Chapter Fourteen - "30 Pieces of Silver"
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Once, as a much younger man, Giles had taken part in an ill-conceived attempt by the Council to spy on a demon dimension suspected of planning an invasion of Earth. While that particular dimension had been more horrific than the borderlands of Mordor, Sauron's realm was a close runner-up, Giles decided.
They had been traveling with Yalanci and his company of Trolls and Orcs for many days now, a forced march of nearly nonstop unpleasantness broken only by moments of terror and disgust as far as Giles was concerned. The behavior of Orcs at rest was loathsome, to say the least, and Giles couldn't accept that they had anything to do with Elves, no matter what Elenya and the Elves themselves said.
It was bad enough for him, but Xander and Willow had never been on this sort of journey before. Yalanci kept them moving almost past the point of endurance, whipping the odd Orc who strayed behind. Worse than the pace, though, was the constant fear that the ruse would be discovered, either by a slip of the tongue or Willow's spell fading away. But it didn't happen, and the only threat was mountains of Mordor, which loomed larger with every passing day. And, of course, the sun was nothing but a distant memory by that time, and it had reached the point where it was hard to tell when day ended and night began.
Their new course took them south around the fringes of the Brown Lands, and then across the great empty plains northeast of Emyn Muil and the Dead Marshes, the stench of which could be smelled long leagues away. It was when they reached the barren, stony plains of the Dagorlad, famous to Giles and Yalanci at least, that the miserable reality of Mordor truly hit home.
There were roads, crude and hastily laid, that crisscrossed the eastern portion of the Dagorland, linking Mordor to Sauron's domains farther away in the East. And along one dusty stretch of road a few days north of the Ash Mountains, there stood grim reminders of the Dark Lord's wrath - tall wooden poles with small crossbars at the top. At first, it appeared as if they were giant crucifixes, anticipating the Romans by thousands of years, but it soon became clear this was a different form of torture.
From the crossbars were hung, heads down, the corpses of Men and Orcs - traitors and renegades of Mordor, Yalanci explained with a sick grin on his face. Many of the corpses were little more than skeletons, eaten away by the elements and carrion, but a few had but lately died. Some of them, Giles noticed with detached curiosity, were dark-skinned and clad in strange tunics (mostly torn to shreds) - slaves of Nurn, he guessed, or perhaps warriors from Far Harad.
The Orcs hooted and hollered, to no one's surprise, and the Trolls also made deep grunts of amusement. None of them touched the bodies, though, almost certainly out of fear rather than respect.
Giles did his best not to stare at the corpses and especially not to think about how long they had hung there before finally dying. Xander looked up once then turned away, his face slightly green, and Willow ignored them entirely.
-
"Buffy. Buffy, open your eyes."
Slowly, Buffy did as the voice commanded. Her eyes opened and focused on a kind but unknown face that hovered above her. The girl couldn't have been more than 15 years old yet something about her was comforting. She felt no alarm by the presence of the dark haired stranger. She appeared no different than any other Man she'd met in Middle-earth, not in dress or speech.
A smile came to the face of the girl when Buffy sat up on the bed. "I thought you might never awaken," she commented.
Buffy glanced around the room. She was still in Barad-Dûr, unfortunately, but the oppressive tone of the place no longer lingered. She flicked her gaze over to the girl, who now sat beside her on the bed. Something else was familiar about the stranger - in her intense, brown eyes.
"How did you get in here?" she asked.
"We are not anywhere," the girl replied, the smile fading a little. She scooted closer to the blonde, her head tilting to one side. "I suppose it is true, then."
Buffy arched an eyebrow. "You suppose what's true? Who are you?"
The girl laughed a little. "Yes, you don't yet know my name. I never did tell you, did I?" She gestured to herself, giving a slight bow of the head. "I am Katil."
Buffy stared back at the girl. "You're ... you're his ... sister," she whispered in response. She wasn't sure if she'd spoken the words her voice was so quiet. Her head tilted a little when Katil offered one solemn nod of confirmation. "You're ... the one who's been talking to me, too, aren't you? In my head."
"Yes. Your mind is such a difficult one to pierce, as well," Katil answered. She looked towards the window, out onto Mordor. "But I would not have had near as much a struggle if not for Sauron." She paused then looked to Buffy. "His power grows with every passing moment." A sigh escaped her lips. "Even now."
Buffy swung her legs over the side of the bed then faced Katil once more. "You said you've been trying to reach me. Why?"
"You already know." She angled her head in such a way so she looked up at Buffy through her long eyelashes. "He has already told you many things that only the One should tell."
"The One? You mean the Slayer?" Buffy became even more interested in what Katil had to say. "You know the truth, then, right? You can tell me what's a lie and what isn't?"
Katil paused, as if listening to some unseen speaker, then she answered, "You know the truth, Buffy. It is the same truth passed down from Slayer to Slayer since the time of the First."
