Hey, all. Last chapter was enormous, and I'm getting right down to work on this one. By the way, if anyone is interested in giving the chapters names, send me an email or an IM. Or a review. Actually, send those reviews anyway. But I'm serious about naming chapters, since I'm terrible at it and what there is now seems kind of silly.
"Tonight?" Dumbledore asked, sharply. "You are sure?"
"Yes," Snape breathed. "I'm sure. They were preparing things even as I left."
"Then we've got act fast," Angel said. "Come on, lead us there."
Dumbledore looked like he wanted to protest. There was nothing for it, though. They had to go now if there was going to be a chance.
"Okay," Dumbledore said. "Good luck."
They left the office, Dumbledore shaking his head. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.
Snape lead the way quickly through the castle. No one spoke; it was assumed that some form of transportation was available. Sure enough, at the dock by the lake, Dumbledore's illegal flying carpets lay in wait, as well as several new carpets.
"This one," Snape said, taciturnly. He climbed aboard a carpet. Craig, Angel, Willow, Lupin, and Faith piled on after him.
As the carpet rose into the air, Snape explained it to them. "This is the new stealth model," he said. "Right now, this carpet and everything on it is invisible to everyone not on it."
"Nice," Craig said. "Does it have any weapons on board?"
"Of course," Snape snapped. He pulled on a small handle on the carpet, and case of weapons rose out of it.
"Weird," muttered Faith.
Snape opened the crate. Inside were several broadswords, knives, axes, and about twenty stakes. The six loaded up on stakes and chose weapons. And they settled in.
"How long is it going to take to get there?" Willow asked.
"Half an hour," Snape said. The countryside was whizzing quickly by. They'd already crossed the English Channel. "We'll cross through France, Switzerland, Italy, and then we'll travel over the Adriatic Sea and come at the forest from the north."
There wasn't much to see on the trip; the land was moving by too quickly for them to see anything clearly. And then there was just water.
"We're nearly there," Snape said. "Okay, when we get there, we're going to have to be completely silent. The forest is patrolled by all manner of Dark creatures. There is only one safe way for us to sneak in.
"We're going in a hole in the patrol perimeter. Once we're through, we'll hit ground clear of patrols, but not without dangers of its own. After that, we'll come to the camp.
"I didn't get too detailed a look around, but the Dark Lord is sure to have everything essential to the ritual very heavily guarded.
"One last thing," Snape said. "The amount of Dark magic in use here has polluted the air. Being there has a wearing effect on anyone who isn't evil. So be careful."
The carpet slowed down, no longer blurring the landscape under them. It turned, and they were soon flying over the shore. A couple of minutes later, they passed over a ridge and below them, hidden by the ridge, was an enormous, dark forest. Smoke rose from its center, forming and un-forming the Dark Mark.
"Gee, that's not too creepy," Willow said.
The carpet set down, and the six jumped immediately off. The carpet flattened itself into the terrain and became invisible. Snape took a little trinket out of his pocket and pressed a button on it. "When next I press that button, the carpet will become visible again," he explained. "Lets go, and stay absolutely quiet."
They entered the forest. The tree's seemed to loom to impossible heights all around them. All kept quiet and followed Snape.
After a few minutes of running silently through the forest, Snape stopped them. "We're past the perimeter," he said.
"That was easy," Faith muttered. "We never even saw a patrol."
"That is because they didn't want us to see them," Snape said, more acid coming through his voice. "The lucky thing is that they didn't us. Come on. There are still dangers here."
They proceeded again. They went maybe fifteen feet when Craig stopped. So did Angel.
"What is it?" Lupin asked.
"A demon," Angel said. "I'm not sure what..."
There was a loud screech, and a scaly bird swooped down out of the trees at them. Lupin reached for his wand, but Craig had already leapt upon the bird and grabbed a hold of it.
He hung on, trying to get a better grip, and brought his sword around and sliced at the birds neck. Its scales protected it. It began to flap its massive wings, trying to get altitude and shake Craig off.
Craig pressed his sword under one of the bird's neck scales. He pried a bit, until the scale ripped away, leaving a patch of exposed flesh. Seeing this, his eyes glistened.
The bird nearing the tree line...he would be visible soon...Craig plunged his sword into the expose flesh of the bird's neck. It screeched again, this time in pain, and it stopped flapping. It fell back to Earth, dead.
Craig let go of his hold on the creature and grabbed a branch on the way down, swinging around it to slow his descent. After slowing his speed, he dropped the rest of the way and landed in a crouch.
He looked up at the group. "Problem solved," he said. "Lets go."
They continued on. "What was that thing?" Willow asked.
"I don't know," Lupin answered. "And I thought I knew every Dark creature in the book."
"I don't think you'll find that in any book anywhere, Remus," Snape said, his usual viciousness holding true. "I believe the Dark Lord has been breeding new Dark Creatures. This part of the forest is full of his...mistakes."
This caused a bout of silence. They continued advancing. After a few minutes, Angel piped up. "How big is this forest, anyway?"
"Large," Snape said. "About twenty-five miles in diameter. We have another mile to cover."
About seven minutes or so later, the trees stopped. It was a bit shocking; there wasn't much warning, like more light, but there was a definite clearing.
"Excellent," Snape said. "We're right where we want to be. These grounds are being prepared for the use of the vampires, once they're all here. But they're not done, and they're not patrolled.
"We'll enter here and head south towards the Lake. You already know what you have to do. Let's go."
They came out into the open, but hugged the tree line as they headed south. The ground they walked on was dead. And dark. After a moment of stealthy walking, Willow looked up. "Hey, there aren't any stars here!"
"This forest is in state of constant darkness," Snape said. "Makes it easier to house vampires. Even the stars are blotted out."
They continued, until the tree line began to curve east. A vast, empty crater lay before them, with a huge tower looming up at one of the sides, supporting a platform that was over the crater.
"That's it," Snape said, unnecessarily. "Get a good look at it. If we all fail, then we'll have to take out the anointed during the ritual."
They looked up at the platform. Spikes rose up from underneath it to conceal whatever was up there. It was at least sixty feet in the air.
"Right, then," Snape said. They split up.
Lupin and Snape headed south down the Lake's western shore, towards to tower. "Do you have any idea where these captives are being held?" Lupin asked, evenly.
"I have some idea," Snape said. "They're somewhere between Voldemort's tent and the Lake. We'll start our search at the Lake and fan out from there."
They did this, making sure to stay well out of range of the patrols guarding the Lake. They drew parallel with the tower and turned west.
