Chapter 104. Hunters.
For the next half hour, having settled more comfortably on the treetop and bracing himself against the wind with wind magic, Severus watched with interest as the titans of the inner Magical Jungle battled. More than once a stone or a branch nearly hit him, and only a barrier raised in advance saved him.
Still, the fight looked a little strange. The tiger tried to tear the Dark Hound to pieces or roast it with lightning. The bear tried to hook the tiger on its horns and beat it with its paws. The Dark Hound mostly just dodged both of them, though it still opened several very deep wounds on the tiger's body. The Dark Hound itself got caught off guard a couple of times too, and now it limped on one paw and reeked of scorch.
Of the three, only the bear looked relatively healthy, though a wound ran across its entire chest, left by the Dark Hound, and one paw had been damaged.
Even now they did not stop fighting, though not as fiercely as at the beginning. The ground around them was pure chaos. No tree survived their blows, and a fire had broken out in one part of the forest. Almost everywhere, bits of fur and blood flew off to the sides.
Hmm. Something about this is strange. Where did such hatred between them come from? Watching them, Severus wondered, without forgetting to feed Nagini scrambled eggs and sip coffee from a thermos.
"Maybe one of them ate another's cub? There cannot be any other reason to fight this fiercely."
"It is possible, but how did it work out so perfectly? The second attacked the first, and the third attacked the second. And by the Dark Hound's expression, I can say for certain it did not even understand what was happening. It also behaved too passively at the start." Remembering how the black shadow shaped like a wolf only dodged the tiger's attacks and howled in bewilderment, Severus took another sip of coffee and put the dirty dishes into the pouch.
"Did someone deliberately set them on each other?" Nagini asked in surprise. "And if so, who would need that?"
"People, of course. The Dark Hound's carcass is worth about one hundred twenty thousand mouro, the bear's about one hundred five, and the tiger a full one hundred twelve. Imagine selling all three at once."
"Enough for several lifetimes."
"Exactly. Someone worked very hard," Severus said, stretching as he watched.
He was not going to interfere yet. It would be far easier to catch them once they were exhausted, and whoever had started all this would show themselves eventually. He was interested in what they had stolen from these two monsters, the thing that had driven them into a frenzy and made them ready to tear each other apart.
Over the next ten minutes, the fight only slowed in pace. The beasts' bodies were covered with more and more wounds, and they gradually weakened. The white tiger's fur was almost completely soaked with blood. The bear could barely lift its paw anymore, so it mostly tried to gore the others with its antlers. Only the Dark Hound kept moving at the same pace, though its broken paw had cost it speed. Still, even that was enough to evade the others' attacks.
The thunder faded too. Every so often, the tiger let lightning spill from its body, and it achieved almost nothing. Thanks to its enormous endurance, it could still stay on its feet, though it had taken several heavy blows from the bear and had even been gored by the antlers once. Fortunately, the bear had not hit anything vital. It was a truly bloody battle.
Beyond the three beasts, Severus noticed his real targets: a group of twenty wizards hiding forty meters from the battlefield. Each wore a cloak that almost completely masked their presence. Had the monsters not been fighting so fiercely, they might have sensed the uninvited watchers.
"When are you going to step in? They might die from those wounds," Nagini said, watching the monsters that could barely stand anymore.
"We are in no hurry," Severus replied calmly. "If I step in now, destroy those idiots, and then capture the exhausted monsters, I will not get the result I want. They will hate me, thinking I started all this."
"So that is it! Now I understand you are quite the schemer!"
"But you love me anyway."
"Hmph! Bold of you to assume you can read my emotions so easily."
"I was not asking," Severus said with a smirk, receiving a sharp nudge from Nagini in the ribs. "Enough games. Our targets have finally started moving." The wizards hiding in the forest exchanged glances and, moving slowly and trying not to make any noise, headed toward the monsters.
Six of them immediately pulled out simple-looking tubes, several more took out steel balls, and the rest held wands. Even Severus had to admit they moved with real cohesion. Long preparation was evident, and the fact that they had managed to deceive these magical beasts spoke for itself.
Although the monsters were exhausted after such a prolonged fight, they still noticed the approaching wizards, and that only made them angrier. When the tiger was about to drive them off with lightning, one of the wizards waved his wand, and at that same moment fog swallowed the clearing. Pops began to sound, confusing the monsters, who did not understand what was happening. They became alert at once, and not without reason, because after the pops came strange balls. The bear grabbed a fallen tree nearby to swat them away, but it couldn't move fast enough. As they neared the creatures, they detonated with a blinding flash that stunned all three.
