Uric the Oddball and the Great Goblin Uprising

Chapter 4: Maleficum

Bones. Bones were everywhere. Stacked in piles by size and shape. Filling the small alcoves on either side. Occasionally they were on the floor as well, and Mena winced when her foot came down on one. It turned to dust with a large crunch.

"This place is disturbing," she said. She was trying to calm down, but walking through a corridor lined with skulls was doing nothing for her nerves.

"They're only bones," said Louis from behind her. He and Uric were providing them with light from their wands, though she honestly wished they weren't. It had been better before she knew they were surrounded by the dead. "That's why they're called crypts after all." Mena made a face at his statement and tried not to look at the empty gazes of the skulls on either side of them. It didn't help that Uric was lightly touching the forehead of each skull he passed and christening it with a new name.

"Geraldine!" he said triumphantly. Mena 'accidentally' stepped on his heel, causing him to stumble. Uric sent a puzzled look her way before returning to his christenings.

The first passages they had passed through hadn't been so bad. Dark, with little side passages that were even darker still, but they were ignorable when she concentrated on her anger at that witch for getting them into this situation. The fact that Louis had been sneezing uncontrollably at the dust in the passages had almost been amusing, except for the fact that the sounds echoed and could give them away. Uric had solved the problem with an Anti-sneezing charm culled from wherever he stored all that useless information he was always spouting.

But then they had entered a different part of the tunnels. Water dripped down from the ceiling forming tiny stalactites that had a tendency to drip on them when they were least expecting it. In place of the walls, there were now bones, and judging by how narrow the passages had become, there were quite a lot of them. Somehow the broken looks of the brown skulls chilled her in a way that the ghosts of Hogwarts never could.

"Are there a lot of bones in your house, Louis?" she asked. Behind her, the sound of Louis' footsteps stopped, then started again.

"You've never asked about my home before," said Louis carefully. He was right, she hadn't. Not because she didn't want to, but because he always got so...sarcastic when it was mentioned. She honestly wasn't sure why she was bringing it up now, except she wanted conversation, and despite Uric's preoccupation with the skulls, he was also leading them out. Ask him for enough concentration to carry on a coherent conversation and she might distract him from whatever was telling him the proper direction to get them out of here.

"I'm asking about your house's furnishings. From the way you talk about them, I'd expect your family to hang skulls on the main doors," she said crossly. Louis let out a short laugh.

"My family's house in Britain is well furnished with tasteful art from the past millennium; more portraits than I have ancestors, and a plethora of house elves to administer to it all. The only sign of something as distasteful as skulls and bones is the still bloody axe that beheaded my great great grandfather that's still hanging in one of the corridors." There was pride and scorn in Louis' voice. "Oh, and my family itself. Surely a sign of something distasteful if I ever saw one. Uric, are we any closer to the surface?"

"No," Uric replied. Mena tried not to groan.

"Are you even trying to get us out of here?" she asked. Uric nodded a few times and Mena took that as a yes until she saw that he was nodding at one of the nearby skulls. She drew her wand, and strode determinedly forward, intent on taking the lead and getting them out of here. Louis' hand on her shoulder stopped her. He turned her around to face him, his fingernails digging into her shoulders.

"Stop it! They've been using these tunnels since Roman times. They go on for miles. Neither you nor I have any idea where we are." He held up his hand to forestall her speaking. "And I admit, neither does Uric. But he doesn't need to know to find us a way out, and you know that." He was right, and she found herself staring down at the ground in defeat.

"Why didn't they chase us, Louis? She was going to take us down here anyway. Why abandon us unless they knew it was hopeless?" She was having trouble keeping the despair out of her voice. Louis' face was expressionless, and he didn't answer. It was always a bad sign when not even Louis could figure out what was happening. She sighed, and shook off his hands. Keeping her eyes focused on Uric's back, she started walking again.

*****

Uric wished the bones would stop talking to him. He wouldn't have minded usually, but there were so many of them and they weren't being nice. Their voices were clamouring over and over for attention and he couldn't please all of them. His friends wanted him to find a way out, and he would, but the voices...He frowned. He was going to have to be rude.

"Quiet!" he ordered. The bones fell silent, and Uric could hear the slight sound of his friends breathing and the scuffle of their footsteps. Far ahead of them, there was a skittering in the darkness. Uric wondered what had caused it. Perhaps it was a Mooncalf? He had heard they liked dark, underground places, though he suspected the talking bones might keep them away.

"Not that it matters, Uric," said Louis from the back of their little group. "But neither of us were talking."

"The bones were."

"Oh," said Louis after a moment. "I trust they've stopped then?" Uric nodded.

"We need to hurry though. They said it was a long way out." And that it was impossible to escape. But that was silly. After all someone had to put the bones there in the first place, and they couldn't have gotten here on their own. Unless bones could walk...He would have to check up on that.

