to the table and sat down. She paused, collected her thoughts and then said, “it’s a long story.”

Buffy then went on to explain how she and Willow had decided on naming their daughters Kendra and Faith. She began by describing the people that the girls had been named for. Buffy started by telling how Kendra had been called to Sunnydale as a slayer, when it had appeared that she had died. How for a while there were two slayers, and then how Kendra had been killed. Buffy then explained what had happened with Faith. How she had come to Sunnydale as a slayer, and how she had turned from helping Buffy into being an enemy. How she had fallen into a coma, and what had happened just prior to Willow’s acceptance to come and help this world.

Having described the people that their daughters were named for, Buffy then went on to explain why they had chosen them as name sources for their daughters. She indicated that both Faith and Kendra, the slayers, had had terrible lives. They had never had the opportunities for a real life, either by being forced from an early life into slayer training, or by growing up in an abusive family. Buffy explained that the pain that the two women had grown up in had distressed both her and Willow. They had therefore decided to name their daughters after them, to try to ‘rehabilitate’ the names, by giving their daughters the love, support and care that neither Faith nor Kendra had had.

“Rehabilitate,” asked Aiofe, curiosity evident in her voice, “why do names need to be rehabilitated?”

“It’s just that some of the people we know back home have a problem with the name Faith,” said Willow, “especially after what she did to us, and Buffy wanted to try to bring back some respect and honour to the name.”

“And Kendra never had a chance back home,” added Buffy, “she missed everything in her childhood, and when she was a teenager, things that I got to experience. So this is our attempt to bring back the balance.”

Both Kendra and Faith chose that moment to decide that they needed changing, attention and a meal, and began to fuss and wail.

“Mommy time,” said Willow, reaching across the table to pick up her fussy daughter, “Aiofe,” she said, “would you be a dear and bring over some diapers?”

Both young mothers then set about their now routine task of cleaning their daughters and settling them down to the breast. Willow had just finished Kendra on one side and was in the process of burping her, before offering the other breast, when there was a discreet knock on the door to the workroom.

Willow looked up at Bridie with a ‘can you get that,’ in her eyes. Bridie opened the door to admit Sonya.

“Is now a good time, Willow,” asked Sonya. Buffy’s twin had filled out over the past four months. Her muscles showed the effort of the constant exercise, training and good nutrition that she had experienced. While she was still a far cry from Buffy in her prime, especially with the enhancements precipitated by Buffy being initiated as the Goddess’s Avatar, she was a formidable young woman.

“No problem, Sonya,” said Willow, “why don’t you grab a drink from the sideboard over there and sit. We can talk while I finish up with Kendra here.”

Once Sonya had settled, Willow then said, “I just wanted to take some time to chat before you left, to make sure you were comfortable with everything.”

“I think we’re ready, we have the supplies we need, and have been fully outfitted with arms and armour,” replied Sonya, “I do have a question or two though.”

“Ask away.”

“I know what and why we are going out looking for other mages, at least in the context of our mission. However, I’m not too clear on the why now, in the middle of winter.”

Willow spent a moment collecting her thoughts, saying to Buffy, <perceptive isn’t she?> She covered the pause by settling her daughter back on the breast and then replied, “you are the first to ask. I haven’t discussed this yet with any of the others.”

Buffy, Bridie and Aiofe perked up at Willow’s words, and drew their chairs closer to the table, as if to be as close to the arch-mage’s words as possible.

“And,” said Sonya.

“I think we are running out of time,” said Willow.

“How’s that,” asked Aiofe.

“In my meditations, and spirit travel, I’ve noticed a massive increase in demon activities lately, not more than two or three weeks or so from here. I think that Amana and Grael’s humanity in letting Hugh go free has given too many clues as to our whereabouts to the demon leadership.”

“Are we in immediate danger,” asked Bridie, the concern in her voice mirrored in her eyes.

“Not just yet, I don’t think,” replied Willow, “but I foresee that we will be visited by the demons before the end of winter.”

“Major bummer,” said Buffy.

“That is why I need you to move as quick as you can, Sonya,” continued Willow, “and to get back here before the end of January at the latest.”

“Five weeks or so,” said Sonya, contemplating this new information, and answering the question she had on the amount of supplies she had been given; also thinking about how the time pressure would affect her search for mages. “Do you have any suggestions on how I should proceed?”

“I think that you should get down the mountain as fast as you can,” said Willow, “and get as close to the capital as possible, without attracting any attention from the demons who have laid siege to it. Once you are there, establish a base in one of the surrounding towns and then seek out as many of the mages as you can, and get back here. You know that I can use all the experienced people you can find, but at a minimum, I need you to find eighteen. Amana and Grael have arranged for you to carry extra food, clothing and other items, to be used as you see fit as trade goods, either for the mages I need, or for bribes.”

“I won’t fail you, Lady,” said Sonya, getting up from the table and heading to the door, “you have my word on that.”

“I know,” replied Willow gently, “finish getting ready. I’ll see you all just before you head out.”

Once Sonya had left the room, closing the door behind her, Willow sighed and said rhetorically, “we are the same age, but why do I feel so much older?”

“Motherhood, and responsibility,” said Buffy.

Willow sighed again and said, “I know, it just gets to me sometimes. But, can’t change the past.”

Willow stood up from the table, cuddling her nearly asleep daughter, and said, “it’s nearly time to see them off. What do we do with our cuddle monsters, take them upstairs, or leave them here?”

“Leave them here,” said Buffy, heading over to the crib, “we are going to want to come back after and plan our Christmas Eve, remember?”

