FIC: Militat Omnis Amans Part 14b / 14

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

Continued from 14a


"That we will, miss," said Padrick. "We'll be ok."

Just as Padrick finished, speaking the four of them felt an electric
tingle wash over their bodies. Realising, through her link with her
lover, what was happing Buffy turned to the others and said, "ok, let's
look sharp. That was Willow beginning her spell. It'll be up to us
to keep the baddies away." 

Everyone gripped their weapons a bit tighter and began to scan the horizon
to the south, with just a little bit more care. For they knew that the
demon army would be upon them soon.

----------------------------------
Just to the west of Buffy's position, Amana and Grael were also setting
up their defensive position. As was the case with the slayer's position,
theirs was a defensive position more in intent than in substance, and
both mages knew that it would not sustain a prolonged attack for very
long. 

They shared their position with Daithi and one of the new slayers, who,
like Alya, was very concerned about the upcoming battle.

Amana noticed the young woman, trembling and looking around furtively,
and said, "relax Maria, it'll be a while before anything happens."

"I know lady," whispered the young woman, who was barely out of her teens,
"I'm just having difficulty processing everything that's been happening."

"Just remember what we are trying to do, concentrate on what you have
to do, and remember that you are not alone," replied Amana, as she embraced
the younger woman.

"I know," repeated Maria, "its just that I've never done anything like
this before. I've never experienced anything like what's happened to
me over the last few months."

"No one has," answered Amana, "all of us have been overwhelmed by recent
events."

"Except..." whispered Maria.

"Except, you think, Buffy and Willow," said the older woman, tightening
her hug, just a little more.

Maria moved away from Amana and sat on the ground. She paused for a
moment, and then asked "what is it with those two? Why are they unfazed
by anything?"

"It only appears that way," replied Amana, "but, truth be told, they
constantly worry about everything, and everyone."

"Doesn't look that way."

"That is just a sign of their growing maturity as partners, and leaders,"
added Grael, contributing to the discussion for the first time.

"Not to mention becoming parents," said Daithi, "that alone is enough
to 'mature' anyone quickly."

"But..." said Maria, "they are always so up on things."

"That has only happened recently," said Daithi, "when they first arrived..."
Daithi paused to recollect for a moment before continuing, "Goddess,
it's been exactly a year today since they arrived."

Just then, Daithi and the others felt an electric tingle across their
bodies, which raised the tiny hairs on their arms, even though they were
bundled in multiple layers of clothing against the cold.

"That must be Willow beginning," commented Amana.

"You're right," agreed Grael, "looks like she succeeded in the first
part of her work today."

"How's that," asked Maria.

"She managed to raise a mammoth amount of power, without destroying the
village."

"That's not all that is happing," said Daithi, looking to the northern
sky, "the storm is about to break... right over us."

"Quick," yelled Grael over the suddenly howling wind, "lets bundle up
together and ride out the storm."

----------------------------------
The winter storm hit the valley with a vengeance. The temperature and
the visibility plummeted, and the winds rose, till they were whipping
over the mountains, before plunging straight through the valley, numbing
everything in their path. The wind chill rose till it was sucking every
hint of warmth from the bodies of both the defenders in the town, and
the demon army preparing to attack them.

It was if the Gods had decided to provide a violent and chaotic backdrop
to the titanic struggle, the opening act of which had just started.

Willow and the rest of the participants in the converted barn, never
noticed the rising storm. Willow was struggling to maintain her focus,
and to control the enormous amount of energy she had raised. The other
members of the circles were trying to contain the energy that Willow
was passing over to them, and to maintain the shields protecting the
circle. Willow continued her internal struggle for over twenty minutes
before she felt ready to proceed with the next step in her plan. 

Turning to Bridie and Aiofe she panted, "that's that then. I think that
I've got control of the energy that I'll need. Now for the hard part."

"If that was the hard part, what's next," asked a very concerned Aiofe.
She, and her lover, had been aware of Willow's efforts, but knew that
they were in no position to help once Willow had begun her work, and
that the arch-mage would have to manage on her own.

"It's time for me to translate my sight, and as much of my essence as
I can, into the magical realm, and to look for a week point to hack into."

"I know," said Bridie, "but, what do you need us to do?"

"Keep control over the power we've raised; keep control over the shields
we have put up around the circle, and the barn, and, incidentally, keep
a second eye on me, so that I can find my way back, once this is over."

"Now I understand what she meant by the easy part being over," commented
Frankel dryly.

"Sarcasm is inappropriate in a sage," retorted Willow, "now, if we are
all ready, lets move on to stage two."

----------------------------------
Down the valley the demon leadership were just concluding a hastily called
meeting with their mages when the storm broke over their encampment.

"That's all we need," said the demon lord, shivering as the wind began
to suck the warmth from his exposed skin. "This development is going
to slow us down, even more than worrying about that cursed witch was
already going to do." 

"But, my lord," replied one of his lieutenants, "this will also affect
the humans, won't it not?"

"Yes, but they are all nice and snug in their town, whereas we have to
move across the valley against the wind, I might add."

