A/N: Shoutout to The Druid is In for pointing out a continuity error between this chapter and Chapter 6: Bird Vs. Fairy. I've fixed it, with no major changes to the story. While I was at it, I also added in a few little scenes I'd written but didn't know where to place in Chapters 2 (Settling In) and 5 (A Team is Formed), just for fun. The story hasn't changed; I just added in a bit of fun. This scene will become more relevant as the story continues, but you've got a while to wait until then.
Chapter 10 Trouble
The next morning was very hectic. Cambridge-sama had said they'd leave at dawn, but between Conrad not having finished packing the night before, some mishaps in loading the carriage, and just the general chaos of organizing more than a dozen people for a multi-day journey, they didn't actually leave until midmorning. Gray and Harry, having been prepared to leave since their arrival the day before, could only watch in dismay. They helped where they could, and hoped their disorganized morning wasn't foreshadowing the entire journey.
The first day was remarkably uneventful, surprisingly enough. The worst thing that happened was one of the carriage wheels broke after wheeling through a rocky part of the road. Harry fixed it up with a quick reparo, grinning at Gray as they both remembered the last time he'd used that spell, to mess with Natsu. Then they were on their way again.
That evening, they made camp a few hundred feet from the road, concealed from passerby in a thick ring of trees.
"Thank goodness you have repairing magic," one of the escort, Gerad, exclaimed over dinner. "Normally a broken carriage wheel would take hours to fix!"
Harry shrugged, a little embarrassed by the praise. "Glad I could be of help, I guess."
Gray snorted and slapped Harry on the shoulder. "Quit being bashful. Your spells are damn useful!"
"Show me some magic," Conrad suddenly demanded. "Not party tricks; I want to see some real magic!"
Harry cringed at the whine in the boy's voice, vividly reminded of a certain blonde Slytherin from Hogwarts.
Gray smirked. "How about this?" He crafted a sword out of ice, cut a log in half, then threw it on the fire with a grin. The fire hissed and sparked, then blazed back to life.
Conrad yawned. "Bo-ring."
"Shut up, chibi," Gray retorted. "I'd like to see you try."
Conrad scowled darkly at the nickname. Then he looked at Harry. "You. Show me something cool."
Harry blinked at the finger pointing right at him.
"Er…okay. Um…" He furrowed his brow. What would amuse a twelve-year-old boy?
He scanned the ground and spotted a few black beetles scuttling around a rotting log nearby. Smiling slightly, he Summoned three of them, then transfigured them into multicolored, iridescent buttons. Conrad looked on with some interest. Then Harry duplicated them, then duplicated them again with the gemino charm. Then he threw the handful of buttons into the air and shot quick, underpowered reductos at them one at a time. They burst into tiny, colorful shards that rained down onto the fire before disappearing into the flames.
"Now that's magic," Conrad declared. Gray scowled, though he cast Harry a begrudging look of respect.
"That is fascinating," the head of the escort—Brenner—said. "I must ask that we put a stop to the displays of magic, though. Rumor has it there are bandits along this road that kidnap mages for ransom."
Conrad scowled darkly, pouting with his arms folded over his chest. Harry and Gray exchanged an uncomfortable look. Could they be in danger?
The night likewise passed without incident, as did most of the second day. Around noon, however, when they resumed travel after their lunch break, Harry began to feel like they were being watched. His senses were on high alert as the sun began to set.
If something's going to happen, it'll happen tonight, Harry thought. They were passing through a mostly uninhabited stretch of road, with nothing but trees and meadows to either side. As the sun set, the trees began to grow closer together, until their caravan was enveloped in shadow a full hour before the sun slipped below the horizon. Harry summoned a lumos charm in his hand, then experimentally tried to direct it to the head of the caravan. To his surprise and delight, it worked.
Suddenly there were several rushing sounds, a few thuds, and then a sharp cry. Harry, who had been walking toward the front, looked back just in time to see the flash of Gray's magic.
"We're under attack!" Gray shouted, barely holding his own against his surprise opponent.
Panicking, blind in the darkness, Harry cried out, "lumos maxima!"
The resulting explosion of light blinded all of them. There was another sharp cry, a loud crack, and several shouts that were suddenly silenced. The horses reared, whinnying frantically. They broke from the reins and fled. Then there was nothing.
