Rescue and Reprieve

Chapter 22

"He got away?" Draco bellowed. "How could he have got away, you incompetent idiot?"

"He was fast! But the curse bounced off his wrist Portkey and destroyed it. He lost his grip on his wand when that happened!" the wizard offered stupidly. But Draco already knew that. He'd seen it in the minion's dull mind, for the dosage of Dust he'd taken was still active.

"He's helpless. He can't make his way across open ground without being seen. We'll get him if he tries it," another wizard said confidently.

"If there's anything I learned, it's to never underestimate a Ranger! Anastasiou's Bloodhounds told me that he's very skilled." Draco kicked the vault door to vent his frustration. His day had begun so well, when he found himself standing amid the treasure of Caer Sidi. There weren't piles of gold, but there were many glass containers displaying hundreds of magical rings and jewellery. Another section contained a vast selection of crystal wands with various capabilities, and the armoury was filled with bejewelled magical sceptres and magical weapons.

In the old days, these weapons had actually been wielded in combat. They were far less versatile than magic wands, but according to legend their attacks could cause a whole lot of devastation. Draco had a feeling that a number of these weapons might have destroyed Voldemort, like Gryffindor's sword had done. No wonder Voldemort had wanted to take control of these vaults through Draco's family. But then his grandfather had mysteriously disappeared and with him Voldemort's chance of entering the vault.

Voldemort succeeded in killing the Archidiaconus family, except for Lynette Archidiaconus. Draco suspected her husband must have had something to so with his grandfather's disappearance. In a way, Draco could relate to and respect the late Byron Kelly. The wizard had been ruthless and relentless in his acquisition of wealth and power. He concluded that the man had been stupid to allow his wife to influence and weaken him like she did.

With the help of Yamato's newest Confundus Amulets, they'd managed to sneak onto the island without being detected. Dispatching the Ministry wizards had been easy enough, and with the help of Mind Dust, a faster-acting and more potent alternative to the earlier potion, Draco managed to extract all the relevant information out of the wizards' minds.

Veritaserum only helped if one knew what kind of questions to ask. A general question about any secret plans the Ministry of Magic might have had would have yielded too much irrelevant information and would have taken way too much time. Luckily, the foremost thing on the mind of the first wizard they'd interrogated was the arrival of a certain inspection team that should have arrived earlier, and could be identified with a password: 'Lord of the castle.'

Draco smirked. The title was rather appropriate. He was the lord now…or he would have been, if his "help" hadn't been so extremely incompetent. They allowed Matthew Kelly, the only wizard who could endanger his continued access to this magnificent vault, to escape. But it didn't matter. Draco already had a plan.

He chuckled derisively at the three unconscious forms lying at his feet. One of them he didn't know…a girl. He recognised the grotesque half-goblin from the wedding ceremony. Somehow, they'd found out about some of the transgressions Draco had committed, and this goblin had been a part of the group of Rangers who had arranged that disaster…no…temporary setback, Draco corrected himself. Nevertheless, he was going to enjoy taking this fool apart piece by piece.

But the greatest satisfaction came from the third limp form at his feet. The bitch who had made his life miserable on more than one occasion. He wouldn't kill her, at least, not physically, but mentally. He'd leave her here in the vault, her once-so-overrated mind in shambles. Draco smirked. She'd had her share of Cruciatus Curses in the past. Perhaps it was time to get her reacquainted with those curses. The world's most clever witch, twenty-two ordinary wizarding levels. He chuckled derisively. He'd leave behind a drooling husk with the intellect of a worm.

"Enervate!" he said as he pointed his wand at her bound form. Her eyes slowly opened and she rolled onto her back and looked around before settling on him.

"Malfoy!" she spat. "I thought I recognised your foul stench."

"Charming to the last," Draco sneered. "I do hope the weasel will appreciate the changes when I'm done with you. But first, you need to tell me where Mr Kelly could have gone."

