FIC :: Fable Environment (3/4)

["C S Armitage" <soren_nyrond@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: A Fable Environment (3/ ) 
AUTHOR: Soren Nyrond
DISCLAIMER: Characters in this part belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. 
SUMMARY: It's got Buffy and Willow in it; there is a sort of a plot, but this episode is also pretty well smut-zero (un;ess you want to read between some lines)
SPOILERS: None since it bears no resembance to aired
AUTHOR'S NOTES: All nice feedback welcome. Chocolate cookies also accepted. Have fun. Happy New Year to You All (or Y'All in Bubba Claus' case)


 
A Fable Environment . - - Part 3

  

"All right - my oops," Buffy said. "When did you realise ?"

"Me ?" Willow asked. "It never even occurred to me ?"

The morning had come and they were still in the treehouse. Only now, of course, Thorpe was awake and the question became how could they get down again, without being seen, given that there were Certain Matters (not to mention food and warmth) which had to be attended to, and which were not suitablefor thirteen feet up an oak tree.

 

"I don't see anyone," Willow said, softly.

"Which is what worries me," Buffy replied in equally subdued tones; "They must be somewhere."

Then Willow had an inspiration. She tapped Buffy's shoulder and pointed away from the village green. The oak stood at the back of the cottage garden: behind it there was a wall, to one of the twisty little lanes that seemedto punctuate the village.

"We don't know where it - " 'Leads to' had been going to be Buffy's next words, but they were interrupted by other voices.

There was a small knot of villagers on the green. It looked as if they hadjust come from the church. It also looked as though they were auditioningfor a low-budget horror movie, of the Transylvanian variety, because they were clutching a variety of agricultural implements, and looking generally unfriendly.

"They must be here somewhere - they can't have left the village. Uthur Shepherd, Shaun Baker, go up Skithies Wick and work down the barns that side; Brad Weaver, Nick Farrier, start at the Reverend Green's boundary and do all Lower Hore Lane to the Pittle Well. And look everywhere. Rest of you, back to work, in case they're still abed somewhere, and keep your eyes peeled. First to see 'em, send for me or the Verger. And remember to stay away from Miss Scarlett - the Captain doesn't want her involved."

Then the group was splitting up.

"They're looking for us," Buffy said, with awful certainty. "We can stay here - "

"Like cats up a tree ? No, thank you," Willow replied. "You're the Slayer: you need your feet on the ground; I'm a Wiccan, earth's Goddess-flesh.  

"Not that you aren't," she said, laying her hand on the oak's trunk, "But I'd only feel safe in you if I were a squirrel."

"They're still looking, though," Buffy said.

Willow pulled a little bottle of water out of her bag and said, spill some of that in your hand, and breathe on it."
"Me ?"

"Do it, Buff, and I'll say the words."

The cloud of mist swelled to a nice proportion, covering their decent (Buffy first, to catch Willow - brief opportunity for squeeze and hug) into the lane.

"I didn't see any of them going this way, but - "

Whatever it was, it crashed into a hedge a few yards away, and, crouching low, the two raced down the lane, between the stone walls. At the bottom, they could turn left or right - ahead of them was a stream, and beyond that a full thorn hedge which looked impenetrable.

 

Discussion about which way went by the board: there were voices on the left. They fled right, and came to a gate.  

"Through here and lie low," Buffy said.

It looked to be a vegetable garden. They huddled behind the wall, and heard two men's voices, swelling and then fading.

"I tell you, it bain't right, this going after girls."

"You'd rather be after the sheep again, Jabez Turner - we knows you."

"No - but men's one thing, little girls."
"Listen, if one half what they says . "

The voices faded and Buffy moved cautiously. "We need to find somewhere tohide, somewhere they won't think of looking, at least till we can work outwhat's going on."

 

They had dodged along hedges and even down a drainage ditch, to get back toThorpe village green. They were hungry and chilled. But they had a Plan.

"Both mornings people came out of the church. We never saw them go in, butthey came out. This morning they'd just come out when they started looking for us. And in any case, churches tend to have places where you can hide, cupboards and things."
"They also have dead people," Willow pointed out. "And, while we need somewhere to hide ourselves, our track record on encounters with dead people . "
"You're with the Slayer," Buffy reassured her.

Which left them the problem of getting round the green to get to the church. Willow's stomach rumbled. She apologised, but the sound gave Buffy an idea.

"They must go off and have lunch at some stage," she said.

"I don't think they'll let us join in and agree only to chase us afterwards," Willow replied, slightly acerbically given the hunger pangs that afflicted her at the thought of food. She had three peppermints, but she was saving those for later, for breath-freshening purposes, before some more smoochies, assuming she lived that long, which was getting doubtful in the light of imminent starvation, and she knew she was babbling, but that was probably just the first sign of the imminent starvation and . 

 

Then Buffy saw the something that her subconscious had been looking for, without telling her conscious mind. The Royal Mail van had to go round the green to get the mail. All she had to do .

Willow didn't weigh that much, and Buffy simply stepped herself up another gear, as the van slowed, and she overtook, on the inside, and vaulted the churchyard wall. Now, so long as the driver wasn't in on the conspiracy .

