Militat omnis amans (Every lover is a warrior) Part 4/?

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

They say third time the charm, lets hope so. Every previous attempt to post
has failed.

Militat omnis amans (Every lover is a warrior) Part 4/?
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.

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:
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. Sorry for the delay in getting this part out
- Was out of town on business for the last two weeks.

mailto:kevin.beckett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

----------------------------------------------
A priori

Willow and the slayer have settled into their new, but strange, life on the
alternative Earth that they transported to. Buffy has learned that she too
has magical powers, and that they are directly related to both her and her
slaying ability. Willow has learned that her powers are one in a billion,
and that she has the potential to become the rarest of mages - an Arch-Mage.
Meanwhile, other, nefarious, entities are beginning to focus their attention
on the activities surrounding the two world travellers.

Synopsis for part four:
Willow and Buffy continue to train in both magic and in the martial arts.
Willow learns a valuable new talent, and Buffy learns a skill of particular
usefulness, both for her calling, and in her personal life. Meanwhile, dark
forces are gathering against the humans.

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

-----------------------------------------------
Part IV Amor omnia vincit (Love Conquers All)

"An grá a théid fán chroí ní scaoiltear as é go bráth"
"When love enters the heart it will never be driven from it"
(Old Irish folk song)


The dark man scowled as he walked down the halls of Castle Maldor. It had
taken him the better part of six months to work his way into a position of
trust in the castle community, so that he could finally deliver top quality
information back to his dreaded master. Now, however, that master seemed
willing to squander all of his efforts to date to get details on something
the silly mages were doing. It was not that he disparaged magic or the
practice of it, but that he disagreed with all the rules and ethics that the
mage's council put on humans who fell under their control. His view on
magic was simple, do whatever works and damn the consequences. This
attitude was part of the reason that he was now working for the demon
master; however, he possessed enough sense of self-preservation to figure
out that this time his master may have gone too far. 

He thought, "He's willing to risk getting me killed for some information
that no-one is going to use." It was his opinion that there was nothing the
mages could do in time to stop the coming holocaust, the demons and their
human servants would soon be overrunning this world, one more step in their
goal of total conquest. He had, however, long ago given up letting what he
thought govern his actions, he was bound to the demon and was compelled to
obey. He would get the information that was sought, or he would die, it was
that simple. He continued walking down towards the mage's wing of the
castle complex thinking, "I wonder whom I can co-opt in the employ of the
mages." 

He had had some success building on the petty gripes and imagined grievances
harboured in some of the servants which had resulted in an extensive network
of spies and other information gatherers who feed him information on most
aspects of life inside the castle. However, up till this point he had been
unsuccessful in compromising any of the servants who worked in the mage's
wing. "Maybe I can slip something into the food and when they are drugged
search some rooms for clues, or answers." He stopped, and thought, "no, the
mages will be certain to check all of their food, but," he paused for a
moment, "maybe I can drug one of the servant's food and get some answers out
of them." With that thought in mind, he abruptly changed direction and
headed off towards his own quarters.

------------------------------------------
Elsewhere in the castle complex, up in the mage's wing, morning activities
proceeded in a normal manner. In one suite, two women were entwined
together in bed, naked under a pile of blankets and comforters. 

Buffy awoke, as usual, just as dawn was breaking on the horizon. Looking at
her friend and lover burrowed in her arms she noted, not for the first time,
how Willow's soft breathing trembled the fine hairs on her face, and how her
chest rose and fell, both with her breathing and with the beating of her
heart. 

Buffy decided to stay in bed, warm and comfortable in her lover's arms, for
just a little while longer. She knew that before long their servants Aiofe
and Bridie would be coming by to get the day underway.

