Journey of the White Cave Clan
TITLE: Journey of the White Cave Clan
24/28
AUTHOR: Bmblbee
Rating: NC17
Warnings: Adult content. Some M/M sexual content.
Disclaimer: The Bee owns nothing including these characters.
Summary: HAU. Set in the year 5000BC Spike's clan is dying in the grip
of the last mini-ice age. While they are reluctant to leave the cave of their
ancestors, they know that they will freeze and starve if they stay. Suddenly,
they find a stranger in their midst. A member of a nomadic clan that can
show them the way to salvation.
Warnings: Not a lot of sex but what there is, is graphic.
Thanks to Naughty_Fae for the pre-read. All errors are by choice of the Bee.
Archived at: http://www.captainperoxideandthewhelp.com/
Anyone else wishing to take it should ask first please.
Link to previous chapters HERE
Special thanks to Petxnd for the wonderful banner
Xander lurched through the darkness and slapped his hand over Spike's mouth at the instant
the agonized yowl was wrenched from his lover's gut. Spike stood frozen with his arm
extended out as far as it would go while the cruel, flickering torch continued to crackle and
dance over the images that would give him nightmares for the rest of his life.
Dead. They were all dead. Ri. Buffy. The small faction of White Cave Clan that had
seen themselves more as pilgrims and adventurers than deserters or traitors had come so far
in their quest for a better life only to have that life snuffed out. For what? Spike wonder
who or why....
As an understanding came to him, he stiffened in his lover's arms and without removing the
large hand from his mouth, Spike's head turned. His horrified blue eyes sought a truth in
the shamed brown ones that were brimming with tears. Xander knew that Spike's need to
shriek and wail had passed, so he slowly removed his hand and waited to see what would
come from those soft, sweet lips.
Suddenly, all Spike could see as he looked at his mate was a leader of the butchering animals,
the Wind Clan. His heart pounding in fear, Xander lifted his palms up and he took a step
back to give his mate some space.
"Now wait, Spike. Don't say something that...."
"YOU DID THIS!"
"What are you talking about? We were together. How...."
"Your people! The Wind Clan. You are blood demons! You are vicious jackals!
Blood drinkers! What joy did your clan get from this slaughter? Your clan wants death?
Then I'll give you what you want."
With that, Spike stunned Xander by gripping the flaming torch in both hands and swinging it
like a bat directly toward Xander's head. At the last second, Xander gave a strangled sound as
he ducked his head to avoid the fiery weapon. Again and again Spike's arms swiped back
and forth as he lunged and grunted with the exertion of the back and forth oscillation while
the accusations and vile name-calling continued.
"Filthy! Dishonorable weasels! Skunks! Vultures!"
For Xander, the only emotions he was feeling were sympathy and sorrow. He wasn't angry at
his mate's efforts and he knew Spike was only acting out against a representative of the clan
who had murdered his people and not against Xander himself. So he continued to avoid
the aggressive attack while he waited for Spike to burn himself out. When Spike's arms
slowed and each swing seemed less and less on target, Xander moved back in. His hand
snapped up and his fingers clamped around Spike's wrist, bringing the flashes of fire to a
sudden halt.
"Let go! Let go of me you...you...WIND Clan!"
Xander took the torch from Spike's unresistant hand and he cautiously tugged the smaller
man into his arms. Spike responded with a cursory struggle which he quickly abandoned as
his body slumped in total defeat.
"Shhh. Shhh. I'm sorry Spike. I'm sorry this happened. Please, please don't turn away from
me. I am not Wind Clan I am not White Clan. I am your mate, Spike. Only your mate."
Spike stood in the dark with his face buried in his mate's chest. Nausea threatened to cause
his stomach to expel its contents onto the floor and his legs wobbled weakly. His mind and
body churned with thoughts and emotions that he didn't seem able to rein in. His position
as Clan leader demanded he check himself, put on a brave front and rise above the reactions
of a woman but he just seemed unable to get his footing.
Only one thing helped. Only one thing finally started to slip into his mind and slowly chip
away at the solid rock of pain within him. It was Xander's voice. Crooning.
