That
particular morning in the library, there sat all but one of Sparrow’s
crew. Miranda was away again – not for taking ill, as Sparrow had feared, but simply to be able to work
on her Sunlight Potions in peace.
That
Miranda was not beset by her woes today did not seem to bring Iphis
any relief from his own frustration at the news. He sat back in his
chair, sighed, and only listlessly flipped the pages of the large
tome before him.
"You miss Miranda that
much?" said Wren, briefly glancing up from the Wireless that
they had laying on the table with its back casing open. As Sparrow
peered into it, she could see it was composed mostly of crystals of
all colors, with grooves in the metal connecting their locations, and
some carved runes.
Iphis
grunted, and straightened up, rather forcefully flipping the book’s
pages, his eyes barely skimming the text. "I am simply very
annoyed. This whole Hogsmeade business, you know, Budge could very
well handle it himself. Or get the
teachers to do it. Instead of pulling us away from our studies. I don’t
appreciate the interruptions in my lesson plans, it makes it very
difficult to actually set up a quiz when people are at different
places in the material." He glanced at the Wireless. "I
also don’t appreciate my teaching being ignored."
"We’re
working on the metal-manipulation spell," said Wren. "I
have that one down pat. As you can see from the very item I am
working on, that you have helped me with, dear."
Iphis raised his eyebrows, unable to give any
rejoinder, for Wren was correct – not only was the Wireless there
as a testament to Wren’s skill, Jill and Sparrow and Jocasta had
small hunks of steel laid out before each of them that spoke to their
lack of skill. Jill’s set looked more melted than shaped, which
seemed fitting enough; Sparrow’s set were twisted
in loops with the occasional jagged spike where her wand hand had
been less than steady; only Jocasta had perfectly formed shapes
before her – a cube, a dodecahedron, a four-sided pyramid, an eight-sided diamond shape. Simple, but
still beyond Sparrow or Jill.
Sparrow glanced at the Wireless. "You
could at least pretend to – who am I kidding, none of us are that
good at sitting still for boring things."
Wren giggled. "Good thing you got us out
of all of our classes, then, eh? I can’t get a terrible grade in
History of Magic if I’m not in History of Magic!"
"You
are," said Iphis, "in fact. It’s just less
structured than before.
And with much higher stakes
for the exam."
Wren glanced up at Iphis, and raised his
eyebrows, but did not seem to be able to make a witty reply.
Jill cleared her throat. "Got enough
crystals in that thing?"
Wren shook their head vigorously, braid flying
back and forth.
"If you teach me how to look for them,"
said Sparrow, "I’ll go and fetch them after dinner."
Everyone
at the table stared at her in horror.
Sparrow
crossed her arms. "What exactly is the matter with my going?
From what I’ve heard of the lower tunnels, all they do is some kind
of psychological bullying. I won’t even need to cast my shield
spell. It will be fine."
"Some
kind of psychological bullying,"
said Jocasta. "Some generic bullying! Sparrow, that place gets
into whatever cracks are in your psyche, and tears them open."
"I told you what happened to me down there," said
Jill.
"You guessed what happened to me down there," said Wren.
"I don’t have magical outbursts like two
of us here do," said Sparrow. "Even if the place breaks me
down, I can only do so much damage."
"On
the contrary," said Iphis. "You do not have magical
outbursts, but you certainly
have political
outbursts. Which can be quite a bit more dangerous, in the long
run."
Sparrow opened her mouth to give some sort of
retort, but she paused, unable to think of any. She let out a long
sigh and sat back in her chair, wracking her brains for any reply.
"I...can’t get up to very much politics when I’m down
there?"
"Unless the thing
down there decides to speak with you," said Wren. "Which
it absolutely will."
"I’m
going alright?" said Sparrow. "I’m perfectly
safe down there compared
to everyone else, I’m
not letting anyone else
come to harm
for a critical piece of equipment, and
who am I if I can’t do things for my friend anyway. I’m going
down there, alone, so that none of the rest of you have to suffer."
Iphis slammed the book shut. "Absolutely
not."
"Iffy –"
"I
am going with you, Captain."
"Iffy!"
"I
am confronting the thing that has caused trouble for my
partner," said Iphis. "You
cannot deny me that responsibility."
