Prologue
For almost countless centuries the Great Wizard pondered, his trap
was in the world and yet it was not. He slept and dreamed but was yet
awake. Lighting ripped from the sky one day and his prison was
shattered. He went once again into the mundane world. Sadly he
observed that people were as full of ignorance and folly and greed as
ever.
Instinctively, people drew away from him as animals in a herd will
draw away from something fearful and different. He raised his head.
Far away he could sense it. Power. This was power, power pouring
out in abundance. It was evil power it as true - the Hellmouth had
opened a crack. It was an evil, very evil power, but this did not
trouble the Wizard. From great evil would come great good. His was a
noble purpose. And it was power that he needed. Would it be enough?
He sent his mind from his body and hovered over — Sunnydale. Men
were fools to call such a place Sunnydale and to live here becoming
vampire fodder. The Slayer was here and so was the Watcher. The
order that he founded was now a stupid bureaucracy. The Slayer was
another matter, he would make use later.
Hope lifted up his heart and Merlin felt he lived again. Camelot would
live again. This time he would not fail. He thought of Arthur long ago
and grew sad. His King had died so young -and where was his spirit
now?
"For now is time ripened for him to live again. Oh, Arthur!" he cried
out with bitter regret. "We failed once. But we will not fail again! Evil
will be cast down Virtue will live again!"
Nothing would stand in his way; the once and Future King would
come again.
Merlin's body disappeared from Wales and suddenly walked in
Elephant Rock in Missouri. Here was the granite he would need in
plenty. He felt the power in the boulder, it loomed like a castle in front
of him and with hands brighter and more powerful than lasers he cut
and shaped it until it took on the a terrible symmetry of a giant man
with a face without pity, without humanity, a face of terrible beauty.
Six days later, Merlin smiled, his work to see. Suddenly exhausted he
fell into a sleep that lasted a week while the power in him rebuilt.
The old Wizard then set out his runes and wands around the terrible
figure. They glowed with a light too bright to see and the statue and
Merlin were gone.
It was midnight and no one but Buffy heard the crash in the cemetery.
She ran up and stopped, startled. A huge statue loomed twenty six feet
above her.
"Where the hell did that come from?" she muttered.
Chapter One
Filled with wonder, Buffy reached out and touched the massive stone
statue. Yep, it was real all right. Buffy shook her blond head. "I've
been patrolling this miserable cemetery forever and I know this has
never been here before."
"Something wrong, young lady?" asked a kindly voice.
With Slayer speed, Buffy whirled. Facing her was a smiling old man
with a white beard and twinkling eyes. Wordlessly she pointed.
"It wasn't here before!" Buffy said defensively.
"Really? I'm new in town so I couldn't say, but a statue this size
couldn't just appear out of thin air by magic could it? Obviously it
didn't walk here on its own power."
Buffy laughed. " No, I don't think it walked in here!"
"I'm so relieved. By the way, I'm Harold Jones. What is a pretty
young lady doing walking in the cemetery this late at night?"
"Buffy Summers. Well I got to run, my mother will be worried about
me. See yah!"
She dashed off.
Merlin smiled. "Yes you will, Slayer Well I better get to work." He
concentrated and tapped into the power of the Hellmouth and poured
magic into the stone figure. Power poured into the massive man of
granite. Like a sponge it soaked it up. It's eyes opened, a light shown
forth from the cruel, inhuman face. "It lives!"
Merlin breathed a sigh of relief. It had worked, by God it had worked.
An invincible weapon stood before him. It lived with his will. It was
solid rock and yet it moved. The tiny wizard and the huge Golem
walked from the cemetery to an abandoned warehouse. It had started,
Merlin thought, now would it end he wondered?
Camelot was calling, calling to him out of the depth of time. And
Arthur whose virtue and nobility still haunted the world, where was
he?
Uncaring of Merlin's thoughts, the Great Stone Golem stood silent
and unmoving. Waiting.
Buffy half-dragged her friends Willow and Xander into the cemetery
before school started.
"What statue?" asked Xander impishly.
"Why the huge statue right--" her voice trailed off.
The damn thing was gone. Her mouth dropped.
"Buffy, are you sure you weren't dreaming it?" asked Willow,
concerned.