“Couldn’t forget that,” said Willow, joining her spouse in settling their daughters.

“Christmas,” asked Aiofe.

“We’ll fill you in over lunch, promise,” said Buffy as they left the workroom to bid farewell to the slayers.

----------------------------------

Down the mountains, in the demon master’s command centre there was a noticeable increase in the work being performed. More work than could be explained by the continued offensive against the human inhabitants of this world. Numerous demons were busy examining and updating operational charts for various aspects of the war, in addition to receiving and relaying movement orders to the different demon armies under the control of this lord. If the charts were examined closely, it would be obvious that a significant amount of his resources were being expended in the mountains to the north, far from any significant concentration of human forces.

The atmosphere in the room chilled perceptibly when the demon master entered.

“Report,” he barked to one of his senior lieutenants.

“Nothing so far my lord,” said a yellow skinned demon, who was standing in front of the main operations map.

“That is not good enough,” said the commander, as he strode towards the map, “what can you tell me?’

“Using the point where we found Hugh as a starting point, and estimating that he had travelled for two weeks before we found him, we have laid out a search grid.”

“And?”

“Also assuming that the human scum misdirected him by moving him north before dropping him off, we have started our searching in the area to the south of where he was found.”

“Good assumption, but you are saying that you have found nothing yet.”

“That is correct, lord. But it is still early days. We are continuing our sweep northward, and we will find them.”

“How long,” asked the demon walking to his throne and sitting down, “before we are done?”

“We should reach the northern most point, here, in about six weeks,” replied the lieutenant, placing his hand directly on the valley where the village of Morning Breeze was located.

----------------------------------

Later that afternoon, after they had bid farewell to Sonya and the rest of the young women travelling with her, Willow and Buffy were back in the arch-mage’s workroom, in the middle of an animated conversation.

“Eggnog,” said Buffy, “surely we can find someone who can make eggnog.”

“Eggnog,” asked Aiofe, “what is eggnog?”

“Sugar, spices, milk and egg yolks,” said Buffy, “beaten together and then served with whipped cream and booze.”

“Sounds good,” said Willow, “what else. I know… we can get Daithi and the boys to get a tree.”

“Pudding, turkey, and yams,” continued Buffy, rattling off her Christmas dinner wish list, “I’m off to the kitchens. Care to join me, Bridie?”

Bridie stood up and followed the slayer out of the workroom with a wordless glance of confusion back to her lover.

“I know,” said Aiofe, “but it sounds like it will be a fun party, anyways.”

“That is will be,” said Willow. “Now, we need to think of decorations. We can use pine boughs, and cranberries on string to decorate the common room.”

“Why all the fuss,” asked Aiofe.

“Back on our world, the general population condenses the traditional twelve nights into a single night and day.”

“Why?”

“Well, it basically has to do with religion. The dominant religion where we come from usurped many of the traditions of the Goddess, to help bring the population in line, once they had taken over the leadership of a country. It gave the people a sense of continuity with their old practices and beliefs.”

“Who were these people?”

“They existed here too at one time,” replied Willow, “the Christians.”

“But they fell out of favour centuries ago,” said Aiofe, “and they were never that big to begin with.”

“How did that happen,” asked Willow, her curiosity about the differences between this world and her own now fully engaged, “Frankel indicated that your world went through the same basic history as mine did, up until a hundred years or so ago.”

“Basic yes,” replied Aiofe, “however, there were some major differences in the social / political history between our worlds.”

“But wouldn’t that have affected the general history?”

“I think that, the more we look at this multiple world business, the more we will find that the major trends remain the same, driven by economic and societal pressures. However, I think that there are differences in the ‘seasonings’, or specific political and perhaps religious factors on each world.”

“So on this world, the Christians never gained the political and religious stranglehold that they did on mine then?”

“The followers of Jesus did make their influence felt, for about four hundred years after his death. But once they tried to aggressively expand into the Celtic countries they ran into serious resistance, and were beaten back by followers of the Goddess, who rose up under inspired and some say Devine, leadership. The various leaders of the Celtic nations then banded together and decided to sweep Europe free of Christians once and for all, feeling that they were an intolerant sect and would only cause future trouble.”

“What about the reformation and the age of enlightenment then?”

“Once the Celts had swept Europe clean of Christians, their nations fell into darkness and superstition, based on old tribal infighting and mistrust of non-northern peoples. The progress that had been made to that point fell apart, and disease and war swept repeatedly through Europe. Mohamed rose in the desert, and formed the faith of Allah, and they, the Jewish nations and the great tribal nations of Asia clashed repeatedly with the Celts, and each other, for hundreds of years. It was only with the rise of the great Celtic nations in France, Spain, England and Germany at the end of the fifteenth century that true exploration and scientific progress began.”

“Close to our history, but with a couple of significant differences.”

“I understand that once the recent ice-age hit, most of Europe, Asia Minor and the Arab nations were over-run with famines and the old, bitter, feuds rose up again. They were also inundated with refugees fleeing the ice, causing renewed fighting between the Celts and the Arabs. The entire area is a wasteland of war and pestilence now. The demons would have had no problems taking over there, it was practically a nightmare on earth before this current war started.”

“What happened with exploration on this continent then,” asked Willow, fascinated by this impromptu, and brief, history lesson.

“Well,” said Aiofe, “the English and the Spanish led most of the great waves of exploration, in this, the new world. However, once they had restarted their wars in Europe they essentially cut off the colonies here, and we were left to fend for ourselves.”

“And?”

