Hello, friend (Ian, R)

Having sent a letter to one of the so called, Merlanders, Kain waited patiently behind a boulder, which covered him completely, however offered a nice view of the lake. It was a late night, and the moon was high up, the werewolves could be heard howling, but Kain was sure Ian would come,

Letter:

His fingers drummed on his watch as he stared at the hours waiting for the kind soul that was Ian Mortinson to arrive and to face his punishment for being friends with the maggot.

Ian hurried out of the old castle and into the cold winter air, his eyes set on the lake far off in the distance. The wind was biting today and he pulled his robe tighter around his body to shield him from it as he walked towards the meeting point. Sydney. The name alone was enough to bring up a bunch of emotions that he rather would like to suppress, but overshadowing them all, was the plain confusion that filled his mind. How could it be possible that she was still alive? That she had written him? Like most others, he had heard the news of her death, heard it from her own cousin and now he received a note from her? He shook his head and quickened his steps. At first, Ian had meant to throw the letter into the fire, laughing it off as a stupid joke, but in the end, the message had sounded so much like the Sydney he knew, that he at least had to try to see if it indeed was true.

Arriving at the lake, Ian looked around, suspicion and confusion still battling in him, his eyes showing the conflict in him quite plainly. But there was no sight of the girl. “Sydney?” he called out, his voice sounding a little off, but it managed to travel far enough for her to hear if she was close by.

As he saw the boy approach, a smirk took over Kain's features and he nearly chuckled however held it down before slowly stepping up. He was a master of the shadows, and walking without producing noise was a walk in the park for the young snake, and he began following the boy, letting nothing warn him that he was coming. When the boy stopped, Kain stopped for a brief second so all the Ian's ears did not notice any change before continuing and stopping right behind the boy. "Hello... friend..." Kain breathe into his year, holding a dagger in his hand ready to ram it into the badger.

Something wasn’t right. All his instincts were screaming at him that he shouldn’t be here, not at all, but Ian tried to push them down, having to make sure that Sydney was not actually in need of his help. Even after all she had put him through, he would not let her down if he could be of assistance to her and so he waited, doing his best to ignore the growing feeling of unease in his stomach.

Suddenly, a soft voice spoke from behind him and involuntarily a shudder ran down the Hufflepuff’s back. Now was definitely the time to take to his heels and get away from here as fast as possible, but for some reason, his legs had ceased to follow the orders of his brain and so he stood rooted to the spot, wide eyes staring straight ahead. “What do you want of me?” Ian asked, somehow keeping his voice calm and collected, although his heart was beating frantically in his chest.

Gripping the hilt of the dagger, he placed his other hand on the left shoulder of the hufflepuff, before bringing his arm up, and slamming the dagger into the right shoulder, twisting it before ripping it out of the boy. That dagger though, was no regular dagger, it was imbued with basilisk venom and so Ian was in real danger now, and losing even one second would bring about his doom, "Now... listen closely..." Kain whispered placing his hand beneath Ian's chin and forcing him to stare at the lake, "You have basilisk venom about to start running through your veins. In about five minutes you will lie down and die, to go join your little whore. There is a chance to save yourself though... See that?..." Kain inquired as something came out from the lake, standing there with a jar between its hands. A hooded figure... "Go to him. He can save you..."

When the person that was standing behind him touched his shoulder, Ian’s breath caught in his throat and his whole body tensed up, awaiting what was to come. He did not have to wait long. Suddenly, a sharp pain ripped through his shoulder as something was pushed into it. He could feel the cold steel sliding through his flesh till the hilt of what had to be a dagger was pressed against his skin. These observations went through Ian’s head in the matter of a second and only when the blade was pulled out of him again and he felt the warm blood gushing out of the wound, did Ian finally draw in a pained gasp. He staggered forward, but the other person kept their hold on him and he was forced to listen to them.

