AN: Hey guys! Welcome to chapter four of Call of the Dragon! Thank you for all the support and for reading this but a few things before we get into the story:
One: I have been able to update and post so much recently because I had taken this semester off from university due to the recent COVID-19 Pandemic we all hate. Therefore, I will not be able to write nearly as much as I have since July and will not be able to write as much as I like and for that I apologize. All this means is that I'll be able to post the next chapter for this story and another for Wayfinder (shameless self plug!) before everything grinds to a basic halt...
Two: Reviews! (I read everyone's reviews, please know that I appreciate them more than you'll ever know but the one's I do answer belong in a public forum):
Haldir639: "Harry is increasingly an obnoxious Sue with the majority of each chapter dedicated to him either being a badass or over-explaining how his piles of unmatched-tier equipment works, it's really slowing down the story."
- Possibly at the moment but this will not always be the case. Stick with it and you'll see what I mean.
Y0sh: "hate to be this guy, but meat doesn't help at all if you require more calories. Quite the contrary actually, all the protein will induce satiation much quicker."
- "Anything before the word 'but,' is bullshit," - George R.R. Martin. You don't hate to be that guy so don't say you are, call me out on my bullshit all you like because that's half of what fiction is - bullshit. But we love it anyway. I'm not a biologist or nutritionist so I'll take all the help I can get.
Stylo1: "partner of my heart. blegh! that sounds just like daenerys from GOT it was disgusting then and it is even worse now considering it is between men.
your theory of how they use magic is all wrong. they use their life force as magic, if as you say it comes from the surounding they would not need to charge their gems with their own magic but simply draw it from the outside"
- Speaking of basement trolls, we come to the king of them all! Dude, seriously, you've left like one positive review in my inbox and tried to burn me out with the rest of them - but that's perfectly fine because you actually make good points occasionally. In this case not really. Where does strength come from? The food you eat, the water you drink, the air you breath? Mostly the last. In this world magic comes like breathing while Harry's is more of a battery in him. You can look at them the same way but Harry's recharges much faster out of the two - I like to look at it this way: Alagaesian magic is a rechargeable double A, Harry's is a car battery with an alternator, and Alagaesian dragons are power plants. As for the "partner of my heart," thing? Yeah, that's Paolini. Saphira was known to call Eragon "partner of heart and mind," in the series and I'm trying to be faithful to that.
And now: On with the Story!
For a few seconds, all I could do was stare at the old man. He just shows up out of nowhere on a gargantuan golden dragon and he's the one telling me to be at peace? Well, I glanced down at myself and sighed, I suppose I was the one in full armor. With a thought, I dismissed the elder wand and my shield. Once those were gone I reached up to my visor and pushed it up, breaking the seal and revealing my face to the old elf for the first time.
"Alright," I said calmly, "we'll have it your way, Oromis." The elf smiled beatifically as he folded his hands into his sleeves revealing a flash of gold at his hip. My eyes went straight for it and I noted, with only slight alarm, that he had one of the swords similar to the ones I stole hanging at his waist.
"Excellent, Rider Potter. Perhaps we can start with your story? You have my word that nothing we speak of here today will be revealed to anyone - save maybe Islanzadi."
"And why would the queen need to know Rider business?" I asked exasperatedly.
"For the Elves and Riders are as connected as land and sea, Rider Potter. I am Glaedr, well met," a voice like grinding stones said directly into my head. I felt my eyes widen as I realized that the monstrous dragon looming over us had bypassed my first line of defense as easily as Astraeus could without the connection the red dragon and I shared.
"Well met, Glaedr," I called back up to him, "and, if you will pardon my ignorance, I would know how this is so?"
"The elves and dragons formed the first pact after du Fyrn Skulblaka, Rider Potter. Humans were introduced to the pact when they landed on these shores centuries later. Your race is young, Harry Potter - among the dwarves, dragons, elves, and Urgals, your kind was last to the shores of Alagaesia." The old man said steadily as ever. I cocked an eyebrow at one of the terms though.
"Urgals?" Even Astraeus felt curious at that, "what are they?"
"The Urgals are neither man nor beast but some fell creature between," he said gravely, his stony face at odds with the kindness that had just been on display. Are all the Elves here this frustratingly arrogant with Rhunon being the only exception or am I going to have to bust some heads? "The Urgals are imposing creatures with their smallest being a'height with the largest of man. They are fast and powerful, terribly so… Though members of their highest caste made even veteran riders tremble, they are called the Kull. They are monsters eight feet tall with horns like those of a ram and skin such as boiled leather…" he trailed off and I raised my eyebrow again.
"So, they're giants? With horns?" Oromis' face split into a grin as I said that.
"Almost, Rider Potter. Almost…" 'Well, at least they're scared of the Urgals for a good reason,' I thought in the brief pause Oromis took. "Can you ride Astraeus yet?"
