Chapter 9: Silver Eyes
A high wall enveloped their destination, adding to the smoke's effect of obscuring the dull grey sky. Pritoh was actually a fortress; the garrisons outnumbering the non-military inhabitants. There were smiths and inns, but few other places of commerce. A group of thirty soldiers escorted their group of twenty to the keep, also walled, near the centre of the pseudo town.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A pair of talkative guards escorted her down a bleak hall. One was boasting about some encounter he'd had in Mesu. "Listen Buckdan," said the slightly shorter one, "you might be handy with a sabre, but there is no way you took out ten Chaos Soldiers, alone, and unmounted."
"Ah Davace," replied the boasting Ankylan, "you just don't realise just how handy I am with a sabre. Plus, I killed the last three barehanded. Do you know how hard it is to get close enough to break their necks with those damn antlers?"
"I suppose they were also led by a Chaos General," said the other shaking his head, while opening a door for Anya, saying, "Your quarters," indicating the room. She entered the utilitarian quarters and heard the one called Buckdan respond to the pale one,
"No, but they were under direct orders from General Mart-Jik, himself. Afraid to face me himself, was the bastard." The second guard closed the door while raising his eyes to the heavens.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Trying to sit on her cot to settle herself, Anya pondered means of escape. There was only on narrow window, eight inches wide and two feet high, so that option was dead in the water. The only door was the one through which she had entered, and those two soldiers would undoubtedly be guarding it until relieved by others. There was a torch holder in the lighted room. If she could pry it from the wall she might be able to knock out one of them with that. Then what? Even if she could somehow take out both guards, she didn't know the layout of the building, which was quite a large one. Xander and Willow would undoubtedly be guarded, and Cernus might even be with them. Without her powers, she had no way of disguising herself. Her build was certainly not Ankylan. And even if she were to somehow escape Pritoh, what was she to do? Miraculously track down Dawn and Spike, and then fight a whole garrison to rescue a comatose Xander and Willow? Assuming Spike and Dawn had not already been captured, or worse. It was all so hopeless!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
An hour or so later, the door opened and the talkative Ankylan entered with a steaming bowl of broth, and some bread and cheese. "Enjoy that, missy," he said smiling. "Its great stuff. Got the cook to add in some extra spices just for you," he added with a wink as he set down the food on a stool.
"By Estyarth!" swore the other from the doorway. "You're married, Buckdan. Leave her be." Spreading his arms, Buckdan replied in pained tones,
"Always have to take the fun out of my life, don't you?" For the first time since the ambush, Anya almost smiled.
Her powers neutralised, Anya felt an urge to eat. It was during this that the door opened again twenty minutes later. Instead of a guard, in walked the weary form of Willow. "Willow!" exclaimed Anya, rising and hugging her. Over Willow's shoulder she could see the guard named Davace smirk, as Buckdan watched the embrace disappointedly. When the door closed, Anya asked, "Willow, are you okay? Did you see Xander, is he okay?
"I'm alright," answered Willow tiredly, seeking a place to sit. Anya led her to the second cot. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" asked Anya. Willow briefly shook her head. "We were ambushed by Estyarth's troops. It turns out Dricoi was like undercover or something. He's actually a Seshni Captain. So there we were, and Xander was talking to this sergeant guy, when that creep Dricoi whacks him right in the face." Willow's eyes widened. "Then everything went nuts. I tried to help Xander, and Dawn and Spike rode away, and everybody was shouting, and suddenly there were soldiers everywhere. Then one of the hit me! The next thing I know, this Cernus guy has locked my powers, and they bring us here."
"How long?" asked Willow.
"You've been out for three days," answered Anya.
"Cernus," began Willow, "who's he?"
"Some kind of really powerful wizard-warlock guy, which is weird, because he's just a Lister Demon," Anya added almost to herself. "They all call him 'Blue Mage'."
"Where are Dawn and Spike, now?" Anya shook her head and raised her hands. "Why don't I remember?" asked inwardly.
