Pat stamped his feet to try to get some feeling back into them. Rushing from the cabin to a car or the main house had not given him a true appreciation of how cold Canada could be in the winter. He was wearing two sweaters and a thick coat but the cold wind still penetrated.
After some debate a plan had been decided on. Pat was still not sure how good the plan was, but Charlie and Miss Post seemed convinced and that was good enough for him. That was why Charlie was standing in the middle of a clearing in the training compound with Pat and Miss Post concealed in bushes to one side and Vonnie hidden in more bushes to her other side. Charlie looked pale and cold. She was pacing restlessly and swinging her arms in a vain attempt to stop her joints stiffening in the frigid air. Pat envied her the freedom to move.
His part in the plan was simple. He was to assist Miss Post as she attempted to undo whatever spell had been cast over the sasquatch. Vonnie had a stash of weapons for Charlie in case things did not go according Plan A. They were going to avoid using Plan B if they possibly could.
Pat glanced at his tutor and noted her pale face and the tense tightness around her mouth. He nudged her and offered a grin when she turned towards him.
"Nervous?" he asked softly.
"I've never done anything like this," she whispered back.
"You get used to it."
"I never thought I'd have to."
Pat raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"I'm not a field-Watcher," she elaborated. "I never intended to be. It's not something I'd be good at."
"Why not?"
Miss Post smiled wryly. "Any Slayer I had would be taller than me unless I had a five year-old. I barely scraped through the physical tests and I doubt I'd be able to attempt them now. How could I teach a Slayer to fight and survive if I can't lift a sword without nearly cutting my own nose off? Being a researcher and teacher is what I am best suited to."
"Charlie would probably glare at you at this point," Pat said thoughtfully. "She would announce that, with some help, you could be a great Watcher. You care about your future Slayer, which is more than can be said for nine-tenths of the rest of them."
"Miss Giles has some interesting ideas."
"Yes, she does."
Pat was certain that they both meant different things.
"Do you really think she can beat this creature?" Miss Post asked after a pause.
"I've seen her take on three vampires at once without a scratch. I'm sure she can hold off the sasquatch long enough for us to do our part."
"There are lots of stories around about what she's done, what she's capable of."
"Some of them might even be true."
Miss Post frowned curiously. "What do you mean?"
"The accuracy of any stories about Charlie depends on the teller. If you heard them from one of your colleagues then I'd be careful how much you believed. If they came from a student then it depends on which camp they're in. Some of the students think the same way most Watchers do - Charlie is dangerous and should be stopped. There are a few, though, who think she's a hero."
"I gather you're in group two."
"I've seen her in action. It's difficult not to feel a little bit of hero-worship when you've been there."
"Ah."
A loud shushing noise came from the clearing and Pat looked up to see Charlie glaring at him. He flushed slightly and mimed zipping his lips. Charlie nodded tersely and resumed her pacing. When Pat turned back to Miss Post, the Watcher was absorbed in checking the contents of her bag.
They seemed to wait for hours as Pat gradually got colder. Light and warmth became a distant memory and he began to wonder whether the sasquatch was going to hunt at all tonight. Charlie had persuaded them that going straight out to find the sasquatch, so soon after the creature had fought her, would be pointless. So they had waited. No more bodies had turned up during the day, which seemed to back up her assumption that the sasquatch had gone to ground during the day to lick its wounds.
What if it didn't come out again for a few days?
They had no plan for dealing with that eventuality. It was behaving so out of character that none of them had any idea of how to track it to its nest.
Suddenly Pat's ears caught a whisper of movement in the forest. A moment later he almost gagged as a foul smell filled his nose and then chaos reigned.
The sasquatch was as big and hairy as Charlie had described. Her words had not quite managed to convey how terrible the stench was, though, and Pat quickly found himself breathing carefully to take in as little of the smell as possible. He had no idea how Charlie was coping with it up close and personal.
The blonde woman ducked the sasquatch's initial rush and the creature flew over her to crash into a tree. Pat winced as the impact caused several clumps of snow to fall from the branches. The creature rolled to its feet and howled. Charlie had already spun to face it, bouncing on the balls of her feet with her fists up. They glared fiercely at each other.
Miss Post nudged Pat sharply in the ribs and he took the small bag she held out. She dug out a handful of purple dusk and winked at him.
"Let's find out what we're dealing with, hmm?"
Without waiting for his response, Miss Post stood and threw the dust towards the sasquatch shouting, "Reveal yourself!"
The dust gathered and floated towards the sasquatch as though it was a living thing. Pat watched with fascination as the dust settled on and around the sasquatch in a cloud.
"Tell me what's happening," Miss Post muttered.
