|
Without tone or timbre the voice defied classification.
Species, gender or age - nothing was given away. "Do you understand
what I want?" it asked.
Talda-Kal nodded her shaggy head then, narrowing her eyes she tried
to discern her would-be employer through the haze that shielded him or
her. After only a few seconds though, she gave up. Again. Three times she
had tried and three times she had failed. Whatever magics were in use here
were just too powerful for her gaze to penetrate, which meant they were
very powerful indeed. Suritan demons had a natural resistance to all but
the most potent of spells. She grimaced. Magic she couldn't overcome made
her angry and nervous. "Understand yes," she said, her voice
half hiss, half croak.
"On the chair behind you is the bag," the voice told her
emotionlessly. "Remember as soon as you have it, conceal it in the
bag. The item's owner has powerful friends but once in there it will be
undetectable even by them."
Looking at the unassuming cloth bag the Suritan demon nodded.
"Understand yes," she repeated. "And payment?"
"On delivery. No delivery, no payment."
Talda-Kal hissed, angry at having her abilities questioned. "I not
fail."
"I hope not. For your sake."
With a grunt of effort Xander knocked the last of the
posts into the ground and then, discarding his sledge hammer, wiped the
sweat from his brow. It had taken him several days of hard graft but
finally all the posts for the new fence were embedded firmly in the earth.
Fifty six there were all told, stretching along the eastern edge of the
school grounds like a row of tiny telegraph poles. After a moment's rest
he picked up a large spool of wire and set about finishing the fence.
Not too far away, half concealed by a large oak tree, Buffy and Willow
watched their friend with concern. Since Faith's sudden departure they had
seen Xander push himself harder and harder, doing anything, Buffy
suspected, to keep his mind off the black haired slayer. "I've never
seen him so down," she commented.
Willow nodded. "Me neither. I think he's more depressed than after he
broke it off with Anya."
The Slayer shook her head. "What kind of a friend am I?" she
asked. "I didn't even know that they were even involved until I
returned from Sunnydale and he told me that Faith had left."
"I'm no better. The first inkling I had was when I saw Xander chasing
Faith down the corridor in just a pair of red silk pyjama
bottoms. You know, those ones I bought him for Christmas."
"I knew," Dawn piped up as she joined the pair.
Willow and Buffy both frowned. "You knew?" Buffy asked, looking
at her sister incredulously.
Dawn nodded. "Yep," she answered smugly.
"And you didn't tell me?"
The young girl shrugged. "They asked me not to."
Buffy was not pleased. "I can't believe that you kept this from me,
your own sister."
"You've kept loads of things from me."
"That's different."
"It always is when it's you who's keeping the secrets," Dawn
told her with a pout.
"You know there are some things I can't tell you Dawn."
The younger Summers was unabashed. "And now you know there are some
things I can't tell you."
"And what other secrets are you keeping from me?" Buffy
demanded.
"As if I'm going to tell you," Dawn replied with a little more
anger than she'd intended. Her sister could really get on her nerves at
times. Behind Buffy Willow, having recognised the danger signs early on,
had been waving warningly for sometime and Dawn at last took note.
"And anyway I don't have any more secrets," she added.
"I think we're losing sight of things a bit," Willow said
quickly with a glare in Dawn's direction. "What are we going to do
about
Xander?"
Before either of them could answer though Buffy was called away by one of
the newer slayers. Some dispute only she could settle apparently. Left
alone with Dawn, Willow wasted no time in giving the young woman a piece
of her mind. "What was all that about?" she challenged.
"Goading your sister like that. Did you want her to find out you're
still doing magic?"
"Of course not," Dawn replied, at least she didn't think so. It
would have been quite funny to see the expression on her sister's
face though.
"Well be careful what you're saying then. It wouldn't just be you in
trouble if she found out you know."
"I know and I'm sorry. Really I am, it's just that Buffy's 'I know
better than you' attitude can really grate sometimes."
"I know," Willow agreed then smiled, "but it's best to let
her have her fantasy. So, any ideas how to cheer Xander up?"
