Still weary of any encounters, Piper slipped the invincibility cloak into her extended bag as she and the others stared back at the woman. The woman then walked forward a little, causing them to reassuringly touch their weapons, all concealed in covered sheaths, just in case. As they saw the woman's face become clearer Ace seemed to relax a little.
"Bathilda?" He suddenly asked the woman, who was very short, only level with Aerrow's chest, with almost white hair and dark wide eyes.
"You know her?" Piper asked in a whisper as Ace stepped towards the woman a little.
"Yeh, she was a friend of the families" Ace replied before looking back to the woman. "Bathilda, it's me Ace, do you remember?" He asked her. To everyone's relief the woman nodded, if she'd been a friend of Aerrow's family she wouldn't be a threat. There was something about the way she was looking at them however, which made Aerrow think this was more than a chance meeting.
"Did Dumbledore send you, maybe to give us something?" He asked her, saying what the others had been thinking. Bathilda nodded again and, without a word, turned on her heel and started walking towards the entrance gate, though at a pace that showed she wanted them to follow.
Walking through the empty and silent streets with Bathilda walking a short distance ahead, the whole situation seemed a little unnerving.
"I don't like this, something doesn't feel right" Stork said in a whisper.
"Dumbledore would have left the sword with someone we could trust and Bathilda would never give us away, I'd trust her with my life" Ace reassured. It was as they were walking down one particular street that they saw a small, old fashioned but once pretty cottage, that looked as if it had been abandoned for years, probably owning to the gaping hole in the top left hand corner of the building.
"Ace?" Aerrow asked, seeing him stop walking and look at the ruined house. It took Aerrow and the others a moment to realise the house's significance.
"This was where..." Aerrow began, stopping when Ace nodded gravely as they looked at the place where Cyclonis had murdered his mother in an attempt to kill him, owing to a vague prophecy foretelling Cyclonis's defeat. In the attempt however, Cyclonis had lost all of her powers and was forced into hiding after a strong protection spell, left by Aerrow's mother's sacrifice, had stopped her. Bathilda was waiting for them just past the house as they silently carried on.
Not far from the ruined house Bathilda lead them into a very worn and old looking terrace house. The inside of the house was not far off inhabitable. It was dark, damp, it stank of something rotting and nearly everything was covered in dust, dirt and sometimes even mould. Needing more light Aerrow drew one of his blades out at lit the tip up with a lumos spell as Piper brought out a light crystal. Bathilda was just about managing to light up a single candle with very shaky hands. As she was doing so the Storm Hawks looked around the room. That was when a photograph caught Aerrow's eye. It was of a young man with dark brown hair, it was also the same man who'd stolen the wand in Cyclonis's vision.
"Bathilda who's this?" He asked, turning to face the woman. Bathilda didn't answer but instead looked at him with a very focused stare before moving her head in the direction of the small winding staircase as she began walking towards it. Her meaning had been clear.
"I think she wants me to go up with her, stay here I'll be back in a minute" He told the others, who all nodded although they looked a little worried, as Aerrow followed Bathilda up the stairs.
The upstairs of the house was just a filthy as the downstairs as Bathilda lead Aerrow into one of the rooms. Bathilda seemed more interested in Aerrow than looking for whatever Dumbledore had left them, staring at him again she also seemed very focused on the horcruex locket which was just visible underneath Aerrow's jacket. Bathilda then indicated her head to one corner of the room, where a large wooden cabinet, which was partially rotted, stood. Walking over Aerrow began looking for whatever Bathilda had indicated.
Downstairs as they all waited nervously, Piper had walked up to one of the doors where strangely she could hear buzzing. Pushing the door open, she froze at what she saw. In front of her was a swarm of flies.
Upstairs Aerrow was still looking through the cabinet, not knowing what he was meant to be looking for. He was also unaware of Bathilda jerking, twitching and shrinking, as if rotting, behind him. Hearing the chocking gasps of her Aerrow wheeled round as Bathilda seemingly disappeared into her clothing, which crumpled to the ground. A split second later however, a huge hissing snake appeared from the clothing.
It had to be Cyclonis's Aerrow thought as he grabbed a nearby stood and held it in one hand like a shield whilst holding one of his blades in the other.
Downstairs, unaware of what was occurring upstairs, Piper lifted up her light crystal a little and saw the reason for the large amount of flies. The roof was caked in splatters of blood. Backing away a little, in shock of the sight, the others too saw what had terrified her.
"Aerrow!" Piper shouted, finding her voice as she realised he was alone with Bathilda. Aerrow heard Piper's cry just as the snake, in fact Cyclonis's pet Nagini, lunged at him. It had all been a trap, Cyclonis's had known they would come here, she knew it's significance to them and herself and had placed her snake here, killing Bathilda in the process, to either kill or trap them.