The Warlock and The Pale Dragon

Chapter 4: Gil'ead's Darkness

Disclaimer:I do not own Harry Potter or The Inheritance Cycle

Hope Y'all enjoy R&R pls.

"Be fearless, because the world needs what you have to give." -Eileen Anglin

-CHAPTER START-

Harry found himself back in the large entry hall of the giant tree, a table with a map set out on it, a length of twine sat atop the map. Islanzadi disappeared from their entourage, presumably to find something that was of sentimental value to Arya. Oromis had actually descended from the crags to accompany them, donning a cloak to hide his features as while his presence might be an open secret among the elves, one didn't take unnecessary risks and survive this long against the traitor.

Islanzadi returned in an elven minute, having run at the fastest she was capable of to search her daughters quarters. Needless to say Harry had not been forced to dawdle very long before she returned with a ring grasped tightly in her palm. "This was given to Arya shortly before Evandar went to Ilirea. This ring was dear to him as it was forged by the smith Rhunon for him by his dam, and it was a gift Arya treasured even more after his death. She never wears it out as she doesn't want to risk anything happening to it. If this does not work I'm not sure what will, but I will search nonetheless if you need me to."

"By the sounds of it, the ring should work. Definitely has the sentimental value, the only problem could be it might scry Evandar instead of Arya and we'll just be looking at the location of a corpse." he rubbed the back of his neck.

"So this form of scrying does not show the actual person?" Oromis questioned at his side, Looking at Harry tying the ring to the string.

"Not so much, your scrying actually sounds more advanced than ours, this form just shows the location of a person. Your husband is buried here? Or is his body still at wherever Ilirea is?" he asked Islanzadi callously, and he knew it was, but the situation didn't really call for pleasantries.

"He is buried here, his men brought him back when the retreat was ordered." she said distantly, thinking about the time in question before shaking herself back to the present.

"Alright, then if the ring lands near Ellesmera it's more than likely Evandar. Anywhere else and it's your daughter."

"Okay, I'm going to start." Harry said, holding the ring tied to the string over the center of the map, the string slightly swinging the ring around. He began speaking loudly, clearly, magic infusing his voice. "Obiectum animi vinculus tuis locus vtero. Obiectum animi vinculus tuis locus vtero…" as he spoke the ring began spinning in a circle on the string. This continued for two minutes, Harry chanting and the ring spinning, until the ring and string jerked out of his grip and flew to a specific part of the map, the large green stone covering the target location.

Harry slowly lifted the ring off the area, revealing that it was covering a name just south of Isenstar Lake. "Gil'ead…" Oromis breathed. "The shade Durza's lair is there, he must be who captured her. He keeps prisoners there for his experiments, and is known for enjoying breaking those with strong wills." he finished grimly.

"What's a shade?" Harry asked curiously.

"An abomination." Islanzadi hissed, though Harry saw a spark of fear in her eyes he knew was for her daughter. "A shade is nothing more than a collective of tortured souls strung together with dark magic, one soul being the prevalent voice for all of them, Durza in this case. The things he will do to Arya… Please, can you use your teleportation magic to save her?" she pleaded with Harry, slightly shirking her queen face in favor of getting her daughter out of the hell she had found herself in.

"I already said I would, didn't I?" Harry smirked, attempting to calm her. "I would like to go get my other friend though, since I don't know what exactly to expect I'd like to go in prepared with all of us. So...yeah. Be right back." he popped out, leaving Neville and Luna to explain where he went.

"Don't worry, he'll be back in less than five minutes." Neville said confidently.

"He just went to grab Hermione." Luna added.

"Oh? The other member of your group?" Oromis asked curiously.

"Yes, she'll be very good to have around if we're going into battle," Luna stated. "Besides Harry she's the next strongest of us, even stronger than Neville. She's also an intellectual like yourself. If you wish to talk about magic with her, I'm sure you'll get just as much knowledge out of it as the practical demonstration Harry gave you."

Harry suddenly reappeared with an angry Hermione, holding her shoulder. "You know Harry, I was in the middle of something!" she screeched.

"So am I, and It's more important than the gossip circle you had going with your new friends Hermione." Harry said flatly.

"I was getting information about our new country, arse! Trying to learn more about this place, the lay of the land and what we could expect. For instance did you know there's a group of rebels fighting Galbatorix called the Varden, some of our guests were debating going to join them to fight against the monarchy that allows slavery." Hermione countered, jabbing his chest.

