A/N I realize my last chapter was a bit confusing I promise that will be the only one set up that way

This chapter is more my normal length

Please review I need some advice on the rating of this story is it bad enough to merit M or is it a T I am unsure and would appreciate your opinion

Chapter ten

Training and learning

The next morning Sheldon woke to he welcome warmth of Alten spooned against him. He had missed that feeling the morning before and he was pretty sure the only reason he had slept was the fact he had been to exhausted to notice the absence of the elder Shadow Daemon. He was feeling very reluctant to relinquish the moment by waking his lover the decision was taken from him by Alten shifting on the bed coming awake without assistance. Sheldon watched as the elder Shadow Daemon came awake and stretch luxuriously, Sheldon was entranced with the play of colors across his partner's wings. The mercurial silver faded into dark blue about two thirds of the way down the feathers shaft.

Alten's beautiful multi-colored eyes looked with Sheldon's green black ones and before either of them knew it they had come together in a heated kiss. They broke apart a few minutes later knowing that neither of them wanted to but both of them had to. They simply shared a look that said they would continue with that later and proceeded to get dressed and ready to greet the day. Both of them choose to forgo a shirt and settled on tight fitting brown leather trousers and light but sturdy dragon hide boots. Then they went out to greet the day and the waiting troops.

The two Shadow Daemons cut an impressive path through the troops. They were both heavily muscled and were covered in gruesome scars, and they both carried their wings splayed out to show off the play of colors in them. So by the time the two creatures made it to the center pavilion every head in the crowd was turned towards them and the head of every race of creature was present in the pavilion. Sheldon wasn't concerned with the animals understanding him. A Shadow Daemons beast speaking ability was different then a wizards. For them they had two ways of beast speaking the first was speaking in a single language that every animal heard as their own. The second was more useful for keeping business deals secret from other races. They could talk in a specific creature's language, like a Parselmouth did with snakes.

Sheldon cast his special magnification spell and started to assemble the amassed troops. "Everyone I know some of you are confused about what is to happen from here well all we are to concentrate on now id learning and raining. My friends and I will take care of the time problem that is no longer an issue so lay that fear to rest. As for how we plan on training all of you and I know most of you think there is nothing to improve on in your fighting styles and for the most part you would be right we are lucky to have some of the best fighters in the world on our side, but there is a few ways we could be better each of you is strong in your chosen fighting style what we need to do is combine those strengths. All of the beings need to split up into groups made up of two or three people from each race. Then each race teach the other members in your group your fighting style. As for the creatures we must find a way to communicate with everyone. All of our talents are necessary and we need to know how to fight together some beings can speak to a few creatures when in your fighting groups sift through and learn what you can understand set up a relay system so you will always be ready to move no matter who or what race you are talking to. Also amongst the beasts you can also learn to fight together in groups of similar creatures teach and learn. That is all we can do until we are ready to face Dumbledore and Voldemort does anyone have any immediate problems with this arrangement?" he looked out to the crowd but no one said anything and everyone looked eager to start so he dismissed them to form up groups.

By the end of the first day in a tribute to the races organizational skills and the ability to follow orders every single beast, being, and creature was in a group. They had even begun to work out a training schedule.

The highpoint of the day came around noon. Sheldon's highly evolved senses warned him that another Shadow Daemon was attempting to cross his time shield that kept him and his troops out of the normal continuum. The surprise wasn't that Fellon was coming they had arranged it so he would. The surprise came from that fact Fellon wasn't alone. Fellon drifted him and his companions to the center pavilion where Sheldon and Alten were meeting with the heads of the races again. When all six of them were visible shock was on most faces around the table. After all it is not everyday that you see Merlin, the founders, and a Shadow Daemon the rarest magical creature ever traveling together.

Fellon turned toward Sheldon and Alten, "After you two left we talked it over and decided to come help you."

"Plus you didn't really expect us to sit back and miss the fun did you?" said the ever excitable Godric.

"Not to mention none of us would relax not knowing what the outcome of all our hard work was." Salazar said slightly more formally then his hyperactive brother.

"Thank you, I have a feeling we are going to need your help." Sheldon said then he told them his plans for training the troops. He finished by saying. "The groups won't be on their own training. The heads of the races and I have come up with a plan we are going to circulate among the groups helping when needed. You can all help with that part. I was also planning on giving some demonstrations of fighting styles and other magic. We could use your help planning that too."

"Sounds like a feasible plan," Merlin said, "I think I know who the last duel will be between."

"Who?" Sheldon said somehow knowing he wasn't going to like the answer.

