Chapter 22 - The Prisoner

We decided to walk a few miles into the town centre, it appeared to be a muggle village, so we were not at risk of being recognised. Ominis spoke to some of the town folk, and they mentioned that there were some dangerous characters that has passed through their town a few days ago. Apparently, they destroyed some carts in the market and beat up the local shop keeper after stealing his food stock. We knew it was The Blackhand as they muggles had described them wearing black masks in the shape two hands that covered their faces. They directed us to the outskirts of the village where they were last seen. Ominis and I made our way over the hill and towards the woodland areas.

"We need a plan Ominis. If it is The Blackhand we can't just invade their camp and retrieve Sebastian." Ominis hadn't said much to me since our discussion this morning.

"Let's just find the camp first."

We trekked through the woodlands for what felt like hours, barely a word uttered between us. I was beginning to feel frustrated, Ominis said he was following a path of broken leaves, but it seemed like he was blindly leading us, ironically.

"Ominis we've been at it for hours, they are likely not here anymore."

He ignored and continued to walk in front of me.

"Ominis?"

He turned around quickly, alarm in his eyes and he had his finger over his lips ordering me to be silent. Then I heard voices over from not far away.

We both cast a disillusionment charm and slowly made our way towards the voices. We came to the end of a clearing and peeked over the edge. I could see about five figures walking around the encampment. They were all dressed in black and had the familiar masks covering their faces.

One of the bigger wizards grunted as he spoke, "Madam Towe, any word from our newest recruit? Surely, he should've returned by now?"

Near the fire I saw the familiar red hair of the Towe woman I encountered months ago. She glared into the fire as she spoke.

"Oliver Wright has likely failed us. You two, head back to the Ministry and find out what you can."

She pointed to two of the wizards. They removed their masks and cloaks, with a swish of their wands they were in their Ministry uniforms and Dissapparated. It was evident that The Blackhand had infiltrated the Ministry.

"I must return to our Master, he will be disappointed to hear of our failure. He will guide us in our next steps. Watch over the prisoner, when I return, we shall move on from this place."

She Dissapparated and the only sound breaking the silence was the crackling of the fire as the two remaining members skulked around the campsite.

"Now is our chance, while there are only two of them," Ominis whispered in my ear. "I am going to draw them out of the camp, create a distraction. You need to find Sebastian. We'll meet back near the outskirts of the town."

I nodded. I didn't like the idea of separating but it was the only chance we had. I reached out and managed to find Ominis' wrist, "Be careful."

Ominis left and I could see a slight shimmer of him as moved down the clearing near the entrance of the campsite. Moments later a small explosion went off near one of exterior tents where they had stored their rations.

"What was that?" Both dark wizards immediately ran off to investigate.

I couldn't see where Ominis was anymore, but as soon as they dark wizards were away, I made my way down into the clearing and into the largest of the tents. I made sure to keep my disillusionment charm on in case there were any more Blackhand members lurking in the tent. Thankfully the tent was empty, besides for a large table that had papers and a map spread over it. I glanced at some of the papers but couldn't read what they said, they all appeared to be in Latin. I heard groaning from behind a curtain on the far side, the sound made me startle and knock over a candle. I made my way slowly around the curtain.

My heart was not prepared for what I saw.

Sebastian Sallow.

He was hanging from his wrists chained up to one of the beams in the tent ceiling. His body hung limply, his toes barely touching the ground beneath him. He was shirtless and I could see deep cuts all over his torso. His head hung low and I could see a pool of blood had collected beneath him. He looked terribly thin. I stared at the horror scene before me, and my heart ached.

Sebastian let out a small moan and it woke me from my shock. I revealed myself and quickly made my way over to Sebastian, placing my hands gently on his cheeks and lifting his face to mine. His eyes fluttered open at my touch and his eyes widened at the sight of me. Now that I could see his face I was taken aback, his eye sockets looked hollow and his skin was almost grey from malnourishment, but he was conscious and alive.

"I'm here Sebastian."

He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, his lips look chapped, and I wondered when he last had water.

"Let's get you out of these chains." I slowly removed my hands from his face and pointed my wand at his chains.

"Alohomora."

The lock on the chain opened and the chains slid down from the beam above us, Sebastian collapsed towards the floor. I quickly went to support him. I placed his arm over my shoulder and tried to lift, as thin as he looked, he was still heavy.

"Sebastian, I can't lift you on my own. I need you to help me. Keep fighting."

My words were enough to get him to stand but he was wobbly when he did so. He hadn't said anything, but I could hear his breathing was heavy. I started to lead us out of the tent, I could see smoke from the outside of the encampment and the dark wizards shouting at one another trying to put the blame on the other. I was glad they were still distracted. I would not have been able to carry Sebastian's weight and fight them off.

I hobbled slowly with Sebastian over the clearing and through the woodlands. It was hard to pull him along, I wondered if Ominis should've rather rescued Sebastian while I created the distraction, but at the same time I was glad to see Sebastian was alive. As we approached the end of the woodlands, I could see the outskirts of the town ahead. Where was Ominis? I paused and placed Sebastian on the grass by the path, he leaned against a boulder with eyes closed, panting. He still hadn't said a word. I scanned the woodlands for any sign of Ominis.

I was starting to get worried. A moment later I heard a huge explosion from the woodlands a huge puff of smoke rose above the trees.

"Ominis!"

Oh Merlin, what happened? Why was there another explosion? A moment later I saw Ominis running through the woodlands straight towards us, he had a look of panic on his face.

"Riley! Run!"

Behind Ominis the two dark wizards were close on his heels and throwing curses at him.

