The Wizard Returns

Chapter Six

-dutchtulips-

The dark robed minions led their camels into the encampment at Karnack, flickering fires the only source of illumination. Alone within the temple, an eight-year-old prisoner sulked, pacing around a tall post in which his leg was chained to. Jordan kicked at the sand, trying to think of a way to escape.

Footsteps and the swish of robes alerted him that someone was approaching. Jordan glanced up to see Malfoy looming towards him, holding a tin cup filled with water.

"Easy there, partner," he said, holding up his wrist bearing the Bracelet of Arana.

Malfoy stopped short. "When the time comes, I shall truly enjoy killing you," he said menacingly. "You may have inherited Ron Weasley's sharp tongue, but you have also inherited his foolishness."

Jordan chose to ignore the last comment. "But until that time, Killjoy, you'd better be a little nice to me. Now where's my water?"

Malfoy shoved the tin cup in the boy's hands and, grumbling, sauntered off.

The eight-year-old waited until he was gone, and then Jordan tipped the cup over the sand. Diligently, he began to sculpt the wet sand, fashioning a castle. But this was no ordinary sand castle. . .

~*~

Ron and Harry - wands scimitars, and magic explosives at the ready - raced across the hot Sahara sand along the Temple of Karnack towards the train beyond, stopped on the tracks. Ron reached it first, hurling himself onto the train, holding all his weapons in front of him -

"They've gone!" Harry called from the front of the train.

Ron felt his heart drop, sighed, and lowered his arsenal. Meeting Harry, he said, "Now what do we do? We've got no idea where to go now."

As if in reply, Hermione's voice echoed across the ruins. "Ron!"

He dashed across the sand, Harry close behind them, bolting for Hermione. Following her voice inside the temple, they found her crouching over the sand. She waved them over, "Look what Jordan left for us." She was smiling happily.

Ron looked down at the small, sandy structure Hermione was staring at. Hope leaped into his chest.

"It's the Temple Island of Philae. They've gone to Philae," she told them.

"Attaboy, Jordan. Let's go!" Ron exclaimed, and they dashed for the dirigible.

Once there, Harry scrawled something on a piece of papyrus and tied to Hedwig's leg. She took off, and the party was free to depart.

~*~

The next stop - the Island of Philae - on the following day proved as deserted as the temple ruins of Karnack. Normally, it would not have made much difference, but there was one particular item of interest - a young boy's khakis jacket, left "carelessly" behind.

Hermione yanked it away revealing beneath it, another sand sculpture, which she identified as the Great Temple of Abu Simbel. Harry sent another note with Hedwig, and they were gone again like the ones before them.

~*~

The blimp and its fishing trawler was now floating through deep canyons, following the Nile's twisting path. "That's the Blue Nile down there," Ron noted sometime later, as the blimp floated over the long river. "We must be out of Egypt by now."

"In ancient times, this still all belonged to the Upper Kingdom," Hermione replied. "The Oasis of Yané Seek must be around here somewhere."

"Don't worry, 'Mione. He's a smart kid. He'll leave us a sign," Ron said.

~*~

Within a few miles of the blimp, Jordan was sitting at the edge of Blue Nile, playing in the damp sand. He was making a large design with his fingertips, doing it casually as if he were just having fun. But unknowingly to him, a dark robes man was coming from behind him, waiting for the right moment to strike. . .

And suddenly a boot stomped down on the design Jordan was making, crushing the sand. Malfoy lifted the lithe boy off the ground and yelled, "Leaving breadcrumbs, are you?" He was about to strike Jordan when a voice called out in ancient Egyptian.

"Malfoy! Put him down," Jaakko said. Jordan looked up and saw the regenerated mummy standing in the Nile, water up to his waist. The mummy continued to speak. "I hope your parents have enjoyed their journey."

With some inhuman power, Jaakko raised his arms and lifted a massive wall of water out of the river. It hung there, a shimming blue curtain, waiting to do the mummy's bidding.

~*~

Ron, Hermione, and Harry stood at the stern of the trawler, looking down for any signs that Jordan might have left. Suddenly a rumbling noise rolled into their ears, and Ron turned around, curious.

A towering wall of water was onrushing the blimp, bearing the single, watery face of Jaakko.

Ron yelled out to Seamus, "Seam, starboard! Go starboard!"

He yanked a lever and shouted to everyone, "Hold on!" Flames shot out of the boosters on the sides of the trawler, and with a whoosh, the blimp shot out through the canyons like a rocket.

Seamus managed a sharp turn through the next canyon, but the face of Jaakko was not as lucky. It crashed into the rock and disappeared. Silence.

Fred, clutching the golden Scepter of Ibis, turned around at the stern. "Er. . .people." He waved the others to come closer. They turned as Fred had to look into the ravine where Seamus and flown them into. It was an immense bowl shaped canyon which had a floor of rich foliage, so thick it could only be. . .

Ron dug out his telescope and peered through it, catching the sparkling tip of a golden pyramid. "This is the oasis, all right."

Before any more words could be exchanged, the rumbling started again. Seamus turned around, yelling, "He's back!"

And indeed the watery face of Jaakko had returned, lunging on the small blimp. Seamus kicked the throttle and the balloon shot out again, but stopped short, hovering in midair for a moment.

"Uh oh," the pilot said.

With the face's mouth opened, it crashed the blimp and took it spinning down, sending it sailing down into the jungle.

~*~

Jaakko climbed out of the water and, stepping on the shore, his apparent task done.

"Mum?" Jordan whispered tearfully. "Dad?"

The mummy merely patted the boy's head as he passed, but Jordan reached up and push Jaakko's arm away.