"Because I purged your memories," said the hooded Cernus from the doorway. Anya hadn't heard the door open.
"Cernus?" asked Willow. He nodded, grinning beneath his hood, and said,
"Delighted to meet you."
"My memory," said Willow hotly, "why did you – why?" The Mage's smile faded, his tone becoming serious.
"Trust me, 'Willow', yes? You do not want those memories. There was an odd curse on you, but I succeeded in eliminating them."
"Why? Tell me?" Willow was adamant. Cernus sighed and looked around.
"Let's go to my quarters. These are uncomfortably confined."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The two guards accompanied them to the Mage's quarters, remaining outside. Closing the door, Cernus pulled down his hood for the first time, revealing his short cropped grey hair. {Hmmm,} pondered Anya. {For a Lister demon to have grey hair, he must be at least a century old}. Breathing deeply, he began,
"My dear, when Anya and your large friend were incapacitated, you yourself were thrown from your saddle. Your instinctive reaction to this danger was to resume your true form as a dread." He looked up. "In your dazed and angered state, your instincts took control and your performed some vile acts. The memory of such actions would not trouble a soulless dread, but I sensed a soul within you. They would have driven you insane." He chuckled, but there was no mirth in it, just dryness. "How odd, to find a soul in a being that takes the forms of the two soulless creatures of Ri'Oth."
"Where are the rest of my friends?" asked Willow.
"Your large friend is sleeping in the room adjacent to this one," he answered. Before he could continue, Anya demanded,
"I want to see him." Cernus nodded, and led them to the adjoining room. On the floor laid the quietly breathing form of Xander, a faint blue aura surrounding his huge body.
"What did you do to him?" asked Willow heatedly. The Mage raised his hand.
"Don't worry, Willow. I just put him into a deep sleep, close to hibernation. He'll wake up once we reach Arth Demm.
"Arth Demm?" repeated Willow.
"Their capital," supplied the kneeling Anya, stroking Xander's forehead.
"Where are Dawn and Spike?" asked Willow no loess heatedly.
"Hopefully," replied the Mage, "on their way here. They escaped the ambush. I must admit that it could have gone better... Dawn and Spike..." he mused.
"Oh really?" replied Anya, biting off her words, "you're a real Aaron Williams, aren't you?"
"Who?" whispered Willow.
"Just some guy I cursed for being stupid. I'll tell you about it later," she whispered back.
"What do you want from us?" asked Willow. Anya folded her arms and said discontentedly,
"I keep asking him that, but he won't tell me."
"Because I didn't want to explain it twice," grinned Cernus. "Very well. Nearly twenty days ago, my god sensed the arrival of something of enormous power, into the MistWall. The very fact that you were able to leave the MistWall is proof of that. I was dispatched to bring who or whatever it was that was the source of that power back to Arth Demm." Rubbing his forehead ridge, he said, "I am greatly looking forward to meeting the other two, 'Dawn' and 'Spike'. It will be interesting to see if they are as powerful as you are. It is not everyday that one encounters two members of supposedly extinct races, and a Dread with a soul, travelling together.
"Undoubtedly, Deetai has now also sensed this, and will be striving to acquire possession of you all."
"So now, Dawn and Spike have two sides after them?" Cernus nodded to Willow.
"But without me, they have no way to disguise themselves," pointed out Anya concernedly.
"Hey," said the redhead, "why does Deetai only now sense our presence? Why not earlier, like your god?" He touched his thumbs as he answered,
"My god has certain advantages in the area in which you arrived."
"The MistWall?" asked Anya.
"Yes," he said, "because it is a creation of my god, Deetai's senses are blurred and obscure when trying to search around that area. Much as Estyarth's and Deetai's senses were blurred in millennia past when attempting to sense activity near the Scar of Glorificus." Willow's eyebrows rose.
"The Scar of Glorificus?"she near exclaimed.
"Yeah," said Anya, "you mentioned something about a 'Scar', before. What's the deal with the name?"