"No, damn it! I saw it and it was right there!"
"Well, it just decided to get up and take a stroll. Thirty foot statues
just don't walk away do they?"
"I know what I saw!" said Buffy mulishly. "Something is very wrong!
I'm going for Giles!" She turned to Xander. "Xander, not a word to
anybody! I don't want to be known around school as an even bigger
nut case!"
"Buffy, how can you say that? You know me - the soul of discretion."
Buffy snorted and raced away faster than a racehorse.
"Poor Buffy," said Willow, shaking her head.
"I guess all those vampires pounding her head," he shook his head
sadly. "Had to have an effect on her brain sooner or later."
Willow hit him and then looked quizzically at him. "And just what is
your excuse, Xander?" she asked with deceptive sweetness.
He sputtered more than a little as they headed off to high school. To
Xander it looked like a dark prison, to Willow it looked like home.
After third period Cordelia came smiling up to Buffy.
"Seen any statues lately?" she cooed.
"I'd leave it, if I were you Cordy!" said Buffy dangerously.
"Ohhh! I'm so frightened. Like a fifty foot statue I will just disappear
into the night." she laughed.
"Xander!" said Buffy crooking her finger at the trembling teen.
"Why me?" he asked hurriedly. "How do you know it wasn't Willow?
She's got a sneaky look about her."
Buffy elbowed Xander in the ribs and he doubled over and lost all the
air in his lungs.
After school Buffy bodily dragged Giles out to the site. Willow and
Xander followed. Giles was tolerantly amusing and irritatingly
condescending.
"The curious case of the missing forty ton statue?" asked Giles.
Buffy turned on him threateningly. "You've been reading Sherlock
Holmes again - now don't deny it."
"Er - ah"
"I am not a dumb Dr. Watson! The God damn statue was here last
night!"
None of them dared contradict Buffy in such a humor.
Xander was foolish enough to clown around. "Look I'm a statue - a
dancing statue!"
Willow closed her eyes so she thankfully missed the sight of Buffy
hurling Xander though the air with the greatest of ease. After that, the
conversation naturally dried up.
"Buffy, I've come. I do not see a statue or any sign of one. No tracks of
cranes - nothing." said Giles quietly. "Can I go back to my library
now?"
Buffy ignored him. "Maybe a trap door..." Then suddenly she
stiffened and rushed over and bending down. "Ah, ha! So I'm crazy
am I? All of get your butts over here and look at this!"
Reluctantly, they did as ordered. They stared and stared again. In soft
ground were the footprints of a gigantic man!
There was a long silence.
"Sorry Buffy," said Willow softly.
Giles cleared his throat. "It certainly appears that I was mistaken."
"Hey, what's a forty-ton, thirty-foot statue between friends?" said
Xander.
Buffy shot him a look. Then turned back to Giles. "Giles, have you
ever heard of a statue getting up and walking away? Giles!" she shook
the pale Librarian.
"Do you know what we have here?" he whispered.
"No, that's what I've been trying to find out! "
Giles straightened up. "We are witnessing the most potent creation of
magic that can be found. A Golem!"
"What's a Golem?" asked Buffy and Xander.
"It's soulless creation - in this case of granite - the power of the earth
and its master is in it. It cannot be harmed by weapons, cannot be
restrained, and cannot be affected by magic. It is both an irresistible
force and an immovable object."
The three teens looked at each other.
"Buffy, we need to find your Mr. Jones."
'Too late, Mr. Librarian, much too late,' Merlin thought and smiled at
his creation.
"At dawn you will strike my friend. The first step on the road to
Camelot."
Chapter 3
Merlin stood quietly, waiting for the dawn. It would be a glorious day.
He smiled, thinking of one the few real achievements by man and
paraphrased – 'One great step by a Golem--one small step for
mankind'. But the greatest journey and achievements start with that
first step. And Arthur--where are you? Again the memory holding his
king in his arms and watching him die slowly of treachery and
watching all hope for goodness and decency die with him. How bitter I
was towards the evil men that had struck him down, but not Arthur--
good beyond hope--he forgave them.
It will be different this time! Merlin swore and smiled to see the dawn.
