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Content Warning for this chapter: depiction of violence, death, plague


White Sails

Chapter 3

Narnia was a world of wonder but not of roads. A great number of trails ran all across the kingdom, but Narnians did not travel much. It was perfect to ride horses all day maybe, but only the two guards and the Pevensies knew where they were going through this wilderness.

They rode north-west, crossed the valley, followed the Great River toward the western woods. If Cair Paravel looked like a castle right out of a fairy tale, the rest of Narnian's ground were the Garden of Eden. Woods and meadows covered the majority of the kingdom.

They trotted in the meadows, and they passed to a walking pace in the woods. The first day of travel, everyone was almost in a good mood, amazed by the wilderness of Narnia and the variety of landscapes around them. Behind them, they could still see the shape of Cair Paravel on the horizon.

Light-hearted discussions were spreading between the travellers. About Narnian wilderness and life, and anecdotes of Edmund's bad temper told by Lucy. She was entertaining the expedition from Cair Paravel to the western woods. And they almost forget the severity of their mission.

When they were crossing a glen from one hill to another, Harry had some issue with his horse. He couldn't control it at all and kept pulling too hard on the reins. To a point where he almost fell from the saddle as his horse slipped and kept himself standing by biting on Draco's saddle in front of him. A couple of swears came out of Harry's mouth and Draco screamed with agony.

"Potty, you are responsible for my death, do you hear me? I'm going to go back to haunt your scarred ass!" he growled as they reach the bottom of the glen – still on their horses.

Edmund and Lucy looked shocked with a stunned face and stared at Hermione, who was laughing. Blaise noticed and whispered to them, "Don't worry, they stopped trying to kill each other's a long time ago."

Lucy and Edmund exchanged a glance, and Lucy asked, "They wanted to kill each other?". Blaise and Hermione only laughed.

When Harry was steady again on his saddle he muttered, "I didn't even touch you, you wanker."

"I heard that," squealed Draco in front of him.

And they went on deeper into Narnia's wilderness. After a wood and several glens, they reached a vast stretch of meadows. Small groups had formed as they were not forced to ride behind one another anymore. Luna and Lucy were having what seemed a pleasant conversation as no one earwigged on them. They all were more focused on Harry and Draco squabbling again about how bad Harry was at riding a horse. And he was really terrible.

"Don't even try to tell me you know how to ride a horse, Potter, you already tried to kill me twice today!" said Draco with a snort.

"It was an accident! It only happened twice. I'm not that bad!" answered Harry.

Draco snorted.

"You definitely are."

The green meadows they crossed were covered in colourful dots of wildflowers. When she saw it, Luna's face brightened suddenly to this sight.

"Oh, dear Merlin!" she cheered, "There are also poppies in Narnia!"

They all smiled at the sound of her honest joy. Lucy bent over her horse to pick a poppy and trotted to Luna to put the flower behind her ear with a wink. Luna blushed and smiled widely.

"You look just like a poppy, pretty in the sun," said simply Lucy.

Seeing Lucy flirting with Luna lightened the mood. She was not exactly discreet at this. Neither really good. It had made Hermione and Harry giggled several times already. And even Edmund seemed amused.

Later that day, after an extensive conversation between Blaise and Hermione on some absurd consideration of the gravity and weather of other dimensions that annoyed everyone, Lucy started again to share stories about how she had beaten her brothers in training on many occasions.

"And that time," she told them, "Edmund was so arrogant about being the best swordsman in Narnia, he kept telling it to everyone, it was so embarrassing honestly. And I wanted to show him my skills. He was so sure of himself, he didn't counter correctly my hits, he ended up having to step back and he fell into the duck pond! In front of his fencing master! It was amazing!"

Everyone was laughing, even Edmund who tried to defend himself.

"Don't exaggerate, Lu! I was not bragging that much, and you were only twelve!"

"Okay, then, when was the last time you told anyone you were the best swordsman in Narnia?" she mocked.

Edmund turned red when Harry answered for him, "Yesterday and the day before, a good dozen time, I think!"

"It doesn't count! We just met!" he protested.

"Oh, so you were trying to impress him?" asked Lucy with a knowing grin.

"Whatever," groaned Edmund of embarrassment and he start sulking just behind the first guard who opened the path.

When they crossed the first woods, the witches and wizards saw for the first time how alive were the woods themselves in Narnia. The trees were smiling and bowing on their path. Spirits of nymphs were following them in a cloud of petals and waving at them.

