Taking Command
Harry needed to visit The Giver, but he didn't know when they would be summoned again. He needed to ask the Usurper about allowing the hooded snake into his territory and how to command and control it so it wouldn't attack them. He had one full rotation of the moon to return to the hooded snake. He also wanted to return to the garbage beach with half the village to collect junk and see what could be used in the village. His head was swirling with ideas for shelter, water, gardens, and fields. Lyra's comments about Charlie competing with him also had him worried. He didn't want to compete with his own family.
Finally, four or five days before one moon had passed and he would need to return to the hooded snake, The Giver came to the village. Lyra had met with him on the outskirts and walked him back into camp. Most of the Hidden had a kind of submissive reverence towards The Giver and greeted him but gave him a good deal of distance. Even Teacher only approached him to introduce him to Whispers, who tried to jump and play with the feathers on his staff.
Harry was out in the fields enjoying the work of pulling weeds and tending to the plants that were growing. The mango trees had all sprouted now and the tallest was now about up to his knees. The other plants were going along fine, though they were still having problems with rodents digging things up during the night or stealing some of the berries right off the bush.
One of the Hidden he had begun to call Cynthia, as the hair on her head curled upwards in the same way that Cynthia Abbot's hair was curled downwards, ran into the field and signed [The Giver, Here, Now].
Harry dropped what he was doing and ran back to camp, vaulting over several logs with the ease of knowing exactly how much strength he needed to accomplish whatever was set before him. The Hidden seemed to be born with this sense, but he and Lyra had figured it out eventually, though she was still a better climber.
Harry slowed down a bit as he got to the camp and entered as he saw Charlie giving his very enthusiastic explanation of the water bottles to The Giver. Harry climbed up the tree next to him to watch. Charlie enjoyed explaining things and showing off and he didn't want to interrupt. When he finished with the bottles, he ran off and returned with the potato sack of other treasures. The Giver took the two dolls, the cigarettes, and the potato sack. Harry had removed the plastic on the cigarettes to show them to Charlie but had no fire to light them. Charlie appeared to be happy that he got to keep the toilet seat with the stickers and the construction helmet which he had begun to wear when he wasn't working.
Harry swung down by a tree vine and greeted The Giver, §Hello, if you had not come, I was going to visit§
§Has something happened?§ responded The Giver.
§I needed to visit with the Usurper,§ said Harry, §I need advice about other snakes on the island§
The Giver nodded and frowned a bit,
§I do not have much to tell you myself.§
§There are many ideas, and thoughts I took from your scar.§
§It is not like taking the thoughts of an animal, these are near endless.§
§The one thing I have started to focus on is how my staff was made.§
Harry looked surprised, §You did not make it?§
The Giver shook his head,
§The staff was my father's.§
§I recovered it after the visitors that killed him left the island.§
§I have only added the feather of the hoo-hoo and bird of silent flight.§
§But neither of them are part of the staff itself and can be removed.§
§I hope to figure out how he made the staff.§
§I hope to help you construct your own.§
Harry was intrigued and translated everything for Lyra whose eyes seemed to light up in recognition of what was going on. Lyra also asked Harry a question which he translated to The Giver.
§Will we be able to make them for the Hidden as well?§
The Giver shook his head again,
§The Hidden are bound in their form.§
§They are limited to alternating their visibility and seeing their immediate future.§
He thought for a moment before adding,
§But it would be worth trying, just to see what happens.§
§So let us return to visit the Usurper to answer your questions.§
He turned and walked off. Harry and Lyra followed him as Harry translated the answers for Lyra.
They arrived back at The Giver's camp and he immediately pounded on the tree with his club to call the snake. He came down after a minute and was rewarded with a small rodent, frozen in place by The Giver. The snake coiled up on the ground and Lyra lay down on top of the coil, enjoying the feel of the muscles moving on her back.
