ChallengeFic: The Well Of Erin (1/?)

[ladyvyxen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

The Well Of Erin, A ChallengeFic, Part One.
Comments/Criticism/Etc. to: ladyvyxen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anne-Lise stirred her coffee, fighting a hangover. She felt the
light scratches on her neck, puzzled. "What happened last... week..."

--

Giles stared in disbelief at the telephone in front of him not daring
to accept what he had just heard. He removed his glasses and sat for
a moment with his head in his hands before reaching for the phone to
make the call he had dreaded since arriving on these shores.

*

"Hi Giles," Buffy smiled as Giles loosed her in. She caught sight of
his serious expression. "What's wrong?"
"Trouble," Giles said. "But let's wait for Willow before I start
explaining. There's a lot to tell you, and I'd rather not have to do
it twice."
"Okay," Buffy agreed. "I'll have a coffee then." She gave Giles a
sweet smile. "Regardless of the looming evil, its good to know the
kettle's never cold at chez Giles." There was a knock at the
door. "I'll get it," Buffy chirped, and loosed Willow in.
"Hi Buffy!" Willow greeted. "So, what's the big mystery?"

*

"You want us to go to Ireland?" Buffy tried to frame her objections
but the list seemed too long. "Ireland? Don't they have leprechauns
there?"
"Possibly," Giles conceded. "But what they do have is a portal to
Erin, and it needs to be closed before more hellhounds escape."
"I'm a little fuzzy on the whole Erin deal," Willow said. "What is
it, like another demon realm?" Behind her, Buffy soundlessly
mouthed 'Ireland!'
Giles removed his glasses and gave them a quick wipe on a
handkerchief. He put them back on, and opened a volume on Celtic lore.
"Are we sitting comfortably?" he asked in a mock-patronising tone.
"Giles!" Buffy admonished. "We're not six anymore." Willow seemed
eager to listen as she sipped her coffee. She could get high on any
learning exercise.
"Then Keelta," Giles read, "who knows every brook and hill and rath
and wood in the country, thereon takes Patrick by the hand and leads
him away until right in front of them they saw a loch-well, sparkling
and translucid. The size of the fothlacht..."
"Brooklime," Willow whispered to Buffy.
"...that grew on it was a wonderment to them," Giles skipped a few
paragraphs. "Then Keelta began to tell of the fame and qualities of
this place, and uttered in praise: O Well of the Strand of the Two
Women, beautiful are thy cresses, luxuriant, branching; since thy
produce is neglected on thee, thy brooklime..." Giles glanced at
Willow "...is not suffered to grow. Forth from thy banks thy trout
are to be seen, thy wild swine in the wilderness; the deer of thy
fair hunting crag-land..."
"Giles," Buffy interrupted. "We get the idea. Its a nice well.
What's the deal?"
Giles put down the book and took up another. "Please," he
asked, "this is important."
"You're a great storyteller!" Willow offered supportively. Buffy
rolled her eyes.
"And Finn, and the remaining Fianna, or fairies," Giles
explained, "took counsel as to what should be done, and finally
decided to fit out a ship to go in search of their comrades. After
many days of voyaging, they reached an island guarded by propitious
cliffs. The most agile of their number, Dermot O'Dyna, was sent to
climb them, and to discover means to help up the rest of the party.
When he arrived at the top, he found there a delightful land, full of
the song of birds and the humming of bees and the murmur of streams,
but with no sign of habitation. Going into a dark forest, he soon
came to a well by which hung a curiously wrought drinking-horn."
Giles paused to sip his tea. Buffy and Willow used the cue to drain
their coffee and reach for cookies. "As he filled it to drink, a low
threatening murmur came from the well, but his thirst was too keen to
let him heed it, and he drank his fill."
"Moron," Buffy supplied.
"In no long time," Giles continued with a glare at Buffy, "there
came through the wood an armed warrior, who violently upbraided him
for drinking from his well."
"The knight kicked his ass?" Buffy asked.
Willow shook her head. "No, just called him a few names."
"Oh, okay." Buffy chewed her cookie.
"Then the Knight of the Well," Giles went on, "and Dermot fought all
the afternoon without either of them prevailing over the other, when,
as the evening drew on, the knight suddenly leaped into the well and
disappeared."
"I hate it when that happens," Buffy nodded.
Willow agreed. "Very deus ex machina."
"What she said," Buffy added, affably, as Giles frowned.
"Next day," Giles continued, "the same thing happened; on the
third..."
"What, the guy really loves a fight? Or was he just extremely
thirsty?" Buffy asked.
"I don't know," Giles said. "This is just a myth, can I finish?
There's only a little more."
"Sure!" Buffy agreed. Willow wiggled to make herself a little more
comfortable, still listening intently.
"On the third," Giles repeated, "however, Dermot, as the knight was
about to take his leap, flung his arms about him, and both went down
together." Giles shut the book with a snap. Willow winced.
"Well," Buffy asked. "Where'd they go?"
"To the land of Erin," Giles said. "Land of the faerie folk."
Willow smiled. "That's a nice story, Giles."
"Its more than a story," Giles informed them. "The Watcher's Council
have been guardians of the Well of Erin for generations."
"You're kidding," Buffy said.
"No, I'm not kidding." Giles seemed, suddenly, quite old as he sat
down on his favourite chair. "Erin is a demon realm. Forget all that
you may have heard about fairies being cute little girls with
butterfly wings."
Willow gasped, scandalised. Her face looked like someone had told
her Santa Claus didn't exist.
"They're actually lesser demons of the Realm of Erin," Giles
said. "And recently, they've started to break free from the Well. The
Watcher's Council rang me earlier to tell me that Unicorns and
Hellhounds have escaped in a breach."
"Unicorns?" Willow asked. "What's so bad about unicorns?"
Giles gave her a worried frown. "Wild war-horses with a three-foot
goring horn running amok, and you wander what's so bad?"
Willow quailed. "I guess the fairy-tales really lied to us."
"So," Buffy said. "I'm going to Ireland to slay unicorns, put the
hellhounds on a leash and plug up the Erin portal-thingie." She
shrugged. "Sounds straightforward, so why are you only telling me and
Willow?"
"Because," Giles replied, "Willow will need to go with you."
"What?" Buffy and Willow chorused, slightly out of synch.
"Closing the portal will need to be done with a spell," Giles
said. "And you will need to implicitly trust the spellcaster. In a
field of one, Willow was the only choice."
Buffy looked puzzled. "Don't the Council have more experienced
spellcasters who can do the relevant spells?"
"They do," Giles agreed. "But someone has to keep the spellcaster
safe while she casts, and that means a Slayer. You see, the spell has
to be cast on the Erin side of the portal. the only spellcaster the
Council knows of who could possibly survive there alone is a warrior
warlock named Keith, but he can't pass through the portal."
"Why not?" Willow asked.
"Because he's not a woman." Giles said. "The Well of Erin is also
called the Well of the Strand of the Two Women, because only two
women linked by bonds of love and trust may enter the realm."
"But you said a Knight and this Dermot guy were allowed to enter the
well." Willow pointed out.
"That's right, using the Horn of Eregon. The horn allowed mortals to
summon the Protector of the Well, but has since been lost."
Buffy sighed. "There's always a clause in these ancient prophesies.
Why can't we get one that says, 'Big nasty will arise, and the Slayer
will shoot it through the eye with a crossbow bolt, and thus it will
be dead, and there will be much rejoicing and the consumption of
Mocha.'"
"I'm going to Ireland," Willow said, in shock.

*

End Part 1.