FIC: REPOST: Militat omnis amans (Every lover is a warrior) Part 4d/?

["Beckett, Kevin" <kevin.beckett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Militat omnis amans (Every lover is a warrior) Part 4d/?
K. Beckett (c) 2000 

Disclaimers:
Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show
belong to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy etal. Everyone and everything
else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living,
dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Rating: R 

Other: 
The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any
translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells
and other craft work come from my traditions, so please don't take offence
if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think
it should.

Archiving etc.: Ask and I will say yes.

Spoilers:
Everything up to the middle of season four - I diverge then.

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"Impressive," the other replied, "they are certainly very competent in
practice," he added after a moments pause.

At that moment, there was a piercing scream from the arena. Both men turned
back to the gallery balcony to look at what was going on below.

A few moments before...
< Human, knife, fear smell, what is it going to do to my human, fear, hurt
human >
Willow had sensed that this unknown person who had been sneaking around in
the back of the training area was not pleased to be there, and in fact was
rather afraid to be there. However, at that moment she was rather
preoccupied with six of the guardsmen trying a simultaneous attack on Buffy
and her. So, she had not warned Buffy of this stranger, figuring that he
was just trying to grab an illicit look at what was going on.
< KNIFE, throw knife >
"What," Willow screamed as she finally sorted out all of the images coming
from Shadow-cat, "Buffy!!!!" she yelled as she threw herself in front of the
knife that had been thrown by the mysterious cook, who at that moment was
also screaming, this time in pain, from the scratching and biting that was
being inflicted on him by an enraged feline.

"Willow!!!!" screamed Buffy as she turned from the battle to see her soul
mate lying on the floor with a thirty centimetre cooks knife protruding from
her chest and with her lifeblood pooling on the floor beneath her.

Buffy quickly bent down beside Willow and applied pressure on the wound.
"Someone, do something," she yelled to the group of people who were quickly
forming a circle around the pair on the floor.
"Buffy," replied Daithi softly, "Buffy, she's gone, there is nothing we can
do, the knife entered her chest right near the heart."
"She can't go," pleaded the slayer, "she is everything to me."

Willow was not yet dead, she was however, very close to it, "Buffy," she
whispered, "Buffy are you there?"
"Yes love, I'm here," she replied, "don't struggle, I'll get some help."
"There's no time for me," the redhead replied weakly, "I'm going to the
Goddess, but know that I have always loved you..." she fell silent as she
lapsed into unconsciousness.

"No," exclaimed the determined slayer, "no, I will not accept this." With
that, she dove into the energies that surrounded everything and everyone.
"Those medalling mages are always saying that Will and I are soul-mates and
that we are tied together, lets just see how tied we are," she said to
herself as she used her recently found talent to perceive the magical
energies, and the links between them to search out and find the ties that
bound her to Willow.

"Where are they," she muttered to herself as she totally detached from
reality and plunged into her task. She quickly found that there were
several ties to Willow and that they were going dim as the life force was
sucked from her. However, there was one tie that was both large and
complex, which Buffy could tell, intuitively, was the one that tied the two
of them together.
"I have no idea what I'm doing," she thought to herself. "But this is
either going to cure her, or kill us both."

Buffy then used some of the biofeedback tools that she had been using with
her spell shield and combined it with the depth of her love for the other
woman and used the link to pour life sustaining energy into Willow. At the
same time, she tried to extend her own ability to self-heal to what she was
doing for Willow. She expanded her awareness and, without knowing how she
did it, looked deep inside of her lover. She was able to tell that the
knife had not penetrated the heart, however, it had nicked one of the major
arteries. Buffy pulled the knife out of Willow's chest and tried to apply
her healing abilities directly, without success. She rapidly became frantic
with panic, her lover was passing away in her arms and there seemed to be
nothing she could do.

Suddenly a thought came to her, and without thinking twice, she acted on it.
Buffy reinforced the energy link between her and Willow, and, without a
concern for the consequences, forced herself to spiritually and
psychologically follow with the power that was flowing between the two of
them.

Buffy's mind exploded with the impact of the jumbled thoughts of Willow.
She saw, and experienced what Willow saw. She remembered what Willow
remembered, and she felt the agonizing pain that Willow was feeling. Using
all of her experience to block out the pain, Buffy quickly forced Willow's
body to accelerate the healing process, using the energy it was getting
directly from the slayer. Buffy could see the results, the tear in the
artery closed and healed. Willow's heart beat, which had been erratic with
the reduced blood flow, strengthened as the healing process that Buffy had
hastened created new blood for her.