"What happened?" Harry dimmed his magic light once the spots cleared from his eyes, to see Gray facedown on the ground, groaning. Harry rushed to his side, bringing his light with him.
"We were…ambushed," Gray grunted, grimacing as he sat up. "They picked off the rear guard, broke into the carriage. Then they vanished."
"Young lord!" Brenner suddenly exclaimed, looking around frantically. Harry raised his light to better illuminate the scene, and gasped.
The rear guard lay motionless on the ground, short feathered shafts protruding from various body parts. The carriage was grounded, the back wheels completely shattered. The door was torn from its hinges to reveal an empty interior.
"They took Conrad," Harry breathed. The kid was annoying, but Harry didn't actually wish him harm.
"The guard?" Gray asked.
Brenner examined one of his fallen comrades. "Darts. Probably magicked or poisoned." He gasped and quickly checked their pulse. Then he breathed in relief. "They're still alive."
"They must want witnesses to spread the story," Harry guessed.
"And someone to pass on the ransom," Gray said dryly. "There's no note, but why else attack a noble entourage?"
"This is all my fault." Harry looked away, biting his lip. Just like Sirius was my fault… "If I hadn't made the light, they wouldn't have spotted us."
Gray shook his head. "No, I think they've been stalking us since yesterday. Remember the broken wheel? Gared said it usually would take hours to fix. We'd have been sitting ducks if you hadn't fixed it—remember that part of the road was mostly forest, too."
"But I—"
"Shut up," Gray said sharply. "Someone needs to tell Camubr—his father that he's been kidnapped." He looked at Brenner. "You should send a message at the next town. Harry and I will track the kid and get him back."
Brenner's eyes widened. "The bandits will be dangerous, and you're just kids."
Harry's fists clenched. "I'm not a kid," he said darkly.
Gray elbowed him. "We might be young, but we're fully-fledged mages, and we're Fairy Tail at that!" he gestured proudly at his guild mark, on proud display on his bare chest since he'd lost his shirt…again. Harry briefly wondered if he did it on purpose for effect.
Guilt turned into determination. "We'll get him back," Harry declared. "We were hired to protect him, so that's exactly what we'll do."
Gray grinned. "Spoken like a true Fairy Tail mage. Trust us—we'll have him back to you in no time."
Brenner still looked uncertain, but then he looked around at his fallen comrades and nodded. "Be careful. Send word when you find him, and get him safely to the school. I'm sure Cambridge-sama will be waiting for him there."
Gray and Harry nodded firmly, then shouldered their packs and headed off in the direction Gray had seen the bandits retreat.
They hadn't gone far before they lost the trail, and the sun had fully set.
"We should make camp and continue in the morning," Gray suggested. "We'll only hurt ourselves if we try stumbling through this mess." He gestured to the tangled vines and branches before them, dark against an even darker background.
Harry smirked a little. "That's why we have this." He summoned his lumos ball again, keeping it small and dim. He couldn't help but be reminded of a night three years ago, though, trekking through another dark forest beside his red-headed best friend where danger awaited at the end. It's just another adventure.
Gray returned Harry's smirk. "Yet another useful trick. Hey, maybe that can be your nickname—Harry the Trickster."
Harry grimaced. "Trust me, I don't need any more nicknames."
Gray laughed, then they set off into the darkness.
Two hours later, they were utterly, hopelessly lost.
"Why the hell did we think it was a good idea to go wandering around in an unknown forest after dark?" Gray grumbled, picking himself up from the ground after tripping for the umpteenth time on a root he hadn't seen.
"Because a life is at stake," Harry retorted.
"And the longer we wander aimlessly, the farther away they get with the brat," Gray pointed out. "Let's make camp and start again in the morning.
Harry grumbled, but he did see the logic in Gray's suggestion. They walked a little further to a clear patch of ground, then dropped to the dirt. It didn't take long to gather some brush and start a small fire to ward off the slight chill, as well as any curious nocturnal creatures nearby. Then they wrapped themselves in their bedrolls and tried to sleep.
Neither of them was very successful. Worries and the unfamiliar surroundings kept them on the edge of wakefulness, and when the grey light of dawn began to creep into the trees, they gave up on sleep and started a plan.
