Fan Fiction ❯ The Weaver Telarius ❯ Epilogue ( Chapter 20 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

There was another recess, and this time Telarius was permitted to leave the room. He stopped by a mirror to examine the multitude of scars he had obtained in under a year's time. He turned from the mirror to find Meriam, from whom his gaze quickly turned to the side. With Telarius' actions disqualifying him from the Triwizard Tournament, and all other contestants dead, she had claimed the prize by default. Her expression was bright and optimistic, but changed quickly when she saw his. "I take it you are giving me instructions, then?" her question betrayed the underlying emotion of a great loss.

Telarius nodded, simply. "The money needn't be divided so many ways, now. My penultimate act as leader of the Second Round Table is to declare you the official Treasurer, giving you full authority over funding of projects and other endeavors that we wish to pursue, above and beyond even the mandate of the leader. As such, antepunultimately I order you to establish codes in order to balance the amount of power in your new position for all those who would take it, as well as to ensure the fair and impartial dolling out of funds to those Shadine who require them. Place the money in a Gringotts bank account under your name. As more comes in, transfer it into an account under a pseudo name so as to disguise its purpose. Make sure that Deanne and Cordelia may continue to attend Hogwarts, as well as the new Shadine member. I also, as part of this act, order you to transfer to Hogwarts. It is the nexus in which changes can occur, and your presence will be needed as much as all other Shadine," his attitude seemed like that of a business executive.

"Then you are calm about your fate?" Meriam asked.

"I am more concerned with the fate of Dumbledore than my own," was his response.

At this time, the blue robed figure appeared around the corner, accompanied by Deanne and Snape. "Punctual as ever, Albus," Telarius smirked.

Dumbledore only nodded, somberly. "Are you sure about this, Telarius?" he asked with grave concern.

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

Those around the two of them looked between them for some sort of explanation. Deanne was the first to speak up. "What's going on? What are you two hiding from us?" she was on her way to becoming frantic.

Telarius shook his head. "Deanne, darling. Both Albus and I have a unique understanding of the future. Albus can predict short distances forward, and I can analyze the data and produce a likely outcome. We both see the same events, and we are inclined to think them accurate," Telarius explained, simply.

"You conveniently left out _what_ it is that you two know," Deanne pointed out, "Do I take it that the results will be unfavourable?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Quite unfavourable."

"Oh, by the by..." Telarius handed Dumbledore a set of spectacles, "These have helped me immensely. Thank you for taking me under your wing and bringing me up to speed. I only hope your sacrifice will not be in vein."

"Sacrifice?" Snape now chimed in, "Are you implying that Dumbledore is going to die?"

Telarius found a table of cookies and other treats meant for the others in the dark room and felt free to help himself. "Assassination, actually," he casually spouted off between bites, "They want him out of the picture, each for their own reasons."

"They? You mean the Ministers? They're in on it?" Meriam sounded surprised.

"No, not in on it... they organized it," Telarius answered, thereafter helping himself to a generous glass of milk.

Everyone looked to Dumbledore in genuine concern, but he waved his hand, smiling. "My time has already come. I have felt the burden of age upon me for some time, and have no intentions of leaving this life without a mark of my existence."

"Toward that end," Telarius started, pausing only to set down his drink, "The Second Round Table will serve as a mercenary group, until the appropriate time to break out of that mold and accomplish the next, greater purpose. Negotiate heavily on prices, and make sure that the only missions taken are covert and disruptive to the Ministry. That way we can slowly accomplish our own goals and accumulate funds to make greater strides forward."

"Wait, are you declaring war on the Ministry of Magic?" Deanne asked in a whisper.

"Of course not, love," he smiled at her, "You are. Effective immediately, I am resigning as leader, placing you in charge. My ultimate mandate as leader I have just detailed for you. You will know the time for change when it comes, love, and I am certain you will fulfill your new role well. Allow the new Shadine member to fulfill the role of Warmaster... he is well accomplished in the art of combat. Nowhere near my level of tactical knowledge, but the best we currently have. I have already given the duty of Treasurer to Meriam, and we all know that Cordelia has fulfilled her role as a spy and gatherer of intelligence better than we could have hoped. Keep them honest and keep them together until my return."

"Return? Where are you going?" Deanne asked.

There was a quick rush of footsteps at that moment and Telarius exchanged a quick and disturbing look with Deanne before he reluctantly returned with escort to the room. The rest gathered in the upper levels, and there were three strikes of a gavel as Telarius entered the solitary beam of light within the room.

