Harvey (Team Crafted)

Escape from the Ebony Ravagers

Edmund scrunched his nose. "Wand? What about a wand?" He looked at the stick in his hand. "This is a wand?! Crikey, Maxie, look, I'm 'arry Potta! Look!"
     His partner, Maxie, elbowed him roughly and ignored his agitated noise of pain. "Houlden, what the hell do you think you're doing?" He asked boredly.
     "Put the wand down." Houlden repeated himself.
     Edmund glared at him. "Why should I?" He asked.
     Houlden couldn't help but smirk beneath his scarf (which covered his mouth almost one hundred percent of the time, Harvey noticed). "I'm so glad you asked." Then he moved his jacket to the side and lifted the entire crossbow he had been hiding there.
     Harvey's eyes widened in surprise from where he was still kneeling in the snow. What is he...?!
     The other bandits looked just as (if not more) surprised and Maxie leapt back, partially hiding behind Edmund. "Whoa, hey, what d'you think you're doing?!"
     "Something I should've done a long time ago."
     "Houlden!" Harvey wasn't sure what emotion he was trying to express in saying his savior's name. He was relieved, but scared - he was also unsure whether or not he wanted Houlden to hurt the bandits, but he definitely didn't want them dead. In any case, he was ignored.
     Houlden aimed the crossbow at Edmund, who held his hands up. "W-What's the big idea?!" He asked. "You worked so 'ard to join our group, the elite Ebony Ravagers and now you wanna kill us 'cause of some kid?!"
     Houlden fired a warning bolt into the snow right by his foot - he was a good shot. "He is not some kid!" He snapped, and Harvey's eyes widened in surprise. "Now drop the wand, because I'm aiming for your ears next!"
     "Alright, alright!" Maxie snatched the wand from Edmund and tossed it into the snow between them and Houlden. Said bandit glared at the pair. Very slowly, he stepped forward. He didn't take his eyes off them for a second as he picked up the wand and moved carefully back away from his former comrades. Once he was sure he was a safe distance away, he looked at Harvey, and pointed his crossbow at him.
     Harvey gasped in fear as he saw the weapon facing him and flinched roughly. The sound of the crossbow firing rang through the snowy clearing, causing a few birds to fly from the perches in their trees in alarm.
     Harvey felt no pain - instead, he felt the ropes fall from his wrists behind his back. Harvey's eyes opened in surprise and he brought his hands around to his front to look. It was true; he was free.
     Edmund had a sudden burst of bravery as he saw that the crossbow was no longer pointed at him and he picked up a rather large stone, throwing it at Houlden. Houlden looked up and dodged it just in time to avoid being knocked out cold, rolling to the side. As he was getting up again, he grabbed onto Harvey's fuzzy hood and forced him up with him. "Come on!"
     Harvey stumbled at first, but quickly caught his footing as they ran into the woods, Edmund chasing angrily after them while Maxie shouted to alert the rest of the bandits. Luckily, Edmund was very large and seemed to have quite a bit of trouble keeping up.
     Within a few minutes, he was far enough behind that couldn't be seen through the trees. Quickly, Harvey picked a rather large trunk and yanked Houlden behind it with them. Houlden looked alarmed by the sudden action, but being decently clever, he kept his mouth shut. A few seconds passed, and then Edmund ran right past them, heaving for breath and holding his belt-less pants up to keep them from falling to the ground.
     Harvey sighed in relief, still catching his breath. He looked up at Houlden, smiling. "W-We got awa-!"
     "What were you thinking?!" Houlden snapped suddenly.
     Harvey jumped at the sudden anger. "H-Hey, I got us out of danger didn't I?" He defended himself.
     "No, not that! They could have killed you so easily!"
     Harvey's eyes narrowed. "Well, it wasn't my decision to get caught."
     Houlden growled in frustration. "No! This!" He held up Harbey's wand.
     Harvey stared at the wand, then looked at Houlden. "I'm not sure I follow."
     Houlden pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed a heavy sigh. "Wands are extremely dangerous, Harvey. Once you use it, it's tied to your soul. They're incredibly, uselessly impractical! That's why no one uses them anymore! If you sit on it wrong, you're dead! What were you thinking?!"
     Harvey looked at the wand in a new, fearful light. "I-I didn't..."
     "You idiot!" Houlden smacked Harvey upside the head. "Don't you get it?! If this wand breaks, your soul will IMPLODE."
     Harvey's eyes widened as he looked at the stick in Houlden's hand. "That sounds... painful..."
     Houlden glared at him, but before he could reply, they heard shouts and footsteps from back the way they'd come. The taller man pushed Harvey none too gently against a tree and leaned quickly over him so they could both use Houlden's camouflaged coat. Houlden glared to the side and watched a handful of bandits run past, but Harvey was too busy noticing how they closely they were squished together to pay attention to the life or death matter at hand. Once the voices faded again, Houlden finally pulled back. "Shit, they've alerted the rest of the bandits... We don't have time to lose." He grabbed Harvey's wrist after shoving the wand into its owner's hand and started running into the winters forest, westwards of the path.
      For a long while, all Harvey could do as they ran was stare at his wand. His soul was tied to this...? Insane... He would have to take it back home with him and everything. It was scary thinking about how fragile his life was now, but... kinda cool, in a way. Being surrounded by all this magic, even dangerous magic, he felt like he was living in a story like he always dreamed of in middle school. Heroic Knights with sad pasts, greedy bandits, a hero torn between good and evil... And Harvey, who saw himself as the comic relief. He didn't mind. He liked being funny. That was why he had a YouTube channel after all...
     Harvey quickly thought about something else.
