Chapter 37: Morgana Part 2
Trollmarket, January 30th, 2017
"Dawn! No!" Buffy Summers screamed as the portal vanished. Jumping into a portal after Jim? To Morgana? "You idiot!"
She clenched her teeth and whirled, snarling at the trolls left in the room as she hefted the scythe.
One of the trolls, a tall, hulking one, took a step back. Another, slender one, raised two curved blades - Egyptian style, Buffy noted as she dashed forward to vent her rage.
The other troll was good - they parried Buffy's first two strikes, though they had to give ground. "Balar! Help me!" they - she? - yelled.
Buffy hissed under her breath as she feinted, then lunged, to be parried again. One good fighter and more trolls to help her? This might become a little tricky.
But the other troll backed off. "We have to kill Merlin! Keep her busy!"
"No!" the female troll yelled. "We need to deal with the Slayer first!"
"Oh! Stabbed in the back by your friends?" Buffy grinned and redoubled her attack. The troll had to fall back some more, and Buffy almost had her once - the scythe missed her stomach by inches.
The troll tried to riposte, but Buffy swatted her lunges away with two quick twists of the scythe. "Not used to fighting someone stronger than you, huh?" And the troll's friends were all moving away.
In response, the troll bared her teeth - lots of shiny sharp ones - and charged her, blades whirling. "Die!"
It looked impressive, like an approaching harvester, just with swords, but this kind of move was predictable - especially when wielding two long blades. Buffy took a step back, then slid to the side and lunged. Her scythe caught one of the curved swords on the backswing and whipped it to the side, unbalancing the troll and creating an opening large enough to drive Giles's car through.
Before the troll could recover, Buffy slid forward, going low, and gutted her with an overhand slash. By the time she jumped up, the troll was already turning to stone. One down for Dawn!
That left… about a dozen trying to get at Merlin and the others. Most of them were trapped by some spell of Willow and Tara, it seemed - but they looked exhausted. Toby had killed a few more and was keeping the rest at bay with Xander, who was limping but still wielded his axe.
"Heads up!" Buffy yelled, baring her teeth as she waded into the trapped trolls, cutting throats and slashing bellies as she passed the brutes, leaving crumbling stone corpses in her wake. When she reached Toby and Xander's small line, only four trolls were left.
Buffy cut down one from behind, ramming the scythe through his back, allowing Toby to kill another with a two-handed strike straight into the face. The other two turned to face her.
Or to run - the hulking one who had left Buffy alone with his friend cursed and started for the door. "Keep them busy! I'm going for reinforcements!"
"Balar! You CowARGH!" Xander used the distraction to plant his axe in the other troll's neck.
"One's getting away!" Toby said, panting as he propped himself up with the trollhammer.
Buffy cocked her head, grinning as she listened to the sounds of troll boots coming down the stairs. "No, they're not."
A moment later, Balar returned, dashing into the chamber, then drew to a stop, looking around.
"No portal," Buffy told him. "No way out." She smiled, showing her teeth.
Behind the troll, Vendel and the others arrived.
"You're trapped," Buffy said, slowly circling the troll. "If you want to live, you better tell me where you came from." And where Dawn and Jim were right now. "Otherwise, I'll cut you to pieces - slowly. She lifted her scythe for emphasis.
Balar panted, his head twitching as he looked around. "They're… they're in our headquarters!"
"The Order of Janus's headquarters? Where is it?" Vendel demanded.
"It's… it's beneath the old Omni-Reach Travel Agency!" Balar blurted out.
"I know the place! That's in Arcadia Oaks!" Toby said.
"How far from here?" Buffy asked.
"Not too far, but…" Toby looked back at where Merlin had set down the casket or coffin with Morgana's body.
"You cannot leave. Morgana knows of this chamber now, and she will be able to send all her remaining forces through the next portal," Merlin said. "Unless we can destroy her once and for all. And for that, I need to break the seals."
"We'll protect you," Vendel said, "while you do what you must."
"Morgana has Dawn. Or will have her soon. That means she can open a portal to wherever Gunmar is."
"The Darklands," Vendel said.
"Dawn got my shotgun!" Xander sat down with a groan, holding his side.
