Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who has given me feedback so far. I appreciate it. And an extra-special thanks to my beta reader Sin, for such a quick and thorough job.
Chapter 2 - Into the Woods
In a clearing in Breaker's Woods, Willow sat silently on the ground. Concentrating, she pictured the energy of the earth running through her body, through the ground, through the trees and plants of the forest. All connected. Inhale. Exhale. Feeling the power of Gaia, connecting to the magic.
She felt the wind on her face, the breeze that touched all things. Felt the cold creeping into her body, seeping up through the ground, unimpeded by the fading sunlight. She smelled the soft fragrance of the pine trees surrounding her. She was one with the earth, with the energy.
Not that she was unprepared for trouble, with this being Sunnydale and all and her being out in the soon-to-be-darkness. She had a stake nearby, a crossbow in the bag at her side. No vampire was going to get her tonight. Of course, if some hell-beastie from below was going to rise up and devour her, her weapons might not be adequate...but with her connection to the earth, she'd be able to sense that long before it happened...she hoped.
Focus, she reminded herself. Breathe and focus. She returned her thoughts to her meditation.
****
The vampire had caught her scent a mile away. Rarely were there humans in these woods at night. He had thought he'd have to travel far tonight to find food, but some stroke of luck had brought prey to him. He smiled. It was dinnertime.
****
Though the Griann demon and its kin had been slain, Legolas still felt an evil presence in the forest. Perhaps it was simply the darkness that permeated the air in this place, he thought, holding his head up, as if to hear the long-silent whisperings of the trees. He stood, silent and still, his keen elven senses intent on identifying the source of the evil. There! Treading heavily through the forest was another, likely a vampire, as he could not sense signs of life from its presence. Another sound caught his ear...a voice, a human woman, further away from his current position and right in the vampire's path. He had to stop the vampire before it could kill the woman. Quickly, he raced through the trees, hunting once more.
****
Something was coming. Willow could sense it with her magic long before she could hear its approach through the forest. Whether it was vamp or demon, whatever it was, was evil and heading right for her. She kept her eyes closed, appearing to continue her meditation while reaching back into her bag. Her hand clutched the comforting weight of the crossbow, and she slid it out of the bag. When the thing came for her, she'd be ready. 'I'm nobody's lunch,' she thought.
****
Legolas heard the vampire slowing down as it approached the clearing where the woman sat. Her words were clear now -- an invocation to the earth, a plea for a union with nature's energy - like nothing he'd heard in thousands of years. This young one had a connection with nature far beyond that of most humans - beyond nearly everyone he had known for thousands of years. She was in touch with the earth, rooted in its power....
The snap of a twig under the vampire's feet roused Legolas to action. If he did not take action quickly, the girl in the clearing would perish. He silently pulled out his bow, and in one smooth movement, launched the arrow towards the unsuspecting vampire.
****
Willow said a quick prayer to the goddess before bringing her crossbow up, bolt in position. She whirled around, ready to take out any vamp that dared attack her...but all she saw was dust scattering in the wind.
Dust? She knew there had been a vampire behind her. She hadn't imagined it. But there wasn't a vampire there now. Had Buffy followed her up here? She dismissed that thought, realizing that she would have felt her friend's presence if she had really been there. So, not Buffy. Then who could have dusted the vamp?
Willow's eyes scanned the forest, but somehow, felt him before she saw him. The aura of his magic was strange, like nothing she'd ever felt before. There, at the edge of the clearing, bow still in hand, was the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. She couldn't tear her eyes away from him. He appeared to be about her age, and, aside from the bow, could pass for any UC-Sunnydale student in his leather pants, green turtleneck, and leather jacket. More striking was his long blonde hair, falling down past his shoulders to mid-chest, and his skin, which seemed to glow in the pale moonlight. His eyes were haunted, full of depth and memories. He was an old soul...looked like he had been through hell and back again.
Her gaze ran longingly over his face, taking in the sculpted cheekbones and...pointy ears? He had pointy ears? Did that make him not human, because most of them tended to be bad relationship choices... and when did she start thinking of a relationship with a strange, pointy-eared man she saw in the woods, even if he did save her from a vampire...
Willow closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hoping to calm her racing thoughts, but when she opened her eyes he was gone...
****
Legolas retreated into the forest, shaken by what he had seen in her wide green eyes. Though a mere child compared to his thousands of years on the earth, he saw anguish within her that no one so young should have to face. Her innocence had been lost long ago, her belief in the world's goodness shattered. 'She was not as defenseless as I had first believed,' he thought, remembering the ease with which she held the crossbow. She knew of the darkness, of the monsters that lurked in the forest, yet braved them all to find her peace, her earth-connection. She was beautiful, with her hair the color of fire, and her voice was as melodious as the song of a woodland bird.
