A/N- Okay…people seemed to think that I was being serious about the talking donkeys and the hippies. I wasn’t…really! That wasn’t a poll you know, I was just trying to prompt people along.
The atmosphere was solemn as four heavily armed Alliance guards marched slowly, their feet echoing in the large room. Ranks of soldiers stood still as the memorabile coffin was slowly bought to the front of the room, where the representatives for the Council stood. Narim, Meena, Andrew, Jack and Selmak were dressed up in the finest clothes, while Lya stood in her white robes and Thor…well, Thor didn’t really wear clothes to begin with.
“We are all here today to pay tribute to Commander Deicida. He was an excellent soldier and an inspiration to the Alliance. We shall miss his counsel, his companionship…we shall miss him.” Narim said loudly, as the coffin was dropped with a thud. “Since he died protecting Earth, he shall be honoured in the Earth ways.”
Jack cleared his throat, as Narim stood down, clearly uncomfortable as he stood. “Harry…Harry was a good friend. I first met him when he was nine, and let me tell you something, even then he was a smartarse.”
There was a round of chuckles throughout the room. “I mean it as well. The kid had a sharper tongue that I did, and that’s saying something. Still, there was innocence about him that drew people in, despite the traumas he had been through. This innocence was stripped away as the War with Anubis started. Harry was smart, brave, and a lot wiser than most people. He appreciated all of the little things in life, having spent the majority of his childhood as a slave. He was a fine soldier, and a fine friend…except when he was insulting my hair I mean come on! I get it Harry! I have grey hair! Whatever heaven you went to, I hope you laugh it up!”
There were a few more chuckles as Jack stood down, a mournful but relieved smile on his face.
Lya slowly made her way up, her wraith-like figure seemingly floating as she stared out into the crowd. She had been affected the most by Harry’s death, whether it be that she had had a closer connection to him than most, or that as a Nox, she was unused to the pain and grief that a death of a somebody special caused.
“Harry was famous. He was known as the Commander, the Deicida- slayer of the Gods, a powerful fighter, a skilled pilot and a cunning strategist. Everybody knew of his seemingly impossible exploits- his attack on a Goa’uld construction yard, the defying of Klorel, and the assassination of Ba’al. What most do not realise is that he was a boy. A sixteen-year-old human boy forced into a terrible war.” Lya said softly. She bowed her head. “We will all miss him.”
She stepped back as Andrew walked forward. “On behalf of a grateful planet, I thank the Commander for his actions. May he find peace in the afterlife…”
At that moment, Harry was wondering when the hell peace was going to find him. In a span of a few days, he had been kidnapped, tortured, kidnapped again, tortured even worse off than before, and now it seemed like he had been kidnapped yet again. He glanced around at the small room he was in. Basically, It was four rocky walls and iron door. He was sitting idly on his bed, which would have been better suited for a small child. A large bandage wound around his chest while another one was wrapped tightly around his burnt hand. He moved it slightly and winced as a sharp sting of pain shot through him.
“Hello?” He called out loudly. Sighing, as he received no response, he lay back down on his bed and stared at the roof. His powers were still bound and it was taking the majority of his magic to hold back the foreign energy. Still, he was enormously grateful to feel the familiar and reassuring tingle eof energy inside of him, no matter how weak it was. He was confident that he could blow down the door, maybe kill a few guards, but after that he was pretty sure that he would be drained. He would wait, watch, and see how this turned out.
It was like a scene from a beautiful fairytale. The sun was high and shining, and a rainbow flickered through the sky. The grass was moist and water dripped peacefully off leaves and plants. A small stream trickled nearby as rabbits and wildlife lived together in harmony, drinking from the stream and squeaking, sniffing and generally acting adorable. It was enough to make a cynical man very, very sick.
