This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Shadow of the Dark Fortress Part 3: Vohaul
By Triggy
March 2006
Prologue
It was two hours past midnight in one of the remotest parts of Ireland - a shadowy figure stood under the shadow of a tree, made by the pale moonlight, among hundreds in the thick forest . He was tall; he wore all black robes, boots, gloves, and a hat with a wide rim to hide his pale, bruised, and wrinkled face. He stood on the same spot of the forest for hours on end since the last sunset, unclear to whoever may be observing him all night what his intentions were. He sunk his shivering hand in his right pocket, fished out a pack of cigarettes, took a stick out of the pack, and put one between his shuddering lips but he did not light it at once.
He looked around. The person he was expecting still has not shown himself up to now. A growing sense of panic now lorded over him. He was told by his superiors that this person he was supposed to meet possessed vital information that would help the Order win the never ending and ancient war against the terrible Beast and its Lord. As the minutes kept ticking by, his spirits gradually ebbed. An owl would have been a more convenient way to send the message across and he would have not been here all night long, he thought, but he knew that it was not the safest way as their secrets could be easily spilled. But the meeting was supposed to have already been done with two hours before. Whoever he was meeting was late.
He fished out a lighter from his pocket, and with a shaking hand, he tried to meet the small flame with the tip of his cigarette - he was not sure if his hand was trembling because of the cold or the tension he felt. He knew the risks of lighting up a cigarette, but he could not hold on to his breath much longer.
"I wouldn't light that cigarette if I were you, Creedy," whispered a voice that seem to come from an adjacent tree a mere ten feet away. "Somebody could smell the smoke for miles around and find us here."
Creedy jumped, dropped his lighter, and fumbled for his wand, which was tucked inside his robe pocket. "L-lumos," he said, pointing the wand to where he thought her heard the voice was coming from. The wand light illuminated the face of a man about ten years his junior.
"Good Lord, Creedy," said the man as softly as he could, squinting away from the wand light. "Put that off or we'll be seen!"
"Nox," Creedy muttered.
"Much better…"
"Who are you?" asked Creedy, still pointing his wand to the unidentified person.
"Hugo Driscol," he replied, "but that is not important - what is important is the information I bring you…the one the Order is waiting for eons."
"Show me your right arm," commanded Creedy.
"Of course," said Hugo. He rolled up his sleeve and in the dark Creedy saw the faint glow of the mark of Order. Satisfied, Creedy lowered his wand, rolled up his own right sleeve to show his own mark, and approached Hugo.
"What is it that you bring to the Order?" asked Creedy.
"Almost all of my Guild members have lost their lives to bring this piece of information to the Supreme Guild, which you are an envoy. The Order of Vahaul, our enemy, is on to us trying to make sure the Prophecy will not come to pass. Alas, I do not feel what I keep in my mind is of importance, but I must do what I was told…"
"C'mon, c'mon, cut the bloody introduction and just tell what you know," Creedy said impatiently. Aside from going back to headquarters early, staying too long each minute outside runs the risk of being intercepted.
"You'll find what you want at Hogwarts," Hugo simply said.
Creedy waited a few more seconds, expecting more, but Hugo did not say anything else.
"And?"
"That's it," Hugo said.
"Are you sure? Are there any details?"
"I'm afraid that's all," Hugo sighed. "One of our Guild brothers who did the searching only said that he found what we were all looking for in Hogwarts and he died before giving us their names."
"And does anybody else know from Hogwarts know about this?"
"I wish I knew the answer."
Creedy breathed. Although the information was too vague to begin with, he understood how important and significant it was for the history of the Order. The only problem was, they were supposed to be getting names. The identities of the persons involved should be kept secret at all cost, and how do you get to find and talk to them without arousing suspicion? Other than that any mention about the Order or its name is forbidden, are the persons, or the chosen ones, involved even aware about this? Creedy put that aside for the moment after deciding it's for the Order to decide on how to go on about it.
An extraordinarily strong breeze blew the wide-rimmed hat off Creedy's head - this jolted him out of his thoughts immediately. The sudden stillness of the night air that followed the breeze made him and Hugo feel uneasy.
"I think we need to go," Hugo said, his eyes scanning the surrounding area. "It's possible that I might have been followed…"
Creedy nodded, and raised his wand higher. Then every tree seemed to be moving and double in number…a score of dark figures emerged from behind tree trunks from the north. Creedy's eyes turned wide - he knew who they were and why they were here.
The figures all had the same height, about eight feet tall, wearing blood-red robes and the only facial feature he could see from beneath the hood were two red dim lights that served as their eyes. Creedy had faced one of them before in his life - he was with about four of his Guild brothers and only he survived despite a heroic but one-sided battle. He knew he had no chance to get out of here alive if he had to fight them out. He and Hugo both possessed information that was vital to this ancient secret war - he knew one of them must neither fall into enemy hands nor lose what they know by dying this day.
