Time In A Phial

See disclaimer in chapter one.

Chapter four. A young wizard's tale

Harry cast a cushioning charm on the Firebolt's handle. They both mounted and were off. He flew very high to give her a view of the surrounding area. He first headed towards the castle complex he had discovered yesterday. He flew lower for a better view and felt Gwynne getting nervous, squirming against him.

"That is the evil castle, Harry. Please do not let them see us. They would kill us."

"They can't see us this high up. We look like a bird to those on the ground. Will you tell me about the castle, Gwynne? Later I mean."

"Yes Harry. I will tell thee, er, you, everything."

"Were you born here Gwynne?"

"Yes." She pointed in a north-east direction." "Over there near the tall trees."

Harry headed the broom in the direction Gwynne indicated, and flew just over the tree tops. Several small dwellings could clearly be seen. "Can you see your house from here?"

"I can see the houses, but I don't know which one where I was born. Harry, I am frightened to be here. Can we go away?"

"Ok." Harry flew very high and headed for the area where he first saw her.

Harry flew lower again just above the tree tops. "This is where I saw a small gathering of men. The killers were there arguing with them about something. Who are they?"

"They are a group of men, some of them just boys, who escaped from the castle guards. They were afraid that they would be captured and tortured."

"Tell me about it later. What were they arguing about?"

"The killers knew that I had been hiding there for some time. Someone must have betrayed me. I hid with them as a boy. They never knew. The killers threatened to take all of them back to the castle where they would be tortured and killed if they did not say where I went."

Harry now traced the path he took following the killers as they stalked her. "Look down there near that opening. Do you see it?"

"Yes, that is near where they captured me. Harry, you do not think they still be there?"

"No, I don't think so. They were really frightened by the monster that saved you."

"Yes, that was some monster. He still scares me sometimes."

Harry turned to her and said, "Gwynne, are you scared of me now?"

She laughed. "No Harry. I not be scared of you. I favor, er, like you, Harry."

"There are your clothes over there in that pile near the big tree. Do you want them?"

"NO!, I never want to see them again."

"Good. What would you like to do now?" he asked.

She whispered into Harry's ear, "I need the loo."

He laughed. "Ok, We'll head back."

While Gwynne was in the loo, Harry look through the cupboards for something light for lunch. "Ah, Soup," he said. He found a can of vegetable soup and started to prepare it when Gwynne came into the kitchen. "Gwynne, how about I teach you some cooking magic." He divided the soup into two bowls and placed them on the table. He took out his wand and handed it to her. "I'm going to teach you the warming charm I use to heat the soup." He told her the charm and showed her the proper wand movement. "Ok, you try it now."

She did the charm perfectly. Both bowls. She jumped up and down with joy. "My first real MAGIC!" she squealed.

Harry took her in his arms and hugged her. "I'm proud of you Gwynne. You deserve a reward. Let's eat, and then I have something to give you."

They ate quickly, Gwynne practically pouring it down her throat. "Ok, my little magical friend, come with me."

Harry led her into the storage room an rummaged around in his trunk. Finding his spare wand, he held it behind his back and said to her, "Close your eyes and hold out your hand." He placed the wand in her hand. "Ok," he told her, "Open up."

When she saw what Harry had given her, she starred at it open mouthed. Then burst into tears. He hugged her, and said softly, "You deserve it. You are a powerful wizard."

She looked at her wand again, then looked at Harry. A great smile burst across her face, and she reached her arm around his neck and kissed him fully on the lips. "Thank you Harry. Thank you. I never had a gift before. Thank you." She reached up and kissed him again.

After a bit, giving her time to adjust to the fact of her wand and her magic, Harry taught her the various cleaning charms. She learned quickly. Harry also gave her a wand holster and showed her how to attach it to her hip, and how to draw it out when needed. She was proud of her wand. The world could end right now and she wouldn't even notice.

Harry spent the rest of the morning teaching her wand magic. The spells, the charms, the various wand movements. She learned amazingly fast, and could do even the more complicated spells on her first try. She had an amazing memory, and could recall anything instantly once she had verbalized it. Wow, Harry thought. This girl would have set Hogwarts on fire with her skills.

It was a nice sunny day with a cool breeze blowing across the encampment. Harry suggested they sit outside while they talked. He grabbed a couple of butterbeers, conjured two lounge chairs, and they sat down to talk. "Gwynne, why don't start with what you know about your family, your mother."

"I know little about any family I had. I never knew a father. They told me when I was still growing that my mother had died, and I was to be taken to the castle. I learned sometime later that was not true. I think they killed my mother and took me to the castle to be one of their virgins."

Harry raised his eyebrows at that. "Virgins?" he questioned.

"Yes. Virgins were raised and trained to be sold to the highest bidder. We were very valuable to the castle. Travelers came from far and wide to buy us. We made the castle lord very rich."

"Why were you so valuable?" Harry asked.

"Because I had been taken from my mother at an early age, and was trained in all the pleasures that men wanted. I was educated, but not too much. Men don't like a women smarter than they are. I could read and write in several languages. I was trained in all the areas of keeping a man's Manor running smoothly. I was taught how to control the other servants of the household. I was trained to be a man's concubine. My life was not difficult there. I had it easy compared to some."

"Like who, Gwynne."

