Chapter 8
The Fight For The Stone
Drakan had gone to get the stone himself, he had sent his spy back to the rise to maintain the post of spy for a little while longer so that incase he could not get the stone himself the spy might be able to. Drakan had not come alone he brought his two most trusted servants. James had agreed to come without a hesitation, why he seemed so willing Drakan wasn't quite so sure. Perhaps he wanted to duel his son, or perhaps kill his son, or perhaps he just wanted the chance to prove himself after the failure of the trap. The other was his second in command, and his most loyal servant Drakan had. Glen had served Drakan for as long as he could, Glen had even followed Drakan into exile after the dark lord fell sixteen years ago. No one had Drakan's trust like Glen did.
As Drakan was not able to be given the exact location of the stone he would have to hope to find the cave before Horbey was able to, and hope that they did not stumble onto each other causing any kind of fight that could end Drakan's chances of being able to get the stone.
The three death eaters had appeared north of London in an open field. The lights of the city shone brightly still though they were miles away. On the opposite side of the city there was a large expanse of field, and beyond that a mountain range could be seen, it was nearing dusk and the sun was at the tops of the mountains that were off in the distance. Ahead of them was the stone that would give Drakan the power to become the strongest wizard alive second only perhaps to his dark lord, and maybe even give Drakan the power to defeat the dark lord. "I must not get ahead of myself" Thought Drakan as he ushered his two followers on to the mountain range. Off in the distance a loud howl could be heard, Drakan looked up and noted that there was a full moon.
"Make sure to watch out, it's a full moon. Werewolves could be out, I don't want one sneaking up on us so be careful." Drakan said firmly. His two subjects gave quiet agreements to be careful and they set off quickly to try and reach the mountain range. Horbey was probably already in there looking for the chamber. Hopefully Horbey would be taking his time; there was no need for the old wizard to hurry himself.
"Quicker!" yelled Drakan who turned his quick walking into a near jog. The grass on the plain was long and dragged against Drakan's long black cloak forcing the dark wizard to put forth much more effort than he would have liked.
"Damn this grass!" Drakan yelled out after ten minutes of exhausting running.
"My lord, why don't we just magic the grass away?" James asked honestly. Glen nodded in agreement; they seemed to be just as upset about the troublesome grass.
"Because idiots, if we use any magic it could alert Horbey to where we are, he does not know the exact location of the stone and will be using magic detection charms to find it, if we use any kind of magic than it will let them know that someone else is here! And that is the last thing we want!" Drakan said his anger bubbling to a near boiling point. James lowered his head and trudged onward after Glen and his master.
"Should have brought broomsticks." James muttered quietly under his breath making sure that neither one of the others heard him. James had not regretted his decision of joining ranks with Drakan; he simply wanted to be on the winning side. He slightly regret killing his wife, though he had merely married her in an effort to restore his name after Drakan went into exile, he had in fact grown quite fond of the witch, and also his son. It was a shame that Jon would not join his father, it still upset James, and he was determined to make his son pay for disgracing the house name by defying Drakan. Though through the anger he was partially proud of his son, having taken on Drakan and lived was no small feat, but should Jon come against Drakan again then he knew his son would die. James did not want his son to die by Drakan's hands; James wanted to finish off his son himself, to clean away the dust of his son's rebellion against the ruler of the ministry.
Attending to all of Drakan's orders was not James favorite thing to do, but James knew what side was gonna win, and knew which side could offer more fun and excitement. There would always be a rebellion so long as there was evil in power, and fighting it seemed like fun to James. He had the same affliction of wanting excitement as his son; the only difference was that James was willing to go to evil extremes to find the excitement.
After a very long and annoyingly exhausting 20 minutes they were finally through the field and in the mountain range. Drakan was in a particularly sour mood after the long trek to the mountains.
"They have probably already found the cave and are walking away with stone!" Drakan cursed at his to followers who had absolutely nothing to do with why they were having so much trouble. "Our only hope is to find Horbey and the boy, and hope that they have not gotten the stone, fighting is our only chance now, we follow them till they find the chamber overpower them and get the stone for ourselves understand?" Drakan demanded of his servants. They both gave hollow agreements. Glen and James were both in bad moods, having been treated like the trouble was there fault they were not taking kindly to the treatment.
"Alright you worthless beings lets start going, remember no magic!" Drakan said bitterly as he set off at a quick pace up the side of the mountain. After twenty slow and boring minutes they had found Horbey, Justarius, and Jon they were standing outside of a cave and seemed to be excited. Drakan let out a sigh of relief and knelt down behind a stone, the other two death eaters followed by example.
