Chapter 8

Westbury, England

Willow flew with all her speed back to the farmhouse, the Salnash behind her gaining ground with every step. She entered the house, muttering a few Latin words as she did so. She could faintly hear the ringing of the magical alarms above the incessant din of screams and cawing from the humans and ravens within the library. She looked behind her and saw the demons trying to get through the invisible barrier her words had erected. Willow knew her spell wouldn't last for long under their barrage of blows, but it would buy her time. She could feel herself getting weaker, and seeing Whittaker die like that had made her nauseous as well. She shook off the feeling, composed herself quickly, and headed for the library.

She opened the door, looking at the swirling cloud of winged death that choked the room, pecking and biting and ripping at Buffy, Dawn and the Watchers. She could feel the anger in her start to rise up again once more, her mind flitting back to her dream and Tara-dove's violent end. She saw Diane, the one who had been unfortunate to carry the name of Morgan, lying motionless on the floor. Her body covered with an array of claw marks from the ravens that still tore into her lifeless flesh.

Willow began to chant, her eyes burning black and red as she uttered a mixture of Latin and demonic tongues at speed. The air crackled around her, pulsing with an unnatural light as she gazed around the room. The chanting stopped and the room filled up with the light emanating from her form. Willow saw Buffy and the others hide their eyes. What they did not see, but heard with crystal clear clarity, was the birds exploding one by one as the light touched them. The shrieks and small explosions of their internal organs and muscles filled the air. The ravens attempted to flee but found the light too fast to escape from. One by one they fell, broken wings and bodies falling in all directions.

Buffy could feel the light dimming and felt safe to look over at her friend. For the briefest of moments, she saw not the red-haired friendly face she was so used to, but the black-haired and black-eyed killer who had been perhaps her toughest adversary. After a moment the red-hair and natural eyes returned, but Buffy was still shaken and she could see that Willow knew it.

She had no time to ask Willow about the transformation as she heard a crashing sound from within the hallway and saw the three figures standing there. Buffy recognised them at once as the demons that had attacked David and her friends in the infirmary and saw that one of them was missing an arm, not that that seemed to be slowing it down at all. They moved purposely, and she signalled to Willow to get into the library, allowing her room to manoeuvre.

Willow quickly made her way into the library and set up the energy bolt spell that had proven so successful on previous occasions. As the demons came through she shot out a bolt, hitting one of the unwounded demons squarely in the chest, forcing it back outside the library and squealing onto the ground as it flailed around frantically in its last moments of life.

Buffy took the initiative from there, rolling under the swing of the one-armed demon and carrying her momentum into her sword swing. The result almost sliced the demon in two, such was the impact of the blow. It buckled under its own dead weight, bringing Buffy down with it as she struggled to regain her sword before the other demon attacked.

The third demon had set its sights on Willow and had bounded to her in one step. He saw that she was wavering, teetering on weakness and he intended to take full advantage. As he saw Willow fall backwards, wearily, he raised his arms and attempted to strike her with the full weight of his claws. So concentrated on her was he, in fact, that he did not notice the axe swing from behind him hitting home. When it did, he growled in pain and turned his head to see a young woman, attempting to remove the axe and use it once more.

Dawn tried to remove the axe but to no avail. It was embedded and she was not strong enough to remove it. But now as she let go the demon turned round on her and attempted to swat her. She ducked, remarking to herself that it was an insult that the demon saw her as nothing more than a creature to be swatted, before deciding that species critique was best done after combat had ended. She moved quickly, attempting to get out of the way of the demon and almost succeeded before she was clipped as it backhanded her.

Buffy, who had jockeyed herself into a suitable position behind it, now chose this moment to strike. She did so with almost inhuman ferocity, fuelled by her wish to protect her sister. The blow from her sword struck through the right side of the demon, sliding through him as if he were not there and exiting out of the left half of his back, removing the axe as it cleared the demon's body. It dropped, its body oozing blood and sinew as it collapsed.

Willow got up from the ground, still weary and looking about her. She saw the body of Diane, and went over to her, removing her own coat and placing it over Diane's body. She looked behind her and saw that Buffy was checking Dawn for permanent damages, although it looked more like a mother worrying over a child than a sister looking after her younger, but still a grown woman, sibling.