The snake spoke to Harry,
§You have questions.§
Harry explained the situation
§We encountered a large, hooded snake, north of the village.§
§He was trying to make a nest there.§
§He was terrified to learn that a kingsbane still lived on the island.§
§I was hoping you could instruct me on how to command a lesser snake, like him.§
The Usurper hissed in a way that sounded like a chuckle to Harry,
§All snakes are lesser to me, though I am not their king.§
§Not all snakes can be domineered, some need to be allied or negotiated with.§
§This one does sound like it can be commanded.§
§Though bribes do help the bond you would forge with a snake you would command.§
§The key to controlling a lesser snake is that they are not your friend.§
§They are not your brother, not your family.§
§You command them, never give them any room to disagree.§
§Reward them for their successes.§
§Discipline them for any transgressions.§
§Only then will they obey.§
Harry didn't particularly like the idea of forcing anyone into submission. He had enough of that in his old life in England. However, this was a snake, and not like the one in front of him. If it would obey him just from him telling it to, he guessed that would be OK. Though he would reward the snake if he needed to, he was wary of any punishment he would need to give.
After thinking, he just responded,
§I understand, the hooded snake is not my family. I am the commander, he is the commanded.§
§You have also helped me without asking for anything in return.§
§If there is something you need to help our alliance grow, please ask.§
§Our debt cannot be settled with some rats and squirrels.§
The Usurper chuckled but then moved in closer
§I am an Usurper, I am the kingsbane, but no king has tasted my venom.§
§I can live a long time but not forever.§
§To earn my name, to earn the right to hatch the next generation.§
§A king needs to hear my voice and taste my venom.§
§Anything you can do to assist me is what I desire.§
Harry translated all of this to Lyra. Neither of them was exactly sure what a king was. Though she told him that she would also do everything she could to help the Usurper. Lyra took Harry's hand as he told the snake.
§Both of us will commit ourselves to finding a king to hear your voice and taste your venom.§
It was too late in the evening to walk back now, and The Giver was in a long conversation with the snake talking about things that Harry didn't understand. He spoke of plants that make you see visions, lightning storms, and shapeshift. Even The Giver wasn't clear on what he was talking about because he was still piecing together the information that he got from Harry's scar. Harry and Lyra ended up having their own long conversation. Lyra had been even more attentive and happy ever since The Giver visited the village.
"Has The Giver mentioned anything more about making a staff?" she asked Harry
"Just what he said in the village. You seem very interested in this." Harry responded
Lyra grew very quiet and looked into the lone feather that was burning in the clearing in front of them. Her eyes seemed to be filled with pain; Harry recognized it from all of the times he had just been yelled at by Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon and then stared at his reflection in the bathroom before washing his face and returning to his chores. She gazed at the fire and the light danced in her eyes; the pain slowly seemed to melt away as the light from the feather grew. When the pain seemed to have drained away completely, she spoke once again.
"The Giver doesn't have the first staff I've seen. My father had a staff of his own."
Harry had never heard her speak about her family before the island, except to say that they called her a squib. He knew that it was a word she didn't like. Harry felt similarly about being called a freak. Harry knew he needed to tread carefully around the subject of her family.
"What did his staff look like?" Asked Harry.
"I remember it matched him, it looked like him. It was much shorter than the one The Giver has. My father's staff was a little taller than his waist, polished black. I have no idea what it was made of. The top was a hooded snake like the one we met on the way to the garbage beach. Though the one on his staff was pure white but with sparkling green eyes." She sat for a moment and remembered the details.
"Sometimes he would tap it on the ground and it would create silence or a loud noise. Sometimes he would press it on my skin and it would be hot at the end." Her eyes started to water, so Harry sat behind her and hugged her tight.
"The worst he would do is pull the head out of the top of the staff and there was a long black stick under the snakehead and he would say words I couldn't understand and it would hurt me." She held herself and trembled as Harry held her too. "Sometimes he would use it to hurt my brother." She was quiet for a while as Harry felt her tears wetting his arms. She sobbed quietly for many minutes, but then she looked into the fire again and took a deep breath, which seemed to help regain her strength.
