The Silent Beast
Ron woke up first. He was lying on something prickly; it felt rather like a pile of hay. He opened his eyes and got up on all fours. It wasn't hay; it was some kind of yellow-leafed bush. He shook his head to clear it and looked around.
He was in a thick shrub in the midst of an extremely yellow countryside. All around him, as far as he could see, were yellow fields of grass, with just the occasional shrub or tree to break up the yellow monotony. His personal shrub was somewhat flattened, and he imagined that must have been from when he plowed into it at high speeds. And there were the pieces of his broomstick, splinters half-buried in the branches. That figured.
He dug in his robes for his wand. Just his luck it would be broken too… no, thankfully it was fine. There was nothing more humiliating than asking Hermione to fix his wand again.
Amazing, really, that it had survived. The dust storm had been a whirling, spinning, yanking, bone-rattling ride, and he didn't remember most of it. Perhaps he'd been knocked out by the force of the winds? But he didn't seem to have been turned to dust by the desert's sands, or indeed to have suffered much other damage, so the Protego spell must have held. He certainly didn't remember landing — or rather, crashing — into this bush.
"Reparo," he said, and his broomstick reassembled itself.
He looked around again. There was no sign of anyone else. He felt a jab of ice in his heart. What if they were all completely separated? How could he find them again?
He tried to stand up in the branches. "Hey!" he shouted. "Hey Harry! Ginny! Hermione! Hagrid!… Neville! Luna! Anyone there?"
He waited, but there was no answer. He tried calling out a few more times. It was amazing how quiet it was. There weren't even any birds.
Finally he figured he'd hop on his broomstick and do a search pattern. Spiraling out from this bush, he could cover a lot of ground pretty quickly. They couldn't have been scattered too far apart, could they?…
He found Hagrid pretty quickly. He was lying flat-out, spread-eagled, next to another bush. The motorcycle was lying in several pieces nearby. From above, Ron could see several deep gouges in the earth where the motorcycle and the huge man had struck, bounced, and scraped their way along the ground for a hundred yards before coming to rest.
"Hagrid! Hagrid!" he cried, landing and trying desperately to wake him up. He seemed to be mostly in one piece, but one leg was twisted under him in a bad way, and he was covered with scrapes and scratches. Hagrid made no response, except to moan like a dying hippo.
"Just a second, Hagrid, I'll fix you up," said Ron. Years ago he might have doubted his ability to heal injuries, even regular non-magical ones like these, but he'd had plenty of practice in his years as an Auror. With a great heave — but with barely any effort, since he still had the blue pearl to help him — he straightened out Hagrid's leg, causing Hagrid to bellow in pain. Then, with a flick of his wand, Ron healed him right up. Another quick spell cleared up the scrapes and scratches. Hagrid took a deep breath and sat up.
"That was a good job," he said. "You've gotten real good at those healing spells, Ron. Many thanks to ye."
"Do you know where the others are?" asked Ron. "You're the only one I've seen."
"Nope," said Hagrid, getting to his feet. "All I remember is hitting that storm, and then hitting the ground. Do you suppose we're in Oz?"
"Must be," said Ron. "Unless we got blown somewhere else entirely. We seem to be in the middle of nowhere. Just grassland."
Hagrid looked sadly at his motorcycle. "Do you think you can do anything with this?" he said.
"Probably," said Ron. "I mean, if Reparo can fix a broomstick, it can fix a flying motorbike, right?"
Hagrid looked doubtful, but Ron flicked his wand at the pieces and they immediately started joining up. Within a few seconds the bike had reassembled itself. The engine roared to life, and Hagrid jumped on it to turn it off.
When he did so, the silence dropped on them again, and they could hear someone screaming.
"Shut up! Shut up!" said the voice. "I'm trying to sleep! You're giving me a headache! — Ow!"
It was Luna. Ron and Hagrid were able to quickly follow the sounds of the screams to a nearby bush, where she, like Ron, had also somehow managed to land; and her broomstick was in good shape. But she had a nasty bruise on her forehead and was clearly dizzy and not thinking straight. Fortunately it was just as easy for Ron to fix her up as it had been to help Hagrid.
"We haven't been able to find the others," said Ron. "But hopefully they're nearby."
"I don't think so," said Luna doubtfully. "They got separated from us pretty quickly."
"How d'you know that?" asked Hagrid.
"I was awake for most of the storm," she said. "I'd rubbed some of the Torquinia oil into the handle of my broomstick, do you remember?"
Ron and Hagrid shook their heads blankly.
