Chapter 2-Total Recall
Butler woke up to find himself tied to a chair. He knew he could have easily gotten away from the chair, but he was tied to it ever so tightly. There was also an opposing force which hindered his movement.
"The Muggle is here, M'Lord."
A cold, thin voice followed, sounding worse then Artemis's when he was in 'EVIL' form.
"Very good. Let us see if he can answer some of our questions."
A robed figure walked, or glided, into the room followed by a small hunched figure. The figure's face rose up to meet his eyes. Butler had seen many scary things, but these were one of the things never to forget.
The red slits through which it saw through were really creepy. Even for Butler.
"Well, Muggle, answer my questions and you will escape from here easily."
The figure whipped out something long. Long and sinister. It was like one of those toy wands you could find in the shops. Butler blinked. Wands?
"I don't know what you are calling me and I don't care about your silly questions. You don't look scary to me. I've seen much more than you."
"I suppose you don't want to answer my question? Well, let me pose it to you before I show you what happens to those who defy Lord Voldemort."
"Who is Artemis Fowl?"
Screams followed.
Mulch was in the shuttle bay with the gnome. He was a reprobate too, and he ran stolen LEP pods and shuttles to the surface. The best thing was that, Foaly, the centaur, could not track it as it was coated with several layers of lead.
"Hey Lempo, is it ready yet? I don't want to keep Artemis waiting."
Lempo flicked a switch. "It is now."
Mulch hopped in. " Lempo, I owe you one. Thanks," he said, starting up the shuttle. Luckily there were no magma flares or Mulch would have been more roasted than a duck lying on fire for 2 hours.
As the shuttle disappeared out of sight, Lempo, from Italian origin, sighed. " Righta Mulcha, you owe me a one."
Harry looked at the projector screen from the bed. He saw a massive head. Butler. Domovoi Butler.
Artemis turned off the machine. He then turned to talk to Harry.
"Well, Harry, I think I have provided you with enough information to help me find Butler. Can you? Please?"
Harry looked at him wide-eyed. " I promised to help you right? Now I ain't backin' out."
They left the house after lunch. Or rather, tried to. However a grotesque figure blocked their path.
Artemis had this rush of memories. He somehow knew the creature was Mulch Diggums. Somehow.
"Mulch Diggums, right? I don't know how I know your name."
"Artemis Fowl, right? I know you. And who is this friend of yours here?"
"Harry Potter."
"Right. Artemis, take me in as I have to show you something."
Artemis did not know why he was doing it, but he instinctively took the dwarf in.
They fired up the hard drive at the house, or manor. Mulch removed the gold minidisk.
"The drive will spoil if you put that in. Don't do that." Artemis warned Mulch.
"You think so?" Mulch replied, and put the disc in.
Butler hung his head limply from the chair. He never had remembered real pain before. This was excruciating.
"Well, have I showed you the extent of my power, you useless Muggle? Answer my question. Who is Artemis Fowl?"
"I cannot tell you. I do not know him."
"Do not lie to Lord Voldemort. I know a lie when I hear one."
Butler sighed. Be it that whatever Lord Voldemort did to him, he was not going to reveal his Principal.
The disc loaded quickly and soon files opened up. Artemis had a whole look at them and he suddenly jumped.
Flashes of images passed through his mind and he recognized the one he had seen before. In the shuttle, in the Artic, rescuing his father.
"Captain Holly Short. Trouble Kelp. Root. Luc Carrere. I remember."
Mulch had never seen someone who had total recall. He wasn't at all a bit surprised.
" Well, little Artemis, can you be happy now?"
" What thethis is wonderful. Fabulous. I now can remember fond memories of everyone. "
"Good. Now I'd better go."
" Not yet, Mulch. I need help. Butler."
Something in the human's voice stayed Mulch's hand.
"Butler?"
Holly was really irritated. As usual, due to public reasons, she was late for work. Root wouldn't like it at all.
She lumbered up to Root's office, where the fairy was busy bringing up files on the computer. "Ahem," she coughed purposely to let Root know she was there.
Root looked up. "Aaah, Captain Short, just the fairy I wanted to see. I need to show you something."
Holly stared into the chili-complexioned Root. Root turned his computer around.