The Golem stirred and began to move. Soon the world would tremble
and evil in it would feel its unstopped power Without expression, the
Golem left the warehouse. The few bums that were abroad closed
their eyes as it passed and falsely swore they would never touch the
stuff again. Below the vampires were counting their loses and Spike
was cursing the Slayer.
"We need to do some serious recruiting," he ranted to them. "The
Slayer must be destroyed!"
He stopped as the ground was trembling. Were they in or another
California Earthquake? Why couldn't this place be like England? No
earthquakes there--no hated sunshine. Death was so unfair, he
thought. The roof of their pit was ruthlessly pulled away and some
vampires screamed and became dust. There, framed in opening was a
nightmare of stone. The Golem. Its pitilessly eyes stared down at them
and its great stone arms and hands reached down. A vampire was
crushed and his head removed. They all panicked, but there was no
escape, One by one they were seized and destroyed. Spike grabbed
Dru and bolted for his secret passage.
"How in the name of all that's unholy did anyone create a Stone
Golem? And why was it attacking them? What had they done to
deserve this?" With Drusilla, he fled towards his safe hide away he
secretly constructed as a last, emergency refuge from the slayer. It
was an old abandoned bank vault. Sweating blood he reached the
shelter of its iron door and three feet of concrete walls and slammed
the door behind him. They were safe. Then something touched the
door and like a child opening a Christmas present the vault door was
ripped off its hinges and hurled away. The cold eyes of the Golem
stared at them and its great hand reached for Dru who only stared in
petrified wonderment.
"No!" screamed Spike as the great hands crushed his love. Furiously
he hurled himself at the monster, but the granite broke his fangs and
the was plucked up like a toy, and like some girls discarded doll his
head was plucked off.
What blood touched the Golem was soaked up into its skin. It
remained as unblemished and as terribly beautiful as ever. Its
inhuman eyes stared uncaring at the destruction. Then it turned and
began to move. Merlin sighed with satisfaction. One less Evil in the
world, but only one of many. The death of the vampires served two
purposes for the destruction of the demons poured more power into
the Golem.
Merlin heard the sirens.
"I don't think the police are going to have a pleasant morning.
There's no place on their forms for a twenty-six foot moving Stone
Golem."
The police of Sunnydale, as was their wont, tried to ignore the first
reports of the Golem. But finally they had to act.
The first officers on the scene looked up in wonder at the moving
statue.
"Holy mother of God!" one exclaimed. It seemed to fit the situation.
They said nothing else. The great man-mountain ignored them,
walking down the road to the railroad tracks. Bullets ricocheted
harmlessly off its sides. The Golem ignored them as an elephant
would ignore ants.
Buffy ran with Slayer speed out of her house. Her mouth gaped with
wonder as the missing statue reached the tracks and keeping the rail
right of way moved with surprising, untiring swiftness out of town.
"I sure hope Giles doesn't expect me to slay that!" she muttered. Her
slayer senses went out, and she was puzzled--what was it? Something
was different. Then it came to her. It was an absence. Ever since she
and her poor mother had been crazy enough to come to Sunnyvale she
had unconsciously been aware of the vampires lurking near the
Hellmouth. Now this feeling was gone. "MY God!" she cried,
"They're all dead--destroyed," she corrected. "Thank God Angel is
out of town getting some books for Giles."
TV cameras from helicopters followed the path of the Golem. An
army tank and its 120 mm shell had exploded harmlessly against its
flank. The Golem brushed the tank aside and sent its spinning--
Sunnydale was soon the center of news reporters. Buffy and her
friends were glad to use the shelter of the library from the horde of
reporters that descended like a plague of locusts upon the town.
Giles sat pale-faced in the library with Buffy. Willow, Jenny, Xander
and even Cordelia huddled around. They looked to him for answers.
He didn't have any.
"What its up too?"
"I don't know Buffy. All I all know for certain is that it destroyed
every vampire in the city"
"Including Spike and Dru?"
"Including Spike and Dru." he nodded.
Buffy pursed her lips thoughtfully. "In a strange way I'm going to
miss them."
"I'm not!" said Xander.
"Me either," muttered Willow, while Cordy just stared at Buffy like
she had two heads.
"Well I guess I'm out of a job!" said Buffy, brightening.
