CHAPTER 17:
INFILTRATION AND EXTRACTION
Harry grimaced as he emerged into the mausoleum. Casca was leading a small group of infiltrators that included himself, Guts, Pippin, and Judeau. Rickert was with the injured at one camp, while the Raiders and more mobile members like Corkus were preparing the extraction route. Harry wanted to use a Portkey, but unfortunately, given what Griffith's likely condition would be once they got to him, that had been vetoed.
They'd used a combination of Harry's spells, along with a hidden passageway in a graveyard. Harry remembered Guts snarking that if such a passageway was so easy to find, he'd retire from being a merc. Both Judeau and Harry had promptly snarked back at him that he should retire when Casca found it soon after he said it.
Harry thought that this was a fool's errand. Griffith had brought this on himself, and the Band of the Hawk had copped the damage from it. It was only because Casca and Guts, to say nothing of the rest of the Band of the Hawk, wanted this that he was playing along. But only under protest.
Harry soon noticed a pair of cloaked and hooded figures gliding out of the shadows. "Are these the contacts you mentioned?" Harry asked Casca quietly, as Guts tensed.
Casca nodded. One of the hooded figures came forward, and in a familiar voice, asked, "…Are you with the Band of the Hawk?"
"What's left of them," Casca said. "Of all the people to be our man on the inside…it'd be you, Princess Charlotte. Forgive my lack of social graces, Your Highness, but time is of the essence. I must thank you for your devotion and efforts that have seen us come to this point."
Charlotte smiled, even as she removed her hood. "I thank you, Lady Casca. I remember, at the time you set out for Doldrey, I hadn't realised you were a woman at the time. It was only at the ball I realised my mistake. My apologies. But you are right, we don't have much time. This way, please."
As they made their way through the castle complex from the mausoleum, Harry asked, "I know this is probably a stupid question, but…do you know why your father has it in for us?"
"…I do," she said, shuddering. "Lord Griffith…he came to my room one rainy night, and…well, I'm sure you already can guess what happened. But what you didn't know is that afterwards, after Griffith was imprisoned, my father, he…he…"
"Your Highness, do not speak of such things to these fugitives," the other woman, presumably one of her handmaids, said. "Your father is…"
"…A sick man," Charlotte said. "You know why I am afraid of him, why I do not wish to see him, Anna."
"…He tried to bed you," Harry hissed in horror, provoking gasps from the others. His horror surged upwards, bringing with it fury and hatred. He'd already hated the King of Midland for attacking the Band of the Hawk for Griffith's actions, forcing his lover and their comrades to go on the run. "Shit, Charlotte, I'm sorry I asked you the question!"
"…No, it's fine," Charlotte said quietly, not denying what happened. "I only met you in passing, Harry Potter, and you have that reputation of being a warlock. And yet…I did not see that when I saw you. You just seemed so tired, weary, full of pain for someone so young, not charming. You asked me a question. I chose to answer it, because…it was not..."
Harry, after a moment, had the princess halt…and then gently hugged her. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry. I thought your father was a good man until what Griffith did. Now…"
"…Thank you, Harry Potter…"
The spells came in handy when they avoided guards, with Harry casting them on Charlotte and Anna. However, he felt his anger towards the king growing. He dared tried to bed his own daughter? Judeau explained how that could be the case: oddly enough, Charlotte had never been engaged to anyone, and she would have been engaged some years ago, due to the medieval way they arranged marriages amongst the upper classes.
They soon reached the Tower of Rebirth, an ancient tower whose underground facilities were used as a prison. It was then that Judeau suggested taking her as a hostage. Even Charlotte seemed to agree, with Casca pointing out reasonable reasons for not doing so. However, Charlotte refused to leave, and Harry, privately, thought it was a good thing.
As they descended the spiral staircase down into the Tower of Rebirth's depths, Harry explained his reasoning to Casca. "Griffith's reputation, and that of the Band of the Hawk, is shot to hell already. Of course, most important is not leaving this poor girl with that monster of a father, one who wants to bed her."
