Here is the 20th full chapter in Book 5, released on time as promised. Well, the war has been raging and now it is time to pick off as it reaches new heights after the second time skip in this series so this is mainly a recap chapter and a calm before the coming storm. However, that is all I have for here though so I will leave this pre chapter note off here and as there isn't anything to respond to that means that it time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the 20th full installment of Avatar: The Tale of Harry. Book 5: Duty.
Disclaimer: As always I own nothing related to these two great works of fiction.
Chapter 20
2 Years Later
Harry groaned as he returned to his apartment in the Western Air Temple guest quarters and barely made it to the armchair in the living room before collapsing in it. He'd already taken off his bloodstained clothes when he'd returned to the Temple before showering the gore off himself and changing into a clean set of his usual ISEK outfit over so at least he wasn't making the chair dirty.
It had been a long day and had ended with violence which had not been expected but planned for just in case and at least it was the last one before the next temporary ceasefire in the war. He'd been out on a routine patrol with a contingent from the ANDF and a few hummingbirds from the volunteer force that were unaffiliated with any officially recognized mercenary company.
It was supposed to be simple. Patrol the edges of the airspace they controlled around the Western Air Temple and make sure that the air paths to the Southern Air Temple, Fire Nation, Southern Water Tribe, and United Republic were clear of enemies. All had been going smoothly until they reached the last check, the one to the Northern Water Tribe. That was when they'd hit the ambush that had been laid for the patrol having anticipated that they'd reach this path last.
It wasn't done to target Harry; the enemy had no idea that the Avatar would be present with the patrol. Harry had made sure to make his participation in the patrols random so that they couldn't predict it. No, the squad of Northern Mercenaries and independent contractors who made up the bulk of Ekrizdis's army, along with a few Black Airbenders from his undesirable battalion, was likely trying to inflict one last bloody blow and secure a win before the ceasefire that would last a fortnight.
Unfortunately for their attackers they had run into the Avatar. Harry had been forced to enter the Avatar State, something he'd done more in the last two years than the previous 65 as the recognized Avatar, as they were exhausted from the end of the patrol and in order to save as many lives as possible. He'd wiped out the bulk of their enemy's forces with his airbending while their only losses were two hummingbirds and one ANDF soldier so 5 casualties to the enemy's 30+.
They'd also taken the leader of the ambush captive as a prisoner of war, and she was being held in the new cells that Harry and other earthbender volunteers had carved beneath the Temple to hold the POWs they caught over the last 2 years. One bison and one small airship had escaped but Harry let them flee without chasing them so that Ekrizdis would know that they had failed in their mission.
After that Harry and the patrol had returned to debrief with Luna and Marshall Bexley, hand over the prisoner, and send the wounded to Ginny and the team of healers they had on hand. When that was done, Harry had stripped his distinctive clothes marking him as the Avatar and what side of the war he was on, showered, changed, and returned to his apartment. At midnight, an annual ceasefire of 2 weeks that culminated in the festival of Yangchen would start and he couldn't wait for the breather that it would provide them.
It was one of the few constants in the war and a rest bit that they got to enjoy and recover from the recent on again, off again, fighting. It was one of the few things that had come from the first Peace Summit held in the early months of the war. Both sides couldn't agree to much, and certainly no end of hostilities due to Ekrizdis's only condition for that was the unconditional surrender of Luna and a proclamation from Harry that he was the true leader of all airbenders, but they had come to terms on some other things regarding the war that helped lay the foundation for it.
The Peace Summit, held on Air Temple Island as it was the neutral location of the Air Nation and which would end up hosting the subsequent 8 Summits that had all failed as well, had produced a set of rules to follow in the Airbending Civil War. It officially declared that the war was a civil war and must follow the laws of one of those, along with other recognized laws of war such as clear combatant uniforms denoting their side, the lawful targets of the war, treatment of POWs, and limitations on weaponry that could be used.
It had also declared that all festivals and holidays recognized by the Air Nation, or the old Air Nomads would have a ceasefire of two weeks that ended after the festival or holiday was over. There weren't many of these, but they at least allowed for breathers during the sacred festivals.
This had been agreed upon by both sides and the conditions of breaking any of the rules that had been signed onto was that the other nations, all of whom had declared Luna the legitimate leader though various state governors in the ISEK and high-ranking figures in all nations had publicly supported Ekrizdis's claim, could get involved. It was enough to keep their enemy in check as if he broke the rules he'd almost certainly lose due to the combined might of at least 5 militaries joining the war on Luna's side.
