In the Shadow of Azkaban

Volume II: LXI

Essex, Great Britain
June 1894

The skin under my armor sweltered even though the air was cold. Heavy downpour clouded my vision when I squinted to see in the clearing. Once my back pressed into Kassia's, we took in our surroundings while slowing rotating behind one another. The rage teeming off her paralleled a kettle whistling.

There was a swarm of poachers closing in on us both. "Ready?" My tone sounded eager. I had wanted to shed some blood at the sight of how these animals had been treated.

It still had been difficult to make out the people we fought against. One of the men drew his wand back and lunged forward screaming the Killing Curse, and I threw up my shield around Kassia and I both.

I transformed him into a wooden barrel and flung him at the nearest shadow of a man. Both their bodies erupted into flames and small flickers of their skin flew through the air until the remnants settled on the ground. Thankfully, the fire had lit up some of the area.

We split up to expand the perimeter. A haze of green hexes shot at me, and I nearly dodged them. The stiffness in my body eased when I stood up and spun to face the woman who cast at me. I felt the screams emit from my core, "Glacius! Diffindo!"

The witch's corpse froze as if she were petrified, and the severing curse cut right through her abdomen. Her torso and legs split in two, and I leviosoed them to use as weapons.

"Depulso!" My voice was tense when her body was launched at a couple other men. But there were so many. I dug my feet into the ground and gripped my wand tight while my vision burned blue.

About twenty men were lifted into the air, hovering ten meters above the scene. A small wrist movement took every suspended poacher and drove them into the ground, killing every last one of the bastards.

With how much magic and effort I needed for this spell, I faltered. My knees buckled, and I lowered to the dirt beneath me. I felt cold and empty.

There had been a troll lingering behind the men earlier that they kept under the Imperius Curse, but it had disappeared. Until now.

My body seemed weightless when I glided through the air. The troll's club had hit me directly in my back, and Kassia suspended me before I hit the ground. The pain was excruciating, but the immobilization spell she used had made the fiery feeling shooting up my spine more tolerable.

I watched her from above. Kassia hunched her back and tilted her chin into her chest. She was still for only a few moments until she snapped her head back up.

I had never seen anything like it.

Her face appeared mask-like, but her eyes were terrifying. Entrancing, almost. The irises that were once hazel glowed a yellow hue; the coloring spread across her entire cornea.

I could barely see her pupils since at that point, they were needle-like and perpendicular. It looked as if she resembled a cat, or perhaps a snake.

Crackling noises emitted from the troll, and it appeared like he had ingested an Edurus potion. His body froze mid-movement, and I waited for the spell to wear off. But it didn't.

His body had turned to stone.

"Kass? What was that type of magic?" I stared horrified. The magic seemed dark, and I was becoming more intrigued by the second. She flicked her wand at me and relaxed my body with a counter spell.

"This is why you and Ominis are bound by blood. We had to preserve this type of magic. The Ichor you have allows for many possibilities." She strolled confidently over to the troll and gestured at it.

Kassia smiled in my direction and waved her wand at the troll to trigger the vanishing charm. "At some point, I want to train you in the cursed witchcraft that Medusa possessed. It will be worth your while."

I heard the faintest crunching of branches and leaves away from the clearing, and I put my shield back up. Waiting.

I held my stance and clenched my jaw in preparation for another attack.

But it was just Iskra.

"Antoinette!" She practically sprinted toward me and drew me up in an embrace. I was elated to see her after months apart.

When Kassia and Aesop eloped in Greece, I partnered with her and Sebastian. The Outer Hebrides was such a beautiful location to spend my time in, but Sebastian  acted insufferable per usual.

Iskra had broken it off with him, so I couldn't truly blame his behavior when both of his previous flings had to live with him for a month.

She had just begun to pursue Marat about the time I left in April, and I wanted to ask about their time together. However, Sebastian emerged from the tree line, and I thought with my better judgment for once.

Kassia nodded toward Sebastian standing a few meters back, "Looks like someone really did a number on Sallow."

"It was my doing. He applied for a new partner a few weeks ago after I spent the night with Marat." Iskra's lips formed into a thin line, and she rocked back and forth on her feet.

"Good for you." Kassia winked at Iskra, and the three of us began discussing the plan for our next attack while Sebastian moped on the sidelines.