Willow and Tara had all but collapsed, leaning against each other.
Buffy looked at Toby.
He clenched his teeth - she saw tears in his eyes - but he shook his head. "We would be too late. It's up to Jim now. Jim and Claire and Dawn. We have to stop Morgana."
They had to go and save Dawn. And Jim! "How long will you take?" Buffy asked Merlin.
"Longer if you keep distracting me."
That wasn't helpful. Buffy looked at Toby, then at her friends. Could she leave them here? Open to another attack?
Could she leave Dawn?
What should she do?
Beneath the Omni-Reach Travel Agency, Arcadia Oaks, January 30th, 2017
"Down!" James Lake Jr yelled, throwing himself in front of Dawn and dragging her to the ground. The crackling, glowing bolt of magic barely missed him - and struck a troll who had stepped forward to brain Jim with a mace.
The changeling gasped in surprise, remaining frozen for a moment, then started to scream as his stomach suddenly started to tremble, bulges appearing one after another, growing rapidly. To Jim's horror, the limbs and head of the troll were being sucked in at the same time. A moment later, with a splattering noise, the troll turned into a wobbling mass of bleeding flesh. And then to stone.
The other trolls looked as shocked as Jim felt and halted their charge.
"Get him, or you're next!" Morgana screeched.
And the trolls came at Jim and Dawn again. He parried a blow from a changeling wielding a spear, kicking the troll away, then whirled to face the next troll when a chain wrapped itself around Eclipse - another troll was using a weird chain weapon and started pulling on it at once, trying to disarm him. Jim snarled and bashed a third troll with his shield, then twisted Eclipse, cutting the chains.
That sent the troll stumbling back, bumping into another. Both fell down, and Jim lunged, stabbing the chain-wielder through the face with his sword.
That left about twenty trolls. He rolled back, kicking one troll trying to grab Dawn in the face and stabbing another through the chest.
He couldn't keep this up. Not against so many trolls. Not against Morgana. He couldn't protect Dawn.
They were completely surrounded now. Jim slashed at a halberd trying to separate him and Dawn, cutting its head off, then jumped to the side to avoid a spear thrust.
"Damn it!" Jim turned and saw one of the trolls in the second row had turned into a human and pulled a gun out. He stepped in front of Dawn at once, flaring his shield. Several shots hit his shield, two bounced off his armour. Dawn pressed herself against him, then moved the shotgun past his face, barrel pointed towards the firing troll.
The shotgun roared, and Dawn fell back with a surprised yell. Jim caught her with his left hand while parrying an attack by a lunging troll. "We need to get out of here!" He hissed.
"No, we need to get Morgana!" Dawn replied. "Hey, Claire! Take your body back, or I'll take Jim!"
"What?" Jim stared at her, then had to duck below a wild swing with an axe.
"I know how to motivate her!" Dawn said. "I can… NO!"
A net dropped on her head. Jim whirled, slashing with his sword, and managed to cut the rope attached to it before Dawn was pulled away, but she was still entangled.
Something hit him in the back, throwing him to the ground. He rolled to the side, avoiding the follow-up blow, but he ended rolling into a spear thrust that barely glanced off his chestplate.
Dawn shrieked - a troll had grabbed her, net and all. Jim scrambled to his feet, batting away another spear thrust and gutting a troll trying to block his way, and rushed forward.
A halberd caught his legs, and he fell again.
"Kill him! Kill him now!" Morgana yelled.
Jim caught a sword on his shield, cut the tip off a spear, but an axe hit his legs, and he screamed in pain. Propping himself up on one knee, he whirled Eclipse, catching one changeling in the face, then threw his blades. One caught the troll carrying Dawn in the knee. The other sliced through the troll's fingers which held the net.
Jim caught a blow to the back from a sword, but Dawn fell to the ground and rolled out of the net.
But two trolls rushed towards her at once. Jim shrugged off another blow and dashed forward again, ramming into one of them headfirst. It felt like ramming a wall. Or Draal.
But it caught the troll in mid-jump and made him miss Dawn and crash into the oher troll. Both fell down. Jim cut an axe in two before its blade could reach him and jumped, despite the pain.
With only one leg, he fell short, but he rolled the last yard to Dawn.
