Militat Omnis Amans (Every Lover is a Warrior)

By Kevin Beckett

Disclaimers – Can be found in Part 1.

Rating – R for violence and relationships between women.

Pairing – Buffy/Willow,

Feedback – Please. And thanks to all who have commented, I appreciate everything that was said. As before, all meaningful criticism, support and suggestions are welcome. kevin.beckett@justice.gc.ca

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in <>.

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A priori:

Willow has developed a method, which she hopes will close the hell mouths and cut off the source of energy that feeds the demon population. Just as she has finished announcing her plans, the guardsman Padrick has burst into the common room of the inn to announce that a demon army is poised and ready to strike the village.

Synopsis for part XIV:

It is time for the grand finale, and bringing together of all of the participants, with the finish to Willow’s task, and, perhaps, the return of Buffy and Willow to their world. The two travellers will learn distressing information that will shake the foundations of what they believe in.

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Part XIV - O Praeclarum Cutodeon Ovium Lupum (An excellent protector of sheep, the wolf)

Long have I travelled

Storm and sun and rain

And it’s homeward sailing

Journeys at an end

Journey’s End

Clannad, Macalla

n the town of Morning Breeze, in the common room of the inn, chaos governed. Some people were doing their best to leave, while others were out shouting each other in a futile attempt to bring the room to some semblance of order. Standing at one end of the room, outwardly unperturbed, was the arch-mage, Willow Rosenberg. Inwardly, however, she was far from serene. Her worst nightmare was about to descend on the town, and she was the person who was going to have to deal with the problem.

Deciding that panic had had enough of a head start, she climbed onto a table and shouted in a booming voice, “enough! Everybody, settle down, and get back to your seats. And get back now!”

The effect was instantaneous, one of their leaders had spoken, and everyone slowly returned to their seats. Willow waited until the majority had been seated, and until the noise level had abated to a tolerable level before saying, “ok! This has put a wrinkle into the plans, but it’s not fatal.”

Willow allowed that statement to settle in before she turned to Padrick and said, “Padrick, where are they, and how long until they get here?”

“They have just started to cross the southern pass, my Lady,” said the tired guardsman, “they’ll be here in force in about three hours, scouting parties about an hour before that.”

“How many,” asked Willow.

“Nearly a thousand.”

“That adds another wrinkle,” said Buffy as she began to pace; turning to her spouse she added, “and a big one; now, how do we handle this?”

“By not panicking,” replied the arch-mage, climbing down from the table and sitting down once again in her chair. “First, we move up the ritual for closing the hell-mouths.”

“Is that possible,” asked Aiofe, “you have just told us that you were going to do the closing at dusk.”

“That was only to allow time for everyone to get ready,” said Willow, “the ritual can be done at any time.”

“Ok, so we can get moving on that,” said Buffy, “how much time do you need?”

“About an hour,” replied Willow, “we’ll have the participants do the ritual bathing altogether, and after that spend some time in meditation.”

“That takes care of the mages, now how do we keep the ritual undisturbed?”

“That is where you, the other slayers, and Daithi and his merry men come into play. You are going to have to keep the demons away long enough for the ritual to be completed, hopefully no more than two or three hours after I begin; once it is done, they should be all unconscious.”

“Not too good lover,” said Buffy worriedly, “fifty to one odds. Those are high, even by my standards, not to mention keeping them away from you for nearly two hours.”

“I know,” said Willow, “but you only have to hold them off, not defeat them utterly.”

“Besides,” said Amana, “you will have Grael and me helping you.”

“Huh,” said Willow, “but I’m going to need your help.”

“Buffy will need us more,” replied Grael, “you are strong enough to lead the ritual; Amana and I will not add significantly to it.”

“You will be a help,” said Buffy, “but what about restrictions on using your, and, come to think of it, my, magic?”

“No problem,” said Willow, having quickly worked through in her own mind the pros and cons of not having Amana and Grael helping her during the ritual, “everyone else in the area will either be part of the ritual, or in the room with us for protection. The three of you will have a free hand, since anything left moving around outside of the village will be demon in origin.”

“Another problem may have just come up,” said Daithi, who had entered the inn, just as Willow had restored order, from his morning inspection of the defensive positions that had been set up during the previous week. He sat down and began to consume a quick meal, knowing that he would, in all likelihood, not be eating again until the upcoming battle with the demons had been resolved, one way or the other.

“Huh,” asked a now confused Willow, “what did we forget?”

“Nothing,” replied Daithi, “at least in a preparation for the ritual sense. But, it looks like a major weather system is pushing in quickly from the north. We should be getting snow, and lots of it within the next few hours.”

Turning to everyone in the room, Willow then said, “ok folks, this isn’t good news, by any stretch of the imagination, but panic isn’t going to help. We have the plan that we’ve been working on all week, and we have the ability to strike a devastating blow against the demons occupying this world; so let’s stay focused, do what we’ve trained for and give the demon leadership a message that they’ll never forget.”

The people in the common room then exploded into purposeful action. They began by organizing themselves into various groups; some to round up the rest of the townspeople and bring them to safety, others to begin their preparations for the ritual. Buffy left the room and headed to the training area, planning on using it as her base of operations. Willow picked up her daughters and headed for the baths, both Faith and Kendra would be staying with her, for the duration of the day’s events.

Bridie and Aiofe headed to the kitchens, to make sure that the cooks were made aware of the new timetable. The cooks had already been awake for the last few hours, making the morning meal, and arranging for food to be prepared and sent to the converted barn in which Willow would be conducting the ritual. Bridie and Aiofe also wanted to make certain that the cooks remembered that all fires, torches and lamps in the inn were to be extinguished before they joined the rest of the villagers who would be taking shelter with Willow and the other mages conducting the ritual. Once they had completed their trip to the kitchens, the two young women joined Willow, her daughters and the other mages in the baths, to get ready for their roles in the upcoming task.

All through the village, everyone implemented the contingency plans, which had been developed over the previous week. Fires were extinguished; the livestock was collected, some to be brought to the inn - the rest to be sent into the hills. Weapons were collected and stored in the converted barn, to be used by the villagers who were taking shelter there in the defence of their homes, should it come to pass that the demons were able to get by Buffy and the other slayers.

One hour after receiving the news that the demons were about to attack, everything was ready. The town was silent, and dark. Buffy and the rest of the defenders had taken up their already prepared positions at the southern edge of the town. Willow and the rest of the villagers had assembled in the converted barn, ready to begin the ritual, which would hopefully close the hell-mouths forever, and give a severe blow to the demons that were besieging this world.

Willow looked around the room, at the twenty-nine people who would be assisting her in the ritual, and at the villagers who were taking refuge with the mages in the old barn; these were primarily the elderly, the infirm and the expectant.

“Ok folks,” she said, standing at one end of the building and addressing the non-participants, “we’re nearly ready to begin. I’m sorry that I don’t have the time to give you as detailed explanation about what is going to happen as I usually do, but, don’t worry, and whatever you do, don’t leave this room.

“I’m going to ask that you try to keep as quiet as you can, and to stay well away from the circles. I’m not too sure what may manifest during the ritual, but whatever happens and whatever you see, please don’t freak on me.

“I’ll be putting a protection ring around the building, to try to keep the baddies away. It won’t stand up to a determined assault, but it will give you a good deal of protection, and more importantly warning that this building is about to be attacked.”

With that, Willow returned to the centre of the room. She stood in the exact centre of three large circles, which had been inscribed directly into the packed earth floor of the building, each one about two feet inside of the other. She took one last look around, to make certain that everything was in place, and that she had access to the tools she would need over the next few hours. She saw the people who would be participating in the ritual standing in a loose circle around her. Some of the participants, such as Frankel, Bridie and Aiofe, were relaxed and confident, others were showing some small measure of nervousness.

