the marriage stone (Discontinued)

Chapter 31 Drawing Closer

It took hours for them to reach their destination. Buffering spells kept the boat sailing smoothly, and shielding spells kept the worst of the wind and the water spray off them. Still, it wasn't a pleasant journey, the waiting getting to all three of them more than anything.

They check the map frequently, watching the tiny image of their boat getting closer and closer to the shoreline. When they finally approached, the night had largely passed, and the eastern sky was already beginning to brighten with dawn. Harry had been gone for hours; there was no telling what might have happened to him in that time.

Upon reaching the shore, they dragged the boat up onto the rocky bank, noticing immediately several Viking long boats already tied nearby. Remus headed straight for one of them, grabbing the prow and pulling himself up to peer inside. He jumped down a moment later, his eyes gleaming in the predawn light.

"Harry was in this one," he announced. "The scent is still strong." Sirius grinned - those werewolf senses would take them straight to Harry now that he'd gotten the scent.

They grabbed up their gear, Sirius and Severus both strapping their swords to their backs while Remus hefted the iron mace over one shoulder. They could see the treeline ahead, the dark expanse of forest looming before them.

"Move as silently as you can," Snape told the two of them. "I remember reading about a cat-like creature called Grendlings that hunt in packs in these woods. I'd just as soon not lead them right towards us."

With that the three of them headed off, Remus taking up the lead as they followed Harry's trail into the forest.

By Sirius' estimate they had gone perhaps five miles when Remus stopped suddenly, holding up his hand for silence. Knowing the werewolf could hear and smell things they could not, both Sirius and Severus froze, waiting for him to give them some sign of what had caught his attention. He sniffed the air, his face looking pale in the growing morning light. Then he moved quickly back toward them and spoke softly in muffled tones.

"I can smell blood up ahead," he informed them. "And there's something moving in the woods off to the south. It's still far away but stay quiet so that we don't attract its attention."

Both men nodded and they followed Remus forward, moving more cautiously through the trees. They had walked for several more minutes in absolute silence when they came across the source of the blood Remus had mentioned. Ahead of them in a small clearing were the bodies of animals. They were huge, black-furred creatures with muscled bodies and long claws. There was indeed something cat like about them, but their hind quarters were oddly shaped as if perhaps they could walk upright as easily as they walked on all fours. The ground around them was black with blood and they could see that these animals bore the marks of sword wounds.

All three of them moved carefully forward, scanning the ground and avoiding the pools of blood. Remus hissed suddenly in shock, and crouched down to pick something up from the ground. Sirius stared in sickened horror when he realized that the item he was holding was a human hand.

It made them all search the bodies more closely, each dreading the discovery that one of the dark bloody lumps upon the ground might be a human body. Remus however stopped his search suddenly, and moved swiftly toward them, grabbing Sirius by the arm and pulling him toward Severus, motioning to Severus to move away from the blood. Neither men questioned him, trusting his judgment, but they both looked to him for an explanation. Remus' face was deathly pale.

"We have to keep moving. There's a faded warding ring around the clearing," he whispered as they walked. "I crossed over one of the stronger residues. I recognized the feeling - it was made by Harry's Patronus. He leaves a very distinctive vibration behind."