Chapter 93. Preparation.
A few minutes later, five wizards in green suits emerged into the clearing, led by a man in glasses. In his hand he carried a jar holding the same worm Severus had recently pulled from the dark wizard's body.
"He should be somewhere around here. Be careful. This coward loves to strike from ambush. Watch the shadows," he ordered grimly, scanning the surroundings. He raised his gaze to a small hill, then looked at the worm, which began slamming itself against the jar much more violently, showing that the second worm was very close.
The others nodded solemnly, tightening their grips on their wands. Still, they were not too afraid of the shadow wizard, because they held all the trump cards.
When the group finally climbed the hill, they immediately noticed a masked person sitting calmly on a stone and tossing a very familiar thing in his hand. The man in glasses warily lifted his hand to stop them. The situation looked far too strange, and he immediately assumed it was a trap.
"You had better cooperate with us, or you'll go down as an accomplice. Where is José?" he demanded.
"Interesting prospects, but I have one question for you," Severus said, squeezing the worm between his fingers as he looked the man straight in the eyes. "Where did you get this creature?"
His tone was cold as he flicked his palm. The next moment a barrier snapped into place around them, then he snapped his fingers. Flames flared up around the startled wizards, surrounding them and Severus as well.
"And you'd better answer honestly, or I will have to dig through your heads myself."
At the sight of that display, chills ran down the wizards' spines. He had done it all without words or a wand, which spoke to a frightening level of control. Even so, their leader did not flinch, only gripping his wand harder.
"Several more of his accomplices are hiding somewhere. Watch the surroundings, and I will deal with him."
The worm in the jar was already useless, so he tossed it aside and drew a black Muggle pistol from his inner pocket, aiming it at Severus's indifferent face.
"I will repeat it once more. Where is he?"
"Hm?" Seeing that thing in the wizard's hand, Severus raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to scare me with that toy?"
The leader regarded him with contempt and pulled the trigger, aiming at his leg. A deafening gunshot rang out, followed a moment later by a heavy, dull thud.
"You could have at least enchanted it a little," Severus said evenly, untouched behind his barrier. The bullet that had fallen at his feet, crumpled like an accordion, floated up and slowly smoothed itself back into its original shape.
Several more shots rang out the next moment, but this time there was no impact. The bullets simply stopped, frozen in midair right in front of Severus's face.
The man in glasses frowned, but he did not panic. He even smirked.
"Where is José?"
"So calm. Did you really think I wouldn't notice the surprise in three of the nine bullets?" Severus asked with a mocking smile, and his opponent's face twisted. He snapped his wand up.
Severus was faster, forming a small barrier around the bullets. A moment later they detonated, but there was no sound. All one could see was wild fire through the transparent walls, and then it vanished after a few seconds.
"Today, honestly, I'm tired of games. I'm giving you one last chance."
"Explere!" he shouted furiously, and blue light burst from his wand. A wave of destructive force slammed into Severus, swallowing him whole. But to everyone's shock, as soon as the light faded, he was still standing in the same place. Only a shallow trench had been gouged around him, and his expression grew darker.
With a wave of his palm, he casually dispersed the dust and smoke, then lifted a finger toward them. The next moment, their wands erupted in crimson fire.
"Ahh?! What the hell is this?" one of them screamed, flinging the burning wand away. The others did the same.
The group leader hurried to pull out a second magazine, but dark tendrils burst from his own shadow. One knocked the weapon from his hand, and the rest wrapped around the helpless wizards.
Only then did José finally step out of the stone's shadow, his presence heavy and bloodthirsty. At the sight of the worm in the jar, he seemed to feel that pain all over again.
"Good work," Severus said, clapping José on the shoulder as he walked past. After a few meters he stopped in front of the grim leader, beside whom the pistol lay. "Just as I thought. This is what blocked Legilimency." He removed the glasses and caught the man's chin between his fingers. The leader tried to squeeze his eyes shut, but he was too slow.
Breaking through the man's mental defenses was not difficult for Severus. In just a few seconds he found what he was looking for. Earlier he had asked a leading question, so the information about the worms was floating close to the surface, as if consciousness were a vast ocean.
Finally letting him go, Severus shifted his gaze to the others, whose faces were twisted with horror after everything they had just watched happen to their leader.
"Please. We will not say anything."
"Yes!"
"We will keep quiet! We do not even know what you look like!"
Ignoring them, Severus leaned to the right. Picking up the jar where the worm was still battering the glass, he tossed the second worm inside with it.
He had little interest in the two creatures' reunion, because right now he was thinking about something entirely different.
The Forbidden section of the Magical Jungle. He stared at the two worms coiled around each other, and a weary sigh escaped him. Hellworms only appeared near the burial sites of those creatures. If they truly had manifested in this world, the world would not last a day. Even with his power, he doubted he could defeat even one of them. So how did they end up here?
SEVERUS! At the shout in his head, Severus nearly jumped on the spot.
Lowering his gaze at last, he smiled awkwardly at Nagini, feeling her anger and worry through their bond.
Sorry. I got lost in thought.
"What happened? Why are you looking at them like that? Why have you been so strange since you saw them?"
