Chapter 3
Cordelia found it hard to believe. She felt every sexual thought, every sexual feeling she had ever felt for Angel drain from her body. How was it possible for a man so good at so many things to sound like…that? No wonder he listened to that yodeling music of all those fat opera people, not like they’d show him up. Cordelia wondered why they had risked death and maiming so many times. Angel could have sang and the demons would have opted for suicide.
“Well you can almost always find something right out of something so wrong.” Cordelia said casting a doubtful glance at Wesley.
“Right, the man will do anything to save a life.” Wesley answered with a pained look on his face.
“I was thinking more along the lines of our heads haven’t exploded but that too.” Cordelia admitted relieved to see the host take the mike away from Angel.
“Hey how ’bout that, a performer. Why don’t we just call him Angel, the vampire with soul? I’m gonna have a chat with Mr. Tall Dark and Rockin’ and meanwhile, Durthock, the child-eater, is gonna open up to y’all. He’s searching for the gorrishyn mage that stole his power and he’s feeling just a little bit country. So, let’s give him a hand.”
The host led Angel off the stage to a table several feet away from Wesley and Cordelia. “Well, aren’t you a hot ticket? These are the only two seats left but you still have a partially unobstructed view of your…friends.” His remark sounding more like a question puzzled Angel. Why would the anagogic demon doubt his friendship with Cordelia and Wesley?
“What can you tell me?”
“I can tell you’re all business.”
“She’s in danger.”
“No, not at the moment,” the host replied peaking around Angel for a better look. “She was feeling a might queasy earlier but the cause seems to have stopped.”
Angel looked over his shoulder following the green faced demon’s eyeing trail. “No, not Cordelia, she’s fine; she is fine, isn’t she? Did you sense something?”
“No strudels your dumpling is fine. You have plenty of time to take care of any pressing engagements.”
“Then tell me where I can find the woman. She has to face The Tribunal and she’s alone.”
“And you’re feeling pretty guilty about that. Hey, you made an honest mistake. You killed her protector. A lot of guys would have done the same. Of course now she’s gonna have to face the judgment with no champion and that’s looking grim for her and the baby.”
“Then tell me where she is so I can help her.”
“Well, who’s a little curt? Who’s a little Curt Jurgens in ‘The Enemy Below’? The Tribunal will be wherever she is. She can’t escape it.”
“Where is she?” Angel growled his patient past the point of growing thin.
“My question first and answer true, because you know I’ll know; why Mandy?”
“Well, I-I know the words and,” Angel leaned closer to the host embarrassed someone would hear, “I kind of think it’s pretty.”
“And it is, you great, big sap! There is not a destroyer of worlds that can argue with Manilow and good for you for fessin’ up. She’ll be at Forth and Spring. The trial will be there.”
“Trial, how does it work?”
“I can only tell you what I tell you. The rest is up to you.”
“Can I save her?”
“Try and find out. You can tell me how it turns out on your next visit.” Angel cast the host a silent question. His reply a big, green grin and a simple, “you’ll be back; tonight’s the easy one. Tootles to you and your…friends.”
There was that tone again, maybe not so much questioning as sarcasm. Angel was sure he didn’t like this guy and he was damn sure he was never singing for him again.
***
The woman, panic stricken, rushed down the almost empty street as fast as her swollen stomach would allow. Three huge thrones rose from the ground blocking her flight. She heard a horse whinny behind her and turned to see a knight in armor riding in her direction. Looking back at the thrones blocking her escape she found three, dark-robed figures prepared to rule on her future and the future of her unborn child. The knight threw down his disk.
“Where is your champion?” The judge asked the frightened woman, her arms clutched protectively around her stomach.
“He’s-he’s dead. I ask for asylum.”
“You have no coat of arms and no champion? Asylum is not ours to give. Two are chosen to meet in combat. One can save your life. One can take it. This is the ancient law. Your life is forfeit. You have no champion.”
The knight pulled his sword prepared to take her life. As the woman backed away a bronze disk landed on top of the first.
“Yes, she does.” Angel stepped up addressing the tribunal.
“The trial by combat will begin.” The voice commanded from inside it’s hooded cloak.
“I really appreciate you coming through for us like this. But you know how you’re not really good at anything? Are you sure you can do this?”
“Hey,” Cordelia challenged, “he may be a little slow coming out of the gate but he makes up for it in the stretch.”
“It’s OK Cordy, let me handle this.” Angel responded urging Cordelia to the sidewalk with Wesley before returning to the woman. “Trust me, I grew up around horses.”
“How long has it been since you’ve ridden one?”
“It’s been a while but don’t worry. It’s not something you forget, I can do this.”
The woman walked over to the side joining Wesley and Cordelia as Angel stepped closer whispering to his horse. “Nice horse. Try not to make me look stupid out there. Cordelia’s already heard me sing so it’d really be nice if I didn’t fall off; OK?”
Angel mounted the horse taking up his shield and lance. One of the judges dropped a red cloth to the street below, the challenging knight immediately charging.
“I guess that means go.” Angel instructed his horse.
The challengers charged, their lances meeting in a heavy clash. Angel managed to strike his opponent knocking him back but he remained firmly in his saddle. They turned and charged again. The impact knocked Angel from his horse, the stretch of his back landing on the hard pavement. Picking himself up Angel hurried to his horse retrieving his sword as the challenger charged again.