"The Scar is the largest mountain range in the world. You will soon be able to view the smaller southern peaks. They were created five thousand years ago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Estyarth and Deetai both gathered their hordes, each far outnumbering Glorificus' forces. Each god believed that the victor of their battle would easily sweep aside her minions once the Great Battle was concluded.. The assembled armies numbered in the millions when they met upon the great plains of Ka'ad and Sohr. As the titanic battle commenced, each god levelled his complete will at the other. It was at that exact moment when Glorificus struck. Unchallenged, she willed the very ground of the battlefield to rise upon the great hordes, creating the mountains of today, and in the process split Ka'ad in two and destroyed Sohr, decimating the gods' forces and annihilating hundreds of thousands and more again in the aftermath. It was the second greatest act of power ever performed by Glorificus..
"The Scar now stretches for thousands of miles to the north. Only a fifty mile gap now exists between those southernmost peaks and the mountains of the Seshni Waste to the south. It is there, at the city of the Four Points, where we will take ship for Arth Demm."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dawn rode, vaguely thinking of how amazed she should be that Spike's hideous wounds had healed overnight. He told her that it had once taken a month for him to heal a crushed spine and legs on Earth. It appeared Vantal healing far outpaced vampiric healing. Dawn didn't really care much. She didn't really care when she woke after being knocked unconscious to find a bloody Spike laying next to the massive corpse of a Chaos General, surrounded by dozens of dead bodies. She didn't really care when she saw a mounted Chaos Soldier just sitting there, giggling to himself, who made no reaction to Dawn aiding Spike and the two leaving with krus. She just didn't care. Buffy was dead; truly dead, and all hope died with that realization.
It was the second day since Spike massacred the soldiers. They followed Dricoi's trail, and from Spike's recollection of the map, they had passed into the Seshni Plains. Their quest was now to find Willow, Xander and Anya. Even if it meant being captured by the Seshni. Willow had told her that as long as they were all close to Dawn, she could bring the group home. With no further need to remain hidden, they rode as close to Dricoi's trail as they could, several miles from the MistWall.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It was early in the same day when Spike heard rapid hoof beats from behind. Halting their mounts to allow themselves to be captured, they turned. "Bollox!" swore Spike. "Those are Chaos demons. Hurry, Dawn!" They turned and fled deeper into Seshni, hoping to come upon a Seshni patrol or camp. They encountered none. The thirty Chaos Soldiers were outpacing them, near killing their animals. Spike saw that among them, wearing a long white cloak, rode the monstrous dark skinned figure of another Chaos General.
"Its no good, Niblet!" shouted Spike to Dawn. "We'll kill the bloody things at this pace," he said, referring to the krus. Ride on a few hundred yards, Bit. There's less than before. I'll take 'em. Just stay out of harm's way!" Taking their third animal in tow, Dawn rode ahead as Spike told her to. He jumped from his mount. The riders reached him in moments, but to his puzzlement didn't attack. Spike saw the Chaos General utter a word to a bright-cloaked officer, with long flowing red hair., and was dismounting. He walked unarmoured towards Spike, in huge, effortless strides. He stopped, thirty feet between them. Quiet enough so only Spike could hear, he announced,
"The Vantal who slaughtered forty Chaos Soldiers and killed little Mart-Jik." It was not a question.
"And I'm about to do it again, you bastard," said Spike to himself as blue eyes became scarlet and gold. The Vantal leaped with amazing swiftness.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Why don't you wake up Xander?" asked Anya, when they had returned to Cernus' room. He cocked an eyebrow at the question. "Okay, okay," she said, "why don't you wake him up and seal his powers like you did us?"
"I'd like to," said the Mage, "but regrettably, that skin- shield of his repels mystical, as well as physical attack. If I did, there wouldn't be a whole lot I could do if he put on that armour of his and decided that the three of you should go on a killing spree, not that I believe you would," he pointed out, "leave Pritoh, and go into hostile territory looking for your friends. I admit to being fortunate Captain Dricoi fazed him before I tried to subdue him."