The dark, misty quality of the clearing got thicker as they left the trees behind and headed towards the center of the clearing. After traveling only a few feet, they could only see ten or twenty feet ahead of them. Lupin considered lighting his wand, but thought better of it. Instead, he listened to the wolf inside him, which told him that when his eyes began to fail him, he still had four other senses.
"Listen," Lupin said, after a moment of walking. "Do you hear that?"
Snape stopped. He craned his neck and listened. "Yes," he said, after a moment. "I do."
The sound of crying was drifting through the mist towards them from a point to the northwest. They turned slightly and hurried to see what there was.
After a moment, they found it. A huge cage, suspended above a pit of spikes and shrapnel, filled with human beings. Some were unconscious. Most weren't. All showed the signs of having been forcibly restrained. There was a guard of five Death Eaters and...a Giant.
Snape and Lupin instantly took cover behind a large rock. "Okay," Lupin said. "How do we get them out, now?"
Angel and Faith traveled lightly and silently. "If you were an anointed man, or a man being anointed, where would you be?" Faith asked, softly.
"Death Eaters tents," Angel said. "Snape told me how to find them. We'll look there first, but if he's not there, then he's probably in Voldemort's tent or the tower."
Faith glanced back at the tower. They'd gone around the lake and were heading into the southern part of the clearing. She shivered. She didn't want to go in there.
"What is it about that thing?" she asked. "It's givin' me the shivers."
"It's a conduit of Dark energy," Angel explained. "The ritual requires enormous amounts of Dark energy, and that thing channels it out of the Hellmouth below us into the Lake and the platform."
"How do you know all this?" Faith asked.
"Cause I did my homework when I was just a little demon," Angel replied. "Come on, we have some ground to cover."
They did this quickly. They passed through the now deserted Death Eater's training grounds, which featured a grotesque mixture of ordinary training equipment and torture equipment.
"There they are," Angel said, indicating a set of tents ahead. There were a lot of them - probably fifty, Faith guessed. And they didn't know if the tents were enchanted for size, which meant each of them could be the size of Times Square.
Faith sighed. This was going to be long and difficult, and in the end, perhaps pointless.
Willow stumbled a bit. Craig grabbed her and steadied her. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said. "Its just that I'm getting huge amounts of the bad guy vibe from this place, and its giving me a headache."
"Headache," Craig said, amusedly. "I get so many of them that I don't even notice anymore."
"You are the only person I know who could grin in a place like this," Willow said.
Craig didn't respond, and the grin disappeared. Willow shook her head. Figuring out Craig was something for another time - another time in which there was lots of spare time.
They headed quickly west across the vampire lodging grounds, looking for Voldemort's enormous tent. It was there that Snape believed the Dagger was hidden, and Craig's natural ability for making himself appear invisible made him the natural candidate for sneaking into the tent.
"When I get in, you'll have to keep watch and tell me telepathically what's going on outside," Craig said. "I need to know if the guards realize I'm there."
"I've got you covered," Willow said, massaging her head.
A huge, two story tent loomed into view. Craig and Willow stopped. "I'm guessing that's it," Willow said.
"Yeah," Craig replied. "Can't imagine that its not."
They crept closer, until they could see clearly the guards standing out side the door to the tent. Five Death Eaters stood outside the tent, and three more circled it constantly, watching.
Willow and Craig crouched low. "Okay, this is it," Craig whispered. "I'm going in."
Faith and Angel walked stealthily through the tents. They looked quickly into each one. They saw nothing of interest, and none of the occupants of the tents noticed them.
For a while, anyway.
They were on the last row of tents when Angel emerged onto the main walkway and ran into a pair of Death Eaters.
"Who are you?" one of them asked, sharply.
"Who, me?" Angel asked. "I'm a big fan! I'm a vampire! I'm here to see the Rite of Mars!"
The Death Eaters looked at each other. Faith snuck around behind them, silently.
"Don't you boys believe me?" Angel asked, morphing his face to add to the story.
Faith got behind them. She came up directly behind them, and in one swift, sure motion, smashed their heads together. They crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
"Never trust the fans, kiddies," Angel said, as he and Faith dragged them out of sight and took away their wands.
They resumed the search. And finally, in the last tent in the row, they found him.
Latin words floated out of the tent, which glowed slightly from what was going in inside. Angel translated softly for Faith's benefit.
"And I shall swear, upon the existence of Life, and the existence of Death, that I shall Forever be in the service of the great and holy Mars, of which our power is drawn, that he may bathe tonight in the blood of the innocent..."
"That's enough, thanks," Faith said. She seemed a bit nervous. "Let's just get this guy so we can go home."
Angel smiled. "I would assume that you would prefer me to do the actual killing?" he asked.
She looked at him in gratitude. "Sorry," she said. "Even if he's evil, I still have a problem with killing. Don't want to slip..."
"I understand," Angel said.
They eliminated the guard quickly and efficiently. They were about to enter the tent when a pair of Stunners hit them from behind, knocking them out.
Snape and Lupin still crouched under the rock. "A diversion," Snape suggested. "I draw away as much of the guard as possible, and remove the rest and free the people."
Lupin nodded. It was as sound a plan as he could think of, and time was running out. "Go, then," he said.
Snape straightened up. Then he bolted towards the cage. "Quickly! We're under attack! By the Giant's quarters!"
The Death Eaters all recognized Snape. Two of them, plus the Giant, followed him away to the south west.
"Three left," Lupin muttered. "This will be tricky."
He weighed his options. Stunners left too wide a margin of time; he could Stun two of them before they could send up an alarm, but not all three. He settled on a Silence Blanketing Charm.
Lupin raised his wand. "Largifluus Silencio!" he muttered.
Instantly, all the crying stopped. The Death Eaters turned in shock, and tried to ask each other what had happened. They found that they couldn't. They raised their wands into the air to send up an alarm...and they couldn't say the words to make the spell work. Lupin stood and sent Stunners at them quickly.
Two of them went down right away, but the third blocked the Stunner. This Death Eater slashed at Lupin, and Lupin ducked back to avoid it. The slash cut the rock neatly. Lupin rolled out from behind the rock and cast another Stunner. This time, the Death Eater was hit, and he crumbled to the ground.
"Finite Incantatem," Lupin said.
Instantly, the voices of the prisoners were returned. None of them said anything for a moment, then they began yelling again. Lupin smiled, completely without mirth. As long as they were yelling, no one would be suspicious.
Snape lead the three Death Eaters and the Giant for about three hundred feet, and then allowed them to get ahead of him. He knew what he had planned.
