(FIC) World Without Shrimp (2/?)

[PChazzman@xxxxxxx]

TITLE: World Without Shrimp (2/?)
AUTHOR: Chazzman
E-MAIL: PChazzman@xxxxxxx  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They all belong to Joss and the WB network. Please don't sue.
SPOILERS: Season 5.
SUMMERY: X-over with XXXenophile comics.
RATED: PG
DISTRIBUTION: Just ask me, please...
FEEDBACK: Is very welcome.



Chap 2

They arrived with a scream and a crash, which was the usual result when you suddenly materialized eight feet above the roof of an empty cottage.  A few seconds of silence were followed by the groans.

"Weren't we supposed to land in Forbos?" asked Feljikk.

"And on the ground?" added Mowbri.

"Mistress?" croaked out the Lizardkin as he attempted to rise but was held down by a large beam that had fallen on top of him.  "Are you alright?"

"Ow! What the shazat happened? I feel drained," groaned Natch.

"You tell us," said Feljikk as he moved to help lift a beam off of Klazzmat.  "Too much wine? Or not enough food?"

"I'm not drunk.  I cast the spell right.  It's just something seemed to drain the power," Natch said in a puzzled voice.

"Well that looks like Forbos over there," Mowbri pointed off towards the distance and the city on the hill.

"Let's get going then. The others will be waiting. Too bad we didn't get to hit the treasury.  Looks like this was a big waste of time," Feljikk sighed.

"Uhm, not quite," Mowbri was looking around at the wreckage on the floor before looking up at the hole in the roof. "Oh there she is.  Feljikk could you get her down."

Feljikk looked up in surprise to see an arm extending down from the hole in the roof.

"What the-?"

"It's the girl."

"What girl?"

"The one who crashed the party."

"What is she doing here?"

"I grabbed her."

"You what!?  Why?!" screeched Natch looking very pissed. "No wonder the spell got frellitz."

"I wanted to know why she showed up," said Mowbri.

"Who cares?  She could..." Feljikk hesitated as he looked closer at the girl. "She looks dead."

"Yeah, so?"

"So why'd you grab her."

"Well, uhm, I just... it seemed..." Mowbri looked embarrassed as she quietly said, "I got a feeling we needed to help her."

"Help her? How?!" snarled Natch. "Give her a funeral?"  She stormed out of the demolished cottage followed by Klazzmat.

"Altruism for strangers? From you, Mowbri?  What will the Thieves Guild say?" Feljikk smiled gently at the little thief who had stolen his heart long ago.

"Hey!" Mowbri said in a hurt voice. "You're the one who's always pushing me to help those in need."

The four hundred-year-old dark-elf sighed, "I'm sorry, dear, it's just that when you help the less fortunate, generally speaking, they are supposed to be alive."

"Well, I just figured that maybe Sooja or Otaz could do... something," Mowbri waved her hand in the air as if casting a spell.

"No."

"What could it hurt?"

"She just started a riot while she was dead.  I can't imagine what she could do if she's alive."

"Please, Feljikk," Mowbri looked at him with wide pleading eyes.

Feljikk gritted his teeth.  She was going to play dirty.  

"No way," he said firmly.

Eyelashes fluttered.  Mouth started shifting to a pouting frown.  Eyes started looking tearful.

Damn!

*
*
*

Half an hour later they were on their way to Forbos with the girl's body over Feljikk's shoulder.

"Whipped," hissed out the grinning Lizardkin.

"Shut-up, Klazzmat," growled Feljikk.

*****

Buffy was happy.

Buffy smiled as she lay back in the tall grass. Butterflies danced about in the sky above her head.  She was six years old today.

She stretched out her arms and curled back under her sheets.  It was Saturday, no work today.  She could lie in bed all day if she wanted to.  She was twenty-seven today.

She watched her grandchildren play with their friends in the sun. She was seventy-five today.

She danced with glee in the gym at Hemery High because she had just made the cheerleading squad along with her best friend Rebecca.  

She was at the Expresso Pump, chatting with Willow.  

She was in the library at Sunnydale, joking with Xander.

She was holding Dawn's hand just before her wedding.

She was in the kitchen with her mom, the smells of Christmas dinner filling the air.

She was snuggling in front of a fire with everyone whom she loved.

She was happy.

But something was intruding upon her happiness.  It started small. Like a feeling that she was forgetting something.  Gradually, it became more pronounced, a feeling that she was late for being somewhere.  The feeling grew inside of her and became a certainty that she was needed.  