“Well, the colonies gradually spread west and south, settling as they went, until they finally reached the west coast around the end of the nineteenth century.”

“What of the native inhabitants. I noticed that I haven’t seen many overtly native people around.”

“For the most part they were gradually absorbed into the European communities, and their racial uniqueness melted into the whole.”

“So you never had the Indian wars, and the near genocide of the native people then.”

“Goddess, no. Our way is, and has always been, accommodation. Frankly, without the natives, the small colonies that had been established would have perished, once trade with Europe had been cut off and once the ice-age had really settled in.”

“One more difference between us, making our world and its history look bad in comparison,” said Willow, “however, fascinating as this has been, it isn’t getting us any closer to our celebration tonight.”

“What can we do to get ready?”

“Well, with Buff taking over the kitchen duties, I guess we are on decoration patrol. Let’s go find Grael and Daithi and see if we can get a tree and some boughs.”

The rest of the afternoon was spent in frenzied activity, as everyone in the inn got involved in the impromptu Christmas celebration. If anyone had questions as to why two followers of the Goddess were so concerned about celebrating an old Christian holiday, they kept them to themselves. Everyone knew that new mothers often had weird, unexplainable, mood shifts and cravings. It was best to accommodate their desires, rather than risk any unpleasant consequences from the mothers falling into the baby blues.

By supper time the common room of the inn had been transformed into a festive party room, with the addition of a large blue spruce tree, which had been decorated with garlands of cranberries, ornaments of silver paper and several small wooden carvings. The walls, and mantles had been festooned with pine boughs, adding their distinctive scent to the room. The floors had been swept, and washed, before being rinsed with water infused with several essential oils. The fires had all been built up, and were crackling, adding their cheery light to the room. The three large chandlers had had their oil refilled and were all burning merrily.

The weather outside could have been more hospitable however. Just as everyone was sitting down to their dinner of turkey, goose, stuffing and various vegetables a bitter north wind sprung up, bringing with it the start of a massive snowfall that would last for the next two and a half weeks.

Willow looked around at everyone, warm and comfortable, and enjoying their dinner and had a moment of regret. Turning to Amana she said, “I feel guilty. Here we are, having a nice dinner, safe and warm.”

“Why does that cause you concern?”

“Well… Sonya and the others. I sent them out into this storm.”

“Don’t worry, Willow. You know that they were planning to stay at one of the farms down the mountain. They will be safe there, and they all have enough sense to ride out the worst of the storm before continuing their mission.”

“But…”

“No buts, dear. Besides, this celebration is for you and Buffy. Sonya and the others did not know about it before they left, and would not be expecting it. It is totally removed from their experience. They will spend tonight in the traditional manner.”

“I guess you’re right, Amana.”

“I am, now enjoy your party.”

----------------------------------

Later that evening, well after the party had finally wound down, Buffy and Willow had just finishing feeding, and settling, their daughters, and were getting ready to go to bed themselves.

“Merry Christmas, sweetie,” said Buffy, coming up from behind and embracing her spouse.

“You too,” said Willow, leaning back and melting into Buffy’s chest.

“Goddess, you are tense, aren’t you.”

“Lots on my mind.”

“I’ve got a way to help you unwind.”

“Do you now,” said Willow as she turned in her lover’s arms, <and what would that be?>

replied the arch-mage, as she began to trail her finger-tips along her lover’s neck, <after all, who know where a massage might lead.>

“And you claim that I have a perverted mind. Now lets get naked, and into bed.”

“Goodie.”

Within minutes Buffy was gently massaging her lover’s back and shoulders.

“These muscles are all knotted up,” she said.

Buffy poured a little oil into her hands, and then rubbed them together to warm up the oil. She then began to work the oil into Willow’s muscles.

“That is so nice,” said Willow, as she began to relax under the skilled hands of her spouse.

The knots and tension in Willow’s back muscles began to dissolve as Buffy continued with her massage. Once she had finished working on the shoulders Buffy then began to work her way down her lover’s back, taking her time, and making sure to work each muscle group on the way. Willow continued her contented sighing at the attention she was receiving and whimpered in objection when Buffy stopped for a moment.

“Turn over love.”

“Mmmm. Do I have to?”

“Yes, sloth girl, you do.”

Willow, reluctantly, turned over on the bed, and looked up at the deep jade-green pools, which were her lover’s eyes. Eyes that were currently boring holes into her skull.

“Know what you want, I do.”

“Yes.”

With that, Willow reached up and pulled Buffy down into a deep embrace, crushing Buffy against her body. She continued the kiss, as she began to move her hands along Buffy’s back and sides. Reaching her lover’s behind, she grasped each check, squeezed, and pushed upwards then pulled down, resulting in their pelvises grinding into each other.

<Oh, yes,> exclaimed Buffy, as the sexual tension of the moment began to quicken her breath, and her heart rate.

<Just let me show you how much,> Buffy proceeded to snake one of her hands down between their bodies, on a direct course for Willow’s clit. Reaching her target, she grasped Willow’s button between her thumb and index finger and began to gently twist; while her forefinger flicked across the top of her lover’s clit.

Willow, who had already been in a state of heightened excitement due to the massage, began to buck and squirm, which had the result of grinding her leg even harder into Buffy’s pelvis. This simultaneous grinding and manipulating had the desired result as both young women exploded in orgasm. Pausing for a moment to admire her sweat covered spouse, Buffy then began to lick her way down Willow’s body, making sure to remove all beads of perspiration. She paid particular attention to Willow’s engorged breasts, first licking them clean, then gently sucking on each nipple, being rewarded with a taste of warm milk.

