Chapter Twenty One: Key to the Future
Prue walked forward, followed by Paige. Yes, she could have asked Paige to orb them away but that might have meant there was a search for them and that could change everything. On the other hand whatever they did at this point might result in an alteration to the time line anyway.
"I felt it the moment you arrived," said the witch. "I also know you heard the end of my conversation with Ninurta."
"We're just here as observers," said Prue. "We mean you no harm. We're not your enemies, we're simply neutral."
The witch laughed. "Well I think you're probably witches yourselves, maybe something more," she said. "So I don't think the Goa'uld will think you're neutral. So far you've acted like spies except you could have tried to jump away just now but you didn't."
Prue didn't miss the 'tried', which implied that the witch thought she would have been able to stop them. Maybe she's right thought Prue, I suspect that even here and now she's got a lot of power.
"We're against the Goa'uld all right," said Paige. "It's just we mustn't interfere. Doing nothing is the best way we have of making sure they're defeated."
"And you know this because...Aha, you're time travellers," said the witch. "In your time you know the Goa'uld were defeated and you don't want to do anything to change that."
"We can't talk about..." began Prue.
"Of course not," said the witch, "but I can work things out for myself and I can tell by looking at you when I get it right."
Paige gave Prue a worried look. This witch had been making plans with one of the Goa'uld she thought. Did she want the Goa'uld to win? Had they already messed things up?
"You're both very transparent you know," said the witch. "I can't do much mind reading but I can pick up some of what you're thinking, a few of your stronger surface thoughts."
"So what do you intend to do?" asked Prue.
"Exactly what I was going to do anyway," said the witch. "Don't worry, I want to see the back of the Goa'uld as much as any other witch. If the Goa'uld are going to be defeated I don't want to change anything either."
"If that's true why were you talking to one of them?" asked Prue.
"The Goa'uld are an ambitious, quarrelsome lot," said the witch. "A Goa'uld's worst enemy is generally another Goa'uld. But then you probably know that. If everything works out as planned we'll see the back of the Goa'uld and their leader Mitra. Ninurta will play a big part in that, as well as doing very well for himself."
"But if you're from the future why don't you know all this?" asked the witch.
"Not everything gets in the history books," said Prue.
"True, but you're not here to fill out the blanks in the history books," said the witch. "Oh yes, I see it now. The Goa'uld are back, back in the future, and you want to know how we got rid of them the last time... this time."
"Something like that," said Prue. She seems much more formidable now than she was the last time I saw her she thought.
"We've met before?" asked the witch. Prue was about to say something in reply when the witch stopped her. "No, don't say anything. I really don't want to know anything about my future. It may never happen anyway now you've come back in time. But I can't stay here any longer. I've got to go. You'd better come with me or you're sure to get into some sort of trouble. What are your names?"
"I'm Prue and this is my sister Paige," said Prue.
"Who are you?" asked Paige.
"I'm the convenor of the central coven of Kallistien," said the witch. "Margatha di Rehanne, but most people just call me Glory."
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"Are you sure you're nothing to do with that Maybourne character?" asked Dawn.
"Or with Wolfram and Hart?" asked Fred. "Because your Colonel Maybourne was working with them. He was working with their Lilah Morgan so we don't trust him at all. Lilah Morgan is always bad news."
"He is not my Colonel Maybourne," said Teal'c. "You are right not to trust him. I have met Colonel Maybourne and have found him undeserving of any sort of trust so I understand your suspicions. I do not work with him nor with somebody called Lilah Morgan nor with anybody called either Wolfram or Hart. I work with the US Air Force, specifically Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond. These officers are deserving of your trust. They are very different to Colonel Maybourne."
"Well whoever you work with, the Stargate's staying right here until my sister and the others get back," said Dawn. "You're not shutting it down and you're not taking it away."
Following a talk between Teal'c and the remaining members of the Scooby Gang in Sunnydale an agreement had been reached whereby the SGC officially took over control of the captured Stargate. This enabled General Hammond to report success to his bosses and in particular to counter the criticisms of Senator Kinsey and the NID.
