FIC: Militat Omnis Amans Part 14c / 14

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

Continued from 14b

Thinking, "finally, something is going our way," he looked towards the
village that was now the singular object of his anger and loathing. 
What he saw there caused him to quickly change his mind about things
going his way. 

"Good Gods of chaos," he said in a half throttled whisper, "what on all
of the earths is happening here?"

Four visions from legend had appeared before the army. All four were
quasi- humanoid in stature, and stood in excess of four meters. The
first had pale, almost translucent, yellow skin, and had the body of
a man, with the wings and head of an eagle. The second appeared to have
flames for skin, and had the head and wings of a dragon on top of its
obviously female body. The third, male in appearance, looked like it
had water flowing continuously over, and through, its skin, it stared
towards the demons with the predatory glare of its shark like head. 
The fourth being, this one female, was the most 'normal' of the four.
She had a perfectly sculpted, albeit green, body, and what appeared to
be mottled green- brown leafs continuously falling from her head.

In front of the four figures of legend, and almost un-noticed, was a
fifth person. This one, however, the demon lord knew.

"Gods, the slayer," he whispered. He then noticed that several of the
humans who were fighting, and easily defeating, his forces appeared to
also be slayers. 

"This is not good," he said, "the cursed slayer has recruited others."

Just then he watched as the slayer drew forth a sword from her body,
and with an incomprehensible scream leaped forward into the front of
the demon ranks, just as her sword burst into flame.

As if it was planned, the four guardians chose that moment to step forward
towards the demon army, and where they walked the ground trembled in
their wake. They paused, just behind the ranks of slayers, as if waiting
for the most opportune time to intervene. 

----------------------------------
Buffy leaped into the demon army, all rational thought gone from her
mind as she was consumed by the berserker rage, and the thought that
she had lost her soul- mate. She attacked relentlessly, without heed
for her personal welfare. She began by cutting a wide swath through
the front ranks of the demon army, and then continued towards the western
edge of the town, towards the inn and where Willow was conducting the
ritual. It was as if, even in her mindless state, Buffy wanted to be
where her lover was, if only to confirm her fate. As had happened before,
Buffy was almost untouchable, nothing the demons tried seemed to stop,
or even for that matter slow her down.

The other slayers and the guardsmen wasted no time in launching their
own attacks, starting with ranged attacks. There efforts were immediate,
as the leading elements of the demon army withered under the onslaught
of bolts and arrows. But, for every foe that fell, there was two, or
more to replace them. Slowly the demons were able to force their way
forward and reach the slayers; then it was down to hand-hand combat.

At that point, the guardians stepped forward once again. This time they
didn't pause and they then began to attack the demons directly. They
had no weapons to hand but every demon withered and died under their
touch. They slowly began to move to the east, away from Buffy; where
they went, the demon army collapsed in panic and fled the battlefield.

Over on the other side of the battlefield the fight was not going totally
against the demons. They were faced with a berserk slayer, and two mages
who were doing their best to keep up with, and support her, but they
were better led and were fighting an organized retreat from the slayer.
They were trying their best to avoid direct one-to-one fighting with
Buffy, knowing that it would futile, and fatal. They were therefore
concentrating on mass attacks, hoping that in numbers they would be able
to deal blows to the slayer.

The demon lieutenant Tarana saw that her quickly improvised strategy
was working. Realizing early in the fight that the overly simplistic
plan of her lord was doomed to failure, she decided to leave the battle
with as many of her forces intact as possible. Calling upon her reserves
she had had them cut a path through the dead and dieing. She was therefore
able to maintain order as she moved towards the edge of town, and a chance
to escape. She realized that her chance for success increased as long
as her forces kept moving, and as long as the manifestations of the
guardians
stayed away.

