Disclaimer: I don't own anything you'll recognize.
A/N: Thanks to Anna for correcting this chapter.
I want to say that I've created a yahoo group. Those who want to be warned when I post a new chapter can join it.
I'm doing it to facilitate the envoy of warning when I update my story…
Hereis the address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Magic-is-in-you/
Naia
Chapter Twelve
"Do you like our babies?" asked suddenly a mocking voice.
Seven heads turned sharply towards the speaker.
A group of about twenty riders were standing there, smirking
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Harry had nearly a heart attack seeing the man who had just spoken. Turn his skin white change his eyes color, cut his hair and add a few centimetres and you had Sirius.
He starred at the man who smirked.
"What? Cats got your tongue?"
Harry just blinked while the other member of his group got in a defensive position.
"Apparently yes. But I'm sure our little friends will help you there."
He turned to the cheetahs and stared at them.
Harry suddenly hear a familiar buzz in his head.
The words of Odyeus came back to his mind: " It means that despite being a Chawiz, you're able to talk to animals. You'll notice that their words will become clearer and clearer from now"
This was true as he concentrated on them he could make out a few words: "Attack" "strangers" were some of them.
As the cheetahs started to approach. He tried frantically to establish a communication between them and him, with no success. The horses were growing nervous and scared as the felines came closer. Only Sheitan remained calm and stood still, awaiting his riders orders. Harry was still searching through his mind the trigger to his ability to speak with animals.
They were about leap on them when he finally found it or so he thought.
§ STOP! § He yelled with all his mental strength.
A few cheetahs stumbled and they looked up at them.
The Sirius-like mans head shot up and he look closely to Harry.
One of the cheetah took a few steps forwards and starred in Harry's eyes.
§ Did you talk? § the words were dim and Harry could barely understand them
Narrowing his eyes in his effort to understand and answer, Harry felt sweat forming on his forehead and falling along his cheek.
§ Yes. §
The cheetah turned his head to his or her comrades, before approaching the man. The buzz signalling a conversation between the two of them rang in Harry's head.
The man's face darkened then he looked up at Harry.
"You're lucky, boy, to have been gifted with beast-speak. Kaïda wont hurt somebody who cant speak her language." Seeing the relief on the young boy's features, his smirk reappeared. "But it doesn't prevent us from doing it."
It was know Harrys turn to smirk. That he could handle.
The twenty riders galloped towards them. Harry turned to his companions.
" Come close to me and keep your horse in check, they might be quite afraid."
Nodding with confused looks, they decided to dismount their horses, knowing they'll be more capable of keeping them still while standing near them. As soon as they were done Harry grinned and direct his palm towards the grounds.
He flashed a smile at the leader and concentrated on his fire element
He easily unleashed his favorite element and suddenly a wall of flames appeared around him and his companions. One of the horse and a camel reared and tried to escape, panicked, but his fellow riders were prepared and kept them in control. On the other hand, the bandits' horses stopped dead in their tracks and some of them kicked and reared, making their riders fall to the grounds before galloping away.
"Nice trick" stated the Sirius-like man. "But what about this!"
He clapped his hands and suddenly, water fell on the flames, making them disappear in a few minutes.
Harry didn't look impressed. Sure it was great elemental magic, but he had a few more tricks up his sleeve. He concentrated on the air around him and suddenly the air started to twirl, slowly growing stronger, blowing sand.
This time the bandits' leader was surprised, more likely stunned.
Seeing an elemental with a group of traveller was usual, but seeing a student who had control over several elements wasn't something you could see every day.
He was starring open-mouthed at Harry, who bowed mockingly at him.
"Is that all you have?"
This apparently kick the other's pride, as a small tornado of water appear next them. Concentrating on it, Harry slowly banished it. This forced him to produce a great effort: Water wasn't his favorite element.
He was slightly panting, still looking up at the bandit's leader, who was looking quite shocked at the present moment. The man shook his head.
"In that case, I'll do it the old fashioned way. Hey! Kid!" He yelled at Harry loudly, pointing in his direction.
"Yes?"
" Here is the deal: A fight, me and you, no rules, end when one of us admit his defeat. If I win, you're dead, if you win, well you'll be able to leave unharmed."