"I specifically remember telling you as we were leaving Rinkitink," she said, sounding a bit exasperated. "The Torquinia is an extremely rare insect from Anglesey. They always fly in such a way that their bodies move in a corkscrew fashion, but their heads remain perfectly still. It's some kind of gyroscope thing. They can be ground up into an oil and it helps keep your broomstick steady. You don't remember this at all?"
"I wish I'd been paying attention, that's for sure," said Ron. "So you weren't tossed around by the storm?"
"Well, I was blown around, but not really tossed," she said. "I was definitely kept upright. And I was able to keep track of everyone, for the most part. At least at first. And then there was this huge gust that separated you two from the others, and no one else saw, so I thought I should try to follow you and make sure you were ok."
Ron was a bit rankled at the idea that he needed looking after by Luna, but he held his tongue.
"I was mostly able to stay close to you," she said. "The storm carried us up to the edge of the desert and then sort of dumped us there. We were all out of control, though, and even though the dust was gone, the winds were still really strong. You two were tumbling over and over and falling towards the ground. I tried to catch up with you and cast Wingardium Leviosa, and I think I managed to guide your broom into that bush, Ron, but I couldn't do anything for you, Hagrid — I think your motorcycle was too heavy. And then I wasn't paying attention, and the wind caught me, and I think I yanked the broomstick or something… something hit my head, and that's the last thing I remember."
"Many thanks for trying, Luna," said Hagrid. "I landed real close to that bush. And Ron was able to find me pretty quick and fix me up. Between the two of you, I'm sure you saved my life."
"Yeah, thanks," said Ron. He tried not to feel bitter about it. Being saved by Luna! The sooner that was forgotten, the better. "Well, hopefully it won't take too long to find the others. Do you have any idea where they might be?"
Luna shook her head and frowned. "No idea. I lost track of them. I'm pretty sure they escaped the storm, but other than that they could be anywhere."
"If we had the white pearl," said Hagrid, "we could just ask it."
"Well, we don't have it," said Ron. "Anyway, I found you both by just flying a search pattern. I guess we should just keep doing that. But the three of us working together should be able to cover a lot more ground."
"We have to make sure we don't get separated, though," said Luna. "We don't have Ginny here, and we're in Oz, the most powerful fairy country in the world. We have no idea what we're liable to run into."
Ron couldn't argue with that. They worked out a modified spiral search pattern with the three of them flying in parallel about a hundred yards apart, well in sight and shouting distance. Ron figured they ought to be able to cover several square miles in every direction by nightfall.
It was a long, wearying ride, and as the sun began to set, they had seen no sign of any of the wizards, or indeed anything at all other than the endless grassland. Every once in a long while they saw an outcropping of rock, or one or two lonely trees huddled together against the wind, but otherwise it was utterly silent and empty. The size and silence of the landscape was stupefying.
As the sun was setting, they landed together not far from a cluster of stones. Ron had picked the spot because it was a little bit higher than the surrounding landscape, giving them a bit of a view of the countryside. As Luna unpacked and set up the tent, and Hagrid started a small cook fire, Ron used omnioculars to scan the horizon in every direction.
"There's no sign of them at all," he said at last. "They must have been blown miles and miles away. They could be anywhere."
"Maybe it would be best to just start heading for the Emerald City," said Luna. "We know that's where we're headed, anyway. We can just meet up with them there."
"My father said that the muggles are developing some new kind of telephone," said Ron. "One that you can carry in your pocket and talk with anyone in the world. Sure would be handy to have something like that now."
Hagrid scoffed. "Sounds like magic to me," he said. "The muggles'd never be that clever."
"You shouldn't underestimate them," said Luna. "After all, they flew to the moon in 1969."
"Oh, Luna, everyone knows that was a hoax," said Ron. "They can't even get broomsticks to fly. How could they get to the moon?"
Luna just rolled her eyes. "Never mind," she said. "We obviously can't get any further tonight. Let's get some rest."
They were just the usual Ministry-standard tents, nothing special. They joined Hagrid in his tent for dinner, since it was the largest, and Hagrid brewed up some foul black tea and a served them a surprisingly good potato and sausage pie. After dinner Ron tossed and turned a bit, worrying about Harry and Hermione and the others and running over the various ways he'd been embarrassed today, before finally falling asleep.
