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Scourge of the Heathen- Chapter 5
🕑 Added 2023-03-30 22:15:02 +0000 UTCAN: Casting
Rowena- Anna Belik
They landed with the softest of thuds, both of them careful to make as little noise as possible. One dim torch cast flickering shadows around the room. It was small, barely large enough to fit them, and immaculately clean. Cleanliness is close to godliness, I suppose.
Neither he nor Rowena knew exactly what to expect, which was why they had their wands drawn. They’d waited a week before using the portkey to come to Inverness, “Seems we were right.” Rowena whispered as she went to the door. Cracking it open just a sliver, she checked the corridor to the best of her ability and seemed satisfied that there was no one there.
“Must have thought she failed or ran off and decided that it was a lost cause.” Harry agreed. It was what they hoped would happen by delaying, but there was no guarantee. It was the same reason why they waited until late in the night. It should give us the best chance of success.
“No doubt they’re planning something else for me now.” There was steel in her voice. Her earlier animosity toward the church and the people that harried her had only been exacerbated by the arrival of Mairi. Every new thing they learned from the young girl about the place they were now in only made them that much more keen to come.
Harry could feel the gentle magic of wards around them. Mairi warned them of the worst of them. They could detect foreign magic cast within the walls of the monastery, or more specifically any magic not from one of the priests or monks. Something like the Trace from his own time. And while he knew that some magic would need to be cast eventually, keeping their presence there unnoticed was their best advantage for the moment.
Opening the door wider, Rowena headed out into the corridor. Quick on her heals, Harry followed her out. It was cool in the corridor, as though they were underground. The sconces burning in the passage provided some light. There was a staircase that led up to their right while the one to their left went deeper. While they believed that Mairi told them everything she knew, they were certain that there were some things she couldn’t know. Like where exactly we would arrive for instance.
“Up or down?” Rowena questioned with a glance over her shoulder.
“Down. Mairi said her brother wouldn’t see the sun for days at a time.” The very thought made him furious. It reminded him in some small way of his own time with the Dursleys. But then, from everything I’ve been told, and know of them, I should probably count my blessings that Vernon is the worst that I had to deal with.
“Bastards, keeping them locked away from the rest of the world.” He could understand the vitriol in her voice. There was a deep-seeded disdain for them in his own heart, and it only grew the more he learned. And given what I knew of them in my own time, I didn’t think that was possible.
They hurried down the corridor, quiet as a church mouse quite literally in this case. They bounded down the stairs, deeper into the monastery. The next corridor down was wreathed in an encompassing darkness. They stopped at the base of the stairs where there was just the barest hint of light from the floor above, “Should we?”
“Not yet.” Harry said softly. He wanted to remain hidden for as long as possible. Walking around blindly in the dark was unpleasant, but they managed. Harry ran his hand along the stone wall, and Rowena followed by wrapping her hand around the crook of his elbow.
The corridor was only some thirty feet, and narrowed slightly as they reached the end. There was only one door with a hum of magic about it and predictably locked. Even in the dark he could feel Rowena’s eyes on him, “Nothing for it now. We can’t get in there without casting something.”
“We’ll need to be quick,” He told her, “You give me the light and I’ll get the door.” She gave his arm a squeeze to show that she understood. There was no way to sit there and study the magic on the door and break it conventionally, at least not without being discovered. And they’ve done more than put a simple locking charm on there.
So, that left him one option. Breaking it open with the sheer force of his magic, “Now.” A bright white light shone from the tip of Rowena’s wand and revealed the door. It was heavy, made of solid oak and bound with iron that had runes etched into it.
A steady stream of magic left his wand, like a line of electrical current. There was a passing thought to send one explosive spell against it, but he didn’t want to take the risk of harming those on the other side. The runes pulsed as they tried to repel him. They grew brighter and brighter as he funneled more of his magic into the door. The iron rent and twisted, deforming as it grew hotter, until finally, it broke with a tremendous snap. It would have been horribly loud if it wasn’t for Rowena’s foresight to silence it.
If they were discovered, there was nothing obvious to tell them. But they were both smart enough to continue as though they were on a deadline. Without delay, he pushed the door open, and Rowena followed behind with the light.
