Well I guess this one is worth continuing and has a big enough audience if the reviews are any indication. I'm telling you now though, that it make take a while for me to finish this. Plus, I don't put up author notes just for the heck of it, they usually containing important information regarding the story so please read them before asking me silly questions.
A/N: I know that some of you are familiar with David Eddings and others aren't. I have received emails asking for more info and I really don't mind giving it out. So please feel free to email me with questions, melindoranightsilver@hotmail.com
A/N2: This chapter has everybody introducing themselves so some of your questions might be answered as to who these people are.
Special thanks to my beta PuNKeCoWGiRL for agreeing to beta this even though she isn't familiar with all of my characters.
Review Responses:
Felicia Neko, Tassos, Pandoras Box1, Sweet-Steffie, Kenra, A Watcher, dancetdplc, thank you guys so much for your reviews!
Lirael, I happen to be a huge David Eddings fan. I've never seen a crossover with Buffy before either, but I felt this challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to try one. I've always worried about doing one cause I wasn't sure how much of the Buffy audience had read any of his stuff. Hopefully I can get some of them to read his books and do more crossovers in the future.
Rach, only the characters mentioned in the previous chapter will be in this story. The challenge Jinni issued limited me to at most twelve characters and I'm kind of pushing the limit. I do have other possible crossovers to write in the future if I have time.
luana, thanks for mentioning the little Sparhawk and Flute interaction. I'm actually in the middle of rereading The Tamuli so I have their idiosyncrasies firmly in place. I might be a little sketchy with Garion and Belgarath so I may have to pick those books up again... Not like I mind.
Lisette, I'm glad I caught your interest. Hopefully you'll start to understand some of the characters after this chapter.
bavite, I know, this combination should be fun. The only way to make it better was if I could have brought in Kalten, Talen, Lelldorin, and Silk. Couldn't you just see the havoc they could create?
I just want you guys to know how much your reviews mean. I'm glad to know that I'm not the only huge David Eddings fan out there.
Chapter One
Introductions
As the nine other people approached the three present members of the scooby gang, Buffy had a horrible fear. "Willow, what if we all don't speak the same language?"
"I could do a translation spell."
"No!" Dawn cried.
"She's right," Buffy agreed. "Your first spell got us into this, we don't need anymore problems."
Willow pouted slightly but said no more.
"Do you think this is everybody?" Dawn asked.
"I hope so," Buffy whispered as they got into hearing range.
Buffy and Dawn kept their swords in their hands, but let them hang low in a non-aggressive posture. The twelve people formed a rough circle comprise of clumps of people. They all looked at each other warily.
Patience not really being one of Buffy's strong points, she decided to be the one to speak. "Umm, let's start with if you can understand me, raise your hand." She looked visibly relieved when everyone raised a hand. "Great," she said with a smile.
"See, didn't need that spell after all," Dawn murmured to Willow.
"Next question. Raise your hand if you have no idea how you got here." Once again everyone's hand went into the air. "Ok. I think we, my friends and I, can explain what happened."
"What did you do, neighbor?" A big man in black armor asked.
"I'm getting to that, but I think some introductions might be helpful." Several of them nodded their heads. Knowing she'd have to explain who she was when they explained what happened, she plunged forward. "I'm Buffy Summers and I'm from Sunnydale, California. I also happen to be the chosen one, which means I'm the vampire slayer. I defend the world from all sorts of evil nasties."
"My lady, I find it hard to believe that someone of your stature could fight evil," a tall man with long blond hair said.
Buffy leaned towards Willow. "Stature?" She whispered.
"It means height, build, size. He means you don't look intimidating."
"Well why didn't he just say so?" Buffy whispered with a roll of her eyes. Speaking loud enough so everyone could hear, she said, "Just trust me for the moment." She turned and looked expectantly at Dawn.
"Oh! My turn. My name is Dawn, I'm Buffy's sister. I help her fight... And that's about it."
"I'm Willow Rosenberg and I help too. I practice wicca, which means I'm a witch."
The slayer watched for the other's reactions. They didn't seem to be surprised by the mention of magic, which would make the explanation of what happened much easier.
"My name is Sparhawk," the large man in armor said. He had a crooked nose that had obviously been broken some time in the past. "The girl's name is Flute." The girl had long black hair and a simple white dress. Her feet were bare and had grass stains on them. She gave them a little trill on her pipes in way of greeting. "I suggest you steer clear of my horse, Faran. He's a little foul tempered." The large roan snorted derisively at him.
