His time is spent; our pilgrimage must be.’
William Shakespeare
Giles called the meeting to a halt at that point. Although they were all excited and eager to discuss how to go about finding Spike, it had been a long day and everyone was tired and hungry. Giles dashed off to ring Robson, while the others drifted off in twos and threes. Before taking her Grandmother up to their room to rest, Rowan had slipped quietly over to Buffy. The two women looked at one another then moved into a hug. As they stepped back, they both smiled then moved apart.
Buffy had taken Celeste’s dream diary up to her room and had read it from cover to cover. She was astounded and thrilled by how accurate, how detailed and how deeply emotional the descriptions were. She fell asleep clutching the leather bound journal, and slept well throughout the night. Instead of the normal dream, she experienced little cameos of the most loving and empowering sections, a sort of highlights package. She awoke feeling strong and positive and ready for action.
After a quick breakfast, the group met again, this time back in the Lady Brassey Room. Most of the chairs had been pushed back against the walls with only about a dozen laid out in a large circle. Kennedy was in attendance this time, as well as Gareth Robson and Ashton Hurst. Robin however was missing. He’d caught up with Buffy before the meeting, wishing her all the best but explaining that he could not bring himself to have anything to do with the rescue of the vampire he hated so deeply; it felt too much like a betrayal of his mother’s memory to him.
His bitterness unsettled her initially, but she soon forgot about it as Giles got ready to address the group.
“Okay straight to business,” he began. “I’m sure you have all heard about yesterday’s astounding revelations. Through mystical means it appears that Buffy and Spike are to be the parents mentioned in the Song of Sagaria, with Buffy’s pregnancy confirmed yesterday afternoon. Both Rowan McNair and her mother before her are connected to this prophecy and through their visions we believe that Spike is still alive, or at least exists somewhere, trapped inside the amulet he wore at the battle.
Rowan believes she can help us find Spike so that we can rescue him. Shortly, she is going to perform a spell to locate Spike. But before that happens, I’d like to lay out the plan that Xander, Robson and I have come up with. We will be splitting into two teams.” Giles moved over to the whiteboard and drew up two columns, writing names in the columns as he continued to speak. “Willow, Xander, Faith, Kennedy and myself will accompany Buffy and Rowan on the ‘Spike Search and Retrieval Team’. The remainder of you will stay here, training, patrolling and researching.”
“No Giles, that’s not fair, I want to go with Buffy too,” Dawn immediately protested. “There’s nothing special for me to do here.”
“Actually, Dawn, that is where you are wrong,” Giles appeased her. “You are instrumental in helping with one of our most important goals. We know that the scythe spell activated slayers all over the world. Although the Bringers killed many of them, Willow and I still think there are hundreds, maybe thousands of girls out there who now have Slayer powers. If we are to have any hope of defeating the Scourge of Amroz, it is essential that we begin to find these girls and bring them back to Standen to begin their training. Using the essence of Sagaria, a good witch should be able to isolate and locate the particular energy signature that each Slayer generates. Althanea has offered to begin this task, but she needs you Dawn to help channel the energy.”
“Dawn,” Althanea spoke softly, “Giles has already shared some of your story with me. Your energy is still very strong; you glow with it. I think that if you would remain behind with me and help me with this task, we might also begin to investigate ways for you to learn to control and use your abilities. I think you may play an even more vital role by your sister’s side in the years to come.”
Dawn looked stunned by this news, but smiled shyly at Althanea and nodded her acceptance to Giles.
“Good. Now, I’ve asked Robin to stay and organise and train the patrol groups. We’ve asked the other girls to meet us at 10 o’clock to run through their roles. Robin will put them into small squads of three or four. Each squad will have an experienced Watcher such as Robson or Hurst and a trainee Watcher like young Matthew Morris attached to them. Andrew and I have spoken about his starting at the Watchers Academy next month, so he too will join one of the teams. You can use the vans and do day trips or possibly even overnighters if you’re heading further north or across the channel. Don’t take too many risks, but I want to see the accounts of plenty successful slayings by the time we return.”
The four men concerned nodded their agreement at Giles.
“Right now for the main item on today’s agenda. Rowan is going to explain what she needs to begin the ritual.”
“Hi everyone,” the tiny witch began. “I’ve never really practiced in front of an audience before so I hope everyone can be quiet so I don’t get too distracted. This is going to be pretty similar to a regular locator spell, but we are going to use Buffy and Sagaria to channel and focus Spike’s energy.”
While Rowan had been speaking, Willow had cast a salt circle, Xander had passed over the Slayer Scythe he’d retrieved earlier from the vault in the Weapons Room, and Dawn had given Willow a pile of maps. When everything was ready, the three girls stepped into the circle and sat down. Buffy held the scythe in her right hand and clasped Rowan’s hand in her left, her scar already tingling. Willow completed the circle, unlinked to the others, but holding the pile of maps in her hands.
When everyone was quiet and the three girls were settled, Rowan began chanting in a low voice.
Spirit of Ancient Sagaria
We beseech you to hear our call
One of your Warriors calls forth your guidance
To seek out her mate
Show us that place
Where he may be found
Sagaria briefly flashed its golden glow and the warm light seemed to pulse through Buffy and into the young witch. Rowan’s head dropped back as she fell into a trance. Willow laid the full world map on the floor in the centre of the circle. Still in a trance, Rowan lent forward, her hand hovering over the map. She hesitated before moving her hand to the left of the map and touching her finger to the west coast of the U.S.A. She lifted her hand and Willow quickly pulled the map out, replacing it with a more detailed one of the States on its own. Once again Rowan’s hand moved to the left side. Her index finger drifted up and down along the Californian coastline, hovering over Sunnydale before stabbing down onto the centre of Los Angeles.
Rowan slowly came out of her trance, opened her eyes and turned to Buffy. She squeezed Buffy’s hand and smiled.
“He’s not on this plane, Buffy, but I was able to follow a strong, bright thread of energy connecting the two of you. He is, as we suspected, trapped, possibly in another dimension. But the portal that connects our two dimensions was easy to find. If we can find that, then we can find Spike.”
“Right everyone, it seems that the Retrieval Team is on its way back to L.A,” Giles leapt up eagerly. “Those of you on the team get packing, clothes and passports. I’m off to book our flights for tomorrow morning. Althanea and Dawn, I suggest you spend some time connecting and aligning yourselves with the Scythe’s signature. It will be travelling to LA with us tomorrow so this is the last chance you’ll get for a while. The rest of you may stay for the following meeting. Thank you Rowan, Buffy, Willow. I’ll see you later.”
As Giles dashed off to the library to book their flights and the Team members slowly filed out of the Brassey Room, over 5000 miles away in Los Angeles, on a small, round mahogany side table in a dark room, the glow of a clunky golden amulet slowly faded.
“So,” a breathless, raspy voice pondered, “the hunt finally begins. Bring it on.”