Welcome back to another chapter of Bad Moon Rising.
Let's get on with this hunt, shall we?
On with the show!
Hermione Granger,
in the midst of understanding.
There was something wrong with Harry Potter, and for the first time, she was finally understanding what it was.
Hermione dashed away as soon as Cath Palug pounced at them. To her, the world blurred around her as she moved faster than she ever thought possible for her. She made it thirty feet in what felt like only four steps before ducking behind a tree just in time to watch Harry meet the great Beast in mid-air before using one of its front paws to launch himself over the burning skull of Cath Palug while lashing out with his spear. She watches, almost in slow motion as her mind processes every detail, from the path of the spear to the scent of foul blood, hot and curdling, in the air as Harry slices through the shoulder blade of the great cat. The limb fell to the ground as the Beast crashed to the ground as well with Harry leaping off of it with a laugh.
Even in the dark woods in the middle of the night, she could see the world in such wonderful detail, from the shifting snow as Cath Palug lands to the falling tree leaves that stubbornly hung on to the trees deep into the cold winter months. She could hear the massive heartbeat of the monster and the shifting and scattering of the small game trying to escape the area to not get caught in the battle. Her hands were shaking, but not from the cold or fear, but from excitement and anticipation, Hermione redoubled her grip on the bow in her hand before her free one reached back to gasp an arrow from her quiver.
It felt like a natural movement to Hermione, like one she had done all her life even though she knew she had never even held a bow before tonight, let alone load and release one. Her eyes glance at the fetching of the arrow to see that it's bubblegum pink, the same shade of pink that Tonks had her hair in seventy percent of the time Hermione had seen the Metamorphmagus. She immediately knows what the arrow will do, she applied a bit of color theory when creating the arrows on the ride over so she could identify them at a glance. Hermione loads and draws back the arrow with little trouble, inwardly marveling how easy it was for her with no training.
Cath Palug roars at the pain of its lost limb before turning on the one that was responsible for it before charging at Harry. Harry uses the terrain to his advantage as he dodges and weaves in between trees, laughing all the while as the overgrown cat tries to claw at him but only gets wedged in between two thick trees. Cath Palug's wound bubbles and boils with flesh before in a burst of gore, it regenerates its lost front leg before it tears through one of the trees that held it and comes crashing down on top of Harry.
"Harry! Get back!" Hermione yells and doesn't have to wait to see Harry leap away from the large cat even though he is preparing his assault against the Beast. With the Hunt purring in the back of her mind, she let the arrow fly right where the great cat landed. As soon as the arrow landed, there was a flash of magic as the earth opened up and swallowed the back half of Cath Palug, the cat-like monster stopping itself from falling completely into the pit by its front paws. But Hermione feels the Hunt purs in her mind as her trap is laid and sprung all within the span of a heartbeat. The earth snaps shut, crushing the lower half of Cath Palug with a sickening crunch, and Hermione feels delight rush through her as she takes the first life of the Beast, and couldn't help but feel herself smiling.
"Was this how Harry felt? This raw excitement and hunger? I can feel the Hunt pushing on my mind, pushing to do more, to hunt more, to feed and feed it unendingly. How horrible,"
It was her thoughts in juxtaposition with her actions as she turned and ran, looking for a better vantage point all with the smile never leaving her face.
"Nice one, Hermione!" Harry yells out as he watches the front half of the great cat fall unmoving. Hermione positioned herself behind a tree about forty feet from where Harry stood in front of Cath Palug.
"Don't get distracted, Harry!" Hermione calls back before drawing another arrow, this time with navy blue fetching. "Remember what Lady Artemis said! We need to bring it down-" she calls back as she loads her arrow, but Harry cuts her off.
"Eight more times!" He shouts as the body of Cath Palug begins to spasm. "It has eight more lives we need to cut through to put it down for good!" he yells, sounding sure, and confusing Hermione. But as she tries to ask how he knows that, the Beast lets out a roar before swiping at Harry with its claws. Harry dodged the first two, but the third extended in a grotesque show of ripping muscle and popping bones almost making Hermione gag. Sparks fly off Harry's chest piece as the blow sends the other Hunter flying across the forest before smashing into a tree, his shoulder clips the tree, sending him spiraling to the snow-covered ground.