“That tastes so good,” Buffy commented, before continuing her slow, slow, oral journey towards her obvious goal.

She traced long trails along Willow’s stomach with her tongue, she teased Willow’s bellybutton and she gently kissed each of the pale stretch marks along her lover’s abdomen, before gently prying Willow’s legs apart.

Moving between those legs, Buffy paused for a moment and said, “I see that I have a lot of work to do here.”

Buffy alternately, and slowly, licked along the insides of each of Willow’s legs, moving ever closer to her lover’s cleft. As she approached her goal, she began to gently nip at soft flesh at the top of Willow’s thighs, causing her spouse to gasp in pleasure with each bite. Finally, Buffy began her assault on the centre of Willow’s pleasure. She began with long licks, from the top of her lover’s slit, paying close attention to the little button, to the bottom, spending some time to run her tongue around the edge of Willow’s vaginal opening. Buffy then alternated licks, with gentle bites, up and down Willow’s sex, creating waves of pleasure and pain to course through her body. The arch-mage began to buck in pleasure, trying to move her clitoris into Buffy’s mouth, for direct stimulation from her lover’s tongue and teeth.

<Please, please, please,> Willow whimpered in their mind, <this is so good. Don’t stop.>

<Not planning to,> replied Buffy, as she grabbed one of Willow’s inner labia with her teeth, and bit gently on it, <now does that feel nice?>

Receiving only an incoherent whimper in reply, Buffy continued her lovemaking by running her tongue along the edge of the labia she had between her teeth. She then used one hand to open the folds of her lover’s cleft, before she plunged her tongue deep into Willow’s vagina. As she orally assaulted Willow’s love canal, Buffy began to rub Willow’s clitoris in a circular pattern. Willow, already near the edge, was not able to hold out for very long; within minutes she began to tremble, then her entire body stiffened as she climaxed. Buffy rode out her lover’s climax, not stopping her oral, and physical lovemaking. Willow, never dropped out of her peak, just as she began to relax from her orgasm, Buffy’s ministrations caused her to peak again. This continued for nearly half an hour, as Buffy caused numerous waves of orgasmic pleasure to course through Willow.

Later, after heartbeat had returned to near normal, Willow reached down and pulled her lover up from between her legs into an embrace.

Kissing her gently, and tasting herself on Buffy’s lips and tongue, Willow said, <thank you. I would be lost without you.>

Buffy, snuggled deep in her spouse’s arms, suddenly noticed that Willow was weeping. Brushing away the tears, she said, “what’s wrong. It wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“It isn’t you.”

“Then what is it? You know that I’m always here for you.”

“I miss them.”

Understanding then came to the slayer. Willow was homesick. Stroking Willow’s long red hair Buffy said softly, “I miss them too.”

“It’s just that it’s been nearly a year now. Mom and Dad must be frantic with worry, no matter what Giles and the others told them.”

“It’ll be ok, love. We will be home soon, and then we can explain everything. There will be a lot to explain, however.”

“Your Mom will also be going nuts. Doesn’t that worry you?”

“It does. But, I have put that, and everything else to do with my worries about getting home, into that little spot in my mind where I put the unthinkable. So it won’t distract me.”

“That’s fine for you, lover, but what about me. I don’t know if we will even survive the winter, let alone ever get home again.”

“We will survive; and we will get home. I have total faith in you and your abilities.”

“That makes one of us then.”

“Chill, Will. Don’t get down on yourself. You will worry this to death, and that will only upset you more. Fate has put us in this position, and you will get us out. Just remember what you have done already.”

“Yeah, I got you, me and the cat stranded on a different world.”

“You have also saved my life, come into your power, married me, impregnated two women, and produced a beautiful baby.”

Willow sniffed back her tears, and said, “I suppose so.”

“I know so. Now, lets dry your face, and get some sleep. If the twins are up to their usual tricks, they will be looking for food in a couple of hours or so.”

----------------------------------

The next three weeks flew by, as Willow and the rest of her team prepared for the anticipated return of Sonya, the slayers and any mages that they had been able to find. They had not heard from the group since they had left; however, Willow was not worried. She knew that the harsh January weather, combined with a war, would reduce the ability of Sonya to send anyone back with word on her progress. Nevertheless, everyone else did not share Willow’s equanimity about the situation.

Willow, Buffy, Aiofe, Bridie and the babies were sitting before one of the fireplaces in the common room, enjoying a post-dinner drink. Buffy, who had been agitating about the lack of news from Sonya all day, continued her harangue by saying, “Damn it, Will, we have to know what is happing. We don’t have that much time until the date you told them to return by, and we’ve heard nothing from them.”

“No news, could be good news,” said Aiofe.

“No news could be they’re dead news,” retorted Buffy, leaping up from the sofa where she had been sitting with Willow, and beginning to pace back and forth in front of the fire.

“Chill, Buff,” said Willow, “I know you are woman of action, but, what can I do. They are either on their way back, or not. Not much I can do to influence things one way or the other.”

“But,” said Buffy, as she ceased her pacing and returned to her seat, “oh, I don’t know, it’s just this feeling I’ve had all day, that they are in trouble.”

“Now that, love, is something we can deal with,” said Willow, realizing as she got up from the sofa and began to walk towards her workroom that her lover may have been experiencing more than lack of action jitters, “follow me ladies, and lets see if my spouse has ‘seen’ or is just being a nervous Nelly.”

