The Nuuruhuine

Chapter 4; Fury of a Thunderbird

Harry found it amusing that the Elves and this Wizard lived in such elegant structures whilst the humans he had seen all seemed to live in smaller villages and towns. Bree was the largest he had seen so far, but then again he still hadn't found where the leaders of the Humans lived.

Below him was the coolest looking building he had ever seen. A kilometre high obsidian tower with four spikes running around the blunt hexagonal top. The grounds were filled with ancient and sturdy trees and about half a kilometre away from the base of the tower was an outer wall of the same black stone that made up the tower.

What really intrigued Harry about the building was the spells that riddled its structure. The tower itself had an indestructible spell on it far more powerful than anything he had ever seen. And what Harry really liked was the design of the top of the tower which, after plenty of study from his lofty altitude, he discovered would enhance the range of any spell cast from it.

This Wizard was obviously not someone to cross so Harry decided to contact Anthony to see how he was. He could already sense who was there and where he was in the structure. There was something about Life Takers that made them like beacons to Harry's telepathic senses as well as any powerful Vampire.

"Hey, Anthony?" Harry sent out to the Vampire he could sense in a room halfway up the tower. "Are you ok?"

"Harry!?" Came the cheerful response. "Oh, thank God! I thought I was alone."

"Most of us appeared in the North, five appeared across this world. I've already found Archie, Mila and Lex." Harry explained. "We were transported here by that Chaotic Magic at Hogwarts."

"That's what I figured." Came the response. "Are you here to help me escape?"

"Of course." Harry sent a mental smile across the link. "Can you get out? I don't sense any guards."

"I think there are only two Wizards here. One is really powerful, your level, the other is really weak, but has power in vocal compulsion." Anthony reported.

"Have they done anything to hurt you?" Harry asked, remembering Archie's treatment.

"Not really, the powerful one has taken a few samples of my blood, but I made sure I pulled all life from it." Anthony informed Harry with a mental smirk. "The building has extensive wards that I have been trying to pick apart."

"What do they do?"

"As far as I can tell they prevent anyone from leaving or entering who are not specifically keyed in." Anthony sighed. "And not surprisingly, I'm not keyed in."

"Any idea how I can bring it down?" Harry asked hopefully.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to ask." Harry could almost hear the smirk through the link. "I found a loop hole in the wards, there are wards to prevent lightning from striking the tower. They will drain power temporarily from the secondary wards, like the one that prevents me leaving, in order to maintain power."

"Nice loop hole. My Animagus form will thank you for letting it have a play. I've been holding it back when it comes to storms. We're already making enemies in this world." Harry explained. "I'll have to cut off the link before I let the Thunderbird out otherwise you'll be fried."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Anthony laughed. "I'd rather not be brain dead thanks."

Harry cut the link off abruptly as he allowed the more destructive part of his mind to come to the fore front. Almost immediately the valley echoed with the discordant screech of the Thunderbird as Harry's golden wings lit up in a bright glow. The clouds, which had been covering Harry's approach suddenly shifted from their white to a dark grey as they condensed and formed into storm clouds.

A huge crash split the air as the first bolt of highly charged lightning struck near the outer wall. Harry concentrated on the tower using his Thunderbirds need for absolute destruction to aim the lightning bolts at the tall obsidian structure.

After a few minutes of this two figures appeared on the top of the tower, one wore a long white robe whilst the other was wearing a black and grey ensemble. Harry saw Saruman lift his white staff towards the heavens and Harry screeched again causing wind to whip across the valley followed quickly by hail that pummelled the two men as Saruman tried to banish the storm.

The Thunderbird swooped down below the clouds into plain sight and screeched again to counter his magic. It was tiring and Harry realised the truth behind Anthony's words. Saruman really was as powerful as Harry. But Saruman wasn't as powerful as a Thunderbird. Especially a Thunderbird that he had just made a direct challenge against.

Another few crashes of thunder echoed over the wind's howl but no lightning struck the spikes on the tower's tip. Instead they seemed to collect just below Harry's Thunderbird form, another few struck the ball before it seemed to come to life and became a single huge lightning bolt as it ignored the spikes and struck right on the flat top where the two wizards had been moments before until they sunk down through the floor as they realised what was about to happen.