The last ten days or so had followed a predictable pattern. First Buffy
would awaken shortly before dawn and then she would sweet-talk Willow into
getting out of bed. The two of them would then proceed to exercise and
bathe before breakfast. They spent the morning with Amana and Grael
learning and perfecting their magic and other aspects with respect to the
'mental' arts. The afternoons had been spent in the practice halls with
Daithi and the other guardsmen. In the 'martial' arts Buffy was without
peer, and she had been spending her time teaching both Willow and the other
guardsmen specific tips and tricks in dealing with demons. Willow had been
spending most of her evenings closeted once again with the mages learning
advanced spells, while Buffy was in conversation with Frankel, discussing
slayers, slaying and other aspects of her life's work. In fact, the days
had been so filled with various activities that neither Buffy or Willow
missed home all that much, certain that Giles and the other's would keep
everything balanced, and their absence explained, until their return.

Buffy figured that their return was not that far off. It was not in what
anyone had said, but rather in what had not been said. It was also apparent
that both Grael and Daithi were on a very tight schedule and that the nexus
of the problem was fast approaching.

Buffy turned her thoughts towards Willow; she could tell that her lover was
dreaming, since her eyes were moving rapidly under their lids. Suddenly
Willow awoke and breathlessly sat up in bed.

"Willow," asked the slayer as she wrapped her shivering lover in a strong
hug, "what's wrong?"
"Bad dream."
"I can tell that," the slayer replied semi-sarcastically, "what were you
dreaming about?"

Willow paused a moment, as she had been taught, to collect her thoughts
before answering. "Indistinct images," she said a moment later, "dark,
twisted images, with an overlay of betrayal," she added. Willow was trying
to be as precise as she could in her descriptions, since Amana had told her
that for a mage dreams were both powerful and prophetic. She had been
assured that with additional practice and interpretation her dreams would
become less confusing and more beneficial.

"Strange, I wonder what it could mean," the slayer replied, "however, that
is the clearest dream that you have remembered yet."
"I'm sure that Grael will be able to help me with it later," Willow added,
"Amana told me that he has a real gift with this type of dream."

Buffy got out of bed, wincing at the cold. She was still not used to the
frigid temperatures that were the norm in this reality. She went into the
front room of their suite and raked up the fire calling out to Willow,
"Will, now that you are up, let's get going on our exercises."
"Aw, do we have to," complained Willow, "after all, we exercised yesterday."
"And the day before, "replied Buffy, "and today and tomorrow."
"Yes, mommy," replied Willow as she got out of bed, "if you insist." In
truth Willow had begun to look forward to the daily exercise session, for
one reason that it was with her lover and for another that she was beginning
to see results. In addition, she had other, personal reasons to get the day
underway, Grael had promised something special in her lessons later in the
morning if everything progressed as rapidly as it had been for the last few
days.

Willow quickly joined Buffy in performing their exercise routine. Both
women exercised naked, primarily due to a lack of appropriate clothing, but
also because both thoroughly enjoyed the sight of the other in their
birthday suit. Before long they were both covered with sweat and moving
into the final part of the morning workout, at this point Willow finished
up, since there was no way that she could keep up with the slayer in her
Kendo routine.

"You are so graceful," she commented as she sat by the fire watching as
Buffy finished her practice. "I get excited by just watching you move."
"How excited?" The other asked.
"This excited," Willow replied as she leaped on the slayer. Buffy, allowed
herself to be carried to the floor and pinned with her arms above her head,
as the other woman began to softly kiss and lick her between her breasts.

"Mmm," the arch-mage said, "salty, I like salty." Willow began to slowly
kiss the underside of Buffy's breasts, gradually making her way up towards
the other woman's nipples, which had hardened perceptibly at the attention
being paid to the slayer. Still holding on to Buffy's arms with one of her
hands Willow brought the other one down and began to stimulate one of
Buffy's breasts and its nipple while she simultaneously began to suck and
nibble on the nipple of the other.

Buffy's was beginning to breath more rapidly, as the attention being paid to
her was starting to turn her insides to jelly. She started to work her
hands free so that she could reciprocate the attention being paid to her.

"Don't," Willow said softly, "I want to you to relax and go with the flow,"
continued Willow as she began to move down the other woman's body softly
kissing, licking and stroking the sweat-covered skin. Reaching Buffy's
belly button Willow softly blew into it and licked the sweat out of it.

Buffy giggled and said, "stop that, witch, that is a very ticklish spot."
"I know," Willow replied as she moved even further down the slayer's body. 