Wren
raised their head from the Wireless. "Can
I –"
"No," said Sparrow and Iphis
simultaneously.
Wren raised their hands in surrender. "Alright,
alright, martyr yourselves for me. I’ll call it a birthday gift."
…
Miranda was also not to be found at jumping
practice-slash-detention that afternoon. Which couldn’t be objected
to, really, she wasn’t in detention with the rest of them, she had
things to be doing that had taken her away from far more critical
matters, Iphis could not possibly claim that her absence was
interrupting his efforts here. And yet, as they flipped and twirled
and leapt and dodged through the floating, shifting obstacle course,
Iphis’ movements were both more energetic and more pointed than
usual. It was the acrobatic equivalent of sharply closing a kitchen cupboard in
the midst of a spat.
Sparrow
bounced off a glowing golden disc and flipped over a rotating cube,
seeing Iphis’ fierce expression upside-down as he followed in her
path. ⋄⋄MIDSHIPMAN
BROWN. WHAT TROUBLES YOU NOW? ⋄⋄
≠≠≠≠
JESUS
CHRIST, SPARROW, YOU DO REALIZE THAT YOU MIGHT BE BROADCASTING THAT
QUESTION TO THE REST OF THE CREW? ≠≠≠≠
This
was certainly not the sort of response Sparrow had been expecting.
She had thought Iphis would claim to still be angry about the
interrupted lesson plan, or name some specific trouble like being
worried about going into the lower tunnels. This hasty defensive
reaction...almost felt like Iphis was poorly
hiding something.
She smacked face-first into a floating cube,
and fell out of the air for about two seconds before landing
butt-first hard on a glowing golden disc. As she painfully rose to
her feet and cast a healing spell on her nose, she decided to focus
on the current lesson and leave pondering aside for the moment.
…
Standing at the stone wall at the far end of
the dungeons with Iphis was a moment she could have posed the
question again. But Iphis looked fiercely determined to make their
way forward into possible
emotional doom. So however much Sparrow was bursting with the desire
to ask, the time was still not right.
Especially
since they had to figure out how to get past this thing. The
first time Sparrow had spent any true length of time at this end of
things, she had been paying far more attention to, well, Jill
and Jocasta’s attentions,
ahem ahem. She only realized now that the wall had been solid as Jill
had stood before it, then open to a staircase the next time they had
ventured near – and now solid again. What on earth opened this
thing?
____IT
SEEMS YOU SEEK TO ENTER ONCE MORE, LITTLE
BIRD.____
⋄⋄YOU!
⋄⋄
____COME
IN, COME IN. I HAVEN’T HAD MUCH CHANCE AT YOU YET.____ The
stone of the wall folded as it parted, as of the cloth of curtains
drawn open, to reveal the same staircase as before. ____WE
HAVE MUCH TO DISCUSS.____
≠≠≠≠
YOU HURT MY PARTNER,
YOU SON OF A BITCH. WE HAVE NOTHING TO DISCUSS.
≠≠≠≠
____OOH, DO I DETECT A WEAKNESS? HEH HEH
HEH.____
"Don’t talk to it if you don’t want
to," said Sparrow. "Come on." She stepped forward,
beckoning Iphis to follow.
They heard nothing further from the mysterious
entity as they made their way down the stairs. Nor when they hit the
bottom landing, nor when they moved through the space where Jill and
Jocasta had dealt with the Bulstrode boys. An optimistic person would
have hoped that the mysterious entity had nothing else to say.
Sparrow could only hope that was true. But as they made their way
into a narrower passage, she felt far more like it was only lying in
wait.
"Who even carved these tunnels?" said
Sparrow, as the two of them clambered over rugged rises and stumbled
over unseen dips, the light from their wands their only guide. There
were curious conical stacks
of stone jutting up from the floor, and hanging down from the
ceiling. It felt like the art of some mad genius, and yet, how could
they expect anyone to ever come and gaze upon their work? There was
no order to it that seemed the work of hand or wand, only a jumble of
ropy, lumpy stone, which here opened into a passage wide enough to
fit a dragon, and here narrowed into a space that pressed even her.
Was this a game? An obstacle course?
Iphis finally halted, and looked back at
Sparrow. "Carved?"