Dawn looked at Xander speculatively. Already he had the wire attached to a
quarter of the posts. "You could cast a forget spell on him,"
Dawn suggested.
Unimpressed Willow shook her head. "I think not. And don't you dare
either," she warned, seeing the gleam in her pupil's eyes.
"It never crossed my mind," she protested innocently.
The redheaded witch was not fooled though. "I wouldn't put it past
you and with your luck with spells we could all end up with amnesia."
"You mean just like that forget spell you cast?" Dawn teased
with a grin.
Willow cleared her throat, even after all this time the pain and
embarrassment was still real. It had not been one of her greatest
moments. "Yes…er…well, the least said about that the better but
let it be a warning to you, even an experienced witch can have problems
with forget spells." She looked over her shoulder. "Now shush,
here comes your sister."
"I'm really worried," Buffy admitted as she rejoined them.
"Since Faith has left all he has done is work, work, work. Which has
been good for the school but it's doing Xander no good at all. "
"Has there been any word from her at all?" Dawn enquired.
"Nope," Buffy replied, "not even a phone call and I think
that's the problem. He's worried that she may be lying hurt in a ditch
somewhere."
"Faith hurt!" Willow exclaimed without an ounce of compassion.
"It's the people she comes into contact with that I'd be worried
about."
"And if he was thinking straight he'd realise that Faith can take of
herself but he isn't."
"At least we know she hasn't been captured."
Dawn didn't quite follow that. "We do? How?"
"Because if she had," Buffy explained, "it would have been
in the news."
"We also know where she is," Willow added.
"We do?" Dawn hated to sound ignorant but she didn't follow that
either.
"I know where all the Slayers are. It was one of the side effects of
the activation spell."
"Oh yeah." She'd forgotten about that. "Well where is she
then?"
Willow's gaze took on a far off look. "New Orleans," she said.
Dawn was impressed. "You can be that accurate?"
The witch smiled. "No, not usually," she admitted. "Only
with Slayers I have met and then only if they remain in one place for
some time, otherwise it's just a general direction or area."
"So Faith has been in New Orleans for some time then?"
"Three or four weeks at least."
Dawn frowned. "Why haven't you told Xander then?"
"We thought it was best not to," Buffy answered.
"Though with hindsight I really think we should have," Willow
admitted.
"Tell him now then," Dawn urged.
Buffy still wasn't convinced. "I don't know."
"Please Buff, I hate seeing him like this," Willow implored.
For a moment she was silent, then with a nod agreed. "Ok, let's do
it"
When he saw his friends approaching, Xander stopped working and frowned.
"Is there something wrong?"
Buffy shook her head. "No, but we've got something to tell you. It's
about Faith," she said.
His expression blank Xander listened in silence and when she had finished
he didn't hesitate. "I'm going."
Buffy had expected no other answer. "When?"
"As soon as possible," he said and that was it.
Half an hour later, their goodbyes said, Buffy and Willow watched from the
school as Xander's taxi drove away. "He'll be ok won't he,
Buff?" Willow asked, distraught. Everything had happened so quickly.
She still couldn't believe that he was gone.
Seeing the tears on her friend's cheek Buffy forced a smile. "Of
course he will," she told her with a confidence she didn't feel
Moonless, the night was dark and was just how Talda-Kal
preferred it. Brought up in the lightless tunnels of Dalgacchi, Suritan
demons were at home in the gloom and had large eyes which saw perfectly in
it.
With long strides Talda-Kal loped towards the school, the short black fur
which covered her body making her all but impossible to see. Reaching the
building she stopped and listened. A gentle breeze stirred the very tops
of the trees but otherwise the night was still.
Slowly she circled the school, looking for the right spot. Eventually
finding it, she began to climb. Hands and feet gripping
the bricks firmly she ascended the wall with ease, the few cracks and
crevices more than enough for one of her ability.
