Please pardon my Latin, using online translators for this. Not my fault Rowling hasn't made up enough spells.
Chapter 4
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"Baku come from Japan. They have the face of a lion, the body of a horse, the feet of a tiger, and the tail of a cow. It is called the 'eater of dreams', it can devour a person's evil dreams either making them harmless or changing them into good luck." Rahkesh said, studying the creature before them. It seemed to fit, but there were so many magical creatures.
"Certainly fits the description, but its feet are white." Silas said.
"Well there are white tigers." Ally pointed out, "be careful there, it might attack – it is a carnivore." Daray had been slowly moving towards it.
"With Hippogriffs you just have to be very respectful. You have to bow before approaching. I've never heard of how to handle these, but it couldn't hurt to try the same methods." Rahkesh said.
"We'll try that then." Daray said, clearly impatient. They had been standing there trying to decide what to do for nearly fifteen minutes so far. The vampire straightened from where he was crouched behind a bush and walked slowly towards the massive animal blocking the trail. Rahkesh and Silas moved into positions to either side, wands out. Tanya, who had been given the task of mapping their route, backed off a ways to note where they had encountered what.
The portkey (though Rahkesh was sure it was a different type of portkey than anything he knew) had brought all six to the trailhead. Because there were so many students Ally thought it likely that they all had different trails to follow. They hadn't seen any other humans. Almost immediately they had encountered a pit, dug across the full width of the trail and impossible to get around. The bottom appeared to be filled with what Thom was sure was some sort of acid. Daray had transfigured a rock into a long wooden plank for them to walk over.
They had also encountered a very large tree that bore a remarkable resemblance to the Whomping Willow. Rahkesh's immobulus charm had stopped it for long enough for them to pass.
Then there had been a pair of trolls. A few fire spells and cutting curses drove them away though.
And now a Baku, supposedly native to Japan. But this one did not appear to care that it was on the wrong continent. It was watching Daray steadily with black eyes. It was also growling, just a little bit. Daray stopped when he was just out of lunge range, and watched the creature. Avoiding looking in its eyes, which would be considered a challenge.
"What now?" Ally asked, they seemed to be at a bit of standstill.
"I don't know. Bowing works with some creatures. Try that, then approach it." Rahkesh suggested. "Silas, maybe we should lower our wands and stand over to the one side. With us on both sides it looks like we're planning an attack." Silas nodded and moved around behind Daray, Rahkesh stayed where he was, but both lowered their wands. Slowly Daray bowed low, then stood straight again.
"I think I'll just try to walk past it now." He said.
"Do so on the outside, that way if it attacks it can't pin you against the cliff. You'll just fall off the hillside and its not that steep." Silas suggested. Daray did as they suggested and slowly moved around the creature to the outside. It snarled and moved away, its mane bristling. Daray slowed down but kept on moving. The Baku clawed the ground and turned its head to watch the vampire, but it didn't attack.
"Okay, I guess we'll all just do the same, one at a time." Rahkesh said, signaling to Thom to go next. Thom repeated exactly what Daray had done and was permitted to pass.
When they were all on the other side of the Baku Rahkesh looked back and stiffened as he saw a cave that they couldn't see before, with several pairs of eyes in it. He rotated around on the spot, tensing for a fight. The two vampires, sensing his movement, followed suit.
"What?" Ally asked as she Silas walking ahead of her freeze and turn. "Oh."
The group paused, watching the cave, which Rahkesh was sure had several more Baku in it. The Baku just looked back out at them, waiting, fully prepared to attack.
"I bet they're there in case we tried to attack the first one. Backup. Do you think someone's giving us a message?" Rahkesh asked.
"What message?" Thom asked.
"That we shouldn't just try to overpower. Find another way. Don't; fight unless we have too." Daray suggested, "lets keep going, they're not coming after us." The six continued up the trail.
They were high in the mountains. Everywhere below them was a massive forest. Steep hillsides around deep ravines with small rivers running through them. It was summer and everything was green. They had seen several eagles and hawks, one of which had been flying below them. Indicating just how high up they were. Occasionally there would be a flat area along a less steep mountainside or down at the bottom of a gorge. In these places large meadows, filled with colorful wildflowers spread out below them. In between the mountains they could occasionally make out small lakes and ponds, fed by melting snow that remained all year round, ringed by bright green grass.
