FIC: REPOST: Militat omnis amans (Every lover is a warrior) Part 7a/?

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

Militat omnis amans (Every lover is a warrior) Part 7a/?
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.

This story contains sexual acts between consenting adult women, and was
written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you,
don't read.

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 and other ramblings:
Everything up to the middle of season four - I diverge then.

Thanks to all who have commented, I appreciate everything that was said. As
before, all meaningful criticism, support and suggestions are welcome. 

Please be patient, it takes me awhile to get everything down, as I have very
little free time for writing.

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

mailto:kevin.beckett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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A priori:
Willow and company have departed on their mission to close the hell-mouths.
At their first stop Buffy was initiated as a warrior-mage and received a
visit from a very important Deity. The two women have still not come to
terms with their pregnancies, and have yet to determine how it happened. On
the second day of travel, the group has encountered a company of demon's,
hell bent on making their lives miserable.

Synopsis for part VII:
Willow's battle company manages to fight off the demon attack that they were
faced with, during which Buffy receives some unusual assistance. The group
reaches the first hell-mouth and proceeds in their attempt to close it.
Buffy, Willow, Aiofe and Bridie become closer friends. Meanwhile the demon
hierarchy learns of Willow and Buffy, and about some of Willow's plans, and
begins to make plans against them.

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Part VII - Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus (Let us live, my Lesbia, and
let us love)

in an age of troubles
in an age of uncertainty
in an age of dwindling hope,
you still have me 

no matter where you are
no matter how far from home
no matter if you're lost,
you still have me

Never Doubt I Love
Melanie Doane, Shakespearean Fish
(c) 1996 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.

"Ok folks," yelled the arch-mage, "this is how we are going to handle this."
Everyone paused in their preparations for battle in order to understand
clearly, what Willow had to say.

"Daithi," she continued, "I want you and the other guardsmen to keep this
first group as busy as you can with missile fire. Buff, I want to keep you
back in reserve till that second group gets closer. Grael, Frankel and
Amana can you three keep any of those demons in the first group from
breaking off and circling behind us?
"We will do our best," replied Amana, "but we will need help once that
second group gets here."
"That's where Buffy and I get into it," Willow replied, "I hope. Aiofe,
Bridie, what can you do to help, we haven't had any time to really talk
about your magical abilities."
"We will stay out of the way," Aiofe replied, "and keep the horses from
panicking."
"If worse comes to worse," added Bridie, "we'll fight. After all we were
guardsmen at one time."
"Ok then," Willow shouted, "lets kick some demon ass."

Everyone burst into action. Daithi and the guardsmen immediately began to
lay down withering fire with their bows, assisted by Buffy and her crossbow.
Daithi spotted a yellow-skinned demon breaking for the trees and yelled out,
"bassoil ùir!" With that spell, the demon was suddenly enveloped in the
earth as the ground rose up and smothered it. "One down," he muttered as he
kept a sharp lookout for any others.

Willow meanwhile began thinking about options on how to handle the second
group of demons. She knew that they would have very little time after
dispatching the first group before the larger group would be upon them. The
only solution she could think of quickly was to devise a method of
channelling the enemy so that only a small group would be able to attack
them at any one time, therefore giving them a chance against the demon's
greater numbers. Looking at the terrain in front of them she noted that
they were in a small valley with a river to their left and the road that
they had been travelling on going down the centre, parallel to the river,
then disappearing over the hill ahead of them. They were in a copse of
woods that followed the river; open fields were on the other side of the
road. She saw that if she were able to block the demons from coming over
the fields on the right side of them, the river would block them from the
left, leaving only the ten meters directly in front that they would have to
defend. She decided to try to use a variation of the shield that Amana had
taught Buffy, except this shield would be much larger. 

Drawing upon as much energy from the surrounding area as she dared she
grounded herself, focused, then cried out, "Bree fuar bhalla!" A translucent
blue wall sprung up angling out from where Willow was standing, crossing
over the road and the fields in front of her and disappearing over the hill.
Creating an effective barrier to the demons, she hoped.

"That should keep them from getting behind us," Willow commented, "now we'll
only have to deal with a small group at a time."
"Yeah," commented Buffy as she took careful aim and fired at another demon,
driving a quarrel through its eye, "ten to one odds, we can certainly deal
with that."
"Sarcasm is unbecoming in a pregnant woman," Aiofe quipped as she was trying
to keep five horses under control. They had taken one look at the
approaching demon hoards and had decided bolting was far better than
staying.
"I mean it," the slayer responded, "this is going to be fun." Bridie and
Aiofe looked at Buffy as if she was possessed, thinking that their new lover
was just a few apples short of a bushel. 

They had more than Buffy's sanity to worry about; the horses were becoming a
real handful. They smelled the unfamiliar scents of the demons, the blood
being spilt and the general commotion in the small camp. They had almost
gotten away from the two young women several times. Frankel noticed the
problems that they were having and came over to the horses. Laying his
hands on each of the horse's heads in turn, he whispered into its ear. The
results were immediate and dramatic; the horses immediately calmed down and
stood placidly while Aiofe and Bridie tied them to some nearby trees.

"That should keep them quiet," commented the sage.
"Thanks," replied Aiofe, "I thought that we were going to lose them."
"Let's get our armour on," added Bridie, "we can do more good helping the
guardsmen by using our shields to protect them from the demon's missile
fire."

Just then, Amana spotted a demon breaking for the river, with a shouted,
"Tendreil orraghey," a bolt of lightning sprang from her palm and hit the
demon just as it entered the water. The results were impressive,
electrocuted smoked demon.

"That's a delicacy I'll avoid," commented Buffy as she continued her banter,
"I mean desiccated demon is not on my list of edibles for expectant
mothers."
"Come-on Buff," Willow pleaded, "get serious for a second will you?"

By then the entire first group of twenty demons had been dispatched.
Everyone took the opportunity to catch their breath and re-arm for the
upcoming major battle.

"I'm nearly out of arrows," commented Padrick, "only eight left."
The other guardsmen were in a similar situation. Looking around Daithi
commented, "ok then, all of the arrows to Padrick and David, everyone else
use your shields to protect them and rest up for when we run out of arrows
and the demons reach the barrier."

The larger group of demons were now in bow range. Padrick and David
immediately began to rapid fire their remaining arrows, selecting arms and
legs as targets wherever possible in order to disable as many of the enemy
as possible. They were not able to stop the tide of demons, only slow it
for a short while, then they were out of arrows and the first of the demons
were directly in front, at the barrier, and snarling for blood. It was then
down to hand to claw fighting. Willow kept Buffy back from the conflict,
wanting to use her as a strategic reserve, and to protect the mages from
interference. Some of the demons tried to go through Willow's barrier, and
received nasty shocks and burns for their troubles. In addition, since the
barrier was keyed to Willow, she was able to target those who tried to go
through it for direct spell action. They were holding their own, however,
there were a great number of foes, and they didn't seem to be slowing down.


One by one the guardsmen had to retreat out of the battle due to minor
wounds and exhaustion until there was only Aiofe, Bridie and Daithi left on
the line. At this point Buffy felt an intense burning sensation on her
chest. When she looked down, she saw that the tattoo of the sword was
pulsating. She reached down and when she touched the tattoo, it turned into
the sword, and separated from her body.