I remembered something awful, something I'd wished wasn't real, but it turned out to be more than coincidence. He met her eyes with a strained smile, running a finger over her smooth scales.
"I am ready to listen, if you can tell me about it, of course."
Hm. There is nothing secret about it. When we get home, I will tell you. We will have to go there and check it anyway. Maybe I will leave you. But the next moment she narrowed her gaze and opened her mouth, baring her fangs. I am joking. Calm down, my Lamia.
At that moment a slightly nervous José approached, watching the worms in Severus's hand with open wariness.
"I erased their memory."
"Good. You can keep everything you found in that cave. I am not interested in gold and things like that, but I need books and herbs, and I want to take a look at artifacts," Severus said, waving dismissively. He slipped the jar into his wallet and glanced at the wizards lying on the ground.
"I... I want to thank you for saving my life," José said sincerely, with unusual formality, meeting Severus's eyes as if to prove his honesty. "I will give you everything."
"Don't mention it. Gold doesn't interest me. I have over half a million Galleons in my bank account, and four hundred thousand mouros, give or take, won't change anything," Severus said, walking over to the bodies. He pulled out their wallets and pouches, then tossed them into his undetectable extension charm.
It didn't look like it. José decided to keep that thought to himself. "What will you do next?"
"I need to go to the Magic Jungles, and then we will return to England."
"Are you not afraid I will escape?"
"No. Look at your right hand," Severus said, glancing at him with a smile.
José immediately remembered the moment Severus had held his hand, and that strange sensation near his forearm. He rolled up his sleeve and stared, startled, at a mark on the outside of his arm shaped like a flame. He couldn't feel it at all, as if it weren't there.
"What is this?"
"Consider it a guarantee that you won't run or betray me," Severus replied calmly, removing the mask that had been hiding the upper half of his face the whole time. "It's simple: if you try to betray me, you will burn alive. Once I decide I can trust you, I will remove it."
"I see," José muttered flatly. So I can't escape.
"You can't," Severus agreed with a nod, making José flinch.
At least he left me the gold. "But how long do I have to serve you, master?"
Studying the nervous man with a contemptuous look, Severus placed a palm on his shoulder, and the next moment they vanished.
Muggle World. São Paulo.
In the hotel, in room 302, Brew, who had planned to guide Severus into the magical part of the Amazon, simply couldn't find a moment's peace.
Back in Dark Alley, the instant he bent to pick up the gold coin, words appeared on the ground: "When you leave this place, check your pockets." A few seconds later, the writing vanished. When Brew met Severus's gaze, he saw a small nod that confirmed Severus had sent the message.
As soon as Brew returned to the Muggle market, Fredge produced a letter saying he should go to the Blue Star São Paulo hotel, book a double room, and wait there. He had no choice but to follow the instructions, still worried about him. He blamed himself for what had happened. If he had managed to warn Severus in advance, maybe none of this would have occurred.
After his hundredth lap around the room, Fredge heard a knock at the door. He rushed over, checked the peephole, and opened it at once, feeling genuine relief, as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Severus, I am so glad you are all right!" Fredge blurted out, unable to hide his joy at the sight of Severus, unharmed.
"Mm. By the way, meet him," Severus said, nodding calmly. He indicated José standing beside him, his face hidden beneath a hood. "My assistant."
"Ah! Pleased to meet you!" Fredge said quickly. José looked at him in silence, then lowered his gaze to the offered hand and shook it.
"He is not very talkative. Do not take it personally. Let us talk about the jungle. Tell me everything you know."
Sitting at the table, Severus watched Brew expectantly while he still stood frozen in the doorway. After a few seconds, Brew nodded belatedly and shut the door. He did not ask what had happened, because Severus clearly had no intention of raising that topic. Fredge knew when to speak and when silence was smarter.
"All right." Brew didn't know where his employer was rushing off to, but he could tell Severus was serious about going. So he sat down and pulled out a large map and about a dozen books, setting them on a nearby chair. "Over my long life, I've explored nearly the entire outer region of the Magic Jungles, a small section of the inner area, and only a couple of kilometers of the forbidden zone, because that last one was too dangerous. But it was there that I saw the flower you're looking for," Brew said, pointing to a small region outlined in black at the center of the map. "Still, I have to warn you now: be very careful. Even on the outskirts there are countless powerful monsters, and there are also many carnivorous plants." He grabbed one of the books and handed it to Severus. "These are all the monsters I managed to see there, but only the most commonly encountered ones are listed." He took another book from the stack and laid it on the table. "This one covers carnivorous plants. And besides them, you should watch out for insects, especially in the inner area. As for the forbidden zone, I won't even go into that."
At that moment, José, standing near the bed, went noticeably pale. He had heard of the Magic Jungles, but he had never even considered going there. Now, listening to Brew and realizing Severus planned to visit it, and the most dangerous part too, he felt his legs grow weak. As a servant, he would have to follow too. Despair crept into José's eyes. He didn't want to die so young.
Feeling José's emotions through their bond, Severus glanced at him with contempt. He had never seen a servant this cowardly. Ignoring José, Severus blocked their connection for the moment so he could focus on Brew's briefing. He planned to simply copy the books into the Grimoire. And so they sat there, working, until nearly three in the morning.