"Nay," Trae said sadly, "I am not strong enough for us to fly as Dragon and Rider should."
"One day you shall," said Oromis as he walked back to the wall of flesh that was his dragon. I finally got a better look at Glaedr and noticed that his front foreleg was just gone - detached at the elbow by something incredibly powerful. For a second I wondered how, or what, cut it off. "You may ride with me if you so wish," the old elf offered kindly. I just shook my head and warped into my eagle form and perched on one of Astraeus' horns. Oromis looked gobsmacked, if I was human I might have actually fallen over laughing. "Astounding… Come, we fly!"
The ancient elf mounted his dragon even as Astraeus and I took to the skies. I let out a cry as Astraeus roared in triumph as the Golden Dragon took to the air. Together, we flew along the white cliff with the sun sinking in the sky but I thought we were heading north. For a few miles, we raced (as fast as Glaedr could manage) up the wall until the golden dragon banked over toward another clearing on the top of the cliff. It wasn't hard to find the hut sitting about a hundred yards back toward the trees. The hut was a low thing, barely tall enough for a person to stand upright in comfortably, much less for the titanic dragon to fit in. In fact, he could have probably eaten the hut and still been hungry.
"Welcome to my home," said Oromis as he jumped off the dragon's back and landed with exceptional ease. I felt my body twist and writhe as I changed back to human form with my boots on the ground. "I find my mind is much clearer away from the bustle of Ellesmera… The absence of others is also a wonderful help. Would you care for a drink?"
I nodded, "that would be wonderful." The old man grinned and moved back inside the hut. I glanced at Astraeus who was standing nose to nose with Glaedr who was towering over him. I couldn't help but chuckle as I brought my fist to my chest, hissed to deactivate it, and sighed in relief as the weight fell away just in time for the elf returned with a pair of leather canteens and a pair of low, wooden stools.
"An interesting choice of dress, Rider Potter," Oromis said as he examined my clothes. I grimaced slightly.
"It's all I have, I'm afraid. I've been able to use magic to keep them clean and together but they aren't the best for riding or camping," I said calmly. Again, I was kind of murdered in these clothes so I'm not too fond of them but at least they're comfortable. A pair of jeans, a simple, black t-shirt, with my coat was all I had to wear - unlike Hannah or Susan, I don't keep three extra sets of clothes in my kit… But that's because they were the infiltration specialists and I most assuredly wasn't.
"One does not wear the skin of a beast lightly, Harry," the old elf said as he put his stool down and passed me one of the leather canteens and the other stool. I nodded and took both of them.
"One does not kill a Basilisk lightly," I shot back again pulling every memory I had of them from behind my defenses. "Come and see." The old elf raised an eyebrow and I felt his presence on the border of my mind before he stepped into the memories. I watched as Oromis's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he watched my fights with both Basilisks in short order.
"Incredible…" The old elf gasped, "these… Basilisks?" I nodded and he went on, "they are truly remarkable. Though I do not understand why your sight had to be impaired to duel them?"
"They kill with their eyes, one glance and you're dead. One drop of their venom could kill an entire city - theoretically, it could be weaker or it could be so much stronger, we never found any conclusive results on it. I still don't understand how I lived through being bitten by one when I was twelve. By all rights, I should have been the first victim of a basilisk attack in half a century but I lived thanks to a firebird," I scoffed at how ridiculous that must have sounded. I looked up from staring at the ground and saw that Oromis had a pensive look on his face.
"Yet, in all my travels of Alagaesia, Surda, and the lands surrounding I have not heard a whisper of these beasts… Where do you come from, Harry Potter?"
I looked at the ancient elf and fell silent, bringing the flagon to my lips and taking a pull of the ice-cold, pure water while thinking of what to say, what to explain.
Everything.
For a second, the world stopped. The flagon fell from my fingers, my body tensed up, and my eyes grew wider than dinner plates - Astraeus was on alert too as he was by my side in a beat with his fangs bared and wings flared.
"What has happened?" Oromis said in a voice like steel. I glanced over at him and saw he had his hand on his sword. I relaxed slightly and closed my eyes, trying to marshall my thoughts.
"An old acquaintance," I muttered darkly. "What do you know of Death?" I asked seriously. The old elf looked confused but answered the question.
"It is the end, none will avoid it though some can stave it off longer than others. What is beyond is unknown and can only be theorized. What brought this about, Rider Potter? You will see the millennia pass, kingdoms fall, empires rise, and you will weather all these storms."
"No, not death but Death," I made sure to stress the second time I said it. "The Avatar of the reaper."
"Death has no face," Oromis said shakenly, his grey eyes narrowed.
"No… In that you're right, but it does have an avatar. Right terrifying it is too…" I said quietly as I stared out over the cliff.
"That is quite difficult to take in," Oromis said quietly. "You're sure of this?"
