Early 1272
Ard Calleigh
Harry waited patiently at the table in his keep, sitting patiently and eating some food as he waited for his guest to awake. Geralt had arrived late afternoon yesterday and had seemed to wish to talk to him. Harry had wanted to as well but he took one look at the man and had ordered him to bed. Geralt had clearly not been sleeping and had been moving fast here. Harry had told him to sleep now and they would talk in the morning as soon as he awoke. The Witcher had tried to insist of course but Harry had drawn the line.
"Geralt, you look like absolute shit. Now, I can imagine you have a great longing to talk but right now, I want you to go upstairs, crawl in one of the beds and not get out of it until you are fully rested, I promise that I will not go anywhere while you sleep and we can talk as soon as you get up." Harry told the grim looking man. Geralt gave him a hard look as if he wanted to continue to push the issue put seemed to finally relent.
"Fine. Tomorrow." The grey-haired man seemed to demand.
"Tomorrow." Harry agreed easily. With that, he led the man to the room he would be staying at.
Now, Harry was simply waiting for the man to wake. He was a Witcher so it would likely be soon as they didn't need as much sleep as a normal person might. Still, it has been more than twelve hours since they had seen each other last night which meant he was right when he said the man must be tired. Geralt usually rose and fell with the sun and the sun had been up for several hours at this point.
Harry smirked to himself as he felt Geralt's presence move from his room, perhaps he spoke to soon. He gestured for a servant waiting by the kitchen door to come over. The man hurriedly did so.
"Your grace?" the man asked nervously.
"My guest is coming down, please bring out more fresh food for him." Harry asked politely though the man could clearly tell it was an order. The servant nodded.
"Right away, your grace." The servant said before scurrying into the kitchen and not looking back once.
Harry looked after him before shaking his head. The people of Kaedwen had apparently taken to calling him the Witch King. It was an amusing title to be sure and perfect for striking fear in the hearts of his enemies. Too bad that wasn't what he had been trying to do. His goal was to win the people over and show himself to be better then their previous rulers.
He was brought from his musing as Geralt finally made it down and entered the room. The man's eyes quickly spotted him and he walked over to Harry's seated position. He sat down right across from him.
"Your grace." Geralt said respectively. Harry could feel his lip twitch as he almost frowned but caught himself. Geralt hadn't addressed him as such yesterday, Harry hadn't thought it odd then but now that he thought on it, he realized it was a little out of place for the normally stoic man. Geralt was usually very formal to royalty no matter what his relationship with them. Still, he wouldn't allow himself to be referred to by such, especially from a friend.
"I'll here none of that. I'm not your king for one and even if I was, I am a friend before I am a king. Understood?" Harry told him seriously. Geralt looked at him for a moment and then nodded.
"Hadrian then." Geralt corrected. Harry nodded, pleased that he acquiesced to his request so easily.
"There you go. I see you have gotten your memories back. I am glad. I checked in on you once or twice you know, you never seemed to notice me so I figured you were still afflicted. I knew you would heal eventually though. Being a Witcher and all." Harry told him. As he finished, the servant came out and laid some food down for Geralt.
"Thank you." Geralt said with a nod at the servant. The servant bowed before scampering away. Harry made a gesture with his hands for Geralt to eat.
"You can talk and eat at the same time." Harry told him. He sure didn't have to say it twice. Geralt started to dig in.
"When did you get your memory?" Harry asked him.
"It's been coming back for several months now. I can already remember a lot I think, but I still have a ways to go." Geralt told him. Harry nodded at hearing that.
"That's good to here. Did you decide to come as soon as you remembered me or was it something else that brought you to my door?" Harry asked him curiously. Geralt looked at him.
"I am actually going back to Kaer Morhen. It is time I re-walk the path of the Witcher. I intend to meet back up with Vesemir." Geralt told him. Harry nodded but frowned slightly. He was only recently established in Kaedwen but he was sure he might be able to help out the Witchers.
"I will be happy to aid you on your way. I'll give you a horse, supplies, and a letter of safe passage just in case for whenever you decide to leave. Feel free to stay as long as you wish though. Last I saw it, Kaer Morhen was still not in the greatest shape, although it has been a few years. If you ever decide to restore it, let me know. I am sure I can send some men and supplies up to aid you." Harry told him. Geralt looked at him and Harry could see slight confusion in his eyes.