"I'm a Pandion knight from Elenia and I'm also the Queen's Champion, her husband, and the Interim Preceptor of my order."
A sinking feeling appeared in Buffy's stomach.
"Guess we're next," the only other girl replied. She had long brown hair and had a look of sharp intelligence about her. "I'm Hermione Granger and I'm from London, England. I'm also a witch." She nudged the boy next to her with her elbow. "Be polite," she whispered tersely.
"Don't tell me what to do, mudblood."
"Take that back, Malfoy," the other boy with them said.
"No, Potter, I won't. Don't you ever get tired of defending your girlfriend?"
"We're not dating!" The two in question protested.
"Right," he said with a knowing smirk. "You keep on telling yourselves that."
"Excuse us," Buffy said, gesturing with her sword. "Can we please finish the intros so we can explain what happened and hopefully go home?"
The boy with the white blond hair smirked at her.
"Is it me," Dawn asked, "or does he remind you of Spike?" Willow just nodded her head.
"My name's not Spike, it's Draco Malfoy. I'm also a wizard and from England."
"I'm Harry Potter. The three of us are in our sixth year at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Everyone turned to look at the oldest of the group. While his hair and closely cropped beard were a silvery gray, he seemed to be quite fit. His clothes, however, were mismatched and stained. A piece of rope was wrapped around his simple tunic like a belt. "The name is Belgarath and I'm a storyteller. I don't really remember the village I'm from."
"It's because you're older than the hills," the sandy haired man next to him said.
"You should treat your elders with respect," Hermione told him reprovingly.
"If you only knew how close to the truth that is," the man muttered before introducing himself. "My name is Garion and I'm the current Rivan King. The old man just happens to be my grandfather."
Buffy looked Garion over. He was tall and nicely built, but only seemed to be her age. "Aren't you a little young to be a king?"
Garion shrugged his shoulders. "I was crowned when I was sixteen and I'm twenty-two now."
"It's not that unusual," Sparhawk said. "Queen Ehlana was crowned at eighteen."
"Doesn't mean either of them were ready," Buffy countered.
"I wasn't," Garion answered truthfully. "But luckily I had some help in my early years on the throne."
"Maybe we should let the last two speak," Willow said before they could get farther along on the tangent.
A man with should length dark hair nodded his head in way of greeting. "My name is Strider and I'm a ranger from the north. My friend is Legolas from the woodland realm."
The slayer turned to Willow. "I don't think we're in our dimension anymore, and neither are they. What did you do?"
"Are you the ones who brought us here?" Belgarath asked.
Willow laughed nervously. "Kinda."
"Let me explain," Buffy said, heading off any outbursts. Then she started a long explanation about their world.
The redhead couldn't help it. Buffy had been making so many speeches lately that she just tuned her best friend out until she could tell she was nearing the end. All the important info always came there.
She surveyed the nine other people. During the introductions it seemed as if they were all deliberately hiding something about themselves. She relaxed her mind so she could read everybody's auras. Tara had always been able to do it easily and yet Willow had to work at it.
Once she found the right state of mind she looked at the newcomers again. The three students had an obvious aura of magic, but the two boys had flickers of dark magic in theirs. They were random enough to indicate that they had been touched by dark magic, but never used it.
Strider's shone brightly but had a sense of a huge destiny and burden. Legolas' indicated that he was far older than he looked and Belgarath's said that he was older still. Garion's had a strange blue corona and it seemed to be concealing something. She concentrated harder and nearly gasped when she saw a large sword strapped to his back materialize.
She lifted her gaze to Sparhawk and took a step back - he had no aura. She sent out a light tendril of magic and confirmed that he was alive, he just didn't have an aura. Willow sucked in her breath and held it as she regarded Flute. The young girl was luminescent with pure power.
"Buffy," Willow whispered. When the slayer continued talking, Willow tried again, only louder. "Buffy."
"What, Willow?"
"These people aren't exactly who they say they are."
The petite blonde's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Legolas, Belgarath, and Strider are older than they look, Harry and Draco have been touched by dark magic, Garion in concealing a huge sword, Strider has a huge honkin' destiny, Sparhawk has no aura, and Flute is pure power."
