Chapter Twenty Seven: Into the Mouth of Hell
"Well you took your own sweet time," said Darla to Buffy as Buffy reached the bottom of the stairs beneath the seal. "Lucky for you the bad guys aren't ready to fight yet."
Darla was standing in a wide rocky but largely level area which was like a balcony overlooking a vast plain below. The only other person present was Drusilla who was some twenty yards away looking over the edge of the drop.
The plain below was a barren wasteland. Nothing grew there, nothing had ever grown there. There was no sunshine just a gloomy, overcast and uniformly bleak sky. Occasional flashes of light came from several places over the horizon punctuated by rumbles of noise like distant thunder.
"So when did you stop being one of the bad guys," said Xander suspiciously to Darla as he came up beside Buffy. "You know there's no way we're gonna trust you, either of you."
Darla shrugged, unconcerned. "You do what you like," she said. "We're here for our own reasons." Darla walked away towards Drusilla.
"Perhaps it would be best if Darla and Drusilla stayed with Angel's group," suggested Giles. "He knows them better than anybody. From what Connor said Darla may have some feelings for her son, especially now she has a soul."
"I'll have a word with Angel," said Buffy walking away. "I need to speak to him anyway."
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The Charmed Ones had performed their closing spell on the seal before descending to the bottom of the stairs. No sooner had they reached the bottom than the rough rocky stairway disappeared altogether. Now the area in which everybody stood had no exits either up or down apart from a long drop at the front down onto the plain below.
Piper stood and looked up at the way they had come. There was now no indication of an entrance, just an unbroken rocky ceiling far above. "So how do we get out of here again?" she asked Phoebe who stood next to her. "Do we all have to fly like you?"
"Those prophecy guys of Willow's were a little vague about that don't you think?" said Phoebe. "I'm hoping I get some sort of a mystic message when we've finished up here. Sort of like go to the third rock on the right and the secret passage hidden behind it will lead to the way out."
"We'd better concentrate on the job in hand," said Prue, "before we think of getting out. You were one of those who told us to come here remember. If we don't win there won't be anywhere to go back to anyway. "
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Faith and Vi now deployed their group of enhanced slayers near to the edge of the platform, on guard and ready for the first attack. Everybody else was assigned to carry loose rocks and boulders over to near the edge to provide ammunition to throw down onto the attackers when they arrived. Prue used her power to move more rocks than anybody else and quickly piled up large mounds at intervals along the edge.
"Over there!" said Vi pointing off into the distance where what looked like lines of ants were appearing over the horizon. Of course they weren't ants, they were just a long way away but they were moving fast towards Buffy and her troops and there were a lot of them.
"Seven attacks," said Xander. "That's what Giles said wasn't it? If we can hold off seven attacks..."
"The Seven Hordes of Hell," said Willow.
"Yeah, the Seven Hordes," said Xander. "Then we're home free."
"God," said Amy. "There must be thousands of them."
A few yards away Cordelia, Wesley, Fred and Gunn were also watching the approach of the enemy. Angel finished talking to Buffy. They embraced briefly before Angel joined his group and Buffy went back over to Willow, Xander and Giles.
"I count five columns of them," said Gunn. "Which one's the vampires? They make the first attack right?"
"They're all vampires," said a female voice from behind them. "Them and a lot more besides. You won't even survive the first attack."
The friends had turned on hearing the voice but only Gunn recognised who it was. It was his sister, his dead sister, or rather The First in the form of his sister. "See you soon," she said to Gunn and then disappeared.
Buffy and the others had decided on an aggressive defence. Rather than wait for the mass of uber-vampires to swarm all over them the defenders began to take toll of the advancing horde long before the vampires got close enough to do any damage themselves.
Prue sent wave after wave of rocks sailing over the edge of the platform and allowed them to drop onto the advancing vampires causing the destruction of many of the attackers. Meanwhile Piper, Phoebe and Amy worked together to cast a storm spell to concentrate some of the thick clouds above into heavy thunder clouds.
