The Phoenix, The Sword, and the Tunnel
By: bigo4190
Disclaimer: I do not own this. All the differing events and other changes are mine, but the original ideas belong to J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis
Speaking: "Blah"
Thinking: 'Blah'
Original Book Scene Quoted: Blah
Chapter 2
"Confound that bird! He has some plan of where he wants us to go, but leaves before he's lead us for more then a few minutes. And now that we're here, I doubt we can turn back. The tunnel will most likely keep us out, just like Slytherin couldn't enter, but now we're on the other side, who knows where we are." The two had by now come just to the mouth of the cave, and as their eyes adjusted to the bright, harsh light of day, they realized that the sun was beating down over a desert. "A desert? What kind of tunnel is this, we couldn't have walked more than 500 feet and we shouldn't even be at ground level yet." Ginny was beginning to panic again, and Harry still slightly uncomfortable around her in general, knew he couldn't handle her in a breakdown.
"Ginny. Ginny, calm down! Just because Fawkes has gone now doesn't mean anything bad, in fact, I'll go so far as to hope it's a good sign. He came when we where in the worst trouble, and has stayed nearby since. If he's left us now, maybe we're safe for a little while." Harry of course didn't feel nearly as confident as he sounded, but he did believe what he had said, at least in some small way.
Ginny draws a deep and slightly shuddering breath as she calms down. "I suppose your right Harry, but that doesn't mean I have to like the fact that Fawkes has just up and left."
"That's fine, but let's see if we can figure out why he led us here in the first place." With a nod from his companion, Harry steps out of the cave to lead the search for what ever the reason that Fawkes had brought them to this place was.
At first, the two found little in the area to show why they may have been brought there; nothing could be found around them save for a few more caves, though they did not enter those, for fear that they may lead them some other place, or perhaps lead to the den of some fell beast as foul as the basilisk so recently slain by Harry. Soon though, they found themselves growing uncomfortably warm in the armor they had been told to wear; and yet, as soon as this thought had crossed their minds, and before the thought of calling the armor off of them had occurred, they found themselves cooling off, though the oppressive heat of the desert sun still rained down upon them.
"Well, when Slytherin said that they were charmed to best aid their masters he meant it. Imagine, strong armor that isn't too heavy, and not to hot."
"Harry, it's magic; of course it's convenient. But we still haven't found anything that even remotely resembles a reason that we would need to come, as Slytherin's note seemed to suggest us suddenly finding the Vault would mean." However, before Harry could even reply, they suddenly heard a sound in the distance. With only a quick glance, the two decide that perhaps they should go and see what was causing the noise, which had come again in the meantime.
As the two are reaching the peak of the next dune, the noise comes again, much closer this time, and suddenly they realize it is the sound of an animal in pain. When they can see down the other side, they find a man, if even that old, for he looked no older than 13, leading a wounded horse into the shade offered by the mouth of another of the caves that dot the area. The man looks up briefly and sees them, and quickly withdraws further into the cave, as if frightened.
"I don't think we can do anything to help him, but we should at least go down there." Harry squares his shoulders and begins a descent towards the cave, but Ginny stops him.
"Wait, Harry. Didn't you see; he seemed frightened of us? He can't be that much older than us, but we're wearing full armor, and just enough of the sun is behind us he probably has no idea what we look like."
"You're right about that Ginny, so what should we do, he might be frightened of us now, but who know what he may be going through, if we go down there without the armor, he could attack. We'll take it slow and try and show that we don't mean any harm." Again Harry begins toward the cave, but this time, Ginny follows close behind.
As soon as they reach level with the cave mouth and begin to approach, the voice of its occupant calls out: "Please, don't come any closer, I have nothing of value except my wounded horse."
"We aren't robbers, and we came down to see if we could help you." Even as Harry says this, he enters into the shadow of the cave and has to stop while his eyes adjust to being in the shadow once more. Once he could see, he knew that the boy in front of him was just that, a boy not more than a year older than Harry himself, and he realized, that the boy now could tell that he was in fact the older and larger of the people in the cave.
"What can you do to help me? It looks like you are younger than me, though you do have that fancy armor, and it is unlike anything I have ever seen."
"Really, we can't do much except offer extra hands, neither of us has ever cared for a horse. We came because we could hear your horse's cry's and we thought it would be the right thing to do to help." Ginny looked to Harry here, as if asking if she should tell the boy any more; Harry responded with a slight shake of his head. "Other then that, we really don't have much more to say, we only arrived in these parts early today, and no nothing about anyone, or anything in the area."
"Then you must have come through one of the mysterious caves, such as the one my grandfather tells of his grandfather coming through, along with the rest of the original members of our tribe." Harry and Ginny were stunned to hear that there were at least legends of others coming through caves such as the one that had brought them here. "Do you know of any way to go back, we have almost nothing here, but before we realized the terrible conditions of this place our ancestors had forgotten the location of the cave, and none they entered led anywhere."
"I'm sorry. We were lead into the cave by the pet of one of our teachers, and it disappeared as soon as we passed through the cave. From a note we found when entering the cave, I feel that we won't go back until we have done whatever it is we are supposed to do." Suddenly, a flash of fire in the corner of the cave above the horse heralds the arrival of Fawkes. "Speaking of our guide, there he is again." Fawkes swoops down to the horse, and begins to cry over the wounded ankle of the horse.
The boy starts towards his horse, but is stopped by Harry, "Don't worry, his tears heal, it's already saved my life earlier." Fawkes, now that the horse has recovered, turns to his charges and appears to nod. Lifting off the ground, he flies out of the cave and heads east, towards the mountain just visible in the distance. "I suppose that we're done here, and he wants us to go that way next. We may never see each other again, but I was glad to meet you. I'm Harry and this is Ginny."
"I am called Miraz, and I shall hope always that we meet again, so that I may repay your kindness. But I must warn you, though your miraculous guide bird may have no trouble, the land to the east is treacherous, and few that head towards the mountain come back, and they tell of the demise of their companions."
With these last ominous words, the two set off to wherever Fawkes was ultimately leading them too.