That was basically how the war started, though it had officially begun the day of Ekrizdis's announcement as he'd launched a preemptive strike, one that he'd called an act of self-defense to save the Temple in question in his never-ending PR campaign to paint Luna as the aggressor to the old ways, on the Southern Air Temple. Davies had been able to repel it, but it had cost them a good portion of the Temple's defenders and over 100 lives on both sides in the first ever engagement between Air Nation factions. After that, the war had been kicked into high gear.
Harry had traveled to Xidi almost as soon as the war began to secure the support of the Militias who had agreed to serve as the land forces that would guard the Air Nation lands around the two Temples they controlled in exchange for Air Nation support in their crop cultivation as the Air Nation had the best experts for that. Luna had agreed and quickly they were installed under the surprise leadership of Dennis.
He was the last known living former Chosen and a firebender who Harry knew as he was the one who'd gotten the Chosen guarding the Royal Palace to surrender before the final defeat of Hermione rather than let them be slaughtered by the arriving United Forces and Fire Utopia Military that had turned on Hermione. Dennis's actions were driven by the loss of his faith in Hermione following her order that sent him, his brother Colin and Dean to their deaths at the hands of Harry, Ron and Pyrites. Dennis had been the only survivor though he was badly injured and fully cooperated with the ICTFU and received a lenient prison sentence for his crimes.
After serving his sentence and his parole, Dennis had left the Fire Nation in voluntary exile to live the rest of his life in obscurity in the Imperial State of Skrit in the ISEK. However, after the global coups and a chance meeting with Albus prior to them, Dennis decided to use his skills to resist the Principate. On his way to do so, he'd had met Harry during the Principate War in the woods in Ozark to the north of Xidi though Harry never revealed his identity during the meeting.
Dennis had joined the militias there and helped them in their guerilla resistance against the Principate and earned their trust for his actions during it. So much so that he'd stayed in the militias after the war and had been chosen to lead the militia forces sent to aid in the Airbending Civil War. Well, that and partly because he knew the Avatar a little and because the actual leaders were effectively members of the Xidi government so couldn't serve but an exiled Fire Nation ex-con could do so without a problem.
The actual internal Temple protection for both Temples fell on the Kyoshi Warriors, however. This was because they had pledged to support the Avatar and joined in full force. Almost all members were spread out between the two Temples. The only ones who couldn't were their commander Ty La as she was also the state of Kyoshi's governor, so their leadership fell on the highest-ranking available girls at the Temples.
In addition to that, all the other World Leaders with the exception of Chief Titus who wasn't taking a side in keeping with the Foggy Swamp Tribe's longstanding isolationist policy, had, in their declarations of support, told their citizens that so long as they were not public employees they could join the war on either side. This had led to a swell of volunteers for both sides. They were from all nations and a mix of retired soldiers and young people who wanted to serve the side they saw fit but who weren't part of their own nation's military for various reasons. The declarations did give big advantage to their side, Zaofu.
It was after Harry had secured the support of the Xidi Militia and sent them to their posts that he'd gotten the news. He was about to head back to the Western Air Temple where the main command center was being set up and where Luna wanted Harry to be based as that was where she and Ron were when he got the call. It was from Sirius out in Zaofu who had already volunteered to join Harry and had asked him to come to the city as he was just the first of many volunteers.
Harry couldn't refuse it as the private citizens of Zaofu were some of the best innovators, and richest, in the world, so he went there. He learned that many, but not all, of them had sided with Harry and wanted to help. They had to be moved to the Temples to set up shop due to the laws of war, but they were now their main weapon and tech support making everything they needed in special locations they themselves made in the depths beneath the Temples and giving Luna an advantage in that depart which she needed as they didn't have the numbers.
All this meant that both sides had a lot more to deal with and on Harry's side that meant that Ron and former Marshall Quirke took charge of the volunteer units and made sure that they were ready for war. Not all could serve in the actual forces so those who couldn't but still wanted to help were detailed to Temple defense, logistic support aboard the airships that they had, or to wherever they were needed and what best suited their skills. They would need it given the help that Ekrizdis had managed to acquire without them knowing.
It had turned out that the Northern Mercenaries weren't long dead as Harry had expected after he'd caught Zabini, but they had just gone undergrown, and had grown in size to become the largest Mercenary Company in the world under Zabini's son Blaise. It was an oversight on Harry's part and now they were paying for it as the Northern Mercenaries brought a lot of manpower to the table for their enemy.
