The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna

Chapter 35

The Owls Come to Hogwarts

Laulen waited in the courtyard searching the sky and praying to his gods that his mother hurry. Hearing footfalls, he turned and saw Erwin walking toward him across the stones.

"Rowena sends you a cloak." He put the cloak around the boy's shoulders and looked up at the sky with him. "Salazar will keep her safe."

"They are late by a day. He said he would be back by yesterday's moon."

"It is the storm. Salazar would know to wait until it passed."

"If they catch her...I know, they won't. Like you say, she will be fine." Laulen looked at him from the corner of his eye. "Sir? What will happen to us here? We are not trusted, not completely, by the others."

"She will find work and you will go to school here." Erwin turned around to look at the boy, leaning on the low wall that closed in this side of the courtyard.

"I cannot do this. I cannot stay here." He lifted his eyes to the grounds and looked for the pass. "Where does the town lie?"

Erwin pointed to the joining of the mountains on the far side of the valley. "Why can you not do this?"

"It is hard. In the cave, I did not feel like this. I don't know how to stop it."

"Perhaps in the books we can find a way. Elmira has many books in the library, she will help you look."

"I feel your sadness. It is the kind that will never pass." Laulen looked up at him. "I feel the dark one's madness, and I feel the happy one's worry."

"The happy one?"

"Helga. She is always happy and good." He turned back to look up at the sky. "When my Mum is near I can feel her. Only it has no name, what I feel from her."

"She will be better here. She is a proud and brave witch."

"She feels like... like she seeks death." Laulen looked at Erwin. "Sometimes it feels like I hold her back."

"She lost her husband and her home, and has fought to keep you safe. She will change once she knows she is safe again. There is safety here and new futures. You must believe that."

Erwin heard the whisper of wind in a windless sky and turned to look out above the lake.

"Do you feel anything of Rowena?" Erwin feigned interest in the stars.

Laulen looked at him steadily and shook his head. "She hides. Even from herself, she hides. She is the worst for me. She is even harder than the dark one. She hides her soul. It is as if she has lost it and does not seek it any longer."

Erwin scowled and again heard the sound of wind and fabric.

"There," he said, pointing at the black shapes. "Peska."

Laulen started running to the shore where he saw them land. He called her name and cried as he finally reached her and flung himself into her arms. She held him as if he were made of fine and breakable china, looking over his head at Salazar.

"I cannot tell you how much this means. There are no words for it." She kissed the top of her son's head. "You have my loyalty, sir."

"I ask you for nothing," he said flatly.

"That is why I give it." She smiled, pulling Laulen far enough away to turn his face to hers. "We have made it, Laulen. We must thank Mica's gods before we go further. And the gods of this land must accept us."

"Sir?" She turned back to Salazar. "Are all the gods welcomed here as Godric claims[Author ID1: at Mon May 31 19:30:00 2010 ]?"

Salazar turned on his heel and left them by the lake, leaving her question unanswered. He had turned from the gods, and no longer believed they lived here. He found now he could not say aloud what he thought, knowing the witch believed in her gods and seeing the look of hope in her son's eyes.

She turned back to the lake and closed her eyes, lifting her face to the sky as she had a thousand times before, and breathed in the first breath of freedom she has smelled in years. She prayed to the gods of her husband, and offered to the new gods of this place her faith and trust. Opening her eyes she raised her arm and whistled softly as a great white owl came to rest on it.

"You brought her!" Laulen laughed and stroked the great bird. "What of the others?"

"They needed to rest before continuing. They should be here any moment. We were slowed ourselves by the storm." She smiled at him and chuckled. "You do not think I could leave the last of your father's owlery, did you?"

"I have not seen owls here. I do not know where they keep them."

"We will find out. Now you must be the parent and show me where to go."

He pointed to the castle and saw her scowl. "Laulen, there are too many here for you. Are you ill?"

"It is starting." He nodded and chewed his lip. "There are four here that make the rules. Salazar, who brought you here, and Godric. He lives here! Godric, the one that..."

"I know, child. Everyone knows of Godric." She laughed. "Go on."

"The smart one of the Raven and the Claw clan is here as well, they call her Rowena. And the one called Helga that has the easy ways."

"We should see this Helga. If she has easy ways she will make you less ill."

"She will be waiting with food and warming potions." He tugged her up the path and to the castle. "You will like her, and she you. She runs the kitchen and her husband Hanson is a good wizard."

Opening the great doors, he watched as she looked around at the stone floors and walls. He laughed as she stared in wonder and pulled her into the dinning area and through the doors that lead down to the kitchen.

"They live as kings here." He laughed and pulled her down faster, anxious to show her off to Helga. "They use wands. I am not sure the old magic is welcomed."

"This must be Peska." Helga looked up and wiped her hands on her apron. "We have heard of you and waited with a hot meal. Here, sit and eat. The fires will warm you."