"Yea? Well I'm saving an elven princess and making us new allies, want in?" Harry smirked, taking the wind out of her sails and making her slump.

"Fine… you win. What's the situation and what's the plan?" Hermione asked, putting on her game face and walking towards Neville and Luna, who were in turn standing next to Oromis and Islanzadi.

"Situation is a dark magic construct with multiple souls contained inside it is holding the elf princess Arya hostage inside some sort of prison at Gil'ead. We're gonna rescue her and hopefully kill the shade if it's home. How do we do that by the way? Is it the same as a normal human or do I have to do something special?"

"Where the heart should be located is a facsimile, a fake heart that contains the souls. The phylactery needs to be destroyed for the shade to die, otherwise he would live on as a spirit, eventually regaining a body through regeneration or some form of ritual."

Harry stiffened slightly. "A phylactery you say?" the Boy-Who-Lived, come to die… he shook himself out of his memories and focused back on the matter at hand. Hermione and Neville looked at him concernedly, and Luna smiled comfortingly, but no one else noticed, thankfully. "I can handle those, I've done it before. I'm even experienced in destroying them, you might say." he chuckled. "Alright, anyone versed in the layout of Gil'ead, we have yet to visit there?" all the elves shook their heads negatively, as none of them had been in at least centuries and knew the place had changed from when they knew the area.

"Then I guess we do this the hard way. We'll tandem L.O.S apparate until we're at Gil'ead then scout the town until we figure out where Durza's prison is. Once we're in we get everyone out, we'll take the ones still sane back to Potter Manor, the insane ones we can't do much for… I don't even think we should bother unlocking their doors, we'd just be releasing them into the general populace to cause damage. I'll bring Arya back here to her mother."

Hermione didn't look very happy about this. "Harry, we can't just leave those people there to die." She tried to reason with him.

"Would you rather release them and have anyone they hurt on your conscience? Because I don't want that. It's either leave them there or kill them, and I'd rather not have their blood on our hands." Harry said logically. "Look, if you feel that strongly about it, you can wait outside and stand guard, but it has to be done Hermione, no matter how distasteful it may seem the alternatives would be worse."

"We could obliviate them of all the time they spent there to before they were taken hostage!" she spoke quickly.

"It would be little more than a bandage, Hermione. The dreams alone would drive at least half of them to rip the bandage off and remember, and the others might still be driven insane by insomnia from the dreams without remembering. We don't have the resources nor the knowledge to save them. We can only save who we can save. The insane ones can't be saved, I'm sorry Hermione." he pulled her into a hug to comfort her then let her go, allowing her to become used to what they were going to have to do.

"If I may, your friend is correct, Hermione-finiaril. Durza delights in seeing how much he can push a man before his mind breaks, and after that how much it will take for their body to follow the spirit. I will be surprised if you find more than a dozen souls in that horrid place capable of being salvaged. Though I must admit it would be more of a mercy for you to just end their suffering, Harry-vadhr." Oromis said.

Harry ran a hand over his face. "I know, I know… I haven't decided what I'll do with them yet. I don't want all that blood on my hands, but if they would want it, should i deny them that comfort?"

"Moving on, I'll bring Arya back here where she can be looked after, then I'll go rejoin my friends and look after our guests for a few days." Harry took a glance at his friends and saw Neville's fists were taut and white-knuckled, trembling with an emotion Harry couldn't identify at that moment. "Are we good on the plan? Alright, let's roll."

"Wait, Harry-vadhr." Oromis stopped him. "Would you like us to select a group of elves to accompany you? You never know just when you might need assistance."

Harry thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. "Nah, my friends will be busy transporting the prisoners and I'll be transporting the princess, so your elves would be stuck without a method of escape while we were busy. We can handle ourselves just fine, Oromis."

As they were walking out, Harry asked Neville. "So what's up, Neville? Something bothering you?"

Neville's jaw clenched and unclenched in an effort to calm himself. "Harry, make sure you kill this bastard, he's a monster. If what they said is true, and he enjoys breaking people's minds and bodies, then he's even worse than Bellatrix, Crouch, and the Lestranges. They only destroyed my parents minds but this fucker takes it even further…" Ah, now Harry understood. Neville was relating the prisoners in Durza's tender mercies to his own parents stuck in St. Mungo's for the rest of their lives.