"Absolutely," I said quietly.
"Times like this are when I detest the tongue of man. I am unsure whether you speak the truth or if you speak your truth…" he said with his lips in a tight line across his face, he glanced at me before turning toward me. "May I see your hands?" he asked. I looked at him curiously but turned to face him too. "I have found that a man's hands will tell you much about him." I nodded and gave him my hands. The elf took my wrists with his thin, dry fingers but I didn't so much as twitch as he examined them with a frown of concentration written on his face. "Interesting… You have seen combat but your hands say you have only handled a baton and quill in recent years, yet these calluses are old… You are not unused to manual labor it appears, though you have never driven the plow or rode a horse. You are an interesting contradiction, Rider Potter," he said quietly. Our eyes met and I could feel his presence in my mind but, for the moment, I stonewalled him. His eyes widened as he tried to dig deeper and I let him through.
"What is this?" asked Oromis as he found himself trapped in my third line of mental defenses. Out of the five, this was probably the most useful. The first was the boundary line where I could tell if someone had, figuratively, rang the bell. My second level was my… Well, I suppose "receiving area," would be the correct term - others would call it hell.
"Welcome to my parlor," I said as I appeared in the replica of the Gryffindor common room I've used ever since Tracey Davis taught me Occlumency. She was far and away better than Snape ever could have dreamed of being as a teacher. Of course, that meant she was also one of the most qualified legilimencers I had ever met - as such, she was the team intelligence officer, interrogator, and spy for the Dragons. I wasn't a fan of having a full-blown spy on my team but there were no doubts as to her loyalty and it paid dividends. I saved her brother, apparently, from one of the Death Eaters the night that they raided Hogwarts the first time - and her. She may have been a Slytherin but she was still a half-blood, her father forced her to transfer to Beauxbatons only to come back to help her best friend - Daphne Greengrass, ironically - in the last battle of Hogwarts.
"This is… different, Rider Potter. I am unused to telepathy manifesting in this manner. Flashes of your life, speaking between each other at distance, listening to your thoughts? With these I am familiar, but this? This is beyond me. How?" He asked in awe as he looked around the room.
"Our magics are different, much different. Would you like to take a seat?" He nodded and sat in the comfortable armchair to my right - I was in my favorite recliner. With a thought, a large TV screen appeared on the mantle, much to Oromis' surprise.
"What the devil…"
"Welcome to my world, Oromis, or at least a very small part of it" I said with a vicious grin. "Don't worry, this will only take a few seconds on the outside, but since you were already in here… Well, I'm sure you won't mind a bit more information about my life. Though I'll need your oath to keep it between us." I said seriously with a quick gesture toward the TV, making the Gryffindor crest appear on the screen. Oromis' eyes flicked to the screen as he took in a breath.
"Indeed, Rider Potter. Though I am not sure I can give you that oath," he said as he met my eyes. I nodded and templed my fingers under my nose.
"Then I can say nothing to you," I said quietly, getting a nod from the old elf. "However, this will have to come out to the world at some point - I only ask you to keep it between us until such time, or I release you from that oath. It's not that much different to what I swore to," The old elf nodded slowly as he mirrored my gesture.
"This I can do," Oromis said with a small grin. "What is it you wish of me?"
"I would have you sign a contract that I will draw up when we leave here, I know my magic can bind a man to his word - I know yours can do as Islanzadi swore me to secrecy already, though how it can do that is beyond me." I raised my eyebrow and looked over to the elf.
"Indeed," he said with a small smirk. "The ancient language is a tongue of wonders. The alleged first people of this land - the grey folk, as we call them now - bound the magic of Alagaesia to the language. Before, magic was wild, untamed. And it still can be, though danger lies on that path like a waiting serpent. Magic, undirected by spoken word, is a danger unlike any other." He said calmly.
"Then I would have you swear to not reveal the details of what we discuss here today with any sentient creature - other than Glaedr - until I release you from your oath. I would also ask you to sign the contract I write on leaving this place."
"We have an accord, Rider Potter," Oromis said as he jumped into a short, flowing burst of the ancient language. I only picked up a few words of it thanks to Vanir, Wyrden, and Yaela, but I understood enough to know that he probably swore the oath properly... Probably.
"Excellent," I said with a flick of my wrist toward the mantle, "shall we begin?" As I said that, the screen slowly grew until it covered the entire side of the wall and the lighting of the room dropped to only what the screen gave off. "The first thing you must understand about me is that I do not come from this world." I said simply. The elf looked at me with a scrunched brow and was obviously stunned.
"You… You don't come from this world? Then where do you come from?" He asked slowly.