"Yeah, I mean –"
"Who?"
"That’s what I’m asking."
"Who carved these passages," said
Iphis. "It’s not a who, Sparrow. Don’t you know anything
about caves? This place was carved by the
passage of water, over countless years. There’s no
hand at work here."
Sparrow could not quite comprehend what Iphis
was saying, but she could ask more about it later. In the meantime,
she had caught sight of something just at the edge of her wand’s
glow. She moved a bit closer. It looked like someone had drawn on the
wall in crayon. "Well someone else has been down here," she
said, pointing her wand at the wall, "and it looked like they
left the work of hands. Honestly, who could be so immature?"
Iphis looked where Sparrow was pointing. His
eyes grew wide. "Hang on. Is that…" he scrambled over a
rise in the floor to get close. "It is."
"What is?"
≠≠≠≠
IT’S OLDER THAN DIRT.
≠≠≠≠
Sparrow scrambled over the rise to stand beside
Iphis. He was staring at the drawings, slack-jawed. The drawings
themselves...were of creatures, large creature of some kind, very
similar to what she had seen in books, only more cartoonish. They
seemed too crude at first, but as she looked from one to another –
here a hulking elephant with tusks too long, there a hefty-looking
horse, there a cat with fangs too long for its mouth – she realized
that the style was consistent, and the line was smooth. This was the
work of practiced hands.
She gently brushed the linework. Iphis smacked her hand away,
but not before she’d managed to put a visible finger mark in it.
She looked at her finger, its tip stained by a dark substance. She
looked back up at the pictures. All of them made of this fragile
substance – and as Sparrow moved the light of her wand up and down,
she could see they filled the whole wall of the passage, from floor
to ceiling –
And the movement of her light made them
animated, for a moment, like one of the little flip books
she had made years ago.
But then they all started moving even as she held her wand steady. Horses
galloped away, elephants stomped forward, cats bounded after them –
stick figures holding spears chasing after them. The entire panoply
of pictures was moving away down the passage, beginning to leave the
wall bare. "Dammit," growled Sparrow. "After them,
come on." She charged forward, the light of her wand trained on
the wall, barely watching where she planted her feet as she tried to
keep sight of the pictures.
But soon enough, they were completely out of
sight, and Sparrow came to a halt, catching her breath, as Iphis
halted behind her. "We are," he breathed, "supposed to
be – looking for – crystals."
Sparrow looked about her. In her haste, she’d
run past a few different side passages and picked a few forks, and
she realized, belatedly, that she didn’t know exactly which was the
proper route
back to the surface. Suddenly she began to feel terribly confined.
"Uh...well, I think we’re going to be looking for something
slightly more important in a moment. Did either of us think to leave
some kind of trail of magical breadcrumbs?"
____HA! TOO EASY TO MAKE YOU FOLLOW. NOW I’VE
GOT YOU WHERE I WANT YOU.____
"Oh," growled Sparrow. "You.
What the hell do you want, anyway?"
____I COULD PRETEND I JUST LIKE HAVING PEOPLE
TO PLAY WITH DOWN HERE.____ In the
light of the wands, Sparrow could see the panoply of pictorial
creatures returning, this time on the opposite wall. ____BUT
IN TRUTH, I AM INTRIGUED BY YOUR MERRY LITTLE CREW. I HAVE HEARD OF
YOUR AMBITIONS.____
"Have you now," said Iphis. "And
why do you care?"
____ONCE UPON A TIME, I LOVED THE LONG-GONE
PEOPLE OF THESE HILLS, WHO MADE THEIR DRAWING UPON THESE WALLS –
WHO WERE OF THE MAGIC OF THIS LAND, ALL OF THEM. THEY DID NOT LOCK
MAGIC AWAY THE WAY YOUR FELLOWS DO NOW. ____
Sparrow frowned. "Long-gone people?"
She turned to Iphis. "What did you mean, older than dirt? Who
made these?"
"Are you telling me you’ve never heard
of cavemen," said Iphis.
Sparrow’s eyes widened. "That far back?"
She looked at the pictures on the wall. "And these are...did
Wizards make these?"