"Did I take you to Kaer Morhen once?" He asked. Harry smiled and shook his head.
"Geralt, I have been around for a long time and can move without any detection should I choose too. I have been many places and have stopped at Witcher stomping grounds a few times. I saw it a few years ago while out in the mountains." Harry told him. Geralt seemed to be digesting that but nodded.
"Alright, I'll let the old man know though I don't know how willing he would be. He doesn't like having Witcher's associated with any power." Geralt responded.
"He doesn't have to worry about me trying to get him to pay me back. If I offer a gift then it is just that." Harry told him.
"I shall let him know." Geralt said honestly. Harry smiled.
"Good. I suppose you picked a good time to go back to walking the path of a Witcher. I am sure I could use the help dealing with all the monsters popping up in my Kingdom at least. I was actually thinking of training my guards in the basics of monster disposal." Harry admitted. Geralt frowned slightly and grunted. Harry smirked.
"Hey, if there were more Witchers running around to be hired I wouldn't have to but we both know it's a dying profession." Harry said to him, turning serious at the end. Geralt sighed at that but nodded.
"I suppose I can't argue with that." Geralt grumbled. Harry nodded.
For the next few hours, Geralt and him spent simply catching up with Geralt telling him what he had been up to for the last couple of years. When he got to Triss and their relationship Harry eyed Geralt for a moment.
"Wow…I didn't realize I was speaking to a dead man." Harry said as he sipped some water from a mug. Geralt shuddered as he said it.
"Do I even want to know how you know of Yennefer?" Geralt asked him. Harry smirked.
"I know a lot of things. Your relationship with Yennefer is just one of the many many things I know. Have you talked to her?" Harry asked. Geralt shook his head.
"No, I don't know where to even look for her. Knowing her though, I am sure I will run into her at some point." Geralt said to him. Harry nodded slowly.
"If it helps… last I heard she was somewhere in Nilfgaard." Harry told the man. He saw Geralt quickly latch onto the information before nodding.
"Thank you." Geralt said to him.
"Hope you have some way of making it up to her. You never know with Yennefer, she could kill you or pretend like it never happened. Might want to carry a gift around with you just in case." Harry responded back to him.
"You might be right…Speaking of Nilfgaard, what are your plans now that they are knocking on your door?" Geralt questioned. Harry thought on that.
"I have a plan. You know of my dragons I assume? I am going to have them freeze the river and build a wall of ice on top of the Pontar." Harry said to Geralt. Geralt dropped his fork and looked at him.
"Are you serious?" Geralt asked him. Harry nodded.
"I have only recently established myself in Kaedwen and I don't want to fight with them just yet. I need a few more months to get the army in order. I have Esterad assembling a naval force in Kovir as well. It's more a delay than anything else. I am sure Radovid can be useful in something by halting Emhyr for at least a few months. What remains of the Temerian army is assembling as a guerilla force against Nllfgaard as well." Harry explained.
"Any news on Roche?" Geralt asked him.
"I believe he is the one leading said guerilla force. From what I have gathered, Radovid has just recently decided to send some supplies to the man and his forces to help pick off the invaders." Harry informed. Geralt nodded.
"Good to know he made it." Geralt said seemingly pleased. Harry nodded but said nothing more on the subject. With that, they drifted into a comfortable silence with the occasional comment thrown in. Geralt still didn't have all his memories but Harry figured he should probably reveal the truth to him soon about his relationship with Ciri. He so far thought on doing it once his memory was fully intact.
When Geralt finally finished, Harry finally addressed the subject of his leaving.
"How long do you think you will be staying?' Harry asked him. Geralt's face didn't change but Harry could see in his eyes he was thinking on the question.
"I should probably leave today. I have already been away a long time." Geralt mentioned. Harry nodded before looking the man over. He wrinkled his nose.
"Some new clothes and armor could also do you some good it seems. I don't believe we have any silver swords made in the keeps forge but some of the blacksmiths around town might. I do know we have plenty of quality steel though and I encourage you to head to the armory and grab one as well as some light armor before you go. Free of charge of course. While you do that, I will have servants get your supplies ready as well as a horse from our stables. Say we meet at the North gate in three hours?" Harry asked him.
"Just past midday? Alright, that works for me. Thank you, Hadrian." Geralt said sincerely. Harry nodded with a smile.