There were six people sleeping in the room, the youngest was a girl that looked no more than six while the oldest was probably in his mid-teens. They were not on beds, but on the stone floor with nothing to cover themselves. Their clothes looked tattered, as though they hadn’t been changed or cleaned in quite some time. The thing that sent his blood cold with fury though was the chains. Each of them, even the youngest, had shackles wrapped around their wrists and their ankles. And it looked to him as though they were threaded through a chain on the wall that would allow them to be suspended.
The light pierced through the darkness and caused the oldest of the bunch to stir. The brightness caused him to cower away at first, striking him almost painfully. When was the last time he saw anything more than dim torchlight? After a moment, he chanced another look and Harry could only gesture for him to remain quiet. The lad nodded his head in understanding, and there was a glint of hope in his sunken eyes.
There was a seventh in the room, resting in a chair. It was a man in his forties if Harry were to guess. He was balding, but still had thin grey hair along his temples. Clad in simple brown robes, he was snoring softly. There was a soft humming then and Rowena snuffed out the light of her wand as it caused the monk to stir. With a wave of his own, he meant to hide them from view. But something in the wards of the building fought against it.
Disillusionment wasn’t the only way to remain unseen though. As the monk rubbed the sleep from his eyes, Harry pulled Rowena close and cast another spell. The darkness wrapped itself around them as he moved to one corner of the room. They were like a piece of the shadows as the monk lit a torch and moved to a small basin of water.
It was holy water, and as he approached the unfortunate captives, he spoke, “Domine Iesu, dimitte nobis debita nostra, salva nos ab igne inferiori, perduc in caelum omnes animas, praesertim eas, quae misericordiae tuae maxime indigent.”[i]
With each word he doused the children in the holy water. It woke each of them in turn and they recoiled away from their captor with every word.
All except for the oldest. The young man just looked at the monk defiantly, “I have no need of your god’s mercy if this is what it’s like.”
From within his robes, the monk pulled something out quickly. There was a bloody red mark on the young man’s cheek from where he’d been lashed for his insolence. From the scars on him, Harry would wager it wasn’t the first time he’d been defiant.
The monk didn’t linger though, moving to the next captor and the next. The youngest whimpered as he approached, and the man actually smiled at the reaction.
Unable to contain herself any longer, Rowena moved within the shadows that obscured them. A red stunner sent the man tumbling to the ground. The basin clattered loudly and left the stone glistening with holy water. The children jumped, and one even yelled out in surprise, “Shush now,” the oldest told them firmly, but not unkindly, “They’re here to help.”
They all clearly had some level of respect for him as they listened without any trouble, he turned to look at him and Rowena, “You are here to help, aren’t you?”
“Yes, we are.” The witch at his side said stonily as she stared down at the monk. She wanted to do far worse than simply incapacitating him and he wouldn’t stop her if that’s what she decided. Shaking her head, she decided against, he would guess for the youngest's sake.
Clack. To prove she was telling the truth, Harry undid their shackles with a simple spell, “What’s your name?” He asked of the young man while he moved to the youngest to help her free. She gave him a shy, cautious smile which he managed to return despite the circumstances.
“Euan.” The young man told him as he helped the others get themselves free of their chains.
“Mairi’s brother?” Makes sense she was so desperate to help him free. If she’d known exactly what they were doing to him, it would’ve been worse.
“Yes?”
“She’ll be happy to see you.” Harry assured him, “But for now, I need you to help us.”
“If it means getting out of here, I’d do just about anything.” Euan told him vehemently, the younger children nodding their agreement.
“Well, first thing you’re going to do is tell me where I can find the others.” He knew that these were just the worst of the young magicals, at least in the eyes of the people that were holding them. Though what a six-year-old could’ve done, I struggle to understand. Couldn’t have been anything worse than some accidental magic I would think.
“Some of them are a lost cause,” Euan said with a scowl, “Whether it’s because they’ve finally been broken or because they actually believe the weasel shit these bastards have been selling us… it’s hard to say.”
“But not all of them?” Rowena interjected with an almost frightening calm.
“No, not all.” He agreed slowly, “You’ll be hard pressed to work out the good from the bad though.”
