Chapter 15.

A powerful punch to his midriff sent Spike sailing backwards into a wall. Finding himself next to Buffy, struggling back to her feet after a similar blow, he observed,
"Bloody hell luv, these buggers are tough!"

Not taking her eyes off the Kridjatori bearing down on her, the tiny Slayer spat out a mouthful of blood and took the time to agree with him before launching herself into a high kick aimed at the demons chest,
"They do seem to take some killing, don't they?"

Her flying kick sent the Kridjatori back pedalling and she used her momentum to bring her sword slashing down on to his skull in a death blow. Spinning around to select her next opponent Buffy found herself with a few seconds to take in the battle. Of the eight Kridjatori they had ambushed in the alley, three were dead and two barely alive. Dawn and Adanar were fighting back to back and definitely wearing another two down, despite Dawn's scarred cheek bleeding freely and the Ganaru favouring his left leg.

With her sister holding her own, Buffy turned her focus onto the remaining slaver now roaring and moving clumsily in her direction, his heavy club already swinging towards her. The Slayer ducked under his arm and he stumbled into Spike's orbit. The vamp met the huge demon with a roundhouse punch to the jaw that sent him staggering backwards and into the reach of Buffy's sword.

Willow stood and faced the warlock Hadretz, locked into magical battle. The warlock was draining his power by throwing attacks at the little witch with increasing desperation. A stream of energy balls leapt from his fingertips, only to be halted mid-way and sent back towards him. Willow giggled as Gunn began to whistle 'Return to Sender' and even Giles gave a brief laugh. Both men were armed with crossbows and were partly shielded from the warlock's attacks by the heavy dumpster they stood behind. Needing the crossbow bolts for use against the 'bearcat', only Gunn had fired his to bring down a Kridjatori who had run at Willow during her first attack.

As Hadretz weakened he became reckless and staked all of his remaining power on the throw of a large binding spell at the trio. Gunn and Giles flinched momentarily but Willow allowed it to spark and sizzle uselessly against her force screen. As the warlock sank to his knees, dizzy and spent, Willow bound him in a field of energy that hung him off the ground and kept him neutralised. Giles winced as he recognised it as being the same restraining spell he had been forced to use to prevent a remorseful Willow from harming herself after realising that Dawn had gone through the portal with Warren.

Buffy pulled her sword from the demons back, wiped the blade clean on its shirt and moved closer to where Dawn and Adanar were beating their opponents into submission by using the Kridjatori's own strength and speed against them. Badly wounded, the two demons were seriously misjudging their moves in a lesser-gravity induced unco-ordination. Dawn was muttering what could only be swear words in a foreign tongue and following one fluent stream Adanar laughed and called to her,
"Now that is a physical impossibility Dawn!"

Dawn parried a blow and asked her opponent plaintively,
"Don't you just hate it when somebody gets all picky like that? He does it all the time, you know. Next he'll be telling me off for not introducing myself before I disembowel you."

The Kridjatori came at her again, snarling out a few words that appeared to offend her and Dawn sidestepped neatly and spun on the ball of one foot and launched a savage kick to the side of his knee with the other and sending her sword blade deep into his spinal cord, saying indignantly,
"My grandmother would never have it off with a Keledra maggot or any creepy, disgusting thing like that! If yours did then it would explain why you're such a slimy little twerp!"

Adanar's opponent fell a split second after Dawn's last one hit the ground. The Ganaru wiped his sword clean and told Dawn,
"I see what you meant when you said the one you killed the other day reacted strangely to your name, this one almost froze when I called to you. Odd, but perhaps we may be able to use it to disconcert the three who have remained with Strega."

"I saw that too. You must've made yourself one hell of a reputation on Kridjator, Bit."
Spike busied himself with ripping off the least blood stained garments from the dead slavers; it would help keep the 'bearcat' quiet as they approached if they smelt familiar. He handed strips to everyone but Dawn and Adanar who wore their 'Ring' clothes.

"That's just it. I wasn't allowed to use my name, ever. I guess it's to do with this demi-goddess or whatever. Could be some prophesy or maybe she's just another hell-bitch like Glory."
Dawn shook her head, puzzled, before turning to Adanar and suggesting quietly,
"Why don't you take Gunn and Willow on ahead and we'll catch up in a few minutes, my friend?"

Willow glanced at Gunn, who asked in confusion,
"Isn't it safer for us to stay together? Splitting up doesn't sound like a good idea guys."

Giles realised what Dawn was about; the captive warlock and the two dying Kridjatori had to be dealt with and she wanted to spare the Ganaru the sight of them being killed after the fighting had ended. The Watcher nodded at her and received a grateful look in return as he whispered to Gunn and Willow. Adanar did not miss the exchange and gave the slavers and the warlock a sorrowful, pitying glance before turning to walk away.

