Title: "Her White Knight," (2/?)
Author: TheQueenly1
Pairing: Giles and Buffy, hurrah!
Rating: PG for this chapter. Later chapters may have different ratings.

Disclaimer: As far as I know, all the characters of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" are owned by their creator, Joss Whedon. I do not own them; if I did, Buffy and Giles would have been together as a couple long ago. I am a B/G 'shipper, and proud of it! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so please do not sue. The original characters in this story are mine, however.

Summary: Buffy and Giles are sent back to the thirteenth century, and in the trials and travails they experience, they discover their love for each other.

Spoilers: At least up to "After Life." It is AU after that. Buffy never became sexually involved with Spike. "Tabula Rasa" might have taken place after this story, but if it did, it had a very different beginning and ending.

Notes: This story was written in response to Challenge # 4 here at the ODD website, "The B/G Knight Challenge." Check out the excellent picture, and you will know why I was inspired to write this! The specific requirements of the challenge will be given in the final chapter of this story. Please understand that while I have read books about medieval history, I am by no means an expert on knighthood, weapons, or what daily life was like in the Middle Ages. I have tried to refrain from making errors, but I make no claims to infallibility. [Brackets] indicate unvoiced thoughts. *Asterisks* are used for emphasis.

Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated!

Someone was screaming. Giles' eyes snapped open.

His glasses had been lost in the fall--or whatever had happened--but he didn't need perfect vision to see what was going on. A young girl of about sixteen was cowering against the face of a cliff while a gigantic, hideous, scaled beast was advancing on her with carnivorous intent. The girl screamed again and scrabbled frantically against the cliff face, trying unsuccessfully to climb it in order to escape the monster.

Giles struggled to his feet, and saw out of the corner of his eye a glint of light off steel as Buffy ran past him, sword unsheathed and at the ready. The dragon--for that apparently was what it was--turned its reptilian head to stare at her. Its massive jaws opened--

"Buffy, look out!" he shouted, realizing what it was going to do.

The creature spat something at her and she dodged, but not quite in time. The venom struck her left shoulder and upper arm. There was the horrible stink of burning flesh. Buffy screamed but at the same time lashed out with her sword, cutting the dragon. It roared with pain and reared up on its hind legs, flexing horrible, leathery wings and waving its claws. Buffy struck again, wounding the dragon even more severely before she collapsed to the ground.

Giles flung himself atop his Slayer, rolling them both out of the way as an instant later the dragon spat fiery venom at the spot where they had been. She was frighteningly limp beneath him, but Giles dared not spare any attention to anything other than finishing the job his Slayer had started. The dragon was bleeding profusely from the wounds Buffy had inflicted upon it, but it was still a deadly threat. Giles got to his feet and freed his own sword from his sheath just as the dragon thrust its heavy head down at them. Its jaws opened wide, each one of the fangs as long as his finger--

And Giles rammed his sword home in one sure thrust, deep into the dragon's maw and up through its head. There was a shriek so loud it momentarily deafened him and the creature thrashed wildly for an instant, impaled upon his blade. The sword was almost wrenched from his hands. With a great effort, Giles pulled the weapon free, getting ready to plunge it into the dragon again when, with one last spasm, the gigantic scaled creature collapsed dead before him.

Giles sagged with relief and was lowering his sword when he heard a moan. His sword clattered against the hard ground as he instantly turned his attention to Buffy. Kneeling beside her, he turned her over to examine her injury. He did so as gently as possible, but it still obviously hurt, for she moaned again, tears seeping from beneath her closed eyelids.

"It's all right, Buffy," he said softly. "It's over."

"Giles," she cried.

"I'm here, love." Silently he was thanking God that for once she had worn a tee shirt and sports bra instead of one of her usual skimpy halter tops. The clothing had absorbed much of the dragon's venom, but the skin beneath it still appeared badly burned.

He realized someone was standing next to him and glanced up. The girl they had rescued from the dragon stood alongside him, a frightened expression on her face. It was the first time Giles had ever seen anyone literally wringing their hands. "Be thy lady sorely hurt, sir?" she asked.

"Have you any water?" he asked.

"I-I have some. In my saddlebags. For the horses--they must have--"

"Go get it," Giles said curtly. "Hurry."

The girl ran off. Giles swiftly stripped away the tee shirt and, after only a moment's hesitation, the bra. Buffy was unconscious now, her breathing harsh. God only knew what the properties of the dragon's venom were--

The girl returned, bearing water bottles, clean linen cloths, and what looked like a horse blanket. Giles snatched the bottles from her and began washing the remains of the venom from Buffy's skin. The girl settled herself beside them.

