Chapter 5

They found Tanya and Thom not too far ahead, using spells to check a creek before wading across. They were removing some strange plants that they didn't recognize with a levitation spell.

As the first plant cleared the water they saw that it was no ordinary plant. It had been the same color as the rocks it lay between, making it nearly invisible. As it was removed form the water it turned a stunning neon green. Of the kind usually associated with the killing curse. Once completely clear of the water the little plant, no more than a foot across rotated, all on its own. Everyone tensed. Slowly one long brown root curled up, like a snake about to strike.

"Tanya put it down!" Rahkesh shouted. The root zapped out, faster than the eye could see. Tanya yelled and flung it away; it landed on the ground across the creek.

A tiny bite mark showed on Tanya's neck. A little circle of pinpricks that oozed blood, the skin around the mark was turning pasty white.

"Oh no, oh no, what was it?" Tanya was starting to panic. Rahkesh saw that neither vampire was moving, both watching the blood.

"Snap out of it you two." He whispered, when they blinked and gave him sheepish looks he went over to Tanya. "Easy there, easy, slow your breathing girl. I don't know what it was. Does your neck feel any different? Cold? Hot?"

"No, no, neither. It hurts a little." She replied. Rahkesh batted her hand away when she went to touch the bite mark.

"Leave it." The white area wasn't spreading anymore. It had expanded to about the size of a galleon. "Any ideas people? Any anti-poisons we give her might have an adverse effect if we don't know what it was. A chemical change her blood could cause an allergic reaction to any potion."

"Don't bandage it. Let it bleed out. Maybe anything in the bite will bleed out with it. An anti-coagulant might actually be a good idea." Silas said. Tanya shook her head.

"No. Just leave it. If I feel anything I'll tell you." Tanya said, she seemed to have relaxed a little.

"There are some water plants that have minor stunning agents to stop creatures from eating them. That thing had a lot of leaves, probably why it was camouflaged so well. This is probably a defense against being eaten. Those aren't always lethal, especially with freshwater magical water plants." Ally said. "My grandfather keeps about a hundred different species in his water gardens, the vast majority are safe enough, just minor defenses."

"Lets not wade across then, build a bridge or levitate." Daray said, poking with a stick at another of the plants as it curled up and began to turn he jumped back. "And don't fall in."

With a simple set of wooden planks they made the crossing without incident. Now the trail really got steep, they were headed up towards where the school would be. The mountains around them got larger and higher every time they rounded a bend. One time they saw a dragon sunning on a ledge before the entrance to a massive cave. Fortunately it was on the side of the mountain across a valley from them and either didn't notice their presence, didn't consider them a threat, or was too lazy to attack.

They passed waterfalls that tumbled down between the peaks to fall thousands of feet over cliffs into the valley's below, turning to mist long before they reached the bottom. A lot of the plants were magical ones, which made them hope that they were getting close. The letter the other five had gotten said that they should reach the school sometime early on the 5th. Assuming they made it at all.

Despite the adventures of the day it was that evening, as they were heading for a clearing beside a stream, that they encountered the most dangerous obstacle.

Dementors.

Hundreds of them.

The two vampires sensed them fist and froze. Rahkesh sensed them seconds later. Then Nuri began to growl.

"What?" Thom asked, looking ahead. They couldn't see them yet but they knew they were there, and they were headed right for the six travelers.

"Dementors, a whole bloody army of them." Rahkesh said, backing up and collecting every happy thought and memory he could. He also began forcing himself to think, with strong emotions, of something other than a stag, concentrating on a phoenix and a grim instead. A stag was known to be Harry Potter's patronus. A phoenix was safest. Both vampires and Ally moved back with him and drew their wands, staying silent as they readied themselves. Thom looked confused.

"Dementors? What are they?" He asked. Rahkesh had no time to question his ignorance, at that moment the dementors rounded the bend ahead of them and the freezing cold enveloped them all.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Four voices yelled.

A massive corporeal phoenix flew out of Rahkesh's wand, followed quickly by a silver panther, a griffin, and a large, slightly shimmering and see-through horse. The two vampires, Rahkesh noted, were very good at the patronus charm, Ally was capable but nothing to brag about. Behind him he heard Tanya and Thom trying the spell over and over without success. Gathering himself he shot off a second patronus, this time calling up an image of his cobra Sygra. The snake leaped out the wand and lunged forward. Followed second later by another phoenix, all three corporeal.