They set camp for the night nearby a river, in a clearing. There will be turn of surveillance during the night, the first shift being for Edmund and Orion, the guard. Narnia was a peaceful world now, under the reign of the Pevensies. The only shadow to this picture was the dark creatures.

"I can't believe I could have died without seeing this world," muttered Harry under his blanket.

Next to him, Lucy opened her eyes and looked at him.

"The wizarding world is very different from Narnia?" she asked.

"Oh yes… We are not exactly a world, more like a separated society of witches and wizards in the United Kingdom, and everywhere in the world. So, my world is basically the Great Britain with magic. Nothing like Narnia."

"Magic can change a lot of things. London was not the most pleasant city I can remember..." sighed Lucy.

"Magic makes a lot of things different, easier sometimes, more beautiful. When I was a kid, as I was discovering I was a wizard, magic was so beautiful, so brilliant. But now, I don't know if the wizarding world is a good place to be in."

"But now, the war had ended, you won.' remarked Lucy. 'Won't things change and get better?"

Harry had a grim smile on his face, he looked sadder than earlier.

"I don't know if it's possible," he answered under his breath. "I don't know if I can expect it of them… Most people didn't seem to care if Voldemort was in power or not as long as they were safe. They didn't care if he hurt, hunted and murdered others."

"Basic human instinct," mumbled Lucy. She was still staring at Harry. Even in the darkness of the night, she could see his distant glaze and the sorrow on his face. "It's the opposite of the Chivalry's Code, here in Narnia. A Narnian's knight protects others before himself. But to do this, one needs a lot of abnegation."

"Or a big old saviour complex," added sarcastically Harry.

Lucy snorted.

"Like when you jumped through the storm to save my brother? Yes, he told me about it, and it was stupid."

A more genuine grin appeared on Harry's face.

"Not stupid. It was what I had to do," corrected Harry.

They continued their journey at dawn. The second day was longer and harder than the first. The exhaustion was rising in the small group. Their muscles were sore after two days in a row of riding. And the witches and wizards were getting caught up by their lack of rest of the past few months. Harry's shoulders were rigid and his head down. Hermione looked sleep deprived as well as Draco and Blaise. Sleeping out in the open did not do them a lot of good. Bad memories. Luna looked more alert than usual all day long.

These last few days at Cair Paravel had given Harry the illusion that he could forget the war in this new world. However, now that he was on the back of a horse since dawn, and as his tiredness grew stronger, he could not stop himself from thinking anymore. It was something he had become really good at. The only reason he stayed almost sane through the war was his ability to disconnect from reality, to block his thoughts, to distract himself. It was an old trick he mastered during his childhood at the Dursley's.

But when he was tired, when his mind could not be stopped from working, it all came back like a tornado, destroying him from the inside. He clenched his jaws as he saw again the corpses of Sirius and Remus, fallen next to one another. When he remembered the torture of his friends, the mass grave of muggles and muggles-born they found in Cornwall, and another one in Manchester, in Leeds, and so many more. In an attempt to stop his hands from shaking, he clutched them around the reins.

The only thing he could do was to fix a point in front of him – Edmund's back – and wait. His own incapability to calm himself annoyed him even more. He felt so vulnerable. And being vulnerable was the same as being dead.

Hermione noticed Harry's distress in front of her. Every time, it killed her bit by bit to see him like this. There was not much to be done. He was blaming himself; she knew it. And no matter the number of times she told him it has nothing to do with him, he pushed her away. What could she do more? She was haunted by her own memories which were not any better than Harry's. She knew how hard it was do deal with those.

As they were entering the western woods, they slowed down their horse and became more alert. Luna looked really uncomfortable now. She was wriggling on her saddle, looking at the woods with wide eyes, which was worrying Harry and Hermione. The woods were silent, the only noise were their own breathing and the steps of their horse. The trees were not moving anymore toward them. They stood still, as if they were observing them. Even the smells were weaker here. The living woods of Narnia seemed to have become dull and bleak.

"What do you feel, Luna?" asked Hermione with a frown.

"The rhythm of the magic is changing. We are getting toward something unfamiliar. I can't tell you what it is… I'm sorry. It's like the chants of Narnia are getting different here."