Snape drew out his wand. He pointed it at the cluster of Death Eaters and muttered, "Ereptio". Instantly, they broke down, twitching and jerking. The Giant didn't notice, not until Snape's Stunner hit it. It fell to the ground, making a slight sound not unlike a felled tree.
Making sure that all three Death Eaters were unconscious from the Seizure Charm, Snape turned and hurried back to the Cage site.
When he arrived, he found Lupin picking through the pockets of one of the Death Eaters. All were Stunned. Wordlessly, Snape began to help.
After a moment, though, Lupin looked up. Voices were fast approaching. He grabbed Snape, and, without an explanation, dove behind the rock.
"Oh, shit," Snape muttered, as he saw what the new Death Eater's carried.
Suspended on invisible stretchers were Angel and Faith. "Look!" the lead Death Eater said. "They've been here too!"
"How many do you suppose there are?" asked another.
"I don't know," the lead said. He smiled viciously. "But they're just food for the Lake now."
The eight of them took up a defensive perimeter around the cage, into which they tossed Angel and Faith. Lupin watched as the two of them flew directly through the bars.
"One-way cage," Snape muttered.
"I don't suppose they'd fall for the same distraction?" Lupin asked.
"Don't be an idiot," Snape snapped. "They're on alert now. And besides, those are smart men. They wouldn't fall for it anyway."
Lupin nodded. This was bad...and it was getting worse.
Craig had no problem getting into the tent. The patrol outside had been too far away to even feel the breeze as he passed them and entered.
The tent itself was two stories, with a wide, sweeping staircase directly ahead as he entered. And at the top of the staircase there was a glass display case.
"Bingo," Craig muttered. Hugging the outer wall of the tent, Craig skipped the staircase and leapt the distance up onto the second level.
So far so good. No word from Willow meant everything was good. Or so he hoped.
Two Death Eaters guarded the case. Craig came up behind them and touched the case. He concentrated hard on it, and a little red circle began to trace itself around on the glass. When it was done, the circlet of glass fell out, and Craig caught it, putting it in his pocket. He reached in and took a hold of the Dagger. He seemed home free, pulling it out. As soon as the Dagger had completely left the case, the whole tent erupted in an enormous alarm.
Both Death Eaters whirled instantly. Craig met the first one with a reverse heel kick that knocked the Death Eater over the railing. The second hurried across the case to meet Craig, but Craig met him halfway and, whirling, delivered an elbow to the side of the Death Eater's head. His head smashed into and through the glass case, knocking him unconscious.
Craig quickly descended the stairs. He was going to make it out. He gripped the Dagger tightly as he went through the door of the tent...and was yanked back into it.
He skidded to a halt on the floor. He was disoriented - the abrupt and violent change of directions had thrown him a bit. He shook his head to clear the stars away and jumped to his feet. He was about to try again when a voice spoke from the top level.
"Don't bother," the voice said. Craig turned, and saw Lord Voldemort staring down at him. "Thee Dagger is enchanted, so that only the anointed man may remove it from this tent. Ingenious, no?"
Craig snarled, all semblance of rational thought forgotten. He felt something strange come over him, and he felt his face...change...somehow. But it wasn't important. He sprang at Voldemort, wanting to rip, tear, anything against the thing standing before him.
Halfway there, Voldemort's Stunner hit him, and he knew no more.
Outside, Willow tried to focus on the Death Eaters in front of the tent, but found it increasingly difficult. The headache had grown into a roaring throb in the back of her head.
Her vision began to blur and she collapsed. A moment later, as Death Eaters swarmed into Voldemort's tent, she was picked up by Voldemort himself. He grinned as he carried the two limp forms toward the cage.
From their place of concealment, Snape and Lupin watched as Voldemort approached. Lupin shuddered a bit. The last time Lupin had seen Voldemort face to face...it hadn't been pretty.
Voldemort was carrying two figures. Though he couldn't make out who they were, exactly, he could guess that Willow and Craig had been captured. Voldemort drew up to the Cage and tossed the two forms inside.
Angel stirred as two more figures came hurtling. One he immediately recognized as Willow. The other took a moment, but Angel realized that it was Craig.
Craig seemed grotesquely changed. His face, which had been fairly normal, now contained lines that crisscrossed his face. All his features seemed to have sharpened. When he opened his eyes, they were no longer blue; they were red.
Craig snarled first, then seemed to come back into himself a bit. The lines faded, and his eyes changed back to blue. He was startled.
"What just happened...?" he asked. For a moment, he seemed scared and lost.
"You really don't know?" Voldemort asked, from outside the Cage. "What you are?"
"Don't listen, Craig," Angel advised. "Don't pay attention."
But unfortunately, Craig had already been ensnared. "What do you know about me?" he asked, forgetting for the moment who is was he was addressing.
"You are a taedia, Craig," Voldemort said. "The word is very old, so don't bother looking it up. Not that you'll ever get the chance. I suppose that isn't surprising that you didn't know, though; you've been with the wrong crowd to really know your origins.
"After all, none of your friends have anywhere near as complete a knowledge of the history Dark creatures as I do."
Craig absorbed this quickly. "I'm not a demon," he said.
"Oh, but you are," Voldemort said. "But that is immaterial. Soon enough, you won't be demon, you'll just be a corpse."
The Cage began to move. The occupants, who had never stopped crying, began crying louder. Angel crawled up to Craig. "We need to figure out how to get out of here," he said.
"You think?" Craig responded. "These bars are magically made. They're much too strong for either or both of us to break."
"Where are Snape and Lupin?" Angel asked.
"I haven't seen them," Craig admitted. He cast around for a moment. Faith was waking up. Neither of the two wizards was present.
"Maybe they're still free," Angel suggested, completing his own visual survey of the Cage.
"Or maybe they're dead," Craig suggested grimly. He looked out of the bars. Through the mist, he could see the Tower coming into view. Faith joined them. She looked out as well.
"This really isn't good," she said.
"You noticed that too?" Craig asked.
The Cage stopped moving forward. Then, with a sickening lurch, it began to rise. Slowly it ascended towards the platform.
"I hope you have a plan," Craig said, looking to Faith and Angel.
"I'd pray, but it doesn't work too good for vampires," Angel said.
They reached the top and moved forward, so that the Cage drew level with the platform. A man stood there. His eyes glowed with Dark energy, and when Craig looked down to the crater below, he saw a swirling dark vortex open there.
The anointed man licked his lips. "The Ritual of Mars has begun," he said. His voice came in a huge rumbling wave, shaking the Cage. "You are, as of this moment, dead."