"Get back here! You will answer to our master!"

Ominis was dodging their blasts as he ran, but there was no way I'd be able to outrun them while carrying Sebastian.

Panic engulfed me.

"Run!"

Ominis repeated his order at me, but I wasn't going to leave Sebastian here, not after we had just saved him. My fear started to mould into anger as a curse nearly hit Ominis, causing him to trip and fall face first onto the ground only a few feet from me. My eyes met the dark wizards who were only a few yards away, their curses ceased as they looked at me, recognising me instantly.

"You are the one we have been searching for. Come with us now and we will not harm your friends." Ominis was still lying on the ground, slightly dazed from his fall.

"You're in no position to be making threats of those kind." They laughed at me as I spoke.

Their laughter changed to choking sounds as I clenched my fists and they both clutched at their throats as I used my power to restrict their airflow.

"Yes...feel their pain, breathe it in."

The voice spoke to me in a seductive whisper. I squeezed tighter and the wizards dropped to their knees, I could see their faces turning purple. Ominis sat upright on the grass staring at me in horror.

"Riley ..."

I heard a faint whisper from behind me. Sebastian had managed to find his voice, but it was hoarse. I turned to face him, he had somehow managed to stand and he was looking deeply into my eyes. He held his hand out to me. I just stood there staring at him, I didn't take his hand, I could see Ominis in the corner of my eye watching me. I unclenched my fists and the wizards gasped for breath as their airflow resumed. I turned back to face them.

"Leave now. Don't ever return."

They hurried off in a scurry and disappeared into the woodlands.

The sun had started to tuck beneath the mountains and the stars started to glint in the sky. The silence was broken by Ominis grunting as he raised himself from the grass and he made his way over to Sebastian who had dropped his hand but was still staring at me. His eyes moved to Ominis as he approached, he took notice of the fact that Ominis could clearly see as he walked towards him, and Sebastian's mouth dropped open in awe.

Ominis looked at his thin friend and placed his cloak over Sebastian's naked torso. "We've got a lot to catch-up on."

Sebastian and Ominis exchanged a look, and they embraced in a hug. I felt awkward watching them, I felt like I was invading their reunion.

After a moment they released from their embrace and Ominis turned to me.

"We need to leave, in case they come back with reinforcements."

Ominis held his hand out to me and gestured for me to come to him. I obliged and slowly made my way, I stared at the ground as I did, conscious of the fact that Sebastian was staring at me again. Ominis grabbed my hand and Sebastian's at the same time.

"Take a deep breath you two."

Ominis Dissapparated all three of us and our world was spinning once more. We landed with a thud in a forest I didn't recognise, Ominis was the only one who remained standing, both Sebastian and I collapsed to our feet. Ominis was used to Apparition, this was only my second journey, and it wasn't much of an improvement from the first one. On cue Sebastian retched and spewed all over the floor. Ominis instinctively reached down and patted his back.

"Riley, can you setup the protective charms? I'll get the tent unpacked and get Sebastian tidied up. We'll need to use some of those Wiggenweld potions for him."

I got to work immediately casting the charms in a radius around us. Ominis made quick work of the tent and soon he had ushered Sebastian inside. I decided not to intrude, I let Ominis care for his friend and I tended to the fire, preparing some food in the cauldron. After what felt like an hour Ominis emerged from the tent, his sleeves were rolled up and had dried blood stains on them.

"He's asleep now, I've tried to heal his wounds as best as I could. He was severely dehydrated."

He answered the question in my eyes before I could ask.

"He's going to be ok. He just needs rest."

I nodded and I could feel the relief relax into my shoulders as Ominis sat beside me near by the fire. I don't know how long we sat there. The crackling sounds of the fire were the only noise that broke the silence. I glanced over at Ominis and noticed a bruise had started to form over his eye from where he fell, and I instinctively reached out to touch it. Ominis grabbed my wrist in mid-air.

"Don't," my eyes widened at his response.

"I am just checking to see if you're ok Ominis."

He released my wrist and ran his fingers through his hair.

"What were you thinking? Why did you set off that explosion? Did you want those wizards to come after us?"

His words caught me by surprise.

"What are you talking about Ominis? I did as we agreed, I didn't cause any explosion."

"Then how else do you explain the very tent that Sebastian was in blowing up?"

I racked my head thinking back.

"I think I knocked over a candle by accident, there must've been some explosive materials in the tent. Ominis, I didn't do it in purpose. Why would I unnecessarily attract attention?"

Ominis rose from next to me and started pacing in front of the fire.

"What did you mean when you said did I want those wizards to come after us?"

He couldn't even look at me.

"Do you think I wanted to hurt them? Is that why you made me go get Sebastian, so that I wouldn't have the opportunity? Is that what you think of me Ominis? I only attacked them in self-defence, they would've killed you. Stop pacing and look at me!"

My shout got his attention, and he finally raised his eyes to look at me.

"I don't know what to think Riley. This new side of you scares me. To make matters worse you only stopped because of Sebastian."

I could feel my ears turning red, either from anger or from embarrassment.

"I stopped because I wanted to. Nobody controls me."

I don't know if the statement was aimed at Ominis or myself.

"Let's hope so."

He stormed off back towards the tent.

"Where are you going?"

He paused at the entrance and spoke in a calm manner "I'm writing to Anne. She deserves to know what's happened to her brother."

Once again, I was alone, I stared into the pit of the fire, Ominis' hurtful words carving into my heart. The voice let out a slow and sinister laugh, relishing in my feelings of embarrassment, hurt and rejection.