She was already up, but she had lost the shotgun. And they were about to be surrounded again. "To the wall!" Jim snapped.
Dawn didn't hesitate - she ran to the closest wall. Jim followed her, running backwards as he fended off more attacks. They just had to hold out a little longer. Just long enough for Merlin to kill Morgana. Then Claire would be back, and everything would be fine.
Half a dozen trolls formed a semi-circle around them. Jim could keep them at bay. He could. Clenching his teeth, he lunged, feinting at one, then turned to take a stab at another. Both fell back. Hah!
One troll tried to hit him with a maul, but coming at him from the front - Jim could dodge without endangering Dawn. Which he did, then rolled forward over the shaft of the weapon, lashing out with Eclipse and cutting the troll from shoulder to hip.
But the dead troll's place was filled by another changeling in a heartbeat. And Morgana was pointing her staff at him again.
Damn. What was taking Merlin so long?
Trollmarket, January 30th, 2017
"What's taking you so long?" Buffy Summers snapped at Merlin. "You said you could easily break your own seals!" She clearly remembered that.
"And this is true. However, I did not claim to be able to quickly break my seals, did I?" the old geezer retorted. "Further, we need to be ready for this - she must know what I am doing and will do anything to stop me."
"We can hold the stairs," Vendel said. "There are changelings in Trollmarket still, but they must be biding their time since they haven't launched another attack on us. Those who aren't fighting Draal."
"Or fled," Xander said. "They took heavy casualties."
"They also murdered many of us - most often defenceless trolls." Vendel shot a glare at Balar.
"That wasn't me!" the cowardly changeling quickly said. "I wasn't there - I was sent directly to this chamber! I didn't kill anyone!"
"So, you were part of her reserves?" Xander asked. "The ones held back for the crucial strike?"
"Yes!"
"Quite an important position," Buffy commented.
Balar shook his head. "No, no. It was just chance. When she was gathering us, she picked us at random."
That hadn't been smart of Morgana. Picking the right minion for the job was essential, as Spike liked to say. And Balar was obviously more suited to killing troll children than facing the Trollhunter or Slayer. Morgana must have been pressed for time. Or gotten sloppy.
"Cease your prattling. This still takes a certain finesse," Merlin complained. "'I've broken the first seal, yet two remain."
Buffy rolled her eyes. But the old man was doing, well, probably his best. And with everyone else exhausted, wounded or both, it wasn't as if they had too many options. "I guess we'll wait here, then, until I can drive my scythe through Morgana's neck." She cocked her head, eyeing the casket Merlin was working on. "Are you sure I can't slice through this?"
"Do you wish to test my defences?" he retorted. "I anticipated such an attempt, seeing as how common it is amongst the martially inclined to use brute force against every problem. Best not attempt to force the casket."
Buffy blinked. That sounded slightly insulting. Not entirely wrong - there were few demony problems you couldn't solve by staking or stabbing someone - but still a little condescending. She would've said something, but Merlin was focused on the prison thingie again.
She sighed.
"Don't worry," Xander said. "If Morgana had Dawn, she'd try to use her as a hostage. Jim must be keeping her safe."
"Unless Morgana is already freeing Gunmar after taking over Dawn," Buffy said.
"Dawn would have to hold the Shadow Staff for that," Willow pointed out.
Buffy snorted. Dawn taking the staff was the plan, wasn't it?
"And I don't think she can possess anyone that quickly," Willow went on. "And if Dawn gets ahold of the staff, she would use it to flee at once."
"Unless held at sword point," Buffy retorted.
"Jim would have something to say about that," Toby said. "He will protect her."
Unless the choice was protecting Dawn versus saving Claire. But Buffy didn't say that. Or unless Jim was already dead. She didn't mention that either.
"The Trollhunter is skilled, but even his power has limits. It was foolish of your friend to follow him to Morgana's lair," Vendel commented.
Buffy knew that! But it wasn't Vendel's business. "She is risking her life to fight your enemy," she snapped.
"And, as I understand things, risking Morgana breaking Gunmar out of his prison." Vendel shook his head. "We are in dire straits."
