Militat Omnis Amans (Every Lover is a Warrior) Part 10b/?

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

Militat Omnis Amans (Every Lover is a Warrior) Part 10b/?
K. Beckett (c) 2000, with the exception of musical lyrics which are (c) the
individual artists / labels.

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 descriptions of 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.

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As she was speaking, Amana noticed that she had been joined by another
presence on the back of the chair. Looking back she saw Shadow-cat
stretched out along the chair back, basking in the heat of the fire.
"Shadow-cat," she said softly, "what are you doing down here? Is it too
noisy upstairs? Come down and curl up on my lap." Amana said, patting her
lap as an invitation.
Shadow-cat looked down, weighed the effort versus the benefits; deciding
that a nice comfy lap was better than the back of the chair, and jumped down
onto Amana's lap. She curled up into a ball and began to purr softly
thinking, "maybe I'll get an ear scratch to."

Amana proceeded to do just that, absently stroking Shadow-cat as she took up
the conversation, "I don't know how the two of them do it."
"Do what?"
"Cope." Seeing a quizzical looking in Grael's face she continued, "just
look at what the two of them have been through, then ask yourself if you
would have handled it as well as they have, especially given that they are
so young, and not from this world."
Grael thought for a moment before replying, "you know, as usual you're
right. I've been so wrapped up in survival and making a secure base here
that I never gave it any thought. What got you thinking about this though?"
"Yesterday, when Buffy came to me for help. As we were talking I just began
to realize all of the things that have happened, and the stress that that
would be putting on a person."
"This is obviously leading to something."
"You know me far too well," replied Amana laughing, "but I do in fact have a
plan."
"And that is?"
"Oh, you'll see," said Amana, with a twinkle in her eye, refusing to divulge
any other information.

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Elsewhere on the mountain, other beings were in less comfortable
surroundings. The demon Junulak, the imp Talor and the quasi-human Hugh
were sitting around a small fire, which did little to alleviate the subzero
temperatures, in a glade near the edge of the tree line. The three of them,
along with nearly one-hundred other demons, who were bivouacked in the
nearby trees, had been working their way through the mountains for the last
four months, trying to find out where the slayer and the rest of the humans
with her had gone to ground. It had been a search without any signs of
success, or ending.

"At least we know where they aren't," commented Hugh, "that must be good for
something."
"Just perfect," replied Talor sarcastically, "we've managed to search, what,
maybe five percent of the mountains. That's a real accomplishment. Much
more of this type of success and our dreaded master will be using our
bleached bones for fang-picks."
"You've got that part right," added Junulak, "I don't know how much longer
we will be able to put him off with reassurances of 'soon'."
"At least he's been too preoccupied to wonder all that much about our
search," added Talor, "with all of the forces he's been taking from us for
the various attacks he's conducting, we could always claim that we haven't
got enough solders to do the job properly."

The initial force of nearly five hundred demons that the three of them had
taken into the mountains had been slowly reduced to the less than one
hundred that remained. The various offences that the demons had underway
were requiring more and more resources, and the demon master that controlled
this sector had been required to strip Junulak of almost his entire force.
However, all three of them knew that that would be no excuse for their
failure to find the humans they had been tasked to find.

"Junulak," said Hugh tentatively, "I know that you've been reluctant to
attack the small villages and hamlets in the fear that it would force those
that we are looking for either out of the mountains or deeper into them, but
I think that we are going to have to start interrogating some of the local
population to see it they know anything."
"I agree," added Talor, also being very careful in choosing his words, "the
time for subtlety has gone."

"I'll give it some thought," replied Junulak as he stood up from the fire
and began to walk through the woods.

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Breakfast the next morning found Sonya and her group of ten women sitting
with Willow's task force. After they had all had a chance to eat most of
their meal, and had an opportunity to make small talk in an effort to get to
know each other better, Willow turned to Amana and seeing her answering nod,
stood up to address the group. She and Amana had talked earlier in the
morning and had come up with a plan, and a schedule for their guests.

"People," Willow said as she cleared her throat waiting for the various side
conversations to die down, "people, can I have you attention for a moment."

After she had everyone's attention she then continued, "now that we've had a
chance to get to know each other a little bit, I think that it's time that I
outline what my plans are for our newcomers over the next few days or so."

That statement had the effect that Willow was looking for, as everyone
stopped what they were doing and turned to face their acknowledged leader. 

"First," she said as she began her outline of the plan, "I wish to offer a
welcome and a home to Sonya and the other women who came in with her. They
have all endured much hardship and peril in order to get here, and I want
them to know that they have now found a home, and I hope in time some new
friends." At that statement there were shy smiles of relief on the faces of
the young women, they had all had small internal fears that they would not
be welcomed, and that they would be sent on their way. Now they knew that
they once again had a place to call home, and, in time, people that would be
there for them.

"Second," continued Willow, "I would like to stress to our new friends that
everything comes with a price," seeing a few questioning looks on their
faces she added with a little smile, "there is still a lot of work to be
done on our quarters here, and as you might guess, you will be involved in
doing that work." They all relaxed at that, they were used to hard work and
realized that they would be required to assist everyone in the work that was
going on in the village, in order to truly make this village their new home.

"Third, as you may have figured out by now, some of us are mages, and if I
may be permitted a moment of false modesty, pretty powerful ones at that.
So, we are going to put all of you through a series of tests, to see if any
of you have magic potential. Frankly, we are doing this because we are
going to need all of the help we can get before we are done." This caused a
minor amount of concern amongst the young women. Most of them had never
even considered that they may have magical abilities, and were worried about
what the tests entailed. However, they knew that they had been called by
the Goddess to this place in order to help humanity in its need, and knew
that they would therefore be required to do what ever it took to be of
assistance to this powerful woman who was addressing them. Seeing the
slight looks of worry on several faces Willow said softly, "don't worry, the
tests are totally unobtrusive, and will not be done without your consent or
full understanding of what is happening." With that reassurance any worry
that the women faced was relieved.

"Fourth," continued the arch-mage, "we are also going to arrange for the
eleven of you to receive some arms training, since I think that magic alone
is not going to solve our little problem. Trust me on this one you will
reap 'all' of the benefits of the training." The young women were all
pleased at this news. They, for the most part, had never learned to defend
themselves and had at various points in their lives felt distress when in
situations where they were not able to help themselves. They knew that they
would not become 'superwomen' with the training that they were going to
receive - especially in the short term, but that it would help build their
self-confidence, which they were beginning to understand they would need in
the future.

"Fifth, and in my humble opinion the most important," at this there were
some snickers from Aiofe and Bridie, "we are having a little celebration on
Friday, to which you are all invited." There were broader smiles at this
information, a celebration, for whatever reason, was more than welcome after
weeks of uncertainty and perilous travel.

"Finally, I've come up with a tentative schedule for you. We have planned
for the eleven of you to spend the next month helping with the work on the
inn, and on gaining some proficiency with arms and armour. Then we will
have you work with Daithi and the other guardsmen in one securing the
village and two, working through the surrounding area checking for trouble
before it can find us. We also hope to have you seek out and find other
people who might be able to assist me in the task at hand before winter
locks us in." This plan was more than acceptable to the young women, they
would be given work of great importance and would be able to directly assist
Willow in the task that she was given.

"Now," continued Willow, "before I finish dominating your time, and let you
all get back to your breakfasts, are their any questions?" Willow waited a
few moments and when it became obvious that nobody would ask a question, at
least in a group situation, said, "well that's good then, now lets finish
eating and get the day underway."