Whispering. Murmuring soft, reassuring, nonsensical words of comfort and condolence.
"Don't let this beat you, Spike. You are my mate. You are strong. You still have the rest of
your clan out there relying on you. You have to be strong for them. Don't let the beasts that
did this claim you too. Tell me. Tell me what to do to honor the resting place of your
clansmen and I will do it as your proxy. I will stand for you, Spike"
Spike frowned and tried to think. He drew back and swiped his forearm under his snotty nose
as he sniffed. Without turning around and facing the people he had grown up with, laughed
with and begged not to go, he quietly gave his mate the instructions.
"Straighten them out. Arms and legs. Lie them side by side. Together. Cover them with
their furs. Put.... Put Lida at the end of the line."
Spike stood where he was, with his back to the carnage on the cave floor. He listened as
Xander grunted, moved and shuffled his fur boots across the dirt. Within a short amount of
time, he stopped.
"It's done. Spike?"
Spike lifted his head and took a deep breath. He squared his shoulders and he turned around.
He took the torch from Xander's hand and Spike wordlessly started at one end of the
line. Slowly, step by step he moved down. Each murdered corpse he passed, he named
as he remembered them in life. When he came to the last, he paused and then nodded.
"It is done. Thank you Xander. Now, it's time to go."
Spike marched past his mate who frowned in concern and placed a hand on Spike's arm.
"Spike? Are you all right?"
Spike looked into Xander's face and Xander could see that something had broken inside his
mate that would never be the same. Right there and then, Xander made a silent vow
that somehow he would avenge this senseless act. He would stand for the White Clan
and he would claim the life of whoever had swung the first deadly blow. With a slight nod
of his head, Spike walked away.
"What do you suppose is taking them so long?"
Willow stood looking into the dark abyss of the tunnels that led from the main chamber of
the cave. Her hands protectively petted the bump of her unborn child while the rest of the
clan waited, packed and ready to move. Dawn still softy cried and shook in disbelief as Coy
held her against him and Badger tried to stomp his grief under a rock of masculinity.
Before curiosity could slide from questioning to concern, the small burning light suddenly
burst from the darkness. With no hesitation or explanation, Spike charged through the center
of the group to the mouth of the cave where he tossed the fire stick into the snow. As it
hissed loudly, he shouted over his shoulder, "Let's go!" And without looking back, he trusted
the others would follow. In a rush and hustle of activity, they did. Nothing more was said
about Lida's death and no indication was ever given of the horrifying secret that the cave of
the waterfalls harbored.
The next leg of the journey to the warm lands had begun.
For ten consecutive rising and falling rotations of the sun, the pack moved silently. The
men hunted when they could, but the game was scarce. The stored food was gone yet the
empty ache of hunger was less noticeable, as every bit of concentration was needed while
the group learned the hazards and skills of climbing the precarious rocks using handholds
and traversing the narrow passes that saw them reassembling to a single file formation.
Learning firsthand the truth in Xander's warning, the air as they climbed higher grew more
bitter and biting against their exposed faces. It sometimes caused them to slow and gasp as
their lungs filled with it and yet left them feeling choked and starved for oxygen.
While they walked, each member of the clan was lost in their own world of thoughts that
took their minds almost away from the bodies that continued to move, one laborious step
at a time. Dawn and Badger struggled to find a way to live with a grief that seemed to
nearly consume them. For Dawn, it was still an equally balanced question of whether or
not she would chose to go on with a life that did not include her mother or join Lida in the
sleep of forever and ever.
Andrew was stuttering between manhood, as he hunted with Coy and Froggy, and boyhood
as he clung to Harmony's side. The loss of the clan's maternal figure frightened and
confused him. Puff gave up all efforts to compete with Andy and instead reverted to his
childish ways of tripping, whining and generally causing the others aggravation.
Willow and Penn worried desperately over what effect this stress would have on their
developing child. If more than one movement of the sun passed with no stirring inside
her, Willow would feel her panic begin to rise until again, the tiny infant would squirm
within her body and bring her relief and comfort that all was, for now, well.