Hermione and Harry made a face. It was not so good. Luna had never been wrong before when it came to magic variations. She was able to feel deatheaters nests and to feel them getting closer. She saved their life so many times.

"What do you mean?" asked Lucy with a frown. "Is there a danger nearby?"

"In Cair Paravel, and all along Narnia, the magic was feeling like a nice breeze," explained Luna with a stern face. "But here, it feels like an icy gale."

"So, we are getting closer to something? Good to know," said Edmund. "Everybody, stay alert, the village we are heading for is in a dozen miles."

They all nodded. Harry was alert, and at least now he could stop himself from thinking by being focussed. He had his wand in one hand as he held the reins in the other. The silence of the woods was awful. Nothing seemed to be alive around them.

After another hour, they reached the village where the last attack happened less than a week ago. It has been the home of dwarfs and satyrs mostly. Now it was mostly ruins and ashes of burnt houses in a clearing. There could have been not more than half a dozen houses. A barn was still standing, and survivors were gathered inside. A satyr got out very cautiously at the sound of the horses. His eyes widened at the sight of the king and queen and their acolytes. The door opened completely, and he went toward them limping. He almost threw himself to the ground at the feet of Edmund's horse.

"Your highnesses," he sobbed, "We… we were attacked by it."

Edmund sighed and got down of his mount.

"Get to your feet," he said softly, "We are here to stop these attacks from happening."

The satyr got up slowly with his bad leg. Lucy got down of her horse as well and reached to him.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Esir, your highness."

"Were you injured, Esir?"

"Yes, during the attack, I was trying to stop them from hurting my brother, but I failed."

"You did the best you could, I'm sure," said Lucy. "We are here to understand what these creatures are and how we can stop them. Would you and the other survivors help us?"

"Off course, your highness! Off course. This disaster can't happen somewhere else, not again."

All the members of the royal expedition got down from their horses and set camp at the edge of the clearing. Esir guided Lucy inside the barn to explain to the remaining survivors what was happening. They all seemed relieved to the point of crying. Harry's gut clenched at the sight of so many injured and sick people in such a small place. The worst was the smell of rotting flesh.

After a quick count, half of the survivors were suffering from the plague, but it had not spread to any new people since the day of the attack.

"It means only the creatures can infect people. If it were contagious, more people would be sick, especially the one who are already hurt or burnt," stated Hermione.

"The question is still how they infect people," added Edmund.

They divided into different missions. Hermione and Lucy were taking sample of dirt, ashes from the village and blood from the sick. Hermione's hopes were too be able to identify something with a couple of detection spells and even maybe potion – just basic chemistry – back at Cair Paravel. There could be a trace of these creatures, or of where they came from.

Luna was circling around the village to try to understand this variation in the magic, and because she had that nasty tendency to wander around a bit too much without caution, Draco and Blaise were charged to follow her like their own shadow. At the order, they both grunted and protested, but two people were needed to follow Luna, she was easy to lose. Less than two minutes after they left the village, the others could already hear a couple of swears from Draco and chuckles from Luna.

In the meantime, Edmund and Harry were questioning the villagers to gather the maximum of information about these creatures. They were in the barn, next to the straw mattress of the head of the village. He had been heavily burnt during the attack.

"Could you, please, explain us how the attacked happened?" asked Edmund, "Every information might help us to understand these creatures."

The Narnian coughed violently before answering.

"Sure, your highness," he breathed harshly. "It was getting dark outside. It had been a very warm day. The kids were calling back the goats." he coughed again. "Since other villages had been attacked, we were being careful. But they appeared from nowhere. I know these woods; I was born there. There are no such thing as dark living shadows in Narnia." He moaned in pain and held his arm for a moment. Makeshift bandages were covering most of his body. They all knew he would not survive this.

"They started to ignite the houses to force us to get out. A kid told me he saw the fire started by itself. I did not know how they did it. Then, with their sword – or whatever it was – they started to cut people open all around. It was impossible to stay out of their way. They were everywhere. And then, when almost all the village was dead, they suddenly left. Just disappeared. No one was standing. They maybe thought we were all dead."

"Indeed," agreed Edmund with a stern face. "In most of the attacked, the few people who survived were out of sight of the creatures."

"How many of them were here that night?" asked Harry.

"Many. Too many," sobbed the man. "More than us."

"What do they look like?"

The Narnian frowned and coughed.