"One way or another, Nev, he's gonna die today. Don't you worry about that." Harry said seriously, and Neville nodded his assent. "Now let's go become even more wanted than we probably already are! Undesirable Number 1 here I come!" Neville couldn't be sure, but he swore Harry's smile was actually genuine, which was slightly unsettling yet amusing, Neville thought.

The apparated to the edge of the forest, crossed the ward and apparated to Carvahall. They followed the road, staying barely in sight of it so they didn't draw attention teleporting around on a well travelled path. They made sure to follow their map, making the proper turns when they needed to, and found themselves in Yazuac within a half an hour, and what they saw made them stop cold in their tracks.

Neville and Luna were speechless as they stared at the corpse pile in the center of town, Hermione covered her mouth and nose with her hand as the smell of rotting flesh hit her, tears spilling over her fingers as she gazed upon the impaled baby on top of the pile, resting on a blackened spear.

"This is…" Harry didn't even have any words to describe how messed up this situation was. For lack of a better vocabulary, he simply let out a near animalistic growl.

"A crime against all that is good." Luna finished for him, the dreamy tone she always had for once completely missing as she gazed at the mass corpse pile in sadness.

"After we complete the mission, we're coming back here." Harry said with finality, and none of his friends disagreed one bit. These people needed proper burials. Harry's thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of dark magic encroaching on them. His friends clearly noticed as well, and the got into a defensive position, Luna flanking Harry and Neville flanking Hermione.

Two humanoid beings ran into town at what Harry judged to be around the same speed that elves ran at. The two things also stopped cold in their tracks, staring at the four from underneath their heavy cloaks.

"Now I might not be the best sensor, but even I can tell you two feel like pure malevolence and bloodlust. So what the hell are you." Harry barked, not at all in the mood for this after what he'd just seen.

"Move or die, fool. You are delaying us from hunting our prey." the taller of the two hissed.

"Am I wearing a fucking jester hat, monster? I am no fool, now answer my question so I can move on with my day." Harry's wand flew into his hand, his friends copying his movements.

The things ran full speed at Harry, who fired off a depulso that sent the taller one spinning through the air and crashing into one of the village huts. The second one was nearly upon them by the time the second spell fired, this time from Hermione and much more deadly in the form of a bombarda. This creature also went smashing through a roof into a building, though neither exited.

"Think it's that easy?" Harry asked his friends after a moment of watching and waiting.

"Nope." they all chorused, knowing that nothing could be that easy when Harry was involved.

"Alright, addendum to the plan. You all go and save the princess and the prisoners, I'll catch up by following your apparition trail if I have time. I should deal with these things before they decide to pull a runner." Harry said, urging them all to leave.

"Harry, there's two of these things and only one of you, shouldn't one of us stay behind to help?" Hermione asked reasonably.

"Nah, I got this under control. Go. Neville, I'm trusting you to deal with the shade in my place, kick this Durza's ass for me." Harry smirked at him. "If I'm still not caught up with you by the time you're out of Gil'ead apparate back here long enough to check whether or not I'm still here. These guys are fast so I'll probably be using quick-time apparitions here to stay out of their reach. I'll catch up with you guys if I'm not here." he urged them to go before the beings left the houses and distracted them all.

Once they had apparated away, he called out to the beings. "I'll ask again, what the fuck are you?" the taller one left the house he'd been banished into, cloak still fully covering him.

"I will ask you the same, human. What form of magic is this and how are you doing it?"

"I would say ask your mother, but an inner voice is telling me that she's fugly, so I won't even insinuate that I slept with her. Instead, I will simply say… noneya."

"...noneya?" the thing asked in the voice that slightly reminded Harry of a snake the way it hissed.

"None ya business." he grinned condescendingly at the thing.

It stared at Harry uncomprehendingly, then it looked like it just gave a mental shrug and charged at Harry once more, temporarily putting off their banter in favor of the fight.

Harry simply apparated behind him and continued speaking. "Tell you what, I'll play a question for a question. Tell me your name and I'll tell you mine." he attempted to bargain with the creature.

It stared at him for a moment, before it's raspy voice said. "We are known as the Ra'zac."

"I'm Harry, is that what all of your kind are called, or just you? Does your friend in the other house have a different name?" he questioned.

"We are the Ra'zac," it parroted. "What form of magic are you using." it continued their little game.