Buffy's brow furrowed. "I ... I don't understand. What are you talking about? Passed on?"
Katil stood and made her way to the window. Once there, she gazed upon Mordor, then shifted her attention longingly to the southwest. "It is a tradition that appears to have perished in years yet to pass," she quietly said. "In these times, the Duty is brought by one Slayer to the next. Our story is told."
Buffy then realized what Katil meant. She was the Slayer before Elenya, the one who'd come to Elenya in dreams and explained what it meant to be Slayer and the duties that fell to her.
"No, I guess that's not the way it's done in my time," she replied, almost remorseful. Buffy often wondered what the Slayer before her had been like. Was she more powerful? Was she smarter? Did have a Watcher like ... like Giles? The Council, not even Giles, did not answer questions about previous Slayers when she asked them. It was a mystery.
Katil leaned on the windowsill, heaviness in her chest as she spoke now. "The time approaches," she murmured. "I can feel it."
"What? What was that?" asked Buffy.
The other girl shook her head. "These are the troubles of the outside world of which I speak. I am not here for them." She faced the blond, a new expression on her face. "I am here for you."
"For me? Are you here to help me escape?"
Katil shook her head again. "No. Imprisonment, Buffy, like so many other things, is a state of mind. Are you truly trapped here?"
Buffy thought about it for a moment but before she could reply Katil had moved on to something else.
"I attempted to reach you before. The Dark Lord had his own plans, and it seems as though he was successful with them where you are concerned."
Buffy came closer to Katil, her eyes narrowed a bit in suspicion. "What do you mean?"
"In the weeks since you were told the truth about the origins of the Slayer, you have lost all faith," she explained. She glanced over her shoulder again, and Buffy wondered what was out there that interested the other Slayer so. "If there is no faith, hope cannot exist. Sauron has won."
Buffy shook her head once. "I don't see how I can have any hope after hearing that story, Katil. I'm ... I'm not even human. We're not. We never were."
"Is that what you believe?"
"Yes. Your brother said so and now you're backing it up. And, frankly, in the scheme of things, I trust your word over his." She stood toe to toe with the deceased Slayer. "We're part demon, Katil. Cursed. Maybe you don't get it, but I do. I lost a good friend because of this ... this part of us. Why should I have any faith left? I could become what she became - what Faith became. Hell, I almost did!" Tears welled up in her eyes once more and the guilt over what she'd done to Faith hit her harder than ever. "I killed her."
The deceased Slayer was unmoved by the tears and the profession of guilt from her Sister.
"You do not understand, Buffy. None of it is your fault. What happened with Faith was not under your control, it was only under hers."
"Her control? How could she control it? She's part monster!" Buffy shouted. Her anger at the girl, even more at herself, bubbled over. "Like I am! Like you were! It isn't fair! I never wanted any of this. Why did I have to be different? Why do we have to be?" Tears fell to the floor as she calmed, voice quieter as she continued now. "Why did she have to be?"
Katil remained silent while Buffy released her pain and anger upon her. She'd felt no differently when the one before her explained what a Slayer was. She did not wish to be different from her family, her people, but the Valar had deemed it so. She knew Buffy's rage and knowledge of her true self had helped it ebb.
"You blame something that hasn't any bearing on such things for the decisions your friend and Sister made, Buffy," she finally replied, so smoothly it was almost hypnotic to Buffy's ears. "Our blood does not determine the path upon which we walk, we do. The choices we make dictate the sort of life we lead."
Slowly, Buffy sank down onto the bed. As she did so, Katil's words sank in as well. It made sense when it was put that way. She swallowed hard, sniffled then brushed away her tears. Once again, she met the warm gaze of Katil.
"I'm sorry," she apologized in a quiet voice. "I lost myself. It's this place. It's ... it's what's happened to me in the last few months. It's everything." Katil only meant to help and she'd verbally torn into her. "I'm feeling guilt again. I don't like it."
Katil sat down beside Buffy and took one of the Slayer's hands into hers. "You needn't apologize. Sauron twists the truth and perverts it for his own gains. You are not the only one to make such a mistake by believing him, Buffy." She paused. For the first time, a mist of tears was now in her eyes. "There is truth in everything; there is truth in lies."
"What do you mean?" Buffy inquired as she cocked her head to the side. She noted the pain in Katil's voice.
"Melek," she answered. The heaviness in her heart grew even more just by speaking his name. "So many years ago, Sauron twisted words and made my brother believe that I would be the death of him."
Buffy frowned. "Sounds like good ol' Sauron," she muttered. He'd played the same trick on Willow. Lucky for Giles, Xander and herself, Willow managed to resist him and see through his lies. "What happened after that?"