"Dricoi!" growled Willow. "Where is he?"
"You must be calm, Willow. Dricoi only behaved as he did because he believed you agents of Deetai, and your friend Xander to be a Chaos General." Willow and Anya still did not seem satisfied.
"Well, that's no excuse for-", Willow stopped. "What do you mean, he believed Xander to be a Chaos General?"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The huge muscled arm blurred through the air, and the airborne Vantal was caught in mid leap, suspended high above the earth. With a gesture, Spike's body was delivered to the slick-skinned General. He thrashed vainly to free himself from the cloven vice. The white-cloaked juggernaught spoke quietly. "You may have bested a Chaos General. But to even hope to challenge me?" Silver eyes regarded the struggling Vantal. "I think not."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"A Lustre Warrior?" asked Anya. "I've never heard of them."
"Its unlikely that you would have," replied Cernus. "They were native only to Ri'Oth, and served no god. The threat they posed was so great that at the paragon of her glory, Glorificus threw all of her will into destroying the Lustre Warriors; all of them. It was the most devastating release of destructive energy that ever has and probably ever will happen on Ri'Oth."
"They were that much of a threat?" asked an amazed Willow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He flung the Vantal to the ground, as he turned back to his mount. He remounted in silence as his Lieutenant said, "Take it, and the other." He was moving away when he opened his hand. He gave the Vantal's throat the briefest of glances before frowning deeply. He threw it to the dust.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Indeed, they were," answered Cernus. It is ironic that Glorificus' greatest display of power led to her downfall. She had underestimated the resolve of the Lustre Warriors, and she needed to exert more will than she ever imagined. The effort drained her, and while she would have recovered to full strength in time, Deetai and Estyarth quickly formed an alliance. Knowing that even then, together they could not vanquish her, they used their combined wills to banish her to another dimension, imprisoning her in a mortal coil. After Estyarth had instructed his followers in that world never to suffer Glorificus to return to this place, they sealed all the trans-dimensional gates into Ri'Oth."
A high wall enveloped their destination, adding to the smoke's effect of obscuring the dull grey sky. Pritoh was actually a fortress; the garrisons outnumbering the non-military inhabitants. There were smiths and inns, but few other places of commerce. A group of thirty soldiers escorted their group of twenty to the keep, also walled, near the centre of the pseudo town.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A pair of talkative guards escorted her down a bleak hall. One was boasting about some encounter he'd had in Mesu. "Listen Buckdan," said the slightly shorter one, "you might be handy with a sabre, but there is no way you took out ten Chaos Soldiers, alone, and unmounted."
"Ah Davace," replied the boasting Ankylan, "you just don't realise just how handy I am with a sabre. Plus, I killed the last three barehanded. Do you know how hard it is to get close enough to break their necks with those damn antlers?"
"I suppose they were also led by a Chaos General," said the other shaking his head, while opening a door for Anya, saying, "Your quarters," indicating the room. She entered the utilitarian quarters and heard the one called Buckdan respond to the pale one,
"No, but they were under direct orders from General Mart-Jik, himself. Afraid to face me himself, was the bastard." The second guard closed the door while raising his eyes to the heavens.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Trying to sit on her cot to settle herself, Anya pondered means of escape. There was only on narrow window, eight inches wide and two feet high, so that option was dead in the water. The only door was the one through which she had entered, and those two soldiers would undoubtedly be guarding it until relieved by others. There was a torch holder in the lighted room. If she could pry it from the wall she might be able to knock out one of them with that. Then what? Even if she could somehow take out both guards, she didn't know the layout of the building, which was quite a large one. Xander and Willow would undoubtedly be guarded, and Cernus might even be with them. Without her powers, she had no way of disguising herself. Her build was certainly not Ankylan. And even if she were to somehow escape Pritoh, what was she to do? Miraculously track down Dawn and Spike, and then fight a whole garrison to rescue a comatose Xander and Willow? Assuming Spike and Dawn had not already been captured, or worse. It was all so hopeless!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
An hour or so later, the door opened and the talkative Ankylan entered with a steaming bowl of broth, and some bread and cheese. "Enjoy that, missy," he said smiling. "Its great stuff. Got the cook to add in some extra spices just for you," he added with a wink as he set down the food on a stool.
