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Part 6 – The lower slopes below FS #38, the following day, mid-morning.




“I've never had to ski to take a bath before.”

“You Dragon riders have life too easy!” replies Charlie, with a bright smile on his face.

“Too easy?”

“Hai!”

“Ewwww, you gonna pay for that, Charlie Weasley!” May stops, lets go of the grips on her poles, and picks up a handful of snow, tossing it in a high, underhand arc. Then quickly, she grabs another, packs it tight, and throws it straight at Charlie.

Having grown up with five brothers and a sister, and having attended boarding school at Hogwarts for seven years, Charlie has learned every sneaky trick in the book when it comes to snow ball fights.

Instead of standing there like a witless wonder waiting for the first snow ball, Charlie lowers his stance and pushes off straight at May. The first snow mass falls harmlessly, and the second snow ball flies past his ear. With amock snarl, he splays out the toes of his skis, slowing himself, and then runs straight over Mayumi.

With a wild shout and alaugh, May lets herself fall back, careful to keep her knees bent. Charlie piles on top of her, arms extended, laughing deeply with her.

As Charlie prepares to lean over and kiss May, he spots several carrion birds in the sky, circling over something close by.

Mayumi sees his concern and turns her head to see what is wrong.

“C'mon, we need to check this out.”

May lets Charlie help her to get back on her skies.

They check their back packs and their ski gear, and set out at a brisk pace, moving across the face of a small hill. The circling vultures grow nearer.

As May tops the crest of the hill first, she cries out loudly in anguish at the devastating sight in front of her. Charlie is quick to her side and even he moans in pain at the tragedy in front of them, quickly wrapping her up in his arms.




Twin cerulean blue/green eyes sweep forward and back, scanning the crystal clear, frigid morning air, and the glistening, rolling land of snow and mountain pine, as it quickly flashes by below. Midnight black pupils, constricted in the brightness of the cloudless sky, gather every detail, rearrange it, and send it to the brain. With an evolved optical processing speed faster than any humans, the dragon's brain processes the information and takes any action required.

The slightest movement in the sky or on the ground below, will be noticed. Be it a snow hare or a fox, a change in the temperature of an air mass, or a splash of blood upon a patch of snow or a tree limb, the dragon will see it.

The three Hokkaidan White Hellions, and their riders, fly in a practiced triangular formation in an ever-widening circle. At the center of that circle, on the ground, is one of the grisliest sights ever seen in the Preserve in recent memory.

Partially propped up against a stand of dense mountain pine at the bottom of a long slope, the partially eviscerated body of a male Romanian Longhorn lies dead amidst a large grouping of puddles and rivulets of dark red blood and melted snow. Tattered bits of torn wing flesh lie violently strewn about as well as several dozen scales. Raw patches of dragon flesh are exposed, evidence that blasts of magical energy were the cause of this noble dragon's demise.

Six Dragon Healers had just finished their examination of the corpse. It had been determined that several internal organs had been removed, as well as the coveted Golden Horns, which were highly sought after on the Misty Market.

Eight senior Wardens were present, as well as two Aurors, and five Elves. Two wings of three White Hellions were in the air, searching from above. The reason for the Aurors was that there were two dead humans present; one of which had been cooked beyond recognition by dragon fire; and another, who had the dark mark of Voldemort upon his arm. His death had come by blunt force trauma when he had crashed, head first, against the base of a tree.

The Mountain-Elves, similar in size and appearance to their cousins, the House-Elves, have an uncanny ability to track, even through deep snow. They had determined that at least six other humans had been present at the scene prior to Charlie and Mayumi discovering the tragic crime scene.

Furthermore, it had been determined that, of the six, four had probably disapparated away, but that the other two had not and were on foot, alone. Search parties were forming. May and Charlie were the first to volunteer.




With the return of this late afternoon cloud cover, Mayumi, fully decked out in her white riding gear, and with a snow poncho covering her upper torso, is for all practical purposes, invisible, Charlie thinks to himself. He, on the other hand, has a Mountain-Elf straddling his neck, riding on his back. A large, white, gray, and green camouflage poncho covers Xavier, the Elf, and hangs down over Charlie, partially covering his upper torso. Charlie had to slice an opening in the front so that he could see properly. Though the arrangement is surely a strange one, Charlie admits that Xavier is very good at whatever it is he is doing to track the human on the run. Trying to ski with the elf on his back, though, is a whole different experience.