"Big, enormous. Tall as minotaurs. They were not made of flesh, but of shadow, but that kept moving. They had what looked like swords, also made of shadows, but it hurt. It cut people in half. It's all so very blur now. It was a nightmare."

He had difficulties to breathe now, so Edmund and Harry let him rest. They both were worried as they walk through the barn. A younger Narnian joined them.

"Your highness, I heard you found help at the edge of the world, does this mean we can defeat these creatures?" he said with hope in his voice.

"I certainly hope so, and I will do everything in my power to protect Narnia for good from these creatures," answered Edmund.

"Thank you, your highness," he bowed. "I worry for my sister, she lives across the woods, and the attacks are getting closer to her."

"New attacks happened after your village's?" Harry asked.

"Yes, two miles west from here, at a burrow."

"Thank you," said Edmund before getting out if the barn, Harry on his steps.

"Other attacks? You knew about them?" asked Harry.

Edmund sighed heavily.

"No, it must have happened after we left Cair Paravel. We will have a look tomorrow just in case," ordered Edmund.

They set their camp for the night a mile to the south of the village, after leaving the two royal guards, Dina and Orion, there to protect the villagers in case another attack happened – even if so far, no village have been strike twice in a row.

Hermione and Luna were quickly casting protection spells around the camp they would need to renew every day. Luna hadn't had any luck with the variation she had felt. The same variation surrounded the whole village and seemed to spread to the whole woods.

The next day, Harry and Edmund got ready to go inspecting the close area that had been attacked. And also, maybe mapping the attacks which took place in the area. The others stayed at the village to help the villagers to rebuild and to heal the injured.

They got on their horses and walked away from the camp in silence. Edmund seemed to know very well these woods. He told Harry he used to go hunting there with his siblings. According to him, they use to be full of life and of joy. It was hard to believe now.

The Burrow where the last attack occurred were not very far from the camp. When they arrived, they saw three little graves next to a tree and the closed door of the burrow. They were still traces of the attack, some burnt trees. It was a miracle the whole woods did not burnt.

They decided to ride along the border to find areas of older attacks.

'Maybe mapping the attacks could help us.' said Edmund.

Well. They were hoping it would help us. So far, they had no clue, no leads. They had nothing that could help them to understand what these creatures were and where they came from. Edmund seemed more and more frustrated. He did not say a word while they were following the border. It was nothing more than a wall of trees and of cliffs which stopped anyone to go farther north. Harry could have believed it was only a natural obstacle, that on the other side, another valley, other woods would still belong to the kingdom. But they were no such things. No one could cross these cliffs, the world of Narnia just stopped there for good.

"How is this even possible?" wondered Harry under his breath.

They found no breach in the border, no magic portal, no indication of crossing. Nothing. It was just deadly silent woods all around them.

"The last time I saw those woods so bleak and silent, it was before our reign," said suddenly Edmund with a lower voice. "An evil witch, the White Witch, was using terror and violence to reign on Narnia."

Harry watched his face with attention. The young king was tense.

"The woods and the kingdom react to their rulers?" he asked.

"Don't even suggest we could be the responsible for this!" barked abruptly Edmund.

Harry flinched. It was the same voice he used against his brother. Harry sighed deeply.

"I was not accusing you," he said.

They stayed silent for a while after that. For the short time they have known each other, Harry had never seen Edmund so tense, and so angry. But after all, he had not known him for long. Maybe he had been wrong about the man. Harry's face darkened as he followed him.

They reached a smaller clearing where another burrow seemed to have been attacked at least a month ago. This time, there were five graves. They got down from their horses and had a look around. Edmund kicked into a bush with rage and fell down against a tree.

"Why? For god sake, why?" he groaned. "What a nightmare!"

Harry got closer to him, not sure what to do. He needed to calm himself, but Harry was the first to know that sometimes it was better to be left alone in moment like this. And Merlin knows, Harry had many of these moments.

"Why are people dying under our watch?" whispered Edmund. "Why can't we do anything about this?"

Harry sat next to him.

"Sometimes things happen, and we can do nothing to stop them. What had happened is already done. What we can do is to fight for the future, for what will happen." he said calmly.

"How can you know anything about all of this? About guilt and responsibility?!" snorted Edmund without looking at him.

"If I had not been captured by Voldemort, he would not have used my blood to come back to life, and there wouldn't be mass graves of muggles, muggles-born and half-bloods all across Great Britain," answered Harry dryly.

