Chapter 19
Nothing moved but the wind and a few beginning drops of rain, only a blowing of water off the ruined wall. It was stacked red sandstone rock, eroded and decaying. The Spanish Mission was once a grand building, arches and bell towers that had long since toppled, told the story clearly of a grander time. Harry stood on the tiny strip of land between the Mission and the lake, following Owen, who in turn followed Bill; darkness hid their movements from any eyes that may be watching. It was just the three of them, tasked with getting in and out before sunrise; keeping quiet, not letting any watching eyes know that the camp was down three fighters, nor that they were vulnerable themselves.
"Feel along the walls, there should be a postern door." Bill's whisper sounded harsh in the night. There was a rustle of cloth against the stone wall, and muffled footsteps as they moved around the perimeter. The pathway widened out, and in the middle of the back wall Bill found a corroded lever jutting out of the wall, and no magic could be seen.
"Harry, can you see inside?" Bill leaned in close as he spoke.
"No, I can't make anything out."
"Alright, Owen give me a hand pulling this lever, it's bound to be stuck."
Bill waved his wand, causing four runes to appear glowing a pale gold, with flicks he set them around the door.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
"A silencing ward, no sense in announcing our presence."
Harry stepped back and watched as Owen and Bill pulled down on the lever, grunting and straining, he was ready to shield if needed. Several stones broke away in the shape of a doorway. It took muscle to push it open, it swung grudgingly, grating as it moved. A narrow gap had opened, enough for them to squeeze through. Light burst from Bill's wand as he led the way, two more wands lit up adding their glow. Whatever the room once held, it was no longer recognizable: it was damp, musty, and rotten.
"No Preservation charms here. You see anything Harry?"
"Nothing magical, there's a doorway over here."
They walked through an arched doorway into a large open room, once the chapel, but now just a musty and dirty room, with remnants of pews scattered about. A winding stair climbed the side wall, held up by wooden beams, which were as aged as the rest of the place.
"What do you think is up there?" Owen asked, pointing to the steps.
"Probably access for the bell tower," Bill replied. "Let's stay off it for now."
They swept through the remaining rooms: small chambers for lodging, a patio enclosed in the center of the building, and a crypt, but nothing magical could be found.
"Do you think we're being fooled by Illusions?" Owen asked, wiping sweat out of his eyes.
"Maybe, I think we will have to try the stairs." Bill led the way as they back-tracked to the chapel. His boots made squishing sounds as he tromped through the mud on the floor. Harry followed in their wake, until he noticed an alcove in the hall; it had at one time held a statue in it that had long since crumbled. Now only the base remained, yet it was in perfect condition, and similar to the base of another statue Harry remembered from last year, the Humpbacked Witch. While Harry was stopped looking at the alcove, Bill and Owen continued on into the chapel. Harry could hear their voices planning a way to get up the stairs.
"Dissendium," Harry cast at the base, watching carefully as it sunk, showing a dark passageway. A click behind him was all the warning he had, he lunged to the side and rolled, skinning an elbow in the process, as a blast crashed loudly and echoed down the arched stone hall. Embedded in the wall where Harry had been standing, were four steel bolts, quivering from the leftover energy that drove them four inches into the wall. Bill rushed back down the passage, skidding to a halt as Owen almost plowed into him from behind.
"You OK?" Bill panted breathlessly.
"Fine," Harry said grimly, "Looks like I found something."
Owen cast a light into the hole; lighting up a tunnel of rough rock, the occasional drip of water could be heard.
"Under the lake, why does it have to be under the lake?" Owen groaned, clearly uncomfortable with the idea. Bill just shook his head grimly, and slowly lowered himself into the hole. Harry could hear him removing the bolt trap runes, and after a quick look at Owen, who was still pacing, Harry followed. The tunnel was wide enough to walk through, but short so you had to hunch over, Bill more so than Harry, even if he had closed the distance greatly.
Owen paced looking at the hole, when the statue base started to close; he lunged forward into the hole. He raced down the rough tunnel, catching up to Bill and Harry at the entrance to an open room. The room was square, with a bare rock floor, and rough carved walls
"It looks like we're facing a chamber protection plan." Bill said as Owen arrived.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, looking past Bill.