Together with the bright flash, glowing chains burst from the fog. In seconds they wrapped around the creatures' limbs, then drove their points straight into their backs. The monsters roared even more fiercely, and in those roars there was not only rage but pain.
As soon as the monsters crashed to the ground, the wizards quickly emerged from the jungle into open ground. Surrounding them, they simultaneously cast spells that formed golden ropes, the same kind Severus had once used to stop Lupin when he tried to attack, and sealed the mouths of the three creatures, who stared at them with fury. The monsters had almost no strength left and could not break the restraints, which only enraged them further.
"Not bad, not bad. Just as you would expect from the kings of the inner Magical Jungle. Even with wounds like that, you can still move," a man with long dark hair laughed as he stepped into the clearing. The right side of his face was covered with scars, and one pupil was an unnatural white that did not move at all. A very dangerous aura rolled off him, which mildly surprised Severus.
Earlier, because of the cloaks, Severus could not properly gauge the wizards' strength. Now, with the concealment turned off, he studied them with some surprise. Almost all of them were Masters of the highest rank, six at the peak, and two more were Magisters. One of those Magisters, the same scarred man, radiated an aura even more terrifying than Dumbledore's, which wasn't surprising. Dumbledore had spent almost his whole life in England, devoted to scholarly study, while Fernando had hunted constantly and lived on the brink of death every day, honing not only his magic but his body. It was like comparing a houseplant to a wild one. Such people had one problem, though: they were impossible to control.
"Get the cages. When we return to the outside world, we'll be rich right away!"
"Yes, Boss!" the others shouted eagerly. One of them pulled three huge steel cages from a pouch on his belt, and several more used Levitation Charms to haul away the bodies.
The monsters fought with everything they had, but it was no use. The chains were too strong, and they had hardly any strength left.
A few minutes later they had finally managed to stuff the magical beasts into the cages. It took so long because of the bear. Its carcass was extremely heavy, and even for ten wizards, it was hard work dragging it, and the fact that it still resisted made it twice as hard.
"Still, I never would have imagined it would be this easy," one of the hunters said, gazing at Fernando with admiration.
"Boss Fernando is a great man," another agreed proudly, examining the three huge bodies glaring at them with fury. "What are you staring at?! I'll gouge out your eyes!" He kicked the cage.
The tiger's glare deepened, and a growl rumbled from behind its sealed jaws. The tiger understood human speech well, and after listening, it finally realized this had all been a trap. These humans had set them on each other like dogs. What angered the tiger even more was its own stupidity. It had fallen for such an obvious trick, giving in to rage without thinking. More than anything else in that moment, the tiger wanted to break free and tear these pathetic humans apart.
"Enough fooling around," Fernando said indifferently, then began studying the destroyed area and the traces of blood. "Those damn ants might come swarming soon, and then we'll be in trouble."
"Sorry, Boss!"
Fernando only snorted. Then he cast a sharp glance to the right, feeling something strange, as if someone had been watching him from somewhere far away a moment ago. After thirty years of hunting, ten of them in the inner jungle, Fernando had learned to trust that feeling.
I do not like this...
"Hey, what is wrong with you?!" At the surprised shout, Fernando turned and saw one of his people sinking to the ground.
He lunged toward him, grabbed his hand, and used a scanning spell, but found nothing. His subordinate was not poisoned and was not under any spell. It was as if he had swallowed a Sleeping Potion and simply passed out.
Almost immediately, Fernando caught a strange smell in the air, and for a moment his consciousness clouded. Still, decades in this place had taught him to be ready for anything. A nettle-like herb appeared in his hand. He shoved it into his mouth, chewed several times, and the strange haze vanished. He could think clearly again.
The others were not so quick, and they did not have Fernando's sense of smell. Within seconds the hunters began to sink to the ground too, and only a few remained standing, swaying from side to side. Among them was the second Magister, who had already drawn his wand and was scanning the surroundings.
Five more stood back to back. They had not managed to chew the invigorating herb in time, so sleep was still pulling at them.