"Expecto Patronum!"

"Expecto Patronum!" The vampires were following his example and soon two more patroni joined the attack.

Slowly the dementors began to withdraw, the four moved forward to keep close to their patroni, sending everything they had into the attacking creatures. When the last three patroni joined in the dementors broke and fled. Seven patroni followed in pursuit. Ally's finally shimmered out of existence.

"Oh God, what were those?" Thom asked, sitting down heavily. Rahkesh and the vampires just sat down, breathing hard. Ally began to explain what dementors were and what they actually did.

Finally Tanya conjured some tents and started a fire, seeing that neither Rahkesh nor the vampires were about to do anything. A few minutes later the vampires rose, Silas left Nuri with another dead rat, and the two left to hunt. Rahkesh lay on his back and tried to get the memories the dementors had brought up to leave. A green light, a woman screaming, Dumbledore falling from a roof, another green light. Voldmeort's laugh. People screaming. Green light…

"Rahkesh. Rahkesh! Rahkesh stop it!" Rahkesh opened his eyes, the vampires had returned. Silas had just slapped him. Rahkesh stared, and then realized that he was glowing. Oops.

"Thanks. I hate those things." No one asked for an explanation. Rahkesh forced himself to eat, then went to bed. Thom had the first watch, then Ally, he had the dawn guard duty.

XXX

Rahkesh was seated with his back to boulder. One of the lichen covered ones that seemed to litter the place. It was just about dawn, the sun turning the sky a pale pink in the east, rising between the mountains. There had been no disturbances that night and the dementors hadn't returned. Actually the patroni hadn't either, which made Rahkesh wonder if they weren't still in existence chasing the dementors everywhere.

It was quiet and peaceful. Relaxing. The only sounds were the occasional twitter of some small bird or the hoot of an owl returning to its nest after a night hunting. The snowcapped mountains glowed, the sun sparkling off the snow. While the valley's remained partially dark, shadowed by the mountains.

The sound of phoenix song made Rahkesh leap to his feet in surprise. Not far away a bird rose up, silhouetted against the bright sun. It flew higher, and began a long circle of the valley between the mountains. Occasionally it would let out a burst of song. Rahkesh didn't know much about phoenixes, they were very rare and not much had been written expect for the ones that chose to become a human's companion, like Fawkes had wit Dumbledore. This must be a wild one. Rahkesh watched, delighted, until the phoenix finally vanished between two mountains. The dawn peace was broken by the sound of the girl's tent door being yanked open. Ally leaped out and raced towards him, looking panicked.

"It's Tanya, there's something very wrong with her." Ally panted out, and then sprinted to the boys tent. Rahkesh summon Tanya, sleeping bag and all, out of the tent and laid her on the ground. He was in an instant what was wrong. The pasty-looking white skin around the bite mark had spread. Her whole body was ash white and the circular bite mark had turned black.

"She isn't waking up, I've tried and tried." Ally said, returning to his side. The other three males followed seconds later.

"Shock?" Thom asked, reaching for her wrist, "no, her pulse is really slow. She's breathing fine, and her skin is cool but not cold."

"Poison. But if she isn't dead yet then maybe it's not a lethal type." Silas said. Nuri appeared, pushing his way between their legs. He took one look at Tanya and began to hiss and spit. "Nuri! Stop that." The cat ignored his owner; he was backing away from Tanya, his short fur standing on end.

"Okay, that's bad." Thom said, stating the obvious.

"I've already looked through all my books on magical plants, that thing wasn't in there. She isn't dead yet and though she looks awful she seems to just be deeply asleep. The sooner we can get to the school the sooner we can try to find a way to cure her." Rahkesh said, thinking of the small phial of phoenix tears he carried. If she wasn't in danger of actually dying he wouldn't use them. There was probably another way if they could just identify what that plant had been.

"We should head out, enervate!" Daray's spell had no effect. "We'll just have to carry her, Mobilicorpus!" Tanya rose into the air, Thom levitated her bag. They packed up the campsite in less then a minute and hurried out up the trail.