"A world called Earth," I said as images of London, New York, Dubai, and other major cities flashed across the screen leaving Oromis in stunned silence. "But to my story, that is the least important detail. My name is Harry James Potter, son of Lily Potter nee Evans and James Crotine Potter. To understand my story, you must understand the life of one Tom Marvolo Riddle," I said quietly as the image of the teenaged version of Tom from the chamber appeared on the screen.
"Who is this man?" Oromis asked quietly, still mulling over the revelation I dropped in his lap. I glanced over at him and saw him examine the screen.
"The man who thought I was destined to kill him thanks to a damned prophecy he didn't even have the decency to make sure was complete," I saw Oromis glance over at me from the corner of my eye as the image of the young, handsome Tom slowly transformed through the phases of his life that Albus showed me in my sixth year up until he became the ghoul I knew from the Graveyard.
"What did he do to himself?" Oromis whispered in horror.
"He tried to cheat death, instead he robbed himself of his final peace," Oromis looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "He split his soul," I said simply. The old elf's face went through a myriad of emotions before it finally settled on nauseated horror.
"The soul exists, and this… creature shattered his?" he asked tightly.
"Like a pane of glass," I said darkly, frowning as I threw up the images of the Horcruxes. "Unfortunately for him, I destroyed those and sent him to his just rewards," I smirked and let the old elf watch the mayhem that was destroying Horcruxes. Thank Merlin that Voldemort was the only Dark Lord so obsessed with immortality enough that he would actually go through with splintering his soul that I had to face. I couldn't help but smirk at the irony slightly, Voldemort was so obsessed with immortality that it got him killed decades before his lifespan would have naturally ended while I died, was resurrected, and became immortal all from a twist of fate. It's mind boggling actually.
"You defeated him when you were seven and ten?" Oromis asked, slightly awed. "Even in my prime, I would have struggled against an evil such as he… It gives me hope that Galbatorix will truly fall, young rider."
"Oh, he'll fall. The question you have to ask is 'when'?" I said with a small smirk that Oromis returned in kind.
"Soon, I would hope, though we all are aware that fate does not always agree with what we wish."
"No, it really doesn't…" I replied after a beat to collect my thoughts. "Now, where shall we begin our journey?"
"I would know what you did after this Tom Riddle fell," he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I was an auror," I grinned broadly but it fell from my face a beat later, "it was everything to me…" I felt my heart twist slightly as I went on, "and to think I first chose it just to spite a heartless bitch that said I couldn't do it when I was fifteen - then I became the best damned Auror England had ever seen, the best of her Majesty's service. And here I was wanting to play quidditch for the rest of my life," I joked but Oromis didn't look impressed as one of my more exciting matches appeared on the screen as I templed my fingers again and thought about my entire career. "Though, I suppose my family should have come first. I loved my family, I did, but I loved my job. I was a lawman, I protected the people I loved, those I didn't… My entire life has been one fight after another, Oromis. I tried to be there for my kids and my wife but I always thought that I could do the most good for the rest of the world as an Auror, I was actually just getting closer to them than I ever had been when… Well, we don't have to talk about that," I said quietly as I thought about the corps and the first picture we took together sprung onto the screen without me even thinking about it.
"And who are they?" Oromis asked quietly. I jerked slightly and realized that the Corps was on screen. I sighed gently as I took in the image one more time. It was taken one night when we were off duty from our normal duties - a man has to have a day job after all, and until the armor was activated we were supposedly normal aurors. We took that picture in a small wizarding restaurant that Parvarti Patil opened in oh-four after she decided that culinary school was for her. Turns out, the Michelin award exists in both the mundane and magical world and somehow Parvarti got two stars in as many years.
"That's the Dragon Corps," I felt the smile on my lips as I reminisced on the good times with the team. "That was my team, the group that I formed to make sure that no other Dark Lords like Voldemort ever rose again."
"And yet you all wear Dragon skin?" Oromis asked disapprovingly. I felt myself frown at the edge in his tone.
"We do, but the dragons of my home were violent, terrible beasts - nothing more. Astraeus is the first that I was actually able to talk to, and I tried to communicate with them but I was attacked by every, single one. Even one I had known since it hatched," I said grimly, making Oromis frown deeper, "fortunately, or unfortunately - depending on your point of view, they had a rather short lifespan for a creature of their size. They could also be killed despite their incredibly tough hides," I said quietly, showing my time against the Horntail in the sham that was the Triwizard tournament.
"This is what passes as a dragon in your home? That is no dragon, that is more similar to a Fanghur than a true dragon," he said disgustedly as he watched the Horntail chase me on my broom.
"Fanghur?" I asked, unaware of the term.
"Wind vipers," Oromis clarified with a small sneer, "they are an endangered species that call the Beor mountains home and are a distant cousin to the dragon. They have wings but are unable to breathe fire like the Dragons, nor do they have legs."