"It would appear so." Giles replied. "Perhaps, so am I. At least for a
time."
Jenny spoke. " Do you know any way that a Granite Golem can be
destroyed? "
Like a security blanket the librarian brought a book to his face. "I'm
not sure, sometimes killing its creator can do it -their lives are
somehow mystically linked."
Miss C. nodded her attractive head. "But who created at?" she asked.
"Jones!" Buffy burst out. "The old guy with the White beard. I bet it
was him! I knew he was a little sneaky. 'I'm new in town he said!' I'll
give him new in town!"
Giles woke from his dazed condition. "Buffy, you be careful! Anyone
who can create a Stone Golem is not someone who can be trifled with!
He must be a very powerful Wizard. Wouldn't you agree Jenny--I
mean Miss Calendar?"
Jenny smiled. "Unfortunately, yes. We need more information."
Cordelia looked up from her portable radio. She had reluctantly, after
much whining, accepted the job as its monitor.
"Guys, listen up! The Golem has stopped before the State Prison!"
They rushed to a TV that Buffy had smuggled in.
The Golem stood outside the State Prison. The attack helicopters
swarmed around, impotent flies attacking a behemoth. Rockets that
would have left tanks dead and burning had not chipped off a splinter
of rock. The Golem moved forward irresistibly towards the Prison.
Over the TV speculation ran rampant that the Golem was going to
release the prisoners!
"I can't bear to watch!" said Giles, moving away. The rest of the
group glued themselves to the scene.
Unchecked, the granite figure ripped the huge walls apart as if they
had been cardboard. Inside all was chaos. Guards fled from the stone
juggernaut. With unstopped purpose the Golem reached death row
and smashed all the prisoners there to the horror and wonder of
watching millions. Then methodically it smashed through the rest of
prison, killing and sometimes sparing. One child molester's last word
before the giant hand crushed the life out of him was,
"You're interfering with my civil rights."
The Golem took no heed of words, of bullets, of pleas. He took no heed
of anything. His eyes gleamed as he killed and destroyed. Later
investigating the dead, it was found there was a method in Golem's
seemingly mindless menace. All the dead prisoners had committed
murder or worse and the few guards that died had rumors of
gangland involvement. The slaughter suddenly ceased. Calmly the
Golem left the shattered remains of the prison and swiftly walked
towards L.A. The ones he left behind got down on their knees and
thanked god for life. A smart missile with a huge high explosive
warhead smacked square into the Golem's head. The screen went
blank for a moment.
"That got Him!" cried an excited Xander. When the smoke and fire
subsided The world could see an unconcerned Stone figure still
walking implacably forward. The army that had gathered scattered
like ants under foot at Pro-football picnic.
Merlin was well satisfied. Things were going well. The Golem's next
stop was to wipe out a small nest of Blood sucking vampires in
Hollywood. I believe they were called agents. But still Merlin was not
as happy as he should have been. True, the world trembled, true evil
was being eradicated, but it was a hollow triumphant with out Arthur.
I must find him, he vowed.
Back at the library Xander said. "Hey we can always nuke the
bugger!"
Giles looked on pityingly.
Cordelia said "In Southern California with about twelve million
people around--that's really brilliant--not!"
Willow laid a gentle hand on his arm. "Xander think if the bomb went
off it might cause a major earthquake."
Deep in thought, they all scattered to their homes. Giles and Miss C.
took comfort in (for Giles at least) greatly daring to walk out hand in
hand. Cordelia went to a pep rally. Buffy went home to see if she
could raise Angel by phone.
Xander, angry, stomped off by himself.
Willow walked thoughtfully towards her home. Her mind, as usual
was more active then any of them. What was the wizard after? What
did he want? She bumped right in to an equally preoccupied someone-
-an elderly man with a white beard.
"Sorry!" she said, embarrassed. Willow got more embarrassed very
quickly. The old man got tears in his eyes and dropped down on his
knees before her and cried out:
"Oh, my liege, thank God I have found you! God has led me to you,
Oh Arthur, oh Arthur your time has come again!"
He took Willow's hand and to her amazement and embarrassment
kissed it.
Next Excalibur and the Golem marches irresistibly on.