Their next obstacle was a set of cliffs; they had to climb up one, over a short trail, and then down another one. After a little experimenting they learned that ropes disintegrated when the touched the rock, and the cliff burned their skin as well. They had to use magic. Keeping the warning about brooms in mind they didn't even try that. Instead they used levitation spells. Rahkesh could levitate himself al the way up, but the others needed a little help. Everyone joined in, whether the person needed it or not, to make sure they didn't fall. On the other side, at the bottom of the cliff, was a large clear area that sloped downwards slowly. Rahkesh, acting on a whim, conjured a massive mattress filled with air to land on, and jumped.
The wind whistled through his ears for forty feet before he hit it. He sank into the mattress and bounced up again, making his way to the edge and sliding off.
"Come on, it's fun." He shouted up. Ally jumped down next, followed by the vampires and then Thom and Tanya. With everyone down he removed the air mattress.
"This doesn't seem to be too hard." Tanya said.
"Don't say that, you'll jinx us. And it's only noon. We still have today and tomorrow. Of course they're starting out easy." Silas replied.
Tanya appeared to be right though, that day they encountered a wild dangerous river they had to cross, without magic. Several acromantula. And boggart. They set up camp for the night next to a small pond, transfiguring tents for themselves. The four males sharing on large tent while the girls got their own. Thom appeared a little uneasy about sleeping near vampires, so Rahkesh put him next to one of the tent doors. Silas and his panther cub were at the other door, since the young cat was likely to sense trouble before any of them did, with Rahkesh next to them and Daray between him and Thom.
Thom and Ally set up a small campfire and took out some of the food they had brought with them. The vampires announced that they were going hunting and went off into the woods, using summoning charms to bring the deer closer. They were back by the time the mortals had finished their meal. Rahkesh looked through his bag and found the marshmallows he'd brought.
"You are a saint." Tanya said, reaching for the bag and transfiguring a perfect stick to roast with. "Are you capable of eating human food?" She asked when the two vampires also took marshmallows.
"Of course, be pretty dull with just blood. Of course we always crave blood, but we like mortal food too." Daray answered for both of them while Silas took out a very fat dead rat and made a few cuts in it. His panther cub, smelling its dinner, leaped out of its carrying bag and grabbed the rat up in its mouth and dashed off behind a rock to eat.
"I'm hoping he'll be able to hunt for himself eventually, so I've started him on raw meat. Another two weeks or so and I'll start giving him partially live stuff." The vampire explained. "That taste good Nuri?" The cub yowled in reply.
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Rahkesh's eyes snapped open. He held himself perfectly still and relaxed as he searched for what had awoken him. Rahkesh checked his watch, trying to move as little as possible. It was early, really early, the sun wouldn't rise for a few hours yet and Tanya was on guard duty. But she had given no alert. Not that he'd expect it, Tanya didn't seem to be t much of a fighter. Nor was she particularly bright or alert. Actually Rahkesh didn't see how she'd gotten in. Both vampires were sleeping soundly, but Rahkesh was sure that something was wrong. He listened, but could hear nothing. He turned his head a little and found himself looking right into a pair of bright golden eyes. Nuri the panther cub was wide-awake, his ears twisting about as he listened. Remembering that there were other senses besides the obvious Rahkesh closed his eyes and sent out his mind, sensing far beyond the confines of the tent, searching. Technically a form of Ligilimency (sp?) this was a way to use magic to search for things your other senses couldn't detect. He also sent out his magic, feeling cautiously, if there were magical beings out there they might be able to sense his search.
There was something very wrong out there in the darkness. As the strange feeling that had awakened him grew stronger Rahkesh stopped looking and pulled his mind back into the tent. Concentrating on his magical senses again he began to put pressure on the two vampire's minds, willing them to wake.