Edmund flinched and looked up to him.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said this," he apologised. "I just… I don't handle all this very well. Before seeing it, it was different. But if I hadn't taken two fucking months to go back, maybe these people wouldn't have died."

Harry snorted. "You sure don't handle it well. But you are not responsible for the delay of crossing dimensions. It's already a good thing we didn't arrived centuries too late."

They sat there for a moment before getting up. Edmund seemed calmer, more himself. Before climbing back on his horse, he confessed to Harry, "If Narnia disappeared, I don't know if I could be able to survive it."

"I thought that too about the wizarding world, and now I'm running from it," sighed Harry.

"I have nothing out of Narnia!" blurted Edmund. "Nothing, I never had. All I have are my siblings and Narnia."

He still looked tense. He was frantically rubbing his hands together.

"I don't remember much of what happened before Narnia, but I know it was not good. I was not happy, I was in pain."

He swallowed hard and was looking away. He was too proud to let Harry see him too much like this.

"School was awful," he explained. "Sometimes I have nightmares about it even if I don't know exactly what happened there. And my father was in danger. At the war."

He took the reins in his hands.

"I think this is my only regret about leaving. Not knowing if my father survived. But it's maybe better if I don't know."

Edmund spurred on his horse and left the clearing, Harry on his heels. The atmosphere was less heavy than before. They turned in this area of the woods for a little while before heading back to the camp before dusk. After his confession, Edmund had not said much. Speaking so openly about his fears was not a habit of his. Usually, when he was on a bad mood, he said nothing and was his most unpleasant self toward anyone who had the bad luck to cross his path. But Harry seemed trustworthy, honest too, and he was not pretending to be happy when he was not.

At camp, the others were already preparing dinner and casting the defensive spells. Edmund went directly to observe them with a curious stare, ignoring his sister enquiry about his mood.

Before leaving the village, the witches had cast protective spells around the village. They were getting ready to head back to Cair Paravel the next day at dawn. They did not have much on these creatures, but they could not stay in open ground for too long.

After a frugal diner of dry meat and berries, they all went to sleep. Harry and Edmund decided to take the first surveillance shift around the camp. Edmund was still feeling guilty about his behaviour earlier. He had to make up to Harry.

As they left the camp, Luna and Lucy were talking softly in front of the fire. The two of them were really fond of each other. Luna was telling stories about Hogwarts to Lucy who was laughing. The others were sleeping – or trying too – under heavy blankets. Blaise and Draco were sharing one. No one really talked about it, but all of them sort of knew the both of them were really close, more than friends. It was obvious and always has been. They did not even need to bring the news to anyone.

Harry and Edmund were walking silently in the woods, wand, and sword in hand, ready to be used if needed. Despite the darkness, Edmund knew where he was going. After turning twice in silent around the camp, they decided to wander a bit farther away.

Harry noticed that Edmund was not as tense as before, but he was still worried. They reached a cluster of colossal rocks in the middle of the forest. Edmund smirked and put away his sword to start climbing it without a word. Harry rolled his eyes and followed him.

"You could at least explain where we're going, you know."

A grunt answered him as Edmund lifted himself up the top of the rocks. It was a small rocky plateau just above the top of the trees from where they could see the sky and all the western woods from above.

A large grim grew on Harry's face.

"So, are you trying to make it up for today?" he asked, half kidding.

"I am", answered Edmund very seriously. "I am sorry, Harry, I was not of pleasant company today."

"You are worried and mad, I don't blame you."

"You should! You are here to help, and me, I treat you like garbage! Peter was right, I'm always just an ungrateful kid, I always was."

Harry sat on a rock and looked at the stars, he could see several constellations he had never seen before. He pulled Edmund by the arm to make him sat next to him. Their gazes were following the sea of trees around them blown a gentle wind.

"You are making it up by bringing me here," said Harry softly.

Edmund smiled a little and ran his hand through his dark hair.

"Narnia saved me," he tried to explain. "I was not happy as a kid, in the middle of my siblings. I was always too old or too young for everything. Or too selfish for thinking of myself, or stupid if I didn't. Here I could be more free to be someone without Peter, my parents, my professors telling me if I could or not. Even if Peter still does it sometimes."

Harry nodded a little while listening to him carefully.

