Author's Notes: Much love to everyone who read and reviewed. I'm so happy that there are at least some people still with the story, even though I've been terrible about updating regularly. I was determined to get a new chapter up within a month, which I accomplished (yay me!) and I plan on doing at least that well, if not better, right up until the story is done.
The battle has (finally) begun...
Disclaimer: Well, Christmas has come and gone, and Santa didn't leave the characters under the tree for me, so I guess I still don't own them. I'm just playing with them for a little while.
The sun had fully set as they parked the van in the cover of the forest and got out. Lurking in the shadows, Lorne spotted around a dozen figures.
'Landok?' he whispered. "Is that you?"
Landok emerged from the shadows, flanked by several of his kinsmen. "You are late," he stated impassively.
"Ran into a little demon trouble," Lorne remarked. "How are we doing for numbers?"
Landok looked grim. "I could not get more than a dozen warriors from my village," he replied. "The rest have been killed or have been taken prisoner. But these are strong warriors and will bravely fight our common enemy."
"Good," Angel said. "We need to do this and we need to do it quickly. Its past sunset, which means the battle in LA has probably already started. Faith?"
Faith was at his side in an instant. "You know what to do, right?" he asked the Slayer.
She nodded, but looked doubtful "You sure about this plan of yours, Angel?"
He sighed and looked at Cordelia. "Wasn't my plan," he said regretfully.
"We don't have a choice, Angel," the Seer told him. "Time has run out. And besides, only you, me and Connor will be able to get to the Partners."
"Don't worry, Angel," Faith told him, her old cockiness firmly in place. "I have done this once or twice. Besides, with luck we'll only be outnumbered by two or three to one."
Lorne looked greener than usual. "Don't quote me the odds before a battle, princess."
Having distributed additional weapons among the slayers, Giles now approached them, carrying the books. Handing one each to Angel, Connor and Cordelia, the Englishman looked grave.
"This could quite possibly be the most insane plan any of us have ever devised," he remarked.
"I don't know. Walking into the hell mouth to face ten thousand of those Uber-vamps was pretty wacky," Faith corrected him.
Ignoring her, Giles looked to Angel and Cordelia. "We may have no way of getting you out of there again. If the books are left behind on this side, as they were before…"
"Giles, we know," Cordy cut him off, not needing to hear anymore. She knew how risky the plan was. "Don't worry about us. Just… win this battle and then go home."
Lorne's eyes widened at this. "All this impending doom must have made me go temporarily deaf. You did not just say what I thought you said."
She nodded. "I don't know how we're getting back, but I need you to not worry about it. You take care of business here, then head back to LA. They're going to need your help."
"What about the three of you?" Giles asked.
She looked at Angel and Connor. They were champions. They were willing to fight this to the death. But neither of them were happy about her doing the same. She smiled at them both, trying to reassure them. "We'll be just fine."
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a scrap of paper and held it out to Giles. "Here. It's the incantation to get back home."
He looked for a moment as if he might say something, but then reconsidered. Instead, he gave her a small smile and squeezed her shoulder.
"Good luck," Angel said to Faith.
She nodded, finding it unusually difficult to stay stoic. "You too."
Ready to get going before it turned into a tearful farewell, Cordelia was dismayed to suddenly find herself at the receiving end of a bear hug from Lorne.
"You come back to us, Princess," he told her fiercely. "Just make sure you come back."
Extracting herself from his arms, she smiled and touched his face, before turning to Faith. "Look after him for me," she told the Slayer, who nodded.
"Ready?" Connor asked.
She looked at Angel, who did his best to hide his reservations from her, which she appreciated.
"Let's go."
The ground rumbled as the huge army of demons took position in front of the human defenses. Too many to count, huge and menacing, easily the largest army most of them had ever faced. And now they were so close that they could smell the stench of death from them.
Buffy remained outwardly calm as she surveyed the enemy ranks, inwardly in awe at the sheer number of demons before her. Even in the dull light provided by the not quite full moon, she could make out the different species, the different shapes and sizes and even colors of the army before her. Fighting off the urge to make a quip about brotherhood among the demon races, she half-glanced in Willow's direction.
"You okay?"
She could hear the false bravado in her friend's voice. "Sure. Piece of cake," Willow told her. She noticed something about the forward ranks. "Yay. There are lots of vamps."
