Chapter 19. Earth Bound.
The monsters growl and begin to fight the knights full force. The knights swing their swords as hard as they can to attempt to fight them off. With the monsters is a woman in black and Connor stops her.
"Ah, ah, ah," says Drusilla shaking her finger at the young knight. "You are going to get hurt, little boy." Connor is wondering how a girl like her can beat him. His question is answered as two monsters grab him from either side and push him against the wall. "Now tell me where the Queen is?" Drusilla puts her hand on his face and gets a vision of Dawn heading out of the palace.
"Hey, bitch," says Cordy trying to get the girl's attention. She then hits Drusilla over her head and knocks her out. Then she swings her sword around really fast and slices half the head off one of the monsters that are holding Connor. Connor smacks the other one with his elbow and picks up his sword. The two then continue to battle.
Meanwhile, Tara is heading for the exit and runs into Lorne. He pulls her over to him.
"Lorne, what are you doing here?" asks Tara. "I thought you had left with the others."
"Nah," replies Lorne. "I just have a bad feeling if we exit the palace through the front. We should head to the back."
"But why?"
"I don't know. Something is telling it's not a good idea."
"I need to find Dawn. She's with Connor's mother and I think they are heading out the front entrance."
At the main entrance of the palace, Dawn and Darla wait for Tara to join them. Dawn keeps looking down the hallway, but there is no Tara. She takes a deep breath and then turns her attention to Darla.
"We need to get out of here," says Darla. "I have a bad feeling."
"We need to wait for Tara. She said she'd be here." Dawn turns around and she sees something flying in the sky. "Okay, let's go." The two head down the steps, but whatever it is that Dawn saw flying has spotted them. It comes swooping down and separates the two. Dawn quickly stands up with the laser saber that Giles gave her.
The flying thing is a man on a machine. He lands and steps off his contraption and walks over to Dawn.
"Aren't we well armed and pretty," says the man. He pulls out his sword. "Let's see how good you are with it." The two start to fence. Dawn does a couple of quick moves and is able to give the man a kick, which sends him down a few steps. Dawn then rushes to Darla's side and helps her up.
"Are you okay?" asks Dawn. She did not respond, but only pushes her aside as the man had returned aiming his sword at Dawn, but the sword goes through Darla instead. "NOOOO! Darla!"
The man heard the name that the girl calls the blonde that he just ran his sword through and he looks at the girl. Her blue hood comes off and he recognizes her. He pulls his sword out and takes hold of the girl, who is fighting for her life as she takes shallow breaths.
"Darla," says the man as some tears come down his face. "No, what have I done."
Dawn angry at the man and of what he did takes her saber and swings it down, cutting the man's hand off. The pain is horrendous and he quickly pulls away from Darla.
"Darla," says Dawn. "Hang on. Oh my gosh." Dawn puts pressure on her wound that is covered with a lot of blood. She then looks at the man with a missing a hand and sees him in shock. The man rips his shirt and wraps where his hand used to be to stop the bleeding.
Darla grabs Dawn's shirt and pulls her close to her. She whispers something in her ear and Dawn is surprised at what Darla has told her. Dawn then looks at the man that she has just cut off his hand.
Back inside the palace, the knights begin to get an upper hand on the monsters taking them on two by two. More or less, two knights per one monster. One would position in the back and another in the front. They would swing their swords and slice its head off clean. A good tactical strategy that is well planned.
"I still say an axe would have been better," says Connor as he and Angel cut off one of the monsters head together.
"Not in such short notice," says Angel. "What we got, we use." Then one of the monsters gets really angry and tackles Angel. He drops his sword and is weaponless to fight the monster. Connor tries to help him out, but the monster has tackled him hard and Connor sees a very lifeless Angel.
Down the hallway, Tara is heading toward the front entrance. Lorne follows her and keeps telling her that it's a bad idea to exit through the front. Tara walks over to the steps and sees Dawn and Darla on the ground.
"Dawn!" says Tara. She then sees the man on the floor get up. "Watch out, Dawn!" Dawn turns around and sees the man right in front her. He doesn't give her time to get her saber as the man makes her drop it on the ground. The man, with his good hand, grabs Dawn from her neck. Dawn struggles and grabs his hand that has a good grip of her neck.
"Get away from her," says the man in an angry tone. Then he throws her aside and Dawn falls a couple of steps down. The man kneels down to Darla's side. "I thought you were dead. Why did you leave?" He grabs her hand with his good one.
"Lindsay," Darla says with a trembling voice. Lindsay then tries to pick Darla up. He walks over to his machine and flies off with Darla towards where he came from.
Tara quickly runs down the stairs and helps Dawn up. Lorne comes out of the palace and towards the stairs. He sees Lindsay flying away with Darla. Tara and Dawn walk up the stairs to where Lorne is.
"Kitten, are you okay?" asks Lorne as he helps her up the stairs.
"I'm fine," replies Dawn. "He took her. What am I going to tell Connor? I promised him that I would protect her."
"Dawn, it's not your fault," says Tara. "How could you have known that someone would be flying out of no where…" Tara looks at Lorne.
"Kitten, don't blame yourself," says Lorne. "At least you're alright."
"She saved my life," says Dawn. "The least that I could have done for her is keep him away from her."
"You did the best you could."
Back inside, Giles and Spike take out the last of the monsters, but then one monster that was on the floor, presumed dead, gets up and runs down the hallway.
"Bloody hell," says Spike as he climbs over the dead bodies of the monsters. Connor is closer to the open hallway and runs after him.
"I'll get him," says Connor.
"No Connor, wait," says Spike as he runs down the hallway after him.
"What are we going to do with her?" asks Cordy about Drusilla.
"Take her to the prison cell," replies Giles. Some of the other knights grab the woman and carry her off. Cordy starts to look around and doesn't see Angel standing up like everyone else.
"Where's Angel?" asks Cordy. "Have you seen him?" She starts climbing over the dead bodies. She finds him and runs over to him. "Angel. Angel." Giles follows her and kneels down next to Angel.
"I think he's…" says Giles. Cordy gives Giles a look.
"Don't you say that," says Cordy. "Angel, please. Can you hear me?" She touches him and puts her hand to see if he had pulse. Her head goes down and tears start to form.
"I'm so sorry." Giles puts his hand on Cordy's shoulder. They both put their heads down.
"What are you sorry about?" asks someone. Cordy and Giles look up and see Angel with his eyes open. "Giles, do you mind getting your hands off of my girl. You know you're married, right?" Giles gives him a smile.
"Oh my gosh," says Cordy as she quickly grabs hold of him tight. Angel feels a lot of pain, but he can take it. "I thought I lost you."
"I'm not that easy to be taken down," says Angel. "Well, maybe by a three ton monster but anything else, I'm good." Giles and Cordy help him up.
Meanwhile, the run away monster reaches the front entrance. Tara and Lorne back away when they see the monster run out of the palace. It looks at Dawn, who doesn't move and she pulls out her laser saber. She lifts it up into the air and as the monster is running toward her, she swings her saber and moves over to the side. Its head goes flying and falls near Tara. She quickly moves away from it.
Then the monster's headless body stops at the edge of the stairs and falls down. It goes tumbling down the stairs.
"That was pretty good," says Lorne. Tara walks over to Lorne and Dawn, who are watching the monster's corpse roll down the stairs. "Now that's gotta hurt."
"Dawn!" calls Connor as he reaches the entrance of the palace. Tara, Lorne, and Dawn turn around. He sees the head of the monster on the side and then looks around. "Where's my mother?" Dawn bows her head.