Chapter Eleven

The furry streak that raced throughout the streets of Port Royal caused immense havoc in its wake, people screaming and varied items flying everywhere as they fell to the ground. The feline never turned back nor even considered glancing back to see the destruction that lay in his wake. Instead, he continued to run as if his own life depended on it, his nose in the air as he followed the crew's scents. He did not even pause when a pair of woman's underwear from a clothes basket that had been thrown up into the air as he had ran between the surprised carrier's legs and sent them tumbling landed on his head. Instead, he just shook it off and kept running.

Hands tried to grab him, but he continued weaving in and out of the annoying humans until a pair of strong hands finally managed to grasp him. "UNHAND THE ROYAL PERSONAGE, YOU FILTHY PEASANT!" The man screamed and released him instantly, but the King still gave him a few scratches before continuing to race off, leaving the surprised man with just enough bloody gashes to remind him not to catch just any cat he happened across.

He had torn out of the town and was well on his way to the others when another scent caught his nose from a different direction. The cat stopped so suddenly that he was sent sliding on snow, which he wondered where in the world it had come from, until he almost hit a tree. Regaining his balance barely in the nick of time, he used the tree as a look-out perch and was just in time to see a wagon rushing his way.


Xena had finally found the farm she was looking for. Locating a wagon and horses to pull it proved to be a little more time consuming, but she at last located them as well. The wagon was full of hay and would make a comfortable conveyance for all. She walked out of the barn, leading the horses pulling the wagon, and got hit in the head with something wet.

She put her hand up and caught the next snowflake. "What the Hell! Snowing here!" She had been in colder countries when it had been snowing so she knew what it was, but what was it doing here in a hot, tropical atmosphere? It never snowed here, or if by some freak of nature, it did, it would melt as soon as it hit the ground. Yet this snow was actually sticking to the ground and forming a slippery surface!

She didn't know what was going on, but more of the crap was now hitting the fan. She got behind the reins and stood up, clacking the reins in the air and hollering at the horses to get a move on. They took off flying like bats out of Hell, heading back to where the group waited. The snow grew thicker all the time yet she still passed from snowy area to plain area. It was as if the Earth itself could not make up its mind rather it wanted snow. She then realized that if she continued to drive the horses so quickly they would be worn out and unable to help any one, so she slowed them down to a steady trot.

As they passed under another of the many trees that lined the dirt road, a body suddenly dropped out of the tree. Xena started to reach for her sword but relaxed as soon as she realized who it was. Blue eyes looked up at her as Meesy asked, "How fast can this thing go?"

Xena looked down at King Meesy. "Faster than you want to go, Your Majesty. Why? What has caused the urgency?"

"Will was sold into slavery," Meesy said, knowing that she would need no further explanation. Without another word, Xena clacked the reins and yelled at the horses who took off flying again. As they raced, Meesy had to dig his claws into the wooden seat to keep from falling over, but never did the cat speak one word of complaint. He only wanted to reach the others and get them back to the ship. The faster they could do so, the better, regardless of the condition the speed put his luxurious fur in.

"Damn!" was all she could mutter. "Damn! Damn! Damn! Jack will go crazy and wipe out the entire damn town if they hurt one hair on Will's head!" Amongst all the other Pirates, Xena was the only one, or thought she was the only one, who truly knew how Jack felt for Will. Every one else just thought that they were the best friends they'd ever seen. She knew Jack was in love but afraid to admit his love to Will. Heck, he'd only just recently admitted it to himself!

They passed one of the trees that dumped a whole bunch of snow on her, and Xena shook it off angrily. Why was it that when everything looked like it was going to go good, shitt always happened! If she had had even a clue, she would now be standing beside Jack, ready to take on the entire town, but instead, here she was, tied down with a group of survivors that she knew had to move as soon as she got to them. There was no more time. Whatever Jack did in the town, the ships had to go. They had to be outside the harbor before the guards closed it. What they did after that was another whole story. As she neared the camp, she smelled fire and knew that more shitt had hit the fan.