"I meant what I said that first day we trained don't you remember. I still believe that you beating me in a duel will help your allies' loyalties they will know they picked the right side if their leader beat Merlin in a duel. I will not hold back for two reasons one most creatures would sense both of us holding back, the second reason being that by the time our duel will occur I don't think it will be necessary."

Sheldon knew it would do no good to argue so all he did was let out a resigned sigh and nodded his head affirmatively. Then they got down to some serious planning that took up the rest of the day.

That night Sheldon invited his fathers and godfather and the tree teachers from Hogwarts to have dinner with them at the manor. The shell shocked expressions on their faces were a perfect end to the day, but for Sheldon and Alten it was not the end. Their time together that night was slow and achingly bittersweet they knew with the training this would be their last time together for awhile. The two satisfied creatures fell asleep with their arms and legs entangled with their wings wrapped around each other.

Draco and Fellon got to have a laugh when they woke the two creatures up by dousing the cocoon of feathers with freezing cold water. Alten was the first one coherent enough to start speaking followed closely by Sheldon. The amount of languages that the two were swearing in was astounding. Fellon who could understand everything that the two said repeatedly flushed and paled. Alten was coming up with some good old fashioned torture schemes and Sheldon was using every curse and swear word in the world, although he favored Parseltongue words. There was something very rewarding in swearing in the hissing, sylibant language of the serpents.

Severus and Sirius came into the room then to investigate all the noise. When all they heard was two voices in a continuous stream of words they couldn't understand. Severus had heard his son and Voldemort speak parseltongue before so he knew the hissing words were not ones you would want to repeat in English. "What is going on here?" Sirius asked the two people in the room who were not swearing in every known language and some unknown ones.

"We kind of woke them up by dumping cold water on them." Draco explained.

"Why did it cause such a violent reaction? Yes it is a nasty wake up call but this is borderline absurd." Severus asked his stepson.

"I can answer that," Fellon volunteered, "Shadow Daemons are hyper sensitive to temperature. To normal humans it would do what you said just wake them up and give them goose bumps. Well with us it is worse and we dumped it on the most sensitive spot our wings. It is the equivalent of going swimming next to a glacier for humans. It won't hurt them but it is really uncomfortable. Call it payback those two didn't give me a moments peace. In the beginning it was because they both cared for one another and wouldn't say anything and after we locked them together they were always touching and kissing. We were lucky to get all the work done that we had to."

Unfortunately for Fellon, Sheldon had heard every word and after a few last hisses that made Fellon wince he switched into a different language. Only three people in the world were able to understand the lyrical words that Sheldon spoke in. It sounded like a mix between every language in the natural world put together in such a way it was sweeter then phoenix song deeper then the baying of a hound and clearer then any canary. It was the language of the Shadow Daemons the three creatures that could understand it were standing in the room.

The humans in the room didn't have to speak the language to get the gist of what Sheldon was saying. The deadly cool tone and the fire in his eyes, not to mention Fellon's rapidly paling face told them they probably didn't want to know what was being said. After about ten minutes Fellon had absolutely no color to his face and his wings drooped, a few seconds later he lost all pretense of calm and bolted out of the room. Draco took one look at his raging brother before following Fellon in his flight from the room.

It was only when both instigators left the room that Sheldon and Alten calmed down enough to notice the other two people in the room.

"Do I even want to know what you threatened Fellon with?" Sirius asked.

Sheldon was still to angry to reply so Alten answered, "He basically told him to watch his back. With our time traveling abilities it is possible for us to torture someone to death multiple times as long as we move to a new place each time. He also went into detail about just what he would be doing to him. I don't think you want to know the specifics."

Sirius and Severus took a look at their enraged son, (god son in Sirius's case) and remembered exactly how pale Fellon had gotten and realized they agreed with Alten they didn't need to know what he had come up with. "How long before he is coherent?" Severus asked.

"Shouldn't be much longer, our kind in general is very forgiving and Sheldon especially doesn't like to hold a grudge that is probably the only reason Fellon did this. He knew we probably wouldn't carry out our threats. He could have done it in a different way though freezing is not one of my favorite ways of starting the day." Alten explained as he led the two humans out of the room to give his lover a chance to pull himself together. Fellon was really lucky the two Shadow Daemons had redressed after the previous nights activity or they would have seen way more then they wanted to.

"Why did it affect him more then you I heard you swearing but you calmed quicker?" Sirius asked.

"I am more used to the temperature sensitivity then Sheldon is. It feels the same to us but I am able to handle the temperature swings better then he is. I am actually very surprised Fellon didn't get cursed by Sheldon I remember my first experience with temperature shock it can get nasty. Ah well I have to stop expecting him to react to things the same way Fellon and I do." Alten explained.

"Why is that? Why doesn't he react the same?" Severus asked feeling overly protective of his son.

