ChallengeFic: The Well Of Erin (1/?)

[ladyvyxen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

The Well Of Erin, A ChallengeFic, Part One.
Comments/Criticism/Etc. to: ladyvyxen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anne-Lise stirred her coffee, fighting a hangover. She felt the 
light scratches on her neck, puzzled. "What happened last... week..."

--

Giles stared in disbelief at the telephone in front of him not daring 
to accept what he had just heard. He removed his glasses and sat for 
a moment with his head in his hands before reaching for the phone to 
make the call he had dreaded since arriving on these shores.

*

"Hi Giles," Buffy smiled as Giles loosed her in. She caught sight of 
his serious expression. "What's wrong?"
"Trouble," Giles said. "But let's wait for Willow before I start 
explaining. There's a lot to tell you, and I'd rather not have to do 
it twice."
"Okay," Buffy agreed. "I'll have a coffee then." She gave Giles a 
sweet smile. "Regardless of the looming evil, its good to know the 
kettle's never cold at chez Giles." There was a knock at the 
door. "I'll get it," Buffy chirped, and loosed Willow in.
"Hi Buffy!" Willow greeted. "So, what's the big mystery?"

*

"You want us to go to Ireland?" Buffy tried to frame her objections 
but the list seemed too long. "Ireland? Don't they have leprechauns 
there?"
"Possibly," Giles conceded. "But what they do have is a portal to 
Erin, and it needs to be closed before more hellhounds escape."
"I'm a little fuzzy on the whole Erin deal," Willow said. "What is 
it, like another demon realm?" Behind her, Buffy soundlessly 
mouthed 'Ireland!'
Giles removed his glasses and gave them a quick wipe on a 
handkerchief. He put them back on, and opened a volume on Celtic lore.
"Are we sitting comfortably?" he asked in a mock-patronising tone.
"Giles!" Buffy admonished. "We're not six anymore." Willow seemed 
eager to listen as she sipped her coffee. She could get high on any 
learning exercise.
"Then Keelta," Giles read, "who knows every brook and hill and rath 
and wood in the country, thereon takes Patrick by the hand and leads 
him away until right in front of them they saw a loch-well, sparkling 
and translucid. The size of the fothlacht..."
"Brooklime," Willow whispered to Buffy.
"...that grew on it was a wonderment to them," Giles skipped a few 
paragraphs. "Then Keelta began to tell of the fame and qualities of 
this place, and uttered in praise: O Well of the Strand of the Two 
Women, beautiful are thy cresses, luxuriant, branching; since thy 
produce is neglected on thee, thy brooklime..." Giles glanced at 
Willow "...is not suffered to grow. Forth from thy banks thy trout 
are to be seen, thy wild swine in the wilderness; the deer of thy 
fair hunting crag-land..."
"Giles," Buffy interrupted. "We get the idea. Its a nice well. 
What's the deal?"
Giles put down the book and took up another. "Please," he 
asked, "this is important."
"You're a great storyteller!" Willow offered supportively. Buffy 
rolled her eyes.
"And Finn, and the remaining Fianna, or fairies," Giles 
explained, "took counsel as to what should be done, and finally 
decided to fit out a ship to go in search of their comrades. After 
many days of voyaging, they reached an island guarded by propitious 
cliffs. The most agile of their number, Dermot O'Dyna, was sent to 
climb them, and to discover means to help up the rest of the party. 
When he arrived at the top, he found there a delightful land, full of 
the song of birds and the humming of bees and the murmur of streams, 
but with no sign of habitation. Going into a dark forest, he soon 
came to a well by which hung a curiously wrought drinking-horn." 
Giles paused to sip his tea. Buffy and Willow used the cue to drain 
their coffee and reach for cookies. "As he filled it to drink, a low 
threatening murmur came from the well, but his thirst was too keen to 
let him heed it, and he drank his fill."
"Moron," Buffy supplied.
"In no long time," Giles continued with a glare at Buffy, "there 