It became a whispering voice just on the edge of her hearing.  It grew into an insistent pleading, begging for her return.  She did not at first understand.  She was here.  Everyone she loved was fine.

Then she began to feel the heartache, and the voice became clear.

"Buffy, please come back!"

Willow.

Willow was calling for her.  Willow needed her.

Instantly, she was with Willow at the park.  But this Willow didn't need her.  Then they were at the movies, and still this Willow didn't need her.  But she could feel that somewhere Willow needed her help.  They were at the library; in the dorm; in the cemetery; at dinner; at Willow's house; at her house.  Things began to blur.  It was giving her a headache and she closed her eyes.  She felt herself moving.

Opening her eyes she found herself standing on a vast empty plain with a gray sky overhead through which clouds were zipping by at an incredible rate.  The compulsion was coming from the distance.

"Buffy. Buffy!"

She turned around to see her mother standing on the porch of a huge mansion.

"Mom?"

"Are you sure you want to go back out there, sweety?"

"I-," she paused. The compulsion to go was, for a moment, overwhelmed by the desire to stay.  It was warm here.  She was happy here.  She had done her duty.  Willow would be fine.  She could take care of herself.

Still...

"I think she needs my help, mom," Buffy finally said calmly.

"Very well, dear," Joyce said with a smile.  She gave Buffy a wave goodbye.  "Have fun storming the castle."

Buffy turned her back to the house and closed her eyes.

*****

Tara was nearing panic from the stress of worrying.  She was alone.  She could not be certain how long she had been here, when she had awoken her watch had stopped.   

Tara did not know what the spell had been that Willow had cast, but it had felt far more powerful any normal translocation spell that she knew of.  It had been too powerful.  

She desperately needed to find Willow.  She was terrified of the thought that Willow might have over exerted herself and possibly had burned her mind out, or be in need of medical attention, and Tara had no idea where she could be.

Her own location seemed to be in the middle of a huge plain of grass with low hills.  It was just past dawn.  She had no food, water or supplies of any kind.  She had not even been able to locate any wood to start a fire.

Tara finally sat down and attempted to calm herself through a few prayers to the Goddess.

Taking several deep breaths, Tara centered herself and tried to slow down her rapid heartbeat.  She began to meditate.  Envisioning, the grasslands around her in her mind, she began to clear the fears that seemed to be overwhelming her.  Finally, she began to pray.  Pleading to the Goddess to help her find Willow.

A sound intruded on her consciousness.  A low rumbling sound, almost like distant thunder.  Tara stood and looked around, but she could see no clouds.  The thunder steadily grew louder.  Suddenly, Tara saw that it was a large group of men on horseback riding in the distance.  With relief she raised her arms and began to wave them in order to attract the riders' attention.  As they drew closer, she noted that something seemed odd about their shapes.  Suddenly, the details obscured by distance became clear and Tara was shocked to see that they were not a group of men on horseback, but rather a group of part-men/part-horse.  

"Centaurs!?" she gasped aloud in realization.

A wave of fear washed over her as she they drew closer and several realizations occurred to her.

Firstly, centaurs didn't exist on HER Earth, therefore she was not currently on her Earth.  Secondly, they were approaching very fast and there were an awful lot of them.  Thirdly, they may not like humans and she did not have a clue as to how to react to them. And lastly, she may not be able to even talk to these creatures.

Suddenly, she was surrounded.

The centaurs circled her for several minutes before settling down and coming to a stop.  Then one stepped forward and began angrily talking to her in a strange tongue that of course she did not recognize.  Tara held her hands to indicate that she was unarmed.

"I- I don't understand ... please, I need help," she pleaded to the huge creatures.

The lead centaur barked out a command and instantly Tara felt something wrap around her neck and start to tighten.  Clawing at her throat, she felt a smooth scaly surface coiling about her throat.  Spinning in panic, she saw that no one was holding the other end of what she had thought was a rope.  As she stumbled to her knees she realized in horror that whatever was strangling her was alive.

Choking and gasping, she reached out a hand in a pleading gesture towards the lead centaur before she fell down on her side and blacked out.

****

"Release!" commanded Hjori, the centaur sub-chief.  The felis-snake loosened around the unconscious human's throat, but remained wrapped about her neck in case she awoke.

"Tsorj.  Carry this trespasser back to Jorbhyla.  He will decide what to do with the human."

Junior centaurs moved forward to bind Tara's hands and feet before placing her across Tsorj's back.  When they finished, Tsorj flicked his tail in irritation and set off for the village.