The Cage door opened. One of the prisoners flew out. Angel and Craig tried to rush the open door, but an invisible force threw them back. The man laughed and turned to his victim. He held up the Dagger, and made a small slit in the young girl's throat. She screamed; the Dagger had begun to burn red. Her blood came slowly at first, the first drops hitting the vortex below and causing it to swirl faster. Then, as the Dagger was thrust into her more and more, she bled quicker. She stopped screaming.
When she was done, a matter of minutes after the Cage had been opened for the first time, the chosen man tossed her body down into the crater. It passed through the vortex, connecting with the crater bottom with a sickening lurch. Craig took a double take. None of the substantial amount of blood that had already been spilled was below the vortex.
Another victim, a middle aged man, was pulled by the invisible force. The chosen plunged into his neck more quickly; the first kill was more tantalizing, but now the chosen wanted to get it over with quicker. Though he was enjoying this, he was on a schedule.
Willow awoke, two hours later, to a splitting headache and an awful stench. She was laying inside a cage, and she had no idea how she'd gotten there. Or where 'there' was, exactly. All she knew was that she was angry. Really angry.
She sat up and crawled over to the side of the cage, where Craig, Angel, and Faith sat, looking shell shocked. "What's going on?" Willow asked.
None of them spoke. Faith pointed down out of the cage, into a crater below them. There lay bodies...perhaps several hundred of them. Not a drop of blood, though.
"They're saving us for last," Angel said.
"I can already hear them," Craig said. "Maybe it's the magic, but...its never happened so fast..."
Willow looked around the cage. Aside from her friends, the cage was empty. In front of her, outside the cage, the chosen was draining the last victim. As his blood hit the vortex, it stopped swirling, violently.
Willow's eyes darkened, taking on a familiar, evil black. Angel noticed it first; he was the only one who knew what it meant, anyway. "Willow..." he said, but it was too late.
As the chosen tossed the body of the final victim away and turned, smiling, to the four left from Hogwarts, two things happened simultaneously. One, a bolt of magical energy from somewhere on the Lake's shore came up and narrowly missed the chosen. And two, Willow's dark energy destroyed the bottom of their cage. They instantly fell towards the ground.
Lupin and Snape, who had fired the magic that should have hit the chosen, saw their friends fall and hastened to slow their descent with magic. Faith, Angel, and Craig slowed quickly, but Willow had stopped falling all together. They were under the Dark vortex, which vibrated, awaiting the finality of the ritual.
Seeing their friends out of danger, Lupin took aim at the anointed man once more, while Snape hastened to hold off the onrush of Death Eaters.
Seeing that his Death Eaters could not reach Lupin and Snape in time, Voldemort's eyes flashed towards his shocked anointed man. Upon Voldemort's command, the Dagger flew out of the anointed man's hand, circling around to slice his stomach open. The blade circled one more time, and removed the anointed man's head completely.
Lupin's spell connected with the anointed man, but it was already too late. His blood fell towards the vortex just as Willow landed...
The second the blood touched the vortex, it exploded, knocking everyone except Willow down. Instantly, before anyone could register what was going on, the bottom of the vortex opened up - and rained blood.
"Come on," Angel said, choking slightly the blood that was quickly filling the lake. "We have to get out, or you'll drown!"
Both Lupin and Snape were busy defending themselves, so they couldn't help. Angel grabbed Faith and Craig and prepared to jump. "What about Willow?" Craig asked.
"Believe me," Angel said. "When she's like this, you don't want to go near her."
Angel put everything he had into the leap. The shore of the Lake was probably about twenty feet in the air; he could manage that.
He did, though just barely. When the three hit the shore, Angel's knee's gave out, and he collapsed. With a groan, he felt his legs. Faith felt them, too. "Nothing broken," she said. "But it may have popped a joint. This is gonna hurt," she added.
Angel barely had time to say, "What?", before Faith wrenched his leg around. He yelled. A second later, he stood. "Thanks," he said.
"Any time," Faith replied.
A small group of demons, loyal to Voldemort for reason's best left unsaid, rushed the three. They met them, fighting furiously with what remained of their strength.
As Craig swung a demon around by its clawed hands and heaved it into the lake, he noticed Willow still there, standing, apparently, on the surface of the lake. She was looking towards the sky, where the vortex was nearly finished spewing blood.
"What's she doing?" Craig asked.
"Don't know," Angel said. "But you can bet its not going to be pretty."
A second later, as the scales had just begun to tip in favor of the demons, the whole world seemed to explode.
Willow's mouth opened in a scream that transcended the spectrum of human hearing and beyond. Waves of Dark energy erupted from all over her body, lashing out in all directions. A moment later, Willow herself passed out and was caught by the concussion wave of her own Dark explosion.
Craig crawled over the ground, now littered with blood, skin, steel, and mud, towards the trees. If he could only reach the trees...
The explosion had seemingly taken reality, balled it up, given it a good hard shake, then dumped out what was left. Craig counted himself lucky to have survived. A few more seconds in that concussion wave, and he probably wouldn't have, but he'd managed to duck out of it at the last moment. And now the tree line, and safety, was so close, he could nearly taste it.
He reached the trees, agonizingly. He leaned up against one and turned to look at the devastation.
The tower was gone; fragments of metal showed that it had not weathered the blast well at all. The mist that had surrounded the camp had been blown away, revealing that most structures in the forest clearing now lay in peaces. The forest itself had been flattened a great deal; these trees that Craig now took shelter in had not been close to the line before.
But still the Lake stood, calmly riling with blood.
Craig wasn't aware of his crawl through the forest; he was aware only of finding the spot where the carpet had lain and passing out completely.
When he awoke again, the carpet was in the air, and flying over the sea again. Craig looked around, woozily. Snape had a large gash running down the side of his face, and Lupin's arm hung in a hastily made sling. Angel sat on the other side of the carpet, his legs drawn out before him, both visibly broken. Faith kneeled next to Angel, trying to straighten out the vampire's leg. She was bruised and cut in several different locations. And Willow lay next him. She was cut all over, and was bleeding from several of the cuts.
"We found her at the edge of the forest," Snape said, seeing Craig awake and questioning. "She had no right to survive a spell like that, and yet, she is still breathing."
Craig smiled. They had all lived, then. He didn't know how they had managed to screw things up so badly and still come out alive, but it had happened. Craig's bemused smile didn't waiver as he passed out again.
Gee. That took a while to get out, but there it is. Phew. Gory, no? Please, oh PLEASE, write me a review! I need to hear what you have to say in order to keep banging out new chapters. Did I just say banging? Oops. Sorry, kids. Oh, and say 'Bunker Shorts' if you want to see more of that kind of action - I know that it can sometimes bore people. Thanks.
