The Heavenly Desert
Chapter One: Witness to a Battle
Sirius Black and Remus Lupin crouched low behind a sand hill. The sound of galloping hooves and the clashing of swords indicated a battle was taking place. The sounds grew louder in volume, until both could see the thousands of troops engaged in fierce battle.
"It's the dark mark…" Sirius muttered.
True enough, the dark mark on the troops in black clearly showed they were death-eaters. They were winning. The opposing troops were no match for them as hapless cries filled the air. Sirius moved to dart forward, but Remus held him back.
"Don't." Remus whispered.
"Why?" Sirius cried in indignation. "Those brutes are winning!"
"Dumbledore sent us here to meet up with the Muslim tribe officials, not fight!"
"So we're just going to sit back and watch this massacre?"
Remus drew in a sharp breath.
"Bear with it, Sirius. Bear with it." He said. "It won't do if the death-eaters discover us,"
Sirius snorted.
** **
Dawn passed into noon.
"Troops! Head westwards and meet up with the main unit!" The commander of the unit death-eater troops ordered. The troops galloped off, leaving thousands of lifeless bodies lying on the desert floor, their blood already staining the sand.
"What now?" Sirius hissed as they stood up.
"We'll try to locate the Muslims' camp." Remus replied. "Find a survivor."
This was easier said than done. After flipping through most of the bodies, they observed that most of the soldiers had been either old men or young boys. Eventually, they found an unconscious boy still with heartbeat. After giving him some water to drink and dressing his wounds with cloth tore from their own robes, the boy regained consciousness a few hours later.
"What's your name, boy?"
"Ah-Ahmed," the boy replied weakly.
"Ahmed. Can you direct us to the Muslim camp?"
Ahmed eyed them with faint suspicion.
"We've been sent from Dumbledore," Remus added hastily.
Ahmed nodded. Even in the arid desert regions of the Heavenly Desert in West China, Dumbledore's name still held weight.
Sirius conjured a stretcher, and Ahmed directed them to the Muslim camp. After two hours, they finally arrived.
** **
The Huo tribe in the Heavenly Desert was among the few pure-wizarding tribes in the world. Voldemort's supporters had originally wanted these tribes to join him as allies, but when they refused, the death-eaters tried to force them into submission. In recent months, they had launched attack after attack. In fact, even as Ahmed was directing Sirius and Remus to the camp, another battle was being fought in the Sahara desert.
Some remaining military officers welcomed Sirius and Remus into the camp, and led them into a tent.
"We have come as envoys of the Order of the Phoenix, and would like to seek an audience with your Chief, Mr. Hong." Sirius explained.
"Ah! I see. You are the good sirs from Dumbledore, are you not?" One of the officers spoke. "We have received Dumbledore's owl, saying he sent people here." He spoke with a rather odd accent.
"Unfortunately," he continued, "Chief Hong is presently commanding a battle."
Sirius and Remus nodded. Sirius fought back an urge to inform the officer that almost all his tribes' troops had been killed.
Just then, a gong sounded from outside, and triumphant cries followed it. Sirius and Remus panicked. Had the death-eaters come to take over the Muslim camp, thus sealing their victory?
The officer dashed outside eagerly. Sirius and Remus followed, and were relieved to find that it was the Muslim warriors returning.
"Mistress Hong Xiwen!" the officer called. Leading the Muslims was a lady dressed in scarlet robes. She wore a queer red cap with golden material lining the rim, and her face was veiled so you could only see her tawny eyes. Her eyes were shrewd and, indeed, after the long battle, weary.
She descended from her horse and marched into the tent without a word, carrying the body of an injured/dead middle-aged man in her arms.
The officer and the two "good sirs" followed.
"Chief Hong – is he…?" the officer broke off awkwardly. Hong Xiwen removed her veil and turned to the officer, her face hard.
"Prepare a grand burial for my father." She said in a low, clear voice.
The officer bit his lip, and then suddenly jerked a little, standing upright. He saluted the dead man, and swept out of the tent.
"And you are?" Hong Xiwen now turned to the two strangers.
"We have come from Dumbledore to see, uhh, Chief Hong." Remus said awkwardly.
"I see." She spoke quietly, so that it sounded like a whisper. "Is anything the matter?"
Now this question surprised them both, because it was Chief Hong who sent an owl to Dumbledore and urged him to dispatch two reliable envoys to their land. He wrote of something urgent, which was why Dumbledore sent them right away. They had apparated to the desert all right, but to the wrong part.
"But you see, Miss Hong, it was Chief Hong that asked us here…"
Hong Xiwen frowned.
