Chapter Forty Five: Taking Risks
"It's a risk but if we don't take any risks we might as well just sit down and grow old," said Piper. "Anyway I'll try to freeze everything again right away if things look like going wrong. If this works we'll be able to work with the Power of Three so we'll have a much better chance of keeping everything under control."
The plan proposed by Piper was for Faith and Daniel to grab Prue and Paige and pull them away from their link with the Key. To avoid unbalancing the whole ensemble the idea was to do this at exactly the same time. If the plan worked the two sisters would be released from the freeze but nothing else would change. They would then have all three witch sisters available to figure out their next move and take part in any further spell casting.
While Faith and Daniel grabbed Prue and Paige, Piper would remain ready to deal magically with any emergency that developed as a result of what they were doing. She hoped that Daniel's reference to a bomb going off wasn't an accurate comparison to their present position. She just hoped that whatever happened would happen slowly enough for her to stop anybody getting killed.
Neither Daniel nor Faith had any better suggestion. In particular nobody had any idea how to de-power the Key and make it safe. Nobody thought it a good idea for any attempt to be made to take hold of the Key and try to remove it from Lissie and Glory.
"Is there any way we can move Paige and Prue close together before we disturb anything?" asked Daniel. "If we can all be together when everything cuts loose perhaps Paige can orb us all away to safety."
"I don't see how," said Piper. "As soon as we move them we risk unfreezing them and disturbing the balance of power which might be what's keeping everything frozen. Anyway we can't just abandon everybody else."
But at that moment everything changed anyway because another power intervened. The house shook from a nearby explosion as it came under attack from the Goa'uld. The tremor passing through the room must have been just sufficient to move things a little out of alignment because all at once the freeze was over.
Glory and Lissie were both holding onto the Key and they continued to do so. It wasn't clear whether they even knew they had been frozen. The Key continued to glow brightly and now started to increase in brightness.
Paige, waking from the freeze, suddenly found Daniel standing beside her and realised that Piper and Faith had arrived as well. With time moving forward once again neither Prue nor Paige was power linked to the Key any more.
"Where did you guys come from?" she asked. "Did somebody else learn how to orb?"
"Explanations later. Everybody together quickly!" said Piper. "We're going to need the Power of Three."
There were now three groups of people in the room. The other Kallistien witches watched in horror at what was happening and then turned and fled from the room. The second group was the group of five time travellers who all now gathered around Piper and the third consisted of Glory and Lissie.
The Kallistian witch and the keeper seemed to be doing nothing except keeping their hands on the Key. They both maintained their grip but it wasn't clear to those watching whether they were doing this of their own volition, as part of a continuing struggle for possession of the Key or whether they were no longer able to let go of it. Neither spoke.
A second explosion now shook the building, and a series of explosions followed in quick succession. Cracks spread through the ceiling and lumps of plaster fell from it. A billow of dust swept into the room through the doorway left open by the departing witches.
"We've got to focus it," said Prue. "We've got to use the Power of Three to focus the power of the Key against the Goa'uld. All that power's got to go somewhere. If we can use it to get rid of the Goa'uld and seal the world against them that might de-power the Key. We can then use time travel again to return to the future."
"But aren't we meant to be just spectators?" asked Paige. "Things aren't meant to happen that way. We're not supposed to get involved."
"Are you sure?" asked Prue. "Maybe we are. Maybe that's why we're here. Don't forget, everything..."
"...happens for a reason," chorused Paige and Piper along with Prue who smiled at her sisters.
"But not always a good reason," said Daniel quietly to nobody in particular.
"All we can do is the best we can. We've been so involved in what's happened so far, our only hope is to be part of the solution," said Prue.
"Yes!" exclaimed Faith. Everything suddenly made sense to her. "That's why! That's why I was given that dream. If we weren't meant to be here I wouldn't have had the dream. Go on, do it! Be part of the solution!"
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Tara knew the place from the description she had been given of it even though she had never been there before. She had orbed onto a wide rocky ledge overlooking a barren wasteland below. There were no bodies to be seen lying around, not even the large dragon bodies. The only evidence of the battles that had been fought at that spot some months before was the debris scattered around.
The ledge had been narrowed considerably by piles of fallen rocks which had been knocked out of the rock walls to either side. There was also a massive pile of rock at the base of the cliff where the ledge overlooked the plain below.
Tara waited. She was in a hurry but she figured the best way to move quickly, to navigate her way back to Kallistien would be wait a while, wait to be noticed. Of course in a place like this that might mean waiting to be attacked. But she didn't have to wait long. As she looked up into the grey overcast gloom she saw a small flying figure far away in the distance coming towards her.
As the figure closed on her position she could see it was not really that small. It was a little less than six foot tall and looked generally human. As the figure flew nearer Tara was able to see that it was a woman. She was dressed in a black shirt and black pants and looked to be completely human, apart from the large black wings on her back which were keeping her in the air. The approaching figure looked like nothing so much as a black angel.