Daray woke almost immediately, Rahkesh grabbed his are and pressed a finger to his lips, signaling him to be quiet. Silas woke seconds later and turned to look at Rahkesh. Rahkesh signaled to him too that they had to be quiet. Daray woke Thom, though it took a few minutes. Silas cast a spell on the tent so that light inside wouldn't show through the fabric, then his lit up his wand so that they could see.
"Put that out, it will ruin our night vision." Rahkesh breathed softly. Silas did so quickly. "There's something out there." Right on cue Nuri gave a soft growl. "Anyone really good with illusions?" None of them replied. "Do you know how to do an illusion?" Both vampires nodded, but Thom shook his head. "We can leave the tents and fire here, we'll head for the trees near the trail, if we can get there without being seen or heard we might get away. Whatever or whoever is out there will think we're still in the tents." Rahkesh explained.
"We'll cast an illusion on the tent and the ground just outside, no one will see us leaving." Daray said, he and Silas pointed their wands at on tent door.
"Mentiri exoculo" the incantation was the easy part. Illusions only worked if you had an exact picture of what you wanted to be there. The vampires were concentrating on the unopened tent doors, what color they were, how they looked. Adding details, enforcing their will on what other people saw when they looked at the front of the tent and the ground just before it. We're not here, really we're not. There's no one walking around. Only when the vampires nodded to signal they were ready did Rahkesh open the door and step out.
"Mentiri exoculo" he whispered, pointing his wand at the ground in between the two tents. He then focused on what the ground looked like right now, with no one there. Closing his eyes as Silas walked past him to wake Ally, who was in the tent. Daray ducked into the shadows of the rock Nuri had been eating behind and crept on his belly to Tanya. She started a little, but Daray must have told her to stay still because she went back to what she had been staring at a second later. Rahkesh built his illusion outwards from where he stood, in hid mind erasing anything that hadn't been there second before. There were clouds and it was very dark, not much moonlight getting through. Opening his eyes again he removed their shadows as the others moved around.
To everyone's surprise Daray pulled out an invisibility cloak. He transfigured a pebble into a statue and made it look like Tanya. Then Ally called up a small breeze to make the grass ripple; it was harder to pinpoint inconsistencies in illusions when things were naturally moving. As the strongest gust of wind blew Daray flung the cloak over Tanya and put the statue where she had been sitting. With both of them invisible they moved back to join the group. Rahkesh pulled out his invisibility cloak, smirking at the looks of even greater surprise, and signaled Ally to join the other two while he took Silas and Thom. With Thom being so short there would be room for the panther hidden in Silas backpack. Silas cast a spell on all their feet to leave no footprints and the group set off. Rahkesh releasing his illusion as they left the camp.
They made it into the trees and up to the trail. Daray found a place where the several trees and a large rock circled a hidden depression in the ground. Here they all gathered, removing the cloaks.
"So? What's out there?" Thom asked.
"No idea, but it's bad." Silas said, reaching back to calm his growling panther cub.
"The trail up ahead takes a sharp turn around one of the mountains, once we get past the bend no one will be able to see us. Silas and I scouted it out last night while hunting." Daray informed them, "what if we use the two invisibility cloaks to get there? We can cast silencing spells so they won't hear us."
"And I know a spell to disguise our scent too." Rahkesh said, "back under the cloaks everyone." They all ducked back under the two cloaks, which barely fit all of them. "Inolentis", he repeated the spell seven times, once on each of them including the panther. "Lets go." The two groups took off, trying hard not to trip over each other. Up ahead the trail curled around a pile of boulders and headed up the other side of the mountain.
Once past the rocks Rahkesh pulled off the cloak and put it away. Daray did the same and the six teenagers spread out to sit on the rocks.
"Useful things aren't they?" Daray asked.
"Yeah, unless you meet someone who can see through them." Rahkesh replied, "listen guys whoever was watching us won't be fooled for long, it's going to be light in a few more hours. We should move as fast as we can." The others agreed and they set out at a faster pace.
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They made it all of a mile before they were attacked. The first blast or purple light threw Thom some twenty feet into a tree.
