FIC: Militat omnis amans (Every lover is a warrior) Part7/?

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

Militat omnis amans (Every lover is a warrior) Part 7/?
K. Beckett © 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.
 
This story contains sexual acts between consenting adult women, and was
written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you,
don't read.
 
 
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 and other ramblings:
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.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five
acknowledge senses have been enclosed in < >.
 
mailto:kevin.beckett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:kevin.beckett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
----------------------------------------------
A priori:
Willow and company have departed on their mission to close the hell-mouths.
At their first stop Buffy was initiated as a warrior-mage and received a
visit from a very important Deity. The two women have still not come to
terms with their pregnancies, and have yet to determine how it happened. On
the second day of travel, the group has encountered a company of demon's,
hell bent on making their lives miserable.
 
 
 
Synopsis for part VII:
Willow's battle company manages to fight off the demon attack that they were
faced with, during which Buffy receives some unusual assistance. The group
reaches the first hell-mouth and proceeds in their attempt to close it.
Buffy, Willow, Aiofe and Bridie become closer friends. Meanwhile the demon
hierarchy learns of Willow and Buffy, and about some of Willow's plans, and
begins to make plans against them.
 
 
-----------------------------------------------
Part VII - Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus (Let us live, my Lesbia, and
let us love)
 
in an age of troubles
in an age of uncertainty
in an age of dwindling hope,
you still have me 
 
no matter where you are
no matter how far from home
no matter if you're lost,
you still have me
 
Never Doubt I Love
Melanie Doane, Shakespearean Fish
© 1996 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
 
"Ok folks," yelled the arch-mage, "this is how we are going to handle this."
Everyone paused in their preparations for battle in order to understand
clearly what Willow had to say.
 
"Daithi," she continued, "I want you and the other guardsmen to keep this
first group as busy as you can with missile fire. Buff, I want to keep you
back in reserve till that second group gets closer. Grael, Frankel, Amana
can you three keep any of those demons in the first group from breaking off
and circling behind us?
"We will do our best," replied Amana, "but we will need help once that
second group gets here."
"That's where Buffy and I get into it," Willow replied, "I hope. Aiofe,
Bridie, what can you do to help, we haven't had any time to really talk
about your magical abilities."
"We will stay out of the way," Aiofe replied, "and keep the horses from
panicking."
"If worse comes to worse," added Bridie, "we'll fight. After all we were
guardsmen at one time."
"Ok then," Willow shouted, "lets kick some demon ass."
 
Everyone burst into action. Daithi and the guardsmen immediately began to
lay down withering fire with their bows, assisted by Buffy and her crossbow.
Daithi spotted a yellow-skinned demon breaking for the trees and yelled out,
"bassoil ùir!" With that spell the demon was suddenly enveloped in the
earth as the ground rose up and smothered it. "One down," he muttered as he
kept a sharp lookout for any others.
 
Willow meanwhile began thinking about options on how to handle the second
group of demons. She knew that they would have very little time after
dispatching the first group before the larger group would be upon them. The
only solution she could think of quickly was to devise a method of
channelling the enemy so that only a small group would be able to attack
them at any one time, therefore giving them a chance against the demon's
greater numbers. Looking at the terrain in front of them she noted that
they were in a small valley with a river to their left and the road that
they had been travelling on going down the centre, parallel to the river,
then disappearing over the hill ahead of them. They were in a copse of
woods that followed the river; open fields were on the other side of the
road. She saw that if she were able to block the demons from coming over
the fields on the right side of them, the river would block them from the
left, leaving only the ten meters directly in front that they would have to
defend. She decided to try to use a variation of the shield that Amana had
taught Buffy, except this shield would be much larger.  
 
Drawing upon as much energy from the surrounding area as she dared she
grounded herself, focused, then cried out, "Bree fuar bhalla!" A translucent
blue wall sprung up angling out from where Willow was standing, crossing
over the road and the fields in front of her and disappearing over the hill.
Creating an effective barrier to the demons, she hoped.
 
"That should keep them from getting behind us," Willow commented, "now we'll
only have to deal with a small group at a time."
"Yeah," commented Buffy as she took careful aim and fired at another demon,
driving a quarrel through its eye, "ten to one odds, we can certainly deal
with that."
"Sarcasm is unbecoming in a pregnant woman," Aiofe quipped as she was trying
to keep five horses under control. They had taken one look at the
approaching demon hoards and had decided bolting was far better than
staying.
"I mean it," the slayer responded, "this is going to be fun." Bridie and
Aiofe looked at Buffy as if she was possessed, thinking that their new lover
was just a few apples short of a bushel.  
 
They had more than Buffy's sanity to worry about; the horses were becoming a
real handful. They smelled the unfamiliar scents of the demons, the blood
being spilt and the general commotion in the small camp. They had almost
gotten away from the two young women several times. Frankel noticed the
problems that they were having and came over to the horses. Laying his
hands on each of the horse's heads in turn he whispered into its ear. The
results were immediate and dramatic, the horses immediately calmed down and
stood placidly while Aiofe and Bridie tied them to some nearby trees.
"That should keep them quiet," commented the sage.
"Thanks," replied Aiofe, "I thought that we were going to lose them."
"Let's get our armour on," added Bridie, "we can do more good helping the
guardsmen by using our shields to protect them from the demon's missile
fire."
 
Just then, Amana spotted a demon breaking for the river, with a shouted,
"Tendreil orraghey," a bolt of lightning sprang from her palm and hit the
demon just as it entered the water. The results were impressive,
electrocuted smoked demon.
 
"That's a delicacy I'll avoid," commented Buffy as she continued her banter,
"I mean desiccated demon is not on my list of edibles for expectant
mothers."
"Come-on Buff," Willow pleaded, "get serious for a second will you?"
 
