The further adventures of The Big Bad and the Angry Smurf
Who: Illyria, Spike, and eventually Tara and Willow.
Where: The Deeper Well and old timey England
When: see above.
What: Day tripping through time, rescuing damsels in distress.
(AKA : a continuation of this thread.)
She heard Spike sprinting to catch up, but she paid little attention to him. She was searching, half hanging over the rail of the ( Read more... )
The statement ended that conversation, as far as she was concerned. She had other things on her mind. When Tara requested being put down, Illyria obliged, setting the Witch down gently. "The offer of help is kind. You are taxed. It would be best if you rested for a few moments."
That said, Illyria marched on, straight for the cave's mouth, and inside, trailing fallen leaves in her wake. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the odd light, but once they did, her senses came alive. She felt the draw of her power, stronger here in this time. This power was untainted, sleeping. Her own.
It hadn't been siphoned off, or broken from her. This was strong. Unaware of her action, she reached a hand out, feeling the flow of power, drawing her to her place.
She drew up short. She hadn't been prepared, mentally to face the fact that in this time, she slept. Her sarcophagus remained untouched, unmoved for millenia. This was how she belonged. Her form flickered, melting into the human image of Fred as she laid a hand on the smooth stone.
The weakness only lasted a moment. When her hand lingered, an arch of power surged, flared to life in blue electricity. Illyria shuddered, returning to her newer form. She drew in power, ringing herself in it. She took a deep breath, and glanced back at the others. "I will begin. Are you all ready?"
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Hearing Willow's request, he slowed to a stop and gently set her down on her feet, still keeping a hand around her arm to be sure she wouldn't fall. "You start wobbling, Red, and I'm gonna snatch you up faster than you can say 'Hocus Pocus.'"
In fact, as soon as Tara was left unattended, he took hold of her arm with his free hand and got both women moving in front of him. "Easy does it," he told them, keeping an eye out in the darkness for anymore obstacles. "At least until something threatens to doom us all. But I think you've been in enough such situations to know that you should run like hell in that instance."
Spike was too busy being on the lookout to notice the flicker of Fred's visage, which was all for the better. He wasn't exactly beginning to like Illyria, per se, but he had long ago come to understand and even respect her current position. Seeing Fred again, though, might have left a particularly nasty taste in his mouth, and the last thing he needed was to inadvertently piss off his DeLorean before he could get back to the future.
As they crossed the threshold into the cave, Spike thought he heard something move behind him. A glance back proved that there was no one there, or at least no one standing within plain sight. Tensing up, he gave Willow and Tara a nudge and urged them to quicken their steps. "Faster," he whispered, "before our host gets the chance to show how unhospitable he is."
Hearing Illyria's voice, he wondered if Drogyn - or whoever it was that he felt watching in the distance - would be able to recognize her for what she was. His understanding was that the Old Ones had died out too long ago for anyone to really remember them, much less in a human vessel. Still, Spike didn't much feel like taking chances.
"Ready as we'll ever be," he called, a hand on each of the witches' backs to both hurry them along and make sure they didn't stumble. "Let's get a move on."
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