Young Writers Society

“Who are you people?” demanded Sherlock, his wand still pointing at the two mysterious figures standing in front of him and the rest of the group; ready to be used at a moment’s notice.

Silence.

“He asked you a question,” said Melville loudly from where he stood. He had tried to stand side by side with Sherlock, but his teacher had kept him back with his free left hand.

The two mysterious figures looked at each other, as though they were conferring with one another. “We are people searching for, information,” said the larger of the two with a typical accent from the southern part of the United States.

Information on what? thought Sherlock to himself. Then it struck the young teacher. Are these people looking for the Gem of Immortality? If so, how did they get onto the island? There should be an anti-teleportation spell around the island preventing people from getting onto the island without anyone’s knowledge.

“What sort of information do you want?” asked Shauna to the two, voicing what Sherlock was thinking. She still held her wand up.

This time it was the shorter and thinner of the two which spoke. “Information on a certain artefact that is said to be buried on the island. We thought that asking two academic staff would be a good place to start our hunt.”

How do they know that Shauna and I are part of Cambroxzen’s staff? Are they former students? No, they sound too old, and the wrinkles on they're hands tell me that their old. Maybe their children attend Cambroxzen? Snap out of it Sherlock, you’re asking yourself too many questions. “Well we’re not going to give any information to strangers, even if we did know anything about it,” lied Sherlock with a firm and serious voice. Shauna nodded in response. I really hope they can’t read my mind, or Shauna’s. Lest they catch us in a lie, remarked Sherlock to himself. The five kids standing behind them didn’t say a word.

“Well that’s unfortunate,” said the larger man menacingly.

“I guess we would have to torture you for information then,” added the thinner man. “Or maybe your lips will loosen if we tortured the children instead.” Except for Melville and Andrew, the other three stood closer behind Sherlock and Shauna, as if trying to hide behind them. Allana and Carina were close to tears while Elliot was trembling.

“Monsters! How can you even consider torturing innocent children?” shouted Shauna angrily, whose eyes reflected shock as well as anger upon hearing what the thinner man had just said.

“In our quest to find what we seek, no method will be left unused,” replied the thinner man. “Now tell us what we want to know, or we will duel you, and then torture you when we have defeated you.”

“You’ll find that we are not so easy to defeat,” replied Sherlock, trying to mask any sort of fear or doubt in his voice. Beads of sweat trickled down the back of his neck. He gripped his wand tighter as his palms were sweaty from anxiety. I hope I’m still as good as a duellist as I remembered. Sherlock looked over to Shauna, I hope Shauna’s duelling skill is still as good as it was when we went to school too.

“Iniuriam!” shouted the larger of the two men. A red bolt of energy surged out of his short and blocky wand and sped towards Sherlock and the rest of his group. The air crackled as the curse sped through the air.

Sherlock quickly raising his wand horizontally, deflected the curse. He staggered back slightly due to the force of the curse. The shield charm he had cast non-verbally emitted a bright blue flash, and was barely able to contain the destructive force of the curse. That’s one strong curse, thought Sherlock to himself, these people are no lightweights. “Debilito,” shouted Sherlock in return, firing a stunning spell towards the two. Shauna followed suit, firing her own stunning spell.

The two men parried the spell with graceful ease. " A stunning spell? Weak!" the bigger man snapped. "I wasn't expecting such mediocrity from Cambroxen teachers", he said before deflecting another bolt of the stunning spell. 

“A stunning spell? A stunning spell? Pathetic,” taunted the thinner man as well as he paried another stunning spell with ease. “I’ll show you what a real spell is.” He aimed his slightly gnarled wand at Shauna before firing a green fiery ball of energy towards her.

Shauna blocked the spell fired towards her, but the immense force of the spell forced her off her feet. The bigger sized man then fired his own spell towards Shauna, trying to take advantage of her being thrown of her feet.

“Protegat Amplus!” yelled Sherlock, producing a large enough shield spell to protect the entire group. His shield spell let out large flashes of blue light as it deflected the spell aimed towards Shauna and another spell with was aimed at him. Shauna with the help of Allana and Carina manage to get back on her feet.

Shauna aimed her wand towards the thin man as soon as she got on her feet. There was a glint of anger in her eyes and a scowl on her face. “Petramfors Totus!” yelled Shauna. The curse she had cast surged out of her wand and towards her intended target.

The thin man deflected the curse aimed towards him, hitting a tree and turning it immediately into solid stone. “A petrification curse. Much better, much better, but not good enough,” said the thin man as he prepared to fire his own spell.

“Well how about this then,” said Sherlock, interrupting the thin man.“Incendium Circumactio!” Sherlock’s wand shot out a spinning and dancing flame that sped towards the thin man and his partner. The two men deflected Sherlock’s spell, producing two brief flashes of light.

Melville tried to join Sherlock and Shauna yet again, but Sherlock with his free hand pushed him back yet again. “Stay behind us Melville! This is not one of your practice duels at the academy. This is real,” said Sherlock as deflected yet another curse aimed towards him

“I can help!” voiced Melville who had his wand drawn. A curse flew pass Melville’s head, missing the top of his head only by inches.