The agreement had only been window dressing however because although Teal'c and a security team were now present in the basement of the Sunnydale Slayer HQ, the Scoobies had not given up effective control of the Gate. General Hammond had briefed Teal'c to try to persuade the Sunnydale people to do just that which was why Teal'c had continued to press the point by emphasising the hazards of having an operable Stargate outside effective SGC control.
"OK, it's up and running," said Fred. "And we've got a bite! Somebody's contacting us." Since arriving in Sunnydale with Connor Fred had taken over the day to day operating of the Stargate. She powered up the Gate for an hour each day as agreed with Willow and the others before they left.
"Incoming transmission," said Lieutenant Torino one of Teal'c's team who had set up radio-communications to monitor any messages coming from the Gate.
"What does it say?" asked Teal'c.
"I don't know," said the lieutenant. "It was too brief. I think it was a standard message."
"Maybe a standard code asking for an acknowledgment?" suggested Gunn.
"And if they don't get it?" asked Dawn.
"Shut down the Gate," said Teal'c. "Break the connection now."
But even as he said it, it was too late. The wave of an incoming worm hole surged out of the Gate. As soon as it had settled back to a flat curtain a large metal cylinder came through the Gate and rolled down the ramp. At the same time the connection with the other world was lost.
"Get out of here!" ordered Teal'c. "It's a bomb!"
The SGC team all raced up the stairs and away from the bomb. All except Teal'c who paused at the bottom of the steps because he saw it as his duty to be the last out. To his surprise none of the Sunnydale people seemed concerned about the arrival of a bomb and none had joined the rush for the steps. On the contrary Amy walked over to the bomb and crouched down for a closer look.
"Yep, it's a bomb all right," she said. "There's a counter here stopped on seven."
"Aren't these things meant to stop on one?" asked Anya. "That's what happens in the movies, it increases the tension. Seven is a bit of an anti-climax."
Teal'c was puzzled. The bomb hadn't gone off and it seemed the Sunnydale people had known they were in no danger. But he hadn't seen anybody do a magic spell. Teal'c had by now seen the Halliwells carry out a number of magic spells. He gave an enquiring look towards Fred.
"This place is already protected by magic," said Fred to Teal'c. "We were never in any danger. So long as that bomb isn't taken out of here it won't go off."
"But sending us a bomb isn't very friendly is it?" said Amy. "How about we send it back to where it came from?"
"No!" said Dawn. "We don't know who's on the other side and we don't know how big the explosion will be. We might kill Buffy or Willow or some of the others."
"You are correct," said Teal'c. "It would not be wise to send the bomb back without knowing who might be affected. Some Goa'uld Stargates are located aboard their spaceships. You might destroy the spaceship but that would probably kill everybody who was aboard, including possibly some of your friends. I will have a bomb disposal team sent here."
"No need," said Amy who then began chanting. As she did so the bomb began to melt. It steadily dissolved into a puddle on the floor, which then faded away.
"Get away from the Gate!" ordered Fred urgently. "They've re-established the connection. It's the same place the bomb came from."
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After leaving the now hostile tavern the travellers spent some time looking around the area before deciding to walk across to the other side of town. On the way they stopped off to spend a little time making their clothes look a bit more worn and lived in. They hoped that what had happened in the first tavern would be a five minute wonder and would not follow them all over town.
"I could use magic to disguise us," offered Piper. "Or at least do something about our clothes."
"Better not," said Daniel. "I don't know how these things work but could that make you more visible to some people? People who can perhaps see the effects of magic?"
"Yeah, how did that man know you were a witch?" asked Faith.
"Beats me," said Piper. "I'm a witch and even I can't tell another witch just by looking at them. I don't know anybody who can and I don't know how to tell that somebody has used magic on themselves or their clothes."
"Maybe we were just unlucky," said Faith. "Maybe that was the local crackpot. I expect he calls every woman he doesn't like a witch."
"You're saying one look at me and he didn't like me," asked Piper. "Thanks very much. He didn't call you a witch. Does that mean he liked you?"
