Chapter 393

Chapter 393: Chapter 393

A few days after Lynn and Agnis left the village, a sharp crack rang out in front of her cottage, and a figure appeared where there had been empty air.

The wizard wore deep-green robes of fine silk, their fabric gleaming softly in the sunlight. Silver embroidery traced intricate patterns around the collar and cuffs, setting the garment apart from the linen and coarse wool worn by the villagers. His face was thin, and he surveyed his surroundings with undisguised arrogance.

Standing before the silent, apparently deserted cottage, he examined an ornate instrument held in his hand. Runes flowed slowly across its dial, and the needle pointed directly toward the building.

He looked from the instrument to the open doorway, his expression clouding with confusion.

"Strange. Why isn’t she here?"

He flicked the needle with a finger. It spun with a faint clicking sound, wobbled when he released it, and then settled once again in the direction of Agnis’s door.

The wizard watched it in silence for a moment, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"It still needs some work," he muttered before putting the instrument away.

A short while later, he arrived at the gates of the lord’s manor. The guards froze at the sight of him, then tightened their grips on their spears.

"Halt! Who are—"

Before the challenge could be completed, the wizard drew his wand. A few swift movements were enough to put the guards down, and he strode into the manor without another word.

Servants screamed and scattered as he passed through the hallway. He ignored them, continuing down the corridor and up the stairs until he found the lord’s bedroom.

The man was still asleep when the wizard approached his bedside and flicked his wand. A rope shot from its tip, wound itself around the lord several times, and bound him as tightly as a parcel.

Startled awake, the lord rolled off the bed and landed on the floor with a heavy thud. He looked up at the stranger standing over him, terror spreading across his face.

"Tell me where you’ve hidden the child."

The wizard’s voice was quiet, but its icy edge made the lord shudder.

For a moment, he could only stare in bewilderment. What child? Why had a wizard suddenly broken into his home and started demanding to know where he had hidden someone?

"M-my lord wizard..." The words scraped out of his throat, his voice strained and breathless, like a dying fish gasping for air. "Which child do you mean?"

"A young girl named Agnis Trelawney."

The voice remained cold, though impatience had begun to creep into it.

The lord frantically searched his memory. Trelawney sounded familiar, and he mentally ran through the names of everyone in the village until he finally remembered the little girl who lived beside the church.

"I know her! I’ve seen her!" he blurted. "She lives next to the church, in the cottage with grass growing on the roof—"

"Where did she go?"

The wizard raised his voice and thrust his wand forward until its tip nearly touched the lord’s nose.

The lord’s eyes widened, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.

"She... she was taken away!"

The wizard’s gaze sharpened. "Taken where?"

The wand lowered to press against the lord’s neck. He swallowed hard, his heart pounding so violently that it felt ready to leap into his throat.

"North! She went north with someone in very strange clothes. He wasn’t from around here!"

The wizard stared at him for another moment, then flicked his wand. A flash of light struck the lord’s temple, and his eyes rolled back as his head slumped.

An instant later, the wizard vanished from the manor.

...

Lynn knew nothing of the commotion in Agnis’s hometown. He was still driving their carriage north along one of the roads left behind by ancient Rome, with Agnis accompanying him.

The old Roman roads ran straight across the countryside and remained the principal routes for long-distance travel through England. As long as they stayed on the main road, keeping their bearings was straightforward.

Built during the Roman occupation of Britain, the roads had endured for hundreds of years, linking important towns such as London, York, and Chester. The Romans themselves had departed centuries ago, yet their roads remained in use. Judging by their condition, Lynn suspected they were sturdier than certain buildings belonging to the Ministry of Magic.

The pair traveled at an easy pace, stopping whenever they pleased and passing through a succession of settlements that could barely be called towns.

Most consisted of a single main street, a few rows of houses, a church, and a market. Some didn’t even possess a proper church, making do with a small wooden shed as their place of worship.

Lynn purchased plenty of food in these settlements using silver coins.

He had found the money shortly after they set out, in an abandoned Roman ruin. A sizable hoard had lain buried in the soil, its coins so heavily tarnished that their original designs were no longer visible.

A little magic restored their shine, and a handful of silver coins proved sufficient to buy enough provisions to last them quite some time.

Their supplies included fresh meat, beans, bread, eggs, onions, and various other staples. Fortunately, they had magic to help them prepare their meals; otherwise, the journey would have involved a great deal more cold food.