"Melek sent word to me in the North, a message of peace and forgiveness for my decision to turn away from the service of Sauron and Mordor." Her eyes glazed over as she sank deep into memories of thing that happened nearly a quarter of a century before. "Almost a year I had gone without any word from my family. I wanted more than anything to believe his message that they had turned away from Sauron." A humorless laugh escaped her lips. "A foolish child I was. Thirteen winters may be enough for the Valar to call a warrior to service, but in the ways of common sensibility? I had none."
Buffy's lips pressed together. Fourteen was a young age in any time period, and to yank a person of such an age to the front lines of a never-ending war? If not for Giles and her friends, Buffy knew she wouldn't have survived so long.
"I came back to Khand. My foolish idealism was my downfall." Katil squeezed Buffy's hand then looked over to the living Slayer. "Under a flag of peace and truce that he'd extended to me, my brother ... killed me."
Gasping in surprise, Buffy's jaw dropped open. Had she heard Katil right? Her own brother had ... had murdered her? She blinked a few times and the initial shock of such a revelation quickly gave way to anger. This small fact was something Melek never mentioned in all of his blathering.
Probably a good idea, too. It opened up a new side to the man. He would slaughter his own flesh and blood so cruelly for Sauron. Buffy meant even less to him than Katil ever did. It didn't bode well for her survival in Barad-Dûr.
[I have to get out of here,] she decided. [If I don't escape, I'm dead for sure. Not to mention poor Willow, Giles and Xander ... ]
"The time draws near," Katil murmured again, her eyes half closed and affixed upon one of the windows in the room. "All that has happened will converge upon this place so very soon. Paths will cross. Cities will crumble. Everything will change."
"Katil," Buffy said. She gave the girl's shoulder a shake to get her attention. The distance in Katil's voice when she spoke about this "time" approaching gave her serious wiggins. When she had Katil's attention, she asked, "Do you have any idea how Sauron's people came into the future? Was it a spell of some sort? Do you know if I can use it to get back home?"
Katil gave one shake of her head. "He needs no spell to cut paths through the fabric of time," she replied. She stood and tugged on Buffy's hand to urge her to follow. Once they reached one of the windows, she directed Buffy's gaze to the volcano. "There. In the fires of Mount Doom, Sauron has hidden away many things. One of which being the way into the future, the way home."
"Mount Doom," Buffy mumbled as she narrowed her eyes at the lava-belching volcano some distance away. She looked to Katil. "I don't get it. If Sauron has this ... this time machine, why doesn't he go into the past and change things?"
Katil met Buffy's gaze. "He cannot. Sauron's power has limits. No one can undo the past for it is the model for the present and the future. Can you remove the foundation of a house, Buffy, and still expect it to stand in the exact same way?"
Biting her lower lip, she pondered the girl's words. Melek has said something similar to her a few months before when she'd asked why Sauron didn't do that. They couldn't kidnap Buffy from the past; they were forced to delve into the future.
"To remove one single thread from a tapestry, it begins a chain reaction and all it was becomes no more." Katil placed her hands on the blonde Slayer's shoulders and gazed deep into her eyes. "I must leave you now. The time is coming. All of Middle-earth lies in wait for it. Three shall arrive and one will fall - a victim to his own weakness. No one can stop it."
['Three shall arrive'? What the hell is she talking about? Could it be some sort of reference to - ] "Katil, what -"
"I must go," Katil interrupted. She released the other Slayer and backed away from her. As she did so, her form faded from sight. "The future awaits all of us, Buffy. Some things that are not yet written cannot be erased."
With that, Katil vanished from sight completely.
"Wait!" Buffy reached out a hand for Katil but she gasped when the door to her room opened. Melek stood in the doorway, no Orc guards with him, and he stared at the Slayer for a moment, curious.
"Whom were you speaking to?" he asked after another moment of odd silence.
Her arm dropped to her side as he stepped into the room. "No one," she answered. "Must've been sleep-talking. And walking." She noted the lack of belief on his face at her explanation. "Really. It's just me in here. Take a look."
Melek walked around the room, his hands locked behind his back as he took the girl up on her offer to look around. He thoroughly inspected the room then finally turned his attention back to Buffy. "Whomever it was you weren't speaking to, they appear to be gone," he announced. He narrowed his eyes slightly at her but pursued the issue no further.
Buffy shrugged. "I don't know what else to tell you."
Melek stopped in front of Buffy and stared upon her. She only stood there, staring back at him. "Have it your way, then," he said once a full minute of quiet passed between them then turned away.
"That's usually how I have it," she quipped. She smiled just a little when he looked over his shoulder at her. "Some days, you have to look out for number one, ay?" She raised an eyebrow, knowingly, when he turned to her.
Melek tilted his head to one side, trying to work out what new game this was. "A strange thing for you to say, I think," he told her. "Where is your endless supply of self-righteousness, Slayer? Your annoying sense of sacred duty?"
