=E2=80=9CCicely the Vampire Slayer...=E2=80=9D
Summary: You=E2=80=99ve read pieces in my various Cicelyverse AU
tales...Now
the whole thing, laid out...
Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!
Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse,
http://www.geocities.com/buffyrebecca/Cicelypg.html
or direct to story
at http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/buffyrebecca/cvs1.html...
(Don=E2=80=99t worry about the Underwood name from =E2=80=9CLies My
Parents=
Told Me=E2=80=9D,
or the =E2=80=98Cicely=E2=80=99 for that matter, this is AU
land=EF=82=BCSi=
des I=E2=80=99ve used the
Addams=E2=80=99 name for years and am not about to drop it now=EF=82=BC)
[From more background info the key Cicelyverse tales are =E2=80=9COriginal
Sin=E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9CRomance Palace=E2=80=9D,
=E2=80=9CSunrise=E2=80=9D,=
=E2=80=9CDrusilla=E2=80=9D...All however deal with
alternate outcomes for Cicely and Will...]
***
Part II...
June 1870...The Northwest Frontier on the border of British India and
Afghanistan...
One of the tinier British client states, recently occupied by a force
sent out to suppress what had been assumed to be an outbreak of
unrest...
Not an upswell of Evil that threatened the foundations of the Empire
and all Humanity...At least after the junior leader of the occupation
force, an ambitious young colonel, had had his ambitions unnaturally
expanded to a world stage...
Though no longer able to live up to that saying about =E2=80=9Cmad dogs
and
Englishmen...=E2=80=9D and the noonday sun, the colonel, one Hughston
Forbe=
s,
now grandly self-styled Rajah of Buraipore, could be said to have
performed his assigned duties admirably...The unrest had indeed been
=E2=80=9Csuppressed=E2=80=9D...
By the simple act of the Undead =E2=80=98agitators' having become his
followers and agents after his encounter with and defeat of their
previous leader...
However, those in Delhi and in London who had sent the young colonel
out had been distressed to learn, via Imperial and other agents, that
the new Rajah, leading a strangely powerful and growing force of
natives and his own men, seemed unwilling to return to his post just
yet...At least not until he would return Master of India, as his first
major step...
Some, naturally, in this era of the =E2=80=9CGreat Game=E2=80=9D between
Ru=
ssia,
Britain, and to a lesser extent, France, suspected the ambitious
Forbes had been bought off by the Czar, possibly by Napoleon III in
another vain attempt to re-establish the French in India...Others that
the young man had simply let the natives=E2=80=99 adulation go to his
head...Not all that uncommon in British India...
And a few, highly placed, with special knowledge and contacts,
suspected the Empire faced, once again, a very real and grave threat
from the world=E2=80=99s Darker Side...And had turned to those who could
be=
st
deal with such a threat...
So it was that a middle-aged, tall but rather slight, graying man, of
scholarly appearance...Accompanied by his somewhat more robust, though
white-haired and of equally gentle face...Though perhaps a vaguely
detectable hardness in him...Found themselves riding in carriage
towards the gates of the capital of Buriapore, Mysaze...
Along with, to a few occasional stares from the natives...Most though,
at least since crossing into Buriapore, looking too gray and drawn, as
if worked practically to death and numbed by horror, to take any
interest...A small, lovely Indian woman in her thirties....Dressed in
green, gold-trimmed sari as if for a formal occasion...
=E2=80=9CThe Colonel seems to fear very little, Mr.
Rathskeller...=E2=80=9D=
the woman
smiled at the slighter and grayer of the two men sitting opposite from
her...
=E2=80=9CI imagine, as usual, he has very little to fear, and has taken
lit=
tle
trouble to ascertain that which might be cause for fear...=E2=80=9D the
addressed Arthur Rathskeller smiled back...
=E2=80=9CA fool, like most of his kind...=E2=80=9D the other man, Dr.
Simon=
Duncan
Farris, by name, shook his head... =E2=80=9CAll my reports from our
operati=
ves
suggest he=E2=80=99s done nothing to investigate the occult arts or learn
of
the Council or the Slayer...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CIf your operatives are correct...And unturned...=E2=80=9D the
woma=
n faintly
smiled... =E2=80=9CThis expedition should be an easy and pleasant
one...=E2=
=80=9D
=E2=80=9CI=E2=80=99ve had all reports and their bearers double-checked, my
=
dear
Amara...You can place confidence in them...=E2=80=9D Farris eyed her...A
slight stiffness in tone...