By then the entire first group of twenty demons had been dispatched.
Everyone took the opportunity to catch their breath and re-arm for the
upcoming major battle.
 
"I'm nearly out of arrows," commented Padrick, "only eight left."
The other guardsmen were in a similar situation. Looking around Daithi
commented, "ok then, all of the arrows to Padrick and David, everyone else
use your shields to protect them and rest up for when we run out of arrows
and the demons reach the barrier."
 
The larger group of demons were now in bow range. Padrick and David
immediately began to rapid fire their remaining arrows, selecting arms and
legs as targets wherever possible in order to disable as many of the enemy
as possible. They were not able to stop the tide of demons, only slow it
for a short while, then they were out of arrows and the first of the demons
were directly in front, at the barrier, and snarling for blood. It was then
down to hand to claw fighting. Willow kept Buffy back from the conflict,
wanting to use her as a strategic reserve, and to protect the mages from
interference. Some of the demons tried to go through Willow's barrier, and
received nasty shocks and burns for their troubles. In addition, since the
barrier was keyed to Willow, she was able to target those who tried to go
through it for direct spell action. They were holding their own, however,
there were a great number of foes, and they didn't seem to be slowing down.

 
One by one the guardsmen had to retreat out of the battle due to minor
wounds and exhaustion until there was only Aiofe, Bridie and Daithi left on
the line. At this point Buffy felt an intense burning sensation on her
chest. When she looked down she saw that the tattoo of the sword was
pulsating. She reached down and when she touched the tattoo, it turned into
the sword, and separated from her body.
 
<Willow, do you see this?>
<Yes, but I don't believe it,> the arch-mage replied, <she did say help
would be yours when you needed it.>
<We will have to talk about this,> Buffy commented as she raised the sword
overhead.
 
As soon as she lifted the sword over her head it bust into flame and she was
consumed by an overpowering out of control rage. Buffy leapt over the
improvised barrier of logs that they had been using, directly into the midst
of the demons. Demon ichor and gore flew everywhere as she cut a swath
through the middle of the enemy ranks. The demons were bewildered and
confused, no attacks seemed to touch or affect this berserk woman in their
lines. Buffy was seemingly able to anticipate every blow against her and
turn it aside with her sword. Where her sword struck demon flesh it burned
as if the sun had touched it. Her arm was tireless as she thrust, slashed
and parried ceaselessly. The sword was feather light in her hands, almost
as if it was weightless.  
 
The mages took advantage of the disruption Buffy was making to let fly with
various bolts of energy, flame and lightning, to further decimate the enemy
ranks. Within minutes the moral of the attacking demons had broken and they
began to break ranks, the remaining two dozen or so, mostly wounded, fleeing
back up the hill. Buffy, still in her berserker rage, started after them
when suddenly the sword disappeared. Buffy collapsed; exhausted from the
psychic and physical effort she had been under.
 
Willow, seeing her soul-mate's collapse, immediately ran to her yelling,
"Amana, Grael, keep harassing them while Frankel and I collect Buffy."
 
The two of them quickly reached Buffy's side, and Willow sent a brief <Buff,
what happened, you ok?>
<Where am I, and did anyone get the number of the truck that hit me?> Buffy
replied as she slowly stood up. "What happened?"
"You went berserk," commented Willow, stating the obvious, as she and
Frankel helped to support either side of Buffy. Once she was upright and
mobile the three of them started to walk back to their improvised campsite.

 
Buffy was a mess. Her hair and armour were matted with demon blood and
gore. She was also a mass of bruises, which even as they walked back to the
camp were in the process of healing.
"Ugh," Willow commented, "you stink of blood and goo. We will have to get
you cleaned up before we move on."
Buffy sniffed herself and said, "no kidding witch-girl, I am rank. What was
I doing?"
"Butchering demons," replied Aiofe, "come on, lets get you into the river
and get that junk off of you."
 
Buffy took a look around the battlefield. There were bits and pieces of
demons everywhere, in addition to demons that had been dispatched by various
spells. Those that had been killed by the mages had been burnt, strangled,
webbed and electrocuted.  
"My Goddess," exclaimed the slayer, "we certainly did a number on them,
didn't we?"
"That we, or rather you, did," replied Bridie as she was getting various
items out of the travel bags, "lets bathe and get some food into you."
 
Shortly the four women were in the river, three of them trying to get Buffy
clean.
"This water is cold," complained Buffy as she was doused with another bucket
of water, "hurry up, I'm beginning to freeze."
"We'll get you warm again," commented Willow, "don't worry about that,
besides, none of us got covered in demon goo, did we?"
"None of you have a Goddess who decides to drive you berserk either,"
retorted Buffy.
"That's true," replied Willow contritely, <forgive me?>
<Always, now get me out of here before I turn blue.>
<A blue Buff, now that would be a sight.>
<WILLOW!>
"Ok, Ok," Willow said as she finished rinsing off Buffy's hair, "let's get
her out of here."
 
The four women left the river and quickly grabbed towels and quickly began
to dry off. Willow finished and turned to Buffy and asked, "need any help
love?"
"That would be nice."
Willow began to vigorously rub Buffy's hair, trying to get all of the water
out of it. She also began to caress her shoulders and neck.
<Mmm,> commented Buffy, <that's nice.>
<I promise a good backrub tonight love,> returned Willow.
<I'm going to hold you to that.>
 
Within minutes all four women were redressed and the entire group remounted,
Buffy taking the opportunity to bolt down some food while sitting in the
saddle.  
 