She looked up at Harry and told him. "I wasn't crying just now because my brother was hurt by our father. It was because I would try to stop my father from hurting him, but he never did the same for me."
Harry didn't know what to say. He knew that Dudley would never protect him and had never protected him from his aunt and uncle and most of Harry's physical pain was caused by Dudley and his friends directly. Harry wasn't sure if he would defend Dudley in the same situation. He didn't think he would, but Lyra? Without hesitation. So he told her so.
"They aren't your family anymore, you're here, with me and the Hidden. The Giver and the Usurper are our allies. We are committed to each other. Whoever that boy is, he isn't your brother, I am. If anyone tries to hurt you, I will hurt them back. I won't try to stop them, I will stop them."
Lyra was staring up at him with wide eyes as he spoke. She smiled and started crying again as she curled into him and eventually fell asleep. Harry looked into the flame of the burning feather, and it flickered a bit as he felt his own pain slowly melting away.
The next morning, Harry and Lyra hiked back to the Village. Together they picked up a bunch of mangos on the way back and Harry told Lyra to make sure to save three of them. He had an idea.
When they entered the camp, Harry tossed a mango to Charlie and waited for him to devour it. Before signing to him.
[Group, Hidden, Go to, Bottles, Tomorrow]
Charlie gave his trademark smile and started gathering a crowd to organize the trip. Harry asked Lyra to go to Teacher and start organizing supplies for the trip.
While Harry was trying to find the garbage bags from the last excursion, a shadow fell over his head as something dropped down on him from above and he instantly vanished and ducked away. After he rolled over to see what fell, he saw Whispers on the ground where he had been standing. He jumped up and made a noise that sounded similar to human laughter. Some of the Hidden turned to the noise and when Harry turned visible again, Whispers screeched and made the 'ha ha ha' noise again while dancing around Harry.
Harry picked up the little guy who was up to his waist now and lifted him above his head and tossed him in the air a few times before letting him run away. He said out loud, "I guess I'm someone else's big brother now too."
The next stop he needed to make was with Chief. After speaking with the Usurper, he had an idea, but he felt that he would need permission to do so. He found Chief in an embrace with Cynthia. Her eyes flashed blue for just a moment before turning to Harry and nodding. Harry approached the two and nodded to both before sitting.
[Tomorrow, Go to, Bring, Bottles]
[Speak to, Bring, Snake to, Trees]
[Snake, Eat, Squirrels]
[Snake, No Eat, Hidden]
[I Hold, Snake, Tight]
Harry had thought that if the hooded snake would need a nest, he could order it to eat the rodents that continued to eat the food they were growing. He just needed to make sure that it didn't eat the other Hidden.
Chief seemed alarmed at what he was saying. Bringing a threat near their home would probably alarm anyone. A threat that could smell them while invisible was even worse.
Chief signed to Harry
[You Speak, Charlie]
Chief had never deferred to Charlie before, so he just signed back.
[You Chief, I Speak You]
Chief placed both hands on Harry's shoulders and his eyes glowed blue for a moment then they stopped and Chief tilted his head while looking toward Harry. He then turned towards Cynthia and chirped something and she jumped down from the tree and ran off. He pulled a banana out of a take-out box nearby, opened it up, gave Harry half, and started to eat.
Harry wasn't sure what was going on, so he just ate his banana.
A few minutes later, Charlie climbed up in the tree and sat down in front of Chief. Chief performed the same action, sitting down in front of Charlie and placing both hands on his shoulders. Charlie's eyes immediately started glowing blue. Chief settled down before Charlie and his eyes lit up as well.
Their eyes both stayed bright blue for nearly five minutes before Charlie blinked and collapsed backward onto the ground with his hands on the sides of his head before starting to roll back and forth. Chief's eyes returned to normal moments after Charlie's though he just leaned forward and held his hands by his head as well.