"Anything for an old friend." Harry said as they parted to do their respective tasks. Harry summoned several servants to go and collect supplies for his trip while Harry went to the stables himself to pick out a horse for his companion. He settled on a brown mare who looked sturdy enough look to him.
"You'll do. How much for him?" Harry asked the stablemaster.
"Your grace, I couldn't possibly cha-"
"You insult me by not charging me sir. How much is the horse? The full price." Harry told the elderly man sternly. The man told him the price and he gave him a large bag of coin to cover the charge.
"Keep the change. A man with grey hair named Geralt will be picking it up today. He is a Witcher and clearly looks like one. I want no issues with him taking this specific horse, understood?" Harry questioned the man who bowed once more deeply before giving him several promises to do what he commanded.
Harry looked around the city further just to see if he could find something that Geralt might need but didn't really see anything. Once he made his way back to the Keep, he quickly saw Geralt testing a new steel sword on one of the practice dummy's in the courtyard. Harry noticed his form was still as impressive as it used to be.
"Your form is still looking tip top. If you ever need some extra coin, I'd love to have you as a trainer for my men, even If it was temporary." Harry said as he praised the man. Geralt scowled at him.
"I'd rather not do that, ever." Geralt told him. Harry smiled and even let out a little laugh at the man's face.
"Fine, fine maybe not that. Although perhaps you could help me with my form if you ever have a chance. I would love to get a little better at killing people with a pointy stick." Harry joked though his tone suggested he was semi- serious.
"Hm. Maybe someday. I suppose." Geralt said seemingly at least more open to that. Harry nodded.
"Great. Well I have your horse ready and the servants should have your things by now. There was only one thing I had let to ask you. The former queen here, Cassandra, what do you think of her?" Harry asked. Geralt frowned at that.
"Cassandra? Don't know much of her to be honest. Henselt, I knew of but I did my best to avoid him. He wasn't someone I would like to associate with. I know some basic information on her I suppose. With Henselt's attitude, she was commonly thought to be the voice of reason with her husband. I believe I remember something about her being more educated than a normal noble lady. That's about the limit of my knowledge on her." Geralt admitted.
Harry nodded his head at that. He had already heard such and was currently in the process of finding out how she did in said schooling by having a couple of crows head to Oxenfurt.
"Thank you. In truth, I was thinking of giving her control over Kaedwen in my name. She appears intelligent and knows the ins and outs better than I do. I only have an issue with the matter of loyalty. Well… this is not your problem so I won't bore you too much with the details. Are you ready to head out?" Harry asked and Geralt nodded. They walked over to the North gate where the horse would be saddled and ready.
They made it rather quickly and Geralt quickly got up on his horse. Harry saw the horse didn't seem to mind his new owner and Harry was glad. He took another look at Geralt and nodded in satisfaction as he saw the man in fresh clothes and finally noticed that he had indeed changed his armor.
"Well, it was good to see you my friend and I hope to see you again soon. Remember what I told you about help with repairs at Kaer Morhen." Harry told the man. Geralt nodded.
"Thank you, Hadrian. I will not forget this… Don't, I realized it as I said it." Geralt finished as he looked down and saw the smirk growing on Harry's face.
"I shall see you later Geralt. Safe travels. While I ask you not to get in fights with any soldiers on your way, if you notice them doing something… unacceptable, then I hope you gut them. Consider it officially cleared by me. You know what, maybe I should make an official position for Witchers. I know people sometimes try to cheat you. Maybe being backed by the crown can help with that. You won't have to answer to the crown but maybe have to take a test to prove you know what you're doing to get certified. What do you think?" Harry asked. Geralt just looked at him. Harry just waved off the stare.
"Fine, I'll put more thought into it and get back to you." Harry told him.
"Goodbye Hadrian." Geralt said before kicking the horse in side to get it moving. Harry watched as the man trotted away on his horse and disappeared over a hill a few moments after. Harry turned and walked back into town.
Several Days Later
Harry sat on his throne and listened to various common people state issues they had that they wanted him to solve. It was easy to do usually, especially since a mixture of projected thoughts and passive legilimency usually allowed him to find out who was in the wrong quickly. Still, he would rather use his time to do something more important.
Two men had just finished their arguments against each other and more were approaching when he held up his hand to stop them as he saw a crow quickly fly in the room and move towards him. Everyone in the throne room stopped and stared as the crow landed on his shoulder.