HWAM! A red spell hit a boulder near Rahkesh, sending a wave of magic all around as it turned the rock to ash. Another spell knocked a tree right over while a third whizzed around like a heat-seeking missile searching for something until it hit the ground. There were no shouts, no yells, just spells hitting from all sides. Rahkesh dove for the ground and rolled towards a fallen tree, seeing the others do the same. The barrage of spells pinned them to the ground, unable to get a fix on the location of their attackers.
"Tanya, get to Thom and see if he's okay." Silas called, the girl nodded and crept off, keeping low. Rahkesh's mind went into overdrive. The ground here was relatively flat, which meant that no one was above them. So long as they stayed near the ground spotting them would be difficult. Thom's backpack had been red, probably why he'd been hit. Daray had had the same thought and was already turning their backpacks the colors of the ground and leaf litter.
Their attackers were moving Rahkesh realized. The spell weren't coming from specific locations. And there were a lot of them. He estimated a dozen and probably not more than that.
"Lets play this in twos." Rahkesh whispered to the others. Silas over at Ally and they both began to move away, staying low. Rahkesh looked over at Daray who nodded. "Diversions." Rahkesh suggested. "Get them as confused as we are." Daray pointed his wand at a pebble and second later it had two legs, two arms and a head. It grew until there was human-sized body, made of rock, next to them. Rahkesh gave it some pants, a shirt, and a backpack. They created three more decoys before giving them life.
"Animus!" Daray said, concentrating hard. The fake human leaped upright and sprinted off in the opposite direction form them and the others. Spells followed it.
"Animus! Animus!" The other two were off, charging at their attackers position. Rahkesh and Daray slipped away to one side and headed forward. Making an arc towards where they thought some of the attackers were fallen trees and rocks littered the ground and deep depression and small bumps were everywhere, perfect cover.
With the people attacking them too busy demolishing the dummies the two kept moving until they spotted where the spells were coming from.
"There, three of them." Daray pointed. Hidden behind a small rise were three people. The dummies were gone. The spells they were using were not kind ones.
"We need to disorient them. Dump a lot of earth on them?" Rahkesh asked, eyeing another small mound of soil.
"Yeah, get on the other side of it and blast the dirt at them, I'll guide it."
Rahkesh dropped and rolled around behind the pile of dirt, using a few blasting spells he shoved more dirt up until he had a sizeable pile.
"Flipendo!"
"Locomotor!" As Rahkesh sent a massive wave of soil at him Daray caught it with his spell and hurled it onto their former attackers.
Unfortunately for the one of their attacker had had some decent training and he checked behind him for attacks like theirs, just as the wall of earth hit him. The man started hurling fireballs everywhere in the hopes of hitting them. Alerted by their companion one of the other people cast a shield.
"Immobulus! Incarcerous!" Rahkesh spell's damaged the shield, but it held.
"Inretio! Fractum!" The weakened shield snapped under Daray's bone break spell at the same time as Rahkesh silently cast his last two spells. A stunner, and a wrenching spell followed by a wave of his wand that summoned the three attacker's wands to him.
The stunner knocked the more alert mane unconscious and the wrenching spell was deflected away. But all three lost their wands. Daray attacked and stunned the last two.
"Summoning their wands, why didn't we just do that in the first pace?" Daray asked, conjuring ropes and tying the bodied up.
"No idea, shall we?" The vampire grinned; both stood and did simultaneous summoning spells. Rather than summon every wand in the mountains they focused the spell on the people in their area. The result was that they got the other four students wands, and eight more wands form their former attackers.
"They're running!" Ally shouted, pointing to the eight people sprinting away. Silas tackled one and punched him hard enough to knock him out. Daray and Rahkesh sprinted after them, throwing their companion their wand, and began sending out stunners.
It took a half hour to hunt down their last attacker. Rahkesh, Daray, Ally, and Silas cornered him in a ravine. The man didn't say a word; he just let them stun him. Silas levitated his body as they walked back.
"Bet they're students, sent to attack us." Ally said.
"Nah, actual students would do better." Silas disagreed.
"Who then?" Ally challenged, Silas just shrugged.
"Don't know - we'll have to ask."