The woman landed and walked towards Tara. As she walked forward the wings on her back faded away. She carried a sword in a sheath on her right hip. She kept her right hand on the pommel but made no attempt to draw the sword. As the woman approached, Tara realised that she recognised her.
"It's no good wearing my mother's face," said Tara as the woman stopped in front of her. "I know she's not down here and I know you're not her."
The woman smiled and waved her left hand in front of her face. The face blurred and then settled into the face of somebody Tara was sure she had not met before. The woman appeared to be approximately thirty years old. She was dark skinned, attractive without being beautiful and had long dark hair.
"Just letting you know, I know who you are," said the woman. "Exactly who and what you are Tara. What I don't know is why you're here. This isn't part of the agreement. You don't have any reason to come here, not unless you're changing sides?"
"I need to speak to Jasmine," said Tara. "She needs to hear what I have to say."
"She'll hear everything you say to me," said the woman. "Speak!"
"I need to speak to Jasmine herself, now," insisted Tara. "She'll want to hear what I have to say, not what somebody else decides to report to her."
The woman shrugged and her face blurred again and settled into the face of Jasmine, the beautiful face that she showed everybody when she was on Earth.
"One face is as good as another. So what is it I need to hear?" Jasmine asked.
Tara stared hard at what now looked to be Jasmine. Was this the real Jasmine or was somebody else trying to deceive her? This place was the home of lies and deception after all.
"You look like Jasmine, but you've proven you can look like whoever you want to look like. Prove you're really Jasmine," said Tara. "I'm not talking to anybody else."
The woman smiled and half turned away from Tara towards the barren plain. She waved her right hand and part of the sky darkened even further before giving out a spectacular burst of lightning bolts. Jasmine waved her hand again and a smoking mountain on the distant horizon suddenly exploded. An enormous roar followed a few moments later as the sound reached them.
Jasmine turned back to Tara. "Is that enough proof for you," she asked.
"Well you're powerful enough to be Jasmine but if you're somebody else you'll do just as well," said Tara. 'I need your help. But helping me is in your interest as well. I need your help to get to Kallistien. I've got to get all the Earth Champions back to Earth before the link up is made. You can understand why."
"I can understand why it's in your interest to do that," said Jasmine. "What I can't understand is why it's in my interest."
"Think it through," said Tara. "Do you think you can maintain control of this place, of your people, if there is no control on the other side? Yes, the Earth might be destroyed but if it is what do you think will happen down here then? This place is closest to Earth. It might be sucked in as well. Do you want to see your dimension destroyed as well as the Earth?"
"But even if it's not destroyed this place might become the next big demonic frontier. The place where all sorts of powers pass through," continued Tara. "You can imagine the sort of thing that would happen. There'll be a lot who want to stay here and control things from this end. They'll try to destroy or control you. Do you want that? But if we have our champions back on Earth we can keep things under control, it'll never happen."
"You underestimate me," said Jasmine. "Survival won't be a problem for me, nor will control."
"Do you really think so?" asked Tara. "Just suppose you're wrong. Why take that sort of a risk when you don't need to? You took the opportunity to take control down here. Do you want to give something else the chance to do the same thing to you? How many challenges do you think you could survive? Don't you want to do something more than fight off challenges all the time?"
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"Demon hunting? Well that makes sense. Phoebe's vision showed demons on the planet," said Buffy. "Kennedy's a slayer. It's her job to hunt them down and kill them."
"Yes, Giles said the idea of going demon hunting cheered up Kennedy a lot. Slayers like to have something to slay after all," Willow replied with a small smile thinking that Buffy would love to go on an old fashioned vampire or demon hunt right now. Thinking about it, Willow wouldn't mind going along herself so long as Tara was there as well.
Willow was reporting back to the others after having a radio conversation with Giles down on the planet. "It seems Wolfram and Hart have been stirring things up again. They've let loose a lot of demons in the city while the witches are busy with the Goa'uld," continued Willow. "But the good news is Dawn's OK. Giles saw her after she came through the Stargate and she's with Angel, Connor and Drusilla. They're travelling south away from the city demons and the fighting with the Goa'uld. But he also said there's a problem with the Key."
"Problem, what problem?" asked Buffy quickly.
"Wolfram and Hart again," said Willow. "They attacked Dawn or rather they attacked the Key with magic back in Sunnydale. That's why Anya and Connor brought Dawn through the Stargate, to get her away from the Wolfram and Hart magic."
"What were they trying to do with their magic?" asked Phoebe.
"Giles thinks they were trying to turn the Key back the way it was originally," replied Willow. "The Key seems to be partly active now. Giles thinks it might be the Key that's messed up the Gates, since they stopped working just after Dawn came through."
"Wait a minute, Dawn's OK but the Key's partly active. How does that work?" asked Xander.
"As Giles explained it, Dawn's OK most of the time..." said Willow.
"Most of the time? What does he mean most of the time?" asked Buffy with a frown.
"It's just that she seems to be sensitive to magic power," said Willow. "She sort of glowed with power a couple of times when other magic was being used but it didn't last long and it didn't seem to do her any harm. That's why Giles thought it was a good idea for her to leave the city where the witches are based. He's gonna do some research in the witches' library to see if they know anything about the Key."
