Vana'diel Potter
A Fanfic by Viral Inque
Author's Note: Thank you everyone for all the positive feedback on this story. I'm as happy with that as with the way the story is developing. I hope I can keep up with it. I haven't updated recently cause I was on vacation and stuff, but I promise to stay on top of things from now on. I think you'll be pleased with this chapter. Please keep the feedback coming, and enjoy.
Chapter IV: End to End
If Harry had been uncomfortable before, he was truly miserable now. He hadn't even noticed himself falling into a peaceful sleep when a fruit gourd full of cold water had hit him in the face. He was still tired, but now he was also cold and wet. To top it off, Fleur had decided to bring a piece of the large pear shaped fruit with her in case she got hungry. It was kind of heavy for her, so now Harry was stuck dragging the oversized fruit along the dirt road.
Fleur seemed to have become irritated again, and was walking ahead of Harry with her arms crossed over her chest, pouting and not saying too much. Frustrated with the emotional balancing act he had to keep up around her, Harry hefted up the piece of fruit he had been carrying and flung it as hard as he could. It wobbled through the air and came to a rest impaled on a thick branch on the side of the road. Harry's back punished him for the exertion. Fleur seemed oblivious.
The landscape hadn't changed much in the last few hours. It all seemed endless. Harry was optimistic about one thing he had seen just a little while ago. Some sort of flying ship, looking only a little like a blimp, had flown above them. There had been the roar of dozens of spinning propellers and the sharp blast of a shrill horn. It didn't at all look like a blimp as Harry had known them to look, if it was that at all, but it was a sign that there may be some sort of civilized society somewhere.
Harry escaped to thoughts of Hogwart's, where right about now his friends would be sitting down to lunch in the Great Hall. He longed to be back there. It felt like he'd been in this strange place for weeks. He got so lost in his own thoughts, he barely noticed the man standing by a tree to the side of the road.
Fleur continued to walk gloomily down the dusty path. "Fleur?" Harry called to her as he eyed the man. It seemed Fleur hadn't been paying attention either, and she looked caught unaware at the sight of the strange man.
The man was very tall and thin and was dressed like he could have been a farmer, though a farmer of what Harry could only guess. He chewed on a toothpick that had been gnawed to splinters. He stared down at them blankly without blinking. Harry and Fleur looked at each other uncertainly.
"Excuse me, sir?" Harry began, and the man seemed to acknowledge him ever so slightly, "Could you possibly help us out?"
"Are you looking for San d'Oria?" the man asked in a deadpan voice.
"Sorry?" Harry asked, confused.
The tall man stared down at them without speaking. He chewed soundlessly on the remains of the toothpick in his mouth. Harry looked to Fleur for suggestions.
"Yes?" she tried, shrugging her shoulders.
"Well," the man mumbled, hitching up his pants, "San d'Oria is a ways away, but you can get there eventually if you keep to this road. Just be wary of the creatures lurking around these parts. Good luck stranger."
"Is err, San whatever, a city?" Harry asked hopefully.
The man seemed confused by the question. "Are you looking for San d'Oria?" he eventually repeated, staring at them blankly again.
"You've been a great 'elp, sir," Fleur smiled, grabbing Harry by the arm, "I zink we'll be going now."
Fleur dragged Harry away from the man, and when they were safely out of earshot, added, "Let's just keep walking, zat man was creepy."
"Agreed," Harry concurred, "But he was strange, wasn't he?"
"A little too strange for me," Fleur shuddered. Her arm was still locked around Harry's, making him very uncomfortable. He tried to pull away, but couldn't think of a way of doing it politely. With a final look back to the man, Fleur let go and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's what I mean, thought," he continued, sidestepping an inch to avoid any further potential contact between the two of them, and then back after thinking about for a moment, "Are we still sure we want to go this way?"
"'Arry, and where do you suppose we would be going then?" Fleur cried, making Harry jump, "A 'ole days walk back to where we started from, so we can get eaten by an Orc?"
"So that's what that was?" Harry mused.
"I zink so. Maybe. Zat is not ze point," Fleur stated sharply, and with a turn and a whip of her long hair, continued down the road.
The rest of the afternoon, to Harry's relief, was spend predominantly in silence as they continued down the seemingly endless stretch of dusty road and thick foliage. Harry had time to miss Hogwarts and all his friends some more and he was quickly becoming homesick.