Buffy was incredulous. "And that's a good thing?"
Willow nodded. "Actually, it really is. Spike?" she said, turning to the platinum blonde vampire. "You might want to take cover during the first part of the battle."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "And why might I want to do that?"
She smiled. "It's gonna get a little sunny."
At that moment, a roar went up from the demon ranks and they began to move forward.
"Xander!" Willow called him, raising her voice above the din.
Shouldering the rocket launcher, Xander took aim a little above the heads of the demons. "Fire in the hole!" he yelled before pressing the trigger.
He felt his whole body kick back at the force of the weapon, as the rocket shot towards the demons. Exploding above their heads, the entire sky was suddenly filled with daylight.
"Bloody hell!" Spike yelled, throwing his coat up over his head before he could burst into flames.
In front of them, demons were yelling and shielding their eyes from the glare of the magical sunlight. Vampires were immolating and turning to dust in their hundreds.
As the last vestiges of sunlight began to fade, Willow called out once more. "Xander! Again."
Dawn snapped the back of the launcher shut, having reloaded for Xander. Taking aim once more, he fired.
Sunlight filled the sky once more as the second rocket exploded. Any vampires which had escaped the initial deadly rays were now burning, on their way to dustville. The demon army was in chaos, at least five hundred members of their ranks now big piles of dust.
But as the sunlight faded once more, the demons began to refocus. Filled with fury, the one that appeared to be their general turned its attention back towards the human army. With a roar that sounded more like a scream, he ordered them to march forwards again.
Resting the launcher at his side for a moment, Xander looked towards the roof top. "Archers!" he yelled.
Twenty flaming arrows peaked over the side of the roof. "Steady!" he ordered.
The front ranks of demons were no more than thirty feet away from Buffy and Willow went they suddenly sank out of sight. Unable to stop their momentum in time, more and more demons fell after them, plunging into the deep moat which surrounded the human defenses.
"What the…?" Willow heard Buffy exclaim.
Willow looked abashed. "Oops. Meant to tell you about that, but with Spike turning up and the vision and everything…"
Just then, from behind them, Xander yelled. "Fire!"
All the flaming arrows hit their mark, setting the gasoline in the moat on fire, immolating all of the demons that had fallen into the pit. Those that had managed to stop themselves in time were driven back by the intensity of the flames.
"Nice," Buffy complimented the witch.
"Thanks," she replied. "But it was Andrew's idea."
"Really?" Buffy was incredulous. "Wow. Remind me to buy him a cookie when this is all over."
Excited by their initial successes, a cheer let up from within the slayer ranks. But the cheering was quickly drowned out by another sound. A high-pitched screeching that announced the arrival of the dragon.
Almost the second Faith and her army broke cover and made their way towards the fortress, the huge wooden doors swung open. From inside, marched an army of demons, each at least the size and build of Landok; heavily armed and in full armor.
"It's always somewhat disconcerting when the enemy is expecting our attack and fully ready to meet it," Giles remarked.
The demons marched in ranks, a well organized machine. Before the doors closed again, Faith guessed at least fifty of them had spilled onto the battlefield.
"Two to one. Not so bad," she said under her breath.
"I know these warriors," Landok told her. "Their only pleasure is in drawing the blood of their enemies on the battlefield."
Faith shrugged nonchalantly. "We'll just have to make sure they don't get their ya-yas today." Turning to face the slayers, she assumed her role as general effortlessly. "Just like in training. They're bigger, heavier than you. Use that to your advantage. Keep them off-balance. Kill them quick. Stay alive."
"That is your entire battle strategy?" Landok was incredulous.
She smirked at him. "Let's do this thing!"
Angel, Connor and Cordelia had made their way towards the fortress using the shadows of the forest as cover. As they drew level with it, they watched as at least fifty demon warriors marched towards Faith and her small force.
It felt wrong to each one of them not to be helping in the fight. But time was running out and they had to accomplish their own mission before the battle was lost in LA.
As the doors to the fortress closed, they noticed only two guards take up position in front of the doorway.
"Should we go around, look for another entrance?" Connor asked, keeping his voice low.
Angel shook his head. "No time. Besides, we can fight our way past two guards."
Surveying the scene, Cordy felt a sense of unease settle over her. "Just two guards? Is it just me, or does this have the words "trap" all over it in big, flashing neon lights?"
