Ring on her Finger

By Nickeltaffy

Disclaimer: I would like to thank Joss for the use of his characters. They are still his and will never be mine. (heavy sigh). Hello, I am back. I would like to thank everyone for their patience. Here's the latest chapter.

…

Chapter 35

The moon's bright light shone down on the courtyard, illuminating the pair standing in the center with the sprawled forms of their opponents laying scattered on the edges. Buffy huffed as she pulled the heavy cloak around her against the cold now that the afterglow caused by the adrenaline incurred by the fight diminished. She looked around the courtyard to view her vanquished opponents and then over at the inn's door, expecting any moment to see a blunderbuss waving innkeeper to come charging out the door. She held her breath in anticipation but to her surprise, no angry innkeeper appeared. She let out her breath in a column of steam that issued from her mouth and turned to the enraptured and still tipsy young man standing in attendance upon her.

"So, how do we get outta here, Bertie?" Buffy impatiently asked the young man who shifted unsteadily on his feet. "And it better not be walking, because I have had enough of the whole nature walk thingy."

"It's Bertram." He responded rather bewilderedly, as he seemed to remember his appearance and awkwardly wiped a smudge of dirt from his face and smooth his hair.

"Yeah, whatever you say, Bertram." Buffy looked skeptically at the young man and then asked. "So, how do you get out of here? You got a carriage or something, because I'm telling you that I am not walking anymore tonight."

"Of course, that should be no problem. I have a fine steed in the…in the inn's barn." Bertram stated with a wide sweep of his arm. "Wait here, I shall return with transport ana…ana.. soon."

Buffy's face wrinkled as she watched Bertram unsteadily make his way over to the barn, disappearing with in the large opening. She could hear him bumping, falling and struggling inside the large structure. Buffy as she looked over to the still forms at the edge of the courtyard. She could hear his monologue as he addressed the animal occupants of the barn. She detected the scrape of metal and the shuffle of hooved feet within straw and a resulting curse as a thunder of hoofs proceeded a charging horse out of the barn. Buffy staggered back as a several well-muscled horses barreled through the courtyard and quickly out of sight.

"Hey, what? What is going on in there?" Buffy turned to yell into the great maw of the barn opening.

"Nothing to be concerned about. Slight change in plans." A low voice slurred a response. "Be …be right out."

More muttering could be heard in the barn and before long, Bertram walked out leading a rather worn and bedraggled plow horse out by its halter. The horse's hooves rang hollowly on the cobblestones as the moonlight outlined its bowed back and protruding spine. It seemed that only its nonplussed comportment and sturdy stance was able to keep the dangerously weaving young man vertical.

"That's your horse?" Buffy asked skeptically as she placed her hands on her hips as she took in the less than majestic horse in front of her.

"Indeed, it is." Bertram smiled and patted the sorrowful looking horse's nose as he replied

"Riiight. You rode on in this?" Buffy tilted her head at the obviously pleased drunkard and inquired. "What's its name?"

"His name? Of course, it has a name. This proud and noble beast has a name that reflects his true and valiant nature." The young man seemed to drag out his answer before Buffy's skeptical gaze. "His name is …uh… uh…Champion!"

"Champion! HA! Champion of what? Some sort of beauty contest at a nearby glue factory?" Buffy's jaw dropped in response to the outrageous name as she sputtered. "Listen, I think I would recognize a champion when I and that ain't it!"

"Looks may deceive…but this horse is of noble heart and tested in battle." He replied in hurt dignity as he patted the horse in sympathy.

"Battle of when? 1812?" Buffy laughed at her own joke before she noticed that Bertram had disappeared. "Hey, where'd ya go?"

In the midst of Buffy's dispute about the name, Bertram disappeared on the far side of the horse. With a huge effort, he had managed to launch himself upward on the bare back of the stalwart horse. He scrambled over the knobby spine until he had one leg situated on either side.

"Nevertheless, it is what I call him." Bertram sniffed as he replied and then lent down to offer his hand to Buffy while holding on to the rope that led to the halter. "Please allow me the honor to have hold of your hand, so I may assist in alighting on this proud and noble steed."

Buffy scowled as she looked at the hand extended to her and made no move to take it. Seeing the reaction of the young woman, Bertram added in a patented elaborate tone.