"Allow me," she said, when Giles had finished cleaning the wounds as best he could. The girl skillfully bandaged the area with the linen cloths and then covered Buffy gently with the blanket. "We have done our best for now, sir. Thy lady's wounds may be treated better at my father's castle."

Giles gazed at her numbly. "Your father's castle? Who is your father?"

She looked at him strangely. "My father be Duke Edward, and our castle lies yonder." She pointed, and indeed an imposing-looking castle stood off in the distance. As Giles blinked at it, unable to believe what he was seeing, she added; "I be his daughter, the Lady Eleanor. I return home after a long journey, and my brother--" Her expression crumpled--"my poor brother was escorting me." She gestured to a spot over to one side, and began to cry.

Giles looked in the direction she had indicated, and was instantly sorry he had. The body of what had once been a young man lay on the ground; the dragon had torn him open, his armor notwithstanding. More importantly from Giles' perspective, two horses stood nearby, peacefully cropping grass and taking no notice of anything else now that the dragon was dead. Giles felt an almost physical relief at the sight of the animals; horses would get them to the castle much faster than on foot.

Lightly, he touched the weeping girl's shoulder. "Lady Eleanor, I'm sorry for your loss, but I must get Buffy proper care."

"B-But my poor brother--our father will wish to know what happened--"

"We shall tell him, but there is nothing we can do for your brother now."

"He must have Christian burial!"

"And he shall, Lady Eleanor, but your brother is dead. Buffy is alive, and we must keep her that way." Giles had risen to his feet as he spoke, and taking the girl's hand, drew her upright as well. "You take one of the horses--Buffy and I will ride the other." As if in response to hearing her name, his Slayer moaned, which only increased Giles' agitation.

Eleanor wiped her tears with a small bit of linen then made an effort to pull herself together. "Perhaps a litter could be constructed, sir?"

The Watcher shook his head impatiently. "No time. We must reach the castle as soon as possible."

Quickly, Giles retrieved his and Buffy's swords then readied Buffy for the journey, wrapping the blanket around her, speaking to her softly in order to make her understand that she must get up on the horse's back. Eleanor mounted her own mare, while Giles took the horse that had belonged to her brother, holding his semiconscious Slayer close and supporting her on the saddle before him. Giles saw with relief that the animal was a warhorse, and thus would have no difficulty supporting two riders while still making good time to their destination. They set off for the castle. Buffy was restless now, still emitting an occasional moan; she seemed to be burning up with fever, and kept fading in and out of consciousness. She clung to him, and Giles held her close, driving the horse as fast as he dared with an injured Buffy in the saddle. "Don't leave, Giles," she whimpered. "Please don't leave."

Giles held Buffy tighter. "I won't, love. Hush now, I'm here."

She still repeated her soft pleas until he doubted if she even realized she was speaking aloud, or that she heard and understood his attempts to soothe her.

When they finally arrived at the castle, Giles scarcely paid attention to those who greeted them as they rode into the outer courtyard, or Eleanor's excited conversation with them, so worried was he about his Slayer. He accepted the help of other hands in taking her from him long enough for him to dismount from the horse, but when his feet touched the ground he immediately reached out and took Buffy back, holding her blanketed form close in his arms.

That was the moment when he overheard Eleanor refer to him admiringly as "stalwart," and he realized she was giving the people assembled around them an account of the killing of the dragon. "There's time for that later," he interrupted sharply. "Buffy's wounds must be tended to at once."

Eleanor looked flustered. "Oh, of course, good sir! Forgive me." She turned to some of the servants. "Take this lady to my bower at once-- I must care for her. She hath been burned by the dragon's breath!"

There were cries of shock, amazement, concern, and curiosity. Again hands reached for Buffy, but Giles' hold on her only tightened. "Show me the way to Lady Eleanor's bower, and I will carry her there myself."

A young knight clad in chain mail stepped forward. "The servants will do it, sir. Duke Edward requires that thou and the Lady Eleanor appear before him and tell of what hath occurred."

"I shall do so as soon as my Sl--my lady's wounds have been properly treated."

"Sir, the Duke requires thy presence at once," the knight replied with a hardening of his tone. His hand moved pointedly to the hilt of his sword.