Louis started speaking again, but Uric didn't hear him. He was focused on his wand hand. It was thrust out in front of him, and the light illuminated only more bones. But his hand was telling him differently. The warm current of air he had been feeling for a long time now had intensified, but it was mixed in with a sharp cold that made the hairs on his hand stand up.

He took a few steps forward, then frowned at what the light from his wand revealed. The passage stretched off at right angles from where they stood, and in the centre of it was the body of a young boy, a few years younger than they were. He was wearing Muggle clothing like all those children he had seen playing in the square outside the cathedral. Mena gasped, and pushed past him to kneel in front of the boy. Uric could see that the boy had tears drying across his face. One hand was digging into the hard floor of the passage while the other stretched out before him. It looked like he had been pulling himself down the right hand corridor when he died.

"Poor Luc," said Uric softly.

"What killed him?" demanded Mena. She was biting her lip, and looking wildly between Uric and Louis. Uric looked at Louis, and saw that he was staring down at the Luc. His wand was hanging limply at his side, its light extinguished. After a moment, Louis shook himself and transferred his gaze to a point on the wall.

"We need to go," said Louis. "Which way, Uric?" Uric frowned and looked at his hand for a moment before pointing down the left hand corridor.

"He was running from whatever is down there," protested Mena angrily. "It'll be no use making it to the surface if we die in the process."

"Well, we won't make it to the surface if we die-" began Uric, but Louis cut him off.

"Is this our only option, Uric?"

"Yes, if you want to leave. It's warmer this way," said Uric. Mena muttered something but the only word that Uric could make out was 'hell'.

"Let's go," said Louis.

"Wait!" called Uric. He went over to Luc and placed his hand on the boy's pale cheek. It was very cold. He talked to the rocks then, asking them for a favour and giving them an offering in return. Luc's body shuddered, then slunk slowly out of view directly into the floor. Small ripples disturbed the surface of the rock until it was over, and Uric was left sitting with his hand on the cold rock. He stared sadly at the rock, then used the tip of his wand to write in the floor while it was still soft.

Luc DeRue

Memento Mori

"Come on, Uric." Mena pulled him away, and marched resolutely down the left hand corridor one sleeve of Uric's robe clutched tightly in her hand.

*****

There was light up ahead. Uric gave it a curious look and extinguished his own wand. There had been no more bones since they had left Luc. The corridors were dry again, and empty. They rounded a bend in the corner, and faced an opening.

Beyond the opening was a scene from their textbooks, or more accurately, from their Dark Arts textbooks. The large chamber was lit on all sides by torches made from long bones and magic. They cast a sinister air over an already sinister scene. A circle of wizards in bright red robes stood in the centre of the room, surrounding and facing an altar filled with occultic memorabilia. To Uric, it looked a lot like someone had emptied out the Advanced Potions cupboard onto a table, except you didn't use nearly as much blood in any type of potion he could think of. The top of the altar seemed to move, and Uric stared hard at it, wondering why. After a moment, he could make out at least three snakes, their skins liberally sprinkled with blood and wine, winding in and out of the objects on the altar.

The room thrummed with magic. The robed wizards were chanting in unison as one of their number danced in the centre of the circle. The wizard in the centre launched into the air, levitating and spinning for a moment. They only had a glimpse, but Uric could recognize the witch who had tried to capture them earlier. Across her shoulders was another snake and in one hand a bloody knife. This was wrong. He started forward to stop them, but couldn't go much further. A glance behind him revealed that both Mena and Louis were using his robes to hold him back.

"You can't, Uric!" Mena was yelling in order to be heard over the chanting. It was lucky the dark wizards were facing away from them and concentrating on their conjuring. "There are too many of them." Louis nodded his agreement. Uric pulled away from them and stared frowning at the still chanting circle. Through a gap in their robes, he could just make out the body of another child like Luc lying on the floor. It hurt to not be able to do anything.

He walked forward, and this time no one tried to stop him.

*****

Louis watched Uric approach the wizards, and wondered what his friend was going to do. More importantly, he wondered if what Uric was going to do, was going to get them killed. He had his wand out and ready, as did Mena beside him, but he doubted it would make a difference if the thirty or so grown wizards decided to turn their attentions upon them.

"We need to stop him, Louis!" yelled Mena. Louis gave her a look.

"Do you want to be the one to try to stop him?" he asked. They were both aware of what Uric could do if he seriously decided to use his magic. Uric was rarely focused enough to consciously utilize his talents. It usually took their combined efforts to even get him to focus on the real world, but when he did...

"We would only have to distract him!" yelled Mena, echoing his thoughts. Louis shook his head.

"Not even Uric could be distracted from this!" He gestured at the ceremony in front of them. The smell of blood and incense clogged the air. Louis was having trouble concentrating, not to mention, breathing.

He was trying to remember all the spells he knew that required human sacrifice. There were few that required the amount of power that came from extinguishing a person's life, and none that he could remember required a wizard's blood in particular. He wasn't an expert on the subject, though he was pretty sure that his Uncle Dalibor was. Not that that would help them.

