Chapter 15: The Wild Hunt
From ghoulies and ghosties
And long legged beasties
And things that go bump in the dark
Good God protect us.
-Nachtsegen
Mena and Louis exchanged looks and started running. Mena had to swerve back for a second to grab Uric and drag him along, but then they were running at full speed through the forest.
"We have to reach the edge of the forest and Hogwarts!" yelled Louis in the lead.
"Didn't you hear Uric? We can't get out!" responded Mena as she dodged a low hanging branch.
"Beckett probably told Dasha we were here. Maybe she came after us," called Louis over his shoulder.
"Then she's as stupid as we are," breathed Mena, but neither of the boys heard her. Behind them howls split the night, and this time a new noise. The clear tone of a hunting horn rang out across the forest. It was beautiful, but filled with a deep wild call that sent a shiver through their bodies.
They ran for a long time, not realising how far into the forest they had come during their run from Beckett. Hope sprang anew when they realised that the trees were thinning out and the dark became a bit less oppressive. But then the howls sounded again, behind and in front of them. The horn followed and it no longer sounded beautiful. It sounded like it came from all around them. All three of them skidded to a halt.
"They've got us surrounded," said Louis in a resigned tone. Mena was furious with him for giving up, but a loud snapping noise pulled their attention behind them. A woman lay sprawled over a broken log. Her reddish-brown hair was spread out wildly and for some reason her body ended just under her waist. The woman sputtered and spit a leaf out of her mouth, before sitting up. Mena felt, rather than saw Uric grin beside her. He approached the woman.
"Hello! Have you seen Simon? Did you know that you have no legs?" he asked politely. The woman stared at him for a moment, than shook her head.
"Here I am trying to protect you Uric, and you had to go and run off into the Forbidden Forest on the most dangerous night of the year! Simon would have been fine in the forest for the night," she scolded in her strange accent, all the while tugging at something invisible around her legs.
"You don't know that," said Uric. Mena could barely see him in the now waning moonlight, but his voice had sounded serious for once.
"I hate to break up this lovely debate," said Louis from behind her, "But we're in the forest now and there is a Wild Hunt on. Could we worry about surviving the night?" A howl punctuated his request. The woman seemed to come to herself.
"You're right. Uric, you have to take my invisibility cloak and hide yourself." She pulled at something around her legs and a shimmering material appeared in her hands.
"You do have legs!" said Uric. He was grinning inanely and Mena wanted to smack him, but she had a question first.
"Why can't we all hide under the cloak? What's so important about Uric?" she asked. The woman gave her a piercing look that was spoiled only slightly by the leaf that still dangled down one side of her face.
"I was hired by Mr. Beaufolle to protect his son and I intend to fulfil my duty. Alone, Uric has less chance of being scented by the dogs, not to mention we will act as decoys so he can get out of the forest." Both Mena and Louis opened their mouths to protest, but Uric beat them to it.
"I'm not going to use the cloak." He sounded sad.
"Why not?" asked Mena. She was curious to know his reasons.
"If I use the cloak then Simon won't be able to find me. I can't leave him alone out here. Something bad will happen." The woman looked annoyed.
"You're a bit more important than Simon, Uric. How would your parents feel if you died out here tonight? Now put the cloak on," the woman demanded. She flourished the cloak and made to drape it over Uric's shoulders.
"No!" Uric held out his hand, there was a flash of light and the cloak disappeared. The woman muttered some rather nasty curses, then calmed down and glared at Uric.
"I don't know who taught you to banish things, but they have just made my job a lot harder." She stared out at the forest for a moment, deep in thought, than focused on the children in front of her. The horn blew again. It was much closer.
"Alright. Here's what we do," she said. "Don't run, that just excites the Hunt. We stay here and wait for him to come. When he does, let me do the talking. The worst thing we could do right now is insult him."
"What do you mean by him?" asked Louis. He looked calm, though his hands were white where they clutched at his wand.
"The Hunter. The dogs are under his control, therefore we need to reason with him. It shouldn't be too hard." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself. A howl sounded in front of them.
A huge black dog bounded into view. Its eyes glowed red and its paws were red as well, as if it had been walking in blood. Reddish foam lined its lips and Louis backed slowly away. The dog focused on them with eyes full of cunning and let loose a long, deep howl. Mena made to run, but the woman put a hand on her shoulder. With a snarl another dog bounded out of the woods behind them, and was joined by two more on either side. They were effectively trapped within the little clearing they had stopped in.
Uric laughed then, and approached one of the dogs, hand out for it to smell. He had never seen a dog like this and wondered what its coat felt like, not to mention what its opinion was on the enchantment of muggle objects. He was jerked backward just before it snapped his hand off.
