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

["K. Beckett" <kevin.beckett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

They say third time is the charm.
So I'll try this again.


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...