"What do you make of this?" he demanded.
Holly looked into the screen. The tunnel's internal camera had caught a picture of a familiar creature. A dwarf. Mulch.
"Mulch in a shuttle. Oh gods. This is terrible. How is the world going to react if Mulch goes aboveground?"
Root looked like a piece of skin soaked in blood. " You jest, Captain. I happen to know that you met Mulch before you came to office a day ago. What did Mulch tell you?"
Holly was surprised. " Honestly, Sir, I don't know anything about Mulch doing this. He ran off before I could question him."
Root's face looked redder than ever. " Your fault, Captain. Now this Mulch, my favourite reprobate, is going to cause " His abrupt pause was caused by a beeping from his computer. Foaly was calling.
Root shuffled. If there was anything Holly had to do to get Mulch, she'd better.
Butler opened his eyes to find himself in Fowl Manor. He saw Artemis coming down the stairs. He ran and embraced Artemis. He had been so worried about him.
This was Butler's dreamworld, which Voldemort had created. Meanwhile, Voldemort was plotting with Wormtail by his side.
"M'Lord, how did you know that Harry was at Artemis Fowl's house?"
Voldemort chuckled derisively. " Do you remember in the fifth year of Harry? That old fool Dumbledore had realised that I could see everything from the eyes of Harry due to his scar which had forged a connection between us and told Potter that only if he was at home I could not see through his eyes and could not harm him?"
Wormtail coiled. " So all you did…."
"Yes, I did it. I saw him go to Fowl Manor. Through my powers, I saw that Artemis adored Butler a lot. Therefore I kidnapped him."
Wormtail was intrigued. Plotting dastardly acts was not his area.
Mulch looked slowly at the morning sky. Lucky there was sunblock on him, or he'd have been a fried dwarf by now.
Artemis cut in. "Stop admiring the sky, Mulch. We all know that it must be kind of new to you."
Harry was feeling a bit left out. " Here is a race I did not even know about. Harry, how thick can you get?"
Artemis turned around. "Don't worry, Harry, you'll learn soon enough. I was a bit of a nobody this time 6 years ago. Ignorant."
Harry saw his trunk lying by the house door. He opened it up. In lay his Firebolt.
Artemis was surprised. "So, Harry, astound me."
Harry started to explain. "Well, this is a broomstick. To fly. There is a game in the wizarding world, called Quidditch. In this game there is a ball called the Quaffle, which the Chasers use to score with against the other team's Keeper, the Bludgers which try to knock people off their brooms and are made to change direction by the Beaters hitting them. Finally there is the Snitch. The ball, by being caught by the respective team's Seeker, earns the respective team a hundred and fifty points."
Mulch, who had been listening intently, replied, " Let me guess. You are your team's Seeker."
"Dead on. I just want to try my broom."
Artemis looked behind the house. "See that big paddock there? Go on, let me see what you can do with a broom other than sweep."
Harry obliged. After all, this was his area.
Flying through the air swiftly was not what Harry intended to do. In fact, he really wanted to search for the West Of Ireland airport. He intended to go to The Burrow and catch up with Ron. He had understood, from previous owls, that Hermione had gone there too for the holidays, her parents on a private holiday in Germany.
Skimming the surroundings at about 50 feet, he could faintly see some aeroplanes taking off in the eastern direction. That meant that his back was facing west.
Artemis saw Harry in the air. He was completely taken aback. Mulch had resorted to pulling up some weeds on the ground and watch Harry circle around them. He, too was rather inquisitive.
" Hmm….Broomsticks. What an invention. And even Harry is going at a whopping speed. What money I could make." Artemis contemplated.
"Don't even think about it, Mud Boy. Threatening one civilization is more than enough. Butler….Well, he joined in with you too, remember?"
Artemis suddenly had this gut feeling that something was approaching Harry at an alarming rate. He shouted into the air.
"Harry! Harry! HARRY!"
Harry heard the faint yells from below. He swooped down. Just in time to avoid a Muggle Tiger Moth, the tiniest aeroplane.
Harry nearly fell off his Firebolt. He had nearly broken the law. What a close shave.
Close shaves…well….he was used to them.