Shortly they had all convened in the workroom, everyone else sitting at the worktable while Willow busied herself by pulling various items out of cabinets and off of shelves.

“Now,” she said, “I need you Buffy to give me a hand, and lets just try to figure out what’s been bothering you all day, and if it has its basis in reality, or in your imagination.”

Buffy stood up and joined Willow at the far end of the worktable, where she had laid out a bowl full of spring water, a brazier, a sharp knife, some incense and a crystal. Willow lit the brazier, and dropped a cone of incense into it, resulting in the scent of jasmine and lavender permeating throughout the room.

Willow turned to Buffy and said, “now love, I’m going to take a small amount of blood from you, and use it and the crystal to try to see what you may have been foretelling in your subconscious, thus causing the agitation that you have been so pleasantly expressing all day.”

Willow began by placing the crystal at the bottom of the bowl; she then said a few words, resulting in the water becoming cloudy, with a counter clockwise current swirling in the bowl. She then grasped Buffy’s hand, and sliced along the palm. She then dribbled the blood that sprung up from the cut into the water; as each drop hit the water it swirled along with the current, and gradually cleared the water. Once the water had cleared completely, Willow stopped the blood flow from Buffy’s hand.

“Now,” said Willow, “lets see what we see.”

Willow, closed her eyes, spread her hands over the bowl and began to meditate. Aiofe and Bridie stood up and joined Buffy as the three of them watched the water carefully for any indication of success on Willow’s part.

Within minutes, the water became opaque again, and began to swirl violently in the bowl. Suddenly Willow clapped her hands and shouted, “ashlaghey ry-heet firriney!”

The result was instantaneous; the cloudy water immediately began to show a picture. It was of a valley not far down the mountain, where it appeared that a large force of demons, nearly a hundred, were attacking a small group of humans. Willow stared at the vision, and caused it to focus in on the humans.

“Goddess,” whispered Aiofe, when the faces of the humans became visible, “its Sonya and the others.”

“I think you and Daithi are going for a trip, Buffy,” said Willow, as she dismissed the vision in the bowl, “and I think you are leaving in the morning.”

“I think you’re right,” said the slayer, “I just hope I’ll be in time.”

“You will,” replied Willow, “this is a vision of what is to come, not what is or has happened. However, you don’t have a lot of time.”

“Come,” said Bridie, “lets all to bed. We’ve an early start in the morning.”

----------------------------------

The next morning, well before dawn, Willow, Bridie, Aiofe and the twins had assembled in the common room to bid farewell to Buffy and Daithi.

“You all set,” asked Willow, looking over her spouse and the Guards captain. Both were dressed in heavy winter clothing.

“I feel like an Inuit,” said Buffy, referring to her clothing.

After eating a hasty breakfast, followed by an equally quick bath, Buffy had fed Faith before getting dressed for her expedition. Thin cotton underwear, covering her from neck to toes, was in turn covered by a set of wool clothing that also ran from neck to ankles. A second layer of cotton clothing in turn, covered this layer. Finally, Buffy had dressed in a thick hooded fur coat and pants, both of which had the fur layer turned inwards; the furs had been bleached a camouflaging white. Over a second pair of cotton socks Buffy wore a thick pair of waterproof leather boots, which were laced up to mid calf. She had put on a wool balaclava, and was carrying a second hat, which she would put on just before leaving. Her hands were already in her thin cotton gloves, she would wait until she left before putting on the thick fur mittens.

“Let’s cut this short,” said Daithi, “Buffy and I are already getting overheated, we don’t want to sweat too much before going out into the cold.”

“I agree,” said the slayer, “now where is my darling, so I can give her a kiss goodbye?”

“Right here,” said Bridie, holding up Faith, for a hug and kiss from her mother, “don’t worry, she’ll be fine.”

“I know,” said Buffy, holding back a tear. Looking down at the little girl in her arms she said,” I will miss you sweetie. Be a good girl, and I’ll be back in four days or so.”

As Buffy returned her daughter to Bridie, she said, “take care of her, please.”

“I will,” replied Bridie.

Buffy then turned and embraced Willow in a bear hug. After a few minutes she said, <take care love.>

<I do, and that doesn’t make it any easier. Now, be careful, and don’t get into any needless fights now, please.”

Buffy kissed her spouse, tousled her long red hair, and said, “be good. I’ll be back in five days, tops.”

“I will. You two take care. No heroics, and get back as fast as you can. We cannot afford to lose either of you. This morning’s forecast, if we can trust Frankel, said that we’re going to have awful weather for the next week, no snow but bitter cold.”

“Lets hope that it’ll slow the demons more than us, Willow,” said Daithi, as he gathered up his backpack and settled it onto his shoulders, “now, lets be off, we have a long walk before we can get to any shelter for tonight.”

“You’re right,” said Buffy, also grabbing her pack and making her final preparations, “lets go.”

Buffy and Daithi then left the inn, opening the door to the remnants of the winter storm, which had struck overnight. Wearing their white clothing, it wasn’t long before the snow whirling around the pre-dawn sky swallowed them.

Willow, Bridie and Aiofe watched from the door, braving the cold, until they could no longer see either Buffy or Daithi. One by one they turned from the door, Willow being the last, and returned to the chairs before one of the fireplaces.

“That’s that then,” said Willow, she sipped from her mug of mulled cider and after a moment’s pause continued, “I hate this.”

“What, love,” asked Aiofe.

“Sending people into danger.”

