This took monger to get out then I would have liked but it's twice as long as the previous chapters.
Not that much action unfortunately but Ulan motivation for kidnapping Harry is explained, two more characters are introduced as are a few other concepts.
Entropy 3
Brooklynight
Chapter 2
Ulan glazed down at the unconscious boy at his feet. 'A necessary evil' he though, imagining what this boy was about to go through because of his actions. However he had more pressing concerns.
He had not originally planned to kidnap the child, seeing the boy's family however changed his mind. They were obviously not natives and did seem like the sort that would enjoy a vacation in Easter Europe. Having no idea how long the family would stay before moving onto a more favorable destination he was forced to act quickly.
He put those thoughts to the back of his mind. He stuck out his hand and cast a quick deterrence ward. The lack of any preparation, power source or even a proper structural foundation no to mention his own lack of magical skill meant that it wouldn't last for more the a few minutes, he wouldn't need much more.
Turning his attention to the boy he put his hand inside his jacket and pulled out a wand, nine inches long, rather battered and ill maintained. Pointing at the boy he intoned, "Dormitus" and watched as a blue haze settled over him.
'Crude yet Effective,' he though of the spell, which was nothing more then a simple calming charm, just more powerful.
Seeing that the boy was properly sedated Ulan conjured a large duffle bag with a wave of his wand. He unzipped the bag, put his wand aside, leaned down and scooped the boy into his arms and placed him into the bag just as he would some valuable commodity.
After zipping up the bag he picked up his wand and began to draw.
He began by waving his wand in a circular motion. A small pulsating golden ring formed. Bringing up his other hand he stretched it into a circle until it was four feet in diameter, long enough to place around the boy.
After dropping the circle around the boy he put he reached into his lapel pocket and took out a small hard cover book about the size of the pocket bible that religious types tended to always have on them.
Opening the well worn cover he began to flip through the dog eared pages until he came upon the page he was looking for. In the runic language in which the book was written the top of the page had the word Travel written atop of it. On the page there was a set of clearly written and step by step instructions.
Holding the book in one hand and his wand in the other he began to trace the runes described, in the same manner as the circle. First came the traveler, he selected the rune which corresponded to 250 pounds; he figured that would be approximately the combined weight of the boy and himself.
Next he traced the rune for his destination, this one he had long ago memorized among along with several others, knowing that the translations would take too long for him to do. Under the section with destination was a sub section with accuracy. This determined how far away from the original coordinates the passenger would be deposited. He picked a rune that provided accuracy to within 50 meter, figuring that any more would be a waste of power.
Distance was next in line. Ulan figured that five kilometers was more then adequate. He didn't want risk serious injury by going for the 10k rune.
The basic instructions ended there but Ulan flipped to an appendix and looked up one of the few 'intelligent' runes that his guide contained. This particular one was labeled 'counter detection.' This rune provided that the passenger would be deposited as far away from another person as possible, keeping within the original parameters.
As he began to draw the final rune he saw a wrinkle in the air above his head. 'Its cracking,' he though of his earlier ward. He concentrated on the rune he was in the middle of with increased intensity.
When he was done Harry was surrounded by a shimmering runic ring. If he had done everything correctly the final step would be simple, at least Ulan hoped.
He unfastened his tie and reached inside his shirt for a small phial containing a small quantity of blood.
Ulan uncorked the phial and poured the liquid in equal amounts onto each of the runes. Standing up he admired his work for a moment before fixing his clothes before stepping into the circle and standing with one leg on either side of the bag.
Placing his hands together he closed his eyes and concentrated on calling his magic to the surface. After ten seconds a small white orb began to appear in between his palms. The orb finished forming to take the shape of a large pearl. Ulan had opened his eyes. Releasing the ball from his hands but not his mind he watched float in the air before him. Inhaling he released the ball from his mind.
There was a faint flash of light, in the place were Ulan had stood, once it dissipated there was no sign of their presence.
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Vernon Dursley was getting more and more frustrated by the minute. "Where has that infernal boy gone!" he demanded of his wife.
"I haven't a clue Vernon, he ought to be here by now" replied his wife who was preoccupied with her son.
Vernon was not a man who tolerated lateness, especially from his good for nothing nephew. Glancing at his watch again he grew angrier, according to his original plans he was supposed to be in his hotel room by this time getting ready for a meeting.
"If that brat doesn't show his face within the next five minute we're leaving dear," he finally declared.
"Yes Vernon," she replied not looking up from her son who managed to get some sort of pudding on his chin.
Five minutes passed and Vernon true to his word releasing the break on the baggage trolley and started moving towards the customs desk.
