TITLE: Slayer's Knight 12 AUTHOR: STEPHEN HOWE
E-MAIL: sh01@bigpond.com.au
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DISTRIBUTION: Ask and ye shall receive!
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss! He created everything! Set in season.6.Some spoilers but mostly AU. Xander has discovered his destiny only to have it ripped away from him. Dawn is still here .Set just after the battle with Glory SUNNYDALE UNIVERCITY. Riley watched as the remaining population of Sunnydale helped his men build up the defences of the main hall while Graham and the others set up forward point defence positions. Graham finally came up to him. " Well that's about as good as we can do with what we've got Riley." Riley checks the sun and says. " We've got about three hours till sundown you had better get the men fed and settled in for a fight." As Graham walked away Riley thought about all the other battles he had been in and none of them felt as doomed as this one. Buffy was feeding Joyce in the training room while the others were trying to work on several magic creations. Willow and Giles had found a legend about a Slayer being attacked by the Wendol Queen and surviving by a potion created by her watcher. They had all the ingredients they needed but were unsure about it's being able to work on Xander given his strange mixture of being human and possessed. Willow is finishing explaining all this as Buffy stands just out of sight. She hears Willow say." But we have to remember that this is for a Slayer it may not even work on a normal person." Cordelia smiles. " Believe me Willow Xander was never normal!" She goes over and holds up a green liquid that almost appeared alive in its movements." So we give this to him and he becomes immune to her poison?" Giles shakes his head. " No I'm afraid it's not that easy. The poison has to be in his system before we can introduce the anti-toxin or it may just kill him faster than the toxin alone!" Angel asks Cordy. " So Cordy just when does all this happen? " Cordy shudders. " Tonight a great battle will occur, then in the morning Xander and six others will set of to kill the Mother Wendol. Upon his return he will begin to die of the poison from her bite." Buffy makes a noise and enters the room. " I was just thinking Giles maybe we should take all the swords and bladed weapons we can back to the safe house? I mean the other camps had modern weapons and yet they fell." Giles nods ." Yes point taken Buffy. Angel would you help me with the trunk?" Buffy places Joyce in her carry crib and tucks her in before saying. " So do you remember how to swing a sword Cordelia?" Cordy snorts. " Duh! 2 years fighting demons in LA! I should hope so." As Cordy moves over to the baby Buffy grips her arm. " Thanks for all the help and for wanting to help Xander." Cordelia smiles and tells her. " I couldn't do any less for either of you Buffy. Besides maybe, when this is all over, he'll get of my back about the damn prom dress!" Willow and Tara are grinning as they present Buffy with several leather pouches. " Gee thanks guys I always uhh. What are they?" Willow starts hyperventilating. " Remember that sun spell I was working on and Anya ruined? You know the Troll!" Buffy nods as Willow points to the pouches. " Tada! Six pouches represent six suns all you have to do is undo the laces then throw it up and bingo! Instant daylight. " Buffy places them in her backpack. " Great work girls! Now all we have to do is hike over to USC and get settled in before dusk." USC SUNNYDALE - DUSK. Riley orders the main doors locked and bolted, while he and the defenders remain outside in the defence points. He turns to Buffy and asks. " I'm surprised you're not with your baby." Buffy peers out into the night." She's inside with Cordelia and the other Scooby's. They're our last line of defence." Riley looks out then checks his gun. " I didn't mean to hurt you Buff. I just felt like I didn't fit in like I did with the army." Buffy shrugs. " That's all in the past Riley. But because of your leaving I found something wonderful and it took his loss for me to realize I lost all that time ignoring him when I could have been with him all along." She looks at him. " And that's the one and only regret I will take to my grave." Riley is about to reply when they hear horns blowing in the distance. " It's Showtime!" Buffy tells him as she brings up her sword. Riley shakes his head." Buffy this is the 21st century not the 1st." He flicks the gun from safe to fire and looks out into the night. Giles and the others are by the main doors ready to swing them open to let the defenders in when they hear the outer defences open up. " Well it's begun." Giles tells Willow. " I sure hope the cavalry gets here on time!" She tells him with a nervous smile. Riley points his gun at movement along the wire." I give my right arm for a flashlight that works!" Buffy smiles and takes out one of the pouches and undoes the laces. " You owe Willow and Tara an arm for this!" She throws the bag as high and as hard as she can and suddenly the night skylights up like a new dawn exposing the gruesome scene in front of them. The sight of the Wendol, as they went about slaughtering the defenders and taking heads as trophies, sickened the main force to their stomaches. They watched as several of the outer guard posts fired their weapons at the Wendol. The were beasts just jerked as the projectiles hit them before moving forward to take the head of the mortal that dared fight against it. Riley was stunned by the ease in which the enemy pushed aside their defences." We're screwed!" One of the defenders exclaimed and Riley nodded in agreement. Suddenly the monsters were inside the defences proper and they fought for their very lives. Giles quickly opened the doors to the pounding and screams, Buffy and only seven of the defenders stormed in and shut the doors. They dragged anything they could find to secure the doors as