"A magic taught by my people, I come from a far away place. I doubt you can learn it, as I haven't met anyone else in Alagaesia yet that can."

"Then you have little worth to our master. Die!" it charged at him with its super speed once again. Harry blasted it back once more, this time with a ventus that outright destroyed the well he'd blasted the Ra'zac past. Harry got sloppy, though, and didn't hear the footsteps of the other Ra'zac until it was right on him, tackling him like he was nothing. It carried him through one wall into the largest building and slammed him onto the floor.

He looked up and saw something interesting. In the center of the cloak where Hermione's explosion charm hit and its cloak was destroyed, there was a reddish tint to its grey, lightly feathered skin. It took Harry but a moment to figure out what was going on and he smirked at the creature. "Not a fan of sunlight are we? Lumos Solem! He blasted the orb straight at the creature, stunning it and allowing Harry to run back out into the safety of the day with little more than a sore back as an injury.

He rolled his shoulders and brought his wand to bear on the taller Ra'zac and shouted. "Ferveret Sanguis!" and the blood boiling curse went flying towards him, the dark red spell flying wide as the creature used its speed to dodge. It kept charging Harry and drew a blade of some sort from its back, black as night and long enough to be a broadsword, yet the thing swung it around like 12 year old Harry did with the sword of Gryffindor, which had only been a shortsword.

Harry apparated to behind the thing and accio'd the sword, yelping and jumping out of the way as it flew at him blade first. 'Note to self, do not summon swords.' he thought warily, eyeing the sword stuck into the wooden wall a decent distance behind him. 'Oh well at least I got his weapon away from him.'

The Ra'zac hissed and clicked at him in a way that made Harry think he wasn't very happy. It ran into the building the other Ra'zac was in and all was quiet. After a moment to see if they were planning something, he cast an overpowered Lumos and ran into the building, only to find it was empty.

"Shit… clever fuckers did a runner." he groaned, figuring they had hopped out the back window while he watched the front. He knew with their speed even if he apparated after them he'd never be able to stay near them long enough to hit a spell unless they wanted to be near him. "Guess I should catch up with everyone." he muttered, and was gone without even a pop.

-LINE BREAK-

"Come on, stop being a coward, aren't you supposed to be a strong, sadistic fuck?" Neville growled out as he circled around his foe, the shade Durza. The shade also circled, carefully watching his opponent with his large greatsword ready to deflect any spells the wizard sent his way. His cloak singed and his torso had a line of burns marking it from where the mage had sent a flaming whip his way already, so now the shade was cautious.

Durza merely examined his foe carefully, trying to figure out what magics the sorcerer was using, because even as learned as Durza was in the mystical arts, some of the things he'd seen in the past ten minutes had confounded him. If he didn't have the speed and strength of an elf he was sure he'd have been turned to a wraith by now.

Neville conjured a handful of bladed weapons, everything from daggers to spears, and banished them at the shade, who executed a masterful combination of dodges and blocks to come out the other end of the blade storm unscathed.

"Aim for the heart he said… he didn't bother to mention the fact that shade's were blurs when running and as strong as a troll." Neville grumbled while his mind raced for a way to hit the shade.

"Brisingr!" the shade shouted, and a ball of fire flew at Neville, who cast an aguamenti to make it dissipate before it got close to him, the water continuing into the shade, who screamed as he was knocked backwards by the jet.

When Durza got up he was frothing with rage and he hissed out. "Nangoro." Neville didn't know what this did so he simply apparated to a different side of the room they were fighting in, and the black spell crashed into a table behind him that immediately began turning black and withering to little more than dust in seconds.

Neville decided to fight withering curse with withering curse and said. "Deuro." but the shade's speed, even in the confined space, allowed him a great advantage when it came to dodging spellfire.

Their battle was put on hold for a moment when they both heard a muffled voice speak. "Knock, Knock arseholes!" and then the door was turned to splinters by an explosion charm that peppered Durza with shrapnel and would have Neville too if he hadn't recognized the voice and put up a shield.

"Neville! So nice to see you! You're behind schedule, all of you." Harry deadpanned.

"I'm not responsible for Luna and Hermione's tardiness, but this guy isn't just lying down and letting me kill him." Neville complained, pointing his wand lazily at the shade that was watching the duo incredulously.

"How difficult can it be to stab a man in the heart?" Harry asked.