Oh so predictably, she didn't say anything. Draco chuckled gleefully. She didn't have to. Her thoughts strayed to Kelly and the other Rangers who were still on the loose. They had brought one of their ships with them. It was located beside a formation of boulders about a stone's throw away from the castle proper. "It seems we don't have much time, gentlemen. Nkromo, Kim, set up the components of Mr Yamato's portal. Rigaud, Martinez, Machlas, put on invisibility cloaks and your special goggles. The Ranger ship is sitting near the cluster of rocks east of the castle."

To his satisfaction, Granger's expression became one of horror as he casually revealed what she'd been thinking.

"Bring as many curse capsules with explosive curses as you can carry," he continued. "Blow it up and head back here so we can consolidate our position." He glared at his remaining henchmen, Dermail, Mooki, Manahutu and Tubarov. "You can redeem your incompetence by searching for Kelly. We don't need him alive. Kill him on sight. And for pity's sake, don't split up. I'm sure he'll pick you apart if you do."

He turned towards the wizards who were setting up the portal. "While the portal is charging, we'll begin gathering our new belongings for transport. The weapons have first priority. Then we move on to the jewelled staffs." This had been Anastasiou's wish, and Draco resented the vampire a little for that. If it had been up to Draco, the weapons could be left behind in favour of the jewellery. As the portal opened, more people would pour into the vault from the other side. Curse breakers and other kinds of experts that would remove the security charms that had been placed on the containers that held the treasure. He'd discovered this when the individual containers wouldn't open upon his touch. Clearly counter-charms or passwords of some sort were needed. Even so, they could have those cleaned out in less than an hour.

Feeling Granger's stare boring at the back of his head, he turned to face her. "Yes, I can read your mind. I think I'll tell the remaining Rangers that you betrayed them, right before I kill them. I'm glad Aberforth Dumbledore is among them. I know about his little charade of insanity. It would be my pleasure to kill him too… The last Dumbledore!"

He revelled in the shock that coursed through her mind upon his revelation. Her mind was positively spinning and one tendril of thought in particular jumped out at him. It was something that weasel had told her, something that concerned him. He followed that thought to its source… Seconds later, disbelief overtook him. That wasn't possible. It was a lie! Mordred Dryden was his grandfather…not some adulterous half demon Ranger!

But it was right there in the Mudblood's mind. Was she deliberately thinking up lies to confuse him? He did his best to detect any falsehood behind her thoughts, but none was there. So it was true. It had to be. Wolfe was his cousin…Draco's eyes widened. He was going to have to take precautions to shield himself from these powers.

The vampires were all looking for a reason to question his loyalty and take him out of the picture. If they found out, he was sure they'd find the notion of him being a spy and having loyalty to his secret relatives just as ludicrous as he did. But they wouldn't really care. It was no secret that they wanted him dead, or as one of their ghoulish slaves. And now that he'd already given Anastasiou access to the vault, he suddenly wasn't as valuable to the vampire overlord anymore.

The portal lighting up distracted his thoughts. It had gathered enough energy to open and was doing so. The bluish light filled the vault, and moments later the specialised Curse Breakers Anastasiou had gathered walked though. Most were allies, wizards who wanted a cut of the treasure. Others were Imperius victims, the reason for whose presence Draco couldn't fathom. It was possible for Curse Breakers to work while under the spell of the Imperius, but at times the spell interfered with their analytical abilities.

Lastly, a tall figure dressed in black stepped through. The flowing cape he wore obscured most of the full body armour he was wearing and an odd-looking helmet covered his head. Darkened lenses that made it impossible to see where the wearer's eyes were trained covered the eyeholes. The mouth and nose were covered by something that resembled a filter.

*

It couldn't be true! Malfoy was a Mind Reader too? She'd thought that only one descendant of a Mind Reader would inherit the gift every generation. Jasmine and Max had already disproved that theory. Exceptions were always possible. But Malfoy?