As they approach the crest of a hill, Charlie slows his advance. He glances to his right side, watching as May crawls forward, bow strung, and an arrow nocked.

“Can you see him, Xavier?”

“I sees heem, Bulldog.” Word had traveled fast, apparently, of Charlie's new nickname. “I puts ghost fire on heem. I sees heem good.”

“Show me.” Charlie stops, takes a knee, and lifts the poncho so that the nimble Elf can dismount.

Xavier walks on top of the snow with his wide, flat, feet. Charlie crawls beside him, keeping his breathing in control to minimize the breath-fog effect, and listening for any tell tale noise. A stand of trees is ahead, Charlie can see. He notices how the snow has fallen off several of the lower branches where a man may have crawled to hide or get warm.

“Is he under there, Xavier?” he whispers.

Xavier simply nods, awide smile upon his gray face.

“Would you get Mayumi's attention for me please?”

Xavier looks to his right, easily spotting the female Warden, and simply snaps his long bony fingers.

May reacts by looking over at the two of them. Charlie begins passing hand signals to her, indicating the location and how he was going to approach the fugitive from behind. One advantage the team already had was that the fugitive had no wand, as it had been found, abandoned, broken in half apparently during the time he was killing the dragon.

Earlier, the three had discussed how they would approach this situation, should they come across the fugitive. Mayumi, with a full selection of different arrows to choose from, would attempt to stun and/or distract the man. Xavier would be responsible for counter spelling if the need should arise. Charlie, true to his nickname, would attempt to rush the fugitive and grapple with him until they could subdue him.

Though magic would make much of this easier, Charlie took his oath to not use magic when out amongst the dragons, except under dire need, very seriously.

May acknowledges the signals, and prepares herself, changing from one arrow to another.

“Will you be okay here, Xavier?”

“I bees fine, Bulldog!”

“Okay, here Igo.”

Charlie crawls back down the crest and then gets up and sets out slowly to the left, hunched down. Xavier watches as he slowly makes his way around the hillside. The crest of the hill he is on is the highest point. The stand of trees that hides the fugitive is at the far end of a small plateau on the other side of the crest. May has a clean shot on the right, while Charlie circles around, below the level of the plateau, to the left.

Several minutes pass as Charlie sets himself. May can now see him off to her right side slightly. She signals that she can see him, and is ready.

With his nose tucked into the neck opening of his coat to avoid any breath-fog being seen, Charlie concentrates on trying to hear any noises from within the canopy of trees. He filters out the sounds of the wind and tree and is eventually able to hear the slight sound of a cellophane wrapper being torn open.

Instantly, he raises his hand into the air, thumb up. He lowers his face and covers his eyes with his other hand

May pulls back on the arrow she has nocked, estimates the actual hidden position of the tree trunk beneath the bows, and releases.

The arrow flies true. May turns away at the last moment.

The arrow disappears into the mass of pine needles and branches. Suddenly, an intense white flash, followed by a sharp sonic blast, explodes from within, causing every flake of snow and bit of organic matter to fly outwards away from the tree.

A wailing cry of pain bursts outwards, followed by a man dressed in robes of gray and black. With his hands on his ears and eyes closed, he stumbles from beneath the branches, towards May and Xavier.

Charlie stands and begins to charge the man, hampered only by the depth of the snow.

May, another arrow nocked, follows the man as he stumbles out. With a quick motion, she pulls back and releases. The dragon blunt flies true and takes the man in his stomach, knocking all the wind from him. He collapses to the ground, blinded, deafened, and now breathless.

Charlie, surprised to see him fall so quickly, jumps onto his back with both knees, driving the fugitive face down, deeper into the snow. He quickly grabs his wrist and attaches a binding to it.

The man struggles as Charlie tries to grab the second arm and wrist. Having difficulty, Charlie drives his right fist violently into the back of the man, between his shoulders blades. Over and over, he pummels him, then stops. Moving his hand to the back of the head, he stiffens his arm and pushes his opponent's face deeper, until the man, in danger of suffocation, begins to surrender. Charlie snaps on the other end of the binder, then pulls the ends together. Finished, he reaches down and lifts the sleeves of his captive's robes. As he expected, the dark mark is tattooed onto his left forearm. Charlie, furious, grunts aloud as he tears at the captive's boots and laces, almost breaking the man's feet in the process.

