Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: Set two weeks after the events in Explaining Africa 3
Authors Notes: I have no clue about Africa. Which is probably always a good place to start writing a story. So if details I've used for place names, and tribal names and whatever are wrong then just (correctly) assume I have no idea what I'm doing.
Rating: 15 by English standards (mainly for language)
Chapter 12b:
Back in the cave
"You had all of the First Slayer's memories..?" Xander asked.
"Yes." Brouhm replied. "I didn't know why, nor did I understand why this place had been created. But anyway, Merkak was there waiting for the Slayer to rise again. Which she didn't do."
"We thought we'd failed." Brouhm admitted. "It was at that point that we began to get a little selfish."
"Selfish..?" Xander queried.
"If the Slayer was gone, then I was supposed to be free... yet, both me and the demon were still trapped. I examined the demon," Brouhm explained further. "He'd returned to his place within the enchanted chains... somehow they still held power over him even here."
"Merkak buried the Warrior, we waited a few more days to see if she would rise again." Brouhm informed him. "Still no luck, Merkak picked up the Weapon and we continued our travels. Alone."
"She went in search of the demon-tamers, wanting to question them about this failure. We were about three weeks into their trail when it happened."
"What did..?" Xander asked.
Brouhm sighed deeply. "From out of nowhere I was suddenly bombarded with the full memories of the second person to wear the mantle of Slayer."
Unknown location
It was night time again, Tu'ron and Bee'ka had climbed onto one of the tallest structures inside their camp. They played at scanning the horizon for threats, something that they might be allowed to go on within a few years.
From their current vantage point however, they could barely see far enough to see outside of the camp. Certainly not far enough to see where the real spotters had set up.
Faith was amused, she noted a lot of the kids tended to find structures like this so they could see if they could spot a spotter.
As Tu'ron and Bee'ka continued their game, Faith used the vantage point to get a general overview of their camp.
The camp had continually grown in size as Tu'ron had aged. The general mindset seemed to be of that more numbers meant better protection. Faith understand that idea well.
'Though sometimes a loner can achieve what a group cannot.' She thought back, considering some of the times when she'd been asked to lead younger Slayers on missions. 'Or maybe it was just that those were rookies.'
'Rookies back then,' she corrected herself. 'If they're still alive they're seven year veterans of the field.' She thought with just a little jealousy. She hadn't made it that far herself, 'Hell, Buffy didn't make it that long without spending some of it dead.'
'I spend six months in a coma.' Faith thought in amusement. 'So she has to spend three months deceased just to out-do me.'
Shaking off the remains of a competition that had ended years ago, Faith allowed her thoughts to wander back to the newbie Slayers she'd last seen in her brief stopover in England. 'Wonder who the top dogs are now..?' She idly thought, knowing that unless she was either dead or retired none would have really offered any challenge to Buffy. 'Wonder if there have been any younger ones called..?' She queried to herself, wondering if she'd ever get to find out what happened to the others.
As Tu'ron idly scanned the horizon, pointing out random lights and fires in the distance and joking with Bee'ka, Faith simply smiled and wished that Tu'ron was allowed further afield.
'Like to know where on the planet I am.' She thought to herself, Tu'ron wasn't allowed outside the camp without adult supervision. So far she hadn't even heard of anywhere familiar. 'Though that might just be the difference in language.' Faith reasoned to herself. 'For all I know I've been about thirty miles outside of Douala the whole time and these people just don't like the city.'
Part of her felt sad at the thought of that possibility. 'Wish I could speak to you.' She thought internally.
To her right, she became aware of Bee'ka becoming excited.
"Look." The other girl instructed, pointing with her finger.
Tu'ron turned in the direction indicated. Faith quickly spotted the small group of people walking their way. Although difficult to make out at this distance, it seemed to be a small party of four maybe five people.
"Has one of the hunting groups returned...?" Tu'ron asked her friend.
"Let's go find out!" Bee'ka agreed, and begun to climb down to ground level. Tu'ron quickly followed.
