Invisible String - A Sebastian Sallow Story

Chapter XXIV

A familiar sound broke her out of the vivid daydream she'd conjured in her mind. When she reopened her eyes she was shocked to see the phoenix - the one she'd rescued at the recommendation of Deek - with its talons buried deep in the man's eyes as he screamed. Looking down she realized that her bloomers were in fact still on, and the man had hardly gotten far as the creature she had saved, in turn had come to help her in a time of need. If she wasn't so tired, sore and frightened she'd question exactly how it had escaped the room of requirement. Perhaps she could figure that out later.

For now the beast was attacking the man, who sought cover by falling to the floor and crawling in the direction of the flap, using his arms to guide him. She sat up, looking around to try and find something to cut the bindings when the bird flew over to her, sitting on the grown next to where she lay. It lowered its head, and initially she thought it was to bite at her restraints but she realized instead that he was attempting to heal the worst of her injuries with its tears.

Poppy had explained the strength of a phoenix tear in healing injury but she hadn't expected it to be so immensely powerful. Looking down at the broken bone in her leg, she watched it heal almost instantly. She removed the gag from between her lips finally.

"Thank you friend" she said, lifting her still bound hands to stroke his feathered head and he bowed gracefully as she struggled to stand. Still weak from the torture and the other injuries she held, she attempted to manuver herself to the table in search of a weapon to defend herself with or perhaps something to cover herself, however she found herself still shaken up at what had transpired.

As much as she wanted to just curl up on the floor of the tent and cry, she hardly had time for that. Knowing whatever was happening outside would provide her enough cover to possibly escape, she knew she needed to act quickly. Finding her wand was likely out of the realm of possibility, however perhaps she could discover where the man who had attempted to assault her, had dropped his.

Falling back to the floor she searched for it in the darkness. Eventually her fingers found the wood, and she lifted it knowing this was her chance. Just as she moved to cast a spell to remove her restraints she heard movement at the front of the tent. Moving as quickly as she could while injured she turned around, aiming in the general direction she heard the noise.

She had expected the man to come back after settling from his injury. Another poacher who had come to check on her... Possibly even Rookwood himself. Instead she was met with the shocked and not to mention horrified face of her potions professor.

Lowering the wand she stumbled forward, arms crossing over her chest as she made her way to him. Sometime as she moved he called out diffindo, loosening the restraints so that her arms finally broke free, leaving only the nasty purple lines marked in her skin from the rope burn.

As she finally made it in front of Professor Sharp, he had already removed his outer coat, passing it to her in order to protect the young girl's modesty. To say he was completely and utterly disgusted when he had pulled the tent flap back was an understatement.

Aesop Sharp had seen many things during his time as an Auror. Unspeakable types of horrors - the kind that kept him awake at night. Seeing such a young girl, who hardly appeared fragile, broken and beaten, not to mention stripped nearly bare, enraged him in ways he had not imagined possible. Perhaps it was the knowledge that he would soon be a father, and should he have a daughter himself, the thought of someone harming a girl so young in this brutal fashion made him want to burn every single criminal in the camp to the ground. Seeing one of his prized students near unrecognizable almost caused him to gag, but the man powered through for the sake of getting her out alive, and without further injury.