"Tonight?" Dumbledore asked, sharply. "You are sure?"
"Yes," Snape breathed. "I'm sure. They were preparing things even as I left."
"Then we've got act fast," Angel said. "Come on, lead us there."
Dumbledore looked like he wanted to protest. There was nothing for it, though. They had to go now if there was going to be a chance.
"Okay," Dumbledore said. "Good luck."
They left the office, Dumbledore shaking his head. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.
Snape lead the way quickly through the castle. No one spoke; it was assumed that some form of transportation was available. Sure enough, at the dock by the lake, Dumbledore's illegal flying carpets lay in wait, as well as several new carpets.
"This one," Snape said, taciturnly. He climbed aboard a carpet. Craig, Angel, Willow, Lupin, and Faith piled on after him.
As the carpet rose into the air, Snape explained it to them. "This is the new stealth model," he said. "Right now, this carpet and everything on it is invisible to everyone not on it."
"Nice," Craig said. "Does it have any weapons on board?"
"Of course," Snape snapped. He pulled on a small handle on the carpet, and case of weapons rose out of it.
"Weird," muttered Faith.
Snape opened the crate. Inside were several broadswords, knives, axes, and about twenty stakes. The six loaded up on stakes and chose weapons. And they settled in.
"How long is it going to take to get there?" Willow asked.
"Half an hour," Snape said. The countryside was whizzing quickly by. They'd already crossed the English Channel. "We'll cross through France, Switzerland, Italy, and then we'll travel over the Adriatic Sea and come at the forest from the north."
There wasn't much to see on the trip; the land was moving by too quickly for them to see anything clearly. And then there was just water.
"We're nearly there," Snape said. "Okay, when we get there, we're going to have to be completely silent. The forest is patrolled by all manner of Dark creatures. There is only one safe way for us to sneak in.
"We're going in a hole in the patrol perimeter. Once we're through, we'll hit ground clear of patrols, but not without dangers of its own. After that, we'll come to the camp.
"I didn't get too detailed a look around, but the Dark Lord is sure to have everything essential to the ritual very heavily guarded.
"One last thing," Snape said. "The amount of Dark magic in use here has polluted the air. Being there has a wearing effect on anyone who isn't evil. So be careful."
The carpet slowed down, no longer blurring the landscape under them. It turned, and they were soon flying over the shore. A couple of minutes later, they passed over a ridge and below them, hidden by the ridge, was an enormous, dark forest. Smoke rose from its center, forming and un-forming the Dark Mark.
"Gee, that's not too creepy," Willow said.
The carpet set down, and the six jumped immediately off. The carpet flattened itself into the terrain and became invisible. Snape took a little trinket out of his pocket and pressed a button on it. "When next I press that button, the carpet will become visible again," he explained. "Lets go, and stay absolutely quiet."
They entered the forest. The tree's seemed to loom to impossible heights all around them. All kept quiet and followed Snape.
After a few minutes of running silently through the forest, Snape stopped them. "We're past the perimeter," he said.
"That was easy," Faith muttered. "We never even saw a patrol."
"That is because they didn't want us to see them," Snape said, more acid coming through his voice. "The lucky thing is that they didn't us. Come on. There are still dangers here."
They proceeded again. They went maybe fifteen feet when Craig stopped. So did Angel.
"What is it?" Lupin asked.
"A demon," Angel said. "I'm not sure what..."
There was a loud screech, and a scaly bird swooped down out of the trees at them. Lupin reached for his wand, but Craig had already leapt upon the bird and grabbed a hold of it.
He hung on, trying to get a better grip, and brought his sword around and sliced at the birds neck. Its scales protected it. It began to flap its massive wings, trying to get altitude and shake Craig off.
Craig pressed his sword under one of the bird's neck scales. He pried a bit, until the scale ripped away, leaving a patch of exposed flesh. Seeing this, his eyes glistened.
The bird nearing the tree line...he would be visible soon...Craig plunged his sword into the expose flesh of the bird's neck. It screeched again, this time in pain, and it stopped flapping. It fell back to Earth, dead.
Craig let go of his hold on the creature and grabbed a branch on the way down, swinging around it to slow his descent. After slowing his speed, he dropped the rest of the way and landed in a crouch.
He looked up at the group. "Problem solved," he said. "Lets go."
They continued on. "What was that thing?" Willow asked.
"I don't know," Lupin answered. "And I thought I knew every Dark creature in the book."
"I don't think you'll find that in any book anywhere, Remus," Snape said, his usual viciousness holding true. "I believe the Dark Lord has been breeding new Dark Creatures. This part of the forest is full of his...mistakes."
This caused a bout of silence. They continued advancing. After a few minutes, Angel piped up. "How big is this forest, anyway?"
"Large," Snape said. "About twenty-five miles in diameter. We have another mile to cover."
About seven minutes or so later, the trees stopped. It was a bit shocking; there wasn't much warning, like more light, but there was a definite clearing.
"Excellent," Snape said. "We're right where we want to be. These grounds are being prepared for the use of the vampires, once they're all here. But they're not done, and they're not patrolled.
"We'll enter here and head south towards the Lake. You already know what you have to do. Let's go."
They came out into the open, but hugged the tree line as they headed south. The ground they walked on was dead. And dark. After a moment of stealthy walking, Willow looked up. "Hey, there aren't any stars here!"
"This forest is in state of constant darkness," Snape said. "Makes it easier to house vampires. Even the stars are blotted out."
They continued, until the tree line began to curve east. A vast, empty crater lay before them, with a huge tower looming up at one of the sides, supporting a platform that was over the crater.
"That's it," Snape said, unnecessarily. "Get a good look at it. If we all fail, then we'll have to take out the anointed during the ritual."
They looked up at the platform. Spikes rose up from underneath it to conceal whatever was up there. It was at least sixty feet in the air.
"Right, then," Snape said. They split up.
Lupin and Snape headed south down the Lake's western shore, towards to tower. "Do you have any idea where these captives are being held?" Lupin asked, evenly.
"I have some idea," Snape said. "They're somewhere between Voldemort's tent and the Lake. We'll start our search at the Lake and fan out from there."
They did this, making sure to stay well out of range of the patrols guarding the Lake. They drew parallel with the tower and turned west.
The dark, misty quality of the clearing got thicker as they left the trees behind and headed towards the center of the clearing. After traveling only a few feet, they could only see ten or twenty feet ahead of them. Lupin considered lighting his wand, but thought better of it. Instead, he listened to the wolf inside him, which told him that when his eyes began to fail him, he still had four other senses.