Willow looked carefully at each person, spending the time to seek out and look directly into his or her eyes. She was trying, successfully, to reassure each of them that what they were about to do was going to be successful, and that they would survive. She thought to herself, “Goddess, give me the strength I need,” and was not too surprised to have a sense of peace descend over the room.

Taking a deep breath she thought <ok love, we’re good to go.>

<We’ll keep the nosey neighbours from bothering you, luck.>

<Thanks, love you.>

Turning to the alter Willow then said, “ok everyone, places.”

The other participants then began to finalize the preparations for the ritual. Some went to light the watchtowers, and the others moved to take their places within the various circles. Aiofe, Bridie, Faith, Kendra, Frankel and the two other mages, which would be acting as joint High Priest with Frankel, joined Willow in the centre of the circles.

Just as she was taking a breath, to begin the ritual, Willow noticed that she had been joined by a familiar presence, she looked down and said, “there you are, Shadow-Cat; glad you could make it.”

Her familiar looked up, purring as she weaved between Willow’s legs, before she took up her accustomed place under the high-altar.

Willow and Frankel, with the assistance of the other High-Priests and Priestesses, then began the breathing exercises and chants which would centre the group and allow Willow to continue. Once she was satisfied that everyone had focused in on the task to be done, she, along with the others, cast the three times three circles which would, she hoped, protect everyone from the actions she was going to undertake.

As had happened previously the shields, and the guardians, manifested themselves as actual physical objects in the room, visible to all. As the now familiar physical guardians appeared Willow thought to herself, “I hope that no-one freaks over this, since I forgot to mention it to those who haven’t seen it happen before.”

Fortunately for Willow, none of the townspeople taking shelter in the barn, nor any of the new mages panicked; they were all startled, but were able to keep their composure.

As soon as she returned to the centre of the circles, Willow began to draw up the power she would need for the rest of the ritual. As she started to collect the energy from the magical realm, channelled through each of the participants in the circle, she realized that the amount of energy she was collecting, focusing and storing was tremendous.

She thought to herself, “I could level the Rockies with this much power.”

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Ten kilometres to the south, the demon lord leading the impending attack on the human village was in an upbeat mood. He was in a large tent that he had set up as his mobile command post, with his various subordinates and sub-commanders in attendance with him as he prepared for the next step in the mission that his lord had given him. So far, things had been progressing according to plan, and he figured that within the day he would be sucking the marrow from the bones of the slayer.

“So far the opposition has been non-existent,” he though to himself, as he was reviewing his plans for the final assault on the village. “Not much movement in the village, or in the outlying areas, however, she must know we are coming.”

Coming to a decision he barked out to a lieutenant, “call back the recon force. Now that the bulk of the army is in the valley proper, we don’t need them scouting ahead anymore.”

“Your will, lord,” replied the yellow skinned demon, turning to leave.

“Are you certain about calling them back, my lord,” asked another lieutenant carefully, this one a mottled blue demon with gold horns, “we still do not know precisely where they are located.”

“It doesn’t matter Tarana,” said the lord, beginning to pace in the confined quarters of the tent, “they have to be in that village, or in the surrounding area, somewhere. If we level the place and search the rubble, we are certain to find our target.”

Not being able to voice any further concerns, and be able to keep her head, the demon turned back to reviewing the part of the attack plan that she would be required to implement. It was, all in all, a rather simple plan, she would be required to move her third of the army to the west, and then sweep into the village as part of a three-pronged attack. The more she looked over the plan, the more concerned she became. It was looking like her lord was trusting in an all-out attack to overwhelm the village, and that sheer numbers would be enough to defeat whatever defences were in place. She decided that, to be on the safe side, she would hold back a portion of her forces; just to see how the battle developed, “after all,” she reasoned to herself, “if they are not needed they can help with the mopping up, and, if we do have resistance, I’ll be able to use them to shore up any weak points in our assault.”

The demon lord stopped his pacing, turned to his staff, and said, “that’s it. Let’s get to it. And remember, there is absolutely no room for failure.”

The various officers and aids left the tent, to return to their own commands. They were confident that their numbers alone would be enough to crush any humans that they came across. Even the most pessimistic amongst them figured that it would take no more than a day or so to eliminate the humans and be back on the road home.

Just as he was leaving his tent, the demon lord felt a stirring in the magical energies. Curious, he translated his sight into the magical realm and saw the effect that Willow was having there; it looked like a black hole, centred to the north, was sucking in all of the energy in the area. Just as he was returning his vision to the normal world, he felt the effects of Willow’s work, as an enormous magical backlash struck him, giving him a headache of near migraine proportions.

Staggering under the pain, he called out to his staff, “hold up for a minute. We’ve got a new set of problems. Find our mages, now.”

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Buffy shivered in the sub-zero temperatures and looked around at the improvised bunker that she was sharing with Alya, Padrick and one of the other new slayers. It was an improvised barricade of stone and wood, located just to the south and along the main road that bisected the village. Thinking that if they had had just a little more time that they would have been able to build a more substantial set of defences, she thought, “it will have to do. No use worrying about what ifs at this point.”

She turned to Alya, noticed the young woman shivering and said, “cold day isn’t it?”

“It’s not really the cold.”

“I know,” replied Buffy gently, “just remember, you are a slayer. You are with your friends and companions, and that we have the favour of the Goddess on our side.”

“I know, but….”

“That doesn’t help much, though does it?”

“No, and…”

“And what?”

“Well, last time I faced off against demons, I nearly died. I would have died if you hadn’t been there to heal me.”

“You can’t forget that, I know. But, you are going to have to put it in the back of your mind. If you don’t, it will impair your performance, and probably put you into danger.”

“I know, but it’s hard. How do you manage?”

“Practice, plus in the beginning it was easier for me.”

“How’s that?”

“In part because when I began, I was not surrounded by hundreds of vampires and demons,” Buffy paused for a moment, then continued, “that came later.”

“Well, at least I’m with you, that is a comfort.”

“And we have Shari and Padrick also. They’ll be able to help, of that I’m sure.”

“That we will, miss,” said Padrick. “We’ll be ok.”

Just as Padrick finished, speaking the four of them felt an electric tingle wash over their bodies. Realising, through her link with her lover, what was happing Buffy turned to the others and said, “ok, let’s look sharp. That was Willow beginning her spell. It’ll be up to us to keep the baddies away.”

Everyone gripped their weapons a bit tighter and began to scan the horizon to the south, with just a little bit more care. For they knew that the demon army would be upon them soon.

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Just to the west of Buffy’s position, Amana and Grael were also setting up their defensive position. As was the case with the slayer’s position, theirs was a defensive position more in intent than in substance, and both mages knew that it would not sustain a prolonged attack for very long.

They shared their position with Daithi and one of the new slayers, who, like Alya, was very concerned about the upcoming battle.

Amana noticed the young woman, trembling and looking around furtively, and said, “relax Maria, it’ll be a while before anything happens.”

“I know lady,” whispered the young woman, who was barely out of her teens, “I’m just having difficulty processing everything that’s been happening.”

“Just remember what we are trying to do, concentrate on what you have to do, and remember that you are not alone,” replied Amana, as she embraced the younger woman.

“I know,” repeated Maria, “its just that I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve never experienced anything like what’s happened to me over the last few months.”

“No one has,” answered Amana, “all of us have been overwhelmed by recent events.”

“Except…” whispered Maria.