"Harry!" Hermione screams and draws the attention of Cath Palug as it rips its upper half from the earth, leaving a trail of blood and crushed organs trailing on the snow, dying it a deep red with steam rolling up from it. Somehow the Beast roars before its hide, muscle, and organs once again roil and boil before it a splash of gore and bone it quickly regenerates its missing lower half and turns to face Hermione with a growl. She quickly raises her bow and takes quick aim, but much to the girl's shock, the Beast begins to move faster and begins to slip through the gaps in the trees like it is liquid. It was a freight train going at max speed at her, the Hunt hisses in her mind trying to banish the fear from it-Why would she be afraid, after all, it was the way of the Hunt, one way or another you feed it-Hermione gasps at the foreign thoughts and feelings flowing through her mind. She pauses just long enough for Cath Palug to pounce at her.
"No!" Hermione hears Harry scream just before something knocks her off her feet, a blur of silver and green wraps its arms protectively around her, carrying her like a princess away from where Cath Palug would have slammed down on top of her.
"Whoa, there little sister," the high and cocky voice of Atalanta says as she slides to a stop a hundred feet from the Beast as she holds Hermione protectively in her arms. "You were almost cat food there," She says with a smile before setting Hermione back down on her feet. Hermione looks back at the great cat as it recovers from its failed pounce before letting out an earth-shaking roar. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get to you in a moment! So shut up!" Atalanta yells back at Cath Palug before it charges again. As Hermione brings up her bow, still loaded with her arrow, to fire at the Beast, a blur of silver and black slams into its side with a roar of its own.
The flashes of crimson and silver were a dead giveaway of who it was as Harry tore into the side of Cath Palug. The Beast rolls, shattering a few trees as it does, trying to crush Harry under its massive weight. Harry rolls off of the body, kicking it as he does only for some of the numerous skulls that made up its underside to come to life and launch themselves at Harry as he jumps away. Thankfully, Harry wasn't without skill or backup as he gracefully cut through two of the leaping fleshless big cats' skulls, tiny knights made of gray stone, and wielding blades of iron jumped from the snow and ice to spear and slash through the rest.
"Now do you want to tell me why you froze?" Atalanta asks Hermione after looking back at her from Cath Palug.
"Now isn't-" Hermione says as she tries to bring up her bow once more, only for Atalanta to rest her hand on the top of it and pushes it back down.
"Oh, no. Now is a perfect time, Harry and Ron can handle one overgrown alley cat for a few moments as we get what happened sorted out," Atalanta says in a hard tone and soft eyes, it was comforting in a way to Hermione, that even in the middle of a Hunt the older huntress was looking out for her as if she was a true sister. "Why did you freeze up like that, Hermione?" Atalanta asks one more time, softer this time.
"I-I was scared, the Hunt tried to push it away and I think I pushed back," Hermione says weakly, her eyes flashing between where Harry and Ron's knights fought with Cath Palug and Atalanta who was nodding sagely at her words.
"I see, I see," Atalanta says calmly as Cath Palug lets out a roar as it begins to crush and knock away the tiny knights stabbing at its feet. "That was your problem, you're not letting the Hunt guide you. You're fighting back when it's trying to help you, what you need to do is relax and let it guide you, not fight it. That will only cause it to try harder to get a foothold in your mind," Atalanta explains with a soft smile.
"But isn't letting it control me a bad thing?" Hermione asks, confused and turning her attention fully to Atalanta.
"Oh, yeah. Super bad," Atalanta says with a nod before drawing an arrow from the small quiver on her belt. "But there is a difference between guiding you and controlling you. Trust me, I know, it's hard to know the difference, and watching Harry all these years probably installed some odd ideas of it in your mind. But, you're not Harry, he was born way too close to the Hunt, you weren't, remember that," Atalanta tells her before turning to the Beast. Harry was dancing and spinning around its feet, slashing and slicing into the hide and fur of Cath Palug while dodging random bites from the skulls underneath the great Beast.