The Portal activated, opened, and the reinforcements were beginning to pour in. Hermione was panicking. Even if she managed to conceive a brilliant plan, Malfoy would read her mind and defuse it.

Hermione was instantly filled with dread as the tall figure stepped through the portal, pushing any thought of escape out of her mind. His soundless predatory gait clearly marked him as a warrior. The other wizards instinctively backed away from the figure and a deathly quiet swept through the vault until the figure's breathing was all that could be heard.

Malfoy, however, puffed out his chest in false bravado, but he was obviously nervous. "So Anastasiou has lost his mind. Doesn't realise how much of a liability you—"

Suddenly Malfoy choked and started to turn purple under the dark-clad wizard's wand-less spell… at least, Hermione assumed he was a wizard, since the clutching gesture he was making seemed to lift Malfoy off the floor in addition to cutting off his breath.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing." The wizard's voice still seemed to boom despite being distorted by the helmet.

A small man emerged from the bluish light next and caught the armoured wizard disciplining Malfoy.

"That's enough! Release him!"

"As you wish…" the wizard said indifferently and released Malfoy from his spell.

Malfoy collapsed into the floor and drew in a few wheezing breaths. "Keep that thing on a tighter leash!" he growled, massaging his throat.

"I might, or I might not." The smaller wizard, clearly Asian, spoke in clipped tones as he lectured Malfoy. "You need to learn not to provoke your betters."

Malfoy muttered a response under his breath before he asked, "How long is a single dose of Dust supposed to work?"

"It varies per individual," the Asian, Hermione guessed it was the elusive Yamato, answered. "Three to four hours. How many doses did you take?"

"Excuse me," Malfoy said, turning to Hermione and drawing his wand. "Can't have you remembering all that, now can we? I suppose Obliviating you would be the best thing to do. But where's the fun in that?" he asked blithely. "I understand torture can truly harm one's memory too. Crucio!"

The agony passed through marrow and bone. She'd been hit with the curse before, but one never got used to the pain it caused.

"It is said that prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus Curse actually caused physical damage to the spot where the curse touches the body," Malfoy chuckled with glee. "I wasn't fortunate enough to be there when my father and the others put you in your place, Mudblood. They didn't leave out any of the details, though. You bled, didn't you? Have any unfortunate side effects? My source told me the weasel is having trouble impregnating you…"

How could Malfoy possibly have known about that? She hadn't exactly spread the news. She had to warn the others!

"Oh, don't worry about that!" Malfoy grinned. "By the time I'm done with you, you won't be able to think coherently, much less warn anybody! But before we get to that I still have some other uses for you. I wonder what the weasel will say if those Ranger doctors find someone else's fluids inside your barren womb."

Hermione forced a harsh laugh. "As I recall, you no longer have what it takes…not that you ever had."

As she said that, Malfoy's eyes bulged out of their sockets and some of the wizards around him guffawed.

"Haven't you ever wondered why Goyle was never there when you returned to the Slytherin common room after your interludes with Pansy? She kept him on retainer to make up for your disappointing performances."

"Shut up!" Malfoy screamed, livid. Then he regained his composure and smirked haughtily. "I've been restored to full capacity, if you must know."

"Whyever did you bother?" Hermione asked innocently. "You didn't know how to use it, so I reckon you'd have been better off without it."

This time Malfoy didn't take the bait, though. But that was okay. As long as she kept his attention focussed on him, Matt would have a chance to get some sort of plan…

"Oh, trying to stall me, are you?" Malfoy smirked. "Don't bother. Kelly won't be alive much longer. And this is a little reward for your cleverness…Crucio!" Mercifully, he didn't hold the curse for very long, but the taunting continued. "Besides, I would never stain myself by doing it with a Mudblood!" He turned to the small Asian wizard. "Can you send your pet to deal with a runaway Ranger?"

"I'm afraid I want to keep Maximus close, for the time being."

"Maximus?" Malfoy smirked. "That's its name now? How deliciously ironic! However, if he's as good as you claim him to be, I must insist, Yamato."