“Lucky for us, you’ll be able to help us sort them out.” Harry assured the teen. A noise at the top of the stairs caused them all to look toward the door, “Seems we’ve been noticed.” Rowena moved to the door and pressed herself against the wall behind it. Two men and one woman came rushing into the room, looking alarmed.
“What in God’s name is going on here?” One of the men asked while the other two weren’t nearly so open to explanation. They approached Harry ready to pull him away from the children, but before they could get close to him, they all fell to the ground in a heap, joining the first monk in unconsciousness.
“Are any of them magicals?” Rowena asked as she moved over to them.
“I know he is.” One of the younger boys told them, poking the monk in question in the side. Harry summoned a wand from within the man’s robes. Looking it over, he glanced at Euan, “Any idea how to use this?”
“A bit.”
“A bit is enough for tonight.” Harry passed it to him, before looking to Rowena, “One fewer of them to deal with unless he’s any good at wandless magic.”
“One fewer for tonight.” Rowena corrected. They’d had this conversation more than once. He understood why she wanted to just level the entire place and he was in perfect agreement with her. But for tonight, there was something else they were worried about.
“First things first, we get them out. We worry about the rest later.” His companion scowled but nodded her head in the end. Turning back to Euan, he told him, “Show us to the others now, quickly as you can.”
He struggled on his legs after gods only knew how long down in that solitary room, but with every step it grew better. The younger children kept themselves close to Harry and Rowena as they made their way up one flight of stairs and then another and then one final one. As they traveled upward there were more rooms, at least one on each floor. They opened a door out into the cloister. Colonnades opened to the courtyard on the other side.
The building was no foreboding fortress, but it wasn’t small either. The courtyard was square about twenty by twenty with a small fountain in the middle. There was a set of large doors on the northern wall. The moon was a crescent in the sky, casting a pale light around monastery. It came and went though as clouds floated across the sky.
Luckily, things still seemed quiet, except for a light in one of the windows on the opposite side of the courtyard. Hopefully, those were the only three that knew anything about what was happening down there.
“This way.” Euan told them as he headed toward the right. They walked to the nearest corner where there was another door. This one, much like the one below, was locked magically, though it was lacking the runes. Stopping there, Euan said softly to the pair, “If you take the stairs up, there will be a landing and two doors to the sleeping quarters for the rest.”
“Alright,” Harry could see that he was nearly dead on his feet. Considering he probably hadn’t had a proper meal, or a proper night’s sleep, in days, it was understandable, “Take this,” He handed him a simple stretch of rope. It was a portkey set for five minutes, but that wasn’t a measurement used in his current time, “Get outside of the ward line, and this will take you somewhere safe. Somewhere your sister is waiting for you.” They made a little encampment in the Dark Forest for that very purpose a good distance away from her keep.
“There will be more near the entrance.” He said, concerned.
“I’ll take care of them.” Harry looked to Rowena, “Then I’ll join you up there.”
“We’ll send the rest along after you,” Rowena told Euan, “You know better than us which ones to trust, so stay alert. Keep that wand with you and use it if needs be when we send the rest your way.” None of them should be awake when they arrived but it was better to be cautious.
Harry went with the children toward the other side of the courtyard, as Rowena went to work on the door. He heard it creak open as they crept in the shadows toward the gate. There was a large wooden door with a window to check for visitors. It was barred by a large wooden plank. There was one monk, sitting there whispering to himself as he went about his guard duties. This was the one important door that he’d seen lacking any wards. Must not want to cause any questions if they have visitors not in the know.
A flash of light filled the darkness of the night and the monk slumped to the ground softly, “Hurry.” Harry commanded the children as he opened it and ushered them out, “Not long now, the wards shouldn’t extend too far. If you get to the bottom of the hill, you should be fine.” The monastery sat at the top of a hill that overlooked the rest of Inverness where it rested along the River Ness not far from the Moray Firth.
The children hurried along but, Harry didn’t have the time to watch them away. Heading back along the courtyard, he heard voices then, “Taking too long, far too long. Come with me. We’ll have this dealt with ourselves in just a moment.”
There were three people that came striding into the courtyard, one of them clearly the superior to the others from the fineness of his clothing. Bishop Oran, I would guess. According to Mairi, the man in charge of this monastery was a deeply devout Christian, who also happened to be a magical practitioner of some skill.