"If he did I bet he changes his mind when he wakes up," said Daniel. "Anyway the reaction of the tavern keeper suggests to me there was something more involved."
"Perhaps the tavern keeper took one look at Faith and didn't like her," suggested Piper.
Faith didn't rise to Piper's comeback. The three travellers were now continuing their walk to the other side of town but Faith seemed distracted.
"We're being followed," said Faith quietly. "Take a left and keep going."
The travellers turned left with Faith in the rear. Once out of sight of whoever was following, Faith immediately leapt upwards and perched on a window ledge in the darkness. Daniel and Piper continued walking as Faith waited. Two darkly dressed figures turned the corner in pursuit and continued after Daniel and Piper, taking care to keep to the shadows. Silently Faith dropped down behind them.
Up ahead Daniel and Piper continued along the narrow, poorly lit street. Two figures appeared ahead of them blocking their path. Daniel and Piper stopped.
"Two more behind us," hissed Piper.
Daniel glanced back and saw the other two strangers and realised that Faith was no longer with them. Both pairs of strangers had stopped. Now they slowly walked forward. Piper stepped forward and waved her hands at the pair in front to freeze them. Nothing happened. She tried the same thing with the two followers but with the same lack of result.
All four men now changed. They were still approximately human but they all now had distorted faces with long teeth: vampires!
Daniel glanced at Piper. "What are they?" he asked.
"Vampires," replied Piper. "For some reason that sort of vampire changes into a Klingon when it gets worked up. Now a vampire slayer would be useful right about now," she added in a loud voice whilst looking around for Faith.
"Your witch's tricks don't work with us," said one of the vampires ahead of them. "We've got protection." he pulled out an amulet from his shirt which was hanging on a chain around his neck and waved it around.
Suddenly the two vampires behind simultaneously dissolved into dust. As the dust settled, Faith became visible, holding a wooden stake in each hand.
"You don't have protection from me," said Faith who then ran forward towards the other two vampires.
The two remaining vampires glanced briefly at each other. "The slayer!" they agreed before both turning and running.
But by now Faith was up to top speed. As the vampires ran Faith took off in a mighty leap and came down with a heavy kick to the head of each vampire, knocking them down. Faith's leap took her over the top of the falling vampires. She rolled as she landed and came up facing the two vampires as they rose to their feet.
The vampires themselves had recovered quickly, but not quickly enough. As they regained their feet they found the slayer driving wooden stakes into their hearts. Now there were no more vampires, just another two piles of dust.
The sound of clapping came from behind the three travellers. A young woman walked forward out of the darkness still clapping. "Very good," she said and stopped clapping. "I haven't seen a slayer in action before. I always thought it was just an old Tau'ri legend. I can see why the vampires all worry about you."
Faith stared at the newcomer. It couldn't be could it? The woman looked exactly like Glory. Do we have to fight her as well as the Goa'uld she wondered?
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"It was very impressive," said Teal'c. "The Jaffa kept coming through the Gate and they kept falling asleep because of the stasis spell set up by the witches."
"So how many Jaffa were there altogether?" asked General Hammond.
"Two hundred in all," said Teal'c. "It got to the stage where we had to carry them upstairs to get them out of the way and stop them piling up."
"And we have custody of all of them?" asked the General.
"Yes, the Sunnydale people didn't want to keep hold of them," said Teal'c. "They're not set up to take care of captives. But before they handed them over to us their witches woke up one of the Jaffa officers and used a magic truth spell to help question him. These Jaffa all serve Marduk and they came from his base ship orbiting Kallistien. Their loss will be a blow to him."
"The capture of two hundred Jaffa and the stopping of an invasion by the Goa'uld," said the General. "Pity we can't claim the credit, it would earn us a lot of brownie points with the senate committee."
"Brownie points?" queried Teal'c.
"It's just an expression," said the General. "It just means it'll make us look good, stand us in good stead for when we don't look so good."
"I will speak to the witches," said Teal'c. "I am sure they do not want their role in this to become known. I will ask them if they will agree to the SGC taking credit for the captures."
