Artorius and Accoutrements
As Harry wandered a set of abandoned hunting trails he had stumbled across, he toyed with the charm hanging from around his neck. It was made with the arrowhead he had gotten from the Gwyll he had encountered, along with one of the hawk feathers he had acquired. Naturally, the other three were tied to his staff, residing with the seeing stone, bell, and a bundle of holly leaves and acorns. When it came to navigation, the charm primarily assisted with making certain he would find his goal. Which was why he was wondering why he had stumbled across a crossroads.
He hadn’t had any specific goal in mind, but he had been pondering the loneliness he had been experiencing. It wasn’t because he avoided humans, he still visited small towns, primarily for libraries. No, it was mostly down to him missing the companionship he had rarely experienced with other humans. Sitting down at the crossroads, Harry sang a small fire into his hands, holding it in front of himself. If he had to wait to learn why he had stumbled across the place, he would. It was as the sun began to set that something happened.
A dog materialized. Or, more accurately, the shade of a dog appeared, though, in truth, it was far too solid to truly be called a shade. It was a fairly large being, with similarities to a Mastiff, though it was most distinctly not a Mastiff, as its glowing red eyes evidenced. As it formed into being, its glistening nose twitched and snuffed, eventually turning to Harry, its breath washing over him.
“Well, you have bad breath.” Harry commented. “Now, what are you?”
Standing up, he gently sang the flame he had been holding in between the prongs of his staff.
“Definitely a kind of dog. But also, some sort of ghost.” Resting on his haunches, Harry looked the dog in the eyes. “Bark like a dying man’s breath if you’re similar to the English black dog.”
In response, the dog did as Harry asked.
“And yet you’re stuck to these woods.” Harry commented, listening to the spectral dog’s song. In response, the dog growled. “I’d have to agree with you. Doesn’t seem very fun.”
Standing back up, Harry walked around the dog, examining it from every angle. When he came to a stop in front of the dog, he set his lyre against his torse, poised to begin playing.
“Well, boy, I might be able to sever that binding tune from the rest of you.” Harry said, watching as the dog tilted its head and sat, looking at Harry with clear interest. “You want me to do it, huh boy? Well, I’m kind of lonely, and in the market for a travelling companion. You want to be that for me? I’ll sort out your binding if you do. Bark once for yes, twice for no.”
The dog responded with a short, sharp bark.
“Great! So, how to sever a binding? Hey boy, is it tied to something?”
Watching the dog, Harry saw as it pawed at the center of the crossroads, whining as it did so. Walking to the center, Harry dug up the ground, revealing an iron shackle tied to the ground with intricate symbols carved into it.
“Well, that would do it.” Harry said, sitting down in front of it and began strumming a tune on his lyre, singing as he did. As he went on, the carvings came to be level with the rest of the metal, shifting it from iron to silver, and reshaping it from a shackle into a dog tag. Digging out some rope from his bag, Harry fashioned a loose collar that he attached the metal to.
“I figure there might be some charms on it that I can’t unweave yet.” Harry said, laying the collar over the dog’s neck. “But if it’s tied to you, you aren’t tied to a place. Now, what do you think about the name Artorius?”
Laughing at the enthusiastic bark, Harry picked up his staff and set off.
“Come on Artorius, let’s get out of here.”
-{╣ ҉ ╠}-
It was as he and Artorius were wandering through a different forest that Harry was distracted by his companion’s barking as he ran off. Wandering back through the woods, Harry went to catch up with his canine friend. Coming to a stop, he found the dog standing in front of a seemingly normal mound.
“Hey boy, did you hear something?”
In response, Artorius turned to the mound and barked again. Moving the seeing stone that was hanging from his staff to be in front of his eye, Harry looked at the mound, seeing an entrance that wasn’t there before.
“Great find Artorius!” Harry said, reaching into the Hamper hanging by his side and throwing some food Artorius’ way, giving a polite clap when he caught it.
Moving toward the hill, Harry looked through the seeing stone once more, turning his gaze from the entrance to the surrounding parts of the hill, his vision catching on a slight glint a little bit to the left of the entrance. Stepping up to it, Harry closed the eye that had the stone in front of it. Looking with his other eye, he spotted a small hole. Swapping back to using the eye with the stone, Harry noticed the glinting seemed to be a button.
Reaching into the hole, he pressed the button, causing the entrance to reveal itself. After a short pause to sing a flame between his staff end, he followed Artorius into the cave. After walking through the winding tunnel, they came upon a stone coffin, with a podium in front of it, on which rested a ring. Just above the coffin was an inscription.
“’Here lies the body of Eluned the Fortunate, and at her feet, her Treasure. May it serve another as it did she.’ Seems like whoever set this up wouldn’t say no to taking the ring.” Harry commented, turning to Artorius. “What do you reckon? Take the ring?”
Artorius’ response was to nudge Harry toward the ring.
“Guess we’ll take it then.”