Willow turned to Daithi and asked, "how are you and your guardsmen doing?"
"Just some minor scrapes and bruises," he replied, "nothing a good nights
sleep wouldn't cure."
"I'm open to suggestions on how we proceed," Willow continued, "I don't
think that we drove them off all that far, not that we left all that many to
drive off."
"I agree," the guard captain commented with a slightly pensive look in his
face, "we, or rather Buffy, did kill over three-quarters of them. That
alone will probably keep them demoralized enough to allow us to continue
relatively unmolested."
"But," asked Willow.
"But, I'll send two of the guardsmen to the flanks as sweepers," he added,
"and Padrick and I will ride slightly ahead of the rest of you. With luck
we will not see anything, but the four of us will give the rest of you
enough warning to set up a defence if we do."
"Sounds good," Willow said, "alright everyone, lets ride. We have three
hours to sunset and that's just enough time to make it to our destination if
we don't have any more distractions."
 
"Before we head out," said Frankel, "we should do something about the
bodies."
"You're right," Willow commented, "let me." Willow once again reached deep
into the surrounding energy and used a variation of her fireball spell to
return the demon corpses to their component elements.
"There, that should do it," she commented as the last of the corpses turned
to dust, and was scattered by the winds.
"Remind me to never, ever, get you mad at me," said Buffy with a stunned
look on her face, "you just vaporized them!"
"I think I can only do that with dead flesh," responded Willow. Turning to
everyone she said, "that's it, lets get going before any more demons show up
to ruin our day."
 
The four guardsmen immediately set out at the gallop to take up their
positions ahead and on the flanks. The remaining members of the party broke
out into a hard travel ride; alternating the pace of the horses from canter
to walk to trot and then back to canter. It was a pace that the horses
could maintain for an extended period of time without becoming overtly
tired.
 
"My but is going to ache tonight," complained Willow about an hour into
their forced ride. Like Buffy, she was not yet that comfortable with
riding, and she was beginning to feel aches and pains in muscles she didn't
know she had.
"That's ok, sweetly," commented Buffy, "I'm sure that Aiofe and Bridie will
be happy to massage our various aches later."
"You bet," commented Bridie.
"Looking forward to it," added Aiofe.
 
They were able to complete their day's travel without any further incidents.
Daithi, just before they reached the town of Peters Forge, rode back to talk
with Willow.
 
"We're being watched," he said as he drew near and fell in beside her. "I
think that a small group of eight or so are keeping pace on our right flank,
well out of range, but staying in contact."
"Meaning," asked the arch-mage.
"Meaning that they will definitely know where we are headed," he replied,
"and maybe what you are trying to do. In addition, I'm certain that they
have sent word back to their commanders about what happened."
"We are going to have to worry about that tomorrow," Willow said, "do you
think they will try anything tonight?"
"Not in the town, I don't think," answered Daithi, "and if they were strong
enough they would have hit us by now."
"This is how we'll do it then," said Willow, "pull in your outriders, and we
will rest for ten minutes. Then we will ride hard, directly to the inn."
"Sounds good," commented Frankel, "when we've reached the inn, we can set up
some wards and with luck get some sleep."
"Wards," asked Buffy.
"Shields," answered Aiofe, "similar to the ones that you do, which will warn
of anything approaching the inn."
"Cool," commented the slayer, "I'm exhausted and could do with a good nights
sleep."
"Is that all you could do with," asked Willow, an impish smile on her face.
<You know better than that.>
<Just checking.>
 
The party immediately began a hard gallop to the town, reaching it as
expected just as dusk was falling. They rode up into the stable yard of a
small two-story inn named the Boar's Feast and quickly dismounted, passing
their horses over to the stable boys. The inn was a hundred year old timber
framed structure with a slate roof. It could accommodate twenty or so
travellers and had facilities for their horses, equipment and other items.
 
Daithi and Frankel proceeded into the inn in order to arrange for their stay
while the others gathered what baggage they would need for the night. The
remaining items would be left in the stables, under the care of the stable
master. Just as they were approaching the inn's door Daithi came out into
the yard with a worried look on his face.
 
"Problems," asked Willow.
"They are full," he replied, "absolutely no room in the inn, so to speak."
"What are our options?"
"Well we have three choices," Daithi said ticking them off on his fingers,
"first we can ride on and hope for another inn."
"That's out."
"Second, we can bed down in the stables."
"Benefits," asked the arch-mage.
"Easy to secure," he replied, "and easy to defend."
"Detriments?"
"No privacy."
"What's our third option?"
"Third, we can bunk down in the common room," replied Daithi, "it has the
same privacy problem as the stables, it is as easy to secure, probably more
comfortable, but."
"But?"
"But, we will be sharing with a number of other travellers."
 
<Buff, what do you think?>
<Stables, at least we will be with only our group.>
<Ok, love stables it is,> "Ok Daithi, lets go with the stables. Will they
at least feed us, and is there somewhere we can clean-up?"
"Basic country cooking," he replied, "but lots of it, they also have baths
around the other side of the inn."
 
Willow turned to the others and said, "Ok folks, here's the deal. They have
no room for us tonight, so we are going to takeover the stables. Grael,
Amana, Bridie, get everything in one place and set wards so that only the
eleven of us can pass. Then join the rest of us for dinner." Within the
quarter hour Willow's strike force were all sitting to dinner, discussing
the days events.
 
------------------------------------------
Deep within a darkened fortress, far from where Willow and her party were
enjoying their dinner, a demon master sat in his operation centre reviewing
the progress of his various demon offences. He was pleased with the
progress of the last two days, and knew that within a day or so he would
have the capital city of Maldorstat surrounded in siege. While few of his
armies had met their objectives, most were at least progressing against the
humans.
 