She noticed that the hair on Buffy's pubic mound was matted and damp with
sweat. She delicately ran her fingers though the hair teasing it and gently
pulling on a few of the soft, blond hairs. She then began to lick the cleft
between the slayer's legs, drinking in the dark musty taste caused by
Buffy's sexual excitement and the exercise that she had done. Swirling her
tongue around Buffy's clitoris she smoothly inserted a finger deep inside of
her lover, pleased with the body-arching groan that emanated from her.
Willow continued her dual ministrations on the other woman for several
minutes, driving Buffy to a near peak. Willow slowed down her activities to
allow her lover to calm down, just a little bit, and when she judged that
she could continue without driving Buffy over the edge she swiftly inserted
a second and then a third finger into the other woman who was now rocking
back and forth on the floor in pleasure.

"Please, please," Buffy whimpered, "please let me finish."
"Patience, my dear," said Willow, as she carefully inserted a fourth and
then finally her fifth finger into her lover.
"No, no," babbled Buffy, "no, please," she continued as she realized what
Willow was about to do.
"Shush, love," replied Willow, "I'll be gentle," as she formed a fist inside
of Buffy and began to rhythmically move her arm back and forth; she moved
her head back up her lover's body and swiftly sucked in a nipple for
special, oral, attention.

After a few minutes of that, special attention, Buffy exploded into a body
shaking orgasm screaming "oh my Goddess, yes." 

"Goddess, Willow," she exclaimed a few minutes later, when she was certain
that one she would continue to breath and two, that she could form a
coherent sentence, "you sure know how to crank me up."

"Happy Valentine's Day," replied Willow, "I couldn't find you a card, so I
had to improvise."

"Is it the 14th," Buffy asked, "I've lost total track of time, not to
mention that I don't have a gift for you."
"Yep, it's the fourteenth," Willow replied as she kissed Buffy on the
forehead, and stood up, "and I'm sure that you will think of something
before the day is out."

At that point, there was a discrete knock on the door, followed by the
entrance of Aiofe and Bridie. 
"Morning, ladies," Aiofe said smiling as she entered the room, "its time to
get the day moving, although I think that the two of you have been moving
pretty good so far."
"We were aware of your activities from the sounds we heard outside,"
continued Bridie, "so we decided to wait a few minutes."

Willow and Buffy blushed from the roots of their hair to the tips of their
toes, "I was that loud," asked Buffy.

"Yes dear, you were," replied Aiofe, "don't worry, however, we have no
stigmas or prejudices based on sexual orientation in our society."
"In fact, it's been pretty obvious which way you two leaned," continued
Bridie, "given the constant, non-verbal communication that goes on between
the two of you."

"Oh," replied the redhead, as she turned to help Buffy stand up. "I guess
we are definitely out of the closet then, what with my little gift to you,
eh Buff, will I get some type of reward?"

Buffy stood up on wobbly legs, and holding Willow's hand as they headed off
to their bath, thought, "oh yeah, I'll definitely think of something as a
'reward' for you later."

------------------------------------------
Later that morning both Buffy and Willow were deep in their studies with the
two mages Amana and Grael. Willow was working with Grael on specific
applications in regards to earth and self-magics and Buffy was working with
Amana on tying her newfound skill with air magics to her prodigious innate
skills in self-magic.

"That's right Buffy," Amana said softly as she watched the intense
concentration that the other woman was displaying, "keep control over your
emotions and focus on the energy that is surrounding you."

"Now you have it," she added a few moments later as in the air in front of
the slayer an opaque shape formed, approximately one meter wide and two
meters high. It appeared to have little, or no, depth.
"Congratulations, Buffy," the mage said, "this is the best example of a wall
shield that you've done so far."

Buffy was elated at both her achievement and the praise that had been given
to her. She had accomplished what only two weeks earlier she would have
said was impossible, she had cast a spell, and a powerful one at that. The
shield that she had created would block all blunt force attacks, up to and
including a bullet.

"Now," the mage said, "let's move on to the next step in the spell
sequence."

Buffy collapsed the shield and paused for a moment to collect her energy.