"We are close to finishing Morgana once and for all," Buffy snapped back. "And she doesn't strike me as the kind of person to sacrifice herself to free someone else. If she could, she would still be attacking us."
"Unless she thinks she can't save herself, and is doing what she can to spite us," Willow said.
And that would mean freeing Gunmar and his horde or whatever. Buffy clenched her teeth at the thought. Dawn, in Gunmar's hands? That troll ate people! Perhaps she could rush to Morgana's lair… "How much longer?" she asked. "I could have reached her lair by now!"
"No, you couldn't have," Toby protested. "It's not that close."
Merlin suddenly shuddered and let out a sigh. "And the second seal is broken. One remains."
But he looked pretty broken, too. Well, exhausted. And he was still cursed and dying, wasn't he? Only his magic was keeping him alive, and what he had taken from that Heart of Avalon of his. Willow and Tara looked too exhausted to help him, and if he kept going, he might…
She clenched her teeth again. He had to know what he was doing. It was his decision. And they had to stop Morgana and save Claire.
Damn. She couldn't even be mad at him if he was sacrificing his life for this. Well, she could, but it would be Cordelia-level petty. Before she lost her money and went to Los Angeles and stopped being the worst bitch on the planet.
Damn it all.
"Dawn, you better be OK," she muttered under her breath. "Mom will so ground you for this…"
Beneath the Omni-Reach Travel Agency, Arcadia Oaks, January 30th, 2017
"Watch out!"
James Lake Jr gritted his teeth and tried to ignore Dawn's shrieking. With literally their backs to the wall, he had a relatively easy time focusing on the changelings in front of them. The troll lunging at him was feinting, anyway. Jim parried the sabre and turned a little - on his bruised leg, which hurt like hell but didn't slow him down too much, as long as he didn't try to jump.
And yes - the troll on his left side charged in, trying to exploit the opening Jim had given him, stabbing forward with a barbed spear.
Jim whirled - away from the rest of the trolls - and avoided the spear. The troll hadn't expected him to turn this way and show his back to the other trolls and so was too slow to pull back when Eclipse swung toward his neck.
With his throat torn open, the changeling staggered back, blood gushing out between his fingers for a moment before he turned to stone and crumbled.
Jim finished his turn and had to hastily parry two more attacks, taking a third on the shield, but a few quick slashes had the trolls withdrawing a few steps - and closing ranks.
Back to square one, minus one changeling. Jim took a few deep breaths. His leg throbbed with pain.
"What's Buffy doing? She should be killing that bitch's body," Dawn muttered behind him.
"You useless maggots! Kill them!"
The changelings jerked. One took a step forward, then back as Jim turned to face him. Good.
"Die!" Another spell flew at them. Jim gasped - then stared as it hit one of the trolls in the back, smashing him into another and setting both on fire.
"You dare?" Morgana yelled.
Jim blinked. Why would…? Oh! "It's Claire!" he whispered. "Claire's messing with her."
"Great. Now she has to do that a dozen times more, and we're good."
Jim would've snorted at that, but at the sight of the death of two of their own, apparently, because they weren't fighting, the other trolls charged in again. Jim snapped Eclipse back and forth, deflecting a maul and cutting the head off a halberd, then had to quickly step to the side to block a chain from wrapping itself around Dawn.
It wrapped itself around his shield arm instead, and a lunge from another troll struck his back, the blade sliding off his armour but the impact hurting him anyway.
"I've got him!" the chain-wielder - what was it with weird weapons, anyway? - yelled. Jim scoffed and cut the chain with Eclipse, then sent his blades flying at the staggering troll. One of them cut into his face, the other nicked the troll's shoulder, but either way, the changeling screamed and fell back, holding his wounds.
And Jim was still facing a semi-circle of half a dozen trolls, with more behind them.
"Kill them!" Morgana screeched again in Claire's voice.
Once more, the trolls hesitated, but that would not last. And Jim was growing tired. His armour had stopped the blows so far, but the sheer force of the impacts still hurt. "We need the staff," he whispered.
"No shit, Sherlock. That's why we're here."
More or less. But how could they get it?