"Perchance, my lady would prefer to walk instead?" He inquired with an extra flourish.

With those few words, Bertram's hand was grabbed roughly and through only the luck of years of horsemanship was he able to hold on while Buffy none too gracefully climbed up the horse to sit behind him.

"Alright, I'm on your horse. Now, let's get out of here before one of those guys comes to and things begin to get all complicate-y." she huffed as she settled behind him. Trying her best to find a comfortable way to ride astride the boney protrusion in the middle of the nag's back.

"Right away." Leaning out, Bertram pulled at the horse's lead and the horse slowly turned. Despite the furious kicking by Bertram, the horse seemed to only have one speed: very similar to a glacial pace. Buffy gave a pained look to the sky as she held on to the drunken buffoon in front of her as they seemed to make slow progress from the inn. The muscles in the horse's dilapidated rear end rolled underneath her own, making her wonder if hours of this odd sensation will have on her own backside. When they had reached the entrance of the courtyard, Bertram twisted to look back at Buffy.

"So, my lady, where should I take us?" He managed to ask as he began to lose his balance and slide from the hours.

As she watched her guide slowly losing his fight to stay on the horse, Buffy rolled her eyes before reaching over and grabbing the shoulder of his jacket, and dragged him back up on top of the horse. As Bertram was making the final adjustments, she made her declaration.

"We need to go to your father's house." She commanded.

"What? Who? Did he send you?" Bertram leaned back in surprise, pulling so hard on the horse's lead that it began to turn in a large circle. His drunken stupor seemed to instantly evaporate at the mention of his father.

"Hey, would you control the horse?" Buffy yelled as she grasped Bertram around the waist. "Look, it is very important that I take you to your father's home."

"I am sure it is…to you." Bertram huffed as he crossed his arms and then declared. "But it's impossible!"

"Would someone explain why your family finds it so easy to be so irritating? It's gotta be in the genes! " The slayer grumbled through pinched lips. "Listen, buster, I don't have time for your antics. If you had a grasp of what I've been through tonight…we're going to your dad's whether you want to or not."

"I hate to dismiss your plans for the evening but the simple fact is that I am not going. I've had my fill of that insufferable man." The young man said more to himself than to anyone as he began to pull on the reins. Then turning to look behind him, he added. "So, you can just report to him that you've failed in your mission to retrieve the repentant lost son."

"Believe me, I don't want to get into family drama, but this affects more than just your hurt feelings." There are people at risk, especially your family." Buffy responded as she leaned over the bony spine of the horse to address the stubborn man.

"My family? Pa…lease! The old bear can take care of anything that comes along. He already tries to control my life and my sisters. No, I won't do it. Do your worst, I won't go." Bertram stated with finality as he slid from the horse to walk it back to the inn. "He disowned me, so you can just go back and tell that old bastion of backward thinking, that I've had enough of him and the family legacy. They can both just go to hell."

"Look, I am really not in the mood to deal with your daddy issues, right now." Buffy sat up and looked up at the sky and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. Then fixing her eye on Bertram, she slowly spoke through her teeth. "Don't make me get off this horse to kick your ass. Just turn the horse toward your father's house and get going! We have got to get there by the something called Jay Laner's eve."

"Do you mean Jalenisieve? God, he's even bringing in strangers into his bizarre world. Well, your plans are for naught!" Bertram huffed as he eyed the young woman behind him.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked rather guardedly.

"I mean Jalenisieve is tonight. It's already after midnight!" Bertram trumpeted, seeing that the bullish young woman's plans to return him home had already gone awry as he slid from the horse. He took a few steps away and turned to look back at the slayer still seated on the nag.

"Oh, crap!" Buffy exclaimed. "We gotta go now!"

"Yes, crap indeed! See, you're already too late. So, go back to my father and tell him that you have failed." Bertram responded with accusatory tone before he turned to lead the horse back to the inn's barn.

"Look, Mister! You're going back to your father's house conscious or unconscious. You make the choice!" Buffy responded as she reached toward the young man's retreating back. "You have to be there. Your family is under attack!"

"What are you saying?" Bertram spun around and stared up at Buffy.

"What I am saying is that that Dye creepy guy is attacking your family and your father is sick!" Buffy explained desperately. "If you don't go back….it's seriously not pretty!"