He wore fine linen robes and had rings upon three of his fingers. He had copper hair that was beginning to grey. The bishop was short, even for the time, and skinny.
Hiding himself behind a pillar, Harry watched as they headed toward the stairs that would take them beneath the monastery. We need to finish here. He hurried to the door that Euan showed them and made his way up. Just as he described there were two doors, both already open.
The room was magically expanded and lined with simple cots from the door to the back wall. There were eight girls in the room, each of them asleep. There were two small windows in the room, too small to crawl through, but big enough to point a wand through and that’s all that mattered. Not that I couldn’t remove the wall if needed.
Rowena worked quickly, placing another of the portkeys from within her expanded bag in the hand of each of the children. Each of them had already been put into a magical slumber, but she cast another spell to make sure they wouldn’t let go of the portkey. Harry got to work helping her.
“How long?” He’d taught Rowena the way of giving it a timer. And since she knew the time, he let her do that final bit of magic on them.
“Soon.”
“Hopefully soon is soon enough,” Harry whispered back, “The bishop is awake. And will be on his way up, I’m sure.”
Rowena didn’t say anything at first as she placed the last of the portkeys on the girls, “Shall we do it now then? Might not have a chance if we leave it until the last second.”
Knowing she was right, he headed toward the window. He stabbed the Elder Wand in the air, unleashing an arc of bright white light. It shot out through the night, lighting up the ground outside. At the crest of the hill, it collided with the wards. They were well-made, and tied into a wardstone somewhere if he were to guess. But this wasn’t the first time he’d used the blunt force approach to break through wards, and bolstered by the Elder Wand, it took only a moment. The dome brightened for just a moment before shattering. The magic dripped to the ground like snow, dissipating before it even reached the ground.
There was movement at the bottom of the stairs, and they both moved toward it. Bishop Oran bounded up the stairs as they reached the landing. There was a wand in his hand, and he sent a spell their way that Rowena deflected away.
He shielded from the spell that Harry sent in his direction and brought the tip of his wand to his throat before either of them could stop him, “Heathens! Heathens in the monastery!” His beady black eyes alighted on Rowena, “The pagan from the highlands! She’s here!”
Harry sent an overpowered banisher at the bishop. He wasn’t quick enough to shield and he went tumbling down the stairs. There were yells and knocking as more than one person ended up piled at the bottom of the stairs, “Well, so much for getting out of here without them knowing we were here.”
There was a wooshing from within the two rooms behind them as the rest of the young magicals were whisked away from Inverness. Well, at least that’s done.
“Suppose this will just save us a trip back.” Harry commented as she shielded to catch another spell that came rushing toward them. Over the years, he’d grown accustomed to small skirmishes like this and more importantly, what it meant.
Rowena gave a little smirk as she sent a bright orange spell down the staircase. It impacted with a loud bang. Screams of pain followed and the two found their path unimpeded as they headed down the stairs. There were a few limbs sticking out of the rubble at the bottom. With a wave of his wand, the whole lot was swallowed down into the floor.
At the bottom of the stairs, he sent the door off its hinges. It went splintered in two against the stone pillar. As they stepped out into the corridor, spells came from both sides. A cascade of colors washed against the shield he cast. It strained against their assault but didn’t break. Their eleven assailants kept up the attack, doing everything they could to break through his defense.
But they weren’t idle behind his shield. Rowena spun her wand in the air and the ground in front of her rippled like water. The stones that made up the floor broke away as the tidal wave headed toward the monks and nuns. That’s about half of them dealt with. It sent them off their feet, all save Bishop Oran who stumbled away into the courtyard.
As Rowena followed after him, she sent precise spells in the direction of the other five she’d put on the ground. None of them were quick enough to defend, and it meant the end of their lives. They had no intention of allowing these people to do the same again, which left only two options. Harry considered this the kinder of the two.
As his companion rounded the corner into the courtyard, she started trading spells with the bishop. Harry turned his attention toward the other five in the other corridor who were still bombarding his shield. Letting the shield shatter, he apparated behind them, and enveloped himself in shadows. They looked around bewildered for a moment, some of them even fearfully.
They were right to be fearful because from the darkness shining metal spikes came rushing through the air. Three of them found their marks as the dull thud of metal piercing flesh could attest. One of the monks and one of the nuns managed to bring stone barriers to protect themselves.