When they stopped holding their heads, Charlie climbed back down the tree and went off somewhere else. Chief turned back to Harry and signed.
[Bring Snake, You Speak, I Speak, You Hold Tight]
Harry wasn't sure what had just happened, but he would be sure to talk to Lyra about it. She seemed to understand these things a lot better.
The next day's journey to the garbage beach took no time at all. With water bottles for everyone and take-out boxes of food, they were able to reach the beach a couple of hours before mid-day. There were a total of eight Hidden that made the trip, including Charlie and Whispers.
Harry told Lyra about the incident the day before, and she did shine some light on it, but also couldn't figure it out entirely.
"They always seem to have their eyes turn blue before something dangerous happens," she started. "Though what you're saying sounds like they were doing it on purpose, which we haven't seen before. Chief tried to do it with you, but you're not a Hidden, so you can't. With Charlie, he was trying to see who could do it longer, but I can't figure out why either, or why Chief decided to do it right then."
When they were almost at the beach, Lyra stopped right in front of Harry, causing him to bump into her. She turned around and said, "What do you think would have happened if Charlie had outlasted Chief?"
Harry had no idea, so they just continued to walk.
When they arrived at the beach, Harry and Lyra addressed the group.
[Find Bags]
[No Bags with Holes] Harry held up a bag with rips and threw it to the side
Lyra jumped in at that point and grabbed the bag with the rips. She placed it in a specific spot.
[Ripped Bags Here]
The Hidden started to run off and collect bags. Harry and Lyra had determined that no matter what they wanted to collect, they would need ways to carry the stuff, so collecting all sorts of bags would be important. Now and then, one of the Hidden would run up to them with a bag for approval. Sometimes there was a cloth bag or a potato sack, but mostly they were grocery bags or garbage bags. Two hours of work passed and in that time, they had amassed a huge collection of bags of various types.
After a lunch break, Harry instructed two Hidden to look for water bottles. Two others went off looking for anything else that could hold water, and another pair went to find tools that could be used to dig. Harry told Lyra and Charlie to take Whisper and just go have fun. Harry didn't know what he would look for, but he started digging around.
Harry was digging through a pile and he found a shoe. He had been without shoes now for half a year, and while he could probably continue to do so, having shoes would be nice for longer hikes when he didn't need to use his toes to help climb or want to feel them in the dirt. So he set about trying to find more shoes. In one box he found a large number of sandals and set those aside to try on later. He also found a box full of shirts from the 1982 World Cup celebrating West Germany's victory. He immediately found an XXL one and put it on. For the first time in a long time, he thought about his Uncle Vernon because he imagined this shirt that went down to his ankles would probably be too small for the large man.
The pile that he was working through ended up being filled with various clothes. From the boxes he set aside he took a smaller World Cup shirt that fit him, a pair of bright pink shorts, sandals, and a funny hat with a dog's face on it and a long brim. The hat wasn't practical, but it was fun to wear.
From somewhere off in the distance, he heard a strange squeak. The other Hidden heard it too and their heads popped up from what they were doing to look in that direction. When it sounded again, Harry started moving towards it.
"We're over here!" Lyra called out.
When everyone arrived, Whisper was poking at a small rubber duck, every so often squeezing it hard enough to get a squeak out of it and then jumping back. There was a box on its side that was full of them, many of them had slightly deformed features or eyes on the wrong side of their heads. Lyra took one look at Harry and her eyes lit up.
"You found clothes!" she cried out.
"Yeah, there is a whole pile over there full of them. I'm going to take a bunch back and let them dry out. These are still kinda damp, so they don't feel right."
Harry took Lyra over to the clothes as the Hidden ripped into the box of rubber ducks like starving dogs into a steak. Before they even arrived at the pile of clothes, they could hear a cacophony of squeaking as eight Hidden began to squeeze as many rubber ducks as they could get their hands, feet, and mouths on.