She walked towards the window, a casual tone about her voice as she spoke. "Maybe I've had a revelation or two since you last talked to me." She stopped at the window and gazed out at Mount Doom - so close yet so far away. She knew she had to get there - by any means necessary.
"Pray tell, what sort of revelations did you have?" he inquired. He kept up his guard, however. Lord Sauron still did not have full faith in the girl, but he believed she could be of use. Once Sauron had what he wanted, the shape of things to come would be so vastly different.
"I did a lot of thinking," she began as she turned away from the window. Leaning back against the wall, she leveled her gaze on him. "I've had a good look at what kind of forces Sauron is up against in this war. Pathetic bunch out there. Most regular humans are, though. Am I right?"
"Mmm hmm," Melek murmured with a slight nod. "The same pathetic humans you swore to protect."
Buffy shook her head. "That's another thing." She pushed herself away from the wall. "This whole sacred duty mess, it's something I never asked for. Never wanted it and, most days, I still don't." She glanced around. "This would be the perfect chance for me to throw in the towel and quit."
His eyebrows shot up, partly in surprise. "Quit? As in resign your position as Slayer?"
She nodded. "Oh yeah. Exactly. Here's my chance." She threw out her arms. "It's obvious I'm never going to get out of this place, so I better get with program, right?" Her arms dropped back down to her sides as she sighed. "For once in my time as Slayer, I have to admit, somebody's beaten me. I've met my match."
Melek's face broke into a crooked smile after a few moments. He took a step closer to the blonde, his eyes never leaving hers. "And what of your friends?"
"What about them?" She gave another shrug of the shoulders. "The way you tell it, they're as good as dead. They suffer from the same hero complex I do. I DID," she quickly corrected herself. "No reason for everyone to go down with the ship."
"No," he agreed, slowly. He narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. He watched as she closed the distance between them. "There isn't." He paused. "And you would willingly forsake them to Sauron? They've entered the land of Mordor now - all three of them."
Buffy pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Katil's words about the arrival of the three and one falling because of a weakness came flooding back to her. Katil could've only meant Willow, the one Sauron set up this entire game for. He'd probably been working Willow's mind over since she and Xander arrived in Middle-earth.
[I have to stop it,] she thought. The distant rumblings of Mount Doom caught her attention. The machine of Sauron's was the only way. She couldn't change the past but she could alter the future. With the machine, she could travel into HER future from that point in time and prevent herself from being abducted. [It's the only way.]
"I'm not forsaking them," she coolly replied. "They've done that for themselves." She slipped her hands up Melek's chest, rested them on his shoulders then tipped her head back so she could look into his eyes. "Can you blame me for wanting to go with the winner?"
He glanced down at the Slayer's hands but did not return the gesture by coming in contact with her. "And you would have me believe that you are now loyal to Sauron," he asked as he met her gaze once again. "Mere words are not enough, Slayer, to prove such a thing. You'll need more than words -" Another glance at her hands " - and useless seductive charms."
Buffy gripped Melek by the fabric of his clothes and swung him around then gave him a hard push backwards. She amazed herself with the move. Her Slayer strength was returning to her, thanks to the better treatment from Sauron in the last few weeks. She noticed the surprise on Melek's face from his place on his back ... and on her bed.
"Well ..." she said, her tone dropping to a more adult tone. "I guess I'll have to resort to ... something else." She pushed him back as she joined her captor on the bed. He wasn't so big and bad now that she had ten times his strength. If she didn't know better, she could've sworn she saw a bit of fear in his eyes. She leaned closer to him, her face just millimeters away from his. "Won't I?"
"And what do you propose?" inquired Melek. He relaxed once again. He wouldn't let the girl get the one up on him another time. Let her believe she had some sort of control. At least for now.
Buffy smiled. "I can bring them to you."
He searched the Slayer's eyes and found something there. Something he'd never seen before. Maybe she wasn't lying after all. Then again, maybe she was.
"Bring them? What makes you believe Lord Sauron would need you to bring them to him?"
"I'm not saying he does," she coolly answered. She straddled herself over the lower half of his body and her hands slid down his chest. "I want to do it. Wouldn't that prove that I'm on his side, to convince my own friends to come with me ... to Sauron?" She cocked her head to the left. "What does he have to lose?"
"His prisoner," was Melek's reply.
She sat up straight but never took her eyes off of his. One eyebrow arched as her smile faded. "Is that what you think this is, an escape attempt?" She laughed. "If you want to make sure I don't escape, send a few of your thugs with me. I don't care."
Melek stared at her for a long, hard time ... and, finally, a smile gradually crept across his face.
"We shall have it your way, then," he simply said.
_
End Chapter Fourteen.
We're glad everyone's still reading and enjoying the story. Thank you all for being patient in waiting for new chapters. Real life's been getting in our way these days so we're not able to churn this one out like the last. Chapter Fifteen will be on its way within the next two weeks.