The demon lord paced in front of his command tent for a moment before
continuing, "nothing we can do about it, if we are to believe the 'wisdom'
of our mages. So, lets get the army moving."

The demon leader was reacting to the somewhat ambivalent information
his mages had given him, regarding the disruption Willow was causing
in the magical realm. Their consensus, albeit very guarded, was that
the human mage was simply trying to cause a disruption in the magical
energy fields, and that it would not cause any great problems in the
battle, however, the mages had indicated that as a result of the human's
actions, their abilities to assist the army would be severely curtailed
if not eliminated totally.

The mages had also commented that there was something strange and powerful
happening in the vicinity of the village. They were unable to clarify
what it was exactly, or determine if it was something that would cause
problems to the army. 

The demon army proceeded up the valley towards the small village. The
demons slogged through the snow, turning the fields into quagmires of
mud, slowing them down even more that the bitter wind in their faces
was.

Finally, more than two hours after they started their march, they were
in position on three sides of the town. It was noon, not that anyone
could tell, since visibility was now no more than ten meters. The army
was cold, wet and demoralized. They were caked with mud, and their clothing
stuck to their bodies, damp with the melted snow, which had forced its
way under their armour. The demons stamped their feet, from nervousness,
and as a way to try to keep warm, while they waited for the signal to
attack.

Suddenly the gloom of the snow-choked sky was lit by numerous magical
flares, as the townspeople attacked, in the defence of their homes, and
their lives. 

----------------------------------
The defenders of the village had huddled behind their fortifications
as the storm broke over the village. It would be a storm remembered
for generations, that is, if anyone was left alive to remember it at
the end of the day.

Buffy stood staring to the south, oblivious to the weather, straining
to catch a glimpse at the army she knew was approaching.

Finally, after nearly two hours of standing, gazing through the diminishing
visibility, she turned to Padrick and said, "they're near. Do you think
that you could get to Amana and have her come over here, I have a plan."

"I think so," replied the guardsman as he left their improvised
fortifications
and headed into the storm to where Amana was located.

"Plans. Plans are good," said Alya, beginning to shiver just a little
more, but not from the cold.

"Don't worry," reassured Buffy as she finally took refuge from the storm
by sitting down behind the fortifications. "This weather is certain
to have caused more problems for the baddies, than for us. That will
work in our favour." 

"I'm glad to hear that," replied the young woman.

At that moment Padrick returned with Amana. After settling in for a
moment the older woman turned to Buffy and asked, "Afternoon, Buffy,
what is it you think I can help you with?"

"They're close. Very close now."

"Ok, now what do you want to do?"

"Wise man once say best defence is a good offence. So I think that
we should attack."

"Okay..." said Amana carefully, "how do you want to proceed?"

"We need light, and lots of it," said the slayer, "then we will see what
we are up against. Once we know that, we blast them from here with
everything
we've got. Then, hopefully, there won't be too many left to attack us
in the town." 

"Worth a try," said Padrick, "beats waiting for them to attack us." 

"Maybe the surprise factor, combined with what had to have been a
demoralizing
trek through this weather might cause some of them to panic and run away,"
said Amana. She thought for a moment then added, "I should be able
to provide the light needed, Padrick, could you go back and let Grael
know what we are going to do, so that he's ready?"

"No problem lady," said the guardsman, once again heading out into the
weather. 

"Ok," said Buffy, "that takes care of light. Now, what can we blast
them with?" 

"Well," said Amana, "you should be able to use your abilities to strike
from a distance, I would suggest that create some walls of air to crush
some of the demons. Grael will be able to use some of his earth-based
skills to disrupt them, and cause them to worry about their footing.
I will be able to strike with water and some limited fire based spells."

"Sounds good," said Buffy.

"Lady," asked Alya, "what do you want Shari and I to do? Neither of
us has any magical abilities."

"Your job will be to keep any bad guys away from Amana and me, while
we are concentrating on our magic."

"That we can do," replied Shari.

"Padrick should have reached, and briefed, Grael by now," said Amana,
"time to go to work."

Amana stood up and moved away from the improvised fortifications, in
the direction Buffy had indicated the bulk of the demons were located.
She stood, feet slightly apart, and braced herself against the wind.
She paused, and delved deep within her reserves, to tap the power at
her command.

Once she was ready she turned to Buffy, nodded, then turned back to face
her opponents, with her arms stretched out before her, and yelled out
over the roar of the wind, "ceau o leayrtys!"

Streaks of light sprung from her fingertips and shot into the snow-choked
sky. Seconds later they exploded, turning the glow into near sunlit
skies, and illuminating the massive demon army, poised to attack the
village. 

Buffy had watched, waiting, while Amana turned the lights on. When she
saw the forces arraigned against the humans she thought to herself, "oh
boy, we could be in a world of pain here."

She didn't, however, allow any thoughts of the opposition arrayed in
front of her deter her from what she had planned to do. As soon as
the light exploded over the demons Buffy was ready. She took a deep
breath, centred herself and yelled out, "bollaghey ni gaarder!"