"Ok," Amana said after allowing Buffy to collect herself for a few minutes,
"let's go over the steps one more time, to make sure that you have it all."

Buffy rested for a second and then started to list the steps, "first I
create the shield, and then I make it non-fixed. Finally I will try to make
it key into my body's energy so that it can indicate to me when someone or
something tries to penetrate it."

"That's it," replied Amana, "remember to stop briefly between each step, and
allow your body to regain energy. Once you have successfully completed all
three steps, I will teach you how to release the spell and have it draw
energy from its surroundings and not from you."

Buffy paused for a moment and then began to focus the energy within her on
the spell she was about to cast. Shortly there was once again a shield
floating in the air in front of her. "One down," she said softly and,
taking a deep breath began the second part of the spell. Thinking of the
energy that was drawn from her to form the shield she unfocused her minds
eye and saw the ties that the spell had to the surrounding world. She then
carefully detached each of the ties so that only the link between her and
the spell was still active. Buffy demonstrated this by having the spell
shield move around her, keeping it within two meters of her.

"Good, good," Amana said softly as she watched the other woman concentrate
on her task, "now make the link between you and the shield two-way."

Buffy took in another deep breath, and focused her attention on the actual
psychic link, which linked her to the spell. She could sense that there was
an energy flow, and that it was one way, from her to the spell. Using some
of the biofeedback techniques she had been taught earlier in the week, she
reversed part of the energy that was feeding the spell so that it came back
to her.

"Excellent," the other mage replied, "now let me test the completed spell."
Amana then proceeded to pick up a knife and attempted to strike Buffy
through the shield, as expected the shield blocked her attack, however,
Buffy did feel a certain amount of excruciating pain.

"Ow," exclaimed the slayer, "that hurt!" With that exclamation, the shield
dissipated.

"It's too be expected dear," replied Amana, "you will have to adjust the
amount of feedback so that you feel the attack, but not the pain."
Amana walked back over to the workbench and picked up a pair of tongs, "now
try again and adjust the amount of feedback so that you will not react to
the attack as you did, and cause the spell to be cancelled.

Once again, Buffy went through the steps to create the spell shield, this
time she was careful to limit the amount of feedback. She also noticed that
she was performing the spell faster.
"Amana," she said, "I'm doing this faster." 
"Yep," the other woman replied, "in fact, the more you practice this spell
the faster you will be. Eventually it will be nearly instantaneous, you
will think of the spell and it will come into place, when you are at that
level we will tie the spell to a power-word in your mind so that you'll be
able to cast it by just calling out the word and it will come into place."
At that she suddenly swing at the shield with the tongs, hoping to catch
Buffy off-guard, once again the spell deflected the attack, this time,
however, the feedback to Buffy was much less, and she did not react in pain.

"Better," Amana said, "this time you felt the attack, but it wasn't enough
for you to lose concentration and have it dispel."

"It felt like a soft pressure," replied Buffy.
"Excellent," continued Amana, "now lets work on some of the finer details
before lunch, tomorrow, we will work on making the spell independent."
"How will I use it," asked Buffy, excited about the progress that she had
made, and now confidant that she could begin to call herself a mage.
"Primarily as an adjunct to your fighting," replied the other mage, "for
example, you could have the shield protect you from behind as you engaged
foes in front of you."
"Cool," replied Buffy, thinking that it was great to have a way to combine
both of her skills together.

Elsewhere in the workroom, Grael and Willow were working on a different set
of skills. Willow was trying to attune herself to the energies of the earth
and the creatures on it. It would be a useful skill so that she could
monitor demons and other animals. She had progressed to the point where she
was able to sense creatures and perform some rudimentary tracking of them
when she felt a familiar rubbing against her leg.

"Shadow-cat," she exclaimed, "here you are, I haven't seen you in days," she
continued as she reached down to pick-up her feline and sat down by the
fireplace to stroke and fuss over her.
"This gives me an idea," commented Grael as he observed the interaction
between Willow and her cat, "and I think that you are ready for this type of
work, as I mentioned last night."
"What's that," asked Willow looking up at her teacher.
"Its just that I think that you are ready to try to attach to a familiar,"
replied Grael. "Seeing you with your cat there has reinforced the idea in
my mind."
"What do you mean?" Said Willow, thinking that sometimes Grael could be
incredibly leisurely with the details.