"If this is what a normal hunter feels, then what did it feel like for Harry? Constantly being pushed to feed it when he was so close to the power. To be so completely consumed by it that it's the only thing that you can think of, the only thing you want. How much worse is it for Harry? Ten times? A hundred times?"
Hermione could do little but shake in the cold winter air, not from excitement nor the cold, but from sorrow as she finally understood the depths from which Harry's want stems.
Atalanta whistles, sharp and long before calling out to Harry as the last of the knights fall. "Oi, kiddo! Lead it over here!" she yells as she loads her arrow and begins to pull back on the bowstring. Harry disengages Cath Palug, cutting down a few of the skinless cats that spawn from it as he does, and just as Atalanta asks, begins to lead to the older hunter. Hermione watches as Atalanta takes a deep breath and whispers what sounds like ancient Greek under her breath as she pulls her bow back all the way, straining her arms and back with a grunt of effort. The arrow that was loaded begins to twist and transform in the bow as Cath Palug chases after Harry.
Harry runs at high speed before dropping to the earth, sliding across the ice and snow to give his older sister a clear shot of the charging Beast. Cath Palug roars once more before jumping at the three hunters as Harry skids to a stop behind Atalanta just before the older Hunter releases her arrow, and Hermione watches as space begins to twist around the arrow tip as it launches like a falling star at the beast.
Remus Lupin, Grimmauld Place.
The long thin scars that ran across his face look back at him in the mirror shine of the silver blade he held in his hands. An unreadable expression sits on his face as he looks into the blade as he sits in one of the armchairs that rest beside the hearth. It was a beautiful piece in its simplicity, the blade had nothing more adorning it than needed, and its wooden handle was wrapped tightly in stained leather. The wickedly curved short sword was expertly balanced and looked ready to skin the monster that had cursed Remus to the same type of monster as he was.
Lupin sighs before leaning back in his seat and replacing the blade back into the scabbard that it was manifested in. Thoughts of his deal with the Father of the Hunt swirling in his head, "No, I can't remove it for free, Boyo," the old man had told him. It went against the very nature of the Hunt to do anything for free, no, this Lupin had to earn with silver and blood.
The slight clink of the fine china teacup on a plate makes Remus jump a bit as the sound draws him from his own thoughts. He had almost forgotten about the Hunter that was left behind, he had been quiet this whole time, sipping on the tea Remus had prepared earlier.
"My apology," Daphnis says quietly, nodding his head in Lupin's direction with a small and polite smile. The boy(which was odd to call him that, even in Lupin's own mind seeing that Daphnis was likely to be much older than himself) hadn't said a word the whole time they had been alone, happily leaving Remus to his own thoughts.
"No need," Remus says with a sigh before running his hand through his graying hair. "I had forgotten you were here with me for a moment, you being as quiet as you are," he says, sending a small smile toward the boy(Man? Old man?) before feeling awkward as he remembers the Hunter could see and let his smile slide off his face. Daphnis hums in response before taking another sip of his tea.
"Have you ever regretted taking your oath to Lady Artemis?" Remus asks after a long moment of quiet as he turns the blade around in his hand.
Daphnis pauses for a moment before letting a small smile come across his face. "What an odd question," he mutters to himself before shaking his head a bit.
"No, I can't say I have," Daphnis says, as he tilts his head back with the same small smile on his face, he places the teacup back onto the saucer before sighing a bit. "I was the second male to join my lady's hunt and the one who has served the longest. I have had the pleasure of serving my lady for the past, well, a very long time," he says with a small laugh. "And I can not remember a single moment of regret, even when I had lost my eyes in an unfortunate crab attack-"
"A crab attack?" Remus says, cutting off Daphnis with a raised brow and an incredulous tone of voice.
"Oh, yes," Daphnis says with a nod of his head as if he were revealing a great secret of the world to Remus. "One must never underestimate the humble and dangerous crab, Remus. One could lose more than one's eyes if one approaches a crab unprepared," he said sagely as Remus looked at him with open disbelief, he had spent some of his best years around Sirius and James and knew when he was being had. But for the life of him, Remus couldn't tell if the boy was being serious or not.