“Except, you think, Buffy and Willow,” said the older woman, tightening her hug, just a little more.

Maria moved away from Amana and sat on the ground. She paused for a moment, and then asked “what is it with those two? Why are they unfazed by anything?”

“It only appears that way,” replied Amana, “but, truth be told, they constantly worry about everything, and everyone.”

“Doesn’t look that way.”

“That is just a sign of their growing maturity as partners, and leaders,” added Grael, contributing to the discussion for the first time.

“Not to mention becoming parents,” said Daithi, “that alone is enough to ‘mature’ anyone quickly.”

“But…” said Maria, “they are always so up on things.”

“That has only happened recently,” said Daithi, “when they first arrived…” Daithi paused to recollect for a moment before continuing, “Goddess, it’s been exactly a year today since they arrived.”

Just then, Daithi and the others felt an electric tingle across their bodies, which raised the tiny hairs on their arms, even though they were bundled in multiple layers of clothing against the cold.

“That must be Willow beginning,” commented Amana.

“You’re right,” agreed Grael, “looks like she succeeded in the first part of her work today.”

“How’s that,” asked Maria.

“She managed to raise a mammoth amount of power, without destroying the village.”

“That’s not all that is happing,” said Daithi, looking to the northern sky, “the storm is about to break… right over us.”

“Quick,” yelled Grael over the suddenly howling wind, “lets bundle up together and ride out the storm.”

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The winter storm hit the valley with a vengeance. The temperature and the visibility plummeted, and the winds rose, till they were whipping over the mountains, before plunging straight through the valley, numbing everything in their path. The wind chill rose till it was sucking every hint of warmth from the bodies of both the defenders in the town, and the demon army preparing to attack them.

It was if the Gods had decided to provide a violent and chaotic backdrop to the titanic struggle, the opening act of which had just started.

Willow and the rest of the participants in the converted barn, never noticed the rising storm. Willow was struggling to maintain her focus, and to control the enormous amount of energy she had raised. The other members of the circles were trying to contain the energy that Willow was passing over to them, and to maintain the shields protecting the circle. Willow continued her internal struggle for over twenty minutes before she felt ready to proceed with the next step in her plan.

Turning to Bridie and Aiofe she panted, “that’s that then. I think that I’ve got control of the energy that I’ll need. Now for the hard part.”

“If that was the hard part, what’s next,” asked a very concerned Aiofe. She, and her lover, had been aware of Willow’s efforts, but knew that they were in no position to help once Willow had begun her work, and that the arch-mage would have to manage on her own.

“It’s time for me to translate my sight, and as much of my essence as I can, into the magical realm, and to look for a week point to hack into.”

“I know,” said Bridie, “but, what do you need us to do?”

“Keep control over the power we’ve raised; keep control over the shields we have put up around the circle, and the barn, and, incidentally, keep a second eye on me, so that I can find my way back, once this is over.”

“Now I understand what she meant by the easy part being over,” commented Frankel dryly.

“Sarcasm is inappropriate in a sage,” retorted Willow, “now, if we are all ready, lets move on to stage two.”

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Down the valley the demon leadership were just concluding a hastily called meeting with their mages when the storm broke over their encampment.

“That’s all we need,” said the demon lord, shivering as the wind began to suck the warmth from his exposed skin. “This development is going to slow us down, even more than worrying about that cursed witch was already going to do.”

“But, my lord,” replied one of his lieutenants, “this will also affect the humans, won’t it not?”

“Yes, but they are all nice and snug in their town, whereas we have to move across the valley – against the wind, I might add.”

The demon lord paced in front of his command tent for a moment before continuing, “nothing we can do about it, if we are to believe the ‘wisdom’ of our mages. So, lets get the army moving.”

The demon leader was reacting to the somewhat ambivalent information his mages had given him, regarding the disruption Willow was causing in the magical realm. Their consensus, albeit very guarded, was that the human mage was simply trying to cause a disruption in the magical energy fields, and that it would not cause any great problems in the battle, however, the mages had indicated that as a result of the human’s actions, their abilities to assist the army would be severely curtailed if not eliminated totally.

The mages had also commented that there was something strange and powerful happening in the vicinity of the village. They were unable to clarify what it was exactly, or determine if it was something that would cause problems to the army.

The demon army proceeded up the valley towards the small village. The demons slogged through the snow, turning the fields into quagmires of mud, slowing them down even more that the bitter wind in their faces was.

Finally, more than two hours after they started their march, they were in position on three sides of the town. It was noon, not that anyone could tell, since visibility was now no more than ten meters. The army was cold, wet and demoralized. They were caked with mud, and their clothing stuck to their bodies, damp with the melted snow, which had forced its way under their armour. The demons stamped their feet, from nervousness, and as a way to try to keep warm, while they waited for the signal to attack.

Suddenly the gloom of the snow-choked sky was lit by numerous magical flares, as the townspeople attacked, in the defence of their homes, and their lives.

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The defenders of the village had huddled behind their fortifications as the storm broke over the village. It would be a storm remembered for generations, that is, if anyone was left alive to remember it at the end of the day.

Buffy stood staring to the south, oblivious to the weather, straining to catch a glimpse at the army she knew was approaching.

Finally, after nearly two hours of standing, gazing through the diminishing visibility, she turned to Padrick and said, “they’re near. Do you think that you could get to Amana and have her come over here, I have a plan.”

“I think so,” replied the guardsman as he left their improvised fortifications and headed into the storm to where Amana was located.

“Plans. Plans are good,” said Alya, beginning to shiver just a little more, but not from the cold.

“Don’t worry,” reassured Buffy as she finally took refuge from the storm by sitting down behind the fortifications. “This weather is certain to have caused more problems for the baddies, than for us. That will work in our favour.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” replied the young woman.

At that moment Padrick returned with Amana. After settling in for a moment the older woman turned to Buffy and asked, “Afternoon, Buffy, what is it you think I can help you with?”

“They’re close. Very close now.”

“Ok, now what do you want to do?”

“Wise man once say – best defence is a good offence. So I think that we should attack.”

“Okay…” said Amana carefully, “how do you want to proceed?”

“We need light, and lots of it,” said the slayer, “then we will see what we are up against. Once we know that, we blast them from here with everything we’ve got. Then, hopefully, there won’t be too many left to attack us in the town.”

“Worth a try,” said Padrick, “beats waiting for them to attack us.”

“Maybe the surprise factor, combined with what had to have been a demoralizing trek through this weather might cause some of them to panic and run away,” said Amana. She thought for a moment then added, “I should be able to provide the light needed, Padrick, could you go back and let Grael know what we are going to do, so that he’s ready?”

“No problem lady,” said the guardsman, once again heading out into the weather.

“Ok,” said Buffy, “that takes care of light. Now, what can we blast them with?”

“Well,” said Amana, “you should be able to use your abilities to strike from a distance, I would suggest that create some walls of air to crush some of the demons. Grael will be able to use some of his earth-based skills to disrupt them, and cause them to worry about their footing. I will be able to strike with water and some limited fire based spells.”

“Sounds good,” said Buffy.

“Lady,” asked Alya, “what do you want Shari and I to do? Neither of us has any magical abilities.”

“Your job will be to keep any bad guys away from Amana and me, while we are concentrating on our magic.”

“That we can do,” replied Shari.

“Padrick should have reached, and briefed, Grael by now,” said Amana, “time to go to work.”

Amana stood up and moved away from the improvised fortifications, in the direction Buffy had indicated the bulk of the demons were located. She stood, feet slightly apart, and braced herself against the wind. She paused, and delved deep within her reserves, to tap the power at her command.