They all stared at Willow in shock.
"Let's start with Garion," Buffy said. "After all, he's the one hiding a weapon."
Garion sighed softly and said, "Why me?" He turned his neck slightly and said, "You can stop concealing yourself."
Buffy gasped at how large the sword was. It was over four feet long and a glowing blue stone sat on the pommel.
"What is that?" Dawn asked.
The young king took the sword off his back and set it on the ground. He then whispered something and the orb came off. "This is the Orb of Aldur."
"Who?"
"Aldur is a god. He was the first to protect it until his brother Torak stole it. My ancestor, Riva Iron-Grip, went on a mission with my grandfather to retrieve it. Since then it will only submit to the touch of the Rivan line. Several hundred years ago my family had to go into hiding with only my grandfather and Aunt Pol to protect them. A prophecy was set into motion when I was about fourteen or so and I was the Child of Light. That's roughly how I ended up as king."
"Why did you set your sword on the ground?" Sparhawk asked.
"It's too heavy for me to lift without the Orb. Actually, no one else can lift it, but me."
"Belgarath, how old are you?" Willow asked.
"Over seven thousand years old," the old man replied with a wolfish grin.
"How is that possible?"
"I'm a wizard, of sorts. I don't exactly do magic, but that's the easiest way to describe it. Garion is one too."
"But why does he call you grandfather?" Dawn asked.
"My daughter, Beldaran, was Riva's wife."
Buffy turned to Strider and Legolas. "What about you two?"
Strider sighed. "I'm eighty-seven. I have a small amount of elven blood in me that grants me long life. To the elves..."
"House elves?" Hermione asked intently.
"No, regular elves. To them I am known as Estel, which means hope. To my people I'm Aragorn son of Arathorn, the future king of Gondor. Like Garion, my family has been in hiding to protect us."
Legolas spoke next. "My father is Thranduil, king of Mirkwood. I'm an elf..."
"You don't look like any elf that I've seen," Draco said.
"They must be different from where you come from," Legolas said simply. "I am one of the first born, granted with an immortal life and I'm nearly three thousand years old. I'm currently on a quest with Estel and others that will hopefully rid out land of an ancient evil and place him on the throne."
Buffy looked at Harry and Draco. "Anything you two want to share?"
Harry shrugged. "I'm wanted by an evil wizard named Voldemort." Hermione and Draco shuddered slightly. "He tried to kill me when I was a baby with the killing curse. I'm the only one who has ever survived the curse.
"Making you the bloody savior of our world."
"It's not like I want to be, Malfoy."
"Whatever, Potter."
"At least I'm not a filthy death eater!" Harry yelled.
"I didn't want to take the mark! My father made me!" Draco yelled back.
"What mark?" Buffy asked, moving to stand between them to help prevent a fight.
"Voldemort's followers are called death eaters. You can easily identify them cause they all wear the dark mark," Harry spat.
"My father gave me a choice," Draco said darkly. "The mark or death by his own hand."
"Ok. Obviously an issue you need to sort out later, but not now," Buffy said. "Willow, is Draco evil?"
"No. What I saw must have been caused by the mark. His heart is pure."
"Fine. You two can settle this later. Right now we have other problems." She turned to Sparhawk. "Care to enlighten us oh-he-without-an-aura?"
"I'm also known as Anakha, the man without destiny. I am Bhelliom's creature, designed to help him."
"Bhelliom?"
"A sapphire gem that holds great power. It has a mind and conscious of its own."
"And what about the girl of pure power?"
"I'm a goddess," the girl said with an impish grin. "My name is Aphrael actually"
"And you're with him why?"
"To keep an eye on him. You wouldn't believe how much trouble he can get into on his own."
"But you're only about six," Dawn pointed out.
"I only look six. I'm actually very, very old. I just like this form."
"Since we're all being so truthful, I guess I should tell you what I left out," Dawn said. "I'm not as old as I look. I was once the key and was only transformed into this body a couple of years ago."
"The key?" Harry asked.
Flute walked up to Dawn in wonder. "The key to dimensions?" At Dawn's nod, Flute said in slight wonder, "My family thought you were just a myth."
"What do you mean a key to dimensions?" Aragorn asked.
"My blood opens portals between different worlds and dimensions."
"Is that how we got here?" Belgarath asked sourly.