"But back to the original point, no, I have no regrets about taking up my oaths," Daphnis says before placing down his tea on the small table to his left. "I have seen sisters join and felt them pass. Some would be freed from their oaths, while others broke their oaths, I have welcomed many to the hunt and mourned them when they left. But I have never regretted it," he says with a smile before turning his head in the direction of Remus. "Are you having regrets about what was asked of you, Remus?" he asks, and Remus looks away and into the hearth.
"How much did you hear?" Remus asks softly, not looking away from the hearth.
"Oh, enough I imagine," Daphnis says before relaxing back in his chair, looking as if he was deep in thought. "The deal you struck with Lord Nuadha is nothing like what my lady would do, so I'd advise you to think it over carefully before going out on your hunt, because either way, it doesn't sound like you'll come back from it," Daphnis says solemnly.
"Will you keep it to yourself?" Remus asks, a sliver of fear entering his voice. He wanted neither Sirius nor Harry to find out about his deal with Nuadha yet; he would tell them one day, but not yet.
"It is not my business nor my secret to tell," Daphnis says assuredly, calming Remus down immensely. "But if I may offer you some advice, tell someone, anyone, about what you are going to undertake. It would do no good if you disappeared without a word, especially for the ones who care for you," Daphnis says, and all Remus could do was nod silently.
However, neither of the two men noticed the old eyes watching them from the entrance hall before turning and slinking up the stairs.
Ron Weasley, with a massive headache.
Ron sighs in relief as he presses the cold compacted snow and ice to his forehead. The throbbing behind his eyes had only grown worse with every minute he held the Sword of Peleus, he honestly didn't know how Hermione or Harry could handle being strapped to the Hunt like this. Every time Ron wanted to take a step back and observe the battlefield, to try and find an angle of attack, the Hunt would try to push him forward to attack without a plan and fat chance that he was gonna do that for anyone, let alone a fucking Grimm in his head.
Ron knew he didn't have any sort of divine protection or skill, while holding the sword he was just another kid; though a bit stronger and faster than most others.
After he throws the semi-melted snow and ice to the ground, Ron points his wand toward the cold earth in front of him and twirls his wand in a tight loop before flicking it just as Scáthach had shown him, holding the words for the spell in his mind. Forming from stone and dirt in front of him was another one of his little knights, they were barely three feet tall and squat little things. But they had armor like a medieval knight with a shield and a spear, he could make a full-size one but those were draining to him. So, the tiny knights that Hermione had called cute more times than he cared to admit to it would have to do. Ron repeats the process seven more times in quick succession before animating each of them with a silent order to hassle and harass the big as-all fuck cat and sends them off through the tunnels he had set up while running around the forest.
Ron turns to look around the tree he is sitting against, trying to see into the gloom of the dark forest. Sadly, he couldn't see anything but could very much hear the roars and growls of the overgrown hairball somewhere in the deep woods. He turns to look at the sword stuck in the dirt beside his foot and sighs before reaching down and grasping the handle. Ron immediately flinches at the stabbing ice pick in his brain and the growl of the Grimm, "Why oh why did have to be a bloody Grimm?" he thinks to himself before peaking around the tree once more; only to come face to face with the amber eyes of an upside down Britomartis.
"What'cha doing!?" the goddess of nets yells, scaring the daylights out of Ron and making him scream as he had just come face to face with a spider.
"Don't do that!" Ron yells at her, his hand covering his heart as it rapidly beats in his chest as Britomartis laughs. She was hanging by a pair of golden ropes from a large branch near the top of the tree Ron had sat against. Britomartis opened her mouth to say something, but as soon as she did a silver comet blasted through the forest, felling any trees it came in contact with as it streaked skyward.
"Well," Britomartis says, looking in the direction of where the comet flew. "That would be Atalanta's only kill tonight," she says matter-of-factly as Ron looks back at her with wide eyes.
"That was Atalanta?!" Ron asks, shocked with his jaw hanging open.