"For mages of your skill level there is the possibility of training a
domestic animal to become your familiar," replied Grael, "and I think that
you and shadow-cat there would make a perfect pairing."

"Familiar?" Asked Willow.
"Familiar," replied the other mage, "an animal whom you impart part of your
essence, and from whom you take an equal amount. When done properly you
will be able to use Shadow-cat's senses, and link with her to see what she
sees, and sense what she senses, when you are not with her."
"Cool," said the redhead. "What do we have to do?"
"The spell involves both a mental component, and a physical one," replied
Grael.
"Ok, what do we do first?"
"First we will need a little blood from both you and your cat," replied the
mage, "then we will mix it, and complete the spell with the mental
component."

Over the next hour both mages worked carefully to achieve success in the
casting of the spell. They carefully prepared their ingredients, and gently
extracted a small quantity of blood from both Shadow-cat and from Willow.
The cat sensed that something important was going on a bore up with the
various indignities that were performed on her. Finally, Grael indicated
that they were ready to cast the spell.

Willow took up the various components of the spell, and concentrating on the
cat that had taken up residence on one of the workbenches, gathered up her
power. She then focused on the essence that designated her pet and herself.
She then, using the force of her will, forced a potion of the essences to
combine. She immediately experienced a mind-expanding awareness of the
world around her, and she knew that she was seeing through Shadow-cat's
eyes, there was incredible depth perception in what she was seeing and a
total lack of colour, she could also see herself, and with her normal sight
could see Shadow-cat. The experience was quite unnerving and as soon as she
realised what had happened, the spell collapsed.

"That," Willow stopped for a moment to collect her thoughts, "that was quite
an experience."
"Strange, and frightening, was it," asked Grael.
"Yes," replied the redhead, "however, I'm pleased that it succeeded at all."
"I told you that you were capable of completing the spell," answered Grael
who was very pleased with the results of the spell, "with practice you will
be able to both maintain your focus with Shadow-cat as well as pick up some
of what she is perceiving with her other senses."

"Now," he continued, "lets sit down by the fire, grab a drink, since you are
certain to have a headache, and we can discuss some of the finer points of
the spell."

Willow and her teacher proceeded to spend the rest of the morning deep in
conversation on the various aspects of working with a familiar and what the
limitations were. Willow learned that if she died that Shadow-cat would
also die, that for the first few weeks the interaction would be very
limited, however, she would eventually be able to virtually take over
shadow-cat and direct her to places that Willow and not the cat wanted.
Eventually Buffy and Amana had to come over to pry Willow away and send the
younger women off to dinner with Bridie and Aiofe who had arrived several
minutes earlier to announce that it was time for the meal.

After the foursome had left to dine, Amana sat in the spot recently occupied
by Willow.

"Very productive morning," she said after a few moments, "I'm especially
pleased that Willow was able to successfully cast the familiar spell."
"So was I," replied the other mage, "and on her first attempt to."
"Impressive," Amana said, "most mages take four or five attempts to do the
spell."
"She's is definitely not most mages," answered Grael, "I am beginning to
think that soon she will be beyond my skill to teach her anything."
"Time to accelerate and intensify the training then," said Amana, "come,
dear, we will discuss this over dinner."

At that the two older mages headed out to their own dinner, deep in
conversation.

------------------------------------------
Later on that afternoon Willow and Buffy were in the training halls working
on group tactics with Daithi and the guardsmen. The training halls were a
series of practice arenas, classrooms, barracks and armouries, which
encompassed the entire back third of the castle complex. The women were
currently in the largest of the practice arenas; it was a three-story
chamber approximately thirty meters by sixty. The floor was a combination
of wood, stone and sand - since there was very few windows set into the
scared walls, lighting was provided by several huge lanterns hanging from
the vaulted ceiling and eight fireplaces, each large enough to roast a small
cow.