In seconds she was outside the window and there she paused. Inside
Talda-Kal could sense strong magic, protective wards and something more
besides, but the window itself was free of any enchantment. Lax in the
extreme, the Suritan thought. Not that any protective spell would have
kept her out but it would have been enough for most burglars.
A single claw flicking the catch, she slowly opened the window and slipped
inside. The bedroom she found herself in was quiet, the lone occupant, a
young human female, asleep on the bed. And above the young woman, hanging
on the wall, was her objective.
Talda-Kal padded across the room, her bare feet making no sound on the
wooden floor. Stopping by the bed she looked down curiously.
Like all their kind the human female was almost completely devoid of hair
and had tiny little eyes that the Suritan still found hard to believe
could see even in the brightest of light.
Suddenly the human stirred and Talda-Kal froze, claws extending
involuntarily. She waited but after rolling over the human settled once
more. The demon breathed a sigh of relief, that could have been fatal, at
least for the human. For a moment she considered killing her anyway but as
quickly as the thought had come it was gone. Her claws disappeared. Unlike
their cousins, the larger and crueller Carithar demons, Suritans were
thieves not assassins and only killed when absolutely necessary. She
shrugged. And anyway her employer wasn't paying her enough to kill anyone.
Thinking of her unknown employer inevitably led to thoughts of their
impenetrable magic and she shuddered. If her payment hadn't been
unbelievably large she would have fled as soon as she had seen it. Her
greed had gotten the better of her though and now it was too late. The
sooner this job was over the better. Standing in the middle of the room
like a Tardian Gempopper wouldn't get it done though. Tearing her gaze
from the still sleeping human, Talda-Kal looked closely at the object she
was being paid to steal.
The weapon, for it could be nothing else, consisted of a single blade,
large and wickedly curved, at one end of a long shaft and at the other a
sharpened stake. The weapon of a warrior she was certain. She glanced at
the human once more. Small, even for one of her kind, it couldn't be hers
could it? The Suritan shrugged. She knew so little of human ways that she
had no way of answering and anyway it was of little concern.
Stretching upwards Talda-Kal allowed her hand to run along the length of
the invisible wards that protected the weapon. Feeling the energy pulse
within them she knew spell caster had to have been a magician of great
power. What would happen to an unwary thief she could only guess. The
Suitan's hand slipped through them unscathed and grasped the weapon. She
was neither an ordinary thief or unwary.
Pulling the weapon from the wall she backed away carefully. For several
moments she admired its balance, its power, its deadly beauty but
remembering her employer's warning she quickly came to her senses. Placing
the weapon on the floor she took the bag from the wide belt around her
waist and began to unfold it. When it was completely open she dropped the
weapon inside and gasped. One second the room resonated with the power of
the weapon and the next it was gone. It was as if the weapon didn't exist
any more. If she hadn't been able to see its bulky outline beneath the
thin material Talda- Kal would have been half convinced of it.
The Suritan's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, the hint of greed unmistakeable.
The bag and the weapon together must be worth more than her fee, maybe she
should keep them instead. Could she survive her employer's revenge though?
That was the question though and one she would have no time to contemplate
unless she made her escape. The bag slung over her one shoulder, Talda-Kal
was at the window in three long strides and out she went, closing it
behind her. Then descending the wall as easily as she went up it she
disappeared into the night.
Back in her bedroom Buffy slept on, the only evidence of an intruder the
blank wall above her head
With a contented sigh Willow snuggled closer to
Kennedy. She just loved the peace of the early morning, a time to think of
the coming day and what possibilities it might hold. Possibilities a darn
sight better than yesterday she hoped but, as so often happened, they were
dashed almost immediately.
"Willow! Willow!"
The Wiccan's eyes popped open and not a moment too soon, as seconds later
her bedroom door was virtually knocked from its hinges by a frantic
looking Buffy.
"Willow it's gone," the blond slayer told her.
Woken by the commotion Kennedy sat up. "What has?" she asked but
Willow already knew. The connection she'd had with it since that last day
in Sunnydale was no more.
"The Axe, it's been stolen."
|