Chapter 58. A Revenge Delayed for Ten Years (Part Six)
Lynn used the Explosive Charm to blast the centaurs forward.
They quickly arrived at the place where Professor Fawkes and Hagrid had fought the spider swarm.
The place was littered with corpses, a scene of utter devastation, trees were cut down, and the ground was riddled with countless craters.
What terrified the centaurs most were the spider corpses.
"It's a Killing Curse! A Dark Wizard's Killing Curse!" a centaur cried out in alarm.
"So many were killed by the Killing Curse!" The centaurs stared in horror at the spider corpses scattered everywhere, their faces pale.
A Killing Curse can only kill one creature, and with so many dead here, they couldn't imagine the sheer number of Killing Curses cast.
The centaurs were afraid, but Firenze insisted on moving forward, determined to find the bodies of their brethren, even if they had died.
Just as they were about to set off again, a unicorn with blood on its horn suddenly rushed out from the front in a panic.
The centaurs didn't stop it, but instead made way for it to leave.
Lynn looked at the blood on the unicorn's horn, and a growing sense of foreboding in his heart grew stronger.
They continued forward, and soon the surroundings changed drastically.
Even the thickest trees seemed to have been neatly and uniformly severed, creating a clearing the size of a football field in the Forbidden Forest!
Lynn recognized the spell that had produced this effect:
The Sleight of Hand spell.
Professor Fawkes had taught him this dark magic at Christmas, invented by Snape.
But its power was terrifying!
Lynn couldn't even imagine the effect if it were cast on a crowd.
Then, a sharp-eyed centaur, carrying a specially made waterproof torch, spotted two wizards lying in the mud, and a centaur with a missing arm, unconscious.
Blood was everywhere on the ground.
Lynn looked at the two wizards lying on the ground, his breathing becoming tense!
He rushed over. He didn't recognize the wizard covered in knife wounds, but he immediately spotted Professor Fawkes, whose stomach had been stabbed through.
"Professor... Professor."
Lynn stared blankly at the seemingly dead Professor Fawkes, then collapsed to his knees in the mud.
Just as his grief surged, Professor Fawkes slowly opened his eyes and spoke weakly.
"Ah? It's Lynn..."
Lynn immediately raised his head in surprise.
"You're not dead!"
Professor Fawkes coughed painfully, crimson blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"Help... I go see, see... Wilkes is dead... no."
Lynn wiped his rain-soaked eyes, stood up, and ran to the other wizard. He didn't know who Wilkes was, but there was no one else here.
Wilkes lay motionless on the ground, eyes open, a large pool of horrifying blood pooling beneath him.
Lynn crouched down and carefully checked his breathing, then his heartbeat, finally confirming that the wizard was undeniably dead.
"He has no breath or heartbeat, he's dead, Professor," Lynn said softly, as if afraid of disturbing Professor Fawkes.
Professor Fawkes seemed comforted, closing his eyes as if relieved.
"It's good that he's dead…it's good that he's dead…"
Lynn noticed that Professor Fawkes was acting strangely. He grabbed the professor's shoulder and shook him violently, shouting,
"Professor, it's good that he's dead! Not you! You can't die! If you die, it'll be too easy for me!"
Professor Fawkes was already dizzy from blood loss, and Lynn's shaking made him almost vomit.
"If you…keep shaking him like this…then it really will be too easy for you."
Lynn quickly let go. Professor Fawkes was in very bad shape and was really close to death.
He ran to Firenze and asked them to help carry the Hogwarts bag that Professor Fawkes was carrying.
But the centaurs refused.
"Look at Adam's arm! It must have been cut off by that wizard with dark magic! You should be grateful that we're not taking revenge on him, and you actually want us to help him?"
Even Firenze, who was most friendly to wizards, shook his head.
"We will not help wizards who have harmed our people."
Lynn couldn't argue, because the ground was littered with the marks of divine blades slashing through the air, except for Professor Fawkes's wound, which was a penetrating wound, making it clear who had severed the centaur's arm.
Lynn didn't plead with them further, because it would be pointless.
But he also didn't want to see Professor Fawkes die before his eyes.
The only way to get Professor Fawkes out alive was for him to do it himself.
Lynn found a broken, not-too-thick sapling on the ground and used a transformation charm to turn it into a plank.
He laboriously pulled Professor Fawkes onto the plank, then used two branches to make a rope to secure the plank, and finally tied the rope to his own body.
Dragging Professor Fawkes along, Lynn struggled to walk back the way he came.
Behind him, the centaurs watched him walk away indifferently.
"Don't… this is a waste of energy… Lynn, I can't hold on like this… you're the one who got me out of here,"
Professor Fawkes said weakly, lying helplessly on the plank.
"No, Professor, think about it! I still owe you 525 Galleons! If you die, it'll all benefit me!" Lynn desperately wanted Professor Fawkes to talk to him, otherwise he was afraid the professor might fall asleep and never wake up again.
"Those…were originally my sponsorship of you. Not only that…I actually wrote my will before I came here. After I die…all my assets…will go to you…including my house in England…"
"What do you take me for? Do you think I'm some kind of rich kid who lives off rent and has no dreams?! Have you forgotten what you told me?
You wanted me to be your assistant! An assistant! Not your godson who inherits your estate!"
Lynn yelled as he led Professor Fawkes to Hagrid and Fang. He held Fang's chain, wanting Fang to help them return the way they came.
Fang whimpered and circled Hagrid, unwilling to leave. Lynn had no choice but to follow the route he remembered.
Fortunately, the rain had gradually stopped, and the large hoofprints left by the centaurs when they came were still very clear.
However, the Forbidden Forest was extremely dark, and Lynn's wand's illumination charm wasn't very effective, so
he had to be extra careful while walking. He kept talking to Professor Fawkes, hoping he could hold on until he could lead him out of the Forbidden Forest.
"Professor, tell me your secret."
Read 50+ advanced chapters ahead on Patreon!
patreon.com/Horizons685
(End of Chapter)