For almost countless centuries the Great Wizard pondered, his trap
was in the world and yet it was not. He slept and dreamed but was yet
awake. Lighting ripped from the sky one day and his prison was
shattered. He went once again into the mundane world. Sadly he
observed that people were as full of ignorance and folly and greed as
ever.
Instinctively, people drew away from him as animals in a herd will
draw away from something fearful and different. He raised his head.
Far away he could sense it. Power. This was power, power pouring
out in abundance. It was evil power it as true - the Hellmouth had
opened a crack. It was an evil, very evil power, but this did not
trouble the Wizard. From great evil would come great good. His was a
noble purpose. And it was power that he needed. Would it be enough?
He sent his mind from his body and hovered over — Sunnydale. Men
were fools to call such a place Sunnydale and to live here becoming
vampire fodder. The Slayer was here and so was the Watcher. The
order that he founded was now a stupid bureaucracy. The Slayer was
another matter, he would make use later.
Hope lifted up his heart and Merlin felt he lived again. Camelot would
live again. This time he would not fail. He thought of Arthur long ago
and grew sad. His King had died so young -and where was his spirit
now?
"For now is time ripened for him to live again. Oh, Arthur!" he cried
out with bitter regret. "We failed once. But we will not fail again! Evil
will be cast down Virtue will live again!"
Nothing would stand in his way; the once and Future King would
come again.
Merlin's body disappeared from Wales and suddenly walked in
Elephant Rock in Missouri. Here was the granite he would need in
plenty. He felt the power in the boulder, it loomed like a castle in front
of him and with hands brighter and more powerful than lasers he cut
and shaped it until it took on the a terrible symmetry of a giant man
with a face without pity, without humanity, a face of terrible beauty.
Six days later, Merlin smiled, his work to see. Suddenly exhausted he
fell into a sleep that lasted a week while the power in him rebuilt.
The old Wizard then set out his runes and wands around the terrible
figure. They glowed with a light too bright to see and the statue and
Merlin were gone.
It was midnight and no one but Buffy heard the crash in the cemetery.
She ran up and stopped, startled. A huge statue loomed twenty six feet
above her.
"Where the hell did that come from?" she muttered.
Chapter One
Filled with wonder, Buffy reached out and touched the massive stone
statue. Yep, it was real all right. Buffy shook her blond head. "I've
been patrolling this miserable cemetery forever and I know this has
never been here before."
"Something wrong, young lady?" asked a kindly voice.
With Slayer speed, Buffy whirled. Facing her was a smiling old man
with a white beard and twinkling eyes. Wordlessly she pointed.
"It wasn't here before!" Buffy said defensively.
"Really? I'm new in town so I couldn't say, but a statue this size
couldn't just appear out of thin air by magic could it? Obviously it
didn't walk here on its own power."
Buffy laughed. " No, I don't think it walked in here!"
"I'm so relieved. By the way, I'm Harold Jones. What is a pretty
young lady doing walking in the cemetery this late at night?"
"Buffy Summers. Well I got to run, my mother will be worried about
me. See yah!"
She dashed off.
Merlin smiled. "Yes you will, Slayer Well I better get to work." He
concentrated and tapped into the power of the Hellmouth and poured
magic into the stone figure. Power poured into the massive man of
granite. Like a sponge it soaked it up. It's eyes opened, a light shown
forth from the cruel, inhuman face. "It lives!"
Merlin breathed a sigh of relief. It had worked, by God it had worked.
An invincible weapon stood before him. It lived with his will. It was
solid rock and yet it moved. The tiny wizard and the huge Golem
walked from the cemetery to an abandoned warehouse. It had started,
Merlin thought, now would it end he wondered?
Camelot was calling, calling to him out of the depth of time. And
Arthur whose virtue and nobility still haunted the world, where was
he?
Uncaring of Merlin's thoughts, the Great Stone Golem stood silent
and unmoving. Waiting.
Buffy half-dragged her friends Willow and Xander into the cemetery
before school started.
"What statue?" asked Xander impishly.
"Why the huge statue right--" her voice trailed off.
The damn thing was gone. Her mouth dropped.
"Buffy, are you sure you weren't dreaming it?" asked Willow,
concerned.