Then, when they added in the Black Airbenders, volunteers who sided with Ekrizdis and various criminal outfits that had grudges against Harry and had been promised pardons and membership as acolytes in the Air Nomads and they had amassed an army larger that theirs. Harry's side had the tech advantage, along with training and experience in general, but Ekrizdis had the numbers, and his troops knew unconventional fighting styles while also having limited morals which caused a lot of problems.
That was basically how the war had begun, an attack on the Southern Air Temple that was repelled, a rush of recruitments, organization, and a Summit to try and end it early but only managed to establish that they were indeed at war and what the rules of it were going to be. After that, the oddest war Harry had ever been part of or even knew about began.
That had been two years ago, and they were still at it with neither side gaining any headway in the conflict. Harry had expected the war to be over relatively quickly just like the last two wars he'd been apart of, but it had dragged on for more than 2 years because of the very nature of it.
They couldn't fight a conventional war like the Principate one because they didn't really have land or sea to fight on. Sure, they had had four land battles, one for each of the cardinal Temples with the worst taking place on the cliffs atop the Western Air Temple in the middle of the first year of the war, but all had ended in large casualty numbers and no winners. The first two had been attacks by Ekrizdis and the other two counter attacks by Luna though she herself didn't fight in them due to her age and importance.
Instead, the vast majority of the war had been fought in the air and it wasn't like the air battles during the Assault on the Northern Air Temple or the Second Siege of the North during the Principate War. They didn't have the numbers or the amount of machinery for them. Instead, they were more a series of aerial skirmishes like the one Harry had had today that occurred between small units near the Temples or on valid trade convoys under the flags of the combatants as a way to wear down their opposition.
The typical battle in this war was a clash either in Temple or international airspace between small units that went at it until one was forced to retreat or on rare occasions completely wiped out. There were no full-scale battles as neither side used their large airships, only bison, hummingbirds, planes, and specialty smaller airships developed after the Principate War for use in aerial battles. The larger airships were constantly in perimeter defense of the Air Temples, a precaution after the attacks on them, to prevent the large-scale attacks from happening again.
All this was why the war had dragged on for 2 years, the longest of any in Harry's time. Neither side could get any headway into it with the countless small-scale skirmishes, so it had become a war of attrition between the sides. They'd held 8 Peace Summits during it, often during set ceasefires, but none had produced anything because Ekrizdis refused to budge on his beliefs. He claimed he was the rightful ruler of all airbenders and unless that was confirmed he wouldn't agree to peace but continue to fight in self-defense of his claims as he called it. Therefore, it was still war with all the negatives that came from it.
Harry took a moment to think on all the casualties of the war so far. It was no where near the numbers of the Principate War, in fact the casualty report from the Second Siege, when including those who went missing as well as the confirmed dead, was larger than the total in the Airbending Civil War but to Harry, and especially to airbenders, one casualty was too many.
The bulk of the deaths had been in the mercenary and volunteer forces adding the growing cost of the war with death benefits that had to be paid to the families of the slain though Harry knew that they were receiving secret funding from the other nations that used 3rd parties to pay for it, but there had been key deaths on both sides. Some of which were close to Harry and his friends.
There had been two big losses for the Air Nation. The first of which had occurred when they launched their counter attack on the Eastern Air Temple. It had been their most ambitious attack as they had committed a larger than usual force to it and Harry knew that Ekrizdis resided there, so he'd personally gone on the mission to try and face him as he knew he would at some point in the war even if Ekrizdis didn't fight on the front lines. It was seen as their best chance to end the war after 10 months of fighting.
It had been a failure from the start. After their failed attempt to reclaim the Northern Air Temple two months prior, Ekrizdis had managed to secure support from several Imperial States that had until then remained neutral but were leaning towards him for various reasons. They sent airships and planes to the Eastern Temple and his forces were more than enough to repel Harry's attack. They'd even focused a large contingent on Harry himself to prevent him from reaching the Temple which had led to a one of the defender's airships crashing and destroying Jinora's Garden, the most spiritual spot of the Temple.
During this though, and against Harry's wishes, Luna's son Hugo had taken a contingency of volunteers who were considered to be on the better end and tried to sneak in via Pathik's Stream while using the battle as cover for his mission. Hugo's goal was to try and capture Ekrizdis to end the war and none of the volunteers were airbenders but a mix of fire, water, earth, and nonbenders. It had been a disaster for them.