"Well, what news do you have for me, little one?" Harry questioned, the crow leaned into his ear and a wealth of knowledge slowly flowed into his mind that the crow had learnt while away. Hmm, it would seem that Cassandra had indeed completed a multitude of classes with high marks from her teachers. It would seem most of her classes had to do with politicking as well which was good.
"Everyone leave, we are done for the day." Harry commanded. The people bowed before shuffling out the door. He turned to one of his guards in the room and beckoned him forward.
"Have Lady Cassandra brought to me immediately." Harry commanded easily. The soldier bowed to him.
"Right away, your grace." The soldier responded before quickly moving out of the room to fetch the noble woman. Harry sat back leisurely on his throne as he patiently waited for the woman to arrive. It didn't take the woman long. She came in with her head held high as she approached him, looking every bit of the queen that she once was.
"Lady Cassandra." He said in greeting. She bowed deeply as was expected.
"Your grace, you asked to see me?" She questioned. She didn't look like she was expecting him to say anything good. She probably thought he was about to order her away.
"I did. I have recently been looking for a regent to rule Kaedwen in my name and after careful consideration, I have decided that I will be appointing you to such a position." Harry told her. The woman's eyes widened before she quickly schooled her features.
"It would be an honor, your grace. May I ask why, though, you have chosen myself for such a position?" she questioned.
"You know the land, the people, and have the knowledge to rule. The only thing you do not have is my trust. I am, however, willing to give you a chance to earn it through this appointment." Harry said back easily. He watched as the lady seemed to process his words after each one left his mouth. After another moment she nodded her acceptance.
"I shall do my best to meet your expectations, your grace." She told him.
"See that you do, for if I ever hear a hint of you betraying the trust I have placed in you, I promise there will be nothing left of you to bury." Harry threatened as his voice became quiet yet sharp like an icy wind. You could feel the temperature in the room dropping and the effect it had, not only on the lady but the guards as well who all stiffened when feeling the chill creep onto them. Lady Cassandra, stiffened and seemed to need a moment to catch her breath once more.
"I promise that such things will not be necessary. I will make sure to give you no reason to doubt me." Lady Cassandra told him strongly. He gave a small smile at seeing her still manage to compose herself in front of the unsettling presence that sat in front of her. Should her words be true, she would make an excellent regent.
"Excellent. The official announcement will be tomorrow but you will take over the duties immediately. The office I have been using is now yours as are all the materials and information in it. Given you previous education, I trust you will know how to use said materials?" Harry questioned. She nodded in the affirmative.
"Good. Congratulations on your appointment Lady Cassandra." Harry stood as he left the room.
"Thank you, your grace." Was the last thing he heard from her as he was leaving.
Harry smiled to himself. With that out of the way, there were a few more things he needed to get done before leaving Ard Calleigh. He still needed to make a defense on the Pontar river for one and he still needed to start setting up a portal system which he we connect in Avalon. Then he would have to go back and deal with Asal.
He still wasn't sure what he would do to the man if he were honest. Yes, spying was wrong and trying to break into his office was also bad but it wouldn't be fair to judge him just by the negatives. He had indeed helped a lot of people during his stay with healing and even did some work to aid in better crop production. Things that Harry himself no longer had as much time for.
Unfortunately for the man, Harry had been getting more and more magic users coming into his country after growing persecution from Radovid and not wanting to go to Nilfgaard. Many were offered and took jobs in several areas to help out the people around them in similar capacities as Asal. The man was no longer as useful as he had been. Still, Harry would have to do his best to be fair.
With that line of thought complete, Harry decided to leave the keep and move through the city to a building he had recently bought. It would act as the portal hub so to speak so it was rather large. He walked in and looked at the front room.
Inside was a desk where people would be going to pay for the travel. They would fill out a form specifying where they were going and a few other minor details and that would be all. He went into the large back room where several portal doorways were already set up. Normally, other sorcerers had to use crystals to power these but Harry could use runes and simply have them powered by the latent magic in the air or a new trick he learned recently where he could actually capture solar energy and convert it to magical energy. Either way, it was a more complex but efficient solution.
This room had several doorways and the building had another floor where he could make more if needed. Now, it was time to simply put the proper runic chains on the doorway to make sure they worked. Luckily this would be much easier than the portal he had made for Isabel. These were on the same world and dimension.
It took him several hours to finish them but by the end, he had actually thought up a new magical way to speed up the process so hopefully, the next sets he made would take less time. Right now, he only had a portal set up in Avalon so that would be the only portal that turned on.
