Chapter 4

Again, this has not been excessively edited... if you notice any mistakes please let me know.

thanks,
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Willow was completely shocked. The circle and the platform worked in conjunction as a portal. It was some sort of magical machine conglomeration. After the slippery wave had smoothed over, four tall powerful looking beings had walked out. They were grey and greenish and carried some sort of large weaponry. Three had a sort of bumpy brown mask covering their faces. They looked less intelligent than the main one. The main green demon had long and bone straight white hair. It settled on his leather covered shoulders. This was the only feature that appeared directly human like. This demon had frighteningly cold eyes and an equally cold full smile. It seemed his creator wanted to mock humanity.

Each creature seemed unnaturally icy. Maybe it was the tint of green on their skin or maybe it was the mask and the weapons, but Willow got the feeling they were demons to leave alone. Each had a strange glove like device made of metal on three of their fingers. The leader wore a thick black leather coat just like the typical uber-villain. That is what they were… just bad guys. Demons. She had seen a demon just two days ago. Surely they were nothing to be too afraid of. Willow wanted to ground herself and talk herself into the probable truth.

It was settled, she was not on Earth. She had never seen such a creature and she had no desire to walk up to the beings and stumble out a stuttering, "Uh. Hi. I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of Earth? Please and thank you." So not a good idea.

The green demons began to move towards the path. Willow had shifted her head fully behind the rocks and out of sight. She knew she could not be seen and she hoped she could not be sensed. Were these beings the reason she was here? Had they somehow sent the portal to capture her? Willow had no clue and was afraid. For the first time, she realized she was truly on her own. Yeah, Giles and Buffy would be able to set up a locator spell—but they hadn't done so YET. And there were four demons stalking a path towards…?

The odds were they were going to do something not so good, whenever they reached their destination. She didn't know what—but there was a chance she would be able to stop them. She was sure that she could follow them if she kept far enough away. She moved as silently as she could, in the grasses, being sure to stay far away but to stay close enough to see where they were headed. The tall grasses provided a good cover. She just hoped she wouldn't make too much noise. It was obvious they had some sort of solider training and she had none. The best she had managed was observing Buffy training with Giles. Stealth wasn't Buffy's strong point so it probably wasn't Giles's either. Still she was trying to stay positive. The worst that could happen would be capture, torture, and death… the best that could happen would be that she would find some people and possibly save them from four ugly demons. Willow knew if she had even the slightest chance of stopping these demons from attacking innocent people she had to take the chance.

The demons were moving at a rapid pace. Their bodies seemed built for movement. They had reached the end of the path and were now progressing through to the grassy area where she had landed the previous night. When they got to the space they paused. The lead demon stopped and squatted down in the exact place where she had woken up. Willow was chilled. What if.… He ran his hand over the flattened prairie and was quiet. He made a sniffing motion with his head and nostrils and odd gill-like openings on either side of his nose gaped and closed.

It seemed he was sniffing the air—for her! Willow dropped to ground, flat. She whispered to herself a concealment spell.

"Let me not be seen, let it all to them seem a dream. Let me not be seen, let it all to them seem a dream. Let me not be seen, let it all to them seem a dream."

She didn't know what he would want with her or with any human but whatever it was there was a good chance it was not to feed her breakfast. She waited and whispered. If the spell was working she would be able to stand up and the demons would see nothing.

She didn't have the guts to move. She would survive this, right?

She heard a muffled grunt. It sounded from relatively far away. She was lucky; the grunt had to have come from where they stood by her landing spot. She heard the sound of the demons moving away from her. She got to her feet and hunched over and continued to follow. She realized she didn't have to pretend to be so stealthy. The spell was surely working. She could not be seen—maybe she could be heard. She wasn't too sure. It was best to be as careful as she could. She was glad she had chosen to wear her Chucks the previous night. Their aged state really made them the perfect shoes for furtive movement. They had been a gift from Oz. They were cool and made of cloth and able to survive being repeatedly washed after excessive demon goo and mud encounters. Right now they were going through tall grass and slightly dry earth.

The demons continued to walk. They stopped twice to sniff the air and they continued in the same direction. It seemed to Willow that they knew exactly where they were going but wanted to have a sense of the hunt. After almost a half hour of brisk walking on their part and outright jogging on her part, Willow was just about to give up and rest. She had worked out that she could wait for them to return from their excursion and rescue someone if needed. Goodness. Trying to hunt speed walking demons on a mostly empty stomach was not something she was cut out for. They began to slow their pace. Willow wanted to thank someone but she realized this must mean they had found what they were looking for. Whatever they had found and whatever they had planned couldn't be good.

The ground sloped downward. Willow realized they had been on a hill or at a higher elevation. The grass on the slanting incline was well trimmed. There was a small village located at the bottom of the slope. The ground was covered with straw in places. There was a well in the center of the village and ten or twelve small buildings. She realized she was a few hundred yards from other people. She hoped this would be a village of humans instead of a village of grinning green demons.