"No, damn it! I saw it and it was right there!"
"Well, it just decided to get up and take a stroll. Thirty foot statues
just don't walk away do they?"
"I know what I saw!" said Buffy mulishly. "Something is very wrong!
I'm going for Giles!" She turned to Xander. "Xander, not a word to
anybody! I don't want to be known around school as an even bigger
nut case!"
"Buffy, how can you say that? You know me - the soul of discretion."
Buffy snorted and raced away faster than a racehorse.
"Poor Buffy," said Willow, shaking her head.
"I guess all those vampires pounding her head," he shook his head
sadly. "Had to have an effect on her brain sooner or later."
Willow hit him and then looked quizzically at him. "And just what is
your excuse, Xander?" she asked with deceptive sweetness.
He sputtered more than a little as they headed off to high school. To
Xander it looked like a dark prison, to Willow it looked like home.
After third period Cordelia came smiling up to Buffy.
"Seen any statues lately?" she cooed.
"I'd leave it, if I were you Cordy!" said Buffy dangerously.
"Ohhh! I'm so frightened. Like a fifty foot statue I will just disappear
into the night." she laughed.
"Xander!" said Buffy crooking her finger at the trembling teen.
"Why me?" he asked hurriedly. "How do you know it wasn't Willow?
She's got a sneaky look about her."
Buffy elbowed Xander in the ribs and he doubled over and lost all the
air in his lungs.
After school Buffy bodily dragged Giles out to the site. Willow and
Xander followed. Giles was tolerantly amusing and irritatingly
condescending.
"The curious case of the missing forty ton statue?" asked Giles.
Buffy turned on him threateningly. "You've been reading Sherlock
Holmes again - now don't deny it."
"Er - ah"
"I am not a dumb Dr. Watson! The God damn statue was here last
night!"
None of them dared contradict Buffy in such a humor.
Xander was foolish enough to clown around. "Look I'm a statue - a
dancing statue!"
Willow closed her eyes so she thankfully missed the sight of Buffy
hurling Xander though the air with the greatest of ease. After that, the
conversation naturally dried up.
"Buffy, I've come. I do not see a statue or any sign of one. No tracks of
cranes - nothing." said Giles quietly. "Can I go back to my library
now?"
Buffy ignored him. "Maybe a trap door..." Then suddenly she
stiffened and rushed over and bending down. "Ah, ha! So I'm crazy
am I? All of get your butts over here and look at this!"
Reluctantly, they did as ordered. They stared and stared again. In soft
ground were the footprints of a gigantic man!
There was a long silence.
"Sorry Buffy," said Willow softly.
Giles cleared his throat. "It certainly appears that I was mistaken."
"Hey, what's a forty-ton, thirty-foot statue between friends?" said
Xander.
Buffy shot him a look. Then turned back to Giles. "Giles, have you
ever heard of a statue getting up and walking away? Giles!" she shook
the pale Librarian.
"Do you know what we have here?" he whispered.
"No, that's what I've been trying to find out! "
Giles straightened up. "We are witnessing the most potent creation of
magic that can be found. A Golem!"
"What's a Golem?" asked Buffy and Xander.
"It's soulless creation - in this case of granite - the power of the earth
and its master is in it. It cannot be harmed by weapons, cannot be
restrained, and cannot be affected by magic. It is both an irresistible
force and an immovable object."
The three teens looked at each other.
"Buffy, we need to find your Mr. Jones."
'Too late, Mr. Librarian, much too late,' Merlin thought and smiled at
his creation.
"At dawn you will strike my friend. The first step on the road to
Camelot."
Chapter 3
Merlin stood quietly, waiting for the dawn. It would be a glorious day.
He smiled, thinking of one the few real achievements by man and
paraphrased – 'One great step by a Golem--one small step for
mankind'. But the greatest journey and achievements start with that
first step. And Arthur--where are you? Again the memory holding his
king in his arms and watching him die slowly of treachery and
watching all hope for goodness and decency die with him. How bitter I
was towards the evil men that had struck him down, but not Arthur--
good beyond hope--he forgave them.
It will be different this time! Merlin swore and smiled to see the dawn.