"Are we leaving him here?" Petunia asked out of a desire to know not compassion.
"Let the embassy deal with him."
After clearing customs the Dursley family made their way out of the airport and to the curb where a long line of taxies was assembled.
Glancing for the last time in the direction of the terminal Vernon Dursley grinned seeing that the boy wasn't coming.
Walking up to the first available cab Vernon ushered his family into the door opened by the driver. While waiting for his bags to be placed in the back he thought 'Perhaps this assignment won't be all that bad after all.'
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In the Central Warsaw Station the last door on the eastern side of the ticket platform lead to a rest room with an 'out of order' sign hung on it.
Inside a soft glow came out from in front of the sinks. When it faded Ulan and his bag appeared, in the exact same position they had been in the book story.
Ulan, relieved to have his mind in one piece as well as his conscious picked up his bag and headed towards the door. Unbuttoning his shirt collar before he left the wash room he entered the main ticket plaza.
He scanned the numbers above each of the cashiers until he saw it, number 11, maybe 60 meters in front of him. As he walked towards it he looked at the train schedule located above the kiosks next to it was a ticker which displayed the date, the 5th of August, a Wednesday. In the column labeled departures he saw that there were three trains leaving to Russia that day. One to Moscow in an hour, another to St. Petersburg in two and a half and a third to Volgograd at midnight.
When he approached the ticket window he was met by rather grotesque woman.
"Were to?" she greeted.
"First class to Vladivostok."
"Have you read the schedule?"
"Certainly"
"Which available ticket do you wish to purchase sir?"
"Vladivostok, this Friday the tenth"
"Cabin preference?"
"Number 12 if available"
"Method of payment?"
"Wire transfer"
"Come around back to make the arrangement, the door is to your left."
Without replying Ulan picked up his bag and headed to towards the entrance to the cashier's terminal, knowing perfectly well where it was.
Ulan opened the door to the bust terminal but his presence didn't alert the attention of the workers. He walked with his bag towards the back, finally stopping in front of a door labeled 'mechanical closet.'
He paused in front of the door to reach inside his jacket pocket and retrieve a silver ring, with a wolf engraved on it, which he put on his index finger.
Pushing the door open he found himself in a room filled with some sort of buzzing machinery and slowly dripping pipes. Walking over to a shelf filled with tools he moved it aside with ease.
Ulan gazed at the gapping hole in the wall which he uncovered; walking to the edge he looked down before stepping in.
Wind rushed through Ulan's hair as he fell, after several seconds Ulan stepped out of the shaft as simply as he had stepped in.
He stepped put onto the same room which he had originally entered. When he walked out the door that had originally lead to the cahier's terminal he instead entered a rather large, dimly lit and well appointed room.
To the left and right of him there were more doors, just like the one he walked out of. Along the walls there were 12 stone monuments. Each was simply designed, a square base supporting a circular structure which bore an inscription. Towards the center of the room there was a desk behind which sat a thin woman who looked like she was in her early forties, wearing a dark purple robe.
Walking to her she turned her attention toward Ulan.
"It's been a while since you've come around these parts; I was told you spend most of your time in the east these days."
The corners of Ulan's lips twitched upon hearing the familiar voice. "I try to avoid the central passage, today I am forced to make an exception."
"What ever for?" she asked with a smile, knowing how much Ulan hated his plans getting diverted.
"Have to make a delivery," he replied bluntly making it clear that he wasn't going to provide a more definite answer.
"Very well" she replies then added, cheekily "You know the way or shall I call an escort?"
Ulan simply glared at the woman before walking past away. He walked past the desk till he reached another door, on either side of which stood a six foot tall statue of a veiled sentry.
The breeze caught Ulan's face as he walked out the door onto a busy cobble stone street. When he looked behind him he saw that the sign on the door labeled it as the exit to the customs office of Alijon Port.
He was in them middle of crowded street, his clothes distinguishing him from the rest from those around him. Every one wore robes, more similar to muggle clothing then the robes preferred by their wizard relatives. Looking to his right he saw in the distance the piers where long shore men where hard at work unloading ships. The most common of these ships were simple freighters, wooden hulled vessels; instead of masts they had a sort of sail. It was in the shape of an elongated oval and self supporting. Past the trading ships a patrol boat was making its rounds. It had a trimaran hull and seemed to be powered by the outriggers.
Walking away from the custom's office Ulan headed towards an inn.
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The "Harlot" was a mid sized establishment with 30 rooms. It had a reputation as a place were a foreign seaman or a man down on his luck could spend a night with being hassled by the authorities, employers or bankers. When Ulan entered none of the inhabitants of the lobby paid him any attention. While the majority of the guests were from the lower rungs of society it was also known to be a haven for business men looking for a distraction away from the attention of their wives.
