Chapter 3: Dark Forests, Dark Plots, etcetera
How dare that damned creature take the finely woven Elven Silk cloth that she'd paid good silver for?! Fleur was seeing red, her vision hyperfocused on the jet black tail feathers of the retreating bird.
The creature was huge, too huge to be a wild raven, though she knew they could grow quite big at full size. As though it could read her thoughts, she heard it call out in a spluttering coughing laugh that goaded her onward.
Can't catch me, hee hee hee.
It didn't need to speak words to voice its intent.
A giant outcropping of rock seemed to appear from nowhere, and Fleur climbed it nimbly, barely touching the rock as she propelled herself upward, wand in hand. The bushes were still too thick for her to be able to get at the bird, though she heard its scaly legs scratching against the outcropping of rock above her.
She leapt up, her teeth bared. Though she didn't have the scales and hooked, serrated beak of the full-blooded Veela, she knew she looked almost feral.
"Geeve Mee. Back. Zee. Package!" she snarled darkly.
There was no one there.
"Merde," Fleur muttered, stroking back her wild silver hair and realizing that her beanie had fallen off at some point during the chase.
She caught her breath and looked out at the impressive view below her. She was actually up quite high indeed, and something inside of her swelled with delight. It reminded her of how much she delighted in climbing up to the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts when she'd attended the school during the Triwizard Tournament. Her friends had been terrified, for Beauxbatons did not have more than three floors and was set up like a grand manor house instead of a castle. Fleur had flown often on the back of wild winged horses during her family's summers in Greece and she was no slouch on a broom, but there was something about pulling herself up to a great height with her own power that intoxicated her with a sense of power and pride.
There was something in the clearing on the other side.
Could it be?
Her heart quickened its pace when she realized that her package was lying there without that damned bird anywhere in sight. It had been dropped on the grassy knoll near the base of the rock pile. She gracefully raced down towards it, her feet and hands barely touching the stone as she descended.
Looking around, she thought she heard the flapping of great wings and with a quick look to both sides, she lunged over the package, and grabbed it tightly in her arms. The paper was a bit rumpled and the twine had gotten a little damp from having been dumped on somewhat dewy grass (as the sun only partially penetrated the thick canopy of trees above), but the cloth inside was still untouched.
Fleur sighed with relief and stood, turning to the rock pile to start her way back the way she'd come but then she paused. Something didn't feel right. She looked around, but couldn't detect anything with her eyes or her keen sense of smell.
She took a cautious step forward, reaching for her wand.
A sharp pain stabbed her between the shoulder blades and she fell into darkness.
Bill stumbled into a low hanging branch and swore as the scratchy leaves scraped across his face.
"Just what I need. More scars!" he groused loudly, waving his hands to push them out of the way and spitting when they just rebounded and smacked him in the mouth, leaving him with the taste of leaves in his mouth.
Spitting and coughing, he crashed through the dark forest blindly calling out Fleur's name.
If he'd been thinking rationally, he probably would have realized that this was a bad idea, dark forests being full of unknown creatures and all. But all he could think about was that fierce look in Fleur's face and how her hair seemed to fly out around her face as though it had an energy all its own and how her eyes had flashed as though announcing that she'd follow the source of her fury to the ends of the earth just to destroy it.
"Fleur? Where are you? Fleur! Come back!" he called, his voice ragged from shouting and running.
A sharp, burning pain tore up his belly and he realized the telltale signs of having gotten a stitch in his side for all his troubles. He leaned against a tree and took deep breaths, massaging the painful area with his free hand as though it would speed up the recovery process.
His heart had finally quieted down and no longer beat like thunder in his ears when he heard the sound of rough, avian laughter coming from the other side of a large piled section of rock that jutted out of the trees like a tiny mountain.
He pressed his back against the rock and began to slide along it towards the source of the sound.
"It's perfect, isn't it, Precious?" said an unknown voice with a strange, almost flat accent.
Bill's eyes widened with surprise.
American?
A strange whooshing, clicking noise came from the same direction and a woman's voice replied.
"I don't see what's so great about 'er anyway. To go through all this trouble..," the voice said disdainfully.
"Now now, Tali, is that jealousy I hear?" the first voice replied bemusedly, "Don't worry, my pet. You'll always be the crown jewel in my collection."