With the finishing touches down, he finally activated the runic chain and the portal blazed to life. Immediately a soft, blue, slow-turning swirl filled the doorway. Harry smiled and cast some specialized diagnostic spells on the portal to make sure it was all reading properly. Once he confirmed that, he finally stepped through. Immediately, he was in a similar but different color, and styled room. He recognized it as the room in the portal room he set up in Avalon. He smiled at his success before moving back through the portal.
He quickly reappeared in the room in Ard Calleigh. He gave himself a quick pat on the back for a job well done as he thought on what other tasks he needed completed. The dragons would probably arrive tomorrow and they would probably need a day of rest before they could start building a wall of ice on the Pontar. Come to think of it, Nilfgaard was probably only a few days away from the river themselves. Maybe he should go and do something to slow them down.
Next Day
Harry was flying right over the Pontar river a couple thousand feet in the air. Any who saw him would most assuredly not be able to recognize his draconic form at first glance. He flapped his wings to propel him forward as he used his dragon sight to gaze downwards.
It looked like there was still people running towards his borders, most likely hoping to outpace the Nilfgaardian armies. He grimaced as he realized not everyone would likely make it into Kaedwen before he built up his wall. There wasn't anything he could really do about that. Besides, the army wasn't coming for civilians so most wouldn't be targeted. If the civilians were smart. They would just go over to Redania instead and then cross over.
He ignored them and flew for another hour or two before he finally set eyes on a large mass of humans in black armor marching towards his borders. He looked at all of them and absorbed information on how they were spread out, as well as if there were any magic users among them. He could not sense any but if one was good enough at hiding then there were ways to get around his senses.
After a few moments of watching, he decided that the best play would be to crash down right in the middle of their march. It would most definitely cause the most chaos and disorder. He was long past feeling guilty for killing soldiers. Those who dealt in death should not be surprised when It came for them as well. That was how he lived even before becoming the Master of Death.
With this final thought, he closed his wings and started his drop out of the sky. He eyed the place where he wished to land and kept watch on when the army would notice him. It took them a while to realize his growing size was not actually some bird but a black, hulking mass. He was several hundred feet when he started to hear the screams as the men became alerted to his presence.
He could see many already break formation to run but he didn't mind. This was a delaying tactic more than anything else. A few more moments and he smashed heavily into the ground causing not only a miniature earthquake, throwing men completely in the air but also dirt and dust as well. A cloud of it seemed to cover his form and for a moment there was silence.
When the dust cleared, he could see the frightened faces of the men around him who seemed frozen with shock. He looked down at them only for a moment before letting loose an earsplitting draconic roar that seemed to shake the world once more as well as finally stir the men into movement. The brave ran at him with weapons while the craven ran away from him in fear. It mattered little as Harry let loose a torrent of a wicked purple flame that seemed to disintegrate all in front of him.
When the flames stopped pouring out of him, he gave them no time to even recover. With a mighty jerk of his huge body, he swung his massive tail like a whip behind him. He felt it smash into several small items and break them. It wasn't hard to figure out that these were soldiers.
At this point, none seemed to be brave enough to try and attack. Most were trying to run away. Harry followed on foot and continued to pick the army off. He swiped his claws that were like blades that went straight through their armor as if it were made of paper. Every once in a while, he would come upon a large cluster of men running and would unleash another torrent of flame upon them, burning them to ash.
He did this for awhile before noticing the amount of death and damage he had caused. The landscape probably wouldn't recover for years without magical aid and while there were a couple of thousand men marching towards Kaedwen, at least a thousand must be dead now with who knows how many injured. Harry decided he had done more than enough to slow this army down and gave a might flap of his wings before once more lifting himself into the sky and flying away.
He could have finished the job but there was really no need. Death should have a use besides filling some one's sadistic needs. Harry did not consider himself a sadist and saw no reason to kill more than he needed to. With Nilfgaard delayed for several weeks at the least from this, he would have plenty of time to have the wall built and then magically reinforce it.
Several more days later
Harry watched as the ice dragons finally finished their work and made the ice wall a suitable fifty feet in height. The Pontar that made up the southern border of Kaedwen was several miles long and it took a while for even six dragons to go back and forth on it to build it up. Luckily, he had had been able to saturate the wall in magic as it was being built so he could do some work on it while the dragons were also working.
