Chapter 11: Deja-vu
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"No fair, Wena!" Loic said as he ducked his sister's snowball, "We agreed that you would not use your wand!"
"What wand?" Alwena asked, stuffing hers in her pocket.
"Cheater!"
"Look who's talking," Alwena shot back, "You tried to take Mum's last time."
"Daad!" Loic complained, "Wena's cheating!"
"And whinning about it will not enable you to win," Yves said with an amused smile from the oak tree he had climbed in.
"Dad won't help you, Loic," Alwena said, throwing another snowball.
"You just wait until I get my own wand," Loic shot back, dodging it and sending one to her, "Then I'll get you."
"I remember saying the same thing to Yannick when I was your age," Alwena laughed, "And I still can't get him."
"That's different," Loic shot back.
"Why?"
"Well Yannick's a boy," Loic said, "And boys always win against girls."
"Is that so?" Alwena laughed, "Well then, Mr Superior, catch!" She added, whipping her wand and sending a flurry of small snowballs towards her little brother.
Yves chuckled at the scene and went back at what he had climbed for in the tree in the first place, to find a nice mistletoe. He went up a few more branches and soon found what he was looking for, nice and round. He took out the sword he unsually carried around when in the forest and reached to cut it.
"Look out bellow kids!" He warned before cutting, "Mistletoe coming down."
The sword cut the plant without a problem, causing it to fall on the snow covered ground. Alwena was soon next to it and picked it up.
"That's a nice one Dad," she called up, "I'm sure it will fit nicely in the hall."
"What's the point of mistletoe anyway?" Loic asked, "Only an excuse so grown ups can kiss each other," he added, making a face.
"Not true," Alwena said, "It also goes for us too."
"You are not kissing me!" Loic said defensively.
"It is not up yet, silly," Alwena said, "But I bet you that Dad will be the first to kiss Mum under it when it is," she added with a michievous smile.
"I heard that!" Yves warned as he was going down the tree.
He suddenly stepped heavily on a branch, causing it to move sharply, sending a pack of snow down to the gound and causing Alwena and Loic to move quickly away, screaming.
"Dad!" Loic complained.
"You did it on purpose!" Alwena said accusingly.
"Me?" Yves said innocently, getting to the ground, "Why would I do that?"
"Lets get him," Loic said to his sister.
"Right behind you little brother," Alwena said.
"Two against one?" Yves said, "Hardly seems fair."
"Don't worry dad," Alwena said, "We wont be too hard on you."
"I meant, hardly fair for you two," Yves said laughing, "No way you two pups will beat me in a snowball fight," he added, throwing snow in their direction.
Loic and Alwena both let out frustrated groans before to send snowballs towards their father. The fight went on for a good fifteen minutes, Yves evading his children's attempts to hit him. Alwena used her wand to repel snowballs his way while Loic was trying to take him from another side, but so far, both of them only managed to hit the air, Yves proving to be a very elusive target.
At one point, Alwena managed to jump on him and caused him to fall in the snow in a playful fight. They were soon joined by Loic and the play fight continued for a bit, until a clod wind started to blow and snow slowly started to fall.
"Well kids, we better start heading back to the manor," Yves said, sitting up, "Looks like we will be having a snow storm very soon."
"So fast?" Alwena asked, "It was sunshine not even half an hour ago."
"I know," Yves said as he stood, "But I am quite sure that we have a storm brewing. Although I have rarely seen one come about so fast."
"I'll get the Mistletoe," Loic said, and he went to the base of the oak tree to pick it up.
They soon headed towards the manor. Yves was puzzled by the weather. Alwena was right, it had been bright sunshine some moments before and now the sky was gray with couds and the snow was starting to fall stronger. He did not remember reading any plans for snow falls in the papers this morning, whether Muggle or Wizard, and this was unusual as if the Muggle paper was sometimes wrong in its predictions, the Wizard paper rarely was.