Harry still wasn't sure what had gone wrong but for some reason Ekrizdis had stationed a contingency of earthbenders from Yi that had volunteered to aid him, along with a handful of Black Airbenders, near the stream. Hugo had run into them and the forced engaged in a bloody skirmish in the water and on the mountain side. It was still unclear precisely what happened as there were no survivors on either side, but something occurred and all of them died, including Hugo.
In the aftermath of the battle a ceasefire was allowed so that the dead could be returned and buried honorably, one of the few things Ekrizdis allowed whenever possible, and that was when they had discovered that Hugo had died. He'd died from blood loss from over a dozen lacerations and stab wounds showing he'd fought to the very end and then succumb to his injuries as a Southern Warrior should go out, but no one was sure what had gone on. However, he was dead and as the son of the Archabbot he was the first major casualty of the war.
Hugo's body had been taken to the Southern Water Tribe and laid to rest in the Hall of Southern Heroes, a right granted him for his actions during the Principate War, in the chamber that would also house his parents and siblings when they passed on. The exception to this would be Rose as she'd elected to be buried with her husband Scorpius in the Northern Water Tribe when they died. Harry had gone to the ceremony and it had been tough for them all but as with when Neville and Albus had died, they pushed on.
They got a little momentum back when the leader of one of the criminal groups that had sided with Ekrizdis was killed in a skirmish a few weeks later causing the group to abandon Ekrizdis but that didn't really compare to Hugo's loss. Ekrizdis had taken a key figure close to Luna and for a time held an advantage until they pressed back. That was until the second major casualty and that one was bigger than Hugo because of his position.
The second big blow Luna had suffered had come 5 months ago on what was supposed to be a supply run between the Western and Southern Temples. It was a major supply one as the Southern Temple needed them and it was only because of the sacrifice of one man who had stayed behind when the large ambush designed to take out the convoy hit them that it had succeeded. Louis hadn't supposed to be on the run, but he'd volunteered at the last minute saying that he was needed.
Turned out that he was indeed needed. He'd been the one to stay, just him and his bison, and hold off an overwhelming force that was coming for the convoy. According to reports he'd taken down several planes and hummingbirds with his airbending that would have wreaked havoc on the airships and cost them valuable supplies before his bison was shot in the eye by a metalbender and went down. Even after that Louis had used his glider suit to fight but he was at too much of a disadvantage and was eventually knocked out of the air and followed his bison into the ocean below them.
When his and his bison's bodies were found by salvagers who followed the battles to look for wreckage that they could get and any bodies for which the sides would pay to have them returned, it was determined that Louis had died from the impact with the water. Unfortunately, his body had begun to bloat when it was found it so he couldn't be preserved properly. Instead, his funeral had been a pyre atop the cliff over the Western Air Temple where he and his bison were burned together.
There had been a debate about what to do with the ashes that had been gathered. Under Air Nation tradition, if a body had to be burned and not buried then the ashes were to be scattered to the winds so that it could return to their element. However, Louis was the brother of Chief Dominique and a recognized warrior of the South so she'd requested that his ashes be placed in a special urn that would be displayed in the Hall of Southern Heroes with their parents' bodies in Chief William's chamber.
Luna had agreed with Dominique because of Louis's service in the ANDF and his attitude that he was always a Southern Warrior within the Air Nation. That was why his ashes had been taken to be placed in an ice urn carved with the crests of the Southern Water Tribe and the Air Nation and placed next to the preserved bodies of his parents.
Losing the Deputy Marshall of the ANDF had been a big blow to them but by this point they were so deep into the war that it hadn't affected them too much. Lorcan had been promoted to the position, they'd moved on and the status quo didn't really change much though they did kill the deputy commander of the Northern Mercenaries a month later to somewhat even out Louis death.
Other than Louis and Hugo, Harry's extended family had not suffered any major losses, though he felt for all who died in the war and made sure that both the Western and Southern Air Temples recorded the names of those who'd died in service of the Air Nation and carved them in places of honor so that they were always remembered. However, the reason why they hadn't suffered any losses was because barely any of them were serving in the war.
Dominique and Lily, both of whom would have fought if they could, were banned from doing so due to positions and if Lily resigned as she wanted to then Ekrizdis would use it to his advantage so she couldn't serve. Similarly, Lysander was not fighting as he was a teacher at the Elemental Academy and opted to remain there and be neutral to avoid being a target.