"Human scum," he thought to himself, "soon we will have all of you to heel.
Then we can begin our true work here."
He paced about the room thinking about the operational plans that he had
been given by his masters, and how to use his forces to accomplish those
objectives. He hoped that they could subdue Maldorstat quickly; he had
additional work for those troops.  
 
He knew that he was out on a limb. He had accelerated his attack plans,
well ahead of the general demon offensive, due to the information that he
had received from his slaves in the human capital. It gave him complete
surprise over the hated humans, however, it also left him short of reserves,
since they would not be available through the transfer portals for two or
more weeks. Every one of his troops was needed urgently, for several
different objectives. "Oh well," he thought, "I'll just have to keep
juggling the forces and hope that I don't lose too many of them."
 
His reverie was interrupted by the arrival of two of his slaves, one of them
the quasi-human Hugh d'Torville and the other, one of his company
commanders. He acknowledged their respectful bows with a nod of his massive
head and granted them leave to speak, "yes, what is it you have to report?"
"Grave news dreaded master," began Hugh, "Junulak here, our Northern
approaches commander has returned with information on those two strangers
that the mages in Maldorstat were working with."
"Yes," replied the red-skinned demon master, "must I wait forever for the
information?"
"No lord," replied Junulak. He was a two-meter high, blue-green skinned
demon with yellow eyes, no hair and two spiral horns jutting out from his
brow. "As you know, my company was advancing on Maldorstat from the
North-East."
"Was?"
"Yes, my lord," replied the company commander, just beginning to sweat,
"was. As we were moving through a small valley, burning out the farmsteads,
I noticed two mounted humans ahead on the road. I ordered a platoon to give
chase and then gathered up the rest of the company to follow."
"The point, get to the point," demanded the demon master said impatiently.
"When we caught up to the platoon, I noticed that they had been eliminated
by a small band of humans, soldiers and mages. There was only ten or so of
them, so given that I outnumbered them ten to one I attacked."
"AND?"
"And they had created a force shield of some type so that only ten or so of
my troops could attack at once, and then, just as we were beginning to make
headway and wear down their dammed soldiers, this woman went berserk and
leaped into our ranks and began to attack us. Nothing we did could stop
her. She killed or maimed over half my forces, along with those cursed
mages. Finally the troops could take no more, broke off the attack, and
ran."
"Casualties," asked the demon master.
"Of my one hundred and fifty soldiers, one hundred and ten dead, thirty
wounded and only ten functional."
"Good Gods of Chaos," said the demon master stunned, "one woman?"
 
"From Junulak's description," continued Hugh, "it was one of the strangers I
reported earlier. As I said earlier," he continued, "these two are
dangerous."
"That is why I accelerated the attack, and increased the attacking forces
dedicated to the capital assault. It appears, however, that the reasons for
that attack slipped out of the capital where they were relatively safe and
are heading north into dangerous country, why?"
"My lord," said Junulak, "I left eight of my company to trail them. When I
headed here to report to you the humans were heading towards this small
village," Junulak pointed out the town of Peters Forge on the situation map
that dominated one wall of the room. "It is the only human habitat of any
size within a day's travel of where we attacked them."
 
"What forces do we have in the area," asked the master demon as he studied
the map carefully.
"None, now," replied Hugh.
"Pull back half of the troops dedicated to the siege of the castle and send
them after those impertinent humans," the master demon ordered, staring at
the situation map with intense concentration, and sudden realization of the
danger he and his forces might be in.
"Master, that is over five hundred troops. Why so many for a mere ten
humans."
"Fools, do I have to spell out everything to you," he replied pointing at
the map, "they are after the hell-mouth. They must know what we use them
for, and they might also think that they can do something about it. When
are we due to start transferring personnel through it?"
"Not till next week, lord," replied Junulak, stunned at the possibility that
the inter-world transport network which they had used for millennia could be
tampered with, "with the acceleration in our attack plans, none of the other
battle groups were ready, nor were the reinforcements from home."
"Send messages to the other commanders and ask if they can speed up their
plans," the demon lord answered, "in addition, I want to send a messenger
back through our transfer portal, to inform the commanders back home.
Third, Hugh, I want you to take personal charge of capturing and disposing
of these pests. I do not have to tell you the price of failure. Now go
make your plans, I expect you to be ready to leave in the next three days
and I will want to review them before you leave."
 
Hugh d'Torville and the demon Junulak immediately left their master's
presence to carry out his orders. Meanwhile their master returned to his
contemplations. He now had a significant unforeseen problem to deal with,
and reduced resources to use against it.
 
------------------------------------------
On a pile of hay, which had been covered with several blankets and
comforters, lay four young women and a cat, knotted together in a tangled
pile. After eating their dinner Willow, Buffy, Aiofe and Bridie had bathed
and retired for the evening. They had made brief, but passionate, love -
more out of need than true desire, and afterwards Aiofe and Bridie had
immediately drifted off to sleep. Willow was not even close to being
asleep. She had been thinking about the day's events, her role in them, and
the extraordinary events surrounding Buffy. She turned towards her
soul-mate and asked, <you still awake love?>
 
