Nothing is mine.

Only a couple more chapters of this part left - which I'm sure will bring great joy to those of you who find the chapters focused on character work more boring and would rather see people get crushed to death or get immolated with Fiendfyre. But don't fret, I can guarantee that both of these things will happen in the near future!

Blackjack

'Boring,' Bella moaned, stomping on ferns and nettles. 'Boring trees. Boring plants. Not even any flowers that Cissy would like!'

Zareen tutted. 'Bella, be patient.'

'But I don't want to be patient, I want to play!' Bella swished her wand at the ferns, tearing them at the roots and scattering the tatters of green leaves over the roots of an oak tree.

'We're nearly there, little Bella,' Enni said, pointing her broadsword through the trees. 'The gully and the river are that way; I can smell the damp stone and the acromantula chitin.'

'Let's go that way!' Bella beamed. 'We can squish them. Whoever squishes the most spiders wins!'

We'd win, Bell! She scrunched her face up. Wait. Do Daphne and Astoria count together if they use their magic together? Then they might win!

Enni laughed, flashing her engraved fangs. 'We are going further east. The real prey is not far.'

'Zhou?' Daphne murmured.

'Enni is right about the acromantulas,' Zhou said. 'They're that way. There are few living things over there, but I can feel wards not far beyond them. Strong ones.'

'Let's carry on,' Astoria chimed in. 'Chasca, stop playing with the tassels on your boots and put them back on.'

'I don't want mud on them,' Chasca retorted, jabbing at them with her wand.

Zhou snorted and spat into the battered patch of ferns. 'There will be more mud. Fix them later.'

Chasca scowled and stuffed her feet in, jumping up off the moss-covered log and brushing bits of leaf off her white robes. 'Okay, fine. I don't like this place, it's cold and dark, not like the forests of my home.'

'Maybe it's cold and dark because someone ate the sun, Chasca,' Zareen said, a little smile playing across her lips.

Chasca tossed her long braids over her shoulders and folded her arms. 'When the sun vanishes, a world will end. Vanishes. Not eaten.'

'Is that it?' Zhou grinned, the creases wrinkling at the corners of his mouth and eyes.

'No, there is more,' she said, 'but even the wisest of the aclla cannot agree exactly what it says.'

'That's even less helpful than what I saw in the bones of my ancestors,' Zhou replied. 'Beneath the light of the brightest stars and no moon, I saw two worlds in the eyes of her burnt skull, one crumbling away into darkness. And there were two shining figures in the cracks of her crown, the fire glowed through them like the sun through a crack in the roof. I would have seen more, but her skull broke in my hand and fell into the flames.'

'You burnt your ancestor's skull?' Chasca went a little green in the face. 'Urgh.'

Zhou laughed and scratched at his bald scalp. 'Who better to ask for guidance than those who have seen so much? We sacrifice their bones and their spirits show us what they can.'

'Is everyone ready again?' Astoria asked. 'Charlie?'

Charlie dragged his gaze back down from the sky and gave her a terse nod.

'We will have to break those wards,' Zhou said. 'They are strong.'

'There's no point in sneaking,' Astoria said. 'Walküren are meant to be seen arriving anyway. Like angels of war. Charlie and Zareen take the lead. Zhou and Enni keep an eye out for any watchers or wards. Daph and I will watch everyone's backs.'

'What about me?' Bella demanded. 'I want to do something.'

'Try and be quieter,' Zareen said.

'You be quieter,' Bella sang. 'You're boring. I want to have fun.'

We need cousin Harry, Bell. She skipped after Charlie, swatting the ferns with her free hand. He'll be much more fun than playing hide and seek in the woods, Bella.

The ground rose, turning rocky as the trees thinned out, and the soft rush of water echoed up to Bella's ears.

Zhou caught Charlie's shoulder, pressing a finger to his lips and pointing down. 'Acromantulas,' he whispered. 'The gully is almost right beneath us.'

Zareen edged forward over the rock and peered down. She nodded, motioning up the slope with her head.

Bella beamed. 'Spiders.' She bounded forward.

Enni grabbed her arm in a cold iron grip. 'Don't ruin the hunt, little Bella,' she murmured. 'We are not here for spiders—' a flicker of hunger passed through her red eyes '—I prefer to hunt men.'

Bella pouted and tugged back her arm. 'We can sneak for a bit then. But I want to plaaaay.'

Daphne sighed. 'Keep going. Before Bella wakes them up.'

Zareen conjured a thick plank of wood and lowered it to the ground, striding across. Charlie followed, glancing down either side.

Can you see them? Bella skipped forward onto the plank, squinting down past the moss-veiled rocks toward the dim glint of water far below. We can't see any spiders, Bell! She scowled. Let's go up the hill. Then we can leave this forest and go somewhere more fun, Bella.