Amana, Grael, Padrick, Ayla and Shari were doing their best to keep up
with Buffy, and to try to help the slayer in eliminating as many of
the demons as they could. The guardsman and the two slayers were able
to keep up fairly well with Buffy, and were able to inflict a fair amount
of damage themselves, while trying to keep Buffy from being overwhelmed
by the mass attacks of demons which were throwing themselves at her in
an attempt to inflict more than superficial damage. 

However, both Amana and Grael were beginning to fall behind the others.
They had both been drained by the magical attacks that they had launched
and by their age. Seeing this, a small band of demons broke away from
the attacks on Buffy and launched themselves at the two older mages.

Padrick, at a pause in the battle, noticed that neither Amana nor Grael
was still with them. He turned around to look for them, only to see
them fall under a demon attack.

He yelled to the others, "Alya, Shari, with me. We need to rescue Amana
and Grael," before rushing back towards the fallen mages.

Just then, everything and everyone on the battlefield, even it appeared
the weather itself, paused.

The demon leader thought to himself, just as a guardian reached out for
him, "Gods, now what could be happening to us now?"

----------------------------------
Willow, totally unaware of the battle raging just outside of the village
was busy funnelling the energy she had collected into the demon network
she had hacked into. Thinking to herself, "this is taking way too long.
I only hope that I got it right, and that I was able to get enough energy
to do the job," she continued her efforts, anxiety evident in everything
she was doing. Willow was keenly aware that this was her only shot at
crashing the demon's transportation system. Given that the village was
under attack she knew that she would most likely be dead before have
a chance to try a second time.

Willow then began to feel a lessening in the amount of energy she was
feeding into the breach. Thinking, "oh no. I'm not going to have enough,"
she began cast about in her mind for a solution to her problem. She
paused and then said, "Goddess, I beseech your aid in my time of need."

Suddenly there were winds, in a realm devoid of an atmosphere. There
was sound, where there shouldn't be, and then there was a presence of
calm, beauty and serenity.

"Lady," Willow whispered, mentally bowing before the Goddess, "I thank
you for your attendance."

"HUSH CHILD," a voice whispered in Willow's mind, "I TOLD YOU I 
WOULD BE HERE, WHEN YOUR NEED WAS GREATEST.

"I thank you, my lady, I would be lost without you.

"HUSH NOW CHILD. I KNOW OF YOUR NEED, AND I WILL GIVE YOU 
THE STRENGTH YOU NEED TO FINISH.

"Once again, my lady, all I can offer is my devotion and my thanks. 

"YOU ARE A FAVOURED DAUGHTER. WHEN THIS IS OVER LOOK 
DEEP WITHIN YOURSELF YOU WILL FIND THE ANSWER TO THE 
QUESTIONS YOU HAVE, AND WILL ASK."

With that, enigmatic, comment the presence left Willow's mind and the
magical realm. Willow then realized that the flow of energy she was
directing to the demon's network had regained, even surpassed, its former
strength. 

"Wow," she thought, "when She delivers, She really delivers."

Suddenly the texture and nature of the network began to change before
her eyes. It began to pulsate and twist, almost as if it was a creature
in pain. "That's it," Willow thought, "I think that I've got the loop
going. Time to get out of Dodge city."

She paused for just a second longer, to reassure herself that things
were indeed working the way that she had hoped, then called out, "Aiofe,
Bridie!" 

In the circle, the two junior mages heard Willow's call, they paused
for a moment, each review what she needed to do next, before answering,
why simultaneously mentally casting the required spell, "Willow, return
to us. Return to our existence and to your body."

Willow travelled back through the tenuous link she had maintained with
her body and re-established consciousness within her body.

Just as she stood up, and was turning to address the mages, stillness
descended upon the room and the working circles. Willow said, "look
sharp folks, something is about to happen."

"Meow," said a very happy familiar. She had been aware that her human
was 'away' since she had not had contact with her, and was now relived
to see that Willow had returned.

Willow picked up Shadow-Cat and cuddled her for a moment saying, "did
you miss me sweetie? Its ok, everything is going to be ok now."