At the following words, Ian felt as if his whole body was freezing up, his blood turning to ice as he realized that he had been poisoned; his life was about to end and he stared up as a hooded man appeared out of the dark water. Dread was seizing his heart. Never had he been more terrified of a person than of this dark-clad man, but the other boy’s words resounded in his head and Ian stumbled forward. Towards the man. It did not truly matter anymore if he was going to kill him or save him. He was the only choice Ian had and he would be damned if he didn’t take it. The few steps towards the hooded figure where the longest distance he had ever travelled, but at last, he reached the man and looked up at him, his green eyes bright with pain and fear. “Help me, please.” Ian’s voice was barely audible, but he had no doubt that the man had heard the words.

Hearing the words of the boy the hooded man waved his hand and the jar he held lost its cover as it was disintegrated, and turned into one with the sea. Snapping his fingers, a liquid that was inside the jar began spinning in a perfect circle, before it flowed up in a jet, flying into Ian's shoulder and healing him only seconds later, "Phoenix tears. Quite handy, are they not," Darius asked appearing from the behind Ian, having risen from the water, as he aimed a punch at Ian's back, in between his lungs so he fell into the water.

Ian had the impression that he could feel the poison running through his veins, tainting his whole body with death, though if it was truly this fast-acting of if his mind was playing tricks on him, he was not able to tell. His eyes were focused on the enigmatic man standing in front of him and he watched him release the liquid of the jar that might save his life without daring to draw in a breath, afraid that the sound made make the figure vanish into darkness again, leaving him to die a painful and fast death.                                                                                                                                              As soon as the liquid touched his wounded skin, Ian could feel it taking effect and he closed his eyes in relief, breathing in at last. "Thank you..." he whispered. Then something heavy collided with his back, knocking the breath out of him again. Ian felt himself falling forward and suddenly, cold wetness surrounded him, swallowing him up into darkness. The freezing cold was enough to clear his mind of the daze that he had fallen in and he spun around in the water, wiping out his wand. "Ascendio!" Ian called out and was catapulted out of the water. He only had a few seconds to see two Slytherins standing close to the hooded man and he pointed his wand at them, sending two strong stunning spells in their direction before he hit the ground and had to roll over his still hurting shoulder to take the speed out of the fall. His dark savior he would not attack as long as he did not act either, but the other two he would fight. Jumping back to his feet, Ian's eyes narrowed at his opponents and his wand was ready to strike again. "What do you want from me?" he asked again, this time his voice was strong, fuelled by the adrenalin rushing through his veins.

The stunning spells rebounded off a shield put up by the hooded man, flying off into the distant lake. Taking a step forward whilst Kain and Darius stood back, the hooded man held up his hand and an orb formed within it, casting an ancient spell. The spell would travel into Ian's brain and begin cutting his capillaries, making small cuts but if it continued, Ian would gain big brain damage... "We want you to come with us," Ares said as he appeared behind Ian.

When the hooded man stepped into the fight as well, Ian realized that his chances of getting out of here were close to zero and he looked around frantically, trying to find an escape, something he had overlooked. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the dark man raise his hand and he slowly backed away, fear taking hold of his heart in an icy grip. All of a sudden, his vision left him and he cried out as a blinding pain slammed through his head. He whimpered and dropped his wand, hands clutching at his head as the excruciating sensation got worse and worse. “P-ple-please! Stop…” Somehow, he had troubles making his tongue pronounce the words he wanted to say. Ian could feel tears prickling behind his eyes and he had the feeling that they were being pushed out of his scull as the pressure in his brain grew. He fell forward to his hands and vomited into the snow, his whole body shaking from the pain. “Please make it stop!” he whimpered again, all thoughts of pride fleeing his brain as it quickly drowned in blood. “I come with you, just make it stop.” Right now, he would do almost everything to escape the pain and he could already feel the edges of his vision dim as unconsciousness was about to take over. They would take him either way and the best he could hope for was to be taken alive.

Smirking Ares slipped a needle off a sheath next to his pocket, and sunk it into Ian's neck, injecting him with a powerful dose of morphine enough to leave him knocked out for a few days. After the entirety of the deposit was dumped into Ian, Ares hurled the needle away and the hooded man turned it into ashes with a flick of his wrist.