Bella bounced off the plank and darted up the slope, bounding from rock to rock and over tree roots as the slope steepened into rough crags. The others ran after her, scrambling over the broken ground and up toward the light filtering through the dwindling trees.

Grey fog coiled around her waist and yanked her to a halt.

Cheating! We're stuck, Bell! Bella wriggled in its grip, leaning her weight into it up the slope. Apparate, Bella.

Enni rested her cool fingers on Bella's shoulder. 'Stop squirming, I can't hear.'

'Hear what?' Bella asked, falling still.

'Their hearts.' Enni cocked her head, sweeping her long fang-adorned red hair back from her ears. 'There are two up above us. Very close.'

Bella poked a finger into the magic wrapped around her waist. 'Let me out.' She scowled, fire flashing through her blood. 'Let me out!'

A ripple of violet light scattered the dark grey fog and tore through the trees, splintering trunks and smashing branches. Brown and orange leaves floated down in a cloud of wood dust.

Spells flashed down the hill, boring smoking holes through the trees.

'Oops.' Bella giggled. 'Sorry, Enni!'

Pale mist curled back together into Enni's tall figure with a deep throaty chuckle. 'Time to play, little Bella.'

Time to play, Bell!

Bella skipped up the slope, scrambling on her hands and knees and swatting glimmering streaks of orange away into the forest with her wand.

'Zareen!' Astoria cried. 'Charlie, do the wards!'

A wave of bronze light swept past Bella, sweeping all the spells from the air, and a huge white wolf bounded up the rocks and burst into pale mist.

We're falling behind, Bell. She darted up the slope and over the top of the rocks as the shimmer of wards fell over the crags.

Enni tossed the pale, twitching corpse of a witch aside with one hand and tugged the long broadsword out of the chest of the short wizard sprawled across the ground. 'We caught them by surprise, little Bella—' a savage grin spread across her face as she pointed the bloodstained blade across the small hollow beneath the crag to the cluster of small trees about the entrances to a series of caverns '—they are trapped like hares in a burrow.'

Aurors in black robes stumbled from the dark caves, leaping behind the trees and the boulders in the crag's shadow. Blue and green flashes of light hissed past Bella, their wind whispering through the curls of her dark hair.

'Time to win, Bell,' Bella whispered, a bright little thrill racing through her veins. 'Time to win!'

Time to feel alive, Bella.

She deflected the blues back, firing her pinks and yellows between them, punching scorching holes through the ribs of one auror and sending another diving behind the rocks. Bella twirled and jabbed her wand at the tree beside them, twisting it into a great snake. It curled around the auror, coiling tight, snapping and crunching his bones. He spasmed and twitched and screamed, slumping in the wooden serpent's grip. Grey fog lanced across the hollow, tearing through the rocks and trees, scattering tatters of dark cloth into the air and splattering crimson gore across the crags.

Searing white light burst Bella's snake-tree into splinters.

A blonde-haired witch in scarred leathers and white furs stepped from the entrance of the cave, trailed by six aurors in pale fur cloaks.

'Tsarina Bugrov,' Astoria chimed. 'The Walküren have come for you!'

Tsarina Bugrov's sharp blue eyes roved over Bella; the silver lightning bolts dangling from her braided hair gleamed in the light of the torches. 'Nadia,' she said. 'Follow the kolovrat marks with my Peryn's Chosen. I and my Oaksworn will hold Grindelwald's sycophants at bay.'

'What's a kolovrat?' Bella asked.

Enni bent and ripped the front of the robes off half an auror, shaking bits of glistening entrail free to splatter on the rocks. A blood-soaked silver spinning wheel with sharp, curving arms fluttered in her grip.

'This,' she said, dropping it at Bella's feet.

'The symbol of Polans,' Daphne murmured. 'How many died out here?'

'A dozen,' Enni said. 'Maybe a couple more. There are over twice as many in those caves, I can smell and hear them fleeing.'

'Surrender, Tsarina,' Astoria said. 'Grindelwald does not want your death. Your people struggle and suffer to keep the wild places of Russkaya from the eyes of the muggle world. It doesn't need to be that way.'

'Chasca and Zareen,' Daphne murmured. 'Shield us against their lightning magicks. Zhou, give us warning before they strike.'

'My people have seen what Grindelwald brings,' Tsarina Bugrov snapped, raising her wand. 'Death and destruction and misery. Nothing less. And nothing more.'

The Oaksworn extended their wards and iron poles burst from the ground in a low curving wall.

'Now,' Zhou yelled.

'Inti's cloak!' Chasca cried.

A tapestry of shimmering golden threads swept past Bella. Flashes of fierce white lightning struck it and splashed back, arcing through the iron poles in hissing, snapping showers of bright sparks. They tore through Charlie's shield as he dived behind Chasca's magic with a grunt.

'And again,' Zhou growled. 'Stronger now.'

The Tsarina levelled her long, thick wand at the golden shield. 'Fulminis,' she said, unleashing a crackling torrent of white lightning.