Then there were Harry's 5 grandchildren from his 2 sons, Lily didn't have any, who he cared about but barely knew. He had to keep a track of them as they could be considered hostage targets but fortunately they'd all managed to avoid the conflict, well almost all as Sirius was one of the volunteers so he was present in the Western Air Temple and occasionally fought though he mainly served with the Zaofu contingent making weapons and tech for them. Albus's four children, from four women in four different nations, had managed to avoid the war and weren't actually known as the Avatar's grandchildren.
Percival, the firebender, was a Fire Sage so couldn't serve as he was part of the Fire Nation State religion. Severus was a swampbender and neutral in line with his tribe. Wulfric, the earthbender, was part of the Skrit National Guard so couldn't volunteer and had to remain quiet as Skrit had openly sided with Ekrizdis. The only one of concern had been Brian as he was an airbender from the Northern Air Temple, but he'd moved to the Elemental Academy to become a teacher right after the start of the war and was neutral as he didn't agree with either side.
That meant that all Harry had to be concerned about, on a familial level, were Lorcan and Rose, well and Rose's husband Scorpius as he had been Albus's best friend as well and Harry considered him part of their large family. All three were serving in the war with Lorcan the new Deputy Marshall after Louis's death, Scorpius part of Ron's strategy team, and Rose the current leader of the Southern Water Tribal volunteers having taken over after Hugo's death.
They had all seen combat and suffered injuries for the Air Nation but were still alive which was good. This war had cost them a lot, but Harry knew that they could see it through to the end so long as they didn't lose their moral. They would win and Harry would do his duty and restore peace and balance to the world.
Anymore thoughts were lost as the door to the living room of their apartment opened and a weary and tired looking Ginny walked in. Her clothes, traditional attire for the Air Acolytes that she'd taken to wearing since they'd gotten here, though she did wear a dark blue band with a glowing blue line on it on her arm denoting her as a waterbender and a healer, were splattered with blood. She was dry because of her bending but Harry could tell that she'd not bothered to get the blood out though he knew that it wasn't her blood.
Ginny saw him sitting in the armchair and gave him a small smile as she walked over and sat in his lap. Instinctively Harry wrapped his arms around her waist, and she rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. It was amazing that after 60 years of marriage they could still be like this but right now they needed each other more than ever. They'd been through so much over the years, especially during the Principate War, that these moments became what got them through things.
"What's the status." Harry asked breaking the silence. "Did they make it?"
"Yes they did." Ginny said with a smile. "All of our injured were healed or stabilized. Some are going to be in the medical wing for a while and won't be able to serve on the frontlines again, but they will live. Luna and Bexley are doing the rounds and thanking them for their service. The old ways of the South have rubbed off on them when it comes to the troops, and it really helps show how much the leaders appreciate their service."
"That is good." Harry said. "We needed that. It was an unexpected ambush, but we repelled it to claim a final victory before the ceasefire."
"Thanks to you." Ginny pointed out. "You saved their lives Harry. I saw the healing you did to stabilize the worst injuries. They wouldn't have made it otherwise."
"I was in the Avatar State, it's the only time I can actually heal effectively as I need to use Korra's memories for it, but it was the least that I could do." Harry said. "I don't want anyone to die but that is impossible in war, so I did my best even if it drained me. It reminded me of how Dominique put aside her injuries to stabilize Victoire after the Assault of the Northern Air Temple."
"Yeah the only reason why Victoire is alive today is because of what her sister and Chief did to keep her alive long enough for me to save her." Ginny said. "But we all will do what we have to when duty calls."
"So true." Harry said. "And tomorrow I will talk with Bexley and Dennis and learn who piloted the hummingbirds that went down and who the acolyte was that died. Then I will personally carve their names into the memorial that has been set up here."
"It's getting long." Ginny said with sadness in her voice. "I know the rolls of the Principate War are longer and we lost Al and Neville during it, along with your parents, but it's always hard to add a new name to that list."
"4,291 dead on our side, a little over 6,000 on the other side so far." Harry said. "About the same amount injured in some way. It is not good, war never is, and it's dragging out longer than we thought it would."
"It was always going to be unconventional, but until Ekrizdis showed up no one ever thought that the Air Nation could devolve into a civil war, so we weren't prepared for this." Ginny said with a sigh. "At least with the Principate War it was traditional and had only a handful of major battles."