"I'm afraid not," Yamato shook his head. "I orchestrated the recent annihilation of his family. I need the best bodyguard available. But why waste valuable resources looking for him? You have hostages!" the Japanese wizard pointed out, gesturing to the floor.

As her pain cleared away, Hermione got a chance to look at the dark figure. He looked to be about six-foot-five, though the helmet and the boots seemed to add about an inch or two to his height. Beyond that there wasn't that much to discover. But there was something about him, it nagged at the back of her mind.

Then it struck her. It was the one from the prophecy, the one that had Lieutenant Cliff so shaken up. The dark general! It had to be him. Not many wizards were capable of a wand-less constriction curse like that. It took a special kind of training as well as a certain amount of raw power. This wizard seemed to have both.

"If you're thinking that threatening us will bring Matt to you, you're sorely mistaken!" Hermione hissed. "He knows there are too many lives at stake."

The Japanese wizard gave a superior smile. "It depends how we make him aware of the fact. True, if we ask him to surrender or else, he won't respond. But if we phrase it a bit differently, he will react."

A loud explosion rang out over the island, penetrating the castle walls. Malfoy smirked.

"It would seem that your vessel has just been made inoperable, with the other Rangers in it."

"They'll have called for backup." Hermione warned. "We were supposed to report in after five minutes, and Matt must have done so!"

Malfoy chuckled. "Thanks to Yamato's anti-magic field generator, Matt's broadcaster is useless. Yes, we are using magic, but the device can be set to disrupt specific enchantment as well. Not that it matters. I can tell you were lying, and bad little Mudbloods must be punished…Crucio!"

She didn't know how long the cursing went on. She'd lost all conception of time as her thoughts were scrambled to random impulses. But she knew it must have gone on for a long time, and she was nearly numb when Malfoy finally stopped. Her bound limbs were trembling, and she knew they'd be little good to her even if her bonds were removed. She finally lost the struggle to remain conscious and lost herself into timeless oblivion.

But someone didn't want her to stay that way, because an insistent voice kept calling her name. She wanted to swat the annoying voice away, but she had trouble moving her arm. She laboriously opened her eyes and saw Matt Kelly's handsome face. His expression was one of worry.

"Thank heavens, you're awake. Aberforth, Doc, Danielle, she's coming to!" he whispered.

Hermione was utterly confused. Had it all been a nightmare? "Where are we?"

"This place has lots of hidden rooms and passages. Nathan and I spent a whole summer mapping out the ones we could find, when we were twelve. The bad guys weren't quite as thorough as they thought!"

"How'd you get us free?"

Matt gently helped her to a sitting position. He nodded to three old house-elves that bowed "Happy, Grumpy, Dopey and Sneezy helped me. They're the resident house-elves here. They've been hiding in the secret corridors and rooms ever since my parents were killed. Luckily for us, the bad guys didn't know about them. They helped me dispatch the wizards who blew up the cruiser and rescue Aberforth and the girls. We used their invisibility cloaks to sneak in the vault and get you, Doc and Danielle out."

"Where's the fourth elf?" Hermione only saw three elves, while she'd heard four names.

"Grumpy's spying on the bad guys. Are you okay? You're bleeding."

Hermione looked down. She couldn't see anything. "Where?"

"Uh, further south. Is it that time of the month?"

Hermione had been expecting her period, but as she touched her breeches she concluded that she'd lost an awful lot of blood. Her lower back was hurting as well. This had to be due to Malfoy's cursing. He'd aimed at her midsection, like his father had. She knew what he had said had been true. The Cruciatus did damage physically if maintained long enough.

That thought sent panic surging through her. There was obviously some damage. What if this additional damage had rendered her completely infertile? Whereas she'd had a slim chance of conceiving before, that chance would now be dashed to pieces. Instinctively, her hand slid down her belly and covered the skin over her uterus. Even the light pressure of her hand caused a slight stab of pain. Something was dreadfully wrong. But as she looked at Aberforth, who was pressing a piece of cloth against a head wound, and Rachel and Sarah Esklove, who were unconscious and badly bruised, she realised that they needed her help and that it wasn't the time to feel sorry for herself.

