CHAPTER 29

When Harry stepped out of the airport he remembered why he had said that if he was to visit he'd only do it in the winter. He could feel the heat of the concrete through his shoes as he shielded his eyes and looked around for a particular vehicle. Spotting it he walked over and slung his bag into the back of the old Chevy pick-up, and climbed inside.

"Heat always this bad here?" he asked the man in the driver's seat.

"But at night you need a way to stay warm," he replied.

"As long as the company is good a campfire is perfect."

"As long as you don't get burned. Welcome to Phoenix Mr. Bond."

"Mr. Bond is my father, I'm Harry. It's nice to meet you Simon, Felix has good things to say about you."

"I bet, I'll be your contact here," said the man as he pulled into traffic. He looked like he spent a lot of time in the outdoors, his tan was one that showed he wasn't afraid of hard work, as did the sweat stained straw cowboy hat hung in the window behind him. "I've got the gear you asked for; we'll be there in a couple of hours." Harry nodded.

"Good, I'll check everything tonight and start tomorrow."


Dawn had not even begun to lighten the horizon when Harry started saddling his horse and packing the two mules. He did it quietly and quickly, making sure everything went in its proper place. The thing he was most careful of was the water, the desert was a harsh and deadly place but without water it was pure suicide.

He rode west out of the little town called Concho, at an easy pace. He rode that way for three days, slowly turning his way to the north-west. In the evening of the third day he set up a larger camp than normal, and set the horse and mules to a larger grazing area, he also began to fast, to begin the first cleansing rite. Three days passed and again he rode north-west. He rode another two days eating only what the land provided for him. On the next morning two men on horseback were awaiting him along his chosen path. Both rode tall in their saddles, with shoulder length black hair, denim pants and jackets. They rode on in silence.

As darkness descended they arrived at a cliff face dotted with openings that were accessible by ladders to different levels. Harry unloaded his horse and mules and placed all but a few items in the small earth building he was directed to. He was then led to a ladder and a place to sleep.

The next morning found him greeting the sun with a flash of silver in his hand as he practiced; his speed with the blade was slowly increasing as he concentrated on correcting the flaws in his form.

"The kit has found a claw, it seems," came a quiet but authority filled voice.

Harry slowed his motion and turned to face the voice. "Elder, I am sorry if I disturbed you."

"Nonsense, please finish and then we will talk."

"As you wish Elder." Harry returned to his motions and for the remainder of the time the old man watched. He adjusted the blanket he had across his shoulders, and wished he'd remembered the warm wool cap his great-niece had made. His glasses fogged over slightly with each breath, until he got the blanket to lie correctly.

Soon they sat watching the sun rise. "The reason for your return weighs heavily on your mind kit."

"It does, Elder Gorgonia. I moved along the warrior's path, I took the life of an enemy."

Gorgonia looked at him closely, "I can see the change in you when you speak of it, if he was going to do you harm then you cannot feel bad about defending your life."

"That's what everyone says, but it doesn't seem to help. Gorgonia, he was possessed. I'll never know if..."

"Do not second guess yourself. If you do not allow yourself that, you will falter when you need your skills the most."

Harry looked down at his shoes.

"I see, that has already happened. How bad were the injuries?"

"Not life threatening, but very painful."

"Good. Contemplate this in the purification rite today, seek the truth of it. We will speak again in three days time when you have finished. Till then bring me the package from your friend Ragnarok."

The days passed in a blur for Harry, a mixture of heat and fasting, pushing him to his limits.

The evening of the third day Harry was shown into the medicine cave. "Harry please come and kneel; breathe the vapors from the flames deeply." Gorgonia sprinkled a fine powder on the fire between them and Harry breathed deeply of the smoke. As he exhaled the smoke took a form of its own, showing first the battle with the troll then the one in the hallway, and finally the one with Malfoy. "Harry's eyes were closed and a look of peace showed on his face the entire time.

After the scenes had played out Gorgonia sat in thought. Reaching a decision he asked, "Harry? What truth did you find?"

Shaking himself Harry snapped his eyes open and looked at Gorgonia. "That I am not to blame for an enemy's actions; Quirrell called him Master so he must have given over his body to the possession and was in no way trying to prevent it."

"And if an enemy takes a hostage?"

"Try everything to rescue them, but know that it is not always possible."

"That is an unfortunate but true part of life. Your training will begin the day after tomorrow, go rest."