Early morning found them moving at a fast, steady pace up the trail. It was steep, and Thom and Ally were starting to have a little trouble. Possibly, Rahkesh thought, because of altitude, or juts being tired. He was very grateful for the time had spent in the Room of requirement now. He had made a point to work out, remembering how much difficulty he'd had swimming after Dumbledore, and then carrying the half-dead old man. He was also very thankful for some of the bloodmagic he'd performed. The added speed and stamina were showing now as he kept pace with the two vampires. Physically much stronger and faster than humans and unaffected by altitude they would otherwise have been able to outdistance even the fastest mortals. They were obviously staying slow to let the mortals keep pace, but Rahkesh had no difficulty keeping up with them. As soon as they reached the school he would have to find a way to make his body use oxygen more efficiently.

"Silas, Rahkesh, Daray, please we have to slow down." Ally finally said. She was gasping and Thom wasn't talking at all. The three paused and Rahkesh, remembering his potions, pulled out some pepper-up potion. He had stamina and speed increasing potions as well, and even one to temporarily cause the body to use oxygen more efficiently that he had made as soon as he learned what altitude Akren Mountain was at. But he wasn't going to waste those. Not if there was another option. If necessary he would prefer to use those to go on ahead with the vampires and get Tanya to Akren.

"I'm not sure if this will help much, but it might." He said, handing them the small glass containers. Ally and Thom accepted them without asking what they were, which struck Rahkesh as being rather stupid, and simply drank them. The pepper-up potions seemed to have helped because when they set out the two managed to keep up better.

"How is Tanya?" Rahkesh asked. Daray drew her floating body alongside them.

"No change. That's better than a change for the worse I suppose."

"Yes, I hope there aren't any more obstacles for us. This is enough." Rahkesh said, he was keeping a careful eye on the trail, and he was listening for Nuri, the cub was able to sense things and often started growling right before they encountered dangerous

creatures. Eventually Thom fell behind again, Ally kept up better, but though she was easily the fastest mortal there, and could match a vampire over a short distance, she hadn't the stamina to keep up and fell behind to run alongside Thom. The vampires had quickened their pace and Rahkesh kept up with them, even urging them to move even faster. "Do you think there are any more obstacles?"

"Probably not. After all if they want everyone to arrive before the evening meal, and they would prefer it if we were there early this afternoon, then they can't give us much more than they did." Silas said. "Some groups probably won't make it today anyway. I mean I know that everyone is supposed to be qualified, but you must have noticed that two of our traveling companions aren't quite up to standards. Either that or the four of us are above average, and I don't think that's so. If Thom and Tanya got in then what would have happened with just them, or four or five people like them? They'd still be quite a ways back there."

"What altitude was the entrance supposed to be at?" Rahkesh asked, abruptly realizing that if the entrance to the valley was hidden, as it probably was, then they might go right past it. Both vampires halted instantly.

"Damn it! I didn't think of that. Sublimitas!" A small glowing number shot out of Daray's wand. 2436 meters. "We're there. Entrance is at exactly 2438 meters."

They looked about. There was nothing resembling a door. They were running along the side of a ridge. On their right the rock rose up several hundred feet, perfectly vertical, no handholds. The actually spine of the ridge was a few hundred feet above them atop that cliff. The left side sloped down at a shallow angle for several hundred meters, and then dropped off very steeply. They could see the trail for miles ahead, curling on the ridge to where it met a huge mountain and then at a steep grade up the mountainside, around the back of the mountain, and, in the distance up the sides of another ridge, rising even higher. The trail kept on going up and up and up ahead of them. It had to be where they were.

"The valley below us is too small. And I don't sense any magical illusions. Through the ridge? On the other side do you think?" Silas asked. He began running one hand over the rock wall to their right where the trail was cut into the side of the ridge along the base of the cliff. There was nothing obvious there. The three began to examine the cliff, looking for something that might be an entrance. Revealing spells turned up nothing. They tried changing the lighting, but that didn't show any hidden doors.

Thom and Ally caught up and began to help. Hitting the rock with a sledgehammer, searching for an echo, didn't work. The door must be very thick. Or sound absorbent. After two hours they got together and concluded that they didn't have a clue.

"Hellooo!" The five turned quickly to see another group coming up the trail behind them. There were five in this group, and they were much worse for wear than the six, even with Tanya being unconscious. They were bruised, two were limping, and one boy had an arm in a sling. Four of them looked absolutely exhausted. The fifth, the one who had called out, was in better shape; she seemed fairly cheerful despite a bloody bandage on her arm.