They had looked at so many bodies. Prue had breathed a sigh of relief after each, knowing that they were not their family, but she had lost count of how many they had actually seen. Still, her family had not shown up. As they rounded a huge boulder, they found yet another group of women laid out. The woman laying in the center caused Prue to start crying and screaming. Lorne helped her to stand on her shaking legs as they approached. He knew they had found one of the women.

The second they reached the group, Prue fell on her knees beside her mother, and her long hair covered her face. She was lost in tears, wailing like a lost soul. Her heart was breaking. Thank Gods her sister lived, but she had no hope that her grandmother would be alive, either, or even her other sisters, not after having found her mother dead.

Prue had been one of the ones who had wanted to fight and had not simply given up but had gone along with her family, because that's what her mother had said would be right. She loved her mother and did not know how she would go on without her. She felt Cole stop beside them and Piper being let down.

Tears were already streaming down Piper's cheeks so much that she could not see past them. She could barely even make out Prue's form, but she reached out and hugged her sister tightly. She knew Prue needed her now more than ever and hated herself for crying instead of comforting her sister, but this was their mother. Their mother was dead! Nothing else mattered!


Lex heard women crying. "I will take you over there so that you can see if that's part of your group," he said to Paige, secretly hoping that it wasn't because he was not very good with crying women.

"It is," Paige answered softly, struggling to get the words out through the tears that choked her throat. She could tell Prue's and Piper's voices, but who had they found? Phoebe? Their mother? Their grandmother? Who! She wanted to hide her face away in Lex's shoulder and not face whatever she was about to find, but she knew she could not.

When Lex reached the small group, he noticed Cole and Lorne both looking as lost as though they wanted the Earth to open and swallow them. It seemed that he was not the only one helpless around crying women. He sat Paige down beside her sisters and then stepped away, the others following behind him. Carl was so close that his face hit Lex's butt when he went to back. "Hey, that's my territory!" Clark quippingly exclaimed in a hushed whisper, hoping but failing to lighten the other guys' moods.

When the men had retreated a little ways from the ladies, Cole told the others, "That's just one of them. There are two more here somewhere. I have no clue as to what they look like, but carrying them around to look at all the other bodies is just not going to work. It's breaking their hearts even more. We've got to find some one who knows every one."

Carl piped up. "Gabrielle will know what to do."

"Carl, you stay on guard with the ladies. If anything comes up, get us immediately. We're going for Gabrielle."


Reaching Gabrielle, the men all talked at once. Finally, Clark waited for the others to hush before saying, "We need some one who knows every one to identify the dead ones. That way they can tell if any of the live ones can match up with any of the dead ones." The others nodded in agreement.

Gabrielle looked at Clark with a partially questioning and partially bemused expression in her green eyes. His wording was rather unique, but she nonetheless understood what he meant. She had been keeping watch over every one but had only met a few of them briefly. "We need to find out if their leader made it. She would know everybody in the group, but any one else might not know all the others. I don't know which of them to ask, though." Looking around, she saw Wolf. Whistling to him, she waved her hands urgently in the air. She'd seen him having a rather lengthy talk with the woman in black and hoped he might know something she didn't.

Wolf reached her side almost immediately. "Yes, Gabrielle? Can I help?"

"We need to find out who the group's leader is," she explained. "We need some one who knows the rest of them so that they can identify family members and the like."

Wolf had been about to answer when he got hit with something in the head. He reached up and swiped at it with one hand, bringing his hand away to reveal snow. "Just what the Hell! Snow! Huff puff! That shouldn't be here!" He looked at Gabrielle puzzledly before answering her question. "The lady I was talking to earlier and taking care of knows them. I don't know if she's a leader, but she can identify them. I'll ask."

Wolf immediately sprinted over to Elvira, leaving Gabrielle to turn questioningly to the rest of the men standing around her. "Do any of you know any reason at all that it would be snowing in Port Royal, of all places?"

"Wesley might know, but I haven't got a clue," Lex answered. "Professor Doom is always looking into things."

"It might be an omen or something," Clark thought aloud.

"Well, if it is," Gabrielle replied, "we'll hear about it as soon as his lungs open."