____I DESPISE THAT WORD, ‘WIZARDS’. AS IF
THERE WERE ONLY A FEW IN THIS WORLD WITH MAGICAL POTENTIAL. IT TOOK
WHOLE POPULATIONS CENTURIES TO CREATE ME BY ACCIDENT.____
Sparrow stood up a bit straighter. "Yes?
Go on."
____I MIGHT BE ABLE TO GIVE YOU...SOME AID, FOR
WHAT YOU ARE SEEKING. FOR I WOULD SEE MAGIC RETURN TO ALL PEOPLE.____
"Oh no," whispered Iphis. "Sparrow,
don’t be taken in by this."
"Are you kidding?" Sparrow turned to
Iphis with a grin on her face. "This could be the
solution to all our problems! This could be what I’ve been looking
for, for months if not years!" She turned back to the darkness.
"Alright, what do you need from me then?"
____JUST ONE THING.____The pictures on the
walls began to shift, melting together, reforming into a blob of
blackness – and within it, the negative space showed a picture of a
tall, broad figure, quickly re-shaping into the form of a wolf. ____I
NEED YOU TO KILL RODOLPHUS CARROW.____
Sparrow froze. In the deafening silence, all
the previous discussions she’d had about this place came back to
her. Jill melting the stone down here. Wren coming down to look for
crystals. Both friends had probably been asked to do horrifying things, just like this. Jill had clearly
rejected the offer. Wren...Wren had not. Sparrow shuddered. She was
going to have to ask them about their own price, and it was not going
to be an easy discussion. At last she cleared her throat. "What
the fuck do you need me to do that for?"
____HE IS IN YOUR WAY.____
"I think it’s time we be leaving,"
said Iphis.
____NOT INTERESTED IN MY HELP? WELL, IFFY,
THERE ARE OTHER ROUTES.
THERE’S YOUR ROUTE.____
Iphis’ eyes flew wide. He stood stock-still,
not even trembling. "If you breathe one word of that language –"
____OH NO, I
WON’T. BUT YOU SEEM SO EAGER TO, DON’T YOU? SO EAGER
TO...SACRIFICE YOURSELF. YOU COULD
JUST SACRIFICE THE LAND AROUND YOU, LIKE CERTAIN PEOPLE USED TO. BUT
YOU’RE TOO NOBLE. SO THE TRAIL OF BLOOD WILL COME FROM YOU, AND NOT
FROM STRANGERS.____
"I’m almost eager to breathe one word of
the Runes against you," growled Iphis.
Sparrow put a hand on Iphis’ shoulder. "Hold
on there, my friend. This thing is trying to mess with our heads."
____OR WE COULD START WITH A SMALLER OFFER.____
The picture became a great set of grinning teeth. They
parted, and as they parted the wall parted with them, to reveal a
real, physical void – out of which extended a long oval of silvery
metal, on which sat a pile of rubies.
Sparrow
folded her arms, as Iphis put his arms behind his back. Both of them
glared at the picture, saying nothing.
_____SURE YOU’RE NOT INTERESTED?_____
"You’re just going to set another insane
price."
The picture re-shaped itself to show a group of
adults surrounding a child sitting at a fireplace. ____I
WOULDN’T CALL IT INSANE. ALL I WANT TO DO IS SHOW YOU WHAT REALLY
HAPPENED THIS ONE EVENING.____
The picture re-shaped itself again, to show an adult standing
over a little girl at some table with tools on it. ____OR
PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE WHAT THEY MADE YOUR OTHER DARLING
DO.____ Again
the picture re-shaped itself, to show a great castle crumbling into a
great pit. _____OR PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE WARNED OF HOW YOUR
FRIENDS WILL DIE._____
That last one brought Sparrow up short. She
nearly reached for the rubies – only managing to
twitch before the silver oval was drawn back into the
wall, which closed with a snap. _____AH HA, THAT LAST ONE GOT YOU.
BUT YOU HAVE TO AGREE FIRST._____
"We need to go," said Iphis.
Sparrow stood motionless. The offers of
knowledge of the past were useless – she had confidence that she
would know the full story of Jocasta’s torment in time. But certain
knowledge of the future, that was a different matter. Professor
Clearwater had said that Sparrow couldn’t avoid seeking every
forecast that might keep people safe.
"As if a despicable spirit buried in the
basement could possibly say anything true about the future,"
growled Iphis. He grabbed Sparrow’s hand and hauled her away.