<Yes, what is it?>
<Crazy stuff going on.>
<Yeah, but...>
<Oh, I don't know, how are you dealing with it?>
<Getting by, barely, I just wish we had more time to get a handle on
everything.>
<You ok with the initiation and everything?>
<You did promise to make it special, and boy did you deliver.>
<I'm worried about you're little fit this afternoon.>
<That is the understatement of the evening, but maybe with time I will have
more control over everything. At least I hope so. Why don't you tell me
what is really bothering you love.>
<Am I that transparent?>
<Only to me, now give.>
<It's just that everything is happening so quickly. We are going to have
children, this mind thing between you and I. We feel everything the other
does. When you were making love to Bridie I felt your climax.>
<OH,> Buffy blushed internally, <I didn't realise.>
<It's only when your barriers are down. But that isn't the main thing. I
don't know if, let alone how, I'm going to close the hell-mouth. And
everyone is counting on me.>
<Ok, lets look at your fears one at a time. First, we have eight plus
months to worry about the babies. As long as we eat right, get the exercise
we need we'll be fine. People have been having babies for generations, and
we have excellent support here.>
<Yeah, the technological dark ages and giving birth in the middle of a war,
fun.>
<But, we have the advantage of three excellent midwives, and our new healing
abilities. And the war might be over by then. If everything here becomes
hopeless, we just head home and have the babies there.>
<You're right, I just wish we knew more about how, and why, we became
preggers though.>
<So do I, but we won't figure that out anytime soon. Now second, your
un-voiced fear, me.>
<I didn't want to bother you with it.>
<You know that nothing you do or say can truly bother me now.>
<I know, but this is all so new.>
<To continue, I will be fine, trust me Red. I admit this thing this
afternoon scared me, but I went into it willingly after all. Given time,
we, and I do mean we, will work it all out.>
<I was worried that you'd blame me for all of it. It wasn't what I had
planned.>
<I'd never blame you love, besides, the Goddess often has other plans for us
than what we want. Now as to this mind thing, I think that we are dealing
with it just fine, for now.>
<Meaning?>
<Meaning that over time our shields will get better, you and I will become
much closer and we will develop the skills to work both independently and
collectively.>
<You're right. Besides the advantages are better than the problems. After
all we are never alone now, I always know where you are, and if I try, I can
hear your heartbeat, and feel your emotions.>
<Exactly, now last, this business about everyone depending on you.>
<The scariest part.>
<Wrong, love, the easiest part.>
<Say what?>
<The easiest part. No one has any idea about closing the hell-mouths, so
Amana and the others will agree with anything you come up with. Second,
given the prodigious amounts of power you've been playing with I'm sure that
you will figure a way to seal the hell-mouth, even if you have to be so
unsubtle as to dropping a mountain on top of it.>
<Now that's an idea I hadn't thought of,> Willow drew Buffy into an embrace
and whispered, "love me?"
 
"I thought you'd never ask," the slayer whispered back as she ran her
fingers along Willow's side.
"Mmm," the redhead purred, "that's sooo nice."
"Shush, let me just move you a little. Buffy reached under her lover and
shifted her down the hay pile, away from the other two women, "I don't want
to disturb the others."
 
Buffy then proceeded to kiss Willow gently on the neck and shoulders while
moving her hands around the front of Willow to cup her breasts. She
continued to kiss her, while stimulating Willow's nipples with her thumbs.  
 
Willow took the opportunity offered to cup the Buffy's buttocks in her
hands, she then began to use one hand to squeeze gently while her other made
soft stroking motions, moving between Buffy's clit, and ass-hole. While she
was doing this, Willow started to rub her clit on Buffy's leg, which
immediately drew the attention of the slayer.
 
"Bad, Willow," she whispered, "didn't your mother ever tell you that
self-stimulation leads to blindness?"
"Do you listen to everything your mother told you," quipped back the
arch-mage.
"Obviously not. Now lets see what I can get up to." Buffy slowly licked
her way down Willow's body, stopping briefly to tease her nipples, finally
reaching Willow's already damp sex.
"I just love it when you are wet," Buffy commented as she began to lick and
nibble Willow's clitoris, while reaching up to pinch each nipple, rolling
them between her thumb and forefinger, and using her remaining fingers to
stimulate the rest of Willow's breasts. Suddenly Buffy had an idea, <if
this works, we will have fun forever.>
<What, Buffy, what are you talking, no, not talking, thinking about?> 
 
Willow was beginning to lose control as the various points of her body that
were being stimulated were starting to have the desired effect on her.
Suddenly she felt herself being penetrated by something, she was confused,
she felt Buffy's hands on her breasts, her tongue on her clit, she could not
figure out what was penetrating her.
"Buffy, what are you doing, <how are you doing it,> she babbled, slipping
from one form of communication to another.
"Just using a special type of magic on you," Buffy replied softly, "I'm
using that extension thing I was working on the other night."
"Nifty," exclaimed Willow, panting as she did so, "what other surprises do
you have for me?"
"Do you trust me?"
"Implicitly."
 
Willow felt an invisible extension caress her backside, separating her
buttocks, and softly circling her asshole.
"Oooh," she whimpered softly, "be gentle, please."
"I will love," Buffy replied as she continued her oral assault on Willow's
clitoris.
 
Slowly, almost teasingly, the extension began to penetrate Willow's
sphincter. Willow initially tensed her muscles, but as she grew comfortable
with the sensation began to relax them. As she did so, Buffy thickened the
two extensions and then began to simultaneously thrust them in and out of
their respective orifices. It was more than Willow could take. She
climaxed violently, biting her tongue to keep from screaming out in
pleasure. As she had her orgasm the barriers in her mind dissolved and
Buffy was flooded with conflicting and confusing images and sensations.
 
Once Willow had regained some of her composure Buffy moved up her body and
gave her a long, passionate, kiss. <Is the feedback I received from you
what you get when I come?>
"Basically," Willow replied, tasting her salty blood. "I think I hurt
myself."
"What did you do?"
"Bit my tongue to keep quiet."
 