Once she was ready she turned to Buffy, nodded, then turned back to face her opponents, with her arms stretched out before her, and yelled out over the roar of the wind, “ceau o leayrtys!”

Streaks of light sprung from her fingertips and shot into the snow-choked sky. Seconds later they exploded, turning the glow into near sunlit skies, and illuminating the massive demon army, poised to attack the village.

Buffy had watched, waiting, while Amana turned the lights on. When she saw the forces arraigned against the humans she thought to herself, “oh boy, we could be in a world of pain here.”

She didn’t, however, allow any thoughts of the opposition arrayed in front of her deter her from what she had planned to do. As soon as the light exploded over the demons Buffy was ready. She took a deep breath, centred herself and yelled out, “bollaghey ni gaarder!”

The effect was instantaneous. Buffy had decided that her best attack was to work with the storm and therefore the spell she had chosen had the effect of strengthening and solidifying the winds facing the demons. The wrinkle was that the wind became a wall, a wall that Buffy was able to move as she willed.

Facing this enhancement to the weather the demons struggled to stay upright, and maintain their footing as the wall of wind came pushing down against them, driving most of them to their knees, and forcing the remainder to move back, away from their points of attack.

Grael attacked as soon as Buffy’s wall of wind hit the demons. He created massive rifts in the earth, to swallow the enemy. He then turned vast areas of the ground into liquid earth, stopping, and in some cases drowning, the demons trapped in the area that the spell to effect in.

Amana then counter-punched with bolt after bolt of lightning. She took careful aim at the demons and specifically targeted for attack anyone who looked like they were trying to rally the army, figuring, correctly, that they would be leaders.

The mages at the demon’s disposal were totally ineffective against the magical assault. They repeatedly tried to deflect of lessen the effects of the spells directed against their army, only to have their efforts blocked or defeated totally. Soon they were all exhausted and comatose, drained from the effort of trying to match their skill against the power of two experience mages, and the slayer.

The waves of attacks from the three mages continued relentlessly, and now totally unopposed. However, their foes were numerous, and the energy that they had at their disposal was not limitless. Soon the demons began to make headway against the magic being arrayed against them, their leaders were able to gain control over a substantial number of the survivors and they began to move ever closer to the village, and to being able to directly attack the humans who were inflicting so much pain on them.

Buffy saw that the demons would soon be upon them. She turned to Amana and yelled out, “Amana, I’m going to have to go into attack mode, and soon. Stay with Alya and Shari and try to keep the demons from flanking us.”

“Your will lady,” replied Amana as she quickly returned to the fortifications, to begin to prepare for the upcoming hand-to-hand fight.

Buffy released her control of the wind and steadied herself. She looked deep within herself and said, “Goddess, hear my plea. I beseech the aid of your guardians in this our hour of need. Come to my aid, give strength to my arm, and guide me as I go forth to smite your enemies.”

Buffy was deliberately asking to be transformed into the berserker, which she had transformed into the first time that the Goddess had come to her aid. She knew that she would need the fearlessness, and the added adrenaline that the berserk state would give to her for the coming battle.

Just as she was slipping into the mindlessness of the rage she noticed four huge humanoid figures appear behind her, the manifestations of the guardians. She struggled to send one last thought to her lover, <Willow. I’m going into berserk mode, love you,> and was devastated to not be able to get a reply from her soul mate.

The last conscious thought she had before slipping into a rage was of an incoherent scream of “Willow, where are you,” leaving her throat.

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Willow’s awareness was not on this world. With the exception of a very small path of energy leading back to the ritual circle she had detached herself from the reality of the world in order to hack into and destroy the demon’s transportation network. While her body remained, lifeless, in the centre of the three magical circles, her mind was totally in the magical realm. She therefore could not hear her lover’s thoughts, nor hear her strangled cry of loss.

She was in a place that had no reference to time, or space. A place that was without definable borders. She trusted, that as had happened before, Aiofe and Bridie would be able to pull her back to reality, once the job had been finished.

She did not know how long she had been divorced from reality, and had been spending her time examining the various ties that were binding the hell-mouths together. Finally, she thought that she had found a way to break into the network and to hopefully disrupt it for a very long time.

With a quick prayer to herself, “Goddess, aid me now,” she began to focus her attention on the network.

Within moments she had broken into the energy path flowing from one hell-mouth to another, thinking, “that was easy, now for the next step,” she then backtracked along the path she had left for herself and then expanded it to begin the work of pumping the vast amount of energy she had raised into the demon’s network.

“Hope this doesn’t take too long,” she though as she began to funnel the collected energy into the breach she had created in the demon’s network, “ I don’t think Buffy and the others can possibly hold out much longer.”

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

Initially the demon leader was stunned by the ferocity of the attack by the three mages. He had known that the one mage he thought they were facing was strong, but he had been totally unprepared for the effect that these other mages were having on his troops.

Quickly regaining his composure he turned to his lieutenants and barked, “get forward as quickly as you can, and get them back into line and let’s get this attack moving. The longer we delay, the more damage they are going to be able to do to us.”

Inwardly he was seething. He knew that this development was severely impacting on the chances for success, and he knew that failure was not an option. He decided that he would have to move to the vanguard of the attack, and lead his troops by example. He resolved to himself that as soon as he had defeated the puny humans sheltering in this sorry excuse for a town that he would raze it to the ground, and then scatter its ashes to the four corners of the earth.

He moved slowly forward through his demoralized army, trying to install confidence in them as he struggled against the effects of the magic arrayed against the demons.

Finally, as he was approaching the front ranks of the army, the wind died down.

Thinking, “finally, something is going our way,” he looked towards the village that was now the singular object of his anger and loathing. What he saw there caused him to quickly change his mind about things going his way.

“Good Gods of chaos,” he said in a half throttled whisper, “what on all of the earths is happening here?”

Four visions from legend had appeared before the army. All four were quasi-humanoid in stature, and stood in excess of four meters. The first had pale, almost translucent, yellow skin, and had the body of a man, with the wings and head of an eagle. The second appeared to have flames for skin, and had the head and wings of a dragon on top of its obviously female body. The third, male in appearance, looked like it had water flowing continuously over, and through, its skin, it stared towards the demons with the predatory glare of its shark like head. The fourth being, this one female, was the most ‘normal’ of the four. She had a perfectly sculpted, albeit green, body, and what appeared to be mottled green-brown leafs continuously falling from her head.

In front of the four figures of legend, and almost un-noticed, was a fifth person. This one, however, the demon lord knew.

“Gods, the slayer,” he whispered. He then noticed that several of the humans who were fighting, and easily defeating, his forces appeared to also be slayers.

“This is not good,” he said, “the cursed slayer has recruited others.”

Just then he watched as the slayer drew forth a sword from her body, and with an incomprehensible scream leaped forward into the front of the demon ranks, just as her sword burst into flame.

As if it was planned, the four guardians chose that moment to step forward towards the demon army, and where they walked the ground trembled in their wake. They paused, just behind the ranks of slayers, as if waiting for the most opportune time to intervene.

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

Buffy leaped into the demon army, all rational thought gone from her mind as she was consumed by the berserker rage, and the thought that she had lost her soul-mate. She attacked relentlessly, without heed for her personal welfare. She began by cutting a wide swath through the front ranks of the demon army, and then continued towards the western edge of the town, towards the inn and where Willow was conducting the ritual. It was as if, even in her mindless state, Buffy wanted to be where her lover was, if only to confirm her fate. As had happened before, Buffy was almost untouchable, nothing the demons tried seemed to stop, or even for that matter slow her down.