At night, when they were fortunate enough to find a crevasse or crack in the rocks big enough
to give shelter to the travelers, they would rest and sleep in deep, exhausted, dreamless
slumber. As the leaders sat by the watch-fire, Xander would try and coax Spike to talk
but the responses he got were seldom more than one or two words at a time.
On the eleventh night, as the others of the clan were hunkered down in the shelter of a
dense clump of trees and boulders, Spike sat cross-legged, staring into the crackling
hypnotic blaze of the night fire.
"Why would they do it? What would be the purpose of slaughtering a group of men, women
and children?"
The unexpected question surprised Xander, yet he did not want to answer in haste. After
giving careful consideration to his explanation, he realized that there really was no good
excuse other than it was the way of the Wind.
"I imagine what happened was that an advance scouting party of warriors arrived at the cave
to assure that it was safe for the rest of the clan. When they found your people living there,
it was considered a great offense. They were trespassing in a cave that was needed by
the Wind Clan. They had to be...."
"Eliminated."
Xander nodded at Spike's choice of words. While Xander knew there would be no way for
Spike to understand, at least the decision to finally talk about it would signal the beginning of
a purge of the overwhelming emotions that had cut Spike off from his clan, his mate and
even himself.
And finally they did. They talked long into the night. They spoke of histories, philosophies,
and lifestyles. They justified and criticized. They picked out the best and the worst of
each other's clan as well as their own. It was a night that turned their lives and futures on
a tipped axis of their world. It was a night that would shape the future and affect clans
and peoples long after their bones had turned to dust.
It was a decision and a revelation. They were not Wind Clan. They were no longer a cave
clan. They were new. They were, as of now, an unnamed clan of no past or history. They
were a pack of people in search of a home and a future. By mutual agreement, Spike and
Xander grasped each other's wrist and vowed that when the time came, their clan would
be named by the land that they settled.
It was an epiphany that lifted any stain of guilt from Xander's shoulders. He could not
be responsible for the acts of a clan that was not his own. It also cleansed Spike of the
blame of not preventing his determined people from venturing out on their own. The
doomed group of travelers had fulfilled their destiny and now it was time for Spike and
Xander to do the same.
24/28
AUTHOR: Bmblbee
Rating: NC17
Warnings: Adult content. Some M/M sexual content.
Disclaimer: The Bee owns nothing including these characters.
Summary: HAU. Set in the year 5000BC Spike's clan is dying in the grip
of the last mini-ice age. While they are reluctant to leave the cave of their
ancestors, they know that they will freeze and starve if they stay. Suddenly,
they find a stranger in their midst. A member of a nomadic clan that can
show them the way to salvation.
Warnings: Not a lot of sex but what there is, is graphic.
Thanks to Naughty_Fae for the pre-read. All errors are by choice of the Bee.
Archived at: http://www.captainperoxideandthewhelp.com/
Anyone else wishing to take it should ask first please.
Link to previous chapters HERE
Special thanks to Petxnd for the wonderful banner
Xander lurched through the darkness and slapped his hand over Spike's mouth at the instant
the agonized yowl was wrenched from his lover's gut. Spike stood frozen with his arm
extended out as far as it would go while the cruel, flickering torch continued to crackle and
dance over the images that would give him nightmares for the rest of his life.
Dead. They were all dead. Ri. Buffy. The small faction of White Cave Clan that had
seen themselves more as pilgrims and adventurers than deserters or traitors had come so far
in their quest for a better life only to have that life snuffed out. For what? Spike wonder
who or why....
As an understanding came to him, he stiffened in his lover's arms and without removing the
large hand from his mouth, Spike's head turned. His horrified blue eyes sought a truth in
the shamed brown ones that were brimming with tears. Xander knew that Spike's need to
shriek and wail had passed, so he slowly removed his hand and waited to see what would
come from those soft, sweet lips.
Suddenly, all Spike could see as he looked at his mate was a leader of the butchering animals,
the Wind Clan. His heart pounding in fear, Xander lifted his palms up and he took a step
back to give his mate some space.
"Now wait, Spike. Don't say something that...."
"YOU DID THIS!"
"What are you talking about? We were together. How...."