'Hope not.' Faith thought as she felt her feet hit the floor. 'Cos if that's all that's left we're in trouble.' She thought as she quickly summarised the current situation. Hunting parties now consisted of no less than twenty people at any time. Scouting groups normally consisted of five. The problem was that even though the camp now numbered close to two hundred people, there were still few who could do any worthwhile magic.
Considering some of the rumours she'd been able to pick up on, Faith idly wondered exactly how these people hunted. She assumed that the Braka would be of quite substantial help but it seemed that it was nearly impossible to differentiate between their major threat and anyone else.
Ga'nav had told them both this sadly, when he returned from that fateful night. Although apparently quite heavily injured, he'd travelled to both his own tent and to Tu'ron's in order to report the death of her father. Ga'nav told his own family how Filan had fallen in battle with the Others.
'No one even uses a name when referring to them.' Faith thought thinking back to what little information Ga'nav had provided them with. 'The Others only attack under cover of darkness, which both Tu'ron and Bee'ka had personally accounted to cowardice on their part. And the only known way to kill them was to cut their head off.' Although the girls had been slightly revolted by the idea, Faith figured that cutting the head off most things was generally a successful attempt at ending their existence.
The girls ran through the camp heading towards where a small crowd had gathered to welcome the newcomers.
Once there Faith was pleased to note that it wasn't any of the recent hunting party. Instead it seemed like two of the spotters had returned with someone found wandering the surrounding area.
'Odd.' Faith thought to herself, 'Could have sworn there were more.'
There were many of her Tu'ron's own camp questioning the stranger, Bee'ka pointing out her own father being one of them.
Ga'nav had taken several months to heal from the injuries he'd sustained in that fight all those years ago. But now he was regarded as one of the current experts of their threat. Many had killed them, but only Ga'nav had gone into one of their traps and come out alive.
Bee'ka dragged Tu'ron into the direction of her father, both wanting to get a closer look at the newcomers.
"Will they stay here..?" Bee'ka queried, Faith remembering how the young girl loved to talk to strangers to hear about what they'd seen on their travels. Faith figured that once she was of age, it would take a force of nature to stop Bee'ka going out to explore the world. 'Hope she isn't disappointed in it.' Faith thought sadly, her mind wandering to the conditions in which she'd seen harmless demons forced to live simply because they couldn't pass for human in the major cities.
As they approached the group, Faith noted that Tu'ron seemed to be feeling ill at ease. 'What..? You were fine a moment ago.' Faith thought, allowing herself to share more deeply in what Tu'ron's senses could tell her.
Bee'ka had apparently noticed Tu'ron was slowing down, and decided to pull harder. Tu'ron being no match for her friend's strength was being dragged towards the centre of the group.
It was when they hit the dead centre, and were within a few feet of the newcomers that Faith realised why Tu'ron was acting the way she was.
'No way.' She thought, instantly recognising the familiar feeling. 'No. Fucking. Way.'
Tu'ron pulled hard on her friend trying to drag them both back into the relative safety of the crowd. But Bee'ka resisted and the two seemed at a standoff, unmoving in their impromptu tug of war.
Ga'nav spotted them and quickly moved over. "Will you two go play elsewhere..?" He asked, gently pushing both in the direction of the crowd.
"She's jus-" Bee'ka began before being interrupted.
"Not right. Not right!!!!" Tu'ron screamed, pointing at the newcomer who met her stare with an odd expression on his face.
'You tell 'em.' Faith internally screamed, her eyes meeting that of the newcomer when he continued to stare in her direction. 'You touch any of these girls, and I fucking swear I'm going to kill you.' She silently promised to herself.
"I don't kno-" Bee'ka began, only to be silenced by her father's glare.
"He's not right!!!" Tu'ron screamed again.
Faith noted from the corner of her eye that Ga'nav was inhaling deeply through his nose. Apparently concentrating on something he was struggling to place. He met the girl's eyes, and then looked up into the crowd. Offering just a single nod to someone behind them, he then turned around to face the newcomer.
