The Conversion Bureau: Dogs of Winter

by Cloudhammer

06 - Cold Truth

Year 6, Week 9, Thursday

Inside the town hall, the atmosphere was tense as the five Cards sat facing the griffon chief. His left wing was splinted from where he’d been struck by a wyvern, and his eyes were flinty as he stared at Rangel. Though clean of the blood that had soaked his fur, none of the griffons wanted to be near him, and even the ponies were still on edge.

The chief spoke to Bloodeye, who coughed a little from his bruised ribs. “Chief Stormwind wishes to thank you for your... assistance in dealing with the wyverns.” He glanced nervously at Rangel before continuing. “As promised, you will be able to ask us your questions.”

Spade nodded. “I want to thank you for allowing us to ask you these questions first. And as for helping you defeat the wyverns, we could not stand by and let you fall prey to such monsters.” Bloodeye translated to Stormwind, who nodded gratefully. Spade took a breath before continuing on. “My companions and I came to this country because we’ve heard many interesting stories of the north, and wanted to see if there was any truth to them. However, after crossing the border, we came across another, smaller village, which had been destroyed by unknown means. Since you’re so close, perhaps you saw something, survivors perhaps?”

Bloodeye translated this and the griffons in the room warbled lightly, nervousness clear on their faces. Stormwind, however, remained impassive, and after a few seconds thought spoke to Bloodeye. “No. We’ve heard nothing of this devastation. The first that I saw of it was when I was following the wyvern’s trail and encountered you.”

Rangel’s nose twitched, the smells of the griffons becoming... off. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something wasn’t right. He took another sniff, focusing on Stormwind, but his smell had remained unchanged. He almost leaned forward to tap Spade on the shoulder, but stopped as one of the other griffons, his feathers nearly bereft of their color, spoke up, his voice a dry rasp. Stormwind clacked his beak angrily, but it was too late.

“What did he say?” Spade asked Bloodeye curiously.

Bloodeye gulped, risking a glance at Stormwind and the older griffon, who were still glaring at each other. “He... he said that the answers you seek would be found at the Mountain Eye Eyrie. I beg of you, do not go. It is a cursed place.”

Spade narrowed his eyes. “Curses don’t scare me. Where is this eyrie?” He stared hard at Bloodeye, his expression ordering the griffon to tell him.

Bloodeye swallowed again, before crumbling. “It’s further to the east, and a little north, the first mountain you’ll see. The eyrie is at the top. Though I warn you, it was not made with land bound creatures in mind. The climb will be arduous.”

“Let us worry about that,” Spade said coldly.

“Boss...” Diamond wheezed, “The next time we get asked for a mission like this, think you can just tell them no?”

The hike to the mountain had taken them almost an hour of trudging through the snow, the looming edifice steadily growing taller until it nearly blocked the sun. Like Bloodeye had said, there wasn’t any real path, so the Cards had to improvise. Tying their ropes together into a pair of harnesses, they’d slowly made their way up the face.

Stopping on a ledge, Rangel slumped to his haunches, leaning back against the rock face. “Whew. You guys may be smaller, but you sure weigh a ton.”

Club’s reply was an idle shrug, the earth pony heaving Heart up onto the ledge with them. The unicorn was breathing hard, little chunks of frozen sweat clumping his fur. Club turned to look at Spade. “We need to hurry up, Heart’s not looking so good.”

The other earth pony nodded. “I know. But we’re almost at the top. Let’s get up there and we can ask for some supplies and a place to rest.”

“Sir...” Heart took a second to get his breath. “Why haven’t we seen any griffons? It’s obvious that this eyrie was placed to have a commanding view of the area, but there’s been no one sent to ask why we’re here, or to lend a hand with getting us up. Something doesn’t add up.”

“Well, we’ll just have to see what we find when we get there. Diamond, think you can fly up and get a quick look?” Spade said after a moment’s thought.

“Sure thing. Climbing was getting boring anyway.” The pegasus leaped into the air and spiraled upward, quickly reaching the cavernous entrance to the eyrie. After hovering there for a few seconds, he rolled over into a dive and sped back down to them. “Sir, you need to see this.”

Spade’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to Rangel. “Get the harness, I want us up there five minutes ago.”

“Damn, was just starting to enjoy the break.” Rangel muttered as he started securing the harness around Club’s shoulders.

After much sweating, grunting and sprinkled profanity, the Cards were assembled on the ledge of the eyrie, all staring in shock at the sight before them.

“Well, I think we know why there weren’t any griffons sent to ask us questions,” Spade muttered worriedly.

The buildings were set right into the rock face, working their way right into the cave. What gave them pause was the condition of the buildings. Many of them were torched, the wood almost completely disintegrated. The buildings still standing had doorways ripped open, and the unmistakable signs of bullet damage on their facings.

“Alright team, let’s move out. Stay on your hooves. Report anything you find, and I mean anything,” Spade ordered.

Nodding, the Cards spread out, though none of them strayed out of eyesight of the others. The silence of the eyrie, broken only by the soft sigh of the wind, pressed down on them until all of them were jumping at shadows and every creak of aging wood.

Rangel put a paw to a rotten door, only to wince as the hinges fell out of the frame and the door collapsed in a crash of wood. Glancing sheepishly at the other Cards, he turned back to examine the room’s contents. “Sir, I got a body!”

As the other Cards hurried over, Rangel knelt to take a closer look. Unlike the skeletons in the first town, this one was in much better condition. Its feathers were a shade of grey, with brown mottling near the tips, while the eyes, frozen open, were a dark brown hue, speckled with yellow. Glancing down at the chest, Rangel could see that it was matted with blood, a large pool frozen to the floor under it. A gaping hole was visible, and Rangel’s eyes narrowed as he reached into his bag.