With the wall properly saturated, he cast several charms on it to keep it from melting as well as keep people from climbing up it. He had debated having runic arrays but making those in ice would be a pain and he also didn't plan on having this be a permanent structure. No need to waste extra work on something just for temporary protection.
Even without the, arrays, it still took him several days to move up and down the wall casting charms as well as allowing his reserves to properly recover. He didn't want them to get to low in what was still not considered truly friendly territory.
He sat on top of the wall and sighed as he looked down. So much work had been done recently and he was tired. He was about to go back to Avalon and deal with Asal before taking a long-needed break. He swiftly apparated back to Ard Calleigh and into the building housing his portals. He didn't have the energy to apparate all the way back.
He was in the room in a moment and walked easily into the beautiful, blue portal before once more being transported to a new place. He walked out of it and saw himself once more in the Avalon building he had set up for portals and breathed easy as he exited the building. He decided to simply walk to the tower and enjoy the afternoon coolness. Many of the civilians were happy to see him and greeted him kindly which he returned.
This followed him all the way to the tower which he was pleased about. Those in the Far North loved him and he knew those in Kovir and Poviss at least liked him after several royal decrees he had made which pertained to them. Kaedwen would take some time as he had not been the ruler there very long.
When he reached the tower, the guards opened the doors for him with no prompting and greeted him kindly.
"Welcome home, your grace."
"Thank you. Can you tell me where Lady Merri is?" Harry asked, being to lazy to sense her out himself."
"I believe she is in her office in the tower." The guard informed him.
"Thank you." Harry said before continuing up to her office. He easily navigated through the familiar halls until he stood in front of her door. He knocked politely and waited.
"Come in." a muffled voice said from within.
He stepped in and saw Merri writing something on a piece of paper as a man from her personal task force stood next to her. As they saw him enter, both made to bow before he waved off the gesture.
"Please, don't bother. What are you up to?" Harry asked.
"it's good to see you. I am giving Henry here permission to launch an investigation on a sorcerer in Velhad who we suspect may have used magic to convince women to sleep with him." Merri told him. Harry nodded. While magic users were welcome, that did not mean he would let them take advantage of others just because they felt themselves better than them.
"Good to hear. I came to hopefully deal with Asal. Do you have time?" Harry asked her. A gleam appeared in her eyes as she quickly nodded.
"Sure, I just finished this. Here you go Henry. Take two others of your choice with you. Make sure you detail and have evidence of everything. I don't want any mistakes or claims that we treat or mistreat sorcerers separately from other citizens. Understood?" Merri commanded. Henry nodded.
"It shall be done, my lady." He said before politely before excusing himself. Harry watched as the man left before looking at Merri.
"Ready?" He asked her.
"Absolutely, let's go." She said as they walked out the door and head down to the dungeons hidden under the tower.
The tower had a state of the art dungeon system with a mix of magic and mundane traps hidden for those who tried to break in or escape.
"Have you decided on what his punishment will be?" Merri asked.
"Nope." Harry responded easily. She frowned at that.
"Why not?" She asked.
"I want to look in his eyes when I sentence him." Harry said back to her. Merri grunted at him and he smiled at her response.
"Just because you never liked him, doesn't mean he doesn't deserve some mercy. He helped a lot when Avalon was just starting." Harry told her.
"To convince you to let him stay, not because he is a nice person." Merri said back.
"It is both, people are complex creatures and don't often have one singular reason for doing anything. I am sure Asal would have been willing to help either way. He is not inherently a bad person or an evil individual. He is just someone who happened to be loyal to someone else." Harry told her. Merri was quiet at that. They eventually got to the cell housing Asal. He peered into the cell and saw the man who seemed unconscious. Harry snapped his fingers and used a rennervate on the man causing him to jump up.
The man looked around in confusion at where he was but not too much as he was currently in magic dampening chains that hung on each of his limbs. He seemed to struggle against the chains when he realized he was in them.
"Did he struggle when you arrested him?" Harry asked as if he were talking about the weather.
"Yes, though not much. When it was clear he was going to struggle, we knocked him out and brought him here. That was yesterday." Merri told him. There conversation seemed to grab Asal's attention as he came over to the entrance to his cell and started babbling. Harry ignored the man for the moment.
"He has been asleep the whole time?" Harry asked her. Merri shrugged.