The other slayers and the guardsmen wasted no time in launching their own attacks, starting with ranged attacks. There efforts were immediate, as the leading elements of the demon army withered under the onslaught of bolts and arrows. But, for every foe that fell, there was two, or more to replace them. Slowly the demons were able to force their way forward and reach the slayers; then it was down to hand-hand combat.

At that point, the guardians stepped forward once again. This time they didn’t pause and they then began to attack the demons directly. They had no weapons to hand but every demon withered and died under their touch. They slowly began to move to the east, away from Buffy; where they went, the demon army collapsed in panic and fled the battlefield.

Over on the other side of the battlefield the fight was not going totally against the demons. They were faced with a berserk slayer, and two mages who were doing their best to keep up with, and support her, but they were better led and were fighting an organized retreat from the slayer. They were trying their best to avoid direct one-to-one fighting with Buffy, knowing that it would futile, and fatal. They were therefore concentrating on mass attacks, hoping that in numbers they would be able to deal blows to the slayer.

The demon lieutenant Tarana saw that her quickly improvised strategy was working. Realizing early in the fight that the overly simplistic plan of her lord was doomed to failure, she decided to leave the battle with as many of her forces intact as possible. Calling upon her reserves she had had them cut a path through the dead and dieing. She was therefore able to maintain order as she moved towards the edge of town, and a chance to escape. She realized that her chance for success increased as long as her forces kept moving, and as long as the manifestations of the guardians stayed away.

Amana, Grael, Padrick, Ayla and Shari were doing their best to keep up with Buffy, and to try to help the slayer in eliminating as many of the demons as they could. The guardsman and the two slayers were able to keep up fairly well with Buffy, and were able to inflict a fair amount of damage themselves, while trying to keep Buffy from being overwhelmed by the mass attacks of demons which were throwing themselves at her in an attempt to inflict more than superficial damage.

However, both Amana and Grael were beginning to fall behind the others. They had both been drained by the magical attacks that they had launched and by their age. Seeing this, a small band of demons broke away from the attacks on Buffy and launched themselves at the two older mages.

Padrick, at a pause in the battle, noticed that neither Amana nor Grael was still with them. He turned around to look for them, only to see them fall under a demon attack.

He yelled to the others, “Alya, Shari, with me. We need to rescue Amana and Grael,” before rushing back towards the fallen mages.

Just then, everything and everyone on the battlefield, even it appeared the weather itself, paused.

The demon leader thought to himself, just as a guardian reached out for him, “Gods, now what could be happening to us now?”

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

Willow, totally unaware of the battle raging just outside of the village was busy funnelling the energy she had collected into the demon network she had hacked into. Thinking to herself, “this is taking way too long. I only hope that I got it right, and that I was able to get enough energy to do the job,” she continued her efforts, anxiety evident in everything she was doing. Willow was keenly aware that this was her only shot at crashing the demon’s transportation system. Given that the village was under attack she knew that she would most likely be dead before have a chance to try a second time.

Willow then began to feel a lessening in the amount of energy she was feeding into the breach. Thinking, “oh no. I’m not going to have enough,” she began cast about in her mind for a solution to her problem. She paused and then said, “Goddess, I beseech your aid in my time of need.”

Suddenly there were winds, in a realm devoid of an atmosphere. There was sound, where there shouldn’t be, and then there was a presence of calm, beauty and serenity.

“Lady,” Willow whispered, mentally bowing before the Goddess, “I thank you for your attendance.”

“HUSH CHILD,” a voice whispered in Willow’s mind, “I TOLD YOU I WOULD BE HERE, WHEN YOUR NEED WAS GREATEST.

“I thank you, my lady, I would be lost without you.

“HUSH NOW CHILD. I KNOW OF YOUR NEED, AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH YOU NEED TO FINISH.

“Once again, my lady, all I can offer is my devotion and my thanks.

“YOU ARE A FAVOURED DAUGHTER. WHEN THIS IS OVER LOOK DEEP WITHIN YOURSELF – YOU WILL FIND THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTIONS YOU HAVE, AND WILL ASK.”

With that, enigmatic, comment the presence left Willow’s mind and the magical realm. Willow then realized that the flow of energy she was directing to the demon’s network had regained, even surpassed, its former strength.

“Wow,” she thought, “when She delivers, She really delivers.”

Suddenly the texture and nature of the network began to change before her eyes. It began to pulsate and twist, almost as if it was a creature in pain. “That’s it,” Willow thought, “I think that I’ve got the loop going. Time to get out of Dodge city.”

She paused for just a second longer, to reassure herself that things were indeed working the way that she had hoped, then called out, “Aiofe, Bridie!”

In the circle, the two junior mages heard Willow’s call, they paused for a moment, each review what she needed to do next, before answering, why simultaneously mentally casting the required spell, “Willow, return to us. Return to our existence and to your body.”

Willow travelled back through the tenuous link she had maintained with her body and re-established consciousness within her body.

Just as she stood up, and was turning to address the mages, stillness descended upon the room and the working circles. Willow said, “look sharp folks, something is about to happen.”

“Meow,” said a very happy familiar. She had been aware that her human was ‘away’ since she had not had contact with her, and was now relived to see that Willow had returned.

Willow picked up Shadow-Cat and cuddled her for a moment saying, “did you miss me sweetie? Its ok, everything is going to be ok now.”

Just as Willow finished speaking there was a monumental eruption in the mountains surrounding the village as well as a corresponding disturbance in the magical realm. Willow’s plan to cause a feedback loop had worked, and the hell-mouths, attacked from within, had been simultaneously destroyed throughout the world. The effects of her spell were not only felt on this world; the reverberations echoed from world to world, causing substantial damage to the transportation network on many of them.

The effects were substantial. Throughout the world demons collapsed unconscious in pain, and remained out for several hours, and in some cases for days. The explosions, which closed the hell-mouths, had also caused substantial damage to the area surrounding them, fortunately by this time there was little human habitation left near any of them, and therefore only demons were caught up in the backlash.

Daithi, and the rest of the slayers and guardsmen realized what had happened. As soon as the reverberations shaking the mountains ceased they picked themselves up and noticed that the demons were all out could, and that the guardians had disappeared.

Daithi ran over to where Padrick, Shari and Alya were trying to bind the wounds of the two senior mages, in an almost futile attempt to stop the bleeding. They picked up the mages in improvised litters and started to take them back to the inn, where they hoped that Willow and Buffy would be able to help in any way.

Buffy regained her mental composure just as the explosion struck. She looked around at the damage, at the out cold demons, before noticing the numerous healed wounds on her body.

Thinking, “I must have been healing myself as I was attacking,” she began to move towards the two litters being carried by Daithi, Padrick and the others.

<Willow, are you there,> she thought plaintively, hoping that her fears from earlier were groundless.

<I’ll live, you,> replied the slayer, the relief obvious in her thoughts.

<Yeah, look forward to that.> Buffy looked around at the carnage, <boy, we did a number on them.>

<Yes?>

<Don’t dally, I need you.>

At that moment Buffy came up to the two guardsmen and saw who was injured and cried out <Willow! Amana and Grael have been injured.>

<Bad?>

<Very. Finish up as fast as you can, and lets see if we can help. They are being taken back to the inn. Even if we don’t have all that much energy left, we might be able to do something.>

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

Three hours later Buffy stood up from a table in the inn’s common room, which had become an improvised infirmary, and turned to Willow.

“They’re stable, but it won’t last for long, maybe a day or so.”

“I know, but neither of us has enough energy, or skill to do much more for them. There’s massive internal damage.” Willow sat down at an empty table and began to mechanically eat some of the food that had been laid out.