They fired into the shadow as he stepped out, but he just deflected their spells away. They weren’t without skill, and they were fighting to win. The sickly purple spell he swiped away with his wand looked to him like a Maddening Curse. Had it hit home, it could have driven him to claw out his own eyes.
He returned fire with a dark blue spell of his own that whipped through the air faster than the monk could hope to shield. All the air was pulled from his lungs in a second, as impossible pressure pressed upon them. The next second he dropped to the ground, dead.
In his next movement, a flame whip emerged from the tip of his wand. It burned hot, so hot that all but the very tip was a deep blue. It slashed through the air, and a horrible scream came from the nun as it cut through cloth and skin and bone. The wound was cauterized immediately, but it didn’t matter as it slashed her through from clavicle to sternum.
With that dealt with, Harry turned his attention to the courtyard. Rowena traded spells with Bishop Oran, but it looked to him like she was merely toying with him. He was limping slightly on his right leg, as though it had been broken.
Every spell he sent her way was either deflected or avoided with a casual ease. Then he surprised even Harry, “Avada Kedavra.” The light wasn’t nearly so bright as the one he remembered so vividly from his own childhood. And Harry wagered that even had it reached her, it wouldn’t have done the job. It would do worse than a nosebleed though.
Harry didn’t wait to find out. Faster than seemed possible, he conjured a stone slab between the holy man and Rowena. The spell destroyed the slab and it fell to the ground as rubble. Unwilling to give him any more chances, he cast a Severing Charm that took the man’s hand off in a spray of blood.
Crying out, Bishop Oran hunched over his stump. As he fell to his knees, he reached for his wand, but Harry summoned it away before he could grab it, “You’ve lost. Accept it.”
“I have never lost so long as I walk with God.” The bishop said almost deliriously. Well, he is losing quite a bit of blood. Not that they usually need that excuse for their zeal.
“Tell him that in your heaven.” Rowena said bitterly as she fired off another curse. It was a bright yellow and as soon as it hit the bishop, his eyes widened in alarm. With that single spell, she stopped his heart. Without a wand, there was nothing he could do to counter it and a few seconds later, he slumped to the ground dead.
“Less than he deserved.” Rowena said, a frown on her lips.
“True, but we still have work to do.” There was still the matter of cleaning things up. There were others in the monastery, mundane individuals cowering away from the fighting.
Taking a deep breath, her shoulders slumped. When she opened her eyes, she gave him a small smile, “You’re right. We should finish this… it’s been a long night.” She took a few steps before she looked down at the body of the bishop. He could see it then, the way it all caught up with her.
She grew unsteady on her legs, and he caught her in a hug, “Row, just breathe.” It wasn’t the first time he’d dealt with something like this. Most of his friends became killers, out of survival rather than choice, and some handled it better than others.
“I’m… I’m alright.” she said, looking up at him with vulnerable eyes.
“No, but you will be.” He assured her, “Just remember, they would’ve done far worse to you. And they were doing far worse to those children.”
“I know.” She gave him another small smile and squeezed his arm to show that she was alright.
With that they went about the last of their work. Their one kindness to the mundane monastics was to send them into a deep sleep.
When they left, the sun was just coming over the horizon. And the fires they left behind ate timber, and flesh, and even bone, until there was nothing left but blackened stone.
The one thing they didn’t account for when they arrived back in the highlands near the lake was cowardice. One monk, magical of course, popped away in the chaos to a place further south. And, while neither of them knew it…with that, the shoe dropped.
[i] O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy.
AN: The footnote is the translation for the Latin.
Hope everybody enjoyed this one!
Comments
travis btmb
Great job can't wait for more
W.D. O'Neill
The royal sort of fallout.
Basti Fortuna
This is actually pretty good, can't wait for the next update.
Kevin Thunder
How ironic the Bishop considers other magicals heathens. He and his ilk are hopeless. What kind of fallout? I am sure Harry and Rowena can handle it.
W.D. O'Neill
Thanks. Good thing is, I'm looking forward to writing, too.
GhostnKC
I reread the entire story to this point and can only say that it's impressive. There is some real grit in it and I love it. Now I'm looking forward to the next chapter.