Creedy grabbed Hugo and they both began to run away from the direction of the enemy. A stream of lightning came from the fingertips of one of the red hooded giants, hitting Hugo's feet - he stumbled in pain just after a few strides from where they once stood. Creedy conjured a thick shield of light in between him and the attackers, protecting him and Hugo from multiple lightning bolts that bounced off to the sky. He knew that leaving Hugo was not an option - he crouched low and attempted to carry Hugo over his shoulders to carry him off.
Hugo refused.
"You must escape, Creedy!" he cried. "I'll just slow you down - you must tell them about what I told you…just kill me now!"
Creedy shook his head, hoping he could save escape with Hugo's life. He glanced back to the direction of the attackers - they were calmly walking to his direction, not running, with their arms pointed toward him. Lightning bolts streaked off from their fingertips to break the weakening shield.
"Do it!" Hugo growled.
The attackers were getting closer, and Creedy had to make a quick decision. He stood up, pointed his wand to Hugo, but hesitated for a moment.
"DO IT!"
"Obliviate!" Creedy shouted, and Hugo slumped down barely conscious on the wet ground. Then Creedy ran off as fast as he can, just in time to get out of sight from the red-hooded attackers when his shield dissipated. He expected to hear Hugo's cry of death in the quiet night air anytime soon, but nothing came. He didn't dare go back to see what they did to him, for now his only concern was to escape and get back to his hideout alive.
-o0o-
Hundreds of miles away to the East, Casius Wallace stood still in a Hall deep in Xanthius, Lord Voldemort's Dark Fortress among several other Death Eaters. It was only about two moons ago that this supposedly impenetrable Fortress was invaded by Albus Dumbledore to rescue Harry Potter and Hermione Granger from the bondage of Lord Voldemort. A bloodbath ensued when, with the help of the two young wizards, some potions masters and Muggle scientists rose up and fought to escape. Voldemort lost many Death Eaters that day, a day that the Dark Lord did not want his surviving Death Eaters to forget. It was the day that Death Eaters like Cassius despised. It was the day Lord Voldemort constantly held up against them because of their failure to secure the fortress - the Dark Lord was never as ruthless and unforgiving as he was to his faithlful Death Eaters ever since. A small mistake made by any Death Eater always meant torture from Voldemort. Cassius was amazed no Death Eater decided to fall off the ranks in spite of it. They have remained faithful and loyal to their master.
Cassius was not a true Death Eater, by the way. His name was Ramius Palkov, Dumbledore's spy. Getting inside Voldemort's inner circle was not at all easy. Ramius was an Animorphagus, a wizard that could change into another person's form down to the last molecule. Animorphagi were extremely rare in the wizard world as there were only a few living wizards of the age who had this gift. Ramius had merely taken the form of the real Cassius Wallace to infiltrate the ranks of the Death Eaters. It was also a stroke of luck that they got hold of Cassius because he was rising fast as one of Voldemort's most trusted Death Eaters. Dumbledore gifted Ramius with his own Pensieve and extracted all of Cassius' memory since childhood - he had studied the Death Eater's mannerisms and history. Voldemort would never suspect that Cassius was not he was ought to be, but Ramius knew a simple mistake could also cost him his life.
Ramius looked around - there stood twenty of so Death Eaters waiting for Voldemort to come in. A meeting was called for tonight, but for what reason nobody knew. It seemed like the routine meeting Voldemort had called for almost every night - and every Death Eater, including Ramius, dreaded each gathering as there was always somebody being tortured by the Dark Lord. However, this gathering was entirely different from all the others for the last couple of months. They were always called to the throne room each meeting, but tonight, they were called to gather around in the Den of the Beast, a place that they have never been inside since the Fortress was built, although they have heard about this room many times. In the middle of the Den was a stone statue of a strange looking beast. It had feet of a bull, a body of a lion with eight long protruding limbs of a spider, a hairy torso of a human like that of a centaur, with a head containing seven red eyes, three horns, and a jawful of fangs. Harry was in this Den once, and his description of the statue was not as scary for Ramius to hear than seeing it for himself. Ramius had a bad feeling he will know soon enough what the significance of this statue is.
The wall to the north broke open, and at last, Voldemort emerged from it. The Death Eaters shook at the mere sight of him. The Dark Lord walked straight to the statue and caressed the stone with his long fingers as he walked around it.
"Soon," Voldemort said softly to no one in particular, "my army will be complete. The serum is already spread to the populace, the imps are hungry for flesh, my Death Eaters are ready to command them, the Hags are screeching for blood, and the Dementors are starving for souls." He paused and breathed deeply. "Pity I could not kill a puny 15-year old boy."
