Chapter 13: …And Into The Fire
“It is absolutely intolerable!” Giles exclaimed in a mock-huff, trying to look as dignified and outraged as he could manage.
“I assure you, the chapel has its own upkeep staff,” Lord Abrahms attempted to placate the overly-persistent priest.
“Oh yes, I noticed,” Giles retorted sarcastically. “What with the mulch pit by the altar and the abundance of rats. Tell me, are they the upkeep staff?”
“Look, Father Giles,” Lord Abrahms did his best to calm the other man, “I’m sure something could be arranged to fix up the chapel.”
“I should say so!” Giles exclaimed. “I cannot believe you’ve let it go this far! I am inclined to seriously doubt your ability to—”
“I’ll have a cleaning crew come in next week,” Abrahms cut him off before another rant on his unsanitary management of the fort could begin.
“Next week?!” Giles practically cried in agony.
“In order to hire a work crew—” Lord Abrahms hastily insisted.
“Why, I could get one within the hour!” Giles countered. “I swear, this must be the most incompetent fortress in the world! Why, all it would take would be a dozen or so men from the town! I just can’t believe this! I can’t believe it… Wait until word gets back to the church about how crass and disrespectful you are towards a place of worship! I have every mind to see you removed from authority, and when I—”
Lord Abrahms felt a rather nasty headache coming on at the prospect of listening to yet another rant about the goddamned chapel. “You do it then!” he finally bellowed in frustration.
Giles nodded curtly and forced back the triumphant smile that was curling at the edges of his lips. “Very well, I will.”
* * *
“We’re in.”
Xander looked at Giles in disbelief. “How on earth do you do that?” he demanded.
A sly smile lit up Giles’ face. “Never underestimate the church’s powers of persuasion,” he said simply, ushering the pirate crew towards the now-open gates, “…or of annoyance…”
* * *
Elizabeth awoke to the feel of fingers gently caressing her face. In that dazed, half-asleep state, she leaned into them, a smile on her face as she whispered the name “William” like it was the most precious thing in the world to her.
She got a chuckle in response. “Try again, my sweet,” Angel instructed her.
Her eyes flew open in horror and surprise as she remembered the events of the previous day, and she instantly leapt back from his touch, pressing herself against the wall along one side of the bed.
“You are beautiful, aren’t you?” Angel commented in a husky voice.
His hand reached out to touch her once more, and she slapped it away.
“Feisty, too,” he grinned. “I like that…”
The way he said it made Elizabeth start searching frantically for a weapon. Another voice cut her off, however.
“For Christ’s sake, Liam!” the woman Elizabeth vaguely recognized as Darla exclaimed. “Quit traumatizing the poor girl!”
“I think she can handle a little—” He turned to face her and wisely cut his sentence off at her brassed-off expression.
“Out.” The stern order was accompanied by a demanding finger pointed right at the door.
With a resigned sigh, Angel rose to his feet. He approached Darla first, however, wrapping his arms around her waist and placing a sensual kiss in the hollow of her throat. “Forgive me,” he practically purred his command.
Darla’s resolve softened, and she relaxed in his embrace. “You’re an ass, Liam,” she informed him.
“And don’t you love it?” he taunted before crashing his lips down onto hers.
His hips thrust up against hers so suggestively that Elizabeth blushed and turned away…and wondered why William had never done that…
“You know you’re the only one for me, baby,” he said as he pulled away, a smug smile on his lips as he watched her gasp for breath.
“Yeah,” she retorted sarcastically, “I’ll believe that when I’ve got a ring on my finger and the whoring stops.” She gave him a pointed shove toward the door. “Now… Get. Out.”
He turned back to say something, but she slammed the door shut right in his face. Elizabeth could hear him cursing outside as the solid wood impacted with his nose.
Darla winced. “I’m going to pay for that later…” she sighed before turning back to Elizabeth, who was still huddled against the wall on the bed. “You OK, dearie? Liam can be such a pig sometimes. I swear, he thinks everything with two legs was just made for him to stick it in.” She gave Elizabeth a kind smile.
And Elizabeth blinked in confusion. “Huh?” she finally managed to utter eloquently…
* * *
“I don’t like this!” Xander exclaimed for the umpteenth time.
Giles merely rolled his eyes. “Oh, go sweep the altar,” he sighed in irritation.
“I can’t believe Abrahms fell for that,” Graham commented. “This place is spotless…”
“Yes, well, I rather counted on Lord Abrahms’ never bothering to visit it,” Giles countered. “Can’t say I was surprised that I was right…”
At that moment, one of the fortress guards entered the small chapel, helmet in hand. He nodded politely to Giles and walked over to the altar…
There was a loud ‘thunk’ as he was bopped over the head and then dragged into the back room by several of the men.
All the others just continued on as if nothing had happened.
Xander stood up, paced back and forth twice, then threw his arms up in the air in frustration. “I don’t like this!” he insisted.
“Yes, we figured that out the first fifty times you said it,” Giles grumbled under his breath.
Xander didn’t even hear him. “I mean, she’s up there alone, with no one to defend her, and—”
“William hangs tonight,” Giles reminded him sternly.