"It's not just you," Angel told her. "But we don't have a choice, right?"
Cordy looked into his brown eyes, sighed and shook her head.
"Then let's move. Connor?" he said as he tucked his book under one arm and drew his sword with the other. Connor drew his own weapon and readied himself. "Cordy, stay here."
Nodding to his son, they both took off at high speed towards the guards.
"Yeah. Picture that," she said under her breath, drawing her katana and running after them.
The dragon was huge up close. Swooping over the ranks of the slayers, it scattered many of the girls like toy soldiers with his huge, leathery wings. Keeping her eyes trained on the beast, Buffy suddenly realized that several demons sat atop the creature's back. Weapons drawn, they hacked through several ranks of the slayers before Xander realized what was happening.
"Archers!" he yelled again.
Taking aim, they fired towards the dragon. Two of the demons were hit and killed outright. Another ducked to avoid the volley of arrows and fell off, only to be set upon by members of Rondell's crew. Only one remained as the dragon reared up once more into the sky.
The dragon was priority number one as far as Buffy was concerned. It could cause far too much damage with very little effort. But as it came around for another attack, another problem distracted her. Though the moat was still burning, the demons were figuring out that they could jump across and now they were coming in huge numbers, leaping across the fiery pit towards the slayers.
"They're coming across!" Buffy yelled. "Everyone! Hand to hand."
The fight was brief and bloody. Connor traded blows with his opponent for a few seconds, before getting the upper hand and lodging his axe in the demon's chest.
Seeing his comrade fall, and sensing he was in a loosing battle, the second guard decided to cut his losses. Ducking round Angel, he ran for it, straight into Cordelia's path. Blocking a blow from the guard's sword with her own, she swung the book she carried up and into his face, spinning him around and straight onto Angel's sword.
"I told you to stay back there," he told her, as if she had not just helped.
"Yeah, like I ever listen," she quipped back. "Now quit being grouchy and lets get inside."
Taking one last look over his shoulder to ensure that Faith's forces were holding their own, Angel pushed open the door and led the way inside.
Letting their eyes adjust to the gloom, they saw they were in a large entrance hall, lit only by a few torches high up on the walls. There was only one door, other than the one they had just come through, at the far end of the room.
Sensing their destination lay beyond that door, Cordelia went towards it. "This way," she said, speaking in barely more than a whisper. When she reached the door, she hesitated.
"You okay?" Angel asked, resting his fingertips on her shoulder. Suddenly, she had the most overwhelming need to cry. It wasn't a vision – more like intuition – but she felt death in their future.
Turning to him, trying to remain calm and brave, she took in the contours of his face, the look in his eyes. "I love you," she whispered.
His eyes softened, before confusion and then realization passed into them, all in the briefest of moments. "Don't you dare say goodbye, Cordy," he told her, drawing her closer to him. "We're going to get through this."
Not really believing him, but nodding anyway, she let him move past her and open the door. The inner room was exactly as she had pictured it in her vision. Ornate carvings covered the walls, depicting what appeared to be various demons and battles. Above what appeared to be an altar were three statues – as ominous as they were enormous. A wolf. A ram. And a hart.
"Guess we're in the right place," Connor remarked, looking from the huge carved animals to his own book, which was adorned with the image of a wolf.
Shutting the door behind them, the three champions moved towards the centre of the room.
"Okay, according to my vision, we have to do this in order," Cordelia instructed them. "First the book with the wolf, then the ram and finally the hart," she said, looking at her own book.
Each of them opened their books and then Connor began. "Mfsthwlf. Mthhntrsmtfrthfnlbttl. Dthrglry. Vctrrtrnlsffrng."
The room rumbled. As Connor finished, Angel began reading. "Mfsthrm. Smblfbthvlndgd. Lssndslvtion. nglvrssdvl. Slvtnrtrnlsffrng."
The room trembled again, more violently this time, as Cordelia began the final incantation. "Mfsthhrt. Thsrsksthwsdmfthfrst. Thwsdmwlldstryhr. Slvtnsnhrhnds. Lvrtrnlsffrng."
The entire room shook as though in the midst of a violent earthquake. Before them, just in front of the altar, a swirling whirlpool appeared.
"This is it!" Cordelia said above the din. Taking one last look at the men at her side, she followed Angel as he led the way towards their destiny.
To Be Continued...