Chapter 4
"So," Phoebe paced as she spoke. She had just returned from trapping Paige in the attic. "What you're saying is that these…military type demons are going to try and capture Willow and Pri and make them into magickal slaves? And we're just supposed to wait here while that supposedly makes them better?"
"No, no." Leo sighed deeply and his brow furrowed as he thought of how to explain it better. "You don't get it. The two have to fight against the military of the §¥iöŕiał and the other demons of the 'portal-world' in order to gain their energy back in the physical world. If they get captured or separated…pretty much all is lost. They would have to find a way to escape their captors and reunite with each other before they could even hope of earning the return home. The 'magick' they use in the 'portal world' is the opposite of the magick you know here. It's 'anti-magick' you could say. If it is used, magickal energy is rebuilt off of it. And it's very unlikely that their captors would allow them to use magick any time they want to."
"I won't wait." Dawn stood in defiance and glared at the White Lighter. "I refuse to just sit here and wait while my friend, who is almost like a sister to me, and her new love are possibly dying. And most definitely suffering. I don't care what you say, there has to be a spell out here that will help. Or there could be a way in to help them. But there's no way I'm going to wait here in hopes they'll find their own way to survive. What if…what if the legend is wrong? After all, it was just a legend until now. They could be trapped there, wherever 'there' really is, forever. And you expect us to just sit and wait as they are quite possibly made into eternal magickal slaves in a fucked up world in a fucked up system of everlasting warfare?" Dawn shook her head. "I don't know how you people do things here, but where I come from we never stop the research-never stop trying until we get what we want. And I want Willow and Pri back." She looked around the room at everyone, only to be met by blank and shocked stares. "What are you staring at? Did you hear nothing I just said? We're finding a spell to help Willow and Pri. Now!"
"She's much wiser than I was at her age." Piper leaned over and whispered in Buffy's ear.
"And that's what kind of scares me." Buffy whispered back and nodded with a weak smile. "She could be growing up too fast for me to keep track. And soon…she won't be my baby sister anymore…"
"Ugh!" Pri struggled to hold onto the netting at the top of the mast with one hand, while attempting to smooth her hair out of her face. The wind was stronger than ever. The whole of the KžσtέЂ seemed to be kin to a tanning room. There were five suns shining brightly, at the least, and each was adding mightily to Pri's swiftly growing sunburn. The climb to the top of the mast had been excruciatingly slow and painful, and now began the even slower climb down. The bucket of water and the soap lay on a platform of sorts, and in her hand she took up the large sponge and set about cleaning the mast. Her left hand gripped the rope netting for her dear life, while she was continuously tossed about by the wind and the waves.
Up and down, up and down, up and down. She kept repeating in her head: up and down, to force herself not to tire of scrubbing. Her arms were sore, too sore, she thought. But she knew they would only get worse as she felt splinters dig their way up under her fingernails. She bit her tongue to distract herself from the pain and reminded herself once more, up and down, up and down…dammit how will I get out of this? She swung her body around to the other side of the mast, praying to the goddess that she would be able to hold on, and began to scrub the other side. "Twelve inches down, one hundred and fifty bloody more feet to go." She muttered under her breath. At least they had the decency to take the sail down while I did this. She chuckled grimly to herself. That would have been an interesting thing to attempt. "Ow! Dammit!" She swore as a painfully large splinter made its way under her index fingernail. Up, down, up, fucking down…
Hours later she was halfway down the mast. Her hands stained with her own blood, her arms aching for rest. All of a sudden she heard shouts of excitement from below. Curious, Pri put down the sponge, and craned her neck to see what was going on. Before the ship, a great expanse of floating land was making its appearance, and the crew was preparing to dock. There was no beach or mooring station in sight, and Pri wondered how they would land. She also wondered if here she would find Willow, and if she would be able to get to her and warn her before it was too late. If you can hear me, love, I'm coming. She sent with all the magickal strength she had left, hoping against all odds that Willow's power was open to her thoughts.Willow's eyes shot open, and widened with fear, as she gasped for breath. She didn't know why or how, but she hadn't been breathing. Now she struggled to keep her lungs working. Pri's pained seared through her stronger, and more unbearable than ever. Finally the cracking earth beneath her got to be too much. She knew that to keep the spell working, she would have to stay put, but she didn't want to risk being some creature's lunch, or breakfast, or dinner, or tea-time-snack, or whatever, because then she would lose the chance to start the spell from scratch. She didn't quite feel like doing that either, but it was either that, or give up all hope of saving Pri from whatever hell she was in.
Rolling from her sitting position on the hill, Willow stood just in time to see a large, worm-like creature burst through the ground, earth spraying in clumps. From beneath you it devours…why does this look familiar? The eyeless creature seemed to 'stare' directly at her as its mouth opened widely, revealing rows and rows of razor sharp teeth. She stumbled down the hill, her feet carrying her backwards, too afraid to take her eyes off her attacker. Around her she could sense other creatures making their way towards her out of the trees. My concentration is broken. They smell my fear. They smell the darkness. They're coming to steal it from me, they're coming to take my life.