Harry and Lyra each picked out about a dozen outfits that fit them as well as a whole box of plastic raincoats which would be great for all the rain they got on the island, but the best thing they found were backpacks. Real backpacks with some kind of children's cartoon soldiers on them. The bags they had made out of leaves would still be very useful, but backpacks were a treasure.
Eventually, the squeaking died down and everyone collected what they had gathered that day. They had four garbage bags of small water bottles, three bags of larger bottles, and some laundry detergent containers; a few of them even had spouts on them which could be used to refill bottles. The digging tool team had found many pieces of broken plastic that could be used for digging and one snow shovel and a metal shovel with a wooden handle. Harry remembered in one of his science lessons, the class learned about what objects would float and which would sink. He assumed that the wooden handle made it float but he didn't want to throw it back into the ocean to check.
They spent the night on the beach, The Hidden took all of the clothes that Harry and Lyra didn't want to build a large mattress that they all laid down on. Sleeping in the village, there was always a canopy of trees overhead and this was the first time that Harry and Lyra had slept with a view of the heavens unobstructed. It had been a long day and everyone fell asleep quickly, Whisper had snuggled himself between the two of them and his breathing helped them relax and fall asleep.
Harry awoke while it was still dark, sensing something was wrong. Whisper was next to him, but Lyra was gone. He moved as quickly as he could without waking Whispers. Once he was up, he could see Lyra standing on top of a pile of garbage looking into the night sky. Harry climbed up to stand next to her. She just stood there in silence, her eyes glistening but not quite crying.
"My mother used to tell me about the stars," she said without preamble. "I remember bits and pieces of what she told me. Long ago, people drew pictures with them and named both the individual stars and the pictures they connected. My mother told me that everyone in her family was named after a star, everyone except for her. She loved her name, but she wanted to make sure her children were named for stars like the rest of her family." She pointed at a bright star just above the horizon, "That star, right above those trees, that star is named Vega. And see below it? The four stars in the diamond and the one next to Vega? The people who named stars took them and drew those stars together into a musical instrument called a lyre and the name of those stars is Lyra. Those are my stars."
Harry could see a few tears start to fall. He put an arm around her and held her close. She cried a little more before speaking again.
"I don't think my mother wanted to send me away, but like my brother, she didn't stop my father from doing it either." She held on tightly to Harry for a few more minutes before looking back at the sky. She pointed in the same direction before and said, "The next bright star, there above Vega, with the others that make up that box, you see them?" Harry nodded to her. "That box and those stars that make that long line there?" She moved her fingers in kind of a backward S. Harry wasn't certain, but he nodded anyway. "The box is the head, but the whole thing is a dragon. That one is called Draco, that's my brother." She cried again.
Harry walked her back to their pile of shirts and helped her lie down. Whisper snuggled back into her body as she fell asleep.
Harry stayed awake for a while longer staring at the stars. He didn't have family in the stars, and that suited him just fine. He was happy with the family here, with the Hidden, and with Lyra. He pushed thoughts of The Dursleys to the back of his mind and went back to sleep.
In the morning, they gathered up much of the garbage they had collected and started to head back. There were many bags they left there simply because they couldn't carry anymore. Two of the Hidden took most of the lighter bags of bottles by sticking them on a long piece of plastic pipe and carrying them together. Harry was often amazed by the ingenuity of the Hidden, it seemed the more they learned, the more they were capable of achieving. Harry took a section of plastic pipe for himself not knowing exactly what he'd do with it yet.
About an hour away from the beach, Harry heard a whisper from the distance.
§Waiting§
§Waiting§
Harry held up his hand to the assembled party and everyone stopped. He called out loudly, which he found was difficult when speaking in the snake language. The resonance of the language seemed to come not from his lungs or mouth but from somewhere else entirely that he couldn't place.