"What's wrong with Rachel and Sarah?"

"As far as I can tell they're pretty banged up," Matt said. "They were inside the Cruiser when the bad guys tried to blow it up. The explosion lifted it off the ground and it landed upside down. The fuselage held, thank goodness, but the Cruiser is inoperable. There's a hole the size of a giant in the belly."

"Did you get word out that something was wrong?" Hermione asked Aberforth.

The old wizard shook his head. "They caught us by surprise. We should have detected them despite their invisibility cloaks. I don't understand…"

"They've got one of those anti-magic things, but apparently it's possible to narrow their function down to disrupting specific types of magic. Maybe that's how they were able to hide from our probe."

"They must've cranked it up to full capacity after the elves and I freed you from the vault. The wands I took from the wizards who wrecked the Cruiser don't work anymore…they took everyone's wand upon capture," Matt explained. "I found out when I tried to patch Sarah and Rachel up."

"But they're as helpless as we are!" Hermione said, trying to look at the bright side of things. However, with no magic, things weren't looking too good. She had no way of healing the injured without her wand.

"Hardly," Matt groaned. "They've got weapons, we don't. We'll have to rely on the elves for protection, and their magic doesn't seem to work like it's supposed to, either. It'll only be a matter of time before they find the entrances to the secret passageways. These hidden passages aren't really all that hard to find by people trained to find them. And they've got a whole bunch of Curse Breakers in the vault."

"Detection of hidden passages is one of the first things taught at Curse Breaker school, because so many become treasure hunters for goblins," Doc said.

"Maybe Logos can help," the oldest elf said.

"Who's Logos?" Matt frowned.

"Not who, Master Matthew…What! Logos has been the servant for the Archidiaconus since before Happy's great-great-great-great-great great-great grandmother began serving them. 'Tis an ancient golem servant, very wise. He is the guardian of Caer Sidi."

"Where is he?"

"In the vault. They put him there a hundred years ago."

"There's no way we can get past everyone in the vault to get to this golem." Doc frowned.

"Happy thinks there may be another door to the vault."

"Another door?" Matt asked incredulously.

"Happy cannot be sure. Happy couldn't open the door to see what was behind it."

"If it's another door to the vault, we may be able to get to the golem," Matt said, and looked at Happy. "Where exactly in the vault is this golem?"

"Happy doesn't know. Happy has never been in the vault, sir."

"Damn, so much for that plan." Doc growled.

"No, we can still proceed," Aberforth said. "Under the circumstances, I don't think we have much choice. We must at least find out if that door Happy is talking about leads to the vault."

A soft patter of feet announced the approach of the missing house-elf.

"What's the news?" Doc asked.

"They is all looking for us," Grumpy grumbled.

"They're not taking the treasure through that portal?" Matt asked, looking surprised.

Grumpy shook his head fervently. "Curse Breakers can't break the curses with no working wands."

"The Anti-magic filed generator is blocking them." Hermione smiled grimly. "Now that you've captured some wands, they're not risking continuing their work, lest we use these wands against them. They chose to hunt us down first."

"And they're going to pay for that mistake," Matt growled. "I've got to get into the vault unnoticed! Happy, take me to that door."

"This is madness, Matt. You can't do this alone."

"No, and that's why I'm going with him," Aberforth said.

"Me too," Doc added.

"Then I'm going as well," Hermione decided.

"You're hurt," Doc, Matt and Aberforth said in unison.

"I'm the mediwitch here, and I say I'll live," Hermione said firmly.

"But—" Matt began, but Hermione cut him off.

"I'm going!"

"Really! How much help can you be, without your wand? You haven't been trained to cope with situations like this!"