Cole shook his head. "I haven't seen snow in years. Isn't this the wrong climate for it?"

"It sure is," Lorne agreed. "Wrong climate and wrong season. I would have expected snow to happen in Pylea before it would have happened here, and it's never happened in Pylea. Where is Wesley?"

"I don't know," Cole said, "but let's go look for him." Lorne nodded, and the two parted from the group to go in search of Wesley, hoping against hope that he would know what was going on.


Meanwhile, Wolf had reached Elvira. "Dear lady, I hate to bother you, but they are in need of some one to identify bodies. Are you able to help?"

Elvira had stood to meet him as she had seen Wolf approaching and had ran her tongue over her black lips as she watched him. He certainly was quite the magnificent feast and surely had to be as good in the bed as he was on the eyes! When he spoke, however, and his question reminded her of all those who had died that day, she quickly sombered. "I can try, but I don't know everybody," she admitted. "I was still pretty new. Patty or Ororo would be better . . . if," she added sadly in an afterthought, "they made it."

"What do they look like?" Wolf asked.

"Ororo would be the easiest to tell. She's dark-skinned with white hair and blue eyes."

"I've seen her already. She's beautiful, and she's with a friend of mine. Do you want to come with me?" He got hit with another snowflake and looked around. The landscape was beginning to get snowed under. "Do you have any ideal why it might be snowing?" he asked her.

"No," Elvira answered his second question first with a shake of her head. "You can try asking Miss -- " She bit her own tongue to keep from letting the word 'Beautiful' slip. Why was she suddenly so jealous? Ororo was beautiful, and Wolf was a man with no claims on him. If he wanted to look at Ororo or another woman, that was his right. They had only flirted, after all. There was nothing serious between them, so she had no reason or right to be jealous. "Miss Munroe," she concluded after a second's hesitation. "She's a Weather Witch."

He could not for the life of him figure out why she was suddenly sort of hostile, but he could see the tenseness and smell the jealousy that had suddenly gripped her. "It would be nice if you'd come with me," he said hopefully. "She doesn't know me from Adam, but she does know you." Then it dawned on him. He had said she was beautiful, because she was and he was never one to keep his mouth closed when it came to admiring beautiful ladies. He leaned forward next to her ear, "She's beautiful but not as beautiful as you are." He stood back in case she slapped him.

Her black eyes sparkled at his words. Part of her hoped that he was not just telling her what she wanted to hear, but as she watched him pull back, his eyes on guard as he expected to be slapped, she realized that that was not it at all. She started to smile, but she stopped herself just in time, deciding instead to surprise him. Her face went suddenly stoic, and she managed to keep the lust from her voice as she spoke. "Why, sir," she exclaimed, stepping closer to him, closing the distance he'd put between them, and raising a hand toward his face, "I -- "

She switched instantly, however. Her voice transformed from a sharp exclamation to a lustful purr as her body leaned into his, her taut breasts pressing against his muscular chest through the thin fabric of her dress. Her hand fell gently across his face, her palm caressing his cheek, as she whispered against his lips, "Flattery will get you everywhere."

"The only place I want to be is next to you," he whispered back. "Soon," he purred back into her ear. "Just being this close to you burns me up." He growled more intensely than he had planned, conveying to her that he was definitely in heat and wanted her badly. "Huff puff," he moaned as he pulled himself away from her. "We have to get this business taken care of and our living company back to safety. Gods know why, but it's even snowing now! Will you come with me?"

Though he was trying to put distance between them again, Elvira reached out and caressed his chest through his shirt. "I'll come with you anywhere," she told him seductively, her voice on the verge of a responding growl.

His gaze locked with hers as he lifted her hand and kissed her in the center of her palm. Then, holding her hand, he pulled her with him where he had last seen Wolverine with the woman. As they approached, he could see that Wolverine was nestled close to the lady, holding her torso in his lap and encircling her with his arms. Wolf didn't know if she was asleep or had just not woken up. When he reached them, he spoke, "Wolverine, is she . . . ?"