A few seconds later they heard clapping, and through the thick foliage Severus stepped out. His face could not be made out, but from his hands Fernando immediately understood he was definitely young and unaccustomed to cold weapons. His palms were too smooth, as if he had held nothing heavier than a wand.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" Fernando asked grimly. The second Magister joined him. He had a couple of scars on his face as well, and blond curly hair.
"I thought you'd attack right away. Since you're willing to talk, I'm pleased," Severus said amusedly, folding his arms across his chest. "Who I am, I'm not telling you. What I want is simple: the little beasts behind you, and whatever you stole from them."
"Simple," the blond hissed, gripping his wand tightly, while Fernando's expression barely changed, as if he had expected this.
"And if we refuse?"
"Then I take them by force," Severus said, shifting his cloak aside and resting his palm on the sword hilt. "Understood?"
"And can you?" the second Magister asked with a smirk. Five more of Fernando's people stepped closer.
"Fine, we'll give them up." The others stared at Fernando in shock as he simply yielded, holstered his wand, and touched his pouch. A small cage appeared in front of them. Inside lay a tiger cub growling at the group, and next to it a strange red fruit the size and shape of a human head, covered in green spikes.
At the sight of the cub, the tiger roared and stared at the hunters with primal fury, straining at the chains with twice the strength and ignoring the pain of the hook driven into its back.
"Glad to hear it. Thank you for your cooperation," Severus said, and without any hesitation walked toward them. The others were slightly dumbfounded, not understanding what was happening at all. But when they lowered their gazes, they saw only one word written on Fernando's back: "prepare." Then it finally dawned on them that Fernando had not gone mad. He simply wanted his prey to come closer.
After crossing the thirty meters between them, Severus stopped in front of the cage, ignoring the enemies standing only a meter away.
"As expected, it is a cub," Severus said, watching the tiger cub huddled in a corner and growling at him. Then he shifted his gaze to the fruit and tilted his head in puzzlement, because he had never seen anything like it before, and there was twice as much magic in it as in a miracle fruit. After a glance at the bear, which practically incinerated him with its stare, he smirked and, touching both items, transferred them into his pouch. The moment he raised his gaze, wands pressed to his head from all sides, and Fernando shoved a short sword against him.
"I take that back. Order your people to come out here, or I will kill you."
"I wanted to resolve this peacefully. I was even going to offer something in exchange. It is not very sporting to take what you caught with such difficulty." As soon as Severus lifted his head, there was a sound of impact, followed by a screech.
The instant Fernando saw the movement, he sensed danger and, on instinct, tried to drive the sword into Severus's head. The barrier that flashed into place blocked it. Fernando did not stop. He swept his hand from bottom to top. Hands burst from the earth, grabbing Severus by the legs, and Fernando struck again with the sword. As before, he could not leave even a scratch on the barrier.
The others, without thinking, tried to cast attack spells at the same time, but to their horror they could not move from where they stood.
"Not bad. You held out quite a while," Severus said, shaking free and destroying the earth-hands as he rose to his feet. "But you missed something. You ate the herb that neutralizes the effect of a Sleeping Potion, but I added something else." Noticing Fernando's hand twitch toward the pouch on his belt, Severus smirked under the hood. "Too late." At those words, Fernando froze, eyes wide. "You're strong. Maybe if we fought fairly, we could put on a decent show. But I don't see the point, and there's not much time."
He walked past them. Severus approached the cages and began examining the monsters. They stared back with obvious hostility, especially the tiger.
I'm no healer, but even I can tell these wounds are serious. They need help urgently, or they might actually die. Severus pulled a box from his pouch and smiled at the tense beasts. "I am not going to kill you or cut you up for parts. I need you to guard my house. Behave yourselves, and you will get back what was taken from you." When Severus said that, the huge bear and tiger looked startled, though still wary. The Dark Hound, however, looked sad and even a little offended. It had lived quietly, without bothering anyone, and then over the course of that morning it had been beaten, had its paw broken, had nearly been killed, been bound in chains, almost sold off, and was now being told to behave. The Dark Hound had only one question in its mind: why?! It looked less like the terror of the inner Magical Jungle and more like a dog that had been thoroughly kicked. "Right. Let's not dwell on the unpleasant." Severus cleared his throat. He moved them into the box and sent Nelly to handle first aid while he finished his business outside. He sent the tiger cub there too, and decided to keep the strange fruit for later study.
When he was done with that, Severus turned to the frozen wizards.
"And what should I do with you?"
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