CHAPTER EIGHT - THE GEORGE MICHAEL SONG
The rain poured down so hard that one could be forgiven for believing it was a hailstorm. The landscape was bleak with nothing but a few trees for miles around. The ground underfoot was beginning to get swampy from all the water. A small green hill rose majesty in the middle of the field and it was this hill that the woman was approaching. She was covered head-to- toe in warm clothing but despite this there was something inherently flirtatious about the way she moved. Her boots were increasingly being bogged down by the mud and probably would have slipped off by now if they hadn't been so tightly fastened. The woman approached the hill and began to make her way up it. After a few falls and plenty of off-colour language she reached the top. The wind suddenly picked up and beat fiercely against her exposed face. The woman pulled out a map and tried as best she could, despite the wind and the rain, to work out where she was. After a few moment of looking around and off-colour language she decided that where she was right now was where she was supposed to be. She pulled the head of a spade from behind her back where she had been carrying it like a backpack and screwed it onto the wooden pole she had been using as a walking stick. She then took the spade and planted it firmly into the ground and began to dig. Eventually after much effort and off-colour language the head of the spade made the metallic thud that she had been waiting for. Eagerly she dug around what appeared to be a chest of some kind. She lifted it out of the hole with much effort and pulled an ancient-looking key from her inside coat pocket. She carefully placed the key into the lock and gingerly turned it. The lock clicked. She lifted the chest open and was basked in a shower of golden light. She sat in the mud, the wind and the rain, staring intently at the golden contents of the chest. Then a small hint of smile emerged at the side of her blood red lips. This quickly turned into a smirk and then into a fully-fledged grin. She shut the chest, replaced the key in her coat pocket and pulled out a mobile phone. After a few buttons had been pressed she held it to the side of her face. "Giles?" She called into it. "I've got it."
The voice at the other end said after a moment's pause, "Good. Well done Faith."
"Hey Giles?" "Yes?" "Check out the connection of this baby. I'm in the middle of the English countryside, which sucks by the way; it's raining like hell and I can still hear you perfectly in California. I told you that extra 400 bucks wasn't wasted money."
"No. It was 400 wasted pounds. My 400 wasted pounds. You could have called from a payphone."
Faith looked around at the bleak desolate countryside, which showed not even a hint of anything remotely resembling civilisation. She then proceeded to shout some very decidedly off-colour language into the phone. After a couple of minutes she was satisfied that she had been able to sufficiently get her point across so she stopped. There was, however, no noise at the other end of the phone. "Giles?" No response. Faith became slightly worried. "Giles?" Still no response. There was no dial tone so he hasn't hang up, she thought. Maybe something has happened. Maybe she lost her signal. No, there wouldn't be a dial tone and plus this phone was really expensive. "Giles?" Still nothing. She tired to listen for any noise to suggest what was going on. The rain and the wind made this task practically impossible but then she is a Slayer. She used everything she had and focused on he noise at the other end of the phone. Nothing. She was about to give up when there was a loud shattering noise as someone had broken a piece of glass. "Giles? Giles?" She was shouting now. There was an agonising moment of silence in which the raindrops fell in slow motion ton the extent that she could see individual ones. Then there was a voice, "Hello?" It was Xander.
The rain poured down so hard that one could be forgiven for believing it was a hailstorm. The landscape was bleak with nothing but a few trees for miles around. The ground underfoot was beginning to get swampy from all the water. A small green hill rose majesty in the middle of the field and it was this hill that the woman was approaching. She was covered head-to- toe in warm clothing but despite this there was something inherently flirtatious about the way she moved. Her boots were increasingly being bogged down by the mud and probably would have slipped off by now if they hadn't been so tightly fastened. The woman approached the hill and began to make her way up it. After a few falls and plenty of off-colour language she reached the top. The wind suddenly picked up and beat fiercely against her exposed face. The woman pulled out a map and tried as best she could, despite the wind and the rain, to work out where she was. After a few moment of looking around and off-colour language she decided that where she was right now was where she was supposed to be. She pulled the head of a spade from behind her back where she had been carrying it like a backpack and screwed it onto the wooden pole she had been using as a walking stick. She then took the spade and planted it firmly into the ground and began to dig. Eventually after much effort and off-colour language the head of the spade made the metallic thud that she had been waiting for. Eagerly she dug around what appeared to be a chest of some kind. She lifted it out of the hole with much effort and pulled an ancient-looking key from her inside coat pocket. She carefully placed the key into the lock and gingerly turned it. The lock clicked. She lifted the chest open and was basked in a shower of golden light. She sat in the mud, the wind and the rain, staring intently at the golden contents of the chest. Then a small hint of smile emerged at the side of her blood red lips. This quickly turned into a smirk and then into a fully-fledged grin. She shut the chest, replaced the key in her coat pocket and pulled out a mobile phone. After a few buttons had been pressed she held it to the side of her face. "Giles?" She called into it. "I've got it."
The voice at the other end said after a moment's pause, "Good. Well done Faith."
"Hey Giles?" "Yes?" "Check out the connection of this baby. I'm in the middle of the English countryside, which sucks by the way; it's raining like hell and I can still hear you perfectly in California. I told you that extra 400 bucks wasn't wasted money."
"No. It was 400 wasted pounds. My 400 wasted pounds. You could have called from a payphone."
Faith looked around at the bleak desolate countryside, which showed not even a hint of anything remotely resembling civilisation. She then proceeded to shout some very decidedly off-colour language into the phone. After a couple of minutes she was satisfied that she had been able to sufficiently get her point across so she stopped. There was, however, no noise at the other end of the phone. "Giles?" No response. Faith became slightly worried. "Giles?" Still no response. There was no dial tone so he hasn't hang up, she thought. Maybe something has happened. Maybe she lost her signal. No, there wouldn't be a dial tone and plus this phone was really expensive. "Giles?" Still nothing. She tired to listen for any noise to suggest what was going on. The rain and the wind made this task practically impossible but then she is a Slayer. She used everything she had and focused on he noise at the other end of the phone. Nothing. She was about to give up when there was a loud shattering noise as someone had broken a piece of glass. "Giles? Giles?" She was shouting now. There was an agonising moment of silence in which the raindrops fell in slow motion ton the extent that she could see individual ones. Then there was a voice, "Hello?" It was Xander.