"Didn't work," responded Aiofe in a soft voice, "you two are just so noisy."
"Can't two girls get a nights sleep without distractions," commented Bridie
with an impish smile on her face.
Buffy turned to her lover with a knowing look on her face, <shall we?>
<Yes, such impertinence deserves our response.>
 
Turning back to the other two women Buffy shouted out, "Lets get them!"
Aiofe and Bridie were suddenly seized by unseen hands and pinned to the
blankets. Both Willow and Buffy jumped on the other women, Buffy on Aiofe
and Willow on Bridie, and proceeded to kiss and softly caress them, with
intermittent bouts of tickling. Within minutes all four women were once
again engaged in enthusiastic love making, as tongues, fingers, and magic
were employed by all in various acts of stimulation and pleasure. Finally
all four collapsed in exhaustion, with very little of the night remaining.
Willow summed up the thought of everyone with "that was incredible, but boy
am I going to regret the lack of sleep in the morning."
"We'll just tie ourselves to the horses," replied an equally worn out Aiofe.
 
------------------------------------------
Later that morning, four exhausted women presented themselves to breakfast.
They had stumbled out of bed at dawn, only at the insistence of Buffy.
After completing their exercises, Willow complaining that they had exercised
enough in the night, they had bathed and dressed before heading to the inn
for breakfast. There had been one other event of note in the early morning.
When both Buffy and Willow had woken up, they had both immediately headed to
the bathroom, were they were violently ill.
"I guess this just confirms we're pregnant," Willow said as she finished
ejecting the remains of her stomach.
"Joy. Bliss. Happiness," replied Buffy, as she too finished being sick,
"I'd heard about morning sickness, but the reality is far more dreadful."
 
Aiofe and Bridie were concerned when told of the morning sickness, and
offered numerous contradictory suggestions for helping to ease the symptoms.
Amana was equally worried about the morning sickness, however, her
suggestions were a bit more helpful, "always keep something in your
stomach," she advised, "and avoid the high fat content foods. In time you
will learn which foods you can eat, and when you can eat them. It will also
pass once your body adapts to the changes that are happening to it, in about
three months or so."
"I'll be dead in three months if this keeps up," replied Buffy
sarcastically.
 
They were once again eating in the same room which they had had dinner the
night before. It was the inn's common room and served as both a dinning
area and as a bar. It was furnished with simple wooden benches and tables.
A large oak bar dominated the side of the room away from the door to the
stable-yard, and doors to the kitchens were beside it. On one wall was a
large fireplace, and the stairs to the inn's rooms were on the fourth wall.
It was a cheery room with several large windows and numerous lanterns for
lighting. The room was about half-full, most of the inn's guest having left
earlier in the day.
 
Both women ate in moderation at breakfast, confining themselves to fruit and
dried toast.
"Bagels," remarked Willow, "we have got to get somebody who can make
bagels."
 
During their breakfast the party conversed quietly on several, innocuous,
subjects. Just as they were finishing up, Willow turned to Daithi, who had
gone into town earlier that morning, and asked, "Ok, what is our situation,
and what news do you have for us?"
 
"First of all," began Daithi, "the herald network of message riders appears
to be still functioning, so they have been able to get some news here.
However, the news from the capital is spotty and incomplete, but this is
what we know." He paused to take a sip of juice before continuing, "it
looks like the demon leadership in this area jumped the gun."
"How's that," asked Grael.
"There have been no other reports of demon attacks anywhere else," replied
the guards captain. "Activity in this area has been light, with only
sporadic incidents of demons attacking the outlying farmsteads."
"Consequences," asked Frankel.
"Basically the farmers have fled to town," Daithi replied, "thinking that
this will be over soon."
"But," asked Buffy as she idly toyed with the remains of her breakfast.
"But," he replied, "if they don't get back to the farms soon, the crops
won't get in, and we will face starvation next winter."
 
"That won't really matter," commented Amana, "if this goes on till next
winter, they've won."
"Enough about far future speculation," Willow said, "we may not survive the
next week, let alone the next year." Willow suddenly received images from
Shadow-cat and thought "what is that cat doing now, letting me know how she
is hunting?" But the images were not the usual ones of the cat stalking and
killing its prey, or of it checking out the various new territories and
scents it had been exposed to. This time the images were of the kitchen,
and a number of scruffy looking people who appeared to be harassing the
cooks.
<Buff, we have trouble in the kitchen.>
<Again? What is it with kitchens.>
<Don't know, but I'm going to check it out, you keep things going here.>
 
Willow proceeded to move quietly towards the kitchen door, while Buffy took
up the conversation, answering Grael's questioning look with a shake of her
head and a whispered, "later, Willow is checking out a problem in the
kitchen."
 
Willow continued her stealthy approach to the kitchen door, noticing for the
first time that all of the serving staff was missing from the dinning room.
Thinking, "this has the look of a robbery," she paused by the door and
extended her awareness to link with her familiar. Quickly making sense of
the cat's jumbled images, she concentrated on hearing what was being said in
the kitchen.
 
"Alright then," said one particularly large and scruffy man who appeared to
be the leader of the eight or so robbers, "give us all your cash and horses,
or we start cutting up your staff."
<Buffy, get Daithi and yourself over here. We have a robbery in progress.>
 
Buffy motioned to Daithi to follow her and soon the three of them were
standing by the kitchen door conversing in whispers.
"What do we do," asked Buffy to Daithi.
"If they've got the staff as hostages," replied Daithi, "we have to be very
careful. Remember, you are not allowed to use your magic against humans."
"But can we use it to protect the staff, while we use conventional methods
against the humans," asked Willow.
"Yes," he replied, "what are you thinking?"
"That I'll use a variation of my shield spell to protect the staff, while
you and Buff kick the robber's butts right to jail."
"Sounds good to me," replied the slayer, "shall we?"
 
Buffy kicked the kitchen door open and yelled as she leapt halfway across
the kitchen, "Everyone stand still or I'll kick your butt."
 