Willow had trained very hard and diligently over the last ten days, she had
swiftly picked up the fundamentals of hand-to-hand combat and with
concentrated one-on-one training had gained self-confidence in her talents.
What the two women were now working on was cooperative manoeuvres, in a
simulated town environment complete with houses, shops and other forms of
defensive and offensive cover. The two women were working for the most part
back-to-back in order that Buffy could concentrate on the fight without
having to spend too much attention on Willow.

Willow was using her enhanced perception to keep aware of dangers and then
to communicate them to Buffy. Buffy was also trying to use her new spell in
a defensive effort while keeping up with her attacks. Shadow-cat was also
involved; she was keeping to the edge of the practice arena, every so often
Willow would link with her to gain additional skill and confidence in
working with her familiar. 

Unknown to the various people in the training hall their activities were
being monitored by someone who was not at all in favour of the activities
going on. The suspicious dark man, who had been stalking the halls earlier
that day, was watching from an upstairs gallery the workout taking place
below. He had successfully drugged one of the cooks that morning and had
been finally able to obtain some information on what had been going on in
the mage's wing for the last couple of weeks. He had been stunned by the
information, not only was his master correct about the potential for harm to
their campaign, but the two world travellers working out in the arena below
were potentially the greatest threat to himself yet. He had decided to take
matters into his own hands; he had therefore ordered one of his spies to
arrange an 'accident' for the two women in their practice today. Hopefully
the accident would give him and his master the time to complete their plans.
He was staying up out of the way, to observe the results, and to be in a
position to make a quick getaway if things turned out unpleasant for him. 

Willow was really getting into the practice this afternoon, she was working
well with Buffy and it appeared that she was always anticipating which
direction they would be moving in. Buffy was also in high spirits, first
because her lover was really in the grove, and was providing not only
excellent intelligence but also backup - they were simulating Willow's
spells, on the guardsmen. Buffy also felt that today she was reacting almost
instantly to Willow's warnings, in some cases it seemed like she was
reacting as Willow spoke. Buffy's use of her spell shield was also
improving with practice, it was still not instantaneous, and it still had a
tendency to collapse at inopportune moments. Buffy, however, had used it
successfully on occasion to block one quadrant of potential attacks, and
that combined with Willow watching her back resulted in only two avenues to
defend, all in all a major improvement, with the potential of greater
survivability in future battles greatly increased.

Willow was at that moment trying once again to use her link with Shadow-cat.
So far that afternoon it had proven useful, on occasion, to have a different
perspective on the battle. It had given her some additional time to warn
her partner, and had allowed her to see beyond the immediate area and into
areas of cover, which were not visible to the two women.

< Grey, sharp, empty of humans, > Willow saw with eyes other than her own.
"I'm going to have to get used to this," Willow thought as she looked around
with two sets of eyes, one, her own, on the area immediately in front of
her, and the other, Shadow-cat's, at a location near the back of the
training areas. "It's either that, or go crazy," she mumbled to herself.
< Human, fear smell, there, - small human, not guardsman, servant > Willow
saw and smelled, someone enter the training area from the rear of the
complex, he was not familiar, not that she new everyone, far from it, but
that he was not dressed like a guardsman, in fact he was dressed like a
cook, complete with an apron and a rather large knife.

"Hugh," asked Grael as he entered the gallery above the training hall, "what
are you doing here?"
Grael had decided to come by and watch the two world travellers in their
workout, to try and get a sense of how they were proceeding in a non-magical
area. He was not happy to see Hugh d'Troville also apparently watching the
activities of the two women. He still did not fully trust the man, even
though Daithi had vetted him and even though he had worked without incident
in the Castellan's office for the last six months or so. Grael had been
keeping the existence of Willow and Buffy away from most of the castle
community, having Hugh here could only mean that word had leaked out.
"Good afternoon Sir," replied Hugh as he gave a curt bow, inwardly seething
at having been found watching what was supposed to be a closely guarded
activity, "I was just supervising some inventories in this area when I heard
the noise and came by to investigate."
"Hmm," thought Grael, "I wonder if that is completely the truth."
"Well, what do you think of what you have seen," he asked the smaller man.
"Impressive," the other replied, "they are certainly very competent in
practice," he added after a moments pause.

