In the Defence
Series One
In the Defence
Characters: Dresden, Molly, Morgan, Merlin, Ramirez, Lily, Fix, Murphy
Timeline: AR, Set during the events in Proven Guilty when Molly is put on trial
Summary: Adventure Tragedy. Contains Character Death.
Author's notes: Apologies for taking a few paragraphs from Proven Guilty, but I had to make this story fit somehow though. I also had to make Morgan a little bit meaner so you don't feel sorry for him.
"Warden Dresden," he said in a deadly quiet tone. "Your compassion does you credit. But as you yourself pointed out, our resources are spread to thin already. The Council cannot afford to have a regional commander of the Wardens burdened with a hazardous rehabilitation of a warlock. The duties of the war and of containing the increasing occurrence of black magic must have your full attention."
Oh, God.
"The Laws of Magic are clear. The prisoner admits her guilt. I am not unmoved by the prisoners plight, but we are involved in a war for our very survival."
Ohgodohgodohgod…
"I therefore take no pleasure in announcing the prisoner's fate. It is the judgement of the Senior Council that the prisoner is a warlock, guilty of breaking the fourth law." He lifted his chin and said, very calmly, "The sentence is death. To be carried out immediately."
"Morgan," the Merlin said quietly.
Morgan looked at Molly. Then at the Merlin. He drew up a small smile and took a grip on the sword, lifting it vertically before him.
I looked frantically round the room. Ramirez, like most of the wizards there, had a stunned look on his face. He looked back at me with a blank expression, and gave me a little twitch of his shoulders. Lily looked remote and troubled. Fix's expression was blank, but his jaws were clenched hard, muscles standing out and creating shadows on his face.
"Harry?" Molly whispered, shaking so hard she could hardly speak. "Harry?"
I turned back to the Merlin, his eyes were hard, his face as unyielding as stone. Morgan looked cautiously at me – but it didn't stop him from moving toward Molly with a steady, dreamlike slowness, sword in hand.
"Harry," Molly sobbed.
I promised Charity.
I took my staff in both hands and stepped forward, putting myself between Morgan and the girl. "Morgan," I said. "Stars and stones, man. Please don't do this. She's a child. We should be helping her,"
My words slowed him, and he froze in place for a terrible heartbeat. Then he closed his eyes and grinned, savouring the moment where he would finally have the chance to hurt Harry Dresden. He opened his eyes again and whispered, "Stand aside Dresden."
I look wildly around the room for someone, anyone to help, for some way to stop this madness. All I saw were the distraught faces of the people I once though I could count on. Refusing to even let themselves think about opposing the honoured Merlin.
Realising that once again, battered and bruised Harry Dresden was going to have to stand on his own again the powers that be, I faced Morgan for probably the last time as a comrade and tightened my grip on my trusty staff. No way was I letting go of this thing.
Meeting my eyes and seeing that no force on this earth could have made me move, Morgan stopped and looked for answers at the Merlin.
Though the Merlin continued to hold a blank face, I could feel a sense of final satisfaction emanating from him. Since that fateful day the Council had voted in my favour for the murder of my mentor, the Merlin stopped seeing a pesky orphan and started seeing a troublesome stain that threatened his position. "If you refuse to move Dresden," He ordered to me (no longer using my Warden title), "You will be branded a traitor to the Council and sentenced to immediate execution," he left the words hanging in the air.
The words were just for formality now. At that moment, no one in that warehouse believed I was going to stand aside and leave the young girl defenceless.
The Merlin sighed, as if expelling a decades worth of pent up rage and nodded, ever so indiscreetly to Morgan, signifying an action that he already understood the meaning of. Morgan turned back to me and began walking forwards, practically bouncing with each step from the thought of finally killing the tiresome bug known as me. From behind me, Molly fell onto her knees on the bare concrete and let tears pour out of her eyes.
My own eyes closed for a brief second and memories of times past came into view. The first was in this very same warehouse just a short time ago, when I had stood and done nothing when Morgan decapitated a god-dam child for a crime that the poor boy didn't know of or possibly understand. My forehead frowned as I pictured the bright red blood flowing freely from the lifeless body, its stain tainting the area with death as it was still doing now and probably years to come.
My second thought was of Karrin Murphy's face that very same afternoon, when I told her about the defenceless kid I had failed to protect. I'd never forget the pain she showed on her face when she asked me what I had done about it.
"You saw it?"
"Yes."
"You didn't stop it?"
I continued to talk to her about it and convinced her that the child was to far gone to be saved, but I will never forget that look of fear in her eyes, that look of disappointment when she dug deep inside her friend and found a dark hole in the person she thought would always be lit. Murph was the one person in the world who I knew I would never give up on. The person whose side I would always stand by if things got tough and that moment made me feel that I might as well have done the execution myself. I'm still trying to convince myself that the child couldn't have been helped.
My final thought was of the conversation I had with Charity while trying to convince her that taking Molly to the Council was the right thing to do. Looking back on it now, I should have grabbed on to my past self's shoulders, yelling at him to snap out of it and to not believe the Molly would even stand a chance up against the Merlin, especially with me standing by her. In the eyes of the White Council, I was the black sheep that had wormed its way past their laws and came out the other side without an ounce of remorse.
