Part Twelve

The Elder slowly circled the human male as he was chained and laid eagle-spread, in the flat center of a concave circular table with sloped edges. Small trenches riddled the edge, each of them leading towards the center of the table. A mirror, one that was the precisely the same diameter of the table, gave the person in the center a full view of all the channels leading towards him.

It was simple, yet effective device used for torture. Often called by the more generous members of the Bhakiva, the Stream of Thoughts. The Elder looked at the young one tending to the human and nodded. He watched the human impassively as the young one walked over to the Fire of Dhara, and took a small pitcher. He saw the human’s eyes widen as he heard the liquid still bubble from the fire’s heat. “No! You can’t do this-“

The Elder made a motion and the young one stopped. “Do you remember your transgression against Dhara, Clarence Mathers?”

“What transgression? Who is Dhara? What am I supposed to remember? I don’t remember anything!” Clarence Mathers shouted frantically. “What do you want to know?”

“His transgressions must be many if he cannot recall,” drawled a voice from behind the Elder. The Elder turned, and frowned at the hooded figure. “It is my right to be here, Elder. To watch as these guilty ones pay for their crime. It is my right…grandfather.”

After a moment, the Elder nodded to his granddaughter. “It is your right, but you are a Healer-“

“Through the grace of Dhara, I was a mother before a Healer and my husband was a Singer,” his granddaughter countered bitterly as she looked at the humans surrounding her, eleven in total and all in a variety of instruments of torture. Two males were chained upside-down on the far wall, waiting for their turns at the Heated Stones. It was a pity that the humans, a male and female, who were chained to the stones, were unconscious.

One male human was on the factory’s meat hook, his hands bound to his feet, and suspended over a small ring. The young one guarding the Circle of Elements was still awaiting orders from the Elder as to which element was to be used. Another female human was bound the same way, except the ring she was suspended over, was lit by an ember from the Fire of Dhara. A male human cradled his charred hands in the far corner as tears of pain rolled down his cheeks his companion was unconscious as the young ones took off the Touch of Fire. The last two cried out in pain as the Breath of Dhara released droplets of hot oil on their foreheads and chests.

She looked at the Elder bitterly, then turned her bitter gaze to Clarence Mathers. She reached over, grabbing a handful of his graying hair, and yanked his head up. ”Listen to me, Guilty One, and listen well. My husband is dead. His songs are gone and he died, bringing us the first of what we needed to know about your Outerworld and your Watcher’s Network. Because of you, I am a wife no longer. My child is gone, dead. Her essence is lost to us because your Council hated her because she was not of the Outerworld. You Passed her for this, and now…now all that she was is lost to our clan and to Dhara. I am no mother, I have no child.”

Ripping off her hood, her ebony hair laced with gray tumbled around her olive face as her purple eyes flashing with hatred. “Look at me and remember my daughter’s face and her name, Clarence Mathers. You helped in her Passing twenty seasons ago…and now I shall help you in yours.”

Clarence Mathers gasped as a flicker of memory went through his mind. Something happened twenty years ago, with a laughing girl with purple eyes and long black hair. “No…you…Sharna?”

“This Guilty One remembers his transgression,” the Elder said with satisfaction. He nodded to the young one. “You may commence, young one.”

“You can’t! No! Stop! Please!” Clarence Wallace begged as he watched in the mirror, the young man start towards him, then poured hot liquid down the edge of the table. Liquid filled the small trenches and horror started to grow in him as he watched as the liquid start to spill slowly towards him. He started to struggle against his bonds madly, then screamed as the liquid burned his skin.

As the attendant poured more liquid, filling the center of the Stream of Thought, Sharna’s mother turned away and looked at the Elder. “Pardon my insolence, grandfather, but as the one called Travers been found yet?”

“He will be found soon, granddaughter,” the Elder said as he watched the Outworlder scream. “We shall find him soon. Now go and heal the other Guilty Ones so that their pain can begin anew.”

“This changes everything,” Adam Achala announced as he looked at the people that surrounded him.

“You bet your sweet Aunt Martha’s bippy that this changes everything,” Buffy pounced as she lifted her chin up at the Bhavikan. “It means that you stop hurting baby Slayers and killing their Watchers.”

“I have no Aunt Martha,” Adam frowned as he looked at the Chosen One. “Nor does her bippy change anything. It is the alliance of the Protector and the First Fire that changes all…and nothing.”

“What do you mean this changes all and nothing, you Beehive Kid?!?” Chloe shouted, her fists ready to fly. “Like she said, you have got to stop hurting us baby Slayers and our Watchers!”

“Bhavikan,” Wilson corrected automatically.

Chloe turned to glare at him as she pointed at Adam dramatically. “Whatever. He’s got to call off hurting the baby Slayers.”