"Oh, yeah," the goddess says before spinning to be right side up and dropping to her feet. "That was her bow, Tauropolos, and the recreation of her legend. But as powerful of an attack as it is, it will be meaningless to Cath Palug now, once it resurrects itself it will be immune to it," she informs Ron as she begins to stretch and limber up as Harry did before fighting Scáthach. "But that just means it's my time to shine till the big gods come crashing the party," she says before bending over and stretching her arms backward. Ron tried to look anywhere else as she does, he really did but, well, he may have failed in that endeavor.
Britomartis pops back up and turns to look at Ron, whose head snaps to the side and looks off into the woods. Britomartis just smiles coyly at the boy, "So, you coming or what?" she asks him as Ron turns to look back at her with wide eyes.
"I'm just mortal with a nice sword," Ron points out as he points at himself. "There isn't much I can do against that thing," he says, his voice faltering a bit as he spoke.
"Well, that's not true at all," Britomartis says, turning fully to Ron and crossing her arms. "Do you know how many stories there are about mortals tricking the gods? I mean, sure, they never end well, but it proves that it can be done. Just because you're not a demigod or blessed in some way doesn't mean you can't be great in your own way," she tells Ron, causing the boy to pause and blink in surprise at her.
"And personally, I've been rather impressed with what you've been doing. You're hunting smart unlike the other two, sitting back and commanding your knights to target Cath Palug to give us an opening to kill it," Britomartis says with a shrug and a smile towards Ron. "Anyone can pick up a sword, or a bow, or a spear, and go out into battle to fight a war. But it takes something special to come up with tactics and strategies to win a war, something that I can see you have," she says, causing Ron to blush at the compliment.
"Now, why don't me and you go out there and show those other Hunters what smart tactics and traps can do for a hunt, what do you say?" Britomartis asks with a raised brow, Ron smiles a bit before nodding.
"I'm just hoping the headache doesn't get worse during this," Ron tells her before they both start to jog through the woods toward where the comet had come from. "Don't know how Harry deals with this bloody thing," Ron mumbles under his breath and is surprised when Britomartis answers him.
"Probably because you weren't doing anything back there, just casting spells," She says with a shrug.
"But doesn't that mean I was doing something?" Ron argues back before leaping over a freshly fallen tree.
"Not in the eyes of the Hunt, not in your eyes," Britomartis answers back while skipping over the snow and ice. Ron looks over at her confused, when Britomartis turns and sees the look on his face, she rolls her eyes and continues with her explanation. "The Hunt isn't a passive…thing, it's one of the more active D-Blessings," she says, choking on her words a bit and stumbling over them, causing Ron to look at her oddly. Britomartis' face was warped with frustration and anger before she sighs out loud as she looked forward. "What I'm trying to say is that we, as individuals, are a part of the Hunt as much as a wolf or a bear is. The Hunt wants you to hunt, it doesn't care how, so long as you're chasing something, even if you are just chasing into a trap," Britomartis says, turning for just a moment to look at Ron with a small smile.
Ron however frowns. "An eternal chase with no end game, no finish, always moving, always hunting. Is that what Harry has to deal with for the rest of his life?" Ron thinks to himself as he jogs along Britomartis, it sounded awful to him if he was honest. A game with no end but death, no king to take, and no snitch to catch, just ever chasing after the next hunt, the next kill to feed something that most people couldn't even fathom.
No, Ron didn't like that at all, for all games have to come to an end, and the pieces have to return to the box no matter if they are king or pawn.
"Chin up, kiddo!" Britomartis calls out, snapping Ron from his musings just in time for him to look forward and see Cath Palug standing back up. But there was something off about the Beast, hell, there seemed something about the area around it. Everything within some twenty feet of the giant cat seemed to shimmer and break as if it was radiating an aura that reinforced the space around it, making everything heavier somehow.
"Now enough jibber jabber! Let's tie this hunt up!" Britomartis calls out before bringing her hands together with a clap and turning her hands to where each middle finger was resting on each of her wrists before she pulled them apart. In the middle glowed a small ball which seemed to be made of golden thread. "Πριονάκι!" she cries out, her voice having weight and power to it that Ron can barely wrap his head around before the fabric of reality begins to twist and sway around Cath Palug.