"It was very different for me," said Harry. "A bit similar but also different. I grew up with my aunt and uncle, not in the wizarding world. I didn't even know I was a wizard before I turned eleven. They treated me like pure garbage. So being a wizard and being able to escape was a blessing."

Harry made a short break, lost in his memories of his first year.

"But there was a prophecy," he continued. "And people were expecting me to fulfil it. I was the one and only who could defeat Voldemort and I thought I was supposed to die doing it, my first mentor thought this too and sent me to death many times."

"But you survived," said Edmund.

"I did, more or less. What seemed at first a blessing was a curse. My life in the wizarding world had become even worse than my muggle life – and the bar was already high."

"Narnia could save you too," whispered Edmund.

Harry sighed.

"If I can be saved."

Edmund frowned. He dropped his hand on Harry's knee and squeezed it.

"You can!" he assured him. "If I was, you can too. And god knows I didn't deserve it."

"How could a ten-years-old not deserve it?" asked Harry.

"I made a mistake. I betrayed my siblings and Narnia," he said with sorrow in his voice.

"What happened?" asked Harry.

Edmund breathed deeply before answering.

"When Lucy first went to Narnia, I didn't believe her. And then, when I went there the first time, I meet the White Witch. I did not know her, and I betrayed Lucy by giving away her friend to her. And when I went back to Narnia with the others, I was so frustrated to not be acknowledged by them, to be pushed away like a disturbance, I ran toward the Witch and got myself captured. I thought that she would see me for the real me. I believed her lies and I betrayed my siblings."

Harry frowned.

"But, did you knew she was evil when you first met her?" he asked.

"No, but I should have."

"No. You were ten, from a different world, and I'm pretty sure you had no idea of Narnia's geopolitical conflict, nor the maturity to understand its extent. Don't blame yourself too much for something you could not control," said Harry.

"Isn't the advice you should apply to yourself?" asked Edmund in response.

Harry winced and stopped breathing for a second.

"It was different," he said.

"How so?" asked Edmund.

They both sighed and looked up to the sky. They stayed silent for a moment.

"My siblings," whispered Edmund. "It took them a long time to fully trust me after this. They didn't say it, but I could feel it. Especially Peter. And sometimes I don't even think he had forgiven me, even today."

"Your brother can be an ass," said dryly Harry. "He is full of himself, he makes me think of Malfoy but with a crown. Except maybe Malfoy got a bit better now."

Edmund smirked.

"Good to know we are on the same page," he joked.

Harry grinned. They had been on these rocks for a long time, and it felt nice. Edmund was of pleasant company, even with his bad temper and his tendency to self-loathe. It was maybe why he was such a good knight.

Suddenly, something changed in the night. Harry startled and looked around. The wind had stopped in a very not natural manner. Edmund felt it too and was examining their surroundings.

"There!" groaned Harry, pointing in the direction of the village.

Smoke and flames.

"Fuck," swore Edmund. "They are back."

"We have to help them."

Edmund was already jumping down the plateau and running toward the village, sword in hand. He showed no sign to want to warn their companions to call for back-up. For once, Harry was the cautious one, he thought with a snort. Before running after Edmund, he sent a patronus back to the camp.

Edmund was not far in front of him and he had no trouble to catch up with him. They burst onto the clearing at the same time to witness a vision from hell. The barn was burning as well as the other houses their companions had rebuilt. The villagers were being chased by dark figures.

For the first time, Harry saw them. The dark creatures. And he had never seen anything like it. They were at least two meters tall, dark like a void, the shadows blazing like a wildfire. They looked like shadows of warriors, weirdly anthropomorphic.

Edmund threw himself into the battle to save a young Narnian who was about to be crashed by the creatures. He was swirling his sword around him with agility. Nothing seemed to destroy these creatures, except a blow in their head.

Harry rushed too, wand in hand, into the mess. He did not know what spell would be useful, so he tried a few. Experliarmus was enough to force the creature to step back. The death spell did not seem to have any effect on them. Only with a Bombarda maxima, he succeeded to blow up several creatures. So, Bombarda Maxima it will be.

The air was unbreathable, the smokes from the fires were infesting the whole clearing. In the darkness of night, the flames cast a horrific light on the battle. Harry was trying to destroy the more creatures he could, but they were everywhere. The explosion of the creature after he struck them with his spell were more powerful than it was supposed to be. Everything seemed too strong, too violent. He was mostly stopping creatures from killing the villagers, but it seemed pointless, they were coming back. The battle would never stop.