they heard the howls and inhumane screams from outside." Is everyone in the fallout shelter?" Buffy asked. Giles nods." Yes and we told them not to open the doors no matter what they heard until we gave them the coded knock." They all jumped back as the doors reverberated to the beasts pounding. Riley threw the useless gun aside and searched for another weapon. Giles handed him a sword and Riley grinned as Giles said. " Welcome to the first century." Riley told his men to pick a position and defend themselves as the doors began to give in to the pressure from outside." Giles you and Willow had better go down to the bomb shelter and wait for the all clear." Giles begins to protest then nods and the two make their way to the stairs and down. Suddenly the building resonated to a high-pitched noise and the ground shuddered. " What the hell is that?" A bright flash could be seen leaking through the cracks around the door followed by human voice shouting. " NO PRISONERS! NO PRISONERS!" The pressure relaxed on the door and they heard the sounds of animalistic screams then a woman's voice telling them. " I hope you know your back doors open!" Buffy looked startled " Faith?" She was answered. " B is that you? Check you're back! You've got company!" Buffy turned and heard the sound of gunfire followed by a scream that was cut short. " Crap!" She hears Faith's voice cry out. " Take their heads! Anything else is foreplay!" Buffy and Riley edged forward searching for any Wendol that had managed to get in . Willow and Giles opened the doors to the shelter and made their way out after hearing the noise of battle quieten down outside." Tara lock this behind us until you hear the coded knock." He shuts the door and they wait till they hear the lock click into place. Giles shifts the sword from hand to hand in nervous anticipation. Suddenly a dark haired knight came down the stairs and Giles looked at her with faint recognition. " Faith?" She reached the bottom of the stairs. " In the flesh G-Man. So what's the what?" Willow was almost hyper as she answered. " Well there's the Wendol thing but I guess you know that, and the other thing is are we safe?" Faith grins. " About as safe as you can get in this town." She looks around " Why didn't you guys just leave?" Giles shakes his head. " Would that we could. There's a barrier surrounding Sunnydale and nothing gets in or out!" Faith turns around. " What? The council told us it was days off!" Willow stops walking and tells her." We don't think it's the Councils doing. We.. Giles thinks it could be the Wendol." Faith looked bemused. " Now why would the Wendol want you lot?" She started walking then stopped." Wait how many females are here?" Willow shrugged. " Maybe thirty, why?" " Maybe nothing but I'll run it by Beowulf." She sees a giant of a man in the same style of uniform as Faith and Willow walks behind Faith. " Lars is it all clear?" " Yes Slayer Faith we have chased the Wendol back into the tree line. Beowulf and the assault team made short work of their point beasts and drove off the main assault." Lars grinned. " He beat them again!" His voice filled with pride. " Beowulf knows them like no other." " Yes Lars he's the best thing since sliced bread. " Faith shakes her head as he begins to assemble the teams for roll call. The Wendol have been driven away and now it was clean up time. Willow asks Faith. " Why did you stay with them after they murdered Xander? Did you hate him that much?" Faith turned and the look in her eye scared the witch more than any beast ever could. " Do you honestly think for a second I would stay with them if they had?" She hears the horns of the Wendol far off in the distance." What of the other sites? How many females there?" " There were about the same as here but they were massacred yesterday." Faith looks sickened. " But we were told you hadn't seen any sign of them yet?" She looks back into the woods as the horn grows farther away." And the females?" Faith raises a hand to shield her eyes from the morning sun as she looked off into the trees." Were they all accounted for?" " I don't know why?" Faith shakes her head. " How else do you think these guys breed? Magic?" She flips the headless body of a Wendol over and the putrid stench makes Willow gag. She holds her nose." You mean they mate with humans?" Suddenly a voice is heard over the whinnying of a horse. " Just the females thank Odin." Faith grins and turns to the knight as he slides down from his stead." Yeah I have been meaning to see the ACLU about that women's rights and all that." Willow steps back as the knight brushes past her and examines the body. " Young, no more than 15 moons old." He looks at the claws. " Bah! Barely out of diapers!" He picks up some dirt and runs it through his hand. " Why send your youngest warriors against a fortified position unless." He stands up and looks to the tree line. Faith begins to speak and he holds a hand up then sniffs the air. " We're being watched! " Willow places her hand over her eyes and looks to the forest. " Little sister would you lower your hand and walk towards Faith?" As she does two Wendol drop from the nearby trees and charge the black knight. He draws his sword from his scabbard and beheads the first one before it gets too close, then guts the second one. He kneels on the beast's chest and stares into its eyes. " Speak to me and I'll make it quick.. Why?" The creatures voice is deep and distorted. " You ask why? Pah! Ask yourself why." It made to bite the knights leg but the knight severed it's head .He stood up and wiped his sword as several people approached. He looked at them before removing his head gear." Which of you commands here?" Beowulf began to tie his long hair back behind his head and Willow gasped. " Oh my god it's..." Buffy almost choked on her greeting as the dark haired knight looked at her with his chocolate brown eyes. She had to force the word out of her Soul. " Xander?" END OF 12