Just as Willow finished speaking there was a monumental eruption in the
mountains surrounding the village as well as a corresponding disturbance
in the magical realm. Willow's plan to cause a feedback loop had worked,
and the hell- mouths, attacked from within, had been simultaneously
destroyed
throughout the world. The effects of her spell were not only felt on
this world; the reverberations echoed from world to world, causing
substantial
damage to the transportation network on many of them.

The effects were substantial. Throughout the world demons collapsed
unconscious in pain, and remained out for several hours, and in some
cases for days. The explosions, which closed the hell-mouths, had also
caused substantial damage to the area surrounding them, fortunately by
this time there was little human habitation left near any of them, and
therefore only demons were caught up in the backlash.

Daithi, and the rest of the slayers and guardsmen realized what had
happened.
As soon as the reverberations shaking the mountains ceased they picked
themselves up and noticed that the demons were all out could, and that
the guardians had disappeared.

Daithi ran over to where Padrick, Shari and Alya were trying to bind
the wounds of the two senior mages, in an almost futile attempt to stop
the bleeding. They picked up the mages in improvised litters and started
to take them back to the inn, where they hoped that Willow and Buffy
would be able to help in any way. 

Buffy regained her mental composure just as the explosion struck. She
looked around at the damage, at the out cold demons, before noticing
the numerous healed wounds on her body.

Thinking, "I must have been healing myself as I was attacking," she began
to move towards the two litters being carried by Daithi, Padrick and
the others. 

<Willow, are you there,> she thought plaintively, hoping that her fears
from earlier were groundless.

<Yes love, how are you?>

<I'll live, you,> replied the slayer, the relief obvious in her thoughts.

<I guess, but don't ask me to do too much for the next while. What's
up, you sounded so tense?>

<I lost contact with you earlier, just before I went berserk. I thought
that I had lost you.>

<Must have been when I was detached, in the magical realm. I'm sorry
I didn't warn you in advance.>

<Its ok, you had things on your mind.>

<See you soon, I promise to kiss and make up.>

<Yeah, look forward to that.> Buffy looked around at the carnage, <boy,
we did a number on them.>

<Yes?>

<Oh yeah, there are demon bits, and out-cold demons everywhere.>

<Don't dally, I need you.>

<Only a minute or so, I'll just check out what Padrick and Daithi are
up to, and I'll hold you to your promise.>

<If I told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against
me?> 

At that moment Buffy came up to the two guardsmen and saw who was injured
and cried out <Willow! Amana and Grael have been injured.> 

<Bad?>

<Very. Finish up as fast as you can, and lets see if we can help. They
are being taken back to the inn. Even if we don't have all that much
energy left, we might be able to do something.>

----------------------------------
Three hours later Buffy stood up from a table in the inn's common room,
which had become an improvised infirmary, and turned to Willow.

"They're stable, but it won't last for long, maybe a day or so."

"I know, but neither of us has enough energy, or skill to do much more
for them. There's massive internal damage." Willow sat down at an empty
table and began to mechanically eat some of the food that had been laid
out.

"Even if we regain our strength tomorrow," added Buffy, joining her spouse,
"I don't know if we will be able to do much more for them. This is one
time that magic is not going to replace modern medical knowledge."

"I know," sighed Willow, "I just wish that..."

"Me too. If only they had not tried to follow me, once I went berserk.
They should have stayed back."

"No, love," replied the arch-mage, "I should have insisted that they
stay with me for the ritual."

"Stop it, both of you," said Aiofe, as she and Bridie, along with two
very hungry little girls, sat down at the table.

"They both knew what they were doing," added Bridie as she passed Kendra
over to her mother, "they knew the risks, and besides, without them adding
to your attack Buffy we might not have had the time to complete the ritual."

"It was a close thing," agreed the slayer, receiving her daughter from
Aiofe, "I... oh I don't know. Its just not fair for them to not be here
to celebrate." 