The man sitting behind the desk took Ulan's request for a room and wrote it down in the registry before handing it to Ulan for his signature, who signed as Humphrey Wilkinson. After taking the upfront payment for a single night in a single occupancy room, he handed Ulan a key which gave him access to room 23 until noon tomorrow.
Ulan walked up the stairs to the second floor and found his room down the hall. The room was rather small 20x20 feet with a small wash room attached. Putting his bag with the boy down on the bed he walked over to the small multi purpose table a pulled out the drawer to find a few sheets of plain paper the inn provided for letter, will, writing.
Taking a pen out of his pocket he wrote a short note and headed out the door, risking leaving the boy alone for a moment in exchange for not being suspicious. Walking back down the stairs to the lobby and into the small side office of the secretary where he was greeted by a single aging man sitting behind a machine similar of a muggle teletype.
"Messages sent for a quarter stone a word"
Ulan wasn't surprised by the steep price, as this place didn't have any competition for their services. Ulan handed the man the note which he had written up.
The man raised his eyebrows as he began type the message on the keyboard.
As the man was typing Ulan reached his hand into his jacket and put it on the handle of his wand. As soon as he saw the man press the button that transmitted his message Ulan whipped out his wand in a practiced motion and shot out an unruly purple jet of magic at the secretary's head.
Ulan walked around the desk and pushed the now dazed man out from it front of it. He collected his note and typed a few commands into the machine, erasing its memory. He replaced the man to his original position and walked out the door. The secretary regained his awareness a minute latter but had no recollection of his last customer.
Ulan walked back into his room and turned his attention to the bag. He unzipped it and saw that the boy was still soundly asleep. After casting a quick spell to reinforce the affects of the original he zipped up the bag and pulled it off the bed and put in on the ground. He himself got up on the bed and looked up and pressed against the ceiling with the palms of his hands. The tile that he pressed against easily moved aside.
He took his wand out and applied a strengthening charm to the wires holding the ceiling up. With that done he reached for the bag and placed it in the crawl space and replaced the tile that he had removed.
He had done his part and the boy's future and possibly his daughter's her out of his hands. He put his wand away and left the inn. Once on the street he headed towards the customs office and home.
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30 minutes ago
In the northern end of the capital city, past were the administrative district ended a forest began on the border of which a gate house stood guarding the entrance to a path. The sentry on duty noticed a man approaching. The man stood five and a half feet tall and weighted some 250 pounds, despite his age the only fat in this man's body was from his lunch.
As he drew closer the sentry started to see the face of the man approaching. Recognizing the face of man he snapped to attention, he was somewhat of a legend to him and his fellow classmates at the academy. He was the only person ever born and raised in none magical society to make in onto the guard, let alone onto the white coats.
"Good Afternoon Sir," said the sentry as the man approached.
"Cadet," he responded politely.
Walking up the path Kasimere was thinking about the lecture that he was scheduled to give today. Ever since his retirement last year he still worked for the government as a consultant, better hours and better pay it wasn't much of a decision. Today he was supposed to talk to group of hopefuls about Magical Dominance Theory or MDT as it was commonly known, he helped craft the doctrine. He hoped to stop by former commander's office to catch up first though.
He had a perfectly normal childhood in a small farming village in central Poland, or at least so it was in his heart. Growing up just outside of Krakow the ancient capital within sight of the towers of Wawel Castle he considered his land to be Polish no matter what flag it was under at the time.
Growing up in the country he had learned to ride before he knew how to walk and his greatest ambition was to become a Calvary Man just as his ancestors had been, a dream he did manage to accomplish, joining the force at the age of twenty, his mother's death leaving him free of the financial responsibilities that forced him to remain on the farm.
After he joined in 1918 he moved up the ranks rather quickly as his commanders recognized his superior riding skill as well talent with a saber. He maintained that do this day no one could best in a dual. He remembered a day, years after his horse riding days, when one particularly cocky vampire challenged him. Kasimere was inclined to decline on principle alone but wanted the challenge that the dual wielding pest posed. Despite a rather badly sprained ankle Kasimere came out on top, leaving a disemboweled creature in his wake.
He was a lieutenant by the Polish-Bolshevik war were he earned his stripes and moved up to captain by the time of the German invasion. It was at Krojanty a small village on the frontier during the Second World War that he was introduced to the Eternal Guard, with which he was to spend all his life, up until last year with, and in front of whose fortress he now stood.