Before long the sun had begun its descend into the horizon as another day drew to an end. Despite all they had eaten, Harry's stomach eventually returned to the writhing knot it had been before as the longs hours of walking took their toll. This did not, of course, take away from the burning pain shooting through his legs and feet.
He chanced a glance towards Fleur at one point and noticed that she had abandoned her sour disposition. She looked perfectly miserable and more vulnerably than Harry had ever seen her. She looked as though she were ready to burst into tears. Harry looked away quickly so as not to embarrass her.
As the last bits of color bled away and made way for the night, Harry saw a shadow scurry across the road ahead of them. It gave Harry such a fright, he had his wand in his hand and poised for attack in record time. Fleur noticed it too and echoed Harry's sentiment.
"On your toes, 'Arry," she whispered in a shaky voice.
"I'm ready," Harry replied, squinting into the growing darkness for any sign of movement.
A twig snapped to their left, and Harry whipped around. Before he could even react, it was too late. A white light surrounded him and began swirling around his body. It was warm, and it tickled when it brushed past him, like a fourth of July sparkler. He couldn't move. He tried to call to Fleur, to tell her to run, but he was frozen in place. He was sure he was done for, but nothing happened. In fact, he felt the knot in his stomach subside and the pain in his feet cool down. If he'd thought about it, he would have also noticed he wasn't even that tired anymore.
As the light slowly dissipated around Harry, making a peculiar chiming sound, the same light began to emerge around Fleur. She had been frozen in place, watching what was happening to Harry, but now she began to panic.
"I think it's okay, Fleur," Harry whispered, looking himself over.
"You zink it's okay," Fleur hissed, "Forgive me if that does not make me feel better, 'Arry."
From the light surrounding Fleur, Harry caught sight of the look of understanding dawn on Fleur's face. Whoever was lurking in the shadows wasn't trying to hurt them, but help them. He watched the light around Fleur glitter and slowly disappear. Even with everything he had seen going to school at Hogwart's, the sight was still mesmerizing. He decided this must be what magic is like in this world.
The moment the last bit of light around Fleur had twinkled and evaporated into the air, another light began to take form around Harry. This light was a brilliant emerald green that was like concentrated smog. As it wrapped around Harry, he felt it stick to his skin, making it feel clammy and damp. Then his skin began to tighten, then harden, and it seemed plain what the spell was for.
Harry could feel his skin tingling from the effects of the spell. He held his hands up in front of his face and stared at them curiously. Watching Harry, Fleur became nervously anxious as the light began to appear around her.
Once Fleur had received the effects of the green spell, they waited to see what would happen next. They stood there squinting into the night, touching at faces and arms absently, marveling at the sensation caused by the spell.
"Thanks," Harry called out when nothing else happened.
"No problem," came a voice from right next to him, and Harry felt a hand pat him gently on the back. He whipped around in surprise, but there was no one there.
They stood quietly on the dirt path for several minutes after. Harry could feel his heart pushing hard against his chest. While he tried to regain his bearings, Fleur occupied her self with poking and prodding at her skin. She'd have looked rather odd doing it too, but Harry understood exactly how she felt. It was all pretty amazing to him too. He'd never felt anything quite like it before.
"Zis is remarkable," Fleur said dreamily.
"This is magic," Harry stated, meaning it both figuratively and literally.
"Very true," Fleur agreed, "But what do you zink it means?"
"Dunno," Harry shrugged, "Guess we'd better keep on walking."
"Agreed," Fleur said, finally taking her attention off of herself, "It's not like we will be sleeping anytime soon. I don't zink I've ever been more awake zen I am now."
The rate at which their pace quickened after that point was remarkable. They were so full of energy, so invigorated by the magic worked on them, they broke into a jog and ran blindly through the darkness. There was no need to look for a spot to camp for the night. They were shooting for the city of San d'Oria.
Despite the engulfing darkness around them, they moved nimble down the path. They could faintly make out the walls of foliage to either side of them, but there was no way to avoid occasionally tripping over a large stone or stray branch. This was no cause for worry since their hardened skin numbed them to the relatively minor pain caused by it.