"…I understand, but…if we do do that…"
"Cas…leave it to me. I've already got a plan in mind. But…it might mean I'll have to catch up with you guys later."
"What do you mean?"
"…The King might pursue us to the end of the earth if we leave with Charlotte…but, if she died, killed by one of his own men while helping Griffith escape…well…let's say that if he believes that, the heat might be taken off us, and off her."
"…You're going to use magic on him, aren't you?"
"He deserves it. Griffith didn't deserve what the King put him through, and Charlotte shouldn't have to live in fear of her own father."
Before Casca could raise an objection, they heard Charlotte squeak in fear after she peered through a prison door, only for a deformed inmate to lash out at her. Guts soon picked her up, and they descended further to the bottom. Along the way, she began relating the tale of King Gaiseric, the warlord who united the disparate warring lands into an empire, with what became Midland at the centre. When she described Gaiseric's habit of wearing a skull-shaped helmet into battle, though, Harry, Casca and Guts exchanged meaningful looks, something Judeau noticed.
"…Why are you looking so spooked?" Judeau asked.
"The Skull Knight, the entity we met before Doldrey," Casca said. Judeau was one of the few people she had told, albeit after the Band of the Hawk's downfall. "Something tells me it's no coincidence."
"Skull Knight?" Charlotte asked.
"Long story," Guts said. "Short version? He wears skeletal-looking armour. I don't think he's human, or if he was, he hasn't been for a long time. Kept on giving us weird warnings. Nosferatu Zodd seemed to know him if what these two said is anything to go by."
Judeau frowned. "There's probably more to it than that. Gaiseric's reign probably inspired the tale of the Skull King. Supposedly, a greedy king of an empire conscripted workers from across the world to create a vast, shining metropolis. He levied heavy taxes on the populace, and his city became a den of debauchery and gluttony. So much so that God took offence, and a quintet of angels descended, laying waste to the city in a single night."
"The version I heard had a quartet of angels," Casca mused.
"The myth has some truth to it, given what my history tutor said to me," Charlotte said. "That city was indeed in what became Midland, and it was destroyed by some great natural calamity, much of it buried deep beneath the surface. Expeditions have been made to its deepest levels, but none have made it back alive."
"…That's ominous," Harry muttered. "…Cas…I hope we find Griffith's cell soon. Because I don't want to find it's near the bottom, and I don't want to disturb whatever lurks down there. Knowing our luck, it's probably a Balrog."
"Don't joke about such things, Harry," Casca groaned. She had read Harry's copy of The Lord of the Rings, and the Balrog was not something she wanted to meet…
Guts and Harry thought they heard someone following them, but couldn't see anything in the darkness. They soon found the cell where Griffith was, and opened it, only to find a pale, emaciated form sprawled on the floor, swathed in bandages. A helmet, a mockery of his hawk-like helmet from the Band of the Hawk, encased his head.
Harry, Judeau, Guts and Casca were on the figure in a flash. For all Harry's anger against Griffith, he did not want anything like this to happen, and he was soon casting a Diagnostic Charm on the wasted body. He soon wished he hadn't. "Shit," he hissed as the results were displayed. "His tongue and his genitals have been removed, along with parts of his skin…his tendons have been severed…malnutrition…I'm amazed he's still alive..."
Casca soon unlocked the helmet, but they soon regretted it. All four of them gasped. While Griffith's eyelids, lips and nose remained intact, it was clear patches of skin had been torn away, and his ears had been removed. His hair was matted where it hadn't been torn out in clumps. He looked like he had been turned into some sort of zombie. "Griffith…" Guts hissed.
Charlotte made to come forward, but Casca said, in a low voice, "…Charlotte, if you value your sanity, don't come any closer." She then replaced the helmet.
The clicking of it locking back into place seemed to revive Griffith, whose bloodshot eyes opened. When he saw Guts, Harry noticed that his eyes widened in surprise…before they became intense. A hand grasped weakly at Guts' throat, but as Harry watched Guts embrace his emaciated former commander, weeping, Griffith seemed to relax.