"You have to understand Sheldon is one of a kind in every way. I have never seen someone with more power. You heard Merlin yesterday Sheldon is going to win the duel. If Sheldon wasn't so modest he could win it now easily but if someone told him that now he wouldn't believe them. Another thing that is different is the fact we have never seen anyone in our race or any other that has experienced as much evil and still retain their innocence as Sheldon. He is a very special person if one little thing had gone different in his life he would be either dead at the hands of Dumbledore's manipulations or Voldemort's madness, the last and worst thing that could have happened is the fact all the evil could have broken his spirit and destroyed his soul even his very innocence would have been lost. Then we would have had a force twice as Dark and infinitely more powerful then Dumbledore and Voldemort together. I am thankful every second of the day that I have Sheldon's love and trust and for the fact Sheldon has beet the odds. He certainly is a force to be reckoned with but that force is now controlled and directed. Directed at eradicating Evil and if any one is to achieve this goal it will be Sheldon." Alten said this with such love and pride in his voice that Sirius and Severus knew he was deadly serious and he would take care of Sheldon for all eternity.

"It is good to hear you speak of Sheldon like that. I have to admit Lucius and I were concerned the last few days after Sheldon announced he had a lover and that lover was quite a bit older then him. I can tell from your voice that you care for my son greatly. I will not try to block you from my son but if you mistreat him at all or hurt him in any way I will not hesitate to cause you pain." Severus said to the creature.

"I was wondering how Sheldon's family would take our relationship. I am glad we have your approval and rest assured I would no more harm your son then I would let the world die. Oh and if it makes you more comfortable as soon as he became a Shadow Daemon age ceased to be a problem. We do not age normally he might have been 15 mortal years when he left but now he is 17 in mortal years. We might as well be 100 or 1000 it makes no difference because we control time not the other way around." Alten explained to Severus.

Sirius however while he was worried about the relationship too listened more to what exactly made his godson different. "I didn't know how close we came to loosing him. Dumbledore once told me he was afraid of Sheldon going Dark. I know now that I was just part of his manipulations. I realize now he was right Sheldon was in danger from Evil. Back then I was too blind and too naïve too see where the real evil came from. The night Dumbledore said that to me was during Sheldon's third year at school I wanted my name cleared and for Sheldon to come live with me, but Dumbledore persuaded me that he was better off at the Dursleys. Like a fool I listened to him. I could have spared Sheldon so much heartache."

Severus found himself agreeing with Sirius for once. There was so many times when someone could have done something to help Sheldon and nothing was done.

Alten could feel their self guilt so he decided to put their concerns to rest. "I did say that if one little thing had been different things would have turned out radically different and none of them for the better. Sirius if you had taken him in that year then there is a large possibility the connection between Severus and Sheldon would never have been discovered. And Severus if anything had happened to reveal you as a spy sooner then Voldemort would be stronger then he is. I already explained what could have occurred with Sheldon had anything happened." That quieted some of the guilt radiating from the two men but there would always be that lingering feeling and the inevitable. What ifs?

It was at that time that Sheldon caught up with them he still had fire in his eyes but otherwise appeared calm. The four men just continued walking without a word. Severus and Sirius had too much on their minds Alten had given them much to think about. Alten was busy worrying over his lover, and Sheldon was still too irritated to hold much of a conversation.

All four of them were a bit surprised to see the entire camp awake and already starting to train. Sheldon could see the groups were well proportioned. They all had a good variety of creatures but all the creatures in the group were at the same fighting level, masters were in the same group as master and amateurs fought with amateurs.

Sheldon glanced at his group sent a telepathic goodbye to Alten then waded out into the fighting groups. Giving tips here and pointing out weak points there. This started the pattern that lasted throughout the rest of the training. All the allies he had gathered were all seasoned fighters that knew what they were doing. He hadn't exaggerated when he said they had some of the best fighters in the world on their side. It took about six months of never ceasing work to get to a point where every creature knew its part and could move and work at a moments notice. It was now time for the thing Sheldon had been dreading, his duel with Merlin.

The day for their duel dawned bright and cheery mocking Sheldon's bleak outlook. He could see this day going one of two ways. A.) he would revert back to his usual method of dealing with pressure and hold back their by forfeiting the match. Or B.) He would do what he knew he could and beat Merlin cementing ally relations and also making it so he could never cover his power again. He was working up to a fever pitch when he remembered something Godric had told him the first day they had dueled. "Never be ashamed of something that can save you." Now Sheldon understood what he had been trying to say. Godric had known that at some point Sheldon would face a decision like this. It was time for Sheldon to stop holding back. At this point he would be being selfish if he didn't share all his talent with those that counted on him to lead them to victory.