Harry eyed him carefully, taking in the slender figure of the man, his tanned skin, the few scars on his arms and the one crossing his right temple. This man was experienced, it was clear, from his stature he looked like he privileged dagger's fight. If Harry was to accept his defy, he would have to use his agility to win.
Thinking quickly over the different options, Harry quickly made up his mind.
"What guaranty me that you won't go back on your words?"
"I swear on my honour that if you were to win, which is unlikely, you'll be able to resume your journey, I'll even help you."
Harry knew from the knowledge he obtain at his arrival that his honour was one of the most prized thing a nomad held.
"You have a deal then," stated Harry as he dismounted his horse and advanced towards the older man.
Hearing that, the bandit smiled widely, apparently sure to win this easily. It was a well-known fact that, even if the Elementals were deadly while using their elements, they were quite hopeless except for a few known exceptions, when it came to physical fight.
They faced each other and bowed, falling in a fighting stance, the man looked at the youth before him.
"What's your name, kid?"
"Harris, and yours?"
"Sizrian"
Then, they fell silent, carefully eying the other, waiting for any hint indicating the others strategy.
After a few minutes, Sizrian grew tired of waiting for Harry to make the first move and lunged at the youth.
Harry was ready for this attacked and dodged easily his dagger. For the following minutes, he blocked every blows Sizrian sent his way, studying the others tactics.
The first thing was to disarm his adversary. He duck a fist aimed at his head and retaliated, aiming for the stomach. The man jumped out of reach and Harry had to block the dagger again. Suddenly he dropped on one feet and swept the ground under his opponent's feet with one stretched leg. Taken aback by the speed of the movement, Sizrian managed not to fall, but stumbled heavily, destabilised. Harry took advantage of this to push his dagger away.
Sizrian growled in frustration as he regained his balance.
Little by little, Harry pushed him harder and harder. Both of them were sweating profusely, none of them were seeming to give up, but slowly Harry was gaining the upper hand. His training with his friend during the Sarthahnra was paying. To be fair, he wasn't using his dagger. For a few moments, they continued to exchange blows. Suddenly, Harry felt himself being hit in his lower parties. He took a sharp breath as pain spread in his body. Nearly bent in two, he stumbled, fighting to regain his senses; but before he could, Sizrian had hit him hard on his temple, making everything spun around him. Completely dizzy Harry was having a hard time. He was nearly at the man's mercy, he was hit in his stomach and in his ribs. He fell as the man knocked his knees. He was about to call it off, he was feeling himself weakening.
"Do you give up?"
"Never," mumbled Harry.
As Sizrian kicked him again, he rolled and his eyes fell on Sheitan.
The horse was starring at him intensively.
This boosted Harry's pride. He wasn't going to lose this fight. He remembered a time when Thers had nearly beat him, using a low blow too.
He was going to show this Sizrian not to mess with him He felt the man throwing an other kick in his side. In a quick movement he grabbed his leg and use the momentum of the man to flip him in the other way and get up. The situation was now reversed. Ignoring his sore body, Harry immediately blocked Sizrian arms by twisting them in the man's back.
Sizrian was now paralysed, unable to use his arm, pinned in the sand, his legs kicking the air, as Harry had positioned himself out of the bandit's reach.
He struggled, trying to escape the grip of Harry's arms, to no avail. The youth's grip was strong.
He tried again, not willing to admit having been beat by a young boy, but he suddenly found a dagger on his throat.
He bit his low lip.
"Alright, you won"
Satisfied, Harry released him and stood, massaging some sore parts of his body.
"That was a low blow." He said, grimacing a bit.
The Bandit smiled a bit.
"All is fair in love and war." He replied.
"Yes, sure."
"Whatever. You're quite a fighter, I wasn't expecting an Elemental, more the less a student to be that good at hand to hand fight. Where did you learn it? Not at Karkana?"
"No, I learnt it before coming here." Answered curtly Harry.
"Whoever taught you was good."
"They were"
Srizrian nodded, then looked up.
"The night is coming. You won't be able to reach the next oasis in time." He stated calmly.
"What do you propose, then?"