"Well at least we have custody of these Jaffa because of our policy of co-operating with the witches and their friends, rather than doing what the NID suggested and attacking them," said the General.
"It seems the NID are working with a group called Wolfram and Hart who are known to the witches," said Teal'c, "and are known to be behind many evil acts."
"I'll have them checked out," said the General. "Did the Jaffa know anything about the witches who went through the Gate earlier?"
"The Jaffa officer knew there had been an attack on Marduk's ship by witches but he did not know any details," replied Teal'c. "But at least he knew nothing of any captives. The other Jaffa are unlikely to know any more than that. But there was some other interesting information revealed. Using a truth spell certainly speeds up interrogation."
"But is it a reliable method of interrogation?" asked the General. "All this magic business is new to me and I don't want to fall into the trap of assuming it doesn't have any drawbacks. My general rule is, if something seems too good to be true then it probably isn't true. Sometimes an interrogator gets told just what he wants to hear. I don't think we should assume this magic business is infallible."
"Indeed, the witches did warn me their magic spell only reveals what the subject believes to be true," said Teal'c. "The Goa'uld have been known to allow the capture of somebody who has been primed with wrong information as a way of deceiving their enemies."
"So as always, we've got to be cautious as far as the Goa'uld are concerned," said the General. "And anyway Marduk will know by now he's lost these Jaffa together with any information they could reveal. With that in mind exactly what did you find out?"
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So what do we do if it turns out she's evil, an evil hell goddess like she was back on Earth," asked Paige.
"It doesn't matter whether she's good or evil, witch or goddess," said Prue. "We're just here to observe. We can't do anything to change things. We mustn't do anything to change things."
After meeting Daniel, Piper and Faith, Glory had explained that she had already met Prue and Paige. She had taken them to the local witch safe house on the outskirts of town where the two groups of time travellers had reunited. Now they were comparing notes.
"Change them any more you mean," muttered Piper. "So far Faith's score is four vampires and one man in a black coat. When we go back to the future we'll probably find it doesn't exist any more."
"So you'd rather I'd just stood there observing while those vamps killed you?" asked Faith. "I'll remember that next time."
"We don't know they would have killed us," replied Piper. "Glory says they work for the witches, that's why they had those protective amulets. She says they round up strangers and bring them in for questioning. They help in the fight against the Goa'uld."
"Glory says...Sounds like we're back in school," said Faith. "Look, I know vamps and I'm telling you they were set to feed. They might bring some people in for questioning to keep the witches happy but they get paid for doing it. They get paid with the blood of a few strangers who nobody will miss."
"You can't be sure...," began Piper.
"Look, what's done is done," said Daniel. "Can we concentrate on what happens next?"
"Before we talk about that, what about that guy in the black coat?" asked Faith. "How did he know Piper was a witch?"
"He's a Witchfinder," said Paige. "I asked Glory. Apparently there's this local religious sect who hate witches. Some of them can somehow tell a witch on sight. Nobody knows how, it seems to be some sort of inborn talent. They try to stir up the local people whenever they recognise a witch. Doesn't always work but it can be a lot of trouble when it does. The witches think they're stooges for the Goa'uld."
"As for what happens next, the big event seems to be this ritual tonight," said Prue. "All the witches from miles around will be taking part."
"What actually are they trying to do?" asked Faith.
"They're trying to concentrate as much magic power as possible into a vessel," replied Prue.
"What vessel?" asked Piper.
"And what will the vessel do when it's got all the power?" asked Daniel.
"The vessel is some sort of a Mystic Key, an ancient artefact going back to the days of the old Tau'ri sorcerers, or even earlier so I'm told," said Prue. "The witches intend to use it as a power source for when they attack the Goa'uld."
"Sort of like a super magic battery," suggested Paige.
"Something like that I suppose," said Prue. "What is it Faith?"
Faith was stood with her mouth open, struck by a sudden realisation. "Don't you guys remember what Willow told you about Glory, the Mystic Key and the magic monks?"