Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Thirteen-Beta

Just before the Meggido glove went off, Buffy rushed forward and immediately pulled Sir Reilly's hand upwards, ensuring the burst of magical energy that came out of the glove went harmlessly into the night sky instead of into Fae Lahane's chest.

"Are you crazy!" cried Buffy to Sir Reilly.

"Stand down, Slayer!" cried Sir Reilly. "You just interfered with my termination of a viable target."

"She's not a target," said Buffy. "She's a human being!"

"Hey!" cried Fae. "I resent that!"

"I mean she's a supernatural being who deserves to be treated like a human being," said Buffy.

"That's better," said Fae.

"You heard her, Slayer," said Sir Reilly. "She threatened my life first. I was well within my rights to execute her."

"With a magic glove that capable of killing a dragon?" asked Buffy. "Isn't that overkill?"

"No such thing as overkill," said Sir Reilly. "Make too many polite distinctions in the field and you end up six feet under -- if you're lucky."

Buffy turned toward Fae and said, "There's no chance we can't compromise on this whole glove thing, is there? Like maybe wait until after Sir Reilly has killed the big dragon outside and then taking the glove back to your mistress?"

"Not a chance, Slayer," said Fae. "Orders are orders. Besides, I don't just answer to Mistress Post. I also answer to her mistress, Queen Mab the Winter Monarch of Faerie. Not quite as charming as Queen Elsa but still not anyone whom you really want to disappoint unless you have a death wish."

"I'm not asking you to disobey her," said Buffy. "Just give us a little time."

"I don't see why you're bothering to negotiate with her," said Sir Reilly. "I have a sworn duty to the king to not hand over to the enemy any weapons that have been gathered in his name."

"Fae Lahane is not the enemy," said Buffy. "At least she doesn't have to be. And there has to be a nonviolent solution to this. There just has to be."

"Let go of my arm, Slayer," said Sir Reilly. "That's an order."

"I don't need you to fight my battles, Slayer," said Fae. "I can take care of Sir Reilly myself."

Oh, great, thought Buffy. Now look what I got myself into. I'm in the middle of one big fight and neither side is likely to back down. And they're both mad at me. I can't imagine how anything can be worse.

Then she felt something sharp and pointed being pressed to the side of her head.

Before Buffy could turn, she heard Querida's voice say, "I'd listen to my boyfriend Sir Reilly if I were you, Slayer. I know you Slayers have remarkable healing powers but even they can't heal the effects of having a crossbow bolt being fired directly into your skull."

xxx

"Boyfriend?" asked Buffy. "I thought Sir Reilly was just a customer."

"Boyfriend, customer, it doesn't matter," said Querida. "He's still pretty special to me. So let him go or I'll be forced to shoot you."

"If I were you, I'd let her go right now, Mistress Querida," said Sir Roderick. "Otherwise, the full force of the Watchers Council will come down upon you."

Querida just smiled. "The Watchers Council bother with a vampire? Don't make me laugh. Even if I went ahead and killed the Slayer, there's no way they could punish me. Thanks to Madame Cornelia, I have friends in high places. For that matter, I also have friends in low places as well but enough about He of the Demonic Countenance."

"I don't suppose you'd care to help, Fae?" asked Buffy.

"Hey, it's your mess," said Fae. "Anyway, all I care about is the glove."

"Well, you're not getting it," said Sir Reilly.

"What the hell is going on here?" asked a voice from behind Fae Lehane.

Everyone turned to look at the new arrival, a pale, black-haired woman in a black dress and cloak whose outfit was still damp from the outside rain. On her hands were two gloves that she kept touching over and over again.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Sir Reilly.

"Lady Isabel Sherwood of the Royal er-something-or-other," said the lady. "We've heard reports of a dragon in this area and I can see outside that they are obviously true. What I don't understand is why you all are standing around here quarreling instead of doing something about that dragon?"

"Mind your own business," said Fae Lahane.

"May I remind you," said Lady Isabel, "that I am under direct orders of the --"

"Go away," said Sir Reilly.

Lady Isabel replied, "Kind sir, I really must insist --"

"Sir Reilly just told you to 'go away'," said Querida, aiming her crossbow away from Buffy and toward the newcomer. "What part of 'go away' don't you understand?"

Lady Isabel just stood there and calmly took off her gloves. Then she held up her hands palm up and closed her eyes.

After a while, her hands began to glow with a white light.

"I see you have the Meggido glove," she said to Sir Reilly when she finally opened her eyes. "Very interesting. Personally, I don't like to rely on that type of technology to perform certain tasks."

At this point, white flames started to appear on her palms.

"You see, Sir Reilly," said Lady Isabel as the flames on her hands grew larger, "I prefer to do certain things old school."

To be continued...