More then once while they darted along the path, Harry swore he heard voices mingling with the wind and sound of crickets and bats. Then there was the less soothing sound of animal moans and cries. It didn't seem enough to concern him, but the further they went, the more the noise seemed to intensify.
"Fleur, wait up a sec," Harry called, and had to repeat himself before he got Fleur's attention. It seemed to take some effort to slow down and then finally come to a complete stop.
It was so much worse then he could have imagined. When they were running, the wind whipping at their faces muted the sounds around them. Now it was clear that they had run right into a whole lot of trouble.
"Oh no, what did we do?" Fleur whispered, trying to look in every direction at once.
It sounded like they were standing in the middle of a battlefield. There was the sound of human voices, some agitated, but some sounding very casual. There were other voices too, grunts and squeaks that formed crude animal languages. But the most prevailing sound was that of metal striking metal and flesh striking flesh.
"We just have to stay calm," Harry stated, trying to convince himself more than anything else. He closed the distance between him and Fleur and stood back to back with her, "Let's consider our options."
With Harry's history of finding himself in sticky situations, his sharp mind quickly worked out several scenarios. They were still wired from the magic worked on them, so if they had to run they could, but there was no telling into what. They now knew that there was magic in this world, but they were exempt from this fact, so this had to be factored in too.
"They're everywhere," Fleur said gloomily, "But the road doesn't seem so bad, no?"
"Not that there are all that many alternatives," Harry said ironically, "But so far so good. Let's just keep it slow and keep our eyes open."
So they inched their way along, staying as back to back as they could. They held their wands out in front of them, for all they were worth. The foliage surrounding them on either side of the road finally made itself useful, making it hard for anything to see them or get to them. There was a lot going on within it though, and the brush would sway and bend and break, sometimes from very close to the road.
Soon after, Harry could feel the tautness of his skin loosening up and the strange tingling sensation faded. Harry let out a sleepy yawn and he heard Fleur moan miserably as she felt the effects of her spell begin to wear off too.
The battle around them continued and showed no signs of letting up. The road started to widen slightly, which Harry found unnerving. Eventually they came to a fork and the road split into two separate paths.
"This is ridiculous," Fleur said, throwing her hands in the air, "What else can go wrong?"
The same bamboo pole branches grew on the divider that separated both the paths. These branches swayed back and forth awkwardly. Harry and Fleur both took several anxious steps backward as a noxious, if not familiar, odor worked its way to their noses. A second later something stepped through the branches and faced them.
"Bugger," Harry cried, "You wanted to know what else could go wrong?"
"Funny," Fleur whimpered, covering her nose and mouth with her free hand and shrinking behind Harry.
The creature- which Fleur had correctly identified earlier as an Orc, let out a sickening, gurgling cackle, and took a step forward. Harry, running on instinct and adrenaline, grabbed a bamboo pole branch and pulled at it wildly. Fleur's eyes shot back and forth between the Orc and Harry. She flung her wand at the Orc, hoping at best that he might want to go fetch it. It bounced harmlessly off it's head, prompting more laughter from the beast.
Meanwhile, Harry continued to wrestle with the branch. He had all his weight on it, his feet straddling the pole, when it finally snapped in two. He jumped into action, lunging to the creature's left and catching him squarely in the knees with the branch.
The Orc seemed caught off guard and let out a howl. Harry went for it's feet next, stabbing one with the jagged end of the pole. The creature let out another howl, but was far more prepared then he had been before. It caught Harry by the hood of his robe and jerked him clear off the ground.
Harry swung defenselessly just inches from the Orc's face. The collar of his robes was choking him, and he clawed at it, trying to get some air into his lungs. The beast laughed at his expense, sending rancid air into Harry's face, making him want to vomit on top of everything else.
Spots were beginning to form in front of Harry's eyes when he heard someone scream. Then, from seemingly nowhere, Fleur was on the Orc's back. The Orc held on tight to Harry, but now he was being swung back and forth as the Orc flailed around, trying to grab Fleur with it's free hand. Through his fading vision, Harry saw that Fleur had retrieved her wand and had it clutched in one shaky hand.
"Let go of him," Fleur screamed, annunciating each word clearly. Then she took her wand and jabbed it hard into one of the Orc's eyes.