Suddenly a dark shadow hovered over the clearing. The animals bolted, only to find that the shadows surrounded them. It started closing in, the dark and cloudy presence radiating malevolence. Whatever it touched, animal or plants, it sucked the life from it. Plants withered rapidly, their leaves turning brown and their flowers dieing. As the dark cloud grew closer, a particular cute baby rabbit with beautiful big eyes, a fluffy white tail and a sleek coat of fur could have sworn it heard a human voice laughing madly, before the shadow encased them all. When it retreated, ravaged corpses littered the once beautiful clearing. The cloud of dark mist flickered, growing more defined and more distinct, before gliding away. It would take time to regain his former strength, but when he did, Anubis swore he would make this miserable planet pay for making him live off animals! He didn’t dare go near human settlements, in fear of being detected by the Alliance, and as he fed on the life of animals, his mind conjured imaginative ways of torturing that scum of a human, that Deicida. He would have his revenge…
“Human! Wake up!” Came a rough voice as something prodded the sleeping Harry awake. Harry groaned as he rubbed his eyes with his good hand. He blinked as he stared around the room. Nobody was there.
“Human!” Came the voice again.
Harry looked downwards and gave a strangled noise as he jumped back. Staring back at him was a very small and ugly midget!
“Who are you?” He asked, his face twisted up in surprise and disgust.
“I am Klendrak.” The small…thing said, giving him a hateful and grumpy stare. As Harry stared back, he though it might not be impossible for the thing to look like that all of the time.
“I’m Harry.” Harry introduced himself cautiously. “Um…what are you?”
“I am a goblin, ignorant human!” Klendrak snapped angrily. He waved a large battle-axe, which was almost as big as the damn goblin itself, menacingly as he gestured to the door. “Come!”
“Er…you first,” Harry said, staring at the being with a strange look on his face. At the goblins frown, he narrowed his eyes. “I insist.
Grumbling to himself, Klendrak walked through the door. Harry stared at his back, which was covered by some kind of metal, and sighed. This was just getting stranger and stranger. He followed after the grumpy goblin, blinking rapidly as his face hit sunlight. He was in a large clearing, with stone buildings erected everywhere. A large fort stood high and proud, guard towers occupied by burly looking goblins holding spears.
“Come. The King will speak to you!” Klendrak barked angrily. Harry jumped as the goblin whacked him with the handle a small spear.
“Alright!” He said, swearing softly under his breath.
Klendrak, who was joined at the entrance by several large, led Harry to the fort and fierce looking goblins carrying very sharp blades. Inside, even more guards escorted Harry down a large corridor filled with carvings and statues of more ugly goblins. Harry was being to suspect that this might be one of the mutant races that Oma had told him about, one that the out-of-control wizards of the past created by accident.
Finally he came to a large doorway carved from what seemed like pure gold. Standing guard were two fully armoured Goblins holding large maces. They stared at Harry for a second, then at his escort, which consisted off at least thirty goblins. Finally, one of them grunted and rapped on the door.
“Come!” Came a loud voice and the doors swung open.
He was led inside to an extremely well decorated room, with golden decorations and carved walls. Sitting on a large and finely decorated throne was a very old goblin, with white hair and an extremely crooked nose. It seemed to have been snapped off and glued back on facing the wrong direction. Harry couldn’t help but stare as he was led in, mindful of the very sharp weapons being pointed at him.
“I am Gilpok, King of the Goblins.” The old goblin wheezed out.
“Nice to nose you…I mean meet you.” Harry stumbled, throwing a sheepish glance at the King, whose brows tightened.
“I will be blunt then human, who are you, how did you get past the wards and why are you trespassing on Goblin Land? Be mindful that the wrong answer will lead to your execution!” Gilpok snapped, his voice sounding much younger than he looked.
“Er…I’m Harry, dunno why I’m here and up until twenty minutes ago, I had no idea that Goblins existed.” Harry answered quickly.