"Neither have Doc or Aberforth!" Hermione frowned. "Or don't you want me along because I'm a woman?"

Matt blushed. "It isn't like that. Ron and I made a deal…never to expose the women we loved to any unnecessary danger if it ever came to it."

Hermione's indignation abated somewhat, even thought she wasn't comfortable with Ron's decision to make this pact with Matt. She'd had no idea that Ron and Matt had bonded like that. She'd thought Quidditch had been their only common ground. Then something clicked in her mind. "This happened a while ago, didn't it? Before your family… You told him how you felt about Gudrun before you told any of us!"

Matt's blush deepened. "I'm glad he kept the secret."

"Matt," Hermione began after a while. "I'm already in danger. I can either go out to meet it by helping you, or wait for it to find me. I think the former is less dangerous than the latter. So you aren't placing me in any more danger. If anything, keeping me close is better."

The Australian sighed in defeat. "Fine, here's the plan. When we're in the vault, we'll—"

"Don't tell us," Hermione warned. "Malfoy's somehow able to read minds. If either Doc, Aberforth or myself is captured, he'll know whatever you're planning."

"A Mind Reader? Are you sure?" Aberforth asked.

"It's possible." There have been some vague reports about a potion that bestows the gift temporarily upon non-Mind Readers," Doc said. "Perhaps Malfoy was using it."

"Don't worry about me," Aberforth said. "I can resist Mind Reading."

"How do you do it?" Hermione asked. Her inability in that area had caused them a lot grief so far. If she could learn how to block it...

"First of all, you have to know that you're in the presence of one. It takes lots of practice to shield your thoughts accordingly, and not everyone manages to learn how. Either way, I won't be able to teach you in such a short time. However, I suggest that we get a move on. The longer we linger, the less time we have."

"Right." Doc nodded. "Let's go!"

"Hey, what about me?" Danielle asked. "You could use my help."

"We need you to look after your sisters," Matt said. "They're defenceless."

"And what am I supposed to defend them with?"

Matt tossed her an invisibility cloak. "A diversion. Grumpy will help you play shadow games in these passages…if it should come to that. First you have to help the elves carry your sisters to the best-hidden room they know. Your task is no less important than ours is. We may need you to buy us some time," he said, and turned to Happy. "Lead on."

*

Ron was getting tired of this kind of work very fast. All they had done over the past week was search a remote pine forest on foot. According to Yuriko Makioka, the stronghold had to be in that area somewhere. The search had been slow and tedious, but they had been forced to be very careful in order not to alert anyone to their clandestine presence. Their Confundus Amulets shielded them from magical detection, but they still had to be careful not to disturb the area and leave traces.

Yuriko had recently become an outlaw, charged with conspiracy and treason after she'd been caught trying to find out who had placed Princess Matsu under the Imperius Curse. She hadn't been in very good shape when they found her, having been beaten and cursed, and running low on supplies in her family sanctuary. But under the Rangers' care, she'd made a speedy recovery, and she was more determined than ever to root out whatever evil was festering within her government.

Hence she was blissfully unaware of the tension she was causing among the all-male Ranger crew. Captain Faust, Harry, and Ron had significant others. But the other blokes were all single, straight and looking. And Yuriko wasn't hard to look at. So far the competition to gain her attention had been light-hearted and friendly, but that could change. And Ron didn't want the crew to lose their focus. People could get killed because of it.

"Blackmoon…rear guard doesn't entail staring at people's rears," Faust whispered sternly, after he finally caught the Native American wizard staring at Yuriko. Aside from the fact that his lapse in vigilance could have spelled trouble, Ron couldn't hold it against him. She was very well proportioned, and the formfitting suit she was wearing didn't help matters either. Ron guessed it had to be charmed to retain body-heat. But he wished she'd wear a cloak or something, anything to make her presence less distracting. His own distraction made him feel guilty towards Hermione. He smiled briefly as his thoughts strayed to her. She had to be at Caer Sidi, cataloguing and writing notes on all the fantastic artefacts in the vaults. He could wait to have this mission over and done with. Maybe he could join her.

