Title: Well of Realms Author: Nightmelody email: nightmelody@hotmail.com Season: post Chosen Summary: Yet another human-Spike- post Chosen fic. Pairing: S/B Rating: R Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon Chapter 19 To the Rescue "It wasn't the food that was enchanted, it was the pillows." The voice seemed to come from far away. Spike opened his eyes but the bright light overhead sent stabbing pains through his skull. "What?" he asked. The voice made no sense. And who's voice was it, anyway? He blinked, trying to get his eyes to cooperate. "Wake up and you can help us get out of here." The voice had an odd shimmery quality. "Buffy?" Spike sat up, his head spinning. Buffy wasn't there, neither was Dawn. Just the two guards who had been stationed outside their door. Both of them were hogtied, one peacefully asleep on a cushion, the other lying awkwardly on the floor. "The girls have been taken by traitors to the King. Come untie me and we'll try to get aide." "We've got to get them back.!" "So untie me! I want to get them back, too. Some enemy of the King did this." Spike gazed at the trussed guard, thinking about what he new of the Fair folk Tricky, they were, but they had a sense of honor and kept their word. "I'll untie you if you give me your word that I can accompany you to find my women." he said. "Look, this is a very dangerous time. I think someone has tried to oust our king." "I won't untie you without your promise." " I give you my word." "That I can accompany you, as a free man, to find my women." Spike said. "Say it." The guard scowled, and then said, "Fine! You can accompany me as a freeman to find your women." Spike started to untie the guard, who appeared to be young, with a slight yellow tinge to his white hair. "I'm Kyri, One of King Jalars' Elite Guard. You are?" "Spike. Guardian of the Well of Realms. The girls--the shorter one is my wife, a slayer," it was just a slight exaggeration. "And the taller girl is her sister, the key." "Ah. We could sense that they were not ordinary humans." Kyri said as Spike worked on his ropes. "This where I really miss my fangs," Spike muttered as he pulled on the tight silky ropes. "One good bite and you'd be done." Kyri had a confused look on his thin handsome face. "Vampire. I used to be one." "Oh." said Kyri. "I've heard about cusp worlds. How odd." They left the room and headed through the white corridors. Spike was soon lost. "We're going to my house,"said Kyri."We'll be able to get aide from my cohort." The halls were empty and silent as they trotted at a brisk pace through the corridors, unlike Spike's previous trip through these hallways. "Where is everyone?" Spike asked. "I'm not sure. But I fear it is not good. There is an emergency in the Kingdom." "Well, no shit." Said Spike, angry. He'd been fighting fear since Emma disappeared. Now with Buffy and Dawn missing... Anger was better than panic. "First one of you fairies kidnaped a girl who's pregnant and due to deliver any day. And her child. Then we arrive, just trying to bring her home safe, and we're thrown in prison. Then my wife and her sister are stolen--" "--Please don't call us fairies. We are the Fair!" Kyri sounded offended. "Yeah, right. You've got a lot to be proud of there." Kyri was silent. They had arrived at a large door that lead outside. They were on a hill overlooking a large city of towering buildings with domes and spiral towers. Most buildings were gleaming white, but here and there a pale color showed. Flowering trees and plants gave the city most of its color. The whole city looked deserted.. In the far distance they could see people, troops, marching on a road. "This is not good," said Kyrie. A tiny blip of light appeared before Spike. Willow's tracer! He'd forgotten all about it! "Come on. We follow that light," he said, taking off after it. *** Buffy woke up with a bad headache and a bad mood. One of the guards was sitting next to her. He sure looks young, she thought, grouchy, still pimply. The guard reached out and rubbed her breast. Buffy gasped in outrage, and popped him on the jaw. Hard. He flew across the room and landed with a crash against the wall. He didn't move. "Wow, guess I still have slayer strength in this dimension!" She leapt up. Dawn was asleep on the floor, an even younger guard next to her. He was fumbling for his sword. Buffy tackled him easily. "Dawn, wake up and help me here." t was a while before Dawn woke up, but she woke up in as foul a mood as Buffy. "What's going on and where's Spike--and where are we?" Her voice had that grating whiney quality that always irritated. "Help me tie him up." They got the boy tied and gagged, and then Buffy took care of the unconscious guard, filling Dawn in on the events of the morning. "Eeww, gross, he touched you?" Dawn gave the now waking guard a disgusted kick. Buffy inspected their weapons, their weight, balance, and sharpness. "Nice," she said as she twirled a crystal battle axe, tossing it from hand to hand. "They might be scum, but they know their weapons." The guards followed her movements with wide open eyes. She grinned. "Bit off more than you can chew, there, boys." She twirled around and landed by the boy, the point of a dagger pressed to his throat. "Show off," snorted Dawn. "Now, I'm going to tell you who I am. In my world I was the Slayer for seven years--the only slayer, the Chosen one. I fought demons every night. I stopped more than one apocalypse, I killed thousands of demons, vampires, hags, what have you. I've died twice, but came back both times to slay another day. I'm supernaturally strong and fast, I've had years of training and experience in weapons, warfare and general slaughter." She paused and frowned, and stamped her foot. "And I recently retired from active duty, and I was in the middle of planning my WEDDING, you jerks, when you had to come along and kidnap Emma. Now tell me where she is or we're gonna see what color blood you have!" "Yeah, you'll want to cooperate with my sister. She is so Not a morning person. And we were supposed to go look at wedding dresses today. You interrupted a Huge Shopping trip." Dawn glowered at the trussed two. Buffy removed the gag from the younger boy. "Emma, the pregnant lady?" she prompted. "She's here, at Highbrook. Th-there's a problem!" the boy looked terrified. "Omygod, is she in labor? Is she?" Dawns voice took on a high pitch and both the guards, and Buffy, winced. "Yyes," he whimpered. "You're gonna take us to her." *** "Something's wrong," Xander said, pacing in the meadow by the Well. "They've been gone for hours." "You're right," said Kate, tears running down her face. "When he's gone into another realm before, time moved diffently in the realm--he might spend a whole day there, but it would only be a couple hours, our time.' "I'm so worried about Emma. She was fifty percent effaced on her last doctor's visit and he said she could go into labor any day!" She burst into tears, and Willow hugged her. "Too bad we couldn't be like a magic computer and just email ourselves there. You know, trace them... I could do it on a computer," Andrew said mournfully from the picnic table where he was sprawled out. Willow jumped to her feet. "Andrew, that's a great idea. I think I can trace Dawn's energy--finding then will be easy, we'll use the same tracer spell we just did-- it's getting passed their wards that's the issue. If I can replicate the Key!" Willow, Kate and Sylvia rushed upstairs to the magic shop. Xander went to the picnic table and sat down next to Andrew. He stared at the Well. "I should have guessed that I wouldn't have a normal, ordinary weekend with Buffy. Nope, no going out for a good steak dinner and a movie, nosiree. It's got to be all weird with the magic and the mayhem and all kinds of supernatural crap." "Yeah," Andrew sighed. "Doesn't it feel like you've come home?"