Date: Fri, 13 Jan 1995 17:33:00 +0000 Reply-To: AHILL@CCVAX.UCD.IE Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Amanda Hill Subject: The Challenge: In the End (1 of 2) These two parts make up the final 'chapter' of The Challenge. The first three parts are: The Challenge: Hope and Life (1 file) The Challenge: Face of the Enemy (1 file) The Challenge: Our Today (2 files) I'm more than happy to forward parts to anyone requesting them. All four parts can stand independently although they form a more coherent story together. I'd love to hear what parts people preferred and whether they think the main character is worth continuing. Anyway, on with the show! ******************** The Challenge. Part 4: In the End. A HL story. By Amanda Hill. ******************** *The temperature was getting cooler as I left the temple far behind me. I could sense the storms approaching as the skies grew a deeper shade of red. The skies echoed the turmoil inside of me. I had tried to avoid this for over three and a half centuries but could run no longer. It was time to stop running, turn around, and fight.* [Flashback: Toulouse, 1925] I fell on the ground for what must have been the hundredth time that day. I was aching all over and wanted nothing more than to have a hot bath and sleep for the next week. "Get up." Phillippe reached out his hand to help me up. No sooner was I up but Phillippe had thrown me down again. I had had enough. I pulled myself to my feet, dusted myself off, and looked at Phillippe. "Enough already. You've made your point. So I'm not the world's greatest fighter! It's no big deal." I turned to walk from the mat and unwrapped the bandages from my hand. "You can walk away from me. But not everyone is going to be so accommodating. You need to be able to defend yourself, Allan, or you're not going to last long out there." "I don't remember ever asking for this! It wasn't my idea to become Immortal, get wrapped up in some "Game", and try to cut people's heads off!" I threw the bandages at the ground. Phillippe was calm. He always had an air of serenity about him when we'd start talking, or arguing, about our Immortality. "None of us ever ask for it, sweetheart. But it's what we are. We can't change that. Just live with it. And believe me, it's much easier to live with if you can look after yourself and handle a sword a little." I sighed. "But I don't *want* to fight. Let someone else have the Prize for all I care. Can't I just go away somewhere, where no one will bother me?" Phillippe smiled and turned towards the wall behind him. "There *is* nowhere to go. And you can't run forever -at least not without being able to fight your ground when the time comes. Which it will. Eventually you're going to have to turn around and draw your sword before you can run again." With that he grabbed one of the swords from the wall and threw it into my hand. Instinctively my left hand flew out to catch it and before I had a chance to argue, his own sword was in his hand as he lunged towards me... [Flashback ends] *I couldn't help but smile at the memory. Phillippe was adamant that I'd learn to protect myself. We'd train day and night, and everytime I thought I was getting the hang of it, he'd introduce a new move and I'd be back on the mat that had become so familiar to me. But he always listened to what I had to say. I had no desire to fight and he understood that. He pointed me to where would be safe, even if only for a time.* [Flashback: Paris, 1927] "Come on, tell me where we're going?" "Patience is something you'll learn over the next century or two. You'll see." Phillippe could be infuriating when he wanted to. We had been travelling for hours but his goddamn spirit was as high as always. It was unnatural even for him. "Well wherever it is, it must be good. You haven't stopped smiling since we left Toulouse!" "Ah, Paris is such a beautiful city, don't you think? There's someone I want you to meet. Only another five minutes, trust me!" I smiled back at him. "I was afraid you'd say that." Five minutes later he opened the door of a large church in front of me. Instantly I felt that familiar buzzing inside my skull. I turned towards Phillippe. "Who's here?" He put a hand on my shoulder. "Relax. Darius is a friend. Anyway, you're on Holy Ground! You're quite safe." A stranger came towards us smiling. "Yes, quite safe. Come in. Nice to see you again Phillippe" Phillippe and Darius shook hands briefly then hugged for much longer. Finally they separated and Phillippe indicated towards me. "This is Aleanna, or Allan as she prefers to be called." He then turned towards me. "And this is Darius, an old but good friend of mine. And no one to fear." I nodded towards Darius and he smiled back. "Would you care for some tea?" Darius smiled on as I finished the tea. It was one of the most unusual tastes I had ever experienced, but nice. Phillippe shook his head in mock disgust. "I can't believe you actually drank that! All this time I thought no one but Darius could stomach the stuff." He had point blankly refused the tea. Which was surprising, at least initially, as Phillippe was one of those people who drank tea at every available opportunity. "I like it. What's it made from? It's certainly not tea as *I* know it." Darius offered to refill my cup. "Oh this and that, you probably don't want to know." "You don't. Trust him on that." After a few minutes of small talk, Phillippe arose from his chair. "I'm going out for a while. There's someone I need to pay a visit to. I'm sure I can leave you two in each others company. You can drink more of that diabolical tea, or something." Darius turned to me before walking with Phillippe to the door. "Please, feel free to look around. I'll be back in a moment." I got up and walked towards the window overlooking the church grounds. There was a wonderful atmosphere to the entire place. A sense of security. I hadn't been in a church so beautiful since Jeanette's wedding... "You have quite a friend in Phillippe, you know. He's a good soul." I jumped as Darius' voice broke me out of my reverie. "Uh...yeah, I know. He's been great. A little pushy, at times, but he's been there." Darius laughed. "Yeah, he gets that from his own mentor. Andrew never let him away with a thing." He doesn't talk much about Andrew. He's mentioned him from time to time but tends to avoid the subject." "Andrew died before Phillippe's training was finished. He wasn't ready for the shock of that. That's when I took over." Darius waved me towards the sofa. We both sat. "The first few years are