Wolverine looked up at Wolf. "Sleeping," he replied. "Thank Gods she lives."

Wolf definitely could see that Wolverine had lost it. Was it destined that each of them should find their true mates today? Gods knew he had found his and could hardly wait to claim her as his own. Did Wolverine feel the same about Ororo? It seemed that he did as he held her protectively, and Wolf had to smile. He had never seen Wolverine with any woman before. Rumors had abounded that he had killed a couple of them, but he had never seen him get romantically inclined toward any one. "We were hoping that she would be able to identify the survivors."

Wolverine looked up at the sky. "I'm gonna have to wake my little darlin' up any way. The snow is beginnin' to pile up. She'll catch her death o' cold here, an' I won't have that. Little darlin'," he whispered, "wake up. We've gotta get a move on."

Ororo stirred slowly in response to Logan's voice, but the first thing she felt was confusion. The next was the cold of the naturally heated earth that did not understand why it was being snowed upon. Her eyes were not yet open when she groggily spoke, "It's cold. Why is it cold? What is this white stuff? It does not belong here."

Elvira released Wolf's hand to kneel before the man called Wolverine and Ororo. She knew that her friend's strange comments were probably worrying both men but understood what was happening. Ororo was not fully awake yet, but already she was picking up on Mother Nature's confusion. "'Ro, wake up. It's just snowing," she said as if snow was an every-day occurrence in their lives.

"Snow?" Ororo repeated tiredly. "But it should not be. I did not tell it to."

Wolf looked at the brown-skinned woman who was mumbling about snow. What was it Elvira had said about her? Oh, yes, that she was a Weather Witch. "Well, if you can do something about it and make it stop, it might be a good ideal. It could really cause some trouble. I've heard about the snow, but I've never seen it, not till today. You're right. It shouldn't be here."

Wolverine had been around strange women all his life and many Witches. Therefore, her words really did not bother him but her tiredness did. He was still afraid of losing her. "'Ro, are you able to stand? I'll hold on to you. We need to identify yer people. Match up the living with their dead; get the dead seen to; an' then we need to get the Hell outta here, because rather it's snow or townspeople, we are in for a lot o' rough road to hoe and the sooner we get to safety, the better."

Their words had brought Ororo the rest of the way awake, but she was still looking around in confusion. "You are both right. It should not be snowing. This can not be good, but I should be able to stop it." She was emotionally exhausted and mentally tired, but her physical well being was surprisingly fine and showed no signs of having gone through what she and her people had been through that day.

She pushed herself to her full height of six feet. Standing tall, she stretched out her arms and opened her hands, her fingers reaching toward the heavens. "By the Goddess, that which belongs in the cold regions . . . " Cold winds blew back her long, white hair, and her baby blue eyes turned to white with no sign of her pupils. "That which should never fall here, the stuff of snow, ice, and sleet, be gone."

Elvira looked around, knowing that the snow should disappear with Ororo's words. When nothing happened, worry dawned on her face.

"I said . . . " Ororo began to try again but stopped suddenly as her spirit seemed to run straight into a brick wall of fury. Her forehead creased and her eyes shut in determined concentration, but the unknown power source was far stronger than her own. With a cry of pain, she fell back, toppling downwards into Logan's waiting arms.

He held her close to him. He was amazed at all the power he had just seen flowing out of her, and yet it had all been thrown back at her. It scared him, but he didn't let on like it did. "She's not in any shape to help you to identify the people. If ya have any way at all o' doin' it, miss, please? We've got to get them outta here to safety. Out in the open, like this, we're exposed."

"It's too dangerous," Wolf said. "Can you do it, Elvira?"

"Wolf, I told you I was new to the group. I still don't know everybody. I could identify some but not all, and they all deserve . . . "

Ororo's gentle voice interrupted the conversation that flowed around her. Elvira's black eyes looked down into her baby blues. "Find Patty, Elvira, any of her children, or even the Halliwells' grandmother. They will all know, but we must do this swiftly." She started to continue but stopped, confusion creasing her brow. Looking to Wolverine, she asked, "Are any of your people capable of healing others? Until I ran into what I just encountered, my body was surprisingly fine and felt as though nothing had happened."