He didn't sleep long. It was somehow too quiet. Shortly after dawn he got up and dressed and sat with a cup of tea at the door of his tent, watching the sunrise, waiting for the others to wake up. From the slight rise where they'd camped, he could see a long distance over the dry, nearly featureless yellow prairie. In the far distance it seemed that perhaps he could make out one or two bright points of light, like glints of metal. Could it be the Emerald City? That would be east of here…
Luna poked her head out of the tent, blinking blearily in the dawn light, and Ron nodded a greeting. She looked about to say something, but then she stopped, her mouth dropping open, staring past Ron with slowly widening eyes.
"What's wrong?" asked Ron.
"Look in the rocks behind you," she whispered.
Ron turned. Behind him, crouched there partially hidden by the stones, and utterly silent, was a beast as large as an elephant. It looked like a massive fox with golden-yellow and white fur, glassy black eyes, a stubby snout, and huge pointed ears; but instead of front legs it had giant leathery bat-wings. It was a giant golden fox-bat.
Ron screamed and his wand came up instinctively. "Immobilus!" he cried.
The creature blinked its huge eyes, and then opened its mouth wide as if it were going to scream back. But no sound came out. Instead Ron felt a wave of fear and horror come over him. It was the most terrible sensation of creeping terror he'd ever felt — as if someone were watching him from behind, and ants were crawling all over his back and his neck. He bellowed and turned to see who was watching him, but no one was there except, of course, Luna — and Hagrid, who had quickly staggered up out of his tent when he heard the scream. But Hagrid was on his knees with his hands over his ears, and Luna had fallen back, staring up at the fox-bat in terror. Ron could still feel the ants on his back, so he instinctively threw himself down and rolled in the grass.
For a minute or so Ron frantically turned around and around on the ground, trying to squish everything that he felt crawling on him. That seemed to help. Finally he stopped, breathing hard, and looked up at the fox-bat. Its mouth was closed and it was looking at him again. He couldn't tell if it was about to attack or not.
What had happened? Ron had the feeling that it had used some kind of sonic attack — that it had made a noise so high, or so low, that it echoed in his body instead of his ears. It was a sound that could drive someone mad. It was not a creature to mess with, especially if regular magic didn't work against it. But it hadn't actually attacked yet, had it? Was it dangerous, or just defending itself?
Then it opened its mouth wide again, and this time its long needle-like teeth were dripping with saliva. That made its intentions pretty clear.
"Poor girl's hungry," Hagrid muttered. "No wonder, is it, nothing much to eat out here is there? Now what do bats eat?…"
Ron, frozen in fear, unable to take his eyes off the fox-bat's teeth, heard Hagrid rummaging in a pack. "I know I packed some snacks…"
"Brilliant, Hagrid," whispered Luna. Ron wanted to shout, "No, Hagrid! It's probably a vampire bat! Look at those teeth! It wants fresh meat — us! Run! Attack!" But he still couldn't move. It was as if his Immobilus spell had struck him instead.
"Here we are," said Hagrid. "Fruit is what you big bats eat, ain't it? Lucky I thought to bring some along. What d'you think of watermelon, eh?" Ron heard a soft thump that sounded like Hagrid had tossed a watermelon onto the stones in front of the fox-bat. The fox-bat cocked its head, and its huge ears twitched.
"An' I've got a bunch of apples," said Hagrid. "And these bananas. They're kind of squished, I think I put 'em down under the raw meat by accident, but they should taste fine…"
"Raw meat?" whispered Luna.
"Yeah, and roots and fungi," said Hagrid. "I thought we might run into goblins, and need to win their trust. It's what Griphook always liked to eat. Plus I had some lying around and I didn't want to let it go bad while I was away."
"Sure," said Luna. "Makes perfect sense." Ron couldn't tell if she was serious. He was still shaking with fear, and couldn't speak. What use was it to have the blue pearl if he was too afraid, or stunned or whatever, to move?
As they spoke, the fox-bat had leaned its head down — keeping its huge bat-wings wide open — and sniffed at the fruit. Then it began eating hungrily. At least, from where Ron was lying, it looked as though it was eating hungrily, based on what he could see of its head. But it still made no sound at all.
Ron squeezed his eyes shut, opened them again, took a deep breath, and gathered himself together. He couldn't just lie on the ground being afraid all day. He stood up. Sure enough, the fox-bat had eaten all the fruit Hagrid had offered. It looked at Hagrid hungrily.
"More?" said Hagrid. "I think I've got some raisins. Trail mix. You like that? — Here, you want to eat it out of me hand?"
"Nope, nope, nope," said Ron. "Stop that, stop that right there. That's fine. Just — just put it on the ground there."
"Aw, she's just a big snuggly sweetheart," said Hagrid. "Look at her, look at her big eyes."