But Harry knew that Griffith had wanted to strangle Guts for a moment, even if Guts or Casca didn't notice. Maybe he regretted that decision the moment he saw how Guts acted, but Harry knew that was not an attempt at an embrace, but an attack.
The door suddenly slammed shut, and malevolent chuckling echoed from the door. A squat man with a porcine nose and what looked like a hare lip cackled, causing Charlotte and Anna to yelp in fright. "Don't be afraid, Your Highnesshe. You'll hurt my feelingsh. I'm the gaoler, and you guysh can't get away. I've locked the door, called the sholdiersh, and sho, you'd better give up. Maybe I'll have you ash my new playthingsh? Hish Majeshty will be pleashed that I caught you bashtardsh and shtopped the Prinshessh from doing shomething foolish."
"Hey…" Guts said. "You're the one who did all of this to Griffith, right?"
"Sho what if I did? Getting pished off won't do you any good. Thish door ish four timesh ash thick ash other doorsh. Beshidesh…Hish Majeshty shaid I could do whatever I wanted to him. Sho I did."
"That's all I needed to hear," Harry said, getting to his feet, though he noted the man's gleefully sadistic demeanour, like a distillation of the worst traits of Pettigrew and Bellatrix. "But you see, every door has a magic word that allows people to open it."
"What? Open Sheshame?" sneered the gaoler.
"No. Alohamora."
There was a click, and Harry was on the door in a flash, smashing it outward, and sending the diminutive torturer sprawling, partly hanging over the edge of the staircase. "NO! SHPARE ME!" the gaoler squealed. "PLEASHE, SHPARE ME!"
"…Is that what your victims asked you?" Harry asked coldly, before casting a Levitation Charm, and flying him out, though not before grabbing a desiccated tongue from where it hung on a leather thong around the hideous man's neck. "Two questions. Is this Griffith's tongue?"
"YESH! IT ISH! I SHWEAR TO GOD!"
"SWEAR TO ME!" Harry roared, before calming himself with an effort. "And final question: do you know how far this place goes down? Well…you're about to find out." He cancelled the charm, and the gaoler fell into the stygian depths below with a scream that went on for a long, long time…
Of course, it wasn't so simple. A group of thirty soldiers with crossbows intercepted them, but Guts dealt with them handily. Guts then attacked a group of soldiers who had been waiting outside, only to be confronted by more. However, the soldiers were halted by the King.
But when Harry heard the old man's voice, coming from a balcony, berating his soldiers for nearly hitting Charlotte, he Apparated up to the balcony in a fury. For a moment, the now white-haired King's decrepit appearance, so different from his vital looks a mere year before, filled Harry with pity. And then, he remembered what the old man had done to Griffith, to Charlotte, and pity gave way to cold wrath.
"You…the wizard working with Griffith!" the King hissed, supporting himself on a page.
"Me…now, to be honest, you being angry with Griffith, I can understand," Harry said, causing a Protego to appear as a hail of crossbow bolts spat towards him from the bowmen flanking the King. "But torturing him for a year, coming after my friends and comrades, and what you want to do to your own daughter!" Harry tried to calm himself again, before he fixed the King with a glare. "I'd say that was an overreaction."
"An overreaction?! You filthy peasant! I am the King!"
"…You're a loony."
"…How dare you say that to me?!"
"…Yes. I dare." If Harry could see himself, he would have seen a verdant aura purling around himself as his magic went into overdrive from his sheer fury. "I am Harry Potter. I am a wizard, one who stopped a warlock with delusions of grandeur. You, Your Majesty, are little more than an incestuous monster."
"Don't listen to him!" the King screeched. "Just kill him! Kill him! Guards! Guards!"
"Obliviate," Harry intoned. But his quiet, coldly furious voice was accompanied by a blast of power that struck the King, his soldiers, and everyone else in the vicinity. He then gave a cruel smile as he added a compulsion to his words. "You all will remain here for three hours. You will then remember that you received reports that the Band of the Hawk were set upon by brigands, and they were killed to a man, including Griffith, along with Princess Charlotte and Anne. Any other people reporting that we escaped are delusional. You caused your daughter to flee because you tried to rape her. You will not kill yourself, Your Majesty. Instead, live with the knowledge that you forced your own flesh and blood to flee from you, and in doing so, run into the arms of her death. The Band of the Hawk is no more, and even if another mercenary band comes along with that name, it will be something new. All that is left to you is the knowledge that you, far from being a king, are just a selfish, incestuous monster."