The Golem stirred and began to move. Soon the world would tremble
and evil in it would feel its unstopped power Without expression, the
Golem left the warehouse. The few bums that were abroad closed
their eyes as it passed and falsely swore they would never touch the
stuff again. Below the vampires were counting their loses and Spike
was cursing the Slayer.
"We need to do some serious recruiting," he ranted to them. "The
Slayer must be destroyed!"
He stopped as the ground was trembling. Were they in or another
California Earthquake? Why couldn't this place be like England? No
earthquakes there--no hated sunshine. Death was so unfair, he
thought. The roof of their pit was ruthlessly pulled away and some
vampires screamed and became dust. There, framed in opening was a
nightmare of stone. The Golem. Its pitilessly eyes stared down at them
and its great stone arms and hands reached down. A vampire was
crushed and his head removed. They all panicked, but there was no
escape, One by one they were seized and destroyed. Spike grabbed
Dru and bolted for his secret passage.
"How in the name of all that's unholy did anyone create a Stone
Golem? And why was it attacking them? What had they done to
deserve this?" With Drusilla, he fled towards his safe hide away he
secretly constructed as a last, emergency refuge from the slayer. It
was an old abandoned bank vault. Sweating blood he reached the
shelter of its iron door and three feet of concrete walls and slammed
the door behind him. They were safe. Then something touched the
door and like a child opening a Christmas present the vault door was
ripped off its hinges and hurled away. The cold eyes of the Golem
stared at them and its great hand reached for Dru who only stared in
petrified wonderment.
"No!" screamed Spike as the great hands crushed his love. Furiously
he hurled himself at the monster, but the granite broke his fangs and
the was plucked up like a toy, and like some girls discarded doll his
head was plucked off.
What blood touched the Golem was soaked up into its skin. It
remained as unblemished and as terribly beautiful as ever. Its
inhuman eyes stared uncaring at the destruction. Then it turned and
began to move. Merlin sighed with satisfaction. One less Evil in the
world, but only one of many. The death of the vampires served two
purposes for the destruction of the demons poured more power into
the Golem.
Merlin heard the sirens.
"I don't think the police are going to have a pleasant morning.
There's no place on their forms for a twenty-six foot moving Stone
Golem."
The police of Sunnydale, as was their wont, tried to ignore the first
reports of the Golem. But finally they had to act.
The first officers on the scene looked up in wonder at the moving
statue.
"Holy mother of God!" one exclaimed. It seemed to fit the situation.
They said nothing else. The great man-mountain ignored them,
walking down the road to the railroad tracks. Bullets ricocheted
harmlessly off its sides. The Golem ignored them as an elephant
would ignore ants.
Buffy ran with Slayer speed out of her house. Her mouth gaped with
wonder as the missing statue reached the tracks and keeping the rail
right of way moved with surprising, untiring swiftness out of town.
"I sure hope Giles doesn't expect me to slay that!" she muttered. Her
slayer senses went out, and she was puzzled--what was it? Something
was different. Then it came to her. It was an absence. Ever since she
and her poor mother had been crazy enough to come to Sunnyvale she
had unconsciously been aware of the vampires lurking near the
Hellmouth. Now this feeling was gone. "MY God!" she cried,
"They're all dead--destroyed," she corrected. "Thank God Angel is
out of town getting some books for Giles."
TV cameras from helicopters followed the path of the Golem. An
army tank and its 120 mm shell had exploded harmlessly against its
flank. The Golem brushed the tank aside and sent its spinning--
Sunnydale was soon the center of news reporters. Buffy and her
friends were glad to use the shelter of the library from the horde of
reporters that descended like a plague of locusts upon the town.
Giles sat pale-faced in the library with Buffy. Willow, Jenny, Xander
and even Cordelia huddled around. They looked to him for answers.
He didn't have any.
"What its up too?"
"I don't know Buffy. All I all know for certain is that it destroyed
every vampire in the city"
"Including Spike and Dru?"
"Including Spike and Dru." he nodded.
Buffy pursed her lips thoughtfully. "In a strange way I'm going to
miss them."
"I'm not!" said Xander.
"Me either," muttered Willow, while Cordy just stared at Buffy like
she had two heads.
"Well I guess I'm out of a job!" said Buffy, brightening.