"I have familiars to care for." Peska started hesitantly. "They will need food. If this is not allowed I will give them mine."

"Familiars?" Helga turned and pressed her lips together. "If you say you have a snake in your pocket I will hex you."

"Goodness, a snake?" Peska looked horrified at the idea and stepped away from the spoon shaking in her face. "I have never seen a snake on my island."

"Then what do you speak of? Do not tell me a cat comes with you. Salazar's familiar will eat it."

"From the sound of the courtyard I would guess owls." Temin stood in the doorway. "Kista saw them coming and sent me to chase them off but they seem intent on nipping at me. They are well cared for and not wild."

"They are hungry." Peska sucked in her bottom lip and looked around nervously. "I did not want to leave them. They were my husband's. They are the boy's inheritance."

Temin looked at Helga and raised an eyebrow. "What kind of inheritance is an owl?"

"Owls. Many owls," Laulen said proudly. "They will find their own food once they rest and learn the land. They can be sold once they are trained."

"They will find no food around here." Helga smirked. "We seem to have another familiar that cleans up nicely. You will have to teach them to go beyond the pass for food."

"They can travel as far as they need." Laulen turned to Temin. "They are fed as payment when they deliver a message, and again when they come back and catch what else they need on the way. They can go great distances. Once, the white owl travelled all the way to Rome and back."

"You must train them to feed away from our forest. Creatures large and small are all given refuge there." He frowned at her.

Helga smiled at Temin. "I think we just filled another shop in the town and found a way to deliver the letters to the students."

"I have no money to buy a shop, only what you see." Peska pulled Laulen to her side. "I can work. I can work hard at anything you need done. Laulen needs to learn to read, he has been too long away from his schooling. I will work here in the kitchen, or with herds. I can sleep here, and tend the fires if he can only learn."

"No, you will have a shop and rooms over it. There are dwellings built in town for larger families, but with only two the shop will have to do." Helga tuned and dipped a bowl into the pot over the fire, wiping off the outside and set it on the table. "We expect no payment for the structure. We have use of the owls that you leave at the school. Whatever you sell is yours to keep and to pay his tuition."

She looked up at Peska to see the witch hugging her son as silent tears spilled down her face.

"Laulen," she whispered. "My gods, we have made it. We are both safe and will have a home. Helga, it is more than we expected, more than we ever dared to hope. We will do anything we can to help."

"Now sit." Helga felt her own tears starting as she rolled her eyes and sighed. "Here, I have mead. Just do not cry. I do enough for the entire castle. I want to cry because the owls are hungry and I am sure I will cry when they are full."

Helga opened the storage area and took out a jug and cup, putting them on the table and pushing them to where Peska sat. "We have more than enough. Laulen, go to the larder and find those birds whatever it is they eat, before I give them your mother's dinner as well as what is in the pot for Salazar. Marcus brought salted fish - perhaps that will do."

Peska picked up the jug and poured a cup of mead, frowning as she did. "Laulen makes fine jugs. Perhaps he could help make new and be rid of these."

"They are fine. Not old or cracked," Helga said, a little indignant.

"The clay used is not allowed in our land." Peska shrugged. "The non magical men will not use it every day and never for storage."

"Mica would not use the bowls made of the raw clay to be used in feeding the owls. He said it made them slow and worried that they would get lost," Laulen said. "He would only use the bowls dipped in blood and set to the fire three times."

Helga looked at the jugs before turning and running to the stairs and up through the hallway to the moving staircase without stopping to think of the shifting and shuddering maze under her feet. So stupid, she thought, so stupid to have missed it.

"Rowena," she yelled as she pounded on the door. "Rowena, I know it is late. Rowena?"

Rowena opened the door and looked at Helga fearfully. "Erwin? Is it he? Oh my god, Helena? Was there an accident?"

"No, no, nothing with them." Helga pushed her out of her way as she strode into the chambers. "Erwin is gone again? He was just down at the courtyard."

"He said he would be back by morn."

Seeing Rowena's face, she quickly returned to the reason she came. "The pipes, Rowena, and the clay in the jugs and earthen cups. It is the sickness of the cities. It is here. I am sure of it."

"We only use the jugs for storage of mead. The children all use metal. Helga?"

"Salazar is underground all the time where the pipes are. He drinks from the water not in the stream but from the springs. From the springs after the water runs through the stone and the clay of the chamber. Rowena, I am sure. The headaches, the pains, even his madness."

"It sounds to fit." Rowena chewed her lip and walked to a stack of books lying next to a low table. "We found a tome of goblin healings. They used the same method to heat the floors."

"They used steel, not the pipes Salazar fashioned."

"We have to get him to let us lay the stones for him. We have to stop him from going to the chamber until we know for sure," Rowena stood, ready to bolt out the door and begin the search at once.