Harry did not lose sight of Edmund. More than once, they ended up back against back in the middle of the creatures.

"They are everywhere!" yelled Edmund.

Harry saw from the corner of his eyes a creature slamming a satyr who screamed with pain. He reacted quickly and blew up the creature before it could raise their weapon and strike the satyr.

"Run to the woods, south!" shouted Harry to the satyr.

He could see the Narnian running as fast as he could and disappearing behind the line of trees. With a bit of luck, this one will survive. Harry hoped he was not doing this in vain. He was not strong enough, Edmund was not strong enough, they were outnumbered.

"Harry, look out!" yelled Edmund.

Harry dodged away from a creature's blade behind him. Before he could turn back and defend himself, he tripped on the corpse of a villager and fell to the ground. He just held his breath, waiting to be crushed by the creature above him. He has been close to death many times, but maybe not this close. This one was the one. He would not find death by Voldemort's hand after all. If he cast a Bombarda now, he would be blown away too. There were no escapes.

He saw the creature raising its sword, ready to slice him in half. He clenched his fist. But the hit never came. A blade struck the creature's head, and it disappeared in a hissing sound. They were no more creature above him but a sweaty and covered in ashes Edmund. He was holding out his hand to Harry. When he got back on his feet, before rushing back into the battle, Edmund whispered, "We're even now."

They were still so many creatures, so many flames and so few survivors. They fought even more, to save those who still could be saved. Once again back against back, Harry heard Edmund talking to him.

"Your technique is pretty effective, I like it. Could you please blow up this one? It's getting on my nerve."

Harry smirked and cast a Bombarda Maxima against the creature Edmund was fighting, which exploded like a firework. Another creature appeared right in front of him and he just had the time to throw an instinctive Expeliarmus to push it away. He maintained his spell longer than before, not sure how fast it would jump back at him when he will lower his defence. The magic he was pushing into this spell was even more colossal than usual, as if he was canalizing the magic in the woods around him. After several seconds, he felt drops of sweat forming on his forehead, he didn't know how much longer he could last.

The creature was reacting at the spell in a way he had not seen in a very long time. A blue magnetic arc was forming between his wand and the creature, almost as massive as both of them. He knew that now he could not stop his spell anymore or everything would blow up to his face. He was doomed and exhausted.

Suddenly, another spell hit the creature who exploded.

"Harry," he heard coming from the woods. Hermione was there, wand in hand, with their other companions behind her. The back-up was there. He started to breathe again. They were saved.

Quickly, the witches and wizards pushed back the creatures and to put out the fire, while Lucy and the guards were slaying some creatures. After a moment, the creature stopped from appearing and the clearing was once again safe for those who remained alive.

While looking around for survivors, Harry could not stop thinking about the creature, and the magnetic arc they created by fighting against one another. He had seen it before, when he was fighting Voldemort. Was it an overflow of power? It was clearly the more plausible explanation. But it was bothering him.

They had gathered the remaining villagers and were preparing to transport them to the closest village. Not many had survived the fire and the creatures. When Harry was helping a Narnian to walk toward their camp, he saw in front of him a satyr falling and coughing violently blood. It was the plague. Hermione rushed to help the Narnian. In the pale light of their camp, Harry recognised the satyr. It was him he saved from a creature. It was him who was touched by it.

A feeling of realization built up in his stomach. Discreetly, he came toward Hermione and Edmund who were exchanging at the edge of the camp.

"I think I know how the plague infects people," he said.

Both Edmund and Hermione looked at him with expectation.

"How?" asked Edmund.

"The Narnian who just felt sick. I saw him being touched by a creature."

"Oh dear Merlin, I should have thought of it!" whispered Hermione. "Touching. It's logical."

Edmund suddenly looked extremely worried and started to pat both of Harry's arms at the same time.

"Were you touched?" he asked with panic. "When the creature was above you, did it touch you?"

Harry shook his head in negation and assured himself that Edmund had not been himself infected. The young king did not let him go out of his sight for the rest of the mission.

After escorting the remaining villagers for five miles north to another village, with royal order to be taken care of, they headed back toward Cair Paravel. Their mission was a terrible failure. They were not closer to understand these dark creatures, nor to save Narnia from them.

The journey back was dead silent.


To be continued...