Thick golden ropes burst forth from thin air, they whip and snake around the limbs of Cath Palug before pulling taught before pulling the great Beast into the air. The great cat thrashes and claws at the ropes that entrap it and Britomartis grunts in an effort to keep the Beast contained. "Stop standing there and gawking!" Britomartis shouts at Atalanta, Hermione, and Harry. "Kill the damn thing!" she yells, snapping all three to action as Hermione and Atalanta raise their bows and Harry, once again, charges forward.
Cath Palug roars as a squelching sound drowns it out as the skulls that make up the underside of its chest burst forward in a shower of gore. This doesn't stop Harry however, Ron watches as his best friend charges into the maw of the beast, cutting down and through anything between him and Cath Palug. With a flick of his wand and a silent order that reverberates through the animation charm, Ron's knights burst from the ground to back up Harry. Hacking and spearing the skinless cats at Harry's flank while Ron circles the tide of gore and wild fury, looking for an opening at Cath Palug as it hangs in the air.
Just as Scáthach had shown him and Hermione, Ron's spell work was tight and controlled as he started sending piercing and severing hexes at the great Beast. It does little as the reinforced reality dampens his spellwork, but on the bright side, his headache is gone now. As Ron continues to try and do something, he notices an arrow landing on its mark in the middle of Cath Palug's chest, it sits there for a moment before the air around him turns colder for just a few moments. Ron's eyes widen as the arrow explodes in a tide wave of ice, freezing the giant cat's chest, and stopping the tide of gore that Harry and his knights were cutting through.
"Britomartis!" Ron yells as he slides to a stop behind Cath Palug. "Let the cat go! I've got an idea!" he yells as the minor goddess looks at him with questioning eyes.
"What? No, I've got this thing wrapped up so it can't-" She begins to say before both Harry and Ron yell at her to "just do it!" before she sighs and releases Cath Palug, causing the Beast to crash to the ground. After another flick of his wand and a silent order, Ron, Harry, and the transfigured knights charge at the down Cat that was struggling back to its feet. Harry reaches it first, driving his spear through one of its hind legs, pinning it to the ground as Ron's knights try to do the same with its front paws but get swatted aside as they do. But it was enough to keep the Beast on its side as Ron did something very brave, but very stupid.
Ron jumps on top of the giant cat and plunges the Sword of Peleus into it with all his might. Cath Palug thrashes and rages trying to throw Ron off of it, but Ron holds on for dear life as he presses the tip of his wand to the cat's fur.
His dad had shown him this spell years ago while he was working on modifying the old Ford he had gotten off some muggle for cheap, it was a spell of his own design, to help him take apart muggle things when he had no idea how to. The Dismantling Hex, his father had extracted a promise from Ron to never use it on another living being, never giving a reason just saying it was dangerous. And now, Ron was going to figure out why.
"Diruo!" Ron shouts as a flash of white-hot light crisscrosses the great form of the Beast under him. There was a pause as the beast stopped struggling for a moment before it, quite literally, fell to pieces under him. Organs, bones, muscles, and everything that made the whole Beast come undone and scattered across the ice and snow in a flood of blood. Both Ron and Harry jump away from the fallen form of Cath Palug to rejoin the others on the other side of the clearing made from all the fighting.
"Holy fuck, Ron!" Atalanta says in shock as she looks upon the dismantled form of Cath. "Where the hell did you learn that curse from?" she asks as she turns to look at him.
"Not a curse, it's a hex meant to break things down into their based components. Something like a reversed Repario," Ron says as a flood of pleasure washes through his body as the Graveyard hound howls in delight in his mind. "Dad taught it to me years ago when he was working on the Ford," He informs everyone with a shrug as Hermione looks at him in open shock.
"Why does your dad know a dark spell?" Hermione asks with a look on her face that speaks of her whole world turning upside down.
"He created it," Ron informs her before Harry quickly speaks up.
"No such thing as Dark Magic Monie, just how you use them," Harry says as he repeats the words of his teacher with a grin as he looks back at her with a grin. Hermione looked close to having a conniption as her head snapped back and forth between her two best friends. But before she could open her mouth to argue back, Britomartis snaps at them all.