"The Barrier!" screamed the dark witch from the centre of the circle. Her voice was hoarse compared to the charming tones she had used earlier when attempting to kidnap them. If she had succeeded, Louis had no doubt that it would now be their lifeless bodies lying in the centre of the circle. In response to her cry, the wizards' chanting reached a fevered pitch. As one they all raised their arms, and Louis could see the flash of their knives as they cut deep into their arms. It wasn't light enough to see the blood dripping at their feet, but he knew what they were doing.

Once that ward was up, sealed by the blood of all the wizards present, nothing living would be able to pass through. His eyes widened as he realized what the wizards were about to attempt.

"Uric!" he yelled. "Come back!" Uric paused, and looked back curiously at him. He was too close. "Accerso," Louis cast, hoping to pull Uric back. The wizards finished their spell, and a near transparent shimmer appeared in the air between them, confining Uric to the circle. Louis' spell spattered harmlessly against the barrier. Mena was shouting something over the noise, but the chanting rose even higher than before. The dark witch rose up. The snake seemed to be the only thing she was wearing other than a dark sheen of blood. She clutched a black, dripping thing in her fist that Louis' mind refused to identify. She screamed out words in an ancient language that were echoed by the wizards in the circle. She screamed again, and again the wizards echoed her. The third time, she ate the black thing in her hand and collapsed to the ground.

For a moment, there was silence. Uric pushed his way inside, past the outer circle of wizards. The red-robed wizards closed in afterwards, blocking Uric from view, but they could still hear him.

"Excuse me-" Uric began, and the floor began to shake. Its vibrating was accompanied by an eerie humming that grew louder and louder. The dark witch screamed again, but this time there was a note of panic in her cry. Louis blinked, and suddenly in front of the altar, was a monster. Its black skin was dripping with acid so that a hissing could be heard as the fluid dripped off its body. Contorted muscles lined impossibly long arms that ended in claws. And its face...Louis was reminded of the hounds of the Wild Hunt that the three of them had encountered in their first-year. Only there was no loyalty to a master in this beast's eyes. They blazed with the desire all these creatures that the Muggles called demons wanted - chaos.

In a flash, the demon moved. It ran the length of the circle, so fast that it was only a dark blur. The red-robed wizards fell apart, some of them literally as the demon unleashed its claws. Others were tossed against the barrier to fall unconscious on top of their less fortunate brethren. The barrier shimmered brightly as the infusion of blood renewed the spell, and Louis became aware that Mena had a death grip on his arm. She was staring fiercely at the circle, while all Louis wanted to do was look away.

"What can we do?" asked Mena. Louis had no answer for her.

It was easy to see the two children's bodies lying discarded in the centre of the circle. Uric was standing opposite the altar, untouched by the demon since he hadn't been in the circle. The dark witch stood there as well. She was petting the snake wrapped around her body at a frenetic pace, though Louis doubted she was even aware of it. The woman's yellow eyes were fixed on the demon, who had returned to its place at the altar mere seconds after it had left it.

"I am your Master!" she screamed hoarsely at it. "You do not hurt my brothers!" She shook her wand at it as if it were a recalcitrant child. The demon cocked its head at her words, then calmly picked up a snake from the altar and began to eat it. "I-I am your Master." She took a few halting steps forward. "I am your Master." The demon ate another snake from the altar, and it was as if someone had robbed the woman of the last of her power. She collapsed onto her knees in front of the beast, and now her tone had changed. "Please...Master. Please." She was sobbing softly to herself, and the demon left her there on her knees.

It turned its attention to Uric, and Louis suddenly felt as if both Uric and the demon were standing in two brilliant pillars of light. He expected Uric to say something, but for once Uric was silent. The feeling disappeared abruptly, as Uric walked forward, approaching the dark-skinned monstrosity. The ground below it was bubbling from the black acid dripping from its body. Its bulging muscles strained as it crushed one of the many skulls around the altar with its clawed hands.

"Uric! No!" screamed Mena. She darted forward to stop him, but was thrown back by the barrier. Louis caught her as she stumbled, wincing when he saw that she was smoking slightly. He lowered her to the ground and pressed his head against her chest. He started breathing again when he picked out the slow steady beat of her heart.

Louis glanced towards the altar and was frozen by what he saw. The demon had its beastly face quite close to Uric's. It was bellowing out words in some language Louis couldn't understand, though Uric seemed to, judging by the way he was nodding and giving the demon his full attention. A slightly hysterical laugh escaped Louis' lips. Trust Uric to have a friendly chat with a demon.

Louis looked back at Mena, then at the bloody remains of the dark wizards. He grimaced. He had to end this before anyone else got hurt. He pulled off his cloak and used it to pillow Mena's head, before taking a deep breath and stepping through the barrier. He clenched his teeth at the sensation of the barrier attempting to repel him, but continued on through. He had always known his heritage was useful for something.

His wand was drawn, ready to confront the demon, but his foot slipped on the wet floor. There was a flash of white light, and he knew no more.