"I mean, we're going to have to face several chambers, each warded differently. There would have been runic keys for each chamber. It was a form of security to protect the treasure even from the wizards or witches that helped defend it. That way, all would have to be together to bypass the protections, you see." Bill began casting detection spells, while Harry was pondering this.
"It's a real common method," Owen added, "not that it's any easier to get past, quite the opposite really." He looked nervous, and noticed Harry looking at him. "I don't like underwater caves, I got caught in a trap once, and was stuck in a small chamber slowly running out of air for days. Luckily I was rescued, but I'll never forget it, being under a body of water always creeps me out."
Bill was casting detection charms on the open chamber; sweat was plastering his hair to his head.
"I'm picking up something, it seems like the far wall has something going on. Let's advance slowly, be ready to shield if you see even the smallest flash." Bill walked forward in a sideways shuffle, his wand up; the tip was glowing slightly as he waved it back and forth. It started to glow brighter the closer to the door he got. As he reached the middle it pulsed, a bright flash.
"Alright, stop! This is the edge of a Proximity Alert ward, it probably triggers something."
Harry was tense standing right behind Bill, Owen was off to the side forming a triangle.
"SHIT!" Bill screamed, "LOOK OUT!"
The glow of charging runes lit up the room, one after another in little clusters, dotting all the walls. Spells started flashing from the wall, the narrow gray arrows of Piercing Hexes, and flat gray bands of Cutting Hexes. Harry didn't have time to think before he felt a sting on the top of his ear, and it caused him to spring into action. There was no time for Shield charms, or conjuring protections, the spells were coming in fast, from all directions. He ducked and spun, his wand flashing like a fencer deflecting spells; they were coming from all sides, overwhelmingly fast. A sharp pain lanced through his calf causing him to stumble, and narrowly avoided a Piercing Hex; but he worked past the pain, moving towards Owen and Bill who were almost back to back. Harry caught a quick glimpse of Bill, noticing a long cut across his ribs, his left arm was wrapped across his body holding the cut tightly. Owen stepped back and spun around, nearly crashing into Harry; a moment later Bill was with them, all standing back to back.
They eased the pressure a bit, by guarding each other's back. Harry was standing his ground, wand a blur deflecting spells.
"Confrigo!" Bill cast, slipping the spell in between deflecting incoming curses. A rune cluster on the wall exploded in a shower of stone bits. Harry heard Owen start blasting the clusters as well, so he timed it and blasted one as well. It took time, but one by one they eliminated the casting runes.
The chamber was littered in rubble as the group stood panting and bleeding from several cuts. Harry sat down in the rubble pulling up his pant leg, wincing as the fabric rubbed his leg. A neat hole entered one side below his knee, and exited just above his blood filled leather boot. "It wasn't too bad," he thought, as he gritted his teeth and dug threw his bag for a wound healing potion. Bill was topless when Harry looked up, Owen treating his cut ribs. Owen surprisingly had only a slight scratch on the back of his hand.
"Damn, that was a close one!" Owen commented, as he applied a paste to Bill's wound that sealed and numbed it.
"Sorry," Bill said, "I was looking for a line based ward; I never expected a magical detection ward to be a trigger."
"You'll need healing soon, but this will keep it manageable until we can get back."
"Right, Harry...Harry how are you doing?" Harry looked up from putting some wound healing paste on his leg.
"Fine, I'll have to splint my lower leg, but it shouldn't slow me down."
"Alright, listen guys; we don't have a lot of time if we're gonna make it back before daybreak. The wards here are far better than the Temple, magically cloaked and hidden behind Illusion. We'll have to just keep alert, and use magical detection spells... Harry the incantation is Deprehensio, the key is to focus on what you're looking for, in this case, think of magical energy. The tip of your wand will grow brighter as you point it toward what you're thinking of."
"Got it." Harry grunted as he got to his feet, taking a few testing steps. It was a little awkward, but still manageable.
"Let's go then," Bill lead his team forward, blasting the door apart and entering the next room.
...