At that moment there was a piercing scream from the arena. Both men turned
back to the gallery balcony to look at what was going on below.

A few moments before...
< Human, knife, fear smell, what is it going to do to my human, fear, hurt
human >
Willow had sensed that this unknown person who had been sneaking around in
the back of the training area was not pleased to be there, and in fact was
rather afraid to be there. However, at that moment she was rather
preoccupied with six of the guardsmen trying a simultaneous attack on Buffy
and her. So she had not warned Buffy of this stranger, figuring that he was
just trying to grab an illicit look at what was going on.
< KNIFE, throw knife >
"What," Willow screamed as she finally sorted out all of the images coming
from Shadow-cat, "Buffy!!!!" she yelled as she threw herself in front of the
knife that had been thrown by the mysterious cook, who at that moment was
also screaming, this time in pain, from the scratching and biting that was
being inflicted on him by an enraged feline.

"Willow!!!!" screamed Buffy as she turned from the battle to see her soul
mate laying on the floor with a thirty centimetre cooks knife protruding
from her chest and with her lifeblood pooling on the floor beneath her.

Buffy quickly bent down beside Willow and applied pressure on the wound.
"Someone, do something," she yelled to the group of people who were quickly
forming a circle around the pair on the floor.
"Buffy," replied Daithi softly, "Buffy, she's gone, there is nothing we can
do, the knife entered her chest right near the heart."
"She can't go," pleaded the slayer, "she is everything to me."

Willow was not yet dead, she was however, very close to it, "Buffy," she
whispered, "Buffy are you there?"
"Yes love, I'm here," she replied, "don't struggle, I'll get some help."
"There's no time for me," the redhead replied weakly, "I'm going to the
Goddess, but know that I have always loved you..." she fell silent as she
lapsed into unconsciousness.

"No," exclaimed the determined slayer, "no, I will not accept this." With
that she dove into the energies that surrounded everything and everyone.
"Those medalling mages are always saying that Will and I are soul-mates and
that we are tied together, lets just see how tied we are," she said to
herself as she used her recently found talent to perceive the magical
energies, and the links between them to search out and find the ties that
bound her to Willow.

"Where are they," she muttered to herself as she totally detached from
reality and plunged into her task. She quickly found that there were
several ties to Willow and that they were going dim as the life force was
sucked from her. However, there was one tie that was both large and
complex, which Buffy could tell, intuitively, was the one that tied the two
of them together.
"I have no idea what I'm doing," she thought to herself. "But this is
either going to cure her, or kill us both."

Buffy then used some of the biofeedback tools that she had been using with
her spell shield and combined it with the depth of her love for the other
woman and used the link to pour life sustaining energy into Willow. At the
same time, she tried to extend her own ability to self-heal to what she was
doing for Willow. She expanded her awareness and, without knowing how she
did it, looked deep inside of her lover. She was able to tell that the
knife had not penetrated the heart, however, it had nicked one of the major
arteries. Buffy pulled the knife out of Willow's chest and tried to apply
her healing abilities directly, without success. She rapidly became frantic
with panic, her lover was passing away in her arms and there seemed to be
nothing she could do.

Suddenly a thought came to her, and without thinking twice she acted on it.
Buffy reinforced the energy link between her and Willow, and, without a
concern for the consequences, forced herself to spiritually and
psychologically follow with the power that was flowing between the two of
them.

Buffy's mind exploded with the impact of the jumbled thoughts of Willow.
She saw, and experienced what Willow saw. She remembered what Willow
remembered, and she felt the agonizing pain that Willow was feeling. Using
all of her experience to block out the pain, Buffy quickly forced Willow's
body to accelerate the healing process, using the energy it was getting
directly from the slayer. Buffy could see the results, the tear in the
artery closed and healed. Willow's heart beat, which had been erratic with
the reduced blood flow, strengthened as the healing process that Buffy had
hastened created new blood for her.