The demons stopped and looked towards their far right. A tower stood at the edge of the tall grasses. It was obvious that this tower served as a warning system for the village. All of a sudden, Willow heard a loud siren. The sound repeated in three loud wails, again and again. The lead demon turned his eyes towards one of his drones. It seemed to Willow that they had communicated telepathically. The drone raised his weapon and fired two short blasts at the tower. The tower incinerated. If anything, the lead demon's grin widened. With the lead demon in front and followed by his three drones and also followed by Willow, all began to descend towards the village. The village was a sight Willow had never beheld. Men, women and children were running in every direction. It seemed that a good deal of them had set their sights for a pre-determined location, perhaps a hiding place in the grass fields or an underground cave. Willow didn't know. The people were dressed similarly in earth tones. The men mostly had animal skins thrown across their shoulders and wore thick leggings and tunics. Most of the women had full dresses. It seemed that almost each person held a child in their arms. A few of the men did not run. They held long sticks in their hands and stood in battle stances. Willow didn't know the demons' goals for the village but it seemed every villager knew and was terrified.

Willow felt a sick sort of anticipation coursing through her veins. Here she was directly behind four unspecified demons and about to go against them. She didn't know their weaknesses and she didn't know if they would be able see her if she attacked. The only reason she know she could do this was the simple fact that her magic had worked. Here she was a scant three or four yards behind the demons and they could not sense her! Her spell worked! She knew she could do the simple four step fireball spell! Heck she might even try to draw power from the land. She knew she could protect these people. She was confident in her magic for the first time in a long while.

The demons stopped abruptly about three feet from the men of the village. It seemed they wanted a standoff. The men waited. They were patient and not willing to make the first move. Suddenly, one of the men pounced forward yelling one word, "Wraith!"

Using his left hand the closest drone demon, the wraith, back handed the man. The battle had begun. Willow was aching to begin her spell. She crouched behind the nearest building. She had to open her bag and gather the necessary herbs. The fire ball spell required a few herbs mixed in her hand and a basic incantation. The power for the spell would be focused from her body. She had to use her will to convince the physical herbs and the magical incantation to form the fireball and to fly to the target. She had modified the spell to pull energy from the ground and from her body. This would minimize her probable fatigue and help her be able to defeat all the Wraith demons. That is, if fire was a weakness for them. Of course fire was a weakness! No worries. She was moving as fast as she could. She could not let this fight get out of hand.

Willow gathered and crushed the herbs. She moved her body so she would be in sight of the demons. The Wraith seemed to be enjoying knocking the men around. They were still having fun—they hadn't gotten around to killing. The lead Wraith held one man by the throat and threw him to the straw covered ground. Willow heard him whimper as he tried to crawl away. He moved his head and looked upward. His eyes met Willow's and in them she saw that he didn't expect to live. The lead Wraith slowly walked up to the man and stomped on his middle back.

Willow had seen enough. She gathered her power to her. With one hand on the ground and the other hand raised, she began to chant. "Goddess, Araida goddess of light let me borrow your might…. Make me fire… grant me your power." A burst of flame exploded from her hand. It began to fly towards the leader.

In the last second he moved. No matter, the fireball continued along its trajectory and hit the nearest Wraith. She heard him shriek in pain. The lead Wraith looked towards where the fireball had exploded from and saw—nothing. He inclined his head to one drone and the drone raised his weapon and fired. Willow had only a second to roll away from the now blazing building. The structure she had crouched behind had exploded. She grabbed her bag and ran behind the nearest building.

Willow knew she was in trouble but she was absolutely giddy. She had set that demon on fire. She had destroyed him. As she crouched behind the building she realized there was little need to crouch. They couldn't see her—she just had to be smart. She needed to make another fireball and send it spiraling towards the enemy. This time she would run in the opposite direction as fast as she could. Easy to do—or rather somewhat possibly simple, maybe…

The lead Wraith looked even more frightening. Willow knew she could do this. She decided to aim for his lackey's first. She wanted to leave him with no one to command. As she crouched she began to crush more herbs in her hand. A thin line of sweat began to form on her upper lip. She concentrated on getting the measurements exactly right. She looked up.

The lead Wraith had flipped his victim over to his back. She started her incantation again. She had to choose between saving this man's life right now or leaving him to be destroyed by the Wraith. The more sensible plan would be to knock off the drones but she couldn't leave this man to die.

The Wraith ripped open the man's shirt and placed his metal covered hand against his chest. The man began to writhe and scream. His hair grew at a rapid pace and lightened. His body began to decay. Willow was paralyzed by the sight. When the body stopped shaking and she no long heard the screams she realized she had failed him. Now she knew exactly what she was fighting.

She began the spell. Her hand was on the ground and her bag on her back. She was ready to throw the fireball and then move. "Goddess, Araida goddess of light let me borrow your might…. Make me fire… grant me your power." As she spoke the last word she felt a small hand pulling at her hand on the ground. It was a young girl with her eyes full of tears.

"Help me!"

There was nothing she could do. She ripped energy from the child, just like the wraith had from the man. "No!" Willow screamed, as the child collapsed boneless on the ground. Two powerful fireballs exploded from her hand. They ripped their way through the air in through the chests of the remaining drones. The lead Wraith screamed. Willow had no choice. She lifted the child in her arms and began to run in the same direction the villagers had run just minutes before.

What had she done?