Giles shifted Buffy in his arms, his expression going so frighteningly cold that more than one person in the crowd around them hurriedly stepped back. Eleanor quickly placed herself between the two men. "Sir James, thy devotion to duty be admirable, but please soften thy manner. This gentle knight hath saved my life, and he be as puissant as thou. Sir Giles, I promise that thy lady shall receive the best of care. Please come with me to see my father."

Reluctantly, Giles handed Buffy over to others, who took her very respectfully, casting him glances that were apprehensive as well as impressed. Eleanor issued a few more instructions before she and Giles, escorted by Sir James, were taken to the great hall for an audience with the Duke.

Logically Giles knew there was nothing else he could do for Buffy at the moment, but it still took every bit of his training as a Watcher to detach himself from his emotions and focus on observing his surroundings as a way of discerning a solution to the problem at hand. As near as he could tell, he was being led through an English castle of perhaps the thirteenth century, in the company of people from the same period. How he and his Slayer came to be here, and how they were to return to their own place and time, he could not determine at the moment.

They entered the great hall and an imposing gray-haired man, apparently the Duke, rose to greet them. Lady Eleanor rushed forward to embrace him, as effusive as a much younger girl. "Father! I thought that I should not see you again--and if not for the brave Sir Giles, I would have been devoured by a dragon!"

"Thank Sweet Jesu and Our Lady that thou were not," her father said, clinging to her tightly. Over his daughter's shoulder, however, the Duke's eyes regarded Giles intently, almost appraisingly. The Watcher was also aware that Sir James had not departed after accomplishing his errand, but stood several paces behind him, silent but armed and ready.

The Duke continued, "Eleanor, how fares thy brother? Be he badly hurt?"

His daughter drew back from him, the joy fading from her face, her manner much more subdued. "He--he died, Father, slain by the dragon."

The Duke's expression saddened; he seemed to age before their eyes. "I feared as much, when I did not see him with thee," he muttered. For a moment longer he and his daughter clung together; then with a visible effort he straightened, pushed Eleanor gently away and indicated she should take the seat beside him. He resumed his own ducal seat, his eyes thoughtful and almost stern as he gazed at Buffy's Watcher.

"Greetings, Sir Knight," he said to Giles. "At least I assume that thou art a knight, for both my daughter and my servants say that thou hath slain a dragon, a great and vile worm that hath killed my sheep and my vassals for nearly a fortnight, and hath already killed two knights that I sent against it."

"That be true, Father," Eleanor said eagerly. "Sir Giles was the most brave and stalwart of men--"

The Duke gave her a glance of affectionate exasperation, and she subsided with a slightly-embarrassed smile. The Duke went on; "For this I be pleased, Sir Giles, but I confess I be also confused. How came thee and thy lady to this place? If thou be a knight, where art thy horse and thy armor? Most of all, how was it that thou were able to slay the dragon, when my son, a mailed knight of goodly prowess, could not?"

Eleanor started to speak again, but her father instantly gestured her to silence, his gaze never wavering from the Watcher's face.

"My companion is the Lady Buffy," Giles began carefully, thinking it wise, since this was a feudal society, to give his Slayer noble rank. "We were making a pilgrimage when we were set upon by bandits. Our horses and all our belongings, save our swords, were stolen. I do not know how your son died, Your Grace, as he had been killed before Lady Buffy and I arrived upon the scene. We saw a young girl, whom I have since learned is Your Grace's daughter, Lady Eleanor, being threatened by a dragon, and we acted accordingly to save her. Lady Buffy was injured by the dragon, and now I wish to see her and know how she fares." Giles gave the Duke a Ripperish stare. "I trust that Your Grace will show two forsaken travelers no less in the way of Christian charity and succor than did Lady Buffy and I to Lady Eleanor in time of need."

Putting the Duke on the defensive was a risk, Giles knew, but he dared not let the man question him too closely, for he had no answers to give--and Buffy would require a safe place to stay and good nursing care if she were to heal from the dragon's venom.

Astonishment flashed across the Duke's face at Giles' taking control of the conversation. When an expression of embarrassed contrition followed, Giles knew he had said the right thing. To turn him and Buffy out of the castle now, or even to ask many more questions, would make the Duke seem churlish and tarnish his honor.

"Of course, Sir Giles. Forgive me if I seemed to lack gratitude. It be only--well, these art fearsome times, and strangers more often bode ill than good. No one here knows thee or thy lady..."

"Your Grace, I know him!" a voice announced.

They all turned their heads to see another knight enter the audience hall. A man whom Giles had never seen before strode directly up to the Watcher, clapped his hands familiarly on Giles' shoulders, and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Welcome, kinsman!"

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