The effect was instantaneous. Buffy had decided that her best attack
was to work with the storm and therefore the spell she had chosen had
the effect of strengthening and solidifying the winds facing the demons.
The wrinkle was that the wind became a wall, a wall that Buffy was able
to move as she willed. 

Facing this enhancement to the weather the demons struggled to stay upright,
and maintain their footing as the wall of wind came pushing down against
them, driving most of them to their knees, and forcing the remainder
to move back, away from their points of attack.

Grael attacked as soon as Buffy's wall of wind hit the demons. He created
massive rifts in the earth, to swallow the enemy. He then turned vast
areas of the ground into liquid earth, stopping, and in some cases drowning,
the demons trapped in the area that the spell to effect in.

Amana then counter-punched with bolt after bolt of lightning. She took
careful aim at the demons and specifically targeted for attack anyone
who looked like they were trying to rally the army, figuring, correctly,
that they would be leaders. 

The mages at the demon's disposal were totally ineffective against the
magical assault. They repeatedly tried to deflect of lessen the effects
of the spells directed against their army, only to have their efforts
blocked or defeated totally. Soon they were all exhausted and comatose,
drained from the effort of trying to match their skill against the power
of two experience mages, and the slayer. 

The waves of attacks from the three mages continued relentlessly, and
now totally unopposed. However, their foes were numerous, and the energy
that they had at their disposal was not limitless. Soon the demons began
to make headway against the magic being arrayed against them, their leaders
were able to gain control over a substantial number of the survivors
and they began to move ever closer to the village, and to being able
to directly attack the humans who were inflicting so much pain on them.

Buffy saw that the demons would soon be upon them. She turned to Amana
and yelled out, "Amana, I'm going to have to go into attack mode, and
soon. Stay with Alya and Shari and try to keep the demons from flanking
us." 

"Your will lady," replied Amana as she quickly returned to the
fortifications,
to begin to prepare for the upcoming hand-to-hand fight.

Buffy released her control of the wind and steadied herself. She looked
deep within herself and said, "Goddess, hear my plea. I beseech the
aid of your guardians in this our hour of need. Come to my aid, give
strength to my arm, and guide me as I go forth to smite your enemies."

Buffy was deliberately asking to be transformed into the berserker, which
she had transformed into the first time that the Goddess had come to
her aid. She knew that she would need the fearlessness, and the added
adrenaline that the berserk state would give to her for the coming battle.

Just as she was slipping into the mindlessness of the rage she noticed
four huge humanoid figures appear behind her, the manifestations of the
guardians. She struggled to send one last thought to her lover, <Willow.
I'm going into berserk mode, love you,> and was devastated to not be
able to get a reply from her soul mate.

The last conscious thought she had before slipping into a rage was of
an incoherent scream of "Willow, where are you," leaving her throat.

----------------------------------
Willow's awareness was not on this world. With the exception of a very
small path of energy leading back to the ritual circle she had detached
herself from the reality of the world in order to hack into and destroy
the demon's transportation network. While her body remained, lifeless,
in the centre of the three magical circles, her mind was totally in the
magical realm. She therefore could not hear her lover's thoughts, nor
hear her strangled cry of loss.

She was in a place that had no reference to time, or space. A place
that was without definable borders. She trusted, that as had happened
before, Aiofe and Bridie would be able to pull her back to reality, once
the job had been finished. 

She did not know how long she had been divorced from reality, and had
been spending her time examining the various ties that were binding the
hell-mouths together. Finally, she thought that she had found a way
to break into the network and to hopefully disrupt it for a very long
time.

With a quick prayer to herself, "Goddess, aid me now," she began to focus
her attention on the network.

Within moments she had broken into the energy path flowing from one hell-
mouth to another, thinking, "that was easy, now for the next step," she
then backtracked along the path she had left for herself and then expanded
it to begin the work of pumping the vast amount of energy she had raised
into the demon's network.

"Hope this doesn't take too long," she though as she began to funnel
the collected energy into the breach she had created in the demon's network,
" I don't think Buffy and the others can possibly hold out much longer."

----------------------------------
Initially the demon leader was stunned by the ferocity of the attack
by the three mages. He had known that the one mage he thought they were
facing was strong, but he had been totally unprepared for the effect
that these other mages were having on his troops.

Quickly regaining his composure he turned to his lieutenants and barked,
"get forward as quickly as you can, and get them back into line and let's
get this attack moving. The longer we delay, the more damage they are
going to be able to do to us."

Inwardly he was seething. He knew that this development was severely
impacting on the chances for success, and he knew that failure was not
an option. He decided that he would have to move to the vanguard of
the attack, and lead his troops by example. He resolved to himself that
as soon as he had defeated the puny humans sheltering in this sorry excuse
for a town that he would raze it to the ground, and then scatter its
ashes to the four corners of the earth. 

He moved slowly forward through his demoralized army, trying to install
confidence in them as he struggled against the effects of the magic arrayed
against the demons. 

Finally, as he was approaching the front ranks of the army, the wind
died down. 

(Continued in part 14c)