All this was making him nervous. They had to get back to the manor very fast. He went off the trail with the kids in order to cut through the woods, and thus save some time. Just has they entered a small clearing, the crack of an aparation was heard and both Loic and Alwena screamed at the dark shape that had apeared some meters on Yves' left.
"Don't move," the shape said in a very accented voice, causing Yves to freeze as he reached for his blade. It was a man, dressed in a dark cloak with its hood up to obscure his face. In his hand was a black wand.
"History repeats itself," the man said, "The Silverleafs will pay for stealing what is rightfully mine."
"Who are you?" Yves asked, fearing the answer already.
"Where is it?" The man asked, not bothering to answer his question.
"Where is what?" Yves asked, trying to see how to get the kids behind him to protect them.
"Don't play me for a fool human filth," the man spat harshly, "You know what I am talking about."
"I'm afraid I don't," Yves answered truthfully.
"Very well," the man said, "lets see if your memory returns when your child is in pain in front of you. CRUCIO!" He added, sending the red energy towards a wide eyed Loic.
"PROTEGO!" Alwena shouted, blocking the spell, startling Yves. She had her wand in her hand and looked determined to protect her brother. Yves wordlessly thanked Gran for teaching his daugther that spell.
"You have good reflexes, young one," the man said, "But lets see how you fare when it is coming to you, CRUCIO!"
The red energy sped at Alwena, who started to wave her wand to repel the spell. But Yves did not give her the time for it. He drew his sword and intercepted the red energy with the blade before it could reach her. Then, making a cutting move towards the dark man, he sent the energy back to him, catching him off guard and sending him to the floor.
"Wena, run back to the manor with your brother and get help," Yves said, readying his guard as the man was getting up, "GO! NOW!"
Alwena did not argue and fled in the forest with Loic. The man made a move to follow them but Yves blocked his way, his sword held menacingly. The hood had falled and he now could see his openent's face, with its slender features, long white hair and steel gray eyes. He recognized him instantly.
"You!" Yves spat, feeling anger quickly filling him, "How dare you come here again you murderer?"
"Because I will have what is rightfully mine," Andrelith replied with contempt, "and you cannot stop me. Now out of my way," he added when he saw that Yves had not moved and was blocking his way.
"I will not let you harm my children," Yves spat, eyes blazing.
"You cannot hope to defeat me, Muggle," Andrelith said, pointing his wand to Yves, "You'll die."
"If it saves my children, so be it," Yves responded defiantly, bringing his guard back up.
"Fool," Andrelith responded, "You are sealing your own pathetic fate. That enchanted blade might be good against simple human curses, but it is nothing against Elven one. Russe tuulo' moriloomir," (1) he added, sending a wave of crackling energy towards him.
"Tinechor!!" A voice echoed. The elven shield formed in front of Yves but part of the energy still passed through, hitting him and sending him flying back to fall motionless in the snow.
His wand in hand and eyes blazing in direction of the dark elf, Yannick walked to put himself between him and Yves.
"So, the young one," Andrelith mused, "We meet again. I was wondering when your cowardly ancestor would use you against me."
"Begone from here," Yannick said, "I wont let you hurt my family anymore."
"I shall go when I have what is rightfully mine," Andrelith said, "You should know that."
"There is nothing here that is yours," Yannick said.
"Oh there is," Andrelith said, "And you know exactly where it is."
Yannick was about to answer when Alwena burst on the scene. He had met her and Loic when he had aparated to her and told them to stay where they were. He now realized that she must have been alerted by the sound of the spells and Yves' shouts.
"Daddy! No!!!" She said as she saw her father's still form in the snow. She turned to Andrelith, looking furious.
"You monster!" She shouted to him, "Stupefy!!" She added, waving her wand.
Andrelith gave a small laugh at her attempt to stun him and lazily blocked the spell. Yannick was about to send a spell his way too when he saw the dark Elf wave his wand and a deep violet ball speed towards Alwena.
"TINECHOR!" He shouted, hoping that his shield would contain the dangerous Elven curse.