“Do not lie!” The Goblin King boomed. Harry narrowed his eyes at the old goblin, glancing out of the corner of his eyes as the Goblin guards shifted under their king’s anger. “I know you wizards, always wanting our gold, always wanting to kill us, and torture us, and main us! I know you were sent here to kill me…you were, weren’t you! You’re one of them, the goblin haters and the ones who wish to destroy me! Well, I WON’T LET YOU! GUARDS, EXECUTE HIM!”
At the fanatical and slightly…well, extremely insane look on the Goblins face, the guards dragged Harry from the throne room as quickly as he had come. Harry himself was slightly bewildered.
“Um…what just happened?” He asked the nearest guard.
“Our majesty has gotten gold fever, it’s a terrible sickness for Goblins. He is paranoid.” One of them answered, almost sympathetically.
“So, that means you’re not going to kill me, right?” Harry asked the guard.
“No human, the King has ordered it. You shall be put to death.” The guard said neutrally. Harry dropped his head and gave an extremely frustrated sigh.
“I’m starting to regret saving this hunk of rock…should’ve let Anubis torch it!” He muttered under his breath. “Stupid…” He went off into a trail of extremely rude sayings in a wide variety of languages as the thirty or so guards led him outside, next to a large forest.
“Here.” One of the guards said, glancing around.
The one holding Harry dropped him, and he hit the ground with a thump.
“Look,” Harry said as he got up, his hands held up in a placating gesture. “You seemed to have went to a lot of trouble healing me…surely you don’t want to get me bloody so soon?”
“It makes no difference to us.” A goblin said.
“Is everybody in this magical world so bloody stubborn and short-minded, or is just the people I seem to run into?” Harry asked to nobody in particular. “I have to say, when the ancestors of wizards mutated animals and all of that, they sure as hell did a crappy job, especially with you lot!”
“The axe or the spear?” A large goblin asked Harry with a bloodthirsty grin on his face, ignoring him completely.
“The spear.” Harry said, sighing mournfully. The Goblin nodded, picking up a long pole with a wicked thin blade at the end. He raised it, gesturing. Two globins took hold of his arms, holding him into place as the Goblin carrying the spear lunged forward.
Harry focused within him and summoned all of his available power, which wasn’t much at all. Still, it was much more than these goblins possessed, and a large invisible shockwave blew the goblins holding him away, sending them flying through the air, before Harry sidestepped, grabbing the moving spear and smashed the Goblin in the face. The goblin dropped the spear, crumpling to the ground as Harry twirled the spear, striking forward quickly and brutally. The spear was a blur as he lashed forward, knocking the unsuspecting Goblin guards with the flat side of his blade, before heaving it at the large goblin that had tried to kill him and darting off into the forest.
Harry panted as he sprinted behind a large tree and closed his eyes. The Goblins were chasing him, and he needed to lose them. He started raising his arms, as if he were carrying something heavy in front of him. There was a flare of power, before a gigantic wall of fames exploded behind him, right across the pathways into the forest. Harry sighed tiredly as he got out from behind the tree and stared at his work. Suddenly a light pink streak of energy zoomed past the flames, slashing into a tree next to Harry. The tree suddenly creaked as the magic ate away at it, before it toppled loudly. Harry stared at the tree for a just a second, before snapping his fingers. He turned the other way and started running as if his life depended on it, as the fires suddenly let out a wave of searing heat. There were cries of pain on the other side of the flames, but Harry was already too far away to hear them.
An hour later, Harry leant against the most comfortable tree he could find, which was digging into his spine, and leant back. He was really starting to think that this whole magical world thing was worse than it sounded. Really, first there was the kidnapping and slightly sadistic government, then there was the evil and extremely sadistic Volde…guy, then there were little ugly humanoids with extremely bad teeth and a paranoid king who had just ordered his execution!
“You people have no idea how close I am to ordering your complete and utter annihilation!” Harry growled. He curled up as best he could, he needed to replenish his energy, and that required rest. He had good instincts, so nobody was going to be sneaking up on him and he was pretty sure that the Goblins weren’t going to follow him this far. He was a fast runner, and they had very small legs. Within seconds, he was asleep.