"More like stabbing an elf to be honest, he's fast… and strong. Fucker threw me through a wall a few minutes ago."

Harry grimaced and rolled his shoulders again. "I know the feeling, those two beaked bitches in Yazuac ran away from me but one of them put me through a wall too."

"See! You fucked up and let them get away too! Stop hounding me for taking longer than we planned to kill him."

"Fine, fine. No more hounding, let's just get rid of him and go check on the girls." Harry soothed.

"I will kill you both and deliver your allies to Galbatorix after I've broken them. I'm sure the king will enjoy learning about your magics." he grinned sadistically as he spoke, not realizing he'd just signed a second death warrant on top of the one Neville had already given him.

Harry stared hard at the maroon haired shade, before swords filled the air. Harry had both wands in his hand, rapid fire conjuring them and sending out a dozen a second, turning the entire side of the room Durza was on into a block of swiss cheese. When Harry finally lowered his wands a few minutes later, panting, there were over a hundred blades sticking out of the wall, and even more having gone through the wall or crashed onto the floor and Durza was pinned to the wall by over a dozen like a pincushion, somehow still breathing.

Before he had a chance to turn into his wraith form and escape Harry conjured one last sword and apparated right on top of Durza, stabbing him through the heart and ending the fight.

After a moment Harry asked. "Do you think that was overk-" he was cut off by an explosion of magical energy coming from the corpse, blasting him back into a nearby wall that he slid down with a groan, hands moving to cradle his sore cranium.

"I'm going to wind up with a concussion at this rate, first those beaked bitches sent me through a wall and now this…" he whined as he pulled back his hand and found blood on it. Great, his head was bleeding. Head wounds are almost always worse than they appear due to how much they bleed, Harry remembered that much. It was still disconcerting to feel blood matting his hair and running down his neck and back.

"Come on Neville, let's go find the girls and the princess and get the hell out of here." Neville nodded his agreement and they left the room, Neville's eyes widening as he took in the pile of bodies that seemingly tripled from the count they were at when he'd fought his way in. they moved quickly, dispatching any impediments to their path with ruthless efficiency.

Neville spotted Hermione first, blasting a plethora of curses down the hall they were in at a phalanx of soldiers hidden behind tall rectangular shields. They got up behind her and began adding their own spells into the volley as Luna popped back into the cell they were partially using for cover and grabbed the sickly woman off the bed and transported her away.

"Did you find her yet?" Harry asked during a lull in the spellfire, the soldiers dragging their wounded around the corner into cover.

"No, it's been slow going getting everyone out, there were more lucid ones than we thought, not to mention we've been getting swarmed with waves of soldiers every time we move." Hermione stated quickly.

"Neville and I took care of Durza, so she's all that's left. Nev, help them out here so they can move faster, I'll go on ahead and find Arya." Harry called out orders for his team, before charging the remnants of the soldiers with spells on his tongue, the words echoing off the walls and the spells shaking the castle as he plowed straight through them with frequent use of the Bombarda, Reducto, and Depulso spells.

Harry blasted open cell after cell after cell with banishing charms, finding nothing but human prisoners, some sane and some otherwise, charging straight at the new exit with wild looks in their eyes or simply laying on their cots with dead gazes that uncomfortably reminded Harry of Neville's parents that time he saw them in 5th year. He gouged the floor in front of the insane ones and closed their doors back to signify to his friends that they should keep those closed when they came through.

Just as Harry gouged another marker in front of the door of the insane fucker that just charged him even though he was missing both arms, he felt a presence attacking his mind, so strong that it made him stagger momentarily and bring his Occlumency shields up to full, but in those few seconds he got a glimpse of a raven haired woman lying deathly still on a cot, scars marring the pieces of pale skin that were visible. His view was very limited, but out the tiny window in the room that provided light he could see smoke entering the room, indicating that a lower floor might be on fire.

Suddenly his vision was his own, and he immediately ran into the stairwell and blasted open the wall so he could get a view outside and figure out just where exactly the building was burning. Harry found his answer as he saw smoke drifting out of a hole in the stone wall to his left, a floor down. Sprinting up the stairs, he hurried to the area he'd seen the smoke and banished the door open, startling the woman inside awake.