One evening, Lynn pulled the carriage off the road and set about building a temporary shelter with Transfiguration.

His wand moved briskly as stones and fallen branches rose from the ground, reshaping themselves into walls, beams, and roof tiles. Before long, a small but sturdy wooden cottage stood in the clearing, complete with a door, windows, a chimney, and two soft, comfortable beds.

Agnis kept herself busy as well.

Far from wasting away during their travels, she had begun to fill out. Her cheeks were a little rounder, and a healthy color had returned to her lips.

She wore her dark-blue homespun dress with the hem pinned up to keep it from dragging through the dirt. Her hair was arranged in two small braids that hung over her shoulders, decorated with wildflowers picked along the roadside.

At the moment, she was using the spare wand Lynn had given her to summon firewood, gathering enough for their cooking fire.

Her magical talent could only be described as average, though she was still a quicker learner than Edgar.

After Lynn demonstrated relatively simple spells, such as the Summoning Charm and the Levitation Charm, a few times, Agnis could reproduce them, albeit somewhat haltingly. With more practice, she would soon be able to use them comfortably.

As for Edgar, Lynn preferred not to think about him. Dwelling on that subject would only spoil his mood.

Once he finished their shelter, Lynn walked over to Agnis and leaned against the cottage wall, folding his arms as he watched her prepare dinner.

She was using the deodorizing spell he had taught her to remove the strong smell from a piece of pork. Her movements were slow but careful: first, she laid the meat on a clean stone slab, then aimed her wand and repeated the incantation several times.

A silvery-white glow finally emerged from the wand’s tip and settled over the pork. Its surface shimmered briefly, and the unpleasant odor disappeared.

"Lynn," Agnis asked from behind the slab, "how much farther is that school of magic you told me about?"

Lynn rubbed his chin and made a rough calculation. The straight-line distance from Somerset to the Scottish Highlands was around seven hundred kilometers, but following the roads would stretch the journey to perhaps eight or nine hundred.

Their carriage covered a few dozen kilometers a day. After several days of travel, they had made it somewhere between a third and halfway to their destination.

"At this pace, I’d say another week or so."

Agnis nodded and lightly passed her wand over the pork again, seemingly checking that the smell was truly gone. Then she turned toward the firewood she had gathered and took a steadying breath.

"Incendio."

Orange-red flame leaped from her wand and landed among the wood, which immediately caught fire.

Her eyes lit up, and she made no attempt to hide her delight.

Lynn applauded from beside the wall. "A very nice Fire-Making Spell. If I were one of your professors, I’d give you five points for that."

Encouraged by his praise, Agnis returned to her work with even greater enthusiasm. She threaded the pork onto a wooden skewer and propped it over the flames, then began preparing the beans and onions. As she worked, she continued practicing her incantations, concentrating so hard that sweat streamed down her face.

A quiet crack sounded from the road ahead of them.

Lynn immediately drew his wand and aimed it toward the noise.

In this unfamiliar era, a wizard appearing without warning was reason enough to be on guard. The magical society of medieval Europe was very different from the one he knew.

Centuries later, the Ministry of Magic, the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, and the Aurors would provide a reasonably comprehensive system of law and enforcement. Witches and wizards might despise one another, but they generally refrained from exchanging Killing Curses in the middle of the street.

Here, none of those restraints existed. There was no Ministry, no Statute of Secrecy, and no Auror force to keep dangerous wizards in check. Strength could make someone a law unto themselves, while weakness could just as easily get them killed.

Meeting another wizard in this era was hardly a guarantee of a joyful reunion between kindred spirits. A curse in the back was just as likely as a warm welcome.

A middle-aged man in dark-green robes appeared on the road. Upon seeing Lynn’s wand pointed at him, he immediately drew his own and aimed it back.

Lynn narrowed his eyes.

At the same time, lightning began gathering in his free hand. Blue-white arcs jumped between his fingers with a faint crackle, while black scales surfaced along his arm, spreading from his shoulder to his wrist.

The stranger offered no answer. His gaze moved past Lynn and settled on Agnis, who was still drenched in sweat from her efforts over dinner.

The wizard’s expression hardened. He turned his attention back to Lynn and attacked without another word.

"Avada Kedavra!"

---

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