“We have never harmed any babies nor the Slayer,” Adam said indignantly, his purple eyes flashing in anger. “It is against Dhara’s law to harm the young.”

“You are so lost,” Buffy said in disgust. “Where did you get your English lessons from? A cereal box? Let me put it this way-“

“Chloe, behave,” Ethan ordered as he watched Adam’s eyes darken at the Slayer’s respect towards Adam and Chloe’s disrespect toward Wilson. “Slayer, do cease your prattling.”

Buffy’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Ethan dangerously. “Who died and made you Giles and Wesley?”

“Buffy, do as he says,” Giles said sharply as he noted the tense look on Ethan’s face. Ethan had yet to break the eye contest he was having with the Adam Achala fellow.

“Slayer. Chloe.” Wilson said sharply at the same time. He wet his lips as he noted Adam’s fingers start to twitch. “Do shut up and stand down. You’re making a tense situation worse.”

Buffy scowled and Chloe started towards him. Wilson cut her off before they could say anything else. ”You do not antagonize someone who can make a fireball with a twitch of their fingers.”

Startled, Buffy and Chloe looked down at Adam’s fingers as small sparks started to fly. Wilson looked at Adam as he tried to diffuse the situation. Tried to remember the phrases that Sharna had once used when she spoke to him and of her clan. He spoke formally, using Bhavikan phrasing. “Calm your fire, Achala. They are young, protective and wary of you. Much has happened in their lives and they do not trust easily, especially the-the-”

“The Untrained One, Chloe,” Ethan supplied. Chloe scowled at Ethan, but remained silent. Wilson nodded as he remembered Sharna’s name for uncalled Slayers. “Yes. Excuse the Slayer and the Untrained One.”

“They are insolent and need to be taught manners, Protector,” Adam retorted as he looked at the Slayer, then at the Untrained One. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, the fire at his fingertips died down. ”My fire is calm, Old Protector. Who are these babies that they accuse the Bhavikan of hurting?”

Moving away from Chloe and in front of Wesley, Ethan stepped forward. It was a motion done to protect Wesley than anything else. “They mean the Untrained Ones. ‘Baby’ meaning the same as little or young ones.”

“I see.” Adam nodded in understanding. He looked at Sharna’s Protector. “We have not willingly harmed the baby Slayers. Those that were accidently hurt in the cleansing have been healed. They are guarded and cared for by the Hidden Ones until all the Guilty Ones are found.”

“My God, you’ve killed all those people in the Watcher’s compound because you’re looking for the ones responsible for Sharna’s death?” Wesley stared at him in dawning horror. “How could they all be guilty? Some of them were there long before Sharna was or some of them were there long after her! Or had no association with her at all! They had no part in her Passing!”

“To change the course of water, you must study it before you create a new source,” Adam quoted as he looked at the Watcher who killed Haimi. “We know and have Passed those unworthy to be Protectors. You and the Slayer’s Protector have yet to be judged.”

Ignoring the stunned looks of the group, Adam looked at Sharna’s First Fire and slowly placed a hand on Ethan’s chest. Right on top of the mark Sharna had made for him. “First Fire, Sharna will be with Dhara soon, her time is at hand. You were all to her and she to you. You will be welcomed when judgement will be made on the Guilty Ones.”

Adam’s gaze moved towards Sharna’s Protector. “Protector, because harm has come to you as you protected our Sharna, you are welcome to partake in their final judgement. We have all but one of the Guilty Ones, and the judgement about their Passing will be done as soon as we find him. Then we shall change the course of the water.”

He bowed slightly to Wilson and stepped back towards the door. “I must report to the Elder about this situation. I will come two nights hence for your decision about your attendance to the judgement, Protector and First Fire. The Guilty Ones will be punished and only then the fires of Dhara shall cleanse and her water will wash away the ashes to make a new source. I bid you all well.”

“Wait a minute! What water? Who sprung a leak?” Buffy demanded as she looked at Adam’s retreating back. When he simply ignored her, Buffy slammed the door shut. “I don’t get it. What does killing all those people have to do with water? Whose water do you want to change?”

“At least we know they’re not talking about the toilets,” Willow commented, then winced when everyone stared at her. She said defensively as she glared back. “I can make gross jokes like Xander if I want to.”

“And I’m going to the bathroom yet again,” Chloe said as she sprinted towards it. “Must have been something I ate, I never had to use the crapper so much since this whole thing started!”

In a flash, Giles understood the intents and plans of the Bhavika. Horror filled him as he stared at Wilson. “My God! This was more than just revenge for Sharna! They’re taking over the entire Watcher Network!”

Willow blinked as her head did the math. “The Bhavikans destroyed the old Watchers and those that trained under the old Watchers-“

“So that they can replace them with new ones,” Joyce said slowly. “Ones that are controlled by the Bhavikans?”