As the vampires reached the base of the cliff at the front of the platform ready to climb up, the rain clouds burst and bolts of lightning struck downwards amongst the vampires. The lightning strikes caused further casualties amongst the vampires, both from direct strikes and from the rocks struck from the cliff falling onto those below.
A further benefit was from the torrential rain making the rock face very slippery and thus more difficult to climb. The uber-vampires however proved themselves very adept at climbing very quickly so although they were slowed a little very few were actually dislodged by the rain.
These benefits for the defenders from the storm clouds were however incidental to their main purpose as Willow, Cordelia and Anya now performed their part of the plan. The chanting that the three now performed was not in fact a spell but was a blessing, a Wicca blessing that Willow had learnt from Tara and it worked perfectly.
Nobody had known whether all would go according to plan. Very often in battle things simply didn't work out but this time everything worked as well as the most optimistic forecast. The blessing, which Willow, Cordelia and Anya repeated over and over again was directed to the storm clouds and was intended to provide a torrent of holy water streaming down onto the vampires. As the blessing took effect screams from the vampires proved that the plan was working.
All of the vampires climbing the cliff rapidly disappeared in clouds of dust as did those under the falling rain at the base of the cliff. Concentrated as they were the clouds did not affect the mass of vampires further back who were out of the rain. Or at least not at first.
Prue now used her power to push the clouds back over the previously dry vampires, keeping the cloud movement steady at the right pace to wipe out all the vampires under the clouds before moving on. She was aided in what she was doing by the vampires themselves.
The uber-vampires were fearless and completely unaffected by the deaths of their comrades. They had been directed to attack and wipe out the Forces of Light so they simply kept coming forward determined to kill.
In other circumstances the advance of such a legion of deadly killers would have been irresistible but the uber-vampires now proved what had been shown over and over again in warfare: Being fearless and ferocious was no substitute for being intelligent.
The uber-vampires kept coming and they kept turning to dust. Eventually there were no more. Not only had they been wiped out but none of them had reached the top of the cliff and there were no casualties, in fact there were no wounds at all amongst the defenders.
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There was a delay after the first attack which allowed everybody to get a little rest and refreshment. Since The First was undoubtedly not doing them any favours it appeared clear that the rapid destruction of the first horde had taken their enemy by surprise thus causing a delay before the second attack could be mounted.
"Is that the best you can do?" yelled Xander from the edge of the platform. "That was pathetic, quite pathetic!"
"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Willow asked Buffy. "Stirring up the First like that?" She half expected to see The First appear in one form or another but nothing happened. He's probably busy right now she thought.
"Maybe it'll get the First to lose its temper and attack before it's ready," said Giles. "Anything we can do to get it to make mistakes will help us."
"Make more mistakes," corrected Buffy in a loud voice, making sure that everybody nearby heard her. "It hasn't done anything right yet."
Faith walked over to the group. "It's the demons next, right?" she asked. "Any idea what sort of demons?"
"The prophecy just says demons," said Giles shrugging his shoulders.
"That probably means all sorts of demons," said Willow. "The big, the bad and the ugly."
Buffy now stepped forward to the edge of the platform. "Looks like they're on the way," she said staring at the horizon. Once again distant columns of fast moving figures had appeared over the horizon and were headed their way. This time however some of the enemy were airborne.
As the demons got nearer a strong wind sprang up blowing away from the platform area where the defenders were waiting. The high clouds above began to stream away towards the approaching army making it impossible to concentrate them into thunderclouds once more. Clearly the enemy had taken action to prevent the Forces of Light from using the same tactics a second time.
A hurried conference of the magic users decided to adopt a suggestion made by Phoebe. This time the Halliwell sisters carried out a Power of Three spell. With a strong wind already blowing the sisters' spell was even more devastating than it might have been as they stirred up an even stronger wind, quickly strengthening to a major gale in the faces of the advancing demons.
The airborne demons were quickly swept from the sky, some of them over the horizon and far away but most of them to crash onto the ground amongst their terrestrial brethren.
The falling airborne demons not only caused casualties amongst the demons below but also sparked off strife in the ranks. Marshalling large numbers of demons of different types and from different tribes made a potentially formidable force but most demons were not used to working together or taking orders.