"Well, I said I'll help you and I wont go back on my words. Follow us."
He went back to his horse and jumped on it.
Harry approached Sheitan. The huge stallion nuzzled his neck, making him smile.
"Thank you Shei. Let's go now."
He mounted on his horse and followed by his companions joined the bandits.
The cheetahs settled on each sides of the groups, two of them placing themselves forwards and leading the way.
The ride was silent and uneventful. They stopped at dusk.
Sizrian turned to one of his men.
"Ahmiz, if you could?"
"No problem, Siz."
A young men made his horse took a few steps forwards, stopped and raised his hands in front of him. Then, concentrating, he pushed them aside, as if he was ripping a hole in the air before him.
Harry immediately understood what he was doing. Seeing his efforts, he concentrated and quickly as air was one his favorite element, he saw it
The man was an Air Elemental and the reason why nobody had been able to discover the bandits' hideout. He had simply hide it with a wall of air which altered the reality, only showing a barren land of sand and rocks. A sort of mirage, to put it better. It was a highly difficult task. Watching a few seconds how the man was doing this, Harry started to imitate him, joining his efforts to his.
Saying that the man was startled was an understatement, he nearly jumped out of his skin and looked at Harry in shock.
"You… What are you?"
"I believe you have a task on your hands We'll be able to talk later," replied Harry shortly.
The man snapped out of hi state and return to his job. In a few seconds, the illusion had been dissipated and their base were visible. They entered and Ahmiz resumed his position, hiding it again.
This time, Harry merely supported him, having no idea how to do this.
Once it was done, Ahmiz approached him.
"Thanks for the help."
"No problem, great work there you must be powerful"
The man laughed.
"Quite yes, but, I spent a year creating this"
"Congratulations."
"Thanks, you're not that bad too When did you get your mastery? You're quite young, and they usually sent students with the caravans, not full Elementals"
"I'm a student, a novice to be exact"
"You're joking I hope?"
Isral chose this moment to speak.
"He's been at Karkana for a little less than four months."
There, the young bandit starred openly at Harry.
"Four months? Wait, you're joking, right? Its not possible! It takes at least six months to achieve the novice's test and about six more at least to reach the master's state, and that's for the gifted one. In general, students stayed at Karkana for about three years and many don't became masters, remaining powerful novices"
"And he controls all four elements!" added proudly Hassin.
Now Harry was very tempted to kill his companions as he cast a quick glance at Azhim, whose eyes were nearly popping out of their orbits.
"Four" He massaged his temple, closing his eyes, letting his horse followed the men before him. "Alright, lets clear things a bit: this kid here, who is only studying at Karkana for four months is already a novice and is about to became a master, this added to the fact he control all four elements and he is an anispeaker."
"That sums it pretty good." Answered Isral smiling at the others confusion.
"OK, I'll need to sit down."
Harry was now really embarrassed he cast an annoyed glance at Isral who was wearing a Cheshire grin on his face.
They headed towards a building and stopped in front of it.
"Welcome to the Cheetahs' hideout, " said Sizrian, climbing off his horses. "You can put your beast in the paddocks, its closed. Come on!"
Half an hour later, they met in the building. The entered a huge hall with a large table in its centre. Weapons were put on the walls as well as objects, things the men must have stolen.
They all sat and waited for someone to speak.
Finally, Sizrian spoke.
"Well, here you are. What had brought you in this area? Generally, the caravans from Karkana don't like to travel on this path"
"We didn't have a lot of choice, the usual road was barred by a sand storm."
"You could have wait"
"No" cut Derig, "Mistress Amber had been clear on that point, Harris was to be back at the end of the week."
"Oh, alright, but in this case, why did she make him go?"
"Simple, I did something I shouldn't have. This was my punishment, But I was glad to leave." Replied Harry.
The men looked at him strangely.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"What did you do and why did you want to leave your school?"
"Well, for the first one, I didn't follow the masters' orders during a lesson, and as for the second," he darkened at the thought of Traias. "Let's just say that I still have a revenge to take."
Immediately Sizrians eyes brightened at the mention of revenge and most of his men groaned and put their head in their hands.
Azhim shook his head at Harry.