"Can we all focus on the task at hand, please!" the goddess of nets yells as she gestures over to the now-regenerating Cath Palug. Like pieces of a puzzle, the great Beast rejects its demise as the dismantled and broken-down body starts to reform itself with snapping bones and slapping muscle. Its fur was now sleek and looked to be made up like the patchwork of a quilt, as it moved, the pieces broke apart and reformed again and again.
"Great, just how many more times do we have to kill this thing?" Atalanta says as she draws a new arrow, and to her surprise, Harry has an answer.
"Five more times," He says, causing everyone to look at him in either shock or confusion before he flicks his wrist to summon his wand. "Well, four actually," he says with a grin before raising his wand.
"How do you know?" Britomartis asks, looking at Harry with narrowed eyes.
"No clue," Harry offers the answer with a smile before Cath Palug roars and charges again. "Can someone give me some space and time?" Harry asks and is immediately answered by the twang of a bowstring. The arrow sinks into Cath Palug's shoulder before, with a burst of purple light, the magic that had enchanted the arrow explodes and sends the great Beast screaming back with a yowl as if it was banished with a spell.
Everyone but Harry looks to see Hermione with her bow raised. "What? He asked for space?" Hermione says bashfully as everyone just looks at her with surprise.
Harry, however, doesn't turn back to look at Hermione, instead, he focuses on his magic and calls upon the tiny sliver of moon to help reinforce his spell. The tip of his wand glows red hot as he draws his hand clockwise, leaving a trail of fire behind it. As he draws the circle, dots of scarlet light begin to rise from the ground, growing bigger and bigger as they rise, twisting and twirling into the shapes of swords, pikes, spears, and lances. Ron and Hermione look around in open shock, there had to be hundreds of them, Ron turns to look at Harry and sees his best friend's face scrunched up in concentration, his eyes shut as sweat begins to drip down his forehead.
As Harry's wand does a full rotation and reaches the apex of the circle once more, his eyes snap open, reflecting not the silver of the moon, but the amber of the hunt and he drops his arm in a slash directed at Cath Palug. The poor Beast didn't know what hit it as it stood back up and hundreds of weapons made of scarlet flame fell on it.
The Peanut Gallery full of gods.
"Ignis est Incendium!" was the cry heard across the forest and over the hills where the three gods of the Hunt stood watching, it was quickly followed by an almost deafening whoosh as the fire climbed to the heavens in a roaring tower. A sharp and low whistle was heard soon after the tower of scarlet flame fell back to the earth like a geyser of water.
"One hell of a kid ya got there, girly," the aged and ancient voice of Nuadha says from behind where Artemis stood on the large hill looking down into the forest. The Goddess of the Hunt bristles with pride she does not speak of as she watches the fire die down, merely smirking in the direction that she knows her son is standing by.
"Yeah, yeah, fire pretty or whatever," Cernunnos says as he sits to Artemis' left before giving a great heave and standing up. He had shed his human guise and now stood towering over both her and Nuadha, his modern clothes being replaced with what he wore when he was released from his prison in the forbidden forest almost two years ago. The kilt is made from the skinned flesh of his many trophies, most human but some not, his stag mask and cap secured firmly to his face as he cracks his neck before speaking again. "Well, are we just gonna let the young ones have all the fun, or are we fucking doing this?" Cernunnos asks as he turns to the other two gods.
Nuadha, still in his robes and cloak, sat on a large stone that jutted from the earth, his silver-tipped cane resting across his legs, merely snorting at Cernunnos' disrespectful attitude. Artemis just shrugs, Cath Palug wasn't even half as powerful as when she last hunted the great sin of the Hunt, his ability to reject its death, either physical or conceptually, was the only true annoying factor in this hunt. But if anything, it went to show why she liked hunting the Beast with Old Man Odin more than any other god, magic was just a far too versatile and useful tool when it came to hunting Cath Palug.
"I think I'll be staying here for a bit longer, this weather has my old scars acting up again," Nuadha says before rubbing the length of the scar that ran across his face. Artemis merely turned to the elder god with a confused look, but as Nuadha turned to look at her, the unspoken statement was clear, so she turned away and let it go. "But don't let me stop you two from having some fun, so by all means, have at it," he says before gesturing towards the forest.