"There they are! And they seem to have found the chamber!" Drakan spoke quietly but with an obvious note of excitement. Ahead of them the three barley visible figures were just outside the cave talking, there was the tall figure of Horbey, most obviously noted by his tall blue hat and light blue cloak. To his right was the bald muscular figure of Justarius. His and Horbey's presence might give Drakan some trouble. Both of them worried him, there was only one reason for bringing along a third wizard, they expected there to be trouble, they knew there was a spy. Finally the third and least threatening figure of them all was Jon. He stood a few inches shorter than both the others, and did not wear robes but muggle jeans and a t-shirt.
"Master, they have found the chamber! We must act now!" Whispered Glen. Drakan sighed and looked at his servant.
"Yes! When I give the signal we will rush them, aim to take down Justarius, and Horbey. The boy will come last, and I will deal with him when the others are dealt with!" Drakan said. All three of them prepared to pounce on there unexpecting victims.
"NOW!" yelled Drakan, and all three of them ran forward.
Horbey, Justarius, and Jon appeared on the edge a tall mountain range, the sun only appeared to be just above the tops of the mountains and shone brilliantly as if trying to give as much light as it could before giving in to night. Jon looked around taking in his surroundings. Behind them was a long field with long grass, a forest to the left and behind the field lights could be seen from the city that was behind the large field.
The wind swept up leaves and misplaced them as the three set off up the mountain trail. Jon was fall of excitement as they climbed, though for some reason something didn't sit right, he wasn't quite sure what it was but Jon knew that something was wrong.
"Quickly Jon, the quicker we get the stone the quicker we can end this war!" Justarius spoke with out patients as he turned and continued to climb up the trail.
"Horbey don't you think we should try a magic detection spell?" Justarius asked. Horbey looked around.
"I suppose that we are far enough, alright." Horbey spoke as he withdrew his wand. Scratching his head as if thinking hard Horbey gave his wand a quick flick as he muttered a spell. There was a slight whooshing noise and then a stream of red smoke seemed to appear in front of them. "This way." Horbey said happily as he set off following the smoke. Justarius and Jon set off quickly after Horbey. The smoke stream seemed to last forever, they winded through paths with mountains towering over them. The sun was now just about gone now, its last streams of fiery light stayed in the sky not yet willing to admit defeat.
"I think we may have found it!" Horbey said as he reached the end of the trail.
"How can we have found it? It simply led us to a wall?" Jon said. The trail had in fact led them to a wall. They were in front of the side of a large mountain that looked very solid.
"There is nothing here! I think the spell was done wrong." Jon spoke as he sat down on a large boulder. Horbey walked to the mountain said and placed his hand on it.
"No, this is it. I can feel the magic emanating from behind this wall. There must be someway to open it!" Horbey said as he took a step away from the wall.
"Perhaps a password?" Justarius offered up. Horbey shook his head.
"The journal does not mention anything about a password." Horbey answered quickly.
"Perhaps it doesn't say anything so as not to give away the secret." Justarius returned. Jon sighed and put his hands back behind his head brushing them through his short black hair.
"I doubt it, Merlin never expected anyone else to read it, he does mention that he closed it, but says that there needs to be and offering of kindness, something to prove the seeker of the stone is pure." Horbey said. "Jon come here, you must be able to open the door, you are pure." Jon stood up and walked over to Horbey who was near the wall now scanning every inch of the mountain side.
"What do you need me to do?" Jon asked as he stood next to Horbey. Horbey backed away from the wall and looked at it taking everything about it in.
"Jon." Horbey paused to walk up to the wall and place his hand on it again. "I want you to place your hand here." Jon walked over and place his hand on the wall where Horbey's had been only seconds ago. As soon as Jon's skin touched the wall it began to glow. Surprised Jon instantly took a step back.
"Yes!" Justarius exclaimed in excitement.
"Jon put your hand back on the wall!" Horbey demanded, he no longer was asking, his tone was serious, and Jon dare not even consider disobeying. He walked back up to the wall, the glow had disappeared now and the wall was back to being just a wall. "Go ahead Jon, its ok." Horbey spoke quietly. Jon touched his hand to the wall and it began to glow again. This time Jon did not back away he maintained his hand on the wall.
The wall began shined a brilliant white and then it ceased. For a second Jon thought that something was wrong but then word appeared on the wall.
Only one pure of heart may seek the treasure that lies within.
It was the same slanted writing that was in Merlin's Journal. Jon looked at Horbey who looked simply ecstatic. The words on the wall disappeared and were quickly replaced with.
You have been judged and deemed worthy to seek the Treasure that lies inside.
Those words lingered only for a moment and then were gone, after another second the wall flashed white blinding all three of the wizards, and when it ceased the wall was gone, there was now a gaping hole. Jon brought down his hand and put it quickly in his pocket.
"Jon, now go inside and get the stone!" Horbey said happily. Jon took a deep breath and began to walk forward.