Denny sat still, hidden within the dense foliage, watching the camp of his former team carefully. His new team waited further back, awaiting his signal to storm the camp. He didn't know who was paying him to attack this particular expedition, but he knew he would have anyway; after all, he had been a Raider for many years. This group should have been an easy mark, but his second in charge had become cocky, thinking himself unbeatable. Now he had a new group, locals and untrained, but willing to follow instructions. They had a hideout in the forest nearby, and for the price of a third of the loot and the girls, they were a readymade solution to the problem he found himself in.
He knew their schedule, knew the team members, and had a key to bypass their wards. Tonight would be the night, Ian would have to send a crew after the Mission, and then he would strike. If he could get Barns by surprise, and then signal an attack, it should all go smoothly. He stood up quickly, belying his bulk, and moved far more nimbly than anyone could have expected. Unknowingly leaving a letter behind that was carelessly tossed aside, written in elegant script on expensive parchment, rain drops of the coming storm pelting it. ...
They stood in awe of the second chamber, flying carpets were moving at all kinds of different levels. Some went up and down, repeating the motion over and over. Others went side to side in a timed fashion. Put all together and if the timing was perfect, a person could walk from one side to the other without falling into the pit below. The pit contained a fog, silvery and glowing slightly in a pulsating manner. Not something Harry wanted to fall in, despite the lack of air flow it moved drifting to and fro.
"This looks fun! What's holding back that fog stuff?" Harry asked, after staring around, marveling at the magic worked by some currently unknown wizard.
"It looks like glass, a thin sheet of it at that. I'm guessing we don't want that fog getting free." Owen added, still looking uncomfortable, just for new reasons.
"No, I expect that we don't. I'll wager that there is some kind of tripwire sensors that break the glass somehow. The good thing is, I've seen this stuff before. It moves slow, sending fingers of itself out, and so we can avoid it easy. What it does is another story; it feasts on your magical energy. If it catches you it will drain you dry, also the magic powering the carpets, or any spells cast at it." Bill looked back and forth between them and the door to the next chamber, up by a stone platform fifty feet away and toward the top of the room.
"Well, this detection spell isn't doing much but light things up." Harry was casting Deprehensio, trying to read where the magical energy for the tripwire sensors was. His wand was glowing like he had cast a Lumos charm.
"It won't with all the magic active in here, don't activate your Mage Sight either, it'll hurt."
Bill informed him as he paced in the small entrance way.
"Well, can't we cast it looking for just the tripwires, so we at least know if there are any?"
"You can if its known magic, meaning you have felt and seen it before, and know just what to look for."
"Oh, well then what do we do?"
"Just give me a minute, ok?" Bill was becoming frustrated at Harry, consistently asking questions while he was trying to think.
Harry stood off to the side, watching and timing the carpets movements, it was almost mesmerizing. One wall was wet, leaking a faint amount of water down its moss slick side. The door at the top of the room would be a breeze to get to on a broom, unfortunately they had no brooms.
"Alright guys, we stay together, moving one rug at a time after I give the ok. We need to be precise in our timing, if someone misses, we hold tight until they catch up." Bill said.
They moved forward, pacing themselves, and stepped onto the first carpet. It was surprisingly firm under foot, giving them a good movement. They rode up and down as Bill timed the next step. It felt similar to the moving stairs at Hogwarts to Harry, slightly disturbing, but easy enough to deal with.
"Now!" Bill rushed forward onto the next one; Harry was last, jumping down as he rose up and the carpet floated away from him, he landed on the back edge, noticing immediately that this carpet was soft under foot, rippling and moving like it had trouble supporting their weight. They were now drifting side to side, a great sag in the middle of the carpet where they stood. Bill watched as their next goal moved in a flat loop, from there they could make the first solid platform.
"Again!" Bill shouted as he lunged awkwardly, making it to the carpet and pulling Owen on as he stumbled. Harry staggered not able to get his footing, and panicked as Bill and Owen pulled away.
"Hold tight Harry, we're coming back around." Owen shouted out, as he positioned himself to assist Harry onto their carpet. As they came back around, the carpet Harry was on started to quiver as the spells moving it failed. Bill and Owen watched in horror as Harry started to fall. A great jump fueled by desperation and panic, carried Harry to another carpet.