Angel knocked the knight from his horse with one heavy blow, their sword fight continuing on foot. Evenly matched their exchanges were fast and furious until a move Angel was unprepared for turned his sword plunging it into his stomach.
Dropping to his knees Angel clutched the embedded sword with one hand supporting his weight with the other.
“Oh my God…Angel,” Cordelia screamed, Wesley’s tight grip preventing her from rushing to Angel.
“Cordelia, you can’t. We can not interfere, the tribunal will not allow it.”
The demon knight approached the Tribunal waiting for its ruling. “The champion is defeated. She and all her issues are yours.” Unaware of the movement behind him the demon drew his knife prepared to slit the woman’s throat.
Angel stood from the street stained with his blood yelling out to stop the would be assassin. “I move to appeal that ruling.” Pulling the sword from his body Angel beheaded his opponent with a clean sweep of his sword.
“That’s the champion I know and love,” Cordelia shouted.
“Cordelia, please.”
“Oh shush yourself Wesley; what are they gonna do, we won.”
Angel dropped the bloody sword panting against the pain of his injuries but managed a quick smile in Cordelia’s direction before addressing The Tribunal. “She’s safe now, right?”
“You have won. The woman is under our protection, as is her daughter until she comes of age.” The Tribunal vanished, taking any trace of the battle with them.
Angel straightened and still panting limped off the now deserted street.
“You okay?” Cordelia asked rushing to his side.
“Yeah, I’ll live,” he answered with a sly grin.
“You sure seem to bleed a lot.” The woman said, taking Wesley’s offered arm as they walked down the street with Cordelia helping a limping Angel.
“It’s part of the job.”
“Yea, the fights may vary but the clean up never changes. Angel bleeds and I clean it up. Gees Wesley, come help me. How much tonnage do you think my back can carry?”
“You think I’m fat? I am not fat.”
“Pfftt.”
***
“Wes, what do you think about us getting rid of the case board?” Angel asked leaning back on the sofa, Cordelia knelt between his outstretched legs cleaning and patching his wounds.
“Good idea. Start over with a fresh slate.”
“Actually, I was thinking of us starting over with no slate.”
“Of course, we shouldn’t be keeping score. We’re not running a race we’re doing a job one soul at a time.” Wesley agreed as he began dismantling the board and its stand.
“There you go big guy, all done.” Cordelia announced with a warm smile and gentle rub to Angel’s stomach. “You did good tonight, champ.”
“Yea I did, didn’t I?”
Cordelia had been surrounded by evil most of her young life and yet she seemed untouched by it as though an invisible protector shielded her from the iniquities that flailed the rest of the world.
She had remained in her spot nestled between his legs, her arms now resting atop his muscular thighs. Angel reached out one hand, his touch wavering. Would this protector stop him if he risked moving a little further into her sunlit world? Would it fail her should she slip into his dark world?
Her smile was warm and inviting, the love in her eyes genuine and he felt that glimmer of hope just a little more. “You know word on the street is that I’m your champion.” Angel whispered placing a couple of light taps on her nose with the tip of his finger.
“Well you can’t believe everything you hear on the streets.”
“I also heard from a pretty reliable source you were going to help me find that light at the end of the tunnel.”
“Well reliable sources are hard to come by these days so I suggest you take good care of that particular source.”
“I intend to,” Angel decreed with a certainty that still felt foreign to him. “Listen, there’s something I need to do tonight but tomorrow I want to show you and Wes this place I stumbled across. It might provide a good office location and me a place to live.”
“Sounds good, OK tomorrow we office and apartment hunt.” Cordelia answered pushing herself up. Angel stood up with her grabbing his coat. “Goodnight big guy.”
Maybe her light wouldn’t be extinguished. Just maybe it was bright enough for both of them. “Cordy, what about your inevitable stardom?”
“I never said I wouldn’t have a day job.”
Epilogue
Angel peered through the thick, shatterproof glass picking up the phone of the prison’s visitor booth. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Faith replied a pleased smile etching across her face.
“How you doing?”
“Pretty good, I guess. I did sign up for this.”
“Regretting the choice?”
“Bad day. One of the girls in the yard tried to build a rep by throwing down with me. She had low self esteem and a home-made knife, so..”
“Oh, is she…you know…alive?”
“She lives to tell the tale. Took the knife away but I can’t say much for the wrist it came in.”
“So you didn’t kill her?”
“I really wanted to…took a big beating from the guards, too.”
“Sorry.”
“Earned worse. Guys like us kinda got it coming.”
“I had to sing Barry Manilow.”
“You’re kidding.”
“In front of people. In front of Cordelia Chase,” Angel added leaning closer to the glass separating them.
“You lie,” Faith challenged unable to stop the laughter. “And here I am talking about my petty little problems.”
“Just wanted to give you a little perspective.”
“Copa Cabana?”
“Mandy.”
“Was Queen C impressed?”
“I don’t want to dwell on it.” Angel dropped his gaze remembering the look of horror on Cordelia’s face. It had been worse than her reaction to the demon pregnancy.
“Food getting any better?”
“It’s not that different from what I grew up on. It’s a little one note, eating the same thing every day.”
“I wonder what that’s like.”
“The road to redemption is a rocky path.”
“That it is.”
“You think we might make it?”
“You know, a week ago I would have probably said no but now I think we just might.