"One piece of advice, never mention the words pranks, revenge, retaliation or joke before Siz, he becomes completely crazy when he heard those words."
Looking at the leader, Harry could practically see the little wheels in his head.
"Have you something in mind?" he asked the young dark-haired wizard.
Had it not been for the slight differences in his appearance and his behaviour, Harry would have swore that Sirius had travelled through time.
"Well, I have the main idea, but I still need to plan it thoroughly."
"I think I can help you there, you're facing the old king of the pranksters."
One of them nodded strongly.
"Believe him, young man, he gave one hell of a time to his teachers, when he was in school."
"That'd be great!"
"Alright, guys, I trust you to behave in front of our guests"
"Yes, Sir!"
"Good boys. Come on Harris."
They left the hall and walked along a few corridors, finally stopping in front of an old looking door.
"This lead to my personal room." Said Sizrainn before opening the door and stepping in.
He closed the door behind them.
"Could lit the torches, it'll spare us some time."
"OK."
In a few seconds, the room was lighten by several blazing flames."
"Thank you. Come and sit."
Harry obeyed and sat on a chair near of table. Sizrian sat in front of him.
"Why are you so nice to me when you wanted to kill me a few hours ago?"
"You're not from here, aren't you?"
"No, I came a few months ago."
"Well, in this case, you must know that in the desert there is little rules: the strong survive and the weak die, it's the law. But there at least two things which would be respected wherever you'll go: first the honour is the most precious thing, with his horse, a nomad held; and second, hospitality is sacred. No harm can be done to someone which has been granted hospitality, even if he is your mortal enemy."
"Alright, but why have you offered us hospitality for the night, you could have let us there?"
"If you have a good memory, I promised I'd help you if you won."
"Yes, but,"
"There is no but, we may be bandits, but we have our morals, even if it's different from the average moral values."
"I understand."
"Good, now, about this revenge, what exactly have you in mind"
They quickly started to plan, Sizrian giving Harry some tips or pieces, a Marauder-like and the son of a marauder working together.
The evening passed quickly and they all went to bed early.
The next morning, they woke up at dawn and parted, Harry and his companions returning to Karkana, Sizrian and his men going God knew where.
They arrived at Karkana in the evening, a few hours late as they hadn't stopped at the oasis, like they usually did, the previous night.
They still had an hour and a half left before dinner and Harry was planning to use this time well. Half an hour later he had finished to take care of Sheitan, and he spent the next hour to plan everything according to the scheme he and Sizrian had devised. Harry had to admit it, when it came to pranks or revenge, the man was a pure genius.
Sure, he had little time, so he couldn't go into to much details, but, once he was done, he was quite pleased with himself.
Too bad he couldn't have had a few more days, but the inspectors were coming the next days, and he knew Amber and the other masters wouldn't like to have him play a trick like this in their presence.
Smiling mentally, he went to change and ran to the Common room He was one of the first, good, this way, he wouldn't be suspected. Who would think he had time to plan and set up something since he had came back. He sat at the end of the table and waited for the others and dinner. Carefully hiding what he was doing from the others, he checked if his pranks had took place as planned. He took a small parchment out of his pocket which was showing if the tricks had functioned. To his pleasure, they had. He quickly hid his smile.
Slowly, the room was filled with apprentices, novices, masters and workers.
Once everyone was seated and had started to eat, Harry placed his hand under the table, palm up and muttered a small, thanking the gods for his Chawizs abilities. Even if he didn't control it very well, he could do some spells, something which come in handy when he wanted to do something at a time during which a wand would have been too visible.
Immediately Chaos followed:
First all the students looked up simultaneously and colors were drained from their faces. They all stood up and started to run everywhere in the room, screaming at the top of their lungs, panic on all their faces.
The masters looked around them, trying to find the reason of this, to no avail. There was nothing in the room except children and young people running like headless chicken, screaming bloody murder.
Then were was a few explosion and the masters found themselves dressed in long white robe with little pink flowers, hearts embroidered on them, with a big pink ribbon in their hairs and fluffy bear slippers.
They looked at each others.
Assim's yell could be heard thorough the whole room, not that anyone cared, mind you.