"It would appear so." Giles replied. "Perhaps, so am I. At least for a
time."
Jenny spoke. " Do you know any way that a Granite Golem can be
destroyed? "
Like a security blanket the librarian brought a book to his face. "I'm
not sure, sometimes killing its creator can do it -their lives are
somehow mystically linked."
Miss C. nodded her attractive head. "But who created at?" she asked.
"Jones!" Buffy burst out. "The old guy with the White beard. I bet it
was him! I knew he was a little sneaky. 'I'm new in town he said!' I'll
give him new in town!"
Giles woke from his dazed condition. "Buffy, you be careful! Anyone
who can create a Stone Golem is not someone who can be trifled with!
He must be a very powerful Wizard. Wouldn't you agree Jenny--I
mean Miss Calendar?"
Jenny smiled. "Unfortunately, yes. We need more information."
Cordelia looked up from her portable radio. She had reluctantly, after
much whining, accepted the job as its monitor.
"Guys, listen up! The Golem has stopped before the State Prison!"
They rushed to a TV that Buffy had smuggled in.
The Golem stood outside the State Prison. The attack helicopters
swarmed around, impotent flies attacking a behemoth. Rockets that
would have left tanks dead and burning had not chipped off a splinter
of rock. The Golem moved forward irresistibly towards the Prison.
Over the TV speculation ran rampant that the Golem was going to
release the prisoners!
"I can't bear to watch!" said Giles, moving away. The rest of the
group glued themselves to the scene.
Unchecked, the granite figure ripped the huge walls apart as if they
had been cardboard. Inside all was chaos. Guards fled from the stone
juggernaut. With unstopped purpose the Golem reached death row
and smashed all the prisoners there to the horror and wonder of
watching millions. Then methodically it smashed through the rest of
prison, killing and sometimes sparing. One child molester's last word
before the giant hand crushed the life out of him was,
"You're interfering with my civil rights."
The Golem took no heed of words, of bullets, of pleas. He took no heed
of anything. His eyes gleamed as he killed and destroyed. Later
investigating the dead, it was found there was a method in Golem's
seemingly mindless menace. All the dead prisoners had committed
murder or worse and the few guards that died had rumors of
gangland involvement. The slaughter suddenly ceased. Calmly the
Golem left the shattered remains of the prison and swiftly walked
towards L.A. The ones he left behind got down on their knees and
thanked god for life. A smart missile with a huge high explosive
warhead smacked square into the Golem's head. The screen went
blank for a moment.
"That got Him!" cried an excited Xander. When the smoke and fire
subsided The world could see an unconcerned Stone figure still
walking implacably forward. The army that had gathered scattered
like ants under foot at Pro-football picnic.
Merlin was well satisfied. Things were going well. The Golem's next
stop was to wipe out a small nest of Blood sucking vampires in
Hollywood. I believe they were called agents. But still Merlin was not
as happy as he should have been. True, the world trembled, true evil
was being eradicated, but it was a hollow triumphant with out Arthur.
I must find him, he vowed.
Back at the library Xander said. "Hey we can always nuke the
bugger!"
Giles looked on pityingly.
Cordelia said "In Southern California with about twelve million
people around--that's really brilliant--not!"
Willow laid a gentle hand on his arm. "Xander think if the bomb went
off it might cause a major earthquake."
Deep in thought, they all scattered to their homes. Giles and Miss C.
took comfort in (for Giles at least) greatly daring to walk out hand in
hand. Cordelia went to a pep rally. Buffy went home to see if she
could raise Angel by phone.
Xander, angry, stomped off by himself.
Willow walked thoughtfully towards her home. Her mind, as usual
was more active then any of them. What was the wizard after? What
did he want? She bumped right in to an equally preoccupied someone-
-an elderly man with a white beard.
"Sorry!" she said, embarrassed. Willow got more embarrassed very
quickly. The old man got tears in his eyes and dropped down on his
knees before her and cried out:
"Oh, my liege, thank God I have found you! God has led me to you,
Oh Arthur, oh Arthur your time has come again!"
He took Willow's hand and to her amazement and embarrassment
kissed it.
Next Excalibur and the Golem marches irresistibly on.