Chapter 5:
It had been a few days since Harry had left the encampment and he still had yet to encounter anything of significance; no signs of dwellings or life. Having found nothing reassured him of his fears that the encampment would be safe from any kind of attack but it was equally frustrating as he had no way of finding any prudent information.
His tracking charm indicated Sirius was residing further north of his current position, which was promising since from the little knowledge people had was that the desert started to recede the further north you went. He was still reluctant to try sending a message via a patronus to Sirius or try tracking down Jaina and other survivors through magic. Tracking charms were easily blocked, or worse misled. It was entirely possible Sirius was not up north whatsoever, but his wand wasn't with him when he fell through the veil of death all those years ago.
Following the direction of his tracking charm for now was the best course of action in his mind. It hopefully brought him closer both to Sirius and also away from the inhospitable desert, where he was hoping to find denizens of this land to question.
Harry really regretted not keeping a broomstick on him at all times, life would've been much easier if he could've just flown over the land, quick and straight.
Darkness was beginning to encroach the land once more, the rays of the sun failing as it went beyond the horizon in the distance. Travelling at night was always risky business, many creatures native to his world possessed vastly greater senses; it could be no different here.
Not willing to tempt fate, Harry set up camp for the third time; intruder and notice me not enchantments layered around him as a necessary pre-caution. Sleep always came easy, horse riding was no relaxing task.
The morning came and Harry's sleep had remained undisturbed. He checked his tracking charms once again and nothing had changed. Sirius' position was still north of him, his wand pointing towards a massive mountain that loomed in the distance; faint clouds of mist encircling its peak, enshrouding it from view.
The rock once more became a horse and Harry conjured riding gear, ready to ride towards the mountain when suddenly his intruder enchantment was set off, causing a sharp sensation within his mind alerting him to the area in which it triggered.
With silencing and disillusion charms applied quickly, Harry apparated quietly behind some rocks fifteen metres away, near to the source of the disturbance. With wand ready, spells of binding and disablement on the tip of his tongue, Harry peeked out behind the rocks and scanned the area with narrowed eyes. A small frown appeared when nothing was there, which he followed with silent revealing charms availing him nothing.
His wand began to drop towards the ground, features relaxing minutely when sudden movement caught his eye and a strange yet familiar sound caught his ears, "Filthy green skins, filthy pink skins. Ruin home. Should've bitten them," a whisper of serpentine laughter followed as it continued to slither across the hot sands, "Yes, yes. Bite them for fighting in my home. So much noise. Yes, yes."
Harry sighed, the final remnant of Riddle left behind; his parseltongue gift still endured within him, the destruction of the Horcrux notwithstanding. Even from beyond the grave Riddle could still cause him grief. All that tension for a sneaky snake.
He turned around to apparate back, his mind turning over the past few minutes when the words the snake spoke came back to him suddenly, "Pink skins…" he whispered softly to himself, both a question and answer.
With sudden alacrity he dropped his charms nullifying both sight and sound and jumped out behind the rock, "Hey there snake, wait up! I need your help!" he hissed in parseltongue.
The snake rose off the ground, its fangs dripping venom and extended ready to do harm to that which would threaten it, "Who dares! Die sneaky snak…" it trailed off suddenly in sudden bewilderment, faced with another filthy pink skin, yet one that was talking its language.
The snake's tone lost its hostile edge, but not its aggressive stance, "No, no. No, snake. The pink skin speaks to us, the pink skin wants our help. Is it a trick? Sneaky pink skin…" the snake trailed off quietly, malice beginning to creep back into its voice.
Harry held up his hands, wand holstered in his sleeve and spoke as calmly as possible, "It's not a trick. I truly can speak to snakes, it's a…" he paused for a moment, "gift. A magical talent. I was wondering if you could help me answer some questions?" he asked suggestively.
Hearing no immediate reply or sudden hostile reaction Harry continued, "You mentioned pink skins, do they look like me? Could you tell me where they are?" need bleeding over into his voice with each question asked.
"Pink skin that speaks… Pink skin that speaks is magical," the snake took his time repeating the last words, as if slowly coming to an important conclusion after gaining dire knowledge, "Will pink skin help me too, help make intruders leave home?" Harry could've sworn he saw the snakes eyes narrow in almost humanlike fashion when fishing for facial reaction, perhaps snakes were cleverer over here?
Harry nodded slowly, "I promise to do the best I can," the other words the snake spoke about fighting circulated in his mind, his worry increasing, "You will show me where they are in return for your home being returned to the way it was?"
"Yes, yes. They are in my home. I show you, you show them out talking pink skin, both green skin and pink skin."
"A deal it is," Harry replied, relieved at the fact he finally had something to go on.
"Yes, yes. A deal is struck, pink skin."
Harry rolled his eyes; he had grown wary of having many names given to him, both earned and unearned, "Just call me Harry, is there something I can call you? 'Snake' sounds a little impersonal and cold, let's not go into pink skin either," he finished with a rueful smile.
The snake slithered towards him and began winding its way up his leg, slowly making its way to rest his body across his shoulder's, "Carry me, I am tired. Call me Master. Go towards the mountain in the distance. My home lies there."
Harry laughed, the snake was far more of a bastard than any other he met, seemed like a decent bloke though. He wouldn't be too happy if he had his home run over by others either.
Harry walked back and mounted the horse ready to head off towards the misty mountain, thoughts centred on what would await him when he reached it. These 'green skins' must be the orc's that people had spoken of earlier. A dangerous, violent race by all accounts it seemed, he hoped that the rest of the survivors were holding out.