"Or not." Daray, who had been walking ahead, called back. The other three rushed forward, to find Tanya and Thom unconscious and all their prisoners gone.
"What?" Silas asked, furiously looking around.
"Uh Silas? He's gone." Rahkesh pointed out. Their prisoner had vanished.
"How? How'd he do that!" Silas roared, "I didn't drop the spell!"
"Relax, clearly they had a backup plan in case they lost." Rahkesh said, "and I don't think they'll attack again."
"That doesn't matter. I was looking forward to their blood." The vampire pouted, Daray smirked at the disgruntled look Ally gave them.
"Not disgusted?" he asked Rahkesh; seeing that the other hadn't flinched and was busy waking Tanya and Thom.
"No." Rahkesh replied simply. "It's not your fault Tanya, stop apologizing. Are you okay to travel Thom?" The short boy nodded and stood up brushing the dirt off.
"Yeah, broken rib, Tanya healed it. And I'm changing my backpack color."
The group started off again, Tanya still keep track of where they went with her map. The trail led them through some of the most beautiful places Rahkesh had ever seen. They were at a fairly high elevation, but the sun was bright and it wasn't too windy. Up higher they could see massive mountains. The mountains around them were huge, they were at what Thom's altitude spell told them was almost seven thousand feet, and the mountains were several thousand more than that. They were slowly approaching the elevation the entrance to the school was supposed to be at. But so far they had seen nothing resembling its description. Of a massive valley with a lake, river, hot springs, huge meadows surrounded by thick forests.
They encountered a Fire Salamander not long after they stopped to eat breakfast. The creature was twelve feet long, and neatly blocked the trail between two big boulders. Behind the salamander they could see a stone bridge over a gorge, with another salamander right before the bridge.
"Water?" Tanya suggested.
"Or stronger fire." Silas responded.
"Or we could juts electrocute it." Rahkesh suggested.
"Or use water and then electrocute it." Ally decided, drawing her wand and throwing a massive burst of water at the salamander. The creature flamed up, it skin burning, just before the water hit. The water turned to steam. "Uh that didn't work." Silas stepped forward next to give it a try.
"Inretio! Incarcerous!" The net was turned to ash by the fire. The ropes that went for the salamander's feet were neatly sidestepped, and then ripped apart by its claws. It was fast and it wasn't budging.
"Reducto!" Daray threw the curse at the salamander, which stepped aside to let the curse blow harmlessly past. "All of us then, in a row, Rahkesh, do your electricity thing." The vampire said. They all formed a line. "One, two, three-"
"Reducto!"
"Conjunctivis!"
"Stupefy!"
"Reducto!"
"Extorquo!"
"Fulguris." Rahkesh spoke, putting everything he had behind it. The salamanders fire absorbed the first, the second missed its head entirely, it shook off the third easily and absorbed the fourth. Its abilities ran out there though. The fifth spells caused it to nearly fall over, though there didn't appear to be any physical harm as it shook it off. But the magical damage was apparent as it swayed on its feet. Rahkesh's massive bolt of lightning sent it into spasms until it crashed to the ground, where Ally stunned it.
Stopping to make sure it was alive Rahkesh and Tanya cast several minor level healing spells. Tanya seemed to have some natural talent as a healer. They took out the next in much the same manner.
They placed freezing spells on the bridge, and were ready to cast levitating spells on each other as they crossed one by one. The bridge tried to break but the ice, enhanced with a sticking charm so no one would slip, didn't let it. It finally snapped juts as Tanya, the last, was crossing, but all of the others caught her and levitated her out.
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They had reached a place where the trees were only shoulder high, whether from a recent fire or elevation Rahkesh wasn't sure, when Silas spotted movement in the trees.
"Look!" Silas cried, pointing. They all looked, there was nothing.
"Where? What?" Ally asked. Silas looked carefully then pointed again.
"There! It's bright white. Wait, wait, there's five of them!" Sure enough Rahkesh could see five small white things moving quickly away from them through the trees.
"What kind of animal has a white pointed head?" Ally asked.
"None that I know of." Rahkesh replied.
"Ditto." Silas said, Daray just shrugged.