Demons did what they could to save themselves from their falling brethren. This caused collisions and further injury in the ranks as each demon looked to save itself, even if it meant trampling on and killing others. Before long large parts of the advancing horde had come to a halt as the demons set about each other.
Parts of the approaching army continued on its way however and now drew near to the base of the cliff. The most eager of the demons raced ahead of the main body and leapt onto the cliff and began climbing upwards.
By now the slayers, the enhanced potentials and the other fighters were ready in three lines at the top of the cliff. The magic users held themselves ready for their next move. Once more the attackers were met with falling rocks from the defenders including large clusters dropped by Prue but this didn't stop all of the attackers, there were simply too many.
As the first isolated demons reached the top of the cliff they were quickly despatched straight back down again to the bottom by Faith, Vi and their group of slayers. Some of the demons, particularly the large ones, were unimpressed by their first sight of their opponents but did not live long enough to realise their mistake.
The weapons wielded by the defenders now proved their effectiveness as one touch was usually fatal for a demon, even if it didn't penetrate the thick hide of some of the more well-protected varieties.
As the demon army closed up to the base of the cliff the numbers reaching the top of the platform continued to increase and Buffy now stepped forward to join the fight along with the Scooby gang, Angel and his group. Only Kennedy, Rona and their team plus the various magic users now stayed back from the fight.
"NOW!" shouted Willow a few minutes later, using magic to ensure that everybody heard, mentally as well as audibly, no matter how engrossed they were in the fighting.
All of the fighters at the front of the platform now despatched their current opponent and stepped back. At the same time Kennedy, Rona and their team fired crossbow bolts into those demons that were still standing.
Now Willow stepped forward to use her power. "Back!" she commanded and swept all of the remaining demons from the top of the cliff. The respite would be brief however as the demons were being constantly replaced by others climbing the cliff. The respite however was long enough because as the next wave of demons reached the top of the cliff Cordelia, Amy, Anya and Giles completed their spell.
The front of the cliff began to shake throwing to the ground those demons who had now completed their climb and dislodging many of those still on the way up. Now parts of the cliff began to break away, taking with it many demons and crushing others below. Finally, as the defenders all moved back as far as they could the whole of the cliff front broke away and collapsed down upon the demon army which was now gathered closely up against the bottom of the cliff ready to join the fight.
The collapsing cliff took a while to settle and it was several minutes before Buffy and some others walked forward to the new edge and looked down. There was still a great deal of dust in the air but as it settled and blew away on the still strong wind it became clear that there were no living demons below.
The falling rubble had hit the base of the cliff and then flowed away engulfing the entire army gathered below. This movement of the mass of rock had been part of the spell that had ripped the rock free. The only movements that could now be seen were the small adjustments of the still unstable pile of debris as it gradually settled down.
"Guess that makes us 2 and O," said Xander with some satisfaction.
Buffy felt no satisfaction, just relief that they'd all survived. All survived? "Have we lost anybody?" she asked turning to the people around her.
As it happened there were three losses. Isabella and Annabelle of Vi's group had been struck down by demons and Fred had been hit by a rock thrown by a demon immediately after it had reached the top of the cliff.
"Where are they?" asked Buffy. "I want to see them."
"I saw Annabelle taken down by a demon," said Faith, "but as she hit the ground she faded away. No body. She was very brave. If she hadn't charged at it I wouldn't be here myself."
Vi confirmed that the same thing had happened to Isabelle who had been hit by one demon whilst killing another. She too had faded away and left no body behind.
A sombre Wesley gave a similar story as far as Fred was concerned. "She must have taken down a dozen of them with her crossbow before she went down," he said. "When she was hit by that rock she fell to the ground and just faded away before I could get to her."
"What's it mean Giles?" asked Buffy. "Why no bodies? What's going on?"
"I don't know," said Giles. "There's nothing about it in the prophecy," he added looking at Wesley.
"Maybe it's like vampires," suggested Wesley. "They turn to dust in our world. We fade away in their's."