~*~

Deep in Yané Seek's jungle lay the deflated blimp, limping over the jungle foliage like a sickly animal. The trawler was battered even more than before, leaning up against an immense baobab tree. Among the twining emerald vines, the Weasley party and Seamus had managed to wedge from the deflated blimp.

As the Weasleys quickly recovered their rucksacks and supplies, Seamus was complaining loudly. "You know it'll take me ages to fix this! This thing runs on gas! Where'm I going to get gas? Mangos? Bananas?"

"Convert the blimp to hot air," Ron said simply, picking up his wand and holstering it.

"I s'pose I could, but do you know how many cubic meters I'd need. . ." Seamus continued on with his tirade.

Ron turned to the pilot. "If anyone can fill this thing up with hot air, it's you."

Seamus glowered but said nothing.

Meanwhile, George, who had been packing up his rucksack, suddenly looked down and saw the Scepter of Ibis poking out of Seamus's bag. He reached down and plucked from the pack. "Come to Daddy," he mumbled, stuffing it inside his robes.

Harry, who had just sent Hedwig off with another note, began trekking with the Weasleys up through the jungle, Fred saying, "So where're we off to, Ron old boy?"

"Let's find some higher ground first."

They had barely gotten far into the jungle before a shriek startled them all, but it was not a human's scream. It was the cry of a bird.

Harry snapped around, shouting, "Hedwig!" The word was strained; pleading, but the snowy white owl did not come back.

Harry could not have known it, but Malfoy, who had spotted Hedwig days earlier was just waiting for the bird's return, and had brought the winged messenger down from sky.

"I must go," he said. "I must let the commanders know where we are. If the Army of Arana arises -"

"Please," Ron pleaded, stopping in front of his old friend. "I can't do this without you. I need you to help me get Jordan back."

Harry was quiet for a moment, and then swallowed and nodded. "First then I will. But then I must return to the Aurors."

"Sure," the redhead replied. "Let's go."

And Harry took the lead.

~*~

Moonlight and torches held by the dark robed minions lighted the way of Jaakko's caravan as they trooped through the jungle of Yané Seek, the copper skinned regenerated mummy leading the way, at his side striding the dark haired woman who had been Pansy, but now was Cat-a-la-lina.

Near the back was Jordan, who was being prodded along by Malfoy. Although the eight-year-old had inherited his father's prowess, he was indeed scared. As he stared around at the vast jungle around him, Jordan had the distinct feeling that his time was running out.

The procession paused as Jaakko slowed his pace, observing the sights the caravan had fallen upon. Nets were strung across the trees, displaying their grotesque contents - armor clad skeletons, still rotting at the sight.

"Romanian legionnaires," Snape noted as they passed by. "Over there, French troops."

And then, abruptly, Jaakko stopped, glancing around the jungle. Cat-a-la-lina at his side, asked, "What is it?"

The shimmering tip of the golden pyramid was twinkling in the distance. Jordan looked up and mumbled to himself, "Cripes, I'm in trouble now."

~*~

At another small clearing some distance away, Ron and Harry were loading up on their weapons. The latter had his wand and scimitar at his belt at always, the former the same and cramming his rucksack with more magic explosives.

Ron looked up, shrugging a lock of his red hair out of his face. "You hear that?" He said to Harry.

"What?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

Meanwhile, Fred and George were tinkering with their explosive launchers, as was Hermione nearby, trying to familiarize herself with it. Harry approached the twins a few moments later, saying, "I trust you two are good with those."

"Of course, old boy, of course!" Fred replied brightly.

"Three times Fox and Hound grand champions," George put in. Glancing at Harry's scimitar, he said, "Pretty good with that, old mate?"

"I suppose we will see," Harry answered, smirking. Smoothly he drew the weapons from his belt, and holding a mere inch from George's neck said, "You see, the only way to kill an Arana warrior is to take off its head."

George put on a stick smile. "I'll remember that one."

Harry replaced his scimitar.

Meanwhile, Ron had quietly approached Hermione as she was loading the launcher. Softly to her, he said, "Remember to. . .to keep it tight. . .on your shoulder, lead the target. . .a little, and, uh. . .squeeze the trigger, don't. . .don't pull it."

Hermione laid a gentle hand on her husband's shoulder. "I won't miss."

He leaned in exceptionally close and wrapped her in a deep kiss. After a moment he abruptly broke away and started off without a word, but Hermione understood.

~*~

Along the jungle where Jaakko's caravan, on foot now, continued trooping along, they continued on past more skeletons, but the mummy led them right on past. Jordan who had inadvertently lurched backwards with a groan, upon seeing a particularly grotesque one, had broken Malfoy's patience.

"Now may I kill him?" He said to Snape.

Snape turned to Jaakko, and in ancient Egyptian, "My lord, now that we have reached Yané Seek, there is no need for the Weasley boy."

"Yes, but we need the bracelet. It will unlock the Army of Arana," the mummy replied.

"It is the key?" Snape said incredulously. To Malfoy, he said in plain English, "Retrieve that bracelet."

Malfoy grinned evilly, and turned in the direction of young Jordan, trying to find the small boy in the long caravan.

Jordan saw Malfoy coming towards him, seeing his smile, and knew what it meant. He was going to die. He tried bolting to one side, but to no avail; another dark robes minion had latched onto his arm.

Then, in the heat of the night, quietness of the jungle, a whispering breeze ruffled through the procession, stopping Malfoy, Snape, the minions, and even Jaakko himself in their tracks.

"What is wrong?" Cat-a-la-lina asked her lord.

But it was Snape who answered, swallowing uneasily as the breeze drifted through the caravan again, and said, "Something. . .is coming."

~*~

To Be Continued