"Snow?" Thom suggested. He was too short to see well above the plants, which brushed at Rahkesh's neck. Thom's eyes were just at the top branches.
"Nope, not that. And it's not antlers." Silas informed him. They all paused as the white shapes froze for a few moments. Then slowly began moving along beside the trail a bit ahead of them. The group hurried up to see what they were, but soon they were moving off from the trail again. "Should we follow?"
"No reason to, and we don't know how much further we have to go." Ally pointed out, the others agreed. But it wasn't long before the creatures with the white tops moved back towards them, around a bend in the trail ahead, and vanished from sight.
The bend in the trail wrapped around a massive outcropping of rock that jutted out from the mountainside. As they passed by it there was a crunching, crackling noise. The group froze, then, before their amazed eyes the whole rock lurched, rose up, and came hurtling towards them.
"Reducto!" Ally, Silas, and Rahkesh all got the spell of simultaneously. Thom followed with an impediment jinx while Tanya and Daray both cast their strongest shield spells.
The rock quivered and slowed down in mid air as the impediment jinx hit, then the destroying curses hit. The rock glowed, and exploded everywhere with a thunderous bang.
Shards of stone flew about as if from a shrapnel grenade. Chunks bounced off the shields, which were beginning to fade. The other five cast shields to aid the first two and together they huddled below the shields until the last bits of rock were gone. Slowly the six uncurled form where they'd been protecting their head. The shields were almost gone. They straightened and Ally cast a spell to clear off the trail. As Daray helped her to remove some of the larger chunks something moved across the trail, hidden by the remaining small boulders. They all turned, wands ready.
Five white shapes dodged off ahead of them into the trees.
Rahkesh hurled the last rocks away and the six students followed. Through the short trees that lined their trail the group hurried The shapes they chased stayed just far enough ahead that they couldn't see them. Finally the five left the trail.
"I'd like to follow them, they probably caused that rock to fall on us like that - it couldn't have done that normally." Rahkesh said, the two vampires and Ally agreed, but Thom shook his head.
"Look my ribs are hurting, and you four travel faster than Tanya and I can handle easily. How about we continue, you guys go and look for them and catch up with us in a bit. Just don't take too long." Thom suggested. Tanya agreed. She and Thom sat down to rest briefly while the other four went off.
"I still can't figure out what they could possibly be. They've got to be magical, but there's a lot of magical beasts capable of shows of strength or power like that." Silas said, "over there!" Sure enough five white shapes darted away. "They don't move too fast, but don't get too close, they're obviously very strong."
"All I want is a good look at what they are." Rahkesh replied, "though if they can talk an explanation might be nice."
"They're splitting up." Daray warned, up a head the five white-topped creatures parted. Rahkesh broke into a run and ran in an arc like a sheepdog would, Daray caught on and took the other side, herding the five beings back together. Ally dashed up to meet him and Rahkesh guessed that she was the fastest.
"Ally I'm going to cast a quieting spell on you, can you run ahead and created some sort of barricade with rock ahead of them?" Ally nodded and as soon as the spell was finished she sprinted silently away. Making sure to move far enough away that the little creatures wouldn't notice her going ahead.
Several minutes later they came upon her barricade, a large circle of rocks tightly packed together. The white headed beings noticed it first though and split up, gathering speed and dodging away. Rahkesh ran after one of them, keeping pace, waiting for the right opportunity to attack. He didn't really want to hurt it, even if these were the creatures that had tried to kill them with that massive rock. A little bit ahead he noticed a break in the short trees, with a fallen tree right in front of him.
Rahkesh stepped up onto the tree and leaped. He hit whatever it was, wrapped his arms around it, hit the ground with one shoulder, and rolled over several times. Wrapping himself around it so as not to seriously harm the small thing. He twisted so that when they stopped he was over it, pinning the creature beneath him he shot a silent stunning spell and felt it go limp.
Rahkesh carefully backed off, wand ready. Searching for any sign of danger. He needn't have bothered. The creature was out.
It was white, very white, all over. It was also smaller than he had thought. The extra height was due to a large, pointed, white cap.