A glance at her showed that she was watching intently, paying no attention to anything around her. Even as Charlie and the sasquatch continued fighting, both obviously trying to hold back yet driven forward, the purple cloud began to pulse with a soft light. Gradually the light strengthened until it was pulsing with a definite rhythm. Pat could see the triumph in Miss Post's eyes as she watched.
"What does it mean?" he asked her softly, wincing again as Charlie hit the ground with a bone-crunching thud.
"I know what kind of spell I'm up against," Miss Post said, already leafing through a notebook filled with hand-written notes. "It's a white light and the pattern of the pulses tells me . . . ah, yes, it's a gees and a powerful one." She looked up briefly. "You'll cover it in class in a couple of weeks. Look at this as extra tuition."
"So what do we do?"
Miss Post did not reply, her attention focused on her notes and her lips moving silently as she read through the counter-spell. There was another howl from the sasquatch as Charlie threw it across the clearing.
"Whatever we do, it needs to be soon," Pat said urgently. "Even Charlie can't keep that up forever."
"I'm looking!" She took a calming breath. "I'm not meant to be out here, in the field. My training is directed to research and study, not to patching together answers in thirty seconds flat."
"Look at this as extra tuition."
Miss Post did not reply to that. Instead she stood up and began reading her spell aloud. It was all gibberish to Pat but he quickly realised that there was a rhythm to the words. The Watcher was focused intently on her book of notes, paying no attention to the fight going on a few feet away. Pat began his own silent mantra, wishing the sasquatch to stay focused on Charlie and not notice the woman standing in the clearing with no apparent regard for her own safety.
Charlie threw herself to the ground as the sasquatch tried to rush her again and tripped it as it went past so that it crashed into a tree. When Charlie stood up, she tested her leg gingerly and Pat winced. An injury to her leg would change the blonde woman's balance and she needed every ounce of speed just to stay away from the sasquatch's long claws.
The creature stood up and shook its head. It howled and shook its head again before focusing on Charlie again. There was a long pause and, without thinking, Pat stood to get a better view. There was something odd about the creature. At first he thought that Miss Post's spell was beginning to work but a quick glance to his side showed that she was still speaking rhythmically with no change in the cadence of her words to indicate that the spell was nearing completion. He looked back at the hairy creature and realised that, for the first time since it had appeared, there was an expression in its eyes. If the thing had been human, he would have said that it was sorrow or remorse glittering in its eyes.
This must have been what Charlie was trying to tell them last night. The sasquatch was being forced to do something that was completely out of its nature and it knew exactly what it was doing. For the first time, Pat began to feel a little sorry for it.
Whether the sasquatch wanted to kill or not was not its decision. With another howl it lurched towards Charlie, who only just managed to dance away. She stumbled as her weight went onto her injured leg and nearly fell. The sasquatch swiped at her clumsily, too clumsy for a creature with its natural grace, and Pat found that his jaw was clenched from the tension of willing the combatants not to hurt each other.
***
Charlie rolled away from the sasquatch's lethally sharp claws and struggled to her feet. Her leg was throbbing hotly and she knew that, as things stood now, the creature would be forced to use that advantage soon. Unless she changed the odds somehow the fight would be over quickly.
"Sword!" she yelled, and held out her hand.
Somehow she would have to find a way to defend herself without hurting the sasquatch too much. Charlie plucked the sword out of the air when Vonnie tossed it to her, relieved to feel the hilt in her hand rather than the blade, and tried to find her balance. The sasquatch rushed her again and Charlie forced herself to push through the pain so that she could stumble out of the way and slash its back as it went past. The beast howled in pain as her sword opened up a shallow gash down its back.
"Sorry," Charlie whispered, wincing.
This time the creature was a little slower as it turned, almost as though it was playing up the injury for someone else's benefit, and its brown eyes were filled with sorrow.
"How's the spell coming?" Charlie shouted, hoping that there would be a good answer.
"We're working on the counter," Pat replied.
Charlie spared a glance in his direction to see Miss Post standing in full view, her eyes half closed as she muttered her spell.
"Can you hurry it up a little?" she asked as the sasquatch began to advance on her, waving its claws menacingly.
"You need to hold it off for a couple more minutes," Pat said.
Charlie slashed at the sasquatch's hands and had a moment of breathless fear as it grasped the blade and tried to pull it away. "I might not have a couple more minutes."
She pulled the sword with all her strength and stumbled back when it was abruptly released. Drops of blood were now falling from the creature's hands were her blade had opened deep cuts and the sasquatch closed its eyes and let out a bone-chilling howl. Charlie backed up a couple more paces, almost falling as her injured knee threatened to give way. She cursed and shook her head.