It did, and Yannick let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Alwena was also retreating in the forest. Andrelith however used that short time to his advantage.
"Ringwe gurfha." (2) The Dark Elf said, sending blue energy towards Yannick.
Yannick saw it from the corner of his eye and turned to face it, bringing his wand up and trying to word a defence spell.
Before he could do anything however a white form burst from the forest and sprinted between him and the spell, Nimloki. The wolf jumped in the air and met the spell, absorbing it and landed facing the Dark Elf, who stood stunned in surprised. Nimloki growled and her eyes shone with a golden light. Suddenly the energy from the cold death spell emerged from her again, and sped back at Andrelith, who had to jump away to dodge it.
"Impossible," the Dark Elf said as he stood up, looking at the wolf with apprehension.
"Maybe," Yannick said, getting back from his surprise, "But you are in trouble. Elastare!"
"You might have been lucky once," Andrelith said as he avoided the spell, "But I can still defeat you. Even with the white devil here."
"I would reconsider that last statement, Talant," Gran said as she came out from the forest, Rozenn and Yannick's father following her closely.
"It is not over," Andrelith said, seeing that he was outnumbered, "If I cannot get what I want here. I will find a way to make you give it to me. Mark my words," he added, before disaparating.
There was a moment of stillness after his departure, that was broken by a groan from Yves, which caused Rozenn and Alwena to rush by his side.
"Are you alright Love?" Rozenn asked, helping him to sit up while Alwena melted the snow around.
"Yes, thanks to Yannick's timely arrival," Yves said, "He stopped the the worst of the spell from hitting me."
"I should have been quicker to find you," Yannick said.
"You were lucky to find us at all, Nick," Yves said.
"How did you find them,Yannick?" Gran asked, "I saw the wolves leave before you but you clearly arrived before them."
"I used a spell that I had learned from dad," Yannick answered, "The Pharos spell. It permits to apparate to the location where a person is. I focused on Alwena because I was not sure it would work on Yves."
"That was good thinking, son," Dominic said.
"I basically found Wena and Loic as they were running away towards the manor," Yannick continued, "From there I ran to find Yves and arrived in time to prevent the spell from hitting him bad."
"Thank Merlin," Rozenn said.
"I thought I had told you to stay with your brother Wena," Yannick said, turning to his cousin, "Why did you disobey me?"
"I wanted to help you," Alwena said, taken a bit aback by his sudden hard words.
"Wena, the reason I asked you to stay with Loic was because you had a wand and could protect him if needed," Yannick said, "By disobeying me you put him, yourself and myself in danger. If it were not for Nimloki I would be in a very bad shape right now from the spell she stopped. It was an Elven killing spell Wena, not some simple curse and while Gran's pendant might have protected me like it protected Alex once, it would still have given Andrelith time to hurt you and Yves before I could have done anything to prevent it."
"Peace, Yannick," Gran said, resting a hand on his shoulder, "What is done is done. You cannot change it. But he is right, Alwena. Your action could have been more dangerous than you think."
"I'm sorry, Gran," Alwena replied, looking sheepish.
"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," Gran pointed out.
Alwena walked to Yannick. "I'm really sorry, Nick," she said, "I thought he would be safe with Altair but I should have stayed with Loic like you told me."
Yannick sighed and pulled her in a hug.
"And I'm sorry I snapped at you Wena," he said, rocking her gently, "I just was scared to loose you. The spell he sent towards you was a nasty one and I am very relieved I stopped it in time."
Altair apeared just then, carrying Loic on his back. Rozenn went to him and scooped her son in her arms quickly, showing clear relief to see him safe. Dominic helped Yves to his feet, who went to embrace his wife and son. Alwena left Yannick to join them, while he went to Gran to speak about what had just happened.