"HARRY!" Bill's shout echoed around the room.
"I'm fine," he replied faintly, but enough to be heard. He lay panting on the new carpet, it was moving up and down in a diagonal angle, carrying him away from Bill and Owen.
"Work your way up and try to meet up with us," Bill shouted worriedly.
"OK," Harry yelled back, while standing up and looking at his options; he only had one way to go for now. He moved quickly, not wanting to stay on one carpet too long.
It was as if the carpets were sentient, taking them away from each other, after nearly ten minutes of lunging and jumping, Harry stopped on a stone platform jutting from the rock wall, catching his breath and trying to ease the burning pain in his calf. Bill and Owen were considerably higher up, but they had passed the doorway, and were trying to make their way back down.
He didn't know who tripped the ward, but it was a sudden shock to Harry as a Bludger screamed through the air at him. There were four of them zipping about, tearing holes through the carpets trying to hit them. They were unlike the Bludgers on a Quidditch pitch, Harry noted as he was tracking them with his eyes, these had spikes.
Bill saw the Bludger coming, and dodged with ease, leaning to the side as it passed, it slammed into the wall behind him. A running jump took him to another carpet moving across, allowing him to find a position above the doorway, yet too high to jump from. Owen made it as well, watching a Bludger come from above, firing off a Blasting Hex trying to destroy it, only missing by a narrow margin. What none noticed was the rain of rocks from Bludgers and Blasting Hexes slamming into the stone walls. Far below, the thin glass-like barrier shattered, and a silvery fog expanded, thick bands of it reaching out for every source of magic it sensed, devouring the energy and moving on.
Harry watched as he studied the timing, he stood wide-legged on a carpet moving back and forth just under the platform that housed the arching doorway they had been trying to attain since coming into this room. He suddenly burst into motion, jumping and grabbing the rough stone hanging from the lip, feet dangling in the now open air, as the carpet continued its path. A Bludger flashed by as he struggled to pull himself up. His finger dug into the cracks and crevices of the uneven texture of the stone, his stomach muscles scraping painfully as he pulled himself over the edge, only to throw himself forward dodging a Bludger that scraped his left elbow. Above him, Bill was watching Harry, trying in vain to blast the Bludger coming at him, completely missing the speeding blur, and watched as his Blasting Hex was swallowed up by the silvery mist that was creeping upwards, devouring all magical energy in its path.
"Damn, we need to hurry! Owen let's move, we're about to be cut off." Bill exclaimed, pointing below them. Owen's only response was a widening of his eyes and clinching jaw, as he nodded and blew a Bludger out of the air, scoring their first hit.
Harry's eyes were flashing back and forth from Bill and Owen struggling to find a way down to Harry, and the mist creeping upwards reaching out. They didn't have long, nor did Harry. He tore his eyes away and turned to the door. He started casting detection spells at the door, searching for magic. it lit up, riddled with active magic all linked to the handle, runes were visible covering nearly the whole door, but he recognized enough to know that it was a continuous scheme, and to trigger it you had to open the door. To deactivate it, he would need to drain it like at the Temple, only there was no forest to use as fodder. Knowing that it was most likely aimed at anyone who passed through the door, Harry weighed his options. He couldn't wait for Bill, what if he didn't make it, or didn't have time to deal with it when he did?
A loud explosion caused Bill to startle, looking franticly toward the cause. He knelt, swaying with the carpet he was on, watching Harry blast chunks out of the rock wall and banish them through the doorway which he had spelled open, repeating the process as fast as he could. One long legged leap took Bill the rest of the way; he landed in a heap, in front of Harry. All he had was a second to get his bearings, before Owen crashed down, falling onto him and taking the wind out of each of them with a grunt.
Harry couldn't help but laugh; part in relief, and part in the humor, of the two grown men laying one on top the other panting. The whistle of wind warned him of incoming Bludgers, his wand snapped up and left, then right in a blur, Reducto Hexes leaving his wand at his silent command, blowing two Bludgers from the air, in an amazing display of accuracy.
Bill gained his wits, and started chanting a Draining spell, as Harry and Owen worked together blasting and blowing rock into the doorway, all of them keeping an eye on the ever approaching Mist.