So they went back the way they’d come – or
whatever way they might have come – Sparrow still didn’t remember
which fork was which. Iphis was choosing the way that went upward at
each fork, but it was impossible to be certain they were going the
right way. Nothing looked
familiar.
Eventually Sparrow yanked her hand out of
Iphis, and came to a halt. "This isn’t getting us anywhere.
You of all people should know a basic navigation spell." In the
light of her wand, she could see that Iphis’ wasn’t lit.
"Unless...you were using one?"
"I’ve been trying," growled Iphis.
"My head is feeling fuzzy."
"You’re getting confounded by magic,"
said Sparrow. "Maybe I am too. I ought to remember any of this."
____I
CAN TELL YOU THE WAY OUT, IF YOU – ____
"Shut UP!" shouted Iphis and Sparrow
in unison.
°°° I’LL
SHOW YOU THE WAY, JUST STAY PUT AND I’LL FIND YOU. °°°
⋄⋄MIRANDA,
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE!⋄⋄
°°° WHAT
I NEED TO. DON’T WORRY, I’M FINE.
°°°
≠≠≠≠
YOU SAID YOU WERE
WORKING ON POTIONS.
≠≠≠≠
°°° I
DID. THEN I DIDN’T TELL YOU WHERE ELSE I WAS GOING. YOU AND
EVERYONE ELSE WOULD HAVE COME CHARGING AFTER ME. IT’S SAFEST IF I
COME DOWN HERE ALONE. °°°
"Where have I heard that before,"
growled Iphis, throwing a sharp glance at Sparrow.
Sparrow crossed her arms. "I guess we both
understand the instinct to be protective. I guess we all do. We’re
just doing it for different people."
Iphis raised his eyebrows and looked away.
"You’re...not wrong."
"Ahem," said a voice.
There out of the darkness gleamed two ice-blue
eyes, causing Sparrow to jump. Their glow faded as Miranda stepped
into the light, her face utterly impassive, her fist closed around
something.
"Miranda," whispered Sparrow. "Is
that...do you make deals with the thing down here?"
Miranda nodded slowly.
"At what price?"
Miranda shrugged. "The usual? I seek
precious metals and gems for the more powerful of my potions, and in
return I must watch horrifying images of the past and the future.
Taunts, tricks, mental traps. The thing thinks it can torment me."
Her eyes flashed blue. "As if I am not already tormented."
"But…" Sparrow thought of how she
could put the question delicately. "If you were to ask for
something greater, and be set a greater price…"
Miranda’s eyes snapped to Sparrow’s. "The
thing has made the offer."
"And?"
"And the price does not bear repeating,"
said Miranda. "Nor does the one it set for you. I have admired
your courage and your reckless creativity, my friend. I was actually
quite worried, in the moment, that you might take the offer blindly.
But you held firm." She glanced at Iphis. "Both of you. I
admire your restraint."
Iphis was looking away nervously. "I’m
worried about just how much you heard of what was said to me."
"Sending in the clear can be broadcast
farther than the Sender expects," said Miranda. "We all
learned that, in the very first moment of the
matter. So. I know you seem to have some manner of easy solution.
Something involving a trail of blood. Clearly linked to whatever you
did in the library that one time. Something spoken, wandless. The
runes?"
Iphis turned and thumped his head against the
wall.
"You can’t get anything by this crew for
long," said Sparrow. "Especially not if you’re waving it about like a flag, Iffy."
Iffy groaned in frustration. "That’s
another person who can’t study the runes out loud now."
He whirled back to Miranda, pointing a finger in her face. "Not
a single word of them out of your mouth again, do you understand?
It’s magic that works without needing intent. Not one word of
them aloud."
"At least until such time as you explain
them," said Miranda, "as you promised."
"That goes without saying," said
Iphis. "Not that...not that I would be remotely happy to hear
you or anyone actually speak the runes aloud, even then. Considering
what they do."
"Oh of course," said Miranda, taking
a step towards Iphis. "And yet, my friend, you yourself will be
only too happy to make use of them, for I know you well enough. I
know, now, what you have been driving at, when in our moments alone,
you have broached the topic of relieving my torment." She took
another step forward, looming over Iphis. "I know, now, what you
have been offering."
