Chapter Twenty-Eight: Betrayal


Harry managed to hurl the Bloodbeast off and back up a couple feet, crouched. Xaxx, fully untransformed, claws wet with blood— Harry's blood— gnashed his teeth, eyes blazing with animalistic fury as he stood to face him. They froze, each waiting for the other to make a move.

The roar became individualized voices:

"What is he doing?!"

"Xaxx, you Bloodbeast bastard!"

"Rip his head off, Harry!"

"No! Don't! He's the Chief-King's son, remember?"

"Who cares?! He's trying to kill him!"

Xaxx growled something, and Harry frowned, unable to hear. The room became silent in anticipation, and behind Xaxx, the Hand was pressed up against the barrier, watching anxiously.

In a low rasping voice meant for Harry's ears only, Xaxx repeated, "I said… now you die."

"What are you doing?" Harry said quietly back. "We're trying to protect you."

"Do I look like I need protection?" Xaxx growled. "From YOU?"He shook his head slowly. "Now, you will die in front of your friends, for what you did to me." His eyes flashed to the claw around Harry's neck.

"That,still?" Harry asked in exasperation.

"You don't realize what you've done. I'm to be Chief-King, now… and yet I have no respect from my father, no respect from my own kind. I won't have it, until I've fought you and won."

"You're despicable," Harry spit at him. "I'm fighting for their lives, and you attack me? I have to get them to safety." Harry was feeling slightly panicked— he was wounded, and worn out. They had been unmatched before, but Xaxx was angrier than Harry had ever seen him. Harry felt shredded.

"I don't care about them," Xaxx said vehemently, and clawed at Harry's face.

Harry grabbed Xaxx's arm but Xaxx lunged in, momentum carrying them both backward, nearly toppling them over.

Don't let him knock you down, Harry thought to himself. And don't let him get his claws into you.

That moment he was in danger of both happening, and as Xaxx was leaning into him Harry grabbed him back, unfurled his wings and left the ground, both of them lifting up into the air. Harry flapped powerfully, stirring the air in the large room and bringing them higher and higher. Soon they were near the ceiling, Xaxx thrashing him. Harry let go and tried to push him away, disentangling himself and kicking at his opponent until Xaxx was forced to let go. The Bloodbeast plummeted, landing far below with a sickening crack. Single-mindedly, he got to his feet and snarled up. Harry swooped down. Xaxx reached to grab at him, but encountered razor-sharp feathers, slicing deep into his hands. He howled.

Xaxx lurched, almost falling, but without warning went for Harry again, singing his fangs deep into Harry's shoulder. Harry tried to throw him off, but this only succeeded in tearing deeper into his shoulder. He curved his wings around himself to jab at Xaxx, raking across the left side of Xaxx's face, leaving long bloody trails. One feather sunk into Xaxx's eye, and stuck there.

Xaxx unclenched his jaw and leaped away, shaking his head, but the feather was firmly lodged. With an earsplitting scream of fury, he sprinted away.

The students were being evacuated through the doors now, and the people in the doorway of the outside exit fell back as Xaxx ran toward them, pushing past. He disappeared, fleeing.

Harry watched him go, and then quickly checked for any new threats, but there were none. With a deep sigh, he sat on the edge of the nearest table.

"Captain Augustus," Enna suddenly declared. She fanned her snow white wings and held her head up high. "I am the Silent Princess Enna. If youdon't want to be torn to bits, you will take down this detaining spell immediately. We will take care of Harry and leave. If you do not, you will have to explain yourself to the Silent Queen and her armies."

Without a word, Augustus tapped the silver ring. Jon, who had been leaning against the invisible barrier, nearly fell.

"Sariah, will you pick up all of the feathers Harry shed, so that nobody steps on them and gets hurt?" Vosenn asked as she and Enna strode toward Harry. Sariah nodded.

"Harry?" she asked as she walked up to him. "Are you with us?"

Harry nodded. "Yes Vosenn."

She raised her eyebrows. "Really? Impressive."

"What happened?" He asked. "Where did Xaxx come from?"

Vosenn scowled. "We were telling Augustus that he needs to let at least one of us out to help you. We were thinking Gray, or myself. Just as Augustus was agreeing, Xaxx stepped forward and told him that he would be the best one to help you. Xaxx must have looked more capable than the rest of us, because Augustus let him out immediately."

"We weren't sure what he would do," Ren said. "I thought for a second maybe he really did want to help, but he attacked you without hesitating."

"He's been waiting for an opportunity since we got here," Harry acknowledged. "And I was looking like an easy target."

"What a coward," Gray said with distaste.

Enna reached forward, and caressed Harry's face. He smiled at her. Cool, soothing energy flowed over his skin, and he closed his eyes. Slowly, she ran her hands over his face and neck, arms and legs, paying special attention to the deep bites on his shoulders. They healed, leaving white crescent scars.

When she was done Harry glanced over his shoulder. Everyone was staying back. Dumbledore was at the forefront, looking right at him. The Headmaster looked speechless.

"We need to get out of here," Harry told the others. "Before we put anyone in more danger."

"To avoid bringing putting them in danger, or avoid facing them?" Sariah asked, stepping up and slipping a small pile of feathers into her pocket.

"Both," Harry said honestly.

Shetha stepped between the others and gave Harry a big hug. "I wasn't scared at all," she told him proudly.

"Really?" he asked her skeptically.

"Well, maybe a little," she admitted.