"That was too close!" Said Buffy, almost accusatory in tone. "We are way over our heads here and if we don't get some sort of help or answers soon we're not gonna survive another onslaught."

Willow looked at her and nodded agreement. "There is plenty we need to discuss about this whole business."

Buffy looked at her friend sternly. "Yes there is."

Avalon

"You can't seriously be thinking of sending her away! She is only a child!" Tara couldn't hold back her anger any longer. She had sat and listened to Nimue and heard her decision to send Heather and Michelle away, as she was convinced that one of them was tainted, and had been the reason for the attack. Tara looked at the two 'accused', and saw that Michelle seemed bemused and terrified and that Heather was crying. Tara went over to her young charge and comforted her.

"Avalon is in danger as long as they remain within the Veil. We have no choice here, Tara. This attack is both unprecedented and disturbing and radical action, regardless of what I may think or feel on the matter, is required here. Avalon's safety must be paramount in my mind."

"And if their memories don't return, what then? You will leave these two out there in the mortal world without any clue as to who they are or how to cope. Goddess knows what might happen to them in those circumstances. I can't understand how you can sit there and order this in good conscience!"

"Because I need to see the wider picture, Tara. Someday you will see that I made the right choice."

"No I won't. If you are sending Heather away then you are sending me with her. I won't leave her on her own, especially if she loses her memories."

"But if you do as well then you would not recognise her, how would that help her? You are an adept member of the Order, Tara, you should remain here."

"Knowing that I let her go? Wondering every day whether or not she is still alive, or happy? No, I won't do that. I can't. If she goes, I go with her."

"Surely Michelle can look after her?"

"No offence to Michelle, but she doesn't know Heather and it is not her place to take on such responsibility. I made that choice, and I won't give it up due to the whim of this Order. My mind is made up. If Heather goes, I go."

Nimue shook her head, looking defeated. "As you wish. I will send word ahead that three are passing through the Veil. I am sorry, Tara. I hope one day you will forgive this action."

"We can all hope." Replied Tara, sternly. She looked down at Heather, and smiled. "Don't worry. I won't leave you."

Wyngarde Castle

Amy entered Morgan's private bedchamber. Morgan was on her bed, sheets barely hiding her naked flesh beneath. On either side of her mistress, Amy saw the dead body of her lovers. So the rumour is true, thought Amy, she does stay young through some sort of Succubus style transference.

"So, Amy, was the attack on the Giles home successful?"

"Yes. Willow used her powers to defeat the ravens, turning black eyed as she did so. I believe she is ripe for your control now. The gateway in her head is open."

"Excellent. Now all we need to do is set an attack that will make her lose control completely. We will send a full party to attack the Coven in Devon. That should bring the Slayer and Willow down to their knees. Is Philippe ready?"

"Yes, milady. He has bathed as you requested. Are you sure that ointment will work?"

"Worked well enough for Mordred, bar a few glitches, and I have perfected it. Trust me, no weapon can harm him, not even one in the hands of the Slayer."

"When do wish the attack to happen?"

"Now is as good a time as any, Amy. Now leave me, and send two more men to see me, would you?" She smiled an almost excited smile.

Westbury

Giles screeched his car to a halt. As he had approached he had seen the devastation around the farmhouse and ran into the house, barely closing the door of his car as he leapt out of it.

"Buffy! Willow! Dawn!" He shouted as if pleading for an answer. He gave himself a silent prayer in hope that some God might show some compassion.

"In here", replied Buffy's familiar voice from the living room.

Giles entered and saw the wounded being patched up and healed. All of them looked as though they had been in the wars. But he saw immediately that two were missing. "Where are Morgan and Whittaker?"

"Dead. There are a lot of questions that need answering, Giles. A lot has happened." Buffy looked across again at Willow, a nervous look on her face.

"Yes, well, I have information as well so I suggest I get what I need from the car and then we will have a 'show and tell', shall we? Buffy, could you perhaps help me bring some of the items from the car?"

"Yes. I will."

They walked out together towards Giles car, the tension that was present in the house no less present out in the driveway.

"What has happened here, Buffy?"

"We had a true Hitchcockian moment in your library thanks to a flock of ravens. Three guys who looked like outcasts from Predator killed Whittaker and tried to slice us all up Wolverine style and Willow went full on dark mode to take out our feathered friends."