One troll howled and charged, a war hammer held high as he led with a shield. Jim slapped the shield aside with a two-handed swing of Eclipse, then opened the troll's chest with the backswing. Another of Morgana's spells missed both him and the trolls, blowing up part of the wall and floor next to them, but a spear thrust hit his good leg, sliding off the armour but leaving him bruised anyway.
Still over a dozen changelings left. Damn. Damn. Damn.
Jim blinked. It was a faint hope, but… "We need to get her staff!" he yelled.
"Don't tell her that!" Dawn snapped. "Are you mad?"
"Get ready!" Jim hissed - and threw his blades so they'd come at the sorceress from an angle.
She scoffed, twisting Claire's face into a sneer, and waved her staff to blast the blades away.
Jim dived forward, grabbing the head of the hammer on the ground. He rolled over his shoulder, smashing into a troll wielding a mace, and kicked him back into another, opening a gap to Morgana. And he threw the hammerhead at her arm.
Morgana turned, scoffing - then gasped as her arm jerked to the side, her spell going wide - and the hammerhead hit her shoulder, sending her staff flying.
Jim blocked a blow from one troll, got caught by two others on his chest and side, but managed to fall back towards Dawn. "Get the staff, Cheerleader!" he yelled, then grabbed her at the waist - and turned, lifting her up.
"What are you… AHHHH!"
Jim threw her over the line of the trolls facing her. He saw her twist in the middle of the air before the changelings blocked his line of sight as they charged in, and the first blow hit his chest, slamming him against the wall.
Another caught his helmet, sending him spinning to the side. He deflected a lunge out of reflex, caught a stab on his shield, but another blow hit his legs, and he fell down to his knees.
Snarling, he lashed out with Eclipse, cutting off a troll's leg in return, but at the cost of another blow to his shoulder. He deflected a maul that would have squished him like a bug and rammed his blade into the troll's wide-open chest, then caught a blow to the back and ended up sprawled on the ground.
But he heard Morgana scream: "NOOOO!"
Dawn must have made it! That meant Morgana had lost the staff! They could save Claire!
He rolled to the side, a hammer striking the ground next to him. Before Jim could react, something hit his hip, and he was pushed back - a troll had kicked him. But that meant two others missed him. And he managed to catch another blow on his shield.
"Give it back!"
Jim twisted, a spear glancing off his thigh plate. He shifted back to a side, raising his shield, only to catch a blow to the back. He needed his sword! Where was it? Something hit his shoulder as he moved, and he yelled with pain.
"No! Jim! Heads up!"
What? Jim turned his head to look in the direction of Dawn's voice - was she moving - and was hit in the face by water. Lots of water - he was swept away together with a bunch of screaming trolls. What the…?
He was underwater! In armour! Jim scrambled to get his aching legs under him, to find purchase on the ground, and managed to get up, finding himself in waist-deep water.
"Jim!"
"Die!"
Even without her staff, Morgana in Claire's body was throwing spells at Dawn, who was hiding behind a portal.
Jim started towards her, wading through the water as fast as he could. Eclipse appeared in his hand. A troll moved to face him, legs as tall as Jim himself carrying him easily through the flooded room, but Jim threw his blades at him, then lunged with Eclipse when the troll twisted to dodge them.
But the other trolls were recovering from their shock - and most of them were so tall, the water would hinder Jim far more than them.
Damn.
"Get out, Dawn!" he yelled as he found himself surrounded.
"Not without you!"
A portal appeared in front of him, and Jim fell more than he jumped through it.
He splashed into the water next to Dawn, a spell barely missing him before Dawn could realign the portal to block the next curses.
"Kill them! Kill them now, you useless maggots!"
Morgana sounded desperate.
Jim grinned.
Trollmarket, January 30th, 2017
One more seal left. Buffy Summers should be out there, racing to save Dawn. And Jim. Even though it had been his fault that Dawn had jumped through that portal - if he hadn't jumped, Buffy's stupid sister wouldn't have done it either.
Buffy shouldn't be waiting here for Merlin to open his casket or whatever so they could slay a helpless sorceress.
"Morgana could send another wave of changelings into this room at any moment, you know."
Buffy clenched her teeth - no snapping at her friends for stating the obvious! - and turned to face Xander. "I know."