"Hi. You look a little worse for wear. Need some help?" Thom offered, showing them a healing spell that caused bruises to go away in about a minute.

"Why'd you stop here?" the girl asked, "oh, and I'm Mara."

"Rahkesh. The entrance is supposed to be hidden at 2438 meters. That's here, and the trail only gets higher. We've been here for three hours. Nothing, we've tried everything short of blasting through the cliff, and it seems that probably won't work since it absorbs spells."

"You tried hitting the rock, listening for an echo?"

"The first thing we did." Silas growled, a little annoyed.

"Huh. Well that just sucks." With that statement the ten conscious and one almost comatose students sat down on conjured chairs and stared at the wall, brainstorming.

A half hour later four students, one who introduced herself as a werewolf, one vampire and two mortals joined them. They looked just fine, if tired. They spent a little time trying a few spells on the wall, and the female vampire smashed a small container of acid into a crack in the wall. It ate into the rock but didn't reveal anything. Finally they sat down with the others.

A few minutes later Nuri growled, the vampires stood seconds later and turned towards the trail below them. A group of six rounded a bend lower down and began the steep climb up to join them. This group didn't look so good. One of them was being levitated by the others, his leg was wrapped in bandages. Another was staggering along white as a ghost and with her whole right hand bandaged. Of the other four only one wasn't sporting any injuries. The boy walking front stopped dead when he saw the students sitting there in front of a rock wall.

"Afternoon. Why are you all waiting here?" He asked. Thom described their predicament. As he spoke Rahkesh noticed the one vampire in this group, the only one witout injuries,giving them all a scornful look.

"Oh please, there has got to be a way in. You just didn't think of it." He said finally.

"And you would be…?" Silas asked.

"Saul. Saul Folvern." He said it like they should all recognize the name. His companions were rolling their eyes. Rahkesh traded confused looks with Mara and Ally.

"Never heard of ya." Silas said, he shrugged and looked over to Daray who also shrugged.

"Daray Ateres." He introduced himself. Saul blinked rapidly. Rahkesh guessed that meant Daray and Silas were from some important family. Silas smirked at Saul's surprised look and conjured a few more chairs.

"You're welcome to give it a try. Knock yourself out." He offered. In such a way that Saul had to take it as a challenge. The others sat down, grinning a little, as Saul, having no choice, started going over the wall. Searching for some sign of a door. And not having any luck.

Another group of six arrived. Making twenty-seven total. One of the student in the last group guessed that they were the last. Having had a difficult time the first day they had been going slow because of injuries ever since.

"You know it really isn't all that fair. All of us had the same obstacle, on different trails. The only things we all encountered on the same trail were the dementors. Since we got them first we had to fight them off when they were at their strongest. The others all got off easier." Rahkesh commented to Ally as they sat watching the last group take their turn at the wall.

"Really easy actually." Mara said, grinning. "We hit the dementors at about four a.m. we got up early. There was still one of your pastronus's there chasing them around. They were running like sheep with with a wolf after them."

"What form was the patronus?" Rahkesh asked, wondering if it could be his.

"Some sort of bird, maybe a phonix or an eagle." Mara said. Rahkesh grinned, his patronus had lasted all night. One of the others was trying to animate the rock in front of the area the door should be at to make it mve. Imaginative, but it wasn't working.

Saul snorted at their attempts, despite that he'd been doing the exact same spells moments before.

"Obviously that isn't going to work. You need to get better at ward braking mortal." He insulted one of them. However this group had three vampires who all rounded on him.

"And you've been here without success for how long?" One of them asked sarcastically. Saul snorted and introduced himself again like they should know who he was. None of them recognized the name. One of the mortals got in his way and Saul, guessing he'd have better luck with a mortal, turned to her.

"A mortal isn't powerful enough to break these wards, you might as well stop wasting what power you've got." She ignored him completely and soon joined Mara in discussing soul magic as if Saul hadn't said a word.

"He's been a right bastard the whole trip. On and on about how superior vampires are and how powerful his family is." The exhausted looking girl with the bandaged hand said softly as Saul, getting angry, sent a couple of reductos at the wall, only to see them absorbed. Rahkesh, getting an idea rose and beckoned the two vampires on his team over to the wall with him.