"As you can see, the Horntail certainly has legs and I know - from personal experience - that the damned things can breathe fire. It's almost second to none and, if it weren't for the Short-Snout or - now extinct - Prussian Pyreheart, it would be possess the most powerful dragonfire on the planet."
"Planet?" Oromis asked in surprise. I turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, planet," I said slowly. "Don't tell me everyone thinks the world is flat here, I had enough of that nonsense in my last world."
"We had our suspicions that the world was round but we had no real proof, Rider Potter, other than taking our dragons to their maximum altitude." He said slowly and I just rolled my eyes.
"You know, my people figured out the world was round more than two thousand years ago. They recorded shadows of fixed objects in different parts of the world. What they found was that the shadows at these objects, at high noon, would stretch to different lengths. Thus we had the first idea that the world was round. But, eleven years before I was born, a country managed to put a man on the moon and we found incontrovertible proof it was round," I said with a grin. Oromis' jaw slackened slightly.
"How?" he asked, utterly stunned. I just grinned and pulled up a vision of the SpaceX launch to the Space Station back in twenty-twenty. Oromis leaned back in his chair as he looked at the rocket. "And what is this?"
"This," I said with a bit of pomp, "is called a rocket. This was what put man in space and onto the moon herself, this is the pinnacle of engineering," I said as I grinned slightly as the rocket took off.
"Incredible…" he whispered in awe, "yet also irrelevant for the time being, Rider Potter. Would you allow me to see your time when you entered... Our world?"
"Of course," I said quietly, frowning as I looked up at the screen and focused on those memories. For some reason, the screen was still black even as I tried to enhance the memory. Click. I heard the familiar sound and immediately knew what was happening as the golden ball of light lit up the small corridor I stepped out into after I opened the door.
"A prison ward?" Oromis muttered quietly, trying to put every detail to memory. I just grinned even broader as I stepped into the fake DOM foyer.
"So I assumed," I said with a frown of concentration. "Brace yourself, the things you see may be disturbing." Oromis glanced at me apprehensively as memory-me pushed open the first door to reveal the storage room that I packed away in a matter of seconds. The sage looked impressed but snorted as he read the placard I left for the King. Together, we watched as I stole his office, his armory - arming myself with the sword currently on my hip in reality, the royal treasury, but the most interesting bit was Oromis' reaction to the strange, multifaceted gems was… well, odd wasn't the right word and demented was too strong but it certainly was bizarre. What I did know, was that the elf fell out of his seat and knocked over his chair from reeling so hard as he gasped out a sound somewhere between a landed fish and boar's squeal.
"We need to leave, immediately," Oromis said as he rounded on me with fire in his eyes. Without hesitation I cut us loose from my mindspace and watched as Oromis tried to dive for my pack, I hit him with a quick body bind but caught him before he hit the ground.
"Slowly, you need to tell me what those are if I'm going to help you," I said calmly as the elf took a breath in.
"Indeed… Forgive me, Rider Potter, I forgot myself in my haste. Would you release the magic binding me?" I nodded and did just that, much to the elf's relief. "Thank you, Rider Potter. That was most uncomfortable. But, may I see them?" He asked quietly, hopefully… He honestly sounded like a man who hadn't had hope in centuries and I was handing it to him on a silver platter and still couldn't believe it. I nodded and glanced over at Astraeus, relaying him everything that had just happened while I was sure Glaedr and Oromis were doing the same thing.
I unslung my pack and summoned the gemstones, letting them tumble onto the dirt with that same, strange screech that tore at the wall that was my mental defenses. I growled and just let them enter the second stage, hoping that would be enough to contain the screech for a few seconds. It was. I summoned the elder wand and cast a quick stasis charm on the gems now that I knew that they were the source of the mental invasions - silencing them instantly. As soon as they fell silent, everyone in the clearing let out a quiet sigh of relief - until Glaedr threw his head back and roared a single, mournful note that honestly scared me.
"What are these?" I asked Oromis who looked at the jewels scattered on the ground. But it wasn't Oromis who answered.
"These are Eldunari, young rider," the golden behemoth said quietly as he loomed over me and Astraeus who was now by my side. "Your people have no name for them but a vulgar explanation would be that these are the heart of our hearts. They are a dragon's last defense in the case of death and are a vessel for the mind of the dragon even if the flesh should die. They can be used as a method for dragons to share their knowledge with their progeny but our order used them as a method for rider and dragon to communicate no matter where they were in the world - though only in the direst circumstances. When a dragon hatches, the Eldunari is clear and lackluster, these - as your eyes tell you - are not. A dragon's consciousness can reside in either the skull or within these," the great dragon said gravely. I stared at the glowing gems at my feet in horror as I realized what Galbatorix had done.
"He took these from the dragons he killed," I whispered - the rows upon rows of various sized gems laying at my feet becoming a macabre sight as that realization washed over me.