Her blood ran cold - the driver was utterly blank-faced, as in no eyes, mouth, nose, just a flesh-coloured ovoid.

Willow didn't get a chance to see - she was still recovering from being carried at about twenty miles per hour.  

"Okay, he's gone," Buffy said a minute or two later. "Do you have that Unlock charm ready, the one for doors ? Only, we want to get through this onein double-quick time."
"Ready," Willow said. "Only what if they see us ?"

"I thought you might do the mist-thingie again."
"Two spells one after another - I don't know, Summers: you ask a lot."
"I give good smoochies, though."

"Oh, you do, you do. But I want double moccachinos for breakfast in bed next time."

"Willow - you know what those do to you: you get hyper and then we spend the entire morning in bed."

"And you complain ?"

"No - but I need my naps as well."

"Ho ho - Slayer stamina, you always tell me."

They kissed, then again, then, under cover of the mist spell, they made a bolt for the door, and Willow zapped the lock open.

Once inside they found a bolt on that side and slipped it across. Then, they kissed again.

"We made it."

And at that moment, Willow's stomach chose to make its presence known again.

"We need food and a hiding place," Buffy said.

Then they realised that they were not alone: there was someone praying at the front of the little church. They crept, as quietly as they could, forward, to see who it was. To their mutual surprise it was Symphony Scarlett, the red-head they'd seen the day before.

After a minute she raised her head, prayer over, and the, as she turned, she saw them.

"Oh, hello - are you visiting friends here ?"

"Actually, we're in a spot of trouble," Buffy said.

"Oh, really ? Can I help ?"

"There are men after us," Willow said. "Bad men. They came to Thorpe and they've got the people here helping them look for us."

"Really ?" Scarlett asked, her face creased with concern.

"Yes," Buffy confirmed. "The ones who are after us may even have gone away, so that no-one sees them. We need to stay hidden, and that means we can't go and get food."

"Could you help us ?" Willow pleaded.

"Of course - look, I'll go home and get some things and bring them back. Or, better yet, come with me."

"We can't go outside," Buffy said. "We'll be seen." She knew the instructions given at the start of the day had included leaving Symphony alone, butshe wasn't sure if that included if she and Willow were seen with the girl.

"No need," Symphony said. "Daddy - the Captain - lives next door and we have an old family pew. Here, follow me."

She led them to the front corner of the church, where there was a high-walled pew. She opened the door and then twisted the finial decoration on the long bench seat inside. At once the floor lifted back in a rectangle to reveal stone steps leading down.

"Counterweight," she said. "Come on."

 

Since her father was due back in the evening, Willow and Buffy left Symphony shortly after mid-afternoon. But what a lunch - soup, lamb cutlets and fresh vegetables, and sponge pudding.  

They used the same underground passage to get back into the church, to continue hiding.

"We'd better not be in the Scarlett pew," Buffy said. "If they find out wewere fed by Symphony, they might look there."

Over the other side of the church they found a large stone coffin, with a wooden lid and a label saying it was believed to be a 16th century replica of a Roman tomb, made for a former squire. It was easily big enough for both of the, if nothing like as comfortable as the big bed of Symphony's on which they'd had a post-luncheon nap.

"Here - no-one will look for us here."

 

Then they heard a rattling at the church door.

"Get the key - go in the vestry way," someone shouted.

"Quick ! Inside !" Buffy said. They threw in their things (Symphony had insisted on leading each of them a sweater, against the English chills) and then dived in, Buffy pulling the lid back on top, but making sure to leave a small gap for air and to hear through.

They heard a small rumpus and then two voices. One was the man who had been giving the orders that morning, but the other was a colder, harder voice.

"I tell you, you have to find them."

"I've had men out all day. They have orders to tell one of us as soon as either of them is seen. Amos Drover and Clegg Miller are watching the road,and Gerald Penderer is in the roost. He says he thinks that's where they were last night. That matches with them not being any of the other usual spots."

"All right - you're doing. But they still have to be found."

"I don't understand - "
"You're not paid to, Jared Constable. You just do what the Reverend and I tell you."

"Yes, how is the Reverend Green ? You did tell him that we're all praying,like, for his speedy recovery."

"I told him. Now, get out there, and find those girls. And if you don't, then set guards tonight. They mustn't reach the Big House. The sign saw them off yesterday, but - well, they mustn't get there. Now I must get back. Tell 

Thatcher the poacher and Shaun Baker to meet me in ten minutes: we'll take the four-wheeler and try the North Boundaries."

 

The voices subsided, and finally the closing of a door implied that both men had left.

"We oughtn't to move till tonight," Buffy said, sliding the lid a little further back for more air. "And I don't think we can risk going back to Symphony."

Willow licked her lips.

"I can think of something we can do, to pass the time."

"Will! This is a church !"

"So ?"

Willow reached up and pulled Buffy back down to her. "And if I don't tell me rabbi and you don't tell the Pope or whoever."

"You're a wicked little witch sometimes - "

There was a brief pause.

"Have you been eating peppermints ?"

 

 

 

End of Bit 3

Bit 4 to come (as, it appears, Willow may well be)