"I'll be getting you all out of here now," Harry announced. "I'm going to open a portal, just follow me through." He cleared his mind, trying to ignore his misery. I've got to leave Hogwarts now.

For the first time, the howling emptiness of the Void was welcome.

Harry approached Origin, trying to decide where to open a portal for them all to escape to. We have to go to Origin, he decided. I don't know enough— anything at all really— about these other planets; I can't choose one that would work. And I can't go back to the City, or the Pit… I have to take them somewhere else. Somewhere far away. Somewhere new.

The dark smudge that was Everdark rotated slowly across Origin's surface, easy to spot. He waited until it was completely on the other side of the planet before touching his finger lightly to the sphere's surface, completing the link that opened a portal that spanned worlds, through space and time. He felt certain it was invisible, untraceable. He'd seen the portal opening in the Great Hall, but in the Void there were plenty of Earth/Origin portals, and he'd never seen a single one. This blue thread, which seemed so feeble, was his and his alone.

Harry coughed as he landed on the planet's surface. He experienced being ultimately cold one second, in the Void, and ultimately hot a split second later. Dust in the air filled his lungs and his eyes and for a moment he was blind. He took a couple steps forward, making space for those coming through behind him. They stepped through his portal onto the ground of Origin and were immediately choked with the sultry suffocating heat. He 'pulled up the ladder behind them' by noting where his thread hung in the air and touched down to the ground. He kicked it with one foot and snapped it.

"Harry, where is this exactly?" Vosenn demanded. "Oh!" she exclaimed, sounding very surprised by something.

"Don't know," Harry admitted. He looked over his ragged-looking group— and found a few too many. Vosenn was staring in wonder at Draco sitting at her feet, and Ron and Hermione were there as well.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked, stunned.

"We wanted to make sure you were all going to be alright, and to help if we could," Hermione said firmly.

"They came sprinting up and leaped through the portal just as we did," Miren explained.

Vosenn kneeled by Draco. He looked at her sheepishly. "I wanted to stay with you."

She smiled, a rare enough expression for her.

"I'm touched but…" Harry gestured. "Are you sure you don't want to go back? Look at this place."

There was nothing but desert as far as the eye could see, and it was ugly. Harry could usually see a unique beauty when he gazed at the desert along the Gods' Landing: its pale creamy color complemented the dark green plants.

But not this desert. Harry looked down at the sand close up, it had the consistency of dirt and was a dreadful gray. There seemed to be only one type of plant, the evil twin of a fern, black, and covered with wicked spikes.

Hermione checked with Ron, before they nodded together. "We'll stick with our decision," she confirmed. "But we better find water or a town or something."

Draco just shrugged.

"I definitely agree with that," Sariah agreed grimly.

"Damn, it's hot," Vosenn swore.

"Understatement," Jon said.

They squinted at the sky. The sun was a burst of pure blinding light, burning intensely.

"Ow," Ren complained, and everyone blinked their eyes furiously trying to get rid of the spots that obscured their vision.

"Let's go, I'm already sick of this place," Ren pushed at Harry. "You know you should stop staring at the sun before you're permanently blinded," she advised. He didn't budge.

Harry didn't notice her. The sun was doing something very strange: pulsing. The light grew and waned rhythmically, hypnotically. All thoughts in his head were replaced by a singular awareness of the sun above him.

Meanwhile, Ren was shaking him. "Harry? Harry?! Say something, what's wrong with you?"

Everyone gathered around.

Enna tried to get his attention. "Harry?"

"He's not responding," Hermione noted, "He's not even blinking."

Enna elbowed Ren aside, taking Harry's face in her hands and standing on tiptoe, kissed him on the mouth. The kiss lasted several seconds, and when Enna stepped back they waited for some sort of reaction, but none came.

"The sunsickness," Sariah said suddenly.

"NO," Vosenn, insisted, shaking Harry some more, trying to move him but he ignored her. "He can't."

"He can and he does," Sariah informed them grimly.

Finally Harry moved, throwing Vosenn's grip off briskly. He spread his wings wide, ready to take wing.

"Stop!" Enna pleaded, but he didn't hear her. Then he was in the air and gone, with a speed none of them could hope to follow.

"Someone needs to get him back," Ron said. "You can fly, right?" he asked Gray.

"Not that fast," Gray said regretfully. Harry was blurring into the sun.

"The sunsickness has no cure," Enna said softly, sadly. "They never come back."

"But…" Hermione was rendered speechless.

"We don't even know where we are," Ron finished. "And we can't get back to Earth without him!"

Everyone stood around, stunned and dismayed. Enna burst into tears. Sariah went to comfort her. Nobody seemed to really be able to fully comprehend their loss.

"Harry saved us, he's our protector," Shetha said mournfully. "He's invincible. He can't just be gone that fast!"

"It's too anticlimactic," Miren protested. "If Harry is going to die, it's going to be in epic battle."

"Did you miss it?" Vosenn demanded, completely distraught. "He left us. He's left us and gone to die somewhere and never come back."

Enna cried harder. "Shut up Vosenn," Sariah said scathingly, and everyone looked at her in shock.

That's a reversal, Ren thought. Vosenn, who's usually so in control, cares so much about responsibility and her duty that failing this utterly has completely unhinged her. And Sariah, usually the emotional one, cares so much about Enna that she's trying to be strong… Harry, where have you gone?

He was out of sight now, and their last hopes along with him.