"Yes," Glaedr said somberly, "but know this, young rider, you may have saved these Eldunari's very souls but they are still enslaved to the Black King." I glanced up at the dragon and smirked slightly.
"Black King… That's fitting… But here's what we're going to do," I said turning back to Oromis who had an eyebrow raised. "I need to know where to find a large slab of granite."
"Beneath our feet," the elf said as he waved his hand, "the rock is the heart of Du Weldenvarden, though I cannot see how it is at all relevant to our situation." I didn't say a word as I knelt on the ground, focusing on what I needed and grinned. With a frown of concentration, I sent a series of Diffindos into the Earth to shape the granite to what I needed it to be, pulling it from the Earth with quick featherweight and levitation charms. I didn't see Oromis' look of wonder as the three by three by three meter cube of granite rose from the Earth. I glanced up and looked at the sun's position and cursed under my breath slightly, this charm was usually best performed under the moonlight or at high noon, but I guess midafternoon will have to do.
Without pausing to think, I reached up to my mokeskin pouch and summoned my rune carving kit Gin got me a few years back. It's old and out of style but sometimes the old stuff works wonders the new stuff just can't compete with. It was just a simple pen knife and stylus but they always did the trick.
"Come back tomorrow morning and I'll let you know," I said with a glance back at the old elf, "this is going to take several hours at least."
"Then I shall stay here and assist you in any way I can, Rider Potter. What is needed of me?" he asked as Glaedr snorted too. I glanced up at the golden dragon before patting Astraeus on the shoulder. He nudged me gently and padded off as I turned back to meet Oromis's steely grey eyes.
"Alright then," I said easily, "first of all…"
XXX
"That took quite some time longer than I had expected, Rider Potter," Oromis said, panting slightly. Gone were his flowing, white robes - long since been replaced by simple woolen leggings and a dark green tunic as he helped me finish this project.
"Would you believe me if I said that was the fastest I was able to do it then?" I asked with a smirk that the elf only returned with an exasperated sigh.
"Indeed… Though we have been fortified with the strength of Dragons, it is still a feat of magic that I never thought to see - nonetheless perform. Never would I have guessed that magic could be channeled through stone or wood as easily as one's own palm."
"It's something my people figured out a long time ago," I said simply as I finished carving and charging the runic arrays on the pillar of granite.
"So this stone supposedly anchors this Fidelius Charm to the area and will allow you to create a shelter for the Eldunari?" He asked, obviously apprehensive over the whole process.
"Better than that," I said with a broad grin. "If this works like I want it to, and based on the calculations it should," I scratched the back of my head with that last word but carried one, "then it will create a bunker for them right where I pulled the heart stone out of."
"Would the stone not fill the hole then?" Oromis asked with a sharply raised eyebrow. I didn't say anything as I looked over his head at the moon almost directly overhead. I took a breath in and started pumping magic into the stone. The elf took a rapid step back as the wardstone pulsed a deep, rich, crimson. I had to fight my own surprise at the color, usually it would be pure white but something's influenced my magic… I didn't even have to look over at the horse sized dragon, that had curled to sleep on the edge of the cliff, to know it was his doing. Intentionally or not, I had to admit the effect was awesome as the wardstone shifted, spun, and condensed into a garnet sphere no wider across than a regulation football but shining almost as brightly as a lumos charm.
"Incredible," Oromis whispered as he stared at the floating ball, utterly transfixed. I felt the earth shake as Glaedr managed to limp his way over to get a better look at the blood red ball lighting up the clearing.
"This shall protect the Eldunari?" the great dragon asked skeptically - as well he should.
"It will," I said confidently. "I've spelled it so that when it's inserted, it will make the actual crypt holding the Eldunari a hundredfold larger than the stone itself was - bloody hard, that was," I muttered slightly, wiping my forehead slightly as I felt my magic reserves fall to what they would be after a rather vigorous mission. While they were low, I could still defend myself with ease. The thing that really worried me was the fact that my core wasn't refilling itself as fast as it had been the entire time I was in the forest. I bit my lip as I thought about what that could mean and came to one conclusion: the wards were using me to power themselves. Which did make sense but they wards should be powered by the environment… I threw my head back and groaned slightly.
"What has happened?" Oromis asked quietly. I sighed and looked him in the eye again.
"I'm going to have to power the Heartstone with the Eldunari - which means that I'll have to free them before we can go any further. The only problem? My magic isn't quite at full capacity, I'm worried that the spell could drain me too fast."
"What would result in complete magical drainage for your people, Rider Potter?" he asked gravely, almost as if he knew the answer but still had to ask it.
"I'd die," I said simply, "but this has to be done or I'll never be at my strongest." I looked at the elf and prayed he understood what I was trying to get at. He nodded slowly before unsheathing the sword at his hip and passing it to me hilt first.