"That's why you were staring at the stairs as if they were an all-you-can-eat buffet?" He grinned a little lopsidedly.
Buffy sighed. Her friends knew her too well. "What was it you said about hostages? If Morgana had captured them, she would try to use them as hostages? This is the same. If Morgana could send more trolls at us, she would do it. She knows what we are going to do."
"Yes."
"So, what is she doing?"
"Fighting Jim and Dawn?" Xander shrugged, then winced.
Dawn wasn't fighting anyone. She was Buffy's little sister. Not a Slayer. Not a Scoobie. She was just a stupid teenager who should've known better.
"Dawn's your sister. Of course she'll be fighting." Xander really knew her too well, Buffy thought.
She scoffed. Then she sighed. "I hate this."
"Who doesn't?"
Good question. "Spike." He loved fighting. "He'll be pissed that he missed this."
Xander laughed. "You're right. And we can rub it in once we're back in Sunnydale."
"Right." Sunnydale. It felt as if they had left ages ago. She missed her home. Her room. Even the Bronze.
A deep sigh from Merlin, followed by a groan, drew her attention. He was holding his staff over the now almost transparent prison. "Almost…" he whispered.
Buffy was at his side a moment later, scythe raised. Staring at the sorceress.
On the other side, Toby matched her.
Xander limped over with his axe.
Willow and Tara stirred, but they had trouble standing up. And Merlin was trembling, sweat running down his face and into his beard. Ew!
Then the transparent magic glass disappeared completely, and the old geezer sagged.
And Buffy went blind.
She recoiled, blinking and cursing, her eyes hurting. Her friends were yelling as well.
"I can't see!"
"Flash-bang!"
"Morgana!"
The bitch had cast a blinding spell. Buffy gritted her teeth, raising her scythe. No. If she missed and hit a friend… She cocked her head and listened as she moved to the side. Someone screamed. And someone fell down. But there were steps. Light and sure, to her left. Too sure for someone blinded.
She pounced, barrelling into someone. Someone in armour. Someone who gasped in a much lighter voice than Toby or Merlin as they fell to the ground, Buffy on top of them. Morgana! Buffy acted on instinct, slapping the sorceress's arms away, then reaching up to grab her head.
"Maggot!" the woman spat. "I'll…"
Buffy's fingers found her face, and she dug them in like claws.
Morgana screamed. "My eyes!"
Buffy kept one hand on the woman's face and pulled her other hand back, balling it into a fist.
Then she struck. Blindly. Repeatedly. She heard cartilage and bones breaking. And screaming.
She didn't stop until she could finally see again. Could see what she had done.
Morgana was dead.
Beneath the Omni-Reach Travel Agency, Arcadia Oaks, January 30th, 2017
James Lake Jr kept grinning as the trolls charged at him. With Dawn controlling the Shadow Staff, she could block most attacks and charges, leaving Jim to defend against only one or two changelings. And the water was flowing through the portal, to… somewhere. "Let's move to the corner!" he snapped. "It'll cover our backs!"
"I don't think letting us be cornered is a good idea!" Dawn argued.
Jim met the first troll with a criss-cross cut that wrecked the changeling's hand and then sliced his belly open. He fell to his knees, and Jim cut his throat on the backswing, turning the troll into an obstacle.
"We need to cover our flanks!"
Another tried to get around them, but with a dead troll statue covering his flank, even the knee-deep water didn't give Jim too much trouble to turn on his good leg to face the troll. A few quick parries and the troll tried to pull back, but two more behind him were blocking him. Jim had no trouble exploiting the opening created when the three bumped into each other, burying Eclipse in the troll's back.
"Jim!"
That was…! Jim turned his head. Morgana stood at the back of the room, staring wide-eyed at him. No, not Morgana, Jim realised - Claire! Morgana had left her!
He gasped - they had to get her out of this! He quickly parried a spear thrust, deflected an overhand blow that would have sliced him in half if not for his armour, and stepped back. "We need to get Claire!" he snapped. "Make a portal!
"What?"
"That's Claire!" he hissed.
Dawn hesitated. "It could be a trick!"
It wasn't. Jim knew Claire. The way she moved. The way she talked. The way she looked when she was unarmed and two trolls were turning towards her… "Do it!"