Xander let out a weary sigh and ran one hand through his unruly black hair. “I know,” he agreed, sitting down… Only to get up and begin pacing once more. “But I don’t like this!”
* * *
“I mean, really,” Anya said, hands pressed over her heart in her low-bodiced gown, eyelashes fluttering, “it must be awfully exciting work. Lowering the gate, raising the gate, knowing that the very safety of this fortress depends on you…”
The gatekeeper gave her a wicked leer. “You better believe it, honey,” he agreed, stroking his control lever.
Anya fought the urge to roll her eyes. “And you must be so strong to do it, too…” After five seconds of analyzing the mechanism, Anya had determined that the system of pulleys and chains that raised the gate was set up so that a child could lift it. There was no harm in lying, though. Especially when it boosted men’s egos and therefore distracted them.
“That’s me.” The gatekeeper gave her a toothless grin. “Strong, built, burly…thick…”
“Oh, yes,” Anya agreed in a falsely cheerful monotone. “Please, tell me more.” Only one more hour…
“No,” the gatekeeper retorted with a coy smile, “you tell me more.”
Thank heaven for men and their bizarre kinks, Anya thought as she tried to come up with more gate-related innuendos…
* * *
“I mean, I really don’t like this…”
* * *
“Again?” William exclaimed in disbelief when he heard his cell door unlock. “’S like a bloody holiday spot in here, what with all the visitors…”
The man who appeared in the doorway was one he had never seen before but, given the finery of his clothing, was obviously an important person.
“Who’re you?” William scowled at him.
“This is he?” the visitor inquired of the guard. After the nod he got in response, his eyes burned with rage as he turned back to William.
William frowned for a second at the familiar anger in those hazel eyes. “Oi, wait a minute…” he began.
His visitor cut him off. “I am the father of the girl you brutalized,” Henry Summers announced. “And it will be my pleasure to watch you die.”
“Oi, now, hold on just a second,” William protested, still trying to absorb the fact that he was talking to Elizabeth’s father. “I didn’t do anythin’ to ‘Lizabeth!”
“You raped and murdered her, you fiend!” Henry cried out, tears forming in his eyes. “My sweet, little girl… How could you?!”
“OK, first off.” William retorted, “’s far as I know, your daughter’s still very much alive, virtue fully intact. That is, unless the nutcase Lord Abrahms handed her off to in order to fake ‘er death ‘asn’t done anythin’ to her yet. Second, ‘sweet, little girl’? Have you ever actually met your daughter?”
“How dare you?” Henry accused furiously. “You dare deny…and then accuse…” He was too livid to finish either sentiment.
“I do ‘cause ‘s true,” William retorted. “You’re bein’ played, Summers, and ‘f you don’t wise up to it soon, you’re gonna end up ‘s broke ‘s my family did.”
“That’s it!” Henry exclaimed, practically fleeing from the cell. “I can’t hear this murderer’s words any more!”
William sighed. “Man lives happily in the land of denial,” he informed the guard as the cell door slammed shut once more…
* * *
“Oh dear, he really scared you, didn’t he?” Darla asked, concerned.
“Scared? Me? Huh?” Elizabeth would characterize her mood more as confused than scared.
“Liam, you are such an ass!” Darla called through the door, rolling her eyes.
“Yeah, that fits in with the whole kidnapping thing,” Elizabeth agreed, coming back to herself a bit.
“ ‘Kidnapping’?” Darla repeated in disbelief. “We saved you!”
“Only so that Angel could ravage me instead of Riley? Oh yeah, that’s a real comfort,” Elizabeth retorted sarcastically.
“Angel what? No, he won’t— He’s just—” Darla stuttered.
“An ass?” Elizabeth suggested helpfully.
Darla nodded vigorously. “Oh god,” she put her face in her hands, “what exactly did he tell you was going on?” There was a hint of dread in her voice.
“He didn’t tell me anything,” Elizabeth insisted. “I inferred that Angel took out Riley after helping to take out William, and I was one of the spoils of war.”
“Wait a minute…Angel helped who take out what?” Darla seemed shocked and horrified.
“Riley said it, and Lord Abrahms implied it,” Elizabeth insisted primly.
“Men!” Darla muttered in despair. “Liam had absolutely no part in the plot against William, and he certainly doesn’t mean you any harm,” she assured the frightened blond.
“But…Angel led us straight into that trap!” Elizabeth insisted.
Darla winced. “Lord Abrahms used Riley to buy out my informant,” she confessed apologetically. “I didn’t find out about it until William had already left. We chased after him to warn him, but…well, you had too much of a head start…”
Elizabeth frowned at the completely different picture of events that was being painted before her. “Angel wants me…” she began hesitantly.
Darla rolled her eyes. “Angel wants everything that even remotely qualifies as female. And some things that don’t.” Her voice softened then. “You’re lucky in that. William is much more…single-minded in his affections…”
“So Angel won’t…?” Relief flooded through Elizabeth as she finally fully absorbed the fact that she was among friends.
Darla shook her head. “He respects William too much to hurt you. Even if he’ll never admit it outside of the bedroom,” she added with a roll of her eyes.