Willow and Daithi and followed Buffy into the kitchen. They saw the inn's
owner being held by two men, while a third held a knife to his neck. Three
other men, all armed with short swords and knives, had the remaining cooks
and serving staff at one end of the kitchen, while two other armed men were
keeping watch at the kitchen door. With Buffy's dramatic entrance everyone
in the kitchen paused, for just a second.
 
Willow had been prepared as she entered the kitchen. As soon as she saw the
situation she called out, "Fuar bhalla!" With that spell a shield wall
appeared between the hostages and the three men who had been menacing them.
She then yelled, "all but one safe, take them out Buff!"
 
Buffy had brought with her the sharp knife that she had been using at
breakfast. As soon as she gained her bearings, she threw the knife at the
hand of the leader, piercing his wrist. He screamed out in pain and turned
to Buffy saying, "Bitch, I'm going to chop you into pieces for that."
 
"I seriously doubt that," Buffy replied as she closed the distance between
them and delivered a roundhouse kick to his head. The kick propelled the
bandit across the kitchen, into one of the sinks. "Let's see what you're
saying if you ever get out of the sink."
 
With that the kitchen exploded into general melee, with Daithi and Buffy
taking the fight to the seven remaining bandits. Buffy concentrated on the
two still holding the innkeeper, while Daithi went after the ones who were
menacing the serving staff. Willow gestured to the cooks and serving staff
that they should leave the area, since they were now protected by her shield
spell. This would give more room in the kitchen for Buffy and Daithi.
Buffy had by this point had almost finished disarming and disabling the two
men who had been holding the innkeeper. 
 
<Buffy, two of them are making a break for it,> Willow commented as she
noticed one of the remaining men gesture to the other that they should
leave.
<Keep them around love,> Buffy asked, <I'm still a little busy with these
two.>
<No problemo,> Willow replied thinking to herself, "a variation on my shield
should keep them inside the room. I'll just block off the door."
 
Buffy punched one of the men she was faced with in the chest, which caused
him to double over in pain. Just as he was about to raise his head she
grabbed a frying pan from a kitchen table and smashed it over his head,
knocking him out for the count, and joining his other comrade who was
already unconscious on the floor.
"That's three down," she commented turning towards the remaining two, "now
for the others."
 
"Let's get out of here," yelled one of the men turning towards the kitchen
door. He ran towards the open door, and as soon as he crossed the threshold
he immediately bounced back into the kitchen, colliding with the other
bandit who was following him, since he could not see the shield wall that
Willow had cast in the open doorway. Both men ended up in a heap on the
floor, looking up at a very angry slayer.
"Stay," she ordered, "or you'll get hurt."
"We'll stay," replied both simultaneously.
 
"Willow, keep an eye on these two. If they move, kick their butts," said
Buffy as she turned back to the kitchen to see how Daithi was doing. "Need
a hand," she asked the guards captain.
"No," Daithi replied as he finished disarming the last of the three men that
he had been initially faced with, "this scum is used to beating on un-armed
opponents, when faced with skill they crumple."
 
"Well, not bad for a morning's work," commented the slayer, "Daithi can you
keep watch over this rabble until the town's guard gets here?"
"Yes," he replied, "I assume that someone has already gone for them."
"That wasn't what I was thinking though you are probably right."
"What were you thinking," asked Willow.
"I'm hungry, let's eat," Buffy replied as she left the kitchen to go back to
finish her breakfast.
 
------------------------------------------
Just before noon Willow's strike force was ready to leave, albeit belatedly.
They had spent the balance of the morning being interviewed by the local
police, each of them having to give a statement. Buffy and Daithi were
required to answer numerous questions regarding the fight in the kitchen.
Before they could depart everyone had to promise to return the following
week when the magistrate would set the accused bandits down for trial.
 
"That's if there is anything around next week," commented Willow to the
group as they gathered their horses and prepared to continue their mission.
 
Willow then turned to her mounted force and said, "ok folks, the day is half
gone, but the good news is that the hell-mouth is only about three hours
North-West of town. We have already arranged for rooms back here tonight,
so that is one less worry." Willow reigned over her horse and headed out of
the stable yard with the rest of the party following.
 
"We don't know what the demon forces are like at the hell-mouth, nor do we
know the precise location."
"What do we know," asked Buffy, echoing the thoughts of most of the group.
"Basically," replied Frankel, as he began to perform the task that he had
given himself, "that this particular transfer point has not been used that
often by the demons. In addition, there has been historically little
activity by demons in this general area."
"Hopefully," continued Willow, "the demon force that Buffy dismembered,
literally, yesterday was the only major force in the area, and therefore I
will be able to do my job without any major interference."  
 
During the conversation the group had left the town boundaries and had
started out on the northern road. After an hour on the road they came to an
intersection, the main road continuing north, with a badly overgrown
secondary road heading in the direction they needed to go.
 
"Why do I get the feeling that this road is trying to tell us something,"
commented Buffy as she examined the road that had obviously not seen any
traffic for days.
"You're just a pessimist," replied Willow, "after all, we don't know for
certain that only demons live up this road now do we?"
"I wouldn't bet against it though," commented Aiofe dryly to her lover.
"Nor I," Bridie replied.
 
"Pessimists, I'm surrounded by pessimists," said Willow as she turned her
horse onto the side road, "Daithi, you're not worried are you?"
"Um," Daithi replied choosing his words carefully, "worried isn't the word
I'd use."
 
They continued on the road for another hour, with the road getting rougher
and the undergrowth along side of it thicker. Suddenly after going around a
corner in the woods the road widened and the undergrowth had been cut away
leaving a pleasant clearing.
"I think we should pause here and discuss our plans," said Amana as they
rode into the clearing, "we need to get some idea of how you plan to proceed
Willow."
 