"Telarius Shade," came an authoritarian voice from the dark, "This council has deliberated heavily upon your actions, and have reached a verdict. We have determined, in our wisdom, that you are the sole cause of the events you have described and have agreed to your request for full responsibility. Since this is the case, we the Ministry of Magic find you guilty of the following: murder, creation of a new species, conspiracy against the Ministry, use of an Unforgivable curse, creation and use of unlawful magics, and misuse of muggle artifacts in the harshest extreme. For these crimes compounded, we sentence you to the Death Kiss."

There was a tone of glee contained within that last pronouncement, and for the first time since the trial began Telarius seemed as though he was taken off guard. "Wait just a minute, Fudge!" Telarius shouted, "We agreed that I would comply with your pronouncement of life imprisonment in Azkaban if you would spare my comrades from your judgement!"

"Indeed. But, since you have proven capable of removing emotions from your conscious state, Azkaban will not contain you. I merely revised the sentence to suit this new information."

"We had an accord..."

"Which rested solely on Azkaban being a suitable punishment. Guards, take him away."

"No, wait!" Telarius found his arms suddenly bound up, but quickly took down the guards attempting to incapacitate him, "If I am to be executed, then I demand that you break my wand and make my execution public!"

Everyone in the court room was taken aback by this demand. The ministers seemed quite pleased, though a bit befuddled. Everyone else was simply shocked.

"Very well, Telarius Shade. We'll consider it your final request."

* * *

They quickly discovered that Xorlempt could not be broken. Unfortunately for Telarius, they did not decide to stay his execution because of this. It was publicly spread about that the legality of this execution was now in question, as they had not fulfilled the first half of his request. Then the Ministry finally pronounced that they had broken the wand, showing two bits of a wand of similar make as proof. This satisfied the general public, but Deanne ensured that there was a rumor going about that Xorlempt merely had been hidden in some secret Ministry outpost. She knew that Xorlempt could not be broken so long as Telarius lived.

And so she stood as a hooded figure in the crowd. The entirety of the Second Round Table were in position, ready on her telepathic command to liberate their former leader from his captors before he met his unfortunate fate. Dumbledore had met his assassination one week prior, and the news of it had yet to reach the public. They could not hide it when the next school year came about and they had to replace him, but Deanne had every intention of informing all present today during their spectacle. She knew it meant defying Telarius' orders, but she was certain he hadn't counted on this particular outcome. As good as his plan might be, it did them no good if the devisor of the plan no longer existed. If he intended to reprimand her for this action, she would step down as leader and accept whatever punishment he thought was appropriate. Nothing was as important to her as his continued presence.

As they marched him out, she had to resist the urge to run to him. Despite his faults, she loved him greater with the passing of each day. To see him in tattered, dirty clothing, purposefully cast in bad light for all to see... it was just too much. The dementors entered the scene from a protected area, such that people were forced to remain a safe distance from them. Anytime now, her plan would be put into action. She gave the go-ahead nod and awaited the first move of their new Warmaster.

He did not move.

Deanne turned to notice the cloaked figure, new to their organization, slowly walking away from the scene. She had Cordelia open up telepathic communication with him. ~What are you doing? Go! Make your move. We won't have a better opportunity!~ she could not mask her panic.

~No,~ his reply was simple.

She could not understand. This was a man that had known Telarius longer than anyone else. Knew him better than even she, much to her sadness at times. Why then was he abandoning him? Did he know something? What was...

Her thoughts were broken by the sound of two guards hitting the ground, shuriken imbedded in their necks. In broad daylight, a river of darkness swept through the rest of the guard detail as a plane passes through a cloud. Blood was minimal, but results from his strikes were instantaneously lethal. ~Your timing did not accurately guage the situation,~ his mind echoed, cold and warm concurrently, ~The flow of energy was best at this moment.~

She sighed quickly in relief, and then removed her wand to cast her powerful Patronus Exemplar, a spell Telarius wove specifically for combat with dementors. It summoned a physical presence that could harm dementors by its very touch. Had the Infernus spell not completely drained her, this spell would definitely have served them well in The Battle of Hogwarts. She waved the wand with graceful precision and began her incantation.

"Expelliarmus!"

'Damn!' Deanne thought as her wand flew far from her grip, 'Meriam didn't do her damned job and keep the Minister's attention long enough. Onto plan B.'

Cordelia quickly telelocated Deanne's wand on her orders and rocketed to her through telekinesis, at the same time disarming the ministers. The Warmaster used his sorcerous talents to create an obscuring mist, since their initial coup de grace no longer could work and thus their identities would need to be concealed. Soon Deanne's wand was in her hand once more, and she quickly cast the spell as quietly as she could.