"Did he say anything about Tara, Will?" asked Xander. "Is she in the city?"
"He thinks she's fine. She suddenly orbed away without warning," said Willow. "But he doesn't know where she is."
"She can't be back on Earth," said Buffy. "The Gates aren't working and I think she said she couldn't just orb back to another planet."
"Some sort of Whitelighter business perhaps," suggested Phoebe. "We haven't heard from any of the Powers who watch over this world like our Powers do on Earth. Maybe Tara's visiting them."
"Maybe she's having tea and cakes upstairs," said Xander. "Sitting on a cloud and doing whatever angels do on their days off."
"I already know what Tara does on her days off," said Willow with a small smile. "But I still think something's wrong. If it wasn't she'd have been in touch. I've called her but I get no response."
"Time doesn't pass the same in places like that," said Phoebe. "If she's there she might only have been there a few moments. I'm sure she'll be back OK."
"And you'd know if anything bad had happened," said Xander. "So she must be alright."
"I suppose," agreed Willow doubtfully.
"The Stargate's still dead," said Phoebe. "Sam keeps feeding more and more power into it but it doesn't seem to make any difference. We're still cut off from home. Do you think Dawn will be able to use the power of the Key to get the Gates working again?"
"The last time somebody tried to get the Key to work it involved killing Dawn," said Buffy. "That's not going to happen, even if it means we all remain on Kallistien for ever."
The conversation was being conducted on the hanger deck of Marduk's flagship where Sam, helped by other SG personnel, had been working on trying to get the Stargate up and running. Seeing that Willow was telling the others the latest news Sam came over to find out what was happening. She had heard most of the conversation.
"So what exactly is the Key then?" asked Sam. "And how do you think it might have shut down the Gates?"
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"They're all fine up there," said Giles as he came into the library. "They're on their way back and should be with us in a few hours. But Tara's not with them. They don't have any more idea about where she went than we do."
"Has Willow tried to call her?" asked Cordelia. "She doesn't respond to me."
"Of course, but she's had no response either," replied Giles.
"Well if Willow can't contact Tara there's nothing we can do that would work any better," said Cordelia. "It must be something important that's keeping her away."
"I'm sure she's alright," said Giles. "I think Willow would know if anything bad happened to Tara. How's the spell going?"
"We have a problem," said Anya. "A big problem. Look at the map!"
Anya had indicated the large map that was spread out on the library table. The map was a map of the city and the surrounding area. There were small lights on the map, all of which seemed to be in the same part of the map and moving in the same direction.
Cordelia and Anya had carried out the old demon identification spell that Willow had carried out back in Sunnydale. When Willow had done the spell it had identified where in Sunnydale the demons were gathering. Now the idea was to identify the location of the demons in Demantine so that they could plan an attack on the chief demon and his minions.
"So which part of the city is that?" asked Giles leaning over the map and indicating the area where the lights were gathered. "And where are they all going?"
"That's the south of the city," said Anya. "And the demons are all headed off south."
"And none of them seem to be the big powerful chief demon thingy," said Cordelia. "That's probably because he's already off the map."
"South? They're all going south?" queried Giles. "But that's where..."
"Angel's taking Dawn," finished Kennedy. "The big bad and his demons are going after Dawn."
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The Jaffa pilot came in low over the trees. He was one of Mitra's elite and had been well briefed. He knew that the locals didn't have much in the way of anti-aircraft weapons, just what they might have captured from the Jaffa, but he had heard hair raising stories of what the local witches could do so he was on full alert.
The pilot was part of the attack on the country mansion where Prue and the others were currently dealing with the power of the Key. There had been no response to the bombs that he had already dropped. Nobody had fired back with any weapons nor as far as he could tell used any magic against him. But the pilot still did not intend to make himself and the troops aboard his shuttle a target for any longer than absolutely necessary.
The designated landing ground was the long wide lawn thoughtfully provided by the locals to the north of the mansion. It was ideal for a quick landing and exit. As soon as the troops had left the shuttle and started their attack on the mansion he would be up and away, ready to provide further air support if required.
The shuttle was the first of three such craft which contained the attacking force which had been ordered to capture the mansion. According to the briefing they had been given, the mansion was the HQ of the local resistance, so taking it out would go a long way towards pacifying the planet and making sure it was no longer such a thorn in the side of the Goa'uld lord.
The pilot never knew what hit him, or rather what he had hit. Half way along the lawn the shuttle hit something, an invisible something. It stopped dead. It was like ploughing straight into a cliff since the barrier didn't move at all with the impact. In fact the barrier had been moving towards them and was not slowed at all by the impact.
The shuttle was like a fly hitting a windshield. One moment it was going at full speed, the next... splat! The two following shuttles had only moments for their pilots to see what had happened and to try to pull out of their dives. They might have made it but the barrier was still picking up speed in its movement towards them. They had no chance. Splat! Splat! There were no survivors in any of the three machines.