Ga'nav stepped in front of the stranger, hands raised to show he was unarmed. "The children are just spooked." He stated aloud, Tu'ron started to scream again but then saw another person move behind Ga'nav, this one carrying two axes.
The stranger's eyes flicked from Ga'nav to the other man, apparently making his decision his face changed in an instant.
The forehead went ridged and his eyes went a hard yellow. He lashed out at Ga'nav knocking him off his feet. Turning around far quicker than Tu'ron though possible, the stranger took one of the axes off the man who'd been bring them to Ga'nav and casually tossed the man who was still holding one of the axes into the crowd.
Tu'ron continued to scream as she watched the man sail overhead, Bee'ka now joining her as her attention flicked towards where her father was pulling himself to his feet and eagerly taking a different weapon.
The stranger had spun with the axe and imbedded it firmly into one of the spotter's chest. Blood spurted everywhere as the man gurgled once and then fell over obviously dead.
The other spotter, a female this time found herself dragged into the newcomer's embrace.
Tu'ron looked confused as she watched the older woman suddenly go limp in the stranger's arms.
'He's feeding off her!' Faith screamed, 'You need to run, now!'
Both girls screamed as the woman was dropped lifelessly to the ground. A bloody mess surrounding the man's mouth, inside of which the girls could make out what looked like animal teeth.
They began screaming again as the man headed in their direction.
Faith continued to shout unheard instructions. 'Run. Fucking run!' She screamed internally, watching the creature get ever closer. 'What's the word for run in your language..?'
Luckily the man's attempt to get them came short as an axe swung powerfully into his torso. Knocking him clear off his feet and to the ground beneath.
Ga'nav followed his strike through by pouncing directly on top of the newcomer, holding the axe firmly in position. "Hold him down." He instructed the group.
A variety of camp members surrounded the stranger, all putting their weight onto, and in some cases their spears into, the stranger's limb's in an attempt to hold him down.
Ga'nav quickly took advantage of this situation. Lifting his axe out of the torso and firmly placing across the man's neck.
"You are all going to die." The man stated confidently, just as Ga'nav severed his head from his body.
Tu'ron and Bee'ka watched on as the remains of the man seemed to just turn to dust.
"How did you..?" Ga'nav asked her as he got up, casually passing the axe back to another camp member. "Know..?"
'That's what I want to know too.' Faith argued. 'If you're one of the newly empowered Slayers then this would be a whole different sport... but how did you know it was a vampire..?'
"He just... wasn't right." Tu'ron finished through tears.
Ga'nav glanced over to where she was looking at the fallen spotters. "More would have fallen if not for you, little one." He informed her gently. "Come on, let's go see your mother." He said, picking both girls up and carrying them back over to their tent.
None spotted the female stranger staring at her as they left.
Back in the cave
"She was dead..?" Xander asked.
"Yes." Brouhm confessed. "And until she did we hadn't even known she existed. She died alone, trying to fight off the Unseen Threat."
"She fully expected Merkak to turn up to help her, much like we had with the First Slayer."
Xander asked the most obvious question. "Why would she..?"
"Because when she was first taking on the powers, she saw the First Slayer's life completely." Brouhm admitted. "Much like I had."
Xander was impressed. "Wow... none of the oth-"
"In time we realised it was the memory of the Everliving... twisted slightly to deal with the new situation." Brouhm explained. "That wasn't the problem."
"What was the problem..?" Xander asked the redundant question, knowing that Brouhm was going to continue his story anyway.
"With the First Slayer we helped with some minor magic spells, help come up with tactics for taking on opponents. But the Slayer did most of the fighting."
"Sounds normal." Xander stated. "Well, about as normal as my life's been recently anyway."
"But with the second, she didn't know how to fight." Brouhm informed him. "She had the memories of the First Slayer fighting but no knowledge and no instincts on how to do it herself."
"She what..?" Xander almost screamed.
End chapter 12b