"The Lewis sisters are our ships' Sorceresses. They did a healing spell," Wolf said. "They are resting now. I don't know what they are thinking about what is going on right now; I haven't seen them in a while."

"Please introduce me to them later, then, as I must thank them. What I was about to say, however, is that time is even more of the essence here than it would be otherwise. The force that is causing this snow is quickly approaching our way, and it is capable of a great deal more disaster. We must be out of here before it reaches the town or we will go with it."

"Is it that powerful?" Elvira asked her, looking at her in fearful surprise. Outside of her sisters and her brother-in-law, Ororo was the most powerful being she'd ever met. If this force was so powerful that it scared Ororo, let alone tossed her back as if she were nothing but a child's ball . . . Elvira refused to dwell on the thought as she shuddered silently and, already standing again, moved closer to Wolf.

"Yes," Ororo affirmed. "More, in fact."

"Then we'd best get going," Wolf said as he grasped Elvira's hand and pulled her with him again. "We've got to find any of the Halliwells."


Cole and Lorne had at last found Wesley. He was with one of the women that Cole had rescued earlier. They noticed that he kept looking worriedly at the sky. "Wesley, you want to explain what's going on?" Cole asked hopefully.

"Can't," Wesley replied nervously. "The scrolls are at the ship, and I don't remember reading anything about this. It shouldn't be snowing here!"

"Something's comin'! Somethin' big an' bad an' awful!" the woman, who was so petite that she looked more like a girl at first glance, gasped out. "It's goin' ta eat all o' us or, at least, kill us! We have ta get outta here!"

"Easy, Fred," Wesley said.

"Fred!" Lorne exclaimed.

Cole laughed. "Why're you calling her Fred? You call a girl by a girl's name, Wesley." He figured Wesley had just stuck a name on her. He was bad about doing that, and he was very nervous around women.

"'Cause that's her name, Cole, or at least she said it was!" Wesley exclaimed, heatedly defending himself.

"Sorry, ma'am," Cole said, "but I never heard of a woman with a guy's name before."

"What kind of parent lays a boy's name on a daughter?" Lorne asked. "Not that I'm one to say anything. After all, who calls their child Krevlornswath?"

Fred laughed, a musical sound that caressed Wesley's ears and stopped far too soon. "Mah real name's Winifred Burkle . . . " she started to explain.

"That's okay," Lorne quickly said. "We'll just call you Fred. You can call me Lorne."

"And I'm Cole," Cole said.

"It's nice to meet y'all. It'd be nicer if we were in a bettah situation. But we've gotta get outta here. Ah'm not kiddin' when Ah tell y'all somethin's comin' that's gonna devour this entire place!"

"I believe you, ma'am," Cole said. "It's a Demonic power of some kind, stronger than I've ever felt. We've got to get these people out of here." He wondered what had happened to Xena and why she had not returned yet.

Fred shook her head. "Not a Demon or, at least, not technically. An Elemental."

"Mister Big, Bad, Bold, and Ugly," Cole said. "Doesn't matter if he's Demonic or an Elemental, he's not some one we need to tamper with. Let's go where the others are." He would have to tell Gabrielle as soon as he got there.

Wesley was amazed at how much Fred seemed to know. He couldn't wait to get better acquainted with her and delve deeper into her mind. They could compare notes and probably even swap tales. He took her by the hand, helping her to her feet, and they headed off in the direction of Gabrielle.


Still holding on to Elvira's hand, Wolf headed off to where he had last seen Gabrielle. Reaching her at last, he said, "We need some one with the name of Halliwell."

"Patty, Penny, Prue, Paige, Piper, or Phoebe," Elvira inserted. "Damn," she muttered, "my tongue just about stuck on that one."

Cole reached Gabrielle just about the time Elvira was letting go with the list of names. "I've got one of those," he told them.

"So do I," Lorne said.

"Me too," Lex added in.