< Buffy, > the slayer heard, < what are you doing? >
< Shush, > she replied to herself, realizing that somehow the two of them
could essentially read each other's mind.
< Buffy!! > The other exclaimed mentally, < what are you doing in my mind? >

< Healing you, silly, > Buffy replied with relief as she collapsed in
exhaustion, her desperate gamble had worked, however it appeared that there
had been one or two unexpected side effects.

Daithi realised that something extraordinary had happened. He had seen Buffy
wrap Willow in her arms and then appear to fall into a trance. What had
happened then floored them all, first the blood had stopped flowing from the
wound in Willow's chest, and then the wound had healed. Finally, the
wounded arch-mage's breathing had stabilized as the slayer had collapsed in
fatigue; it appeared that Willow would not, in reality, die. Daithi quickly
ordered several orderlies forward with gurneys, to take the two women to the
infirmary.

Upstairs in the gallery, Hugh had watched the proceeding below in horror,
not as Grael thought, in sympathy for the two women, but rather in the
collapse of his plan and position. He extracted himself quickly from
Grael's company and made immediate preparations to leave the castle, and the
city.

Grael was too stunned to much notice of the hasty departure of Hugh; he was
shocked by the attack and immediately went down to the infirmary to check on
the two women. Once he had been assured that they would be fine, he left in
a foul mood to find Daithi and the cook who had initiated the attack. He
needed answers, and he needed them soon.

------------------------------------------
Later that night two young women were to be found in a heavily guarded room
in the infirmary. There were guards posted both inside and outside of the
room. Additional guards were located at each intersection in the hallways
and staircases. In addition, the patrols in the castle had been increased,
and the patrols had had their frequency and patterns changed.

Meanwhile the city had been sealed and was being scoured from one end to the
other for the traitor Hugh d'Troville and any of his accomplices that were
still around. Daithi had little hope of finding Hugh, but he hoped that the
dragnet would shake free some of the other conspirators who had not yet been
able to flee the city.

< Rather like bolting the barn door after the horse has left isn't it, >
asked the red-haired woman occupy one of the two beds.
< Yep, > replied the other, < but better safe than sorry. The information
that Grael got from that cook indicates that that Hugh guy had a lot of
people on his payroll. >

The two women were still stunned by this side effect of Buffy's desperate
healing action. They continued their conversation in this manner, mostly
because of the novelty, but also because of the three guardsmen in the room
with them.

< I feel like I'm in the zoo, > Buffy said mentally, < If those three don't
find something to do other than stare at us, I am going to scream. > 
< I agree love, > replied Willow, < but its only till tomorrow, then we can
go back to our own rooms. >
< I can't wait, and I don't think that I'll be able to sleep properly if I'm
not in your arms > replied the slayer, < this is just too weird for words,
though don't you think? >
The two women upon awaking had noticed that the tie between them had not
gone back to the way it was before the attack, rather it appeared to be even
larger and more complex than what Buffy had done; it was also apparent that
they could move back and forth between each others thoughts and memories at
will. Amana, who had been at their bedside when they awoke, explained that
it was all a product of the intense emotions felt by Buffy when she was
healing Willow, and also due to the deep love between them. She had advised
that since each other's mind was fully open to the other, that they
immediately spend some time building a secure location in their own mind
which only they could access, since even for two people as deeply in love as
they were needed to keep some secrets, after all if they didn't Christmas
and birthdays would be forever ruined. She had also indicated that both
Grael and she had hoped for this link to develop, but were intensely upset
that it had come as a result of the traitorous attack on them.

"Meeooow," said Shadow-cat who was occupying her usual place on top of
Willow's pillow. She had been pleased with the day's activities, and had
been helpful in the capture of the attacker. All in all a very good day she
thought to herself, she was now a familiar, and would therefore be of even
greater service to her human.
"Yes, you silly feline," replied Willow, "If not for you I wouldn't have
seen the attack in time."
"And then I'd be the one who might of died," replied Buffy.
< Its ok love, > replied Willow, < by the way, thank-you for the Valentines
gift. > 
< It wasn't what I had intended, > replied the other, < but, you're welcome.
>

The two women drifted off to sleep, while deep within both the link between
them, and within certain cells of their bodies, changes were occurring.

Finis Part IV

To be continued...