There were sounds of shrieking from the place where the crowd of dementors once was seen, as well as the crackling like the rapid snapping of bubble wrap that always accompanied the Patronus Exemplar's contact with one of its targets. When all sounds ceased, Deanne dispelled the Exemplar and gave the order for the Warmaster to clear the mist.

What awaited their sight was unexpected, though. There remained a single dementor, hood removed, amorphous and hideous face in contact with Telarius. At first, Deanne could only stand in horror. She was not alone. The emotional pain they felt was shared in the telepathic link and compounded itself until it became almost its own entity, holding each of them locked in place. Meriam, by far the most optimistic of their bunch, was the first to point out the oddity in this occurance: that the dementor which was kissing Telarius seemed to be shrinking.

Thought compounded on thought like a chain reaction, as all soon realized that the dementor was starving, and yet Telarius was not dead. They did not know why, and they did not care. The crowd gasped in horror, and then soon began to cheer. They were cheering for Telarius. They were chanting his name. Deanne shot a subtle smirk to Meriam. When the crowd made themselves emotionally vulnerable, she played on the inspiring characteristic of this image and used her pheromones to slowly incite these feelings in the crowd. She then let the mob mentality take over. Normally she could not perform such a powerful ability, but the will of this crowd was exceptionally weak at this moment, which made this possible.

Soon the dementor, almost dead itself, dashed toward the crowd, starved for positive emotions to feed off of. Telarius collapsed, most likely in a coma, but most certainly alive, and the dementor was subdued. Somehow the Ministers' forces managed to grab Telarius and escape in the subsequent confusion. Deanne shot after them, but was stopped by the Warmaster with a simple, gentle movement of his right arm. "Telarius is alive, and it seems as though they cannot kill him through their means. He lives, and that was the goal of this mission. I recommend we take advantage of this confusion ourselves, escape, and claim victory for the day. There is little else we can do, and the longer we wait to make our exit, the more likely it is we will be discovered."

He was right, unfortunately. Deanne paid attention to his voice of reason, knowing full well that Telarius had always trusted him and his judgement. Earning Telarius' trust was difficult enough, and he did not want him dead any more than she did. They could do more for him on the outside than they could charging after him, potentially losing their anonymity and even their lives in the process. Small numbers were better for quick and covert strikes. She made sure to make it a priority to monitor his position and plan for his liberation.

As they left, she wiped back her tears, acknowledging the marginal success of the mission. Her responsibilities had grown since assuming command of the Second Round Table. She often found herself wondering how Telarius managed it, especially with the drastic situations surrounding them in those times not so long ago past. 'Should I have been more supportive? Could I have done more for him?' she asked herself.

~Mental link is still open, Deanne,~ Cordelia sent through.

Deanne cursed quietly at that, but Meriam soon placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. ~There is not much more any of us could have done. Unlike you, Telarius never shared any idea of the pains and burdens of the command we placed upon him. Had you known you might have done more, but as it was you didn't. You can't blame yourself for that.~

~She's right,~ the Warmaster chimed in, ~Besides, Telarius is a strong-willed individual. That's probably what saved him today, more than our admittedly botched rescue attempt.~

~Yes, we certainly will have to be more careful in the future,~ Deanne responded, wiping away her tears.

No more words were exchanged on the long road back to the Headquarters, located under the sea in the Bermuda Triangle region. They all admired the handiwork of Telarius in creating this installation for them, and none of them would soon forget him, or what he had done for them. They would not abandon him to the torment the Ministry would have him endure, and that thought gave Deanne great comfort indeed.

She took her place at the table, her insignia now emblazoned with the chevron which denoted leadership among the Shadine. She leaned back in her chair and breathed as she examined the somber expressions about the table. Telepathic link now broken, Deanne was free to think on her own. 'Now I understand. He always carried himself highly among us... was harder on us than he could have been, but all this to inspire us to do better. He would have allowed few more moments than this for mourning a loss as trivial as the partial failure of a mission.'

"Okay, everyone. That's enough. We've lost today, but we can learn from it and adapt. We misjudged the preparedness of the Ministry, but every skirmish against them will lead us closer to removing the corruption which has enslaved all who use magic. Shed your sorrow and treat this mission as a lesson to be learned from. I need your minds clear and focused on the main objective," she met the gaze of each, and their eyes showed her that her words fell not upon deaf ears. The fact that she could be strong when Telarius was still held captive inspired them as Telarius once did, "Telarius has set the stage with his deceptions in the monologue of his trial... most specifically his complete omission of our new Warmaster and his role in those events. We have the tactical advantage, and we will use it," she smiled, "Keep alive, people. We have a war to wage."