"By Estyarth!" swore the other from the doorway. "You're married, Buckdan. Leave her be." Spreading his arms, Buckdan replied in pained tones,
"Always have to take the fun out of my life, don't you?" For the first time since the ambush, Anya almost smiled.
Her powers neutralised, Anya felt an urge to eat. It was during this that the door opened again twenty minutes later. Instead of a guard, in walked the weary form of Willow. "Willow!" exclaimed Anya, rising and hugging her. Over Willow's shoulder she could see the guard named Davace smirk, as Buckdan watched the embrace disappointedly. When the door closed, Anya asked, "Willow, are you okay? Did you see Xander, is he okay?
"I'm alright," answered Willow tiredly, seeking a place to sit. Anya led her to the second cot. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" asked Anya. Willow briefly shook her head. "We were ambushed by Estyarth's troops. It turns out Dricoi was like undercover or something. He's actually a Seshni Captain. So there we were, and Xander was talking to this sergeant guy, when that creep Dricoi whacks him right in the face." Willow's eyes widened. "Then everything went nuts. I tried to help Xander, and Dawn and Spike rode away, and everybody was shouting, and suddenly there were soldiers everywhere. Then one of the hit me! The next thing I know, this Cernus guy has locked my powers, and they bring us here."
"How long?" asked Willow.
"You've been out for three days," answered Anya.
"Cernus," began Willow, "who's he?"
"Some kind of really powerful wizard-warlock guy, which is weird, because he's just a Lister Demon," Anya added almost to herself. "They all call him 'Blue Mage'."
"Where are Dawn and Spike, now?" Anya shook her head and raised her hands. "Why don't I remember?" asked inwardly.
"Because I purged your memories," said the hooded Cernus from the doorway. Anya hadn't heard the door open.
"Cernus?" asked Willow. He nodded, grinning beneath his hood, and said,
"Delighted to meet you."
"My memory," said Willow hotly, "why did you – why?" The Mage's smile faded, his tone becoming serious.
"Trust me, 'Willow', yes? You do not want those memories. There was an odd curse on you, but I succeeded in eliminating them."
"Why? Tell me?" Willow was adamant. Cernus sighed and looked around.
"Let's go to my quarters. These are uncomfortably confined."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The two guards accompanied them to the Mage's quarters, remaining outside. Closing the door, Cernus pulled down his hood for the first time, revealing his short cropped grey hair. {Hmmm,} pondered Anya. {For a Lister demon to have grey hair, he must be at least a century old}. Breathing deeply, he began,
"My dear, when Anya and your large friend were incapacitated, you yourself were thrown from your saddle. Your instinctive reaction to this danger was to resume your true form as a dread." He looked up. "In your dazed and angered state, your instincts took control and your performed some vile acts. The memory of such actions would not trouble a soulless dread, but I sensed a soul within you. They would have driven you insane." He chuckled, but there was no mirth in it, just dryness. "How odd, to find a soul in a being that takes the forms of the two soulless creatures of Ri'Oth."
"Where are the rest of my friends?" asked Willow.
"Your large friend is sleeping in the room adjacent to this one," he answered. Before he could continue, Anya demanded,
"I want to see him." Cernus nodded, and led them to the adjoining room. On the floor laid the quietly breathing form of Xander, a faint blue aura surrounding his huge body.
"What did you do to him?" asked Willow heatedly. The Mage raised his hand.
"Don't worry, Willow. I just put him into a deep sleep, close to hibernation. He'll wake up once we reach Arth Demm.
"Arth Demm?" repeated Willow.
"Their capital," supplied the kneeling Anya, stroking Xander's forehead.
"Where are Dawn and Spike?" asked Willow no loess heatedly.