<Here we go,> commented Willow to Buffy as she paused for a moment to
collect her thoughts.
<You'll be fine,> replied Buffy in encouragement, <remember what I told you
last night.>
 
"You are right Amana," replied Willow, "It's just that I've been formulating
my plan and checking for problems before I was willing to discuss it with
everyone."
"Are you ready to discuss it now," asked Grael.
"Yes," answered Willow as she dismounted and walked around the glade
stretching her muscles. "My basic idea is to permanently seal the transfer
portal. To do this I'm going to link with Aiofe and Bridie and use them as
anchors while I shift my awareness and attempt to destroy the links and
sources of energy that support the portal in the magic realm."
"Ambitious," commented Frankel, "what are your plans for the rest of us?"
"Simple," replied Willow, "Buffy will guard the three of us, while you,
Grael and Amana will use your magic to keep any unwanted nasty things at
bay. Daithi and the guardsmen will watch the horses and protect your, and
the other mages, back while you do your stuff."
 
"Have you been able to get a fix on the location of the hell-mouth," asked
Grael.
"I think so," replied the arch-mage, "It should be about three kilometres
north of here."
"No road," commented Aiofe.
"Nope," replied Buffy, "time to travel through the woods. Someone bring the
pebbles?"
"Huh?"
"Don't worry Aiofe," said Willow, "its an in-joke."
 
Everyone took the opportunity to dismount and stretch before heading into
the woods. Daithi and his guardsmen took the lead since they had the best
chance of finding paths and trails through the forest that would lead in the
direction that they needed to go. The others followed closely behind, with
Willow and the other mages using all of their senses to attempt to find
potential trouble, before it found them.
 
"Strange," commented Amana after twenty minutes of travelling through the
dark, dense forest, "I'm not able to sense any sentient creatures within
kilometres of us. Could they be masking us somehow?"
"I don't think so," replied Grael, "I think that somehow we happened to
choose as our first target a sparsely populated area, and an underused
portal."
"Let's just hope this luck holds for the rest of the day," said Frankel,
echoing the hopes and fears of the entire party.
 
The reached their destination without any incidents, with Willow bringing
everyone to a halt at the edge of a clearing in the middle of the forest.
The hell-mouth was an invisible, evil, presence that they could all feel
located in the centre of the clearing. The mages were however, able to
'see' it using their ability to see into the magic realm.
 
"We're here."
"Can we do this now, or do we have to wait for a specific time," asked Buffy
as she swung out of the saddle.
"No," replied Willow, "we'll start as soon as everyone has had a chance to
eat, call it twenty minutes or so."
"That will leave about an hour or so to sunset," commented Amana, "is that
enough time?"
"Plenty, I hope," answered Willow.
 
Within thirty minutes everyone was ready. Willow, Aiofe and Bridie took up
their place facing the portal and about twenty meters away from it. Buffy
was with them, keeping a close eye on the edge of the woods. Daithi and the
guardsmen had staked the horse's reins into the forest floor, with two of
them watching the horses and the other two the remaining mages. Frankel and
Amana had taken up a position about ten meters behind and to the left of
Willow with Grael on the other side.
 
<You ready love?>
<As ready as I'll ever be.>
<Luck, knock them out of the park.>
 
Willow took the hands of the other two women and began her breathing
exercises. Within minutes all three were breathing in an identical rhythm.
As soon as they were comfortable they grounded themselves and prepared for
Willow's expedition into the magic realm.
"Here we go ladies," Willow called out, "remember, no matter what happens,
at least one of you has to hold onto me, or I could be lost."
"Don't worry," replied Aiofe, "we won't let you go."
 
Willow took one last deep breath then translated her awareness into the
magic realm. As soon as she did she could see the hell-mouth for what it
was, an evil construct pulsating with malevolence, and sucking energy from
the surrounding area. "This thing is two way," thought Willow as she
surveyed her surroundings, "they must use them to transport energy back to
their home worlds."
 
As Willow was beginning her work, Frankel noticed movement at the edge of
the woods and he yelled out, "we've got company," as a band of twenty demons
burst from the woods heading directly for Willow and company.
"Got them," replied Buffy as she moved to intercept them before they could
disrupt what Willow was doing. The other mages and the guardsmen all began
to fire missiles and spells into the demons, trying to keep them from their
target.
 
Willow meanwhile had begun to gather energy into herself. She detached
herself totally from the real world, trusting that she would be able to use
either Aiofe or Bridie to return. She focused the energy into the centre of
the hell-mouth and yelled out "co-healal dorrys!" The result was
spectacular. There was a titanic explosion in both the real, and in the
magical realm. Somehow Aiofe was able to keep her grip on Willow as the
three of them were blown back twenty meters by the force of the explosion.
The effect on the others was equally dramatic with bodies both human and
demon being blown in every direction.
 
As soon as she could regain her equilibrium, Aiofe called out, "Willow,
return to us, return to the ones who love you."
 
Willow slowly regained awareness of the real world, sitting up, she shook
her head and commented, "got to think of something else for the next one."
 
------------------------------------------
The effects of Willow's spell were felt far away from the hell-mouth. In
the demon masters situation room the closing of the hell-mouth was
immediately felt since all of the demons in the room immediately collapsed
in pain. After a few minutes the demon master got to his feet and yelled
out, "Hugh, I want you here now."
Running into the room Hugh replied, "Yes lord, your will?"
"I want you and Junulak to leave immediately and deal with those humans."
"Yes lord, but may I ask why?"
"That damn human has figured out a way to close the transfer portals
permanently. If she keeps on closing them, our existence both here and at
home will be threatened. Now leave me, and don't return without proof of
their deaths."
 
Finis Part VII
 
To be continued...