"Listen," Lupin said, after a moment of walking. "Do you hear that?"
Snape stopped. He craned his neck and listened. "Yes," he said, after a moment. "I do."
The sound of crying was drifting through the mist towards them from a point to the northwest. They turned slightly and hurried to see what there was.
After a moment, they found it. A huge cage, suspended above a pit of spikes and shrapnel, filled with human beings. Some were unconscious. Most weren't. All showed the signs of having been forcibly restrained. There was a guard of five Death Eaters and...a Giant.
Snape and Lupin instantly took cover behind a large rock. "Okay," Lupin said. "How do we get them out, now?"
Angel and Faith traveled lightly and silently. "If you were an anointed man, or a man being anointed, where would you be?" Faith asked, softly.
"Death Eaters tents," Angel said. "Snape told me how to find them. We'll look there first, but if he's not there, then he's probably in Voldemort's tent or the tower."
Faith glanced back at the tower. They'd gone around the lake and were heading into the southern part of the clearing. She shivered. She didn't want to go in there.
"What is it about that thing?" she asked. "It's givin' me the shivers."
"It's a conduit of Dark energy," Angel explained. "The ritual requires enormous amounts of Dark energy, and that thing channels it out of the Hellmouth below us into the Lake and the platform."
"How do you know all this?" Faith asked.
"Cause I did my homework when I was just a little demon," Angel replied. "Come on, we have some ground to cover."
They did this quickly. They passed through the now deserted Death Eater's training grounds, which featured a grotesque mixture of ordinary training equipment and torture equipment.
"There they are," Angel said, indicating a set of tents ahead. There were a lot of them - probably fifty, Faith guessed. And they didn't know if the tents were enchanted for size, which meant each of them could be the size of Times Square.
Faith sighed. This was going to be long and difficult, and in the end, perhaps pointless.
Willow stumbled a bit. Craig grabbed her and steadied her. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said. "Its just that I'm getting huge amounts of the bad guy vibe from this place, and its giving me a headache."
"Headache," Craig said, amusedly. "I get so many of them that I don't even notice anymore."
"You are the only person I know who could grin in a place like this," Willow said.
Craig didn't respond, and the grin disappeared. Willow shook her head. Figuring out Craig was something for another time - another time in which there was lots of spare time.
They headed quickly west across the vampire lodging grounds, looking for Voldemort's enormous tent. It was there that Snape believed the Dagger was hidden, and Craig's natural ability for making himself appear invisible made him the natural candidate for sneaking into the tent.
"When I get in, you'll have to keep watch and tell me telepathically what's going on outside," Craig said. "I need to know if the guards realize I'm there."
"I've got you covered," Willow said, massaging her head.
A huge, two story tent loomed into view. Craig and Willow stopped. "I'm guessing that's it," Willow said.
"Yeah," Craig replied. "Can't imagine that its not."
They crept closer, until they could see clearly the guards standing out side the door to the tent. Five Death Eaters stood outside the tent, and three more circled it constantly, watching.
Willow and Craig crouched low. "Okay, this is it," Craig whispered. "I'm going in."
Faith and Angel walked stealthily through the tents. They looked quickly into each one. They saw nothing of interest, and none of the occupants of the tents noticed them.
For a while, anyway.
They were on the last row of tents when Angel emerged onto the main walkway and ran into a pair of Death Eaters.
"Who are you?" one of them asked, sharply.
"Who, me?" Angel asked. "I'm a big fan! I'm a vampire! I'm here to see the Rite of Mars!"
The Death Eaters looked at each other. Faith snuck around behind them, silently.
"Don't you boys believe me?" Angel asked, morphing his face to add to the story.
Faith got behind them. She came up directly behind them, and in one swift, sure motion, smashed their heads together. They crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
"Never trust the fans, kiddies," Angel said, as he and Faith dragged them out of sight and took away their wands.
They resumed the search. And finally, in the last tent in the row, they found him.
Latin words floated out of the tent, which glowed slightly from what was going in inside. Angel translated softly for Faith's benefit.
"And I shall swear, upon the existence of Life, and the existence of Death, that I shall Forever be in the service of the great and holy Mars, of which our power is drawn, that he may bathe tonight in the blood of the innocent..."
"That's enough, thanks," Faith said. She seemed a bit nervous. "Let's just get this guy so we can go home."
Angel smiled. "I would assume that you would prefer me to do the actual killing?" he asked.
She looked at him in gratitude. "Sorry," she said. "Even if he's evil, I still have a problem with killing. Don't want to slip..."
"I understand," Angel said.
They eliminated the guard quickly and efficiently. They were about to enter the tent when a pair of Stunners hit them from behind, knocking them out.
Snape and Lupin still crouched under the rock. "A diversion," Snape suggested. "I draw away as much of the guard as possible, and remove the rest and free the people."
Lupin nodded. It was as sound a plan as he could think of, and time was running out. "Go, then," he said.
Snape straightened up. Then he bolted towards the cage. "Quickly! We're under attack! By the Giant's quarters!"
The Death Eaters all recognized Snape. Two of them, plus the Giant, followed him away to the south west.
"Three left," Lupin muttered. "This will be tricky."
He weighed his options. Stunners left too wide a margin of time; he could Stun two of them before they could send up an alarm, but not all three. He settled on a Silence Blanketing Charm.
Lupin raised his wand. "Largifluus Silencio!" he muttered.
Instantly, all the crying stopped. The Death Eaters turned in shock, and tried to ask each other what had happened. They found that they couldn't. They raised their wands into the air to send up an alarm...and they couldn't say the words to make the spell work. Lupin stood and sent Stunners at them quickly.
Two of them went down right away, but the third blocked the Stunner. This Death Eater slashed at Lupin, and Lupin ducked back to avoid it. The slash cut the rock neatly. Lupin rolled out from behind the rock and cast another Stunner. This time, the Death Eater was hit, and he crumbled to the ground.
"Finite Incantatem," Lupin said.
Instantly, the voices of the prisoners were returned. None of them said anything for a moment, then they began yelling again. Lupin smiled, completely without mirth. As long as they were yelling, no one would be suspicious.
Snape lead the three Death Eaters and the Giant for about three hundred feet, and then allowed them to get ahead of him. He knew what he had planned.
Snape drew out his wand. He pointed it at the cluster of Death Eaters and muttered, "Ereptio". Instantly, they broke down, twitching and jerking. The Giant didn't notice, not until Snape's Stunner hit it. It fell to the ground, making a slight sound not unlike a felled tree.