With that he went out of the manor where he had been sulking and walked to the dueling platform that had been set up for them. Merlin was already there with his staff and sword. Merlin was wearing steal grey battle robes like the ones Draco had given Sheldon for his birthday. Sheldon himself was wearing his usual tight fitting leather trousers no shirt with his wings spread like the Dark angel he looked like.

Once he got onto the platform Merlin spoke, "The rules for this duel are simple, no using Unforgivables or immediately lethal curses, other then that anything goes, Elemental, Telekinetic, Wandless, Wordless, and self made magic. You may also use any weapon bladed or staff. The duel will start after we pace off the distance and bow." Merlin then signaled Alten and Fellon to put up a shield around the audience to protect them from stray curses.

Sheldon listened then turned his back to Merlin he took ten measured paces like Godric had taught him then turned and bowed. As soon as he straightened he felt a curse coming at him he easily leaped it and sent a silent stunner there by starting this duel of titans.

For the rest of the day the audience watched as different color curses shot back and forth between the two duelists lightning bolts were pulled from the cloudless sky to be swallowed up by dust clouds only to have fire balls shot back. Tightly controlled tornadoes and waterspouts were sent back and forth distracting the opponent long enough for a curse or two to get thrown. When magic alone seemed not enough they drew swords and were at it again.

The sweet sound of metal ringing on metal was heard as the two battled back and forth. Merlin was the first to draw blood as he opened a gash on Sheldon's shoulder. Sheldon healed it with a thought as Helga had taught him then was back to fighting in a heartbeat. He fought back ten times harder then before pushing Merlin back. He thrown spells and curses with his left hand and wielded the sword with his right. After a string of particularly nasty curses Merlin was caught off guard by a low sweep at his chest he was able to back up far enough to not be too bad but Sheldon still managed to open a wide wrent in his chest.

Merlin also healed himself but as the cut was bigger it took longer giving Sheldon enough time to throw spells interspaced with fire balls and lightning bolts. Even now Sheldon still favored Air and Fire elements.

Merlin saw the coming danger he put out the fire balls with water and dealt with the lightning bolts with earth. He put up a particularly strong shield that blocked the first couple of spell. A slash hex broke it nicking Merlin's cheek most of its power deflected. Merlin ignored his wounded face and concentrated on dodging the spell. It was fairly simple for him from all his experience. Sheldon knew he could dodge the spells so he tried a similar trick as the one that had one him the match against Godric.

Just as Merlin thought the spells were over a dagger came at him he leaped to avoid it. Jumping right into one of Sheldon's home made spells. It was designed to block another wizard's power for a temporary amount of time. It worked Merlin could no longer send spells it was now down to physical fighting.

They already knew they were a dead even match with swords so at a common signal they sheathed their swords and summoned their staffs. Merlin having to actually walk over and get his powers being bound.

The match was now a toss up. The air was now filled with the dull thud of wood on wood. Sheldon's ash staff clashed sharply with Merlin's oak one. The coiled snake seemed to writhe and undulate on top of Sheldon's while the Falcon on Merlin's looked like it was ready to swoop down and kill unsuspecting prey.

After an hour of close calls and small gains and equally small losses a pattern started to emerge. Both duelists were still engaged but they were slowly moving in a single direction towards Merlin's end of the platform. Youth and cunning was slowly winning out over age and experience. There was only a few feet of the platform left when it happened. Sheldon feinted a strike at Merlin's chest and when Merlin brought his staff up to bloke it Sheldon the quicker of the two lowered the strike and knocked Merlin's legs out from under him. With the older wizard on the ground Sheldon trained his staff on Merlin's throat. Merlin signaled his defeat the duel was over and unsurprisingly Sheldon had won.

Sheldon helped Merlin to his feet then turned to address the crowd, "You have now seen what I am capable of please take tonight and tomorrow to rest because on the day after we go into battle and I wont lie it will be difficult and dangerous we will not escape with out loses but I have little doubt in the end we shall be victorious." The troops were stunned silent a moment longer before someone started clapping breaking the ice for the rest of them to start cheering. Sheldon caught his lover's eyes and all their love shown brightly on both their features.

Sheldon slowly moved from the dueling platform and over to Alten. Alten sensing that Sheldon was at the breaking point. Alten didn't know what had upset his lover all he cared about was that Sheldon needed him. He wrapped his arms around his young love shielding the two of them with his wings he slowly led him into the manor and their room. That night they made love slowly and lovingly. They again fell asleep entangled with each other. Sheldon was lulled to sleep by the deep gong like sound of Alten's heart beat. Alten stayed awake a little longer thinking before the rhythmic breathing of Sheldon pulled him into sleep as well.