Xander was on the verge of stepping in when Firesong and Giles finally moved away from each other. They both might say otherwise, but Xander would be willing to swear that they were about to come to blows. And over magic of all things.

Firesong wanted Giles to use his gifts to read the Gryphons, but Giles had refused, saying it was too dangerous. What had begun as a simple disagreement quickly escalated into a full fledged argument. But now that they had both calmed down a little, Xander decided to find out exactly what the problem was. They didn't have time to be fighting amongst themselves.

"Why are you guys fighting about this?"

Giles glared at his teacher, "I will not use magic to 'dissect' the Gryphons." Firesong started to speak, but Giles waved him off. "I know I won't actually be dissecting them, but I could inadvertantly hurt or even kill one of them. And I'd have to have a healthy model to work from. That would mean reading one of the other Gryphons. I won't take that chance."

Firesong growled with frustration, "If we don't do something, they'll be dead anyway! If the worst did happen, no one would blame you for it. Surely you realize that!"

Giles threw up his hands, "I would blame myself! I'm too new to this and my control is tenuous under the best of circumstances, and this is far from the ideal situation within which to work. You've said that yourself. I've heard you say it!"

Xander could tell that their fight was going to begin again, "Okay, both of you guys calm down. Firesong, why don't you test the Gryphons? You've been a mage for a lot longer than Giles has."

Firesong shook his head, the crystal beads in his white hair tinkling merrily, "I can not! Don't you think I would have done it already if I could?" Firesong took a deep breath and forced himself to calm. "It's not the amount of power involved, it's the gifts. My gift is to be able to see and manipulate the energies tied to the earth. If there is a pool of stagnant or twisted magic, I can find it and fix it. Just looking at you I can see your connection to the earth energies. That's what allows you to fly and heal so quickly."

Firesong sat down and tried to explain something that had no explanation. "Every person is different. The actual process each person goes through when they think is different. And that difference is the key. There is something in the way Giles thinks that allows him to see what others cannot. It is not a matter of training or intelligence, it is just the way he is. No one knows what makes Sorceror's different from other mages. If anyone did ever know the secret, it has been lost in the mists of time. The only reason I even knew he was a Sorceror was because of An'desha." Firesong thumped himself in the head, "An'desha, of course, I'm an idiot." See the questioning looks on their faces, he explained. "I've told you both about Falconsbane, An'desha is the boy that was possessed. After I destroyed Falconsbane, An'desha retained his memories. And included in those were memories of Falconbane's original incarnation, Ma'ar. Ma'ar was the Sorceror Adept that Urtho went to war against. He created the Makar, hideous creatures he designed to be the complete opposites of Urtho's Gryphons. If we can contact An'desha and have him come here, we might have a chance. I'll send a message right away."

Xander shrugged, "I'll take it, just tell me where I can find him."

"An'desha is a Shin'anin Shaman, he'll be with his clan on their summer feeding grounds. I'll key the message, that will help direct you to him."

Xander took the crystal that contained the message and the three men quickly left the ekele, knowing now that they had a chance. Xander called out to Ghost and explained where he was going and why, knowing she would take care of telling the rest of the family. Xander took off without further discussion, but he didn't get very far. Just as he was clearing the canopy, he saw a black speck heading for him, and it was moving fast, really fast.

Xander cursed and dropped back to the ground, handing Firesong the message crystal, he pulled the Spear from it's sheath. "There's something coming. Giles, get everybody under cover. They won't be targets if they can't be seen."

Xander started to take off again, but Giles grabbed his arm, "What about you?"

Xander grinned, the medallian shining where it rested against his chest. "I'll be fine, G-Man. I'll stay in contact with Ghost, if I need any help, she'll let you know." Xander pulled away and leapt for the sky. No matter how many times Giles had seen him do that, it was still hard for him to believe. Shaking his head, Giles ran through the Vale to gather the children together. He'd just have to trust that Xander knew what he was doing.

*****

Xander caught a thermal and used the warm air to gain more height. The speck had come close enough that Xander could see that not only was it fast, it was huge too. Xander drifted back and forth, staying within the boundries of the Vale, and waited for the speck to come to him. He didn't have to wait long. He had time for just one quick thought to Ghost before it was on him. Dragon.

*****

Spike cleared the fence and started scaling the wall, using his nose to locate Dawn's room. Along with her familiar scent, he caught the acrid sent of fear. Now he was close enough to pick up Dawn's heartbeat and he climbed faster. She wasn't alone.

*****

Dawn's eyes snapped open the second she heard the door knob start to turn. Some of the other girls, the nicer ones, had warned her about some of the guards. So far she'd been lucky, the guards in question had been working the day shift and they had to be careful then. Too many of the suits were around during the day, but at night, well, night time was different.

After the sun fell, none of the rules applied. The only safe place to be was locked in her tiny little room. But the guards had keys, and her sanctuary had just become a trap.

Dawn grabbed her box knife, scrambled out of her bed and cowered in the corner, determined to put up a fight. The tiny slit of light coming through the open door widen and Guard Gilbert stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

When the guard saw the box cutter in her hand he laughed, "Gonna put up a fight, little girl? Good. I like it when they fight. You and me are going to have a little party. And if you're good, really good, well maybe I won't have to put you in solitary for having contriband in your room."

Dawn's hand was shaking so hard the tip of the blade was a blur. Guard Gilbert started laughing and reached for his belt. "Oh yeah, this is going to be a lot of fun."

An incredibly loud screech echoed through the room and Dawn instinctively turned her head to look. Gilbert moved, and Dawn found herself pinned to the wall. The hand holding her wrist squeezed so hard her hand went numb and she dropped the knife.

Gilbert opened his mouth to say something when a hand came through the window and grabbed him by the throat. Dawn looked over Gilbert's shoulder to see Spike in full vamp mode, but at the same time, Spike was squinting in pain.

Dawn knew she had to help or they'd both be screwed. Using every bit of strength she could muster, Dawn shoved her knee into Gilbert's groin. Spike let go of the man's throat and he sagged to knees.

Dawn knocked him over trying to get to Spike. She was crying so hard she couldn't talk. Spike just hugged her for a second and then held her at arm's length. "Time to go, Nibblet. You gonna hold together?"

Dawn nodded and wiped her face. "Good. Go on, get your kit. We need to move." Spike said.

Dawn scrambled for her clothes, pulling her jeans on over her pajama bottoms and then sliding her feet into her sneakers. "I'm ready, but what about him?" She asked, pointing to where Gilbert was still rolling around on the floor.

Spike grinned and pulled the handcuffs off Gilbert's belt. "So, Nibblet, how do you feel about bondage?"

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