"Except the vampires dust here as well," said Xander. Wesley shrugged.
"I know she's gone to a better place," said Buffy putting her hand on Wesley's shoulder. "Believe me I know."
Meanwhile Vi was talking to Willow and Piper. "I know we don't have any Whitelighters but can you or any of the magic users do anything to heal wounds?"
"I can try," said Willow. "I've seen what Tara did but I've never tried it myself."
Willow walked over to Gunn and Lakshmi the worst injured. As she did so she was thinking of Tara and how she healed. She crouched down next to Gunn and cleared her mind. "It's quite simple," said a familiar voice in her mind. "Just look at the wound and remember how the body should be without the wound, both inside and out. Don't forget, I'll always be with you."
"Tara?" said Willow recognising the voice, looking up and smiling.
"What?" said Gunn, breathing with difficulty.
"Hold still," ordered Willow looking at the large red scald mark over Gunn's chest. He had been hit by venom ejected at him by a tall green-scaled demon just before he had taken off its head with his sword.
Willow concentrated on the wound and was delighted to see the healing light appear over the wound, the light that she had seen produced by Tara. Gunn's wound repaired itself completely.
"So are you a Whitelighter too now?" asked Piper who had watched the whole time with Vi.
"Oh no," said Willow. "I'm not a Whitelighter. I think I did that because I'm still linked to Tara."
"Could you do it a few more times?" asked Vi.
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Kennedy, Rona and their group had now taken over the guard position at the front of the balcony allowing the other group to move back to rest. It was one of this group, Elizabeth who spotted the next enemy threat. The monsters were on the way.
The monsters were not as numerous as the vampires and demons but they were bigger, much bigger and every one seemed to be unique. The smallest appeared to be the size of an elephant and the biggest the size of a large dinosaur.
Striding long at the head of the latest horde was a large ape like creature, for all the world like King Kong except for having four arms. Not far behind and to the right of the ape was what could only be described as a land octopus or squid. It had many tentacles at the front and seemed to just slither along at about the same pace as the fast striding ape.
The third front runner amongst the monsters was what could have been a survivor from the age of dinosaurs. It was a large four legged lizard, about twice the size of a rhino. As it trotted forward a long snake-like tongue shot in and out of its mouth. As it came closer a loud hissing could be heard coming from the creature.
The remaining monsters were either not in such a hurry as the three in the lead or they were not able to move as quickly. There were about a dozen more of them altogether of various shapes and sizes.
As the three leading demons approached the base of the cliff they were attacked, from the rear. The three slayers had hidden themselves in the rubble and now emerged after the first monsters had passed. Buffy attacked 'King Kong', Faith attacked the wannabe dinosaur and Kennedy attacked big Octy.
Buffy, using the Battle Scythe was able to surprise the giant ape and quickly inflict fatal injuries. She drove the point of the weapon into the creature's heart from the rear and then withdrew it to cut off its head.
Faith found herself with a more difficult task. To reach the lizard's head she jumped onto the tail and ran along the creature's back. The lizard quite naturally reacted violently to shake off the slayer and did so but not before the fast moving Faith managed to deliver a fatal blow to the head with the Troll Hammer.
Kenney found herself with the most difficult task of all. She carried an enchanted axe but this did not have the same immediate impact as the weapons carried by the other two slayers. It was also more difficult to find a vital organ to attack sufficiently quickly to incapacitate the octopus before it did damage of its own. Kennedy therefore only managed to get in two blows to the head of the creature before being picked up by one of its tentacles and flung against the cliff face.
Buffy now set about the octopus while Faith carried the unconscious Kennedy up the cliff as quickly as she could before the remaining monsters arrived. Buffy found herself loping off tentacles as they came at her. As she did so she remembered a story of a creature which grew two extra arms for every one that was cut off. Hope it's not one of those she thought. Thankfully it wasn't.
Buffy left the third dead monster at the bottom of the cliff just in time to be able to climb the cliff in safety before the other monsters arrived. She arrived in time to see Willow work a healing on Kennedy at the back of the balcony.