Harry was standing on one side, hidden under an invisibility and silencing charm, laughing his head off. He hadn't originally planed to prank the teachers, it wasn't in the initial plan, but he couldn't resist the temptation, even if he knew that by doing this, he would blow his cover as Amber knew that only him could have pulled out something like this.
Well, he'll worry about this later, for now, he was just enjoying it.
It was time to end this. With a flick of his hand and a few words, he lifted the spell preventing the teachers to wee what was making the students acting like this.
Suddenly the teachers saw enormous spider, decrepit mummies, demons, vampires, dark shadows, demoniac dogs and so forth running after the children.
Hearing the colourful language, he smiled. It was his master piece, each student was seeing his worse fear, but also the fear of the other, kind of like a boggart, except that only Harry could dissipate the illusions, or a Air master.
Indeed, Yana immediately saw the tricks and a few minutes later, the illusions disappeared.
"Spoilsport," muttered Harry, before achieving his act.
Suddenly Traias found himself floating in the air, hung by little ropes to the ceiling. He started to yell, asking anyone to help him, but everybody was watching him in a daze still in shock.
Words of fire appeared above him.
'The Traias puppet show'
I'm Traias, the great bunny
Traias found himself wearing a bunny outfit, forced to skip in the air by the little ropes.
Me and all my little friends are living in a happy forest.
Sammy the little bird is flying above the trees.
He flipped his arms as he was flying
George the little beetle is walking in the sand.
He started to walk on four feet, lifting his legs and arms high in the air.
Now clap in your hands
And sings with me:
Bunny Traias, bunny Traias
Dancing, skipping, singing
Bunny Traias, bunny Traias
Happy to be himself!
(The last part is sang on the Teletubbies tune)
During the last part, the ropes made Traias to do a silly dance, while clapping his hands and moving his long fluffy ears.
When it was finished, everyone was rolling on he floor, laughing like mad.
Traias was brought back to the grounds, still dressed like a bunny and freed from the ropes.
He immediately ran out of the room, surrounded by laughter.
Harry had trouble calming himself. He had dropped the spells on himself, halfway through Traias little show.
He looked up at the master table who were still dressed with their robes and crossed Amber's gaze. The woman was laughing but something in her eyes made him know that he wouldn't get away with it.
He shrugged: it had been worth it!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I hope you liked it!
Thanks to all who reviewed.
Naia
kateydidnt : No, Harry will have some tutorage in this field later on. Thanks for reviewing !
Izbit Bell : Thank you a lot. Don't worry, I plan on finishing this fic and writing a sequel.
ER : Alright ! I hope you liked this chapter and thanks a lot for the review.
zeynel : I hope you liked my little revenge…. Anyway thanks a lot for your review.
BlackDragon : Thankk you a lot.
? ? ? : Thanks a lot, I hope you liked this ! Thank you for reviewing.
Rue : Sorry about the delay between my posts, but I have to keep up my grades, and I have quite a lot of extra-curicullum activities. But I'll do my best…. Thanks a lot for the review !
? ? ? : Thanks a lot for the review
Fire-Mage : I know how you feel. I've been an outsider with few friends for about four years, but for three years I've found great friends and I'm quite integrated in my class. But I remember quite well of that period.
Anyway, thanks a lot for your review.
crab : Surprise, surprise ! Tu verras, Harry ne devrait pas tarder à changer d'époque et à rencontrer son prochain ancêtre. Merci pour la revue !
timt018 : I'll try to be more careful. Thank you for reviewing.
Kalih : Well, I quite like cheetahs too, but my favorites are whales, dolphins, panthers, lynx, horses and cats.
??? : Thanks a lot! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Rachel A. Prongs : Thanks a lot for reviewing. Continue with your story "Beyond Boundaries", it's really great and original and I really look forwards more.
??? : I hope you liked that… Thanks for reviewing.
Nkari : Thanks a lot! I hope you liked that chapter too.
Skysong : The bandits are called the Cheetahs as they use cheetahs to help them with their attacks. Thank you for the review.
Rebecca Cecilie : Thanks a lot for reviewing!