Bertram stood there frozen as the slayer's words pierced brain. In the next instant, he swung himself easily in front of Buffy. Then with a firm kick to the sides of the worn horse, the nag sprang to life with a loud whiny. Champion lurched forward so fast that Buffy was nearly unseated. She flailed her arms like a windmill as she felt herself losing purchase and luckily just managed to grasp the coat tail of Bertram's coat. With sheer determination, she pulled on the coat tail's material till she had situated herself behind Bertram on the horse. As the horse moved forward, Buffy could feel the uncomfortable sensation of the jolting rump of the horse under her. It made her question as to what she had sacrificed in her bargain to save her aching feet. The moonlit road appeared to be a pale ribbon as the pair jounced down it toward Bertram's father's home.

…

When the hours of sheer torture of bouncing on the back of the bony horse had finally turned her lower half insensate, Buffy was glad to see that Bertram finally slow the ancient horse as they neared his family home. It was only by Bertram's aptly applied heels and slapping that the old nag had somehow managed to maintain a run since they had left the country inn. As they drew toward the large house, they could see that the scene at the house was chaos. People were screaming and crying as they fled the manor with what little they had on their backs. Bertram yelled at staff members he recognized, but not one of them stopped. They looked at him as if he was the devil incarnate and ran desperately in the opposite direction.

As Buffy and Bertram came closer to the house, they saw that the doors were wide open as the light flooded the steps like a beacon. Bertram pulled up the old horse a few feet from the door and easily dismounted, leaving Buffy on the horse. Buffy tried to follow Bertram but found the lower half of her body was slow to respond.

"Hey! Hey, wait for me!" Buffy yelled as she slowly pulled up a leg on the far side of the horse with a hiss.

Bertram did not react to Buffy's as he tried to get information from the fleeing staff. At one point, he managed to grab a roughly dressed hysterical teenager by the arm as he was dashing by. Spinning him about, He shook the young man by the arms till he got his attention.

"Get hold of yourself, man! For God's sake, tell me what happened here?" He yelled in the pale face of his quaking employee.

"It's the end! The devil is here! Oh, lord, we'll all be pulled down to hell!" The stable boy cried as he wavered on his feet, only Bertram's grip was keeping him from falling to the ground.

"Shut your whining, tell me where my family is! Where is the lord? Speak, or so help me god, you'll be seeing hell a lot sooner than you planned!" Bertram growled as he demanded an answer.

With the strength born of desperation, the stable boy twisted and managed to break Bertram's grasp and disappeared into the night before he can answer any more questions.

During the interchange, Buffy had gingerly and slowly lowered herself from the horse. The horse wavered on its feet from exhaustion as she gave the horse a well-deserved pat for its earlier exertion. "Ooh, ooh!" Buffy muttered to herself as she tried to get her lower half to respond as she attempted to move away from the horse. She had a feeling that the damage done to her tender parts was remarkable and there would be a long recovery ahead. From now on, she would consider shock absorbers one of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century. She concluded that travel in this time period left little to be desired. With her legs and buttock in a state of trauma, Buffy walked rather stiltedly after Bertram.

Looking wildly about and seeing no one else to answer his questions, Bertram stormed through the entryway of the manor. He stopped just on the other side. All his life, there had been someone appearing from a corner to tend to his every need. Now, the house seemed hollow, like an empty shell of what had once been a living thing. As the unsettling quiet seeped through his bones, he looked toward the staircase.

"Father!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, desperately hopeful to hear a response.

Buffy has managed to awkwardly make it to the impressive doorway where Bertram stood. Her legs complaining, she wrapped her hands around the door's molding to hold herself up. She is stunned by the magnificence of the great hall on the other side of the doorway. To her, it seemed like a palace or at least, an old time movie house.

A slight movement catches Bertram's eye. He dashed forward to a corner hidden by the statuary at the newel at the base of the stairs. Before Buffy's eyes, he dragged forth a distraught young woman, wearing a black dress with what must have been a starched and ironed apron at one point. Her tear streaked face and trembling countenance touched his heart. He knew this young woman and was shocked to see her in such a state.

"Hibbs! Where is my family?" Bertram asked softly as he petted her hair.

With a sob and shaky finger, she pointed up the stairs to the master's bedroom.