"You really care about him, don't you?"
Buffy stated rather than asked. Spike watched Dawn carefully as she pressed her sleeve against her bleeding cheek. The younger girl answered softly,
"He's my pair-brother; that's as strong as any blood kinship. But he's really more like a foster-father, like you with Giles. Killing in battle he's learned not to feel guilty about, but this? It just rips another piece of his soul apart. Me, I have no scruples at all about this lot; they don't have any right to expect mercy. Do you Hadretz?"

The defeated and drained warlock hung in his magical bonds and spat at her feet in answer. Dawn ignored it and asked curiously,
"So do you know why this lot go so weird and freaky when they hear my name? You do, don't you? Tell you what, you tell me and I'll kill you so fast it'll be virtually painless. Try and pretend you're brave and I'll kill you by inches."

Both girl and warlock glanced towards the wounded Kridjatori at the sound of a bubbling, gurgling death rattle. Spike withdrew his sword from one of the creature's chest and moved towards the other one. Noticing their looks he gave the warlock a cheerful grin, waved the bloody sword and said,
"Don't mind me mate, just answer the lady real nice and polite. Otherwise I'll have to show you my nasty tempered side."

Buffy joined Dawn and stared at the warlock. Hadretz grew pale as he watched Spike cut the remaining Kridjatori's throat. Dawn sighed impatiently and drew her black bladed long knife from its sheath and settled the point against the Tarethian's jugular vein. The sight of the knife seemed to panic him and his eyes widened comically.

Dawn frowned and pressed the point into his skin hard enough to release one drop of blood.
"So talk already. Sheesh, you never shut up whenever you came to the Ring to watch us practise, so spill your guts before I get bored and do it for you!"

Buffy groaned and told her sister,
"That's the worst pun I've ever heard!"

"I wasn't being at all figurative Buffy. It's a way so literal threat; he talks or I disembowel! Hey Hadretz, I hear you've been bouncing all over the countryside looking for the Slayer? Tell me about the Dohrn thingee and I'll introduce you to the Chosen one."

"Resorting to bribery Bit? Thought you had a tad more imagination than that; want me to teach you a few effective torture methods? Round out your education, like."

Spike strode over to stand beside the Slayer and gave the hanging warlock a cool appraisal that ended with a dismissive grimace.

The warlock was not so intimidated that he missed noticing something strange about the blond vamp. He took another, more searching look at Buffy and his eyes widened. He spat again and grudgingly asked Dawn,
"She is a Slayer, isn't she? And the half-breed has a soul. These are things not seen by me on my visits to this world."

"She is the Slayer actually. 'One in every generation; blah, blah, blah. And she alone; blah, blah, blah' and all that stuff."
Dawn had no intention of telling him the whole truth,
"Her name's Buffy and she's my big sister. She's not all that impressed by the hospitality I was offered on Kridjator, by the way. As for Spike, yeah good old William the Bloody, Scourge of Europe etcetera, went and got him self lumbered with a soul. Not that it's turned him into some New Age pacifist or anything remotely mushy, hey Spike?"

"I just try not to kill innocent bystanders these days, is all. And I don't like the way Dawn was treated either. So if I was you, scum bucket, I'd just tell her all you know about this demi-goddess and be quick about it; killing times a wasting."
Spike morphed out to emphasise his impatience.

Hadretz turned his attention back to Dawn.
"I die quick and clean if I tell you what little I know?"

"Agreed, you'll get a fast strike to the heart. Now talk."

"Even before you escaped slaves murmured your name enough for it to be known to the Kridjatori. That is why you always drew the biggest crowds to the Death Ring; a fascination with fear. When you disappeared during that sand storm and because it was not the season for storms it was said that you had caused it. Then the great quaking came and you were seen to walk into the Temple of Dohrn and take the sacrificial knife from the altar and walked away untouched."

Buffy gave Dawn a questioning glance and the girl shrugged, looking surprised and nodded. Spike gave the knife in her hand a thoughtful study.

Hadretz kept on talking.
"Then you were only ever seen when you came out of the desert to kill with it and it was said that you were Dohrn and had turned on the Kridjatori for having failed to give you the blood sacrifices you thought were your due. A goat-herder saw you and the Ganaru open a portal and leave but those superstitious fools of Kridjatori were terrified at the thought that the Goddess had abandoned them. Now keep your word and kill me cleanly."

Dawn drove the black bladed sacrificial knife through his heart with one quick thrust. As she wiped it clean of blood on his shirt, she said,
"I didn't know I was even in a Temple to Dohrn. I just needed a weapon and when the quake happened we were near that village, so we went to see what provisions and stuff we could find. If she can scare the Kridjatori she must be one hell of a bitch-queen alright! Let's just go and finish this whole thing; I'm getting hungry again. And if you found these guys a bit tough, the three waiting with Strega are better fighters and he's terrifying."