Arya looked at him weakly, on the verge of falling back into the slumber she'd been in before, but she managed to utter one word when she saw Harry wasn't Durza or dressed in one of his men's uniform, "Skilna…"

Wondering what exactly that meant, Harry put it aside for now and picked her up gently bridal style, using wandless magic to layer three shields in front of them, two for magic and one for physical objects. He ran outside and used a Sonorus so his voice was heard by the entire castle. "Guys, I found her and I'm leaving. Watch yourselves and get out safely!" with that he popped out

-LINE BREAK-

And Popped in at the border to Du Weldenvarden, sprinting the short distance to cross the ward, and instantly apparating to the throne room he'd been in before. The elves were shocked at his sudden appearance to say the least, and started reaching for their weapons until they saw just who was cradled in his arms. Islanzadi crossed the throne room to his side in just over two heartbeats, and took her from his arms. Before she could run off, Harry grabbed her arm and spoke quickly.

"Before she passed out, she said a word I didn't know, Skilna. Do you know what it means?" she paled and ran off even quicker than she'd appeared at his side if that was possible, leaving one of the guards that had approached to answer Harry's question when he repeated it.

"Skilna Bragh is a deadly poison that separates someone from their magic, Harry-Fohrn. Tunivor's Nectar is the only cure, and it is lucky that we keep it in stock, otherwise Arya-Drottning would be in grave danger. It is good that you informed her of that quickly." With that the nameless guard resumed his place and Harry decided to leave and just come back later to find out her condition.

Potter Manor was once again a state of organised chaos when he popped in, the only change being that now the people he'd saved at Dras Leona were helping Hermione and Luna with the new guests. Harry also put himself to work, conjuring and transfiguring cots for Luna and Neville to place patients on while Hermione went about bandaging them all.

"Bloody hell at this rate I'm going to have to build more houses…" he grumbled to himself as he took in the new population count. He did a quick headcount of everyone, made slightly more difficult by everyone running around, but he came around to over three dozen people being inside his wards now.

Neville ran up to him as he tried to figure out what else he could be useful doing. "Harry, I took care of the prison, fiendfyre'd it." he said.

"Thanks Neville, I was occupied with the princess or I would have. Apparently they'd poisoned her with something called Skilna Bragh, it stops them from using their magic."

"Merlin, that'd be terrible…" Neville breathed, horrified.

"Let's just hope it doesn't work on us because we're different from them." Harry agreed.

Luna appeared next to him, surprising him with her quiet footsteps. "Harry, Svita wants to see you, go spend some time with your dragon." she commanded him.

"Alright, are you sure you lot have this handled?" he asked as he turned to leave, and ran off with her confirming nod.

He walked over to the small hidden area he and Svitahad designated as her home away from the Manor. This was where she'd drag her kills at once she started hunting, and judging by the rabbits and other small game piled up in one area, she had.

Walking into the center of the clearing, he saw Svita unsteadily flying towards him, but managing nonetheless. She landed in a run, and trotted over to Harry, who noticed how fast she was growing as she went from small enough to fit on his shoulder to large dog size, not even counting the wings that made her come up to his waist instead of knees. She nuzzled her head against him, and he rubbed her neck with a fond smile.

"How have you been, Svita? You know you're growing too fast right? It's been like a week since I got you, this is ridiculously fast. At this rate I'll have to find somewhere else to hide you." he teased her.

"The faster I grow, the faster you'll start taking me places with you." she said.

"True enough. Once you're bigger we can start exploring more, I'll even portkey places with you if you want, it'd be a pain to try and apparate with you, though."

"I can't wait. You keep getting into trouble without me around, I need to get big enough so I can protect you, my rider." Svita admonished Harry, nipping his hand lightly.

"Well then grow away, though I must tell you that many have tried to protect me and found it to be a difficult job." Harry chuckled.

"None of them were dragons."

"No they were not. I'll grant you that."

"...Are you going to be getting into any more trouble soon, Harry?" Svita concernedly questioned.

Harry sighed before answering her. "I don't plan to, but I rarely ever do. Trouble just has a map that leads to me, I suppose. We'll just have to wait and see."

"I hate being too small to help you! I feel so useless." She huffed self-deprecatingly.

"I've felt the same before, you've just got to grow big enough and strong enough that you don't feel that way anymore. It's what I did, though people still enjoy trying my patience for some reason." Harry pondered what that reason was, rubbing his head in the spot he'd been bleeding at earlier, finding nary a bump, signifying that his magic had already healed him.