"Hopefully," replied the Mage, "on their way here. They escaped the ambush. I must admit that it could have gone better... Dawn and Spike..." he mused.
"Oh really?" replied Anya, biting off her words, "you're a real Aaron Williams, aren't you?"
"Who?" whispered Willow.
"Just some guy I cursed for being stupid. I'll tell you about it later," she whispered back.
"What do you want from us?" asked Willow. Anya folded her arms and said discontentedly,
"I keep asking him that, but he won't tell me."
"Because I didn't want to explain it twice," grinned Cernus. "Very well. Nearly twenty days ago, my god sensed the arrival of something of enormous power, into the MistWall. The very fact that you were able to leave the MistWall is proof of that. I was dispatched to bring who or whatever it was that was the source of that power back to Arth Demm." Rubbing his forehead ridge, he said, "I am greatly looking forward to meeting the other two, 'Dawn' and 'Spike'. It will be interesting to see if they are as powerful as you are. It is not everyday that one encounters two members of supposedly extinct races, and a Dread with a soul, travelling together.
"Undoubtedly, Deetai has now also sensed this, and will be striving to acquire possession of you all."
"So now, Dawn and Spike have two sides after them?" Cernus nodded to Willow.
"But without me, they have no way to disguise themselves," pointed out Anya concernedly.
"Hey," said the redhead, "why does Deetai only now sense our presence? Why not earlier, like your god?" He touched his thumbs as he answered,
"My god has certain advantages in the area in which you arrived."
"The MistWall?" asked Anya.
"Yes," he said, "because it is a creation of my god, Deetai's senses are blurred and obscure when trying to search around that area. Much as Estyarth's and Deetai's senses were blurred in millennia past when attempting to sense activity near the Scar of Glorificus." Willow's eyebrows rose.
"The Scar of Glorificus?"she near exclaimed.
"Yeah," said Anya, "you mentioned something about a 'Scar', before. What's the deal with the name?"
"The Scar is the largest mountain range in the world. You will soon be able to view the smaller southern peaks. They were created five thousand years ago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Estyarth and Deetai both gathered their hordes, each far outnumbering Glorificus' forces. Each god believed that the victor of their battle would easily sweep aside her minions once the Great Battle was concluded.. The assembled armies numbered in the millions when they met upon the great plains of Ka'ad and Sohr. As the titanic battle commenced, each god levelled his complete will at the other. It was at that exact moment when Glorificus struck. Unchallenged, she willed the very ground of the battlefield to rise upon the great hordes, creating the mountains of today, and in the process split Ka'ad in two and destroyed Sohr, decimating the gods' forces and annihilating hundreds of thousands and more again in the aftermath. It was the second greatest act of power ever performed by Glorificus..
"The Scar now stretches for thousands of miles to the north. Only a fifty mile gap now exists between those southernmost peaks and the mountains of the Seshni Waste to the south. It is there, at the city of the Four Points, where we will take ship for Arth Demm."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dawn rode, vaguely thinking of how amazed she should be that Spike's hideous wounds had healed overnight. He told her that it had once taken a month for him to heal a crushed spine and legs on Earth. It appeared Vantal healing far outpaced vampiric healing. Dawn didn't really care much. She didn't really care when she woke after being knocked unconscious to find a bloody Spike laying next to the massive corpse of a Chaos General, surrounded by dozens of dead bodies. She didn't really care when she saw a mounted Chaos Soldier just sitting there, giggling to himself, who made no reaction to Dawn aiding Spike and the two leaving with krus. She just didn't care. Buffy was dead; truly dead, and all hope died with that realization.