Most of all, I remembered the promise I made to Charity about protecting Molly. The promise I made to a Mother that I would protect a Daughter with my very life and to bring her home safe again. I gave her my word and she returned it with her trust. The kind of trust that would have made God him-or-her-self, green with envy.
Opening my eyes again, I looked at the murderer who was still advancing upon me, and therefore Molly's position. He was about to slaughter two, living humans and he was actually smiling. The BASTARD was actually looking forward to this. Holding onto that anger, I built it up inside me, piling it on top of emotion after emotion until it felt as though I was glowing with power. While anger can be a great source of energy, it is also one of the more difficult to control. Stray ends of my anger poured into my muscles, making me clench my teeth and turn my knuckles white from holding my staff with extreme prejudice. Energy also poured into my garments on me. My shield bracelet became suddenly charged with power, making it feel like I could hold off a tornado with the bracelet alone. My rings were suddenly filled with suppressed kinetic energy, ready for me to fling my enemies away with a simple flick of my hand. Through my arm, I felt my staff slightly vibrate with power. The runes I had carved along the wooden handle myself began to glow a bright, florescent orange as the tool I had used in countless battles before me, (and hopefully countless battles ahead), became charged in manner it was so used too. Any energy left that I had still not stored in my spiritual battery, drained into my trusty duster hanging off my shoulders, working its way into my defensive spells that had been set up for the explicit intention of not letting anything past the fabric. Physical or otherwise.
When Morgan was just a few meters away, yet again he stopped. By this point it was just getting annoying and he had lost the sense of doubt he made me feel when I was deciding whether or not he was going to try and kill us. The man I was only beginning to respect had shown his true colours, even without the use of a soulgaze. Looking closer at him though, I realised that he hadn't stopped out of choice. While that look of satisfaction remained on his smiling face, not a single part of him was moving. He was literally frozen in place.
Keeping Morgan just on the edge of my vision, I realised that everyone in that room was also suffering a similar problem. A group of huddled apprentices in the far corner had frozen looks of nausea on them and I could actually see a small bulge of vomit just below the throat of one of them. The Merlin still sat in his podium glaring daggers at me, but I shuffled my head slightly to the side and he continued to focus intently on the spot, several inches to the left of my ear.
Tuning my ears slightly, I heard shallow breathing behind me and quickly spun around with my staff trained on the time-stopping stranger.
Or rather, I tried to spin around with my staff in hand. What happened instead was that the part of me that could still move, turned and left my physical body still defiantly standing in defence of Molly. I looked at my arm, and it was every so slightly transparent.
As I wondered at my ghost…like…ness, I saw the dull shape of a small figure walking towards me. Lowering my arm slowly, I was presented with the still, very much moving, Lily as she descended on my position, her long, white hair blowing ever slightly from the breeze of power that was emanating from her.
Being a tall troll that I am, Lily had to look up at me and began to shake her head slightly, while still keeping her eyes trained on me. Looking up at me in pity, she asked me "Harry, I know you're angry, but are you sure you want to do this?" I continued to stare at her. "What you're about to do is declare war on the Merlin. You won't make it out of here alive."
Closing my eyes briefly, I felt to check for my power that I had originally gathered in and around me, and found only a blank slate.
Sensing what I was doing, Lily sighed and looked down at her feet. "Have no fear for your power Harry, it is still pent up in your physical body, ready for when you will inevitably need it." She looked back at my eyes. "I was forced to slow down time to try and convince you not to do this, but the only way you could talk was if I temporarily unleashed your spirit" She frowned while trying to think of the right words, "This is what another person would see inside you if they initiated one of your soulgazes and don't try to look at yourself because you won't seem any different. No one has the ability to literally see themselves for who they truly are. One would go mad."
Before she had time to talk about spirits again (I'm not a fan of theological wisdom), I walked up and embraced her into a hug. "Goodbye Lily. Thank-you for all you've done for me." She initially tensed up as her faerie defences kicked in, but I felt her quickly suppress them and she wrapped her arms around me.
"Farewell, Harry Dresden. I wish you all my luck"
Releasing her, I looked back into her eyes and a thought suddenly sprang into my head. "Lily? Can I still move around for a bit until you start time again?"
"You can't take anything with you Harry. When I start the world again, you'll shoot back to your physical vessel. Only your memories will remain."
Still holding her shoulders, I turned my head to look at my battered 'vessel'. My eyes, no longer impaired by the veil of time, saw the power glowing from my beaten face. My duster was glowing brightly with wards, but fashion wise, it was still full of tears and nicks in the fabric. Hell's bells I was a shabby creature, I'm surprised anyone was willing to even look at me. I understood now why people weren't afraid of my appearance when the assassin of the day came to knock at my door.
Still smiling, I turned back to Lily's face, "I know, but there's just one last person I need to talk to."
Next Chapter:One last Goodbye