Part 2
Giles leafed through the pages of the book, flipping page after page and only pausing when a word or phrase caught his eye. He had been sipping tea from the same cup for almost an hour. The rings around the inside of the cup were a testament to its content's longevity. He was so engrossed in his studies that he hadn't even notice how the tea had grown cold. He hadn't even noticed the arrival of Buffy and Xander. Buffy hurried over to Giles startling him in the process. Xander strutted. He didn't feel as motivated as usual because he missed the night's main event and Buffy was in too much of a rush to get to the library to talk about it.
Giles had finally collected himself and now turned his attentions to the new arrivals. "Buffy? What are you doing here so late? You're not on patrol tonight."
"Well you see, that's the thing about evil, so inconsiderate when it's comes to my 'alone time'." Giles' face hung in silence for a few seconds. "Evil, oh, well I think you should sit down and tell me about it." He turned to Xander and frowned. "Xander you're bleeding, I thought you were going to stay out of the fighting." Xander felt his head, probing for injury. His hand ran over a damp patch in his hair that was quickly turning dry and sticky. He pulled his hand away and looked at the bloodstains. He wasn't used to seeing his own blood, in fact he wasn't used to seeing any blood at all. When a vampire got staked they'd just turn to dust. Even with a demon the blood was usually green or some other strange colour, making it seem somehow unreal to him. But as he looked at blood working it's way into the grooves on his hand it became very real. He suddenly felt a bit flustered.
"She…", he uttered. "She did it." He panicked like a young child who had just broken a pane of glass. "She hurt me." Giles leafed through Xander's hair as Buffy put on her best innocent face. "It's alright, it's just a scratch, there's some disinfectant in the press in my office." Looking disgusted Xander tramped off into Giles' office. "Now… what happened." Giles sat at the table with Buffy as she began to recant the events of the night. Giles scowled at her and she skipped the part about Rick Johnston asking Kelly Winters out to dance even though he was already dating Sara Davies. When she moved on to the part about the mysterious stranger staking the vamp he suddenly became more alert and attentive.
"Well this mysterious stranger sounds very, well eh mysterious"
"And strange?" Xander finished as he returned from the office with a bandage held to head. "Yes well he certainly doesn't sound like a native of the town." Buffy chimed in, "I guess and at least he didn't try to kill me which is a good thing. But I've been getting a weird feeling all day. It was like I was sensing demons. But when he appeared the feeling got so much stronger. It made me feel all wiggy." Giles sat back in his seat and pushed his glasses back up his nose. He recognised the tone in her voice and the look in her eyes. She was indeed 'wigged'. Frightened even. He shuffled in his chair trying to break his train of thought and where it may lead him. "Well his appearance is one thing but his disappearance was pretty freakalicious too." Xander said. With a sarcastic nod toward Buffy he continued, "I was just coming out of my Slayer induced comatose but I seen the guy disappear quicker than members of our swim team." Giles grabbed a copy of the 'Sunnydale Reporter' that was lying half-folded on the table beside the small stack of books that he had been studying earlier. He flipped it open and placed it in the middle of table between himself and Buffy. Xander gathered around to see what was in the paper.
The Reporter was lying open on the page three and in its centre the heading was encircled with black marker. 'Tomb Unearthed on Outskirts of Sunnydale'. Giles explained.
"Your friend will have to wait for now, it looks like we may have other concerns. This tomb was uncovered just outside the town. They were building some new housing when a bulldozer pulled it up. An archaeologist who examined it believes it's been there for a few hundred years but without carbon dating it's hard to be sure."
"Wow, that's old even compared to some of the stuff around here." Buffy leaned forward with her head in her hands, weary from the night's exertions. Xander took and held the paper in his hands skimming through the prose. "So what kind of nastiness has the Hellmouth spat at us this time, some kind of super-vampire, a twelve armed demon who slaps people to death."
"A warlock actually. And sorry to disappoint you but he's quite dead. Even when he was alive he served the forces of good." Buffy's face contorted and she sat up again. "So why the big oooooh! If he's good, dead and locked up in a box shouldn't that even be enough to ease your mind."
"Does the word 'no' surprise you." Xander was all too familiar with Giles' nose for danger. Actually it wasn't so much a nose rather than a whole head. He may not show it all the time but Giles had, he knew, a keen insight into most things living and all things undead. If this unearthing were enough to get Giles' hairs standing on end then Xander would sit up and take note.
Giles shuffled in his chair again this time to a more austere sitting position. "Perhaps I should give you the history, or at least what I've found out so far. From the inscriptions on the tomb door in the photograph I have determined that the occupant is most likely a chap called 'Sa Ruen' a warlock from the 12th century. Apparently he was something of mercenary along with his two brothers who were fierce warlords. They'd travel Europe offering their services to the highest bidders no matter what the cause."
Xander stepped in, "Kind of like the A-Team, but bad. 'I pity the fool…'" Buffy smiled. She always enjoyed Xander's smart remarks, even at the inappropriate times when she'd have to hold back a grin. Giles cut Xander down condescendingly. "Please Xander this is not the time for you witticisms." He continued as Xander hung his head in a chastised silence.
"The three brothers soon came to be employed by the Emperor of Bulgaria. At the time Bulgaria was being invaded by the Ottomans."
"I thought they just made furniture." Buffy said and then shrunk back with a disappointed glare from Giles. "Do you actually attend you history classes. Anyway, Sa Ruen along with his brothers Etha and Krios rallied the Bulgarian armies and held the Ottomans. The Emperor then ordered them to use their magic and cunning to invade and destroy the Ottoman Empire. Knowing how many people would be killed in the process Sa Ruen refused. Now in great danger for refusing to obey the Emperor he tried to escape, leaving his brothers behind. Needless to say the Emperor killed them and his elite guards were sent after Sa. They eventually caught up with him in Romania and well, killed him."
"So how did he end up in Sunnydale?" Xander was now trying to worm his way back into Giles' good books by faining interest.
"Well the elite guard took Sa Ruen's body and cut out his tongue to make sure even in death he could never again utter a spell to curse them or somehow take revenge."
"Ouch!"
"They then buried him in a tomb in Bulgaria which was then watched by the Emperors guards. Without the brothers however the Ottoman Empire eventually conquered Bulgaria in 1396. The tomb was moved to prevent the Ottomans from obtaining Sas magical artefacts and it's been on the move ever since."
Buffy screwed her face up and reiterated Xander earlier question, "So how did he end up in Sunnydale?" Giles' eyes flickered between the two of them.
"Well no-one is actually sure how, that is to say it has never been recorded how the tomb got here. Perhaps when America was first discovered the tomb was moved simply because this was then the furthest point away from Europe"
"And hence away from sticky fingers trying to grab up some magic stuff."
"Quite."
Xander folded his arms, now genuinely engaged in the conversation. "So what do we do now? I mean as long as nobody's looking for him we're alright, yeah! And besides in case you hadn't noticed Bulgarians and Ottomans aren't exactly a dime a dozen in Sunnydale." Giles pulled the glasses from his face and rubbed his tired eyes. He had been stuck to his books for the past six hours since he had discovered the newspaper in the faculty lounge. The constant book watching was taking a toll. "It's not that simple Xander. The tomb may contain very powerful artefacts. If any-one got their hands on them and misused them we could be looking at the next apocalypse."
Xander's face lit up "Another apocalypse aww shucks, but we just had one last week. We're not due another for at least for a fortnight." Buffy stood up from the cluttered table taking the no nonsense Slayer stance all of the gang had become accustomed to.
"No Giles is right. We should nip this thing in the butt as soon as possible."
"Okay! Point me to the butts… and I'll nip!"