"Each eye is as big as my head, Hagrid," Luna pointed out.
"She's just a bit hungry is all," said Hagrid. "Aren't you, girl?"
"Yes," said the bat-fox, in a whisper that was at once very quiet and yet seemed to permeate the air around them, vibrating at some deep level that made their bones shiver. It was the first audible sound it had made at all.
"You can talk?" said Luna.
"Yes," said the beast, "although it has been many, many years since I have done so. I had almost forgotten how. I had to sit and think for a while before I was able to bring the memory of speech into my mind. I must thank you for the food you have offered me. I am indeed very hungry."
"You like fruit, then?" asked Hagrid.
"Yes indeed," said the fox-bat. "I will eat other things if I must, of course, and I was afraid I would have to eat you, since I have not had a meal for weeks and weeks, and I dislike killing things. It makes me feel terribly guilty. Fortunately the fruit you have given me will suffice for a little while."
"How long?" asked Ron.
"At least a few hours," said the fox-bat.
"Good, good," said Ron. "Because" — and he screwed up his courage to speak boldly — "if you had attacked us, we might have been forced to kill you. And we dislike killing things."
"It makes us feel guilty also," said Luna.
"Then we are both fortunate," said the fox-bat. Was that a twitch of a smile around the corners of its mouth? "Do you have any more fruit?" it said. "Otherwise, in a few hours, we will have to test our strengths, and each of us will be dead or ashamed."
"I don't think I have any more fruit," said Hagrid, looking through his bags.
"Maybe we can find another solution," said Luna. "We are on our way to the Emerald City, which lies to the east of here. I have heard they have a great deal of food there, and gardens which might be full of fruit. If you will fly with us there, we could give you some."
"Really?" said the fox-bat. "And this food, this fruit, in the Emerald City, it all belongs to you?"
"Well," said Luna, "not yet. But we are going to go and do battle with its current owner, Ozma of Oz. If you help us defeat her, then we can give you the fruit."
Ron looked at Luna in amazement. That kind of solution would never have occurred to him. Or if it had, he would never have dared suggest it.
The fox-bat seemed to consider this. It licked its lips. "I believe I have heard of this young Ozma," it said. "I would of course feel terrible if we had to hurt her. But perhaps, if we simply threaten her, she will give up her fruit without a fight."
"It's possible," said Luna.
The fox-bat thought about this. "I am inclined to agree," it said at last. "But before I do, perhaps you could tell me a bit more about yourselves and why you are trying to defeat Ozma? In return, I will tell you a bit about myself."
"Certainly," said Luna, and she launched immediately into a summary of who they were (mortal, non-fairy wizards), where they were from ("a rainy island on the other side of the world"), and how wizards had begun losing their powers, and they'd followed the hints of the house elves to deduce that Ozma was behind it.
"That all seems clear," said the fox-bat. "If Ozma is responsible for this unprovoked attack, it's clear you must confront her. Thank you. For my part, my name is Conca. I am a Hrerefus, which in your language would be a Thunderfox. Many years ago I lived in the far north of the world. My hearing is extremely good; I usually am awakened in the morning by the sound of the sun rising. I can also, by hearing, distinguish lies from the truth, because hollow, syrupy lies sound different from the clear bell of the truth. So I know that you have told me the truth, for which I thank you."
"Of course," said Luna.
"If you are from the far north," said Ron, "what are you doing here? We are in the southern hemisphere, aren't we?"
"I left the north many years ago, in search of a mate, for I was the last of my kind. I wandered all over the world, hoping that another Thunderfox would hear my calls. At last I was caught by a terrible storm and dropped here in this vast grassy wasteland. I was tired and had little to eat, and I didn't know which way to go, and I was discouraged, so I remained here. I have not spoken to anyone in two hundred years."
Conca spoke all this in the same deep, air-shaking, bone-humming whisper as before, slowly and almost emotionlessly. But when she finished, Hagrid wiped a tear from his eye.
"It's the saddest story I've ever heard," he said.
"Definitely up there," said Ron.
"Your sympathy touches my heart," said Conca. "You are beings of great compassion. Especially you, largest one: Hagrid was your name, yes? Your name and face remind me of my childhood in the far north. I will come with you to the Emerald City; and I will earnestly try all other alternatives before I am forced to eat you."
"You're all heart," said Ron. "I feel super safe, super super safe."
"I can hear that you are lying," said Conca. "But I assure you, I will not eat you unless it is absolutely necessary. You have no reason to be afraid."
"Great," said Ron. "Let's just get going."