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Once, as a much younger man, Giles had taken part in an ill-conceived attempt by the Council to spy on a demon dimension suspected of planning an invasion of Earth. While that particular dimension had been more horrific than the borderlands of Mordor, Sauron's realm was a close runner-up, Giles decided.
They had been traveling with Yalanci and his company of Trolls and Orcs for many days now, a forced march of nearly nonstop unpleasantness broken only by moments of terror and disgust as far as Giles was concerned. The behavior of Orcs at rest was loathsome, to say the least, and Giles couldn't accept that they had anything to do with Elves, no matter what Elenya and the Elves themselves said.
It was bad enough for him, but Xander and Willow had never been on this sort of journey before. Yalanci kept them moving almost past the point of endurance, whipping the odd Orc who strayed behind. Worse than the pace, though, was the constant fear that the ruse would be discovered, either by a slip of the tongue or Willow's spell fading away. But it didn't happen, and the only threat was mountains of Mordor, which loomed larger with every passing day. And, of course, the sun was nothing but a distant memory by that time, and it had reached the point where it was hard to tell when day ended and night began.
Their new course took them south around the fringes of the Brown Lands, and then across the great empty plains northeast of Emyn Muil and the Dead Marshes, the stench of which could be smelled long leagues away. It was when they reached the barren, stony plains of the Dagorlad, famous to Giles and Yalanci at least, that the miserable reality of Mordor truly hit home.
There were roads, crude and hastily laid, that crisscrossed the eastern portion of the Dagorland, linking Mordor to Sauron's domains farther away in the East. And along one dusty stretch of road a few days north of the Ash Mountains, there stood grim reminders of the Dark Lord's wrath - tall wooden poles with small crossbars at the top. At first, it appeared as if they were giant crucifixes, anticipating the Romans by thousands of years, but it soon became clear this was a different form of torture.
From the crossbars were hung, heads down, the corpses of Men and Orcs - traitors and renegades of Mordor, Yalanci explained with a sick grin on his face. Many of the corpses were little more than skeletons, eaten away by the elements and carrion, but a few had but lately died. Some of them, Giles noticed with detached curiosity, were dark-skinned and clad in strange tunics (mostly torn to shreds) - slaves of Nurn, he guessed, or perhaps warriors from Far Harad.
The Orcs hooted and hollered, to no one's surprise, and the Trolls also made deep grunts of amusement. None of them touched the bodies, though, almost certainly out of fear rather than respect.
Giles did his best not to stare at the corpses and especially not to think about how long they had hung there before finally dying. Xander looked up once then turned away, his face slightly green, and Willow ignored them entirely.
-
"Buffy. Buffy, open your eyes."
Slowly, Buffy did as the voice commanded. Her eyes opened and focused on a kind but unknown face that hovered above her. The girl couldn't have been more than 15 years old yet something about her was comforting. She felt no alarm by the presence of the dark haired stranger. She appeared no different than any other Man she'd met in Middle-earth, not in dress or speech.
A smile came to the face of the girl when Buffy sat up on the bed. "I thought you might never awaken," she commented.
Buffy glanced around the room. She was still in Barad-Dûr, unfortunately, but the oppressive tone of the place no longer lingered. She flicked her gaze over to the girl, who now sat beside her on the bed. Something else was familiar about the stranger - in her intense, brown eyes.
"How did you get in here?" she asked.
"We are not anywhere," the girl replied, the smile fading a little. She scooted closer to the blonde, her head tilting to one side. "I suppose it is true, then."
Buffy arched an eyebrow. "You suppose what's true? Who are you?"
The girl laughed a little. "Yes, you don't yet know my name. I never did tell you, did I?" She gestured to herself, giving a slight bow of the head. "I am Katil."
Buffy stared back at the girl. "You're ... you're his ... sister," she whispered in response. She wasn't sure if she'd spoken the words her voice was so quiet. Her head tilted a little when Katil offered one solemn nod of confirmation. "You're ... the one who's been talking to me, too, aren't you? In my head."
"Yes. Your mind is such a difficult one to pierce, as well," Katil answered. She looked towards the window, out onto Mordor. "But I would not have had near as much a struggle if not for Sauron." She paused then looked to Buffy. "His power grows with every passing moment." A sigh escaped her lips. "Even now."
Buffy swung her legs over the side of the bed then faced Katil once more. "You said you've been trying to reach me. Why?"
"You already know." She angled her head in such a way so she looked up at Buffy through her long eyelashes. "He has already told you many things that only the One should tell."
"The One? You mean the Slayer?" Buffy became even more interested in what Katil had to say. "You know the truth, then, right? You can tell me what's a lie and what isn't?"
Katil paused, as if listening to some unseen speaker, then she answered, "You know the truth, Buffy. It is the same truth passed down from Slayer to Slayer since the time of the First."