Iphis stared up at Miranda, undaunted. "I
can’t stand seeing you in pain. How could I, when I know mine?"
"And could I stand seeing you covered in
blood?" said Miranda. "I know full well what it would take
for you to give me that easy way out, my dear." She paid a hand
on Iphis’ shoulder. "I will never ask you for that shortcut.
I
will never ask you for that sacrifice – no, I will not even accept
your volunteering. I am asking you not for a swift solution, but for
the same restraint you have shown here. No matter my pain, or yours.
Do you understand?"
Iphis nodded, his face grim.
"Let’s get out of this stupid place,"
said Sparrow. "You said you had expertise, Miranda, lead the
way."
So they made their way back, Miranda taking
turns Sparrow had overlooked, sidling through passages Sparrow had
forgotten. She didn’t even have her wand out for a navigation
spell. "How do you know this place so well?"
"I did tell you I’ve been here for
years," said Miranda.
"And you’ve...braved that horrible voice
for years?"
"It was a form of psychological self-harm in the
beginning," said Miranda. "These days, I’m numb to it.
And it gives me precious spell materials."
"Goddamn," said Sparrow. "You
really are tough."
"Or just heedless," said Iphis.
"That’s the Gryffindor charm," said
Miranda.
They reached the dim light of the staircase at
last, and Miranda pulled ahead, evidently still set on her course of
solitude this evening. Sparrow found herself alone with Iphis once
more. She cleared her throat. "Iffy…"
"I’m perfectly fine," grumbled
Iphis. "You?"
Sparrow thought back to what she had been
offered, down in the deeps below. If the thing down there hadn’t
been so foolish as to demand she murder someone, she might very well
have seized upon the offer before knowing the price. As for the other
offers, though they were smaller, she could not get the thing’s
hinting out of her mind. Especially that there was more to Jill’s
story – not that it wasn’t already clear. The nightmare memory
had a few mysteries left unsolved. But to be offered a chance to
know...Sparrow shook her head. "I’m not fine. That stupid
thing messed with me. So maybe you’re not fine either." She
gave Iphis a pointed look.
Iphis sighed and turned away. "Am I ever
fine? Are any of us?"
"Perhaps only in the arms of our loved
ones," said Sparrow. "So. Let’s be reaching them more
swiftly, then."
That thought in mind, the two of them picked up
the pace on their way to the Hufflepuff house.
…
In the Hufflepuff common room, Wren was waiting
there by the sofa, looking starry-eyed, their fist closed around
something.
Iphis approached, offering a hug. But Wren
shook their head. "Wait a moment, wait a moment dear. Look."
They opened their hand.
In their palm lay a few rubies as big as cherries, and many nuggets of
gold as big as beans.
Iphis gaped at it. "She...oh, for God’s
sake Miranda."
"What did she say about self-sacrifice?"
said Sparrow. "Well, at least it’s not bloody. Physically,
anyway. But I still think it’s my job."
"Looks like it’s turning into everyone’s
job," said Wren. "I’m beginning to understand what you
mean, Sparrow, about cooling it on the martyrdom." They closed
their fist around their precious gifts. "How the hell you thank
someone for it, for one thing. Am I in debt now? Do I owe Miranda a
huge favor?"
"Do you," said Sparrow. "Well,
she saved you from having to ask that thing down there twice, didn’t
she? She saved you from having to pay a price again."
Wren looked nervous. "Yes. That is true."
"What price did you pay last time?"
"It offered to show me
how my friends were doing," murmured Wren.
"And you accepted?"
Wren nodded mutely.
"My dear," said Iphis, laying a
gentle hand on Wren’s shoulder. "I agree with you, you must
cease your own martyrdom. You must never go down there again. You
must never let yourself be tempted by its tricks. Our hearts are
broken as it is. I would not see yours torn in two." He kissed
Wren’s head. "I would not see you in pain, any more than
Miranda. For my sake, stay where your heart is safe."
Wren gave Iphis a brief kiss on the lips. Then
they threw their arms about him, holding him tightly.
But they made no word of promise. Nor any
further word, as the two departed for the stairs. It was only Iphis
who turned and said, "Sweet dreams, Sparrow."
Sparrow hoped that for once, they would be.