----------------------------------

In the demon lord’s war room, things were getting tense for the various members of his command staff. It had been over three weeks, and the various groups of demon scouts had not yet found any sign of the slayer and her companions. The army that was waiting to strike was getting restless after weeks of inaction; things were beginning to come to the boil.

The master was sitting on his throne, surveying the work being performed by his subordinates and reading various dispatches, when one of his lieutenants approached him and bowed deeply. He looked up from the dispatch he was reading and said, “yes? What is it?”

“We have just received new intelligence, Lord.”

“Yes.”

“One of our outlying tracking forces has picked up the trail of a large group of humans, heading north from the capital towards the area where the demon Hugh was found.”

“How many?”

“More than thirty, lord. They are moving slowly and our forces should be in a position to intercept by tomorrow at the latest.”

“Good,” said the demon master, “that many humans moving towards a sparsely inhabited region can only be the work of the slayer. Make sure that we capture at least half of them, so that we can find out where they were going.”

“As you will, lord.”

“One other thing.”

“Yes, my lord?”

“Get the army moving north. I have a feeling that we will be finding our answers, soon.”

“It will be done.”

The lieutenant bowed, and turned away from the demon lord.

The demon master put down the reports that he had been reading and thought, “soon, soon I will have her eliminated; and the threat she poses to me will be gone.”

----------------------------------

For Sonya, and the other slayers, the last three weeks had been successful, if not enjoyable. They had trekked for nine days through a winter storm before they had reached one of the small outlining towns that were around the capital. The town had been blasted, by the demon army that overran it, and was now a collection of burnt-out shells. The pitiful remnants of the human population lived like rats in the runes, scurrying out of sight at the slightest sound, for fear of the demons returning to enslave them, like they had enslaved the rest of the town’s survivors. Sonya had noticed, peripherally, the scurrying as she and the others approached the ruins. She decided that time was no longer on her side and was definitely not available to her for a long search through the town; She therefore took up residence in one of the least destroyed buildings, and waited for the inhabitants to come to her, as she knew they eventually would.

They settled into their temporary camp by setting up a campfire, sleeping and storage areas, and by posting sentries at all of the openings to the structure; an hour later Sonya was rewarded when she was told that there was someone approaching the building. Sonya went to a gaping hole in one of the blackened walls, and carefully looked out, to see the emissary from the survivors of the town. She saw a small girl, no more than ten, carefully picking her way through the rubble towards the newcomers.

Inwardly seething at the callousness of other humans, for using a little girl as a stalking horse, she waited until the girl was no more than ten meters away from the blasted door of the house before saying softly, “It’s ok. We won’t hurt you. We’ve come for information, and some help.”

The girl slowly moved closer to the building her eyes constantly darting from side to side, as if she could see through stone, saying nothing. She stopped about three meters from the door. Sonya, moved away from the side of the opening so that she could be seen, then said, “It’s alright. We won’t hurt you. What is your name?”

The girl, looked up and focused all of her attention on Sonya. Her face was streaked with dirt and her clothing totally inadequate for the winter, and then whispered, “Sam.”

“That’s a nice name, Sam,” said Sonya as she carefully exited the building, all the while keeping eye contact with the little girl. She moved closer to the waif and then said, “would you like to come inside and get warm? We have some food also. Then we can tell you our story, so you can tell the others.”

That had been all that was required. The girl was intelligent; she had to be to have survived that long, and she knew that she had been sent because the others in the destroyed town thought that she was expendable. She thought the offer over, and decided that the chance to get warm, and for hot food was worth the risk. She followed Sonya back into the building, and became the liaison between the slayers and the town’s survivors.

Over the next week, Sonya, by using the extra clothing and food that they had brought as currency, was able to get the other survivors to scout the other towns surrounding the besieged capital and find the mages she needed. By the end of the week twenty-two mages, of various ranks, had made their way to Sonya’s camp. Sonya knew then that it was time to go. They were now a significant presence in the area, and that would be sure to draw demon attention before long.

They had left the following day, the thirteen slayers escorting the mages, and Sam. Sonya had decided to bring the little girl back with her since both of her parents were dead. Since she had no living relatives, she would have continued to be at the mercy of the other survivors in the town.

They had made good time back to the village, given that, for once the weather appeared to be cooperating with them. This had resulted in their making excellent progress each day, even given the reality that several of the mages had to move slowly due to lack of nutrition and injuries. Sonya had not seen any signs of demon presence and hoped that their luck would hold just a little longer, since she figured that they were only about a day or two from the village. However, as they entered a small valley one morning, shortly before noon, disaster struck. Sonya could see that a force of demons already occupied it, a force over fifty strong.

“Goddess help us now,” she said, “we were so close.”

Sonya immediately arranged her slayers so that they formed a protective half circle around the mages, who, given their relative lack of experience, and condition, would not be in a position to offer any assistance. She then calmly waited for the demons, who had already spotted her and were charging down the valley, to get close enough before she had her forces attack with their bows.

“It’s in the hands of the Goddess now,” she said to herself before she focused herself for the upcoming battle and called out to the others, “Fire!”

----------------------------------

Buffy and Daithi had pushed themselves as hard as they could. However, the storm that had passed just before they had departed the inn had deposited several feet of snow in the passes. This had caused a significant delay in their progress towards the valley that Buffy had seen in the vision, and Daithi had recognized from Willow’s description.

They had spent the previous night in an abandoned cottage, about a half-days travel from the valley that Buffy had seen. As soon as they had awoke, the two of them had immediately gathered their packs and headed out, Buffy fearing that they would be too late.

As they entered the head of the valley, it looked like Buffy’s fears were proving correct. For ahead of them was a massive force of demons charging towards a small group of humans.