Avoiding the front doors and the guards he made his way to a side entrance and walked into the familiar building. He navigated the corridors until he found himself in a long hall. It was covered in the most pristine white marble from floor to ceiling. On either side of him stood the sculptures of the men who had previously occupied the office he was headed towards. They were arranged in chronological order. Each was dressed in an immaculate uniform and a sword dangled from each man's side. Each of them had a ring on their left index finger. The names of these men nor their accomplishment were anywhere to be seen. It was presumed that anybody in the heart of this building knew all these facts by heart.
At the end of the hall stood the statue of a large feline bearing the mark of the guard on its right shoulder. Approaching the statue Kasimere stroked its head fondly bringing memories of his days in the service to the surface.
"Let me in" he asked the feline kindly.
In response the statue bowed its head before walking out of the way to reveal what looked to be yet another slab of marble. Kasimere simply put his hand forward and seemingly reached into the marble and pulled the slab aside as if weighed nothing.
The slab revealed the entrance to a rather small and very comfortably decorated office. In its center there stood a desk with two chairs in front of it which was currently unoccupied. A light emitted from a corner of the office were a man was sitting in an overstuffed chair, with his feet up on an ottoman. In one hand he held a lit cigar while in the other he held the book he was reading.
Once he noticed his old friend in the door way he put the book down on a table nearby and the cigar in an ashtray on the same table and walked over to greet him.
"Kaz, its been a while," he greeted warmly taking the man's hand.
"Indeed it has, Lenox," replied Kasimere in agreement.
Lenox lead his friend over to were he was previously seated and offered him his seat before pulling up another chair for himself.
"Glad that you decided to stay with us," Lenox told his friend as he walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a decanter full of brandy and two glasses. He walked over to the chair that he previously pulled up and put the two glasses on the table and poured half a glass of brandy for each of them. He offered a glass to Kaz along with a cigar he pulled out of a humidifier.
"Didn't have much of a choice, did I now?" replied Kaz with a smile. "Couldn't let you turn the next generation of the world's finest warriors into a bunch of spell chucking, lead spitting idiots?"
"As opposed to swash buckling morons?" Lenox retorted before taking his seat.
Kaz simply raised his glass in response. "How is the latest class, any hope for the future?"
Lenox thought for a moment before answering. "Magically they're sound; the infantry men have the obvious advantage, as do they in the firearms department. The cavalry initially took the lead in riding but were soon surpassed by the navy men surprisingly enough. Now as far as…"
Lenox was about to continue but was cut of by Kaz, "You're avoiding the question."
"They are weaker in close quarters then I am comfortable with them being."
Satisfied, Kaz simply stated, "That's why I'm here."
"I don't see what the problem is really, average weight of 195, height of six feet, there's no reason that they should be having the problems they're having."
"How bad are they?"
"Not terrible they manage to get through the standard infantry penetration course well enough, last week we were putting them through a counter-sniper exercise at the farm"
"And…"
"Not a single survivor"
"Ouch, how the hell dose that happen, I leave you boys alone for a year and this happens, once again how?" replied Kaz rather disgusted actually.
"Don't flatter yourself; we widened the kill field this year, still that doesn't explain this year's massacre, their reaction time isn't the best, I figure we fix that and they'll be in top shape."
Kaz was about to ask why he was lecturing about MDT when there seemed to be bigger problems that needed to be addressed but didn't have the chance to because of a sudden uproar in the fireplace in the far corner of the office.
The fire roared with a red flame that drew the attention of the two men in the room and signaled that classified information was about to come through. Lenox walked up to the fire and put his hand in the fire and pulled out a piece of paper. He read it before turning to Kaz.
"It's from Ulan"
That got Kaz's attention, "what dose he want?" Kaz asked surprised Ulan and Lenox weren't on the best of terms and while their lines of work were connected they rarely actually spoke.
"He has a package that he needs picked up."
"How do his muggle dealings have anything to do with us?"
"Besides the fact that his organization wouldn't exist without us?"
Kaz didn't respond, clearly not amused.
"Its human cargo."
This really got Kaz's attention, "When did he graduate from gun runner to slave master?"
Lenox leveled his eyes at his friend, "It's a young boy."
"Child pornographer?" Kaz replied trying to keep a straight face.
Lenox had forgotten the how much of a pain in the ass Kaz could be, especially talent for making a joke of the most serious situation.
"He says that he thinks that this kid could hold the key to curing his daughter."
This sobered Kaz up entirely, "Then I should probably handle this job my self, I would imagine you have a people to contact."
Lenox nodded in agreement and handed the sheet of paper to Kaz who left the room. Lenox walked over to the fireplace which served as a sort of in house intercom and put in call to the medical wing to summon the best healers available and followed that up with a call to his colleagues.