Buffy's brow furrowed. "I ... I don't understand. What are you talking about? Passed on?"
Katil stood and made her way to the window. Once there, she gazed upon Mordor, then shifted her attention longingly to the southwest. "It is a tradition that appears to have perished in years yet to pass," she quietly said. "In these times, the Duty is brought by one Slayer to the next. Our story is told."
Buffy then realized what Katil meant. She was the Slayer before Elenya, the one who'd come to Elenya in dreams and explained what it meant to be Slayer and the duties that fell to her.
"No, I guess that's not the way it's done in my time," she replied, almost remorseful. Buffy often wondered what the Slayer before her had been like. Was she more powerful? Was she smarter? Did have a Watcher like ... like Giles? The Council, not even Giles, did not answer questions about previous Slayers when she asked them. It was a mystery.
Katil leaned on the windowsill, heaviness in her chest as she spoke now. "The time approaches," she murmured. "I can feel it."
"What? What was that?" asked Buffy.
The other girl shook her head. "These are the troubles of the outside world of which I speak. I am not here for them." She faced the blond, a new expression on her face. "I am here for you."
"For me? Are you here to help me escape?"
Katil shook her head again. "No. Imprisonment, Buffy, like so many other things, is a state of mind. Are you truly trapped here?"
Buffy thought about it for a moment but before she could reply Katil had moved on to something else.
"I attempted to reach you before. The Dark Lord had his own plans, and it seems as though he was successful with them where you are concerned."
Buffy came closer to Katil, her eyes narrowed a bit in suspicion. "What do you mean?"
"In the weeks since you were told the truth about the origins of the Slayer, you have lost all faith," she explained. She glanced over her shoulder again, and Buffy wondered what was out there that interested the other Slayer so. "If there is no faith, hope cannot exist. Sauron has won."
Buffy shook her head once. "I don't see how I can have any hope after hearing that story, Katil. I'm ... I'm not even human. We're not. We never were."
"Is that what you believe?"
"Yes. Your brother said so and now you're backing it up. And, frankly, in the scheme of things, I trust your word over his." She stood toe to toe with the deceased Slayer. "We're part demon, Katil. Cursed. Maybe you don't get it, but I do. I lost a good friend because of this ... this part of us. Why should I have any faith left? I could become what she became - what Faith became. Hell, I almost did!" Tears welled up in her eyes once more and the guilt over what she'd done to Faith hit her harder than ever. "I killed her."
The deceased Slayer was unmoved by the tears and the profession of guilt from her Sister.
"You do not understand, Buffy. None of it is your fault. What happened with Faith was not under your control, it was only under hers."
"Her control? How could she control it? She's part monster!" Buffy shouted. Her anger at the girl, even more at herself, bubbled over. "Like I am! Like you were! It isn't fair! I never wanted any of this. Why did I have to be different? Why do we have to be?" Tears fell to the floor as she calmed, voice quieter as she continued now. "Why did she have to be?"
Katil remained silent while Buffy released her pain and anger upon her. She'd felt no differently when the one before her explained what a Slayer was. She did not wish to be different from her family, her people, but the Valar had deemed it so. She knew Buffy's rage and knowledge of her true self had helped it ebb.
"You blame something that hasn't any bearing on such things for the decisions your friend and Sister made, Buffy," she finally replied, so smoothly it was almost hypnotic to Buffy's ears. "Our blood does not determine the path upon which we walk, we do. The choices we make dictate the sort of life we lead."
Slowly, Buffy sank down onto the bed. As she did so, Katil's words sank in as well. It made sense when it was put that way. She swallowed hard, sniffled then brushed away her tears. Once again, she met the warm gaze of Katil.
"I'm sorry," she apologized in a quiet voice. "I lost myself. It's this place. It's ... it's what's happened to me in the last few months. It's everything." Katil only meant to help and she'd verbally torn into her. "I'm feeling guilt again. I don't like it."
Katil sat down beside Buffy and took one of the Slayer's hands into hers. "You needn't apologize. Sauron twists the truth and perverts it for his own gains. You are not the only one to make such a mistake by believing him, Buffy." She paused. For the first time, a mist of tears was now in her eyes. "There is truth in everything; there is truth in lies."
"What do you mean?" Buffy inquired as she cocked her head to the side. She noted the pain in Katil's voice.
"Melek," she answered. The heaviness in her heart grew even more just by speaking his name. "So many years ago, Sauron twisted words and made my brother believe that I would be the death of him."
Buffy frowned. "Sounds like good ol' Sauron," she muttered. He'd played the same trick on Willow. Lucky for Giles, Xander and herself, Willow managed to resist him and see through his lies. "What happened after that?"