Mayumi and Xavier make their way over to where Charlie is manhandling the fugitive. May is worried about the fury that Charlie is displaying.

Finished with the binding of the now shoe-less feet, Charlie stands up, yanking the disheveled man into an upright, sitting position. He grabs the hair atop his head and pulls backwards, lifting the dirty face to the light. He doesn't recognize the seething face in front of him. Charlie, incapable of showing any respect for his captive, takes the ratty scarf the man wears and balls up one end and sticks it in his mouth. He wraps the other end around the head twice, then ties the excess off.

Charlie, disgusted, walks away, needing to release the fury he is feeling. May asks Xavier to keep his eyes on the captive, while she walks over to her man.

“Charlie, you okay?” she asks quietly, not wanting the Death Eater to hear.

“I...Will be, love. I... Just have a... deep seated... hatred of Death Eaters.

May, walks up to him, and carefully holding her bow, wraps her arms around Charlie.

Feeling the softness of May, and her love for him, Charlie slowly begins to release the anger and fury he has built up. Slowly, his arms rise, wrapping around her back, pulling her closer. With a soft whisper, Charlie says, “Thank you, I'll be fine now. You'd better signal for backup.”

May deposits a soft kiss on his chilled cheek and then steps back. Taking a few steps forwards, she reaches into her quiver and extracts the signal arrow. She nocks the arrow, then pulls the igniter tab. Raising her arm skywards, May pulls back, breathes out, and releases the arrow into the sky.

Several dozen meters into the air, the timed wick ignites the red flare, which burns with brilliant color, against the now leaden colored sky.

Xavier and Charlie, both standing guard over the prisoner, who is now slumped over in resigned submission, watch as the flare hits its apogee, before asmall streamer unfurls, retarding its rapid return to earth.

A moment later, Xavier speaks up, saying, “They comes, Bulldog!”

Charlie extends his arm downwards, gesturing to Xavier that he can climb up if he wants. The little Mountain-Elf welcomes the chance to move up in the world, as he often puts it, and easily climbs up the side of Charlie to resume his earlier position.

First to show up are one of the flights of three White Hellions, who circle the hill and plateau first in a gentle glide, which then turns into a banking maneuver, wings flaring wide, to brake their landing.

May and Charlie walk over to the trio, hands waving in welcome. As they approach, Xavier gives a small squeak, excited by the fact that the other four Mountain-Elves are all on board the dragons, safely tucked in behind the three riders.

Charlie walks over to one of the single, elf-laden riders, and asks if he can unload the anxious Xavier. The riders smiles and nods. Charlie bends his head forward to let Xavier jump from his shoulder to the dragon.

Xavier chatters to his fellow Elves in elvish, then turns to Charlie, saying, “Thanks you, Bulldog!”

In unison, in their high pitched, squeaky voices, the other four call out, “Wees thanks you, Bulldog!”

Taken aback, Charlie can only swallow and smile, waving to all of the little ones.

As Charlie deals with Xavier, May speaks with the flight leader, giving a quick report in Japanese, and learning about the outcome of the second manhunt. May also learns, sadly, about the disposition of the dead Longhorn.

May says goodbye to the riders and their mounts, then steps back and joins Charlie. From behind, they can already hear the approach of the rest of the officials, who will take the prisoner off of their hands.




Many minutes later, with a rapidly darkening sky, the team of senior Wardens and Aurors set off for the nearest Field Shelter, with the bound and bruised prisoner in hand. After Charlie and May had related their preliminary report, two of the Wardens had followed May over to the tree hideout. Ducking inside, they had found one of the long, Golden Horns, from the dead dragon. Charlie, seeing them return with it, sat back onto his haunches, and proceeded to weep for the dead Longhorn.

Charlie and May watch them all go, leaving them behind. Charlie did not want to walk with them, or be near anyone, other than May.

“C'mon, let's go home, May.”

“Not quite yet, my Love.”