****

The men sat and waited as the women argued.  Avery cleaned his strange weapon.  Klazzmat was busily devouring down his second huge bowl of macaroni.  Feljikk watched with mild amusement as Mowbri tried to state her case.  Sooja and Otaz would not be as easily manipulated by the girl as he had.

"Are you crazy!" yelled Sooja.

"But couldn't you just," Mowbri waved her hand to indicate some random motion that might have been considered by the untalented as spell casting, "and get her spirit to talk?"

"I am not a necromancer, and I have no intention of starting now," Sooja stated quite firmly.  The look on her face indicated to Mowbri that she was unlikely to changer her mind at the moment.

Mowbri looked hopefully over to the priestess Otaz who stood to the side of the body looking sadly at it.  The Tavern owner had not been happy when Feljikk had brought the body inside, so they had placed it on the floor near the back wall where it was darker and not too noticeable to the rest of the tavern's patrons.   

"Otaz..."

"Mowbri," sighed Otaz, "I love you dearly, and I grieve for this woman who has died so early in her life, but I will not ask Orum to disrupt her spirit just to satisfy your curiosity."

"Yeah sure," snorted Natch. "Like he really has so many pressing duties."

"What is that supposed to mean?" bristled Otaz.

Natch did not care in the slightest about the girl. However, baiting Otaz was something she could not resist.

"He won't do it because he can't do it," Natch said with a smile.

Otaz kept her calm by reminding herself that Natch did have cause to be upset with Orum.  Still the slight could not be left without a challenge.

"Well then, since you would take such delight in seeing him fail, even though he never has, why don't you call him?"

Natch growled, "You forget, priestess.  Daddy hasn't been around for me since he got mom knocked up."

Otaz sighed, "You always have to bring that up."  

"I think someone's already gotten ahead of us, folks," announced Hinks, Sooja's demonic imp familiar.  Hinks had been examining the body at very close range.  She stood only two feet tall, and she was walking all around and over the girl's body.

"What do you mean?" asked Sooja.

"She's reviving.  Look at that cut on her head.  It's been healing as you've been talking," Hinks told them.  "And she's pulling magic into her body.  I can smell it."

Otaz, Sooja and Natch looked at each other for a second then quickly began readying spells.

"Blade Barri-"

"Lightning-"

"Fireba-"

"Wait!"

Mowbri stood between the body and the spell casters.

"Your not gonna give her a chance and see if she's innocent?"
  
The two mages and priest again looked at each other.  While Natch was unconcerned about it, Sooja and Otaz were somewhat embarrassed about their rushing to eliminate the potential threat.  Sure the girl might be a perfectly innocent girl who was coming back to life after somehow passing through a mysterious portal while dead, but the odds were 1000 to 1 in favor of her being some sort of horribly dangerous monster or demon.  Mowbri was not some novice adventurer to be lectured about such realities.  Yet here she was, wanting to give the girl a chance.

"Fine, we'll contain her first, then wait for her to wake," said Otaz.  She looked over at Sooja who nodded and then began making the incantation for a Containment Globe spell.  Natch hissed in disappointment.  Her fight's kept on getting interrupted these days.  Being good sucked.   

Hinks backed away as Sooja cast the Containment spell.  "Ten crowns says she's a Lich," she muttered.

"Shush," whispered Sooja.

*****

"Ah yes! That might do it," muttered Kazzin to himself as he scanned the huge tome of lore before him.  He looked again at the figure that was floating just over his casting room floor.  She had appeared several hours ago as he was attempting to summon up a minor demon.  She was in a deep trance, and there was a powerful spell link that she was feeding her energy to.  Although she was dressed strangely, she appeared to be human.  However, the energy patterns she was exhibiting indicated a small amount of 'God-hood' powers intermingled with your standard magic-user powers.  She certainly didn't fit the standard demi-god patterns that he was familiar with.  On the other hand, the amount of energy she had been feeding her spell, would have killed a normal human after the first hour.

It was a puzzle to him, and in standard inquiring wizard fashion he needed to know the answers.

Kazzin had been trying to awaken her and had finally determined that she would not awake until the spell drain was stopped.  He had then begun to work on finding a way to break the link, and he had finally found a suitable spell.

He began to make the proper preparations for the spell.  Looking forward to finding out who she was; why she had suddenly appeared in his spell room; and what she was.

Unfortunately for Kazzin, he had never heard of the phrase 'Curiosity killed the cat.'