"This is Naegling, the sword Rhunon forged for me when I bonded with Glaedr when I was twenty years of age… For as long as I can remember, I have placed an ounce of strength into the diamond on the pommel and since the fall two elves have fortified it with their strength each day," he said mournfully, "I have not told you of my condition as of yet, and that is due to my ignorance. I am unable to touch my magic for more than a fleeting moment or I am wracked with terrible seizures." The old elf, for the first time, didn't look like the very image of wisdom and strength… In fact he looked ancient, terrified, broken. I swallowed and nodded as I unsheathed my blade and pressed it into the dirt tip first and replaced it with Naegling.
"What happened?" I asked quietly once I looked back up. The elf shuddered slightly before his eyes practically glazed over. I took the sword from his hand and helped him to the ground before he fell.
"I… I was captured," the elf whispered. I winced in sympathy, remembering what horrors Galbatorix inflicted on his prisoners. "Two of my students, both of them Forsworn, captured me at the traitor's command. They had captured me as their dragons did battle with Glaedr, I knew I had to escape or else I would surely die by their hands. I am unsure whether it was a spell that did this to me, if the pain shattered my connection to my magic, or if I willed magic to send me elsewhere to escape and I failed to reconstruct my body correctly." he said quietly, I only nodded as I sat beside him.
"I'm sorry that happened to you… Is that how Glaedr lost his leg?"
"Indeed," Glaedr's rumbling voice said almost directly into my head. "I failed my Rider that day, I shall ever live with the token of my failure," he said indicating his leg. I just sighed and clapped Oromis' shoulder.
"I may be able to help you, but I'll have to go through my notes… One of my teammates - Susan - well, she and my best friend - Hermione - and another one of the team - Neville - found a technique that could potentially reconnect you to your magic. Here's the problem, I'm not a healer. Never learned any of the techniques or anything in depth beyond first aid," I said apologetically but the Old Elf's eyes were wide with hope.
"I… I could be whole?" he whispered like an awestruck child.
"Possibly," I said. Oromis's smile lit up the clearing as Glaedr tilted his head back and roared his triumph to the heavens, "and I know I can help Glaedr," I said with a smirk.
"Pray tell, Harry," Oromis said with the smile even broader.
"Well, it wouldn't be organic but I could make him a prosthetic out of metal. He would be able to use it as easily as any other one of his appendages, I've had since my fourth year of Hogwarts to figure it out too," I said with a grin. Voldemort was one sick fuck but he did have some incredible spells - especially the metal hand he gave Wormtail. It may have choked the bastard in the end but what goes around comes around. I reverse engineered it with Hermione (unsurprisingly) drooling at the implications of being able to give someone a fully functioning appendage again. That was one of the few things magic couldn't do, regrow limbs. Apparently, they had tried but it turned out so gruesome that the man who had his hand regrown took one look at it and reamputated it himself and asked the doctor to just seal the stump but, of course, those were only rumors.
"This would be acceptable, Rider Potter, but not until Oromis is reunited with his magic," the old dragon said quietly, I nodded as a snore from Astraeus broke the silence. I just rolled my eyes at the lazy beast.
"Then we have an accord?" I asked as I reached out my hand. The elf's eyes were wide as he slowly reached up and clasped my forearm.
"We do, Harry," the elf said with hope and determination blazing in his eyes.
"Good," I said with a grin before my eyes flickered back to the Eldunari sitting in the dirt, "but that is for tomorrow, the Eldunari are our concern right now." Oromis's eyes hardened as he looked at the glowing gems.
"Yes, what are we to do with them?" he asked quietly.
"I was hoping you'd tell me how to tap into the sword's strength before I placed the Fidelius Charm on the bunker, that's the last step before the Heartstone can actually work it's magic." I said as I looked over at the pulsing gem hovering in the air, now pulsing more frequently than before. I felt my eyes widen before I felt for my core and realized that it had found an equilibrium. I sighed knowing we only had a few moments before the Heartstone actually started draining my strength. "We must do this quickly."
"Aye," Oromis said. "you will have to reach out with your mind, find the stone," he said, walking over to the heartstone. "You will take the energy into yourself, let it reinforce you, strengthen you, to your best but take no more than necessary," he said seriously as he placed his hand on one side of the Heartstone as I placed my hand on another, summoning an Eldunari and chaining them all together with a spell that Neville taught me - he used it to make sure that his plants grew constantly but I found a way to invert the spell, using it to make sure that the Dragon Corps could share energy if we needed to. Not all of us were magically equal after all and magical exhaustion on the job was not an option. Oromis and I had talked about this part of the ritual in depth before I ever started carving the runes, he wanted to know every detail and I agreed.