Making sure that all three Death Eaters were unconscious from the Seizure Charm, Snape turned and hurried back to the Cage site.
When he arrived, he found Lupin picking through the pockets of one of the Death Eaters. All were Stunned. Wordlessly, Snape began to help.
After a moment, though, Lupin looked up. Voices were fast approaching. He grabbed Snape, and, without an explanation, dove behind the rock.
"Oh, shit," Snape muttered, as he saw what the new Death Eater's carried.
Suspended on invisible stretchers were Angel and Faith. "Look!" the lead Death Eater said. "They've been here too!"
"How many do you suppose there are?" asked another.
"I don't know," the lead said. He smiled viciously. "But they're just food for the Lake now."
The eight of them took up a defensive perimeter around the cage, into which they tossed Angel and Faith. Lupin watched as the two of them flew directly through the bars.
"One-way cage," Snape muttered.
"I don't suppose they'd fall for the same distraction?" Lupin asked.
"Don't be an idiot," Snape snapped. "They're on alert now. And besides, those are smart men. They wouldn't fall for it anyway."
Lupin nodded. This was bad...and it was getting worse.
Craig had no problem getting into the tent. The patrol outside had been too far away to even feel the breeze as he passed them and entered.
The tent itself was two stories, with a wide, sweeping staircase directly ahead as he entered. And at the top of the staircase there was a glass display case.
"Bingo," Craig muttered. Hugging the outer wall of the tent, Craig skipped the staircase and leapt the distance up onto the second level.
So far so good. No word from Willow meant everything was good. Or so he hoped.
Two Death Eaters guarded the case. Craig came up behind them and touched the case. He concentrated hard on it, and a little red circle began to trace itself around on the glass. When it was done, the circlet of glass fell out, and Craig caught it, putting it in his pocket. He reached in and took a hold of the Dagger. He seemed home free, pulling it out. As soon as the Dagger had completely left the case, the whole tent erupted in an enormous alarm.
Both Death Eaters whirled instantly. Craig met the first one with a reverse heel kick that knocked the Death Eater over the railing. The second hurried across the case to meet Craig, but Craig met him halfway and, whirling, delivered an elbow to the side of the Death Eater's head. His head smashed into and through the glass case, knocking him unconscious.
Craig quickly descended the stairs. He was going to make it out. He gripped the Dagger tightly as he went through the door of the tent...and was yanked back into it.
He skidded to a halt on the floor. He was disoriented - the abrupt and violent change of directions had thrown him a bit. He shook his head to clear the stars away and jumped to his feet. He was about to try again when a voice spoke from the top level.
"Don't bother," the voice said. Craig turned, and saw Lord Voldemort staring down at him. "Thee Dagger is enchanted, so that only the anointed man may remove it from this tent. Ingenious, no?"
Craig snarled, all semblance of rational thought forgotten. He felt something strange come over him, and he felt his face...change...somehow. But it wasn't important. He sprang at Voldemort, wanting to rip, tear, anything against the thing standing before him.
Halfway there, Voldemort's Stunner hit him, and he knew no more.
Outside, Willow tried to focus on the Death Eaters in front of the tent, but found it increasingly difficult. The headache had grown into a roaring throb in the back of her head.
Her vision began to blur and she collapsed. A moment later, as Death Eaters swarmed into Voldemort's tent, she was picked up by Voldemort himself. He grinned as he carried the two limp forms toward the cage.
From their place of concealment, Snape and Lupin watched as Voldemort approached. Lupin shuddered a bit. The last time Lupin had seen Voldemort face to face...it hadn't been pretty.
Voldemort was carrying two figures. Though he couldn't make out who they were, exactly, he could guess that Willow and Craig had been captured. Voldemort drew up to the Cage and tossed the two forms inside.
Angel stirred as two more figures came hurtling. One he immediately recognized as Willow. The other took a moment, but Angel realized that it was Craig.
Craig seemed grotesquely changed. His face, which had been fairly normal, now contained lines that crisscrossed his face. All his features seemed to have sharpened. When he opened his eyes, they were no longer blue; they were red.
Craig snarled first, then seemed to come back into himself a bit. The lines faded, and his eyes changed back to blue. He was startled.
"What just happened...?" he asked. For a moment, he seemed scared and lost.
"You really don't know?" Voldemort asked, from outside the Cage. "What you are?"
"Don't listen, Craig," Angel advised. "Don't pay attention."
But unfortunately, Craig had already been ensnared. "What do you know about me?" he asked, forgetting for the moment who is was he was addressing.
"You are a taedia, Craig," Voldemort said. "The word is very old, so don't bother looking it up. Not that you'll ever get the chance. I suppose that isn't surprising that you didn't know, though; you've been with the wrong crowd to really know your origins.
"After all, none of your friends have anywhere near as complete a knowledge of the history Dark creatures as I do."
Craig absorbed this quickly. "I'm not a demon," he said.
"Oh, but you are," Voldemort said. "But that is immaterial. Soon enough, you won't be demon, you'll just be a corpse."
The Cage began to move. The occupants, who had never stopped crying, began crying louder. Angel crawled up to Craig. "We need to figure out how to get out of here," he said.
"You think?" Craig responded. "These bars are magically made. They're much too strong for either or both of us to break."
"Where are Snape and Lupin?" Angel asked.
"I haven't seen them," Craig admitted. He cast around for a moment. Faith was waking up. Neither of the two wizards was present.
"Maybe they're still free," Angel suggested, completing his own visual survey of the Cage.
"Or maybe they're dead," Craig suggested grimly. He looked out of the bars. Through the mist, he could see the Tower coming into view. Faith joined them. She looked out as well.
"This really isn't good," she said.
"You noticed that too?" Craig asked.
The Cage stopped moving forward. Then, with a sickening lurch, it began to rise. Slowly it ascended towards the platform.
"I hope you have a plan," Craig said, looking to Faith and Angel.
"I'd pray, but it doesn't work too good for vampires," Angel said.
They reached the top and moved forward, so that the Cage drew level with the platform. A man stood there. His eyes glowed with Dark energy, and when Craig looked down to the crater below, he saw a swirling dark vortex open there.
The anointed man licked his lips. "The Ritual of Mars has begun," he said. His voice came in a huge rumbling wave, shaking the Cage. "You are, as of this moment, dead."
