By dusk everything was ready. Al the ingredients had been collected and Minty and Buffy were itching to go. Soon enough they were on their way to the Hill.
Once on top of the Hill, they remembered the hole had gone. "What do we do?" Minty asked Buffy.
"I don't know." The ground trembled faintly beneath their feet. Buffy realised first what was about to happen. "Jump!" she yelled and leapt out of the way. Minty instinctively followed her. Where they had been standing the ground disappeared.
"Well, that was lucky." Buffy said.
"Almost ironic." Minty replied.
The five of them stared down the hole. It plunged into darkness. "Well doesn't this look nice," Xander said, sarcastically. Giles went over to a tree and started tying the rope he had brought to it. It was knotted at regular intervals. He threw the other end down the hole.
"Well," said Xander. "I'd hate to be considered ungentlemanly, so ladies first." He mocked a bow and pointed down the hole. Giles gave them each a flashlight and Minty and Buffy began to lower themselves down.
They soon reached the bottom. The atmosphere in the Cavern was unbearable. Evil pressed down on them and made their Slayer-sense spin. Eventually, Giles, Willow and Xander joined them. The flashlights showed a lot more of the Cavern than Buffy's lighter had. The sandstone walls were covered in mould and the pool was an inky black.
"This is not good." Willow stated.
Giles walked around the edge of the Cavern looking intently at the carvings on the walls. "They're beautiful," he murmured. Willow and Minty set out the ingredients that they would need for the rite. Xander started up a small fire, he was impressed at his skill. Soon everything was ready. Giles and Xander tried to push open the doors but with no success. "If only we knew what was behind them," Giles said. "This is such a wonderful find. I have never heard of anything like this."
"And you'll never see it again if we don't get started," chided Buffy.
Minty and Willow knelt in front of the pool and Giles threw some herbs into the fire. Immediately their pungent smell filled the air. Buffy paced behind them, constantly watching for anything that could cause trouble.
Willow and Minty began speaking. Willow was reading the rite in English and Minty was translating it back into ancient Celtic. Her voice took on a sing-song quality and rose in volume. Every so often Giles would throw more herbs into the fire.
Buffy was pacing like a wild animal. She could feel the power from the spell filling the Cavern and she knew that whatever was using it to get into their world would be getting mightily annoyed. She pulled two stakes out of her belt. One for each hand. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Xander holding a stake and a knife. They were the only protection the other three had. "God help us all." Buffy muttered.
Xander turned to face the standing Stone, he swore he could see silver light speckling the surface. He hoped that was a sign that this was working. He whirled as he heard a noise behind him. There was a vampire five feet behind him. Without thinking he lunged at him and staked him through the heart. The vampire exploded into dust. Xander felt quite pleased with himself.
Another vampire dropped down the hole in the Cavern's roof and leapt at Buffy. She was more than ready for him though, and staked him without even turning round. Out of the shadows more vampires appeared. They were like a predator closing in on its prey. Buffy moved away slightly from Minty, Willow and Giles so they would be less distracted by the fight that was about to start.
"Hey boys," she yelled at them. "What to have a go at killing a Slayer?" She knew that would get their attention. The reputation of a Slayer-killer was the highest a vampire could get. Five of them went for her, the rest holding back to see the outcome. Buffy's arms and legs flew in a blur and before the vampires knew what had hit them, they were dust.
Minty's voice was reaching a crescendo, the end of the rite was nearing. The smell of the herbs were almost overpowering. Xander lashed out at another vampire and by some quirk of Fate managed to stake it. He was getting good at this! Another group of vampires rushed Buffy, but she managed to beat them back. She taunted them. "You Brit vampires are rubbish. I could beat you with a broken arm!" she was trying to get them into such a frenzy that they made a serious mistake.
Minty was totally oblivious to the fight that was going on behind her, she was totally absorbed in the words of the rite. The language of her ancestors flowed off her tongue as if she spoke it everyday. She could feel the magic building up in the Cavern. A detached part of her mind hoped the vampires wouldn't realise what was happening until too late. She could see the speckles of silver getting bigger and brighter all over the standing Stone, it was working! The knowledge lent strength to her voice and it soared around the Cavern. Willow hoped she was keeping up with Minty, she seemed to be in a world of her own. The hair on the back of Willow's neck were standing on end and she could feel the power building up around her.
Xander flailed at another vampire. He was getting tired. He hoped that it would all be over soon. He'd had enough. He wanted to go home and sleep for a thousand years.
There were only ten vampires left. The only testimony to the others ever existing were small piles of dust scatted all over the floor. The blood in Buffy's veins was buzzing, she had never felt like this before. She supposed the rite was doing something to help her. She was glad, she didn't think she'd be able to finish them off otherwise. All she could hear was Minty's voice ringing out in the sing-song language that sounded like music. She killed another vampire and turned to face her next assailant. Xander was edging his way around the pool to join Buffy. He was worn out, but still he carried on fighting. He had to.
Willow had come to the end of the translation. She faltered into silence, still Minty carried on. Willow stared as the standing Stone began to shine silver, faintly at first but getting brighter. The pool began to bubble. It was as if it was boiling. Still Minty carried on chanting. Her voice was getting louder and louder. Willow turned to look at her. She was surrounded by a white glow. Willow gasped. She had seen so much since she met Buffy but nothing like this. It was beautiful.
Then everything happened at once.
The standing Stone exploded into silver light as Minty screamed out three words. The aura surrounding her was almost as bright. Willow sank to the floor covering her eyes. The vampires attacking Buffy screamed tried to run away from the light, trampling over each other in their fright. The silver light cut through them and they exploded into dust, screaming as they died. Buffy whirled around to face the stone. The light was almost unbearable to look at. In the centre of the light Buffy could make out Willow and Minty.
Buffy could see the Seven Burrows as it used to be. White robed people, male and female hurrying thorough the corridors. On the ground in front of the stone there were offerings of fruit, vegetable and grain, wild animals ran across the Cavern floor dodging through the legs of the robed people. It was so tranquil, so right. A feeling of peace descended on Buffy as the light faded.
Just before the light faded, she saw the ghost again, standing in front of the Stone. She was smiling. "Thank you." the Lady of the Seven Burrows said, her voice echoing through Buffy's mind as she faded.
The Cavern was plunged into darkness.
The balance was restored. The ley-line was healed. The Portal was closed.
"Is everyone OK?" Buffy called.
"Yes." Came the reply.
"Well," she said, dusting herself down. "There's nothing more we can do here. Let's go home."
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