28 Chapter 28: Meeting the Skaggs P2

Harry reached out and touched the brownish-red mane of the unique Unicorn breed. It was soft and light as the finest silks.

"I'll just call you Skagg-Unicorn from now on." he said to the creature.

The Skagg-Unicorn's dark eyes observed him for a time but it went back to crunching on the box of apples he provided without a care in the world.

Even if the creature was a Unicorn breed, it certainly has more in common with the other half of the species. It doesn't like to be challenged and if it perceives a challenge then it will turn hostile in a matter of seconds. Such behaviour could not be found among pure Unicorns.

No. This behavioural trait was certainly inherited from the other half of the species that gave birth to the Skagg-Unicorn.

Most Skagosi believe the Skagg-Unicorn is the Unicorn. But, one look at the creature made Harry understand this was not the case. Unicorns don't have a large three-foot-long horn and they certainly don't have a body as large as the Skagg-Unicorn. Harry guessed the Unicorns must have somehow bred with an animal like Elk or even something similar found on the island of Skagos. The male Elks were known for their alpha male behaviour as they literally engaged in ritualistic battles to gain the attention of the female Elks. From what he observed from studying the Skagg-Unicorns they also behaved the same way but with one additional behavioural trait. They only accepted someone to touch them if they get fed or by overpowering them physically.

The overpowering part most likely will not work for any normal human. So, feeding the Skagg-Unicorns their fill keeps them in line. That's how the Skagosi kept the little rascals as their ride. From a certain angle, the Skagg-Unicorns looked cute. But, they are most assuredly creatures of war. Beneath the silky red mane, their skin was as hard as rock reminding Harry of Rhinos back home.

A full charge by a pack of these Skagg-Unicorns should be enough to cut a bloody swathe through an army of considerable size. This made him wonder why the Northern lords never attempted to have them bred on the mainland.

'Perhaps the Skagosi never wanted their beasts of war to escape their grasp.' Harry thought, watching the beast crunching on the apples quite happily completely oblivious to its surroundings.

"My lord. Your uncle is asking for you." said Anya.

"What does he want now?" he asked, suspending his observation of the Skagg-Unicorn for the time being.

"I do not know, my lord." said Anya, shrugging her shoulders. "Is this the animal you were seeking?"

Harry threw a look at the creature gorging over a box full of apples.

"No. This is not a Unicorn." said Harry, before taking his leave.

Driftwood Hall was supposedly a castle of House Stane. Harry vehemently disagreed. The structure before him was definitely not a castle of any sort. It looked more like a shed made of stone, wood and dry leaves. If a significant amount of rain was to pour down from the heavens then the 'castle' would be leaking from a thousand holes and more.

"They do live in caves." Jon whispered from Harry's side.

Harry looked at the structures around Driftwood Hall. Most of them were made of clay, wood and dry leaves. There were a few caves as well but that was no great surprise. The whole of Skagos was supposedly littered with caves owing to their largely hilly terrain. There was a certain aesthetics to the whole theme around here with the old caves and whatnot. It was a living testament to the past of mankind and perhaps the birth bed of modern civilization.

'I must have a look at those caves. There must be some age-old carvings and drawings of a bygone past.' Harry thought as he made his way towards the castle of House Stane.

Just then Jon sneezed startling Harry out of his musings.

"You must have caught a chill from the serein. Maybe, a steam bath is in order." Harry mused aloud.

"No! I don't want to steam." Jon said stubbornly.

"Anya. Take Jon away and don't let him leave till he is suitably steamed. I won't have him go down with a fever when our journey is so close to the end."

Harry watched amusedly as Jon was dragged away by Anya despite Jon's best efforts.

He looked at the sky and the surroundings. There was not an ounce of sun anywhere. The weather remained damp and cold. Mist hung everywhere and the whole sky looked like one giant greyish ash cloud.

'At this rate, I might have to find some excuse to travel all the way to Essos for some aprication time.' Harry thought, as he walked through the entrance of Driftwood Hall's main keep. Two guards stood by the wooden doors of the entrance with obsidian-tipped spears.

As he learned from Maester Luwin's lessons, the Skaggs were indeed hairy compared to other First Men. The men all have long hair reaching far below their shoulder blades. Their facial hair was no better. Harry had trouble seeing their eyes with all the hair covering their faces. Not to mention their arms and legs were fairing no better.

'No wonder why Maester Luwin believes the Skaggs have Ibbenesse blood in them.' Harry thought.

Shaking those thoughts away Harry proceeded to move inside the relative safety of Driftwood Hall. The floor was layered with red Laterite bricks that looked like it was laid out in a different century. He had to carefully step around certain parts where the bricks looked one step away from turning into dust. Carefully wading around the broken floors and generally shoddy masonic works Harry reached his uncle who was pouring over a map with Lord Orbert Stane.

"You sent for me uncle?"

"You should not have come, lad. The silver-ones live in Skane Island under the protection of the Great Winter Spirit." said Lord Stane, rubbing his goatee while his two sons Merton and Orbster were watching the proceedings silently.

"But you gifted my father with a Unicorn horn." Harry reminded the man.

"A relic of the past." said Lord Stane, shaking his head. "Legend has it one of my ancestors, Twerlton Stane, took the horn as a hunting trophy. But, Twerlton was never seen again and only his son returned with the horn."

"What happened to him?" asked Harry.

"I don't know all the details but it was said Twerlton was cursed and was never allowed to leave the Island of Skane where he hunted and killed one of the silver-ones." said Lord Stane.

"You said something about the Great Winter Spirit. What do you mean by that?" Benjen asked, while Harry remained silent and contemplated the information he received from the lord of Driftwood Hall.