=E2=80=9CThen we are grateful to have their and your assistance, Mr.
Farris...=E2=80=9D she smiled...
=E2=80=9CIndeed, Simon...=E2=80=9D Rathskeller nodded... =E2=80=9CI am
very=
grateful the
Council sent you out...As we are that you agreed to come...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9COnly my duty...And pleasure, Arthur...=E2=80=9D Farris smiled...
=
=E2=80=9CAnd I=E2=80=99ve
longed to see you and Miss Amara in the field after reading of your
exploits together for so long...Our longest lived Slayer to date...=E2=80=
=9D
he beamed at Amara, who nodded graciously...
=E2=80=9COnly good fortune, sir...And the help of my Watcher...=E2=80=9D
sh=
e smiled at
Rathskeller... =E2=80=9CMy time will come when the Fates
choose...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CShiva, you mean...=E2=80=9D Rathskeller teased...=E2=80=9DShe has
=
labored to make me
a Hindu for many years, Simon...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CFate, God, Shiva...All words for the same thing, Arthur...=E2=80=
=9D she
replied... =E2=80=9CAnd only one end in all of them...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CNot for some considerable time, I trust...=E2=80=9D Farris said
wa=
rmly...
***
London...Same time...
Townhouse of Sir Richard Addams...
=E2=80=9CFather?...This looks ridiculous...=E2=80=9D Cicely sighed,
looking=
at herself
in the back parlor mirror...A long stick running through her arms
behind her back...
=E2=80=9CNot at all, girl...One can never do enough to maintain proper
bear=
ing
and carriage...Your mother had a fine carriage...You should wish no
less...=E2=80=9D Sir Richard frowned... =E2=80=9CI should think twenty
minu=
tes
promenade in the back garden will do...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CFather...I don=E2=80=99t want to be seen walking with this across
=
my back...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CAnd you won=E2=80=99t...In the back garden...So that your fine
pos=
ture will
be seen as natural...You must fill your dear mother=E2=80=99s shoes,
Cicely...You have an important position in Society to maintain, young
lady...It is your Duty to me and your mother=E2=80=99s sainted
memory...=E2=
=80=9D
He relaxed his hard stare a moment... =E2=80=9CYou have your sweet mother=
=E2=80=99s
eyes, Cicely...Don=E2=80=99t disappoint her...And me...We=E2=80=99re not
th=
e usual
layabout aristocratic fops, are we?...Show us you=E2=80=99re an Addams, my
girl...=E2=80=9D
She sighed but went out, stick behind her back...Head, to Sir
Richard=E2=80=99s unexpressed pleasure, held regally...Like the future
Queen
of Society an Addams girl was destined to be...
She groaned under her breath, parading grimly up and down the
garden=E2=80=
=99s
main path...
A paper ball striking her just in the crook of her very straight
back...
=E2=80=9CDamnit, Henry!...=E2=80=9D she called to the grinning young
dark-h=
aired boy
eyeing her from a window in the adjoining townhouse...
=E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99=
s hard
enough to walk like a trussed-up turkey to Christmas dinner without
you using me for target practice!...=E2=80=9D
Another ball hit the side of her stick in answer...
=E2=80=9CHenry!!...=E2=
=80=9D
The aforenamed Henry, Foxcroft by last name, staring in some little
surprise as the thick broomstick behind his cousin=E2=80=99s back suddenly
snapped as she raged at him...
>From an unopened window in the Addams house, a tall, rather gaunt-
faced woman staring as well...
My goodness...Miss Trent, Cicely's latest governess...Following on
four deemed too unsatisfactorily indulgent by Sir Richard...blinked...
If she=E2=80=99d be not the future Chosen One as Mr. Farris thinks,
I=E2=80=
=99ll be
very much surprised...