Bexa Arizosa : Thank you a lot for reviewing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Sophie W : Well, it wasn't Malfoy, but I hope you liked nonetheless. Sorry for the delay and thanks a lot for your review.
Evil Leprechaun : smiles widely Well, I hope you liked my little pranks on the school… Thanks for the review.
Erica : Thanks you!
a fan : Thank you a lot. Tell me what you thought of this chapter.
Animagiman : Well, there wasn't a really huge fight in this chapter. But I have one plan for later in the story, this one will be huge. Thanks for reviewing!
Old Fawkes : Well I hope you liked this chapter. Thank you for reviewing. I'm quite fine: a bit sick and quite tired, but with the holidays in four days, I'll manage…. I think this chapter answered some of your question about Harry's gift with the animals…
Lady Pheonix Gryffindor : Thank you a lot.
illustrious sorrow : Thanks for reviewing.
Shaughn : Thanks a lot, I hope you liked this chapter as well.
BloodRedSword : Thank you a lot for reviewing, and continue with your stories.
Rogue1615 : Thanks a lot; I hope you'll continue to enjoy this story.
Diva-Elf : Thanks for reviewing, hope you liked how it turned out.
Phoenix Flight : Did you like Traias' little punishment? Hope so. Thanks for the review.
TheUnknown : Thanks for reviewing!
zaksgirllol : Thanks for reviewing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Korinna Myorin : Thank you for the review.
Rishi : Thank you a lot for reviewing.
coconut-ice agent h/h : If you can't predict how it goes, well, it means that I'm succeeding for now in writing this story, as I don't want it to be predictable (or at least not too much) Well, I hope you liked it and thank you for the review, it helps me a lot!
LittleEar BigEar's sis : Thanks a lot for the review.
ice silver wolf : Thanks a lot!
The Red Dragons Order : Thank you a lot. Continue with your stories too, I've just read your new chapter and it was great!
Fin-Phoenix : Revenge is really, really sweet. I hope you like the one pulled one Traias. Thanks for the review.
Kelly: Traias may have come out of the last chapter without any scratches, but I wasn't going to let him go that easily. Thanks a lot for the review.
Soulless : Yeah, but the holidays are coming! YES! Thanks a lot for your review.
Naraelien G. Endiliste : Thanks a lot for the review. I hope you liked that chapter. It's true that he doesn't have many friends, but this way he'll learn that not everybody is nice and friendly.
chibi : Well, Let's just say that I have a perverted mind who love to stop the story at odd moments. Thanks a lot for the review.
Elspethelf : Ahah! It's for me to know and you to find out. Well, more seriously, you'll see, I don't want to spoil the plot. Thanks a lot for reviewing.
Blizzard : Don't worry, I won't go to the point where Harry a cold heartless character, only devoted to fighting. I just want to give some insight on what life really is. Thanks for the review.
Nina : That's a problem, I have to work on my other stories, and keep up on my schoolwork as well as my other activities (piano, dance, and dance's teaching). So I try to post as soon as I can, but sometimes, I'm really too busy. I hope you understand. Thanks a lot for reviewing.
QuidBrm : Thanks a lot for the review.
Orion : Thank you!
Xirleb70 : Go on with your story. Thanks a lot for your review, I hope you liked this chapter.
sons : You'll see. All that I'm going to say is that Harry will soon jump to an other time. Thanks for reviewing.
unknown(even to me : Thanks a lot, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.
Phoenix353 : Thanks a lot, Continue with your story too, I really like it.
Dru : Thanks for reviewing
Angie : Thank you for the review.
~~~Aztec Leopard~~~ : That'll be a surprise…. You'll have to wait and see. Hope you liked this chapter too and thanks a lot for your review.
~Mary~ : Well, they weren't attacked by their own pets, but I hope you liked this chapter nonetheless. Thank you a lot for reviewing.
Lori : I hope you liked my little revenge on Traias, I enjoyed writing it…. Thanks for the review.
A-man : Hope you were satisfied. Thank you for reviewing.
Scrat : You'll see, you'll see. Your question made me think about it, and I had an idea about it. I hope you'll like it, but it won't happen before a while.
???: Thanks for reviewing.
Reader : Thank you a lot. I hope you liked this chapter.