"Like some of the young boys who were captured and tortured. Those men out there in the forest. The ones that gave me away. They were the lucky ones who escaped. Young boys were captured and beaten to break there spirit. They had their parts, well I don't know what you call them, we called them manjars. Anyway, they were cut off. We could here them screaming in pain. It was terrible. These boys were trained to be slaves, servants who attend to the rich lords and their courtiers. Some even had their tongues cut out. They, like the virgins, were sold to the travelers."

Gwynne paused. She suddenly looked very pensive. "There is more, Harry, but I do not know how to tell you."

"Gwynne, you know that you can tell me anything. I promise, anything you say will not change how I feel about you. I like you very much, Gwynne, really I do. But I feel that it would be better for you if you tell me everything now and not have dark thoughts and secrets mucking up what you feel for me."

"Harry, I told you that they prepared me to be everything a man would want in, you know, in that way."

"You mean sexually?

"Yes, Harry." Her face was red with embarrassment now, but she continued. "They taught me how to do everything with a man except anything that which would take my virginity. They protected me from this very carefully. I always had castle guards with me for protection."

"You mean sexual intercourse?"

"Yes, if that is what you call it. They made me wear a leather piece around me so that no one could touch my sex."

"Ok, I understand. So continue, but only if you want to."

Gwynne took a deep breath. "Please do not think badly of me for this, Harry. It is what we all were taught. We hade no choice. A girl can do many pleasurable things to a man. Our hands, our mouth, our tongue, our bodies. We were taught what and how to do many things to pleasure a man. We practiced on the older boys before they were taken away and, you know, had their things cut off. It was very cruel, and so we girls did our best to be good for them."

Harry interrupted. "Gwynne, lets take a break. By the way, your doing great with the language. Can I get you another butterbeer?"

"Harry, I am supposed to be waiting on you. I was trained to be a man's servant."

"Gwynne, if you ever stoop to being my servant, I'll cut you up into little pieces and feed you to the birds. I don't want a servant. I don't want a women to grovel at my feet. I want a women to be my equal in every way. A women to love me as I love her."

Harry took a deep breath and said, "Sorry, Gwynne. I didn't mean to sound off like that. But I get very mad when I hear about women being mistreated."

Gwynne just looked at him. A tear trickled down her face. Harry saw that she was upset by his diatribe. He stood and went to her and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry," he said. "I think that you are a wonderful person, and I don't mean to upset you. If I ever upset you again you can cut off my manjars." He laughed. "We call them bollocks."

They both laughed at that. "I don't think I would do that, Harry. That is a part of you that I am going to need. Some day. I hope."

Still holding her, Harry looked deeply into her eyes. "You are really something special, Gwynne. I think that I had better keep you, before someone else discovers how wonderful you are." He kissed her, and she returned his kiss.

"So when did you escape? What happened that made you run away when you did?"

"This will be very difficult for me Harry. So please be patient with me."

"It's alright, Gwynne, take your time. I understand."

She took another deep breath and continued. "One of the girls that I was friendly with had not been sold yet. She was not very good looking, so would not bring a high price. One day she just disappeared. No one knew what happened to her. Then she suddenly was back. She looked terrible, and did not speak to any of the other girls. She just kept to herself. One day I found her hiding in a corner of the practice room, crying. I went to her and asked what was wrong. She hugged me and cried her eyes out. Finally, she told me her story."

"She said that when a girl has her first, what you called our monthly period, the girl is taken to a special room and tied to a table with her legs spread wide. They cut out a part of her, down their, where we have sex. She said that the men doing this were laughing and saying that she would now never be able to enjoy sex, and that she would never be tempted to have sex with another man, except the one who owned her. She said it was the most terrifying and painful thing she ever experienced."

Gwynne had tears streaming down her cheeks as she continued. "Suddenly I knew that I had to escape this place. I knew that I would soon have my first period, so I quickly made my plans. I knew that I had some kind of power to do evil things, things that would get me killed if discovered. Now was the time to use these powers I thought. I stole some old boys clothing that had been discarded. I cut my hair short and dressed like a boy. I rubbed some dirt on my face and arms to hide my appearance. As I headed to the corridor that I knew would lead me outside the castle, I was stopped by two castle guards. In a terrified state I raised my hand and pointed my finger at them. A flash of light shot out from my hand and they dropped to the ground. As I continued on, I was confronted several more times by castle guards. Each time I used my evil power to stop them. I knew this was wrong, and that I would be killed if caught, but I was determined to escape."

Again, Gwynne took a deep breath. "Finally I found my way outside the castle, and I ran for freedom. I wandered for many days, always heading north away from the castle. I was hungry and getting weak, having no food with me. A flaw in my plans. Finally I was found by a group of boys about my age. They took me in and quickly brought me into their fold. I was one of them. A castle runaway. For near two years we traveled around the countryside, always one step ahead of being caught. I don't think anyone really tried to catch us. We were not worth anything to the castle. All this time, I lived as a boy. They never knew. But something happened that made one of the boys suspect that I was someone worth catching. That was when those killers came for me. You know the rest of the story."

This was a lot take in, Harry thought. He never could have imagined this degree of cruelty. He was beginning to understand what she had to endure, and how it affected her life now. And how it affected her feelings towards him. This is going to take some very careful handling of her, Harry thought as they headed back to the camp site.

End chapter four