Mayumi reaches inside her coat and draws out her wand. Placing it to her lips, she closes her eyes and bows her head. A silence ensues, then, a tremolo becomes audible, emanating from the whistle/wand. The sound is as delicate as it is complicated. Then, as sudden as it had started, the sound dissipates.

May looks up, beads of sweat on her upper lip.

“I have never tried calling this one before.”

“This one?”

“Wait for it, Charlie.”

They can hear it before they can see it. The sounds of dragon wings pumping and displacing massive volumes of air announce the arrival of the largest Hokkaidan White Hellion that Charlie has ever seen. It's scales glisten with discharges of static electricity as it breaks through a low level cloud and begins to back wing, dumping airspeed. With precision, the huge White Hellion sets its two rear feet down into the deep snow, then its tail. As it balances itself in the mounds of snow, its wing fore claws take perch in the snow.

With regal bearing, the head of the dragon swivels on the long, thick neck, looking directly at Mayumi and Charlie. It opens its mouth wide, as if yawning, then closes. May cautiously bows and begins speaking to it in Japanese, with great reverence.

Charlie watches as the dragon turns its left eye towards him. He immediately bows, then carefully kneels down, on one knee.

May steps over one step to her right, to stand beside Charlie. She places one hand on his left shoulder as she continues to address the Hellion. Charlie looks up and slowly re-takes his feet, keeping his chin up.

With a sudden nod of its head, the dragon settles its body lower into the snow.

“Want to ride adragon, my Love?”

Charlie's face brightens and smiles. He extends his hand to first help May up. May climbs up onto the back. She shows Charlie where to step and where not to. Charlie climbs up, settling himself up against May. He can feel the ridge over the spinal column as it settles in between his buttocks.

Leaning forward, he wraps his arms around May's waist. He moves his mouth to her ear and asks, “Is this wise without straps?”

May turns and smiles mischievously.

“That's what Iwas afraid of.”

“Hold on, Charlie!!”

And with that warning, the White Hellion sits up on it's haunch, gathers itself, and leaps forward into the air. The huge wings beat hard to gain lift. Slowly but surely, they gain altitude, then speed. Soon the two of them feel themselves joyfully soaring high in the frigid air, riding on athermal. Unable to see anything except May, and the slight, electric blue flashes of static discharges on the scaled hide beneath him, Charlie closes his eyes and concentrates on the warmth of the person in front of him.

Soon, Charlie can feel a change in the exertions of the dragon's body. He looks up over May's shoulder. In the semi-darkness, he recognizes one landmark, then two. They are very close to the shelter. Then, as if the bottom has just dropped out, Charlie feels their forward momentum almost completely cease. The huge dragon wings cup the air, dumping air speed, causing them to descend. He watches as the wings flatten once more, as they begin a soft glide. Charlie closes his eyes and tucks his chin in, not wanting to jar his neck when they land.

Abruptly, with little excessive jarring, they are down. Charlie waits as the dragon lowers itself. He opens his eyes to see that they are only twenty meters from the front door of the shelter.

“You can breathe now, Charlie!”

Charlie does so, punctuating this end of flight with a soft, “Wow.”

May climbs down first. Waiting for her to tell him, again, where the safe spots are for his hands and feet, Charlie then descends the side of the White Dragon. He walks away from it's body to where May stands, once again addressing the dragon in Japanese. As she bows with respect, Charlie does, also. The two stand back as the dragon once again rears up on it's might rear legs, then with a mighty sweep of it's wings, leaps into the air, slowly flying upwards into the evening sky.

May turns to Charlie with a warm smile on her face, and extends her hand for him to take. The two walk slowly inside, hand-in-hand.




Later, in the warmth of the shelter, with wet clothes hung to dry, reports written and floo'd, bellies full of good food, and dishes cleaned, two naked bodies climb under the covers of their shared bed. The man with the red hair and the freckles once again wraps his strong arms around the girl with the long black hair and the tattoo on her back. A few soft moans can be heard, as their tired bodies adjust to each other.

Then, almost too quiet to hear, the man whispers in the ear of his lover, “You Dragon riders have life too easy!”

This is followed by the louder, “Oomph! Ouch! Stop! Please! May, I'm only kidding!”

Minutes later, just as soft spoken as the first remark, the sound of, “Oh, Charlie!” can be heard.

A deep moan is last sound heard from the shelter that night.