"The place has to be somewhere within these five square kilometres," Faust said. "We'll call it a day and narrow down the search tomorrow. It isn't like we'd find the entrance without Wortelgraaf anyway."

Yuriko whipped around, looking insulted. "I am skilled enough to find the entrance when we come upon it," she said, scowling. "And we do not have any time to spare. I am not sure about the fate of the princess, but whatever the enemies of the empire have in store for her must be very sinister. I suspect we are only hours away from finding the entrance. We had best locate it now rather than later, even if we don't take any immediate action."

"By the same token, discovering the entrance could lead to our discovery," Faust countered.

"I think she's right, in that we can't give up the search now. And you're right about possible sentinels at the entrance. But I have a hunch we're very close."

Captain Faust thought it over. "Your hunch, your call."

The way Captain Faust deferred to him made him acutely aware of the responsibility he was shouldering. All of a sudden he wasn't so sure anymore. They were all tired, which diminished their chances of finding the entrance. And even if they did find it, he had no idea what to do then. He'd have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

"I'll put the others on alert," Faust said, as he activated his broadcaster. "Blackmoon, prepare the locating beacon. I want the others to be able to set their Portkeys to our co-ordinates the moment we find that entrance."

Blackmoon nodded. "Yes, Captain Faust. And sir…I think I know where the entrance is."

"Where?"

Blackmoon pointed to a tree about a hundred and fifty feet away. It was barely visible among the other trees. "That pine is a different subspecies from the others in this forest. I've seen several of them spread throughout this part of the forest at almost random intervals. If I were to draw their positions on a parchment, it would look a bit like a circle. They're markers!"

Yuriko shook her head. "There are more in the forest."

"True." Blackmoon blushed a little. "But Raicho thunderbirds like nesting in those particular trees. I've seen their nests in the other trees, but I didn't see any nests in any of the circle trees. Raicho like peace and quiet, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that this place harbours some activity that disturbs them…say…regular patrols of guards. I also noticed some disturbed bits of underbrush at chest level every now and then, but no tracks to identify the animals that have caused the disturbances. They were human…wizards…who erased their tracks, but not all traces.

"Moreover, that tree is placed in a spot that defies the path that natural propagation should have given these trees. It's not impossible, but highly unlikely. And it's covered with fungus that's absent on the other trees. Even the trees that form the circle. Raicho love that fungus and will go to great lengths to find it. They even scraped it off the surface of the circle trees, but this one they've left undisturbed. Then there's also its unusual size. That tree had help in its growth."

Ron raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Why didn't you tell us about the circle sooner?"

Blackmoon blushed more deeply and looked heartily embarrassed. "I only put the clues together when you told us about your hunch. I'm sorry, I was a bit distracted before that."

Ron grinned and shot Yuriko a sideways glance. "Were you now?"

The Japanese witch caught Ron's glance — and more importantly — the meaning. A pinkish tinge appeared on her cheeks as she looked from Ron to Blackmoon. She looked away and pretended to observe the tree.

"I think you just scored a point, Mr Tracker. She's impressed!" Ron whispered. "You've injured the prey. You can go in for the kill at any time."

"Shut up," Blackmoon grumbled, pulling on his goggles. "She's just embarrassed."

Ron chuckled, pulling on his own goggles. He made it look for magical energy emanations. Sure enough, the tree lit up his vision. Thankfully, the tree was no more than a magical entrance. It had no obvious detection charms. It could have hidden ones with less energy output, but they were still out of the range of such charms.

"It's hollow on the inside," Blackmoon said. "I guess there's a shaft that goes down. Another underground complex." He removed his goggles and dug around in a pouch before producing the beacon.

"Bloody hell," Ron cursed. "Why do they all have to be underground!"

"I'm no Curse Breaker, Captain," Blackmoon continued, "but I think it's unwise to put the beacon right here. With its energy output, I don't want to risk it. Even though the signature is difficult to detect."