Dawn cursed, but a portal appeared between Claire and the trolls - and another replaced the one next to Jim. Claire jumped through. "Jim!"
"Claire!" He wanted to hug her. Kiss her. Hold her.
But they were still under attack. Jim had to lunge with Eclipse and drive back two trolls instead of hugging Claire.
"We need to get out of here," he snapped.
"Brilliant observation, Professor Lake," Dawn snapped.
"Give me the staff; I can take us out," Claire said.
"Nice try!" Dawn replied.
"Create a portal to the surface!" Jim snapped. It was daylight outside. Or should be - Jim had lost track during the whole race across Britain and to California.
Dawn cursed again but waved the staff, and the portal flickered.
"Go!" Jim yelled, turning to put his back to the portal and gripping Eclipse with both hands. "Go!"
"Jim!"
"Come on!" Dawn yelled.
"Jim! We're through!"
"Hurry!"
Jim feinted, then moved back, through the portal…
...and stumbled over a rock. He whirled. Where…? "The desert?" he blurted out as the portal vanished.
"I wasn't about to transport trolls to Sunnydale," Dawn said.
This was the spot where they had planned to fight Glory, Jim realised. And the sun hadn't gone up yet. Though… His eyes widened when he realised that he hadn't stumbled over a rock but one half of a troll's torso. There was water on the ground as well, turning it muddy.
"Earlier, I've had the portal high up in the air," Dawn explained. "Just in case some of them tried to go through and then return to catch us in the back."
Jim nodded. That was a good idea.
"And what if Jim had jumped through it?" Claire asked.
Dawn blinked, then frowned. "He wouldn't have! You know him - he waited to let us go through! He'd never jump through the portal first."
"Claire!" Jim moved to hold her, armour and all. "Claire!"
"Jim!" She embraced him, resting her head against his shoulder. "It was… I should've fought her off, but… She was so strong." He heard her sniffle. "Merlin was right, but his spells didn't work."
"But you fought her off in the end! And you made her miss with her magic!" Jim told her. She would have fought Morgana off in the end, he was sure of that.
"She left. I didn't push her out - she left."
"So you say," Dawn said. When Jim looked at her, she added: "It could be a trick of Morgana."
"It isn't!" Jim knew Claire!
"You're not exactly objective," Dawn said.
"Ask me anything Morgana wouldn't know!" Claire blurted out.
Jim opened his mouth, then closed it again. Something Morgana wouldn't have observed? "The play!" he said. "Tell me about the play!"
"The play?" Dawn asked.
Jim ignored her. He stared at Claire.
Who was blushing.
Jim nodded. "It's you!"
"What? Why? She didn't even say anything!" Dawn complained.
Jim didn't answer. He smiled at Claire, gently gripping her armoured shoulders. "Claire."
"Jim."
Their lips met. Yes, this was Claire. Jim closed his eyes.
Someone coughed.
Jim didn't care. He enjoyed the kiss. Claire was back. His Claire. Free of Morgana. He heard her moan a little and hugged her more tightly.
Another cough. "Hello? Did you forget that people are still fighting?"
Oh for…! Jim released Claire and pulled back, frowning at Dawn.
The girl frowned back. "I hate to break up your reunion snog, but we've got friends fighting changelings. We need to return to Trollmarket."
Right. Toby and the others.
"Give me the staff. I can open a portal to Trollmarket."
"I think I'll hold on to this until we see Morgana's corpse."
Claire opened her mouth to protest, but Jim shook his head at her. This wasn't the time to argue.
"Good. Here we go!"
Trollmarket, January 30th, 2017
Buffy Summers blinked - and not just because her eyes had finally recovered from whatever blinding spell Morgana had cast. Morgana was dead. Killed by Buffy. And she literally had her blood on her hands. And on her sleeves. And on her top and pants. Lots of it. Grimacing, she stood, shaking her hands, almost wiping them on her jeans before stopping.
Should've used the scythe once I had her, she thought. That would've been cleaner. But even so, the big bad evil girl was dead, and…
"Merlin!"