"Well," said Willow, with a content daughter to the breast, "they're
not dead yet. Maybe, after a good nights sleep we'll think of something."

"You have to agree," commented Aiofe, "that all in all things have gone
very well."

"Yes, but," said Willow.

"No buts." Interjected Bridie. "Earlier today everyone would have given
odds that most of us wouldn't be here this afternoon. With the exception
of Amana and Grael, and a couple of the other slayers with bumps and
minor cuts, we haven't suffered any major damage."

"In fact," continued Aiofe, "we probably had more damage from the storm
than from the demons."

"Speaking of everyone else," asked Buffy, suddenly noticing the near
empty inn, "where is everyone?"

"Yeah," added Willow, the tiniest hint of concern in her voice.

"Well," replied Aiofe, "the villagers are busy rounding up their livestock
and getting on with their lives."

"The mages are resting, your little spell took a lot out of them," said
Bridie. 

"And, the other slayers and the guardsmen..." added Aiofe.

"And," probed Buffy.

"Well," replied Bridie, "they are busy disposing of the demons."

"I guess," said Willow, "that that's definitely a needed chore, and we
can't have them coming to, knowing what they know about us, and this
village." 

"Needed," said Daithi entering the common room, "but very, very messy."

"I bet," said Buffy, placing Faith on her shoulder for the post-feeding
burp, "get them all?"

"Yep, not that there were too many left alive. We also brought one back,"
said the guardsman, "I thought it best to save one for you."

"Why's that," asked a confused slayer, "I got enough during the battle,
at least I think I did."

"This one looks like a leader type," replied Daithi, "maybe the leader."

"That is a different story," said Willow, beginning to return to leader
mode, "give us a few minutes to get the kids and the wounded out of here
and then bring him in."

A half-hour later Daithi led into the common room a very distressed demon
leader, supported by Padrick and Sonya. The former commander of the
demon army was in very bad shape. He had barely avoided being drained
of life by one of the guardians, only as a result of the hell-mouth being
closed. However, the reprieve from death was only temporary, he did
not have much more than an couple of days, at the most, left on this
earth.

"So there's the mighty slayer," he rasped as he collapsed on the floor,
defiant even in death. "Kill me and be done with it."

"Oh," replied Buffy, unwilling to rise to the bait, "you'll die, but
we need to ask you a few questions first."

"I'm already dead," said the demon, as he began to cough up great amounts
of yellow-green phlegm, "so why would I bother answering any of your
questions?" 

"Oh," answered Willow, "you are dying, we know that."

"But," added her lover, "it's the way you die we can address that."
Buffy stood up and walked over to the demon. She leaned over him and
then whispered, "you could die, slowly, painfully over the next day or
so. Or I could end it quick." 

"Or," added Willow, "if you don't cooperate we could let you go. To
go back to your master and report failure."

"I'm certain that your boss would just love to hear, first hand, about
your failure," said Buffy, returning to the table. "So, now, what's
it going to be?" 

"Oh," wheezed the demon, "you make my choice very clear, painfully so.
I'll answer your questions, but my revenge will be that you won't like
them, nor be able to do anything about it."

<What do you think he's talking about,> asked Buffy.

<Don't know, unless it's about what Hugh alluded to.>

<You're probably right,> Buffy then addressed the demon, "spill. What
was your minion Hugh talking about when he was going on about slayers."

"Yes," added Willow, "just what did he mean by the demon leadership taking
steps to eradicate slayers generations before they planned to conquer
the world?" 

"Ah," said the demon, his breathing laboured, "concern about your home
world." Seeing the surprise in Buffy and Willow's eyes he continued,
"oh yes, Hugh was very talkative before he... passed away. He told me
all about the travels that the two of you have gone through."

"Spill," said Buffy again, steel ringing in her voice, "or I'll just
leave you to die like the dog you are."

(Continued in part 14d)