It looked a little like a gorilla, only much smaller and fluffier, and white. It was covered head to toe in soft white fur. All but one hand. The left had was bare and bore a large set a tattoos. It had sharply pointed ears, and its teeth, he could see, were not those of a carnivore. Not sure if he had harmed it Rahkesh removed the white cap to look at its head where he had hit it with the spell. It seemed fine. Rolling it over Rahkesh cast a silent enervate spell and waited. And waited. And waited.
There was flash of light, and it wasn't a small white being anymore, it was huge. Rahkesh leaped backwards as the massive being towered over him. He rolled into the trees, threw their lowest branches over himself, and waited.
It was now a BIG white fluffy creature. Pale blue eyes searched until they found him. It was easily ten feet tall, but it still didn't seem dangerous. It watched him, Rahkesh looked back curiously. It knew where he was. Rahkesh rolled out from under the tree, stood, and handed the cap back.
The big furry white right hand took the cap, looked at it, and then looked at Rahkesh. It searched his eyes for a moment, and then, to Rahkesh shock, handed it back.
Then it disappeared. It took him a moment to realize that it had just shifted back to its smaller form again. Looking around he saw it peering at him through the branches of a nearby tree. It grinned, waved, and giggled at him. Then dashed off, leaving Rahkesh staring.
Master, that was a Yeck. Sygra informed him.
Now you're talking to me again? Rahkesh inquired. She hadn't spoken to him since their second carpet flight.
This school of your must be truly bizarre.
What is a Yeck?
I don't really know, the shopkeeper talked about them once. They're fluffy and white with runes tattooed on the left hand. He said he'd give anything to find one so he could get its cap. The cap gives the human who takes it the power of invisibility.
Oh really?
Yes. Nice going. Can I come out? I'm hungry. Sygra asked. Rahkesh opened the pack and took her out. He used a summoning spell and seconds later a small rodent came flying towards him. Before he even knew what it was Sygra lunged after it.
While he waited for the snake to finish swallowing her prey Rahkesh examined the cap. He could feel the magic in it. Did he have to wear it to be invisible? He put it on, it was too small and he felt no different. He took it off and concentrated on being invisible.
The magic almost made him stagger as it washed over him. Seconds later it was gone, leaving his blood humming and his skin tingling.
Master? Where are you?
Here, that cas thing really worked.
You're invisible. I can still hear your heartbeat.
Hard to disguise that. Most humans won't think of that, we rely on our eyes too much. This is very useful. Thank you for telling me.
Can you un-invisible yourself? Your companions are coming. Two of them have the caps too.
Okay, please get back in the bag Sygra. I'd rather they not know you're here. Some people don't like snake-speakers you see.
Idiots. Sygra snorted, as much as a snake could snort. And slid back into her pouch. Rahkesh decided he wanted to be visible again. Then looked at his hand, he could see it.
"Hey Rahkesh!" They could see him too, it must have worked. Rahkesh examined the others and immediately decided that it was the two vampires who had the other two caps. The other three Yecks must have gotten away. He couldn't explain how he knew, the magic just felt the same as his did. The vampire acknowledged that they had the caps, and could sense that he did, with a quick raised eyebrow and smirk behind Ally's back. They hadn't told her about the Yeck's powers. Rahkesh nodded in agreement, he wouldn't either. An advantage like that ought to be kept secret.
"They got away." Ally said, looking disappointed.
"Yeah, I tackled mine, thought I had it too. Did you see what it did?" Rahkesh asked. They must have seen it transform.
"Oh yeah. Glad it didn't attack you. Damn but it was massive." Ally said.
"I though perhaps I should just let it go when it did that. It didn't seem to want a fight." Rahkesh said. "Lets catch up with Tanya and Thom. Those things won't be throwing boulders at us again."
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Question for readers!
Should I refer to Rahkesh as Harry? In his own thoughts and when I'm describing things? Is using Rahkesh all the time instead of Harry too confusing for you?
Rahkesh and who? Gender doesn't matter I just want opinions after reading this.
Opinions on making this slash please!
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Please Review! Criticism is very welcome. Flames will be eaten by Nuri and Sygra.