Chapter 14: Exile
"Harry Potter," one of the city sentinels drawled. "You are under arrest."
Harry stood there stunned, unable to say anything. Luckily Merlin spoke up. "What are the charges?"
"Attempted murder of a Norhaven citizen."
"WHAT?" Harry exclaimed, finally able to find his voice. He was about to dispute the charges and explain that it was a mage duel, but Merlin put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Do you have any evidence to support your claim?" Merlin calmly asked.
Pushing the guards aside, the second mage furiously yelled, "Do not play games with me Merlin. Your… your apprentice almost killed my son. He will be brought to justice!"
"And by justice, you mean retribution?"
"Do not presume to oppose me," threatened Darius, his face reddening and beginning to froth at the mouth. "The punishment for unauthorized mage duels is death!"
Squeezing Harry's shoulder tighter, in order to keep him from responding, Merlin looked at Darius like a loathsome insect and slowly said, "Then your son must also face the same sentence, for he is also at fault."
Harry didn't think it was possible, but Darius's face became even redder with anger. "Fine," answered the second mage carefully. "The charges against you for dueling are hereby dropped. However, there still remains the fact that your apprentice destroyed more than two city blocks last night."
Darius Grece stood up a little taller, with a gleeful look in his eye, and said, "Harry Potter, for the destruction you have caused, I, Darius Grece, magus of the High Council, find you guilty of crimes against the Norhaven public. You are hereby expelled from the Academy, and exiled from this city until the following spring festival, at which time you will enter the Phoenix Knight Officer training program. At least you can be of some use alive."
With that, the second mage turned, black cloak swirling outwards behind him, and led his entourage away.
"What are we going to do?" asked Harry worriedly.
"You pack," answered Merlin, glaring daggers at Grece's back. "There are some arrangements that I have to make before we leave."
Harry stood in front of his half-filled bag, sadness written all over his features. How did I ever get myself into this?, he thought to himself. Wait… what about Allison? I won't even be able to say goodbye. This isn't fair; for once my life was going well. Am I just doomed to remain unhappy? For once, I can't even blame Voldemort for my problems.
He just sighed into his bag, tears welling in his eyes, threatening to spill. Harry didn't know what he was going to do, everything kept changing for the worse. He was transported here against his will from his own time, and when he finally thought he had found happiness with Allison, he was being exiled. But everything that happened paled in comparison with the fight with Korvin.
What's happening to me? Harry wondered. What happened to my magic? I remember tapping my power… I could feel the rest of it when I did… it was immense, like it was an iceberg and I was only touching the tip. And I can feel my abilities continuing to grow. How long can I hold out, before I too am corrupted by such power?
"NO," he yelled. "I won't give up. I will never succumb"
But a little voice inside his head whispered, "Oh… but you almost did"
"Never…" Harry muttered softly, grabbing his bag and cloak, and left the room.
Harry and Merlin walked along one of the main concourses leading to the grand archways signaling the boundaries of the city in silence. They had packed light, only taking some clothing and provisions. For reasons unknown to Harry, only the minimum of magic was used to enchant the bags to become lighter. Even though the weather in Norhaven was quite warm, the pair both wore thick black cloaks over their clothing, as they would no longer be residing in the magical city for the length of Harry's exile.
Exiting through the ivory gates of Norhaven was easier than when they had first entered. They were quickly passed through, with the gates shutting immediately behind them. With a glance backwards, and a soft sigh, Harry, once again, followed Merlin into the unknown.
They had been walking south for an hour, when they reached a clearing. What awaited the two travelers there was a complete surprise to Harry. Standing in the clearing, were three horses, two chestnut mares, and one black stallion carrying the tall figure of Cathal.
"What are you doing here," asked Harry in disbelief, shaking his head to make sure he wasn't having some sort of adverse effect from the cold.
The elf merely smiled. Merlin said, "This is one of the arrangements I had to make before we left. Since his brother is currently out patrolling the borders of the magically ruled realm, we will only have Cathal to ride with us for our journey. You will continue to learn swordplay as well as Cam'dagora from him, while I will try to impart on you techniques and skills that you will need to survive as a Phoenix Knight."
"This is a lot to take in Merlin," said Harry honestly. "But I'll try my best."
"Good lad," Merlin said, giving Harry a smile. "I also have the feeling that you have never ridden before."
"Um, well, no." answered Harry.
"Ah, 'tis easy Potter. All you do is put your feet in the footholds, and hold on to the reins," said Cathal.