*****

Buffy was flying. She could feel the pull and knew she was approaching her destination soon.  The sorrow and longing were clearer now and she could hear Willow calling for aid from various Gods, pleading for Buffy's release from whatever hell dimension she had been trapped in by Glory's portal.  

Buffy smiled.  Willow thought she'd been trapped and needed rescuing.  A wave of love flashed through her for the young Wiccan.  Suddenly a shriek pierced her thoughts just before all contact with Willow broke off.

Buffy tried to open her eyes as she felt herself hit something like a brick wall.

*****

Her eyes snapped open as she screamed in pain.  In confusion, she stared about herself and saw the mage in the midst of spell casting.   With hardly a pause, every loose object in the room was suddenly zipping through the air towards the mage including a number of knives.  Kazzin barely had time to widen his eyes in surprise before they were replaced with a knife and a small figurine.

When the mage's body crumpled to the floor, she rose to her feet.  Where was she?  Her thoughts were confused as she tried make sense of what was happening.  Bits and pieces flashed through her mind.  When the door to the room abruptly flew open and a small, green humanoid type creature burst in with a sword.

"Master?" called the creature as the girl raised her hand and let fly a bolt of energy.  The creature flew backwards through the doorway, and a second later the door slammed closed and bolted itself.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" came a thunderous screech that was heard though out the entire castle.

Then the smashing began in earnest.

*****

She awoke with a groan of pain.  Opening her eyes she found she could barely see.  Things were blurry and indistinct.  She blinked her eyes and the shapes began to resolve into distinct individuals.

There was one small Asian-looking girl standing next to a seven-foot tall black Vulcan male with an even bigger sword.  A couple of gorgeous blonde women were next to him, one wearing a dark blue toga with a weird symbol on the front, the other wearing a strip of cloth that covered her crotch and not much else.  The nearly naked girl had a ring of lights circling her head and her eyes were pure white.  At her feet stood a two-foot tall, very sexy and naked female devil, complete with horns and tail.  Beside them stood another nearly naked brunette female, wearing black leather corset and panties.  She also had large pointed ears, extremely sharp pointed teeth, and a tail.  And finally, beside her stood a six-foot tall lizard with another big sword. Finally, she noticed that she was in some sort of large log cabin-like building.

"Well, Toto.  Looks like we're not in Kansas anymore," muttered Buffy.

"Kansas?  You're from Kansas, Miss?"  A man moved forward wearing what appeared to be a sheriff's outfit from an old western complete with hat, a long overcoat with a star badge, and a gun belt.  The man tipped his hat to her.

"Avery Tarr, Miss.  Texas Rangers."

*****

Several hours later a group of various creatures were gathered in the castle's main dinning hall.

"You do it."

"No way."

"Hey I already got fried once today.  It's someone else's turn."

"Who?"

"How about we draw straws?"

There were several moments of silence follow by a couple of sighs of relief.

"Crap!"

*
*
*

Hesitantly, the goblin approached the door to the castle's laboratory, and he reached out to knock softly.

"Uhm... Miss?  Can we talk?"

Muffled noises came from inside the room as if from something scraping on the floor.  Then footsteps approached the door.  

"What?!" growled the girl from inside.

"Well... uh... thing of it is... uh... is Master Kazzin dead, Miss?"

There was a pause.  "Is he the idiot in the black robes with the stupid looking hat?"

"Uhm... yeah that would be him I guess."

"Most of his insides seem to be on the outside.  Any chance of him putting himself together again?"

"Uhm no. Not that I'm aware of?"

"Well then I'd say 'Yeah, he's dead'.  What of it?"

"Well, in that case, the rest of the boys asked me to check with you to see if you're going to be interested in keeping castle and the full staff."

The bolts slid back with a crack and the door slowly opened.  The red-haired woman stepped out and the goblin took a step back as he saw the pitch black eyes.

"Say what?"

"Well, you know.  What with the uhm... hostile takeover and all a lot of times the new management of a place likes to bring in their own talent to take charge of things.  But seeing as you don't seem to have anyone with you and we seem to be in need of a new master, er... mistress..."  

He trailed off as she stared at him with her black eyes.  It was really disconcerting.  He was sure she would be extracting his entrails any second now, and the scary thing was that he would probably feel more comfortable with her doing that than he was right now looking into those eyes.

"Fine.  You may serve me." She said after a long minute of complete silence.

The goblin nearly melted in relief.  "Right then I'll just let the staff know they have a new Mistress."  He paused, "Uhm. What shall we call you, Mistress?"

The red-haired woman paused as if in thought for a moment.

"I believe you can call me Glory."


****

End Part 2
TBC...