That done, he Apparated back down, ready to rejoin the others as they fled Windham. While he had some pity for the man, he had no sympathy for him at all. This man had ordered their deaths, based on Griffith's idiocy. He had tried to molest his own daughter. However, Harry knew this was a dangerous gambit that could backfire. He only hoped that it would pay off…
CHAPTER 17 ANNOTATIONS:
Well, it's been a while, huh? Part of the reason is that I've only now caught up to where I'm supposed to go in the manga, having only recently obtained and read the third and fourth omnibus editions. And I have to say, I noticed differences between canon and what I've done here. Part of that is due to relying on Harry Potter and the Berserker as well as the Golden Age films and the TV series (the 90s one) as source material. So let's talk some differences as well as story choices.
Firstly, and most importantly, Casca's characterisation. I think her being Harry's imaginary friend, as well as being his friend from the start of his time in the Band of the Hawk, has actually strengthened Casca somewhat. I've noticed, especially from just after the Adon incident, that Casca shows signs of being too dependent on Griffith and Guts. I have to admit, I don't like it, as I'm sure this dependency on Griffith is partly what led to her mind breaking during the Eclipse, given what happens. True, Casca is dependent on Harry, but I think she's stronger for it because Harry acknowledges her strengths and weaknesses more than either Guts or Griffith, and accepts her for them. She also has a much healthier relationship with Harry than she does with Guts or Griffith. It probably helps that Harry isn't judgemental of her for being a female warrior, whereas Guts is, admittedly, more chauvinistic, at least at first, while Griffith views her as a useful tool.
When I started writing this fic, I thought it was mostly being able to retreat through the soul bond that allowed Casca to stay sane when Femto rapes her. In truth, and given the way this has diverged slightly but significantly from Berserk canon, I've noticed she seems to be becoming psychologically stronger than her canon counterpart, which probably was as great a factor as the soul bond, without losing the essentials of her characterisation. This seems to be more from serendipity than anything truly planned. Anyway, I think this story gives Casca a better chance than she had in canon.
Now, to Harry punishing the King. I wrote earlier that Charlotte ended up hiding with Godo, Rickert and Erica, but I needed to justify that somehow. Hence this. Harry has at least caused confusion amongst the pursuers, so no Bakiraka, and no Wyald and his Black Dog Knights…yet. Don't worry, Wyald will get his just desserts.
Charlotte admitting, albeit obliquely, what her father did to her, may seem OOC, but there were a few reasons for that. Firstly, she does allude to the event very obliquely in the manga. Secondly, she never states it outright, though I doubt anyone but Harry or Casca would have gotten it. Guts may have gone through a similar experience, but he's also a bit dense when it comes to social graces. Harry, however, comes from a modern society where such incidents make the news, while Casca nearly was raped herself as a girl. Harry's lack of judgement on the whole thing, along with the reactions of the others, reassure Charlotte. Harry, being the protective guy he is, does this to protect both the Band of the Hawk and Charlotte, in order to allow them to get away. Charlotte's stronger than she looks, really, for such a demure young lady, though I can't blame her for wanting to escape with the Band of the Hawk. Thanks to Harry's magic, she does so, with this being one of the factors which overtax him and prevent him from being able to help during the Eclipse initially.
Anyway, hopefully, the next chapters will come out more rapidly. Hell, maybe this fic will be finished this year. I've started watching the latest Berserk adaptation, and variable quality CGI aside, I like the story. Though Nina getting spanked by Luca was pretty cringe-inducing. Plus, she deserves more than a mere spanking. If I write a sequel set during that arc, Nina's going to have a bad time. Luca, however, is as awesome as a relatively normal person can be in Berserk. And then, there's the sheer awesome of Hai Yo and Ash Crow.
No numbered annotations this time.