Harry felt something give in the structure and suddenly he wasn't forcing the lightning to hit the tower any longer. The strikes were being attracted naturally. He continued for a few more seconds before the lightning began to be forced away again to hit the ground. He watched with his keen eyesight as a figure with emerald wings jumped from a balcony about half way up the tower. Anthony spread his wings and skirted the trees as he flew across the grounds against the wind that Harry was forced to ease to let him through. Harry continued the assault from the covering darkness of the clouds for the next few minutes until he was sure that Anthony was well away from Saruman.

With a smirk Harry reigned in the Thunderbird and shifted the destructive side of his mind to the side, not forgotten but just put aside. He dipped his wings to circle around the tower at a lower altitude and saw with satisfaction that Saruman and the other Wizard were on the top of the tower again watching him.

When Harry was forced to roll to avoid a blast of nasty looking magic from Saruman's staff he decided that enough was enough and turned to the West to follow Anthony, shifting into his normal form as soon as he was out of visual range of the obsidian tower.

Harry spotted Anthony on a mountain top only three kilometres from the Saruman's tower. He dived and landed, surprised by the hug he received. He returned it kindly. Obviously two weeks hidden away with Saruman had taken their toll on Anthony. He kept quiet whilst Anthony pulled himself together.

"Here, I brought you a present." Anthony said as he pulled away and handed Harry a piece of parchment. "Saruman showed me it yesterday and I stole it when he wasn't looking. It's a map of Middle-Earth."

Harry took a good look at the map as he questioned Anthony on his stay with Saruman finding out that the Vampire wouldn't need blood for another few days at the earliest. Also it seemed that Saruman wasn't actually that bad, he had treated Anthony with respect at least making sure that he had enough blood at hand. Where he got the blood he didn't know but Anthony knew that it was human blood.

"Saruman must have got the blood from the people of Rohan here." Harry said pointing at a country just south and east of the little depiction of the tower of Isengard. "Look here, this is us." Harry said pointing at the tower. "I came down this line of mountains here." He pointed out as he ran his finger up the ridge to the small depiction of Rivendell. "This is the Elves who had Mila and Lex. There are Elves here and here as well." He told Anthony pointing at a large forest to the north-east and to the south.

Harry paused as he found the route he took from Bree before continuing. "This is Bree where I found Archie turning all of the humans there against each other." He said with a laugh.

"That's sounds like him." Agreed Anthony checking the route from Rivendell to Bree.

"If you get to Bree then you can replenish your reserves there before heading north past this a small town here," He pointed at a unmarked area to the north of Bree. "Then travel north again. The others are setting up in this large plain there."

"Where are you going to go?"

"We're still missing Alex. My best guess is that the humans have him somewhere." Harry told Anthony.

Anthony waved for the map before finding a depiction of a city to the south-east of where they were. "Saruman explained the humans to me. There are three main countries. One lives all the way to the North and East. Nasty ones supposedly. The other two are the Rohirrim, or the horse masters who live in the Gap of Rohan, which is where we are now. Their capital city is call Edoras with a King as leader."

Harry nodded when Anthony paused to make sure he understood. "The other country is the largest one, called Gondor. They are almost always in a perpetual state of war wince their borders side with Mordor, the major bad guys according to Saruman." Anthony explained, vaguely pointing out the three sides of the square that represented Mordor. "The Gondorian's capital is Minas Tirith, their king died nearly a thousand years ago so they are ruled by a Steward."

"I think Gondor would be the place to look for Alex." Harry concluded.

"I agree, but be careful, the current steward is a right warmonger. He's managed the push the orcs right back and hold them at bay. But according to Saruman he is a nasty piece of work. Doesn't like change or anything he views as unnatural." Anthony sighed.

"Reminds me of someone." Harry sucked in breath staring off towards the setting sun for a few moments until he felt a gentle hand on his side.

"What happened was nobody's fault but his own." Anthony pointed out kindly.

Harry covered his insecurity by studying the map carefully, memorising it as well as he could before handing it to Anthony. "Take that with you, get the others to start using it to make friends around us. I haven't been to this area here yet." Harry pointed at a few villages and towns to the west of Bree. "So maybe someone can go and have a look, just make sure they are careful about it. Also this open area to the north probably isn't completely empty either."

"Sure thing boss. Now go help Alex, you look like you need cheering up." Anthony reassured him before opening his wings and using them to gain a small bit of altitude before heading off the side of the mountain towards the north.