He was tempted to stay, to talk with the enchanting creature who had captured his interest as no one had in millennia. But he could not. He had not survived for so long by becoming involved with mortals. Her life span was but the blink of an eye to an immortal elf. He still mourned the loss of his friends from Middle Earth so long ago. He would be ill advised to care for someone who would soon be gone from this world. His heart could not take such grief.
So, he continued his journey through the woods. The vampire was not the only creature of evil present this night. There was work to be done.
****
He was gone. If he'd really been there at all. Could she have imagined him? She'd been under a lot of stress, after all, what with school, the Scooby gang, and trying not to degenerate into world-destroying evil. Anyone would be stressed....and imagine sexy, leather-clad, pointy-eared men in the forest.
Who was she kidding? She'd finally gone completely and totally nuts. Waiting for the men in white to take her away and put her in the rubber room. And when had she started to find men sexy again, pointy-eared or not?
She wasn't ready for this, wasn't ready to come back to Sunnydale. She should be in England, learning from Miss Hartness and the Coven. Goddess, her spell hadn't even worked. She didn't feel connected and rootsy anymore. She'd been trying to bring forth the same Paraguayan plant she'd conjured in England. But no luck. No plant.
Willow turned to leave. She really needed to get back to the cabin. No telling what was left in the woods around here. There could be more vampires, or hell-monsters, or big, scary bears. As she started back to the cabin, her foot brushed up against something. Looking down, she saw a plant that hadn't been there before. Not the flora kua alaya, but something different. She inspected the plant. She'd seen it somewhere before, but where... then she remembered. Not from botany class, but from her magic books. It was Kingsfoil, which had been reportedly used for its healing properties long before the written word had appeared. Most modern-day botanists believed that it was pure myth.
Maybe it wasn't as mythological as they'd thought. She couldn't have brought forth a mythological plant, could she? It had to have come from somewhere in the earth, right? Why Kingsfoil? Did she subconsciously think she needed healing? Willow shook her head. She didn't seem to know anything anymore...and she definitely couldn't control her magic like she needed to.
What she did know was that she had to get back to the cabin before something else attacked. With a wave of her hand, the plant retreated into the earth, and Willow walked out of the clearing.
Chapter 2 - Into the Woods
In a clearing in Breaker's Woods, Willow sat silently on the ground. Concentrating, she pictured the energy of the earth running through her body, through the ground, through the trees and plants of the forest. All connected. Inhale. Exhale. Feeling the power of Gaia, connecting to the magic.
She felt the wind on her face, the breeze that touched all things. Felt the cold creeping into her body, seeping up through the ground, unimpeded by the fading sunlight. She smelled the soft fragrance of the pine trees surrounding her. She was one with the earth, with the energy.
Not that she was unprepared for trouble, with this being Sunnydale and all and her being out in the soon-to-be-darkness. She had a stake nearby, a crossbow in the bag at her side. No vampire was going to get her tonight. Of course, if some hell-beastie from below was going to rise up and devour her, her weapons might not be adequate...but with her connection to the earth, she'd be able to sense that long before it happened...she hoped.
Focus, she reminded herself. Breathe and focus. She returned her thoughts to her meditation.
****
The vampire had caught her scent a mile away. Rarely were there humans in these woods at night. He had thought he'd have to travel far tonight to find food, but some stroke of luck had brought prey to him. He smiled. It was dinnertime.
****
Though the Griann demon and its kin had been slain, Legolas still felt an evil presence in the forest. Perhaps it was simply the darkness that permeated the air in this place, he thought, holding his head up, as if to hear the long-silent whisperings of the trees. He stood, silent and still, his keen elven senses intent on identifying the source of the evil. There! Treading heavily through the forest was another, likely a vampire, as he could not sense signs of life from its presence. Another sound caught his ear...a voice, a human woman, further away from his current position and right in the vampire's path. He had to stop the vampire before it could kill the woman. Quickly, he raced through the trees, hunting once more.
****
Something was coming. Willow could sense it with her magic long before she could hear its approach through the forest. Whether it was vamp or demon, whatever it was, was evil and heading right for her. She kept her eyes closed, appearing to continue her meditation while reaching back into her bag. Her hand clutched the comforting weight of the crossbow, and she slid it out of the bag. When the thing came for her, she'd be ready. 'I'm nobody's lunch,' she thought.