"My gods." Helga sat down heavily. "How could we have missed it for so long?"

Rowena took Helga's hand and told her of Alya, and of what she had seen. She talked of the bruises and of the fear she had seen in the witch's eyes. When she spoke of Alya's belief, that it was only an illness, Helga frowned and nodded her head.

"It is like the wands. Do you remember the wands the goblins sent? The wands that carried madness?" Helga bit her lip and stared at the kitchens tabletop. "Perhaps there is truth in what she says. Could it be other than the lead?"

Rowena took her wand and sent her Patronus with a message to Gryffin. She needed to share with him what was happening. She then added Karra and Marcus to the message as well. If it were true, they would need things for potions. Things only a merchant and trader could get.

"They are working with the traders. Perhaps they have knowledge of a poison, or know of this. Perhaps it is not the pipes and bowls."

"Hengest? Would he know?"

Rowena shook her head and turned from Helga. When he returned, they would forbid him to leave his inn. He would stay in his rooms above the main floor and hide from the light, locked in with wards and fed by elves. Erwin had assured her he was safe, that he was not as Mave, but that he had not taken a potion. He was doomed to stay in that middle land, not dark and not light.

A part of her was glad for it. Glad that he would spend his days shut off and in darkness. Erwin told her his new wife had fled back to her people and he would be alone and unwanted.

Now she thought furiously of what was happening to Salazar, and how to stop it.

.

.

.

Alya waited for him to return. For over a day now, she had sat and worried. Now she sat with her sewing but could not get the needle and thread to work, making one tangle after another. She worried and looked to the sands in the hourglass again. Every sound jarred her, made her jump, then sigh in relief. She hated the dungeons and felt a prisoner when he was not with her. She tried to sew until she heard the wards dropping and, turning to the door, she saw him stride angrily into the room.

"Who was here, witch? The wards have been undone and reset."

"Rowena, only Rowena. She came to say..."

"No one enters these chambers when I am not present. Did you not understand this the first time? This may not be a true Slytherin dwelling to your liking but you will still keep it as such."

"Sal, Helga is with child. She is in need of a potion."

Salazar stopped and narrowed his eyes at Alya. He ran his hands though his hair and sat heavily in the chair closest to the door. Then leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees, he lowered his head to his hands as he sat still. Alya walked to him, and kneeled in front of him, pulled away his hands and looked into his face.

"Was the trip long? Are you hungry?" she said gently.

He slapped her hands away and pulled back from her, throwing himself back in the chair.

"Salazar, please tell me what is wrong. I cannot see you like this. I cannot be afraid of my own husband."

He brought up one hand and cupped her cheek, then leaned forward to kiss her softly, only to shake his head and lean back in the chair. He watched her as she sat on her heels and let his mind rush to thoughts of what she could be doing while he was away, what other wizards she would see. Then he remembered their claiming and closed his eyes in relief that he still found trust in her love.

"I am going mad, I think." He grinned at her. "I think it is time you left."

"Left? Salazar? What ever are you talking of?"

"I will hurt you. I know I did that to you." He waved his hand toward her throat then reached out and grabbed her arm, turning it over and looking at the bruise. "I do not remember it, Alya, I do not remember it at all. It is why I stay away so long at night. It is why I do not come to your bed. I walk the hallways until late when you are sleeping. I will hurt you."

"Salazar?" Alya looked at her arm, winced when he tightened his hold, and gently tried to pull away.

He looked up at her face, took his hand from her arm and laid it over her stomach. "If I hurt either one of you... Alya, I cannot risk it. I will not risk it. I will throw myself off the tower before I allow you or the child to be hurt again."

"See Helga, please."

"I cannot. I no longer trust her." He pushed her back and stood up quickly to begin pacing. "She puts this place in risk, and by so doing so she puts you and my son in risk. She is plotting with Gryffin to run this school to his liking, and Rowena lives by Erwin's desires."

"Sal... that is foolish!" Alya laughed. "You have said often that she is like your sister, and that Gryffin and Rowena are our new family. Would you have me now think you also want to be rid of me?"

He pulled her up from the floor and into him, holding her tightly and laying his head against her hair. "Alya, I am serious. Do not joke about this. I fight my own mind. I fight every time I see you to remember who you are to me. I feel everyone is against me."

"Just see her as a healer, or let me get your mother."

"She is too old and no longer heals." He clung to her harder, making it impossible for her to escape. "Promise me, Alya. Promise me that you will leave before I am completely mad."

"No, Salazar." She pushed him back enough to lift her head and look up to him. "I will send our child away before I leave you. I will send him to the city. When we joined, I promised for all times, not just the good. I will not leave you. I will never leave you."

"I will hurt..."

"No, we will have the stones laid out and find what is wrong. Salazar, no. I will not leave you."