Buffy turned, then gasped. Merlin was on the ground, still. Too still. Willow and Tara were at his side, trying to do some magic, or so it looked like to Buffy, but it didn't seem to be working. Merlin had beaten death before, but, somehow, Buffy had a feeling it wouldn't work this time.
"She must have focused on him," Xander said, rubbing his eyes. "Took him out right after blinding us all."
"Damn," Buffy muttered under her breath. That had been the body she had heard falling. Merlin was dead because of her. "I should've been faster," she said. Should have cut instead of recoiling.
"None of us was fast enough," Xander said.
Toby slowly nodded. He was holding the trollhammer with one hand, hammerhead on the ground, looking dejected.
That didn't matter. Buffy was the Slayer. Morgana had been trapped. Buffy should've been able to kill her before she could cast a spell.
"Merlin didn't warn us, either. No countdown or something," Xander went on.
That wasn't an excuse, either. Buffy had failed. Even blinded, she should've caught the sorceress before Merlin was cursed.
In front of her, Willow sat back, sagging. And sobbing.
Tara reached out to close Merlin's eyes.
He was dead.
"Damn."
"You couldn't have done anything," Vendel said. "Morgana was one of the most powerful sorceresses in the world."
But Buffy was the Slayer. She'd had Morgana dead to rights or something. She blinked. "Oh, no! Dawn!"
"Jim! And Claire!" Toby blurted out.
"I knew I should've run to them!" Buffy snapped. "Now where…?"
A portal appeared in the middle of the room, and everyone jumped, weapons raised.
Jim stepped through, smiling widely. And behind him came Claire and Dawn! "We made it!" he said. "Did you kill…" he trailed off as he saw Merlin on the ground. "No!"
"Dawn!" Buffy snapped.
"Not now," she replied, waving the staff and closing the portal. "Can you check if Claire's Claire?"
"Morgana's dead," Buffy told her.
"Better safe than sorry," Dawn replied. "Willow!"
Willow looked up with a miserable expression. "I couldn't save him. I did all the spells, but… I couldn't break the curse."
"He was already dead," Tara whispered.
"But I could've saved him if I had been quicker. If I had known more about breaking curses!" Willow insisted.
"Willow, can you check Claire?" Buffy asked. Best to get her friend busy before Willow started wallowing in despair.
"Oh… I think so…"
"Jimbo!" Toby hugged Jim. "Claire!" He pulled her into the hug as well.
Buffy grimaced at the sight. If Claire turned out to be still possessed….
But she didn't say anything while Willow started doing her magic, joined by Tara. She just stood there, ready to act. She wouldn't fail a second time.
After about a minute, both Willow and Tara shook their heads. "No curse on her."
"Her aura is pure."
"I told you so," Jim said.
"Better safe than sorry," Dawn replied.
"Can I get my staff back now?" Claire asked, holding out her hand.
Dawn rolled her eyes but handed it over.
Claire closed her eyes and sighed as she held it. Some people really fixated too much on their weapons, in Buffy's opinion.
"So, all's well that ends well," Xander said. "The world is saved."
"It is not safe yet." Vendel took a step forward. "Gunmar still lives and plots in the Darklands. With many of the Order of Janus slain, his forces have been weakened, but so have we." He looked at Merlin, then at the other trolls nearby. The survivors of the guards.
"But Gunmar's been trapped in the Darklands for centuries," Xander retorted. "That's not really an urgent problem."
Buffy nodded. He was right. They could take their time. Recover from this. And then prepare to storm the Darklands and finish Gunmar once and for all.
Vendel shook his head again. "He remains trapped, as far as we know. And yet we are not safe from him." The big troll seemed to hesitate, then raised his head. "He has ways to hurt us. And the innocent."
What did he mean?
Claire gasped. "Enrique!"
Vendel nodded. "With so many changelings dead, their familiars are no longer needed."
Jim grimaced. "NotEnrique is still alive. As are others - we didn't kill every changeling at their base. But..."
"They might be spared. But the others…" Vendel looked grim.
"We have to save them!" Claire blurted out.
"Yes!" Jim nodded. "And we have to move now, before Gunmar comes after them!"
Great. So much for resting and recovering. But they couldn't let the evil trolls eat babies. Buffy nodded, hefting her scythe. "So, how do we get to the Darklands?"