"Willow reverted to her darker self?"

"Oh, yeah. She got control back fast but she was there in all her gothic glory and I don't like it Giles."

"Nor I. From what I have amassed from the Watchers' library I have ascertained two things. One, both Avalon and Morgan Le Fey are very real and two, more worryingly, is that Althanea knew more about this than she let on. There is an awful lot of secrecy involved in this Buffy. Secrets that are only now coming to light and possibly coming far too late."

"Does Willow's Darth Vader-ing have anything to do with it? Cos I really don't need a sequel to that horror show."

"I'm not sure. What seems clear is that Morgana does like to have an apprentice at all times, someone to pass on her knowledge to. It may be that she has sensed Willow's dark side and sees her as a ripe candidate. All I do know is that we must now find a way to control Willow and stop these dark shifts in her emotions from becoming permanent again. I have arranged to meet up with Althanea and her Coven to find out what she knows, in the presence of all of us. She may know some way of helping Willow."

"She better. I'm not taking on Morgana and all her cronies and Willow. I couldn't handle that."

They started back inside when Giles suddenly stopped. "Yes, I hear you, Willow."

Buffy smiled, the old telepathy for sending secret messages still worked a treat.

"I understand, Willow. Yes, that might explain a great deal. No, I don't think it would be wise to involve them at all now. I think I will send them on an errand whilst we discuss this thing amongst the four of us." Giles paused for a moment, as if taking in some new information. "That is risky but if you can do it without hurting them it would be helpful. I see. Yes, we will be right in."

"Okay Giles, share! I know Willow is good with the whole telepathy thing but half a conversation is kinda rude, especially under the circumstances."

"Willow has used a small sedative to send Claire and Alan to sleep. She doesn't trust them and has told me why. I think this may answer some questions about what happened with Willow."

They entered the house and saw Willow motion to him from the top of the staircase. Both of them followed, until they stopped at Willow and Dawn's bedroom. Giles and Buffy followed Dawn into the room but noticed that Willow would not follow them.

"Its under my pillow, where the blood is." Said Willow, leaning against the doorframe.

Giles lifted up the pillow and saw the onyx shard, lying there. The blood had started to dry on it now and it was crusty to the touch. He looked up and saw that Willow had backed away from the door, into the hallway. "You are convinced it sent you the dream?"

"Yeah, there's a spot of blood under Dawn's pillow too. I think they placed under her pillow by mistake last night. They wouldn't have realised their mistake until Dawn mentioned the dream. Then whoever it was took a chance at some point before I went to lie down to switch the shard."

"And you had the same dream. Ravens and a dove in a gilded cage?" Giles was now equal parts concerned father figure and dutiful Watcher.

"Similar but different. I think cos it was Dawn the dream affected her differently. The ravens attacked her and bit into her but they didn't with me. They went through me, time and again, and then pecked at her…" Willow started to sob, her words becoming more broken.

"What is it, Willow? Please we must know." The concerned father in him came to the fore, and he went to Willow and put his arm around her to comfort her.

"The dove in the cage, it was Tara. It had her eyes and when the ravens hit her I could hear Tara screaming. It was horrible, it was like watching her die all over again."

"And you felt the same rage inside you as you did when that happened didn't you?" Asked Giles, his voice patient.

"When I woke up, I could feel that my eyes were burning. I saw my reflection and all my hair and eyes and lips were black. I fought it back but I could feel all that anger bubbling underneath me."

"Buffy, what was happening when you saw Willow become her dark self again?"

"There were ravens, all over the library, attacking us." Buffy looked at Giles, then Willow, realisation dawning in her expression. "So, Morgana tapped into your base anger, using a dove with Tara's voice and eyes and ravens attacking her. So when you saw us being attacked by ravens your mind went into automatic vengeance mode."

"She is using a very powerful, extremely potent form of mystical brainwashing. I can only assume that she intends for Willow to let go completely and enter her service as her apprentice." Giles gave Willow a small but comforting embrace, letting her know in that tiny exchange that he still cared and had not lost his faith in her.

"You know, why doesn't she just call herself Darth Morgana, she's using every other Jedi trick in the book." Said Dawn, trying to lighten the load. She knew it hadn't succeeded, not even for herself.