"Melek sent word to me in the North, a message of peace and forgiveness for my decision to turn away from the service of Sauron and Mordor." Her eyes glazed over as she sank deep into memories of thing that happened nearly a quarter of a century before. "Almost a year I had gone without any word from my family. I wanted more than anything to believe his message that they had turned away from Sauron." A humorless laugh escaped her lips. "A foolish child I was. Thirteen winters may be enough for the Valar to call a warrior to service, but in the ways of common sensibility? I had none."
Buffy's lips pressed together. Fourteen was a young age in any time period, and to yank a person of such an age to the front lines of a never-ending war? If not for Giles and her friends, Buffy knew she wouldn't have survived so long.
"I came back to Khand. My foolish idealism was my downfall." Katil squeezed Buffy's hand then looked over to the living Slayer. "Under a flag of peace and truce that he'd extended to me, my brother ... killed me."
Gasping in surprise, Buffy's jaw dropped open. Had she heard Katil right? Her own brother had ... had murdered her? She blinked a few times and the initial shock of such a revelation quickly gave way to anger. This small fact was something Melek never mentioned in all of his blathering.
Probably a good idea, too. It opened up a new side to the man. He would slaughter his own flesh and blood so cruelly for Sauron. Buffy meant even less to him than Katil ever did. It didn't bode well for her survival in Barad-Dûr.
[I have to get out of here,] she decided. [If I don't escape, I'm dead for sure. Not to mention poor Willow, Giles and Xander ... ]
"The time draws near," Katil murmured again, her eyes half closed and affixed upon one of the windows in the room. "All that has happened will converge upon this place so very soon. Paths will cross. Cities will crumble. Everything will change."
"Katil," Buffy said. She gave the girl's shoulder a shake to get her attention. The distance in Katil's voice when she spoke about this "time" approaching gave her serious wiggins. When she had Katil's attention, she asked, "Do you have any idea how Sauron's people came into the future? Was it a spell of some sort? Do you know if I can use it to get back home?"
Katil gave one shake of her head. "He needs no spell to cut paths through the fabric of time," she replied. She stood and tugged on Buffy's hand to urge her to follow. Once they reached one of the windows, she directed Buffy's gaze to the volcano. "There. In the fires of Mount Doom, Sauron has hidden away many things. One of which being the way into the future, the way home."
"Mount Doom," Buffy mumbled as she narrowed her eyes at the lava-belching volcano some distance away. She looked to Katil. "I don't get it. If Sauron has this ... this time machine, why doesn't he go into the past and change things?"
Katil met Buffy's gaze. "He cannot. Sauron's power has limits. No one can undo the past for it is the model for the present and the future. Can you remove the foundation of a house, Buffy, and still expect it to stand in the exact same way?"
Biting her lower lip, she pondered the girl's words. Melek has said something similar to her a few months before when she'd asked why Sauron didn't do that. They couldn't kidnap Buffy from the past; they were forced to delve into the future.
"To remove one single thread from a tapestry, it begins a chain reaction and all it was becomes no more." Katil placed her hands on the blonde Slayer's shoulders and gazed deep into her eyes. "I must leave you now. The time is coming. All of Middle-earth lies in wait for it. Three shall arrive and one will fall - a victim to his own weakness. No one can stop it."
['Three shall arrive'? What the hell is she talking about? Could it be some sort of reference to - ] "Katil, what -"
"I must go," Katil interrupted. She released the other Slayer and backed away from her. As she did so, her form faded from sight. "The future awaits all of us, Buffy. Some things that are not yet written cannot be erased."
With that, Katil vanished from sight completely.
"Wait!" Buffy reached out a hand for Katil but she gasped when the door to her room opened. Melek stood in the doorway, no Orc guards with him, and he stared at the Slayer for a moment, curious.
"Whom were you speaking to?" he asked after another moment of odd silence.
Her arm dropped to her side as he stepped into the room. "No one," she answered. "Must've been sleep-talking. And walking." She noted the lack of belief on his face at her explanation. "Really. It's just me in here. Take a look."
Melek walked around the room, his hands locked behind his back as he took the girl up on her offer to look around. He thoroughly inspected the room then finally turned his attention back to Buffy. "Whomever it was you weren't speaking to, they appear to be gone," he announced. He narrowed his eyes slightly at her but pursued the issue no further.
Buffy shrugged. "I don't know what else to tell you."
Melek stopped in front of Buffy and stared upon her. She only stood there, staring back at him. "Have it your way, then," he said once a full minute of quiet passed between them then turned away.
"That's usually how I have it," she quipped. She smiled just a little when he looked over his shoulder at her. "Some days, you have to look out for number one, ay?" She raised an eyebrow, knowingly, when he turned to her.
Melek tilted his head to one side, trying to work out what new game this was. "A strange thing for you to say, I think," he told her. "Where is your endless supply of self-righteousness, Slayer? Your annoying sense of sacred duty?"