"Von, can you get a lock with the cross-bow?" Charlie asked.
The Irish girl scrabbled around in the bag of weapons and pulled out a loaded bow. She sighted along it.
"I'm not such a great shot with this," Vonnie replied. "I'm afraid I'll hit you instead."
"Remind me," slash, "to get you," stumble, slash, "out to the," hop, "practise ground," duck and spin, "to shoot some targets later," Charlie said breathlessly.
The sasquatch bounced off a tree trunk and landed on its back. Charlie hobbled over and positioned the point of her sword over the creature's heart. Brown eyes gazed up at her fearlessly, almost looking grateful. Suddenly they flashed purple and Miss Post's voice cut off.
Charlie stared down at the creature on the ground in front of her. Its face had relaxed into calm acceptance and it was making no move to rise or thrust her away.
"Pat?"
"That's it, we're done," Pat called back.
"Good."
She began to move her sword away so that the sasquatch could rise.
There was no warning. Suddenly the sword had been tugged out of her hands and she gasped as the sasquatch pulled the point down and through its heart.
"No," she whispered.
The sasquatch closed its eyes and its hands slid away from the sword as it died.
A moment later she felt Vonnie touch her arm. "What happened?"
Charlie swallowed hard. "It . . . couldn't live."
***
Cynthia had no idea why she stayed to watch as the trainees and their pet Watcher dug a grave and tugged the hairy creature into it. She had no idea why she had woken up to find herself crouched behind a tree watching Charlotte Giles fight it. There was another memory gap blocking out most of the evening.
But this time the gap was not complete. There was nothing concrete there, just a sensation that somehow this was her fault.
***
The infirmary smelled like a hospital. It was really just a large room in the basement of the main house, with smaller rooms leading off it to labs and an X-ray room. Not enough to do much in the way of surgery but adequate for treating the cuts and broken bones that many of the trainees ended up with. Anything more serious would require a trip to Dartmouth General but there was enough equipment here to stabilise a patient before transport. One of the Watchers had trained as a doctor before being called to the order and he did locum work in the area to keep his licence valid. Two of the trainees and another of the Watchers knew enough first-aid to act as his assistants if they were needed. Vonnie was grateful that Doctor Potter had been on the complex tonight and that Amy Carter, a second year trainee, was on call as his assistant tonight. Neither of them seemed inclined to ask awkward questions and Vonnie thought that she had detected a bit of hero worship in Amy's eyes.
The room had several beds in but only one had the curtains drawn around it. Vonnie carefully balanced two cups of coffee and slipped through the curtains. Charlie was resting on the bed in a gown that barely came halfway down her thighs. Her long legs were stretched out in front of her and there was a towel-wrapped ice-pack on her swollen, red knee. Vonnie bumped her arm and Charlie opened her eyes.
"Hey. Coffee," Vonnie said quietly.
The blonde woman's eyes were slightly glazed from the painkillers the doctor had dosed her with but she managed to smile and take mug without spilling it.
"I found some instant in the kitchen," Vonnie confessed.
Charlie wrinkled her nose but sipped cautiously at it anyway. When she was satisfied that Vonnie had not tried to slip her decaf she patted the bed next to her. Vonnie obediently hopped up and perched on the edge of the bed.
"How are you feeling?" Vonnie asked.
"Like crap," Charlie said bluntly. "Are you sure this is necessary?"
Vonnie looked pointedly at Charlie's ballooning knee. "Yes, I'm sure."
"Mother hen," Charlie grumbled.
Vonnie poked her tongue out and ignored the muttering. Sometimes Charlie seemed to assume that she was superhuman and refused to accept that she could be injured just like anyone else. Sure, she seemed to have better reflexes and threw a mean punch but even Slayers got hurt so Charlie needed to take better care of herself.
"Von," Charlie said slowly.
The redheaded girl's trouble antenna perked up. That tone of voice always meant that Charlie was working up to something bad.
"Yes," Vonnie said in the same tone.
"I spoke to your father yesterday." Charlie immediately put up a hand. "I'm sorry if I overstepped a line, but you weren't talking to me and I needed to know why."
"I was trying to keep you out of it," Vonnie said, trying not to let the hurt she felt show in her voice. "It's my problem."
"It was hurting you," Charlie said gently. "I don't let my friends get hurt like that. I'm sorry for what your mother said to you."
It was exactly the right thing to say. Vonnie managed to pull a tremulous smile from somewhere even though her eyes were burning and there was a lump in her throat she could not swallow away.
"Hey, hey," Charlie said softly. "You can't go crying on me."
"I'm sorry," Vonnie choked out.