As he kicked the horse into a trot, a voice startled him from his reverie, "Hungry, feed me something."
Harry sighed, it was going to be a long ride from here on out.
The landscape was beginning to change as they moved closer towards the mountain. No longer was there just endless stretches of sand and rock in every direction; a barren wasteland devoid of any life.
Shades of green were becoming more common, bursts of life and hope otherwise drowned in an endless sea of red, orange and brown. These oases were undoubtedly caused by the mighty mountain whose vast size influenced the weather conditions to be slightly more hospitable.
According to Master, this trend in the environment continued to get more prominent as they drew closer to the base of the mountain; although it wasn't expressed quite as eloquently. 'More food, more water, more grass' was how it was explained to him.
The orc's and human's had been fighting within the shadow of the mountain's entrance, desperately trying to hold the pass which allowed for passage into the mountain. The native wildlife such as the 'filthy, winged, clawed screechers' and 'disgusting four-feet' amongst plenty of other vivid descriptors were thrown into chaos with the emergence of the two warring races, causing them to either flee or fight. Apparently, both the orc's and the human's had stirred up serious resentment amongst many of the indigenous races to this continent, or so the word of other snake's revealed when Master passed them onto Harry.
He questioned Master on why he didn't flee into the mountain; surely there lay a greater chance of survival inside than out on the desert plains?
The reply was somewhat intriguing however and apparently the mountain was cursed; no animal truly felt comfortable in there. A lingering sense of dread and folly weighed down upon those that chose to venture inside, or so it was described by those who tried.
Harry was intrigued however, he certainly would be interested in exploring such a place wherein a powerful enchantment holds sway. He thought it would be likely that something incredibly important was hidden within, as the presence of both human's and orc's whom were willing to engage in battle outside the entrance was unlikely to be a coincidence. They undoubtedly knew something about this place that he didn't.
As Harry and Master drew inexorably closer, Master's words of guidance steering them onwards along the correct path, they came across the remnants of a small scale skirmish.
It was the smell that alerted Harry first, the putrid scent of death and decay swirling through the air; an undeniable clue of what was to come. As they pulled up over the small, rocky hill the sight of carnage assailed them.
The corpses of both men and orc, perhaps half a dozen each lay strewn upon the ground haphazardly in the positions in which they met their end. They hadn't been dead for too long, Harry noted. Blood still remained in shallow pools not yet dried or drained into the sands, their flesh not too badly damaged by the ravages of time; rather by the wounds inflicted upon them before death and the scavenging birdlike creatures that were feasting upon them as they laid there.
Sickened by the revolting display of feasting before his eyes, Harry drew forth his wand and conjured forth a fierce and deadly fire which swept down from the hill. It slammed into the unsuspecting creatures who immediately elicited cries of anguish and rage in rasping human female voices.
Harry's surprise didn't appear on his countenance, his green eyes alone revealing the depths of his contempt and utter disgust for such behaviour. Furies, the word echoed in his mind. Creatures long since gone from his world, hunted down by magicals long past were still alive here. Despicable carrions, vicious, cruel wretches driven mad with hunger.
Those further away from Harry let out inhumane shrieks of retribution and rage as they took to the skies to flee from the conjured flame, their meal left burning and unfinished.
Master roused himself from his slumber around Harry's shoulders, "They see us coming, fool wizard. The smoke!" he spat out, irritated by Harry's impulsive action that sent a signal viewable by any who looked in their direction.
"Night is almost upon us, they won't be able to find us before we set up camp. I doubt either side will risk sending a large force to check on this," he paused, "You're still right however, it was a poor decision. Were close now however, we should make it before nightfall, yes?" Harry questioned.
"Yes, yes. Very close now. Master can show you a sneaky way into the hills of the valley entrance. Hidden, sneaky, out of way. Pink and green skins not see us, but we see them."
Harry nodded in reply, and rode onwards.
The dark of night was upon the world now, signalling the end to conflict for the day. Both human and orc combatants had retired to their respective camps, at opposing ends of the mountain entrance valley.
Harry had reached the upper regions of the valley before nightfall following Master's instructions and was able to witness for a short while the combat that took place beneath him. It wasn't what he expected however. The two warring factions seemed tentative, hesitant and unwilling to engage the other side in an actual fight, instead relying on conventional ranged weapons and their magicals to harass the other side without doing any real harm.
From Harry's position up in the hills he could see the entrance into the mountain, the two encampments shared stood roughly the same distance away from it. Their very positioning and aggression level suggested they were… waiting for something, perhaps. But what, he knew not.
Tomorrow would bring about more answers, of that he was certain. He could use the hostile actions between the two forces as a cover to slip by undetected. His most discerning tracking charms indicated Sirius' location to be within the mountain which was very intriguing. Without a doubt he had to go in there now.
It was tempting to infiltrate the human encampment under the cover of darkness and discover what was the point of this skirmish was and other important motives but quickly discarded such an idea. They would undoubtedly be on high alert and it was very possible even his best magic to make him elusive could be dispelled or pierced; he still knew little of the capabilities of magic here.
Best to use their wariness and alert against them, he was so close to achieving his primary goal here, undue haste could undo everything. If all goes well he could find Jaina's location here as well, solving yet another important issue, the safety of the survivors.
Hidden by more than just mere geography, Harry settled down for tonight, hoping to be ready to face what tomorrow will bring.