"Lucky us," Clark interjected dryly. "We've all got a Halliwell." As far as he was concerned, the sooner they got rid of the Halliwell, the better. No way was that Halliwell laying a hand on his Lex!

"Get one of them and get them to identify the bodies," Gabrielle told the others. "Actually, if you can get them to split up and identify, it will be faster."

"Sure thing," Cole said and headed off to where he had left Piper. He hated to ask her, but he knew the sooner they got it taken care of, the sooner they could get the Hell out of there. He felt time was quickly running out. Lex, Clark, and Lorne followed Cole, but Wesley and Fred remained behind to warn Gabrielle of the danger behind the snow.


The others soon reached the place where they had left the sisters crying over their mother. Carl looked like he was about to break down into a fit of tears, and Lorne silently placed a reassuring hand on the little guy's shoulder. The Gnome looked up at the Demon, but neither spoke.

"Piper?" Cole was the first to speak, putting out his hand and touching her gently on the shoulder as he gently called her name. "Can you help to identify the others?" He knew the healing spell should have taken effect now. She wouldn't need carrying. He'd miss that, but he'd be close to her in case she needed him.

Tears were still running down her cheeks when she looked up at Cole, but she nodded as she swiped at them. "Sisters," Piper said, looking to both Prue and Paige, "I know we do not want to leave her, but Mother would want us to do everything we can for the others."

Paige nodded, biting back a sob as she did so. "Besides," she added dejectedly, "we still haven't found Phebs."

"Or Grams," Prue said, wiping her eyes on the backs of her hands. "With the three of us working together, we'll find them sooner."

They went in three different directions, each with at least one man to carry the dead body to its relative if its relative was alive, but none of their relatives lived. Entire families had been wiped out, and the tears continued to flow not only down the sisters' faces but, when the women were not looking, down the men's as well.

They were collecting the bodies into one group when Paige suddenly cried out, "I found them!" Every one stopped what they were doing and raced to where Paige was cradling Phoebe as her sister cried. Grams lay still on the ground. Her sisters gathered around Phoebe, and Prue and Piper held both of their younger sisters tightly.

Cole did not say a word but picked up their grandmother and added her to the group beside Patty. He then looked around for something to start a fire but could find nothing. He was amazed when he was suddenly joined by Morph and Tom, who had came seemingly out of nowhere, and Tom transformed into a dragon, breathing fire over the bodies.

It was this smelling that Xena picked up as she entered the camp. A slow chanting had began among the survivors, helping to carry the souls of the dearly departed to the Rainbow Bridge. They stood in a circle, their hands entwined, and she was even more surprised to see that they were not alone but were also leading the men, even little Carl and Joxer, in the ritual. Only Katrina and Celina were missing, and Gabrielle stood out, as well, waiting and keeping guard with tears shimmering and the fire reflecting in her sad eyes.

It would take a while for the fires to burn down, a time that the people could not wait for. Xena hopped down from the wagon and opened the gate. "Come! We must quickly be away from here! The snow heralds danger!" She looked down at King Meesy, whose every hair stood straight out.

At Captain Xena's words, most of the men, those who were not already familiar with rituals, tried to leave the circle, but the women latched onto them even tighter. "We must close the circle," the whisper rang among them, passed from one to another as an explanation to those who did not know.

The snow continued to fall, wrapping them in a blanket of whiteness, even as the ritual ended and Ororo opened the circle. The group began to make their way to the wagon. Their heads were bowed in respect for the dead, and tears still flowed down several faces.

Xena was getting worried. If the snow piled up too much, they would never get through. To take a precaution against that happening, Xena, who had seen Tom demorph back into his own body after being the dragon, approached him and Morph after they had helped their exhausted wives into the wagon. "If you would help me get through," she indicated how the snow was piling up about the wheels of the wagon, "it would be greatly appreciated."

They both grinned sheepishly at her and immediately turned into dragons. The horses spooked and broke the traces, fleeing from the dragons. Xena could not believe the disasters, one following the other, but the dragons merely drew the traces together and stepped into them. Pulling the wagon behind them, the shapeshifters began blazing a trail to the safety of their ships.

To Be Continued . . .