“Even if we regain our strength tomorrow,” added Buffy, joining her spouse, “I don’t know if we will be able to do much more for them. This is one time that magic is not going to replace modern medical knowledge.”

“I know,” sighed Willow, “I just wish that…”

“Me too. If only they had not tried to follow me, once I went berserk. They should have stayed back.”

“No, love,” replied the arch-mage, “I should have insisted that they stay with me for the ritual.”

“Stop it, both of you,” said Aiofe, as she and Bridie, along with two very hungry little girls, sat down at the table.

“They both knew what they were doing,” added Bridie as she passed Kendra over to her mother, “they knew the risks, and besides, without them adding to your attack Buffy we might not have had the time to complete the ritual.”

“It was a close thing,” agreed the slayer, receiving her daughter from Aiofe, “I… oh I don’t know. Its just not fair for them to not be here to celebrate.”

“Well,” said Willow, with a content daughter to the breast, “they’re not dead yet. Maybe, after a good nights sleep we’ll think of something.”

“You have to agree,” commented Aiofe, “that all in all things have gone very well.”

“Yes, but,” said Willow.

“No buts.” Interjected Bridie. “Earlier today everyone would have given odds that most of us wouldn’t be here this afternoon. With the exception of Amana and Grael, and a couple of the other slayers with bumps and minor cuts, we haven’t suffered any major damage.”

“In fact,” continued Aiofe, “we probably had more damage from the storm than from the demons.”

“Speaking of everyone else,” asked Buffy, suddenly noticing the near empty inn, “where is everyone?”

“Yeah,” added Willow, the tiniest hint of concern in her voice.

“Well,” replied Aiofe, “the villagers are busy rounding up their livestock and getting on with their lives.”

“The mages are resting, your little spell took a lot out of them,” said Bridie.

“And, the other slayers and the guardsmen…” added Aiofe.

“And,” probed Buffy.

“Well,” replied Bridie, “they are busy disposing of the demons.”

“I guess,” said Willow, “that that’s definitely a needed chore, and we can’t have them coming to, knowing what they know about us, and this village.”

“Needed,” said Daithi entering the common room, “but very, very messy.”

“I bet,” said Buffy, placing Faith on her shoulder for the post-feeding burp, “get them all?”

“Yep, not that there were too many left alive. We also brought one back,” said the guardsman, “I thought it best to save one for you.”

“Why’s that,” asked a confused slayer, “I got enough during the battle, at least I think I did.”

“This one looks like a leader type,” replied Daithi, “maybe the leader.”

“That is a different story,” said Willow, beginning to return to leader mode, “give us a few minutes to get the kids and the wounded out of here and then bring him in.”

A half-hour later Daithi led into the common room a very distressed demon leader, supported by Padrick and Sonya. The former commander of the demon army was in very bad shape. He had barely avoided being drained of life by one of the guardians, only as a result of the hell-mouth being closed. However, the reprieve from death was only temporary, he did not have much more than an couple of days, at the most, left on this earth.

“So there’s the mighty slayer,” he rasped as he collapsed on the floor, defiant even in death. “Kill me and be done with it.”

“Oh,” replied Buffy, unwilling to rise to the bait, “you’ll die, but we need to ask you a few questions first.”

“I’m already dead,” said the demon, as he began to cough up great amounts of yellow-green phlegm, “so why would I bother answering any of your questions?”

“Oh,” answered Willow, “you are dying, we know that.”

“But,” added her lover, “it’s the way you die – we can address that.” Buffy stood up and walked over to the demon. She leaned over him and then whispered, “you could die, slowly, painfully over the next day or so. Or I could end it quick.”

“Or,” added Willow, “if you don’t cooperate we could let you go. To go back to your master and report failure.”

“I’m certain that your boss would just love to hear, first hand, about your failure,” said Buffy, returning to the table. “So, now, what’s it going to be?”

“Oh,” wheezed the demon, “you make my choice very clear, painfully so. I’ll answer your questions, but my revenge will be that you won’t like them, nor be able to do anything about it.”

<What do you think he’s talking about,> asked Buffy.

<Don’t know, unless it’s about what Hugh alluded to.>

<You’re probably right,> Buffy then addressed the demon, “spill. What was your minion Hugh talking about when he was going on about slayers.”

“Yes,” added Willow, “just what did he mean by the demon leadership taking steps to eradicate slayers generations before they planned to conquer the world?”

“Ah,” said the demon, his breathing laboured, “concern about your home world.” Seeing the surprise in Buffy and Willow’s eyes he continued, “oh yes, Hugh was very talkative before he… passed away. He told me all about the travels that the two of you have gone through.”

“Spill,” said Buffy again, steel ringing in her voice, “or I’ll just leave you to die like the dog you are.”

“Oh, I’ll talk.” The demon rose up to his feet and dragged himself onto a chair, “don’t mind if I sit, do you? Now, where was I, oh yes, slayers.”

The demon Talaker then began to relate the history between the demon hierarchy and slayers. He began by commenting that the demon alliance against what he termed human pests had held for over 400 generations, and that they had never been seriously challenged, except by slayers. He stated that the common wisdom amongst the demons was that slayers were humanities defensive gesture against the might of the demons, and that if they weren’t dealt with promptly on a target world that the demons chances for success were very limited.

He added that a world’s slayers, if left unchallenged, would become an unbeatable force for good. He also confirmed that the highest priority the demon leadership gave to a target world was the containment, then elimination of the slayers.

He paused for a moment, rasping for breath, and his voice nearly mute with pain. While he drank from the pitcher of water offered to him Buffy commented to her lover, <Red, if even half what he says is true, its very bad news.>

<Well, they’ve never been ‘keen’ on giving us poor slayers any answers, remember?>

<You’re right. Now lets see if we can get some more out of this piece of dog meat, before you put him out of his misery.>

“Now,” continued the arch-mage, “if you are ready to continue, just what do you mean by containment and elimination of slayers?”

“Oh, you mean how we get rid of the threat your lover, and her kin, poses to us,” sneered the demon.

He then went on to describe the battles that the demons had fought in the past against slayers. How thousands upon thousands of demons would die, in a vain attempt to eliminate the slayer, for it had seemed that for every slayer who fell, two would arise in her place.

Finally, he indicated, the demon leadership determined that the only way to defeat slayers was from within.

“First,” he said, “we curtailed our activities on a world, so that demons become legendary, almost laughed at. Then we isolate the slayers, by setting up organizations who have the avowed purpose of ‘helping, and training’ the slayers. In reality, they were, and are, our agents working to further marginalize slayers in society.”

“The counsel,” whispered Buffy.

“Yes,” said the demon lord, chuckling as he did so, “your precious counsel. And what is just perfect is that even though you have defeated our plans for this world, and you know the threat we pose to yours, there is nothing you can do to save your own world.”

With that the demon lord took one of his razor sharp talons and ripped open his own throat, “you’ll get nothing more from me,” he said as he breathed his last.

“NO,” screamed Buffy.

<Buffy, settle down!>

<It’s not doomed, love, trust me – and don’t believe a work that scum said about us not being able to get home.>

“Now, continued the arch-mage, enveloping her lover in a hug, “I think a little celebration is in order, given the double significance of this day.”

“Huh,” replied Buffy, “what do you mean?”

“Buffy, don’t you remember what day this is?”

“Should I,” replied the slayer.

“Candlemass,” whispered Aiofe.

“Exactly,” replied the arch-mage, “it was a year ago tonight that we arrived on this world.”

“You’re right,” replied Buffy, after thinking for a second, “how is that part of a celebration for tonight?”