The next day Harry wandered the small village finally able to greet old friends. He tried to help as much as he could but he knew that the purification rite had made him weak. So he ate and got as much rest as possible.

"Harry I saw the creature that had attached itself to your teacher, in the smoke of the purification ritual. It may have been human at one time, but make no mistake young warrior, it is no longer," said Gorgonia. "Whatever atrocities it has done to allow it to survive in such a state have torn away anything that made it human. While I am not certain how it was done I have heard of stories of the manipulation of the spirit that have had that kind of effect."

"Long ago, to the south, lived a great pair of cultures. Both had mighty empires and built great monuments and cities. They both did something much like this, but it was not to prolong their own lives or be able to avoid their deaths, it was a form of punishment. They would split the spirit from the body with a ritual sacrifice of the criminal, and then sunder the spirit." Harry stared at him in disbelief. "The stories speak of it being the most horrible of punishments, only for the worst of crimes."

"As long as a piece of the soul was bound, the other could not move on and the punishment continued. I believe that this … person did something along that path."

"Elder, you think he did this on purpose? He wanted to live that way?"

"No, I think it was a protection from his death, as you heard with the object in the school he wanted to create a new body. He is probably looking to do this now and given time may find something."

"Now young warrior what do you know of our way of magic?"

"I am afraid not much, Elder. I know it is ritual based but they do not teach that at Hogwarts."

"They should. Focused magic, such as you are learning at your school, is something we did not develop but our history with rites is second to none. The basis of a rite is communication, the better the communication within the group doing the rite the better your results, and when the group encounters an obstacle during a rite the better chance of countering it."

"How often do things not go as planned?"

Chuckling Gorgonia answered, "Almost every time, unless it is a very simple task. Remember a rite is by its nature very flexible and never to be attempted alone, or with those you do not trust completely. As a simple rule at least one designated leader and two in support, the maximum is seven. Past that communication is too strained in the group."

"You make it sound like you speak all during the rite, I've never heard it... unless..."

"Yes, it is part of the mental bond that forms during the preparation. It also allows all of the individual's skills to be used to shape the rite and mold the combined power, almost as if you are a single being instead of a group. What you sacrifice is speed and mobility. It takes time and planning just to attempt a rite of any size, let alone something serious. Then again it was not that magic I was speaking of. Even though you are an able student it takes time, sometimes years, for the bond of trust to develop to make a rite possible. I was speaking of totem animals."

"You mean spirit guides? Not much."

"Please sit and be comfortable, the first step on this journey is the Vision Quest. You will remain here and relax, remember to breathe deeply. You will know what to do when the time comes." Gorgonia turned and dropped a bundle of things onto the fire that changed its color to odd blues and greens, left the room and placed a flap over the entrance.

'Guess there is nothing to do but…' his thoughts begin to wander. His father explaining why they traveled so much as he cried about leaving his friends in Japan, he was five in the memory. Sitting with his grandfather as he went over the books for the construction company and learning how to identify the special markings from the 'consulting' the firm did, he was ten. A sickening laugh and yelling voices, flashes of light, reds, greens, age unknown. Ernst Blofeld's SPECTRE agent on the train from Rome, his father killing the man in the restroom of their compartment. Screaming in pain as dark figures just out of view stand and watch. The group laughing as they walk from the library to dinner. Three girls trying to hide from a troll in a restroom. A confrontation with an idiot on a train. Images from his life ran faster and faster, but not in any order that he understood. Then blackness.

Harry sat up under a cherry blossom tree at what looked like the edge of Black Lake near Hogwarts while instead of mountains there were high bluffs running into grassy plains. 'Guess it makes sense, it is the closest thing I've had to a home, other than dad not being there, and I do know I'm going back.' He sat and looked out at the lake; he wished he could spend more days like this with his friends. For the moment he was glad it was quiet, he lay back and looked up through the swaying leaves above.

Slowly the area came to life, animals began to go about their business again, as if his appearance had disturbed them but now they felt he was not a threat. He was just drifting off when he felt something heavy drop across his arm and heavily on his chest; looking at the animal lying with its body partly on his, he felt no fear. He was mesmerized by the large eyes staring down at him, the irises were a golden color with dark brown circles to the outside and large vertical slit pupils. The breath was warm and the creature panted lightly.

"Well aren't you the bold one?" he laughed.