The Cage door opened. One of the prisoners flew out. Angel and Craig tried to rush the open door, but an invisible force threw them back. The man laughed and turned to his victim. He held up the Dagger, and made a small slit in the young girl's throat. She screamed; the Dagger had begun to burn red. Her blood came slowly at first, the first drops hitting the vortex below and causing it to swirl faster. Then, as the Dagger was thrust into her more and more, she bled quicker. She stopped screaming.
When she was done, a matter of minutes after the Cage had been opened for the first time, the chosen man tossed her body down into the crater. It passed through the vortex, connecting with the crater bottom with a sickening lurch. Craig took a double take. None of the substantial amount of blood that had already been spilled was below the vortex.
Another victim, a middle aged man, was pulled by the invisible force. The chosen plunged into his neck more quickly; the first kill was more tantalizing, but now the chosen wanted to get it over with quicker. Though he was enjoying this, he was on a schedule.
Willow awoke, two hours later, to a splitting headache and an awful stench. She was laying inside a cage, and she had no idea how she'd gotten there. Or where 'there' was, exactly. All she knew was that she was angry. Really angry.
She sat up and crawled over to the side of the cage, where Craig, Angel, and Faith sat, looking shell shocked. "What's going on?" Willow asked.
None of them spoke. Faith pointed down out of the cage, into a crater below them. There lay bodies...perhaps several hundred of them. Not a drop of blood, though.
"They're saving us for last," Angel said.
"I can already hear them," Craig said. "Maybe it's the magic, but...its never happened so fast..."
Willow looked around the cage. Aside from her friends, the cage was empty. In front of her, outside the cage, the chosen was draining the last victim. As his blood hit the vortex, it stopped swirling, violently.
Willow's eyes darkened, taking on a familiar, evil black. Angel noticed it first; he was the only one who knew what it meant, anyway. "Willow..." he said, but it was too late.
As the chosen tossed the body of the final victim away and turned, smiling, to the four left from Hogwarts, two things happened simultaneously. One, a bolt of magical energy from somewhere on the Lake's shore came up and narrowly missed the chosen. And two, Willow's dark energy destroyed the bottom of their cage. They instantly fell towards the ground.
Lupin and Snape, who had fired the magic that should have hit the chosen, saw their friends fall and hastened to slow their descent with magic. Faith, Angel, and Craig slowed quickly, but Willow had stopped falling all together. They were under the Dark vortex, which vibrated, awaiting the finality of the ritual.
Seeing their friends out of danger, Lupin took aim at the anointed man once more, while Snape hastened to hold off the onrush of Death Eaters.
Seeing that his Death Eaters could not reach Lupin and Snape in time, Voldemort's eyes flashed towards his shocked anointed man. Upon Voldemort's command, the Dagger flew out of the anointed man's hand, circling around to slice his stomach open. The blade circled one more time, and removed the anointed man's head completely.
Lupin's spell connected with the anointed man, but it was already too late. His blood fell towards the vortex just as Willow landed...
The second the blood touched the vortex, it exploded, knocking everyone except Willow down. Instantly, before anyone could register what was going on, the bottom of the vortex opened up - and rained blood.
"Come on," Angel said, choking slightly the blood that was quickly filling the lake. "We have to get out, or you'll drown!"
Both Lupin and Snape were busy defending themselves, so they couldn't help. Angel grabbed Faith and Craig and prepared to jump. "What about Willow?" Craig asked.
"Believe me," Angel said. "When she's like this, you don't want to go near her."
Angel put everything he had into the leap. The shore of the Lake was probably about twenty feet in the air; he could manage that.
He did, though just barely. When the three hit the shore, Angel's knee's gave out, and he collapsed. With a groan, he felt his legs. Faith felt them, too. "Nothing broken," she said. "But it may have popped a joint. This is gonna hurt," she added.
Angel barely had time to say, "What?", before Faith wrenched his leg around. He yelled. A second later, he stood. "Thanks," he said.
"Any time," Faith replied.
A small group of demons, loyal to Voldemort for reason's best left unsaid, rushed the three. They met them, fighting furiously with what remained of their strength.
As Craig swung a demon around by its clawed hands and heaved it into the lake, he noticed Willow still there, standing, apparently, on the surface of the lake. She was looking towards the sky, where the vortex was nearly finished spewing blood.
"What's she doing?" Craig asked.
"Don't know," Angel said. "But you can bet its not going to be pretty."
A second later, as the scales had just begun to tip in favor of the demons, the whole world seemed to explode.
Willow's mouth opened in a scream that transcended the spectrum of human hearing and beyond. Waves of Dark energy erupted from all over her body, lashing out in all directions. A moment later, Willow herself passed out and was caught by the concussion wave of her own Dark explosion.
Craig crawled over the ground, now littered with blood, skin, steel, and mud, towards the trees. If he could only reach the trees...
The explosion had seemingly taken reality, balled it up, given it a good hard shake, then dumped out what was left. Craig counted himself lucky to have survived. A few more seconds in that concussion wave, and he probably wouldn't have, but he'd managed to duck out of it at the last moment. And now the tree line, and safety, was so close, he could nearly taste it.
He reached the trees, agonizingly. He leaned up against one and turned to look at the devastation.
The tower was gone; fragments of metal showed that it had not weathered the blast well at all. The mist that had surrounded the camp had been blown away, revealing that most structures in the forest clearing now lay in peaces. The forest itself had been flattened a great deal; these trees that Craig now took shelter in had not been close to the line before.
But still the Lake stood, calmly riling with blood.
Craig wasn't aware of his crawl through the forest; he was aware only of finding the spot where the carpet had lain and passing out completely.
When he awoke again, the carpet was in the air, and flying over the sea again. Craig looked around, woozily. Snape had a large gash running down the side of his face, and Lupin's arm hung in a hastily made sling. Angel sat on the other side of the carpet, his legs drawn out before him, both visibly broken. Faith kneeled next to Angel, trying to straighten out the vampire's leg. She was bruised and cut in several different locations. And Willow lay next him. She was cut all over, and was bleeding from several of the cuts.
"We found her at the edge of the forest," Snape said, seeing Craig awake and questioning. "She had no right to survive a spell like that, and yet, she is still breathing."
Craig smiled. They had all lived, then. He didn't know how they had managed to screw things up so badly and still come out alive, but it had happened. Craig's bemused smile didn't waiver as he passed out again.
Gee. That took a while to get out, but there it is. Phew. Gory, no? Please, oh PLEASE, write me a review! I need to hear what you have to say in order to keep banging out new chapters. Did I just say banging? Oops. Sorry, kids. Oh, and say 'Bunker Shorts' if you want to see more of that kind of action - I know that it can sometimes bore people. Thanks.