"As far as I know, no." she said back. Harry nodded though he frowned a little. Either they had hit the man really hard or this was not the first time he had woken. Asal kept babbling and it was getting on Harry's nerves. With another snap of his fingers, no sound came out of Asal anymore. The man seemed confused when he tried to say something but nothing came out.
"I am going to release the charm on you. When I do, if you keep babbling like a baby, I am going to have to use more physical means to get you to stop. Do you understand?" Harry asked. Asal nodded frantically. With that, the spell dropped. Asal didn't say anything when it did, seemingly afraid to speak first.
"I assume you know why you are here?" Harry asked.
"No, your grace. I promise I have committed no wrong doing." Asal said, lying through his teeth.
"Really? Well then, I will give you a chance to not lie to me. I will ask you a series of questions and you will answer, simple as that. Understand?" Harry asked him. Asal nodded rapidly again.
"Good. Now, are you a servant of the sorceress known as Francesca Findabair or Enid an Gleanna?"
"N-no, your grace."
"Have you ever sent information about the Avalonian Empire to any outside kingdom or source?"
"No, of course not."
"Have you ever tried to break into restricted areas while I am away somewhere else?"
"I…no."
Harry just looked at the man/elf who started to twitch in fear under his chilling gaze.
"Are you a man?"
"I… I am."
"Now see there's the problem with you Asal. I give you a chance and you spit on it. Metaphorically of course." Harry said with a sigh. Asal quickly started letting out claims that he was telling the truth. Harry didn't answer him verbally instead he waved his hand over the mans face and watched as the illusion dropped on the elf, silenceing him. Asal looked in horror at him as it was clear his jig was up. Harry said nothing for a moment as he took a step back from the cage.
"…I knew from the very beginning Asal. The night you arrived, I watched you go into your home and contact your mistress. I heard you report everything you learned that day to her. I saw you drop the illusion that made you look like a man." Harry told him and he started to slowly pace back and forth in front of his cell. Asal said nothing as he looked to Harry.
"The security around my office freezes the signature of any who try to enter It while my protections are up to inform me who it was when I return. I knew it was you after your first attempt. In truth, the reason you are here is because I had grown tired of having to deal with said attempts." Harry finished as he crouched down to look at Asal who had slid to the floor in defeat at this point. For a few moments there was silence. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Merri smirking from the display.
"Why… if you knew the whole time, why would you let me stay this long." Asal asked him. Harry shrugged.
"Why wouldn't I? I only ever let you have information that I didn't care for and you were pretty much harmless. In fact, you even aided Avalon with your healing and help with the planting of crops near the city. I got more than I gave with having you around so I let it stand." Harry told the elven sorcerer who digested Harry's words.
"So… I was made before I even started…" Asal said sadly.
"No offence, but you are a terrible spy Asal. I am already extremely good at catching spies and I mean real spies who train their whole life. You on the other hand… well I had you the moment you entered the Far North." Harry told him. Asal seemed to be holding back the depression setting in from how badly he had failed.
"So what happens now?" as all Asal asked. Harry started to pace slowly again.
"Well… that depends. On the one hand, spies usually hang, on the other hand, you were a big help to the creation of Avalon when it first started with your healing and kept helping with crops after. So I honestly am at a bit of dilemma here. What would you do in my position?" Harry asked.
"I… I-I don't know." Asal admitted.
"Hmm." Harry said as looked over to Merri. She just looked back at him. She didn't have to make her opinion known, he knew what she wanted done. He didn't believe he was willing to go that far.
"… I'm going to let you live Asal. In fact, I am going to let you go." Harry said.
"What?"/"You are?"
Harry smiled at the reactions of the two as he looked back and forth between them. Merri seemed pissed while Asal looked relieved.
"Don't look to relieved Asal, you are still getting punished. Taking into account both the good and bad you have done there is only one punishment suitable for you. From this day to your last, you shall forever be banished from any land under the control of the Avalonian Empire. Along with this your magic will also be bound so you may never use the gifts you were born with again." Harry commanded. Asal seemed fine with the first part but when he heard the last part his face showed that of devastation.
"Your grace, please I-"
"Enough. It is either this or death. I will ask once; do you want this or death?" Harry asked.
"I-…I will accept your gracious proposal." Asal relented, not that he had much of a choice. Harry turned and looked at Merri who no longer seemed so angry but was probably still wishing for a harsher punishment.
"We're done here." Harry said walking away to get some much-needed rest after so much happening.