“You were right,” said Daithi, “we’re too late.”

“Maybe not. If Sonya and the others can hold them off for a couple of minutes, we should be able to hit them from behind.”

Daithi looked over at the slayer, as if she was possessed, with a disbelieving look on his face. Buffy glanced over at him and said, reassuringly, “it’s ok. I’m not that crazy. Besides, it’s what I do.”

Just after Buffy finished saying a prayer to the Goddess, and as she reached down to her chest to grasp her sword, which had migrated through the layers of clothing without burning them, they saw the front ranks of the demons fall to the onslaught of the slayers arrows.

“That’s it,” said Buffy, “now’s our chance while they are distracted by Sonya and their wounded.”

The two warriors made their way swiftly, but quietly, along the trail made by the demons in their rushing attack on Sonya and the others. Within ten minutes, they were within striking distance of the demon rearguard. Buffy motioned for Daithi to head to the right, while she would move to her left. This, would she hoped create additional confusion within the demon ranks once they began their attack.

Buffy quickly found a position from which to launch her attack. Thinking over her plan of attack, she mentally cursed herself for not having arranged for a signal to Daithi when she was ready. Thinking, “oh well, I’ll just leap in and start slashing. Hopefully Daithi will see the effect I have and launch his own attack.”

Buffy gave one more quick prayer to the Goddess then raised her sword overhead, causing it to burst into flame. Moving quickly to strike before any of the demons thought to look behind, she crossed the short distance between herself and three mottled, troll like demons, who were armed with heavy wooden clubs. She raised her sword and then swiftly struck a downward slashing blow, which sliced deep into the shoulder and chest of the first of her opponents.

Screaming, “time to die, scum bags,” Buffy immediately pulled back her sword and then thrust it deep into her victim’s back, killing it instantly by piercing his heart.

Pulling out her sword from the falling body, Buffy then leaped to the right, to the side of her second target, avoiding the crushing blow from his club, which went whistling through the space that she had just vacated. Buffy pirouetted, ducked under the return swing from the demon, and simultaneously slashed at his legs, slicing through one leg, and deeply into the other. The demon roared in pain, alerting several of his companions who turned to see what had caused the trouble, and immediately dropped to the ground, to bleed out and die without causing any further trouble to Buffy.

Buffy paused for a second, to catch her breath, and saw that Daithi had indeed used her attack as the signal for him to spring into action. She then noticed that her attack had drawn the attention of several other, at least ten, demons. Thinking, “time to be defensive for a minute or so,” she moved back from her second victim and assumed a defensive pose, her sword moving back and forth in front of her.

The demons facing her decided that their best option would be to rush this foolish human. Moving slightly apart, to try and flank Buffy, they then rushed at her with a roar. Buffy didn’t wait. Seeing the start of their rush, she jumped to the left, to the extreme edge of the group of demons, and thrust into the belly of her closest opponent. Using his scream of pain as a distraction Buffy then leaped forward and rolled over her sword in midair; as she exited her manoeuvre she slashed out, hitting the second demon in the skirmish line, who had just begun to turn to follow her, in the side cutting into his lungs, and putting him out of action for the rest of the battle.

Knowing that she was finished if she remained in a stand up fight Buffy continued to move quickly, slashing at various opponents, then using her superior strength and speed to move on. She worked her way across the rear of the demon force until she met up with Daithi. He had followed a similar strategy, moving gradually toward Buffy. Once they had met, Buffy took another quick breather, to allow Daithi and herself to regain some energy. They then resumed their attack, moving back and forth across the demons who were now confronted with attacks on both sides.

Meanwhile, Sonya attacked in strength. She had immediately noticed when the demons eased off their attack on her group. Surmising that she had somehow received assistance, from where she wasn’t too concerned about, she paused for a few moments, allowing her group of slayers to regain their breath. Once they were ready she led a charge into the now very demoralized demons. That was enough to turn the tide; the demons were routed, and began to flee the valley leaving their wounded, and most of their weapons behind.

Buffy and Daithi then busied themselves, dispatching the demon wounded, while Sonya and the other slayers patched up their wounded. Once the grisly job of finishing off the demons was completed, Buffy came over to where Sonya had set up her impromptu first-aid station.

“Hi Buffy,” said Sonya, looking up as she approached, “excellent timing.”

“Thanks,” replied Buffy, sitting down on a dead log, “need any help?”

“Your healing skills would be appreciated,” said Sonya, “for a couple of the more critically wounded, that I could do nothing for.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Buffy and Sonya went to the area, which had been set aside for the more seriously wounded. Buffy saw that she was too late for three of the group. Two of the mages, and one on Sonya’s companions had been killed; they were now in the hands of the Goddess. However, Sonya did indicate that there were a number of serious injuries amongst the slayers, serious enough that if Buffy did not act quickly the number of the dead would grow.

Buffy approached the young woman who Sonya indicated was the most seriously injured. She looked down at the girl, and recognized her as Alya. She was one of the youngest of the new slayers, no more than fifteen. She was crying softly, in obvious agony from the five parallel gashes that had cut deep into her side and across her belly.

Buffy bent down and picked up one of the woman’s hands, and said softly, “Alya. I’m going to do my best, but you know that I’ve not got much experience at this?”

“I know,” choked out Alya, “but you are the only hope I have.”

“Will you allow me to use my gift to heal you,” asked Buffy.

“I will,” replied Alya, completing the ritual that would allow Buffy to use her magic on a human.