§We are here, come§ And after a moment of thinking, he added §I command you!§
Before the snake arrived, Charlie's eyes flashed blue, there were small twinkles of blue from the other hidden and they dropped their bags and vanished. Whisper still had a tight grip sitting on Lyra's shoulders but also vanished, though you could see the impressions in her shoulders from the grip.
Twenty seconds later, the snake's head appeared above the top of the grass and surveyed Harry and Lyra. The snake had patterned stripes of red, yellow, and dark brown across its head and gold under its eyes that made them appear bigger. He then began looking more intensively at Lyra and tasting the air.
Harry interrupted the snake's gazing by waving his pipe in front of him.
§We brought you to talk, not snack.§
§The Hidden are not snacks.§
§You will not touch them if you want a nest.§
The snake turned to look at Harry
§I understand, not snacks.§
§Have you spoken with the Usurper?§
§I can taste a great snake on you.§
The snake came closer to Harry, his tongue flicking in and out and then the entire body seemed to give a spasm and he said,
§Great snake, powerful snake.§
Harry knew the Usurper was a great snake, though just the smell of it from days before inspired fear in other snakes. This must be why there were no other snakes on their side of the island.
§The Usurper has granted you a chance to build a nest.§
§You will build it near the village of the Hidden.§
§There are many small animals near there that eat our food.§
§You will eat them, you will not touch the Hidden.§
§You will not touch me.§
§You will not touch the girl here.§
The snake looked over towards Lyra and tasted the air.
§What about the small one, the Hidden?§
§There will be other small Hidden?§
Harry didn't want to have to do it, but The Usurper had been clear that he had to be in command. He took the pipe he was carrying and lightly hit the snake on top of his head. Using whatever part of him to call out to the snake before, he raised his voice and said.
§No Hidden will be touched or snacked.§
§There are big Hidden and small hidden.§
§None of them are for eating.§
§If they see you, they will not come near.§
§If you see them, you will not come near them.§
§You will have your nest, you will eat the animals that eat our food.§
§That is your assignment.§
The snake had sunk into the grass from the strike to its head and the admonishment. Harry could still see the head and eyes looking back at him. It rose back up and looked Harry in the eyes.
§I understand my assignment.§
The snake did not say anymore and just seemed to wait for Harry to speak again. So he asked a question.
§Do you have a name?§
The snake rose even higher from the ground and displayed his hood. Harry could see some golden patterns on the inside of the hood that almost looked like armor.
§My mother told me I had the largest hood in her clutch. She called me Flare§
§Do you have a name?§
Harry was about to just say, "Call me Harry," but he remembered, this animal was not his friend, not his family.
§You may call me Commander§
Harry turned to Lyra and told her. "I will walk ahead with the snake, his name is Flare. When I'm a little bit ahead, I assume Charlie and the others will come back. Then you can continue back to the village, but take your time."
Harry looked up at the spot where he assumed Whispers was still clinging to Lyra's neck and found his head to pat. As he petted the little Hidden's head, he faded back into visibility though was still shaking a little. Harry raised his hands a little and gave a tiny screech at the little guy and then signed.
[Whisper, Strong, Charlie, Run]
[Whisper, Stay, Whisper, Strong]
Whisper looked down at Lyra who smiled and nodded at him. Whisper tried to mimic some of their voices like he usually did, but it didn't sound like anything, so he just mimicked Harry by raising his hands slightly and emitting a small screech. Harry ruffled the fur on his head giving himself a warm fuzzy feeling inside as he did it.
Harry turned to the snake, who had been patiently waiting.
§We go to the village now.§
§Stay close, Flare.§
The snake dropped down to the ground and slithered after him.
§Yes, Commander.§
Author's Note: I actually looked up the star position for a few hours before sunrise in January of 1988 seen from the location where Harry is right now. If you looked up the song I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, go through all their music, a lot of the time they are playing in the background while I'm writing.
Author's Note 2: Oh and I realized when I came back to proofread this chapter that Harry is now Cobra Commander.