     Harvey ran out of breath long before they stopped running, but he didn't dare complain. While he liked Houlden a lot, he was still healthily intimidated by him. He was a stern, solemn man. Harvey had never even seen him smile - though that was caused by the fact Houlden always wore that scarf up around his mouth.
     They didn't stop to eat or anything, they just kept walking to god knows where. Harvey had a hard time keeping up with the taller man. His strides were bigger than his and quicker too. Harvey kept lagging behind and having to run a little to catch up, but it wouldn't be long before he fell back again.
     "Hey Houlden?" Harvey said, finally breaking the long silence after several hours of walking.
     Houlden grunted in acknowledgment.
     "I have a question."
     "I don't really care."
     Nonetheless, Harvey persisted, completely unfazed. "How do you know so much about wands?"
     Houlden sighed. "None of your business."
     Harvey rolled his eyes. "C'mon, tell me, I wanna know!"
     Houlden looked at Harvey, a stern glare in his eyes as usual, before he just sighed and looked ahead. "My father was a Sorcerer."
     Harvey blinked in surprise. "Really?" He smiled. "So you're-?!"
     "Not a Sorcerer." Houlden snapped. "Now drop it."
     When he first arrived, Harvey would have been startled by the harshness, but now, he wasn't the least bit fazed. Still, he knew he should respect Houlden's privacy.  "Houlden... Those guys - The Ebony Rangers or whatever - said you worked really hard to get in with them." Harvey said. "Why did you betray them like that?"
     "First of all, Ebony Ravagers." Houlden rolled his eyes. "And secondly, did you black out or something? They were gonna break your wand. They were gonna kill you."
     "Yeah, but... Isn't that your goal? To kill me?"
     "Well... Yeah, exactly! I want to kill you, so it's not like I can let them do it for me."
     Harvey smiled. "Thanks for not killing me."
     "Oh, don't get the wrong idea. I am going to kill you." Houlden said sternly. "I'm just... choosing the right moment."
     "Sure you are." Harvey smiled.
     "I am!"
     The pair bickered awhile longer before a comfortable silence fell on them as snowflakes drifted lazily down from the spiny evergreen tree branches above, one by one. After maybe an hour or so of walking quietly in the peaceful woods, Harvey grew curious once again. "Where are we going?" He queried.
     "Well, I've traveled through here before." Houlden said with a sigh of resignation at the loss of the peaceful air. "There's a cabin up north that's abandoned, I use it a lot." He's eyes narrowed. "I just hope we're gonna beat the storm..."
     Harvey blinked. "Storm?"
     "Snowstorm you caught earlier? Nothing compared to what's coming. Trust me, we're gonna need shelter."
     "How do you know that?" Harvey asked curiously. Back where he was from, forecasts came from weather channels all the time, right to his phone, so he always knew what the weather would be like - but here, there was no such thing as a barometer of anything like it.
     But in answer to his question, Houlden only shrugged. Harvey knew there was more to it than that, but he sighed. "You're a very private man."
     "Yes." Houlden glared at Harvey. "And you're a very nosy one."
     Harvey put his hand on his chest in mock offense. "I'll kick your ass!"
     "If you can reach it, short stack."
     Harvey made an angry noise.
     Houlden, somehow, was right. It was sunset when it started snowing hard. The wind picked up too. Within an hour of the storm hitting, it was hard to walk. The snow was several inches higher than it had been before already. Harvey's toes and fingers were totally numb and the wind kept blowing off his hood so his ears were going as well. Houlden looked to be surviving it easier, but Harvey didn't notice the worried glances that the bandit cast in his direction.
     Finally, Houlden suddenly grabbed Harvey's hand and started running. Harvey gasped as his hood fell once again. "Wh-What-?!"
     "C'mon, running will warm you up!"
     Harvey groaned, but couldn't help but smile. Houlden did care about him. It was hard to see through the near whiteout caused by the snow, but pretty soon, Houlden pointed out the cottage fast approaching ahead. Harvey smiled in relief. The pair ran up the old steps where we're so covered in snow, you could barely see them. The door was open and inside, it was pretty cold.
     Harvey stood by the door, shivering hard, as Houlden went right to the fireplace. After a second of trying to start a fire, he glanced at Harvey and his eyes narrowed. "Hey, close the door!"
     Harvey jumped and quickly shut the door behind him. The howling wind was muffled and it became a little less cold. Harvey shook the snowflakes out of his hair as he hugged himself tight for a little more warmth. As Houlden was muttering to himself agitatedly, Harvey looked around.
     It was just a one room cottage - a dark room at that. The floorboards were creaky, the roof was leaky, and the furniture had holes in it. There was only a very old-looking couch positioned by the fireplace, and no bed. There were a couple pans sitting by the fireplace. There were two windows; one by the door, and one across from the fireplace. There, Houlden sighed after a moment and leaned back. "Too cold..." He hesitated, then looked at Harvey. "D'you think you can start a fire with your magic?"
     Harvey blinked, then nodded and fumbled with his wand as he tried to pull it out of his pocket with his numb fingers. Then his swished it clumsily in the direction of the fireplace. The result could have been better. The whole hearth exploded in a golden cloud of smoke, throwing Houlden back with a loud boom.
     Harvey gasped and dropped his wand, running over to him. "Houlden! Are you alright?!"
     Houlden groaned and pushed himself up to lean against the couch. He glared at Harvey, rubbing his head. "You ever heard of a thing called overkill?"
     Harvey blinked. He glanced at the fireplace, which had a little golden fire growing on the wood, and then he looked back at Houlden. He smiled, then he snickered, then he giggled, then he started laughing loudly. Houlden couldn't help but chuckle a bit himself, and the little cottage in the middle of the winter woods was filled with the sounds of their laughter, simple as that.