Buffy took a closer look at the wound, as she carefully unwrapped the blood-soaked cloth that had been pressed against it, in a futile attempt to staunch the bleeding. She saw that the flesh had been mangled, as if by a series of serrated knives, and a yellow-green pus was oozing from the slashes.

“I hope you got the slime that did this,” said Buffy, as she gently began to wash away the worst of the pus with a warm cloth.

“He died just as he was hitting me,” said Alya, wincing as Buffy cleaned the wounds, “I just didn’t leap back fast enough.”

“You will next time,” reassured Buffy, as she tossed aside the cloth she had been using to clean the wound. Buffy then paused, focused her attention entirely on the young woman on the ground in front of her. She translated her sight into the magical realm, and looked for the energy ties that bound Alya to the material world. As expected, Buffy saw that the ties were dimming, as the life force drained away from the wounded woman.

Buffy thought to herself, “got to give her the energy to stand up to the healing,” and began to use her feedback tools to pump energy back into Alya. She then called up the new skills that she had been training with, and laid her hands directly on the young woman’s wounds. She concentrated, and focused her attention on the damaged tissue, convincing it to accelerate the bodies natural repair process. She maintained her focus on her task, her knees rapidly stiffening beneath her until she could see the wounds close under her hands. As Buffy finished her healing accomplishment, Alya collapsed in exhaustion, and due to her relief from the pain.

Letting out her breath in a soft wheeze Buffy stood up, stretched out her legs, turned to Sonya, and said, “she’ll be ok now. She will sleep for the next few hours and wake up hungry as a bear. Now who’s next?”

Buffy spent the remainder of the afternoon going from patient to patient, healing each as best she could. Meanwhile, Daithi and Sonya got busy preparing and fortifying a campsite, since it was obvious that they would not be able to proceed any further that day.

As dusk fell, Buffy sat on a log before the campfire, exhausted beyond belief from her healing efforts. Barely recognizing the dish that was put into her hands as food, she began to mechanically eat the meal that had been prepared. Before she was finished her plate, she collapsed in exhaustion and had to be carried to her tent by Daithi.

Buffy awoke, just as the blankets were being tucked around her to whisper, “Thanks.”

“Sleep well. You deserve it.”

Buffy had one more thought just before dropping into the arms of Morpheus for the night and sent out a, <found them love. We’ll be back in two days.>

She was reassured to hear Willow’s, <love you, miss you, will see you soon,> in reply.

----------------------------------

The demon master was pacing in his command centre, impatiently waiting for news about the attack on the group of humans heading into the mountains. Suddenly, as his back was to the door, he stiffened then tuned and made obeisance.

“Lord,” he said to the demon who was his commander and his master, “how may I serve?”

“Talaker,” said the huge, over three meters, demon. “You’ve been keeping secrets again.”

“Yes, master,” said the demon Talaker, knowing it was pointless to try to lie to his master.

“Where is she?”

“We don’t know, yet, my lord,” replied Talaker, beginning to wonder if these were his last moments alive.

Just then, a demon lieutenant approached the two demon lords. He bowed and waited for permission to speak. Finally, the demon overlord gave him leave to speak.

“Masters,” he began, “we’ve received word.”

“Yes,” said the overlord, “what is it?”

“Good news, my lord, the force that was tracking a group of humans into the mountains, who we thought would have knowledge of the slayer,” he added in clarification, “has been nearly destroyed.”

“And why exactly is this good news,” asked the overlord, wondering if everyone on Talaker’s staff was brain damaged.

“They were destroyed by the slayer,” replied the lieutenant.

“That is good news, and it would be even better, if they found out where she went.”

“They did, lord,” replied the lieutenant moving towards the main battle map. “They are here,” he said, pointing to the town of Morning Breeze.

“I trust, Talaker, that you have a plan?”

“I do lord.”

“Please explain.”

“In anticipation of news about the slayer from this group of humans I had already moved an army north, towards that very town.”

“That is good news, how large?”

“Nearly seven hundred, lord.”

“Excellent. Now, I think that you had better get to them, and lead by example. I needn’t tell you that failure is not an option, now do I?”

“No, my lord. I’ll leave immediately.”

----------------------------------

Two days after Buffy and Daithi had linked up with Sonya, they made it back to the village, and immediately plunged into a frantic series of preparations for Willow’s attack on the hell-mouths. Willow concluded that the demons who had survived Buffy’s rescue mission would immediately alert their lord as to the location of the humans, and that the demon leadership would then be in a position to rapidly deduce Willow’s location and launch an attack.

Willow knew, however, that she could not rush things. She therefore spent a precious week with the new mages, and the townspeople who would round out the circles, practicing the rituals that she would use to attack the demon’s energy transportation network. Grael, Frankel and Amana spent the time preparing an area in one of the barns, which would be big enough for Willow’s purposes, by cleaning and arranging for a suitable source of heat. Buffy and Daithi worked on the defences of the town, and prepared for an attack all hoped wouldn’t come, but knew that would arrive all the same.

Finally, just as the month was ending, Willow announced at breakfast that everything and everyone was ready, and that she would perform the ritual that night, after everyone who was involved had had a chance to prepare.

Turning to Buffy at the breakfast table Willow then said, “that’s it then, we’re committed to this course of action.”

Just as Buffy was about to reply the door to the inn burst in, followed by an exhausted Padrick, gasping for breath, who called out, “My Lady, demons! Demons are about to attack the village in strength!”

Finis Part XIII

----------------------------------

Continued and concluded in Part XIV…

Return To Buffy’s Stories