“Well,” continued Willow, “we have a number of things to celebrate tonight. First is our salvation from the demons. Second, we have the feast of Imbolg to do. Finally, we have to give our thanks for the last year, and the blessings that have come to us, thanks to Her favour.”

<Yes love,> replied Willow, <there have been.>

Willow then proceeded to get the rest of the day organized. She sent Aiofe off to the kitchens, to have the cooks prepare a celebratory meal. Bridie was sent to round up the other mages, to let them know that there would be a full Imbolg ritual that night. Daithi and Padrick were sent into town, to invite all of the villages to the inn for the meal, and the ritual.

Soon it was evening. In every window of every building there were lighted candles and lanterns. The town had cleaned up as much of the damage that they could in the time available, and had set the hundreds of demon bodies on a pyre that lit the sky for miles around. Everyone had had an excellent meal and was relaxing, waiting until it was time for the Imbolg ritual. Many of the residents of the village were in the common room of the inn, intending to take part in the evening’s festivities.

Willow, Buffy, Aiofe and Bridie were seated in comfortable chairs before the cheery fire in the common room, relaxing until it was time to start the ritual. Both Aiofe and Bridie eyes were half closed, the combination of the days exertions, with the advanced state of their pregnancies, was having a very soporific effect on the young women. Buffy was sitting, staring into the fire, and enjoying a brandy while she fed her daughter. Willow was also feeding Kendra, and absently petting Shadow-Cat, who was curled up on her lap.

Out of the blue, Willow sat up straighter in her chair, dislodging her familiar, and her daughter in the process. “Damn,” she said, “didn’t want to do that.”

“Do what,” asked her lover, “coming back from her wool-gathering.”

“I think I have a solution to solving Amana and Grael’s injuries.”

“Say what,” asked a semi-conscious Bridie, as she rubbed sleep from her eyes, “what do you mean by solving their injuries?”

“Simple,” replied Willow, “we bring them home, and get them the specialized medical treatment they need.”

“Now, I’m confused,” said Buffy, “just how are we going to get home. Amana and Grael are both out for the count.”

“It’s like this, lover,” replied her spouse, giving Buffy a quick, feather light kiss, “Amana told me all about the ritual that brought us here, and tonight is one of the best nights for it.”

“And,” added Bridie, suddenly alert and cognisant of the import of Willow’s idea, “Aiofe, Frankel and myself were at the ritual last year.”

“And,” continued Aiofe, “we have all the mages we need for the work.”

“So, do you understand,” said Willow, the eagerness evident in her voice.

“So, we can go home,” replied the slayer, “when did this idea come to you?”

“While I was mentally reviewing what that scum prattled on about earlier today,” replied Willow, “remember that the Goddess came to me, and said that I would find the answers within me?”

“Yes, but,” said Buffy, “what answers, and to what questions?”

“The questions and problems we both have been having. The homesickness we’ve had, and the worry that we’ve had over our friends and family. Not to mention finding a way to heal Amana and Grael.”

“Okay,” said Buffy, “we can go home. Just how do we do it, and what does it mean for the rest of the evening?”

“Well,” replied Aiofe, “if its anything like last time, a lot of work.”

“And a very short time to do it in,” said Bridie.

“Well,” said Willow, “lots of work or not, it’s what we’re going to do. So, find Frankel, and lets get the mages working on what we are going to do. Buffy, you get some of the villagers to clear out this room, we’ll do the ceremony here.”

Three hours later everything was ready. The common room had been cleared and scrubbed. The ritual circle had been marked on the floor, waiting for the final symbols to be inscribed. The mages had all had their ritual baths and were assembled together, dressed in their working robes over their heavy winter clothing, waiting for the work to begin. Willow, Frankel and Aiofe had spent the better part of an hour working out the details of the transportation ritual with the other mages. Now Willow was sitting with her command group, working out the final details of the evening’s work.

“Ok,” she said, “we have about an hour to go, and this is how I think we should do the work tonight. First, we go ahead with the regular working for tonight. Then, we will do the transfer spell. Hopefully I’ll be able to contact Susan or Carol, or maybe even Giles, and they will be able to complete the counter-point spell back home.”

“If not,” asked Aiofe, “what then?”

“Well,” replied Willow, carefully choosing her words, “when I talked to Grael about this, a couple of months ago, he thought that if needed I would be able to cast the spell myself, given that my, and Buffy’s, essence resonates from our world. The difference would, he thought, be enough to force the completion of the transfer spell.”

“Rather not to have to trust to mage musings,” said Buffy, “let’s hope that you can contact someone back home.”

“I agree,” said Willow, “now, to something very important.”

<What’s that love?>

<Shush, dear, don’t be rude, we’ve talked about this.>

“That is,” continued the arch-mage, “who comes with us?”

“What do you mean,” asked Aiofe.

“Well,” answered Buffy, who had clued into what Willow had been thinking, “both Willow and I are now deeply attached to you and Bridie, so, if you were willing, we would be happy to have you come along.”

“That goes for the rest of you also,” said Willow turning to Frankel, Daithi and Sonya, “it goes without saying that the children and Amana and Grael will be coming.”

The other members of Willow’s command team were speechless. They had known that their leader would be taking the two gravely ill mages with her, however, they had not conceived of the idea of their going along.

After a few minutes, Frankel stood up and said, “Willow, Buffy, thank you for your kind offer, however, with both Amana and Grael gone I think that it would be best for me to stay back. There is still a lot of demons around, and we are going to have to do a lot of work to rebuild the mage’s counsel.”

Sonya turned to her friends and mentors and then said, “likewise, I cannot take you up on your fine offer. I, rather we are going to be sorely needed for the conceivable future. I can’t leave them.”

“I understand, and agree, with how both of you feel,” said Willow, “Daithi, how about you?”

“I sorry, Lady,” said the guardsman, “I would love to see and experience your world, but my place is here, rebuilding this one. I do not wish you to think that I think you should stay, I know that you must go home, but I must remain.”

“Thank you,” said Buffy, “for everything. We would have been lost without your support.”

Everyone turned to Aiofe and Bridie, who had remained in silent contemplation until that point not looking at anyone, even each other. Bridie looked up at her lover, and saw her answer mirrored in her eyes. She whispered softly, “we’ll go. Both of us have become very close to you, and we would be lost without you.”

Willow and Buffy stood up from the table and went over to the friends and lovers and embraced them. Buffy whispered, “thank-you, thank-you for agreeing to come, we would also have been lost if you had not.”

“Lady,” said Sonya, once Willow had regained her seat, “there is one thing I would ask of you.”

“Anything,” replied Willow, “I’ll do anything that time and my powers permit.”

“I would ask you to take Sam with you,” replied Sonya, “with what I’m called to do, and the risk that that duty entails, I would not be able to provide for her properly.”

“No problem, from my perspective,” said Willow, “but would she agree?”

“I think yes. She has no family left here, and staying would only bring back painful memories of how they were slaughtered. Maybe if she goes, her nightmares would also.”

“Well,” said Buffy, “go ask her. If she agrees, pack some personal items, no clothing, and we’d be happy to take her.”

“That goes for you two also,” added Willow, addressing Bridie and Aiofe, “go, you have twenty minutes to get packed and get back here.”

“Frankel,” said Buffy, “I’d ask that you and Sonya do the same for Amana and Grael. Pack their personal books and keepsakes, but nothing else.”

Finally everything, and everyone was ready. The symbols had been marked on the floor, the watchtowers lit. Amana, Grael, the children, Sam and even Shadow-Cat were all in the circle, before the altar, waiting for the second part of the nights work.