It hammered into Chasca's magic, little flickers of fierce white bursting through between the golden weave. The Oaksworn doubled their efforts, striding forward, and the shield began to fray. A stray arc of lightning tore through, bursting against a wall of grey fog and slamming into the ground before Charlie's feet.

'Zareen,' Daphne murmured, the grey mist shrinking back to circle around her waist and shoulders, flowing back and forth between her and Astoria.

Bronze light washed forward, settling over them in a shimmering bubble.

She's the best player, Bell. Bella skipped sideways past Enni, ducking through the bubble. She's the leader, Bella.

She swished her wand at the poles. 'Confringo.'

A ripple of magic tore them from the ground, scattering them over the crags.

'I'll deal with her,' the Tsarina said. 'Keep them pinned.'

The Oaksworn split into threes, conjuring iron poles and spikes and banishing them across the hollow. Astoria and Daphne deflected them down the slope.

'Are you good?' Bella asked, thrusting her wand at the Tsarina. 'Can you play? Do you have a trump card?'

The Tsarina fired a trio of pale green spells across the hollow, but Bella swatted them back, adding purples and reds and oranges.

She giggled at the Tsarina's scowl. 'You've got to be faster,' she sang. 'Too slow. Too slow. Too slow.'

A storm of pale green spells hissed at her.

That's more like it, Bell! Bright hot excitement flashed through her veins as they slashed lines of fire across her hip and over her shoulder. This is the most fun we've had since we woke up, Bella.

'Ardens flagello!' Bella cried, sweeping a curtain of pink flames across the slope and twirling through the spells, batting them back at the Oaksworn retreating from snaking golden threads and coils of grey fog.

A green spell caught one in the side of the head, splitting his skull in half.

The Tsarina hurled up a bright silver shield and watched the flames splash off it and shower across the ground, guttering out. Her wand swept up, sparking with furious bright light.

Something fun's coming, Bell!

Six crackling torrents of searing white lightning tore from the tip of the Tsarina's wand, arcing at Bella like the talons of a striking hawk.

She can play! Bella laughed, ripping up pillars of stone with a swish of her wand.

Something slammed into Bella's shoulder, sending her sprawling across the ground and the lightning smashed through the columns of stone, striking a tall slim silhouette with a fierce sizzle and a hiss.

'Ow!' Bella bounced back to her feet, grabbing her wand.

Enni's flesh and skin crept back over scorched bones and her long red hair sprouted from her scalp as she shook it out through the acrid smoke.

'A vampire elder.' Tsarina Bugrov's sharp blue eyes swept across the hollow as she backstepped toward the cavern entrance after her Oaksworn. 'We will face each other again, Walküren. I give you my word.' She ignored Charlie and Chasca's spells bursting on her shield. 'And when we do, you will taste Peryn's fury.'

'But I want to play now!' Bella lunged forward, sending dark purples streaking at the Tsarina.

The crag exploded.

A hail of jagged stones swallowed Bella's magic and buried the entrance to the cave.

'Aww.' She jabbed her wand at them. 'Confringo!'

A handful of torso-sized rocks shattered, sending sharp pieces of stone skittering across the hollow.

'Bella,' Zareen snapped. 'Stop it.'

'But we have to go through!' Bella pointed her wand at the small avalanche. 'Otherwise the game's over.'

'It's over for now,' Daphne murmured. 'Who knows what traps and wards are in those tunnels.'

'The kolovrat marks are probably there to show the only safe paths,' Zhou said.

'So we can follow them!' Bella said. 'Just move the rocks!'

'They won't leave them for us, little Bella.' Enni laughed and mussed Bella's hair with one cold hand. 'I will stalk them through the dark. And when we know where our prey is, we will hunt them again.'

Astoria nodded. 'Go, Enni. Be careful.'

Enni burst into wisps of pale mist; the white vapour curled through the gaps in the rocks, vanishing into the avalanche.

'Not fair,' Bella moaned. 'I was finally having fun and then they ruined it and ran away. And you all are so boring!'

'It's not a game,' Zhou retorted. 'We came here to fight for something important, not play around until we get killed.'

'There are many creatures in this old dark forest,' Astoria said. 'We don't want to rush into those caves.' The grey fog curled back into her sleeves. 'But we can't wait long for Enni. The Russkayans know how to tame magical creatures. If we give them too long, we'll have to fight half the forest.'

'And Grindelwald is growing more impatient,' Daphne murmured. 'Since he struck that deal with Violette, he has become less and less cautious and careful.'

Violette is cousin Harry, Bell! Bella stowed her wand away and poked her finger into the soft sting of her bleeding grazes, shivering at the little stabs of pain from the gashes in her shoulder and her hip. Hopefully he comes to play soon, Bella. This game is always the same. We're getting bored.

AN: Same old self-promo stuff! Profile's the place to go!