"Wait!" Justarius had yelled out. "Horbey, please I beg you to reconsider! This boy won't be able to get the stone! He is too weak!" Horbey turned quickly to face Justarius.
"Justarius! I have told you why he must seek the stone! If either of us were to go into the cave we would fail the test and perish!" Horbey yelled out. The sun was completely gone now. There was anger in the eyes of both Horbey and Justarius. The silence lingered for a minute before it was shattered. It was not Justarius who shattered the awkward silence; it was not Horbey, nor Jon. Off in the distance someone had screamed "NOW!"
Jon turned to see a ball of green light miss him by inches. He took no time in drawing out his wand. Horbey and Justarius were blown out of Jon's mind he had one thing to worry about, and that was the three black cloaked wizards that were sprinting at him quickly. To his right he heard noises, but Jon could not tell what they were, his ears were out of focus. Ahead of him was his father. He could see him sprinting at him quickly.
"FATHER!" Yelled Jon as he ran forward to take on the parent who had killed his mother. Drakan was visible as he ran past Jon without even paying him a second thought. Another death eater ran past him but Jon did not worry about him either. The only one who mattered to him was his father.
James had sent a killing curse at his son determined to kill him quickly before Drakan had the chance. Jon ducked under the green light with ease as he sent a killing curse in return. It missed James by inches.
Drakan and Glen had rushed Justarius and Horbey taking both of them by surprise. A killing struck Justarius in the chest before the ex-minister had time to draw his wand. Horbey let out a yell of rage and answered by hitting Glen in the chest with a spell with such power Glen was thrown ten feet backwards through the air hitting the side of a giant ten foot tall boulder.
Drakan let out a scream of rage and singled himself out with Horbey ready to duel the last wizard that was a threat to him. Horbey parried killing curses with rocks he had bewitched.
"A killing curse will not work on me I assure you Drakan." Horbey said calmly. Jon was ten feet away dueling heavily with his father. "Jon! What are you doing! Get into the chamber quickly and get the stone!" Horbey yelled. Horbey's voice struck Jon like an arrow. He was instantly snapped from his hatred of his father. Jon ducked under a killing curse and transfigured a large stone into a wall that came between him and his father. Jon instantly took off running for the cave.
Horbey had no time to break concentration from his duel with Drakan to pay attention to Jon he was busy sending and blocked spells. James ran around the wall and began shooting killing curses at his son. Jon wasn't paying attention to the spells that were passing him constantly. He had one goal and that was the cave, he needed to reach the stone. His lungs burned, his legs screamed in protest from the run. The adrenaline was all that kept him going.
"Don't kill my father!" Jon yelled as he approached the entrance. James was sprinting after Jon, but it was obvious he would not be able to catch up in time. Jon took a dive and crossed into the cave, instantly the cave sealed up behind him. Three separate killing curses smashed against the wall causing no damage to it.
With Jon gone Horbey's worries were gone, he could now worry about Drakan. Drakan and Horbey were circling each other while firing curses and hexes as quickly as possible. The first to make a mistake would be the one to lose. James turned from the now sealed wall to join Drakan in the fight with Horbey.
Horbey knew that without Justarius he did not have a chance of surviving the fight at hand. James would soon enter the battle making it two to one. Unless he did something Horbey would soon end up dead. James fired a stunning spell at Horbey's back. Horbey could feel the spell approach and jumped out of the way, it past Horbey and struck Drakan in the chest. Drakan was sent flying backwards where he fell against the ground motionless.
Horbey turned to face James; he took no time in engaging him in battle. James was hardly able to keep up with the spells being sent at him. He turned and disappeared only to reappear by Drakan. Horbey turned around firing more spells at James. But James had grabbed his master and Dissaparated before the spells were able to reach him.
Glen was lying bleeding on the rock; he had just regained his consciousness. Horbey turned to face the death eater.
"Kill me! You will not be getting any information out of me!" Glen yelled spitting blood from his mouth. Horbey merely raised his wand.
"Very well." Horbey spoke quietly as he sent the spell that would end the death eater's life. The danger was none gone, and Horbey was able to go to Justarius' now lifeless body that was lying on the ground completely motionless. There was nothing that could have prevented it Horbey knew this to be true. He still couldn't help but feel guilty for the ex-ministers death. The only thing Horbey could Horbey could do was promise himself that he would not let Justarius' death be in vain, that Jon would come out safely with the Moonstone and then they will be able to destroy Drakan, and reclaim the ministry.
Slowly Horbey stood up to look at the now closed cave, the chamber of the Moonstone. There was no way he could deny that they had a spy now, his unwillingness to admit that one of his friends had betrayed him had cost Justarius his life. And there were only two people that it could possibly be, there were only two people in the headquarters when they had left. It could only be Jude or Obeth. And as much as Horbey hated to admit it, one of them had betrayed him, sold him out to Drakan.