"Whatevs, Boss," Tali replied, "One stupid shack was enough. I'm just glad I didn't have to set the whole town on fire to get them to show. Too much work if you ask me."
"Ah, Tali, you really are the epitome of work ethic," the first voice replied with a snort, "Now, then, help me bind her wrists and ankles."
Bill stiffened. Fleur had told him about what mortal men did to Veela that they wanted...to...no….NO!
Pulling his wand out, he forced himself to take deep breaths to calm his mind and Disillusioned himself. Inching more quickly around the large formation, he finally got a glimpse of the speakers. A man wearing an impeccable suit that looked as though it had been sewn onto his body stood with his back to Bill, while a bored looking woman with dark brown skin who looked as though she were wearing a cape of obsidian feathers and horns spiraling up and backwards from either temple on her head. He noticed too that her legs were still scaly and taloned like the raven that had…oh...she was the raven. A silver band encircled her neck, and he knew at once that it was not mere jewelry.
It was a collar. A symbol of servitude.
He could only see one of Fleur's shoes from his vantage point, but it looked as though she was laying unconscious on the forest floor.
Damn them. This was supposed to be their honeymoon! The world was supposed to be at peace!
Bill was angry, but he knew he had to be smart. The first thing would be to get Fleur to wake up. Two against one would be a lot more difficult than two against two, after all. He could try to use Side-Along Apparition, but with Fleur unconscious, the possibility of Splinching was much higher than he would like. Neither of the strangers seemed to have wands drawn, but that didn't mean anything.
And the Fiendfyre had come from somewhere.
Thinking quickly, Bill thought of a spell that he might be able to use. As an employee of Gringotts, Bill didn't spend a lot of time using offensive spells, though he had helped work on a number of security measures in the vaults deep below the main floor. What came to mind first was the clever combination of Gemino and Flagrante curses that kept unauthorized personnel from stealing items that did not belong to them.
Keeping his breath measured, he pointed his wand as best he could through the trees at Fleur's prone body.
"Flagrante," he whispered forcefully.
"Ow! She burned me!" Tali yelped, hopping backwards like a bird and waving her hand as she dropped the cord that she'd been trying to wrap around Fleur's wrists.
"Don't be ridiculous, Ta-ow!" the man reached down and pulled his hand away, "The books never said anything about this particular Veela ability. Intriguing."
He pulled something that looked a bit like a pistol with a number of chambers inlaid with various colored gems and pointed it at Fleur. A jet of golden light shot from the device and Fleur's body slowly levitated into the air.
"We'll have to take her back to the cave to do any further experimentation," the man said with a shrug.
"We? I don't think so!" Tali replied, crossing her arms, "Folks like me don't do dank, dark and underground. Let me know if you need me for something that isn't subterranean!"
"Tali, you know it pains me to do this…" the man replied wearily, twisting the chamber and pointing the device at her neck.
Her eyes went wide, "No! I didn't-I-AGGHGHHHHHHH!"
She clawed at the silver cuff as she screamed and the smell of burning skin filled the air, making Bill feel nauseous.
After long seconds that felt like eternities unto themselves, the man slid the device into a holster on his hip and Tali collapsed to the ground with a grunt.
"I take it that I do not need to resort to such unpleasant corrective actions any longer?" the man said mildly, as though he was asking for her opinion on a wallpaper pattern.
Tali merely nodded slightly, gasping in pain as she did so and dragged herself to her feet with great effort.
This man wasn't just any wizard. He was powerful and he was dangerous.
Bill waited for them to leave the clearing and watched them disappear into a hidden crevice in the giant stone tower that would have been nearly impossible to find if he hadn't watched them enter. They would not be able to use a PortKey or other conventional means of wizarding travel until they broke the curse. He'd bought them some time, but was not sure how long it would be. He made a mental note of the cave's location and cast several useful Locator Spells that pinpointed exactly where he was located on the planet (these spells were used in Gringotts to keep track of items no matter where they were on the planet, but it was an extremely expensive service reserved for the rarest of items and the richest of clients). With this information in hand, he sent his Golden Eagle Patronus to the only other person in France that he knew could help him with his problem.
Gabrielle.
Because if there was one thing scarier than a part-Veela witch when she was angry, it would have to be a part-Veela witch whose sister was in danger.
He only hoped that she would arrive in time.