Willow took one final look around, reassured herself that everything was in place, and then started the evenings work with, “Blessed be.”

“Blessed be,” replied the assembled mages, and the villagers who were watching the evening’s events.

“We have come to this time and to this place,” said Willow, “to celebrate the impending birth of spring.

“It is the time of year that we celebrate initiations and rebirths, and tonight we give thanks for our salvation.

“We have also gathered tonight to bid farewell. Buffy and I will be taking our leave from your community to return to our own world. For we have found that although we have struck a mighty blow against the enemies of mankind today, those same enemies still threaten our home and world. Therefore, we must return, to do what we can to help.

“We are also going to bring with us our friends, sorely injured today. Injured beyond my, or my lover’s, skills to save. The help they need is on our world, and I owe it to them as their friend, and student, to bring them to the medical aid they need.

“Also, two of our company have agreed to come with Buffy and me when we return. They have become very close to both of us over the past year, and their absence from our lives, and ours from theirs would be devastating.”

Willow paused for a moment then proceeded to work with Frankel in casting the circles, raising the protective sphere and invoking the guardians. She then continued with the rest of the Imbolg ritual, thanking the Goddess for her gifts, and asking for her assistance in the year to come. It was the time to look forward to the promise of spring, and to welcome the Goddess in her role as maiden.

Once the formal, cyclical, portion of the night’s work had been completed Willow moved onto the special work that was to be done. She looked around at the group of skilled practitioners assembled and said, “Blessed be.”

“Blessed be,” they once again replied.

“It is time for departure,” said the arch-mage, “time for us to perform the work which will open the portal from this world to mine.

“I wish to take this chance to thank all of you. You have become a community to me, and I sorely wish that I could be both here, and home.”

Buffy then addressed the assembly by saying, “I too am going to miss you all. I’ve come to see many of you as family, and I will always think of this place as a home.”

On Willow’s signal the mages then began the complex chant that would, the arch-mage hoped, bridge the void between this world and her own. Willow cast out her second site into the void; following the thread of the magic she was weaving to look for her own world. She followed the thread, until it was barely viable, and once she was certain that she had found her home, and had received a confirming signal that she had made contact, she returned to the physical world.

<Yep. Will miss this place, but our place is at home, especially since we are bringing some of our friends.>

<I’m going to be so lectured,> agreed Willow. She took a deep breath then yelled out, “dorrys brishey magh!”

Once again, a blue-rimmed portal of darkness appeared before the altar. Willow sighed with relief and thought, <thank the Goddess, it worked.>

She then looked at the assembled travellers and said, “ok folks, ready to go?>

Everyone picked up his or her belongings. Willow and Buffy had their babies in chest carriers, and they were helping to support the near-comatose Amana and Grael. Aiofe and Bridie were also supporting the two senior mages, while Sam tightly held on to Bridie’s free hand. Shadow-Cat had been securely ensconced in Willow’s backpack.

As one they stepped into the void, as soon as they did it disappeared in a flash of light.

Once again Buffy and Willow travelled though the vast expense of darkness, before rushing to, and through a blue portal, which had suddenly appeared in the darkness.

“Home,” said Buffy, as she looked at the astonished faces surrounding her.

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Back in Willow’s workroom, in the California town of Sunnydale, her coven was just winding down from an eventful Imbolg celebration. Suddenly the air above the altar was split with a blue-white bolt of light, which rapidly expanded to portal, larger, by far than the one that had appeared there before.

“What the…” asked Giles, wanting to get the night’s work over with, and into a nice warm bed, as soon as possible.

“What are we,” said Xander, “portal central?”

The black space in the portal was suddenly filled with bodies, numerous bodies, who were all wearing heavy winter clothing and with packs slung over their shoulders.

Giles looked at the two women in the lead, they were obviously Buffy and Willow, but both women had undergone a massive transformation. Buffy was incredibly muscled, and with a shock of snow-white hair. Willow was also well muscled and her face had the indomitable look of a battle weary leader written over it. More startling, it appeared as if both young women were carrying babies.

Their companions were just as diverse. There were the two older persons, being supported by two very pregnant young women and by a severely emaciated teenaged girl. Everyone looked very tired, and very relieved to set down her burdens.

“Willow,” said Giles, “back so soon; you just left.”

“Oops,” said Willow, “looks like I made a little miscalculation there.”

“And what’s with the changes in you, and your companions,” continued Giles as he watched the four young women rapidly divest themselves of the heavy warm clothing.

“Giles,” said Buffy walking towards him, steel in her voice, “you and your damned counsel have a lot to answer for.”

“Oh boy,” said the watcher, noticing the red sword tattoo which was peeking over the edge of the slayer’s shirt.

Now come on woman, come follow me home

Well I don't need no priest

But I love all of the people

Yes I share the feast

So drink up my wine

Yes and the song in my bones

I know the way

I can see by the moonlight

Clear as the day

Now come on woman, come follow me home

Follow me home

Dire Straits, Communiqué

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Epilogue – Acta est fibula (the play is over)

Touch my skin, and tell me what you're thinking
Take my hand, and show me where we're going
Lie down next to me,
look into my eyes,
and tell me -- oh tell me what you're seeing

Take my hand

Dido, No Angel

n a darkened world, many realities removed from the one which Buffy and Willow just departed, a demon lord sat contemplating the news he had just received.

“What happed,” he asked a lieutenant, “how could things have got out of hand so quickly?”

“I don’t know my lord,” replied the nervous aide, “but the effects have been substantial. We have lost access to that part of the network for at least the next ten generations, and the power supply feeding our worlds, has been diminished by at least fifteen percent.”

“I know that fool,” replied the lord as he began to pace, “what I don’t know, and you had better find out but quick, is how it happened, and, who is responsible.”

“Your will lord,” replied the demon, as he left his masters presence.

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

Deep within the magical realm, which formed part of the void between the various realities, the Goddess though to herself, “Things are going well, but I’ve had it easy till now. The gods of Chaos will not sit still for much longer as I try to undo their millennia of meddling. Things will start to move quickly now.”

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

In the town of Morning Breeze the Sage Frankel, the slayer Sonya and the guardsman Daithi were just finishing their early breakfast.

“What now,” asked Sonya?

“Now we pack up everyone and head back to the capital, to see if we can rebuild what the demon’s have destroyed,” replied Frankel.

“Then we head out and finish the rest of them off,” added Daithi.

“I hope they arrived ok,” said Sonya changing the subject.

“I’m sure they did,” replied Frankel.

“I’m just thinking,” continued the slayer, “that we haven’t seen the last of them.”

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

In a cosy bedroom in the town of Sunnydale, four young women slept intertwined together on a large comfortable bed. They had been so tired after their arrival, and after answering countless questions from Buffy and Willow’s friends and family that as soon as they got to the room they had collapsed without undressing.

One of the figures detached herself from the others and made her way towards the window, where she stood, staring out at the ‘modern’ world. She reached out a hand to her lover as she came up quietly beside her. Holding hands they looked out at the world.

<Well, not gone, exactly, just not experienced by anyone on this world, that’s all.>

Buffy turned from the window and enveloped her lover in a deep embrace, <could you believe the way everyone reacted?>

agreed Willow, mentally smiling at the memory.

<No kidding,> agreed Willow, <just think, you haven’t had to deal with your mother yet.>

<Maybe this is all just a dream,> said Buffy hopefully.

Just then the two women heard the whimpers and cries of two hungry, wet daughters.

<Guess not,> said the arch-mage, “time to tend to the children.”

Hand in hand the two lovers made their way into the rest of their lives.

FINIS

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