"You've got better hearing so I want you to listen against the rock. I'm going to put a spell through the wall; it should make a sound in the empty space behind it. At least then we'll know there is a door there." The vampire nodded and went to find the exact spot. They pressed their ears to the wall and waited. Saul stepped back to watch them. Rahkesh leveled his wand down at the wall. The equivalent of a magical firecracker went off, sparks flew as it hit the wall, magic spear of sparks, for that's what it basically was, traveled through.

"Got it! There's a space behind there!" Silas said, stepping away, "right here."

"You're hearing things, there probably isn't even a door. We're in the wrong spot." Saul said, turning away.

"All right you listen." Rahkesh said. Saul moved over to do that. The female vampire, who said her name was Rianae, did so too. Rahkesh performed the spell again.

"There's definitely an open space back there." She said, stepping back.

"I didn't hear anything." Saul protested.

"Then unclog your ears." Rianae retorted. "It's there. Alohomora!" Again the spell was absorbed. "Damn it!"

"Melt it?" Daray suggested. "Heat spells, maybe that lightning thing you did Rahkesh."

"Valde fervens!" Silas said, pointing his wand at the space where the door was. Several more spells followed. All of them were absorbed.

"No, no, no. We're doing this wrong. Stop!" Rahkesh said, realizing that they were just reinforcing the wards with their magic. Saul didn't stop, he kept casting spells. "Saul stop it, you're not helping any. That won't work!" The vampire rounded on him.

"What do you know mortal? Just because you aren't powerful enough to manage it doesn't mean it isn't working. Fool." Saul hissed furiously. Rahkesh didn't pause, his wand snapped down and a wordless bolt of lightning zapped out.

The resulting thunder rumble and flash of light shocked everyone. Saul was thrown thirty feet down the trail where he landed hard, body convulsing from the massive electric shocks ripping through him. Rahkesh stopped the spell and let Saul live out the last of the spells power. Slowly the vampire rolled over and got up, shaking and twitching from leftover minor shocks.

Daray laughed.

Ignoring the humiliated vampire Rahkesh turned back to the group.

"This is a type of ward that absorbs all destructive magic thrown at it. In trying to break it we're just giving it more power. We can't overwhelm it. We need to drain away the magic in it." He explained.

"How do we do that?" Thom asked. Rahkesh shrugged.

"I don't really know. Maybe a simple summoning spell, to summon the door right out of the wall would force the wards to use all the power they've got." Rahkesh suggested. Not knowing if it would work.

Eight of the others got up and stood in a line, wands aimed at the door.

"ACCIO!" The wall shook, the wards flared becoming visible briefly. Straining against the summoning spell they glowed, and the glow faded a bit. The spell ended.

"ACCIO!" They all tried again.

"ACCIO!" And again.

"ACCIO!" And again.

By the tenth try the wards had dimmed significantly but the eight casting the spells were worn out. But the students had numbers on their side and another eight got up. They tried the spell over and over, one by one tiring and being replaced by the few that were left.

Saul didn't bother to help.

Finally Rahkesh, Daray, Ally, Silas, Riannae, a werewolf and three other mortals managed to removed the wards entirely. Everyone could feel the magic snapping as it dissolved away. Slowly the shape of a door appeared.

After hitting it a few time and kicking it Silas backed off. Rahkesh set a knife into a crack in the wall and began to try to pry it outwards instead of inwards. Daray and Mara soon jumped in to help with crowbars. Finally the rock began to move and slowly swung out away from the wall. Once they had it open they all peered inside.

The tunnel was larger than they'd thought, easily twenty feet high and wide enough for six to walk side by side.

With the lumos spell lighting their wands the new students slowly began the walk through the tunnel. Thom was still levitating the unconcious Tanya. None of the others had known what to do for her. It had been especially strange since six others ahd been bitten byt he plants, but none had had Tanya's reaction. They had passed out briefly and were feelig a little ill. Nothing like Tanya, their skin hand't even changed color. The door shut itself behind them. Saul jumped and looked back, in the lgow of their wands rahkesh could see the fear in his eyes. Perhaps the high and mighty vampire was claustrophobic? Or afraid of the dark? Wouldn't that be a laugh!The ridge the trail had been against couldn't have been very thick. But the tunnel was very long. Probably due to the magic hiding it. The school valley could only be entered through the tunnel. Eventually they reached a dead end, where Daray put his shoulder against the door and shoved hard. It swung open and light streamed in. gathering outside on a rock ledge they got their first look at their new home.