Chapter 9: In Which They Become Closer "Spike. Wake up." "What? Oh. Right then." Spike sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked around. Buffy was next to him. "I have food for me. But I'm not sure about you. What?" She pulled out a loaf of bread the servants had given her. She wrapped up the package again and looked at him expectantly. He squinted at her. "What's this?" "What?" "You. No rude awakening. No bitchy comments about my eating habits. No general insults." "I dunno." She shrugged. "Sun's going down. We'll be able to set out soon. Where do you think this Crown of Knowledge will be?" "You're doing this on purpose. Trying to make me go insane for your fun. I won't work." "I'm not trying to do anything. Spike. I mean it." He dared to look at her. To see if she was laughing to herself. She wasn't. She looked tired and weary. "You're going to starve...I could kill a little animal for you and you could drink it. Cos you can't kill those either right?" He shook his head. "Your hearts desire is to be healed. It's to be justified for being lonely." He stood up and gathered his things. He put the sword on and looked distastefully at the armor but began to buckle into it anyway. He could see the horses, still waiting by the mouth of the cave. "I always thought I didn't deserve it. That I was the Slayer. And after saving the world so many times I would find a little happiness in love." She began to redress. She packed up the food she hadn't eaten and made her way outside. Spike followed a few minutes later, once his armor was on. She climbed on her white horse and charged away. "Wait!" Spike called. "I saw something. I'll be right back!" "It's dangerous!" "I'm the Slayer!" He got on his horse, but didn't try to follow. He had a feeling he would get lost. She came back a few minutes later, triumphantly holding a dead rabbit. She flung it at him. "Here. Breakfast. Don't say I never gave you anything." "Thanks?" "Do we just keep going through the woods with no particular place in mind? Seems kind of dumb." She ignored him. "You might want to turn." "Oh." She turned away as he began to quietly drain the already cooling blood of the rabbit. "Could you be a little quieter? That's gross." "Sorry." He finished, wiped his mouth and dropped the carcass to the ground. "What we need to do is find someone who knows about the Crown of Knowledge. Which entails finding people. We'll have to get out of the forest. There is the kingdom of Lothian on the other side. We can go there since I already told Arthur that we were from there." "How do you know all this?" "There wasn't tv in my day Slayer. We read things called books." "You read books. Like a lot of them? Oh man! I bet you were a geek! I can so picture it." "I was not." He picked up the pace, his horse trotting past hers. He wanted to get further away so she wouldn't see how embarrassed he was. He wasn't turning red, but it was all over his face, just the same. "I read books too." She countered, realizing he had insulted her. "I just don't have as much time. Unlike you I can go outside during the day." The darkness was creeping towards them. Spike didn't like it. It felt unnatural. He didn't say anything though. Buffy was freaked out enough as it was. "That's when you're supposed to shoot back?" "I would love too. But there's a dead end." "What do you mean dead- oh. The path just ends. You sure we didn't take a wrong turn? A right fork when we should have taken a left?" "I'm not sure." From behind them, it seemed out of nowhere, a horse trotted up. "You are to be brought to the castle of Lady Morgana Le Fay." "Who the bloody hell are you?" "I am a page." "Why should we go with you?" Buffy glared at the young boy. He looked slightly amused. "She's a female Merlin. Lead the way." "Spike. It isn't a good idea." "It's a much better one than going against her wishes." "I thought we had a crown to find?" "She might have information." Reluctantly Buffy followed. Chapter 10