However, a sudden chill filled him before he could reach her. He sudenly felt pain and sorrow coursing through him as if it were his own feelings but he knew it was not. He had felt this before, in hs first fight against Andrelith, and now here it was again. But this time, the feeling was very familiar and he knew where it was coming from. He looked at Gran and saw that she somehow was feeling something as well.
"The Manor, something is wrong," he said shortly, before disaparating.
The vision that he saw when he apparated by the Manor was what he had feared. The greenhouse wight next to the Manor was on fire. The work of countless Silverleaf treeshapers was being burned to the ground. He could feel the despair of the plants who could do nothing but burn, their life force escaping with the gray smoke.
"Nooooo!" He shouted in rage.
Some of the plants in there were irreplacable, being extinct in other parts of the world. He could see a group of House Elves deseperately trying to douse the fire with water and snow but having little effect against the inferno. He whipped out his wand again and made a slashing move towards the sky.
"Alu en londe!!!" (3) He shouted, sending teal energy to the sky.
Soon after this, clouds formed and rain started falling on the greenhouse.
Gran aparated next to him, soon followed by Dominic who let out a cry of dismay when he saw what was happening. Gran utterred the same spell as Yannick and the clouds above the greenhouse grew darker, the rain pouring more densly and starting to have reason of the fire. Aidan came in view, using his powers to send snow on the fire, while Dominic was busy helping the House Elves with the water.
"Why would one do this?" He asked Gran, "What is the point?"
"Andrelith is mad," Gran said sadly, "His lust for power is makes so he will stop at nothing to get what he wants."
"But What does he want?" Yannick asked, "He's been ranting again of what is rightfully his. What is it?"
"He wants something that has been in my family since it was entrusted to my father to keep," Gran said, "He believes it will give him the power he wants. He is wrong though."
"But what is it?" Yannick asked.
"Something that will give knowledge," Gran said, "But not power. That is all I can say for now, Yannick. Andrelith must be stopped before he does further damage."
"Oh don't worry about that, Gran," Yannick said, "His action today made that clear to me. What he did just now was a clear hit against me. I'm most intent on stopping him now. And I am also now certain he is the one behind the murders that have been ongoing."
"Really?" Gran asked.
"How many persons can control blood suckers, Gran?" Yannick asked, "They are Elven dark beasts. Even Oromir dreaded to face them alone."
Gran nodded in agreement to what he said.
"He found out I was on the case when we killed the beasts," Yannick continued, "So now he acts rashly to either scare us into giving him what he wants or getting me and Sean to back off. Well news for him, I am going to do neither. Right now, I'm so furious that I would kill him on sight."
"But that is not the right way," Gran said, "Even if he does deserve it, it never was the Elven way to kill unless no other course presents itself."
"I know," Yannick replied.
"What will you do now?"
"First I will stay here to fix up the mess he did to the greenhouse," Yannick said, "Most of the plants in here just cannot be lost. They are too precious and rare for that. Then I wil go back to London after Alwena is back safe in Hogwarts and one way or another, Sean and I will get this case back from Forrester and his goons. And if I need to step on Octavius' toes, I will."
"I shall do all I can to help you Yannick," Gran said, "But can I give you one advice first?"
Yannick looked at her.
"Heal your heart first," She said, "You will find it easier to think and act when it is," She added with a gentle smile. Yannick smiled sadly back at her. "I think this is easier said than done," he told her. "Actually, you might find that the contrary is very true as well," Gran replied, 'Trust your feelings, Nick. You will find that they rarely fail you," she added before to kiss him lightly on the cheek and walk towards the Manor. Yannick looked to the now extinguished greenhouse fire. He waved his wand to dispel the rain he and Gran had conjured. There was no need to freeze the plants that had survived. He saw his father and the House Elves working to repair the shattered glass panels and went to help them, Gran's last words still echoing in his mind.----------
(1)Russe tuulo' moriloomir Lightning – the name fo the spell says it all.
(2)Ringwe gurfha Cold death – Effects described in Discovery for a New Student.
(3)Alu en londe Water of heavens – Spell that creates magical rain.