"In any case, he is dead." She said firmly with finality. It was clear that she did not want to be disturbed.
"Right," Sirius said. "So we won't impose on you any longer."
Sirius and Remus bowed and left the tent. They were surprised to see happy celebrations outside.
"Why are you celebrating?" Sirius asked one of the villagers.
"Don't you know? Mistress Hong Xiwen has won us a great victory! Our troops have now taken the main camp of You-Know-Who's supporters – that means huge supplies of weapons and food!"
With this strange announcement, Sirius and Remus apparated back to Hogsmeade.
"I see now," Remus said softly. "No wonder they were celebrating."
"Why?" Sirius asked, puzzled.
"You noticed, didn't you? The defeated Muslim troops were all old men and boys. Let's say the girl Hong meant for her troops to be defeated…"
"She diverted large numbers of troops away from the main death-eater army to engage in meaningless battles with her weak troops!" Sirius nodded, finally understanding. "Clever."
** **
Dear Dumbledore,
I implore you to please send two reliable envoys to my humble tribe in the Heavenly Desert, Western China. It is urgent. There is something I have found out, and it is of the first importance that you should know of it. I am not sure how this piece of information will affect the outcome of the Wizarding War, but there is no doubt it will have a bearing. I will say no further in case this letter falls into the wrong hands.
Yours truly,
Chief Hong Huo Lun
Dumbledore re-read the letter.
"Does his daughter have an idea of what Chief Hong meant?" He asked.
Sirius shook his head.
"She didn't even seem to know that Chief Hong had sent an owl," Remus replied.
Dumbledore's eyes flickered for a moment.
"Pity," He said, as if it was no big deal. "Come, it is time for dinner."
** **
"How's the war going?" Ron asked, munching on his dinner. Hermione was reading a copy of The War Times, which was a paper dedicated solely to reporting progress of the Wizarding War.
"Oh no," she groaned. "They've conquered Belgium,"
Ron choked. Harry pat him on the back.
"What?"
"You should really keep up with the times, Ron." Hermione said coldly. "If you've been following the war closely, you wouldn't be so surprised."
"What about Ireland?" Harry asked anxiously. Thus far, the death-eaters hadn't dared to launch an attack on England for fear of Dumbledore and the strong troops. Besides, they didn't have a base to operate from. But if they conquered Ireland, they could use Ireland as a base to attack England… it was all Geography, really.
"Ireland's holding them off well," Hermione said with triumph. "England's backing them, supplying them with weapons."
Weapons. Fred and George, having graduated from Hogwarts, had gone to work for the army in developing new weapons.
"Fred and George." Said Ron, pensive. "I wonder if their weapons are any good,"
Ron's imagination
Troop Commander: Sir George! Sir Fred! We need some more weapons! The laughing guns didn't work – we fired them at the enemy and some of our troops got the laughing powder as well, so everyone in the battlefield is now laughing!
Sir George: Hmmm…
Sir Fred: I know! Command your troops to wear masks and set off a dozen mega-dung bombs!
Sir George: And then finish them off with our latest invention – hiccupping guns!
Troop Commander: Y-Yes Sirs!
/end of Ron's imagination
"Ron! Have you finished?" Harry snapped Ron out of his wild thoughts. "We have History test tomorrow, remember?"
"Oh!" Ron exclaimed, and gobbled up the remaining food on his plate. Hermione shook her head.
"Last-minute studying won't do you any good," She said reproachingly.
"Spare us, Hermione." Ron said dryly. "We know you've finished the whole year's syllabus already."
The trio left the Great Hall and headed back to the Gryffindor tower.
"Laughing sprouts."
The portrait door swung open and admitted them in. They retrieved their textbooks and settled down. They were taking their N.E.W.T.S this year, and couldn't afford to be slipshod in their work.
"We'll be tested on Chapter 8, right?" Asked Harry as he thumbed through the pages.
"I dunno," Ron replied. "It's the chapter on the formation of wizarding tribes in the… 15th century."
"That's Chapter 8 all right. And it was the 17th century, not the 15th." Hermione informed them.
Ron yawned.
"Boring, if you ask me."
"Boring or not, we have to pass," Harry said resignedly.
No more was said, and they started revising earnestly.
Author's note:
How was this first chapter? I hope it's okay. Please R&R =D
By the way, there really is such a place as the "Heavenly Desert" in Western China. I did my homework!
This fic is basically about the wizarding war. There's a lot of adventures, hidden chambers with traps, and stuff like that.
Later.
cheers,
machina girl