***
The streets of Mysaze, capital of Buriapore...A capital which had
definitely seen better days from the shattered, fearful, and weary-
unto-death looks which greeted the visitors...Only one man so far, an
oily underling of the new Rajah encountered at the entry portal gate,
summoned by the uncertain guards, having offered anything approaching
a smile or voiced greeting...Though his effusive wishes as to their
well being and eagerness to offer an introduction to the new Rajah,
(by his account, a forgotten nephew of the old, though well-educated,
raised up to the throne by the same benevolent Providence that had
delivered India to British care), that evening, was hardly any more
confidence-building...
They having made contact with a Council agent, a small, nervous-
looking man who assured them there was good reason for the fear on the
faces in the street, Farris had suggested they split up briefly for a
chance to get a better lay of the land by day before their
evening=E2=80=99s
encounter with the worse-than-renegade Colonel Forbes and his less
daylight-tolerate minions...
=E2=80=9CNot a British uniform in sight...Forbes is a fool not to keep
some
alive...I doubt we=E2=80=99ll have all that much trouble with him at
that..=
..=E2=80=9D
Rathskeller smiled to his companion who was carefully viewing the main
palace gate before them, taking careful note of the guard towers and
the sentries...As well as observing the road to the outer gate...
=E2=80=9CI wouldn=E2=80=99t underestimate him, Arthur...He
couldn=E2=80=99t=
have had many left
after he=E2=80=99d fought the Parthans...And he must be a skilled fighter
to
have defeated his own sire so soon after rebirth...Look at
them...=E2=80=9D
she nodded at the men and women retreating within their stalls...Goods
and produce offered only hesitantly...The sellers scurrying back under
full shade as quickly as possible... =E2=80=9CMostly transformed but all
warned to keep human for the day...His true palace guard, no
doubt...He=E2=80=99s aware of the need to conceal his hand until he=E2=80=
=99s
ready...And I would guess he=E2=80=99s also well aware of our
coming...This
whole town is one gigantic nest with a human herd kept alive for show
and steady feeding...And quite probably, a trap...He=E2=80=99s hoping to
ta=
ke
me, I=E2=80=99ve little doubt...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CShould we go?...Seek more assistance and return
later?...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CWe=E2=80=99d have to kill our way through his humans...And we did
=
come here
to meet him, which meeting he=E2=80=99s kindly offered...It would hardly
do=
to
reject such hospitality...=E2=80=9D she focused her lovely brown eyes on
the
main town gate...Well-secured but fairly simple mechanism...
=E2=80=9CIt was kind of Dr. Farris to leave us a while...=E2=80=9D she
sudd=
enly smiled
back at Rathskeller, her survey complete... =E2=80=9CHe must sense this an
awkward situation...He being your friend...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CI hope you=E2=80=99re not too put out by Simon=E2=80=99s being
her=
e, dear girl...I
know him well...I assure you he=E2=80=99ll do a fair evaluation of your
skills...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CArthur...Dr. Farris is here to evaluate you, not me...=E2=80=9D
Am=
ara shook
her head at him...Touching his arm as they strolled...
=E2=80=9CThe Council fears we=E2=80=99ve grown too close and is concerned
y=
ou won=E2=80=99t be
ready to do your duty when the time comes...=E2=80=9D she smiled at him...
=E2=80=9CNonsense...And outrageous...They=E2=80=99ve no right to...What do
=
you
mean?...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CI=E2=80=99m over thirty, Arthur...I=E2=80=99ve lived too long for
=
their taste...=E2=80=9D she
sighed... =E2=80=9CThey fear that soon I=E2=80=99ll be too old...And they=
=E2=80=99ve never
fully trusted me in any case...Especially after 1857...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CYou did what you thought was right for your
people...You=E2=80=99v=
e never
wavered from your duty towards the Undead then or since...I=E2=80=99ve
alwa=
ys
told them that...They can=E2=80=99t...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CArthur...The Council is run by Europeans, dominated by the
British...It regards the security of the Empire as the security of
Humanity...And more important than most of that Humanity...And they=E2=80=
=99ve
never been happy about being defended by what they take to be an
inferior...Especially an inferior who joined her people in their
rebellion against that Empire...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CAmara...=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CI=E2=80=99m not afraid to die...But I am afraid to be left alone,
=
without my
dear Watcher...It is cruel of them to wish to take you from me...Given
all I=E2=80=99ve done for them...=E2=80=9D she shook her lovely head
sadly.=
..=2E
***
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