< Buffy, > the slayer heard, < what are you doing? >
< Shush, > she replied to herself, realizing that somehow the two of them
could essentially read each other's mind.
< Buffy!! > The other exclaimed mentally, < what are you doing in my mind? >

< Healing you, silly, > Buffy replied with relief as she collapsed in
exhaustion, her desperate gamble had worked, however it appeared that there
had been one or two unexpected side effects.

Daithi realised that something extraordinary had happened. He had seen Buffy
wrap Willow in her arms and then appear to fall into a trance. What had
happened then floored them all, first the blood had stopped flowing from the
wound in Willow's chest, and then the wound had healed. Finally, the
wounded arch-mage's breathing had stabilized as the slayer had collapsed in
fatigue; it appeared that Willow would not, in reality, die. Daithi quickly
ordered several orderlies forward with gurneys, to take the two women to the
infirmary.

Upstairs in the gallery, Hugh had watched the proceedings below in horror,
not as Grael thought, in sympathy for the two women, but rather in the
collapse of his plan and position. He extracted himself quickly from
Grael's company and made immediate preparations to leave the castle, and the
city.

Grael was too stunned to much notice of the hasty departure of Hugh; he was
shocked by the attack and immediately went down to the infirmary to check on
the two women. Once he had been assured that they would be fine, he left in
a foul mood to find Daithi and the cook who had initiated the attack. He
needed answers, and he needed them soon.

------------------------------------------
Later that night two young women were to be found in a heavily guarded room
in the infirmary. There were guards posted both inside and outside of the
room. Additional guards were located at each intersection in the hallways
and staircases. In addition, the patrols in the castle had been increased,
and the patrols had had their frequency and patterns changed.

Meanwhile the city had been sealed and was being scoured from one end to the
other for the traitor Hugh d'Troville and any of his accomplices that were
still around. Daithi had little hope of finding Hugh, but he hoped that the
dragnet would shake free some of the other conspirators who had not yet been
able to flee the city.

<Rather like bolting the barn door after the horse has left isn't it,> asked
the red-haired woman occupy one of the two beds.
<Yep,> replied the other, <but better safe than sorry. The information that
Grael got from that cook indicates that that Hugh guy had a lot of people on
his payroll.>

The two women were still stunned by this side effect of Buffy's desperate
healing action. They continued their conversation in this manner, mostly
because of the novelty, but also because of the three guardsmen in the room
with them.

<I feel like I'm in the zoo,> Buffy said mentally, <If those three don't
find something to do other than stare at us, I am going to scream.> 
<I agree love,> replied Willow, <but its only till tomorrow, then we can go
back to our own rooms.>
<I can't wait, and I don't think that I'll be able to sleep properly if I'm
not in your arms> replied the slayer, <this is just too weird for words,
though don't you think?>
The two women upon awaking had noticed that the tie between them had not
gone back to the way it was before the attack, rather it appeared to be even
larger and more complex than what Buffy had done; it was also apparent that
they could move back and forth between each others thoughts and memories at
will. Amana, who had been at their bedside when they awoke, explained that
it was all a product of the intense emotions felt by Buffy when she was
healing Willow, and also due to the deep love between them. She had advised
that since each other's mind was fully open to the other, that they
immediately spend some time building a secure location in their own mind
which only they could access, since even for two people as deeply in love as
they were needed to keep some secrets. After all, if they didn't, Christmas
and birthdays would be forever ruined. She had also indicated that both
Grael and she had hoped for this link to develop, but were intensely upset
that it had come as a result of the traitorous attack on them.

"Meeooow," said Shadow-cat who was occupying her usual place on top of
Willow's pillow. She had been pleased with the day's activities, and had
been helpful in the capture of the attacker. All in all a very good day she
thought to herself, she was now a familiar, and would therefore be of even
greater service to her human.
"Yes, you silly feline," replied Willow, "If not for you I wouldn't have
seen the attack in time."
"And then I'd be the one who might of died," replied Buffy.
<Its ok love,> replied Willow, <by the way, thank-you for the Valentines
gift.> 
<It wasn't what I had intended,> replied the other, <but, you're welcome.>

The two women drifted off to sleep, while deep within both the link between
them, and within certain cells of their bodies, changes were occurring.

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Finis Part IV

To be continued...