Heart carefully trotted up next to him, peering closely at the wound. “Well, it looks like the same weapon that was used on the griffons in the first town-” He stopped as Rangel found what he was looking for, and held a paw up against the chest as Club, Diamond, and Spade entered the room.

In his claws was held one of the firestick balls, the lead sphere matching the entrance hole almost perfectly. “And now we know what killed them.” The fur on the back of his neck bristled as he straightened. “Sir, I didn’t mention it before, but when we were in the town hall, when their chief said they hadn’t heard anything of the attack on the first town, something about the other gryphon’s scents was... off. I think they might not be telling us the whole story, sir.”

Spade nodded. “Bloodeye did say he returned to Scythion before something happened, but cut himself off before he said what that something was.” He turned to look squarely at Rangel. “And if you think they’re hiding something, you tell me right away, don’t withhold important information like that again.” Rangel nodded slowly, and Spade looked toward the mouth of the eyrie. “I think I’d like to go back and ask them some more questions.”

Diamond sighed irritably. “We just got up here, sir.”

“Well, then we’re going right on back down. Get the harness secured around Club, Rangel.” Spade trotted to the ledge’s edge, eyes hard as he stared to the southwest. Whatever was going on in this country, it was rapidly becoming harder and harder to figure out, and that annoyed him. “This time, we’re going to get the truth.”

The trek back down the mountain had, at least, been somewhat easier than the climb up. The mood of the Cards remained sour as they made the hike back toward the town. Diamond floated overhead, the pegasus shivering in the cold wind. “Sarge, can I come down? There’s not going to be anything to see, and my wings are freezing.”

“Suck it up Diamond. We’ll be there soon...” Spade trailed off as they came to the top of the next hill. Squinting, he could see the griffons gathered in the center of the town. “Diamond, what’s going on?”

The pegasus narrowed his eyes, drifting a little closer to try and get a better view. “Not sure boss, looks like four or five of them in front of the rest,” he watched as several of the griffons in the crowd came forward, and all of them took off, flying due north, “Boss, I think the ones in front were out of towners, they just flew off with a bunch of the locals, maybe hostages. What do you want to do?”

“We keep going,” Spade ordered. “Much as I don’t like them taking hostages, we need to remain as low-profile as we can. So for now, we’ll keep going.”

Heart was silent, his expression downcast as he trudged through the snow. “Do you think we were responsible for it?”

Club bumped shoulders with him. “No point worrying about it. We’ll see when we get there.”

Heart brightened up a little, only to shiver as the wind kicked up again. “I swear, I’ve never felt c-cold like this. It’s almost like it’s tt-rying to get under y-your skin.” He paused as he felt something settling around his shoulders, and turned to see Rangel giving him a wry grin as he finished putting his cloak around the unicorn’s shoulders.

“Well, given where we are, it might be.” Rangel chuckled roughly. At Heart’s continued stare, he shrugged. “Was getting hot under it anyway.” Taking a moment to close his eyes as he felt the wind blow through his fur, he shivered slightly. “Well, I might want it back at some point, but you keep it for now.”

“T-thanks,” Heart said, the doubled layer of cloaks dispersing the cold in short order.

“Don’t mention it,” Rangel muttered as they made their way down the hill toward the town. As they approached the edge, several griffons paced out to meet them, angry glares on their faces. One of them took a step forward, screeching at them.

“Where’s Bloodeye? We can’t understand you,” Spade asked.

The griffons looked at each other, and after a few seconds Spade’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh crap.”

“You think they took him?” Rangel asked.

“I’d say that’s a fair assumption Private,” Spade whispered back. Turning back to the griffons, he thought for a few seconds before he visibly brightened. Grabbing a small stick from the ground, he drew a few rough shapes resembling griffons, and the town. He looked up at the griffons, spotting the aged griffon among them. “I know you can’t understand me. But we need to know where they took Bloodeye and the others.”

The aged griffon looked down at the drawing, then took a few steps forward. Dragging his claw through the snow and dirt, he traced a line to the north, finally stopping a full three feet away. With a few quick swipes to add in some mountains and forests, he took a step back and nodded.

“Thank you,” Spade said quietly. “I can’t guarantee we’ll bring him back alive, but if we can, we will.”

The griffon nodded, taking a breath. “You are welcome.” His voice was dry and raspy, and judging by the looks of shock on the other griffon’s faces, they hadn’t expected him to be speaking Equestrian.

Spade and the Cards were taken aback as well. “You know Equestrian?” Spade asked, rather unnecessarily. “Why didn’t you tell us this before?”

“Yes.” The griffon rasped a dry chuckle. “As for not telling you... it was an issue of trust. Be careful the further you go. Iron Talons does not allow ponies,” he indicated Rangel, “or your kind to roam free.”

Rangel felt his fur bristle. “What do you mean by that?”

The griffon shook his head. “Go north, you will see the truth for yourself.”

Comments

[Midnightshadow]

This chapter otherwise entitled "five guys go up a mountain then come down again"

[Cloudhammer]

2050414
Hush you, they had to go there anyway, and it may be boring, but surprise surprise, my idea of an adventure story isn't a jump from plot point to plot point, it includes some of the boring crap because it makes it feel more real to me Stick around for next chapter, it gets more lively.

[djthomp]

Got a bit of a Mesa Verde feel from the mountain village.

I think I'm going to guess that what's going on is a group of gryphons are being local warlords based on weapon concepts brought over the world convergence. It can't be actual modern weapons, however, given the described lead balls.

Doesn't quite match up with the weapons I seem to remember the gryphons in the St. Louis massacre using, so I'm not fully certain.

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Bloodeye is the key. He knows more than he let on.

And now he's gone... This is getting good.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[Seeking Dusk]

Pony and Diamond Dog slaves, perhaps?