“Oh, dear…’To change the course of water, you must study it before you create a new source’...and the ‘Hidden Ones’…Oh dear God,” Wesley said as he thought about Adam’s strange remark. He looked at Ethan, then at Wilson. “They must have planned this for years! The Hidden Ones…are they spies?”

Wilson frowned as he thought about it. ”From what Sharna told me, Bhavikans usually don’t like to use subterfuge. They prefer to do things out in the open. I spent many a time warning and scolding Sharna about going after demons in front of civilians. It would take something extraordinary for them to resort to-“

“Something like the death of Sharna? Think about it, since the Watcher’s Network Passed Sharna, all Watchers are at risk of being killed,” Buffy said slowly. “They killed all the Watchers because they were judged to be unworthy to be Protectors of potential Slayers-“

Joyce shook her head slowly. “No, they’re not. He said, ‘We know and have passed those unworthy to be Protectors’. They spared the ones they deemed worthy to be Protectors and killed the others …but who is their template in sparing which Watchers? Their ideal protector?”

All eyes fell on Wilson, Sharna’s protector. His eyes were round with horror as realization settled in. “My God…God, no! They’re killing everyone in Sharna’s and my name.”

Buffy raised a hand as panic started to settle in. “Okay. We need to know who the Guilty Ones are, and who’s the last one they haven’t got. These two days will at least buy us some time to rescue him. Wesley, who was on the Council that decided to Pass Sharna? Did the books say?”

“I can’t recall,” Wesley started as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. “We’re going to have to look at all our papers from the Council, Giles. Starting back to who was there twenty years ago.”

“Travers was there,” Ethan said calmly. “He was starting as a member for the Council when Sharna was there. And he hated Sharna.”

“Travers?” Joyce said with a scowl. “In Quentin? As in ‘Let’s Drug Buffy And Make Her Powerless Then Stuff Her Into A Boarded Up House With A Vampire And While I’m At It Fire Giles Just Because I Want To All Because I’m A Ponce With Stick of Tradition The Size Of Europe Stuck Up My Ass’ Travers? ”

“Joyce,” Giles said soothingly as he rubbed her shoulders. Wesley stared at her as Willow and Buffy muffled a giggle. “Calm yourself, sweet.”

Amused, Wilson cleared his throat. “An apt description, madam.”

“I see you’ve met the man,” Ethan said dryly. He’d be damned into Hell before he’d admit that he could see what Ripper loved about her.

“Not really, but I wouldn’t mind a crack at him,” Joyce said, her brown eyes flashing. “I still owe him a few thousand beatings for stress. And just to be real catty and just because I want to slander his name, I bet that he was behind all this. Sharna’s Passing and everything that’s going on. And I bet he’s the one that sent the man that Adam killed because he’s just the sneaky pillock that’d do something like that.”

Rolling his eyes at her logic, Giles sighed. “Joyce-“

Just then Chloe bound down the stairs. “I’m back! What’d I miss?”

“Just seeing the dark side of my mother,” Buffy said as she beamed at her blushing mom. “What was that theory again? Travers is the cause of what?”

“Never you mind. I shouldn’t have said it,” Joyce sniffed as she gave her daughter a mock angry maternal look, quelling her daughter’s teasing. She was about to smile when Buffy pretended to pout, but winced instead. Touching the corner of her mouth, she dabbed at it. “Ow.”

Concerned, Giles turned her face to study it, and frowned. Joyce stopped his words by placing a finger on his lips. “I’ll be fine, Rupert. I don’t need to go to the hospital. I just need a hot bath, a warm bed and some TLC. Okay?”

“All right,” Giles said as he gathered her up into his arms and went up to the bedroom. After disappearing for a few seconds, he came back out and leaned against his railing. “We’re all tired. I suggest that we all get some rest. Buffy, you have to go on patrol. You may come back here to sleep over if you like. Willow, you may do whatever you want. You’re all welcome to stay of you’d like, but mind you, I only have two spare rooms and the living room couch, and there is a connecting bath in one of the guest rooms. And now, Joyce and I will see you all in the morning. Good night.”

With that, he disappeared back into his bedroom. Buffy shook her head. “You know, that was way too graphic for me. I’m off to patrol then back to the dorms. Want to come with, Will? Chloe?”

“Why not?” Willow said with a shudder. “Concrete evidence of Giles having sex with your mom is something I can do without.”

Buffy winced. “Please, they’re not having sex. He’s just giving her TLC.”

“Don’t say anything, Ethan,” Wilson ordered as he caught his former student’s eye. Startled, Ethan glanced at Wilson, and said nothing. Turning to look at Wesley and Chloe, Wilson asked, ”How shall we decide sleeping arrangements?”