"Uric!" The woman nearly growled at him. "Just stand in the middle of the clearing and don't do anything. Okay?"
"Okay," said Uric in a subdued voice. The doggie wasn't being very friendly.
A man rode into the clearing and even the trees seemed to lean away from him. He was huge and dressed all in black. He sat upon a black horse with red eyes and red hoofs. Its shaggy mane matched the hair of its master. He rode the horse deeper into the clearing and they could smell the faint smell of decay and old blood. Involuntarily, they took a step back. With a flourish of his cloak, he dismounted and spoke to his nearest hound.
"How goes the Hunt?" His voice was layered in tones, giving it an echoing, inhuman quality. The hound growled a response and the man nodded his head at it. He turned to face them, and the woman pushed herself to the front of their little group. His eyes were as red as his dogs, and looked at them with an alien amusement. "When the prey stands still, it makes for poor sport."
"We are not your prey. There are far more evil creatures in the forest tonight," the woman said, her voice faltering a little under the Hunter's gaze.
"I hunt where I will and all creatures of this world are my prey."
"You hunt well, but as you said, we are poor sport. We are not even enough to feed your hounds," said the woman, gesturing at the hounds surrounding them.
"It is long since they have had human meat and the blood of wizards is tasty."
"We could fight you." She sounded desperate.
"You would lose. None may stand against the Hunt," said the Hunter in what was almost a growl. She opened her mouth to respond, but Uric pushed his way past her. He stood looking up at the huge man who smelled of blood and smoke.
"Please, Sir. Have you seen Simon?" he asked. The Hunter looked confused. People pleaded with him for their lives. They did not ask obtuse questions.
"Uric!" yelled the woman, but the Hunter waved his hand and she was frozen in place.
"Who is this Simon?" he asked.
"He's my bird-lizard and he's lost out here. I have to get him back before he gets eaten." The Hunter began to laugh.
"It is I and my hounds who devour things in this forest tonight!" he crowed. Mena stepped forward then, knowing he would probably kill them anyway so she might as well act.
"Please. How would you feel if one of your hounds was lost?" she pleaded. The Hunter stared at her, than turned to look at his precious hounds for a long moment. Eventually, he turned back to them and they saw he had reached a decision. He reached out a huge hand to ruffle Uric's hair.
"Worry not, child. The Hunt shall find this Simon for you, and we shall be off to better hunting grounds. Time grows short and we must find tastier prey ere the dawn."
"Thank you," said the three of them. The Hunter shook his head and smiled a sad smile at them. It looked strange when paired with his glowing, otherworldly eyes.
"I grow weary of this place. The Hunt shall not ride here again." He unfroze their protector then mounted his horse. The horse reared and a sudden wind caused his cloak to billow out behind him. "Farewell children. You have tamed the Hunter for the night, but do not think I will spare you should you cross my path again." He smiled a wicked smile at them. Then he lifted a black horn, gilded in silver to his lips and sounded it. The sound echoed across the forest as he bounded off, his hounds padding silently after him.
There little group stood frozen on the spot, except for Uric who was cheerfully waving good bye to the nice man in black.
*****
Morning came and a deep orange kneazle made its way along the edge of the forest. It stopped nearly opposite the castle and walked into the trees. In a clearing not too deeply in, it found three students and one woman fast asleep on the forest floor. It recognised one of them and hurried over to nudge at the light brown-haired boy.
"Hmmm," Uric yawned and focused on the creature in front of him. "Hello Beckett. How are you this morning?" The kneazle meowed at him. "We're fine. Look, even Simon is." The boy held a rather ragged looking bird-lizard right in Beckett's face. Beckett sneezed when one of the feathers tickled his sensitive nose. He shook his head at the boy, than turned and ran out of the forest, intent on finding his master. Uric didn't notice, because he was too busy telling Simon all the excitement he had missed the night before.
"That's why you shouldn't run away, Simon. You miss all the fun things, like the really cute doggies." Simon just chirped at him. "It's okay though. We'll go have our own adventure tomorrow night."
"You will not, because you won't be in this school tomorrow," said a voice Uric knew very well. Professor Stewart strode purposely across the clearing and surveyed it with distaste.
"Good morning, Sir," said Uric in a cheerful voice.
"A good morning for me, but not for you. Mrs. Kurze has been informed of your delinquency and is waiting for you and your companions in her office. Who is this?" He gestured toward the prone form of their protector.
"A woman," said Uric, failing to notice that Professor Stewart was beginning to look very angry.