****
Legolas heard the vampire slowing down as it approached the clearing where the woman sat. Her words were clear now -- an invocation to the earth, a plea for a union with nature's energy - like nothing he'd heard in thousands of years. This young one had a connection with nature far beyond that of most humans - beyond nearly everyone he had known for thousands of years. She was in touch with the earth, rooted in its power....
The snap of a twig under the vampire's feet roused Legolas to action. If he did not take action quickly, the girl in the clearing would perish. He silently pulled out his bow, and in one smooth movement, launched the arrow towards the unsuspecting vampire.
****
Willow said a quick prayer to the goddess before bringing her crossbow up, bolt in position. She whirled around, ready to take out any vamp that dared attack her...but all she saw was dust scattering in the wind.
Dust? She knew there had been a vampire behind her. She hadn't imagined it. But there wasn't a vampire there now. Had Buffy followed her up here? She dismissed that thought, realizing that she would have felt her friend's presence if she had really been there. So, not Buffy. Then who could have dusted the vamp?
Willow's eyes scanned the forest, but somehow, felt him before she saw him. The aura of his magic was strange, like nothing she'd ever felt before. There, at the edge of the clearing, bow still in hand, was the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. She couldn't tear her eyes away from him. He appeared to be about her age, and, aside from the bow, could pass for any UC-Sunnydale student in his leather pants, green turtleneck, and leather jacket. More striking was his long blonde hair, falling down past his shoulders to mid-chest, and his skin, which seemed to glow in the pale moonlight. His eyes were haunted, full of depth and memories. He was an old soul...looked like he had been through hell and back again.
Her gaze ran longingly over his face, taking in the sculpted cheekbones and...pointy ears? He had pointy ears? Did that make him not human, because most of them tended to be bad relationship choices... and when did she start thinking of a relationship with a strange, pointy-eared man she saw in the woods, even if he did save her from a vampire...
Willow closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hoping to calm her racing thoughts, but when she opened her eyes he was gone...
****
Legolas retreated into the forest, shaken by what he had seen in her wide green eyes. Though a mere child compared to his thousands of years on the earth, he saw anguish within her that no one so young should have to face. Her innocence had been lost long ago, her belief in the world's goodness shattered. 'She was not as defenseless as I had first believed,' he thought, remembering the ease with which she held the crossbow. She knew of the darkness, of the monsters that lurked in the forest, yet braved them all to find her peace, her earth-connection. She was beautiful, with her hair the color of fire, and her voice was as melodious as the song of a woodland bird.
He was tempted to stay, to talk with the enchanting creature who had captured his interest as no one had in millennia. But he could not. He had not survived for so long by becoming involved with mortals. Her life span was but the blink of an eye to an immortal elf. He still mourned the loss of his friends from Middle Earth so long ago. He would be ill advised to care for someone who would soon be gone from this world. His heart could not take such grief.
So, he continued his journey through the woods. The vampire was not the only creature of evil present this night. There was work to be done.
****
He was gone. If he'd really been there at all. Could she have imagined him? She'd been under a lot of stress, after all, what with school, the Scooby gang, and trying not to degenerate into world-destroying evil. Anyone would be stressed....and imagine sexy, leather-clad, pointy-eared men in the forest.
Who was she kidding? She'd finally gone completely and totally nuts. Waiting for the men in white to take her away and put her in the rubber room. And when had she started to find men sexy again, pointy-eared or not?
She wasn't ready for this, wasn't ready to come back to Sunnydale. She should be in England, learning from Miss Hartness and the Coven. Goddess, her spell hadn't even worked. She didn't feel connected and rootsy anymore. She'd been trying to bring forth the same Paraguayan plant she'd conjured in England. But no luck. No plant.
Willow turned to leave. She really needed to get back to the cabin. No telling what was left in the woods around here. There could be more vampires, or hell-monsters, or big, scary bears. As she started back to the cabin, her foot brushed up against something. Looking down, she saw a plant that hadn't been there before. Not the flora kua alaya, but something different. She inspected the plant. She'd seen it somewhere before, but where... then she remembered. Not from botany class, but from her magic books. It was Kingsfoil, which had been reportedly used for its healing properties long before the written word had appeared. Most modern-day botanists believed that it was pure myth.
Maybe it wasn't as mythological as they'd thought. She couldn't have brought forth a mythological plant, could she? It had to have come from somewhere in the earth, right? Why Kingsfoil? Did she subconsciously think she needed healing? Willow shook her head. She didn't seem to know anything anymore...and she definitely couldn't control her magic like she needed to.
What she did know was that she had to get back to the cabin before something else attacked. With a wave of her hand, the plant retreated into the earth, and Willow walked out of the clearing.