"Fucking finally!" Cernunnos roars before extending his hand to the heavens where a bolt of lightning splits the sky followed by the roar of thunder as the horned god summons his spear. Cernunnos bends his knees before with one mighty leap he crosses the hills that separate the gods from the forest to go crashing down into the forest; falling like a thunderbolt himself.
Artemis turns back to look at the elder god once more, still the old man sat on his stone looking out over the forest while rubbing his scar. Artemis shrugs once more and decides to join the hunt for nothing else but to make sure Cernunnos doesn't kill by mistake and sets off in a flat run.
Nuadha sighs to himself as his hand drops from the scar that the Formorian king carved into him when he last faced the bastard In battle. The old war wound had never ached before, but now, after over five thousand years it pulsed with pain like an old reminder he'd rather not have.
"Well," Nuadha speaks out loud after a few moments, knowing his fellow gods of the Hunt were busying themselves with Cath Palug. "What do you think of this whole mess?" his ancient and scratchy voice rings out as a clear bell on the hillside.
It was answered by another voice, just as old but far more mocking than anything else. "Why would we think anything of this, it isn't like it was our fault," the King of Cats says as it steps from the mist at Nuadha's feet. The old god turns to Cait-Sith with a glare in his one-good eye. "What? It isn't!" the King of Cats defends itself, "We swear, if we knew our release would have kick-started the rebirth of our most ancient and wild self, well, we probably still would have tricked the boy," it says without pause and a small chuckle.
"Fucken fleabag," Nuadha grumbles to himself before eyeing Cait-Sith's collar for a moment and shaking his head. "And us killing it won't disrupt your power?" he asks the black and white cat.
"Oh, no," Cait-Sith says with a shake of his head. "Nekomata has already reformed in the mountains of the Miyagi prefecture, so even without Cath Palug, I'll still have an eighth of my power. So by all means, so let them have at it," the King of Cats says airly with a wave of its paw. Nuadha scoffs at Cait-Sith's words before picking back up his cane and stabbing into the earth, making the area around them quake under his power.
"If ya honestly think I'm going to let some young whipper-snappers and some morty's upstage Me, in a hunt," Nuadha says as he stands, his back popping like bubble wrap as he does, bringing his hand up to undo his cloak before tossing it aside. "You have another fucking thing coming," he spits out as Cait-Sith slowly starts to back away from the eldest god of the Hunt. The King of Cats begins to feel the ancient power of the former king of the Celtic gods swell, bringing it back to the times so long ago when Nuadha and his sworn brother Oberon used to hunt it in the lands beyond these lands.
"O-oh dear," Cait-Sith says before swallowing the lump in its throat. "Such a rare sight to behold. To think I would witness the day you would return to this form, s-such an honor," it says, its fur standing on end as the surrounding area was suffused with the ancient blood thirst of the Hunt.
"Shut ya mouth, ya fleabag," Nuadha says, but his voice no longer comes out as old or scratchy, but young and strong. Cait-Sith watches as Nuadha stands straighter, his body, once withered with time and age, now grows fuller and more spry as the strength of his youth returns to him. His beard grows darker and thicker, and the liver spots that dotted his head are replaced with long and wide dark hair as Nuadha removes the sling from around his neck before tossing it away. His silver arm falls to his side as a bright burning light begins to emanate from it, lighting up the hill like the rising sun.
"You're not my prey this night, and be thankful that some mortal would be missing her cat if you were," the young Nuadha says before lifting his glowing right arm that burns away the sleeve of his robes before he tears the rest away, leaving himself only in his pants and bare feet.
"For tonight, Nuadha joins the Hunt!" Nuadha roars to the storming heavens as every man, woman, and child across the islands he was once king of feels the fangs of the hunt bared at their throats.
Chapter done!
Did I say two parts? Totally meant three. Two parts would have made this chapter twice as long and wouldn't be out on time.
I blame Baldur's Gate 3 for being such a fun game.
Anyway, the Gods are about to join the Hunt so it will be over quickly before we move on to the rest of Harry's dream.
Kingsaxcul, Out!