"Place it three hundred feet to the north then," Faust suggested. "I'm not an expert either, but the added distance should certainly conceal it. I don't think the others will mind having to travel that short distance the old-fashioned way. Don't activate it yet, though. The others still need time to grab their gear, and the rest of our gear."

Half an hour later, everyone except the artificer in charge of the Cruiser was gathered at the site. Wortelgraaf had examined the tree more carefully and had discovered a magic mechanism that alerted the people inside the underground fortress to anyone using the entrance, even though it wasn't necessarily an alarm. Of course, the alarm would no doubt be sounded in the event of an unscheduled arrival.

Unfortunately, there was no way to disarm it from the outside. They could proverbially kick down the door, but that would take away the element of surprise.

"We could wait for the next patrol to come out and use the door, right?" Brody, a veteran Scottish Ranger from the Martial Division remarked.

"Yes, but we have to wait until their patrol is done, before we jump them. Using the entrance right after they come out would raise suspicion," Faust said, and turned to Blackmoon. "How long until the next patrol?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Captain. It doesn't take much human presence to scare Raicho away. There could be as little as be one patrol every forty-eight hours."

Everyone groaned at that.

"It won't take that long," Ron said. "A place as important as this one will have more frequent patrols."

"But why have patrols?" Harry asked. "You just said that traces left by these patrols gave this place away in the first place."

"The patrolling guards are not woodsmen," Yuriko said. "The positions at this fortress have likely been handed out as political favours, not taking into account the suitability of the wizard in question. They probably rely too heavily on magic to cover their tracks. Also, the fortress was designed by an Inihara noble with no knowledge of how things worked in the woods. I am sure it never occurred to him that the location of the trees would give the entrance away. I think they were planted as means for novice patrollers to find their way around. And the fortress's main defence was its secret location. We only discovered the pattern because we knew the fortress had to be around here somewhere."

"Let's get under cover and wait for these people to come out, then." Faust said.

The Rangers nodded and spread into the surrounding woods. All they could do was wait.

***

Author's Note: Okay, I hereby disclaim the painfully obvious Star Wars reference. LOL, I know Darth Vader's introduction pretty much spoofs things up, but I was just having a bit of fun. :-p I'd also like to take this moment to thank my betas for helping me with the story, and Foxfur for so generously donating her time to work out the family trees for me. And last but not least, the noble readers and reviewers.

Fogish: No, Matt didn't find a way to change his blood type.

The Millennium One: Believe whatever you like. ;-)

Jona: If it were Matt, he wouldn't have been polyjuiced because J.S. looked like him. Why polyjuice into a form the resembles your own so much?

Gogirl: No real battle yet, but there will be more action in chapter 23.

Porphyrophobic Grape: I hope she doesn't kill Ginny either. It would really break my heart. I don't know if I'll be a HP fan anymore if she kills Ginny.

Lioness-07863: I also post on GT, but usually after I post here.

bane: If it makes you feel any better, chapter 23 will have over 7,000 words.

Lady Reaper of the Shadows: Like I said, interpretation. ;-)

Amy: No, Nathan isn't Mary's father.

nycgal: A belated Happy Birthday. I'm sorry I banged up the girls like that.

Maab: AB is an excellent blood type to have, especially AB+. That means you're a universal receiver. If anything happens to you can take any type of blood with no ill effects.

Foxfur: You know, the bit about Nathan and surfing is actually a cool theory. Crazy, but cool. No, Nathan isn't Mary's father.

Jacqueline Hyde: All your questions will be answered in due time. And I haven't written any original stories. I don't have a good enough idea yet.

Casual Reader: I know it was a cliffhanger. But I can't promise it won't happen again.

Lamina Court: You've seen Wolfe.

LadySiri: Ouch!

the.grey.lady: LOL. No, it isn't Malfoy.

Lord Dreadnault: Couples therapy, now there's an idea.