"True, this is different from all that we have faced before." Harry agreed. "The Second Purity War was a shadow war of sorts and only had one battle that decided it because of the Global Raids we executed. Our actions in the Fire Nation to take Hermione down were kinda similar as we had a few skirmishes but again there was only one true battle in that rebellion against her tyranny."
"And we haven't had a true battle in this war." Ginny said. "Only countless skirmishes and a few attacks on Temples. That is why it is going on so long, you can't win a war fought like this."
"Ron said that the main issue is that this is a war fought almost exclusively in the air." Harry said. "Aerial combat didn't exist, at least not on this scale, until the Principate War so it is still new and not well understood yet. Add in the spread-out nature of the Air Nation and how we are fighting it and we should have seen this coming. Still, I don't like this stalemate, it has me on edge."
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked softly.
"I don't know, it's more a gut feeling from decades of experience, but I think something is coming." Harry said thinking on it. "It has to do with my impression of Ekrizdis when we met and his zealotry. He's a fanatic and absolutely convinced of his right to rule and the truth of his beliefs. How many of the others like him that we have faced have had patience to fight like this for two years."
"Voldemort would have." Ginny said after a pause to think on what Harry had said to her. "He did wage an 11-year shadow war against Korra which was the First Purity War but that is it. Hermione and James took power instantly with coups and had to be taken down, they never really waged a war of conquest, even the Principate War wasn't one because he was going to win all his battles that you weren't there for. The Unholy Triumvirate is a little different as they were motivated by revenge but yeah the others didn't have the patience to last this long. That said, we are facing an airbender, so the mentality of our enemy is different."
"That is why I think something is coming, something big." Harry said. "Two years with no traction, no gains, no victories other than a few pyrrhic ones where they took out near high profile targets at great cost, a man like Ekrizdis wouldn't be able to take it for long even if he is an airbender. He can for a bit, he waited 9 years before revealing himself apparently but that is more likely due to needing to be ready than anything else."
"So, you think he will do something drastic?" Ginny said. "Something big to change the war."
"Yes but I don't know when and with a ceasefire coming we know it won't be until after Yangchen's Festival." Harry said thinking on it. "She was an Air Nomad Avatar so Ekrizdis will honor her at the Eastern Temple just as we will honor her here at her home Temple. However, after the festival I think that something will come that may change the balance in this war."
"So, what will you do?" Ginny asked.
"I'm going to talk with Ron tomorrow after I honor our fallen from today." Harry said already knowing what he needed to do. "And plan for it during the ceasefire as we have the time to do so. That way, when Ekrizdis over extends his arm we will be able to capitalize on it by getting in under his guard and striking him where it hurts."
"That is a good plan." Ginny said. "I have more rounds to do tomorrow so I will be busy but let me know how it goes."
"Will do." Harry said before yawning. "But I think it is time for bed. It has been a long, exhausting day so we should be able to get more sleep than normal."
"Until the nightmares hit as they almost always do." Ginny said with a yawn of her own as she got off Harry's lap and headed to the bedroom. "Go to bed Harry, I need to shower and then I'll join you. We need you rested for tomorrow. Let's try to enjoy the festival as much as possible as we rarely get these moments."
Harry just nodded as his wife left the room. Ginny was right, he needed his rest and then they could resume war planning, honoring those lost, and getting ready for the coming festival. It would be a nice break and a needed one, the last two had been, but Harry knew that they would have to be ready for when it ended.
As Harry stripped and got into bed he fell asleep almost instantly. The last thing that went through his head was a wonder what Ekrizdis was planning and what his major attack was going to be. It was coming and Harry knew it, so he was going to be ready for it. He didn't know why but as sleep claimed him Harry knew that the war was going to come to a close within the year, he just didn't know what the cost of it would be. That was for another day, though for now it was time to sleep.
I know I skipped over a lot of the war, the scenes of Hugo and Louis deaths will be in the lost adventures story whenever I get around to writing that, but with a war like this there really isn't much to say when it comes to several skirmishes and a few large attacks. Naturally, that will change now that we are seeing the players again but of course I won't say anything as we gear up for the next major arc in Book 5 and I think y'all know who the focus of the next chapter will be. However, that is all I have for y'all so I will leave this chapter off here. As always any questions in PMs or reviews will be answered before the start of the next chapter (as well as replied to if possible). Please follow, favorite and review, all are greatly appreciated. Until next week.
Stringdog