"The Great Winter Spirit is the guardian of Skane Island. In the past, many people have tried to occupy the island and they have all suffered the spirit's wrath."

"Are you sure there are no other silver Unicorns left nearby? This is a matter of utmost importance Lord Stane. If we can get more Unicorn horns we can help a lot of people from sickness." said Benjen.

"I'm afraid not. Perhaps, there were silver Unicorns on our island but that must have been thousands of years ago. I pray that you abandon this folly and never step foot on Skane island. That land is cursed."

"I'm afraid we can't do that Lord Stane. We have travelled far and long for us to return empty-handed." said Harry, breaking his silence as a vague picture of what was happening and has happened at the Skane Island became clear to his mind.

"Only a certain death awaits you at Skane Island. No sane man would wish to go there." Lord Stane warned.

"Then it is a good thing we are not mere men. We are wolves." said Harry.

Harry could hear Fenris growling proudly making everyone stare at the wolf warily more out of surprise. Even Harry was a bit surprised. He was sure he had left the wolf in the boat so that the Skaggs would not be spooked by its presence.

'Now, how did you escape from the boat?' Harry wondered looking at Fenris who suddenly looked far too innocent while wagging his tail like a good pet.

XXXXXX

The Elder Wand was thrumming in his hand excited to be flowing with magical power. Harry was actually forced to use the wand as his supply of iron was dangerously low. With the journey ahead the need for some special weapons became crucial.

While he had dismissed the warnings from Orbert Stane in public he was not an idiot to not prepare. If the Skaggs in the past had hunted the Unicorns then it was possible they had also consumed its meat. Drinking the blood of a Unicorn was akin to declaring war against the very sublime nature of magic. But, consuming the meat of a Unicorn has far worse consequences. And Harry has a strong impression that something like that happened with the Skaggs trying to populate Skane island.

If this was the case then he needed to prepare before setting foot on the island. While he was confident his magical power was more than enough to tackle any cursed creatures inhabiting the island it was better to have backup plans. The little adjustments he made to his body by stemming the magic outflow have their drawbacks. If he were to constantly use magical spells he could damage the vents of his body and perhaps even damage his heart. Keeping this in mind, the need for supplementary weapons came to his mind.

But first, the metal to make those weapons had to be mined. Unfortunately, the Skaggs were idiots when it comes to mining metals. They only knew to make weapons out of obsidian.

'As if that pathetic thing is useful in warfare.' Harry snorted.

The tip of his wand glowed blue as he came across a specific rocky side of a hill new Driftwood Hall.

"Finally! The mine-sensing spell worked." Harry jumped in joy as he had feared it'd be impossible to find a deposit of iron ore this quickly.

Summoning a small shield with his power ring Harry carefully aligned his body behind it so that the debris won't affect him. Taking aim with the Elder Wand he let the gouging spell fly.

"Defodio."

The power he put behind the gouging spell cut deep into the earth. To make sure he could extract the ore he let the spell fly one more time and deepened the incision he made on the hill.  Now, it was only a matter of using a simple summoning charm to pull the iron out of the ground.

A few minutes later, Harry was sitting inside the airship's expanded chamber where he set up his shop. A simple alchemical box powered by runes and a small amount of magic was all he needed to transmute the iron to steel. It was a fairly simple process, one of the first lessons a budding alchemist worth his or her salt learns.

"Nephew. What are you doing now?"

Harry eyed his uncle who got the tell-tale sign of being spooked by the whole 'mystery' behind the Skane island. He could read what his uncle's intentions were especially considering the heated discussions the man was having with Lord Stane and the other Skaggs. It was also one of the reasons why he started working on this idea a bit early.

"I'm working on something to ensure our survival in Skane island. Whatever curse or creature guards the island it'll fail before my power." Harry said, before going back to working on engraving runes into the steel and shaping the pieces into arrowheads.

"I've been talking with many of the people here and maybe they have a point nephew. It'd be better to be cautious to not jump headfirst into a dangerous place like Skane island without proper preparation."

Harry hummed but his focus was on connecting the runes properly.

"What are you implying uncle? Are you saying we should abandon this whole journey because someone told you scary stories?" he asked.

"Perhaps, we should wait and not go to the island alone. We can wait for the storm to die down and ask for more ships from White Harbour to accompany us. And perhaps we can leave the hunting of these Unicorns to, you know, experienced hunters." said Benjen, rather lamely.

Harry paused what he was doing and looked incredulously at his uncle.

"You've got a flying boat carrying more resources, facilities and people than a war galley can ever field. You've got some of the best hunters from Winterfell and the clans of the Northern Mountains. And then, most importantly, you have me." Harry huffed and went back to work on the arrowhead. "What more do you want uncle? We go when the first-light comes on the morrow."

"I don't think going into Skane island is a good idea. We know very little about the island." Benjen tried to argue.

Harry rolled his eyes while he used a sticking charm on the arrowhead against the wood. Now, it looked like a normal arrow except for the runes running on the arrowhead surface. Tapping his wand against the runes he poured his magic into it making the runes glow a vibrant yellowish-orange colour.

Standing up from his workstation Harry stared into the grey eyes of his uncle.

"Follow me, uncle."

Harry was outside the boat with his uncle. He handed the arrow to Anya.

"Shoot this arrow at the lone tree over there." Harry pointed at the tree.

Having said his piece he stepped back as Anya drew the string back and let the arrow fly without question. The arrow struck the tree proving her aim true but what happened afterwards took everyone by surprise. The tree was consumed by a pillar of fire that promptly reduced the tree into ashes within minutes.

Harry turned to his utterly flummoxed uncle.

"As I said. You have me. We are going to the island tomorrow. If death is indeed waiting for us then I'm afraid death needs to find a new island to bunker down."