"The other teachers may tolerate your fresh answers, but I will not. If I didn't know Mrs. Kurze was going to expel you, I would assign you detention. Wake them up and go to Mrs. Kurze's office. You should know the way." He shook his head in disgust, than headed back towards the castle. Louis waited until he was gone before sitting up.
"He probably doesn't want to miss breakfast, the fat git," he said.
"You're probably right about that, but that doesn't mean you should be insulting him," said a gruff voice. Louis turned to see Dasha sitting on a nearby log, her long red braid glinting in the sunlight.
"He's going to get us expelled today. So you'll excuse me if I'm not feeling very charitable towards him at the moment," he responded rather irritably. Mena sat up, than put her hands around her knees. She looked up at them, her face full of worry.
"I don't want to be expelled," she said in a small voice. If she went home now, all she could expect was to be taught to sew by her mother and married off to the baker's son, or some other mundane future. At Hogwarts, she had a chance to escape that, but not if she was expelled before she learnt anything. Louis was looking at her a little sadly.
"We did disobey the rules about going into the Forbidden Forest. She is within her rights to expel us." He paused. "It's a good thing I wrote out a will because my father's going to kill me."
"I'll talk to her," said their protector. She looked very determined.
"Well, thank you, but I don't think it's going to help," said Louis. The woman ignored him and turned to Dasha.
"May I use a quill and some parchment?" Dasha gave the woman a hard look before she agreed. They all followed her to the groundskeeper's cottage. There the woman wrote a short note on a parchment, then marched determinedly up to the castle. The three of them followed, curious about what a letter would do to save them. Once they entered, the woman turned to go up one of the side staircases.
"That's not the way to Mrs. Kurze's office," said Mena helpfully. The woman looked at her.
"I know. We need to send this letter first. Just follow me. We'll tell her it took awhile for you to wake me up when she asks why you're late." The three of them looked at each other and Louis shrugged. They followed her up the stairs to the owlrey, Uric still talking softly to Simon. The woman sent off her letter, though none of them could see to whom it was addressed. She headed for the door and they followed her reluctantly to Mrs. Kurze's office.
*****
My essays are done! Not that it effected this story too much. I've had parts of these last two chapters written since January believe it or not. Next chapter: Mrs. Kurze's office, among other things…
Thank you to all my reviewers: AniMourner, rabbit, Tidmag, Em, Chad-Catsmeat, Ryven, Giesbrecht, gjegje, Gred Weasley, Ozma, TatraMegami, aurielo, Kath, Mad Potter and Alchemine.
AniMourner: The Wild Hunt is actually a rather common legend in different parts of the world. Though it is more often found in Scandinavian countries, there are myths of it in Britain. My original inspiration for the idea came from a scene in Susan Cooper's, The Dark is Rising sequence, though I can barely remember it these days:) My additional research on the Wild Hunt was obtained from here: http://vinland.org/heathen/mt/wildhunt.html This is probably the most comprehensive article on the subject I could find, if you are interested.
Rabbit: No, Varys didn't know about the Wild Hunt. He doesn't have a problem with Simon getting hurt, but he would draw the line at putting someone else in physical danger like that. He was just hoping that Uric would be caught and expelled.
Chad-Catsmeat: I have to admit that the title of this story is misleading. When I started out, the Wild Hunt was the focus of the story, but now the focus of the plot is really on the mysterious woman and the masked wizards. I didn't want to change the title in the middle of the story however, so I've left it as it was despite the change of emphasis. Uric's year is not over yet. And yes, there will be a sequel.
Gred Weasley: I hope I do well on the essay too:)
Aurielo: The sequel will be set in Uric's seventh year (I'd really like to do all seven of his years but I just don't have the time, not to mention it's a lot harder than it looks to think of year spanning plot lines…) So far, the sequel has demons in it, a trip to France, relationships (probably not for Uric, but we'll see where it goes…) and a closer look a Louis' family. I'm still debating what the main plot line will be.
As for historical differences, I am an archaeology student, so historical accuracy tends to be important to me. In fact, I'm downright anal about it, so there was a lot of thinking behind my choosing to set the story in 1680 (since Rowling has never mentioned when Uric lived). I deliberately chose a time period when nothing of historical importance was happening in Britain so that the muggles and their wars wouldn't interfere with the story. The reason why Hogwarts is so similar in some ways to present day Hogwarts is because I view the wizarding world as a largely stagnant society (fitting for a people who live twice as long as their muggle counterparts). This means that their fashions are centuries out of date and their still using outdated systems and ideas (just look at the justice system in Harry's time). Uric's world is working towards a great change since we all know that the Council can't last forever, but even that is causing a large amount of trouble, so it makes sense that a lot of things in Uric's time haven't been changed in later years.
Please review. Speculations and questions welcome:)