a scary time for anyone, - they're bad enough without finding yourself alone". "What does this have to do with me?" He put his hand on my shoulder. "Phillippe is worried about you. You're coming into a difficult time right now and he wants to be sure you can cope." My voice lowered with my head. "He wants me to leave, doesn't he? He doesn't trust me anymore. Not after what happened." Darius shook his head. "That's not so, Allan. It *is* time for you to leave, yes, but it's not for the reasons you think. The time always comes when the student must leave their teacher. Now is your time. You've experienced the Quickening. Phillippe can no longer protect you from the Game. It's time to find your own way." "But I had no choice! I didn't want to kill him! Why can't I stay? I don't know where else to go!" I was becoming agitated. I felt like I was being pushed further and further along a path I never wanted to take and the pressure was closing in on me. Darius just took my hand in both of his and spoke in the gentlest of voices. "I know. And Phillippe knows. You still have friends here and you always will. You'll be fine, you're much stronger than you give yourself credit for. As long as you're not afraid to trust people you'll be okay." He got up to leave me alone with my thoughts and my tears a moment before returning with a fresh pot of tea. [Flashback ends] *Phillippe assured me that he and Darius would be there if I should ever need them. Leaving was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. But I survived. If only so as not to disappoint them both. Their faith in me had given me the strength to continue then, and many times since. It was no different now. When Darius was killed it felt like some wonderful force had dropped from the world. So much knowledge and strength -wasted, because of the paranoid fears of a few men whom Duncan had called 'Hunters'. Not even Holy Ground was safe anymore. Calem had found me on Holy Ground. He arrived at the temple, my home, and issued his challenge. He gloated over Sam's death and wished he had been there to kill him himself. There was nothing I could do to stop him but agree to meet him at the old Cardassian storehouse in the valley towards which I now walked. It would be our last meeting...* [Flashback: Toulouse, 1927] That familiar sensation penetrated through my skull. I had felt it before, but only in Phillippe's presence and that of those he called friends. He wasn't here now. But someone was. My first instinct was to run, but my path was blocked. "My name is Heinz Kohlberg. Nice to make your acquaintance, if for the last time." "Aleanna Noel. What do you want?" His laughter bounced off the quarry walls. I had gone there for peace, not a fight. "I should think that was obvious." With that he drew his sword. I reached for the sword Phillippe had given me until I got my own. Now I understood why he used to constantly remind me to always have my sword at hand. "I don't want a fight." He laughed as he circled me. "You're new to this, aren't you? Too bad. This shouldn't take long." With that, he plunged. The battle had commenced. It was only during the fight that I realised just how much Phillippe had taught me.... I just wasn't sure if it was enough. Heinz was better than me. No doubt about it. It was all I could do to keep the sword in my hand. He blocked each of my attacks effortlessly. I was getting tired. My arms ached as I tried to hold him off. I was going to die. This was it. The end. No turning back this time. My back was against the quarry wall as we battled on the ledge. Nowhere left to run. I closed my eyes and was about to give up when I heard him yelp. My sword had hit the quarry walls and caused a few rocks to fall out. Heinz was struggling to regain his balance as they tumbled under his feet. It was now or never. I had no choice... I didn't want to see it as I swung my sword around. I closed my eyes and felt the force as the blade hit home. Nothing happened. The air was calm. I opened my eyes and looked at the body. No head. I stared transfixed at what I had done until the first blue sparks shocked me back to reality. Suddenly I wanted to run. I wanted to get far away, not have to deal with this... More rocks tumbled from the quarry side. The atmosphere became frantic and I was the focal point. The first bursts of energy hit with such suddenness that I screamed. It wasn't pain, at least not as I had experienced it previously, but it was filled with anguish. I clutched on to the sword. It kept me anchored as emotions, feelings, everything, swept over me so fast that my senses were redundant. I kept screaming until the power pulsing through every corner of my body subsided. It was only in the subsequent calm that I realised I had company. Phillippe held out his hand to me. He never said a word. Words seemed pretty useless at that moment in time. I remember very little of the drive back home. Just that my thoughts where in a hundred million different places and not finding anything to cling too. I had been lucky. Next time I mightn't be... [Flashback ends] *Would luck pull me through this time? The last time I met Calem he was a more skilled swordmaster than I, but in the centuries I had trained with some of the best. Both the MacLeods, Fitzcairn, Montaya, they all taught me so much. Including confidence. I had definitely improved. Only question now is how much has Calem improved? Still, there's little point in worrying over that now. I would get my vengeance for Phillippe's death. If I have to die trying. "Heart and steel" was what Phillippe would always say. The only things needed. The last four and a half centuries had made the heart strong. Phillippe, Darius, and Duncan had given me all the courage I needed, Gerauld, Sam, and others had shown me how to use it. I could see the Cardassian ruins over the hill. Calem was there. Around his neck he wore Phillippe's pendant with outrageous pride. There was nothing for it now but to reach for steel...* _____________________________________________________________________ /| || Amanda Hill : ahill@ccvax.ucd.ie || || My sword has a heart of steel.... but to others it's just ==== painted plastic! }{ ** ____________________________________________________________________ This message was brought to you by Baj. Still the only Lefthanded Telepathic Immortal Bajoran member of the Q Continuum with a mild addiction to Chocolate..... ____________________________________________________________________ =========================================================================