"Your people! The Wind Clan. You are blood demons! You are vicious jackals!
Blood drinkers! What joy did your clan get from this slaughter? Your clan wants death?
Then I'll give you what you want."
With that, Spike stunned Xander by gripping the flaming torch in both hands and swinging it
like a bat directly toward Xander's head. At the last second, Xander gave a strangled sound as
he ducked his head to avoid the fiery weapon. Again and again Spike's arms swiped back
and forth as he lunged and grunted with the exertion of the back and forth oscillation while
the accusations and vile name-calling continued.
"Filthy! Dishonorable weasels! Skunks! Vultures!"
For Xander, the only emotions he was feeling were sympathy and sorrow. He wasn't angry at
his mate's efforts and he knew Spike was only acting out against a representative of the clan
who had murdered his people and not against Xander himself. So he continued to avoid
the aggressive attack while he waited for Spike to burn himself out. When Spike's arms
slowed and each swing seemed less and less on target, Xander moved back in. His hand
snapped up and his fingers clamped around Spike's wrist, bringing the flashes of fire to a
sudden halt.
"Let go! Let go of me you...you...WIND Clan!"
Xander took the torch from Spike's unresistant hand and he cautiously tugged the smaller
man into his arms. Spike responded with a cursory struggle which he quickly abandoned as
his body slumped in total defeat.
"Shhh. Shhh. I'm sorry Spike. I'm sorry this happened. Please, please don't turn away from
me. I am not Wind Clan I am not White Clan. I am your mate, Spike. Only your mate."
Spike stood in the dark with his face buried in his mate's chest. Nausea threatened to cause
his stomach to expel its contents onto the floor and his legs wobbled weakly. His mind and
body churned with thoughts and emotions that he didn't seem able to rein in. His position
as Clan leader demanded he check himself, put on a brave front and rise above the reactions
of a woman but he just seemed unable to get his footing.
Only one thing helped. Only one thing finally started to slip into his mind and slowly chip
away at the solid rock of pain within him. It was Xander's voice. Crooning.
Whispering. Murmuring soft, reassuring, nonsensical words of comfort and condolence.
"Don't let this beat you, Spike. You are my mate. You are strong. You still have the rest of
your clan out there relying on you. You have to be strong for them. Don't let the beasts that
did this claim you too. Tell me. Tell me what to do to honor the resting place of your
clansmen and I will do it as your proxy. I will stand for you, Spike"
Spike frowned and tried to think. He drew back and swiped his forearm under his snotty nose
as he sniffed. Without turning around and facing the people he had grown up with, laughed
with and begged not to go, he quietly gave his mate the instructions.
"Straighten them out. Arms and legs. Lie them side by side. Together. Cover them with
their furs. Put.... Put Lida at the end of the line."
Spike stood where he was, with his back to the carnage on the cave floor. He listened as
Xander grunted, moved and shuffled his fur boots across the dirt. Within a short amount of
time, he stopped.
"It's done. Spike?"
Spike lifted his head and took a deep breath. He squared his shoulders and he turned around.
He took the torch from Xander's hand and Spike wordlessly started at one end of the
line. Slowly, step by step he moved down. Each murdered corpse he passed, he named
as he remembered them in life. When he came to the last, he paused and then nodded.
"It is done. Thank you Xander. Now, it's time to go."
Spike marched past his mate who frowned in concern and placed a hand on Spike's arm.
"Spike? Are you all right?"
Spike looked into Xander's face and Xander could see that something had broken inside his
mate that would never be the same. Right there and then, Xander made a silent vow
that somehow he would avenge this senseless act. He would stand for the White Clan
and he would claim the life of whoever had swung the first deadly blow. With a slight nod
of his head, Spike walked away.
"What do you suppose is taking them so long?"
Willow stood looking into the dark abyss of the tunnels that led from the main chamber of
the cave. Her hands protectively petted the bump of her unborn child while the rest of the
clan waited, packed and ready to move. Dawn still softy cried and shook in disbelief as Coy
held her against him and Badger tried to stomp his grief under a rock of masculinity.