“Get behind us!” yelled Sherlock again as he deflected yet another spell aimed towards the group.Sherlock saw what Melvin tried to do, and raised his eyebrow. In another occasion, he might encourage this kind of bravery but not right now. They were fighting a losing battle. Shauna and him couldn't take them on as best as they could since they needed to consider the students' safety. They needed to retreat. “Shauna, we have to fall back.”

“Agreed,” said Shauna as she deflected a spell aimed at her before firing back her own spell.

“I’ll hold them off while you take the kids and run,” said Sherlock to Shauna as he deflected yet another curse, this one almost breaking his shield charm.

“Sherlock you can’t -”Shauna said with a look of concern etched on her face as she deflected another spell aimed towards the group.

“I can, don’t you worry,” assured Sherlock with a weak smile. “When I give the signal, take the kids and run as fast as you can to the old willow tree we passed. I’ll follow behind as soon as I can.” Shauna nodded. Sherlock deflected yet another curse before he aimed his wand towards the two wizards he and Shauna were fighting. “Cinisia Caligio!” shouted Sherlock. As soon as Sherlock had uttered that word, his wand produced a thick black ash cloud. “Shauna take the kids and run, now!”

“Come on kids, let’s go,” Shauna said. Allana, Carina, Elliot and Andrew obeyed, and ran ahead of her. Melville on the other hand would not budge. “Mr. Savage, this is no time to be stubborn!” He still did not budge. The thick ash cloud that Sherlock had cast was beginning to dissipate slowly, even though he was trying his best to keep it as thick as possible. The two men had started to fire their spells wildly in the hopes of hitting something. Thankfully, they did not manage to hit anything. Shauna aimed her wand towards Melville. I’m not going to be remotely sorry for doing this, remarked Shauna to herself.“Levocorpia,”said Shauna. Melville instantly was lifted into the air.

“Put me down! Put me down!” demanded Melville as he flailed his arms and legs in the air. Shauna did not bother to respond to his demand. Instead she started to run, with Melville levitating in front of her, still flailing his arms and legs. The other four did not run far yet, and Shauna could still see their little figures in the distance. She hoped she would be fast enough to catch up with them.

Sherlock turned to see that Shauna and the rest had gotten away. Alright then, time for the pyrotechnic show to begin. Sherlock’s wand stopped producing the thick black ash cloud it was producing. The cloud started to dissipate, to the point where he could vaguely see the figures of the two men. It was clear they were using a spell to try and clear away the cloud of ash. Better act quickly, said Sherlock to himself. His wand fired a miniature fireball which headed to the ash cloud. The ash cloud ignited in a series of small explosions as the fireball came in contact with it. Sherlock covered his eyes to protect them from the blinding light of the explosion. That should do it, thought Sherlock to himself as he wiped away the sweat on his brow, but just in case. He reached into his hiking jacket’s inner pocket and pulled out the distractonator that Gideon had handed over to him earlier. I don’t think Gideon would mind if I used it instead of turning it in to the discipline master, thought Sherlock to himself as he twisted it to activate it. He threw the distractanotor in the opposite direction from the direction the rest had used to make their escape before running off to join them.

Shauna and the rest were resting beneath an old willow tree, out of breathe from all the running they did. She and the rest had heard the explosion and saw a massive plume of smoke that rose from where the sound of the explosion came from. I hope Sherlock managed to get away, thought Shauna worriedly to herself as she sat down and leaned against the old willow tree to catch her breath. Allana, Carina and Elliot were also sitting down, they were in too much shock to talk at the moment. Andrew on the other hand was busy writing down notes in his notebook, but Shauna could see that he frightened as his writing hand was trembling. Melville meanwhile just sat silently against the old tree after Shauna had placed a sleeping spell on him.

A few moments had gone by since Shauna and the rest heard the explosion, and Shauna was starting to worry. Where’s Sherlock? He should be here by now, unless…Shauna’s train of thought was interrupted when she heard the loud rustling of bushes in front of her. She stood up and drew her elegantly carved chestnut wand, readying herself for anything. To her relief, it was Sherlock who was standing in front of her, panting. His face and clothing was covered in ash from the spell he had used earlier on.

“Sherlock!” yelled Shauna joyfully as she rushed over and hugged him. The smell of ash on his person tickled her nose. “Are you alright?” she asked him.

“I think so,” replied Sherlock between breaths. “How are the children?” he asked with a look of concern etched on his ashen face.

“Physically they’re fine, but I’m not sure whether they are mentally. I think they need to see Doctor Heron for some counselling when we get back.”

Sherlock nodded in agreement with his childhood friend’s assessment. “I think we should make our way back to the castle and report this incident to the headmaster immediately. I have a bad feeling that those two have friends lurking about in the forest. Best we head back.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Shauna. 

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Silenus and his search partner reached the area in which they had seen the plume of smoke originate from. What they saw in front of them besides the burnt trees, were their two fellow Dread Bringer lying on the ground, their bodies suffering from burns of varying degrees.

“Ludwig, see whether they are still alive,” ordered Silenus with no hint of emotion in his voice.

Ludwig nodded before walking over to his two comrades lying on the ground. His well-built figure hovered over his comrades. He took a moment to look at them and their injuries. “They’re alive!” he said with a deep accented German voice.

Silenus nodded. “Heal them as well as you can before moving them. We cannot stay here long,” ordered Silenus before he drew his slightly gnarled and blocky wand, and walked off.