Chapter Forty Three: In the Balance

Buffy and Willow were determined to head straight back to Kallistien and had quickly decided to charge through the ship to the Control Center and force the crew to reverse course. They had only been stopped by Phoebe's insistence that there was another way, a less risky and probably quicker way of getting back to the planet, or at least getting back to their own ship.

Phoebe wanted to make another effort to open a magic portal. "I've been thinking about it. Way out here in space I expect it takes a lot more power to do something like that. That's why it didn't work for me when I tried it on my own," explained Phoebe. "But if we all work together. If we put all we've got into it, and focus on the magic amulets as well we might be able to pull it off."

At least I hope so thought Phoebe. I can't see that launching a full scale assault on this big ship with just our little group is going to work. And if Willow's rested enough to try to take over the ship she should be rested enough to join in the portal spell. Worrying about Tara seems to have filled her full of energy again.

"There's something else we can try to get more power," said Willow. "Apophis has got his own witches on this ship. Except they're not his witches, they're witches he had kidnapped and has established some sort of control over. I think I can tap into their magic power and at the same time I might be able to release the control that Apophis has over them."

"You've got to be careful with the spells Will," said Buffy. "It won't do Tara any good if you overdo it."

"I've got to do as much as I can," said Willow. "Tara needs me. I've got to be there for her. I can rest again later. Anyway if I work this right, my part in all this might make me stronger, not weaker."

Still in their concealed room the five companions were now sat on the floor at the points of a pentagram drawn on the surface. Teal'c was wondering how he had come to be in such a position.

"Relax, don't worry about it," said Xander to Teal'c. "All the best people are doing magic spells. And I won't tell, not a word, not unless somebody asks me anyway. I've been helping out with magic spells for years and it never goes wrong, well not more than two or three times out of four."

"Xander!" said Buffy.

"Don't worry, Teal'c knows when I'm joking," said Xander. "I just wish I did," he added quietly to himself.

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"Stop!" shouted Anya rushing up the steps towards the witches. "You're not being attacked. It's all a misunderstanding. There's no danger. We're on your side."

Realising that nobody recognised Anya and nobody would have any reason to trust her Kennedy hurried up the stairs after her. She had met most of the witches gathered to defend the HQ and was able to reassure them that they did not need to act against Dawn or Connor.

Meanwhile Gwen had cautiously gone over to Dawn who was still lying on the ground. Dawn was still surrounded by a green glow but this was now slowly fading. Dawn sat up and looked around.

"Are you alright?" asked Gwen. "Seems like you've got your own sort of lightning."

"What? What happened?" asked a very confused Dawn. Suddenly she noticed Connor lying motionless on the ground nearby. She leapt up and rushed over to him.

"What did I do? What did I do? I didn't mean it. It just sort of happened," she babbled as she knelt down beside the young man. She reached out to touch him but then thought better of it and pulled back her hand. As she did so Connor groaned and rolled over onto his back.

The first thing that Connor saw when he opened his eyes was Dawn looking down on him. He immediately flinched away and sprang back to his feet. "Stay back!" he ordered. "You're alive with some sort of power. Don't touch me! Don't touch anybody!"

Dawn looked down at her hands where she could still see the last of the slowly fading green glow. What's happening to me she wondered? Is the Wolfram and Hart spell still affecting me? Is it going to get worse? Am I going to turn back into a green glowy Key?

"Whatever we do we can't take you inside the witch HQ," said Gwen. "Their magic protections don't like you, they won't let you in and the witches are certainly not going to lift them. We'll have to go somewhere else."

"Even if you could get past the magic wards, the witches don't want you to come in," said Anya joining them. "We've told them you're with us and on our side but they want you to leave the area. They think you're dangerous."

"Dangerous? Is that what I am?" asked Dawn. "What can I do? I didn't do anything. I just started to walk up the steps."

"So if we don't go inside where do we go now?" asked Connor. "I don't suppose the glorious leader over there's got any idea." Connor's final remark, together with a hostile look, referred to Kennedy who was still at the top of the steps talking to the witches.

"We can ask Giles!" exclaimed Dawn, suddenly cheerful. "And Angel. They'll know what to do."

"But Giles and Angel aren't..." Anya broke off from what she was saying to look behind her at what Dawn was seeing. Just coming into the square was Giles, together with Angel, Cordelia and Drusilla.

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After searching through the building, Piper and Faith finally found what they were looking for in the basement. There they discovered Glory plus the other Kallistien witches together with Prue, Paige and Lissie.

Everybody was frozen. All of the women were stood about as if they were taking part in some sort of tableau. All of the Kallistien witches except for Glory were stood at one end of the room gathered around a table. On either side of the room were Prue and Paige. But none of these women seemed to be doing anything. They were all directing their attention to the middle of the room.

In the center of the room were Glory and Lissie. Floating between them was a vaguely box-like shape of approximately the size and dimensions of a gold ingot. The shape was not easy to discern because of the bright green glow given off by what Piper and Faith assumed to be the Key.

Lissie was holding onto the Key with both hands but Glory also had one hand on it. Lissie was surrounded by a similar green glow to that given off by the Key but Glory had her own glow, a bright golden colour which surrounded her, but even that was tinged with green.