"And how do I get it to go?"
"Like this." And with that, Cathal gave Harry's mount a hearty slap on the rear, causing it to immediately start running.
"I fear we may need to give young Harry riding lessons in addition to everything else," laughed Merlin.
"No," replied Cathal, also laughing. "I think he is doing quite well for himself at the moment. Now, let us catch up before his beginner's luck runs out!"
Hours later, the group stopped at a small creek to water their horses. Harry had never felt so sore in his life. When he stood, it felt as if his knees would give way.
"It always looked so easy in the movies," Harry grumbled to himself, rubbing his thighs trying to ease the soreness.
"Okay there Harry?" Merlin inquired with a smirk on his face. "We still have a good distance to cover before dark."
Harry grimaced, but was too tired to say anything more.
"Unfortunately I would have liked to train you properly," said Merlin, becoming serious. "But it seems fate has decreed differently. You will continue your normal training with Cathal in the mornings before we begin to ride, and I will focus on teaching you how to survive with our other time. As I said before, you are powerful, but your magic is still untrained, similar to a blind man wielding a club. What we must now do is to make it as deadly as an arrow, and as precise as a needle. Your mental barriers must also be strengthened, so that you will not fall to an attack on your mind."
Harry nodded, and with a resigned sigh, said "If that is the way it must be, I guess I have no choice."
"Then let our first lesson begin. When you become fatigued, draw upon your magic to replenish your spent physical energy. You should never feel tired when in battle; to do so may cost you your life. Now, watch me not with your eyes, but with your senses to watch how the magic is used.
Harry saw, in his mind's eye, the outline of Merlin's body. He saw the tendrils of magic snaking out, gathering energy from the surrounding area. Then Harry saw Merlin's outline start to be suffused by a soft blue glow, which slowly grew in intensity, before dimming.
"With enough practice," Merlin explained, "you should become fast enough to refresh yourself between engagements. Now you try."
Closing his eyes and his mind to outside thought, Harry called his magic to do his bidding. Almost immediately he felt a cleansing of his body, like he had just stood under a waterfall. He felt his tension, soreness, and fatigue ease away. When he opened his eyes, he saw an astonished look on Merlin's face.
"What?" Harry asked, fearing he did something wrong.
"Nothing," replied Merlin quickly. "It is just that I thought you had refreshed yourself in half the time it would have taken to swing a sword. No, it is not possible for any wizard to do that. It must have been my imagination, however. Do you feel better?"
"Yeah," said Harry, astonished. "I feel a lot better."
"Good," cut in Cathal. "Now that both of you are done with your wizardry, we can finally ride."
They all gave a chuckle at that, before mounting their horses.
A blade whistled dangerously past Harry's head, as he ducked under Cathal's swing. He countered by fainting a downwards slash towards the knees, but changed course midway through to try for a horizontal slash towards the abdomen. Cathal had anticipated Harry's maneuver and was able to block his student's attempt at an attack.
"Nice try." Cathal swung the practice blade at Harry's upper torso, which was quickly blocked. Using the remaining momentum, Cathal kept his arm going past Harry's blade, and tried elbowing him in the face. Harry moved in time to avoid the blow, pushing Cathal's arm past him, and counterattacked by using the pommel of his sword to hit Cathal's temple.
Harry saw Cathal start to move, but not fast enough to completely avoid the blow. Cathal was left with a large purple mark on the left side of his face. Harry then kicked the back of his teacher's leg, bringing Cathal to his knees, which was followed by bringing his blade to his opponent's throat.
"Okay, I give up," said Cathal, surprised. Harry gave him a hand to pull himself up with. "This is the first time I've been bested by you. It seems that you have actually learned something from me."
"Yeah," Harry laughed. "Don't worry, I didn't learn much. Do you know where we're going?"
"Yes," said Cathal carefully. "We are headed to a small town which is right on the boundary between the magi controlled lands and the lands controlled by those who cannot do magic. Anyways, we should go find Merlin because I'm starving!"
A/N: Sorry for the long delay in putting this chapter up. There has just been a lot going on in my life, including finding and getting dumped by a girl I liked a lot. Hope you enjoy this chapter. I don't know when the next one will be up, since I have LSAT's in December, my spare time will be spent studying. I'll try to get another one up soon though. Thanks for being so patient. And to my wonderful reviewers!!
And a special thanks to Sean for correcting my mistakes.