Willow began to shake. "I have to go. I can't be near you if she decides to use another trick like that to force me over the edge. I won't go back to that place, Giles. I can't."

"You won't. I promise. I think we should leave right now and head to Devon and meet with Althanea and the Coven and see what we can do."

"What about all the other juicy titbits you found, Giles? Anything there worth that might help us."

"A fair bit, in fact. All to do with a being called the Entwined. A powerful force made up of two opposing forces coming together. Joseph left all his notes and journal in the Watchers Library. He always liked puzzles and games. Remember the book that was in his safe, Willow? The collection of Poe stories?"

"I remember. Margaret thought it was worthless."

"She was wrong although she had no way of knowing it at the time. He had underlined the story 'The Purloined Letter', which is basically about something being hidden in plain sight. In this case he had hidden his notes in the Watchers Library, leaving the precise location as a book code on the spine of his Poe novel. To the casual observer it looked like a standard library sorting code but his code was similar but specific. He hid it in the one place he knew the Watchers would never think to look: In the Watcher diary of Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. I guess he couldn't resist the irony of it."

"Irony?", chorused Dawn, Buffy and Willow.

"Yes. The man most of the Watchers believed to be the most inept and incompetent unknowingly hiding amongst his unread diaries the secrets of Avalon and the prophecy of the Entwined."

"Does Althanea know about this Entwined?" Asked Buffy, now turning her mind to business.

"The full story, I'm not sure but she certainly knows more than she has been telling."

"Then we better get there then, cos I have a few questions of my own and I better start getting some truth!"

"What about our sleeping beasts downstairs?" asked Dawn, "One of them could have been responsible for placing that shard in here."

"We need to get to Miss Harkness as soon as possible. If they have attacked here they may perceive the Coven as a threat as well and attack them in a similar manner. We have no choice but to take them with us. Hopefully the sedative Willow gave them will last for the journey down."

Buffy didn't like the idea of dealing with a possible spy and this new nemesis but she saw the wisdom in Giles' words. "Okay. But we keep them immobile just in case they wake up."

"Agreed." Answered Giles.

He went downstairs, looking around his house, the scars of battle clearly visible in the décor and furniture. He went into the study and grabbed a few choice volumes from the desk, flicking bits of dead raven off of them and shaking his head as he mentally calculated the costs of repairs to his home.

By the time he had reached the front door, Buffy had tied up Alan and Claire and was carrying Alan over her shoulder, whilst Dawn and Willow carried Claire. Giles ushered them towards the large Range Rover that he had parked nearby. It was a big enough, just to squeeze the two unconscious watchers, along with Buffy and Dawn, in the back seat whilst Willow sat in the front alongside Giles.

Devon

Althanea Harkness was deep in thought. She had honestly hoped and prayed that this day would never come. That the need for this battle wouldn't happen in her lifetime or that the legends were untrue and that her daughter and her husband, may they rest in peace, were wrong in some way.

But she knew now that all of it was true and that everything that Michelle and Joseph had fought, and died, to protect was now in jeopardy. And yet Althanea desperately wanted it to be elsewhere. She looked down from the balcony in the main hall of the coven to see the other members below preparing to meet the onslaught she was sure would arrive soon. She looked upon her sisters, and of the men that allied themselves with them, and saw that they were young and old, tall and short, black and white, and all of them scared of what was to come.

She shared their fear but knew that hiding now would not help them, nor protect them from the terror that was Morgan Le Fey. She would hunt down the members of the Coven no matter where they fled, so here and now, in this place, was as good a place to make a stand as any, Althanea had decided.

She hoped and prayed that Rupert Giles would arrive soon. Buffy would be a great asset, as would Willow. She was especially happy that Willow was coming down, as she had much she needed to talk to her former student about. There was so much that was needed to be said if Rupert would allow her the chance, for she felt it was her own place to say it.

Althanea looked out of the window near the balcony, saw the approaching twilight and the darkening sky, and saw, on the horizon, the barely visible flight of birds that were heading in her direction.

It was too soon, but time was now no longer theirs to contemplate. She looked down upon the congregation below and shouted:

"Get ready! They are coming! She is coming!"