Elizabeth couldn’t help but laugh at that. “So why do you put up with him?” she asked.
A blush lit up Darla’s cheeks. “He’s the only one for me,” she admitted before returning to her usual confident manner. “Besides, where else am I going to find a man that lets me keep up my…profession?”
“I can’t argue with that,” Elizabeth agreed, slumping slightly now that the adrenaline had worn off.
“Here,” Darla said kindly, “we need to wash the blood off of you, get you into some clean clothes…”
Elizabeth shook her head. “William—” she insisted.
“We’re on our way there right now,” Darla assured her. “But, first, we’ve got to take care of you…”
* * *
“I will watch,” Henry Summers insisted.
Lord Abrahms had no choice but to nod in acquiescence. Henry’s presence had thrown him for something of a loop, especially since he had managed to speak with William before Abrahms had even learned that he’d arrived. He had no idea what the two men had discussed, and that made him nervous. If William told Henry the truth about what happened and Henry believed him… Fortunately, his new business partner still seemed eager for William’s blood, so his cover most likely hadn’t been blown.
“These types of things are…nasty affairs,” he informed the other man.
Henry shrugged. “He hurt my baby girl. I want to see him hanged now…”
* * *
“Oi, now, this ‘s getting bleedin’ ridiculous!” William exclaimed when the door opened once more.
“The last time,” the guard assured him with a wicked grin. He stepped aside, allowing two more guards to enter.
“Don’t s’pose I should hope that ‘ve been paroled?” William managed to joke lightly.
“You’ve got a free one-way ticket to ‘ell,” one of the guards informed him, dragging him to his feet.
William reluctantly walked with the procession up and out of the dungeon. His eyes surreptitiously scanned the crowds as he made his way towards the gallows that had been set up in the center of the small courtyard. However, he saw no sign of his men.
The smug face of Lord Abrahms did greet him as he stepped up onto the platform, however. He had half a mind to take the older man’s eye out with Giles’ little ‘gift’ but just barely restrained his impulse. After all, Xander had instructed him to wait.
Taking orders from my first-mate now. He couldn’t help but smile at the irony of that. Just bloody brilliant…
The guards backed away from him as the cleric stepped forward to read the charges against him. “Having been found guilty of…”
Blah, blah, blippity blah… William caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye and just glimpsed one of the guards being drawn around the corner and…was that Graham stationed by the doors to the inner wall?
He quickly reassessed the situation and realized that only a half a dozen or so of the guards were men he didn’t recognize. The vast majority of the real guards would, of course, be set on the inner walls, but those were far enough away that the troops wouldn’t be able to stop his escape if it was quick enough. The large metal gates, however… Those were a problem.
Feeling significantly more confident in his position, William openly yawned at the rather long list of charges still being laid against him.
“H-He doesn’t even repent!” Henry Summers stuttered in outrage.
“End this,” Lord Abrahms agreed, anxious to permanently remove the thorn in his side.
William discovered then that Giles had a talent for exaggeration. The noose hadn’t even come close to his neck when Xander shouted out for him to duck.
A brief squabble ensued, wherein William’s men – he could only guess how they’d acquired the guards’ uniforms – quickly overpowered the remaining guards present at the ‘execution’.
William himself had dropped to the ground upon Xander’s command, the chains he had broken open with the knife Giles had provided him slipping easily from his wrists.
Shouts sounded from above, and he knew that he would stand out as a bulls-eye in the crowd with his white hair. He ducked and rolled off the platform, only to be caught by a member of the crowd and a priestly robe thrown over his head.
Giles himself was in full guard’s uniform and looking quite pleased with himself as well. “Try to look meek and mild,” he instructed with a teasing smile before ushering William away from the fight.
New guards rushed into the scene, greatly confusing everything, and William’s men all managed to station themselves back by the gates…
* * *
“Yes, because your…gates are so sexy and…” Anya breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Xander’s shout. Because, honestly, even she couldn’t come up with any more gate comments.
“Look!” she ordered. “Look down at your gates as I talk to you.”
The gatekeeper eagerly did so, started in surprise at the fight below, and promptly fell to the ground unconscious.
“I’ll show you where you can shove your gate,” Anya grumbled, dropping the large wooden beam and yanking hard on the lever to open the gate…
* * *
“You know, I had an old friend back at the seminary who believed that Chaos was the most powerful force in the universe,” Giles commented. “A decidedly strange fellow, but he was proven right today…”
“Yeah, you go on and gloat,” Anya huffed, “but I was severely traumatized! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at a gate again…”
Xander wrapped a comforting arm around her waist. “No gates in my line of work,” he reminded her with a quick peck on the nose.
A delighted smile spread across her face. “I remember,” she agreed, pulling him not-so-inconspicuously into a side cavern.
“Abrahms and Summers ‘ll keep lookin’ for us,” William pointed out, unable to keep the wistful smile from his face at the happy pair. “An’ we’ve got nowhere to run.”
“And now we’re surrounded!” Graham announced in a panic, dashing into the cave.
Everyone’s attention turned to him.
“Riley’s back,” he announced. “The ship is in the harbor. And Angel’s with him…”