"Stop!" said Piper to Faith who had started to walk around the room. "Don't go any further. Come back here!"

Faith stopped. "What? What's wrong? Or rather what else is wrong?"

"Can't you see it?" asked Piper. "You were about to walk right into it."

"Into what?" asked Faith looking around, still mystified.

"Look at Paige," said Piper. "If you look carefully you can see a white line of force going from her to the Key. You don't want to walk into that, who knows what'll happen."

Faith looked carefully but then shook her head before walking back over to join Piper. "Nope," she said. "Can't see anything like that. Must be something only a witch can see. Are you sure it's really there?"

"There's another line leading from Prue to the Key," said Piper. "I think what I'm seeing is the power that was being applied when everything froze. Lissie and Glory were using their power to fight for the Key. Prue and Paige joined in and that's when everything overloaded and seized up."

"So what do we do now?" asked Faith. "I'm thinking it's probably not a good idea for you to add your power to the mix."

"No I don't think it is, at least not until you've thought about it very carefully," said a voice from behind them. They turned around to find that Daniel had walked into the room behind them.

"So how did you get here? And why aren't you frozen?" asked Faith. "How come you're immune?"

"I don't know but I've got a theory," said Daniel. He explained how Glory had used him to hide the Key and how he had fallen unconscious after it had been revealed.

"I only woke up a few minutes ago," he said. "And that's when I saw all this. I've been having a look around wondering what to do. By the way, I can see those lines you were talking about. I managed to avoid walking into them."

"So why can you see them when I can't?" asked Faith. "You're not some sort of secret witch are you?"

Daniel laughed. "No, not as far as I know. I expect being in touch with the Key has made me more sensitive. I suppose that might be why I'm the only one who wasn't frozen."

"But Lissie's the Keeper," said Faith. "If the Key was going to make anybody immune it would be her, not you."

"Yeah, but Lissie's one of those using her power. She's part of what's causing the freeze," said Piper. "I expect that's what makes the difference."

"Or maybe it's Glory's magic that's been protecting you," suggested Faith to Daniel.

"Look, what's done is done," said Piper. "We don't have to have an answer to absolutely everything. We just have to decide what we're going to do about all this. Why do you say I shouldn't use my own power?"

"For the same reason you told Faith not to walk through those lines of force," said Daniel. "Everything's in a delicate balance. Until we know what we're doing we shouldn't just break it apart. There's a lot of power there. I think it's like an unexploded bomb. You've got to know which wire to cut first or you'll blow yourself up."

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"So why does it have to be here?" asked Jenny looking around at the familiar surroundings. "Why not somewhere else? Why not on the other side of the world?"

"Makes no difference to me," said Lilah. "You choose somewhere else and I'll get my people to make the arrangements. Where would you like it to be? Pennsylvania Avenue? Downtown Baghdad?"

"Before anybody does any choosing there are a few things we want to get straight first," said Tara. "Like what are you up to on Kallistien? Why did you send that book to Wesley and Cordelia? Why did you arrange for the release of a powerful demon and exactly what has happened to Wesley and Eve?"

"You've got your secrets and we've got ours," said Lilah. "You're not going to tell me everything you're up to and I'm certainly not going to tell you everything we're up to. This truce is strictly to do with the task in hand, nothing else."

"Is that so? Well think again," said Tara. "Because the task in hand isn't going anywhere until we get some answers." Leo and Jenny gave Tara doubtful looks but said nothing. Lilah noticed the exchange between the Whitelighters and drew her own conclusions.

"OK," said Lilah. "If you want to go back on the deal I'm sure your bosses will be able to find another Whitelighter to take your place."

"I'm sure they will," said Tara coldly. "But your bosses will have to find a replacement as well, because if you don't give us some answers you won't be available."

"Threats eh," said Lilah. "I like it. We could always do with another fallen angel. Exactly what do you have in mind? Going to do something nasty to me? Maybe something you've learnt from your girlfriend?"

Before Tara could respond to Lilah's taunting Leo stepped forward and took Lilah's arm. He immediately orbed away and a surprised Tara and Jenny followed him.

The destination was also a surprise to everybody but Leo. The three Whitelighters and Lilah found themselves on a narrow ledge above a hot fire down below. Smoke and unpleasant fumes arose from the depths and there seemed to be some sort of wailing that could just be heard coming from below. Everybody was in no doubt that the orb had taken the Whitelighters and Lilah into a hell dimension. Lilah was now no more than a short drop away from the fires below.

"Now let's get a few things straight," said Leo glaring directly at Lilah. "We won't be breaking any rules if we leave you here or drop you off down below. Your ticket is already booked. I don't think anybody will mind if you turn up a little early."

"I expect you'll find quite a few friends and colleagues down there," continued Leo. "There's nothing in the agreement between our bosses which says you have to be a part of it. I'm sure your side can come up with somebody else if you're uh, unavailable."

"Are you sure?" asked Lilah, now for the first time sounding rather nervous. "You're risking an awful lot if you're wrong. Your whole world for one thing."