She walked towards the window, a casual tone about her voice as she spoke. "Maybe I've had a revelation or two since you last talked to me." She stopped at the window and gazed out at Mount Doom - so close yet so far away. She knew she had to get there - by any means necessary.
"Pray tell, what sort of revelations did you have?" he inquired. He kept up his guard, however. Lord Sauron still did not have full faith in the girl, but he believed she could be of use. Once Sauron had what he wanted, the shape of things to come would be so vastly different.
"I did a lot of thinking," she began as she turned away from the window. Leaning back against the wall, she leveled her gaze on him. "I've had a good look at what kind of forces Sauron is up against in this war. Pathetic bunch out there. Most regular humans are, though. Am I right?"
"Mmm hmm," Melek murmured with a slight nod. "The same pathetic humans you swore to protect."
Buffy shook her head. "That's another thing." She pushed herself away from the wall. "This whole sacred duty mess, it's something I never asked for. Never wanted it and, most days, I still don't." She glanced around. "This would be the perfect chance for me to throw in the towel and quit."
His eyebrows shot up, partly in surprise. "Quit? As in resign your position as Slayer?"
She nodded. "Oh yeah. Exactly. Here's my chance." She threw out her arms. "It's obvious I'm never going to get out of this place, so I better get with program, right?" Her arms dropped back down to her sides as she sighed. "For once in my time as Slayer, I have to admit, somebody's beaten me. I've met my match."
Melek's face broke into a crooked smile after a few moments. He took a step closer to the blonde, his eyes never leaving hers. "And what of your friends?"
"What about them?" She gave another shrug of the shoulders. "The way you tell it, they're as good as dead. They suffer from the same hero complex I do. I DID," she quickly corrected herself. "No reason for everyone to go down with the ship."
"No," he agreed, slowly. He narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. He watched as she closed the distance between them. "There isn't." He paused. "And you would willingly forsake them to Sauron? They've entered the land of Mordor now - all three of them."
Buffy pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Katil's words about the arrival of the three and one falling because of a weakness came flooding back to her. Katil could've only meant Willow, the one Sauron set up this entire game for. He'd probably been working Willow's mind over since she and Xander arrived in Middle-earth.
[I have to stop it,] she thought. The distant rumblings of Mount Doom caught her attention. The machine of Sauron's was the only way. She couldn't change the past but she could alter the future. With the machine, she could travel into HER future from that point in time and prevent herself from being abducted. [It's the only way.]
"I'm not forsaking them," she coolly replied. "They've done that for themselves." She slipped her hands up Melek's chest, rested them on his shoulders then tipped her head back so she could look into his eyes. "Can you blame me for wanting to go with the winner?"
He glanced down at the Slayer's hands but did not return the gesture by coming in contact with her. "And you would have me believe that you are now loyal to Sauron," he asked as he met her gaze once again. "Mere words are not enough, Slayer, to prove such a thing. You'll need more than words -" Another glance at her hands " - and useless seductive charms."
Buffy gripped Melek by the fabric of his clothes and swung him around then gave him a hard push backwards. She amazed herself with the move. Her Slayer strength was returning to her, thanks to the better treatment from Sauron in the last few weeks. She noticed the surprise on Melek's face from his place on his back ... and on her bed.
"Well ..." she said, her tone dropping to a more adult tone. "I guess I'll have to resort to ... something else." She pushed him back as she joined her captor on the bed. He wasn't so big and bad now that she had ten times his strength. If she didn't know better, she could've sworn she saw a bit of fear in his eyes. She leaned closer to him, her face just millimeters away from his. "Won't I?"
"And what do you propose?" inquired Melek. He relaxed once again. He wouldn't let the girl get the one up on him another time. Let her believe she had some sort of control. At least for now.
Buffy smiled. "I can bring them to you."
He searched the Slayer's eyes and found something there. Something he'd never seen before. Maybe she wasn't lying after all. Then again, maybe she was.
"Bring them? What makes you believe Lord Sauron would need you to bring them to him?"
"I'm not saying he does," she coolly answered. She straddled herself over the lower half of his body and her hands slid down his chest. "I want to do it. Wouldn't that prove that I'm on his side, to convince my own friends to come with me ... to Sauron?" She cocked her head to the left. "What does he have to lose?"
"His prisoner," was Melek's reply.
She sat up straight but never took her eyes off of his. One eyebrow arched as her smile faded. "Is that what you think this is, an escape attempt?" She laughed. "If you want to make sure I don't escape, send a few of your thugs with me. I don't care."
Melek stared at her for a long, hard time ... and, finally, a smile gradually crept across his face.
"We shall have it your way, then," he simply said.
_
End Chapter Fourteen.
We're glad everyone's still reading and enjoying the story. Thank you all for being patient in waiting for new chapters. Real life's been getting in our way these days so we're not able to churn this one out like the last. Chapter Fifteen will be on its way within the next two weeks.