It was the second day since Spike massacred the soldiers. They followed Dricoi's trail, and from Spike's recollection of the map, they had passed into the Seshni Plains. Their quest was now to find Willow, Xander and Anya. Even if it meant being captured by the Seshni. Willow had told her that as long as they were all close to Dawn, she could bring the group home. With no further need to remain hidden, they rode as close to Dricoi's trail as they could, several miles from the MistWall.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It was early in the same day when Spike heard rapid hoof beats from behind. Halting their mounts to allow themselves to be captured, they turned. "Bollox!" swore Spike. "Those are Chaos demons. Hurry, Dawn!" They turned and fled deeper into Seshni, hoping to come upon a Seshni patrol or camp. They encountered none. The thirty Chaos Soldiers were outpacing them, near killing their animals. Spike saw that among them, wearing a long white cloak, rode the monstrous dark skinned figure of another Chaos General.
"Its no good, Niblet!" shouted Spike to Dawn. "We'll kill the bloody things at this pace," he said, referring to the krus. Ride on a few hundred yards, Bit. There's less than before. I'll take 'em. Just stay out of harm's way!" Taking their third animal in tow, Dawn rode ahead as Spike told her to. He jumped from his mount. The riders reached him in moments, but to his puzzlement didn't attack. Spike saw the Chaos General utter a word to a bright-cloaked officer, with long flowing red hair., and was dismounting. He walked unarmoured towards Spike, in huge, effortless strides. He stopped, thirty feet between them. Quiet enough so only Spike could hear, he announced,
"The Vantal who slaughtered forty Chaos Soldiers and killed little Mart-Jik." It was not a question.
"And I'm about to do it again, you bastard," said Spike to himself as blue eyes became scarlet and gold. The Vantal leaped with amazing swiftness.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Why don't you wake up Xander?" asked Anya, when they had returned to Cernus' room. He cocked an eyebrow at the question. "Okay, okay," she said, "why don't you wake him up and seal his powers like you did us?"
"I'd like to," said the Mage, "but regrettably, that skin- shield of his repels mystical, as well as physical attack. If I did, there wouldn't be a whole lot I could do if he put on that armour of his and decided that the three of you should go on a killing spree, not that I believe you would," he pointed out, "leave Pritoh, and go into hostile territory looking for your friends. I admit to being fortunate Captain Dricoi fazed him before I tried to subdue him."
"Dricoi!" growled Willow. "Where is he?"
"You must be calm, Willow. Dricoi only behaved as he did because he believed you agents of Deetai, and your friend Xander to be a Chaos General." Willow and Anya still did not seem satisfied.
"Well, that's no excuse for-", Willow stopped. "What do you mean, he believed Xander to be a Chaos General?"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The huge muscled arm blurred through the air, and the airborne Vantal was caught in mid leap, suspended high above the earth. With a gesture, Spike's body was delivered to the slick-skinned General. He thrashed vainly to free himself from the cloven vice. The white-cloaked juggernaught spoke quietly. "You may have bested a Chaos General. But to even hope to challenge me?" Silver eyes regarded the struggling Vantal. "I think not."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"A Lustre Warrior?" asked Anya. "I've never heard of them."
"Its unlikely that you would have," replied Cernus. "They were native only to Ri'Oth, and served no god. The threat they posed was so great that at the paragon of her glory, Glorificus threw all of her will into destroying the Lustre Warriors; all of them. It was the most devastating release of destructive energy that ever has and probably ever will happen on Ri'Oth."
"They were that much of a threat?" asked an amazed Willow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He flung the Vantal to the ground, as he turned back to his mount. He remounted in silence as his Lieutenant said, "Take it, and the other." He was moving away when he opened his hand. He gave the Vantal's throat the briefest of glances before frowning deeply. He threw it to the dust.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Indeed, they were," answered Cernus. It is ironic that Glorificus' greatest display of power led to her downfall. She had underestimated the resolve of the Lustre Warriors, and she needed to exert more will than she ever imagined. The effort drained her, and while she would have recovered to full strength in time, Deetai and Estyarth quickly formed an alliance. Knowing that even then, together they could not vanquish her, they used their combined wills to banish her to another dimension, imprisoning her in a mortal coil. After Estyarth had instructed his followers in that world never to suffer Glorificus to return to this place, they sealed all the trans-dimensional gates into Ri'Oth."