"You should introduce me to all the guests, Harry. I'm tired of hiding either back here or in the Manor."

"Part of me wants to, I don't like keeping you here either you know. But if they left and the news that there's another rider got back to Galbatorix, then he'd hunt us down, and I don't really want to fight him until I have more knowledge on the magic of this place and him in general; his strengths and weaknesses and such." Harry explained patiently.

"Fine… I'll stay hidden for now. But soon, please." she pleaded with her rider, and who was he to deny her, with her puppy… dragon eyes.

"Soon." he promised.

She cuddled with him for a while longer, before flying over to her food pile to get something to eat. Harry took that as his cue to leave and went back to Potter Manor, which had calmed down considerably while he was gone.

Surprisingly, though, Harry could feel her presence lingering in his mind, and took that as a sign that their bond had grown stronger. It grew weaker the further he got from her, but he could still feel her, just barely there at the back of his mind and he had crossed all the way to the other end of the wards.

Smiling to himself, he rejoined his friends in their efforts and started healing the injured from Gil'ead.

-Elsewhere in Alagaesia-

"Your highness, you've received a missive from an unnamed party, along with another from Gil'ead. do you wish to view them?" the servant asked the king, his hands trembling around the parchment he was holding.

"I suppose." Galbatorix answered tonelessly, having a free moment.

The servant handed him the parchment and backed off quickly as he opened it.

"Hmm, intriguing…" Galbatorix said aloud as he read. 'So the beasts were bested by a mage, of the same sort that sacked Dras Leona going off of what they reported on how they seemed to use magic. These sorcerers are quickly becoming thorns in my side, perhaps I should divert the Ra'zac's full attention to finding them and send the shade after the rider whelp and the old man.' He kept reading, and moved onto the second parchment after finishing the one from the Ra'zac.

His eyes quickly widened, and he ordered out the few who could stand his presence without trembling in fear out of the room, leaving only Shruikan and him in the throne room. He promptly retrieved a basin from behind the throne, filled with water, and began scrying for Durza, groaning when it proved innefective. This simply would not do, he would have to order some of his mages to create another shade, they were far too useful to not do so.

-LINE BREAK-

It took Harry the entire next day to do what he'd sworn to do, burying the poor souls of Yazuac. He heard them before he felt them, shifting into an alert position and hopping into the grave he'd just finished digging out with magic, cautiously peering up from the hole and looking in the direction he could hear the stomping of feet becoming visible. A cloud of dust followed their movements, shielding the backs of their ranks from view. Harry just apparated out of th grave he'd hidden in, not wanting to be trapped in there should he have to fight such a force.

Luckily, most of them stopped outside the town, and only a group of three ran towards him, giving Harry a better look at the behemoths. And behemoths they were, for they stood at over seven feet tall at least, even the smallest ones. Each also had horns that reminded Harry of a ram attached to their head, yet as much as they looked it with their dark skin, Harry didn't think they were demons.

"You there, are you shadeslayer? Our shamans said you were in this area." the tallest of the trio spoke gruffly.

"Well I did kill a shade recently, if that's what you mean. Durza if you want to go into specifics." Harry said blankly, wondering if these things were his henchmen or something similar. The beings spoke in a language Harry didn't recognize, only knowing that it was gutteral, rough, and would probably hurt his throat to speak.

"We wish to offer you our thanks, shadeslayer. We were captive in our own minds due to a spell from that foul wretch, unable to do more than fight, shit, and sleep. When you slayed Durza, it freed us from our prisons. We have since left the service of the empire." he sneered. "Nar Garzhvog has even gone with a tribe to offer the Varden aid as revenge against our wardens. We, on the other hand, have come to offer you ours. Our tribe is 47 rams strong, with another 20 cubs and 26 dams with us. I am Nar Hadghar, the chief of this tribe."

"I am Harry Potter, mage and leader of a group settled elsewhere. Are you sure you wish to pledge your loyalty to another mage?" he questioned.

"We were aware of that, our shamans sensed your magic, it is how we found you. According to them, you have great power within you, shadeslayer. It is all the greater for the fact that you do not lord it over others. I admit your magic makes us wary, but so long as you do not control us, we shall be your swords."

"Then I accept your offer, Nar Hadghar. Await me in the forest near Flam Lake. it is where my allies gathered. There are magical protections in place that will prevent you from reaching the lake itself, but I'll key you into them when I get back."