came through the wood an armed warrior, who violently upbraided him 
for drinking from his well."
"The knight kicked his ass?" Buffy asked.
Willow shook her head. "No, just called him a few names."
"Oh, okay." Buffy chewed her cookie.
"Then the Knight of the Well," Giles went on, "and Dermot fought all 
the afternoon without either of them prevailing over the other, when, 
as the evening drew on, the knight suddenly leaped into the well and 
disappeared."
"I hate it when that happens," Buffy nodded.
Willow agreed. "Very deus ex machina."
"What she said," Buffy added, affably, as Giles frowned.
"Next day," Giles continued, "the same thing happened; on the 
third..."
"What, the guy really loves a fight? Or was he just extremely 
thirsty?" Buffy asked.
"I don't know," Giles said. "This is just a myth, can I finish? 
There's only a little more."
"Sure!" Buffy agreed. Willow wiggled to make herself a little more 
comfortable, still listening intently.
"On the third," Giles repeated, "however, Dermot, as the knight was 
about to take his leap, flung his arms about him, and both went down 
together." Giles shut the book with a snap. Willow winced.
"Well," Buffy asked. "Where'd they go?"
"To the land of Erin," Giles said. "Land of the faerie folk."
Willow smiled. "That's a nice story, Giles."
"Its more than a story," Giles informed them. "The Watcher's Council 
have been guardians of the Well of Erin for generations."
"You're kidding," Buffy said.
"No, I'm not kidding." Giles seemed, suddenly, quite old as he sat 
down on his favourite chair. "Erin is a demon realm. Forget all that 
you may have heard about fairies being cute little girls with 
butterfly wings."
Willow gasped, scandalised. Her face looked like someone had told 
her Santa Claus didn't exist.
"They're actually lesser demons of the Realm of Erin," Giles 
said. "And recently, they've started to break free from the Well. The 
Watcher's Council rang me earlier to tell me that Unicorns and 
Hellhounds have escaped in a breach."
"Unicorns?" Willow asked. "What's so bad about unicorns?"
Giles gave her a worried frown. "Wild war-horses with a three-foot 
goring horn running amok, and you wander what's so bad?"
Willow quailed. "I guess the fairy-tales really lied to us."
"So," Buffy said. "I'm going to Ireland to slay unicorns, put the 
hellhounds on a leash and plug up the Erin portal-thingie." She 
shrugged. "Sounds straightforward, so why are you only telling me and 
Willow?"
"Because," Giles replied, "Willow will need to go with you."
"What?" Buffy and Willow chorused, slightly out of synch.
"Closing the portal will need to be done with a spell," Giles 
said. "And you will need to implicitly trust the spellcaster. In a 
field of one, Willow was the only choice."
Buffy looked puzzled. "Don't the Council have more experienced 
spellcasters who can do the relevant spells?"
"They do," Giles agreed. "But someone has to keep the spellcaster 
safe while she casts, and that means a Slayer. You see, the spell has 
to be cast on the Erin side of the portal. the only spellcaster the 
Council knows of who could possibly survive there alone is a warrior 
warlock named Keith, but he can't pass through the portal."
"Why not?" Willow asked.
"Because he's not a woman." Giles said. "The Well of Erin is also 
called the Well of the Strand of the Two Women, because only two 
women linked by bonds of love and trust may enter the realm."
"But you said a Knight and this Dermot guy were allowed to enter the 
well." Willow pointed out.
"That's right, using the Horn of Eregon. The horn allowed mortals to 
summon the Protector of the Well, but has since been lost."
Buffy sighed. "There's always a clause in these ancient prophesies. 
Why can't we get one that says, 'Big nasty will arise, and the Slayer 
will shoot it through the eye with a crossbow bolt, and thus it will 
be dead, and there will be much rejoicing and the consumption of 
Mocha.'"
"I'm going to Ireland," Willow said, in shock.

*

End Part 1.