"Which is also your world," said Jenny. "Despite what you say I'm sure you want to remain a player up in the world above and not become just another fallen soul down here. Not yet anyway."

"My wife is still on Kallistien," said Leo. "Unless you tell me everything we need to know about what's going on, you won't have to worry about what happens to the world up there, just about what's happening down here."

Lilah looked at the three Whitelighters one by one. Tara looked even fiercer than Leo and Jenny also look determined. Of course, she thought, they all have partners on Kallistien, not just Tara. So the other side have sent the only three Whitelighters who have people on the other world. Not a co-incidence I think.

"OK, OK," said Lilah. "But you're not going to like it."

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The portal wasn't as large as before but using all of their power together they just managed to open it.

"Quickly, everybody go through," said Phoebe. "This won't stay open for long."

The first to move was Teal'c who was closest to the portal. He had to duck his head as he jumped through, Goa'uld weapon in hand. I wonder if his head would have been lopped off if he hadn't ducked low enough thought Xander as he followed. He had no intention of finding out and bent almost double as he hopped over the threshold.

Buffy indicated that Willow should go next. Willow thought about arguing but realised they didn't have the time. She jumped through and then concentrated on making sure that the portal stayed open long enough for Buffy and Phoebe to follow her. Immediately Phoebe arrived on the other side the portal winked out.

Willow took deep breaths and then sat down on the floor. "There's definitely something wrong," she said. "It shouldn't be this difficult. Something's going on. Something's making it more difficult to open portals."

"The same thing that shut down the Stargate?" asked Buffy. "Do you think somebody's trying to maroon us here away from home and if so who?"

"Anybody who tries to do that will have to do more than shut down the Stargates and block your magic portals," said Teal'c. "The ships we captured from Marduk can travel back to Earth. I think this ship is also in motion. It might also be leaving the planet."

"There might be some sort of space battle going on," suggested Xander who sounded excited by the prospect.

"If there is then what we did to help the witches break their conditioning might help our side a lot," said Willow. "They'll gradually come out of it. Apophis is going to find it more difficult to fight his battles without magical help."

Prior to carrying out the portal spell Willow and Phoebe had carried out a spell to break the control that Apophis had established over the witches he had kidnapped. This spell had succeeded but it hadn't made it any easier to open the portal. There didn't seem to be any connection between the witches working for Apophis and the difficulties they were experiencing.

Willow had changed her mind about trying to tap into the power of the other witches. On thinking about it she had realised that exploiting others like that without their permission would be too close to black magic for comfort. In the end it had their own magic power had been sufficient, but only just.

The team had now arrived back at the same place on Marduk's ship where Willow and Tara had opened their first magic portal, near to the landing deck and the Stargate. Using the nearest ship's communicator Teal'c was able to speak to Jack and Sam in the Control Center and report that they were back. Jack asked that they all come up to the Control Center where they could bring each other up to date and decide what to do next.

"So what's drawing us back to the planet?" asked Jack once they had arrived. "Is it some sort of magic force because if it is it must be using a lot of power to reach right out into space?"

Teal'c and the others had explained what had happened on their abortive trip to Apophis's ship including the shut down of Apophis's Stargate. Jack and Sam had explained what had happened in their absence.

"This has all got to be connected," said Buffy. "The Stargates are dead, we can't use the spaceships to travel to Earth and the witches are finding it difficult to open even a short range magic portal. Somebody's definitely trying to stop us leaving Kallistien."

"You think maybe somebody's up to something back home?" asked Xander.

"While the cat's away...," said Willow. "Some of us have got to go back. I've got to go back and find out if Tara's there, see if she's alright."

"But first we've got to get back to the planet," said Phoebe.

"Once we're near the planet we can send you down using the teleport rings, if that's where you want to go," said Sam. "But the Gate down there's dead as well. And I expect it'll be just as difficult to open a portal down on the planet as it is up here."

"Not necessarily," said Willow. "Some places on Earth are particularly favourable for opening portals. It might be the same on Kallistien. Weak points in the Ether so to speak."

"And there'll be a lot more witches to help us down there," said Phoebe.

"If they're not too busy," said Sam. "They're in the middle of a war. Anyway before you go I'd like to see if we can work together to get some response from the Gate we've got here. I've been building up the power input to the Gate but so far it stays dead. If you guys can put in some of your own special juice as well, perhaps we can jump start it. If it works it'll give you a quicker way home than going down to the planet."

"Not me, I've got to get down to the planet anyway," said Buffy. "My sister's down there somewhere."

"But there's no reason why we can't see what we can do with the Gate in the time we've got before we arrive back at the planet," said Phoebe.

"Of course even if we get the Gate working again that still leaves us with the unsolved problem of what to do about Apophis and his fleet once they get back. Are they still chasing our shadow out there?" Jack's last question was addressed to Sergeant Paisley who had been following the progress of the Goa'uld fleet on the instruments in front of him.

"They've just about come to a stop," said the sergeant. "But of course our fake ship is still going away from them. I bet they think whatever's been slowing them down is some sort of trick we've pulled."

"That's a good point," said Jack. "And of course they won't be able to see us when they get back. Let's see if we can organise a few surprises for when they get here."