The next thing Harry knew he was on his back. He had blacked out for a second, just as he had seen Fleur's wand sweeping down in an arc for the Orc's eye. It seemed he had landed on his head, and when he shook the cobwebs loose, he noticed the most unearthly noise.
An earsplitting squeaking noise was coming from the Orc. It writhed in pain and swung it's arms around wildly. Fleur had been thrown off and was sprawled on the ground beneath it, trying to get away before she got trampled.
"I think it's angry," Fleur shouted over the Orc's screams as she made her way to Harry, "You okay?"
"Been better," Harry shouted back, trying unsuccessfully to get back on his feet, "You?"
"I'll live," Fleur smiled.
The Orc, still very much on his feet, suddenly stopped screaming. It had gotten it's stubby hands on the wand in it's eye. He groped at it for a moment until he got a grip on it, and pulled it out swiftly with a sickening popping noise. It tossed the wand aside and focused its one remaining eye on Harry and Fleur.
"I can't believe this," Harry moaned.
"Do we have a plan?" Fleur asked hopefully.
"Well," Harry said, taking a deep breath, "We could split up. We'll each take a different path. It can't get both of us. Maybe we'll confuse him long enough to get away."
"Is that all we got?" Fleur cried.
"Afraid so."
"Crap."
They backed away to the point were the road split. They watched as the Orc stumbled it's way closer and closer towards them. Harry looked at the hole were it's eye had been. It was oozing a brownish-green slime. It was also the one thing that could save them both.
"Wait till the very last second," Harry instructed.
The Orc charged at them, holding it's arms out blindly and blinking it's good eye to try and focus. It was not more then two steps away from them when the ground began to shake, like an elephant was stampeding towards them. From behind the Orc a yellowish figure came into view. The Orc turned around just in time to be deftly sliced in two by the blade of an oversized katana. The Orc fell lifelessly to the ground, his insides becoming outsides and spreading across the dry ground like slime.
As repulsing as the sight of a disemboweled Orc should be, Harry and Fleur's attention was focused on their rescuer. A large yellow bird- equal parts chicken, ostrich and possibly a horse or something or other, stood before them. It seemed to let off a faint glow in the darkness. On it's back rode a tall man with long, misshapen ears and eyes like silver. He looked like nothing less than a samurai.
"Are you two okay?" the man asked in a deep, silky voice. The bird he was riding on chirped happily.
"Never better," Harry answered, giving the bird a friendly wave, "That was pretty amazing."
"It's nothing," the man replied, waving the statement away, "We're just glad you're alright. Say, where are you guys from? I've never seen clothes such as yours."
"It's a long story," Fleur said as she exchanged glances with the bird. She took a tentative step forward, then another, until she was right next to it. It let out another cheery chirp and nudged Fleur warmly with it's beak. Fleur smiled and started petting the animal. "You might actually be able to 'elp us. We're on our way to, um, San d'Oria I think it is. Could you tell us if we're anywhere near there?"
"I reckon Quonisq here has taken a liking to you," the man laughed heartily, the sounds of battle still going strong around them, "Oh, and I'm Frou. Well, if you're heading for San d'Oria you're in luck. It's just a few miles along this road to the right. I just came from there myself."
"That's great," Harry smiled, inching his way over to Quonisq to pet it, "Best news we've had in days."
"I'm glad," Frou replied, "We'd gladly escort you there, but we're in a bit of a rush. In fact, we should really be on our way."
"Of course," Harry said, "Thanks for all your help."
"Yeah, you're a lifesaver," Fleur added, "You too Quonisq."
"Take care you two," Frou said with a wave, "You shouldn't have anymore trouble here. Just don't linger around for too long. Hopefully we'll meet again someday."
Harry and Fleur backed away, waving their goodbyes. Quonisq chirped and spread it long wings dramatically, then dashed down the path back the way they had come.
"That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen," Harry mused as he watched Frou and Quonisq fade into the darkness.
"You weren't so bad yourself 'Arry Potter," Fleur smiled, elbowing Harry in his side playfully, "You're even braver then I thought."
"Me," Harry laughed, "You were something else. You should have seen when you jumped on that thing. I was waiting for you to bite his ear off."
"Ugh, I have Orc guts all over my robes."
P.S: I don't know why the indent didn't come out... you might happen to know why that might be, please let me know... thx