Before curiosity could slide from questioning to concern, the small burning light suddenly
burst from the darkness. With no hesitation or explanation, Spike charged through the center
of the group to the mouth of the cave where he tossed the fire stick into the snow. As it
hissed loudly, he shouted over his shoulder, "Let's go!" And without looking back, he trusted
the others would follow. In a rush and hustle of activity, they did. Nothing more was said
about Lida's death and no indication was ever given of the horrifying secret that the cave of
the waterfalls harbored.
The next leg of the journey to the warm lands had begun.
For ten consecutive rising and falling rotations of the sun, the pack moved silently. The
men hunted when they could, but the game was scarce. The stored food was gone yet the
empty ache of hunger was less noticeable, as every bit of concentration was needed while
the group learned the hazards and skills of climbing the precarious rocks using handholds
and traversing the narrow passes that saw them reassembling to a single file formation.
Learning firsthand the truth in Xander's warning, the air as they climbed higher grew more
bitter and biting against their exposed faces. It sometimes caused them to slow and gasp as
their lungs filled with it and yet left them feeling choked and starved for oxygen.
While they walked, each member of the clan was lost in their own world of thoughts that
took their minds almost away from the bodies that continued to move, one laborious step
at a time. Dawn and Badger struggled to find a way to live with a grief that seemed to
nearly consume them. For Dawn, it was still an equally balanced question of whether or
not she would chose to go on with a life that did not include her mother or join Lida in the
sleep of forever and ever.
Andrew was stuttering between manhood, as he hunted with Coy and Froggy, and boyhood
as he clung to Harmony's side. The loss of the clan's maternal figure frightened and
confused him. Puff gave up all efforts to compete with Andy and instead reverted to his
childish ways of tripping, whining and generally causing the others aggravation.
Willow and Penn worried desperately over what effect this stress would have on their
developing child. If more than one movement of the sun passed with no stirring inside
her, Willow would feel her panic begin to rise until again, the tiny infant would squirm
within her body and bring her relief and comfort that all was, for now, well.
At night, when they were fortunate enough to find a crevasse or crack in the rocks big enough
to give shelter to the travelers, they would rest and sleep in deep, exhausted, dreamless
slumber. As the leaders sat by the watch-fire, Xander would try and coax Spike to talk
but the responses he got were seldom more than one or two words at a time.
On the eleventh night, as the others of the clan were hunkered down in the shelter of a
dense clump of trees and boulders, Spike sat cross-legged, staring into the crackling
hypnotic blaze of the night fire.
"Why would they do it? What would be the purpose of slaughtering a group of men, women
and children?"
The unexpected question surprised Xander, yet he did not want to answer in haste. After
giving careful consideration to his explanation, he realized that there really was no good
excuse other than it was the way of the Wind.
"I imagine what happened was that an advance scouting party of warriors arrived at the cave
to assure that it was safe for the rest of the clan. When they found your people living there,
it was considered a great offense. They were trespassing in a cave that was needed by
the Wind Clan. They had to be...."
"Eliminated."
Xander nodded at Spike's choice of words. While Xander knew there would be no way for
Spike to understand, at least the decision to finally talk about it would signal the beginning of
a purge of the overwhelming emotions that had cut Spike off from his clan, his mate and
even himself.
And finally they did. They talked long into the night. They spoke of histories, philosophies,
and lifestyles. They justified and criticized. They picked out the best and the worst of
each other's clan as well as their own. It was a night that turned their lives and futures on
a tipped axis of their world. It was a night that would shape the future and affect clans
and peoples long after their bones had turned to dust.
It was a decision and a revelation. They were not Wind Clan. They were no longer a cave
clan. They were new. They were, as of now, an unnamed clan of no past or history. They
were a pack of people in search of a home and a future. By mutual agreement, Spike and
Xander grasped each other's wrist and vowed that when the time came, their clan would
be named by the land that they settled.
It was an epiphany that lifted any stain of guilt from Xander's shoulders. He could not
be responsible for the acts of a clan that was not his own. It also cleansed Spike of the
blame of not preventing his determined people from venturing out on their own. The
doomed group of travelers had fulfilled their destiny and now it was time for Spike and
Xander to do the same.