"No matter," he continued, looking up the statue. "He is gradually proving to be insignificant. We have guests tonight, my faithful servants, the first of several important guests. They will help me complete the army that I have sought for all my life. I will command the most terrible army the wizard world will ever fear in its history. But this…" he pointed to the statue, "this will ensure our victory. Vohaul will command his own army of Black Beasts, but he will answer only to me. Dumbledore will wish he was never born, and all those who have thought of opposing me. People are already trembling at the sight of this Fortress wherever they may be. And they will see Vohaul for the first time. Such is the awesome power of this Beast, but still he will bow to Lord Voldemort."
Ramius felt a slight tinge of terror this early. He wondered what this "Vohaul" could do.
"I have carefully planned for this day," said Voldemort. "I have found a weapon that will seal make the whole of the wizard world kneel before me. It would have been better if Harry Potter decided to join us - I do not know myself of regretting what was supposed to have been, but nevertheless, we will soon realise our destiny without him. Wormtail, show our guests in…"
Wormtail, who was inconspicuously following Voldemort's path all the time, bowed and scuttled to the gates of the Den. He slid open the iron barriers with a flick of his wand, and Ramius saw several tall, red-hooded and glowy-eyed creatures slowly come in a circular formation. As they reached the foot of the statue they broke off, and there Ramius was surprised to see two young and pretty witches. He had never seen them before in their life - one was blonde while the other had deep brown hair, and they looked no more than fifteen years of age. Ramius did not understand what they were doing here, or if they came here against their will.
Voldemort approached the girls, who bowed daintily in front of him.
"Welcome to my Dark abode, Sarah and Jill," Voldemort said. "I am saddened that you have lost one of your kind last year."
"Thank you, my Lord," said the one named Sarah. "Such a thing never has happened to any of us in our race in our endless pursuit of youth, but I am sure there enough of us left to dance for Vohaul. I am honoured."
Voldemort nodded and faced the Death Eaters once more. "These young ladies are not that young as you think, my faithful servants. They are Oarlings…and you know what they are…"
Ramius felt his spine tingle.
"As far as the number of Oarlings go," Voldemort continued, "we do not have much. We need six to dance for Vohaul, and so far we only have two. There are several out there, and we need to gather four more. Unless we have six to dance, Vohaul will not turn alive. But do not fear, I know where and who they are. I will send you out to fetch them and bring them here before the next full moon, and we will animate Vohaul. For now, we will make sure our guests will be comfortable until that day…"
Wormtail clumsily showed the Oarlings the way to the guest wing, and Voldemort gestured Ramius to come to him. He obliged.
"Cassius, one of my most faithful," Voldemort said. "You shall take the lead in retrieving the five Oarlings I want. I will tell you where to look each time you successfully bring me one of them."
"As you wish, my Lord," Ramius replied. He felt a little edgy at that moment, as he once led the Ministry effort to eradicate these creatures.
"One of them is in Scotland, and I expect you to bring her to me in less than three days. You will do nothing else but bring me the five Oarlings alive, but this one in Scotland needs to be here posthaste. She will need to reinvigorate herself as she is nearing her next 18th birthday. It will be easy to convince her to come, as we will give her a candidate that she will love to possess."
Ramius did his best not to look troubled, as he knew this meant Voldemort may have had a poor girl kidnapped for the Oarling. Ramius nodded rather reluctantly but managed to look Voldemort straight in the eye, and the Dark Lord smiled. "You will command a small contingent of Death Eaters who must be with you all the time. I put my trust in you that you will accomplish your mission, Cassius." The Dark Lord then walked away, caressed the statue once more, and left the Den.
Ramius hurriedly walked out of the Den to try to think of a way how to inform Olga Gargarin, the Auror who actively pursued Oarlings like him about what he saw tonight, but five other Death Eaters followed him behind. Finding Oarlings were difficult enough to begin with, and killing them was another thing. Contrary to what he believed before that they had eradicated all existing Oarlings with Carina Lovic as the last, there were still actually five still alive in Britain and Voldemort knew it all along. He knew he had to do something in order that Voldemort will not get what he wants - Vohaul looked menacing as a mere statue, but being alive and what he could do with Voldemort was unimaginable.
-o0o-
Author's note: I've now decided it's time to continue on with the story that's been in my head for 5 years, and this is the start of the third instalment of the Shadow of the Fortress series. You can find part one and two here in Portkey.org, and its prequel "The Auror and the Oarling". Please bear with me if updates will not come that quickly, as I'm still adjusting to my new life in Canada. However I can promise you I will give this series a closure. For now I hope the Potter fans who have come across this third instalment would read the first parts of this series. "Auror and the Oarling" was my very first complete fic so it was rough around the edges. Hehe.
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