I frowned but did as he said, reaching out for the stone. It wasn't too much unlike Legilimency just a bit broader. I felt my mind press outward, reaching into the clearing for signs of anything if it was in a few inches of me. I gasped as I saw the Quasar of power sitting in the Heartstone and then the star sitting at my hip. I reached into the star, diverting it into my core and gasping as it filled it to the brim in seconds. I didn't cut the connection but kept the equilibrium of drain to flood gate as I focused on what I wanted to do next.
"Oromis of Ellesmera," I said as I felt my magic suddenly… Tighten? Coil? I'm not sure what happened but it felt like the clearing and my magic had all tensed in anticipation of what was to come. "Into your hands I entrust this knowledge, do you accept this responsibility? To protect it with your very soul?"
"I so do."
"Then hear me now, Oromis, partner of Glaedr," usually, the parents would be named here but I had forgotten to ask him, right up until I felt the knowledge drift into my head, "third born son of Elia and Legulios of Ellesmera, and understand the knowledge you are to defend vi et animo, with heart and soul."
"So mote it be," he said tightly, obviously feeling the magic in the clearing intensify.
"The Vault of the Eldunari lies before the Hut of the Mourning Sage," I said, my voice ringing through the clearing but I had barely said the words above a whisper. Oromis' eyes widened as the Heartstone shone like the moon itself.
"The Vault of the Eldunari lies before the Hut of the Mourning Sage, this I shall defend vi et animo. Go, Harry, son of James Croitine, son of Lily Victoria, son of Potter. Go and know this secret shall be held for all my days, so mote it be," he said and the clearing exploded in Crimson light.
"What… What happened?" I asked as I looked around for the wardstone I was just working on before I saw my sword tip down in the dirt to my right. I looked down at the sword on my hip and saw Oromis's golden sword hanging there. I shook my head and looked around for the Old Elf and saw him lying on the ground face down, seizing. I jumped to my feet and ran over to him to try and see what I could do. Glaedr roared over us as he limped closer. I knelt beside the seizing elf and turned him on his side, hitting him with a light stunner to try and get him to stop. It worked, barely. I sighed in relief as Astraeus finally got up from his place on the precipice and meandered over to the three of us.
"What has happened?" he asked quietly as he nosed Oromis's stomach gently.
"This is the Bone-Blight that has afflicted him since that night," the great golden dragon said sadly as he laid down with his head right beside Oromis's - strangely like a rather large dog beside his master. As soon as the thought crossed my mind I felt Astraeus agree with it. It wasn't the posture of a proud dragon, it wasn't even the image of a dragon at all. Dragons didn't protect their young like that, they would stand over them or before them, ready to fight any opponent that might come. Not lay beside them like a dog.
These are the last of the great riders? Astraeus asked directly into my mind in disgust. They are broken unlike any others. We cannot be like them.
'No,' I replied, 'we can't, not if these people ever want to be truly free…' I looked down at the Elf who was stirring. I pressed my hand to his forehead and cast a silent enerverate. He woke up with a gasp as he rolled onto his hands and knees and started shaking slightly, but not in another seizure - thankfully.
"By Stars and Dragonfire," he whispered as he stared into the grass before settling onto his knees, "never, in all my years, have I seen magic that powerful, nor could I have contemplated it…" he said as he looked up at me. I was slightly confused until I finally realized what was going on. I drew the sword at my hip and handed it to the elf.
"We cast a Fidelius charm didn't we?" the elf looked slightly surprised but said:
"The Vault of the Eldunari lies before the Hut of the Mourning Sage," and my memories came flooding back. I staggered slightly and shook my head as I watched the process from the condensing of the Heartstone up to the casting of the Charm.
"That will never be any easier," I said, rubbing my temples gently before looking at the now marble covered slab in the dirt. I couldn't help the grin that split my face before it slipped away. "And now for the hard part," I grunted as I summoned the Elder wand and focused on the Eldunari who were now powering the ward scheme. "Regnum Finite Malus, Finite Incantatem Omni," I barked as Oromis watched me work in wide eyed wonder. I thought this would be sort of difficult, a bit of power to break through the curses layered on the Eldunari, a bit of power to get rid of the other things binding them - how wrong I was. In an instant, I felt my strength drop to a near critical level as a wave of crimson light pulsed from my wand. I found myself trying to tap into Oromis's sword and connected to it without a second thought, draining it like a whirlpool. My eyes widened at the bindings holding the Eldunari and realized something about them, they were chained together - and not by me. To break even one I had to break them all at once. I ground my teeth and focused on pouring all the strength I could into liberating the Eldunari. Moments stretched into eternity as the sword was all but drained and I was sapped to the breaking point but suddenly there was a roar of Triumph that tore into my mind like a whirlwind. I was too tired to fight it off but the invasion wasn't malicious, it was hopeful - thankful even. I felt strength flooding back into my body and core itself but it came far too late to help as the edges of my vision dimmed and I fell face first into the grass with Astraeus at my side desperately trying to get me back to my feet as the world faded to black.