"Thank you shadeslayer, safe travels to you." he bid his farewell, and the three were off with surprising speed for their bulk, racing back to their tribe.

Harry quickly apparated back to inform everyone to expect some new arrivals in the next day or two, and went back to bury the rest of the dead. For the second time that day he was interrupted, this time it was as he was finishing up the second to last grave and heard a horse trotting up to him. He turned and saw a young man, still a teenager by Harry's estimation, with a bow an quiver on his back and a sword at his waist riding the brown horse.

"Greetings stranger, is Yazuac always this busy?" he asked the rider.

"Not that I'm aware of, why? Other people around besides you and the corpses?" he retorted dryly.

"There was earlier, but they left." Harry answered with the same tone, the beginnings of a smile forming on his face.

"Would you like some assistance, I see you're almost done but I will help you finish with them if you want."

"So willing to help me? I could have killed these people myself." Harry asked the boy.

"If you had, would you really bother to bury them instead of looting their homes, plus I saw urgal tracks coming in."

"Were those the horned people? If so then yeah they came through to speak to me, but they didn't kill anyone. These people have been dead awhile. My friends and I saw them yesterday and I decided I'd bury them once I was finished with an urgent task… well, task is done and here I am."

"Aye, urgals have horns. Awfully vicious too, they'd be the type to do something like this. Here, I'll help. It's Murtagh by the way."

"Harry."

They worked in silence, burying the last two of Yazuac's citizens with the sun beating down on them. After they were done, Murtagh walked over to his horse and grabbed some dried meat from his satchel before tossing a bit to Harry, who accepted gratefully.

"Where's your mare at, Harry? Did you walk all the way here?" Murtagh asked curiously, looking around for signs of a steed.

"Nope," he popped the 'p'. "I used magic to get here."

"You're a magician?" Murtagh asked. "I've never heard of a spell to move someone faster before."

"Well firstly, if you wanna use a term for me it's wizard, not a magician. I'm not a streetside con performing for coin, I use magic to do what is otherwise impossible. And secondly, I'm a step above the average mage you see around, I use magic differently than they do." Harry explained patiently.

"Awfully touchy about what they call you, aren't you Harry." Murtagh smirked. "Would you show me a trick, magician?"

Harry mock-glared at the boy, before turning him into a donkey, leaving him be for a few seconds, then turning him back. Murtagh looked at Harry shocked, and Harry laughed. "You turned me into an ass." Murtagh stated incredulously.

"Personally I think it fit, call me a magician again and I'll leave it for minutes instead of seconds." Harry said around chuckles as his laughter died down.

"Fair enough, Wizard only." he raised his hands in a show of surrender.

They were silent for a moment, then Harry broke it. "So what brought you here Murtagh. I was here to bury these people, but what brought you to Yazuac."

Murtagh was silent for a moment, and Harry could see he was debating whether to tell Harry or not. "I'm following the trail of a rider, supposedly anyway. Apparently he was in Carvahall, and is hunting the Ra'zac. Any enemy of Galbatorix is a friend of mine, so I was going to find him and join up with him."

'Another rider?" Harry quickly spoke, before shutting his mouth as his eyes widened. 'Shite, me and my mouth.'

Fortunately Murtagh only said. "Aye, after so long of just Galbatorix, another one's finally shown himself."

Harry inwardly sighed in relief, but said. "Think he stands a chance against Galbatorix?"

"I don't know, but I figure hedging my bets with the rider is better than anyone else."

Harry had an inner debate of his own for a second, cursing his saving people thing. But… he could see the boy had had a rough go of it, and was running from something. Harry knew he could help the kid, so he offered it. "Murtagh, If you want to hedge your bets on someone, why not me? I'm a strong wizard, I could help you."

Murtagh scoffed at him. "You may be strong, Harry, but trust me that the king will not allow you to simply turn him into an ass, and if you somehow manage it, he'll still kill you, donkey or not. And if he doesn't, Shruikan will. The rider is the only one that could even stand against him, let alone defeat him."

"Murtagh, what… what if there was more than one rider in the world, besides Galbatorix and this mystery one?"

"There isn't, so why dream."

"There is." Harry retorted, showing his palm to Murtagh.

-CHAPTER END-

AN: was going to go further, but that looked like a good place to end it this chapter. Hope y'all enjoyed, R&R pls.