Charlie took the cup from her hand and put it down with hers on a cabinet next to the bed. Then she opened her arms and Vonnie could not resist allowing herself to be enfolded in their strength while she sobbed quietly. All the time, Charlie rubbed her back and whispered soothing nonsense. She had cried on Steve a couple of times but never achieved the release that this provided. For a while she let Charlie look after her and rested in the strength she provided.
Eventually the tears dried up and she found she was lying half on top of her friend, trying to catch her breath. Her eyes stung, her nose was completely bunged up but for the first time in weeks she felt . . . rested.
Charlie shifted and Vonnie sat up, sniffing sheepishly. "Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it." Charlie grinned. "It's not every day that a pretty girl throws herself into my arms."
Vonnie chuckled and wiped a hand roughly across her eyes. She sniffed again and Charlie began looking through all the drawers in the cabinet that she could reach.
"Typical," she muttered, "these places never have tissues when you need them."
The sound of a throat clearing wafted through the curtain. "Can I come in?"
"Got any tissues?" Charlie asked.
The curtain rustled and Doctor Potter appeared holding out a box of Kleenex that Vonnie took gratefully as she hopped off the bed. The doctor was tall, topping Charlie by a couple of inches, and in surprisingly good condition for a Watcher. He had a neatly trimmed brown beard and moustache and his brown hair was only lightly touched with grey. Kindly blue eyes watched Vonnie sympathetically as she blew her nose and dried her eyes.
"Thanks," Vonnie said when she was finished.
"You're welcome, little lady," Potter said in his light Southern drawl.
"How bad is it?" Charlie asked apprehensively.
Potter smiled at her. "Not nearly so bad as you're thinking. Nothing's broken in there. You've got a lot of bruising and maybe a strained ligament but everything's where it should be."
He tapped the thick muscle just above her knee. "You're lucky that all that muscle is there otherwise this could have been a lot worse."
Charlie nodded. "Thanks, doc."
"You're welcome." Potter pulled two bottles of pills out of his lab coat. "Obey the instructions on these. No stopping taking them just 'cause you think it'll be fine. These ones here are anti-inflammatory to take down the swelling some, and these pretty pink ones are pain pills. If you must be a stubborn gal, take the AI's and leave the pain pills."
"Yes, doc."
"I'm giving you crutches. I want you to spend the next couple of days on the sofa." Potter winked at Vonnie. "I'm sure you're friend here can take care of you."
"I will," Vonnie promised quickly. "I'll sit on her if I have to."
"Good girl." Potter glared severely at Charlie. "Stay off that leg for a few days - I do not want to see you without those crutches if you have to get moving. Be careful on the snow 'cause I surely don't want to see you back here again. When the bruising has gone down, do gentle exercise - and I mean *gentle* - for a few more days before you start haring around the place."
"Yes, doc."
Potter grinned at her. "Now get yourself dressed and go home to bed."
"Thanks."
He slipped out of the cubicle and they both waited for his footsteps to fade away before speaking.
"You heard the doctor," Vonnie said, shaking a finger at her friend. "You're to do as I tell you for the next few days."
"Yes mom," Charlie said with a grin. "Can I have my jeans?"
Vonnie handed them over and turned her back to give the blonde woman some privacy. She was still a little embarrassed by her emotional outburst.
"Von, don't be embarrassed," Charlie said.
"Are you a mind-reader now?"
"No, I just know how I feel when I cry."
"You cry?"
"Sometimes. When I have a good reason to. Everyone has to now and again."
"It was silly."
There was the sound of a zipper. "No, it wasn't."
Vonnie passed a T-shirt back to her.
"Your dad wants to see you," Charlie said. "You should call him tomorrow and arrange to meet up."
"He really does?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't he?"
Vonnie closed her eyes and swallowed but the tears really did seem to have finished for now. "He tried to defend her."
"I think he was just trying to get you both to stop yelling," Charlie said.
Vonnie picked up Charlie's sweater and turned around to see her tucking her T-shirt into her jeans. "Does he really want to see me?"
Charlie's blonde head popped out of the neck of her sweater. "Yes, he does. I know it's going to be difficult, but I'm sure you can manage to see each other without your mom knowing."
"Yeah."
There was silence as Charlie smoothed down her sweater and sat down on her bed to pull on her boots and socks. She managed the uninjured leg but then she tried to bend her damaged knee and gasped in pain.
"Want a hand?" Vonnie asked.
Charlie, her face ashen, nodded and allowed Vonnie to kneel down and carefully ease her sock and boot on.
"Thanks."
Vonnie stood. "Fair's fair. You support me when I can't do something on my own, so why can't I do the same for you? We're friends."
Charlie smiled. "Just keep on remembering that. Now, where are the damned crutches?"
*finis*