"We have no idea where they took him," Gray stated matter-of-factly, when Harry wanted to just start walking. "For all we know, we could be walking away from their hideout." He shook his head. "And here I thought you were smart."
Harry opened his mouth to retort hotly, then he shut it and looked away. "What do we do, then?" he asked quietly. I've got to stop jumping into things. That's how I lost Sirius. His chest ached with not-so-old grief. It's only been three months.
"You any good at tracking?" Gray asked.
Harry blinked. "Um…what?"
Gray sighed. "That's a no, then." He glanced hopefully at Harry. "Got any tricks for finding people who don't want to be found?"
"I know a tracking charm, but it's no good unless it's applied before the thing goes missing."
Gray sighed again. "Guess we'll do it the old-fashioned way." He studied the sky and the growing dawn, muttering to himself. "Stupid trees. I can't tell which way is north."
"I can help with that," Harry spoke up. He raised his hand, then frowned. "Or at least, I think I can…"
"What's your trick?" Gray asked.
"I know a spell, but I don't have a wand anymore; there's nothing to point with."
Gray furrowed his brow, scanned the ground, and handed Harry a long, thin stick about eight inches long. "This looks like a wand, right? Think it would work?"
"I can try," Harry said doubtfully. Most of his other spells transferred over easily. Would this one work, too? He took the stick from Gray, noting the knot at the slightly wider end. He nodded to himself. This is the handle. The thinner end will be the pointer. Letting the stick rest on his palm, Harry took a deep breath, then looked down at the stick and said very deliberately, "Point me."
The stick vibrated, then stilled without doing anything.
"Did you do it right?"
Harry frowned. "I think I did. Maybe…" He deliberately rotated the stick to point about thirty degrees to the left. "Point me." The stick vibrated, then slowly spun to its previous position and came to rest again. "I guess that way is north, then." Harry pointed with the stick through the trees.
"And we were heading east…which means the road must be that way." Gray pointed another direction through the trees. "We'll go back to the road and the site of the ambush, then look for clues. Maybe they left something behind that can tell us where they were headed."
"Or we can go to the next town and get a map of the area," Harry suggested. "Bandits like caves and ruins, right? Maybe there's something around here like that."
"Either way, we need to find the road." Gray shrugged.
"Then let's go!"
Two hours later, they were still lost.
"Gah!" Gray tore at his hair. "We should have found the road by now!"
"Are you sure we were headed east?"
"That's the direction the bandits fled, and we went in pretty much a straight line!"
Harry scoffed. "Stumbling around in the dark? How the hell we were supposed to keep a straight line?"
"Can't that spell of yours point at anything other than north?"
"I've never tried."
"Well, now would be a perfect time."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Maybe we should have eaten breakfast first."
"And what were we supposed to eat? Beetles? All our supplies were with the carriage, and the bandits took most of them along with that chibi."
"Fine. I'll try it. But if we get lost again, we're screwed."
"Just do it. I really wanna punch something right now."
Harry smirked as he pulled the stick from earlier from his pocket. "You sound like Natsu."
"Don't compare me to that ash-for-brains moronic idiot!"
Harry ignored him. He closed his eyes, picturing the road they'd been traveling yesterday. "Point me road." I hope that's specific enough…
The stick vibrated slightly, then spun to point off to their right. They exchanged a look, then set off.
Harry checked periodically as they walked, not wanting to get lost again. Within thirty minutes, they broke through the trees and onto the road.
"What do you know? It worked!" Harry said, slightly in awe.
"Can you say 'point me bandits' now?" Gray asked irritably, just as his stomach growled.
"How about we head to the next town, if it's not too far, and get something to eat?" Harry suggested instead.
"How do we know if it's far away or not?"
Harry shrugged. "We walk for an hour or so, and if we haven't seen signs of a town, we go hunting for bandits instead."
Gray shrugged. "Sure. Go for it."
Harry nodded, looked back at his stick, pictured a village not unlike Hogsmeade, and said firmly, "Point me nearby town."
The stick vibrated and then rotated between left and right for a minute before settling on pointing right—east, Harry noted, as the rising sun crested the top of the trees. It was midmorning by now, and Harry was beginning to worry. The bandits had had Conrad for almost twelve hours now; who knew what they were doing with him?