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After Ulan left the inn he walked down to the customs office and retraced his steps, this time finding himself in the train station of the Baltic port city of Szczecin. He walked out side a station to see a car waiting for him.
He walked up to the black Mercedes to see that there were two men waiting in front of.
"How are you boss?" greeted the older of the men who opened to rear door for him.
"Rather well actually."
"Going home sir?" asked the younger man who got into the driver's side door while the other took the passenger's seat.
Ulan didn't respond and simply nodded before looking in the direction of the man in the passenger's seat and saying, "Kamil, did I miss anything while I was gone?"
"Not a thing boss."
"Good"
The car drove off and pulled in front of a two storied house in a quiet neighborhood. The house was one of a series of similarly looking houses. They were reminders of when the city was still a part of Germany.
Ulan got out of his car and closed the behind him before walking up to his house and, checking the mail and walking inside.
Ulan's wife Caroline greeted him as he walked in the door. "How was England?"
"It was successful."
Caroline a tall brunette simply nodded, despite not saying much, she saw the uncharacteristic smile on her husband's face.
"Where's Eli?" asked Ulan
"She's not having the best day today, she's in her room watching TV."
Without replying to his wife Ulan walked up the stairs and walked into his daughter's room which was next to his own. He found his daughter bundled up in a pastel colored blanket, holding her favorite teddy bear and looking absentmindedly at the TV on a dresser in front of her bed.
"How are you feeling honey?" asked Ulan gently as he sat down on her bed.
"Okay daddy." Eli answered softly as he turned to face her father. She was a pretty four, soon to be five year old girl. She had light brown hair and deep blue eyes. Her skin was an almost ghostly white and her eyes unfocused.
"That's good," Ulan said quietly as he looked at his daughter. She looked worse today then she usually did. She had her bad days and her good ones, today was the former. Eli was diagnosed with a sort of lycanthropy. She was never bitten by a werewolf but had a genetic variant of the disease meaning that one of her blood relations was a werewolf, her grandmother from her mother's side.
Instead of the usual symptoms of monthly transformations Eli's strain of the disease attacked her from the inside. On full moons the disease took effect and ravaged the girl's blood cells, leaving her anemic susceptible to disease.
The disease lives and multiplies in the blood so the obvious treatment would be a series of blood transfusions to swap out her blood. The problem was the magical aspect of the disease. Magic was present in ever cell of every person's body, its level decided if a person would be able to access it. The higher the level the more dependent a person was on it for their survival. At the level were a person could perform magic they were dependent on their magic for survival. A person's blood was a part of their magical nature. This magic was highly individual to each person.
This was the problem with the obvious treatment. If another person's blood was introduced to a magically gifted person's body in significant amounts then the resulting reaction of magic would be so volatile that the recipient to the transfusion would die a very painful deaf.
Ulan hoped that the boy could be solution to the problem.
"I have to take care of a few things and I'll come up later, okay?" Ulan said leaving his daughter's room.
He spent the rest of the day down stairs, hopefully optimistic. A few hours after nightfall he was roused from the couch by a knock on his door.
When he opened the door he was met by a man and a woman, both appeared to be in their twenties. Both were dressed in black slacks, black turtle necks, matching black jackets and wore the guard's trademark combat boots.
"Ulan Sapper?" asked the woman.
"This is he." Ulan answered
"We were sent to escort you and your family for tonight ceremony." replied the man.
It took all of Ulan's time developed self control not to embrace to man.
"Would you like to come inside?" he asked the pair.
"No, thank you sir that's quite alright, we'll wait here," answered the man.
Ulan walked back inside and told his wife to get herself and Eli ready while he went to his bedroom. He put on a fresh suit, with a dark red shirt and a black tie. He then knelt by his closet and pushed a few boxes aside until he came upon an old shoe box. Taking it out he opened it to find an old pair of boots. They were black, made of some sort of leather and were eight inches tall. The soles were made of thicker yet very pliable leather. Ulan put these on and laced them up with a solemn look on his face.
He the walked over to his dresser and pulled out the first drawer. He pulled out his trusted pistol and pulled back the slide in a practiced motion. Next he reached back into the drawer and pulled out two magazines, one went into his coat pocket and the second he pushed into the handle of his meticulously maintained Model 1911 Colt 45. He put the Colt in shoulder holster and walked down stairs.
His wife and daughter were waiting for him in the foyer and they followed him as he walked out the door. The pair were waiting for him and the walked out in front of Ulan and his family and lead the way to a waiting SUV.
AN: Should I include the scene were Kaz retrieves Harry?
Should I include any more Dursley scenes?